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College
The
FA L L 2 0 1 5
•
S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E
•
ANNAPOLIS
•
S A N TA F E
Henry
David
Thoreau
Early Environmentalist
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 i
�ii THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 015
�OPENING NOTE
Who among us has ever yearned
to shut down the computer, turn
off the cell phone, and be immersed in solitude, where nothing but the sounds of the wind
and rustling leaves fill our ears—
a peaceful retreat in nature to
restore our spirit and make us
feel human again? Henry David
Thoreau (1817-1862), poet,
philosopher, historian, and early
environmentalist, understood
the importance of connecting
with nature. In the woods along
Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, the muse of Thoreau’s
Walden, he makes a case for
simple living and self-sufficiency.
The book is also an invitation to
be daring, cast aside convention,
and live life to the fullest.
In this issue of The College, we
will hear from Johnnies who
have found a Walden of their
own: a backyard oasis, filled with
vibrant flowers, treetop canopies,
and assorted creatures; a once
abandoned building, smack-dab
in the heart of America’s Rust
Belt, brought back to life; and
a farm nestled in a Southwest
corner among “winged angels of
agriculture.” As summer breezes
give way to crisp autumn air, now
is an ideal time to pick up a copy
of Walden. In the words of tutor
David Townsend, “You may find
yourself thrilled with unanticipated wonder.”
Gregory Shook, editor
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 1
�FALL 2015
VOLUME 40, ISSUE 2
If transcending time and keeping your soul forever
young attracts you, then Walden is your text.
And Thoreau is a man you can go to school on.
—David Townsend, tutor
FEATUR E S
P A G E 1 6��
P A G E 2 0��
PA G E 2 6
FREEDOM UPON AN
ACHILLEAN SHORE
HALCYON
HAVEN
BIRTH OF A
BEEKEEPER
Walden, Henry David Thoreau’s
experiment in simple living
among nature, continues to
challenge American pragmatism
and beckons us to experience
life to the fullest.
Thanks to a visionary alumnus
who transformed an abandoned
historic building into a cozy
neighborhood pub, good
conversation just got easier to
find in downtown Cleveland.
Raising queen bees is about
much more than harvesting
honey—the tiny creatures
are profoundly important
for sustaining the planet’s
plant species.
ON THE COVER:
Thoreau illustration
by Brett Ryder
PREVIOUS PAGE: TONY J PHTOGRAPHY
2 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 015
�TONY J PHOTOGRAPHY
D E PAR T ME N T S
��FROM THE BELL TOWERS
BIBLIOFILE
FOR & ABOUT ALUMNI
4 �
Toward a Greener Future:
Robert Bienenfeld (SF80)
30 �Tutor Eva Brann (H89)
comprehends imaginative
conservatism in Then and Now.
32 �lmuni News: Alumni Leadership
A
Forum 2015
5 Club with a Cause
6 �
Hodson Trust Intern:
Xiaoqian (Lara) Hu (A16)
7 New Annapolis Treasurer
8 A Decade of Leadership in Santa Fe
10 Commencement 2015
12 �erdurous Acres
V
34 �lumni Notes
A
31 �liza Pennypacker (A79) breaks
E
convention in Artful Rainwater
Design: Creative Ways to Manage
Stormwater.
37 � rofile: Cara Gormally (A02)
P
advocates science literacy.
42 �In Memoriam
� O’Hara (SFGI00) shares
David
meditative essays in Downstream:
Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly
Fishing, and Waters of Appalachia.
45 �tudent Voices: Kevin Lam (A18)
S
discovers intellectual freedom.
� Brock (A94) explores a slice
Emily
of Pacific Northwest history in
Money Trees: The Douglas Fir and
American Forestry, 1900-1944.
46 �roquet: Johnnies Break the Streak
C
.
JOHNNIE TRADITIONS
48 �t. John’s Forever
S
EIDOS
49 Anastasia Egeli (A92)
ABOVE: Annapolis President Christoper Nelson
(SF70) enjoys the labor of garden work.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 3
�From the
BELL TOWERS
FIRST PERSON
Toward a Greener Future
Robert Bienenfeld (SF80) Helps Steer
the Transportation Revolution
Robert Bienenfeld, (SF80) assistant
vice president, Environment and Energy
Strategy at American Honda Motor
Company, Inc., discusses his longstanding
passion for exploring environmentally
friendly technology and reducing the
auto industry’s carbon footprint.
Why did you choose
to work at Honda?
I knew after leaving St. John’s
that I wanted to work in industry. People told me throughout
my four years that St. John’s
was a great education. I thought:
if that’s true I ought to be able
to go to work without going to
graduate school. I also knew I
wanted to build something, and
that turned out to be a great
idea. It’s an amazing thing, to
be part of a team. No individual
can bring a car to market. It
takes untold numbers of people,
not just the engineers and the
marketers but the people in the
factory, hundreds of suppliers, all
of their R and D people. It’s very
collaborative, and the essence
of the St. John’s education is
very collaborative. If it weren’t
collaborative you would just go
to the library, read the books,
and you’d be done. But what you
do is read the books and have
your own ideas, then you come to
class and test them and they’re
challenged in that crucible of
seminar or tutorial. Invariably
you’re left with better ideas, a
deeper understanding, more
questions. Sometimes a book
you didn’t like is revealed to be
more beautiful than you could
have ever imagined. That’s what
I have enjoyed when I’ve worked
on teams. It can be difficult, you
have to listen to other people’s
ideas, and people don’t always
do what you want them to do,
but through that collaborative
approach you can shape the
direction of the company, bring
better products to market, and
provide valuable benefits to society that might never otherwise
have come about.
To the outside we’re trying to
provide the best information we
can to regulators on the theory
that good information will make
good regulations. We work as
cooperatively and positively
as we can to look for ways to
advance the environmental
agenda. That being said, we try
to make sure that the proposed
regulations or laws are fair and
equitable, that they’re feasible,
and that they’re going to accomplish their intended goals.
What is your role at Honda?
We’re trying to have a smooth,
bloodless revolution from an
older generation of transportation to a much less carbon-intensive model. That’s being done
through advances in technology
and through regulation and it’s
a very interesting challenge.
Both the regulators and the car
companies have to be mindful
of consumers. If the regulations
are too demanding then the
products could be too expensive
and consumers might reject
them. The question is: are the
regulations aggressive enough,
and reasonable enough, and
can industry accomplish those
regulations in a way that will be
acceptable to consumers?
Externally, I represent Honda
to the EPA and California EPA
and internally, I represent the
EPA and California EPA to
Honda. Inside the company I
think about what society (writ
large) is trying to accomplish
and promote those values
within the company. It’s not
that the values inside the company aren’t the same as those
of society, but they don’t always
have the same intensity, the
same timeline, the same power.
Right now we’re in the middle of
a revolution in transportation.
And revolutions are inherently
terrifying: they’re unstable,
there are new forces at work,
[and] things change quickly.
4 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 015
How did you end up working
in environment and energy
strategy?
I’ve had a varied career. I’ve
been here since I left college,
and I’ve worked in nearly a
dozen areas in Japan and the
U.S., in sales and marketing and
product development and strategy. In 2008 a friend of mine was
running this area and saw an
opportunity to bring me in.
I’d worked in related areas
before that. I’ve worked on
alternative fuels since 1993: on
electric, natural gas, and hybrid
cars. That first brought me into
contact with public policy— an
interesting and important part
of the business. Vehicles have
unintended consequences: you
buy a car and there’re all kinds
of unseen impacts. A lot of
people don’t really think about
where their gasoline comes
from, what it takes to manage
those resources, and the impact
of the car’s exhaust. Of course,
cars have an enormous benefit
to society as well. But there are
social costs, or externalities,
and we seek to minimize those
costs. Sixteen years ago I started
working on car sharing, and just
in the last half dozen years it’s
�“� e’re facing an extraordinary challenge
W
with respect to climate change, and
dramatic action is needed. It won’t help
anybody if car companies go out of business
trying to make this transition.”
started to become a commercial
success. But in the twenty-two
years I’ve been in alternative
fuels it’s been very difficult
to achieve success. In some
respects it’s been twenty-two
years of failure.
Why is it so difficult to find
success with alternative fuels?
Because the incumbent technology is pretty good. In the
last forty years, smog-forming
pollutants that come out of the
tailpipe of the car have been
reduced to almost 1/1000 of what
their pre-regulated emissions
were—an incredible accomplishment. Although you might think
we absolutely need electric cars
for clean air, it turns out that we
can do quite well with internal
combustion vehicles.
One of the fascinating things
about this work is how, holistically, you have to think about
a transportation system. For
example, in China, because their
electric grid is seventy percent
coal-generated, an electric car
is not nearly as clean as a good
hybrid car. You have to think in
a holistic manner to understand
all the impacts of a transportation system.
What’s the focus of your work
right now?
Between 2015 and 2025 we
are tasked with doubling fuel
economy which means that we
will be able to go twice as far
on a gallon of gas and cut the
carbon intensity of automobile
use almost in half. The rules
through 2025 are pretty clear,
but how to get there will involve
very important choices with
respect to technology. Right
now we’re trying to make some
critical decisions about advanced
internal combustion engines vs.
increased hybridization, and
plug-in vehicles, how much to
invest in fuel cell vehicles, those
kinds of things.
We’re facing an extraordinary
challenge with respect to climate
change, and dramatic action is
needed. It won’t help anybody if
car companies go out of business
trying to make this transition,
so it’s really important that we
help guide the regulators to
understand what’s possible, what
we think consumers will accept,
where the technology is, and
what is cost-effective.
CLUB WITH A CAUSE
“I believe that wherever there is
a college or a community, there
needs to be an environmental
club,” says Jon Shrestha (A17),
archon of the Environmental
Club at the Annapolis campus.
Under Shrestha’s leadership,
the club’s activities this past
year included a bike lending
program and recycling initiatives
at Croquet; students worked with
the company Waste Neutral to
collect 1.19 tons of commingled
recyclables at the event as well
as 200 pounds of reusable plastic
pallets. The club also joined
forces with the Food Recovery
Network to donate unopened
leftover canned goods from the
dining hall to a local shelter.
Most recently the club organized
a seminar on “Higher Laws” from
Thoreau’s Walden. “I thought
that ‘Higher Laws’ appealed
to our philosophical nature in
terms of driving us to examine
the question ‘What is the right
way to live?’” says Bonnie Scott
(A17), the Environmental Club’s
vice archon. Led by tutor Brendan
Boyle, the seminar discussion
explored people’s relationship
with nature, something that many
of us may not consider as we go
about our daily lives. “One of the
most important things you can
do to better the world is to make
sure that you’re in touch with the
ways that you affect everything
around you, whether that is how
you speak to other people or
what you throw away in the trash
or the recycling,” says Scott. “It’s
all interconnected.”
— Eunji Kim (A15)
What did you learn at St. John’s
that is most helpful in your
work at Honda?
What I appreciate the most
about my St. John’s education
is that it’s four years of teaching you how to fall in love—how
to pick up a subject you never
thought you’d be interested in
and have it open your thinking
and your mind and your heart;
to find it interesting and collaborate with people and throw
yourself into it. It was kind of
random that I found myself at
Honda, but I’ve been able to
throw myself into this work and
be part of some amazing projects,
and we’ve made history. That’s a
really valuable lesson.
— Sus3an Borden (A87)
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 5
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
DAVID BROOKS
HELPS CELEBRATE
SANTA FE’S 50TH
ANYI GUO (A14)
David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, author, and pundit, helped close out
the yearlong celebration of Santa Fe’s 50th
anniversary as the featured speaker at a
gala benefit dinner on June 26 at the Santa
Fe campus. In his remarks, Brooks cited two
authors from the Program—St. Augustine
and George Eliot—to illustrate the practical
virtue of studying the lives and works of great
authors. Brooks noted that the gala was a singular experience for him. At no other event, he
said, had Rousseau been quoted twice during
dinner-table conversation. Proceeds from the
evening’s events will support scholarships for
students from New Mexico. The 50th anniversary campaign raised more than $30 million
for the campus’s endowment and operations.
HODSON TRUST INTERN
Learning
Through Inquiry
Xiaoqian (Lara) Hu (A16) has long been
interested in education. Through the Hodson
Trust Internship Program in summer 2013,
she interned at Shenzhen High School in the
Guangdong Province of southeast China. Fascinated by classroom dynamics, Hu observes the
importance of the relationship between teachers and students and understands the politics
involved in education. “I want to be a professor
in college or graduate school,” she says, “not
doing research, but working with students on a
personal level.”
Hu notes that Shenzhen “is one of the
most open-minded high schools in China. It is
dedicated to the preparation of students for the
highest scholarships in the U.S.” One of Hu’s
responsibilities as a teacher’s assistant was to
organize workshops about American colleges.
“It was very informal,” she says. “I would make
and present a PowerPoint. Then I would let the
students ask questions and have discussions.”
Her presentations described her academic
experience as well as cultural differences that
surprised her. “When I first got here, I made so
many mistakes. Nobody told me I could drink
the tap water or how to use a dryer.”
Xiaoqian (Lara) Hu (A16)
“� hen I first got here, I
W
made so many mistakes.
Nobody told me I could
drink the tap water or how
to use a dryer.”
Many of Hu’s students were interested in
St. John’s discussion model of learning. “They
felt that they could participate in the sessions
rather than just listen to the lectures,” says Hu.
“They loved talking to me, and that was a real
surprise. They thought I knew how to listen
to what they were really talking about.” The
classes at St. John’s encouraged her to seriously consider the principles that others had,
even those with whom she initially disagreed.
“Returning to my high school gave me a
new perspective,” she says. “I realized how
important inquiries are. Asking questions is
a more effective way of learning than just
answering questions.”
—Nutchapol Boonparlit (A14)
6 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 015
The College
is published by St. John’s
College, Annapolis, MD,
and Santa Fe, NM
thecollegemagazine@
sjc.edu
Known office of
publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
60 College Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
Periodicals postage
paid at Annapolis, MD
Postmaster: Send
address changes to
The College Magazine,
Communications Office,
St. John’s College,
60 College Avenue,
Annapolis, MD 21401.
Editor
Gregory Shook
gregory.shook@sjc.edu
Contributors
Nutchapol Boonparlit (A14)
Sus3an Borden (A87)
Brendan Boyle
Anastasia Egeli (A92)
Gabe Gomez
Susan Kaplan
Eunji Kim (A15)
Melanie Kirby (SF97)
Kevin Lam (A18)
Jennifer Levin
Lisa Neal
Christopher Nelson (SF70)
Paula Novash
David Townsend
Robin Weiss
Babak Zarin (A11)
Design
Skelton Design
Contributing Designer
Jennifer Behrens
�TA L K O F T H E T O W E R S
In Annapolis, five new tutors have joined
the faculty. Erica Beall (A07) is from the
University of Southern California, where she is
working on completing her Ph.D. in social psychology. Ronald Haflidson joined the college
from the New College, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his Ph.D. in
Christian ethics and practical theology. Zena
Hitz (A95) earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from
Princeton University. Marius Kempe comes
from the University of Durham, England,
where he earned his Ph.D. in anthropology.
Bryan Luther received his Ph.D. in nuclear
physics from The Ohio State University. In
Santa Fe, two new tutors have joined the
faculty. Allison D’Orazio Levy is from Boston
In Santa Fe, Victoria Mora is the college-wide
senior vice president for Development and
Alumni Relations. Renee White is the new
director of Conference Services. In Annapolis,
three new directors have joined the college: Benjamin Baum is the new director of
Admissions; Susan Jenkins is director of Web
Initiatives and Social Media; Joe Smolskis is
the new treasurer; and Melissa Steiner is the
new registrar.
“� get my feet into a lot of
I
different areas, including
non-financial duties, which
is part of what makes my
position interesting.”
IN ANNAPOLIS
Thinking Outside
the Numbers
New Treasurer in Annapolis
Though he has held numerous high-powered
positions throughout his career, Joe Smolskis,
the new treasurer in Annapolis, is still a kid at
heart. On a breezy July afternoon, while the
campus was buzzing with Summer Academy
students, Smolskis grabbed a quick lunch
before popping over to the local comic book
shop to pick up the new issue of Archie. “I read
them when I was a kid but haven’t read them
in years,” he says, adding that he was “always a
superhero guy. I probably have three-quarters
of the entire history of Daredevil.” Being
fiscally-minded, he estimates his most prized
comic book, the debut issue of Daredevil, at
around $35. “It’s not a great copy, but what’s
really cool is that it came out in 1963, the year
I was born, and was printed in my hometown of
Waterbury, Connecticut.”
When Smolskis came to St. John’s in
August 2014, he was familiar with the college’s
reputation as “the great books school.” What
he was surprised to learn, though, was that the
curriculum is conversation-based and that this
core aspect of academic life influences the college community as a whole. “I’ve noticed that
students and tutors are talking all the time—
and not just about great books,” says Smolskis.
College, where she received her Ph.D. in
political science. Maggie Evans McGuinness
received her Ph.D. in American literature/
poetics at the University of Oregon, where she
taught literature and composition.
“At every level, you can feel that at the college,
in conversations with staff and faculty, in board
meetings. It’s very different from any other
place where I’ve worked. This makes a difference when you can have a real conversation
about, say, the budget, IT, or facilities. Rather
than a debate about resources, it’s a productive
discussion about supporting the departments.”
Smolskis’s role at the college includes
oversight of the budgeting process, the college
investments, short-term and long-term financial
forecasting, and working with the board and the
management committee to make sure the college
remains in sound shape fiscally. He has been designated the CFO across both the Santa Fe and
Annapolis campuses and is working with Santa
Fe Treasurer Bryan Valentine to unify accounting procedures and other business practices.
Before coming to St. John’s, Smolskis served
in executive leadership roles at Trinity Washington University and the Protestant Episcopal
Cathedral Foundation in Washington, D.C.,
among other organizations. Returning to higher
education, “I get my feet into a lot of different
areas, including non-financial duties, which is
part of what makes my position interesting,”
he says. “And I do things that are outside the
numbers, like moving forward on deferred
maintenance and plans to spruce up the
campus. We want to make sure that St. John’s
is a great place for students to live and feel
comfortable. The campus should sparkle, so
that visitors’ first impressions are good ones.”
He also oversees the information technology
needs of the campus and handles compliance
and personnel issues.
Just as he eagerly awaits the next issue of
his favorite comic book, Smolskis looks forward
to the future of St. John’s, doing his part to
make the college a vibrant place of learning
both inside and out. “As we make long-term
strategic plans, we have to realize that we’re
going to face challenges for some time,” he
says. “But that’s part of what’s fascinating—how
we manage our resources in order to get the
best bang for our buck.”
—Gregory Shook
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 7
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
C O N V E R S AT I O N
“We’re In This Together”
As Michael Peters, the sixth president of St. John’s College, Santa Fe,
prepares to depart the college in December 2015 – after 10 years of dedicated
service – he reflects on the Program’s influence on his life, how St. John’s
has changed over the last decade, and a college community whose passion
and commitment to the Program are rooted in love. New Santa Fe President
Mark Roosevelt will be profiled in the next issue of The College.
What stands out most as you look back
at your time as president?
We’ve got to acknowledge that the college
is facing challenges. It’s troubling to me to
leave with some of the challenges unresolved.
However, I hope after having been here for ten
years that I’ve left the college a little more
stable than when I found it. I’ve worked to create a healthy, collaborative relationship among
the president, the dean, the faculty, and our
colleagues on the Annapolis campus to preserve our distinctive identity, and to ensure we
have the wherewithal to continue to offer this
education to future generations of students.
To what do you attribute this evolution?
Your favorite book is War and Peace, and
you’ve led seminars on it. Has your reading
of the book changed because of that?
I’d first read the novel while studying Russian,
so I read it first in its original language. I’d
say I had a more general, almost superficial
appreciation for it. But my study of the novel
became much deeper when I encountered it
at St. John’s. I’ve truly come to appreciate the
depth of the work and the nuance that came
through discussion in seminar.
You’ve led seminars all over the country
and in the Summer Classics program.
Can you talk about your engagement
with students in seminar?
One of the first things I did as president was
participate in seminar with the January Freshman class of 2008. As someone who didn’t
graduate from St. John’s, it was beneficial to
sit in on seminars during my first years here.
Around that time, several students knew about
my background in international affairs and
One thing that is impossible to appreciate from
the outside, until you’ve been in the midst of
what we do here, is the love—which is really
the best word for it—this community has for the
St. John’s Program. You can read about it, but
until you’re here and really see on a day-to-day
basis, the intense level of commitment and
passion, the sacrifices that members of this
community are willing to make to preserve
and nurture the Program, it is impossible to
appreciate it fully.
When people think about your time here,
what would you like them to remember?
One of the most significant changes has been
the movement and evolution of the college’s
relationship with its alumni. The alumni are our
greatest advocates and are a natural source of
support if we’re going to continue to thrive in a
turbulent world.
There have been changes in the way the Alumni
Association operates, the way they choose their
leaders and rotate leadership, and together
we’ve created the Alumni Leadership Forum.
We’ve made it possible for alumni to focus their
efforts on behalf of admissions, career services,
and, of course, on fundraising. The great leadership shown by the alumni in recent years really
proves that we’re in this together.
How has your impression of St. John’s
College changed in the last ten years?
What will you miss about St. John’s?
“� ne thing that is impossible
O
to appreciate from the
outside, until you’ve been
in the midst of what we do
here, is the love—which is
really the best word for it—
this community has for the
St. John’s Program.”
approached me about starting an international
affairs study group. The study group would
revolve around a contemporary news article
on an issue in international affairs or U.S.
foreign policy. Similar to the St. John’s seminar
approach, I would ask a question to get things
started. It’s been one of the most rewarding
things I’ve done at St. John’s, because it has
given me a chance to get to know our students
more personally than I would otherwise. It
was a combination of my background and the
individual students that kept it alive.
8 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 015
Definitely all the people I’ve gotten to know
and become very close to over the years. In any
organization, the people are the most important and the folks here—staff, faculty, alumni,
and friends—have an astounding dedication to
this very singular education. Eleanor and I will
also miss Santa Fe. We’ve become very fond of
this area, and we’ll spend as much time here as
we can after we step down.
Do you have any advice for the new
president?
The best advice is pretty straightforward: Listen and take the time to get to know the place.
Sitting in on seminars gave me an opportunity
to get a sense of the students and faculty and
all the wonderful attributes they exhibit in the
classroom. There are a lot of other things on
a new president’s plate, but taking the time to
listen and really get an understanding of the
college is important. It’s also important to get
to know the place where the college is located—
the history, culture, and ethos of Santa Fe and
northern New Mexico.
�What’s next for you?
Initially, Eleanor and I will go back to New
York City, where we have a home, and then
we’ll see. I don’t have any immediate plans professionally, and I would like to take some time
to regroup and see where we go. We’ll do some
travel because our son and his family have just
moved to Turkey and we’ll be going over there
to make sure they raise our grandsons properly
[laughs]. One of the things I said in the Commencement address I was honored to give this
year’s senior class is that when you go through
life you have to be willing to be open to serendipity or providence, whichever term you prefer.
I’m going to try to follow my own advice and
see where that takes me.
—Gabe Gomez
Levan Hall, completed in 2010 to house St.
John’s Santa Fe’s Graduate Institute, is among
the key legacies of Peters’s presidency. He and
his team expanded the college’s facilities and
improved the existing physical plant to provide
an excellent learning environment for students
and faculty.
FRANK OOMS
PHOTOS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) with Peters at an
inauguration reception, October 2005. Peters
came to St. John’s after a distinguished military
career and service as executive vice president of
the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mike and Eleanor Peters celebrate the groundbreaking of Levan Hall on the Santa Fe campus.
Peters presides over the groundbreaking
ceremony for Winiarski Hall, a multi-use building
with housing for students, tutors’ offices, and
classrooms. From left: former BVG Chair Mike
Uremovich, then-Santa Fe Mayor David Coss,
tutor David McDonald, who chaired the campus
planning committee, and Warren Winiarski (Class
of 1952), who donated the building with his
wife, Barbara (Class of 1955). The building was
completed in 2012.
Mike Peters’s family applauds during his
inaugural address on October 28, 2005. Peters
began his presidency in January of that year.
From left: Peters’s wife, Eleanor; son, Michael;
daughter, Rebecca; and father, Max.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 9
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
COMMENCEMENT 2015
Barely two years into his retirement, tutor
emeritus Jonathan Tuck (H14) returned to
the Annapolis campus to deliver this year’s
commencement address. The 111 seniors in the
Class of 2015 “wanted our experience in the
classroom and in this community to be represented to our families sitting in the audience
by someone who has experienced it firsthand,”
explained Alexandra Wick (A15) in a letter to
the selection committee. “Our education has
been an exercise in community and vulnerability, and we chose Mr. Tuck to be the speaker for
his embodiment of those virtues.”
With characteristic humor and a knack
“� f we are wise in no other
I
way, we are wise enough to
reflect on this experience and
to value it as it deserves.”
TONY J PHOTOGRAPHY
Words on Wisdom
in Annapolis
PHOTO, TOP LEFT: Tutor emeritus Jonathan Tuck
(H14) in Annapolis.
TOP RIGHT: Santa Fe President Mike Peters.
TONY J PHOTOGRAPHY
for getting straight to the heart of things,
Tuck addressed the graduating seniors and
19 Graduate Institute students assembled on
the campus front lawn seminar-style—with
an opening question: “How is this choice [to
come to St. John’s] working out for us? Did we
get what we came for?” Tuck, who joined the
faculty at 31 and retired in 2013 after nearly 35
years at St. John’s, let these questions linger
while he reflected on the “immersive experience of being a part of this community” as well
as “the program we have in common, our common objects, the books we read, our common
understanding of our undertaking, [and] the
community within which we live and grow—all
these [which] bind us more closely in virtuous
friendship.” In his concluding remarks, Tuck,
with an ancient Greek virtue in mind, shared
this parting thought: “If we are wise in no
other way, we are wise enough to reflect on this
experience and to value it as it deserves.”
BRADY LEE (AGI14)
Jonathan Tuck (H14)
10 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�COMMENCEMENT 2015
Santa Fe’s
Presidential Speaker
President Michael P. Peters presided over the
48th commencement on the Santa Fe campus.
By special request of the Class of 2015, Peters
also delivered the commencement address,
encouraging the class to “find something—an
idea, a passion or a role—that brings meaning
or purpose to your life” and also to “look for an
opportunity to contribute to or serve others.”
Peters, who retires at the end of 2015 and
who has led some of the college’s major milestones during his 10-year term as president,
said he was humbled by this opportunity to
speak to Santa Fe’s 84 graduating seniors and
10 masters candidates. The graduates and
“� erhaps most importantly,
P
find ways to feed your
soul as well as your mind
and body.”
Santa Fe President Michael Peters
their families and friends came together to
celebrate this singular moment in their lives
and to hear Peters praise them for the courage they had demonstrated in coming to and
graduating from St. John’s when conventional
wisdom is increasingly questioning the value
of a liberal education. “You enrolled at St.
John’s, persevered, learned, grew and arrive at
this ceremony today,” Peters said. “You stood
out from the crowd by taking on the challenges and seizing the opportunities St. John’s
affords. And I am sure you will stand out from
the crowd wherever you go.”
He concluded by saying, “Your time here
was only the beginning–a prelude. After all,
this ceremony is known as commencement.
If you are going to find meaning for yourself
and contribute to others you must continue to
grow intellectually, to foster your curiosity and
imagination, and to call upon your courage and
self-discipline. I also encourage you to continue
to challenge your assumptions, and move
beyond observation and description to thought
and action. And, perhaps most importantly,
find ways to feed your soul as well as your
mind and body.”
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 11
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
S PA R E T I M E
Gardener’s Delight
When not tending to executive duties at the college, leading a seminar on
Plutarch, or speaking out on the value of the liberal arts, Annapolis President
Chris Nelson (SF70) is often found working in his garden, a lush sanctuary
that he calls home. Pausing from his presidential duties, Nelson talks with
The College about what makes gardening more than just a hobby.
I understand that when you have time
to spare from your presidential duties,
you like to garden. Can you tell us
what you do?
Well, let us get our terms straight first. My wife,
Joyce, is the gardener. I am heavy labor. We
have a dear gardening friend who calls me the
under-gardener. I limb trees, edge and mulch
the gardens, lay woodchip paths through the
woodland areas and stone paths among the
flower beds, gather the slash and cuttings to be
hauled away or composted for use a year later to
enrich the soil throughout the property. I love
working with my pruning shears, tree loppers,
chain saw, and eight-pound splitting maul, splitting and stacking wood for our indoor and outdoor
fireplaces, for the college, and for friends. If I am
about shape, form, and a path through, then Joyce
is about beauty, color, and content. She decides
what is to be planted and where—and then goes
about doing almost all the planting and tending
of the flower and shrub gardens. And she studies
gardens and reads voraciously about an extraordinary variety of plants and trees, and then she
brings her learning to bear in her selection of
plantings for the garden at home.
TONY J PHOTOGRAPHY
What do you like best about gardening?
Annapolis President Chris Nelson (SF70) helps care for more than four acres of ground.
12 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
There are so many things! I love the quiet
concentration and focus required. I am free of
distractions and only thinking about how to
bring a pleasing shape to a tree or a walking
path. I love walking through the garden at the
end of the day with Joyce, seeing with some
satisfaction the results of the day’s work and
laying out what the next day’s tasks will be.
Then, there is the exercise out-of-doors. After
spending most days in the office, car, or airport, I enjoy the fresh air. Joyce, too, has been
a busy professional, working as an attorney
at the Environmental Protection Agency in
Washington. The garden is our common space,
where we engage in our parallel play, usually
in different parts of the garden. At the end of
the day, we can each share with the other what
little bit of improvement we have made, usually
with a glass of wine in hand when we take our
stroll. And of course, gardening is endless; it is
never finished. So, as we get pleasure in both
the doing and the viewing, it means we can
continue such enjoyment endlessly. Then again,
we are happy to be of service to the college,
which has done so much to enrich our lives.
We entertain a lot, and the garden gives us a
beautiful venue for the purpose.
�You mention the paths you have made
through the garden. Why are these
important?
We have a gorgeous piece of land to care for. It
is more than four acres of rolling, hilly ground.
Great big oaks, tulip poplars, magnolias,
maples, white pine, hollies, river birch, cryptomerias, yoshino cherries, and rows of boxwood
give it structure. And there are beautiful visual
destination points in many different places,
from the Severn River and the students sailing
off the pier to the quiet waters of Shady Lake
where the Great Blue and Green Herons do
their fishing; from the fountain with the cardinals and goldfinches taking their afternoon
baths to the terrace flower beds attracting varieties of pollinating bees, Eastern Swallow Tails,
and many colorful butterflies; from the several
sculptures we have placed around the property
to Joyce’s small garden house and library down
by the water. In my view, if you have the space,
a garden should not just be taken in through
a single lens; it should be laid out to take you
on many little journeys to see what is around
the next corner. We have laid out the garden so
that we can walk around the property in several rings without repeating our steps. Always
something up ahead to look forward to. And
then we have benches and viewing areas to see
the osprey and their young learning to fly each
July, the family of fox tripping across the lawn,
the fat groundhogs eating the grass, the small
herd of deer limbing up the Yoshinos, and the
thousands of fireflies lighting up the garden in
the early June evenings.
“� garden should not just
A
be taken in through a single
lens; it should be laid out
to take you on many little
journeys to see what is
around the next corner.”
Commencement. We also have a special friend
and neighbor who has been of extraordinary
assistance to us this past year and a half. She
has made the garden more beautiful than ever.
And after twenty-four years developing the garden we have today, we have employed a friend
and professional photographer, Don Dement,
to document the garden over a twelve-month
cycle, with the plan of making a book to leave
with the college, showcasing our favorite photographs from the thousands he has taken.
Does the garden serve as an escape when
you need it from the pressures of the day?
What pressures?
Is there any one thing that gives you
special satisfaction?
Pulling the long trails of porcelain berry vines
out of the trees. It takes weeding to a high level.
Oh my, yes! We could not manage the half of
it without the college’s Buildings and Grounds
crew mowing the lawn each week and feeding
the special trees, delivering the truckloads of
mulch and woodchips, hauling away the slash
from a pile we build each weekend, and repairing the big equipment when it breaks down.
Then there has been a student helping us each
year over the past decade, which gives us the
added pleasure of getting to know better some
of those students I otherwise only see passing across the platform at Convocation and
PHOTOS: DON DEMENT
It’s an awfully big property. Do you get
any help in managing it all?
ABOVE: A
woodchip path through the garden’s woodland areas. FOLLOWING PAGE: View from the terrace
down to the Severn River at the president’s house in West Annapolis.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 13
�DON DEMENT
14 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 15
�Take your book out to the edge of whatever town or city
you inhabit as Thoreau took the Iliad to Walden Pond.
Read with “alert and heroic” character. There is no
Concord—no peace—unless you are prepared to fight for it.
16 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�TUTOR VIEW
FREEDOM
upon an Achillean Shore
by David Townsend
When you encounter a truly great book, you feel
it in your mind, heart, and gut as your
soul expands and rises. So Henry David
Thoreau’s transcendental Walden hit me
at 19, when I was fortunate to read it in
Charles Hands’ brilliant American Literature
class at Loyola, Baltimore. I had previously
studied Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience,” a seminal
guide to non-violent resistance to the cruelties of government
and social tyranny, and a foundation for Gandhi, Martin
Luther King, Dorothy Day at the Catholic Worker, and Father
Phil Berrigan, pastor of St. Gregory’s in Baltimore, where I
volunteered as a young man, eager to learn how best to live.
Thoreau’s message is a wake-up call: live your own life, not somebody else’s.
You can become an army of one and be your own minuteman. Answer for yourself the essential questions, “How to Live?” and “What to Do?” Start where
you are. Don’t be afraid to say “I.” Make your life an experiment. If you break
molds or “march to the beat of a different drummer,” so be it.1 By centering upon a single “point d’appui,” 2 you can become free, like Sadi’s azad,3 or
become an original, free, independent American citizen of the “true America.”4
The horizons extending from your center point lie beyond your circumferences
of “expectation.” 5 You may find yourself thrilled with unanticipated wonder.
LEFT:
Photo of Walden Pond circa 1900.
Thoreau’s manuscript journals
from 1837-61. ART RESOURCE, NY
ABOVE:
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 17
�TUTOR VIEW
Walden is an educational manual and method for
living life fully. Thoreau teaches every reader to pursue a liberal education by living their own lifelong
experiment:
I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that
if one advances confidently in the direction of
his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which
he has imagined, he will meet with a success
unexpected in common hours.6
Thoreau writes his book as an “honest man,” in
the first person. All books are so written, but many
pretend not to be:
I should not talk so much about myself if there
were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience.7
Walden Pond is the “earth’s eye,”8 “sacred as
the Ganges.”9 Make its deep center, which Thoreau
locates by surveying diameters crossing, a symbol
of your own deep foundation. You may be leading a
Thoreau’s message is a wake-up call:
live your own life, not somebody else’s.
desperate life and have to steal time from your creditors to read this essay. If so, fear not. Freedom is at
hand. You can “start now” and proceed “instantly,”10
without waiting for permission from any authority.
Like the artist of Kouroo in the ancient Vedic tale
that Thoreau recounts, you can set out at once on
your sojourn with your own “pure and perfect” walking stick. Resist giving away your life to those who
would dominate and master you, and your rewards
will be great. In Thoreau’s parable, the artist’s “Singleness of purpose and resolution, and his elevated
piety endowed him, without his knowledge, with
perennial youth.”11 If transcending time and keeping
your soul forever young attracts you, then Walden is
your text. And Thoreau is a man you can go to school
on. But you are no one’s disciple. Not even Thoreau’s.
Never, never, never surrender your own life in order
to live someone else’s.
A philosopher might interpret Walden as a phenomenological description of finding the self. Thoreau calls it the way of love. “Nothing can deter a
poet for he is actuated by pure love.”12 How shall we
18 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
love? There are three methods in Walden: Nature,
America, and Reading.
Begin with nature. “I love the wild not less than
the good.”13 Live “as deliberately as Nature.”14 We can
learn much from Thoreau’s radical ecology, face our
environmental crisis, and address the daily extinction of species. Throughout Walden, Thoreau melds
his mind with many creatures—owls, mice, insects,
birds, and most especially a loon.15 He confronts false
clarity, challenging philosophers and economists who
would only interpret the world to change it.
If we fail to change, Nature may take revenge
on those who blaspheme her. Walden Pond herself
“whoops”16 unexpectedly as the ice speaks. Is “whoop”
the cry of the original Native American for whom the
pond is named,17 who may be “the grandmother of
Adam”? The indigenous spirit of Nature rebounds.
[L]et wild Nature reign once more and the tender
and luxurious English grains will probably disappear before… the great corn-field of the Indian’s God … prove itself indigenous, and resume
its ancient importance and dignity.18
The second method of Walden is to establish
“true America.”19 True Americans, who live self-reliant lives of practical courage and economy, crow “as
lustily as Chanticleer”20 to awaken us from “quiet
desperation.”21 Consider how emerging wild, courageous, and indigenous Americans will invigorate a
weakened “tender and luxurious” America and liberate us from tyrannies of fashion22 and conformity.
The only true America is the country where
you are at liberty… where the state does not
endeavor to compel you to sustain slavery and
war and other superfluous expenses.23
This “true America” is possible only when individual true Americans rise up one by one to claim “their
own.”24 Like Socrates in Plato’s Republic, Thoreau
knows that the “power and capacity exist in the soul
already.”25
Thus Thoreau talks “purposefully” to the poor
immigrant John Field “as if he were a philosopher.”26
What is the true cost of “superfluous expenses”?…
“the cost of a thing is the amount of… life which is
required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in
the long run.”27 This is true “full cost accounting.” A
simple dwelling costs “ten to fifteen years of a laborer’s life.” Learn from Native Americans rather than
old Europe: “In the savage state every family owns a
shelter as good as the best” but not in the economy
�to which we surrender, “in modern civilized society
not more than one half the families own a shelter.”28
Such inequality is unacceptable. Will you trust Fannie Mae or yourself to address this problem?
Thoreau describes in detail his experiment of
building a simple cabin to live as a squatter on the
banks of Walden Pond in the woods a mile outside of
Concord, beginning on July 4. Counting costs to the
half-penny, he demonstrates how to live economically by working only six weeks a year. It is possible
to achieve home ownership and resist war, slavery,
and superfluities. Thoreau builds his own low-cost
housing and starts a movement of non-violent resistance by going to jail. He refuses to pay taxes to
finance wars required to preserve vicious inequalities, whether against Mexico or others.
Learning to read is Thoreau’s third and final
method. He prophesies a “reign of poetry.”29 The
paradox of Walden is that its clarion call to change
America and the global polity comes in the solitary
reading of a great text. It is a book as challenging as
the poetry of the Hebrew prophets and the ancient
texts of Homer, the Vedas, Zoroaster, and Confucius.
Walden resounds with prophets and poets from Ezekiel and Pindar to Sadi and Coleridge. Reading is not
equivalent to living. Nevertheless, to live free, you
must learn to read as you have never read before:
Those who have not learned to read the ancient
classics in the language in which they are written
must have a very imperfect knowledge of the history of the human race; for it is remarkable that
no transcript has ever been made of them in any
modern tongue, unless our civilization itself may
be regarded as such a transcript.30
Walden summons us to “our” true citizenship one
reader at a time. What if each American took personal responsibility to read “the transcript” of “our
civilization”? What if the truth of this logos lay alertly
and heroically upon every American tongue, speaking to the questions, “How to live and What to do?”
Consider how the indigenous “reign of poetry”31—a
way of understanding all three methods—will invigorate a weakened “tender and luxurious” people.
Take your book out to the edge of whatever town or
city you inhabit as Thoreau took the Iliad to Walden
Pond. Read with “alert and heroic”32 character. There
is no Concord—no peace—unless you are prepared
to fight for it. As Krishna leads Arjuna to recognize in the Bhagavad-Gita,33 Thoreau’s guiding text
Take up Thoreau’s American pragmatism.
Start now and confront subjectivity, nature,
animals, land, village, and visitors face-to-face.
for Walden, you cannot withdraw from the battle.”
Start now. You are an army and majority of one.34
Step out as Achilles35 does in the Iliad. Defy the
injustice of Agamemnon. Give your armor over to
love. Don’t worry about what you will put on. The
gods will provide. Unfurl your own free flag to April’s
breeze and you may find yourself suddenly at Concord Bridge with a cohort of minutemen able to fire
“the shot heard round the world.”36
Thoreau found freedom at Walden upon “an Achillean shore.”37 Liberation requires a new birth of
freedom in self, society, and economy. Radical ecology begins as locally as a 17-year locust emerging from
apparently dead wood.38 Imagine a 240-year locust.
Take up Thoreau’s American pragmatism. Start now
and confront subjectivity, nature, animals, land, village,
and visitors face-to-face. Thoreau invites us to “travel a
great deal in Concord.” Do take up Walden. The life
and the planet you save are certainly your own.
Walden – Norton Critical Edition,
third edition, p. 219; cited hereafter as
Walden and page number.
1� �
Walden, p. 70
Walden, p. 57
4
Walden, p. 140
5
Walden, p. 143
6
Walden, p. 217
7
Walden, p. 5
8
Walden, p. 128
9
Walden, p. 132
10
Walden, p. 219
11
Walden, p. 219
12
Walden, p. 180
13
Walden, p. 143
14
Walden, p. 69
15 �
Walden, pp. 95, 159
16
Walden, p. 183
17
Walden, p. 125
18
Walden, p. 162
19
Walden, p. 140
20 �
Walden, pp. 5, 60
21
Walden, p. 8
22
Walden, p. 21
23
Walden, p. 140
2
3
Walden, pp. 14, 17,
52, 83
25 �
Plato’s Republic,
518c
26
Walden, p. 140
27
Walden, p. 24
28
Walden, p. 24
29
Walden, p. 162
30 �
Walden, pp. 73-74
31
Walden, p. 162
32
Walden, p. 76
33 �
Walden, p. 200
34 �
“�Civil Disobedience,” p. 235
35
Walden, p. 156
36
�Emerson,
“Concord Hymn”
37
Walden, p. 196
38
Walden, p. 223
24 �
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 19
�HALCYON
20 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�HAVEN
WILL HOLLINGSWORTH
(A08) RECLAIMS A
SPACE OF HIS OWN
B Y PA U L A N O V A S H
On the homepage of the Spotted Owl
Bar’s website is a copy of owner Will
Hollingsworth’s (A08) favorite poem,
“Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas. Hollingsworth
says that the work is “sort of our mission
statement. It’s all there, especially in
those last two lines, ‘Time held me green
and dying, Though I sang in my chains like
the sea.’ It’s being young, but at the same
time, knowing we’re on our way out.”
