Ranko Iwamoto
Ranko Iwamoto (COM’63) of Bronx, N.Y., sends a reflection on her time at BU. “I was originally scheduled to graduate in 1962, but ended up extending my graduation by one year, willingly. David Manning White, head of the journalism department, suggested that I write a creative thesis for my master’s degree. He defined the creative thesis as ‘writing a novel.’ Thus, I wrote English and I, which took me eight months to write and was over 700 typed pages.” Ranko presented her manuscript to her second reader in the journalism department, Robert Baram, who called her several days later and said, “‘I enjoyed reading it. It has everything but sex.’ Instantly, he and I became friends. After graduation, I landed a job (coordinator of US-Japan relationships) and had the pleasure of recommending Professor Baram to work with me. Later, when I published Purity and Power: The Spirit of a Female Samurai (Xlibris, 2006), about the experiences of my foreign student days in America, I mentioned one of Professor Baram’s poems, from his book The Shiny Penny (Braden Press, 1968). I am so glad that I came to Boston to attend BU, and met wonderful professors.” Contact Ranko at rankoiwamoto@yahoo.com.
From the Summer 2018 issue.