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Text
S!JOHN'S
College
LECTURE/CONCERT SCHEDULE 2008-2009
(Revised 12/19/08)
August 29
Mr. Michael Dink
Dean
St. John's College
Annapolis
Lead Us Not Into
Temptation: Milton's
Paradise Lost
September 5
All College Seminar
Emerson
September 12
Professor Peter Edelman
Georgetown University
Law Center
The Constitution: A
Living Document
September 19
Mr. David Townsend
Tutor
St. John's College
Annapolis
William Blake's
Flourishing Vision
September 26
Professor Steve Morse
Solid Progress: How
Five Regular Solids Turned
into Seventy-Five
October 3
Parker String Quartet
Concert
October 10
Long Weekend
No Lecture
October 17
Dr. Thomas L. Short
Can Philosophy be a Science?
October 24
Professor Noah Feldman
Harvard Law School
The Fall and Rise of the
Islamic State
October 31
Professor Walter Nicgorski
University of Notre Dame
In Defense of Cicero
November?
Mr. Michael Grenke
Tutor
St. John's College
Annapolis
The Question of Questions
November 14
Professor Robert Bernasconi
University of Memphis
Universal isms Partially
Applied : On Locke's and
Kant's Raci sms
November 21
Mr. Alan Pichanick
Tutor
St. John's College
Annapolis
Sophrosune as WholeMindedness: Socratic
Self-Knowledge in Plato's
Charm ides
AN N APO L IS • SA NTA FE
OFFICE OF
THE DEAN
P.O. B ox zBoo
ANNAPOLI S, M ARYLAN D
2I404
4ro-6z6-zs:n
FAX 4I0 -295-6937
www. ~jca. edu
�November28
Thanksgiving Holiday
No Lecture
December 5
Professor Jonathan Lear
University of Chicago
Plato's Cave:
The Role of Allegory
in Philosophy
December 12
KWP Production
Racine's Phedre
December 19January 11,2009
Winter Vacation
No Lectures
January 16
Mr. Jonathan Tuck
Tutor
St. John's College
Armapolis
Gargantua's Games
January 23
Professor Steven Lubin
Cornell University
Mozart's Tonal Pathways
January 30
Ms. Joan Silver
Tutor
St. John's College
Armapolis
On Same and Other, Image and
Being in Flannery 0' Connor's
Story with the Unspeakable
Name
February 6
Long Weekend
No Lecture
February 13
Ms. Cecile Licad
Piano Concert
February 20
All College Seminar
Nietzsche's The Problem of
Socrates
February 27
Professor Christia Mercer
Columbia University
The Weirdness and Beauty
of Leibniz's Philosophy
or Why You ARE God
March 2-22
Spring Vacation
No Lectures
March27
Mr. Jeffrey Smith
Tutor
St. John's College
Armapolis
Rousseau's Republic
of Desire
April3
Professor Burt Hopkins
Seattle University
The Unwritten Teachings in
Plato's Symposium: Socrates'
Initiation into the
Arithmos of Eros
AprillO
Professor Ryan Tweney
Bowling Green State University
From Invisibles to
Infinitesimals: Faraday's
Intuitive Calculus
�Aprill7
Mr. Henry Higuera
Tutor
St. John's College
Annapolis
Multiplication Ancient and
Modem: Sorting Out the
Shifts in Meaning
Multiplication
April24
Mr. Stefan Jackiw
Violin Conceri
May I
King William Players
MayS
Reality Weekend
No Lecture
May !5
Commencement Weekend
No Lecture
�
Dublin Core
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Description
An account of the resource
Items in this collection are part of a series of lectures given every year at St. John's College. During the Fall and Spring semesters, lectures are given on Friday nights. Items include audio and video recordings and typescripts.<br /><br />For more information, and for a schedule of upcoming lectures, please visit the <strong><a href="http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/annapolis/formal-lecture-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. John's College website</a></strong>. <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Formal Lecture Series" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=5">Items in the St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.<br /><br />A growing number of lecture recordings are also available on the St. John's College (Annapolis) Lectures podcast. Visit <a href="https://anchor.fm/greenfieldlibrary" title="Anchor.fm">Anchor.fm</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/st-johns-college-annapolis-lectures/id1695157772">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84Yzk5MzdhYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw" title="Google Podcasts">Google Podcasts</a>, or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6GDsIRqC8SWZ28AY72BsYM?si=f2ecfa9e247a456f" title="Spotify">Spotify</a> to listen and subscribe.
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St. John's College Greenfield Library
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St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis
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formallectureseriesannapolis
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3 pages
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paper
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Office of the Dean
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Lecture/Concert Schedule 2008-2009 (Revised 12/19/08)
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2008-2009
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Schedule of lectures and concerts for the 2008-2009 Academic Year.
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Lecture Schedule 2008-2009
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Annapolis, MD
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St. John's College
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English
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text
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pdf
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Dink, Michael
Edelman, Peter
Townsend, David
Morse, Steve
Parker String Quartet
Short, Thomas L.
Feldman, Noah, 1970-
Nicgorski, Walter
Grenke, Michael W.
Bernasconi, Robert
Pichanick, Alan
Lear, Jonathan
Tuck, Jonathan
Lubin, Steven
Silver, Joan
Licad, Cecile, 1961-
Mercer, Christia
Smith, Jeffrey
Hopkins, Burt
Tweney, Ryan D.
Higuera, Henry, 1952-
Jackiw, Stefan
King William Players
Relation
A related resource
January 16, 2009. Tuck, Jonathan. <a href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/3801" title="Gargantua's games">Gargantua's games</a> (audio)
Friday night lecture
Lecture schedule
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/b6b50290f2bf08b23c0b09a5067e5e85.pdf
74038a96af953c82c5fe4e22a60cafa5
PDF Text
Text
�On O’Connor
“The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time andplace
and eternity somehow meet. His problem is tofind that location. ”
STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
lannery O’Connor’s fiction tends to elicit strong reactions from her
F
readers. Some object to the mixture of comedy and pathos (country girl
wooed for her wooden leg) and the blend of the mundane and shocking
(senseless violence emerges from a clear blue day on a lonely country
The College (usps 018-750)
is published quarterly by
St. John’s College, Annapohs, MD
and Santa Fe, NM
readers was
uncomfortable.
OthersCeorgia,
are entirely
devoted
toon
hertoand
will
Mary Flannery O’Connor
born in Savannah,
in 1925,
went
earn
a read
and
re-read
her
fiction,
prose,
and
letters,
even
as
they
feel
the
discomfort
sociology degree at the Georgia State College for Women, and studied at the Iowa Writer’s
Known office of publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404-2800
and
discordance
witnesses
to anfirst
accident
to beLiterary
lookingconnections
so closely. In
the interest
Workshop,
whereofshe
began her
novel. ashamed
Wise Blood.
made
in Iowa, of
full
editors
of’sThe
Colleger
admit
to in
devotion:
wc She
havewas
been
scheming
to get who
and disclosure,
later at the the
Yaddo
writer
colony,
helped
her
her career.
a devout
Catholic
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, MD
road). The freaks, misfits, and fools who populate her world make many
O
’Connor on the
cover for
now,
and here
is in her
rightful
corresponded
regularly
witha while
Thomas
Merton,
theshe
Trappist
monk
who place.
shared her love of writing
along with her deep faith. She suffered from lupus, the wasting disease that killed her father
when she was 15. (It left her near death in 1950.) She was proud of being a Southerner and loved
many aspects of the quiet rural life she was forced to live in Milledgeville because her illness left
her dependent on her mother’s care. On the family’s dairy farm, she raised peafowl that dined on
her mother’s Herbert Hoover roses. She wrote, she explained, because she had a gift lor it.
O’Connor wa.s often amused by those critics who tried to label her. She argued eloquently
with those who insisted that something “socially uplifting’’ must come from fiction: “The
novelist must be characterized not by his function but by his vision, and we must remember that
his vision has to be transmitted and that the limitations and blind spots of his audience will very
definitely affect the way he is able to show what he sees” {Mystery and Manners}.
The focus of this issue, “Revelation,” was one of her last stories, published a few months
before she died on Aug. 3,196/,. We know from her letters that the story was inspired by a visit
to the doctor’s office and that she wasn’t making fun of her protagonist or offering her up for
scorn: “I like Mrs. Turpin as well as Mary Grace. You got to be a very big woman to shout at the
Lord across a hogjten” {The Habit ofBeingY O’Connor made her first appearance on the Read
ing List of St. John’s College in 1989 with “Everything that Rises Must Converge.” Throughout
the years, the standard reading has been “Parker’s Back.”
In addition to paying homage to a favorite Program author. The College accomplishes
another important goal in this issue by showing off the tutors and the interesting things they
have to say when we give them a chance. We posed a question about the short story “Revela
tion” to a group of tutors from both campuses, and they approached it with zeal. (Advancement
vice president Barbara Goyette, A73, wa.s inspired by a church sermon to contribute an essay.)
To get the most from this feature, read or revisit “Revelation” before exploring these essays.
-RH
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Communications
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404-2800.
postmaster:
Annapolis
410-626-2539
reharty@sjca.edu
Rosemary Harty, editor
Sussan Borden, managing editor
Jennifer Behrens, art director
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Barbara Goyette
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Jo Ann Mattson
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
alumni@sjcsf.edu
John Hartnett, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Michael Franco
David Levine
Andra Maguran
Margaret Odell
Roxanne Seagraves
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�"I “I v„.
College
The
ZINE
FOR
Alumni
of
t
St. John’s College
Annapolis •
{Contents}
PAGE
JO
DEPARTMENTS
Revelations
a
FROM THE BELL TOWERS
A routine visit to a doctor’s office ends in
a painful revelation for a self-satisfied
farmer’s wife. But what is really being
revealed? Pondering Flannery
O’Connor’s “Revelation.”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Santa Fe Initiative invests in student life.
A new Web site debuts.
Johnnies and Journalism
Mids and Johnnies on Thoreau
Middle States affirms accreditation.
Wine, art, and conversation
PAGE 2izj.
9
LETTERS
The Habit oe Writing
PAGE la
Chris Lynch (A87) on Machiavelli’s
Art of War
A GI alumna considers the lost art and
missed opportunities of letter writing.
PAGE
30 BIBLIOFILE
35 ALUMNI NOTES
2i6
PROFILES
31 Tias Little (EC98) brings Eastern
classics to yoga.
34 Ben Bloom (A97) finds fame.
38 Owen Kelley (A93) pursues monster
hurricanes.
The Mind in Winter
The challenges of the examined life keep
Johnnies young.
PAGE
Zj.6
41 STUDENT VOICES
Summer at Stag’s Leap
Is wanting good grades a bad thing for
Johnnies?
Fine wine, good company, and seminars
make a traditional Northern Cahfornia
chapter event a popular summer
tradition.
44 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
48 ST. John’s forever
PAGE 46
ON THE COVER
Flannery O 'Connor
Illustration by David Johnson
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
The Santa Fe Initiative
Concerned by the toll deferred
maintenance was beginning to
take on the Santa Fe campus,
the college’s Management
Committee came up with a
comprehensive plan: the
Santa Fe Initiative, a $4.5
miUion investment in buildings
and grounds, improved staffing
in the areas of student life, and
immediate upgrades to two of
the campus’ six laboratories.
When he unveiled the commit
tee’s initiative to the college’s
Board of Visitors and Gover
nors, Annapolis President
Christopher Nelson, interim
president in Santa Fe, received
a standing ovation from the
board. The reception from
tutors at a Santa Fe faculty
meeting was equally
enthusiastic.
For Nelson, serving as
interim president of the Santa
Fe campus in addition to his
regular duties in Annapolis, the
need for an immediate injection
of capital to the Western cam
pus was apparent. Even as the
college plans a Capital Cam
paign to fund a strategic plan of
long-needed initiatives such as
raising faculty salaries, Santa
Fe’s needs couldn’t wait. Nelson
had already seen what could
happen to a campus during lean
years: the Annapolis campus
found it expensive and time
consuming to catch up on main
tenance deferred when funding
for improvements was unavail
able in the early 1990s.
“With the Santa Fe initiative
we are jump-starting a program
of improving opportunities for
students outside the classroom
and for the improvement of
buildings and grounds,” says
Nelson. “This is just the start of
what we need to do over an
annual or intermittent basis
over a period of a decade or
more. We’ve invested about $35
million in the Annapolis physi
cal plant over the last 13 years.
We don’t want to see Santa Fe’s
physical plant deteriorate to the
level that Annapolis was.”
The purpose of the plan is
to make the kind of improve
ments that will encourage
student retention and enable
the admissions office to attract
a larger pool of qualified appli
cants to Santa Fe. Thus the
initiative focuses on areas that
affect student life, the appear
ance of the campus, and the
operation of the admissions and
financial aid offices.
At the same time, the college
will provide funding for an
internship program similar to
the Annapolis program funded
by The Hodson Trust while the
college seeks long-term grant
support for internships.
Costs for the Santa Fe Initia
tive will represent a a percent
''This isjust the
start ofwhat we
need to do over
an annual or
intermittent
basis... ”
Christopher Nelson,
Annapolis President
increase in the operating budg
et each year. The funds for the
initiative will come from unre
stricted endowment funds and
early unrestricted gifts to the
college’s Capital Campaign,
expected to officially begin in
June 2005,
Improvements that affect stu
dent life include funding for
additional staff in the Assistant
Dean’s office.
Career Services
office. Security,
and Student
Activities office.
Facilities
improvements
include renovat
ing the laborato
ries; resurfacing
all roadways and
parking lots,
curbs, and cen
trally located
walkways; adding
a new parking
lot; replacing
After 40 years,
THE Santa Fe
CAMPUS IS SHOW
ING SIGNS OF AGE.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
hardscape between the upper
dorms and Peterson Student
Center; repairing concrete
walls and steps; installing
uniform campus lighting;
installing patios for outdoor
study and social fife; and adding
attractive signs and a security
kiosk at a more formal campus
entrance. Some funding for a
director of buildings and
grounds and an additional
maintenance staff member is
also included.
While it will mean significant
short-term improvements in
Santa Fe, Nelson emphasizes
that the initiative is just a start
ing point: “The campus needs
an investment of about $30
million over time: new dormi
tories, a home for the Graduate
Institute and a new lecture hall,
renovations of the Evans
Science Laboratory, plus
additional renovations
campus-wide. For so many
years, we’ve sacrificed every
thing else to the Program.
We’re on a slow, steady plan of
improvement that requires
investments to make up for
deferred maintenance, for
poor salaries, and insufficient
student services-it’s time to
turn our attention to them with
out taking anything away from
the Program.”
To oversee the implementa
tion of the initiative, Annapolis
treasurer H. Fred “Bud” Billups
(HA03) will assume a new
college-wide position as special
assistant to the chair of the
Management Committee
(a position that alternates
between the two campus presi
dents). Billups will split his time
between the Annapolis and
Santa Fe campuses, providing
oversight over the two admis
sions offices, the two financial
aid offices, and the college-wide
Information Technology office.
He will prepare a college-wide
budget that will allocate annual
operating funds between the
campuses. 4^-Rosemary Harty
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
3
One College, One Web
Ifyou can make the time to
search all of the 4,285,199,774
Web pages available through the
search engine Google, let us
know ifyou find another college
with a Web site like St. John’swhere the dominant image is of a
chair and the valuable center real
estate is not a shot of smihng stu
dents or the beautiful campus,
but ofwords: the names of great
book authors.
On March i, after two years
of planning and gathering
comments from as wide a sector
of the St. John’s community as
possible, the college launched
the new site: www.stjohnscollege.edu. Previously, the col
lege’s student-designed site
diverged into two separate
paths for the Santa Fe and
Annapolis campuses right after
the home page. This new site
was designed from the start to
present St. John’s as one college
with two campuses. Thus what
is emphasized is the common
curriculum and the prevailing
Johnnie culture.
The front-page tour is also a
departure. The links in this
Web tour introduce Johnnies
and their wide range of reasons
for attending the college, the
unique and lively community of
learners, the Santa Fe and
Annapolis communities, and
the chair thing. Alert visitors
will also find surprises-“Easter
eggs” in Web lingo-on the
front page.
The new Web site was
designed to introduce the college
to prospective students and to
better serve alumni, current stu
dents, parents, faculty and staff,
and the communities of Annapo
lis and Santa Fe. The alumni sec
tion, developed with extensive
input from Alumni Association
president Glenda Eoyang and a
team of alumni testers, offers
something particularly useful: a
secure, password-protected
online Alumni Register.
Previously, the college issued
a printed directory of alumni
every five years. With support
and guidance from the associa
tion, the college now offers this
directory online. The search for
mat allows alumni to look up
classmates, find alumni in a new
city, or identify a group of alum
ni working in a particular field.
Like many areas of the Web site,
the directory is a work in
progress. Information in the
Register is drawn from two
separate databases, and the
program the college uses to
“marry” the data often falls
short of the ideal. The college’s
Information Technology and
advancement staffs are working
to remedy this. The more alumni
who use the database to update
their records, the more accurate
the register will be.
A few caveats: to protect
alumni privacy and restrict the
directory to alumni, the system
currently requires the college to
authenticate each user who
attempts to log
in. Once an
alumnus regis
ters, it will take
college staff
about two busi
ness days to pro
vide a password
that will grant
access. Similarly,
any changes
made to an indi
vidual record will
take a few days to
appear. Alumni
can choose at any
time to restrict
their information
to “name only”
or to not appear
in the Register.
If you encounter any
difficulty with the Register or
the Alumni section, or have
thoughts about how the Web
site can better serve alumni,
contact either of the alumni
directors: in Annapolis, Jo Ann
Mattson at 410-626-2531; in
Santa Fe, Roxanne Seagraves at
505-984-6103.
Diving with Sharks in South Africa
OR Wrestling with Plato in Santa Fe?
Along with articles about
pumping iron and healthy eat
ing, the April edition of Men’s
Health listed Santa Fe’s Sum
mer Classics among its “25
Greatest Getaways for Men.”
“We’ve found the best places
you’ve never been,” the article
begins-“high-point adventures
you can plan right now and
brag about for years.” The fea
ture lists opportunities such as
climbing the sand dunes of
Namibia, cage-diving with
Great White sharks in South
Africa, and piloting a subma
rine in Mexico. Studying the
classics at St. John’s sounds
pretty cool, too: “Do you really
want to check out of this life
without having known what
Shakespeare, Mozart, and Tol
stoy were going on about? Take
{The College-
a crash course in the human
experience-and spend a sab
batical summer to rememberby registering at St. John’s Col
lege, where laymen are invited
to delve into the great works of
man in small classes....”
This year’s Summer Classics
offerings are luxuriously eclec
tic, combining classics of the
East and West with modern
fiction and a generous serving
of music.
The first week, July rr-i6,
features Joseph Conrad and
Henry James, Xenophon, and
Freud in the morning; in the
afternoon participants take on
the stories and short novels of
Dostoevsky and Gregorian
Chant,
During week two, July 18-23,
morning session participants
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
can choose from Mozart or Lao
Tzu, or Jane Austen paired with
Shakespeare. Afternoon partic
ipants can take on Copernican
meditations, the short stories
of Thomas Mann, or the
Platonic dialogues Laches,
Charminides, otEuthyphro.
The third week, July 25-30,
features a.m, offerings of
Mahler, the Yoga Visitha, and
Spinoza. In the afternoon par
ticipants can study Maurice
Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenolo
gy ofPerception, Montaigne
essays, or Faulkner’s Absalom!
Absalom!
The full schedule of seminars
and tutors are available on the
college Web site: www.sqohnscollege.edu.
�{From the Bell Towers}
Journalistic Johnnies
The
Gadfly
What Dfcl You Do During the Hurricane?
The Moon ^z/z^/The Gadfly/
Politics, Poetry, Punditry
Of the four individuals who
edited the student newspapers in
Annapolis and Santa Fe this past
academic year, not one has the
shghtest interest in pursuing a
journahsm career. Yes, it had
crossed their minds at one point
or another, hut they have all
talked themselves out of it.
Cathy Keene, a rising junior
in Annapolis who helped edit
The Gadfly for two years, admits
to being a deadhne junkie and
loves being in the know on
controversies or breaking news.
But one summer spent working
at a magazine convinced her
she should consider another
way to make a living. “Too
much stress,” she explains.
Ian McCracken, her co-editor
this year, is graduating and head
ing to law school. Santa Fe Moon
co-editor Jonathan Morgan,
a senior, is more interested in
biotechnology; senior Margaret
Garry is now leaning toward law
school and politics.
So, if it’s not a career goal that
tethers these individuals to to to
12 hours a week of writing, edit
ing, and production headacheson top ofwork-study jobs and
all the regular rigors of the
Program- what is it?
“1 have no idea why 1 do it,”
Keene admits. “We’re all
friends at The Gadfly, and it’s
really fun getting it out every
week. It gives me a real connec
tion to the Polity.”
“We get to produce this little
snapshot of St. John’s,” says
Garry. “And it’s really cool
seeing the Moon come together,
from somebody’s idea to
publication.”
The two periodicals differ
significantly in graphic style,
content, and tone. The Gadfly is
heavy on politics and Polity
issues; fiction and poetry are
more hkely to turn up in the
Moon (though it doesn’t shy
away from hard news either).
The Gadfly savors the backand-forth of intellectual argu
ments between two people
j
that can span several issues.
In the Moon, the “campus
moralist” expounds on issues
of student conduct; The Gad
fly has “You Make the Gall,”
athletic director Leo Pickens’
regular sports rules quiz.
Consider some of the offer
ings in Volume 8, Issue 4, of the
Moon', an opinion piece honor
ing military veterans; a feature
on the Web site bartcop.com, a
first-person parody of a seminar
on The Runaway Bunny, an
explanation of the Student
Review Board, a think piece
about the value of studying clas
sical languages, an investigative
report on problems concerning a
Common Room, and a science
fiction fantasy offering on
“Poster Wars.”
And Volume 25, Issue 20, of
The Gadfly: of review of tutors’
performance of The Birds', an
extensive piece on a cover-up by
the liberal media, three-and-ahalf pages of letters to the edi
tors, a review of Mr. Grenke’s
Friday-night lecture on Kant,
and “Why 1 Hate George W.
Bush, the Final Installment,”
including the author’s offer of a
cup of coffee for those who
would sit down and talk with him
about their opposing views.
Both publications attracted
controversy this year. The Gad
fly was delayed when assistant
dean Judith Seeger and student
services director Joy Kaplan
decided two stories should not
run. One included potentially
libelous material, the other con
fidential college information.
Seeger doesn’t see her role as
a watchdog; she reviews the
publication with an eye to
{The College-
protecting the college from law
suits. “We have occasionally
seen things that we think are
sometimes cruel, and we’ll
say ‘do you really want to put
that in your paper?’ And some
times they have listened and
reconsidered.”
The Gadfly was also blasted
for running a sham review
submitted by two students on a
movie they called “Tough Jew.”
“What really got people mad was
the photo we ran with it-Leo
Strauss. The cutline was: ‘Leo
Strauss: tough?’ One tutor wrote
in and said, basically, ‘how dare
you?’ We were totally blown
away by the response. We
defended ourselves, and then
we learned the movie was a
fake-we looked even stupider.
It was a learning experience,”
Keene says.
The Moon editors also had a
learning experience in the
Santa Fe campus response to
the newspaper’s “2003 Dirty
Poetry Contest” issue last fall.
The issue included photographs
of female students that some in
the campus community consid
ered racy; others considered
them degrading.
“There were several different
objections to the issue from
faculty members, the administra
tion, even a couple of students,”
Morgan says. “I think the most
valid point is that showing
certain students in that frame
work contributed to kind of an
uncomfortable classroom
environment. I hadn’t really
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
thought it was that immense of a
deal. People have bodies.”
After Morgan and Garry sent a
letter to the faculty apologizing
for the issue, and promising to
be more responsive in the
future, a proposed resolution
condemning the Moon turned
into a resolution supporting the
newspaper. “I regret that we
offended some people, but I
still think it was a great issue
because it got people’s atten
tion,” he says.
While both publications
accept advertisements, they’re
not self-supporting and, like
other student groups, get fund
ing allocated by the college.
McCracken believes the publica
tions might be better if they were
independent and funded by ad
revenue. “Given all the guidefines, I sometimes think it would
be easier if we weren’t affiliated
with the school. I know of people
who would write more things if
they knew their copy wasn’t
going to be reviewed by the
administration first,” he says.
Morgan hopes future Moon
editors work to maintain the
publication as a voice for
students. “I like that the Moon
doesn’t have a strict focus,
that we can have poetry and
artwork, a commentary on
Dante’s Inferno or the Iliad,
philosophical pieces and funny
pieces,” he says. “I like the
creativity. ”4-Rosemary Harty
�{From the Bell Towers}
5
A Meeting of Mids: Students Launch
Joint Seminars with the Naval Academy
The Johnnies wore
jeans and t-shirts
and lounged
comfortably at the
seminar table. Bolt
upright in their
chairs, white caps
set neatly in front of
them on the table,
the midshipmen
were clad in their
dark uniforms and
polished shoes.
As they spoke, they
looked to the semi
nar leaders, tutor
Louis Miller and
Naval Academy
Professor Lt. David
Bonfili, and resisted
the urge to raise
their hands.
The text before
the group of to students was
Thoreau’s “On Civil Disobedi
ence.” Miller’s opening ques
tion drew from Thoreau’s
words: “Can there not be a
government in which
majorities do not virtually
decide right and wrong,
but conscience?-in which
majorities decide only those
questions to which the rule of
expediency is applicable?”
For two hours, students
grappled with the text not as
students from a military
academy or liberal arts
college, but as intelligent,
self-directed individuals eager
to grasp the heart of an idea.
The discussion quickly drew
out strong responses, but it
didn’t evolve into a debate
between students from the two
institutions. Thoreau’s stance
on not paying taxes and his
views about resisting an unjust
government were seen by
some of the midshipmen as
ideological luxuries. One
midshipman was distinctly
annoyed by what he described
as Thoreau’s “arrogant” ideal
Junior Rachel Hall
AND Midshipman
David Buck
ism. “He’d like to be a martyr,
but he’s not,” said a midship
man who pointed out that
Thoreau did not resist when
his friends bailed him out of
jail. And several studentsJohnnies and mids alikedisagreed with Thoreau’s
stance that it was not his
“business” to petition the
government to remedy what
he viewed as unjust laws.
Saida Johnnie, “Thoreau
believes that we won’t need gov
ernment if we’re enlightened.”
Enlightenment is a fine
thing, a midshipman coun
tered. But who will build the
roads? Can we convene a
government just when we need
one to accomplish some
particular goal? Can we call
up a military force only when
under attack?
One of the midshipmen said
that governments do make bad
decisions and meddle in per
sonal liberty; citizens should
protest when a government’s
actions are unjust. “There are
people who don’t have any
thing to do with me making
{The College.
decisions about how I live my
life,” she said.
“Not all of us,” said another
midshipman, “can be Martin
Luther King or Gandhi. If
everyone stopped supporting
the government, I don’t know
where we’d be today.”
After the seminar, the
group gathered in the Great
Hall with the participants of
the five other seminars, about
70 in total. Midshipman David
Buck attended all three semi
nars, partly out of interest in
the readings, but also because
his girlfriend, St. John’s junior
Rachel Hall, helped to organ
ize them. Hall hit on the idea
when she began reading Sun
Tsu’s The Art of War last year
and found she wanted to dis
cuss it with a group of people.
She brought the idea to Navy
Professor David Garren, and
Garren helped recruit Navy
co-leaders and organize the
seminars. “He was very enthu
siastic about it,” said Hall,
who found St. John’s tutors
were also pleased to partici
pate. The first seminar, in
St. Jo hn’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
January 2003, was
on Sun Tsu’s The Art
of War. Johnnies
went to the Naval
Academy to discuss
Plato’s Crito last fall.
Jacob Thomas,
a junior, found the
Thoreau seminar the
best of the three so
far, because mid
shipmen had caught
on to the dynamic of
seminar. In discus
sion of Sun Tsu,
their superior
military knowledge
tended to lead them
to dominate the conversations,
he said.
“But this time, they really
became involved in the discus
sion and in Thoreau’s ideas,
which was wonderful,” said
Thomas.
“It’s good for our students to
be exposed to each other,” said
Lt. Bonfili, a political science
professor. “I see the diversity
of opinions coming out.”
Having encountered John
nies during waltz parties,
croquet, and Reality, Buck
has been impressed with the
intellectual side of St. John’s.
Still, he added, “Johnnies are
crazier than mids.”
Like croquet, the joint
seminars seem to have become
another tradition, says junior
Mark Ingham, who helped
organize the seminars. “The
more you talk with the mid
shipmen, the less intimidated
you are by the uniform,”
he said.
-Rosemary Harty
�{From the Bell Towers}
6
News and
Announce
and in Santa Fe from 1989-96
before she came to Annapolis
in 1997-
ments
Steve Linhard, assistant
Appointments
In the Graduate Institutes,
effective June i: Tutor
Krishnan Venkatesh
becomes director in Santa Fe;
tutor Joan Silver the director
in Annapolis. Venkatesh has
been a tutor since 1989. He
earned a bachelor’s in English
from Magdalene College,
Cambridge. He spent more
than three years conducting
postdoctoral research in
Shakespeare and Renaissance
English at the University of
Muenster, West Germany, and
later taught at Shanxi Universi
ty, People’s Republic of China,
where he helped develop an
ESL curriculum.
Silver earned her bachelor’s
degree from the State Univer
sity of New York, College at
Old Westbury, a master’s from
St. John’s, and a doctorate in
Theology and the Arts from
Graduate Theological Union.
She was a tutor in Annapolis
from 1974-77, a tutor for several
summers beginning in 1985,
Middle States Review
Annapolis Appointment
St. John’s in Annapolis has earned a lo-year reaccreditation
from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
The college’s accreditation was reaffirmed at the March
meeting of the commission and followed a review of the
college’s extensive self-study.
A report from the evaluation team affirmed that St. John’s
is carrying out its educational objectives. The college
community found its opening words most gratifying:
“St. John’s College (SJC) deserves its reputation as one of
the best and most distinctive institutions in the United States,
indeed the world. The College has a long and unswerving
history of commitment to a single ideal: the life of the mind
as principally represented in the great books of the Western
tradition. Everything in the educational program evolves from
this ideal and it has worn well over many years. By design,
change occurs slowly at SJC and this deliberateness buffers the
College from the swings of fad and momentary diversions that
often plague other sectors of higher education.”
The college this year also sought accreditation from the
American Academy for Liberal Education; a decision from the
AALE is pending.
treasurer in Annapolis, will fill
the position of treasurer on the
recommendation of St. John’s
President Christopher Nelson
and the campus faculty. The
college’s board approved the
appointment. Linhard came
to the college in 1997 as con
troller. Prior, he was the
accounting manager/
controller for the Chesapeake
Bay Foundation.
New Staff
in
Santa Fe
Doug Single joins the college
as director for college-wide
major gifts. He brings
extensive fund-raising and
management experience to
the new position. After earn
ing bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in political science
from Stanford University,
Single became associate
director of athletics and
assistant football coach at
Stanford; he also served as
athletic director at Southern
Methodist and Northwestern
universities. Single recently
served as chief executive
officer of the David Douglas
Marketing Group in San
Francisco.
John Hartnett (SF83) has
been named communications
director. Hartnett attended
the Santa Fe campus before
going on to earn undergradu
ate degrees in philosophy and
economics from the University
of Illinois. He also holds a
master’s degree in writing
from Hamline University in
St. Paul, Minn. Most recently,
he was the president of his
own marketing communica
tions company. 4"
Consider Consolidating
Alumni with student loans may
want to look into consolidating
them into one fixed-rate loan,
the college’s Financial Aid
offices advise. Student-loan
consolidation involves paying
off current federal education
loans in full and creating a new
loan with a new interest rate
and repayment term up to 30
years. Federal Stafford and
PLUS loans charge variable
rates that are set by formulas
based on the last auction of 91day U.S. Treasury bills in May.
Federal consolidation loans,
however, carry fixed rates that
are based on the rates of the
loans being consolidated.
In recent years, the variable
student loan rate, determined
by the government, has been
at record lows (3.4 percent
on Stafford loans in May), but
interest rates are expected to
rise this year. Parents of college
students who have taken out
PLUS loans may also consoli
date these loans at current
rates.
There’s another reason to act
quickly, says Caroline Chris
tensen, financial aid director in
Annapolis. Legislation expected
{The College -Sf.
to come before Congress as part
of its renewal of the Higher
Education Act this year could
turn that low fixed rate into a
variable rate in the future.
Proponents of the bill say the
government is losing millions
in subsidies it pays to lenders
and want the savings directed
to other aid programs for
currently-enrolled students.
However, new alumni face
complications. “Ifyou consoli
date during your six-month
grace period, you lock in at the
in-school rate, currently 2.82
percent,” Christensen says.
John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
“What ifyou lock in at 2.82 per
cent, then rates drop on June
30? You’ll have a higher rate for
the fife of your loan, in addition
to losing remaining months of
interest-free grace period when
you consolidate. So you want to
wait until very close to the end
of your grace period.”
Contact your lender or the
Financial Aid office on either
campus: in Annapolis,
410-626-2503; in Santa Fe,
505-984-6058. Information on
researching and comparing
loan programs is available at
www.estudent.com.
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
Board Approves Polity Amendments
Among the many actions it took
at its quarterly meeting in April,
the college’s Board of Visitors
and Governors approved a
change to the college Polity,
the governing document for
St. John’s College.
The Management Committee-which oversees non-aca
demic policy and coordinates
administration of the two campuses-was made a permanent
part of the St. John’s governing
structure. The Management
Committee was established in
3000 and included as an addi
tion to the Polity with a five-year
sunset clause. The board voted
to delete the sunset clause, thus
continuing the committee.
This action represents the
culmination of a several-year
review of the Pohty, which also
resulted in a rewording to reflect
gender-neutral language and
10 amendments being passed in
April 3003. One of these amendments-the addition of sexual
orientation to the college’s
non-discrimination poUcy-had
been controversial a decade ago.
During a review of the Polity in
r993, the board failed to adopt
an amendment that specifically
prohibited discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation.
Five years later, in 1998, the
issue was not even raised.
“The first time it came up, it
was so bitter, so divisive, that
people were afraid to bring it
up again,” said Jean FitzSimon
(A73), a lawyer who served on
the board committee that took
up the most recent review of
the document. Original resist
ance to adding to the document
was centered on the belief that
discrimination based on sexual
orientation was covered by
other laws, and therefore did
not need to be spelled out,
FitzSimon said.
FitzSimon and other commit
tee members believed other
wise: “Even if it [discrimination]
isn’t happening at the college,
the Pohty is the Polity. We talked
about the public nature of this
document, and we felt that this
was something that had to be
speUed out,” FitzSimon said.
This time around the Polity
Review Committee, led by Greg
Curtis, did bring up the issue as
it began to work through possi
ble revisions in 3003. This com
mittee recommended, and the
Board adopted, a revised
non-discrimination clause:
“There shall be no discrimi
nation at St. John’s College in
appointments, conditions of
employment, admissions,
educational policy, financial aid
programs, athletics, or other
activities, on the basis of race,
religion, age, sex, national
origin, color, disabiUty and/or
physical handicap, sexual orien
tation, or other characteristic
protected by any applicable
federal, state or local law.”
In the Nick of Time
A TRAFFIC STOP ON THEIR WAY TO THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE NEARLY MADE THIS GROUP OF AnNAPOLIS SENIORS
MISS THE MIDNIGHT DEADLINE FOR TURNING IN THEIR SENIOR ESSAYS. (ThE POLICE OFFICER WAS UNIMPRESSED
WITH THE students’ PLEAS TO LET THEM GO ON THEIR WAY.) FrOM LEFT TO RIGHT ARE DeAN HaRVEY
Flaumenhaft, Justin Berrier, Hayden Brockett, Melissa Thomas, and Joseph Method. A rattled
Thomas is more than ready to hand over copies of her essay, “Reconciling Faith with Action.”
{The College
■ St. Jo hn ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
7
Taxing
Bachelors
As Maryland’s legislators grap
pled this spring with measures
to raise money for the state’s
coffers, word of an innovative
approach from the past-a tax on
bachelors-reached The College,
thanks to Richard Israel, retired
Maryland assistant attorney
general.
While browsing through pages
of General Assembly proceed
ings, Israel found that in 1761
legislators issued a series of
proposals for funding a college
that eventually resulted in
St. John’s. The “batchelor’s tax”
was expected to have a value of
500 pounds or more, according
to a bill aimed at acquiring
Bladen’s Folly, now McDowell
Hall. Listed also were 600
pounds to be raised through
licenses for public ordinaries
(pubs), 150 pounds from taxes
on wheel carriages, and 90
pounds through fees on card
and billiard tables.
The idea wasn’t just to raise
money, but also to encourage
single men to settle down, as
Israel found in the Acts of the
General Assembly, 1755-56:
“Forasmuch as Divine Institu
tions ought to be strictly
observed in every well-regulated
Government, and as that in
Regard to the entering into the
holy Estate of Matrimony may
tend to the more orderly Propa
gation of Mankind, it ought, not
only in a rehgious, but pohtical
View, to be promoted, and the
continuing in a State of Gehbacy
discountenanced, especially in
every Infant Country.”
The measure, however, was
never signed into law. After
several subsequent attempts,
St. John’s was chartered as a
college in 1784, soon after the
end of the Revolutionary War.
The charter provided that the
college would be financed by the
revenue from several different
taxes.
— Rebecca Wilson
(AGI82)
�{From the Bell Towers}
8
Fun-Raising, East and West
Art, Wine, and Good Conversation Brighten Winter's Dark Nights
Two events in January show that alumni and other college support
ers won’t pass up a chance for self-improvement along with the
opportunity to stay connected to St. John’s. Fine wine and good
food can’t hurt, either.
In Santa Fe, Larry Turley (SF69) brought the extraordinary
wines of Turley Wine Cellars to a benefit hosted by the Philos
Society-a group of local patrons of the college. The event had
wine-lovers buzzing over Turley’s hard-to-find wines, paired with
gourmet food.
Philos Society Event
Features Turley Wines
“Wine is the glass ofthe mind. ’’-Erasmus
A wine dinner hosted by the
Philos Society of St. John’s
College brought too people
from the Santa Fe community
to the rooftop garden room of
La Fonda Hotel in January.
While the opportunity to learn
more about St. John’s College
and fine wines attracted many,
it was clear that the main
attractions were the Napa
Valley wines provided by Larry
Turley (SF69). After all,
there’s a two-year waiting list
for Turley’s coveted wines,
such as a aooi bottle of The
White Coat. The event was
limited to 100, and the tickets,
at $125 apiece, sold out well in
advance.
Now the owner of Turley
Wine Cellars, Turley earned a
medical degree and became an
emergency-room physician
after leaving St. John’s.
He co-founded the Frog’s Leap
Winery in 1981, and then
moved on to open Turley Wine
In Baltimore, Philanthropia (the Alumni Development
Council) and President Christopher Nelson hosted a “Conversa
tion About the State of the College’’ at the Baltimore Museum of
Art. Wintry weather in December cancelled the first attempt at
the BMA event, but the rescheduled event was well-attendedencouraging Philanthropia to plan future stimulating occasions
to keep Johnnies informed and involved in the college.
Cellars with his sister,
Helen (A67).
The hotel’s wine
experts and chefs
worked to create the
night’s dinner menu.
The White Coat was
paired with appetizers;
langostino and goat
cheese empanadas with
toasted pinon-green
apple slaw. Next came
the duck confit on
greens tossed with chile
cascabel-basil vinai
grette, served with a
aooi Pesenti Vineyard
Zinfandel. Paired with
the third course
(pan-roasted chicken
breast with white truffle
demi-roasted garlic
mashed potatoes and sauteed
spaghetti squash) was a aooi
Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel.
A aooi Library Vineyard
Petite Syrah accompanied
cheese and fruit.
The event raised $6,500 for
the college’s Annual Fund.
Left: Philos board member
Charmay Allred shares her
APPRECIATION FOR LaRRY
Turley’s wine.
Above: Richard Morris,
A PAST BOARD MEMBER OF THE
COLLEGE, AND
JeFF BiSHOP
(HA96), VICE PRESIDENT FOR
COLLEGEWIDE ADVANCEMENT,
PERUSE SILENT AUCTION
OFFERINGS.
{The College.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
Turley donated some of the
wine for the event and provided
the rest at cost. In his holo tie
and denim shirt, he circulated
among the guests, talking
about wine and wine-making
and graciously accepting
compliments from wine lovers
grateful for a chance to experi
ence something extraordinary.
The Philos Society of
St. John’s College was founded
to foster and enhance commu
nication, understanding, and
joint activities between the
college and its community.
Co-chairs of the board are
Donn Duncan, M.D., and
Robert Zone, M.D.
�{From the Bell Towers}
9
Friday at the BMA
WITH Chris
Thanks to Philanthropia (the Alumni Development Council)
and Annapolis President Christopher Nelson, BaltimoreWashington alumni had an opportunity to enjoy a private viewing
of the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Cone Collection. Afterwards,
the 82 alumni gathered for conversation, refreshments catered by
The Classic Catering People, owned by Harriet Dopkin (A77), and
an update on the college by the president.
The sights and sounds of the evening echoed the style of the
Cone Collection, creating an impressionistic tableau of delights
for the eyes, treats for the tongue, fellowship for the soul, and
ample food for thought. Thus, as an homage to the Cone
Collection, The College offers its report in the style of the
impressionists.
The Art
time in Paris among the expatriates. It was as though he had memo
rized all the accompanying notes on the walls. It was great fun hstening to him-he completed the experience for me. I’m not sure going
through the Cone Collection will ever be the same.
“Although I didn’t ask a question of Chris Nelson, I liked hear
ing what he had to say, and I know that people felt free to ask him
anything about the college. I was reminded that I still don’t know
very much about the Santa Fe campus and what its financial needs
are, or what those needs grow out of.”
Matisse, Purple Robe and Anemones, Interior, Flowers, and
Parakeets
Picasso, Mother and Child
Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seenfrom theBibemus Quarry
Monet, Waterloo Bridge
Van Gogh, Landscape With Figures
Fete avec Biere et Vin
Caprese skewers of pesto-rubbed grape tomatoes, baby mozzarella,
and kalamata olives
Dried fig, walnut, and goat cheese tapenade
Tenderloin roulades with spinach and portobello mushrooms
Jumbo lump crab fondue with a hint of dry sherry and old bay
Miniature fruit tarts, petite brownies, raspberry almond bars, and
fresh strawberries
DeGroen’s micro brew. Banrock Station wine, coffee, tea
Report of the President
Applicant pool up, attrition down.
Graduate Institute-healthy.
A new dormitory with water view is being built for 48 students.
The Santa Fe Initiative invests $4.5 million in the campus and
student life.
Gratitude for The Hodson Trust’s
$10 million grant, which funded
the Mellon renovation and new
dormitory.
Two or three additional major gifts
this year: a possibility.
The help and support of aU alumni
at all levels of giving: priceless.
President Christopher Nelson with Mark Lindley (A67).
Stacey Andersen (AGI93): “While we were wandering through the
Cone Collection, we noticed it was noisy: not normal museum
behavior. Yet we were expected to talk. There’s a commonality
we’ve run into with people who’ve gone to St. John’s. There’s a
shared dialogue. It’s a tone that was set and carried throughout
the evening. I think that’s what led to the discussion that contin
ued after Chris Nelson gave his introductory talk. We thought the
venue for an alumni function was fantastic. Is there abetter place
to unleash a group of Johnnies than in a museum? Thank you for
giving us the text! ”
- SUS3AN Borden, A87
The Reviews
Sara Stuart (Ago): “Mark Lindley
(A67) must have gone through the
Cone Collection before Brad (A89)
and I arrived. He was able to teU us
about all of the paintings and art
objects, and about the Cone sisters’
Above: The feast
Right: Sara Larson Stuart (Ago),
Brad Stuart (A89), and Philanthropia
EVENT CHAIR Steph Takacs (A8g)
{The College.
5t. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Letters}
Febbie Question Answered
Wendell Finner’s account of his query
concerning SJC’s lack of Eastern authors
(Winter 2004) brought back a memory of
Douglas Allenbrook that 1 cherish more as
political correctness continues to elimi
nate free speech.
During convocation for the Febbie 1980
class, one student asked about the lack of
Eastern authors. Without hesitation, and
with a charming smile, Mr. Alienbrook
replied “...the only thing good that has
come out of the East was the Sun.” Memo
ries like these convince me that St. John’s
College is more important than ever to
liberal education and free thought.
Steven D. Brower
(A83)
The Lost Languages
It was a joy and consolation to read the
article about the intensive Latin summer
classes in the Fall 2003 issue of
The College. It made up for the allegation
by a recent commencement speaker that
the students in front of him were lucky to
have the best education: liberal arts,
i.e. trivium and quadrivium-or, as my
Munich editor explained to colleagues at
the Beck publishing house, the “Septem
Artes”'we did at this interesting college in
America. Yes, the liberal arts, all seven of
them, and four foreign languages, the
commencement speaker said: Greek
and Latin and German and French.
The graduates kept a straight face.
Latin had already been dropped from the
curriculum when I joined St. John’s in
i960. German survived another couple of
years; then it, too, was gone. I taught one
of the last classes. It was a pleasure, and a
profitable one. We read bits of the Luther
translation of the Bible, the beginning of
Genesis and the opening of the Gospel of
John, and the juniors recalled some of the
Greek New Testament. We read Lessing
and a little Kant (with the surprising
earthiness of his vocabulary); we read
some Goethe; some of the rhymed caution
ary tales of Heinrich Hoffmann...and stuck
to texts that seemed more memorable and
discussable.
