Mapping love on campus
Students, professors, staff reflect on Brown’s chapter in their love story
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Photo Courtesy of Ari Gabinet
It was the fall of 1978, and the Pat Metheny Group was playing an
Oktoberfest concert at Swarthmore College. Ari Gabinet P’19 P’MD’20,
a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public
Affairs and pre-law advisor for the University, remembers the day
fondly.
“Sunlight filtered through the trees, and red and gold leaves were
floating down to the stage,” Gabinet wrote in an email to The
Herald. “The music was magical, and President Paxson was so
beautiful, it was impossible not to fall in love with her.”
The love story of President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and
Gabinet began that fall at Swarthmore in the first month of Paxson’s
first year. Paxson joined Gabinet in the dining hall, where he was
sitting alone. Soon after, he asked her to dinner at the Front
Porch, a restaurant near campus. She then asked him on a second
date, this time at a sandwich shop, and finally, their “courtship
was really cemented at the Oktoberfest concert,” Gabinet wrote.
After Swarthmore, Paxson and Gabinet got married. On their wedding
day, Gabinet recalled getting into an argument with a police officer
regarding some shaving cream on their car. “Feeling very liberal in
my use of profanity,” Gabinet wrote, he was arrested and Paxson had
to bail him out.
Paxson and Gabinet have two sons together, and Gabinet said “the
early part of our marriage was consumed with two things:
professional ambition and raising children, and those two things are
really hard to do at the same time.”
When Paxson initially accepted the job at Brown, their immediate
family was scattered across the country.
Eventually, Gabinet assumed his current role at Brown, their older
son came to Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School and their younger
son came to Brown for undergrad. Reunited on College Hill, Paxson
described their time together as “quite lovely.”
“We cooked together, we hung out together,” she said in an interview
with The Herald. “We had more time together than we’d had for
years.”
They describe their marriage as one of love and support amid lives
dictated by professional aspirations.
In a relationship with two busy people, “the best thing you can do
is be nice to the other person,” Gabinet said. In alternating cycles
of stress and support, “you can create a kind of a virtuous
cycle.”
For Paxson and Gabinet, Brown is more than a place for romance. It
has been a place for professional pursuits, growth and family.
“I think every place is a place for romance, if you’re with the
right person,” Paxson said.
For many couples, Brown has been that place.
Media by Sophia Leng
William Suh ’25, Sarah Wong ’25 and hammocks
During sophomore year, William Suh ’25 and his friends were joking
around while taking a physiology quiz when Sarah Wong ’25 swiveled
her head, telling them to be quiet. Suh and his friends then left
the room.
Even after that moment, the two ended up spending a lot of time
together in a broader friend group. The group went ice skating, but
Suh didn’t know how, so Wong helped guide him on the icy rink.
When the two first started dating, as they were walking back home in
a flurry of snow, they took a detour to Prospect Terrace. With snow
beginning to accumulate on their jackets, they talked on a bench
that overlooked the Providence skyline.
That was almost two years ago.
The pair have since tried new restaurants together and traveled to
visit one another while studying abroad. But, when the sun peeks out
in the spring, one of their favorite things to do is to hang a
hammock between two trees on Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle.
For Wong, “those little things” are her favorite part of their
relationship. The seasons, she said, make Brown a romantic place.
Next week, they plan to return to that same ice rink.
Photo Courtesy of Kim Cobb
Kim Cobb, Emanuele Di Lorenzo and El Niño
In Lincoln Field Building Room 120, Environment, Earth,
Environmental and Planetary Sciences Professors Kim Cobb — who is
the director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
— and Emanuele Di Lorenzo teach EEPS 0360: “Solving the Climate
and Carbon Challenge.” In the class, the married professors
discuss climate cycles, such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation.
In 1997, it was the research on El Niño that first brought the two
together.
But three years before that was when Di Lorenzo first fell in love
with Cobb. Di Lorenzo met Cobb on a Friday, celebrating the end of
the week with peers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in
California. Most of their colleagues were wearing flip flops and
bohemian couture, but Cobb walked in dressed in her “European”
style. Di Lorenzo’s advisor turned to him and said “she’s the
catch,” he recalled.
