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�STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
The College (usps 018-750)
On Aristotle
ristotle impresses us with both his breadth and his
is published quarterly by
St. John’s College, Annapolis,
MD and Santa Fe, NM.
Known office of publication:
depth. Breadth: he explains why we feel the way we
Public Relations Office
do when we watch a tragedy, he lays out all the pos
St. John’s College
sible types of friendship, he explores the founda
Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404-2800
tions of logic and grammar and rhetoric, he marvels
at the life cycle of butterflies, he prescribes cures
Periodicals postage paid
for lethargy, he explains motion and time. Depth:
at Annapolis, MD
he asks the most fundamental questions about nature, humanity, virtue,
postmaster: Send address
causes,
- and
he makes
profound
lype in Aristotle’s name
onthinking
the search
engine
Altavista
and you(yet
getexquisitely simple) prochanges
to The College
nouncements:
“
Man
is
by
nature
a
political
animal,
”
“
Man,
by
nature,
Magazine,
Public Relations
12.4,335 entries, including “Aristotle and Target Marketing?” as well as
Office, St. John’s College,
desires
to
know.
”
scholarly sites and Annapolis tutor Joe Sachs’ translation of The Physics
A
on barnesandnoble.com. Aristotle’s writings - in Latin translation were the “source of the dominant teachings of the European universi
ties” for about five centuries up to 1600; “for the four centuries since
then they have been reviled as the source of a rigid and empty dogmatism
that stifled any genuine pursuit of knowledge,” according to Sachs in the
introduction to his translation. Almost every book of philosophy read on
the program alludes to Aristotle, whether to follow him or to divert from
his supposed course. For example, Kant, in his preface to the second
edition of the Critique ofPure Reason, notes: “That logic has already,
from the earliest time, proceeded upon this sure path [of a science] is
evidenced by the fact that since Aristotle it has not required to retrace a
single step...”
Aristotle lived from 384 to 32a B.C. He was the student of Plato, the
teacher of Alexander the Great. His dad was a physician, so as a youth he
probably was channeled into the kind of studies that would prepare him
for a career in medicine. He founded a school in Athens, the Lyceum,
where he walked around and lectured; he’s variously described as slight,
a dandy of a dresser, and speaking with a lisp. When he wanted to write
about politics, he collected information about the government and
history of 158 cities. At St. John’s, a lot of time is spent reading and
talking about Aristotle, and this is a place where what he actually said
is taken seriously.
-BG
Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404-2800.
Annapolis
410-626-2539
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sus3an Borden, assistant editor
Jennifer Behrens,
graphic designer
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Katherine Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Alexis Brown
Robert Glick
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret Odell
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
IO
DEPARTMENTS
a FROM THE bell TOWERS
A Conversation with
•
•
•
•
•
John Balkcom
Santa Fe’s new president talks about
his past life as a consultant, his present
challenges at the college, and his vision
for the future.
PAGE
•
•
•
l6
The Logos According
TO Aristotle
Introducing The College
A spooky Mellon Hall
Belly dancing alumnae
Febbie class to be discontinued
Philanthropia encourages thumos
among future alumni
Top ten program books
Summer Classics offerings
The life of Leo Raditsa
9 ALUMNI VOICES
•
Annapolis tutor Joe Sachs (A68) has
translated four of Aristotle’s works.
His principle: use ordinary English
to capture the freshness of the
philosopher’s thought.
A defining moment for everyone from
the 1940s: Pearl Harbor Day.
a6 LETTERS
aS ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI
PROFILES
ag Lisa Simeone (A79 ) wins a role at NPR.
PAGE
2,0
The Education
That is Parenthood
33 Heather Moore (SFoo) became a
shopaholic - for the coolest circus around.
PAGE z6
Six Johnnies whose professions
focus on children discuss the trials
and triumphs of parenting.
PAGE
35 Phil Woods (A61) combines his love of
books with his devotion to Paris.
37 STUDENT VOICES
•
2^
A transfer student trains her eye on the two
campuses.
38 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
•
•
Choral Kaleidoscope
To recreate an ancient Greek chorus, a
tutor looked to Greek pottery, Plato’s
descriptions of physical conditioning,
and accent and meter in the tragedies.
All about Senior Dinners
Election Notices
41 OBITUARIES
•
PAGE 30
Nancy Buchenauer on Robert Bart
43 alumni connections
44 ST. JOHN’S FOREVER
ON THE COVER
Aristotle: His workspervade the St. John’s
program. Illustration by David Johnson.
�2.
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Introducing
The College
In which the editor
utters heresy.
Last fall, we bid farewell to
The Reporter, which had been
the St. John’s publication for
alumni since 1974. We thought
the time had come for a new
look and a new way of present
ing information that befits the
many changes at St. John’s.
Many changes at St. John’s?!?
Heresy! Why do I write this?
The program remains intact;
McDowell Hall still stands;
today’s Johnnies still have that
head-in-the-clouds, not-distracted-by-fashion, young intellectu
al air about them; Monte Sol
still beckons for a solitary climb.
The year I graduated from
St. John’s is the year Becky Wil
son, then public relations direc
tor for the college, started The
Reporter. When I returned to
St. John’s after 20 years labor
ing in the publishing world, the
college, I found, was over
whelmingly the same. The pro
gram, after all, is still what’s
important; the words that Barr
and Buchanan used to describe
the college, and the essays in
which Jacob Klein explained the
basis of liberal education still
hold true. Yet there are differ
ences: i) The college adminis
tration is professional and the
college is on sound financial
ground. 2) The Santa Fe campus
has grown to the same size stu
dent body as Annapolis, with its
own cast of fascinating and com
mitted tutors, an array of stu
dent activities that are Johnnielike yet uniquely southwestern,
and a full complement of appro
priate buildings. 3) The stu
dents are as a whole more stu
dious, and they are better ■
qualified. Sitting in on classes
now, I find that almost everyone
has prepared, everyone can par
ticipate. (In my day, in a good
class it might have been half
The artwork on the cover is by David Johnson, who also draws
PORTRAITS FOR THE NeW YoRK TiMES BoOK ReVIEW. EvERY COVER OF
The COLLEGE'VniA. feature a writer from the program.
who had done the translation or
worked through the proof.) 4)
The tutors represent a wider
range of ages and backgrounds;
they have a variety of interests
that they are willing to share
with students. 5) Student servic
es are much improved - there is
a full-time counselor and a stu
dent activities coordinator on
staff, and a thriving athletic
program. 6) The alumni body as
a whole has gotten much larger
and much younger - more than
60% from the classes of the
1980s and after. And they have
become much more actively
involved with the college. 7) A
lot of little things, mostly physi
cal: the Woodward Hall library,
newly renovated when I was a
student, had become shabby and
overcrowded and a new library
was opened in 1996; there are
{The College-
new spaces like the Mitchell
Gallery and the Conversation
Room; the food in the dining
hall seems pretty good. I’m sure
that if I had been a student in
Santa Fe and returned there the
changes would have seemed
even more striking.
Alumni and others who care
about the college should be
aware of all this change. They
should know how vibrant,
funny, endearing, smart,
intense, and talented the cur
rent students are. They should
know how St. John’s is governed
and how decisions are made.
They should be reminded of
their shared experiences at
these two places - Santa Fe and
Annapolis - and their shared
experience that is entirely
placeless: the reading, study,
and discussion of Plato, Sopho
St. John's College ■ Spring 2001 }
cles, Descartes, Aquinas, Cer
vantes, Kant, Hegel, Austen,
and the whole gang. That’s what
this new magazine. The College,
is all about.
Although the look is new and
different to better reflect
St. John’s today, there are some
things about this magazine that
we wouldn’t want to change
from their old and trusty
Reporter format: class notes,
profiles of alumni, college news,
campus concerns. You’ve told
us that you want to read about
the program, so there will be
more stories about the books
and the curriculum itself. John
nie traditions carry on through
the decades, but since it’s
always a new set of students
playing croquet or setting up
the games at Reality, we plan on
telling you what’s happening
with those. St. John’s history is
a rich lode - through photos and
articles, we hope to connect you
with the college’s past. We hope
to hear from alumni through
letters, class notes, and article
submissions.
As the name suggests. The
College is about the one college,
St. John’s, that exists on two
campuses. News from both cam
puses will be included; students,
tutors, and alumni from both
campuses will be profiled.
Although the actual production
will be handled in Annapolis,
alumni can feel free to contact
the magazine’s staff at either
campus about The College. Let
us know what you think.
Barbara Goyette, A73
Editor
b-goyette@sjca.edu
410-295-5554
Laura Mulry, SFGI02
Santa Fe Editor
classics@maiLsjcsf.edu
505-984-6104
Sus3an Borden, A87
Assistant Editor
s-borden@sjca.edu
410-626-2538
�{From the Bell Towers}
Down in the
basement truly the weird
and creepy lair
ofCharon the storage areas
have been
emptied...
Tales from
THE Crypt
It’s not Hades, land of shades.
Although the hallways of Mellon
now look nightmarish, fit for
endless wandering with no hope
of escape, they are in fact being
stripped for a useful purpose:
the beginning of a $12.5 million
renovation. During spring
break, workers took up the
worn hall tiles, removed the
rain-stained ceilings, and
exposed crawl spaces in the
south and west wings of Mellon
(these wings contain the music
rooms, music library, and all lab
rooms). Down in the basement truly the weird and creepy lair of
Charon - the storage areas have
been emptied of their boxes of
admissions propaganda, dusty
chandeliers, broken desks, and
seminar chairs in need of new
seats and rungs. The circa 1958
heating, plumbing, and electri
cal systems are being exposed
and marveled at for their Rube
Santa Fe
Yearbook in
THE Works
The completion of the new gym
and the installment of John
Balkcom as president of the
Santa Fe campus have con
tributed to the creation of an
energetic and highly motivated
student body in Santa Fe this
year. Enthusiasm for extracur
ricular activities and attendance
at school functions is much
higher than in recent years. To
quote Brendan O’Neill (SF93)
in the Student Events Office,
“This is the most involved stu
dent body I have seen on this
campus in a long time.” To tap
this creative energy (and also to
eliminate one comparison
3
Always dingy, the hallways of Mellon look even darker now that
THEY have been TORN APART. ThE $13.5 RENOVATION WILL RESULT IN A
BRIGHTER, MORE INVITING SPACE.
Goldbergian nature. “There’s
some old machinery down there
all right,” says Sid Phipps,
superintendent of buildings and
grounds.
Plans call for new mechani
cals to be installed this summer,
and the first series of renovated
classrooms should be finished
between Annapolis and Santa
Fe) a few members of the sopho
more class decided that this
year they would create a year
book. For the past 20 years or
so the students on the Annapo
lis campus have been able to put
together an annual yearbook,
but it was not something that
happened in Santa Fe.
According to Student Activi
ties Director Mark St. John,
over the years various groups of
students have thought to put
one together but didn’t have
enough material when press
time rolled around. Then last
year’s Reality committee recom
mended to the rising sopho
mores adding a yearbook to the
list of possible fundraisers.
While the idea of a yearbook as
a fundraiser was soon deemed
impractical, the thought of cre
ating one was openly embraced.
After a month or so of planning.
{The College.
by Christmas. Work on an addi
tion with tutor offices on the
Heating Plant side of the build
ing will commence this summer.
Other phases of the project
include installing a new roof,
spiffing up the auditorium,
adding a glassed-in satellite cof
fee shop in the courtyard, and
''This is the most
involved student
body Ihave seen
on this campus
in a long time.''
Brendan O’Neill
Student Events Office
as well as meeting with the
administration and Polity to
gain their support, the year
book staff was ready to go.
Notices were posted in the
Ephemera and MoonTag adver
tising for writers, photogra
phers, and graphic designers anyone interested in joining the
fledgling staff. Not long after
ideas about theme and content
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
putting in a new art and pottery
studio, darkroom, and confer
ence room. The whole project is
due for completion in 2003.
The Hodson Trust has given
St. John’s a $4.5 million chal
lenge grant to complete the
Mellon Hall funding. The col
lege has already raised more
than $10 million for the project,
leaving less than $2 million to
be raised; the Hodson Trust will
match dollar for dollar any
donation for the Mellon Hall
renovation.
were being discussed and
assignments handed out. Sub
missions were collected,
although layout work was
delayed until the beginning of
the second semester in order to
upgrade the technological capa
bilities of the office that is being
shared with the MoonTag.
The ambitions of this first
yearbook are small. We do not
hope to rival anyone’s high
school yearbook in size,
although we certainly hope to
match, if not exceed it in quali
ty. While the yearbook has yet
to be named (a campus-wide
contest is being held to choose a
name), the theme for this year is
community. The goal of the edi
tor is to have every aspect of the
college community represented,
not just the undergraduates, so
submissions are being sought
from tutors and staff alike,
-BY Erin Hanlon, SF03
�{From the Bell Towers}
Febbie
Class to be
Discontinued
The Instruction Committee on
the Annapolis campus has rec
ommended that the January
Freshman class be discontinued
in Annapolis in five years, with
the last class enrolling in aoo6.
Called the Febbie Class because
its members originally came to
campus in February, the mid
year freshman class was con
ceived to help keep the college
at capacity by compensating for
first-semester dropouts. The ao
to 40 students began their
freshman year in January,
worked through the summer,
and joined the rest of the fresh
man class as sophomores the
following fall. Today, admis
sions to the freshman class are
at an all-time high and keeping
the class full is no longer a prob
lem. Twenty years ago, many of
the Febbies were transfers from
other colleges; today most of
those who enter in January
wanted to come in September,
but the class was already full.
“The change is made possible
by the relative financial health
of the college and by substantial
growth in the applicant pool for
the fall freshman class,” said
Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft in
explaining the decision. “The
reasons for discontinuing the
mid-year class are instruction
al...The regular freshmen get a
school year with six more weeks
of reflection and conversation
together. They also have more
time to prepare their essays, and
are less likely to suffer a change
of tutors between semesters.”
The break between the end of
the summer semester and the
beginning of the sophomore fall
semester is short, and Febbies
are often exhausted just as their
sophomore year is beginning.
Beginning in January is attrac
tive to some prospective stu
dents, for example those who
are undecided about college by
the spring of their senior year in
high school, or those who need
to earn more money before
beginning college. “Despite its
inherent disadvantages, mid-year
entrance has given many stu
dents access to the benefits of a
St. John’s education.” notes Mr.
Flaumenhaft. The Santa Fe cam
pus plans to continue to offer the
option of enrolling in January.
A Far Cry from Essay Writing
ascertain how the
web could be used to
Si. John "5 College is a co-educatiooal,
Si. lohn's was fouaded tn i6!>6 and has
keep them more
fotr-year liberal arts college known for it*
two ctutpuses, one in Annapolis,
disiinciive "greaf books" tuthMiwn.
Maiylsid. and anorher in Santa f e. New
Through <he reading of original lenis,
Mexico. The College awards both (he
involved in the col
siodeni.'i (cOeel on ibc gteai igKSlioits of
Bachelor ufArts »d Master ofAm
ihe Western iradiiion from ancient Greece
degreet. St. Julia’s has no ndijious
lege (possibilities
to nioilem tunes Siudenls study from the
affilisrion St. John's is one coHeye on two
ciassittof liierature. phiSosofil^. theology.
cam}xtsc» The campuses idiare a conunou
[«ychologs. ]»liticaf science, ectinomiCi,
cuniculuni, and siudoils may transfer
being explored
(usury, nudiemMics. laboratory sciences,
befweendsuu during the course of their
music, and the visual am
sanhes.
include chat rooms,
bulletin boards, email for life, and
password-protected
directories); and
third, a site will be
“architected” (web
people actually use
this word) and then bruit. Time
line for the project is about a
year. The initial telephone sur
veys of alumni begin this spring.
Like many small colleges,
The St. John’s College web site
St. John’s struggles with tech
is in for a facelift. The college
nology issues. On the one hand,
has hired a firm called Genera
the college needs a web site and
tion to help redevelop the sites
administrative computing sys
for the two campuses, to look at
tems that are comparable to
ways to unify the sites, to
those at other schools. On the
increase functions for alumni,
other hand, being technologi
to explore avenues for market
cally up-to-date doesn’t matter
ing the Graduate Institute
in the context of the program of
online, and to provide prospec
instruction. But even though
tive students the kind of infor
the program can function with
mation they look for on the web.
out it, the internet holds huge
Generation has lots of experi
potential for bringing alumni
Megan Miller (SFGIoi - left) and Logan Wink (SFoo - right) start
ence with higher education
together in cyberspace and for
ed BELLY dancing TWO YEARS AGO FOR EXERCISE AND FUN. “It WAS MY WAY TO
clients and will help St. John’s
increasing their involvement
GET OFF CAMPUS AND RELIEVE STRESS DURING SENIOR ESSAY WRITING,” SAYS
through a three-part process:
with the college. 4"
Wink. As the duo got more involved with the ancient Babylonian
first, the college will look at
DANCE FORM, THEY PROPOSED TO THEIR TEACHER, TaNYA KeRN (cENTER),
internal and external needs and
THAT
THEY PERFORM. ThEIR FIRST SHOW WAS AT St. JoHn’s IN SaNTA Fe AND
define audiences for its site; sec
THEY RECENTLY FINISHED A THREE-SHOW RUN AT El FaROL ON GaNYON RoAD.
ond, alumni will be contacted to
SljOtlN’SCOLLlXJ
Web News
@SJCA.EDU
{The College -
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�{From the Bell Towers}
5
The Spirit of
Philanthropia
“Knowledge is power,” wrote
Francis Bacon. And knowledge
is powerful, says Amber Boydstun (SF99). Boydstun is chair
of the Spirit Committee, part of
Philanthropia - the alumni
organization dedicated to
fundraising for St. John’s.
The knowledge that Boydstun
finds powerful is the knowledge
she gained while working as a
student aide in the advance
ment office for four years.
There, she learned how the col
lege works. She learned about
college finances and fundrais
ing. And she got to know the
men and women who have dedi
cated their professional lives to
St. John’s. It made a powerful
difference when it came to her
decision to donate money to the
college.
“I’m not the kind of person
who would normally have that
team spirit, not the kind who
normally donates. But I’m going
to be donating every year and I
already have in the two years
since I graduated,” says Boyd
stun. “Why? Because I have the
facts and information that tell
me that the college does need
my help, that tuition is not
enough to pay for the education
provided to students.”
Boydstun’s plan is to share
this information with current
students, and under her leader
ship the Spirit Committee will
meet with all Johnnies at four
critical times in their college
years: during freshman orienta
tion, at the beginning of senior
year, after essay writing, and
before graduation. The idea is
that seniors are just a step away
from being alumni, and it would
be a good thing if they could
realize how important alumni
are to the college from the very
beginning. This year, there’s
been a reception for seniors at
the President’s house in Santa
Fe and a series of dinners at the
President’s house in Annapolis.
“We ask the seniors about their
experience at the college, what
they would have liked to be dif
ferent, what they thought was
particularly good,” says
Annapolis Vice President Jeff
Bishop. “They have a chance to
ask questions about the admin
istration of the college. We also
present our case to them: that
St. John’s really needs financial
support from alumni after they
graduate; that tuition only cov
ers 75% of what it costs to edu
cate each student, and that the
rest of the money to run the col
lege must come from contribu
tions. We encourage them to
stay connected to the college
after they leave. They really
seem to appreciate the informa
tion and to enjoy the evening.”
“So many people graduate
loving the great books and
thinking St. John’s as a school is
greater than anything else in
the world, but they don’t
donate. My goal is to encourage
spirit - thumos - for St. John’s as
an institution,” says Boydstun.
“I’d like to help them under
stand that St. John’s the school
they love is the same as St. John’s
the institution that needs their
help.” >
{The College
Thomas Burke
Top Ten of
THE Favorite
Five
The fundraising brochure sent
out last fall by the alumni group
Philanthropia pictured five
Johnnies in the midst of their
daily activities - with their five
favorite books from the pro
gram. The idea was to ask alum
ni to think about how the books
had permeated their conscious
ness, about how important the
St. John’s curriculum is to the
intellectual development of the
teachers, businesspeople, par
ents, artists, computer pro
grammers, and whatever else
St. John’s alumni become.
Along with their checks, many
alumni sent in responses to
the question: What are your
five favorite books from the
program?
Here’s the tally of the win
ners. Many people answered by
listing an author (Plato) rather
than a book (The Republic).
There were many books/
authors receiving one vote:
Claude Bernard’s Introduction
.St John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
(SFgz) poses in
HIS home office in
Baltimore
WITH HIS five favorite PROGRAM
books: Montaigne’s Essays,
Lucretius’ On the Nature of
Things, The Prince, Joyce’s
Ulysses, and Thucydides.
to the Study ofExperimental
Medicine; Tacitus; Hume;
Henry Adams’ History ofthe
U.S. In all, alumni named 87
different books or authors. The
top ten of the alumni’s five
favorites are:
• Plato (The Republic was
mentioned most often)
• Homer (equal numbers named
The Iliad and The Odyssey)
• Euclid
• The Bible
• Jane Austen - Shakespeare Aristotle (The Ethics was most
named) were tied
• Greek drama (Sophocles,
Euripedes, and Aeschylus)
• The Brothers Karamazov by
Dostoevsky
• Kant - War and Peace by
Tolstoy were tied
• Thucydides
• Dante
�6
{From the Bell Towers}
Off TO
Santa Fe
FOR Summer
Classics
Dante and Milton and
Eva Brann... Oh My!
Summer Classics, the program
that brings book and opera
lovers from across the country
to Santa Fe, will be held July 15
to August 4. Participants go to
seminars in the morning, spend
the afternoons on field trips and
other southwestern activities,
then attend the Santa Fe Opera
in the evenings. You can sign up
for one, two, or all three weeks
(one seminar topic per week),
and can either stay on campus
or arrange accommodation in
Santa Fe. The program is appro
priate as an introduction to the
college and also for those
who’ve done it before - alumni
and those who have participated
in community or executive sem
inars. For more information,
check the web site at www.sjcsf.
edu/classics/classic.htm, or
e-mail classics@mail.sjcsf.edu,
or call 505-984-6104.
Week I, July 15-21
• Opera: Donizetti, Lucia. Sem
inars led by William Fulton
and Elliott Zuckerman
• Chaucer, The Canterbury
Tales. Seminars led by Michael
Bybee and Caleb Thompson
• Darwin, The Voyage ofthe
Beagle. Seminars led by Mark
Rollins and Linda Wiener
• Milton, Paradise Lost. Semi
nars led by David Carl and
Claudia Honeywell
• Paul Scott, The Raj Quartet.
Seminars led by Eva Brann
and Janet Dougherty
• Thucydides, Peloponnesian
War. Seminars led by James
Carey and Matthew Davis
Week II, July 22-28
Week III, July 29-August 4
• Opera: Richard Strauss, The
Egyptian Helen and Mozart,
Mitridate. Seminars led by
William Fulton and Robert
Glick.
• Aristotle, Nichomachean
Ethics. Seminars led by Clau
dia Honeywell and George
Lane
• Dante, Purgatorio. Seminars
led by Basia Miller and Caleb
Thompson
• Dostoevsky, Demons. Semi
nars led by James Carey and
Frank Pagano
• Plato’s Critique of Rhetoric:
The Ion, Gorgias. Seminars
led by Jan Arsenault and
Elliott Zuckerman
• Shakespeare, Richard II and
Henry IV. Seminars led by
Judith Adam and Warren
Winiarski
• Shakespeare, Pericles and
Twelfth Night. Seminars led
by William Alba and Krishnan
Venkatesh
• Opera: Verdi, Ealstaffand
Alban Berg, Wozzeck. Semi
nars led by William Fulton
and Robert Glick
• Dante, Purgatorio. Seminars
led by Cary Stickney and
Susan Stickney
• Goethe, Theory of Colors.
Seminars led by George Lane
and Julie Reahard
• The Plays of Kalidasa. Semi
nars led by Michael Bybee and
Michael Wolfe
• The Poetry of Wallace
Stevens. Seminars led by
James Forkin and Thomas
Scally
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring zoot }
India is the setting for two
Summer Classics readings:
The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott
AND The Plays of Kalidasa
(Above). Two seminarswill
read Dante’s Purgatorio
(Below).
�{From
Bell Towers}
the
One College - How to
Make It Really Work
For 36 years, St. John’s struggled
with how to administer a eoUege
with two campuses that are sepa
rated hy 1800 miles, a two-hour
time difference, at least six hours
of travel time, and hundreds of
different ways of dealing with
both day-to-day and long-term
issues. The curriculum has
always been the great unifier and under the direction of the
Joint Instruction Committee
(composed of tutors on both
campuses) it has remained virtu
ally identical in Annapolis and
Santa Fe. But administration is
another matter.
Over time, tiny management
decisions on each campus led to
more substantial policy differ
ences. The Board of Visitors and
Governors, while acknowledging
the importance of a president for
each campus, last year re-organ
ized the college’s basic adminis
trative structure, creating a
Management Committee that
includes the presidents and
deans of both campuses, who
may bring in other college
officers during their discussions.
The Committee’s purview is cer
tain college-wide functions and
its single executive (a chair) han
dles comprehensive issues with
out diminishing the responsibihties of the campus presidents
and deans for their own opera
tions.
Annapolis president Christo
pher Nelson is serving as the
“We need topre
serve the special
sense ofcommu
nity that exists on
each campus,
and we will not
take any action
that would
threaten that.
Chris Nelson, Annapolis president and chair of the Management
Committee, says,“We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
{The College.
first chair of the Management
Committee. “There is a clear
spirit of cooperation,” he says.
“John Balkcom (the new presi
dent in Santa Fe) and I are com
mitted to the notion that with
respect to certain issues, col
lege-wide treatment is essential.
We need to preserve the special
sense of community that exists
on each campus, and we will not
take any action that would
threaten that.”
During its first year, the Man
agement Committee:
• Equalized tutor salaries,
which had been less in Santa
Fe since 1994-95
• Formulated a plan for equaliz
ing tuition, which had been
different on the two campuses
• Worked out a college-wide
budget, with separate consid
eration of capital projects and
other issues specific to each
campus
• Considered differences in the
financial aid policies of the
campuses and began to work on
making them more consistent
• Re-organized the advance
ment offices to prevent dupli
cating all functions on each
campus
• Adopted an information tech
nology plan for both campus
es, including a joint web site
• Provided for a joint recruit
ment strategy and new publica
tions for the Graduate Institute
• Prepared a framework for a
college-wide strategic plan
that considers needs and
resources well into the future
• Formulated a way to resolve
inconsistent alumni databases
on the campuses
• Standardized a host of report
ing functions so that college
wide information is available
on everything from budget
matters to admissions enroll
ment
During this first year the Man
agement Committee concentrat
ed on resolving differences that
had arisen over time. The com
mittee is also beginning to make
college-wide policy decisions, for
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
example; it extended benefits to
the domestic partners (same and
opposite sex) of faculty and staff.
In the coming year the Com
mittee will complete a strategic
plan and needs assessment for
the campuses, and will help
organize the elements for the
college’s next fundraising capi
tal campaign. “I anticipate
focusing on the need to have
comparable faculty staffing,
class sizes, and faculty develop
ment programs on both campus
es,” says Nelson.
St. John’s in
THE News
An article called “Where Plato
Is Your Professor” in the Febru
ary aoor issue of Smithsonian
magazine describes the col
lege’s program, the students
and classes, and the various
extracurricular activities. Also
interviewed are several alumni,
identified as a building contrac
tor, a lawyer, a biologist, and an
editorial assistant. Written by
Edwards Park, a retired Smith
sonian contributor who lives in
Annapolis, and photographed
by Cameron Davidson, the arti
cle focuses on the intellectual
atmosphere of St. John’s.
St. John’s is also featured in a
book about investing (yes, the
financial kind). Latticework:
The New Investing by Robert G.
Hagstrom (published by Texere )
describes an approach to invest
ing that is based on a liberal
arts-style understanding, where
the interconnections between
the important ideas from a num
ber of fields are discovered.
Hagstrom, who is a senior vicepresident of Legg Mason Focus
Capital, talked with alumni in
investment fields, who cited the
importance of St. John’s in their
development as “better
thinkers.” -f-
�8
{From the Bell Towers}
Leo Raditsa
The Face of SJC Today
About the freshmen who arrived in Santa Fe and Annapolis in
September and January:
There are 319 of them, 167 men and 152 women. 8 didn’t finish high
SCHOOL (they are CLASSIFIED “eARLY ENTRANCE”) AND 52 ATTENDED
ANOTHER COLLEGE BEFORE THEY BAILED OUT, SAW THE LIGHT, AND CAME TO
St. John’s. Age range is i6 to 51. About 68% receive financial aid.
223 ATTENDED PUBLIC SCHOOLS; 93 ATTENDED INDEPENDENT OR
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. 6o% RANKED IN THE TOP FIFTH OF THEIR CLASS; 4%
MeRIT HONORS.
St. John’s doesn’t require SAT scores for admission, but of those
RANKED IN THE FOURTH FIFTH. 183 RECEIVED NATIONAL
THAT submitted SCORES, THE RANGE OF THE MIDDLE 50% VERBAL IS 65O
TO 750 AND THE RANGE OF THE MIDDLE 50% MATH IS 580 TO 680. 39
STATES AND 3 FOREIGN COUNTRIES ARE REPRESENTED (HIGHEST NUMBERS
ARE 32 FROM
California in Santa Fe and 20 from Maryland in
CHRIS QUINN SFGIo
Annapolis),
Within
a few weeks, the
FRESHMEN BLENDED IN SO WELL
IT WAS HARD TO DISTINGUISH
THEM FROM MORE SEASONED
Johnnies - you
had to check
WHAT they were READING TO
FIND OUT. Students are
SHOWN ON THE AnNAPOLIS
(left) and AT Meem
Library (above).
GREG WHITESELL
quad
{The College -
Leo Raditsa, a tutor at the col
lege since 1973, died February
22 in Annapolis after suffering a
stroke. He had been ill with
myeloma.
Born in Geneva, Switzerland,
in 1936, where his father, Bog
dan Raditsa, was a delegate to
the League of Nations, Mr.
Raditsa came to this country in
1940 when his father joined the
Yugoslav Embassy in Washing
ton, D.C.
He graduated from Phillips
Exeter Academy and then from
Harvard College in 1956. At
Harvard he founded and edited
i.e.. The Cambridge Review.
The grandson of the noted Ital
ian historian Guglielmo Fer
rero, he held two graduate
degrees in history from Colum
bia University: a 1962 master’s
in medieval history and a 1969
doctorate in ancient history. He
was also a University Fellow and
a President’s Fellow at Colum
bia. In 1964-65 he held a Ful
bright Fellowship at the Univer
sity of Munich.
After teaching at New York
University, Washington Square
College, from 1965 to 1973, he
joined the faculty of St. John’s
College. He was the founding
editor of The St. John ’a Review.
He was affiliated during the
1977-78 academic year with the
Hoover Institute on War, Revo
lution and Peace at Stanford,
Calif., as a National Endowment
for the Humanities fellow.
Mr. Raditsa was the author of
numerous articles and of two
books: Prisoners ofa Dream:
The South African Mirage,
which he wrote following 1991
when he was a lecturer at the
Rand Afrikaans University and
at the University of the Witwatersrand, seoA Some Sense About
Wilhelm Reich, concerning the
controversial psychiatrist. Mr.
Raditsa was also a painter whose
watercolors were exhibited at
galleries in the Annapolis area.
Mr. Raditsa was a member of
a distinguished Italian family
St. John’s College ■ Spring soot }
Leo Raditsa
and great-grandson of the crim
inologist Cesare Lombroso; he
divided his time between
Annapohs and his family home
outside Florence. Survivors
include his son, Sebastian, and a
sister, Basiljka Raditsa, both of
New York City. His marriage to
Larissa Bonfante of New York
City ended in divorce. The fami
ly requests that gifts be made to
the St. John’s College library,
P.O. Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404.
A memorial service for Mr.
Raditsa was held in March. A
memoriam will appear in the
next issue of The College.
�9
{Alumni Voices}
CARNIVAL IN
FLANDERS
A Pearl Harbor Day memoir
BY Peter Wolff, A44
y the time I got to St. John’s in the fall of
1940, the New Program was in full swing. A
few (less than a dozen) Old Program stu
dents still remained. The college got a
boost from an article in Life magazine that
appeared in February of 1940. It spoke
glowingly of the Program in a spread of 10 or
B
I cannot resist a swipe at American
journalism: One of the pictures
showed a student reading Horace’s
poems in Latin. A fine picture
except that the student shown was
an Old Program student; the book
he was reading was by an author
(Horace) not then being read in the
Program; the book was being read
in the original Latin instead of in
translation, whereas all of the great
books authors were and are being
read in English.
I took to the college immediately
and felt that I had found my intel
lectual home. I read the books, dis
cussed them and thought of little
else. I had little money but I didn’t
need it: $a6 lasted me through the
first semester, as I barely stepped
off the campus. I cannot remember
what I did in the summer of 1941, but I
returned to St. John’s in the fall of that
year with enthusiasm and threw myself
into reading the second year list. It includ
ed Virgil, but also St. Augustine’s Confes
sions and large parts of St. Thomas
Aquinas’s Summa The.ologica.
I had joined a film club that was being
formed by a few students. It proposed to
show classic movies to those who joined
In 194a, THE COLLEGE HELD A DANCE TO
ReLIEF. In
ATTENDANCE WERE STRINGFELLOW BaRR
(left) and Admiral Beardall, Superin
tendant OF THE Naval Academy.
RAISE MONEY FOR ALLIED WaR
the club. The movies were obtained from
the Museum of Modern Art on a rental
basis. Club members were mostly St.
John’s students but also faculty members
and a few faculty from the Naval Academy.
I can only remember two films. One was A
{The College
. St. John’s College ■ Spring soot }
Nous La Liberte, directed by Jean Renoir;
the other. Carnival in Flanders, was
scheduled for the evening of December 7,
1941. The gymnasium, an old building,
had to be prepared for the film showing.
So at a little after noon, several of us were
setting up the screen and folding chairs
for the audience.
At about r:3o in the afternoon, some
one came running into the building and
12,yelled,
pages.
“The Japanese have attacked Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii.” For a little while, I did
not fully take in what had been
said; then we all abandoned our
efforts (we were nearly finished
anyhow) and repaired to our dormi
tory rooms to listen to the radio.
The film showing did take place in
the evening. Not many of the Naval
Academy members of the club
showed up; those that did for the
first time wore their uniforms.
The next day, a radio (these were
pre-television days) was brought
into the dining hall and at noon we
listened to President Roosevelt
referring to December 7 as “a day
that will live in infamy,” regretting
the many casualties that had been
incurred, and asking the Congress
to declare war on Japan.
People of my age and generation
all remember what they were doing
on December 7,1941. For younger people,
it is just another date. For some of them,
November aa, 1963 has a similar
significance, but even those who remem
ber President Kennedy’s assassination are
now growing old. What are the mythic
dates for those who are now in their twen
ties or thirties? The first moon landing?
President Nixon’s resignation? The fall of
the Berlin Wall?
�IO
{Interview}
A CONVERSATION WITH
JOHN BALKCOM
The newpresident in Santa Fe begins
his tenure Johnnie-style—in a dialogue
with students, faculty, and alumni.
N November 7 John E. Balkcom
became the fifth president of the
Santa Fe campus of St. John’s Col
lege. A fit and athletic 53-year-old
with wide interests beyond a
career as head of a college, he radi
ates an affable, energetic person
ality and addresses the complex
challenges of his new job with
cheerful confidence. He has enjoyed a close association
with the college, having been not only a graduate student
in Santa Fe but also a member the Board of Visitors and
Governors for five years. In January the president sat down
for an interview with James Idema, a Santa Fe writer whose
affection for St. John’s stems from his participation in the
Community Seminar Series.
Q: Your background is an unusual combination ofbusiness
and academics. Your education includes an AB in philoso
phyfrom Princeton, an MBA from the University of Chica
go's Graduate School ofBusiness,and a master’s degree in
liberal artsfrom St. John’s. You have also pursued a career
as a business consultant and served as an adjunctprofessor
ofeconomics at Chicago. Is itfair to say that, with this back
ground, your visionfor St. John’s ispractical as well as ide
alistic?
JB: I would hope so. Practical in the sense of my aspiring for
this program - “this brilliantly conceived small college,” to
{The College-
quote one of our tutors emeritus. Bill Darkey - to be far
more secure financially in the future, to have the ability to
deliver this distinctive kind of education, this expensive
way of doing an education, and to give that method long
economic life through significant improvements in the
endowment. This would allow us to maintain a student
body of about 450 undergraduate and about 60 graduate
students. My feeling is that we could continue to grow
somewhat in the graduate program. We have no aspiration
to make the undergraduate program 500, 600, 700, but
rather to keep it at its current size or smaller, to serve that
population well, and to continue to sustain the intimacy
that happens at the seminar level between tutors and stu
dents. I believe that the seminar table is the locus of the
unique value of this program and I want to continue to be
able to deliver that close personal attention of our tutors to
our students, both in and out of class.
Q: More to the idealisticpoint. I’ve been reading in the local
press about the kind of epiphany you experienced in which
ethics came unexpectedly into your approach to life, per
haps gaining ascendancy over the business aspect. Can you
comment on that?
JB: One of the primary responsibilities of a partner in a
management consulting firm is to sell business, to build
new client relationships and to provide services that are
both valuable to the client and profitable to the consulting
firm. It’s a rather weak joke among consultants that when
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�ERIC SWANSON
{The College -St John's College
• Spring 2001 }
�{interview}
one receives a call from a prospective
client asking the question “Do you do
X?” the answer is almost always
“Why, yes, of course. And, indeed, we
are deeply expert in that area. That’s
our business and we have just the
people who can help you.” I certainly
appreciate the commercial impera
tive of growing one’s business when
one is a management consultant, but
at times I found it troubling that I was
at least stretching the case for my
capability or my firm’s capability for
what we might do to help a client.
In particular, after reading Augus
tine’s Confessions for the first time in
the Graduate Institute, I had this
blinding realization of the three
white lies a management consultant
tells when a prospective client calls
him. “(i) I’m thrilled to hear from
you. (2) I’m utterly fascinated by your
problem. (3) I’m immediately avail
able to help you.” Out of the realiza
tion that none of the above is always true and in the process of
reading the Confessions, I began having much more candid
conversations with my clients and prospective clients, asking
them background questions and then, with increasing fre
quency, suggesting that I was not the right person to handle
their problem but giving them names and phone numbers of
others who might be better qualified to serve them.
JB: Sure. We have eliminated that
disparity as of January i, which, as a
board member, I wanted to see hap
pen during my five years of tenure.
So I’m pleased that we have now
taken the steps that were needed.
Q:
It took a long time.
It took a long time because
of differences in resources available
to the two campuses. And it put some
added pressure on this campus in
terms of balancing our budget going
forward. We’ve had several areas of
cost increases in the last two years.
First, the increase in salaries for fac
ulty. Fortunately, we’ve had generous
benefactors who have increased our
endowment to help us fund the need
ed increase in faculty salaries. Two
years ago my predecessor and his staff
did an evaluation of staff compensa
tion and found that it was off the mark
quite a bit. So we have had some
significant
staff compensation
increases as well. We’ve also changed the kind of retirement
plan for the staff to be similar to that of the faculty. Our health
insurance costs, like those of almost every other organization I
know, are rising rapidly. And then throw into that the recent
spike in natural gas prices, and our fixed costs have gone up
tremendously.
JB: It did.
Ybelieve the seminar
table is the locus ofthe
unique value ofthis
program...
Q: One might think you risked losing clients that way.
That was the risk I expected at the beginning of those con
versations, but I must tell you it brought clients back to me
repeatedly, clients who had appreciated my candor. More
important for me, my speaking that way proved to be hugely
liberating.
Now you’re no longer a consultant but the man in charge.
What are some ofthe major challenges youface in thisposition.
Can we start with the faculty salary disparities between this
campus and Annapolis?
{The College
Bad timing, indeed. But I must say, we’re still finding our
friends, alumni, and certain foundations quite generous. It’s
not an easy challenge to raise the money, but they’re continu
ing to be generous with us. Friends of the college are still com
ing to us with significant gifts. So, in that sense, our timing is
quite fortuitous.
JB:
JB;
Q:
Q: Also a weakening ofthe economy. Bad timing.
Q:
You ’re going to be able to increase the endowment?
The board and the capital campaign committee are just
beginning to plan for the next capital campaign. But my person
al aspiration is to see the endowment move from its current level
JB:
■ St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{interview }
13
‘7found the... issues ofthe nature of
the soul [in the ' Phaedrus 7... quite
immediate and urgentfor every man
and woman in the room.
of just under $ioo million for the
whole college to something in excess
of $250 mUhon hy the end of this
decade. That’s not an easy task. It
takes a great deal ofwork. But I know
it can be done. Many other fine hberal arts colleges in a similar period
have raised significantly more than
that. I think we have the opportunity
to present this story to alumni,
friends, and foundations and corpo
rations in a way that wiU be com
pelling, to improve our endowment
substantially. That, by the way, will
help with our sustaining and improving the salaries of faculty and staff.
study area that would be more
friendly to students. Probably the
most notable physical change that a
number of us would like to see is an
auditorium that would house 600 to
800 at one time. Today we have no
single venue within which we can
convene the entire college commu
nity, meaning faculty, students, and
staff.
L
Q: Would this replace the Great
Hall?
Q: Willyou yourselfbe taking an active role infundraising?
JB: Oh, yes, I already have been. I am traveling some in con
nection with that task, and Robert Glick, the vice president for
advancement, has scheduled me for a minimum of three
lunches and two dinners a week with potential donors of vari
ous kinds in the Santa Fe area.
envision physical expansion of the campus, bricks
and-mortar improvements?
Q: Do you
JB: Yes, in a modest way. Again, we are at the maximum stu
dent size that we want, so we won’t be growing in that sense.
But I would like to add - and again, this is yet to be worked out
- another 60 rooms on campus, which would allow us to house
up to 75 to 80 percent of our student body.
Q:
That means new dormitories.
JB: Two new dormitories would be my guess.
Q: The dormitories arefilled up
now?
JB: To the brim. So that’s one physical change - a modest one, I
think. A second needed improvement: We have about $12 mil
lion of deferred maintenance on campus buildings and need
very much to upgrade the fire protection systems. Thirdly, I’d
like to see a project suggested, just as a possibility, by the head
of our bookstore of breaking the wall between the bookstore
and the coffee shop and combining them into a sitting and
{The College .
JB: I hope it would replace the Great
Hall. And it would do three impor
tant things for us: It would give us a venue for convening the
entire college community. Second, it would give us a more
attractive space for student productions of plays and musical
performances. Third, it would give us an opportunity to bring
the local community here for events of various kinds, to house
musical events and professional performances, and allow the
community to become even closer and better acquainted with
the college. So, I’d like to see that change. It might be the most
noticeable of the changes I would envision in bricks and mortar.
Q: I was going to ask whether St. John "s alumni,
as other college
alumni, are generally successful, well off, dependable support
ers ofSt. John's. Or does the St. John'sprogram tend toproduce
scholars who don’tpursue more remunerative careers?
JB: We produce alums who enter a great variety of careers,
from teaching at the secondary school level to advanced aca
demic careers in higher education to authors to producers and
directors and screenwriters for movies to proprietors of pri
vately owned businesses to heads of investment management
businesses. We have the variety of alums you would find in
many other colleges, and a wide range of economic success in
that population. It is an alumni body that has the capability of
providing great support for the college. During the last capital
campaign, we had a participation rate that was quite attrac
tive, compared to our other liberal arts competitors. On an
annual basis, the participation rate is modest, but growing
rapidly, and we expect to continue to see that grow. We have a
new organization of alumni called Philanthropia, and its pur-
St. John's College • Spring 2001 }
�^4
I { 1 NT E RVI E W }
'Tor sure, we could do a
betterjob ofreaching a more
diversepopulation.''
pose is to engage the alumni in their support
of the college. That holds great promise.
enjoy it newly every time. So, one aspect of a
great book is the re-readability. A second
aspect of “greatness” is the connectedness,
the pervasiveness, of the ideas of these texts
in our culture. When I read a new piece of
fiction that somebody says is a really great
book, I frequently find it enjoyable reading.
However, I’m not likely to read it again
because it’s not terribly re-readable. But it
may have three or four ideas in it that came
out of Plato or out of Aristotle, whose ideas
remain pervasive.
Q: In the category ofother changes and chal
lenges, what about the curriculum?
JB: My expectation is that the curriculum
will change very slowly, if at all. The way that
our founding document, the Polity, is writ
ten, it assigns to our faculty, to our joint
Instruction Committee of the two campuses,
and to the deans the responsihility for over
seeing the design and content of the curricu
lum. Our faculty retains to this day a very
strong commitment to what was called in
1937 “the New Program.”
£
I think one of the reasons people ask you
that perhaps frivolous question is that it’s
such a long time between Aristotle’s day and
today.
Q:
o
Q:
It's still the New Program?
is still the New Program. And I think
that’s a distinguishing characteristic of this college that will
change very little. It’ll he a little more of this and a little less of
that. Add a Platonic dialogue here and two fewer essays of
Montaigne there, or whatever. These things go through care
ful consideration and dehate at our faculty meetings and in our
Instruction Committee meetings. By design, they change very
slowly.
JB: It
JB: But the program comes to the 19th and
aoth centuries.We certainly talk about Kant, Hume, Hegel,
Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Yeats. And the sciences, from
Galileo to Newton all the way forward to Einstein. There are a
few Gommunity Seminars, I believe, with Richard Feynman’s
writings, in them. So we have, in some of our courses, very
contemporary authors.
Q:
“Ijust read a great
new book. Why don ’tyou include that?” That is an interesting
question, I think. What does make a great book?
Q: Surelyyou must run intopeople who say,
JB: Well, I’ve just heen re-reading the two opening essays, one
by Mortimer Adler and one by the former president of the Uni
versity of Chicago, Robert Maynard Hutchins, for the original
editions of the Great Books, as they were published by Ency
clopedia Britannica, and there are a few ideas that I found
quite intriguing. One of them is the notion that a great book is
highly re-readable. That is, it deserves to be read, not once,
and maybe not even twice or three times. Every time I read the
Iliad - and I’ve read it four or five times in the last five years I find half a dozen things that strike me as, “How could I pos
sibly have missed this?” The Iliad and the Odyssey and the
Platonic Dialogues and the works of Aristotle - there are many
others, of course, with this character.
For me, personally, I re-read the poetry of Yeats weekly and
{The College.
Notjust dead white guys.
JB: I’ve certainly heard that charge. No, I think they’re quite
alive. In my last preceptorial in the graduate program, we had
seven graduate students and six undergraduates reading
Plato’s Phaedrus. It has to do with rhetoric, with erotic love
and with the nature of the soul and with poetry. And I found
the issues of how one expresses oneself in writing or in speak
ing, the issues of the nature of the soul, the issues of the
nature of erotic love, quite immediate and urgent for every
man and woman in the room. And not at all stale by virtue of
having been written by a “dead white guy.”
Q: That naturally leads to the question ofwomen. And I know
you expressed interest in that and thefact that your wife and
daughters sometimes bug you to pay more attention to the
female gender.
Two things I should mention in that connection. In one of
my very early classes in the Summer Glassies, one of the tutors
JB:
St. John ’5 College • Spring zooi }
�{interview}
15
Y think ofthe students
as thefirst group lam
responsiblefor serving.
son we consider as a potential student is that
person’s seriousness about and capability for
studying in this particular way, reading a text
slowly and discussing it at length with col
leagues in a classroom.
put me onto the text The Book ofthe City of
Ladies by Christine de Pizan, which is quite
a remarkable story of court life in the 15th or
i6th century from a woman’s point of view.
And I’ve mentioned as well that we have had
a preceptorial in the Graduate Institute on
the work of Toni Morrison.
Q:
JB: My meetings with students are what I call
I want to ask you about the relationship
between St. John’s College and the city of
Santa Fe. Do you sense an affinity between
this comparatively new (1964) institution and
this ancient (1610) city?
Q:
JB: Yes. In the last ao years many adult learn- 2
z
ers, if I could use that phrase, have moved 5
o
into Santa Fe. These are men and women 2
cc
who may have retired or may be in the «
process of winding down their full-time pro
fessions, and who are seeking an opportunity to look with
some seriousness into matters of the quality of life and
whether or not the soul is in fact perpetual. And to examine, to
stop and lookback on what they’ve done in the last 30 or 40 or
50 years of their lives and reflect on them in a thoughtful way.
We draw many such men and women to us through our Com
munity Seminars, through our Summer Classics, even
through our Graduate Institute. So, I think that’s part of the
affinity with this town.
Q: Santa Fe has a notoriously poor public education system
itself. Many ofthesepeople you refer to arepart-time residents,
and, as you say, are retired, and they can afford to stop and
reflect on their lives. One would wish that somehow this oppor
tunity could be made available to people who have not had
thatprivilege.
Let me say that we make all of our admissions decisions at
the undergraduate and at the graduate level on a needs blind
basis. I’ve heard more than once some passing comment about
this elite program in which rich white folks come and study
the dead white guys. But approximately 70 percent of our stu
dents currently receive financial aid of one kind or another, so
we welcome a very wide variety of students. And for sure, we
could do a better job of reaching a more diverse population.
We are working on that. The biggest question about every per
JB:
Tell me aboutyour meetings with students.
“town hall meetings.” I regard the agenda as
belonging to the students.
You call the students customers, your ‘^pri
mary customers. ”
Q:
I think of them as the first group whom I
am responsible for serving. They’re here,
they are living here, they have entrusted
themselves and their education to us. I feel
responsible to them. So in that sense they are
my primary customer. And so, once every four to six weeks I
want to have a town hall meeting, invite any and all students
who would like to come, and discuss what they would like to
discuss. I don’t always have the answer, but I’m willing to take
a question and tell them I’ll get back to them.
JB:
about exhausted my question list unless you sense an
omission in what we’ve covered that you’d like to add to this
informal accounting to St. John’s alumni.
Q: I’ve
JB: My added message would be that, whereas I regard the stu
dents as my primary customers, if I can say that, I think of the
alumni as a very close second. And it’s helpful to me - I’ve
already heard from quite a number of alumni by e-mail and
have received feedback on communications I’ve sent them, on
publications we’ve put out as a college as well as articles that
have been published elsewhere about the campus.
Q:
Well received?
well received. We have listened to suggestions for
improvements, too. This is a very thoughtful alumni body and I
have a great deal to learn from them. Dialogue is the hallmark
of this school. It is vital that we continue to have a rich dialogue
with the alumni, as well as the students and faculty. 4"
JB: Very
{The College -St John’s College
■ Spring 2001 }
�{The Program}
THE LOGOS
ACCORDING TO
ARISTOTLE
Tutor Joe Sachs thinks the key to understanding Aristotle
lies in ordinary speech - whether its Greek or English.
BY Barbara Goyette, A73
o surprise: Joe Sachs, an alumnus
who graduated in 1968 and
became a tutor in Annapolis in
1975, first encountered Aristotle
in his freshman seminar, which
was led by Bob Bart and Debbie
Traynor. Slightly surprising: He
found a kind of joy in reading and
Studying Aristotle that was a deep
ening of the delight he experienced while reading Plato. His
favorite book was The Physics. “There were two things that
happened,” he says. “1 realized that what 1 thought of as sci
ence and philosophy didn’t have to be distinct. And then I
realized that the world didn’t have to be thought of the way
I’d been taught in high school. The Physics denies things I
had assumed about space, time, body, cause, and explana
tion.” Downright surprising: Sachs has spent a good part of
the past ten years translating four works of Aristotle: The
Physics, The Metaphysics, On the Soul, and The Nicomachean Ethics. The first two have been published, the oth
ers have found publishers and will appear in print soon.
Considering that Aristotle is probably the philosopher
who most permeates Western thought - from his tutelage of
Alexander the Great, to the adoption of his Latinized
vocabulary as the very speech of philosophy for hundreds of
years, to the easy acceptance of the nickname “The Big
Aristotle” by basketball’s superstar Shaquille O’Neal - why
{The College-
would there be need for more translations? Because the
translations out there are inadequate, says Sachs. The prob
lem with the translations dates to the i6th and 17th cen
turies when scholarly work that had previously been avail
able only in Latin began to appear in modern languages.
The Latin versions of Aristotle established a vocabulary
that carried over into the modern languages, a vocabulary
that included such familiar philosophic staples as “acci
dent,” “substance,” “essence,” “actuality,” and “priva
tion.” Not only did the Latinized versions of these words
become a jargon, but that jargon disguised much of what is
important in Aristotle, Sachs thinks. “The twists and turns
of the tradition that got lost from view led to mistakes and
misunderstandings of Aristotle,” he says.
Here’s an example of how the words used in the scholar
ly tradition don’t really capture the Greek: The phrase kata
sumbebekos became, in Latin translations of Aristotle,/>er
accidens, and then in scholastic English the Latin word’s
descendent, “accidental.” “The Latin is a good translation
for the Greek, and the English is cognate with the Latin,”
says Sachs. “But the original Greek meaning doesn’t come
through when you make kata sumbebekos into ‘acciden
tal.’” He renders kata sumbebekos as “incidental” rather
than “accidental.” In his Glossary to The Physics, he
explains, “The word ‘accidental’ is appropriate to some,
but not all incidental things; it is not accidental that the
housebuilder is a flute player, but it is incidental. To any
St. John's College • Spring 2001 }
�{The College -St John’s
College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{ThePkogram}
''LikePlato 's dialogues, Aristotle's
writings lead us onfrom untested opinions
- those expressed in ordinary speech toward more reliable ones. "
thing, an infinity of incidental attributes belongs, and this
opens the door to chance (196 b).”
Nineteenth and aoth century English translations of Aristo
tle include those found in the Loeb editions and in the huge
beige McKeon edition that Johnnies of the 1970s and 1980s
relied on. Loeb translations are loose by design. McKeon’s edi
tion contained parts of a series of Oxford translations made
early in the aoth century. Some were very graceful, but they
relied entirely on the Latinized vocabulary carried over from
the earlier translations. Beginning in the 1960s, Hippocrates
Apostle produced a set of translations that attempted to stan
dardize Aristotle’s vocabulary in English - Apostle always used
the same English word for each Greek term, but he still relied
on the adopted Latinized words. During the course of many
years’ worth of classes, study groups, and advising sessions,
Sachs found himself having to say to students “it doesn’t really
mean that” about many of the words they were wrestling with.
He would give long explanations of each such word, and wish
there were some better way to translate it.
Behind Sachs’ resolve to try to render Aristotle into English
more effectively lies a deeper reason than being discontent with
the use of the fossilized Latin vocabulary. Aristotle looks at
ordinary speech and the thought behind it, and he “puts
together the most ordinary words in unaccustomed combina
tions. Since the combinations are jarring, our thinking always
has to be at work,” says Sachs. Here’s the paradox of Aristotle
for us today: He’s at the same time the most referred-to thinker
whose ideas form the very foundation of all Western philoso
phy, from Locke, Kant and Hegel to Whitehead and Husserl,
and yet - according to Sachs - he’s the freshest because he
makes us examine the most simple assumptions about our lives
and what they might mean. Getting to the root of this fresh
quality of Aristotle’s work was Sachs’ aim in translating the the
oretical books with the resources of “ordinary English.”
Gertainly this is an enterprise characteristic of how the
Greeks are treated at St. John’s. “[Jacob] BClein is the main
source of my thinking about Aristotle and Plato,” notes Sachs.
He cites Klein’s essay “Aristotle, an Introduction” (which
appears in Jacob Klein: Lectures and Essays, St. John’s College
Press) as something he’s read many times. But Sachs calls his
translations an appropriate entry point for any educated reader
- not just Johnnies - into the world of the ancients.
{The College
Turning The PHYSICS wyg English
rom 1990 to 1992, Sachs held the National Endow
ment for the Humanities (NEH) chair at the col
lege. This fellowship enables tutors to spend their
time studying a topic in depth for two years; dur
ing the second year they also lead a faculty study
group on their topic and give a lecture. He used the tim
begin a translation of The Physics. “At first I didn’t know
was practical - whether I knew enough Greek, whether there
were solutions to the difficult problems I saw,” he says. But he
began to work with the aim of making Aristotle’s sentences
real by getting rid of the jargon and using instead everyday,
common words that exist in both English and Greek.
“Aristotle respects ordinary speech more than most modern
philosophers do. We use a lot of important words in inconsis
tent ways. For Aristotle that is an indication of something
deeply true,” explains Sachs. For example, take the Greek
word kalon. Sometimes it is translated as “beautiful,” some
times as “noble.” But the English word “noble” loses most of
the vividness and power of the Greek. Aristotle considers the
linguistic usage as a clue that leads to an understanding of
moral virtue as something for its own sake, that hits a mean. In
English we might also say, “That’s a beautiful thing you did.”
We all know what that means, and it somehow tells us some
thing about that action. “Ambiguities in speech that are deeply
revealing about the thing referred to can arise in similar ways
in more than one language,” says Sachs.
“The trouble with ordinary speech for the purposes of phi
losophy,” says Sachs, “is that it carries too much meaning. We
are so accustomed to its use that it automatically carries along
all sorts of assumptions about things that we make without
being aware of them. ..Like Plato’s dialogues, Aristotle’s writ
ings lead us on from untested opinions - those expressed in
ordinary speech - toward more reliable ones.”
Getting something out of The Physics depends on how will
ing people are to let go of their assumptions. “It’s full of things
that people laugh at when they encounter them - take his
notion that bodies falling in a void would speed up without
limit. But reading Aristotle is a way of getting back to the ques
tions. Sometimes to get that fresh look you have to uproot
things that stand in your way. The Physics has everything to do
with living in the world.”
F
St John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�{TheProgram}
19
''The argument is on the way
somewhere and things are changing.
Things get revised.
Progress on the translation was sometimes slow - a sentence
in a day - and sometimes faster. Sachs found that he couldn’t
leave a decision half-made. “So many things that I hadn’t paid
attention to turned out to he very interesting and important,”
he says. But at the end of the second year he had a draft. Find
ing a publisher was a real-world challenge. His translation
wasn’t favored hy the classicists because “it wasn’t good Enghsh,” meaning that it read like philosophy instead of litera
ture. The philosophy departments, on the other hand, didn’t
like Sachs’ translation because it wasn’t consistent with the
other works in the tradition - no “substance,” “essence,”
“accident,” etc. Sachs wound up using Rutgers University
Press, and his Physics appeared in 1998 as part of their “Mas
terworks of Discovery: Guided Studies of Great Texts in Sci
ence” edited by Annapolis tutor Harvey Flaumenhaft.
been obscured by technical jargon the same way they had been
in the theoretical works. But there were enough ways that I
thought those translations fell short that I decided to try doing
my own,” says Sachs. All of the books reflect the basic aims of
recapturing the original focus of Aristotle’s thinking.
What’s Aristotle Doing?
hat has Sachs learned about Aristotle
after spending so much time with him?
Not a few St. John’s students and alumni
have trouble reading Aristotle because of
his style - it’s so densely packed, the sen
tences are opaque, and it lacks the drama of the dia
step-by-step explications of Kant, or the perverse
Nietzsche. Sachs doesn’t exactly buy the commonly accepted
story that Aristotle’s writings are transcriptions of lecture
The Other Translations
notes. “I think they may have begun as lecture notes, but they
he year following his second spent holding the
got written down and polished,” he says. He compares the
method to that described frequently in Plato’s dialogues, when
NEH chair, Sachs had a sabbatical, which he used
a character says “I heard this from so and so, and then I wrote
to begin working on a translation of The Meta
it down and checked it with the source.”
physics. That book was published in 1999 by Green
“I think you can feel the movement in the classroom,” says
Lion Press, an independent pubhshing house con
Sachsofabout the writings. “An objection outlined is something
centrating on primary texts in the history of science, history
someone brought up in one of the classes. Or there might be a
mathematics, and history of ideas and run by St. John’s alumni
joke about the educated person being pale - that would refer to
Wdham Donahue (A67) and Dana Densmore (A65).
someone in the room. A lot of the things we puzzle about would
Even more than The Physics, The Metaphysics has been mis
have
been obvious to Aristotle’s hsteners.” The movement of
understood, thinks Sachs. It’s commonly criticized as not
the
arguments
is dialectical - that’s the structure that prevails
being cohesive, because it appears to make new beginnings
in The Physics, The Metaphysics, and even in The Ethics. “The
over and over again, as well as covering the same ground
argument is on the way somewhere and things are changing.
repeatedly. Sachs found an underlying order as he worked
Things get revised,” says Sachs. This flowing structure to the
through the translation; rather than becoming so enmeshed in
works is another reason the accepted notion of Aristotle laying
details that a sense of the whole is obscured, the opposite hap
down the law or offering a series of set answers is so wrong.
pened - he came to a clearer understanding of the differences
“Instead, I find it a record of careful thinking,” says Sachs.
between demonstration and dialectic.
Aristotle’s record of careful thinking is something that has
At the urging of tutor Brother Robert, Sachs also translated
kept
Sachs busy translating for about ro years. Although he
On the Soul over the course of a few summers; it’s currently
says the efforts never turned into a chore, he’s finished with
being prepared for publication by Green Lion. And, during a
translating, at least translating Aristotle and at least for now.
second sabbatical, almost 10 years after working on The
But the thoughts are still alive for him: “Every time I pick up
Physics, he translated The Nicomachean Ethics. That transla
one of his books or sit down with people to talk about Aristo
tion is being prepared by The Focus Philosophical Library in
tle, I find new things.”
Massachusetts.
“The Ethics is a book that I love. The translations seemed
good enough because the things Aristotle was saying had not
W
T
{The College -St John's College
• Spring 2001 }
�{Johnnies
on
Parenting}
THE EDUCATION THAT IS
PARENTHOOD
From birth to the empty nest, raising a child
means learning to deal with each new challenge.
BY Sus3AN Borden, A87
OR ALL WE LEARN FROM THE GREAT ROOKS,
they don’t seem to answer parent
hood’s most pressing questions: What
did Penelope do to make Telemachos
sleep through the night? Would
attachment parenting have saved
Oedipus? If Desdemona and Juliet had
been allowed to try “group dating,”
could tragedy have been averted? Pedi
atric rheumatologist Jim Jarvis (A75) agrees that there are
limits to the insights on parenting to be gained at St.
John’s. “Will studying Apollonius make you a better par
ent?” he asks. “I don’t think so.”
He suggests more intimate sources for learning how to
raise children. “You learn from your parents, you learn
from your children, and you learn from your heart, if you
leave your heart open and attentive to all the wonderful
things your child is trying to teach you,” he says. And that,
he explains, is where St. John’s comes in.
“St. John’s prepares your heart to be open,” he says. “I
remember tutors Michael Littleton and Elliott Zuckerman
teaching me that it’s okay to love something because it’s
beautiful. I remember seeing the look on Michael Little
ton’s face when he was listening to Beethoven’s Eroica Sym
phony. I realized that I was watching not only a man who
found this piece of music intellectually satisfying hut who,
in the very core of his heart, found it beautiful. If you let it,
your St. John’s education can prepare your heart for accept
ing the incredible beauty and mystery of childhood.”
Granted, Piaget and Montessori are not on the St. John’s
reading list. And there’s no manual for raising children that
{The College-
provides an answer for every troubling situation. But in this
inaugural issue of The College, six alumni who work with
parents and children offer their insights into the education
that is parenthood.
I•Convocation
Birth
Parenting studies - like college studies - begin with a sud
den immersion into a completely different kind of life. Eor
both experiences, it’s a change you’ve been waiting for for
months, mainly with excitement, but also with anxiety. You
pack your bag, climb into the car, and the adventure
begins. One key difference: when you’re heading for col
lege, it’s just butterflies in your stomach. One similarity:
you’re beginning a new life with a journey into the
unknown.
Midwife Laureen Sutton-Borgilt (SP86) says that,
because she works mainly with home births, the couples
she works with have a high sense of responsibility. But, she
says, taking responsibility can be confused with taking con
trol, and when it comes to childbirth, control is an illusion.
“One of the biggest jobs in preparing for birth is accepting
what it means to deal with uncertainty. You don’t always get
to choose how things are going to come out. You can
choose the little things, like to stay home or to have the
baby in water, hut birth doesn’t always give you your
choice. Parenting doesn’t always give you your choice
either,” says Sutton-Borgilt. “Parenting plunges us into an
unknown over which there is no control and pregnancy is
definitely a first step into this realm of the unknown.”
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�ai
their own temperaments, their
own way of dealing with the
First year oflife
“God Creating Adam”
world,” she says. “The best a
FROM Chartres Cathedral
parent can do is help them learn how to
Sure you studied virtue at St. John’s,
make good judgments and accept
but these days you’re modeling good
themselves with whatever limitations
behavior at home. Of course you read
and strengths they have.”
about beauty during college, but par
Friehling offers a Johnnie-like
enthood leaves you marveling at your
approach to child-raising: “Just like
baby’s perfect features. And while love
tutors are not professors but are there
was once a subject for discussion and
to guide students in dialogue, I see par
contemplation, it’s now something
ents as guiding their children in a dia
that overtakes you every day. Like
logue. From the time the child is six
freshman year, early parenthood fasci
months old, parents should set up a dia
nates us with its subject matter. But
logue
to help the child figure out this
there’s a lot to learn and a world of
world on his or her own. By the time
adjustments to make.
Jim Jarvis [A75]
they are adolescents, children are very
“There’s no bigger transition in the
much participants in the dialogue and
world than becoming a parent,” says
they
don’t have the same kind of rebel
pediatrician Melissa Sedlis (A73). “No
lion issues as children whose parents set themselves up as
matter how old you are, you’re just someone else’s child
arbitrary authorities.”
until you become a parent yourself. There’s a great divide
II- Freshman Year
J.
''Ifyou let it, your
St. Johns education
can prepare your heart
for accepting the
incredible beauty and
mystery ofchildhood. ”
you cross.
“Everyone has watched a child misbehave, seen how the
parent handles it, and thought, ‘I’ll do it so much better. My
child will never go to McDonald’s. My child will never want
sugar cereals.’ There are a lot of illusions that parents have
to lose. What we often have in our minds during pregnancy
is an idealized version of what our child will be like. We try
to fit the child into our idea of what the child should be.”
Pediatrician Linda Friehling (SF71) warns parents not to
impose such ideas onto their children. “Children have
{The College-
III-Sophomore Year
Toddler andpreschool years
More than any other year, sophomore year seems to focus
on a single book: the Bible. Parents of toddlers and
preschoolers, their faith tested by temper tantrums and toi
let training, can find themselves haunting bookstores’ par
enting sections, praying for a divinely inspired source of
wisdom. Some find a favorite - a parenting “Bible.” Among
St. John's College - Spring 2001 }
�2,2,
{JoHNNiES
ON
Parenting}
‘7sometimes have to remind
parents that the ape at which you
first eat preen beans is not on the
applicationfor Harvard. ”
Melissa Sedlis [A73]
today’s most popular are T.
means and interest to support
Berry Brazleton’s Touchpoints,
good daycare.”
Penelope Leach’s Your Baby
But what about intellectual
and Child, Arlene Eisenberg’s
enrichment? Wouldn’t a top
What to Expect the Toddler
notch daycare offer children a
Years, and Dr, Spock’s Baby and
head start in the academic
Child Care.
world? Berkowitz doesn’t think
Steve Berkowitz (A8i), associ
so. “You can get your kid to read
ate professor in child and adoles
earlier, to know the capitals ear
cent psychiatry at Yale Medical
lier, to do math earlier, but what
School, says he likes some, but
has been demonstrated is that it
not all, of these works. “Throw
all evens out in the end,” he says.
Brazleton out the window,” he
“The important factors in pre
says. “He’s a nice guy but all too
school are the social and nurtur
easy.” Berkowitz says that Bra
ing elements. While formalized,
zleton’s “let it happen natural
rigid education in reading, writ
ly” approach is too hands-off for
ing, and arithmetic is becoming
most parents and children. “For
more popular, this might be at
instance, toilet training,” says
the cost of something very
Berkowitz. “I don’t think you
important to children: the use of
just sit there and tell a kid ‘you
their imaginations, working
can potty train whenever you’re
things through, and learning
ready.’ I don’t think you have to
and understanding through play
demand it when they’re i8
and imagination.”
months old, but at 3 years, when
Sedlis says that this rush to
they’re not potty trained, you
academics is particularly a prob
An icon of parental affection - a madonna and child
can say ‘we want this, you have
lem in New York City, where she
to do it, it’s what kids your age
lives and practices. “Children
do.’” Berkowitz thinks parents should be more directive than
begin to apply to nursery schools at the age of one or two. They
Brazleton advises. “I don’t think young children want a mil
go on a round of interviews and many of them get rejected.
lion choices,” he says. “They want comfort, nurturing, direc
There’s enormous anxiety over this and parents beheve if you
tion. They wantyou to make choices for them. That’s what par
don’t get into the right nursery school, you won’t get into the
ents do.”
right ongoing school, then the right college, and then the right
While he’s not so crazy about Brazleton, Berkowitz does like
job. I sometimes have to remind parents that the age at which
Penelope Leach. “I think she’s great and has a lot to offer,” he
you first eat green beans is not on the application for Harvard.”
says. “Like anybody else, there are things I disagree with her
about, like her strong stance against daycare. Studies show
IV • Enabling
that good daycare is very good for children, there’s just very
Are youfit to continue?
little of it.”
What is good daycare? Berkowitz points to the daycare cen
It’s the end of your sophomore year. You go to your mailbox
ters affiliated with Yale. “Theyhaveverylowchild/staffratios,
and find a letter from the dean. You’re either in or out. But as
highly trained staff who are well paid and have the benefits of
a parent, it’s not that simple. There are many points in a
being in an academic environment, and parents who have the
child’s life when you find yourself scrutinizing your perform{The College
- St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{JoHNNIESOnPaRENTING}
2,3
JOHNNIES RECOMMEND...
great books on parenting
Touchpoints: Your Child’s Emotional and Behav
ioral DevelopmentYyY. Berry Brazleton
Toddlers and Parents: A Declaration ofIndepen
dence by T. Berry Brazleton
Infants and Mothers: Differences in Development by
T. Berry Brazleton
The First Twelve Months ofLife by Frank Caplan
ance, uncertain if you’re really
V • Junior Year
and Theresa Caplan
qualified to proceed. And like tutors
Elementary school
How To Talk So Your Child Will Listen, and Listen
at an enabling meeting, there are
So Your Child Will Talk by Adele Faber
plenty of people who seem ready
During junior year, you read Hume
and willing to judge your fitness as a
and Rousseau. As the parent of a
The Magic Years by Selma H. Fraiberg
parent. Certainly you can ignore
schoolage child, a visit to the play
First Feelings: Milestones in the Emotional Develop
onlookers at the grocery store when
ground
reminds you that life can
ment of Your Baby and Child by Stanley Greenspan
your child is having a tantrum. But
still be nasty, brutish, and short.
The Course ofLife by Stanley Greenspan
what about your mother, your
The temptation to tighten control
spouse, your adolescent who
is strong as your child learns to
Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five by
screams “I hate you,” your in-laws,
Penelope Leach
negotiate the social contracts of the
or your child’s pediatrician or
school yard, soccer team, and
Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn
teacher?
scouts. But even as the outside
The Emotional Life ofthe Toddler by Alicia F.
When daycare director Karen
world claims more and more ofyour
Lieberman
Shavin’s (Aya) son was diagnosed
child’s time and interest, the
The Interpersonal World ofthe Infant: A Viewfrom
with a learning disorder at age
experts agree: it’s time to loosen
Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology by
three, she was devastated by his
your grip. “Most of my peers from
Daniel N. Stern
prognosis. “They told me he would
St. John’s will remember that I’m a
never go to college and never have
rabid baseball fan,” says Jarvis.
. The Toddler Years: A Practical Guidefor
Parents & Caregivers by Irene Van De Zande
friends. And they said that all his
“And yet I know that my son’s
problems were related to an overfavorite sport is not baseball. He’s a
protective mother.”
good player, but he’s not as excited
Shavin says that, being in the child development field her
as he is about soccer. One of my most important jobs as a par
self, she tried to follow the advice of the experts she periodi
ent is to share his excitement about soccer and not push base
cally consulted. However, she saw that even professionals
ball on him. “When we lived back east we saw parents trying to
don’t agree and noticed they can fall into the trap of giving
live vicariously through their children through their academ
one-sided advice, influenced more by their training than by
ic and artistic endeavors. In Oklahoma, it’s through football
the needs of the child. “I needed to hear the experts’ recom
and cheerleading. I call it child abuse by sports.”
mendations,” she says. “But then I needed to analyze what
“Some parents wrongly view their children’s accomplish
they said to see if their method really applied to my child’s
ments as their own,” says Friehling. “That’s where distance
needs.” Shavin recommends that parents in similar situations
becomes necessary. You’re there as an enabler. You can nei
learn as much as they can from professionals, but then think
ther reap the accolades nor accept the blame for what happens
about what they know about their child and be willing to do
to your children as they move through school. There’s a differ
what the child needs, regardless of anyone’s advice.
ence between encouraging and pushing.”
This approach worked well for her son, who has made great
progress despite a significant auditory processing disability.
VI- Senior Year
“He’s 18 now, just finished his first semester of college, got all
Adolescence
As, and has a steady girlfriend,” she reports. “When he makes
friends, they’re friends for life.”
It’s not unusual to be intimidated by senior seminar readings.
What is this phenomenology, this theory of parallels, this
Beaute that Baudelaire seems so taken with? Fortunately, a
second reading and some careful reflection often reveal that
{The College
St John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�“4
{JohnniesonParenting}
''The adolescent is like Socrates,
asking the tough questions, forcing
parents to examine themselves and
how they ve lived their lives.
Linda Friehling
{SF71)
these are the questions of freshman,
VII "Graduation
sophomore, and junior years dressed
Empty nest
up in fancy clothes. So too with adoles
cence.
Like commencement, the empty nest is
“Parents of adolescents constantly
both a beginning and an end. “It’s won
pull their hair out, forgetting that they
derful and painful, letting go,” says
are struggling with the same issues
Friehling. “When my first child was in
with their children at 14 as they were
the middle of college I was cleaning out
with their children at 3,” says
a room in the basement where a lot of
Berkowitz. “The difference is that you
the toys were. I kept going up to him
can’t pick up a 14-year-old and say no.”
and saying, ‘Mattie, do you want this
Parents can find themselves regret
any more? What about this? Is this
ting this difference when it comes to
important to you?’ He was very gentle,
issues like sex. “Sexuality exists from
but finally he said, ‘Mom, do you think
very early on, but adolescents are actu
I’m going to play with any of my toys
ally able to do something about it that
again?’ I had a tear in my eye because I
they couldn’t do when they were 3,”
realized no, I suppose he’s not.”
Berkowitz says. He adds that this is
Friehling says that, while the vision
more troubling to parents of girls. “It’s
of a grown child can provoke tears, it
an issue of biology. Boys don’t get
can also bring joy to a parent: “Ifyou let
pregnant.”
Sibling interaction depicted by Rembrandt
yourself enjoy each phase, you can look
In her practice, Sedlis offers adoles
back at it with pleasure.”
cents a safe place to talk about sex,
drugs, and alcohol. And she gives them at least one important
Steve Berkowitz (A81) is an assistantprofessor in child and adoles
piece of information. “With older teenagers. I’ll say, ‘have you
cent psychiatry at Yale University's School ofMedicine as wed. as the
medical director of the New Haven Child Development-Community
ever heard of the morning after pill?’ They look at me like I
Policing
Program and the Yale Child Study Center Intensive Home
have two heads,” she says. “But every four to six months, a girl
based
Child
and Adolescent Psychiatric Services. He is also thepsychi
will come to me for this, a girl you would think of as a good
atric consultant to the National Centerfor Children Exposed to Vio
girl, who is a good girl, who has made a mistake.” While Sedlis
lence. He is thefather oftwo daughters.
encourages teens in such difficult situations to leave the hnes
Linda Friehling (SF71) is a pediatrician and the mother ofthree sons.
of communication with their parents open, she says that there
She lives in Great Falls, Virginia.
are some thing a child needs to keep private.
liM Jarvis {A75) is director ofpediatric rheumatology at the Children’s
Fortunately, the world of teenagers isn’t all about risky
Hospital of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, and a clinical associate pro
behaviors. Friehling is energized by the intellectual and moral
fessor ofpediatrics at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Cen
challenges teens constantly pose. “Adolescents are wonderful
ter. He is thefather oftwo daughters and one son.
because they are thinking, idealistic, and energetic. They keep
Melissa Sedlis (A73) is a pediatrician in private practice in New York
you on your toes and don’t take any nonsense,” she says. “The
City. She and her husband, Steven Sedlis (A7;j), have three daughters.
adolescent is hke Socrates, asking the tough questions, forc
Karen Shavin (A73) is the executive director ofBright Beginnings, an
ing parents to examine themselves and how they’ve lived their
infant-toddler and preschool Head Start program for homeless chil
lives. You have to back up what you say and give reasonable
dren in Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Jeff Crabtree (A72),
arguments. They’re not going to take things at face value;
are theparents ofone daughter and two sons.
they’re going to question everything.”
Laureen Sutton-Borgilt (SF86) is a midwife and the mother of two
daughters. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.
{The College -
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�as
{Campus Life}
CHORAL
KALEIDOSCOPE
BY SuS3AN Borden, A87
he Great Hall of McDowell has seen many Odysseus,” says David. “When they have
finished their performance with Demodsights in the past 200 years: the schooling of ocus of the tale of Ares and Aphrodite,
Francis Scott Key in 1796, a hall honoring Gen two youths are singled out to make a solo
display of their gymnastic prowess, throw
eral Lafayette in 1824, and the treatment of ing and catching a ball in mid-air.”
Following Plato’s formulation, David’s
Civil War casualties in 1863 and 1864. In recent
group began with a bardic rendition of the
years, it has been the site of college registra opening of Homer’s Catalogue of Ships
with the singer in the middle (like
tion, Fehhie convocation, and G.I. commencement.
It has
Demodocus) circled by dancers. Then two
of the students,
hosted coffee houses, rock parties, and waltz parties.
PlaysJohann du Hoffman (A04)
and Danae Marshall (A03), performed a
have been staged and freshman choruses have sung within its
carefully choreographed gymnastic dance.
Next, Sarah Frost (A04) gave a solo per
walls. And one chilly afternoon this past February, it was the
formance of a short Sappho poem, and
setting for a spectacle rich and strange.
finally the group presented a full choral
T
Drawing inspiration from the figures on
GrEEKVASES, AmIRTHANAYHGAM
David (center, left photo) leads stu
ANCIENT
dents IN A recreation OF A CHORAL DANCE.
Annapolis tutor Amirthanayagam David
(A86) and Miriam Rother, a choreographer
from Switzerland (and mother of sopho
more Noam Gedalof), led eleven students
in a two-week workshop reconstructing a
Greek chorus. When the group presented a
“workshop-performance” in the Great
Hah, about 150 students and tutors showed
up to watch.
David explained that the first part of
their presentation was a reconstruction of
a gymnastics lesson described by Plato in
the Laws. “It is likely not a coincidence
that the two types of dancing Plato pre
scribes, one imitating the language of the
Muse, the other more gymnastic and ath
letic, correspond to the two types Alcinous has his Phaeacian youths display for
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
rendition of the “Ode to Man” from
Antigone. A key to the reconstruction was
David’s theory of Greek prosody, which
allowed the dancers to know where to
stress their words.
Since the main floor of the Great HaU
was packed, many onlookers saw the per
formance from the second floor balcony.
From on high, the movement of the
dancers looked like the jewels in a kaleido
scope moving through a set of comphcated
but orderly symmetrical patterns.
�2,6
{Letters}
Editor 's Note: Thanks to those who wrote
in with information about thephotos in
the calendar. We were hoping that thepho
tos would elicit memories and waitedfor
the e-mails and letters to come in telling us
who waspictured in each shot. We weren i
sure about the date ofthe staircasephoto
(hence the ''ca. uj7O ”). But we are sure
about thephotographer because his name
is stamped on the back ofthephoto: Mari
on Warren, an Annapolis artist who took
manyphotos ofthe college—on both cam
puses—from the late tgsos through the
mid-iQ’^os.
E-Zine Proposal
Photo Recollections
For the record, the picture accompanying
the month of March in the aooi
“Founders & Foundations” calendar is
Brother Robert’s freshman (not sopho
more) geometry class in the fall of 1973.
Since we aren’t wearing heavy jackets (and
Lauren has her shoes off) it must be early
in the semester and we’re all sweating.
Sweating because we’ve each been given a
proposition to demonstrate; judging by
the models on the table we’re proving the
existence of the regular solids. I had to
prove the existence of the cube. Sara
Anastaplo did the dodecahedron (better
her than me) That’s Leslie Combiner at
the blackboard. Clockwise from Leslie are
Carolyn Wade, Sara Anastaplo, Paul
Rneisl, Janis Popowitz, Louis Eckler, Jean
Murdock, Lauren Ballard, Brother Robert,
Michael Levine, Eric Salem, Charlie Bor
ders, Rick Smith (I think) and Elizibeth
Hennessy. I seem to remember Ann
Browning and Pam Lobdell in this class
also. Once I hit Pam in the face with a
snowball thrown from the fire escape right
next to this room (three stories up...do the
physics) and she didn’t cry even though
she wanted to. Don’t think I’ve forgotten
that I owe you, Pam!
me an impression he had about the photograph on the back cover. John and I con
curred that the picture of six students sit
ting on the stairs is not from 1970, but
from 1965-66. The students are from the
Santa Fe class of 1969, in order, clock
wise, beginning on the left: Robert
Rosenwald, Karen Jurgensen (feet),
Helen Smith (with cigarette in hand), Jim
Pipes (next to the rail), Ted Propeck (at
the bottom of the picture), and Jim Walk
er (in the center). My hunch is the photo
was taken by Carl Bostek, SF68, who took
a number of pictures around campus dur
ing that period.
If someone out there has a different
“perspective” I would certainly welcome
correction. But, as John noted, some
shoes you never forget!
— JoE Reynolds, SF69
As profound as most of the content of The
Reporter may be, isn’t it about time to
move away from consuming the natural
resources of our planet, i.e. trees, for the
manufacture of paper, and energy to print
and to disseminate it by mail? Isn’t it time
to put The Reporter on-line and distribute
it as an E-zine?
At the very least, let alumni choose the
printed version or the web version. If
some tidbit inspired by divine madness
tickles the fancy of an E-alum, he or she
can print it, or save it on a diskette. There
needn’t be concern over losing E-articles.
If a magnetic pulse occurs in the manner
in which is predicted, there will be neither
college nor alumni left to lament the loss.
— William Malloy, SF77
Editor’s Note: Currently weput the Class
Notes—the mostpopularfeature—from
The Reporter (and nowfrom The College)
on the St. John’s web site (www. sjca. edu click on “Alumni”). Weplan to include
articles, letters,
and other sections
p/The College on
the redeveloped
St. John’s web site
in thefuture.
— Paul Kneisl, A76
Two
PHOTOS FROM
“Founders &
Foundations” cal
THE
I enjoyed receiving the new “Founders &
Foundations” calendar, poring over the
pictures, and reliving memories. Regard
ing memories, I had dinner with John
Strange (SF69) and his wife, Carol, recent
ly. John pulled out the calendar to run by
endar INSPIRED rec
ollections; THE
FRESHMAN MATH
CLASS (above) AND
THE STAIRWELL
STUDY GROUP (lEFt).
{The College.
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring soot }
�{Letters}
Seminar Dynamics
To the tutors - Consider whether this is a
fair description of what happens in semi
nar: Jane is making a point. The instant
her mouth shuts, John launches in on his
own topic. Or he may not even wait for
Jane to stop, or he may have to drown out
several others who are equally ready to
jump in. John makes his point, and the
instant he stops, somebody else jumps in
without the slightest pause. In my experi
ence, this was how it went two nights a
week for four years. But in order to be
ready to start talking as soon as Jane
stopped, John must have ceased listening
to Jane and begun formulating his answer
long before she was finished. Some or
most of what Jane said, John didn’t hear,
because he was busy composing his own
speech. The result is not a discussion, but
a series of monologues. The opening
question is a jumping-off point, and for
gotten by 8:05. Those students who plan
their own speeches instead of listening
are rewarded with air time; those unfortu
nates who can’t help listening and trying
to understand what’s being said never get
a word in.
Yes, I was one of those. But I’m not
writing to complain. I love St. John’s.
A lot of the best of what I am I got at
St. John’s. Even the seminar was valuable
to me, although I wasn’t very valuable to it.
I got a lot of good thinking done in there.
I’m writing to talk about teaching lis
tening. When I was a student I heard that
the tutors keep to the background in sem
inar because their job is not to teach what
the books say, but to help students find it
for themselves. But because you’re not in
seminar to teach the correct interpreta
tion of the book doesn’t mean you’re not
there to teach. In the seminar setting, you
are in the perfect position to teach hstening - an important part of learning,
maybe the most important. Imagine this
alternate scenario: John gets halfway
through his speech and you, the tutor,
interrupt: “John, how does this relate to
Jane’s point? Are you agreeing or dis
agreeing?” With a few such words inter
jected, you would completely change the
nature of the seminar. If you were to con
sistently enforce relevance, the students
would have no choice but to listen before
talking. We would be in a real discussion.
We would be forced to take each other
seriously, to really come to grips with the
fine points of what the other person is try
ing to say. After two hours of that careful
listening, two nights a week for four years,
we would graduate with a life skill as
important as anything the college can
give. And on the way we probably would
learn a lot more about the books.
— Jack Armstrong, A83
In Defense of a Telescope Maker
I find Duncan North’s expressed disdain
for “pansy philosophers” and telescope
makers shocking. Although Galileo was
not mentioned by name in the article
“The Tao of Duncan” [The Reporter,
Fall/Winter aooo), he was clearly implied
by Mr. North’s reference to telescope
makers. How can anyone say Galileo did
not live his philosophy! For goodness’
sake, he stood trial before the Inquisition
for it! For what? For believing that reveal
ing the truths about the natural world
could only benefit mankind and give
greater glory to God. Galileo walked a
precarious line, balancing on one side his
incredible insight and vision, and on the
other the salvation of his soul. Although
the Church at the time felt that he lost his
balance in favor of his own vision, Galileo
maintained his innocence until his death,
denying that he had violated the tenets of
the Church.
Galileo believed that the workings of
the universe could be explained, especial
ly with the aid of mathematics, in terms
that could be comprehended by the
human mind. These might not reflect the
means God used to accomplish these phe
nomena, but they are no less useful for
man’s purposes. In so doing he replaced
otiose theorizing about causes with quan
titative observation of phenomena, and
essentially created modern science. His
emphasis of the practical application and
value of science set Galileo apart from
most philosophers of his time. He was
interested in the physical world, from tel
escopes and the moons of Jupiter, to the
laws of falling bodies and the creation of
the pendulum clock. His vision was star
tlingly clear, his mind was never idle, even
through his frequent illnesses. And how
can anyone in this modern day and age
deny the results of his efforts? We may be
concerned with limiting the scope of mod
ern science, but we certainly cannot do
without it!
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
2,7
Perhaps most important to remember,
yet also most difficult to comprehend
given the conflict between his insight and
intellect and his treatment by the Church,
Galileo was a believing Catholic. Not just
paying lip service to those more powerful
than he, but a believer in Holy Scripture
and the preciousness of his soul. Believ
ing that unveiling the truths about the
natural world could only give greater
glory to God, he published his Dialogues,
incurring scientific jealousy and the
wrath of Pope Urban VIII. Tried, convict
ed, and imprisoned (under house arrest)
by the Court of the Inquisition, Galileo
thought that his works would no longer be
valued and his reputation would be forev
er stained. Yet, in the wretchedness of his
confinement, at a time when most of us
would be bitter or frightened or at best
cautiously unproductive, Galileo wrote
Two New Sciences. Galileo lived his phi
losophy literally until he died.
— Janette Fischer, SF85
Remembering Robert Bart
For me, the most memorable character in
my time at St. John’s was Robert Bart; we
might grieve his passing, but delight in
the full life and years he had.
I have always thought of myself as an
“Athenian;” no Spartan naked-on-theground sleeping for me. But Bart could
outdo me: once, during a counseling ses
sion with him, I mentioned that I always
needed cold water on the face first thing in
the morning. “How can you DO that?” was
his astonished reply. What a dear softie!
— Jerry Milhollan, A58
The College welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under
500 words have abetter chance of being
printed in their entirety. Please address
letters to: The College Magazine, St.
John’s College, Box 2800, Annapolis, md
21404 or The College Magazine, Public
Relations Office, St. John’s College, 1160
Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, nm 87501.
Letters can also be sent via e-mail to:
b-goyette@sjca.edu, or via the form for
letters on the web site at www.sjca.edu click on “Alumni,” then on “Contact The
College Magazine.”
�2.8
{Alumni Notes}
1938
With the birth of Grace Townsend
Mullaney, Francis Townsend, Jr.
now has nine grandchildren.
1939
At age 83, Malcolm Silver is in his
58th year of practicing dentistry.
1947
John Brunn has retired, but is still
taking classes at the Fromm Insti
tute in San Francisco. “A Johnnie
never graduates!” he writes.
er as well as an author of books in
five or six different genres. Twenty
to thirty times a year, I amuse
myself by visiting schools around
the country to perform my stand-up
comedy/poetry assemblies and
workshops. I also speak at confer
ences for reading teachers and
librarians, where I show them how
to make learning a lot more appeal
ing and fun for their students.
(Amazingly, I get paid for this mis
sionary work.)” Bruce’s books have
sold more than 12 million copies
overall. More of his poetry as well as
poetry lessons and contests to enter
for kids 6 to 13 can be found on gigglepoetry.com.
David Schiller recently delivered
papers on Confucius at four confer
ences.
songs, chant, or dance from the
Baha’i, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Lat
ter-day Saints, Protestant, Roman
Catholic, and such faith communi
ties. I’ve directed the InterFaith
Conference since 1979, just after it
was founded. Learn more about its
work at www.interfaith-metrodc.org
or 202-234-6300.”
1968
During a sabbatical from teaching,
Bart Kaplan (A) spent seven
months cruising the Caribbean in a
32-foot sailboat. He visited Cuba
twice. His wife and two daughters
visited him in the Bahamas several
times.
Charles Watson’s (A) eldest son is
1964
1951
Tom Williams writes: “This past
July I moved after 43 years in the
same apartment. What to do with
some 2,000 books? I gave my
favorite, Euclid’s Elements, to my
grandson who has a real feel for
mathematics, sold some, threw
away some, and boxed others for
donation. Others, mostly from
St. John’s, I took with me to our
new address, and will feel at home
with them in their new bookcases.
They are indeed old friends - and
the reason I went to St. John’s.”
1959
Barbara Tower is still living in
downtown Annapolis and still in
real estate. Her children, Elizabeth,
John, and Alex, all live locally. She
has eight grandchildren, including
triplets.
1962
Lenke Vietorisz reports that she
and her cousin’s son, Richard
Repasy, have put out a book useful
and handy for those learning Hun
garian: A Guide to Hungarian Verbs
(525 pages, including conjugations
of 300+ verbs), which may be
viewed (and acquired) at
accessi.net/lenkev.
Jeremy Leven is prepping in Paris,
Prague, and Italy for a film on the
theft of the Mona Lisa in the 1920s.
He’ll be directing stars Robin
Williams and Antonio Banderas
from his own script.
“I have taken the Harvard Negotia
tion Course and now, though
still/always a student, I am giving
workshops on this ever-useful
skill,” writes Cecily Sharp-WhiteHILL.
Calvin Byles (who now uses the
name Leif Smith) co-owns a research
and training business with his wife,
Pat Wagner, in Denver. “I run a
think tank with mostly technology,
business, and research clients - indi
viduals who care about exploring
new ideas (check out the web site at
www.pattern.com),” he says.
1966
Penn State Press has published
Postfoundational Phenomenology:
Husserlian Reflections on Presence
and Embodiment by James R. Men
sch. Mensch teaches philosophy at
St. Francis Xavier University.
1967
Bruce Lansky’s publishing compa
Clark Lobenstine writes: “The
ny, Meadowbrook Press just pub
lished IfPigs Could Fly, his seventh
book of children’s poetry and his
“70th, 80th, or goth book overall I forget,” he writes. “I’m a publish
InterFaith Conference’s 21st Annu
al Interfaith Concert at Washington
Cathedral featured a world pre
miere of the five-part setting of an
ancient Hebrew text, as well as
{The College.
now NPR correspondent to West
Africa after a two-year stint as pro
ducer for CNN in Moscow. “Our
baby is looking at colleges with
Russian languages and marine biol
ogy,” he writes.
Donald J. Schell and Marilynn
(Wills) Scott (both SF) report
that their daughter. Patience
Alexandra Schell, was married in
September to Arturo Costillo. “The
wedding guests included almost
10% of the class of’68,” they write.
Their daughter is a research fellow
and lecturer at University of Lon
don; her Oxford DPhil is in Latin
American history.
1970
Edward Macierowski (A) reports
that his latest publication, which
came out in October, is his English
translation of Henri de Lubac’s
“Medieval Exegesis, Volume 2: The
Four Senses of Scripture.”
Hudi Podolsky (SF) writes: “I am
the executive director of the Coali
tion of Essential Schools - a great
mission and a great team to work
with. Bringing some of the wisdom
of the St. John’s design to public
schools-small schools and depth
over breadth. Having a blast! ”
Ken Joseph (A) was the subject of a
column in the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette. Brian O’Neill reported on
Joseph’s circumnavigation of
Allegheny County (Penn.) by bus,
lightheartedly comparing his
accomplishment to that of Magel
lan. Joseph dates his love of public
St. lohn’s College ■ Spring 2001}
transportation to when he was ii
and his parents sent him and a
friend downtown with specific
instructions about which streetcar
to take. “Of course,” he says, “we
didn’t take that one. We saw anoth
er and said ‘Let’s see where it goes.’
It was really a feeling of freedom.”
1971
George Elias (A) writes that his
wife, Deborah Nikkei, has finished
her 40-chapter novel based on the
takeover of Bank of America. His
oldest daughter, Ingrid, will be
studying in India this summer and
fall as part of her undergrad work at
UC Berkeley.
1972
SusannW. Rogsdale (SF) reports:
“After 27 years in technology, we
left it all behind and moved to the
beach to pursue our first love books. We have a small used and
rare bookstore in Cannon Beach,
www.jupiterbooks.com. Our son is
pursuing the liberal arts at Reed
(the next best choice) although cur
rently taking a break doing techni
cal support - the job experience!”
Evan Dudik (A) has been spending
his time since last June publicizing
his new book. Strategic Renais
sance: New Thinking and Innova
tive Toolsfor Creating Great Corpo
rate Strategies... Using Insights
from History and Science, which
was published by the American
Management Association. He
claims major business schools and
consulting firms are mired in the
Middle Ages and says it is one of
the few recent business books that
starts with an auto defe. “Jay Leno
hasn’t called yet,” says Evan, “but
I’ve given 4 radio interviews, sever
al print interviews, and had a num
ber of speaking engagements. The
book has made a steady climb up
Amazon.com’s charts from their
1,437,936th to their 8,913th most
popular, but who’s counting. Harry
Potter watch out.”
Alvin Aronson (A) submits this
report about himself: “He has been
writing a comedy for many years
called Dr. Feelgood, based on the
life of the famous Dr. Max Jacobson,
who treated John F. Kennedy for his
back problems. Jacobson was later
disbarred by the American Medical
�{AlumniProfile}
2,9
Lisa Simeone:
Our Woman at NPR
By Roberta Gable,
A78
t’s not just the voice. But the voice is
unmistakable: rich, intimate, memorahle - and intelligent, hut neither
wiseacre nor world-weary. Perfect for
National Public Radio (NPR), which
has suited Lisa Simeone (Aj^g just
fine: recently she became the host of NPR’s
Weekend All Things Considered.
Simeone’s post-St. John’s radio odyssey
began with a focus on classical music. She
had first discovered her passion for it while a
student (at one point early in her enthusi
asm rushing down to the music hbrary to
ask Liz Bolotin, then the music librarian, if
she had “anything by Brandenburg” on
hand); then, after graduation, she volun
teered at the ten-watt station at Anne Arun
del Community College near Annapolis for
three hours a week, the lone voice of classi
cal in a sea of rock. She landed a job at
WBJC, the classical station in Baltimore, in
1983, stayed there for a year and a half, then
moved over to WETAin D.C., alarger, more
important station, but a helluva commute
from Baltimore. Two years was about
enough of that, and she quit, not sure of the
future, but meanwhile tiny WJHU in Balti
more was about to upgrade from its humble
status as a ten-watt station to something
more substantial. Simeone became part of
the original professional team, and stayed at
WJHU (which, like WBJC and WETA, was
an NPR affiliate) for ten years, from 1986 to
1996, hosting the afternoon classical music
program.
That’s a lot of classical music, even for an
aficionado. She made things more interest
ing for herself (and, as it turned out, for her
audience) by running short interviews right
before All Things Considered, the NPR
evening news show. Her first interviews
were with people having to do with music,
and were four minutes long; gradually she
extended the interview segment to 10, then
30, then 60 minutes, and the interviews to
any topics that interested her, from music to
health to science to social issues. She did
the whole thing herself, editing, producing,
and cutting the tape for the segments.
In 1996, burnt out, she left WJHU to go
freelance. She joined AFTRA, the American
Federation of Radio and Television Artists,
and worked doing voiceovers and narration
Lisa Simeone
Y didn "t want to talk
aboutJust music. I
wanted to talk about a
lot ofstuff.''
both on-camera and off. She also enrolled in
the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins Uni
versity, getting an MA in non-fiction writing
in 1997. But public radio was far from
finished with her.
The NPR documentary show Soundprint
was looking for a new host in 1997, and they
called Simeone to see if she was interested.
She was, especially since it was a regular
gig, but not full-time. She hosted the pro
gram for the next three and half years, pro
duced three documentaries herself, and also
filled in as the perennial guest host of NPR’s
Performance Today. (“I was always leaving,
and every time I did they threw a cham
pagne party.”) She turned down an offer to
become the permanent host of the program,
because she wasn’t interested in re-niching
herself back into classical music. “I didn’t
want to talk about just music. I wanted to
talk about a lot of stuff! ” She had that
{The College. Si. John’s
College . Spring 2001 }
opportunity when she began filling in occa
sionally for Liane Hansen on Weekend Edi
tion Sunday.
Then one day Weekend All Things Consid
ered (WATC) gave her a call. They wanted to
know if Simeone was interested in audition
ing for the host job. “I told them, ‘No! I’m
not working weekends!’” But they finally
persuaded her to audition, and she got the
job. Her first show was October 14, aooo.
Most NPR affiliates air WATC Saturday
and Sunday evenings, from 5:00 until 6:00
(and most NPR listeners will be chagrined
to learn that, in-house, “WATC” is pro
nounced to rhyme with “Yahtzee”).
Simeone’s show ranges from hard news to
cultural pieces, from the ephemeral to the
substantial, from soup to nuts, giving her
the opportunity to talk, as she wished, about
a lot of stuff. And although the ideas about
what stories to do on the show come from
her daily meetings with the producers and
editors, Simeone’s preferences are influen
tial. “This job is a generahst’s dream,” she
says, “and I became a more thoughtful, wellread generalist thanks to St. John’s....! loved
St. John’s, and the truth is there isn’t a day
that goes by that I don’t thank my lucky
stars that I went there, or that I don’t call
upon what I learned there. Just this morn
ing I did an interview with the two transla
tors of a new edition oiAnna Kareninawhat could be more St. Johnnie than that?! ”
Remembering her one-woman interview
show on WJHU, where she was interviewer,
editor, and producer, Simeone revels in the
luxury of not having to cut her own tape.
She reads, she looks at books and CDs, she
writes up questions, she conducts inter
views, she writes introductions and leads,
and she loves it when it’s live rather than on
tape. Early on in her WATC career she start
ed her show at 5:00 one fateful Sunday,
when Katherine Harris was expected to cer
tify the presidential vote count in Florida.
She stayed on the air five until 10:00. The
producer saved her some cold pizza.
Working at National Public Radio is a
pleasure for Simeone. “I love the environ
ment - I spend my time with creative, inter
esting people, with rich lives, who are burst
ing with ideas.” Sounds like a talking
college, with fewer books and more micro
phones.
�{AlumniNotes}
3°
Association for his unorthodox
practices, and this play is in defense
of his methods. Archie Smith, the
83-year-old brother of the late Winfree Smith, has been an actor for ao
years with the Denver Reperatory
Company. He is going to stage a
reading of the play in Denver the
week of February 15. Alvin has
many claims to fame: he was stage
manager for Kennedy’s last birthday
party at the Waldorf Astoria in
1963, when Audrey Hepburn sang
‘Happy Birthday.’ He had a talk
with Louis Armstrong that night
and told him how much he admired
him, to which Armstrong replied,
‘Thank you. Pops.’ He shook hands
with Marilyn Monroe, had lunch
with James Dean, acted with Geral
dine Page, and was once put down
brilliantly by the late Jacob Klein
(who was quite right).”
1973
Peter Ellison (A) is now Dean of
the Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences at Harvard University. His
new book. On Fertile Ground, was
due to be published by Harvard
University Press in March.
1974
2000 marked a year of big changes
for Roger Burk, USAF ret., (A)
and Robin Kowalchuk Burk
(A72). In July Roger left his posi
tion as a senior consultant/analyst
with the Aerospace Corp, and
joined the faculty of the U.S. Mili
tary Academy (West Point). He now
teaches optimization and decision
theory within the Systems Engi
neering department, drawing on
his doctoral degree in operations
research and his experience in the
use of computer models and deci
sion analysis to guide the selection
and evaluation of complex national
security systems. In addition to
teaching, he mentors junior facul
ty, assistant-coaches the crew and
fencing teams, consults, and con
tinues research activities.
Accepting the position entailed a
move to a few rural acres in the
mid-Hudson Valley, where Robin
keeps busy raising and training
champion show dogs (English
Cocker Spaniels, a hunting breed).
She reports that the sight of an out
standing dog standing with unself
conscious grace or moving with
perfect intensity through the fields
takes her breath entirely away.
Indoors, her weaving studio houses
several looms and a not-yet-bigenough stash of linen, cotton and
woolen yarns. She says that dogs
and weaving provide some solace to
the right hemisphere of her brain,
sadly neglected during 25+ years in
the computer industry, during
which time she also perpetrated
several technical books on unsus
pecting Amazon.com customers. In
her spare time and on the principle
that her MBA should probably be
put to some use even if there wasn’t
a single right-brain course in the
whole degree program, Robin con
tinues to consult to companies try
ing to figure out how to use all this
new Internet stuff in their busi
nesses.
1975
Kristin R. Lucas (SF) is working in
downtown Houston in the IT
department of an energy commodi
ties trading company. Her older son
is a junior at Carnegie Mellon Uni
versity and her younger son is a high
school senior.
extraordinarily different wants and
needs, and they let you know
it. Since I never did/will father a
child, this work is very satisfying
to me, and a shock to the nurses,
since many babies who don’t stop
crying for relatives, never cry when
‘Uncle Bill’ holds them. I recom
mend volunteerism for any and
all. Children and youths can con
tribute as well. Find something that
is energizing, and ‘just do it.’”
1978
Caroline (Charlie) Allen (A)
writes: “My occupations in life
since graduation have been music
(both classical and rock), software
engineering, and writing, pretty
much in that order. I got married in
1990 to Christophe (Kokou) Dossou, a master drummer from Togo
whom I met while I was living in
Germany and touring with various
bands. I co-own a small but sophisti
cated studio (24 tracks digital, 30
tracks HDR) called Dos Gatos in
Los Angeles with my business part
Diane Lamoreux Ciba (A) has
finished her course work for a PhD
in marketing at the University of
Connecticut. She is currently
teaching and has the research and
dissertation writing ahead of her.
Quantum Leaps
1976
van Canter (A81) writes: “When reading the last
Peter Clark (A) writes that he’s
still alive and well, living in Ranches
ter, Wyoming. “Not the end of the
world, but close enough to see it.”
1977
Carol Highshaw (SF) has left the
academic world and moved back to
the Washington D.C. area, where
she’s working as a researcher and
writer.
William Malloy (SF) writes:
“Although discussing ideas found
in books and films can be very satis
fying, I have found something at the
other end of the spectrum of activi
ty to be very wonderful as
well. Since late 1999,1 have been a
volunteer at a children’s hospital in
Houston. One evening a week, I
work giving respites to parents, by
talking/playing with older children,
or holding/rocking infants. On Sat
urday afternoons, I hold, rock, or
just comfort premature babies. They
are not just ‘smaller newborns.’
Since preemies ‘aren’t supposed to
be here yet,’ they have many
{The College.
ner, also my bass player. Like me, he
works a lot in software, particularly
digital signal processing. We have a
band called BushTaxi which has one
independent CD out and is about to
release a second. Apart from that
I’ve played on about five
records/CDs for other bands, and
have credits on a number of movies
(for writing special effects code) the one I’m most proud ofis/a/nej
and the Giant Peach, for which I
was Sony’s CG software supervisor.
Lately I’ve been focussing more on
biotech and digital audio than on
computer graphics. I can’t help
think of Mr. Golding when I consid
er my own dislike of telephones, but
I’m very good with e-mail (it is,
after all, one of the bases of my cod
ing life since about 1986) and would
love to hear from folks. My e-mail
address is caro@nwc.net.”
issue of The Reporter, I was reminded of a moment
in my first day of junior French with Mr. Littleton.
He was leading us in reading the first paragraph of
Baudelaire’s ‘Recueillement’: ‘Soi sage, o ma
doulour, et tiens-toi plus tranquille...’ We could hear
the Freshman Chorus singing ‘white sands and gray sands, w
buy my white sands.’ Mr. Littleton, who had been our Freshm
Chorus tutor two years before, told a story. He was visiting
Switzerland when he learned a local song about the change of sea
sons and the level of the snowcaps in the mountains. ‘When the
snow caps go up, I can roll up my shirtsleeves’ or something like
that. He said it was remarkable to him because it showed that you
can see time. He said sitting in that room with us as juniors, hstening to the song we sang as freshmen wafted up the staircase of
McDowell, showed him that he could hear time, as well. We sat
stunned, astounded at this quantum leap.
“And now, reading The Reporter each time I have discovered a
new phenomenon. I start with the class notes from the present
graduating class and turn backward to find the news of my class
mates, the class of 1981. And each year our class recedes farther
and farther. It is as if we are retrograding into the past, soon to
take our place next to the hero generations of the college. And so
now as I turn page after page, I know I can feel time, as well.
“My wife Ellen, five-year-old Taha, new baby Emma, and I hve in
Chicago. I am now a course developer for Unext.com, an online grad
uate and executive education university. I have been a lawyer, ele
mentary school teacher, school administrator, and web developer.” ->■
E
Sf. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{AlumniNotes}
Michael Ciba (A) continues as pas
tor of Mill Plain Union Church in
Waterbury, Conn., and is enrolled in
a spiritual formation program with
the Shalem Institute in Washington,
D.C. Their daughter Rachel is a jun
ior at UConn, majoring in anthro
pology. Their son Daniel is a fresh
man at Adelphi University in
Garden City, N.Y., majoring in
drama and dance. Connecticut is
the twelfth place they’ve lived since
they were married, and it seems to
agree with them. Anyone who
remembers them is welcome to con
tact Michael at RevCiba@aol.com or
Diane at DiCiba@aol.com.
1979
Gregory R. Cowell ( SF) writes:
“With my second child on the way I
thought I would send in an update
of my life, not having done so since I
drove away 31 years ago. My wife
Jeannine and 1 have been married
for eight years. We have two future
St. John’s candidates at our house:
our daughter Cathryn is three and a
half, and we are expecting a son in
the next month. I have been practic
ing medicine for 16 years and cur
rently I am the medical director of a
medium-size emergency room in
llhnois. Music is my passion, but I
have yet to figure out how to make a
living as a musician. My e-mail is
gcowelled@aol.com. Regards to all,
but especially to old E and F dorm
ers who might be reading.”
1980
News from Tony Waters (A): “I live
in Auburn, Calif. My wife, Dagmar
Waters, and 1 have two children,
aged 12 and 9.1 am currently an
assistant professor of sociology at
California State University, Chico,
and recently published a book.
Bureaucratizing the Good Samari
tan: the Limitations ofHumanitari
an Relief Operations (Westview
2001). It is in part based on my work
in the Rwanda Relief operation in
Tanzania, in 1994-6. In terms of
teaching responsibilities, I do the
crime classes (criminology and juve
nile delinquency), population, eth
nic relations, and ‘macro-sociology’
in general.”
in November in Columbia, Md. “Email me at Nhrosen@aol.com for
any good reason,” he says.
1981
“I was married to the lovely SherryAnn Jhingai in June 2000,” writes
Joshua Berlow (SF). “Sherry con
vinced me to move back east from
Santa Fe, where I had been living.
We were married in St. Thomas, in
the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Sherry
has a lot of friends and family. The
wedding took place on the famed
North Side of St. Thomas, in a very
dramatic villa (Villa LeMcAi) over
looking the sea. My best man was
Eric Quinn (A82). Sherry is origi
nally from Trinidad, in the south
Caribbean, so after the wedding it
was off to her home village of
Cumuto in Trinidad. I’ve never seen
anyplace so lush and green! What
seemed like the entire village
turned out for a wedding party held
in our honor. We are in the process
of buying a house in Baltimore, and
will be moved there by the time the
magazine comes out. Anyone inter
ested can check out my web site at
www.joshuaberlow.com They can
purchase my newly-published book
Insanity Factory: A Psychiatric Mem
oir on the web site, as well as view
various articles, and some papers
written for classes at St. John’s.”
Joe Roach (A) e-mails: “My wife BJ
(Sisson) (A) and I dropped off our
daughter Katie at St. John’s - Katie
matriculated with the new January
Freshmen class. Our two other chil
dren, Molly (15) and Nicholas (ii)
helped move Katie in. After
Nicholas was introduced to Peter
Kalkavage (who was a freshman
tutor when I was a freshman), he
asked me, ‘Was he your college
roommate?’ The cruelty of children.
“I am in my sixth year as a staff
member at The New School in
Newark, Del., which is a democratic
(or liberty-based) school. Melanie
( Jago) Hiner (A80) asked me to
give her some help when she opened
the school in the fall of 1995. At that
point we had 7 students - now we have
over 50. Nick and Molly have been
at the school since the opening.”
1982
Nathan Rosen (A) and his wife
Roberta Babbitt announce the birth
of Brina Tamar Rosen on July ii.
“Yes, that’s six children, for those
who are keeping score,” he notes.
His production of The Crucible ran
{The College.
1983
After 13 years in the practice of law,
Michael Henry (A) recently
opened his own law office in center
city Philadelphia. He has been mar
ried for 13 years and is living in
Media, Penn. His wife Lorie and he
have three children: Michael, age
II, Devin, age 10, and Daniel, age 7.
“We are actively involved in our
parish and children’s school, St.
Mary Magdalen,” Michael writes.
“My practice consists mainly of civil
trial work and immigration. I have
organized a Lawyer’s Retreat group
under the auspices of the Cathedral
Ministries for the Diocese of Cam
den, N.J. We meet four or five times
a year to discuss faith issues and the
practice of law. I would love to hear
from old classmates and other alum
ni.” Michael’s address is i Gordon
Drive/Media, Pa. 19063.
Robin B.G. Laylin (SF) and his
wife, Laura, report the birth of their
daughter, Catherine, on June 26,
2000.
31
ness law at a big firm in Miami. I’m
married to a beautiful and brilliant
woman who hails from North Dako
ta and Seattle, and who is a lawyer as
well. We have two babies, Allegra
(just two) and Ethan (6 months).
Have visited with Mitch Buroker
(SF84) in L.A. recently, and gotten a
nice letter from Jack Armstrong
(A83). Would love to hear from any
St. John’s friends. E-mail at
whill@steelhector.com.”
1984
ALUTHA JAMANCAR (BRAD WEST-
gaard) (SF) says that he’s reached
three milestones this pastyear: “I
celebrated my six-year wedding
anniversary with Daniela Chiapella,
a native of Northern Italy; I
changed careers from print to web
publishing; and I changed my name
from Brad Westgaard to Alutha
Jamancar. Drop me aline at
alutha@alutha.com or stop by my
homepage atwww.alutha.com. I’d
love to hear from old classmates,
especially my freshman core group!
Visitors to our home in Silicon Val
ley are welcome, but had best not
have any cat allergies! ”
David Walworth (A) has finally
While Scott Fitzpatrick (A) does
do freelance web design, as reported
in the fall issue of The Reporter, he
has also been the Principal Site
Architect for Computer Sciences
Corporation for several years. He
has designed all the classified
intranet sites for the Ballistic Mis
sile Defense Organization and is
now currently creating the web sites
and the Director/Flash interactive
CD ROM demo disks for CSC’s elec
tronic knowledge management
group. “In other words,” he writes,
in reference to our omission, “I do
have a full time job.”
Darrel Moellendorf (A) writes:
“Last year, in my 40th year, my wife
- Bonnie Friedmann - and I became
parents for the first time. Our son’s
name is Marino Arnold Friedmann.
I am still living in South Africa, and
teaching philosophy at the University
of the Witwatersrand. My book. Cos
mopolitan Justice, will be published
this year. And I’d love to hear from
old friends.My e-mail address is
103dar@muse.wits.ac.za.”
A note from William Hill (A) says:
“I’m alive and well, practicing busi
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
gotten his yacht design business up
and running: Walworth Yacht
Designs, P.O. Box 3792, KingshiU
VI00851.
Karen Tourian (A) completed her
first Gentury (100 mile) bike ride on
Labor Day.
Peter Green (A) writes; “Still in
Prague, though probably not for
much longer. Spent a week in
August sailing in Groatia with Jason
Walsh (A85). Then found myself in
Belgrade in October to cover the
demise of Slobodan Milosevic.
Arrived in New York in time to expe
rience the unending madness of
Election 2000.”
Connie Bates (A) writes: “My hus
band and I are proud to announce
the birth of our first child. Dean
Calvin Calloway, on November 16,
2000.”
�{AlumniNotes}
3^
1989
1985
1987
Bonnie Bishop Stark (SF) is finish
ing her third year of a nurse-mid
wifery program at Case Western
University in Cleveland, Ohio. She
will complete the program next
year.
“In December I completed my first
(and probably last) marathon,”
writes Marjorie C. Kaplan (A).
“My mother died of lymphoma in
June 3000, and in her memory I
joined Team in Training, a
marathon training program that
benefits the Leukemia and Lym
phoma Society of America. After
four months of training that
required 30 to 45 miles a week of
roadwork, I completed the Honolu
lu Marathon the same day I started
it, crossing the finish line smiling
and under my own power, and NOT
dead last - there were about a dozen
elderly tourists behind me, but they
may have strayed onto the course by
accident.”
1986
“My life has completely changed in
the past two years,” writes Lucy
Duncan (SF). “My business partner
and I closed the Story Monkey
Bookstore in Dec. ’98. We were
growing but not fast enough to war
rant continuing. It was a sad loss for
me and for the community
(Omaha), but we were able to walk
away without significant financial
scars. I took a job in January of ’99
with the Friends General Confer
ence of Religions of Friends (Quak
ers) in Philadelphia as their book
store manager. I really love the
place and the work. FGC is by far
the healthiest organization I’ve ever
worked for. We do primarily a mail
order and Web business (quakerbooks.org). In Oxfordshire, Eng
land, in April of ’99 I met my fiance,
Graham Grarner, at a conference of
Quaker publishers and booksellers.
We will be married in April of aooi
at the London Grove Meeting House
outside Philadelphia. Sheila Virgil
(A88) will play flute at the wedding.
We plan on settling in Philadelphia,
though Grant is keeping his house
in England so who knows about the
future. I see Amy Murphy Bianco
(SF86) regularly. She is an editor at
McGraw Hill launching a science
trade division. I’d love to hear from
anyone else. My email address is:
lucyd@fgquaker.org.”
Erik Mueller-Harder (A) e-mails
this report: “My wife Karen and I
are extremely pleased to announce
the birth of our daughter Clara Jean
in October of 2,000. Our son Timo
thy is about to turn four, and he’s
promising to be a great older broth
er for Clara. There’s lots of news and
photos on our family web site,
www.praxisworks.org. I’m stiU
spending most of my time building
Praxis News Digest, at pnd.praxisworks.com.”
1992
Susie Attar Antebi (A) is living in
Michael Stevens (AGI) writes:
Panama City, Fla. with her two kids,
Daniela and Isaac, and husband
Alberto. “Miss the Johnnies and
would love to hear from long-lost
friends,” she says. Her e-mail is
danisa@sinfo.net.
“We welcomed a daughter, Juba
Linda, into our home on April 22,
2000. We tried a homebirth this
time around - quite a wonderful way
to have a baby. The midwife was a
dynamo - no ‘windeggs’ such as
beset Socrates! Julia joins brother
Ethan, three.”
Chris Tegeler (A) e-mails: “At the
end of January, I moved to Athens,
Greece to work in our land agent’s
office in Piraeus, Arete Tours. A
rather appropriate name for a com
pany employing a Johnnie, I must
say. My address: Xenokratous 42,
10676 Athens, Greece. My e-mail is
StiU the same, ctegeler@yahoo.com.
Looking forward to hearing from
anyone passing through.”
Mark Hentz, III (A) is attending
Northeastern University School of
Law while working full-time at
Northeastern in the office of enroll
ment management. “Jack Gunther
and I were very happy to be in Ted
Hanratty’s wedding party this past
October,” he writes.
Bryan Dorland (A) e-mails: “I
Brett Heavner (A) writes: “My
1988
Kim Paffenroth (A) has just been
hired as an Assistant Professor of
Religious Studies at Iona College in
New Rochelle, N.Y. His book yfz/gizjtine and Liberal Education (Ashgate
Publishing, 2000) has just been
favorably reviewed in The Heythrop
Journal, and his next book, Judas
through the Centuries, will be pub
lished next year by Westminster
John Knox Press. As a gratifying
part of his last days teaching at Vil
lanova University, one of his stu
dents has again been honored with
the highest writing award given to a
first year student at ViUanova.
John Lavery (A) is still in London
and working in the commercial
banking world, despite Leo’s
advice. “Have developed a weak
ness for skiing,” he writes, “and
will take any invitation offered in
that regard.”
Erin Milnes (A) writes: “I’m still
living happily in San Francisco (five
years now - can you believe it?!) I
continue to freelance edit and write,
but I’ve added some video work to
my repertory. In the past year I
worked on a documentary shoot in
Nepal and one in Death Valley
(where temperatures soared to 120
degrees in the shade). I’ve also been
sea kayaking a lot lately and heartily
recommend it. Life is good.”
{The College.
wife Christine and I proudly
announce the birth of our son,
David Graham Heavner, on January
31, 2000.”