There was a young man in that class, Jim
Forrester (A62). He took the very first
[translation], six weeks into the first
semester. I was amazed at the result, which
included a perfect translation of a page
from Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy. He
translated it into real English, not translaterese, and showed an astonishing feel
''Yes, sing ye and
chant id andyou il learn to
speak and read it.. ”
Beate Ruh m von Oppen
for nuances. Next time the class met I
asked Mr. Forrester if he had been a begin
ner when we began six weeks ago. He said:
“Yes”-and after a moment’s reflection he
added: “I’d sung some Bach.”
Bach makes the language, especially
the biblical language, Luther’s German,
memorable. It sticks in the mind-even
as some of Picander’s poetry in the
St. Matthew Passion does, or perhaps just
first words like “Buss undReuf though
the Gospel of Matthew itself is more
memorable, e.g., “Der Geist ist willig,
aber das Fletsch ist schwach ” quotable
and even usable in daily life...
That remark by Jim Forrester taught me
that singing is the best way to learn a
language. Perhaps poetry, anything that
scans is the next best. So we now leave
German (and Latin) to the freshman
chorus and the other, voluntary singing
groups. Yes, sing ye and chant it! - and
you’ll learn to speak and read it...
Beate Ruhm von Oppen
Tutor Emerita
Thailand’s War on Drugs
I wanted to address something that [Tiitor
Linda] Weiner said in describing her
summer in Thailand (Winter 2004).
Ms. Weiner suggested that Thailand
benefits from an “enlightened monarch”
and described the king’s policy of replac
ing opium farms with organic farms.
While the king may be enlightened, Thai
land’s Prime Minister and police force are
not. In Thailand’s own war on drugs, 2,245
people were killed in an anti-drug cam
paign from February to April 2003. The
police admitted to killing 50 themselves,
and many others were killed as they
returned from police stations. Thai
officials have neglected to investigate or
prosecute the killings. In August Prime
Minister Thaksin said, in reference to drug
smugglers crossing from Myanmar to
Thailand, “From now on if their trafficking
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
caravans enter our soil, we won’t waste our
time arresting them, but we will simply kill
them.” This and other policy statements of
the Prime Minister suggest that more extra
judicial killings will come.
The international community, including
the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudi
cial, summary or arbitrary executions;
Amnesty International; and the Drug
Policy Alliance, have expressed outrage
over the human rights abuses stemming
from Thailand’s war on drugs. I would hate
for Johnnies to get the impression that the
program described by Ms. Wiener is
indicative of Thai drug policy. More
information can be found in the Amnesty
International report “Thailand-Grave
Developments-Killings and Other
Abuses” available atwww.amnesty.org
Renate Lunn
Room
for
(A96)
Gauss
Doing year-end cleaning I chanced upon
Sheri McMahon’s letter in the Spring 2003
issue of The College. I guess it’s a recurring
topic among alumni who reflect upon the
mathematics tutorial.
I personally have often thought it a pity
not to pursue geometry a little further.
I always felt a historical approach to
Gauss’s Theorema Eregiurn on curved sur
faces or something like that might be pos
sible. Michael Spivak does something
along these lines in his Comprehensive
Introduction to Differential Geometry.
I always felt there was no greater figure left
out of the program than Gauss, that there
was a route to some of his work in geome
try that would be accessible to seniors, that
it was the perfect context for glimpses of
non-Euclidean geometry and general
relativity that were offered in the tutorial
(nearly three decades ago!), that it has a
perfect antecedent in the spherical
geometry of Ptolemy.
Mark Copper
(SF76)
Words and Deeds
Thank you for the article in the Winter
2004 issue on Santa Fe’s martial artists.
The Annapolis campus has also enjoyed the
Asian martial traditions over the years.
In 1977 tutor David Starr persuaded one of
his former philosophy students from the
University of Rhode Island, a prodigiously
talented gentleman named Robert Galeone, to move to Annapolis to teach the
Okinawan system of Uechi-ryu karatedo.
continued on nextpage
�{Letters}
I was Mr, Galeone’s first student at the col
lege club, which met in one of the handball
courts in Iglehart Hall on Tuesday and
Wednesday evenings, and Saturday morn
ings. Mr. Galeone, a 5th-degree black belt,
produced quite a few serious students over
the seven years that he led the dojo....
Today, Annapolis students interested in
aikido may join the U.S. Naval Academy’s
Aikido Club, which holds classes on both
the Naval Academy campus and in Iglehart
Hall. (For more information, see
http://www.geocities.com/navyaikido/.)
It seems to me that study and practice of
the martial arts, whether from Asia or the
West, is essential to the development of a
free citizen. Whether the pen is mightier
than the sword is not the right question.
Rather, why should the study of one pre
clude the study of the other? To paraphrase
a Japanese proverb, in the hands of an
educated individual, the sword and the pen
are one. Unfortunately, it is too easy for a
student of the liberal arts to acquire a great
and unjustified faith in the power of speech,
along with an all-too-ready skepticism
concerning action. Words need the support
of deeds. As Mr. Galeone once said, “The
body remembers what it does, and not what
you tell it.” Martial arts training provides
the student with the framework to become
as proficient in the world of action as he or
she is in the world of reason, by teaching
balance, grace, and poise, all while facing
an adversary. I hope that students on both
campuses will take advantage of the
opportunities to pursue these disciplines.
Jim Sorrentino (A8o)
Calendar Mysteries Revealed
I was quite amazed to open the 2004
calendar and find a photo of my high
school math teacher (February 2004).
He is Thomas Yoon (A58), and he taught
me trigonometry and led a philosophy
seminar at Scarborough School, in
Scarborough, N.Y. My guess is that it
was 1967. He was an inspiring teacher with
a great sense of humor, and was the one
who told me about St. John’s College.
Pippi Ellison
few lists I have. The whole scene was
contrived, which is why there is a smirk on
the face of the guy front center and guy
left. Girl center was trying to look serious
and guy rear was told to pose in an
awkward position. The people at the end of
the table were told to look at each other.
No one has the same book. The photos
were intended for a catalog redesign, or a
flyer for the admissions office.
I was the student aide for Marsha Drennon, then admissions director, and helped
find the students and arrange the furni
ture. Notice how there aren’t any empty
chairs? We did have a blast doing the series
of pictures around the campus.
Michael David
(SF87)
Dumping Concerns
While I found the “Night Crawlers” letter
(Winter 2004) somewhat amusing as a
piece of black humor, I was taken aback
that there was no editorial note as to the
state of affairs since the dumping
occurred. Has all that stuff been leaching
into the ground and water and possibly the
creek ever since with nothing being done,
or was it cleaned up at some later date?
If not, I think [the college] is morally, and
perhaps legally, bound to address the prob
lem. Surely, SJC is not so philosophically
preoccupied that it doesn’t care what it
does to our environment?
Natalie Chambliss (class
of
1964)
Editor’s Note:
Steve Linhard, treasurer on the Annapolis
campus, says thatfor an undetermined
period oftime, a dumping ground was sited
on the college’s back campus. When the
college investigated severalyears ago, it
uncovered bricks, broken china, bottles.
(Aya)
The May 2004 photo of students at a table
on the dining hall balcony was taken in
June or July 1985. It was a PR photo from a
whole set of photos taken that day all over
the campus. The students in the photo are
mostly January freshmen, though I can’t
remember or find their names in any of the
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
cans, kitchen utensils, and similar domestic
refuse. “'Testpits were dug by an outside
survey company three summers ago, and
nothing ofany chemical nature was
found,” Linhard says. “In addition, core
samples were taken by a geological testing
firm to examine the soil contentforfeasibil
ityfor thermal conductivityfor the geother
mal heating systemfor the new dormitory.
These samples were examined and nothing
hazardous was discovered. ”
Errata
An article in the Fall 2003 issue stated that
Hans von Briesen attended and taught at
Stanford and the University of Rochester.
He attended the universities, but did not
teach at them.
The reading list on St. John’s history that
accompanied an article on the attempted
Navy takeover of St. John’s (Winter 2003)
should have included these works by
Charlotte Fletcher (HA69), former
librarian at the Annapolis campus: Cato's
Mirania: A Life ofProvost Smith, and
“St. John’s ‘For Ever’: Five Essays on the
History of King William’s School and
St. John’s College,” published in the
St. John'sReview (1990-91).
The College 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
Magazine, Public Relations Office,
St. John’s College, 1160 Camino Cruz
Blanca, Santa Fe, NM
87505-4599Letters can also be
sent via e-mail to:
rosemary.harty
@sjca.edu.
�{Revelation}
la
REVELATION
and
REDEMPTION
hat is the revelation in Flannery
O’Connor’s “Revelation”?
That was the question
The College asked of a group of
tutors and others in the St. John’s
College community. The short
essays that follow are presented as thoughtful responses to
a question posed in search of gaining more insight into a
puzzling and multi-layered short story. If you have not read
“Revelation,” or read it long ago, put this feature aside
until you can.
W
Ripe for Revelation
by Joan Silver
Lastfall I received a letter from a stu
dent who said she would be “graciously
appreciative” if I would tell her “just
what enlightenment” I expected her to
getfrom each ofmy stories. Isuspect she
had apaper to write. I wrote her back to
forget about the enlightenment andjust
try to enjoy them. I knew that was the
most unsatisfactory answer I could
have givenbecause, ofcourse, shedidnt
want to enjoy them, shejust wanted to
figure them out.
In most English classes the short story
has become a kind of literary specimen
{The College -John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
to be dissected. Every time a story of
mine appears in a Ereshman anthology,
I have a vision ofit, with its little organs
laid open, like afrog in a bottle.
I realize that a certain amount ofthis
what-is-the-significance has to go on,
but I think somethinghas gone wrong in
theprocess when, for so many students,
the story becomes simply a problem to
be solved, something which you evapo
rate to get Instant Enlightenment.
A story isn I really very good unless it
successfully resistsparaphrase, unless it
hangs on and expands in the mind.
Properly, you analyze to enjoy, but ids
equally true that to analyze with any
discrimination, you have to have
enjoyed already.. ..”
Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners.
I will assume that all who have read
Flannery O’Connor’s story, “Revela
tion,” have enjoyed it. We enjoy the
story, and her remarks above, somehow
as wholes, and also in their humorous
and penetrating details. In the spirit of
the above remarks, I would like to notice
numerous revelations which spring from
�{The Colleges?.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�14
{Revelation}
''In a crucial moment
ofthat vision, she
finds her own kind
bringing up the rear... ’
this story, which calls itself “Revelation” in
the singular. I hope that together they may
“hang on and expand in the mind.”
Perhaps the key revelation in the story is
the return to Mrs. Turpin of the enraged
question she asks of God, “‘Who do you
think you are?’”: “The question carried
over the pasture and across the highway
and the cotton field and returned to her
clearly like an answer from heyond the
wood.” This answer is a distillation of the
revelation already embedded in her earlier
questions: “‘How am I a hog and me both?
How am I saved and from hell too?’” At this
reply, Mrs. Turpin’s mouth opens (is it in
wonder or in understanding?), and she
does not speak. But this revelation is not
the end of the story.
Other revelations follow, mediated by a moment in which
she imagines the death of her husband, his truck hit by anoth
er, his “brains all over the road.” Seeing his truck return, she
herself begins to move, “hke a monumental statue coming to
life.” Only now do initial events of the story receive their
answering revelations.
An early revelation in the story is that “living demonstra
tions” are present in the world. When the story begins Mrs.
Turpin (who is “very large”) is entering the “very small”
waiting room of a doctor’s office; she is said to be a “living
demonstration that the room was inadequate and ridicu
lous.” As the story goes on, of course, we see that the waiting
room is exactly the right size for the events which take place
in it. A later echo which replies to this apparent “living
demonstration” immediately follows Mrs. Turpin’s “coming
to hfe.” The “old sow” and young hogs, above whose “pig
parlor” she confronts God, find their places in their “waiting
room” with ease: “They had settled all in one corner around
the old sow who was grunting softly. A red glow suffused
them. They appeared to pant with a secret hfe.” It is the sow
and the other pigs who become a real “living demonstra
tion” for Mrs. Turpin and for the reader. Her earher “glow
ering down” at the hogs and disdaining of others has become
a “gazing down”; she “remained there with her gaze bent to
them as if she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving
knowledge.”
{The College -
Two more echoes follow. The first is a
revelation and echo for Mrs. Turpin and
the reader alike; the second, for the read
er alone. Early on, Mrs. Turpin’s charac
ter is revealed by one of her inner
“games.” In one, she lies awake at night
“naming the classes of people.” She sep
arates and tries to rank human beings by
certain combinations of race and proper
ty, but the real people of her acquain
tance will not stay put in the places that
she gives them: “Usually by the time she
had fallen asleep all the classes of people
were moiling and roiling around in her
head, and she would dream they were all
crammed in together in a box car, being
ridden off to be put in a gas oven.” The
impulse from which such grading and judging spring leads
ultimately to the gas chamber-to spiritual and physical
death for all. This dream is echoed and transformed at the
end by Mrs. Turpin’s vision of the “vast horde of souls
rumbling toward heaven” in which all classes and kinds
are present. In a crucial moment of that vision, she finds
her own kind bringing up the rear: “she could see by their
shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were
being burned away.” Not the fire which makes the gas
chamber, but the fire of purgatory is needed. Note, too,
that hogs are easier to clean than humans; for pigs, only
water is needed.
The final echo is concerned with seeing (and with size).
Mrs. Turpin’s eyes were initially described as “little
bright black eyes . . . [that] sized up the seating situation”
and all else around her. After the vision just mentioned,
O’Connor tells us that her eyes are “small but fixed
unbfinkingiy on what lay ahead.” We may need to ask just
what is intended by “what lay ahead,” but, in this changed
description, we receive the revelation both that a kind of
steadfast looking is necessary for us, and that a transfor
mation of one’s manner of seeing in the world is possible,
(and that size-at least relative human size-does not
matter).
Among the many other revelations in the story, two
seem worthy of note in the context of the ones mentioned
above. The first concerns the catalyst for revelation, the
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
second the capacity to receive it. The story shows revelation-or the beginning of it-coming from the strangest
source: Mary Grace. The suffering of one human being,
her anger and anguish, gives birth to grace for another.
And in Ruby Turpin the story shows inquiry, linked with
sin, as a potential path to revelation and grace. Mrs.
Turpin’s inner “games” embody inquiry in a strange form:
who might I have been if not myself; what is my place with
in all of humanity? They also, of course, reveal pride mas
querading as gratitude. This picture remains a revelation,
if a comic one, of what can make one ripe for revelation.
Joan Silver is a tutor and incoming director ofthe Graduate
Institute in Annapolis.
In the Eye
of
15
Judgment Day
by Pamela Kraus
Ruby Turpin knows what should be and does her part to
make it so. She notices every instance of the messy, dirty,
unregulated world. She has her faults, she knows that, but
she’s a respectable, church-going woman who always tries to
make things right. She keeps pigs-just a few of the preemi
nent unclean animal-but she’s built them a concrete pen, a
“pig-parlor,” to keep them from wallowing in mud and slop,
and she hoses them down regularly. On the day of this story
Ruby accompanies her husband Claud to the doctor and sizes
up the waiting room: it’s small and dirty and filled with
slovenly, careless people. To counter the disorder she exer
cises the best force she can, her good disposition generously
Since the emergency, a wrathful Mrs. Turpin has been
demanding why Mary Grace called her an old wart hog from
hell. Mrs. Turpin is convinced that Jesus sent her the mes
sage and, though she has negotiated with him before, for
once, she finds that defense is futile. She has no one to turn
to. She doesn’t trust the cotton-pickers, whose comments
she finds intolerable and full of flattery. She can’t confide in
Claud (whose name sounds like “clod,” and who can’t shore
up her failing faith). She shouts defiantly to Jesus, “Who do
you think you are?”
The sight of the sun setting in the back pasture, “looking
over the paling of trees like a farmer inspecting his own
hogs,” triggers the collapse of her carefully-tended beliefs.
She inspects her own hogs, who are glowing rosy in the cor
ner of the pig parlor, and takes in the “abysmal life-giving
knowledge” from them-sees, I think, that though there is
no one out there measuring each person for a future crown,
yet we have the present life. There is no doctor behind the
waiting-room door, about to call our names. Mrs. Turpin
sees the vast parade of people, carried to heaven on the pur
ple bridge shouting hallelujah. She knows, for the moment
at least, that this is nothing but a dream.
Heaven
by Basia Miller
Mrs. Turpin’s revelation is pretty dark. She has experienced
the dark before-at the end of her dreams, everyone is
crammed in a boxcar and sent off to a gas oven. Today when
she and Claud enter their own dirt road on the way back from
the doctor’s, she is ready to see her home destroyed, “a burnt
wound between two blackened chimneys.” A few moments
before the end, she imagines the pickup truck being crushed
and her husband’s and the fieldhands’ brains oozing out on the
road. Her final revelation seems, too, to be of a world
destroyed, a kind of apocalypse that nevertheless offers “life
giving knowledge.”
First, Mrs. Turpin’s vision was affected in the waiting room.
When Mary Grace sent the book flying at her head, Mrs.
Turpin saw things smaller first, then she saw everything larg
er. The impact was particularly powerful because Mrs. Turpin
sensed that the girl had a deep, timeless knowledge of her,
perhaps of her soul. We who have heard Mrs. Turpin talking
incessantly, all afternoon, about her own goodness have to
ask if much of this talk isn’t inspired by self-doubt. She’s con
verted everyone’s gestures, everyone’s shoes, green stamps, Basia Miller is a Santa Fe tutor.
and traces of snuff into material for affirming her worth in the
eye of heaven, like a person feeding an insatiable hunger.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�i6
{Revelation}
''Thepurgatorial
vision reveals
all manner of
sinners lined up
ingroups...
bestowed, a veneer of nice manners and char
•
itable platitudes barely covering harsh judg
ments. This is her way of following the com
mandment Love Thy Neighbor. Both her
justice and her mercy are superficial rather
than utterly misplaced. They are poor imita
tions of the divine, not complete aberrations.
Yet they are not harmless: they hold her fast
in easygoing self-righteousness and could
forever blind her to herself.
Mary Grace is the only occupant of the wait
ing room who won’t submit to Ruby’s intru
sive geniality. An ugly, cranky, even mean
young woman, Mary Grace sees a deeper dis
order than Ruby sees, and her penetrating
eye is right on Ruby Thrpin. Mary Grace
waits in the waiting room but is sickened by
the world that surrounds her, as if she has
taken in its ugliness. She is most revolted at
Ruby, its banal and self-satisfied leading citi
zen. Seemingly lost to charity, or too bur
dened for it, she freely offers this world
her scorn.
Each of these judges is drawn to the other
from the first as to a perfect enemy. Mary
Grace rebuffs Ruby’s attempts at cordial
small talk, even when not directed to her, by making
grotesque faces. The affronts enliven Ruby’s insistence on
the virtue of good-naturedness. The garrulous, prettied-up
world of Ruby’s waiting room advances upon the stark,
friendless one defended by Mary Grace. When Ruby’s enthu
siasm reaches its peak, she bursts out in praise: “Thank you,
Jesus, for making everything the way it is! ” Mary Grace retal
iates. She launches her book at Ruby and goes for her throat.
Both fall in this battle. Mary Grace inflicts the blows, yet
she is the one sedated and removed to a hospital. The purple
swelling above Ruby’s eye and the marks on her throat are on
the surface; deeper is a more grievous wound. Not the book,
not the hands clenched around her throat, but the words
Mary Grace whispers as the two lock eyes hit home: “Go back
to hell where you came from, you old wart hog.” These words
“brooked no repudiation.” They strike Ruby’s center of grav
ity, confusing her sight and toppling her confidence. Ruby is
turned, readied for revelation; Mary Grace, an inadvertent
{The College-
cause of grace, goes to a fate we do not know.
The vision of an ugly wart hog besets Ruby
all afternoon. Driven by anger, confusion,
and need, she spills her story almost in spite
of herself to the Black cotton workers in her
employ. This veiled plea for compassion is
met with highly spirited but superficial concern-the kind of concern Ruby has been so
proud of and good at herself, especially with
the Blacks-and it angers her to receive it
from those she has considered so far beneath
her. She goes to her pig-parlor seething as
intensely as Mary Grace in the waiting room,
turns the hose on the pigs, and, like a comic
Job, thrusts question after question at God.
The questions begin in a forceful whisper,
“How am 1 a hog and me both?”, and reach a
summit of fury: “Who do you think you
are?”, the fundamental question to which a
vision is the mysterious answer.
The purgatorial vision reveals all manner
of sinners hned up in groups, each rejoicing
in its distinctive way, and puts Ruby in
her place. Ahead in line are the leapers
and rollickers; she, Claud, and the other
respectable people are last in the procession,
their virtues the sins being burned away. The vision is a
reminder of our essential unfitness to understand and follow
the commandment to love even when we desire to and a reve
lation of God’s inscrutable, comic ways. As Ruby stands gaz
ing upon “what lay ahead” and hearing at the crickets’ chirps
hallelujahs of praise, we wonder in what world Ruby now
is and whether it may embrace the edge that Mary Grace
inhabits.
99
Pamela Kraus, a tutor in Annapolis, also serves as editor of
the St. John’s Review.
The Private Hell
of
Ruby Turpin
by Cary Stickney
Without rereading the story, 1 want to say that the primary
revelation is what the girl in the doctor’s office says that
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
wounds Mrs. Turpin so: “You are a warthog from Hell!”
Ruby Turpin cannot forget it, and it brings on a kind of crisis
of faith, I presume because on some level Mrs. Turpin
acknowledges its truth. It is at least in part-the warthog
part-an inevitable consequence of existing as a creature in
the same cosmos with an infinitely good Creator. In this
sense I suppose even archangels are warthogs, compared to
the beauty of God. That the warthog is from Hell seems to me
to say that we have each taken the finite beauty and goodness
we might have had and thrown it away. That is, we are sin
ners, and we make a kind of hell for ourselves.
Looking back at the story I see that the girl in the waiting
room says, “Go back to Hell where you came from, you old
warthog!” Mrs. Thrpin had been revealing by her conversa
tion with the girl’s mother that she lives in a world of careful
ly maintained distinctions, and that she compensates herself
for the efforts she makes to be good by looking down on all
those who seem not to try as hard. She would not describe her
own world as a hell. But I see something hellish in the dream
we are told she sometimes has, in which her struggles to
17
maintain the picture of a well-ordered hierarchy of human
virtue and vice correlated with property ownership and
worth ancestry, to say nothing of skin color, give way to a
vision of a cattle-car crowded with every kind of human on
the way to a gas oven. In her waking hours, she sees a world
in which good people are the exception and things are get
tingworse. To be “saved,” as she believes she is, requires that
she think better of things than that, at least in an ultimate
sense, but it looks as if she has reduced God to a scorekeeper
and that her gratitude to have been created as the one we see
is dependent at least on her fear of and contempt for others.
The Wellesley girl, Mary Grace, may see that, and may mean
that she is far from heaven and fairly close to hell, so that it
would be easy to just go back. Of course being an effective
messenger may not require that the aptly named Mary Grace
fully understand the message she delivers.
Both the aspects of the revelation, that she is a warthog and
that she came from Hell, carry with them a redeeming and
mysterious grace: namely that in spite of our vanishingly
small claim to significance or beauty or even to being at all.
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
�i8
{Revelation}
we somehow do exist in the same cosmos with infinite beauty
and heing-God has made room for us and wants us to be.
That turns out to involve, in the Christian understanding,
that He has moreover forgiven us the waste of our time and
gifts, the pettiness and cruelty we might have avoided, and
that He offers us His love. What Mrs. Turpin demands to
know, namely how she can be herself and a hog too, or saved
and at the same time from hell, is the mystery that requires a
further revelation, or a deeper view of the one she has been
given.
In the story, Mrs. Turpin is hosing out the hog pen and
shaking her fist at God when the shape of the stream of water
momentarily comes to resemble a snake. She is at that
moment complaining to God that she might as well have
never tried to lead a good life at all, if she can be so insulted
and feel it so deeply; if, in a word, she is still just a warthog: in
spite of all her efforts still essentially no better than the worst
of sinners, the most lazy and wicked. This is a form of the
temptation to think that she should. Godlike, be able to make
herself, to accomphsh her own goodness and merit by her
unaided efforts, and thus, implicitly, to know good and evil:
to have the right to judge and condemn others presumably
less industrious or tasteful than herself. For if it does not ulti
mately matter what she does, and all saving power remains
with God, why has she troubled herself all these years? “Why
should we not sin the more, that Grace may abound?” asks
Paul, before repudiating the question.
The mystery and the final aspect of the revelation, granted
in her sunset vision, is that it does and does not matter. It
does: before she sees the highway into heaven she has seen
the setting sun like a farmer looking over the fence of the
treetops at his hogs, and she has seen her own hogs, clean
now and gathered around the old sow, the source of their
hves, and one kind of image of herself. She gazes “as if
through the very heart ofmystery,” and again, “as if she were
absorbing some abysmal, life-giving knowledge.” It is a
knowledge set off both by the previous sight of her husband’s
truck going down the road no bigger than a toy, liable at any
moment to be smashed, and by the fact of sunset itself. Even
without accident we are not here long. From the abyss, the
depths at greatest distance from God, she absorbs the knowl
edge that life-finite, particular, hog-ugly hfe-precisely in its
finitude, is beautiful, is full of God, its secret source. If those
hogs are beautiful, then so is she; it is right that she is who she
{The College-
is. But then it is equally right that others are who they are.
Her struggles to do right have not made her superior. When
she sees the horde of ascending souls, led by the crazy, lazy,
crippled, and off-key, she sees she had to make the efforts she
made to be who she is, not because God would not love her
otherwise, but because there must be all kinds of saved sin
ners, and it is a divine gift to be whatever kind you are.
It does not matter: the very virtues of the decent and
upright like herself are being burned away in the purging
fires of the ascent; that is, even their virtues are small and
small-minded in the hght of God’s love. That God’s love is not
hmited by human wickedness and yet does not annihilate the
significance of an individual life is part of the same revelation
as that an infinite being should make room for finitude to
begin with. Greation and redemption are revealed to be at
one.
Carey Stickney (A75) is a tutor in Santa Fe.
The Presence
of
Evil
by George Russell
Flannery O’Gonnor did not write about the lives of the
great, but the lives of the ordinary and the lowly. By conse
quence, the situations and actions of her characters are
most often the stuff of comic and not tragic report. One
finds himself laughing spontaneously at the human beings
in her stories. Nevertheless, she is not condescending to
her characters. She takes them seriously, holding them
accountable for their weaknesses and transgressions. They
may be ridiculous in the smallness of their views and
desires, but they suffer nonetheless for their sins, and one
is brought to feel for them in their sufferings and in the
realizations that their sufferings allow.
“Revelation” is a story about a day in the life of Ruby
Turpin, a farming woman who, as far as she knows, is
“saved” (“And wona these days I know I’ll we-era a
crown.”) and who, in her own words is “a respectable, hard
working, church-going woman.” From the first we are told
that Ruby Turpin is a woman, big in size (“I wish I could
reduce...”), blessed with a “good disposition” and “a little
of everything,” with the emphasis on “everything.” In the
story, we see her settled conclusions about the world
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
around her and her place and identity in that world and in
the divine plan come under an unexpected and jarring
attack during a visit with her husband to the doctor’s
office; and we witness a recovery which is as remarkable as
the fall.
A story with two distinct parts, “Revelation” in its first
part takes place in the waiting room of a doctor’s office.
The waiting room is emblematic of the shared human
condition. Human beings are susceptible to injury and
sickness. And their susceptibility is real; they get injured;
they get sick. However that maybe the case, the story is less
about bodily injury and illness than it is about another abo
riginal susceptibility, the proneness to sin and especially to
pride. It reminds one of the passage in the Bible from
On
the
Road to Damascus
by Michael Dink
The revelation that comes to Ruby, in the form of a book
thrown by Mary Grace that knocks her off her chair in the
doctor’s office, is in essence identical to that which came
to Saul, in the form of a flash of light that knocked him to
the ground on the road to Damascus. Prior to the revela
tion, Ruby and Saul shared a sense of their superiority to
certain other human beings, a superiority achieved by reg
ulating their conduct according to certain precepts and
recognized in the eyes of God. In Ruby this sense takes the
form of a self-congratulating condescension, in which she
sees herself as kind and tolerant to those inferiors, while
in Saul it took the more aggressive form of trying to pun
ish or reform those who had strayed from the right path.
When Ruby is called “a wart hog from hell” and Saul is
asked, “Why do you persecute me?” they are confronted
with the claim that they are sinners, certainly no better
than those they had despised, and perhaps even worse,
precisely because of the claim to righteousness implicit in
their despising, a claim that Saul, reborn as Paul, denies
that any human being can truthfully make.
Ruby struggles valiantly to deny this message, “But the
denial had no force.” She resents its being directed to her,
“a respectable, hard-working, church-going woman,”
19
Proverbs, “Pride goeth before destruction, and haughty
spirit before a fall.” The central dramatic incident that
takes place in the first part of the story occurs in the con
text of a conversation between three women, Mrs. Turpin,
a poor white woman, and the mother of a college student
named Mary Grace. The conversation of the women, taken
together with the reports of the narrator, reveals the pride
of the three women and of Mary Grace, but especially that
of Ruby Turpin.
About Mrs. Turpin we learn early on, that when she is
restless and unable to sleep, she has two nocturnal occupa
tions. In one, she seems to be acutely aware of the contin
gent character of her present life. Like Eve, who is tempted
by an alternative vision of the world, Mrs. Turpin’s imagi-
“though there was trash in the room to whom it might
justly have been applied.” A kiss from her husband and
flattery from the black womenfolk of their hired help fail
to assuage her resentment.
When she goes to the pig parlor and tries to cleanse the
pigs, she speaks out her resentment, evidently to God,
indicating that she does recognize the source of the reve
lation, despite her resistance to it. She continues to justify
herself, to defend her innocence, her charity, her superi
ority to lower orders of people. Her fury bursts forth in a
defiant challenge, “Gall me a hog again. From hell. Gall
me a wart hog from hell. Put that bottom rail on top.
There’ll still be a top and bottom.”
After seeing her husband’s truck in the distance as tiny
and vulnerable, she gazes at the hogs for a long time, “as if
she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving knowledge.”
Then she has a vision of a procession of souls marching
toward heaven. Leading the way are “the bottom rail,” all
the kinds of people she despised, “shouting and clapping
and leaping like frogs.” Behind them, with “great dignity”
but with “shocked and altered faces,” come people like
herself and Glaude, and she sees that “even their virtues
are being burned away.” In this final vision, she at last sees
how she is “saved and from hell too.”
Michael Dink fAyjJ is an Annapolis tutor.
{The College -5f. John ’5
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�ao
{Revelation}
Priestess and Visionary
by Elizabeth Engel
Mrs. Turpin’s revelation builds from the first face the girl
makes at her through Mrs. Turpin’s wonderful defiant
questions to God as she stands at the pig parlor; “What
do you send me a message like that for?” “How am I a hog
and me both? How am I saved and from hell too?” The set
ting sun, now far more mysterious than when Mrs. Turpin
saw it, hke her, “looking over the paling of trees like a
farmer inspecting his own hogs,” transforms everything.
Mrs. Turpin, ignoring the transformation, dares God again
and ends with roaring “who do you think you are?” An
echo comes back at her “like an answer from beyond the
wood.” God answers her by questioning her and her pride,
with far more right than she had to question him.
Mrs. Turpin begins to see who she really is as she sees the
fragility of human life in Claud’s tiny truck, which from her
position looks like a child’s toy: “At any moment a bigger
truck might smash into it and scatter Claud’s and the nig
gers’ brains all over the road.” When she has seen the truck
home safe, she turns to the pig parlor: “Then, hke a monu
mental statue coming to life, she bent her head slowly and
gazed as if through the very heart of mystery, down into the
pig parlor at the hogs. They had settled all in one corner
nation brings her to envision the world other than it is. She
wonders how things would have gone “If Jesus had said to
her before he made her...You can either be a nigger or
white-trash.” Her preference, she decides, is for Jesus to
have made her “a neat clean respectable Negro woman,
herself but black,” changed but still saved, sidestepping the
lowly. In her other nocturnal activity, Mrs. Turpin is said to
have “occupied herself at night naming the classes of peo
ple.” She lies awake at night trying to sort out the people in
her world into classes, in accordance with their material
and social standing in the world. She assumes blindly that
she possesses the standard and judgment for the task of sav
ing and condemning. However, the fluctuations in the for
tunes of the human beings that she would rank make such a
jumble of her very attempts to rank them, that she finally
falls off to sleep, imagining them all condemned, (“she
would dream they were all crammed together in a box car,
being ridden off to be put in a gas oven.”). Her virtues
notwithstanding, Mrs. Turpin remains prey to these temp
tations, and we see her assailed by them too in the light of
{The College.
around the old sow who was grunting softly. A red glow suf
fused them. They appeared to pant with a secret life.” The
hogs have become beautiful gathered around the maternal
and musical old sow, a vision of animal life filled by grace.
This is how we can be both hogs and ourselves too.
Mrs. Turpin is herself transformed by gazing at the hogs;
she becomes a sort of priestess, raising her hands “in a ges
ture hieratic and profound.” Her transformation allows her
final vision, the bridge over which souls are marching
towards Paradise. The most respectable, the group she
thinks she belongs to, come last, and “even their virtues
were beings burned away.” In relation to salvation, virtue
doesn’t matter, nor does top and bottom, dignity and luna
cy, white and black. This, I think, completes Mrs. Turpin’s
revelation. O’Connor says, “she lowered her hands and
gripped the rail of the hog pen, her eyes small but fixed
unbhnkingly on what lay ahead.” We see what she sees, and
we see her seeing it, pig-like, with her small eyes, and still
as priestess and visionary. Is this our revelation? Our judg
ment of her has become irrelevant, just as have her judg
ments of other people. We turn with Mrs. Ihrpin back onto
the darkening path-surely O’Connor intends us to think of
Dante-and with her we hear “the voices of the souls climb
ing upward into the starry field and shouting hallelujah.”
Elizabeth (Litzi) Engel is a tutor in Santa Fe.
day. Mrs. Turpin feeds her false pride by imagining the infe
rior world or worlds that might have been. Those imagina
tions of worlds inferior to her world feature the lowly ones
of the here and now whom she judges so severely.
As Mrs. Turpin’s prideful attitudes leak out in the waiting
room conversation, they become contagious. In the chief
exchange in the waiting room, an exchange about the
Turpin farm, Mrs. Turpin and Mary Grace’s mother silent
ly join together against the opinions of the “white-trash
woman.” The two women form an alliance inasmuch as
“...both understood that you had to have certain things
before you could know certain things.” An antagonism
erupts between the poor white woman and Mrs. Turpin
regarding their differing opinions about the possessions
and associations that Mrs. Turpin has; Mrs. Turpin raises
pigs and associates with black people. According to
Mrs. Turpin, the Turpins have “a couple acres of cotton and
a few hogs and chickens and just enough white-face that
Gland can look after them himself.” That report elicits a
retort from the white-trash woman that she doesn’t want
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
''The corruptive
power ofpride takes
its toll once more.''
anything to do with hogs: “Hogs. Nasty
stinking things, a-gruntin and a-rootin all
over the place.” It does not matter to her
that the Turpins have a “pig-parlor” a con
crete-floored pen where the pigs are raised
and where “Claud scoots them down with
the hose every afternoon and washes off
the floor.”
The poor woman wouldn’t stoop to
“scoot down no hog with no hose.” And as
to the black people that the Turpins hire
(“butter up”) to pick their cotton, the
“white-trash woman” is equally as
adamant: “Two thangs I ain’t going to do:
love no niggers or scoot down no hog with
no hose.” As far above the “white-trash
woman” as Mrs. Turpin seems to place
herself, the “white-trash woman” places
herself above hogs and “niggers.” The
corruptive power of pride takes its toll
once more.
In the doctor’s office, then, we witness
Mrs. Turpin’s awareness of the contingent
character of her life (“When I think who
all I could have been besides myself and
what all I got...It could have been different!”) and how that
awareness contributes to her false pride and a lack of
understanding both of who she is and of the true character
of her world. Behind her “good disposition,” we see her
judgment on the world as it is given to her. Despite the fact
that her virtue has no positive ground, she imagines that
her goodness is sufficient both to judge and re-order the
world and to do that without any assistance: “It’s no use in
having more than you can handle yourself with help like it
is.” Hers is not a position where she needs help, and she
doesn’t ask for any. She divides her world into those like
herself and Mary Grace’s mother, who don’t need help, and
those like the poor white woman. Of the latter, she thinks,
“Help them you must, but help them you couldn’t,” even
though, “To help anybody out that needed it was her philos
ophy of life.” Mrs. Turpin is saved and she is a would-be sav
ior. From that vantage point of self-sufficiency, hers is a posi
tion of gratitude. (“Oh, thank you, Jesus, Jesus, thank you!”)
But she is more grateful for what she is not than for what she
is, perhaps grateful even that she is child
less. What she does not seem to acknowl
edge is that bad things and evil itself can
not be relegated to what is not or to
absence, and for that reason in part, no one
is completely “saved” in this world, cer
tainly not by dint of one’s own efforts
alone, from the power of temptation and
malevolence.
It is in the context of her ignorance of
the forces of evil in the world that Mrs.
Turpin comes to consider Mary Grace
(“Why, girl, I don’t even know you...”),
who gives up her reading and bears wit
ness to the display of pride. She takes up
her station, staring relentlessly at Mrs.
Turpin and making ugly faces at her until
she feels the need to defend herself. But
most importantly, at the point where Mrs.
Turpin claims not to know Mary Grace,
she thinks that Mary Grace, “was looking
at her as if she had known and disliked her
all her life-all of Mrs. Turpin’s hfe, it
seemed too, not just the girl’s life.” What
there was to be known all of her hfe is
nothing but the susceptibility to temptation and the
depredations of evil which are coeval with the garden and
human existence.
Mary Grace, possessed of money, family, education, is a
real puzzle for Mrs. Turpin. So obviously lacking in grace,
she is loaded with the worldly goods by which Mrs. Turpin
partially takes her bearings. It does not make sense to her
that Mary Grace with all of her books could be possessed of a
false pride dwarfing that of her and the others. (“The girl
looked as if she would like to hurl them all through the plate
glass window.”) It does not make sense to her that Mary
Grace as Mary Grace could be a source of evil. Mary Grace
would open her eyes though, and so she throws the book at
her. The incongruity of first being silently intimidated, and
then being assaulted with a book by someone such as Mary
Grace, convinces Mrs. Turpin that there is more to the situa
tion than meets the eye. And so she seeks out Mary Grace,
“What you got to say to me?” And she receives the retorted
command, “Go back to hell where you came from, you old
{The Colleges?. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�aa
{Revelation}
wart hog.” When Mary Grace tells Mrs. Turpin to go to heU,
Mrs. Turpin does not understand what she means, does not
accept the evil that confronts her. She thinks that God is
telhng her that she is not saved. The second part of the story
addresses that mistake and achieves in a way a resolution to
the story.
The shift in the story from the doctor’s office to the farm
marks a shift from pride to humility, the doctor’s office hav
ing pride of place. Mrs. Turpin is so convinced that God has
abandoned her, that when she and Claud drive home, and she
looks for their house, “She would not have been startled to
see a burnt wound between two blackened chimneys.” She
and Claud he down, but she cannot escape what had hap
pened or the image of her that had been deposited in her
soul. “She had been singled out for the message.” In her feel
ing of sohtude, she cries, but when her tears dry, “Her eyes
began to burn with wrath”: she is “a respectable, hard-work
ing, church-going woman.”
When her self-pity turns to anger, Mrs. Turpin turns to
the farm community, which she rules for affirmation and
assurance of who she is. In a sense, she wants the message
to be overruled by her loved ones, her husband, her black
field hands, and her hogs. But the fact of her rule presents
a problem for her, because now she needs help. She turns to
Claud for solace-(“‘Listen here,’ she said.” ‘“What?”’
“‘Kiss me.’”)-and Claud obliges her, as he does through
out the story, “as if he was accustomed to doing what she
told him to,” but nothing happens. She turns to the black
workers, but the workers think that Mrs. Turpin is beyond
anything bad happening to her, as if “she were protected in
some special way by Divine Providence.” When Mrs.
Turpin leaves the black workers, she goes down to the pig
parlor and takes the hose from Claud; on the farm, she is
“the right size woman to command the arena before her.”
When he goes off, Mrs. Turpin begins speaking to God,
raising her questions, wanting to know how she is herself
and a hog both and how she is “saved and from hell too.” In
a final display of pride, hosing down her hogs, she rants and
raves at God until she comes to the more general form of
her question, “Who do you think you are?” the question
echoing back to her.
The humihty on the farm appears to be the antidote to the
diseased pride infesting the doctor’s office. There Mrs.
Turpin comes face to face with someone “above” her, who is
{The College.
not thankful to Jesus, who does not “read from the same
book” as she does and who takes her bearings from what
Mrs. Turpin ostensibly is, a fat, indulgent, prideful woman,
who, just like Mary Grace, “complains and criticizes all day
long.” The evil in Mary Grace would claim Mrs. Turpin for
itself; hence, the condemnation. But because Mrs. Turpin
thinks that she is saved, she thinks that evil is somehow
warded off, existing in some imaginary alternative world;
and so, she mistakenly interprets what Mary Grace says.
Mrs. Turpin mistakenly thinks that God is turning away
from her because evil makes its presence known to her and
even as having a root in her; she thinks that she is no longer
one of the saved.
But to say that God is not turning away from Mrs. Turpin
is not to say that God was not working through the force of
evil. O’Connor clearly beheves that God does work through
evil, and that He is able to do such work just because of the
inroads that evil has made in the souls of human beings. God
was not turning away from her, but turning her so that she
might face the reality of her continual need for salvation. On
the farm, in her rant, Mrs. Turpin would fight God with her
pride-until she hears herself. Then it is that the day’s lesson
begins to come clear to her, the lesson about the world and
the serpent and the lesson of Job and God and the Adver
sary. Then she sees Claud’s truck, looking “like a toy,” and
sees the downside of that technological marvel, that it could
be smashed by a bigger truck and everyone in it destroyed.
Then Ruby turns to her hogs gathered around the sow,
where “A red glow suffused them;” they were God’s crea
tures, panting “with a secret life.” Her acknowledgement of
the presence of evil in this world and of the goodness of
God’s creation even in the lowly allows her to have a vision
of a new order marching to salvation; in that order the lowly
are entering first.
It is hardly accidental that the setting of the first part of
the story is in a doctor’s office, that there is even a black den
tist in town, or that the book that Mary Grace throws at Mrs.
Turpin was titled Human Development. Today, many people
have a difficult time talking about good and evil, preferring
instead to talking about health and sickness. But O’Connor’s
character, Mrs. Turpin, when she is in need of help, does not
want the doctor’s help. What is aihng her is a matter of the
spirit. Of course, the terms in which she understands the
“classes of people” and herself belong to the contemporary
John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
^3
revelation is not a
quiet Inull...
•
United States South, where the old
notions of rank based on land owner
ship and breeding issue in such cate
gories as “good blood” and “white
trash” and “niggers.” She is a stock
character in O’Connor’s repertoire of
stories, each one having its place as in
a series of echoes originating in and
echoing from a single homeland,
O’Connor’s powerful imaginative
intellect. O’Connor is a Catholic
writer from the South, for her, the
land of the humble and the humbled.
Persisting in her faith and her South
ern roots and in allusions to the Holo
caust and the dark sides of technolog
ical life, O’Connor helps us navigate
our own darkness and locate the beau
tiful in lowly and humble lives. On
that account, in the aist century, she
is a writer whose meanings are not
only important but urgently needed.
George Russell is a tutor in Annapolis.
The Message-Bearers
by Barbara Goyette
Perhaps this story is not only about a revelation but about
revelation itself, the nature of a mysterious occurrence
that serves as a link between our everyday world (or the
somewhat off-kilter but nevertheless recognizably every
day world of Flannery O’Connor’s South) and some deeper
reality.
Revelation involves drama and it involves some kind of
truth or disclosure about something that wasn’t realized or
known before. In a theological sense, revelation involves a
manifestation of the divine will. A revelation is not a quiet
truth: Mary Grace hurls a textbook at Mrs. Turpin and then
pronounces her verdict, “You are a wart hog from Hell.”
The black field-hand ladies also tell her the truth: “ ‘Ain’t
nothing bad happen to you! ’ the old woman said. She said
it as if they all knew that Mrs. Turpin was protected in some
{The College.
7
99
special way by Divine Providence.”
This truth infuriates Mrs. Turpin; she
fervently hopes that it is as false as
Mary Grace’s revelation. And then
there’s the wild and wooly vision of the
souls marching up to heaven, violent
in its intensity and in its absolute nega
tion of all that Mrs. Turpin thinks she
believes to be right and just.
Revelation does not need proof. It
can’t be arrived at by logic, and one
can’t be persuaded to it. Revelation
suggests someone or something as the
medium of higher truth or another
level of reality. In this story, the irony
of the message-bearers-a disaffected,
angry, acne-scarred intellectual; a
troop of respectable, sycophantic field
workers; and the pigs, hosed off to spot
lessness from their naturally filthy
state-reinforces the disjunction that is
at the root of Mrs. Turpin’s sinful view.