But while the poet mourns his lost youth,
Hollingsworth is embracing his youth now—
witness the Spotted Owl, which opened in
summer 2014 after three years of planning
that included the thoughtful reclaiming
of a long-vacant, pre-Civil War complex of
buildings in the recently revived Tremont
area of downtown Cleveland.
PHOTOS BY ANDREW WELLS
PORTRAIT OF WILL HOLLINGSWORTH (ABOVE)
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 21
BY HEATHER CAMPBELL
�“�T BOTHERS ME WHEN PEOPLE
I
WANT TO ‘REVITALIZE’ AN AREA BY
TEARING EVERYTHING DOWN.”
A
self-confessed “bar nerd”—Harry
Brownes in Annapolis is a favorite—Hollingsworth envisioned the
Spotted Owl as a neighborhood
pub similar to those in Portland,
Oregon, his hometown. “There are
lots of great restaurants in the area, but there was
no cool bar,” Hollingsworth recalls. “I love bars and
their history. People come to bars to have fun, fight,
fall in love. You can relax and enjoy yourself because
the surroundings say, somebody who’s behind this
really knows what he’s doing.”
Cleveland was a serendipitous choice for Hollingsworth’s foray into business ownership. He was on
a cross-country road trip, taking a breather from
stints at a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C.
and campaigning for candidate Barack Obama, when
he got off the highway and never left. “There’s an
honesty to the culture here that really appealed to
me after working in a political atmosphere,” he says.
He tended bar at two well-known Cleveland restaurants, becoming more immersed in the city and the
people he met. “A bartender can talk about anything
with anyone; a Johnnie is particularly well-suited,”
he says. “You need to be able to make a really great
drink, but also know what’s on today’s sports pages,
where an apartment is coming up for rent and what
regulars might like to be introduced to each other.”
The idea of opening a bar became more tangible
after Hollingsworth became friends with one of his
regulars. “Bars kept coming up in our conversations,
then the conversations turned to meetings. Eventually he said, if you can put numbers to your idea I can
help you go out and find the money.” Hollingsworth
spent the next 11 months developing a business plan
and was fully capitalized by 2012.
Finding the perfect location was next, and when he
walked into the abandoned mid-19th-century building
that had formerly housed the long-defunct Cleveland
College, a Civil War hospital, and a publishing house
that produced religious tracts, among other tenants,
22 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�he knew it was right. “The last time it was occupied
was over seventy-five years ago by an all-female ministry, the Gospel Workers Society,” he recalls. “It had
a dirt floor and old brick and a poured-concrete ceiling—great elements to preserve for an old pub feel.”
The Spotted Owl now is a dark, intimate haven of
tables built of salvaged barn wood and denim-blue
concrete floors, softened by some stained glass and
toile. Hollingsworth calls the style he was going for
“brawny colonial. We used as many of the existing
features as we could. It bothers me when people want
to ‘revitalize’ an area by tearing everything down.”
Although the bar’s been successful since day one,
Hollingsworth is still open to tweaks. “In the first
week we realized our business was ninety percent
specialty cocktails,” he says. “I’m a bar guy, not so
much a cocktail guy—but now I’ve got to figure out
how to own a cocktail bar.” That means in addition
to putting in 16-hour days at the Spotted Owl, Hollingsworth is regularly traveling to New York and
other locations to learn the nuances of original cocktail development (the Spotted Owl’s have names
like “Done & Undone,” “The Sun Came After,” and
“Queen By The Gold On Your Head”).
OPPOSITE:
The bar’s tables
are built of salvaged
barn wood.
TOP : Hollingsworth finds
the perfect location
— an abandoned 19thcentury building.
LEFT:
Beer taps await
their first pour.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 23
�“� ROVIDING A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE CAN
P
ENJOY THEMSELVES AND ENJOY EACH
OTHER IS, I THINK, A NOBLE ENDEAVOR.”
24 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�JOHN LAWN
PHOTO: EDSEL LITTLE / CREATIVE COMMONS
Putting in the work for something you believe in
reflects the sensibility of his adopted city, according
to Hollingsworth. “People in Cleveland believe, one,
you don’t get anything without hard work, and two,
you do what you have to do to survive. It’s a wonderful place, but you really have to it experience it to
understand,” he continues.
He would say the same thing about his years
at St. John’s (three in Santa Fe and senior year in
Annapolis). “I spent four years doing something that
took up all of me,” he explains. “I remember junior
year, when there’s literally not enough hours to do
all the work, so the professors are interested in what
work you choose to do. You decide what you want
and pour yourself into it completely.
“I needed something that’s like that every day,
something that pushes me up against my limits,”
he continues. “I wanted to dedicate my twenties to
something—and providing a place where people can
enjoy themselves and enjoy each other is, I think, a
noble endeavor.”
A cozy nook provides an ideal setting for good conversation.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 25
�JAMEY STILLINGS
Melanie Kirby
(SF 97) hugs a jar
of bees on her farm
in New Mexico.
26 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�JOHNNIE VOICES
BIRTH
OF A
BEEKEEPER
One Social Butterfly’s Metamorphosis
into a Conscious Nectar Nomad
I
by Melanie M. Kirby (SF97)
’ve travelled many a road, in the darkest of nights, serving as
chauffeur to beings of lightness and sweet, migrating with them
as a fellow follower of the bloom. On other starry dappled nights,
I ride as passenger, hearing the hum of the motor and the buzz
of the bees, smelling the scents of warm beeswax and nectar
being fanned to its essential and existential perfection. I hop
in and out of the truck opening and closing gates, allowing the
navigator to slowly ease over bumpy tracks to the distant land
of milk and honey. I latch the gate behind the truck and realize
that here in this darkest of night skies I am helping to carry
tiny embers of pure starlight to their new fragrant pasture.
What am I doing? Transporting queen bees I’ve raised to their new
hives, where they will form the foundation for a group of beings that
ensure the existence and continuation of plant species, and in the
process produce exceptional honey. My business, Zia Queenbees, raises
queen bees, provides beekeepers with starter nuclei and assembled
hive boxes, produces varietal honeys, and offers pollination services and
community education about the wonders of beekeeping.
How did I get here? I recall as a five-year-old wanting to be a nurse.
I was intrigued with the biology of life and with the science that leads
to healing. I wanted to be liked—and I wanted to promote wellness. A
few years later, I wanted to be “interesting” and to become a writer of
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 27
�JOHNNIE VOICES
interesting things. I entertained a career
as an anthropologist, so I could learn how
people in other cultures live, what they strive
to attain in their lives and how they celebrate. It was the celebration and power of
music and dancing that I became intrigued
with next, while at the same time pursuing
the sciences. I had no clue that I would be
able to include all of my childhood interests
into one career path—that of keeping fuzzy
insects for my livelihood.
Now, close to two decades after the bees
found me, I feel a little more “interesting”
—enough to write. After travelling the globe
from farms to forest lands, following the
bloom from flower to flower and from hive
to hive, I recognize the pieces of my life’s
puzzle. And, so, today I am a professional
apiculturist, one who keeps bees. I am a
specialist. I am a queen honeybee breeder.
The heart of the hive rests with the queen,
and in selecting and following Mother
Nature’s lead, I help to nurse hives; by doing
so, I immerse myself in their culture and feel
their musical vibrations.
Keeping bees is very different from “having” bees. In order to keep bees, one has to
constantly learn from the natural and manmade forces and their interactions. Synergy
is the interaction of individual conditions
that yields an effect greater than the sum
of the individual effects. The interactions
between a bee and its environment, between
its colony and their environment, are everchanging. Mother Nature’s dynamic interface requires the ability to adapt and the
ability to relate to more than one stimulus.
The bees rely on the natural and supplemental forage that surrounds them. They are
at the mercy of the elements. Their importance to plants is profound. Also known as
the “winged angels of agriculture,” their
efforts help to produce more than ninety
percent of all food. As Hippocrates claimed,
I
had no clue that I would
be able to include all of
my childhood interests
into one career path—
that of keeping fuzzy
insects for my livelihood.”
Kirby inspects a hive of honeybees.
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine
thy food.” Seventy percent of all cures are
derived from plants, and it is this connection between horticulture and medicine that
keeps the bees, and man, healthy.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of
my small bee farm, which is nestled where
the Santa Fe, Carson, and Pecos National
28 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
Forests “kiss.” The idea for the farm developed out of a love of books. When I met my
partner Mark Spitzig (who runs Superior
Honey Farms in Michigan now) while working
at a bee farm in Florida, we started eating
dinner together with a dessert of heated discussions about Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
Books fostered our conversations, and it was
�through books that we came to learn about
each other and our passion for bees. Books
and their musings inspired us to discuss. And
books inspired us to plan and to act.
Books encouraged us to dream, to become
inspired, to visualize and then manifest.
How can learning to learn inspire others and
inspire a sense of preservation and, thus,
sustainability? It is in thinking that we create. Creating is the reflection of what Mother
Nature and Father Time have been molding
us to do since time immemorial. It is this,
and this alone, that moves the cosmos.
We see it reflected again and again, in the
writings of Plato in the Meno: what is the
bee? Is the bee a bee or is it a bee because
it is part of a collective hive mind? Can a bee
be a bee without his hive mind? And, does
the hive exist apart from its bees? What, we
daresay, what IS it? And WHO are we?
I’ve had a few epiphanies over the years,
nothing short of miraculous for me as I am
rather high-strung, scarcely slowing down
to eat and sleep. It is my creative mind that
I struggle to rein in on occasion. It takes
me through the honeycombed labyrinths of
reality. Yet, I find the calm when I am truly
in the honeycombs, kneeling in the apiary.
This calm is pervasive. You can hear it humming its maternal frequency. You can smell
its sweetness and you can see its
majesty. And it beckons you to preserve it.
These sensory experiences appeal to my
thoughts, allowing me to reconnect with the
exquisiteness of life and strive for a glimpse
of origin. I did not know that beekeeping
would become the professional and personal
declaration for me that it has. I attribute
that to my experiences as a student at St.
John’s, learning to learn and wanting to
learn. Wanting to learn has everything to
do with manifestation. It is humbling to recognize that what one thinks, one sees—and
what one does, one makes real.
My beekeeping journey began 19 years
ago; it has been exhilarating. My vida loca
has me travelling the speed of light in
thought between the micro and macrocosmic perspectives as I follow the bloom from
season to season. My life as a nectar nomad
has fed me both in body and in mind. I see
the bee. I AM the bee.
I see her working: visiting each blossom,
sensing its perfumes, collecting its pollen
and starlit nectar, and then returning home
to transform these energy particles into
more decorated entities of light and sweetness. It is that light, that sweet light, at the
core of it all. It emanates from the source,
radiating down from the heavens, shining
A
The scent of nectar wafts from hive boxes.
fter travelling the globe from
farms to forest lands, following the bloom from flower
to flower and from hive to
hive, I recognize the pieces
of my life’s puzzle.”
down on a lonely planet. This lonely planet
then absorbs light and is inspired to grow
beings of light, beings that transform it into
sweet and fragrant nectars. Other beings
of light help transfer the glow, serving as
midwives and pollinators, helping to deliver
fruit full of this light energy, nourishing
our minds and our bodies. From stardust
to stardust, it is we who help to create the
environment in which we exist.
About the Author: Melanie Margarita
Kirby has followed the bloom with her
bees to South America, North America,
Eastern Europe, the Pacific Islands
and the Caribbean. She will venture
to the Mediterranean this fall to visit
French queen honeybee breeders in
Normandy. She also serves as the
editor of Kelley Beekeeping monthly
online newsletter, with more than
40,000 subscribers. To learn about her
farm, visit www.ziaqueenbees.com.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 29
�BIBLIOFILE
EVA BRANN
Reading
Comprehension
“�Comprehension
works by circumspection, by looking
around a being’s
outer limits, its
borderlands.”
T
his slim volume, Then and Now: The World’s
Center and the Soul’s Demesne (Paul Dry
Book, 2015), comprehends two essays: one on
Herodotus and one on “imaginative conservatism.” I use the slightly odd, and possibly ungrammatical, locution “comprehends” because it seems
that this idea—“comprehending”—unites the work. “To
comprehend” does not, on Annapolis tutor Eva Brann’s
(H89) telling, merely mean “to understand.” Comprehenders, as she might dub them, do understand, but,
more importantly, these comprehenders demonstrate
a particular form of mindedness—the form offered in
Herodotus’ History and the form that the “imaginative
conservative” would do well to cultivate.
The special form of understanding that is comprehension does not work by heading straight to the
center of things. Comprehension works by circumspection, by looking around
a being’s outer limits, its
borderlands. Rather than
grasping hold of an inner
essence, comprehension
“allows what a thing is
to coalesce out of what
it is not.” That thing, for
Herodotus, “Greek being”
and that out of which it
coalesces, are barbarian
mores. And so in pursuit
of Greekness, Herodotus,
the comprehender, must
necessarily visit and
delineate the “environing
Barbarians, both because they are wonderful in themselves and because it is in opposition to them that the
thus pin-pointed Greeks are to be defined.” And here is
where comprehension becomes quite a delicate matter.
Greek being is not simply the opposite of barbarian
being. It rather coalesces out of these others—out of
Egyptians who revere for domestic cats, Persians who
revere most natural forces, and Scythians who have
not much use for the divine.
But just what coalesces out of this motley?
Herodotus does not always say, leaving the reader a
fair bit of work. But I imagine Herodotus would have
nodded approvingly at this, Brann’s description of the
Greeks’ relationship to the divine: “For all the art their
anthropomorphic gods elicit, the Greeks are more
natural by far than the Egyptians and indeed than
30 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
most barbarians, since it takes worldliness for humans
to become natural; hide-bound tribalism tends to be
artifice-ridden. The alien veneration of animals, and by
contrast, their own beautiful anthropomorphic gods
must bring home to Greeks their proper integration
into a natural cosmos, a well-ordered world in which
humans do not worship lower species, but live in a
continuity of appearance and in a great chain of being
with the higher orders.” These remarks show what a
majestic mode of mindfulness comprehending is. While
the fraternal twin, the apprehender, goes straight to
the heart of things, what care and attention must the
comprehender bring to such a great swath of being!
And what nobility does this, in turn, bestow upon barbarian practices? For what glory is there in coalescing
out of a stew of savagery and insignificance?
But is there reason to think, as the book’s second
essay claims, that comprehending is a mode of mindedness that ought specifically appeal to conservatives?
Perhaps so, if Brann is right to describe conservatives as “not famous for tolerance.” For if this is the
case, “So much the more ought they, in their proper
thoughtful mode, gain a reputation for inclusiveness
more deeply grounded than in the unreliable vagaries
of mere putting up with each other, called ‘tolerance.’”
Herodotus did not put up with Egyptians, Persians,
or Scythians. He comprehended them. Such comprehending might help conservatives do what they
are—etymologically, we might say—called to do: “to
keep safe” that which is worthy of safekeeping. This
strikes me as persuasive, but I see no reason to limit
it to imaginative conservatives. Those who are famous
for tolerance might steel their thin, bloodless version
with Brann’s reminder that “the confines of what I
positively approve are equally the limits of its negative
complement: the latter therefore cooperates in the
definition of the former and is thus a necessary aspect
of all positive being.”
Brann identifies other aspects of imaginative conservatism, walking around its borders and recording
what she sees: a bias against the future, a disposition
to feel awe in the face of faith, a populism based on
friendship and difference, a protectiveness of what is
of slow growth and has endured. Her borderlands are
less wild than Herodotus’, but her little book can honorably stand next to his big one, two authors speaking
to one another with deep, and mutual, comprehension.
—Brendan Boyle
�Artful Rainwater Design: Creative
Ways to Manage Stormwater
By Stuart Echols and Eliza Pennypacker (A79)
Island Press, 2015
In their new book, Artful Rainwater Design: Creative
Ways to Manage Stormwater, Stuart Echols and
Eliza Pennypacker (A79), faculty members at Penn
State’s Department of Landscape Architecture, rethink
traditional stormwater treatment systems and offer
innovative solutions for managing heavy rainwater
and the runoff in ways that are valuable and beautiful.
From the book’s opening pages, readers are reminded
that rain is a resource, not a waste product. Artful
Downstream: Reflections on
Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the
Waters of Appalachia
By David L. O’Hara (SFGI00) and Matthew T. Dickerson
Cascade Books, 2014
David L. O’Hara (SFGI00), an associate professor of
philosophy and the classics at Augustana College in
South Dakota, has co-written a collection of meditative narrative essays on fly fishing. His chapters are
interspersed with chapters by his friend Matthew
Dickerson, a professor at Middlebury College. In each
chapter, O’Hara and Dickerson fish—alone, together,
Money Trees: The Douglas Fir and
American Forestry, 1900–1944
By Emily K. Brock (A94)
Oregon State University Press, 2015
This scholarly work is a thorough interdisciplinary history of forestry in the Pacific Northwest and a significant contribution to environmental studies. Foresters
did not necessarily consider their work ecological, but
they did consider themselves to be scientists. Emily
Brock (A94), a research scholar at Germany’s Max
Planck Institute for the History of Science, considers
Rainwater Design (ARD), a term coined by Echols in
2005, describes an approach to sustainable stormwater management in which the management system is
designed as a landscape amenity. Building on a decade
of research, this comprehensive guide explores methods to design creative yet practical landscapes that
treat on-site rainwater management as an opportunity
to enhance site design through education, recreation,
safety, public relations, or aesthetic appeal. The book
also highlights techniques for ecologically sustainable rainwater management and features diverse case
studies that illustrate how landscape designers and
engineers throughout the country are implementing
principles of ARD.
or with friends and family—as well as hike and camp
throughout Appalachia. The fishermen seek brook
trout, the famous native fish of the rivers and streams
in the Appalachian Mountains. The stories they tell
are reminiscent of the evocative fishing scenes in Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It but include
information about history, geography, water politics,
and conservation that is skillfully woven into inviting,
voice-driven prose. Downstream features a forward
by Nick Lyons, a renowned fly fisherman and founder
of Lyons Press, and an afterward by Bill McKibben, a
writer and environmentalist who won the 2014 Right
Livelihood Award.
their work in the context of the biological sciences as
well as through the lens of American political and economic processes, including the New Deal, which was
a time of turmoil for foresters due to the ravages of
the Great Depression and changes in federal land and
resource management. Brock also explores how foresters became involved in the lumber industry during the
early 1940s, as logging companies started to consider
the long-term health of forests—a move that distanced
forestry from its origins in nature and turned it into a
means for corporations to gain the approval of Americans concerned about deforestation.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 31
�For & About
ALUMNI
VIRTUAL CHAPTER
SEMINARS
Hungry for good conversation?
Enter the St. John’s Virtual
Chapter seminars. Open to alumni
in search of a serious discussion
about a difficult reading, this fall’s
Virtual Chapter seminars, led by
St. John’s tutors, will explore such
works as Plato’s Gorgias, Dante’s
Inferno, and Shakespeare’s The
Tempest, among others.
Seminars, which use the online
conference program ZoomUS,
will be held on Sundays at 4 p.m.
EST. To participate, all you need
is a computer with a webcam
(iPads work, too).
Honoring Outstanding Alumni
At the annual Alumni Leadership
Forum (ALF) Awards Banquet,
alumni are recognized for leadership and volunteerism with the
Alumni Association’s Volunteer
Service Awards (or ALFies). In
June on the Santa Fe campus, a
dozen Johnnies received ALFies.
“The Awards Committee received
so many nominations this year
that it was really hard to select
twelve winners,” says Lee Katherine Goldstein (SFGI90), who steps
down this year from the Alumni
Association Board.
Recognized for their work with
alumni chapters, Paul Frank
(SF82) has organized chapter
events and held leadership positions in the Chicago Chapter
since the early ’80s, while Harry
Zolkower (A82) and Nicole Levy
(SF92) developed Virtual Alumni
Chapter seminars. For several
years, Larry Davis (SFGI87) has
helped the Austin/San Antonio
Chapter donate a complete set
of the Encyclopedia Britannica
Great Books of the Western World
to a first or second year student
from Texas.
Rachel Dudik (A02), Juniper
Lavato (SFGI13), and Sabina
Sulat (A87) received ALFies for
their work with Career Services.
Dudik established summer
internships and participated
on Career Services panels, and
Lavato established a “Guest
Program” at the Santa Fe Institute for current students. Sulat
helped coordinate both the first
alumni career services webinar
and other networking events.
Cindy Lutz (A98), Nick Gazzolo
(A93), Amy Hoffman Parakkat (A93), and Barbara McClay
(A12) received ALFies for their
work online. Lutz identified (and
engaged others to help identify)
significant errors (typos, dead
links, etc.) on the college’s new
website in the weeks after it was
launched. Gazzolo and Parakkat
established the Johnnie Quote
Facebook page, and McClay conducted an alumni interview series
on the student blog Johnnie Chair.
32 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
Perhaps the most emotional
ALFie of the evening, though,
went to Annette Prapasiri
(SF04), recognized for her efforts
with engaging other members of
the Class of 2004 to complete the
Armillary Sphere Project. The
senior legacy project resulted
in one of the highest class
giving rates. A tearful Prapasiri
thanked her fellow classmates
and project leaders, adding that
the project demonstrated the
impact that St. John’s had on her
class and the legacy they wished
to leave future Johnnies.
Finally, Lee Katharine Goldstein (SFGI90) received her own
personalized Johnnie Chair in
honor of her years of outstanding
service to the Alumni Association.
With roaring applause, the award
was the perfect way to cap off the
alumni celebration.
—-Babak Zarin (A11)
To reserve your seat at the table
for any or all of these seminars,
please contact Annapolis Alumni
Director Leo Pickens at
leo.pickens@sjc.edu.
October 4:
Genesis 25:19-50:24
(Stories of Jacob and Joseph),
led by Sam Kutler
November 8:
Plato’s Gorgias
December 13:
Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus
January 10:
Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics,
Book II (1103a-1110a) & Book VI
(1138 b-1145a).
February 7:
Dante’s Inferno,
Cantos 32, 33 & 34,
led by Joe MacFarland
March 13:
Descartes’ Discourse on Method
April 3:
Hegel’s Preface to
Phenomenology of Spirit
May 1:
Shakespeare’s The Tempest
�ADRIAN TREVISAN (A84)
Alumni Association Board President
“� ’m excited to be leading the Alumni Association as we
I
work with St. John’s staff on both campuses to create
new ways to strengthen the Johnnie community and
support the college. By developing local events focused
on admissions, career services, giving, and whatever
else people think of in addition to the traditional alumni
seminars, we hope to attract Johnnies of all interests,
broaden local alumni leadership, and create a more
vibrant alumni community.”
Please welcome the new
leadership of the Alumni
Association, serving in the
following capacities:
OFFICERS
Adrian Trevisan (A84), President
Tia Pausic (A86), President-elect,
Nominating Committee
Phelosha Collaros (SF00), PastPresident, Awards Committee
David Pex (SF77), Treasurer
Susann Bradford (SF89),
Secretary
A New Direction for the SJCAA
A record-breaking number
of alumni joined the Alumni
Association Board at the Alumni
Leadership Forum held in
Santa Fe, June 4-7, to discuss
the Association’s progress in
engaging alumni and supporting
the college. After reviewing the
November 2014 Alumni Survey
and accomplishments in the
2013-2015 Strategic Plan, the
board and alumni concluded that
the 2015-2017 strategic planning
process should focus on alumni
engagement at the local level.
Alumni survey results show that
while 60% of respondents want
their chapter to include seminars
among the activities it offers,
chapters still need to offer other
kinds of activities to attract the
remaining 40% of alumni. Other
activities receiving high marks
were social activities, helping
with admissions, and (especially
among younger alumni) career
services. (The survey report
can be found at: http://community.stjohnscollege.edu/aarecords/2014-alumni-survey)
With these facts in mind, alumni
participants suggested the following ideas for the board and
chapters to consider:
Local Chapter Activities
Chapters/local alumni should put
thought and effort into engaging
recent graduates by developing
a variety of activities to appeal
to a wide range of ages and the
different interests, and financial
capabilities. that these represent.
Not all alumni will want to participate in all events, and chapters
may want to consider collective
leadership to allow multiple meetings each month. Some recent
examples of chapter activities
include:
• � win Cities pop-up or flash
T
seminar on Obergefell scheduled
after the SCOTUS decision on
marriage equality
• � anta Fe’s fundraising hike for
S
the Hallie Leighton Fund
• � hicago’s picnic in Millennium
C
Park with the Grant Park
Orchestra
DIRECTORS AT LARGE
(listed by working group)
Board Leadership
for Local Activities
The Association should define
clear roles for alumni in the
field, both within a chapter and
individually; the Association
should then develop tools and
a guidebook to roll these out to
alumni.
Fundraising
Make clear that small donations
are welcomed—fundraising communications to alumni should
emphasize that any amount is welcomed, and specifically that a high
participation rate is very desirable,
regardless of amount.
The board will prepare a new
strategic plan focused on alumni
engagement at the local level.
If you would like to contribute
ideas to the plan, or volunteer
for a working group, contact your
local chapter leader. If you don’t
know who that is, look them up
via IntroMaps or www.sjc.edu.
Admissions
Anne Fenton (SFGI07)
Joao Santa-Rita (A09)
Alumni Giving Council
Merry Peckham (SF07)
Heather Upshaw (SF04)
Alumni Leadership Forum
Brenna Strauss (SF04)
Babak Zarin (A11)
Career Services
Sabina Sulat (A87)
Chapters and Regional Events
Elihu Dietz (SF06)
Carol Freeman (AGI94)
Strategic Communications
Aaron MacLean (A03)
Student Engagement
Briana Henderson Saussy
(A03, EC05)
Ex-Officio: Sarah Palacios (Director
of Alumni Relations, Santa Fe)
Director Emeritus:
Allan Hoffman (Class of 1949)
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 33
�ALUMNI NOTES
1955
After 50 years of conducting,
Harold Bauer (A) is mostly retired
from the world of music and has
taken a keen interest in oil painting. As president of the Evanston
Lighthouse Rotary Club, he
became active in international
service as well as serving his
local community. He and his wife,
Karen, hope to do some serious
traveling in the years ahead.
1982
Inspirational Orchids
1963
William (A) and Jessica Hoffmann
Davis (Class of 1965) are retired
from Credit Suisse and Harvard,
respectively, and are now spending
most days along Squam Lake in
New Hampshire, where Jessica
writes books on the arts in education and plays that are performed
at the local theater. The couple
celebrated their 50th wedding
anniversary in Boston.
1965
Allenna Dungan Leonard (A)
received the Warren McCulloch
Award of the American Society
for Cybernetics, given for lifelong
contributions to the nurturing of cybernetics, at the ASC
50th Anniversary Conference in
August 2014.
1966
Rod Roderick (A) writes that he
was a freshman twice, once in
1962, when he left for “unrequited
love,” and then again two years
later, when he returned at the
invitation of admissions director
James Tolbert. In the meantime,
he had worked for the Hunt
Brothers Royal Traveling Circus,
worked in New York City as a
Julie von Erffa (SF) writes, “I was
in the pioneer class that started
in 1964. There were 81 of us,
though only 18 actually graduated, and I made some lasting
friends. St. John’s prepared me for
acupuncture school. The slant of
the foreign language and concepts
made the transition familiar. I
have been practicing acupuncture
with Chinese herbal remedies
since 1995 and facilitate hypnotherapy sessions. I have stayed in
New Mexico since graduating from
St. John’s and have four daughters, one grandchild, and another
one coming.”
Rick Wicks (SF) spent 34
adventure-filled days in the
Caribbean exploring Puerto Rico,
the Dominican Republic, Haiti,
Jamaica, and Cuba.
1969
1964
Cecily Sharp-Whitehill (A) began
her second year as a Purpose
Discovery Coach at Alliance4Discovery Coaching in Florida. She
can be reached on IntroMaps,
Facebook, and LinkedIn, or at
941-350-9626.
contains a veiled message for
those whom Castiglione describes
as “judicious readers.”
Don Dennis (SF) is living on a small island off the west
coast of Scotland, where his wife is a dairy farmer.
He grows and photographs orchids, and makes flower
essences with them. “The orchids are giving me a
spur to investigate the topography of the (Bohemian)
Implicate Order in relation to Consciousness,” he writes.
“Discussions of Plato around the SJC tables come to mind
in this endeavor. If you are ever near the Isle of Gigha,
please stop in to say hello.”
delivery boy at Bellevue Hospital,
and been a show page at ABC and
a copy boy for the Courier Post in
New Jersey. He left the college
again in 1964, when, he says, “I
got a job with an ad agency and
became a successful Madman. Life
is wonderfully peculiar!”
1967
Lovejoy Reeves Duryea (A) and
her husband have bought a condo
in West Palm Beach. She plans
to spend winters there, away
34 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
from NYC. She is also painting
and playing croquet and recently
competed with a much younger
Johnnie at the Merion Cricket
Club’s fall tournament.
1968
Randall Albury’s (A) book Castiglione’s Allegory: Veiled Policy in
“The Book of the Courtier (1528)”
was published by Ashgate in
2014. This new study shows that
Baldassare Castiglione’s dialogue
about life at a Renaissance court
Retired from her job in the Office
of Public Affairs at Yale, Dorie
Brodie Baker (A) became a certified master gardener and went to
Venice for the first time. She is
still married to her husband of 44
years and has two grandsons.
Barbara Mordes (A) sends her
thanks for an outstanding Class
of 1969 homecoming in Annapolis. “I will treasure the memory
of our 45th homecoming,” she
writes. “Every minute was exciting! The campus, though getting
more buildings, is still very
beautiful, more so with all the
memories that fill its corners.”
She joined the nominating committee for The Screen Actors
Guild and plans to move with her
husband, John, from Los Angeles
to Palm Coast, Fla.
1970
Benjamin Barney (SF) reports that
he is well and living in Lukachukai, Ariz., near Canyon del Chelly,
in the heart of the Navajo Nation.
He is interested in reconnecting
�with his classmates or anyone
affiliated with the college.
On a recent visit to Greece, John
Dean (A) was once again baffled
and inspired by the wide, deep,
universal range of its first three
millennia of communications.
“Such a sense of place,” he writes.
“It encapsulates Mediterranean
light. It occupies a spiritual place
that generously includes many
gods and not a limited monotheism. It has moral grooming
adorned with independence and
frankness. Without the engagement which our first year readings
at St. John’s gave, I wouldn’t know
how to begin to go and get what’s
there, for which one remains
grateful.”
E. M. Macierowski (A) delivered
a paper in November 2014 at a
conference in Toru, Poland, “Truth
in Democracies: A Case Study
on Population Policy,” as part of
the VIIth International Congress “Catholics and the Truth:
Opportunities and Threats” at
the College of Social and Media
Culture, Catholic University of
Culture. A copy of the conference
program is available at www.
wsksim.edu. In May 2015, he
was invited to participate in the
Woroniecki Memorial Lecture
Series at the John Paul II Catholic
University of Lublin on the theme
of atheism and justice.
1972
Michael Green (A) and his wife,
Polly, have retired and left
Southern California for Annapolis
in order to be near their children
and family. He would be glad
to hear from fellow Johnnies at
michaelkevingreen@gmail.com.
1973
Michael Aaron (SF) reports that he
and his partner, Danusha, have
become grandparents for the first
time. He is still working for IBM
and considering retirement. They
invite their St. John’s friends to
come and visit them in Sydney.
Ellen Veden’s (SFGI77) artwork Mapleton Road Bridge was on view at the Trenton City Museum.
After working in South America,
Asia, Europe, and Africa, Anne
Ray (SF) has returned to Santa
Fe, where she is teaching full time
at Mandela International, a new
public IB school. She is still doing
ceramics and writing her third
book and first work of fiction. Her
eldest daughter, Heather Sherwin
(SF03), is completing her residency in emergency medicine.
Peter Squitieri (A) received his
B.A. from St. John’s College at the
2015 commencement exercises.
1974
After graduation, Eva Virginia
(McKemie) Greene (A) worked as
a copy editor for The Jerusalem
Post while learning Hebrew, and
then taught at Eilat Conservatory of Music in Israel. She and
her future husband, Dr. Bradford
Greene, returned to the States in
the 1980s and worked in Washing-
ton, D.C. for the next two decades.
In 2007, she resigned from the
Inter-American Development
Bank and moved to Vermont,
where she and her family have
lived for the past eight years. She
currently serves as a musician for
Brattleboro’s Unitarian Church
and works part time as a recreation therapist.
recommend it to anyone as a
way of getting to know the White
Mountains better. My husband,
John Jolles (SF75), and I are active
members of the local Kiwanis
Club, and John continues to work
as a contractor. It was great to
get together with other members
of the Santa Fe Class of ’74 last
September.”
Mary (Geoghegan) Jolles (SF)
writes, “Three years ago I retired
from school administration to
escape from stress but have continued to work part time for the
Colebrook, N.H. School District as
an administrative assistant. My
tasks include writing grants and
organizing school activities and
events, as well as publishing the
monthly school newsletter. Hiking
has been my passion since 2009,
and in 2013 I finished hiking the
forty-eight four thousand-footers
of the White Mountains. This
was a great experience and I
1975
Eric Scigliano (SF) writes, “I’m now
in my fourth decade in Seattle,
and as befits the locale, getting
more involved in marine science
and environmental work. After cowriting the book Flotsametrics (on,
no kidding, flotsam oceanography)
and a report evaluating responses
to ocean acidification in connection
with a Washington State blue-ribbon panel on same, I’m working as
the science writer/editor at Washington Sea Grant, a NOAA-funded
research and education program
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�ALUMNI NOTES
at the University of Washington.
I’m also writing several chapters
for a forthcoming book on Pacific
Coast marine protected areas and
joining in occasional kayak-borne
“Pumpout Pirate” missions to help
boaters keep their wastes out of
the waters. When I can, I write for
Crosscut.com, the public-media
regional news site where I was
formerly an editor. I still love the
hiking as well as paddling here
but miss the Sangre de Cristo.”
1977
Walter Featherly (SF) moved to
the law firm of Holland & Knight.
He would love to hear from any
Johnnies living in Anchorage or
traveling through.
After 10 years at the helm of the
American Sleep Apnea Association
and nearly a year of “fun-employment,” Edward Grandi (A) was hired
in February to be the executive
director of the National Genealogical Society. “While I will have
a continuing interest in the field
of sleep medicine and health in
general, I am looking forward to
contributing my administrative
skills to this one hundred-twelveyear-old organization,” says Grandi,
who still lives in D.C. and enjoys
alumni chapter events there.
Ellen Veden (SFGI) writes, “The
Central New Jersey St. John’s
Alumni Chapter is off and running
thanks to the efforts of Adrian Trevisan (A84) and Jerome Dausman
(A11), the new chapter chair. The
group was given a tour of the
Trenton City Museum’s Ellerslie
Open 32 juried exhibit by Brenda
Springsted, wife of Eric Springsted (SF73), followed by a picnic
at their lovely home in Trenton.
What made it special for me was
that my artwork was chosen to be
exhibited in this juried show.”
1978
After receiving his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from McMaster
University, Canada, in 1983,
Ossama Abul-Haggag (SFGI) went
Ossama Abdul-Haggag (SFGI78)
poses with his wife in Egypt.
to Egypt, where he is currently a
professor of electrical engineering.
“The study of the philosophy of
science as viewed by the ancient
scientists and philosophers has
provided me with motivation and
insight into my research,” writes
Abdul-Haggag, who is married
with two children.
1979
Blake Kline (A) became a grandfather for the first time on April 13
with the birth of Gabriela Joyce
Pedroza-Kline.
Miyoko Schinner’s (A) fourth
cookbook, The Homemade Vegan
Pantry, the Art of Making Your
Own Staples (Random House/
Ten Speed Press), is now available. She is the founder/CEO
of Miyoko’s Kitchen, makers
of artisan vegan cheese, which
was launched in September. Her
youngest daughter is a sophomore
at the Santa Fe campus.
Lisa Simeone (A), writes, “I
continue to love living in Charm
City, riots or no riots. I participated in several demonstrations
in support of Freddie Gray and
the many other people in this city
brutalized by police violence. At
one of those demonstrations, by
the way, we marched together
36 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
with the police. I’m just enough
busy with freelance work (World
of Opera, Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, Style Magazine), in
addition to volunteer work with
Single Carrot Theatre, Homewood
House Museum, and Baltimore
Heritage. I’m a volunteer docent
with the latter two, so if you’re
ever in town, let me know and I’ll
give you a tour! I love showing off
this beautiful, quirky, one-of-akind city. When I’m not out and
about, I’m blissfully sitting on
our screened-in porch, reading,
writing, and rabble-rousing.
I’m in touch with other Johnnies regularly and often see
Bruce Babij (A) and family, who
live nearby. Looking forward to
Alumni Weekend to be with my
classmates from the Class of ’80,
the one I joined after I took a year
off. Last year’s was so much fun,
I can’t wait!”
1980
Peter Grubb (A) and his wife,
Betsy, built and operate River
Dance Lodge, an adventure resort
in central Idaho. For the past 16
years he has served on the board
of Idaho Rivers United, Idaho’s
statewide river conservation
organization. He also served four
years on the board of Spokane’s
Center for Justice, an advocacy
organization for those without a
voice in the justice system. He still
loves reading, particularly about
natural and cultural history, and
would love to connect with Johnnies via Facebook or in person in
northern Idaho.
1981
Andrew White (A) will publish his
first book, Performing Orthodox Ritual in Byzantium, with
Cambridge University Press. A
longtime theatre artist and critic
on the Washington, D.C. theatre
scene, he received a Ph.D. in
theatre history, theory, and criticism from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has become
an expert on the performing arts
of Byzantium, the Greek-speaking
Roman Empire. In addition to
translations of key Greek texts
from Late Antiquity and the
Middle Ages, he is developing a
repertory translation combining
key plays of Euripides with the
text of the Christos Paschon. He
currently serves as adjunct faculty
in humanities with Stratford University in Woodbridge, Va.
1983
Jim Bailey’s (A) new novel The
End of Healing (The Healthy
City, 2015) chronicles a young
physician’s discovery of every
level of Dante’s hell in the world
of modern medicine. In January
he spoke at the University of
Memphis on “The End of Healing:
Telling the Truth about American
Healthcare through Fiction.”
Bailey writes, “The End of Healing
is already being used for medical
sociology and health policy courses
at four colleges and universities.
Because the book is of particular
interest to students interested
in the classics and their application to the most pressing social
and political problems of today,
it should interest Johnnies. My
inspiration for writing The End
of Healing came from the Divine
Comedy in large measure. I followed that inspiration to Florence,
Italy—Dante’s hometown—for a
sabbatical 10 years ago. That is
where I began writing The End of
[continued on page 38]
�PROFILE
BIOLOGICAL PURSUITS
By Robin Weiss
Cara Gormally (A02)
Advocates Science Literacy
C
ara Gormally (A02), a biology professor at Gallaudet
University in Washington, D.C., relished the importance
of intellectual community even as a child. Up to age
eleven, while the family frequently moved for her father’s
job, she displayed a knack for easing her way into schools
and friendships in five states. Back then, science was not her thing.
During high school in Milford, Connecticut, calculus, biology, physics,
and chemistry “never really captured my attention,” she recalls. Now,
acknowledgment of her former negative “science baggage” fuels her
enthusiasm for teaching non-science majors, as well as her research
in science education.
Freshman Lab at St. John’s triggered Gormally’s passion for biology.
“Without PowerPoint or giant lecture halls, you’re engaged with the
reading, with the works themselves,” she says. The creativity of experimentation, “always asking questions,” inspired a hunger for science that
led to a Hodson Internship the summer before senior year. In a neuroscience lab at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences
(USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland, Gormally’s doubts emerged about neuroscience as a career. Staying inside all day, “stuck under a microscope,
sacrificing mice,” was hardly an appealing vision of her future.
In contrast, during her senior year, engaged in botanical lab and fieldwork with now retired tutor Nick Maistrellis (H14), she suffered from
too much fun. “I loved being outside,” she remembers, but she worried
that ecology and environmental fieldwork were not serious. Gormally
paraphrases Maistrellis’s question from that time: “Why would you want
to spend your days doing something that isn’t fun, that you don’t enjoy?”
After graduation, Gormally worked part-time in a different lab at
USUHS, took classes, and then moved to a plant biology lab at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “Nick Maistrellis was right,” she
decided. “Why wouldn’t I go do something I really enjoy?”
Two powerful mentors, Maistrellis and tutor Kathy Blits, raised her
search standards as she chose a graduate program in plant biology and
ecology. In 2004, beginning a doctorate at the University of Georgia’s
plant biology department, she joined an academic community where her
growing wonder for plant biology and science education could thrive.
Having earned her Ph.D. in 2010, Gormally taught briefly at Georgia
Tech. While engaged in ecological fieldwork in botanical gardens, she and
her students explored the effects of invasive plant species on a habitat.
During her interview for a tenured professorship at Gallaudet, which
serves deaf and hard of hearing students, she felt a connection with
her future colleagues. Attracted to the collaboration among faculty, she
sensed a strong caring about students, which she had also felt during her
St. John’s experience. Despite her Ph.D., she “knew virtually nothing” in
her first semester, she states. Learning from scratch, Gormally immersed
herself in American Sign Language and a new culture. Her colleagues’ patience and encouragement helped enormously with this challenging leap.
She continues to be grateful for “people’s willingness to bring me into
the community and to teach me.” Of the classroom interpreters, she says,
“They’re not there for one person; they’re there for everybody,” acting as
a bridge for communication. Instead of lectures, she encourages smallgroup activities; clusters of students work through biological problems.
After two years of teaching, she declares, “I’m not fluent. But I feel
comfortable signing for myself.”
“� hy would you want to spend
W
your days doing something that
isn’t fun, that you don’t enjoy?”
Her current research in biology education involves promoting science
literacy. She explores strategies that support teaching assistant and
faculty development, and researches students’ attitudes toward science
to improve learning for non-science majors. Gormally’s fascination with
what she calls “perspective shifts” spurs recent collaborative work on
mentoring, aiming to increase student participation from underrepresented populations.
In her senior essay at St. John’s, Gormally wrote about Franz Kafka’s
Metamorphosis. “Gregor wakes up one morning and finds out he’s this
giant cockroach, or some sort of insect,” she says. Her own surprising
transitions have been “all about shifting perspectives.”
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 37
�ALUMNI NOTES
[continued from page 36]
Healing and discovered just how
good an allegory The Comedy offers
for modern healthcare. So, this
story could be a helpful example
of how the great books can inspire
and guide us in today’s world.”