Di Lorenzo “noticed her for the first time there” despite Cobb not
remembering the interaction.
Much later, they met again presenting research on El Niño in
Charleston.
“If it weren’t for El Niño, I don’t think I ever would have met
him,” Cobb wrote in her dissertation. “So I thank the climate
system for bringing us together.”
After that conference in South Carolina, the two wound up at the
same party hosted by a friend from Scripps. The two EEPS
professors made a bet about the weather. If she lost, Di Lorenzo
was going to bring her sailing on the San Diego Bay. If he lost
the bet, he was going to bring her sailing anyways.
When Cobb began dating Di Lorenzo, he had an “Italian way of being
quite open about his feelings,” she said. On International Women’s
Day — a month into their relationship — he left a rose and small
note in her cubby.
Cobb was surprised by the gesture, immediately calling her sister,
but she realized that Di Lorenzo was “100% genuine.”
“When I think of Kim, I think of this lioness who’s there every
day and fearless,” Di Lorenzo told The Herald. “She’s honest and
true to her values. She’s a partner that is there for me.”
“He has always surprised me with his ability to be earnest, to
step outside the norms and to show that he cares,” Cobb said. “He
just shines in his sincerity, and everybody who has ever been
around him feels that on their skin.”
Over the course of their relationship, with shifts in climate
patterns, Cobb and Di Lorenzo’s work changed from “conducting
basic research” to focusing on “climate solutions,” according to
Cobb.
But through all this change, she said it was “incredibly
supportive” to have “someone who’s making that transition right by
your side.”
“One thing I can say is that at every point I felt I had a partner
who was able to think about how they can contribute to joy,
happiness and fulfillment in my life,” she added.
Media by Bomi Okimoto
Demi Le ’27, Preston Rossi ’27 and a rainy night
Demi Le ’27 and Preston Rossi ’27 met at the Ballroom Dance
Competition at Northeastern University last spring. They had been in
orbit with one another through open practices and classes, but
didn’t formally meet until the second competition at Northeastern,
when they were paired together.
They crossed paths again during a club social at The Dancing
Feeling, and their evening continued to a birthday party afterward.
It was raining that night when Rossi realized he’d left his phone at
the party. Le lent him her umbrella, and they exchanged numbers.
With the excuse to return the umbrella, they began spending more
time together, until their “big moment” at a Brown orchestra ball.
That night, they danced and talked while the rain poured outside.
They ended up walking in the rain up to North Campus where they both
lived. In the downpour, Rossi lent Le his shoes, since she had come
in heels.
Le and Rossi returned to a silent quad, so they decided to dance
around the campfire on top of Andrews while the raindrops fell. Soon
after, they made it official with a date at a fancy Italian
restaurant downtown, before ending the night with an hours-long
talk.
In the winter, with the short days and cold nights, Le and Rossi
have turned to puzzles and books as their favorite shared
activities. “In the evening, we make some tea and put on the fairy
lights and just read,” Le said.
Over Valentine’s Day weekend, they will be going skiing in
Massachusetts.
Photo Courtesy of Malte Schwarzkopf
Malte Schwarzkopf, Julia Netter and an opportune train delay
In summer 2009, Computer Science Professors Julia Netter and Malte
Schwarzkopf, then undergraduate students, decided to enroll in a
summer school in Germany.
When Netter met Schwarzkopf, she thought he was “incredibly smart
and way out of my league.”
“I mean, I thought the same thing about you,” Schwarzkopf said in
an interview with The Herald.
On the day they left the summer program, they had trains scheduled
to depart in opposite directions, but Schwarzkopf’s train was
canceled.
It was then that the two properly got to know each other. They
joke that they are “forever barred from complaining about late
running trains and delays ever again” because it was a late train
that brought them together.
After that fateful day, the two traveled between Germany and
Cambridge for six months before making their relationship
official. For both of them, this relationship was their first
“proper” relationship. Now, a commute across the English channel
has become a commute across Thayer Street during the married
couple’s lunch breaks.