Garfield Goodrum (A) writes:
“We have adopted two thorough
breds from an equine rescue group
in Pennsylvania, and I just compet
ed in my first horse show - dres
sage, to my wife’s chagrin (she’s
into jumpers!). We’re loving the
horses, whose names are Turtle and
Clem, and young Graham Heavner
has even ridden them! Don’t forget
to spay/neuter your companion
animal!” ■
David (A) and Cherie (A90) Reese
live in Vienna, Vir., with Sam and
Lydia Reese, ten and three years old.
Their St. John’s education, they
write, allows them to live lives of
total and constant bliss.
1990
David Marquez (SF) says that he
“escaped the slavery of the Star
bucks Corporation” and now works
for Arch Wireless Corporation. “I
look forward to receiving survival
tips from any and all,” he says.
Ken Turnbull (A) is now an associ
ate at Piper, Marbury, Rudnick &
Wolfe LLP in Baltimore, where he is
in the litigation department.
5r. John’s College ■ Spring sooi }
received a Master of Science in
physics from the University of
Maryland in August 2000. In Janu
ary 2001,1 passed the PhD qualify
ing exams in physics at Maryland,
and I am set to begin thesis
research this semester. Anyone who
wants to contact me can reach me
at dorland@physics.umd.edu. ”
Leah Ankeny (SF) is enjoying a
challenging new position as an
admissions counselor for Cornish
College of the Arts, a private, fouryear visual and performing arts col
lege located in Seattle, Washington.
“Despite the rumors of my impend
ing marriage, I am living on my own
and revisiting a more independent
life.” she says. “I am thrilled at the
arrival of my beautiful ‘niece,’ Ema
(Cooney) Bargeron, daughter of my
dear friend and fellow alumna
Joanna (SF). I continue to study
yoga and search for my path spiritual
ly, setting aside performing and writ
ing for a while. I look forward to see
ing all the ’92 Santa Fe folks at our
tenth reunion in Spring 2002.1 can
be reached at: Lankeny@yahoo.com
and I always welcome visitors to the
Peaceful Pacific Northwest.”
Judah M. Domke (SF) writes: “I
just appeared as a lead actor in a
movie called ‘Whipped’ that came
out this past November. If you
missed it on the big screen, John
nies can rent it when it comes out
on video in February 2001. It’s an
R-rated sex comedy that isn’t for the
faint of heart.”
�{Alumni Profile}
33
Shopaholic by Profession
Heather Moore (SFoo) landed a dream ofafirstjob:
she getspaid to revel and shopfor the coolest circus around.
BY SuS3AN Borden, A87
eather Moore’s been
buying quite a lot
these days, going from
city to city, picking up
an odd assortment of
goods: nuts, bolts,
earphone antennas, eye makeup
remover, marine antifreeze, used CDs,
a ping pong table, even mail-order
sequins. But she’s no itinerant shopa
holic. She’s hard at work - as the assis
tant buyer on tour with the Cirque du
Soleil, the avant-garde circus that’s
much closer to The Matrix than it is to
Dumbo.
Moore lucked into the job this summer,
after a post-graduation move to Denver with
her boyfriend, Joey Chernila (SFoa). A
temp agency sent the couple to Cirque du
Soleil, where they worked as runners,
acquiring the products purchased by the
buyers. When a permanent job opened up,
Moore applied, won the position, and head
ed to Montreal for training. Since then,
she’s been to Minneapolis, Washington,
D.C., Atlanta, and Miami. New York, Chica
go, Boston, and Philadelphia are slated for
the coming months, and by the time the
tour’s over in 2002, she’ll have hit Houston,
Dallas, and Phoenix. She says the travel is a
dream come true. “For the last four months
of school I kept telling my roommate, ‘If I
could just get a job where they would pay me
to travel I would never complain.’ It’s exact
ly what I wished for,” she says.
Although Moore travels within the United
States, her co-workers come from 52 coun
tries and include Chinese acrobats, Russian
jugglers, and all manner of Canadian col
leagues. Most business is transacted in
Heather Moore (above) is an assitant buyer
ON TOUR WITH DrALION, WHOSE ACTS ARE
ENHANCED BY HIGH-TECH EFFECTS (bELOw).
French, which Moore says is difficult
even after Phedre and Fleurs du Mai.
“I’m working on speaking French,
which is a big challenge, especially
since it’s not really French, it’s Quebe
cois,” she says. “Speaking French will
be integral in my later career with
Cirque.” Later career? How long can a
first job last?
Moore, who knows a good thing
when she falls into it, says that while
her job lasts until the end of the tour in
another year and a half, she’s already
exploring different departments and
thinking about different opporutinites
within Cirque, which has headquarters
in Montreal, Amsterdam, Singapore,
and Orlando. Her current fascination is the
tech department. “Our show has a lot of
effects - lighting and rigging - to facilitate
some of the acts. There’s an aerial ballet
with two dancers on a long silk rope doing a
series of acrobatics in the air. The behindthe-scenes tech stuff helps make the show
spectacular.”
Moore is also considering working with
Cirque’s development of a permanent com
plex in London consisting of a hotel, a
restaurant, a retail area, and a show. In the
meantime, she’s enjoying the Cirque du
Soleil life, which she says resembles her justbygone undergraduate days.
“Who would ever think they could get a
first job like this?” she asks. “It’s been so
exciting, and it’s come at such a great time. I
didn’t even get good and used to being out of
college before I joined up with Cirque. You
live with these people, you work with them,
you eat with them. You the get chance to
develop intense relationships with every
body around you while you’re on a constant
road trip. It’s like college on wheels.” 4"
Michael Deutsch (SFGI) has been
Jonathan Secora Pearl (A) writes
Aaron Mason (SF) reports: “I am
promoted to vice president of Wad
dell & Associates, Inc., a provider of
investment and financial counsel
located in Memphis, Tenn. He
earned his CFP (Certified Financial
Planner) license in 1997 and served
previously as assistant vice presi
dent at the firm.
that after leaving St. John’s in 1990
he studied music at Indiana Univer
sity, then received a Master of Music
in Vocal Performance from Rice in
1997. He is currently pursuing a
PhD in musicology at the University
of California, Santa Barbara, with
an emphasis on the cognition of
speech and song.
alive and well, living in Manhat
tan’s Upper West Side with my
boyfriend of nearly five years. Still
an aspiring actor, I have taken a
‘dayjob’ with a large architectural
firm writing and editing for their
marketing department. In March, I
am acting in a ten-minute play that
I wrote; it’s a dark comedy called
‘Mr. Oedipus.’ Looking forward to
1993
Alex Ellerman (AGI) is a flight
instructor with Navy Training
Squadron 29. VANESSA Ellerman
(A) is practicing law with Hornblow
er, Manning & Ward, and they’re
both still celebrating the birth of
their son Ian on April 20, 2000,
(The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
�{Alumni Notes}
34
JohnnyXpress
1994
An Unofficial Bulletin Board/E-mail List
for the St. John's Community
Hallie Leighton (SF92) has started a new yahoo “eGroup” to
function as an unofficial hulletin hoard for the St. John’s commu
nity. On johnnyXpress, members of the SJC community worldwide
can post and read announcements and queries (e.g., “Moving to a
new city - looking for area Johnnies/alumnae chapter/contacts”
or “Whatever happened to Johnnie Doe, class of ‘__, A/SF?” or
“Hey, I have a gallery opening...”). These announcements are
received in the e-mail boxes of all Johnny subscribers. Subscribing
is free and easy - just e-mail johnnyXpress-subscribe@egroups.com.
For more information about johnnyXpress, e-mail johnnyXpressowner@egroups.com or go to http://www.charm.net/~bfant/
johnny/bulletin.html, part of the unofficial alumni site run by
Bill Fant (A79).
The purpose of johnnyXpress is to enable members of the St.
John’s College community to get and/or share information with
other Johnnies as quickly as possible. Thus it is for announce
ments and brief queries. Though the list is not moderated, meta
physical meanderings or idle banter will not be allowed. (The rea
son for this draconian rule: there is already an e-mail list for
conversation, “the Johnny List.” To subscribe to the high-volume
Johnny list, send an e-mail to majordomo@charm.net with the
words “subscribe johnny” or “subscribe johnny-digest” in the
body of the e-mail message.)
Why is this bulletin board “unofficial”? Because it’s not run by
the college. The college is working on a new web site that will have
more features for alumni but it won’t be online until next fall at the
earliest.
warmer weather and hearing from
long lost Johnnies!
Aaronious@earthlink.net. ”
reads them, though upside-down,
rather than eating them, we know
she is headed for SJC class of
2030.”
John Markos O’Neill (SF)
reports that he is in his fourth
happy year of “bicycling, singing
(in Schola Cantorum, a local cho
rus), dancing (swing), and coding
in Silicon Valley. I would love to
hear from Johnnies in the SF Bay
area or elsewhere! E-mail me at
Jmo@ipsmedia.com.”
Jim and KRISTEN (Riddlespurger)
Litsinger (A) happily celebrate the
first twenty-four months with their
daughter, Emily Golden Litsinger.
“Born in April 1999, she is a true
delight with curly (can’t explain
that one!) blond hair. Her eyes
always smile and she is quick to gig
gle. Big brother Nathaniel (31/a),
also adores his sister, particularly as
long as she doesn’t play with the
toys he might want to play with.
Emily already shows a great love of
books and now that she actually
Ethan Schoonover (SF) is e-business director for Lowe Lintas and
Partners (an international marketing/communications agency) in
Southeast Asia, currently based in
Bangkok. He oversees online mar
keting, web site development, and
internet strategy for multinational
clients. “I get to travel frequently
throughout the region, which is
enjoyable as I continue to be a stu
dent of the many cultures I
encounter. I do miss the mountains
and beauty of Santa Fe, but the year
’round tropical beaches in SE Asia
go a long way towards assuaging my
homesickness for the USA. And of
course, ever true to St. John’s, I am
obligated to occasionally quote
Homer in meetings with clients. I’d
love to hear from friends/enemies.
Here is my e-mail address: ethan.
schoonover@lowehntas .com.”
{The College.
A note from Emi Ima-Kohn and
Colin Ray (both A94): “We met at
St. John’s. Emi was living in the
U.S. although she was Japanese.
Colin had been hving in Nigeria
although he was American. We
both had Mrs. Maschler for Fresh
man Greek. Although we were in
the same Greek class, we did not
really get to know one another until
late in the spring of our Freshman
year when we took a clowning class
together. Cohn exceUed at jugghng;
Emi excelled at falling-down. By the
end of the year, we were very close
friends. During the summer of 1991
Emi taught at a camp in Vermont
and Colin returned to Nigeria to
visit family and friends.
“After spending part of sopho
more year in Santa Fe, Emi moved
to France and put herself through
the French university system by
being an au-pair for a French fami
ly. After completing St. John’s,
Colin went to Cameroon as a Peace
Corps volunteer to teach math in
French. For nine years, we kept in
touch-sometimes more frequently,
sometimes less, hut always as close
friends. After completing a mas
ter’s degree in Russian studies at
the Sorbonne, Emi was accepted
into the D.E.A. (a degree between a
master’s and doctoral degree) pro
gram at the Political Science Insti
tute in Paris, where she focused her
studies on the new Independent
States of the former Soviet Union.
After the Peace Corps, Colin
returned to the U.S. to study law
and business at Willamette Univer
sity in Salem, Oregon.
“In 1999 we started keeping in
touch more and more. In March
3000 Colin traveled to Paris to see
Emi. In May, Emi came to the U.S.
for Colin’s graduation ceremony.
On graduation day, we became
engaged. After announcing our
engagement, we hopped on Colin’s
motorcycle and seven days and
3800 miles later we arrived in New
York. In June, Emi then had to
return to Paris to complete an
internship at the OECD - Organiza
tion for Economic Cooperation and
Development. At the end of July,
Colin took the New York bar exam.
At the beginning of November,
Colin happily accepted a position as
an Associate Attorney with a smaU
international law firm in Amster
Sf. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
dam. He will primarily work in
international corporate and inter
national tax law. And ... at 11:00
on November ii, 3000, in Linlith
gow, Scotland, we were married.
The best way to reach us is by
e-mail at: Emikocolin_ray@hotmail.com.”
Johnny Metelsky (A) and Lydia
Rolita (A96) were married on June
17th in their backyard in the San
Bernardino Mountains in Southern
California. Johnnies in attendance
were: Muneet Rakshi (A94), Hope
DelCarlo (SF94), Jen Donnelly
(A96), JOELLA KLINGHOFEER (A96),
Aimee Lalone (A94), Sundance
Metelsky (AGI90), Paul More
(A94), John Williams (A96), and
Ron Wingate (A94). Honorary
Johnnies John Metelsky and Ethan
Billotte were also in attendance.
Lydia and Johnny plan to move
back East in a couple of years when
Lydia finishes medical school at
Loma Linda University and Johnny
finishes his masters in astrophysics
atUC Riverside. E-mailjmetelsky@hotmail.com.
Bill Kowalksi (SF) writes: “I am
happy to announce that my second
novel. Somewhere South ofHere, is
finally finished and will be pub
lished by HarperCollins in March of
3001. Most of the action takes place
in Santa Fe, and readers of this pub
lication will probably recognize a
certain small liberal arts college
which plays a minor but noticeable
role in the story - though of course
any similarities to colleges either
living or dead are purely coinciden
tal. In addition, Eddie’s Bastard,
my first novel, is out in paperback,
and is now being translated into 12
languages - including Finnish,
Hebrew, Czech and my grandmoth
er’s personal favorite, Polish. No
word yet on Tagalog or Urdu. So far
nobody has bought the film rights,
either, but hope, as they say,
springs eternal. Another piece of
good news is that HarperCollins
has also purchased the rights to my
third novel, which is still in its very
early stages, and my fourth, about
which I have no clue. After two loud
and smoggy years in Brooklyn I’ve
moved to Toronto, where I live with
my non-Johnny companion and
freaky consort, Alexandra. I wel
come email from friends and class
mates, so please write to wilham.
kowalski@CIMteration.com.”
�{AlumniProfile}
35
La Vie Parisienne
Phil Wood, owner ofParisfixture the San Francisco Book Co., is afrancophile success story.
BY
Sus3AN Borden, A87
or much of his adult life,
Phil Wood (A67) knew he
wanted to live in Paris. He
had first visited the city
when he was in the army
in ighr, stationed in Ger
many. The charm of the culture, the
intellectual bent of the people, and the
beauty of the country attracted him from
the start.
In 1986, he rented an apartment on
the lie St.-Louis but ended up spending
most of the year working at his job in
California. Undaunted, he continued to
study French. Ten years later, when he
was working for Parallax Press in Berke
ley as comptroller/computer systems
administrator, he found himself in Paris
for several weeks.
“I had very little hope of extricating
myself,” says Wood, who was at the time a
devoted employee. “Then my boss, who
knew I wanted to move and who’d been
interviewing people to take his place, told
me on the phone that someone he’d inter
viewed was not suitable for his job but could
do my job quite well. He said, Tf you’re ever
thinking of leaving, now might be the time.’
I remember the moment when I came out of
that phone booth on Rue Monge in the fifth
arrondissement and realized that I might
actually be able to move to France.”
Wood decided to take the leap. He signed
up for the Cours de Langue et Civilisation
Frangaise at the Sorbonne, found an apart
ment on the lie de la Cite, and began to
investigate starting a business. Learning
about the French educational system and
about the French business world, he says,
was an adventure in the French way of doing
things.
Having always admired the intellectual
disposition of the French, Wood enjoyed
learning how to write the French disserta
tion, a composition with a strict form: the
question, the thesis, the antithesis, and the
synthesis. “I realized, here is a very power
ful cultural difference. They’ve gone
through this process throughout their edu
cation and they all know how to do this.’”
But when it came to starting a business.
Wood was not certain that the intellectual
approach was best. Planning to open a book
store on the left bank, he took a weeklong
Phil Wood didn’t do a market survey, as his
French business advisers dictated; he
STARTED THE BOOKSTORE AND WAITED TO SEE IF
ANYONE WOULD COME IN.
workshop on French business practice and
found that much emphasis was placed on the
etude de marche, the market study. “Every
one kept asking me if I had done one. I said
no. My feeling was, the way I’m going to do
my market study is by starting the store and
seeing if anybody comes in,” says Wood.
“The etude is an intellectual approach, but it
can be counterproductive, at least for an
American. You can think a lot and do studies
and in the end never do anything.”
As it turns out. Wood was not hampered
by skipping the etude. His English-language
bookstore, San Francisco Book Co., does a
fine business, selling used books to a clien
tele about half French-speaking and half Eng
lish-speaking. Wood says that the French are
careful about what they read and tend to buy
serious books, especially history and good
literature. “Books that are somewhat criti
cal of America or a little offbeat sell well,
books by Bill Bryson and Hunter Thomp
son,” says Wood. “The French also like con
spiracy-type works about JFK.” Wood’s Eng
lish-speaking customers include a tourist
trade with an appetite for paperback edi
tions of literature and modern fiction.
Although Wood deals with the business
rather than the retail side of the store, he is
not deprived of encounters with the public.
{The College.
Sf. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
He and his principal book buyer, Dick
Toney, spend many afternoons looking
through books, often in private collec
tions. The advantages of such excur
sions, says Wood, go beyond the com
mercial: “You get to meet interesting
people and see their apartments in
Paris, go to parts of town you’ve never
been to and see how people live.”
Wood remembers one picture-perfect
afternoon when he and Toney visited
two sisters, “respectable old ladies,” at
their house near Fontainebleu. “It was
like something out of a movie: a beauti
ful village, nothing moving, no cars, a
little river. The house was right across
from the church. Two elderly women
answered the bell and the first thing
they wanted was not to talk about the
books, but to sit down and have drinks
in the garden. There we were, Dick and
I, two old guys from California sitting with
two elderly spinsters, drinking apple juice.
The sun was out and the birds were singing
and the church bell was ringing and finally
we had to say, ‘what about the books?’ ”
But it’s not just respectable old ladies that
Wood has met. In 1999, he married Anouk
Malaquin, whom he met through mutual
friends. “Our first ‘date’ was actually the
result of a misunderstanding on my part
about the time I was supposed to show up to
help some friends,” he says. “When they
said to come at ‘six-thirty,’ it never occurred
to me they meant 6:30 a.m., so when I
arrived at 6:30 p.m. - i8h3o French time Anouk was there and my help was no longer
needed. I said, ‘I guess I’ll go to the movies,’
and she said ‘What a good idea! ’ and off we
went. We saw Breaking the Waves, which I
had been intending to see but probably
wouldn’t have chosen for a first date! ”
Today, Wood’s vie Parisienne is complete.
He lives in an apartment in Montmartre,
has married into an old bourgeois family,
and runs a bookstore on the left bank. And
he’s enough of a Paris fixture that the guide
book Paris Access published a list of his city
favorites, including the Jardin du Luxem
bourg, the market in the Rue Mouffetard,
the city lit up at Christmas with concerts in
the churches, watching the boulistes around
Montmartre, and - appropriately enough for
a bookstore-owning Johnnie - the reading
room of the Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve.
�{AlumniNotes}
3®
Amanda Dulin (A) writes that she is
happy in Charlottesville with
Dominic.
Delsen) Flynn (A). “We are scuba
diving and changing lots of dia
pers!”
Nathan Humphrey (A) has a piece
Alice Brown (A) writes: “Greg and
in the Fall 2000 issue of re:generation quarterly about how sophomore
year at St. John’s - in particular his
reading of the Confessions - led to
his spending the summer at a
Catholic Benedictine monastery. As
the son of an Evangehcal Christian
minister, Humphrey was taught to
file “Cathohcism” under “cults,”
along with Mormonism and Scien
tology. But at the monastery “the
false dichotemy between the
‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’ disap
peared.” His piece is a plea for
understanding among the various
Christian denominations.
I are in Columbus, Ohio, where
Greg is earning a PhD in classics at
OSU and I am teaching at a charter
school. Life is grand. Best wishes to
all.”
1995
October 29, 2000 saw the wedding
of China Williams (A) and Matt
Baum (A). The ceremony was held at
Sigmund Stern Grove in San Fran
cisco, Calif.
A report from Carrie Sager (A):
“In the fall, I spent three great
months in China studying acupunc
ture and traditional Chinese medi
cine. The experience was fantastic.
Surprisingly, I grew to really love
China and was sad to leave. After
China, I visited Hong Kong - a nice
return to civilization. Then it was
six weeks of travelling around Thai
land. One of the funniest things on
my trip - there I am standing on a
pier in the middle of Bangkok and
who do I run into... a fellow John
nie, Diedre O’Shea (A97). In all,
an awesome trip although my body
was really ready to come home and
eat good old North American food
by the end. I would love to offer
what little advice I can to anyone
travelling to those countries. For
now, I will keep my e-mail address at
carrie_china@yahoo.com. My other
news is that I am getting married.
My boyfriend proposed the week
before I left - guess he wanted to
make sure I came backNow I
have just nine months to get ready
for the big day - Sept. 28, 2001.
Knowing my timing, it will conflict
with Annapolis homecoming
again!”
“My husband, Ethan, and I are
doing a two-year tour of duty in
Guam,” writes Sarah (Van
Cheryl Heneveld (AGI) is still in
1996
Adrienne Jakowski Rukensiein
married Peter Rubenstein (both A)
in July of 1998. They are currently
living in Arlington, Vir. After gradu
ating, Adrienne got an MA in Teach
ing Secondary English, taught for
two years with Denver Public
Schools, and is now getting another
MA in Deaf Education at Gallaudet
University in Washington, D.C. She
was recently offered a job teaching
English to high school seniors at a
deaf school in D.C. Peter has been
exploring technical jobs with
USwest and an Internet company in
DC called Covad. He enjoys eating a
bowl of Lucky Charms while watch
ing the Powerpuff Girls or Dexter’s
Laboratory on Cartoon Network.
His favorite philosopher is still
Leibniz and his favorite color is
green.
James Cromer (AGI) is going back
to school - to Skidmore College - to
learn how to design web pages while
he completes his ninth year of teach
ing.
Joy Pope (AGI) and Miguel Alandete have welcomed a daughter into
their lives. Maya Lucia Pope Alandete was born on October 3, weigh
ing in at an astonishing 9 lbs., ii oz.
Sid Ranck (AGI) has accepted the
role of godfather. The new family is
doing beautifully in Eugene, Ore. their home now - and they’d love to
hear from classmates or Johnnies in
the area. Alandete@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Melissa Cate (A) and Darcy
Christ (A94) were married on
October 7, 2000.
Douglis Beck (AGI) and Susan
Allen are thrilled to announce the
birth of a beautiful daughter named
Veronica Vandenberghe Beck on
December 22, 2000. Says Douglis,
“She has brought not only joy to our
{The College -
world, but also a good number of
sleepless nights, a small amount of
chaos, and general mayhem for all
concerned. I continue to work as an
architect at Cannon Design in St.
Louis, while Susan is a manager for
Borders Books & Music. Veronica is
currently unemployed and search
ing for a position in waste manage
ment.”
New Delhi. “I have not found any
Johnnies here yet, and I miss the
Washington, D.C., alumni discus
sions,” she says. Her e-mail address
is cheryls@vsnl.com.
1997
John Carle (SF) reports that he
and Cheryl are alive and well in
metro Atlanta. After a short stint
with CNN, he’s working as a web
developer with a consulting firm.
E-mail is welcome at jcarle@newtousbaby.com.
Juan Villasenor (A) will graduate
from Vanderbilt Law School in May
2001 and has accepted a clerkship
with a federal judge in Nashville,
Tenn., for one year beginning in
September.
1998
my husband Chris and I just had our
first child on November i6th, 2000.
Her name is Rosalyn Ophelia.”
Kathleen (Tinning) Connelly (A)
writes: “Patrick Connelly and I were
married June 12,1999, and have
been living in Vicenza, Italy, ever
since. Italy is beautiful.”
Susie Lorenzini (AGI) and Jason
Salinas (AGIoo) were married in
June 2000, in San Diego.
In the summer 1999 issue of The
Reporter, an unknown perpetrator
sent in a false report about Eve Gib
son (A) and Todd Pytel (A). Here’s
a correction from Eve: “Todd will
not be ‘working closely with the
Warner Brothers Network in the
upcoming months’ because he is too
busy teaching high school math at
Senh, a Chicago public school, nor
am I teaching fifth graders science
at a Catholic school in New York. I
have been playing rugby for the
Chicago Women’s Rugby Football
Club and tutoring at Literacy Chica
go, and toiling in an office.”
2000
Valerie Whiting (A) reports that
she got her Peace Corps assignment:
She headed to Panama in January to
be an environmental educator.
Max R. Fink (SF) reports: “Work
ing in Chicago as a corporate
recruiter (probably for something I
did in a past life!). Just returned
from a vacation to the rainforests of
Costa Rica. Thinking of becoming a
tour guide in South America.”
Heather (Miller) and Nate
Greenslit (both A) are the proud
parents of Emily Ruth, born March
25. Heather taught middle school
math and science in a private school
outside Baltimore until Emily’s
arrival. She’s now a stay-at-home
mom and a private tutor. Nate got
his master’s degree in cognative sci
ence at Johns Hopkins and will
begin a program in the history and
sociology of technology at MIT. The
Greenslits now live in Worcester,
Mass.
1999
Erin Gage Bates (A) writes: “I was
married February 5th, 2000, and
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from you.
Call us, write us, e-mail us. Let your
classmates know what you’re doing.
The next issue tvill be published in
July; copy deadline is May 20.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404; b-goyette@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87501-4599;
classics@maiLsjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes
on the
Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at:
www.sjca.edu - click on “Alumni.”
�{Student Voices}
Through a Photographer’s Eye
The Transfer Experience
A
Imost 30% of St. John’s students have spent a year or more
as transfers, making them true hi-campus members of the
/
college community. Whether their “year abroad” is spent in
Santa Fe, after some time in the brick-clad East, or in
/
Annapolis, after a year or two in the mountain air, transfer
students almost universally enjoy the experience.
Sylvaine Rameckers, Aoi, spent last year in Santa Fe. An avid photogra
pher, she fell in love with the landscape of the southwest. Although St. John’s
students generally rate the location of the campuses low on their list of why
they chose the college, Santa Fe and Annapolis are nevertheless both beauti
ful places-each in its own way. Here are some of Sylvaine’s favorite photos
that capture the flavor of each location.
{The Colleges?. John’s
College • Spring 2001 }
37
�38
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association President
Greetings!
Thanks to you all for giving me the opportunity to lead the Association as its
new president. You have a dedicated and creative Board of Directors, who will he
focused on maintaining tradition and building new opportunities for alumni to
connect with each other and the College. For example...
I wish you could all have joined us for a delightful evening on January ay.
Eighteen groups of alumni and current St. John’s seniors met at Santa Fe
restaurants for Senior Dinners. The dinners, which have
become tradition on both campuses, are designed to wel
come soon-to-he alumni into the Association. As you can
imagine, the conversations are lively and varied, ranging
Electing Alumni
Representatives to the
St. John’s and Alumni
Association Boards
Election ofAlumni Representatives
to the St. John's College Board of
Visitors and Governors
In accordance with Article VIII, Section II
of the By-Laws of the St. John’s College
Alumni Association, notice is hereby given
that the following alumni have been nomi
nated by the Alumni Association Board of
Directors for election to the St. John’s Col
lege Board of Visitors and Governors.
from essay topics, to career possibilities, to current pic
tures of student life, to news of tutors and mutual friends,
to life after St. John’s, to activities of the Association. Mem
Glenda Eoyang
ories, hopes, and fears are traded and relished across time
and geography.
This is one of my personal favorites among the many Association activities. It is
Notice is also given that nominations may
be made by petition.
The rules governing submission of nomi
nations by petition are as follows:
I. Petitions must be signed by at least fifty
members of the Alumni Association in good
standing.
a pleasure to revisit that invigorating time in my life. I am always surprised to see
how similar the experience of today is to that of the mid-yos, when I made my
transition from student to alumna-and also how different it is. The current crop
of seniors are so bright and curious and verbal and excited as they come to terms
with integrating their Johnny experience with the rest of their lives.
If you live in the Santa Fe or Annapolis area and would be interested in hosting
a dinner, let the Alumni Directors know. Usually, two alumni co-host eight seniors
at a local restaurant. The college Alumni Directors select the sites, but they also
take suggestions. The cost is shared by the hosts, the college, and the Alumni
Association. You’ll be asked to distribute some information about the Association
and explain the benefits of staying in touch with other alumni. It is a wonderful
opportunity to connect and see what’s happening in the world of St. John’s!
For the past, the present, and the future.
ST. JOHN’S college
alumni association
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe,
undergraduate or Graduate Institute,
Old Program or New, graduated or not,
all alumni have automatic membership in
the St. John’s College Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association is an independent
organization, with a Board of Directors
elected by and from the alumni body.
The Board meets four times a year, twice
on each campus, to plan programs and
coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College
magazine is sponsored by the Alumni
Association and communicates Alumni
Association news and events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SFy6
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary -Barbara Lauer, SFy6
Treasurer - Bill Fant, Ayg
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairTom Geyer, A68
Glenda Holladay Eoyang, SFy6
Eoyang@chaos-limited.com
Web site -www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association,
St. John’s College, Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87501.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2001 }
�39
{Alumni Association News}
2. Nominations must be accompanied by a
biographical sketch of the nominee.
3. The consent of all persons nominated
must be obtained.
4. The petitions must reach the Directors
of Alumni Activities NO LATER THAN
DECEMBER i, 2001.
c/o Alumni Office
St. John’s College
P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404
If nominations by petition are received,
there will be an election conducted by mail
ballot. If there are no such nominations,
the nominees listed below will be consid
ered elected. Terms will begin in July of
2002.
Eor his second term:
Jason Todd Walsh, A85
New York, N.Y.
MBA, Harvard Business
School, 1989; entrepreneur-in-residence, McKin
sey & Company, 2000present; executive vice
president/ start-up gener
al manager,
Oncology.com, 19992000; vice president of business develop
ment of Quest Diagnostics, Incorporated,
1998-1999; vice president/general manager.
Long Island Region of Quest Diagnostics,
1996-1998; associate director for strategy and
development for the Opto-Electronics Group
of Corning Inc., 1993-1995; business manag
er, television components. Corning Asahi
Video Products Company, 1990-1993; mem
ber of the St. John’s College Alumni Associa
tion Board of Directors, 1990-1996; Treasurer
of that Board, 1998-2000; Vice- President of
that Board, 2001-; Lady Liberty Regatta
chairman. New York Harbor Sailing Founda
tion, 1998 & 2001; member, St. John’s Col
lege Board of Visitors and Governors, 1999-.
For his first term:
Mark Middlebrook, A83
Oakland, Calif.
Mark is a rabid liberal artist in sheepish techno-geek clothing. After earning his BA from
St. John’s in 1983, he completed a Master’s
degree in structural engineering at the Uni
versity of California, Berkeley. Since 1988,
Mark has been the sole proprietor of
Daedalus Consulting in Oakland, Calif. In
this guise, he fools around with computer
aided drafting (CAD) software for money.
Seeking moderation in all things-especially
time spent with computers-Mark remains
active in the liberal arts and the St. John’s
College community. He has participated for
many years in the Northern California alumni
chapter and the Alumni Association’s Board
of Directors. Since 1999, he has taught St.
John’s-style seminars at St. Mary’s College in
Moraga, Calif. Mark’s other avocations
include music, languages, and cooking. He
currently is working on perfecting his tortilla
espanola, Andalusian Spanish, and flamenco
bulerias.
For his second term:
Clinton Dale Lively, A78
Princeton Junction, N.J.
MS, Mathematics, University of Virginia;
MBA, Finance, University of Chicago. Man
aging Director and Head of Portfolio Risk
Management, Merrill Lynch, NY; directing
firmwide event analysis, process risk manage
ment, country risk assessments, internal risk
capital allocation, and oversight of market
risk taken within the Private Client, Asset
Management and Merrill Lynch Treasury
divisions. Managing Director and Partner in
charge of the Corporate Risk Management
Group for the Bankers Trust Company, 199799; previously for Bankers Trust: joined the
bank in r984 in Sales, Trading and Funding
Department; in 1987 a member of the team
that developed the Global Market Risk Man
agement function; in 1989 transferred to
Tokyo to set up the Global Market Risk group
for Asia, Australia, and New Zealand; in 1992
returned to New York as head of the Global
Risk Analytic group and was appointed head
of market risk globally in 1995; in spring of
1997 chosen to manage the Corporate Risk
Management function overall. A member of
Bankers Trust Asset Liability Committee
(ALCO) and Management Committee on
Controls. On the Board of Directors of
Bankers International Corporation and LongTail Risk Insurance, Ltd.
Election ofOjftcers and Directors
ofthe St. John ’a College Alumni
Association
In accordance with Article VII, Sections I
and II of the By-Laws of the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association, notice is hereby
given that the following alumni have been
nominated to serve as officers and direc
tors on the St. John’s College Alumni Asso
ciation Board of Directors.
Notice is also given that nominations for
the positions as officers and directors of
the Association may be made by petition.
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
The rules governing submission of nom
inations by petition are as follows:
1. Petitions must be signed by at least thirty
members of the Alumni Association in
good standing.
2. Petitions must be presented to the Sec
retary of the Alumni Association prior to
the Annual Meeting at which the election
is to be held. Petitions should be sent to
Barbara Lauer, c/o Alumni Office, St.
John’s College, P.O. Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404.
3. The election will be held at the Annual
Meeting on Saturday, July 7 at 1:30 p.m. in
Santa Fe.
4. The candidates for Officers and Direc
tors receiving the highest number of votes
for those offices shall be declared elected.
Terms will begin on January i, 2002.
For his first term:
William Tilles, A59
Rockville, Md.
William R. (Bill) Tilles is
an Organization Develop
ment consultant specializ
ing in the planning and
facilitation of processes
that enhance organiza
tional performance.
Before he retired from
IBM in r992, he held man
agement and staff positions working with
government and commercial clients. He was
a principal in Collaborative Decisions, Inc., a
small, women-owned business focusing on
decision support technology. Currently, as an
associate of CI International, based in Den
ver, Colorado and Washington, D.C., he pro
vides facilitation and planning services to
government and commercial clients. He is
also an active participant in the DC Cultural
Alliance Business Volunteers for the Arts pro
gram, where he was honored as Business Vol
unteer of the Year in 1999. Tilles is in his
third term on the Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors, where he is the Chair of the Visiting
Committee and member of the Executive
Committee.
For her first term:
Valerie Pawlewicz, A89
Annapolis, Md.
Currently designs educa
tional trips for the Smithsonian-the largest, most
diverse, museum-based
travel program in the
world (1998-). She organ
izes performing arts, fine
arts, culinary, history and
�40
{Alumni Association News}
literature seminars, working directly with
such organizations as the Santa Fe Opera,
Toronto International Film Festival, and the
Spoleto Festival USA, and with such individu
als as Ken Burns, Holly Mondavi and Gian
Carlo Menotti. Prior to the Smithsonian
(1996-98), she worked as an independent
folklorist on community oral history projects,
including a St. John’s College oral history
project (over ao interviews were collected
from faculty, alumni, staff at both campuses).
She was the Senior Resident for Student
Activities at St. John’s College, Annapolis,
Md. (1994-96), at the same time serving as in
house substitute teacher at the Key School in
Annapolis. From 1992-94, she completed
graduate work at UNC Chapel Hill in folk
lore, taking on oral history projects as diverse
as furniture factory workers and Southern
funeral directors. She served as a class leader
for The Campaign for Our Fourth Century
(1993-95). She is married to Leo Pickens
(A78), Director of Athletics on the Annapolis
campus.
For her first term:
Martha Black Jordan, SFGI86
Mexico City, Mexico
Jordan was born in Mexico
City and educated in the
U.S. She holds a BA from
Sweet Briar College, an
MA from St. John’s, and an
MFA from Vermont Col
lege. She is the founder of
the Tramontane Poets of
Mexico City, a collective
dedicated to being a bridge between the poet
ry worlds of Mexico and North America,
which has sponsored visits to Mexico City and
readings by Reginald Gibbons, Joe Somoza,
William Merwin, Grace Schulman, Mark
Strand, Naomi Shihab Nye, William Snod
grass, and others. She has read her own work,
as well as translations, on National Public
Radio and at various organizations around
the country. Her poems have appeared in IfI
Had My Life to Live Over, Latitudes, The
Tree is Older Than You Are, California Quar
terly, The Texas Observer, the eleventh
MUSE, Grand Street, and Tameme. She has
also published many translations from Span
ish to English, some from English to Spanish,
and has edited two bilingual books. She has
served on the board of the Junior League of
Mexico City; Christ Church Episcopal, Mexi
co City; National Board Medical College of
Pennsylvania/Hahnemann University,
Philadelphia; Women’s Auxiliary American
British Cowdray Hospital, Mexico City.
For his first term:
Rohert A. George, A85
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Currently Associate Edito
rial Page Editor for the
New York Post. He is also a
columnist for National
Review Online. Previously,
George served as Director
of Coalitions for the
Republican National Com
mittee. Reporting to the
RNC Co-chairman, he
acted as party liaison to diverse business, eth
nic and interest groups. From January 1995
through May 1998, George served as Special
Assistant & Senior Writer to the Speaker of
the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1994,
he was a Legislative Assistant to former Con
gressman Michael Huffington (R-CA). From
1988 to 1993, he served as Communications
Director for the Republican National Finance
Committee. Contemporaneous with his pro
fessional full-time career, George has held
sideline occupations as a researcher, disk
jockey and free-lance writer. His work has
appeared in The Washington Post, The Wash
ington Times, National Review, New Repub
lic, Billboard, Diversity & Division, The
Weekly Standard, CRISIS, San Francisco
Chronicle, Intellectual Capital, com. Salon',
and he was a contributor to Generations
Apart: Xers vs. Boomers vs. the Elderly and
Black & Right: The Bold New Voice ofBlack
Conservatives in America. He is an Adjunct
Fellow with the Center For New Black Lead
ership, a national African-American advocacy
group exploring entrepreneurial and freemarket issues, and Third Millennium, an
organization dedicated to multi-generational
public policy issues.
George was born on the Caribbean island
country of Trinidad and Tobago and raised in
Great Britain and the United States. His
interests include reading, jogging, cultural
analysis, and a proclivity for withering puns.
as the Director of College Placement for the
school, the only college preparatory school
for Native Americans in the country. Origi
nally from Boulder, Col., Boydstun chose to
attend St. John’s instead of going to a per
forming arts school to pursue her love of act
ing. She remained active in theatre at
St. John’s, however, and since her gradua
tion has performed with Shakespeare in
Santa Fe (Measurefor Measure and A Mid
summer Night’s Dream) and as the title role
in Queen Elizabeth I at Santa Fe Stages. She
recently auditioned for several graduate act
ing programs around the country, and she
hopes to spend the next three years pursuing
an MFA.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-880-^134
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
315-465-0344
ANNAPOLIS
Roberta Gable
PORTLAND
410-295-6936
360-883-9058
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
513-483-0747
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-453-1083
BALTIMORE
David Kidd
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
410-738-4136
619-433-4353
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
CHICAGO
Dale Mortimer
SAN FRANCISCO/
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
Lorna Anderson
SANTA FE
For her first term;
847-467-3069
John Pollak
Amber Boydstln, SF99
DENVER
Santa Fe, N.M.
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny
SEATTLE
Amber Boydstun
has spent the two
years since she
graduated from
St. John’s teach
ing at the Native
American
Preparatory
School (NAPS) in
Rowe, N.M. Last
year she taught Advanced PreCalculus and
Geometry at NAPS, and this year she serves
303-530-3373
Jon Bever
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2001 }
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
563-436-1934
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
613-833-3316
NEW YORK
Fielding Dupuy
313-974-3933
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
505-983-^^144
306-739-1163
WASHINGTON, DC
Bill Ross
301-330-4594
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
973-3-6717608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{Connections}
How Can Alumni
Stay Connected
TO THE College?
Let us count the ways.
For alumni from lacrosse-loving days of the
r93os to the most recent of the 1990s,
St. John’s occupies a special place in their
consciousness. There are many ways alumni
can be involved in the life of the college, or
stay involved with the college from afar.
Indeed, the proliferation of new kinds of
activities has some alumni confused. Here’s
a short version of the activities of different
alumni groups.
The St. John’s College
Alumni Offices
College staff and resources devoted to
encouraging alumni connections to the col
lege. The Offices of Alumni Activities plan
and carry out Homecomings, Summer Alum
ni Programs, and Croquet Weekend; take
care of the database of alumni names and
addresses; coordinate the Alumni Register;
staff Alumni Association projects; work with
current students to foster continued relation
ships with the college; serve as touchpoints
for all alumni dealings with the college.
Contacts:
Annapolis: Roberta Gable, Director and
Dolores Strissel, Assistant. 410-626-2531.
alumni@sjca.edu
Web site: www.sjca.edu, click on “Alumni”
Santa Fe: Tahmina Shalizi, Director.
505-984-6103; tshalizi@mail.sjcsf.edu
Web site: www.sjcsf.edu, click on “Alumni”
St. John’s College
Alumni Association
Non-profit association independent of
St. John’s College; Alumni Association dues
help support Association projects-dues are
not a contribution to St. John’s College. All
alumni are automatically members of the
Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association mission is: To
provide an active place for alumni in the life
of the college; to promote the continuing
association of alumni with one another; and
to serve, preserve, and advance St. John’s
College as one community of and for liberal
education.
Usually held the last Saturday in April, the St. John’s-Navy Croquet Match draws
HUNDREDS OF ALUMNI BACK TO AnNAPOLIS. ThIS YEAr’s DATE: ApRIL 28.
The Alumni Association, through its Board
of Directors, helps plan and sponsor Homecomings and Summer Alumni Programs in
cooperation with the college offices of
Alumni Activities; helps sponsor the Alum
ni Register; awards Honorary Alumni status
and presents Alumni Association Awards of
Merit; coordinates Alumni Association
chapters in cities around the country; pub
lishes the Alumni Association News (a pages
in The College, formerly The Reporter).
Contacts:
Glenda Eoyang, SF76, President
Web site: www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Philanthropia
A subcommittee of the Development Com
mittee of the Board of Visitors and Gover
nors, comprised of alumni volunteers inter
ested in encouraging financial support of
the college by alumni. Philanthropia’s main
efforts are centered on the Alumni Annual
Fund, direct contributions to the college
which provide the campuses with operating
expenses.
Philanthropia volunteers help plan
fundraising strategies in cooperation with
the college development staff; build aware
ness of the college’s financial needs and
alumni’s responsibilities for support
through publications like the “Founders
and Foundations” calendar; encourage class
reunion organization for the purposes of
fundraising; help plan phonathons, “meet
the president” receptions, and other activi
ties in various cities.
{The College -St. John’s
College ■ Spring 2001 }
Contacts:
Leslie Jump, A84, President; Alex Fotos or Mary
Simmons in the Annapolis Advancement Office,
410-626-2507; Ginger Roherty in the Santa Fe
Advancement Office, 505-984-6109.
Web site: www.sjca.edu/advance/philan. phtml
Alumni Admissions Representatives
Alumni who volunteer to help the Admis
sions Offices with various recruiting proj
ects, such as hosting prospective student
receptions; interviewing or answering ques
tions from prospective students, parents, and
high school counselors; answering e-mail
questions from prospective students; helping
to represent the college at college fairs.
Contacts:
Annapolis: Dorcey Rose, Associate Director of
Admissions, 410-626-2527; d-rose@sjca.edu.
Web site: www.sjca.edu/admissions/representative.phtml
Santa Fe: Ana Alvernaz, Associate Director of Admis
sions, 505-984-6003; aalvernaz@mail.sjcsf.edu
Alumni Placement Office Contacts
Alumni who volunteer to help the Place
ment Offices on each campus. Placement
Office contacts provide information and
networking advice to current students look
ing into graduate programs and career fields.
Contacts:
Annapolis - Karen Krieger, Director of Place
ment, 410-626-2500; k-krieger@sjca.edu
Web site: www.sjca.edu/placement/office. phtml
Santa Fe - Margaret OdeU, Director of Place
ment, 505-984-6066
Web site: www.sjcsf.edu/placement/
�{Obituaries}
Albert Patterson Close
Class of tgsS
Retired Judge Albert Patterson
Close, Sr., an administrative judge of
the Circuit Court for Harford Coun
ty (Md.) for many years, died in
December. Judge Close served for
more than two decades on the local
bench, where he presided over some
of the highest profile criminal and
civil cases in Harford County history.
Born near Bel Air, Md., and the
youngest of seven children, he grad
uated from St. John’s in 1938 and
received a degree from the Universi
ty of Maryland School of Law. Dur
ing World War II, he served in the
Marine Corps in China, attaining
the rank of major. After the war, he
practiced law for many years in Bel
Air, served as People’s Court judge
for eight years, and was appointed to
the Circuit Court bench in 1967.
The following year he was elected
for a 15-year term. Rather than
retire in 1984, he sought a second
15-year term, which he won.
Judge Close was active in the
Republican Party, volunteered with
the Boy Scouts, and was a member of
the Susquehanna Law Club, the Jar
rettsville Lions Club, and the board
of directors of Upper Chesapeake
Health System. He is survived by his
wife, five sons, three daughters, two
sisters, and six grandchildren.
Patrick D. Davis,
Class oftgs^
Patrick D. Davis, a member of the
class of 1950, died January 32 in
Seattle. He was born in Dewey,
Okla., and grew up in Washington,
D.C., where he often worked as a
child actor. He served three years in
the Navy in World War IL After St.
John’s, he attended the University of
Maine, Orono, and Canterbury Col
lege in New Zealand. He lived, trav
eled, and worked for 13 years over
seas, mostly in England, France, and
Turkey. He was employed as a civilian
with the U.S. Air Force as an educa
tion officer and regional director of
adult eduction affiliated with the
University of Maryland. He subse
quently was a federal employee and
regional administrator in Washing
ton, D.C., and Seattle, both with the
Office of Economic Opportunity and
Health & Human Services’ Head
Start Program, working to improve
opportunities for disadvantaged chil
dren and mothers.
His love of traveling, history, for
eign affairs, theater, archeology,
politics, art, music, and great books
led many to call him a Renaissance
Man. He will be remembered for his
love and caring for people, his gen
erosity and sense of humor, and his
devotion to social justice and envi
ronmental causes. He is survived by
his wife, Verrelle “Susie” Davis and
son, Justinian A. Davis.
Beach, and Vermont College. Gifts
in Michael’s memory may be made
to The Vermont Respite House,
99 Allen Brook Lane, Williston,
VT 05495.
—Sapna Gandhi, Agi
Michael Kraemer, A93
In his short life, Michael Kraemer
touched and influenced more than
most people do in their entire lives.
He spent most of his free time volun
teering at animal shelters, tutoring
students of all ages in their school
work, and helping new immigrants
adjust to life in America. It was his
approach that made him special: he
approached every task and every per
son with love and kindness. And at
the young age of 19, Michael knew he
wanted to spend the rest of his life
serving humanity and protecting ani
mals. Michael was one of those peo
ple who truly had no enemy.
After leaving St. John’s in 1991
after his sophomore year, Michael
moved back home to Miami to five
with his family. Still a Johnnie,
Michael loved learning so he contin
ued to study on his own-learning
Spanish and Portuguese, before set
tling on holistic studies. He was
inspired after treating his own health
with alternative medicine. He began
a correspondence course at Vermont
College’s School of Holistic Studies.
After several trips to Vermont to
complete his coursework, Michael
and his sister eventually moved there.
Michael had always loved good
music and over the last several years
had acquired quite a collection of
reggae, bossanova, funk, African,
salsa, and other groovy music. One
of his gifts was making music tapes
for his friends. So it was not a sur
prise that Michael taught himself
rocar and drums and became part of
a performing samba group.
Michael was diagnosed with can
cer in early April 3000. He had a very
shm chance of treating the cancer
successfully with Western medicine.
Instead of compromising his faith in
Eastern healing arts, Michael chose
to try acupuncture and Chinese
herbs to heal. For a while, it seemed
to be working and making him
stronger. The last two months of his
life were spent in a hospice, where
he was surrounded by family and
close friends. For the first time,
Michael let himself be loved and
nurtured, instead of always being
the strong and generous one.
Michael passed away on Novem
ber 25. He will be loved and remem
bered by his friends from St. John’s,
the Annapolis Society for the Pre
vention of Cruelty to Animals, the
Jewish Community Center in Miami
{The College-
William Allen Ruhl, Jr.
Class oftg44
William A. Ruhl, Jr., a bank execu
tive in Salisbury, Md., died in
December. He was a member of the
St. John’s class of 1944 and served in
the 83nd Airborne Division during
World War IL Mr. Ruhl was the first
managing officer of First Shore Fed
eral Savings and Loan Association
when it was founded in 1953, and
was named executive vice president
in 1964, the position he held until
retirement in 1984. He served as a
member of the board of First Shore
Federal from 1969 to 1998, when he
was named director emeritus. Mr.
Ruhl was active with the Salisbury
Chamber of Commerce, the Mary
land League of Financial Institu
tions, scouting, the Salisbury
Rotary Club, St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church, and the American Field
Service exchange student program.
He is survived by his present wife, a
son and three daughters, five grand
children, a brother, and a sister.
Adolph W. Schmidt
Member ofthe Board
Adolph W. Schmidt, a longtime sup
porter of the college who served on
the Board of Visitors and Governors
since 1949, died December 17 in
Pittsburgh. He was 96.
Mr. Schmidt was active in many
spheres during his life: in the busi
ness world as a banker and financier
for various Mellon family business
es, in the city of Pittsburgh as
founder of the Pittsburgh Playhouse
and the Pittsburgh Symphony, in the
international sphere as a diplomat
who served as ambassador to Cana
da from 1969 to 1974 and also found
ed organizations dedicated to stabi
lizing the world’s population and
resources, and at St. John’s-which
he once called “the finest under
graduate liberal arts program in the
United States today, barring none.”
A native of McKeesport, Pennsyl
vania, Mr. Schmidt graduated from
Princeton and the Harvard Gradu
ate School of Business Administra
tion. He served as an intelligence
officer in the Army during World
War II, and after the war he was
active in developing political unity
among the countries that eventually
formed NATO.
Professionally, he worked with
the Mellon National Bank and its
St. John^s College - Spring 2001 }
affiliated institutions and organiza
tions beginning in 1929 until his
retirement in 1969. He was a presi
dent and trustee of the A. A. W. Mel
lon Educational and Charitable
Trust, and a trustee of the Old
Dominion Foundation.
Mr. Schmidt’s interest in St. John’s
began when he read the February
1940 article about the college in Life
magazine while on a flight from Pitts
burgh to Washington. He felt the St.
John’s curriculum represented much
that was lacking in his own educa
tion. He called the college and spoke
with Stringfellow Barr, who invited
him to come for a visit. After attend
ing a seminar and then a mathemat
ics tutorial the next day, Mr. Schmidt
began to think about taking the year
off to enroll. Back in Pittsburgh, he
showed a copy of the Life article to
Paul Mellon; about a week later, the
two discussed the college and Mr.
Mellon told Mr. Schmidt that he
should remain in Pittsburgh since
there was so much work to be done.
In fact, Mr. Mellon had decided to
enroll at St. John’s himself.
Mr. Schmidt was elected to the
St. John’s Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors in 1950; he became chair in
1954 and again in 1962. From r969 to
1974, he served as U.S. Ambassador
to Canada and did not participate on
the Board, but upon his return he
again joined. In 1980 he was made a
member emeritus.
The Adolph W. Schmidt Endowed
Thtorships were estabhshed with a
gift from Mr. Schmidt in r985. Alter
nating between the campuses, the
tutorship enables a faculty member
to take release time from teaching for
further study and the leading of a fac
ulty study group, either in the areas
of pohtics and economic and mone
tary theory, or in some other area of
importance to the program.
Mr. Schmidt was named an hon
orary alumnus of St. John’s in 1987,
and was given the Alumni Associa
tion Award of Merit in 1989.
ALSO NOTED...
Gretchen L. Berg, A75, died in
June 3000
Patrick D. Davis, A50, died in
January 3001
John D. Edinger, A34
Vincent W. McKay, A46
Ben Moskowitz, A50, died in June
2000
Col. Frederick L. Smith, Aa7, died
in November 1999
Robert Arne, SFG83, died in
November 2000
Theodore A. Buder, SF94, died in
August 2000
�{Obituaries}
In Memory of Robert Bart
Remarks delivered by Nancy Buchenauer at a
memorial servicefor Robert Bart, tutor in
Annapolisfrom ig4Q to ty~7 and in Santa Fe
from
to 2000.
Robert was my friend. And he was a great and
terrible friend. I first met him in 1979 when I
went down the hill from Los Alamos to apply
to be a tutor. He was the Dean in Santa Fe in
those days, and for me he embodied what a
dean had to be. Really, he embodied the col
lege. When I was appointed he told me that he
had serious reservations about whether any
one who lived 40 miles away could be a tutor.
My response was to form the determination
then and there that I would never miss a class
or Friday lecture, and I would never let my
students down in any way. I would show him
what I could and could not do. He had planted
in me an expectation that made me demand
more of myself than I ever had before.
That was the beginning of my education
from him in what the college was. He made
me desire to show him that I too was capable
of giving myself completely to something that
was valuable and difficult. In effect he was
asking me to be more than myself. I didn’t
know then what I later came to know from
watching what he did as well as hearing what
he said, that only in giving oneself to some
thing greater, outside oneself does one have a
chance to find out who one really is and so
really to be something.
From his love of art he taught me to see.
From childhood my mother had taken me to
museums and said, “Look, isn’t that beauti
ful?” But when Robert took me to Michelan
gelo’s statue of Moses he asked me a question.
Pointing out the curl of the upper lip, he
asked, “Is he feeling contempt?” Robert
taught me intelligent looking. He showed me
that the best paintings and statues demand a
response from our innermost selves. Just like
poets, artists use the tricks of their trade-per
spective, rounding, color, light, shape-to
express a meaning, to show us what is impor
tant about their subjects for human beings.
Painting technique is a language as much as
written words or musical notes, and one can
learn to read and understand from it the truth
of being a human being. A building in the
hands of a great architect becomes an organic
whole designed to satisfy our craving for
wholeness: our lives are elevated by it and
made more orderly and purposeful. If one
looks at Manet’s painting, “Le balcon,” one
sees the artist Berthe Morrisot looking out
Robert Bart
and down, with ferocious intensity: perhaps
above all, artists by looking are teaching us
that it requires effort to look and that no part
of the world we inhabit is just present for us
without our labor.
Nick Maistrellis, by mentioning to me what
he was thinking about saying here today,
helped me to understand that the key to what
came to be my friendship with Robert is learn
ing, that is, my learning. That was an
inevitable consequence of how Robert did
everything and of who he was. He was posi
tively unable to keep anything at a “safe” dis
tance, from which one might think or talk
about it as if one were not involved. To every
thing and everyone he had an immediate, vis
ceral response. Never for him was the life of
the mind divorced from our personal relation
ships to one another, and the one always
importantly informed the other.
He taught me that taste is absolute and that
people of integrity have to judge. His judg
ments often made me terribly uncomfortable,
but I also learned from them that to stay alive
and awake and questioning, to encounter peo
ple and ideas genuinely, one has to make judg
ments. Part of why Robert was such a holy ter
ror to many students and colleagues was
because in his presence everything one said
and did was constantly and relentlessly judged.
There could be no off-hand, unthinking
remarks, because he was thinking all the time,
and he was unscrupulously honest about what
he thought. At times he would take enormous
offense at a chance remark, unable himself to
believe that the words were not intended,
because for him everything was intentional.
But he suffered also from staircase self-hon
esty. He would go through paroxysms of
remorse over what he had said to people. He
also had the peculiar quality of frequently
{The College -Sr. John’s
College ■ Spring 2001 }
43
doing more justice to people behind their
backs than he could do to their faces. It was
not uncommon in Instruction Committee
meetings for him to speak in praise of people
whom he only bristled at face to face, and at
such times nothing of what one might call per
sonal feeling clouded his ability to evaluate.
This intellectual generosity was accompa
nied by a truly remarkable generosity in other
ways. AU his life he lived by a standard of
extreme ascetic economy while giving prodi
gious amounts of money to the college and to
his friends. In the last years of his life he
became friends with a young woman he hoped
would help him to remain in his home a little
longer, but when he learned of her desire to go
to graduate school in Washington, he made up
the difference between her scholarship and
what she needed to be able to attend. When he
had first come home from the hospital after his
second heart attack, I was spending seminar
nights staying in his house, and I woke up one
morning finding him sweeping the snow off
my car with a broom, hardly able to walk. For
him it was easy to give to and to spend on oth
ers and next to impossible to spend on himself.
He was terribly lonely and often agonized
by a sense that he had driven away some of the
finest friends he had had. He told me once on
one of the rare occasions that he spoke of his
past and his childhood that in school he had
never had a friend. I came to see how coming
to the college meant so much to him personal
ly as well as intellectually. At the college he
made the first real friendships of his life. He
needed others around him constantly, and his
life was best for him when he could spend two
meals a day in conversations with one other of
those he cared about. Once someone became
his friend they were a part of him forever,
even though there were few with whom this
did not take the form of a constant struggle.
Bill O’Grady once said of St. Paul that just
exactly a man who found it hard to love would
have to struggle to come to know (and to say)
what love is. Those words could just as well
have been said about Robert, for because love,
the most intense and close relationship of one
human being to another, was so hard for him,
he devoted his life to trying to see it, to learn it,
to say it, to do it, and to give it to others. Such
was Robert. I think he was a great man. 4"
The college has established the Robert Bart
Endowment Fund, to be usedforfinancial aid
for students. Contributions can be sent
c/o Advancement Office, St. John's College,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM
87501-4599
�{St. John’s Forever}
he King William Players
“girl trouble” as a result of his effort. Al
staged the American pre
Sugg (A54) played the Skeleton, a mysteri
miere of Thomas Cranmer of
ous spirit figure who offered counsel to the
Canterbury, a verse drama
embattled Cranmer. Jo Thoms, wife of
about Henry VIII’s archbish
tutor Bert Thoms, played Anne Boleyn
op who suffered martyrdom
(third from left in the photo) and also
as a result of his stance on the kingdesigned
’s
the set and the costumes, which
divorce from Catherine of Aragon.included
Two
a medallion necklace for the king
productions took place-February 9 and 10,
that was fashioned from tin can lids.
1951-in the Great Hall. A group of students
Richard Edelman (A51) produced and
had read and discussed Charles Williams’
directed. In his quest for authenticity,
difficult, disturbing work the previous
Edelman tried to rent furniture appropri
spring and vowed to put on the play. Talk
ate to the period but was unable to find it.
about a production: this one took nine
When
he spotted some pieces that looked
months of preparation and involved a hun
like
they
’d work in the lobby of Lowe’s
dred students and townspeople.
Valencia Theater in Baltimore, he wrote
Tutor Hugh McGrath played Cranmer;
the owners, who allowed the KWP to bor
his dramatic bearing and resonant English
row the furniture. Always avant garde, the
accent must have been perfect for the part.
King William Players employed unusual
Paul Rickolt (A52) was Henry VIII (second
three-leveled staging and at times they
from the left in the photo). According to
played their roles standing-or racingnews accounts from the Annapolis paper.
among members of the audience. And, in
The Evening Capital, Mr. Rickolt spent
the St. John’s spirit of trying to get to the
months growing a beard so that his looks
would be authentic. 1951 was not a big year
root of every issue, tutor Winfree Smith
for the popularity of facial hair, and he
gave a lecture before the play on the
reported being stared at and experiencing
British Reformation period.
T
{The College -
St. John’s College . Spring 2001 }
From the college archives
COMES THIS 1951 photo OF AN
elaborate King William
Players production.
V
► ■'
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Croquet Match St. John'’s vs. U.S. Naval Academy
Saturday
atj, 1 p.m.,
(Rain date; April 29)
CLASS OF
Summer Alumni Program, Week 1
Section I - The Art ofLiving Well
Readings from Montaigne’s Essays and
Chuang-Tzu
Led by Mark Rollins and Krishnan
Venkatesh
If to philosophize is to learn how to die, by”
what can we learn how to live? These semi
nars will constitute an imagined conversa
tion between one of the greatest Taoist
sages and the i6th century Frenchman who
first wrote the personal essay. Although the
cultural roots of these two men are quite dif
ferent, both share a deep suspicion of
human claims to know, and both draw from
huge treasuries of story and anecdote in
their nimble interrogations of life. They
engage many of the same issues-among
others: dying, illness, disability, ambition,
thought itself, and even the value of doing
nothing-and introduce us to some surpris
ing teachers. Lord Wen-Hui said, “That’s
good indeed! Ting the cook has shown me
how to find the Way to nurture life.”
Section II- Two Dialogues With God
Readings from The Bhagavadgita and
The Book of Job
Led by Phil LeCuyer and Michael Wolfe
Participants will explore two conversations
with God, one from the Hebrew scriptures
and the other from an Indian epic. Morning
seminars will revolve around Job’s
encounter with the Lord in the Book of Job.
Afternoon seminars will be devoted to Arju
na’s exchange with Krishna in The Bha
gavadgita.
7
A
,
Informal mini-reunions happen at the
Croquet Match. Last year, the class of
’89 MET on the lawn; they brought new
<*•
All-Alumni Art Show
in Santa Fe
BABIES, SPOUSES, FRIENDS, AND LOTS OF
FOOD AND WINE.
lecoming aooi - Annapolis
o' tiuii lecoming aoor
■ ® ' it'
- Santa Fe
Frid!
Reunion classes: 71, 76, 81, 86, 91, and 96
September 30
Reunion Classes: 36, 41, 51, 56, 61, 66, 71,
76, 81, 86, 91, and 96
JT
Summer Alumni Program, Week
^unudy) JLLiy xo j?ixuHy, j
fflta Fe
Mysteries and the Law:
The Nature ofEvidence
Led by Eva Brann, Grant Franks,
and Barbara Lauer
Who done it? How do you know who done
it? How does the polity justly deal with he or
she who done it?
This week of mixed media and conversa
tion addresses questions of crime, investiga
tion, and punishment. Through the eyes of
modern filmmakers and both contemporary
and ancient playwrights and authors, we
will examine the influences of perception
and judgment in relation to mysteries. Texts
include Billy Budd, Eumenides, Twelve
Angry Men, and Pirandello’s So It Is (IfYou
Think So).
{The College
- St John's College • Spring 2001 }
For information on events,
contact the Offices of Alumni Activities:
Tahmina Shalizi,
Director of Alumni and Parent Activities
Santa Fe - 505-984-6103;
tshalizi@mail.sjcsf.edu
Roberta Gable,
Director of Alumni Activities
Annapolis - 410-626-2531;
alumni@sjca.edu
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS > SANTA PE
Published by the
Public Relations Office
Box 2800
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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<em>The College </em>(2001-2017)
Description
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The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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St. John's College
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Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
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St. John's College Greenfield Library
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thecollege2001
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44
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The College, Spring 2001
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Volume 27, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Spring 2001. Misnumbered as issue 3.
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St. John's College
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St. John's College
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Annapolis, MD
Santa Fe, NM
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2001
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text
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pdf
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3an (assistant editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (graphic designer)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Hanlon, Erin
Wolff, Peter
Balkcom, John
Eoyang, Glenda H.
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English
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The College Vol. 27, Issue 3 Spring 2001
The College
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/6000ce628b9c12de7dd73c8bb1995edd.pdf
1e31c95a58ad4b1ad8f3c4c869929f25
PDF Text
Text
�STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS ■ SANTA FE
On Faraday
The College (usps 018-750)
ichael Faraday was the Horatio Alger of Victorian Eng
land. His father was a not-especially-successfnl black
smith who had emigrated to London from Westmorland
when the family fell on hard times. Faraday was born
there in 1791. He went to school until he was 13 and at 14
he was apprenticed to a bookbinder. Through reading,
the young man became fascinated with science. By the
time he was 19 he was conducting chemical experiments on his own, with equip
ment and materials he was able to scrounge, and he attended public lectures at
the Royal Institution with tickets provided by one of the bookbinder’s patrons.
In a positive effort at self-improvement, Faraday worked to purge his accent of
Cockney origins. He corresponded with like-minded young men who also sought
to expand their intellectual horizons. He considered science a noble activity and
once wrote: “My desire was to escape from trade, which I thought vicious and
selfish, and to enter into the service of science, which I imagined made its pur
suers amiable and liberal.”
On a long shot, without any introduction, Faraday wrote Sir Humphrey Davy,
the eminent chemist, and enclosed the notes he had taken on Davy’s lectures.
Later, when Davy injured his eyes in an experiment, he sent for Faraday to write
for him and serve as an assistant. From there, Faraday’s rise in the very active
Victorian world of science was swift. By 1813 he had been appointed Chemical
Assistant at the Royal Institution.
By 1835, Faraday was the director of the laboratory at the Royal Institution. He
lived upstairs, having married the daughter of a well-to-do silversmith, and had
his laboratory in the basement. His focus was experimentation and on explaining
to the public the principles governing nature.
In r83i he began research into electromagnetic induction, resulting in a paper
that established his reputation. He published 400 articles and books, including
the monumental Experimental Researches in Electricity.
Scientists in Victorian Britain felt a civic responsibility to use their expertise
for the public good. Faraday made recommendations on railway safety. In his 60s
he traipsed over rocky seacoast terrain to visit lighthouses and study how to
improve their operation. He was called in to investigate a fatal mine explosion.
He tried to improve the quality of steel by making different alloys.
Faraday wasn’t a mathematician, and his experiments did not depend on or
seek to find a mathematical explanation of the world. Faraday belonged to a
strict Christian sect called the Sandemanians. He saw the natural world as
divinely created, and sought the natural laws he felt reflected God’s will.
Maxwell, who later developed the equations that described what Faraday had dis
covered about electromagnetism, called him “The Great Electrical Philosopher.”
M
~BG
is published quarterly by
St. John’s College, Annapolis,
MD and Santa Fe, NM.
Known office of publication:
Public Relations Office
St. John’s College
Box a8oo
Annapolis, MD 21404-2800
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, MD
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Public Relations
Office, St. John’s College,
Box a8oo, Annapolis, MD
21404-2800.
postmaster:
Annapolis
410-626-2539
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sus3an Borden, assistant editor
Jennifer Behrens,
graphic designer
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Katherine Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Alexis Brown
Grant Franks
Robert Glick
David Levine
Margaret Odell
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
Page Z2i
Commencement 2001
DEPARTMENTS
Elliott Zuckerman delivered a series of
“preludes” for graduates in Annapolis; in
Santa Fe, Cornel West urged graduates to
challenge the assumptions of contempo
rary mass culture.
Page
2, FROM THE BELL towers
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
z6
Sophomore Seminar
Forever
All Johnnies have wrestled with the
questions about faith, suffering, God,
and mortality. But some alumni, whether
by conviction or vocation, live in a world
where theology is more than a speculative
study.
Faraday, the Experimenter
Balkcom Inauguration invitation
Liberty Tree clones
New dean and GI director appointments
McDowell’s facelift
Poetry Slam highlights
Philanthropia news
The studs of St. John’s
Mortimer Adler, an appreciation
II ALUMNI VOICES
•
Marx Redux
36 ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI
PROFILES
38 Barbara Rogan (SF73) is a novelistshe can’t help writing
Page 2/0
31 Robert Bienenfeld (SF80) markets
tomorrow’s cars today
Rousseau and Realpolitik
33 Tia Pausic (A86), a lawyer by training,
works to build democracy in Croatia
Five alumni in the world of politics discuss
how the political philosophy on the pro
gram relates to the issues they deal with in
their professional lives.
36 Catherine Allen (A69), a cultural
anthropologist, focuses on the people
of the Andes
Page 28
40 LETTERS
It Takes Two Villages
41 OBITUARIES
Timothy Miller considers what it means
to learn in a community in his Dean’s
Statement.
•
43 HISTORY
•
Page /j-6
Nick Maistrellis on Leo Raditsa (page 43)
The colorful past of Hunt House
PAGE 46
43 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Say It Isn’t So
What happened to St. John’s domination
in croquet?
ON THE COVER
Michael Faraday.
Illustration by DavidJohnson.
•
Finding lost alumni
•
Welcoming new alumni
•
Amendment procedures
48 ST. John’s forever
�2.
{From
the
Bell Towers}
The Experimenter as
Entertainer
Michael Faraday was more than “the great
electricalphilosopher. ”
Who would think the burning of
an ordinary candle a fascinating
subject of study? Michael Faraday
did, and his lecture on the topicoriginally delivered for childrenwas re-created this spring at a
conference on Faraday held in
Annapolis. “There is not a law
under which any part of this uni
verse is governed which does not
come into play, and is not touched
upon, in these phenomena,”
wrote Faraday in the introduction
to his lecture “The Chemical His
tory of the Candle.”
Grant Franks (A78), a tutor in
Santa Fe, donned the garb of a
nineteenth century gentieman
scientist (a suit put together by
his wife, based on a pattern for an
Abe Lincoln Halloween
costume) and grew three
month’s worth of side
burns in order to play
Faraday. His demonstra
tions performed in front of a
crowd of students, faculty, visi
tors, and children kicked off the
three-day conference. Franks-asFaraday showed how a candle
forms a cup for the melted wax,
how capillary attraction occurs as
a candle burns, how a candle’s
vapor is combustible even after
the flame is blown out, why a can
dle flame is brightest at the top
and darker toward the bottom,
and how tongues of flame differ
from a single candle flame,
among other things.
Learn
ing the
hues to the
talk was
the easy
part. More
challeng
ing was
assembling
the props.
“Finding
different
kinds of
candles,
shaping the glass tubes, practic
ing the technique of piping gas
out of a flame, figuring out how
much copper chloride to add to
the alcohol to make a green
flame-it involved a lot of
STUFF,” says Franks. Faraday
dehvered public lectures, not in
an academic setting but at the
Royal Institution. The lab where
he carried out his own experi
ments was in the basement.
“Faraday is important because he
learns about the world by manipu
lating it with his hands, not by
casting it into algebraic forms
that he can play with on a black
board,” says Franks. “Of course,
no scientist is obhvious to experi
mental results, but Faraday is
especially wonderful in the way
his thoughts take physical form in
the apparatus he builds.” Faraday
understood the idea that there
can be some show business in science-“Faraday was, among other
things, the precursor of Mr. Wiz
ard and of Bin Nye the Science
Guy,” says Franks.
The conference (sponsoredby
the Dibner Fund) focused on two
issues: How does experiment lead
one to knowledge of nature, and
how can such knowledge be made
accessible to others, especially to
non-scientists. Faraday is particu
larly apt as a focus for these ques
tions, says Annapolis tutor
Howard Fisher, one of the confer
ence organizers. While Faraday’s
Experimental Researches in Elec-
Santa Fe tutor Grant Franks,
FaRADAY,
PLAYING THE PART OF
demonstrates the characteris
tics OF flames.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
tricity is read in junior lab and
several of his experiments on
electromagnetism and electro
magnetic fields are performed,
his method of thinking and his
approach to experimentation are
themselves worthy of investiga
tion and thought. The confer
ence’s keynote lecture was dehv
ered by tutor emeritus Thomas
Simpson (A50) on the topic “Was
Faraday a Mathematician?” Other
lecturers included David Good
ing, from the University of Bath
(U.K.), Frank James, from the
Royal Institution of Great Britain,
and Ryan Tweney, from Bowling
Green State University. In addi
tion to the lectures and the candle
demonstration, the conference
featured a roundtable discussion
of Faraday’s “Lecture on Mental
Education” and some student
demonstrations of classic Faraday
experiments.
Faraday, whom Maxwell called
“the great electrical philoso
pher,” has been studied at St.
John’s for more than 30 years; a
part of his 7th series on electro
chemical equivalents was done in
senior lab and small segments of
the nth series on induction in
junior lab. About four years ago,
Annapohs adopted the Santa Fe
manual for junior lab electricity
and magnetism, which included
much more generous portions of
both Faraday and Maxwell, who
developed the mathematical
equations for the phenomena of
electromagnetism that Faraday
showed. A book by Howard Fish
er, Faraday’s Experimental
Researches in Electricity: Guide to
a Eirst Reading, has just been
published by Green Lion Press
(run by Bill Donahue, A67, and
Dana Densmore, A65, SFGI93);
Green Lion has also just come out
with a three-volume reprint of
Faraday’s Experimental Research
es in Electricity.
“The conference was a great
delight,” says Fisher. “I saw
again, first hand, how deeply
Faraday’s way of pursuing a ques
tion resonates with ordinary read
ers who respect a natural clarity
in the things around them.”
�{From the Bell Towers}
Balkcom Inauguration
Set for September
All St. John’s College alumni are
invited to attend the inaugura
tion of John E. Balkcom as Santa
Fe’s fifth president. Events will
take place on Friday and Satur
day, September 14 and 15. Dr.
Hanna Holborn Gray, president
emeritus of the University of
Chicago, will give the inaugural
address. Students, faculty, alum
ni, and staff have been working
on committees to organize the
celebration, which wiU include
events for all segments of the
college community. The theme
“Inviting Conversations” was
developed to capture a sense of
Mr. Balkcom’s vision for his
Liberty Tree
Lives On?
When the Liberty Tree suc
cumbed to damage from Hurri
cane Floyd in the fall of 1999,
lovers of the tree took heart in
the fact that there were several
offspring: a seedling planted
across front campus, in front of
what is now the Greenfield
Library, by the Daughters of the
American Revolution in 1889 is
now a very large tree; a Liberty
Tree descendant from a seed
hatching project begun by the
Caritas Society in 1975 thrives
on the grounds of the U.S. Capi
tol; and some crack scientists at
the University of Maryland are
working on cloning the Liberty
Tree using shoots taken from
the tree’s new growth just
months before the hurricane.
Now it seems that the baby
Liberty Tree on the Capitol
grounds may be endangered
itself. A plan to expand the Capi
tol building with the construc
presidency: a commitment to the
program, including his intention
to further relations within the
college community and expand
relationships with those who are
unfamiliar with the college.
On September 14, students,
faculty, and staff will launch the
weekend with a picnic on the
soccer field, followed by an all
college Chicago-style softball
game (an athletic challenge that
resembles “mush ball”). On Fri
day evening, inaugural guests
and college community mem
bers will join with the Santa Fe
community for a performance at
the newly renovated Lensic Per
tion of a visitors cen
ter calls for the Lib
erty offspring, along
with 83 other trees
that have national
significance (some
planted by Congress
men to honor people
or events important
in their state’s histo
ry) to be cut down.
The tree, planted in
1978 by Maryland’s
then-senator,
Charles McC. Math
ias, is now 40 feet
high, with a trunk
that is almost ao
inches in diameter.
Because the tree is
so large, moving it
would be expensive and perhaps
fatal. However, after a couple of
articles in the Washington Post
and the Baltimore Sun reported
on its fate, the Liberty progeny
suddenly appeared on the list of
trees slated to be moved rather
than chopped. Rebecca Wilson,
former public relations director
at St. John’s and the planner of
forming Arts Center in down
town Santa Fe. Students and
alumni, in addition to profes
sional musicians, will perform in
honor of the occasion.
There will be an Inaugural
Breakfast for guests of
the college and dele
gates from distinquished liberal arts
institutions on Satur
day morning, followed
by the official Inaugu
ration at IO a.m. on
Meem Library Placita.
Immediately after the
3
installation of Mr. Balkcom, a
reception will take place on the
Upper Placita. Saturday evening,
the festivities will conclude with
a Student and Alumni Waltz
Party in the Great Hall. 4-
John Balkcom will
BECOME Santa Fe’s fifth
PRESIDENT IN AN INAUGU
RATION THAT CELEBRATES
THE
St. John’s Program.
''The clones
have been
recalcitrant to
rootformation
...bittwehaveni
given up.''
The Liberty Tree, ca. 1955.
WILL ITS OFFSPRING SURVIVE?
the Liberty Tree seedling project
in the 1970s, expressed dismay
about the transplanting. “I don’t
think it can survive the move,”
she told the Baltimore Sun. She
hopes instead that the design of
the visitors center can be
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2001 }
modified to save the trees.
As for the clones, Gary Cole
man, a University of Maryland
professor who took cuttings of
Liberty Tree shoots, says in an email that he is still working on
the project. “We have estab
lished tissue cultures and have
managed to increase the number
of cultured shoots through this
process. Although this is good
news, the clones have been very
recalcitrant to root formation,”
he says. “We haven’t given up
and will continue until we suc
ceed.” 4-
�{From the Bell Towers}
New
Appointments
FOR Dean,
GI Directors
Bill Pastille GI Director, Annapolis
What qualifies
a tutor to lead
the Graduate
Institute?
Annapolis
tutor Bill
Pastille has one
idea: “An
advanced sense
of not knowing anything.” As he
begins his three-year term as
Director of the Annapolis Gradu
ate Institute this summer, Pastille
discusses his Socratic take on life:
“Socrates has become more and
more understandable to me, his
repeated refrain: I know that I
don’t know. People either regard
that statement as a sham, false
modesty, or they try to take it seri
ously,” Pastille says. “Socrates
seems to know all the answers,
but the more I live with him, the
more I see it’s just a simple
human truth. We’re constantly
pretending to ourselves that we
know something so that we’U have
something to hang onto.”
Pastille earned a BA in music
from Brown University and an MA
and PhD in musicology from Cor
nell University. He became a tutor
in 1986 and served as assistant
dean from 1994 to 1996.
It’s entirely likely that Gradu
ate Institute students share
Pastille’s sense of not knowing.
Outgoing Director Michael Dink
has recently written that they are
in some sense more self-selected
than undergraduates because
“they have decided that they are
in need of a liberal education
when they had passed the stage of
life when such a need is often con
ceded, if not heartily endorsed, by
common opinion.”
By SusgAN Borden (A87)
Frank Pagano GI Director, Santa Fe
As the newly appointed director
of the Graduate Institute, Frank
Pagano has struggled with the
question: what is an administra
tor? Undoubtedly the title brings
with it a slew of managerial mess
es, loads of paperwork, and tons
of added concerns. But Mr.
Pagano, like many tutors, looks
beyond the trifling details to the
heart of his job. He believes the
role of the administrator is to
“think about how to keep the pro
gram alive,” and to work to main
tain the integrity of the program.
Before joining the faculty at St.
John’s, Mr. Pagano taught at the
University of New England. Class
es geared towards professional
training began to replace the lib
eral arts focus of the college, and
the emphasis placed on grades
reminded him to appreciate the
importance of a liberal education.
It should come as no surprise,
then, that Mr. Pagano views his
move to St. John’s, “where the
grades were not paramount,” as
the beginning of a “second life.”
But this was not his only “sec
ond life.” Along with marrying
tutor Janet Dougherty and father
ing two children, Rachel and Ron,
Mr. Pagano counts his work with
the Eastern Classics among his
life-changing experiences. Teach
ing classes in both Chinese and
Ancient Greek have illustrated for
him the uniqueness of both intel
lectual traditions. Yet, he sees a
startfing similarity between the
Chinese and the Hellenic views of
history, and he understands this
similarity as a “point of contact”
despite their differences. While
on sabbatical, Mr. Pagano pre
pared two lectures on Herodotus’
Histories, and the past fall semes
ter he led a preceptorial on Sima
Qian’s The Records ofthe Grand
Historian. Studying these two
eminent historians has provided
him time to reflect on the nature
of historical thought and how it is
capable of traversing the wide gap
that distinguishes Eastern and
Western culture.
Mr. Pagano sees this sort of
inquiry as crucial to the life of the
graduate program. In his eyes.
Eastern Classics provides an
excellent complement to studies
in Western tradition. It helps stu
dents discover, through another
cultural perspective, “how human
beings choose to live their lives.”
Students in the Graduate Institute
in Liberal Education also apply
themselves to the study of this
question, but within the context
of their own cultural heritage.
Mr. Pagano understands that by
keeping the idea of their “point of
contact” active, he keeps the two
halves of the Graduate Instituteand the study of their distinctive
programs-vigorous and alive.
By John McCarthy (SFoz)
David Levine Dean, Santa Fe
David Levine (A67), appointed
dean in Santa Fe this spring,
brings to the office the experience
of being a Johnnie himself. He
feels he knows what it means to be
on the other side of the desk, and
often tries to view his administra
tive tasks from the perspective of
a student. That knowledge cou
pled with 15 years of teaching
experience, including holding the
positions of assistant dean and the
director of the Graduate Institute,
prepare him for the role of dean.
His academic career was not
always aimed straight for the
office of the dean, or St. John’s
College for that matter. He spent
his first year of undergraduate
work at the University of Pennsyl
vania, and it was not until he
encountered that “sting ray” of a
philosopher, Socrates, that he
made a move for St. John’s. “Plato
(The College ■ St. John's College ■ Summer sooi }
“Should the dean wear jeans?”
GI Director Frank Pagano
(left) and Dean David Levine
(right) address all manner of
QUESTIONS IN THEIR NEW ROLES.
ruined my medical career,” he
says. Mr. Levine also had no idea
when he was a student that he
would ever become a tutor. After
completing his graduate work at
Pennsylvania State University,
and while he was teaching at the
University of Oklahoma, he
received a call from the dean’s
office offering him a position on
the Santa Fe campus. He accepted
because he knew that the interac
tion with colleagues and students
would be of a high caliber at St.
John’s.
He has thoroughly enjoyed the
teaching side of the St. John’s
experience, and is ready to meet
the challenges associated with
being dean. In that role he must
address a variety of questions and
demands, everything from
“Should the dean wear jeans?”
(Mr. Levine sports denim rehgiously) to decisions about faculty
employment. He sees his new role
as an opportunity to become more
involved with student life by meet
ing with organizations such as the
Graduate Institute Council, the
Student Polity, the Student
Review Board, and the MoonTag,
and by eating in the dining hall
more often. In support of stu
dents and the importance of their
opinions in the decisions of the
college, Mr. Levine would like to
see the Student Committee on
Instruction re-instated. 4"
By John McCarthy (SFoi)
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
Of
Bricks
AND
Mortar
Venerable McDow
ell Hall is covered
with a fretwork of
scaffolding this
summer, as the
exterior of the 259year-old building
undergoes a reno
vation. Workers
from the A.J.
Marani Company
and Coastal Exteri
ors in Baltimore
are cleaning the
brick, chipping out
deteriorated grout,
and putting in new grout (22
tons of it) where necessary. The
cupola, whose tin roof had devel
oped several leaks, is being re
roofed with lead-coated copper.
Begun as the governor’s man
sion for the colonial head of the
Maryland colony in 1742, the
building was abandoned before
being completed because of a
dispute between governor
Thomas Bladen and the legisla
ture, which thought his original
plan for the house too
grandiose-£3000 for a house
with a central three stories and
single-story wings extending to
each side, a colonnade of pillars,
and on the inside marble floors
and elaborate woodworking.
When St. John’s was chartered in
1784, the state gave the building
to the college. By 1789, the first
classes were being taught in it.
As late as 179a the college’s
Board was stiU petitioning the
General Assembly for funds to
complete the hall. Until the mid1800S McDowell (named for the
college’s first president) served
every function on campus-it was
the only classroom building,
dormitory, dining hall, and pro
fessors’ quarters (the hbrary
Draped in plastic
sheets and
COVERED WITH A FRETWORK OF
SCAFFOLDING, McDoWELL GETS A
FACELIFT.
hved in the octagon room under
the cupola). During the Civil
War, McDowell became the
headquarters of the Union Army
Medical Corps, which used the
college as a hospital for
exchanged prisoners.
On February 20,1909,
McDowell was gutted by a fire
which began in the cupola and
destroyed much of the front of
the building. At the time
St. John’s had compulsory mili
tary training and ammunition
was stored in the basement, but
students managed to remove it
before fire caused an explosion.
The building was rebuilt accord
ing to its original design. A com
plete interior renovation in 1989
reconfigured former administra
tive offices on the first floor into
classrooms and included modern
heating and air conditioning.
Repointing the brick this sum
mer proved somewhat controver
sial with the Annapolis preserva
tion community, some of whom
felt that grout hke the original
(made from lime and
oyster shells) should
be used, rather than
the cement and lime
compound proposed
by the contractors.
After a review by the
Annapohs Preserva
tion Commission,
the contractors’
methods were
approved. “This
building was con
structed in several
phases over a period
of many years,” notes
John Christensen,
the Annapohs admis
sions director who
has written a book
about the architec
ture and history of
McDowell. “Its brick
and the mortar hold
ing it together are of
different kinds. So
this careful restoration is impor
tant because it will ensure the
building lasts another 250
years.”
Tutor ExtraCURRICULARS
Peter Kalkavage, a tutor in
Annapolis, has a new transla
tion of Plato’s Timeaus out. It’s
published by Focus Press . . .
Annapolis tutor Amirthanayagam David (A86) has a
lecture “ ‘I Know Thee Not, Old
Man’: The Renunciation of Falstaff’ published by the Universi
ty of Chicago Press as a part of
his teacher David Grene’s
festschrift. Literary Imagina
tion, Ancient and Modern:
Essays in Honor ofDavid
Grene.. .Annapolis tutor emeri
tus Curtis Wilson is the author
of a chapter called “Newton on
the Moon’s Variation and Apsidal Motion; The Need for a
Newer ‘New Analysis’” in the
new book, Isaac Newton’s Natur
al Philosophy, published by
MIT.. .Santa Fe tutor emeritus
{The College. St. John's College • Summer 2001 }
5
Charles Bell is featured in two
recently published books by New
York photographer Mariana
Cook. The first. Couples: Speak
ingfrom the Heart, shows Mr.
Bell with his wife, Diana Bell. In
the second. Fathers and Daugh
ters, he is with his daughter Carola. . .Annapolis tutor Andre
Barbera has recently published
articles in The New Grove Dic
tionary ofMusic and Musicians,
Macmillan Publishers; “George
Gershwin and Jazz” in The
Gershwin Style: New Looks at
the Music of George Gershwin,
Oxford University Press; and
biographies of Aaron Thibeaux
(T-bone) Walker and Dianah
(Ruth Lee Jones) Washington in
American National Biography,
Oxford University Press...
Annapolis tutor Adam
Schulman’s book review oIAll
Shook Up by Carson Holloway
appeared in the Wall Street Jour
nal in March. The book’s subject
is the potentially destructive
effects of popular music.. .Santa
Fe tutor William Alba is run
ning the Bard Writing and
Thinking Workshop in Santa Fe
this summer. The workshop,
sponsored by Bard College, is for
high school students interested
in creative writing. Mr. Alba has
also started a publishing compa
ny, Pulley Press, specializing in
small runs of books that are chal
lenging to print. The hrst book
is An Oz Album, a collection of
visual poetry related both to
Dorothy’s journey in Oz in
search of a way home and to a
person’s hfe in Chicago in search
of love.. .Annapohs tutor Eva
Brann’s new book. The Ways of
Naysaying, has been pubhshed
by Rowman & Littlefield. It’s the
third part of a trilogy that
includes The World ofthe Imam
nation: Sum and Substance and
What, Then, Is Time?. ..
Annapolis tutor Jim Beall had
articles pubhshed in Proceedings,
the U.S. Naval Institute, “Tech
nology Policy and Military
Readiness at the Dawn of the
Millennium” and “Restore the
Focus on Technology.”
�6
{From the Bell Towers}
Franz Strum
Slammin’
Stanzas
(SF04) delivers
VERSE AS PERFORMANCE ART IN THE
FIRST ANNUAL POETRY
In celebration of National Poet
ry Month, Meem Library and
the Bookstore in Santa Fe spon
sored the campus’ first annual
poetry slam in April. Poetry
slams make a competitive art of
performance poetry. Partici
pants are judged on both the
content of their poems and the
quality of their performances.
The most exciting performers
interact with their audiences,
and the structure of a slamwith poets advancing in the
rounds according to their judged
scores-depends on the performer-to-audience and audience-to performer relationship.
At the St. John’s slam, a panel of
judges from the college commu
nity that included tutor David
Carl, library staff member Tim
Taylor, and junior Paul Obrecht
rated the 15 high-energy contest
ants on their delivery, content,
form, and style.
The poets exhibited great
variety in form, style, and above
all-content. From haiku to
blank verse to pure rampage,
the contestants never let the
audience’s attention waiver. Not
for a second. The contestants
were students, freshmen to sen
My Lady’s Blancmange
(3poem by winning slammer Mirabai Knight, SF02)
iors, with one lone, brave tutor
(William Alba). The rounds
were fast-paced and fun. The
decisions about who should go
on to the next round and who
should join the audience were
difficult indeed. Mr. Carl said he
was “impressed with the virtu
osity and level of skill” of the
poets. The first place winner
was Mirabai Knight, a junior.
Knight proved herself a true
actress: with each poem she
changed her stance, her accent,
and her tone.
—Marika Brussel
Ye Gods! Her smile, a tender eel
whose spark and sinew strike the fray
of pallid, melancholy meal
awash in jellied consomme.
The ringlets twining ‘twixt her thumbs
along a swathed stretch of brow,
beneath which Thought’s Dark Lantern hums and sput
ters rich, (as per allow)
the treacle-coats of mallow, ripe
until they wither, sweet and spenthut yet they wax, as folds of tripe
unfurl to zaftig firmament!
The pearly spiralling within,
whose snares admit of no escape,
the slumb’ring lips and sinking chin,
the ridge of silk, the sulk of nape...
My bosom fluttersOh, my soul!
Would that her ochre eyes were mine,
and intermittent brilliance
through a patient augure’s agar shine.
Student
ExtraCURRICULARS
On campus, they are united by a
single program. Off campus,
their interests are as numerous
as the entries in the Lidell-Scott
Lexicon. Here’s a quick look at
what Johnnies are doing off-campus these days.
Ellie Kocezela (SF04) and
Erin Hanlon (SF04) traveled to
Nashville, Tenn, to attend the
aooi Amnesty International
Annual General Meeting as rep
resentatives the SJCSF Amnesty
group. They spent three days
attending panel discussions and
participating in breakout ses
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer sooi }
SlAM.
sions as they looked for ideas to
make the campus group more
effective.
Adriana de Julio (SFoi) has
won a one-year fellowship with
the National Institutes of Health
to conduct cancer research and
Susannah Daniels (SFoi) has a
conservation internship at El
Malpais National Monument in
Grants, N.M. Philip Bolduc
(SFoi), Brian Ballentine (SFoi),
Karen Gosta (SFoi), and Justin
Kray (SFoi) have internships to
teach English in France through
the French Department of Edu
cation.
Elizabeth Royal (Aoi) will
spend two weeks this summer at
the Claremont Institute, a con
servative think tank, as a Pub
lius Fellow. She will attend semi
nars on political philosophy and
the American political tradition,
contemporary political issues,
and political rhetoric and writ
ing.
Among the 18 Annapolis stu
dents pursuing Hodson Trust
internships this summer are
Randy Pennell (A02), interning
with the Philadelphia ybers;
Hannah Ireland (Aoi), working
with a documentary production
company; Lydia Frewen (Aoa),
learning to make violin bows at
the University of New Hamp
shire; and Peter Heyneman
(A02), attending the Sewanee
Writers’ Conference.
�{From the Bell Towers}
Phoning for Philanthropia
Tuition only covers about 75% of
what it costs to educate students
at St. John’s. The rest comes
from the endowment andfrom
contributions to the Annual
Fund. Phonathons are part of
the story behind those contribu
tions.
Q: You throw a phonathon and
who shows up?
A: In the case of St. John’s, 33
alumni from classes spanning 48
years, from Everett Wilson (A56)
to Hayden Brockett (A04).
Q: And just what does everyone
do (besides making phone calls)?
A: Eat dinner and compete for
prizes for the most donations
and the most new donors (the
phone calls involve chatting with
alumni, outlining the college’s
needs, and asking for $$$).
Q: So where do you throw that
phonathon?
A: In Annapolis, it’s the Conver
sation Room-where else? In
Santa Fe, it’s the Senior Com
mon Room.
Q: And who sits where?
A: Interestingly enough, says
advancement officer Mary Sim
mons, at the Annapolis
phonathon the very youngest
and very oldest choose to sit
right next to each other. It’s a
Alumni phoning alumni;
EFFECTIVE FUNDRAISING AND
SUCCESSFUL FUN.
social event that brings alumni
together for a good cause.
Simmons reports that the
spring phonathon, held May 15,
was a success. In Annapolis, ao
volunteers made 619 calls, rais
ing $r6,arr.5o from 149 donors.
Among the donors, 63 were
making their first gifts to the
Annual Fund. In Santa Fe, 13
volunteers made 38a calls rais
ing over $4aoo (gifts are still
coming in). Of Santa Fe’s 59
phonathon donors, aa were
making their first gifts. These
high proportions of first-time
donors are particularly satisfying
to members of Philanthropia,
the alumni organization dedicat
ed to fundraising among fellow
alumni. While Philanthropia’s
goal is to increase alumni finan
cial support to the college, it’s
not just the number of dollars
they want to increase. The num
ber of donors counts too; foun
dation and corporate support is
often linked to the percentage of
alumni who donate.
Ginger Roherty, Director of
the Annual Fund for the Santa
Fe campus, is a fan of the
phonathon approach. “There is
a tremendous synergy when
phonathons are conducted
around seminar tables and there
is a great sense of everyone
working toward a common
goal,” she says. “Everyone is
truly having a good time and
enjoying each other’s company.”
Phonathons are one tactic
Philanthropia employs to
involve alum
ni in financial
support for
the college.
They also
solicit alumni
with bro
chures and
letters and
they organize
reunion class
es to focus on
social events.
7
cyber-networking,
3,035,763
Dollars given by Alumni
and giving.
FYOl
Annapolis cam
pus vice president
2,083,984*
Jeff Bishop says that
1,953,944
FYOO
Philanthropia
1,520,683 FY99
expects to meet its
FY98
goal of a ten-percent
increase in alumni
participation in the
Annual Fund.
“We’re laying the
groundwork for the
plus $5,000,000 from the estate of Paul Mellon
future of the col
lege,” he says.
2,187
Number of
“More young alum
pYQj
Alumni Gifts
FYOO ■
ni are becoming
1,710
acquainted with
FY99
Philanthropia and
FY98H
recognizing the col
lective power of the
number of gifts
given to St. John’s.”
Before the creation
of Philanthropia,
alumni giving was
around 20%, well
below the median of
other small liberal
arts colleges, which
garet Odell (SGI97), Rachel
is 44%. “Today, we’re up to 25%,
O’Keefe (A82), John Oosterhout
with reunion classes making the
(A5r), John Wood (SFoi), Elaine
biggest improvements, now up to
Coleman Pinkerton (SGI88), and
30%. “While we have a long way
Inga Waite (SF87).
to go,” says Bishop, “we feel
Philanthropia’s leadership
confident that someday we will
recently
changed. Leslie Jump
get there.”
(A84) is the new chair of Philan
Philanthropia wants to thank
thropia. Other members of the
the phonathon volunteers,
Steering Committee are Amber
including Mary Pat Justice
Boydstun
(SFpp-overseeing “spir
(SGI71), Katherine Haas (A60),
it” activities), Eloise Collingwood
Merle Maffei (AGI86), Harry
(A79-overseeing communica
Zolkower (A82), Chris Olson
tions),
Brett Heavner ( ABp-over(A78), Thea DelBalzo (AGIoi),
seeing
the
reunion class leaders),
Rosamond Rice (AGI81), Karen
Marta Lively (A78-at large), Paula
Salem (A76), Everett Wilson
Maynes (SF77-overseeingpoh(A56),Tom Tandaric (A98), Pilar
cy/membership), Becca Michael
Wyman (A86), Tim Pomarole
(A97-overseeing strategy), and
(A98), Steve Wilson (AGI99),
Amy Thurston (A95-overseeing
Jim Heyssel (A84), Hayden
events/phonathons). -ijiBrockett (A04), Isadora Sageng
(A03), Stephen Steim (A03),
Stephanie Porcaro (A03), Brooke
Lee (A03), Gin Behrends
(AGI90), Anne Ferro (A80), Joni
Arends (SF89), Carisa Armen
dariz (SF99), Claiborne Booker
(A84), Kit Brewer (SGI98), Alex
is Brown (SFoo), Peter Dwyer
(A86), Geri Glover (SF80), Mar
{The College -St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
Philanthropia seeks volunteer help
from all alumni who want topar
ticipate, whether in a small or
large role. Ifyou ’re interested,
please call or e-mail Maggie Griffin
in Annapolis: 410-626-2534,
m-griffin@sjca.edu or Ginger
Roherty in Santa Fe: 5O5-g84-6og<).
�8
The Studs of
St. John’s
Ostensibly as a fundraiser (but
primarily for the novelty value)
several juniors in Santa Fe cre
ated the wildly popular “Studs
of St. John’s” calendar. Featur
ing the 15 most macho men per
suaded to pose for a project ini
tially dismissed as a dubious
attempt to raise money, the cal
endar turned out to be a raging
success. While this “success”
was mostly realized in terms of
school-wide interest rather
than fiscal returns (due to con
fused leadership and poor
financial forecasting), the
entire project served Santa Fe
well. It’s not every year that the
campus is hit with a Studs calendar-and despite the lack of a
precedent, the outrageous pic
tures amused all those exposed
to the handsome visages and
physiques displayed in the cal
endar.
The project was conceived to
finance the so-called Junior
Block Party, another first for
Santa Fe. The block party-held
on a pleasant sunny day in
May-featured live music, a bar
becue, outdoor games, much
{From
the
Bell Towers}
lounging in the sun, the third
annual women’s arm wrestling
contest, and kegs of beer to help
facilitate the atmosphere. The
block party, financed by pre-pro
duction sale of the calendars,
treated all to a good time and
lived up to its expectations.
Unfortunately, with a business
plan that drew on the dot-com
legacy, the calendar’s start-up
money got spent on the party
and there were no funds left to
produce the calendar. After
many rounds of creative negoti
ations with several businesses in
Santa Fe and a few helpful mem
bers of the St. John’s adminis
tration, the calendar was pro
duced at a cost far below initial
expectations-with photos of
superb quality and ridiculous
content.
—BY John
Rankin,
SFoa
Greatest Hits (in Russian)
Valery Serdyukov (left),
the governor of Leningrad, recently
LiSA RICHMOND (RIGHT),
PRESENTED A GIFT OF 30 RUSSIAN BOOKS TO
GrEENFIELD LIBRARY AS BuD BiLLUPS, COLLEGE
ThE BOOKS INCLUDED WORKS BY ToLSTOY, DoSTOEVSKi, Chekhov, and Pushkin, The governor was in Annapolis to
SIGN A TRADE AGREEMENT WITH PaRRIS GlENDENING, GOVERNOR OF
Maryland, and expressed an interest in donating books to a local
COLLEGE. The Russian classics found a home with the other
“greats” at the St. John’s library.
LIBRARIAN AT THE
A point of history: As John
Rankin points out, it’s not every
year that the college is hit with a
Studs calendar. But such an
event did happen at least once
before-in Annapolis in 1987,
when Ben Birauss (A88) pro
duced “The Men of St. John’s.”
Drawing on the non-PC transla
tion of the college motto “I
make free men out of boys by
means of books and a balance,”
TREASURER, LOOKED ON.
the calendar featured comely
men posing in St. John’s-esque
situations: Krauss in front of
the pendulum pit mural, Steve
Hulbert (A87) in the King
William Room, Chandran
Madhu (A88) in front of an
Apollonius proof, Mark Shiffman (A89) at the switchboard,
Jeff Kojak (A89) at the plane
tarium, Andre Wakefield (A87)
in a music room, Scott
Vineberg (A88) near the French
Monument, Toby Barlow (SF88)
in a Humphreys bathroom,
Vince Pruden (SF89) in the art
gallery. Matt Krawiec (A88) at
the boat house, John Lavery
(A87) in the weight room, and
John Pronko (A90) in the con
versation room.
La plus qA change;
St. John’s studs in
aooi and 1987.
{The College - Si. John’s College • Summer 2001 }
�9
{From the Bell Towers}
Mutant Gene
Discovery
When Marc Priest (Aoi) began
an internship at the National
Institute of Allergies and Infec
tious Diseases during the sum
mer before his senior year, he
thought he’d be learning some
lab techniques and helping out
with minor projects. Instead, he
discovered a gene mutation that
was causing a i6-month-old
patient to be particularly suscep
tible to common bacterial infec
tions that most people fight off
with no trouble.
Under the direction of Dr.
Steve Holland (A79), Priest set
out to find what was causing the
patient’s interferon gamma
receptor-alpha
deficiency. They
knew that a gene
mutation pre
vented the
receptor from
processing a
chemical that is
essential to the
functioning of
the body’s
immune system.
He isolated the
gene, cloned it,
and then com
pared it to normal genes to
locate the mutation. Priest
found that both the child and his
mother had a deletion on the
gene that acts as a chemical
receptor for the immune sys
tem’s pathway. “After I found
the mutation I met with the
Marc Priest, shown
AT GRADUATION WITH
President Nelson,
LOCATED A GENE MUTA
TION THAT CAN AFFECT
THE IMMUNE SYSTEM.
patient and his mom,” says
Priest. “I explained to her that
the child’s condition was treat
able. This was certainly gratify
ing.” Treatment consisted of
injecting double the amount of
the chemical that cannot be uti-
barred, music-wise)
Annapolis Homecoming 2001 . The
traditional Saturday
Take a handful of Annapolis
alumni and ask them which
building, Mellon or McDowell, is
closer to the heart and soul of the
college. Only the incorrigible
will say Mellon. Yet Mellon’s FSK
lobby has been the site of all
Homecoming registrations in
recent memory as well as the big
Saturday evening cocktail party,
when the acoustically
challenged room
echoes with a din ren
dering individual
words inaudible.
This year we say,
“Enough of this.”
Homecoming (Sep
tember 28-30) will at
last reflect the fond
feehngs of alumni for
McDowell, with regis
tration moved to the
cozy quarters of the
Coffee Shop and the
cocktail party moved
to the Great Hall and
the first and second
floor classrooms.
Other decidedly non-lobby
events will include:
• A career panel, both for cur
rent students and job-chang
ing alumni
• Two rock parties, one Friday
night in the boathouse (all
seventies music, sans disco),
one Saturday night in the
Coffee Shop (no holds
night waltz party in the
Great Hall
Seminars running the gamut
from Plato to Emerson,
from Robert Frost to Chfford Geertz, from Shake
speare to Toni Morrison,
with a seminar on Harry
Potter for children
Reunion dinners, picnics,
croquet games, and
cocktail parties, for
reunion classes 1936,
1941,1946, '95>-1956,
1961,1966,1971,1976,
1981,1986,1991, and
1996
• The Special Meeting
of the Alumni Associa
tion, where Nancy
Lewis, John Moore and
Beate Ruhm Von
Oppen will be made
Honorary Alumni
“Essay Conference” by
Jo Ann Mattson, A(i7
{The College- St. John’s College - Summer 2001 }
lized because of the
missing gene. “This
particular deletion
occurs in only one out
of 200,000 patients,
but it is significant to
study it. Looking at
the few that are with
out the receptors in
their immune system pathways
helps us to understand how the
pathways work. This helps us
understand how to help normal
people who are susceptible to
such bacteria as tuberculosis,”
he says.
• The Saturday night Homecoming banquet, where Tom
Williams (A51) and Warren
Spector (A81) will receive
the Alumni Association
Award of Merit
• The Soccer Classic, with the
alumni rarin’ to avenge last
year’s loss to the students
• The Homecoming auto
graph party, with alumni
and faculty authors signing
books ranging from western
novels to translations of
Aristotle and Plato
• Sunday brunch at the home
of President Christopher B.
Nelson (SF70)
The Homecoming lecture Fri
day night will be dehvered by
Abraham Schoener (A82), who
will speak on “The Biology of the
Fermentation Vessel.” Before
and after the lecture, students,
faculty and alumni will gather,
yes, in the FSK lobby. Some
things never change. 4"
Contact the Annapolis alumni
office at 410-626-2331 or alumni@sjca.edu to registerfor Homecoming.
�IO
{FromtheBellTowers}
Mortimer J. Adler, An Appreciation
ortimer Adler-a teacher,
author of books that
popularized themes in
philosophy, and compil
er of the Great Books
published by Encyclope
dia Brittanica-died on June 28 in San
Mr. Adler played an important role in
Mateo, Calif., at the age of 98.
the establishment of the St. John’s Pro
gram, of which he was a vigorous support
er over many decades. From the earliest
days of the New Program he visited
St. John’s, both in Annapolis and Santa Fe,
many times to lecture and to meet with fac
ulty and students. He was an articulate
spokesman for liberal education and for
the reading and discussion of great books
as central and fundamental to it. Along
with such colleagues as Scott Buchanan,
Stringfellow Barr, Mark Van Doren,
Richard McKeon, and Robert Hutchins,
he made a major contribution to the estab
lishment of great books programs not only
in Annapolis and Santa Fe but also in
New York, in Chicago, and all across the
country.
In the more than three dozen books that
Mortimer Adler wears a crown after being
he wrote, Mr. Adler sought to clarify for a
PROCLAIMED, A LA NaPOLEON, THE HOLY EmPERwide general audience a variety of pro
OR OF THE Western World in the 1992 lec
found philosophic questions illuminated
ture PRANK.
by the study of the greatest authors. His
books included How to Read a Book, How
to Think About War and Peace, The Differ
then went to the University of Chicago as a
ence ofMan and the Difference It Makes,
professor of the philosophy of law.
Aristotlefor Everybody, miHov: to Think
Mortimer Adler did not believe that the
About God.
full exercise of intellect was something for a
Born in New York City, Mr. Adler
small academic elite. In 1946, he joined with
dropped out of De Witt Clinton High
Robert Hutchins to organize a Great Books
School when he was 15, and worked for the
program for the general public and arrange
editor of the New York Sun. Deciding that
for the Encyclopedia Britannica to print a
he wanted to study philosophy, he attended 54-volume set of such books, for which he
Columbia University and completed the
contributed the Syntopicon, a guide to the
course of study, but did not receive a diplo themes, questions, and arguments to be
ma because he refused to take the swim
found in them. In 195a, he organized the
ming test that was a physical education
Institute for Philosophical Research. He was
requirement. Even without his degree,
editor and then chairman of the board of
however, he became an instructor in phi
editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica
losophy, and in 1928 he received his PhD
beginning in the mid-1960s. He organized
(eventually being granted a BA by Colum
and led seminars for executives at the Aspen
bia in 1983.) He did research in psychology
Institute, and initiated the Paideia Project
and taught at Columbia from 1923 to 1930,
to make practice of the liberal arts and dis
M
cussion of great books central to the high
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2001 }
school curriculum.
At St. John’s, Mr. Adler is
remembered as an energetic
advocate of studying the great
books and practicing the liberal
arts-one who never stopped ask
ing the big questions, both theo
retical and practical, and who
always relentlessly insisted on
clarity in discussing them. He
showed himself as such a man in
the course of visiting this Col
lege as a lecturer, with undimin
ished vigor, for almost sixty
years. In the early years, his lec
tures were several hours long,
which gave rise to the tradition,
ever since the late 1930s, of
interrupting his talks with a stu
dent prank. Some were simple
like the first, which consisted of
a hall full of alarm clocks which
all began ringing at exactly one
hour into the lecture. Some were
quite elaborate, like the one in
which the curtain opened
behind the lecturer, to reveal a
tableau of students costumed and posi
tioned to resemble the Renaissance painting
“The School of Athens”: there was a Homer
in it, and a Virgil, and a Plato, and the restbut no Aristotle; out came a student, who
placed a wreath on Mr. Adler’s head and
escorted him into the scene, to take the
place of Aristotle. Mr. Adler loved it. He
took the pranks as they were meant to be
taken-as signs of affection and regard for a
man who loved reading hard books, asking
deep questions, clarifying alternative
answers, and making thought make a differ
ence in the world.
Mr. Adler is survived by four sons: Mark,
of Chevy Chase; Michael, of Grand Junc
tion, Colorado; and Douglas and Philip,
both of Chicago.
A memorial will be held for him at 9:00
a.m. on Saturday, September 29, at Homecoming in Annapolis. 4"
—Harvey Flaumenhaft
For a retrospective ofpranks staged during
Mortimer Adler’s lectures, see page 39.
�{Alumni Voices}
MARX REDUX
By Sarah Fridrich, SF99
n the two-year anniversary of my senior oral-on
my essay concerning Karl Marx and his discus
sion of capitalism-I found myself, late at night,
scribbhng a letter in a notebook near my bed
side. It was addressed to Ms. Engel, the chair of
my senior oral committee.
The letter began: “I’ve been
thinking about and slowly sort
ing out what excited me about
Marx’s assessment of capital
ism. Now, I would like to contin
ue the discussion that had only
just begun at the table in Meem
during my oral. You had posed
several questions to me about
my essay. The most troubling
question was about revolution.”
Recent protests at the World
Trade Organization talks in
Quebec, Washington, D.C,, and
Seattle had given me new incen
tive to decipher what Marx was
trying to say about capitalism. The protes
tors questioned whether impacts that world
trade agreements could have on the environ
ment and on the populations and socioeco
nomic stability of developing countries
would be brought to the discussion tables.
Sitting comfortably at my mother’s home
in Annapolis where I grew up, I wondered
why they thought these things. Why did pro
testors believe, even though many of them
had no first-hand proof of it, that certain
issues were not being addressed? Why did
they feel compelled to shout and carry
signs?
It had been five years since I’d participat
ed in similar activities. I’d started a petition
signed by the majority of female students
demanding that the administration permit
us to wear long stockings during the winter
months at our CathoUc high school. I’d
Sarah Fridrich, who currently works in
MARKETING in AnNAPOLIS, WRITES SONGS AND
PERFORMS WITH HER BAND IN HER SPARE TIME.
marched past the White House with a body
of young people shouting to be heard on the
issue of gay rights. I’d made posters and got
petitions signed while shouting for more
culturally diverse faculty and curricula to
serve the needs of a diverse student body at a
small liberal arts college in upstate New
York. Then, in 1994,1 enrolled at St. John’s
and I knew there wouldn’t be shouting, it
wouldn’t be necessary.
I became accustomed to being heard and
having fruitful discussions-in attempts to
figure out what it means to be human-on
topics such as heroism, war, and revenge;
truth, knowledge, and intellect; god, cer
tainty, and morality; rights, givens, and
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
assumptions. At times I may have felt like
holding up a sign to get my point across, but
it was never necessary. In silence, I often
learned more. I found that, by listening, I
prepared others to better hear me.
When the discussion turned to Marx’s
essay on alienated labor, I felt compelled to
put some words on paper, but there was still
no need for it to be fluorescent poster board.
In my senior essay, I managed to say a few
things and to clarily what he meant when he
criticized the German Ideologists and when
he talked about the effects of capitalism on
society. But when the hour for the senior
oral was up, it felt like I had just started to
uncover what I needed to know from Marx.
Ms. Engel asked why I thought that non-vio
lent revolution was possible within Marx’s
philosophy. I really didn’t have an answer.
The dilemma highlighted my need to sort
out what Marx said from what Marx had
inspired me to say. This would take much
longer than the weeks we had to write an
essay. Working in the business world after
graduation gave me the opportunity to test
my understanding of the philosophy that
labor in capitalism is a commodity, and that
capital must create more capital.
Two years later, on the couch in my living
room, I wondered if these shouting protes
tors might benefit from a Johnnie-like dis
cussion on Marx’s ideas. Had Marx laid the
foundation for these protests? Did the pro
testors know it? Maybe not. In my letter to
Ms. Engel I submitted: “Much of Marx’s
concern about capitalism was that it dehu
manized common laborers ... Yet in Europe
and America most of those labor issues have
been addressed in the time since Marx
wrote. Might Marx’s insights on capitalism
still shed some light on current issues of
working conditions? Is there a connection
between the globalization of trade and the
nature of capitalism as an ever-expanding
economic system? ... Should I be making
some signs and protesting?” I haven’t felt it
necessary.. .yet.
�{Commencement}
COMMENCEMENT
2001
Ed Moreno (Santa Fe) and
Barbara Goyette (Annapolis)
BY
he
graduating
Mr. Zuckerman attempted to clothe
seniors-95
in
the inevitable graduation bromides in
Annapolis and in
attire appropriate to St. John’s. He said
in Santa Fe-chose
he would present the seniors and mas
as their com
ter’s candidates with seven “preludes,”
mencement
which “have no required form. They may
speakers one each
be perfectly made miniatures; or they
from the two basic
may be mere fragments, famously
pools: tutors at
baffling to the experts.”
the college whose real thoughts they
The subject of the first prelude was the
have been curious about for four years Tutors Peter Pesic and Janet Dougherty
claim that at St John’s, the books are the
CONGRATULATE THE SaNTA Fe GRADUATES.
and “outsiders” who might have
teachers. “It is easy enough for me to
thoughtful words to send them on their
agree with the truism,” he said, “for one
way. In Annapolis, tutor emeritus Elliott
of my own exaggerated opinions about
Zuckerman presented a perfectly constructed, wittily pack
teaching is that all a teacher can do is point to something.
aged set of what he called preludes, while Harvard professor,
Since in the St. John’s seminar the places pointed to are in the
author, and lecturer Cornel West wove the theme of radical
texts... that gives us both a role, the person pointing and the
questioning into his address to the Santa Fe graduates.
page that is pointed to. And this becomes a richly complicat
ed process when, in the course of a seminar or a class discus
Bromideless Preludes in Annapolis
sion, all the participants are doing the didactic pointing.” Mr.
Before the assembled seniors and the a6 master’s degree can
Zuckerman’s second prelude also had to do with his role as
didates and all their families and friends, plus students and
teacher: “Even though I was officially an historian, I never
alumni, Elliott Zuckerman, who’s been a tutor since 1961, was
worried about our not doing official history. I have seen what
introduced on the bright sunny morning of May 13 by Presi
happens elsewhere when lectures on the Greeks intrude upon
dent Chris Nelson. It cannot be said of Mr. Zuckerman that he
Homer, and Machiavelli is crowded out by arguments about
is incapable of uttering a trite remark, but it can certainly be
when the Renaissance began...”
said that he is incapable of uttering a trite remark and not
Third, Mr. Zuckerman related anecdotes from his own stu
identifying it as such. This character trait put him at some
dent days, when he was enrolled in a course at Columbia
thing of a disadvantage in delivering remarks at a graduation,
taught by poet Mark Van Doren on Narrative Art. The course
since, as he said, “Abromide [which is a commonplace] is rec
included works like the Iliad, Don Quixote, and a novel by
ognizable not necessarily by the inevitability of its words but
Kafka. “The exam, as I remember it, consisted of two ques
by the triteness of the very thought behind the words...Bro
tions. The first question was: Which of the books in the
mides are not only the expected material of commencement
course did you like least? The second question was: To what
speeches, but they are the substance of Graduation Day
deficiency in your character do you attribute not liking this
itself.”
book as much as the others?...In classes in cultural history or
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer aooi }
�{Commencement}
‘‘‘ Use your intellect to cut though the thicket ofmass tastes
and mass culture...''
Cornel West
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer zoot }
^3
�14
{Commencement}
lost, or known students who have felt lost.
the history of ideas there was one sort of
“Perhaps at such times it might be useful to
final exam that I found particularly vex
remember the grapefruit crate, and to think
ing. I refer to the Imaginary Conversation.
of oneself as not entirely lost, but as in some
One is asked to compare the view of (say)
way
analogous to the stray object that is both
Saint Augustine and Hegel and Jane Austen
lost and found and therefore neither lost nor
on (say) what is the most important pursuit in Elliott Zuckerman in Annapolis (above).
found. Allow oneself to hang poised, like a
life. I was never able to get started on such a Santa Fe Seniors reflect on Cornel West’s
QUESTIONS (below).
character in Henry James who may want to
comparison because I couldn’t decide how
give two contradictory responses at the same
these miscellaneous characters should
time.”
address one another. Does Saint Augustine
Mr. Zuckerman wove the theme of myriad-mindedness versus sin
call Hegel George? Is it in good taste for Jane Austen to ask Augus
gle-mindedness
throughout his address, and concluded with a prel
tine to convey the greetings of Emma Woodhouse to Santa Monica?
ude
on
the
subject.
A fable of La Fontaine, he said, is about a bat who
At St. John’s College the students can engage in the Great Conver
finds himself twice trapped in the nests of different weasels. The first
sation without such stifling problems of entering into it.”
time, he convinced the mouse-hating weasel that he was a bird; the
Prelude number four involved the study of biology at the college.
second time he convinced the bird-hating weasel that he was a
“We used to do a whole year of biology lab in the sophomore year,”
mouse.
“And even though such myriad-minded animals are lovable
said Mr. Zuckerman. “There was a student who, in the seminar, was
enough, it is difficult for people to remain entirely comfortable with
particularly taken with Plotinus, and with a principle called the
mixed natures in these days that still recommend the Romantic
One, which, as you know, is transcendental and undifferentiated. It
virtues
of sincerity and authenticity, virtues that seem to imply one
happened that in the lab that student failed utterly to complete the
ness. So it may not be so bad to take as a model La Fontaine’s inven
fruit fly experiment. It was suggested at his Don Rag that he simply
tive Chauve-souris.”
couldn’t deal with the fruit flies because there were so many of
them.”
Facing the Big Questions in Santa Fe
The fifth prelude included a story about Mr. Zuckerman’s gradu
ate school experience at Cambridge, where he became friends with
An uncommon May rain in Santa Fe marshaled the St. John’s Gollege
Watson and Crick at the time they were discovering the double helix
Glass of 2001, their families and friends across campus and into the
structure of DNA. He and his literary friends had not been open with
Student Activities Genter for commencement exercises on May 19.
Watson because he was a scientist. “Part of our prejudice,” said Mr.
Beneath a soft glow through skylights, in undergraduates received
Zuckerman, “had been owing to the fact that those were the years
the Bachelor of Arts degree, and 26 received the Master of Arts in
when there was a sharp split between the sciences and those pursuits
Liberal Arts degree. Nearly 700 visitors watched as the members of
that were known as the Humanities. They were even called the Two
the largest of the Santa Fe campus’ 34 graduating classes received
Cultures, and there were scandalous revelations about physicists
their degrees.
who had never read Euripides... and
The commencement was the first
poets who didn’t know how many equa
major event in the Student Activities
tions bore the name of Maxwell.”
Center, the new building-opened last
Not all Mr. Zuckerman’s preludes
fall-that overlooks the Atalaya Trail
were from the academic world. The
Arroyo. Although commencement is
sixth told of a boy at a summer camp
usually held outside on Meem Library
who constructed a lost and found box,
Placita, the crowd seemed not to mind
a grapefruit crate that was already
that rain forced the ceremony into the
conveniently divided down the middle
new space. The graduates and many vis
into two sections. For each section he
itors gathered in the gymnasium, while
had a sign, one reading LOST and the
others watched from the mezzanine.
other reading FOUND...Day after day I
The Anasazi Brass and the St. John’s
watched people come up to the box ...
College Chamber Choir performed,
trying to decide which half ...was the
with selections from the Brass includ
more appropriate repository.” Some
ing two trumpet tunes by Henry Purcell
times, noted Mr. Zuckerman, he has felt 5
and from the Choir, “Regina Caeh” by
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2001 }
j
�{Commencement}
15
Gioaccino Rossini and “Sicut Cervus” by Gio
to raise the courage to evaluate the evaluations,
to interrogate the most basic presuppositions
vanni Palestrina.