2002
NAVIGATING THE STARS
1984
Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga (A) coauthored the book Public Purpose
in International Law: Rethinking
Regulatory Sovereignty in the
Global Era (Cambridge University Press, 2015). He notes that
the book “explores how the public
purpose doctrine reconciles the
often conflicting, but equally
binding, obligations that states
have to engage in regulatory
sovereignty while honoring hoststate obligations to protect foreign
investment.” Martinez-Fraga has
published five books on public and
private international law; two of
his works have been translated
into Mandarin by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
David Prosper (SF) writes, “Several years ago I escaped from working for a sim-racing startup
and now work full-time as an astronomy educator at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
My main projects are in support of the NASA Night Sky Network, a program devoted to helping
amateur astronomy clubs show the night skies to the public. I am also the program director
for the Eastbay Astronomical Society at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland,
California, and sometimes I even get paid to give tours of the night sky!” His new co-authored
book, The Total Sky-Watcher’s Manual, was published by Weldon-Owen Publishing in 2015.
Mark Niedermier (A) moved back to
Minnesota where he is now head
of school at Many Rivers Montessori in Duluth. He also became a
trained civil mediator and is doing
alternative dispute resolution in
the county court system.
1986
Douglas Gentile’s (A) third book,
Media Violence and Children:
A Complete Guide for Parents
and Professionals (Praeger, 2nd
Edition, 2014) is now available on
Amazon and at www.abc-clio.com/
Praeger.aspx. Gentile is an associate professor of psychology at Iowa
State University.
John Newell (A) has discovered
a new type of probability that is
based on directional similarity.
The probabilities provide a way
to understand quantum entanglement and violations of Bell’s
inequality. Find out more at www.
hellos.com/physics.
38 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
1987
Charlotte Glover (SF) reports that
she survived her first year as a
business owner in fine style. Her
store, Parnassus Books and Gifts,
has thrived in downtown Ketchikan, Alaska for 30 years thanks
to supportive locals and loads of
cruise ship passengers who want
books about all things Alaskan.
Visit her store on Facebook as
“Parnassus Books in Ketchikan.”
Several classmates have called
in book orders, which she says is
“much appreciated and a welcome
blast from the past.”
1988
After teaching for five years at
Title One middle schools, Claudia
(Probst) Stack (A) is currently
working full-time on her new film
about sharecropping.
�1989
Beth Heinberg (A) is wrapping up
her 10th year teaching performing arts at Carolina Day School
in Asheville, N.C., where she is
suddenly legally married to her
wife, Nancy Asch. They are both
involved with LGBT and progressive activist causes, among them
Girls Rock Asheville, a mentoring
program for girls ages 8-16.
1990
Michelle Baker’s (SF) first work of
fiction, The Canoe, is now available for Kindle on Amazon as well
as in print. Set in 1912, half the
book takes place in a small town
outside of Annapolis, along the
West River. Read more at www.
thecanoebymichellebaker.com.
Kilian James Garvey (SF) recently
won the Research and Scholarship
Award at the University of Louisiana for his experimental work in
judgment and decision-making in
the areas of rationality, political
orientation, and religious belief
and is working hard to help introduce evolutionary psychology to
regions of the United States still
somewhat resistant to the idea.
1991
Christopher Peck (SF) writes,
“Nate Downey (SF) interviewed me
for an article that was published
in the Santa Fe New Mexican:
http://goo.gl/lEj97o. I am co-author
of a book The Resilient Investor:
A Plan for Your Life, Not Just
Your Money (Berrett Koehler
Publishers, 2015). I live in Sonoma
County, California, where I’m
married with a 20-month old son,
and life is good!”
1992
Christopher Hadley (A) finished
his Ph.D. in systematic theology
at Marquette University. Over
the next two summers, he will
complete the final phase of his
Jesuit formation in Portland,
Ore. In between those summers,
in 2015-16, he will have a postdoc fellowship at the Lonergan
Research Institute at Regis
College, University of Toronto,
living with the Jesuit seminarians
of Regis College.
1995
David M. Friebus (SF) was made
a partner in BakerHostetler’s
Chicago office.
Kira Zielinski (SF) is moving to
Iowa City, throwing pottery, and
dancing tango. Anyone in the area
or passing through can reach her
at kirazielinski@gmail.com.
1996
Frank Giuseffi (SFGI), dean of
academics at Missouri Military
Academy, received the 2015 Lighthouse Award for Excellence from
Lindenwood University.
1997
2006
Johnnies in the Big Easy
Mac Ward (A) writes, “In April, six Johnnies who started in
Annapolis in 2001 stormed New Orleans to mark ten years
since we should have graduated St. John’s. From the left:
Evelyn Anne (Johnston) Clausen (A07), Mac Ward (A06),
John Gerard (A05), Scott Danner (A05), Janae (Decker)
Gerard (A05), and Brent Morris (A05).
Shani N. Warner (SFGI) was
recently re-elected to the City
Council in Hyattsville, Md. for a
second four-year term. She views
her role as a tutor in a community-wide conversation and would
love to see more SJC alumni run
for office. “Government service,
particularly at the local level, is
wildly undervalued,” she writes.
“But it provides an unparalleled
opportunity to put your ideas into
practice, make a real difference in
your neighbors’ lives, and literally
shape your community.”
1998
Liz Trice (SF) owns a co-working
space called PelotonLabs in
Portland, Maine. She is engaged
to David Levi, owner of Vinland
restaurant, and trains at Circus
Atlantic to stay sane and happy.
2000
Kelsey Bennett’s (SF) book of literary criticism Principle and Propensity: Experience and Religion
in the Nineteenth-Century British
and American Bildungsroman was
published by University of South
Carolina Press in 2014.
2001
Chris Barnett’s (AGI01) second
book From Despair to Faith: The
Spirituality of Søren Kierkegaard
was published by Fortress Press
in 2014.
Jennifer (Westie) Skalla (A) graduated in May with a master’s in
nursing from Regis University in
Denver.
2002
James Marshall Crotty (SFGI)
released two documentaries this
year about his experience teaching debate and speech to young
men in the South Bronx. The
feature doc, Crotty’s Kids, which
debuted at SXSW and soon will
be in national distribution via
Passion River, looks at how adult
male mentorship and surrogate
family can help turn the tide
on our nation’s urban dropout
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 39
�ALUMNI NOTES
epidemic. The short doc Master
Debaters examines how high-speed
debate—untethered to perennial
moral ideas—can lead to Sophist
nihilism. To learn more, visit www.
crottyskids.com or contact him at
jim@jamescrotty.com.
Sally Choate Fox (AGI) is practicing law in Decatur, Ga., with a
focus on family law and divorce.
She would love to hear from other
Johnnies in the Atlanta area at
sallyfoxga@gmail.com.
Steven Oppenheimer (AGI)
graduated in May with a J.D. from
American University’s Washington College of Law. He plans to
continue in the field of intellectual
property (he is currently a licensed
patent agent), and seeks to join
a state bar and become a patent
attorney. He is also developing a
technology startup ImagiStar LLC
(www.ImagiStar.com).
John Rogove (A) is finishing up his
Ph.D. in philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he teaches
philosophy. He also teaches liberal
arts at NYU’s Paris campus.
2003
Paul McLain (SFGI) completed
the two-year certificate program
in spiritual direction at Southern
Methodist University’s Perkins
School of Theology. He serves as
sub-dean of Trinity Episcopal
Cathedral in Little Rock, Ark.,
where his wife, Ruthie, is an
attorney.
“Moralizing Violence?”—a critique
of positivism in peace studies and
social psychology—on August 8,
2014. He is beginning his third
year at the United States Coast
Guard Academy, teaching courses
in political theory, moral and
ethical philosophy, and American
government to future officers.
2005
2006
Matthew Gates (A) and Claire
Muneza were married on
December 5 and 6, 2014 in Kigali,
Rwanda, where Matt works in
agricultural research and Claire
works in advertising.
Chris Horne (SF) obtained a Master
of City Planning degree from
MIT and has been practicing as a
researcher, freelance consultant,
and for the last three years, as a
private planner with Sasaki Associates. A project that he managed
this year won the Daniel Burnham
Award, the highest award given to
an urban planning project by the
American Planning Association.
Abram Trosky (SFGI) successfully
defended his doctoral dissertation
Daniel Grimm (SF) graduated with
a master’s from the NYU School of
Law’s tax program and is headed
to Houston to work in Ernst &
Young’s Mergers & Acquisitions
group. He recommends the study
of taxation to anyone who enjoys
obscure German authors (Kant,
Hegel, etc.), or rolling large boulders uphill for all eternity. He is
happy to report that the Internal
Revenue Code is replete with
Euclidean formulations in the
manner of “A is to B as X is to Y.”
Jacqueline Kennedy-Dvorak (AGI)
is working in civil litigation,
doing lots of farm cases, in Middle
Georgia. She keeps in regular
contact with Everett Reed (AGI07)
and Paul Cooper (AGI). She wel-
Sally Benson (SF) has been teaching for the last six years—the
first three in the Santa Fe Public
Schools and the last three years at
the Penitentiary of New Mexico.
In August 2015, she began the
Ph.D. program called Rhetoric,
Composition, and the Teaching
of English at the University of
Arizona in Tucson.
2007
Jessica Dixon (SF) became an
ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) on July 12 at
Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church
in Oak Park, Ill. This concludes a
process toward becoming a pastor
that she began at age 15, which
included a Master of Divinity from
McCormick Theological Seminary
following St. John’s and years of
working in churches and churchbased nonprofits. Her work at Fair
Oaks is focused on youth ministry,
mission, and worship leadership.
She writes, “I am grateful for all
the ways SJC has been formative
in my identity as a pastor and
leader as well as the great friends
who have supported me in the
years at and since St. John’s.”
Margaret Rachel Shultz (A) is
living and working in the great
Johnnie mecca of Chicago, and
enjoying the vibrant alumni
community there. She married
on August 8 and honeymooned in
Scotland.
Lucas Smith (SF) writes, “In
March, I finished filming my
documentary, Ghosts of the Aral
Sea, produced over four and a half
years in western Kazakhstan. It
had been a long process, following
a group of fishermen over several
years and in every season. In
May, a feature documentary film
for which I was cinematographer,
Last Man in Dhaka Central,
premiered at the Venice Biennale, and I married my love of six
years, Miriam, in a self-sanctified
wedding in Iceland.”
2004
Emma Elliott Freire (A) and Lucas
Grassi Freire had a daughter,
Cecilia Janke, on December 11,
2014 in Exeter, United Kingdom.
After a stint in Los Angeles
working for the Getty Research
Institute, Joshua Machat (SFGI)
recently accepted a post as a
communications officer at Yale
University Press, Department of
Art & Architecture.
comes a good conversation, so any
Johnnies in the area should drop
in and chat.
2008
Matthew Gates (A05) ties the knot in Africa.
40 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
Ben Hoffman (A) is now living
in the San Francisco Bay Area,
working for GiveWell, a nonprofit
that evaluates charities to find the
ones that have the greatest impact
per dollar spent.
�2010
A Momentous Year
2009
Jake Crabbs (A) and Marianna
Brotherton (A10) were married in
Killington, Vt. on June 20. They
are now residing in Chicago.
Katherine Hale (A) was accepted
into the 2015 entering class of the
Field Naturalist Master’s Program
at the University of Vermont.
2010
Ethan Brooks (A) left the Marine
Corps as a captain this summer
to begin a master’s in computer
and information technology at
the University of Pennsylvania
in the fall.
Carolyn Luppens (SF) writes, “This year was a particularly
momentous one for me. I graduated from The Alpert Medical
School of Brown University on May 24 of this year, and was
chosen by my peers to give the commencement address
(in which I availed myself of my SJC background and spoke
about Achilles and Odysseus, among other things). I was
additionally selected by the Rhode Island chapter of The
American College of Surgeons to receive the annual award
given to the graduating medical student who has excelled in,
and demonstrated service to, the surgical community. In June
I began my General Surgery residency at The University of
Utah in Salt Lake City.”
Alysia Johnson (SF) graduated on
June 20 from the United States
Merchant Marine Academy at
Kings Point, summa cum laude,
with a Bachelor of Science degree
in marine transportation. She
also received a commission as an
ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve
and a Third Mate (Unlimited) U.S.
Coast Guard license. She writes,
“After graduating from St. John’s
I took a year off to bum around
and sail, and then started the
program at USMMA, one of the
five federal service academies and
seven maritime academies in the
country. In my time there, I completed a year of sea time sailing
as a cadet, including trips for the
Middle East, Asia, and participation in Operation Deep Freeze to
refuel McMurdo Base, Antarctica.
I was also an active member of
the sailing team and served as
the regimental waterfront officer
for one of my midshipman billets
first-class year. I was honored with
several awards for leadership,
scholar-athlete participation, and
academic achievement. Although
it means missing our five-year
reunion (sorry, Stef!), I have taken
a job working with TE Subcom
as a mate on a cable-laying ship.
I plan on filling my free time
with more traditional square-rig
sailing, a hobby I took up while
at SJC, and couch-surfing with
friends and classmates. I welcome
e-mails or Facebook messages
from everyone!”
2012
Rhett Forman (SF) traveled to
Dorf Tirol, Italy in July to present
a paper on Ezra Pound and early
modern psychology at the 2015
Ezra Pound International Conference held at Brunnenburg Castle,
the home of Pound’s daughter.
The conference presentation
was the result of research he
conducted in summer 2014 as a
participant of the Ezra Pound
Center for literature at the castle.
He is currently a Ph.D. student
in Literature at the Institute of
Philosophic Studies at the University of Dallas.
2013
Shaun Rieley (AGI) has begun
working toward a Ph.D. in
political theory and American
government in the Department of
Politics at The Catholic University of America.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 41
�IN MEMORIAM
William Dyal (H89)
ANASTASIA EGELI (A92)
January 29, 2015
President, Annapolis
In the mid-1960s, Dyal was invited
by the Johnson administration
to serve as country director for
the Peace Corps in Colombia.
Subsequently, he led Peace Corps
programs in the Middle East, North
Africa, and Asia as one of the
program’s four regional directors.
42 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
William M. Dyal (1928-2015) served as president of the
Annapolis campus from 1986 until 1990, when he stepped down
for health reasons. He was admired by faculty, students, alumni,
and board members for his wise and even-handed leadership.
Before coming to St. John’s, he had a wide-ranging career that
encompassed work for the U.S. government and for international
volunteer agencies.
Dyal met his wife, Edie, while both were studying at Baylor
University. He later studied theology and pastoral counseling
at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and the couple
served as Baptist missionaries in Costa Rica and Guatemala; he
then worked for several more years throughout South America
training other missionaries. Years later when he was at St.
John’s, Dyal led a seminar on a new reading: Martin Luther
King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The students did not
know, and Dyal did not tell them in advance, that he had met
and visited Dr. King in jail while working for the social action
agency in the 1960s.
In the mid-1960s, Dyal was invited by the Johnson administration to serve as country director for the Peace Corps in
Colombia. Subsequently, he led Peace Corps programs in the
Middle East, North Africa, and Asia as one of the program’s
four regional directors. In the 1970s, he was named head of the
Inter American Foundation, a public corporation to fund social
and economic grassroots development. The following decade, he
served as president of the American Field Service (AFS), one of
the best-known world student exchange programs.
During his time at St. John’s, Dyal brought his strong and
welcome sense of the world beyond St. John’s and his gift for reconciling differences among people. He completed fundraising for
the addition to Mellon Hall and for the renovation of the Hodson
Boathouse, both in preparation for a planned capital campaign.
He is survived by his wife, Edie; daughters Deborah, Kathy, and
Lisa; nine grandchildren; and brother, Terry.
�IN MEMORIAM
Edward Sparrow (H93)
April 23, 2015
Tutor and dean, Annapolis
Edward Grant Sparrow, Jr.
(1929-2015), retired tutor who
also served as dean of St. John’s
College in Annapolis, died in Barton, Vermont after a brief illness.
An alumnus of Harvard College,
class of 1951, Sparrow earned a
law degree from Harvard Law
School. He eschewed a legal
career by earning his M.A. from
Columbia University Teacher’s
College and joining the faculty at
St. John’s College in 1957, where
over the course of 33 years he
taught the entire curriculum.
Sparrow was born in Paris,
France, on July 28, 1929, the son
of Edward Grant Sparrow and
Catherine Groth Sparrow. His
family returned to the United
States when he was 10, and lived
in New York City, where he attended Buckley School and, later,
St. Mark’s in Southborough,
Massachusetts. He married Lydia Huntington in 1953, and then
joined the Army, and was sent
to West Germany as part of the
U.S. occupying forces. Upon returning to the United States, he
was hired as a tutor at St. John’s.
From 1964 to 1966 he was acting
director of the Integrated Liberal
Arts Curriculum at St. Mary’s
College in California before he
returned to Annapolis.
In July 1977, Sparrow began
a five-year term as dean of the
Annapolis campus. He taught
his students at St. John’s with a
sense of wonder which never left
him. He loved literature, poetry,
classical and popular music, and
old time radio. He could deliver
the lyrics to any Gilbert and Sullivan opera with verve and style.
His conversion to Catholicism in
1957 was a profoundly important
event in his life; he became an
oblate of Mt. Savoir Monastery in
Elmira, New York.
Sparrow is survived by his
wife, Margaret; former wife,
Lydia; sister, Helen Roosevelt;
seven children, Bartholomew,
Edward, Elizabeth, Helen,
Katherine, Richard, and Sophie;
and 12 grandchildren. He was
predeceased by his eldest son,
Christopher.
Grant Wiggins (A72)
May 26, 2015
Visionary education reformer
and self-professed “educational
trouble-maker of longstanding”
Grant Wiggins (1950-2015) died
at home in Hartford, Connecticut. Wiggins was a writer,
thinker, researcher, teacher,
and learner. Best known as the
co-author of Understanding by
Design, he challenged educators
to think logically, designing instruction backward from clarity
on learning goals. He believed
that learning was not signaled
by the accumulation of knowledge but, rather, by the power
to take action. After St. John’s
College he received his Ed.D.
from Harvard and went on to
work on some of the most significant reform initiatives in the
world, including the Coalition of
Essential Schools, the AP and IB
programs, and many state and
national reform efforts. Wiggins
admired educators who wanted
to make a difference and were
willing to challenge themselves
as part of that effort. He loved
rock and roll, soccer, good food
and wine, Paris, the Red Sox,
walks, and conversation. His
greatest joy, though, was his
family. Wiggins is survived by
his beloved wife, Denise Wilbur;
daughters Alexis and Priscilla;
sons, Justin and Ian; parents,
Dorothy and Guy; brothers, Guy
and Noel; and grandsons, Elios
and Amadeo Estrada.
Theodore Otteson
Class of 1952
May 6, 2015
Theodore (Ted) Otteson (19252015), passed away at his home,
surrounded by four generations
of loving family. He was 90.
Otteson was a teacher, mentor,
friend, counselor, and seeker of
wisdom and adventure. Born
March 9, 1925 in Poona, India,
the son of missionary parents,
his primary and secondary
education was in schools in
India and the United States. He
served in the U.S. Navy during
WWII and was a translator in
Japan at the end of the war.
Otteson taught for 45 years
at the University of MissouriKansas City, in the English
Department and in the program
for adult continuing education.
He was preceded in death by
his parents and a sister, Pearl
Holbrook. He is survived by
his wife of 52 years, Beverley;
daughters Malory, Paula
and Susan; son, Clovis; and
numerous grandchildren.
Barbara L. Lauer (SF76)
December 19, 2014
Former St. John’s College Alumni Association officer, Board of
Visitors and Governors member
and Alumni Association Award
of Merit recipient, Barbara L.
Lauer (1950-2014) died at her
home in Laramie, Wyoming. A
generous friend and colleague,
she lighted the lives of everyone
she knew. Born in Sacramento,
California to Van and Louise
(Keeney) Shepherd, Lauer attended Chapman World College
Afloat, better known today as
Semester at Sea, before coming
to St. John’s. She then studied
law at the University of Edinburgh, and completed her law
degree at the University of Wyoming. Her love of St. John’s was
evident through her exceptional
service with the college’s Alumni
Association. From 1996 to 2010
she served as the Alumni Association’s director, vice president,
secretary, and director emerita.
Lauer was preceded in death by
husband, Ted. She is survived by
her sister, Paula; brother, Doug;
and numerous other family
members.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 43
�Anne Nelson (H90)
May 18, 2015
Anne Higgins Nelson (1925-2015) died at
BayWoods, her home in Annapolis. Anne
developed a deep love for St. John’s College
when she married her husband Charles A.
Nelson (Chuck), Class of 1947, that lasted
her entire life. Her son, Christopher, is
president of St. John’s College in Annapolis.
She was born in Savannah, Illinois, to Edith
Ballou Higgins and Colin Olney Higgins on
March 22, 1925. Anne grew up in Berwyn,
Illinois, and graduated from Morton High
School, then continued on to obtain her B.A.
in economics from Oberlin College in 1946.
Following graduation, she married her high
school sweetheart, Chuck, her loving and
much-loved husband of 69 years. The couple
spent their first year of married life in
Annapolis, while Chuck completed his B.A.
from St. John’s College and Anne was employed as a social worker. Anne and Chuck
then returned to Chicago, where Chuck
began his career in education. They made a
home in the Chicago area, where their four
children were born. In 1956, a job change
for Chuck brought the family to New York.
Settling in White Plains, N.Y., Anne was
elected president of the Rochambeau School
P.T.A. and led the movement to desegregate
the White Plains public school system in the
1960s. Anne was active in the Democratic
Party and challenged the Republican status
quo in the predominantly Republican city
with an (unsuccessful) run for White Plains
City Council. As the children grew older,
Anne returned to work, first joining her
husband’s consulting practice, and later, the
faculty of the Cornell University School of
Industrial and Labor Relations, where she
worked until her retirement in 1990. Anne
was proud of her work at Cornell, writing
and teaching classes for labor union women,
administrating programs, and securing
grants. She was fiercely committed in every
facet of her life to the fight for equal rights
and social justice for all.
In 2002, Chuck and Anne left their home
in Croton-on-Hudson to continue retirement
in Annapolis. Anne started the first residents’ newsletter at BayWoods of Annapolis,
their retirement home, where she helped
form a great books discussion group. She revived the Annapolis chapter of the League of
Women Voters, an organization in which she
was actively engaged for her entire adult
life, and edited the local LWV newsletter for
several years. When someone asked about
her hobbies recently, she looked puzzled
and said, “I guess I don’t have any.” But
then amended it to, “Well, I guess politics
is my hobby.” She was a proud supporter
of Barack Obama’s campaign for president,
never missed voting in an election, read
(and discussed) the New York Times every
day and was always up for a good political
debate. She was also captivated by the great
women English mystery writers and read
hundreds of mysteries, sometimes until
the early morning hours to find out “who
done it?” She remained feisty but cheerful
to the end. Anne loved her family and was
much loved in return. She is survived by her
husband, Chuck; sons, Christopher, Colin,
and Ted; and daughter, Janet Berggren; as
well as 11 grandchildren and 19 greatgrandchildren.
Also Deceased:
Paul Frank, SF82
July 26, 2015
Sarah Macina, SF70
January 23, 2015
Leo L. Simms, Class of 1956
December 13, 2014
Jonathan B. Bredin, SF74
December 31, 2014
Edward Gelblum, Class of 1955
June 12, 2015
Barbara C. Prendergast, SF72
November 24, 2014
Jacquelaine R. Vest, A86
January 26, 2015
George Brunn, Class of 1945
June 30, 2014
Meredith G. Hamilton, SF97
March 22, 2015
Merton E. Rice, Class of 1953
November 10, 2014
William B. Walter, SF85
October 5, 2014
Richard T. Carruthers, Class of
1948
October 22, 2014
Philip Heilig, Class of 1952
May 31, 2015
John H. Rubel, SF90
January 13, 2015
George P. Welch, Class of 1947
March 17, 2015
Alexander E. Clift, A03
November 16, 2014
Marvin J. Hoffenberg, Class of
1947
February 17, 2015
Marilyn L. Schaefer, SF79
March 8, 2015
Amy R. Wood, SF11
January 26, 2015
Samuel F. Dunbar, Class of 1964
April 18, 2015
David E. Johnson, A68
June 21, 2014
44 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
Brian D. Shields, A83
January 30, 2015
�STUDENT VOICES
SJC: NOT YOUR STANDARD FACTORY FARM
By Kevin Lam (A18)
W
hen I was 12 years old, I
reached the lowest point
in my life. In the spring
of 2009, my mother died
of gastric cancer and my
father lost his job. My ethnic Chinese
parents had emigrated from Vietnam to
Fairfax County, Northern Virginia, where
I was born and raised. My mother worked
full-time in an exhausting job as a housekeeper, while managing all our household
chores and being both mother and father
to me. My father mostly ignored me, gambling away what little money we had. Because my mother was my most significant
human connection, losing her caused much
anger, sadness, isolation, and confusion to
occupy my mind, to this day.
Despite losing the most important
person in my life, I experienced a major
transition. New life was taking root from
the ashes. All these feelings spurred me
to ask a fundamental question: “Why?”
As I questioned everything around me, I
developed an intense curiosity.
One of my favorite quotes from a St.
John’s seminar book represents my transition. In Plato’s The Republic, Socrates said,
“We mustn’t hug the hurt part and spend
our time weeping and wailing like children
when we trip. Instead, we should always
accustom our souls to turn as quickly as
possible to healing the disease and putting
the disaster right, replacing lamentation
with cure.” My mother’s death ignited my
desire to know as much as I can about the
world and to make it better.
My curiosity led me to pursue reading
zealously, which helped me develop an
important connection with my AP U.S.
history teacher, Mr. Evans. Throughout
my junior and senior years in a large,
academically intensive public high
school in Fairfax County, I visited his
classroom after school for intellectual
conversation. During one such exchange,
he caused a paradigm shift in my life. I
was expressing disillusionment with the
college admissions process. I was spending countless hours filling out forms in
order to do the same thing in college and
“� have developed an unquenchable
I
curiosity. With the courage and ability
to ask ‘Why,’ I am able to pursue an
education that will help me to better
understand the world and humanity.”
the rest of my life. At a job with no hope
of intellectual freedom, I would drown in
mind-numbing work. “We’re all just cattle
being herded to our eventual intellectual
slaughter,” I told Mr. Evans.
His response: “Why don’t you go to
St. John’s College? They read a lot of
books there.”
When I learned more about St. John’s,
I felt a surge of excitement. There was a
place that did not conform to the standard
higher-education system that seemed like
a factory farm to me. Its people tackled
difficult philosophical questions to understand the world and what it means to be
human. Students are told what to read,
but not what to think.
I knew I had found my home for the next
four years. Every new reading reaffirms
this fact. The Platonic Dialogues make me
feel fulfilled and at peace because of the
immense concentration necessary to even
remotely grasp them.
The death of my mother sparked my
curiosity and my pursuit to understand
the world. In three years, I will graduate
from St. John’s College and fully reconnect with the world. Sadly, I will still not
have my mother, and will always grieve
over her death. Despite this burden, I
have developed an unquenchable curiosity. With the courage and ability to ask
“Why,” I am able to pursue an education
that will help me to better understand
the world and humanity. As I follow my
dream of bettering the world with my
mother always in my heart, St. John’s will
prepare me for it.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 45
�CROQUET
THREE-PEAT
THWARTED
Johnnies Reclaim the
Annapolis Cup, but
Midshipmen Earn a
Victory of Their Own
W
ith a final score of 3-2,
Navy’s high hopes for a
three-year winning streak
were resolutely dashed. At
the 33rd annual St. John’sU.S. Naval Academy croquet match held on
April 18, the Johnnies performed with vigor
and gusto before a crowd of more than 5,000
spectators—the largest in the history of the
match—to bring home the Annapolis Cup for
the first time since 2012. “It was a wonderful
feeling, and not only for the team,” says
Imperial Wicket Sam Collins (A15). “Everyone on campus was super excited about it.”
Collins is quick to point out that alumni
deserve a slice of the proverbial victory
cake. A month before the big match, with
snow still on the ground, the croquet team
huddled in the Chasement, the cozy basement of the Chase-Stone dormitory, with
several former Imperial Wickets and players,
including Josh Rogers (A98), Hardison Wood
(A98), Kit Linton (A97), and John Lawless
(A00), among others, for a strategerium,
mapping out key strategies on a chalkboard
and discussing the game’s finer points.
Alumni also paired with student players for
a full day of skill training and matches. With
added guidance from the croquet elite, “our
team felt comfortable with more complex
strategies,” says Jennifer Shumpert (A15), a
member of this year’s team.
On game day the Johnnies adhered to their
golden rule: have fun. Decked out in Hawaiian shirts, denim shorts, aviator sunglasses,
and fake mustaches, they paid playful
tribute to television’s Magnum, P.I. However,
detective skills were not required to spot
BRADY LEE (AGI14)
By Sus3an Borden (A87) and Gregory Shook
Tell me, O Muse, the impetuous
unrush of wing-footed Johnnies:
Whom shall I mainly make butt of
my hopelessly talentless singing?
Him who ran hardest arriving first
sweaty in need of a shower?
Or him who sauntered at ease,
smiling sweet and as cool as an
iced beer?
Here is what I will do following
prudence, my elderly goddess:
I shall bestow my much sought-after
hugs on the unsweaty cool one,
But on the winner I’ll place
undegradably immortal laurel.
46 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
�SHAYNA JENKINS (A15)
SUSAN JENKINS
SHAYNA JENKINS (A15)
the outrageous fashions that filled the front
campus lawn. Throughout the afternoon, Lisa
Simeone (A79) and Didi Schanche (A80) waded through the sea of festive gowns, widebrimmed hats, and bold bowties to select
the cream of the crop for their Best Attire
awards, a new addition to the day’s events.
The alumnae judges relished the opportunity
to mingle with the crowd and reconnect with
old friends on a picture-perfect Saturday.
“The whole idea of a croquet match—a
civilized, old-fashioned pursuit—against the
Naval Academy is delicious,” says Simeone.
“Here you have this bastion of liberal arts up
against a highly militarized institution. How
could one not love the irony?”
Croquet was not the only competition of
the day. Weeks before the match, Johnnies
began signing up as runners, sponsors, and
donors for the 2nd Annual Memorial Fun(d)
Run, which took place that morning, to see
which intramural athletic team could raise
the most money, field the most runners, and
clock the best time. Not only was this the
first year the intramural teams joined the
event, it was also the first year that Midshipmen were invited to compete. They ably
countered their losses on the croquet court by
taking first and second place in the run. Midshipman Justin Maguire won the race with a
time of 15:43. The first female to finish was
Elizabeth Fenelon, also a Midshipman. Still,
Johnnies made a good show with Annapolis
tutor Brendan Boyle finishing third at 18:32.
Robin Lancaster (A18) was the first St. John’s
student to complete the race, at 19:29.
The Memorial Fun(d) Run is hosted by the
Friends of the Lawrence L Saporta, Ph.D.
Memorial Scholarship Fund and was established to raise money and awareness for the
college’s Memorial Endowment Funds. This
year the run raised $2,420 for four Memorial
Funds. The Hustlers raised the most money,
the Spartans fielded the most runners, and
the Furies claimed the fastest time.
Annapolis tutor Eva Brann (H89) completed the event by crowning the winners
with (plastic) laurel wreaths and delivering
a fine speech, written in dactylic hexameter,
reprinted to the left.
Photos, opposite page, top: The Magnum, P.I.inspired Johnnies bask in the glow of their 3-2
win; bottom: Dylan Tyler (A15) takes a shot,
concentrating amid the distraction of 5,000 spectators. This page, clockwise from top left: Marta
Lively (A78), on the right, joins other fashionistas
competing for the most splendiforously attired
award; Eva Brann, master of Homeric congratulatory verse, greets a Fun(d) Run finisher; Midshipmen and Johnnies run for the money to benefit
—
SJC student scholarships.
Check the college’s social media and the
SJC website to stay tuned for info on the
2016 match, scheduled for April 16.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 47
�BRADY LEE (AGI14)
S T. J O H N ’ S F O R E V E R
ONCE UPON
A WHEN
Looking at this memento a concert handbill
—
that has faithfully adorned the wood-paneled
wall in my parent’s basement for the past 25
years—I wonder who else out there might
remember this day in St. John’s history. At
the time I was a 17-year-old townie and an
aspiring drummer who on this occasion sat in
on congas with the band Breathing Walker, a
motley crew of Annapolis post-punk rockers.
Spring showers forced the concert indoors, but
spirits were far from dampened. Throughout
the afternoon the bands gave it their all, playing to the crowd of mostly students gathered
in the dining room in Randall Hall to celebrate
Earth Day. As evening crept in, Three Shades
of Dirty, a newly formed group featuring Dan
Littleton (A93) on guitar/vocals and Colin
48 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 015
Meeder (A93) on his trusty Steinberger bass,
delivered a blistering set of music like I’d
never heard before. To this day, the band’s only
cassette is among the most prized items in my
music collection.
This concert also served as an introduction to
St. John’s. My high school graduation was two
months away, and with no imminent plans for
college, I recall the uneasy feeling I had chatting with undergrads who hungrily devoured
such authors as Hegel, Kant, and Plato. (I was
reading Tama Janowitz and Charles Bukowski.) But I also felt an immediate affection for
St. John’s and hoped to someday be a part of
it. It’s funny, the things we remember.
—-Gregory Shook
�EIDOS
“I grew up in a family of artists, always
knowing from a young age that I wanted
to paint portraits. One reason for my
passion is that I am drawn to people.
That fascination was stoked by my
classes at St. John’s, which introduced
me to so many great minds.
People are complex, multi-faceted, and
continually changing. Painting gives me
the challenge to capture those changes
and present a complete sense of someone.
I feel as though painting has given me
the privilege to come to know people in
a truly unique way.
I am now working as a portrait artist,
living in New York City. I feel as though
I have been so blessed. I can go visit
countless museums to enjoy the works of
Spain’s Sorolla, with his bold colors, or a
John Singer Sargent exhibit at the Met.
I am constantly studying to improve my
use of color and my skill in drawing.
My ideal day is sitting with someone,
listening to their thoughts, and painting
what it is to be with that particular person.
Surrounded by inspiring work and people,
every year I enjoy an increasing curiosity
and a deeper appreciation of being alive.”
—Anastasia Egeli (A92)
Learn more about Anastasia Egeli (A92) at
www.anastasiaegeli.com.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2015 iii
�Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Annapolis, MD
Permit N0. 120
Communications Office
60 College Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
Address Service Requested
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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<em>The College </em>(2001-2017)
Description
An account of the resource
The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
Creator
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St. John's College
Coverage
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Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
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St. John's College Greenfield Library
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English
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thecollege2001
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paper
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48 pages
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St. John's College
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The College, Fall 2015
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2015
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pdf
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St. John's College
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Annapolis, MD
Santa Fe, NM
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English
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The_College_Magazine_Fall_2015
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Volume 40, Issue 2 of the <em>The College</em> Magazine. Published in Fall 2015.
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Shook, Gregory (editor)
Ryder, Brett
Boonparlit, Nutchapol
Gomez, Gabe
Townsend, David
Novash, Paula
Kirby, Melanie M.
Brann, Eva
Weiss, Robin
Lam, Kevin
Borden, Sus3en
The College
-
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S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E
FA L L 2016
VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2
Penelope
The Odyssey’s
Creative Thinker
�ii THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 016
�OPENING NOTE
Everybody needs time for themselves. Time to breathe, to recharge,
to contemplate. Time is a gift. But it
is also necessary in order to develop
big ideas and ponder creative solutions to life’s innumerable problems.
Where would we be today if Plato
or Einstein were slaves to the daily
grind, never making time and space
to think? For many of us, the challenge is to allow ourselves this time,
not as a mere indulgence but rather
a vital ingredient for a life well lived.
At St. John’s, we take time to think
but also to connect with one another,
to address questions and figure
out new systems together. With
another academic year underway,
the college’s two campuses are
alive with new and returning faces.
Upperclassmen welcome the influx
of freshmen, lending guidance and
support—from crash courses in waltz
to assistance with ancient Greek—to
their fellow Johnnies. By now I have
witnessed such scenes countless
times. Once in a while it makes me
recall my own undergraduate years,
now decades behind in the rear
view, and causes me to smile. After
all, St. John’s is a place where we
look back in order to move forward.
Gregory Shook, editor
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 1
�FALL 2016
VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2
“� ime is a weaving and unweaving;
T
it makes and unmakes beings and relations.”
—Michael Grenke, tutor
FEATUR E S
P A G E 1 8��
P A G E 2 2��
PA G E 2 8
PENELOPE’S
CHOICE
WONDROUS
BREAD MAKERS
WEAVING A
SOCIAL FABRIC
Placed on the clock by her
suitors, the Odyssey’s creative
problem-solver manipulates time
in order to defend her marriage,
but what is she defending?
With a neighborhood business of
their own—making baked goods
from scratch—this enterprising
Johnnie couple are part of the
mom-and-pop revival.
To create a self-sustaining
community of independent,
progressive workers requires a
skill set rooted in interaction,
innovation, and collaboration.
ON THE COVER:
Penelope illustration
by Thomas Ehretsmann
2 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 016
�D E PAR T ME N T S
��FROM THE BELL TOWERS
BIBLIOFILE
FOR & ABOUT ALUMNI
4 �
Bienvenue en France
Study Abroad
32 �athryn Kramer looks back on her
K
upbringing steeped in the great
books in Missing History.
34 �JCAA News
S
6 Lasting Legacies
7 �
A Spruce for McDowell
8 � Than a Game
More
Croquet 2016
9 Tutors Mark the Occasion
10 Whimsical Worlds
11 �abor of Love
L
12 Johnnie Origins
14 Mark Roosevelt Inauguration
33 �ea Wilson (SF08) blurs the lines
K
between life and art in We Eat
Our Own.
36 �lumni Notes
A
40 � rofile: Anika Prather (AGI09)
P
breaks education traditions.
42 �In Memoriam
�
Natalie Goldberg (SFGI74) shares
her essays on life’s vivid moments
in The Great Spring.
44 �hilanthropy: Class of 2016
P
sets a new record.
�
Charles Melson (AGI88) provides
new analysis of the Western
experience in coping with “small
wars” in Kleinkrieg.
46 �
Johnnie Voices: Alumni weigh
in on an icon.
45 � irst Person: Sawyer Neale (A18)
F
JOHNNIE TRADITIONS
48 �t. John’s Forever
S
EIDOS
49 Jennifer Chenoweth (SF95)
ABOVE: Spiffy socks at the 34th annual
Annapolis Cup
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 3
�From the
BELL TOWERS
AIX-EN-PROVENCE
Bienvenue en France
New Study Abroad Enriches Our Learning
SUSAN STICKNEY
This January, as 20 second-semester juniors unpack, they will arrange Moliere and
Racine upon shelves in Aix-en-Provence family homes. For 16 weeks, like lodgers,
10 Johnnies from each campus will enjoy breakfasts and dinners prepared by their
respective French hosts. The classrooms of their program—The Institute for American
Universities, or IAU College—lie along the cobblestone streets of historic downtown
Aix, less than an hour north of Marseille, near Avignon and Arles. Lab equipment
necessary for duplicating experiments by Faraday and Maxwell is provided.
“We’ll do the program in full, the same
program the juniors do on both campuses,”
says Santa Fe tutor Judith Adam. Since February, she has called herself the Tutor for Study
Abroad. As one of four faculty members going
to Aix, Adam hoped to be practicing her French
this summer. Yet after Santa Fe Dean Matt
Davis assigned the task of writing the study
abroad proposal, and the board agreed to go
ahead in 2017, she found herself in charge
with “less than one year to get the program
off the ground.” In Aix, Adam looks forward
to Annapolis and Santa Fe students “coming
together in one place,” mixed in one seminar
and two sets of tutorials.
According to its website (IAUFrance.org),
IAU College, founded in 1957, hosts an array of
students from more than 200 colleges and universities across the United States. Throughout
the year, thousands of young scholars live with
families and study in classrooms in the medieval center of town. A half-hour stroll along
a country road leads to the Marchutz School
of Fine Arts, part of the IAU program since
1976. Here towers Montagne Sainte-Victoire, a
limestone ridge more than 3,000 feet high that
sprawls across 11 miles. It inspired 60-plus
paintings by Cézanne.
Last April, Adam and Annapolis tutor
Brendan Boyle introduced the study abroad
program. Approximately 50 students attended
teleconference information sessions, and then
filled out applications that included essays. Due
to limited space during this pilot year, students
were selected through a lottery. “Judith has the
most difficult task,” says Boyle, who was asked
by former dean Pamela Kraus to administer
from Annapolis. “Creating a community of
learning no different from the ones we have
thousands of miles away involves logistical,
practical challenges that Judith is spending a
lot of time negotiating. Her efforts have been
Herculean.”
Directed by the deans and the Instruction
Committee, Adam hammers out the minutiae
of program-related issues such as adequate
study space, setting up a lab from scratch, and
making sure blackboards are in classrooms.
“It would be chaos,” Adam says, without the
assistance of Amy Weber from Santa Fe’s
4 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 016
admissions office, an international education
professional who has guided students from
various institutions since 2005. After Weber
was named assistant director for off-campus
studies, she organized non-academic details
including visa applications, insurance, plane
tickets, and other items to ensure that students
and faculty will be adequately prepared.
Although maintaining the integrity of the
academic program and ensuring the safety
and well-being of participants are top priorities, another focus is financial accessibility.
Johnnies in Aix will have the same financial
aid they normally receive, although workstudy opportunities will be limited, at best. A
freshman who usually supplements income via
work-study “could anticipate needing to save
a little money for second semester junior year,”
suggests Adam. Study abroad is a whole-college program, and Adam is disappointed that
faculty recruitment this first year—a casualty
of time and scheduling pressures—exclusively
represents Santa Fe.
St. John’s has always encouraged individual
students, often at their own expense, to go
abroad for summer or gap-year programs. “We
will only do a program that is financially possible for all or most of our students,” Annapolis
tutor Patricia Locke explains. Locke stresses
that it will be “our exact program, only in
France.” She spent nine months in Aix last year,
and now, on sabbatical, plans to live there this
fall as a Resident Fellow, sponsored by IAU.
Although she will help set up the program,
she declined the offer to join the first faculty
group because she has been in Europe all
year. Accompanying Adam will be tutors John
Cornell, Patricia Greer, and Jay Smith, none of
whom will be teaching full-time. In partnership with IAU student services, they will act
together as assistant deans.
Both Adam and Locke tell how the longstanding friendship between St. John’s and
Marchutz makes IAU a natural fit for this
program. Individual St. John’s students and
faculty have studied fine arts at Marchutz for
many years. Two summers ago, Santa Fe tutor
Susan Stickney brought six Santa Fe and two
�Annapolis Johnnies to Marchutz’s six-week program; this past summer Annapolis tutor Sarah
Stickney did the same with a smaller crew.