In September 2019, the two both started jobs at Brown. Over the
past five years at Brown, the two have had a couple of overlapping
students. Some students have even met their partners at Netter and
Schwarzkopf’s backyard parties they host for students.
Five weeks ago, the two professors had a baby. Netter said that
their child already knows the campus well.
“When I was pregnant, I was teaching, so he knows his way around,”
she said. They’re most excited to take him out on the East Bay
bike path.
“The baby will also get his little bike as soon as possible,”
Netter said. “Maybe not this year, but next year, hopefully,” she
joked.
Biking has always been a part of the couple’s lives. When they
first met fifteen years ago, they went on a bike ride during their
summer program. On that ride, Schwarzkopf said that Netter
“surprised” him.
He was “impressed” by Netter’s deep understanding of computer
science. Over the bike ride, the two talked about “everything,
ranging from politics to technology.”
“You could talk to (him) about anything,” Netter said.
Media by Anna Luecht
Anne Chang ’27, Chris Lee ’26 and violas
Last fall as Anne Chang ’27 headed toward the practice rooms in the
Lindemann Performing Arts Center, she ran into Chris Lee ’26, who
was exploring the building for the first time after transferring
from Boston University.
The two, who both play viola, met again a couple weeks later when
they were paired as stand partners for the first concert cycle. This
meant that for every practice, rehearsal and performance, they sat
next to each other.
But, Lee says that the first time he really met Chang was at the
orchestra’s “viola section outing” at Josiah’s. He remembered
sharing so many “uncommon hobbies” with Chang — whether that be
their love for classical music, viola or golf.
On their first date, Chang took Lee to his first Waterfire. Since
then, the two have loved to explore different restaurants in
Providence. Before the two started dating, Lee had “barely” left
College Hill, he said. Even on campus, Chang helped Lee explore new
places, introducing him to Stephen Robert ’62 Hall, or New Watson,
which is now one of their favorite study spots.
“I think we both are fairly mature people, and I think getting to
know him felt very fresh and very kind of calming,” Chang said.
In two weeks, the violists will perform before a crowd in the
Lindemann. In front of an auditorium that can seat 135 people, the
orchestra will be playing a 90-minute composition by Chang’s
favorite composer, only two floors above where Chang and Lee met for
the first time.
Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed Chang’s quote to Lee. The Herald regrets the error.
Media by Andrew Hsieh
Talia Reiss ’27, Emma Ferraro ’27 and London fogs
On the fourth floor of the stacks, Emma Ferraro ’27 and Talia Reiss
’27 study back-to-back.
In the winter of her freshman year, Reiss decided to throw a New
Year’s Eve-themed party in hopes of recapturing the magic of the
holiday that passed over winter break. It was here that she met
Ferraro. The next day, the two bumped into each other.
“It felt like a happy coincidence,” Reiss said. “I think I may have
accidentally said, ‘I love you.’”
Ferraro confirmed she did because she wrote about the “happy
coincidence” in her journal that night.
Ferraro and Reiss both told their friends about the interaction.
Later, Ferraro posted something on her Instagram story, Reiss
reached out, “and the rest is history,” Reiss said.
“The next weekend we went to Coffee Exchange. We both had a London
fog and now it’s our drink,” she said. For Reiss and Ferraro, Coffee
Exchange is “sacred.” After sitting in the wood-paneled shop for
more than three hours, the two ventured to the Ratty.
“It was very romantic,” Reiss joked.
For their anniversary this Groundhog Day, the two spent their
morning at this “sacred” coffee shop. They studied back-to-back in
the Rock before Talia had to leave early to set up her “big
surprise,” an indoor picnic complete with yogurt pasta sprinkled
with parmesan.
“I feel like most of what we enjoy doing together is the little
things,” Reiss said.
“Our lives are very busy,” Ferraro added. But she said that she
loves “accomplishing our goals while being in the presence of one
another.”
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Media by Chris Nguyen
Olivia Duarte ’27, Mateo Navarro ’27 and orientation week
Olivia Duarte ’27 met Mateo Navarro ’27 during orientation week
freshman year. A few weeks later, the two grabbed dinner at the
Ivy Room. A week or two passed and Duarte told her friend that she
missed seeing Navarro and decided she should reach out. Twenty
minutes later, in a seeming twist of fate, Navarro texted her
first to make plans to go to Den Den.