The event was a milestone for the college. In
and prejudgments in the spirit of intellectual
his first commencement as president, John E.
humility-back to the grandpop, eye-pop, potBalkcom revealed fondness and love for his first
belhed, big-lipped, flat-nosed Socrates,” West
ensemble of graduates, recalling numerous
said.
occasions on which students welcomed him into
He continued, “Tradition is not something
you inherit. If you want it, you gain access to it by
the college community. Balkcom had become
president of St. John’s College in Santa Fe just Cornel West in Santa Fe (above).
means not just of hard labor but sacrifice, com
nine months earlier, after a long career in busi Annapolis graduates parry and party
bat. Looking deeply inside of yourself, and
after the ceremony ( below) .
ness and management consulting.
always acknowledging that when you look inside
Commencement speaker Dr. Cornel West, the
yourself you’ll see, in part, the antecedent reali
Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor at
ties, the histories, the social structures that have
Harvard University, called upon the graduates to use their critical
in part shaped us, but never render us captive, because we’re agents.
thinking to challenge and question the seductions and shallowness
We can make choices and commitments and decisions.”
of mass culture and to remain true to their humanistic training. West
In an address filled with references to Leo Strauss, Montaigne,
Nietzsche, Seneca, and St. Paul, West brought a very contemporary
is known for his best-selling book Race Matters, which triggered a
national debate on race issues. Touching on influential traditions in
focus to the age-old question that faces all graduating students: How
religion, philosophy, democracy and populism, he lectures on race
to adopt away of life of “genuine questioning.” That questioning, he
said, “has to go hand-in-hand with the legacy of Athens: the spiritu
issues, education and other subjects. Dr. West Uved part-time in
Santa Fe throughout the academic year. He attended lectures at the
ality of genuine loving, serving, situating oneself in a story bigger
than oneself, being able to locate oneself in a narrative grander than
college and stayed to participate in discussions that followed, which
is how the students got to know him. As in Annapolis, the seniors in
oneself, that tries to tease out the better angels of one’s nature, to
Santa Fe choose who will be invited to give the commencement
get one out of one’s egocentric predicament.”
West said young people might realize the importance of not “sell
address.
West posited the essential question: “The one question that will
ing their souls for a mess of potage,” but they nevertheless must
continue like a drum beat to confront you, the most frightening
somehow confront our market-driven civilization, where the guid
question, the most terrifying question, the question that sits at the
ing principle is “the nth commandment: Thou shalt not get
very center of the humanistic educa
caught.”
West concluded his remarks by urg
tion; What does it really mean to be
human? We will not get out of space and
ing the graduates to continue to use
time alive, and what are you going to do
their “intellectual and existential
armor” acquired at St. John’s to fight
in the meantime?”
West illustrated his point with refer
for justice, “not because you would
somehow create a better world
ences to Socrates’ remark in Plato’s
Apology, that the unexamined life is
overnight, but rather, as my grand
not worth Uving (and to Malcolm X’s
mother used to say going all the way
addition: “the examined life is
back to gut-bucket black churches and
painful”). As Socrates, who was on trial
Jim Grow Mississippi, that ‘if the king
for questioning the “pretenders to wis
dom of God is within you then every
dom” of his day. West challenged the
where you go you ought to leave a little
graduates to use their intellect and to
heaven behind.’ Leave the world just a
“cut through the thicket of mass tastes
little better than how you found it,” he
and mass culture” that dominate socie
said.
ty in the present day.
Both commencement addresses are
“Intelligence is a manipulative facul
ty. It allows us to evaluate immediate
on the web. Elliott Zuckerman’s speech
context. But intellect is about awe and
is at www.sjca.edu, and Cornel West’s
wonder and astonishment. It forces us
is at WWW. sjcsf. edu.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
�{Johnnies on Theology}
SOPHOMORE SEMINAR
FOREVER
Reflections on theoloflcal questions by religious alumni.
BY Sus3AN
Borden, A87
t St. John’s, we come to seminar
seeking answers bnt walk away
with questions. Nowhere is this
more true than in sophomore
seminar, where we read the Bible,
the “A saints” and Martin
Luther, Dante and Chaucer. At
year’s end most of us gather our
thoughts, settle on answers, and
resolve to live with our doubts and difficulties. But some, by
conviction and often vocation, live in a world where theology
is more than a speculative study. They are pastors and can
tors, rabbis and chaplains, ministers and seekers. Their lives
are a permanent search, where the questions of sophomore
seminar are forever open.
Bible ioi
The Bible is the stepping stone in the rushing stream of reli
gion at St. John’s-no matter what their religious upbringing
(or lack of it), sophomores all read and discuss the Bible as a
part of the program rather than as a basis for belief. For some
students, it’s hard to separate past associations and to address
the text directly; for others, reading the Bible opens their
minds to a new world.
The Rev. Janet Hellner-Burris (SF77) remembers her sen
ior enabling oral: “I had boned up on all those seminar books
and I was ready to go,” she says. “The tutor asked me, ‘Ms.
Hellner, do you remember the story of the prodigal son?’ and
I thought, ‘Come on, I grew up on this stuff.’ He said, ‘It’s in
Matthew,’ and I said, “No, it’s Luke 15.’ And then they knew
who they were talking to.” Familiarity with the text, says
Hellner-Burris, did not turn out to be an advantage: “I had a
miserable exam. I could not get beyond a Sunday school
understanding of the story.”
Hazzan (Cantor) Frank Lanzkron-Tamarazo (A95), howev
er, had never read the Bible until sophomore seminar. The
son of a Jewish mother and an Italian-Catholic father, his reli
gious background was fairly limited: “The only Judaism I had
in my family,” he says, “was when my mother got angry at my
father. Then she would say, ‘Frank, don’t forget you’re a
Jew!”’
When Lanzkron-Tamarazo finally arrived at the sophomore
seminar table, he says it was an awakening; in some ways, a
rude awakening. “To hear about a God who destroys an entire
world of people except for Noah, to hear about a God who
would let Abraham sacrifice his son, to learn about David
betraying his soldier, that made me angry,” says LanzkronTamarazo. But, he says, that anger led to some lively discus
sions in the Nick Capozzoli-Wendy Allanbrook seminar and
brought him to study Hebrew with tutor Michael Blaustein
(A74) for a year and a half.
Nine years later (five of them spent studying at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America), Lanzkron-Tamarazo is
now a cantor. Both his training and his cantorial practice
require the reading of the Talmud and the AfwAraa-biblical
commentaries that inform the Jewish interpretation of the
Torah (the first five books of the Bible). “You can’t read the
Torah just by reading it as a book,” he says. “What makes it a
part of the Jewish tradition is the way the rabbis understood it
in the writings of the Talmud and the MishnaT
Lanzkron-Tamarazo’s problems with stories like the bind
ing of Isaac were put to rest by the commentaries. “I asked,
{The College. St. John’s College • Summer 200 f }
�I?
ing to him because of his work.
“I think there is a tragic char
acter to existence. God, for bet
ter or worse, created the world in
a certain way and we have to deal
with the consequences. That
may be blaming God some, but
that’s all right with me. I think
God knows there’s lots of trouble
in this world and it’s not all our
fault. I guess I’m more involved
now with how to manage the cre
ation as we find it, not so much
asking how it became this way.”
The relationship of God and suf
fering comes up often in Dillard’s
work because of the degree of pain
he encounters and because of the
population of patients he works
with: mostly poor, sometimes
undereducated, and often with a strict religious background
that features a punishing God. “One of the main things patients
here need to believe is that you don’t have schizophrenia
because of sin. It’s a medical thing, not the response of an angry
God,” he says. “That’s a big issue for people here. They think
they’re suffering because of something they did.”
“Why is the universe as it is?” he asks. “The longer I con
tinue with my faith and ministry, I become less and less clear
about issues that were so plainly clear when I was growing up.
I’d like to have God come out looking good, but I think it’s a
process where the universe is emerging and God’s under-
how could God tell Abraham he’s
going to he a father of a multi
tude of nations and then ask him
to destroy his only son?” he says.
“I was bothered that Abraham
would go ahead with it, even if it Outward symbols of religion like a church steeple or meno
rah SERVE AS reminders OF PROFOUND THEOLOGICAL ISSUES.
was God who asked.” As it turns
out, the great rabbis of the ages
have had some of the same prob
lems. “The rabbis weren’t so
troubled by God as by Abraham.
Before this story, Abraham ques
tioned everything and haggled
with God. But when it came to
Isaac, he said okay. He went up
the mountain and lied to his only
son,” says Lanzkron-Tamarazo.
Janet Hellner-Burris (sf 77)
“A hero can be flawed.”
Yhave a deeper understanding
ofthe question ofsuffering than
I did in college, but I don i
have the answer
What About Job?
Reading the Bible as a book, as it’s done in sophomore semi
nar, leads some students to examine the stories in an almost
literary way-the implications for their beliefs recede into the
background as the stories’ universality is considered.
Rev. David Dillard (A89), a psychiatric chaplain at a state
mental hospital in Kentucky, wrote his sophomore essay on
Job and says that, in the context of his current work, the ques
tions of that book remain. “Why are people born with mental
illnesses? Why should they suffer the way they do? How is a
righteous God involved in all of that?” he asks. The questions
he first dealt with on a theoretical level now have more mean-
{The College - St John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
�i8
{JohnniesonTheology}
Y think ofinterfaith work as an opportunity to share
our glimpses ofGod. None ofus, by assumption,
has seen Godface toface, but each ofus has
experienced God in a variety ofways.""
Clark Lobenstine (A67)
standing is emerging too. I think God is struggling with cre
ation as much as any of us are.
“There’s a theology called ‘God Wins’ theology, where we
do everything we can to make sure that God comes out look
ing good. If there’s a problem, it’s not God’s fault, it’s some
thing else’s fault. I don’t think God respects that frame of
thought any more than a free-thinking individual would.”
Dillard knows there are objections to his point of view: “One
criticism of this kind of thinking is that I’m anthropomor
phizing God, but I can’t bring the other kind of theology into
a room with a patient.”
Rev. Hellner-Burris, pastor of an urban church facing urban prob
lems (violence, addiction, poverty, racism), also struggles with the
question of suffering. “I have seen so much suffering in my workthat question doesn’t go away,” she says. “I would say that I have a
deeper understanding of the question [than I did in college], but I
don’t have the answer. All I know is that I would rather live with God
and all of those questions than without God.”
The Rev. Dr. Glark Lobenstine (A67), director of an interfaith
organization, tells the story of William Sloan Coffin, a former chap
lain at Yale: “His son was killed and someone gave him the tradi
tional line about it being God’s will, and Coffin lashed out and said,
‘To Hell it was! God was the first to cry!’”
As for Lobenstine’s understanding of God’s relation to suffering,
he says that for him, it isn’t a question of how to understand suffer
ing but a challenge of how to remain faithful in the face of suffering.
“I am very clear that God never promised us a rose garden. There are
joys that are part of the spiritual journey, some of which come in the
midst of pain and suffering and some of which come in what appear
to be much easier ways.”
Glimpses of God
When Lobenstine was in high school, he asked God to make clear
His personal love for him. “I never doubted the existence of God,”
says Lobenstine. “But I wanted something more personal.”
The summer before his senior year, Lobenstine was in a car acci
dent. “It was my fault. I broke the windshield and they had to pull the
glass out of my mouth, but no one was injured,” he says. “I was very
struck by this being the answer to my prayer. God didn’t cause the
accident, but I felt he protected me in it. I responded to that experi
ence, a revelation to me of God’s love, as a calling to my ministry. I
was God’s to do with as he wanted.”
Lobenstine’s ministry is an unusual one. As director of the Inter
Faith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, D.C., he works with
people of many faiths and representatives of many communities on a
host of social issues from housing and child welfare to racial toler
ance and interfaith understanding. Through his work, Lobenstine
says, God is revealed to him in many ways: “I see a great variety and
depth of God’s love. Although I’m profoundly grateful to be a Chris
tian, I know from Sana the Muslim and Jan the Baha’i and D.C. the
Hindu the great joy they have in their own relationship with God and
the depth of that relationship with God.
“I think of interfaith work as an opportunity to share our glimpses
of God. None of us, I assume, has seen God face to face, but each of
us has experienced God in a variety of ways. By sharing ghmpses,
whether we are all Presbyterians or all Muslims or all Catholics or of
diverse faiths, we deepen our understanding of God while we grow in
our appreciation of our own traditions and our understanding of
others’.”
In her own spiritual journey, Vicki Manchester (SF71) has seen
glimpses of God through different religions, from her Episcopalian
childhood to a time when she attended a Jewish temple to now, when
she has found what she was searching for in Tibetan Buddhism.
Manchester says that faith does not demand understanding. Rein
carnation, for example, is an important idea in Tibetan Buddhism,
and although it doesn’t make sense to her, she has faith that it will.
“I keep listening to my teachers and seeing that everything else they
say makes sense. My respect for the dharma, the teachings, has
steadily built up, mainly because it works. Being kinder to people
really did increase my own happiness. That’s kind of a law of karma
which is connected to the idea of reincarnation,” she says. “A lot of
the teachings are mysterious to me. I can’t understand all of them,
but I have faith that someday, maybe, I will.”
The Rev. Rachel Frey (Agi), an associate minister at a suburban
parish, agrees that questions of doubt can live within a faithful per
son. “I wrote my senior essay about doubt,” she says. “I asked if you
could be both faithful and doubtful, something I was thinking about
and wanted affirmed.” Now, after seven years as a minister, she says
she no longer looks for answers in theological readings. “I have
more life experience that affirms my faith,” she says. “When I was at
St. John’s, I thought about God in an academic way. Being a minis
ter, my experience with congregations of faithful people has led me
to believe in having a relationship with God, as opposed to thinking
philosophically about a concept of God. I used to believe because it
was logical, but now I believe because of the things I see in people’s
lives.”
Frey, who works part-time at the University Christian Church, in
Hyattsville, Md., says she set out to find a position at a church with
more than one minister so she could continue learning from some
one with more experience. “I’m at U.C.C. because my senior minis
ter, Marshall Dunn, is the kind of minister I wanted to be with and
work with and learn from. He’s an excellent pastor. He loves his
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer soot }
�{Johnnies on Theology}
19
''When I was at St. Johns, I thought about God in an
academic way. Being a minister, my experience...has led
me to believe in having a relationship with God.''
Rachel Frey [A91]
church and he’s beloved by his church. He loves people and he loves
being a minister, which sometimes seems kind of rare. There are a
lot of disheartened ministers out there.”
Keeping the Faith
As a pastor at an active and diverse church near Pittsburgh, Rev.
Hellner-Burris has sought to avoid the disheartened minister syn
drome by focusing on her prayer life. She recalls a time early in her
ministry when she saw she was heading for burnout. “I became com
mitted to daily prayer,” she says. “For me the inner journey is what
feeds the outer journey. The inner focus of my prayer life has been
crucial to my outward expression of ministry. I can’t do one without
the other.”
For Dillard, the psychiatric hospital chaplain, the difficult cir
cumstances of his work keep him from burnout-an irony not lost on
him. “This is a place where there’s a lot of suffering and mental
anguish, but we’re able to do some good and help people out.
Patients really give us the greatest affirmation.” As an example, Dil
lard describes a group he leads in geriatric music: “These folks can’t
remember what they had for lunch, but they remember all the words
to the a3rd Psalm or ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ or ‘The Old Rugged
Cross.’ We’ll use these songs to access memories and emotions.
We’ll sing the old church song ‘Break into the Garden,’ and it’ll
bring somebody back to a little country church in Kentucky.
“It’s a gift to worship with people who really want to be in a wor
ship environment, a gift to be in a service with people who aren’t
driving up to the church in a Jaguar. They come with a rawness you
rarely see out in the real world where people put on their church
clothes and church personas and don’t show their true selves.” -#■
Theology Bookshelf
David Dillard (A89) is a psychiatric chaplain at Central State Hos
pital in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a member of the Alliance of
Baptists. He recommends:
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Tragic Vision and Divine Compassion: A Contemporary
Theodicyiyj'^&aAy^sAey
Either/Or by Soren Kierkegaard
The Crucified Godby Jurgen Moltmann
Rachel Frey (Agi) is associate minister at University Christian
Church in Hyattsville, Maryland. She is a member of the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ). She recommends:
Desiring God: Meditations ofa Christian Hedonist
by John Piper
Walk in the Light and Twenty-Three Tales by Leo Tolstoy
The Christ-Centered Woman: Finding Balance in a World of
Extremes by Kimberly Dunnam Reisman
Janet Hellner-Burris (SF77) is pastor at the Christian Church of
Wilkinsburg in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. She is a member of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She recommends:
Jesus and the Disinheritedby Howard Thurman
Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating
Pedagogy ofthe Oppressedby Paolo Frieire
Frank Lanzkron-Tamarazo (A95) is hazzan (cantor) and education
director at Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim in Cranford, New Jer
sey. He is a member of the conservative movement. He recom
mends:
The Guidefor the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides
The Talmud over 500 years of rabbinical commentaries
The Jewish IFtzz-by Josephus (around 37 c.e.)
Clark Lobenstine (A67) is director of the Interfaith Conference of
Metropolitan Washington in Washington, D.C. He is a member of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He recommends:
The Illustrated World’s Religions: A Guide to our Wisdom
Traditions by Huston Smith
A New Religious America by Dr. Diana Eck
Vicki Manchester (SF71) has taken refuge vows as a Tibetan Bud
dhist. She recommends:
The Dhammapada (teachings of the Buddha)
Liberation in the Palm p/’FoMr/ZazztZby Pabongka Rimpoche
Ethicsfor a New Millennium by His Holiness The Dalai Lama
The Art ofHappiness by His Holiness The Dalai Lama
The Four Noble TFiztAj by Venerable Lobsang Gyatso
What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
{The College - St. John’s College ■ Summer aoot }
�ao
{Politics}
ROUSSEAU
AM) HKAI.I'OI I I IK
How alumni in the world ofpolitics are influenced
by their St. Johns background.
By John Rankin, SF03
rom a C-SPAN production studio
to
the diplomatic negotiating table in
F
Cyprus, St. John’s graduates have
found their calling in the field of
While the alumni
interviewed
for this article
politics
and government.
Could
express a great appreciation
for
their
education,
they
this array of positions held by alum
see the value moreniinindicate
the mental
tools and skills
they
a connection
between
picked up at St. John
than in the
content ofread
the pro
the’spolitical
philosophy
at St.
gram. Reading political
careersphilosophy
chosen? was not particu
larly persuasive for any of them in terms of choosing a
career; they felt a desire to get involved and pursue
the causes important to them. However, all the alum
ni profiled value the fact that they have read the
majority of the political texts that played a role in the
evolution of western political thought, and they cite
this as an indispensable background for a thoughtful,
substantive take on the political world of today.
The stories of five alumni follow: an ambassador, a
television producer, a writer and television panelist,
and two who work at think tanks.
Donald Bandler (sfgi 73)
“Getting things done-that’s what it’s about,” quips Donald Ban
dler, American Ambassador to Cyprus. Appointed to the post by
former President Bill Clinton in May 1999, Bandler faces the
complex and delicate issues concerning this small island nation
off the southern coast of Turkey. As ambassador, Bandler’s pri
mary mission is to represent American interests in Cyprus. This
involves everything from providing political analysis to the U.S.
State Department, to managing the 200-employee embassy in
Nicosia.
Recently,
John’s and
the he played a role in facilitating a major sale of
Boeing planes to the commercial fleet of Cyprus Air. The issues
facing any diplomat in Cyprus demand thoughtful analysis and
careful handling. Divided since 1974 by a Turkish invasion, the
status of the island as a whole, and potential unification, remains
uncertain. Tensions run high, and lives have been lost in demon
strations and uprisings.
Bandler came to this post with a solid background in interna
tional diplomacy. After j oining the State Department in 1976, his
career took him to posts in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe,
where he participated in the negotiations leading to the
unification of Germany.
Consistent with the practice of political appointees, Bandler
submitted a letter of resignation to President Bush when he took
office. The Bush administration, however, has given no indica
tion it would like him to leave, and Ambassador Bandler expects
to stay at his post.
Bandler’s connection with St. John’s began during his under
graduate years at Kenyon College, where he met several profes
sors who had studied with Leo Strauss and other academics
involved in the Great Books movement. Bandler married Jane
Goldwin (A71, daughter of former Annapolis Dean Robert A.
Goldwin, A50) and completed the Graduate Institute in Santa Fe
several years after graduating from Kenyon.
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer sooi }
�{The College* St. John’s College • Summer 2001 }
�{Politics}
^...the conceptualfoundation acquired
from studyingpoliticalphilosophy can be
very helpful in thepolicy debate.
Donald Bandler [SFGI73]
Philosophy Meets Politics
Bandler discusses the role that his political philosophy background
hasplayed in the world ofRealpolitik in ‘"Philosophy Meets Politics. ”
Talking with John Rankin caused me to reflect on whether and how polit
ical philosophy, my academic concentration at Kenyon College and St.
John’s College, was a good background for a career in international rela
tions. The short answer: a resounding yes.
Early in my career I had the privilege of working as Special Assistant
to Dr. Paul Wolfowitz, currently the Deputy Secretary of Defense. As
Director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, Paul assembled
a group of 20 or so policy thinkers-many grounded in political philoso
phy, some taught by students of Leo Strauss-with a mandate to provide
an independent judgment on policies developed largely by career
experts. The policy debate often turned on issues that would appeal to
the student of political philosophy: What are the necessary conditions
for security of human rights? What deters hostile human behavior?
Fear? Hope? And why are so many people so desperately poor, i.e., what
causes poverty? Or the better question: what causes prosperity?
Later, I had two assignments in Paris, six years in all, ending up as
Charge d’Affaires at our embassy. The ambience alone was a political
philosopher’s daydream: Ben Franklin’s statue in the courtyard. Jeffer
son’s name carved at the top of the list of U.S. Envoys. Rousseau and
Lafayette memorabilia to explore. Even the pervasive reek of Gauloise
cigarettes did not dent the pleasure of a bistro lunch with Jean-Francois
Revel, a visiting Alan Bloom or Robert Goldwin. But Paris was not all
atmospherics. France wields considerable international influence and
enjoys playing her role as a counterweight to America. Although the
French Revolution and U.S. Constitution emerged at a common
moment, 1789, France had a string of different regimes and the U.S. only
one. Understanding the similarities and differences is important in
striving for good relations and cooperation. For its part, the French
“classe politique” is steeped in history and political theory that rein
forces its self-image as a competing pole of civilization. This comes out
in foreign policy seminars (“colloques”), which are often contentious
and are taken seriously. So too, are our discussions with French leaders
in the Elysee Palace, the Prime Minister’s office, and the Foreign Min
istry. Realpolitik generally prevails in those sessions, but the conceptu
al foundation acquired from studying political philosophy can be very
helpful in the policy debate. And when the U.S. and France agree, it is
usually a lot easier to build an international consensus.
Political philosophy also figured large in my work in Germany on its
reunification and on Israel’s peace negotiations with the Palestinians
and Jordan-and it is at the heart of my current ambassadorship. “The
Cyprus Problem” revolves around whether and how to negotiate a set
tlement to reunify this island that has been divided along ethnic lines
since 1974. Debate centers on “political equality” and whether the set
tlement should be a federation, confederation or some hybrid. The
issues parallel those in the Federalist Papers, especially debate over the
respective powers of the states and central government. I maintain an
intensive dialogue on these subjects with the Greek-Cypriot and Thrkish-Cypriot leaders on the island, in UN-led talks, and in unofficial study
groups led by U.S. academic experts.
I would hasten to add that political philosophy is only one of many
fields that provide a good background for a career in diplomacy. In fact,
the best preparation is probably a good liberal arts education, one that
dwells on books of lasting value, leads students to grapple with funda
mental ideas, values inquiry, and cultivates the art of serious conversa
tion.
Seth Cropsey (spya)
A Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Wash
ington, D.C. (a public policy think tank generally labeled con
servative), Seth Cropsey studies national security and defense.
Newt Gingrich, Lynne Cheney, and former Annapolis dean
Robert A. Goldwin are just a few of his well-known colleagues.
Cropsey analyzes how the United States military may best take
advantage of new technology. He studies the questions raised by
the increased accuracy and range of new weapons systems. As
history has demonstrated, technological advances such as the
longbow in medieval times and the Tomahawk cruise missile of
today can render old strategies and plans useless or even deadly.
Cropsey’s work creates new methods the military can use to keep
their tactics resonant with their technological capabilities.
Cropsey also studies the implications raised by the “kinder
and gentler” military of today. In recent years, the American mil
itary has undergone serious structural changes and adopted new
training methods. American military personnel often find them
selves in foreign countries as “peacemakers”-an ambiguous
type of policemen far from the typical (and expected) role of a
soldier. This often frustrates individuals in the armed services,
as few enrolled in order to police the streets of an unfamiliar
land. Furthermore, the character type the military has tradition
ally rehed on to excel-those interested in taking risks and test
ing themselves in combat-is put off by the style of the modern
military and less inclined to enlist.
Cropsey began his career in national security in 1981 as a
recent St. John’s graduate concerned with the relationship
between the United States and Russia. He has served as a profes
sor at the Marshall European Center in Germany, run jointly by
the governments of the United States and Germany. There,
Cropsey taught military personnel from former Warsaw Pact
countries principles of modern liberal democratic governments
{The College - St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
�{Politics}
^3
''Because I work in politics, lam especially
grateful to have read works related to societies
organizing themselvespolitically, from Plato
andAristotle to the Federalist Papers. ”
Eloise Collingwood [A8o]
and related national security issues. He also worked with Ronald
Reagan and George Bush, Sr. as the Deputy Undersecretary of
the Navy from 1984 to 1990.
Cropsey values his St. John’s education for enabling him to
deal with a wide range of material and understand the fundamen
tal issues at stake. He suggests one change to the program, which
should not come as much of a surprise considering the path of his
career. “Edward Gihhon \Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire\
is no longer on the program, and he should he,” says Cropsey.
Eloise Collingwood (A80)
C-SPAN producer Eloise Collingwood uses the problems of
Washington, D.C., as the raw material for a television show.
Collingwood is responsible for getting C-SPAN’s national morn
ing call-in show, “The Washington Journal,” on the air. This is no
small task. Each day begins at 4 a.m. Collingwood thinks up seg
ment topics for the show, finds guests, determines the leads for
each segment, and works with the director and technicians to
ensure a seamless program. Collingwood reviews scores of arti
cles from newspapers, magazines, and the Internet to stay on top
of the issues and find new material for the daily show; under
standably, she values St. John’s for helping her learn how to get to
the gist of an argument and relate ideas to one another.
Like many Johnnies in politics, Collingwood finds the pohtical
books she read in seminar valuable in her professional life.
“Because I work in politics, I am especially grateful to have read
works related to societies organizing themselves pohtically, from
Plato and Aristotle to the Federalist Papers.”
Tom G. Palmer (A82)
Palmer is a Fellow in Social Thought at the
Cato Institute, a public policy research
institute in Washington, D.C. He publishes
papers, lectures at universities and insti
tutes around the world, and edits book man
uscripts and policy papers, determining
whether they meet Cato’s standards. He is
also director of Cato University, which gives
seminars on the principles of free markets,
limited government, the rule of law, and
other issues central to modern classical liberalism.
The libertarian Cato Institute suits Palmer’s interests well.
“My life work has been dedicated to advancing individual liber
ty,” he says. The Cato Institute has allowed him to immerse him
self in the study of the ideas he loves. In his work. Palmer fre
quently revisits texts he read at St. John’s. However, he feels that
books do not always hold the answer. “I learned at St. John’s that
there are lots of people who read a lot, but who have no wisdom
or who are bad people, and many more who don’t read much, but
who are wise and good,” he says.
Palmer does suggest some improvements to the program. He
argues that St. John’s “seriously underestimates the importance
of economics” and cuts off the study of economics with “one of
the most disastrous dead ends in the history of thought: Karl
Marx.” Palmer would like to see inclusion of the work from the
Marginahst Revolution of 1871, in which economists Karl Menger,
W.S. Jevons, and Leon Walras independently solved several prob
lems facing the classical economics of Marx and Adam Smith.
Will of the People?
In January 2001, Palmer and two colleagues, John Samples and
Patrick Basham, released a paper titled '"Lessons ofElection 2000. ”
Among other contrarian views ofthe election, the authors argue that
the electoral college should not be discarded, high campaign spending
did not discourage voters but actually increased voter turnout, and
the misguided appeals to the "will of the people ” by politicians on
both sides of the debate represent a confused claim to a concept
opposed to the nature ofAmerican representative democracy.
The United States is a constitutional republic, not a regime intended to
embody “the will of the people.”
Talk of the will of the people is profoundly misleading. Indeed, the
idea of the will of the people is a deeply authoritarian idea completely at
odds with the idea of government under law. It derives, not from the
American Founders or from any “Whiggish” antecedents in Britain’s
constitutional history, but from the radical authoritarian and anti-liber
al philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who postulated a “general will”
of the people as the foundation of the state. According to Rousseau in
The Social Contract-. “The general will is always right, and always tends
to the public good; but it does not foUow that the deliberations of the
people will always have the same rectitude. We always desire our own
good, but we do not always recognize it. You cannot corrupt the people,
but you can often deceive it; and it is then only that it seems to will some
thing bad.”
As political historian J. L. Talmon noted in his classic study of the play
ing out of Rousseauian politics, “The very idea of an assumed preor
dained will, which has not yet become the actual will of the nation . . .
gives those who claim to know and to represent the real and ultimate will
of the nation-the party of the vanguard-a blank cheque to act on behalf
of the people, without reference to the people’s actual will.”
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer zoot }
�{Politics}
24
''Thepersonal is the universal [in America]. Each
individual experience is a chapter in the larger
drama called the American Story.
Robert George [A86]
The United States is not based on some grand notion of the will of
the people. American government depends on the more modest idea
that the people may delegate certain limited powers to a representative
government operating on principles and procedures set out in our
Constitution.
If by “will of the people” pundits have in mind the Constitution, that
is closer to the occasional use of the term by the American founders. But
current debate indicates that what they have in mind is, instead, whatev
er the will of the people is (should be) about particular matters ofpolicy,
or who should be president. If the Constitution is the abiding will of the
people, then it sets the terms within which policies and officers will be
selected, and continual recourse to the “will of the people” is otiose.
The phrase “the will of the people”-along with “dimpled chad”-has
no place in a system of equal liberty under law. Instead of confusing our
selves with airy metaphysical talk about the will of the people, we
should, with Jefferson, “with courage and confidence pursue our own
federal and republican principles, our attachment to our union and rep
resentative government.”
Robert George (a86)
As an editorial writer for the New York
Post, Robert George writes five or six
unsigned pieces for the newspaper each
week, covering issues from the national
level to the local concerns of New York
ers. Where George really lets loose,
though, is in his regular columns for
National Review Online. Favorite topics
of recent months are Bill Clinton’s par
don fiasco and the early stages of Hillary Clinton’s senate
term. George’s columns feature slick appeals to his view of the
issues and a rhetorical flair unmistakably his own. Although at
heart a thoughtful commentator, his columns often leave the
reader more impressed by his brazen style than his cunning
erudition.
Before working at the Post and National Review, George
helped staff the communications office of former Speaker of
the House Newt Gingrich, writing speeches and press releases
and formulating public relations strategy. He then went on to
coordinate the efforts of grassroots organizers with the
Republican National Committee. His latest project is serving
as a regular panelist on the Saturday evening CNN show “Take
5.” On the show, he discusses topics from politics to popular
culture -with two co-hosts and guest panelists.
My Independence Days
Last year, Robert George took a breakfrom his clever and combative
style to write a sentimentalJuly 4th columnfor Salon, com, “My Inde
pendence Days. ”
Here we celebrate the Fourth of July. For this writer, everything that the
dream called America represents can also be found in two personal
“independence days.”
The first is January ai, 1971. It was the day an eight-year-old boy first
landed in the United States at JFK International Airport. At the time,
U.S. hospitals were experiencing a nursing shortage, so the boy’s moth
er responded to an inquiry from New York City’s Mt. Sinai Hospital. The
boy wasn’t happy about leaving his island home. It was only later that the
lesson of taking advantage of an opportunity when presented sunk in.
Fortunately, a volatile case of air-sickness endured by the young boy on
the flight over did not prove to be a portent for future experience in the
United States.
Living in a country for close to three decades, there are any number of
days and experiences that might stick out that also symbolize America.
But this writer selects November 3, 1989....the swearing-in ceremony
[for my citizenship]. The event itself was rather low-key; ultimately, it
seemed somewhat prosaic. The poetry was supplied moments later as
the new American emerged into a crisp Maryland morning and looked
up in the sky. There, fully unfurled over a government building, was Old
Glory flapping in the wind. Couldn’t have been more perfect if Spielberg
had directed it.
Many people consider the passage of the first 18 years as the initial
step from childhood into adulthood. This particular r8-year passage
marked a period separating arrival and “Americanization.” Other
opportunities followed. Less than three years later, a few of the writer’s
words ended up in the last speech Ronald Reagan delivered at a RepubUcan Convention. Just a short phrase, but for a young island immigrant, it
was certainly a thrilling, awe-inspiring moment. And then, a few years
after that, the immigrant found himself writing for the first Republican
Speaker of the House in 40 years.
As we celebrate the nation’s birth, it’s not a bad idea to pause and con
sider our own personal “independence days.” These are the moments in
our lives that stand out as uniquely American. At one time, for many, it
was the Ellis Island arrival. For others, it’s starting a business, beginning
the novel or casting the first vote. These are the days that connect each
of us intimately with the opportunity that is America. The personal is
the universal here. Each individual experience is a chapter in the larger
drama called the American Story. The opportunity to excel within the
story is the connection we all share, regardless of race, gender, or any
other superficial attribute.
{The College -St John’s College • Summer 2oot }
�as
{The Program}
It Takes Two Villages
In his Dean s Statement, Timothy Miller considers
what it means to learn in a community
By Barbara Goyette, A73
very year the chairman of the
Instruction Committee
(which alternates hetween
the dean in Annapolis and
the dean in Santa Fe) submits
a Dean’s Statement of Educa
tional Policy and Program. Topics for the
Dean’s Statement vary from the hroad to
the more specific; sometimes the Statement
serves as an institutional don rag or propos
es major changes to the program. This year,
Timothy Miller, acting dean in Santa Fe,
characterized his topic as “the intrinsic
fundamentals that make this small college
precious to its memhers and also a precious
resource within the larger educational
sphere.”
The Statement begins, “For St. John’s
College it takes two villages-one in Santa
Fe and one in Annapolis. Even in an age of
spin the notion of a village has an appeal
Timothy Miller (right) included passages
that is not merely sentimental. Reaching
FROM Simone Weil and William James in his
more deeply into our souls, it suggests
Dean’s Statement.
mutual care and nurture, the daily support
of family and neighbors, help in emergen
cies, the sharing of rituals . . ., recurring
celebrations . . ., and ceremonies by which,
often recedes to some vanishing point in
as thinking animals, we mark the stages of
the future.” Tenured tutors are more likely
our growth, maturity and decline.”
to be granted partial or full leave from
Mr. Miller discusses the primary goal of
teaching, and they are more likely to have
the college as the education of young peo
added responsibilities such as administra
ple who are emerging from adolescence to
tive posts that free them from the class
early maturity. The college must meet their
room. A result is that on the Santa Fe cam
educational needs and see to their personal
pus, throughout the 1990s, “approximately
needs and interests as well. That American
60 percent of tutors have been tenured, but
colleges and universities operate on a fourtenured tutors have taught only about 40
year cycle to bring students to this desired
percent of the classes. . . Clearly a majority
maturity makes for some difficult decisions
of our classes depend on the energy and dis
along the way.
tinction of our newer tutors.”
He expands on some of the problems this
Mr. Miller also discusses the perennial
compressed schedule creates for tutors,
problem of there being too many books to
whose primary responsibility is to “teach
read in too little time. The Statement sug
and make ourselves as competent as possi
gests alternatives for dealing with the music
ble in all parts of the St. John’s program.”
and visual art tutorials-including a sugges
In their early years, faculty must spend
tion to move the visual arts tutorial to soph
much time and effort to learn the parts of
omore year and to focus more time in lan
the program they are teaching. Even after
guage tutorials on writing. He also
receiving tenure, tutors find that the goal of considers a larger question: “We intend our
teaching at all levels in all areas of the pro
program of studies to have a wholeness that
gram is still elusive-“achieving that goal
does not exist in the typical college curricu
E
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
lum. Whatever our judgment
about the incompleteness and
inadequacy of specific parts of our
program most of us believe that
the program as a whole is greater
than the sum of its parts.
Whether this wholeness may be a
reflection of a wholeness existing
in the world is worth our atten
tion...”
Passages from William James
and from Simone Weil illustrate
some approaches to this question
of how it’s possible to pay atten
tion to the most important things.
In a passage from Psychology,
James lays out an approach to
learning that demands “willful
attention in study,” while Weil
denies the effectiveness of will
power and posits that leaving our
selves open works better: “Attention con
sists of suspending our thought, leaving it
detached, empty, and ready to be penetrat
ed by the object,” she writes.
Mr. Miller cites a passage in Weil’s
“Human Personality” that addresses “the
proper balance between the individual
intellect and the collective in which an indi
vidual has its natural origins”: “When sci
ence, art, literature, and philosophy are
simply the manifestation of personality they
are on a level where glorious and dazzling
achievements are possible...But above this
level...is the level where the highest things
are achieved. These things are essentially
anonymous...The human being can only
escape from the collective by raising him
self above the personal and entering into
the impersonal...” This passage serves as a
source for his final question: “Are we over
weening in the hope that our lives as stu
dents and faculty at St. John’s College are
directed toward the sacred realm of the
impersonal?”
Thefull text ofthe Dean’s Statement is
online at www.sjcsf.edu/academic/
deanoi. htm, or is availablefrom the Dean’s
Office in Santa Fe (505-g84-6o7o).
�{Alumni Notes}
1935
Richard Woodman writes: “Glad
to read the article on St. John’s in
the Smithsonian^ February aoor
issue. Those prior to the 1937 class
did get a good liberal education
with a chance to see the Maryland
legislature and U.S. Congress in
session without having to wait in
line and go through metal detector
systems. It was a poorer but it
seemed a kinder world in some
respects. I wonder how many of the
class of 1935 are stiU alive and
working as I am.”
1936
Gilbert Crandall, a Civil War
buff, recently had articles on that
subject published in the Washing
ton Times and the North Georgia
Journal.
1938
Frank Townsend reports that he is
still alive and thriving.
1942
Ernest Heinmuller writes about
two classmates: “Bill Ruhl died in
January. As a community leader in
Salisbury, Maryland, he was prop
erly honored by a large gathering of
friends and officials at the funeral.
Some of you 4aers might like to
send a note of encouragement to
Al Poppitti (use the register
address). Al suffered a severe heart
attack but is showing improvement
daily. I have been busy working for
World Vision, a ‘feed the hungry’
effort for Rwanda and other Third
World peoples.”
1949
Oscar Lord reports that his son,
Lt. General Lance W. Lord, USAF,
is Commandant of the U.S. Air Uni
versity Maxwell Field, in Mont
gomery Alabama.
copal parish in Palm Springs, Calif.
“This Sunday ‘work’ and a variety
of physical problems keep me from
attending Sunday alumni seminars
in Los Angeles. Health problems
hit us hard from Christmas into
January. Son David broke his left
leg and is in a wheelchair, and wife
Rita is on oxygen 24 hours a day
due to emphysema. So I get food
and run errands until we get David
on his feet and Ruth free of oxygen
tanks.”
1950
“I regret not being able to attend
the 50th reunion of my class this
last fall,” writes Tom Meyers. “My
health is generally quite good, but
that of my widowed sister is not.
Perhaps I will be able to make the
next one. It will not be quite the
same, but one does what one must.
Amazingly, I will be 80 years old
this coming October-both
astounding and amusing.”
stayed in pubs, B&Bs, and resort
hotels. “It was a blast!” he says.
“Great scenery, great people.”
Jennefer Ellingston is active in
1953
Charles Powleske reports: “My
fourth year of retirement finds me
at work on ‘The History of BCIU
(The Business Council for Interna
tional Understanding)’ where I
began working in i960.1 also con
tinue to be active with BCIU’s
working group that brings about its
annual benefit at the Metropolitan
Opera (since 1984); also still active
in the affairs of The Princess Mar
garita of Romania Foundation as a
member of its board. I still ‘rest up’
in Mexico when I can (Puerto Vallarta, mainly) and, in 2000,
enjoyed April, May, and October
there.”
1955
Priscilla Bender-Shore and
Merle Shore (class of ’54) write
1951
Alfred Franklin sends a message
to classmates; “Our 50th reunion is
this year. Myself, Ray Stark, and
Herman Small are starting togeth
er a committee for setting up the
agenda. We would like to expand
the committee to establish what the
class gift should be, who we can get
to tutor, and choose the reading.”
from California. Priscilla curated
and juried an art exhibition,
“Susan B. Anthony on Mt. Rush
more,” for the Santa Barbara Coun
ty Arts Commission. The exhibit
ran from February through April
and celebrated Women’s History
Month. Eighteen artists were repre
sented. Priscilla gave two lectures
in connection with the exhibit.
William Roberts writes that he
spent last March bumbling around
England, Wales, and Scotland. He
A Happy Accident
ARL Hammen
(A44) sent in the following contribution:
“I was a Maryland scholarship student, class of 1944.
Going to St. John’s was a happy accident for me. I last
Mostly I studied visited
oyster metabolism
taught cellular
and
comparative
the campus and
in October
1999, and
enjoyed
seeing
physiology courses.
Also
ran the Boston
Marathon
times.
Sinceand
a few
classmates.
Most of
my career12was
teaching
retirement in 1993
I have in
taught
freshman
biology at of
a community
col
research
biology
at the University
Rhode Island.
lege several times and have held other part-time jobs, the most interest
ing: enumerator for the 2000 census. I became so good at obtaining
information that I was promoted to denominator. Beginning in August I
C
Richard Frank was made an hon
orary member of the Societe Asiatique.
The Rev, Frederick Davis says
that he is still assisting at an Epis
1956
plan to teach math review at the Ringling School of Art and Design, one
of the best art schools in the U.S. I remember that Jacob Klein said that
if you have a mind at all, it is a mathematical mind. My running career
continues. In 2000 I was ranked number one M75 in Florida for both
5 km and 15 km.”
{The College. 5t. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
the Green party and reports that it
now has 84 elected officials. “Yes,
we are small, but everyone is grow
ing green or withering away. Global
warming continues and the Arctic
ice cap loses four inches a year.”
1957
Arianne Laidlaw writes that she is
going to Vietnam as the guest of
people she and her husband spon
sored in 1975. She will spend three
weeks there, from Ho Chi Minh
City to Hanoi. She also plans a few
days in Hong Kong and Bangkok.
1959
John McDevitt says that he con
tinues to teach part time at the
community college and to make
dulcimers and harps. His daughter,
Gianna, has joined with his wife in
the operation of a country general
store and trailer park.
“ISI Books of Wilmington,
Delaware, has just brought out my
newest (of nine) books,” reports
Hugh Curtler. “It is entitled
Recalling Education and it propos
es a traditionalist approach to high
er education that is counter to the
major trends today (except, of
course, St. John’s) where the liberal
arts are in serious jeopardy.”
i960
“I am in the third year of a fouryear great books program at the
University of Chicago downtown
campus,” writes Peter Ruel. “We
meet once a week for three hours
(one and a half seminar and one
and a half tutorial) for three iiweek semesters. Forty years makes
a difference in how one reads a
book. It is definitely worthwhile to
return to what we all loved as young
people, and breezed through ivith
little understanding.”
1962
Lenke Vietorisz reports a new
web site address: members.net/
rrrepasy.
�{AlumniNotes}
Jon Cohen retired last summer
after ai years as a social worker for
the State of New Jersey.
David Schiller writes that he is
planning to deliver another paper
for the International Society of Chi
nese Philosophers in Beijing in July
2001.
David Benfield has enjoyed elec
tronic correspondence with various
classmates and suggests that the
class of 1962 plan an electronic
reunion to coincide with Homecoming 2001. “At this reunion we
can make plans for a real face-toface reunion in 2002 to celebrate
40 years of reality. Write to me at
david.benfield@montclair.edu.”
1964
Judith Laws Wood has moved to
Visalia in the San Joaquin Valley of
California. She is a reference librar
ian at the county public Ubrary.
1966
Constance Baring-Gould writes:
“Congratulations on the Smithson
ian article! My sister wrote to me
about it and I really enjoyed reading
it. I still protect my books rather
than my hair-I’llbet we all do!”
1967
Meredith Burke continues to
publish editorials on the subjects of
AIDS control and negative popula
tion growth. Her pieces have
appeared in the San Francisco
Chronicle, the San Francisco Exam
iner, the San Diego Union-Tribune,
and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Hope Zoss has been appointed
Associate Director of Development
at the Chemical Heritage Founda
tion in Philadelphia.
1968
Ellin Barret (SF) writes that
there are several St. Johnnies in the
San Francisco Bay Area who are
involved with a winter production
called the California Christmas
Revels. Revels uses a unique form
of music theater to dramatize the
celebratory traditions of diverse
cultures and eras. Both profession
als and amateurs perform, and
there are carefully planned
moments of audience participa
tion. The 2001 show will focus on
music as a force for ethnic and reli
gious reconciliation, drawing espe
cially on Irish-Celtic heritage, to
portray some of the unifying
themes underlying the on-going
struggles that beset warring fac
tions over generations. This year’s
script is built on the story of the
greatest Irish harper of all times,
the blind O’Carolan, who, against
great opposition, steadily dedicated
his life to using music to heal enmi
ty among peoples.
Antigone Phalares (SF) has been
a part of the Sacramento alumni
seminar group for over 20 years.
“Our crown jewels are Marion and
Tom Slakey,” she writes. “How
lucky it is to have our very own
St. John’s tutor and tutoress to con
tinue those enriching conversa
tions we began long ago, in
Annapolis and Santa Fe. This
is life lived to the full.”
“Our daughter has joined the Peace
Corps. We are planning to visit her
in the Dominican Republic this
spring,” writes Carol Neitzey
Dale (A).
tour the ancient Temples in Noa
(Japan’s first capital), and see
Kabuke. He is a professor of Pedi
atrics, Physiology, and Biophysics
at the University of Southern Cali
fornia and Children’s Hospital Los
Angeles.
1969
“Got caught in the dotty-com melt
down. An interesting experience
but one I don’t want to repeat,”
writes Frances Burns (A).
Joseph Baratta (A) will be teach
ing the history of math at Worces
ter State College in Worcester,
Mass., in 2002.
Carl Severance (SF) is now living
in Lexington, Ky., teaching adult
education (GED Preparation). His
wife Deanna is Director of Ken
tucky’s historic Frontier Nursing
Service. His son Alex is in his sec
ond year at Boston College Law
School, and his daughter Sarah
Sebestyen is pursuing a singing and
song writing career in New York.
Greetings may be sent to
carlsev@aol.com
1970
Allison Karslake Lemons (SF)
Steven Hanft (A) says, “In nine
reports: “I am currently teaching
French part-time at Wichita State
University and at East High School
in Wichita. My husband, Don
(SFGI), teaches physics at Bethel
College, in North Nevrton Kansas,
and my oldest son, Nathan, is a
freshman at (dare I admit it?) Ober
lin College, studying piano (among
other things). I’m afraid making
money just isn’t in the genes; but
we’re leading enjoyable lives (and
possibly even somewhat virtuous
ones) all the same.”
years I can retire.”
Thomas Keens (SF) received a fel
lowship for Foreign Scientists to
Japanese Institutions from the
Japanese Foundation for Emer
gency Medicine. He spent nearly
two weeks at the National Chil
dren’s Hospital in Tokyo. He gave
two major presentations on his
research on sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS) and discussed
SIDS and respiratory research with
Japanese colleagues. He also had a
chance to walk in the East Gardens
of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo,
Catherine Carroll (A)
announces her marriage to Gilbert
T. Lusero on January 6, 2001, at
their home in Portland, Oregon.
She continues to practice law, spe
cializing in domestic relations;
Gilbert is semi-retired. They will be
traveling to Spain and would like to
hear from any St. John’s people
who are there now or who have
travel suggestions, recommenda
tions, or reminiscences they’d like
to share. Their address is 8100 SW
68th Place, Portland, OR 97223.
Maya Hasegawa (A) and Bor
Wycoff (A) were sorry they missed
the 30th class reunion in 1999.
Maya’s father Ichiro had become
very ill and they went to Richmond
several times that autumn to visit
before he passed away Christmas
Eve morning. Maya continues to
work at the Boston Housing
Authority, overseeing compliance
with civil rights requirements man
dated by HUD. Bob, working for
{The College. Sr. John^s College ■ Summer 2001 }
ay
Data Dimensions as a systems con
sultant, survived Y2K and now
looks forward to at least several
more years of steady employment
dealing with the changes required
by the 1996 HIRPA legislation.
“This January we detoured into
Annapolis for a few hours on the
way back to Boston from Richmond
and strolled around the campus,
stopping in to see the new library,”
they tvrite. “We had the sensation
of being ‘ghosts,’ invisible or nearly
so, to the students there, as doubt
less past alumni were invisible to us
when they stopped to gather mem
ories as we lolled around on a donothing Sunday afternoon in 1967,”
Hudi (Schneider) Podolsky (SF)
reports: “I’m now the executive
director of the National Coalition
of Essential Schools-back to the
world of teaching and learning that
I love so much. It has taken me a
long time to come back to this
great work, but my sojourn in the
profit-making world has given me
skills and perspectives that I can
now put to good use. You can see
what we’re up to at www.essentialschools.org.”
1971
Vicki Manchester (SF) is teaching
English and drama at the CIUA
Charter School in Colorado
Springs. “I helped to start the
school four year ago and after three
years of incipient chaos the school
is stabilizing and even has a waiting
list. I get to seminar lots with the
seniors. On the non-professional
side I took refuge vows as a Tibetan
Buddhist in 1998.”
Jane Goldwin Bandler (A) and
Donald Keith Bandler (SFGI73)
are currently living in Cyprus
where Don is serving as the Ameri
can Ambassador at the U.S.
Embassy. Jane is a psychological
counselor with a specialty in par
enting skills. They have three chil
dren: Lara (25), a PR account exec
utive in New York City, Jillian (23),
beginning University of Maryland
Medical School in 8/01, and Jeff
(24), in eighth grade in Nicosia,
Cyprus.
�a8
{Alumni Notes}
The Writer as Addict
Praising a writerfor writing is likepraising a crack addictfor
assiduous smoking. Writing is an addiction, and like all addictive
substances, it stokes thepleasure centers ofthe brain.
Emma Roth in Suspicion by Barbara Rogan
BY Sus3AN Borden, A87
mma Roth, the main charac
ter in Barbara Rogan’s (SF74)
novel Suspicion, is, like
Rogan, a full-time writer and
part-time soccer mom. Like
Rogan, she’s Jewish, has a
love of jazz, and lives on Long Island. But,
Rogan says, Emma is not her. “The main
thing about Emma is that she’s very vulnera
ble, emotionally fragile,” says Rogan,
“whereas I, despite my share of occasional
woes, am as healthy as the proverbial horse.”
Still, even without knowing Rogan, you
get the feeling that the two have a lot in
common, especially when it comes to writ
ing. Rogan agrees with Emma’s comparison
of writing and addiction. “That speaks for
me very accurately. Writing has always been
the thing I do that gives me the most pleas
ure and the fact that I can make a living at it
is great. That reinforces it: when you get
published and get paid and get all the
stroking that goes with it.”
Rogan says she always wanted to be a
writer. “I always could write, even as a kid I
had a talent for writing, a great love for
words. I was a huge reader. That’s what led
me to St. John’s in the first place,” she says.
At St. John’s, Rogan wrote several good
essays, but was nearly silent in class. This
led, temporarily, to an interesting problem:
“There was one essay that was so good and
so out of line with my participation in class,
that I was accused of plagiarizing it. It was a
Jungian analysis oiDon Quixote. I was into
Jung that year and it kind of clicked for me
in one essay,” she says. “There was a great
One of Barbara Rogan’s St. John’s essays
brouhaha, a lot of fuss made in the attempt
WAS so good, she was accused of plagia
to find my ‘source.’” When the smoke finally
rism. She took that as encouragement to
cleared and it was acknowledged that Rogan
BECOME A WRITER.
had written the essay, many of the tutors
involved in the investigation told her that
in 1974 after she graduated from St. John’s
she should be a writer.
and moved to Israel. There she worked as a
Though an accusation of plagiarism is an
production director and English editor for a
unusual source for encouragement, Rogan
Tel Aviv publishing house while she wrote
took it as such and started writing seriously
E
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2001 }
her first book, which she describes as a prac
tice book. The following year she opened her
own literary agency, which eventually
became the largest in Israel, supplying over
50 percent of the Israeli market for translat
ed books. In 1980, Rogan met and married
Ben Kadishson, an Israeli musician. Their
first son (they have two: Jonathan, 18, and
Daniel, 14) was born during the 1982 war in
Lebanon. During the same year Rogan’s first
novel. Changing States, was published
simultaneously in England, the U.S., and
Israel.
“Getting my first book published was a
huge thrill and it was published in three
countries. I was so new to the business I
didn’t realize what a terrific piece of luck I’d
had,” she says. Rogan’s good fortune has
continued. She now has seven novels to her
credit and is co-author of a non-fiction book
about the Middle East. Two of her books- A
Heartbeat Away and Rowing in Eden-wcxc
Literary Guild selections. Her 1999 book.
Suspicion, was a Book-of-the-Month Club
featured selection.
“Every book is a thrill. And a heartbreak
usually. It’s a tough career; not the easiest
business to be in. You never really feel suc
cessful entirely,” she says. Rogan explains
the trials that come with a book’s publica
tion: “Very rarely do things just click and go
the way you want them to. I’ve seen it from a
lot of angles: as an agent, as an editor, and as
a writer. There’s always a lot of expectation
built up around publication and it doesn’t
always pan out.” She discusses the econom
ics of book distribution, advertising, and dis
play: “Most books that are published have
little or no advertising budget. They’re just
shoved out the door with the hope that
someone will pick them up. The advertising
budgets go to Nora Roberts and Stephen
King-a guaranteed return on investment.
But publishers do this for sound business
reasons. I have maybe the misfortune of
understanding their point of view; neverthe-
�{Alumni Notes}
less, it is often frustrating for the writer.”
On the whole, Rogan has heen among the
more fortunate writers. Her hooks have
been reviewed in the New York Times and
the San Francisco Chronicle. They have been
released as audio books and published in
eight languages. The movie rights to Rowing
in Eden were optioned and the movie rights
to A Heartbreak Away were sold to MGM.
Rogan says that A Heartbeat Away is a
favorite among her books, combining sever
al subjects important to her: a hospital set
ting, which grew to interest her after her son
dragged her to a number of emergency
rooms when he was little; jazz, an interest
she shares with her husband, a jazz musician
when they met; and Jane Austen-Rogan bor
rowed the plot for the book from Pride and
Prejudice.
Rogan doesn’t always turn to the Great
Books for story lines, but program works are
often present in her books. Whether a char
acter is compared to Don Quixote, shudders
when she thinks of Medea, or hides a piece
of evidence in her copy of Kant’s Critique of
Pure Reason, Rogan’s ease with the great
books will seem familiar to Johnnies.
Not that she feels at ease with all of St.
John’s. “I still have nightmares about
Greek,” she says. “I dream that I took a year
off and came back and couldn’t remember a
single word.”
Although she has long since left Monte
Sol behind, Rogan remains in the classroom.
1972
JuanHovey (SF) reports: “My wife
EUse Cassel and I, being now empty
nesters, have bought a lovely town
house at the far northern end of
Topanga Canyon Road in the San
Fernando Valley, up on a hilltop
among huge stone outcroppings and
oak trees that formed the back
grounds for the Tom Mix movies, for
the Lone Ranger TV series and, it is
said, for one or two scenes from the
John Ford classic ‘Stagecoach.’
There are bobcats up here plus at
least one mountain lion and plenty
of coyotes, of course; people tell us
there is also a small herd of wild
goats in these mountains. I continue
to write a weekly column on business
finance and insurance for the Los
Angeles Times and contribute to a
number of other publications on the
same subjects. Life is sweet!”
She writes quickly,
notpausing to
think, just letting
the words spill out.
Later she will cut
and edit ruthlessly,
hut not now.
First drafts are
playgrounds where
anything goes.
FROM
Suspicion
now as a continuing education writing
teacher. She encourages her students to
write quickly, the way she describes Emma
as writing, but she doesn’t practice what she
preaches, Rogan approaches her first drafts
with a bit more deliberation. “I plan more
carefully and have to rewrite less than I used
to,” she says. “I’m trying to be a httle bit
more efficient. I try to plan out my themes
James Burress (A) notes that his
son, Toby Burress, is entering the St.
John’s class of 2005.
Louise Romanow (SF) sends this
report: “I find it amazing how busy
one can be and not be earning any
money! Bill’s and my son Curt is now
14 and cycles to school every day, a
rare event today. I continue to push
the catbriar back, planting indige
nous shrubs and perennials under
the forest canopy around our house.
I’m active in the League of Women
Voters, a bunch of opinionated
women-always lively discussion, and
I produce our newsletter and do a bit
on our web site. Keeping up with
technology keeps me learning new
stuff every day.”
1973
A medical journalist for more than
20years, Nancy Plese (SF) is cur
29
more and let the story drift less.” Before she
starts a chapter, Rogan writes a list of goals
and makes notes on the interweaving plot
lines she has to work with. She then thinks
up ways to dramatize her goals and invents
incidents that do so.
Rogan says that her new approach to writ
ing might be related to the fact that she’s
now working on her second mystery. “Mys
teries have to be plotted more succinctly,”
she says. “With a character-driven novel,
you can meander a little bit more.” Her new
mystery, to be published by Simon & Schus
ter sometime in aooa, is centered on a
reunion of old school friends who vowed to
get together again after ao years. When the
time comes, one of them is missing-mur
dered by one of the friends.
The idea for the book, Rogan explains,
grew out of real life, when she and a group of
classmates vowed to meet on the eve of
aooo. “For some bizarre reason a lot of us
did remember and six months before the
night we started reaching out and contacting
each other,” she says. “It was a pretty amaz
ing experience and the book grew out of
that.” Any chance that some of her SF74
classmates will recognize themselves in the
book? Unfortunately not. The group that
inspired the mystery was from Rogan’s high
school in Westbury, New York.
rently Executive Editor of The Pfizer
Journal, a bimonthly health policy
publication with an audience of sen
ior health policymakers. She is also
the mother of two, Andrew (17) and
Katelyn (7), and recently celebrated
the 22nd anniversary of her mar
riage to George Lewert. She lives in
Brooklyn, having moved to New York
in 1973, shortly after graduation.
“My son’s search for the right col
lege brought back memories of the
decision to go to St John’s, which
was one of the best decisions I have
made in my life,” she said. “On a
daily basis, I draw on the knowledge
and experiences gained there.”
“A bill has just been introduced in
the Michigan legislature to require
the teaching of ‘creationism’ in our
public schools, which is, of course,
the starter’s gun to revisit Origin of
Species,” writes JoN Ferrier (A).
“Jane Spear (A) and I both begin
our sixth decades this year, hoping
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
that the owl of Minerva truly does fly
at dusk. Tuesday’s New York Times
reported on the launching of scien
tific studies to assess the medicinal
properties of hallucinogenic drugs
such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocy
bin in treating alcoholism, phobias,
and other illnesses. Is there no limit
to the powerful strangeness of life?
Let’s hope not. May chaos find us
ready.”
1974
Virginia Newlin (SFGI) is retired
but teaching autobiography, working
as a poet, and volunteering as an
environmental activist.
“I’m a family practice physician
working at Lovelace,” writes Anne
Ashbrook Fitzpatrick (SF). “For
fun I sing with the Albuquerque
Women’s Choral Ensemble and the
Harmony Project.”
�{AlumniNotes}
3°
1975
John A. White (SFGI) has had his
book Kevvy published by Xlibris of
Philadelphia. “Set in future time, it’s
an epic novel with twin themes, a
society that has abolished marriage,
and which has made scientific dis
coveries which are too successful. It
provides ideas and value exploration
for the thoughtful, and adventure,
science fiction, sex, and romance for
folks looking for a good yarn. It’s the
culmination of many years’ work.
Further information is at www.Xlibris.com/Kewy.html.”
Howard Meister (A), having suc
cessfully defended his very cool the
sis, “Media and Metaphor,’’ has
received the MA in media studies
from The New School in New York
City. He is currently looking for suit
able employment as a teacher,
writer, exhibit designer, or curator,
following 20 years as an internation
ally exhibited visual artist. Howard
can be reached at
HMMeister@aol.com.
Jim Jarvis (A) says, “I enjoyed see
ing so many classmates at reunion
time last year. Hope we can have as
good a turnout for #30.”
G. Kay Bishop (A) is commissioning
a “musical commentary” from com
posers Chris Turner and Rich Robe
son. Text for the pieces will be drawn
from her poetry, including poems
from the collections Zero and The
Book ofLillith. Plans are to combine
the five performance and text pres
entation on a CD to appear next
year.
1976
Victoria Hanley (SF) has written
The Seer and the Sword, a fantasy
novel for young adults. Published in
December 3000 by Holiday House,
it is also being published in Britain,
Denmark, Holland, Germany, Spain,
Finland, and Japan. Hanley is a
Montessori teacher and massage
therapist; she says that although she
didn’t finish St. John’s, “the experi
ence of daily dialectic during that
time has influenced my life ever
since.” The novel, which garnered
praise from reviewers, is about a
princess who discovers she has the
power to see the future but must
confront the issues of greed and
revenge and perhaps fight to save
her kingdom.
1977
Ann Worth (SF) writes; “I am an
active member of the Local 510,
Sign, Display, and AUied Crafts. We
set up tradeshows and conventions
in the greater Bay Area and I am fre
quently the steward. Anyone want a
new job?”
Susan Holton (A) reports: “For the
last four years I’ve worked as a senior
designer for Tribune Media Services,
one of the companies, along with the
Chicago Tribune, of the Tribune
Company. I design everything from
sales collateral for our properties,
which include columnists, editorial
cartoonists, and comic strip cre
ators, to corporate brochures and
web sites. Through it all I’ve also
maintained a freelance illustration
and graphic design business. Cur
rently I’m one of the artists on the
Millennium campaign for posters for
the Northwest Indiana Forum.”
Jon is still enraging DAs as he suc
cessfully defends ‘innocent citizens
wrongfully accused of heinous
crimes.’ I am in the lower profile job
of engineering manager at Zairmailsee what my team is doing at
www.zairmail.com.”
1980
Liz Pollard Jenny (SF) was the
organizer of the first Alumni Art
Show, held in July in Santa Fe at the
campus gallery.
Nancy Jene Cline Wright (SF)
writes: “No major changes; still
teaching, still married to the same
fine fellow, still in Richmond, Vir
ginia. I do have a computer now,
with an e-mail address: cornishogre@earthlink.net. I have not
figured out how to forward things to
multiple addresses, and probably
won’t anyway, but enjoy watching
the way things end up moving about
to multiple groups of people with a
few button clicks-a different sort of
‘Great Discussion,’ I guess. I’d enjoy
hearing from fellow Johnnies.”
David Pex (SF) is the director of
finance for RuleSpace, an Internet
infrastructure start-up company. He
got certified as a scuba diver fast
year, dove in the Cayman Islands,
and is off this summer to St. Vincent
and Tobago for more diving and
snorkeling with his family.
1978
Larry Ostrovsky (A) writes: “I
have been living back in Anchorage
for the past seven years. If you can
look beyond the typical western
sprawl, it’s really kind of an undis
covered gem of a city. There’s excel
lent hiking and skiing, long summer
days and crisp winters. There’s even
some big economic scheme every
five or ten years to keep everyone
excited. If anyone comes through
this way. I’d love to hear from them.
My e-mail is Larryostrovsky@h<itmail.com.”
1981
Mary Filardo (A) wrote an editorial
in the May i edition of the Washing
ton Post. As the executive director of
the nonprofit 31st Century School
Fund, she outlined the phght of the
physical facihties at the D.C. public
schools. Her editorial stressed the
importance of planning for the
future and of keeping a good handle
on current design and construction
needs and services.
James Schamus (A) co-wrote and
was producer for “Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon.” He’s worked with
Ang Lee on other films in addition to
the Oscar-nominated surprise hit
about Chinese warriors, such as
“The Ice Storm” and “Eat Drink
Man Woman.” Schamus also wrote
the lyrics for Crouching Tiger’s
theme song, “A Love Before Time.”
Marilynn Smith (SFGI) reports:
1979
Marie Toler Raney (A) and Jon
Raney (A74) report that they are
“still happy in Portland, Oregon in
our house ‘Wits End.’ Soon to be
empty nesters, we expect to find it
easier to come east to see friends.
“I’m still working at Coachella Val
ley High School in the Southern Cal
ifornia desert-and looking forward
to retirement (or is it re-focusing) in
about a year and a half. Teaching
composition and literature at the
College of the Desert is a great joy.
So are my four grandchildren!”
{The College. St. John^s College . Summer 2001 }
1982
Lemuel Martinez (AGI) ran on the
Democratic ticket for the 13th Judi
cial District Attorney post in Albu
querque. He’s an assistant district
attorney and an instructor at the
University of New Mexico who was
formerly a public school teacher for
ten years.
Eileen M. Renno (A) is living in
beautiful southern Oregon on the
east fork of the Illinois River. “I am
the proud mother of two daughters,
Molly (17) and Katy (6). I am work
ing in Human Services as a Job
Coach for The Job Council. I work
with ‘hard-to-serve,’ long-term wel
fare recipients, supporting them in
their efforts toward self-sufficiency.
It’s a challenging and rewarding
position with never a sometimeslonged-for dull moment. I miss the
Chesapeake Bay and look forward to
visiting family in Shady Side and
Frederick, Md., this summer. It’s a
happy thought that I’ll be visiting
Annapolis and St. John’s again, too.”
1984
John L. Bush (SF) says that he has a
new place of employment-he’s work
ing in the office of the university
architect at Virginia Tech in Blacks
burg, Va. “I’m enjoying walking to
and from work every day. Elizabeth
is finishing her masters degree at
Virginia Tech in plant pathology.
Salem is finishing his senior year of
high school at Blacksburg High and
looking at colleges to attend. He is
hoping for an athletic scholarship for
track and cross-country. Loran is
finishing his freshman year of high
school and enjoys playing soccer and
basketball. Hope everyone is well
and prospering.”
Karl and Lisa Walling (both A)
write that Karl is now a professor of
strategy at the Naval War College in
Newport, R.I. Lisa is now the direc
tor of the Tiverton Public Library
system.
Barry and Cynthia Hellman (both
A) have a new daughter, born 11-700, named Abigail Faith Hellman.
They now have three children, Barry
III (14), Joel (7), and the new baby.
Tracy Mendham (A) e-mails: “After
living in Brooklyn, N.Y., for nine
�31
{Alumni Notes}
Thinking in the Future Tense
BY
Barbara Goyette, A73
A
yjobistothink
/I about the
! I future,” says
/ I Robert Bienenfeld(SF8o).As
senior manager
of alternative-fuel vehicle marketing for
Honda, Bienenfeld works to promote the use
of cars that run on fuels other than gasohne.
The present is rapidly approaching the future
as far as internal combustion engine technolo
gy is concerned. What with the energy crunch
in California (and elsewhere), the high price of
gasohne, the arguments about the best ways to
deal with environmental problems like pollu
tion and misuse of non-renewable resources,
hybrid automobiles-which are fueled by gaso
line and electricity-are in the news today.
Bush has proposed a tax incentive to encour
age sales of hybrids. The American auto com
panies are working to develop hybrid versions
of their top-selling SUVs. Honda and Toyota
promote their small hybrids in hip ads in
major magazines like Time and the New York
er. Movie stars, gear-heads, and environmentally-sensitive politicians are buying the Hon
das and Toyotas currently on the market.
“Technology is changing all the time, and
I’m optimistic about how social priorities are
changing, too,” says Bienenfeld. “We’re con
suming way too much petroleum and we need
to be really concerned about that. There’s
been progress, but we need to go further.”
Alternative-fueled cars are one factor in the
mix of regulations, proposals, and products
that aim to help us deal with these current
problems and prepare us for the future.
Bienenfeld has worked for Honda since
right after he graduated. “I knew I wanted to
go into business, and I didn’t want to go to
graduate school right away to do it. I thought
my St. John’s education was great for any
W I
years, my partner Dana Chenier and
I are moving back to Massachusettswe’ll be relocating to Natick in May.
In July, I’ll be graduating from the
MFA in Writing Program at Vermont
College. For the time being, my
e-mail address will be
tmendham@nish.pair.com.”
Sue (Price) Gavrich (A) e-mails:
“My husband Bob and I joyfully
career,” he says.
“At St. John’s I was
used to picking up
a new, difficult
book every week
and then applying
myself to under
stand it. I thought
about the business
world; ‘How hard
could it be?’”
After a threeyear stint as a con
tractworker, Bienen Robert Bienenfeld
WITH the Insight,
feld was hired
Honda’s hybrid.
full-time. He worked
in parts inventory
management and then spent a year and a half
in Japan. In 1993 he was assigned to the alter
native fuel task force. Over the past decade
Honda has developed cars that are fueled by
natural gas, battery electric power, and a
combination of gas and electricity (the
hybrid). The Insight, a hybrid, uses its gaso
line engine for most driving but has an elec
tric motor as a supplement. When the driver
brakes, the battery recharges. “It’s a huge
challenge to provide alternatives to gas-pow
ered vehicles,” Bienenfeld says. “However,
the social and environmental benefits are
great, like reduced dependence on imported
oil and reduced emissions.”
Bienefeld helped Honda launch a battery
electric car in California in 1997. Although
the car was very advanced, battery electric
cars are not new. It turns out that electricity is
a very old method of powering cars. At first,
electric cars outsold aU others. Other fuels
had their drawbacks: steam was dangerous,
and gas engines were smelly and noisy. How
ever, when demand grew for travel between
cities, the battery-powered electric cars fell
announce the birth of our daughter,
Anna Lucy Gavrich on October 18,
2000. You can see pictures of Lucy
on her web site, www.annalucy.com.
We recently moved to a Craftsman
bungalow in Alameda, Calif., which
is basically Mayberry with good
sushi. I’m working from home as a
self-employed fee-only financial
planner. You can e-mail me at
sue_gavTich@moneywell.com.”
into disfavor with the
public, who instead
bought gas-powered
cars that could travel
farther. Now, the
almost perfect infrastructure-with a gas
station every corner
makes introduction of
alternative-fuel cars
difficult. The supply of
natural gas is in the
hundreds of years, says
Bienenfeld, and Honda has developed a car
that runs on natural gas. But there are only
about 1,500 places around the country to
refuel such a car, as opposed to 200,000
places that sell gasoline. Bienenfeld is work
ing with another company to develop a home
refueling appliance for natural gas vehicles.
“The answer to the marketing challenge is
in education,” says Bienenfeld. “We have to
look at innovative advertising, reach key opin
ion makers. A variety of people have to throw
their support behind these new cars-the
automobile magazines, the environmental
groups, even government.”
Bienenfeld is also busy with the next step
in the consideration of the future: product
planning for Honda-thinking about what the
next generation of Accords, Civics, and
Odysseys will be like. He’s been pondering
the difference between speculating and plan
ning. “I read Paul Erlich’s The Population
Bomb while I was in junior high,” he says. “I
was really influenced by that book-what he
thought was going to happen. Yet every pre
diction he made was wrong...In 20 years we’ll
still be planning for the future-after all, we
never really get there. The principles will be
the same: you need to have a really clear
understanding of your goals and mission.”
John Wright (A) has published
short stories in Isaac Asimov’s SF
magazine and in Year’s Best Annual
(David Hartwell, ed.) His two
novels, Golden Age (sf) andLa.st
Guardian ofEverness (fantasy), are
due for publication in aooi and
2,002, by Tor Books. John is a retired
attorney, newspaperman and news
paper editor. He presently lives in
fairy-tale-like happiness with his
{The College .St John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
wife, the authoress L. JAGI LAMP
LIGHTER (A85), and their two chil
dren, Orville and Wilbur Wright.
1985
Sarah (A) and Dan Knight (A84)
write that they had a wonderful time
at Homecoming weekend. “It was
great to see everyone and we were
�{AlumniNotes}
3^
surprised by how relaxed and ‘at
home’ we felt on campus.”
Robert George (A) is going to be a
regular on a new talking head show
on CNN, airing Saturdays at 8:30
p.m. The show, called “Take 5,” pre
miered on March 17.
Karen Bell-Andrews (A85, also
AGI93) is married to Ben Andrews, a
singer very popular in England and
currently on tour there. She is an athome mom working on her PhD.
With their three children, Amelia,
Eliza, and Ian, they live on a historic
old farm in Fairplay, Md. (near
Hagerstown). Karen raises cows and
chickens as well as bees.
1986
Debbie Jones Humphries (SF) is
stiU teaching part-time. She loves
working with graduate students. She
has also started homeschooling her
two sons, Ranier (5) and CameronJack (3), “and that’s keeping me
busy,” she says.
Julie (Spencer) Moser (SF) sends
this request: “Would anyone who has
experience teaching in a Paideia
high school please contact me? I’m
helping found a new high school and
I need your advice. My e-mail is
rainyday@taosnet.com.”
1987
is so much fun and we love him so
much we can hardly stand it,” says
Claudia. “I would love to hear from
classmates-it seems like just yester
day we were at Homecoming for our
loth reunion. Please e-mail me
stackc@uncwil.edu.”
1989
Pamela Jeffcoat (SF) writes: “I
finally got a job as a Russian inter
preter, and now I’m starting to learn
Turkish. I play ping pong with a lot
of Chinese guys but so far, I haven’t
learned a word of Chinese.”
Koko Ives (A) writes that she now
has two beautiful daughters, Zoe and
Cate.
1988
Alden Joseph Stack was born to
Claudia Probst Stack (A’88) and
Joe Stack on October 29, 2000. “He
Roberta Faux (A91) live
in downtown Baltimore where they are restoring a historic
building that functioned as a pharmacy with living quarters
above. Roberta received her MA in classics in 1999. After
receiving his doctorate in composition from Boston Universi
ty and teaching for several years in Colorado, Travis now
operates a music production studio. The Apothecary, with Frank A
(Ago). “We love doing this stuff and are always looking to work with
on interesting film and video projects. Music from some of our recent proj
ects can be heard at our web site www.mp3.com/TheAp0thecary.”
T
Marion Gunn Jenkins (SFGI) is still
in retirement, living in New Haven
next door to her only grandchild and
her daughter and son-in-law. “I’m
active observing local and regional
government for the League of
Women Voters of New Haven. I hope
to take up my study of Greek which
gives me great pleasure despite the
obstacle of age.”
“Young Adam Pittman was born
April ig, 2000,” writes Clinton
Pittman (SF). “Thought about a
Homerian name, but then decided
against such a radical step-not
everyone gets all those Odyssey ref
erences in Oh Brother, Where Art
Thour
“I am leaving my job as an attorney
in the Antitrust Division of the U.S.
Department of Justice to take up a
one-year Visiting Assistant Professor
post at the Northwestern University
Law School, where I received my JD
in 1994,” writes JOE MILLER (A). “I
will be teaching intellectual property
law courses. My residence at the Law
School starts June 4, 2001. One
thing will not change-namely, my
permanent e-mail address at
findjoemiller@hotmail.com.”
Amanda Dalton (A) played the
parts of Delightful and Nadine in a
Colonial Players production of Dear
ly Departed this spring in Annapolis.
A professional clown who graduated
from Ringling Brothers’ Clown Col
lege, she has appeared in summer
theater productions for the past sev
eral years.
Charlotte Glover (SF) reports:
“I’m living with my husband David
Kiffer in beautiful, wet Ketchikan,
Ala., and we are enjoying our first
child, a darling boy named Liam
Benjamin Kiffer, born December ii,
2,000. So far, his favorite ‘great
book’ is Bugs in Spaced
ravis Hardaway (A91) and his wife
our four-year-old daughter, Imogen,
loves her Montessori pre-school.
Hope all is well with the many
friends I’ve lost touch with.”
Margaret (Meg) Lewis (A) is work
ing at the Academy of Natural Sci
ences in Philadelphia as a Ubrary
specialist. She invites alums and stu
dents to visit.
The MP3 Scene
1990
Margo Maganias Thomas (A)
writes: “What a difference 12 years
makes! My husband Bill and I are
still living in Arlington, Va., and
appreciate its village/urban charac
ter. We’re planning on renovating
and expanding our Cape Cod which
over the past four years has become
too small for our family. Our oldest.
August, is enjoying kindergarten and
GenevaMacDonand Pulgham (SF)
co-authored a book with her sister; it
was published in igg? by Texas A&M
Press- Women Pioneers in Texas
Medicine.
Fritz Hinrichs (A) writes; “I am
very pleased to announce two great
gifts of God to me. On March 25,1
had the privilege of marrying
Christy Hass of Rocklin, Calif. On
January 4, we were blessed with the
birth of a beautiful girl-Annabelle
Faith Hinrichs. With great grief, but
also trust in God’s loving provi
dence, I must also relay that after let
ting forth a short, beautiful cry, she
mysteriously passed into the land of
the living (Job 1:21). We would love
to hear from you all-contact us
through our web site, www.gbt.org.”
Sundance Metelsky (AGI) and Tom
Oehser, her partner of nine years,
were married on May 7 in Luray Cav
erns. More than go people attended,
including their children, Bela Wolf
gang Zoltan Seaton Williams Metel
sky Oehser (son, age 5 ) and Zina
Xena Metelsky Oehser (daughter,
age 14 months). Johnnies in atten
dance included Johnny Metelsky
(Ag4) and Lydia Rolita Metelsky
(Ag6) and honorary Johnnies, John
Metelslcy and Ethan Billotte. Also on
hand was a film crew from the cable
TV show, “A Wedding Story.” The
episode will air sometime in Septem
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
ber or October on The Learning
Channel. Sundance says, “The wed
ding was a unique celebration, fea
turing the casting of the circle and
calling of spirits, a hearty group
singing of‘Yellow Submarine,’
humorous legal proceedings featur
ing Tom’s cousin, Tina Oehser, who
asperged the couple with water from
the sacred springs near the Oracle of
Delphi, Tom and Sundance being
wrapped in a blanket held up by four
friends (one doing the holding in
spirit) and time in total darkness in
the cave, a talking stick in which
each attendee had a chance to offer a
blessing, and closing with the Grate
ful Dead song ‘Ripple.’ If you want to
know when the episode airs (or just
want to say hi!), please e-mail me at
sundance@toms.net.”
1991
Nate Downey (SF) is helping to
organize the tenth reunion in Santa
Fe this summer and would like to
gather e-mail addresses for any and
all classmates. E-mail him at
nate@sfpermaculture.com with
“Hegel rocks! ” in the subject line.
Elliott Tullock (SF) writes: “In
December I will complete training at
the Texas Maritime Academy and
receive a third mate unlimited ton
nage any oceans license. Upon
receiving my license I will sail on a
general cargo steamship trading
from the U.S. Gulf to Europe and
Africa. Wife Diana and son James (3)
are doing well. We expect to return
to Belize next year and take up
ranching and tropical fruit cultiva
tion when 1 am home from sea.”
Karen Andrews (SF) recently par
ticipated in a group theme show fea
turing “functional/dysfunctional”
art at the Flux Gallery in Denver.
�{AlUMNiPrOFILE}
33
Democracy Brokering
IN THE Balkans
BY Roberta Gable, A78
hat moment after you graduate
election systems (our
forte!) and party-building
from law school (in the case of
Tia Pausic, A86, Harvard Law
to commercial legal
School) can be one of the most
reform and economicfree moments in life. The rig
related issues like pension
reform, the creation of
ors of the academic world are
small and medium enterprise, and the devel
behind you, and the long grind towards
opment
of trade unions. The CDP opened the
becoming a partner somewhere looms
ahead;
Zagreb office in May of ’92, and Pausic was
but in the meantime, Sisyphus can take a
the first executive director.
couple of weeks off and relax. Pausic cele
She had been back to Croatia three times
brated her freedom by going with her father
on CDP business but now we’re talking
on the Croatian Fraternal Union of Pitts
immersion. There was the language to be
burgh’s more or less annual trip to Croatia
reckoned with (“I tried not to be afraid of
(her father is Croatian and her mother is
speaking”), the lack of consumer goods (“I
Romanian). They had a swell i8-day trip,
including a weeklong cruise on the Adriatic.
developed a scavenger mentality that has
been hard to shake! ”), the toilet paper (“like
Then, back to reality, and Pausic moved to
tree bark”), and her living situation. She had
D. C., where she had a typical entry-level j ob
a small one-bedroom apartment, which was
as an associate at a fairly large law firm. They
did government contract work and also some
not only her home, but also the CDP office
and the crash pad for any CDP visitors.
international and immigration work, which
Pausic set to work developing projects to
was Pausic’s area of interest.
In the meantime, as a result of the Croat
submit to funding agencies, both public and
private. For example, the Children’s Hospital
ian vacation, she became involved with the
in Zagreb was in need of a mobile medical
Croatian American community in D.C.
clinic, since they were basically the only pedi
Young professionals, mostly children of
atric hospital in the country and also tasked
recent emigres, would get together and talk
with health care for refugee children
politics: it was 1989, and change, with the
throughout Croatia. She found funding with
prospect of multi-party elections in Hungary,
the Soros Foundation to purchase and equip
Poland, and Czechoslovakia, was sweeping
the vehicle, and in 1993 they were then able
Europe. And then they did more than talk:
to help children in remote places. (By 1999
they started to host visits from democratic
the local hospitals were enough recovered
political leaders in Croatia, hoping to get
U.S. governmental support for free elections
that the vehicle was then donated to the mili
tary unit in charge of mine-clearing opera
there.
tions.)
Finally they decided they needed to form a
By 1994 she had to face reality once again.
non-profit organization to support this work,
She was making next to nothing working for
and the Croatian Democracy Project (CDP)
a non-profit, and had deferred her law
was born. As the situation in Croatia heated
school loans for two years, but now had to
up, Pausic’s interest in government contract
think about shouldering that burden again.
work cooled down-her pro bono work for the
“I left in December ’93, thinking I was
CDP became her focus.
never going back. I cried on the plane to
In 1991 war broke out in Croatia. The CDP
Frankfurt.”
(and Pausic, the president thereof) realized
Back in Washington, she camped on her
that the only way they would succeed in
sister’s couch and continued to help out at
bringing democracy-building resources from
the U.S. to Croatia would be to open an office
the CDP while she looked for a job. She
talked to the president of America’s Develop
in Zagreb. And what exactly are “democracy
ment Foundation (ADF) about possibly get
building resources,” do you ask? In response
ting involved with their projects. In March
to the democratic changes in eastern Europe
in the eighties, an industry of support grew
1994 he called her and told her that USAID
had issued an RFA (Request for Applications)
up in the United States, for everything from
T
{ T H E C o L L E G E . St. John’s College ■ Summernoot }
Tia Pausic (bottom row, far left) poses with
Croatian friends and co-workers.
for a human rights project in Croatia, and
asked her if she would help write it and be the
Chief of Party (basically, be the person who
would be in charge if the grant were given).
She would, she did, and ADF, a non-profit in
Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded the con
tract for a project to strengthen the abilities
of the human rights organizations in Croatia.
So, having left Croatia expecting never to
return, she moved back in October ’94 to
provide training, give technical assistance,
and bring grant funding to the Croatian
groups. This time her set-up in Zagreb was a
lot different. The grant was for $2.5 million
over a three-year period. She had her own
apartment, and in her office she had actual
equipment, actual staff, and an actual salary;
and she had become fluent in Croatian, fluent
enough even to be a Croatian/English inter
preter. She designed a grant program, but
when they were about to give their first
grants in ’95 the government initiated a mili
tary operation to seize occupied territory
from the Serbs, and Zagreb was bombed,
making for a certain amount of, shall we say,
uncertainty in her life. Nonetheless, they
stayed, the occupied territory was liberated,
and life got back to more or less normal.
A pleasant influx of additional funding
turned the three-year $2.5 million project
into a six-year, $10 miUion project, which
from mid-1996 focussed on displaced persons
and repatriation issues. The pursuit of happi
ness continues abroad for Pausic. She left this
June for her next posting with ADF-Sarajevo,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, where she will be
directing a $4 million, three-year project cre
ated to provide training, technical assistance,
and grants to local nonprofits to encourage
more civic participation, advocacy, public
private partnerships, and coalition-building
among the local groups.
�{AlumniNotes}
34
Christopher Johnson (SF) says: “I
Dianne Cowan (A) is still in Boston,
recently completed my PhD in com
parative literature at New York Uni
versity. My dissertation, ‘Hyper
boles: Exemplary Excess in Early
Modern English and Spanish Poetry,
and its Origins in Classical Epic and
Rhetoric,’ won the Outstanding Dis
sertation Prize in the Humanities for
2000-01 at NYU. Currently, I am
also teaching at New York University
and City College, but this summer
I’m off to a friend’s organic farm in
the Pacific Northwest to clear the
head and get the hands dirty.”
still working for the same software
company. Her e-mail address is diannecowan@mindspring.com.
1992
Kate (Griehs) Sullivan (SF) and
her husband John Sullivan (SF94)
live in Austin, Tex., where John is a
project manager for 7-24 Solutions
and Kate homeschools their four
children, Madeline (7), Jack (5), Lily
(3), and Claire (i). John’s e-mail is
Jsullivan@724.com and Kate’s is
Kate@willdev.com.
Boaz Roth (AGI) recounts his
recent life: 1999, marriage; 2000,
baby #1; 2001, home ownership. He
asks: “Will I ever get a chance to
read Proust again?”
“The charter school I’ve been work
ing on for the last two and a half
years finally got chartered, so we’ll
be opening in September,” says
Taeko Onishi (SF). “It will be a
multi-aged, project-based K-5 school
targeting low income families in
Troy, N.Y. It is an outgrowth of a
community learning space for K-12
in a local public housing neighbor
hood where I work now. I’d love to
hear from any and all Johnnies.
Come for a visit or just get in touch,
ktaeko@hotmail.com.”
Amy Elizabeth Parton (A) says, ‘I
am working as a clinical research
monitor in the pharmaceutical
industry. Still enjoying life in Austin,
Tex., and would love to hear from old
friends. The rest of the world knows
me by my middle name so I can
reached by e-mail at elizabeth.parton@austin.ppdi.com.”
Elyette (Block) Kirby (SF)
reports: “I’m having a baby in May
and soon after will be transferring
from The Netherlands to the UK
with my job at Amazon.co.uk. I enjoy
working at Amazon where every
interview situation seems to fit in a
discussion on who one’s favorite
authors are. I am what’s called a
‘communications specialist,’ which
means I write a lot. My husband I
hope to be settled in the London
area by June and would love to hear
from anyone close by-or far away!
My e-mail is elyette@hotmail.com.”
Trish Dougherty (A) reports that
Sean Donald Dougherty was born
5/5/01; he joins his big brother
Owen and his mom and dad in
Orwell, Vermont.
Simon Bone (SF) sent in a photo of
himself in front of Kant’s grave in
Kaliningrad. “He is still dead,”
notes Simon.
J. Elizabeth Huebert (SF) received
her MD from University of Nebraska
Medical Center, May 5, 2001. She
will do a one-year internship at
Broadlawns Hospital in Des Moines,
Iowa, and then return to Omaha for
three years of specialty training in
anesthesia.
Alec Berlin (SF) released an album
of original jazz in October 2000,
“Crossing Paths.” It is available at
www.cdbaby.com/alecberlin. Since
then he’s been composing a lot and
working in the new media world, all
the while freelancing in bands
around New York City.
1993
Jennifer Council Jones (A) moved
to Newport Beach, Calif., where she
is opening an office for an ad agency
and having a great time learning to
surf.
Nereos Gunther (A) writes, “I am
completing my period of indenture
in the City of Baltimore and plan to
begin an entertainment web site and
educational association for vivisectionists.”
Valerie Duff (SF) is currently
teaching at Boston University and at
Harvard Extension. She plans to
take a year off to attend Trinity Col
lege in Dublin, Ireland. While there,
she will be in an MA program in cre
ative writing. Valerie received an MA
in creative writing from Boston Uni
versity, and has since published
extensively in Agni, Salamander,
Verse, and other literary magazines.
She was managing editor of Agni
(the literary magazine of Boston
University ) for two years.
Aaron Mason (SF) works as a mar
keting writer/editor in the NYC
offices of STV Inc., as an architectur
al consultant; most projects involve
public transportation planning.
Aaron and Nick Gray (SF97) were
both involved with a theatrical per
formance in New York City in
March-Mercury Retrograde: An
Evening of 4 Original Short Plays @
the Sanford Meisner Theatre. Aaron
wrote a lo-minute play called “Mr.
Oedipus,” which is, he says, “artful
ly directed by goddess-on-wheels,
Elysa Marden. Appearing with the
hilarious Laura Agudelo (roles of
Hillary and God), I play the title role
of a man trapped between two
conflicting identities. One personali
ty is an angry white rap star (sound
familiar?), and the other side of him
remains a reclusive author of chil
dren’s books. It is VERY loosely
based on the original Oedipus.” In
another lo-minute play, “Bye Bye
Love” by Milton Johnson, Aaron
plays the proud owner of a trailer
home, a Trans-Am, and a hidden
past... “‘Bye Bye Love’ is directed
with zen-like poise by the
unflappable Beth Ouradnik. And
Nicholas Gray has written a 20minute play, ‘Coat Room,’ directed
by the wise and wooly Sean McGlynn.
‘Coat Room’ is a romantic farce that
takes place (where else!) in the bed
room/coat room of a party. Mr. Gray
plays a lovelorn twentysomething lad
in the midst of a messy separation.”
Anna Vaserstein (A) writes that she
and Warren Ellison announce the
birth of Daniel Vaserstein Ellison on
May 6, 2001 at their house in Jeri
cho, Vt.
Jenna Palmer (SF) and James
Michel (SF92) send word that Jenna
received her MA in literature at San
Francisco State University with a
thesis on Jane Eyre, as well as
certificates in the teaching of com
position and reading. She is current
ly teaching at San Francisco State
and the College of San Mateo and
hoping to hook a permanent posi
tion. Jim’s law practice is in its fifth
year and has recently moved to
downtown San Francisco. You can
{The College. St John’s College ■ Summer aooi }
contact them at jpalmer@sfsu.edu
and jamich@pacbell.net.
Jeff Natterman (AGI) is currently
involved with the Johns Hopkins
Urban Health Council and Baltimore
City Schools. He says, “I could spend
an hour at least describing the
deplorable conditions of the elemen
tary schools in the city. In particular,
their books are in some cases 20
years old (history books with
Richard Nixon as the current presi
dent); their libraries in disrepair and
mostly empty of books of any kind.
The city pleads for more funding
from the state; the state attempts to
meets the needs, but fails...badly! I
have developed a program called
‘Great Books for Great Kids: The
Tench Tilghman Project.’ This pro
gram targets just one elementary
school in Baltimore City. I am hop
ing to solicit either funding or ele
mentary school age resource books
for the school by August 2001.1
believe these children will never rise
above a ‘mediocre at best’ environ
ment without the best possible
resources for learning starting with
books. Please contact me if you’d
like to help out;
jnatterm@jhmi.edu.”
Special greetings to the class of ’93
from Amalia Uribe (SF). She writes,
“I have two pieces of good news to
report. First: Graduated with honors
from Massage Therapy school in
October 2000. Since November I
have been a full time certified Mas
sage Therapist, and I absolutely love
my new career. I work at a chiroprac
tic clinic and at a small day spa, both
in the East Bay of California. Sec
ond; On July 14, 2000,1 eloped!!! I
am now happily married. My hus
band is Mustapha Moutri; he is 28, a
2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon
Do, and is from Rabat, Morocco. We
are quite happy big smile, and NO,
there are no plans for little ones just
yet. I would love to hear from any of
you, but especially from my class
mates: My e-mail is
amaliacmt@yahoo.com (this is a
new address). If any of you have tried
to get in touch at the old address, I
have not had that for a few months,
so please try again. I would also very
much like to hear from: Jonathan
Bricke Rowan (SF96) Will and
Amy Glusman (A93)
Julie (Girone) Martin (A) and her
husband Eric announce the birth of
their second daughter, Josephine
�35
{Alumni Notes}
April. She was born on April 24.
Says Julie, “I’ve been a housewife
since Charlotte, our first child, was
born three and a half years ago. At
the moment, we’re still in
Somerville, N.J., although we’re
moving to a house on an organic
farm in Hopewell, New Jersey, this
fall, where my husband is the care
taker. He’s still the executive chef
and manager of a fine-dining
restaurant in Hamilton as well. Any
Johnnies interested in either line of
work (especially the farming
apprentices are always wanted),
give a call.”
Matthew Wright (A) writes:
“Hello to everyone. Michelle, Anne,
Emily, John and I are still living in
Philly. We are homeschooling and
living in a small intentional commu
nity we helped get started last
August. I would love to hear from
people at matthew.wright@wholefoods.com.”
1994
Sarah Liversidge (A) and Mike
Afflerbach (A) were married Sept
16, 2000 in the Great Hall. Their
reception was held on the back lawn
of the house of President Chris Nel
son and Joyce Olin. Many Johnnies
were in attendance. The Afflerbachs
are still living in New Bern, N.C. and
are enjoying racing sailboats. Sarah
will be taking her architectural
exams this year and Mike is loving
the radio biz.
Peter Bezanson (SF) has been
appointed tutor at the College of the
Humanities and Sciences in
Phoenix, Arizona. The College of
the Humanities and Sciences is a
great books distance learning col
lege established in 1997; it offers
undergraduate and graduate educa
tion in the humanities with concen
trations in imaginative literature,
natural science, philosophy and reli
gion, and social science.
Kenneth Wolfe (SF) is spending
this year as a visiting assistant pro
fessor at Reed College. He received
his PhD in classics from UC Berkeley
in May 2000.
Paul Barker (AGI) will be moving
back to Maryland from Ohio. He has
been appointed principal of John
Carroll School in Bel Air.
Antique Information Systems
Tracy Whitcomb (A) says she is still
enjoying life in Burlington, Vt.
Michael ViLLACRUsis (AGI) writes
n article about Randolph Stakk (A98) called “Under
that he and his wife Jennifer had
ground Mail Road” appeared on the front page of the New
their first child on February 15,
York Times metro section in May. Stark, identified in the
Emily Rose.
article as an entrepreneur, is interested in the under
ground pneumatic tubes installed in the 1890s to carry
Sarah (Van Deusen) Flynn (A) says:
mail throughout the city. He wants to use them to hold
“We are enjoying Guam. It’s a very
fiber optic cable which would connect with telecommunications nice
systems
place for young families. Ethan
that already exist. The pneumatic system was state-of-the-art in several
is stationed here at the Naval Hospi
East Coast cities until about rgrS, Stark discovered, until it was phased out
tal until September 2002.”
by a quicker and less expensive form of transport that could also carry a
greater volume-motor wagons. It was not until 1953 that the tube system
Thea Agnew (SF) is still living in
was closed. Stark is quoted in the article as saying it would cost “about
Alaska. She’s working for herself
$roo million a mile to repUcate the conduits today...making even five miles
writing grants, particularly working
of them a worthwhile resource.” He’s currently searching for the original
with rural development in Alaska
blueprints for the system.
Native communities. She completed
an MA in history in May 2000 focus
ing on 19th century encounters
and coordinate the distribution of
Patricia Greer (AGI) wiU be a tutor
between Yupik Eskimos and Russian
marketing materials for the various
at the Santa Fe campus next year.
Orthodox and American Protestant
FtvS products. She will be responsi
missionaries.
ble for sales materials and press kits
Dan Farley and Elizabeth Rhodes
on projects as diverse as the upcom
Farley (both A) write: “In addition
ing local Fox World Productions ver
to our daughter, Hannah (now three
sions of “Temptation Island” and
years old), we have a son, Dylan,
the movie based on popular chil
born May rq, 2000 (Mother’s
“John and I are busy planning our
dren’s author R.L. Stine’s story enti
Day!).”
house-to be built this summer on
tled “When Good Ghouls Go Bad.”
our II acres of slightly wet paradise
A
1996
1995
Emily Murphy (A) was one of four
Pennsylvania graduate students to
receive the Outstanding Graduate
Student award from the Pennsylva
nia Association of Graduate Schools.
Of course, she says, “around here
it’s ‘for the Glory of Old State,’ but I
think that a lot of the credit goes to
St. John’s as well.”
Susan Talkington (SFGI) is cur
rently working as a software engi
neer for the Seattle offices of Mer
rill Lynch. She married Ian
MacGillivray of Santa Fe in March
2oor, and the two are currently
residing in Eldorado.
Rontt Koren (SFGI) has been pro
moted to Manager, Marketing, Fox
Television Studios. Ms. Koren will
continue to develop marketing
opportunities for Fox Television Stu
dios, including top series suppliers
Regency Television and the Greenblatt-JanoUari Studio, alternative
studio Fox TV Studios Productions,
international production specialist
Fox World Productions, Fox Televi
sion Pictures and non-fiction pro
duction companies Foxstar and Nat
ural History New Zealand. Ms.
Koren will continue to help design
icksT
in central Maine,” writes Allison
Eddyblouin (SF). “The girls (Mary
Catherine and Thalia) are great
homeschooling is a blast. It was
great to have Jason Voigt come visit.
He will be doing the same boat build
ing program that John did four years
ago! Any other Johnnies want to
come visit? If so, drop us a line.”
Mara Giles (SF) writes, “Just read
Geoff Marslett (SF) currently has
the Spring 2oor The College and
enjoyed reading about a distant and
not-so-distant past of my own. I rem
inisced about my years on both the
Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses. I
am enjoying my life very much with
my non-Johnnie husband, a biology
professor, and our wonderful daugh
ter in Nebraska. I work for a comput
er software company located in New
Mexico and feel quite lucky to be
able to telecommute. I still enjoy the
academic life, can’t seem to get away
from it (married into it), and am pur
suing more (yea!) degrees in litera
ture and philosophy with hopes
of...??? Well, let’s just say it’ll ruin
the surprise if I tell you now. Best of
luck and regards to each of you.”
an animated short film out called
“Monkey vs. Robot.” For more infor
mation, check out his website at
WWW. swervepictures. com.
Rosemary Ingham (AGI) writes: “I
retired from teaching at Mary Wash
ington College in May and am spend
ing the summer at the Utah Shake
spearean Festival where I will be
designing costumes for Two Gentle
men of Verona and The Fantask-
Nada Khader (SFEC) is teaching
French and private tutoring students
at the United National International
School in Manhattan. She’s also a
Girl Scout troop leader.
{The College. St. John ’5 College ■ Summer 2001 }
Jon Stephen Pearson (SF) is com
pleting requirements for an MFA
degree in comparative literature
while teaching literature under an
assistantship at the University of
Georgia in Athens.
Amy (Norman) Morgan (A)
reports: “I was married in June
1998. During the ‘99-00 school year
my husband (Bill) and I taught Eng
lish and methodology to secondary
school English teachers in
Ovorkhangai, Mongolia. Now, we
live in the Cincinnati area where
Bill teaches elementary school
music and I teach English to foreign
business people and their spouses. I
am applying to study applied lin
guistics at Indiana University or
�{AlumniProfile}
Cultural Jam Session
Anthropologist Catherine Allen explores the culture ofthe Andes.
BY SUS3AN
Borden, A87
cattered
throughout
Catherine
Allen’s
(A6g) office
are Andean
textiles-woven pieces in
reds, black, and white
with patterns marching
down one side and up
the other. Allen nods
towards one, a woman’s
shawl, and points out
the seam down its cen
ter. “You’d think that
they’ve just taken two
complete pieces and
sewn them together, but
it’s really a single pat
tern,” she says. “The
two halves are part of
the design. In the
Andes, everything needs
a companion.”
Allen’s knowledge of
Andean culture goes
well beyond textiles. An
anthropologist, she did
her fieldwork with the
Quechua-speaking people in the Peruvian
region of Cuzco, where she lived and partici
pated in community life by harvesting and
planting potatoes, cooking, learning to spin,
and helping to herd animals. She has written
many articles, a book, and a play that draw
on her fieldwork in the Andes. And she has
just won a Guggenheim Fellowship to write a
book examining Andean expressive media
(such as storytelling and weaving) and write
another play.
Allen didn’t start out as an anthropologist.
She was originally interested in classical
archaeology, an interest that led her first to
St. John’s and then to the University of Illi
nois to study archaeology at the graduate
level. It wasn’t long, however, before Allen
found herself frustrated with the narrow
focus of archaeology. “I was interested in
questions of meaning, questions that needed
Catherine Allen (second from left)
SWITCHED from IMAGINARY TO REAL FRIENDS
THROUGH THE STUDY OF QEROS, ARTIFACTS FROM
THE
Andes.
a living context” she says, “but all the peo
ple I was studying were dead.”
In pursuit of her master’s degree in the
iconography of ceramics from the southern
coast of Peru, Allen spent hours staring at
museum collections and studying pictures of
ceramics. She learned plenty about the
ceramics themselves, but little about what
they were used for. “It was like having the
grammar of a language, but not knowing
what any of the words mean,” she says.
When she considered questions of meaning,
she had only her own mind to consult: “I felt
like I was making up my imaginary friends.”
Allen moved from imaginary to real
friends during her dissertation research.
{ The C o llege-St. John’s College • Summer 2001 }
which began with the
study of lacquered
wooden cups called
qeros. Although the
first part of her project
brought her back to
museum work, the sec
ond part sent her into
the world of people,
meaning, and anthro
pology.
Qeros date back to
the 17th century, but
they are still used for
drinking rituals in
some communities in
the Peruvian highlands.
Allen decided to study
one of these communi
ties, Sonqu, hoping
that current drinking
rituals would shed light
on past qero uses and
answer the questions of
meaning she had been
formulating. Allen went
to Sonqu and immersed
herself in the communi
ty’s way of life. While
her academic interests centered on the per
formative aspects of life (storytelling, cere
monies, and rituals), Allen found herself
focusing on the community’s everyday
modes of interaction.
“What I studied was a kind of etiquette,
really,” she says. “Ritual is an intensified
expression of everyday courtesies.” Among
the people of Sonqu, the basic vehicle of rit
ual is the coca leaf, always chewed in a cere
monial context. And so her dissertation
moved away from the qeros that had brought
her to Sonqu. “I ended up writing on coca
chewing,” she says. “Coca is the bare bones
of their ritual life.”
Allen completed her dissertation. Coca,
Chicha, and Trago: Private and Communal
Rituals in a Quechua Community, in 1978.
Ten years later she published The Hold Life
Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an
�{AlumniProfile}
37
''When Ifirst studied culture, I thought
ofit more as a symphony: each person
has apart to play and the culture gives
you a score. But the class made me realize
there isn i any score; culture is something
that is always emerging ''
Andean Community,
the book that devel
oped out of her disser
tation. It is still in
print today, read pri
marily by anthropology
students; a second edi
tion is in the works.
And as her book is a
perennial at universi
ties, Allen is now a
perennial at George
Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Hired 20 years ago as a newly-minted PhD,
she is surprised to find herself still teaching
there. “I never expected to stay,” she says. “I
thought I would go on to a small experimen
tal college, but I began teaching in an era
when experimental programs were folding
or contracting.”
Allen says her longevity at George Wash
ington is primarily due to the congenial
atmosphere of the anthropology department
and the university’s Division of Experimen
tal Programs. Through this division, Allen
has collaborated with colleagues from the
school’s religion, art, literature, history, and
political science departments. In 1993 and
1994 she wrote a play. Condor Qatay, with a
colleague in the theater department and the
two teach a class together: “Anthropology in
Performance.”
She describes a typical exercise from one
of their classes: “Rather than explore a situ
ation intellectually and analytically, we do
an improvisation. We set up situations like
waking up or harvesting, assign participants
kinship and household roles, and have them
play out these situations without speaking
English.” It is through negotiating these
improvisational roles that students gain
insight into the rituals of another culture.
But Allen says that it’s not just the students
who benefit from the exercises: “I’ve
learned a lot from teaching and watching
the improvs,” she says. “I get flashes,
moments that show me how cultural prac-
Catherine Allen
tices grow out of the dynamics of the inter
action of a group.
“When I first studied culture, I thought of
it more as a symphony: each person has a
part to play and the culture gives you a score.
But the class made me realize there isn’t any
score; culture is something that is always
emerging,” she says. “Culture is more like
jazz. You have some basic sequences in your
head and general expectations of other peo
ple, but the jam session never comes out the
same way twice.”
Starting this Septem
ber, Allen will have the
chance to further her
studies of the cultural
jam session. As the recip
ient of a Guggenheim fel
lowship, she’ll have a year
off to work on two proj
ects. The first is a book
on Andean aesthetic
strategies. It will include
examinations of story
telling, weaving, and ceramics. “It draws on
my original interests,” Allen says. “I’m finally
going to include a chapter on qeros."
The other project is a second play. “My
first play. Condor Qatay, means the Condor
Son-in-Law. The condor carries off the Indi
an maiden and becomes the son-in-law,”
Allen explains. “This play is the converse:
the star woman who marries an Indian man.”
Like the textiles in her office, the two stories
form a single design: they are reflections of
each other, companions.
Catherine Allen’s FAVORITE BOOKS IN
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Argonauts ofthe Western Pacific by Bronislaw Malinowski
The Nuer by E. E. Evans-Pritchard
Tristes Tropique (or The Savage Mind) by Claude Levi-Strauss
The Ritual Process by Victor Turner
The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz
Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas
Pigsfor the Ancestors by Roy Rappaport
The Spoken Word and the Work ofInterpretation
by Dennis Tedlock
Unnatural Emotions by Catherine Lutz
Andean Lives by Valderrama, Escalante, Gelles, and Martinez
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
�{AlumniNotes}
38
TESOL at the University of Cincin
nati in the fall.”
“I am completing study for my mas
sage therapist certificate and plan to
eventually specialize in maternity
care and rape recovery treatment,”
writes Erin (Hearn) Furry (A).
She’s heen married to William C.
Furhy tV for a year. Erin has plans to
start an Alaska alumni chapter after
this summer. “If anyone is interested
in helping, I can be reached at celebrinthol@usa.net.”
Loreen McRea Keller (AGI)
writes that she and her husband
Greg are expecting their third child
in May-“maybe a third girl? We
can’t wait to find out! ”
Jennifer (Wamser) Deslongchamps (AGI) writes: “The
year after graduation, having just
returned from a year studying
medieval philosophy in Pisa, I met
my future husband in a laundromat
in Fairfield, Conn. Paul Deslongchamps and I were married in
January 1999 and this October we
were blessed by the birth of Thomas
Robert. While I’ve been taking this
year off. I’m currently ‘all but dis
sertation’ at Yale, where I’m work
ing on the notion of infinity in the
work of Meister Eckhard and
Nicholas of Cusa.”
Scott Field (SFGI) and his wife Jes
sica will celebrate their fifth anniver
sary this summer, and they will have
their son Henry (born September 33,
3000) along. “I’m still teaching fifth
grade, although I now have senior
elective psychology and a philosophy
course to teach as well,” says Scott.
“Finally, I’m putting all of that liber
al arts background into my perform
ances each weekend at ImprovBoston, the improvisational comedy
troupe I’ve been performing with for
over three years now.”
Erica Maria Ginsberg-Klennt
(SFGI) writes: “We sailed away from
Annapolis in 1997 and stayed in the
Bahamas for a year before crossing
Panama to French Polynesia. I’ve
been writing articles on technomodism (the use of technology to make
your location irrelevant) for French,
German and Italian magazines. Our
daughter Antonia Tahia was born in
Hawaii in August r999 and we are all
moving to the south of France this
summer with the ‘Pangaea Nui.’
Check out our web site, www.pangaea.to for more stories.”
1997
Ryan ViGUERlE (SF) writes: “Shortly
after graduating from some college
no one’s ever heard of, I moved out
to LA to try and make it as a writer.
Then, after floundering about for a
few years, I decided to go back to
school and am now studying at the
American Film Institute. A swell
place. Greetings maybe sent to
raoulduke@mediaone.net.”
Rebecca Michael reports that she
and Mike Gaffney (A95) are getting
married in Annapolis on June 39,
3003. They are living in Jack
sonville, N.C., where Mike is sta
tioned for the Marine Corps. Rebec
ca is finishing her master’s thesis.
Kit Linton (A) and Sonya Schiff
Linton (Aoo) were married last
September and are living in
Washington, D.C.
Romance novelist HiLLARY FIELDS
(SF97) had an article in Cosmopoli
tan (April 3001) called “The Tough
Girl Trap.” She offers advice to
“strong women” whose independ
ence is seen as a threat by men. She’s
the author of two books. The Maid
en ’s Revenge and Marrying Jezebel.
“I finally got my dream job-working
in the ‘new’ field of agri-tourism,”
writes Mary Beth Stevenson (AGI).
“I am the assistant manager of a site
in Grafton, Wise, called the Family
Farm. It is a 135-year-old, 46-acre
farmsite. I five on site, too, in a stone
farmhouse built in 1890. Any Wis
consin alumni should check it out.”
Postcard from Panama
Luke and Rachel Trares (both A)
have moved to Fort Worth, Tex.,
where Luke is attending Southwest
ern Baptist Theological Seminary in
the hope of becoming a church
planting missionary, probably some
where on this continent. “I am really
enjoying school,” he says. “Please
don’t hesitate to contact us with
questions about Christian ministry
(ltrares@yahoo.com).”
Genevieve Goodrow (A) writes:
“Hooray! I passed the bar exam and
started work, and while it’s nice to get
paid I’m beginning to fantasize about
school again. At least I have plenty of
time to read while commuting.”
Christopher English (SFGI) and
Diane Shires (SFGI98) are getting
married on December 37, 3001 on
Catalina Island, Calif., 170 years to
the day Darwin set sail on the Beagle.
1998
“Lest anyone is interested, I am cur
rently working as a flight instructor
for Swissair at the Flight Safety
International Academy in Vero
Beach, Fla.,” e-mails Ariel Szabo.
“Through the Swissair Aviation
ow I’ve been in Panama with the Peace Corps for
School (SRAS), I train pilots for both
almost four months. I spent three of these months
Swissair and Austrian Airlines. If
in training, in a suburb of a suburb of Panama City.
anyone is interested in information
Had a great host family (whom I visited and partied
concerning airline careers or flight
with for my birthday), and made good friends, both
training under the new European
Panamanian and American. There were 17 other
regulations (JAR/JAA), please feel
free to contact me at Thesmophopeople in training with me. The best of training? Los Carnavales”
they rivaled Brazil and definitely beat Mardi Gras in Newria@mac.com.
Orleans!
Recent graduate Valerie Whiting (Aoo) writes
aboni her assignment in the Peace Corps.
N
Now I live in La Raya de Santa Maria, in the province of Veraguas, almost in the middle of the country. It’s hot, dry, about 800
people. We have TV, water, and some houses have indoor toilets,
but the house I’m renting has a latrine. As an environmental edu
cation volunteer, I work in the school (K-6) doing projects and
teaching English (oh joy!). More so, this community needs organi
zation. I’m a hit because my town meeting actually had 100 people
(out of 800). Trying to end the family feuds, religious clashes
(Catholic vs. evangelical), and pohtical partisanship seems to be
my main goal.
I love Panama-the music’s loud and tacky, the food’s greasy (and
sometimes unrecognizable as to which animal it came from), we all
paint our toenails hot pink and wear tight jeans and tank tops. It’s
my kind of country.
I’m still feeling out the Peace Corps and its effectiveness here.
I’ve only got one month in site, so we’ll see how that goes. If any
one would like to reach me, my mailing address is: Entrega Gener
al, Santiago, Veraguas, Republica de Panama, or
valeriewhiting@yahoo.com.
David Braden (SFGI) teaches fifth
grade math at Casady School, a pri
vate Episcopal day school for grades
K through 13. He and his wife have
three children: Hannah (almost5
years old), John Henry (3), and Paul
(i), and they are expecting their
fourth in October.
Kristina Rodriguez (SF) writes:
“We had another baby boy in Sep
tember 3000. We named him
Matthew. I’m currently living in
Alamogordo, N.Mex., where my hus
band manages an Applebee’s. I’m
fortunate enough to stay at home
with my boys.” Greetings may be
sent to brianandtina@tularosa.net,
or 1454 Columbia Ave., Alamogor
do, NM 88310.
Nathan and Heather Greenslit
(both A) five in Worcester, Mass.
{The College. St. John's College ■ Summer aoot }
�39
{Alumni Notes}
Summa Adlerologica
dler goes with Prank the way
that Reality goes with Week
end.when
Andhis
thetalk
Adler
Prank
has
John’s was in 1937,
lasted
over
a longer pedigree
than Reali
two hours. The following
year, students
were
tysomething
Weekend. Mortimer
determined to do
about the over
Adler
’s first
lecture
at St.
whelming length. They
gathered
every
alarm
A
clock on campus, brought them to the bal
cony of the Great HaU (where lectures were
then held), and timed them to ring one hour
into the lecture. In Adler’s biography.
Philosopher at Large, he recounted his reac
tion to that first prank: “I stood my ground,
waited for the din to subside, and then, with a
smile and bow to acknowledge their ingenu
ity, completed the lecture. The students plot
ted another way to defeat me.”
Such a plot was executed the following year
when, again an hour into the talk, someone
cut the power to the Great HaU. “Utter darkness-and silence-reigned for a moment,”
wrote Adler. “I knew they expected me to rise
to the chaUenge, so I took matches out of my
pocket and continued the lecture by matchlight for the brief interval it took for a mem
ber of the faculty to restore the electricity.”
They were married in June 1998 and
have a beautiful daughter, Emily
Ruth, who is now a year old. Heather
taught middle school math and sci
ence until Emily was born. She now
tutors and sells Discovery toys. Nate
got his master’s degree in cognitive
science from Johns Hopkins last year
and is now in a doctoral program at
MIT called “The History and Social
Study of Science and Technology.”
They are expecting another baby
sometime in August.
Lorna Anderson (A) is engaged to
be married on May 25, 2002, to
Aaron Johnson, a classical pianist,
and they are both living and working
in Chicago. Lorna flirted briefly with
a career in journalism, was accepted
into Northwestern University’s
Medill School of Journalism, and
after two months decided she’d leave
the hot pursuit of the ephemeral up
to someone else. She is now working
part-time and writing poetry, which
she has come to admit was her voca
While the records
of decades of Adler
pranks have been lost
to the coUege, the
pubhc relations
office still maintains
a hefty file stuffed
with reports of lec
ture high jinks.
According to a
igUr clipping, prank
ing seniors scattered
throughout the audi
Adler — named Holy
ence interrupted the
lecture with their own Roman Emperor
DURING A PRANK —
conversation. They
COMPLETES HIS LEC
imphcated Adler in
TURE WITH CROWN IN
some of the world’s
PLACE.
most significant works
and deeds, including
Adler Grossing the Delaware, Adler the
Great, Adler’s Last Stand, The Critique of
Pure Adler, Thus Spake Adlerthustra, Summa
Adlerologica, Cain and Adler, E Pluribus
Adler, Huckleberry Adler, and Wealth of
Adlers.
The 1984 prank featured a “This Is Your
Life” segment where Adler’s parents were
interviewed. Mrs. Adler, played by Nancy
tion all along. She also volunteers for
a great books organization in the city
and has been leading poetry discus
sions at venues throughout Chicago.
She welcomes a visit from anyone
passing through.
Mease (A84), spoke of her son’s early
years: “Even as a baby he had this annoy
ing habit of going on and on, and we
sometimes thought he’d never stop! He
would latch onto some topic. I think it was
the forms first, and ethics later, and he
would just keep talking.”
In 1987, television journalist Bill Moy
ers filmed Adler’s lecture for a series on
the Gonstitution. WeU before the event,
then-president WiUiam Dyal (HA89)
assembled the ringleaders of the senior
class and swore them to a prank moratori
um. When junior class members heard of
their oath, they decided to take matters into
their own hands. They went to Maria’s Pizze
ria, bought a pepperoni pizza, and wrote in
large letters on the box, “From the Junior
Class.” Midway through the lecture Thomas
Burke (SF91), dressed as a delivery boy,
brought the pizza onstage to Adler. Adler
reached into his pocket, pulled out a ten, and
gave it to Burke, who propped up the box on
the front of the lectern to remind the audi
ence who had delivered the pizza-and the
prank.
Moyers declared it fine television. “A little
prank at St. John’s probably keeps the mind
awake,” he said.
Ruth Busko (SF) is currently living
in Columbia, Md., pursuing a mas
ter’s degree in acupuncture at the
Traditional Acupuncture Institute
there.
Tilman Jacobs (SF) has been living
1999
From Scott Larson: “I am writing
this note just to let you know some
recent events in my life. On March
18, 2000,1 married my long-term
girlfriend Jennifer (nee Rodgers)
(AGI99). On December 7th 2000,
we had a son, Oliver Scott Larson,
weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces. We are
both (my wife and I, not our son)
working at Thomas Jefferson School
in St. Louis.”
Kelly O’Malley (A) is pursuing a
master’s degree program in forestry
and ecosystem management at Duke
University’s School of the Environ
ment.
in Sweden since last August and
plans to stay for another year in
Europe.
2000
Andre Rodriguez (SFGI) is cur
rently teaching eighth grade Ameri
can history; he’s applying to law
school.
Stacy Allen (AGI) reports that
she had a son, John Brady Allen,
9 lbs., 5 oz., born one month after
graduation.
“I am now a student in the psycholo
gy department at New School Uni
versity in Manhattan,” reports James
Lewis (SFGI).
{The College .St John's College . Summer 2001 }
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from you.
Call us, write us, e-mail us. Let your
classmates know what you’re doing.
The next issue will be published in
November; copy deadline is
September 20.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404; b-goyette@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
The CoUege Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes on the Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at:
www.sjca.edu - click on “Alumni.”
�{Letters}
On The College
Whether it is a work slowdown
from the world of writing ency
clopedia articles, anticipation of
Jon Ferrier’s 50th birthday this
coming Wednesday, or my own
youthful longings, I do not know.
But my week has been full of
dreams of Prince George Street,
Thucydides, (never really TOO
far from my psyche, I confess) the
scent of boxwood, and the glories
of an Annapolis spring.
When I opened my mailbox
this Saturday morning, I found
the new issue of The College. On
this Saturday afternoon when I
would rather be enjoying Reality
weekend than cleaning house,
please know what a joy and com
fort this brilliantly-conceived,
marvelously-executed “new”
magazine brought to my soul, my
heart, and, ah, my mind!
Some mail days are better than
others. Thank you for being such
an integral piece of a pretty good
mail day.
