Our new section, SWEET (Stanford Women Empower Everyone, Together), is planning a brunch at the Ronald McDonald House for children who are undergoing treatment, and their families. It will be on Saturday, May 18. We need volunteers to help set up and serve about 60 to 70 people. Set up is at 9:30 am and clean up is from 11:30 to 12:30. Ronald McDonald House also needs contributions of food. Fruit salad would be especially welcome. If you are able to participate or contribute, please call Diane Claerbout at (650) 493-1393 or Diane Levin at (650) 494-4991.

CLICK image above to see a 3 minute video about the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford.

Join us this Wednesday for a special talk by Professor John Chowning. The father of the digital synthesizer, inventor and composer, Chowning has altered the face of modern music. He will be talking about his involvement in developing synthetic acoustical sound. He will be demonstrating how he was able to simulate musical instruments and, the greatest challenge, the human voice. This is a unique opportunity to hear about this work.

March 13th at 4:00pm
Knoll Building
660 Lomita Drive
Members and guests are invited
No RSVP required

Parking can be complicated. Please contact Joy at the number above if you need more information.

Parking around the KNOLL (660 Lomita Dr.) is all open after 4:00. To get there, drive past Florence Moore Hall, on Mayfield (across from the Bechtel International House). Mayfield dies into Lomita Dr., which runs between Flo Mo and Lake Lagunita. Turn left from Mayfield, uphill, on Lomita Dr., stay right and get on Lomita Court where it splits off. It circles behind the KNOLL and the parking (some on each side) will be available for our 4:00 meeting. Car pooling is encouraged! All of the building doors on that back side are open until 5:00. They allow 2nd floor entrance. Walk thru the corridors to the elevator (or stairs), at the front of the building. Our lecture is on the 3rd floor in the “performance stage”. Signs will direct you to that room. Parking will also be available on Lomita Drive in front, below the KNOLL. There are several stairways up to the building lobby (which is on the 1st floor). Guests wishing to avoid such stairs might be dropped off in back for easy access and the car then parked in front by the driver.

Deanna Mann reports that the tour of the Knight Management Center was impressive:

We were all impressed by the new Knight Management Center Stanford Graduate School of Business and their LEED platinum rating for environmental sustainability.  It is very difficult to get such a high rating and it was interesting to me to hear some of the reasons they received this rating.  The relatively narrow buildings and floor-to-ceiling glass maximize the amount of daylight entering the building that significantly reduces the need for electric lighting, 90% of interior work spaces are illuminated by daylight.  Fifty percent of the site is devoted to open space and parking for 900 cars is underground. They even planned what to do with all of the dirt that was removed when they dug the underground parking lot.

Big news. Catherine has expanded the Hiking group to include bike rides! First ride is this Sunday, March 3rd. Click for details.

I wanted to take a few lines to thank Ernesto Gonzalez for supporting the SUWC. Last fall, he helped us explore options for an updated logo. While the Board of Directors opted to stick with tradition, Ernesto generated a great range of logos for SUWC. And he also gave us a fresh look for the Redbook cover art. As such, I wanted to give Ernesto our highest recommendation for graphic design work—so keep him in mind if your organization is in need. Work samples shown here: Project 1, Project 2.

Ernesto’s sister is an administrative associate at the School of Medicine. When she learned about the SUWC pro bono project, she told us about her brother.

About Ernesto…he was born in San Francisco and raised in the East Bay. He currently attends the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he is studying Graphic Design. Ernesto’s love of art started at an early age, around 11. His interest in graphic design blossomed in high school through a class on “Commercial Art” which uses art mainly for advertising purposes. One of Ernesto’s favorite graphic artists is M.C. Escher who is known for his mathematically inspired woodcuts and lithographs. Ernesto likes to incorporate geometry into his art using large, bold typography designs. His interests, apart from art, include sports, running, and exploring new places. He also loves the city of San Francisco. Its urban environment, with its natural beauty and diversity is a huge inspiration to his art. Ernesto will be receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the Academy of Art University in the summer of 2013.

Just a friendly reminder about our annual Wine and Cheese Party, Sunday, January 13th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at the Harrison’s Home, 817 San Francisco Court on campus. $10 per guest may be paid at the door. Please be sure to sign up with Joy Scott at (650) 857-1834 or joywscott@yahoo.com before January 4th.

The Spanish Conversation Group met in late November at the home of Sherrie Epstein in Menlo Park. Five members came for general conversation. We were fortunate to have a native speaker of Spanish as our guest. Luis (a former Ph.D.in the Geophysics Department) and friend of Diane Claerbout, was happy to hear each of us read in Spanish from some excellent notes, provided by Diane, about meeting and greeting people. Luis spoke in beautiful Spanish about his travels and education in the United States and abroad. We all felt we had gained experience in speaking Spanish in an informal setting and in having Luis help us with good pronunciation. If you’d like to join our group, please contact Diane at (650) 493-1393 or dclaer@hotmail.com!

Barbara Baxter reports that art enthusiasts enjoyed a lecture by potter Judith Kays at the newly renovated Palo Alto Arts Center this month. Join the Visual Arts email list by sending a note to Daniele Archambault at lingua@danielearchambault.com.

Do the kids make you climb the walls sometimes? Well now it’s their turn! SMAK has reserved a private two-hour indoor climbing clinic at the Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation Climbing Wall. Children ages 4 and up are welcome. Contact Audrey Gold (audreygold@gmail.com) for reservations. The cost will be about $20 per child.

Cafe Pro Bono hosted 10 SMAK moms!! Great food and even better company.