Decades ago, the late Santa Fe tutor Dean
Haggard led a seminar at Marchutz on the
Meno. Adam brags that “IAU has been interested in St. John’s because they see how good
our students are. They’re stars in Marchutz.”
Depending on how the Aix experiment goes,
Locke foresees the possibility of a second
program in Greece. The original idea, she says,
was that Annapolis faculty and staff would
organize a program in Greece, while Santa Fe
focused in France. “I, with Nick Maistrellis, was
investigating the possibility of a sophomore
semester in Greece.” Dean Davis, in Aix for
several days last January and February, was
able to work out many details quickly, and they
proceeded in that direction, “starting small,
to get the kinks out,” says Locke. If a Greece
program was initiated, ideally, “the students
could choose between France and Greece,”
Locke says.
“IAU is very knowledgeable about St.
John’s,” Davis explains. “In fact, the Marchutz
school is modeled around us. Their biggest
class of the week is a five-hour, or longer,
seminar on Fridays in which they are looking at
paintings and talking about them.” He is confident that at IAU, “They know us. They know
what we need. They’re not going to interfere.
They’re not going to try to make us take their
classes.” Johnnies in Aix will have classes in
spoken French available, but not mandatory.
“They know our program is very rigorous and
OPPOSITE PAGE: Place
d’Albertas in Aix.
TOP: Students view
Delacroix’s painting,
Entry of the Crusaders
in Constantinople,
at the Musée du
Louvre on a Marchutz
museum field study.
BOTTOM: Johnnies
enjoy one of the many
open-air cafés in Aix.
SUSAN STICKNEY
—Annapolis Dean Joseph Macfarland
CHARLEY UMBARGER
“� ur learning is not entirely
O
nested within words,
written and spoken; we are
thinking about how we
are placed in the world and
how we act in it.”
takes a lot of time.” Davis praises the homestay aspect because “it will give the students
a deeper sense of what it’s like to live abroad.”
His decision to put Adam in charge was easy.
“Judith seemed like a very good choice. Not
only had she been to Aix, but she’s well versed
in French, speaking and reading it well.”
When it comes to security, both the IAU
website and Davis do not mince words. Davis
says he will monitor the situation in Europe.
Speaking for both deans, he insists, “Our job is
the welfare of our students. We would never put
students in danger.”
Before launching this project, faculty
engaged in considerable discussion and
debate. One concern, writes Annapolis Dean
Joe Macfarland, is that “Many study abroad
programs are deeply unserious; they are quasieducational vacations.” He adds, “I have come
to think that study abroad is not essential to
liberal education, but still a beneficial addition
to it.” Macfarland describes how, “In the laboratories, we spend a good deal of time looking
at phenomena, trying to see the world before
us with fresh eyes, letting what appears shake
our preconceptions, and then giving a fresh
account to ourselves in words. Our learning
is not entirely nested within words, written
and spoken; we are thinking about how we
are placed in the world and how we act in it.”
He concludes, “I think study abroad provides
opportunities to supplement and enrich our
discursive learning.”
—Robin Weiss (SFGI90)
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 5
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
SERVICE TO SJC
Lasting Legacies
With nearly 50 combined years of service, Barbara Goyette (A73) and Victoria Mora, both of
whom retired from the college in summer, left
legacies marked by affection for St. John’s.
Mora, who served
more than two
decades as a tutor,
dean, vice president
for Advancement, and
senior vice president
for Development
and Alumni Relations in Santa Fe,
joined United World
College-USA as the
fifth president of
Victoria Mora
the school’s U.S.
campus, located in Montezuma, New Mexico.
At St. John’s, Mora’s talents and passion for
academic and institutional leadership, as well
as her admiration for the Program, informed all
aspects of her work. With vision and skill, she
cultivated deep philanthropic relationships and
managed a wide range of fundraising efforts,
TA L K O F T H E T O W E R S
In Annapolis, two new tutors have joined
the faculty. Rahul Chaudhri comes to the
college from Stanford University, where he
received his PhD in philosophy and taught in
the university’s Thinking Matters program.
Andrew Joseph Romiti (A07) returns to the
college from the Catholic University of America
where he is expected to receive his PhD in
philosophy.
In Santa Fe, two new tutors have joined the
faculty. Ian Moore comes to the college from
DePaul University, where he is working on
completing his PhD in philosophy. Nicholas
Starr (SF02) returns to St. John’s from
Boston College, where he received his PhD
in political science.
On each campus, there is a new dean, associate dean, and four additions/changes to the
including a successful campaign in honor of the
50th anniversary of the Santa Fe campus. “The
reason I fell in love with this place was the
dynamic nature of the classroom,” Mora noted.
“Ideas matter here and learning isn’t just a
buzzword. People weren’t just taking classes—
they were exploring ideas that mattered to
them in a spirit of intellectual friendship.”
Goyette, like
Mora, may be best
described as a dyedin-the-wool Johnnie.
After graduating
from St. John’s, the
Ohio native studied at
Catholic University’s
School of Philosophy.
She returned to her
alma mater in 1994 to
serve as the college’s
Barbara Goyette (A73)
new director of Public
Relations and Publications in Annapolis. To
this position she brought expertise as a writer
and editor with various publications; in 2001
“she took a modest little newspaper called The
Reporter, founded and edited by this writer,
and transformed it into a beautifully edited
magazine, The College, a publication worthy of
college’s director-level leadership. In Annapolis, Joe MacFarland is the new dean. Emily
Langston is the associate dean for Graduate
Programs. John Kane is the new director of
Major and Planned Gifts. Robert Mueck is
the new director of Public Safety. Leo Pickens
(A78) now serves as director of Leadership
Annual Gifts. James Reische is the collegewide chief communications officer. He comes
to St. John’s from Grinnell College, where he
served as vice president for Communications.
In Santa Fe, Matthew Davis is the new dean.
David McDonald the associate dean for Graduate Programs. Sarah Palacios now serves
as college-wide director of Alumni Relations.
Maureen Small is the new director of Student
Health and Wellness. Edward “Ned” Walpin
now serves as college-wide executive director
of Enrollment Management. Michael Wismer
is the new director of Public Safety.
6 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 016
the college’s name,” writes Rebecca M. Wilson
(H83) in a letter to The College. For the past
15 years, Goyette served as vice president for
Advancement in Annapolis.
Goyette’s and Mora’s efforts reflect their
shared dedication to the values of St. John’s
and their deep-rooted desire to enrich the
life of the college.
READER SHARES
Golly! It’s remarkable how different people
are (and thank God they are!), even among
St. John’s fund raisers. Consider Jeff Bishop:
outgoing, charismatic, beloved—whose death
saddened all of us—and then think about Barbara Goyette. I’m stunned when I do. A quiet,
behind-the-scenes, wonkish type, never pushing
herself forward, with a Type A personality
highly capable of handling the wealth of information at her fingertips, Barbara has worked
in unsung ways since 1994 for the better good of
the college. During her last 15 years, when she
was serving as vice-president of the Annapolis
campus, she raised no less than $127 million for
St. John’s. It’s an extraordinary record.
Not only that, among other things, when
Barbara headed the publicity office in Annapolis, she took a small, modest little newspaper
called The Reporter, founded and edited by this
writer for parents, alumni, and friends, and
converted it into a beautifully edited magazine,
The College, worthy of St. John’s name. Not
incidentally, she has accomplished all this by
showing the quality most important to any
member of the St. John’s family: complete,
personal integrity.
As Barbara retires on July 1, I’m tired of
quietude. The angels in heaven may flap their
wings in applause, but I want earthly sounds:
for the bells of McDowell Hall to ring out for her,
for the Freshman Chorus to compose an anthem
in her honor, for the waves of College Creek to
lap more noisily in her praise. I imagine Jeff
Bishop hiking himself up in his grave to give an
admiring shout-out for this 1973 alumna who,
in her retiring way, has played a tremendous
role in keeping the college going. All hail,
Barbara Goyette! Let the word go out: You’ve
shone, Barbara! You’ve left a brilliant record!
—� ebecca Wilson (H83), St. John’s director
R
of News and Information, 1973-88
�IN ANNAPOLIS
A Spruce for
McDowell
It’s where waltz parties swing into the night.
Where seniors ring the bell upon completing their essays. Where faculty and students
convene for a cup of coffee and good conversation. And where alumni and the community
meet for lectures, concerts, and Croquet.
McDowell Hall is an architectural jewel
and the historic heart of St. John’s College.
Built in the 1740s and praised by Thomas
Jefferson, the building and the surrounding
four acres were gifted to St. John’s by the
state of Maryland in 1784. The elegant facility,
named for the college’s first president, John
McDowell, stands as one of the nation’s oldest
academic buildings in continuous use. Formerly a dorm, dining hall, classroom building,
and faculty building all in one, McDowell Hall
still serves as the academic and social hub of
the Annapolis campus. In particular, the Great
Hall, with its elegant wrapped balcony, is a
popular gathering spot for Johnnies to enjoy
music, singing, and dancing.
McDowell Hall is poised for major repairs.
Last renovated in 1989, the building requires
structural work as well as other physical
upgrades to ensure that it meets proper
standards and accommodates the educational
needs of today’s and tomorrow’s Johnnies.
The Maryland Independent College and
University Association (MICUA) has endorsed
a $2.9 million grant—nearly half the $6 million
the project requires—which the State of Maryland will decide on next spring. An anonymous
donor has issued a 2:1 challenge, with an
invitation to alumni and the broader St. John’s
community to help complete the project.
“Alumni and friends can now leverage their
gifts as they support this historic preservation project,” notes Annapolis President Chris
Nelson. “It’s important to preserve this living
landmark for future generations of Johnnies
and the entire Annapolis community.”
To make a gift and learn more about
opportunities to support the McDowell Hall
renovation project, please contact Laurie
Reinhardt, vice president of Development
and Alumni Relations, at 443-482-6575 or
laurie.reinhardt@sjc.edu.
The College
is published by St. John’s
College, Annapolis, MD,
and Santa Fe, NM.
thecollegemagazine@
sjc.edu
Known office of
publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
60 College Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
Periodicals postage
paid at Annapolis, MD.
Postmaster: Send
address changes to
The College Magazine,
Communications Office,
St. John’s College,
60 College Avenue,
Annapolis, MD 21401.
Editor
Gregory Shook
gregory.shook@sjc.edu
Contributors
Anna Perleberg Andersen
(SF02)
Rodjinaé Brown (SF16)
Michael Grenke
Bob Keyes
Leslie Linthicum
Jonathan Llovet (A17)
Sawyer Neale (A18)
Bonnie Scott (A17)
Robin Weiss (SFGI90)
Babak Zarin (A11)
Design
Skelton Design
Contributing Designer
Jennifer Behrens
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 7
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
JOHNNIE TRADITIONS
More Than a Game
For Johnnies, Croquet is a
Tie That Binds
“Dreams come true!” Stephanie Hurn (A17)
proclaimed amid a cheering crowd of Johnnies
and other spectators gathered on the front
lawn of the Annapolis campus for the 34th
annual Annapolis Cup. Hers was the winning
shot that clinched a 3-2 victory for St. John’s—
its 27th in the historic croquet rivalry with
Navy. Throughout the afternoon on April 16,
the Johnnies, sporting denim overalls and
straw hats, battled nobly against the Midshipmen in what was one of the tighter matches in
recent years. “It was a nerve-wracking game,”
says team member Joe Gillespie-Hill (A17) of
his own battle for victory. “Close until about
three-quarters of the way through.”
ABOVE: Surrounded by her
teammates, Stephanie
Hurn (A17) hugs the
Annapolis Cup in near
disbelief after making
the winning shot.
LEFT:
No contest:
Patrick (A01) and Citlali
McDowell, and their son,
are the best dressed
family at Croquet.
ABOVE: Jennifer Shumpert (A15)
celebrates with her friend and former
teammate Stephanie Hurn (A17).
RIGHT: William Knight (A08) dons
authentic vintage attire.
With a dazzling run of consecutive shots
on the court, Hurn was a picture of focused
determination. At one point during the match
she silenced a group of boisterous fans with
just a look and a wave of the hand. “I’ve seen
8 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 016
her run the break before,” says St. John’s
Imperial Wicket Noe Jimenez (A16), impressed
by Hurn’s prowess with a croquet mallet. “She
knocked it out of the park. I’m so proud of my
teammates. It was an incredible team effort.”
Suffice to say, a special bond exists among
Johnnie croquet team members. At this year’s
match, Imperial Wickets and team members
from previous decades returned to campus
to support their alma mater and check out
the new crop of players—and to take mallet in
hand once again for a bit of friendly competition. Long after the picnics were packed up
and the spectators cleared the lawn, croquet
titans past and present gathered for a round
of “SJC 9-wicket,” played not for glory but for
love of the game.
—Gregory Shook
�COMMENCEMENT 2016
Tutors Mark
the Occasion
Per St. John’s tradition, seniors selected
members of the SJC community to provide
addresses at this year’s commencement
ceremonies. In Santa Fe, tutor Eva Brann (H89)
took the opportunity to offer a last-minute
language tutorial. Addressing the 78 seniors
and 19 Graduate Institute students assembled
on the Weigle Placita, she thoughtfully yet
playfully took to task a well-meaning sentiment:
“I want to make a difference. I want to change
the world.” Brann looks to Kant—arguably one
of the more challenging Program authors—to
analyze these words and get to the heart of
their true meaning. “He thinks that doing right
is not doing what you want but what you ought,
and that, in fact, the only proof of your doing as
you ought is that it hurts some, that your mere
wanting is thwarted.”
A mentor as well as a tutor, Brann is a
model for the “examined life” that a St. John’s
education encourages. During her address,
she reflected on the tutor-student dynamic at
the college. “You may often have thought that
our, the tutors’, intention was to throw you
into a permanent muddle,” said Brann. “But, of
course, the opposite was our hope: It was that
you would find in your reading the elements of
your own firm view of what is good universally
and therefore what is better in particular.”
Seniors in Annapolis also selected a beloved
member of the faculty, Thomas May, to offer
words to mark the momentous event. “Mr. May
has many of the qualities that I look for in a
tutor: generosity, thoughtfulness, knowledge,
experience, and a sense of humor,” says Max
Dakin (A16). In addition to leading seminars
and language tutorials, May has served as
director of the Freshman Chorus, skillfully
introducing the college’s love of music to its
newest members. Addressing the 85 seniors
and 15 Graduate Institute graduates gathered
on the campus front lawn, May requested a
moment of reflection: “Think back to when
you first came here. The convocation, then the
gathering afterwards, meeting the president,
dean, tutors, and community; then off to your
first class, assigned book in hand dutifully read,
you picked your seat and waited for the opening
“� ou may often have thought that our,
Y
the tutors’, intention was to throw
you into a permanent muddle. But, of
course, the opposite was our hope: It
was that you would find in your reading
the elements of your own firm view of
what is good universally and therefore
what is better in particular.”
—Eva Brann (H89)
question. Do you still remember what it was?
How much can you recall of the discussion that
followed?”
Befitting the occasion, May concluded with
words from a poem by Wendell Berry: “May
you always have the hindsight to know where
you’ve been, the foresight to know where you’re
going, and the insight to realize what you don’t
know and when you’ve gone too far! May you
never forget the friends you’ve made here and
all that has been good in this adventurous
endeavor.”
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 9
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
H I D D E N TA L E N T
Whimsical Worlds
Sarah Benson Brings
Paper to Life
Annapolis tutor Sarah Benson made what she
describes as her “first paper automaton” at age
8. While attending the Strawberry Hill day
camp on Nittany Mountain near Centre Hall,
Pennsylvania, she created a figure on paper—a
strongman with stripy socks—meant to come
to life when cut out and played with. Known as
Hampelmann in German-speaking countries,
or jumping-jack, at the tug of a string his
arms and legs begin to move. “He was an
automaton to me, though he didn’t move by
himself, because he nevertheless seemed to,”
says Benson. “The delight comes from our
participating in the illusion.”
Benson’s creative and whimsical bent only
grew with time, taking many different forms.
While in her teens, Benson wished to become
a clockmaker. Her parents gave her a kit
called “Make Your Own Working Paper Clock,”
and she again gave life to paper, which now
ticked and tocked. When Benson later began
to explore philosophy she discovered that “the
two paths seemed nearly interchangeable at
the time. Either seemed an occasion to explore
“� dilemma of the tourist
A
who knew Rome so well
already was to find the topographic city as interesting
as the paper one.”
Sarah Benson’s first paper automaton
moves with the help of a string.
10 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
Benson’s “MIDDLEMARCH PAPER THEATER” is
modeled on the 18th-century paper theaters
of Martin Engelbrecht. In the background is a
peep-show birthday card for her husband, with
a silhouette of their baby girl inside.
questions of what makes a thing alive, what
constitutes the mind.” She found the historical
narrative of paper worlds just as enchanting as
her own experience with them.
As an art historian, Benson has had the
opportunity to gaze back through time, making whole cities—now only knowable through
the trails of artifacts and documents they
left behind—folded into the three-dimensional
world of her mind, breathe once more. Pop-up
paper theaters became common entertainment
in the 1700s, a century before George Eliot
wrote her novel Middlemarch. There is a
scene in the book in which Dorothea, the main
character, travels to Rome with her husband.
Benson explains that before Dorothea laid
foot in Rome, she had probably known it as a
paper city—the streets, piazzas, monuments,
and ruins all laid out in printed views, which
onlookers who had never set foot in the city
itself could explore, both with their eyes as
well as their imaginations. “A dilemma of the
tourist who knew Rome so well already was to
find the topographic city as interesting as the
paper one,” says Benson, who created her own
paper theater with Dorothea in the center of
the stage, her second husband-to-be off to the
�side, his gaze askew. Benson’s theater allows
readers to put Dorothea back into paper Rome
and imagine how the character is affected by
sites she never visits in the novel.
Benson’s interest extends into old optical
devices made to enhance the experience of
paper worlds by exaggerating them to the
eye. One such device is the zograscope, which
belongs to the lineage of optical entertainments that seek to immerse the viewer in the
scene, along with cinema, 3D photography, and
virtual reality. Printed views with exaggerated
perspectives called vues d’optiques were sold
to be seen through the zograscope. “I knew
about zograscopes from my research into
printed views of Rome,” says Benson. “But I’d
never seen one in person before noticing one
among the collections of historical scientific
instruments in Mellon Hall. I don’t think
anyone knew what it was. Thanks to the Paca
House Museum in Annapolis, which lent us two
of their vues d’optiques, I got to try it out with
the students. It was a lot of fun.”
great books. On Saturday mornings, one of
them brings a translation of one Stephanus
page, which they discuss after they “schmooze,
chew the fat and gossip.” (“Stephanus page”
refers to the pagination of a 16th-century
edition of Plato’s works, used for standard reference.) Moving one page per week maintains
a manageable pace, and it also has a greater
benefit. Each of them preserves anonymity and
the unity of the translation, since no one gets
special rights to a section or speech. When I
asked about it, Mr. Salem said they have no
idea who originally prepared each section. They
work as amateurs—lovers—of Plato’s dialogues
and of our own. In this spirit, they work as
readers, for readers, in dialectic cooperation
to produce a translation to engage with. Ms.
Brann said, “Some classicists may find it outrageous, but if they spend some time with it, they
might even learn something.”
That said, the translators had hot feet putting Plato’s dialogue into English. As Mr. Kalkavage explained, when we discuss a play, such
as Hamlet, we can juggle various readings of
—Bonnie Scott (A17)
So, how’s the fruit? Edifying, delicious. Their
work fits the dialogue’s theme: the translation
fills the reader with Eros, inspiring her to press
further in inquiry. Ms. Brann, Mr. Kalkavage,
and Mr. Salem showcase the dialogue’s saucy
seriousness, tracing shifts in register and style.
One hears the poetic eloquence of Agathon, the
unwittingly funny formality of Eryximachus,
Socrates’s ironical wit. There are benefits to
making English more like Greek when writing
a translation, but this trio offers a wealth
of clever, dynamic English working on its
own terms. Sometimes the language is clear
and simple; at other times it follows twisting maneuvers of intentionally complex and
convoluted speech. Using their translation, Mr.
Kalkavage led a GI Preceptorial on Symposium and Phaedrus this summer in Annapolis.
One student captured a quality of their translation by asking, “Who is the better guide, the
grammarian who produces a reference book, or
Shakespeare?” The trio of tutors has found the
medium between being informed by the Greek
language and by Plato. Where they step away
a line at once. An actor on stage, however, has
no such luxury. In front of an audience, actors
have their feet to the fire and must give a
reading to each line they deliver. Like actors,
the translators decided in each case on a single
delivery.1 What English expression will carry
over the colorful threads of flirtation woven
into this interaction? How should particles—
little words that put theatric gestures on the
Greek’s tongue—come across? Their introduction to Symposium says, “Our goal was to
devise a translation that was as faithful as
possible to the Greek original in vocabulary
and syntax, and that captured the playfulness
of the interchanges and the varying tone of the
formal speeches.”
Eva Brann and “the Boys” translate Plato.
T U T O R T R A N S L AT I O N S
After the students left last spring, Annapolis
tutors Eva Brann (H89) and Eric Salem (A77)
gathered at fellow tutor Peter Kalkavage’s
office, where the trio put finishing touches on
their most recent collaboration, a translation
of Plato’s dialogue on Love, Symposium or
Drinking Party. About 20 years ago, when
Ms. Brann was asked by the editor of Focus
Press to translate the Sophist, she asked Mr.
Kalkavage and Mr. Salem to join her in the
project. Since then, these tutors have translated several of Plato’s dialogues: Sophist,
Phaedo, Statesman, and now Symposium.
With the new translation done, they still had to
polish their essays and send drafts to the publisher before summer sessions began. In this
in-between time, I spoke with them about the
fruit of their labors and the labors themselves.
Each member of the trio works on translation projects individually—Italian short stories,
French poetry, Greek fragments, works on
mathematics, other Plato. But how do they
practice, as Mr. Kalkavage called it, the “unart” of translation together? In the same way
that everything is practiced at the college: as
friends in dialogue with each other and the
JENNIFER BEHRENS
Labor of Love
from a so-called “literal” translation, they step
up and are more accurate for it.
Symposium or Drinking Party will
be published in spring 2017 by Hackett
Publishing. The trio of Eva Brann and “the
Boys” will begin work shortly on their next
translation: Plato’s Philebus.
—Jonathan Llovet (A17)
1
To the relief of their feet, they include a glossary
that discusses the meanings of important Greek
words in Symposium.
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�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
JOHNNIE ORIGINS
Facebook was abuzz this summer when Kevin Thomas
(A93) posted his story about why he came to St. John’s,
inspiring other Johnnies to share their own “origin stories.”
Here are just a few excerpts, which have been edited for
length and clarity, from the many that were shared:
“After my junior year I had an opportunity to
go to a summer program [at St. John’s]…I
spent one morning in a two-hour seminar
with [tutors] John Verdi and Debbie (Renaut)
Axelrod, and it felt like the most natural thing
in the world. After a few weeks, I couldn’t
bear the thought of leaving. I lay awake one
night trying to piece it all together. All at once
I saw: I could apply early, and not go back to
high school! I went to see Eva Brann, who
was dean at the time. She looked at me and
said, ‘Are you serious?’ Once she saw I was,
she sent me to Admissions. I applied in July
to come in August. Somehow the financial aid
I needed materialized, even so late. Then my
parents realized I was serious and made a last
ditch attempt to prevent it. But I refused to
give in. My dad visited my seminar when I was
a freshman and said, ‘You should stay here.
I’ve never seen a discussion like that.’ At St.
John’s I flourished under the care and attention
of my tutors. Among many life-saving things,
I learned something crucial for life in general
and for intellectual life in particular: how to
cope when you don’t understand something.”
that I could study exactly the same things at
Harvard that I could study at St. John’s, taking
Plato, Greek, French, etc., plus I would have
the Harvard degree. So I applied and got into
Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth, and attended
Harvard. I was in a freshman ‘seminar’ class
there where the graduate student teaching the
class basically read his dissertation to us. I
knew that was not my experience of seminar at
St. John’s…
I began to realize that my high school counselors had been wrong, and that I could not
replicate a SJC experience at Harvard. I found
a dorm proctor who had gone to St. John’s
College as an undergraduate and asked her
what she thought about SJC versus Harvard. I
remember her being extremely professional and
balanced, explaining, ‘On the one hand Harvard
…and on the other hand St. John’s…’ But I
could see that every time she spoke about
St. John’s her eyes lit up with life and love for
the institution. I arranged to visit SJC as a
prospective student again just to make sure.
After that visit, I knew I had to go to St. John’s
[which] I describe as one of the great loves of
my life to this day.”
MICHAEL STRONG (SF84):
JEROME DAUSMAN (AGI11):
“I first encountered St. John’s in a pile of college brochures that came in the mail after I
took my PSATs. I had scored well and seemed
to be getting huge numbers of brochures that
all looked the same—smiling students on bright
green lawns looking like they were having fun.
Then came the St. John’s brochure, with the list
of Homer, Plato, etc. It is the only brochure that
I read all the way through. I made arrangements to visit at the beginning of my senior year
[and] loved it immediately…
My high school counselors then began to talk
me into applying for the Ivy Leagues, saying
“My origin story starts with MIT. I learned
how to use the formulas, how to write a
paper on the facts, and how to take exams.
I also learned how much others had read and
was somewhat jealous. I wound up with two
degrees and a desire to read anything and
everything. Years later when my son was
in his first year at St. John’s in Annapolis I
decided to do his readings also. Because
Herodotus and later Thucydides were so
interesting I read them cover to cover, though
the freshmen only read half of each. My son
finished freshman year in May and I was still
ZENA HITZ (A95):
12 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
“�..when my son was in his
.
first year at St. John’s I
decided to do his readings
also. Because Herodotus
and Thucydides were so
interesting I read them
cover to cover. . .So I followed
him to St. John’s, enrolling
in the graduate program.
Being able to discuss the
books with others makes all
the difference. My son and I
graduated together in 2011.”
—Jerome Dausman (AGI11)
�“� know that wherever I go
I
in life and whatever happens
to me, I will still have the
books in my heart and a
cadre of friends pointing the
way to the examined life.”
—Lauren Cooper (A10)
be forever grateful for the college for providing
me with such a transformational education. I
know that wherever I go in life and whatever
happens to me, I will still have the books in my
heart and a cadre of friends pointing the way to
the examined life.”
ELI CASTRO (SF94):
reading January assignments! So I followed
him to St. John’s, enrolling in the graduate
program. Being able to discuss the books
with others makes all the difference. My son
and I graduated together in 2011.”
LAUREN COOPER (A10):
“After a bumpy couple of years involving a number of ‘teachable moments,’ I found myself in
my dorm at a different school, miserable, bored,
and extremely lonely. I was frustrated by the
lack of engagement by other students, the lack
of support by my professors, and the constraints
of having to only take classes in my major (when
all I wanted was to learn all kinds of things, not
just one thing). I resolved to leave college completely and pursue my life dream of being a goat
herder. A few weeks later, I came to my senses,
remembered a high school teacher’s recommendations, and started looking at the websites of
various small colleges. At that point, SJC struck
me as the only place I could go and experience
freedom from the constraints of majors…I will
“I visited St. John’s in October of my junior
year in high school. I’d like to claim more
noble motivations, but I was as excited for the
chance to skip out on a few days of school,
meet college girls, and see Santa Fe as I was to
investigate the curriculum. Within a few days,
I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else. The
conversations I was part of there—particularly
one in the coffee shop, after seminar—changed
my entire perspective on what a conversation
could be. When I got home, I sat down with my
dad over ice cream and explained that there
was no way I was waiting through another year
of high school to do this. I contacted the Grand
Rapids School Board, arranged to take my GED,
completed my application, and headed off that
fall to Santa Fe. There are very few decisions
I’ve made in my life that I’ve been more certain were the right one.”
CHRISTOPHER HADLEY (A92):
“I went to St. John’s because of close friends of
my family who were alumni. They were creative,
thoughtful, and integrated in the way I wanted
to be. It was a great decision, to go to St.
John’s—Santa Fe first, then Annapolis. I’m still
relishing ongoing conversations with books
and authors from the Program. I have never
stopped reading the Great Books. And I still
love my living and breathing friends that I met
there, too!”
Do you have an “origin story” that you
would like to share with The College? If so,
please send it to thecollegemagazine@sjc.edu.
AHHH, REFRESHING!
Have you heard the news? St. John’s
recently launched a refreshed version
of its website, www.sjc.edu. Incorporating extensive input from alumni, faculty,
staff, and students, the newly enhanced
design is meant to better feature the
Program and show the world the St.
John’s we know and love. If you haven’t
done so already, take a moment to peruse the website—and be sure to follow
St. John’s on Facebook and Twitter.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 13
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
I N A U G U R AT I O N
St. John’s Welcomes
Santa Fe’s Seventh
President
“There’s a fear of pomposity,” Mark Roosevelt
said in the week leading up to his inauguration
as the seventh president of St. John’s College
in Santa Fe.
Those fears were put to rest September 16
and 17, in an inauguration weekend that included
barbecue and beer from the Cowgirl Hall of
Fame, a Dixieland jazz band, film showings,
and an American Indian hoop dancer who had
the crowd on its feet. Roosevelt did his part to
reduce pomposity by pairing his academic robes
with blue-soled sneakers for the ceremony.
As the event was timed to coincide with Santa
Fe’s homecoming weekend, these spirited aspects
of the program were meshed with more familiar
traditions, including the procession of faculty in
academic regalia, and attendance by numerous
board members, Alumni Association leaders, and
alumni. The inauguration also included warm
welcomes to Roosevelt from Annapolis President
Chris Nelson (SF70) on behalf of the Annapolis
campus, Santa Fe Dean Matthew Davis (A82)
on behalf of the Santa Fe staff, and from Audrey
Morf (SF17) on behalf of students.
Greg Avis, Roosevelt’s friend and a former
board member at Antioch College, where Roosevelt was previously president, introduced St.
[The St. John’s education]
“changes people who can go
on and change the world.
Please know this . . . my
commitment to preserving
this education and celebrating
its impact is unwavering.”
—Mark Roosevelt
John’s new college-wide leader, praising him for
his razor-sharp intelligence. “This is not a ‘job’
for Mark,” Avis said. “It is a calling.”
In his own inauguration address, Roosevelt
spoke of the importance of the St. John’s
education: “It changes people who can go on
and change the world,” he said. And he spoke
to the challenges faced by our unique small
college. “Please know this,” Roosevelt said. “My
commitment to preserving this education and
CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: Live jazz fills
the air. A hoop dancer delights the crowd.
President Roosevelt stresses the value of
St. John’s. Bernstein mentors students.
Kimmelman and Bernstein tickle the
ivories. FOLLOWING PAGE: Dixieland sounds
ring in the festivities.
celebrating its impact is unwavering.” Nelson
affirmed this statement, saying that Roosevelt
“treasures the St. John’s Program, the quality
of community life on both campuses, and the
dedication of the faculty and staff to the preservation and sustenance of the college and its
program of study.”
Briana Saussy (A03, EC05), a member of
the college’s Alumni Association, says she has
already seen Roosevelt’s devotion to the St.
John’s mission and his ability to work through
the tensions and concerns about the consolidation of two campuses under one president. “My
personal impression,” she says, “is that Mark is
very much the right person to steer the college
at this point in time.”
—Leslie Linthicum
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�WORLD-CLASS MUSICAL
ACCOMPANIMENT
Pianist, composer and teacher Seymour Bernstein, at 89, is having something of a moment.
After retiring from an international performing
career at age 50, Bernstein turned to teaching
and writing, laboring in partial obscurity until
2014, when actor and director Ethan Hawke
met him at a dinner party and made him the
subject of his documentary film, Seymour: An
Introduction. Since then, Bernstein has found
a new audience among piano students, music
lovers, and a general audience who recognize
him as a mensch and a mentor: a sage, as
much as a musician.
St. John’s President Mark Roosevelt and his
wife, Dorothy, had never heard of Bernstein
when they watched Seymour: An Introduction
on Netflix earlier this year. It was just as the
planning had begun for Roosevelt’s September
2016 inauguration.
“We just loved it,” Roosevelt said. “I realized
that much of what is represented in the film
is central to what St. John’s is about: The
willingness to cast aside societal and cultural
expectations, the value placed on teaching, and
the passing on of things.”
Roosevelt invited Bernstein, along with one of
his piano students, New York Times art and architecture critic Michael Kimmelman (who has
studied with Bernstein since the age of 5) to
be featured guests at the inauguration. On the
Thursday night before Roosevelt’s installation,
the college hosted a free showing of the film at
Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center, followed by a conversation and Q&A with the star
of the film himself. And “star” turns out to be
an apt descriptor: Bernstein related to the assembly of alumni, board members, and friends
of the college how, on a trip to Korea after the
film debuted, he was mobbed and followed by
camera crews. “Now,” he said in an interview,
“I know what a rock star feels like.”
At Friday’s inauguration, held in the Winiarski
Student Center on the Santa Fe campus, Bernstein and Kimmelman charmed the audience
with a shoulder-to-shoulder performance of Franz
Schubert’s Fantasie in F Minor (Bernstein calls it
“a symphony for four hands”). After the ceremony
they were joined by tutor Sarah Davis for a wideranging and very personal panel discussion about
success, ego, and the connection between work
and meaning, with Bernstein suggesting that
everyone look in the mirror and say, “I love you.”
Bernstein also devoted several hours to mentoring student musicians in one of his legendary
public master classes before a live audience:
St. John’s student Evan A. Quarles (SF17) and
two New Mexico high school students, Presley
Gao of Los Alamos and Leah Epstein of Taos,
selected via a statewide video audition sponsored by St. John’s.
Bernstein has compared the profound effects of
music to profound aspects of life. Life, he says,
has harmonies and dissonances and resolutions, just as music does. “Musicians become
philosophers,” he says. “I believe you won’t enjoy
that resolution if you don’t have that dissonance.
We’re searching for the truth of that B Flat.”
—Leslie Linthicum
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 15
�16 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
�THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 17
�PENELOPE’S
CHOICE
�TUTOR VIEW
T
by Michael Grenke
HE ODYSSEY’S PENELOPE IS A THINKER ,
a person who is effective in facing her world and its problems
by thinking her way out of them. She is, perhaps, even more
of a thinker than her much-devising husband, as he is still,
occasionally, given to “solving” his problems with brute
force. It is in Penelope that Homer more purely explores the
possibilities and limitations of Odyssean cleverness. The
emblem of Penelope’s cleverness is the device by which she
tricks her suitors for three years, her weaving. She uses
the weaving to buy herself time, but the weaving is itself
an image of time. Time is a weaving and unweaving; it
makes and unmakes beings and relations. In her deception,
Penelope gives the impression time has no consequence. She
knits and knits (and unknits), but nothing seems to change.
But it is the changes that accompany or constitute time that
make time a matter of consequence for human beings. And
understood thus, time poses a great difficulty that attends
and deforms the kind of thinking in which Penelope engages.
Bourdelle, Emile-Antoine
(1861-1929). Penelope,
1909. Cast bronze, dark
green patina. 47 ¹ 8 × 17
/
× 14 ¾ in. (119.7 × 43.8
× 37.5 cm). AP 1969.03.
Kimbell Art Museum,
Fort Worth, Texas/Art
Resource, NY
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 19
�TUTOR VIEW
I
n the so-called digression of the Theaetetus (172d),
Socrates sketches an extreme image of the upbringing of a philosophic human being. There the philosophic human being is brought up in isolated
innocence. They are not exposed to or involved in any
of the daily concerns of the political or legal system.
These human beings, alone, says Socrates, are free.
Every other human being, says Socrates, is a slave.
More literally they are slaves to time. And expressed
in more Greek fashion, they are slaves to the water
clock. All of their actions and their thinking, all of
their problem solving, is on a timer.
To be free one must be able to do what one wants.
But in order to be able to do what one wants in the
fullest sense, one must know what one is doing. Only
those who are not concerned with the matters of
the day, the week, the year are free to think about
a problem for as long as the problem deserves. Only
a thinker who is at leisure thinks about a problem
with no limitations other than those that define sound
thinking itself. Only such a thinker can delay their con-
Although Penelope is not wholly opposed
to coming to some kind of arrangement
with the suitors, she tries to delay them.
She tries to put herself in a situation
where there is more time to think more
fully and on more sufficient grounds.
clusion until the thinking itself merits a conclusion.1
All others are under the pressure of some deadline,
the pressing down of the flowing water of time. This
pressure distorts their thinking in one way or another.
It makes them proclaim a finish to the thinking when
more thinking is needed. It makes them proclaim a
matter finished when more argument or more evidence is needed. This pressure leads to bad thinking,
and according to Socrates it makes human beings
“become small and not upright in their souls.”
Human beings become slaves to the clock mostly
because other human beings put them on the clock.
In one of his notebooks from 1882, Nietzsche writes
“Madness is rare with individuals – but with groups,
parties, peoples, times it is the rule.” The word for
madness here is Irrsinn,2 literally erroneous think-
20 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
ing, or more loosely bad thinking. What Nietzsche
seems to have in mind is that our intercourse with
other human beings pressures us to adopt illegitimate modes of thinking. We must agree or, more
accurately, pretend to agree about many matters
regardless of whether we have the resources and have
utilized those resources to come to a well-founded
conclusion. Human beings do not feel secure in the
proximity of other human beings who do not agree
with them. Such agreements are demanded by social
life, and they are demanded on a time table determined by the feelings of the human beings, not by
the epistemological requirements of the matter under
consideration. Who is comfortable with a neighbor
who does not respect property rights, or does not
endorse the prohibition against cannibalism, or who
openly admits that they do not know what justice is?
In general, who is comfortable living near human
beings who do not hold a massive host of opinions
shared in rough outline by the whole group?
It is bad thinking to declare a matter resolved
before it is resolved. It is a mental defect to think
one knows what one does not know. Yet it seems that
social life pushes our thinking into this premature
and self-deceiving form. Not only that, the matters
that society demands we resolve are matters that
move our passions deeply. Thus we see exhibitions
of great anger and agitation in our efforts to govern
ourselves. Governing demands results. Results are
not answers. The clearest thing is that strength of
the passions is out of proportion with the fullness
and soundness of the thinking that backs our claims.
We very often do not know, but when another human
being disagrees with us, we act as if we do know and
as if they ought to know. We would never demand
that a human being give a solution to an equation
before they had actually worked it out, but in many
matters of much greater concern to us we demand
something like that from our fellow human beings.
We put them on the clock. We impress upon them
habits of bad thinking. And we invest the situation
with great passion and grave consequences.
Her suitors have put Penelope on the clock. They
are aggressive and avaricious. They are perhaps
reversions to the piratical character of the early
Greeks. They are perhaps the result of a generation
of young Greek men who have come up, thanks to
the war, without the benefit of the guidance of the
previous generation. They are perhaps just a flaring up of unfiltered human nature, opportunistic
predators that see something desirable (authority
in Ithaka, wealth, a beautiful woman) undefended
�and are not sufficiently inhibited by conventions that
have no force to back them up. It is unsafe not to
come to some kind of agreement with such suitors.
Although Penelope is not wholly opposed to coming to some kind of arrangement with the suitors,
she tries to delay them. She tries to put herself in a
situation where there is more time to think more fully
and on more sufficient grounds. She tries to defend
her marriage, but what is she defending? The fate of
her husband is unknown. No contact for nearly 20
years. What have they shared? What have they done
together? Nothing. Each has been married to the
other separately. Because of their separation their
marriage is devoid of change, it is time defying and
thus is allied to the leisurely realm of purer thinking. But it is not just their special circumstances that
makes this so. Their marriage is meant to be once
and for all. Perhaps most marriages are meant to be
time defying. Odysseus embraced this thought when
he built his immovable bed. However such a marriage is not aiming at the kind of unchanging character that belongs to undying beings. When Odysseus
defends his marriage, he does so against the offer of
marriage to a goddess. Immortality comes with this
offer. But when Homer gives us a glimpse of Odysseus reasoning about Calypso’s offer it is clear he
is measuring marriage to the goddess against his
existing marriage to the mortal Penelope.
This attempt to have something lasting and stable, but still transient and mortal may offer some
form of compromise with the pressure that time
exerts on our thinking. For it is not just the suitors
that put Penelope on the clock. It is her mortality
also. Loyalty to a person can lose its substance if
that person no longer exists. And her Odysseus may
be dead or so changed as to no longer be hers. Even
if this is not the case, there is a cost to loyalty. Even
when her Odysseus has returned, Penelope laments
that the gods did not allow them to enjoy their youth
together (XXIII, 211). One sees this cost even more
clearly in the touching scene with Odysseus’s dog
Argos. The dog was bred by Odysseus, and he is its
master; it has clung to life loyally, it has waited 20
years to die only when its master returns. But they
have not shared life with one another. How much
better off Penelope is may just be a fortunate accident of her span of life.
Penelope’s marriage is a thought, and not a
thought fully founded upon adequate thinking and
evidence. She has chosen to remain loyal to this
thought even though aware of its inadequate founding. We can see this in the way that she comes to
recognize that her Odysseus has returned. It is
unlike the other recognition scenes. A distinctive
scar may be enough to mark an individual as singular, or performance of a feat that only he can do may
be enough. But this is not how Penelope recognizes
that her Odysseus has come back. When she pretends to order that their immovable marriage bed
be moved, Odysseus responds with strong anger. It
is his emotional response, not his knowledge of the
details of a material secret, that convinces Penelope
that her Odysseus is back. The marriage of these
two, impressive and inspiring as it is, exists primarily in the realm of thought and feeling. And thus it
is fragile; if Odysseus had not returned when he did,
waiting for his return would not have been the best
choice.3 But the fragility of such a marriage does not
mean the marriage is not a real thing. We can and
do live substantially within our thoughts. Since this
is our situation, we should take as much care as we
can regarding the quality of our thinking.
This is why sabbaticals are so
important to those who wish
to live the life of a learner.
They are not vacations. They
are times designed to approximate as much as possible the
leisure that allows a thinking
being to think according to the
criteria of thinking alone.
1�
Compare Beyond Good and
Evil 156 where Nietzsche
makes a similar claim. There
he uses the word Wahnsinn.
2�
Among other things, it would
likely have cost Telemachus
his life.
3�
ABOVE: Penelope at her loom,
miniature, circa 1505,
From the manuscipt Lives of
Famous Women by Antoine Dufour.
Musee Dobree. © DeA Picture
Library/Art Resource, NY
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 21
�22 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
�INDUSTRIOUS ALUMS
Young entrepreneurs
create an old-school
business from scratch
BY GREGORY SHOOK
With the rise in
popularity of glutenfree diets and increased
public interest in
lowering carbohydrate
consumption, bread has
taken it on the chin
lately. Flying in the face
of these culinary trends,
Chris Simmons (A97)
and Lucy Montgomery
(A98) opened a small
business making freshbaked bread, cookies,
pastries, and other
delectable treats from
scratch. The shop was a
hit from the start.