—Jane E. Spear, A73
I have just completed The College
cover to cover and take my
(proverbial) hat off to you all for
the obvious work and resulting
high quality. My wife graduated
from the Graduate Institute in
1991 and I only completed half
the program before 1 went on to
(gasp) make money! The one
regret of my life is not complet
ing the, G1 program. The concept
and the execution of The College
is wonderful! Please keep up the
hard but great work!
—Sean P. Scally, AGI89
In your introduction to the new
alumni periodical, you asked
readers to “Let us know what you
think.”
Here’s what I think.
I think the new format is excel
lent. It allows for lengthier and
more serious treatment of issues
than The Reporter. The content
of the first issue was excellent
and thought-provoking. It invites
alums to reflect on how they
might interpret their current
lives in light of the program. The
professional format is appealing.
I hope to see wonderful things in
the future.
“This hath offended; oh, this
unworthy hand! ”
-James A. Cockey, A71
—Michael Ciea, A78
I’d like to commend the staff of
The College for a wonderful new
format for your publication. It’s
much more enjoyable to read. In
fact, for once, I read every arti
cle.
—Lisa Lashley, SF80
Good show-big improvementexcellent start. And only
St. John’s could offer a wrestling
bout with Aristotle and then deal
with the technicalities of dehcate
training of the very, very young a
few pages later.
Go to it. St. John’s ranks near
the top (or at the top) of Ameri
can educational institutions. And
I’m glad that at least one of my
children had the benefit of it.
—Donald Harriss
Historical Accuracy
I enjoyed your article about the
r95i St. John’s production of
Thomas Cranmer ofCanterbury
[“St. John’s Forever”], but I must
point out the obvious error,
about which I suspect you have
already heard many times.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
did not “suffer martyrdom as a
result of his stance on the king’s
divorce from Catherine of
Aragon.” His stance on the
divorce actually made his career
with Henry VIII, and led to his
appointment as the first Protes
tant archbishop of Canterbury.
He continued in his position
under Henry VIII and Edward VI,
and only got into trouble under
Queen Mary. She imprisoned
him because of his Protestant
involvement, and coerced him to
a recantation of his Protestant
views before his execution. He
then dramatically reversed his
position again before he was
burned at the stake, asserting
that his only sin was his previous
recantation of his Protestant
position. Before dying, he put the
hand which had signed the recan
tations into the fire, saying.
More Great Books on
Parenting
I loved the parenthood piece in
the spring issue [“The Education
That Is Parenthood”]. The Pro
gram is surely an excellent prepa
ration for parenthood, since,
whatever the great books may be
about, it trains you in open and
respectful dialogue, the proper
relationship with one’s child. Of
books about parenting, I have
fond memories of Children the
Challenge, by Rudolph Dreikers,
Hawthorn Books, New York,
1964. It too fosters such dialogue.
And for little children of course
Dr. Spock. With reference to
Janette Fischer’s letter on
Galileo’s talents, it’s evident
from Dava Sobel’s recent
Galileo’s Daughter that he was an
attentive and loving father too.
—John A. White, SFGI75
I am breaking a 25-year silence to
share this one thought with the
St. John’s community. The best
book on parenting I have ever
read, in fact the best book I have
ever read, the book I would keep
if I had to give away every other
book I own, the book I have
bought ao copies of over my life
and given away to troubled par
ents and been thanked again and
again for the gift.. .was not
included in the list. From the
first time I read it 15 years ago, I
said if there ever was a book writ
ten about parenting for a mem
ber of the St. John’s community,
it is Whole Child/Whole Parent
by Polly Berrien Berends.
—George Kiberd, A7a
I read your recent article on par
enthood with enjoyment. I am a
mother of two, a La Leche
League leader and something of
a “birth junkie,” and I’d like to
recommend a few more books.
For birth. Dr. Bill and Martha
Sears’s The Birth Book, and
Birthing From UY'zAzzibyPam
England and Rob Horowitz.
{The College- St. John's College • Summer 2001 }
La Leche League’s The Woman
ly Art ofBreastfeeding is essen
tial for nursing moms, and
Dr. Sears’s The Baby Book is a
wonderful book on parenting
and baby care. The Sears books
promote attachment parenting
breastfeeding and holding the
baby whenever he wants it, carry
ing him in a sling, co-sleeping.
This produces secure, independ
ent children, contrary to what
advocates of the old “don’t pick
that baby up or you’ll spoil him”
school might say.
I also wanted to mention the
large part that breastfeeding can
play in the first year or more of a
baby’s life, since it wasn’t dis
cussed in your article. Breastfed
babies are smarter, have stronger
immune systems, and have a
lower risk of leukemia, MS, obe
sity and heart disease later in life.
Breastfeeding moms have a lower
risk of breast, ovarian, and cervi
cal cancer, as well as a lower risk
of osteoporosis. In addition to its
many, many health benefits for
mother and baby, breastfeeding
helps to forge a stronger bond
between them, and gives the
mother a wonderful parenting
tool as the baby gets older. Nurs
ing is a wonderful way to soothe
the bumps, bruises, hurt feelings
and tantrums of toddlerhood,
and I didn’t think it should be left
out of a discussion on parenting!
For more information on breast
feeding, check out www.lalecheleague.org and www.breastfeeding.com.
—Tamara Steblez Ashley Aga/gs
Hurray for Planning
I was excited to read in “One Col
lege-How to Make it Really
Work” (Springissue) that “...the
Management Committee pre
pared a framework for a college
wide strategic plan that considers
needs and resources well into the
future.” What a great idea!
—James Laws, SF86
Corrections
Probably due to my somewhat
illegible scrawl/penmanship
�{Obituaries}
C. Thomas Clagett Jr.
Class ofiQsg
C. Thomas Clagett Jr., a retired business
executive who graduated from St. John’s in
1939, died on June 18. Mr. Clagett served in
the Navy during World War II and became a
lieutenant commander. He worked for the
Zeigler Coal Company beginning in 1947; he
was board vice chairman and head of the
board’s executive committee when the com
pany was bought by Houston Natural Gas in
1973. Mr. Clagett continued to serve on the
board of the new company until he retired in
1985A lifelong resident of Washington, D.C.,
Mr. Clagett was involved with many civic and
church groups, including Decatur House,
the Navy League, the Masons, the Sons of
the American Revolution, Washington Hos
pital Center, Washington National Cathe
dral, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime
Museum. He was also a yachtsman and sailor
who established the Leiter Trophy, in honor
of his wife, who died in 1977.
He is survived by a son, a daughter, and
four grandchildren.
Constance Darkey
Constance H. Darkey, who was known to
every generation of New Program students
and tutors, died May a6 at her Santa Fe
home of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of
eighty-four.
She is survived by her husband, tutor
emeritus William Darkey; a son by a previ
ous marriage, Peter Nabokov, professor of
anthropology at UCLA; by a daughter,
Catharine Darcy, who works with a real
estate firm in San Bernadino, Calif; by a sis
ter, Sally G. Holladay of Schroon Lake, NY;
and by a number of grandchildren.
Mrs. Darkey was born and grew up in Min
neapolis, Minn.; she graduated in 1938 from
more letters
there were a number of typos in
the Alumni Notes for a listing I
submitted which appeared in the
1986 section in the Spring 2001
issue:
Firstly, I married Graham Gar
ner, not Grant as listed once in
the note. I work for the Friends
General Conference of the Reli
gious Society of Friends (not the
Religions of Friends) and my email address is lucyd@fgcquak-
Wells College in Aurora, NY, where she
majored in Engbsh literature and drama and
then did graduate study in literature with
Professor Lane Cooper at Cornell University.
In Annapolis she became deeply persuad
ed of the rightness of the St. John’s curricu
lum, a conviction which never waned. For
several years she was manager of the College
Bookstore in Annapolis, resigning in 1944 to
take an editorial position in New York with a
trade publication.
Returning to Annapolis in 1947 she, with a
group of other parents of young children,
became involved in an enterprise which
resulted in the Key School. She was first the
librarian and had great fun buying books and
then devised the school’s history program,
which she taught delightedly.
She understood and was an enthusiastic
supporter of and participant in both the
intellectual and social life of St. John’s, well
understanding that these were not separable
provinces.
She favored the idea of the western cam
pus and once in Santa Fe took up her resi
dency with all of her considerable energies,
making new friends, reading widely and
deeply in the literature and history of the
Southwest, and traveling throughout the
entire region. She put her new knowledge to
work first as a docent in local museums, and
then became the librarian of the Wheel
wright Museum of the American Indian.
When her husband became the dean of the
Santa Fe campus, she again turned her ener
gies to the social life of the college, acting
for five years as hostess to visiting lecturers
and to generations of students.
She was a regular and excellent partici
pant in Gommunity Seminars, and for one
year she was happily a co-leader of an under
graduate seminar.
er.org not lucyd@fgquaker.org.
The wedding was really beautiful
by the way-a really perfect day.
—Lucy Duncan, SF86
Editor’s Note
Due to a computer software
glitch, many households received
multiple copies of the first issue
of The College. We hope the soft
ware problem is corrected and
apologize for loading up your
Donald S. Elliott
Class oftg48
Donald S. Elliott, who taught at Garrison
Forest School for 30 years, died on March 13.
Mr. Elliott also wrote children books devoted
to teaching about music, “Alligators and
Music,” “Frogs and Ballet,” and “Lamb’s
Tales from Great Operas.” At the private
school in Owings Mills, Md., where he
taught, his favorite course was an interdisci
plinary one that combined art, literature,
history, and music.
Mr. Elliott was born and raised in
Lutherville, Md., and entered St. John’s
when he was 14. He received his degree in
1948 and went to work for the Baltimore Life
Insurance Company in the actuarial depart
ment. He left to become a teacher at Garri
son Forest School. He is remembered as a
Renaissance man who taught himself to play
the piano, read philosophy and literature
constantly, and built his own swimming
pool.
He is survived by his wife, Cielito Obina,
and by three sons, two daughters, and four
grandchildren.
ALSO NOTED:
Elizareth D. Hatch, A76, died in Decem
ber 1998
John A. Joh, Class of 193a, died in March
2000
Craig Allen Johnston, A95
Kenneth Lenihan, AGI88, died in May
2001
Jesse Elhert Morgan, Class of 1954
F. Scott Seegers, Class of 1967, died in
February 2001
Tad Sanwick, Class of 1938, died in May
2001
George F. Wohlgemuth, Class of 1919,
died in June 2001
mailboxes unnecessarily.
Contacting The College
The College welcomes letters on
issues of interest to readers. Let
ters may be edited for clarity
and/or length. Those under 500
words have a better chance of
being printed in their entirety.
Please address letters to; The
College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404 or The College Maga
{The College- St. John’s College . Summer soot }
zine, Public Relations Office,
St. John’s College, 1160 Camino
Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, nm
87505-4599-
Letters can also be sent via email to:
b-goyette@sjca.edu, or via the
form for letters on the web site
at www.sjca.edu - click on
“Alumni,” then on “Contact
The College Magazine.”
�{Obituaries}
42,
In Memory of Leo Raditsa
emarks delivered by tutor
Nick Maistrellis at a
memorial service for Leo
Raditsa, tutor in Annapo
lis from 1973 to aoor. Mr.
Raditsa died in January.
R
I first met Leo in the mid-yos when we
shared a sophomore seminar-the first of
three seminars we shared over the next
35 years. We may have a record. I liked him
immediately although we disagreed, almost
from the beginning, about many things; poli
tics, the college, the purpose of seminar. I
thought of him as a political conservative
because of the passion with which he
believed in the inherent evil of the Soviet
empire. But he himself rejected that label.
He thought of himself as a partisan of free
dom and humaneness. He was also deeply
skeptical about the college’s approach to the
books. He did not believe they could be read
without the context of the struggles which
surrounded their birth, and without the con
stant guidance of a teacher.
At bottom, Leo believed that the task of
the tutor is to show students what is impor
tant in the extraordinary books we read
together. I, being more conservative,
thought that no such thing can be done in
seminar, and that all we can do is to allow
students the occasion to examine their own
insights into the books. For me, the main job
of the seminar leader is to wait and listen,
whereas for Leo it was to assert and provoke.
What he cherished most in seminar was oneon-one exchanges between himself and a stu
dent who was responding to something he
had said. He told me that he didn’t believe
students could sustain an important conver
sation just among themselves. This made for
seminars in which there was always at least
the possibility of tension between the tutors.
I found being in seminar with Leo difficult
and wearing, but also very exciting. If we had
not been in seminar together, I do not know
if I would have ever allowed myself to know
and care for this extraordinary man.
Many people one meets are interesting for
what they know or for what they have done. It
is much rarer to meet one who is interesting
in himself. Leo was one of these. I have
often, over the
past many
years, experi
enced a lack
which on
reflection
turned out to
be a need to
have lunch
with Leo, just
to be with him.
In every
encounter with
him you knew
you were in the
presence of
someone.
Every opinion he expressed had that in it
which marked it as one of Leo’s utterances.
In this way he had of always being truly pres
ent in every conversation, Leo was one of the
most intimate human beings I have known.
Leo always said what he thought, and what
he thought was never ordinary. His thinking
had for me the following quality; he seemed
to be the conduit for opinions coming from a
deeper source, rather than the originator of
them. His own awareness of this quality of
his thinking is probably reflected in his
respect for the discovery of the unconscious
by classical psychoanalysis, and especially for
the work of Freud and Wilhelm Reich. I
remember so many occasions when he said
things I could not possibly have expected, or
expressed opinions I could not imagine any
one holding, that I could spend hours relat
ing them. One in particular happened 25
years ago in the sophomore seminar we
shared. In those days we read John Calvin’s
Institutes ofthe Christian Religion, a formi
dable book best known for its austere teach
ing on the predestination of souls for salva
tion. Leo had never read it before, and came
to the seminar very excited. It was his open
ing question. He looked at the class and said,
“Isn’t this the sweetest, the warmest, the
most humane author you have ever read?” Of
all the things I could have imagined being
said about Calvin, this was the least expect
ed, and yet, it became the beginning of a very
good discussion, for it challenged us to
reassess our own first opinions. What Leo
saw was that the doctrine of predestination
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer noot }
removed an unbearable burden of
responsibility from human beings.
This story also has its own irony, for
it shows Leo being a seminar stu
dent in the best St. John’s tradition
in spite of his own doubts about
being a seminar leader.
Leo cared about his students.
His manner was often abrupt and
challenging. He was sometimes
grumpy. It is hard to know how
much of this was from the chronic
pain in his leg, for he never com
plained. He could be unfairly criti
cal, and judgmental. He often mis
judged students. But, he cared
deeply both for their learning and
for their personal welfare. He didn’t talk
about students very often, but when he did
he surprised me by how much he knew about
them. He was impatient with what he saw as
phoniness, and much of his harshness was
directed against perceived laziness, or what
he thought was the mere parroting of fash
ionable opinions for effect. But if he thought
a student was doing his best Leo could be
extraordinarily gracious and encouraging. I
remember two occasions when he saved me
from unfairly undervaluing the written work
of students, when I had allowed myself to be
too critical of superficial defects. He was
often more generous in formal evaluations
than in oral exams. We were together on
more than one occasion on senior essay com
mittees when he was very harsh in person to
a student to whom he gave a good grade on
the essay itself. His response to this apparent
discrepancy was to say that he thought the
student was too pleased with himself, and
needed to be woken up.
My favorite times with Leo were outside
class, and especially when we were not talk
ing about college matters where he was usu
ally furious about a decision that had just
been made by some officer of the college in
which, all to often, I was implicated. I loved
to hear him talk about Italy. He cared deeply
about the world, and in his presence I cared
about it more too. We had both adopted chil
dren at about the same time, and it was with
him that I shared my feelings about the spe
cial joys and challenges of being an adoptive
parent. He gave the best dinner parties.
�43
{History}
HUNT HOUSE
The sprawling Santa Fe-style adobe home with the courtyard
perfectfor viewing sunsets once belonged to a colorfulpoet.
BY Alexis Brown, SFoo
new president for the Santa Fe campus travels to Asia, Bynner had a newfound love
and appreciation for poetry. He settled down
occupies the Hunt House, and as he and his in the hills of Santa Fe and began to expand
on his poetic expression, using the simple,
wife begin planning for their future there, elegant styles of Asian poetry.
is it, exactly, that the house named
one wonders about the house’s history. Not forHow
Robert Hunt, Witter Bynner’s partner, is
much is known about the house in the hills now being used by the college as a home for
president? This isn’t the house Bynner
across from campus, even less of our con its
lived in on Santa Fe Trail-the house where
famous parties
were held. Instead, it’s a
nection with the man who donated it to thethecollege,
poet
sprawling set of buildings, a main house with
Witter Bynner (1881-1968).
two guest houses surrounding a courtyard.
A
In 1922, Witter Bynner moved to Santa Fe, a
place he would call home the rest of his life.
For decades, Bynner was a prominent citizen
in Santa Fe and an active participant in the
cultural and political life of the city. He had
no official affiliation with the “new” college
that was built in Santa Fe in the mid-sixties.
His association with St. John’s was a result of
his appreciation and respect for the college
and its program.
Bynner and Robert Hunt, his companion
of more than 30 years, lived in a house on
Old Santa Fe Trail. There they held parties
that attracted artists, literary figures, and
celebrities who lived in or were visiting
Santa Fe-people like D.H. Lawrence, Ansel
Adams, Errol Flynn, Robert Oppenheimer,
and Georgia O’Keefe.
In his 87 years Witter Bynner produced
many volumes of poetry, translated Greek
and Chinese works into English, taught
poetry classes at Stanford and Berkeley, trav
eled throughout the world, and made numer
ous friends. Yet despite his achievements few
Americans recognize his name. Bynner’s
obscurity is mostly due to the 1916 “Spectra
Hoax,” in which Bynner and Arthur Davison
Ficke, writing under pseudonyms which they
later revealed, established “Spectrism,” a
supposedly new school of poetry that attract
ed many advocates. When Bynner and Ficke
revealed this “new” type of poetry as a hoax.
and their
identities,
they offended
many of their
peers, and
thus lost
respect in the
literary
world.
Despite lack
of recogni
tion from his
contempo
raries, Byn
ner contin
ued to
Santa Fe president John
produce many Balkcom and his wife carol
excellent writ are new residents of the
Hunt House.
ten works
throughout his
lifetime. He also translated Iphigenia in Tauris from the original Greek to English in
1915. During these years, he lectured
throughout the United States on poetry and
women’s suffrage.
In 1917, soon after the Spectra Hoax, Byn
ner visited Japan and China, spending
approximately two months in each country.
He wished to explore Asia and to escape
America’s involvement in World War I. A
staunch pacifist, he loathed Europe’s war
and strongly denounced violence. After his
{The College -5f. John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
Up in the hills, it affords wonderous views of
Santa Fe sunsets.
The story goes like this:
Hunt and Bynner were travel
ing south to sell a house they
owned in Chiapas, Mexico,
because they were planning
to move into a new house in
Santa Fe designed andbuUt
by Hunt. On the way, though.
Hunt died suddenly. Bynner
was so grief-stricken that,
although Hunt left the house
to him, Bynner could neither
move into the house by him
self, and nor could he sell it.
A year later, Bynner had his
first stroke, and was confined
to living in his own house, the one that had
been site to so many parties.
Neither Hunt nor Bynner ever lived in the
house Hunt built, but they are now both
buried near there, in a spot marked by a
bronze statue of a dog once loved by Hunt.
When Hunt died, Bynner acquired the titles
to both houses. Bynner himself died in 1968,
leaving both houses to St. John’s, presum
ably because he admired something about its
philosophy of education. The college sold
the Witter Bynner House on Old Santa Fe
Trail because it was too expensive to main
tain. But, luckily, the Hunt House still
stands strong, home to a new president.
�44
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association President
Senior Dinners:
Welcoming the
Newest Alumni
Dear Johnnies,
St. John’s may have you for four years, but the
Alumni Association has you forever after. That’s
the message alumni pass along to their newest fel
low alums—the soon-to-be-graduated seniors-during Senior Dinners. These dinners, which take
place in Santa Fe in January and Annapohs in
April, have become an important tradition for the
seniors and for their alumni hosts alike. It’s a
chance for Johnnies who’ve been out in the “real
world” to welcome students into the Association.
The hosts, the college, and the Association all
work together to make the evening a success. The
Alumni Directors, Tahmina Shalizi and Roberta
Gable, choose the local restaurants (with input
from participating alumni). The students choose
the friends they want to go out with. And the
alumni hosts put their social skills to good use in
bringing the evening together.
Leo Vladimirsky, a member of the Annapolis
class of 2001, says he enjoyed his dinner at North
woods with Mark Middlebrook (A82) and Robert
Bienenfeld (SF80). “The food was great-Northwoods being one of the best places to eat around
Have you received your copy of the St. John’s College Alumni Register aooi? Have
you checked to make sure your own info is right? Have you seen who’s lost and
who’s found? (More about that later.) Have you scanned your
class to see who’s married or divorced? Who’s moved or
changed johs? Have you used the new e-mail section to send ehellos to old friends? I certainly have, especially because I’m
getting ready for the 25th reunion of my class!
Glenda Eoyang
We owe a note of resounding thanks to Roberta Gable, Direc
tor of Alumni Activities in Annapolis, and her team for the
tremendous work they did preparing the Register. Every five
years, the Alumni Association and the college fund the effort to collect data about
alumni and to publish that information for all of us to share. The Register is an
excellent tool to help us stay connected with each other and with the college.
Many thanks to all!
Now, about those lost alumni.... As you browse the new Register, you’ll note that
some names are marked with an asterisk for “address unknown.” These are alum
ni who have lost contact with the community. The Alumni Association and the col
lege will be making an effort over the next few months to rebuild connections with
these missing persons. You can help! If you’re in touch with ones who are “address
unknown,” please contact them and encourage them to get in touch with the col
lege (or call or e-mail the Alumni Office so that they can follow up). A phone call, a
note, or an e-mail will provide the information tie that hinds us.
I hope your summer is joyous and rewarding and that you have a chance to partici
pate in some of the summer’s alumni activities: Homecoming in SF, Summer
Alumni Weeks, GI graduation, various chapter gatherings, listserve conversa
tions, or a private visit to one of the campuses.
For the past, the present, and the future,
Glenda Holladay Eoyang, SF76
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe,
undergraduate or Graduate Institute,
Old Program or New, graduated or not,
all alumni have automatic membership in
the St. John’s College Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association is an independent
organization, with a Board of Directors
elected by and from the alumni body.
The Board meets four times a year, twice
on each campus, to plan programs and
coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College
magazine is sponsored by the Alumni
Association and communicates Alumni
Association news and events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary-Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairTom Geyer, A68
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
eoyang@chaos-hmited. com
Mailing address - Alumni Association,
St. John’s College, Box 2800, Annapohs,
MD 21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
{The College- St. John's College ■ Summer 2001 }
�{Alumni Association News}
Annapolis. It was a nice conversation among
people who didn’t know each other,” he says.
The students knew each other, he hastens to
add-“we all decided to list each other on the
forms the Alumni Office sends out, to be sure
we’d be with our friends.”
After an initial discussion in which each sen
ior talked about his or her future plans, the con
versation turned to more general matters about
college life, graduate school, the business world,
working as an engineer, and other matters, says
Vladimirsky. There wasn’t any purposeful net
working, but the students all got the feeling that
their alumni hosts cared about what happened
to them and would be willing to help out in job
searches or with graduate school advice. They
also learned a fife skill-how to “taste” wine.
Mark Middlebrook, who lives near the Napa Val
ley wine region, demonstrated how to swirl the
wines around in their glasses before smelling
and tasting.
“AU around, it was a nice evening, and it’s
great of the Alumni Association to do this for
seniors,” says Vladimirsky. Himself, he’s not
sure what he’ll be doing come fall. After some
rest from academic matters, he’ll probably go to
graduate school. He knows he can count on
alumni for advice or networking once he has an
idea of where he’d like to study. One thing for
sure, though, “the chocolate cheesecake at
Northwoods was great.”
Amending the
Amendment
Mechanism
In order to make it easier to explain proposed
changes in the Alumni Association By-Laws to
the alumni ofthe college, the Alumni Association
Board isproposing thefollowing amendment to
the By-Laws:
In accordance with Article XIII, Section I of the
By-Laws of the St. John’s CoUege Alumni Associ
ation, notice is hereby given that the following
by-laws amendment has been proposed by the
Alumni Association Board of Directors. This
amendment will be voted upon at the Special
Meeting, September 29, 2001, 2:00 p.m. in the
Conversation Room in Annapolis.
The amendment to Article XIII is indicated in
capitals.
ARTICLE XIII
AMENDMENTS
SECTION I. Any and all provisions of these ByLaws may be altered, amended, added to, or
repealed by a majority of the membership of the
Association, present in person or by proxy, at
any regular or special meeting of the member
ship, provided that a copy of any proposed
amendment shall have been mailed to each
member at least six weeks prior to that meeting
OR PROVIDED THAT A NOTICE, AS SPECI
FIED HEREUNDER, SHALL HAVE BEEN
MAILED TO EACH MEMBER AT LEAST SIX
WEEKS PRIOR TO THAT MEETING. THE
NOTICE SHALL INDICATE THE ARTICLE(S)
AND SECTION(S) PROPOSED TO BE AMEND
ED; AWEB SITE ADDRESS DETERMINED BY
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT WHICH A
MEMBER MAY ACCESS THE COMPLETE
TEXT OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT;
AND A STATEMENT INFORMING EACH
MEMBER HOW THEY MAY RECEIVE A COPY
OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT BY MAIL
OR FAX.
Amendments to these By-Laws shall be sub
mitted to the membership upon the vote of the
Board of Directors, or by Petition of at least fifty
members in good standing which is received at
least ten weeks prior to the date of the meeting.
SECTION IL Unless so stated, any amend
ment to these By-Laws shall take effect immedi
ately foUowing its adoption.
The Croquet Match is a favorite gathering
SPOT FOR 1980s AND I99OS ALUMNI (lEFt).
At the Match Alumni Association Board
MEMBERS sported SHADES PRINTED WITH
“Beat Navy” — in Greek, of course.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
PHILADELPHIA
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-880-2134
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
ANNAPOLIS
PORTLAND
Valerie Garvin
410-280-6119
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
AUSTIN
SACRAMENTO
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-482-0747
Helen Hobart
916-452-1082
BALTIMORE
SAN DIEGO
Roberta Gable
410-295-6926
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4252
BOSTON
SAN Francisco/
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
CHICAGO
Lorna Anderson
847-467-3069
DENVER
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny
303-330-3373
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEW YORK
Fielding Dupuy
212-974-2922
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer soot }
45
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
SANTA FE
John Pollak
505-983-2144
SEATTLE
Kyle Kinsey
206-715-1081
WASHINGTON, DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
972-2-6717608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{Campus Life}
Say It Isn’t So
What happened to St. Johns domination in croquet?
VI Sus3AN
Borden, A87
e were, perhaps, a bit smug. We
were, you might say, a tad over
confident. And we were, no doubt,
somewhat drunk. But still, it doesn’t
add up. When did smugness become
an obstacle for a Johnny? What good
is a croquet team that’s not overconfident? And why would a
martini or two ever keep us from the Annapolis Cup?
And yet it happened. After a nine-year win
ning streak and a 15-3 series record, St.
John’s lost the 19th croquet match against
the Naval Academy, held the last Saturday in
April on the front campus.
While we were unahle to contact Imperial
Wicket Paige Postlewait (Aoi) for this story,
her teammate and next year’s Imperial
Wicket, Jonathan Polk {A02), has some
insight into the loss. “We might have heen a
little overconfident,” he says, “but I’m
tempted to think of it as just a combination
of bad luck-lots of people’s different bad
luck in combination.”
“It’s been a pretty rough year for us,” Polk
says. “We didn’t compete in the National
Championships and we didn’t start practic
ing until about a month beforehand.” (Why
the team didn’t go to the Nationals, where
they were three-time champions, is another
story-involving a change in the game from
traditional nine-wicket to something called
“golf croquet.”) Still, he says, even with the
late start the team logged so much playing
time they felt they were ready to play and
prepared to win.
An article in the Trident, the Naval Acade
my’s newspaper, suggests that the win may
be a result of strategy, the players’ lucky ties
and lucky mallets, or brainpower-the team
included two Trident Scholars and a Pownall
Scholar. Word around town is that the Acad
emy brought in a croquet coach from Yale to
beef up the middies’ strategy and skills.
Whatever the reason, says former Imperi
al Wicket Bob DeMajistre (A88), the mid
shipmen deserved to win. DeMajistre attend
ed this year’s match, as he does most years.
One of the college’s four losing Imperial
Wickets {1987), DeMajistre is well qualified
to analyze the play. “I watched the court
where we played the first lost game and the
mids were shooting very well, they were dead
on. They were making long shots, they were
hitting balls. And we weren’t.”
Johnnies, as usual, were a bit more fla
grantly OUTFITTED THAN THEIR OPPONENTS.
{The College. St John’s College ■ Summer zooi }
�47
Steven Werlin (A85), St. John’s first
defeated Wicket, recalls that losing was no
surprise to him in 1985. “Two separate cro
quet things were happening at St. John’s that
year,” he says. “There were serious croquet
players and then there was the croquet team.
The only person who fell into both groups
was James Hapner (A85).” Only later, Werlin
says, did croquet play become more serious
and practice become intense.
Once practice did take hold, it became St.
John’s secret weapon. Or perhaps not so
secret, as it was revealed in a Sports Illustrat
ed article, “The Best of Everything” ( April
28,1997, special issue on college sports).
Citing the croquet match as the Most
Obscure Rivalry, the article quotes a Naval
Academy plebe explaining St. John’s strate
gy: “They’re out practicing croquet every
afternoon! Alabama should take football this
seriously.”
Louis Elias {A91), another former Imperi
al Wicket, recalls the year his team lost the
match (i99r). “I sort of knew we were going
to lose all along,” Elias says. “I lost heart
Jonathon Polk lines up a long shot (top).
Polk AND Imperial Wicket Paige PostleWAIT WAIT THEIR TURN (BOTTOM LEFT) WHILE
CURRENT Johnnies enjoy the festivities
(bottom Right).
{The College -St John’s College ■ Summer 2001 }
that year. The hype and media attention [G<2
covered the event] and the reaction to the
attention seemed, to me, to detract’from the
spirit of the event.” Still he says, the loss was
not without a silver lining: “I figured we
were due for a loss if only to keep the Acade
my interested.”
DeMajistre agrees that an occasional loss
can serve a strategic purpose: “The main
reason to lose is so that the mids will come
back. You got to throw them a bone every
once in awhile. ” *
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
These photos of student desks were
TAKEN BY EdWARD GrAY, CLASS OF I934.
The date on the photos is 1933.
From the 1933 yearbook,
THE Rat Tat, describing the
TENOR OE COLLEGE LIFE AT
St. John’s:
...Like all other freshman classes we gave lit
tle evidence of ability, although we did study a
bit between building bonfires, attending rat
meetings and football, basketball and lacrosse
games...One of the outstanding features this
year was the inauguration of the new presi
dent of the college [Amos W. Woodcock].
Another was the coming of Hopkins. What a
fight! If you don’t believe me, ask the
Annapolis police, the Annapolis firemen or
the jail keeper...By the time we were juniors,
we had forgotten most of our high school and
prep school training and were beginning to
realize that it takes a smart man to admit
there is plenty he doesn’t know...Each one of
us came here with ideals and aims. Some of us
have done things we set out to do, others have
done more, others have met with disappoint
ments. Most of us brought little to St. John’s
with us. The amount of knowledge and the
number of friends we take away with us
depends on the individual. Everything the
school could offer us was placed at our feet.
Who picked it up and who trampled it is
another question.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer zoot }
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Homecoming 2001 - Annapolis
Friday, septemDcrau-siwflay, September 30
Reunion Classes: 1936,1941,1951,1956,
1961,1966,1971,1976,1981,1986,1991,
and 1996
Homecoming Highlights
Friday, September 28
• Homecoming Lecture by Abraham
Schoener (A82): “The Biology of the
Fermentation Vehicle”
• Wine and Cheese Party in the
Dining HaU
• Rock Party in the Boathouse
Saturday, September 29
• Memorial Service for Mortimer Adler
• Saturday Morning Seminars
• Children of alumni seminar on Harry
Potter (followed by croquet)
• Freshman Chorus Revisited led by
Elliott Zuckerman
• West Street Story, a reprise of the Class
of 1981’s senior prank show
• Alumni-Student Soccer Classic
• Autograph Party
• Cocktail party in the Great Hall and
McDowell classrooms
• Homecoming Banquet: Tom Williams
(A51) and Warren Spector ( A81) will
receive the Alumni Association Award
of Merit; Nancy Lewis, John Moore,
and Beate Ruhm Von Oppen will be
recognized as new Honorary Alumni
• Waltz Party in the Great Hall
Sunday, September 30
I
• Rock Party in the Coffee Shop: Robert ■
George (A85) will make a cameo DJ 3
appearance
i
• Champagne Brunch at the President’s
House
-
?
‘
I
t
A Johnnie is a Johnnie—no matter if their
GRADUATION YEAR WAS IN THE 1950’s OR THE
1990’s.
Inauguration of John Balktom as
Santa Fe President _____ - '
-1
Friday, September 14 and Saturday;
September 15
“Inviting Conversations” is the theme of
this inaugural weekend where festivities
will include:
Friday, September 14
• Picnic on the soccer field
• All-college Chicago-style softball game
• Performance at the newly renovated
Lensic Performing Arts Center
Saturday, September 15
• Inauguration at 10 a.m. on Meem
Library Placita
• Reception for all in attendance will
take place on the Upper Placita
• Waltz Party in the Great Hall
For information on events, contact the
Offices of Alumni Activities:
Tahmina Shalizi,
Director of Alumni and Parent Activities
Santa Fe - 505-984-6103;
alumni@maiLsjcsf.edu
Roberta Gable,
Director of Alumni Activities
Annapolis - 4io-6a6-253i;
alumni@sjca.edu
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA PE
Published by the
Public Relations Office
Box a8oo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
ADDRESS service REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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The College, Summer 2001
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Volume 27, Issue 3 of The College Magazine. Published in Summer 2001.
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Santa Fe, NM
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2001
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The College Vol. 27, Issue 3 Summer 2001
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Borden, Sus3an (assistant editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (graphic designer)
Johnson, David
Harvey, Keith
Eoyang, Glenda Holladay
Brown, Alexis
Maistrellis, Nicholas
Hellner-Burris, Janet
Goyette, Barbara
Moreno, Ed
Fridrich, Sarah
Flaumenhaft, Harvey
Rankin, John
Knight, Mirabai
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/107a2859a60bb352dcd9e70f7626062b.pdf
3b0fbf46c49d5777e79fd74606df5b96
PDF Text
Text
The
St. John’s
^EGE
•
SUMMER
Annapolis • Santa Fe
Dostoevsky
Experiences with Crime
and
Punishment
2OOa
�On Dostoevsky
yodor Mikhaylovich Dostoevsky ’s own life had all the elements
Fof a complex psychological novel. Born in 1821, Dostoevsky
spent his childhood in Moscow. His early years were defined
by the opposing personalities of his parents: the gentle mother
who bore seven children; the cruel, repressive father-a physi
Dostoevsky was educated at home and at a private school. After the death of his
cian who was likely murdered by his own serfs during a quarrel.
parents, undoubtedly following his rational side and the guidance of his elders, Dos
Both died by Dostoevsky’s i8th birthday.
toevsky studied military engineering at a St. Petersburg college. However, by the
time he wa.s in his mid-2os, he had resigned his commission to write novels, the first
two of which were Poor Folk (a success) and Fhe Double (panned by the critics).
In 1846, Dostoevsky joined a secret utopian society. The socialistic tenden
cies of the secret group were not favored by the government, and Dostoevsky
was arrested on April 23,1849 as he read a tract in public. Although Dostoevsky
was sentenced to death, the emperor ordered a reprieve of the sentence. Dosto
evsky wasn’t informed until moments before his scheduled death, after he and
two others had been tied to posts in the prison yard. He served four years of hard
labor at a prison in Omask, Siberia, before being exiled “into the ranks” as a
common soldier. In the solitude of prison, in the suffering of his body and soul,
Dostoevsky began the self-examination that led to his spiritual awakening. He
still professed unbelief, yet, as he wrote in a letter from prison, “Sometimes God
sends me moments in which I am utterly at peace.”
After the stint in prison and the army, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg. He
wrote The ImuliedandIrijuredXri&et^ on his experiences, but the book was so
unpopular he felt compelled to defend his ideas in a public letter. When he was 36,
the struggling writer married Maria Isaev. He worked as the editor of a publication
called Time which was shut down because of its political reporting. Personal crises
culminated with the death of his wife and brother in 1865.
In his middle years, Dostoevsky suffered from frequent epileptic seizures and
spent most of his time in dire poverty which he made worse through obsessive gam
bling. He wrote Notesfrom Underground, Crime and Punisliineru, and The Idiot
within a five-year period during this turbulent time. With his second wife, the young
stenographer Anna Grigorievna, he began to lead a more stable existence, finally
settling in a small provincial town after several years of travel. Proceeds from The
Possessed enabled them to buy a house. There he worked on his final book. The
Brothers Karamozov, and enjoyed a measure of public admiration. Dostoevsky’s
later books were serialized, making him something of a cult figure with his deeply
spiritual voice and commentaries on the state of Russian society.
Dostoevsky’s novels are marked by the dichotomies he himself experienced: gen
tleness and cruelty, faith and unbelief, sin and redemption, suffering and love. He
knew criminals well and had ample opportunity to reflect on their sensibilities. He
had strong political opinions (socialist in his youth, much more conservative later in
life) and explored the social implications of evil and sin in his novels.
In this issue of The College, we look at some views on crime and punishment
formed, like Dostoevsky’s, on the anvil of experience.
SC
STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS . SANTA FE
The College (usps 018-750)
is published four times a year by
St. John’s College, Annapolis, md
and Santa Fe, nm.
Known office of publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
Box 3800
Annapolis, md 21404-2800
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, md
postmaster: Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Communications
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 2800, Annapolis, md
21404-2800.
Annapolis
410-295-5554
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sus3an Borden, managing editor
Susanne Ducker,
art director
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Alexis Brown
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret Odell
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
ZO
DEPARTMENTS
Grime and Punishment
a FROM THE BELL TOWERS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Five Johnnies-two lawyers, a judge, a
probation officer and a prison librariandiscuss the reality behind the drama of
criminal justice.
PAGE
l6
Commencement 2002
24 BIBLIOFILE
A review of Charles Nelson’s book on Barr
and Buchanan
A military historian and a novelist
known for literary experimentation
sent surprisingly close messages to
graduates in Annapolis and Santa Fe.
PAGE
The New Program seal
Ancient philosophy in Seattle
SJC as international model
News about tutors and students
Homecoming in Annapolis
Santa Fe’s fundraising triumph
Letters
26 THE PROGRAM
Alumni in the corporate world debate how
math is taught at SJC.
20
29 ALUMNI NOTES
Remembrances
Pranks Past
oe
ALUMNI PROFILES
32 Holly Miller (SFGIoi) writes for
Laura Bush.
A short history of senior prank.
PAGE
22
PAGE 16
34 Nathan Wilson (AGIoi) parodies
apocalyptic novels.
41 OBITUARIES
A Buddhist in
THE Bookstore
42 CAMPUS LIFE
Johnnies reclaim croquet superiority.
Santa Fe bookstore manager Andrea
d’Amato brings an awareness of Eastern
thought to her job and her life.
44 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
•
•
Minneapolis/ St. Paul tackles tragedy
Election Notices
48 ST. JOHN’S FOREVER
PAGE ao
ON THE COVER
Dostoevsky
Illustration by DavidJohnson
�2.
{From the Bell Towers}
On Liberalism and Liberos
Stringfellow Barr, one of the New Program
founders andpresident of the collegefrom
193'2 to 1947, delivered a series of radio talks
on WFBR in Baltimore. Here are excerpts of
the talk he delivered on June 20, 1938, in
which he tells the story behind the ''books
and balance ” seal that had come to symbol
ize the program. Editor's note: Today we
use inclusive language to translate the
motto: "I makefree adultsfrom children by
means of books and a balance. ”
confronted with a worldwide decline of liberalism.
...Since the New Program is an effort to restore liberal arts edu
cation in American colleges, I should like to speak this evening
about liberalism and what it means to those of us who are still will
ing to fight for it.
Like most liberals today, I am disturbed by the rise in many
parts of the world of government by violence as a substitute for
government by reason and consent. But unlike most liberals I
know, I am much less disturbed by the overthrow of free govern
ment in states that were once democratic than I am by the con
fusing of the liberal mind in states like ours which are still tech
nically free. You may argue that confusion in the liberal mind
disturbs me because I know that such confusion is normally fol
lowed by the overthrow of free government. I agree that this is
what normally happens; but even if you could assure me that “it
can’t happen here,” I should still be disturbed by the present
state of liberalism. Because I agree with those who founded our
Republic that what they and we have called free institutions
cannot alone and of themselves make men truly free. Free insti
tutions are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. The
end is the freedom of individual men and women...
Is ANCIENT
PHILOSOPHY
STILL
RELEVANT?
The original art for the
books and balance seal, used until
1997,
WAS HAND DRAWN. ThE LaTIN PUN WAS WRITTEN BY A FRIEND OF BaRR’s.
The other day an interesting and curious gift arrived at St.
John’s College. It was a design in the form of a circular seal, and
it was the work of a Harvard man who admires the educational
program which this College has undertaken and who chose to
express his admiration by designing this symbolic seal. In the
center of the seal is a pair of scales, or balances. Around it in a
circle are placed seven open books, representing the seven liber
al arts. And around the open volumes is lettered the motto,
“Facio Liberos ex Liberis Libris Libraque.” I suppose the motto
may be fairly translated; “I make free men out of boys by means
of books and balances.” The punning on the stem of the Latin
word for free is a serviceable pun now that liberal education is
{The College.
Is ancient philosophy stiU rele
vant? Such was the theme that
faculty professors, students, and
guest lecturers were invited to
address at Seattle University’s
7th Annual Philosophy Confer
ence held on May 17. Among the
visiting lecturers was St. John’s
tutor Joe Sachs (A68).
I think most of The College
readers would agree, the
answer to the theme question is
a resounding Yes! The distin
guished panel at the conference
shared this opinion and sup
ported it with readings from
their essays. The readings cov
ered topics inspired by the
works of Hegel, Aristotle,
Plato, Husserl, Nietzsche, and
Diogenes.
In his essay “Wholes and
Parts in Human Nature,” Joe
Sachs tackled the tough ques
tions of Who are you? and What
are you? Drawing on the tradi
tion of thought established by
5t. John’s
College ■ Summer 2002
}
Plato, Aristotle, and Hume, Mr.
Sachs put forward the thesis
that our characters are indeed
composed of the parts known as
Reason and Passion, but added
that there is an equally impor
tant third part. Spirit, which
employs Reason and Passion
and creates a whole from the
triumvirate.
Aristotle gave us the analogy
of a syllable in the Nicomachean Ethics to illustrate the
notion of a whole composed of
inseparable parts. A syllable is
visually composed of separate
letters but is considered a
whole when spoken. Take the
first syllable of the word “mem
ory,” for example. If you sound
it out slowly you’ll hear that the
continuity of sound requires
that each utterance be shaped
by the following letter. Sound
ing out each letter individually
does not a syllable make. In this
way the syllable is a whole com
posed of parts that are harmo
niously united.
Mr. Sachs drew on this analo
gy to talk about the soul as
being composed of universal
Reason, generic Passions, and
distinctive Spirit. In a harmo
nious unity of parts, the Spirit
interacts with the Passions as
an impetus to action and uses
�{From the Bell Towers}
3
St. John’s Education
A Model for Myanmar
Seattle University professors Corinne Painter, Bort Hopkins,
AND Christian Lotz
discuss
Ancient Philosophy with Annapolis
TUTOR Joe Sachs (center).
Reason as a guide for action.
The Spirit, then, is the source
of practical judgment in our
daily affairs. Greatness of soul,
brought about by the Spirit’s
dialectic movement in which it
first attains, then disdains, the
rewards of virtue and honor,
becomes the distinctive differ
ence that leads to a correct
sense of one’s own self-worth,
right action, and a happy life.
Readings from other visiting
lecturers and Seattle University
professors and students were
similarly interesting and
informative. For instance. Vil
lanova University professor
Walter Brogan examined the
kinship between practical and
theoretical philosophy as illus
trated with Aristotle’s notion of
friendship. Seattle University
was well represented by several
professors from its Philosophy
department. Licia Carlson pre
sented a holistic picture of
ancient Greek music, and con
cluded with the discovery that
philosophy is a form of music
in itself. Christian Lotz, also a
professor at Seattle University,
simultaneously entertained
and informed with his power
point presentation on the
important example of Dio
genes, who practiced philoso
phy in a wholly public life
(eating, sleeping, and philoso
phizing in the marketplace)
instead of exclusive institutions
and academies.
With these and other fine
expositions, the 7th Annual
Philosophy Conference was
considered a success by its
organizers and attendees.
Several St. John’s alumni were
in attendance to hear Mr. Sachs
speak, including Bill Boon
(A80), Diana Klatt (A89), and
Nina Tosti (A89). The Philoso
phy Club at Seattle University
organized this annual confer
ence to give students and pro
fessors the opportunity to pres
ent their work to an audience
of colleagues, peers, and the
general public.
—wthMinh. Stickford (SFoi)
Educators from Myanmar (for
merly knovra as Burma) visited
the Annapolis campus last
spring, attending sophomore
seminars on Macbeth and
Descartes’s Discourse on
Method, freshman lab, junior
mathematics tutorials, a senior
language tutorial on Flannery
O’Connor, and a senior oral.
“I was asked to help them
understand how we teach and
learn together at St. John’s,”
says tutor John Verdi, who
organized their visit at the col
lege. “They are especially
interested in how tutors help
each other to become better
teachers of discussion classes,
and how students learn to sup
port their positions with rea
soned arguments.” The visit
was coordinated by Dorothy
Guyot, a former tutor who is
currently working with
Burmese educators through a
non-profit organization, the
Myanmar Foundation for Ana
lytic Education.
Myanmar became isolated
from the outside world in
196a, when its military gov
ernment shut off most
exchange in commerce, the
arts, and education. New
books are scarce and those
that arrive are photocopied;
Burmese visitors Khin Maung
Win and Khin Ma Ma
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
most academics have not been
able to receive journals for a
long time. The country has
begun to encourage tourism
and other types of interaction
with the rest of the world.
Dr. Khin Maung Win, who
earned his PhD at Yale and
went on to become professor
of philosophy at Yangon Uni
versity and then Minister of
Education and Ambassador to
France and India, came to
observe St. John’s along with
his daughter Dr. Khin Ma Ma,
who earned her medical
degree at Yangon University
and now practices medicine in
Mandalay.
He hopes that what he
learned in his U.S. visit can be
used to lay the groundwork
for new modes of faculty
development in higher educa
tion and a new program to
prepare high school graduates
to study in the U.S. “Seminars
are very important to train
future citizens,” says Dr. Khin
Maung Win. “A modern socie
ty needs people to have dis
cussions... In Myanmar, tradi
tionally teachers are very
highly respected. There is a
saying ‘when the teacher says
the sun rises in the west, it
must be true.’ Students don’t
ask questions.”
Introducing the St. John’s
pedagogy of student-led learn
ing in Myanmar will not be
easy, according to Matthew
Ting, a 200a Annapolis grad
uate of Burmese descent. As
an American, Ting says, “I
have a tendency to open my
mouth and not shut it. But
some of my cousins that were
raised in Burma are quiet.
And a lot of St. John’s educa
tion is just getting people to
talk.” 4—BY
Beth Schulman
�{From the Bell Towers}
4
Announcements
The students
Annapolis rising senior
Aaron McLean received
Honorable Mention for a
paper submitted to the Elie
Wiesel Ethics Essay contest, a
national competition spon
sored by the Elie Wiesel Foun
dation for Humanity. Mr.
McLean’s essay is entitled
“On the Combing of Hair in
Herodotus.” The essay is post
ed on the Foundation’s web
site at WWW. eliewieselfoundation. org.
The Elie Wiesel Prize in
Ethics Essay Contest is an
annual competition open to
undergraduate juniors and
seniors in the U.S. and Cana
da, designed to challenge col
lege students to analyze
urgent ethical issues con
fronting them. Students are
encouraged to write thought
provoking, personal essays.
All submissions are judged by
a committee of scholars, and a
jury that includes Nobel laure
ate Elie Wiesel decides the
winners.
Andrew Hui, of Garland,
Texas, who graduated from
Annapolis in May, received a
Jack Kent Cooke scholarship
for graduate study. The award
covers full tuition, expenses,
travel, and a stipend, and is
renewable for up to six years.
A first-generation immi
grant from Hong Kong, Mr.
Hui came with his family to
America the summer of the
Tienamen Square incident.
His parents operate a retail
aquarium in Garland, where
he has worked over school
vacations. Mr. Hui plans to
study sacred music and com
parative literature, probably
at Yale. He is interested in the
religious influences in Dante,
Milton, and Racine and will
examine how they manage to
encompass Greek mythology
in a Christian worldview.
Officer and Staff
Appointments
Under an administrative change
in the structure of the college,
Jeff Bishop (HA99), formerly
vice president for advancement
in Annapolis, has been appoint
ed vice president for college
wide advancement. He will
coordinate fundraising efforts
and external relations for St.
John’s and will travel between
the two campuses. On the west
ern campus, Michael Franco
Grecian
has been appointed vice presi
dent for advancement, Santa
Fe. Mr. Franco formerly held
advancement positions at
Rhode Island School of Design,
the University of Rochester, and
Boston College. Barbara
Goyette (Ay3) has been
appointed vice president for
advancement, Annapolis. For
the past eightyears, she has
served as director of public rela
tions and publications (aka
communications) in Annapolis.
Jo Ann Mattson (A87) has
been appointed director of
alumni activities in Annapolis.
women, an illustration by the new
Alumni Director,
Jo Ann Mattson, A87 decorated last year’s Homecoming brochure.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
She replaces Roberta Gable
(A78), who is now director of
placement. Ms. Mattson is a
teacher, musician, and artist.
She drew the spoofs of Greek
statues that decorated last
year’s Homecoming and Cro
quet weekend brochures.
Marline Marquez Scally
has been named registrar in
Santa Fe. She formerly worked
at the Santa Fe Waldorf School,
where she played many roles:
Spanish language teacher,
events coordinator, develop
ment coordinator, faculty chair,
member of several boards,
administrative council mem
ber, admissions director, and
college member (comparable to
the SJC Instruction Commit
tee). Ms. Marquez Scally
received her BA from College
of Notre Dame (Calif.) and pur
sued an MAT at Trinity College
in Washington, D.C.
Rosemary Harty has been
appointed director of communi
cations in Annapohs. She held a
similar position at the Universi
ty of Baltimore, and has worked
on public relations and publica
tions at Catholic University
(Washington, D.C.) and the
University of Dayton. She was a
newspaper reporter for to years
prior to working in higher edu
cation. As one of her duties she
will become editor of The
College magazine, replacing
Barbara Goyette.
David Pierotti has been
appointed Entering Director of
Laboratories in Santa Fe. He
will work closely with current
director Hans von Briesen for
the coming year. Mr. Pierotti
has been working in the fields
of environmental science
research and education for the
past 35 years and has also been a
consultant with a number of
governmental and commercial
laboratories. Some of the agen
cies with which he has worked
include the EPA, NASA, the
Cahfornia Air Resources Board,
and the National Academy of
Sciences - National Research
Council.
�{From
Stafford loans______________
As reported in the last issue of
The College, now is a great time
to consolidate student loans.
For alumni with loans from sev
eral different colleges, or from
undergraduate and graduate
study, this option should be
considered, according to Bryan
Valentine, treasurer in Santa
Fe. When student loans are
consolidated, the rate is locked
in, rather than the rate being
re-set each July as it is in the
normal repayment cycle. Rates
for Stafford loans went to
4.625% on July I. Information
on student loan rates can be
found at www.staffordloan.com
(click on “consolidation”).
Changes on the board________
The St. John’s Board of Visi
tors and Governors has a new
chair, new officers, and several
new members. Ray Cave (A48)
is serving as chairman of the
Board. Cave was the editorial
director of Time, Inc., and has
been a long-time member of
the Board and supporter of the
college. He was co-chair of The
Campaign for Our Fourth Cen
tury. Greg Curtis has com
pleted his tenure as chair; he
remains an active member of
the Board. Stewart Green
field (A53) and Jonathan
Zavin (A68) are serving as vice
chairs. Jeremy Shamos,
(SFGI76) is serving as secre
tary. This marks the first time
in memory that all officers of
the Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors are alumni of the col
lege.
New members of the Board
are Jaune Evans (with the Lannan Foundation), Richard
Hoskins (an attorney with the
Chicago firm of Schiff Hardin
& Waite), Roger Kimball
(with The New Criterion),
Mark Middlebrook (A83),
and Theodore Rogers (with
American Industrial Partners).
the
Bell Towers}
Shared Identities in Physics,
Philosophy, andLiteratureyta&
published by MIT Press in Feb
ruary. An article, “Quantum
Identity,” appeared in the MayJune 2002 issue oiAmerican
Scientist. In the article, he
addresses some of the ques
tions that arise when thinking
about quantum mechanicsespecially the unusual conse
quences of “like particles being
completely indistinguishable
from one another.”
“Bacon’s Proof; The Career
and Controversies of Edward
Teller” is a review of Teller’s
memoirs written by Annapolis
tutor Adam Schulman and
published in the spring 2002
issue of “The National Inter
est.” A physicist who worked on
the Manhattan project. Teller
was one of the European theo
retical physicists who “laid the
foundations of quantum
mechanics.” Schulman con
nects the physics involved in
5
the making of the atomic bomb
with Bacon’s notion that scien
tists “would secure and aug
ment their prestige in socie
ty...by the mastery of nature
that their practicable science
would confer on other men.
Bacon predicted that the fruits
of the new science would
include not only inventions for
the relief of human misery but
also weapons of immense
destructive power.”
Annapohs tutor emeritus and
former dean CuRTis Wilson
was honored in April with a
festschrift organized by the Dibner Institute, an international
center for advanced research in
the history of science and tech
nology established in 1992 at
the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT). Held at
the Annapolis campus, the
festschrift featured talks,
demonstrations, and tributes to
Mr. Wilson, who was honored
for his role as an eminent histo
rian of science. George Smith,
a professor at Tufts, noted that
Mr. Wilson “has done far more
than anyone else to provide all
of us with a deep understand
ing of the three centuries of
orbital astronomy from Kepler
through Simon Newcomb.”
The weekend also featured a
lecture by Noel Swerdlow of the
University of Chicago on “Sci
entific Cosmologies” that
focused on our understanding
of Ptolemy. Other presenters
included Bill Donohue (A67),
of the Green Lion Press, who
spoke about the section in
Kepler’s manuscript where he
comes to the realization that
orbits are elliptical; James
Voelkel of the Dibner Institute;
Dana Densmore (A65), of the
Green Lion Press; and David
DeVorkin of the Smithsonian
Institution. A surprise finale to
the weekend was a musical
presentation by Santa Fe tutor
Peter Pesic.
The Tutors_________________
Santa Fe tutor Peter Pesic has
a new book out. Seeing Double:
Spring tradition
for
GIs: At
the
Graduate Institute dinner
in
Santa Fe,
WEEK ACTIVITIES, MaRY AnN ClEAN TOASTS HER COLLEAGUES AND TUTORS.
{The College. St. John’s College - Summer 2002 }
part of
Commencement
�6
A Congress
OF Johnnies
Homecoming in
Annapolis is setfor
October 4-6.
JoAnn Mattson {A87), the new
Director of Alumni Activities in
Annapolis, will kick off the fes
tivities this fall in a personal
way: she’s hosting a Friday
evening barhecue (with her hus
band Walter Mattson, A87) for
the fifteenth year reunion class,
the redoubtable Class of r987
Annapolis. But then she’ll hus
tle back to campus to preside
over a Homecoming filled with
events not only for reunion
classes but for all and sundry
who return to Annapolis when
they hear a party’s going on.
Eva Brann (HA89) will deliv
er the Class of ’94 Homecoming
Lecture at 8:15 Friday evening
(not that any alumni need to be
reminded of the time for lec
ture), in the newly refurbished
FSK Auditorium. After lecture
alumni will follow their lights,
either to the Question Period,
to a reception in the dining hall
with the Class of 2003, or to the
Boathouse, where a traditional
boathouse rock party will evoke
The Cave, but in a nice way.
Saturday morning brings a
cavalcade of seminars, on read
ings from Plato to Emerson,
from Dostoevsky to Wallace
Stegner. After the big Homecoming Picnic down by the
sycamore trees, all are invited to
the Annual Meeting of the
Alumni Association, where
tutors emeriti John Sarkissian
and Robert Williamson, and
longtime creator of lab equip
ment Al Toft, will be made Hon
orary Alumni. Annapolis Presi
dent Chris Nelson (SF70),
Annapolis Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft, and Alumni Associa
tion President Glenda H.
Eoyang (SF76) will give reports.
{From the Bell Towers}
and the Alumni Association
elections will be held.
After the Annual Meeting
there’s a wide variety of diver
sions around campus: a Mitchell
Gallery Tour (the exhibition
will be “The Sweet Uses of
Adversity: Images of the Bibli
cal Job”), Freshman Chorus
Revisited (led by Tom May), a
Pick-up Basketball Extravagan
za sponsored by the Classes of
1987 and 1988, the traditional
Soccer Classic (us against
them), and a happily crowded
Bookstore Autograph Party,
where ro faculty and alumni
authors will autograph their
wares, from Complexity and
Analysis (Stewart Umphrey) to
The Golden Age: A Romance of
the Far Future (John Wright,
A84), from Strategic Renais
sance: New Thinking and Inno
vative Tools to Create Great
Corporate Strategies Using
Insightsfrom History and Sci
ence (Evan Dudik, A72) to The
Shape ofan Ear (Elliott Zucker
man, HA95).
All reconvene in McDowell at
6:00 for the cocktail party,
which stretches throughout the
first two floors of the building,
with the core party in the Great
Hall, and reunion class gettogethers in classrooms.
Thence to Randall Hall for the
Homecoming Banquet, where
the reunion classes will offer
toasts, and two members of the
class of 1967, Candace Brightman and Howard Zeiderman,
will be given the Alumni Associ
ation Award of Merit.
Those with true virtue and
endurance will then repair to
McDowell, where two parties
will parse them according to
their taste: in the coffee shop,
yet another cave-like rock party,
this one with, more appropri
ately, no water view; in the
Great Hall, a waltz party spon
sored by the class of 197a, with
floral decorations (reminiscent
of Rose Cotillions), and Elhott
Zuckerman at the piano. (Yes,
there will also be swing music
for you swingers.)
Finally, the traditional Presi
dent’s Brunch will be held on
Sunday, with this innovation:
we’re moving the apostrophe
and this year calling it the Pres
idents’ Brunch, since Santa Fe
President John Balkcom
(SFGIoo) will be in town to join
Annapolis President Chris
Nelson (SF70) in hosting the
brunch at his home in Wardour.
Interspersed throughout the
SiDDiQ Khan,
weekend into all these general
events are special shindigs for
the reunion classes, all the
years ending in seven or two:
1937,1942,1947, etc. through
t997- Check the Homecoming
brochure (with McDowell on
the front cover) for details, reg
istration form, everything you
need to know about Homecom
ing and some fine photos
besides.
artist and pottery instructor on the
Santa Fe
CAMPUS, POSES WITH SOME OF HIS CREATIONS. ThE FACULTY AND StAFF
Art Show, held every spring,
features paintings, drawings,
PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXTILES AS WELL AS POTTERY.
{The C o l l e c, e ■ St. John ’5 College . Summer 2002 }
�{From
Future
Farmer of
Annapolis
As a sophomore, Justin Naylor
(A02) worked in the college
archives processing the papers
of New Program founder
Stringfellow Barr. Among the
hundreds of Barr’s documents
that Naylor indexed were those
that explored world govern
ment, higher education, for
eign policy, and rehgion. And
gardening.
Though it’s not on the pro
gram, Johnnies might be inter
ested to know that Barr is the
author of The Kitchen Garden
Book, written in 1956 when
Barr was teaching at the Uni
versity of Virginia. The book,
subtitled “Vegetables from
Seed to Table,” is part essay,
part instruction manual, and
part cookbook. It covers soil
preparation and garden plan
ning in addition to detailed
sections devoted to 3a different
vegetables, from the humble
turnip to the popular tomato.
“Barr was a lifelong dedicated
gardener,” says Naylor. “His
brother James was a farmer. I
sense Barr was interested in
farming in the Jeffersonian tra
dition-small scale agriculture,
the culture around agriculture,
the kind of citizen it pro
duced.”
Around the time that Naylor
was reading Barr’s book, Masao
Imamura’s (AGI99) wife, Jack
ie, recommended that Naylor
read Ehot Coleman’s The New
Organic Grower and several
other books that fed his interest
in agriculture and environmen
tal sustainability. Interest led to
endeavor. In r999, Naylor took
a year off from St. John’s to
serve a lo-month apprentice
ship on a small-scale, six-acre
organic farm that raised mixed
vegetables in Delaware.
When he returned to the col
lege, he started a gardening
the
Bell Towers}
club. Along with about ten
other Johnnies (including
Librarian Lisa Richmond), he
built seven 25-foot beds and
three ro-foot beds on back cam
pus between the tennis courts
and King George Street. Work
ing mainly on Saturday and
Sunday mornings, the club
members grow spinach, peas,
tomatoes, peppers, melons,
cucumbers, lettuce, marigolds,
cosmos, and sunflowers. At any
given time, between 5 and 10
students are actively involved
in the work-a respectable
showing on a campus of 450.
Naylor likens the appeal of
gardening to that of the gym or
the woodshop: When you spend
so much time thinking, you
need to find an outlet for doing.
“The gardening club meets a
lot of needs,” says Naylor.
“Club members are interested
in working with plants, work
ing outside, growing food, and
working with their hands.”
This spring the gardening
club teamed up with the envi
ronmental club to sponsor a
talk by Brian Halweil, a
research associate at the World
watch Institute (a policy
research organization that
focuses on emerging global
problems and the hnks between
the world economy and its envi
ronmental support systems).
“Halweil focussed his talk
around the two major claims of
biotech companies: that
biotech crops are necessary to
make agriculture sustainable
and that they are necessary for
feeding the world’s growing
population. Both of these
claims are highly emotionally
charged and are difficult to be
against,” explains Naylor.
“Brian’s approach was to look
at what has actually been pro
duced by these biotech compa
nies and to show that there is a
disconnect between their claims
and actual practices. For exam
ple, the few biotech crops
released so far have, if anything,
increased chemical usage and
are thus less sustainable.
{The College.
Sr.
Agricultural
7
sustainability interests
Justin Naylor,
shown
HERE WITH THE COLLEGE GARDEN HERBS.
“Halweil also made the case
for an ecologically-based agri
culture, and used as a case study
a particularly noxious weed in
Africa that has not been dealt
with adequately using conven
tional chemical means. He
pointed out, however, that this
weed is only a problem in
depleted, over-farmed soils. In
soils that have been properly
cared for, this super-weed is
simply not a problem.”
As Naylor learns about mod
ern approaches to agricultural
sustainability, he says that in
some ways, not much has
changed since the publication
of Barr’s book. “He was a
thoughtful advocate of organic
agriculture when it was consid
ered a world of hippies and
freaks,” Naylor says, reading a
relevant passage:
“There is a ferocious war of
words on between organic
farmers and those who depend
on chemicals. The case for
organic gardening has made
great progress; the proof is
that more and more of its
opponents have begun to argue
that both methods are needed.
The case would have pro
gressed even faster if cranks
had not overstated it.”
John ’5 College • Summer 2002 }
Naylor praises The Kitchen
Garden Book and recommends
it to anyone working the earth.
“Even if it weren’t by Barr,” he
says, “it would still be a worthy
book on my shelf.”
Newly graduated, Naylor
continues to pursue his inter
est in agriculture. With the
help of a USDA loan, he is rent
ing four acres on a property
adjacent to the farm he worked
on last summer. His first crops
should be out next spring.
BY SUS3AN
Borden
(A87)
The Garden
Bookshelf
Naylor recommends these books
to all Johnnies with an interest
in gardens:
The New Organic Grower
by Eliot Coleman
Four Season Harvest
by Eliot Coleman
7'he Kitchen Garden Book
by Stringfellow Barr
Heirloom Vegetable Gardening
by William Woys Weaver
Botanyfor Gardeners
by Brian Capon
�{From the Bell Towers}
8
Philanthropia Brings
Reality to Advancement
How many Johnnies does it take to raise
$12, ooo? Fifteen—if they Je juniors
volunteering their services to help out
Reality Weekend.
In the Philanthropia spirit of
alumni working on alumni
fundraising, the Annapolis
Reality archon, Justin Jones
(A03) put together a team of
pre-alumni (St. John’s juniors)
to conduct an advancement
office phonathon. In
exchange for their help,
advancement donated $500
to Reality.
The April 23 phonathon
proved a resounding success,
with 457 calls made in 3 hours
raising $12,691 dollars (so farmore checks continue to come
in). Maggie Griffin, Director of
the Annual Fund in Annapolis,
says that the most impressive
statistic for the phonathon was
the number of gifts made in the
weeks following the phonathon
when messages the students
left on answering machines
were returned by enthusiastic
alumni. Of 331 messages left.
56 have already sent checks.
“That number is absolutely
astounding! ” says Griffin.
“The students delivered the St.
John’s message so effectivelythe alumni really responded to
them.”
By the end of the night, stu
dents were asking about vol
unteering for the next
phonathon and seeking stu
dent aide positions in the
advancement office. “And
they were good,” says
Advancement Officer Mary
Simmons. “There were quite a
few we would have loved to
hire on the spot.”
Another positive effect of
the phonathon will be felt this
coming year as the junior class
begins to form the senior class
gift committee. Perhaps a
repeat of Santa Fe’s senior
class triumph (see page 9) is
in the making.
As PART OF PhILANTHOPIA’s EFFORT TO INSTILL AWARENESS OF ALUMNI
FUNDRAISING IN THE STUDENTS AT SaNTA Fe (wHO ARE, AFTER ALL,
THE ALUMNI OF THE FUTURE) , THE GROUP BROUGHT 6OO KrISPY KrEME
DOUGHNUTS TO CAMPUS THE MORNING BEFORE REALITY. STUDENTS
BLEARY-EYED AFTER A NIGHT OF FINISHING UP PAPERS AND FACULTY
WHO ARRIVED EARLY FOR THEIR CLASSES AGREED—DOUGHNUTS AND
COFFEE MAKE FOR A HAPPY BEGINNING TO ANY DAY, PARTICULARLY THE
FIRST DAY OF “REALITY.”
Letters
Winter Warfare_____________
On page 16 of the Winter/Spring
2002 issue of The College, there
is a winter scene of Annapohs. In
that photo of “Winter Warfare,”
I am off stage left with my friend
Matt. Matt had the good arm.
The targets are Liz Stuck and
Wendy LeWin, both freshmen in
1977-1978, which should date the
picture more accurately. Both
were from Minnesota, I think,
two of three Minnesota girls
(Marian Sharpe, from Pine Gity,
being #3) that started that year,
and therefore impervious to win
ter.
- David Nau, A8i
Liberty Bell________________
Students
delivering the message about the college’s needs were
HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR BY ALUMNI.
Kudos to St. John’s for refurbish
ing the Liberty Bell rephca (Win
{The College - St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
ter/ Spring issue). This symbol of
our democracy has an even
greater significance since 9/11.
As one of the school children who
contributed pennies for the yoke
of the beU 50 years ago, I have
always had a particular fondness
for the beU. I am pleased and
proud of the stewardship the col
lege has provided this great
emblem of our freedom.
-Ron McGuirk , A6o
More Calendar Ids
_______
In the Philanthropia Calendar
for 2002,1 can identify the gui
tar players pictured for Octo
ber. Linda Stromberg was at
SJC (Santa Fe) from 1973 to
1975. Later she attended Anti
och College and earned a
degree in biology, I think. With
her might be Jim Shea (based
on the hair), who began with
the same class.
-Sheri Anderson, SF78
�{From the Bell Towers}
The One
Hundred
Percent
Solution
February, Paula Maynes
{SF77), a member of Pbilanthropia (the alumni group that
encourages financial support
for the college), spoke to the
seniors about life after St.
John’s. The class then dis
cussed what changes they
would like to make at the college-from faculty compensa
tion to scholarship support-if
money were no object. By the
end of the event, they zeroed
in on the film collection as
their gift.
On the day of Commence
ment, the seniors were ready to
celebrate their success. Com
mittee members Emma Wells
and Sara Abercrombie stepped
forward to present Balkcom
with the certificate commemo
rating the gift, as well as their
class’s new record for partici
pation. “There’s one thing
they can be certain of,” says
Santa Fe Annual Fund Director
Ginger Roherty. “It’s a record
that can be equaled, but it will
never be broken.”
The Santa Fe class of
2002 has set a new
standardfor giving.
Who J next to meet
the challenge?
On the wall of President John
Balkcom’s Santa Fe office
hangs a certificate he
received at Commencement:
“The Senior Class Gift: on
behalf of eighty-seven gradu
ating seniors, each of whom
made a contribution,” it
reads. The certificate com
memorates not just the gift,
but the story behind the gift.
The class is the first to
achieve 100% participation
in a St. John’s fundraising
effort. Each of the graduates
contributed to the nearly
$3000 collected so far for the
gift-a classic film collection
for the Meem Library.
Work on the project began
early in the year when seven
seniors- Sara Abercrombie,
Erik Barber, Jessica Godden,
Maria Goena, Katherine
Greco, Matt Reiter, and Emma
Wells-stepped forward to form
the Senior Class Gift Commit
tee. The kickoff event was a
party at the Cowgirl Hall of
Fame, a local hang-out, where
committee members explained
the annual fund. In December,
before the winter ball, seniors
were invited to a reception at
the president’s house, where
the committee provided
eggnog and appetizers and
repeated the message of the
role of alumni in the financial
workings of the college.
At a Valentine’s Day party in
Exciting times
in the mailroom:
Renzo BrundelRe, Michael Sullivan, and Michael Tereby held
COVETED STUDENT AIDE POSITIONS IN THE MAILROOM LAST YEAR AS PART OF THEIR FINANCIAL AlD PACKAGE.
Financial Aid Factoids
• Financial aid at St. John’s is
admissions bhnd and need
based. Admissions blind
means that students are
admitted to the college
regardless of whether they
apply for financial aid or
not-their family’s financial
status is not a factor in their
admission. Need-based
means that the college con
siders only the family’s and
student’s income in granti
ng aid and does not offer
aid to various categories of
students (trombone-playing
triathletes, perhaps?) to fill
the class with “desirable”
students.
• St. John’s attempts to
offer an aid package that
meets the demonstrated
needs of students. But,
since the college budget is
finite, not every student
can receive 100% of the
funds they need. Applying
early in the cycle helps
assure that students
receive an optimal pack
age. Students are some
times placed on a waiting
list if the money available
for student aid has already
been allocated.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
• Students receive a package
with some or all of the
following components:
St. John’s College grant.
Federal work-study posi
tion (student aide job), and
loan. Many students seek
scholarships and fellow
ships independently.
• In 2001-2003, the average
aid package was $20,762.
(Tuition for the year was
about $25,000.)
• 50 % of students on finan
cial aid last year had an
annual family income of
less than $60,000.
• About 50% of students on
both campuses received
financial aid from the
college last year.
�{Johnnies
on
Justice}
CRIME
and
PUNISHMENT
Five alumni who work in thefield tell the real story behind the drama ofcriminaljustice.
Wi Sus3AN Borden, A87
A woman lies in waitfor her husband who
has just returnedfrom a long trip; she
kills him as he relaxes in the tub. A thief
is sentenced to be chained to a mountain;
each day an eagle devours his newly
regenerated liver.
rom the bloodbath of Clytemnestra to
Prometheus bound, crime and punishment
have long proved inspirational for the
imagination of writers. This ancient well
spring continues to inspire the artists of
our modern world. Literature on crime and
punishment is a mainstay of bestseller lists.
Television-“Homicide,” “Law and Order,”
“The People’s Court”-feeds our hunger
for the subject. Movies-Ziopc, Twelve Angry Afczz-sometimes
offer a more thoughtful examination.
A criminal act is the essence of drama: man opposes man in con
flict’s barest form. The killer stalks his prey. The thief plots
against the land owner. Even after the crime is committed, oppo
sition is at the heart of the system; The defense lawyer fights the
prosecuting attorney. The witness defies the judge. The guard
beats the prisoner.
These are the antitheses through which we’ve learned to view
crime and punishment. But are they valid?
St. John’s alumni who work in the field of criminal justice sug
gest they are not. Far removed from the seminar table and discus
sions of justice, motive, and retribution, alumni who work with
criminals confront these issues directly. As the dramatic interplay
of crime and punishment come together in the province ofjustice,
it is justice’s role to resolve, rather than heighten that drama. Jus
tice is society’s mechanism for placing an irrational act into a
rational context. Once a crime is assigned its proper weight, the
scales of justice return to balance and society is able to function.
Through punishment, the criminal justice system imposes a
rationality on the irrational world of crime. This, for the most
part, is too thoughtful a process to allow for much drama.
The Criminal Mind
A desperate young man plans the perfect
crime—the murder of a despicable pawn
broker, an old woman no one loves and no
one will mourn. Is it notjust, he reasons,
for a man ofgenius to commit such a
crime, to transgress moral law—if it will
ultimately benefit humanity?
—publisher’s copy {Bantam Classics)
Punishment
for Dostoevsky’s Crime and
The idea of the criminal mind-from Smerdyakov to Hannibal
Lechter-both fascinates and repels. What must it be like, we thrill
to imagine, to loose ourselves from the bonds of morals, to think
the unthinkable, to plan the forbidden, to perform the act that
will forever set us apart from our fellow man?
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 200s )
�T2,
{Johnnies on Justice}
'Td hate to live in a country in which 50 % ofthe
people who are arrested are innocent. ”
-Elizabeth Unger Carlyle(A73)
Criminal
Elizabeth Unger Carlyle (A73), a criminal defense lawyer who
lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, has regular and close associa
tion with the criminal mind. She is neither repelled by her clients
nor fascinated by their misdeeds. “I think there’s a group of peo
ple, a sad group, who really perceive themselves as powerless and
at the mercy of circumstances,” she explains. “They get into bad
situations by not thinking more than one step ahead and they end
In “You Can’t Get Away with Murder,” Bogie’s
defense lawyer
“I spend a lot of time reminding people that the people who
get into trouble are just like the people who don’t,” says Car
lyle. “In many ways it’s ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ If
you took my current clientele and dressed them in suits instead
of prison clothes and took them to some casual restaurant
and interspersed them among the patrons, you couldn’t pick
them out. When people say ‘how can you deal with people who
character seems irredeemable: he’s a thief, douele-crosser, murderer, and blackmailer.
up in the middle of the burglary or the middle of the murder and
can’t tell you how they got there. A lot of people come to me say
ing, ‘I don’t know how this happened. Trouble always finds me.’
They don’t know how not to be found by trouble.”
David Johnson (A68), a probation officer for 30 years who
now teaches in the criminal justice department at the Universi
ty of Baltimore, says that addiction is often a factor: “Some
criminals are what we call sociopaths, but by and large I’ve
worked with people who have exercised bad judgment. A lot
of people who commit crimes have problems with substance
abuse or gambling. That causes them to have problems with the
law because first, their judgment is really poor and second,
they have a need for money. They resort to crime-to stealing or
dealing drugs.”
are guilty?’ I say, ‘don’t you ever make a mistake?’ I’ve got a
client now who managed to get himself ten years for selling
six grams of marijuana. That’s not a bigger mistake than most
people make.”
Order in the Court
Several young girls, caught in a minor
transgression, are unjustly accused of a
capital crime. In a trial poisoned by petty
suspicions, financial disputes, supersti
tion, and lovers' revenge, accusations fly
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
�{Johnnies on Justice}
13
and soon eighteen
citizens are brought—
unjustly—before the
court. Eleven of them
are put to death.
When exculpatory
evidence is presented
to the judges they
reject it, fearing it
willplace their earli
er verdicts in doubt.
In the end, seven
more innocentpeople
go to the gallows.
—PLOT SUMMARY, ARTHUR MilLEr’S
THE
Crucible
The scenes are replayed
every week on TV: Corrupt
police arrest the wrong man.
The prosecutor pulls out all the
stops in the relentless pursuit
of a guilty verdict. The jury fol
lows the lead of a misguided
foreman as the judge wearily
shakes her head.
However common these
scenes of injustice are in fiction
and drama, front-line profes
sionals say they are rare in real
life. From arrest through sen
tencing, those involved in the
U.S criminal justice system say
that, despite its flaws, it’s a sys
tem that works.
At first it seems strange when
Elizabeth Carlyle praises the
system hy saying that most of
the clients she defends are
guilty. But then she explains
why this is a good thing: “I’d
hate to live in a country in
which 50% of the people who
are arrested are innocent.” Still,
despite the guilt of most of her
clients, the system is set up to
work in their favor.
Suave detective Nick Charles, played by William Powell,
FOR BAD GUYS IN “AfTER THE ThIN MaN.”
{The College • St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
looks
“Somebody said it’s better
for a hundred guilty people to
go free than for one innocent
person to be convicted,” says
Carlyle. “That’s the way the
system ought to be. But I don’t
think that guilty people often
sneak through. More than 90%
plead guilty. For those who go
to trial, there is a question of
their guilt. It’s not usually a
question that they’ll get off, but
that they’ll get off with less
than five years.”
Maureen Barden (A70), an
assistant U.S. attorney in
Philadelphia who works on gun
possession cases, says she’s
encouraged by what she sees in
court: “The jury system works.
In my experience of trying
cases, only a very small per
centage of the time do I think
jurors reach the wrong result.
They’re careful, thorough, they
think hard. It’s heartening to
be a part of that,”
Once the verdict is deter
mined, the judge steps in for
sentencing. Johnson, the crimi
nal justice professor, outlines
the aims of that process:
“There are four classic goals of
the corrections system: inca
pacitation, retribution, deter
rence, and rehabilitation. If
possible, the sentence meets all
four goals in the appropriate
measures for the particular
crime and individual. Incapaci
tation gets considered first.
Then, retribution: how much
punishment
the
person
deserves in addition to that.
Next is deterrence, and finally
rehabilitation.”
County Court Judge Pattie
Swift (SF82), who works in
rural Costilla County, Col
orado, finds that the goals fall
in a different order in her court.
She often relies on the deter
rence effect of prison. “There
are people who need the shock
of jail for a short period of time.
�{Johnnies on Justice}
14
''Judgment has two cups, a cup ofJustice and a cup ofmercy.
-David Johnson, A68, probation
I send them in for a week. Our local county jail is benign, but
still, they’re locked up and it’s frightening. This is useful for
some people who have committed DWIs before and didn’t take
it seriously.”
Swift turns to long-term incapacitation only as a last resort.
Her position limits her to passing a two-year sentence. “For
people with whom we’ve tried everything, the last ditch thing is
Peter Falk
is hitman
Abe “Kid Twist” Reles
in the
i960
victim and their families, and gathering information about the
accused’s prior record and social history to make an evaluation
and recommendation.
When he worked in probation, Johnson appreciated this
opportunity to influence the judge’s decision. “I always
remembered that judgment has two cups: a cup of justice and a
cup of mercy. How much of each does the defendant get?”
gangland flick
long-term jail to get them out of society. If they are unable to
change, if they have four DWIs, it’s the only thing you can do to
protect the public.”
Johnson discusses the problem of disparity in sentencing:
“In sentencing there are no rules to speak of and the judge has
virtually complete discretion. Somebody who’s convicted of
bank robbery in Brooklyn might get probation; for the same
crime in Texas he might get ao years. It’s an oddity because
everything is rule-driven up to the point of conviction. Once we
go to sentencing in criminal matters, the judge is supposed to
exercise the wisdom of Solomon.”
In today’s world, fortunately, Solomon has a consultant.
The probation officer conducts a presentence investigation for
the judge, reviewing the crime, interviewing the defendant and
chief
“Murder, Inc.”
Behind Bars
A man is sentenced to two years on a
southern chain gangfor a minor offense.
His rebellious manner is met with psycho
logical torment andphysical brutality.
The guards seem to enjoy their project of
breaking his spirit. In the end, they take
his life.
—PLOT SUMMARY OF THE 1967 MOVIE, CoOL HaND LuKE
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{JohnniesonJustice}
15
This is one area where, unfortunately, the movies have it
contraction of prisoner rights. With state budgets in the condi
right. Prison is often a hrutal place and prisoner rights are fre
tion they’re in, programs for offenders will be on hold or
quently disregarded. Even where efforts are made to protect
decreased.”
the inmates hoth physically and legally, the difficulties of man
Carlyle, the criminal defense attorney, shares Booker’s pes
aging a captive population have yet to he satisfactorily
simism and is concerned about how current policy will play out
addressed.
when prisoners return to society: “In my 25 years of practice,
Margaret Booker (SFGI94) directed a state prison library for
there’s been pretty much a complete turn from ‘incarceratefour years. She says that the system she worked in was set up to
punish-rehabilitate’ to ‘let’s show them how mad we are
protect the prisoners and their rights, hut it often didn’t work
and treat them like we’re mad for 20 years and then have them
as planned.
live next door to us.’ ”
“During my training I was told not to
And Justice For All
pay attention to the justice or injustice of
the offender’s act or sentence. Missouri
Criminals go free, justice
Cast of Characters
tells the same thing to all new offenders as
they enter reception and diagnostics:
proves to be not-so blind,
Maureen Barden (A70)
don’t talk about your crime to your peers;
and lawyers andjudges
the staff doesn’t need to know either. But
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S.
that rarely works. Very few can keep their
make deals... exceptfor one
Department of Justice in Philadel
lives private to a degree that would keep
phia. Before becoming a lawyer she
young idealistic lawyer who
them safe or lessen the risks they face in
I worked on the investigation of the
prison.”
bucks the system while rep
Attica prison uprising and the Nison
In her own sphere of influence, Booker
I impeachment.
resenting a ruthless judge
saw real-life practice reveal the faulty pre
sumptions of a legal theory intended to
Maruaket Booker (SGI94)
accused of a brutal rape.
safeguard the inmates’ rights. “While
most offenders use the library for educa
—CAPSULE REVIEW OF THE I979 MOVIE, AnD JUSTICE
Library services coordinator for the
FOR All, from MoviesUnlimited.com
tion, entertainment, and enlightenment,
Missouri Department of Corrections
every offender in Missouri has access to
in Jefferson City from 1998 to 2001.
Unlike the corrupt cop, the cynical
legal materials,” she says. “This is the
She is now manager of the Kansas
lawyers, and the jaded judges that
state’s way of providing ‘access to courts,’
City, Missouri, Public Library, West
are so popular in today’s crime stories,
the requirement that offenders be able to
port Branch.
Johnnies in justice veer to the idealistic.
represent themselves in their appeals. In
When Johnson speaks of his career as a
Elizabeth Unger Carlyle (A73)
other states, access to courts is interpreted
probation officer, he says that the friend
differently,” Booker explains. “Some have
ships he’s maintained with people he’s
Criminal defense lawyer. She handles
attorneys who travel the system or public
supervised over the years are priceless
everything from speeding tickets to
librarians who do research for the inmates.
benefits.
murder trials, doing most of her work
Arizona just sold off a huge amount of legal
Swift treasures the times when defen
< with appeals and post-conviction
material and now provides paralegals who
dants who have complained bitterly about
remedies. She is married to the Rev.
travel a circuit across the state to assist
a sentence of alcohol treatment come
James Carlyle (A72).
offenders.”
back for review and say “thank you, it
Booker has a dim view of Missouri’s
David Johnson (A68)
really opened my eyes to see what was
approach. “I don’t think any sort of justice
wrong.”
is given through the collection of materi
Worked in criminal justice for over 30
Barden, who’s worked as a federal pros
als to those who might be innocent or have
years. Retired as chief of federal pro
ecutor on large scale fraud cases, says her
been tried inappropriately or irresponsi
bation for the state of Maryland, he
work gives her the opportunity to serve
bly. The information and organization is
teaches criminal justice at the Univer
justice. “In many cases, you’re vindicat
too complex, as is the court system, for
sity of Baltimore. He is married to
ing the rights of individuals who’ve been
the offender population on the whole to
Sally Johnson (A65).
defrauded. It’s very good when you can
navigate.”
get justice for somebody who has been
Pattie Swiff (SF82)
Booker is pessimistic about the state’s
stolen from or in another way injured. It’s
inclination to improve the system, given
a chance to do the right thing,” she says.
County court judge in Costilla County,
today’s political and economic climate.
“That’s the luxury of being on this side of
Colorado, and municipal judge for the
“When I started, prisoners were called
the courtroom: the interest of the govern
town of San Luis.
prisoners or inmates. Now they’re called
ment is to do justice. That’s not always
offenders. In the ’80s and ’90s we saw a
simple, but it is the goal.”
{The College -St John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{Commencement}
COMMENCEMENT
2002
(Santa Fe)
Barbara Goyette, A73 (Annapolis)
BY Marissa Morrison, SFGIoa
AND
he graduating seniors-ioa in Annapolis
and 88 in Santa Fe-chose as their com
mencement speakers a military historian
and a novelist who has produced a series
of literary experiments. Rather than pres
ent opposing viewpoints on life or on the
St. John’s experience, the two gave sur
prisingly close send-offs to the graduates.
Their messages contrasted the education
a St. John’s graduate receives with the vapidness of many aspects
of modern culture, and both saw St. John’s as supplying the back
ground necessary for a beginning to a life devoted to questioning
and thinking.
The Importance of “The Human Thing” - Annapolis
At the 210th commencement in Annapolis, 102 undergraduates
and 36 Graduate Institute students
received their degrees. The day was
sunny and bright, the grass was
green, the air was still and cool as
the parents, family members, and
friends gathered on the front lawn.
Faculty and students processed
from the Great Hall to the click and
whir of cameras and the ceremonial
strains of the Carrollton Brass.
President Christopher Nelson
and Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft
announced the various prizes and
awards, including that for best sen
ior essay, which went to Katherine
Gehlberg for her essay “A Nature
Within and Without; An Inquiry
into the Evolution of the Moral
Sense.”
Seniors had chosen Victor Davis
Hanson, who teaches classics at the
University of California at Fresno
and has published books and
columns on military history, as the
commencement speaker.
Mr. Hanson stressed universal
human truths that are covered in the Program as those that the
graduates will draw upon wherever their lives carry them in the
future. “Most of you will ...enter the professions,” he said.
“Many-I have no doubt of it-shall become rich and powerful. But
I am also equally confident that such success will accrue more
because you shall be deft and experienced about what Thucydides
called ‘the human thing,’ and resigned about the way humans
think and act, rather than because you were simply adept at a par
ticular skill.”
In a perhaps unintended allusion to the famous (among John
nies) admissions proclamation “The following teachers will
return to St. John’s next year; Plato, Sophocles, Kant, Tolstoy,
etc.,” Mr. Hanson said that St. John’s has given the graduates “a
reservoir of learning from great men and women. These are your
intellectual mentors, your friends for life. Each hour, each day
from now to the end they will be there with you-to remind you,
chastise you, and enlighten that what you experience is neither
novel nor unique.”
And considering the great books
authors as mentors, and their
words as universal human truths,
Mr. Hanson suggested, is helpful in
evaluating current situations that
citizens need to understand.
“When others suggest that educat
ed citizens should not profess patri
otism or think of their culture as
unique and worth defending, you
will remind them of Aeschylus at
Marathon and Socrates at Delium.
And when you despair that men
with money, degrees, status, and
fame can be petty rather than
noble, and are as likely as the illit
erate and impoverished to steal and
defame, Juvenal, Dante, and Swift
will laugh along with you.” A St.
John’s education, he suggested,
makes those who have undergone it
“empirical and inductive, open to
truth when it comes from the
uncouth and enemies-and resist
ant to lies when they come from the
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{Commencement }
''Open to truth...resistant to lies.
Victor Davis Hanson
Eva Brann
leads the procession to front campus in
Annapolis (left),
while in
Santa Fe, Genevieve Giddings
LIGHTS THE PlACITA WITH HER SMILE (ABOVE).
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
17
�i8
{Commencement}
sweet and friends. You will not just pon
der and equivocate, but decide, judge,
and act.”
Mr. Hanson used an extended Homer
ic image to discuss what the future might
hold for the graduates, and what dangers.
He characterized their journey as like
that of Odysseus and referred to “suitors
feasting away at our society’s once ample
social capital and spiritual reserves” as
those the graduates would have to con
front. He warned against the Charybdis
of the Right, which he said “assures that
the university and education itself are
simply to be utilitarian and commercial
certifications of dexterity with spread
sheets, glibness with the law, or mere
master of regulations, tables, charts, and
graphs.” And he identified the Scylla of
the Left as “the idea, now almost univer
sal, that the purpose of education is ther
apeutic, to change what words mean, to deny how people act, to
create absolute equality of results, rather than of opportunity in
the here and now-or else!”
Acknowledging the power of education, Mr. Hanson urged the
audience to use wisdom wisely. He likened knowledge’s strength
to that of Tolkein’s One Ring, whose great power was so alluring
that it ruined lives and threatened races. “Education used foully
for a good cause, is nevertheless foul, and thus the cause not so
good after all. Remember instead the first and oldest command
ments of the humble Greeks-know yourself/nothing too much/
grow old learning.” He suggested that some time spent in smaU
pursuits-away from the bigness of our present age’s government,
corporations, and overriding materialism-is valuable. “Seek out,
or perhaps at least protect and enhance-if only for a year or two of
your odyssey-those sand bars and reefs that are washed over but
not quite, not quite yet
submerged-the love of
Greek and Latin, the
knowledge of the mason
and woodworker, the fami
ly nursery and small farm,
the horseman and the
shoemaker, the town of
2,000, and the art and
music of rural Ameri
ca...Like your Great
Books, these unobtrusive
people, things, and memories-forgotten by WalMart and unknown at
Blockbuster-also possess
wisdom-learning that we
need in our present hour
of peril against enemies
cruel and medieval.”
Mr. Hanson closed with a promise. As a
farmer, student of Latin and Greek, resi
dent of a rural community, writer, and
“as one who at times has failed at all that
and so much more stiU”-he promised to
join the graduates to “keep alive the
ancient education that we still know to be
good and necessary-and can alone keep
the melodious, but deadly. Sirens at bay.”
Points of Departure, Not the Journey’s
End - Santa Fe______________________
By graduation day in Santa Fe on May i8,
the fear and sadness that characterized
the early part of the academic year after
September ii had given way to a feeling of
jubilation. The brilliant sun shining
above the Meem Library Placita and a
lively commencement speech by John
Barth added to the bright spirit of the day.
Barth is a Johns Hopkins University professor emeritus and a nov
elist who delights in literary experimentalism while engaging read
ers with the power of his storytelling abilities.
In a speech titled “The Tragic View of Liberal Education,” Mr.
Barth praised the St. John’s program for permitting discourse
within a shared frame of reference richer and more stable than pop
ular culture-which is perhaps all the students at some departmen
talized institutions have in common. He also presented the down
side to an education based on a hmited selection of Great Books.
While attending Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Mr. Barth
often heard debates over the liberal arts program at nearby St.
John’s College in Annapolis. According to one half-serious opin
ion, “the problem with the Annapolis curriculum was that it left
out not only all the bad books-which, like bad art, may be indis
pensable to defining and
appreciating the good
hut also aU the arguably
great books that happen
to disagree with the ones
in the canon.” He noted
that no four-year under
graduate survey could
include all the books one
ought to read.
To
illustrate how
impossible it is for a stu
dent to actually read
everything, Mr. Barth
referred to one of his fel
low undergraduates who
was said to have done just
that. “To this day,” Mr.
Barth joked, “he is scarce
ly able to complete a sen
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
�{Commencement}
tence, much less publish a coherent essay,
because every word he utters sets off so
many synaptic hot-links in his mind that
he has difficulty getting from subject to
verb to object, astray in the hypertextuality of his splendid erudition.”
The tragedy of a liberal education,
according to Mr. Barth, lies in the real
ization that one cannot read-or learneverything. “Since time, attention, ener
gy, and opportunity are all finite, we
must radically exclude and delimit if we
are to learn anything at all well; yet in so
doing we may very possibly leave out
things that, had we discovered them or
they us, might have been keys to the
treasure that we were scarcely aware we
were seeking,” he said.
Mr. Barth lamented that only the books
he has actually read can make an impres Barth the novelist
sion on him. As a fiction writer, he wishes
that he could read every other written work. Without reading every
description of the dawn and the sea that has ever been recorded on
paper, how can he know whether his own descriptions are unique
and valuable? However, he comforts himself with the fact that the
number of possible word combinations, like the number of stars in
the galaxy, is “finite but astronomically large.”
Mr. Barth noted that the St. John’s program list is a good start
ing point for one’s education. The real reason for celebrating com
mencement is not the completion of an education, but rather the
start of a lifetime of exploring new ideas.
Santa Fe president John Balkcom gave an overview of the chal
lenges this academic year had brought, with September ii having
impacted our lives and the nature of our college community. Citing
Virginia Woolf, who wrote, “One of the signs of passing youth is
the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we
take our place among
them,” Mr. Balkcom noted
that what the faculty and
staff observed this year
was
the
emergence
of a greater sense of com
munity among all of our
learners. “We come to
gether to celebrate these
graduates for the learning
they have shared and the
community they have cre
ated, for their taking a
place now among the
wider community of this
human race.”
He made lighthearted
references to many sen
iors and Graduate Insti
{The College.
19
tute students he had encountered during
the year, and talked about community
events such as the holiday concert, the
presentation of Senior Essays in Febru
ary, and Reality Weekend-when hun
dreds of paper flowers decorated trees
and bushes throughout campus.
The commencement address of Santa
Fe Dean David Levine reminded stu
dents that hberal education is a great
gift. The college gives this gift, he said,
in the hope that its graduates will devel
op proportionally in relation to challeng
ing thinkers; experience inspiration in
their own capacities for original thought;
develop new capacities to ascend to
undiscovered places; become strength
ened in facing the toughest human ques
tions; grow their own sense of responsi
bility; become more self-resourceful; and
achieve a heightened fullness of inde
pendence. “Make us proud,” Mr. Levine urged the graduates.
“Honor this education with lives of distinction.”
The class of aooa included 88 candidates for the Bachelor of Arts
degree and 25 candidates for the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts
degree. The graduates hailed from 33 U.S. states, as well as from
Israel and Canada.
For the first time in the history of the college, the Senior Class
Gift Committee achieved 100% participation from all members of
the Class of 2002. Neither campus had ever accomplished this feat.
Ms. Abercrombie and Ms. Emma Wells presented the senior gift to
the president, accompanied by a swell of applause from the audi
ence, including loud accolades from class members. The class gift
will purchase The Classics Film Collection for Meem Library.
Graduates honored with awards and prizes included Benjamin
Lorch, who received the Medal for Academic Excellence. The
medal is offered by the
Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors and was presented
by board member Dick
Morris. Anna Canning
and
Marie-Monique
Wentzell shared the
Richard D. Weigle Prize
for the best senior essay.
Among the Graduate
Institute graduates, Court
ney Manson was acknowl
edged for her excellent
essay.
St. John’s College . Summer 200Z }
Thefull text ofboth comencement addresses is on
the web: www.sjca.edufor
Annapolis and www.sjcsf.edu
for Santa Fe.
�ao
{Campus Life}
REMEMBRANCES
OF PRANKS PAST
BY Sus3AN
Borden
(A87)
t’s a warm night in early spring.
Students sit in seminar reading
Euripides, Descartes, and Adam
Smith. They work their way
through the text and follow the
conversation closely, hut spirits
are running a little high. They’ve
heard the rumors, they’ve seen
the signs. Their minds occasion
ally drift. Is tonight the night?
As the first hour comes to a close, attention
is drawn outside the classroom. A door slams.
laughter bounces down the hall. A few minutes
later a team of seniors hursts through the door. Books slam shut,
tutors are escorted from the room. Senior prank has begun.
It wasn’t always like this. Senior prank started as a daytime
event; the prank was the seniors’ way of shutting down the col
lege. Over the years it has blossomed into a a4-hour ritual, begin
ning with the nighttime break-in, following with a skit and dance
party, and continuing the next day with games and a campus-wide
picnic for students, faculty, and staff.
For the original prank, pulled in 1964 and talked about to this
day, seniors removed all the chairs from the classrooms and tutor
offices and stored them in the crawl space in the basement of Mel
lon. Tutor Samuel Kutler (A54) remembers it well: “I walked to my
classroom in McDowell with a prospective freshman and her moth
er, who were scheduled to sit in on our mathematics tutorial. As we
entered the room, I told them to please be seated, but when I looked
up the students were sitting on the table. All chairs had been
removed from the entire building. I told the students that we were
behind and I would hold class anyway. Then President Weigle
appeared. He was not amused, and he announced that there would
be no classes until the chairs were returned. I shrugged my shoul
ders, turned to the mother and the prospective student, said that
there were some good liberal arts schools in Ohio, and went home.”
That simple prank unleashed a legacy of mischief that has
driven class after class to put time and energy into creating a
memorable prank.
The class of ’68 distinguished itself with a four-part prank:
all classrooms were locked from the inside, the lobby of FSK
was transformed into a used car lot, a thirty-foot purple flag
reading “Class of ’68” in red letters flew from the flagpole,
and-thepiece de resistance—nearly two dozen steel-belted radi
{The College.
St.
als were stacked on the flagpole, a technical
feat that was as challenging to remove as it
was to install.
The flagpole-tire stunt, explains Alec
Himwich, was the hrain child of David
Roberts. “He devised a contraption with two
wooden Vs oriented perpendicularly to a long
wood pole. One V was at the top of the pole and
the other somewhat helow and opposite the
first. On this pole were fasteners that corre
sponded to those on the rope used to raise and
lower the flag. The device was attached to the
rope and a tire was placed on the upper V.
Guide ropes were attached to the lower V. Then the whole thing
was raised up by means of the flag rope. During the hoisting, the
guide ropes were used for stability. When the tire finally was
above the top of the flag pole the guide ropes were used to orient
the tire so that when the device was lowered, the flag pole would
be inside the tire.
“The whole procedure was complicated by a gusty wind,”
recalls Himwich. “Also, the operators were not the steadiest
since some of them were already imbibing in anticipation of a day
of celebration.”
The class of ’75 produced an elaborate skit-“West Street
Story,” in which Tony sang “Pure Reason” to the tune of “Maria”
and Ben Milner (HA97) was portrayed as the campus’ Officer
Krupke. They also put bookplates that read “Gift of the class of
1975” in all the books in the King William Room.
Jason Walsh (A85) remembers the class of ’8a’s Alice in IForaderland prank: “It was quite remarkable. Amusement rides were
set up on lower back campus, seemingly while we were in semi
nar. Seminars were of course interrupted by the march hare,
Alice, and the hatter, who led us to the rabbit hole (in the audito
rium stage) down into the Wonderland that was set up in the hall
ways of the basement, through the now-deserted Mellon class
room hallways and out by the Planetarium to the waiting
amusements. It was remarkably choreographed and seemed
quite magical.”
“Underclassmen were required to dance the lobster quadrille
in FSK lobby,” recalls Peter Green (A84) of the Alice prank. “The
next day we played croquet using pink flamingoes for mallets.”
The 1984 prank took the Canterbury Tales as its theme. Sem
inars were interrupted by knights, nuns, maidens, monks, a
John’s College ■ Summer 2002
}
�ai
{Campus Life}
jester, and a barmaid wench.
Dan Knight and Duke Hugh
es converted the fireplace
room of the coffee shop into
an English tavern. Grady
Harris, as the Pardoner,
stood on the steps of the
quad presenting students
with penances for the seven
deadly sins. For the sin of
pride, they were told to
dance later that evening with
everyone who asked; for
sloth, they were to dance five
dances in a row. Minstrels
entertained the wayfarers
outside McDowell and lumi
naries lit the path from the
base of the quad to the gym.
There John Ertle presided as
archbishop and head of the
ecclesiastical court, charg
ing each tutor with a sin (see
sidebar).
For the class of ’88’s
Odyssey prank, class mem
bers built in secret an i8-foothigh Trojan Horse of wood,
chicken wire, and papier
mache. John Lavery and Greg
Ferguson constructed the
horse’s frame and shaped its
outlines with chicken wire.
Karin Johns supervised the
papier mache effort, using 75
pounds of flour and endless
reams of newspaper to sculpt
the body. Several dozen sen
iors worked on the project
under Johns’ direction.
Students led out of Mel
lon and McDowell for the
Annapolis’
class of
1988
built a papier mache
Trojan Horse to rule
THE QUAD on PRANK DAY.
Prank Skits: A Retrospective
g
by Chris Denny (Ag^)
I99IA:
“Operation Dorm Storm” Fielding Dupuy’s haunting portrayal of a crazed
army officer shocked 90’s audiences with its stark portrayal of a nuclear apoc
alypse, as well as a campus without Chase-Stone. The special effects of a cam
eraperson running forward while shooting with a Camcorder in order to simu
late a smart-bomb brought the cinematography of SJC Senior Pranks into a
new era of artistic brilliance. Rated PG13 (language, and lots of it).
i99aSF:
“Oscar Night” Matthew Kelty stars in a hilarious parody of Hollywood’s
wildest night of the year. Rated R (language, sexual situations and potty
humor involving large bowel movements).
T993A:
“It’s a Wonderful Life” Starring Tom Lind as Clarence and Millicent Roberts
J as God, this touching story involved Devin Rushing’s horrible nightmare of a
world in which SJC was transformed into an “overpriced basketball school.”
With Walter Sterling, Sr. reduced to Up-synching “Achy-Breaky Heart” at Mar
maduke’s and a demonic Andre Barbera (played by the dashing CoUn Meeder)
J bent on reducing Western Civilization to rubble, only the fearless James Beall
I can rescue SJC, and a terrorized Patricia Locke (Deirdre Crosse), from oblivI ion. Rated SJC (wicked nasty satire and monogrammed female gludii maximi).
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
start of tbat prank were con
fronted with the enormous
beast. Ele Hamburger (A87)
remembers its demise: “A
storm hit after the horse had
been up a few days. I remem
ber it being blown up so it
reared on its hind feet and
then collapsed.” However,
she adds, “I am not entirely
sure this is not a false memo
ry, since it is so cinematic in
my mind’s eye.”
The 2002 prank included
a return to the mischief
making aspect of the tradi
tion. Assistant Dean Judith
Seeger says that the seniors
sent letters to a number of
students saying that the state
of Maryland now required
random urine testing for
drugs. The letters were
accompanied by small paper
cups and recipients were
instructed to bring a sample
to the director of Student
Services by 3 p.m. on prank
day. Seeger reports that no
one showed up at the Student
Services office, but she
heard that several prankees
visited the health center that
day.
Pranksters also ticketed
every car in the college park
ing lots. “After a few calls from
disgruntled drivers, I walked
around and removed them
myself,” says Seeger. “Except
for the one on college presi
dent Chris Nelson’s car.”
�1
2,2
{Campus Life}
A BUDDHIST
IN THE BOOKSTORE
Bookstore manager Andrea dAmato
brings an awareness ofEetstern thought to Santa he.
hat makes a good college
!
bookstore? Surely, as with
t
any other kind of bookstore,
^^k
^^k
t
a comprehensive selection
^^k
!
of books, current as well as
^^k K ^^k !
classic and attractively dis^^k
^^k^
played, ought to be near the
top of anyone’s list. HosY
Y
pitable environment would
also seem a must, encouraging the customer-student or teacherto linger and browse. Then there are the less obvious attributes
such as efficient management practices ... but wait. Shouldn’t the
more relevant question be not what makes a good college book
store but who?
Untold numbers of the St. John’s community in Santa Fe
would have only to point to Andrea d’Amato, who has been man
ager of the bookstore for more than ao years, for the answer.
Personal affection and professional admiration for this
unusual woman-she is a novice Buddhist priest and mother
of an adopted fifteen-year-old girl as well as successful
businessperson-comprise their views in more or less equal
proportion.
“Bookstore people are special people,” says Georgia Knight,
who has been a tutor at St. John’s since 1974. “Andrea personi
fies the best of them. She has been a close friend for many years
and unflaggingly helpful to me. She has made books a real
adventure. She helps me trip over things I wasn’t necessarily
looking for. But what I admire most are her enthusiasm, per
suasiveness, and generosity of spirit. She radiates friendship.”
Ralph Swentzell, who joined the St. John’s faculty 35 years
ago, credits Andrea’s management skills for the “exceptional”
qualities of the bookstore and also declares that the whole East
ern Classics program, which he and a colleague, Bruce Perry,
launched as an experiment only la years ago, “owes its exis
tence” to Andrea. He explains: “I was an amateur at first,
assigned to Chinese language. Andrea began auditing my class
of IO or II students and got very excited. She helped us work out
the language as a computer program. Eventually we had a full
lexicon in front of us and translated Confucius, Lao-tse, Chi
nese poetry, and other works.
“But it was a very tumultuous affair bringing the Eastern Stud
ies program into being. The college was ethnocentric in those
days. In that environment we kept asking ‘How (in this institu
tion of great books) can you ignore Eastern studies?’ The book
store was a not-so-subtle influence on the college’s decision to
adopt the program, with Andrea making sure that there were
great books on Eastern studies available and prominently dis
played on the front table.”
It would seem natural to assume that her close association
with the burgeoning Eastern Classics program directly influ
enced Andrea’s decision to become a Buddhist, although such
was not entirely the case. Working in a bookstore, however, was a
serendipitous situation for her at a time of great personal crisis.
“It was a case of having ready access to books that bore on my
overwhelming need for a way out of my suffering,” she says. “I
was seeking spiritual enlightenment for my pain, for my great
heartache. My heart, in fact, broke open to Buddhism as soon as
I started reading from a list of texts I had encountered through
suggested Eastern Classics texts. I began with the “Acts of the
Buddha” by a second-century Indian writer named Asvaghosa. It
was the first time I had encountered the Four Noble Truths of
Buddhism and as soon as I read those I thought Wow! This is
what I’ve been looking for. This is my medicine. This addresses
exactly what I’m feeling.”
Andrea immersed herself in the great primary sources while
continuing with her job. “I realized that this was not a way out of
suffering but I had to start meditating. If you want to realize it
you have to sit. You have to. I read enough Buddhism to know
that it cannot just be read about. I learned that in order to bene
fit from it you need to practice. One of the main practices is
Zazen, which is sitting practice. So I sought a meditation
teacher.”
After many years of sitting. Buddhism became essential to
Andrea. In December of 2000, she shaved her head to become a
priest, a novice, she explains, in the Zen Buddhist belief, with its
strong traditions of meditation and honoring of ancestors.
{The College- St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
�{CampusLife}
23
A novice priest carries forward the form of the practice. The tra
three-and-a half months in the making.
Andrea made a pilgrimage to the Chinese temples that Dogen
dition Andrea practices is Japanese Soto Zen, which is based on the
four noble truths. The differences in the forms of Buddhism he in
(the founder of the Japanese line of Buddhism) traveled to in the
the ritual, the services, the practices. The Tibetan tradition is very
13th century. “I was able to sew on my robe in the very room ded
rich iconographically, with colorful temples, painted demons on
icated to Dogen, originally a 900-room monastery Tien Tong.
the walls, and beautiful images. The Japanese tradition is very
This is of deep importance to me because Dogen is part of the
stark, sparse and beautiful,
direct lineage,” says Andrea.
“Dogen found the true dhar
but very simple. “A priest is
ma
again, and brought that
trained in the form-how you
tradition
to Japan. Every
approach the altar, how the
morning
we
put the robe on
incense is offered, which way
you turn from the altar, how
our head, and with our
chants we vow to liberate all
you hold your hands during
human
beings.”
the service. Since I am a
Little in Andrea’s early
detailed person the Japanese
background, except perhaps
tradition suits me well,” says
a youthful restlessness, a dis
Andrea. “It’s all in the details.
satisfaction with the way her
God is in the details. A priest
life was going, would seem to
can transmit and carry the
augur what appears to be its
form to the next generation. I
present happy resolution.
don’t know if I will arrive at
She stopped attending the
that level of service, as I am in
Catholic Church while in
training and will be for many
high school and dropped out
years, but that is what I am
of the University of Massa
doing-paying close attention
chusetts in Amherst (where
to details.”
she worked part-time in a
Andrea has made pilgrim
bookstore) because, she says,
ages to China and Tibet,
“I had too much living to do.”
where she circumambulated
She became active in the
the hohest of mountains. Her
women’s movement and con
hope was to manifest the
sidered for a while opening
dharma more in her life. After
up a feminist bookstore
that experience, she decided
somewhere with a friend.
to become a priest as a way to
During a visit to Santa Fe, she
be more involved in Bud
answered an ad in The Santa
dhism.
Fe New Mexican for an assis
To become a priest in this
tant’s position in the St.
tradition, Andrea had to cre
John’s College bookstore.
ate her own robe by hand,
She became its manager in
though she hadn’t done any
1981.
sewing since home economics
“The bookstore, along
in seventh grade. She also
with
my colleagues and
copied by hand sacred texts
friends,
” she says, “has been
from the 13th century. And,
my
anchor,
the stabilizing
she had to shave her head.
Every stitch is a prayer: Andrea d’Amato wears the robe she made
fact
of
my
life
in Santa Fe. If I
The robe, an okesa, is com
WHEN SHE BECAME A BuDDHIST PRIEST.
am
credited
with
helping to
prised of patches of material
make
it
an
important
part of
that she gathered from family
the college life I’m grateful for what it has given back to me.”
and friends. With an intricate design, it is a personal project. The
She enjoys spending weekends with her daughter Nandita at
pattern derives from the Buddha, who, standing with his disciple,
home in Taos. With this melding of family, career, and belief, it
said he wanted a robe with a pattern after the rice fields. “All the
is no wonder that she considers herself, as she says, not just con
stitching shows on the outside and every stitch is a prayer,” says
tent, but a person on the path of awakening as well. Says Andrea,
Andrea. “Not something that could be done while watching TV or
“At night we say, ‘Let me respectfully remind you...Do not
doing anything else. It took a lot of concentration, time, and effort,
squander your life.’ ’’-i^
accompanied by a candle, incense, and prayer.” The robe was about
{The College.
Sf.
John’s College Summer 2002 }
�{Bibliofile}
^4
BEYOND THE
BARR-BUCHANAN MYTH
Review by John Van Doren, A47
eloquent, the other, quizzical and complex
in all he said. Yet their spirits reflected two
old traditions in America, of Virginia and
Massachusetts, which had met before.
Barr, inclined to history, had graduated
from the University of Virginia; Buchanan
was a philosopher, educated at Amherst
and Harvard, who said he got an under
standing of his subject not from either
school but only afterwards, as assistant
director of the People’s Institute, offering
adult education, in New York.
At Oxford, where they were Rhodes
Scholars, they found they had a common
interest in speculative thought and the dis
verybody connected with St.
cussion of ideas. Buchanan went on to pur
John’s, and many ontside it,
sue both and discovered their sources in
know that Stringfellow Barr
the Great Books, which he took up with
and Scott Buchanan were the
students at the People’s Institute as well as
founders, in 1937, of the Pro
with some of the faculty at Columbia Uni
gram by which the college has since been
versity, among them Mortimer Adler,
known. Some are aware that when they left
Richard McKeon, and Mark Van Doren.
St. John’s, both men worked together on
Barr, with whom he kept in touch, went
other projects, less well defined, having to
back to Virginia, where he was an
do with what might be called the state of
immensely successful but unrepresentative
the world, and that after many wanderings
they came to the Center for the Study of
Democratic Institutions in California,
where both served for a time and where
Buchanan worked until he died in 1968.
But who were they? How did they come
to think they should do the things they did?
What did they seek to accomplish by doing
them, nearly always together as friends and
colleagues in a relationship which, begin
ning at Oxford in 1919, lasted till
Buchanan’s death? These are matters most
people don’t know much about. We are
thus indebted to Charles Nelson (class of
1945) for having written this fine book,
which provides an account of them that will
be instructive, even essential, not only to
those who cannot remember those years,
but also to those who can.
Barr and Buchanan made an unlikely
combination: the one, hot tempered and
Radical Visions: Stringfel
low Barr, Scott Buchanan,
and Their Efforts on Behalf
of Education and Politics in
the Twentieth Century by
Charles A. Nelson. With an
Introduction by William H.
McNeill. Bergin & Garvey,
Westport, CT, 2001
E
{The College- St. John ’5 College - Summer 2002 }
teacher who sat on his desk in a green suit
and purple shirt and talked basic texts with
his students.
By the end of the iqaos, both men had
come to think that American higher educa
tion was badly in need of the kind of reading
and discussion they were carrying on in dif
ferent places. To this end, and notwithstand
ing the failure of an early effort to institute
such activities by Buchanan’s friend Alexan
der Meiklejohn at the University of Wiscon
sin, the two men joined forces at Virginia in
the mid-i93os and formulated a plan for a
college within the college there which antic
ipated the St. John’s Program. But Virginia
never adopted this, and it was only when
they were approached by the trustees of St.
John’s, a school in grave academic and
financial difficulties, that they found an
opportunity which they accepted, not with
out qualms, to practice what they preached.
What happened there is known to every
one at this college, or if it isn’t, Mr. Nelson
will recall it for us. Within four years, the
Program was recognized everywhere in the
country as a striking innovation, supported
in some quarters, disapproved of in others.
The effort seemed to have succeeded. But
then came the war and the student body
went off to fight, while much of the new fac
ulty disappeared. Barr and Buchanan kept
the college going with inadequate funds and
students who had not finished high school,
but the effort was exhausting. They were
further tried by the attempt of the Navy to
acquire the college campus for expansion of
the Naval Academy, a struggle that ended
only in 1946 when the Navy gave up. By then
both men, besides being weary, had soured
on the college’s prospects in Annapolis and
decided to leave, rejecting funds offered for
its continuance there, to the dismay of the
trustees.
In truth the two had come to think that
something more than St. John’s was needed
�{Bibliofile}
2,5
'"The two came to think that something more than St. Johns
was needed to make sense ofthepost-war world..
to make sense of the post-war world they saw
emerging-something perhaps with under
graduate, adult education, and research
facilities combined. Then they realized, or
thought they did, that even this was less than
what the times required, which was a new
politics and a new technological and social
order. Their subsequent involvement in the
Foundation for World Government, their
separate sojourns in Israel and India, and
their last brief interval together at the Cali
fornia Center-years in which they both
wrote interesting and important books and
pamphlets-can be seen as efforts to suggest
ways in which these changes could be real
ized. Nothing they did was successful in
terms of tangible accomplishment, but most
of it was prescient in its focus on what we
now recognize as world realities.
Was there a divide between what the two
did for education and what they tried to do
in other areas later? Superficially, yes, but
in essence, no. From the first, as young men
with intellectual interests and capacities,
they thought the world was in need of a bet
ter understanding of itself than its educa
tion gave it. St. John’s was an attempt to
provide this. But the forces of technological
change and social upheaval that appeared
after the Second World War seemed to
require a different kind of examination,
though with the same objective. Barr and
Buchanan, and the associates they got to
work with them, sought to discover for
themselves and explain to others what the
underlying problems of the world were,
looking foolish to those who thought
“something should be done at once” about
these, but seeming wiser now as we realize
most of them are still there.
All along, both men maintained that
inquiry and discussion were propaedeutic
to action. Every enterprise they started or
tried to start had something of the seminar
about it. Always they found themselves
questioning first formulations and digging
back to the root of things, so far as they
could find it. In that sense they seemed to
live the life of this college wherever they
went, and partly it was so. But in another
sense it was the other way around. That is
the lesson of this book. Unique though it is,
the college imitates something greater than
itself. It is but a station of the active intel
lect, nurturing in its given way an abiding
interest in things brought to it by two who
were bound on a common odyssey, a con
cern that comes only (if I may change my
figure) from those on lean horses and fat
donkeys whose journey never ends.
Short Reviews of
Alumni Books
ters fits well with Bellamy’s other Cleve
land crime books: The Corpse in the Cellar,
The Maniac in the Bushes, and They Died
Crawling.
Phaethon, of Radamanthus House, attends
a party at his family mansion to celebrate
the thousand-year anniversary of the High
Transcendence. There he meets an old man
who accuses him of being an impostor and
then a being from Neptune who claims to be
an old friend. The Neptunian tells him that
essential parts of his memory were removed
and stored by the very government that
Phaethon believes to be wholly honorable.
Phaethon embarks upon a quest across the
solar system to recover his memory and
learn what crime he planned that warranted
such preemptive punishment.
100 Names oe Mary: Stories and Prayers
By the staff of The College
A Priest’s Journal_____________________
Victor Lee Austin (SF^S)
Church Publishing Incorporated
Austin writes about his ministry as a parish
priest in a small town in upstate New York,
about his work as a theologian, and about
the intersection of the ordinary concerns
and profound questions that priest and
parish share and explore.
Anthony F. Chiffolo (AGIg4)
St. Anthony Messenger Press
Calling upon Scripture, the writings of the
early Church, the pronouncements of the
saints, papal statements, and recent bibhcal
and theological scholarship, this book pro
vides historical and theological explanations
of the origins of one hundred of Mary’s most
popular and intriguing names. Each of the
names includes both traditional and newlywritten prayers of intercession to Mary.
OE Cleveland Woe_____________________
The Golden Age: A Romance oe the Far
Future_______________________________
John Stark Bellamy II (Ap)
Gray & Company
This book of Cleveland murders and disas-
John C. Wright (A84)
Tor Books
In this well-received science fiction novel.
Killer in the Attic; And Still More Tales
{The College -St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002
Periodically, The College will list or review
alumni books. Please send notice of books
pubhshed or review copies (which will be
donated to the library’s alumni author col
lection) for consideration to: The College
Magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800,
Annapolis, MD 21404.
}
�{TheProgram}
a6
STATISTICS VS. PTOLEMY
Has St. John s made the right choicesfor the math tutorial?
Alumni in the corporate world discuss theprogram.
By Sus3AN Borden, A87
igh up in McDowell Hall, math tuto
rials work their way through Euclid,
Ptolemy, Newton, and Lohachevsky.
Meanwhile, in a large corporation
in Washington, D.C., three recent
St. John’s graduates are doing the
work of computer science PhDs.
Was it the symmetry of the spheres,
the ingenuity of the ecliptic, the
lucidity of Newton’s lemmas that prepared them for this demand
ing work?
Their boss, Eric Rosenblatt (A74), says no.
Rosenblatt, a vice president at Eannie Mae, began hiring John
nies in 2000 and currently has a hand in the careers of eight John
nies who work at Fannie Mae, the secondary market enterprise
that makes mortgage money available for lenders. He expects to
hire more Johnnies.