Her sin is that of not seeing, not understanding the most
fundamental fact of grace-that it applies to everyone at all
times, no matter what their level of receptiveness or worthi
ness. Mrs. Turpin fails just as we aU fail, by virtue of being
human. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the
beatitudes, the unhappy are blessed and the happy are
cursed (this complementary “woe to...” set of pronounce
ments is often ignored in our recollection of the beatitudes—
it’s not only that the downtrodden have a special place in
God’s consideration, it’s that those who are successful do
not, at least not insofar as they are successful). Our measures
of success, those that Mrs. Turpin admires and with which
she measures the worthiness of others, are worse than mean
ingless. They get in the way of our understanding that we are
all in need of grace. Revelation is a gift, presented to
Mrs. Turpin and to us. It’s there every day for all of us, and
everyone around us is a messenger.
Barbara Goyette (A’^g) is vice presidentfor advancement in
Annapolis.
John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�24
{Alumni Voices}
THE HABIT OF
WRITING
BY Brigid K. Byrne, AGI03
hen I open my mailbox to find an
ingly [reflects] the object, the being, which [specifies] it.”
envelope addressed in a bold, careful
Studying O’Connor’s letters, I decided that Fitzgerald had
script and bearing an Iowa City post
given the collection the perfect name. O’Connor offered
mark, mixed in among bills and cata
her correspondents thoughts about everything: her pet
logs, I feel a small thrill, an excite
peacocks, her writing habits, and her peculiar interpreta
ment that there is something meant especially
It
tion offor
theme.
Catholic
faith. Her letters to friends, fans, pub
seems strange that finding a personal letterlishers,
in my mailbox
and fellow writers reveal a woman who wrote them
gives me so much joy. Yet, how often do we get a letter from
not only to maintain her connection to those she loved, but
someone we know and love? How often do we take the time
also to explore and reveal the parts of herself which the
to write to others? Most of the written communication we
intended recipient had the power to bring out.
send and receive are hasty e-mails, typed quickly, in lan
I was most struck by O’Connor’s correspondence with
guage created to speed up the time spent composing mes
Cecil Dawkins, a college professor who introduced herself
sages. While e-mail has perhaps kept us closer to those we
to O’Connor in a letter. Dawkins challenged O’Connor by
may otherwise have drifted apart from, our brief electron
asking her advice in matters concerning her career, her
ic conversations lack the richness and intimacy that are
desire to write, and her faith. In a response to a question
vital parts of human relationships. We compose our mes
Dawkins raised about the effectiveness of the Catholic
sages so quickly that we forfeit the benefits of self-reflec
Church, O’Connor wrote, “You don’t serve God by saying:
tion and personal growth that we can gain when we write
the Church is ineffective. I’ll have none of it. Your pain at
letters to others. The flow of thoughts seems better suited
its lack of effectiveness is a sign of your nearness to God.
to the flow of ink from the pen than to the pecking of
We help overcome this lack of effectiveness simply by suf
fingers on a plastic keyboard, and the act of sealing an enve
fering on account of it.” Reading this unusually lengthy
lope much more satisfying than hitting the “send” button.
response, I realized that Dawkins had asked a question that
I felt the loss of the art of letter writing poignantly as I
O’Connor herself struggled with and wondered if O’Con
recently revisited The Habit ofBeing, Sally Fitzgerald’s col
nor was speaking more to Dawkins or to herself.
lection of Flannery O’Connor’s letters. Fitzgerald titled
In her introduction to the book, Fitzgerald notes that “on
her collection The Habit ofBeing because she saw that the
the whole, [O’Connor’s] correspondence was an enrichment
writer’s correspondence reflected the attainment of that
of her life, to say nothing of the lives of her correspondents”
habit, which she defines as “an excellence not only of
and that “almost all of her close friendships were sustained
action but of interior disposition and activity that increas
through the post.”
W
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Voices}
As I reread
O’Connor’s let
ters, I realized
that my own
habit of letter
writing
has
enriched my life.
1 was not much
of a letter writer
until about five
years ago when
I began corre
sponding with
Sandra, an honors student from Iowa, whom I met while
interning at the U.S. Department of Education. After rais
ing her children, Sandra enrolled in a community college
near her home and was so successful in her studies that she
gained an internship through Phi Theta Kappa. Over that
summer, Sandra and I had many conversations, and I
learned much from her about courage and faith. When our
internships ended, Sandra and I exchanged addresses in the
way parting people do, intending to keep in touch, but
doubtful whether such a brief acquaintance would with
stand time and distance.
I returned to college that fall, but I could not forget San
dra. I pulled out the scrap of paper on which she had care
fully printed her address and wrote her a letter. Thus began
years of correspondence that have led me to question and
contemplate many of my ideas, choices, and beliefs. When I
first began writing to Sandra, I was feeling uncertain about
my faith. Having been raised Catholic and force-marched to
Mass, I purposefully spent each Sunday of my first few years
away at college lingering over breakfast in the dining hall,
ignoring the bells chiming at St. Paul’s, just a few hundred
yards away. I was torn between rebelling against my parents
and discovering my own sense of faith. In writing to Sandra,
I found that I could wrestle with my doubts and hesitations.
Through my letters to her, I came to recognize my struggle
was not between me and God, but one of becoming an adult.
{The College-
25
learning to make
choices for my
self. Sandra’s res
ponses, resonat
ing with her faith
in God, even in
the face of hard
ship and sorrow,
gave me the
strength to travel
my own spiritual
road. Without
Sandra as my
audience, I am not sure that I would have found that part
of myself.
While my relationship with Sandra has led me to a deeper
sense of faith, having a variety of correspondents challenges
me to look at many sides of myself. One of my favorite audi
ences is my friend Sally, who lives in Atlanta. Although Sally
and I talk on the phone frequently and see each other occa
sionally, letter writing is still an important part of our
friendship. We enjoy what Shakespeare might term “a mar
riage of true minds,” as our thoughts, interests, and experi
ences run uncannily parallel. Writing to Sally is almost like
writing to myself, except that I wait in anticipation for her
honest replies, replies that demand that I look into myself
more alertly.
In my day-to-day habit of living, running from job to job,
eating in my car, I have little time for reflection and clarity.
I have come to see this habit of living, which requires me to
direct so much energy away from myself, as distinctly differ
ent from the habit of being, which allows me to spend time
inside, listening only to myself. Like O’Connor, I have
found that I can practice my habit of being most effectively
as I sit down to write. So I will find time today to retreat
from the habit of living and write to my friend and fellow
St. John’s alumna, Sarah. I can’t wait to see what my letter
will reveal.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Johnnies
2,6
on
Aging}
THE MIND IN
WINTER
Living an ExaminedLife in Later Years
wi Sus3AN Borden, A87
would lose meaning and she knew that there have even
been suicides [among older people]. To provide meaning
to their lives, she endowed the institute, which provides
high-quality, exciting courses for seniors. The faculty,
illiam Butler Yeats
Institute, where he explores the world -W
from
a classroom.
from neighborhood universities and the U.C. Medical
“Hannah Fromm was worried that the life of retired people
Center, are also mostly seniors,” explains Brunn, who has
ohn Brunn (class of 1947) is no Magellan, no
studied history, literature, science, and music at the insti
Columbus, no Ernest Shackleford or Neil
tute since his retirement.
Armstrong, but in an important way, he has
Brunn’s explorations are important to an aging mind,
remained true to his childhood ambition to
says Helen Hobart (class of 1964). Hobart works with
become an explorer. “I thought of it then as
older people who are experiencing dementia, and she’s a
physical exploration,” he says of the ambition
true believer in the adage “use it or lose it.” “The more
that has become increasingly intellectual as he
we exercise our minds, the more protection we have from
has aged. “When I first came to California,
the effects of dementia,” says Hobart. “People who com
I fell in love with the Sierra and have spent
plete loth grade have five more years of protection from
vacations exploring the mountains, at first with friends
theand
effects of Alzheimer’s than those who don’t. You may
later with my wife. With increasing age-I have turned
be 77showing signs of the disease neurologically, but symp
that has become difficult. Most of my learning istomatically,
now
you’ve got enough other brain connections
indoors, but I am still curious about the world.”
that function because you’ve stimulated their growth, so
the assault of Alzheimer’s won’t show up.”
While keeping the mind active slows the effects of
aging, Hobart encourages us to recognize that, with the
loss of cognitive ability, other strengths can come into
Life moves out ofa redflare ofdreams
Into a common light ofcommon hours.
Brunn is fortunate to live in San Francisco, not just for
Until
old age and
brings
the but
redflare
the mountains
the city,
also foragain.
the Hannah Fromm
J
{The College -Sr. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�27
{Johnnies on Aging}
play. “Roughly half
of people over 85
have Alzheimer’s
and we’re aU hving
longer,” she says.
“So it behooves
us to consider
what it means to
be human in addi
tion to our cogni
tive functions. I’ve
seen a lot of suffer
ing because people
feel they’re no
longer worthwhile
because their memoryis failing or they can’t figure out how to do something
that they used to do. But there are so many wonderful
ways of being in relationship with the world and other
people. The epidemic of dementia as we grow older really
invites us to consider our humanity, our affections, our
spirituality, our art, our love of music. All these things
can thrive, even flourish, if our cognitive functioning
{The College -St
Playing the piano is
JUST ONE RETIREMENT
PURSUIT FOR
Carolyn Banks
Leeuwenburgh .
gets out of our way
a little.”
Carolyn Banks
Leeuwenburgh
(class of 1955) has
yet to notice a drop
in her cognitive
abilities. She’s an
avid reader, an
insightful conversationalist, and a freelance teacher of
English as a foreign language. She also pursues a number
of interests that will serve her well if cognition begins to
fail. A retired opera singer, she is still involved with the
arts, maintaining subscriptions at the McCarter Theater
in Princeton in drama, dance, and music. She’s also an
avid movie-goer and a fairly active practitioner of several
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�2,8
{JohnniesonAging}
experiences mostly loss. Although
arts: “I paint, very poorly, but I
only 46, Nick Giacona (SFGI98) is
paint,” she says. “I play the piano
now facing the physical effects of
poorly. I still can sing and I still sing
'Tve always believed
age as he cares for his 8i-year-old
publicly.” Leeuwenburg performs in a
thatpeople older than
mother, Betty, who moved in with
small cafe just outside of Princeton,
him and his family last spring. “My
singing mainly popular music, blues,
mepossessed some
mom is a retired schoolteacher with
and torch songs.
wisdom.
Pre
always
an alert mind and a body that’s fail
Music has been the saving grace for
ing.
She has very bad arthritis and is
many older people, even those whose
felt they were worth
pretty much confined to an electric
other faculties are deteriorating, says
working with and
wheelchair. Yet her mind is still very
Hobart. “It’s fantastic to watch people
active. She goes on the computer,
start playing the piano again. The
learninp^from, worth
does e-mail. She’s a voracious read
parts of the brain formed when we’re
sharing with.
er and we have great theological,
younger last the longest, so the capac
spiritual, and political discus
ity to play the piano can come back,”
sions,” he says.
she says. There may be no ability to
Philip Valley (SFGI75)
Giacona sees first-hand the trials
make a coherent sentence, but the
of life in an aging body. “I’m learn
reward and beauty of making music
ing day by day with her and I really
can persist for a long time.”
admire how she’s handling it,” he says. “It’s hard and
There are other compensations to counter deteriorat
frustrating for her to do the little things we take for grant
ing cognitive ability, according to Virginia Seegers Harri
ed, even something as simple as making herself a meal.
son (class of 1964), a geriatric case manager. “Over time
Yet
she’s handling that with grace and courage.”
you learn to tune out nonsense more quickly,” she says.
A discussion on aging that former Santa Fe campus
“The experience you’ve had in life makes it easier to say,
president John Agresto gave years ago left an impression
‘uh-huh, right.’ From observation and personal experi
on Giacona. “He said that our culture doesn’t really pre
ence, I would consider that a real advantage.”
pare
us for aging and death. I thought he was so wise. He
She describes the benefits that come in later years as we
said that death and aging should be the culmination of a
grow to accept our lives. “You can bring your mind to
well-lived life, an examined life,” recalls Giacona. “While
bear more easily on what is actually accessible, doable.
my mom didn’t have a St. John’s education, I’ve turned
You learn to pick your battles. You learn to pare down and
her on to the Apology and the Crito and the Tibetan Book
be satisfied. There’s a feeling in youth and middle age,
of the Dead."
‘this world is out there-where do I start?’ When some
Giacona says that his mother seems prepared for her
options have closed behind you, there can be a sense of
own death: “We’ve already discussed the whole memorial
liberation. That may be what makes working with elders
service. She wants to be cremated and have her ashes
so sweet, so affirming, for people in middle age who are
scattered where my father’s ashes were scattered. She’s
still struggling to be greater than they ever will be. When
even decided what songs we’re going to sing. If she died
people accept themselves and their lives, that in a sense is
tomorrow, she would feel that she had a good life.”
where life really begins.”
When his mother’s life does end, Giacona will consider
Harrison underscores her point with a joke: “A retired
himself lucky for the time that he and his family spent
woman is listening to several young mothers talking
with her. “My wife, Keiko, is so great and supportive. She
about when life begins. One says at conception. Another
helped convince my mom to stay with us. My mom had
says, no, it begins when the fetus quickens. A third says,
concerns about moving in and invading the family, but
‘I think life begins at birth.’ Finally, the retired woman
Keiko told her that when she was a kid her grandfather
leans over and says, ‘Listen, I’ll tell you when life begins.
lived with her family and she appreciated the time she
Life begins when the kids leave home and the dog dies.’”
spent with him.”
While it’s comforting to know that the mind enjoys
gains to offset its losses, a sad fact of aging is that the body
{The College -Sf. John’s
College - Spring 2004 }
�{JohnniesonAging}
ag
Although she’s a young
Giacona’s own chil7a, Leeuwenburg knows
dren-Sarah, 13, and
Kyle, ii-respond to his
she has some tough times
mother in different
ahead. “Many years ago I
ways. “My son is outgo
heard Bette Davis say
that getting older is not
ing and loves to hug
her and sit and talk to
for sissies,” she says. “As
her. My daughter’s really
you get older you aren’t
shy, so it’s harder for
really aware of getting
her. She appreciates hav
older, but you are aware
ing her there, but she
that you don’t do the
shows it in a different
same things you used to
way. It’s so rewarding to
do physically. There are
have three generations
times when I get out of
in one house.”
bed in the morning and I
don’t think I can move
Philip Valley (SFGI75)
runs day programs in
and other times I’m
New Hampshire for
fine.”
Leeuwenburg swims
adults over 55 with
nearly every day, but a
developmental disabili
recent cancer scare
ties. He says that sharing
revealed
her true attitude
time across the genera
Nick Giacona and his mother, Betty, are
tions is rewarding even for people LEARNING TOGETHER ABOUT AGING.
about exercise. “I was thinking, ‘hell,
who are not related. “Maggie Kuhn,
if I’m going to die. I’m certainly not
going to swim,”’ she says. “This is
head of the Gray Panthers, once
not something I’m doing for the
gave a talk where she told the audi
'She s a voracious reader sheer pleasure of it. At my age your
ence, ‘We are not wrinkled babies,
metabolism gets so slow that, even if
we are elders of the tribe.’ I’ve
and we have great
you do all your cleaning, all your gar
always believed that people older
theological, spiritual,
dening, you still have to exercise.”
than me possessed some wisdom.
Leeuwenburgh has not reached
I’ve always felt they were worth
andpolitical
working with and learning from,
the point where she feels encum
worth sharing with.”
bered by aging, but she has begun to
discussions.
ponder her own mortality. “I don’t
Harrison, the case manager, has
NickGiacona (SFGI98)
think anyone ever really comes to
nothing but scorn for those who
grips with the reality of their own
subscribe to the “wrinkled babies”
death. When we view ourselves, we
view of seniors. “Many people who
work in nursing facilities call the elderly ‘baby.’ That’s
view a disembodied creature. Chronologically, I’m 7a
absolutely not right,” she says. But she’s also disturbed by
years old. I’m at the point where I know I’m not going to
a subtler form of infantilizing. “Even older people who
be here in 20 years. Yet there’s a part of me that you could
are quite cogent are pretty much treated like they have to
stand up and say, ‘Caroline, you’re getting old,’ and I
be fed, clothed, and then amused. I really have trouble
would say, ‘I am?’”
with that. Yes, it takes time to go at the slower pace and
hear someone tell his story, but it’s usually extremely
worthwhile. I would encourage anybody to start to talk to
people over 75. Ask them about their lives. Ask them what
they remember.”
{The College* St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
�30
{Bibliofile}
Approaching
Machiavelli’s
Art OF War
Art of War
Niccolo Machiavelli, translated, edited,
and with a commentary by
Christopher Lynch
University of Chicago Press, 2004
hris Lynch (A87) traces the
origins of his newlypubhshed translation of
Machiavelli’s Art of War to
the questions posed hy what
is known in the academic
throats. As I studied him more, I realized that
world as the ancient/modern split.
Lynch says
Machiavelli
’s emphasis on the bellicose
that Johnnies have a more intimate
relation
aspect
of human
beings, an aspect acknowl
ship with the split, and rephrases its essence
edged but not emphasized by the ancient
for the SJC crowd: “Why was everything so
philsophers, was part of his overall goal to
much fun sophomore year and why did
transform the terms in which human life is
everyone get so depressed junior year?”
generally understood.”
Lynch arrived at the University of
Fortunately for Lynch, his academic inter
Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought in
ests dovetailed with a hole in Machiavelli
the fall of 1988 with this question (in its grad
scholarship. Of Machiavelli’s four major
school expression) very much on his mind:
vtorks—Prince, Discourses on Livy, Florentine
What is the end of human hfe? Is man natu
Histories, and Art q/' UAr-almost no one had
rally social or essentially alone? What is the
seriously studied Art of War. Lynch threw
purpose of philosophy? As he pursued these
himself into that text and, seven years (and a
questions, Lynch came to see Machiavelli as
Ph.D.) later, emerged with an impressive
the pivotal writer in the transformation
between the ancient and modern worlds.
“The most sahent aspects of the transfor
mation that Machiavelli tried to affect were,
first, to change the general climate of opinion
“Controversy abounds as to what caused
and discourse such that human hfe would no
the dizzying military changes during
longer be understood in terms of its ultimate
Machiavelli’s day. Also debated is
goal or purpose but instead in terms of its
whether these changes constituted a
origins and roots,” says Lynch. “The second
full-blown military revolution or instead
is the attempt to bring about in this world the
represented a particular moment in a
best regime human beings can come up with,
long-term evolution. In considering
the best way of living together, instead of
these questions, it is important to
leaving it to chance hke Plato. And the third
remember that the sense at the time was
is really a corollary of the first, to get subse
that tumultuous change was indeed
quent thinkers to be primarily concerned
afoot, but not rapid change in a single
with human freedom and independence as
direction driven by gunpowder technol
opposed to virtue as understood as obhgation
ogy. On the tactical level especially,
and duty to something higher.”
each of the battles that occurred on the
These issues gave Lynch a clear direction
Italian peninsula, from the battle of
for his graduate work. “The more I saw
Fornovo in 1495 to that of Pavia in 1525,
Machiavelli as the key figure in the
seemed to offer a new lesson to be
ancient/modern spht, the more I wanted to
learned, a new innovation that trans
figure out what was on his mind,” Lynch says.
formed the ways armies ought to be
“I started to see war as central to his thought,
armed, ordered, led and used.”
to understand that for Machiavelli, humans
- Christopher Lynch
are not social beings, but at each others’
C
Excerpt:
{The College -Sf.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
pubheation to his credit: a translation of the
text with an introduction, interpretive essay,
and (he points out with the pride of a Johnnie
who’s successfully negotiated secondary
sources) more than 600 notes.
Lynch originally wrote the translation for
himself, “blasting through it” in just a few
months, he says. “I wrote the initial transla
tion as a way to study it carefully. I translated
it as literally as I could so I could think about
it the way we do with readings in language
class, as a tool for closer reading,” he says.
Over several years. Lynch returned to the
translation, making changes after improving
his Italian by translating works by Machiavelh’s predecessors, including Dante and
Boccaccio. Later, when he decided to submit
a proposal to the University of Chicago Press
to turn his translation into a book, he first
reworked a portion of the text to see if he
could make it valuable to other readers.
Once the proposal was accepted. Lynch
had to rewrite the entire translation several
times. In the process, he discovered a practi
cal approach to translation that satisfactorily
answered for him the issues that arise in
discussions about translation in St. John’s
language tutorials: “You start off as literal
and as consistent as you can, then you puU the
translation back toward understandabihty,
readability and accuracy,” he says, “In the
next phase, you forget about the Italian and
ask what the passages mean in Enghsh and
how they sound. If it’s not in readable
English, you pull the Itahan out again and
start thinking about changes.”
Lynch notes that this is not the process for
most non-Johnnie or non-Strauss-influenced
translators. “They think about how it sounds
right away,” he explains. “But I think that
puts too much emphasis on the translator and
makes him think he is a sort of god mediating
between two languages with full omniscience
of what the author intended. I think it’s better
to approach it humbly, to cleave to the hteral
andonlybepushed toward readabi 1 i ty when
it’s clearly necessary.”
With the time and energy Lynch lavished
on Art of War, you’d think he’d be a fierce
Machiavellian, but that’s hardly the case.
“Machiavelli presents himself as the
ultimate antagonist to the basic understand
ings that I’m inclined to-ancient, philosoph
ic, and religious,” Lynch says. “However, I
think he’s also the most trenchant critic of
ancient thought, both philosophic and rehgious, and therefore I see him as the person
to understand if I’m going to understand the
truth about the big questions at stake in the
quarrel between ancients and moderns.”
-SUS3AN Borden
�{Alumni Profile}
31
Tias Little, EC98
Santa Fe Yogi Combines Wisdom with Practice
BY Andra Maguran
such as the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutra and
he word “yoga” once con
Bhagavad-Gita, along with studying San
jured images of health nuts
skrit or ancient Chinese in order to read
contorting their bodies in
works in their original language.
impossible, seemingly
Reared in Amherst, Mass., Little attend
painful positions. Now
ed Amherst College, where he earned a
women, men, even children
bachelor
are flocking in droves to yoga. An
estimat’s degree in English. Inspired by
mother,
who also taught yoga. Little
ed 15 million Americans say theyhis
have
a
began his studies in the Iyengar system in
regular practice; more than double that
the early 1980s, and continued his study in
number say they expect to try yoga in the
Mysore, India. Frequent trips to visit his
next year, according to a Harris poll. The
grandfather, a Presbyterian minister who
reasons for yoga’s newfound popularity are
served on the board of directors at
many: stress reduction, improved strength
Abiquiu’s Ghost Ranch, fed Little’s love for
and flexibility, and heightened concentra
New Mexico. He moved to Santa Fe in 1991
tion are among the many benefits linked to
to teach yoga, and in January aooo, he
this 5,ooo-year-old practice.
opened Yoga Source with his wife, Surya.
Inside Yoga Source, a small studio
Little began hearing about the Eastern
tucked into a Santa Fe shopping center,
Classics program at Santa Fe, established
studio founder Tias Little {EC98) walks
in 1994, from others in the Santa Fe yoga
among the students after his morning
community. Friend and fellow yoga teacher
class, preternaturally serene, his voice as
Nicolai Bachman (EC96) persuaded him
soft as a temple bell. Like yoga teachers
that the fledgling program was worth
everywhere. Little is benefiting from the
pursuing. “I was very enthusiastic [about
wave of yoga popularity-his studio sched
Eastern Classics] from the first day,” says
ules more than 40 classes every week,
Bachman, who now leads workshops across
many of them packed. The Santa Fe
the country in Sanskrit, Ayurveda (healing
New Mexican recently described Little
as “one of the emerging stars
of the yoga phenomenon.” He
leads classes for yoga teachers,
writes articles and serves as an
expert for a leading yoga
magazine, holds clinics all over
the country, and offers yoga
retreats in venues such as
Costa Rica.
But even if the craze wanes
and the numbers drop. Little
believes that people will con
tinue to seek out something
beyond yoga’s physical
benefits. His own devotion to
the practice, he says, was
informed and deepened by
intense study of the works in
the St. John’s Eastern Classics
program, a yearlong program
in which students read works
T
Tias Little’s yoga practice is
INFORMED BY HIS STUDY OF
Eastern classics.
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
arts), and the Yoga Sutra. “I knew it would
be a great chance for Tias to deepen his
understanding of the Indian, as well as
Chinese and Japanese, traditions.”
Little began by auditing a seminar on the
Upanishads, after which he applied to the
program in full. After 15 years of practice.
Little hoped to find a solid foundation in
the original texts for his own philosophy
toward yoga, the Mahayana Buddhist
“middle way” teachings that are pertinent
to living in the world today. He had previ
ously read the Bhagavad-Gita and Yoga
Sutra on his own, but the formalism and
structure of a discussion-based graduate
program offered a key to deeper learning,
he says.
“The texts are complex and philosophi
cal,” Little says. “It would have required
an intense practice and austerity to have
read the works on my own and gained as
much insight and understanding of them.
The dialogue that the classroom setting
encourages is far superior to simply
reading alone.”
For Little, the Eastern Classics program
afforded a marriage oiprajna (wisdom)
andsadhana (practice).
Wisdom training comes
through study of scriptures
that are the historical backdrop of the practice. “Just as
scholarship feeds the practice
of yoga, so the practice feeds
the scholarship. To me, just
reading can become very eso
teric if one tries to cognitively
grasp the teachings one needs
to embody, or engage through
psycho-spiritual discipline.
The two modes of understand
ing are cooperative, but not
interchangeable. ”
Little encourages yoga
teachers-in-training to enroll
in Eastern Classics; already,
two Yoga Source instructors,
Wendelin Scott (EC03) and
Lynsey Rubin (ECoa), have
completed the graduate
program.
�{AlumniNotes}
3^
1935
and dance to a caUer. Will any of
the class of 1944 be at our 60th
anniversary?”
“I’m in my goth year,” writes
Melville L. Bisgyer. “My beloved
wife, Pauline, passed away a few
years ago. I now make my home
comfortably in a retirement home
named Signature Pointe. Many of
my children, including the normal,
the grand, and the great, live near
by. I shall never forget St. John’s.
I spent four very happy years there.
I wish good luck and much happi
ness to all my fellow Johnnies.”
1937
“Just a word from the Class of’37Bob Snibbe alive and well-will be
91 in April. Still playing golf and
still publishing small shirt-pocket
handbooks. One on ‘Our Flag,’ the
story of Old Glory... sold in large
quantities to big companies for
sales promotion purposes. I call
Harry Fahrig (Class of ’37) from
time to time. He is very sick and in
a nursing assisted living facility.
His wife, Frannie, was a former
model for Ponds-‘she’s lovely, she
uses Ponds’- ads in the ’30s and
’40s. They live in Jupiter, Fla. Also
call Alan Pike (’37 too). He’s also
in an assisted living facility with
his wife in Deland, Fla. And my
brother Dick, class of’39, lives in
Arlington, Mass. He’s also in an
assisted living facility recuperating
from a stroke. Have fond memories
of days in Crabtown. Football and
lacrosse. B.C. great books.”
1944
John Davis Hill writes that he and
his wife, Dorothy Murdock Hill,
spent the winter in Southern
California attending four Elder
hostel programs sponsored by the
University of Judaism at Camp
Ramah in Ojai and at their Bel Air
campus. “We like to sing folk songs
1947
Changes for Stephen Benedict:
“Three years ago, I pulled up
stakes in New York City after
40 years and moved 125 miles north
to the hamlet of Spencertown in
Columbia County. After prowling
the area, I bought an old farmhouse-type structure, whose earli
est segment dates to about 1750.
It’s said to be the second- or thirdoldest house in the area. The
transition from city life turned out
to be seamless. Time, of which
there’s never enough, is variously
allocated to work on family and
personal archives, the nearby cul
tural center, the local Democratic
Party, and play—the piano, tennis,
and cats. Then there’s always fixery
to be done on my ancient structure.
I do maintain one interest in NYC,
the Theatre Development Fund,
which I helped found 37 years ago.
Watch for the new half-price booth
in Times Square. Drop by if you’re
up this way: 518-392-0487;
stevebenedict@taconic.net.”
1949
Frederick P. Davis sends news
from California: “Since last report
ing from this always sunny and
warm southwest corner of the
‘lower 48,’ we ‘3-Ds’ (Fred, Rita,
and son David) are still holding
the line as ‘Mr. Outside’ and
‘Mrs. Inside’ (the house). David
recovers from infections of both
legs and feet resulting from badly
broken legs of late aooo. But
things are looking up. David, after
over a year at a Riverside City Con
valescent home, should soon come
home. He is now equipped with a
motorized wheelchair, enabling
him to be on his own to go out to
see docs.”
David B. Weinstein has retired
from the practice of medicine and
is living with his wife, Stella, in
Atlanta to be near his daughter and
her family. “Attending senior class
es at Mercer University and learn
ing to play the recorder to keep the
gray cells and fingers limber.”
do’s top was the thrill of a lifetime,
along with riding through a city
rainforest to get there. Anticipat
ing my trip to Alaska in July.”
i960
Peter J. Ruel sends in a book
1955
With a July production of
La Traviata, Harold Bauer will
conclude a 27-year tenure as music
director of New Philharmonic and
DuPage Opera in Chicago’s west
suburban region. His 42 years as a
conductor include the music
directorship of six orchestras in
the U.S. and numerous guest
concerts in this country, Canada,
and Europe. What’s next? More
reading, traveling, painting (oil
and watercolor), golf, composing,
and, of course, some guest con
ducting. He looks forward to the
50th reunion of his class in 2005.
1957
News from Joan Cole: “I am
continuing to enjoy my retirement.
With friends, I attend the Metro
politan Opera and work with the
New York Black Librarians Cau
cus, raising funds for scholarships.
Am also enjoying my vacations-in
September 2003,1 went to Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. Viewing the Christ
the Redeemer statue on Corcova
recommendation: “Thomas Cahill
has written an insightful history of
the ancient Greeks, printed 11/03:
Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why
the Greeks Matter.”
1961
Harrison Sheppard has been a
regular columnist for San
Francisco Attorney Magazine.
the quarterly journal of the Bar
Association of San Francisco.
“The regular title of the column is
‘Law and Justice,’ with a subtitle
relating to the particular column
subject. For the most recent col
umn (Winter 2004), the subtitle is
‘Law and Privacy: The Right To Be
Let Alone.’”
1962
JusTiNA Davis Hayden sends in
good news: Justina and Luci, her
partner of ig years, were married
in San Francisco on February 19.
A magical day! They are living in
San Diego now, having sold their
Startup to Success
(class of 1956) is now
general manager of Word Web Vocabulary, a new
curriculum for grades 5-10. “From a startup last
year we are now in 55 school districts in 16 states
plus Barbados. Word Web is a paperworkbook
system based on root words, prefixes, and suffixes,
all of which are Greek and Latin in origin. Grant Wiggins
{A72) thinks it’s an excellent way to approach vocabulary.”
ASQUALE L. POLILLO
P
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Notes}
33
Mark Bernstein (A) writes; “Linda
(Bernstein, nee Torcaso, A69) and
I are looking forward to our last
child graduating high school and
going off to college. I’m a judge in
Philadelphia court doing class
actions and about to finish a book
on Pennsylvania evidence. Linda is
also a judge of the Social Security
Administration.”
Courtesy of The Moon, Santa Fe students and hobbes
house in Berkeley. Luci is an artist
whose work from recycled materi
als may be seen at CorrugatedArt.
com. Justina designed and main
tains the web site. She is enrolled
in a certificate program in Finan
cial Planning and is having fun
with investing.
practicing law in Washington,
D.C., and is writing for the local
newspaper in her spare time.
“Am looking forward to the next
reunion of the Class of’65.”
“Niece Megan Drolet, daughter of
Melissa Kaplan (SF72) and Ray
Drolet (SF69) will be coming to
Annapolis this fall, continuing the
Kaplan/Drolet tradition,” writes
1963
Bart L. Kaplan.
Charles B. Watson (A) writes that
Madeline Rui Koster writes:
“I was very much looking forward
to attending the 2003 40th class
reunion, since as a Californian I
have not been back to Annapolis in
40 years. A sudden change in my
teaching assignment (high school)
from all algebra to algebra and
ceramics, in September, led me to
change my plans. I was a potter and
ceramic sculptor for 20 years
before becoming a full-time
teacher in the Bos. I look forward
to another Homecoming. As time
goes on, I value the St. John’s edu
cation more than ever, and greatly
enjoy reading The College.'"
Michael Trusty attended
Homecoming 2003 in Annapolis
and had a great time: “I’m
married, living in New Mexico, and
ride horses with my 12-year-olddaughter.”
1965
Grace Logerfo Bateman is
married, is the mother of four chil
dren (mostly out of college), is
Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Fran
cisco, the inaugural Distinguished
Alumni Award for “unique and
distinguished ministry in the
church and especially pioneering
contributions to liturgical
practice.” The church’s Web site,
www.saintgregorys.org, docu
ments this practice (and theory)
with extensive photos and articles.
Rev. Schell is a 1971 graduate of
General Seminary; his co-rector, a
1970 graduate.
1968
“Finally finished my B.A. in 1999only 30 years late-at Thomas
Edison State College,” writes
Megan Beaumont (A, formerly
Anne Beaumont Reid). “Received
an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology
2001. Nowadays I am an ordained
non-denominational clergy person
and spend my time leading person
al growth workshops, teaching
manifestation and self-forgiveness,
and officiating at marriages,
memorial services, and most
recently at an un-handfasting-a
spiritual ceremony to honor and
complete the severing of ties after
a civil divorce. My husband has
retired, and we are enjoying the
blessings of good health and happy
travel.”
“I’m somehow still in Britian!”
writes Deborah Rodman
Lawther (SF).
The General Theological Seminary
Alumni Association awarded
Donald Schell (SF) and Richard
Fabian, co-rectors of St. Gregory of
{The College.
he was sorry to miss the 35th
reunion of the Class of 1968 last
year, but he enjoyed e-mail and
pictures. “Spring has finally come
and our family looks forward to
visiting our Martha’s Vineyard
home again. Happy to say that we
are all well and enjoying diverse
pursuits. Would come to SJC more
often but we are far away...”
News from Bob Wycoff (A) and
Maya Hasegawa (A), first from
Bob: “Bob’s computer system
support job is going to India and
Bob has enrolled in Berklee College
of Music as a full-time undergradu
ate to pursue a B.A. in music,
starting in September. Four
grandchildren and still counting;
number five is due in August.
See you in October! ” And from
Maya: “Maya is now working as
compliance manager for the City of
Boston’s Department of Neighbor
hood Development. DND builds
affordable housing, finances
rehabs, and helps small businesses.
The satisfaction comes from seeing
formerly vacant lots with houses on
them. Spare time is spent practic
ing tai chi and researching a
Methodist deaconess named
Hattie B. Cooper.”
1970
Isaac Block (SFGI) writes:
1969
High praise for tutor Steve Van
Luchene’s second Tecolote
colloquium for K-12 teachers from
Elizabeth Aiello (SFGI), who
found it “even more gratifying and
professionally stimulating than the
first one. It inspired me to expand
my Great Books class by offering
two more sections. Each section
has 12 students, all enthusiastically
participating in meaningful
dialogue related to meaningful
text. I have been honored as a ‘Los
Alamos Living Treasure’ in recog
nition of my 14 continuous years as
‘the Great Books Instructor.’”
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
“My wife, Mamerza Delos Reyes
Block, has published her book.
The Price ofFreedom: The Story of
a Courageous Manila JournaHst."
Last fall, Theda Braddock Fowler
(A) published her second book.
Wetland Regulation: Case Law,
Interpretation, and Commentary.
After an illustrious career with the
Postal Service and World Bank
(over 30 years and 83 foreign coun
tries), Juan Ianni (A) has decided
that it’s time to hang up his spurs.
classnotes continued on page 36
�{Alumni Profile}
34
Rich and Famous
Ben Bloom, Aq7, Finds Fame, Fortune—and Something Even More Important.
vi Sus3Aw Borden, A87
embers of the
Annapolis class of
1997 may not be
surprised to learn
that classmate
Ben Bloom (A97)
has achieved a degree of celebrity. He was
certainly well known as a student, and his
jump-head-hrst approach to life revealed a
boom-or-bust attitude that leads those who
meet him to believe that he is not destined
for an ordinary life.
Indeed, he is not. Today, seven years
after graduation, he has won a measure of
fame in three categories: Scrabble, poetry,
and table tennis.
Bloom was already a skilled Scrabble
player when he arrived at St. John’s, but
since graduating, he has played in tourna
ments in Italy, Israel (his home for much of
his life), Turkey, Norway, Reno, San Diego,
Tennessee, and Florida. Although his cur
rent rating is 1428, at the height of his play
in March 2003, he was rated 1649 (a rating
over 1600 is considered expert).
Bloom learned of his Scrabble-world
celebrity in 2003 when he was flying to
Reno for the National Scrabble Champi
onships. “I had to fly via O’Hare airport in
Chicago. There were several players there,
wearing their typical Scrabble t-shirts,” he
recalls. “In the airport lounge, I saw a bald
guy in his early 4os-black pants, white
t-shirt, and two red braces with which he
was continually fiddling. I recognized him
as Joel Sherman, the 2002 National Cham
pion and one of the top three players in the
world. I got up the courage to ask him if I
was correct in identifying him. He said,
‘Yes, and you are Ben Bloom.’”
Stefan Fatsis, a Wall Street Journal
reporter and author of Word Freak, a New
York Times bestseller about Scrabble, also
knew who Bloom was before the two were
paired in an expert match in the 2002
he read from his thesis at Books & Books, a
finals in San Diego. Bloom beat him and
prominent Miami bookstore.
walked away from the match with a signed
As for table tennis. Bloom has been prac
copy of his book.
In the world of poetry. Bloom is complet ticing for years. He was an aggressive play
er at St. John’s and shared the Annapolis
ing his final semester at the University of
campus titles in men’s doubles and mixed
Miami, where he received his master’s
doubles in 1996. When he lived in Israel,
degree in poetry in May. His 15 minutes of
he played in the National League for the
poetry fame took place on March 31, when
M
{The College -St. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
For the poet in Ben Bloom, words have
GREAT MEANING. FoR THE SCRABBLE PLAYER,
they’re just part of the game.
�{Alumni profile}
suggestion: “During my late teens I was
disabled (he has cerebral palsy). After
graduation, he took his game on the road,
still in denial with regards to my CP. I
wanted to fit in with other students and
coming in third at the European Disabled
was ashamed of being different. This feel
Championships in Budapest in 1998 and
winning the silver medal at the World
ing turned into anger and resentment. I
Games for CP athletes in 2001.
wanted nothing to do with other people
Thus accounts for the fame. The fortune
with CP as I felt this would be letting go of
my aspirations, a stupid concept which I
is a different matter. It stems from the con
look back on and thank God I have come so
ditions of Bloom’s birth, which are both
far in the last decade.”
tragic and miraculous. The short version is
Bloom has indeed come far. He is calm
this: Ben was born brain dead. The attend
ing nurses thought he
and relaxed, accepting
was stillborn. His par
and tolerant. He has
grown into a man with a
ents asked the hospital
strong, healthy sense of
staff to do all they
himself. It would be
could so they put him
in an incubator. After
impossible to recount
all that went into that
72 hours, he came to
growth, but Bloom cites
life. The staff said that
a particularly transfor
if he survived a week it
mative experience he
would be a miracle.
had during the World
The price of that
Games for CP athletes.
miracle is cerebral
“While there I felt
palsy, the condition
like never before,” he
that Bloom has lived
says. “I made friends
with-and struggled
with other CP athletes
against-his entire life.
from Russia and France.
In 1999, after a nineI speak French well, so
year legal battle.
-Ben Bloom
it was easy to break the
Bloom settled out of
ice with them. Many
court with the hospi
athletes had more
tal. A profile of Bloom
severe CP than me, and were very hard to
by Sam Orbaum, Web-published in 2000,
understand. We communicated through
sums up his situation: “He is now, in the
other means; the bond that we shared, of
most grotesquely literal sense, a self-made
being equal, made for a wonderful feeling.
millionaire.”
At the end of the Games, we had a party
Bloom’s cerebral palsy makes him hard
to understand, contorts his face, and gives
with Karaoke. All of us moved the same
him a peculiar, dragging walk. But it’s not
way. All of us had the same unclear voice.
just his speech, gait, and appearance that
There was an intense feeling of cama
raderie and equality.”
CP has disfigured. His condition has also
Bloom is now finishing his thesis-a col
affected his sense of self.
lection of 50 poems that reveal much about
Bloom has a history of buoying up his
him and the way his world is shaped by
challenged sense of self with humor. The
cerebral palsy. His poem, “Jane Fonda’s
Orbaum article quoted some of his witti
(pain in the) Neck Workout” describes the
cisms: “Hey, you know what happens when
mechanics of dealing with a stranger’s
I have a few beers?” Bloom asks. “I talk
insults. “Special Olympics” describes a
clear and walk straight.” He describes giv
night out for eight people with CP. In the
ing his own brand of speech therapy to a
crowd: “I make them repeat the alphabet
poem, the group tries to order drinks:
“Two Heinekens, two Carlsbergs, two
after me, with all 26 letters sounding
Guinness and two Everclears./Five min
exactly the same.”
utes trying to communicate, then we settle
Humor, of course, does not heal all
for eight domestic beers.”
wounds, and Bloom has not always known
In “The Extremities Of A Line Are
how to salve them. When he first arrived at
Points,” Bloom describes the obstacles,
St. John’s, several people unwittingly
both interior and exterior, of everyday
found themselves on his bad side by sug
events. The poem reveals Bloom’s writing
gesting he get to know Santa Fe tutor
for all it is: story, insight, therapy, balm,
Robert Sacks, who also has CP. An older
and wiser Bloom recalls why he hated that
''All ofus moved the
same way. All ofus
had the same
unclear voice.
There was an
intensefeeling of
camaraderie and
equality.
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
35
The Extremities Oe
A Line Are Points
-Euclid, Elements., Book i. Definition
3
Standing in line
Motionless
Passing glances from strangers
Maybe three-quarters of a second
longer than normal
Nothing to get upset about.
“Next!”
Four steps to reach the desk
One-two-three-four
People have other things on their
minds
They’re here for a reason
They’re all adults
They’re not going to stare.
“Next!”
They want to rush me
No, it’s not me
Don’t be oversensitive
Do other people have these inner
dialogs?
Am I Socrates or his interlocutor?
“Hi. I'm here to... ”
Said too much
She’s been working all day
No patience for me
No patience for my voice
Fuck it
Can’t stop now.
“For my appointment. ”
Confusion. Disappointment. Disgust.
Pity.
The myriad of facial expressions tell a
familiar story
The patented neck strain won’t be too
far away
Yup, here it comes
In answer to your next question, “I’m
here alone.”
“Is anyone responsiblefor
this... guy?”
Should I look around?
Should I glare at the people behind
me?
No point. One day they’ll read about it.
In a poem.
They can wait.
“Next!”
�{AlumniNotes}
36
et al.), ‘What constitutes scientific
proof?’ Very fun.”
1971
In April, pediatrician Linda
Belgrade Friehling (SF71)
embarked on a trek to Everest Base
Camp to raise funds for Himalayan
Health Care, serving the people of
rural Nepal. In a fund-raising letter
she sent along, she described the
trek and its mission: “We will cover
lao miles on foot and attain an
elevation of 18,500 feet. The funds
raised will support the completion
of a project sponsored by
Himalayan Health Care. Himalayan
Health Care is a small non-govern
mental organization founded
approximately a decade ago by a
Nepalese and an American to
promote better health and life in
remote rural areas of Nepal. With a
dedicated group of volunteers,
including physicians, dentists,
nurses, and other professionals,
this small organization has facilitat
ed impressive improvements in pre
natal care, infant mortality, dental
hygiene, and overall health for over
40,000 people. Learn more by
visiting the Web site: (Himalayanhealthcare.org)...One of the things
that has impressed me most about
Himalayan Health Care, is the
forward-looking approach that
emphasizes educating the Nepalese
team to carry out on a day-to-day
basis vastly improved health prac
tices. In a country that currently
has one doctor to 32,000 people,
I feel this is the only way to make a
substantive difference.” For more
information, e-mail her at:
tlofftrax@aol.com.
From Colorado, Michael
ViCTOROFF (A) writes: “After
nearly five years as medical
director for Aetna, I left to work
as an investigator for the Depart
ment of Toxicology at the Universi
ty of Colorado Medical School.
Officially, I’m a private detective.
Our group has M.D.s and Ph.D.
toxicologists. We investigate
medical claims of inquiry from
environmental chemicals. Sort of
like Erin Brockovich-only we use
science. Much of the most difficult
work is philosophical (Karl Popper
1972
Wesley Sasaki-Uemura (A) writes,
“On December i, 2003, we
finalized the adoption of Melina
Mei (Xin Yi) Sasaki-Uemura. She
was born October of 2002 in
Jiangxi province, China. She has
‘smiling eyes.’”
IleneLee (A) reports: “McKee
(A72) and Ilene’s daughter, Mollie,
now 25, is completing her first year
at Yale Law School after a summer
South American tour that ended
with sailing from Galapagos to
Tahiti on a 37-foot catamaran. Ilene
has a busy play therapy practice in
the San Francisco area, specializing
in autism and consulting with
schools.”