PHOTOGRAPHY: SARAH CULVER (AGI11)
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 23
�Previous page: Chris
Simmons (A97) and Lucy
Montgomery (A98) share
a family moment with
their two daughters in
their shop’s kitchen.
Above: Bakers & Co.
serves authentic treats
with a neighborhood feel.
Right: Chris Simmons
(A97) starts his day of
baking at 3 a.m.
T
he married couple runs Bakers &
Co., a European-style café perched
on a bustling corner in the heart of
Eastport—Annapolis’ quirky neighbor across Spa Creek. Simmons
says the secret to great bread boils
down to three simple ingredients:
water, flour, salt. What about yeast? “For some
crazy reason, I insist on making most of my sourdough bread naturally, so not adding commercial
or instant yeast, which adds a whole other layer
of planning,” says Simmons. “I have to make decisions two days in advance to have my starter
ready to go when I need it.”
Simmons and Montgomery are both selftaught, so they’ve had to figure out the art of baking largely on their own. “Sometimes you take the
longer way to learn something and, at times, be a
little too rigorous. But in the long run you learn
it far more profoundly,” says Montgomery. “I’m
24 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
constantly on a learning curve,” adds Simmons.
“It takes several days to figure out a mistake.”
The couple insists on high standards, even if it
requires more time and effort. “Taking shortcuts
in baking is reflected in the quality of the food,”
says Montgomery. “You taste it.” “We’re tough
critics,” adds Simmons. “When we try to learn
something, we’re not happy with it until we’re
really happy with it.”
A few years into baking, the couple took a busman’s holiday to Norwich, Vermont, for an intensive
week-long class at the King Arthur Flour Company,
a veritable mecca for bakers and bread lovers. It
wasn’t until later, though, that Simmons realized
his classic French breads instructor was “one of
the most serious bread makers in the country.”
While Simmons and Montgomery are celebrating
the shop’s four-year anniversary this Thanksgiving,
their story actually begins nearly a decade ago, when
Montgomery decided on a whim to try her hand at
�“� ometimes you take the longer way to
S
learn something and, at times, be a little
too rigorous. But in the long run you
learn it far more profoundly.”
—Lucy Montgomery (A98)
making bread at home. She found her calling.
A few weeks later, Montgomery traveled to
England to visit a sick relative. While there, her
aunt took her out to dinner at a London restaurant
known for its bread. At the time Montgomery and
Simmons were at a crossroads: she was exploring business school, and Simmons, who learned
about running a small business through his years
working at the old Smoke Shop in Annapolis, was
considering a shift to architecture. During dinner with her aunt, Montgomery, eager to sample
the restaurant’s much-lauded bread, discovered
that she actually preferred her own homemade
creations. Sensing her niece’s newfound enthusiasm for baking, Montgomery’s aunt urged her to
forget about business school and start a business.
Her advice paid off.
With just their hands and a few basic tools,
Simmons and Montgomery began baking bread
free-form at their Eastport home, usually two
loaves at a time, experimenting with different
types and sharing it with friends. The couple
then lucked into a spot at a local farmer’s market. “The timing was perfect,” says Simmons. “I
don’t know how that happened. There’s a threeyear waiting list.”
On their first day at the market, they arrived
with a card table, a tablecloth, 17 loaves of
bread, and a small basket, not quite sure what
to expect. “[The bread] was gone in forty-five
minutes,” recalls Simmons, with wide-eyed astonishment. “Then we thought, ‘what have we just
done? They’re all going to come back next week.’”
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 25
�Fueled by their initial success, the young bakers—
who put in many hours of baking and prep time
per week on top of their full-time jobs—returned
the following week stocked with 22 loaves. Again,
they sold it all.
With Bakers & Co., Simmons and Montgomery
are proud to be part of what she calls “the momand-pop store revival.” Unlike corporate chain
stores, Bakers & Co. keeps limited hours and is
closed two days a week. However, the work never
stops. “I’m busy those two days to get things
going, to prepare for the other five days in the
week,” says Simmons. “There’s not a day that I’m
not there.” The couple is also busy raising their
two young daughters. “I’ve got to get home to
make supper,” says Montgomery, who also manages the shop’s administrative duties. “That’s
what a mom-and-pop is.”
Word of mouth helped the business grow and
bring in new customers. “Our location is very specifically a neighborhood bake shop, but we get
customers from many miles away, from huge distances,” says Montgomery. “It’s kind of a Cheers
thing, where you know everyone’s names, and
people can talk with one another. People desperately want to belong to a community, and they
like the idea of a family bakery. It’s nice to connect with people and have a community. Our shop
fits that.”
Learn more about the couple’s bakery at
www.bakersandco.com.
26 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
�The work never stops. “I’m busy those two
days to get things going, to prepare for the
other five days in the week. There’s not a
day that I’m not there.”
—Chris Simmons (A97)
Lucy Montgomery (A98)
sets out an array of
freshly baked goods.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 27
�C R E AT I V E T H I N K E R
BUILDING
COMMUNITY
AMONG
“BIG-IDEA”
THINKERS
28 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
BY BOB KEYES
�Liz Trice (SF98) says her job
involves being a good host. It
starts with making sure the
coffee is fresh, the bathrooms
are clean and the chairs are
comfortable. Her greatest skill,
she says, is her friendliness.
Trice owns and operates PelotonLabs in
Portland, Maine, a co-working office space for
independent professionals and entrepreneurs.
She creates connections among busy people,
as well as a comfortable and effective work
environment for people whose careers and
lifestyles demand independence and flexibility.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 29
�t’s complicated work, highly
specialized and intuitive, and
involves more than making
good coffee and keeping the
office clean and comfortable.
Trice uses her human relations
expertise, strategic planning
experience, and problem-solving
skills—all rooted in interaction,
innovation, and collaboration—to
create a self-sustaining community of independent, progressive
workers. Her goal is to bring
people together to share what
they know, help each other grow
and “weave a social fabric” that
extends beyond the workplace.
Her work at PelotonLabs is
not unlike the work she does at the nearby
community garden that she helps maintain
in her neighborhood: she nurtures, nourishes, and encourages. “At Peloton, mostly
I just chat with people in the kitchen,
introduce people to each other, and connect
people with overlapping interests,” says
Trice. “My role is community organizer and
group facilitator.”
Co-working is a relatively new concept,
where entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants, and others who work remotely share
work space. There are about a half-million
co-workers and more than 7,000 co-working
spaces globally, and those numbers are
growing. Employment trends suggest that
by 2020, up to 40 percent of the U.S. workforce will consist of freelancers, temporary
employees, independent contractors, and
solo entrepreneurs.
At PelotonLabs, members own companies, edit books, and make movies. They are
accountants and consultants, marketers and
IT experts. Many are telecommuters who
want a structured office environment, and
about half are self-employed. They’re mostly
a young group, mobile and tech-savvy. The
average age is 39, and the typical member
spends 23 hours in the office each week.
Trice opened PelotonLabs six years ago
GLENN PICHER – DIRIGO MULTIMEDIA
SUCCESS STORY
Sofas provide a relaxed atmosphere to share ideas.
� E WANT A PLACE
W
“�
WHERE
PEOPLE WHO ARE ON THEIR OWN CAN
WORK WITH OTHERS, TO GET THE BENEFITS
OF BEING IN AN ORGANIZATION WHILE
STILL BEING INDEPENDENT.”
with a business partner, and has owned the
business outright for three years. The name
is a cycling term. In races, bicyclists from
different teams work together in groups,
or pelotons, to move faster. Trice builds
community among “big-idea thinkers” so
they can progress faster together than alone.
“We want a place where people who are on
their own can work with others, to get the
benefits of being in an organization while
still being independent,” she says.
PelotonLabs currently has about 80
members, who pay between $100 and $300
30 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
a month. The price reflects different levels
of membership and service. Trice calls
PelotonLabs a clubhouse, where the value
of membership involves more than having
a comfortable place to work. She arranges
professional development gatherings, weekly
lunches, happy hours, and “coaching hours,”
where members share knowledge of their
specialty with others.
In other ways, it’s a little like kindergarten. There are daily snack times, where
everyone is encouraged to take a break,
come together, and share words and food.
�ARCHETYPE ARCHITECTS
PelotonLabs is the city’s first purpose-built office space.
� EXCITING TO BE HAVING
IT’S
“
THOSE CONVERSATIONS AMONG OTHER
PEOPLE HAVING SIMILAR CONVERSATIONS.
WE ALL DO INTERESTING THINGS, AND WE
CAN ALL HELP EACH OTHER.”
There are rooms for napping, and exercise
rings hanging from the ceiling, for when
people need to stretch their bodies.
PelotonLabs consists of two floors in a
modern office building, which opens onto
Portland’s busiest downtown thoroughfare.
The bottom floor is mostly open, with work
stations and tables spread across a colorful
and airy room. There are conference rooms
for meetings and quiet spaces for private
phone calls.
It’s a bustling place, with multiple conversations happening at once. Some people sit
at workstations that face away from the center of the room. Others share tables and sit
across from each other on sofas. The space
is buzzing with white noise, so recognizable
voices are masked. The second floor offers
more privacy and quiet spaces—and private
rooms for naps. It’s a comfortable space,
because it has to be. “I’m competing with
people’s homes,” says Trice.
Trice doesn’t have an office. She
flows throughout the building, and likes
conducting meetings on a sofa near the
front door, where she can see across the
room, into the kitchen and also keep an eye
on the conference room. She works with her
feet propped on a coffee table, her laptop
within reach.
Betsy Smith, an independent consultant,
works at Peloton one or two days a week,
mostly when her kids are home. She likes to
spread out her work and encamp for eight or
10 hours with little interruption. But lately,
Smith has sought interruptions. She likes
to mingle among her co-workers “because
I have found it’s a great place to be talking
about what we are all doing,” she said. “It’s
exciting to be having those conversations
among other people having similar conversations. We all do interesting things, and we
can all help each other.”
She has hired subcontractors through
those conversations, and directed co-workers to leads and ideas for new work.
Another private consultant, Cristos
Lianides-Chin, has been involved with
PelotonLabs since fall 2015 when he
moved to Maine. He was drawn “because
of the community. I really like the mix of
people,” he says. “I needed a desk and office
space short term, but I was looking for a
community and a long-term relationship.”
He’s become an integral member, serving as
technologist-in-residence.
Trice sees her work at PelotonLabs as a
logical trajectory of her life and career. At
age 6, she created a filing system with an
index card for each classmate. That was the
first evidence of what she calls her “thoughtful social inclinations.” Those continued at
St. John’s, where the college’s communal
approach to education suited her mindset.
She did her graduate work at the Muskie
School of Public Service at the University
of Southern Maine in Portland, where she
wrote her master’s thesis about the residential needs of single people. Now in business,
she serves the needs of remote workers, the
self-employed, and emerging entrepreneurs.
The thread, she says, is connecting
people, providing companionship, and sharing resources to improve their lives.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 31
�BIBLIOFILE
KATHRYN
KRAMER
Missing History
K
“� t’s hard to say what
I
the signs are, exactly.
A certain diffidence. A
shared acknowledgement
that the truth is always
a little more complicated
than what anyone is
articulating, including
ourselves.”
athryn Kramer’s new book, Missing History: The Covert Education of a Child of
the Great Books (Threshold Way Publishing, 2015), combines heartfelt memoir
with candid family history, as well as an
examination of the American educational
system. Daughter of Clarence “Corky”
Kramer, a 1949 graduate of St. John’s who
was a tutor at the Annapolis campus and
the first dean at the Santa Fe campus,
Kathryn Kramer was an “academic child”
at the college during the 1950s. In that
era, sweetly scented pipe smoke wafted
from inside and outside classrooms, and
female students first joined their male
counterparts to study the Program. “I recognize other academic children. Children
of literature and humanities faculties,
especially,” Kramer writes in the book’s
prologue. “It’s hard to say what the signs
are, exactly. A certain diffidence. A shared
acknowledgement that the truth is always
a little more complicated than what anyone is articulating, including ourselves.”
Kramer’s loving yet complicated relationship with her father, his career, and
his relationship with the works of Plato,
Aristotle, Shakespeare, and Socrates, is
an underlying theme of the book. “My
father always spoke of them as if he knew
them personally.” When she was a young
girl, her father’s study on the top floor of
their brick row house represented a world
of intrigue and mystery that followed her
throughout her life. “In the study I never
consciously looked at the books, but it
seemed to me that I’d always known them
and their titles, so it came as a surprise to
me one day to realize that I’d never actually read them—these arbiters of Western
thought, these bearers of my philosophical
and literary heritage.”
32 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
As her father grew on in years, he also grew disillusioned by academia. This inspired teacher and scholar
of Western thought became isolated and sought alcohol for solace—a point that Kramer delves into deeply
and openly. “He was tired of having to watch people
‘reinventing the wheel,’ when the Greeks, just to start
with, had already catalogued all the follies of which
human nature was capable.”
Kramer, who now lives in Vermont and teaches
at Middlebury College, looks back unflinchingly at
her own academic experiences—the Key School that
her father helped to found, high school at the newly
established Santa Fe Preparatory School, and then
Marlboro College and Johns Hopkins University
where she studied writing—seeking clues to find what
was missing from those experiences and to better
understand the great books and their bearing on her
life. “The impetus to look back over my own school
years first arose when I began to participate in the
long march of the educational system a second time,
as a parent,” she writes. During a visit to a school,
“I suddenly found myself near tears, remembering all
at once, entirely, as if I’d been transported back to
them at that very moment, the classrooms with desks
arranged in their neat lines, in which you had to sit no
matter what, the teacher in front at the blackboard,
dispensing knowledge, revealing from on high.”
In a letter to Annapolis tutor Eva Brann (H89)
following her “reader response” to Missing History,
Kramer recalls her childhood, in the ether of St. John’s,
as “a privileged upbringing—in a time and atmosphere
that won’t come again.” Since then, Kramer became
interested in tracing back certain habits of thought
and ways of looking at the world. “And I’ve been gratified to find that what I’ve written has struck a nerve
not only for children of academics (though maybe
especially for them) but other people.”
—Gregory Shook
�We Eat Our Own
By Kea Wilson (SF08)
Scribner, 2016
Kea Wilson’s (SF08) debut novel is packed with
enough fright to entice the appetites of most horror
fans: murder, mayhem, mutilation—and, as the
book’s title suggests, cannibals. It’s also compelling
storytelling that weaves clear prose with well-thought
commentary on violence and its repercussions.
Inspired by the gruesome 1980 Italian film, Cannibal
Holocaust by director Ruggero Deodato, We Eat Our
Own is a thrilling adventure set in South America
in the 1970s. The story begins when an unknown,
The Great Spring: Writing, Zen,
and This Zigzag Life
By Natalie Goldberg (SFGI74)
Shambhala, 2016
Natalie Goldberg (SFGI74) has dedicated her life to
the practice of writing and Zen, both of which have
kept her grounded through myriad inner and outer
journeys. A beloved writing teacher and author of the
best-selling Writing Down the Bones, her new book,
The Great Spring, is a collection of 22 short essays
on food, family, writing, painting, meditation, travel,
love, loss, death, and enlightenment—vivid moments
Kleinkrieg
By Charles D. Melson (AGI88)
Casemate, 2016
In his latest publication, Kleinkrieg: The German
Experience with Guerilla Wars, from Clausewitz to
Hitler, Charles D. Melson (AGI88) examines German
analysis of the nation’s difficult process, from fighting
great confrontational battles for which they once
prepared to “small wars,” including insurgencies from
French-occupied Spain to recurrent problems in the
Balkans. Built around the historical analysis titled
Kleinkrieg, originally provided to the German High
struggling New York actor receives an irresistible
offer to star in an art film set deep in the heart of
the Amazon rain forest. However, soon after his
arrival to the jungle outpost he discovers that all is
not right with the production. Worlds collide as the
novel intertwines a cast of characters that includes
American entrepreneurs, guerilla rebels, effects
artists, and the film’s eccentric director, who leads
his crew into a disastrous experiment. The actor who
hoped for his big break now only hopes for survival.
from the past three decades that have awakened her
to new ways of being. From her meanderings through
the New Mexico desert to a meditative retreat at a
monastery in Japan, Goldberg’s stories are deeply
personal and imbued with humor, insight, and honesty.
Organized by theme—Searching, Wandering, Zigzaging,
Losing, Leaping—the book reveals how Goldberg finds
fertile ground by embracing her life and being fully
attentive to it.
Command by Arthur Earhardt in 1935, Melson, former
chief historian for the U.S. Marine Corps, provides new
analysis and expands our knowledge of the Western
experience—primarily that of the United States and
the United Kingdom—in coping with insurgencies in
recent years. Without partaking in ideological biases,
this edited and annotated work examines the purely
military complexities as viewed by professionals.
Rediscovered and presented in English, these German
thoughts on the issue are now made available to a new
generation of military and other readers.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 33
�For & About
ALUMNI
And the Award Goes to…
and volunteerism in the alumni
community, is among the many
highlights of this three-day
event. Last year’s ALFie recipients earned awards for bringing
together past and present
croquet team members for a
friendly on-campus match and
for the Reunion Class Chairs’
excellent outreach efforts.
Charles and Chris Nelson
In recognition of his longstanding engagement with the
college, Charles Nelson (Class
of 1945) received the Lifetime
Service Award at the seventh
annual Alumni Leadership
Forum (ALF) held at the
Annapolis campus in June.
The “ALFies” award ceremony,
which also included Volunteer
Service Awards to alumni in
recognition of their leadership
Organized by the St. John’s
College Alumni Association
(SJCAA) and college staff,
ALF brings together St. John’s
alumni and other members
of the college community
for a weekend of working
groups, special workshops,
meals, and other activities
designed to support and foster
deeper alumni engagement
with the college. Recent
initiatives include the Adopta-School program, workshops
on addressing the role and
means of alumni philanthropy
in the college community,
conversations on empowering
alumni chapter leaders to
offer a wider range of events
for chapter members, and
discussions to explore ways to
develop mentorship relations
with current students and
fellow alumni. Inspired by
Graduate Institute traditions,
ALF also offered opportunities
for alumni to reconnect during
such events as tutorials drawn
from the Master of Liberal
Arts program readings, a posttutorial gathering, and an open
mic-styled event titled “Komos.”
The 2017 Alumni Leadership
Forum will be held from June
2-4 at the Santa Fe campus,
with workshops centered on
St. John’s sophomore year
studies. For more information,
visit sjc.edu/alumni.
—Babak Zarin (A11)
ADRIAN TREVISAN (A84)
Alumni Association Board
President
“� ’m happy to welcome new
I
and returning directors to
the Board as we continue
our efforts to increase
alumni engagement. Our
alumni survey showed that
while most Johnnies want
to have a seminar at their
chapter, many also want
other types of activities, so
we’re working to develop
a broad range of activities
that chapters can offer their
members. We’re always
looking for volunteers to
participate in our work!”
We Have the Votes!
In the last issue of The College, the
St. John’s College Alumni Association
asked alumni to cast their votes to elect
the treasurer, secretary, and six at-large
members of the Alumni Association
Board of Directors, as well as one alumnielected member of the college’s Board of
Visitors and Governors. On June 5, the
St. John’s College Alumni Association
elected the following alumni to serve in
these positions:
Treasurer: Babak Zarin (A11)
Secretary: Susann Bradford (SF89)
At-Large Directors:
Claiborne Booker (A84)
Elihu Dietz (SF06)
Briana Henderson Saussy (A03, EC05)
Mark Parenti (AGI92)
Brenna Strauss (SF04)
Heather Upshaw (SF04)
Representative to Board of Visitors and
Governors: Linda Stabler-Talty (SFGI76)
Alumni Association Mission
To strive for the continued excellence of our college and fellow alumni by celebrating our distinctive
educational experience, connecting our community in efforts toward shared support and benefit, and
fostering a culture of intellect, generosity, and service.
34 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | S PR I N G 2 016
Officers and at-large directors of the
association are elected to two-year terms,
while representatives to the Board of
Visitors and Governors serve three-year
terms. Each of the newly elected alumni
began their terms on July 1.
If you would like to connect or engage
with the St. John’s community, or take
advantage of the college’s resources for
alumni, please visit sjc.edu/alumni to
learn more.
�Books for All
SJCAA kick-starts
a new initiative
In recent years, the St. John’s
College Alumni Association (SJCAA) has sought to
increase awareness of itself
among current students; many
of whom are unaware that
the SJCAA even exists—that
“you’re a Johnnie when you
walk across the stage and
sign the book, and you’re a
Johnnie for the rest of your
life,” as SJCAA Board President Adrian Trevisan (A84)
puts it. The Student Engagement Working Group, led by
alumnae Briana Saussy (A03)
and Martha Acosta (A92),
is trying to make sure more
students know the SJCAA is
there for them. Beginning in
fall 2017, they will be doing
so in a concrete way, with the
presentation of a gift book to
all incoming students.
The gift-book initiative was
inspired by a previous program
by the Annapolis Instruction
Committee that presented a
Greek lexicon to new freshmen.
Saussy first came up with a
proposal that would purchase
lexicons for Santa Fe freshmen
as well. But when the board
asked their student representatives for thoughts, Trevisan says, “After a moment’s
uncomfortable hesitation, they
said that most students now
use an online lexicon, so they
didn’t think it was a good idea.
After we stopped laughing we
declared the project dead.”
Saussy, however, was
undaunted. She spoke
with the SJCAA student
representatives, both deans,
and the two GI directors to
come up with alternate titles
that would still serve as a
“beautiful, meaningful gift”
to students. “Our GI reps felt
that Plato’s Meno was the clear
winner since it is the only
text that all GI students…
will have to read.” For the
Eastern Classics program, they
settled on the Therigatha, “a
collection of poems from the
first Buddhist women.” The
undergraduate selection is the
Green Lion edition of Euclid’s
Elements, a text students will
refer to all four years.
Once the books had been
decided upon, the next task
was economics. Again, Saussy
pushed through to craft an
agreement wherein each Dean
will cover 25 percent of the initiative’s cost, while a development campaign will tap recent
grads to raise the other half.
“Alumni are willing to donate
to have a meaningful impact
on student life,” says SJCAA
Board Secretary Sue Bradford (SF89)—and what better
impact than a Program book?
Both Trevisan and Bradford
laud Saussy for her dedication
to the project, even when it
looked impossible. “I think
there is a sense that this was
a really difficult thing to push
through,” she says, “and I
would say it a bit differently.
This is an ambitious project…I
never took the setbacks
personally and that is probably
what allowed me to just keep
working along. I think that is
one of the best things we walk
away with from St. John’s, the
ability to be truly disinterested
in something—to be able to
consider a situation from
many angles and not to get
upset when we hit a snag but
continue onward while altering
course when needed.”
“�Alumni are willing
to donate to have a
meaningful impact
on student life.”
-Anna Perleberg Andersen (SF02)
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 35
�ALUMNI NOTES
1955
Carolyn Banks-Leeuwenburgh (A)
reports that there is a new Alumni
Chapter in Princeton, N.J. Starting this fall, the group will meet
monthly in the Princeton Public
Library.
1960
After teaching full time for the
last 44 years, Katherine Hsu Haas
(A) is semiretired. She will continue to teach a couple mornings
a week at Annapolis’ Key School,
where she has the new title,
“scientist in residence.” Embracing
more free time in her life, Haas
has ventured into the realm of
Facebook as well as t’ai chi and
bridge. She plans to travel with
her husband and attend theater
performances more often. “Ahhh,
the joy of reading and having
the leisure to do it! I wonder if I
should’ve chosen this life of luxury
sooner!”
1969
Beth Kuper (SF) writes, “I have an
entirely new career working exclusively for transformational life
coaches all over the U.S., helping
them build their support teams
through recruiting virtual and
on-site employees. All my business
comes through personal referrals
of my clients, and I work virtually
from home. Everything I’ve ever
learned professionally, as well as
the life-long classes I’ve taken on
understanding myself and others,
has prepared me for this work. I
am grateful every day for being
able to do what I love: connecting
good people with good people.”
1970
1982
You Scream,
I Scream…
Don Dennis (SF) and his wife
have launched an ice cream
business, Wee Isle Dairy Ice
Cream, on the small island of
Gigha, where they live in Scotland. They currently feature
six flavors, including a rather
intriguing Bramble and Whisky.
Learn more about their new
venture on Facebook.
Ed Macierowski (A), professor
of philosophy at Benedictine
College, is preparing two upperlevel courses and hosting an
extra-curricular reading group to
celebrate the 2,400th anniversary
of Aristotle’s birth in 2016. “We are
reading through Peter Simpson’s
translation of Aristotle’s Politics.
The philosophy seminar is on the
doctrine of being in the Aristotelian Metaphysics, and the Greek
reading course will focus on linguistic problems in the Metaphysics.”
1975
G. Kay Bishop’s (A) story “Coyote
Year” was published in the first
issue of the new online science
fiction magazine, Into the Ruins
(https://intotheruins.com/issues/
issue-i-spring-2016). Bishop notes
that the editor is seeking new
works, “so if you have tried your
hand at post-industrial age sci-fi,
do send it along to him.” More
of Bishop’s work is available at
http://gkaybishop.weebly.com.
36 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
1988
BOOKS FOR THE BLUES
Edward Komara’s (A) 2014 book, 100
Books Every Blues Fan Should Own (with
Greg Johnson), was conferred the Vincent
H. Duckles Award for best book-length
music bibliography by the Music Library
Association last March. It also received
the 2015 award for best history in the category of blues, hip
hop, gospel, or rhythm and blues from the Association of
Recorded Sound Collections. “I never complained about having
to read the 100 blues books, because
everyone around me was showing envy, not pity, for the
project. Even so, reading the books was a serious endeavor.
One large group consisted of histories and biographies, and
another was of cultural anthropology and folklore. But running
in between was a vein of recent commentary, especially
Houston Baker’s Blues, Ideology and Afro-American Literature
(1984), that affirmed the blues as a distinct African American
means of renewing one’s sense of personal identity.” Since
2001, Komara has been Crane librarian of music at the State
University of New York at Potsdam.
1978
After nearly a dozen years in the
Big Apple, Victor Austin (SF) is
now theologian-in-residence in the
Episcopal Diocese of Dallas and
at Church of the Incarnation in
Dallas, Texas. His memoir, Losing
Susan: Brain Disease, the Priest’s
Wife, and the God Who Gives and
Takes Away, was recently published by Brazos.
1981
Joshua Berlow (SF) is the official
movie critic for Perihelion, an
online science fiction magazine,
available at www.perihelionsf.com.
1983
Peter McClard (SF) is working as
a full-time medical app maker
in New Jersey, and still making
music and art. Among his apps
are DrawnIn, Biographer, and
Different Drummer. He notes that
“with DrawnIn, we can create a
communal SJC artsy forum and
later produce an eBook or a light
show from the results.”
1987
Clare (Fisher) McGrath-Merkle
(AGI) writes, “After a long road of
working full time as a fundraiser
and burning the midnight oil, I
just successfully defended a doctoral dissertation in May on the
speculative mysticism and applied
metaphysics found in the theology
of Pierre de Berulle (Descartes’s
spiritual director) at the Faculty
of Philosophy and Social Sciences
of the University of Augsburg,
Germany. (It’s complicated.)
Hoping to find a teaching position
in the U.S. (Apparently, the EU
gives preference to EUers). Since
I didn’t watch television for about
ten years, my favorite post-dissertation recovery therapy is watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives
�1988
HISTORY RECORDED
Charles D. “Chuck” Melson
(AGI) recently retired after
more than 40 years of government service. He spent 23
years with the History and
Museums Division at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps
in Washington, D.C. and the
Marine Corps University at
Quantico, Va. He held a variety
of positions ranging from historical writer to acting division
director, serving for most of
his career as chief historian. This was a period of major transition and change for his organization, which saw the completion
of the National Museum of the Marine Corps and the Brigadier
General Edwin H. Simmons Center for Marine Corps History.
Melson wrote, edited, and published official histories in the
Vietnam, Gulf War, and Global War on Terrorism series as well
as World War II, Korea, and Vietnam commemorative publications. He recorded service operations and intelligence actions
and represented the Marine Corps at national and international
historical meetings, conferences, and committees. He was also
a joint historian with the U.S. Central Command and Special
Operations Command during the Gulf War and the Global War
on Terrorism. He remains active with the Secretary of the
Navy’s subcommittee on naval history, the Vietnam War commemoration, and volunteer work.
and the (rented) film, Footnote.
(Hint: I identify with the father.)”
1991
Lake Perriguey (SF), a Portland,
Ore. civil rights lawyer, obtained
for his client the first U.S. courtordered recognition of a person
as nonbinary—neither male nor
female. Heralded as the first legal
order recognizing a third gender in
the United States, this binarybusting ruling follows a history of
gender and sexuality civil rights
work beginning at St. John’s
College when Perriguey founded
the first LGBT student group in
1989 and petitioned the college’s
Board of Visitors and Governors to
include “sexual orientation” in its
non-discrimination mandate.
1992
Alec Berlin (SF) is performing on
guitar in a production of a new
musical, Come From Away, at
Ford’s Theater in Washington,
D.C. Ben Power (A93) is also in
the band; they have been part of
the show since May 2015 when
it premiered in La Jolla, Calif.
Following the run at Ford’s, they
will travel with the production to
Toronto in November and December 2016 and then to Broadway
in early 2017. Come From Away is
the story of the town of Gander,
Newfoundland, location of the
northeastern-most airport in
North America. On September 11,
2001, when American airspace
was closed, all trans-Atlantic
flights were diverted to Gander.
Come From Away is the story of
how the Canadian town selflessly
dealt with these events against
the backdrop of chaos and tragedy.
After completing a PhD in theology at Marquette University
in Milwaukee and a post-doc
fellowship at Regis College of the
University of Toronto, Chris Hadley
(A) joined the faculty of the Jesuit
School of Theology (JST) of Santa
Clara University as assistant professor of systematic theology and
began teaching in September.
1994
Ben Feldman (A) finished a PhD
in experimental psychology a year
ago, specializing in autism spectrum disorder and developmental
disabilities research, at Case
Western Reserve University. After
spending the last year doing school
psychology work, he recently
started at the National Institute of
Mental Health/ National Institutes
of Health in the Office of Autism
Research Coordination as a health
science policy analyst.
1995
Justin Maddox (A) recently published “How to Start a War: Eight
Cases of Strategic Provocation”
in the George Mason University
journal, Narrative and Conflict. The
article focuses on the frequent use
of false provocation in preparation
for warfare and its usefulness as an
indicator of impending warfare.
1996
Jonathan Rowan (SF) was awarded
his PhD in comparative literature
from University of California,
Berkley, where he also lectured.
1997
Kevin Neal Gardner (A) was recently
granted tenure as an associate professor at Berea College in Berea,
Ky. “I teach studio art, which for
me includes teaching all levels of
painting, beginning and advanced
drawing, a seminar for graduating
seniors, and international travel
courses, including Italy, Ireland,
and Spain. Additionally, I teach a
general studies course for freshmen
on critical thinking in the liberal
arts, which in method I borrow
heavily from my time at St. John’s.
For a number of reasons, Berea is
a unique college, not the least of
which is its status as tuition-free.
Founded by abolitionists prior to
the Civil War, Berea maintains its
historic commitments to teaching
a diverse group of promising students of limited financial means.
And there is some connection to the
St. John’s curriculum. Robert
Maynard Hutchins’s father and
brother were consecutive presidents at Berea.” View recent examples of his paintings and drawings
at www.kevinnealgardner.com.
1998
Richard Field (SFGI) was erroneously listed in the spring 2016
issue of The College as an alumnus
of the undergraduate program.
2000
After three years of teaching studio
art at the New Mexico School for
the Arts, Karina Noel Hean (A) is
excited to begin the new school
year as the visual arts chair. This
is a unique charter/nonprofit arts
high school, free to N.M. residents,
with a dorm in Santa Fe. She
invites Johnnies in the area who
are interested in a tour to contact
her at karinahean@gmail.com or
khean@nmschoolforthearts.org.
2001
Lance Brisbois (A) is working at
Harvard University. He would love
to hear from Johnnies at Harvard
or in the Cambridge area, and can
be reached at lbrisbois@gmail.com.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 37
�ALUMNI NOTES
The Geometric Life
Since graduating from St. John’s, Lee Howard Madden-Krall (SFGI)
reports that he has architected a geometric life of many skills,
talents, and abilities in multiple disciplines—morphing, evolving,
and training to meet today’s technological demands. Among his
many hats, he became a trained chef, working and teaching at the
Culinary Institute of America, and also learning his craft working as
a chef in the Napa and Sonoma wine region. After 10 years away,
he moved back to his home in New Mexico, where he has enjoyed
reconnecting with the Southwest. He also started his own production business (leehowardproductions.org), which helps clients, including artists and writers, maximize their resources for marketing
solutions and building out their organization, business, or project.
He invites Johnnies who need a personal chef or are interested in
learning to cook to contact him at chefleehoward@gmail.com.
2002
Luke Mitcheson (SF01) married
Daphne Berwind-Dart on
September 5, 2015, in their
backyard in Cambridge, Mass. Luke
and Daphne went to elementary
school together and reconnected
20 years later at a fundraiser.
James Marshall Crotty (SFGI) is
the politics, culture, and travel
columnist for the Huffington
Post. A documentary filmmaker
(Crotty’s Kids), he is also at work
on a Western set in his native
Nebraska. To learn more about his
columns, books, and films, visit
www.jamescrotty.com.
John Rogove (A) earned his PhD in
philosophy from the Sorbonne and
teaches philosophy in Paris.
2004
Kristi (Meador) Durbin (A) welcomed the arrival of her son, Levin
Elias, on February 27. He joins
his sister, Vesper (2). “I have tutor
William Braithwaite to thank for
38 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
2005
Abram Trosky (SFGI) is traveling
through Italy, Greece, and the
Balkans after delivering successful
presentations and panels on peace
building, public opinion, and international law at this year’s annual
joint meeting of the Central and
Eastern European and International Studies Associations.
2008
Tammie Kahnhauser (A) has been
accepted to the Hackbright Software Engineering Fellowship in
San Francisco, Calif. The intensive
12-week fellowship is designed to
transition female candidates from
non-technical backgrounds into
the Silicon Valley community as
web and software designers.
2009
After working as a copywriter
at two of D.C.’s top ad agencies,
Nathan Betz (AGI) has relocated
to Oxford, U.K., with wife Crystal
and daughter Jaël. He is studying
1995
KALEIDOSCOPE OF SOUNDS
Dan Nelson’s (A) band The Pleasure Class released its debut fulllength recording “Sensual Passport.” Featuring three members
of the all-women toy instrument group Toychestra, and a member
of the analog synth/sound art project Boron, The Pleasure Class
uses synthesizers, percussion, toy instruments, and samples to
make music in the tradition of The Residents and CAN. His 2008
book, All Known Metal Bands, which contains the names of more
than 50,000 metal bands, was called “the best bathroom book
ever” by Rolling Stone.
CASSIA LEET
1994
including me in an Anna Karenina
study group several years ago, the
source of inspiration for Levin’s
name,” she writes. “Incidentally,
I find myself farming now. This
spring I became the manager of a
two hundred-plus member Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA) program at the University of
Kentucky’s organic farm. I’d enjoy
reconnecting with any Johnnies
who might travel out this way!”
�2013
patristic theology at St Stephen’s
House, University of Oxford. When
not overwhelmed with research,
he’s seeking to buffer his family
from abject poverty by contracting
as a freelance copywriter and
creative lead.
Elizabeth Harball (SF) is leaving
her post as a reporter for Environment & Energy Publishing in
Washington, D.C. and heading up
to Anchorage, Alaska to join the
Alaska Energy Desk, a collaboration between Alaska Public Media,
KTOO and KUCB, where she will
cover the state’s rapidly changing
oil and gas industry. Her partner
in crime, Richard Brian Woodbury
(SF11), will join her in Anchorage
this December after he completes
his current project at the National
Academy of Medicine.
Sara Luell (A) was appointed
director of communications at
the Maryland Department of
Housing and Community Development in April. In this role, she
oversees communications and
media relations for the agency.
She also serves as a member of
the department’s continuity of
operations planning team and as a
state emergency operations center
representative. In addition, she
serves on the Maryland Responds
Medical Reserve Corps Advisory Council as a member of the
engagement committee.
2010
Linden Anne Duffee (A) reports
that she has successfully defended
her dissertation, “On the harmonic and geometric maximal
operators,” and received her
doctorate in mathematics from
the University of Alabama in May.
In August she began a visiting
assistant professor position at
the University of the South in
Sewanee, Tenn.
2012
Christine (Ivory) Leggett (AGI12)
started swing dancing in college
and continued as a GI Johnnie.
She recently started teaching
Lindy hop for Gottaswing in
Severna Park, Md. and just won
her first swing dance contest in
Virginia. She competes all over
the East Coast and attended her
first international dance event in
Iceland this summer.
Patrick Redmon (AGI)
graduated with highest honors
from the University of North
Carolina School of Law. He
and his wife, Tianlu Jia Redmon
(AGI), have moved to Oklahoma
City, where he will clerk for Judge
Jerome Holmes of the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Tianlu will continue to work as a
freelance Mandarin translator and
interpreter. She recently began
working with the Golf Channel to
translate and provide voice-over
for Mandarin coverage of major
PGA Tour events.
about sex, sexual assault, and
consent. I’m dedicated to being
an advocate for sexual assault,
sex education, and consent. I’m
available to speak at schools and
groups and to read from my book.”
Learn more on her blog: www.
yesnomaybesex.com
2015
Rose (Loofbourrow) Bruce (A)
married Charlie Bruce on
June 25, 2016.
2014
Olivia N. Broustra (SF) writes,
“After a sexual assault interrupted my first year at Vermont
Law School, the many differing
and confusing responses to my
experience inspired me to write
Yes No Maybe. This book explores
the definition of consent as well
as the education or lack thereof
Cynthia Grady’s (AGI05) second book, Like a Bird: The Art of the American
Slave Song, illustrated by award-winning artist Michele Wood, was recently
published by Lerner Books. Grady left her position at Sidwell Friends School
and has relocated to Albuquerque where she is writing full time.
Do you have news to share
with The College? Send your
note, along with your name,
class year, and photo(s), to
thecollegemagazine@sjc.edu
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 39
�PROFILE
KIDS RULE!
By Anna Perleberg Andersen (SF02)
Anika Prather (AGI09) Starts a School
That Breaks Tradition
W
hen Anika Prather’s (AGI09) son,
Dillon, started kindergarten, she
soon realized the traditional school
environment was a poor fit for him.
“He’s a very nice boy,” she says with
a mother’s pride—the kind of kid who watches CNN
for fun—but he’s also “very inquisitive, very busy.”
These traits got him into trouble in the classroom.
His otherwise wonderful teacher
responded by giving him time out.
“Okay, you’re being too busy,” she
said. “Just sit down over here until
you learn to control yourself.”
“The teacher thought that was
a positive way to handle it,” says
Prather, who doesn’t blame Dillon’s teacher for using this method.
But she also doesn’t believe it was
helpful, and searched for a different school for his first-grade year,
a place “where his curiosity and
his need to move could be appreciated. I thought it would be easy.”
No such luck, she discovered:
“I could not find a school where
[he] could thrive. Nothing, in all
of Maryland” within a reasonable
distance and price range. At this
point, most parents would go for
second best, perhaps homeschooling or supplementing academics with after-school activities.
Prather, however, approached the
problem not only as a parent, but
as an educator. In addition to her
St. John’s graduate degree, she
has a BA from Howard University in elementary education, a
master’s in theater education from
New York University, another
master’s in music education from
Howard, and is finishing her PhD
in curriculum and instruction at
the University of Maryland this
fall. After a fruitless search, she
told her husband: “Honey, I literally have to start a school.” That’s
how the Living Water School, now
in its second year, was born.
There is no “typical day” for
a Living Water School student.
Learning is entirely studentdirected, with no formal classes,
no grade levels, no letter grades,
no standardized tests, and no
homework. According to the
school’s website (thelivingwaterschool.blogspot.com), “Our goal
is to completely take away those
elements of traditional school that
conjure up feelings of competition, fear, anxiety, insecurity,
and inadequacy.” The day begins
with an hour of independent work
that gives kids a chance to eat a
leisurely breakfast or snack and
go back to sleep if they need to do
so before morning devotions at 10
a.m. (Although Living Water is a
Christian school, it does not teach
40 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
Anika Prather (AGI09) takes a selfie with her students.
Our goal is to completely take away those
elements of traditional school that conjure
up feelings of competition, fear, anxiety,
insecurity, and inadequacy.
�Teenage students have an active hand in
designing their future academic and career
paths, with the staff “committed to getting
kids what they need.”
theology formally: “We will not
force our beliefs on a child or treat
any student or family member with
unkindness or disrespect.”) Students split into small groups with
staff to pursue an academic task.
All students study reading, writing, and math, with a wide variety
of other subjects to pursue as they
wish: from history, science, and
Latin to sewing, music, and martial arts. Teenage students have
an active hand in designing their
future academic and career paths,
with the staff “committed to getting kids what they need.” Prather
mentions one girl who wants to
study business in college and also
learn to style hair. Parents sign a
general permission slip, allowing
field trips to happen spontaneously. A child interested in art,
for example, can spend a morning
painting and an afternoon at an
art museum. A student pursuing
a research project could visit a
nearby historic site instead of just
reading about it in a textbook.
With all this freedom, it may
seem surprising that Living Water
is also a great books school. It
makes perfect sense, since the Socratic method gently guides learners to reach their own conclusions,
rather than memorize facts and
figures. When her teaching career
began, Prather was more concerned with how music and drama
could be used in the classroom.
Her interest in the classics was
sparked at the Washington Classical Christian School, where she
taught for 10 years. Learning the
great books while teaching them,
she became passionate about their
power. Initially, she looked into
St. John’s to take a workshop or
two rather than earn a full degree,
having just started her doctorate.
“But I just could not get it out of
my mind,” she says. “It wouldn’t let
me go.” She eventually completed
her master’s degree at St. John’s
over four summers, graduating in
2009.
Living Water’s staff and students are almost entirely African
American, partially the result
of its location in Temple Hills,
Maryland, which is 85 percent
black. Prather suspects that white
students might be uneasy about
being a minority, an attitude
she laments, since “life is not
segregated.” Living Water’s fluid
educational approach might be of
particular benefit to African American students, however; studies of
American public schools show that
black children, especially boys, are
more likely to be disciplined than
their white counterparts, punished
for “disruptiveness” that Prather
characterizes as a simple need
to move. “It’s a part of African
culture; it’s why we dance. It’s just
who they are.”
To 21st-century mainstream educators striving to increase diversity, the great books reading list
of “dead white men” elicits horror.