His original decision to take a chance on the St. John’s grads
was in part because of a lingering affection for his alma mater, but
mostly because he thought it made good business sense. “Corpo
rations live and die on good labor. I get paid because people who
work for me make good decisions,” Rosenblatt says. “I decided
that St. John’s would be a filter for employment. The students are
intelligent and motivated. Although Fannie Mae has incredibly
high standards, programming is something that, if you’re smart
and you really want to do it, you probably can.”
Rosenblatt continues to do most of his hiring at the annual
meetings of the Allied Social Science Association; the staff he
finds there are PhDs, which he says are simple to hire because
PhDs tend to meet his criteria. But they’re also expensive and not
always willing to do the simple charts and tables that convey the
most insights. He points with pride to Jon Lawless (Aoo) and
Brian Shea (Aoo), who started working just after they graduated.
“Those two are already competitive with PhDs,” he says. “They
started at around $50,000, but I’ll tell you something: they were
worth more. I’m sending them to grad school and over time their
earnings and opportunities will climb.”
Although Rosenblatt has developed a win-win arrangement for
Fannie Mae and St. John’s, he finds himself frustrated by what he
sees as the limitations of the St. John’s math program.
He says that the program’s lack of emphasis on mathematical
mastery is a significant and unnecessary deficiency in an other
wise fine education. It cuts many graduates off from entering a
{The College
number of careers that would be of interest to Johnnies. “Stu
dents at St. John’s don’t have the typical math background of col
lege graduates entering the social sciences. Sociology, experi
mental psychology, economics-these are all fields Johnnies
would enjoy,” he says. “The prerequisites are a few years of cal
culus, statistics, maybe linear algebra. If they don’t have it, it
seems like a daunting hill to climb, one more thing to keep them
from targeting a career objective they would find satisfying and
do well in. And if you want to go into engineering or the hard sci
ences, you’re just in the hole. You avoid making the decision to
undertake the work that graduate school would require and then
it gets to be too late.”
Recently retired Annapolis placement director Karen Krieger
says that a long-term undertaking of her office was to make sure
that students-from as early as their prospective visit-know that
the St. John’s curriculum must be supplemented by additional
courses for students seeking careers in math and science. “Stu
dents have long known this is the strategy in medicine, and now
there’s a growing understanding that this is the case in other
fields. Once you get your education at St. John’s, you then go back
and pick up your required courses,” says Krieger.
“Getting enough math for careers is easy to do,” says Annapolis
dean Harvey Flaumenhaft. “A number of students go on to careers
in math and science. For example, several recent graduates are
now studying astrophysics at George Mason University. “It’s true
that we don’t do statistics, but our students can go to the commu
nity college and take elementary statistics for a semester. If we did
statistics, we’d have to give up something else. Now don’t get me
wrong. The absence of their treatment does not mean that statis
tics are not important. There are a lot of important things we
don’t study here. Not only things we should do, but things that it’s
an outrage not to do. We can’t do everything-we have to make
choices.”
. Sr. John’s
The Math Gap
A pack of recent Johnnie graduates working at Fannie Mae go
to lunch and-no surprise-a seminar breaks out. They’re dis
cussing Rosenblatt’s ideas and talk turns to Annapolis’ calculus
manual (a brief handbook presenting the rudiments of calculus as
done with more contemporary notation and notions). Using the
manual is one of the few points of universal agreement, but the
concord is not positive. The alumni are frustrated that the manu
al is neither one thing nor another-not an original text, but not a
College • Summer sooa }
�{The Program}
"Distilled modem math alsoprovides excellent mental training, also
integrates and reinforces a variety ofprogram readings and labs. ”
Eric Rosenblatt, A74
St. John’s College Fannie Mae
Misha Hall, and John Lawless
campus:
Eric Rosenblatt,
are a few of the
Johnnies who
WORK FOR the SECONDARY MORTGAGE ENTERPRISE.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
a?
�aS
{The Program}
textbook either, offer
ing just two or three
problems to illustrate
each concept.
John Lawless, now a
Fannie Mae economist
working toward a mas
ter’s of finance at
George Washington University (paid for by Fannie Mae), suggests
pages of additional problems to supplement classroom discus
sion. “The people with me in graduate school are not that smart,”
he says. “The advantage they have is that they’ve seen a lot of this
stuff before. They have a broad exposure to basic math.”
Lawless illustrates his grad-school handicap by bringing up the
simple operation of multiplying exponents as part of an equation.
“Of course I know how to do it. It’s simple. But I always have to
take a second to remind myself how to do it. This makes high level
math that much more difficult, having to translate such small
things each time.”
Rosenblatt knows exactly what Lawless means. He now has a
PhD in finance, which he started working on at the age of 35. “I
was always translating,” he says. “Math never became my lan
guage.”
Flaumenhaft (not at the lunch, but commenting later) points
out the trade-offs St. John’s makes. “I’m not someone who thinks
that the program contains everything that’s important, worth
while, fundamental and deep, but we can’t do everything at once,”
he says. “I took some high-powered math courses early on. I did
well, but I wish that before taking them I’d done something like
what we do here. It might mean you can’t solve some problems as
early in your academic life, but if you’re interested in understand
ing and not immediate facility, if you’re interested in looking at
what makes sense and is simple enough to be seen as harmonious
and clear, something that is fundamental and fruitful enough to
be important when you’re 18 or 19 years old, then this is far more
important than getting what seems to be the most useful item in
your tool kit.”
Rosenblatt says “I understand that math at St. John’s serves a
lot of purposes, including training in a priori thinking and inte
gration with other readings in the program, but distilled modern
math also provides excellent mental training, also integrates and
reinforces a variety of program readings and labs. Beyond that, it
will concretely help Johnnies with their careers. I worry that St.
John’s students are not all finding careers appropriate to their
abilities, and I think
the math gap is part
of the problem. Why
is Ptolemy more ele
gant or better train
ing
for
future
guardians than gen
uine calculus?”
Some of the lunchers point out that the college is not just for
people with strong interests in math, and that the St. John’s
approach can show non-mathematicians the wonder of mathemat
ics, can even turn them into mathematicians. Most determined to
make this case was Misha Hall (Aoo), a data analyst who writes
requirements for and runs tests on the Fannie Mae database.
A Beautiful Paradigm
“The way we go about studying Euclid in the first year is great.
You have the chance to see the beauty of mathematics,” Hall says.
“And Ptolemy is really interesting. By the end of the first semester
you have to catch yourself, because you’ll end up saying that the
earth is really in the center of the universe. Mathematics proves
everything Ptolemy says; this makes you question the things that
you assume, it makes you question numbers and statistics.”
Others in the group were not so fond of Ptolemy, saying that the
amount of time spent studying the Almagest is ridiculous, even
describing the first semester of sophomore year as “the long
death march through Ptolemy.”
Flaumenhaft, however, appreciates Hall’s case for the value of
Ptolemy. “Ptolemy is maybe the primary example of having expe
riences that are puzzling precisely because there’s so much about
them that seems simple, clear, orderly, and beautiful, yet there’s
just enough to bother and annoy. The activity of trying to make
sense of observations given to you, while something within your
self points to an idea-it’s a beautiful paradigm of scientific enter
prise. I regard the study of Ptolemy as an important intellectual
experience. There’s the interplay of the world we see and the
world we think, but it’s also a necessary prerequisite for appreci
ating the absolutely astounding fact that when you start thinking,
you can end up with everything familiar looking altogether differ
ent.”
At lunch’s end, Rosenblatt prompts the Johnnies to repeat a
line he’s heard before and obviously enjoys. Lawless obliges; “If
you want to learn math, go to MIT; if you want to learn why math
is heartbreakingly beautiful, St. John’s is the place for you.”
{The College- St. John's College ■ Summer 200Z }
�{Alumni Notes}
1932
Senior Status, Growing Caseload
1943
J.L. Bean writes: “I hope to make
Peter Kellogg-Smith is still
my 70th reunion.”
making sculpture, writing on edu
cation, and working on a fuel effi
cient internal combustion and
steam engine.
1933
John F. Wager, Jr. writes: “Still
alive at 91 years.”
1935
Richard S. Woodman writes: “My
brother Robert G. Woodman,
class of 193a, died June 2001.1 am
still working at a leisurely pace and
still reside in a small dehghtful vil
lage in central New York state.”
“I’m 88 and still rarin’ to go,”
says Melville L. Bisgyer. “My
best to the alumni and SJC. You
sound wonderful-keep it up.”
1936
Gilbert Crandall writes: “Only
one member of the class of ’36
attended the alumni reunionMarttn W. Rausch. I had planned
to attend but ill health prevented
me from doing so. I have improved
and hope to make the ’03
reunion.”
1939
After 59 years, Malcolm Silver,
DDS, has retired from the practice
of dentistry.
1942
Based on national scores of the
PGA Rules test, Ernest J. HeinMULLER has been appointed a PGA
referee. “This has been a great
experience, following the great
players on great courses and rul
ing on situations as they occur,”
he says.
1945
Lawrence Levin writes: “I’m cur
rently leading discussions of the
news at Seniors’ Community Cen
ters, which I enjoy very much as I
do singing tenor with the local
chorus.”
1947
Steve Benedict writes: “After 50
years behind too many desks. I’ve
repaired to a 1754 farmhouse, with
barn and creek, in Spencertown,
New York-northern Columbia
County. My aim: to sort out and
maybe chronicle a whole bunch of
not very coherent life themes,
helping it all go dotvn with plenty
of tennis and piano. If anyone can
help-or even if you can’t-give a
ring and drop by. It’s 518-392-0487
or Box 16, Spencertowu, NY
12165. E-mail is:
stevebenedict@taconic.net.
Howell Cobb (Class of 1944) writes: “As of March 2001,1 took senior
status as a U.S. District judge. But my caseload is growing as it is
throughout the Eastern District of Texas. My replacement has been
nominated by President Bush, but the Senate Judiciary Committee has
not granted him a hearing. After he is confirmed, I anticipate my case
load will be about 60% of what it is now. Senior judges remain active,
and there are over 200 now with about 650 active judges. About 100
vacancies continue.” Howell and his wife have six children-3 sons and
3 daughters-and a total (as of now) of 18 grandchildren. His grandson,
Andrew C. Cook, starts in the Graduate Institute this fall.
enjoying worshipping in the con
gregation in the 49th year in the
ministry.”
1951
“The college did an exquisite job
in arranging our 50th class oncampus reunion,” writes Dr.
Lawrence Myers. “It was both a
charming and an educational
experience for us. Renewing my
friendships with my classmates
made me feel very fortunate to be
a class member of such a noble,
intelUgent, and interesting group
of men.”
1953
Robert Hazo reports that he is
1949
The Rev. Frederick P. Davis
writes: “We ‘3-D’s’ of the Davis
clan (wife Rita, son David, and
self) are still hanging loose in
sunny southern California. Most
of the time we continue to take
care of each other: Rita tied to
tank-oxygen here at home but
doing most of the inside house
work; David in wheelchair from
compound fracture of both bones
below left knee but doing all the
hot cooking of dinner, and the ‘old
man’ doing all outside house and
garden work while running all
errands for food, etc. Relieved of
most church work; I’m at long last
finishing up 30 years of teaching
St. John’s type seminars at the
University of Pittsburgh. He also
coordinated a lecture series that
featured many prominent speak
ers, including George W. Bush.
He’s now working on a book titled
“Minority Rule.”
1954
A profile of Sydney Porter was
found by Joe Kaufman (class of
1953) in the winter 2001-2002
issue of Radon Reporter. The pro
file recounts highlights of Porter’s
career: He is a founding member
and early president of AARST
(American Association of Radon
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer zoos }
Scientists and Technologists), a
Certified Health Physicist, and a
fellow of the Health Physics Soci
ety, the American Nuclear Society,
and the American Association of
Physicists in Medicine. He was one
of the founders of Radiation Man
agement Corporation.
1955
“Maintain imperturbable equa
nimity! ” writes John Joanou.
Harold Bauer is in mid-season of
his 40th year as a conductor of
symphony and opera. He wiU con
tinue as Music Director of New
Philharmonic and DuPage Opera
Theater, two professional organi
zations in the Chicago area,
through the summer of 2004. He
has just concluded conducting
Massenet’s “Werther,” which he
says “shares a quite remarkable
union with Goethe’s novella of 125
years earlier.” In addition to a
concert of Brahms, Bartok, and
Bauer (the premier of his “Cele
bration for Orchestra”), he con
ducted a June production of
Lehar’s “Zigeunerliebe” for Light
Opera Works in Evanston, and a
July production of Floyd’s “Susan
nah” for DuPage Opera.
1957
Thomas Sigman writes: “Henry
Ansell passed away summer 2001.
Hank had been a successful restau
rateur in New York City. He was a
�{Alumni Notes}
lifelong opera buff. In retirement
he volunteered in several impor
tant positions at the New York
Metropolitan Opera. We remem
ber him also as a fine comedian
who could have been a profession
al. I miss him.”
Cornelia Hoffman Reese writes:
“In the aftermath of the tragedy of
9/11 when our stunned senses had
to recreate a semblance of normal
ity and daily living habits, we
decided to go forward with plans
to visit my daughter’s (Angelina
Kleneburgess, A83) friends in
Brussels. On Christmas day after
our celebration with children, we
departed from BWI. We included
myself, Angelina, Edward
Burgess (A79), and my Burgess
grandchildren—Genevieve, Louis,
and Cynthia. Though unable to
visit Mary Sullivan Blomberg in
Sweden as hoped, I was able to
have a most delightful phone con
versation with Mary, our first
voice contact in roughly 30 years.
Mary is living in Stockholm.”
1958
BlakelyLirrLuroN Mechau (also
SFGI70) and Michael K. Mechau
(class of 1959) write: “Both of us
are retired, living on a small farm,
reading books, and entertaining
friends and family.”
few months ago from Bank of
America, where I ran all informa
tion technology engineering activ
ities. Am doing a bit of consulting,
but am basically thoroughly enjoy
ing life. Marie and I are traveling
around, indulging our interest in
orientalia. We’re frequenting auc
tions and estate sales. I’m finding
life is wonderful after many years
of i8-hour frenzied days! ”
1963
Temple Porter has lived in
Raleigh 30 years with Brenda, his
wife of 35 years. After graduating
from Coach University in 1997,
Temple founded Triangle Coach
ing Services, a professional organ
ization that provides coaching,
counseling, and advisory services
to businesses and individuals
nationwide. In its infancy now,
coaching is gaining great credibil
ity as it spreads to all facets of our
culture. Any St. Johnnies interest
ed in exploring this growing field
may contact Temple for informa
tion. Empty nesters now. Temple
and Brenda have three children-a
social worker, a property manag
er, and a photographer-all in
N.C. Their oldest grandchild (of
3) is a teenager now, and is ready
to take scuba diving lessons as
preparation for a career in marine
biology.
David Benfield writes: “We
i960
Col. (RET) John Lane writes:
should all try to make the reunion
this year. Remember the old
advice from Chase and Phillips:
‘The beautiful is difficult.’ ”
“Hi, decided to retire completely
from a full-time job and retired a
Life’s Continuum
Virginia Seegers Harrison (Class of 1964) writes: “I’m continuing
to learn from the elders with whom I work. Even though they are
‘declining,’ they are storehouses of memories. (Many are old lefties
who recall firsthand WWI and so on.) I try to arrange living situations
which preserve or promote quality of life for them. In the meantime,
my eldest son and his wife had another child-a girl this time. It’s won
derful to have a two-year-old grandson and a 6-month-old granddaugh
ter, and to see the continuum of life.
1965
John Hetland is still (since 1973)
directing the Renaissance Street
Singers (www.streetsingers.org).
1966
really enjoying the one-on-one
therapy.”
Charles B. Watson (A) writes:
“#i son, Ivan Watson, now report
ing from Kabul for NPR. Busy life
continues unabated now that we’re
empty nesters and I still only get to
New York City two times a year.
Recently experienced 3rd world
health care as Masha broke her
arm on a boat in BVI.”
Christopher Hodgkin (A) is
Antigone Phalares (SF) writes:
looking forward to retiring this
summer and having time for seri
ous reading for the first time since
leaving the college.
“Our small but longstanding and
dedicated Sacramento SJC semi
nar group chugs along and enrich
es our lives, most of all because we
are lucky to have Tom (HA94) and
Marion Slaeiey who have blessed
us with their culture and refine
ment and warm hearts. I strongly
recommend to each alumni semi
nar that they seek out retired
tutors and nudge them to move
into your area and participate in
your seminars.” She describes the
Slakeys’ renewal of their wedding
vows this past January and notes
that she, Arianne Laidlaw (class
of 1957), and Curtis and Becky
Wilson (HA83 and 82AGI) were
among the Johnnies in attendance.
1967
For Helen Hobart (A), March
through June 3002 was a season
springing with change. She retired
as director (and founder) of the
City of Sacramento’s Alzheimer’s
day program to launch a new pro
gram of peer support groups for
individuals beginning the journey
of memory loss-and in June, unit
ed in marriage with a beloved
friend from her Buddhist Sangha.
“We take heart from the beautiful
renewal of wedding vows that TOM
(HA94) AND Marion Slakey held
here in Sacramento this winter!”
she says.
George Partlow (A) is looking
forward to retirement in June. His
fifth grandchild, Dakota Aragron
Watson, was born on Christmas
morning.
Rick Wicks (SF) was in Alaska
1968
Joy Avery-Balch (SF) writes: “My
email is still joy@tums.org. Let
me tell you about my new career. I
went back to school for three years
and got an associate’s degree in
Health Sciences in 1999 and am a
Certified Occupational Therapy
Assistant. However, there were no
jobs for C.O.T.A.s nationwide
until now. I’ve just been hired by a
national rehabilitation company
and finally earning enough money
to live on (my first non-not-forprofit job) AND still helping peo
ple cope with the problems caused
by strokes, heart attacks, acci
dents, etc. I’m working in two
nursing homes with rehab and
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
last summer for the first time in
ten years, where he had a chance
to visit Carl Bostek (SF) and his
fantastic Alaskan lodge. “We visit
ed our land and the kids and 1
caught salmon in the ocean-a
great time!” he writes.
ThomasG. Keens (SF) writes: “I
am a professor of pediatrics, physi
ology, and biophysics at the Keck
School of Medicine of the Univer
sity of Southern California. In
February 3002,1 organized a post
graduate course in Non-Invasive
Ventilation of Children with Res
piratory Failure as part of the 5th
International Congress of Pedi
atric Pulmonology in Nice,
France. I also spoke on Transition
ing CCHS Patients to Non-Invasive Ventilation at the Second
�{AlumniNotes}
About the Four Cats. ..
1970
31
which will be torn down. We
expect to spend winters there once
both boys are in college.”
Marii ynne (Maury Wills) Scott (SF) writes: “My husband David
and I enjoyed to our daughter, Emily’s, May graduation from Sarah
Lawrence College. She has been accepted at Yale Divinity School
where she will pursue a master’s of Art and Religion to combine her
interests in music (trombone) and liturgy. I continue to teach first
grade in a suburban school outside Seattle. This year will be my asth
in public education. The standards/accountability movement has
been discouraging to those of us who prefer to view children as
human beings glorious in their uniqueness. They say life begins
when the dog dies and the last child has left home-both of which
have happened to me. So how did 1 end up with four cats?! ”
International Symposium of Con
genital Central Hypoventilation
Syndrome in Paris, France. I coor
dinate one of the world’s largest
home mechanical ventilation pro
grams for children at the Chil
dren’s Hospital, Los Angeles. We
have sent home 346 children on
part-time or full-time mechanical
assisted ventilation in 34 years.”
Ellin Barret (SF) is a member of
the board of California Revels-a
non-profit performance organiza
tion. Revels groups exist in nine
cities across the U.S. and present
non-rehgious winter solstice pag
eants and other musical events. It’s
a great way to celebrate the winter.
The website is www.revels.org.
1969
Jamie Cromartte (SF), Frances
Burns, and Mark and Linda
Bernstein (all A69) met at the
Trenton Thunder Minor League
game on August 19. A mini-’69
NJ/Phila. Reunion.
Wendy Watson (SF) writes: “I’m
alive and well in Detroit, Michi
gan. I’m running three senior cen
ters and concerned with aging pol
icy development. My daughter
Amy is 15 and interested in theater
and is a good actress. She’s mak
ing her way through Shakespeare.
Peace and justice activities on a
local level are important to me.
Most of my friends are somehow
engaged in these activities too.”
Beth Kuper (SF) has left the cor
porate world and is now working
as a feng shui consultant.
Margaret Gaefney (SF) writes:
“My home is now 30 blocks from
Luther Burbank’s Home and Gar
den. I’m planting roses, tomatoes
and chilies in Santa Rosa, Califor
nia. Ahh! The Sun! Good for baby
boomer bone marrow. There is a
guest bedroom-St. Johnnies are
welcome. I’m doing landscaping,
nutritional-RN triage (cradle to
grave) and photography.
Barhara Mordes Ross (A) writes:
“To all the ones who have ever
known me, loved me, despised
me-I just want you to know that I
held each and every one of you in
my heart as I lay near death after
being broadsided by a truck that
went three feet into my driver's
seat. I was miraculously saved,
first by my good dear little Maxima
that I’ve loved and taken care of
for 17 years because she talks to
me. Second, by the red trauma
team that wanted to beat out the
blue trauma team to rescue me. I
ended up with six broken ribs, a
broken clavicle, a collapsed lung,
and a new love for old friends.
Now, when I say I love you to peo
ple I haven’t talked to for thirty
years, I realize how much I do love
them.” Barbara would appreciate
phone calls (407-493-4047) or let
ters (3913 Autumnwood Trail,
Apopka, FL 33703) from old
friends. Flowers would also be
lovely.
Susan Swartzherg-Rubenstein
(SF) (formerly Susan Wood) is
working as a foreign correspon
dent for public radio while living
in France. She can be reached at
Ssrub@aol.com, or by post at 6,
Impasse Pierre Simon, 93340
Malakoff, Paris, France. She
writes: “The St. John’s College
alumni living in Paris had a
reunion last month in the cafe at
the top of the Pompidou Center
with a magnificent aerial view of
half of Paris, sweeping from Sacre
Coeur to the Eiffel Tower around
to Notre Dame, and looking over
the plan of the city and the Hausmannian mansard rooftops.
“It was a delightful, unrushed
afternoon of fellowship with some
discussion about how we would
like to continue meeting. The five
of us included Bill Randolph
(A75), Nathanael Long (SF90),
Jennifer Donnelly (A96),
Georges Contos (class of 1953)
and yours truly. We have plans to
meet again on June 31, this time at
someone’s home, to discuss the
following list of poems:
Pierre de Ronsard - “Recueil:
Sonnets pour Helene”
Robert Herrick-“To The
Virgins, To Make Much of Time”
W. B. Yeats-“When You are Old”
Jules LaForgue-“Autre
Complainte de Lord Pierrot”
Thosophile Gautier-“L’hippotame”
T.S. Eliot-“The Hippopotamus”
Ronald H. Fielding (A) writes:
“Now in my seventh year with
Oppenheimer Funds, managing
four municipal bond funds with
over $8.5 billion (yes, that’s a B)
and 30 staff. Ron was the subject
of a three-page spread in Barron’s
April 39 issue. Sons Daniel and
Michael are in nth and 9th
grades, so college planning has
begun, and I showed Dan St.
John’s this summer. Also, we’ve
just begun architectural design
work for a new house on the beach
on Kiawah Island, S.C. I bought an
older house on the property from
Archibald Cox three years ago.
{The College . St. John’s College ■ Summer 200Z }
1971
Michael ViCTOROFF (A) has left
his job as medical director for
Aetna and is writing a book on
errors in medicine.
John Stark Bellamy II (A) is
astonished to announce the publi
cation of his fourth book devoted
to Cleveland murders and disas
ters, The Killer in the Attic: And
Even More Tales ofCleveland Woe,
published by Gray & Co. Publish
ers, Cleveland.
1972
Claude F. Martin (A) writes: “30
years? It seems longer! ”
Leslie Starr (A) has played a
third season as substitute second
oboe with the Baltimore Sympho
ny and took part in the orchestra’s
fall 3001 tour of Europe, which
included performances in London,
Paris, Berlin, and Vienna.
1973
Wilfred (Bill) McClay (A) was
nominated by President Bush to be
a member of the National Council
on the Humanities, which is the
governing board of the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
Deborah Achtenberg’s (A) book.
Cognition of Value in Aristotle’s
Ethics: Promise ofEnrichment,
Threat ofDestruction, was pub
lished by State University of New
York Press, May 3003.
Stephen A. Slusher (SF) is prac
ticing intellectual property lawprimarily biotechnology patent
prosecution and litigation, as a
partner at Peacock, Myers &
Adams, P.C. in Albuquerque.
�{AlUMNIPrOFILE}
3a
White House Wordsmith
Two bright September days—onejoyful, one tragic—have
set the tonefor Holly Miller's White House work.
BY SUS3AN
Borden A87
t was a crisp sunny Saturday
in early September when
Holly Miller (SFGIoi), a
new writer on Laura Bush’s
staff, brought her visiting
parents with her to the Jefferson
Building of the Library of Congress
to hear the First Lady speak at
Washington’s National Book Festi
val. “It was a beautiful day and a
great event for the city,” Miller says.
“We heard Mrs. Bush’s remarks,
strolled around, watched children
playing on the lawn, and listened to
Stephen Ambrose speak.”
Three days later, September ii,
was also a beautiful day in Washing
ton, but instead of celebrating.
Miller found herself and her col
leagues from the Old Executive Holly Miller (right) with hoss Laura Bush.
Office Building fleeing their work
space in confusion and fear as a
Boeing 767 struck the Pentagon and the thinking that no matter where you live or
safety of downtown D.C. seemed unimagin who you are, there is a level at which we can
all connect. Even more simply, I was think
ably flimsy.
Despite the somber note that tragic day ing that there are so many good people out
brought to the lives of Washington workers, there.”
Miller says that the excitement of work
it did not mark the end of Miller’s honey
moon with her dream job. “After 9/11 the ing in the White House has not diminished
position definitely had new meaning,” says over time and adds that she’s never met
Miller. “The attacks gave me a greater anyone, no matter how long they’ve
sense for where I worked and why I was in worked there, for whom it had. “Anyone
public service. Having the opportunity to with any interest in history can’t help but
write for someone who is in a position to be thrilled to work here, to walk through
offer comfort to so many people made me these hallways. It’s so humbling, so fasci
realize that I was to contributing to the larg nating. I’m always learning about the his
tory of this place.”
er work of the White House.”
Miller is learning about a lot more than
Shortly after the attacks, Mrs. Bush’s
staff relocated to the East Wing of the the history and lore of 1600 Pennsylvania
White House where Miller now works in a Avenue. An ongoing challenge of her job is
small office next to the Visitors’ Center. to capture the style and sentiments of Mrs.
Over the next few months, a number of fam Bush to use in the writing she does on her
ily members of the 9/ii victims visited the behalf.
“It’s a learning process,” she says. “I
White House. “It was inspiring to meet
them and an honor to have the chance to trained under my predecessor, who had a
express my condolences,” she says. “They good sense of Mrs. Bush’s voice. I’ve read
were so brave and gracious. I remember her old speeches. Sometimes I can go back
{The College -St John's College • Summer 2002 }
and find what I want to write in a
speech she delivered months ago.
Learning to write for her is a matter
of marrying of my style and her style;
her style changes and I evolve with
her.”
Of course in Miller’s potentially
sensitive position, getting the style
right is only part of the challenge.
She discusses policy-related corre
spondence with Mrs. Bush’s direc
tor of policy. When she writes
thank-you letters to foreign heads of
state, she consults the National
Security Council.
And all her work is checked by the
First Lady before she signs it. “My
communication with Mrs. Bush
comes through the written word,
which informs my style,” says Miller.
“She’s the best editor. Her changes,
whether of a word or a sentence,
make everything read just right.”
Miller’s a competent editor on her own.
She notes that all of her jobs-whether in
government, television, or public relations-have been writing jobs. After earning
a BA in English and creative writing from
Denison University in 1995, she began her
career as a writer and legislative aide to Sen
ator Olympia Snow of Maine and enrolled in
the Craduate Institute at St. John’s in 1997.
“What a great time to do it,” she says. “I
was reading texts about early government
and how democracy came about, reading
The Prince while working on the Hill.”
Now Mrs. Bush’s deputy director of corre
spondence, Miller’s literary focus is prima
rily on the words and thoughts of the First
Lady, although she does make time to read
the words of others. “I just finished reading
the David McCullough biography, John
Adams, and I’m trying to read more from
the great collection of books I got at St.
John’s,” she says. First on the list for this
White House staffer? Alexis de Tocqueville’s
Democracy in America.
�{AlumniNotes}
Jon Ferrier (A) writes; “I just fin
ished an introduction to jazz pro
gram at our local public library
where Kayne, my wife, was branch
head.”
Laurie Franklin Callahan’s (SF)
daughter, Erin Callahan, will be a
freshman on the Annapolis cam
pus in the fall.
From Steve and Melissa Sedlis
(both A): “Steve is chief of cardiol
ogy at the Manhattan VA Medical
Center. He is an interventional
cardiologist and associate profes
sor at NYU School of Medicine.
Melissa is a pediatrician in private
practice in Manhattan and on the
faculty of Weill Cornell Medical
College and Mt. Sinai School of
Medicine. Our oldest daughter,
Elizabeth, is graduating from
Barnard College with a degree in
neurosciences. Our second daugh
ter, Jennifer, is a sophomore at
Scripps College studying political
science, and Julia is in high
school.”
School of Architecture. He is also
a painter and is presently design
ing large screens (oil on wood) and
continuing to work in pen and ink.
Cynthia Kirschner Swiss (A)
writes: “My husband and I are
sponsoring a coffeehouse for
singer-songwriters at St. John’s
Methodist Church on Harford
Road in Baltimore the first Satur
day of every month.”
“I’ve largely left newspapering for
longer forms,” writes Eric
Scigliano (SF). “A new book.
Love, War, and Circuses: the AgeOld Relationship Between Ele
phants and Humans was published
by Houghton Mifflin this spring.”
1976
Phyllis P. Goodman (SFGI)
became a great-grandmother on
March 22.
After over ao years as a computer
consultant serving the healthcare
industry, Jan Lisa Huttner (A) is
now devoting herself full time to
her web site FILMS FOR TWO:
THE ONLINE GUIDE FOR BUSY
COUPLES (www.films4a.com
<http://www.films4a.com/>) and
related speaking and writing proj
ects. Alumni who logged on this
summer had an extra treat-a guest
editorial by David Chute (Aya).
Landrun Hardy Mason (A)
writes: “I’m living happily in the
Connecticut countryside with my
wife and daughter. Our son is now
a freshman at MIT, and I’m in my
third career. After 10 years each as
a computer scientist and then a
corporate manager. I’m now an
investment advisor and fund manager-and loving it. Would be
thrilled to hear from any of my
friends from my abbreviated
career at St. John’s.”
1974
1977
Alla and Jeff Victoroff (A) are
pleased as punch to announce the
birth of their beautiful daughter
Maia on February 23, aooi.
1975
In addition to his editorial work at
the University of Miami in NorthSouth Center, Jose Grave de Per
alta (A) is teaching art history at
the Art and Art History Depart
ment and freehand drawing in the
WalterT. Featherly (SF) writes:
“As of July I, 2001,1 joined the
Washington D.C.-based law firm
of Patton Boggs, but I continue to
reside and work in Anchorage,
Alaska.” He’d like to hear from
any Johnnies traveling to Alaska.
Bob Elliott (A) writes: “I have
just started my own investment
banking/securities boutique after
18 years at JP Morgan. I am happy
to discuss careers on Wall Street
with interested students/alumni,
especially those in the Chicago
area where I live with my wife,
Stephanie, and three daughters.”
1978
Victor Lee Austin (SF) writes:
“In the spring of 2002, three
Austins celebrated graduation. I
received my PhD in theology at
Fordham; my dissertation title: A
Christological Social Vision: The
Uses ofChrist in the Social Encycli
cals ofJohn Paul II. But also in the
same season, our son, Michael,
received his BA from Thomas
Aquinas College; and our daugh
ter, Emily, graduated from high
school. My wife, Susan (Gavahan,
SF76), doesn’t quite know what to
think, but is enjoying some physi
cal and mental improvement of
late. (In 1993 she had brain sur
gery. ) A book of my meditations, A
Priest’s Journal, was published in
late 2001 by Church Publishing in
New York.
Peter Buck (SF) continues his
work to set up a year-long rites of
passage workshop in North Caroli
na and continues his work with
Quakers.
1980
Peter Grubb (A) writes: “2002
celebrates 18 years of marriage,
the 8th and nth birthdays of our
two lovely children (Mariah and
Jonah), and 23 years owning my
business ROW (River Odysseys
West/Remote Odysseys World
wide). ROW’S Missouri river
adventures, paddling 34-foot
canoes that replicate those of the
early fur traders along the Lewis
and Clark trail, are selling like hot
cakes. Visit ROW at
WWW. rowinc .com.”
1981
Chris Mark (A) bought a house in
Laurel, Md. in late 2000. “It’s
within earshot of I-95, so any
33
Johnnies passing through the area
are welcome to stop by for a
refreshing beverage. My email
address is cjmark@speakeasy.org.”
Matt Hartzell (A) writes:
“Amongst other fun and frolic. I’m
now on the Board of Directors for
a new bank we helped organize
and start up. The Right Bank for
Texas opened its doors May 13. I’m
still waiting for my Director’s fees,
but I guess I haven’t drawn the
right ‘Chance’ or ‘Community
Chest’ card yet!”
Marilynn R. Smith (SFGI) writes:
“I’m retiring this year from the K12 school district for which I’ve
worked for 27 years. I’ll continue
to teach, though, for the local
community college. Also I’ll have
time to spend with my 4 grandchil
dren!”
1982
Gail Donohue Storey (SFGI), a
novelist, and her husband. Dr.
Porter Storey, bicycled 2400 miles
in seven weeks from Houston,
Texas to Camden, Maine on their
tandem bicycle, fully self-support
ed with four panniers.
Kathi Sue Nash Wilson (SF) has a
daughter, Karina, who graduated
in June from the University of Cal
ifornia at the age of 19. The family,
which includes her husband Wayne,
and seven-year-old son Kennedy,
are relocating this summer.
Patty (Sowa) Rubin (A) is living
on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with
husband Eric and children Anna
(16), Madalen (12), and Alden (8).
“I’m teaching preschool music
(best teaching job I’ve had, for the
worst pay), directing church
choir, singing as soloist and as
member of local choruses. Cur
rent improbable ambitions: to
have my own office and sing Die
Wesendonk Lieder.”
David HershelWeinstein (A) has
lived in Florida since 1985 and is
still the director of research for a
brokerage firm. He’s recently
continued on p-jG
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
�{Alumni Profile}
34
Unmasking the Apocalypse
A Johnnie parodies a hest-selling series ofapocalyptic novels.
BY Sus3AN
Borden
(A87)
rebuilt and the sacrificial system reestab
lished as the world prepares for the apoca
lypse) has ridden one wave of popularity
after another since it first showed up in
the 19th century. He says that, not only
does the dispensationalists’ vision rob
Christianity of its depth and meaning, but
its promoters often have another agendato rob Christians of their
worldly possessions.
“Dispensational theolo
gy has always been a rest
ing place for thieves. In
the 1890s they said the
end of the world would be
in ten years. They got peo
ple to sell their homes,
give them their money,”
Wilson says. “Some peo
ple will take on massive
debt, do short term things
like not get married and
go off to work in the mis
sion field for what they
think is the world’s last
few years. There’s nothing
shallower than a Christ
culture with end-of-theworld fever, because
everything’s short-term
thinking.”
As Wilson has reflected
this shallow thinking in
the mirror of parody, he’s
caused a stir among a
number of readers of
the Left Behind series. “I
was expecting far more
anger,” he says, “but I got
a lot of feedback that was
positive and thoughtful. I
heard from people saying
‘thanks for letting people
know that the Left Behind
books are not the only
is sentences are stilted, his ed to demonstrate that historic Christian
nouns too often abstract. ity is much bigger than what Left Behind
His dialogue is plodding presents.”
Wilson says that dispensational theolo
and his reasoning is circu
lar. His characters are gy (the theological position that holds
stereotypes living in a world of cliches. His that God covenants with people in differ
plot is far-fetched and his descriptions are ent ways in different periods of history-in
this case requiring that the Temple be
long and largely irrelevant.
You’d think a graduate of
St. John’s and a lecturer at
New St. Andrews College
would know better.
And you’d be right.
Nathan Wilson (AGloi) is
the author of Right Behind, a
parody of the best-selling
apocalyptic novel Left
Behind. In Left Behind, the
world is confronted with the
sudden disappearance of a
significant portion of its
population as the true
believers are raptured, leav
ing a confused world of non
believers behind to discover
the truth and live out the
Bible’s apocalyptic vision.
In Right Behind, Wilson
mocks every aspect of the
book, from the heavy-hand
ed character development
to the clumsy writing. “I
wanted to imitate the writ
ing style, the thought
process, the plot structure.
I wanted to imitate into car
icature every literary aspect
of the work and its theolo
gy,” he says. But his main
goal was to reveal the perni
cious thinking behind Left
Behind’s theology-and its
success. “[Authors] LaHaye
and Jenkins have created a
Parodist Nathan Wilson with his son, Rory D.
false view of Christ. I want{The College.
St. John’s
College ■ Summer 2002
}
�{Alumni Profile}
option.’ And I heard from people who
have awakened and started reading
those hooks in light of Right Behind.
My goal was not to present a theology,
hut to trigger an investigation of
LaHaye’s and Jenkins’ ideas.”
Readers’ comments on Amazon,
com include: “It’s about time a Christ
ian who is concerned with what the
Bihle actually says writes a hook,” and
“I laughed my evangelical Christian
keister off.” Two self-proclaimed
authorities on dispensational theology
also weighed in, says Wilson: “Tim
LaHaye said my hook was funny hut
Jenkins got really, really mad.”
Those most critical of Wilson’s
book saw him as anti-Christian.
“Some people got really fired up and
thought I was blaspheming against
Christianity and attacking God,” says
Wilson. “But I was most certainly not
doing that. I was attacking a new and
not too long-lived movement in the
evangelical world.”
Far from being prone to take pot
shots at Christianity, Wilson comes
from a Christian background and
takes religion seriously. “My parents
came out of the ‘Jesus People’ move
ment in the ’70s. It was a bunch of hip
pies who moved on from ‘make love
not war’ to somehow find the doc
trines of Christ. My dad became a pas
tor in a Jesus People church in an auto
body shop.”
Wilson’s father is still pastor of
that church, which has become a
Presbyterian church, and Wilson
describes his parents now as oldguard historic Protestants. “I’ve lived
through most of that process,” he
says. “I was born into the body shop
church, and am now currently attend-
From Right Behind
BY Nathan D. Wilson
Buff sat by his window in business class and watched
the sun come up like a single tooth in a bleeding gum.
f He remembered that time in Israel. You know, that
J time when he became a deist and began to think that
I he led a charmed life because he always was, to coin a
phrase, in the right place at the right time.
An old woman sat across the aisle from him, a passed
out drunk next to him. He turned from his window and
looked at the old woman. She had a pair of cotton
nylon blend underpants in one hand and dentures in
the other. She stared at Buff in shock.
“Excuse me mister,” she said.
“Yes?” Buff said.
“He’s gone. My Harold’s gone. He’s just gone, van
ished, disappeared. Could you help me find him?”
“I’m afraid that there is going to be no finding him
Ma’am.”
“Why?”
“Has he left all material things behind him, clothes,
dentures, hairpiece?”
“’Ves.”
“Then he has finally turned his back on this world of
matter and all things evil. He has jumped right out of
the corruption that matter entails. He has taken every
thing essential to his being and left the rest behind. He
has reached the enlightened world of Forms where
there is no jewelry but spiritual jewels, where dentures
cannot go, where everyone is naked. He has been
Raptured.”
“How do you know?” the woman said.
“I write bad apocalyptic fiction. 1 know things.
Endtimes are my game.”
{The College
Sf.
John’s College • Summer 2002 }
35
ing that Presbyterian church.”
In addition to leading the church,
Wilson’s father founded the Logos
School, a K-ia classical school, and
New St. Andrews College, where Wil
son got his BA in 1999. “I came out of
there looking for a graduate liberal arts
program. The only thing that was
appealing was St. John’s. I was already
addicted to great books, having been
boiled in them at an early age. After
experiences with courses in other
schools, I thought St. John’s was ideal.”
Wilson has now returned to New St.
Andrews College as a part-time lecturer
in literature and will teach Euclid’s
geometry and classical rhetoric this
fall. He’s also managing editor of
Credenda/Agenda, a magazine he
describes as “a philosophically and reli
giously Trinitarian cultural journal.”
He’s working on study guides for Par
adise Lost and Faerie Queen for Veritas
Publishing in Pennsylvania and is in the
process of editing a collection of arti
cles comparing Islam and Christianity.
Wilson’s Right Behind publisher.
Canon Press, is thinking of following up
with another parody. Wilson favors a
Christian romance novel.
As for the theology that served as
counter-inspiration for Right Behind,
it’s still out there, more popular than
ever. The Left Behind series has sold
over 50 million books in 2,1 languages.
Left Behind products include 10 nov
els, five graphic novels, a6 children’s
books, several audio tapes, a calendar,
and a movie. For his part, Wilson does
not see its continued influence and
success as an impediment to his beliefs.
“I think the evangelical church is a
mess,” he says, “but I still count myself
part of it.”
�{AlumniNotes}
36
spent some time studying counter
bioterrorism and Joseph Camp
bell.
Jim (A84) AND Tish Heysell’s (A)
daughter, Maria, who was carried
across the graduation stage in
1983 as an infant when Tish grad
uated from St. John’s, has finished
her freshman year. She enjoyed
her year and loves the “great con
versation.”
Elizabeth Colmant Estes (A)
writes: “After nine years climbing
the corporate ladder at AT&T, I
found myself pregnant and ready
for new life. Joined a creative web
firm where I was the oldest
employee. Got bought out by a
bigger firm in moo. Watched the
web business disappear and my
colleagues with it. Took home the
plants and lo-foot giraffes this
week. Setting up my home office
as a business consultant. Helping
companies like the New York
Times and Morgan Stanley Dean
Witter to go paperless. Working
6o-hour weeks but mostly from
home where I can watch two-yearold Olivia play in the garden
below. This May I joined my son
Michael, 17, in Italy where he
spent the year with his sabbaticalized dad.”
Ruth Ann Smith Plummer (A)
says hello to anyone who might
remember her. She asks her old
friends to email her if they will be
attending the aoth reunion:
r.plummer@ntlworld.com.
1983
Lyn DesMarais (A) writes: “Our
kids are growing, healthy, and
active. We are engaged in a lot of
music, mainly bluegrass, and hope
to have a barn full of animals by
winter.”
From Margaret S. Mertz (SF):
“Santa Fe Class of’83 alums-where
are you? I am in my 3rd year as the
Dean of General Studies at the
North Carohna School of the Artsfinally a winning combination of
my St. John’s years in the context of
a performing arts conservatory.
Email is always welcome:
msmertz@mindspring.com.”
1986
Amy Bianco (SF) is living in
Sleepy Hollow, New York, and
working as a science editor at large
for Princeton University Press.
Her email address is amybianco@earthlink.net.
Daniel Schoos (A) participated in
1984
Liz Travis (SF) writes: “Leaving
my role in higher education was
tough, but I originally picked St.
John’s with the intention of going
on to become a lawyer, and when I
found that an annual ski pass was a
part of the deal I knew I belonged
here in Mammoth. If ever you are
wandering in the Eastern Sierras,
look me up; the door will be open.”
Er. Robert John NicoLETn, M.J.
(SF) is living in Ukraine and
searching for benefactors for an
orphanage for 14 children (soon to
be many more) and a soup kitchen
(serving over 350 people a day).
“Greetings to all my friends from
St. John’s,” writes Reth KoolBECK (A). “I keep very busy home
schooling each of our four school
age children. (We have two
preschoolers, as well.) This
sounds a lot harder than it is,
since the older kids do much of
the chores. The hardest part is
getting along with each other,
which we do for the most part. It’s
never dull, and sometimes we
have moments of glory.”
Elizabeth and John Rush (SF) and
Salem and Loran say hello from
the mountains ofVirginia.
Chris Rutkowski (A) is thrilled to
announce the birth of her daugh
ter, Rose Adelajda Rutkowski.
Russell Titus (A) writes: “It’s an
Sarah DeKorne (A) writes: “I am
exciting year for me. I have a new
job with terrific training facilities
and my wife and I are expecting
our third child in September.
Hmmm...ril be 63 when this child
graduates high school.”
working as a technical writer for a
medical software company. My
daughters, Cecelia and Helen, are
now 14 and 13.1 am remarrying in
the fall, Mark Howe. I hope to see
my classmates at our 30th
reunion.”
the Washington, D.C. AIDS ride
in June, a 330-mile bicycle trek
from Norfolk to Washington, D.C.
Stephanie Rico (A) writes: “Todd
(Todd Peterson, A87) was hang
ing out as ship’s surgeon on the
U.S.S. Stennis in the Arabian Gulf
while Steph was waiting for their
first child to arrive. Todd was
sorry to miss the birth, but came
home in May. Steph taught high
school physics up until the day it
all happened. Exciting times for
both of us.”
Elisabeth Long (A) is currently
splitting her time between co
directing the Digital Library
Development Center at the Uni
versity of Chicago and her latest
endeavor-getting an MFA in book
and paper arts at Columbia Col
lege. She had her first piece in a
gallery show in January. It was
based on the 3 Fates.
1987
Michael David (SF) writes: “Left
Sandia Labs in October 3000,
tried technology marketing con
sulting until recession arrived.
Been teaching algebra and geome
try at Sandia High School in Albu
querque. Students loved Euclid
Book I and doing propositions. I47 is still fun. Now looking for
business position.”
Sallie Fine Lewin (A) writes: “On
March 34th I married Michael
Lewin in Cleveland, Ohio. While
not a Johnnie, Mike did win the
approval of many of our fold. We
were thrilled that Jerry Abrams
(A87), Dave Heimann (A87),
SheilaMonen’Virgil (A88),
Linda Hamm Grez (A86), Tamara
{The College- St. John^s College ■ Summer 2002 }
(A87) AND Jerome Downey (A86),
Jo Ann (A87) AND Walter Matt
son (A87), and Joe Miller (A89)
could join us as we celebrated the
start of our new life together.
After a fabulous honeymoon in
Australia, we’re adjusting well to
our new filing status.”
1988
Sarah Waters (A) writes: “I’m
back on Kent Island and loving it.
I’m senior designer for Vanguard
Communications in Washington,
D.C., and doing my art on the
side. Would love to hear from my
classmates. Come visit.”
1989
George Erhard (SF) writes: “I
am currently working as an Inter
net technical course developer and
instructor and have recently re
discovered philosophy by way of
motorcycling”
Joe Miller (A) will move from
Chicago to Portland, Oregon in
late May. He will join the faculty of
Lewis & Clark Law School as an
assistant professor teaching intel
lectual property and evidence law
courses.
Heidi Ann Hoogstra (SF) writes:
“I am primarily responsible for
getting a new Buddhist Peace Fel
lowship chapter started for Port
land, Oregon. I am also the con
tact person for this new chapter. I
would love to hear from folks (you
know who you are). My email
address is enji@earthlink.net.”
Sophie Ehrhardt (Romano) (SF)
writes: “Mac and I still find our
selves in the heartland with (his)
family business and (my) growing
Montessori school, and enough
community involvement to drown
in. We know we have the two
smartest and most beautiful chil
dren this side of the Mississippi
River. If anyone knows where John
Ange (SF88) is, drop me an email:
orchards@deskmedia,com.”
�{AlumniNotes}
Jennifer Rogers Hoheisel (AGI)
writes: “Eric, Will, Luke, and I
are beginning to put down roots in
New Jersey. I just got a tenure
track teaching job in philosophy at
Camden County College. This fall
has been quite a time to contem
plate and ‘teach’ ethics, especially
with a wonderfully diverse group
of students. I continue to be an
evangelist for St. John’s style semi
nars. Eric is enjoying his 5th year
as a pastor at a local church that is
geographically and economically
between Camden and Haddon
field, New Jersey. Will is in third
grade, and Luke just started
kindergarten. We miss everyone at
St. John’s!”
Joy Kaplan (SF87) came for a
quick trip to Texas, where she vis
ited with Dixie Davis (A), Jim
Tourtelott (A73), and ran into
Kevin Heyburn (SF86) at a book
signing.
Beverly Angel (SFGI) graduated
in May from University of Texas
School of Law. She was recently
selected as one of 16 third year stu
dents (out of a class of 450) for
Peregrinus Consul. Consuls are
chosen for recognition based on
leadership and service to the law
school community. She hopes to
practice general civil litigation
after graduation. She is currently
clerking part-time at Hilgers &
Watkins, a mid-size Austin firm.
Rick Craven (A) writes: “Rick and
his wife Debbie were expecting
their first baby in July. They can be
reached at 2007 Bent Tree Loop,
Round Rock, TX 78681; rpcrfaven@hotmail.com. We’d love to
hear your news and visitors are
welcome! ”
Jeanne Blackmore (nee
Duvoisev) (A) writes: “I’ve never
written into the alumni magazine;
after all these years, I guess it’s
time! To start from the beginning,
I became a lawyer (ugh, I know,
how boring) after college, and
wound up practicing tax
law/mergers & acquisitions for
Ernst & Young’s San Jose office.
After too many years of that, I met
my husband and we decided to
take two years off from real jobs to
work for an animal rescue group in
beautiful southern Utah, Best
Friends Animal Sanctuary. We ran
their mobile adoption program for
dogs, and loved it. My firm never
let me quit completely, but for
some unknown reason asked me to
continue working part time from
home in a research and writing
capacity. This fall, after we fin
ished our two year stint in Utah,
we returned to the East Coast in
Burlington, Vermont. We are
enjoying it very much, snow and
all. I’m back to work full time for
Ernst & Young from my home
office-much better than a real
office.
Somewhere in all of that, we had
a baby boy named Benjamin Rex.
He’s eight months old now, and we
think he’s a blast! But, I guess all
parents think that about their
babies!
Over the years. I’ve kept in
touch with Garfield Goodrum
(A89); he and his wife Lucy just
relocated to Vermont. They have a
beautiful spread near Woodstock,
with horses, guest houses, and the
like. We’re contemplating moving
in with them. I’ve also kept in
touch with Alexandra Kambouris-Alberstadt (A87), who
lives in NYC and just had her sec
ond baby-a boy. And Sandro
Battaglia (A90) got married last
year and then narrowly (phew) sur
vived the WTC disaster. All three
are lawyers-egads!
I’d love to hear from any John
nies in the area or from any of my
long lost classmates! Feel free to
e-mail atjeannevt@adelphia.net.”
1990
Kevin Graham (A) has been
granted tenure and promoted to
the rank of associate professor of
philosophy at Creighton Universi
ty, the Jesuit University of Omaha.
Graham Harman’s (A) book,
Tool-Being: Heidegger and the
Metaphysics of Objects, is available
from Open Court Publishing.
Jonathan Ying (A) earned a mas
ter of industrial and labor rela
tions from Cornell University in
37
May, 2001. During his studies at
Cornell he was an intern at Amgen
and General Mills. Jon is currently
a human resources manager at
Texas Instruments’ Wireless Ter
minals business unit. His email
address is jyingioo@yahoo.com.
Sean P. Scally (AGI) and Debo
rah S. Scally NEE Lilly (AGI91)
have relocated to 9107 Demery
Court, Brentwood, Tennessee
37027 (615-373-1094). Deborah is
the editor of Bank Director Maga
zine and Board Member Magazine
and can be reached at
dscally@boardmemmber.com.
Sean is University counsel and Tax
Attorney for Vanderbilt University
and Medical Center and can be
reached at sean.scally@vanderbilt.edu. “We have two wonderful
children: Case, age 8 and Molly,
age 5,” writes Sean. “Both of us
miss all our GI classmates and
tutors and the special program
that is SJC. We’d also like to hear
from Johnnies who are near
Nashville even if you are just pass
ing through!”
Ken Turnbull (A) recently
changed law firms and is now an
associate in the Washington, D.C.
office of Orrick, Herrington and
Sutcliffe, LLP, a firm that origi
nated in San Francisco. On May 4
he married Leslie Spiegel, who
also is a lawyer in D.C. “I’d love to
hear from old friends at my email
address: kturnbull@orrick.com.”
From the parents of Mickey MeriCLE (AGI91): “In 2001, seeking to
cut back to a 10 hour day from the
hectic life of a consultant, Mickey
took a pay cut and accepted a posi
tion with Kinko’s. Six months later
Kinko’s CEO laid off most of the
California workforce and moved
their headquarters to Dallas, so
Mickey returned to one of her pre
vious employers, OFDA. The
Office of Foreign Disaster Assis
tance was glad to have her back
and posted her to Sierra Leone,
Liberia, and Mali. They also gave
her a global positioning system to
pinpoint possible landing strips
for small planes as she traveled
around Western Africa.
“From beautiful Freetown, high
on a hill overlooking the ocean,
via satellite phone, Mickey sighs
wistfully and says, ‘Someday I’ll
find a job where I can stay in one
place long enough to have a per
sonal life and have Murphy and
McDuff’ (her two bassets).
“The caretakers of M and M sigh
and hope for this too.
“Mickey’s diplomatic pouch
address is 2160 Freetown Place,
Dulles, VA 20521-2160. Her per
sonal email (bassetpal@aol.com)
at 9600 baud is available but not
answered often.”
1992
1991
Lani Makholm (AGI) writes: “I’m
Deirdre Routt (A) has taken a
position as a cataloger and refer
ence librarian at the main branch
of the Omaha Public Library.
Sally Henderson Keller (SFGI)
writes: “I am in my roth year of
teaching Honors Philosophy at the
high school level. Bruce Grigsby
(SGI95) was a great help during
the early design stages. I designed
the course featuring the seminar
method as a key component. It was
approved in 1991 and I’ve been
teaching it every year since that
time. I was honored to be chosen
the Teacher of the year 2001 (dis
{The College. 5t. John ’5 College ■ Summer 2002
trict #60, Pueblo, Go.). Again, a
graduate of St. John’s, Lenore
Trujillo (SGI95), was one of my
strongest supporters.”
}
currently through my church tak
ing a six-month certificate course
on the Islam faith. Also through
the U.S. Dept, of State I have
recently completed a two-week
course on the Near East and
Africa. When I graduated from St.
John’s, I was working for the U.S.
Information Agency which merged
in 1999 with the State Depart
ment. For the USIA, I worked pri
marily with educational and cul
tural exchanges but since the
merger, have had to get up to
speed on politics and U.S. policies
in the countries for which I am
responsible. I hope through my
�{AlumniNotes}
38
studies on the Near East to be led
to short-term mission work in
Islamic countries.”
Elyette Kirby, formerly Elyette
Block (SF), writes: “I’ve moved to
Tunbridge Wells, UK, originally
for work but am now a stay-athome mom to Benjamin and am
expecting another baby this Sep
tember. I’m always interested in
meeting up with old friends who
may be in the area.”
Victoria Burgess (SF) writes: “I
was able to catch up with Nicole
Kalman Levy (SF93) this past
August when I was in the U.S.
which was super. I am still hving
in London and would love to get in
touch with any Johnnies in the
London area.”
Greg Francke’s (A) piece,
“Israeli actions toward Palestini
ans a crying shame,” was published in April in The Citizen.
sense that I would become a
farmer. My ii-year-old mutt,
Judas, and I have been working at
Organic Herbs Unlimited in Sara
sota since September. Among the
many reasons I moved to Florida,
learning to grow food organically
is an aromatic challenge. I am also
in the process of publishing a
memoir and a collection of shorter
work, mostly poetry. At 31,1 am a
vegan, Quaker, divorcee without
an undergraduate degree! Educa
tion is a luxury for which I am
grateful every day, and hope to
finish only with a final breath. In
the meantime, Johnnies are always
welcome.”
Michael A. Baldwin (SFGI) is
now a Program Manager for the
Community Development Block
Grant Program for the Local Gov
ernment Division for the Depart
ment of Finance and Administra
tion for the State of New Mexico.
Joseph Walter Sterling FV (A)
Jim Cachey (SFGI) has recently
opened his own real estate broker
age firm in Chicago. His website is
www.jimcachey.com.
Dawn Beltz Pollard (AGI98) and
Phil Pollard (AGI93) have three
daughters-Eleanore, Anna, and
Thea. They’re opening a Waldorfinspired school in Knoxville. Phil
plays lots of drums and has about
75 music students.
writes: “Since June 2000 I have
had the privilege of working for
Project H.O.M.E., a non-profit
organization in Philadelphia dedi
cated to helping individuals break
the cycle of homelessness. Being a
part of this community has been
the most extraordinary experience
and blessing for me. I continue to
work (slowly) on my doctoral the
sis in philosophy at Emory U.”
Kevin Johnson (A) writes: “Even
1993
Sharon Fitzpatrick (A) writes:
“Despite prestigious ambitions as
an adolescent, I had an intuitive
though I was never married, I can
faithfully report that I am single
again. And loving it.”
Sarah Louise Horton Stilwell was
born March a, aooa to Millicent
and McDavid Stilwell (both A).
Laura Anne Stuart (A) writes: “I
recently started a new job as the
health educator for students at
MIT. I am also a new member of
the board of the Boston Women’s
Health Book Collective, Publish
ers of Our Bodies, Ourselves. This
spring. I’ll wrap up a sexuality
education program for 7th and Sth
graders that I’ve been teaching
since last fall at the Cambridge
Unitarian-Universalist Church. I
spend most of my days and nights
talking about sex, which is great! ”
Thomas Hammerman (A) finished
his master’s degree in library sci
ence and is now the Hebrew mono
graphic cataloger at University of
Chicago.
The Ellermans write: “Alex
(AGI): Much to my amazement
and chagrin, the Navy’s promoting
me to Lieutenant Commander this
year; just in time for my resigna
tion. We’re planning to move back
to the D.C. area, where I’ll look
for an airline job. Vanessa (A): I’m
coming up on my and year at my
law firm here in Corpus Christi
and I’m celebrating by taking up
triathlon racing. I’m looking for
ward to finding a good law firm in
the D.C. area and settling down for
awhile. Ian (SFaa): I can count to
four now! ”
Kyle Linzer (SF and EC95) is hav
ing a great time teaching dance
and yoga at Rio Rancho High
School, and “living world’s rehgions” and philosophy for UNM.
He’d love to hear from alumni. His
email is Nikosdad@aol.com.
Jeffrey Spencer Wright (SFGI)
writes: “I received a National
Endowment for the Humanities
Fellowship last summer and so got
to spend last summer in San
Diego, California, as part of a sixweek seminar titled “Greek Values
in Crisis: Thucydides, Sophocles,
and Plato.” Pat Harnett (SGIoi)
was also one of the 15 participants
from around the United States.
Marvelous experience!! Carmel
High School’s philosophy class,
utilizing a real seminar method,
continues to flourish. Motivated
high school kids can read and
think and conduct real seminars!”
Phoebe Merrin Carter (SF)
writes: My husband Greg and I had
a baby boy in September, named
Dylan Guthrie, and we are really
enjoying being parents. I am the
Youth Services manager for the
Weber County Library System in
Ogden, Utah. Since I’m out of
touch with many of my old friends.
I’d like to say hi to everyone. My
e-mail address is pcarter@weberpl.hb.ut.us.”
Nancy Marcus (A) has been
named the Director of the Nation
al Abortion Federation’s Depart
ment of State Public Policy. She
continues to live in the D.C. area
with her cat Nicoless (whose name
reflects Nancy’s ongoing struggle
to quit smoking). Nancy welcomes
email from Johnnies at nmarcus@prochoice.org.
AnthonyChiffolo’s (AGI) sixth
book, too Names ofMary, has just
been published by St. Anthony
Messenger Press.
1995
Aaron Fredrickson (SF) writes:
A Year in Tuscany
1994
Mosheh Vineberg (SF) writes: “I
Anne Schuchman (A) and James Berrettini (AGI93) write: “We
spent the past academic year living in a i6th century farmhouse on
the outskirts of Florence, Italy. Anne had a Fulbright grant to do dis
sertation research on a 13th-century woman mystic and Jim quit his
job and is currently a full-time dad to Samuel, now 3. We returned to
New York (and to reality) in July. Baby #2 is expected in October so it
looks Uke we’re going to miss Homecoming (again). Maybe Croquet
2003? Anne can be reached at; ams8050@nyu.edu and Jim at
jpb@alum.mit.edu.
think an exciting life is accessible
to everyone everywhere, wherever
you find yourself, provided that
you listen to your heart and make a
little time each day or each week
to cultivate your dream and life
purpose. My dream/purpose is to
live as a Jew in Israel, build a fami
ly, learn Torah and make art.”
{The College. 5t. John’s College . Summer aooa }
“I’ve had an eventful fewyears. The
condensed version is that my wife
and I have returned to my native
soil in the San Francisco Bay Area
after finishing law school and
spending a mostly futile year in Vir
ginia. I’d very much like to speak
with any Johnny lawyers hving in
the area, as I’ll be taking the bar
this July and am curious about what
is, by reputation, the hardest bar
exam in the nation. Also, I’d love to
speak with any current or former
Johnnies contemplating law school;
�{AlumniNotes}
Sarah Van Deusen Flynn (A)
writes: “We are finishing our tour
in Guam, which has been wonder
ful. In September 02, we are head
ing back to the D.C. area. I am
leaving medical school for good to
he with my two boys.”
Texts for Tots
Mike Layne (SF95) writes: “My wife, Rachael, and I have been mar
ried three years as of June la, 2002, Our daughter, Audrey Rae
Layne, was born on February 12, 2002, in Anchorage. I spend at least
30 minutes each day reading her sections of Rousseau’s Discourse on
the Origin ofInequality and Emile. Marx is next on our reading list.
We are still living in Barrow, Alaska, and I am working as a counselor
at an emergency shelter for youth. Would love to hear from SJC
alumni and tutors. You can email me at mike_layne@hotmail.com.”
Faith Echele (SF) writes: “I am
it’s not as bad (or good) as you
might expect! I can be reached at
aefredrickson@rocketmail.com
if any of you would like to get in
touch.
someone who remembers the peo
ple who shared her St. John’s expe
rience more fondly than you might
imagine is welcome to do that at
webmaster@franzworld.de.”
Janet Sutherland (SFGl) writes:
Sean Stickle (A) writes: “I am in
“I finished seminary, moved to
Kansas City, and started a church.
Go figure. I’m also writing a book.
My web site is www.churchofantioch.org/coakc.html or write me at
suncliff@planetkc .com.”
love with and married to a woman
of profound excellence, who is
applying to the Graduate Institute
to acquire her own SJC-style edu
cation. On less important fronts, I
am employed as the Senior Manag
er of Information Systems at the
Corporation for Enterprise Devel
opment, a national nonprofit
research and economic develop
ment outfit, where most of my
time is taken up with the spectacu
lar intricacies of XML routing and
financial systems integration. I
encourage any Johnnies who want
to get into the bizarro world of
IT/IS to drop me an email at stickle@cfed.org. The field needs more
people who have read the Posteri
or Analytics. Really.”
In August, Aaron Benjamin
Rutherford (AGI) will begin his
fourth year and his internship at
Southern College of Optometry in
Memphis, Tennessee. His address
is 543 Par Drive/ Apt. 12/ Marion,
Arkansas 72364.
Angelika Franz (SF) writes:
“One among many things St.
John’s made me believe in was to
follow one’s call-which I already
put into practice with my decision
to leave the college after my fresh
man year. The fascination with
Greeks and Romans, however, has
never left me and led me to a PhD
in classical archaeology last sum
mer. After having done archaeolo
gy (among other things like waitressing and organizing
humanitarian aid transports into
Kosovo) for some nine years, the
call to follow was something else
St. John’s made me believe in: the
power of words. So I traded in the
ancient stones for current events
and am now working as a freelance
journalist. I guess what still sums
it up for me today, ten years after
having left St. John’s, are the four
wise words of Mr. Aigla: ‘Trust no
one. Trust yourself. Read every
thing twice. Enjoy life.’ Anyone
who cares to spare a few words for
Thea Agnew (SF) writes: “I’m
self-employed as a consultant to
rural communities, mostly work
ing on planning community proj
ects and seeking funding. Still liv
ing between Anchorage and
McCarthy. Getting married this
fall out in McCarthy. Saw Mike
Layne (SF) and Rachael, his wife,
and his beautiful new baby Audrey.
Will be seeing them again in Bar
row later this month.”
Gil Roth’s (AGI) publishing com
pany, Voyant Publishing, has
recently released two novels: Paul
West’s The Place in Flowers Where
Pollen Rests and Samuel R.
Delany’s The Mad Man. He hopes
to reissue Walter Pater’s On Plato
and Platonism in 2003.
{The College.
St.
currently teaching lower elemen
tary, ages 6-9, at Henson Valley
Montessori School in Temple
Hills, Maryland. I would enjoy
connecting with St. John’s alumni
in the Maryland/DC area. Also,
Henson Valley Montessori is in
need of Great Books discussion
leaders. We are looking for people
willing to volunteer once a week
to guide literature discussions
with elementary students.”
Tucker Braddock (A) writes:
Married an Aussi in Sydney in
December 1998. Live in Annapo
lis, work in Washington making
money. Daughter born December
2001: Ivy Elizabeth. 7 lbs. 13 oz...
In case you’re wondering, still
interested in Jesus; haven’t found
Hinduism, Ms. Hack.”
Rohert A Gammon II (SGIEC)
graduated May 19 from the Uni
versity of Hawaii with a PhD in
East Asian Languages and Litera
tures (Chinese). His dissertation
is titled “A common architecture
for expressing linguistic theories:
With illustrations from Chinese
languages, cognitive grammar,
and software engineering.” He
was selected to participate in a
National Science Foundation
summer program in Taiwan.
Patricia Greer (AGI) received a
PhD from the University of Vir
ginia in May, in history of reli
gion. Her dissertation is titled
“The Net of the Mahabharata.”
Ms. Greer is a tutor at St. John’s in
Santa Fe.
In December 2001 Benjamin
Friedman (SF) earned his MFA in
film and television production
from the University of Southern
California. He’s living in L.A. and
looking for a job in the entertain
ment industry.
Tracy Whitcomb (A) and Josh
SiLBERSTElN (A94) are now
John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
39
engaged. They’re planning a fall
2003 wedding.
1996
Adrien Dawson nee Gehring (A)
finished seminary in May and was
ordained in June at the Baltimore
Episcopal Cathedral. She and her
husband, Sean, moved from NYC
to the Towson area following grad
uation. Adrien is now the assistant
rector at Trinity Church, Towson,
Md.
Amy Jane King (SF), formerly Amy
Jane Borsick-Stanton, writes: “I
am back in NM, studying Spanish
and silversmithing, making arts
and crafts. I am also a balloon
twister, you know, I make balloon
animals.”
Ezra Nathaniel Hubbard (SF)
writes: “After making movies in
L.A. and New York, met wife on
tropical island of Hawaii and got
married June 23, 2001 in St. Louis,
Missouri. Now live in Taos, New
Mexico, where we are very happy—
would love to have any alums come
and stay with us.”
1997
Salvatore Scibona (SF) received a
Pushcart Prize for one of his short
stories. It was published in the
Pushcart Book ofShort Stories: the
Best Storiesfrom a Quarter-Centu
ry ofthe Pushcart Prize in January.
Salvatore is currently a Fiction Fel
low at The Fine Arts Work Center
in Provincetown, Mass.
Leslie Norton (AGI) is unem
ployed at the moment. She is try
ing to change careers from teach
ing to working for an international
aid organization. If you read this
and you can help, feel free to con
tact her. She’s in the SJC Alumni
Directory. Leslie is in touch with
Aaron Mannes who spends his days
writing serious stuff about the
Middle East (he’s looking for a job
too) and she also remains in con
tact with George Strawley-he’s
still working for AP in Penna.
�{AlumniNotes}
40
Artist Inya Laskowski (SFGI)
showed her work at two solo shows
in 2,002,: Gallery Route One, Point
Reyes, Calif, (encaustic minia
tures) and Sebastopol Center for
the Arts, Sebastopol, Calif, (recent
work). She will also exhibit in a
two-person show at Pacific Union
College, Angwin, Calif, in Septem
ber as well as several group shows
throughout the year. She says her
art is moving into a new phase
because she now has use of
a large press.
Larissa N. Parson (A) is still in
grad school-slowly working
toward her Classics PhD. She’s
taken up running marathons.
Diane Marie Shires (SFGI) and
Christopher Patrick English
(SFGI97) were happily married on
December 37, 3001 on Santa
Catalina Island, Avalon, Calif.
They note that this was 135 years
to the day Darwin set off aboard
the HMS Beagle. Tricia Daigle
(SFGI97) was in attendance.
Jehanne Dubrow (A) is currently
Billy Sothern and Nikki Page
at the University of Maryland
working on an MFA in poetry. She
attended writing workshops at the
University of Prague this past
summer.
(both A) were married in their gar
den at their home in New Orleans,
La. on March 30, 3003.
JillNienhiser (SFGI) is now the
Director of Writing and Web
Development at Mind & Media,
Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia.
1998
Stephen Conn (SF) found himself
in New York City for most of 30013003, involved in film and art
studies, as well as being an intern
with the Pulse Theatre. While
studying at the New York Film
Academy he made three short
films, two of which relate to Sep
tember II, while the third is a little
vignette which features Steve as
the main character. These films
were recently shown at an under
ground film event in New York
City. There is a copy of these three
short films on VHS in Meem
Library at St. John’s College in
Santa Fe. He sends his love to all
his old friends at St. John’s.
David Turney (AGI) writes: “Wife
Stephanie (Bardis) recently gave
birth to our first child, Christo
pher David. I gave up France and
goat cheese adventures for a
career in scientific publishing with
Reed-Elsevier. Contact us: writerscramp@worldnet.att.net.’’
Marjorie Roueche (A) writes:
“We are expecting a baby girl,
though we’re still working on a
befitting Greek name.”
Dawn Star Borchelt (A) sends
what she calls a silly rhyme:
“Though I live not far away/To
Annapolis, I rarely stray./Early
Autumn, Early Spring/Never
work. You see the thing/Is that
work requires my presence/Most
often at these times ofyear./Alas
my fond, fond alma mater-/Many
moons shall pass’ere I draw near.”
Lorna Anderson (SF) became
Lorna Johnson on May 35, when
she married Aaron Johnson at the
Woman’s Club of Evanston in
Evanston, Illinois. Aaron is a clas
sical pianist who received his mas
ter’s degree in music performance
from Northwestern University in
1993 and has been performing
original and classical composi
tions in the Midwest and east
coast. Lorna is pursuing publica
tion of her poetry in various jour
nals and has become an active
member of RHINO: The Poetry
Forum, an annual poetry journal
based in Evanston. She welcomes
anyone passing through Chicago,
and can be reached at velvet_6o636@yahoo.com.
1999
Paul Ronco (SF) writes: “Hi all,
hope everything is going well for
you out there in the real world.
What more should I say? The
Army was fun, St. John’s was fun
ner [sic]. Drop me a line at pronco@hotmail.com anytime.”
Cheryl Hut (AGI) writes: “I am
living in Scotland with my 3-yearold son, Gabriel, who was born a
week after graduation. I am work
ing on an M. Litt in Shakespeare
Studies at the University of St.
Andrew’s and love this town by the
sea. I would love to hear from any
St. John’s alumni in Great
Britain.”
TracyNecroux (A) graduated
from St. Andrews in June. She’s
now living in Ilhnois and hopes to
begin teaching soon.
Greg W. Koehlert (SF) writes:
“Moved from Atlanta to New York
City in June. Teaching in an LD
High School-Enghsh, History,
Outdoor Education, and yes,
Euclid Book i.”
Ruth Busco (SF) writes: “I am
currently enrolled at the Tradi
tional Acupuncture Institute in
Columbia, Md., where I am pursu
ing a master’s degree in acupunc
ture. I ivill start seeing patients in
September-anyone in the area
interested in the institute or in
acupuncture treatment please feel
free to contact me by phone 410313-0991 or email (rmbusko@hotmail.com)!”
2000
Abigail Weinberg (SF) has been
accepted into a masters program at
the School of Forestry and Environ
mental Studies at Yale University.
Andrew Burgard (SF) is attend
ing an intensive Czech language
program at Indiana University.
Anne Berven (SF), Alexis Brown
(SF), and RaifeNeuman (SFoi),
will not leave the college. Mr. Neu
man is constantly outside smoking,
contemplating which office he will
work for. Ms. Brown is attempting
to finish the EC program and her
last pack of cigarettes. Ms. Berven
is communing tvith the young
minds of America while she
attempts to find her car keys.
Eowyn Levene (A) has been work
ing in an organic, brick-oven bakery
(The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
for the pastyear or so and has
recently spent a few months travelhng in New Zealand. She is begin
ning a two-year apprenticeship to
get her diploma in biodynamic agri
culture. She will be doing this at a
community for the mentally dis
abled in Gloucestershire, England.
Paul Spradley (A) writes: “Hello
ya’ll! I’m still teaching math in the
Mississippi Delta and am fixin’ to
graduate from the University of
Mississippi with a master’s degree
in curriculum and instruction. In
addition to my teaching duties I
have been made head baseball
coach. Unfortunately, that sport
was not well covered in intramu
rals in Annapolis.”
Anna Marissa Abbott (SF) writes:
“I am interested in knotving about
job opportunities in Santa Fe. I’m
currently working part-time at a
Sylvan Learning Center (as I have
been for the past year). Hello
Kelsey Bennett, wherever you are,
I hope you are happy. Jennifer
Rogers, Matthew Duffy, and
Kathy Pluth-1 send you my
regards and God bless...”
Karina Noel Hean (A) writes: “I
am moving back to New Mexico to
start an MFA program in fall 3003
at NMSU in Las Cruces. Feel free
to stop by for a visit! Have had a
lot of luck getting artist residen
cies, one in Harper’s Ferry, W.V.
and one at VSC, Vt. And a few
small shows. (P.S. did not go to
Amsterdam, not enough $$.)
email: karinahean@hotmail.com”
Christopher Vaughan (A) recent
ly visited Fletcher Cunniff (A) in
Catonsville. Christopher writes:
“I’m attending and loving every
minute of Flagler College. I hope
to get my degree in deaf education
by 3005. All of my former class
mates are in my prayers. If anyone
is near St. Augustine let me know.
I would love to hear from any
alums. Best wishes to old friends
like Tim Freeman (Aoi), Adella
Fay (SF), PaulNino (A), and
Claudine Cristoforides (A). At
first I was bitter about getting dis
enabled. Now I am just proud of
the time I had with you all at such
a wonderful school! ”
�{Alumni Notes}
Alice Baldwin (SF) writes; “I
hope everyone is well!”
fall. I thought four alumni in one
department was strange enough to
be worth noting.”
Alan Rubenstein (A) won a Uni
versity Fellowship to study lin
guistics at Georgetown University
this fall.
Lizzie Jump (A) writes: “I just fin
ished a year of service to Volunteer
Maryland (an AmeriCorps pro
gram) in Baltimore at the Neigh
borhood Design Center. I’m prob
ably going to move to North
Carolina and start working
towards a master’s degree in psy
chology. Folks should feel free to
email me if they’ve questions
about AmeriCorps.” Lizzie’s email
is iameloise@yahoo.com.
Wyatt Dowling (A) writes: “I just
finished my first year of graduate
school at Boston College in the
political science department. Eric
Dempsey (Aoo) is here too and two
other Johnnies, Steve Ide (SFoi)
and Jonathan Culp (Aoi) are
starting grad school at BC in the
2001
so that I may really focus on this
opportunity. I’ll most likely try to
make a move into journalism and
catering when I return. If I
return.”
Ian Mullet (SF) and Ben Judson
ing forward to retirement. Big ups
and much love coming out of
Crimebridge.”
(SF) are both teaching in San
Antonio, Tex. at Judson Montes
sori School, which is run by Ben’s
parents, James Judson (SFGI95)
and Gay Judson.
Talley ScROGGS (A) writes: “Upon
Basil Bryan Thorpe Cleveland
finishing my seven weeks as a
“debutante” student at L’Ecole
Francaise at Middlebury College my
goal was to move to France. Follow
ing my budding passion for food as
an object of study and of course
immense pleasure, I found an
apprenticeship with a Frenchtrained American chef and teacher
named Robert Reynolds. From
March to May 2,002, I’ll be living in
Montesquieu, France, going to mar
kets and cooking regional cuisine.
I have yet to plan the next move
leaving my desire to plan behind
(A) writes: “I will gladly host any
Johnnies passing through the
Chicago area-I’ve got a futon and
some floor space you can borrow
just for the asking.”
EbenLasker (SF) writes: “Look
Joel Hopkins (SF) is working in a
program for troubled youth in
Santa Fe right now. He took cours
es in art history at Tulane Univer
sity and at the College of Santa Fe.
He has received a scholarship to
pursue an MA in art history and
criticism at SUNY Stonybrook
starting this fall.
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from
you. Call us, write us, e-mail us.
Let your classmates know what
you’re doing. The next issue will
be published in December; copy
deadline is October 15.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800. Annapolis,
MD 21404; s-borden@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599;
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes on the Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at:
www.sjca.edu - click on “Alumni.”
{Obituaries}
Rogers Albritton
Rogers Albritton, class of 1945, a professor of phi
losophy at University of California at Los Angeles
and at Harvard, died on May 21. He was 78.
Mr. Albritton was born in Columbus, Ohio, to
a physiologist and a chemist. He began his stud
ies at St. John’s but left to serve in the Army Air
Forces in World War IL He returned and gradu
ated in 1948. Mr. Albritton received a master’s
and a doctorate in philosophy from Princeton.
He taught at Harvard from 1956 until 1970, and
was chair of the philosophy department for
seven years. He then taught at UCLA until retir
ing in 1991.
Mr. Albritton has been praised for the breadth
and depth of his philosophical interests, which
included ancient philosophy, philosophy of
mind, free will, skepticism, metaphysics, and
the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. At St. John’s,
his senior thesis defended lyric poetry from log
ical positivism. Although he did not publish
much, he was nevertheless widely known and
admired in the academic world. A colleague at
UCLA, Gavin Lawrence, wrote in an obituary,
“Rogers had the finest philosophical mind I
have ever encountered. He never rushed to a
facile answer and was a wonderful sounding
board.” Mr. Albritton was awarded the Alumni
Association Award of Merit in 1995. He is sur
vived by his sister, Heloise Frame.
Paul Krol
Paul G. Krol (A76) died in May. He was a loved
and respected international businessman. He
was fluent in German and Polish and spoke
some Spanish, Korean, and Japanese. He was
financially responsible for the building of the
Southwest CARE Medical Center in Santa Fe.
Paul was a computer engineer who published
the book ORC AD Capture, a text used to teach
the teachers in that industry. He also wrote
many poems and short stories.
Paul spent half of his hfe volunteering and giv
ing to others. After being diagnosed with a ter
minal illness, he requested permission from
Catholic schools in New Mexico to talk to stu
dents about death and dying. His talks were so
successful they have been published in a book.
Although he was only 47 years of age, he
affected so many people in the world in such a
positive way, that I have no doubt there is a
“new star” in Heaven.
—submitted by Ron Moar
H. Ralph Lewis
H. Ralph Lewis, a former tutor in Santa Fe, died
in March in Hanover, N.H. Born in Chicago, he
was a physicist who studied at the University of
Chicago, the University of Illinois, and the Uni
versity of Heidelberg. In 1963 he joined the staff
at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he
worked on the controUed thermonuclear fusion
project. He taught at St. John’s and then at Dart
mouth, where he was on the physics faculty.
Mr. Lewis is survived by his wife, Renate; two
daughters, and a sister.
Admiral Robert Long
Adm. Robert Long, commander in chief of U.S.
military forces in the Pacific and a former mem
ber of the Board of Visitors and Governors, died
June 28 at the National Naval Medical Center in
Bethesda. He was 82 and lived in Annapolis.
Born in Kansas City, Mo., Robert Lyman John
Long graduated in 1943 from the U.S. Naval
Academy. He served during World War II in the
Pacific. In 1972, Adm. Long was named com
mander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet Submarine
Force and vice chief of naval operations. He saw
combat in the Vietnam War. He headed the
American military forces in the Pacific from
1979 to 1983, when he retired. Soon after retir
ing, he was caUed to assist President Ronald
Reagan and Defense Secretary Caspar Wein
berger, who asked him to lead the commission
continued on p.43
{The Colleges;. John’s College ■ Summeraooi }
�{CampusLife}
4^
THE TWENTY YEARS’ WAR
Johnnies reclaim the Annapolis Cup, brinp^ing the croquet series to i6 and4.
BY Sus3AN
Borden
(A87)
he opening shots of the St. John’s-Naval After Heyburn returned to campus, he
remembered that several students had been
Academy croquet series have long been playing croquet and that they were pretty
the subject of speculation and rumor. good, so he decided to challenge the acade
my. “My main aim was to get the two groups
Some say the first match was the result of of students together and my hope is that the
a barroom bet. Others say it was a last- match is still a way to foster better relations
between the two schools,” he says.
minute substitute for a barroom brawl. And so it has happened. The spirit of the
has remained,
The truth, says Kevin Heyburn (SF86), wasmatch
much
more more or less, one of
peaceful camaraderie. The team uniforms
simple-and peaceful.
(footloose and fanciful for the Johnnies,
T
campy-casual for the Mids) bespeak a play
ful rivalry, not war games. The crowd’s
attention is on picnicking, not the score
board. And the goodwill that the opponents
display after each match is no clenchedteeth affair, but rather a hearty handshake
for a job well done.
At this year’s match (in April), however,
there was just the hint of a martial edge to
the Johnnies’ attitude. The Middies had
won last year’s match, breaking a nine-year
St. John’s winning streak. An article in the
Washington Post quoted senior Louis
Kovacs announcing before the match, “I’m
out for blood. I’m out to hurt people and
humiliate them.”
Newly inaugurated Santa Fe president
John Balkcom hit out the opening ball. Next
the freshman chorus, under the direction of
tutor Tom May, in an apparent welcome to
our comrades-in-croquet, launched into a
stirring rendition of the Navy Hymn:
Eternal Father, strong to save.
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave.
The
few, the proud, the victorious: the
aooa sjc
team.
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
It was 1981 and Heyburn, then a freshman
in Annapolis, was curious about the Naval
Academy. He and a friend went to the acad
emy’s pep rally for the Army-Navy game.
On the way back to St. John’s, they found
themselves walking behind the Comman
dant of the academy. “Being a bold fresh
man, I started to talk with him,” Heyburn
recalls. “I told him that in the old days, St.
John’s had quite an athletic program and
would often beat Navy at sports like foot
ball and lacrosse. The Commandant said
that now there was no sport where the St.
John’s students could beat Navy.”
{The College ■ St. John’s College • Summer 2002 }
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.
As the chorus sang the next two verses
(penned by Tanya Hadlock Piltz, A05), their
loyalties became clear:
�{Campus Life}
Oh Johnnies who doplay
croquet.
43
greeting, offering its now-traditional menu of cucumber sand
wiches, college-logo chocolates,
and champagne. Tote bags with an
image of a Greek-style statue play
ing croquet on front campus wear
ing nothing but Birkenstocks and
a fig leaf were prized souvenir
giveaways.
The games ended just before
5:00 and the alumni office packed
up its champagne and chocolates
at 6:00. But the crowds, enjoying
the spirit of croquet and the thrill
of victory, lingered on the lawn
until dark.
Congratulations go to Imperial
Wicket Jon Polk, next year’s
Wicket Ben Porter, and team
members Lucas Ford, Nick Whit
tier, Mike Maguire, Jon Cooper,
Lou Kovacs, Tom Juskevich, Peter
Speers, and Terry Duvall. >
Protect our honor on this day.
Our battle cry: Let Middies kneel!
To them theform ofGood reveal.
Oh hear us when we boldly say
Defeat the Middies at croquet!
Oh ye who books do seldom read
Your unexamined lives concede
Beware each Middy girl and boy;
We are the Danaans to your Troy!
Oh hear us when we boldly say
Defeat the Middies at croquet!
The Johnnies on the field pro
ceeded to answer the pleas of the
singers, shutting out the Middies
5-0 before a crowd of over 1000,
including more than 300 alumni.
Throughout the day the alumni
tent was a locus of meeting and
{Obituaries}
continuedfrom p.41
to investigate the bombing of the marine bar
racks in Beirut, Lebanon. The commission
looked into security lapses in its fact-finding
mission on the incident, in which a terrorist
drove a truck laden with explosives into the
barracks, killing 241 marines.
He served on the St. John’s Board from 1986
to 1992. Later, he maintained his ties to the col
lege by encouraging the croquet rivalry between
St. John’s students and the residents of the
retirement community of Ginger Cove, where
he served as chair of the community associa
tion.
He is survived by his wife, Sara, and his three
sons, Charles, William, and Robert.
Roberts. Parr
Robert E. Parr, a former tutor in Santa Fe, died
Sept. II, 2001 in Ada, Oklahoma. He was 77.
Mr. Parr taught music at St. John’s and was a
life-long musician and active in theater. Born in
Norman, Oklahoma, he graduated from the
University of Oklahoma. During World War II
he served in the military in Europe. After the
war, he studied at Yale with German composer
Paul Hindemith, then moved to San Francisco,
where he received a master’s degree in composi
tion from the University of California, Berkeley.
He taught at Candell Conservatory and at pri
vate schools in New Mexico and St. Louis, in
addition to St. John’s. He also ran a wheat farm
in Oklahoma, raised Arabians, and enjoyed his
involvement with puppet opera. Mr. Parr is sur
vived by his lifemate, Dianne Stowers.
Charles Wallace
Charles “Charlie” Wallace, the superintendent
of buildings and grounds for the Annapolis cam
pus for many years, died in April. Mr.
Wallace was born in Baltimore and served in the
U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. He
worked as a construction superintendent for
Dunton, Inc. for 20 years, building many public
schools in Maryland. He retired from his job at
St. John’s in 1998.
Surviving are his wife, Emily; two sons,
Charles and William; one daughter, Lisa
Delasko; a sister, and six grandchildren.
John Wirth
A long-time Board member of St. John’s Col
lege, John Wirth passed away on June 20.
He was 66.
Mr. Wirth and his wife, Nancy Meem Wirth,
were active members of the college for many
years. Beginning with the donation by Nancy’s
parents. Faith and John Gaw Meem, of the land
for the Santa Fe campus and continuing into the
present with their involvement on the faculty
housing project, their dedication to the mission
of St. John’s has always been exemplary. Mr.
{The College- St. John’s College - Summer 2002 }
Wirth served as vice chairman of the Board of
Visitors and Governors, and worked on the Cali
fornia property project.
Mr. Wirth was born in Dawson, New Mexico
in 1936. He graduated from Harvard University
in 1958 and received his doctorate in Latin
American History in 1967 from Stanford Univer
sity. He served in the army in 1958-59. He was
the recipient of numerous awards, prizes, and
fellowships related to his expertise in Latin
American history. He commuted weekly to
teach undergraduate courses in contemporary
Brazilian history, environmental history, and
Canadian history at Stanford University where
he held the Gildred Chair of History. He retired
from Stanford in June.
He founded and was president of the North
American Institute, based in Santa Fe. The tri
national organization is dedicated to better rela
tions between Mexico, Canada, and the United
States. A prolific writer, his latest book is
Smelter Smoke in North America: The Politics of
Transborder Pollution. He recently completed a
history of the Los Alamos Ranch School, which
wiU be published shortly by the University of
New Mexico Press.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy Meem
Wirth; sons, Peter, Tim and Nicholas; and four
grandchildren.
�44
{Alumni Association News}
Letter from
THE Alumni
Association
Dear Johnnies,
What does it mean to “come home?” For
most colleges and universities. Homecom
ing means foothall, old haunts, a few old
friends, and lots of people you hardly
rememhered the day after graduation. At
St. John’s, Homecoming is some of those
things, and many more.
It might mean coming hack to a place that
smells and looks and feels not so different
from when you left it. Homecoming might
also mean visiting a place you’ve never
been. If you spent your college years in
Santa Fe, you might just as well enjoy
Homecoming on the water and in the midst
of colonial red brick in Annapolis. If
Annapolis was the locus of your personal
memories, you might also come home to
the wonderful mountains and desert sun
sets of Santa Fe. The places, though both
beautiful and significant, are not the
essence of Homecoming for Johnnies.
Yes, you’ll see old friends, especially if
you choose a Homecoming for one of your
class’s special five-year reunions. But
even if you come when other classes are
having their reunions, you will still see old
friends-tutors, staff, members of classes
before and after yours. The community on
each campus is surprisingly constant with
the familiar names and faces scattered
among the new ones. Chances are that
you’ll also meet new “old friends,” includ
ing many who are familiar because they
shared the experience of reading and talk
ing about the same books in the same ways
that you did. Everytime I return-whether
to Santa Fe or Annapolis-I discover inter
esting and stimulating people whose his
tory makes them part of an intellectual
and institutional family. The family
resemblance is striking, regardless of
when or where or for how long they lived
in the Program.
The Homecoming Dinner last October
in Annapolis was an excellent example for
me of the cross-generational nature of the
Johnnie experience. According to tradi
tion, after dinner is served and awards are
presented, each reunion class gives a toast.
Sometimes the toasts are funny and some
times they are poignant, and last year was
no exception on this count. It was an excep
tion, however, because all of the toasts
revolved around a theme very near to each
of us on that evening, just three weeks after
September ii. Each class toast reflected, as
only Johnnies can, on the meaning of the
college in the wake of our national trauma.
Classes from the ’40s remembered the dis
ruption of their lives during World War II.
Classes of the ’50s talked about what it
meant when women entered the campus as
fellow students. The ’60s reflected on a
rediscovery of patriotism that had not been
part of their early engagement with the
world. The ’70s talked of Vietnam and the
dissention that war introduced to personal
and social self-knowledge. Classes of the
’80s and ’90s opened our eyes to a genera
tion that approaches self and institution
with confidence and assumed security.
Together, the toasts framed a social history
of America from the point of view of
thoughtful and admirable individuals. For
me, it was a touching and powerful mes
sage about my self, my community, and my
nation
But most of all, for me. Homecoming is
coming home to the books. There is always
a formal time when alumni and guests
meet in official seminars to inquire togeth
er as we did in the old days. Sometimes the
books are different, and usually the tutors
and students are different, but always the
experience is the same. I come to the table
with certainties and questions and leave
with fewer certainties and more questions.
My real measure of a good seminar is
whether it inspires me to read the text
again. Seldom does a seminar fail to meet
this expectation. Just like our student
{The Colleges?. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association. The Alumni Associa
tion is an independent organization, with a
Board of Directors elected by and from the
alumni body. The Board meets four times a
year, twice on each campus, to plan programs
and coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College magazine
is sponsored by the Alumni Association and
communicates Alumni Association news and
events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary -Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-tke-Word-Out Action Team ChairLinda Stabler-Talty (SFGI76)
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association, St.
John’s College, Box aSoo, Annapolis, MD
21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87505-4599.
days, however, coming home to the books
is not restricted to the time around the
table. Informal conversations over food,
drink, or dance remind me of the wellgrounded conversations of my student
days. Themes emerge and common refer
ents are invoked. The conversations are
decidedly different from those I have dayto-day, and they feed my curiosity and my
ever-developing view of the world and
myself.
Homecoming is an opportunity to revisit
whatever lives in your memory of your days
at St. John’s. It is also an invitation to
reflect on current aspirations and activities
in the context of personal, institutional,
and intellectual history. I hope that you will
plan to join the next Homecoming party,
and I hope you find, as I have, that coming
home is a richly varied experience that
transforms memories of the past into reali
ty of today and hopes for tomorrow. See
you there!
For the past, the present, and the future,
Glenda Eoyang
President
St. John’s College Alumni Association
�{AlUMNiAsSOCIATIOnNeWS}
As will not surprise any Johnnie, our
progress could be measured more in the
improvement of our questions, or in the
introduction of new ones, than in reaching
final answers.
On one conclusion there did seem to be a
consensus: the efforts of Aristotle, Hegel
and Nietzsche to capture the essence of
tragedy pale in comparison to the real
thing. The profundity and variety of the dra
matic experience exceed their descriptions,
and analysis of it is like trying to “catch
lightning in a bottle.” ♦
Report From The
Hinterlands
What the Minneapolis/St.
Paul Alumni Chapter Has
Been Up To For the Last
Few Years
The Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter of the
Alumni Association has recently completed
its second set of readings and seminars
organized on a theme. Politics was our first
theme. Tragedy our second. Each extended
over a year. Prior to that, for over 20 years,
we had read books more or less at random;
and, although there were some memorable
seminars during that period, the theme
approach has generally produced more con
tinuity of thought and depth of discussion.
We would recommend the approach to
other chapters.
Our Tragedy list:
• Agammenon, Aeschylus
• Oedipus Rex. Sophocles
• Poetics, Aristotle
• Othello, Shakespeare
• The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche
• Three Sisters, Chekhov
• Bartleby the Scrivner, Melville
• Mourning Becomes Electra, O’Neill
• The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
• The Tragic Sense ofLife, Unamuno
We were somewhat naive in our choice of
readings. For example, none of us knew
what to expect from Unamuno’s Tragic
Sense of Life, and we were divided after
wards concerning its intrinsic value; but
most agreed that it produced some of the
best discussions. It helped us discuss
Tragedy as Philosophy, not merely as a dra
matic form.
As evidence of the continuity, some of the
same questions persisted throughout the
year. For example:
• What is Tragedy? Is a precise defini
tion possible?
• Are Greek Tragedy and Elizabethan
Tragedy essentially the same or diff
erent? (and the same question when
comparing the plays of Aeschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides).
• The Bacchcie, Euripides
• Is Cosmology an essential ingredient
of Greek Tragedy? Can we ever fully
appreciate Greek Tragedy without
sharing its cosmological view?
• Poetics, Aristotle
• Is Christianity anti-tragic?
• The Orestia, Aeschylus
• On Poetry, Hegel
The list is eccentric and somewhat acciden
tal. We discussed Agammenon twice, once
by itself and once in the context of the
Oresteia. We also read and discussed Aristo
tle’s Poetics twice, once at the beginning
(with the help of Santa Fe tutor Matt Davis)
and once at the end, when we had a “theme
overview” discussion. In the middle, and at
their suggestion, we did Bartleby the
Scrivener with the help of Santa Fe presi
dent John Balkcom and then-vice president
Robert Glick.
45
• What is the “tragic effect”? Does
either Aristotle’s “catharsis of fear
and pity” or Hegel’s “resolution of
substantive values” adequately
describe it?
• Why didn’t the Greeks have an inter
mediate dramatic form, like Tragi
comedy?
• What is the role of Tragedy in Educa
tion? Is it central?
• What is a Tragic Sense of Life? Is it
healthy or unhealthy?
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
Regular contributors to the monthly discus
sions were: Glenda Eoyang (SE76), Judy
Kistler-Robinson (SF77, SGfg), Robert Neal
(Abo), Walter Burk (SFgo), Nick Colten
(Ag?), Garol Freeman (AGIgg), John Hart
nett (SF8g), Graig Lefevre (Ag2), Kait Schott
(SFgi), J. Shipley Newlin (Afi7), Lori
Williamson (Agg), Mike Woolsey (Afig)
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
5O5-=i75-9ora
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin
410-^80-0958
PITTSBURGH
Robert Hazo
412-648-2653
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-483-0747
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-452-1082
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
CHICAGO
Lorna Johnson
773-338-8651
SAN FRANCISCO,
NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
SANTA FE
John Pollak
505-983-2144
SEATTLE
Amina Stickford
206-269-0182
DENVER
Lee Goldstein
720-283-4659
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Garol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEWYORK
Joe Boucher
718-223-1957
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
972-2-6717608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�46
{AlumniAssociationNews}
Election Notices
Election ofAlumni
Representatives to the
St. John's College Board
of Visitors and Governors
In accordance with Article VIII, Section II
of the By-Laws of the St. John’s College
Alumni Association, notice is hereby given
that the following alumni have been nomi
nated by the Alumni Association Board of
Directors for election to the St. John’s Col
lege Board of Visitors and Governors.
Notice is also given that nominations may
be made by petition.
The rules governing submission of nomi
nations bypetition are asfollows:
• Petitions must be signed by at least
fifty members of the Alumni Associa
tion in good standing.
• Nominations must be accompanied by
a biographical sketch of the nominee.
• The consent of all persons nominated
must be obtained.
• The petition must reach the Directors
of Alumni Activities NO LATER THAN
DECMBER 1, 2002.
c/o Alumni Office
St. John’s College
P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404
Mr. Bienenfeld has worked for Honda for 21
years in a variety of areas in the U.S. as well
as Japan. Mr. Bienenfeld served on the
Alumni Association Board of Directors from
1998, and more recently on the Board of Vis
itors and Governors since July of 2000. He
served as the president of the Los Angeles
Chapter of the Alumni Association in the
early eighties. In addition, Mr. Bienenfeld
helped organize alumni to support the Cam
paign for Our Fourth Century.
Thomas Stern Sl- '6g
Palo Alto, CA
Mr. Stern has been involved with motion pic
ture production since receiving an MA from
Stanford University in r97i. In 1981 he began
his association with Malpaso Productions at
Warner Brothers, Clint Eastwood’s produc
tion company. Mr. Stern works as a lighting
consultant, and has been responsible for the
lighting more than 40 feature-length motion
pictures including “Risky Business”, “Pale
Rider,” “Goonies,” “Bird, The Unforgiven,”
“Space Cowboys,” and “True Crime.”
Steve Thomas SFJ4
New York, NY
Following a few years as a computer opera
tor, Mr. Thomas spent the academic year
1976-77 in graduate school at the University
of Texas at Austin, in the Ancient Philoso
phy program. Remaining in Austin, Texas,
but dropping out of graduate school, he
worked as a computer operator by day and
became active in local and state politics as a
gay activist. In r98o, Mr. Thomas was named
as an at-large alternate delegate to the
National Democratic Convention, which
means that he gets hohday cards from the
White House whenever it is occupied by a
Democrat. He proceeded to attend the Uni
versity of Texas School of Law, initially to
acquire credentials for his political career,
when he discovered an actual interest in the
law. He served on the Texas Law Review
and was a member of Chancellors, which is
the highest honor society based on grades at
the school. He graduated with honors in
1984. He then moved to New York City,
where he has been admitted to the bar since
1985. He worked as an associate at the Wall
Street law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen
and Hamilton from 1985 through 1991, and
since 1991 has been employed by Financial
Security Assurance (a monoline bond insur
ance company), most recently as associate
general counsel. Mr. Thomas has also been
involved since r989 with HIV Law Project,
an organization that provides legal assis
tance and advocacy to low income people
infected with HIV, for most of those years in
If nominations by petition are received,
there will be an election conducted by mail
ballot. If there are no such nominations, the
nominees listed above will be considered
elected. Terms will begin in July of 2003.
Robert Bienenfeld SF’8o
Long Beach, CA
The Senior Manager of Product Planning
for American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Mr.
Bienenfeld is responsible for planning the
vehicle line ups for Acura and Honda cars
and trucks in the U.S. In addition, he is
responsible for the sales and marketing of
electric, natural gas, hybrid and, believe it
or not, fuel cell automobiles. In addition, he
serves on Honda’s Environment Committee
for the Americas, and operates a small ven
ture capital operation for American Honda.
Great
moments in croquet history
(circa 1985): St. John’s teammates (l-r) David Kidd
(A85), Andrew Bi'.ckman( A87), Steven Werlin(A85) and Bryce Jacobsen (class
POSE WITH THE AnNAPOLIS CuP AND MiDDIE RIVALS.
{The College. St. Jo hn’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
of
1942)
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
his current capacity as chair of the Board of
Directors. Since 2000 he has served on the
SJC Alumni Association hoard. Mr. Thomas
is a fanatical opera fan, and is devoted to the
New York Mets. In his spare time he still,
helieve it or not, reads philosophy hooks;
and he still doesn’t understand Plato.
Election ofDirectors of the
St. John A College Alumni
Association
In accordance with Article VII, Sections I
and II of the By-Laws of the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association, notice is hereby
given that the following alumni have been
nominated to serve as directors on the St.
John’s College Alumni Association Board of
Directors.
Notice is also given that nominations for
the positions as officers and directors of the
Association may be made by petition.
The rules governing submission of nomi
nations bypetition are asfollows:
• Petitions must be signed by at least
thirty members of the Alumni Associa
tion in good standing.
• Petitions must be presented to the
Secretary of the Alumni Association
prior to the Annual Meeting at which
the election is to be held. Petitions
should be sent to Barbara Lauer, c/o
Alumni Office, St. John’s College,
P.O. Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404.
• The election will be held at the Annual
Meeting on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1:45
p.m. in Annapolis.
• The candidates for Directors receiving
the highest number of votes for those
offices shall be declared elected.
Terms will begin on January i, 2002.
Mark Middlebrook A ’8g
Oakland, CA
Mr. Middlebrook currently is testing the
truth of the well-worn dictum “in vino veritas,” as well as his hopeful corollary “in
vino pecunia.” He has worked in the wine
industry in Oakland, California, for a year.
As he waits for both truth and money to flow
from oenophilic endeavors, he continues
his mercenary masquerade as a computer
consultant. In addition, he teaches litera
ture and philosophy seminars at St. Mary’s
College of California. When he isn’t too
busy juggling three jobs, he enjoys playing
flamenco guitar and oud.
Jonathan Sackson A ’6g
Miami, Florida
MBA in Finance, Wharton, 1982. Mr. Sackson worked in various controller and finance
positions at Ryder System (1982-1989) and
served as Vice President and Controller of
the Bekins Corporation (1982-1992). Since
1992, he has been an investment advisor to
private and institutional clients in Miami,
Florida. He is currently Senior Vice Presi
dent at UBS PaineWebber. Mr. Sackson has
served as an at large member of the Alumni
Board since 1999. For many years he has
functioned as liaison to South Florida appli
cants to St. John’s. He was also Class Chair
for the Campaign for Our Fourth Century.
C. Frank Davis SFGI’gg
Santa Fe, NM
Mr. Davis has a BA in economics/govern
ment from the University of Texas (1958),
and he completed the Small Company Man
agement Program at the Harvard Graduate
School of Business in 1981. From 1963 to
1969 he was a broker for Bache and Co. in
Corpus Christi, Texas and from 1969 to
1998 served as the Chief Executive Officer
of Whataburger of El Paso, Inc. and Taco
Cabana of El Paso. In El Paso he has served
on the boards of Renaissance 400, the Rad
ford School for Girls, and the Bank of the
West, and has also served on the board of
the Texas Nature Conservancy. He has trav
eled extensively in Africa, Europe, and
Asia, and has participated in several Earth
watch projects in Nepal and Thailand, as
well as flying his own Cessna 185 for Wings
of Hope in Guatemala and Nicaragua, for
Lighthawk, and for local Santa Fe conserva
tion organizations. He volunteers in the
Santa Fe public schools, and has been a
longtime participant in Summer Classics
and Community Seminars at the college.
Gary Edwards Sk ’-g
Arlington, VA
Surgical oncology physician assistant,
Washington Cancer Institute, Washington
Hospital Center, 1995 to present. Surgical
physician assistant, Sibley Memorial Hos
{The College ■ St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
47
pital, Washington, D.C. 1990-1995. B.S.
Physician Assistant program. The George
Washington University 1990. Medical
transcriptionist. The Neurology Center,
Washington, D.C. 1984-1990. Customer
service representative, Tulsa Oklahoma
1981-1984. Reporter KLMN television,
Fayetteville, Arkansas 1980-1981. Editorial
Assistant, National Review magazine,
summer 1979. Participated in class fundraising efforts Campaign for Our Fourth
Century. Co-class leader Philanthropia
1999. Appointed interim member SJC
Alumni Board member 3/02.
Joanne Murray, A ’^o
Pittsburgh, PA
Ms. Murray took her PhD in solid state
physics at the University of Maryland and
gradually slid into a profession in metallur
gy at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (1977-1986) and then Alcoa
Technical Center. Although she is a con
firmed theorist, she also takes great pleas
ure in donning steel-toed shoes and hard
hat and heading out to the plant floor where
aluminum is being melted, cast, and rolled.
At Alcoa, she is leader of the Alcoa Techni
cal Center Women’s Network and presi
dent-elect of Sigma Xi, the Scientific
Research Society. She maintains ties with
the college through local alumni seminars,
the summer sessions in Santa Fe, and the
online Johnny-list.
Proposed Amendments to the St. John’s
College Alumni Association By-Laws_____
In accordance with Article XIII Section i of
The St. John’s College Alumni Association
By-Laws (as amended 9/29/01), notice is
hereby given that certain proposed amend
ments to the by-laws (to Article III, Section
III; Article IV, Sections II, II a, II b, II d, II
e, II g, II i, VI; Article V; Article VII, Sec
tion I; Article VIII, Seciton V; Article X;
and Aritcle XIV) will be considered by the
membership of the Association and
brought to a vote at the Annual Meeting,
1:45pm, Saturday, October 5, 2002, in the
Conversation Room in Annapolis. These
proposed amendments are posted at
http://www. sjca. edu/aassoc/main.phtml
(see navigation sidebar). Call the Alumni
Office in Annapolis (410-626-2531) if you
prefer to receive a copy via mail or fax.
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
ack Landau (top, class of ’44) and picking them up. The ones that stick
James Waranch (class of ’43) together, we put in the same room.”
Seriously, though, Ranson’s method is
undoubtedly had a memorable year
rooming together. But not every rather more effective. The roommate form
one ends up a winner in the room asks a series of questions relating to smoking
mate lottery. Luckily, the odds are practices, sleeping habits, noise tolerance,
and inclination towards neatness or slobbery.
good for freshmen arriving this fall. Andrew
Ranson, director of Student Services on the Ranson enters the answers into a computer
Annapolis campus, puts a great deal of for an initial match-up. Then, he looks at
thought into the roommates he matches: answers to a more general question asking if
“We have a roommate questionnaire we there’s anything else he should know about
send out,” he says. “When they all come the respondent’s ideal roommate. “I get the
back we throw them on the floor and start best and easiest matches from that ques
J
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
tion,” says Ranson. “When two people men
tion they play instruments, say that they’re
rehgious, talk about their interest in travel,
or note that they’re vegans, we put them
together and it usually works out well.”
Some answers to the “anything else”
question, he says, are so vague and subjec
tive as to be unhelpful. Incoming freshmen
might say they want a cool roommate or a
laid back room-mate, or someone who’s not
a moron. “We took the moron question off
the questionnaire a couple of years ago,”
Ranson says.
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Homecoming aooa—Annapolis
Friday, October 4—Sunday, October 6
ilieanion Glasses: 193?, 194a, 1947, i
1957,1962,1967,197a, 1977,198a, 1987,
199a, and 1997
■■ ■:
Homecoming Highlights
Friday, October 4
by Eva Brann
(HA89): “The Empires of the Sun and
the West”
Career Panel
Wine and Cheese with the Class of
2003 in the Dining Hall
.Rock Party in the Boathouse
■ • • g'
Saturday, October 5
PPaturday Morning Seminars
‘ Homecoming Picnic and Reunion
Class Luncheons
• Mitchell Gallery Tour;” The Sweet
Uses of Adversity: Images of the Bibli
cal Job”
*•---------
• Classes of 87 and 88 Pick-Up Basketball
Extravaganza (all alumni are invited)
• Freshman Chorus Revisited led by Tom
May
Philanthropia, the alumni
A COCKTAIL PARTY AT THE BrOWN PaLACE HoTEL IN DeNVER IN JUNE. ThIS WAS THE GROUP’s SEC
OND
event; the first took place last
(piCTUED above). Events Chair
ROLE OF Philanthropia and its
porting
• Alumni-Student Soccer Classic
• Bookstore Autograph Party
• Tour of the Renovated Mellon Hall
• Cocktail Party in the Great Hall and
McDowell Classrooms
group that works on fundraising for the college, sponsored
pated
THE
IN the
college.
for
December
in
New York City. Stef Takacs, A89
Philanthropia,
familiarized those gathered with the
goal of informing alumni about the importance of sup
The Denver/Boulder chapter of
event, with
the
Alumni Association partici
Lee Goldstein, Liz Jenny, and Craig Sirkin choosing the ele-
GANT LOCATION. NoT THAT JoHNNIES WOULD NEED THE PERFECT SETTING FOR CONVERSATION TO
TAKE PLACE....
John Balkcom (SFGI 00),
president of the
Santa Fe
campus, initiated a lively discus-
SION AMONG ALMOST 50 ALUMNI ABOUT THE CURRENT STATE OF THE COLLEGE. “ThIS IS A GREAT
TIME TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH St. JoHn’s COLLEGE,” HE SAID. “ENROLLMENT IS STRONG; WE ARE
DOING FINE FINANCIALLY—ALTHOUGH WE COULD DO BETTER. ThE QUALITY OF CONVERSATION IN
• Homecoming Banquet: Candace
Brightman (A67) and Howard Zeiderman (A67) will receive the Alumni
Association Award of Merit; John
Sarkissian, Robert Williamson, and Al
Toft will be recognized as new Hon
orary Alumni
• Waltz Party in the Great Hall
THE CLASSROOM IS SUPERB. WHENEVER I LOSE SIGHT OF WHAT WE ARE HERE TO DO I GO SIT IN
THE DINING HALL AND A HALF-DOZEN TO TWO DOZEN STUDENTS SIT DOWN WITH ME. I DON’t KNOW
WHAT YOUR CONVERSATIONS WERE LIKE WHEN YOU WERE THAT AGE, BUT WHEN I WAS 18 YEARS
OLD MINE WERE NOTHING LIKE THESE. ThOSE CONVERSATIONS RENEW MY INSPIRATION AND
SENSE OF COMMITMENT TO WHAT WE DO AS AN INSTITUTION.”
Topics ranged from what the
college is doing to become more involved with the local
COMMUNITY IN SaNTA Fe TO HOW THE COLLEGE HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS TO THE POSSIBILITY
OF INCLUDING MORE WOMEN AUTHORS ON THE READING LIST.
For MORE INFORMATION ON PHILANTHROPIA AND UPCOMING PHILANTHROPIA EVENTS CALL OR
EMAIL Maggie Griffin
TY IN Santa Fe
at
in
Annapolis
at
410-626-2534,
505-984-6099, groherty@aol.com.
Sunday, October 6
uflch at the President’s
ouse
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Summer 2002 }
m-griffin@sjca.edu or
Ginger Roher-
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Communications Office
Box aSoo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
DAVID TROZZO
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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The College, Summer 2002
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Volume 28, Issue 3 of The College Magazine. Published Summer 2002.
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The College Vol. 28, Issue 3 Summer 2002
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3en (managing editor)
Ducker, Susanne (art editor)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Morrison, Marissa
van Doren, John
Eoyang, Glenda H.
The College
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/57b157947f831f4d09eab130ae796d52.pdf
194fa35ced5525e3ce56b35e980b9ede
PDF Text
Text
�STJOHN’S
College
On Eliot
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
" ith his slicked back hair, prissy round glasses, and exact gray
W
suit, T.S. Eliot looked the part he played as a mid-level worker
in Lloyds Bank of London. In his spare time, he wrote The
Waste
Land,
a hallmark
that in
framed
theSt.attitudes
of the
Thomas
Stearns
Eliotpoem
was born
1888 in
Louis. His
post-Great WarBrick
generation.
father was president of the Hydraulic-Press
Company, his mother was an amateur poet
who volunteered as a social worker. Eliot, the last of seven children, was sickly and his moth
er and older sisters doted on him. The family’s origins were strongly in Unitarian New Eng
land, and Eliot, after a prep school upbringing in St. Louis and Boston, followed the family
tradition and went to Harvard. Not a stellar student, he nonetheless completed his BA in
three years and stayed a fourth to get his master’s.
He traveled to Paris, worked on some poems (one of which became “The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock’’—completed when Eliot was 21), and then returned to Harvard to begin
work on a PhD. His circle of friends and mentors included George Santayana, William
James, Bertrand Russell, and Josiah Royce. Eliot grew more deeply interested in philosophy,
especially the workof F.H. Bradley, and was occupied by questions of the psychology of con
sciousness. In 1914 he studied in Germany, then moved on to Oxl()rd. In England, he
dropped his usual reserve long enough to become infatuated with Vivian Haigh-Wood, beau
tiful but emotionally disturbed. Much to his parents’ dismay, he married her and they moved
into Bertrand Russell’s apartment. Eliot supported himself by catch-as-catch-can teaching
gigs and writing assignments with literary magazines.
Because he was fluent in several languages, Eliot landed a steady job in the foreign section
of Lloyds Bank. He began to produce poetry more prolifically, and to be published and
admired. When in his late 30s, Eliot joined the Ghurch of England and also became a British
citizen, both iconoclastic decisions that reflected his philosophical and intellectual develop
ment as “a classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and anglo-catholic in religion.”
Although poetry never paid a living wage, Eliot was able to drop the bank job in favor of pub
lishing once he became better established as an editor and critic.
This issue of the magazine contains two brief references to Eliot’s poems; “April is the
crudest month,” the beginning of The Waste Land, is cited in a story about how the sea
son of winter impacts our psychology; and Eva Brann’s review of The Intellectual Life of
the British Working Classes includes a reference to British workers’ recognition of but
slight distaste for modernists like Eliot. T.S. Eliot is an amalgam of traditional and mod
The College (usps 018-750)
is published four times a year by
St. John’s College, Annapolis, md
and Santa Fe, nm.
Known office of publication;
Public Relations Office
St. John’s College
Box 3800
Annapolis, md 31404-3800
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, md
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Public Relations
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 3800, Annapolis, md
31404-3800.
postmaster:
Annapolis
410-395-5554
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sus3an Borden, managing editor
Susanne Ducker,
graphic designer
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
ern; his ideas have their basis in mythology, classical thought, established religion; but
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
the expression of those ideas and the rhythms of his poetry are so innovative as to set a
Advisory Board
style that has come to define modernity. Eliot demonstrates for us the power of poetic
language. Somehow, the words and lines and rhythms are inside us, and certain phrases
become part of the way we think of things. As he said; “[Poetry] may make us ... a little
more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to
which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves, and
an evasion of the visible and sensible world.”
Alexis Brown
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret Odell
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
-BG
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
I2l
DEPARTMENTS
Here Comes the Sun
2 FROM THE BELL TOWERS
Alumni discuss how the seasons affect
our psychology-and why some are glad
to see April while others regret the end
of ice and snow.
PAGE
The Roots of
OUR Program
PAGE I a
Eva Brann reviews a hook about the
intellectual life of British workers, who
gravitated to the books that eventually
found their way onto the St. John’s
reading list.
PAGE
21 HISTORY
About John McDowell, St. John’s first
president
l8
23 ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI PROFILES
24 Edith Updike (A86) - Business writer and
Japan hand
28 Mark Adler (A60) - Harpsichord maker
Santa Fe tutor Linda Weiner spent a
summer working with Mexicans who
are trying to bring new life to their
cultural traditions.
30 Melissa Skilondz (SF78) - A life in improv
32 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
Networking for careers, discussing an
Eastern Classic in L.A.
3'4'
36 BIBLIOFILE
Questioning History
Short reviews of books by alumni
An alumna’s quest to understand her
parents’ work on the Manhattan Project.
PAGE
37 OBITUARIES
3P
Myths About
Senior Essays
40 ST. JOHN’S FOREVER
PAGE 38
IO
Why Moby Dick was taken off the
reading list, and which alumni tutors
wrote the shortest essays.
The inauguration of John Balkcom
Mellon Hall gets an update
Summer Classics slate
Running in the Olympic relay
Santa Fe astronomy
Alumni survey results
An Annapolis lynching remembered
Philanthropia stages New York event
Tutor chess champ
Liberty Bell repairs
New art for Meem Library
IO LETTERS
Turning Ideas
INTO Action
PAGE
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ON THE COVER
T.S. Eliot
Illustration by DavidJohnson
�<2
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Inviting Conversations
The inauguration ofJohn E. Balkcom
aspresident in Santa Fe.
Amid the pomp and ceremony
of his inauguration as president
of the Santa Fe campus, John
Balkcom raised his arm toward
the audience and asked for a
show of hands from undergrad
uates and GIs. “Just for the
sake of clarity,” he said, point
ing toward the students, “this
is why we’re here. It’s certainly
why I’m here for this inaugura
tion.” That simple gesture symholized the new president’s
clarity of focus, his spontane
ity, his friendly regard, and his
seriousness of purpose.
More than 500 students,
alumni, faculty. Board memhers, Annapolis colleagues, and
friends from Santa Fe gathered
in the new Student Activities
Center on January a6 to wel
come John E. Balkcom as presi
dent. Although he had heen on
the job since November of
aooo, and the more elaborate
inauguration scheduled for
September 14 of aooi was can
celled, the ceremony brought a
fresh sense of beginnings to the
western campus.
The theme chosen for the
event-which stretched over a
weekend-was “Inviting Con
versations.” The inauguration’s
planners wanted it to be an
open invitation to all to partici
pate in the college’s unique
form of education. Representa
tives from the many spheres
within which St. John’s oper
ates came: students, faculty,
and staff of the college from
both campuses; representatives
of the city of Santa Fe; the
Alumni Association; the stu
dent government; and the
Board of Visitors and Gover
nors. Events included seminars
for students, alumni, and Board
members on “As You Like It”
(Friday afternoon); an Inaugur
al Dinner for students, faculty,
staff, and visitors; the inaugu
ral ceremony on Saturday at 2
p.m.; a reception; and an Inau
gural Ball Saturday night.
For John Balkcom, becoming
president of St. John’s is an
inauguration into a different
life. After graduating from
Princeton and earning an MBA
from the University of Chicago,
he spent 25 years as a manage
ment consultant, advising
organizations on how to grow,
measure, reward, and govern
talented people. When he visit
ed St. John’s in Santa Fe with
his daughter, who was looking
A CROWD OF MORE THAN 5OO WATCHED THE INAUGURATION IN THE NEW
Student Activities Center.
John Balkcom: From manage
ment consultant to summer
GRADUATE STUDENT TO COLLEGE
PRESIDENT.
at colleges, he decided he want
ed to find out more about the
college. He spent several vaca
tions in the Summer Classics
program, became a member of
the Board of Visitors and Gov
ernors, then enrolled in the
Graduate Institute. He received
his MA in liberal arts in 2000.
The inaugural ceremony
included speeches from repre
sentatives of all the groups
important to the college, and as
such served as a source of
unity.
John Cornell, a tutor at the
college, said, “It always makes
teachers proud to see one of
their students appointed to
high office...We are sharing the
joy of an old friend who under
stands the transforming power
of a unique institution.” Cor
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
nell referred to Balkcom as
someone whose life was gen
uinely changed by the college.
