Mark Branch

Small building, big fight The debate over "Hush Hall" wasalso about who should run Yale.

My latest Old Yale column is about McClellan Hall, an unassuming little building that pissed off students, faculty, and alumni when it was built 100 years ago. yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/6108

YouTube video by zefallafez Johnson Boating You & Your Johnson commercial

No such thing! youtu.be/xCe6NOBUut0?...

When Yale made movies In the silent era, the universitymade a series of "photoplays"about American history.

My latest "Old Yale" column is about Yale's attempt to make movies about American history in the 1920s. It was about as successful as you might imagine. yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/606...

Walked past Lauren Hutton in the airport and said “hi!” She said “Hey! Where you going?” I said “Oklahoma!” She said “All right!”

Man with a mission The millionaire student who built a shelter for the down-and-out.

My new Old Yale column is about a young millionaire in the Class of 1909 who started the Yale Hope Mission, a Christian shelter for alcoholic and destitute men in New Haven. I had "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" in my head the whole time I was writing it. yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/604...

Early bloomer Robert Maynard Hutchins's precocious Yale career.

My latest Old Yale column is about Robert Maynard Hutchins, who somehow became the dean of Yale Law School when he was just 28 years old. Two years later, he became president of the University of Chicago. yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/6004

Just as eager for v. 6 descant, tho #9LC

I don't think Bluesky will be the official new home of the #9LC hashtag until someone makes a reference to a "macaronic text," so there I just did it.

Thumbs up for the new one! #9LC

I always look forward to the politician's reading because it's often the only non-posh accent you'll hear. But to my American ear she sounded pretty RP. #9LC

Another country The son of a samurai, Kan-ichi Asakawa tried to forge connections and promote peace over a half century in the United States.

I don’t have an Old Yale column in the Jan/Feb issue, and here’s why. Sometimes a planned column will insist on becoming a feature. I could have easily written three times this much on Asakawa—his tangle of unrequited romances alone is worth a story. Someday. yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/5994

I forgot it was Buy Nothing Day and bought a Dr. Pepper.

So I guess I’m on Bluesky. And so’s my dog. @claudebonet.bsky.social