1973
Jose F. Grave de Peralta (A) is
taking a group of art and architec
ture students from the University of
Miami to Florence, Italy, for six
weeks to learn fresco painting and
restoration. Side trips include
Assisi, Rome, and Pompeii to view
fresco sites in those places as well.
1976
Jonathan Mark (A) was a recent
William Malloy (SF) writes that
he took early retirement in Decem
ber 2003 for health reasons. “Now
I have the opportunity to work four
mornings a week holding prema
ture babies and to concentrate on
improving my health. Additionally,
I am a volunteer reporter for KPFT
(Keep People Free, Thinking), the
local Pacifica station in Houston.
Not only can I put up a couple of
alumni who may be passing
through Houston, I am also accept
ing invitations to visit alumni.
Particular consideration will he
given to those invitations that are
accompanied by a prepaid airhne
ticket. Kidding? No, really, I mean
it!”
David Pex (SF) is “working hard as
contributor to Popular Science
magazine and built an off-road
course for Toyota in San Antonio.
From Steven and Melissa Sedlis
(both A): “Our daughter Elizabeth
is a first-year medical student at
Columbia College of Physicians
and Surgeons. Our daughter
Jennifer will graduate in May from
Scripps College, Claremont, Calif.”
1974
From California, Gerard (A) and
Daphne Kapolka write: “Daphne
(nee Greene, A76) retired from the
Navy in July. She is now a senior
lecturer in physics at the Naval
Postgraduate School in Monterey.
Gerry continues to teach English at
Santa Catalina School in Monterey.
Basia Kapolka (Aoi) is studying
acting in New York City.”
John Rees (A) is working hard as a
tele-neuroradiologist: “I live for my
work and my family. I greatly enjoy
participating in a small seminar
group of old SJC friends!”
{The College.
1975
is not yet completely comfortable
with the “Transgender Club” and
similar organizations constituting
student life today-but he’s trying.
He is feehng very old these days.
A career change for Idell KesselMAN (AGI): “After more than 20
years of teaching college composi
tion, literature, and other related
courses, followed by two years as a
vocational rehabilitation counselor,
I am working as a psychotherapist
at a nonprofit agency in Phoenix
operating under a managed care
system. In July I begin a one-year
residency in Dialectical Behavior
Therapy, a cognitive approach to
helping individuals with Borderline
Personality Disorder. My daughter
Bisa, nearly 25, is completing her
master’s in education this June,
with several years of elementary
teaching already completed. We
live in our separate apartments in
Phoenix, with our own cats and
habits. It helps us to keep our
friendship strong. I’d enjoy hearing
from old friends and tutors:
ideleyz@earthlink.net.”
1977
Brad Davidson (A) still lives in
Annapolis with his wife, Lynne, and
children Teddy and Lucy. He’s been
taking Teddy on college visits and
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
the finance director at Ecos Con
sulting, which implements energy
efficiency programs for electric and
gas utility companies. Write me at
dpcx@qwest.net.”
Carla S. Schick (A) won an
honorable mention in the Barbara
Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Award.
The poem, “The End of the
Words,” can be found at www.
wagingpeace.org.
Marlene Strong (A) has news:
“After a year of being a lady of
leisure, which I spent fixing up my
new house and garden in Boise, I’m
starting work at a therapy center,
so I’ll finally get to use my hardearned MET (Marriage and Family
Therapist) license. Life in Idaho is
calmer; Boise is small enough that
you know your neighbors, but large
enough to have plenty of culture,
and the mountains are beautiful.
Any classmates are invited to stop
by if you’re in the neighborhood-if
not, see you for our 30th reunion.”
�{Alumni Notes}
1978
Robert McMahan (SFGI) reports
that he is now full professor at The
College of New Jersey and has given
many recent concerts both as per
former and composer. His wife,
Anne, continues to teach at the
Pennington School, working with
West African drumming. Renais
sance recorder, and Native
American music.
An invitation from Lawrence
Ostrovsky (A); “I see a lot of gray
haired people in the summer who
come up here to visit Alaska. So
I’m sure there must be someone
from the class of ’78. If you find
yourself up this way, please give me
a ring.”
1980
Leanne J. Pembvrn (A) writes:
“After five years of planning and
hard work, Mark and I have com
pleted phase I of home building in
our woods. Next phase will be straw
bale-all help is very welcome for
the bale raising. Contact me via
e-mail: leanne@pemburn.com.”
Tom G. Palmer (A) sends a quick
update: “I was in Iraq in February
under the auspices of the Ministry
of Education and the American
Federation of Teachers for a
conference for educators on civic
education and have been working
to get a lot of important books
translated into Arabic and pub
lished. In addition. I’m helping
Iraqi libertarian friends to set up a
think tank there, for the purposes
of educating people in the princi
ples of classical liberalism and
producing policy studies for the
new Iraqi government on how to
reform the judiciary to secure the
rule of law and the protection of
the rights to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, how to priva
tize state-owned industries, and so
forth. I’m leaving this Wednesday
for the European meeting of the
Mont Pelerin Society in Hamburg
(Free Trade from the Hanseatic
League to the EU) and from there
to Moscow to give a paper, ‘The
Role of Law and Institutions in
Economic Development’ at a
conference, ‘A Liberal Agenda for
the New Century: A Global
Perspective.’ I hope to be back in
Iraq in May and July to set up a
series of seminars for students,
some of which will involve SJC-like
seminars and discussions, as well as
lectures.
I’ve recently published a few
items, including a monograph,
‘Globalization and Culture:
Homogeneity, Diversity, Identity,
Liberty’ (published by the Liberales
Institut in Berlin for worldwide
distribution through the many
offices of the Friedrich-Naumann
Stiftung) and a paper, ‘Globaliza
tion, Cosmopolitanism, and
Personal Identity in the Italian
journal Etica e Politica. ’ I’ve got
a few other items in the works,
as well.
All in all. I’m keeping busy and
off the streets.”
37
Susan Read (SFGI) writes that her
1986
“Greetings, SJC,” writes Clayton
DeKorne (A). “I live now half time
in Burlington, Vermont, with my
daughters, Cecilia (16) and Helen
(14), and halftime in Brooklyn,
N.Y., with my new wife, Robin
Michals. I work as a full-time free
lance writer with regular assign
ments at The New York Times
Learning Network and a steady
stream of multi-media production
work from a handful of education
media companies. I would love to
hear from old friends and any John
nies interested in the brave new
world of online learning:
cdekorne@verizon.net. ”
son, Harry, is a thriving 8-year-old.
“We have just bought the house of
our dreams. I continue to enjoy
teaching English at Wooster
School.”
1988
Juliet Burch (A) writes from
Boston: “David (Vermette, A85)
and I are still happily impoverished
in Boston. I am apprenticing to be a
film projectionist and he is
researching Franco-American and
Quebec history alongside an edito
rial job. We continue to use our
St. John’s education for good
instead of evil, vigilantly keeping
cocktail party conversations away
from portfolio talk and on track
with suitable topics like ‘what is
color, anyway?’”
About the Tattoos
1982
Geoffrey Henebry (SF) writes:
“Ana and I and our brood of seven
(Patrick, Claudia, Gus, Thomas,
Isabel, Maria, and Tessie) continue
to enjoy the Good Life here in
Lincoln, Neb. My research over the
past five years has been diverse:
from modeling the ranges of native
vertebrate species in Nebraska to
analyzing the consequences of the
collapse of the Soviet Union on the
annual cycle of greenness in
Kazakhstan.”
1983
Theodore Zenzinger (A) just had a
daughter: Sophia Anne Zenzinger,
born in April.
{The College-
to have passed in a flash. Sophia is a fearless, joyful, lively
child, and she infinitely enriches our lives. She doesn’t have
any tattoos yet, but I was able to locate some black clothing in
her size. Our families and friends helped us adjust to parent
hood, but we are especially grateful to my classmate Ken Hom
(A80). Ken has logged thousands of hours in Babylon with us.
If Sophia develops a taste for good music and a knack for pool,
she will owe it all to him. I continue to practice the Japanese
martial art of aikido, in which I currently hold the rank of 4thdegree black belt. Since 1999,1 have been the chief instructor
at Aikido of Northern Virginia. I have about 75 students, any
30 of whom may show up for a given class. You may visit the
dojo’s website at http://www.aikido-nova.org. I’m still a
bureaucrat in the Department of Housing and Urban Develop
ment. For the past two years. I’ve been working as a housing
program policy specialist in the Office of Lender Activities and
Program Compliance. We spank mortgage lenders when
they’ve been bad. People may reach me at
Jim_Sorrentino@hud.gov.”
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�38
{Alumni Profile}
Looking for the “Monster”
Owen Kelley, Agg, Finds a Clue to Why Hurricanes Intensify
BY
Rosemary Harty
Before investigating hurri
omputer models can often
canes, Kelley had entered a
make accurate predictions
doctoral program in compu
of where a hurricane will
tational science immediately
wander. But no one has yet
found an accurate method to after graduating from
predict how intense a hurri
St. John’s. He ended up
cashing
out his credits for a
cane’s damaging winds win hecome.
Grapmaster(A93)
’s degree in physics
pling with this question, Owen Kelley
because he worried that he
asks, “Why does one hurricane become a
“wasn’t smart enough to be a
monster and another one doesn’t?”
As a scientist with George Mason Univer
Ph.D. scientist.” After honing
sity, Kelley is part of a team that works at
his skills at NASA for six years
NASA’s Goddard Space Fhght Center to
and feeling a growing desire to
study satellite data gathered by the Tropical
“ask the big questions,” he
Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The
decided last year to continue
TRMM satelhte is a joint effort between
where he left off with his
NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
doctoral studies.
Agency, and its data are being analyzed by
When Kelley began his
scientists around the world. For most of the
hurricane research last year,
past six years, Kelley created graphics and
he did not immediately think
software for other researchers. Through this
to look for hot towers. “Erich Stocker, my
work, Kelley met Joanne Simpson and
project manager at NASA, came in my
learned of her pioneering hurricane
office one day and saw me poring over my
research. Back in the 1950s, Simpson
hurricanes pictures, getting nowhere. He
proposed that short-hved “hot towers”
told me to pick one thing to study, and that
sustain a tropical cyclone, allowing it to
made all the difference. I had in the back of
travel a thousand miles in a week. But with
my mind how Joanne Simpson would talk
out computers or satellites, Simpson’s hot
passionately about hot towers, so I looked
tower hypothesis was difficult to prove.
up one of her articles and then taught my
Hot towers are rain clouds that reach at
computer how to find towers. It turns out
least to the top of the troposphere, which is
that the only instrument in space that can
nine miles above the earth and four miles
clearly see hot towers is the radar that’s
higher than the rest of a hurricane. The tow
onboard the TRMM satellite. This radar
ers are called “hot” because heat released by gives us ‘x-ray’ vision. It doesn’t look at just
water condensing allows these towers to rise
the upper surface of a hurricane-it sees into
higher.
the heart of the storm.”
Once Kelley began pondering the myster
ies of hot towers, his training at St. John’sparticularly his fondness for a question that
begins with “what is?”-began to pay off.
“Freshman year, I was horrified when we
started Euchd and my class argued for an
hour about the definition of a point. By the
time I graduated, I appreciated the power of
simple questions. Instead of becoming lost
in the data, I repeatedly asked the simple
question, ‘What is a hot tower?’ Every paper
I found seemed to use a slightly different
definition of hot tower. Eventually, I settled
on a precise definition and my persistence
C
Kelley’s computer models show hot towers
RISING FROM HURRICANES.
{The Colleges;, John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
As A SCIENTIST,
Owen Kelley appreciates
THE POWER OF SIMPLE QUESTIONS.
led me to patterns that other scientists failed
to notice in this same dataset.
“It took my breath away when I first
examined my statistical summary and I saw
that hot towers appear often in the intensify
ing hurricanes, but rarely in the ones that
are not intensifying,” says Kelley. A good
example of an intensifying hurricane with a
hot tower is Hurricane Bonnie in August
1998, as the storm intensified a few days
before striking North Carohna.
Kelley cautions, “We still can’t predict
which hurricanes will become monsters,
but perhaps we are now one step closer to
an answer.” Kelley’s results suggest that
seeing a hot tower near the hurricane’s eye
is a clue that the hurricane is twice as likely
to intensify than it would be otherwise.
In January, Kelley flew to Seattle to
present his findings at the annual meeting
of the American Meteorological Society.
He was not prepared for the media atten
tion that resulted when NASA issued a press
release about his findings on the day that he
presented them. While answering journal
ists’ questions, he had to learn how to
describe his research in a few words. In the
end, more than 80 Web sites, newspapers,
continued on nextpage
�{Alumni Notes}
Shannon May Lavery (A) and her
husband, JOHN (A87), celebrated
the eight-month birthday of daugh
ter Aurora (A2025) in Healdsburg,
Calif., where they recently relocat
ed with their first-born dog, (Vizla)
Lucius. All are well and peaceful.
“Fellow Oenophiles and Tahoebound schussers and ski rats pass
ing through should get in touch.
We are local and down to the
ground. Hookenzababy!”
Kim Paffenroth (A) has published
another book. In Praise of Wisdom:
Literary and Theological Reflec
tions on Faith and Reason (New
York and London: Continuum
International Publishing, 2004). In
it he traces the Biblical image of
wisdom as it unfolds in Dostoevsky,
Shakespeare, Augustine, Goethe,
Pascal, and Melville.
1990
Rebecca Ashe (SF) writes:
“I’m turning 40 this year and going
back to the UK for my high school
class reunion in June. Still happily
married to Steve Simmer with three
gorgeous and interesting daughters
(10, 8, and 4-all avid readers).
My beloved Faraday died at age 13.
Lee Whiting (SF89) and I got him
in Santa Fe. I still run daily and am
training for a half-marathon in May.
Also starting a private practice in
West Springfield. Would love to
hear from classmates again:
Rebecca.ashe@the-spa.com.”
“Greetings to all. I hope you are
well. Zip bang,” writes William
Culley (SF).
James Clinton Pittman (SF) writes
1989
After a year in Thailand, Elizabeth
Powers (A) and her husband
returned to Brooklyn in late 2002.
They gave birth to a daughter,
Madehne Josephine Wagner, in
October of 2003.
that younger son Sam just turned
two. “Hope everyone is well. I
need to write a book-anyone know
how to get political commentary
published when you hate Democ
rats and Republicans alike?”
1991
Brad Stuart (A) and Sara Larson
(Ago) are delighted to announce the
birth of their second daughter,
Phoebe. Brad is a software engineer
for General Dynamics in
Westminster, Md.
RonalieMoss (SFGI, EC95) is still
a teacher at Los Alamos High
School, but she looks forward to
retiring soon. “I have had a reward
ing career, but now I am looking
forward to reading great books
again instead of student papers.”
News from Megan Smith (A):
My husband, David Dougherty
(AGI98), and I welcomed our baby
television stations, and radio stations picked
up the story. His hurricane results appeared
in the media from Texas to Canada, Switzer
land, Colombia, Australia, and Japan.
A European Web site has even posted an
Italian translation of the story.
Perhaps the most gratifying attention
came from Simpson, who sent Kelley an
girl. Harper Claret, into our world
on September 2, 2003. She is a
bright and smiling baby with a full
head of spiky hair, just like her
mother’s. We are still living in
Annapolis, and I am working part
time as an optician and trying to
start a career in freelance ad design
for small businesses. David is a Java
programmer with Anne Arundel
County government. We’d love to
hear from any of our old friends.
My e-mail is peanutmom®
comcast.net and David’s is
dsmithdi@comcast.net.”
1992
From London, Victoria Burgess
(SF) writes: “I wish to thank every
one for their kind wishes following
the death of my father. They mean a
great deal to me. I would love to see
any Johnnies passing through the
London area.”
“After almost eightyears at the
Consortium for Oceanographic
Research and Education (CORE),
I will start a new job in April with
the Office of Education and
Sustainable Development at NOAA’s
headquarters in DC,” writes Sarah
ScHOEDiNGER (A). “While this job
won’t shorten my commute from
Annapolis, I am looking forward to
the new professional opportunities
it presents.”
Michael Zinanti (SF) tells us:
“I am an antenna design engineer
for Centurion Wireless Technologies
and have contributed to three anten
na patents with one more pending.
Susan (formerly Switich, SF93) and
I are raising and home-schooling one
e-mail that pointed out weaknesses in his
research, but closed with the statement:
“An old person feels that his/her life has not
been in vain when we see young people
grabbing the ball and running with it.”
This year, Kelley plans to revise the
material he presented at the conference
and submit it to a scholarly journal. Once
(The College.
39
daughter, Anna. We would love to
hear from any Johnnies passing
through the Denver area.”
1993
“Hello, all!”AMYFlack (A) writes.
“Things in South Dakota are going
well. Ministry is an adventure,
harrowing, wonderful, blissful,
wacky, and so many other adjectives
both good and bad.” E-mail:
thiers55@yahoo.com .
1994
Natalie Arnold and William Blais
(both SF) were married in July 2001
and celebrated with a 30-day cross
country train trip. Currently, they
“five in Pittsburgh and are the proud
owners of a happy house in need of a
little TLC. We are happy to provide
bed and breakfast, good conversa
tion, and a warm welcome to any
Johnnie traveling through Pitts
burgh. We are best reached through
e-mail at bill.blais@pobox.eom.”
Larissa Engelman (A) is currently
living in New York after moving
from Washington, D.C., in 2002.
“Working as marketing manager of
the New York office of Covington &
Burhng. As a side project, am look
ing to raise money for an independ
ent film project and would love to be
connected to others who have expe
rience or contacts in that world. My
hellos to the class. Hope to see you
at our lo-year reunion.”
he finishes his doctoral studies, Kelley is
not sure what the future holds. “The
ultimate goal is supposed to be teaching at
a research university and doing ground
breaking research between classes. I just
want to look at data and see things other
people haven’t seen before. I’m not sure
how to make that happen.” -*■
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Notes}
40
1995
Joel Ard (A) and his wife Hannah
(A92), announce the birth of their
son, David Frederick Ard, on
September 4, 2003. David made his
first appearance at St. John’s at
Homecoming a week after his birth.
“Remember kids,” writes Chris
Davis (SF), “funk is its own
reward.”
Benjamin “Alex” Ruschell (SF)
has a new baby. George Alexis
Ruschell (8 lbs., 20 in.) was born in
Schweinfurt, Germany, in
December 2003.
Jessica VanDriesen (A) is about to
complete a master’s in education as
part of the New York City Teaching
Fellows. “I have been teaching
math at Wadleigh Secondary School
since 2002. It is a far cry from
explorations of the conic sections or
Minkowskian space-time, but there
are moments. I plan to travel abroad
next year, teaching in an interna
tional school or possibly switching
to ESL. Anyone with suggestions,
please contact me via e-mail:
jvandriesen@hotmail.com.”
Tracy Whitcomb (A) is still in
Vermont and now back in school for
a second bachelor’s degree: in nurs
ing. “I hope everyone else is well! ”
An invitation to adventure from
KiraK. Zielinski (SF). “Anyone
in or passing through Las Vegas,
Nev., I’m now flying the Dam
Helicopter Tours out of a Bell 206
at the Hoover Dam-the tours are
quick, but a ton of fun, so drop by
and fly with me! I just bought a
house and I’ll be here for a year.
Because it’s Vegas, I think I need
to consider modifying my uniform
to sparkly midriff-baring nomex
with rhinestones! My callsign is
Dam Helicopter...too cool...
I’m obviously having a blast with
my new life. Also need to design
more bookshelves to go in the
helicopter...”
business journalism, I moved on to
Moscow. As of March, I have been
here for two years and I’m now writ
ing for a Dutch AIDS charity. I got
aggie Roberts Arnold (A95) writes:
married last summer to Elena
“Late as usual, I am announcing the
Rudykh, a Siberian intellectual
arrival of our son Augustus Bullock
beauty queen. We see ourselves
Roberts (Gus), born on September 16,
moving back to the homeland
2002. Parenthood is a blast! Thanks to Gus
eventually, but in the meantime,
we are frequent visitors to the San Antonio
I hope to see the day when one of
Zoo. (I am expecting the bears to wave to us out of
therecognition
many Marx readings on the
any day now.) We are also frequent visitors to theProgram
McNay isArt
replaced by Bulgakov’s
Museum. As parents we love this enthusiastic rediscovery of
‘Heart of a Dog’ for a modest
the basics: the naming of and conversational focus on ani
injection of reality.”
Rediscovering the Basics
M
mals, shapes, colors, vehicles, body parts, foods, nature (you
name it). I think fondly and frequently of the time I spent on
each campus and wish my contemporaries great happiness
and fulfillment! (And the courage to send in a note!)”
1996
1997
Maya Brennan (SF), formerly
J. Maya Johnson, is in New Jersey:
“I’ve recently moved from Baltimore
to central New Jersey where my
husband. Grandpa of evihobots
.com, found a paying job after his
election-induced unemployment.
I’m working at Princeton University,
compiling and coding data for the
Cultural Policy and the Arts National
Data Archive (CPANDA). Anyone
interested in the cultural pohcy field
will want to check out our free online
data archive atwww.cpanda.org. I’d
love to hear from former classmates,
especially anyone passing through
the central New Jersey to New York
City area. My e-mail address is
mahimsab@yahoo.com. Snail-mail:
501 Raritan Ave., D6,
Highland Park, NJ 08904
Erin N.H. Furby (A) is working as a
massage therapist in Anchorage.
“My husband and I are enjoying our
attempts at balancing middle-class
American fife with the fife of the
mind, and we still love Alaska, even
if it snows five days before April.”
{The College.
Michael Chiantella (A) married
Karen Burgess in Buffalo, N.Y., on
August 2, 2003. “Taffeta Elliott
(SF) gave a reading at the wedding.
Currently almost completed an
LL.M, in Trust and Estate law at
the University of Miami.”
1998
In September 2003, Julie Bayon
(AGI) graduated from Claremont
Graduate University with a Ph.D. in
education. The title of her disserta
tion is “The Neo-Classical Ideal:
Liberal Arts Education for the
Twenty-First Century.” She is
currently assistant professor of
English and chair of General
Education at Washington Bible
College in Lanham, Md.
Jacqueline Camm (A) announces
Shannon Stirman (SF) writes:
“We’re moving from Philadelphia,
where I’ve been studying at Penn,
to San Francisco, where Kelly will
begin working for a new software
company. Henry turned 2 in August
and we’re trying to keep up with
him. I’m finishing up my disserta
tion in psychology and will plan to
start an internship in the fall.
As soon as we figure out exactly
where we’ll be hving, visitors wifi
be welcome!”
“I think the last time I appeared
here, just after graduation, I was
rather optimistic about saving the
world through economics,” writes
David Veazey (A). “Well, since then,
I got my M.A. at Fordham but
stopped just before I had to start on
my dissertation. Over the years I had
become disenchanted with the
inherent inabihty of economics to
solve any meaningful problems.
Then later, after becoming an expert
in maximizing my unemployment
checks and dabbhng in health and
St. John’s College . Spring 2004 }
her marriage to Robert Travis
(a 1998 graduate of Columbia
University) on February 8, 2003, in
the Cathedral Church of St. Luke,
Orlando, Fla. The Rt. Rev. John
Howe, bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Central Florida,
presided. Amy (Norman) Morgan
(A96) and her husband Bill provided
music for the ceremony. Writes
Jacquehne: “We moved to
Tennessee in August for Rob to
attend seminary. We also purchased
our first home with the help of
Milk Klim (A02) of Columbia
National Mortgage. If anyone
would like to reach us, or is passing
through Tennessee, please send us
an e-mail: jacquelinecamm@
hotmail.com.”
Method-acting studies for Stephen
Conn (SF) finally hit Hollywood
gold! Look for him this summer in
Troy, he plays the third spear from
the left in that big battle scene
towards the middle. “Brad was a
dream to work with,” Steve adds.
�{Alumni Notes}
Christopher Pagan Nelson (SF)
Grateful for Phlogiston
reports: “Right now. I’m living in
Texas and concentrating on my
turbo-gangster country band. The
drian Lucia (SFoo) writes: “After living in
Foggy Mountain Cop Killin’ Boys.
Philadelphia and Chicago for three years. I’m
College didn’t really prepare me for
pursuing a master’s degree in library and infor
the scads of fame and money I’m
mation science at the University of Illinois,
receiving, but it was cool anyway. I
Familiarity with the theory of phlogiston has
would love to hear what other John
never been so helpful. I plan to flee the Mid
nies are doing, so please e-mail me
west in basically any direction when I finish this program.
Any
at donkeytown@hotmail.com
.
A
Johnnie librarians out there?”
James Petcoff (SFGI) is teaching:
a college administrator for the
University of Chicago’s economics
department, serves as president of
the Chicago chapter of the Society
of Architectural Historians, and is a
member of Chicago’s Caxton Club
(for bibliofiles): “I collect 16thcentury Aristotle texts.”
“I recently left my job as a mental
health counselor in Hyannis, Mass.,
and now work for The May Center
for Child Development at The May
School in Chatham, Mass., teach
ing children with developmental
disabilities. I recently moved to
Wellfleet, Cape Cod, from
Yarmouthport. When I am not
involved in the above, I play with
my jazz, folk, blues rocka-billy band: Skeeter and the Buz
ztones. I would love to communi
cate with fellow Johnnies in the
area.”
1999
Benjamin Closs (A) is serving at
the Marine Corps Air Station in
Miramar, Calif. “I may go overseas
for a while this fall, but Pacific
Beach isn’t bad until then.”
from Philadelphia to Frederick,
Md., a year and a half ago to live
with Vince Baker (AgsJ-yes, that
Vince Baker. We’re now engaged,
we’ve just bought a house and are
planning an October wedding. I’m
working for a biotech company,
while Vince is an editor. We have a
bit of a menagerie with the cats
Apollo & Artemis, and our recently
acquired blue-fronted Amazon par
rot, Pancho, the Bird of Mass
Destruction. We’d love to hear
from anyone in the D.G. metro
area: cinderlou@peoplepc.com and
oldmarley@hotmail.com.”
announce the birth of their son.
Mason, on February 14, 2003.
“We’d love to hear from our former
classmates at ShannonandKerry@
earthlink.net.”
Mike and Abby Soejoto (both A)
are pleased to announce the birth
of their first child, Lucila Adele.
Lucy was born on September 30 in
Los Angeles, where Mike is begin
ning his second year as an attorney
in the tax department of O’Melveny
& Myers. Abby recently finished the
post-baccalaureate program in
classics at UCLA. They’d love to
hear from anyone, especially those
in or passing through Southern
California (asoejoto@cs.com or
323-572-0343).
Nevin Young (A) writes: “I am now
Mauricio Rojas in August. “Also I
am currently teaching in Prince
George’s County. I got my certifica
tion through their Resident
Teacher Program and would be
happy to talk to any seniors or
graduates who are looking into
doing the same.”
“Hey all,” writes Jessica Sprout
Morgenstern (A). “Still busy out
here, loving my job, loving the
weather-sunny Santa Barbara. Feel
free to e-mail anytime...anyone
looking for a fun way to get paid to
learn (and teach) dance (ballroom
and social) give me a call!”
{The College.
Christopher “Casey” Vaughan
(A) is living in St. Augustine, Fla.
“Anyone who wants to come surfing
feel free to contact me at cvaughan@flagler.edu.
2001
Katharine Christopher (SF) and
Billy Davis (SF) were married on
December 20, 2003, in a beautiful
traditional ceremony at the Church
of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe.
Katharine reports: “We were
attended by our five sisters as
bridesmaids, and Jackson FrishMAN (SFoi) and Chris Carlisle
(SFoi) as groomsmen. Nikki
Mazzia (SFoi) sang two lovely
solos, and Juliana Corona
Kirmeyer (SF02) read a Scripture
passage. A number of other John
nies also came to celebrate with us,
as well as family and friends from
all over. It was a wonderful day, as
well as the beginning, God willing,
of a long and joyful marriage.”
2000
Lori Beth Kurtyka (AGI) married
Cindy Lutz (A) writes: “I moved
married in Rocky Mount, N.C., and
now live in Indianola, Miss., which
has been my home since gradua
tion. I will be ordained in May and
we are expecting our first child in
November.”
Shannon Rohde and Kerry
O’Boyle (Both AGI) would like to
Robert Herbst (SF) is employed as
A report from Andrew B. Hill (A):
“I’m getting married sometime in
2004 to a tremendous woman who
did not, sadly, attend St. John’s.
I reside in Fort Worth, Texas.
I recently completed an unsuccess
ful bid for the mayorship of my
lovely city, for which I was reward
ed with a whopping 206 votes, as
well as about 60 hours of Digital
Beta footage, which I intend to
convert into something remotely
saleable. Thus, no matter how
vague my connection to the school
may be, I am following in a
tradition of Maverick Johnnie
filmmakers, or at least I think I
am.”
41
finishing my third year in the
evening division at the George
Washington University Law School,
and am working for a lawyer in the
District of Columbia. (I cannot
understand why anyone would not
want to be a lawyer.) I would be
happy to answer any questions from
Johnnies who want to know about
law school in general, or GW.”
“Greetings from the Mississippi
Delta!” writes Paul Spradley (A).
“This past January 1 got married to
Caroline Taylor of Rocky Mount,
N.C. In the wedding party were
Derek Alexander (A99), David
Bohannon (A99), Adam Dawson
(A03), Alan Hudson (A03), and
George O’Keefe (A03). We were
John ’5 College . Spring 2004 }
What’s Up?
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
September; deadline for the
alumni notes section is July 15.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College, P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404;
rosemary.harty@sjca.edu
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College
Public Relations Office
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
alumni@sjcsf.edu
�4a
Katrina Costedio (SF) has finally
decided to use her powers for good
and is heading for law school,
although she isn’t sure which one.
“Also shaping the young minds of
California in various volunteer
positions and as a sub. And on the
weekends I work with an adult who
is learning to read. I’m struggling
with the demands of being a good
citizen. Most of the time I still feel
like I’m pretending, but what’s the
difference really?”
Terence Duvall (A) writes: “I just
returned from my first major trip
since graduating college so I
decided it was about time to send
an update. My lomo and I spent six
stupendous weeks in Slovenia
taking pictures of castles by lakes
for my upcoming art exhibit
‘Reflected Castles.’ In Ljubljana I
met a producer who has offered to
put out a split seven-inch of my
{Alumni Notes}
band. Big Brother, and the Sloven
ian underground rock quartet
Sister City. I think I finally under
stand why you can’t spell Slovenia
without the word ‘love.’ And so in
the immortal words of the poet
Jerry Garcia, ‘What a long strange
trip it’s been.’”
Talley Scroggs (A) moved to
Bennington, Vt., after a half year in
Agen, France, where she assisted
in running The French Kitchen at
Gamont, a 1720s inn. Her friend
Louis Kovacs (A), is in the post
baccalaureate program at
Bennington College. Talley works
at North Shire Booksellers and
plans to start an MBA program
next fall.
An intriguing “heads up” from
Peter Speer (A): “You’re the king
of hearts for four years and then
you come out into the real world
and you’re the two of spades. And
there’s no don rags in your new
office, and no one wants to read
your senior essay. But that girl by
the water cooler is awfully cute,
and she blushes when I quote
Dante, and though she’s never
heard of Virgil she swears it sounds
familiar. So all’s well and I’m
going to Vegas. Feel free to contact
me with lucky numbers.”
2002
Margaret Tobias (A) will be
attending graduate school this fall
at the University of Chicago,
enrolling in the Master of Arts in
Humanities program.
2003
“I am enjoying Eastern Classics
and highly recommend the pro
gram,” writes Allison Webster
(SF).4-
Alek Chance (A) and Iva Ziza
(Aoi) had a daughter, Emma
Katherine Chance. Emma was
born on August 10, 2003, in
St. Johnsburry, Vermont.
{Obituaries}
Diana “Danny” Bell
Herbert Brent Stallings
Diana “Danny” Bell, the wife of Santa Fe
tutor emeritus Charles Bell, died March 24
of pancreatic cancer. She was 80.
She was born and raised in Darlington,
Md., trained as a teacher, and after marry
ing Charles Bell in 1949, lived with her
family in Chicago and Annapolis. She
taught first grade in Annapolis until mov
ing to Santa Fe in 1967. Along with her
husband, she was named one of the city’s
“Living Treasures” in 1996 for contribu
tions to the Santa Fe community.
“Everything she did was in proportion
and infused with order, kindness, and
delight,” her family wrote in her newspa
per obituary. “Whether it was a picnic, or
the peaceful sharing of tea, Danny filled all
with joy and the sense of her unconditional
acceptance of our human foibles.”
The family has arranged for two ways for
friends to remember her: contributions
can be made for the publication of Charles
Bell’s poems through the non-profit
Lumen Books (40 Camino Cielo, Santa Fe,
New Mexico 87506) and also to one of
Danny’s charities. La Luz de Santa Fe Fam
ily Shelter, (2325 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe,
NM 87505).
Herbert Brent Stallings, class of 1941, died
January 8, 2004, in Cary, N.C. He was 84.
A native of Baltimore, Stallings played on
the college’s football team (nicknamed the
“gallopinggoose-eggs”) before intercolle
giate sports were dropped. His pastor, the
Rev. William Green, remembers Stallings
bringing his family back to the St. John’s
campus several years ago, videotaping his
old dormitory room, and fondly revisiting
his days at St. John’s. When the college
adopted the New Program in r937, Stallings
had the option of sticking with the old pro
gram or starting in the new and spending an
extra year at the college; he chose the New
Program, Green said.
“He has always said that St. John’s really
formed who he was,” said Rev. Green. “He
really loved talking about the college.”
Stallings went on to serve as a lieutenant
in the Navy during World War IL After the
war, he launched a 30-year career in adver
tising with the Baltimore News-American.
He met his wife, Ruth, on a Chesapeake
Bay Cruise. Married for nearly 60 years,
the couple had two children who live in
North Carolina.
{The College-
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
“He was a wonderful man who loved
books,” Green said.
Medora Cockey
Medora Cockey (A03) died January 3, 2003,
after a brief illness. She was 23.
Miss Cockey was born in Baltimore and
moved to Salisbury with her family in 1983.
She attended St. John’s College for two
years, then transferred to Warren Wilson
College in Asheville, N.C., to finish her
studies. She was to have graduated with a
fine arts degree in May.
Miss Cockey was a talented artist. She
loved hard physical farm work, and her
favorite summer job in recent years was
working on organic farms in Virginia and
Georgia. Her sister, Mary, is a member of
the Annapolis class of 2004.
Also noted:
Clayton Davis, class of r938, died Feb. 9,
2004.
John Falencki, (A68), died Dec. 30, 2003.
Merrill Turner (SF79) died March 16,
2004.
Charles T. Westcott, class of 1936, died in
July 2002.
�{Student Voices}
43
On Grades: How Can Genuine
Learning be Measured at St. John’s?
BY loHN Peterson, A05
grades? Do any students complain about
y grades were never
their grades? One can respond to a tutor in
something I worried
a don rag because he is stating observations
too much about. In
and offering suggestions, but how does one
middle school I earned
respond to a B on a piece of paper?
As, but in high schoolThe college’s recent self-study, “Liberal
where I didn’t always
Education
in a Community of Learners,”
do homework or attend class-I
maintained
states
that the college wants students to
a consistent B+, or 90 percent
average.
“work for understanding and not for
These grades were meaningless, I thought,
grades,” but acknowledges that students
because the work that the A-kids were
need transcripts, and therefore grades, for
doing to get their grades was out of propor
life after St. John’s. Grades interfere with
tion to a grade’s value. I scoffed at the arti
the college’s goals of fostering genuine
ficial scale of greatness that accompanied
learning and cultivating freedom, they
the grades: “High Honor Roll,” “Honor
distract students, encourage competition,
Roll,” etc. I beheved that I was wiser than
and are “inadequate as means of evaluating
these students, because while they were
working hard to slave for top grades at their a student’s success in liberal learning,” the
report states. Nevertheless, it says, tutors
college choices, I was heading to a place
take the “fair determination of grades very
where grades didn’t matter and where what
seriously.”
would really be measured after four years
The “Grades and Grading Poficies” sec
would be the true worth of an individual.
tion of the student handbook says that the
When I came to St. John’s College, I
college “does require all tutors to award let
found classes to be radically different from
ter grades to their students at the end of
high school, the teachers much more alive,
each semester...and authorizes them to
the students more interested and interest
decide what elements they will take into
ing. There were no tests and no homeconsideration and in what proportion.”
work-at least not in the high school sense
As opposed to the pre-determined system
of busywork from a textbook. Why, then,
of my high school days, this process is mys
were there still grades?
terious and vague, perhaps even arbitrary.
St. John’s is an egalitarian institution
What are these “elements” that a tutor may
that loves truth and rewards hard work not
or may not take into consideration? Class
with good grades, but with understanding,
room participation, attendance, attitude,
good conversation, and good judgment.
papers, and demonstrations all seem like
Could it possibly be true that with all these
candidates. However, different tutors may
riches around them, students here would
be more interested in different things, and
be worried about their grades, look them
this is something that a proportional grad
up every semester, and work for them, even
ing pohcy, in which various assignments
to the detriment of learning itself?
are given certain weight in a total grade,
During my first semester, I don’t think
is designed to alleviate.
grades ever crossed my mind-I was having
It is unhkely that St. John’s will implement
too much fun. I was worried that I did not
any pohcy such as this in the near future.
talk as much as some of my classmates and
One reason is that the more specific we get
that maybe I did not study enough. In my
about grades, the more it will appear that we
don rag, my tutors were nice to me and
care about them, and as a result, we will care
said some helpful things. This was enough
about them more. If tutors needed to discuss
for me.
grades, they would have to think more about
This year, however, I began to think
grade-giving and less about teaching.
about life after St. John’s and checked my
Students would consequently worry more
grades. This raised a series of troubling
about grade-getting than about learning.
questions about grades and the learning
Competition would inevitably result.
environment at St. John’s: How many other
“It’s a weird situation,” acknowledges
students check their grades? Students dis
Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft. “On the one
cuss don rags all the time-what about
M
{The College.
St. John’s College Spring 2004 }
John Peterson
hand we give [grades], and we don’t want
them to be some kind of secret document
that a student can’t look at, but on the other
hand we don’t report them to the student,
and we try to play it down. I don’t think it’s
hypocritical...It’s trying to foster a commu
nity where people are really concerned
about the depth of each individual student’s
self-education-and it really works.”
With all the debate about how much to
talk about grades, by which standards they
are given, and how much they matter to
students as opposed to how much consider
ation tutors have in giving them, my
inclination is to revert to my old high
school attitude. I begin to suspect that the
behavior of the students around me is
geared toward getting better grades.
I wonder if this or that student has better
grades than I, and if so, why. I become
taken with the feeling that we are all here
to go somewhere else, to get our tickets to
graduate school. I begin to resent my fellow
students and to think only of myself. Worst
of all, I stop all learning and introspection,
adopt an air of superiority, and start to
think about my future.
Only at this point do I realize that the
school knows what it is doing: it has foreseen
these problems, and in its grading pohcy has
tried to circumvent them. It recognizes that
grades can be a potential threat to learning,
but that they are necessary. If a Johnnie is
still worried about the arbitrariness of
grades, he only needs to ask himself,
“Do my grades reflect anything real?” and
he will answer, “More than they did in high
school.” That should be enough, and he
should go back to his studies.
�44
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
Greetings!
Your Alumni
Association and
the staff of SJC
have heen hard at
work supporting
the network of
Johnnies. I wish I
could share in
one letter all the
projects and possibilities that are emerging
from our shared work, but we only have
room for three this time. Watch this space
for more in the coming issues.
Part 1 - Reconnect
What ever happened to that interesting
woman in my freshman seminar?
WTio are the Johnnies living in my state?
Is there someone from St. John’s practicing
law in my city?
How many people were in my class?
What is Glenda Holladay’s last name now?
Does my favorite waltz partner have an
e-mail address?
How can I be sure the college has my
correct address and phone number?
Soon you can answer these and many other
questions about alumni around the world.
The Alumni Association and the college
joined forces to put the St. John’s College
Alumni Register online. It will be a great
new tool for you to stay in touch with the
rest of the college community. To use the
Register1. Go towww.stjohnscollege.edu.
2. Select alumni.
3. Select Online Register.
4. Apply for access to the Register.
5. Within a week, you will receive an
e-mail with your username and password
that will give you access.
Then you’ll be searching to your heart’s
content. As you use the new Register, we
strongly urge you to:
• Send your feedback about the Register
and the rest of the Web site to Jo Ann
Mattson (A87) joanne.mattson@sjca.edu
or Roxanne Seagraves (SF83)
roxanne.seagraves@mail.sjcsf.edu.
• Update and/or complete your own
information. The Register is only as
good as the information it holds. Please
make it most useful by keeping your own
data up to date!
• Let the college know if you prefer not
to have your information appear in the
Register. You should have received a
postcard asking if you wanted to opt out.
There are also places online that you can
choose not to have your information
appear.
• Use the Register as a tool to stay in
touch with Johnnies from your era, your
campus, your profession, or your locale.
Part 2 - Come Home
Are you going to Homecoming this year?
Please consider making the trip to Santa Fe
in the summer or Annapolis in the fall. You
will have many reasons to be glad you did.
• Seeing old friends and making new
ones.
• Thanking that tutor who opened your
mind to the books (or the books to your
mind).
• Seeing a rejuvenated campus whether
you’re in the East or the West.
• Watching a Santa Fe sunset over the
mountain or an Annapolis sunset over
the creek.
• Sharing the unique conversational
experience of seminar.
• Dancing as if you were ao again.
• Munching on burritos or crab cakes.
• Welcoming new honorary alumni.
• Gongratulating fellow alumni with
Awards of Merit for their remarkable
lives and work.
• Learning about the current state of
student hfe and the Program.
• Exhibiting and/or observing work of
creative and industrious Johnnies who
have books to sign (Annapolis) or art to
show (Santa Fe).
You will be receiving information and
invitations from classmates, the Alumni
Association, and the college. We look
forward to seeing you!
Partg - Reach Out
The Next Steps Action Team of the Alumni
Association and the Career Services offices
on both campuses support new alumni as
{The College .
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
they venture out into the world. If you’re
interested in providing support or in get
ting a boost yourself, consider reaching
out. Among the many opportunities and
services:
Virgil Initiative: Juniors who volunteer
are matched with an alumnus mentor.
The two meet periodically and stay in
touch through senior year and beyond.
The purpose of the relationship is to share
experiences and insights about the transi
tions after St. John’s. Career counseling is
not part of the plan, but mentors may have
helpful suggestions and resources for the
job or educational market as well. (Thanks
to Lee Zlotoff (A74) and Tom Krause
(SFGIoo) for conceiving and launching
this program!)
Networking receptions: Several Alumni
Association chapters host receptions that
bring new alumni and older ones together
to share career and grad school informa
tion. As you might imagine, many other
topics come up for conversation and a
lively time is had by all.
Communities of Interest: Clusters of
alumni have shared interests such as
psychology, dance, quilting, art, academic
research in various fields, law, or educa
tion. Often these Johnnies don’t have ways
to be in touch with each other even when
they know they’re not alone. The Next
Steps Action Team is planning to launch
a network across time and space to get
like-minded alumni connected.
Internships: A generous grant from the
Hodson Trust inspired summer internships
for students on the Annapolis campus.
Recipients have pursued a variety of
activities from arts to sciences to services
to professions. The project has been very
successful, and plans are afoot to begin a
similar program in Santa Fe.
We all have transitions to make as we
leave the college. These programs and
others help make the transition a time for
extended learning about how the great
ideas are the foundation for happy and
productive lives. If you’re interested in
participating in any of these programs,
either as supporter or supported, please
be in touch with Jo Ann or Roxanne.
They’ll help you make the connections.
For the past, present, and future,
Glenda Holladay Eoyang, SF76
�{Alumni Association News}
Chapter Update
With i8 active chapters meeting on a regu
lar basis throughout the country, including
a new chapter in Pittsburgh, St. John’s
alumni have plenty of opportunities for
seminars, social events, and cultural out
ings with other Johnnies. Efforts are also
under way in six new areas to develop
chapters from reading groups or nurture
budding interest in the formation of new
chapters and alumni groups.
In her annual report on chapter activity
to the association board, Carol Freeman
(AGI94), reported on an encouraging year
marked by active chapters planning innova
tive events and emerging interest in areas
yet to establish chapters.
Here are some highlights:
• The Santa Fe chapter is now meeting
bimonthly, and has formed a steering
committee to select topics and plan
meetings.
• The Boston chapter is thrilled to have
read Marcel Proust’s In Search ofLost
Time. This inspiring endeavor (5,000
pages) was a project embraced enthusias
tically by chapter members.
• The Annapolis chapter has decided to
develop a reading list for several months
in a row to attract more of the 500
alumni in the area to seminars.
• Inquiries about starting a chapter or
reading group are being pursued in
Ithaca, N.Y., and the Greater Miami area.
In Miami, Johnnies traveled up to three
hours to attend recent alumni gettogethers in Miami and West Palm
Beach, hosted by Annapolis staff
members Barbara Goyette (A73),
vice president for advancement, and
Jo Ann Mattson (A87), director of
alumni activities.
• Russ Dibble (SF97) and Kira Heater
organized the first seminar, on February
II, for alumni in the Missoula, Montana,
area.
In addition to seminars, Johnnies are
demonstrating their interest in socializing
with other alumni by turning out in large
numbers for crab feasts (Baltimore),
picnics (New York), and an annual
alumni dinner (Greater Puget Sound),
Check the Web
FOR Election
News
The Alumni Association nominations for
alumni representatives to the St. John’s
Board of Visitors and Governors and for
directors-at-large for the Alumni Associa
tion Board for 2005 will be posted on the
college Web site atwww.stjohnscollege.edu.