“[He] combines the speculative
powers and easy eloquence of a
senior colleague, with the wild
energy and uninhibited capaci
ty for wonder of our most
youthful, new freshman,” said
Cornell. Annapohs dean Har
vey Flaumenhaft spoke of Balkcom’s “cordial inter-campus
collegiality,” and Graduate
Institute student John Larkin
praised his ability to convey the
essence of the St. John’s experi
ence to those who were new to
it: “I came here with... a cer
tain romantic and musty notion
of reading quaint and curious
volumes of forgotten lore... But
right from the first, Mr. Balk
com told us it was about some
thing else...This is where we
were going to learn about who
we were.”
Two of Balkcom’s fellow
alumni, Glenda Eoyang (SF76),
�{From the Bell Towers}
president of the Alumni Associ
ation, and Chris Nelson (SF70),
president of the Annapolis
campus, spoke of his ability to
bring together disparate ele
ments. “His is the model of the
contemplative-practical life,”
said Eoyang, who added, “He
bridges the chasm between the
Program and the institution.”
Nelson recounted a conversa
tion the two had early in their
acquaintance, when Balkcom
was a new Board member. They
talked about The Aeneid. not
about the Board or the college.
They discussed the rule of law,
the need to be grounded in a
community in order to govern
effectively, the problem with
having a vision of the future in
order to make it a reality. “It
seemed to me that I had met a
man my own age of a similar
professional background who
cared about the books because
they were alive for him-what
they had to say mattered
because they might influence
his life in action.”
That the new president has
made an impression on the stu
dents was clear from the com
ments of Leah Willcox, class of
2003. She described the St.
John’s education as a kind of
unlearning. “This unlearning
is not just for breaking bad high
school habits, nor is it simply a
reversed process like Pene-
Tutor emeritus William Darkey
HOLDS THE ChAIN OF OFFICE.
Students swing at the Inaugural Ball.
lope’s unweaving during the
night of all her day’s work.
Rather, it is a tool that must be
employed within the pro
gram... It would seem, then,
that wherever traditions are
broken, wherever innovation
occurs, unlearning is somehow
present. For this reason it
appears that Mr. Balkcom has
already taken this paradigm of
St. John’s learning to heart.
Regardless of where he ever
actually learned the job of col
lege president, he has certainly
unlearned its vices. Most
importantly, he has unlearned
the commonly practiced notion
that the head of a college
should remain aloof and sev
ered from its student body.”
David Levine (A67), dean in
Santa Fe, spoke about “the
sense of promise and optimism
that comes with new begin
nings.” Gregory Curtis, chair
man of the Board, stressed that
Balkcom’s presidency made
him “the most hopeful for the
future of this campus that I’ve
ever been.” Victoria Mora, a
Santa Fe tutor, seemed to sum
up the opinions of all who
spoke when she said: “I’m con
fident that this former student
and Board member, and now
leader of our fine staff, has not
come to us either unprepared
or unwilling to learn-and this
bodes well for St. John’s, which
lives on the funny juxtaposition
of knowledge and naivete,
experience and experimentalism, in its radical attempt to
ground individual perspective
through the hard work of coop
erative insight.”
Representatives of the differ
ent communities of St. John’s
participated in an unusual part
of the ceremony, the “Chain of
the Insignia of the Office of the
President.” The chain of office
is a cast sterling silver medal
lion suspended from a silver
chain of open books. It was cre
ated by Annapolis silversmith
Judson Martin and first used at
the inauguration of Edwin
Delattre as president in 1980.
In the ceremony, the chain is
passed from participant to par
ticipant, signifying the unifica
tion of the diverse communities
under the new president’s lead
ership.
In his inauguration speech,
Balkcom outlined his vision for
St. John’s, and asked all those
who participated in the day’s
ceremonies to “help shape the
future of this institution.” He
began by offering a view of the
program that was couched in
terms other than are usually
used. Reading a poem called
{The College -Sf. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
3
“The Mouse and the Camel” by
the Persian poet Rumi, Balk
com made the point that “our
conversations have as much to
do with listening as with speak
ing.” A mouse holding the lead
rope of a camel in imitation of
the camel drivers is stumped
when he comes to a great river.
The camel says, “Maybe you
shouldn’t be leading a camel.
Stay with those like yourself. A
mouse has nothing to say to a
camel.” He then lets the mouse
ride across the river on his
back, and the poem continues,
“you are not a prophet, but go
humbly on the way of the
prophets, and you can arrive
where they are.”
But Balkcom was not content
to dwell on the philosophical
underpinnings of the program
or on what the college accom
plishes with students, which
can be truly seen by consider
ing the tremendous variety of
career paths in which St. John’s
alumni succeed. He also took
care to outline some specific
areas where improvement is
needed: providing more time
for faculty to “read, reflect, and
to prepare themselves for our
program; building faculty hous
ing near the campus”; offering
greater financial support to
students (perhaps not to the
extent of his alma mater,
Princeton, which is attempting
to replace all student loans with
outright grants); correcting the
misimpression that the study of
the great books excludes math
ematics and science; and pro
viding “a warm welcome to all
our constituencies-students,
parents, alumni, friends, facul
ty, staff, and neighbors.”
He concluded by thanking all
in attendance for “joining to
celebrate the relationships, the
challenge, and the partnership-both locally and nationally-that is St. John’s College.”
For thefall text ofmany of
the speeches delivered at the
inauguration, see the web site
at WWW. sjcsf edu/comcal/
inauguration, htm.
�4
{From the Bell Towers}
Mellon
Updated
The vertical steel louvers
meant to move with the
progress of the sun never
worked. There was no air con
ditioning in the classrooms,
while it was suh-arctic in the
summer in the auditorium and
Conversation Room. The hall
ways were dreary. The clock in
the physics wing hadn’t worked
since the early 1970s. The slate
workbenches in the biology
and chemistry labs had deterio
rated so much you got brown
stains on your hands if you
touched them. Recently, the
seats in the auditorium had
become so worn that their
springs were popping out. All
these traits characterized Mel
lon Hall, the behemoth class
room building opened in 1959.
Aside from a 1989 revamp of
the Conversation Room and the
addition of the Mitchell Gallery
and administrative wing, Mel
lon remained in its virgin state.
No one’s sure what to call the glass-enclosed seating area being
CONSTRUCTED IN THE
MeLLON COURTYARD.
With the current $12.9 milhon renovation of Mellon,
here’s an update on the above:
One set of the louvers is now
working-thanks to the efforts
of CharUe Berliner (A70), an
Annapolis contractor who has
been fiddling with them; hopes
are that the remainder will be
working by the time the con
struction is complete this
August. A new, state-of-the-art
air conditioning and ventilation
Summer Classics: Books
AND Opera in Santa Fe
Summer Classics, the program
that brings book and opera
lovers from across the country
to the Santa Fe campus, will be
held July 14 through August 2.
This year seminars are sched
uled for both morning and after
noon sessions, with opera and
chamber music in the evenings.
The program is appropriate as
an introduction to the college
and also for alumni and those
who have participated in other
St. John’s outreach programs
like Executive Seminars or
community seminars. For more
information, check the web
site atwww.sjcsf.edu, e-mail
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu, or call
505-984-6104.
Week I, July 14-19
Morning session:
• Aeschylus, Oresteia and
Prometheus Bound. Led
by Sherry Martin and
Judith Adam
• Melville, “Bihy Budd” and
“Piazza Tales.” Led by Jim
Forkin and Tom Scally
• Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
Led by Eva Brann and
Janet Dougherty
Afternoon session:
• Leonardo da Vinci the
Painter. Led by David Carl
and Stephen Houser Virgil,
• The Aeneid. Led by Michael
Bybee and Gino Thomas
• Wittgenstein, Philosophical
Investigations. Led by Claudia
Honeywell and CalebThompson
SoLARIUM?
CaFE?
system has been installed; it
employs giant ice cube trays
through which warm air circu
lates and gets infused with cool
ness before being pumped to
the far reaches of the building.
The hallways are wide, bright,
and cheerful, with red linoleum
retro-looking floors, light pine
doors and trim, and lots of
lighting. The clock is gone;
either no one could fix it or the
architects decided a clock didn’t
Week II, July 21-2,6
Morning session:
• Opera - Verdi, La Traviata
and Mozart, Clemenza di Tito.
Led by Wilham Fulton
• Shakespeare, Cymbeline and
A Winter’s Tale. Led by
William Alba and Krishnan
Venkatesh
• Virginia Woolf, To the Light
house. Led by Jan Arsenault
and Elizabeth Engle
Afternoon session:
• Euripides'. Five Tragedies.
Led by David Carl and Claudia
Honeywell
• Hans Jonas and the Ethics of
Biotechnology. Led by James
Forkin and David Neidorf
• Locke, Second Treatise of
Government and Rousseau,
Discourse on the Origin of
Inequality. Led by Michael
Rawn and Robert Richardson
{The College. St. lohn’s College . Winter/Spring 2002 }
fit with their concept for the
building. All the laboratory and
project rooms have been reno
vated, with new cabinetry, new
fixtures, and new workspaces.
Seats in the auditorium are
being reupholstered.
And there’s more...An addi
tion on the College Creek side
contains a meeting/seminar
room with teleconferencing
equipment and tutor offices.
The basement has been opened
up by the addition and a new
pottery studio and darkroom
constructed. The hallway
between the lobby and the
music library has been bumped
out into the courtyard; it will be
enclosed with glass and become
a light-filled cafe.
While opinions on Mellon as
an example of architectural sig
nificance vary, students and
tutors seem to like the new
look of the renovation. Alumni,
parents, and friends of the col
lege will be invited on tours of
Mellon in September and at
Homecoming-so they can
judge for themselves.
Week III, July 28-AuGUST a
Morning session:
• Opera - Pushkin’s Onegin
with Tchaikovsky’s opera.
Led by Wilham Fulton and
Robert Ghck
• Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part
II and Henry V. Led by Judith
Adam and Warren Winiarski
• Proust, Swann’s Way. Led by
David Carl and Patricia Locke
Afternoon session:
• Faulkner, Go Down, Moses.
Led by Michael Rawn and
Robert Richardson
• Plato, The Apology, Crito,
and Phaedo. Led by William
Alba and Krishnan Venkatesh
• The Rig Veda. Led by Patricia
Greer and Michael Wolfe
�{From the Bell Towers}
Olympic
Inspiration
This past January, Julie Francisca (SFGI93) had occasion to
learn about the traditions sur
rounding the Olympic torch.
“The Olympic Flame is ignited
by three women during a sacred
ceremony in Olympia, Greece,”
she says. “A single ray of sun
light is caught in a mirror and
the reflection is then magnified
to initiate a spark. Following
the ceremony, a Guardian of
the Flame escorts the flame,
safeguarded in a lantern, to the
Olympic host country and trav
els with it throughout the
Olympic Torch Relay in case
the torch needs to be relit from
the original flame.
“On December 4, 2001 the
Olympic flame arrived in
Atlanta. Muhammad Ali was the
first in the United States to
carry the 2002 Olympic flame.
The relay covered 46 states, 250
cities, and 13,500 miles,” says
Francisca. “On January 14, the
40th day of the Olympic Torch
Relay, the flame had made its
way to Galifornia, where I was
the first to carry it.”
Francisca carried the torch
as an Inspiration Partner. She
had nominated a friend, Mar
sha Gilden, to carry the torch
and Francisca was given a place
in the relay along with her. In
her essay nominating Gilden,
Francisca wrote that her friend,
a teacher, was “dedicated to
bridging diversity whether it be
found in physical challenges,
generation gaps, or ethnic mul
tiplicity.”
The day before her relay leg
in Ghula Vista, Calif., Francis
ca was too excited to get any
rest. “I could no longer pretend
to sleep and finally threw the
covers off at 5 a.m. and began
getting ready to ride the Wild
Wave for the ride of my life! ”
she later wrote. “Even so, I
never slacked on my responsi
5
bilities and paid very close
attention to the ABSOLUTELY
NO HAIRSPRAY rule, which
was repeated several times in
the long list of rules.”
When Francisca arrived at
the relay site, the Guardian of
the Flame was there, ready to
coach her on how to light her
torch from the flame burning
in the 2002 Olympic Cauldron.
“I waved at the few spectators
sprinkled along the path as I
rounded the lake... Just as I
approached the last curve lead
ing to the top of the hill, the
sun broke through the gray
overcast of the cold morning
sky. The crowd caught their
first glimpse of me carrying the
Olympic Torch and went wild! I
had not anticipated how uplift
ing the wave of emotion would
be when I felt the roar of the
crowd break over me, but it was
awesome,” she says.
During the day, Francisca
signed scores of autographs and
was interviewed by a television
reporter. “It was a long, long
interview, which was reduced to
two sentences when it aired,”
she says. “Even so, they were
the most important sentences:
‘It is a thrill, an honor and a
privilege. The flame reminds us
that we are inspirations to one
another.’ ” 4"
Santa Fe
Astronomy
equipment, so that the sky
watch program will not be lim
ited by the busy schedules and
family commitments of faculty.
After a year or two of a success
ful program, the college will be
positioned to plan for an obser
vatory structure.
Presently, the on-campus
skywatches are held on the west
deck of Evans Science Lab, cov
ered last year with walking pads
so that it can be fully used with
out causing roof leaks. With
motivation and leadership, we
shall also be able to conduct
skywatch sessions at the foot of
the Santa Fe Ski Basin as well as
other sites, such as the Abiquiu
area and the Galisteo area. Our
location on campus is imperfect
because of two factors, namely
campus and city lights that are
not dark-sky compliant, and the
air currents to be found at the
foot of our mountains. As we
become more experienced and
skilled, these may become sig
nificant limitations. At present,
we are yet beginners, so they
don’t matter as much as they
might.
At the end of November, the
Santa Fe campus acquired an
eight-inch reflecting telescope
with a sophisticated computer
drive, paid for by the class of
2001. For its size, this tele
scope is as good as it gets, and
should greatly enhance our nas
cent skywatch program. We
also purchased with the same
senior class gift a CCD camera
for electronic image capture, to
be put into use when we have
gained considerable experience
with the new telescope. We
—BY Hans von Briesen,
Director of Laboratories
'Tor its size, this
telescope is as
p^ood as itgets,
and should
greatly enhance
our nascent sky
watch program.''
already have an 8-inch reflector
with a less refined support
structure, and a 3.5-inch Questar telescope augmented by a
heavy-duty camera tripod.
I hope to recruit two or three
highly responsible students to
be stewards of the astronomy
Santa Fe Johnnies can now look at the phenomena described by
Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, thanks to the new
TELESCOPE ON THE ROOF OF ESL.
{The College -John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�6
{From the Bell Towers}
Alumni Opinions Now
Knowledge eor SJC
One of the earhest lessons
freshmen learn at St. John’sheginningwith Plato’s
Gorgias-'xs that opinion is dif
ferent from knowledge. Opin
ion is not rehahle; knowledge,
of course, is; opinion is based
on thought that skims the sur
face of truth. And yet opinions
are not without value. They are
openings to conversation, prel
udes to ideas. Still, a philo
sophical distrust of opinion
made the college think long
and hard about conducting an
opinion survey of alumni.
St. John’s did commission an
opinion survey of its alumni
last spring, and the results
show a strong support of the
college, and in particular of
“The Program”-the idealistic
educational mission statement
that the college curriculum
embodies. The consulting firm
Kane, Parsons & Co. conduct
ed a telephone survey of 600
undergraduate alumni and 150
alumni of the Graduate Insti
tute. The random group of
alumni called represented a
cross-section of decades on
both campuses and was weight
ed toward the ig8os and 1990s,
since 60% of alumni come from
those two decades. The sur
vey’s aim was to assess alumni
attitudes toward the college,
find out what features on the
web might be of interest to
alumni, and assess alumni atti
tudes toward fundraising. Here
are some of the findings:
• 66% of undergrad alumni
and 91% of GI alumni rated their
overall experience at St. John’s
as very positive. a8% of under
grads and 7% of GIs rated their
experience as more positive
than negative. Overall approval
rating: 94% for undergraduates
and 98% for GI alumni.
• When asked to cite two
ways that St. John’s had an
impact of their lives, alumni
focused on the Program. 61%
cited reading and studying the
great books, 49% cited “the St.
John’s approach to learning”
and 37% (52% of GIs) cited
their experiences in tutorials
and seminars. These results are
in contrast to the experiences
that alumni from other liberal
arts colleges usually emphasize-friendships with fellow
The alumni message: The Program brings about
TRANSFORMATION.
intellectual
students and faculty members
(38% at SJG).
• WTien asked if any of their
St. John’s experiences were less
than satisfactory, 56% of under
graduate alumni said yes. (Sur
prisingly, 42% could find noth
ing to complain about!) Of
those who said something was
unsatisfactory, 49% named
career preparation, 39% named
“developing specific skills such
as writing,” and 37% named
“helping one’s emotional
development.”
• 97% of alumni expressed a
high degree of support for the
college and its aims.
• The most requested feature
on a proposed new St. John’s
web site is an online, update
able directory of alumni.
• 65% of undergraduate
alumni say it is very likely they
will give a gift to the college in
the future.
• Alumni support their dona
tions to the college being used
for student financial aid,
“preservation of the Program,”
and bringing tutor salaries up
to par with those at comparable
colleges.
For a summary ofthe report,
interested alumni can contact
the Public Relations office in
Annapolis at 4io-626-253g oremail b-goyette@sjca.edu.
Ugly Moment in History
Between 1891 and 1906, ten lynchings occurred in the state of
Maryland. The last of those, on December 21,1906, was in
Annapolis. A mob of men stormed the jailhouse on Calvert Street
and dragged a black prisoner named Henry Davis, who had been
accused of raping a white woman, to the banks of College Creek.
The mob hung Davis and shot him; one account says that more
than 100 rounds were fired.
Ninety-five years after the horrific lynching, the details of the
crime are coming to light. WTien a group of Annapolitans began to
look into the history of lynching in the city, they questioned the
role of St. John’s in Davis’ death. The legend in the community
was that the lynching had occurred on the college’s back campus.
But newspaper accounts from the time show that the mob took
Davis further upstream-to the end of what is now Clay Street and
was known in the early 1900s as Brick Yard Hill. The Washington
Post reported on December 23,1906 that St. John’s students, can
didates for the Naval Academy, and Annapolis youth were the cul
prits. But the following day, Thoms Fell, the president of the col
lege, denied the reports. He noted that almost all the students
were gone from the college on the night of the attack, since Christ
mas break had begun earlier that week. The paper retracted its
story. Evidence does suggest that the lynchers-who were never
identified-gathered to formulate their plan on the St. John’s cam
pus, either on the far back campus or in Randall Hall.
Nelson Hernandez (A99) is a reporter for the Anne Arundel
bureau of the Washington Post. He began investigating the 1906
lynching when community leaders in Annapolis decided that it was
time to acknowledge this ugly moment in the city’s past. Hernan
dez’s article in the Post (December 20, 2001) laid out the history
of the event and described current efforts to commemorate the
lynching. On the 95th anniversary of the lynching, a group of com
munity leaders gathered in the Brewer Hill Cemetery to dedicate a
plaque in remembrance of Henry Davis. Regardless of Davis’ guilt,
his death was racially motivated, said Carl Snowden, who headed
up the commemoration effort. “That must never happen again,”
said Snowden. “No one believes that is justice.”
{The College-5:. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{From the Bell Towers}
Philanthropia in New York
The music was loud, the food
was tasty, and the drinks were
flowing, but in the end, it was
the conversation that kept New
York Johnnies out late on a
Thursday night in early Decem
ber, Over 50 alumni, mainly
from the last two decades, gath
ered at the Tenth Street Lounge
in the East Village for a chance
to meet fellow Johnnies, recon
nect with old classmates, and,
of course, talk.
Elizabeth Powers and Sapna
Gandhi met again after Z3
YEARS.
The event was sponsored by
Philanthropia, the alumni
organization dedicated to
fundraising for St. John’s. Stefanie Takacs (A89) spearheaded
the event. “I thought it might
be fun, especially after Septem
ber II, for people to get togeth
er, and I thought it was a nice
way for Philanthropia and the
college to reach out to alumni,”
she says. “The invitation had a
picture of a seminar chair, to
help people remember what St.
John’s is all about and how
important conversation and
community are to the college
and its alumni.”
Among the alumni attending
the event was Annapolis cam
pus president Christopher Nel
son (SF70), who had the chance
to talk to the group about the
relevance of St. John’s in
today’s world. He discussed the
heartfelt and strongly focussed
seminar discussions on the
Odyssey, held just after the ter
rorist attacks. He told of two
current students, Maya Alapin
(A03) and Kelly O’Donnell
(A04), whose letters to The
Gadflycited in a story
that appeared in a number of
newspapers, including the Bal
timore Sun and the Los Angeles
Times. The writers first
described the feelings of guilt,
uselessness, and selfishness
they experienced immediately
after the attacks, but then
explained their newfound
understanding of the impor
tance of a St. John’s education.
Alapin wrote: “It seems to me
that now is a better time than
any for us to show our commit
ment to answering that special
question about living a good
life so that when we are ready,
we can give to the world the
best thoughts we can muster.”
Nelson says that even
though the music was wild and
the crowd pretty loud, “the
quality of the conversation was
nonetheless high. I thoroughly
enjoyed seeing so many good
friends and thought Philan
thropia provided a wonderful
way for alumni to revisit the
college. The sense of communi
ty that exists among such
friends is just great.”
Sapna Gandhi (A91)
describes Nelson’s talk as very
warm and said it made her feel
connected to the community.
She also enjoyed meeting up
with Elizabeth Powers (A89),
with whom she once shared a
short but intense Johnnie
friendship. “It was at the end of
her senior year; I was a sopho
more. We had the chance to
spend a little time together and
we really connected,” Gandhi
says. “But I hadn’t seen her
since 1989. We spent the
evening catching up on each
other’s lives.”
Takacs also passed most of
the night in conversation,
which she says was the primary
purpose of the gathering. She
was pleased to see how plenti
ful and intense discussions
were throughout the room and
she attributed the success of
the event to these talks:
“Unlike some group events
that start to dwindle when the
free alcohol runs out, this con
tinued into the late hours.”
Several alumni at the Tenth
Street Lounge took note of this
phenomenon, reporting that,
although the gathering was
scheduled for 7:00 to 9:30
p.m., the last Johnnies-including Ghris Nelson-left close to
midnight.
Takacs, now Philanthropia’s
Events Ghair, will organize
gatherings in other cities.
While plans are still prehminary, Denver and Boston are
being considered for aooa.
The goal of Philanthropia is
to educate alumni about the
importance of supporting the
college financially; their efforts
focus on fundraising for the col
lege’s Annual Fund. Gifts to the
Annual Fund support the yearly
operation of the college in areas
like faculty salaries, financial
aid for students, and academic
instructional expenses. For
more information on Philan
thropia and Philanthropia
events, call Maggie Griffin at
410-626-3534. 4-
Chess
Champ
Jesse Kraai has been keeping
busy these days. In addition to
the usual round of seminars
and tutorials, paper confer
ences and faculty meetings,
he’s been playing a lot of chess.
Luckily, he’s found a way to
maximize board time during
the few spare hours in a tutor’s
demanding schedule-he’s been
playing many of his games
simultaneously. Last October
he played 3a opponents at once
in a chess exhibition in Santa
Fe. All 3a (including Johnnies
Andrew Smith and Devin King)
lost. In March he played nine of
New Mexico’s top youth players
simultaneously. Although his
age and experience gave him
the distinct advantage, he
agreed to level the field-by
never looking at the boards (he
recorded their moves on paper
and envisioned the games from
his notes). Two of the players
earned draws. Kraai won the
other seven.
Kraai, a graduate of Santa Fe
High School, attended Shimer
College, which features a great
books program similar to St.
{The College- 5f. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
Kraai studies the board in a
MATCH with multiple OPPONENTS.
John’s. He pursued graduate
work in Germany, where he
received his MA in history and
philosophy of science. Kraai
achieved the rank of Senior
Chess Master in 1994. In 1999,
he became the first person from
New Mexico to attain the rank
of International Chess Master.
This past January, he was one
of 56 players who qualified to
compete in the U.S. Chess
Championships in Seattle,
where he finished as one of la
players tied for i6th place. ->■
�{From the Bell Towers}
8
Announcements
Director of
Labs Opening
The Santa Fe campus has a
position open for Director of
Laboratories, who supervises
and supports the operation of
laboratory science at the col
lege. Hans von Briesen, the
current director, plans to retire
after academic year 2,002-3.
Responsibilities include:
• Hiring, training, and
supervising undergradu
ate lab assistants
• Advising faculty on exper
imental work
• Maintaining facilities and
equipment and procuring
supplies
• Supporting the on-going
development of the labo
ratory curriculum and
manuals.
Prior expertise in all parts of
the laboratory curriculum is
not required; rather, candidates
should demonstrate love of lab
oratory science, interest in
expanding beyond prior expert
ise, and interest in studying sci
ence through its original his
torical sources. A master’s
degree in a scientific field or a
bachelor’s degree and equiva
lent education and experience
are required.
Candidates should send a
resume and a brief letter
explaining their interest in the
position to Mr. Jorge Aigla,
Chair, Search Committee for
Director of Laboratories, St.
John’s College, 1160 Camino
Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM,
87505-4599-
Tuition and Fees
Announced
Tuition and fees for the aca
demic year 2002-2003 will
total more than $34,000.
Tuition will be $27,210 (a 5.5%
increase over 2001-2002
rates), room and board will be
$6,970 (a 3% increase), and the
student activity fee will remain
at $200. In the Graduate Insti
tute, the tuition per semester
for the Liberal Arts program
will be $5,190 and for the East
ern Classics program it will be
$8,072 (both are 4% increases
over the previous year).
Tuition rates at the college
The St. John’s Search and Rescue Team officers pose in their steel
iest POSTURES. The team, estaelished in 1971, unites Johnnies with
Santa Feans in search and rescue operations for anyone lost or
INJURED IN REMOTE AREAS OF NeW MeXICO. LeFT TO RIGHT: DeVIN KeNNEMORE, Treasurer; Cinnamon Blair, Secretary; Chris CoucheronAamot (SF04), President; Brendan O’Neill (SF93), Training Offi
cer; KoryGoold (SF04), member-at-large; John Laurino (SF02),
Equipment Officer; Mary Freitas (SF80), Vice President.
are similar to those at compara
ble liberal arts colleges nation
wide. More than half of St.
John’s undergraduate students
receive a financial aid package
from the college. And since it
costs about $36,000 to educate
a student at St. John’s, even
those who pay full tuition in
effect receive a subsidy. The
difference is made up through
contributions to the Annual
Fund and income generated
from the endowment.
Flaumenhaft Appointed
Dean
Harvey Flaumenhaft, a tutor at
the Annapolis campus since
1968 and dean since 1997, has
been reappointed to a second
five-year term as dean.
“The work of being dean
unfortunately leaves little time
for study, writing, and reflec
tion, which I sorely miss, bit it is
very interesting-especiaUy to
someone with my scholarly
interest in the theory of organi
zation and administration,” says
Flaumenhaft. “I would nonethe
less regard my five years of it as
quite sufficient were there not
several projects that I’d like to
carry further forward, among
which are: the estabhshment of
faculty development on a more
solid basis; the institution of a
more regular and better sup
ported system for improving our
use of supplemental instruction
al materials; the working out of
arrangements for joint accredi
tation that will include academic
review by an organization devot
ed to hberal education; and the
enhancement of cooperation
between our two campus com
munities without undermining
local enterprise, commitment,
and self-government.”
Hodson Grant to Fund
Mellon Renovation
The Hodson Trust has given St.
John’s College $1.1 miUion, to
be used as a challenge to other
donors for the renovation of
Mellon HaU. The Trust will
match gifts for the renovation.
{The College . St John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
“The Hodson Trust is providing
valuable leverage for the college
to raise additional money to sup
port the Mellon Hall renova
tion,” said President Chris Nel
son. “The challenge program is
both extraordinarily generous in
itself and extremely encourag
ing of further generosity from
the college’s other friends and
alumni.”
The Hodson Trust, estab
lished in 1920, has given more
than $118 million to four Mary
land colleges: Johns Hopkins,
Washington, St. John’s, and
Hood. The annual grants fund
student scholarships and
internships, research, building
construction, faculty endow
ments, and special programs.
Jobs for Johnnies
Alumni who are in the job mar
ket can check out www.sjca.edu/
placement/office.phtml, the
web site for the Placement
(Career Services) office. Many
online resources are available,
from a listing of current jobs
suitable for recent grads and
alumni of the college (updated
daily) to links to job banks and
other resources. Alumni who
are looking for employees also
send job postings to the site.
Karen Krieger, Director of
Placement in Annapolis,
reports that many alumni land
jobs at Johnnie-friendly compa
nies and schools through net
working with other alumni they
find on the site. The Santa Fe
Placement Office site offers a
resume-posting service
(http://WWW. sjcsf. edu/placement/index.html) as well as
additional job listings.
Poet Zuckerman
Elliott Zuckerman, tutor emer
itus in Annapolis, has pub
lished a book of his poetry. The
Shape ofan Ear. The 30 poems
in the volume were written over
a period of more than four
decades. Many were published
either in their current versions
or in earlier versions in The St.
John’s Review, or its predeces-
�{From the Bell Towers}
sor. The College. The volume is
available at the college book
store in Annapolis.
Happy too
Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Turner,
who graduated from St. John’s
in igai and went on to become
dean of the Johns Hopkins
Medical School, celebrated his
looth birthday in January. An
article in the Baltimore Sun
quotes Turner as saying that he
originally wanted to be a coun
try doctor but settled in at Hop
kins instead. He considers his
legacy to include the shift in
emphasis in med school admis
sions from “who you were or
what race or religion or sex you
were” to “intelligence and
brainpower.” Dr. Turner is also
a member emeritus of the St.
John’s Board of Visitors and
Governors.
Twenty-Six
Characters
FOR Meem
What more appropriate greet
ing for a hbrary than a work of
art celebrating the possibilities
of language? “An Environmen
tal Study of Twenty-Six Charac
ters,” a sculpture of the alpha
bet’s characters by Taos artist
Melissa Zink, is now displayed
at the entrance to Meem
Library in Santa Fe. The piece
combines painting, sculpture,
and mixed media. A gift to the
college from Board member
Jeremy Shamos and his wife
Susan, the sculpture was dedi
cated on January a6. At the
dedication, Ms. Zink spoke
about the work:
“In the fall of aooo, I began
to understand the alphabet as
an infinity and to see the
anthropomorphizing of letters
as a way to convey the infinite
possibihties of our language.
As it always is with satisfying
9
Replica Repair
In the early 1950s, the Treasury Department
presented a replica of the Liberty Bell to each
state as part of a campaign to sell defense bonds
to support the Korean War. The bell given to
Maryland ended up on the campus of St. John’s
College, with a base paid for with pennies col
lected by Maryland school children. The bell has
sat on the front campus since then, pointed out
to tourists as a minor landmark, and used as a
mini-jungle gym for children visiting the cam
pus. (For the record: The bell is four feet tall, is
made of 80 percent copper and ao percent tin,
and has no clapper.)
On January 10, the bell was removed from
campus by the McShane Bell Foundry in nearby
Glen Burnie. The foundry will replace the wood
en yoke that supports it with a new one of white
oak, as well as the hardware damaged by the pull
of gravity on the a,5oo-pound bell. The work is
estimated to take 8 to 10 weeks, so the bell
should be back on campus before Croquet Match
visitors even notice it’s gone.
ideas, the task seemed simple
and self-evident. Although it
wasn’t quite so simple as I
imagined, my beUef that the
characters could convey the
wealth inherent in our alphabet
never wavered.
“Since the overarching idea
propelhng this work concerned
Unhinged: The Liberty Bell’s yoke is lifted from
ITS support. The bell was taken to a special bell
foundry for repairs.
the infinite possibilities of let
ters and words and thoughts, no
particular symbolism applies to
each character. The A could be
Abraham or Arabian Nights or
Aleph. L doesn’t equal dog, but
the image could be associated
with love and loyalty or laziness
and lassitude. Every associa
“Art that celebrates the elements of our language seems per
fectly suited to the library,” says Meem director Inga Waite
OF THE PIECE BY
MeLISSA ZiNK (PICTURED).
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
tion leads to another, and with
those associations, worlds can
be built. What I hope I have
made is both a game and a
reminder. A game of associa
tions and journeys into places
real or imaginary and a
reminder of the extraordinary,
ultimately indescribable wealth
of thought and image, the
benign galaxies of possible com
binations waiting to express
thoughts yet unthought.
“John Man, in his book
Alpha and Beta, says: ‘To the
many millions who use it rou
tinely, the alphabet seems the
essence of simplicity, as easy as
ABC. But the sense of simplici
ty is deceptive, for the alphabet
is a surface impression of hid
den linguistic depths. Its few
symbols are nothing compared
to the complexity of sounds
they represent, while those
sounds merely hint at the com
plexity of language itself.’
“I hope that ‘An Environ
mental Study of Twenty-Six
Characters’ reminds viewers of
the extraordinary marvel of lan
guage and the minds that use it
and the worlds we occupy.”
�{Letters}
More Animal Books
Re: Hearts of Animals
Yes!!! But how are so many people blinded
by the Nietzschean-Darwinian red-intooth-and-claw dogma? Can’t they see we
and nostri fratelliti live in a universe of
exploration, play, love? May I add to your
excellent booklist Christianity & the Rights
ofAnimals by Andrew Linzey?
—Boyd Kyle, class of 1951
SJC Plaudit
I know that St. John’s is not lacking in
plaudits but recently I found a special rec
ommendation. It is in The Cat Who’ll Live
Foreveriy Peter Gethers, who was the
companion of Norton, the Perfect Cat. This
book was preceded by The Cat Who Went
to Paris and A Cat Abroad. Peter and Nor
ton traveled a lot and one place they went
was Annapolis, which “has one of the great
universities in the country, St. John’s.”
I had the good fortune to meet Norton
when he came to Berkeley. I wasn’t alone there was a whole roomful of people to
meet the famous cat. Norton did not disap
point. He was wonderful and it was a mem
orable evening. Norton has since passed
on, a beautiful, beneficent cat. Even if you
don’t like reading books about cats some
thing of his persona comes through from
his picture on the cover.
Thanks for the nice obituary of Bob Arne
(Fall issue) written by John Carroll Pollak.
I knew Bob in Berkeley, a place he
described as “urban but not urbane.” Bob
walked his own path, leisurely, gravelyBob was not an employee-and philosophi
cal, a rare man.
—Joseph Barrett, A73
A Question of Accuracy
On pages 6 and 40 of the Fall 2001 issue
you report the honors showered on me in
Washington and Annapolis in one week.
May I point out, however, that I did not
edit Religion and Resistance to Nazism? I
wrote and delivered it as a series of lectures
at Princeton (which were followed by very
good discussions). The lectures were subse
quently published as a monograph. It was
work on that subject that led me to the
Moltke letters.
On p. 40, after saying that I “document
ed the resistance of the German people to
Nazism,” you quote Elliott Zuckerman’s
mention of my insistence upon “accuracy
as opposed to the glib generalities we all
encounter.” May I insist on accuracyindeed on the facts of history once more?
Once Hitler had come to power, “the Ger
man people” obeyed him and his apparatus
of propaganda and coercion, swooned
before his charisma, and patriotically fol
lowed him into war in Poland, in Scandi
navia, and Western Europe, in Africa and
Soviet Russia-until the Russians, fighting
back with tremendous losses, exertions,
and fortitude, reached Berlin and he killed
himself.
Against this background of non-resist
ance of “the German people” I have over
more than half a century, ever since those
events happened, taken a passionate inter
est in the brave individuals and groups of
individuals who did resist. I wondered and
still wonder about what animated and
enabled them to risk and in many cases
lose their lives, opposing rather than toler
ating and supporting that regime.
—Beate Ruhm von Oppen
Class of 1961 Reunion Update
We regret the omission in the Fall issue of
The College of any report of the central
event of the 40th reunion of the class of
rqBi at Homecoming last year. That event
was a magnificent and very well-attended
luncheon at the home of Nana and John
Dealy, organized to honor Eva Brann. Our
class’ guests included several members of
the college faculty who were tutors during
the period 1957-61. Here is the text of our
tribute to Eva;
The Members ofthe St. John’s College
Class ofigbi on the occasion ofour 40th
Class Reunion hereby convey to Eva
Brann, who shared, as afreshman tutor in
1951, ourfreshman year at the College, our
unbounded gratitude, respect, apprecia
tion, and affectionfor the great gifts she
has given to us, enjoyed these 44 years,
whose essential nature ispartly reflected in
thefollowing texts:
“Some things I have said of which I am
not altogether confident. But that we shall
be better and braver and less helpless if we
think that we ought to inquire, than we
should have been if we indulged in the idle
fancy that there was no knowing and no use
in seeking to know what we do not know;
that is a theme upon which I am ready to
fight, in word and deed, to the utmost of
my power.” (Socrates in Plato’s Meno)
The study of texts...can foster apprecia
tion for the ingenious wisdom of founding
efforts, patience with the slow develop
ment of depths and complexities, and a
reluctance to wield the tool of reason too
nonchalantly. Surely these intellectual
habits are exactly such as are convertible
into the civic virtues most needful...Yet far
from being incompatible, they are precisely
coincident with the desire to delve into all
abysses and to leave no question unasked.
A period given to inquiry is therefore
indeed an appropriate preparation for
republican responsibilities.” (Eva Brann,
Paradoxes ofEducation in a Republic)
—Cynthia Blesdoe Daley, Nana May Dealy, MarCIA Goldberg Mathog, Linda McConnell, Harri
son Sheppard, Theodore Stinchecum, The Class
OF 1961 Reunion Committee
Corrections
In the article “First All-Alumni Art
Show” in the Fall issue, a name was omit
ted from the list of participants. Christo
pher Zerendow (SFga) also exhibited art
work in the show.
In “The Report of the Presidents - 1999aooi” mailed to all alumni in January, the
extracurricular activities of Annapolis
tutor Andre Barbera were incorrectly
reported. Mr. Barbera is president of the
St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Mary’s
Church.
Photo Recollections
In the 200a “One and Many” calendar
coordinated by Philanthropia mailed to all
alumni, we asked for help with the identifi
cation of people in the photos, since the
photos used from the college archives had
minimal notations. Thanks to everyone
who wrote, e-mailed, or called. Here are
some of the responses:
The mystery people for November are:
sitting on windowsill, Linda Grimes; lying
on bed, Sandy Culbertson; sitting in chair,
Priscilla Bender Shore; sitting on floor,
Emily Martin Kutler.
It was dehghtful to find the photo in the
calendar. I had never seen it before.
—Priscilla Bender-Shore, A55
I recognize several of the people in the
November photograph. On the bed is
Sandy Culbertson, a tall, statuesque and
sweet beauty from California. The picture
does not do her justice. She had an incredi
ble creamy complexion with cheeks that
had a slight rose glow to them, especially
when she smiled, which was often. Her
{The College • St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Letters}
The NOVEMBER WOMEN,
NOW IDENTIFIED.
eyes were large and, I think, brown. Her
hair was a medium-dark brown, and when
she walked in the sunshine, there were
auburn highlights throughout it. She
worked in the dining hall to help pay her
expenses, and I remember being horrified
that she didn’t make the trip home for
Christmas. I would have liked to take her
home with me, but it wasn’t possible as I
was one of eleven members of my house
hold. As I was from a very close-knit family,
this also astounded me and made me ache
for her. She was in the class of ’55.
The name of the student sitting on the
floor escapes me, but I remember her as
very sweet and kind. I read in one of the
alumni newsletters that she later married
Sammy Kutler, a junior who worked in the
mailroom the years I was at St. John’s. He
would have been in the class of ’54 and his
wife was in the class of ’55.
The student at the window I do not rec
ognize at all. I do recognize the study desk
with its lamp and chair, the bedspread and
the radiator at the window. Many of the stu
dents got extra study tables, as weU as an
extra mattress and spread. The study table
fitted perfectly between the two closets and
into the window space. The extra mattress
became the pad for the “window seat” with
the extra length folded up to provide a cush
ion for one’s back. And, of course, the
spread finished the whole thing off. It was a
great arrangement. My room was on the
third floor overlooking the quadrangle
about midway down the hall. In those days
the maid came in, cleaned the room, made
the bed and hung up the clothes. I guess
that is a thing of the past today.
One thing... I would never have recog
nized Barbara Leonard! But then I don’t
look the same as in 195a/53 either.
—Mary Alice McWilliams Muir, A56
I am the student in the photograph on the
page titled “About the people and the pho
tographs.” The shirt I’m wearing is from
Africa.
I can’t be certain, but it is a high probabil
ity that I am the student in the white T-shirt
on the left in the photograph for August.
—George Filz, SF76
I enjoyed the SJC 2002 calendar. I can
identify a couple of the students who are
unidentified in the photos.
March 2002: The student beside tutor
Barbara Leonard is John Rees, A74.
October 2002: The student with the gui
tar is Linda Stromberg, SF77. She is sitting
on a bench in the courtyard of the upper
dorms in Santa Fe. I would date the photo
graph circa 1975, because I remember that
she hved in the upper dorms that year.
April 2002: The tutor in the photo looks
to me like Ray Davis.
I think that I can be of some help in identi
fying people in the photographs in the lat
est edition of the St. John’s calendar.
I think that the identifications of the
April and May photographs are switched.
Although I don’t remember Eva Brann
from my days at St. John’s, I believe that
she is the woman in the May photo. ( She
looks mighty like that even now.) I am cer
tain that the man seen in perfect profile
behind her is Harvey Poe. I am less certain
about the two other people whose faces can
be seen. The person sitting next to Eva
appears to be Jeremy Tarcher. The person
sitting directly behind her seems to be Tom
Heineman. If I am correct about either
Tarcher or Heineman, this photo could not
have been taken later than 1953 when both
graduated.
The identification of the January photo
is probably correct, and it is only coinci
dental that two of the five men in the
photo bear a striking resemblance to men
I knew. The man sitting on the table looks
like Peter Grimes (the husband of Linda
in the November photo). He even has the
pipe from which Peter was never separat
ed. Sitting directly opposite him at the far
end of the table is someone who looks
very much like my senior year roommate,
Frank Polk.
—Martin Dyer, Ago
The February photograph is of Steve Gold
man, SF73; the photographer was probably
J. R. Thompson, but it could have been
Maria Kwong.
The tutor in the April photograph is not
Tom Slakey; it is Ray Davis.
—Michel R. Barnes, SF73
The CollegeviAcwae.^ letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under 500
words have a better chance of being printed
in their entirety.
Please address letters to: The College
Magazine, St. John’s Gollege, Box 2800,
Annapolis MD 21404 or The College Maga
zine, Public Relations Office, St. John’s
Gollege, 1160 Gamino Gruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Letters can also be sent via e-mail to:
b-goyette@sjca.edu, or via the form for
letters on the web site atwww.sjca.edu chck on “Alumni,” then on “Gontact The
Gollege Magazine.”
—Carol High saw, A76
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Johnnies
on
Winter}
HERE COMES
THE SUN
Johnnies across the country bid winter afondfarewell.
By SUS3AN Borden, A87
Ithough T.S. Eliot named April the cruelest month, many Johnnies on the
Annapolis campus would nominate
Fehruary for the title. While the Santa
Fe winter offers outdoor sports and a
near-daily hlue sky, the Annapolis win
ter is all about overcast days, slushy
streets, and promises of snowstorms
that are rarely kept.
Alumni across the country are divided in their approach to win
ter. Some find much that is bitter in the bitter cold. For them, win
ter is a three-month-long battle with icy roads, itchy sweaters, and
a lingering case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Others think
of December, January, and February as one long winter carnival
filled with sledding, skiing, roaring fireplaces, and hot cider.
Kersti Tyson (SFga), a native New Mexican who studied in
Annapolis and Santa Fe, describes a special approach to winter
she discovered when she was a high school exchange student in
Norway. Her host family introduced her to koselig (pronounced
kooshlie). “It’s a word that I find untranslatable in English. Cozy
is the best way to translate it, but it’s more the spirit of being
cozy,” she says, “The Norwegians have this way of going around
making things cozy for themselves in the wintertime. When you
go into a house there are candles lit and good treats on the table.
It’s a kosehg atmosphere.” Tyson, now living in Santa Fe, makes
her home koselig by lighting candles, curling up on the couch
with a blanket and book, drinking hot chocolate, and eating grot,
a rice pudding she learned to cook in Norway (see sidebar).
Who better than a baker living in a northern climate to recom
mend some koselig recipes native to America? Juliet Burch (A88),
who has worked in bakeries (Miss Nancy’s) and restaurants (Con
rad’s) since her college days in Annapolis, now works at the Clear
Flour Bakery in Brookline, Mass. It turns out that the old saw
about the cobbler’s children going shoeless holds true for Burch
and her husband, Dave Vermette (A85), “I don’t bake and I don’t
cook. I live on carryout food,” she confesses. “For us, cabin fever
doesn’t mean warm stews simmering on the stove; it means
there’s nothing to eat in the fridge.”
A native Annapolitan, Burch says it’s taken her a long time to
adjust to Boston winters. Several years ago, she began a non-food
tradition to combat cabin fever. When the malady hits, she and
her sister-in-law drive north through the snow in search of adven
ture. “If it’s winter, we might as well embrace it,” she says. “The
first time we drove to Quebec. It was just incredible, driving
through places with three feet of snow on the ground. People were
riding snow mobiles, they were skiing, it was a winter wonder
land. We drove past a father and son walking together, the father
holding a big rifle, the son holding a winter hare. I thought,
‘Wow, these are people for whom winter means something entire
ly different.’ ”
Burch was right about such people, who are to be found every
where but are in greatest numbers in the coldest regions. Among
them is Carl Bostek (SF68), who moved to Alaska in 1993 when he
was in the Air Force. “I wanted to be someplace with a low popu
lation density, with wilderness, mountains, and ocean,” he says.
“After I got here, I realized there was not really any ocean, at least
around Anchorage, suitable for sailing, but there are mountains
and wilderness and lots of outdoor activities.”
Bostek rattles off a long list of Alaska’s popular winter sports,
then explains that the cold weather and lack of dayhght take their
toll even on the snow enthusiasts who choose to hve so close to the
Arctic Circle. “A fair number of people move to Alaska thinking
it’s going to be just wonderful,” he says. “But most of them first
come in the summer and fall in love tvith the land when the sun
{The College- St. John's College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�14
{Johnnies on Winter}
open a season-appropriate
shines ao hours a day. The
book like those Fetterer
flip side is, come winter,
enjoys. Matthew Gildea
you’ve got close to ao hours
(A8i), associate director in
of darkness each day. Sunrise
the merchandising depart
to sunset is not very long.”
ment of Borders, explains
Still, Bostek says, a lot of
that people usually read to
people stick it out because
escape winter, not celebrate
they love the Alaska summer
it. “Only in the deep south
so much. “But I think every
will people read books with a
body gets somewhat de
winter theme,” he explains.
pressed in the winter,” he
For those willing to buck that
adds. “There’s a big business
trend (or living in the deep
in SAD hghts, dayhght simu
south), Gildea makes some
lators. I try to keep very
recommendations: In the
bright lighting in my house
Heart of the Heart of the
and office, but the real way
Country by William Gass,
you fight the winter is to get
Moist winter air in Annapolis causes snow and ice to coat the trees.
Worst Journey in the World
out and be active.”
by Apsley Cherry-Garrard,
Colorado resident Flo
and Endurance by Alfred
rence Fetterer (A8i) is not so
Lansing.
sure. “While most of my
There are some among us
friends and colleagues love
for whom winter is neither a
winter sports, I hunker down
season of snow sports nor an
by the fire and wait for May,”
-Juliet Burch [A88]
she says, describing an un
occasion for koselig. Suffer
usual approach to the cold for
ers of SAD battle depression
brought on by winter’s short
someone who works at the
hours of sunlight. The National Mental Health Association
National Snow and Ice Data Center.
“It’s pretty ironic that I spend my days thinking about the cryos
(NMHA) describes SAD’s symptoms as the same as those of
phere (‘where the world is frozen’) when I hate the cold so much,”
depression: “changes in sleeping and eating habits; persistent
sad, anxious or ‘empty’ mood; loss of pleasure in activities once
she says. The closest she comes to embracing winter is when she
enjoyed.” While the NMHA reports that SAD isn’t totally under
curls up with a book: “I enjoy reading about the Arctic and Antarc
stood, it says it is a real illness with sometimes severe symptoms.
tic explorers. I recommend The Coldest March by Boulder atmos
Jennifer Coonce (A97) first discovered her susceptibility to
pheric scientist Susan Solomon. It makes the case that Capt.
Robert Falcon Scott was done in on his return from his South Pole
SAD as a St. John’s student. “I grew up in the south, so I never had
expedition in igia not by poor planning, but by the bad luck of
a problem with tvinter. When I moved to Annapol is as a freshman,
abnormal weather conditions.”
I had a lot of trouble in the winter, but it was the first time I was
For many Johnnies, curling up with a good book is the very defi
away from home, so it was an emotional time anyway. I never
thought about SAD until my junior or senior year when I realized
nition of kosehg. But it turns out to be the rare reader who cracks
'If its winter, we might
as well embrace it.
{The CoLLEGE-St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring ssoosi }
�{Johnnieson Winter}
15
People usually need to escape
winter, not celebrate it
that I was always extremely
recent death of George
depressed in February. I’ve
Harrison led the perform
paid more attention to it
ers to include a “Sun set,”
since then.”
featuring “Here Comes
Coonce spent all four
the Sun” and other sunyears in Annapolis, but it’s
themed songs.
likely that February would
As the group planned
have been a happier time
the performance and
for her in Santa Fe. Mark
talked about other songs
St. John (SF82), director of
they’d play, Seeger says, it
athletics and outdoor pro
became clear that many
grams in Santa Fe, says
“sun” songs are actually
that winter is an exciting
depressing. “Like ‘You Are
time on the western cam
My Sunshine.’ It starts bad
pus. “We have cross-coun
and gets worse,” she says.
try and downhill skis, snow
The group decided to sing
boards and snow shoes, and
it anyway, along with
now we have the indoor
“We’ll Sing in the Sun
facility, too. Students are
shine,”
another
suplaying basketball and
prisingly depressing num
using the weight room.
ber. Interviewed shortly
Some get into Search and
before the performance,
Rescue, some are out mak
Seeger described the musi
ing snow caves and doing
cians’ strategy: “I guess
winter camping and back
we’ll just play loud and
country skiing. And even
hope that people don’t lis
Average annual snowfall in Santa Fe is 3a inches.
when
they’re
inside,
ten to the words.”
they’re sipping lattes and
doing their reading,” he says.
Tutors on the Annapolis campus have for many years noted
Gr0T, SCANDINAVIAN COMFORT FOOD
the dark mood that hovers over the campus in February.
To make Grot, you’re more likely to follow a narrative than a
“Begone Dull Care,” a folksong sing-along scheduled yearly to
recipe. Here’s Kersti Tyson’s version;
lift the February blues, was started ten years ago when tutor Joe
“It’s basically rice and milk. You pour a bunch of cooked
Sachs (A68) suggested to then-dean Eva Brann that such an
rice into a pot and put in a bunch of milk. You add the milk,
event was necessary.
then cook and stir until you get a creamy oatmeal consistency.
This year’s performance was held February 16 and led by Assis
Then add some butter and sprinkle it with sugar. Some peo
tant Dean Judy Seeger and her husband Tony; tutors Chester
ple put cinnamon on it.” Tyson adds: “It’s always good to
Burke, George Doskow, Henry Higuera, and Jon Tuck; and for
have some fruit juice with it.”
mer music librarian Tina Davidson. Judy Seeger says that the
{The College - Si. John's College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�i6
{Johnnies on Winter}
Winter warfare: A snowball fight erupts on the quad, ca. 1975.
Whither Winter?
By Florence Fetterer (A81), National Snow and Ice Data Center
Snow and ice data sets gained importance when global chmate
models predicted that greenhouse gas-induced climate warming
would be amplified in polar regions. It makes sense to look at
parameters such as the mass of glaciers, permafrost extent, and
sea ice extent and thickness as indices of chmate change. Arctic
sea ice extent, for example, has decreased by an average 3% per
decade since the 1970s, when the satelhte data record began. A
study based on data from U.S. Navy submarines suggests that sea
ice (which has an average thickness of 3 meters) has thinned in
the western Arctic by about 40% since the 1950s. A study based
on records of the timing of when lakes freeze over in the fall and
melt in the spring shows that the average length of the melt sea
son in the northern hemisphere has increased by about 18 days in
the last 100 years. The lake ice data set upon which the study was
based is quite interesting. The oldest continuous record is from
Japan and dates to the year 1443. Holy people of the Shinto rehgion kept careful records for Lake Suwa because of the belief that
the ice allowed the male and female deities on either side of the
lake to get together.
While some of the observed changes in the arctic, like melting
permafrost and a longer growing season, can be attributed to
higher average temperatures (and a shorter winter, if you hke) ,
the big picture, of course, is much more complicated. Changes
in large scale atmospheric circulation appear to be behind the
changes in arctic ocean ice cover, and may explain why antarctic
sea ice extent has not decreased while ice shelves on the Antarc
tic Peninsula are melting at a rapid rate. The complex of inter
related changes in the Arctic have been characterized by some
researchers with the Yup’ik word Unaami, meaning tomorrow.
The Inuit are immediately affected by these changes, and oral
histories from Inuit community elders are another resource for
researchers. In one eastern Canadian community, for instance,
a new word for “rain in the winter” has appeared in the language
to describe this previously rare phenomenon.
{The College -St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{TheProgram}
ROOTS o/OUR PROGRAM
By Eva Brann
Review of “ The Intellectual Life of the
British Working Classes” by Jonathan
Rose, 534pp., Yale University Press, 2001.
ur ever-alert librarian Lisa Richmond
sent me a review of a book she had
acquired for us which she thought I
might find interesting. I picked it up
right away. Interesting! It kept me up
half the night.
What was so engaging about a book
with such a title? I’ve long been, with
respect to our program, what you
might call a Populist Great Bookster. I mean someone who thinks
not only a. that the great books canon is an indispensable tool for
(and an inevitable result of) the reading life, but also b. that these
are the books that, given a chance, people of all sorts, from
leisure-rich college kids to hard-driven working stiffs, will care
about most. The book I would like to bring to the notice of our
alumni corroborates this faith with a lot of well-attested fact.
Moreover I had long heard rumors that the St. John’s Program
has among its deep and early roots English workers’ self and mutu
al improvement efforts. If someone were to trace the precise connections-a project requiring a lot of historical research-7%e
Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes would be a great
starting point. [Winfree Smith’s A Searchfor the Liberal College:
The Beginning ofthe St. John’s Program (St. Johns College Press,
1983) is another. Smith sets out not only the American
antecedents of our program but pointers to the English connec
tion: Scott Buchanan, the intellectual founder of St. John’s, read
Plato’s Republic with A. D. Lindsay at Oxford. Lindsay, as it hap
pens, was the “tutor” for this course in the Workers’ Educational
Association which figures largely in Rose’s book. Buchanan him
self related our reading list to that published in 1895 by Sir John
Lubbock and made for the English Workers and Mechanics Insti
tute.] What comes over as a first impression is an exhilarating sim
ilarity of spirit.
The spirit is that of the “autodidact,” the type of intrepid, inde
pendent soul who will find out a great book in the most adverse
circumstances and absorb it into his-and remarkably often, given
the social situation-her soul. The aim is “self-improvement,” but
though this term includes a desire to rise in the ranks of class, to
better oneself, it is a wonderful fact-almost miraculously wonderful-that these people read most often for the mere excitement,
the expansiveness, the elevation of it. In other words, they do on
their own what we, also against considerable social pressure, do in
concert: they learn for the sake of the object of learning, for the
delight of it. Their autodidacticism (self-teaching) and their learn
ing for its own sake are clearly connected, and it occurred to me
while reading Rose’s book (though not for the first time) that this
college is a contradiction incarnate: institutionalized autodidacti
cism. For the sake of a certain kind of learning we each teach our
selves, but we do it together.
The workers too eventually established institutions to learn
together, most influential among which in the last century were
the Workers Educational Association and Ruskin College based in
Oxford. A survey conducted in 1936 showed that the worker stu
dents raised “a chorus of ‘Noes’” to the introduction of vocation
al courses: “Knowledge for its own sake is a better principle.” The
same working-class readers turn out to be practically impervious
to ideological pressures; they are avid readers of Marx and openeared listeners to their socialist tutors, but in a jovial, masterful
way they reject what they find unrealistic: a primary motive of the
autodidact is intellectual freedom (30a). And it turns out that
great fiction-designated by the Communists as an opium of the
masses (316)—is a fail-safe inoculant against ideology, meaning
prepackaged theory mechanically and universally applied. In fact
these workers are realistic dreamers who have experience of a
hard world and therefore love the imaginative-not the ideologi
cal-ideal. They are radicals on their own. They read the classics
beginning with the Iliad in inexpensive editions like Everyman’s
Library (the practical realization of Great Books lists like Lub
bock’s). They also drink with the thirst of real readers from that
vast and wonderful reservoir called “Middlebrow” by Virginia
Woolf. What they don’t like much is Modernists like Virginia
Woolf herself, E. M. Forster, and T. S. Eliot-for their snobbery
and their exclusionary difficulty. These are just the authors I’ve
myself read with mere, largely loveless, admiration.
Their reading is as spotty as it is avid. Consequently each work
continued onp. 20
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Tutor Profile}
TURNING IDEAS
INTO ACTION
Santa Fe tutor Linda Weiner spent last summer working on low-tech solutions
for a group ofMayans evolving their own sef-sustaining society
By Ed Moreno
ixteen years ago, Linda Wiener abandoned a
career in academic science to search for
greater understanding and meaning as a St.
John’s College tutor. Last summer, she tem
porarily took leave of the abstractions of the
great books and became a Zapatista companera, a comrade working alongside mem
bers of a Mexican community.
For her month-long reality check, the Santa
Fe tutor worked with the Mayan population in the state of Chia
pas, helping devise low-tech methods for improving their gardens
and farms. The bonus was experiencing an incipient democracy
and the evolution of a self-sustaining society in that troubled
region. “For all of the abstract stuff we do at the college, this was
a real grounded experience-working with real people with real
problems in real time,” she says.
The Transition from Biologist to Philosopher
Wiener grew up with a love of bugs and plants and a feeling that
the land was “alive.” Naturally, she pursued a career in entomolo
gy and, with a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, she
became a curator of Harvard University’s entomology collection in
the early igBos.
But at the pinnacle of a career in hard science, Wiener says she
found her colleagues considered insects and ecosystems only as
mechanisms, while she developed more philosophical interests
such as “what it means for something to be ahve.” Her colleagues
were hostile to the inquiries she wanted to pursue and she realized
that “hard science was not where I wanted to be.” She responded to
an advertisement to teach at St. John’s in Santa Fe in 1985.
“I came to St. John’s and it turned out it was a place where I
could ask the questions that were taboo for a professional scientist
to ask,” she says. She found much of what she was missing in the
writings of Bergson, Aristotle, Goethe, and other authors.
Wiener also found a way to stay close to the insects she loves. In
1990, she founded The Bug Lady, consulting with gardeners, nurs
eries, museums, and government agencies about non-toxic pest
control, identifying bugs for people, and conducting butterfly sur
veys.
Then last year, Wiener got a letter from a Graduate Institute
alumnus she had known from her politics and society preceptorial-Rick van Savage (AGI91)- who had gone to Chiapas to help the
Mayan people with development projects. He invited her to spend
a month sharing her knowledge with the people of the region. She
left in mid-July with her two children, 14-year-old Alex and 12-yearold Vicky.
Weiner had seen the drawbacks of American-style aid projects
when she worked for a think tank on international development
projects. “I saw attitudes that I disliked. For instance, a view of the
people as ignorant and helpless. In the aid projects, we were to tell
them what to do and what their real interests were, so the projects
tended to disempower people. At best, they did some good in the
short term and left nothing useful behind when the project ended
two or three years later,” she says. But what was happening in Chi
apas was different. Weiner was attracted by the autonomous, selfcontained approach toward development the Mayans were pursu
ing. It is known as “solidarity” work, as opposed to typical
development or charity work. “With ‘solidarity’ work, the people
decide what they need, how they’re going to get it, and what their
relationship with the outside experts is going to be. I was very curi
ous to see how that would work in practice,” says Wiener.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Tutor Profile}
19
''For all ofthe abstract stuffwe do
at the college, this was a realgrounded
experience—working with realpeople
with realproblems in real time.
Helping a Democracy to
Evolve
The world learned about
Chiapas in 1994 when
Mayan insurgents, invoking
the memory of agrarian rev
olutionary hero Emiliano
Zapata, took over the capital
of Chiapas, San Cristobal de
las Casas, to protest Mexican
and global policy that affect
ed indigenous people. “The
Mayans in Chiapas have long
been marginalized in terms
of land, economic opportu
nity, political influence.
They are extremely poor.
They want to be able to pre
serve their native cultures
and they want basic services
such as potable water, elec
tricity, health care, and edu
cation. They also want digni
ty and respect,” she says.
While an uneasy truce
with the Mexican govern
ment has continued, the indigenous people under the Zapatista
banner have been organizing themselves into an independent,
egalitarian society. They have their own government, which is
well-organized and decentrahzed.
Because of their relation
ship with the Mexican gov
ernment, the Zapatistas are
secretive about the details
of their activities and do
not talk about their work in
public. And while the
insurgency carries the aura
of romance, most of the
work is tediously basic,
delivering water, electrici
ty, health care, and educa
tion to people who have
none. Weiner cites the case
of women whose daily twohour walks to fetch water
were eliminated by the con
struction of a simple, gravi
ty-fed water system from a
remote mountain spring.
Since the rebelhon, women
have slowly begun to take
on stronger roles in these
traditionally patriarchal
societies, she says.
Wiener’s role as a companera in the ongoing revolution was with the Mayan women,
helping them improve their horticultural practices. The indige
nous people grow corn, beans, and other diet staples, while other
plants are used for medicinal teas, salves, and tinctures. “Before I
could teach anything, I had to find out what their understanding
{The College. Sf. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�2,0
{Tutor Profile}
continuedfrom p.
stands by itself, a peak of lovely
grandeur, closer to other peaks than
to any surrounding landscape. When
you come to think of it, that’s how we
read: contextlessly, book speaking to
book. The reading schedule of the
WEA is also faintly faimiliar: twentyfour two hour sessions on the books a
year, divided into half-lecture, half
discussion. I’ve heard of tutors who
achieved a similar proportion in
seminar.
Rose could not have written this
book had it not been for the fact
that these working learners were
copious writers of memoirs, which
have now been collected and pub
lished. The fashionable academic the
ory of reader-response. Rose points
out, relied on hypotheses derived
from texts; he is dealing with the real
readers’ recorded responses. Here is
the conclusion, stated in the preface:
Rose is commenting on the radical
epiphany that struck one Will Crooks, Labour MP (readers
of Great Books often became labor leaders) on reading Homer:
As for noncanonical literature, by
(1 and large it did not perform the same
■ function for proletarian readers.
I ...|r]omance novels, school stories
I and tough-guy detective fiction ...
I had a certain educational value for
S common readers. But they usually
4
did not do what the Iliad did.
n
To say why, he goes on, we would
R
have to explain why books enter the
J
canon, “an intimidatingly complicat
ed question.” Amen to that.
There is a sad postscript to all these
glories: In recent times the working
class has been “bypassed by Britain’s
state-supported Bohemia,” squeezed
out between the hostile social forces
of the intellectual’s obscure postmod
ernism and the yuppy middle class’s
cultural consumerism. There must be
more to it; I don’t know. But I do
know that this huge product of illu
minating research gives us our
marching orders: to go and read our
books as if there were no such things as social forces.
Rose could not have written
this book had it not beenfor
thefact that these working
learners were copious writers
ofmemoirs, which have now
been collected andpublished.
Eva Brann is a tutor in Annapolis.
continuedfrom p. tg
was of plants and insects, and what words and concepts made
sense to them,” she says. She ran a workshop on composting,
beneficial insects, and the use of simple treatments such as a soap
and water solution to keep aphids and other bugs off plants. She
created low-tech tools, such as a plastic bottle with holes in the
cap, to spray the solution on the plants. The local people would
not use, and could not afford, commercial pesticides. “They have
no alternative but to do organic gardening,” she says.
Beyond agriculture, Wiener found an enthusiastic population
eager to discover values Americans have taken for granted. In
town-hall style meetings, they make sure that everyone is heard
and all resources are equally shared. “It’s exciting to see. They’re
inventing democracy for themselves,” says Wiener. “To hear peo
ple talking about liberty and dignity, and trying to articulate the
principles, is really quite moving.”
Even though the population has little education or access to
books, much less great ones, Wiener found them to be articulate
about the principles they were espousing. “In tutorials at St.
John’s,” she says, “my Chiapas experience is a reminder that T’m
not as smart as I think.’ You think you have all the answers, but
you go down there and you don’t. It helps to keep me grounded. In
general. I’m in favor of that.”
Ed Moreno is the executive director ofNew Mexico Independent
Colleges.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�I S T O RY
PRESIDENT
JOHN McDowell
Thefirstpresident ofSt. John spersonified thefrontier spirit and
brought to the college basic ideals that are still held dear.
By Barbara Goyette, A73
the wings of a senior practitioner. To
he Rev. William Smith (who probably under
support himself, McDowell ran a school for
wrote the 1784 charter for St. John’s Col boys. He passed the bar in Maryland and
Pennsylvania and soon had a successful
lege) was serving as president pro tern of practice
in Dorchester County. His many
the new college. When the trustees adver years of scraping by had taught him to be
shrewd in business dealings and he began to
tised for “a Stranger or some Gentlemen invest
his earnings. When the new college
of Great Character from Europe” to serve of St. John’s was looking for professors in
1789, McDowell jumped at the chance to
as the first president. Smith suggested instead
they might
move to Annapolis, which was the center of
look for a man who would “suit the Americanpolitical
Genius.
action”in Maryland. An ardent Fed
T
When no gentleman from Europe showed
up interested in the joh, the Board offered
the position to John McDowell, who was
already heading up mathematics and natu
ral history studies at the infant college.
McDowell was definitely a product of Amer
ica-born in r75i and raised on the Pennsyl
vania frontier, he learned his math from
surveying the family farm, his economics
from the barter system in effect before the
time of paper money and banks, his theolo
gy from the Presbyterian catechism, his
empathy with the common man from serv
ing as a private during the Revolution, his
political savvy from working his way
through the College of Philadelphia and
reading law.
When he was a child, his family lived in a
stockade as protection from Indian raids
that occurred in Cumberland County, Penn
sylvania, during the French and Indian War.
For three years he attended John King’s
Latin School, his only formal learning as a
youngster. In 1768 he went east to the Col
lege of Philadelphia (now University of
Pennsylvania). He had no money for
tuition, so he arranged to attend classes in
He had no money
for tuition, so he
arranged to attend
classes in exchange
for tutoring
other students.
exchange for tutoring other students. At
commencement he gave an oration entitled
“On the Advantages of Studying History.”
Commencement exercises in the i8th cen
tury were not the celebrations for the stu
dents and family that they are today;
instead, students were to demonstrate to
the public that they had attained a level of
learning by delivering addresses. McDow
ell’s oration was, in effect, his senior essay.
After serving in the Revolution as a pri
vate (most of his friends were officers, but
his lack of means prevented such a posi
tion), McDowell traveled to Cambridge on
Maryland’s Eastern Shore to read law. In
1782, professional training often took place
eralist, he found a group of like-minded
friends in the town. The Board of the col
lege, recognizing the elements of “Ameri
can Genius” in him, appointed him presi
dent (called principal at the time) in 1790.
For the first decade of his presidency,
McDowell had a successful run. Students
came from across the state and some from
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia to
attend St. John’s. In 1791, George Washing
ton paid a visit to the campus where his two
nephews and step-grandson were enrolled.
McDowell taught Euclid, algebra, spher
ical trigonometry, logarithmical arith
metic (“with its applications to compound
interest, annuities, and recessions”), sur
veying, navigation, conic sections, natural
philosophy, and more. The college com
bined a preparatory school course-Latin,
Greek, basic math, etc.-left over from
King William’s School with the three-year
university course. McDowell lived on the
second floor of the school’s one building
(later named McDowell Hall in his honor);
classes were held on the first floor and stu
dents lived on the third floor. He was a
bachelor and must have devoted most of his
waking hours to teaching and shepherding
his charges.
{The College -Sf. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�2.2.
{History}
In the early i8oos, debate
raged in the state legislature
about the best ways to pro
vide for the citizens. Educa
tion was a frequent topic as
the Federalists and the
Democrats argued about
whether the college was
using money that could be
better spent on local schools
that would reach out to all
economic classes of students.
In 1806 the legislature cut
funds to St. John’s. McDowell
left. If letters he wrote to a
business associate, Henry
Maynadier, are an indication
of his true state, McDowell
considered himself to be in
John McDowell: teacher, lawyer, college president.
ill-health and in need of rest.
He accepted a post teaching
and as provost of the University of Penn not active as president and most college
sylvania. When he left Annapolis, he took functions were carried out by the vice prin
with him a slave, Joseph Williams, because cipal, Henry Davis. In a letter to his friend
he knew that slavery was not permitted in Col. Maynadier dated October 17,1816, and
Pennsylvania and the young man would be written from Pennsylvania, McDowell says:
“I have not yet recovered sufficiently to
free after a period of service to him.
When St. John’s again received money engage in business, but expect to visit
from the state, the Board asked McDowell to Annapolis, probably in the beginning of next
return; he didn’t accept their offer right month, with such a stock of health, I hope,
away, but did agree in 1815. In his absence, as will enable me to give some assistance, if
the college suffered from low enrollment it should be wanted. At present, the business
and, of course (since the legislature had cut [operating the college] can be very well con
funds), lack of resources for improvement. ducted without me.”
One consequence of McDowell’s return
The Board may have been desperate for
McDowell’s leadership, but his letters was an infusion of support from the col
referred constantly to his ill-health and low lege’s alumni, including Francis Scott Key.
spirits, and he seemed unengaged in activi The alumni chipped in to keep the college
afloat in 1817 and a few years later founded
ties that had formerly given him pleasure
discussions of pohtics and teaching. He was one of the country’s first alumni associa
tions. Key might have
remembered the message
of McDowell’s commence
ment address, dehvered to
Key’s class in 1796: “The
end of education is to
direct the powers of the
mind in unfolding them
selves, and to assist in
gaining throughout bent
& force, to teach it rather
how to think...than what
to think...”
By April of i8ao,
McDowell was living on
the Eastern Shore, elderly
and frail, but still presi
dent of St. John’s in name.
He wrote: “My time has
been fully occupied in
teaching and reading, par
ticularly Greek of which I have become
fonder than of any other study.” He died in
December of that year in Pennsylvania.
McDowell had lived on the cusp of the
new world order that was to become the
United States, and he brought to the college
the skills and sensibilities he had devel
oped. He did indeed “suit the American
Genius.”
Sources used in this article are: “John
McDowell, Federalist: President of St.
John’s College, ” by Charlotte Fletcher, in
The St. John’s Review, 1990; The Early His
tory of St. John’s College in Annapolis, by
Tench Francis Tilghman, St. John’s Press,
1984; letters from John McDowell to Col.
Henry Maynadier, in the collection of the
Greenfield Library.
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniNotes}
1948
George Trimble was asked by the
Biographies Editor of the “IEEE
Annals of the History of Comput
ing” to write his memoirs for pub
lication in the Annals. They are in
the July-September issue, titled “A
Brief History of Computing: Mem
oirs of Living on the Edge.” Trim
ble credited St. John’s with con
tributing to his success in the
computing field by teaching him
how to think.
Trimble was the first St. John’s
graduate to enter the computing
profession, starting in 1949 on the
ENIAC, the first electronic com
puter. After three years he joined
IBM and was involved in the
design of virtually every one of
their early computers. Three years
later he was part of a group that
formed the world’s first software
company. Computer Usage Com
pany.
Trimble spent the past 30 years
as an independent computer con
sultant at T-Logic, Inc. He writes:
“I am still ‘living on the edge’ hav
ing been involved for the past
three years in the development of
an advanced inference engine
implementing a method of auto
mated reasoning based on Term
Functor Logic. It can be used in
automated reasoning, expert sys
tems, sophisticated network secu
rity, and in natural language pro
cessing. There are still leading
edge (read bleeding edge) uses of
computers to be exploited.”
we are coping well with the help of
our church and neighbors.”
1950
Ted Hendricks writes that he won
a dispute with his cat. Chiggers.
“The cat would not eat the 23-cent
cat food I bought. If I smoked a
cigar while writing, he wheezed
and gasped. He groaned when I
played the recorder. I finally hit
him in the head with a volume of
Aristotle and he gained some
sense. He ate the cat food.”
We had to walk on raised ramps to
keep dry. America seems like a
‘baby’ when one sees places stand
ing since 500 AD or the 1100,
laoo, or 1300S, and walk the same
streets their people walked. This
was different from my previous
trips and gave us a better view of
us in the world.”
Arianne Laidlaw retired last year
and spent three weeks in Vietnam
in quest of a family she sponsored
in 1975. She also saw Thailand and
Hong Kong.
i960
1955
“People say life is short. The years
pass quickly,” tvrites Carolyn
Banks-Leecwenburgh. “Well,
they are right. It seems only yes
terday I was a student at St. John’s.
Many former students are still in
my life for which I thank my asso
ciation with the College. And-I
still recognized them! These are
good years. We are still in the trav
el business but we have more time
to travel together. Helge and I
remarried in 2,000. Our son, Todd
(A85) and his wife held us up. No
children yet just grandchildren.
I’m still teaching ESL and singing
locally. We’ve been in Princeton
30 years now. It’s a neat town.
Drop by, any time.” Carolyn adds a
P.S.: “I miss my friend and class
mate, Hilyer Gearing Shufeldt,
who just recently died of cancer.”
1949
1957
The Rev. Fred P. Davis writes:
“Since our report a year ago, we’ve
been engulfed with some problems:
Our son David (who has been our
handyman, living with us since ’90,
fell and broke his left leg below the
knee-both bones, cutting main
nerve and still mostly confined to a
wheelchair. Wife Rita went on 24hour oxygen in March (emphyse
ma) hooked up to rotating tanks in
our house. I’m the outside man,
doing all errands for food, etc. But
Joan Cole writes: “Just returned
from a whirlwind tour of Europe
with my sister and a friend. We
were there when the tragedy hap
pened. One can understand how
shocked and helpless we felt. I was
afraid to fly home. The trip was
tiring, one which helps you deter
mine where you want to stay
awhile. If anyone wants to see
Venice, go before it floats away.
Every day water comes up between
the stones and floods the streets.
Ed Mini writes: “I came to Con
necticut in 1970 and got stuck here
above the Arctic Circle. Along the
way I married a Connecticut lady
and (after USNA and St. John’s)
finally got a math degree from the
University of Hartford. Although I
spent many years in the corporate
computer jungles I managed to
keep tangent to those values and
emerged from my latest (and last)
takeover war with a nice buyout,
three pensions, and (since 1997) a
small software development shop
in an iio-year-old machete factory
on the Farmington River. My older
daughter, Angela, lives in Florida
and my younger daughter, Kate,
graduated in 2000 from Bard; she
is actually employed in her odd
degree field (Community
Resources/Environmental Studies)
as Program Coordinator for the
New York City Urban Park Rangers.
(She even has an affordable apart
ment in Washington Heights). I
very much enjoyed telling Leon
Botstein, Bard’s president, on
parental visits, how conventional I
found Bard compared to St. John’s
(Bard prides itself on its out-of-themainstream status). I do not
acknowledge New England winters
and spend March thru October,
when not in front of a computer, on
my boat and bicycle. I am gradually
convincing my wife, Gretchen, that
it is not immoral to be warm from
December thru February by taking
her to places with no snow or freez
ing rain (such as Honolulu) at least
once each winter.
“I’m sure there are a lot of St.
John’s students worried about the
relevance of the liberal arts in
today’s money- and tech-dominat
ed world. I don’t know if The Idea
ofa University is still discussed at
St. John’s, but it sure was in my
time, and is no less relevant today.
If the values of St. John’s are inter
nalized they are pure gold in the
marketplace. Unfortunately for
many, internalizing those values is
the key-IMHO, those who treat
SJC as a sort of cultural smorgas
bord (as I myself was accused of in
my first Don Rag) have wasted
four years and a lot of money, and
give us unreconstructed liberal
artists a bad name.
“It occurs to me that, in the
interests of full disclosure, I
should make it clear that I did not
graduate. I was expelled in the
spring of my junior year for over
In Demand: Islamic Studies Lecturer
am no longer serving the Stratham Community Church,” writes
I
J.J. Bodine (Class of 1963). “I am presently (and into the fore
seeable future) Pastor and Teacher at the United Church of
Warner, New Hampshire. I remain bonded to New Hampshire
in many ways-not least of which is discovering in Warner a very small
Roman Catholic undergraduate school, Magdalen College, whose
curriculum and approach to education is extraordinarily like that of
St. John’s-their first academic dean was a tutor at the Santa Fe cam
pus. I discovered all this when they asked me to deliver a Friday
evening lecture on Islam (my PhD is in History of Religions: Arabic
and Islamic Studies, and I have been in high demand since 9/11, as
might be expected). The student body is bright, articulate and several
on the faculty are fascinated at my having been a Johnnie. Best to all.”
{The College ■ St John's College . Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniNotes}
2.4
cutting, during a particularly
rocky stretch of my life, Simon
Kaplan’s German tutorial. The
‘unexcused absence’ rule in those
years was Draconian but its
enforcement was, to put it mildly,
flexible. However, my relations
with then-Dean Curtis Wilson
were not of the best, and I suppose
that I didn’t help my case any by
responding to his ‘I’m sorry this
happened, Mr. Mini’ with ‘I’m
never sorry to see justice done,
Mr. Wilson. I’m just sorry you
picked me to be just to.’ That
aside, my St. John’s experience
was of profound importance to my
life, especially as I am now slowly
becoming a free man. kalepa ta
kala. My e-mail address is: edmini@inftek.com.”
1964
John Hetland has joined The Art
Mob, a small a cappella group that
sings shape-note and other unlike
ly music. Concerts in December
and May. See www.artmob.org.
peace. The reading and our discus
sion were unsettling, so we turned
to ‘The Optimist’s Daughter’ by
Eudora Welty for our next discus
sion. Our group includes Tom and
Marion Slakey, Arianne Laidlaw
(A57), and Marjory Beamish
(SF78).”
1971
Sarah Sarai’s (SF) story “The
Wild Night I Was Born” will be
published in the Tampa Review.
The journal’s url is Tampa Review.
http://tampareview.utampa.edu/
subscribe/.
Michael ViCTOROFE (A) writes a
regular monthly column on ethics
in Managed Care magazine.
Dolores A. Strickland (SF) has
been taking art classes at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, and had her first art exhibit
this past September.
1973
1966
Julia Busser du Prey, en route to
a family funeral in Maryland in
October, stopped at the campus.
“It’s looking more beautiful than
ever and bringing back memo
ries,” she writes.
Laurie Franklin Callahan (SF),
(formerly Laurie Ellen Franklin) is
director of university communica
tions at Marymount University in
Arlington, Va.
1968
Antigone Phalares (SF) writes:
“Our alumni seminar group read
portions of the Koran searching
for the words to back the news
reports that Islam promotes
Stephen Slusher (SF) is in Albu
querque practicing intellectual
property law at the firm Pencock,
Myers, and Adams, PC. He works
primarily in biotechnology patent
prosecution and litigation. He can
be reached at sslusher@pencocklaw.com.
Carol Calhoun’s (A) book. The
Governmental Plans Answer Book,
was published by Aspen Publish
ing, Inc. in January, 2002. It is the
first book to discuss both federal
and state laws that apply to retire
ment systems that governmental
agencies run for their employees.
Carol appeared on the CBS
Evening News on February 4,
2002, discussing employee bene
fits law aspects of the Enron situa
tion.
1976
Victoria Hanley (SF) recently
won the Colorado Book Award in
the Young Adult Category for her
book. The Seer and the Sword.
1977
Christian Kip Smith (SF) reports
that his work involves the neu
roimaging of dreams, risk, and
trust.
Carla Schick (A) had a poem
published in The Peralta Press,
2001 and will be published again in
2002. In 2000 she won an honor
able mention for her poem, “Lost
Working Class Heroes,” in the
Reuben Rose Memorial Contest.
1974
Carol Highsaw (SF) writes: “I am
looking forward to our 25th
reunion in July 2002. See you in
Santa Fe!”
1967
William Schreitz and his wife
Lee became grandparents April
25, 2001. William Clark Gleasner
is the son of his eldest daughter
who lives with her husband, Steve,
and Clark in Appleton, Maine.
What goes around comes around.
Jena Morris (SF) reports that it
was with great pride that she
watched her son, Jeremy BrenINGSTALL (AGI01), graduate from
the Graduate Institute in Annapolis
last May. Itwas truly a deja vu expe
rience since the keynote speaker
was Elhott Zuckerman. One of Jere
my’s favorite tutors was David
Townsend, who was the fourth per
son to see Jeremy following his birth
in Santa Fe in 1975. Jeremy’s father
Galen Breningstall (SF 73) was
David’s co-intern tutor at the time.
1978
Amy McConnell Franklin (A)
writes: “I have moved to Taos
from New Orleans with my hus
band Bob and our children ages
14-3. Glad to be in the west again
and grateful for continuing news
from the college. I’m a practicing
mental health counselor still
{The College. St. John’s College . Winter/Spring soos }
involved in preventive care and
education.”
1979
Kathleen JiRCiK (SF) is a practic
ing architect and PTA president in
Houston, Tex. She and her husband
Mark have 2 sons, Daniel and Allen.
1980
Steven Barkhimer (A) and
(EC96) has a CD of original
music-“Time Was’’-available at
www.cdfreedom.com.
John J. Byrnes (A) writes:
“Credo! ‘Out from a very small
beginning-onto undiscovered
ends-there is nothing worth the
wear of winning-save laughter and
the love of friends.’ Slainte!”
1981
Thomas Brintle (A) and his wife,
Denise, celebrated twelve happy
years of marriage. They have lived
most of that time in New Hamp
shire.
Amy Silver (A) writes: “Although
I attended St. John’s for only one
year (one semester at each campus
in 77-78, and my name was Amy
Silverman then), I continued to
read the books over the years,
often in the company of one of the
DC-area alumni reading groups.
The influence of the college’s
approach will be apparent to any
Johnnie who comes across my
book. Guerrilla Learning: How to
Give Your Kids a Real Education
with or without School (Wiley,
2001, co-authored with Grace
Llewellyn). Grace and I argue in
the book that education is largely
something that takes place in the
context of the family and life as a
whole, and is best guided by love
and curiosity, and not something
that happens primarily in schools,
where coercion and political con
trol are often in the lead. Among
the families whose stories we tell
�{AlumniProfile}
2,5
Memoirs of a Geisha Business Writer
How Edith Updike paid her dues as ajournalist and Japan hand.
By Roberta Gable, A78
ometimes the achievement of
escape velocity at graduation
catapults the freshly minted
alum an impressive distance,
and thus it was with Edith
Updike (A86), who, although
she had a positive experience at the col
lege, was ready to shake the dust of this lit
tle town off her feet. She decided to go to
teach English in Japan-“I couldn’t get any
further away! ” After a summer sojourn at
the Monterey Institute of International
Studies (MIIS), where she learned enough
Japanese to be “capable of framing ques
tions but often unable to understand the
responses,” it was off to Tokyo.
In the mid-eighties, remember, it was
more or less reasonable for native English
speakers to expatriate themselves to Japan
with nothing waiting on the other end, and
find a decent job teaching English.Tokyo
was boomtown, bigtime. Foreigners were
much in demand, even those who didn’t
know a word of Japanese. And although
Updike had put plenty of distance between
herself and Annapolis, she wasn’t far from
the college community: her classmates
Chuk (pronounced “Chewk”) Besher (a
Japanese citizen), Maggie Kinser (A85) and
Nathan Walker (A86) were living in Tokyo.
Updike touched down, drank her first $6
Coca-Cola, and set to work finding a place
to live and a job. Her first home was an
$8oo-per-month ten-foot square room (toi
let and shower down the hall) which she
and Walker shared. Her first job was not as
an English teacher, but as a hostess.
Now there’s a St. John’s education at
work! Her job was to hang around in a club
every night from seven until midnight,
being a (chaste) companion for the men
who showed up to drink and sing karaoke.
By day she studied Japanese, and by night,
she was a modern-day geisha. Her club.
Petit Rose, specialized in international (i.e.
non-Japanese) hostesses. Meanwhile, she
started teaching English on the side. Enter
taining Japanese “salarimen” got pretty
old in a few months, and Updike was glad
to land a teaching job, working for a com
pany that sent her to teach small classes of
businessmen and “office ladies” (a gra
cious version of the western “administra
tive assistant”). She taught all kinds of
folks, from Kentucky Fried Chicken man-
Wanderlust led Edith Updike to Japan.
agers, who needed English specific to the
Colonel’s cookin’, to Formula One race
engineers at Honda, who arrived for class
with oil often on their fingertips but
almost never on their white coveralls.
After taking a break for international
travel, Updike easily found an ESL job. But
she was keen on getting a job in journal
ism, so when Tokyo Today, an English-lan
guage arts and entertainment magazine,
was looking for “contributors” (read “vol
unteers”), she presented herself. She start
ed working round the clock: teaching from
seven to nine in the morning, at the maga
zine all day, then another class at six or
seven in the evening. The magazine even
tually started to pay her a pittance. After
six months, she became managing editor.
After a few years with Tokyo Today she
went for the big money in corporate com
munications, writing annual reports, cor
porate magazines, newsletters, and
brochures. This was around 1991-92, when
the economic bubble of rampant specula
tion was just about ready to burst.
She soon resolved to take the next step
toward developing a truly professional
journalism career, and she returned to the
U.S. to enroll in the Columbia Journalism
School, in September 1993. She loved it.
She enjoyed her classmates and she had a
swell time learning more about New York
in the first three months there than she
had ever known growing up on Long
Island, as she sat in night court, dug
through building code archives, and
accomplished other journahstic trials.
Updike says that the more you put into a
country, the more you’ll get out of it-exponentially. A lot of those who want to go
abroad figure they’ll just be there a couple
of years, and then return to life as we know
it, and they don’t become invested in their
temporary home. After four years in-country, though, Updike had become some
thing of a Japan hand, and her work at
Tokyo Today had earned her one of two
East-Asia Fellowships (which entailed a full
scholarship to Columbia), plus a subse
quent internship. Ayear after graduation
she was a full-time Tokyo correspondent
for Business Week.
Ah, the happy life of she who has paid her
dues! She spoke the language, knew the cul
ture, and had a terrific job that got her into
all manner of inner sancta. She covered the
auto industry, which was a swell assign
ment, and whatever else came her way. Her
job eventually developed into the trade beat.
She interviewed people from the president
of Toyota to the Prime Minister of Japan.
But our restless heroine was still hanker
ing to repatriate, and angled for Busines
Week to transfer her stateside. Between
luck and finagling, she landed a position in
New York covering emerging businesses,
just at the dawn of the internet boom.
After a few years, she got out, and
became a free agent. She dabbled in public
relations and hated it. She advised some
start-ups on business plans. For the past
two years she has edited a monthly newslet
ter on labor force diversity. Last June she
had her first child, and is glad to have a
skill that enables her to work at home.
Writing suits Updike well. “The great
thing about being a writer is that you have
the flexibility to live wherever you want,”
she says. And with that recognition of the
opportunity for wandering, she and her
husband are planning to move out to the
country and settle down-at least for a
couple of years.
{The College - S?. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniNotes}
2.6
in the book are the Gushues—
Susan (A79) and Michael (A78)whose flexible mix of homeschool
ing, public schooling, and charter
schooling for their five children
we present as a model.
In my other life I’m a singer
songwriter, gigging occasionally
in the region around my Shenan
doah Valley, Virginia, home and
travelling to Nashville periodically
to beat my head against the walls
of Music Row. I’m also coordina
tor for the Kid Pan Alley project,
an organization that puts song
writers in schools to write songs
with kids and has produced a real
ly excellent CD that raises funds
for music education. My children
Carsie (16) and Elijah (9) and 1
would love to hear from any John
nies who want to canoe the
Shenandoah River this summer.”
essay in Civil Society and Govern
ment (Princeton University Press)
and he’s got a major essay on
James Madison and multicultural
ism coming out soon.
1982
1984
Path Nogales (A) writes: My son,
Alex Ozdemir, and my daughter,
Zoe Ozdemir, have both learned
how to read. And their favorite
responses to the statement of any
given fact are ‘How do you know
that?’ and ‘Why?’ ”
MarkTimoney (A) writes: “1 am
married. My wife is named Maria
(nicknamed Pachi). We have four
kids ages 3, 5, 7, and 9.1 work in
finance, mostly with Latin Ameri
ca. I would welcome hearing from
1986
1983
“After a 33-year residence in New
Mexico, 1 recently moved from
Santa Fe to Ellicott City, Mary
land, where 1 live with my daugh
ter, Julia (SF84), her husband,
GregToppo (SF85), and their
two children plus assorted ani
mals,” writes Mary Morris
Neidorf (SGI83). “1 always enjoy
hearing from former students of
mine and of my husband Robert.
My address is 10356 Tuscany
Road, Ellicott City, MD. 21043.”
Tom Palmer (A) just published an
Fairy Tales with a Modern Twist
omehow, between parenting and teaching at my son’s preschool, renovating our old Victorian, and working as a graphic
and web designer, I have surprised myself by writing the
libretto for a full-length comic opera,” writes Kristen Baum
gardner Caven (SF86). ‘Shoes, a Mirror and a Big Pink Rose’ (a.k.a.
Trittico delle Principesse) is about three young women and is based on
the fairy tales Cinderella, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast with
a modern twist, of course. For example, Cinderella’s fairy godmother
is a drag queen, and Snow White takes refuge in a frat house. To create
the fraternity, I imagined a small community of Johnnie wannabes:
‘Welcome to the Brotherhood of Greek Geeks! / No one knows exactly
who we are! / Legend on the campus for our high I-Q’s / But scorned
by gorgeous women near and far! ’ The Upsilon Psi brothers make ter
rible jokes with the Greek alphabet, and a quote from Ptolemy hangs
on the wall. And of course they deduce the chemical reactions that
cause her to fall into a coma!
“My goal now is to find a composer, an opera company to produce it,
and/or a grant or other source of funding. I would deeply appreciate
any recommendations or introductions from alumni. My e-mail is kristen@littlepig.com. A synopsis and librettos are available at www.zaftigopera.org if anyone is looking for a fun read (and who isn’t?).”
“
any colleagues and friends.” His
address is 209 W. 107 St. #iW,
NY, NY 10025.
Todd Masilon (A), his wife Renee,
and children Molly and Ian (due in
early May) are finally overcoming
their culture shock and getting
somewhat settled in Darmstadt,
Germany. Todd is the Executive
Officer for the Headquarters Com
pany of the 66th MUitary Intelli
gence Group. He says he has a very
difficult-if somewhat un-glamorous-year ahead.
Todd writes: “As public trans
portation (Molly is quite fond of
riding the ‘Strassenbahn’-and does
a great job pronouncing it) is a
gazillion times better than anything
found in the States, the three of us
have gotten to know the city pretty
well over the past few weeks. As
Renee is getting well into her third
trimester, extensive travel through
out Europe will have to wait for
some time. We’re still awaiting the
bulk of our household goods from
Ft. Stewart. The bulk of Molly’s
important stuff is here, however, so
things are manageable.” The
Masilon’s new address is: CMR 431,
Box #1947/APO AE 09175.
In addition to indexing, L. Pilar
Wyman (A) is now also working at
the Key School in Annapohs as assis
tant librarian in the Manse Library
(Pre- and Lower School). “It’s fasci
nating, seeing how kids search and
use libraries,” she writes.
1987
Margaret Elizabeth “Betsy”
Williams (SF) writes: “I began
making pots in 1992 in a small
Japanese workshop in Manhattan.
In 19941 entered an apprentice
ship to Mr. Yutaka Ohastu in Karatsu, Japan. I trained under Mr.
Ohastu in the Karatsu tradition,
known for its spontaneity and
grace—especially among tea cere
monyware, for four and a half
years. I came back to New Mexico
in 1999, and my home/studio and
{The College. Sf. lohn’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
wood-fired kiln were completed in
late summer 2001, near Dixon
(about an hour north of Santa Fe). I
will have my first solo exhibition
beginning on April 5, 2002 for
onemonth at the Touching Stone
Gallery in Santa Fe. The show will
he available for viewing on the
gallery web site: www.touching
stone.com.
1988
Rachel Ankeny (SF) writes: “I
moved to Sydney, Australia in
mid-2000 for a mixture of person
al and professional reasons, and
am the director of the Unit for
History and Philosophy of Science
at the University of Sydney, where
I teach philosophy of science, his
tory and philosophy of biomedical
sciences, and bioethics. Sydney
is an amazing place to live (and
visit! Friends should contact me
if you will be coming through
town). My partner and I live near
the beach and enjoy cooking for
crowds-just warn us if you don’t
like kangaroo.” Rachel’s e-mail
is r.ankeny@scifac.usyd.edu.au.
December saw the publication of
two books by Kim Paffenroth (A).
He is a coauthor of Beyond SelfInterest: A Personalist Approach to
Human Action (Lexington Books),
and the author ofJudas: Images of
the Lost Disciple (Westminster
John Knox Press). He will appear
(however briefly) on a documen
tary on Judas to be aired at the end
of March on the History Channel.
William E. Gattis (SF) and
Stephanie Porter (with their son,
Beno) are moving to Matrose,
Colo., to start a medical practice.
1989
Sophie Romano-Ehrhardt (SF)
writes that she and her husband
Mac are still married and their
children, Isabel (age 5) and Sam
(age 2) have not run away from
home yet. Sophie is studying vio
lin and playing bridge. She says,
“Hi to all Johnnies. Give a call.”
�{Alumni Notes}
1990
The Rev. Gerard Sparaco (A)
writes: “I was married October 4,
1998 to Jessica. Graham Harman
(A) was best man. I studied at Con
cordia Theological Seminary in
Fort Wayne, Ind. and was ordained
June 3, 2001 in Evansville, Ind. I’m
now Pastor at Crown of Life Luther
an Church in Mt. Laurel, N.J.”
1991
Patrick Cho (A) and his wife,
Suzanne, welcomed their daughter
to the world June i, 2001!
Michael David Sasson (SF), who
was recently elected president of
his local union in Oakland, Cahf.,
still harbors an ambition to give an
SJC Friday night lecture on Pascal,
Genesis, and the Gospel of John
dealing with themes of love, faith,
and original sin. He can be con
tacted at simcha3@msn.e0m.
Andrew Schwartz (A) has joined
the regional defense litigation law
firm Marshallo, Dennehey, Warn
er, Coleman & Goggin as an asso
ciate in its Philadelphia office. He
is a member of the firm’s profes
sional liability practice group.
1992
Michael Zinanti (SF) writes:
“Susan Svetich (SF93) and I got
married right before I went to
engineering school in 1995.1 grad
uated from the University of Den
ver in 1998 with a BS in electrical
engineering about a year after the
birth of our only child (so far)
Anna. I worked at Ball Aerospace
designing antennas for low observ
able military applications for
about three years. The work was
exciting, but the high security
stuff got old. Now I work for a
company that makes antennas for
wireless LAN and cellular phone
applications. In all I have six
patent applications being
processed, five for antennas and
one for a roller skate wheel. The
only one I actually own rights to is
the roller skate/skateboard wheel
and I am developing that right
now. I hope to have a working pair
of skates by this spring, and if
things look right I may get out of
antennas altogether and make
roller skates. Who knows? I am
anxiously awaiting the class
reunion this summer. Please go to
it if you were in the class of ’92.1
hope that this catches you up a lit
tle bit on me, and I hope to catch
up more this summer.”
Christopher Hadley, S. J. (A)
writes: “I took my first vows as a
Jesuit in August 2001 in Portland,
Oregon, and I have moved to the
Bronx to study philosophy and the
ology at Fordham University. I live
with 18 other Jesuit scholastics
and two priests in a converted
apartment building. Being in the
city for the terrorist attacks and
aftermath has been heart-rending,
but the beauty and goodness of
this place and its people have been
shining through. I would love to
hear from anyone, especially New
York Johnnies.” Hadley’s e-mail
address is
chrishadleyi@juno.com; his street
address is Ciszek Hall, 2502 Bel
mont Ave., Bronx, NY 10458.
Sean and Deborah Scalley (AGI)
have recently moved to 9107
Demery Court, Brentwood, TN
37027. Sean is university counsel
and tax attorney for Vanderbilt
University in Nashville. Deb is edi
tor of Bank Director Magazine.
1993
Thornton C. Lockwood, Jr.
(AGI) married Karen J Andrade,
Esq. on September 22. Kevin
(AGI 92) and Amy (Marcetti)
Topper (A98) attended the
wedding.
Jeffrey Natterman (AGI) now has
3 children: Elizabeth (ir), John
(7), and Sarah (S). He attends law
school at the University of Balti
a?
Studying Songbirds Passing By
(A94) writes: “After a forced exodus from
New Mexico, I am enrolled in the PhD program in Wildlife
Biology at the University of Montana in Missoula-hy-God,
Montana. I am attempting to model fitness parameters of
Neotropical migrant passerines (songbirds) with remotely-sensed
landscape data. Dry material, certainly, but I spend the summers in
central Idaho, which remains remarkably wild and pleasing to behold
(despite the locals). If any members of the St. John’s community are
passing through Missoula, please stop by and see me. A pot of pinto
beans is always on the stove, the coffee is the blackest in town, and
Tuesday is came adovada night.”
ndrew Kroll
A
more and specializes in constitu
tional law.
Jennifer Rychlik (SF) has
received her PhD in Microbiology
from Cornell University. She is
currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow
in the Department of Biochem
istry and Molecular Biology at
Oregon Health and Sciences Uni
versity in Portland, Ore. She can
be contacted at
rychlikj@ohsu.edu.
Claire Darling (SF) is living in
Portland, Ore., with her husband
Jim Magee. Their daughter Regan
(18 months) is talking lots. “What
a surprise!” Claire says.
1994
David M. Brooks (SF) writes: I
am currently living with my talent
ed partner of six years here in
south-east Florida, and complet
ing my pre-doctoral internship in
clinical psychology at the Universi
ty of Miami/Jackson Memorial
Medical Center in Miami, Fla.
Jeffrey Spencer Wright (SFGI)
received a National Endowment
for the Humanities Fellowship last
summer. He spent six weeks in
San Diego, Calif, participating in a
seminar on “Greek Values in Cri
sis: Thucydides, Sophocles, and
Plato,” and reported it to be a
wonderful experience.
1995
Richard Lee (AGI) writes: “I
thought it was about time that I
sent a note and update. I am living
in Atlanta and still working in edu
cation. This past year I was pro
moted to Vice-Principal of a small
private school located in the heart
of the city, Atlanta New Century
School. Our school is K - 8th grade
program. We would love to hear
from graduating Johnnies that are
interested in teaching, especially
at the middle school level. I am
easily reached at
Rlee857610@aol.com or
RichardL@atlantancs.com.”
Justin Maddox (A) writes: “I’ve
been working in various defense
positions since graduating, begin
ning with a Special Operations
stint in the Army. They sent me to
Russian school and gave me a fan
tastic haircut. After my Army
time, I did some policy work at the
Pentagon until I moved to Las
Vegas in ’99. In Vegas, I worked
for a company that does emer
gency response work. Last year
they moved me hack to DC, where
I work on security issues for the
NNSA (look it up). I began work
ing part-time on my master’s
degree at Georgetown in the fall.
It’s been wild. I hope everyone’s
doing well.”
April Walters (A) writes: “This
May I’ll be graduating from Tow
son University with a Master’s in
Professional Writing. I currently
continued on p. 31
{The College -5f. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�2,8
{Alumni Profile}
Reluctant Johnnie
For harpsichord maker Mark Adler, choosing St. John a was definitely not an act ofrebellion.
By SuS3AN Borden, A87
electronics; I took cars
apart. At St. John’s I
ne way I find
worked at a record shop on
likely sub
College Avenue, the Hi-Fi
jects for pro
Shop. I ended up repairing
files is to
ao to 30 hi-fis a week. It
thumb
was my undoing as a St.
through the
John’s student.”
St. John’s Alumni Register
While Adler may have
taking note of the unusual
devoted more time to
jobs included in the entries.
stereo repair than to study
Several years ago, the listing
ing,
his troubles at St.
for Mark Adler (A60), harpsi
John
’s had more to do with
chord maker, caught my eye. I
his background than his
later placed an asterisk next
interest in electronics.
to it and finally, this fall, I
While
it’s easy to imagine
decided to write to him and
that
the
son of Mortimer
ask if he’d be willing to be
Adler would breeze
profiled.
through St. John’s, this
He e-mailed to say he was
was
not the case, Adler
willing, and when I called him
faced
a number of stum
to set up an appointment for
bling blocks at the college.
an interview, he mentioned
The first was bred of famil
that he had not graduated
iarity.
from St. John’s.
“For my classmates, St.
“That’s okay,” I said.
John’s was a new experi“You’re still an alumnus.”
ence, a new way of think
“You know, I never wanted
After a start as an engineer, Adler wanted to do something more
ing,
” he recalls. “I was so
to go to St. John’s,” he said,
CREATIVE.
intimately
aware of the
perhaps to explain why he had
new program, its novel
n’t graduated.
Suddenly, I knew.
ness was not a stimulus for me.” Along
“No? Did you have a state scholarship?”
“
You
’
re
not...
”
I
said.
with
overexposure to the program came
I remembered that at one point, a Mary
“
Yes
I
am,
”
he
said.
the
problem
of Adler’s parents’ enthusiasm
land scholarship came with an assignment
“I had no idea.”
for the school. He points out that the age of
of the institution the recipient would
“It’s true,” he said. I started to laugh.
18 is not a good time to follow your parents’
attend. Maybe this assignment was a com
And
so
did
Mark
Adler,
the
son
of
the
late
vision
for your future.
plete mismatch for him.
Mortimer
Adler.
“
For
almost everyone I knew, coming to
“I didn’t have a scholarship, although
So that’s what he meant. Mark Adler
St. John’s was an act of rebellion,” he says.
my wife did,” he said. “But I didn’t want to
really hadn’t wanted to go to St. John’s-he
“They found something new and different
go to St. John’s.”
wanted
to
go
to
engineering
school.
But
and
interesting there, something their par
Unsure of what he meant, I tried to come
great books were in the family blood and
ents had not been exposed to and perhaps
up with an explanation: “You were one of
business. His father demanded he get a lib
did not find valuable. They showed their
those students who applied without know
eral education before specializing.
independence by going to St. John’s.”
ing what St. John’s was all about?” I
“
I
was
not
a
very
good
student,
but
I
was
In addition to asserting their independoffered.
always good with my hands,” Adler says of
ence, Adler’s classmates, like other young
“No, no,” he said gently. And then: “You
his interest in engineering. “I understood
adults, were also constructing their identireally don’t know who I am, do you?”
O
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniProfile}
2,9
Great books were in thefamily blood.
Hisfather demanded he get a
liberal education before specializing.
ties. But in the world of Great
Books, Adler’s identity was
assumed known. “I was not in the
position to forge my own path.
The senior members of St. John’s
were well known to me-the
deans, the president. Throughout
high school I more or less knew
them all. I was not anonymous as
a freshman.”
Adler was also keenly aware of
being measured against his father.
“It’s a problem when you have a
father who is very bright academi
cally,” he says. “It’s hard to follow
in that vein. I was not a good stu
dent, my interests lay elsewhere. I
loved the labs and was good in
math, but I’m not a great thinker.
I was not good in seminars. And
St. John’s brought me into an
environment where I was going to
K HANDBUILT HARPSICHORD MODELED ON AN i8tH CENTURY
be measured against my father.”
FLEMISH INSTRUMENT.
In December of his senior year,
Adler left St. John’s. At the time,
interestingly enough, tutor Dou
under contract before setting up shop on
glas Allanbrook suggested he work for
his own.
harpsichord maker William Dowd, but
He couldn’t have picked a better time.
Adler chose to work for General Electric.
“
The
great baroque revival was so strong,
“I stayed there for eight years before facing
the limits of my career,” he says. “I became you couldn’t avoid it,” he says. “Institu
tions had to have instruments, students
disillusioned with what I could do as an
had to have them, harpsichord-making was
engineer. The individual can do little, he’s
booming.
”
just one tiny cog in one gear, even in a
However, no matter how strong the
benevolent corporation.”
demand, hand-building fine instruments is
A stint at G.E.’s think tank showed him
labor-intensive; not the best way to make a
what was lacking: “I liked the work, it was
living. Married since 1962 to the former
new and interesting, but I found I wanted
Nancy Clark (A61), the Adlers had their
to do something a little more creative,” he
first child, Clark, in 1968. When they were
says. Fortunately, Adler already had some
expecting their second child. Winter, in
thing creative in the works-a relationship
1972, Adler set aside his harpsichord busi
with harpsichord maker Frank Hubbard,
ness and went into computer programming
which began in the late ’60s when Adler
to support his family.
built a harpsichord from one of Hubbard’s
In 1990, after his children were suffi
kits. Adler ended up working in Hubbard’s
ciently
launched, Adler returned to mak
studio, then built 12 instruments for him
ing harpsichords. Today his business.
Cembaloworks, specializes in
three regional instruments:
English, French, and Flemish.
The harpsichords are reproduc
tions of instruments found in
the Smithsonian. They range
from a small bentside spinet
costing $12,500 to a fully deco
rated late 18th-century Flemish
double manual instrument,
which costs close to $30,000.
The late i8th- century Flemish
harpsichord he keeps in his
workshop is rented out for con
certs and has seen most every
major player, including Pinchas
Zuckerman, Andreas Schiff,
and Sir Neville Mariner.
Although constructing
instruments is by far the most
satisfying part of his work,
Adler explains that most of his
business now comes from
repairs, tunings, and rentals.
Still, he tries to make one
instrument a year. “Good
instruments tend to last,” he says. “As a
result, every institution that wants one
already has one. That puts me in a mainte
nance mode.” Among his current clients
for maintenance and tuning are Douglas
Allanbrook and St. John’s College.
Adler came to Annapolis in 1956, under
protest, to study the liberal arts. Today, he
visits the campus several times a year to
practice his trade. Looking back, he says
that his St. John’s education was worth
while after all.
“Some analytic techniques stay with
you forever and get more and more valu
able as you get older,” he says. “Induction
and deduction-they’re important-and, by
gosh, we did learn them. Now I have to say
I do believe in getting a liberal education
first. Forty years later, I see it wasn’t a
mistake at all.
{The College* St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{AlumniProfile}
30
At The Improv
By SUS3AN Borden, A87
iscover. Take the unlikely
choice. Further the
action. These are some of
the guidelines of improvi
sational theater. Melinda
Skilondz (SF78), aveteran
of improv, has made them part of her
everyday life.
The guideline “discover” seems to
define her life, as she is forever investigat
ing interests, pursuing those she finds
inspirational. She decided to “take the
unlikely choice” early, when she chose to
leave St. John’s after one year to become a
mime. Shortly thereafter, she managed to
“further the action” when, working as a
waitress down the street from the Second
City Theater in Chicago, one of her cus
tomers (actor Dom DePollo) encouraged
her to join the group. Skilondz ran to the
theater during her next work break. That
very week she started attending workshops
with the improvisation-based company.
Skilondz spent four years with Second
City at a time when the company was regu
larly furnishing actors for the cast of “Sat
urday Night Live.” For Skilondz, who
worked with the theater’s touring compa
ny, it was the beginning of a lifetime in
improv.
Improvisation refers to all forms of act
ing without a script, where the performers
invent both dialogue and action. Today’s
most popular example is the TV show
“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, where each
performance is short and comedy is the
focus. Improv, however, can be practiced
across the entire range of theater, from the
height of slapstick to the depths of tragedy.
In 1981, Skilondz auditioned for a proj
ect with Chicago’s Organic Theater, which
was then developing an emergency room
drama. She won a part with the company
and helped develop the characters and
script of “E.R.”-the stage show from
which the hit TV series would later be
drawn.
Skilondz describes the method used for
developing the production: “Dr. Ron
Berman collected the most common emer
gency room stories: the overweight
teenage girl who doesn’t realize she’s preg
nant, the bag lady hypochondriac, the doc
tor who has to fight the hospital to care for
patients who have no insurance, the nurse
taking a business administration course in
Melinda Skilondz: Is life like theater?
search of a better job, the guy who signs
out against medical advice. The company
did scenario improvisations based on each
story and the script was written based on
the material they came up with. With that
script, rehearsals started, but before the
opening there was an intense preview peri
od where the writers would interview the
audience after the show, then rewrite the
script based on their comments. They
brought a lot of hospital workers to the
audience to help make it more real, more
honest.”
As it turned out, the intense preview
period was well worth the effort. The show
was a huge success. “They’d sell out the
house to certain hospitals,” recalls Skilo
ndz. “We’d have St. Joseph’s night, Evangehcal Deaconess night. The hospital work
ers would be crying, laughing, screaming.
I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Skilondz played several roles in the stage
show: the shaken child’s mother, the
ambulance driver, the float nurse, the
pregnant teenager-all young characters.
Unfortunately, when it was time to audition
for the E.R. television show, she was 25 and
too old to play her roles on TV.
When “E.R.” finally closed, Skilondz
found a job with a children’s theater in
Michigan and not long after was able to
study in California with Viola Spolin, con
sidered the mother of improv.
Skilondz took in all Spohn had to teach,
and was particularly drawn to what are
known as Spolin games-improvisational
games that have uses beyond the theater,
often in education and therapy settings.
“The Spolin games are circle games, they
keep everyone on an even playing field. The
group leader is part of the community, not
the boss. This is an important technique in a
learning situation, particularly when you’re
working with teenagers,” she says.
It also proved important when Skilondz
was hired to direct a show at a medium
security prison. “It was a huge success,”
she reports. “There were lots ofVietnam
veterans involved. The games open you up;
you really can’t hide behind barriers.”
WTiile Skilondz has remained fascinated
by the world of improv, she has maintained
a number of other “dayjobs” and projects
that have provided both food for the table
and food for thought. Her day jobs have
run the gamut from waiting tables and
doing data entry to booking comedians and
working with film production companies.
Today, she works with a mortgage broker at
a police academy, helping newly trained
police officers buy their first homes.
In 1988 Skilondz started “The Melinda
Show,” a public access cable interview
show that’s gone through several metamor
phoses. The show’s early successes were
video collages based on interviews with
musicians. For a time, she featured the
work of comedians. Now she uses it as a
platform for covering charity benefits.
After studying improv for more than a
quarter of a century, Skilondz is tempted to
live her life by its principles. However, she
warns, that’s not always the best choice.
“In improv, you get used to playing openly,
but when you do it in real life, it’s not that
great of a strategy,” she says. “After a while
you learn to use it judiciously.”
Still, Skilondz sees the principles of
improv at play in a number of settings:
“The seminar at St. John’s has a lot in com
mon with improvisation because of the way
that everyone is included, everyone’s view
point is respected. I really appreciate that
kind of openness, not learning by rote, but
by discovery. You discover the scene as you
go along.” On stage and in seminar, she
explains, when you take the unlikely
choice, it’s going to be more interesting.
Skilondz invites any Johnnies with inter
ests in improv and skills in web design
and coding to join her in launching
improvgames.com, an interactive web site
where visitors can explore improv onhne.
Her e-mail is melindyrose@juno.com. ->■
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring sooa }
�{AlumniNotes}
continuedfrom p. 21
work at the Maryland Institute
College of Art as the Writing Stu
dio Coordinator. My rarely updat
ed (in actuality-in my mind it’s
quite current) webpage is still at
http://www.webptxie.com/ and
people can write to me at
april @webpixie .com.”
Emily Murphy (A) writes: “I’m
happily settled in Salem, Mass.“The Witch City” as it proudly caUs
itself. I’m in the PhD program in
American and New England Studies
at Boston University and really
enjoying myself. I’d love to hear
from any Boston area Johnnies. My
e-mail is eamurphy@bu.edu.”
1996
Stella Marie Schindler (AGI)
has recently released a debut CD
“New Horizon.” She encourages
classmates to check it out at amazon.com or contact her at www. stellaschindler.com. “Haven’t quit my
dayjob, though,” she writes. “Am
still a high school teacher in the
Washington, D.C., area.”
“After a couple of rainy years
drinking beer and going to movies
in Portland, Oregon, I’m studying
law at Columbia Law School in
NYC,” writes Renate Lunn (A). “I
spent last summer working for the
international criminal tribunal for
Rwanda in Tanzania and I’ll spend
next semester studying at the Cen
tral European University in
Budapest. If you want to distract
me from my homework, e-mail
me: KLJ135@columbia.edu.”
1997
Owen Gabriel Hoggard, the sec
ond child of Lee (A) and Melina
Hoggard (Aoo) was born on
August 10 in Helsinki where the
Hoggards now live.
Taffeta Elliott (SF) is a gradu
ate student in neuroscience at
Columbia and spent last summer
at the Marine Biological Laborato
ry at Woods Hole, Mass.”
Jessica McAllen (SF) married
Lowry McAllen on August 35,
2001 in Corrales, N.M. They
now manage a sheep farm in
Wisconsin.
1998
The parents of Deirdre O’Shea
(A) write in with the latest news:
“Deirdre has traveled far since her
graduation. For about two years
she worked for Walker
Digital/Priceline until her divi
sion evaporated 18 months ago. At
that point, she went to Thailand to
visit her cousin, and also traveled
through Cambodia and Vietnam.
She returned to New York in Janu
ary 3001 to announce that she was
going to stay in Cambodia for a
few years. Some of you may
remember that she worked in a
bakery in Annapolis during her
last two years of school.
Well...Deirdre has opened her own
bakery in Sihanoukville in Cambo
dia. She works with two American
physical therapists who are taking
care of disabled children and
adults. Deirdre’s bakery provides
employment and training for some
of their clients. They are all part of
a larger project called “Starfish”
which also helps the “orphaned
elderly” who lost their children to
the Khmer Rouge. She loves visi
tors. In fact, her brother Brian,
cousin Kevin, high school friend
Laurel, and Matt Braithwaite
(A97) flew to see her for Christ
mas. She gets her mail at The
Angkor Inn, Sihanoukville, King
dom of Cambodia.”
1999
Tallie Don Maule Taylor (SF)
proposed to Corey Amber RudNICK (SF 00) on October 30th on
the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
The wedding date is still to be
determined. Mr. Taylor, a regis
tered associate at Salomon Smith
Barney, is pursuing his MBA at
New York University; Ms. Rudnick
is in her second year at Fordham
Law where she writes for the Intel
lectual Property Journal and
works for ASCAP. The couple lives
in Brooklyn with their two house
pets, Kippy (the better-fed
favorite) and Patrick Martin
Nash (SF97).
Carisa Armendariz Petrie (SF)
writes: “Geoff Petrie (SF or) and
I were married on October 13,
2001 in El Paso, Tex. Geoff is the
media director at Nuclear Watch
of New Mexico, and I am a math
teacher at Santa Fe High School.
We plan to honeymoon when fife
settles down a bit.”
Last October I just finished a gru
eling and exciting Peace Corps
service in the Islamic Repubhc of
Mauritania,” writes Damian
Richard (A).“I lived and worked
in a little village among the Pulaar
people of the Senegal River. They
learned about wells and I about
their beautiful traditions and hos
pitality. I was surprised to run into
a Johnnie in Mauritania, our Peace
Corps Country Director, Kateri
Clement (A87). Now I am off to
San Francisco to check out gradu
ate schools and find work.”
2000
Michael Fisher (A) writes: “Hey
Gang! Just a note to all you with
inquiring minds: Yes I do have two
adopted boys, Enoch Seth (3) and
Methuselah Uz Fisher (5)-good
kids from the South, I think. We
generally take turns reading The
Fountainhead aloud or the boys
design business cards for me-I’m
still unemployed! Write me a note
to say when you can visit our shan
ty and remember to bring your
own drinking water. All the best! ”
Elisabeth Batchelder (A)
writes: “Here I am in Ohio, pretty
well settled. The school is huge
(800 students) compared to where
I taught last year (100 students)
and not too many of the kids have
a burning desire to learn Latin.
But they’re learning, whether
they like it or not, and I’m hoping
they occasionally enjoy them
selves.” Elisabeth’s e-mail is
erbatchelder@juno.com
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
31
Sandy Green (A) is in his first
year of medical school at Temple
University in Philadelphia.
“From what I have seen,” he
writes, “BA’s do make better
MD’s than BS’s, especially gra
duates from SJC.”
2001
David Jennings (A) is now at Ford
ham University working on his
master’s degree.
Talley Scroggs (A) is still in
Annapolis working at Chez Amis
B&B. She tutors French classes in
D.C. at the Alliance Frangaise. She
spent the summer in L’Ecole
Frangaise at Middlebury College.
Gregory Bamford (SFGI) is
teaching English and humanities
at the Hawken School in Cleve
land, Ohio.
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from
you. Call us, write us, e-mail us.
Let your classmates know what
you’re doing. The next issue will
be published in July; copy deadline
is June i.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 3800. Annapohs,
MD 31404; h-goyette@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599;
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes on the Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at:
www.sjca.edu - click on “Alumni.”
�32
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
One experience is common to all alumni
of St. John’s-the leaving of it. All of us
remember stepping off the campus and
into what we had come to call the “real
world.” Some of us took this step before
graduation, and some after. Some of us left
eagerly, and others reluctantly. Some of us
moved on to well-planned work or further
learning, and others followed more wind
ing paths. Each of us has moved, is moving,
or will move through this time of transi
tion, and all of us approach it with mixed
emotions.
My own experience of leaving the col
lege was shaped by economic necessity-I
needed a job. I knew I wanted to teach, but
I had no idea where or how. In those olden
days, before the Placement Offices were
established, I depended on the people I
knew for help. Burch Ault (HS83), then
Vice President of the college and my fresh
man seminar tutor, gave me sage advice
and the names and phone numbers of pri
vate schools that might be interested in hir
ing me and teaching me to teach. One
offered me a contract, and my first career
was launched.
A challenging and stable job did not
resolve all of my anxieties about separating
from the college. I found myself lonely for a
good conversation, isolated from the edu
cational experiences of others, confused
about how the ideals of the books could be
translated into the reality of life. It took
several years, a wonderful non-Johnny hus
band, and many long-distance phone con
versations with thoughtful friends to shift
my focus from the transitions of the past
into the possibilities of the future. Stimu
lating Homecoming reunions at five-year
intervals helped mark my progress. Receiv
ing the Alumni Register and reading the
Reporter helped me keep in touch with the
community and to remember that it contin
ued even when I was not in contact daily.
Through the years. I’ve had other transi
tions of place and work. At each juncture I
returned to my friends in the college com
munity for advice or reassurance, and they
always came through. Michael Woolsey
(A65) pointed me toward the Association
for Women in Computing. Alan McVay
(SF76) and Charlie Weber (SF77) checked
out some property for me in Santa Fe. Joan
Bogucki (A87) tamed the bookkeeping jun
gle that was my first company. Bill Tilles
(A59) shares intriguing insights with me
about organizations and the people who
make them tick. The list goes on and on.
