Alaka Wali

— 25th — (1999) Bill Clinton

TWENTY-FIVE years, a quarter of the century, is a long time to reflect back on. Yet, continuities from college still shape my life. The subject I studied, anthropology, is now my career; the man I met as a freshman is my husband and together we have two children. And although we have moved around considerably, and accumulated a wide circle of ties, I still think of our friends from Radcliffe and Harvard as the best I ever will have. Currently, I am a curator in an anthropology department at the Field Museum in Chicago. I enjoy my work, the challenge of presenting anthropology to a larger public audience and reconceptualizing the educational role of a large museum for the next century. I have been fortunate to pursue subjects and interests that I deeply care about. Perhaps the most profound influence on my career was participating in the Harvard Chiapas Project, and experiencing there the theories we were thinking of in the context of the Vietnam War debates. I think about this now while the continuing Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas reminds us that the struggle for justice and social change remains the most pressing agenda of our time.

Two children and the cares of home govern my everyday life. Shanti, our daughter is now sixteen, a dancer, a budding scientist and an existential philosopher. Eric, our thirteen-year-old son is a saxophone player, a humorist, and avid Cape Cod camper. Living in the Midwest gives us a different perspective than that of the East Coast, where we spent most of our time since leaving Boston. New York, Washington, Atlanta and Denver are all roughly the same time and distance away from us. Chicago, though, is no longer just a regional metropolis, but a node in a global cultural stream, and a very fun place to live. Please come visit us — we're usually on the way from coast to coast.

— 48th — (2022) Joseph Biden

In the years since I wrote the post in the 25th red book, I have continued my work at the Field Museum in Chicago, and just retired this year. As an emerita curator, though, I will continue to have an active role, writing, consulting and traveling. I was fortunate enough to take on a variety of projects, both in Chicago and in the remote regions of the Western Amazon. My work has centered on finding ways to foreground local community voices and perspectives on how to protect nature, whether in a city or in Amazonian forests. Most recently, I have led the renovation of the Museum’s Native North American Hall, a four-year effort that enriched my life through encounters with many Native Americans throughout this country. In all this work, what I have come to appreciate is the courage and fortitude of people to persevere under incredibly horrific circumstances and to maintain what some have called a “radical hope”. I have witnessed the ways in which people organize themselves to resist the extractivist forces of soulless capitalism – creating art, telling stories to their children and grandchildren, and sustaining relationships of kin with each other and with the non-human beings who co-habit their homelands.

Closer to home, my husband of 44 years and I have watched our children grow and leave us to live on either coast. Shanti is married to a wonderful man, lives in Brooklyn and has her own law practice. Eric lives in Long Beach, California with his wife and now with a 7-month-old daughter. He is the program and development director for Jovenes, Inc., an agency providing housing and support to homeless youth. Life is full.

As I grow older and especially during this pandemic time, I value so much more the sustaining of friendships. None have been more special to me than those with my Jordan-J mates. Susan Stout and her husband David, Charlie Marlin, Gay and Wick Nichols have been continuously present; when I encounter them, they have all reminded me of where I learned my values, andmy worldview. Jordan J was an incredibly special place at a historical time and I am so grateful I was there.

University of Chicago