Select “Alumni” from the left-hand menu
(under the SJC seal), then click on the
Alumni Association homepage. A special
nominations page will appear among the
left-hand menu options
that are now highlighted in
red. Names, photos (when
available) and biographical
information about the
nominees, as well as infor
mation on the election
process, will be available
online on or before
August I, 2004.
45
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
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 pro
grams and coordinate the affairs of the Associ
ation. This newsletter within The College mag
azine 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-OutAction Team Chair Linda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association,
St. John’s College, P.O Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404, or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Brett Heavner (A89) and
Nancy Lindley (A58) at an
Annapolis networking
reception for students and
ALUMNI.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-275-9012
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin Gammon
410-280-0958
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-482-0747
Bev Angel
512-926-7808
CHICAGO
Amanda Richards
847-705-1143
DALLAS/FORT
WORTH
Suzanne Gill Doremus
817-927-2390
DENVER/BOULDER
Lee Goldstein
720-746-1496
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEW YORK
Daniel Van Doren
914-949-6811
{The College-
NORTHERN CALIF.
Suzanne Vito
510-527-4309
SANTA FE
Richard Cowles
505-986-1814
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
SEATTLE
Amina Brandt
206-465-7781
PITTSBURGH
Joanne Murray
724-325-4151
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
WESTERN NEW
ENGLAND
Julia Ward
413-648-0064
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
TRIANGLE CIRCLE
(NO
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
9-722-671-7608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
46
“A LOAF OF BREAD,
A GLASS OF WINE, AND ... I AND
ThOU.”
Sn^ng, Swirling, and Seminar at
Stags Leap Wine Cellars
BY Mark Middlebrook, A83
Here with a LoafofBread beneath the
Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and
Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
- FROM Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat^ c. iioo.
Nine centuries later, the sentiments
expressed in Khayyam’s verse echo each
summer in a vine-rich valley watched over
by a rocky palisade known as Stag’s Leap.
Alumni from around Northern Californiaand perhaps an eagerly welcomed visitor
from Santa Fe or Annapolis-rise early on a
sunny Sunday morning to prepare our pic
nic lunches and finish our seminar reading.
And then we’re off to the annual Stag’s
Leap Wine Cellars picnic and seminars,
where we’ll once again be the blessed
beneficiaries of St. John’s alumni Warren
(A52) and Barbara (A55) Winiarski’s
hospitality.
The drive from the San Francisco Bay
area takes about an hour, and many of us
carpool-if only for the pleasure of packing
in extra hours of conversation with fellow
alumni whom we may not have seen since
last year’s pilgrimage. As we head north,
fog often lingers on the Bay and even in the
lower reaches of Napa Valley, but its cool
ness provides a lovely contrast to the
intense valley heat that will come in the
afternoon.
We pass through the town of Napa and
head north on the Silverado Trail, a road
threading up the eastern side of Napa
Valley that’s traveled mostly by winery
hopping tourists and bicyclists. Vines
appear-lots of them-as we speed past the
now-familiar litany of wineries: Luna
(where former tutor Abe Schoener, A82, is
now winemaker), Altamura, White Rock,
Clos du Vai, Chimney Rock. After a few
miles, we see the distinctive notch in the
craggy ridge to the east. That’s the Stag’s
Leap. Just before the road begins to climb
out of the Stags Leap District and the
bicyclists start to down-shift, we pull into
the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars driveway.
To keep track of all the stags in these
parts, you need a scorecard-or maybe a
punctuation handbook. The “Stags Leap
District” (multiple stags) is the name of
the small wine-growing region that sits
just below the notch in the ridge called
Above: Alex Poulsen (SF74) and Daniel
Cohen(SF90)
Left: Former Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
events coordinator Gabriele Ondine and
PICNIC GUEST
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
“Stag’s Leap” (singular possessive stag).
“Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars” (ditto) is the
Winiarskis’ winery and home of our annual
picnic and seminars. “Stags’ Leap Winery”
(plural possessive stags) is an unrelated
winery in the district.
We bypass the tasting room parking lot
and instead take the road that skirts below
the white wine fermentation building and
around a wooded hill to the small lake
tucked behind. There we unload our picnic
baskets and coolers, carry them up to the
lake’s grassy banks, and spread a blanket
on a spot to our Uking-full sun, full shade,
or dappled with some of each. It’s a little
more civilized than Khayyam’s Wilderness,
but with boughs, wine, and books-not to
mention a refreshing lake to jump into-it
will be Paradise enow for us.
Despite the claims of some that our
palates are most discerning in the morn
ing, we defer to the scruples of those who
might find earnest wine tasting at 10 a.m.
a bit unusual, and instead we sally forth on
a vineyard walk and winery tour. We stroll
past FAY-a storied vineyard where Stags
Leap District pioneer Nathan Fay planted
the region’s first Cabernet Sauvignon
grapes in 1961-and then into S.L.V. (Stag’s
Leap Vineyard), whose grapes catapulted
Warren Winiarski to fame when his 1973
S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976
Paris tasting. We taste some of the grapes
and wonder at the winemaker’s techne that
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
reveals supple, prize-winning
wines from these juicy but still
tart berries.
From the luxuriant but care
fully-coifed wilderness of
grapevine tendrils, we return to
paved road and make our way to
the civilization of a modern
winery: crusher-destemmer
machines, fermentation tanks,
oak barrels, and bottling lines.
Our tour culminates in the
spectacular caves, which are
home to hundreds of barrels of
aging wine, a bronze bear and
cub nestled among several of
those barrels, a Foucault pen
dulum, a dramatically lit,
chapel-like room designed by
Catalan architect Javier Barba.
An hour of walking, plus the
heady, deep aromas of ferment
ing wine, have eliminated any
remaining scruples, so we make
a beeline for the lake. At a table
nearby, our host begins pulling
corks and pouring tastes.
The diligent among us work
methodically through the full
lineup, sniffing, swirling, and
then either swallowing or spit
ting-depending on one’s
lunchtime drinking plans and
desired degree of lucidity
during the afternoon seminars.
We start with Sauvignon
Blanc, several Chardonnays, and a pair of
Merlots. The simpler wines bear the Hawk
Crest name-Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’
second label-while the grander ones
display the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
name and distinctive “standing stag and
tree” logo. We finish with an impressive
phalanx of Cabernet Sauvignons,
including the FAY Estate, S.L.V. Estate,
and occasionally, if we’ve been very, very
good, a precious taste of the CASK 33
(a blend of particularly excellent lots from
FAY and S.L.V.).
Tasting wine is all well and good, but
drinking wine is better, so we pour a glass
of our favorite and bear it gingerly back to
our chosen picnic spot. There we fling
open picnic baskets, unwrap deli sand
wiches or flip open cardboard carry-out
containers, and begin to enjoy the happy
union of good food, good wine, and good
company. Congenial swapping ensues-of
victuals, opinions about the wines, opin
ions about the seminar readings, stories of
Liz Travis
(SF83)
our lives during the preceding year (many
of them true), stories of our times at
St. John’s (some of them true).
All of this eating, bibbing, and creative
embroidery under the hot summer sun is
arduous work, and some of us reinvigorate
with a jump into the lake. At the stentorian
bellow of the ceremonial conk shell, we
commence the annual chapter meeting.
This short but raucous affair typically com
prises effusive thanks to the Winiarskis
and the hard-working winery staff,
announcements of upcoming events, a
desperate plea by the current chapter
president for a successor, and directions to
the various seminar rooms scattered about
the winery.
Despite the unquestioned zeal of
St. John’s alumni for seminars, the next
{The College.
5£. John’s College Spring 2004 }
47
half hour offers irrefutable proof
of the validity of Newton’s first
law. Every body assembled there,
in its tranquil, well-fed state of
rest, does indeed continue in
that state of rest unless com
pelled to change its state by
powerful forces impressed upon
it. Several of us cajole, plead,
and eventually threaten in order
to get these bodies rolling
towards their seminar rooms.
We typically run five simultane
ous seminars on readings
ranging from Plato to the Lotus
Sutra to Wallace Stevens to a
contemporary political essay,
plus one film.
An hour and a half later, the
seminars disband and we
regroup at the Arcade outside
the caves for a reception with
scrumptious desserts and
cheeses, perhaps a sip of dessert
wine, and coffee. “How was
your seminar?” mingles with
other typical post-seminar chat.
There is more catching up on
the previous year, expressions
of wonder that we’re able to
enjoy a day like this each year,
and the wistful sense that this
year’s day is almost done.
One more slice of cake or
piece of cheese, another round
of grateful thanks to our hosts,
perhaps a stop in the tasting room to buy
a few bottles, and then we’re heading
south on the Silverado Trail, back towards
the Bay Area. The day’s heat is starting to
wane, and sun slanting off the vines
makes the early evening sky glow. 1 roll
down the window, and the air rushing by
seems to sing.
This year’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
picnic and seminars have not yet
been scheduled at the time of this
writing. Please note that reserva
tions are required, and that we some
times must limit attendance in order
not to exceed the winery’s capacity.
See the St. John’s College Alumni
Association of Northern California’s
Web page for more information and
reservations instructions:
http://teamrioja.org/sjcaanc/
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
Initiating the
Young into the
Tribe
‘!i4s well you know there is only one com
mencementspeech. It has been delivered
many times and it has many superficial
variations, but it always says the same
thing. An old man ofthe tribe tells the
young men that they are beautiful and
strong, that the world isfull ofevils, and
that they must go out into the world tofight
its evils and keep the vision ofits highest
good. ”
—Scott Buchanan, Commencement 1952,
he commencement rite
calls for a memorable
speech filled with sage
advice on how to go on
with the business of life.
Scott Buchanan called
commencement “the great rite of initiation
of the young into the tribe.” Some speech
es are memorable; some are not. Some
focus on history, some on urgent current
events. But at St. John’s College the selec
tion of the commencement speaker always
falls to those to whom it is primarily
directed, and throughout the years tutors
have been heavy favorites in the selection
process.
Scofield said in his 1950 speech that a
Tutors Richard Scofield and the Rev.
possible interpretation of the custom of
J. Winfree Smith became commencement
choosing a speaker from within the
traditions themselves. Scofield delivered
the commencement speech four times;
college is that students “think of the
Smith was selected by the graduating class
occasion, in spite of its name, as not only
looking forward. Since the life that lies
five times. Tutor Nancy Buchenauer was
ahead of you. . .is more complicated, more
selected by the students in Santa Fe in
serious, and more precarious than the life
1997, and after transferring to the
you are leaving, you could hardly go
Annapolis faculty, was asked to deliver the
without a backward glance.” dtp
2000 address.
T
{The College.
St. John’s College . Spring 2004 }
Tutor Richard Scofield, shown here in
1950, DELIVERED THE COMMENCEMENT
SPEECH FOUR TIMES.
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Santa Fe
Homecoming: July a-4,2004
classes
are: ’69, ’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94, ’99.
Childcare is available.
Friday, July 2
Picnic on the Placita, 5 p.m.
Reunion class parties
Movie: The Tao ofSteve
Saturday, July 3
Homecoming Seminars, 10 a.m. to noon
Barbecue, 12-2 p.m.
Alumni Art Show opening, 5 p.m.
Banquet, 7 p.m.
Members of the Denver-Boulder chapter
Sunday, July 4
Annapolis
GATHERED FOR A SEMINAR LAST WINTER.
President’s Brunch, 10:30 a.m
Homecoming: October 1-3, 2004
L2I2EEZ1liunni
____
Week i; June 28-July a, 0004
Kierkegaard’s Meditation on Abraham and
Isaac
Led by David Starr
Hegel, Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling,
and excerpts from the book of Genesis.
Painting & Reflection
Led by Phil Le Cuyer &
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny (SF80)
On-campus and off-site painting experi
ences, gallery tours, seminars.
Week2: July 5-9, 2004
Plato’s Republic
Led by Eva Brann & David Carl
Revisit one of the seminal texts of Western
political theory.
Don Giovanni & the Operas of Mozart
Led by Peter Pesic & George Stamos
Once again, Don Giovanni is dragged alive
through the gates of Hell.
Call the Office of Alumni and Parent
Activities, 505-984-6103
Registration, 4 to 8
Career Panel, 6:30 p.m.
Homecoming Lecture, 8:15 p.m.
After lecture: Wine and Cheese with the
class of 2005, Rock Party in the Boathouse
Saturday, October a
Seminars, 10 a.m.
Homecoming Picnic, noon
Class Luncheons, 11:45 P ®Afternoon: Autograph Party, Soccer,
Gathering of All Alumni, Dance
performance in memory of Harry Golding
Hors d’oeuvres & wine, 6 p.m.
Homecoming Banquet, 7:30 p.m.
Waltz/Swing Party, to p.m.
Sunday, October 3
President’s Brunch, ii a.m.
* Tentative schedule.
All alumni are welcome. Reunion classes:
’39, ’44, ’49, ’54, ’59, ’64, ’69, ’74, ’79,
’84, ’89, ’94, ’99.
Contact Planit Meetings for special rates at
Annapolis hotels. Space is limited for dis
counted rates; mention St. John’s College
when you call for reservations.
Phone: 301-261-8284; fax: 919-642-0062.
E-mail: kelder@planitmeetings.com.
For more information, call the Alumni
office: 410-626-2531.
{The College -St.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
Back cover: Reality observers in Annapolis
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Communications Office
P.O. Box aSoo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
D A N IE L H O U C K
( ao 6)
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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The College, Spring 2004
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Volume 30, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Spring 2004.
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Harty, Rosemary (editor)
Borden, Sus3an (managing editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (art director)
Hartnett, John (Santa Fe editor)
Wilson, Rebecca
Silver, Joan
Kraus, Pamela
Miller, Basia
Stickney, Carey
Russell, George
Dink, Michael
Engel, Elizabeth
Goyette, Barbara
Byrne, Brigid K.
Maguran, Andra
Peterson, John
Eoyang, Glenda H.
Middlebrook, Mark
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The College Vol. 30. Issue 2 Spring 2004
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Text
~----.
Vol. I No.2
March 1975
The St. John's Review
CONTENTS
Interview with Robert Goldwin
by Chris Hoving •••••••••••••••••••.••••.•••• 1
Play Review--The Alchemist
by John Rees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Head and Heart of Science Fiction
by Robert L. Spaeth •••••••••...•.•.•••••••• 16
Still Life
by Dennis Johnson •.•••••••••••••••.• _. •••••• 26
"The Appealing of the Passion is Tenderer
in Prayer Apart"
by Richard Davenport ••••.•••.•••••.••.••••• 27
Price of Liberation--a review of The Vagabond
by Elizabeth Gold ••••••••••• •••••••••• ••••• 41
Orpheus
by Arlene Roemer ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 45
Simplicia's Triumph
by Edward Sparrow •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 46
Annapolis Md.
�Production Staff•
Helen Aikman, Derek Cross, · Sue Ferron,
Gene Heller, Chris Hoving, Sheri Osborne,
Mary Rogers, Stephanie Slowinski, Susie
Tischler
Joan Silver--Managing Editor
Special Thanks to Rob Godfrey
and Cathy Craig
�(·
~ --- ~
INTERVIEW
The St. John's Review interviewed Dr.
Robert A. Goldwin at the White House in
December 1974. Dr. Goldwin is a graduate of St. John's and was dean of the
Annapolis campus from 1969 to 1973. The
author of a book on John Locke, he once
directed pub lic affairs conferences for
the University of Chicago.
In 1973 he
left St. John's to serve as an aid to
Donal.i Rumsfeld, then ambassador to NATO 1
and when Rumsfeld became White House
chief of staff, he periuaded Goldwin to
join him. Dr. Goldwin's job as special .
assistant to the President is similar to
the one he did at Chicago in that he
arrang es meetings between members of the
academic and political communities.
On his office wall Dr. Goldwin had
photographs of those seminars at the
University, and he commented that the
idea had been to invite future leaders.
In a 1961 meeting a few of the partici_
.pants shown were a Charles Percy, Edmund
Muskie, ThurgOod Marshall, and, Gerald
Ford.
"I think we did rather well,"
Goldwin said.
Dr. Goldwin plans to return to Annapolis some day to give a lecture. At
present, he has only a title, which isa
"Report from the Cave."
--Chris Hoving
�SJR: As someone who's been in the a- adec
mic and is now in the political world,
covld you compare the Melian dialogue to
the Watergate ~orality?
Goldwin:
(Laughter) That's reallv reaching. As well as I remember the Melian
dialogue, so-called, there is 5ome discussion at the beginning about whether
things of importance between state~
can be discussed publicly. The tendency
to secretiveness is a very difficult political and diplomatic consideration. There
definitely are some things that can be
conducted ~or the national good, the public good, only if matters are kept quiet
and are not debated publicly while they're
being considered. That has always been
true, and is a special difficulty for
democratic societies. It is one of the
things Alexis deToqueville, for instance,
commented on when he spoke of the coming
difficulties in the conduct of foreign
policy for a democracy.
In the Watergate
matter, of course, the problem was that
things were kept secret not for the public good, obviously, but to protect the
ca~ers and reputations of individuals.
There's always that temptation as long
as there is the general unspecified, not
a preference, but a kind of justification
in general for keeping things secret in
the conduct of foreign affairs. But the
possibility of abuse is severe.
SJR: Fine. It is true that what brought
about Nixon's downfall was the existence
of tapes, because all that they wished to
keep secret became public; but that avoids
the question of morality. The Melian
dialogue says that justice and ~orality
�r
f
are simply irrelevant.
Is it correct
then that the only problem is keeping the
truth secret? Perhaps your experiences
with NATO would he helpful here.
It may
be that the answers seem to be simpler
to those in the academic world because we
do not have the experience.
Goldwin: The justification for some element of secrecy in diplomatic and political matters is justice; that is, in order
to bring about J cia iJ l
a1 j& z ti a 9
a
·' 5
desirable objectives by just means
sometimes requires secrecy. Secrecy and
injustice often go together but the justification for secrecy, from time to time,
not as a constant practice, is a just
means to a just objective. For instance,
when you're told so•ethin~ in confidence,
hy someone who's life might be at stake-someone on the other side--told somethin~
in confidence which holds out some promise
of reachin~ a just compromise, it's very
important to adhere to the pledge of confidence.
Revealing it is a betrayal and
may give one some immediate temporary
advantage, but what's wrong with it is
the injustice of it.
I have never seen
that there was a conflict between being
practical and hein~ moral.
It seemed to
me that morality and practicality are two
things that go together. When people
sometimes tell you, "Well sure that's the
right thing to do but we have to be practical," I conclude not only is that an
immoral man, but that he's an impracti c a l
man. Now that doesn't mean that doing
the ri~ht thin g is always easy, but doing
the practical thin~ isn't easy either,
most of the time, and the biggest c o nflict
comes in short-term advantage and in so l id
3
�4:
achievement. And very many people show
their impracticality by reaching for a
temporary, short-term advantage and sacrificing long-term accomplishment.
SJR: Would that long-term accomplishment
come about through a trust between people?
Or to put it another way, if it was pos-.
sible to always keep the immorality hidden,
would there be a problem then?
Goldwin: We're mixing up a lot of things
and I suppose that's unavoidable. For
instance, there's a hig difference in
international dealin~s and in domestic
politics and perhaps the flaw in the original question is comparin~ the negotiations of two sovereign entities of verv
unequal power, too easilv to a domestic
political situation like Watergate.
But
there is something in common and that is
the importance of trust. Short-term advantages are very often sought by a betrayal of trust, when you say you'll do
one thing and you do another. Now for
the long-term, that's the most damaging
thing a man can do, because the people
he has to continue dealing with will not
trust him thereafter, and once you're
not trusted, vou're at a very ?reat disadvantage in political activity in trying to accomplish things.
In international
relations sometimes you get away with it
because there is that element of force.
But not being trusted is a very severe
disadvantage in all important human enterprises.
SJR:
The second question is also somewhat academic--
�5
Goldwin:
We ought to start some ~ind
of campaign to avoid using the word
"academic" to mean "having nothing to
do with important matters." When people
say, "It's just an academic question,"
that means it's just something insignificant.
SJR:
Yes, or it means, "moot." However, we did not mean anything disparagin~, but were using it as Newsweek does
in their article on you. They say you
cancelled your plans to return to "academe" in order to take your present position.
Goldwin: What they knew was that I had
resigned from NATO and that I had accepted
an appointment at the University of Pennsylvania which was to start sometime late
in October. The pre~ident of the University of Pennsylvania very ~raciously released me from that committment so that
I could accept this appointment when it
was offered. But you were going to ask
something else.
SJR:
If John Locke were sitting in that
chair, what would he say about today's
government? Specifically, the rise of
executive power about which we hear so
much today.
�6
Goldwin:
First of all, the great power
of the executive would be of no surprise
to John Locke.
If you read very carefully what he says about the executive
&r~~gative, it's almost unlimited.
The
only limit on it, as I understand Locke,
would be the countervailing forces of
majority resistance to what the executive
might try to do, and that will happen only
when the majority are convinced that what
the executive is doing is dangerous to
their liberties and their lives.
If it's
manifest that what he's doing is for the
public good, even if it's contrary to the
law, according to Locke it will be accepted.
Sometimes, he argues, such actions are
_
the duty of the executive.
So although
he speaks of the legislative power as the
supreme power, Locke wculct not he surprised at the growth of ~xecutive power
in this country. There might be other
things he would be concerned about. For
instance, the great effort at re~ulation
of enterprise in this country would surprise him in one respect and not in another.
Surprise isn't the right word,
he might not be surprised at any of these
develop~ments, once he saw the train of
them. But he would be critical of some
of the regulation of ent~rprise.
Now it
wouldn't be on the grounds that property
is sacred, as conservatives argue. Locke
would never say anything like that. The
purpose of government, he says very clearly, is the regulation of property. What
he would be critical of would not be the
fact of regulation but some of the practices and some of the thinking behind it.
Locke's fundamental a.rgument I think, is
this: the inclination of some men to in-
�7
crease; for instance, increase the yield
on the same number of acres, is a great
force that has to be liberated and encouraged. We would now call it productivity.
He would argue that everybody is better
off when productivity is encouraged and
the regulation of property should be for
that goal. The way to do it is to encourage the acquisitiveness and inclination to productivity of certain people
who have that inclination very strongly
within them. We use regulation largely
to curb the acquisitiveness of certain
overly acquisitive persons and groups.
And that is what Locke would be critical
of. His argument would be:everyone is
better off when the society as a whole
is most productive, and therefore the
regulation of property should have as its
goal the encouragement of productivity.
Now of course there are all sorts of new
elements in people's thinking having to
do with the danger of productivity using
up our resources.
I wonder whether those
views will survive the new economic conditions that are peginning to be apparent
not only for this country but througho;Jt
the world.
SJR:
Newsweek reports that your next
meeting* will be on the economy.
Is this
correct?
Goldwin: No,
SJR:
that is not quite correct.
What will your next meeting he on?
Goldwin:
You mean meeting with the !resident and some outside invited guests?
Well~
let me explain a few things: anytime
�8
the fresident meets with people, it's his
decision, at his choice of subject and
the location and time that he chooses.
Some of these reports in magazines and
newspapers make it seem that I make those
decisions and choose subjects and, in
effect, set up a schedule of topics and
times for the ~resident and that's inaccurate. What I do make is recommendations
in response to questions put to me, and
my recommendations are based on some grasp
of what the !resident's schedule is, what
topics will be uppermost in his mind, what
tasks have to be performed, what deadlines
he faces, and I try to make suggestions
for meetings that will fit in most helDfully with what the Eresident is doing.
Now the next meeting•\-Jill not be a dinner,
but will be lunch on a Saturday. The
topic is still not firm, but it will b~
directed toward the project uppermost in
the !resident's mind at the ti~e.
As
everyone knows. the President will neliver
a State of the Union message late in
January to the new Congress, so that
will be very much in his mind and I
would guess--although it's not definite
at the moment--that he will want to have
a general discussion of the state of
things in the nation; that is, a good
analysis of what the situation is politically, economically, socially, and
some talk ahout what our best directions
would be.
It probably would be helpful
if I explained what I aim for in making
my suggestions to the ~resident regarding
the kinds of people who are invited.
I
*This meeting was held in January. Ed.
�9
have two main thoughts in mind, and this
goes to show how academic people might
he useful to people who have heavy public
responsibilities and also a judgement
ahout the ways in which they are not often
useful.
First, the government is filled
with people who are extremely knowledgeable and, in my opinion, really expert in
the things they are asked to study and do.
MY collea~ues at the US mission to NATO,
for instance, compared very favorably to
any faculty I have ever served with.
They were reaLly well-educated, thoughtful, hard-working people. Because they
must be really expert in the things they're
asked to work on and advise on, they become specialists and it's very ~ard for
them to see--in fact it's wrong to ask
them many times--to see the connections
of the things they are working on with
other things of great importance that
other people are special~s in.
Hence,
there is an opportunity, in fact a need,
for people who see the connections and
make the links.
They have to understand
what specialists and experts tell them
about one part of our policy and another
part of our policy, but they also have to
have some distance from that specialized
expert understanding So that they can see
the connections and see policy itself overall.
At the US mission to NATO my responsibility was to try to advise the am~assador by looking at problems from the
viewpoint of the ambassador; that is, overall policy.
Here in the White House what's
needed is people who can help the !resident view proble~s from the presidential
viewpoin~.
Naw most of the peoEle who
have to study problems for t~e Eresident
�10
and be really expert in them cannot be
expected to view the problems in that
overall presidential perspective.
So
that's one of the things we look for.
The second main point is this:
Academic people generally aren't the best
ones to present some eight-point cr
ten-paint or fift~en point program for
dealing with a problem.
That requires
not only a knowledge, but an experience
with the workings of the government in
all its perplexity, not only within the
executive branch, but in the relatinns
of the executive branch to the legislative and also the relations of the federal government to state and local governments.
There are some academic people
who work out the details of things, but
the ones who have that overall presidenti.al view are not the best ones to aak
for a detailed program, say for urban
renewal or improving transportations systems. What they are good at is giving
an analysis of the problem.
The best
moments are when they say, "What• s wrong
is; we aren't putting the question the
best way.
As I see it, this," and then
they give an analysis, "is what our problem is.
And this is the question we
should be asking."
Now once t:hat' s done,
if it's persusive, if it seems really to
have hit the mark. then the government
has lots of excellent people who begin to
pursue that question and build a legislative program . that is a reponse to that
question.
You may have seen reports that
one of the people in the last dinner seminar with the ~resident was Prof~ James Q.
Wilson of Harvard Who has just completed
a boo~, not yet in print, on crime.
There's
been a lot of attention paid to ~s analy-
�,,
sis and it's being looked into very carefully.
He has taken up the analyses of
other people and has shown that there ·:
really isn't sufficient support in studies
and in data for some of the analyses and
formulations of others which have been the
basis · of major effor-ts to control crime;
for example, i t was thought for some time
that heroin addiction and street crime had
a direct correlation. So that if you can
reduce heroin addiction you would reduce
street crime.
In recent years 1 ~ere reduction was measurable and heroin had been
hi~h, when the reduction was accomplished,
street crime either stayed the same or
went up. What Wilson has done is show
that the analyses of many other people
have not been borne out by the facts.
He
then proposes that we look seriously at
one severe weakness in law e~forcement:
that a very small proportion·- of convicted
felons actually are sent to prison. New
he's not talking about some crackdown on
the streets where you have to incr ease the
number of arres~ He's not talk ing about
any change in police practice. He ~ ~ not
urging, as part of this argumen t , tha t
there be more prosecutions or that jud ge s
and juries be more severe and convic t a
higher proportion of people.
All o f t h a t
he puts aside.
There may be argume nt~ f. or
more or less, but he's not talking a b o u t
that.
He picks up with the law enf orce ment procedure just at the point wher e
there has been a conviction, the jury ha s
convicted, and now the judge has go t t o
~entence; and s4...t<l·S'!·ic• .r'M~It t.Ae.l.o11ow1JJ..!!: for example, in New YorY Cit y , vt.ry ~
of all those convicted of robbery a re
sent to prison, • ~mttttJt"tJ•t '1ltL»t-bet
do., 't "$e.t:ve a dey a £t-Ie~· l,e l711"
�12
.
CCJ11_-•t•.J,
If you put 100% of the
convicted robbers in prison, not for very
long sentences, two years--within two years
you would cut the rate OT robberies in
New York City~~y. He doesn't fi&ure
the deterrent effect on other people w"u'c.h
would result from swift and sure punishment, puni•hment being simply deprivation
of liberty for two years. He's rtot figuring
that in, he's figuring in only the fact
that the people who would otherwise be
eommitting the crime are in jail. Now
that's a persuasive argument and I've
over-simplified it. There's a lot of
argument and information in his book which
is coming out, but my main point is thiss
His argument really works like the search
in a St. John's seminar for the best question. Why are so few convicted criminals
sent to prison after conviction in this
country? By the way, New York City is
not some freak--it's a common thing throughcut the qountry.
In California; there
are. areas where the rate "'iMta y_ • •· -~, lawtat. Why are so few convicted criminals
sent to _prison? T*'e answR Maj k1 there is
a notion in this country that prisons exiit for the sake of rehabilitation of
criminals, but prisons do a very -bad job
of it. We don't know how to rehabilitate
criminals. Correctional institutions
don't correct. They've a very poor record
for it. Therefore, judges and others are
reluctant to send the prisoners to these
institutions that don't work well.
But,
·f at -qc asJc1 , "Is that really the fundamental, the primary purpose of a prison?"
and•e raise the question, in effect,
what is a prison for? One plausible, common sense answer tnat most ordinary citi-
�zens would give is: "The purpose of the
prison is to keep the criminals in some
safe place so that they don't rob my home
or threaten my person with violence."
Now if you once raise the question what
is a prison for and begin to entertain
the answer; "A prison is for the purpose
of separating the criminals from the rest
of society," then you can say, prisons
can do that very well. And therefore,
this man who has been convicted should be
sent to prison.
SJR: You emphasized that the President
makes the decisions on subject matter,
place, time, etc.; but do you select the
participants and, if so, how?
Goldwin:
No, I don't select them.
I make
recommendations.
The !resident selects
them. What goes to him is a description
of the proposed gathering, a description
of the proposed topic, a list of people
from outside the government who might be
invited, a list of people from vi thin the
government who might be invited, and then
two more lists of alternates.
After the
!resident has seen the proposal and has
discussed it with others, it comes back
greatly changed and r•m told what the
!resident ~ould like.
One thing I would
like to emphasize, and it h&s not come
out clearly in any of the other interviews
I've had--I don't think of myself as the
one who maintains liason with the academic
community, because, first of all, the ~es
ident has lots of contact with people in
the academic community, a vast number of
economists in and out of the ~overnmertt
speak to him and work with him all ~he
time--for one example.
But my main
13
�14
objection to this notion of the academic
community is that people in academic life
don't really form a community, except in
certain uninteresting ways. When all the
faculty ·of some university speak as one,
it's on some subject like working conditions or salary levels.
In other words,
not much different from trade unions, from
professional societies of every sort, and
that's not what I have to look out for.
If I am supposed to help in same sort of
liason, it's with individuals from the
academit community, not with the community as a whole.
All I've been charged to
d0 is look out for interesting people who
are knowledgeable, who have spent a lot
of time studying and analyzing and Who
~ight have some constructive things to
say to the people in the White House, to
me, to others, and perhaps even to the
President. And that's what I do.
The Alchemist
by Ben Jonson
review by John Rees
One by one they came a nd they paid.
A nobleman, a holy man, a mercha nt, a
clerk ••• all seeking the same universal
good, Unfortunately, they alJ sought to
spe 11 •• good'' with an ''1 '" (as gold) and
they all "got took! " "As good as any
drawn from a mine! " says Subtle to Pastor
Wholesome (Tribulation Wholesome, that
is, whose 'holy mission' has led him to
accept the profane, namely Subtle, in
order to strengthen the church). And
�we don't begrudge the alchemist these
subtle claims, for even if the good doctpr
cannot strictly turn base metals into
gold, he at least seems capable of turning
all kinds of men into fools, and a fool'b
gold is as good as anybody's
Ben Jonson's play is full of twists
and turns, as serious conniving winds
its way through intricate complications.
The action hardly stops for a minute,
and the actors themselves reveal tremendous diversity of role and of a ttitude.
But when attempting to look at the play
as a whole, it is hard to look at it as
more than the sum of a ll these mischievous
machinations. Its "me~ningu do e s not
seem to rear up large r than the simple
experience of witnessing a performance.
If there is a me a ning to the play, it is
that "you can't get some thing for nothing,"
but Jonson seems to treat this notion
more as a unifying theme than as a
"meaning •; more a s a backdrop against
which he projects hi s scurrilous she nanigans than as the main product of hi s
art. For Jonson, a play should s e r ve a s
light entertainment; something to distract
one from the cares of day to day living .
A value judgeme nt at this point would
be meaningless, but if this reviewer i s
right, and Jonson's overall purpos e wa s
•• light entertainme nt,'' he might not have
needed to have written such a long play ;
a shorter one would not only ha ve s uffi ce d,
it might have been more effective.
As far as our particul a r production
is concerned, it is praise enough to say
continued page 58
- - - -- -- - -- - - --··----- - - --
15
�16
The Head ard
~rt
of Science Fiction
by Robert L. Spaeth
Science fiction is an authentic,
prosperous, ever-growing, alwaysfascinating twentieth-century literary cult. It is international, ·but
as American as jazz music; repellant to
most readers, but as absorbing as a good
dirty book to its fans. It is pop culture, instant Camp, far out--and it was
all these things before the terms were
invented. To its devotees, it isn't
science fiction at all• it is "s.f."
Science fiction is a vast and rapidly
axpanding collection of novels, novellas,
novelettes, short stories, magazines,
antholog ies, histories, and criticism-all preoccupied with the imag i native use
of modern science in fiction, including
the past, present, and mainly the future
of modern science and technology. Almost
all of the titles in the collection were
written within the past thirt y yeattB; a
few classics dot the years more than a
century into the past.
Science fiction is not the literature
of the fantastic, and it has almost no
connection with utopian writing .
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is not s.f.;
neither is Hilton's Shangri-La. S.f. is
sui generis, and what a genus!
If science fiction were not a c ult,
with leaders and followers, teachers and
learners, fans and fanatics, Ursula K.
LeGuin could not have beg un her prizewinning novel, The Left Hand of Darkness,
with these wordsa
�17
From the Archives of Hain. Transcript of Ansible Document 0101101-934-2-Gethen• To the Stabile on Ollulz Report from Genly Ai, First Mobile on Gethen/
Winter, Hainish Cycle 93, Ekumenical Year 1490-97.
Nor could Arthur C. Clarke have begun
his novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, with
this sentence• "The drought had lasted
now for ten million years, and the reign
of the terrible lizards had long since
ended." Yet these are not hack writers
or kook novels, but the work of two of
the best and best-known of contemporary
science fiction writers.
Mrs. LeGuin, the daughter of the
well-known anthropologist A.L. Kroeber,
is often concerned with the sociil
psychology of imaginary societiest the
hermaphrodites who, in Left Hand of Dark~· populate Gethen, the 84th planet
known to be inhabited, are indicative
of her concerns.
Clarke's 2001 is unusual in that it
is based on a film of the same title,
produced by Clarke himself and Stanley
Kubrick. Films have not been the mainstay of science fiction by a long shot,
but the fact that Clarke himself ~s
half responsible for 11 2001 11 was a boost
for both the movies and s.f. Clarte has
an edge on most s.f. writers since he
writes what the fans call "science
fact" as well as science fiction.
2001 has all the conventional trappingsa a shuttle service to the moon
in twenty-five hours, a man-like computer named HAL (fiDr Heuristically
programmed ALgorithmic computer), deep-
�18
space astronauts in hibernation, a f ully
mysterious "ebon slab," hyperspace,
transdimensional ducts. Clarke is g ood
enough to combine such paraphernalia into
a novel with a theme as vast as human
evolution and the existence of intelli•
gence in the universe. 2001 reads
smoothly and quickly, keeps the reader
in mild suspense, plunges him i nto unfathomable mystery. One doesn't long
remember Mission Commander David Bowman or Astronaut Frank Poole; the real
protagonists of s.f. are theories,
possibilities, impossibilities, and the
sense of wonder.
The popular success of 2001 has been
shared by few other science fiction books.
In 1969, The Andromeda Strain, by science
fiction standards a medlocre and predictable novel by Michael Crichton, enjoyed
immense popularity. Crichton tried
again in 1972 with an improved effort,
The Terminal Man. Fifteen years ago
Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz
was widely read and widely acclaimed and
deserved both. But these novels are not
hard-core s.f. Closer to the vital center and also popular, largely with highschool idealists, for similar reasons as
those behind the popularity of The Fountainhead, is Stranger in 4 Strange Land,
by one of the most prolific scribblers in
the field, Robert A. Heinlein. Thirteen
years after publication this impressive
novel continues to sell and to fascinate.
Best-selling science fiction is but a
tiny tip of a huge iceberg. Below the
surface, out of sight of the New York
�19
Times Book Review and the best seller
lists, are found the •fforts of the luminaries of recent American s.f.,
authors such as Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke,
de Camp, Farmer, Heinlein, Kornbluth,
Pohl, Stapledon, Silverberg, Van Vogt,
and others. Even deeper below the surface are the great classics such as
"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,"
by Edgar Allen Poe (c. 1844) J From the
Earth to the Moon (1865), by Jules
Verne; "The T1.me Machine" (1895), by
H.G. Wells. And also an endless supply
of junk. (But then, as someone once
said, ninety per cent of any form of
literature is junk.)
Poe, Verne, Wells, Aldous Huxley in
Brave New World (1932), and George Orwell in 1~84 (1949·) give badly-needed
respectab1.lity to science fiction. But
with the possible exception of Wells,
on• suspects that the real s.f. essence
isn't .there. They are too concerned
with society or politics or horror, and
perhaps they are just too good. For t he
genuine article, the world had to wait
until about 1940. As C.S. Lewis, himself a fringe science fiction writer,
said in his 1966 essay, "On Science
Fiction" a
I had read fantastic fiction of
all sorts ever since I could
read, including, of course, the
particular kind which Wells practiced in his Time Machine ••••
Then, some fifteen or twenty
years ago, I became aware of a
bulge in the production of such
stories •••• perhaps five or six
years ago, the bulge (wasJ still
continuing and even increasing ..••
�20
In one short generation, admittedly the
most explosive generation ever, a literary
form and a literary cult became defined-defined by thousands of new books and ·
stories. By 1959, it was becoming intellectualized, and one could hear Heinlein
lecturing on the subject at the University of Chicago, giving a deadly serious
definition of the genre he helped to
create a
.•• that sort (of fiction] in which
the author shows awareness of the
nature and importance of the human
activity known as the scientific
method, shows equal awareness .: of
the great body of human knowledge
already collected through that
activity, and takes into account
in his stories the effects and
possible future effects on human
beings of scientific method and
fact.
In 1966, c.s. Lewis, in the essay
quoted above, went so far in this direction as to divide science fiction
into five "subspecies," one called
"eschatological." If there is a trend
here, it might parallel that unfortunate
decline in the appreciation of jazz
music, now as much stu~ied as enjoyed.
The scienc~ fiction fan would probably
deny the e x istence of such a downward
trend, and he ought t c know. But who is
the archtype of the science fiction fan?
This may be the best question to investigate. This writer, aware Of the dangers
of generalization, sees him as follows:
He is a bright and lonely high-school
senior in a small isolated town in the
�American mi~west, a reader since he was
taught how, having passed quickly through
fairy t a les and sports stories, havir g
I i~gered a I ittle too long on comic books
then abruptly giving them up at age thirteen.
It is he who gives science fiction its
large audience and its g reat spirit, he who
pays tre r o ya It i es of the I a borers. in the
vineyard, re who makes a· mockery of theories
and de f initions of science fiction.
Does th i ~ ycur~g man care whether We I I' s
"The Lard Ironclo.ds• (1903) predicted
armored warfare? whether Verne's T~enty
Thous~r~ Leagues Under the Sea ( 1869 )
anticipat e d submari n es? whether Hugo
Gerrosback c o ir.ed the wor·d "television"
(and made an awful r::ur) in Ralph 124C41+
( 1911 )? w~: ether .,slow g lass 11 or "psi
power .. wi II beco r~1 e rea I it i es or rerna i r·
fantasies? He do es not. He reads books
t h a t h e c a r' n o t p u t oo wn , t h a t r e a c h h i s
fear of tte stran g e and unknown, that
stimulate his growing i~agination, take
him far away from Iowa, into space, into
the f~ture, int o exotic worlds that are
alI Eomehow present to his own mind.
This omni~ c rous reader has studied science in high school, knows that the sun
is a tre~endous hydrogen bomb, knows that
Einstein sho~ed that time can slow down,
knows wl'"lat computers can do, knows that I i f e
is being created in test tubes. He has
heard of lasers, DNA, fly-bys, mesons, gravitons. For him, science fiction turns
all o! ' this · into ' adventure, mak@s it more
human, more interesting, makes it his. The
publishing industry goes one better, and
rr.a k e s i t a I I a v a i I a b I e.
Oh, yes, it is available. The young man
need only walk tc the drug store. There
he will find magazines--Analog, Galaxy,
�22
.
Stories, Fantasy and Science Fiction, If, Fantastic Stories--all published
mont h ly-or bimonthlv. alI costinq sixty
or seventy-five cents, alI measuring about
five by seven inches.
In those magazines,
and in other I ess we I I known 11 fanz i nes•
(fan magazines) which he must get in the
mai I, he f i nds the latest stories, book
revi ews , irate lett e rs, "science faci:.,"
edit orials, and now a day s even a I ittle sex-is i n his dog-eared copy of an old Galax~-118 e e i r1 her a c ros s the room, an g I e d away
g
from him, her smooth back bare, the I ittle
g lobe of on e brea st visible ••• •--happening ·
in th e 23 rd ce ntury. There he also finds
numer ous paperbacks, seventy-five cents,
ninety- f iv e ce nts, one-twenty-five, ~ossibly
a Hu go or Nebul a ~ward winner, some of the
greats repri n t~d, many written just last
year.
(The H~ g o awards are named after
Hugo Gernsback and g iven by the yearly
World Science Fiction Confer~nce, the Nebula
awards by the Science Fiction Writers of
Ameri ca .)
Dow n tr e s treet in the pLtbl ic I ibrary
he finds the f i c tion shelves heavy with
hi s favo rite s : t he o ldies (W e l•s, Verne)
th a t h e hasn't g ot a round to, tr.e great
anthol cg ie s ( ed itor s : Groff Conklin,
J u d i t h M r r i I I , Damon ~ i g h t , Ben Bova)
e
that he knows so wei I, the curiosities
(Science Fiction for Peo le . Who Hate
Sc1ence Fiction , and hundreds of just plain
goo th1ngs.
At the I ibrary he recognizes some
familiar faces--fan s of detective
stories (nuns and older people), of gothic
r om a n c e s ( I a d i e .s ) • I n I a t e r y e a r s h e w i I I
fee I simi I a-r I y simpatico with movie buffs,
even with addicts of ••porn," but he wi II
be, while at Harvard or in the u.s. Army,
~mazin~
�I
i
,
..
confused and disgusted by the incessant
readers of the comics he dropped at thirteen.
The film, "2001 ,"finally came to this
young man's town a few years ago. He
saw it but felt uneasy: his imagination
was not used to having ready-made pictures
presented to it, despite the corny iII ustrations in the s.f. magazines. He recently
saw ~Fahrenheit 451" on TV, but he is too
young to remember the other s.f. movies
such as "The 21st Century" in tl:e thirties,
and •• Des t i nat i on M c n '' and "The I n vas i on
o
of t h e Bo d y S n a t c h e r s '' i n t h e f i f t i e s •
But he won't give up and is waiting for the
film version of "The Terninal Man," not
knowinq of the bad revfews.
Sometimes he feels I ike talking with
others I ike hirrself, since he wi II not get
to the national s.f. convention (Discon II,
Washington D.C., August 29-September 2,
1974), much less to· the World Science Fiction
Convention. He has to be satisfied now
with a membership in the Science Fiction
Book Club, Garden City, New York.
Next year ·in coli ege he wi II find kindr e d s p i r i t s ;
b.Y t h e n h e wi I I
d eve I op a
sl ightlyembarrassed feeling. Then he wi II
learn how different science and s.f. re a lly
are, he wi I I discover to his horror that
much of the politics in s.f. is much too
right-wing for his taste, he wi I I learn to
abhor scientology and wish it had no conne c tion with s.f., he wi II grow ashamed of himrself for the thousands of hours he has spen t
on · what he now wi II ~a II "esc.ape I i ter-ature,.-hours spent escaping from Iowa, to which he
never intends to returr. He learns now that
there are high standards in I iterature, that
most of what he has enjoyed doesn't measure
up. How could he have enjoyed sentences
�1
such as ~Three humans came back to earth
from the fungoid world of Nacre, bringing
with them eight mantas--eight intelligent
alien beings" or got excited by such sentences as, "She was silvery metal, thixotropic, anistropic, tamed by the science
of her people to flow and move I ike flesh"?
So adolescent; so long ago.
This young man growing older rapidly
now restricts his reading of s.f. to periods
of depressfon, periods when his need to
escape is clear and distinct.