I have come to think of the St. John’s
College community as a network of wildly
diverse individuals who share a common
passion for books and the conversations
they engender. I know that this community
continues to exist regardless of whether or
not I call upon it. I know that it is there to
receive support I offer in the form of volun
teer time, information, or financial
resources. I also know that it will be there
to respond to my questions, concerns, or
need for support.
That time of leave-taking from the col
lege was confusing and difficult for me, but
I also realize that it was a time rich with
discovery and learning. In many ways the
questions of Montaigne, Hume, Kant, and
Socrates were clearer to me in the world’s
context of action than they had been in the
student’s context of reading, talking, and
writing. During that time I lived in and
with the questions of the books. I thought
about my experiences as filters for my
learning, and I thought about the learning
as filters for experience. In many ways the
years of searching and stretching, which
are not yet finished, are a continuation of
the education that began at the college. My
current connections with the St. John’s
community and my Johnnie friends contin
ue to enrich my life of learning and growth.
The Alumni Association Board has spent
a good bit of time lately talking about this
turbulent time for alumni and what, if any
thing, the Association should do to help
younger alumni navigate these rough
waters of transition. The Placement Offices
at the college do a lot to help today’s graduates-everything from running internship
programs, to researching graduate schools,
to running forums on various careers. The
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association. The Alumni Associa
tion is an independent organization, with a
Board of Directors elected by and from the
alumni body. The Board meets four times a
year, twice on each campus, to plan programs
and coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College magazine
is sponsored by the Alumni Association and
communicates Alumni Association news and
events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary-Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairLinda Stabler-Talty (SFGI76)
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association, St.
John’s College, Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87505-4599.
Placement directors assist not only stu
dents in Annapolis and Santa Fe, but also
alumni (check out their web pages at
www.sjca.edu and www.sjcsf for the many
job listings and helpful contacts they post).
To complement these efforts, the Alumni
Association has established a new Action
Team called Next Steps. Its goal is to
design and implement programs that will
help alumni provide support to other alum
ni as they move out of daily contact with
the community and into a life-long rela
tionship in which the college experience is
integrated into the rest of a productive life.
We on the Alumni Association Board and
on the Next Steps Action Team would like
to hear from you. What is the story of your
transition? What do you think the Alumni
Association or individual alumni could do
to help make this turbulent time as fruitful
as possible? Please take a moment and
share your thoughts with us via -emad. We
look forward to strengthening the network
in which each of us is able to give and
receive the gifts of learning and friendship.
For the past, the present, and the future,
{The College. 5t. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
Glenda Eoyang SF76
Eoyang@chaos-limited.com
President
St. John’s College Alumni Association
�{Alumni Association News}
Eastern Classic
FOR THE Far East
Southern California alumni
gather to readMencius
By Melinda Skilondz, SF78
Southern California Johnnies met in Janu
ary to discuss Mencius, a Chinese disciple
of Confucius circa 400 BC. Seminar lead
ers were Santa Fe president John Balkcom
and Graduate Institute director Frank
Pagano. We met in Los Angeles with the
gracious help of Elizabeth Eastman
(SFGI84) and Susan Allen (SFGI89).
A bit reminiscent of Machiavelli and
Plato, Mencius discusses political ques
tions such as the qualities of a good king.
Frank Pagano, who is GI director and has
taught in the Eastern Classics program,
posed the opening question: “Is this book
an ‘attack on profit’?”
The group of approximately 30 alumni f
engaged in a spirited discussion that cov
ered the whole spectrum of viewpoints,
including “strategy for strategy’s sake,” a
personal favorite of mine.
The issue of long term versus short term
profit was discussed. Is it justifiable to earn
profit with unfair working conditions if a
final portion of the profits is used for phil
anthropic purposes?
A discussion of the “goods are good”
theory was helpful, but frankly, in the wake
of the Enron scandal, it was hard to stom
ach the thought that mere wealth accumu
lation had any morality whatsoever.
The Arthurian concept of the king’s hap
piness reflecting the happiness of the land
was noted; for people living in a simpler
society the king’s life might be a great
source of entertainment or a barometer of
the society’s well-being. (Or, as Eric Idle
says so aptly in “The Life of Brian.” “ow,
didn’t know we ‘ad a king! ”)
33
Thankfully, Jesus was brought into the
discussion, providing an alternative to the
notion that simple profit is the only motive
for society.
The topics of benevolence and respect
for elders were also raised. I found Men
cius’s theory of profit leading to benevo
lence suspicious, although the king’s hon
esty about fondness for money and women
was refreshing.
Is it possible that someone can be edu
cated to become compassionate? Does the
king embody wealth, and/or the command
of the wealth? Is he the dawn of leisure
activities? And is leisure not necessarily in
the equation for the peasants? I found the
idea of the philosopher trolling the king for
a “job” enjoyable.
I can’t help thinking as I edit this piece
while watching the winter Olympics that a
good Johnnie seminar is not unlike an
Olympics of original thinking. Mencius
grabs the gold, and all of us have profited
from the Finally, the Thai food was great!
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter^ reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-^75-9012
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin
410-280-0958
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
PITTSBURGH
Robert Hazo
412-648-2653
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-482-0747
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-452-1082
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
SAN FRANCISCO,
NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
SANTA FE
John Pollak
505-983-2144
SEATTLE
Amina Stickford
206-269-0182
CHICAGO
Lorna Anderson
773-338-8651
DENVER
Lee Goldstein
720-283-4659
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-r934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
Jonathan Zavin (A68)(left) and Keth Harrison (SF77)(right), both alumni members of
THE Board of Visitors and Governors, participated in the inauguration ceremony for
President John Balkcom in Santa Fe in January. Board members wore academic gowns,
WHICH THEY DONNED IN THE NEW WEIGHT ROOM OF THE STUDENT ACTIVITIES CENTER.
NEWYORK
Fielding Dupuy
212-974-2922
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
{The College -Sf. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
972-2-6717608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{Book Review}
34
QUESTIONING HISTORY
Mary Palevsky g^rew up ililukiriy the atomic bomb was a mistake—one that
herparents, who worked on the Manhattan Project, helped to create.
By Mark Sanfilippo, SFGIoo
n Mary Palevsky’s (SF74) book Atomic Frag
ments: A DaughtePs Questions (University of
California Press, 2000), we are witness to (and
participant in) her jonrney to come to terms with
what Joseph Rotblat in his 1995 Nobel lecture
referred to as a “splendid achievement of science
and technology turned malign.”
I
Palevsky’s parents worked on
the development of the atomic
homh during World War II; fol
lowing the bombing of Hiroshi
ma both left the Manhattan
Project and never returned to
the development of war tech
nology. Her father expressed
deep regret over America’s use
of the bomb and Mary grew up
believing deeply that deploy
ment of the bomb was in fact a
mistake. She believed along
with her parents that the United
States should have provided a
demonstration to the emperor
of Japan of the city-destroying
power of the bomb, thus avoid
ing the deaths of some 150,000
Japanese civihans, not counting
those who died after the initial
blast from injuries or fallout.
Atomic Fragments is, among
other things, a fascinating
mixture of genres. It is at once
a very personal journal writ
ten by a woman attempting to come to
terms with the death of her parents and
what their lives may or may not have stood
for, and at the same time it exists as an inti
mate look into the different ways in which
ATOMIC
FRAGMENTS
participants in the Manhattan Project
dealt with (and continue to deal with) the
development and utilization of a weapon
that has the potential to destroy our
species. Through the course of these
“daughter’s questions,” Palevsky talks
with Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, Joseph
Rotblat, Herbert York, Philip Morrison,
Robert Wilson, and philosopher David
Hawkins, each of whom provides insights
into various aspects of the project. We
gain an insider’s look into themes ranging
from fears about the likelihood of the
bomb setting the Earth’s atmosphere on
fire, to Niels Bohr’s desperate attempt to
circumvent what he saw as an inevitable
arms race through the establishment of an
international committee to control the
development of nuclear arms.
During the course of the book Palevsky’s
questions and focus sharpen. Themes
emerge and develop as she pushes the
interviewees (albeit politely) to elaborate
on their answers and opinions. Of particu
lar interest is the sharp division that arises
between those who chose to leave the proj
ect and those whose chose to stay. Hans
Bethe, for example, explains that he stayed
on the project in the hopes that by being
privy to developments that were taking
place he might have some ability to control
them. After the war he served on a Presi
dential advisory committee and was a
leader in the effort to ban nuclear
weapons. He says; “Anyway, it would be a
totally different matter from Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. And from the word go, that
is, immediately after the Japanese surren
der, I was completely devoted to arms con
trol to preventing nuclear war.”
On the other hand, Joseph Rotblat, who
initially joined the Manhattan Project out
of a fear that the Germans were developing
a nuclear bomb, left the project in 1944
when it became clear that not only did the
Germans not have the bomb, but in fact
their entire bomb project was kaput.
Palevsky’s search possesses a compelhng
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Book Review}
35
THE BOOK AS SEMINAR
How a book got started, and where its story led
By Mark Sanfilippo, SFGIoo
O how does one go from Johnnie
to grad student to acclaimed
author to the subject of a docu
mentary film directed hy a
famous Japanese director? For
Mary Palevsky, the story begins at the Field
ing Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara,
where she was doing dissertation work for
her doctoral degree in Human Develop
ment. Prepared as a narrative investigation,
the dissertation eventually turned into an
honest-to-goodness full-length book. “St.
John’s gave me the ability to really look at
both sides of an argument” (the pro- and Mary Palevsky
anti-nuclear bomb factions) and “to be truly
curious about how each side arrived at its
respective conclusion,” she says. St. John’s tale is unique and presents, in a new and
spurred a healthy curiosity about why peo fresh way, a story that continues to haunt
ple think what they do and she finds this us. She’s literally traveled the country,
curiosity at its peak when a person’s opin going from major universities to bookstores
ions are the opposite of her own. With a and small colleges, talking with people
book, of course, Palevsky knew she could about her journey of discovery. She’s had
reach a much larger audience and thus get the chance to engage professors, teachers,
the arguments circulating in a much larger students, and people from all walks of life in
the conversation.
“seminar.”
While in North Carolina to give a talk,
With the help of friends and colleagues
Palevsky
met another person who was to
Palevsky got her dissertation to the Univer
help
her
take
this series of questions yet fur
sity of California Press. Stanley Holwitz, the
ther.
In
an
elevator
she noticed the fabric on
assistant director, asked her if she would
the
suit
of
a
woman
who was standing in
like him to show the book to some people.
front
of
her.
She
complimented
the woman
She thought he just meant some people
on
her
suit
just
as
the
latter
was
noticing
(note the subtlety). In reality he was passing
Mary
carrying
a
copy
of
Atomic
Fragments.
the book to the review committee. Before
she even knew that she should be nervous, The woman with the good taste in suit fab
Palevsky’s book was given the green light ric was professor Kayoko Yoshida, a visiting
scholar at Columbia. She teaches English
and was on its way to publication.
Atomic Fragments was well-received. In and, after talking with Palevsky about the
retrospect it seems quite natural that peo book, decided to translate Atomic Frag
ple wanted to hear from her in person; her ments into Japanese.
S
Yet again this daughter’s search would
grow to reach a wider audience and open
the discussion to a round table possessing a
much larger circumference. As it turned
out, Yoshida happened to know acclaimed
Japanese film director Yoshihiko Muraki.
She told him about the book and he found
the story fascinating. Unfortunately he
couldn’t read English, so Yoshida then
began translating as fast as she could so that
Muraki could read the material. Palevsky
ended up e-mailing summaries of key chap
ters to be translated, which were then
passed along to Muraki.
Muraki soon knew that he wanted to
make a film about Mary, her parents, and
her narrative exploration of the bomb ques
tion. After a sufficient amount of negotia
tion, the film was finally shot in conjunc
tion with NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai-the
equivalent of the BBC in Japan) and
released in August in Japan. A stateside
release is planned in the near future. They
filmed her at her home in Ojai, back east at
her childhood home, at the bomb test site in
Alamogordo, New Mexico, and also at St.
John’s in Santa Fe.
One can only imagine what it must have
felt like for this daughter of Manhattan Pro
ject scientists to stand and talk about her
unique viewpoint with a Japanese filmmak
er at the bomb test site in the desert.
Palevsky’s childhood questions have grown
up and matured along with her, and have
stretched and expanded from her mind to
those around her, to those directly involved
in the Manhattan Project, then to the American public, and now to Japan as well.
Questioning History...
dynamic. Throughout the course of the
book she becomes increasingly open to new
ways of comprehending man’s develop
ment of nuclear arms and the effect they
have had on the human race. Her tone is
diplomatic, and while we know from the
outset what her views are, she still treats
each person’s viewpoint fairly and with
utmost respect. True to the nature of the
questions asked, she walks away without a
clear answer, but a real triumph of the book
is that she successfully brings to light the
seemingly necessary ambiguity in Ameri
ca’s decision to develop and use the nuclear
bomb. Mary Palevsky presents to us,
through her personal insights and the
thoughts and feelings of those working on
the Manhattan Project, a fine addition to
the exploration of the historical and moral
gravity of this scientific revolution.
{The College- St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{BookReview}
3®
BIBLIOFILE
A selection ofbooks written by great books readers.
t. John’s alumni not only like to the capacity of leaders and facilitators of
read books-they seem to have a organization and system change to adapt to
deep passion for writing them as the complexity inside and outside of their
well, heedless of the sometimes- systems.
expressed worry that they won’t
What I’d Say: The Atlantic Story
attempt to write an extended piece because
(class of i(j44)
they have for comparison the mostAhmet
imporErtegun
Welcome
Rain
Publishers
tant and most beautiful books ever written.
Here is a sampling of the many works by This coffee-table book by Ertegun, founder
Johnnie authors, representing every genre of Atlantic Records, covers six decades of
and discipline from memoir to corporate music-making history with anecdotes from
Ertegun, recording artists, and music
self-help.
industry
colleagues. Musicians with the
Periodically, The College will list or
Atlantic
label
include Ray Charles, John
review alumni books. Please send notice of
Coltrane,
Bobby
Darin, the Drifters, Aretha
books published, or review copies (which
will be donated to the library’s alumni Franklin, Mabel Mercer, Wilson Pickett,
author collection) for consideration, to: The and Sarah Vaughan.
S
College Magazine, St. John’s College, Box
2800, Annapolis, MD 21404.
The Insanity Factory: A Psychiatric Memoir
By Joshua Berlow (SF81)
iUniverse.com
Insanity Factory Xi a peekbehind the scenes
of ’80s America. It addresses such issues as
the implications of “for-profit” healthcare,
the connection between school curricula
and the behavior of children, and the “war
between the sexes.”
Strategic Renaissance: New Thinking and
Innovative Tools for Creating Great
Corporate Strategies...Using Insights
FROM History and Science
Evan Dudik (A7‘2)
AMATOM
Dudik’s book proposes to demonstrate
why “sustainable competitive advantage”
doesn’t work and how it should be replaced
with “opportunity creation and exploita
tion.” By applying his techniques, compa
nies should be able to create a strategic ren
aissance as they enter a new era of business.
Facilitating Organization Change:
Lessons from Complexity Science
Edwin E. Olson and Glenda H. Eoyang
(SF16)
John Wiley & Sons
This book presents concepts about complex
adaptive systems (CAS) that will increase
Somewhere South of Here: A Novel
William Kowalski (SF(j4)
HarperCollins
In this sequel to his highly-praised first
novel, Eddie’s Bastard. Kowalski continues
the story of Billy Mann as he travels to Santa
Fe to find the mother who gave him away as
a baby.
Postfoundational Phenomenology:
Husserlian Reflections on Presence and
Embodiment
By James R. Mensch (A66)
Penn Sate Press
This book offers a fresh look at Husserl’s
philosophy as a nonfoundational approach
to understanding the self as an embodied
presence.
Radical Visions: Stringfellow Barr, Scott
Buchanan, and Their Efforts on Behalf of
Education and Politics in the Twentieth
Century
By Charles A. Nelson (class ofig45)
Greenwood Publishing Group
This book tells the story of the life-long
friendship and collaboration of New Pro
gram founders Barr and Buchanan. Its three
sections, “Partners in Creation,” “Friends
in Adversity,” and “Carrying on Apart and
Together,” include discussions of Barr’s
attack from the McCarthyites, Buchanan’s
five-month visit to the kibbutzim of Israel,
and their extensive writings.
Judas: Images of the Lost Disciple
Kim Paffenroth (A88)
Westminster John Knox Press
Paffenroth’s book traces the development
of the stories about the most famous traitor
in the history of Western Civihzation. Its
purpose is not to find the Judas of history,
but to provide readers with a map or family
tree that shows the similarities and connec
tions between generations of Judas’ story.
From Calcutta with Love: The World
War II Letters of Richard and Reva Beard
Edited by Elaine Pinkerton (SFGI88)
Texas Tech University Press
Elaine Pinkerton has edited a collection of
letters sent to her mother by her father, who
was serving in Calcutta during World War
IL A series of essays by Pinkerton about the
letters appear throughout the book.
My Father, My Daughter: Pilgrims on the
Road to Santiago
By Maria Schell and Donald Schell (SF68)
Church Publishing Incorporated
Donald Schell, rector of Saint Gregory of
Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco,
and his daughter, writer and journalist
Maria Schell, write of their physical trek
across Spain and of their spiritual journey
of discovery of the self and of the other.
They discover the way of the pilgrim: full of
unexpected and challenging bumps and
detours, humorous turns, and moments of
grace.
Ptolemy and the Foundations of Ancient
Mathematical Optics : A Source Based
Guided Study
A. Mark Smith (A67)
American Philosophical Society
Smith traces the development of ancient
ray-theory from its earliest systematic artic
ulation at the very beginning of the third
century B.C. to its culmination in the late
second century A.D. Built of four cardinal
sources: Euclid’s Optics and Catoptrics.
Hero of Alexandria’s Catoptrics and Ptole
my’s Optics, the monograph introduces
readers to key issues in ancient mathemati
cal optics.
{The College- St. John’s College • }Vinter/Spring zoos }
�{Obituaries}
Richard W. Barton
Class ofiQ4O
Richard W. Barton, an attorney with the Office
of the Corporation Counsel for 35 years, died in
December. Mr. Barton was born in Asheville,
N.C. He was educated at Christ School in
Arden, N.C., at St. John’s College, and at the
National University Law School, where he
received his LLB in I94r and LLM in 1943.
During World War II, he worked as an intelli
gence officer at the British Embassy in Wash
ington, D.C. He then joined the Office of the
Corporation Counsel, where he served in many
divisions, including Criminal, Juvenile, and
Civil Proceedings. From 1956 until he retired in
1980 he served with the Appellate Division,
and for 13 years he was chief of that division.
After he retired, Mr. Barton was appointed a
magistrate for the 17th Judicial District of Vir
ginia in Arlington County. He retired in 1988
when he moved to Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Mr. Barton was a lay reader at St. George’s
Episcopal Church. He is survived by his wife,
Joanna, and by a son, a daughter, two sisters,
two brothers, and numerous nieces and
nephews.
William Nealy
Class of1^76
I regret to inform the college community of the
death ofWilliam Nealy (SF), a writer, cartoon
ist, avid outdoorsman, and author of ten books
and innumerable illustrations. He died on July
19th, 2001. He was 47 years old. He is survived
by his wife, Holland Wallace, who shared his
life for more than 30 years.
A world-famous cartoonist, William is best
known for his groundbreaking book Kayak,
which combined, to both hilarious and practi
cal effect, expert paddling instructions and art
ful caricatures and parodies of the whitewater
enthusiasts themselves. The quality of his work
transcends its subject; this book, and the oth
ers which followed, spawned a host of imita
tors, and made William a cult living legend in
the world of outdoor sports.
In an autobiographical introduction to his
recently published anthology. The Nealy (Gay
ofKnowledge William wrote of his year at St.
John’s, which he applied to after dropping out
of high school in Birmingham, Alabama, and
knocking about England as a countercultural
cartoonist: “St. John’s had a great search and
rescue team which I immediately joined. It was
my first opportunity to do some real climbing
and mountaineering. Ironically, I had just suc
cessfully dodged the Draft and suddenly I found
myself jumping out of Huey helicopters onto
mountaintops on paramilitary-style ‘missions’!
“As members of the S&R team, we learned
how to rappel, treat hypothermia, spbnt bro
ken bones, and, in general, how to deal with
wilderness trauma (usually our own!). My expe
riences in New Mexico were the beginning of
what has become a lifelong interest in anatomy,
kinetics, and emergency medicine. Paramedic
training has made it easier for me to visualize
the physiology and body mechanics required to
learn and to illustrate the complex physical
moves involved in adventure sports. I can also
envision the first aid procedures I will need to
repair my buddies and myself while learning.”
William’s father died after his freshman year
and he did not return to the college. William’s
diverse interests ranged from fly-fishing to
rock climbing, criminology, geology, military
history, spelunking, metaphysics, archery and
tree surgery. All contributed to his cartooning.
As his obituary atwww.williamnealy.com says:
He brought a thorough and rigorous intelli
gence to his interests and avocations, all of
which, in his hands, became arts.
—NealAllen, SFyfi
John E. Robson
Member ofthe Board
John E. Robson, former chairman and member
of the Board of Visitors and Governors, died in
Washington, D.G., on March 20 after a sixmonth battle with cancer. He was 71.
At the time of his death, Robson was president
and chairman of the Export-Import Bank, a posi
tion he assumed in May 2001 after being appoint
ed by President Bush. The bank is a government
agency that provides loans to U.S. corporations
to support their sales to foreign countries.
Robson joined the coUege’s Board in 1973, and
served with distinction for almost thirty years,
including as chairman from 1983 to 1985. He
was named an Honorary Alumnus in 1999.
Along with his wife, Margaret, he was deeply
committed to the college. As a generous con
tributor to St. John’s, Robson was instrumental
in securing scholarships for students on both
campuses, as well as funding for the Student
Activities Genter in Santa Fe. As a candidate for
the presidency on the Santa Fe campus, he
credited former Annapolis Dean Robert Goldwin for involving him in St. John’s. He wrote in
his application that “what attracted me to St.
John’s was the Program and the ferocious dedi
cation of the college to conferring on its stu
dents the inestimably valuable capacity to ana
lyze and think for themselves, orderly and
rationally, about any issue.” He consistently
maintained that if learning to think is what a
college education is about, no program does it
as well as St. John’s. Gommitted to continued
learning, he participated in many seminars,
including those specifically developed for the
Board and the Summer Glassies program in
Santa Fe, where the Robsons have a home.
In his biography distributed to Board mem
bers, Robson said: “I never set my cap to be
one thing. If there is a theme in my life, it is
starting something or changing things.”
37
Indeed, his professional endeavors ranged from
law, to business, to government service. After
graduating from Yale and then Harvard Law
School, he was a partner and associate at Liebman, Williams, Bennett, Baird & Minow. He
opened the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He
joined the just-established Department of
Transportation in the Johnson Administration
and became its second ranking officer in the
late rpbos. From 1975 to 1977, he served as
Chairman of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board,
where he initiated airline deregulation.
His business endeavors also were successful.
In 1978, he joined G.D. Searle & Co. as Execu
tive Vice President. He served as CEO and
President of the Fortune 500 pharmaceutical
firm until 1986. He then became Dean and Pro
fessor of Management at Emory University’s
School of Business Administration. In 1989,
government service again lured him and he was
appointed Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Trea
sury in the first Bush administration. From
1993 on, he taught and served as Visiting Fel
low at a number of institutions, including the
Yale School of Organization and Management,
the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and The
Heritage Foundation.
In addition to his work on the St. John’s
Board, he was a member of the board of the
University of California at San Francisco Foun
dation. His corporate directorships included
Monsanto Company, Northrop Grumman Cor
poration, Rand McNally & Co., and the Securi
ty Capital Industrial Trust.
Robson pursued his hobbies with an intensity
equal to that of his professional life. He loved
fly-fishing and tennis, and two years ago he
climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with
his son, Douglas. He is survived by his wife
Margaret and by Douglas.
Also noted:
Kenneth R. Cossaboom, Class of i960, died
in 2001.
Alexandra Culbertson, Class of 1955, died
in January.
Edward Daley, Class of 1949, died in August.
David F. Gilmore, A72, died in 2001.
E. Brian Lewis, Class of 1962, died in 2001.
Charles A. Norris, Class of 1957, died in
January.
Rosemary Petke, A68, died in December.
J. Oliver Purvis, Jr., Class of 1934, died in
December.
James Iglehart Randall, Class of 1938, died
in November.
Col. C.E. Roache, USAF, Class of 1939, died
in January.
Penelope Rowe Fabrocini, A71, died in
January.
Cara Gendel Ryan, A70, died in January.
Charles Townshend, Class of 1931, died in
January.
{The College. St. John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{GampusLife}
38
10 MYTHS ABOUT SENIOR ESSAYS
Perhaps these stories that have ppown up about the labor ofwriting^ the
dreaded Senior Essay are the ^secret teachings ” ofthe Annapolis campus.
wi Sus3AN Borden, A87
I.
Senior Laura Lyon demonstrates the stages of essay writing.
One month is a long time.
“One month is not a long time,” says Annapolis dean Harvey
Flaumenhaft, “You have to remember that our students write
things that they have not done sustained work on before. At other
schools they would have already taken courses on the book or the
subject and been ready to go at the beginning of the writing peri
od. Here, their essays come from a question that’s been gnawing
at them or a book they want to explore. They have not really sat
with it for a long time. They need a musing period and a time for
living with an idea. That’s something that can’t be rushed.”
a. During essay writing, underclassmen are forbidDEN TO ASK SENIORS HOW THEIR ESSAYS ARE GOING.
“I don’t think that’s true,” says senior Katie Cox, who reports
that people came up to her all the time to ask about her essay.
“They asked about it in the same tone they’d use to ask about
someone who’d died.”
3. Ms.
PAPER.
ReNAUT won the essay PRIZE WITH A FIVE-PAGE
Tutor Debbie Renaut (A68) disputes this rumor, although her
essay on Aristotle and language was a prize winner. “It was a per
fectly ordinary-length paper: ai, 35 pages,” she says. In an
attempt to dispel a very different rumor about the same paper she
adds, “It was also not a 500-page essay.”
4. Moby Dick was taken off the reading list because
NEARLY EVERYONE WROTE THEIR SENIOR ESSAY ON IT.
Although the exact reasons the Instruction Committee
removed Moby Dick from the program are not well remembered,
Flaumenhaft says that there is some truth to this rumor. “When a
sizable number of seniors are writing their essays on a 594-page
book, you’ve got an even larger number of tutors reading that
work each spring,” says Flaumenhaft. “The question must be
asked: Is this the best use of so much of our community’s time?”
When asked to speculate about why so many students chose
Moby Dick for their essay topic, Flaumenhaft points out that it,
along with Huckleberry Finn, were at the time the only two pro
gram works of American literature. “It’s a work that seizes the
imagination,” he adds. “You get to read a story that gives you a
wild ride while you stroke your beard and think deep thoughts.”
5. Mr. Schoener wrote his prize-winning essay in a
SINGLE DAY.
Schoener (A8a), a tutor on leave studying viticulture in Califor
nia’s Napa Valley, found this myth particularly interesting.
“When I was teaching in Annapolis, the story I had to dispel
wasn’t about a one-day essay, but a one-page essay,” he says. “The
truth is that I wrote my essay in the same amount of time everyone
else does. Maybe the only interesting thing you can say is that I
wrote it on a portable manual typewriter.”
{The College -John’s College ■ Winter/Spring 2002 }
�{Campus LIfe}
39
""My oral was an interrogation. The committee, which included
Jacob Klein, was exhausted by haring to turn all thosepages.
Howard Zeiderman (A67)
6. Generous contributions from Kinko’s are what’s
8. A CLEVER TITLE WILL ADD TO YOUR ESSAY’s APPEAL AND
KEEPING THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF PAGES AT 20 AND THE
NUMBER OF COPIES AT 4.
BOOST YOUR GRADE.
No record exists of donations from the chain of photocopying
stores to either the Annapolis or Santa Fe campus, but there is no
disregarding the number of students who show up at the Annapohs branch in the hours before the senior essay party. A recent
count revealed that approximately 40% of seniors copy their
essays there. The Delegate Council is looking into appointing a
special investigator to determine the impact on Kinko’s bottom
hne should 15-page essays ever become the norm.
7. Mr. Zeiderman wrote an 8o-page prize-winning
essay; since joining the faculty, he has always been
ASSIGNED TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE STUDENT WITH THE
LONGEST ESSAY.
“The number was much higher than 80,” Howard Zeiderman
(A67) admits, although he declines to state exactly how much
higher: “Let’s just say it was a finite number.”
Zeiderman recalls that his oral was much more than an oral: “It
was an interrogation. The committee [which included Jacob
Klein] was exhausted by having to turn all those pages. I had to do
penance for many years.” Zeiderman’s penance was no myth: he
was indeed assigned to the committees of long-essay writers.
Zeiderman’s essay-a senior thesis in those days-was about
how Kant and Hegel could both be correct. “If I had to rewrite it
now it would be much less than 80 pages,” he says. “If you can’t
say it in 20 pages, you can’t say it.”
Flaumenhaft has seen more than a few cute and clever titles in
his time as a tutor, and more than a few jokes and puns. He’s not
against a clever title as long as it conveys what the essay is about.
As for jokes, he says, “Abad joke is worse than no joke at all.”
9. A ONE-HOUR EXTENSION IS ALWAYS GRANTED AT MIDNIGHT.
“Not exactly,” says Flaumenhaft. “Shortly before midnight we
start asking friends about the people who have not yet shown up.
We usually learn they’re part of a back-up at Kinko’s [see myth #6]
or wrestling with the printer in the computer room. If they’re not
there at midnight, we’ll turn the clock back so they can all make
the deadline,” he says.
10.
One month is a short time.
While Flaumenhaft says that one month is not a long time, he
says it’s not a short time either. “One month can seem like a short
time, but having it longer than one month means that seniors
might become even more frantic about their essays. The essay
writing period is already an immense thing, but at least they know
it will come to an end soon. With more than a month to work on
their papers, some seniors might become paralyzed, delay start
ing, and feel that the essay writing period has to be the peak of
their lives,” he muses. His conclusion: “One month is not a short
time. It’s just about right.” ♦
{The College- St. John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
�40
{St. John’s Forever}
n 1966 Santa Fe tutor Dean Hag
their animals were charged a $10 monthly
gard heard about a string of horses
maintenance fee. Don Cook, now a tutor
that spent the summer in the Pecos
emeritus, rode his stallion up to St. John’s
and needed a home for the winter.
every day during the 1970s, and built his
horse a separate corral. Cook thinks that
Haggard thought that taking care
of horses would be a wonderful
there were very few colleges in the coun
activity for Johnnies. With the college’s try where students and faculty could bring
blessing. Haggard and some students built
a horse to campus. He remembers a stu
a corral for the Pecos herd out of old posts,
dent named Kyle Schultz (SF80) who kept
up beyond the men’s dormitory.
her horse at the college. When she gradu
Caring for the horses proved much
ated, she rode her horse from the Santa Fe
more of a challenge than anticipated.
campus to Missouri, a distance of 1,000
Shoeing and other maintenance costs
miles.
were high, so the horses were not brought
As the campus grew and other athletic
back the next winter. Later, the corral was
pursuits became available, student inter
expanded into stables, and the students
est in horses waned. The stables were torn
down in 1992 to make room for new dor
helped board horses in exchange for per
mission to ride them. Students and tutors
mitories. Because the corrals had fallen
who owned horses were encouraged to
into disuse, there wasn’t any protest from
bring them to school. Those who boarded
the students when they were demolished.
I
{The College -St John’s College • Winter/Spring 2002 }
Students in the
I97OS FOUND RIDING
HORSEBACK A GREAT
WAY TO EXPLORE THE
HILLSIDES AROUND
THE CAMPUS.
�Ken Vaughn
(SF87) with his paintings at last year’s
Alumni Art Show.
H
H
Croquet Reunion
St. John’s vs. U.S. Naval Academv
H
Saturday, April 27,1 p.m., Annapolis
The twentieth annual croquet match
with the Naval Academy-honor, glory, and
revenge for last year’s loss.
^^^ date: April 28)
The Republic is not only the mother of all
liberal arts curricula, but indeed a reflec
tion on all kinds of ideal constitutions. It
contains rousing critiques of poetry and
visual arts, a startling understanding of
justice, and trenchant criticism and justifi
cation of democracy.
Summei
June 30 - July 5, Santa
Session \-Democracy In America
Led by Janet Dougherty and Delba
Winthrop
It is always timely to read de Tocqueville’s
work, but perhaps especially so now when
we are re-examining the character and
foundations of this imperfect and great
nation of ours.
Session Il-Invisible Crossroads: Readings
from New Mexico
Led by Julie Reahard and Krishnan
Venkatesh
We will approach this land of crossroads
not through O’Keeffe and Lawrence and
modernist cliches, but through a handful
of neglected classics: Left Handed, Frank
Cushing, and Robert Coles.
Session II-The Koran and the Life of
Muhammad
Led by John Cornell and Michael Wolfe
The Koran, a difficult book to read for the
first time, rarely follows a steady narrative
line. Most Muslims insist that the beauty of
the Koran is inseparable from the beauty of
the Arabic language. We shall address
these challenges.
Si^turday, July 6 - Sunday, July 28 in Santa Fe
Homec
Friday, October 4 ~ Sunday, October 6
Reunion Classes: 37, 42, 47, 52, 57, 62, 67,
72, 77, 82, 87, 92, and 97
For information on events, contact the
Offices of Alumni Activities:
Reunion classes: 72,77,82,87,92, and 97
Sunday, July 7 - Friday, July 12 wSanta Fe
Tahmina Shalizi
Director of Alumni and Parent Activities
Santa Fe-505-984-6103
tshalizi@maiLsjcsf.edu
Session I-The Republic
Led by Eva Brann and David Carl
Roberta Gable
Director of Alumni Activities
fwi
Illi
'
{The College ■ St. John’s College ■ IVinter/Spring 2002 }
�SIJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Public Relations Office
Box 2800
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
address service requested
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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The College, Winter/Spring 2002
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Volume 28, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published Winter/Spring of 2002.
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2002
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The College Vol. 28, Issue 2 Winter/Spring 2002
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3en (managing editor)
Ducker, Susanne (graphic designer)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Fetterer, Florence
Brann, Eva
Moreno, Ed
Gable, Roberta
Eoyang, Glenda H.
Skilondz, Melinda
Sanfilippo, Mark
The College
-
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Text
The
FALL
Santa F e
2002
Library
Darwm
Understanding
Our Fellow Animals
St. John’s
College
S?nta Fe NM
2
0
0 1
�On Darwin
he name Charles Darwin carries a lot of baggage for us. It’s
T
difficult to find the man—the great scientist—under the popu
lar misconceptions about evolution, the emotional debates
that have raged for decades over the place of humans in the
Darwin was born ingrand
1809, scheme
the fifthofofthings
six children
of his physician
father in
and
artis
post-Darwin,
the movement
some
tic mother. As a childAmerican
he collected
pebbles,
plants,
bird
eggs,
and
shells;
he
was
elementary and high schools to teach “creation
STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
slower than his sistersism,
in school-what
’d symbols
politely call
today
late bloomer.
“The
” the Darwin we
fish
above
car abumpers,
the concept
school as a means of education
to me was applied
simply atoblank,
” Charles
wrote
to his
of social Darwinism
everything
from
anthropology
to business.
brother. His father complained: “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat
catching.” Sent to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, Darwin devel
oped an interest in sea creatures and microscopic beings, even discovering that the
polyzoon ova of/Z/zrz/zz had cilia. He failed to develop any interest in anatomy,
however, and was sickened by watching surgery performed without anesthesia. Dad
sent him off to Cambridge in hopes that he would study for the clergy. There, he
spent three years and amassed a wonderful collection of beetles in addition to
learning bird taxidermy.
In 1831, when Darwin was 22, a family friend arranged an unpaid internship for
him—as a naturalist aboard the HMSBeagle. The captain, a believer in phrenology
(the study of the shape of the head and features), hesitated to take Darwin along
because he was worried about his large brow and nose. He relented, and the young
man spent the next five years traveling 40,000 miles to lands around the globe.
Carrying a book of Milton’s poetry in his pocket, he rode horseback through the
south Amazon jungle. He watched phosphorescent plankton, formulated theories
about coral reefs, observed tortoises and finches, searched for fossils, and docu
mented hundreds of species of plants and animals.
Back in England, Darwin married, fathered ii children, and retired to live like a
country gentleman, his inheritance assuring a comfortable life for his family. The
material he gathered on his voyage proved enough to keep him busily thinking for
many years. Evolution wasn’t a concept introduced by Darwin, but he did describe
a mechanism for it to happen—natural selection. His deep analysis of the natural
world is shown in Origin ofthe Species by Means ofNatural Selection or the Preser
vation ofFavored Races in the Stragglefitr Life. The book was published in 1859
and went through five editions in his lifetime. Darwin’s importance—and the source
of all the hubbub—stems from how his theories bring humankind into the same fold
as other species, into the natural world.
In this issue of The College, wc look at some St. John’s alumni who spend a lot of
their time thinking about or working with animals-from the fairly common interest
in dogs to the more exotic devotion to elephants. In the tradition of Darwin, they
are fascinated by the inner workings of the lives of animals and find that their com
munion with other species somehow enriches their understanding of their own.
-BG
The College (usps 018-750)
is published four times a year by
St. John’s College, Annapolis, md
and Santa Fe, nm.
Known office of publication:
Public Relations Office
St. John’s College
Box 2800
Annapolis, md 21404-2800
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, md
postmaster:
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Public Relations
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 2800, Annapolis, md
21404-2800.
Annapolis
410-295-5554
b-goyette@sjca.edu
Barbara Goyette, editor
Sussan Borden, assistant editor
Susanne Ducker,
graphic designer
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu
Laura J. Mulry, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Alexis Brown
Grant Franks
David Levine
Margaret OdeU
John Rankin
Ginger Roherty
Tahmina Shalizi
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�{Contents}
PAGE
12.
DEPARTMENTS
a FROM THE BELL TOWERS
Great Books for
Tough Times
William Pastille muses on the place
of the college in the larger community,
in light of this fall’s events.
PAGE
l6
Hearts of Animals
PAGE la
Alumni who work with animals explore
what we can understand about dogs,
horses, elephants, and other species.
PAGE
The events of 9/11
Barr and Buchanan: St. John’s and Beyond
Santa Fe swordplay
In New York for a St. John’s musical
New tutors
Announcements
Miss von Oppen honored
Remembering Bill O’Grady
Rebound math
Catastrophe summer
Santa Fe community day
10 LETTERS
11 BOOK REVIEW
20
William Alba’s An Oz Album
Job’s Life
Through New Eyes
Robert Sacks’ translation of Job,
along with a commentary, brings new
insights into the mysterious story.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ag ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI PROFILES
31 Jim Rooney (A74) is a homeowner helper
34 David Maclaine (SF74) - an almostmillionaire
PAGE 16
36 Samantha Alderson (A86) conserves art
PAGE
22
objects of the past
Much Ado
About Nothing
39 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS
41 CAMPUS LIFE
Eva Brann’s trilogy covers the
imagination, time, and non-being.
PAGE
Not your usual summer jobs
4a ALUMNI association NEWS
26
Tale of Two
Homecomings
Alumni Art Show
44 OBITUARIES
46 ALUMNI VOICES
PAGE aa
Alumni love to return to campus
for seminars, prank reprises, and
other fun stuff.
How basketball can soothe the soul.
48 ST, JOHN’S FOREVER
ON THE COVER
Charles Darwin
Illustration by David Johnson
�<2
{From
the
Bell Towers}
Alumni Response
9/11
September ii was a difficult day
on the campuses of St. John’s.
Students found out about the
news from the few televisions
around, from the Internet,
from radios set up in the coffee
shops, from their friends; col
lege officials in Annapolis and
Santa Fe called everyone
together to tell what was known
and try to answer questions.
Phone banks were set up so
that students could call home,
and counselors were sum
moned. “We at the college are
a community,” said Annapolis
president Chris Nelson, “and
we have available to us the ben
efits of community.” Classes
were held so that students
might gather and discuss
events; with most students far
from home, the presence of
their friends and tutors proved
reassuring. Some classes opted
to proceed with their scheduled
tutorial tasks-“They found
comfort in close, finite work
that was free of uncertainly,”
said David Levine, dean in
Santa Fe.
Community dinners and
services of mourning were held
on each campus on the Friday
following the attacks so that
students, faculty, and staff
could acknowledge together
the tremendous loss to the
nation and express personal
sadness. In Santa Fe, David
Levine noted that students
would “never read a political
science book in the same way
again,” while in Annapolis,
President Nelson cited passages
from Homer’s Odyssey that
had been read that week by
freshmen and noted that
Odysseus’ suffering and griefboth in his reactions to battle
and in his dilemma about the
suitors-must seem more imme
diate to all of us now. Santa Fe
alumnus Matthew Lippart, a
''Now, more than
ever, dialogue
must continue.
aooi graduate, talked at the
dinner about his brother and
two friends who worked at the
World Trade Center. After not
talking to them for months, he
had spoken with them by phone
the previous night. The
tragedy, he said, had made him
think about the importance of
staying connected with loved
ones. “You shouldn’t be taking
people for granted,” he told
those assembled.
In Santa Fe, a weekend’s
worth of activities planned for
the September 15 inauguration
of president John Balkcom
were cancelled. Carlos Fuentes,
the Mexican novelist and diplo
mat, had been scheduled to
speak on the topic of “The
Great Books” on Thursday.
Even though travel was almost
impossible that week, he drove
a car from Texas to Mexico,
then took a small plane to New
Mexico, then drove to the cam
pus to keep his engagement.
He spoke movingly about the
importance of reading and the
significance of the college’s
program. When asked why he
{The College-
Flags everywhere, including
THE SJC COFFEE SHOP.
made such an extraordinary
effort to reach the campus,
Fuentes said, “Now, more than
ever, dialogue must continue.”
Students on both campuses
felt called to act in some way.
Many donated blood; others
began to organize to raise
money for relief efforts. In a
very Johnny-like way, they
questioned their place at the
college, and the college’s role
in the world. Maya Alapin, a
junior from Canada, wrote in
The Gadfly: “We have all been
catapulted into what we could
probably deem the most real
identity crisis of our lives.
What are we to do? And why
weren’t we doing anything
before? We feel guilt that our
now seemingly selfish St.
John’s pursuits have no ‘real
life’ benefits, and that people
doing the dirty work... have
probably never read Plato or
learned about a conic section.”
Several students, including
Alapin, met with a columnist
for the Baltimore Sun, who
reported their conversation in
an article that was published in
papers across the country.
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
By the afternoon of September
II, alumni began to try to con
tact their friends in New York
and Washington. The listservs
on the Internet proved to be a
way for people to check in with
each other and to let others
know they were safe.
Alumni in the reserves and
on active duty are participating
in the assaults on Afghanistan;
others have found their lives
affected in ways they could not
have anticipated.
Bart Lee (A68), a lawyer who
is an amateur radio operator,
served as the night shift super
visor for the New York City Red
Cross Radio during the week
following the attack. The Red
Cross managed about a dozen
shelters 24/7 via ham radio, he
says. “The cell phones, land
lines, and internet connections
didn’t work or were spotty at
best...My earliest traffic per
sonally handled was an emer
gency evacuation order, and
traffic at that level was all too
common in the first couple of
days.”
One recent alumna, Sylvaine
Rameckers (Aoi) had just fin
ished an internship with NBC
Dateline at Rockefeller Center
in New York. On September la,
her supervisor, a senior pro
ducer, called and asked if she’d
like to come back to the net
work full time. “That first
week, we worked round the
clock,” says Rameckers. “The
pace has been incredibly
intense. At first, we would
interview, get footage, try to
document what was happen
ing, and get pieces on the air
the very same night...By the
time a month had passed,
things were a bit calmer, but
it’s still an intense pressure to
get the news out. I feel like I’m
at boot camp. I feel disconnect
ed from what has happened,
but I do feel like we’re doing
something to help.”
Another alumnus, John
Sifton (A96), had just returned
�{From the Bell Towers}
from Afghanistan when the
Trade Center was attacked and
the political and social situa
tions in that country suddenly
became of importance to
everyone in America. Sifton
wrote an article for the Sep
tember 30 issue of the New
York Times Magazine, “A Last
Road Trip Through Premod
ern, Postmodern
Afghanistan.” As a human
rights attorney and humanitar
ian aid worker, Sifton had trav
eled the country and worked in
desert areas, bargaining with
local Taliban leaders for the
opportunity to document con
ditions. “I was just fascinated
by the realness of it all,” he
said in the article. “You look
out an office window, and you
see a displaced family living in
a bombed-out school, sleeping
on the balcony and cooking
Barr and
Buchanan:
St. John’s
AND Beyond
“Radicals are a dime a dozen
among us, but radicals who suc
ceed in imprinting their ideas
and ideals on other human
beings and transmitting them
to future generations by
reshaping actual institutions
are few indeed,” says William
W. McNeill in the Foreword to
a new book about the radicals
St. John’s knows best; New Pro
gram founders Stringfellow
Barr and Scott Buchanan. The
book. Radical Visions:
Stringfellow Barr, Scott
Buchanan, and Their Efforts
on behalfofEducation and Pol
itics in the Twentieth Century, is
by Charles A. Nelson (A45) and
represents the culmination of
an effort that began as early as
1994, when Nelson started col
Carrying On
Ambassador Carlos Fuentes
TRAVELED TO SaNTA Fe TO SPEAK
ABOUT THE GREAT BOOKS.
some birds they caught, doves.
This is their life. They can’t
change the channel.”
lecting material for two books
commemorating the looth
birthdays of Buchanan and
Barr. Those books were pub
lished in 1995 and 1997.
Researching the hves of the two
men who started the great
books program at the college in
1937, Nelson became interested
in their friendship. (Barr was
outgoing and multi-talented, a
voluminous writer and ener
getic speaker. Buchanan was
quieter, with a “quicksilver
quality” to his ideas and con
versations. The two were
friends for life, having met at
Oxford in the igaos.) Nelson
himself knew both men during
their early days at the college
since he served as administra
tive assistant to Barr while a
student.
In the new book. Nelson dis
cusses Barr and Buchanan’s
early collaborations and their
work at St. John’s. In the sec
ond half of the book, he lays
out what they did after they left
the college in 1947-both had a
sincere interest in world gov
ernment, which they conceived
{The Colleges?.
Following the attacks, students
have tried to carry on with
their work. In Santa Fe, stu
dents who wanted to learn
more about Islam joined a
study group led by tutor
Michael Wolfe(SF94), who con
centrated on Islam while earn
ing a master’s degree in the his
tory of religions at the
University of Virginia. “Unfor
tunately, oftentimes the only
source of information people
get on Islam is through events
like these,” said Wolfe. “It
tends to produce a distorted
view of what Islam is about. In
the study group, I hope we can
help to distinguish between
Islamic terrorism and more tra
ditional views of Islam.” The
college also collaborated with
the Council on International
Relations and presented a lec
of as dependent on economic
development of the Third
World. Buchanan spent time in
Israel, where he was interested
in the cooperative living of the
kibbutzim. Barr went to India
and met with leaders who want
ed to use an agrarian society
model to benefit the people
and make the best use of the
land there. Nelson speculates
that the desire to transform
society manifested in their
John ’5 College ■ Fall 2001 }
3
ture, “The Islamic Perspective
of Current Events,” by Fethi
Benhalim.
At the Friday night lecture
the week following 9/ii, Har
vey Flaumenhaft, dean in
Annapolis, took a moment to
talk about why it is important
for the college to continue nor
mally. “Our work, at this col
lege, does in fact, in various
ways, make us better able to
defend our country,” he said.
“And it also makes us better
able to preserve what’s best
about it, and even to improve
it; but above all, the work that
we do here helps to make our
country worth defending.” The
title of the lecture, by Neal
Weiner (A64), was “Generosi
ty, Truth and Tolerance.”
— Reported by Marissa Morrison in
Santa Fe and Barbara Goyette in
Annapolis.
Charles Nelson (A45) shows
DAUGHTER JaNET BeRGGREN
(A72) HIS EARLIER BOOK ABOUT
Buchanan.
work at St. John’s carried over
into the political realm later in
their lives.
Radical Visions is published
by Bergin & Garvey, Green
wood Publishing Group. A
review will appear in a subse
quent issue of The College.
�4
Santa Fe
Swordplay
The newly completed Student
Activities Center in Santa Fe
played host to a regional fenc
ing tournament for over 50
fencers from as far away as
Amarillo, Tex. on September
a8. A major tournament at the
Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs was cancelled due to
heightened security concerns
following the tragedies of Sep
tember II. James Odom, head
coach of the High Desert Fenc
ing Club in Santa Fe, decided
to host a smaller, replacement
tournament, giving half of the
Heather Upshaw (SF04)
WAITING TO FOIL AN OPPONENT.
proceeds to the relief effort. St.
John’s College donated the use
of its gym. The tournament,
along with a youth tournament
held in town, raised $400 for
the World Trade Center-911
Relief Fund.
Swordplay has had an
inevitable role in the history of
the civilized world. Man has
been poking stuff with sharp,
pointy metal things long before
he took the time to write great
books-or any books for that
matter. Sword duels continued
to solve personal disputes until
the end of the nineteenth cen
{From the Bell Towers}
tury (sort of like paper, scis
sors, rock that really counts).
Modern fencing as a sport con
tinues the tradition and at least
in form preserves the ceremony
and prestige of swordplay from
its aristocratic hey-day.
The weapons used in fencing
are foil, epee, and saber. Foil,
by far the most popular, is a
fast-paced point weapon used
for poking, not slashing. Only
the torso is a legal target. Epee
(the author is an Epeeist at
heart) is a slower-paced, men
tally-oriented point weapon
that has the whole body, even
the toes, as a target. Saber is a
curved, slashing weapon with
everything above the waist a
target. It originated from saber
bearing cavalry charges and is
fast and aggressive. The three
weapons draw distinctly differ
ent fencers. Saberists are usual
ly short and angry. Epeeists are
usually tall and relaxed. And
foihsts are everybody else.
Fencing bouts take place
along a fourteen-meter strip. A
bout between two fencers lasts,
depending on the importance
of the bout, either five or fif
teen touches (not gashes.
Mom) or until four or twelve
minutes have elapsed. The
point weapons have buttons
that are depressed on the oppo
nent, whereas saber blades are
electrified (you really don’t
want an explanation of how this
works).
There are two things fencing
is not-dangerous or easy. Fenc
ing is one of the safest contact
sports. The blades are made of
treated metal that among other
things will break flat, reducing
the already small chance of
serious injury. And fencing is
truly difficult. It doesn’t matter
to me how many times you
might have seen The Princess
Bride. Skilled fencing resem
bles playing good chess at a full
sprint.
The Santa Fe campus’ club,
the Sexy Fencers (get it, SJCSF)
has just this year gotten togeth-
{The College
Giving
Regards to
(Off-)
Broadway
About 100 New York City alum
ni began their “getting back to
normal” attempts on October
3, as they gathered for an
evening at the theater-for a
properly thoughtful, entertain
ing, and inspirational show
called The Spitfire Grill. The
musical is based on the movie
of the same name, written and
directed by Lee David Zlotoff
(A74). A Sundance Festival win
ner, the movie was picked up
for national distribution in
1996The college purchased seats
in the Duke Theater on 42nd
Street for New York alumni.
The evening proved to be both
a celebration of community-
er to form an actual club,
thanks to juniors with more
dedication and organization
than the author. Local coach
and foil fencer Rob Madril, who
happened to finish third in the
recent tournament, instructs
the team with help from talent
ed tutor Krishnan Venkatesh.
Representing St. John’s at
the September 28th tourna
ment were intrepid leader Eric
Baldwin, intrepid lefty
Jonathan Zecher, the dedicated
and over-worked Erin Hanlon,
sophomore talent Stephen
Vorkoper, fellow transfer
St John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
Lee Zlotoff(center) with Joe
Boucher and Fielding Dupuy.
Johnnies from every era
seemed glad to see each other
and spend time at a very St.
John’s-related show-and great
entertainment. The musical
was first performed in Wiscon
sin, where a writer/composer
duo adapted the story of the
lonely young woman, newly
released from prison, who finds
her way into the hearts of a
group of small-town residents.
After the performance,
Zlotoff and James Valcq, who
wrote the songs for the musi
cal, talked with the alumni and
answered questions about the
production. “It was wonderful
for the college to bring us all
together,” said Zlotoff (who
had traveled from LA for the
event). “The play seemed to
have the right kind of messages
for us at this time, and we
enjoyed meeting and talking
with one another about it.” 4"
Heather Upshaw, and 1. Indi
vidual scores and rankings
among the 33 foil fencers
attending would not convey the
satisfaction and personal pride
that the Johnnies gained from
simply competing. And hey, if
Rob Madril places third, it was
a tough meet.
Any alumni still fencing are
encouraged to contact the
author by mail at the Santa Fe
campus. I’d like to see what
kind of fencer base we have in
our community. -4
— BY Evan Hancock, SFoa
�{From
New Tutors
The college welcomed nine new
tutors thisfall.
Joining the faculty
IN Santa Fe:_____________
Martha Franks (SF78) earned a
law degree from the University
of New Mexico Law School. She
clerked for Chief Judge Seth of
the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of
Appeals, then practiced law in
Washington, D.C. and Santa
Fe, developing an expertise in
environmental law. She also
attended the Virginia Theologi
cal Seminary. She is an attorney
for the U.S. Department of the
Interior. She taught a sopho
more seminar first semester.
John Gibson (SF88) is finish
ing his PhD in the Theoretical
and Applied Mechanics Depart
ment at Cornell (his disserta
tion is “Dynamical Systems
Models of the Turbulent
Boundary Layer”). At Cornell
he worked in the Computation
al Fluid Dynamics Laboratory,
managed the Graduate and Fac
ulty Computational Research
Facilities, and was an instruc
tor in mechanical and aero
space engineering. He also
studies piano and vocal per
formance.
Patricia Greer has a BA from
Notre Dame of Maryland, an
MA from Johns Hopkins, and
an MA from the St. John’s
Graduate Institute. She
received her PhD from the
University of Virginia (her dis
sertation was “The Net of the
Mahabharata: Reading the Epic
as Literature”). She lived in
India, where she co-founded
and ran a documentary film
production unit, taught Eng
lish, helped establish and
administer the International
Educational Institute, and was
head of the International High
School. She speaks Sanskrit,
Tamil, and French.
Ewan Harrison earned a BA
in biology from the University
of Cahfornia, San Diego, and
the
Bell Towers}
an MS in Biology from the Uni
versity of Michigan. He’s fin
ishing up his PhD there (with a
dissertation on “Mate Choice
and Life History Evolution in
Mexican Mollies”). He has
taught at the University of
Michigan and at Eastern Michi
gan University.
Jay Smith (SF77) received an
MA in philosophy from Mar
quette University and has been
working toward his PhD from
Fordham University. His disser
tation explores our obligations
to future generations. He has
worked for the Environmental
Protection Agency and has also
worked for a range of interna
tional organizations on projects
in the South Pacific, Nepal,
Somalia, Nairobi, and Fiji.
Lise van Boxel earned a BA
in political science from the
University of Toronto and an
MA from Boston College. She
received her PhD in political
science from the University of
Toronto, with a dissertation
titled “Revealing Perspectives:
A Study of the Standard of
Truth in Nietzsche’s Philoso
phy.” She has taught at the Uni
versity of Toronto and in a con
tinuing education program
modeled on St. John’s called
Classical Pursuits.
In Annapolis:
Dylan Casey received a BS in
physics and a BA in political
theory from Michigan State
University, and an MA in
physics and a PhD in experi
mental particle physics from
the University of Rochester. He
has designed, constructed, and
tested equipment to be used at
the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory. He is interested in
the nature of measurement,
probability, and quantitative
decision-making as these mani
fest themselves in determining
what are the smallest pieces of
matter and how they interact
and are related.
Jeffrey Smith received a BA
from Emory University with a
double major in philosophy and
political science, and a PhD
from the Committee on Social
Thought at the University of
Chicago. He is completing a
book on human nature in
Rousseau’s Emile, which has
been accepted for publication.
His interest in community
5
development in Chicago led
him to found and edit an annu
al journal of urban affairs and
to host a weekly radio program
on which he interviewed com
munity leaders and local politi
cians about community issues
(like the participation of gang
leaders in the political process)
and about innovative policy ini
tiatives (like community devel
opment banking).
John Tomarchio received a
BA in English from Columbia
University and an MA and PhD
in philosophy from the
Catholic University of America,
where his work focused on the
relationship of the metaphysics
of Thomas Aquinas to that of
Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists. He has taught at
Catholic University, in the Core
Curriculum at Boston Universi
ty, and at Villanova University.
He has published articles on
the metaphysics of Aquinas and
on the computerized research
methods that he used in doing
his research and in producing
the indices upon which it is
based.
Crash Proof: After years of the “Camp St. John's” entrance sign for the Santa Fe campus being dam
aged REGULARLY BY ERRANT DRIVERS, ANEW (HOPEFULLY IMPENETRABLE) SIGN WAS FINALLY INSTALLED - AT A
SAFER LOCATION, NoW ALL THAt’s NEEDED IS LIGHTING. PICTURED ARE MEMBERS OF THE CaMPUS PLANNING COM
MITTEE, FROM left: TUTORS MiCHAEL RaWN, CHAIR; JuLIE ReAHARD; JaCQUES DuVOISIN (A80); Hans VON
Briesen, director of Laboratories and past chair; Kathy Mizrahi, director of Housing and Residen
tial Life; tutors Judith Adam and Mark Rollins; and student representative Christian Blood (SF02).
{The College.
5f. John^s College ■ Fall 200/ }
�{From the Bell Towers}
6
Announcements
New Dorms Slated
FOR Annapolis
A confluence of factors led to
crowding in the Annapolis cam
pus dorms this fall. As a result,
freshmen were assigned to
triples in the largest rooms in
Humphreys, and some former
singles were made into doubles.
Although total enrollment is
only slightly above the opti
mum of 460, a greater number
of upperclassmen requested
rooms on campus, leaving
fewer rooms available for
incoming freshmen. The
largest landlord in Annapolis
had changed some rental poli
cies over the summer, and
more apartments close to cam
pus that had formerly been
rented to Johnnies were being
“upgraded” for the upscale
market.
The Campus Planning Com
mittee (a group of faculty and
administrators who examine
physical plant issues and make
building decisions) resurrected
the perennial question of
whether another dormitory
should be built. Currently,
there are enough dorm room
spaces for about three-quarters
of the students to live on-campus. Because improvement in
off-campus housing availability
is not likely, the committee
decided to go ahead with plans
for a new dorm. Student forums
and a faculty discussion of the
project brought up important
issues: should the college sacri
fice any more back-campus
space to dorms? would a new
dorm change the social pat
terns of students? how about
suites, or rooms with kitchens?
During the coming semester,
the committee will address the
questions, find an architect,
decide on a location, and
secure permits. Projected date
for the new dorm’s opening: in
time for the Febbies who will
arrive in January 2003.
Shopping Benefit Alert
OK-so the Internet has not
proved itself to be the best
place to buy furniture, find a
job, make investments, or
order groceries. But plenty of
stuff is being sold online, and
now there’s a way for shoppers
at some of the best-known web
sites to benefit St. John’s.
GreaterGood.com has set up an
online system for benefiting a
number of charities and non
profits. Here’s how it works: go
to their site at www.greatergood.com, choose a cause (St.
John’s!), click on Shop to visit
sites like Barnes and Noble,
Lands End, and Dell Computer.
A percentage of your purchase
will be donated to the collegeat no extra charge.
New Vice President
FOR Santa Fe Sought
The college is conducting a
search for a new vice president
for the Santa Fe campus. The
vice president, in partnership
with the vice president on the
Annapolis campus, helps
supervise all areas of develop
ment, including corporate and
foundation relations, planned
giving, annual giving, alumni
relations, government rela
tions, and public affairs. The
advancement staff on both
campuses work as a single team
for advancing the national pro
grams of the college, while pur
suing and supporting local and
regional programs of interest
to each campus. Specific
responsibilities include, but are
not limited to major donor cul
tivation and stewardship, devel
opment and implementation of
capital projects, participation
in strategic planning, manage
ment of staff, and maintaining
local community and govern
ment relations.
The qualifications are a
bachelor’s degree plus eight to
ten years experience in
advancement/development
work with a major institution,
preferably in higher education.
The candidate must have
exceptional communication
and organizational skills. Also,
he/she must have experience
managing staff and volunteers,
and in participating in annual
fund and capital campaigns.
Letters of interest along with a
current resume should be sent
to St. John’s College, 1160
Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM, 87505-4599, Attention:
Director of Personnel.
Lower Rates for
Student Loans
A notefrom Caroline Chris
tensen, director offinancial aid:
Now is an excellent time for
alumni to consolidate student
loans-interest rates are the
lowest in the history of federal
student loans and with consoli
dation a student can lock into
these rates. Excellent informa
tion is available at www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov.
Miss von
Oppen
Honored
Annapolis tutor Beate Ruhm
von Oppen was honored by the
Republic of Germany in Sep
tember, when she was present
ed with the Officer’s Cross of
the Order of Merit by the
Deputy Chief of Mission in
Washington, D.C.
An authority on the German
Resistance during World War
11, von Oppen grew up in Ger
many, moved at 15 to Holland,
where she attended high
school, and then moved to Eng
land, where she attended the
University of Birmingham.
During the war, she served
with the British Foreign Office
and later worked in the Royal
Institute of International
Affairs and on the research staff
of Nuffield College, Oxford.
After coming to the U.S., she
was a member of the staff of the
microfilming project of the
American Historical Associa
tion’s Committee for the Study
of War Documents.
Her translations include
Konrad Adenaueher’s Memoirs.
She is the editor of Documents
on Germany under Occupation
045'54 and Religion and Resis
tance to Nazism. She is also the
{The Colleges?. John’s
College ■ Fall 2001 }
Beate Ruhm von Oppen (right)
Glenda Eoyang (SF76)
WITH
editor and translator of the
wartime letters of Helmuth
James von Moltke, published in
German as Briefs ann Freya
and in America and England as
Letters to Freya, 1939-45.
Moltke was a member of the
German government staff who
was executed just before the
end of the war because of his
opposition to the Nazis. Von
Oppen has also recently edited
and translated a second voL
ume, this of letters from
Moltke’s mother Dorothy to
her family in South Africa, A
Life in Germany. Ironically,
Dorothy’s letters were written
in English and had to be trans
lated for publication in Ger
many. The book awaits an
Anglo-American publisher.
Von Oppen has taught at St.
John’s since i960. This fall she
was made an honorary alumna
by the St. John’s Alumni Asso
ciation (see p. 40.)
�{From the Bell Towers}
Remembering
Bill O’Grady
Every year Philanthropia, the
group of alumni volunteers
who help the college with
fundraising, looks for reunion
class leaders who will bring
members of their class together
in common cause. When Kate
Lufkin Day (A76) was asked to
be a reunion class leader, she
decided to bring her class
together to give a gift to St.
John’s in the name of a tutor
who meant a great deal to
them: the late Bill O’Grady.
O’Grady, a tutor from 1970
to 1986 who taught on both
campuses, was well known for
his open heart, his poetic spir
it, his commitment to students,
and his love of the college. Stu
dents assigned to his lab classes
considered themselves lucky
and called the class “poetry
lab,” a reference to O’Grady’s
ability to shed light on the lyri
cal side of any subject. The
class of ’76 felt particularly
close to him. Having been
freshmen early in his tenure,
they shared fond memories of
his classes-especially an
O’Grady-Simpson freshman
seminar and an O’Grady-von
Oppen sophomore seminar.
To honor the tutor they so
well remember, the class will
give a gift to the college’s
O’Grady Fund, whose purpose
is to provide money for stu
dents on both campuses in
times of emergency. The fund is
used to help students who face
unexpected needs. The fund
could help a student afford a
plane ticket in the event of a
death in the family. If a parent
loses a job, the fund could help
the student buy books. When a
financially-stretched student
breaks a leg and can’t walk to
an off-campus job, the fund
could be used to help cover
necessary expenses.
Day herself came up with the
idea for the fund shortly after
William O’Grady (far left) at a Senior Oral in the 1970s.
O’Grady’s death in 1986. The
seeds of the idea were sown
years ago, when Day was a
friend of O’Grady’s in Santa Fe,
where she lived after gradua
tion as her husband. Bill Day
{SF80), finished St. John’s. “I
remember agonizing to Mr.
O’Grady one day about how we
could not afford to move back
to Minnesota after my hus
band’s graduation,” Day wrote
in a letter to her class suggest
ing they make the gift. “In typi
cal fashion. Bill offered to lend
us-no, give us-the money. T
have much more than I need.
Really. I’d be happy to help you
out,’ is how I remember his
words at the time.” Although
Day and her husband did not
have to take O’Grady up on his
offer, his compassion and gen
erosity have stayed with her.
And it seems that his spirit of
compassion and generosity is
also alive among her class
mates. So far, the class has
responded with ii gifts totaling
$20,970, and contributions
continue to arrive. Day is
pleased with the results. “It
was certainly successful beyond
anything I had hoped for,” she
says. “Everybody who respond
{The College -St
ed seemed to really care about
current students and their
needs-and to remember keenly
their own needs as students. I
don’t know if current students
realize this, but a lot of alumni
really do care about their lives
and want to help them make it
through. We all know how hard
it can be.”
Rebound Math
All basketball fans can rattle off the basic statistics of a game: field
goals, free throws, rebounds, assists, turnovers, blocked shots, and
fouls. But how many know about the working man’s stat? The trillionaire’s club? The plus/minus?
Annapolis senior Randy Pennell can explain them all, now that
he’s finished a Hodson Trust internship working in the statistics
department for the Philadelphia 76ers. Pennell spent last summer
in a small, cramped room in Philadelphia’s Spectrum gathering
every kind of NBA statistic you can imagine for both teams and
individual players. The working man’s stat? “That’s when a player
gets something in every category in the box scores: shot attempt
ed, shot scored, shot blocked, free throw, foul committed,
turnover, etc.” explains Pennell. The trillionaire’s club? “It’s more
or less the opposite-when a player gets a one and nine zeros.”
Plus/minus, Pennell says, refers to the points scored by the team
while a player is on the floor over the points scored by the oppos
ing team while that player is on the floor.
While Pennell sticks with real basketball rather than fantasy
(he’s a Druid), the summer satisfied some basketball fantasies he
never knew he had. He attended home games for the Eastern Con
ference and NBA finals and met all of the Sixers, as well as
Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Pennell’s internship should prove helpful as he pursues a career
in sports-writing. He’s already gotten a jump start: he published a
series of human interest articles on the basketball playoffs in the
Chester County Press while working for the Sixers.
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�8
{From
the
Bell Towers}
and Grounds crew worked extra
hours to accommodate the
pipeline contract crew, “People
stayed until nine o’clock many
nights just in case the gas came
back on, because they would
need to re-light the pilot lights
to start the water heating
process,” said B&G Director
Ted Gonzales. Without the use
of gas apphances in the dining
hall kitchen, Aramark adjusted
the meal service to include veg
etables, hamburgers, and hot
dogs cooked outside on a char
coal grill.
Catastrophe
Summer
When my husband, tutor
William Alba, and I moved
onto the Santa Fe campus in
July to take on the role of sen
ior residents, we found it hard
to contain our excitement. Our
new position would provide a
beautiful little apartment at the
base of the mountains plus a
chance to become more closely
connected to the college we
love. What could go wrong? We
didn’t know then that we were
moving onto campus just in
time to experience Catastrophe
Summer.
A TWISTER BLOWS
THROUGH CAMPUS
Wilting plants
SIGNAL GAS POISONING
At the beginning of the sum
mer, Grounds and Landscape
Supervisor Pat McCue
(SFGI83) started to worry
about campus trees that were
dying. A large cottonwood as
old as the Santa Fe campus,
which for decades had wel
comed visitors at the parking
circle, was dead. Nearby a tall
ponderosa, nine pinon trees,
and a number of chamisa bush
es were all on their deathbed.
“I couldn’t find any sign of
disease,” said McCue. “I was
sure it was some type of pollu
tion.” He asked tutor Linda
Wiener, an entomologist, to
look at the trees. “Herbicides
or pollution didn’t seem likely,
and the only other thing I could
think that would have that kind
of effect would be a gas leak,”
she said, “Pat took a shovel and
started digging. He said it just
reeked of gas.” The gas had
been killing the trees in the
same way it would a human
being or other living body-by
interfering with the ability of
the organisms to carry oxygen,
McCue explained. “Gas doesn’t
really poison a tree. It suffo
cates the roots,” he said.
Luckily, McCue and Wiener
discovered the problem before
Taking down the cottonwood
TREE WHICH HAD BEEN POISONED
BY A NATURAL GAS LEAK.
any explosions occurred. Since
the campus gas lines belong to
St. John’s, the college needed
to fix the problem. A contractor
was hired to test every campus
pipe for leaks. For the next
month, the grounds and roads
were torn up and gas was large
ly unavailable on campus.
For those staying in campus
housing, this meant taking cold
showers for about three weeks,
Jennifer Brookes, director of
Conference Services, worried
that summer conference atten
dees living in the dorms would
be unsettled by the lack of hot
water, but she heard few com
plaints. “Most everybody was
very understanding,” Brookes
said. “One group leader said he
{The College -
Messagefrom
the switchboard:
a mother bear
and cub had been
sighted on
Atalaya trail.
could give up coffee if he con
tinued to have cold showers in
the morning, because they
were so exhilarating.” Presi
dent John Balkcom offered the
use of the guest shower at the
Hunt House, less than a mile
from campus, and the showers
at the Student Activities Center
had hot water after less than a
week.
An understaffed (two
employees were out on short
term disability leave) Buildings
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
During one of these outdoor
meals, when the soccer field
was set up with canopies and
grills for a staff picnic, a twister
passed through campus. It
picked up the canopies and
dumped them in the middle of
Camino Cabra, The canopies
were replaced before the party
started and no one got hurt.
But Gonzalez couldn’t believe
the string of near-misses the
campus was facing. “We had so
many things going on-one
after another,” he said. Brooks
agreed: “It was totally wacky.”
Lightning
STRIKES Atalaya
From July 8 to July ai, I worked
as an RA (resident assistant) for
the Monte Sol Writing Work
shop, a residential program
that helps high school students
develop their creative and ana
lytical skills. On the morning of
Saturday, July 14, the students
headed up Atalaya Mountain,
just above campus, for a hike
with the workshop’s other RAs,
John McCarthy (SFoi) and Liz
Borshard (SF99).
At breakfast, shortly after
saying farewell to the hikers, I
opened the local newspaper
and panicked. According to a
news report, a fire had started
near the top of the mountain
the previous day and had not
been extinguished. Luckily, the
fire was out between the time
�{From the Bell Towers}
the newspaper was printed and
the hike began. The fire,
caused by a lightning strike
near campus, occurred on Fri
day the 13th.
A WOODPECKER STRIKES
The next exciting event was a
brief power outage caused by a
woodpecker. On July aa, the
bird landed on a transformer
near the gym, causing a short.
“It fried the woodpecker and
knocked out the electricity,”
Gonzales said.
This time the affected struc
ture was not on college proper
ty, so St. John’s did not bear the
cost of repair. The utility com
pany had power back on within
a few hours.
Magic on
Campus
Santa Fefreshmen dig
deep on Community
Service Day.
While most freshmen come to
St. John’s expecting to embark
on a rigorous intellectual jour
ney, few expect to be handed a
shovel and asked to do some
hard, physical labor. But on
Community Service Day, held
the Saturday before the first
full day of classes, roughly onequarter of the new freshman
class volunteered to roll up
their sleeves along with upper
classmen, faculty, and staff
(including college president
John Balkcom) and tackle some
labor-intensive jobs on campus.
Participants cut down a
mature cottonwood tree (a
landmark meeting place on
campus) that was killed by a
natural gas leak so that it could
be replaced with a young
sycamore. They also dug a
trench-50 feet long and a feet
deep-for a new gas line that
Toilets stop flushing
Throughout July and the begin
ning of August, I often con
soled myself during a cold
shower with this thought: “At
least the toilet works.” One
morning in early August, the
water lines in the walls of our
apartment moaned, then the
water stopped flowing. I ran
down to the academic build
ings, hoping to find a function
ing lavatory, but they were all
out of order. The water short
age was caused by an accident
during work on the water lines.
Yes, in addition to the gas lines
being replaced, water lines
were being replaced to increase
the water pressure in case of
fire. This was a project the col
lege had planned long before
the other catastrophes
will run under the beautiful
grassy lawn north of Weigle
Hall. “The lawn is one of the
most central landscape areas of
the college, both socially and
physically,” said assistant gar
dener Mike DiMezza (SF98 and
EC99). It was DiMezza who
first suggested the college dig
the trench by hand to save the
lawn from the ravages of a
backhoe.
The day had a festive atmos
phere, reminiscent of barn rais
ings and filled with good
humor. Some staff members
teased the students, saying that
when they finished digging the
trench they could start on the
hole for the long-proposed
swimming pool behind the
gym. Those whose physical
exertions rarely surpass haul
ing heavy backpacks worked
alongside the more muscular
members of the crew. When the
day was over, the volunteers
were rewarded with a barbecue
on the Fishpond Placita, spon
sored by the senior class.
DiMezza estimated that the
35 volunteers contributed at
least 140 hours of labor that
day. “I cannot tell you how
{The College.
occurred. The crew had hit a
water main and needed to get a
part from Albuquerque before
they could repair it. The col
lege reacted swiftly, procuring
porta-potties as well as bottled
water for the washrooms and
the dining hall kitchen.
At this point in the summer,
I was enrolled in the Summer
Classics program in a seminar
on The Plays of Kalidasa. When
it was time for the mid-morn
ing break, we stepped outside
and were happy to see that
porta-potties had arrived. They
were painted a bright yellow,
which helped boost spirits. By
this point in Catastrophe Sum
mer, people were eager to be
cheered.
“I only told a couple of peo
ple that I wanted my mommy,”
said Gonzales.
Digging WITH student backs—
NOT A BACKHOE—SAVES THE LAWN.
deeply grateful I was that I
didn’t have to dig that trench
by myself,” he said.
Brendan O’Neill {SF93),
director of college events, said
that Community Service Day is
about building community.
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
9
Bears head
TOWARD CAMPUS
By the time students began mov
ing into dorms for the fall term
on August ai, I breathed a sigh
of relief that Catastrophe Sum
mer had ended. But later that
morning, Vivian Duran at the
switchboard delivered a voice
mail message to the college
community, alerting us that a
mother bear and her cub had
been sighted on Atalaya trail. As
I listened to Duran’s recorded
advice on how to behave during
an encounter with a bear-hold
your hands high to seem taller
and back away slowly-I smiled.
Surely, this was just one more
potential disaster that the col
lege would manage with grace
and determination. 4— BY Marissa Morrison (SFGI03)
“We are fortunate because of
our small size, but we still have
to work on ways to bring every
one together,” he said. “When
we come together as a commu
nity - faculty, staff and student^
helping each other out - that’s
when the magic happens on
this campus.” -4
— BY Teri Thomson Randall
�{Letters}
IO
Wrong Author
I’d like to correct an easily made but signif
icant error in John Rankin’s series of pro
files on Johnnies in the world of policy
(“Rousseau and Realpolitik,” The College,
Summer aooi). Mr. Rankin cites me rec
ommending reading Karl Monger as an
economist. It should have been “Carl
Monger,” who published his path-breaking
and revolutionary Grundsatze der Volkswirtschaftslehre [Principles ofEconomics]
in 1871. His son Karl Monger became a
noted mathematician, who also occasional
ly wrote on such topics as the role of uncer
taintyin economics. It was Carl Monger
(with a “C”) who dissolved the great prob
lems that had bedeviled classical econom
ics by introducing the concept of choice at
the margin. The confusion between the two
is a common mistake, but one with signifi
cant consequences when one goes to the
library or the bookstore.
— Tom G. Palmer,
''Iknow that the
St. John s oftoday is
not the St. John s of
my day, but it still hets
a very tender spot
in my heart.
sections are central to his main thesis.
I’m not sure if it exists in an easily
acquired print medium, but it’s on the web
at http://www.abelard.org/turpap/turpap.htm.
I don’t know what the current Sopho
more readings are, so I can’t propose some
thing to drop to make room for this. That’s
always the rub, isn’t it?
— Thomas N. Day,
A71
A8a
there must be more pictures out there. I
know that the St. John’s of today is not the
St. John’s of my day; but it still has a very
tender spot in my heart. My connection
goes back to 1913, when my father was on
the faculty.
— Edward E. Gray, Class of 1934
An Adler Rememrrance
Just another of those examples of how
seemingly minor events can impact one's
entire life: Why or how it came about, I
can’t recall, but in late 195a I began read
ing Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book,
wherein, of course, he mentioned St.
John’s and the great books program. Two
years later I was enrolled at St. John’s.
Although there may have been an opportunity-he lectured once while I was there-I
never made a point of thanking him for
what turned out to be a seminal experience
in my life.
— Jerry Milhollan, Class of 1958
Reading List
Suggestion
I finally got a chance to read
A. M. Turing’s paper “Com
puting Machinery and Intelli
gence.” I’d like to propose
that SJC include it as part of
the sophomore seminar read
ings.
The paper is extremely
accessible to a non-technical
student, reading almost like
one of Maxwell’s papers. It
contains the original description of the famous Turing Test. It also contains the germ, though not pursued, of
Chaos Theory. It makes predictions about
the future of Artificial Intelligence which
coincide with the present time. It also pres
ents, in very general terms, the function
ing of a digital computer. It represents a
source document that much of our present
society rests upon. If Johnnies are sup
posed to understand the roots of their cul
tural assumptions, then this is a very acces
sible way into the beginnings of the impact
of computers.
On the down side, Turing makes a
pitiable response to religious objections to
Al, mostly because he doesn’t take religion
seriously and doesn’t make a serious effort
at a counter-argument. He also has a touch
ing faith in the statistical provability of
ESP. On the other hand, neither of these
Sje DESK -1935
St. John’s Forever
I was amazed to see pictures of my desk in
my room at the Delta Psi Omega fraternity
house in the Summer issue of The College.
I was intrigued with the comment about
my neckties that were hanging on the wall.
I wonder if the students of today have any
neckties. My roommate in 1935 was Robert
H. Lampee of the class of 1935. His desk is
the one on the left of the picture. He was
the editor of the St. John’s Collegian, the
college newspaper. There was an Under
wood typewriter under that cover.
Several years ago I sent my collection of
photographs of St. John’s to the Alumni
Office. I suggest that alumni of my vintage
send their collections to the college also.
Our ranks are getting thinner, but I feel
{The College -
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
The CoZZege welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under 500
words have a better chance of being printed
in their entirety.
Please address letters to; The College
Magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800,
Annapolis MD 21404 or The College Maga
zine, Public Relations Office, St. John’s
College, 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Letters can also be sent via e-mail to:
b-goyette@sjca.edu, or via the form for let
ters on the web site atwww.sjca.edu - click
on “Alumni,” then on “Contact The Col
lege Magazine.”
�{Book Review}
POETRY PUZZLES
William Alba combines visual andpoetic whimsy
in his book An Oz Album.
BY James Idema
R
obert Frost defined “The Figure a Poem
Makes” in an introduction to the 1949 col
lection of his complete poems. “It begins in
delight and ends in wisdom,” he wrote.
“The figure is the same as for love.”
William Alba, a Santa Fe tutor, could have
had something like that in mind with An
Oz Album (Pulley Press), a chapbook of his
own delightfully eccentric verse, inter
spersed as it is with fragments from the
writings of Sandburg, Blake, Dante, Woody
Guthrie, Whitman, and L. Frank Baum
(author of The Wizard of Oz). In a whimsi
cal tribute to Walt Whitman, for example,
Alba frames verses from Whitman’s “Song
of the Open Road” between lists of the zip
codes of the places the author has lived and
their corresponding dates. Dorothy, the
Scarecrow, and other characters from The
Wizard of Oz-i ncluding the Wicked Witch
of the West (aka Sister Frances Dolores, his
first grade teacher)-drop in on the fun.
We open the book to a boldly abstract
four-color map of Oz and close it on a high
way map of Chicago. We discover that Oz
and Chicago (where the poet lived for four
years before coming to Santa Fe) have had
major influences on his writing. Their
landmarks appear throughout.
This is a poem he calls “Madison/
Wabash.” It is printed in bold type over a
faint reproduction from Sandburg’s
“Chicago.”
There’s different kinds, I want to say.
There’s different kinds of pain.
It takes all kinds: your ears go deaf
from squealing trains.
Your eyes get stares when you forget,
and smile at a commuter.
A blast of cold chills your soles.
The broken heater.
Your temples tense. Your mind goes flat
as highways, suburbs, prairies.
The land is flat for miles and miles.
You wait. You wait.
“A BEAUTIFUL BOOK IS A CONSERVATOR OF
KNOWLEDGE,” SAYS AlBA.
Your tongue tastes smoke.
That’s nothing new.
Your throat turns dark as night.
The sun falls down as lights appear.
Not stars. Lights.
Here is a pair of winsome, haiku-like
poems under the heading “wakes of
innocense”:
1/ memory of 1968
this Monarch alights
on my chest, opening,
closing, opening its wings
I run through the park;
look, mommy, look it flattens and flutters away
2/ mystery
the one I love
like my constant dog
is never in my dreams
the places I’ve lived
recur after I move
like the seasons in a year
{The College-
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
Some of the material in this small book is
set in acrobatic arrangements and various
sizes of type, some of it minuscule strips
across the top of a page requiring serious
squinting to discern the message, which is,
in this case, to follow the yellow brick road.
Several poems describe driving experi
ences. One limns road rage on Chicago’s
Edens Expressway. It is composed in the
shape of a balloon. The invocation is reprised
in tiny type in the shape of a butterfly.
When I met Alba, he was teaching a sum
mer writing and thinking workshop for
high school students in a Bard College pro
gram held at St. John’s. I told him my first
reaction was that his poetry, which I found
compelling and entertaining, but at the
same time challenging in both content and
typography, seemed a cross between Wal
lace Stevens and e.e. cummings. He
seemed to find the observation amusing,
which is how I intended it. Still, when I
suggested some readers might be put off by
having to turn his book upside down or
reach for a magnifying glass to read it or
leaf backward to confirm elusive refer
ences, he defended his approach earnestly.
“Poems are the hardest writing to make
public, to get read by people I don’t know,”
he said. “My poems are revealing and inti
mate, so I needed to publish them myself.
But I wanted most of all to make a beautiful
book, something one cannot see on the
Internet. A beautiful book is a conservator
of knowledge, not easily discarded, and its
content should engage the hands and body
as well as the mind of the reader. Touch is as
important as sight, which is why I ask the
reader to handle my book, move it around.”
Please don’t attack these pages hoping
to squeeze messages from my verses, he
seems to be saying. Rather, loaf, as Whit
man says, invite your soul, pause frequent
ly, read aloud, open yourself to my experi
ences and, of course, read them more than
once. As T.S. Eliot entreats us in the open
ing lines of The Love Song off. Alfred
Prufrock: “Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’ /
Let us go and make our visit.”
�{The Program}
GREAT BOOKS
FOR TOUGH TIMES
In a speech delivered to the Caritas Society on
October 2001, a tutor muses on the events ofthisfall
and the role ofSt. Johns in the larger community
By William Pastille
HEN I WAS FIRST ASKED TO
speak on this occasion, the
suggested topic was the role
of the college in the larger
community. That was last
summer, a time that now
seems unapproachably distant-a lifetime ago. What I
am about to say has become
a cliche, but I will say it anyway: On September ii, everything
changed. Our shock at the terrible loss of life in New York and in
Washington reminded us of the meaning of mortality; it reminded
us that we are creatures of a day only whose light can be extin
guished at any instant; it reminded us that every moment is a pre
cious treasure, given to us on loan and hkely to be withdrawn with
out the slightest notice. Some Americans even seem to be changing
the way they live as a result. Some things that seemed to make
sense before September ii no longer seem to make sense now.
It is only fitting, therefore, that the topic of this talk should
change somewhat as well. I will still speak mostly about the role of
St. John’s in the larger community that is our nation; but it might
be appropriate also to say a few words about what the study of the
Great Books offers to us at a time of crisis such as this.
The best way, I think, to give some impression of the value of
Great Books in these times is to tell some recent stories from the
classroom. Just yesterday, for instance, I was leading a small study
group which was discussing Plato’s Crito, a dialogue that takes
place in Socrates’ prison cell as he awaits his execution. At one
point in the text Socrates makes the following statement: “One
should never do wrong in return,” he says, “nor injure any man,
whatever injury one has suffered at his hands.” Immediately, one
of the students replied to this with a question: “If Socrates is
right,” she asked, ’’does that mean we shouldn’t have responded
to the terrorist attacks?”
This sort of thing has been happening frequently ever since
September ii. The students are finding the events of this time to
be intimately connected to the books they are reading. It is this
ability to make a personal connection across the centuries that
makes a book great. The Great Books speak just as powerfully to
us as they did to our forefathers and to their forefathers.
This is a time of conflict, and conflict is a major theme in many
of the Great Books. The first book that the freshmen read in their
seminar classes, Homer’s Iliad, focuses on the conflict of the Tro
jan war. It is about the overweening wrath of Achilles, the
strongest of the Greeks. In the week following the attacks, the stu
dents were coming to the end of the book, and another tutor told
me that, in his class, one of the young men became very upset at
various criticisms of Achilles that had been leveled by some of his
classmates. “How can you say such things about Achilles?” he
finally said. “I want to be like Achilles! ” When pressed for his rea
sons, it came out that he admired Achilles’strength and the power
it gave him to destroy his enemy utterly. And he added, “If we had
a few more Achilles today, Afghanistan would already be in ruins.”
At this juncture, my colleague said, anotheryoung man pointed
out that Achilles’ victory, which was motivated by an unconsid
ered and self-absorbed thirst for revenge, was won at the cost of a
great deal of death and suffering for his own people. You can imag
ine, in those days shortly after the attacks, when it was not clear
what the American response would be, that these issues were
intensely critical for the members of that class.
This sort of timely and intensely personal conversation can only
happen because the books speak so directly to us, no matter where
or when they were written. And that brings me to the first digres
sion I want to make concerning the contribution St. John’s makes
to the larger community: we contribute our graduates to the
nation. St. John’s believes that the truest service a college or uni
versity can do for its country is to educate the young to be the best
citizens they can possibly be. The principal obstacle preventing
this is a certain particularly American parochialism described by
Tocqueville-a widespread tendency in this country to ignore
other places and times. We are so chauvinistic about our national
superiority that many of us quite unconsciously seem to feel that
if it’s not happening in America, then it really doesn’t count. And
we’re so pragmatic as a people that many of us quite unconscious-
{The College -St. John’s
College • Fall 2001 }
�{The Program}
adults to discuss a series of the
ly seem to feel that if it’s not
Great Books over a long period
happening right now, it’s
of time. Two weeks ago I was
either dead and huried in the
leading
one of these seminars
past or inaccessible in the
in
Philadelphia,
and we were
future. Consequently we live
discussing
the
second
half of
far too much in the moment to
Homer
’
s
Odyssey,
in
which
develop the kind of long-term
Odysseus
returns
home
to
find
and global perspective that we
his
household
being
preyed
need to see the larger picture of
upon by the many suitors of his
hfe on earth.
abandoned wife Penelope. One
The program of study at St.
of the women in the group,
John’s is meant to counter this
after listening to lots of talk
focus on the present and the
about the action and plot of the
close-to-home.
St. John’s
story, finally said, “I’m sorry,
believes that the study of the
but
all 1 could think about while
Great Books opens up the larg
reading
this was the extra
er perspective an American
ordinary
restraint Odysseus
really needs to conscientiously
showed.
I
know
exactly what he
perform his function as a citi
must
have
felt:
1 am so angry
zen, because, unlike the citi
about
these
attacks
that I just
zens of some other nations, we
want
to
do
something,
any
are not merely the subjects of
thing,
to
strike
back.
But
1
have
the rulers, but the rulers of the
to keep restraining myself,
rulers. We must keep our eye on
because
1 know that lashing
the larger picture so that we can
outwon
’
thelp.
It’s almost tear
direct the actions of our repre
ing
me
apart.
”
This was, of
sentatives to the right ends, so
course,
a
few
days
before the
that we can criticize and correct
bombing
began.
them when they are wrong, and
Again, the book was speak
so that we can urge them on
ing
directly to the experience of
when they are right. The Great
this
woman, and again on a very
Books, we think, are the finest
timely
topic-the matter of self
preparation for citizenship
restraint.
The Great Books are
available to our nation’s young
replete
with
discussions of this
men and women, and St. John’s
issue.
For
instance,
in Tolstoy’s
contributes to the nation each
War
and
Peace,
the
masterful
year about 200 young men and
old
commander-in-chief
of the
women who are well-prepared
Russian
army.
General
Kutu
for the duties of citizenship.
William Pastille
zov,
spends
most
of
the
book
Let me return to another
restraining
the
younger
generclassroom story now. Some of
als and officers under his command from taking any action against
you may not know that St. John’s offers what we call “Executive
the
invasion by Napoleon. He suffers great criticism for being
Seminars” in Annapolis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York,
senile,
unpatriotic, even treasonous, criticism levelled by those
Washington, and Chicago; these are monthly meetings for busy
John s believes that the truest
service a college or university can do
for its country is to educate the young
to be the best citizens they can possibly
be. Theprincipal obstaclepreventing
this is a certain particularly
American parochialism... ”
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�14
{TheProgram}
So knowledge can be taught,
but it cannot govern; wisdom,on the other hand
can govern, but it cannot be taught.
who feel that some response simply had to be mounted. But Kutu
zov was deeply in touch with the tide in the affairs of men; he
sensed that Napoleon was riding the crest of a wave and that to
attack that wave before it was ready to turn back from the shore
would simply lead to ruin for his forces and to subjugation for his
country. And he was right; once Napoleon reached Moscow, the
tide began to turn. Only then could a response from the Russians
be successful. Kutuzov’s restraint in the face of horrible losses
ended up saving the Russian nation.
We might ask ourselves. What do people like Odysseus and
Kutuzov know that allows them to exercise restraint when neces
sary and to act at the right moment? But it seems to me that this
question is improperly formed, because it is not their knowledge
that makes the difference, but their wisdom. And this brings me to
the second digression 1 want to make concerning what St. John’s
offers the larger community: through the study of the Great Books
we offer an entry into the love of wisdom, which is even more
important than knowledge when it comes to leading life well. If
colleges and universities take seriously the welfare of their stu
dents and their countries, they ought to be concerned about grad
uating people who not only have knowledge but who also have a
sense for how to use it well. But no amount of knowledge is suffi
cient for this end. Something besides knowledge is required for
the proper employment of knowledge. Why is that?
The simplest route to understanding the limitations of knowl
edge is to meditate on two familiar adages: “Knowledge is power”
and “Power corrupts.” Though we tend to accept both of these
adages quite readily, we seldom make a connection between them.
And yet the connection could not be simpler: if knowledge is
power, and power corrupts, then knowledge corrupts. Of course,
this is facile syllogizing that cannot stand up to logical scrutiny,
but the conclusion nevertheless contains a kernel of truth.
Knowledge can certainly be wielded as a sort of power; indeed our
society tends to advertise education and training as a source of
empowerment. And although power does not necessarily corrupt,
we all understand the temptations offered by power to bend the
rules, if not break them, for oneself and one’s inner circle. There
fore it simply is a fact that a person who uses knowledge as a
source of power will be tempted, and may succumb, to the cor
ruption that is offered by all sources of power. Consequently,
something besides knowledge is necessary if one is to avoid using
one’s knowledge poorly. What is that?
The answer, as the founders of the St. John’s program of study
knew, is wisdom. And so they wanted to add to the idea of the uni
{The College -
versity as an institution devoted to knowledge the further qualifi
cation that it should also be devoted to wisdom as the higher
source to which knowledge answers. But here they encountered a
problem that is truly insurmountable: wisdom, unlike knowledge,
cannot be taught. Wisdom requires judgment, and judgment
requires not just knowledge and the ability to draw conclusions
from knowledge, but also the sort of life-experience that engen
ders habits which make us tend toward the Good even when we do
not know what is right. And the sort of life-experiences that lead
to such habits cannot be provided by someone else, not even the
most skillful teacher; they must be lived through in the concrete
and practical situations that come up in daily life. So knowledge
can be taught, but it cannot govern; wisdom, on the other hand
can govern, but it cannot be taught. How, then, could wisdom,
being unteachable, take up a position in higher education beside
knowledge, which implies a great focus on teaching as the correl
ative to learning?
The answer is that it cannot. Wisdom itself stands above teach
ing and learning; as Socrates pointed out, it is either divine or
almost divine. But it is well within human capacities, as Socrates
also pointed out, to cultivate the love of wisdom, even if wisdom
itself lies beyond our reach; and perhaps the love of wisdom, if pur
sued diligently, can somehow communicate some of the qualities
of wisdom to the seeker, in the same way that any lover begins to
take on some of the attributes that are admired in the beloved.
What is more, love of wisdom is both teachable and learnable as a
form of contagious enthusiasm: the teacher’s love of wisdom can
be communicated to the student by example. So whereas wisdom
itself cannot find a place in the academy, love of wisdom can.
Indeed it should, if colleges and universities are concerned with
the good of the students who attend and the good of the societies in
which those students will be citizens; for it is love of wisdom alone
that can keep the students on track until they have enough judg
ment to guide themselves and their society well. And St. John’s
takes this obligation seriously: in addition to contributing to the
nation graduates who are well prepared for citizenship, we also send
forth graduates whose love of wisdom will steady them until they
acquire experience, judgment, and perhaps even wisdom itself.
Let me return to another story from the classroom. The week
after the attacks, 1 was leading a discussion with about eighteen
graduate students on Francis Bacon’s very brief essay On
Revenge. Bacon makes the following bald statement about the
prudence of taking revenge: “Wise people,” he says, “know that
they have enough to do in the present and with whatever might
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{TheProgram}
15
Ifcolleges and universities take seriously the welfare of
their students and their countries, they ought to be concerned
about graduatingpeople who not only have knowledge but
who also have a sensefor how to use it well
happen in the future. They don’t spend their time taking revenge.
People who spend their time worrying about past injuries just
waste their time.” Nowyou can imagine the electrifying effect that
statement had at a time when so many innocent lives had been so
recently lost, and when some people in the room desperately
hoped for retribution, while others were confused about the prop
er course that should be followed. Nevertheless, because all of the
students had been at St. John’s for a while and had learned how to
converse intensely but politely, we had a civilized, if highly
charged, conversation, and I think that everyone left the meeting
feeling that he or she had seen just a bit further into the complex
ities of justice and retribution.
This classroom story about graduate students and the earlier
one about the participants in the Philadephia Executive Seminar
bring me to the third and final point I want to make about St.
John’s contribution to the larger community; In addition to con
tributing to the nation young people who are very well-prepared
for citizenship and whose love of wisdom will help them to help
the country in years to come, St. John’s also offers its experience
in the study of the Great Books to adults.
St. John’s takes seriously this commitment to adults who are
long past school age. After all, those of us who teach here are
adults, and we do not keep doing it only because we enjoy helping
the young to find themselves, although we certainly do enjoy that
calling. We keep doing it also because continued exposure to the
Great Books and to the ideas of others keeps us steadily growing in
the same skills we hope to give to our students. For although we are
adults, we are also mindful of Socrates’ continual admonition that
we don’t really know who we are, because we always take ourselves
to be much more knowledgeable than we actually are. And the best
way to keep an awareness of this ignorance alive in ourselves is to
be constantly talking with others about the most important things
in hfe. The infinite variety of responses to life’s most important
questions will always keep us on our toes if we let it.
Since those of us who teach here are adults, and since we can
benefit from the Great Books in this way, there is no reason to
doubt that other adults could also benefit from what we do with the
Great Books, as long as they are willing to engage in civil discus
sion and are open to really trying to hear and understand the opin
ions of others. So St. John’s also has programs for adults that allow
them to participate in the conversation with the Great Books in a
number of different ways. In addition to the Executive Seminars
and the Master’s degree program already mentioned, our Santa Fe
campus has what is called the “Summer Classics” program, and we
{The
also offer what is called a “Continuing Education” program.
So, as I see it, St. John’s makes a three-fold contribution to the
larger community in times such as these: first, it produces young
people who are well prepared to shoulder the burdens of citizen
ship in these difficult times; second, it produces young people
whose love of wisdom can help them to make better choices in
these difficult times, both for themselves and for the nation; and
finally, it offers us adults the opportunity to continue to grow both
as citizens and as lovers of wisdom.
Let me leave you with one more story about a discussion with
students. This conversation happened outside of class, and, as it
happens, I do not even know the students I was speaking with, a
young man and a young woman who had joined a conversation
already in progress and remained after the other students left. The
young man had been reading Matthew Arnold’s famous poem
Dover Beach, which many of you probably learned in high school.
Well over a century ago, Arnold looked out across the English
Channel on a breezy evening, looked out on the ancient world that
had been bloodied so terribly in the European wars during the
hundred years before his time, and wrote the following lines:
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! For the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams.
So various, so beautiful, so new.
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light.
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight.
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
The young man recited the last line slowly. Thinking about the
current situation and the recurring violence in human affairs, he
said “Have we learned nothing at all? How can there be hope
when the ignorant armies continue to clash, year after year after
year?”
The three of us stood in silence for a while. Then the young
woman said, “But the poem gives the answer: ‘Ah, love, let us be
true,’ it says.”
The two of us looked at her quizzically.
“Well,” she drawled, as if she were belaboring the obvious,
“where there is love there is hope.” 4"
William Pastille is a tutor in Annapolis. He’s currently the direc
tor ofthe Graduate Institute.
COLLEGE'S:. John’s College ■ Fall noot }
�{Johnnies
on
Animals}
HEARTS o/ANIMALS
Reflections on our relationships
with other members ofthe wild kingdom.
By Sus3AN Borden,
A87
an an elephant hold grudges? Can a dog
experience separation anxiety? What
makes a horse love its rider? Do
animals have souls? Intelligence?
Emotions?
Johnnies have read Aristotle’s Parts of
Animals, dissected a sheep’s heart, strug
gled with the foundations for and implica
tions of Darwin’s Origin of Species. In
today’s lah curriculum, freshmen observe squirrels, spiders, and
seagulls. Seniors trace the ancestry of fruit fly families. In seminar
and tutorials, love and friendship are frequent topics of discussionfrom Plato’s Phaedrus to Yeats’ “When You Are Old And Gray.”
Alumni who enter careers that involve working with animals
continue to think about the relationships between humans and
animals-they are confronted with the conundrums of under
standing between the species every day. But even after years of
observing and caring for animals, they say there’s much they don’t
understand. In the end, we are left to wonder: what can we really
know about the heart of another?
Tales of Two Critters
Claudia Probst Stack (A88), a horse trainer, riding teacher, and
competitive rider, tells the story of a boy she once gave riding les
sons and his old, arthritic horse. “The boy wasn’t a bad kid, but he
was raucous and loved to ride hard,” she says. “He could be rough
on the horse. When he took off the tack and bridle, he didn’t
unbuckle it, he just pulled it off. Typically, a horse in his condition
would not want to have a lot to do with a boy like that, but this
horse loved that little boy. Every time the boy showed up at the
gate, the horse would come running over. He didn’t mind being
galloped around, even though I’m sure it hurt his joints.”
“What made that horse rise above his discomfort?” she asks.
“What was he getting out of it? Why did he enjoy that relationship?”
For Stack, these questions reflect the mystery of love-not only
between people and animals but, in a larger sense, any love.
“What brings any two critters together? Whether it’s a horse and
a person or two people, you always think to yourself: why are these
two together?” she says.
“I guess it’s hke many relationships that aren’t perfect and yet
are working. There seems to be some kernel at the heart of the
relationship that’s either good or bad. If it’s wrong from the start.
{The College-
it doesn’t matter how many supplements you give the horse or
what kind of equipment you buy for him.” If it’s right, she sug
gests, then a raucous boy can “ride the bejeesus” out of an arthrit
ic horse and the two will be happy together.
It’s not just the four-legged creatures who can find joy in a
seemingly mismatched relationship. Emergency veterinarian
Elizabeth MacDonald (SF83) says that in many cases, it’s the
nature of the person that determines the relationship. MacDonald
has worked with difficult dogs, including those she calls “real
problem children,” who are adopted from the pound after living
in stressful, often abusive situations. These dogs can thrive in the
care of committed, responsible pet owners. “They may shred the
house from stem to stern, they might constantly have accidents,
they may be barkers, yet these people are absolutely bonded to
them,” she says. “These are the lucky dogs. When it comes to
pound dogs, there are very few lucky dogs, but I’ve see them.”
MacDonald is convinced that the strength of the bond comes
from the person involved. “It’s not so much the temperament of
the animal. It comes from the people-how much they’re willing to
give, to sacrifice. My feeling is that animals are our responsibility,
our charge, not our right, but not everybody thinks like that.”
MacDonald sees a range of people in her practice. Some agree
that, once pets are taken in, the owner is responsible for them no
matter the inconvenience. At the other end of the spectrum are
the people who asked that their cat be euthenised after they’d
changed the color of their decor and it became obvious that the cat
shed too much. She has even encountered people who, when told
the cost of treating their cat, said it would be cheaper to buy
another than to treat their sick pet.
For the most part, people who would balance their cat’s life in
their checkbook have opted out of the game before they even meet
veterinary behaviorist Barbara Simpson (A71). Because she’s a
specialist, Simpson’s clients’ willingness to devote time and
money to their pets is demonstrated in the very fact that they are
consulting with her; they’ve shown they have a commitment that
goes beyond standard veterinary care.
“It’s sometimes astounding,” Simpson says. “There seem to be
quite a lot of people who have a very close relationship with their
companion animals. They share their beds with their animals and
work their schedules around them. They celebrate animal birth
days and take them on trips.” In a few cases these are single peo-
St. John's College - Fall 2001 }
�{Johnnies on Animals}
''Myfeeling is that animals are our responsibility,
our charge, notour right,
but not everybody thinks like that. ”
—Elizabeth MacDonald
[SF83]
“Are you my mother?” is the title of
AnNAPOLIS PHOTOGRAPHER
Amy Raab. The rancher raised the
THIS PICTURE BY
HEIFER, which HAD BEEN BORN DURING A
Wyoming spring snowstorm and
ABANDONED BY ITS MOTHER.
{The College . St John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
17
�i8
{JohnniesonAnimals}
y^nimals use the same signals
to communicate with people as they do
to communicate with each other.''
—Barbara Simpson
pie for whom a pet is a substitute for other companionship, or
adults who don’t have children but treat their dog like a child. But
this is by no means the rule. “These are often people who have
very normal relationships with other people, but are incredibly
attached to their animals,” she says.
Brain Eater
Unfortunately, man’s relationship to animals is not exclusively
one of love and devotion. Eric Scigliano {SF75), a Seattle-based
journalist whose book about elephants will be published this
spring, has explored in depth the relationship between man and
elephants. A key to understanding this complex relationship, he
says, is to realize that elephants are “uniquely non-domesticated
domestic animals.” Although they have been captured, trained,
and worked for more than three thousand years, elephants have
never been bred for docility or any other qualities. Genetically,
they’re still “pure,” wild animals. Whatever qualities of loyalty,
affection, and gentleness they show are those they are naturally
endowed with. This lack of genetically-manipulated docility
means that, while in some cases elephants are dominated by affec
tion, there will always be a role in the relationship for coercion
and intimidation.
Dominating a 12,000-pound creature through coercion and
intimidation is at best an uncertain enterprise. At worst, it can be
lethal. Scigliano describes the traditional relationship a mahout
(elephant keeper and driver) has with the Asian logging elephants
in his care: “It’s a lifelong relationship. The young elephants and
young boys grow up together, sleep together, live together. The
elephants have been known to sacrifice their lives for them,” he
says, “yet the mahouts can get themselves killed if they abuse
their elephants.”
He tells a story he heard in Sri Lanka about one rogue elephant
whom the national elephant catching team had been sent to catch
and relocate. The locals had named him Molekanna, Brain Eater.
This nickname seemed unthinkable, Scigliano says, because ele
phants are vegetarians, but the team had been dispatched after
the elephant was believed to have killed his eighteenth human.
Eventually, the team found the nineteenth victim, a school
teacher, with his head missing. When they finally captured the
elephant, they learned what had turned him into a carnivore. He
was a study in animal abuse: he had been blinded in one eye, per
haps by acid, was half blind in the other eye, and was full of gun
shot wounds. “Elephants remember abuse. They remember
friends and enemies,” Scigliano says. “They can take revenge
years later. That bit about an elephant never forgetting is pretty
{The College.
[A71]
close to the truth.”
Scigliano describes the roots of his own interest in elephants in
his book. Love, War and Circuses: The Age-Old Relationship
Between Elephants and Humans:
I still remember when I first felt the allure, though I never saw
circus elephants as a young child; we hved in Saigon, between
Vietnam’s French and American wars, where circuses fol
lowed European tradition and lacked grand animal spectacles.
But Saigon’s zoo had many beasts and few barriers separating
them from visitors; crocodiles lazed beneath a footbridge,
monkeys would escape their cage, and ayoung elephant would
reach her trunk across to visitors, nuzzhng their faces and tak
ing peanuts from their hands and whatever else seemed inter
esting from their pockets. I imagined that she recognized me
out of all the kids who thronged around her. Elephants’ noses
and memories are so discerning, perhaps she did.
Horse Midwife____________________________________
Lyn Desmarais’ (A83) introduction to animals was far less exotic;
she grew up working a family dairy farm in New Braintree, Massa
chusetts, with her brothers and sisters. She began milking cows at
age six and delivered her first calf by the time she was ten. It was
Desmarais’ responsibility to know when the cows were about to
calve so that, when the time neared, the cows could be kept in the
barn in case any problems arose during delivery.
“Every once in a while you’ll have miscalculated the due date or
a cow will outsmart you and run off,” she says. “We had 100
acres-plenty of pasture running in and out of woods, and springs
and brooks as well. When a pregnant cow ran off to calve, it was
often my job to get on a horse and ride back and forth covering
every foot of ground.”
Desmarais remembers one occasion when, after searching the
farm, she finally found the missing cow and her newborn calf. She
put a halter on the cow and tried to lead her back to the barn. “I
was yanking and yanking, but the cow was not going anywhere.
The next thing I knew, my horse was behind the calf, nudging it to
its feet and pushing it all the way to the barn.” The cow, of course,
followed her offspring.
Desmarais says there are two aspects of this story that interest
her. One is the horse’s understanding of how to get the cow and
her calf back to the barn. The other is the horse’s concern about
the calf. “I understand animals having a very strong sense of sur
vival,” she says, “but I don’t understand why they’d be so gentle
with the young of others.”
St. John’s College ■ Fall aooi }
�{Johnnies on Animals}
Simpson, the veterinary behaviorist, gives
the broad strokes of an explanation: “Mammals
are highly evolved, sophisticated beings and
they share the vast majority of their physiologi
cal systems with us-their brain structure, hor
mones, reproductive modes, maternal care-we
have a tremendous amount in common,” she
says. “Many animals also share complex social
behavior. They live in societies, have long-term
relationships, and demonstrate clear individ
ual recognition. These can be fairly complex
societies and with that goes complex communi
ty behavior.”
Behavior can become even more complex in
a society made up of more than a single
species. The result can be a bemusing positive,
as with Desmarais’ horse and calf. But the
complexity of inter-species societies can lead
to negative behavior as well.
If I Could Talk to the Animals
In her practice, Simpson sees many such nega
tive cases. Often they are the result of miscom
munication. “One of the disorders I treat is
separation anxiety in dogs,” says Simpson. “A
dog can get very attached and when the owner
leaves the house, the dog misbehaves, or is
destructive, or gets so nervous it eliminates in
the house. When the owner comes home and
finds what he’s done, he may punish the ani
mal. He may interpret the behavior as spiteful
rather than understand it as an anxiety disorder
for which sympathy and treatment are needed
rather than disciplinary measures.” Simpson
says this is a common failure to understand and
respond to what the dog is communicating.
“Animals have their own systems of commu
nication,” says Simpson. “Some of it is innate,
some learned. It is especially refined in social
species like dogs or horses. Animals use the
same signals to communicate with people as
they do to communicate with each other.”
As pet owners try to understand what ani
mals are communicating to them, horse riders
work to help their horses understand what
they are saying. Stack, a rider since age 8,
began to learn natural horsemanship when she
turned 25. She describes the method: “You use
body language to show the horse the direction
you want him to go, if you want him to speed
up or slow down. You either come at him or
back off, you kind of dance with him a little bit
to show him what you’re looking for.”
Stack uses dance as a metaphor for training
within a single ride. It also works as well to
Animal Bookijst
Claudia Probst Stack
Think Harmony With Horses by Ray Hunt
and Ground Work by Buck Brannamanboth these books are by the natural horse
manship experts whose work inspired the
book and movie The Horse Whisperer.
Eric Scigliano
Bonobo by Frans de Waal and Frans Lanting-a good introduction to our neglected
and fascinating “next of kin.”
The Elephant in the Greek and Boman
World H.H. Scullard and The First Fos
sil Hunters by Adrienne Mayor-elephants
in classical history, war, and myth.
The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy-this
novel is a remarkable effort to imagine
the African elephant’s consciousness and
world.
To Whom It May Concern: An Investiga
tion ofthe Art ofElephants by David
Gucwa and James Ehmann-a quirky but
intriguing account of the first elephant
drawing project.
Elephant Tramp by Shm Lewis-the best
circus memoir.
Burmese Timber Elephant by U Toke
Gale, and Elephant Billby J.H. Williams
best memoirs of working with elephants
in Asia.
Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord ofBegin
nings by Paul B. Courtright-a scholarly
study of the elephant-headed god.
Lyn Desmarais
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
AU Creatures Great and Small and other
books by James Herriot
BeautifulJoe by Marshall Saunders
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
“The Most Dangerous Game”
by Roald Dahl (a short story)
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Barbara Simpson
Know Your Dog: An owner’s guide to dog
behavior\sy Dr. Bruce Fogle
Know Your Cat: An owner’s guide to cat
behartorWXIt. Bruce Fogle
The Expression ofthe Emotions in Man
andAnimaki by Charles Darwin
{The College-
19
describe the communication between a horse
and rider throughout a long-term partnership,
allowing the rider to communicate more
abstract things, such as good judgment and
trustworthiness. “You have to put horses in
situations where you can show them they can
do what you’re asking them to do,” Stack says.
“You build up a trust, let them know that
you’re not going to put them in a bad fix. In
eventing [an equestrian triathlon, more or
less], you can’t really fake it. There are some
disciphnes where, if you can hold the horse
together for 10 or 20 minutes, you can fool the
judge. But in eventing, when you hit a cross
country course that the horse has never seen,
you know really fast where you are in your
training.”
Trust. Communication. Anxiety. Gentle
ness. Revenge. Love. Devotion.
Are our relationships with animals really
that complicated? What about the role of
dependence? Maybe we’re reading a lot into
animals’ good-sense policy of not biting the
hands that feed them.
“People think it’s all about food but it’s
not,” says Stack. “I never hand-feed my horse
and I don’t give him treats. But if I call him, he
comes right over.” She describes a time when
she was pregnant and unable to ride. She still,
of course, fed and cared for her horse. “He
knew something was up,” she says. “Every
time I came to the barn my horse would just
look at me in a way that said, ‘What happened?
We used to do things together. We used to go
out all the time.’ ” 4"
Lyn Desmarais (A83) grew up working a dairy
farm in Massachusetts. She raises butterflies, is
part of a program to reintroduce bluebirds to
Massachusetts, and has near-future plans to
raise honey bees and begin small-scale farm
ing. She lives in Weston, Mass.
Elizabeth MacDonald (SP83) is an emergency
veterinarian. Her clinic is in Ardmore, Pa.
Eric Scigliano (SE75) is a journalist whose
work has appeared in the New York Times,
Outside, The New Yorker, Mother Jones,
Newsweek, and the Utne Reader. He lives in
Seattle.
Barbara Simpson (A71) is a veterinary behavior
ist. Her clinic is in Southern Pines, N. C.
Claudia Probst Stack (A88) is a horse breeder,
trainer, riding teacher, and competitive rider.
She lives in Rocky Point, N. C.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Faculty Books}
JOB’S LIFE
THROUGH NEW EYES
Robert Sacks'trarbslation ofthe Book ofJob helps
readers re-examine some important questions.
By Mark Sanfilippo, SFGIoo
he Book of Job...is a constant play
between the way in which a lovely surface
can obscure a darker center and the way
in which our view of the deeper intent of
things can often obscure our view of
their simple surface.”
In many ways, this quotation from The
Book ofJob with Commentary: A Trans
lation for our Time (Scholars Press) by
Santa Fe tutor emeritus Robert Sacks sums up the book’s effort.
Sacks’ translation focuses not only on the simple surface-level
beauty of the text, but it also tries to present a way to comprehend
the deeper secrets housed within those words. Sacks never seems
to lose sight of the nature of the work at hand-that the Book of Job,
in addition to being a theological/philosophical text, is just as
importantly a work of literature. While accuracy is indeed a moti
vating factor for a scholarly translation, a bit of an artist’s hand is
required of the translator when the piece is to be enjoyed for the
beauty of its words and phrasing as much as for their content.
Sacks prefaces his translation with a brief introduction in which
he recalls the dichotomy of Greek philosophy and the Hebrew
Bible-or Athens and Jerusalem, as he puts it. Sacks states that
these two traditions, while they address many of the same ques
tions, do so from such different standpoints that oftentimes mak
ing a comparison of the resulting “answers” is all but impossible.
He believes that the Book of Job touches on some of the questions
most central to Greek philosophy and does so in such a way as to
make a comparison of Athens and Jerusalem not only possible,
but inevitable. This has led him to an exploration of the Book of
Job. Luckily for the students of both the Bible and the develop
ment of Western thought, Sacks was kind enough to make a good
record of that exploration.
The first half of the book consists of the translation. Here one
notices immediately that he does indeed have the necessary
“artist’s hand,” for the text flows effortlessly and its images come
{The College-
across in clear, striking tones. Sacks has provided ample footnotes
to aid those tvith little or no knowledge of Hebrew. He makes dis
tinctions between the various usages of words like LORD, GOD,
God, and The Almighty, which are consistent and correspond to
the original text. In addition, he attempts to convey in English the
ambiguities latent within those all too frequent Hebrew words
that have multiple definitions, e.g. horn/light/ray.
Sacks says that one verse in particular inspired him to produce
his own version of this difficult text: verse 6 in chapter 42. The
King James Version reads: “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes.” Sacks explains that this line brought to a cUmax his misgivings about the existing translations. The verse
comes after God has rumbled from the clouds and left Job
awestruck; it is in many ways the summation of what his experi
ence has been. But Job doesn’t abhor himself, and to have him say
so in this final part of the book distorts the thrust of the story.
Robert Sacks’ version of 42:6 reads: “Wherefore I have both
contempt and compassion for dust and ashes.” Job’s realm of
understanding at this point has far surpassed the solipsism of a
“why me?” character; Job is not simply concerned about himself
or his lot. That wasn’t his dilemma to begin with, and Sacks felt
that the existing translations were incorrect in conveying this
meaning. Job’s was a cosmic question dealing with the nature of
justice. By this time. Job has come to possess a balance of con
tempt and compassion for the necessarily dual existence of man
(“dust and ashes”)-his existence as both a part of Nature and sep
arate from Nature.
The second half of the book consists of commentary. This por
tion remains true to its name in that Sacks resists trapping himself
in a “Job theory” and then simply applying such a theory to the
text in its entirety. Instead, he comments on the chapters and does
so with a driving inquisitiveness that pulls the reader along. While
he does track and expand on themes like the realm of human logic
vs. the realm of cosmic/Godly logic and civilization vs. the Land of
the Jackals, Sacks doesn’t resist the urge to explore whatever
St. John's College ■ Fall 2oof }
�{Faculty Books}
ai
Sacks never seems to lose sight ofthe nature
ofthe work at hand— that the Book ofJob,
in addition to being a theological/philosophical text,
isjust as importantly a work ofliterature.
might seem of interest in each
chapter, be it a word that is used
in a noteworthy fashion, or the
history of a phrase’s usage
throughout Biblical literature,
or even a comparison of other
translations.
The question that Sacks feels
is most central to the text“Shall a man be more just than
his God?”-is played with
throughout the commentary,
inevitably becoming a question
of “What is Justice?” Job is
forced to deal with his prior
“knowledge” of justice being
shattered or superseded. How is
he to come to terms with the
dissolution of what he previous
ly held to be permanent?
Sacks says: “The surface
world, to which Job has commit
ted himself to taking seriously,
is a crazy, contradictory world.
full of wisdom, valor, and madness, full of roads to glory that lead
nowhere. The simple world of growing corn and barking dogs has
become more like a Picasso still life which when it first comes to
sight seems to be no more than a blue bottle and a bowl of fruit
lying on a country table. Yet as one looks on, order begins to evap
orate, and one begins to wonder how, if Durac is right, Ptolemy
could ever have even seemed to be right.”
The rules/maxims that had formerly ruled Job’s life (and had
apparently “worked”), no longer apply. Even Job’s “friends” (hav
ing never experienced his level of disillusionment and pain) can
offer no sympathy or compassion, and their bhnd adherence to tra
{The College-
dition just simply won’t jibe
with Job’s new-found perspec
tive.
Of particular interest in the
commentary section is the
chapter entitled “Reflections
on ir:6.” This chapter delves
into the nature of the word
“perversion” as it is used
throughout Bibhcal literature.
The word comes from the Latin
meaning “to twist through and
through.” The effect of perver
sion, this twisting, necessarily
spans
generations.
Sacks
explains it like this: “In the
Torah there is a general tenden
cy to use the wordperversion to
refer to those acts of the fathers
which have a lasting and devas
tating effect on the whole of the
nation: for example, black slav
ery in early America. Or, to put
it in other words, even an immigrant who has newly become a citizen of this country, although he.
like all others, is innocent of any crime his father may have com
mitted, has by virtue of becoming part of us, inherited a debt to the
Native American Peoples, a debt which we shall never be able to
pay in full.” These perversions of the fathers affect the branches of
the children for generations, and the only relief in sight hes in ritu
al and, in the case of the Old Testament, sacrifice.
There is much ofinteresttobe found in The Book of Job, and Mr.
Sacks’ translation and commentary serves as a good guide book. It
points us in several different directions of possible interest, but
leaves the ultimate decision of what to explore to the reader.
St. John ’5 College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Faculty Books}
MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING
Eva Brann examines three subjects of
non-being in aphilosophical trilogy.