Navarro said he didn’t know it was a date, but when he arrived at
the restaurant and saw Duarte wearing a “cute little bow,” he knew
their relationship was going somewhere special. They just
celebrated their one-year anniversary.
Now, the two make a note to see each other every day. Despite
their “long distance relationship” from Harkness House to Machado
House, “we always end up spending time with each other,” Navarro
said.
This semester, Navarro plans to teach Duarte how to play the
guitar.
“I have never played guitar a day in my life, so we’ve been
working through that together,” Duarte said. The two will bring
their love of music with them as they travel to Boston later this
month to see Father John Misty play their favorite song, “Real
Love Baby.”
Photo Courtesy of Carter Smith
Carter Smith ’27, Muzala Kawatu ’26 and a fateful formal
This past fall, Muzala Kawatu ’26 was looking for a date for her
sorority formal. Kawatu plays club soccer, and a friend on the
team introduced her to Carter Smith ’27, who plays for the men's
varsity soccer team.
Not wanting to go in blind, the pair set up a lunch before the
formal. They bonded over their common interests in soccer and math
and both left excited for the event.
“I was more excited after we had talked,” said Smith.
After the formal, Kawatu introduced Smith to her friends. “If he
can’t vibe with my friends, that’s not going to work out,” she
said.
Kawatu and Smith began to spend more time together, going on their
first real date at Heng Thai & Rotisserie. For their second date,
Kawatu made a baked chicken shawarma from a New York Times Cooking
recipe. The dinner is one of Smith’s favorite memories of their
time together, he said.
A month and a half later, Smith took Kawatu out to dinner
downtown, and after walking her back to her house, he presented
her with a bouquet he arranged for her and asked her to be his
girlfriend.
Smith had borrowed the vase from one of Kawatu’s roommates, and
Kawatu described how she had seen the vase outside before leaving
for dinner but thought nothing of it. “It’s harder to be sneaky
nowadays,” Smith remarked.
Kawatu says that Smith won her over one day in the Engineering
Research Center. Kawatu had an exam the following day and was
studying inside when Smith came in with a ladybug he had found
outside and presented it to her for good luck. “It was really
sweet,” Kawatu recalled.
Kawatu started to go out of her way to run into Smith. “I started
stalking the ERC because I knew he was an engineer,” she admitted.
The couple spends so much time in the ERC that the staff who work
in the cafe began to know them as “the ERC couple,” the pair said.
Photo Courtesy of Eleni Sikelianos
Eleni Sikelianos P’27, Laird Hunt P’27 and their books
Before Literary Arts professors Eleni Sikelianos P’27 and Laird
Hunt P’27 became professors at Brown, the two visited the campus
to read their work at an event. As they strolled along Fones
Alley, they stopped to read a quote by Gertrude Stein: “And then
there is using everything.”
Sikelianos and Hunt met years earlier at the Jack Kerouac School
of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado. Sikelianos attended a
graduate student reading event that Hunt was presenting at. Their
mutual friend Brenda Coultas predicted the two would get married
before they had even met each other.
Sikelianos returned to the Jack Kerouac School a year later to
give a reading of her first book: “To Speak While Dreaming.” After
Sikelianos finished reading, Hunt approached her to show that he
had a copy of her book in the inside pocket of his jacket.
“I carry this with me everywhere I go,” he recalled saying to
her.
Hunt reflected that he was “amazed that someone from the school
that I was going to had published a book. I was very correctly
going around with (the book) proudly in my pocket, as if I had
written it myself.”
After that day, the two began a correspondence between San
Francisco and Boulder, with the letters making a longer journey to
France when Hunt began his studies at Sorbonne.
“The correspondence was about writing and literature,” Sikelianos
said. “And I think truly, we probably fell in love with each
other’s work.”
The couple traveled from Paris to New York to Colorado until they
arrived in Providence for their third job together. Now, their
daughter also attends Brown.
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