In order to
defEl.nd himself, he reads Huxley, then Poe,
even Wei Is and Verne, He learns to be
slightly discriminating in his taste, even
within science fiction. AI I tris he keeps
rather quiet, being used to I one I i ness anyway.
He f inds at one point that he no longer
gets the o I d fee I i ng from what he is
reading, that he is not escaping at alI, not
even enjoying. He concludes, reluct2ntly,
that what he I i ked a I I a I ong was the junk-the andrei ds, the fungoi ds, the naol i, the
orgs, videophones, galactic wars, earthshire, the colonization of the planet Arcor.
So he becomes a card-carrying member cf t~e
club, aware of the world above but fascinated
by the world of s. f ., renewing his subscription to Analog but scoffing at its editorials,
an s .f. expert at co II ege parties, countering
Humphrey Bogart with · J .G. Ba I I ard, often
sneaking off for TV reruns of "Star Trek,''
but occasionally being alone in his room
devouring two, three new s~f. novels in one
lon g nigh t . Much later he wi I I discover
other electrical engineers with much the
' same adolescence--and feel much ~ore
secure about himself.
�25
given birth to better
examples of cults, but among I iterary
cui ts of the breadth and sha II owness
of science fictior, there can be few other
contenders for the top prize. Moreover,
current facts indicate t~at there may
be building a new wave comparable to that
of the l~te f ifties. Hardly anyone predicts a demise for s.f., for unlike detective stor ' es, gothic romances, and
westerns, s.f. is open-ended, as openended as science and the human imagin a tion
themselves.
-St. C loud, Mi0nc 00 t a
June, 1974
Americ~
'.
1
I
l.
''
'
j.
)
'
~ ay
hEV€
·-·--- -
-
�StilJ L:i.fe
26
My temper won the first round,
And I'd be angry yet
If hating you could make a difference;
But I've grown too old to hate you,
And I 'w. too young to forget
How wrong I was when I call P.d you a "-'Ot:Jar1.
A stone gets trampled under foot
And never needs to cry,
And no one in his right mir.d ever loves one.
If I'd known you were a st at ue
I'd have look ed and walked on by,
Or maybe praised the artist who hac made you.
You cannot take the credit,
N0 r need you take the blame,
For being such a life-like imitatjon.
It does not serve my purpose
To try to mak e you cry from shame;
Be si des, t he blue steeJ. of your eyPs might
tarnish.
If jt were in my power
I would m
elt your ice shelJ
And warm the deathly coldness of your heart.
Then surel y those who follo,ved
Wouldn't fall the wa y I fell
Into the trap of loving d ead perfection.
There's nothing left for me to do,
And I won't begin to try
To do again what's bound to destroy me.
I've won my right to live now,
And I'm not afr aid to die
Knowing that I never will possess you.
by Dennis Johnson
�.. ·r
l
)
j
li
27
l
'
':The Appealing of the Passian.
_ Tenderer in Prayer Apart ' '
is
1
Stanza 27, line 6, The Wreck of the
Deutschland--Gerard Manley Hopkins
I
!
1
I
!
They that go down to the se.a in ships,
that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the LORD,
and hi s wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy
wind,
which l1fte ~ h up the v1aves thereof.
They mount up to the hea ven, they go dmvr.
agai n to the d epths:
thej r so11l is mel t ed because of troub lE.
They reel to and fro, and sta gge r like a
drur.ken man,
a nd are at their wit's end.
Tt·.en thE~Y cry unto the LORD in their troubJ.t! ,
and he bringeth th em out of their distr esses
He maket h the storm a calm,
so that the waves thereof a re still.
Tten are the y glad because the y be quiet;
so he hringeth them unto the ir d es ired have n
Psalm 107: 23-30~
King James' Bible.
The Chr iEt ian lo ok s at God' s creation
and believes it to be sup ported by Goc' s
Word.; thE found at; ion of d i v:i .r~ e re a son up holds the world of things and events. Tte
poet is chee red by the beauty and wonder
he sees shining forth from God's cre a tion,
but he is soon confronted by the hard hor. ror of tb E-: VTorld, God's stern majest y . He
must look faithfully for the divine r e ason which sup norts all of the works of
each of God 1 s days. For Gera rd M
anley
�28
Hopkins, a Christian poet, the horrible
waste of a shipwreck, the wintr y demise
of the Deutschland, is transformed into
an event charged with divine significance.
The stormy airs are born ar,ain into the
air which harb ored Eas ter, the balmy air
of Spring. To begic here is to begin at
the core of "The Wreck of the De-c.tschland •11
To be gin he r e i s to listen to the poet's
inquisition of h:i.s heart, the mott.er of
his b ej~g . It is to list en ve ~y caref1~ly
in ord e r to underst ~n d how thA poet is able
to accept and be cheered by the terror of
one of God's shipwrHcks.
In the mid s t of h i s p o e try , i n thE~ m:i.c st.
of hi s maki ng, thE-; poGi. st.op;:. · i r·. wonch~:r·
and perhaps in cha gr tn . He h;=t ~; b e en describing a most horri. ble scenP: .q sh~ p
carrying two hundrE-· d pt~oplE-! r 11n s.ground
on a s a ndb a r and wrec ked o~ a frightfulJy
da rk a nd cold mid.-wiL tE-!r' ~ ~ i E; h t. Thc-;re
is litt le hop e for r e scue . TtA pnPt ca~ .
only begjn to describ F"~ th ~~ h e~ Jr.J.F~ ssn P ss
in panic which ens~ ea there on th e sh i p.
His react icn i s emc.i_; ional. AJ.J . t h~ s b-!rror has brought him to t t-: nr~; ; b=:·trs wh~ ch ·
a r e inappr upr:i c: te.
18
Ah, tou.ch0d in . o1..:r bovrE-:::· nf bo ne
Y
Are ymJ 1 turn f~d for .qr. f'-XC: lJ . ~;l t- E-'
sma rt,
you !
Ha VP.
hPl'f::
m :~.l: r: vJord s b :-" E!A.h
q_Ll
al C.D8
f:r· c-r~ rrtP
,
Do you l--motrJH' of hr! i t:g jr · mP ,
h eetrt.
0 unteach a bly af1 e r e vil, but uttering
tru th ,
Why t e ars! is it? t ea r~; such a melting,
a mad riga l start!
1
1
j
y
I
�revel .g nd ri.ver of
N(; vr~J·- e l d (-"ring
YCllth'
Wta t car it be, - th i ~: glee? tlw go0d you
havt-: the re of yol~r own?
of the poe t to the gr jzzl y
trappiLgs of t h e sh i rwr e ck a r H r emi.n isce nt
of the important emotional e:A1Jeriences of
the poet dGscrib ed in the first p a rt of
the poem . Those first tcn stanza s comprj sP 8. s ize ~1b] f' chunk of th e p oem. Tte :/
cornrjr tE~ invocation, prs.ise, a nd exhortab on to p rod,_lce a n ac c oun t of the poet's
conve r si.nn to th E~ Christi a n life and his
und e r ~. tand:1 r.g of wha t it must grow to be.
God i s d c~ scrjbed there as a hunter of
sort s ; one who b ea ts duv.Jn ma n's h P.art into
submi!:;ston and i n so drJ~.rg is then most
m rciful • .,Though the hunt is horrible the
e
results of it a r e sweet. God finally e stab J.ishes his rightful place as ma ster in
the hea rt: of man.
Th i~ re ~c t i . cn
2
I did say yes
0 E.t lightening and lashed rod;
Thou he a rd s t me. truer tha n tongue
confe ss
Thy t e rror, 0 Christ, 0 God;
Thou knowest the walls, altar and hour
and night:
The swoon of a heart that the swe ep and
the hurl of thee trod
Hard down Wlth a horror of helght:
And the midriff astrain with l eaning of,
laced with fire of stress. ·
In stanza 18, the poet's recognition
that- -his description of the shipwreck has
taken a melting .start is a new "swoon of a ,
heart." Hopkins realizes that his he a rt
has thwarted God from his rightful pl ace
29
�30
there. The poet 1 s her-n·t h:1~·: bt-~0.n to1;~hed
and turned by the intense ernoti or; pr0ff!nt
in his descrlption of thE-~ ~::hjf\1/I'C':ck: word:·;
are made to break fror.· thE~ pont ,qnd hE~
must stop ir the middlP of h·i~ wrjting.
The ·poet hn.s SlJCC1-iml:f'~d to the rP~i.ct·J c.n
whieh any ff~8l:ing pr!r!:":on with ljm:t(~d
faithless sight wc1•Jd haVF! conr• to; he crj~'~s
tears of sorrov.r n.nd cesp~lir. His tE!~·.J.I·s ;:?.rn
an improper react.j on to thP r:ru~h, thf'~ horror, which js impJicj.t ir the descrjrtion
of the v.rreck. He must. r"prove r~irnseJf. Hi~~
reproval coMes to bE~ courled vT~th the re~l
iza tton that God 1 s fin[Yer is pre sent fnr
the poet; it has touched his heart. It
is through God that the poet was given the
grace to realize thj ~: error anc1 to go on
and continue the poem. Il js ~lso throU[h
God 1 s grace that the p CJ(~ t 1 s hc2, rt, though
"unteachably after evil" i ~; abJ e to utteT'
the truth of the sea-wreck. ThA i nc~ident
de scri bE~d earlier ir. tbe pof~n' and the poet 1 s
realization in stanza 18 are bott::. experiences of cor:.version j r: v.rhich thE~ ~or:t hns
been awakE~ned. God plays an irr-portant, ~"'
even inspirE_tjo.r...a1 part in eaeh' experience.
The poet has been awakened to tte gap inherent between God and man.
There is a significant connection for
the poet between his experiences of God's
mastery and the nun's concrete and emphatic final experience of God's mastery
which he is describing. Part of those
tears of the poet's, discovered in stanza
18, seem to be a response to the valorous faith and present-mi~dedness of the
central figure of the shipwreck, the tall
nun, as she is described in the last two
li~es of the seventeenth stanza&
Till a lionness arose breasting
the babble,
�31
A prophetess towered in the tumult,
a virginal tongue told.
1
The 'tall nun rises as if part of a vision amidst the pandemonium and horror
of the sea's storm. There is confusion
all around. Some passerigers were forced
to take refuge in the ship's shrouds and
riggings.
For many of these the wind
took them and threw them on the ship's
deck, crushing them. The others suffered
a death by drowning after being made helpless by ·the cold wintry air. The loud
winds combined with the undecipherable
cries and shouts of the terrified crowd
to produce an unholy roar.
But the nun
rises as a lioness would; she replaces
the the roar of the night and tolls out
commanding advice.
In doing so she lessens the horror of confusion.
The tall nun's insight there in the
storm comes from her knowledge of God
and from God himself. She, like the
poet, is touched by God's finger and
this inspired deed results. Her time at
the wreck is a time of coming close to
God; the gap between God and man lessened.
Her breast is so sweetly infused with
God's love that the difference between,
the distance between, God and the tall .
nun is greatly decreased. The nun's
counsel in the midst of all this wailing
nourishes the crowd. She is indeed
breasting the babble there. While rising
up to fend off this confusion, the nun
is at the same time giving spiritual suck
to the remaining passengers whose terror
would otherwise have only increased.
She breasts the babble and in so doing
feeds them the milk of God's Word, which
is full of grace and truth. The nun is
present at the wreck and reminds the
�32
-
.
.
crowd by her command1ng prescence that
God too is present even in the holocaust
of the storm. Part of the poet's amazement in stanza 18 is that just as the
tall nun provides spiritual nourishment
by her action in the storm, so too does
his heart utter truth, God's truth, in
his account of .the nun's deed, irregardless of his tears. The poet realizes
·that there is a similarity between the
inspiration he receives and the inspiration of the nun. While speaking the
truth and nourishing the reader with his
account of ~he nun's bravery, the sounds
of the words suggest that the poet is
receiving suck from his mother of being.
From his heart which is touched by God's
finger, the poet udders truth.
In her brave act of rising up out of
the storm, the inspired nun becomes a
new sort of Tower of Babel. ~efore she
appeared the language of the night was
scattered and senseless. The shouts and
screams were uncontrolled ~nd each went
in its own direction. The confusion was
complete. Her appearance dispelled part
of the panic. She united the previously
dispersed attention of the crowd and rivetted it on God by her one voice and .
one-mindedness. Thos e pride ful men, described jn Genesis, said in their one
voice that to make their tall tower with
it~ top in the heavens would be t o "make
a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
(Genesis lla 4). The tall tow e r of a nun
is certainly conc e rne d with the fear of
being s cattered abroad at this time, but
her r ea s on for rising up is not to make
a name for hers e lf, . but rather to proclaim, a s any bell in a tall church tower would, God's name and his pre scence
�33
midst of the storm. The nun's
bravery is a great cause of cheer for the
poet. In addition to bringing the attention of the people on board the fated
ship into focus, she also sets them thinking on their present relationship with
God. The urgency of t'he shipwreck and
the nun's fine example force those passengers of the Deutschland to consider
important questions which are too easily
put off. With the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, the nun, by her deeds, proclaimed the tenability of the Christian
life for those on board. She was to help
those dying by bringing Christ's name to
·their last breath, perhaps. Her actions
· might change the lives of those passengers
who would survive the wreck, bringing
them to dedicate their spirits to the
Christian life.
The nun's inspiration is reminiscent
of the inspiration given to Christ's disciples on the day of Pentecost. The Virgin Mary can easily be imagined during the
descent of the Holy Spirit as we read of
this tall nun. Considering the Pentecost
as a part of the new creation which followed Christ's new birth at Easter, the
descent of the Holy Spirit can be seen as
undoing the damage done by those descendants of Noah, the builders of the tower of
Babel. On the day of Pentecost the Holy
Spirit filled the disciples of Christ and
they "began to speak in other tongues as
the spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2a4)
Then it is as if the descendants of those
dispersed prideful tower builders are re.gathered, each to hear those blessed Galileans speaking in their respective languages, gifts of the Holy Spirit. Instead
of restorin~ one common language to all,
in~he
��of his poem. It is a comfort that the
nun is blinded by the salt water. It
shows the way in which the poet's inappropriate tears must flow in order to be
fitting. The poet's tears are faithless
emotional reaction to the wreck. As the
ntin's eyes are blinded by the sea water,
so must the poet's tears blind him to all
views but one view. That one thing to be
sought, to be seen, must be God's mercy
present in the terror of the wreck.
There seems to be no beauty or grace
in the destruction of lives -- especi ally
when death visits man in the dreadful
waste of a shipwreck. Lives are wasted
without reason, or so it would seem to a
person without the grace of special sight.
It is this special sight which the poet
must learn to accept and develop. Hopkins
comes to see the shipwreck charged with a
great significance. The circumstances of
the destruction come together and are soon
realized as an extension or reworking of
Christ's passion. The poet is better
able to understand why these five Franciscan nuns, God-fearing, God-loving Christians, are drowned and destroyed. As the
poem moves along, the apparition which the
nuns become is made both clearer and more
significant. The reason for the tall nun
being described as the first of the five
in the twentieth stanza becomes readily
apparent in stanzas 22 and 23. The poet
recognizes an important relationship between the reported image of the five nu..ns
holding hands together in a circle and the
five wo,..tnds of Christ crucified. Just as
the five . wounds of Christ are his "sake
and cipher," ~o do the five nuns gathered
together calling for Christ to come quic k
be·come a five lived and leaved f avour .:;:-, .
35
�.......
36
pride.
They are graced to partake in the
passion of Chrl•t. Together they become
a signal, a si&.n• a "cinquefoil token," a
memorial for Christ's suffering.
The nuns are being martyred by the hunter-God who is addressed as a martyr-master in stanza 21. Th~ir new role as a
"five-leaved favour'' sets them up to be a
five petalled rose, the flower of martyrs.
The·~s• togetherness as a rose seems
suited to the new air which the poet creates for the wreck -- the new air of the
poem. Out of the cold howling storm,
Jesus, the martyr-master, is said to see
sweet heaven astrew in showers of lilies,
The transformation which Jesus sees in
the storm is transmitted to the listener,
and all of a sudden, there is an air of
Spring in that mid-winter's night. This
is. fully fitting. These five daughters
of st. Francis of Assisi, each daughter
of one of his five stigmata, hls gift
:from Jesus, h.is gift to shate with Jesus,
are seen as baptized in this storm. The
winter air is warmed by the Holy Spirit
and they
Are sisterly sealed in wild waters,
To bathe in his fall-gold mercies,
to breathe in his all-fire g;:Lance s.
The new air of Spring is present to witness the nuns' new birth at their death
by drowning. The sacramentality of
their death is discovered along with the
Easter air and the poem is born over again,
too. Th~ eye of man cannot see th~ special nature of.the nuns' death. He must
take on the sight of the martyr-maeter
who sees Spring and Easter in winter. The
poet is learning to strengthen his newlyacquired sight; to be cheered by this
�37
strange celebration in the death of the
nuns. His descriptions bear witness to
his new insight.
This special sight even discovers a
beauty in the de Gth of these nuns. The
nature of the s a craments is seen to pervade
the whole incident. The nun~• death
described by the poet in stanza 28 is
reminiscent of stanza 7 with its striking juxtaposition of Christ's birth a nd
death:
7
It dates from day
Of his going in Galilee;
War~-laid grave of a womh-lif e grey;
Manger, maiden' s knee;
The dense and drive n Passion , and
frightful sweat;
Thence t he discharge of it , there its
s wellin g to b e ,
Th ough f e l t before , th ough in high
flood yet-What none would have known of it •••
Even Christ's pre-natal life is described as being destined to his horrible
passion. Paradoxically, Christ's passion
was called to a new birth three days after his death, on Easter. Christ's passion
is described as the birth of a baby would
be described and as the consummation of a
marriage would be described. The poet
asks what would anyone have known of this
passion. The sounds of the words also
ask what nun would have known of this suffering; what would a nun have known of the
consummation of a marriage, and the throes
of birth? After reading only the first
part of the poem the answer to these questions must be that there is no one person,
and especially no nun, who could participate
in this suffering, Yet, we read on and
�38
hear of the t a ll nun a nd her fo ur s isters
as they are drowned. They do pa rticip8t e
in Christ's suffering . Rap~i n a vi s 1on,
the poet describe s their doom:
28
But h ow s ha l l I ••• rr.ake me rc•om
ther e :
Re a ch me a ••• F a n c y , COT"l€:~ f c-1 ste r-Strike you the s i gh t o f it? l ook ~t it
loom t h e r e ,
Thi n g tha t s h E~ ••. t he r e the n ! the:
Ma s t e r,
I pse, t he only one , Christ , K~ nE , He nd :
He was to c u r e t he ex tr emit y Wht~ r e h F•
had c a s t he r;
Do , de a l , 1 o r d i t w j _1. b J t v :i r g a nd
dead ;
Le t him ri de , h e r p rjd e , in hj s t r iumph ,
d e spa tch a nd ~ave d one wi th h i s
do om trJ.e r e .
The nun•s death is ~ ~ e consummation of
her marriage to Chris t. She has come to
share inGrist•s pas sion, a nd inde e d, she
has come~o know the horror of it a s well
as the r~lease of ~t . Sh e is g a the red into
divine arms; brough·i to the rest of her
reward. The poet, - ~ ~ ft behind, left alive,
a nd not involved wi ·c, ~ ··. the phys ic a l a spects
of the shipwreck, breathes out a nd exclaims
a t the e nd of his gloom, "Ah, the re was a
heart ri ght," There .is g re a t reli ef in
these words; it is as ~ f part of the poet's
heart pronounced "unte ~ch ably a ft e r e vil"
in the eighteenth stanza .is cure d a nd
reborn after witnessing the valorous
death of the nun with the right heart.
With .the first pa rt of the poem there
is a great concern on behalf of the poet
for his heart. The heart, that part of
the body which governs the weather of the
spirit, is hunted and followed by God, the
"Orion of light." In stanza 3, the poet's
�,.
,,
trapped heart fled "dovewinged" and "carrier-witted" to the heart of the Host.
The move was one of necessity. He was
hemmed in by gaping hell behind him and
Christ's frowning face before him. As
told in stanzas 7 and 8, man's heart,
first being "hard at bay" is finally all
out with it. Hemmed in by God's truth,
man's heart ie forced to flush out its
evil regardless of any desire of the
heart's wishing. The poet's concern at
first in the poem is with his own heart.
When he recognizes a love and beauty in
another heart, that is, the•heart · righ~
of the tall nun, he is drawn to it. He is
drawn to the heart of the nun which would
prompt him to exclaim''
the breast
of the
Maiden could obe y so, be a be ll to,
rjng of it, and
Startle the poor sheep bact! is the
shipwreck then a ha rve st, does
tempest c a rr y the grain for thee?
The heart of thA nun can be imag i ned as
a beating bell in her bre a s t; b eati ng its
right deeds and b ea ting its right spirit.
A bell catching the at ten ti~Jn of those
hunted souls, passengers of the Deutsch land, and profoundly changing their view
of the reason behind the wreck. By her
loud cri.es of "Chri st cor.1e qutckly," by
gathering the cro s s to her b reast, the n1m
stands sair.ted, blessed to b e much more
than sinful flesh \vould u sually permj. t.
It is as if sh e is beating he r b re as t; the
peniten t sinner confessing her sins. But
there i s no dwelli.ng on the sins wh:Lch a re
brought to the t a ll nun's mind. She recognizes he r sins and nnashamedly asks Chr l. st
to c ome and gathAr her up. sne rAco gnizes
1
39
�40
Christ 1 s· divinity and her own mortality
and is not shaken by this recognition.
Out of the stormy waters of the sea, instead of crying out in faithless fear "We
are perishing," the tall nun calls for a
quick and happy death.
The poet goes on after Chrjst's coming
for the nun and explains that she has been
gathered up for the patience she demonstrated and for the pain she endured. He
pleads that the
·
Heart, go blRed at a bitterer
vein for the
Comfortless unconfessed of them-Whose heart is asked to bleed? We are reminded of Christ's death on the cross as
recorded in St. John 1 s gospel: "But one
of tbe soldiers pierced his side with a
spear, and at once there came out blood
and water." (John 19: 34). Here then
Jesus's heart comes to play with the heart
of the nun ana the heart of the poet. Jesus is the light of man's heart. His heart,
made of man's flesb tool is not unlike the
nun's heart of the poet s heart. TherE-~ is
a great sharing going on between tbe three.
So, there is a rea son for the slJffering
of the 'WI'eck of tbE::: Deutsc9l&nd. Fror:J a
peculiar outpouring of Goa s grace, five
Franciscan nuns were to ce gj ftPd "'rt tb the
gift of part of Chr1st 1 s suffering. In
taking on this gift and ir remajning faithful they were to startle thP survJvors or
the wreck to see the Christian life in a
new way and perhaps give those ~ho were
drowned the gra~e of a Chrjstian death.
There is another effect of the vrreck. The
poet was able to ~ontinue the "''ork tbat,
the tall nun started when she made the
stormy seas seem calm. It is with a lightened heart, a: heart full of faith, that
Gerard Manley Hopkins can dedicate his
poem
�To the
hap py me mor y of five Fra ncisc an Nuns
exil t-: s by the Falk Lai!JS
d:rcn,vn f~d b E~ t vreer: miC.nieht and morrdng of
Dec. 7th, 1875.
by Richard
Daven~ort
PRICE OF LIBERATION
The Vagabond
by Colette
trans. by Enid McLeod
Noonday Paperback $2.95
"Yes, this is the dangerous, lucid
ho;J.r, , , "
The Vagabond is a courageous book.
Colette took a plot teetering on melodrama, added her exquisite prose, her
perception, honesty and humor, and made
what could have been a very bad book a
very good one. In a certain way, that
mirrors the story of the heroineaRenee's
heart and brain and eye interpret and
~indicate what many would say is mediocre material.
Renee Nere is a JJ year old divorcee,
earning her living by dancing on the
stage. Her solitude, after her disastrous marriage with a high society philanderer, is a privilege, a pleasure, and
a terror. It is disturbed by a wealthy
bachelor, Maxime, who becomes her admirer,
then her lover. But their affair is
disrupted by her theatrical tour of the
�42
province s , a nd it is the n tha t she chooses
her work and h s r independ ~ nce over the
comfort of his love.
The woman who chooses the ple a sure s
and terrors of work a nd soli tude ove!' love
is no puritan. She uses a sf ~ nsual lang uag e, that lingers backstage, a t dogs,
f a ces, landscapes, kisses, roses. Colette
is able to make one see and touch with
wonder what one has glanced at a tbous a. r~d
times. S~e not only presents the sensual
world, but presents its metaphors. Renee's
senses are attached very strongly to her
intelli g ence, and she and her author discover a n earthly grace in a bunch of snowdrops or the crevasses of a human fg_ce,
or a frightening perception in the objects
of a common household.
It is Renee's dedication t o h e r intelligence and sensitivity that push her to
ffiake that most difficult of d e cisions,
that of choosing solitude for th e rest
of her life. Yet she understands love
so well:
love and compa nionship and the
pleasures of the flesh.
Pmong all the
thousands of kisses one finds in fiction,
her description is among the few worth
remembering:
" ••• For the lips which kiss me are
just the same as yesterday, gentle
cool and impersonal, and their ineffectiveness irritates me. But all
of a sudden they change, and now I
no longer recognise the kiss, which
quickens, insists, falters, then begins again with a rhythmical movement,
and finally stops as if waiting for a
response which does not come.
- -···-
····--·
·
--
�43
I move my head imperceptibly, because
of his moustache which brushes against
my nostrils with a scent of vanilla
and hon8yed tobacco. Oh! ••• suddenly
my mouth, in spite of itself, lets
itself be opened, opens of itself as
irresistibly as a ripe plum splits in
the sun. And once again there is born
that exBcting pain that spreads from
my lips, all down my flanks as far as
my knees, that swelling as of a wound
that wa nts to open once more and overflow--the voluptuous pleasure that I
had forgotten."
Maxime is kind, generous, and wants
to marry her. Why does she refuse him?
She gives one answer to him and in a certain way it is correct:
.... ,You will understand that I must
not belong to you or to a nyone, and
that in spite of a first marriage
a nd a second love, I have remained
a kind of 6ld maid, like some among
them who are so in love with Love
that no love appears to them beautiful e nough, and so the y refuse themselves without condescending to expla in; who repel E~ very se11timental
misalliance and return to sit for life
before a window, bent over their
needl e , in solita ry communion with
their incomparable vision. Like them,
I wanted everything; a lamentable mistake punished me ...
But to herself sh8 gives
truer answer:
11
Except for this sorrow,
become again what I was,
say free, horribly alone
the
h a rd~~~
have I not
tha t is to
and free?
�44
The momentary grace which touched me ·
now withdraws .itself from me, since I
refused to lose myself in it. Instead
of saying to ita "Take me!" I ask
ita "What are you giving me? Another
myself? Ttere is no other myself.
You're giving me a friend who is young,
ardent, jealous, and sincerely in love?
I knowa that is what is called a
master, and I no longer want one •••
A look of his can rouse me and I
cease to belong to myself if he puts
his mouth on mine? In that case he
is my enemy, he is the thief who
steals me from myself."
In her renunciation, Renee suffers,
but as Colette reminds the reader, suffering is not so terrible--a woman can
grow "supple" in the act of survival.
"It is only in pain th8t a woman is
capable of rising above mediocrity,"
Renee · says, a statement that pe rhaps
characterizes ~er1, too, her painter friend
Hamond, the publicly scorned artists of
the music hall. "You wanted to brighten
me with that commonplace dawn, for you
pitied me in my obscurity," she thinks
of Maxime. She accepts that obscurity,
and the worries about the rent,· her age,
her act; memories of her lover; extreme
fatigue; and the sight of an unknown
lovely village from a train window. To
be a "vagabond" presents its own l:::ondage,
and Renee shall never escape from the
past. In her victory, and Renee truly
considers it a victory, she gains nothing
more nor less than Renee.
--Elizabeth Gold
�45
b y Arl Pne Roe me r
ym.~ p1.!1y musj c for us tba t. we
ome ym.n· A.UC j 8 nce,
your r eeF..; } ver!::.
It is whfHl
b€~C
It 1 ~ whP. n yot.J lo v ~.· E11rydice thn t you
becomP thP qudi f n~P~
t b R r (-; C 8 i V E~ I' •
Ycu le;:3ve us for h f~r .
Eur,ydic E~ tP c cmc s ycmr hRro , but not ours.
Yc,u sE~t as jd c~ your mu ~:ic, our mus ic,
so that Y011 m:i rht h ~1V8
before you thE=~ b r!a1J t y, trw ve ~;sel
into which to pour .
We used t o be .r-onr ve ssfd s --you have
.q b n nd r::r:.ed us .
TbE~n srw lt.'R S tr.:.k r:~ n from you .
Yc,11 A.b ;:.1 ndor·ed us in ord er
to pur sue-~ her. Whf~ r , you doubt e d in ord e r
to know, to be certain, to
behcJld her in c e rt8.in ty, you lost her.
Then, Orphe us, you did not come back to u s.
You v.rent
to sol i tud e --to death in life,
and y ou san g ou t.
You sang for yourself becausE: you wished
not to die.
You sang, because you w:i.shed not to dle,
but you sang ·
of death.
We never had you again-you neve r came back to u s.
You reststed us, and brought us bitterness
and despair in song.
Your mustc--you sep a rated things.
�46
Simplicia's Triumph
Note on Junior laboratory, Examples and
Problems& Problem 1, (a)
The problem is to determine the maxi mum height attained by a ba ll thrown
vert ically upwards int o the air from a
height of 10 rreters above the ground
with an initial velocity of 20 mRters
per se cond. The most ge neral form of
the " distance - t ime equaticn," s = s 0
+ v 0 t + tgt2, is given , as we ll as a
value for " g " i n m/sec2 : the mean ings
of the words, " up ," and " down ," "ground"
and "air," and "ball" are also g tven,
but the volume, materia l, and welght of
the ball are not .
The problem can be solved , relatively
mindl ess l y , by fol l owing the hint and
solving the first derivative of the distance-time equation for "t" wh en "v"
o,
•
({ 0 = 20mps - t9. um sec 2 ,,v and then
u 1
1.e.,
using that va l ue of "t" in the distancetime equation itself to determine " s ."
But once we beg in to reflect seriously
about this procedure, we are led tn
making the following observations and
approaches to a deeper understanding of
it.
Observation 1. The d i stance -time
equation is g iven from the start. How
i s it given to us? It is presented as
the happy o ffs pring o f a chance but
passionate romance, which. was
the
romance of the imagination with the
possibility that the "acceleration;"
that is, the second derivative of a
~
function s(t) on the s-t plane,qd2s/dt2:
of a certain motion, is constant. The
name of the constant is given as ·~g."
=
�47
The details of the bold courtship of *'d2s/
dt2 = g•by the imagination, following its
successful flirtation with the more modest
"d2s/dt2 = o,"' are given on pp. 1-3 of the
text under discussion. In that place is
also to be found an account of the birth
and growth of the equation as the fruit
of this union.
Observation 2. The problem is given
after the distance-time equation has been
modified by the conditions of the problem
and, as so modified, graphed. The modified equation which is graphed has this •
formaqs = 10m+ 20 mt/sec + (-4.9mt2jsec9
and is explained as followsa
"By using a negative sign for
the •acceleration of gravity• we
are simply stipulating that distance is to be measured upwards,
that distances from the surface of
the earth are to be taken as positive."
Nothing in the setting out of the modified equation has been said about the
meaning of the phrase "acceleration of
gravity." Nothing has been said about
·h • up aM down, the air and the ground,
and gravity, come to enter into relationship with the " + " and " - " signs of
pure quantity-relationships.
Observation J, The stipulation that
the distance "upwards'' has to be reflected
in the equation as "positive" and the "acceleration of gravity" prefixed with a
" - " sign shows that the manual understands
the motion of the ball to its maximum height
to be essentially the relating of a difference of the quantity "t" to a difference of the quant1ty "s;" and so that motion can be essentially grasped through
quantities defined along the co-ordinate
�48
axes of time (t) and distance (s). Motion
is understood as something that is essentially imaginable and intelligible and existent prior to and wholly apart from any
of its determining conditions. The dis~ance-time equation exists, in itselfl
quite independently of the heavens and the earth, the air and the ground, up and
down, the weight, material, and size of
the ball, and the change of its velocity
in feet or meters per second ot minute
with respect to time as it falls from a
height to the sutface of the earth.
In
its purity it is splendidly indifferent
to any of these thing s. Thus, for the
manual, there is no difference at all between~y = ax2 + bx + c~and 6s = kt2 + vbt
+ so·"'
It is true that the first lS on the
x-y plane and the other on the s-t plane.
But this makes no difference.
For a
function of two variables is a relation
that one varying quantity always has to
anothe r because of a rule, so that when
one of them is given, the other is given
also. And this is precisely what motion
in the distance-time equation is presented
as.
It too turns out to b e a relation
that one quantity, distance, has to another,
time, such that when one is gi ven, the
other is g iven also.
Observation 4. There fo re motion dis~
appe ars in the equaticn.
For just as it
is i ffiposs i b le in a function to go from
one point to the "next" point, b ecause
there is no next point, and so the baroq ue definitior. of continuity in a
function has to be constructed, used as
a test on every point of the functicn,
and sat isfied, b efore the function can
be called continuous, $0, it is impos-
�sible in the ir::at~ lna t:iou to distingu ish
between a " moving " pc int and an infinite
se ri e s cf different p o ints wh i ch det e rmine a n infinj t t?. s .:'. ries of distance-time
relations accordir.g t (' some rul r~ and sati sfying at every p~ int the f orma ] def i n iti on of cont i nul t y . There i s n (1 way at
alJ to d istingu ish between a pcint mov ing
accord i ng to the d istan.-;e -tirr.e equation
and a sc~t of or dered pairs of qua..nti t i es
"s " and "t" or: the s -t plane. Bu t since
ther e i s no difference d i s c e rni bl e be tween tht·m, th Pn tlu:;y are the same, a nd
"mo ti on " can :r1ean no more than those or d "' r e c pa j r s c1 va 1 u e s •
f
But then ther f~ must be someth i ng wrong
in the manua l' s analys i s of motjon . An
unde rstanding of mot i on based on equations
relating positions and times of i ndividua l
motionless points and without, j_ n addi t i on ,
up and down , heavy and light , and the
ground and the air, seems far removed i n d e e d fr o~ a genuine unders tanding of motiol! as that word is usually meant.
Furthermore , "here " and "there~" which
are presuppos~d l ri t!le notion of distance,
and "nJw" and "th.en," which are presu.p posed in the notion of time, are in no
way distint; uishat)le in our experience
from "on" and "under," up and down, and
"above" and "below." They come and go
together. And so if the manual should
insist on disting uishing the s-t plane
from the x-y plane on the basis of the
experience of distance and time, or on
some other basis, we must also allow that
that same experience, or other basis,
gives us also up and down, on and under,
and above and below as well as the
ground and the air. And this means that
volume and weight, and "effort" and "re-
�50
sistance" are given also. These things,
then, so far from being essentially foreign to the austere chastity of the distance-time equation, must be lurking in
it as its silent and intrinsic co-determinal, ts frt)m the beginning.
Obse rvation 5. The equation wor·ks.
Whj? There is both a place and a ner-:d
for a rr.ore direct :c·f·]z;tion being shown
bPtween it and the fact that it doRs
work.
There is a J..'lace for an under::;tandinv ·if mntion that is not rooted
esser1ti2illy in th·~ .irn<.:t.f~:inc-ition; that :Jhows
that the: " + " and " - " signs of the rnotisnless ~·:ymbols do n;Jt becomE" related to
experiet; tially mt=:afaJrt. ~d quanti ties after
the heavens and the r-·arth, scrubbed clean,
have b(c_, en introduced into the august pr,"sence of the symbols ~r the lordly equation, but that they have been so related
all alongt that reveals, by showing what
the symbols of the P-quation truly symbolize, what its true c>rigins are, what it
is really saying, and why it is true.
The P·qua tion must bf· shown to be suffusr-·d
with becoming before we get it. Or, better, becoming must be shown to be suffused with the equation prior to our imaginatior..
We will now proceed ~o such an understanding. The first account of the birth
of the distance-time equation, that it was
sired by human Imagin~tion out of Possibility, the fruit of the youthful indiscretion of an over-spirited mind playfully revelling in its own beauty, we will
dismiss as the work of modern mathematicophysical poets. No, we shall say, the
equation has other and far deeper source~,
and a much more noble, solid, and respectable set of parents. However, we will
�not approach these ultimate parents directly. Rather, we will make several
successive approaches to them, clarifyi~g our notions as we go along.
51
First Approach
The first app1·oach is throggh the relatively mindless solution of the problem.
Why does that solution work? It works
because to the initial distance from the
ground, "s 0 )' there is added another dis tance. Wha't is that other di s tance? It
is the d istance it takes for the ball to
go from 20mps to Omps. How is that dis tanc e determined? It i s determined by
finding the time it takes to go from 20mps
to Omps upwards and then, multiplying
that time by the initial velocity, " v 0 "
to get a distance "s "--and everybody
knows that"s = v • t : be ca use "v = s/t" by
df-:f initio.r~--adding that di.stanc e to an-other d ista.' 1ce. 'rhh-; otf1er distance is
fou~~~d. by multirlyincr, t~1at sa:r,e time " t ,"
squared, by "g/2"::-ancl everybody kn ow~
that "s • ;:;/2 • t .: :. ," b•.:cause " g == s ,lt<- "
by df!finjtion--and tn=n adding that 3Um
to the ini tial ii3tance. On ly that sum
sh ·J ;Jld really be a diffe r-ent;e becaus e
the force of g ravity i.3 pu l ·l i ng d own and
it is s':. ipi..llated that distance is to ':-Je
m·2·:U3 ;1rr:d £'rom the gr:>und up. In othe r wor ds ,
the solut ion is to d e termine two d i stances ,
"so" and "(v 0 t - m4. <)t2/sec2)," and then
add them to one another. So much for
that! Next probl Pm!
Ob ,j ec t ion to t.l'te First Appr oach
FIRST SPEAKER: Eut wait!
Tell me a gain
�r
52
what the quantity ''(v 0 t - m4.9t2/sec2)"
refers to. Did you say it was a distance arrived at by subtracting one distance from another? Or that it was a
distance arrived at by subtracting two
other things from one another which are
proportional to that one distance?
SECOND SPEAKERz I don't think I und erstand your second alternative. But then
I don't ne ed to because both "v0 t" and
"m4. 9 t 2/sec2 " individually yield distances,
and so that whole quantity which is their
d i ffe r ence must also be a d istance.
lSTz Do you know why your formula works?
ZNDz No.
Some guy f i gured o ut the most
general solution of the second order differential equation "d2s/dt2 = g ," but I
haven't the faintest id ea what that has
to do with the rise and fall of the bal l.
I j~.tst plugged in the values f or "t" and
solved the equation.
1STz Do you care why it works?
2ND: Of course I do, if your que st ion
"Wh y? " rnean9 anything . But I d on't
think i t does .
It ' s all a mat t er of how
you define things .
1ST: W ll, p e rhaps it i s and p e rhaps it
P
isn't. We 'll have to explore that .
But
y o u r~al l y do want to know why the equa t io n works , if therP is a why?
~HD:
YPs . Abso l ut e l y yes .
I never li ked
ju s t p l w~g i ng tn valu es t o these equations
I did n ' t unders tand. That ' s what s cares
me off fr om physics . So go ahead , if you
�kn'>W why .
jSX; Well, it' s rea lly all quit e cle ar
fro m Ga lil eo . What you are really tr y i ng
t o f i nd out i s t he d is tanc e comp osed of
three d istances: the i n itial d istance,
t he d i s tance the ba ll would t ravel upw
ards i n un i form mot ion if nothing hindered it, and the distance through which
it fal1~ from the tim e it leaves the
thr ow e r ' s hand until it r e aches it ~ maximum he i g h..~.
2ND: I have no id e a what you mean. How
does the ball 11 fall 11 from the time it
leaves the thrower's hand until it reaches
its maximum hei g ht? It goes up, not down,
that whole time!
1ST: W ll, it does and it doesn't.
e
It
goes up, but always more slowly. That
is because it bec omes su bj ect to the influenc e o f g ravity the minute it leaves
the thrower's hand and so begins t o g o
down. Look at it this waya if there
we r e no g ravity at work, the ball would
keep go ing up and up forever in uniform
motion, for there would be nothing to
stop it. And its distance would be proportional to its time of travel and its
initial velocity. That is to say, its
distance upwards would be expressed by
"v 0 t, 11 where 11 V 11 is 2 Omps and "t" is
wholly undetermined.
But gravity is at
work. As soon as it leaves the thrower's
hand, the ball becomes subject to its action, i.e., the ball is in a condition of
free fall.
But in a condition of free
fall, the velocity at any time is proportional to the time of travel. And therefore the ball, starting with no down-
�54
wa c d ~3 v f- J o c: i t y , w i 11 g r ~1d u a ll y a c q u 1 r P
sam ~ with the passagE of· tim~.
And at
s orne t i rn e , it rn us t have i.:t ~" rn u c h d u wnwa rds v ~ 1 o c i t y as i t ha ~; a l wa .v s had upwa.rds.
At that tim~._, "t," thr:" ball vvill
ha V!'' rPac h("d its maxim um h :• igh t.
AftPr y o u find that t ir:It ', u~~·- -L t t')
cornputf' the upward .3 cJj:.:;tarJCi' aTd th.-·
rj,.;wnwar d :::; distance, ~~i .< rJtract tn· :)· \: ') t ;d
f'r ,)m thP first, add t!tr.:. :1 L f'f• cr ._, nc' t< •
the i fl i t i 3. ]_ d iS tan C f-> ' ::l Jl d ,'/ J '.< I \ ' '~ : ,. n t i. t_ •
Do you see how I ha'/' :--;h )Wn _v-:-;L~ wh y ttv-'
distance-time equati'H; 'N :J rl\.::>? Tl i'-' rr~aximlAifl distance, "s" will :·:-' '-qu::.Jl t :-; thee
initial distance, "s0" and t ru' di f'z\"'r ~ r,c··
between two distance0, thF" u p·.var·:l~3 distance travelled durin;r tht-' tlmt=~ "t" at
I
'
••
\,
l.~
"-~ '
t
20-ps r i • e • 1 "v 0 ....,. ( ., ..... " , n. [ .>~.IC' t:: "v" .1" ~ '? l_.t'• ·~ fi"ed as ••s/t,.) 1 and t. hP downwarc cl L·;L
r">•.J
tanee travelled during that saMe time
"t;'' i.e., 11 4.9mt2/sec2 .. ( becauso;.~ "g" L;
de fine.d as in tft/s ec2 anJ d i~:; tanc e in the
free fail si tWltion is p1·r>I·ortional to
the square of the time of f a J 1 . .
•
Objection to the
Se~C'nd_.~J212Fc ;~C?!i
'l1 hot.';::'. a 2,~1Jd ;nc.
You
mu.st be kidding. Yo~ must really take
2NDI Ha ha hal
Me for a foo1J
1ST: Why?
2ND: Why?
Do you mean to -:ell me that
in the same time, "t," th;:-, ba~J ~an go
'Joth upi'Vards a.Q9 dowm.,'ards a certain
distance? What d~ you take me for?
Maybe my first answer was mindless, and
maybe I don't know why the equation
works,
bu.t yo~r solution is a thousand
times worse than my ignorance.
For you
�55
pretend to tell me the truth, and you
wind up telling a bigger lie than I
ever dreamt of!
Third Approach
lSTr So that's it.
Know, t hen, my philosophical physician, that you are quite
rig ht in what you say. There is indeed
only one time and so only one distance,
an upwards distance. And so it is quite
improper, or at least not wholly true,
to say that Lhe distance from hand to
max i mum can be arrivE-d at by subtracting one dista nce from another.
Sin2 e you show y o urself worthy of
thaJ2 things, you. will now knov~ t h e true
reason for the distance-time eqt1ation.
The fact is that the upwards motion of
the ba ll is continually slowing do~n.
And this is because the force of the
e a rth 's g ravit y is produci~g continually incr e asing d.ownwards :i ist~1nces of the
ball at alJ instants of its travel upwards.
But it continually retains the
instantaneous upwards distances which
are produced by the force of the initial
throw upwards, the force of inertia.
And so -ch(;se ins ~antan eo us downwards dis tances are constantly and increasingly
coming int o conflict with the upwards
on~s, ca nce lling them, and so slowi ng
th e ball down; i.e., diminishing in every instant the di sta nce the ball g o e s
up in ~hat ins tant and so constant ly
c h::tng ing thr~ rate at w:rtich a g iven distance i s covered in a g iven t i me .
Now yo' 1 must know t : ta t to every l n stantaneous dista. 1ce "ds" traversed in
:
any ins tant " dt " tl!.ere corresponds by
�56
definition an "instantaneou.s ·velocity,"
"v·," which is the "velocity" of the bal2.
at that instant.
If one instantaneous
distance is greater than another, then
t.he in~:; tet.r: tane o •1s velocity of the first
is grea ~P.r than the instantaneotlS velocity o f t ~~ ~ s l l:: n <1 •
Now i n t h ?7 r; a:~ e o :
the ball, the total ~listan.-::e upwards will
be the St1J'1 Jf all those differences be~ween f_sreater ir1stantanE:O'J.S distant:es upwards and ledsc:r _i_nstantaneous distances
downwards, as they :>cc !Jr in alL the in-·
stants "dt" of the time "t" of upv;ards
travel.