Prather, however, sees no conflict
between her student body’s racial
makeup and that of the traditional
Western canon: “I think Americans
have been so scarred by history
that they get nervous. They don’t
realize that the authors of the
great books were not from this
time. They had a different way of
looking at race.” For her, the great
books speak to “the human experience, not the racial experience.”
While she admits that some kids
“give [her] a lot of drama” at first,
after they begin reading, their
outlook changes drastically. They
acknowledge that “everything that
goes on in these books relates to
other human beings.”
Prather brought her love of the
classics back to St. John’s in February 2016, when she and five students performed an “impromptu
play” called The Table. Described
as “a dramatic exploration and
representation of the power of
dialogue about literary texts,”
the performance centered on a
Socratic, seminar-style discussion
of Voltaire’s essay “Character” and
Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s poem
“We Wear the Mask.” While each
student had scripted monologues,
“presented as if they [were] reading from a private journal,” they
created the conversation onstage
together, as they engaged in
dialogue with the texts and each
other. Not until the play was over
did the participants reveal that
their ages ranged from 13 to 24.
She and her troupe also performed
at the University of Maryland in
April, earning kudos from professors, students, and teachers.
The response to Living Water
has exceeded Prather’s wildest
dreams. She expected to be principal and teacher all in one, but 30
families showed up for the school’s
first planning meeting, and it has
expanded from there. This fall,
a second campus will open in
Rockville, Maryland, giving more
students the chance to find their
own personal educational path—
whatever that may be.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 41
�IN MEMORIAM
Priscilla Bender-Shore
Class of 1955
May 20, 2016
One of the first women to attend St. John’s College, Priscilla Bender-Shore (1926-2016) passed away at the age of 90.
Born in the Bronx on May 2, 1926, she attended New York
City’s Washington Irving High School and explored her gift
for art. After graduation, she attended the Cooper Union
School of Art and then Yale School of Art on scholarship.
She left Yale in 1951 to marry Merle Shore (Class of 1954),
a graphic designer and illustrator, and the couple moved to
Annapolis. The Program became the couple’s educational
cornerstone, reflecting their passion for learning, dialogue,
inquiry, and discussion.
In 1957, they moved to Santa Barbara, California,
and Bender-Shore earned her MFA at UCSB, graduating in
1969. Two years later, she took a position at Santa Barbara
City College where she taught art for 25 years. She influenced
and mentored hundreds of students, many of whom work and
exhibit in the Santa Barbara area today. Throughout her life,
she continued to thrive as an artist as well as an art educator,
lecturer, juror, and curator. In 1988, she won the Lila Acheson
Wallace National Painting Competition, earning her a six-month
residency in Giverny, France. Her work has been exhibited in
Glenn Yarbrough
Class of 1953
August 11, 2016
Glenn Yarbrough (1930-2016),
renowned folk singer and a
founder of the 1960s folk trio the
Limeliters, died in Nashville.
Yarbrough spent his early years
in Milwaukee, before moving
with his parents to New York.
At St. John’s he befriended Jac
Holzman (Class of 1952), who
later founded Elektra Records
and early on recorded much of
Yarbrough’s music. A Woody
Guthrie performance at the college in 1951 proved transformative for the young Yarbrough. “I
was just a shy kid, but I walked
up to him afterward with tears
in my eyes and told him how
much I loved what he had done,”
he told the Los Angeles Times in
1996. “The very next day I went
out and bought a guitar, and
that was that.”
After serving in the U.S.
Army during the Korean War,
Yarbrough returned to the U.S.
and began performing in clubs
and coffeehouses and on local
television shows. He eventually
became an owner of the Limelite
nightclub in Aspen, Colorado,
and in 1959, established the
Limeliters with Alex Hassilev
and Lou Gottlieb. Known for
their tight harmonies—particularly Yarbrough’s mellifluous
tenor—non-traditional arrange-
42 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
Priscilla Bender-Shore’s (Class of 1955) painting, Gridlock #2: The Muses
Dancing at the Edge of the World, brightens that hall above the Pendulum Pit,
a popular rehearsal space for choirs on the Annapolis campus.
Europe and the United States and is represented in many collections, including St. John’s College’s art collection in Annapolis.
A strong, patient, and loyal soul, she was a foundation of love
and support for her family. She was preceded in death by her husband and is survived by her children, Evan, and Ann Shore Jactel;
and her grandchildren, Samuel, Sarah, and Sophia Jactel.
ments, and witty onstage banter,
the Limeliters were immensely
popular; their second album,
Tonight: In Person, spent 74
weeks at No. 5 on the Billboard
charts. After leaving the band
in 1963, Yarbrough forged a successful solo career, scoring his
biggest hit with “Baby the Rain
Must Fall.”
In the late 1960s, Yarbrough
sold his most expensive possessions and opened a school
for disadvantaged youth in Los
Angeles. When the school closed
in the 1970s, he traveled the
world by sea for the better part
of the next three decades. But
Yarbrough often returned to
music, performing solo and on
reunion tours with the Limeliters. In 1997, he released an
album with his daughter, Holly,
and he continued to record into
the early 2000s, before losing
his ability to sing in 2010 due to
throat surgery.
He is survived by his children,
Stephany, Sean, and Holly; stepdaughters, Brooke and Heather; a
grandson, and a great-grandson.
Alexander Scott Kelso
(SFGI79)
March 29, 2016
Alexander Scott Kelso (19242016), former chair of the Board
of Visitors and Governors of St.
John’s College, passed away
�peacefully at age 91. Born to
Clyde Douglas Kelso and Dorothy Geraldine (Scott) Kelso, he
and his two brothers were raised
in Laurel, Mississippi. After he
graduated from high school in
1941, Kelso attended Georgia
Tech until 1943, when he was
commissioned an Ensign and
later rose to Lieutenant J.G. in
the U.S. Navy, serving in the
European and Pacific theaters
during World War II, including
the D-Day Normandy Landings.
Returning home in 1946, he
married Mary Gene Hoffman,
with whom he enjoyed 56 beautiful years until her death in 2002.
Kelso graduated from Georgia
Tech in 1947 and began work
with Gulf Oil Corp. in Knoxville,
Tennessee. He later worked for
IBM and founded two companies, Computer Labs, Inc. and
Seismic Computing Corporation.
He is survived by his children,
Alexander, Jr., Gene K. Caselli,
Harry H., and Adelia; and his
grandchildren, Caroline, Anthony, and John Caselli, Kathleen,
Harry, and Victoria Kelso, and
Scott Kelso, III. He was preceded
in death by his wife; his parents;
and his brothers, C. D. Kelso, Jr.
and R. P. Kelso.
Also Deceased:
John R. Garland,
Class of 1950
October 23, 2015
Christopher Michael Abbasse,
AGI98
April 25, 2016
Ronald Albert Adinolfi, SFGI94
February 14, 2016
Joan R. Buckmaster, SFGI76
June 18, 2015
Justine Shaver
June 26, 2016
Caritas President,
Board Member
Justine “Joy” Shaver’s (19292016) introduction to St. John’s
College came in 1988 when a
friend invited her to attend a
Caritas Society meeting. She
served for a year as historian
for the group, whose mission, in
part, includes raising financial
aid funds for St. John’s students
in need, and later served as
Caritas president from 1991 to
1994. She was appointed to the
Stanley Guild IV, A11
March 16, 2016
Friar John Hilary Hayden,
Class of 1949
February 24, 2016
college’s Board of Visitors and
Governors in 2004 and served
until 2010.
Originally from Caldwell,
New Jersey, she married Bennett H. Shaver in 1952; the
couple made Annapolis their
home for more than 30 years.
Through her involvement with
numerous civic organizations in
the Annapolis area, including
the St. John’s Friends Board,
she will be remembered for her
kindness and devotion to St.
John’s College. Shaver was preceded in death by her husband,
who passed away in 2011.
David Wald (SF79)
May 27, 2016
Long-time television journalist and producer David Wald’s
(1955-2016) impressive resume
includes work for CBS News,
NBC, ABC, Fox, Court TV, HBO,
David Harding Humphreys, A69
May 22, 2016
Charles F. Jones, A79
April 5, 2016
Lewis Steven Kreger,
Class of 1961
May 5, 2016
National Geographic, A&E, PBS,
and Education Week Video. As
supervising producer for the
New York Bureau of Education Week Video, he developed
television segments for PBS
NewsHour. With the nonprofit
Learning Matters, Wald spent
a decade producing dozens of
NewsHour stories on a range of
education topics, including the
impact of Hurricane Katrina
on New Orleans’ schools, the
common-core standards, and internet access in rural communities. Earlier in his career, he was
a senior producer on Michael
Moore’s Emmy Award-winning
magazine show TV Nation, and
he produced a documentary
series about Doctors Without
Borders. Remembered for his
thoughtful, caring nature—and a
mentor to many—he enlightened
and engaged viewers on important issues through complex and
visually stunning stories.
William H. Rullman,
Class of 1940
May 15, 2016
Terence Sellers, SF74
January 25, 2016
Kathryn Slade, SF77
February 2, 2016
Mildred V. Smotherman, SF71
September 6, 2011
Donald Heider, AGI87
October 22, 2008
Arthur Kungle, Jr.,
Class of 1967
January 20, 2016
Marshall Henderson, SF07
July 1, 2016
John Paul LeBec, A93
March 7, 2016
Mary Paige Hensley, SF02
February 18, 2016
Eugene Limanovich, SF01
March 21, 2016
O.H. Thompson,
Class of 1943
July 13, 2016
William Douglass, SFGI70
March 19, 2016
Gary Allen Hetrick,
Class of 1963
May 16, 2016
Arnold Markoxitz,
Class of 1954
July 7, 2016
Joyce Kittel Wilson,
Class of 1955
July 28, 2016
Matson G. Ewell,
Class of 1950
March 8, 2016
Judith Jones Holden,
Class of 1961
May 22, 2016
Daniel Mark Roddy, SF75
January 16, 2016
Steven Wren, SF75
May 25, 2016
Paul Ringgold Comegys, Sr.,
Class of 1941
January 13, 2016
Harry West “Skip” Danner,
Class of 1954
March 9, 2016
Kevin Mathew St. John, SF76
July 7, 2016
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 43
�PHILANTHROPY
Class of 2016 Hits a
Double Home Run
100 Percent Senior
Legacy Participation
on Both Campuses
On the evening of April 29, the Great Hall
of the Santa Fe campus was illuminated
with colorful strobe lights that bounced
off the walls in reds and blues. Above the
podium, where a lecturer stood less than
an hour before, letters spelled out the
word “prom.” An hour later, members of
every class filled the room with laughter,
dancing, and conversation. This event was
not so much a student party, but rather a
vehicle to promote interest in the Class of
2016’s Senior Legacy. On both campuses,
seniors come together to decide what
they will “gift” the college. The gift varies every year from the tangible to the
intangible, be it new benches for the quad
or a special donation to increase financial
aid. In Santa Fe, this year’s legacy finds
its home in Meem Library as the Islamic
Classics collection.
“The Senior Legacy Program is important because it empowers seniors to
define their lasting impact and identity
as permanent members of the college
community,” explains Sarah Palacios, the
director of Alumni Relations. To facilitate
this tradition, each campus forms a Senior
Legacy Committee (SLC), whose senior
class members are committed to lead the
fundraising effort. The SLC’s work is not
limited to simply collecting. Its students
are the most knowledgeable regarding
what the gifts are; they are expected to motivate their classmates to give. Motivation
often manifests itself in gatherings, such as
the post-seminar events in Annapolis or the
“Senior Prom” in Santa Fe. Beyond these
efforts, the most effective motivational
method employed by the students is face-toface conversation. Some seniors aren’t willing to give. Others aren’t fully aware of the
to participate. The funds they
raised aided projects that create
greater opportunities for students. In total, the Annapolis gift
made a threefold impact: donating to the Pathways Fellowship
program, expanding the Music
Assistance program to provide
piano lessons for students, and
installing OneCard readers on
the back doors of Pinkney Hall.
On the Santa Fe campus,
seniors William Palm (SF16),
Colleen Mahoney (SF16), Meg
Covington (SF16), and Rodjinaé
Brown (SF16) led their class to a
record of 99 percent participation
with $4,821 raised by students,
before finishing off with 100
Class of 2016’s gift enhances Meem Library’s collection.
percent participation and a total
of $5,817.45, including matching
gifts. Although Meem Library
is still in the process of adding
to the collection, the library will
complete it, according to Santa Fe
tutor Michael Wolfe.
“Being asked to work on the
committee was an honor,” says
Palm. “It was a really beautiful
and concrete way to close the
chapter of my time at St. John’s.
merit of giving. It helps to have discussions
And for both campuses to make it to 100
with classmates who have the patience, enpercent was the icing on the cake.” Althusiasm, and insight to inspire their peers
though it is not the first time that a senior
to contribute to the class’s legacy.
class has reached full participation, it is
“We’re proud that we can give back to
remarkable that both campuses achieved
the college in a tangible way and improve
100 percent participation. When student
the quality of life for future Johnnies,”
participation reaches such a high percentsays Max Dakin (A16), a member of the
age, it typically inspires matching gifts
committee on the Annapolis campus. Along
from faculty, staff, and other alumni. This
with classmates David Conway (A16),
year’s 100 percent participation garnered
Emily Grazier (A16), Sueanna Keim (A16),
much enthusiasm from non-student memand Brian Liu (A16), he led their class to
bers of the community.
100 percent participation, raising $6,924.
Many hope that the remarkable accomAnnapolis committee members set up a
plishment of the Class of 2016 will set a
donation table outside the Dining Hall at
precedent for future graduating classes of
least once a week, where they engaged
the college.
with classmates and other students about
the class gift. Occasionally, committee
—Rodjinaé Brown (SF16)
members must take initiative to seek out
members of their class to encourage them
“� e’re proud that we can give
W
back to the college in a tangible
way and improve the quality of
life for future Johnnies.”
44 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
�FIRST PERSON
MAKING A DREAM COME TRUE
By Sawyer Neale (A18)
T
his summer was unlike any
I have ever had before. For
several days in July I had the
honor of serving as a delegate to
the 2016 Democratic National
Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, representing more than 30,000 Bernie Sanders supporters in Pennsylvania’s 15th
Congressional District.
I struggle to remember when I first
became aware of politics. I don’t come
from a political family. In fact, apart from
NPR serving as the soundtrack to my
childhood, and the occasional rants from
family members, my exposure to politics
had always been fairly removed. However, in 2008, that all changed with Sen.
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
I was a 12-year-old obsessed. I read as
many books about American politics as
I could, and after his election victory I
was hooked. In 2012, my obsession came
to a head when I signed on for an internship with my state’s Democratic Party. In
the subsequent years, I have worked on
campaigns in nearly every election cycle
at every level, from municipal to state
legislative to senatorial.
For me, politics is a way to make an actual substantive difference in this world.
We live in a nation that is founded on the
principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness but also allows people to lose
their homes because they got sick and
couldn’t afford to pay costly medical bills,
incarcerates more people than any other
developed nation, and enables students
to take on more than $100,000 in debt
to pursue an education. These problems
need to be solved; in politics, I find an
opportunity to play a role in solving them.
As a delegate, I took part in reforming
our political process, adopting the most
progressive platform in the history of
American major parties, and creating
a commission which will work to make
superdelegates more democratic.
Attending the Democratic National
Convention was an experience like no
other. The energy that filled the Wells
Fargo Center, from Sanders and Clinton
delegates, was energizing and humbling.
I had the opportunity to meet politicos,
young and old, from all corners of the
country, from Alabama to Alaska. Pennsylvania was seated at the front of the
venue, so I was less than 100 feet away
from presidents past, current, and, possibly, future.
At age 19, I was the youngest delegate
from Pennsylvania, which allowed me to
fulfil a dream of being a Z-list political
celebrity for a week. I had the opportunity
to speak on television and radio, which
was mind-boggling. At St. John’s, I serve
as editor-in-chief of The Epoch Journal,
a student-led political science magazine.
Over the past year, I’ve written about
government reform—detailing policies
such as gerrymandering—and joining and
profiling a Pennsylvania-based, citizenled government reform movement. I’ve
solicited articles from my fellow Johnnies
Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe and
Sawyer Neale (A18) share a moment in Philly.
Adrian Shanker, executive director of Pennsylvania’s Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center,
and Sawyer Neale (A18) are all smiles at the DNC.
“� t age 19, I was the
A
youngest delegate from
Pennsylvania, which
allowed me to fulfil a dream
of being a Z-list political
celebrity for a week.”
and built magazines from the ground up.
In addition, I serve as archon of the SJC
Film Society as well as secretary of the
Delegate Council. All of these experiences
have allowed me to explore my love of
politics and try to make a positive difference in the life of the Polity.
While at the DNC, I attempted to do
some Epoch-related work by using that
aforementioned Z-list status to interview
as many reporters and elected officials
as possible. I had the opportunity to joke
with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf—a
PhD graduate from MIT and secret Greek
philosophy buff, particularly Apollonius
and Heraclitus. I also spoke with Andrea
Mitchell—a journalist, anchor, and commentator for NBC News—about the role
of the press in a democratic state. During
my week in Philadelphia, I got to meet
my heroes. That is an experience I will
never forget.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 45
�JOHNNIE VOICES
END OF AN ICON?
When E. A. Clore Sons, Inc. announced
on Facebook in May that it was closing
its doors after nearly two centuries
in the furniture business, it marked
the end of one of the country’s
oldest family-owned businesses. It
also signaled a dubious fate for the
college’s beloved Johnnie Chair. Alumni
everywhere came out of the woodwork
to lament the news but also to take
the opportunity to share their favorite
stories and memories, thoughts and
recollections, and even a poem.
Since the 1950s, the small factory in
Madison, Virginia, has churned out the
Plain Master Chair, a.k.a the Johnnie
Chair, for St. John’s College—one of
the company’s best customers—where
it, along with the Plain Side Chair and
the Ladder Back Dining Side Chair, fills
classrooms, dorms, dining halls, and
other spots on the two campuses. Today
the chair represents far more than the
sum of its wooden and fiber-rush parts—
it’s a St. John’s icon. And whether or
not the torch is carried after Clore is
shuttered and gone, our affection for
the Johnnie Chair, and gratitude to the
family that brought it to us, will remain
strong for years to come.
46 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
Nareg Seferian (SF11), inspired
by the news, offers the following ode
to the Johnnie Chair:
Based on a True Johnnie Chair
Johnnie Chair, O Johnnie Chair –
how I loved your presence there,
a wickerwork suspension
for my Johnnie end:
a true support network –
bottom’s up, my friend!
It only irked me once or twice
when the front rung for my feet
was absent – not nice.
But who could resist trying a round
of “Balance the Johnnie Chair(s)”
on the coffee shop ground?
Perhaps your tone is lighter in
Santa Fe than Annapolis
but this
this shall serve as your legacy,
something I miss –
fingers intertwined, one elbow over
your back, Johnnie Chair
as I roll my eyes at some seminar
hack, O Johnnie Chair.
Not to say no-one ever rolled
their eyes at me.
But one thing I can guarantee:
whenever a brilliant observation or –
more probably – a pun I let loose
those eyes rolling
those heads shaking
were gently supported by a caboose
feeling confident, firm, well-founded
because you, O Johnnie Chair, made
sure their basis was well-grounded.
�Grace (Logerfo) Bateman (Class of 1965)
shares the following account of “a true story
in every detail that thus far may have eluded
the annals of St. John’s”:
The Disappearing Johnnie Chair
The Johnnie Chair has special meaning for
the Class of 1965. Some classes endow the
college with a class gift; our legacy was a
class prank involving the disappearance of
all the Johnnie Chairs on campus. How did
we do it? Early one spring morning, a group
of seniors carrying long wooden poles gathered in the McDowell quadrangle. Applying
Newtonian principles, we reasoned that the
most efficient way to transport a large number of chairs was to string them up on poles.
Breaking and entering to gather the chairs
wasn’t necessary because in those days the
buildings on campus were never locked. Using the pole technique, by dawn we removed
the chairs from every classroom and stored
them in the basement of Mellon undetected.
The seminar table is the locus for learning
at St. John’s, but when students and tutors
arrived for classes that day, the importance of
the Johnnie Chair became clear. Classes were
canceled for want of chairs, and the entire
student body was pressed into service carrying
the chairs back from Mellon to the classrooms.
“We were studying the sequence Ptolemy/
Kepler/Copernicus and Galileo, the shift
from a geocentric to a heliocentric system,
with Jacob Klein. Doing the math was one
thing, but from the look on our faces the
class was struggling with imagining what
it all meant. Now, Mr. Klein was a kind and
gentle man, with a whimsical smile, but usually somewhat reserved. He paused, looked
around the room, pulled out a chair, and
said, ‘Mr. Sherman, please come here and sit
in the chair.’ The illustrious Jacob Klein then
proceeded to push me around the classroom
and asked, ‘Mr. Sherman, what do you see
moving? And, class, what do you see moving?’ Of course! We all laughed…”
all under six years old, we also could not
resist the children’s arm chairs. Today the
children’s chairs and our adult chairs hold
every shape and size bottom comfortably
while reading stories, playing games, and
dining. However, I don’t seem to be as good
at leaning back and balancing on the back
two legs as I used to. Perhaps that is because
I am no longer smoking and drinking coffee,
though I am still pontificating on subjects
about which I know little!”
—Edward (Ted) Nelson (A77)
“I have two Clore Plain Master’s chairs in
cherry at my kitchen table. (For the record,
I purchased these directly from Clore. They
were not pilfered from the college. They
match my Barrett Woodworking cherry table
very nicely.) It pains me to imagine a world
without a source for more such chairs.”
—Bob DiSilverio (SF78)
“I had the chance to sit in a Johnnie Chair
again a few years after graduating, and it
felt like coming home. Since then, I have
always wished I had one (or a couple) of my
own. Recently, while looking for some chairs
in a thrift store for my husband’s, Matt
Griffis (SF08), and my new apartment in the
Denver area, I found this (pictured above).
It’s not big enough to sit in, but it is a nice
reminder. And it wobbles a little and is missing the front foot bar just like the real ones!
Now we only need to find a chalkboard…”
—Trystan Popish (SF08)
“For graduation my parents got me two
Johnnie Chairs. Over the years, my wife
and I have purchased well over a dozen
more Clore pieces. E. A. Clore is one of those
companies that are the backbone of America.
As every Johnnie knows, the chairs are quite
comfortable and amazingly sturdy.”
—Harold Morgan (SF68)
[Editor’s note: Not every Johnnie, as
evidenced below.]
—Daniel Sherman, Annapolis, Class of 1963
“A few years ago, we replaced our old dining
chairs with eight low-back walnut chairs and
two other matching chairs with arms. Now
our home has great chairs and a pleasant
history of the college to remember as our
home ages with us. As grandparents of four,
“If you sit in the center, which sinks, it kills
your back. If you sit on the edge, the bar
across the front kills your hamstrings. Never
was a chair so devised to cause so much pain
to the human body. Now it so happens that
I have a Johnnie Chair that I got years ago,
and I wouldn’t give it up for the world; for
Though not the real thing, Trystan Popish’s
(SF08) thrift store find—a miniature wooden
chair—is a reminder of the many good
conversations she had with friends at the
seminar table.
there I have sat and studied, there have I
sat and learned, and there I have sat and
suffered. Suffering seems a mild punishment
when I think of what I have gained.”
—Christiana Mollin (AGI10)
“I have so many memories of [the Johnnie
Chair]—of great discussions, thoughtful
moments of silence, and good conversations
with friends. I loved that they had arms to
lean on. Somehow, they framed the edges
between the physical ‘me’ and the broader
‘not me,’ and I could venture forth from them
into the heart of discussions, or not, at my
own volition. They are the most comfortable
chairs I have known.
Subsequently, all of my adult life, I have
had a problem with dining room furniture.
My husband and I had left our dining room
set in Annapolis when we moved to San
Francisco, and once again, I was confronted
with my chair problem. We ate on moving
boxes for a while, until my husband couldn’t
take it anymore. I remembered that wonderful feeling I had always had in the St. John’s
chairs. We called [Clore] the next day and
ordered six chairs, and before I could change
my mind again, we bought a table in the
same wood color.
Eighteen years have passed, and the chairs
are still looking out over San Francisco Bay
from our dining room windows. And, as they
did at St. John’s, they still ‘sit’ through good
discussions, thoughtful moments of silence,
and good conversations with friends!”
—Juliet Rothman (AGI88)
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 47
�ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE GREENFIELD LIBRARY
S T. J O H N ’ S F O R E V E R
PRESERVING
OUR LEGACY
The college has taken another giant step
toward preserving St. John’s history with
the creation of the new SJC Digital Archives.
Thanks to dedicated efforts of the St. John’s
College Libraries staff in Annapolis and
Santa Fe, a virtual trove of hidden gems—
catalogs and commencement programs from
the 1800s, rare photographs of the college’s
first class of women, a vast collection of
lectures, speeches, and addresses in audio
recording and typescript formats, old issues
of The College, and more—are now available
online at digitalarchives.sjc.edu.
Ever wonder what the basement of McDowell
Hall looked like in the 1940s? Or an aerial
48 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
view of the Santa Fe campus soon after its
founding? The newly launched site contains
more than 800 items of historical significance
to the college. “Paper deteriorates and photographs fade, but digitization offers a solution
that ensures these artifacts are preserved at
the height of their quality,” says Liz Kupke,
Greenfield Library’s technical services librarian. “Digitization of these special items, and
their inclusion on the SJC Digital Archives,
ensures that the rich history and legacy of
the college are preserved for generations to
come.” The SJC Digital Archives is continually
updated, so check back from time to time and
discover what new treasures await.
�EIDOS
Situated on the eastern edge of Texas Hill
Country, Austin has long been a beacon
to artists, musicians, and other creative
individuals. Jennifer Chenoweth (SF95) is
among those lured to this changing and
growing city. A visual artist and entrepreneur, she is intrigued by what connects
people to place—a subject she explores
in her recent exhibition XYZ Atlas: The
Hedonic Map of Austin. For the past three
years, as part of her XYZ Atlas project, she
documented and visualized the hyperlocal
experiences of people living in and visiting
Austin. The result is a large-scale exhibition of a multi-media art experience that
features a series of immersive and interactive pieces ranging from original maps to
sculptures to photography.
“XYZ Atlas began as an investigation about
why people love and feel so attached to the
city of Austin and how emotional experiences affect our experience of belonging in
particular places,” says Chenoweth. “Since
humans everywhere have emotional experiences that make a place become ‘home,’ I
want to take XYZ Atlas to other cities to
see how and where people engage uniquely
in their towns.”
Learn more about XYZ Atlas at xyzatlas.org and
Jennifer Chenoweth at fisterrastudio.com.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 iii
�Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Annapolis, MD
Permit N0. 120
Communications Office
60 College Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
Address Service Requested
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<em>The College </em>(2001-2017)
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The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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St. John's College
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Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
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St. John's College Greenfield Library
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thecollege2001
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52 pages
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The College, Fall 2016
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Volume 41, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Fall 2016.
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St. John's College
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Santa Fe, NM
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Shook, Gregory (editor)
Ehretsmann, Thomas
Weiss, Robin
Wilson, Rebecca
Andersen, Anna Perleberg
Brown, Rodjinae
Grenke, Michael
Keyes, Bob
Lenthicum, Leslie
Llovet, Jonathan
Neale, Sawyer
Scott, Bonnie
Zarin, Babak
Behrens, Jennifer
Inauguration
The College
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�ON
EINSTEIN
t isn't always easy to get alumni out for a chapter event in the dead of
winter, particularly right after the holidays. So imagine tutor Sam Kuder's
delight when the Annapolis chapter drew about 25 participants to a
Saturday morning seminar he was leading on Einstein a week after
New Year's. Annapolis Johnnies aren't the only ones eager to talk about
Einstein and his special theory of relativity during the centennial of
Einstein's anna mirabilis. Several chapters have seminars planned.
In this issue of The College, tutors and alumni describe working through the
paper as one of the most remarkable experiences they've had at the college-one
that stays with them long after they've moved on to other pursuits.
Who isn't familiar with Einstein's struggles in his early education? Born in 1879
to middle-class German parents Hermann and Pauline Einstein, young Albert
frustrated his parents and teachers. His penchant for daydreaming and dislike of
rote memorization are well known, but popular lore mistakenly brands him as a
poor student. At the Institute ofTechnologyin Zurich, he preferred independent
research to the lecture hall.
When he couldn't find an academic job after graduation, he landed at the Swiss
Patent Office in Bern. His undemanding day job gave him the freedom to think. And
his 1905 paper gave him instant fame-something Einstein accepted graciously, but
would gladly have done without. He was more fond of his violin, his sailboat, and his
work.
His unhappy first marriage to fellow physics student Mil eva Marie ended in
divorce. Einstein later married his cousin Elsa, who proved the cheerful hostess and
efficient helpmate Einstein failed to find in his first marriage. He had two sons by
Marie and a daughter born before their marriage who may have been given up for
adoption. He was fond of Elsa's two daughters, who provided great companionship
in his later years.
A life long pacifist, Einstein nevertheless decried the Nazis' rise to power and the
world's failure to stop Hitler earlier. His famous letter to Roosevelt warning that
Germany was likely building a bomb urged that the U.S. move quickly to develop
atomic weapons. He later regretted this and became a proponent of nuclear
disarmament. He died in Princeton, N.J., in 1955, after insisting that his office
at the Institute for Advanced Studies not be preserved, but made available for
someone else.
In his essay "The World as I See It," published in 1931, Einstein described himself
as a "lone traveler." "The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have
given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and
Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation
with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific
endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me," he wrote.
- Rll
' WINTER
THE
e
0
S!JOHN'S
College
2005
VoLUME 3I, IssuE I
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI OF ST. JoHN's CoLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS
• SANTA FE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA P'B
(usPs oi8-75o)
is published quarterly by
St. John's College, Annapolis, MD,
and Santa Fe, NM
THE CoLLEGE
Known office of publication:
Communications Office
St. John's College
Box28oo
Annapolis, MD 2I404-28oo
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, MD
POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Communications
Office, St. John's College,
Box 28oo, Annapolis, MD
2I404-28oo.
Rosemary Harty, editor
John Hartnett (SF8g),
Santa Fe editor
Jennifer Behrens, art director
Annapolis
410-626-2539
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
Contributors
Sus san Borden (A87)
August Deimel (SFo4)
Barbara Goyette (A73)
Erin Hughey-Comers (Aos)
Carolyn Knapp (SFOI)
Andra Maguran
Jo Ann Mattson (A87)
Natalie Rinn (Aos)
Roxanna Seagraves (SF83)
Christopher Utter (Ao6)
Robin Weiss (SFGI82)
Roseanna White (Ao4)
··· ·· ·· ············· ·· ···· ·· ·· ······ ····
{CONTENTS}
PAGE
12
D E P A R T M E N T S
2
THE CHAIR
A visit to the Clore factory reveals just
what goes into the famous St. John's
chair.
PAGE
14
EINSTEIN AND THE
PROGRAM
8
PAGE
I2
Alumni and tutors say that studying the
I go 5 paper is an exceptional experience
at St. John's.
PAGE
FROM THE BELL TOWERS
A New President in Santa Fe
The Magnificent Seven
MacGyver Meets the Johnnies
Mellon Grant Supports Tutors
Ringing a Bell for the Annual Fund
Reunion Class Leaders
LETTERS
28 THE FACULTY
29 BIBLIOFILE
A co-editor of a new commentary on
Milton, William Moeck (A8o) once
thought Paradise Lost would be too
boring.
20
ATOMIC JoHNNIES
3I ALUMNI NOTES
Los Alamos National Laboratory has
provided some interesting professional
and educational opportunities for these
Johnnies.
PROFILES
30 Linnea Back Klee (A67) works for quality
child care in San Francisco.
33 Documentary filmmaker Alex Shear
HoMECOMING
(SFoo) encounters baseball fever in
Japan.
36 Ross Mackenzie (AGio3) demystifies the
. Naval Academy.
It was all for Homer in Annapolis.
46 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
PAGE
26
PAGE
I4
48 ST. JOHN ' S FOREVER
PAGE
26
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
ON THE COVER
Albert Einstein
Illustration by David]olznson
�{F
R 0 M
THE
BE L ,L
T
0 wE R
s}
A NEW PRESIDENT IN SANTA FE
St. fohns Finds a Leader at the Council on Foreign Relations
BY JOHN HARTNETT
At first glance, it wouldn't
Along with experience in
appear that St. John's College
administration and international
(goo students on two campuses)
affairs, Peters brings to his new
and the United States Military
position a deep appreciation for
Academy (4 ,000 cadets) have a
the ancient world, rooted in his
great deal in common. But
early life as the son of a military
Michael Peters, a West Point
officeT. His father was stationed
graduate and the new president
in Ankara, Turkey, giving the
of the Santa Fe campus, sees
cmious teen the perfect home
striking similarities ben-vccn
base to explore the great sites
the two institutions.
of the ancient world.
Both colleges are founded on
"My first two years in high
principles and missions, and both
school, I traveled all over
have a clear sense of their own
Turkey,Cyprus,andthe
unique identities. Most imporMediterranean," he says. "It
tant, says Peters, St. John's and
really solidified my interest in
West Point are among the few
history. So many of the classics
colleges still concerned with
we read at St. John's are set in
developing the moral character
places vivid in my memories.
of their students.
I've been to Ephesues, Izmir,
"St. John's and West Point
Iskenderun, Athens, and
both believe you can define what
Cyprus. I remember walking
a virtuous life is and what a
through the Cilician Gate where
person of honor is. Both colleges
Alexander marched his army to
believe that through exploration
meet the Persians. As a teen, it
and thought and interchange a
was an incredible experience."
student can come to understand
Retracing Alexander's route
what it means to be virtuous,
kindled a passion for history
honorable, and a person of
that led Peters to follow in his
integrity," he explains.
own father's footsteps. After
Both approach that goal the
high school, he entered the U.S.
same way: "The instructors at
Military Academy at West Point.
West Point give the cadets a
In 1968, he graduated and was
ALONG WITH MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE, MICHAEL PETERS BRINGS AN
model of what it means to be a
commissioned an officer in the
INTERNATIONAL VIEW TO ST. JoHN ' S COLLEGE.
good officer. Similarly, the
Army, taking command of a
tutors at St. John's give stutank platoon in Vietnam.
After his tour ended, Peters earned a master's in economics
dents a model for learning what it means to be a virtuous person
and a good citizen," Peters says.
from the University ofWashington, then returned to West Point
On November II, 2004, the college's Board ofVisitors and
to teach economics. "At that time every junior had to take the
Governors chose Peters to serve as the sixth president of the
economics course. I had IS instructors including the head of my
college's Santa Fe campus , bringing to a close a 16-month search
department working for me. I was a captain at the time and had a
to replace former president John Balkcom (SFGioo). Peters took
full colonel teaching for me," says Peters.
office January 17, just in time to preside over the January freshAfter teaching at \Vest Point, Peters studied Russian then
man convocation. Prior to joining the college, the retired Army
served as a Soviet military attache at the American embassy in
colonel had served as executive vice president of the Council on
Moscow. Living and working in that city at the height of the Cold
Foreign Relations in New York. A nonpartisan, foreign policyWar was "a true adventure in every sense oftheword," he
oriented membership organization, research center, and publishrecalls. Ronald Reagan had just begun his first term as president,
and U.S. -Soviet relations were rocky.
er, the Council provides programs (over 300 a year) and services
to ;},ooo members around the world and the general public.
It also publishes Foreign Affairs magazine and books on internacontinued on p. 3
tional affairs and foreign policy.
{ THE
CoL L EGE.
St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
}
{FRoM THE BELL TowERS}
3
entailed managing the research arm of the
Council. His experience supervising
scholars and researchers at the council will
"You could never leave the apartment
make him feel "right at home with the
without coming back with a story," says
faculty and students of St. John's," he says.
Peters. "There was the time I coasted into
Peters had been aware of St. John's
the gas station running on fumes. Even
College for many years . After the executive
getting gas was always an adventure in
search firm contacted him to gauge his
Moscow. There were very few gas
interest in the position, he took a trip to
stations. The ones they did have were almost
Annapolis to visit classes. He was impressed
hidden-impossible to find. Once you found a
by what he saw and heard.
station, you couldn't pay cash-you had to buy
"I sat in on a seminar on Aristotle, then
coupons from the state, give yom coupons to
MICHAEL PE'I'ERS, SANTA FE PRESIDENT
Ptolemy in math tutorial, and a Greek class
the attendant, then wait for the person to set
translating the Meno. The experience really
the pump for the amount of gas you were
convinced me that St. John's was a place I
allowed to buy. In one instance I went to the
window, my car on empty, and one of the coupons I had was torn on would like to be part of. The interaction between students and
tutors, the commitment and enthusiasm of the students, and the
the corner. The woman refused to take it. I kept telling her how
respect that students have for one another, the tutors, and the
badly I needed the gas. I even had the torn corner and offeTed to
books were all incredibly powerful. It convinced me to look
tape it back on, but no matter how I pleaded, she still refused.
seriously at the college and to find a way I could be part of the
Finally I crossed my fingers and coasted off to another station
St. John's community," he says.
that did accept my coupon-even with the tear."
It didn't hurt that in all their travels, Peters and his wife,
PeteTs left Moscow for Berlin, wheTe he wmked as liaison
Eleanor, found Santa Fe and the Southwest to be among the most
officer to the Soviet Army in East Germany, to work as a
beautiful places they have visited. They are particularly keen to
conventional aTms negotiatm in Berlin. Later, during the
attend the acclaimed Santa Fe opera-one of their new homebuildup to the 1991 GulfWar, he led an elite Civil Mfairs
town's many cultural treasures-this summer. "Wherever Eleanor
Battalion in Saudi Arabia. He finished his militaTy career by
and I would go in the world, we tried to take advantage of the
returning to West Point- this time as an administrator.
local operas . In Moscow, for example, we quickly found out it
After retiring from the military with the rank of colonel,
was best to go only to Russian operas. Once you've seen Madame
Peters went to work for the Council on Foreign Relations.
Butteiflyin Russian, you'll never see h again," he says.~
During his nine years at the Council, Peters served as senior vice
pTesident, chief operating of:ficeT, and director of studies, which
(continued)
"The experience
really convinced me
that St. Johns was
a place I would lzke
to bepart if."
MICHAEL P. PETERS
At a Glance
Education: B.S., engineering, United States Military Academy
at West Point; M.A., economics, University ofWas~ington.
Recent Experience: As executive vice pTesident, Council on
Foreign Relations (2002-2004), seTved as the principal deputy
for the council's president in all areas of operations. Directed
the research arm of the council, supervising a staff of IOO,
including 70 research fellows. For seven years (1995-2002),
directed day-to-day operations of the council, including managing a budget of almost $30 million and a staff of over 200.
At West Point: As chief of staff from1992-1995, directed day-today operations of the academy and led a community of over
ro,ooo. Managed a $350 million operating budget. Directed a
strategic review of the academy defining the mission and
purpose of the institution for the 21st century.
{ THE
Co L LEGE .
Military Career: (Ig68-gs) Chief, Conventional Arms
Negotiations: Principal adviser to the Secretary of the
Army and the Chief of Staff, Army, on negotiation and
implementation of treaties to reduce conventional arms
in Europe.
Commander, g6th Civil Mfairs Battalion (Airborne): led
an elite, 200-person, special unit responsible fm working
with local officials and populace in support of U.S. military .
operations. Deployed to Saudi Arabia in the first month of
Operation Desert Shield; coordinated Saudi support for
the lo!-,ristical infrastructure required for the U.S. forces.
Coordinated the initial restoration of government services in
Panama following the removal of Manuel Noriega.
Executive assistant, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. Soviet Foreign Area Officer.
Assistant professor, United States Military Academy.
Platoon leader, executive officer and Armored Cavalry Troop
commander.
Recent reading: Snow, by Orhan Pamuk, a novel set in Turkey.
St. fohn's College . W in t er 20 0 5
}
�4
GILLIAM HALL
DEDICATION
{FRoM THE BELL TowERS}
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
G 1 l
The newest dormitory on the
Annapolis campus, Gilliam
Hall was formally dedicated in
a ceremony November rr.
Family members ofJames H.
Gilliam Jr., for whom the
building is named, and trustees
of The Hodson Trust, which
provided most of the funding
for the dormitory, attended the
ceremony and toured Gilliam
Hall afterward.
Gilliam was a trustee of
The Hodson Trust and vice
president ofthe Beneficial
Corporation in Wilmington,
Del., until his unexpected
death in the summer of 2003.
An Mrican-American lawyer
and business executive, he was also a respected civic leader and
philanthropist who believed in advancing opportunities for
others, particularly in higher education. To honor Gilliam's
memory, the first seven Mrican-American graduates of the
college attended the ceremony.
Long before he became a Hodson trustee, Gilliam came to
know St. John's through his service as a director of the Beneficial
Corporation. He was chairman of the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute when the foundation gave St. John's its first grant, for
$r million. "He was proud that we received it, and it showed,"
said Christopher Nelson, president of the Annapolis campus .
The college is honored that the new dormitory will bear
Gilliam's name, he added. "I came to admire Jim as someone
who reflected the ideals of our community: he had a talent for
{FRoM THE BELL TowERs}
thinking through problems and LINDA GILLIAM (RIGHT) WITH
CHRISTOPHER NELSON, AND HER
presenting solutions. He was
DAUGHTERS ALEXIS AND LESLIE
humble and generous; he was
someone who had achieved
success in life and felt compelled to share his blessings
with others," Nelson said.
Finn M. W. Caspersen, chairman of The Hodson Trust,
described Gilliam as an individual with attributes that Johnnies
would particularly value. "He embodied good judgment. Even in
difficult situations, he always had the right answers."
Daniel Russell (Aos) had two reasons to thank the Hodson
Trust for its generous support of the college: He lives in Gilliam
Hall and has benefited from a Hodson-funded internship that
allowed him to experience life in a public defender's office last
summer. Russell praised the dorm's spacious common rooms,
the full-size kitchen, and the views of College Creek and the lower
playing field. But he also noted that the addition of the new
dormitory has enhanced the character of the campus.
"What used to be a dark and foreboding back campus has
now become a much more lively area," he said. "Gilliam Hall
has truly been a wonderful addition to the already wonderful
St. John's College."
Gilliam' s widow, Linda Gilliam, also thanked The Hodson
Trust and the St. John's College community for "this marvelous
tribute to Jim."
"With Gilliam Hall, his legacy lives on," she said.
Work is already well under way on the second dormitory, to be
built next to Gilliam Hall and available to students in January
2006. With eight dormitories, the college will be able to house
about 8o percent of its students on campus . ....