By Barbara Goyette,
A73
t first glance, the imagination, time,
and negativity don’t seem to have much
in common as topics of thought, except
perhaps that no single philosopher or
writer has produced the definitive book
on any of them. Threads of their myster
ies are woven into many of the great
books though, from Plato to Newton to
Tolstoy. They tickle our minds with
feathery wisps of interest but don’t become as solidly consuming
as the larger questions of being, human emotion and perception,
knowledge, or nature.
But to Eva Brann, a tutor since 1957 and dean in Annapolis from
1990 to 1997, these three are related in more profound ways. She’s
written a trilogy of books about how we deal with and think about
them. And for her, the topics all derive from a fascination with
it’s hard to express this without sounding like one of the impossi
bly dense St. John’s metaphysics readings-that which has no real
being. Imagination is “a vision of something not actually there,”
time trades in memory, a picture-as in imagination-of what no
longer exists, and “naysaying,” our ability for negativity, is some
how a font of dialectic and understanding.
She may be examining what’s not, but everything Eva Brann
writes is full of ...stuff. Open her book The World ofthe Imagina
tion randomly, for example to pages 750 and 751, and find discus
sions of or references to: Bachelard on Herman Hesse, a Chinese
landscape painter who “wandered off into the space projected by
his own imagination,” Wordsworth, Don Quixote’s grand notion
of reality, Santayana’s “normal madness,” T.E. Lawrence on the
fort of ancient Azrak, Guy Davenport on Grant Wood’s images of
Iowa, and Louis L’Amour’s westerns.
The acuity of her examples and her ability to bring disparate
ideas into contact with each other are hallmarks of Brann’s writ
ing. Pages 750 and 751 contain the end of a discussion about
Proust and the beginning of a discussion about imaginative
places. That the imagination can turn “space into place insofar as
it is ... a propensity for projecting human feeling into space and a
readiness to be affected by its local presences” can be demonstrat
ed by citing examples from literature. Brann’s Don Quixote exam
{The College-
ple is particularly illuminating. Don Quixote attacks a band of
windmills which he sees as monstrous giants. He is dragged off his
horse and suffers bruises. Sancho Panza delivers the obligatory “I
told you so.” Everyone knows the basics of this story. But Brann
finds the imaginative wellspring of Cervantes’ hero to make her
point. “An old enemy, a sorcerer wise in the black arts, wishing to
cheat the Don of his glory, has turned the giants into windmills. It
is Sancho Panza’s prose, not Don Quixote’s poetry, that is delud
ed,” she writes. “The point, implicit but crucial, is that it is our
mundane soulless world of flour-grinding windmills that is under
a spell, a reverse or disenchanting spell cast by the enemies of
glory. This spell is the ... pervasive notion that the ordinary is the
actual.” Through Don Quixote’s imagination, the spell is broken
and the true landscape emerges.
The deep mystery of the imagination
Brann attributes her initial interest in the imagination-which
ultimately led to development of the themes in the trilogy-to the
heavily intellectual content of the St. John’s program. “We always
focus on the use of reason. That induces an appetite for imagining
and reading works of fiction,” she says. Although she wrote many
articles and two interpretive books during the first thirty years
she was teaching, Brann says that the push to think more thor
oughly about the faculty of imagination was different in character.
She felt her own imagination coming alive, “blooming,” as a com
plement to the rigors of the program. “It’s the opposite of what
people might think,” she says.
In 1978-9 she spent ayear away from St. John’s at Whitman Col
lege in Walla Walla, Washington. “It was beautiful there, so dif
ferent. The landscapes reminded me of that Beatles movie The Yel
low Submarine. I used to ride around the golden and mauve hills
and look at the little cabins, and I began to think I’d like to write
about the workings of the imagination.”
She began the project by reading everything she could find on
the subject. Whitman had a good hbrary, so she read widelyphilosophers, psychologists, artists. She found few serious books
on the imagination, but much material that was useful to her proj
ect. When philosophers wrote about the faculty, she found, they
didn’t seem to uncover it completely. “Kant called it a mystery too
St. John's College • Fall 2001 }
�deep to write about,” she notes. In the new science of cognitive
psychology Brann discovered some important leads. “The psychol
ogists had gotten into a terrific battle about whether or not we
actually have a mind’s eye,” she says. “It was plain to me that we do
have internal pictures. But what does that mean? What are they?”
When she actually got down to writing the book, she found that
her real work would be to bring together the thousands of things
she had read, thought about, and seen. Once the organization was
clear, however, the book quickly took shape. The World of the
Imagination: Sum and Substance (published in 1991 by Rowman &
{The College-
Littlefield) is a large book-800 pages. There is a chronological
accounting of how various philosophers from Plato through
Wittgenstein dealt with the imagination; a discussion of the psy
chological aspects of the imagination: consciousness, representa
tion, direct perception, and theories about how visual imagery
occurs physically; a consideration of the metaphysics of images
(are they nonexistent entities? are fictional objects real in any
way?); a discussion of literature as the words representing the
visions of imagination; an examination of imagination and space,
including various geometries and visual art forms; and, finally, a
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
�{FacultyBooks}
^4
^Ifl di^ up a Greekpot,
that is not ancient, it ispresent.
The only aspect ofantiquity
is what I imagine about it.
look at “worldly” imagination: images of the divine, creation of
utopias, public vision, common imaginative landscapes. “I tried to
write about what, in each discipline, the essence of the imagination
is, and then I wrote a soberly romantic conclusion,” says Brann.
Her conclusion-which she unashamedly calls her favorite
part-outlines the important role that imagination plays in human
action. “You can’t act purposefully unless you have a mental
image of how things ought to be,” she says. This imaginative
mechanism applies to pohtical and social action, and also in a
deeper way to everyday life. “Unless there are days on which you
are filled with the image of something loveable, your life, your job,
your work will be dry as dust,” she says. Where do the images
come from? From reading, memories, your childhood. “Good
images, those that are usable for us, have a certain gauziness
about them,” they are not too precise, she says. Precise images
don’t give us enough breathing room, space for actions and reali
ty to interact with what our imaginations devise. Brann doesn’t
use Don Quixote as an example for this point, but it’s helpful to
think of how broadly the errant knight takes his charge: every
event, every item in daily use takes on a new and different mean
ing under his gaze; imagination has the power to transform.
The what, when, and where of time
Brann’s second book. What, Then, Is Time?, yN^s, written in 1998,
after she spent seven years as dean of the college. During her
tenure as dean, she didn’t “think anything out, there wasn’t
reflection.” Administration calls for a different type of thinking
deliberating rather than contemplating. She was hungry for
reflection, and for what comes from reflection when you’re Eva
Brann-writing. “When 1 handed the keys to the dean’s office to
Harvey [Flaumenhaft], I sat down and could hardly stop writing,”
she says. (Indeed, after the book about time, she produced two
more-7%e Ways of Naysaying, published in aooi, and a book
about the Odyssey, to be published this spring. )
In answer to the question of how time became the second sub
ject for her consideration, Brann says in her introduction: “My
previous preoccupation had been with the imagination. It turned
out that to think about the imagination entailed thinking about its
treasure-house and workshop, that is, memory. But memory is
largely (though not altogether) of the past, and the past is a phase
of time.” Another source for the imagination is more elusive yet:
{The College-
memory of things that never were. Fiction writers, she notes,
draw from a deep fund of such memories. And as readers of fic
tion, we shde in and out of worlds that are constructed of such
memories; strangest of all is that we can somehow share the land
scapes of these worlds.
She approached the book about time in the same way as the
book about imagination-with extensive reading on the subject.
However, the organization of the book is not based on the
approaches of the various disciplines to the basic questions, as the
first book was. Instead, Brann devised an ingenious pairing of
thinkers. Plato and Einstein, she notes, both view time as a clock
(Plato posited a cosmic clock, Einstein a local and “artificial
device”); Aristotle and Kant consider time as something meas
ured by the human soul. Other pairs include Plotinus and Heideg
ger, Augustine and Husserl, Hegel and Bergson. The pairings
show, among other things, that the problems we have with under
standing time have not changed over the millennia.
The second part of What, Then, Is Time? contains Brann’s own
reflections on time; here the connections to imagination are made
more clearly. She looks at what it means to have memory: “You go
into the storehouse of your imagination and flip through a file. If
you flip for a long time it is an old memory, if not, it is newer.
Therefore the past arises by the study of the imagination.” Even
concrete objects from the past do not give a true sense of time,
because “we always live right on the cusp of the present.” She
offers an example from her former life as an archaeologist: “If I
dig up a Greek pot, that is not ancient, it is present. The only
aspect of antiquity is what I imagine about it.”
In a discussion of what she calls time pathologies, Brann
explores some of the “practical effects on the economy of life and
the choice of ends” that certain attitudes toward time bring about.
She is particularly interested in the future, since she considersalong with the minor devil of C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Lettersthat “nearly all vices are rooted in the future” and that there is a
“widespread current enslavement to the future.” The examples
she cites to confirm her view are well-known. We revel in the fast
tempo, the novelty, of modern life, but an ever-increasing push for
novelty will lead to things happening at a speed that human expe
rience can’t take in. The emphasis then switches from thoughtful
reaction to past experience as a basis for dealing with what the
St. John ’5 College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Faculty Books}
as
We revel in thefast tempo, the novelty,
ofmodern Ife, but an ever-increasingpushfor
novelty will lead to things happening at a speed
that human experience can i take in.
future might bring to a kind of
frantic projection toward what
is imagined to be inevitable
(“prepare to meet the future or
be overwhelmed by it,” as the
saying goes). Brann worries
about the effects of this futuremindedness on our ability to
be happy because it so strongly
burdens our present. She
quotes Octavio Paz: “Whoever
builds a house for future hap
piness builds a prison for the
present.”
Something from nothing
In the third book Brann under
took, she considered what was common to imagination and timethe “non-.” Imagination is of what does not exist and time is what
no longer exists. “Both capacities for seeing images and for hav
ing a sense of time are governed by something intellectual. It’s the
ability we have for negativity, for non-being,” she says. In The
Ways ofNaysaying: No, Not, Nothing, and Nonbeing, published
in 2001 by Rowman & Littlefield, Brann explores our many kinds
of negative saying and thinking.
She begins with children and the ubiquitous tendency among
them, when aged around two, for saying “no” and refusing to
accommodate our wishes for them. She points out that the saying
of “no” is often in conflict with the child’s action (every parent
has seen a dashingly independent toddler refusing to drink her
juice while simultaneously clutching the cup to her lips); “the
naysaying does not concern the objective issue but the ownership
of the will,” she says. “Along with the will and from the same
source, from naysaying, comes thoughtfulness.” A child includes
“no” among the very first words uttered, and as the child’s capac
ity for exerting will develops, so too do language and thought.
Brann argues that this delight in negativity is the beginning of the
ability to discriminate and make reasoned choices.
Brann cites a saying which “happens to be the fundamental dic
tum pinpointing the crucial constructive function of naysaying,”-Ozn«M determinatio est negatio, which translates: All deter
{The C
o ll eg e
•
mined devotion involves some
naysaying. Thus, far from being
a dark, dreary path, the study of
negativity is “the most wonder
ful subject,” says Brann. She
goes on to discuss the logical
implications of non-existence,
fictions of imagination, the
metaphysics of non-being,
Hegelian negativity, the noth
ing that is the “supreme attain
ment of the East,” and finally,
how “nothing” becomes, for
philosophers like Heidegger,
the source of Being. Along the
way there are side-routes that
investigate many of the most mysterious of the St. John’s perenni
al seminar questions like how the appearances are both not the
original being and yet like the original (Plato’s question in the
Republic, the Sophist, and other dialogues).
Perhaps it is this reiteration of the questions called to mind in
the St. John’s seminar readings that makes Eva Brann’s books so
interesting. One needn’t be a Johnnie to recognize the impor
tance of these questions, but for those who’ve read the same books
Brann has spent the past 30 years with, her treatment of the issues
is a re-illumination. The startling juxtapositions-Plato and Ein
stein, for example-and the insights into the books-Don
Quixote’s world as the rightside up one, the flour-grinding wind
mills as the upside down one-seem to epitomize the places we’d
all like our minds to carry us. In addition to raising and discussing
the perennial issues, Brann has a knack for reminding us of the
moral dimensions and implications for human action that accom
pany philosophic points of view.
Half apologetically, Brann calls her books the Trilogy of the
Human Center. They are about what lies between the sense and
the intellect. While students we were sometimes abashed at living
in any world other than that of the intellect, and as we’ve grown
we’ve become more comfortable in the middle ground-the place
of imagination and memory. That she shows us so much of the
“stuff’ at the human center is certainly not nothing.
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
�{Homecoming}
TALE OF TWO
HOMECOMINGS
Whether to Santa Fe in July or Annapolis in September,
alumni like revisiting their college days.
Santa Fe
another. At the post-lecture reception, they showed their books,
he Program, the tutors, the students, the campus:
talked about their publishing work, and displayed no persisting
alumni remember their time at the college as a func
rancor from their deep disagreement earlier in the evening.
tion of all four (and perhaps of some unnamed factors
The later evening led inevitably to the coffee shop party, where
as well). At Homecoming in Santa Fe this July, where
the class of ’76 reveled in the contribution of A.T. Michael Mac
alumni flocked back to campus to celebrate the
Donald
reunions of the classes of 1996,1991,1986,1981,1976,1971,
and (SF76), who burned a hit parade CD of dance tunes from
room parties from their era. We’re talking Hollywood
1966, all the elements of nostalgia were present in force, as commons
class
Swingin’, Signed Sealed Delivered, and Respect.
mates reunited, returned to seminar and lecture, and partied the
Saturday morning, on the other hand, brought seminar, a more
night away with the traditional gusto of liberal artists.
programmatic experience. There was the gamut to choose from:
From the very first, all went well hatted: at registration Friday
Mr. Carey on Dostoevsky’s Notesfrom the Underground, Ms. Reaafternoon. Alumni Director Tahmina Shalizi and her able assis
hard on Basho’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Mr. Davis
tants Leslie Wolfe (SF03), Anna Perleberg (SFoa), and John
and Ms. Adam on Balzac’s Gobseck, Mr. Cornell on Chekhov’s The
McCarthy (SFoi) gave out stylish low-rise khaki baseball caps
Black Monk, and Mr. Bybee on Plato’s Meno. From there, all
with the SJC monogram on the front and “aooi” on the back.
repaired to the soccer field for the traditional fiesta picnic, with
After the barbecue dinner on the Placita, it was time for lecture
fun for kids, including a pinata, and group photos for the reunion
in the newly outfitted Great Hall. The universally deplored buck
classes.
et-slouch chairs, used in the Great Hall from the start (because the
The Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association was held after
chairs in the Great Hall must be stackable), have at long last been
lunch in the portico of the new Student Activities Center. For
supplanted by-brace yourselves-comfortable chairs. Still stack
many of the alumni, it was their first encounter with the buildingable, but with actual arms, and straight backs, and attractive
the most frequently overheard remark was “Wow.” At the meet
maroon upholstery. The alumni gasped. The alumni stared. The
ing, John Balkcom (SFGIoo), president of the Santa Fe campus,
alumni sat. The alumni smiled.
and David Levine (A67), dean of the Santa Fe campus, reported on
The lecture was also a treat. Dana Densmore (A65) and Bill
the state of the college; and Glenda Eoyang (SF76), president of
Donahue (A67) gave a point-counterpoint talk entitled “Bringing
the Alumni Association, reported on the association’s year. Elec
the St. John’s Ethos Into the Real World.” Ms. Densmore defend
tions were held: Jason Walsh (A85), Mark Middlebrook (A83), and
ed the thesis that all the Great Books are true, while Mr. Donahue
Clint Lively (A78) were elected as alumni representatives to the
maintained that all the Great Books are wrong. Bold assertions on
Board of Visitors and Governors; and Bill Tilles (A59), Valerie
both sides! The Densmore/Donahue team does more than argue
Pawlewicz (A89), Martha Jordan (SFGI86), Robert George (A85),
politely about extreme ideas: they are the founders of Green Lion
and Amber Boydstun (SF99) were elected to serve as directors on
Press, which publishes works in the history of science, from New
the Alumni Association board. Michael Rodriguez, Director of
ton to Aristotle to Faraday to Euclid; and they are married to one
T
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Homecoming}
Tutor Peter Kalkavage with alumni from the ’80s - top left;
Dana Densmore (A65) and Bill Donahue (A67) lecturing in
Santa Fe - bottom left; a group meets up on the quad, just like
2,7
Annapolis_____________________________
uring Homecoming weekend in Annapolis this
September, the St. John’s-bred dichotomy of
“Same and Other” seemed to take center stage.
Johnnies attend Homecoming looking for the
Financial Aid, and Richard Lampert, a founder of the Library and
same: they want to talk with their same tutors,
Fine Arts Guild, were made Honorary Alumni. Mr. Lampert said
enjoy the same mental excitement they once felt in semin
he hoped that the new Student Activities Center would spur the
eat in the same dining hall where they once spent hours disc
college on to fielding a foothall team, because it had been his life
virtue, justice, and whether the coffee shop’s milkshakes were as
long dream to he able to relax in front of the television with a heer
good as those at Chick ‘n’ Ruth’s.
of a Saturday afternoon, to root for his alma mater.
But while Johnnies come seeking the same, they’re often most
The Saturday night banquet saw the reunion classes gather in
excited by what is other. They explore the
the Great Hall for a fine meal, toasts to
renovations of Mellon Hall and wander
themselves and each other, a few short and
ii5TH eunion for
i ks
through the Greenfield Library and the
excellent speeches (Mike MacDonald
Barr-Buchanan Center. When they get the
SF76 received the alumni award of Meritchance, they chat with current students to
see p. 39), and dancing into the wee hours. The first event of the weekend was a private party
hosted by Rick Lightburn (SF76) and his brother-inlearn what effects MTV and the Internet
The hallmark of a successful Homecom
law, Claiborne Booker (A81), to celebrate the reunion
have had on the logos. And in seminar, in
ing, it seems, is exhaustion, happy exhaus of the class of 1976. A warm summer evening on the
the same classrooms where they once sat,
tion. Not too much exhaustion, however, Bookers’ pristine courtyard provided the perfect
perhaps even discussing the same text,
to go to the President’s Brunch at the Hunt backdrop for catching up and reminiscing. Victoria
they sometimes learn just how “other”
House Sunday morning, the laid-hack yet Hanley (SF76) showed classmates her new book The
Seer and the Sword, while Glenda Eoyang (SF76)
they themselves have become.
elegant end to the weekend’s festivities.
shared her thoughts on being president of the Alum
Homecoming itself is a play of same and
All in all, what was heard around the cam ni Association. And everyone got a kick out of an old
pus this weekend was delight at the event class picture: there they were in their flashy 70’s garb other. Some activities have been repeated
so often you’d think they were started hy
itself, pleasure in seeing the college thriv with flaring collars, feather boas and all. The party
Barr and Buchanan: the alumni soccer
ing and improving, and renewed fondness was a great success and proved to he a perfect kick
off for the weekend’s events.
classic, the picnic lunches, the coffee shop
for all things St. John’s.
party, and the Sunday brunch stay largely
by John McCarlhy(SF01)
IN THE OLD DAYS - RIGHT.
D
R
{The College -St
-6
John ’5 College . Fall 2001 }
�2,8
{Homecoming}
The class of ’8i reprises “West Street Story,” their prank skit TOP left; typical seminar gestures are never forgotten - BOTTOM
left; alumni children discuss Harry Potter during their own
seminar-RIGHT.
the same from year to year. But this year the Alumni Office
(Roberta Gable, Ay8, assisted by Dolores Strissel) tinkered with a
few of the old activities and introduced some new ones to make the
weekend just a little more “other” than Homecomings past.
One new event, a career panel, started the weekend with a
bang. A panel of la alumni discussed their careers and career
paths before a standing-room-only crowd of current students and
young alumni. During the discussion the room was so quiet you
could hear a pin drop. When the formal part of the panel ended,
students were invited to step up and talk with the alumni whose
work interested them. The students positively (but politely)
lunged for the alumni, and many talked for so long at the 6:30
p.m. event that they missed lecture.
While those who stayed were happy with the way they spent
their time, those who attended lecture said it was not one to miss.
Annapolis tutor-on-leave Abraham Schoener (A8a), who is study
ing viticulture in Napa, spoke about “The Biology of the Fermen
tation Vessel,” a suitable prelude to the wine and cheese party
with current seniors that followed. For those whose tastes ran to
beer and chips rather than brie and cabernet Sauvignon, a boat
house party was held with music requested by the class of’76. “No
disco” was the rule, although a Rod Stewart song managed to fall
into the mix. The incident spawned no complaints.
The next morning brought alumni back to the classroom with
leaders Douglas Allanbrook (HA85), Eva Brann (HA89), Samuel
Kutler (A54), Chaninah Maschler (HA98), Bill Pastille, John
Sarkissian, Malcolm Wyatt, Peter Kalkavage, Joan Silver (MA76),
Nick Maistrellis, and Curtis Wilson (HA83) leading seminars on
{The College.
readings from Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye to Augustine’s Con
fessions to Robert Frost’s “Black Cottage.” Susan Ashmore (A76)
and Adam Wasserman (A76) led a seminar on Harry Potter for
children of alumni.
Afternoon events included Freshman Chorus Revisited, where
tutor emeritus Elliott Zuckerman (HA95) led alumni in classics
such as “Gaudeamus Igitur,” “The Heavens Are Telling,” and
“Ave Verum.” The class of 1981 staged a reprise of their senior
prank skit, “West Street Story.”
Outside by the gym, the soccer classic proved an exciting game
despite the students’ victory, and in the bookstore an autograph
party brought together nine authors and scores of readers.
One of the best changes made to Homecoming this year was the
moving of registration and the Saturday evening cocktail party to
McDowell Hall. With the fireplace room of the coffee shop pro
viding a warm backdrop for registration, the bright elegance of
the Great Hall and McDowell classrooms made the cocktail party
a special affair. A series of moving toasts-thankfulness for com
munity in the face of what had happened earlier in the monthgraced the Saturday night banquet and Mr. Zuckerman played the
piano for the waltz party afterwards. A coffee shop party DJ’d by
Robert George kept alumni dancing until the wee hours. Those
who managed to turn in early were able to play croquet on the
front lawn Sunday morning and still make it to the President’s
House in time for a champagne brunch.
While Homecoming’s “other” events were a hit with alumni, the
“same” seemed to carry the day. Bill Pastille’s seminar on Augus
tine’s Confessions was as enjoyably contentious as any sophomore
ever witnessed. Eva Brann, whose seminar was on an essay by
anthropologist Clifford Geertz, said that not only was the reading
about a cockfight, but a cockfight almost broke out in the class.
Homecoming reports were written by Roberta Gable and Susgan Borden.
St. John’s College ■ Fall siooi }
�{AlUMNiNoTES}
1941
Bruce Graybeal writes to say that
he helps his wife Barbara manage
and operate a private conservative
school at Ohve Branch, Mississippi:
De Soto County Academy.
He is studying homeopathy.
Davies spent time with Jacqueline
and Dave Rea (class of ’49) while
the fisherfolk fought the fish and
seasickness (just joking). This trip
has become a long-standing tradi
tion for St. John’s alumni who live
on Long Island.”
i960
1951
1945
William Lieb attended the Santa
Fe Homecoming where he had two
pieces in the All Alumni Art Show:
“Unreal” and “Original Bliss.”
After 25 years in the film business,
he graduated at age 70 from Santa
Monica College of Design Art and
Architecture in 1993. He had a
seven-year retrospective solo art
show at the University of Califor
nia, Riverside, in 1996. He has two
grandsons: Danny, 5, and Alex, 3.
In the fall of 2000, George Wend
took a river cruise from Amsterdam
to Vienna.
Tony Hardy is semi-retired, still
working half-time as a psychologist.
He plays tennis and gardens in his
“spare” time. He’s working on a
book on phenomenology, with
roots in Kant and Cassirer.
as an active partner in the Philadel
phia office of the law firm of
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis
LLP since January i, 1993,1 am
now Senior Counsel to the firm. I
continue professionally active as
cochair of the Joint Philadelphia
Bar Association/ United States Dis
trict Court Alternative Dispute
Resolution Committee, as judge
pro tern in the Philadelphia County
Court of Common Pleas Day For
ward and Commerce case-manage
ment programs, and as chair of the
latter program’s advisory commit
tee. I am certified by the Council of
Better Business Bureaus, Inc. as an
arbitrator in the BBB Auto Line
program. I take an occasional
engagement as an expert witness
on issues of professional responsibihty, as an arbitrator, or as a medi
ator.”
had a hip replaced; gotten a novel.
Naturally Bad Manners, accepted
by a publisher (it is scheduled to
appear before next May); am
presently beginning to negotiate a
position as a resident Research
Scholar at Hanazono University’s
International Research Institute for
Zen Buddhism in Kyoto, Japan, and
hope to become a Rinzai Zen lay
brother; have been invited to
attend the 2001 meetings of the
Eranos Circle at Ascona in Switzer
land as their guest because of my
translations and books concerning
Adolf Portmann and his work; and
otherwise I am enjoying the life of a
penurious seventy-year-old Liberal
Artist. My e-mail address is
presently rbcc@erols.com.
Jerry M. Hynson, retired teacher,
school principal, and coordinator
of Baltimore Public Schools, has
been elected a trustee of the Mary
land Historical Society.
{The College.
Donald Schell (SF) writes: “In
sings polyphonic sacred music out
doors in New York City. You can
read about it at
WWW. streetsingers. org.
1968
1969
John Falencki (A) reports that his
Mabshall Clark (SF) is purchas
oldest child married this June. He
is living in New York and enjoying
work as a family physician in a col
laborative office with a physical
therapist, family therapist, manual
medicine therapist and homeopath.
ing energy for the state of Califor
nia with fellow St. Johnnie
Jonathan Teague (SF75). At the
time he wrote in, he was expecting
a very interesting summer.
Johanna Evans is owner and CEO
ofXenopus I Inc. Medical
Research.
Tipping the Scale
Lawrence G. Myers (1951) writes: “We all know that we
improved our minds at the college, but let me give high
praise (greek word epainos} to those at the college who
helped me to improve my physical health.
Six weeks prior to starting my freshman year, I left the U.S. Army’s
Tilton General Hospital where I had been a patient for 23 months after
being wounded in the Battle of Luzon in 1945. When I left the hospital
and arrived at St. John’s, I weighed 135 pounds. After my sophomore
year, I tipped the scales at 175 pounds. So let me thank the dining hall
staff and those who provided the hundreds of hamburgers, fries, and
cups of chili that I ate in the Coffee Shop while poring over Euclid or
looking up the aorist passive for of some Greek verb.
Now at age 79,1 stiU weigh 175 pounds but I look forward to putting
on a few pounds when I return to the college this fall to celebrate our
class’s 50th anniversary. If some of you guys are on a diet. I’ll gladly
take your desserts.”
r.
1959
Charles B. Watson’s (A) son, Ivan
is NPR correspondent in West
Africa-Lagos, Nigeria. His daugh
ter, Anya, graduated from high
school and wiU attend Connecticut
College in the fall to study Marine
Science.
19981 walked the Camino de Santi
ago with my second daughter,
Maria. Our book about that pil
grims’ walk came out this spring.
My Father, My Daughter, Pilgrims
on the Road to Santiago. We’ve
read at the College of Preachers in
Washington, D.C. and in October
will be part of a symposium on pil
grimage at Stanford University and
then traveling up to Seattle to open
a forum on pilgrimage at St. Mark’s
Cathedral. We carried small stones
from the windmills in Navarra to
add to the mound at Cruz de Ferro
and I thought frequently of Don
Quixote as we walked. In our read
ings, I finally noticed that I’m the
Don Quixote character in the book.
Maria is the Sancho Panza charac
ter, of course.”
John Hetland leads a group that
Richard Carter writes: “I’ve just
On 7/20 at Montauk the SJC Annu
al Striped Bass and Bluefishing
Charter sailed again with Allan
Hoffman (class of ’49), Harvey
Goldstein (class of’59), Cora and
Peter Weiss (class of’46), Peter
Davies (class of’48), his brother
and nephew. Says Allan, “Mary
Goldstein (class of’59) and Phyllis
George B. Jones HI writes: “My
wife died in June 1991 and I retired
to play golf. Met my current wife
Randi playing golf in Hilton Head
Island, S.C. We married in August
2000 and honeymooned in Vegas,
Hawaii, San Francisco, Monterey.
Had a great visit with Harrison
Shepard (A61) while in San Fran
cisco. Now living in Hilton Head.
Since the telephone company
didn’t list our number, 843-8376657 will get us.
1964
1954
Edward Mullinix writes: “Retired
1949
"^9
D
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�{Alumni Notes}
30
The Helping Life
ebecca Thompson (SF71) writes: “My first community serv
ice job at St. John’s was helping an elderly Hispanic family
and tutoring a young Hispanic girl. Thirty years later. I’ve just
left a migrant education job with 3-4-year olds, preparing the
children and families for entry into kindergarten. This year I worked
with middle school kids, tutoring and ESL. I must be where I want to
be! My kids are 18 and 21, and continue to provide us with interest and
debate. We bought our home in Petaluma and have an endless vista of
landscaping and improvements, should we choose to follow that
road...love to hear from old friends.”
R
Michael Anthony’s (A) son. Will,
graduated from Lake Oswego High
School and is now attending the
Marshall School of Business at the
University of Southern California
in Los Angeles.
In addition to teaching at Thomas
Aquinas College, Richard Ferrier
(A) is president of the Declaration
Foundation, and with another tutor
has co-authored a hook for high
school civics. The book is America’s
Declaration Principles in Thought
and Action and is available from the
foundation’s website at declaration.net.
1970
William Wade Douglas (SFGI) is
CEO of Sangraal by the Sea Confer
ence Center, hosting groups,
churches, and colleges. Sangraal is
also a youth hostel and provides
lodging to worldwide members
from many countries as part of
hosteling international. St. John’s
College staff, faculty, and students
may stay one night free. His wife
Linda (SFGI83) is coordinator of
gifted education for Middlesex Co.
public schools in Virginia.
1971
After finishing St. John’s, Dwight
Platt (A) went to Virginia Theo
logical Seminary and ended up in
Baltimore teaching at St. Mary’s
College. In 1975, he started a busi
ness in commercial real estate to
supplement his salary at St. Mary’s.
Today that business owns 42 build
ings around Baltimore, and
Dwight’s younger son. Sage
(Haverford ’96), runs the Con
struction Division. Dwight and his
wife Nina live in the Greenspring
Valley at a farm they have owned
peacefully for over 27 years. This
year they decided to totally reno
vate the house, and within the last
2.7 months, the peace has been lost
forever. (“Just kidding!” he notes.)
Dwight sees David Johnson (A68)
quite frequently and has kept up
with the college over the years. He
and David ran a seminar for adults
for a couple of years at the Mary
land Club. Dwight win not be at the
2001 reunion because his oldest
son, Charlie, is getting married the
same weekend, but he hopes to see
more of his class at the 35th
reunion in 2006.
Nick Patrone (A) graduated in
2001 with a BM in composition from
the East Carohna University School
of Music. Now he’s in the Master’s
program for composition. He’s still
practicing medicine as a rheumatol
ogist in Rocky Mount, N.C. His son,
Paul, wiU be entering St. John’s in
the fall of 2002.
1974
Richard Ferguson (A) received and
accepted an early retirement offer
from his company. Who says that a
soft economy is bad news? He is tak
ing a year off to decide what he wants
to do. He is still hving in Boulder
Colorado, with the same address, the
same phone number, and the same
wife as he has had for the last twenty
years or so.
1975
Mark Habrel (SF) writes: “I have
Paul Eitner (SF) and his wife
Denise Roy are enjoying their first
grandchild. Turner Gene Eitner,
born December 1999. Paul is an
aerospace/communications engi
neer and Denise is a certified nurse
midwife. They have settled in
Southeastern Pennsylvania, not far
from Philadelphia.
Barry Sher (A) closed his office
last year and is now running a virtu
al design studio out of his dining
room. “My staff is stretched across
two states,” he writes.
1973
Donnel (A) and Janet O’Flynn
(A74) write: “Our son Aidan will be
a freshman in Annapolis in the fall
of 2001! Our daughter Kathleen is
also starting college, at Simon’s
Rock College of Bard in Great Bar
rington, Mass. Our empty nest is on
{The College-
Martha’s Vineyard where Donnel is
rector of Grace Episcopal Church
in Vineyard Haven. I am doing
pediatric occupational therapy in
the Martha’s Vineyard Public
Schools. We look forward to lots of
parental visits to St. John’s.”
this year been named Director of
Music at St. Edward the Confessor
Episcopal Church in Wayzata, Min
nesota. For those who don’t know, I
have a six-year-old son: Aaron John
Rening-Habrel. I have also been
married three times and, at each
wedding, fellow SF75 alumnus G.
Kevin Johnson has been my best
man. (Talk about overworking a
friendship!)
1976
Betsy Davenport (SF) received a
PhD in psychology in 1989. She
married Joe Kaplan in 1987 and has
one child, age 9, two stepchadults,
33 and 36, and two grandchildren, 5
and 4. Her work includes writing a
column on parenting, public speak
ing, the occasional local talk-tv
show, private practice psychothera
py, parenting consultations, diag
nosis and treatment of
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
ADD/ADHD. She is preparing a
book for publication and has more
in the works.
Victoria Hanley’s (SF) book. The
Seer and the Sword, is being pub
lished in the U.K., the U.S., and
Canada, and translated and pub
lished in Holland, Norway, Fin
land, Spain, Germany, Italy, and
Japan. Her second book. The Heal
er ’s Keep, will be pubhshed in
2002. “I’m happy!” she writes.
1977
Corry Miller Weierrach (A)
reports she’s enjoying two years off
from work, keeping busy with
daughters Madeleine and Helen,
and engaging in several volunteer
activities.
Andrea Williams Ham and
Robert James Ham (both SF)
write: “Jim and I were thrilled to be
able to attend our niece’s gradua
tion with St. John’s College Santa
Fe campus in May 2001. INDIA
Clarke (SFor) is a third genera
tion graduate of St. John’s College.
Both her grandfather, John L.
Williams (class of ’50) and her
mother, India Williams (SF73)
preceded her as did Jim and 1. Con
gratulations India Clarke. We‘re all
proud ofyou!”
News from Marlene Strong (A):
“I just found out last week that I
passed my licensing exam for my
Marriage and Family Therapist
license! I’ll continue to work as a
social worker at a foster care agency
until I figure out what to do nextone of these days I hope to find a
job that combines my research
skills and my clinical skills. Right
now I’m exhausted from all the
studying-there was a four-hour
written exam in January and then
an oral exam in April-it all comes
down to you and two strangers in a
hotel room with a tape recorder for
35 minutes! Anyway, I’m very
relieved it’s over and I can go back
to having a life instead of studying
all the time.”
Deborah Cohen (A) writes that
her firm, Cohen Marketing Ser
vices (CMS), has been granted a
patent for a new process of formu
lating soy products. The process
�{AlumniProfile}
31
Household Name
Jim Rooney’s days arefilled with the nightmares that homeownersfear.
By SuS3AN Borden,
A87
e’s the Click
and Clack of
the home
front,
Annapolis’
answer to
Sherlock Holmes. Jim Rooney
(A74), a home inspector and
house maintenance columnist, is
the man to call about mysterious
leaks, odors, drafts, and buzzes.
Not long ago, a woman
called Rooney about a
sewage smell whose source
she couldn’t trace. He asked
her if she had a family room.
She said yes. He asked if she
had a bar sink. She said yes.
He asked if she drank. She
said no. “So there’s the
problem,” Rooney says.
“The trap in the bar sink
dried out.”
Rooney sees his ability to
diagnose problems-sometimes over the phone-as a
legacy of his St. John’s days.
“I’m just using what we
learn at St. John’s,” he says,
“a way to approach a prob
lem.” Rooney has always put
his problem-solving abilities to good use,
even during his St. John’s days. He organ
ized and headed a carpentry crew while a
student at St. John’s, framing single family
homes and light commercial and town
house projects. Later he became a project
manager for commercial construction proj
ects costing from $200,000 to $5 million.
Rooney is a licensed Maryland home
improvement contractor and a member of
the National Historical Trust. He has writ
ten instruction manuals for the Stanley
Tool Company and lectured on residential
homebuilding, repair, and restoration. He
has acted as an arbitrator and served as an
expert witness in construction-related
cases. And, he is known throughout
Annapolis as the author of “Homefront,” a
popular house maintenance column.
Rooney has been writing Homefront for
the Annapolis Capital since October 1994,
“The VENT PIPE DOWN THERE NEEDS TO BE
EIXED,” NOTES JiM RoONEY (A74) AFTER A TRIP
column to “On The Level”
and is now offering it to
newspapers across the coun
try. While he is pleased to
join the organization that
syndicates Ann Landers,
Molly Ivins, and the comic
strip “Andy Capp,” Rooney
says it was a long road to
syndication.
“The first thing you do
when you’re trying to get
syndicated is get used to
rejection,” he says. “Some of
my letters just barely made it
over the transom before they
came flying back.” Rooney
finally got a break when the
Capital announced the
results of a readers survey:
Rooney’s column was the
favorite, beating every col
umn in the paper, including
Dear Abby. He sent the syn
dicates the survey and
rewrote the opening of his
cover letter to read: “This
column sells papers.” The
approach worked. Creators
signed him on, and Rooney
is now poised to become a
household name to house
holders nationwide.
AlUMNI HoUSE
Reverdy Johnson House ).
INTO THE BASEMENT OF THE
(AKA
giving Annapolis residents advice about
hot water heaters, ductwork, gutter guards,
roof venting, replacement windows, con
crete, and septic systems.
What are the things that are most on a
homeowners mind? Rooney says that the
most common problems are wet basements,
leaky roofs, inoperable heating and cooling
systems, and plumbing malfunctions. But
he prefers solving more esoteric problems.
“I’ve investigated everything from bat odor
in an attic to a mysterious houseground
causing lights to brighten and dim,” he
says, clearly fond of the very nightmares
that cause homeowners to lose sleep.
This past August, Rooney signed with
Creators Syndicate, which retitled his
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
On the Bookshelf
The Reader’s Digest Guide
to Home Repair - Jim’s comment:
Oddly enough, this is one of the
best books for do-it-yourselfers
on the market.
The Old House Journal
Guide to Restoration - For more
aggressive projects
The following periodicals are for
anyone who wants to turn pro:
The Journal ofLight
Construction
Fine Homebuilding
�{AlumniNotes}
technology makes a whole new gen
eration of soy products possible.
The range of products span the
bakery and snack categories; a
press release lists soy tortilla chips,
soy tortillas, or even soy “wraps”
and soy “Chinese wrappers” as pos
sible products.
1978
George Harper (A), an attorney at
large, reports that he “holds court
(up) at 14744 Main Street, Upper
Marlboro, MD 2,0772.”
1979
Greg Cowell (SF) writes: “With
my second child on the way I
thought I would send in an update
of my life, not having done so since
I drove away ar years ago. My wife
Jeannine and I have been married 8
years. We have two future St. John’s
candidates at our house, our daugh
ter Cathryn is three and a half, and
we are expecting a son in the next
month. I have been practicing med
icine for r6 years and currently I am
the medical director of a medium
size emergency room in Illinois.
Music is my passion, but I have yet
to figure out how to make money as
a musician. My e-mail is gcowelled
@aol.com. Regards to all, but espe
cially to old E and F dormers who
might be reading.”
1980
and Etym(bi)ology, Omnidawn
Press, 2002.
1981
Warren Spector (A), along with
Alan Schwartz, has been named co
president and co-chief operating
officer of the Wall Street firm Bear
Stearns. Spector continues to head
the firm’s fixed income division
and other units.
1982
Randy Linder (SF) writes: “Life
rolls on. (Anyone out there have
any ideas how to stop/slow this
train?) I’m starting my sixth year as
a professor at the University of
Texas in evolutionary biology.
Which means I’m up for tenure. Oh
the joys of stress. Otherwise, life is
good. Well, except for truly infernal
summers, rra degree heat is not
compatible with cycling home from
work. Lord help Austin when global
warming really kicks in. I hope
there’ll be a good turnout for our
ao- year reunion next year. I’m very
interested in what youse guys have
been up to. Do feel free to stop by if
your travels bring you to Austin,
Texas.”
Pedro Martinez-Fraga (A) was
selected as the 2001 Lawyer of the
Americas by the University of
Miami Interamerican Law Review
and the School of Law. The award
recognizes extraordinary accom
plishments in the area of interna
tional law. Pedro’s successful repre
sentation of several countries in
federal district court in the U.S.
and arbitral proceedings in Europe
and South America gave rise to this
most prestigious hemispheric
recognition. Pedro also chairs the
Greenberg Traurig International
Litigation Department.
Melanie Longoni (SF) is currently
in her third year of study at Austin
Presbyterian Theological Semi
nary, where she is enrolled in the
Master of Divinity degree program,
in preparation for ordination as a
Minister of Word and Sacrament in
the Presbyterian Church (USA).
She is especially interested in min
istry with children and with adults
with developmental disahihties.
Erik Jacobs (A) has two daughters:
Ada, who turned four on June 12,
2001, and Katie, who is nearly a
year old.
1983
Linda Douglas (SFGI) is coordina
tor of gifted education for Middle
sex County Public Schools in Vir
ginia. For news of her husband,
William, see notes for the class of
1970.
Steve Barkhimer (A) writes that
Elizabeth Travis (SF) writes: “I’m
since graduating from the Eastern
Classics Program in rggb, he has
been enjoying an extremely active
life in the Boston theatre world,
and has just released a CD of origi
nal music called “Time Was,”
which can be obtained through
www.cdfreedom.com or
sbarkhimer@aol.com.
still in California. Turning 40 too
soon. Heard from Dave Larom
(SF83)-he is in San Diego with wife
Nancy Lovinger and their new baby.
Sounds like life is good for them
these days, too. What’s up with the
rest of us that came together dur
ing the fall of ’7g to first discuss
ashtrays and the capital ‘G’ Good?”
Roh Crutchfield (A) e-mails that
the info for him in the Alumni Reg
ister is about a year out of date.
He’s currently living in Henderson
ville, North Carolina and his e-mail
address is
robcrutchfield@yahoo.com.
Liz Waldner (A) writes that she
has three new poetry collections
coming out: Selfand Simulacra,
Alice James Books’ Hawley Prize
winner for 2001; Dark Would, Uni
versity of Georgia Press Contempo
rary Poetry Series winner for 3002;
{The College.
1984
Beth Lohr Koolbeck (A) writes
that she and her husband Gregory
had a new baby girl, Joy, born in
January.
1985
Jeffrey Wilson (A) writes: “I was
granted tenure at Loyola Marymount this year. My first publica
tion, an article on Kant’s sublime,
is forthcoming in the American
Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. I
am in my fourth year of co-teaching
graduate philosophy seminars in
Germany through the University of
Frankfurt. I am increasingly
involved in St. John’s Episcopal
Church in South Central Los Ange
les with parishioners from 27 coun
tries. St. John’s is one of the Epis
copal parishes that already
5t. John’s College ■ Fall 200/ }
performs same-sex unions-and I’m
still looking for the boyfriend to
make that commitment with.”
Beth Anderson and David Stahl
(both A) have moved to Camp Hill,
Pa. Their new address is 853
Wynnewood Road, Camp Hill, PA
17011-1635.
1986
Linda Hamm Grez (A) writes: “My
husband Joe Grez and I got married
on the steps behind the Quad in
Annapolis in June of 2000. Guests
included Roger Lowe (A86) and
Sallie Fine (A87). I’d love to hear
from classmates in Annapohs or
Santa Fe. E-mail: llhamm2@earthlink.net.”
Barbara Roherts (SFGI) has
returned home to the Denver area,
where she is a special educator in a
public elementary Montessori
school and a school for the gifted
and talented.
From Todd Masilon (A): “After
having served for about six months
in Bosnia as an enlisted Intelhgence Analyst (to Tia Pausic (A)—
just missed you while you were
working in Croatia), I have recently
returned to the U.S. and have grad
uated from the Army Officer Candi
date School (euphemistically
referred to as “Charm School”).
Currently, as a newly commissioned
Second Lieutenant (at 37 years of
age, I think I’m the oldest 2LT in
the Army), I am at Fort Huachuca,
Ariz., preparing to attend the Mili
tary Intelligence Basic Officer
Course. Wife Renee and daughter
Molly (three years old) will join me
here shortly (I’ve seen them for a
total of about three weeks since
leaving for Bosnia last Septemhera welcome reunion indeed).
“Upon graduation in December,
my orders take us to Darmstadt,
Germany. This is a good thing,
since I’m sure to be deployed to
Bosnia/Kosovo/Macedonia at least
twice during the three years that
we’re there, and Renee and Molly
will be at liberty to have adventures
in Europe while I’m away.
“Despite the fact that I’ve yet to
use the Arabic language skills the
Army has taught me, I continue to
�{AlumniNotes}
maintain my fluency (thank God
for the BBC and their Arabic broad
casts on the Internet).
“As a former Johnny, and holder
of two MAs in Unguistics, friends
and family thought I was nuts for
joining the Army a little over three
years ago. While there have been
many trying times, and a lot to
gripe about. I’m happy to say that,
upon reflection. I’m proud to be a
philosopher-warrior. Yes, the mili
tary trains me to be ready to destroy
and kill, but it also trains me to pre
serve and protect. Happily, my
philosopher-wife is consonant with
this life and its requirements.”
O’Neal, and his wife, Lynn Thomp
son, is the Director of the Southern
Pines Public Library.
Across Spain.” “Any Johnnies pass
ing through San Francisco give me
a call!” he says.
Teresa Jeanne Fullinwider (A)
and Christopher John Bailey (A)
Picot Floyd (A) reports that he is
working at Citibank, for the Latin
American Consumer Banking Divi
sion. He is the UNIX systems man
ager. His wife Suzy is alternately
homeschooling and Montessori
schooling their daughters, Myrina,
6, and Daphne, 4,
got married in October of 1996.
She now goes by the name Teresa
Bailey. They live in Pittsburgh,
where Chris is a free-lance writer
and Teresa is a Doula. On March
20, 3001, they had a baby boy
named Simon David Bailey.
1988
1989
Jennifer Lee (SF) writes: “After
Christina Paige (A) writes: “Since
1987
“It would be nice to hear from old
friends,” writes Mira Skadegard
Thorsen (SF). “We are moving to a
little horse farm not too far from
Copenhagen (ao min.). Since I just
finished a degree in Literary Theo
ry and Anthropology, I assume I’ll
be working either in some sort of
research or on a PhD within the
next year or so. Having three kids
does keep us fairly busy
though...Anybody interested in
Danish dressage horses should
drop me a note. I’d also love to hear
from anyone working with post
colonial discourse theory, and race
and gender theory (and human
rights and business). There aren’t
too many people working in these
areas in Denmark. Our new address
is: Mira, Sune, Tess, Tara and Tai
Skadegard Thorsen, Sortmosen 6,
3520 Farum, Denmark.”
Sai,LIE Fine (A) e-mails that she’s
recently completed her education
administration program and is now
certified (and certifiable!) to serve
as a principal for grades 7-13. “I
plan on teaching one more year
before making any career decisions.
I moved last March and my new
address is 3136 Richmond Road;
Beachwood, OH 4412a. I also made
a cyber move and can now be
reached at salhefine@msn.com.”
Bob Howell (AGI) is Director of
Technology and English Depart
ment Chair at the O’Neal School in
Southern Pines, N.C. Bob’s daugh
ter Emma is a sophomore at
1999 I’ve been teaching math, sci
ence and literature classes at Kino
School in Tucson, Ariz. Now I’m in
charge of the Junior High Reading
and Writing Program, which suits
me to a T. The best part of teaching
at an alternative school is that my
daughter goes to work with me
every day. After all those different
sur-names (Smith, Freeman, etc.).
I’m very comfortable as Christina
Paige. I miss Chris Colby and the
Annapolis campus print shop, and
Mr. Starr, but I’m still friends with
Deirdre McGlynn (A86) and
Robert Beeson (SF88).”
Diana Shaw-McCarthy (A) is
working on a master’s degree in
public administration at New York
University. Her husband, Jonathan,
is a research economist at the Fed
eral Reserve Bank of New York.
Elaine Pinkerton Coleman
(SFGI), having committed to fulltime writing, has completed editing
of her father’s World War II letters.
Her book, titled From Calcutta
With Love, is being published by
Texas Tech University Press in early
3003. In July 2002, she will have a
book signing and talk at the St.
John’s Santa Fe campus as part of
the “speaking volumes” program.
Jeffrey Falero (A) reports that he
graduated in June with an M.S. in
Civil Engineering (Structures)
from Stanford University. He also
co-authored an article about the
construction of the latest leg of
Spain’s bullet train; it appears in
Civil Engineering magazine, June
2001, Vol. 71, No. 6, “Speeding
eight wonderful years in Greece,
Dimitri and I are returning to the
States with our two daughters. Our
new address is: 2804 Goodwood,
Baltimore, MD 31314.1 haven’t
held a proper job in all my time in
Greece, but I did get a masters in
education and plan to teach middle
school math. Lots of new begin
nings...”
The first big-screen appearance for
Christopher Sullivan (A) was in
Metropopular in Spike & Mike’s
200! Classic Festival ofAnimation.
He was the voices of Los Angeles
and New York. Metropopular won
Honorable Mention in Short Film
making at the Sundance Film Festi
val and tied for runner-up for Best
Short at the Texas Film Festival.
Brad Stuart and Sara Larson
Stuart (both A) are delighted to
report the birth of their daughter,
Eleanor Kay Stuart, on June 18,
3001.
Marty Gelfand (A) had an article
published in the American Bank
ruptcy Law Journal, “How a Com
munity Saved Their Hospitals from
Unnecessary Liquidation.” His arti
cle tells the story of how Cleve
landers rallied to stop a bankrupt
hospital system from selling its
neighborhood hospitals to a com
peting local mega-hospital on con
dition that the hospitals shut down
before the Delaware Bankruptcy
Court hearing.
{The College -St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
33
1990
John (“Johno”) Obenauer (A) emails: “I have some news I am
extremely relieved to report: after
starting graduate school in physics
and then working in data analysis
and computing jobs, I finally com
pleted a PhD in, of all things, bio
chemistry. I just started working as
a research scientist at MIT’s Center
for Cancer Research this past
month (June 2001) and am very
excited about it. In my personal
life, I married a cutie named
Michelle Blackwell (now Obenauer)
in 1994 and am surprised to find
that I like being married, even after
seven years. Michelle is a bio
chemist too, at a private company
in Cambridge, Mass. To all the
other Johnnies out there in grad
school, hang in there! It feels a lot
better when it’s over! ”
David Ruy (A) is residing in New
York City, where he has been in
practice as an architect since
receiving his M.Arch from Colum
bia. He currently splits his time
between his practice and teaching
duties at Princeton Univ. His e-mail
address is david@ruyklein.com.
Dahra Latham (A) is still living in
Seattle, and has completed her first
year of law school at the University
ofWashington. “I’m spending the
summer as an extern at the Fair
Access to Contraception Project,”
she says. “I would be delighted to
hear from auld acquaintance: my
snail-mail and phone are the same,
and e-mail is dahra@u.washington.edu. I would also like to hear
from any Johnny attorneys out
there who might be interested in
the project.”
1991
Lena Skadegard (A) is currently
working on an MFA at Hunter Col
lege in painting. Professionally, she
works as a clothing designer and
buyer. She lives in New York City.
�{AlumniProfile}
34
Quiz Show
Which Johnnie wants to be a millionaire?
By Sus3an Borden,
A87
Mattise. Goya. Dali.
Jasper Johns. Can
you place these
artists’ lives in
chronological
order? How quick
ly? What if you were competing against
500 other players for speed and accu
racy? What if the chance to win one
million dollars was riding on your
answer?
These were not hypothetical
questions for David Maclaine
(SF74). One August day in the
summer of 2000 he found himself
scanning his memory bank for
artists’ bios in an odyssey that
took him to ABC Studios in New
York to compete on the hit game
show “Who Wants To Be a Mil
lionaire?”
To win a spot on the show,
would-be contestants call a tollfree number and answer three
questions that require them to
arrange a group of items (such as
people, places, or events) in a
given order (such as oldest to
youngest, east to west, or earliest
to latest). Five hundred of those who get all
three questions right are placed in a pool
and of those, forty are selected for a further
qualifying round of five questions.
Maclaine says that the odds of selection for
the second round are about r in 300. He’s
heard of people winning a spot in the pool
one hundred times without being selected.
For Maclaine, it took only four times.
It was during this second qualifying
round that Maclaine was asked about the
artists. The question gave him no trouble;
Jasper Johns, he explains, had recently
been on the “Simpsons.” Other questions
involved putting celebrities (Geena Davis,
RuPaul, Dr. Ruth, and Winona Ryder) in
order of height and putting poets in
chronological order. The selection of
poets-WiUiam Carlos Williams, Rita Dove,
Sir Philip Sidney, and Galway Kinnellwent far beyond the Robert Frosts and
Emily Dickinsons that haunt most game
shows. Luckily for Maclaine, he had an MA
David Maclaine attributes his game show
SUCCESS TO LUCK, St. John’s, and “The
Simpsons.”
in literature and a St. John’s education
under his belt. And-current students
please take note-Maclaine, who had faith
fully attended Friday night lectures, was
able to answer this question correctly
because the poet Galway Kinnell gave a lec
ture at St. John’s during Maclaine’s fresh
man year. “I still remember him, wander
ing up and down on the stage in the Great
Hall,” he says. “He had no prepared
speech, but spoke impromptu-a discussion
of Walt Whitman liberating poetry from
the strait jacket Milton had put it into.”
Maclaine put the poets in order, hung up
the phone, and two hours later received the
call-he would be flying to New York to
compete on the show.
While Maclaine had beaten some very
tough odds to get that call, he was not com
pletely surprised that he’d done so. In high
{The College-
St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
school, he was part of a champi
onship quiz team and discovered
that he had the poise to compete.
“There are plenty of people who
know a great deal but freeze up dur
ing competition,” he says. “Two of
the people on my high school team
ended up co-valedictorians, but
during the games they’d sit with
fixed grins on their faces while the
rest of us answered the questions.”
While Maclaine was not the type
to freeze up, his early attempts to
get on “Millionaire” were thwarted
by a lack of focus brought on by
depression. At the time Maclaine
started to call into the show, his
mental health was suffering. His
freelance writing career had taken a
downturn. A book he was working
on fell apart. A day job ended poor
ly. When he finally found himself
unemployed, he was too paralyzed
to look for work. His game show
phone-ins reflected his mental
state. He called the show while he
was in the middle of reading a book
on medieval history and got a ques
tion about the medieval kings of
England. “I botched it,” he says. “I
was not focused enough to get even a handit-to-me question.”
Not long after, Maclaine took part in an
experimental program to test a new anti
depressant. His depression lifted. “It
turned on some switch in my brain that
remained on after the study was over. I
went back to calling the show and it was a
lot easier,” he says.
There are countless factors that influ
ence our lives, and even if no one can say
what’s causal and what’s coincidental, it
certainly seems that Maclaine earned his
way on to the nation’s hottest TV show
with the help of experimental drug TAK637, the towering height of RuPaul, the
appearance of Jasper Johns on the “Simp
sons,” and a Friday night lecture by Galway
Kinnell.
Competition on “Who Wants To Be a
Millionaire” begins with the Fastest Finger
round, where players are asked a question
similar to the call-in questions. The con
testants punch their answers into a keypad
�{AlumniProfile}
and the one who gets the question right in
the shortest time makes it to the Hot Seat,
where he has a chance to win up to one mil
lion dollars. Before taping, contestants are
given a Fastest Finger practice session,
where Maclaine says he made every kind of
blunder possible. When the show started,
the contestants were asked to place a series
of actresses in order according to age.
Maclaine got them right but mistakenly
held dovm a button too long, entering one
actress for two slots.
While the winner of the round was sit
ting on the Hot Seat, Maclaine had plenty
of time to think about his mistake. “Your
wrong answer stays locked on the screen in
front of you the whole time you’re watching
the winner play,” he explains. “1 knew the
next round would be my last chance and I
was determined not to botch it.” During
the next practice session, Maclaine
doggedly worked with the keypad, choos
ing several sequences to enter over and
over again.
The next question asked the contestants
to place four rock songs in order of release.
“I didn’t recognize a single one,” Maclaine
says. “I just punched in one of the patterns
1 had been practicing. I sat there thinking,
‘OK, that’s it. I’ll be going home soon.’
Then I heard Regis call out the first answer
and I though it was amusing I’d gotten it
right. Then the second one was also right. I
was thinking clearly enough to know I was
only a coin flip away from getting them all
right and sure enough, I had. Only one
other poor schmo got it right, and he had
actually spent some time thinking about
it.” Maclaine, clueless about the question,
had entered his answers faster. He went to
the Hot Seat laughing giddily. “If anyone
needed a break at that point, I did,” he
says.
The Hot Seat is what “Millionaire” is all
about. It’s where the contestant sits across
from host Regis Philbin and is asked rs
questions of increasing difficulty, winning
increasing amounts of money. After hear
ing each question, the player can decide to
try to answer it (and risk losing much of
the money he’s won), or to walk away and
keep the money.
One difference between “Millionaire”
and other game shows is that contestants
on the Hot Seat are given no time limit for
answering the questions. Although the
show is known for how easy its early ques
tions are, Maclaine ran into trouble on only
his third: How many claps did it take to
operate the original Clapper? Maclaine
couldn’t remember, or perhaps he had
never known. “Ever since they invented
mutes, I haven’t been listening to commer
cials,” he admits.
Still, he managed to get the question
right and answer some harder questions,
like what did Michael Jordan announce he
was going to cut back on: endorsements,
film-making, baseball, or golf? Maclaine
had no memory of such an announcement,
but he took his time, allowed the nervous
energy that clouded his thinking to dissi
pate, talked through everything his mind
could dig up about Jordan, and let his brain
do its work.
“I didn’t panic at the questions I didn’t
have nailed. That’s one way that going to
St. John’s really helped me,” Maclaine says.
“People who have gone through a more
conventional education, where they think
in terms of answers that they either do or
don’t know, become paralyzed when they
don’t have the answer. But when you’ve
had the kind of education where there
aren’t many fixed answers, where you’re
used to sitting down and discussing things,
you can sort through your thoughts and
work out the answer. The idea of talking
your way through it is natural for a St.
John’s alumnus.”
Maclaine was asked several middle-level
questions he considered easy: What kind of
art was Frederic Remington famous for?
How long ago did dinosaurs became
extinct? Whose nickname was the Desert
Fox? He had no trouble with these, yet was
unsure where the Pentagon was located.
“That was before September rr,” he says.
“Now it’s a question we all know the
answer to.”
Eventually, Maclaine reached the
$350,000 question: What’s the material
inside an etch-a-sketch: carbon, silicon,
aluminum, or magnesium? “Somehow, I
knew how it worked. A light metallic sub
stance is attached to the surface by static
electricity. The black lines are not set
down, they’re cut through the background.
That told me it was something metallic,
either aluminum or magnesium. If I’d
remembered my chemistry, I would have
had the answer instantly. Magnesium, after
all, would explode.” He decided to take a
chance. “I knew that a quarter-million dol
lars was worth the gamble, that it would
change my life significantly more than
$125,000” He gave his answer.
After learning that aluminum was cor
rect, there was a pause in the taping. A pro
duction assistant reminded Maclaine that
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
35
Millionaire Questions
Answered
Artists: Goya, Matisse, Dali, Johns
Celebrities: RuPaul, Geena Davis,
Winona Ryder, Dr. Ruth
Poets: Sir Philip Sidney, William Car
los Williams, Galway Kinnell, Rita
Dove
It took two claps to operate the origi
nal “Clapper.”
Michael Jordan announced he would
cut back on endorsements.
Frederic Remington was famous for
western art.
Dinosaurs became extinct around 65
million years ago.
Erwin Rommel’s nickname was the
Desert Fox.
The Pentagon is located in Arlington,
Virginia.
he needn’t be embarrassed to walk away
with $250,000 if he didn’t know the
answer to the next question. When filming
resumed, Maclaine was asked, for half a
million dollars, which type of tree most of
the world’s supply of cork comes from:
oak, hickory, aspen, or birch. Unsure of the
answer and unable to reason it through,
Maclaine walked away from the show with
$250,000. But not before Regis told him
the answer: oak.
Since then, the relation of oak and cork
seems to pop up everywhere in Maclaine’s
life. While watching a golf tournament
from Spain (a major supplier of cork), he
saw an informational segment that dis
cussed the country’s oak trees and cork
industry. Reading some literature on cork
floors, he saw their origins as oak
explained.
But such reminders of his decision not to
answer the cork question never trouble
him. “I’ve spent no time regretting my
play. I’m so delighted to come away with
what I did,” he says. “The day I’m embar
rassed to walk away with a quarter million
dollars is not anywhere on my horizon.”
�{AlumniProfile}
36
Object Lesson
Samantha Alderson (A86) found a career that mingles art and history—cls an art conservator.
By Roberta Gable,
A78
he liberal arts were kind
of a shift for Samantha
Alderson (A86) when she
came to St. John’s,
because in high school
the arts she concerned
herself with were the fine ones. She
attended the High School of Music and
Art in New York City, which gave her
equal doses of studio work and art histo
ry. She figured the college experience
ought to be heavy on the academic side,
since she wasn’t sure if she wanted to
pursue an art career. She chose St.
John’s “because I wanted to go to col
lege for an education, not for a profes
sion.’’ She kept up with drawing and
painting while she was a student, and
even helped set up the first visual arts
preceptorial. Then, in one of those clearas-a-bell moments, the idea of becoming
an art conservator occurred to her.
Alderson had traveled in Italy before col
PUTTING THE PAST BACK TOGETHER: SaMANTHA
lege and had seen people doing restoration work.
Alderson applies acrylic resin to the
EDGES of a ceramic VESSSEL FROM EqUADOR
That image had apparently lurked in her subcon
BEFORE REASSEMBLING IT.
scious until its sudden manifestation during her
senior year. Since she had no idea what was
involved in such work, she had some serious
servator, and then she was able to volun
research to do.
teer at the Guggenheim in the painting
She went up to NYU (which has one of
conservation lab. She worked as a paralegal
the three major art conservation programs
to pay the bills, and eventually the Guggen
in the U.S.) and had a talk with the direc
heim offered her a paying job. Meanwhile
tor, who spoke to her of the prerequisites:
she took classes, all over the place: at the
i) at least four to six courses in art history,
Art Students League, working up her port
anthropology, or archaeology; a) a science
folio; and at Hunter and Gity Gollege in art
background, including at least one year
history, general chemistry, and organic
each of undergraduate general chemistry
chemistry. In three years she’d acquired
and organic chemistry; 3) formal course
the brute minimum to apply to the gradu
work in a wide variety of fine arts media
ate programs, so she did, but she didn’t
and a portfolio of your own artwork; 4) and
expect to get in, because she’d been told
some previous conservation experience.
that most people had to make a second run
Despite being, shall we say, technically
before they did, the programs being small
unprepared in many ways for this pursuit,
and competitive.
Alderson resolved to pursue it anyway.
In fact, she did get into NYU and
And this is where her St. John’s educa
enrolled in the fall of 1990, beginning a
tion kicked in. “St. John’s gave me a sense
four-year program (three years of course
of being up to the challenge, the confi
work and then an internship) for an MA in
dence that I could do anything.” First, she
art history and, concurrently, a certificate
volunteered (which is in many fields an
in conservation.
excellent way to get your foot in the door,
“Art conservation” is the modern field
as many Johnnies have discovered) at the
that has evolved from the tradition of “art
Morgan Library working with a book conrestoration.” The idea is that with a tripar
T
{The College.
5t. John’s College ■ Fall 200/ }
tite background in science, fine
art, and art history, the conserva
tor has both the hand skills to
clean, repair, and restore art
objects, and the sensitivity to do
so in ways that will preserve them
for future generations. Gonservators have to understand materials,
their strength, how they age, their
solubility, etc., and choose the
proper tools (even, for example,
formulating their own adhesives)
to do what’s proper. As a part of
that, they often research many
aspects of the object including its
chemical constitution, its history,
and its anthropologic signifi
cance.
And it turned out that for Aiderson that “object” was the right
word. The other main areas for
conservation are paintings, paper,
textiles, photographs, and library
materials but early on she decided
on objects, which includes sculpture, deco
rative arts, and architectural, archaeologi
cal, ethnographic and natural science
materials. She spent three summers work
ing on an archaeological dig on the island
of Samothrace in Greece (the island’s high
est peak Fengari was where, according to
the Iliad, Poseidon watched the battles
during the Trojan War). There she cleaned,
reassembled and stabilized ceramics, glass,
stone and metal objects from the classic
period.
In her last year in graduate school, how
ever, she concentrated more on objects
from less familiar places, what you call your
“ethnographic” material. Generally this is
not ancient stuff-being anthropology as
opposed to archaeology-and often the
objects were not created to be art but
intended for functional, religious, or cere
monial use. “You handle these objects very
differently. If you have a pot covered with a
thick gooey black residue, you don’t neces
sarily clean it off-you have to ask if that
residue is important.”
For her internship (the fourth year of the
graduate program) she decided to focus on
ethnographic objects, and got a spot at the
American Museum of Natural History in
New York, where she worked on a wide
�{Alumni Notes}
Deirdre Routt (A) and Kevin
Graham (A90) are overjoyed to
announce the birth of a child, Nora
Elizabeth Routt Graham, on April
II, aooi.
JEANNINE K. Bramwell (SFGI) got
her master’s degree in counseling
from Adams State College in 1998.
She became a national certified
counselor in 1999 and retired from
public school teaching in aooo.
1992
Cynthia Millington Brandreth
(AGI) has a baby boy, Zach, born
October 19, 2000.
1993
Miriam Spectre (A) and Akiba
Ashley Waring Victor (A) writes:
CoviTZ (A) report that their son,
Abraham Joseph Spectre-Covitz,
was born on May 7. They are also
happy to report that they have
finally disentangled themselves
from the “Ivy League” and moved
on to saner and simpler academic
groves. Akiba is now professing to
know something about constitu
tional law and civil rights at the
University of Richmond (www.richmond.edu/ ' acovitz), where he is
also the liberal arts-oriented pre
law advisor. After years of work and
grad school (getting her second
master’s degree, in history, in
2000), Miriam has welcomed the
opportunity to take time away from
being an archivist to explore moth
erhood. They are enjoying living in
Richmond, where they purchased
and moved into a house only two
weeks before Abe was born! If you
see a car with Virginia license
plates that read “SJC 91,” stop and
say hi.
“We are still at Chatham Hall
School where Oliver is the Chap
lain (he was ordained on July 21 at
St. Paul’s School in New Hamp
shire) and I teach Latin part time.
Elizabeth and Lucy (ages 3 and 2)
love all the horses, fields, and ‘big
girls’ at Chatham Hall but are
thrilled by the busy harbor life of
Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard,
where Oliver is teaching sailing for
the summer. Would love to hear
from Bryce Heavner and Donald
Eubank!”
John MacFarlane (SF) is featued
in an article in The Chronicle of
Higher Education. After beginning
at Harvard, he switched to St.
John’s and then returned to Har
vard. He earned a PhD in philoso
phy at the University of Pittsburgh
and was hired for the faculty of the
philosophy department at Berkeley.
In addition to his focus on logic and
classical philosophy, he plays the
fiddle in a bluegrass band and is
known as “The Fiddlosopher.”
37
Eveline Smilack (A) recently
received her MFA in film produc
tion and direction at USC and is
beginning at CAA (Creative Artist
Agency). Her film Ripen is now
starting the festival circuit.
William Edelglass (SF) writes:
“For any old acquaintance who hap
pens to be passing through northern
India, I have a beautiful house nes
tled into the Himalaya, with plenty
of space, or at least suggestions for
good hotels, as well as great climbs
and fascinating people. Half the year
I am based in Dharmsala, as Assis
tant Director of Emory’s Tibetan
Studies Program, and Visting Facul
ty at the Institute of Buddhist
Dialects. I teach Tibetan philosophy
to students from the States, and
western philosophy to Tibetan
monks making their way through a
fourteen-year curriculum in Bud
dhist philosophy.”
variety of objects, “as much as I could get
my hands on, as much as possible on things
I hadn’t worked on before.” The folks at
the museum liked her, and after her gradu
ation kept her for another year in an
advanced internship, and then she was able
to stay on there the next year with a Kress
Foundation grant (to do a technological
study of Zapotec urns, archaeological
Beth Martin snapped this photo of her classmates-and assorted
friends—FROM THE CLASS OF 1994. ThEY WERE ATTENDING THE CRO
QUET Match last April.
1994
Ross Vineberg
(SF) writes: “I am
living in Jerusalem, Israel. I am
learning modern Hebrew, involved
in fine-art photography, poetry,
and learning Torah. It’s intense liv
ing here, for obvious reasons, but
I’ve met many quality people and
love living here so it makes it aU
worthwhile, all my love to class
1994-Moish.”
MattTebo (A) is enjoying living in
San Francisco with his wife, Arnie,
and playing in a band with Garth
Klippert called Suisol.
LisaMabli de Jong (SF) reports
that she received her PhD in Envi
ronmental Science, Policy, and
Management from Berkeley. Her
dissertation subject was forest fire
behavior and she is now working as
ceramics from ancient Mexico), and then,
sure enough, after the grant year was over,
they hired her as an Assistant Conservator,
and then promoted her to Associate Con
servator.
Alderson continues to work on a wide
variety of archaeological, ethnographic,
and natural science material from the
museum’s collection, researching, docu
{The College- St. John’s College • Fall 2001 }
a research scientist for the USDA
Forest Service in Davis, Calif. “I
also just got married to a Dutch
man named Arend Jan de Jong, so
my new name is Lisa de Jong,” she
adds.
1995
Jennifer Garmaise nee Berger
(SFGI) writes: “I worked in jour
nalism for five years and now I am
teaching world literature and Eng
lish at an orthodox Jewish High
School. My wonderful husband
Mark moved to Los Angeles from
Chicago in August. Last year, I
spent a lot of time learning Torah. I
hope everyone I graduated with is
doing well. I would love to hear
from anyone in the Los Angeles
area (or anywhere)!
Jgarmaise@yahoo.com.”
menting, repairing, cleaning (or deciding
not to clean), and establishing the parame
ters for the display, transport, and storage
of objects. A basketry hat from the Pacific
Northwest, a featherpiece from the Ama
zon, a wooden Hindu altarpiece, a Mayan
ceramic vessel, you name it. The world has
passed through her hands. 4"
�{AlumniNotes}
38
Katherine Spencer (SFGI) is
teaching art in elementary school
and loving it. She can he contacted
at klark_kat@hotmail.com. “Con
tact me, Susanne and Juha,” she
writes.
a tutor position at St. John’s one
day. I wonder if they’ll hire me. My
husband is starting a construction
business here in Santa Fe so I think
I’ll be here for a long time.” Greet
ings may be sent to
AmythestCM@msn.com
Marissa Colleen Mkal Misiaszek
(A) writes: “I have a wonderful,
outgoing, and inquisitive one-yearold son. I was married on the sum
mer solstice at dawn on the beach. I
received a grant to study Anasazi
communities in the four-corners
region near Santa Fe. I completed
my landscape architecture thesis on
creating a community in a flood
plain. I’m still looking for a job.”
Mike Layne (SF) writes: “I am a
Counselor III at a youth shelter
here in Barrow. This is my second
year here in the Arctic. My first year
I worked for the state of Alaska as a
social worker and I absolutely hated
the punitive aspects of the job. I
took a summer off and returned as
a counselor at the local youth shel
ter. Been happy ever since. My wife
and I have been married two years
now and hopefully will have our
first child in the spring of 2002.1
would love to hear from alumni and
tutors. All visitors to our neck of
the woods have a free place to
crash. E-mail me at
mike_layne@hotmail.com. If any
one knows how to get hold of Dan
Meyers, please give him my contact
info.”
1996
Loreen (AGI) and Greg Keller
announce the arrival of their third
daughter, Alison Marie Keller, who
was born May 23, 2001.
David Longjohn Stanton (SF) is
living in Los Angeles and practic
ing law.
1997
Paula Ruhin (AGI) and John
Swann (AGI) announce their
engagement. A spring 2003 wed
ding is planned. Paula will be pur
suing a BS in computer science this
year and John will be starting a PhD
program in the history of technolo
gy. Paula and John still reside in
Annapolis and would love to hear
from any Johnnies. John’s e-mail is
cygnnus@hotmail.com and Paula’s
is psrubin@aol.com.
InyaLaskowski (SFGI) reports
that she showed her encaustic
monotypes in eleven art shows last
year. In May she returned to Santa
Fe to create new work at the Col
lege of Santa Fe Printmaking Cen
ter. At that time she also had a oneperson exhibition at Hand Artes
Gallery in Truchas, N.M. In September/October 2001 her newest
series, “Songs of Munnin and
Hudinn,” will be featured at
Gallery Route One in Point Reyes,
Calif. She says that the Norse god
of old, Odin, had two ravens as
advisors, one called Munnin, mem
ory, the other Hudinn, thought.
Her works are abstract deductions
about our existential dilemma. She
likes to refer to them as “visceral
philosophy.”
have been teaching at Loyola High
School for the past four years. I
have decided not to return. I am
now ungainfully unemployed. I
hope to find a job in foreign policy.
Here is my fantasy: Corporation X
offers me my Wonderjob but says
Wonderjob starts in a few months
so I have time to travel and when I
get home, know that a paycheck
will be waiting for me.”
1998
Nathan Schleifer (SF) got his JD
from Washington University School
of Law in St. Louis in May 2001.
Stephen Conn (SF) spent an inter
esting year studying lighting design
in the New Mexico State University
Department of Theatre Arts. He
was a cast member of the American
Southwest Theatre Company’s pro
duction of the Lorca play “Blood
Wedding,” and on that experience,
based his short independent film
project titled “Backstage.” As
always, he sends his “greetings to
the great class of 1998!”
1999
Brent Hinrichs (AGI) recently
moved to San Jose where he is
Upper School Head at Hillbrook
School, a K-8 independent school
in Los Gatos, Calif. “While not at
work, I enjoy the warmth and sun
shine of Silicon Valley I ” he writes.
Dominic Crapuchettes (A) writes:
“Still doing web programming in
Flash 5 for an internet math tutori
al company named BoxerLearning.
com. Still living with Amanda
Dulin (A) in Charlottesville and
having a great time with her. Still
{The College.
Elaine Spidle Ataha (A) recently
bought and is running her own
business. One Stop Body Shop. She
is a licensed massage therapist and
a veterinary technician focusing in
anesthesiology in orthopedic sur
gery.
Leslie Norton (AGI) writes: “I
Amy Borsick Stanton King (SF)
got married on June 21,1999 to
Shawn King, and they are “happily
living just outside Santa Fe and
truly enjoying life.” She writes,
“My daughter Allison has a daugh
ter, so I suppose that makes me a
grandmother. Who’da thunk it?
And I’m only 36. Presently, I am a
balloon twister. I know about 40
different balloon animals and
shapes. It’s really nifty. I can make
everything from a dog to a guitar. I
am considering applying to UNM’s
PhD Program in Anthropological
Linguistics and hoping to apply for
thinking about returning to school
for either business or technology.
Not playing Magic any more or
going fishing in Alaska this sum
mer.”
Rodino Anderson (A) writes: “I’m
finally leaving Florida and moving
to New York. I will attend Teachers
CoUege, Columbia University in
the fall, where I am enrolled in a
PhD program in philosophy of edu
cation. I guess the two years I took
teaching philosophy and mathe
matics at a high school have paid
off. I’m looking forward to reunit
ing with close friends in the New
York area. My other non-New York
living friends can continue to write
5f. John’s College ■ Fall aooi }
me at rodino69@yahoo.com until I
get settled. God bless you all! ”
Hagop Varant Krpanian writes:
“Although I only spent one year at
SJC during the 1995-1996 school
year, it was one of the most memo
rable experiences of my li fe. The
skills I’ve acquired during my short
stay have served me well and will
continue to do so for the rest of my
life. I would love to hear from any
of the class of ’99 who remember
me. After St. John’s, I spent two
years at a local junior college and
finished at Berkeley with a BAin
political science. I just finished my
first year at the Medical College of
Wisconsin, which was as difficult as
it was rewarding.”
Paul Ronco (SF) writes: “Hi,
everyone, hope you’re all doing
well. I had a great year. If you want
to drop me a line, I can be reached
at pronco@hotmail.com.”
Sara J. Elzerman (SF) will begin
her final year of law school this fall
at the University of Southern Cahfornia. She looks forward to prac
ticing in the Los Angeles area.
Kristin Jacob and Steve Dumont
(both SF) write: “We were married
on July 27, 2001. We are currently
living in Seattle where Steve is in
the second year of his union electri
cian apprenticeship and Kristin is an
office manager at a veterinary hospi
tal in Federal Way. We still haven’t
decided what we’re really going to
do with the rest of our lives, but
we’re having fun in the meantime,
attending as many Seattle Mariners
games as we can afford! We’d love
to hear from anyone-e-mail Steve
at imacurioso@aol.com or Kristin
at radinsgirl@aoLcom.”
Josh Hendrix (A) writes: “After
two years of silence, I suppose an
update is overdue. Shortly after
graduation I was hired to run the
summer camp at a small, private
pre-school in Wilmington, Del.
After a successful summer I stayed
on to teach pre-kindergarten and
remain still a pre-K teacher and
head of the preschool department.
I love my work and I’m ecstaticaUy
happy to have the time at night
(free from homework and paperwirting) to play in three bands. P.S.
I recently spent a lovely week in
Jamaica with Kelly O’ Malley (A)
�{Alumni Notes}
and Rob Holbrook (A). Mr. Hol
brook is flourishing in the Peace
Corps there.”
2000
Christopher Vaughan (A) has
received his Associate of Arts
degree from the University of Alas
ka, Anchorage. He will be attend
ing Flagler College in St. Augus
tine, Florida, enrolling in the
education program. He hopes to
teach elementary education to deaf
children.
V.
Leslie Hendrickson (SF)
writes: “Class of 2000: Greetings
all! I have just moved to New York
City and will start work at Colum
bia University soon. I’d love to hear
from friends!” Greetings maybe
sent to vlesliehendrickson@hot
mail.com
Michael Baetz (SF) writes: “It
looks as if I’ll be spending my sec
ond winter in Big Sky, Mt. If anyone
I know wants to ride a great moun
tain, come on out! My e-mail is
mpbaetz@netscape.net. Hope you
are finding your little niches and
enjoying life.”
John Hunter (AGI) and his wife
Lisa live in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
where he teaches ancient world his
tory and Latin and coaches basket
ball and lacrosse. Lisa does technol
ogywork for a local manufacturing
company, S.I. Corporation.
James E. Lewis (SFGI) is now a stu
dent in the psychology department
at New School University in Man
hattan. “This semester,” he writes,
“either I will learn to distinguish
the various forms of schizophrenia.
39
or I will develop a form of schizo
phrenia in which I find some meas
ure of comfort. Otherwise, I have
spent more than one hour attempt
ing to form a connection between
Times Square and the desert, which
I miss.”
Mehmet Can Atacik (A) hoped to
finish his master’s degree in gov
ernment administration at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania’s Fels Cen
ter of Government this past
summer.
Calling All Alumni
The College wants to hear from you.
Call us, write us, e-mail us. Let
your classmates know what you’re
doing. The next issue will be pub
lished in March; copy deadline is
February i.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404; b-goyette@sjca.edu.
In Santa Fe:
Karina Hean (A) just returned
from a Post Bacc year in Florence,
Italy, where she spent time draw
ing. She got a scholarship to spend
a semester at the Rietvald Academy
(an arts school) in Amsterdam. She
is back in Maryland for a while,
working at the Maryland Hall for
the Creative Arts in their galleries
and funding research.
The College Magazine, St. John’s
College, Public Relations Office,
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa
Fe, NM 87505-4599;
classics@mail.sjcsf.edu.
Alumni Notes on the Web:
Read Alumni Notes and contact
The College on the web at;
www.scja.edu - click on “Alumni.”
{Alumni Association Awards}
Alumni Award of Merit
At Homecoming in Santa Fe and Annapolis, three alumni werepresented with
the Alumni Award ofMerit by the Alumni Association.
A.T. Michael
MacDonald
(SF76) has devel
oped his career
around a love of
music. MacDonald
runs AlgoRhythms, a digital
mastering studio
in New York. He
records, masters.
and produces jazz, rock, and Broadway; he
also restores archived analog master tapes
of classic performances on the Ed Sullivan
Show-which featured such artists as Louis
Armstrong, The Rolling Stones, and The
Doors. MacDonald has received several
Grammy nominations for his recordings
and two Grammy awards for McCoy-Tyner
recordings he recorded and mastered.
Opera is also on MacDonald’s list: he’s
restoring and digitizing historic concert
performances made between 1935 and
1985. MacDonald has presented several
benefit concerts for St. John’s.
Warren Spector
(A81), the co-president and CEO of
the Wall Street
firm Bear,
Stearns, was intro
duced by Brother
Robert Smith,
who has known
Spector since his
student days.
Brother Robert declined to describe the
importance of his position, saying that
there are ample reports in the Wall Street
Journal and the New York Times. Instead,
he told how Spector first went to Princeton
and studied mathematics. Becoming disen
chanted, he left and supported himself for
a year as a professional bridge player be
fore coming to St. John’s. “Princeton just
wasn’t the sort of community I was looking
for,” said Spector in accepting the award.
“After reading the catalogue I was taken
by the idea of St. John’s. I found here some
thing much greater than the catalogue
described.”
{The College-
St. John’s College . Fall 200/ }
Tom Williams
{A51), a teacher of
middle school
math for 28 years,
was introduced by
president Chris
Nelson, Williams
has lived the
philosophic life,
said Nelson,
because he spent
his time leading young people to knowl
edge. In addition to his many years of teach
ing, Williams inaugurated the local St. Vin
cent de Paul Society and helped with the
last St. John’s fundraising campaign. “He
supports the life of learning and the institu
tions necessary for learning,” said Nelson.
Williams attributed his interest in math to
St, John’s; he said that after he finished
high school math he celebrated because he
didn’t think he would have to take the sub
ject again. But he fell in love with it at St.
John’s and ended up teaching it.
�{Alumni Association Awards}
40
At Homecoming this summer andfall, five were named
honorary alumni by the Alumni Association.
Honorary Alumni
Rjchart Lampert is president of the
Library and Fine Arts Guild in Santa Fe.
Under Lampert’s leadership, the Guild has
grown from 123 members in 1996 to more
than 250 today. Co-owner of Zaplin-Lampert Galleries, he provides a valuable
resource to St. John’s for art history,
appraisals, and general art information. He
contributes to the college by serving as
master of ceremonies at college-communi
ty functions, providing his gallery for col
lege dinners and receptions, and donating
rare and collectible books and fine artwork
for college auctions.
Michael Rodriguez, director of financial
aid in Santa Fe, has been with St. John’s
since 1985. He works hard so that students
can afford to attend, balancing the total
amount of money available for aid with the
strictures governing disbursement of
money from St. John’s College grants, as
well as from other sources. Sympathetic
with the concerns of students, he is
respected for his sensitivity and discretion,
his spirit of cooperation, and above aU, his
desire to help others.
John B. Moore, Jr., Beate Ruhm von Oppen, and Nancy Lewis with Annapolis president
Chris Nelson (SF70).
Nancy Lewis, long-time registrar in
Annapolis, was introduced by Sus3an Bor
den (A87), who spoke about the former
registrar’s “grace, elegance, kindness,
care, senstivity, and intelligence.” Lewis
served as registrar from 1976 until her
retirement in 1999. She started the F-i
Club for foreign students and is known for
her tireless advocacy on behalf of all John
nies. “When I was a student,” said Borden,
“I thought of the campus as her home and
her office as her living room. She was the
gracious, graceful hostess who did every
thing she could to make you feel welcome.”
retirement in 1987 he has become involved
in the cultural community, especially at St.
John’s, where he is admired for the care
and wit he has exercised in guiding the
Mitchell Gallery and the Board of the
Friends.
John B. Moore, Jr., founding chairman
of the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors
and a past president of the Board of the
Friends of St. John’s, was introduced by
Jeff Bishop, vice president in Annapolis.
After a career in engineering and business,
Moore served with the U.S. Commerce
Department and then in Maryland state
government, where he established the
Division of Cultural Affairs. Since his
Beate Ruhm von Oppen, a tutor at the col
lege since i960, was introduced by Elliott
Zuckerman. He described her as one of the
tutors who “brought to the college some
thing of a different and wider world” and
talked about how she had been moved
many times during the first half of her life
“by what we take to be the darkest and
most dreadful events...” A scholar who doc-
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Fall aooi }
Michael Rodriguez
umented the resistance of the German peo
ple to Nazism, von Oppen continues to
“insist upon accuracy, as opposed to the
glib generalizations we all encounter.”
This and a love of language, added to her
love of music (especially that of Bach and
Mozart), she conveyed to students at the
college over the course of many years.
�{Campus Life}
What I Did
on
My Summer Vacation
They didn Y scoop ice cream and they didn't wait tables. They weren Y lifeguards or temps or bookstore
clerks. Instead, these Johnnies set offon their own kinds ofsummer adventures.
By SuS3AN Borden,
A87
Musical Interlude
spent my summer doing
one of the sweetest jobs I
can think of,” says senior
Mirabai Knight, “I played
violin, trumpet, and bas
soon for the Bigfork Sum
mer Playhouse in Bigfork, Mon
tana.” This was Knight’s fourth
season with the Playhouse’s pro
fessional repertory musical the
ater company; she started right
out of high school. It was her
first job ever, but one she was
well-qualified for: she’s played
violin since she was four, trum
pet since fifth grade and bassoon
since sixth. Although she had
never intended to play profes
sionally, her trumpet teacher
(who had worked at the Play
house before) suggested she take
the job, one which Knight found
to be both fun and easy, at least
for the musicians.
“They audition actors from all over the
country-17 of’em have appeared on
Broadway since-and put them through
frigging boot camp: 4 musicals and i play
up in about a weeks each. But we pit musi
cians hardly break a sweat,” she says.
And for what she considered minimal
effort, Knight earned $200 a week plus
free lodging at the edge of the biggest natu
ral lake in Montana. “Bigfork is an hour
from Glacier National Park and a spit and a
jump from four rivers and two mighty
mountain ranges,” she says, explaining
that she spent much of her free time swim
ming and hiking.
During performances, when she wasn’t
playing, Knight sat in the darkened theater
and read by the light of her music stand
lamp. Her reading list included War and
Peace and she made an attempt to reread
the junior lab manual. “It was fun work,”
she concludes of the four summers at the
Playhouse, “at least during those moments
when I didn’t have ‘June is Busting Out All
Over’ stuck in my head.”
’***S
Erin Hanlon(SFo3)
Mirabai Knight (SF02) performing in
“Fiddler on the Roof”
Easier Than Aristotle
Junior Erin Hanlon spent the summer
working with scientist Mac Post at the
Environmental Science Division of Oak
Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. Hanlon
investigated the effects of elevated levels of
atmospheric carbon dioxide on soil sam
ples. Her work will eventually play a role in
establishing a scientific understanding of
issues addressed by the Kyoto Protocol, a
global treaty for environmental protection.
Hanlon’s work used soil cores that Post
had previously buried in the Oak Ridge
PAGE (Free-Air COa Enrichment) Site.
The site, a sweetgum plantation, is provid
ed with controlled amounts of elevated car
bon dioxide to simulate conditions that are
predicted to occur within a few decades.
Hanlon and Post retrieved the buried soil
cores, took samples, and then returned the
cores to their previous positions. Samples
were prepared and analyzed. Then it was
up to Hanlon to determine what the data
meant. “There were some interesting
{The College.
Sf. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
results,” she says. “The general
trend was what we were expecting:
a decrease in carbon in the isolated
soil cores while the surrounding
soil carbon levels remained
steady.”
Hanlon explains that microbial
respiration was most likely taking
carbon dioxide out of the soil and
releasing it into the air. While this
does not happen in all types of soil, it has
implications for the Kyoto Protocol’s car
bon dioxide credit program, where coun
tries producing excess carbon dioxide can
pay other countries whose production falls
below maximum levels for their credits.
Hanlon’s internship was part of the
Global Change Education Program. The
program gives undergraduate and graduate
students research experience in fields
related to global change (commonly
referred to as global warming) and intro
duces them to the work environment of the
national labs.
What equipped the liberal-arts educated
Hanlon to work in an internship for science
majors and students already studying sci
ence on the graduate level? St. John’s lab
and seminar. “There were times when I
wished I had taken a statistics or a bio-geochemistry course, but that was generally
when I wanted to have the knowledge handy
in my brain and not have to read another
paper to get the information I needed,” she
says. “Freshman lab and Aristotle were def
initely helpful, though. Anything is easier
to read than the Metaphysics^
�4^
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
Surveys can be great, but they are always
less than half of a conversation. I am hop
ing that this letter can continue the conver
sation started by a recent college telephone
survey of alumni. The primary purpose of
the survey was to find out what alumni
wanted to see in the new college web site
coming sometime in aooa. The data
helped give a profile of who our alumni are
today and how they think about the college
and their relationships to it. One of the
most interesting findings was that alumni,
like you, wanted to be more involved in the
college today. Memories of experiences
past are wonderful, and the opportunities
to extend and expand connections with the
college are even better!
The college provides many different
ways for alumni to stay in touch with each
other, with the Program, and with their
friends on both campuses. A new CollegeWide Alumni Strategy has been developed
to examine and improve opportunities for
alumni to continue their life-long partici
pation in the college community. It out
lines the current programs that are avail
able and suggests new avenues for making
the most of our common history and cur
rent interests. Here are just a few of the
ways that you can participate in St. John’s
College today.
Enjoy a face-to-face meeting with other
Johnnies who live in your area. Alumni
Association Chapters are available in many
large cities. The Chapters meet regularly
for a variety of events. Seminar, food,
drink, chat, and career networking are a
few of the most frequent activities at Chap
ter meetings. Baseball games, theater, and
general revelry also find their ways into
Chapter plans. If you live in an area that
has a Chapter, check it out. If you are not
one of the “geographically privileged,”
consider starting a Chapter in your area or
take advantage of other opportunities to
connect.
The on-line presence of Johnnies is
expanding quickly. In addition to the web
sites and listserves (both those officially
sponsored by the college and unofficially
run by tech-sawy alumni), alumni around
the country are participating in on-line
conversations with other Johnnies. If you
want to get involved, drop me an e-mail,
and I will point you to one of the “electron
ic coffee shops” that are springing up
around cyberspace.
The college and the Alumni Association
host three homecoming events each year
(Croquet Weekend in spring in Annapobs,
Homecoming in Santa Fe in summer, and
Homecoming in Annapolis in fall.) These
are great times to visit the campuses to
catch up with old friends and make new
ones. You might also enjoy the two weeks
of Alumni Summer Programs in Santa Fe.
During the weeks before and after Homecoming, alumni gather to read and talk
about a topic. The topics are suggested by
the Association Board. If you have one that
you’d like to have considered, drop me an
e-mail.
There are also wonderful opportunities
for you to support the college with your
time and talents. The Alumni Association
Board is always looking for Directors to
help plan and implement Association activ
ities, alumni members to serve on the
Board of Visitors and Governors, and nom
inees for Honorary Alumnus or Award of
Merit. Philanthropia (the Alumni Develop
ment Council) offers the opportunity for
alumni to be involved in fundraising
efforts. The Placement Offices need alum
ni who will provide information about
career opportunities and graduate schools.
The Admissions offices need alumni to
contact prospectives and provide the
“inside look” at the college and its pro
gram. Both campuses are expanding their
summer internship programs to provide
current students with chances to explore
career opportunities prior to graduation.
You may be able to offer such a rich experi
ence through your own professional con
nections. If you are interested in any of
these opportunities, or if you think of
another way that you’d like to participate
in the college community, check out the
college web site to find out who to contact.
{The Colleges?.
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
Or, you can drop me an e-mail, and I’ll for
ward it along to someone who can guide
you.
As alumni we know the joys and chal
lenges of the St. John’s approach to learn
ing. Each of us has integrated those experi
ences into our lives, and the college
provides us many opportunities to contin
ue our life-long journey of learning in com
munity. Some of us choose to build on our
personal relationships. Some pursue the
intellectual challenges. Some focus on
financial support. Some find the time and
energy to support the college as volun
teers. If you are among the Johnnies who
want to reconnect or maintain your con
nection with the college, you can choose
the ways or combination of ways that suit
you at this time in your life. When you do,
you benefit, the college benefits, and so do
all of your fellow alumni who share your
love of books, of conversation, and of the
institution that brings the two together in
such a unique and powerful way.
For the past, the present, and the future,
Glenda Eoyang SF 76
Eoyang@chaos-limited.com
President
St. John's College Alumni Association
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapobs or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s Col
lege Alumni Association. The Alumni Associa
tion is an independent organization, with a
Board of Directors elected by and from the
alumni body. The Board meets four times a
year, twice on each campus, to plan programs
and coordinate the affairs of the Association.
This newsletter within The College magazine
is sponsored by the Alumni Association and
communicates Alumni Association news and
events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary-Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairTom Geyer, ABB
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association, St.
John’s College, Box 2800, Annapobs, MD
21404 or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe,
NM 87505-4599.
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
First All-Alumni
Art Show
By Elizabeth Pollard Jenny, SF8o
The Santa Fe campus Fine Arts Gallery
hosted its first All-Alumni Art Show this
July, coinciding with Homecoming. The
multi-media show was eclectic and reflected
the many artistic viewpoints of the partici
Billy Lieb, a scupltor from the Annapolis
CLASS OF 1957, CAME BACK TO St. JoHn’s FOR
THE FIRST TIME SINCE HIS GRADUATION TO
EXHIBIT HIS ART IN THE ALUMNI SHOW.
pating artists who represented both cam
puses. Twenty-five alumni, spanning class
years from 1959 through 2001, were able to
connect with the college in a new way.
Some alumni who participated are profes
sional artists, while others are art teachers
or enthusiastic dabblers in such media as
ceramics, drawing, fiber, glass, mixed
media, mosaic, photography, sculpture,
and painting. Artistic styles were as varied
as the media, and included conceptual, rep
resentational, abstract, impressionistic, and
a multitude of other approaches.
As I consider the work in the show, it
occurs to me that while we were in school
we were encouraged to develop an original
ity of mind as well as of conviction - that we
had a right and a responsibility to develop
our opinions. We also were encouraged to
cultivate the learning skills that serve to
enhance the reservoir of experience neces
sary for creative inspiration and insight. I
think these qualities of mind explain both
the diversity and harmony apparent in this
year’s show.
One observer, tutor Cary Stickney (A75),
beheves that art rounds out a liberal educa
tion. In his opinion, there is a mimetic
quality to art that allows one to render a
subject without quite knowing how one did
it. To him, this is delightful and gratifying.
Perhaps this explains, in part, the addition
of studio art to the senior year curriculum
in Santa Fe. Mr. Stickney also said that the
All-Alumni Art Show provided an interest
ing addition to the college community
shows that are held annually on the Santa
Fe campus.
I hope that a conversa
tion will emerge among
St. John College alumni
about how, if at all, the St.
John’s educational experi
ence has influenced their
artwork. This year the art
work spoke for itself. We
hope those who partici
pated this first year will be
joined by other under
graduate and graduate
alumni in the All-Alumni
Art Show in July 2002 on
the Santa Fe campus.
Thanks to the following
2001 participants:
Karen Andrews SF91 (Mixed Media)
Joseph Baratta A69 (Printmaker)
MaryBeth Bliss SF76 (Glass)
Beatrice Butler SF80 (Painter)
Jennifer Chenoweth CI SF95
(Sculptor/Photographer)
Steve Conn SF98 (Collage)
Donna Contractor SF80 (Tapestry)
Rebecca Einsig A86 (Photographer)
Beatrice Eleftheriou SF82 (Glass)
Elizabeth Faulhauber SF85 (Sculptor)
Cinda Graham Kelly A62 (Sculptor)
Liza Hyatt SF85 (Printmaker/Mosaics)
Margaret Inbody GI SF90 (Printmaker)
Elizabeth Ivers SF82 (Painter)
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny SF80 (Painter)
Billy Lieb A57 (Sculptor)
Ebby Malmgren GI A88
(Ceramics/Printmaker)
Abbey McAndrew A78 (Painter)
Frank McGuire GI SF69 (Sculptor)
Kay Maureen Moses GI SF82 (Painter)
Christopher Quinn GI SFoi
(Photographer)
Roberta Razafy SF74 (Painter)
Vivian Ronay A65 (Photographer)
Ken Vaughn SF87 (Painter)
Nancy Westheimer GI SF94
(Painter/Calligrapher)
{The College -St
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
43
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-^^75-9012
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin
410-280-0958
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
5x2-482-0747
BALTIMORE
Roberta Gable
410-626-2531
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
CHICAGO
Lorna Anderson
773-338-8651
DENVER
Elizabeth Pollard
Jenny
303-530-3373
LOS ANGELES
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEWYORK
Fielding Dupuy
212-974-2922
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
SACRAMENTO
Helen Hobart
916-452-1082
SAN DIEGO:
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
SAN FRANCISCO,
NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Jon Hodapp
831-393-9496
SANTA FE:
John Pollak
505-983-2144
SEATTLE
Amina Stickford
206-269-0182
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
972-2-6717608
b0azl@cc.hu3i.ac.il
A special thank you goes out to the
Library and Fine Arts Guild Arts Commit
tee for its enthusiastic support of the idea
for an alumni art show; to Ginger Roherty,
Art Gallery Director, and Maggie Magalnick. Art Gallery Assistant Director, and to
Glenda Eoyang, president of the Alumni
Association, and to the Association for
their generosity in helping to make the
show a resounding success.
All alumni interested in being involved in
next summer’s show to be held in July 2002
on the Santa Fe Campus should
contact Maggie Magalnick byphone:
5O5-g84-6tgg, or by e-mail:
maggie@mail.sjcsf.edu; or by mail c/o St.
John’s College, 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 8’^5os-45gg.
�44
PaulT. Beisser
Class ofig42
Paul T. Beisser, a retired produce broker,
died in August. Born in Reading, Pennsyl
vania, Mr. Beisser graduated from St.
John’s in 1942. He was a veteran of the U.S.
Coast Guard and a member of the Knights
of Columbus. After working as a produce
broker in St. Louis, he retired to Lampe,
Missouri. Surviving are his wife, Winnie;
three sons; three daughters; 20 grandchil
dren; and four great-grandchildren.
Robert O. Davis
Class ofig48
Robert O. Davis, a writer and editor who
was a member of the class of r948, died in
May. He was Chief Editor of Reports and
Publications at the U.S. Steel Research
Laboratory in Monroeville, Penn., from
1967 to 1982. Following retirement, he was
active as a freelance editor and writer for
the Association of Iron & Steel Engineers
and other technical societies.
He graduated from McKeesport High
School in Pennsylvania in 1938. A naviga
tor in the 8th Air Force in World War II, he
received the Air Medal and a Presidential
Unit Citation. After service, he attended
St. John’s. Active as a sportsman and envi
ronmentalist, he was a past president of the
Fort Pitt Retriever Club and the first chair
of the Pittsburgh chapter of Friends of the
Earth. He is survived by his wife, June, and
by a son and daughter, two granddaugh
ters, and a sister.
Robert Moody McKinney
Member ofthe Board
Robert McKinney, financier and publisher
of the Santa Fe New Mexican, died in July.
Born on the dining table of a church par
sonage in Shattuck, Oklahoma, in rpro, Mr.
McKinney went on to become a major play
er in the financial world, an advisor to pres
idents and senators, the ambassador to
Switzerland, an authority on the uses of
atomic energy, and the publisher of the
Santa Fe New Mexican. He was instrumen
tal in bringing St. John’s College to Santa
Fe and served on the Board of Visitors and
Governors from r953 to 1968.
In a tribute to McKinney written shortly
after his death, David Boren, U.S. Senator
from Oklahoma, said, “The history of
Robert’s hfe reads like an adventure story.”
From humble beginnings, Mr. McKinney
put himself through the University of Okla
homa. Determined to make his own way, he
set out for New York in 1932. His luggage
{Obituaries}
was stolen, and with the small amount of
insurance money he received, he started
investing. Within a decade he had attained
financial success by purchasing solid assets
from bankrupt companies. He served on
the boards of many companies including
ITT, TWA, Martin-Marietta, and the Rock
Island Railroad. He served in the Navy dur
ing World War II, where he helped develop
the Tiny Tim rocket. After the war, he
served as ambassador to the International
Atomic Energy Agency, ambassador to
Switzerland, and in posts in the Treasury
Department under Johnson and Nixon.
McKinney learned about St. John’s when
as a young naval reserve officer he led a suc
cessful drive to forestall the Naval Acade
my’s expropriation of the Annapohs cam
pus for expansion in the mid-i94os. He
later served on the Board. He led Richard
Weigle to Santa Fe and arranged for him to
meet John Gaw Meem, who donated land
for the new campus.
Lucille Murchison
Member ofthe Board
Lucille Murchison, who served on the
Board of Visitors and Governors from 1988
to 1994, died in July. Born in Dallas, Mrs.
Murchison became a passionate advocate
for the arts in that city. She married John
Murchison in 1947. The John and Lupe
Murchison Chair at the Santa Fe campus is
the result of a 1979 challenge offered by the
couple. Mrs. Murchison also served 18
years on the University of North Texas
board of regents and was co-owner of the
Dallas Cowboys from 1979 to 1984.
Hilyer Shufeldt
Class ofig55
Hilyer Gearing Shufeldt, an elementary
school teacher in Annapohs for 30 years,
died in October. Born in California, she
traveled with her Navy family as a child, liv
ing in many cities before settling in
Annapolis. She graduated from Annapolis
High School and attended St. John’s for
one year. She married and while her hus
band pursued an academic career, she
raised four children.
In 1967 she moved back to Annapolis fol
lowing a divorce and taught at Anne Arun
del County elementary and middle schools.
She completed her BA degree in teaching
at Bowie State University and earned a
master of arts from the Graduate Institute
in 1983. Surviving are her sons, one broth
er, and five grandchildren.
{The College -St John ’5
College • Fall 2001 }
Samuel V. Stiles
Class ofig54
Samuel V. Stiles, Jr., a longtime supporter
of the college, died at the age of 75 on
August 3. He served as the president of the
Washington, D.C. chapter of the Alumni
Association from 1993 until his death. A
resolution of the Alumni Association says:
“The leadership that he provided the
group was not only efficient and organized;
he was indeed the heart, soul and spine of
the chapter. As a discussion leader his pres
ence was subtle, gentle and profound,
encouraging and validating all points of
view. He loved books and he loved to
understand. Even when his illness made it
hard for him, he seemed to thrive in the
meeting of the minds around the discus
sion table. His manner was always gentle
and reserved; he set the tone for the group
to have thoughtful discussion.”
He was a native of Louisville, Ky., and a
resident of Rockville, Md. He served in the
Navy in the Atlantic during World War IL
He graduated cum laude from Emory Uni
versity before attending St. John’s. He
received a master’s degree in political sci
ence from the University of Indiana and
taught that subject at the University of
Kentucky before moving to the Washing
ton area to work at the National Institutes
of Health. He also worked in the Peace
Corps and was deputy administrator in
Togo. He retired in the mid-eighties from
the Public Health Service, after working as
an administrator of the Volunteers in Ser
vice to America. His hfe was dedicated to
helping others.
He is survived by his wife, Sally West
hofen Stiles, and two sons, David and
Steve.
Rev. David Streett II
Class ofig$o
The Rev. David Streett, a retired Episcopal
priest, died in August. Born in Baltimore,
Father Streett graduated from City Col
lege. He served in the Navy during World
War II in the Pacific. After being dis
charged, he earned a BA from St. John’s in
1951 and an MA in theology from Virginia
Theological Seminary in 1954. He served at
churches in Baltimore and Cumberland
and founded the Episcopal Church of the
Good Shepherd in Ruxton.
He moved to Georgia in the rpBos and
worked with Planned Parenthood and anti
poverty programs. Later he was the clinical
chaplain for the Augusta State Medical
Prison. He retired in 1993 from the Missis
�{Obituaries}
sippi State Prison at Parchman. He is sur
vived by his wife, Betty Lou; three daugh
ters; two brothers; two grandchildren; two
stepdaughters; and two stepgrandchildren.
Charles H. Watts II
Member ofthe Board
Charles H. Watts II, former president of
Bucknell University and a member of the
St. John’s Board of Visitors and Governors
for many years, died in September. Born in
Bronxville, New York, he earned a bache
lor’s degree and doctorate in American lit
erature from Brown University and a mas
ter’s from Columbia University. He taught
English at Brown from 1953 to 1963. At the
age of 37 he became president of Bucknell
University. He served for la years, handling
a variety of situations including the
protests against the Vietnam War.
In 1975 Mr. Watts returned to Boston and
became general director of Beneficial
Finance Corporation, which was founded
by his father. He served on the boards of
academic, corporate, and civic institutions.
He was a member of the Audubon Society
and the New Hampshire Forest Society and
was devoted to conservation causes.
At St. John’s he was known for his
straightforward analyses, common-sense
questions, and persevering attitude. Most
recently, he served on the Search Commit
tee for the president of the Santa Fe cam
pus. Mr. Watts was made an honorary
alumnus, class of 2000, by the St. John’s
Alumni Association.
He is survived by his wife, Patricia;
two daughters and a son; and six grand
children.
In Memory Of Robert Arne, SFGI83
Last autumn many in the St. John’s College
community lost a friend, Robert Arne,
SFGI83. Diagnosed with a swiftly acting
terminal illness, Robert Arne faced the last
few weeks of his life as he had lived much of
it - reading Plato in Greek and discussing
politics and philosophy with the numerous
friends who visited him. Although his last
days were painful he took only the mildest
doses of medication so as to remain lucid in
order to converse with his visitors and, as
he said, “to experience as fully as I can this
passage.”
It may surprise some who knew Robert
that his first passion as a young man was
art, and he attended art school before
studying engineering at Berkeley to honor
his father’s wishes; but the emphasis on
practicality in engineering left his budding
interest in theory unsatisfied, so he
switched his major to physics. It was while
pursuing a graduate degree in physics that
he met philosophy in the person of one of
those rare beings-a genuinely philosophi
cal soul who is also a splendid teacher. It
changed his life. He studied and loved clas
sical Greek, philosophy, and particularly
Plato. His life from then on was governed
by these loves. Anything that did not serve
these ends was jettisoned. He lived austere
ly; his habits were simple and his dress was
plain. Hoping to make his living teaching
philosophy he pursued a PhD, but a degen
erative retina problem diagnosed some
years earlier worsened, and he was declared
legally blind. With effort he could still
read, but only slowly; he was forced to
leave the program. He taught at private
schools for several years, but his condition
required him to seek a community where
he could attend to his needs by walking;
furthermore it had also to be intellectually
stimulating. He learned of Santa Fe and St.
John’s College. For the sheer joy of the
conversation he earned yet another mas
ter’s degree through the Graduate Institute
and taught Greek privately to any who were
interested; for several years he taught
Greek to Institute students through the
auspices of the college. Always the conver
sationalist, he was instrumental in forming
a weekly reading group which was one part
of what became the Santa Fe Chapter of the
Alumni Association.
Five days before he died Robert put down
the dialogue he had been reading for lack
of strength to make sense of the text. It was
the Parmenides. To the end he was trying
to understand.
—John Carroll Pollak, SFCI80
In Memory Of Constance Darkey
It is a melancholy pleasure to write about
Connie Darkey, who died last May at the
age of 84. We had known each other for 44
years. Her husband. Bill Darkey, was my
co-leader in 1957 when I was a freshman
tutor. It was a memorable freshmen semi
nar-some of its members have been life
long friends-and to top it off, every Thurs
day after seminar Bill would take me to his
house. There, over a glass of wine with
crackers and cheese (I remember the hos
pitable details vividly over the decades), I
was initiated into the college as a living
community.
Connie took a strong part in these con
{The College -Sr.
John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
45
versations. She had played a role in this
world for a dozen years before I came, as
bookstore manager and faculty wife. In
those early days the bookstore was the veri
table center of the college, located right
next to the coffee shop, and the manager
knew a lot of what went on. Connie was
very much on the inside of the place. She
was passionately interested in the way the
program worked on students and in the
effect the faculty had on them. It would not
be too much to say that her keen observa
tions, censorious and generous, excited
and penetrating, first showed me that I was
committed to become part of a quarrel
somely loyal working family, that the
absorbingly intellectual program of the
college was carried on by a band of glori
ously human colleagues. No young tutor
could have undergone a more candid and
therefore a more engaging induction to
this college.
When Bill and Connie moved to Santa Fe
as part of the founding generation of that
campus, I discovered before long that Con
nie kept an eye on my doings and writings
from afar. Eventually part of the pleasure
of producing anything was to send it to her.
Before too long would come a letter with
illuminating questions followed by that
most gratifying compliment a reader can
give: an appreciative pouncing on the sen
tences closest to the writer’s heart. Connie
was the most empathetic of readers.
Of course she was that much the more a
discerning reader of great books. It was
delightful to talk to her about a novel, or any
book. I would have loved to have been in
seminar with her as I once was with BiU. We
might have had some blazing battles for the
benefit of our students as well as moments
of perfect concord. I always thought of her
as a fellow tutor and the three of us almost
always got together for a couple of hours of
conversation when I was in Santa Fe; even
in the last years, when she wasn’t well, she
hadn’t lost her spirited acuteness. I shall
miss her, and I think often of Bill’s loss.
— Eva Brann
Also noted...
Alfred Franklin, Class of 1951, died in
August.
Mary J. Navratil, SFGI71, died in May.
Samuel Schenker, Class of 1939, died in
September.
Dr. Francis Townsend, Jr., Class of 1938,
died in August.
�46
{Alumni Voices}
COURTLY LOVE
On the intimate experience ojplayinp basketball.
By Jane McManus,
A93
M
y one regret after my mother died was the archon of the athletic department, took
my mother aside. “Your daughter,” he said,
that she never saw me play basketball. I choosing his words carefully, “she’s a very
player.” She got a big kick out of
never played in high school and parents tenacious
that, and so did 1.1 liked to think of myself
don’t generally travel hundreds of as the Bill Laimbeer of women’s intramural
hoops.
miles to see their kids play a game of
College was my first experience playing
basketball, though we fielded no intercolle
college pick-up. They don’t pack the giate teams. Never formally coached, I like
to think of myself
as a pure player, which
sideline at the YMCA to watch their adult children
in knee
only means I don’t know many plays. I don’t
braces and with taped fingers pretend to be
18anyagain.
have
memories of suicide sprints or
Pulling my basketball shoes out last Janu
ary, two weeks after she died, lacing them
up slowly, I tried to clear my mind of all the
thoughts that had kept me inert on the couch
all morning. The local Y sets aside two
hours a day starting at noon for basketball.
I figured it was time I worked on my shot.
I had been constantly by my mother’s side
in a hospice watching her gradually deterio
rate. I’d talk to her about local games I’d
seen. She seemed to find a pleasant diver
sion in my words. Maybe she just hked lis
tening to my voice, and I was desperate to
find something to fill the stale air in her
room. After all the necessary things have
been said and done, there is little left but
make vain attempts to give comfort. She
took her comfort in the mundane details I
supphed.
Those days ran together. I stayed up late
unable to sleep. Nothing else mattered. And
then suddenly, but expectedly, my days were
empty in late December.
Friends, proverbially well-meaning, dis
pensed awkward words and half-meant invi
tations to get out of the house. Their plans
took too much energy. I drew in, spending
all my time thinking about what was lost, no
conversation could alleviate any part of my
sadness.
My worn leather ball had gone flat in the
months I hadn’t played. At St. John’s Col
lege, the game had been as much a part of
school as class. We chmbed on the roof to
Jane McManus and her mother
break into the gym on summer nights to play
pick-up. During the school year there were
games every night. We’d play until well after
midnight, exhausted and with sweat drip
ping into our eyes.
The gym was built in 1909, and its insides
look like one of those courts on old reels of
grainy basketball footage. Hot in the sum
mer, cold in the winter, the gym was filled
with outdated equipment; balls bounced
funny if at all. The ceiling beams were
exposed, ehminating the half-court shot and
the cross-court pass.
The weekend I graduated, Leo Pickens,
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
dribbhng exercises. The concept of a pick
was a revelation.
I’ve worked hard on my game, but I’ll take
whatever credit I come by. When I tell peo
ple I played in college, sometimes they
assume I mean St. John’s the university and
not the college. Admittedly, I don’t always
go out of my way to correct them. I figure a
couple of permanently jammed fingers justi
fy any fack of clarification.
Basketball has become so much a part of
who I am it is hard for me to imagine a time I
didn’t play. I bought an official leather ball
when I graduated. It seemed a huge expense
at the time but it was an investment.
Last winter brought the first prolonged
period of time I didn’t play. The gravity of
trying to finish graduate schoof, look for
work and bury my mother so overwhelmed
me that I sat still all day, never exactly tired,
but unable to get up.
My stepfather called to tell me I should
come over and go through my mother’s
things; jewelry, photographs and clothes
still fresh with her scent.
Get up. That January day I dragged myself
to the Y and started practicing foul shots in
another ancient gym. I was trying not to
think about anything, just the rim and the
ball and the muffled sound of a runner on
the overhead track. The ball felt too heavy
and my first shot dinked off the front of the
rim and landed hard back in my hands.
A few other people wandered into the gym
and began to warm up. A game of half-court
three-on-three was organized and I was the
�reluctant sixth. I felt self conscious, but as
the game got going the familiar competitive
tweak returned.
January bled into February, I spent weeks
doing httle but going to the Y to play ball.
The routine was the only thing that made
me even shghtly comfortable again. The
rules don’t change once you think you have
them down.
The structure of the game, things hke
clearing the 3-point hne after a change of
possession, checking the ball, the sound of
four bodies coUiding for a rebound, all of it
was ingrained. And unhke other social situa
tions where people tried to be helpful or
consoling, the guys at the Y just wanted to
know if 1 was up for another game of 21.
''Built in igog, the gym
had exposed ceiling
beams, eliminating the
half-court shot and the
cross-courtpass.
1 usually was. Just on the off chance that,
although tired, I might make the open shot
or get a rebound against someone with a
couple inches on me. Something that made
me feel hke everything was working and
order had returned.
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
There is something immensely soothing
about a game of pick-up with a regular
group of people you don’t know well. You
know their game, who always takes the shot,
who always passes, who blows the layup. At
the end of two hours, knees aching, 1 would
walk out into the grey afternoon without my
coat on and, before the sadness returned, 1
felt for a moment that there was nothing but
my face and the cool air.
And that, more than anything else, was
exactly what I needed.
Jane McManus is a sportswriter at
The Journal News in Westchester County,
New York.
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
uring the Second World
training of the intellect that happens in
War, students at St.
the learning and practice of the manual
John’s received some use
arts as well as the liberal arts. Also,
ful education. According
Buchanan knew that one learns quite a bit
to Winfree Smith’s histo
of physics if one acquires a full under
ry of the New Program (A
standing of all the transformations of
Searchfor the Liberal College, energy
1985), they
that take place in the internal com
were offered a three-hour, oncebustion
a weekengine.”
course in radio. There was a course in
Franz Plunder spent the summer of
navigation. And Franz Plunder-a sculp
1942 designing and building new desks
tor, marine architect, and boat-builderand beds of walnut to outfit dormitory
taught a course on the gasoline engine.
rooms (he also made the Coffee Shop
“No one knew which St. Johnnie might be
tables). Said a student in the yearbook:
stranded in a tank somewhere on the bat
“The desks, when swept clear of all intel
tlefront, where there would be no hard
lectual material, made excellent bars. The
ware store and mechanics for him to turn
beds were designed without head or foot
to,” explains a student in the 194a Year
and thus made excellent daybeds; they
book. Winfree Smith’s account adds:
gave, as it were, a range of two-hundred
“Actually the course was in line with
and seventy degrees of attack.”
[Scott] Buchanan’s view that there is a
D
{The College -
St. John’s College . Fall 2001 }
Franz Plunder in the
WOODSHOP WITH THE WALNUT
BEDS HE MADE FOR
DORM ROOMS.
St. JoHn’s
�■ s
{Alumni Events Calendar}
a
On a prefect southwestern July day, Santa Fe alumni enjoyed their perfect southwest
ern RELAXED PICNIC.
Croquet Match
April 37, aooa, i p.m., Annapolis
A stunning comeback is predicted for the
15 and 4 Johnnies who unexpectedly lost
last year’s match. Will revenge be sweet?
8 T
TIC
June 30 - July 5, Santa te
•
Arts and Letters of New Mexico;
Alexis de Toqueville,
Democracy in. America
July 7 - la, Santa Fe
Plato, The Republic, The Qur’an and the
life of Muhammad
i—Santa
Friday, July 5 - Smd^, juiy 7
Reunion classes: 1972,1977,198a, 1987,
199a, and 1997
imecoming, aooa-Annapolij
Friday, October 4 - Sunday, October 6
Reunion classes: 193a, 1937,194a, 1947,
1952,1957,1963,1957,1962,1967,197a,
1977’ 1982,1987,1993,1997
Secontfl
LShi
Santa 1iSia
The show will take place during Homecoming aooa. If you’re interested in par
ticipating, please contact Maggie Magalnick (505-984-6199) or Elizabeth Pollard
Jenny (303-530-3373).
For information on events, contact the
Offices of Alumni Activities;
Tahmina Shalizi
Director of Alumni and Parent Activities
Santa Fe-505-984-6103
tshalizi@mail.sjcsf.edu
Roberta Gable
Director of Alumni Activities
Annapolis-4io-6a6-a53i
alumni@sjca.edu
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Fall 2001 }
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Public Relations Office
Box aSoo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
address service requested
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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<em>The College </em>(2001-2017)
Description
An account of the resource
The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
Creator
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St. John's College
Coverage
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Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
Contributor
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St. John's College Greenfield Library
Language
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English
Identifier
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thecollege2001
Text
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paper
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48
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The College, Fall 2001
Description
An account of the resource
Volume 28, Issue 1 of The College Magazine. Published in Fall 2001.
Creator
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St. John's College
Publisher
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St. John's College
Coverage
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Annapolis, MD
Santa Fe, NM
Date
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2001-09
Rights
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St. John's College owns the rights to this publication.
Type
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text
Format
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pdf
Language
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English
Identifier
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The College Vol. 28, Issue 1 Fall 2001
Contributor
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Goyette, Barbara (editor)
Borden, Sus3en (assistant editor)
Ducker, Susanne (graphic designer)
Mulry, Laura J. (Santa Fe editor)
Johnson, David
Morrison, Marissa
Hancock, Evan
Randall, Thomson
Idema, James
Pastille, William
Sanfilippo, Mark
Gable, Roberta
Eoyang, Glenda H.
The College
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