Each instanta.n80i.:IS uvNat... dS diste:.nce
can be representt~d by "v • Jt," since
they are all th~~ sa 11e with une anot.he c
and, by definition, "v = ds/jt," so that
"ds = v • dt," And each instantar1eous
downwards distance can be represen-~ed by
"gt·· dt," since they arB all different
and the instantaneo~s distan::e "ds" covered in any instant "dt;" i.e., "ds/dt"
is always increasing at th~_; constant rate
"g" with the ps.ssase of time "t," becaw:H:
of the force ·Jf gravity. And SJ at any
iutant "dt" thA upwar·ds dist:t.ncE:~ "ds"
will be the d ifferene: e b(::: tv;::; en th•:: u.p·,ards "ds" duf.~ tt) thA focce :::;f i.rv~rtia
and the dowrwJar'ds "ds" d\J•.~ tu th~: force
of grav~t:v; i . .::~., 1'ds = fJ.s ( i) - ~ds (g).
r)
11
But
11
•
1
-tds ( l ) '
==-
vd i..
11
And " ).J;d~~ (g) •
"1'-d~-; -:: : 'v"d t - gi.d t"
= gt · • t. "
.i
'r tte r~ fo c _,
at an ·/ in::~taLt "at..."
Ii n w t h '2 wh ,.\ l f d is c;. :;_ n c e , " s , " up vV 2. ni s
·~. i. ~ J b ~
;: he.: ~->.m ~Jf tht?S2 ir1star" L-:ln.:;c;u.:=;
.J. l. .· t .t. n ,-:- t~ ~_:; '' d s " t r a v · l J e G d 1 12: · i r g a ll t h r:
'
:r'n.n °l. ,.1n
l. !' . '·', ·-Jr-t·c·.c~ "d· t-" ;) L~ ·tf'1,-· ti roo "t "
f rJr s l.-~r: h a s urn i~_; • -.,_ /,. and it::; extremi~ i, ~; .J.r ~ ~~ i {- n t f!_ t:·d : l,y' f' :1 i, t j_ ng t r1 em d. uc v e
'
an J l; (- 1 :wv t: lP 3 1 v r l L\ e t h L; : t ~' t ~I.=- 0
1.
)
... .
-.."")
•
v
.
.
.1 •.1...
·•'
I
.t
1
.
-
•""'f~.
--
._..
t.)
~;
II
�The refore we will say that it is the ..
case that "s = t~ vdt - gtdt."
I will solve th1~ for you
exhibit
be f ore your eyes once more the fair naked
form of th e distance-t:i_me equation. Far
'it~ vd.t = vt."
And ut~gtdt = ~gtG,II
The ~·fore, my friend, sinceW"t~ vdt gtdt = t~ vdt - t~ gtdt," and "s =
t~ vdt - gtdt," "s = vt- ~gt2,"
Now
jJst add the initial distance, "s 0 ," and
you g et the form for the maximum height
of the ball: "s = s 0 + v 0 t + (-%gt2),"
and
Objection to the Third Approach
2ND: Now I know that you must not only
take me for a fool b ut that you are one
yourself. And a lying sophistic and
credulous scoundrel to boo t! Sure, you
derive the distance-time equation by
integrating instantaneous distances over
time inst~ad of spinning it out of y o ur
imagination as the most general sulution
of the second order differential equation
ds/dt2 = g. And to that extent you have
Gucceeded in making falling bodies, and
,m i_fnrmlv movin.!! ones, your starting
point rather than your own fancy.
But
at what a price! You have summed up
distances that are no distances traversed in times that are no times, and
related them to "instantaneous velocities," "v," that are merely nominal
definitions of written symbols! . You
have subtracted one distance that is
no distance from anothEr distance that
is no distance and purported to arrive
at yet a third distance that is no distance, and a perpetually changing one at
that!
You have argued that "t~ vdt =
vt" and that "t"-0 gtdt = ~gt2" without
-·
..
-
··
-·- - - - - --
�the leas t justification. You have attributed all o f this to the "fo.cce of gravity" of the earth, which is "slowing
down" the ball by somehow reaching up to
grab it and p u ll it down. And you have
attributed to th2 oall a "force of iner:tia" by which the grabbing of the eartl}
to _pull the ball down is continually resisted and so is not effective until after the maximum height o f t :-1e balL is
reached.
No, my friP.nd, until ;you satisfy me
on all thes e points, I'll stick to my
simple-~inded substitutions.
Your mixture of sophistry, sy~bolic rr1anipulation,
and mystical "forces," is too m'tich for
me to take.
--Edward Sparrow
continued from page
15--
that it allowed its audience to view
Jonson's play pretty much as he intended
it. The casting seemed extremely natur~l
and the spirit of vaudevillian hanky/
panky very rarely broke, even for an .
instant. Besides Bob 'l'zudiker and tl1e
cast, special praise is due Lee Zlotoff
and assistants for a highly professi o nal
job of set d~sign and decoration.
i'R:ttr·· ·n·
�
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<em>The St. John's Review</em><span> is published by the Office of the Dean, St. John's College. All manuscripts are subject to blind review. Address correspondence to </span><em>The St. John's Review</em><span>, St. John's College, 60 College Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21401 or via e-mail at </span><a class="obfuscated_link" href="mailto:review@sjc.edu"><span class="obfuscated_link_text">review@sjc.edu</span></a><span>.</span><br /><br /><em>The St. John's Review</em> exemplifies, encourages, and enhances the disciplined reflection that is nurtured by the St. John's Program. It does so both through the character most in common among its contributors — their familiarity with the Program and their respect for it — and through the style and content of their contributions. As it represents the St. John's Program, The St. John's Review espouses no philosophical, religious, or political doctrine beyond a dedication to liberal learning, and its readers may expect to find diversity of thought represented in its pages.<br /><br /><em>The St. John's Review</em> was first published in 1974. It merged with <em>The College </em>beginning with the July 1980 issue. From that date forward, the numbering of <em>The St. John's Review</em> continues that of <em>The College</em>. <br /><br />Click on <a title="The St. John's Review" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=13"><strong>Items in the The St. John's Review Collection</strong></a> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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Silver, Joan
Hoving, Chris
Rees, John
Spaeth, Robert L.
Johnson, Dennis
Davenport, Richard
Gold, Elizabeth
Roemer, Arlene
Sparrow, Edward G.
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Vol.I No.1
November 18, 1974
The St. John's Review
CONTENTS
A Laboratory Fantasy
by Mary Rogers•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••!
Personality and Class
by Chris Hoving •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• )
What is an Opening Question?
by Gene Heller ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ?
The Potential of Mana Aristotle in De Anima
by Leslie Graves •••••••••••••••• : : •••••••• 12
A Sonnet
by Richard Davenport••••••••••••••••••••••29
Une Petite Chanson pour Monsieur Charlie
by Gerry Ekman •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• )O
Lecture Review
by Charles Hoffacker •••••••••••••••••••••.• 41
Letter
by Eva Brann••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••48
THE REVIEW1 an Apology
by Derek Cross •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 51
Meditation before a New Publication
by Bill Kelley ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ,60
An Editor's Plea
by Joan Silver •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 62
Future REVIEWS
by Gene Heller •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 6)
An Appeal to the Community
by Joan Silver •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 64
Annapolis Md.
�November 18, 1974
[
The St. John's Review
:]
.
Derek Cross.
Ed1tors .•.•.••••.... • "Bill Kelley
Managing Editor ••••••• Gene Heller
Administration and
College Offices·······Mary Rogers
Affairs Concerning
.
The Deans···········Lesl1e Graves
Program Discussions •.. Joan Silver
Program Papers ....... Chris Hoving
Student Polity ...•... Helen Aikman
Richard Davenport
L
iterary .•..•• Stephanie Slowinski
Reviews •••.••........... Kate Owen
Alumni ....••....•.. susan Tischler
Production• Gretchen Berg, Laura
Bridgeman, Matthew DeBacker, Susan
DeBacker, Matthew Ellis, Charles
Hoffacker,
Tom Horvath,
Peter
Kniaz, Joyce Mendlin, Arlene Roemer, Cheryl Rubino, Annette Tullier
Special Thanks to Rick Pla u t ,
Scott Arcand, and Bob Goifrey
�'l'he St. johns Kev1ew
I am skeptical of scholarly
criticism· of the Lab program, Tht
primary difficulty with the Laboratory is self-evident and its
solution is non-academic.
For
nearly two years, tri -and bi-weekQ,
I have sat spellbound by fantasies
of this solution.
I envision an electronic "buzzel"
system
inobtrusively installed
under every Laboratory tableo By
each seating position I imagine a
button, similar in size to a doorbell, skillfully concealed. When
a student wishes to ask a humiliating cpestion, .in my fantasy he orshe may inconspicuously sound the
buzzer by pressing this button.
This subtle interruption signifies
to the class the need for immediate
clarification of the discussion
matter. I imagine myself with a
placid, self satisfied expression
venting vehement frustration thru
that concealed doorbell. My neighbors have no reason to think me any•
thing but knowledgeable, well prepared and even slightly bored. And,
indeed, when I know of a question which adeguatel:v expresses my
unspoken super~ori ty, I imagine myself asking it aloud, signifying
contempt for users of the "buzzer. •
I am convinced that in this way Lab
would not only pass very pleasantly
but that my enhanced understanding
of the Laboratory manual would sooJ'\
enable me to become one of its many
criticso
1
�Nove1nbe r 18, 1974
2
I realize that there are man~
sible obj.e ctfons to the proposal ot
J!ly :f'antaey. I have oaretully exam~
1ned these, however, and conclu~
t~t none need be takenseriouel
Pirat, it shall be stipulate
that students keep one hand beneat
the table at all times. This wil~
guarantee the anonymity ·of the
questioner and preserve the pre~
Jtanaa that we all have diagraeeful
-ueetions toae-.-or that at least
our neighbors do. Secondly, it
•ay be indignantly objected that
thie system will impede the proper
pace of the claesa that, indeed,
the buzzers will constantly intel'rupt and refuse to be silenced
until answered. I cannot deny
this possibility, but urge those
objectors to consider the benefits
of this rather chaotic situation.
Great distinction sball be won by
those who most rapidly, with precision and ingenuity, phrase the
torrent of buzzers' questions and
provide adequate, silencing answer's.
The class will soon realize wit~
;awe that these students keep one
hand under the table only for
courtesy•s
sake,
Furthermore,
as I might point out to those ob~
jectors, this system offers excellent preparation for participation on "Jeopardy."
Finally,
the objection may arise that a
buzzer inadequately expresses a
questioner's specific difficulty-tha.t no one shall have the slightest
idea as to why the buzzer is sounded.
I hardly think this a justifiable
objection. I need only point out
that the articulation of my spoken
questions is undoubtedly surpassed
�rfhe St. John's Review
by a buzzer • s and that the latter • J;
ambiguity
precisely represents
the confusion of my own position.
I suffer no delusion as to the
persuasiveness of these replies.
There
are always those who argue
against reason. I hope only that
unlike the proposal for a swimming
pool on back campus, I may enjoy
the fulfilment of my fantasy befcre
graduationo
Mary Rogers
Personality and
Class
If you went to your loe•l community college, yocr courses tli,gbt
all be lectures. Most probably,
you and the professor wnuld never
communicate. Indeed, wi.t hout any
convereation between the two of
you, his grade would inform you
of your progress. At St. John's,
talking ts the medium for learn_in~J tutor and students talk with
one another, and it ie natural
that the student's work should be
discussed in the Don Rag.
What is said in a Don Rag?
Well, what can be said in a Don
Rag? The harn work of a quiet
student, or the clear thinking of
an argumentative one, is unknown
to the tutor, who must judge the
student by what he says in the
classroom, and how he responds to
others. Because a student's manner is all the tutor sees, he must
consider it as revealing hie thinking.
However, manner is determined by personality. Therefore,
personality is what is discussed
e:::
3
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November 18, 1974
most often in the Don Rag,
Mr.
Argumentative is told to tone it
downJ Miss Quiet is tol~ to speak
up. This attention results in
some Don Rags looking like test
cases of the lowgrade psychology
question, "What makes Jack a dull
boy?"
About Jack's dullness, there
can be no doubt. Listen to excerpts from his last Don Raga
Junior ~eminar leadera
"He
seems to lose interest and drift
off into a world of his own. One
time he fell asleep in seminar and
no one noticed until a
language
class came in the next morning.
The language tutor asked everyone
who had not finished his paper to
raise his hand. All hands went
up except Mr. Jack's. Of course,
after waking Mr. Jack up, the tu~
tor realized that he was not a
member of the class. That was the
only time Mr. Jack stood out all
year."
Senior seminar leadera "Well,
I can't add anything to that. Mr.
Jack seems to h~ve too little motivation and too much common sense •
Always ~laesy-eyed."
Laboratory tutora "One time a
look of real passion crossed his
face, and I hoped he would say
something interesting. He just
made his usual commonplace remark,
however. Later I learned that he
was leaning back in his chair and
momentarily had felt himself ~o
ing over. If he had fallen over
well--that would have been :something!"
Math tutor (of 8a30 a.m. class)a
"Mr. Jack is an adequate student.
L
�r
t
The ·st. John's Review
~
[.
~·
Now that 1 think of it, he has
seemed bored most of the timet I
always thought he was sleepy. He
has brought little playthings to
class, too. On one occasion,
I
noticed hie lips moving, anrl, trying to encoura~e him, I asked him
to repeat it in full voice for
everyone's benefit. He proceeded
to read off the ingredients of the
cereal box he had in his lap.•
How did Jack come to be this
way? That is the question. The
last tutor's comments may help.
Language tutor• "I don't want
to think that Mr. Jack has to be
entirely to blame. In my class
there are several students who
just want to severely critieize
'the grammar of everyone that talks·.
Jntis hindered Mr. Jack from making
very involved statements.
His
· ~favorite
contribut i ons
be came'•
• 0'.Ie 8t ion ! Wh ~- t • s
·'Not true 1 ',
that mean?', 'Muyb .::; .~ i f ~ . :"e " ·
and 'Fine .. • A6 a tutor, I h.!~" ·
trouble getting much out of them."
Perhaps Jack' !'J c 1B s , F.>t'· .,rl ·v.. ~
looked at now. Besides Mi, .~ Qui et
and Mr. Ar~umentative,
t h ere dre
Miss Serious, Mr. F l ippant t Hr.
Dogmatic, and Miss Lost in ~·; pa t. et
I am confident you can think . of
pthers.
There are al s o a few
people Jack feels comfortable with~
probably--though not neces~arily
-friends of his. The tutor fits
in somewhere, also. His personality will determine the extent
of Jack's dullness more than anyone else's, but everyone present
has his effect. When Mr. Dogmatfc. has quoted the same passage
four times, Miss Serious has ac.
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s
�1
cused Hr. Flippant of wasting
time, and Mr. Argumentative has
lost his temper because he cannot
refute Miss Lost in Space without
knowing what (subject) she's on,
then, even if the tutor gets along with him, Jack will feel his
mind dissolving. Now, I do not
mean to deny that a peculiar person may best communicate with others equally peculiar or unique
in some other way, but different
personalities often clash. When
Jack has had classes where there
was some rapport, communication
followed, and the results were often wonderful, but it is inevitable that personality clashes will
come about. Different students
are hurt in different ways (those
in the Quiet family are not likely to begin talking with Argumentative a around), but the worst result occurs when a student feels
forced to conform to the tutor's
personality--as, in effect, he was
told to do in the Don Ra~--and
gives up all hope of really communicating his thoughts.
Adapting to various personalities may
be a useful art in the business
world, but the student comes to
the College to learn something
else.
Can Jack find happiness? He
cannot have classes where everyone has the same personality as
he. Anyway, that might be really
dull. Though antagonistic people
are not helpful, the r~sultant exjc~tement sometimes
is, for those
~o do
communicate. Jack always
will have some tutors with whom
he does not have rapport. Perhaps
�The St. John's Review
the human spirit is not strong eto take on simultaneously.
:strange ideas an~ strange person~lities teaching them.
A few tu'tors overcome this problem, but
~11
are affectec by it. It may
h~ tnat
the problem is inherent
~n the St. John's
teachin~ method. An alternative which I have
heard sug~este~ is to withdraw into yourself, treating alike those
who clash and those who ~o not
clash, and to care only for your
private understan~in~. However,
dialectic
depends on emotion.
Without the passionate excitement
of mutual understanding, students
learn very little in our classes.
So, I see no easy solution, but,
suspecting that most people tG
some extent are aware of the effect personality has in classes,
I have attempted merely to raise
the issue for community concern
by indicating its scope.
Chris Hoving
nough
What is an
Opening Question?
It has been my experience, and
the experience of every other St.
John's student
as well, that
there are good seminar discussions, and there are not so good
--nay, mediocre--seminar discussions.
The quality ( if..so damning a word may be used) of a given discussion is governed by such
diverse influences as the length
of the
assigned reading, the
7
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November 18, 1974
8
thoroughness with which an assignment may have been read, the
number of participants (that is,
both
the number
of occupied
chairs and the number of speak~
ers), the proximity of this particular seminar night to a vacation, and so on, with such absurd
factors as the amount of cigarette smoke in the air during the
meeting even contributing a little. But, for whatever reason we
do so, students often relegate to
the tutors the responsibility of
making a seminar good.
The ways
a tutor might do this
a~e,
for
the most part, far too sophisticated and arcane for me to dissect under the harsh (blinding?)
light of reason, with the scalpel
of taste as my tool.
All tutors
do have, however, at least one
thing in commons they begin sem1
ina.r with The Opening Questicn. A
seminar discussion, in time if
not in logic, follows the opening
question.
The opening question
initially states what aspect of
the reading is to be discussed,
and by making this selection, ignores,
at least
temporarily,
other aspects.
It therefore has
a.s much or more influence on the
discussion than all of the other
factors listed above.
A good opening question is one
which causes, as much as it can,
a good discussion.
That's very
nicer all that remains to be explained is what a good discussion
is, how it is the result of a
good question, and why that particular question is good, taat
is, causes this good discussion.
'
I
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I
�'l'he St. johns Keview
A good discussion is a coabin~
ation of two species of discussion. The first is that kind -ot
discussion which
is concerned
with only the implications of the
thought presented in the reading.
~n this discussion,
which proba~
j ly takes place in the College of
)
~reams,
all participants have
read and understood the reading.
,There is no need for the opening
question to be directed at teabh~
1
ing the student about the read~
ing, and so the tutor asks a
question whose
father is the
reading, and whose mother is his
own mind. ::The question might be
very general• "Does the truth of
tonight's
reading
imply anything?" It might be specific•
"What does the truth of tonight's
reading imply?"
In eithar .case,
it is not an attempt to point out
anything about the reading itself--any
fallacies,
truths,
ironies, poetry are all known to
he students already. They unerstand the reading. Again, the
opening
question is concerned
with
the implications of the
reading, as seen by the tutor.
The question might have a mother
other than the mind of the tutor
(the students,
we know, have
minds• that they have understaod
the reading demonstrates this).
Is there then a need for tutors
at this
college?
Absolutely,
precisely because the class depends upon the tutor's mind being
better able to suggest implications than the student's.
Whether he has read this particular
reading before or not, the tutor
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9
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November 18, 1974
simply knows more than the student, but not about this reading,
only about the rest of the world,
and what this reading might have
to do with it.
The other species of discussion is concerned with teaching
the students about the reading.
This occurs among students who
have read but not understood the
reading. They look to the seminar, and the tutor, to help them
achieve a complete understanding
of the reading (I do not know in
what college this kind of discussion takes place}. The aim of
the opening question then is to
teach. How can a question teach?
It is more direct, if the students are not aware of a fallacy
or a truth in the reading, for
the tutor to simply state all
those he knows of. The seminar
could then truly succeed in its
goal of teaching the student, and
could either be ended, or continued much in the manner of seminars at that other college. One
unhappy situation at this "teaching• college is that, by my account, the existence of the students's minds ie not demonstrated
--they do not come to seainaa
in a state of
understanding.
This is nothing but a deception,
however. The students do in fact
have minds, and the tutor can reassure himself of this in the
following way. Let us assume a
minimal degree of comprehension
on the part of the student--that
he does understand some, but not
~11, of what he has read.
(~ell
.t hen, you might say, he already
�l
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The St. John's Review
11
must have a mind to do even that.
True, but wait a bit.) If the
opening question is such that it
both directs the answer to the
more difficult part of the reading, yet indicates that the part
of the reading already comprehended will yield the answer, then
the student has a task that can
only be thoughtful. A good discussion in pne of this college's
seminars, · then, is one which
brings about the student's ~ oom
prehension of the assigned re•ding, by treating the more difficult part of each reading as an
implication of the
understood
part. A good opening question in
a seminar of this type can again,
as in the first college, be asked
only by someone who knows more
than the students, albeit this
time about the reading itself.
Since at Real
College the
degree to which students
und•ratand a reading is something lese
than -fixed, eo must the type of
!opening question be- variable, ·as
~he
reading is more or less accessible, by the tutor's estimate. A good discussion willlbe
concerned with both the reading
'i tself and its implications, ita
'relationship to the rest of the
world. A good opening queetio~
will seek to exaaine the coneiet~
ency of thought presented by ~h• .
reading--both as a system itself!
and · as ~· -part - of' ·aU · nu"
thought.
I
Gene Kellez1
�November 18, 1974
12
The Potential of Man:
Aristotle in De Anim ,a
BEST SOPHOMORE ESSAY, 1974
'!be tiM I han apent atuciy1._
Ariatotle la precioua, becauae 1 t •Aft
UM a pent v1 th a aan oonvinced ~
1
~n~~;"!l ·''d~
waa acoeaa1 ble to l'\1a aDd
~"' ;k : 1.
!ill
.~'. ~.tMpt
"ul
· ..., t)
.-. · :;
"·-~"'
,, ~ i. ..
.!!.
An1aa, he aakea a von4e
to Jal1 t the wdYerae te
+.h,tt •C'ul
of au baa there ..
bet·ol..a:a (if potenc1 1a he~
l.o),.
The bl1 tUD« ot t.be aoul to U.
\!n.i ntrM ~-·~ d•ona tn.te hotr UD Jdlowa 1111
'P l. t~;.ole tuk that for CfllpleUoh
- -~1! De '!; 0'-"11 the
prea1M of knowl·,· ' ·
,~
'
.:u "
t
~~~ I'
.tr.<>
li
lr"e~/"! edge.
a.r~
Aria tot~
luoYable Jlonr_
aatter, attrtbutee,
all the catesor1••,.
in cmler to build a d.etlni tiob
ln tact,
et a eoul tbat 1a able io . . . .
aDd kftOtf
t.be.. thiap,
h
aoul 1a treated u a
au-ba taaoe tAa t apprebenda all aat.taa~
la a 41t.1Mt1oal iftqulr, - the
..a•pt1- an b t the aoul la tbt
Mu.e et Ute, the att.rililut.a f4 lit..
Ud tbe faftl UN of ao.-.at · aa4 ~
Mat,
17 tint pal in thia N8&7 baa
OOIUI•
ot
;J
- . . t. d.laoua ArlatoU. • • aoooute
..rt&la faG\ll.U.• et tM aeul,
a-ts..
to aa ..tera••Miac et wt-.t
•• te ·~ the - • • of tl.Mb.
~ 1Jlvolwea an ~ntaD41nc of~
(U. ..u.)
t . . MMat.iOil.
\llbt.
The
'.-1 1• aa att.pt
to \lllden tud Ari.atotla '• n.. .t hoW
UM ..w appre~llllla u. .u..ue, J&l'Ucularb ~· ~Lt the . .u~ alai
· II!'
(~ ~
'-"
:et Ill, ) · la. ..aau..
i. ftnt, ~ ..1 t·JIIo...r, ,aa4 ••••• ,,_
... 1• 110Uoa,
ArletoU. Mill tM'\ -.uor ..... tP
be aore o~ to 11a1... --~, a.r.J!
c111•
He*
�-
The St. John's Review
tbe aoul apeD8 aore U.. 1a 1\.• 11»
ea4entan4 tbe nature and oau.e of eiTQlr
l• in a larp part to UDiaft t..u4 tHt
proceaa of thinldns, a1... 8ftOa' fal]Ja
betw..n tM ' " errorl- •~• dt
the direct percepu. . ot a pnper ••_.
object bJ ita ..... b'pll ud. tba funq.
Uon of tbe act1 ve aiM, th1nk1ft1 a lao~
an und1 Yic!ed •••noe -- a Mta*-1
axioa, 'ftw actiY1 u.. of tn. ai.. wh1
are casable
ot error
depelad Oft the ebaaki.. 1 t la,.rt&*t
rorl..• tacul u .. ,
to decide how error is 11d..4 Pf88l~
Look1n« at what Ariatotle aa,ya &bout e%1J"Or, both percept! ve and 1ntellectua]4,
lacee the blaae for error on the j~
rl« faculty or the aoul.
How••er, 1h
order to undera tand error or judplae~
~\llne u \IDUntaDdiAC ~ vbat ~ iato~
aeana by the proceae of an aotualisat1on
of a potential 1n aenaat1on and 1n
thoU«ht. faulty judgeMent aay be a reeult
of a potential not being correctly aet\1aliHd.
'nle faculty ot a aenae organ to be co•
the rona or a eenee object doee not irtvol ve the aaae kind of potential to aatual rel&tionahip that Arietotle uaea Ul
deecribins the aoul u the &ctu&l1satiell
of a body. Conceming tn. latter he ...,_
"'Ill• soul 1a a kind or actu&li t7 OlE'
notion ot that which bu the capacity cf
having a •oul" ( 414&26), ,~ which ia ttui
different froa the deacr1pt1oa of
aena1t1ve and cosn1tint racult1... "
••na1t1Ye and oognit1¥e tacult1.. of
•oul are potent1all.t thea• objeota, rls ,
the aenalble and the lmowable. •(4)tb2.5
tn the cue of the aoul &DCl 'bod7,
actualisa tion ia tb&t of a tom t.o 1•terial, 1 ta aaterial be1ft«&n neent1tJ.
part of u;e-roraulat.lon.
The 1fa7 In
which tn. aena1 t1 •• &nd cop! U" taoult1e~ are &etu&l1Hd 1a t.hnush tbe11' ~-
r
13
---....
�14
1 '- u
V G
Ul U
e I'
l 0,
.1 d
I "'i
ception of a fora, and they are alwayJ
ln a state either of potentiality or ac•
tuality (whereas, aan ia always actual).
the actuality of the sense organa cou~
atitutes what Aristotle calls aecona
•ctuality, exeaplified by the aan wno
poaaeaaes and is exercising knowledge.
More specifically, that these faculties
aay be spoken of aa becoaing is reaaon
enough to aay that their potential! ty is
different froa that of the body, sinctt
the body is not body or potential w1 thout the soul, whereas the faculties are
faculties and potential without
the
presence of the actuali~ing agent,
"One need no aore ask whether body
and soul are one than whether the
wax and the iJipresaion 1 t rece1 ves
are one, or in general whether the
aatter of each thing is the saae
u that of whicb it is the aattera
for adaitting that the teras unity
and being are used in many senses,
the paraaount sense is that of actuality." (412bS)
But in the cue o.f the aensi tive and
cognitive faculties it is aost 1aportant
to a&intain the distinction between the
fora, supplied by the actualizing and
actual exterior objects, and the matter.,
the faculties,
The fora of the sense
object properly belongs to the sense ob,jecta aatter and the matter of the faculties is properly 'formed' by their es~
•ence, which is their ability to receiv~
fhe whole which is a cognition or a pe~
ception is not the aaae aa a whole which
ls a functioning body or an eye which
can see,
(Nevertheless, other parts or
~ Aniaa aeea to indicate that for Aria ..
totle knowledge depends on the potentia~
to actual relationship being the same in
both cues.
Thia will be cliscuase(l
later, At any rate, the above stataaenie
"'!:'.
�The St. John's Review
are true and to regard the potential 1o
•ctual relat1oDah1p u the aaae • ._. io
require a different penpect1Ye.)
Since both the copiUYe u4 ,.roe
tlve tacult1• are undentood in te
of aoaethins potential 'beoolliftC actua ,
it 1a pod to exaaine tba relaUOM
d1at1nct1ona between the two. SO.e d1 .rerencea aay neoeaa1 tate or oauae
judg1ft8 faculti" of each to be ditte
ent, u a1a1l&r1 ties aay 1apl.y analoci
or 1dent1t1ea 1n j~nt.
'ftle a1Dd. doe• not haft a part of Ute
body to which 1 t corm ponda. Hence, i ~
actualit7 ia deacribed u that which ce
think bJ that which 1• thiDitable.
"Both Jmowled«e aDd aenaatioaa are
41 Yided to co:rrea pond to t.M1r o bjecta, the potential to the potential, and the actual to the actual.
'!be aenai t1" and cogai Uv. taoultiH of the aoul an potent1all7
tbeae objeota, rt11., the Hnaible
and the knowable." ( 4 )1 b24)
That which 1a thinkable &N tbe ....n
of thinp - 1 t 1a appropziate that
wbleb hu not utter, the aind, rela
to Haeaoea that qua ... . - a . . ·
llil e
bo aa tter.
'lbere doea not .... to be
•fticient cauae tor the oocurence t
thoucbt, u in the cue of the aena1 U
faoul ty the aenae o bjecte are the efie
tift c•u•ea of aenaation. S.nae objeo
t.re that whi oh aakea ••ne• organa
lii• theuelYH, which 1 t can do a1
tbe7 &l"a capable of be1n, all th1
••na1 ble. But u for tJw etnc1ent oa
w•-
~t
tho\lcht, Ariatotle hotl7 rehtea
sta~ta ot h1a predeceaaon, wtlb 1cl
that tboll&ht wu equatabl.e vi
percept1oa. leM*Wa., tt ta ,...1
~~met to np:rcl .,_ ao~ye a1a4
the efficient eoa- of th1Dk1ac. •~
kl~w'U• ..,., actift a18d 1a .._.• ..,
olaftct
15
�16
November 18, 1974
thing else which is their cause or agen~
1n that it aakes thea all" (111,5). Sb
even though the aind properly does not
have a part of the body to which it co~
responds, it still has an efficient
cause, whose aatter is in the passive
aind. Sense objects and active •ind a~
analagous in being efficient causes for
sensat ion and thought, and since sen~
objects are actual and always thus, so
is the active aind.
This provides an
explan£ ·. ~ o n of what Aristotle says about
it -- "When isolated it is its true self
an~ ~o th ing more,
and this alone is i•ao:t .a.1 s.. ~J everl uting and w1 thout this
nothing thinks" (I1I,5). Since active
a1nd ia pure actuality, it cannot have
· ·::··, "'':.'l ri al , in the sense of matter.
• .. ... .Jea, though, have uterial by holding t ~'l.a f ora o f thought in 1 t.
The d.iB f.i nct i on between thinking aqd
sensing which holds because the one ~
aoaething bodily and the other doesn ~ t
is irrelevant• since their potential! tiels
becoae actualities through the
s ..e
process, the only difference correapon41ng to the difference in their objec~,
aens1 bles and thinka bles.
It should ~
reaeabered that 1 t is only when a thiqg
aay only be called actual that 1 t 1a ~-
ways true.
W th this 1 n a1 nd, and the
1
d1st1nct1ona
between
sensation
and
thought, what Aristotle saya conoeriling
the judging facul tiea of the soul &lld
the erring oapaci ty begins to aake un1 ted sense.
"But, since we also distinguish
whl t. and sweet and coapare all
o bjeota perceived with each other, .
by what sense do we perceive that
they differ? It auat evidently be
by aoae aenae that we peroe1 ve the
differenoe a for tbeJ are objeota
ot aenae • • • nor 1a 1 t acain poe-
.i
�'fhe St. John)s H.e·view
17
s 1 ble to judg~> tha t s Heet and
white are differ~nt by separate
senses, but both mu.'5 t oo i tleat)..y
presented to a. 81 ncle st::rnse •••
That which asse rts the difference
must be one J for S\oT'3et differs
from white. It. is t he sr.wne faculty
then, that assert.a th!.BJ hence as
it asserts, so i t thinks and perceives.h (426b1 2-2J) ,
Thla.t is speaking of the judging faowlty in perception and thts o f the Judging
faculty in thought. and t he relation i !
t
has to the judging facul t~; i n porcept1oo.
"Now it is by
'.h•:; CE':'· i~i-d. v e faculty that we ju.-.,:)·o r;.;. t and cold,
pn>b'..tt 1 t
t ~;:l&iii' ~ ei tblr
nl .:.n tea to 1 t
in tbe au• 'i-4.1.~,, ~ 1.~ b'\!i:ot 11M to
i taelf' whltn. pt:. 1.1.s:~,;~ ~~.~-~.;. e?. :\.ra!&ht,
that WG judp ~~}~ ~ .,:, i$~J:'h,.4} Of fl..a
Again,
aac; ~
ztb~ ; .ra,~,·~
ttbjecta,
'atbight 40 ~- ~ ~.:'~..i~ ,,~ ' <!·h .l b.,.noMd, ~
tor 1 t 1a ~lw~ "..c:~ 1.t:n0d w1 t..~
oxtenaion, but J.. - . (;llt~sc:noe, it
u
'•trai«ht ~ &nd •,,t:a:'.ghtz..•tt• r~ are
not the aue, is ~~•'ti'!i..a« dltt'orontt lot ua 0&11 i ~ ~~;;.~ll ty. '!'hentore, we j'l.ld~; :i. t by &c~o t.her tae•
ul ty, or by ti1e &.J.tr,•3 ff~ <H.tl t7 1D a
d1 ftenn t r>!i lati ou
l~10. e peakiq
and Clll
<' i :r:··fl!~ ~.\10
q t;.al i t) e ;'j
portion cona t;;.;:., tt: ·vt~
ia by a dl!'fo£!N1.: 1 t
qui ill die ti nct, ~r
f}~!~ ;;, i
$
genera.ll,y 11 u
fl'Oil
" uJ- •~tii u "' •~pa.rabLt
a~" ~e. are t.be
their aa t w r
correaponding
faa~l~\~~
aind. • (429b1.5-22)
!he laat reference
•11'\e aoul
l.a
to
li ~-!.~
ot the
j~~unt.
a~.. t~
1••
la
d1at1Jl81liabt•d . tJ:r -·~t,a!c
the judging catacl ty
ia a
function of the iu·u)·1J. ~~tJt u4 ot
aeneat1on coabinod ,. .. e . . (4')2.&15-17)
'1be 1a pl1 e& t1 an, c·-r t.iH! Uui t tMo t~U.
�-·"
18
1~uvernoer
ltl,
J~/':i
juqiq ta.cul tJ ooaoemed
ta.oup~ aq be tbe .... ... tbl
la tM.t tbe
fr1 tb
Judci.. faoul ~7 oonceme4 w1 ~ penepU.oa - "we j\ldp 1 t. • • by the .... faatal ~1 ( aa tbe aeaa1 tiw facul t7) 1n a dit.terent relation" or "41ffenntl.7 di_..
poaed".
Aa perception 1• prior ' . .
tbov.pt, pnauaab]J" the act of peroepti"
judpaent 1a prior~ oopitive ~
MDt.
Tbia aakea our ald.l1tr to Juqe
1atelleotu&l.l7 depeD4ent upon our ald.l-o
l t7 to aate diatiaoUona bet..en objeo.
of aeaae not ooacemed vi tb tM • •
aeue orpn, aucb u aveet aDd bot. Tb11
tepeDd.eoe 1a &D&lopua ~ the depeDcl~
•aoe that the tb1ak1q pari of tn. aoul
baa oa 1Jaacea pz"Ovid.ed by the aena1 ti
part - which 1a tbe a&Diler 1a wlllch
peroepUon 1a prior.
Tbe inte~leotu+
~DC facult7 (tbe aena1tive racul.tJ
in a different relation•) 1• ooajJnbeJ».
aible, therefore, in te~a of the aenai~
U•e facnaltr, beiq the .... thlq, bu~
ooaoemect vi tb 41f:terent u peota of ~
Ill Uon, ODe vi th aeui blea and on. vi tb
WllkalU.... 'lbat wbich uaert. tbe di:t...
terence between 41f:terent object. ot
tboqht 1a oae :t&CN1t7, thn, aDd taW
aaae 1n all
_or · tb1a_
l'hla 1a vba t • judpa the •••aoe ot
n...h". HoveYer, a aat1afac~17 41aouaa1oa of exactlr wbat that aeaaa entaila
a 41a~1on of S••pnation ud error.
Ariatotle •&18 of error la perceptiot~
Y•
c-••
-•rU-..
that
"'!be peroepUoa o:t
proper o bjecta
ia true, or 1a oal7 oapa'ble of erzor to the leut poaaible d.esree.
hxt ooa.. peroeptioa that the7
an attn butea, aa4 here a poaai•
bll1 t7 of orzor at once arlaeaa
for peroepUoa doea not err 1a
pezoe1rtnc tbat u objec~ 1a vh1 te
but ODl7 u to vbetber the wb1 te
objeot 1a ne tblnc or another
-
----
----
- -- -
,
'
�(e.g. th• sou of
Cl~~~)~
ThirdlJ
coaee parc•Ji th~n of tb~ OOIUIOD
a ttri butea wtU c.h
&!U:o.apany the
ooncoa1 tan t. to ~hi.,h'- t iW.tl JQ:OpQ'
aenalblos ~lon~ {I ~*an , • ~ g.,
aotion and u.gn:~tud~ )~ i t 1s about.
theae t.h& t error ios zt· ~ t likely to
occur.• (428b18 )
and, of error 111 thinking ~
•1ba thinking c f indi ~1 s1bl., (liD•
d1 Yided) ob,} eeta
•t
thought oceun
aaonc
thl~~p
oon~n.inc which
there can be no f&U.Mhl.>o4a wben
truth and fra.:t.ealvo~od ~<.n poaa1ble
there ie 1npl1ed ·'- ooJepoundlq of
thought 1.nto a. t'r..tash un1 ty 9 • • • tor
falsehood aJ.Wi ..;n& JJ.fhJ i n 'tbs proo•
eaa of ooab1nA.tlon 9 !o1• if a calla whl t • !!!c t-l'rbi ~~. be hu coabined the ·1c ttol~ n:,·~ t: ...,~:.(.:\1 t." •
In the CUfJ of ~rr.on of pereapU~
the blue 1• aidd to H.9 1411 th Judci ·,
since aak1ng the s tate.•nt 1n one•a
tbat a wM te thin« 1a a oertaiD • •
thins 1e a jud(iaeet~
It 1a aot, ~ ner, the percepti•• ~"Dt J.rlatotle
apeata of • which 1ft ~ d.i E~ ~Uea.
Tbia judpaent, at tri bu·'tMl of q.U u-.
1a akin to 1U€l.nation.
•xt iaag1nat1on (.,p .rt t r . &117
aetaphortca.l aena4i O th~ wod.) 1a
·f
t.be proceail b7 wbJ oh we 88¥ tbat
&D i.aa«e 1a J'l1:'eNDt.d '4c .... , 1 t 18
one of th.oaft ta.cul.Ue• oa- atatee
ot ai!Kl by which n jvd~ &DCl an
e1 tber right or ~•« .
Ap1 D all
Mna&Uon. an t..%·u•,
but aoa t ia-
..
qiaaUooe are f &l• •· •
After U.O•tn.UDC t hat t.uciu.U•
(4/CII'VI'~w) 1a Mi't.Mr , pinOD or .....,..
i.loa, or &n7 ~e1lll• . .~u- ct
•pillion ua4 Mau.tioa, .&.rlatoU. • • •
11bat 1a
1aaginat.ic.m ~
•x..paaUoa 1a w 'bl.nd of tbl
··
�= -- - - = - " - - - =- --=-· --- - .__
20
November 18, 1974
peneption ef wb1 te vi th the opin1• that it ia whit.e ••• to 1aac1ne,
thea, 1a to tom aa op11lioa exaot-
17 oonuponding to a direct peroept1on.•
Aristotle ie using opinion -It' I....., ttquiTOe&lly.
At any rate, that eeeaa
to be the case, since aaediately after
denying that
1aag1nat1on is opinion
alone, or opinion in conjunction with
anytbing else, he sa.ye that bagination
ia to f'onr. an opinion. The explanation of
the ~ouivocation lies in exaain1ng what
1a aflq,nt by opinion in the first sense.
•:sut oplmon a plies belief (tor one
eannot hold opiulone in which one doea
not believe) J and no animal hu belief,
'bl t
aany haTe
iaagination.
Again,
en ~
~p t r· !. · rs ~ -~ ~.ce:- "",'ipan1ed by
tlellef,
bellef by cr· :w1 ,. ,t.i .o:n • ~:. nd conviction byrationa.l
discourse. •
'Ibis .t:kia
inTolYed with
the aind, a fo:na
of
thought. It is the aesertion that a
tbought one baa 1s true, correaponda
to real1 ty. The J'o~ ~ tbat 1a illagiaaUon 1• an
uaert1on
of a aiailar
nature,
but 1nTolTed vi th
perception and not thinking. It 1a uaert1on of the exia tenee of vhat 1a
percei Ted. '!be equi Yo cal usage of tbe
word. is another inatance of the anal.oQ
between perception and thought, one uae
applJiag to aenai blea, the other to
tbizatabl... Tbe aaaertion of ena-.oe
1• tbe a.aon gnuad.
Therefore, imagination is the judgeaent that something exists, on the sensory level. Imagina t1on is particularly
aeaningful and particularly prone to error
when 1 t opines that a perceived attribute
belongs to soaething.
Iaag1n&t1on, the
faculty of attribution, 1s the agent of
error in perception. It is possible that
one of the --.etaphorical senaea ot t.q. .
�\.
The St. johns Keview
21
~~~· 1a idewolYed w1 tb thinking.
Dlacr1a1n&t1Ye jud.geasnt, aa HqUoned earlier, diffen t"'''Ol aa..
judgeaent.
To reach the end ot ·_..~
• tanding what 1 t aeana to "juq. tM ....
aence of neah" requires a coaaexiOD
tween the two. rua will be towwt 1• ~
:ogni tive analop of d1acr1Jliaat1on &Qd
uaertion, eaained w1 th reprd to e:n:o~.
Jforct" 1• the aenae in which
rU.
'*
In the cue ot intellectual enor, •
opposed to percept! ve, error ia pc.aible
prior to the judpaenta aade. "Iaacination alwa;ya 1apl1es perception, aDd S..
lteelf iaplied b,y judgeaent." (427bt6)
Since iaagination ic capable ot el'TQ~,
judgeaent (Jne).~l''!), bued on 111q1Jiat1on, ia &lao ca.pablca of ernr. Dlescriainative judpaent (~e,rv•) and any
ot the Jud.6-enta deptlnding on ueerUon
(.)ne~'Y•-" are int1aatel.Y connect.d in
thoupt. Incidentally, error ia poaai})l:o
1n the aind not only becauae ~qt
1apl1ea 1aaginat1on butalao becau.e opinion iaplpnc Judgn.•nt 11 there &rid
capable of error.
D1acr1ainat1ve j~nt, Kf'i la'u, ia ;a
single, undivided facul t1 with the ,Pdaary reaponaibill t1 of d1fferent1at1-'«
between the objecta of different Hnaea
and the different objects of tboupt.
The type of judpaent, .;~Col'l'f'r• ~
which error ia . d1rectl7 aacrl bed ia tije
proceae in which exiatenoe, in the ca..
ot peroeptlbl.-. Mill. u.th 1a the ..,..
of thinkable• ia aaeerted. tor exaap~,
that whi t.ia, that vhi te which I perce1w
is John •a ahirt, or a aquare bu to;
··
equal a idee. 'lbeae an aaaertiou abo t
th1fl88 be1ond their aiapl"t aeaaild.ll
which doea not require conTictioa ot e~
iatenee and beyond (or below) contaplation of the •••nee of a thin&, u
1ded thought which 4oea not 1nYolw tru'\h
or falsi t1.
I
UD41v-
�November
22
18l 1974
n.
relatitUl of t.De .tuJsr ent.a ln t.bp
.,_plUw taftlt¥ 1a exlatantial aDfl
a,..s..p rr.
.pu..
"'*1Z'
.n.euou
in tiM ,.
fa-.lt.,. ~ ...u..
*ob la oapable •f en"Or •1aoe, witbo
de~Dda on
&1ftenat.lat1nc
~t.
«tttennt1at1nc t.twea 41tterent .....
.• ejecta an4 •1 tbeut 'beinc able to cSo
•1aul taa•o•l7 • t.b1nk1DS about the •
nnce •t a thiDtt or ho141nc tM tom or
• thine 1n tna a1Dd woul4 be virtuallJ
lapoulble. Thiakiac ot a th1ft8 DeOea11 tatea tbe ooanetion that 1 t exiata1
t-oldiq 1 t, tbat 1 t . 18 true. Thinkiq
lepelllla on the pnaence of an iaap 01'
"uaUoa aDd DO aeu1ble object exiet,
J-rlnc only one aenalble. In ad41 tion•
WD1t1n,c about the essence of a thine
bol41n« 1 t u r. aepara te fora 1e la~
11ble unleaa it is d1ffero11t1ated ~
,J.l other exiat.nta in reall t;y. In .P
aak1nc that differentiation--and the
I
oosnitive d1ecr1a1nat1on depends upon tbt
percept1 ve-1nforaatlon ie gathered
d8tem1n1ng tri'!t things • eaaence. B:rror
1• aanif•et when th• •nencee of two •»1a·tente rt.re coab1ned. To be more specitn.c, 1 t ia not poee1ble (as ArietotlJ.