FINN CASPERSEN, CHAIRMAN OF
THE HoDsoN TRusT, PAID
Gathered together for the
happy occasion of dedicating
Gilliam Hall, the first seven
Mrican-American graduates
of St. John's College had a lot
of catching up to do. Many
are retired now; some complained of slovving down just a
little. Some are single, some
married with children and
grandchildren.
Perhaps, since they were
already vvilling to attend a college in a segregated city and
suffer the indignities associated
with such injustice, they were
remarkable people when they
arrived here. Whether the
college made a difference or
not, one thing is clear: they are
certainly remarkable people
now. All went on to earn
advanced degrees. In long and
productive careers, they
worked to improve the lives of
others through education,
advocacy, and education.
Groundbrcaker Martin Dyer
(class ohg52) capped a 30-year
career in public service with
another decade as a fairhousipg advocate. He's still
active as a consultant to the
Greater Baltimore Community
Housing Resource Board, and
serves on the college's Board of
Visitors and Governors.
Mtcr earning his master's in
clinical social work, Everett
Wilson (class ofrgs6) also went
into public service: 33 years
helping youth in the state of
Maryland's Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Administration. Now, he
counsels kids struggling with
Attention Deficit Disorder.
Leo L. Simms (class of
rgs6)has retired from the
business career he launched
after earning his MBA from
Boston College, but he
stays active in his church in
Chelmsford, Mass. Mter
graduation , he served in the
Air Force, studied to become a
Russian translator, and worked
for the National Security
Administration during the
height of the Cold War.
It's the retired life, too, for
Joan Cole (class ofr957), the
first African-American woman
community services and
mediation for many years;
she's currently a trainer for the
city's Children's Services
Administration and involved
in community service in
Queens, N.Y.
Jerry Hynson (class ofrgsg)
has more time for genealogy
and research now that he's
retired from a long career in
Baltimore schools, where he
THE PIONEERS : FROM LEFT TO RIGHT (BOTTOM): JOAN COLE, MARTIN
DYER, CAROLYN BAKER BRoWN. TOP: EvERETT WILsoN, LEo
L.
':After the
jirJt semeste~;
I knew this was
theplacefor me. "
}ERRY HYNSON (CLASS OF
I959)
to attend the college. She takes
the trips she has dreamed of
during a long and successful
career in the New York Public
Library system, where as a
regional manager, she supervised 20 branch libraries.
''I'm so glad I can read during
the daytime," she says.
Carolyn Baker Brown (class
ofrgs8) , another New Yorker,
earned her master's in social
work and has worked in
was a teacher, then assistant
principal. His published works
on Mrican-American history in
Maryland have covered topics
including runaway slaves
and freed African-Americans
before the Civil War. Charlotte
King (class ofrgsg) was
another graduate to spend
her life in public service as
a clinical therapist, social
worker, and social services
administrator.
It wasn't easy to be pioneers
in Annapolis before Brown V.
Board ofEducation made
segregated schools illegal.
Martin Dyer came to Annapolis
in rg48 and found the college
much more welcoming than
the greater Annapolis community. The Little Campus Inn on
Maryland Avenue may have
been an off-campus haven for a
TRIBUTE TO JAMES H. GILLIAM JR.
{ THE
CoLL E G F..
St. John 's College . W inter 2005
}
SIMMs,
CHARLOTTE KING, JERRY HYNSON.
{ TH E
CoLL E GE.
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
}
5
generations ofJohnnies, but
Dyer was never able to venture
inside. Wilson remembers he
couldn't try on a suit in a downtown clothing store. And King
was turned away from a church
in downtown Annapolis , told
that she would find a more
welcoming congregation in
another part of town.
"At St. John's, I was just
another student," Dyer says.
"Mter the first semester,"
says Hynson, "I knew this was
the place for me."
Joan Cole, the librarian,
never regretted her decision
to attend the college-even
though she remembers her
name was left out of the
program of a King Williams
Players production for which
she had made costumes. Her
life-long love affair ·with books
was nurtured here, and she
enjoyed the poetry group in
which she participated. "I
found the education I was
expecting here," Cole says.
Each of the graduates has
remained keenly interested in
St. John's after some five
decades away from Annapolis.
Their attachment was demonstrated by their eagerness to
attend the ceremony and
their ongoing support of the
college's efforts to recruit
Mrican-American students,
helping the college find new
ways to tell minority students
about St. John' s. As Wilson
says, many Johnnies find out
about the college through
word-of-mouth, often from a
relative or friend who attended
the college.
"Our job as alumni is to
get the word out-through
churches, sororities, communities, anywaywe can-that
St. John's provides an education for a lifetime," he says.
There may be no better
evidence of that than these
seven alumni .....
-
RosEMARY HARTY
�6
{FROM
THE
BELL
{FRoM
TowERS}
THE
MAcGYVER MEETS
''I'M READY FOR MY
THE JOHNNIES
BELL
CLOSE-UP' MR. ZLOTOFF''
The St.
John~ Story,
Quick CUTS of 4-5 students &
2 tutors as they open books
and begin reading in various
locations: dorm rooms, library,
etc. Possible FLASH CUTS of
author's names, Hegel, Plato,
etc. CUT to villainous East
German spies racing up
McDowell Hall stairs. CUT to
MacGyver hastily assembling
rocket out ofseminar chair,
shoestrings, and Coffee Shop
French fry grease. He shoots up
stairs to Bell Tower, rappels to
safety FADE OUT
It's fun to imagine what the
St. fohn's Story- the campy
student recruitment film made
more than 50 years ago-could
become in the hands of Lee
David Zlotoff (A74), the
creator of the popular TV hero
Angus MacGyver. Zlotoff,
who has enjoyed a career
as a screenwriter and
director since graduation,
volunteered his time and
expertise to write and direct
a promotional video for the
college- the first since a
second movie was produced in
the early Ig6os . After serving
Redux
Natalie Rinn (A05) was enlistedfor a starring role in Lee Zloto.ff's
movie. Here's her account oflife behind the camera.
for many years on the college's
Board ofVisitors and Governors, Zlotoffknewwell how
the college struggles to
explain itself to its various
audiences . Last year, he
proposed a new movie proj ect
to the board. Shooting took
place in Santa Fe and
Annapolis last fall. Now,
Zlotoff is supervising the
editing of more than 70 hours
of videotape into a series of
short videos that the college
can show at college fairs,
use as presentations to
potential donors, and post to
the college's Web site.
Unlike past films that have
tried to re-create seminar
discussions, Zlotoff's project
starts with tutors and students
"Now throw down your book like you just can't make sense of it,"
directed Lee Zlotoff from behind the camera.
So I did. And such was myweek, the week that the St. John's
promotional film crew became extended-stay guests on campus and
I became a movie star.
It all happened by chance. I sat in the Mellon courtyard on a warm
Sunday early in September. I was puzzling over a paper in the senior
lab manual. A young man approached me as I was crinkling my brow
looking over the reading.
"Would you like to do a screen test?" he
asked in a tone that lacked expectation.
Happy to set aside my confusion for a
moment and intrigued by the words ''screen
test," I accepted his offer. I was sat down in
front of a camera and answered questions
posed by Lee. After spurting answers in
response to his questions about "what is it like
to be a Johnnie?" I was told I would be contacted within a week and was sent on my way.
A week later, the call came. It was the young
man, Jared Krause, the producer of the
St. John's promotional film. He wanted to
know ifl would be willing to be the subject of
some scripted material for the film .
Apparently the look of confusion I wore
when Krause first spotted me was the type of
authentic St. John's experience they wanted to
be sure to include in the film . He told me that
they needed images that would create a visual
"I thought this
was something
that needed
doing."
LEE DAVID ZLOTOFF (A?4)
LEE ZLOTOFF CHECKS OUT THE VIEW FROM BEHIND THE CAMERA.
preparing for seminar. The
bells ring, and students walk
into the classroom. It ends ·
when the opening question is
posed. Interspersed in the
basic narrative structure are
interviews with students,
tutors, and alumni; scenes
of campus life and student
activities; and environmental
shots showing off the beauty of
Santa Fe and Annapolis.
All told, Zlotoffhas
already spent months on
the project, which he
describes as a labor oflove.
He ate in the dining halls
and coffee shops on both
campuses, hung out with students in downtown Santa Fe or
Annapolis, and talked with
tutors. He enjoyed reliving his
own student days through the
eyes of a younger generation.
"It was great fun to do
and a remarkably insightful
process," he says. "At
St. John's, everybody does
the same thing and in certain
ways gets the same sort of
thing; in another way it's
TUTOR NICK MAISTRELLIS LED A
MOCK TUTORIAL FOR THE NEW
totally individual. If I had to
title the experience it would
have been 'Chasing the
Paradox.' We tell students
what to study but we don't tell
them what to think. It's a small
school, but in many ways,
there is this amazing diversity
of opinions and suppositions
and life experiences that
people bring to them."
The college has remained
basically the same since his
student days, but Zlotoff
has noticed some changesparticularly in the students.
"When I was at the college,
there were students who were
at St. John's because they didn't
fit in anywhere else . On both
campuses today, I see a great
deal of awareness on the part of
the students about what the
college is about and what
they're looking for," he says.
What took Zlotoff away from
Hollywood to document life at
St. John's? "The college could
go out and hire someone to
produce a video, but they
wouldn't have had a clue how
to do a film about St. John's,"
he explains. "I thought this
was something that needed
doing."-$-
ST. JoHN's VIDEO.
- RosEMARY HARTY
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2 005
}
ST. JoHN's IN
THE NEWS
For those involved in the three
days of shooting on the
Annapolis campus, the Today
Show segment on St. John's
that aired December 30 might
have seemed disappointingafter all there was no mention
of great books, tutors, or seminars. A quick glimpse of tutor
Peter Kalkavage leading a
chorus, a seminar, a Waltz
Party in the Great Hall, shots of
crew on College Creek, and the
story of a "tiny college next to
the Nav~Academy"was over.
But brief as it was, the
story couldn't help but be good
press for the college, and about
6 million viewers watch this
most popular of morning news
programs. Roger Martin,
president of Randolph-Macon
College,hadspentasabbatic~
from his college in Ashland,
Va., to find out what life is like
for freshmen at St. John's. For
the f~l semester, he attended
seminars, rowed with the
crew team, and got to know
Johnnies. A Washington Post
story on Martin's experiences
caught the eye of an NBC
producer, and a crew came to
campus in mid-December.
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
TowERS}
7
story of a student's preparation for seminar: sitting in various places
on campus reading, conversing with fellow students, looking
generally confused while paging through a reading. They thought I
was a good candidate. Because they would capture these images without sound bites, the pressure to perform would be minimal. I agreed
to his request and we arranged a date to do our first filming.
The day arrived. I sat in a bath of synthetic light and rested on the
quad while the production assistant applied makeup to my face. I felt
I was experiencing the clashing of two worlds: The world of St. John's
and the outside world that was straining to look in. Providing a
vvindow of exposure into the Johnnie world felt unnatural at first.
Could we, as props arranged to tell the Johnnie story, really communicate the essence of the Johnny experience? I was told to assume
my look of confusion as I sat in the quad and affectedly discussed a
seminar reading with classmates.
The lights glared, the camera rolled, and then, a funny thing
happened. Under a tent of surveillance and heat, I embodied all too
easily the confusion with which I was so well acquainted. Though the
scenario was staged, my two classmates and I
had so often been genuinely confused throughout our time at St. John's that to reproduce the
appearance of confusion, even in a feigned
discussion, was second nature. I then realized
very little acting would be required in order for
the film to communicate even a taste of true
Johnnie life.
Throughout the next week I spent several
hours with Lee and his crew performing
several takes of"seminar preparation." While
the repetition of takes at times grew tedious,
I was confident the finished product would
convey to the world outside something true
about our microcosmic haven. And I, for one,
was more than happy to reproduce that truth
under the lights. -$-
NATALIE RINN:
Two observations on the
experience: Students can summon a mid-week Waltz Party on
about a hour's notice. And students and tutors assembled for
a mock seminar will have a serious discussion on Thucydides
that will go on long after the
crew packs up ru1d leaves.
NPR's WeekendEdition
~so carried a short story on
Martin's experiences at the
college, as did more than 6o
newspapers. (An. essay by
Martin will run in a later
edition of The College.)
The college continues to
attract attention from a
perplexing assortment of
media. In September,
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
}
A
STAR IS BORN.
Cosmo GIRL! magazine
included St. John's on its
"first-ever guide to the so Best
Colleges for CosmoGirls."
Sometimes national press
attention is just a passing mention, but in the right context,
it's enough to make Johnnies
swell with pride. An Atlantic
Monthly article entitled "Who
Needs Harvard?" an~yzed the
competition to get into top
schools and mentioned St.
John's-in the company of colleges such as Bryn Mawr, Notre
Dame, and Oberlin- as "schools
[that ru:e] not in the top twentyfive, yet may be only slightly
less good than the elites."
Now that's good press.-$-
�8
{FRoM
THE
BELL
}OHNNIES-R-Us
A New Online Community for S]C
Alumni Awaits Members
The college is pleased to unveil a new online community created to
enable alumni to stay better connected to each other and to the
college. The address is: http://alunmi.stjohnscollege.edu. The page
can also be reached by clicking Alumni on the college's home page:
www.stjohnscollege.edu and following the link published there.
Shortly after launching a new Web site last year, the college also
rolled out an online alumni register, but after a rough start never
improved, the application was scrapped. The college chose
YourAlumni. com to provide a broader range of services to alumni.
The site does require registration to take full advantage of its
features, but alumni can still choose to hide all or some of their
personal information from public view. Register as a member, and you
can view the personal listings of all alumni who have also registered.
Alumni can add much more information than has been provided in
the paper directory, last published in 200I. There is space to add
occupation, employer, graduate school, birthday, and other information such as career changes, moves , books read or written, and births of
children. Johnnies can post their own photos and create a gallery of
their children, new home, pets, or vacation to Greece.
{FRoM
TowERs}
Other options:
• Take part in online forums.
• Submit alumni notes online.
• Find out about college news, chapter events, and college-wide
events.
• Search for members by multiple criteria: e.g., campus, class year,
location, occupation. (Please note that results will be limited until
more alumni become members.)
• View class homepages and photo galleries.
Another improvement of the new sile is ease of registration: in most
cases, alumni will not need to wait for approval from the Alumni offices
in Santa Fe or Annapolis- it's automatic. Even when staff intervention
is needed, action can usually be tal(en in one business day. Users can
also select their own passwords.
The college chose a membership-based application in order to
restrict personal information to the alumni community and protect
privacy. However, alumni can still access a slatic directmy-which the
college will update periodically-that lists alumni, class year, city,
and slate. While this information is oflimited use, it's the member
directory that should be genuinely useful in creating a community.
All it needs is members.
Contact the Alumni offices with any concerns or questions about
the site: in Santa Fe, Roxanne Seagraves at 505-984-6Io3 or alumni@sjcsf.edu; in Annappolis, JoAnn Mattson at 4m-626-253I, or
alumni@sjca.edu. -t-
THE
BELL
TowERs}
9
TRAINING DAY
EARLY LAST FALL, 2I NEW RECRUITS-MOST OF THEM FRESHMENCOMPLETED THEIR FIELD CERTIFICATION FOR THE ST. JoHN'S COLLEGE
SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM WITH A SIMULATED SEARCH MISSION ON
DECEPTION PEAK IN THE SANTA FE SKI BASIN. THE NEWBIES MADE THE
CLIMB TO I2,000 FEET AND COMPLETED FIELD NAVIGATION , BACKCOUNTRY
SKILLS, AND SEARCH TECHNIQUE TRAINING TO BECOME FIELD CERTIFIED
AND EARN THE NICKNAME "GROUND-POUNDER." WITH MORE R E CRUITS
THIS YEAR THAN EVER, THE COLLEGE TEAM CAN NOW FIELD MULTIPLE
TEAMS OF VOLUNTEERS. LEFT, ANABELLAASPIRAS (SF08) OF
WASHINGTON D.C., CAN NOW USE A TRIANGULATION MAP AND COMPASS
TO FIND HER WAY IN THE MOUNTAINS. ABOVE, NATE OESCH AND
RYAN GREENDYK (BOTH SF08) DO PUSH-UPS AT THE TRAILHEAD.
{LETTERS}
MISTAKEN NoTIONS
The story of Martin A. Dyer's being recruited
as the first Mrican-American student to
attend St. John's College, ofhis graduating in
I952, and of his now joining the Board ofVisitors and Governors, is inspiring. Mter all,
Brown v. Board ofEducation was not decided
until I954· When I arrived in Annapolis as a
freshman in I956, African-An1ericans were
still second-class citizens in Maryland.
The story of Martin A. Dyer reflects well
on St. John's College, on the students who
persuaded the college to agmit [him], and on
Mr. Dyer himself.
The college's "diversity initiative," by contrast, is consistent neither with the mission of
St. John's College nm·with the achievements
ofMr. Dyer. Defending the "diversity initiative," nonetheless , Mr. Dyer asserts in his
recent letter (Fall2004) that the college
should make a determined effort to recruit
more minority students, "because seminars
and classes achieve greater profundity and
richness when students of different races, ethnicities, and backgrounds bring their life
experiences and individual perspectives into
the conversation."
I must disagTee. To remain politely silent
would show respect neither for the college
nor for Mr. Dyer. To remain silent would trivi-
thing profound that any Asian or Irish-American or Je,vish or African-American student
has said in a St. John' s College seminar that
flowed from his or her "race, ethnicity, or
background." My own fellow-students
advanced our conversations by giving evidence of close reading and good logic. My
fellow-students' racial and ethnic characteristics made no discernible contribution to
their being able to read and think well ...
Mr. Dyer is a remaTkable man, and I am
like other Johnnies in respecting his
achievements and in tiling pride in him
and in his story ... .All men and women are
educable "l.vithout regard to the peculiarities
of their ethnic and racial backgrounds. It is
not our fellow-students' peculiarities that
are the teachers at St. John's College . It is
the great books that are our teachers.
alize the great books program, and it would
patronize Mr. Dyer. St. John's College exists
because, as its motto suggests, boys of all
sorts are equally capable ofbecoming men by
a single device, namely, by means of books
and balances. The Program Telles on books,
not on the alleged broadening effects of a
multi-cultural mi'< of students. Nor was Mr.
Dyer himself recruited to St. John's College in
order to provide his fellow-students with his
race-peculiar contributions. Such a suggestion is repellant. Mr. Dyer was recruited
because the students at St. John's at that time
found the then-prevalent rules of racial discrimination offensive. This was precisely
because they believed that all men are fundamentally the same, not that they are different ...
Mr. Dyer cannot and does not appeal now
to what all men have in common, however. In
departing from that premise, he departs from
the foundation on which St. John's College
stands. Mr. DyeT relies, instead, on the premise that different "life experiences" will somehow enrich the college's seminaTs. Is this an
empirical claim or is it a tautology? I assume
that Mr. Dyer means it to be an empirical
claim. If so, he must present proof. Unfortunately, no proof is possible. Neither Mr. Dyer
nor anyone else can present evidence of any-
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winte r 2005
MARY CAMPBELL GALLAGHER,
CLASS OF Ig6o
The College welcomes letters. Letters may
be edited for clarity and/ or length. Please
address letters to: The College Magazine,
St. John's College, Box 28oo, Annapolis
MD 2I4o4. Letters can also be sent via
e-mail to: rosemary.harty@sjca.edu.
}
MELLON GR.ANT
SuPPORTS FACULTY
A $soo,ooo grant from The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will allow St. John's College to raise faculty salaTies
and provide funds for faculty
study groups on both the
Annapolis and Santa Fe
campuses.
One of the college's most
important strategic goals is
to bring its faculty salaries
closer to the mid-range of
comparable liberal arts colleges. Attracting and retaining exceptional faculty, and
compensating them fairly in
cities with a high cost ofliving, are key to preserving the
college's discussion-based
education program and small
classes.
Almost important as
improved compensation is
the need to provide faculty
{ T HE
C o L L E G E .
with continuing opportunities to deepen their own
knowledge ofthe subjects
they are teaching. Funds for
study groups mll support
faculty members who plan
and organize the material for
the sessions, and compensate
faculty for the additional
time they spend in such
groups . In the past, study
groups at St. John's have
included topics such
as Apollonius' classical
geometry, advanced reading
in ancient Greek, and the
poems ofWallace Stevens.
St. f ohn 's College. Winter 2005
}
"This generous funding
from the Mellon Foundation
for faculty salaries and
faculty development mll
allow the college to demonstrate to our tutors and our
students, as well as to the
college community as a
whole, the value we place
on our faculty and the
commitment we have made
to them for the future,"
said Christopher Nelson,
president of the Annapolis
campus. -t-
�.
'
,--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
IO
{PHILANTHROPIA}
RINGING A BELL FOR
II
{PHILANTHROPIA}
ST. JOHN~ s
REUNION
CLASs LEADERS
Increasing Alumni Involvement
ell-ringers were all over town in Santa Fe last
317 phone calls, and there was a lot of ringing: they raised $2,245
December, but bell ringers of a different kindin gifts and pledges .
without the Santa Claus suits and red kettles-were
Tiffany Simons (SFo6), a phonathon veteran, gave an
also making appeals from Weigle Hall at St. John's
enthusiastic kickoff speech to first-timers . "Make sure alumni
College. Telephones rung in homes across the
understand that gifts of any amount are greatly appreciated," she
country as students participated in a phonathon
said. "If everyone on this list gave only five dollars, we'd be way
for the college's Annual Fund.
above where we were last year in terms of alumni participation."
The Annual Fund helps pay for tutors' salaries, health and
Students say they get a great sense of pride in volunteering for
counseling services, admissions, athletics, and campus
phonathons. Some start out reluctantly, afraid to make a phone
maintenance and, perhaps most vital to the group making the
call to a stranger and reluctant to disturb a quiet evening to ask
phone calls, student financial aid. Thition meets just 70 percent
for money. But when they secure their first gift, they beam .
of the cost of educating students, and about 6o percent of the
Melinda Miller-Klopfer (SFo7) has worked several phonathons,
college's students receive financial aid. A gift of $roo to the
and each time she riffles through the list of potential donors to
Annual Fund has the same effect as $2ooo in the endowment,
find alumni in California. She, too, is from California and taps
since the college draws a s% from the endowthe \Vest Coast connection to establish a personal
ment every year for operating expenses. Gifts to
association with the alumni she calls. Some she
'~
the Annual Fund can be put to immediate use .
has talked to several times, and even though they
Phonathons take place on both campuses
have never met, they catch up like old friends
toward the end ofthe calendar year, and again in
over the phone. Helping the college raise money,
the spring, as the college' s fiscal year comes to a
Miller-Klopfer says, strengthens her appreciation
close June 30. Alumni, students, and staff take
for St. John's.
parents~
tutor~
part in the calling. To heighten the fun and
"After all," Miller-Klopfer says, "my St. John's
foster a little gentle competition at the Santa Fe
education is a gift-from my parents, my tutors,
phonation, held on a blustery December
the financial aid office. An education of any
evening, students had bells next to their phones
variety is a gift, but a St. John's education is a
• -11:
"
0J~ce
that they could ring each time a call yielded a
blessing as well." "'$gift. The group of eight students together made
MELINDA MILLER-KLOPFER ( SF07)
-ANDRA MAGURAN
.. my St. ]ohn:S
education is a
g!ft-from my
my
thefinancial azd
...
RINGING THE BELL:
ZAcK BoRING ( sFo8)
AND MELINDA MILLERKLOPFER ( SF07) HIT THEIR
BELLS TO SIGNAL A "'YES"
IN RESPONSE TO THEIR
ANNUAL FUND CALLS .
{ THE
C o L LEGE .
St. John 's College . Winter 2005
}
ohnnies like talking
with other Johnnies.
They get a chance
to exchange ideas particular to the college,
and they understand
what a genuine conversation is. That's one reason many
alumni accept an invitation
from the Advancement offices
in Annapolis and Santa Fe to
serve as "reunion class leaders," joining Philanthropia
volunteers in making alumni
aware of their role in supporting the college. When your job
is to reconnect with members
of your class to strengthen
their ties to the college, it's
more fun than work .
Tapping everything from
{
nostalgia to technology,
J
reunion class leaders work at
bringing the St. John's experience back
to alumni who have gone on to other
pursuits five to fifty years after leaving
their campuses. "It's so easy to keep in
touch with old Johnnie friends - which is
why it's weird that a lot of them don't
realize how important it is to give back to
the school," says a new reunion class
leader, Anna Christenbury (SFoo).
One of the major goals of the volunteer
effort is to increase awareness of the
importance of the Annual Fund to the
college and increase the number of
alumni who make contributions.
Gifts to the Annual Fund are vital to
supporting the college's day-to-day
operations .
Often, serving as a class leader is the
first time some alumni have had an
opportunity to volunteer for the college.
"We're fortunate to have reunion class
leaders who are exceptionally enthusiastic
and energetic," says Suzanne Thornton,
advancement officer in Santa Fe. "Many
of them find it extremely rewarding to be
able to do something for the college."
A FAMILY AFFAIR:
CAROL PLAUT
RICK
(A79)
(A77)
AND
HAVE BOTH
VOLUNTEERED AS REUNION CLASS
LEADERS.
Is
EMMA PLAUT
(Ao7)
NEXT?
and aware of what's happening
at the college today. "I owe
St. John's a debt of gratitude,"
says Preston, an architect in
Washington, D.C. "It opened
me up to appreciating the
eloquence of an idea, of a
well-reasoned argument. I may
have felt oppressed by it all
while I was there, but now it's
a kind of heaven in my mind-a
golden, shimmering memory."
Christenbury, who has been
composing music since graduating, has more than a few
ideas on how to get members
of her class back to the
college. Assisted by other class members,
she's assembling digital photo albums
and organizing regional get-togethers.
The most important part of her job, she
says, is taking the time to explain to
alumni why it's important for them to
help support the college. Preston says
that the most successful outreach in the
past has been making and selling home
videos from college days.
Other reunion class leaders have sent
handwritten thank-you notes to alumni
who have made a gift, contributed
material for class Web pages, sent out
postcards with senior class photos,
and arranged class gatherings for
Homecoming.
Putting one Johnnie in touch with
another invokes the sense of community
shared at the college, and that's what
reunion class leaders strive to do:
encourage their friends and classmates
to keep giving to ensure that more
students can learn what it is to be a
Johnnie . --$-
"I owe St. ]ohn:S a debt
qfgratitude. It opened
me up to appreciating
the eloquence qf
an zdea~ qfa wellr~asoned argument. "
BRUCE PRESTON, CLASS OF
Ig6s
From Annapolis, volunteers are
recruited for ro reunion classes;
eight classes in Santa Fe have reunion
leaders this year. The college offers
training at Homecoming each year to
inform volunteers about the needs of the
college and to provide an opportunity for
new recruits to talk with past RCLs about
the program.
Bruce Preston, class of rg6s, said he
took on the job because he wanted not
only to reconnect with the college, but
also to become more directly involved
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
- RosEANNA WHITE
}
(Ao4)
�{T
I2
H E
C H .A I
{THE CHAIR}
R }
ABOUT A CHAIR
"The chair looksfine everywhere. "
A Visit to the Home ofa St. Johns Icon
BILLY COPPAGE
It's a family business, and has been since
Moses Clore started the company in I83o.
Mter a fire in I930 nearly put the Clorcs
out of business, Mrs. Herbert Hoover-a
summer resident-came through with a
loan. Since then, the operation's been a
strong one, aided by a small college that's
been one of its best customers.
This is the home of the St. John's chairor, to be precise, the three chairs that
have populated the Annapolis campus
since the Igsos and the Santa Fe campus
since its opening in I964. The seminar
chair is actually the Plain Master Chair.
Dorm rooms are furnished with the armless Plain Side Chair, and the dining halls
in Santa Fe and Annapolis are filled with
the Ladder Back Dining Side Chair. While
the factory makes tables and desks and
other furniture, chairs outsell everything
else, says Troy Coppage, a great-grandson
of E.A. Clore and the vice president for
personnel. "You just won't find a more
durable chair," he says, hefting one up
and showing off the construction.
Production is labor-intensive. It starts
in the lumber room, where wood is boiled
for about three hours, then placed in
form s that forc e the wood for the back
frame, arms, and slats into graceful
curves. The slats are fitted into the
grooved holes of the frame, as are the six
rungs for the bottom of the chair, which
connect to the front legs. No nails are
needed, except for one on each arm of the
Master Chair.
Mter the chairs are stained, they're
sent out to local residents who weave the
fiber-rush seats with which Johnnies
become so intimately familiar. Newcomers to this work sometimes surrender in a
few days. "It's hard on the hands," says
Coppage. ''I'd starve ifl had to do it."
The graceful arms of the Master Chair
go on last. Then the chairs are shipped,
most often to individual customers, but
also to big users like boarding schools,
seminaries, and inns.
BY RosEMARY HARTY
fit weren't for the signs leading the way, it would
be easy to miss the E.A. Clore Sons Furniture
Factory in Madison, Va. The view to the west is
of Old Rag Mountain, the most spectacular peak
in the Blue Ridge'- Mountains. Turn off the main
business thoroughfare of this town, follow a
driveway to the bottom of a little hollow, and you'll find
a very small factory where furniture is made the old-fashioned way.
{ T H E
C
o L L E G E .
St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
}
OPPOSITE: "You CAN USE IT EVERY DAY,
AND IT'LL LAST IOO YEARS," SAYS
TRoY CoPPAGE OF THE ST. JoHN's CHAIR.
AT RIGHT AND BELOW: CHAIRS ARE MADE
THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY IN THIS FAMILYOWNED BUSINESS IN RURAL VIRGINIA, JUST
EAST oF THE BLuE RIDGE MouNTAINS.
ABOUT THREE HOURS OF HAND WORK GO
INTO EACH CLORE CHAIR.
Coppage doesn't know a lot about the
St. John's Program ("It's not a normal
college'?") but he likes seeing the Master
Chair featured on the college's Web site.
That was partly the doing of Mark
Neustadt, a marketing expert who's been
handling the college's recruitment publications. "It's a perfect symbol of how the
school differs from others," he says. "You
learn by sitting and discussing the books.
You learn for yourself."
But is the chair really comfortable?
"Wonderfully comfortable," says tutor
Eva Brann, who should know as well as
anyone. "You sit in them for hours at a
time, so it's good that they have a comfortable'bottom. And of course, they are
very elegant to look at."
And is it really sturdy? Yes, says Bryan
Valentine, the treasurer in Santa Fe,
who is in charge of buying new ones
when the stock of more than I,Ioo out
West needs replenishing. "The rungs
sometimes break out because students
always rest their feet on them, and the
backs have been broken out when they've
tipped over."
Billy Coppage, vice president of the
company, has made several trips to
Annapolis to deliver new or repaired
chairs. On a visit to Colorado a few years
back, he made a detour to Santa Fe just to
see the campus-and his chairs.
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
So where does the Clore chair look
better, he's asked? In Santa Fe's
sun-drenched seminar rooms? In
historic McDowell Hall? He smiles
broadly and says in a voice dripping
with Virginia honey, "That chair looks
fine everywhere."-*
For more on Clore, visit the company's
Web site: www. eaclore. com
}
�{THE
{THE
PROGRAM}
PROGRAM}
EINSTEIN
COMES TO ST. JOHN'S
BY RosEMARY HARTY
URTIS WILSON (HA83) BROUGHT
Einstein to St. John's College.
That is, during Wilson's
tenure as dean of the college in
the late Igsos, he decided that
Einstein's theory on special
relativity deserved a place in the Program. "The
idea of tackling difficult things was not foreign
to the Program," Wilson recalls. "All sorts of
things could be attempted, but what was important was learning to do them in a way that students feel some accomplishmen\ in them. We
didn't want to bamboozle them by talking over
their heads."
Working with tutor L. Harvey Poe (A52), Wilson wrote a manual designed to lead students
through the math and the major concepts of the
I90S paper. The manual was introduced in I959
and used at least until I964, when Wilson joined
the faculty in Santa Fe and later, the University of
{ T H E
C o L L E G E .
California. When he returned to Annapolis in
I973, seniors in math tutorial were reading the
paper. "That was an important shift, and I was
really glad to see it. It motivates students- 'this is
really the paper that Einstein wrote? And I'm
reading it?' "
Beautiful, simple, mind-boggling-the words
St. John' s tutors and students use t o describe Einstein's paper-help explain why so many Johnnies
find reading the paper a capstone of their years at
the college. But it was once thought ''too modern, too difficult, too complex" for students,
recalls Santa Fe tutor Peter Pesic, who has taught
the paper about half a dozen times. As a physicist,
of course he was familiar with Einstein's theory,
but he had never read the I90S paper before
coming to the college.
''It was one of the discoveries I made at St.
John's, to encounter Einstein in his own
thoughts, his own words," he says.
S t. fohn's College . ·w inter 2005
}
{ T H E
CoL LE G E.
St. Jo hn 's College . Winter 20 05 }
IS
�I6
{THE
PROGRAM}
{THE
"Special theory is a
little gem. "
patience, even more so than intelligence (though that does
not hurt, of course) . Patience is needed for both running
experiments and figuring out what to make of the end results.
SEEING A PROBLEM
Erin Hanlon (SFo3)
Studying Einstein's paper did not influence my decision to
become a scientist but it has had an impact on how I think
about research questions.
I had been accustomed to reading scientific papers a couple
of times over and thereby getting a general sense of the theory
and any equations. But with the Einstein paper I had to carefully go over each word to make sure I understood what he was
saying-so much of it was counterintuitive to my mind. I
remember staring hard at the board and frequently interrupting
whoever was presenting in order to ask questions so that I could
better shape the mental illustration I was trying to form.
The properties of electrodynamics addressed in the special
theory of relativity do not have a direct effect on my research as
a plant eco-physiologist. But it is the process, the process of
seeing a problem, coming up with possible solutions and
working through them all until one that holds up is found, that
turned out to be my most important gleaning from this paper.
The most important thing that you need to bring to science is
CHALLENGING AssuMPTIONS
Richard Green (SF87)
Probably the most radical thought that comes from the rgos
paper on special relativity is that it forces one to rethink the
concept of simultaneity. Assumptions about simultaneity seem
so basic that it is difficult to be aware that one is making
assumptions. How interesting that one can be unaware of basic
assumptions that are fundamentallyWI·ong.
Richard Green is a chemist workingfor the US. government on
issues related to difenses against chemical warfare agents.
"Ones learning
how to make
another small
step_, then maybe
another step
ifierthat."
C oLLEG E .
S AM KuTLER ( AS4 )
Erin Hanlon is a Ph.D. student in biology at the
University of Utah.
In Annapolis, Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft
"We didn't assume that our students knew
has led the senior math tutorial on Einstein
algebra back then," he explains, ''and the
many times. Although Flaumenhaft's speworst thing we did was waiting until senior
cialized field of study has been political phiyear to teach calculus-too late to use in
losophy, a framed copy of the Einstein-on-asenior laboratory."
bicycle photo hangs prominently in his
To Kutler, Einstein's theory is simply
office, and Flaumenhaft holds this particubeautiful. ''It has two postulates. One is that
lar Program author in high esteem- not just
if light is emitted it doesn't matter if the
for what he thought, but how he thought.
light is coming right at you, going away
Einstein characterized himself as a "slow
from you, or standing still with respect to
thinker" who pondered his theories long
you: it's still going to come at a single speed.
and hard for many years before something
The constancy of the velocity of light is one
emerged. Approaching Einstein in the classprinciple, and the other one is the relativity
HARVEY FLAUMEN HAFT, DEAN
room also requires patience and time.
principle, which is that the laws of physics
"One's learning how to make another small
have to be the same; there's no special frame
step, then maybe another step after that. If
of reference."
we can take just a couple of really good steps
Long b efore he worked out his theory on
toward beginning to understand those fundamentals, one
paper, "Einstein didn't think that Newtonian physics made
starts to think in a way that's much deeper."
any sense," says Kuder. Poincare, Lorentz, and Fitzgerald
"Special theory is a little gem," says Annapolis tutor Sam
were all thinking along the same lines, and Poincare might
Kuder (class of 1954) , because seniors can study it for a
well have beaten Einstein to the punch. But Einstein was
term- one truncated by the writing period and perhaps
the first one to determine that "since we can't find the
aether, there's no need for it."
tainted by the post-essay letdown -and emerge with a fairly
good understanding of the basics. Adding the paper to the
" This is a great blow to empiricists like Francis Bacon
Program was a change that was enabled by the college's
who believe you keep experimenting and experimenting,
earlier decision to stop extensive instruction in algebra.
and you're very slow to theorize. Einstein didn't obey those
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PROGRAM}
St. John 's College · Winter 2005
}
rules. He theorized first and the
experimentation came later. He
loved his theories, and he
believed in them."
Santa Fe tutor Ralph Swentzell
guided seniors in math tutorial
many times in his 38 years with
the college, and led one exceptional preceptorial for Graduate
Institute students taking the
math and science segment.
"Some of them were accountants, and some were English
teachers, and they would all get
up to the board and work through
the equations . It was very exciting-I still get letters from those
students," he says.
Over the years, Swentzell has
assembled a collection of notes
that he uses to supplement the
paper; they're enormously popular with Santa Fe students. One
of his favorite examples is helping students make sen se of Einstein by getting them to figure
how fast they would have to drive
a car to get it to shrink and fall
into one of the cracks on the
road. "They get a big kick out of
that," he says.
Even after all his years of working through the paper 'vith students, Swentzell finds there are
some concepts Einstein presents
that just "hit you in the stomach
sometimes."
"You can see how it's all
derived, but then to imagine
walking around this world of
ours and as you're walking down
Two THINGS
Laine Conway (SFot)
I was, while reading Einstein, fairly obsessed with the
work of Kurt Go del, and so my memories are doubtless somewhat tainted. Still, two things in particular
stand out for me from reading Einstein:
r. The equation "e=mc 2 " is far from being
mysterious and arcane. Instead, it falls neatly,
elegantly, and almost unobtrusively out of the
preceding equations.
2. Einstein later (re) did his calculations for
relativity using only algebra; the original equations
use calculus because Einstein was, at the time he
wrote the paper, studying calculus!
The other thing I recall is how much I liked Einstein.
I'm thinking, here, of a line from The Catcher in the
Rye: "What really kno cks me out is a book that, when
you're all done reading it, you wish the author that
wrote it was a terrific friend of yours, and you could
call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.
Laine Conway; having completed an MFA in
Dramatic Writing, has returned to math (and Marx)
and is studyingfor a Ph.D. in economics.
PROVING THE ABSURD
David] Macdonald (SFg3)
Einstein's 1995 paper on special relativity was certainly one of the highlights of my time at St. John's,
and not just because it seemed to prove the absurdthat our notion of absolute space and time was an illusion. What I found most exciting was the simplicity of
the reasoning behind it. The step-by-step proof, from
the premise (Michaelson and Morley's observation
that the speed oflight is constant) to the conclusion
(that the length of an object varies according to its
speed relative to the observer) , was accessible even to
a college student like me with no more than a basic
knowledge of calculus. I felt like we were proving the
absurd with very simple , rational tools.
David Macdonald is a composer who also teaches
music theory at the Manhattan School ofMusic. .
{ T HE
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St. John 's College. Wi nter 2005
}
the hall, to suddenly think that
what you're calling 'now' means
a different set of events in the
universe than for somebody
who's sitting down in their
office. Everything changes.
That's the part," h e says, and
stops to chuckle, " that's just too
weird. That's when you have to
go home and sleep on it and get
the equations out to guide you."
The Nike adage "just do it" fits
with Peter Pesic's approach to
teaching the paper to Santa Fe
seniors. " Some tutors try to go
backwards, but it's hard to do
that without spending a long
time on review. So we plunge
into it and then take extended
digressions in electricity and
magnetism. We can drag out
magnets and coils and try to
bring to life where Einstein
was starting from with his
questions."
The paper may have seemed a
risky proposition to introduce
four decades ago , but it's well
within the grasp of today's students, says Pesic. "The heart of
his deduction can be done with
nothing except algebra, " he
says, adding that each time he's
taught it, even those students
without great skills in math have
risen to the occasion.
A leisurely pace is needed for
Einstein; up to 30 class sessions
in Santa Fe are invested in the
rgos paper. "That's quite a long
time, and a lot of time is needed
�{THE
PROGRAM}
{THE
"JYe can understand a lot
about geniuses and we can
participate in their thinking.
It;wt talces some zvork. "
GREAT IDEAS
Alciba Covitz (Ag1)
My senior year math tutorial was led by Winfree
Smith. Although I very much liked and respected
Mr. Smith, it was not a very good tutorial. One
student in particular refused to accept any aspect of
non-Euclidean geometry. Mr. Smith was patient at
first, but he was clearly not in the best spirits and, as
the semester progressed, the clash between the two
of them became quite pointed. We came to Einstein
with that as our rather contested and cantankerous
foundation.
At that stage in my college career, I was still on
the fence about what I would do, in terms of what
field to pursue i.n graduate school, try law school, do
a post-bac and try med school, pursue my interest in
journalism, etc. I remember that Einstein's language
seemed to be as much tied to metaphysics as to
physics. His ideas about the actual workings of
the universe and his semi-hidden, semi-mystical
cosmology seemed all jumbled together. I tried to
dis aggregate them, but with little luck. This, as I
recall (together with the mind-breaking steps he
assumed between the lines of his proof), helped to
convince me t11at it was best to pursue what I took
to be the foundations of all pursuits: the manifold
origins of the theoretical underpinnings of great
ideas. I chose to pursue this with the idea of a
constitution in the fully-contested world of politics.
for students to express their perconclusions on electromagnetic
plexity," continues Pesic. "The
radiation led Einstein to wonder
problem that emerges requires
what would happen if a source
having to reconsider the evidence
of electromagnetic radiation-a
of your senses in a very deep way.
light bulb, for example-wereWith Einstein, you don't so much
moving and he stood still. "And
understand it as you get used to it.
of course, you discover it doesn't
It flatly contradicts everything
matter," says Flaumenhaft.
that seems to make common
Einstein wasn't such a good
sense."
mathematician says FlaumenWatching students struggle
haft. "He was imaginative, he
with Einstein, Pesic sees the
took simple notions and mulled
best characteristics of Johnnies
over them, and he revolutionized
revealed in their discussions with
what we know about the world,"
each other. "They are not v-.rilling
he says.
to take some expert's word for it,
There's a strong correlation
instead, they want to see whether
between studying Einstein and
it's really true," he says. "They're
approaching nearly everything
An assistantprofessor ofpolitical science at the
intelligent and open-minded, and
else in the Program, from basic
University ofRichmond, Alciba Covitz teaches courses
they want to understand deeply."
assumptions about human freein constitutional law, civil rights, and ci'villiberties.