•&7•) to have error about a staple oor»cept, but d1fferen·t1ation a.utomatica.l.l¥
1aplS..e a ooaparieon between the eaaenoe
pr the aenaa t1on ot one thing with U.
Naence or attri butea of another, aDd 1a
'*
:r-
therefore ~pax. Neverthelese, when •
concept ia reco8111Md and held in the
pua1Ye aind, 1 t ia then poats1ble for the
active aind ·to think of 1 t e1aply.
'!be judctnc tacul t14a ot uaertion and
.Ufferent1at1on do not involve the actual!1u.Uon o1' & potential in the aaae eenae
aa th&t of ••nea tlon and thought, where •
•en•1 bl.e or i.binka.ble a.etua.l1see the aen•1 U ve or cognt ·ti Ye faeul ty. 'l'be7 are
actualiaed 1o. act1cn u a soul actuall&ea
·----- ---
·-
-
-
-
�The St. John's Review
23
Judging ia ina t1ga t.d. by tile
aan. Judgeaent uaea, however, the ei:ro~
less in:foraation gathered b7 two errorlee
aoti vi tiea--ktlowing and 411'eot non-at.trt.buted perception. Error ia aade when t11e
soul aaaerta attributes and differentiates, and this ia why 1 t ia in error II08't
of the tiae. It would be a H&niqleeli,
if errorless, existence for the soul to
only recognize sweet, hot, white, b1 tter,
and veta it would be iapoeaible for~
soul to be in the very aeani11«ful errorleas state of knowing without ucewUnc
throll6h the errl.ng faculties of aenaaUoa, iaagination, opinion, and tho-.h't:.
Aristotle says that error aDd:~
ledge are the aue vi th regard to op~
1 tea.
Knowledge ia o bt&ined the . . .
way that error is, and the "jl.ldp the • •
aence of neah" is to hold an idea ot ~
eaaence which aa1 be right or W1'0JII bit
ia held in the aaae way, and iD tbe ~
ai ve aind, To draw art anal.OQ bet."'
thia and aenae perception, ao aa to \111deratand the role of aou.Y. aind 1a -~.
la ••M. "lor do . . aq 'I 1•-cl¥
that 1 t 1a a aan' vben our aenae 1• fuaeft1on1ng accuratel.y w1 tb regard to 1 ta o..
ject, but only wben " do not peroei•
dis Unctly." ( 428&1.5).
Sinoe uU~
aind 1a the apnt ot kDowleqe ud . _
only be right and wbea tunctioatac ~
1dent1e&l. w1 th 1 ta object, hol.d1DC ~a
thinkable through ita apnc:r 1e 111te
our aenae ia tlmct.t.onizac aooun.telJ w1
the body.
l
regard to 1 ta object. • Iaaci•U•la
quote 1a oppoeecl to the aoouate
:twlotiOD, aDdu opiaiea 1a t.be ..-.~~
t1on ot the tbo\llbt taeul t7, w _ , •
poee op1D1oa to tba '· hllotloa •t t111e
t1.- a1D4. Tbua, aoU.,. aiM 1a ne
a1ble tor tbe oearteUoa that '\bfi. ._._
.OlM tboupt 1a . tna &Dtl tam., ...14. ~ ·
U.iaa111 1 t.-
.. • -r at•••.
~·-a-ettlllll
U.. ..........
�...
N
=talrt !liit!~;i~t:lllli~
1
;;i,Ji:!liTf!lfJ'l
1
r· flf!· r(:~rr!ll~l 1 • f • 111~~14' i
!iS '~~~~~~
t a!-1 ~~~i ·,~,1. 1•1 ~~~::,
~~~~i
1~~~,I fa .I~a• :: ... :a ~ •f ! f f -l ~! f! ~ .. a· • f r .. f • f r.! . .
:J ::;
t
... -
~
.... ._.. ~ ...,:,ar i w~ ••
~- • 1- - ·~~·~ ~...
• ~[~ ~r i~i f ~~
a
. .
...~
·t
~cl;' r;~ ... •
i~
~
.· .
-" ~
~~~-Mc~~f~ll~~~:~ .. ~~~!~ ~-~~~~ ~~~~~~~! ~)r~ -- .
..... . •. f;ia,,~ ~I e:!i~~~~ at.. f!. I i .. a~~ ~-
...
·•
•am·g
··- • I
f'
• . ... • c. ~
.... ~
•
.il&lit-r-~~~li'i
f~
fl~~c ...
..
..
~
tlli-i-i-f.-ww-r~ -- ·
�tor MUoa, u
w .... 1a
1a,.,...,
aa u-
Unt, ot till
11M ...
UYl\71atM a-.laWIPP.. tMt
1a uUY1\7 et ~
la
tittenat.• ('31&11).
n. aot1o11 in aenaat1on 1• of peZ'feoted
objecta, or an object and a facnal.t7. It
1a th1a that.. Ariatotle choollea aa the d4tacr1pt1on of how the soul CUl pther e:rI'Orleu 1nfo:raatio.n. '!be .....- facult7
nMda, for knowledp, to not be altez-.d
in any wa7 bJ the p~eeaaea of aenaat1on,
and 1 ta aore or leaa pure potenUall t7 ~·
the bu1 c condition neeeaa&rJ tor lmo"led.ge, or tor the aenaatioa neceaa&rJ tor
knowledge.
'I'M aubat.ance that ia a aoul apprehends the aubatancea and all other oai•
e«oriee ot tbe un1 yerae by ini t1all7 -..
coaing identical with their ae.nee to~
i t they haft o.ne, and then ~ th tbe~r
eaeence. The proceaa of thousbt baa ai~ been· cleacrtbed. However, t.be ta4ulty vhich enablea tboucht, U. aotlw
aind, 1a a till Yei'J UDolea.r. To dete~
aiDe vhat it ie 1a tae111tate4 ._ •1. .
oae of Ariatotle'a ·~•ted ..-tbeda ctt
1nqu1r.y, to exu1.ne the object that oo~
napoDda to the part ot tM aoul.
Acu. . aind ia like tba nx-t Mo••:;
rela tine to tt. nat of the
'boc11 aa the Firat JloTer rel&tee to
univeree. It aaba all the
in tt. aoul, &ad ' the nrat IoYer 1•
cauae of all aubetance and aotio.n, tbo
it of courae 1a unao•ed.
•But if tben 1a Q7thin& vhicb
hu no contrar1, 1 t 1c nlt-oocntaant, actual and aep&ratelJ exiatant. • (an &l temate tnnal&UoW
,_.,..tM,
••111
tboupta:
•:aut
if then 1a &DTtbi.D« HIM oae
of tbe cauaea, which hu ao OPJIIN•
1 te, then thla v1lllmow 1 taelf _ .
1a acUYitJ aD4 dlaUnot.~)OU')
�November 18, 1974 ,.
26
Becauae the Plnt Mover baa no contrary,
l ta correapoDdiq facul t7 &lao hu no
contrary. Thia aeana that active aind
trill not err. Yet, deapi te the aiail.ar1 tiea, 1 t 18 ditficul t to iaacine in what
la&llller act1Ye aind. rel.&tea to the nnt
MoYer. I think that the anaver 11ea 1n
nprcUnc active a1nd aa the ftret Mo..r
of tbe aoul. It will thua be that which
cauaea aot1on. 'nll• preaeDta ob¥1oua di1-u, u Aria totle aaJII that
te
ia the cauae of aotion.
la olear, then, that aoftuat
la cauae4 bJ auch a faoul tJ of the
aoul u
we have deacr1 becl, Yis.,
that which 1a called appetite.•
But appetl w needa, or 1apl1ea, 1aag1oat1on and here ia the aolutloll of the
pzoblAa.
To the extent that knowledp
la the final eDd of all the proceaaea Orr
the aoul, 1 t la the final cauae ot 1aag1nat1on.
C&uainc laacin&t1on, 1 t wil,l.
alao be the oauM ot appet1 te. which 1ft
t\lftl la the cauae ot aoUon.
It act1Ye a1Dd 1• the ao-calle4 n.rat
tlowr of the aoul, to 1 t a&J be 1aputed
all the quall Uea of the n.nt MoYer but
wl th rep.rd to the parta of the aoul
rather than the parte of the un1Yera•·
Vbat doea 1 t . .an to aa1 that a au ta
•uall'l' h1a actlft latelleot? In tex*
ot neulta, lt aay M&D that he 1• doinc
anyWnc at all alnoe the acti .a alnd 1a
n.,oaa1 ble for everyth1 ng done by U.
aoul. Howeftr, 1a another aenae, a aan
a&1 be ulnc or havln« actl.,. aind whe
he la th1Dkiq &D4 thlntinc tnth1Ul1.
He approachaa active aind aa tba a tam
approach the nrat Mover.
IDowleqe 1a
1deaUcal with lta object u the ••MDOH of thine- are ln a aeue 14eat1•
oal with the ftnt MoYer, 'but tblnki~
ud •'boclle4 eaHnoea &lw~ 1aplJ .q..
tlOD. Aou. . a1D4 la &lao the aouroe dt
,.,,.u
"'t
�T'he St. John's Review
27
aetaJ)h1111oal &XiOM wblcb aan
to tb1nll - lqio.
x.,to 1a tbl oM
ln tbo\llht aDd apriap tna &OU" a1
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order 1a tM •1YeW. oJ"1ciaa-.
tbe rlnt llo'Yel". Thill 1a hew. the MU
a1n4 I'Miciea 1a II&D.
SuppcNied.lr, np.Z'd.iac actlft a1D4 •
u. nnt lloYel" of tbe Hu ... to
1n 41aoerrdna the aaDMr 1a tlblob ..u•
a1ftd relatN to the nnt lloftl'.
~
apin, a ntun to the exteul'" ,...~
lel1• betwen HDM &ad thoup\,
u4 -•nee, 1• DeOMMZ'J.
tt.t.
what Aristotle ..,. ooaoen1.. the
laUon ot aenae objeota to tDI
taoultr aho\lld. baw a be&ri.ac ea the r+lat1on ot acUYe alDd to tM rlnt. . .._.
,s.... tbl puallel1•.
• •• ,taw act1nt.r ot tbe MM1ble
ucl 01 tbe . . .1UY«~ la tM - ·
tboush their ....... 1• 41ttenat..
HMrill« 1D the UUYe - ceu• or OODUa• alaalt.DM•ll
vl th tbe aoa4. aa4 ao 111tb ft&yev .aad..tMta: .. . . ,._~, ,but
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au tlaw.v witbftt tute. Ia .... tM7 ._. ~ t.t la uotber wruce fol" tM tema
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�28
November 18, 1974
It ..ullalea ud. tbe aeuitiw
fa~
t7 doD 1 t exiat w1tho•t eaoh other, clio
ut.i'N a1D4 aDCl tba ftnt Mover? Ill tbe
- • aeue, no.
'lbe eaiaeat17 Jmowab.JA.
rlnt llo"r la bowD oel.7 in eo tar •
HMW.nc exlata to bow it. Tb&t ia •tv
aotiw a1Dd 1a etenal. At &D7 rate, tbl
poaal 'blll t7 of tM DOa. .xla tenoe of •lt.ber oae 1a lapoea1ble tor MD a1noe tM
act of oonoeptien require• tba t wbleh
aoYM 1 t, U.. uti w Iliad.
Thla • tlie
taterd.epen4nee et the two, la actually
DOt 4ependent on tM pan.ll•ll• betw-.a
tM prooe•••• of aeuatlOD aDd thoucbt
tor u4entabd.lzac. , Ill4M4, it 1e DOt
pnper to clraw the ~017• aince t.be
actlw a1n4 ucl the n.rat Mover an, tor
tbe ~·· of II&D &D4 the un1Yerae,
oa•"•
Leslie Graves
.
�29
Because of lovea aad trensied tiaea sone
1:cr,
I ai t all cloiatend, cold, u 1D a cella
I a1 t and watch,
&
a tam aedieftl lie,
Denpng eipa of wara that breatbe u4 ••ll.
Soon lite, created llte a aoft conch tleah,
Presents itaelft
&
abell ao blnt and t\tll
ot d1 thyraa bic twi tob and Baochio tbreeh,
That et&ra are aown, besot of aoon-ticle'a pull.
A tonsured aont not I, not nov vt.n all
I aee ia green aDd tull of double grace1
Conetellar tacea shine &Del apart to aaall
Way far in night
to break tbe bleak of apace.
So aov to act, do which I know aoae-wiae
Will open doon, ay eyea, to Para41ae.
�UNE PETITE CHANSON
by Gerry Ekman
very slowly
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31
pour MONSIEUR CHARLIE
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41
Lecture Review
"Grace
and
Redeaptlon
lh
Michaelangelo's Last Judgment"
-Prof. Philipp Fehl, Professor ~
~he History of Art, University of
Illinois at Urbana. Lecture and
Question Period, October 25, 1974,
In his lecture and queat!on
period, Pro!. Fehl provided ua
with some good inaighte into "Tha
Last Judgment• and into the fuftc~
tion of art and the relation o,
art and religion. However, muc~
of what he said did not have it•
full impact, since those slidel
of "The Last Judgment• t~at wer:
·
shown were shown too late in th
course of the lecture and conveyed very little of the detai~
and power of the painting. ~
brief explanation of "The Last
Judgment• as a whole and in it•
several parts would have vaatlJ
aided the appreciation of those
peoile who were not especially
fam liar with it. Also, some of
'the lecture was inaudible, even
to people in the front rows.
· ~fter many introductory ·re•
aarks about St. John's, past an~
preeent aeabere of the college
t:oJDuni ty,
and the nar11s ot
tourists that now infest the Sia•
tine Chapel, Prof. Pehl diao ..aeO
several works of •ichaelan«el•
other than "The Last Jud«aent.r
"• then exa•ine4 early crltiel••
of the paintinc. the nudity i i i U l
tlow the nat~t+.,. viol•-t•A ..._,.toui"
•
�November 18, 1974
42
artistic conventions of the time,
and the themes of mercy and vengeance in·. the painting. The discussion in the questi on period
centered around the resemblance~
the Christ in •The Last Judgment~
to Apollo, the maesive figures~
a nd t a l im! ts of art, particularl y religious art.
Among the many topic s discussed
\ n t is ecture and question per~o , a
ast three call for fur'ther consideration•
( 1 ) nudity,
·
&n stylet (2 ) adher. •
u traui ion and conventioft
ln arta and (J) the resemblance of
Ghri st in the painting - to
p
1 •
(1
E n among tre atments of
the e
oj eet, Michaelangelo's
•Last Jud~ent• ia an engrossing.
nd pec uliar work. It is a great,:
swirling sea of human figures, a :
aaea et writhing, heroic bodies. ·
fhe naked figures , their heroic
pr•portiona, a nd the "operatic~
atyle ef the painting are all
co. .oa targets ot criticism, but,
in the end, the painting triumphs.
fo u e naked figures as Michaelangelo doea is appropriate since
the Last Jud~ent follows the
R••urrectien of the Dead.
Show~
ng jaan •• he was before the Fall
s a ~ood •&7 of hinting at the
11o~iou• nature of the bediea oi
the resurrected dead, waich ae
ret 1 reaaiu largely unknown t~
••• · As St. Paul aays, the dea
~ill
~ rai•e4
aa4 oha~ed 1
~tb411 twiftkliag of an eye • and will
-, .... s• glorified bodies,
lik•
_bat et 't~e reaurreeted Chrie:~
,
ot whioll ov ""•• MW are OJU7..
t
�. The.St. John's Review
43
~ern-1•.1
To ••• baa•. .•• 1
-io~aelangelo'• · ~·•-'•~1•• 1
te M bliu to hli ftall iate!R
lt is alaon to
tile Chria
ftian tnth tllat ,
bnat••
••BT
•1•• 1" 1
the 1tod7 ie goed
'by Ge4 1
!he proport1e.. et the tigwre•
~··
of cour••• inoreti'bq Jleroio•
B.t thia 1•
appare t whea~
figure is oouiderecl .ltf 1t••lt
l
1
without regard tor the paiatins' ·
It is neoes•ar.r to r•••
ber that men are beiftl J
4 aaf
!tllat aankind ie 'bel..
wt«H+
Each figure oontri~ute• to th•
OYerwhelaing power of tile pr•.••n+
tation. 'l'he figure • are· none to•
~~a!Ye for a s cene re,reeeatini
•• awes. .• a reality.
•uch thf
same re ply can be aade to eritl•
cieas of the paintin«' • "operatic•
s tyle. Such a ,.tyle aay, perhapa •
be ~onsldered abaurd w n
ed 1
~•picting mundane Y t . T
1
another· q•estion. B t the
power:t'ul and vi Yid • •ana ar
to depict eschatological eYen
Scripture usea euoh aeana a
particular, the 'boo •
D
and ReYelatlon are full
~1~ 1
ey. lfa••• •~.~
as theatrics oaly when we ar bli
~o their role as indieati ve of r e•
alitiea that deny co pl te representation.
{2) '"!'he Last Jud«ment" Yiolat••
•••t
th•••·
a number of' Christian iconographic
conventions t hat were pr ainea' '
during the time e:t' MichaelaDCel••
How one regard• Christian leone•.
graphic eon~ntiona depeftde
illle • s a ttl tude toward Christiud
~
If one denie s Christianity,
~
~hus _denies the roots it~~ i ~
•*
�44
November 18, 1974 ·
~ertain- cosmic realities, such ae
•in and redeapt!on, and in related
·h !atorioal eTenta, such as the IncarJtati•n, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, then nothing but innate
hua&n conserTatisa keeps one froa
ueing Chri•tian •yabols rathe~
freely and drawing from them ideae
that are notably different troa,
and perhaps at variance with, cer.
tain Christian ideas. If
one
accepts Christian! ty, and thus the
roots it has in cosmic realiti••
and historical eTents, then the
very nature of Christianity ali a
histerieal religion imposes boundaries on 1ts artistic expression.
Such boundaries are,
however,
broad and allow a considerable
degree of artistic freedom.
It
something admits of variable representation in Christian art, it
should be beeause that thing is a
matter of indifference or because
variability in its representation
allows us to see some truth that
lies beyond the representation.
Similarly, if something admits or
invariable
representation
in
Christian art, it should be because invariability in its representation allows us to see some
truth that lies beyond the repreJ
eentatien. Aa Pro!. Fehl pointed
out, we should not expect too much
trom artJ
art is not the real
thing, but leads us to the real
thing. 'rhia is especially true ot
Christian art.
I think_that a
careful study of the ieonographie
tradition of
Eastern Orthodox
¢hristianity
could shed
much
iight on thi• aatter or Christian
_ ieono~~.Phic co~vention~.
t
}
t
�The St. John's Review
45
( J) The po rtra i t
o f Ch rist in
"Th e Las t J udgment" i s startl ing . Here He does not a ppear as
the humb le Man o f Sor rows f ore s had owe d in the Servant S ongs in
I sa i ah, nor as t he serene A ll - Ru ~
ler depi cted i n By zant ine mosa ic s , nor e v en as t he sug ary p seudo - Chri st f ound in much American
church schoo l a rt of a c oupl e of
d ecades a g o. He r esembles Apol ~
l o, the a veng ing god of l i g h t.
Thi s r es embla nce i s n ot original
with Michaelang elo .
Christian
art b e fore Cons t antine often a ~
dapted paga n sub j ec ts to C hris~
tian us e s . Thus Chris t is s ome~
time s repre sented a s r e s emb l ing
Apollo . It is qui t e n atural that
early Chris t ians did s uch t hing s
since, being surrounded by _ cl as ~
sical art, they had no o ther artistic trad i t i on . Michae l a nge l O'$
use of an Apollo-like Chr ist i~
somewhat similar since h i s cu l ~
ture had be en s trongly influenced
by classical c ulture, bu t . i t is
not as easy t o defen d as the sim~
ilar early Chris tian use, s ine~
Michaelang elo was heir t o a long
Chri s tian iconog raphic tradi tion ~
In using Apol l o as he d oes,
~e
is borrowi n g a s u bje ct from
hot only p agan a rt , but als o from
~agan religion .
This use c a n b e
~een as
exemp l ifying a truth of
~hich Mic haelange l o
was probably
unaware' tha t . Chris t ianity ·..: i '
hot only the f u l fi llment o:f J"Ju +tlaism, · but of al l
reli gions ~
~ince . Judaism is
the divinely
'tevealed reli gion of t he Old Cov~
~nant,
it has a unique plact
~he
economy of s a l vati on . ~~
in
�November 18, 1974
ever, Christianity also fulfills
all the God-dire cted
yearni~gs
which are 1n pagan
relirions
mingled with much that is false
and obscurant. Thus in imag 1n 1ng
the mythical Apollo, the av eng ing
god of li g ht,
the
par:ans were
actually anticipating the S on of
God, who is li ~ ht, and who at the
end will judge th e world.2
The resemblance betwe en the
Christ of "The Last JudE:ment" and
Apol : o i s evid e nt, but the diffc· ,' ' .. :cv : Le t wecn the two are much
more ev ide nt.
Apollo is a god
who resembles a man; Chri s t
is
Go d. incarn ate. Apo llo i s a mythical p od; Chris t is God who has
ente r 8d hi st ory for the salvation
of man.
Apollo does not love
selflessly
or show
humility;
Chri st does.
In "The Last Judgement," hosts of angels bear the
cross, the column on which Christ
was scrourged, and other instruments of His passion. The wounds
on His hand s and fee t and sides
are s mall but c l e arly vi sible.
Christ is the God who became man
for the salvation of the world
and who, as both God and man, is
the only ri g htful judg e of mankind.
In the course of his lecture,
Prof. Fehl referred to the Dies
!rae and Dante's Divine Comedy.
These works, one a hymn, the
other an epic, are, like "The Last
Judgment," superb expressions or
eschatological themes. Hymn 468
in The Hymnal or the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the United
States or America, 1940 is an
English translation or the Dies
!rae.
�'l'he St. johns Kev1ew
Charles Hoffacker
wanted:
typists,
assistants,
contributors
meeting-- friday at 7 :30
mcdowell2l
or contact us by mail
47
�November 18, 1974
48
A
~o
the
Letter
e~itor
of the
ST. J0HN'S
REVIEWs
that your theme
tor the first i8sue iR, "learnin~,
~nnversation
an~ rhetoric."
It
I
un~er~tand
-
.
would be strange if one of us did
not have something to say on such
an-inviting group of topicso What
I have on my m.i nd particularly is,
I think, a rhetorical issue, occasjoned by my Greek classo
For the first time in nearly a
decade I again have the great
pleaRure of tPaching a freshman
language tutor1al. I am myself no
believer in the "spirit" of a
tutorial, because I am convinced
that wha t happens in class for
~All or ill is nothing beyond the
accumulAted effect of the p:oodness
or deficiency of each person in
the roomo And yet I cannot escape a feP-ling that a happy genius
is presiding over this class, and
this glow has inspired me with an
j mrnense ambition c I want to cause
my students to say what they think,
in writineo
That they think is
already very clear from the papers
I ha ve so far received.
It is
cJe a r even if I discount my natur a l interest in expressions that
I have elicited
from people
for
whose ·learnins I am, in part, reapon•ible. In almeat all the pa-pera questions are .initiated, for~-illations
are attempted • solutions
at·e thrust forward which I know
wil J be echoed in th e books of the
next four years. And yet there is
�The St. John's Review
a difficulty with these so ineipiflntly interestin~ papers--an altnost universal difficulty.
Almost all of them show the ef;fects of stage fright, The neces~
sity of writing down thou@ht has
petrified sn~ ~iminished it.
In
eonference, when confronted with
a stilted, drainfl<' sentence · out of
their papers, students will gladly
supply what they really meant but
discardedo Why?
Because it wae
too lively, too immediate. Somewhere someone has persuaded m1
freshxran that a proper intellectual.
product, signed, sealed and certified, ought to be formulaic and
that one should be a little beside
oneself with nervous apprehension
in order to write acceptably.
Unfortunately our present lan~
guage, as it is spoken by mildly
clever people abounds with terma
(I cannot bring myself to call
them words) which assist this stat~
of affairs. They are safely cur•
rent, and their function is, I ~
convinced, not to raise thought
but to lay it neatly t• reat•
They can be used to produce 'moon-scape of the mind where one
may hover an4 glide over enormou~
fixed shapea•trewn randomly a boat a
art
reality
symbol
creative
concept
values
general
abstract
culture
verbal communication
motivation
meaningful
Western Civili1ati8n
!he Greeks
individual
gut-level = intuitive
world-view
49
�November 18, 1974
so
This is an honest li at, well
and trul7 collected froa real tu~
torial life, or it would con~iD
aany additional ter.s. I know t
do not have to uk the forgi venesal
of their ori«i. .l apona~s. who,
I have discovered to ~ co•fort~
are quite willin« to give t hea u'
tor exposure
There is a ho•ri ble activity
c 1 1 d cons eioueneas raising~ iQ
8
1
these days.
Much as I
d~a·
1 t as a ••thod, I kave an un~ ·f
ling that I am ~t~
•ething slightly elmTo beg th• c o~unlty,
y not to proscri be these
, but to think of them aa
11 k rat tlesnakes wbo can kill
.,
. a a !lick of tong\le
• Po
yeara seem t o ••
jus' the right tim to srow ·~·
to 41ecever what these terms w~r•
meut to aean, who used t hem first,
who pic keel th.. up, who ie now pro.,.
~gatil'lC th. . alld with what purpoa•
in • tnd. And, of course, t he an+
••~
~o
to Cheee qu.•tiona i a lar~elt .
~ found in the seminar book•~
Eva Brann
I
looking for eo•e ex~
1tplaril.y terri\le pasaagee of jarlOft pro•• to analyse in _, tu•
ter ial and wo•ld a uch appreciate
an, such saall n~:!J ot tools~
«old ~one aight
...
J» .S.
�1
ne
~l.
JUIHl ~ f\.t::!VleW
51
THE REVIEW: An Apology
THE ST. JOHN'S REVIEW seeks to
provide a forum for r@flection on
the College an~ its
concerns
which is appropriate to the written mode, of establishe~ perio~i
cal issuance,
publicly reco~
nized, and a topical stimulant to
further discussion. We suppose
that this venture will be a failure i.f it does not provoke discussion--both the lively ar~uments
of incidental time and place, and
notes anc essays respon~in~ ! tQ
previous numbers of the magazine.
By "discussion," we commonly
un~erstand something oral--living
argument. At St. John's we have
heard that this notion may not be
without critical foundation, tha~
truly to ar~ue something one must
demonstrate understan~in~ by response to a
living objector,
clarifying the subject for a person who does not see.
Put most
ra~lcally,
we
sometimes
say,
"Speech is better than writing."
Only analogically,
then, will we
be entitled to speak of the "rliscussions" in a magazine.
We may not be satisfied with
this equi• ocation, however, an<1,
led by the hope o f discoverin~
more nearly what discussion is,
we may look a ~it closer at the
content and mode of ~iscussion -what is discussed and the nature
of discussion itself.
Concerning the latter, we observe part of discussion's "nature" manifest in the activity of
�November 18, 1974
52
'waitins for
the end of seminar/
~ab/tutorial.•
At times a dis~uaaion
here can aeem painfully
;ndlesa. But the same of atal•
••rtly reaolvins to outlive a
diacuaaion becauae of ita sheer
unpleaaantneaa--a game that asaumes an offensive character if
the wish to insure one's poasibilitie• ot winning takes shape
ln the positive action of killin@
the discussion personally --this
~ame ariaes from frustration, and
ls a sign that one is not en~ag~
in the discussion. Any protestations about lif·e bein~ too short
and precious to speculate away in
laboratory sprin~ from a merely
ea~ernal
observa ·~ion which lacks
•
•
the essential sympathy required
by knowled~eable criticism. ~ore
.intimately, the character of c1iscuasion I'm considerintt appears
ln long talks which run late at
bight. Here clocks are for~ot
ten, the niceties of "public per~
tormance" are ignore~. and the
participants strain
after the
bein~s
of thou~t embodied in
their speech, carefully siftin~
each other's worrls for signifieance. Such a discussion is limited only by exhaustion--of the
speaker's not of the subject, for
lgain it becomes evident that
discussion is endless, capable ot
indefinite extension were some
~od to stay
the course of ni~ht.
The "weakne~~ of the flesh" inevitably prevails1 stifled yawns
call a halt to ~urther talk, and
an end must be made, as artificial 6.1 any three hour limit, it
lees desired. How can this be
·-
�The St. John's Review
It lies, of course, under
the directive province of prudence, which discerns with wisdom
t:he proper disposition of circumstances surroundin@ in<!ividuals.
r have had discussions in which
the other person ended with a
~summary
of the points we had
~de,
collecting
the argument
luxuriantly sprawled
over the
course of several hours into a
chain of chaste propositions. It
is
a great
satisfaction
to
formulate what one has learned if
the course of inquiry must be aban.:.
doned. The whole which is shaped
from the characteriatically end~
leas argument serves as an aid te
the memory, a sprin~board for th•
continuation of the ar~ument if
we should meet again,
refreshed
by sleep.
Now
we must consider what
:gives rise to such discussions.
If it is true that men are moved
to action by desire, and deair•
is always desire of something, our
discussions
must
always
be
brought forth by
attempts to
apeak about some thing, i.e.~
something which appears as
•
Whole. How does such a discus•
•ion begin? We can ta~ a cl~
from the end of the "satiefyin~•
discussion
above.
The
whole
which was constructed in aumma•
tion waa attractive partly be•
cau.e it prcmiaed to give riae to
further diseuaaions. But do no~
~11 discuaaiona begin in thia war
with
the
propoaition
of
•
;.ttolef To apprellend a thin! r~
buirea a preliainary approach, an
lnltial •tandpoint1
I auppos•
~one?
53
�54
November 18, 1974
that a discussion will flow more
easily if aided by a seminar text
we have in common or initiated by
a
(mentally
composed) speech
given by one of the participants.
Now we can say that the analogical character of the discussion
in a written article stems from
its being a ••composition," a selection from the realm of possible
speech, and its disposition in the
fo~ of a whole.
Just as writing
is an equivocal discussion which
mu ? .. e~rer
be
re- immersed in
the living speech which
gave
birth to it, so
living dieeu•sions seem naturally to arise
from and return to composition.
(At least this is the case with
human discussions, for I suppose
we have no empirical evidence of
the dialectic of the angels.)
Havin8 uncovered a difference between speaking and writing, between essentially endless discu••
•ion and
the
composition of
Wholes, and notin~ the mutuai
,dependence of discussion and composition, we can say that though
it may be second-best, writinp
need not be despised.
We must
remember,
however;
that the •satisfying• wholes , we
~ke are precisely made and
· nGe
to be confu•ed with The Whole,
ilhieh 1• not made, by any of our
flCcount•.
To think.. othert;se
vould be to risk •uceumbin~ to
the
•tultifyin8
eon•equences of
illusion. As David aan~. •The
ldola of the heathen are silve~
lnd ~o lti ,the work of men' • hands •
t:he7 have moutha, but they speak
�The St. John's Review
not1 eyes have they, but they sea
'not 1 they have ears, but they
hear not1 neither is there any
breath in their mouth•.
'ntey
that make them are
like unto
thema
so is every one
Chat
trusteth in them.•
There is a familiar caae which
we can examine.
Most students
come to St. John's worshipping a
ready-made image of the school,
their idea of St. John's College,
but living here awhile gives .t hem
the uncomfortable suspicion that
the image and the thing do not
fit. They have been en~aged in
idolatry. There are several waya
from here.
The idol may be
smashed. That is certainly spectacular, even a fitting sub~ect
for a large-screen movie, bbt not
nearly as effective in th's case
as Moses• way with his brother's
calf. Idols of the mind are more
subtle and consequently more per-.
nicious than any golden calf or
miraculous Madonna,
for mental
acta are indistinguishable
on
their own grounds, and,
aince a
confusion of ideas initially led
one int~ idolatry, it is unlikely
that it will even yet be a simple
thing to distin_ uish the good
g
from the bad.
The act of the
iconoclast results in flight-•
•ither corporal or, for these who
remain, the mental act of placini
one's self in resentment.
Fear
of pollution, too hasty separation, causes one unwittingly to
carry the pollution with him, a•
does the Levite who refused to
touch the wounded man for fear of
contracting
r _ tual
i
impurity.
55
�56
"~uvemoer
1o,
lt~/4
Wbolea which harden into idola
tequlre the outlaw assistance of
.amarltan dlacuaalon, an lnfualon
pf the boundleaa--"whataoever thou
apendeat •ore. • • I will repay
thee"--that health may oome asaln
to a aubject. In the ca•e we
have been conalderlng, it is appropriate that assistance come
froa the community. It is the
queation, and it provides fellowqueationers to help us aee what
we are about. It is possible to
diacoW.r ourselves, for there are
others who will help.
The joys and
strengths of
learning in community should make
ua jealous to guard against ita
hazar••·
The betrayal of the
common sood ia effected by sa~•
misaion to cynicism, mediocrity,
and hyperbolical skepticism, manifeated in an attitude devoted to
nothing, willin! tollet all simply pasa.
The College
never
ceaaes in ita prescribed course
of study, to show that our world
ia a world that supports learnin!
and love (variously interpreted),
at least for a time. In auch a
~orld our act~ona
render us wor~
thy of praise or blame, contribute to nobility of soul or strip
us to basen@es. The student who
has come to St. John's--he cannot
know whether providentially
or
accidentally--learns that to stop
the course of inquiry, for almost
anp convenient cause that presents itself, is to succumb to
fJnal darkness. Our attempts a~
_ }lestions and the answers these_
q
~ply
lead along new ann perhaps
rrightening ways.
We wish to
�The St. John's Review
speak to others besi~e us,
to
request
gui~ance
or point to
beauty, or in perplexity, the
dialogue of self with self, curiously hlended of understanding,
~alculation,
an~
will, to eeek
support of another's encouragement. Strength, the mastery of
the arts of freedom, exhibits its
self in action in conformity with
man's nature--only thus not overwhPlMe~ by
passions, the often
violent movements from wiehout,
ri~htly calle~ irrational,
whose
~arkness
per~its
no li~ht
to
pierce or shape it.
The common questions, articulatef ir. rational speech, then,
rightly ~eserve our consideration. As a forum of St. John's
College, THE ST. JOHN'S REVIEW
inten~s
to foster
our
public
learning.
New members of the
community, still unsure of what
the College expects, will enjoy
the fruits of the finest accomplishments of the students and
!..~~;.f_'rs.
The printing of prize
essays whi~h are now shrouded in
semi-private
obscurity, alumni
work in areas of interest to the
communitya reviews of lectures,
translations, books, and art exhibits; as well as in~ependent
pa~rs
and analysis of events
touehing our life as a community~
will sp~ing from and contribute
to the vitality of our eommon
enterprise.
Just as discussions
are more likely when something ie
provided to ~isc~s,
so people
will be more likely to write with
che establishment of a regular
periodical which is • ~oal and an
57
�sa
November 18, 1974
~ssured
place foi finisherl work,
as well as a proponent of models
for the undertakin~ of such work.
THE ST. JOHN'S REVIEW is fnr
asking and answering questions
and exhibiting pro~ucts crafte~ in
speech. It is not a seminar in
which anything may be said in
view of the opportunity for swift
disagreement, the immediate call
for necessary clarification, the
possibility for silencing those
~o
would
damage
themselves,
lactfully practised not only by
~nna Scherer.
If the composition
of wholes allows them to
be
stored in the memory for
th@
contemplation of understanding,
written composition--crystallized
speech--needs such a repository
as well. Our hope is that from
~his necessarily selective publi~ation
outlaw discussions
may
grow.
When
one
has
read
Mr. Kelley's article, he may deny
that learning is musicala he may
say the analogy is ill-considered
and unhelpful, but then it is incumbent upon him to ground
that
denial in reason.
One may say
that this article is the product
of a blind man, but then it will
be necessary to make the proper
distinctions and sharpen what 1
have blurred. One may even deny
the claims of reason itself, but
thia must be done in articulate
speech to constitute an< adequate
'
denial.
Each issue of THE ST. JOHN'S
REVIEW, insofar as it is possible, will center around a topic
of concern, exhibiting a variety
�in approach and opinions.
As
Miss Brann's letter indicates,
the theme of the present issue is
"Discussion, Learnin~. and Rhetoric." It is somethin~ we have
all tried to touch--Miss Brann,
by citing a practical rhetorical
difficulty encountered in
her
Greek tutorial, the solution of
which requires and justifies the
entire course set for our learn'ingJ
the editorials, by setting
forth the role of THE ST. JOHN'S
REVIEW in the community, indicat.ing the stake we must all have in
such a magazine as this, despite
our conflicting opinionsJ
Mr.
Heller, by reflection on the rhetorical instrument of classroom
learnin~s
Mr. Hovin~ and Miss
Rogers, by indicating in different ways a common consirleration
which sometimes impedes discussions--our humanityr Miss Graves,
whose prize-winnin~ essay eluci~ates Aristotle's
thou~hts
on
our
essentially
psycholn~ical
theme of learnin~.
The editorial staff sees its
responsibility as
encoura~ing
writin~ from
all sides of the
community and selectin~ and arrangin~ appropriately
this work
for the community's best consideration.
None of these editors
will expound week upon week, all
will solicit your effort.
'
I
Derek Cross
�November 18, 1974
60
Meditation before a
New Publication
There is no reason why students at St. John's cannot discuss the problems of the school
as a community, generally
(we
must eat and we must sleep) and
specifically (we wish to grow in
the arts of thinking and speaking
well),
in a way that is not inconsistent with the aims of the
Coilege.
fhe demands of the
College on a student are great,
but it is not reasonable to say
that they prohibit good talk.
Indeed, it ls to learn th e arts
of thinking and speaking well
that students come to the College; and anyone's presence at
the College is at le a st in pa rt a
tacit acceptance of thi~ aim.
Now anyone wh o would acquire
the arts of thinking a nd sneaking
well must for a time undergo some
confusion, which is nois y, bu t
also periods o f
silence an d re flection.
To be silent in a nroductlve way does n o t me a n
to
forego spee ch and to p lu g up
one's ears.
Rather,
inte rnal
silence depends
u pon care ful Rnd
thoughtful consideration o~ wh8 t
is
lieard · - .na a caut-iOuff ~-··· proceede
ing in speaking--speaking in a
way that what is said by the
speaker is h ea rd by him, understood by him, a nd accounted fo r
by him.
Learning see ms to be
combined of the noise of c ~ nfu~
slon and the silence of delibera ti on; learning is a dialogue
in
�rfhe St. John's Review
j o in toge ther in a
Th i s union seems
musica l be c a us e music is made o f
certain s o unds limited by sil e nc e .
~ his
dial ogue, whether
the internal wo rk o f one pers on
~or the conversation - or··rna.· y ~-- 1 tk'~
n
mu.s r-c-· ... s"eems -co -be-.... e8'8e·n-t 1a ll y a
,
"
mo ti o n, but in such a way that it
reflects on all it· has accomplished, a nd al so i n a way that
the end o f each motion is limited by the preceding motion.
Now it is not sound to argue
that good reflection on the workings of the College and its program must be perfect.
For
we
~ant to approach
perfection, and
if we so argue, we will not be
able to think of a way to go,
because no one will maintain that
his ideas are perfect.
But this
is not to say that bad talk
should ever be tolerated, for
this impedes us and even causes a
degeneration in the quality of
both our regular, daily work and
weakens the force of our commitments. That is why .we must proceed slowly in our endeavor to
speak or to think about
ourselves, so that we may account
for both the strengths and the
weaknesses of what we say and
what we believe.
THE ST. JOHN's REVIEW seeks td
publish material showing careful
consideration of issues, and certainly of the books and ideas
studied here, and is devoted to
presenting any well-articulated
argument fairly.
We can as a community think of
ourselves in a public way.
But
wr1'
ch th e tw o
m Jsl c ~l
~~y .
61
�November 18, 1974
62
not if we place no limits upon
ourselves. For then our talk exceeds our thoughts, which are
limited of necessity,
it becomes
loud, and it tears down what we
have attempted to build up.
Bill Kelley
An Editor's Plea
As ed i t or f or th P. " f ormal. " as pect of . the ny-o a-r a m, l ':IC~ uld !. i k f~
to t a l k a lit tle a b oqt th e p a~ e r
a s a f orum f 0 r c r i t i c i s m 0 f t h f :
pron-ram.
I
ho De
tc nl i ci t
thou ~ h t s on s om o f t h t-) q u ~-' ~ t i or s
e
that we s hare a f' m ~', .:.,.. ·' , n r:: o f t Lis
learnin ~
commun i t y , hut s e l rlom
discuss · · public 1:/ or f'P nu i ne l v .
We talk as often a r<1 onp- ou rse lves
about what is "wronfY" with our
classes, the pro ~r a~ , an0 the
Colle ge a s we sha re t he ex cite ment of common
lear n inf .
It
would make sens e to dis~ ov er th e
roots of our fru s t r a t i on s as we ll
as out j oys . W mi ght di scover
e
their r oots in ourselv e s a s the
program s tre tches us t o our l i mits, or in the progr a m it s elf
as it orde rs our lives and our
learning . As a commun i ty we ne ed
to talk openly and l e arn t o talk
well about how the progr a m ~ o
verns our lives.
I suspect that
this opening of conversation may
sometimes be led by wrong s tarts,
and lead to strong disagreements.
Bu~
discovering T.he orig in of
these wrong starts and seeking
�The St. John's Review
resolution, or at least under- 63
standing, of the disagreements
are necessary to the strength and
growth of the college.
Please send submissions to the
general editors who will forward
them to me.
Joan Silver
Future REVIEWS
The next issue of the St.
John's Review will expose to public scrutiny, for the first time,
some of the books which are not
assigned reading, yet are read by
the community at large. The content and merit of these non-program books will be brought to
light. Contributions from readers who have some experien c e w; th
this kind of writing will b e
gratefully accepted, in the form
of review, criticism, or sheer
revelling , Publication will J e
in three weeks.
The next few issues followi ng
will be concerned with both program
and non-program matters.
There will be an issue devoted to
the lab program, with both com~
mentary on some of the current
lab readings, and criticism of
the program, together with suggestions for improvement.
Another of the issues now being
planned centers on politics, and
as of this writing will contain
an article questioning the relationship between the state and
�64
November 18, 1974
the arts, together with one about
the desirability of "gentle politics."
Also "in the works~ is
an issue about revolution--a student's guide to Descartes.
We would truly welcome writing
--"Articles"? "Essays"? "Compositions"?--about any of these topics. Writing about other things
is equally welcome--the abovementioned themes are only those
for which some, and by no means
all, material has been received.
�The St. John's Review
AN
TO
THE
APPEAL
COMMUNITY
The staff of the newspa.p er had
a long and somewhat harried discussion about how to raise money
for production.
We have estimated costs at about $100 for
each issue if it is to be distributed to all members of the community. Aside from searching out
benefactors, our only alternative
seemed to be to ask for subscriptions, and send the paper only to
those who would subscribe.
We
did not like this alternative; we
want the paper to be a community
newspaper, not the interest of a
few.
In light of this we are
asking for contributions.
Clip out this coupon and mail it
to the ST. JOHN'S REVIEWa
----.6 -----•-- . . .
RESPONSE BOX
I
I
I
I wish
to continue
THE REVIEW .
0
c=J
Please do not send me
anymore.
to
'
receive1
I
I
THE
REVIEW
I
1
I am enclosing _______to help keepl
THE REVIEW alive.
I
•
L__ ~ ___ . _. _s_i!!_l~ t u:: • _______ ~ _ 1.
'
�
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
A name given to the resource
<em>The St. John's Review</em>
Description
An account of the resource
<em>The St. John's Review</em><span> is published by the Office of the Dean, St. John's College. All manuscripts are subject to blind review. Address correspondence to </span><em>The St. John's Review</em><span>, St. John's College, 60 College Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21401 or via e-mail at </span><a class="obfuscated_link" href="mailto:review@sjc.edu"><span class="obfuscated_link_text">review@sjc.edu</span></a><span>.</span><br /><br /><em>The St. John's Review</em> exemplifies, encourages, and enhances the disciplined reflection that is nurtured by the St. John's Program. It does so both through the character most in common among its contributors — their familiarity with the Program and their respect for it — and through the style and content of their contributions. As it represents the St. John's Program, The St. John's Review espouses no philosophical, religious, or political doctrine beyond a dedication to liberal learning, and its readers may expect to find diversity of thought represented in its pages.<br /><br /><em>The St. John's Review</em> was first published in 1974. It merged with <em>The College </em>beginning with the July 1980 issue. From that date forward, the numbering of <em>The St. John's Review</em> continues that of <em>The College</em>. <br /><br />Click on <a title="The St. John's Review" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=13"><strong>Items in the The St. John's Review Collection</strong></a> to view and sort all items in the collection.
Creator
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Office of the Dean
Publisher
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St. John's College
Identifier
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ISSN 0277-4720
thestjohnsreview
Contributor
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St. John's College Greenfield Library
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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paper
Page numeration
Number of pages in the original item.
64 pages
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
A name given to the resource
The St. John's Review, November 1974
Description
An account of the resource
Volume I, Number 1 of The St. John's Review. Published November 18, 1974.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
St. John's College
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
St. John's College
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Annapolis, MD
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1974-11-18
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
Contributor
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Cross, Derek
Kelley, Bill
Rogers, Mary
Hoving, Chris
Heller, Gene
Graves, Leslie
Davenport, Richard
Ekman, Gerry
Hoffacker, Charles
Brann, Eva T. H.
Silver, Joan
Language
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English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
sjc_review_vol1_no1_19741
St. John's Review
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