The types of questions tutors
dom to the laws of the physical
and students ponder in class can
world. "And that is that you just
be both wondrous and perplexing, agrees
can't'take it for granted-you have to think
Harvey Flaumenhaft. "What does it really
about; you have to examine whether it's
mean to say it's 5 o'clock in two different
really true," Flaumenhaft says.
Einstein~
places? \XThat does a law of nature have to
Curtis Wilson, who as tutor emeritus
look like to be reasonable?"
continues his life-long study of the history of
science, says Einstein's revelations were as
Students have the time to be patient and
shocking to the world as those of Coperniplod through the interesting questions
cus, Newton and Galileo. "There is a
Einstein's paper raises. " One ofthe delights c
relativity, usually called Galilean relativity,
of senior math is that Einstein's paper is
that says that whether the solar system is
short, and we spend a lot of time reading
moving or sitting in one place in absolute
through it line by line. It's so concentrated
space you can't tell, because everything
that what you're doing is unpacking the
goes on exactly the same way whether it's
significance of very simply stated assumpmoving or not. Here was a large branch of
tions that turn everything you've been
science that said you can't locate anything
thinking about the framework of the world
in absolute space, you can only say that
upside down," he says.
PETER PESIC, TUTOR
bodies move relative to one another and if
Senior math tutorial should start with
one body is accelerating instead of moving
a so-minute "quick-and-dirty review" of
uniformly, you can say that it's accelerating
Maxwell's Equations because Nla,"'CWell's
"Wzth
you don't so much
understand zt as
you get used to it.
Itflatly contradicts
everything that
seemJ· to rnake
common sense. "
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St. John 's College. W inter 2005
}
PROGRAM}
CuRTIS WILSON (HA83)
with respect to absolute space- in Newtonian physics , acceleration is real, the forces are real.
"That was kind of astonishing to people because they
thought the earth was not moving: 'I walk on this ground, it's
perfectly stable, towers are not toppling, and so forth. That
seemed like firm common sense. That's why Luther spoke of
Copernicus as 'that fool.' The earth moves!-how ridiculous
can you get? But of course Galileo and then Newton show
that everything works exactly the same way, mechanically,
whether we're moving or not."
By the time Einstein started questioning things, most
physicists "were as firmly convinced that there was an aether
as back in Luther's day people were convinced that the earth
stood still."
Einstein was able to think about light moving through the
aether in a different, imaginative way, and that made all the
EINSTEIN IN PoETRY
Anna Perle berg (SFo2)
The most amazing thing about the rgos paper is that it's all
algebra. Einstein could have worked the whole thing in calculus,
but instead he makes it simple-once, that is,,you get the dozen
or so steps he leaves out between equations. And Mr. [Ralph]
Swentzell brought a wide-eyed fascination to the subject (as all
the best teachers do) that made it matter. He was wonderful at
coming up with "real" examples applying these obscure
theories-swimmers, twins in spaceships, trains in tunnels.
One of the things Mr. Swentzell said that stuck with me was
that Einstein needed to be poetized in order to be brought to a
larger audience . Here's my attempt:
II. Relativity
T = cp(w)~(T-w~hc2)-Lorentz transformation for time
"*'
Yet it's all predictable,
and so smooth a ride in the end;
time-dilated by a few tokes
I faced the following:
A train (of course a train) pushing c, trapped
or not trapped in a pre-Freudian tunnel,
depending on passenger or spectator.
And they're both right. They're both right,
goddammit. The sober mind boggles.
But as I spmwled on the floor after two hours of work
and saw the clock's fingers tap out fifteen minuteswell, it's synchronicity, that's what it is.
Everything's happening the same everywhere,
just not at the same time.
And not at the same where, either.
How-much-not-the-same-time,
how-far-from-the-same-where,
.
though, is only algebra. And for mankind
it all goes to zero. Fm electrons or stars, a different story,
haiku or epic; but here on Pascal's fulcrum,
balanced between infinite and infinitesimal,
one feels less wretched than weighting.
It's all about trains,
though their timetables must be thrown out
· thewindow. "Hurryhome,"
I say to an absent lover, "or at least
start traveling at three-quarters c away from me."
I stand on the platform and watch you go by
getting smaller and smaller, more and more part
of my past.
{ TH E
difference. "He tried to think about sitting on the hump of a
wave. Just sitting there at 30o,ooo kilometers-persecond, what would it be like?" Thought experiments like
those led Einstein to new questions. "He gets rid of the
aether and says space and time are what we're talking about."
Even with his many years of studying science as his foundation, Wilson says he can still be "befuddled" by the
subtleties of the paper when he stops to think about them.
But it's not a bad state to be in, he concedes, adding a rationale that seems in a broad sense to cover the whole point of
choosing a college '"rith a program like St. John's in the first
place.
"We can understand a lot about geniuses," Wilson says.
"And we can participate in their thinking. It just takes
some work."
Anna Perle berg is at work on an MFA in poetry at
Wichita State Universi~y.
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2I
THE NEGOTIATOR
From the Seminar Table to International Relations
BY RosEMARY HARTY
~--
HESE DAYS NICOLE NELSON-JEAN (AGIOO) LIVES
in Tokyo, where she directs the Department of Energy office and serves as Energy
Attache to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
In September, she received a Service to
America Medal honoring her for her success-at the age of 28-in negotiating bilateral agreements with Russia that led to
stronger security measures for that
country's nuclear material and weapons stockpile. She's the
mother of an n-year-old daughter, newly wed to a Marine, and
ambitious enough to follow her career in public service as far as it
will take her.
But it all started very modestly with an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory. As a college student, she was assigned
to a project tracking and cleaning up so-called "legacy waste"
from the lab where the atomic bomb was developed in the I940S.
In the lab's early days, materials like cobalt or cesium were
dumped into nearby canyons and carried by rainwater into
surrounding areas, she explains.
"My primary job was to get people to sign access agreements for
the government to come on their property, do a site survey, and if
necessary, clean it up and restore it," she explains. With her clipboard and her I.D. badge, Nelson-Jean was like a young Erin
Brockovich, traveling through the Los Alamos area, visiting
homes, mnches, and Indian reservations. One man, in his gos,
lived in a mobile home on a large tract ofland. "He was extremely
paranoid and wouldn't let anyone on his property," she recalls.
Nelson-Jean visited with him, listened to his stories, and, after
about a month of visits, left with a signed access agreement. "He
used to be the locksmith at Los Alamos during the time of Oppenheimer-he knew it all," she says.
Nelson-Jean had a family connection to Los Alamos. Raised by
her father, who had a military career, she was born in Morocco
and had lived in Spain and Italy. Mter retiring from the military,
her father went to work in nuclear engineering and was at Los
Alamos when Nelson-Jean was in college. Nelson-Jean landed
summer internships, founded the lab 's first student organization,
and was soon recruited by the lab's nuclear nonproliferation area.
Here, her language skills were a plus: She had learned Arabic as a
child and continued studying the language in college. She began
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
translating documents from Arabic to English-and, since some of
the information was determined as classified, earned a security.
clearance before she had a bachelor's degree. Mter graduating
from Grambling State University with her degree in political science, she went to work full time at the laboratory for one of the
defense contractors installed at LANL.
While she was working at the lab, Nelson-Jean applied to the
St. John's Graduate Institute in Santa Fe. "I really wanted to hone
my critical thinking and writing skills," she says. She had just
applied to the GI in Santa Fe when she was asked to take a temporary job working at the Department of Energy headquarters in
Washington, D.C. As a short-term contractor on loan from the
lab , she helped coordinate a nonproliferation exposition on
Capitol Hill. She met then-Secretary of Energy Federico Pefia.
"He asked me if there was anything I ever needed to come and talk
to him about it." Nelson-Jean said she'd love to work for the DOE,
and shortly after returning to New Mexico, she was called for a job
interview in Washington. Mter she joined the EneTgy Department
(still as a contractual employee), she put her graduate degree
plans back on the front burner. "Once I found out there was a
St. John's in Annapolis, it made it a lot easier to move to Washington. I was really sold on the GI," she says.
Status as a full-fledged federal employee came the month before
she graduated from the GI. Nelson-Jean was hired as a project
manager in the DOE's Materials Protection, Control and
Accounting Program. She was assigned to projects geared to helping Russia protect its nuclear facilities-and an estimated 6oo
metric tons of weapons-attractive materials in the country. Later,
her work came under the jurisdiction of the National Nuclear
Security Administration.
The two nations continue to work cooperatively to secure
Russian materials, but certain agreements had not been signed
when Nelson-Jean joined the effort. She believed that only face-toface meetings would facilitate negotiations, and she soon found
herself leading a delegation of U.S. security specialists and
scientists to the Arctic Circle. "I flew on Russian airlines, on
planes with bald tires. It's worse when you have 30-degree-belowzero temperatures, and the runway is a sheet of ice. The guest
houses were livable, but when you turned the water on, lots
of brown gunk came out," she recalls.
St. John's College. Winter 2005
}
In the negotiations, Nelprograms, technical center
son-Jean was at a disadvandesigns, and construction
tage-not because she lacked
schedules for the facility.
a science degree and not
Her award was a nice plus,
because she is an Mricanbut Nelson-Jean modestly
American woman. Instead,
says the real reward lies in
her youth worked against
the work itself. In her new
her. "In Russia," she says,
role in Japan , nuclear ener"they respect expeTience
gy is just one of the issues
moTe than anything, and
she handles. Her n-year-old
when you're young, how
daughter, Rachelle, attends
much experience can you
an American school in
have?"
Tokyo and may have inherIt was in overcoming that
ited her mother's skills.
barrier that heT Graduate
"When it comes to negotiatInstitute experiences proved
ing, she has it down pat,"
most helpful. She was able to
says Nelson-Jean. Her husCrOSS the boundaries of age and ethnicity How DO YOU BREAK THE ICE IN A ROOM
band, Patrick, is stationed about IO hours
because she knew that genuine conversation FULL OF RussiAN SciENTISTS? NICOLE
away at a U.S. military base in Iwakuni.
cultivates trust and respect. "The ability to NELSON-JEANWOULDTALKBOOKS.
Nelson-Jean has been adapting to a new
learn about different cultures, to really hear
culture again, by watching, listening, and
different perspectives without judging, to
respecting differences. "When dealing
communicate and talk with other people-all
with Russians, you can slam your books
were developed sitting around the seminar
and throw your papers-in Japan it's very
table at St. John's," she says.
civilized and very quiet. The Russians,
She had also read Tolstoy at the college
they're tough, and they're very good at negoand was able to convey true interest and
tiating. With the Japanese, they deal with
appreciation for Russian history and culture.
things by not dealing with them so directly."
NICOLE NELSON-JEAN (AGIOO)
Her knowledge of other classics in the WestWhen pressed, Nelson-Jean acknowledges
ern canon gave her the chance to talk with
that the world is perhaps a little bit safer for
the Russians about something other than weapons-grade plutothe work she has done. When she made her first trip to Russia,
nium. "Many of the people you deal with who have reached high
"September I I hadn't happened yet." What the NNSA seeks to
levels with scientific backgrounds are also very well read in the
prevent-unsecured nuclear material falling into the hands of a
classics," she explains.
terrorist group-seemed a more distant threat than it does today.
One of the best outcomes of the negotiations was a new cooperThe terrorist attacks sharpened her focus and have helped shape
ative agreement with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Another
her career. "I feel better that our cooperation is stronger with
was the establishment of the Kola Technical Center, the first
Russia today," she says. "It's made my work even more satisfying.
multimillion-dollar service and training center for securing
I feel like I'm making a difference. I hope I am."-$nuclear material and weapons in Russia. Nelson-Jean worked with
the Russian navy and Russian contractors to develop training
"In Russia they
respect experience
more than anything. "
{ THE
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St. John's College. Winter 2005
}
�22
{ATOMIC
JoHNNIES}
{ATOMIC
JoHNNIES}
BEYOND
THE BOMB
Johnnies Pursue Research Questions at Los Alamos
DY ANDRA MAGURAN
INCE
J.
ROBERT OPPENHEIMER LED A TEAM
of scientists in developing the atomic
bomb at a laboratory created on the site
of a former boarding school in I943, it's
been difficult for the sprawling Los
Alamos National Laboratory to promote
an image of being anything other than a
secretive place where nuclear weapons
are developed. Santa Fe senior Chris
Horne witnessed this view firsthand last summer when he
went to work at Los Alamos as an intern and encountered a
gathering of anti-war protesters. It was a bit ironic, he
thought, considering he was assigned to the lab's project
focused on efforts to find a cure for HN.
About 40 miles northwest of Santa Fe, Los Alamos
National Laboratory is the nation's leading science
research facility, currently operated by the University of
California for the Energy Department's National Nuclear
Security Administration. Together with Sandia National
Laboratories, the laboratory is the state's largest employer,
and many Johnnies work there as scientists, researchers,
project managers, and in various support roles. Many more
Johnnies have taken advantage ofthe laboratory's student
internship program, which employs about 2,ooo students
every year.
{ TH E
CoLLEGE .
The development of nuclear weapons is, of course, still a
major part of the laboratory's work, and some Johnnies are
part of that. But Horne says that the public is generally
unaware of the scope of research conducted at Los Alamos.
Horne worked as a bioinformatician on a project devoted to
using LANL's worldwide database ofHN virus information
to better understand the strain responsible for the AIDS
pandemic. In the summer internship, Horne used mathematical models and computer programs to annotate a
viral genome. He organized raw genetic data-namely, the
basic nucleotide series constituting the DNA of his
assigned virus-into charts, graphics, and text to create a
resource for medical and pharmaceutical researchers.
Since he recognized certain repeated portions of the series
in the viral genome he was annotating, he was given liberty
to name them as he wished. Inspired by the Iliad, he
gave the sequences names such as Agamemnon, Leitos,
and Euryalos.
Along with gaining experience in a scientific setting,
Horne enjoyed adapting his seminar skills to the professional environment of the lab. He gave two presentations,
one for the Annual Summer Student Symposium, a showcase for work done by summer interns. Since he'd been
annotating a viral genome, Horne created a poster displaying the sample gene record for one of the 77 genes he'd
St. John's College . Winter 20 0 5
}
examined. His other presentation-on SciENTIST EDWARD TELLER (CENTER) AT
ers can speak, to understand the
FuLLER LoDGE IN Los ALAMOS IN I946.
open reading frames, a type of gene
mechanics of this speech, and to alter
found in DNA-was part of a series of T ELLER WOULD LATER BECOME KNOWN AS
these mechanics to develop more
THE "FATHER OF THE HYDROGEN BOMB."
meetings that were held to update
efficient [computer] languages," says
members of his immediate group on
Hurwitz.
contemporary issues in genetics and
In his two years interning at the lab ,
virology. Mter his 45-minute talk, he
Hurwitz published six papers and was
ably defended his work in the question
the primary author for four of them. (A
period-even though he felt a bit intimsample title: "End-to-End Performance
idated facing a room full of scientists.
of Io-Gigabit Ethernet on Commodity
An internship in computational
Systems" published last year in IEEE
science was an equally rewarding expeMicro.) He was also part of a team that
Gus HuRWITZ (sFog)
rience for Justin "Gus" Hurwitz
set a new record in the Guinness Book of
(SFo3), who completed two internships before going on to
World Records for the fastest transmission of data over the
work full time at the lab. During his junior and senior years,
Internet (2.38 billion bits per second). "The lab is a serious
and for a year after graduation, Hurwitz worked at the lab
place to work," Hurwitz says, and a place where even Johnconducting experimental and theoretical research in areas
nies without a graduate-level scientific background can
of high-performance computer networking and protocol
contribute a great deal. "If you show your mentor that you
design in the Advanced Computing Laboratory, or ACL,
are capable of contributing to the work, the only limits will
part of the Computer and Computational Science Division.
be those you place on yourself."
Hurwitz's work in high-performance computer networking
In the working environment of Los Alamos, Hurwitz
was designed to improve the performance of the supercomfound similarities to the intellectual environment
puters used in nuclear science simulation.
fostered at St. John's. "The laboratory is a place where
"In more Johnnie-centric terms, I was a computational
people embrace inquiry and challenging questions," he
philologist, working to increase the rate at which computsays. He never encountered anyone who thought that the
"The laboratory is a
place wherepeople
embrace inquiry and
challenging questions. "
{ TH E
C oLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2 005
}
�,-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-- -----
{ATOMIC
{ATOMIC
}OHNNIES}
DEBRA RuTHERFORD
HAS SPENT MOST OF
HER PROFESSIONAL
LIFE AT Los ALAMos.
liberal arts were useless; to the conweapons play in the lab-like me in my
trary, many of his co-workers with scifirst few months; you \vill meet moral
entific and technical backgrounds 'vish
delusionists , and those who work \vith
they had had the opportunity to read
the deadliest materials mankind has ever
the classics. "One of my co-workers
known and don't care, for whatever
always had a book \vith him. We had a
reason, to ask these questions. You \vill
number of good talks about Austen's
DEBRA RuTHERFORD ( sF8o)
meet idealists, who believe that they are
Emma, Descartes, and Locke."
helping to prevent more weapons from
c
Now that he's left the laboratory,
being built by maintaining the ones that
Hur\vitzhas turned his thoughts more
we already have," he says.
frequently to the difficult ethical questions he has previ"In short, the lab is a place on the edge of the greatest
ously avoided. A Johnnie who works at ~os Alamos \vill
moral dilemmas that I have ever encountered. Those
meet people whose views run a \vide gamut. "You \vill meet
questions are rarely asked or discussed, but they are always
people who have been at the lab since the Cold War for
there under the surface. And, if you scrape down below the
whom nuclear weapons were a necessary reality that could
surface, you \vill find as many understandings, acceptances, justifications, avoidances, and explanations of these
not be questioned. You \vill meet skeptics who question the
role that nuclear weapons played during the Cold War and
questions as there are employees at the lab. But, the most
the logic behind the arms races; you will meet
common response that you \vill find, nowadays, is, "I don't
people who do not understand the role that nuclear
know.'
"The intellectual
rigor. .. is astounding. "
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005
}
JoHNNIES}
'Yyworkis
tangential to kzlling
people and deJ'troying
the world"
''My work is tangential to killing peoin the area of nonproliferation. The reasoning and diplomatic skills she learned
ple and destroying the world. It is not
Gus HuRWITZ
at St. John's have proven as useful to her
the clean morality of a book, the ponas her scientific and technical training.
derous morality of Augustine, or the
technical morality of Kant; and it is far
"I participate and lead international
and domestic advisory panels and working groups, which
scarier than even the worst of that which Nietzsche could
require the skills one learns in seminar," she says.
conceive .... Students of philosophy in general \villlikely be
Rutherford feels the lab's most famous work, the Mansurprised by just how introspective most scientists are
about their work."
hattan Project, was a significant contribution to the end of
In addition to continuing as a consultant for the computWWII. But she is also impressed that the spirit of inquiry
er science company he founded while still in high school,
and the level of scientific excellence fostered in the
Hur\vitz is now making plans to attend law school with an
lab's early days have continued into the fields of physics,
eye to one day working at the intersection of science and
chemistry, biology, engineering, and mathematics. The
people she works \vith and leads at Los Alamos are proud of
law.
Unlike Hur\vitz and Horne, Debra Rutherford (SF8o)
their work and believe they are contributing to America's
freedom, she adds.
can provide few details about her work at Los Alamos,
where she took a short-term job after graduation
"The intellectual rigor \vith which national and internabefore going on to earn a master's degree in chemical and
tional scientific endeavors are pursued is astounding,"
nuclear engineering from the University of New Mexico.
Rutherford says.-$-She has worked full time at the laboratory since rg8g in
areas of nuclear technology
and nuclear material management-in short, helping to
safeguard the nation's nuclear
stockpile.
A clue to why she can't
say much about her work
may be found in the title she
holds now: Project Leader and
Nonproliferation and International Security Analyst in
the International Research,
Analysis, and Development
Group at the lab. What
Rutherford can say about
her job is that she leads a I2nation working group on the
need for critical experiments
AT
Los ALAMos, Gus HuRWITZ
CONDUCTED 'RESEARCH, WROTE
PAPERS, AND HELPED SET A NEW
WORLD RECORD FOR INTERNET
SPEED.
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005}
I
I
�{HOMECOMING}
{HOMECOMING}
HoMECOMING NOTEs:
ODYSSEY
Merit Award winners: William A.
Carter, class of 1940; Charlotte King,
class of 1959
Honorary alumnus: Glenn Housley,
class of 2004 (For more on awards,
see the Alumni Association section,
p. 47·)
IN OCTOBER
Homer Attracts a Crowdfor Annapolis Homecoming
ou couldn't say that Homecoming 2004 in Annapolis
lacked drama. Not with a
dozen or so costumed
students acting out the
homecoming scene of the
Odyssey in Iglehart Hall. Alumni happily
played the role of hungry suitors, noshing
on Greek appetizers offeta cheese,
hummus, and olives while they awaited
the banquet.
You couldn't say it lacked pizzazz-not
with a flock of plastic pink flamingos
leading the way to the picnic tent
("Kalypso's Isle"), where ceramic pigs
graced the table and calypso music played
on a steel drum had revelers dancing in
the buffet line .
·
And you certainly couldn't say it lacked
a good story, not with a dozen members
Y
of the class ofi954 , the last all-male class
to graduate at St. John' s, back on campus.
Rallied to attend by reunion class leader
and Annapolis tutor Sam Kutler, the
boisterous group matched much younger
Johnnies in their enthusiasm for the
weekend's festivities. On Saturday afternoon, they lingered in the private dining
room of Randall Hall telling stories and
drinking wine until they could be coaxed
outside for a group photo.
Arnold Markowitz stopped to comment
on changes in the main dining hall, where
bow-tied waiters did the serving in his
day. "Chairs," he observed. "We didn't
have chairs. We sat on benches." The
group disagreed on a few things. One
remembered milk cartons being lobbed at
the students by the servers; another was
Homecoming lecture: "Human Rights
from Antigone to Rosa Parks," Peter
Weiss, class ofr949
certain pitchers of milk were set on the
table.
Other members of the class were
pleased to see that the Chinese paintings
of a royal couple installed during President Dick Weigle's era were still hanging
in the dining room. The portraits were
among the few things that haven't
changed a great deal since these class
members attended the college . When
they were on campus, Campbell Hall was
brand new, Mellon Hall wasn't even a
blueprint, and students directed their
energy toward thwarting attempted
restrictions on their social lives that
today's students wouldn't believe.
With 450 students-compared to about
125 in 1954-the student body today seems
very large. "We were a small class," says
Bernie Jacobs, of New York City. "Only I7
of us graduated. It was a brief ceremony."
Several of the alumni remembered the
turmoil when women joined the student
body in their sophomore year. Eric
Crooke was one of several members of
the class to marry one ofthe first female
Johnnies. He and his wife, Sarah (class of
1955), live in Silver Spring, Md., and he's
been back to campus frequently since
graduation.
A nephew of tutor John Kieffer
(HA7o), Crooke learned of the college
through his uncle, but he came to
St. John's ofhis own choosing. "I've
never regretted it," he said, though he
heard many, many times, "you look like
John Kieffer" when he got to Annapolis.
Biggest turnout: Class of rg84, with
39 members registered. Annastasia
Kezar, assisted by Lenore Parens,
mustered the good showing, in part
by compiling for class members a CD
of '8os hits including "Rock the Casbah" and "Rock Lobster." A close
second was the class of rgg4, with
25 registrants.
Gerald Geddiman came all the
way from California for the
reunion. He hadn't visited the
campus since the day he received
his diploma under the Liberty
Tree. " I like what's happened," he
said, looking around. "I do like
the Greenfield Library. Next, I
want to go over and see Woodward
Hall-what's it called now?"
Santa Fe tutor emeritus Robert
Sacks-with Kutler one of two
members of the class to become
a tutor-was swept up in the nostalgia of the afternoon. "Fifty
years-it doesn't seem that long,"
he said.
The 1954 class members were
among the most honored guests at
what turned out to be the biggest
Homecoming yet in Annapolis .
More than 400 Johnnies attended
all or part of the weekend. At
Saturday evening's banquet, the
gymnasium was transformed (via
cardboard columns) into a palace,
where an energetic group of
students led by Julie Janicki (Ao6)
reunited Odysseus and Penelope
once more.
Inspired by the performance,
one alumnus giving his class toast
raised his glass to a true honorary
Johnnie. "Let's hear it for
Homer!" he said, starting the
alumni chanting: "Homer!
Homer! Homer!"._
Theme tchotchke: handy St. John's
backpack-good for any odyssey
TOP TO BOTTOM: STUDENTS GREET GUESTS TO
THE PICNIC TENT; MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF
I954;
-ROSEMARY HARTY
PENELOPE AND ODYSSEUS, TOGETHER
AGAIN; AND MINGLING AT THE SATURDAY
COCKTAIL PARTY.
I945, AND
I949o PONDER A
CHARLES NELSON, CLASS OF
JIM CONRAD, CLASS OF
PHOTOS BY G ARY PIERPOINT
SEMINAR QUESTION.
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2005
}
{ THE
C o L LEGE .
St. John's College. W inter 2005
}
�~-------------·--------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------~
{THE
FACULTY}
{BIBLIOFILE}
IN ARisTOTLE~s FooTSTEPS
pARADISE LOST: REGAINED
A Healthy Marsh Enhances Freshman Laboratory
PARADISE LosT, r668-rg68 :
THREE CENTURIES oF CoMMENTARY
BY RoBINWErss (sFGI87)
On an autumn day in
Annapolis, at the foot of the
Boathouse, marsh grasses
wave along College Creek, a
testament to the health of
this six-year-old wetlands
restoration site. Cattails,
pinecones, and fist-size
mushrooms grow vigorously along the banks.
On their own initiative,
students often use the
marsh for projects such as
reseeding oysters, Environmental Club activities,
marsh cleanup , and independent research. Since
efforts to restore the grasslands have taken hold,
"we have more fish, crabs,
heron ...everything," says
tutor Kathy Blits.
Trekking through a
muddy marsh into a murky creek
isn't for everyone. But a few
weeks before the season turned,
some students in freshman lab
and a couple of tutors-enriching
the practica side of their biology
curriculum- took the plunge.
"Some ofmystudentswentin up
to their necks," says freshman
lab tutor Margaret Kirby. Using a
huge net supplied by tutor Jason
Tipton, they emerged from the
creek with four- to eight-inchlong fish . "We were just lucky
that we got really cool ones,"
Kirby says.
Thtor Christian Holland (A84)
recalls a handful of students
"leaping into the water to catch
a bunch of fish for the laboratory
tanks" after Holland showed
them Tipton's techniques. His
students continue to observe
these 40-some fish, well past the
fish sequence oflab.
This method of shallow
fishing with nets, called seining,
isn't new to the college, nor is
the aquarium in Mellon Hall,
which has been augmented over
the years by lab director Mark
"Small ugly;
insign!ficantfoh
consumed
[Aristotle :S}
thinking. "
TUTOR JASON TIPTON
Daly. In 1999, the college undertook a pilot project to restore a
portion of the College Creek
shoreline, with funding from
several sources including the
city of Annapolis and Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The
project proved successful in
increasing the number and
variety of wildlife habitats along
the creek and filtering stormwater runoff. When Tipton started
teaching three years ago, he was
thrilled with the pocket marsh
on campus, specifically its
possibilities for, what he calls,
"the pursuit of slippery prey."
The ubiquitous minnows aside,
Tipton names sunfish, silversides, croaker, yellow perch and
"FISH ARE A WORLD
I
KNOW," SAYS
ANNAPOLIS TUTOR JASON TIPTON
pipefish as some of the fresh
water and marine life plentiful in
this estuary.
"Fish are a world I know,"
Tipton says. An ichthyologist,
with a master's in evolutionary
biology and a Ph.D. in philosophy, Tipton wrote his dissertation on Aristotle's On the Parts
ofAnimals. Before coming to
St. John's, he spent a year in
Greece as a Fulbright fellow
tracking down, and finding,
Aristotle's fish. " One doesn't
have to be an ichthyologist,"
Tipton says, to stumble around
in the marsh.
''I'm paraphrasing, but
Aristotle says: 'Don't be afraid
to root around in the organic
world; there are gods here too.'
I love that idea. There 's something about getting your hands
dirty; Aristotle suggests something rhetorically powerful
about that."
More than 2,300 years ago,
Aristotle paid careful attention
{ THE CoLLEGE. St. John 's College . Winter 2005 }
to the eating, mating, and
breeding habits of fish in
their habitats. "Small,
ugly, insignificant fish
consumed his thinking,"
he says. Jars of alcoholpreserved goby and
blenny-Aristotle's one
fish, found to be two
through Mr. Tipton's
research- line a windowsill in Mellon. On one
jar, crowded with sturdy
grayish-brown fish , each
about two fingers long,
the label reads: " Bay of
Kallori, Lesvos, 4 km. N.
ofPyrrah, 75 m below s
altmarsh."
Nearby, tanks of marsh
fish from College Creek,
some wiggly, some mellow, inspire ongoing
student examination.
Atop one tank, a note
warns observers not to
touch or "you might get a case of
nasty microbes."
Freshman lab assistant Allison
Hennigan (Ao6) explains the
truth behind the joke: "Little
white crustaceans, about the
size of a dime," had attached
themselves to the gills and eyes
of certain fish. Eventually, the
arthropod parasites would have
worked their way into the blood
vessels on the gills or, after
sucking eye fluid, entered the
bloodstream through the eyes.
Biocalm, an anesthetic, seemed
to get the fish drunk, recalls
Hennigan: "The fish were doing
backllips. The parasites seemed
drunk, too ." The drug worked,
and the fish are healthy.
Students don't dissect these
specimens. Instead, Daly goes
to a local seafood store to get
" kitchen fish " such as rockfish,
flounder, and bluefish, for
students to dissect in lab. -t-
Edited by Earl Miner, co-edited by
William Moeck (A80), corresponding
editor Steven Jablonski
Bucknell University Press, 2004
BY G. A u GusT DErMEL, SF2004
---·--hen William Moeck
graduated from
St. John's in 1980,
he could not have
envisioned one
day co-editing a
massive volume of commentary on
Paradise Lost. First, like many Johnnies,
Moeck had developed "a healthy contempt
for secondary sources." Second, he had
skipped the Milton reading and seminars.
"I r em ember fearing that Milton would
be a boring or difficult author," Moeck
says. "Samuel Johnson once said that while
everyone could recognize the greatness of
Paradise Lost, no man ever wished it
longer."
When Moeck moved to New York after
graduation, he kept his Shawcross edition
of the poem along with his other Program
books. Fe eling guilty that he had never
gotten around to it, Moeck toted the book
along on vacation many years later and
discovered that he had missed a truly great
book. "I recall with vividness that on
vacation in 1988 I found clever and
Paradise Lost 1668-1968
,.HREE CENTURIES OF COMMENTARY
"
tdttor Enrl M1ner
Co·Edttor Wtlham Moec.k
Corresponding £d1tor Steven Jablonski
admirable the speeches of Satan.
I r ecall how moving the domestic
tragedy of Adam and Eve to be,
when Adam practically insults her
for wanting to go off to the garden
alone. If we are able to read
Genesis as literature nowadays ,
Milton must be given partial credit
for that change, fm he has told a
better story than the Bible itself,"
he says.
Reading Milton inspired Moeck
to look into graduate school, and
he later entered a doctoral progTam in English literature at City
University of New York. As he
wrote his dissertation, he began to
examine how passages from other
works influenced Milton. His dissertation adviser connected him
with Princeton University professor Earl Miner on the project that
would eventually become Paradise Lost
1668-tg68: Three Centuries of Commentary.
When he first conceived of the book
more than a decade ago, Miner (who died
last April) envisioned a reference book of
allusions on the Milton epic. Miner and
an early collaborator on the project,
Steven Jablonski, had begun collating representative work from scholars of Milton.
When Moeck joined the pToject in 1997,
"a different sort of problem emerged in
terms of defining what an allusion is."
"Imitation, echo, copy, allusion-even
parody and farce-all form a network of
words with related meanings . They imply
some sort of relationship between one text
and another that can be studied and
qualified. But how rigorously can one
establish how they differ from each other?
Is an unconscious borrowing also to be
considered as related to allusion?"
Moeck provided an example in the
oft-quoted passage where Satan says,
"The mind ... Can make a Heaven of Hell,
a Hell of Heaven."
"Has Milton here borrowed unwittingly
from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's.
Dream, where one character says 'I'll
follow thee , and make a heaven of h ell'
(2.1.243)? The character in question ,
Helena, is merely the frustrated lover of
Demetrius, and not the diabolic perverter
of humankind. Would Milton in his lines
thus more likely be responding to the
{ T HE C oL L EGE. S t. John 's College . Win ter 2 005 }
IT TOOK HIM IO YEARS TO GET TO THE READING,
BUT PARADISE L OST EVENTUALLY CAPTIVATED
WILLIAM MOECK.
metaphysically-oriented Hamlet instead,
who also says ' There is nothing either good
or bad, but thinking makes it so' (2.2.24849)? Or do we have to look elsewhere for
Milton's sources, in Thomas Browne, for
example, or in the writing of the stoics?"
Together Miner and Moeck combed
through the available work on Milton
and chose commentary on each of the
12 books ofMilton's poem. A research
library unto itself, the book includes the
best commentary from Patrick Hume
(r6gs) to Alastair Fowler in rg68.
Now a pTofessor at Nassau Community
College in Garden City, N.Y., Moeckis
reading Augustine , Freud, Darwin, and
Marx with students in an interdisciplinary
program. The contempt he once held
for secondary sources has diminished
considerably, but he still believes in the
value oheading original texts before the
commentary of others.
"I think the very idea of such a reading
of the classics is embattled nowadays , and
probably the strongest line of defense
against the pre-professional training
vaunted by most undergraduate schools
would be to invoke the shibboleth ' critical
thinking,' " h e says. ~
�,-----------~-------·~- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{ALUMNI
{ALUMNI
PROFILE}
I've just completed r6 weeks of
training in getting certified as a
volunteer hospital chaplain."
CoMMITTED TO HELPING FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
Linnea Back Klee, A67, Balances I deals and Details
BY CAROLINE KNAPP, SFoi
rom her fourth-floor
office in San Francisco's Mission District,
Linnea Back Klee
(A67) has sweeping
views of the city, from
Nob Hill across the bay to the
shipyards of Oakland. Seagulls and
ragged palm trees flap in the foggy
air; down below, high school
students straggle down the sidewalk,
swinging their backpacks. Construction cranes sway up over the traffic
lights of Van Ness.
Inside, order reigns . Klee's deskfrom which she directs one of the
city's largest nonprofits, administers
an annual budget of$ so million, and
manages a staff ofr3o-has perhaps
three stacks of paper on it, each
corralled in its own tray. There are
no aging Post-its, no toppling files,
no stray paperclips. Even her
awards, bronze plaques from the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
and various nonprofit groups, are
neatly aligned on the bookcase.
The Children's Council of San
Francisco, Klee's professional home
since 1993, strives to make sure that San
Francisco's working families can meet one
of the most basic needs of daily life : affordable , high-quality child care. The council's
referral programs put parents in touch
with child-care providers, its education
programs train caregivers, and, perhaps
most crucially, its subsidy programs
administer the monthly payments that
put child care within the financial reach of
low-income mothers and fathers.
But, not to lose sight of the social
environment in which all these individual
choices are made, the Children's Council
is also a major advocacy force in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Washington.
Through public policy lobbying and
grassroots organizing, Children's Council
employees and volunteers do their best
to bring the needs of working parents,
child-care providers, and children before
lawmakers and voters.
A "QUIET"
JoHNNIE, LINNEA BAcK
KLEE FOUND HER VOICE IN ADVOCACY.
her sophomore year, Klee wrote a
letter to tutor Barbara Leonard
(HAss) about the difficulties of
being a quiet Johnnie, packed her
bags, and went on to earn a degree
at George Washington University.
Klee's journey from the ether to
the grassroots can be traced in part
through her higher degrees: after
GWU, she earned a master's in cultural anthropology from Catholic
University, then a Ph.D. in medical
anthropology from the University of
California, San Francisco. Klee had
considered following her husband,
Earl Klee, into teaching. But her
thesis project, on cultural perceptions of illness in history, refused to
be contained in the classroom:
by1983, the AIDS epidemicwas
exploding like a shell over San
Francisco, and suddenly the most
interesting sources weren't in the
library. They were in the hospitals and in
the streets. Thus began Klee's decade of
~eldwork in medical anthropology.
An introvert no more, she interviewed
women about their attitudes toward childbirth, former GM workers about their
alcohol abuse, children of alcoholics
about their parents. In 1985 she joined a
colleague at the newly founded Center for
the Vulnerable Child at Oakland's Children's Hospital, where she continued her
work as a researcher with the center's target population: children in foster care. "I
loved going and meeting all those people
and talking to them," she says.
But her work at the Center for the
Vulnerable Child was leading her toward
another emerging talent: As program
coordinator of an innovative and perpetually underfunded nonprofit, Klee began
writing grants. By the time she left in 1993
to become the executive director of the
Children's Council, she had become very
"People arefinally
starting to get it. "
LINNEA BACK KLEE
(A67)
At the helm of all this, Klee, a gracious,
attentive woman with a generous smile, is
the first to admit that her work is not for
everyone. "It goes from the sublime to the
ridiculous," she says. "I've got employee
parking problems .in front of me one
minute, then major public funding
questions."
But Klee's background has made her
comfortable in balancing ideals and
details . Although she attended St. John's
40 years ago, she still remembers loving
Euclid and the freshman-year program.
"I really loved the curriculum," she says a
little wistfully. "But I just couldn't talk. I
was an introvert in an extrovert's college."
Klee followed her brother, Eric Back (A6s),
to Annapolis in I963. But midway through
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
continued
}
HEl\'RY SHRYOCK JR. was recently
awarded "The President's Call
to Service Award" by the
President's Council on Service
and Civic Participation.
1 935
"I'm still working- practicing law
for the past 66 years and I hope
to get it right soon!" writes
RICHARD WOODMAN.
Milestones: GIL CRANDALL writes
that he celebrated his 8gth
birthday on July r, 2004, and
classmate MARTIN RAuscH
celebrated his goth birthday
on July 8, 2004.
ERNEST HEINMULLER writes to
say that the " 'keep reading, keep
learning' credo ofWinkie
[Stringfellow Barr] is still alive:
1943
At 85, MILTON PERLMAN is still
reading many hours a day: "The
most important benefit of the
Program is a love of reading. I am
still hoping that at least the first
part of Proust's novel will be
restored to the fourth-year list."
GEORGE R. TRIMBEL JR. hecame
a great-grandfather with two
great-grandsons born one week
apart in October 2004.
NoTES}
eager for the homecoming: "We
have not seen him for three years ,
given our own driving limitations-twenty minutes to and
from church each Sunday is the
longest, with Rita on 24-hour
oxygen, etc."
GEORGE WEND continues to
participate in the Baltimore
Alumni Association chapter's
book discussion group. The
summer before last, he took a
trip to Peru to visit Machu
Picchu, the Andes, and the
Amazon. This past summer,
he took a two-week river cruise
from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
THE REV. FREDERICK P. DAVIS
writes from California that his
son, David, is expected back
home from a convalescent center
early this spring after suffering
several health problems, including a broken leg and infections
that settled in both legs. The
Rev. Davis and his wife, Rita, are
continuedJr:om page 30
good indeed at nonprofit management and
her grant writing was paying the salaries of
the entire staff.
In her I I years with the Children's
Council, Klee has supervised its expansion
from a neighborhood organization with
35 employees to its current status as a
statewide player with 130 employees and its
own building. She's been gratified to see
public opinion shift on child care ("people
are finally starting to get it").
Today Klee's work continues to walk the
line between the big picture and the individual story. These days, she's the one who
Enjoying the retired life,
JOAN CoLE just returned from an
Alaskan cruise. "The glaciers,
mountains, lakes, and wild life
are too impressive for words .
Residents spoke about their
state with the enthusiasm and
pride of staunch St. Johnnies,"
she writes.
gets int~rviewed for articles, and at work
she goes weeks without seeing a child. She
writes the position papers for the council's
public policy committee and sits on the
policy boards of sister nonprofits. But she
is acutely aware that the 30o,ooo children
on the waiting lists for public assistance
in California represent not only budget
dollars but also individual families with
complex, often pressing needs.
What more, she's aware that the work
she strives so hard to keep organized, there
in her office with the city laid out all
around her, is work that truly can- in the
most simple ways- help many of those people. Nonprofit management is a good field,
{ TH E
CoL L EGE .
St. John's College. Winter 2005
HILDRErH BECKER (HILDY
SMITH) writes: ''I'm a happy
grandmother again: grandson
Alexander Paige, son of rg88
[Annapolis] alumnus CHRISTINA
MYER PAIGE. He joins his sister
Adela, who is now nine. Christina is working full time as a high
school math teacher. What have I
been doing since attending the
college? I pursue my studies in
philosophy and other esoteric
pursuits."
1962
JOHN FRANKLIN MILLER is president of the board of the Library
of American Landscape History.
1957
1 949
rg6o
rg68
PETER CoEN (A) is currently
employed as an assistant public
defender in Bradenton, Manatee
County, Florida.
ANTIGONE PHALARES (SF) spent a
week in Santa Fe in July staying
with ALLISON KARSLAKE LEMONS
(SF68), DoN (SFGigr), and two
she says, "if you're interested in pursuing
the Good. That's what we do."
As for less practical pursuits of the
Good, Klee still hasn't given up on the
idea of St. John's. She and her husband, a
professor at UC Berkeley, visited Santa Fe
last summer and are already thinking that
perhaps, when they retire, getting a few
more degrees might not be amiss . "I
wouldn't have any problem talking in
seminar now," Klee says, laughing. --$-
Caroline Knapp lives in Berkeley,
California, and is an editorial assistant at
the University of California Press.
}
�{ALUMNI
sons Micha 1md Than, and a
St. Johnnie , JAKE, a junior at the
Santa Fe campus. "We gathered
around the television listening to
the speeches of the Democratic
convention . It was delightful to
be amongst politically like-minded friends. Allison and I enjoyed
a three-night, do-it-yourself
retreat at the Holy Archangels
skete near Canones in northern
New Mexico. We had lunch with
Claudia and Sam Lancombe and
reminisced and sputtered over
the political mess-o-potamia our
government has gotten us
embroiled in. Both Allison and I
fac e the empty nest; this fall her
sons leave for Italy and Hungary.
My daughter, Heather, is already
in Paris."
1969
LINDA M. BERNSTEIN (A) writes:
"Our first grandchild was born in
August. We are fortunate our son
and his wife and their new son
live in Philadelphia so we can
enjoy their company and watch
him grow. Meanwhile, our third
son has left home to become a
freshman at Guilford College in
Greensboro, N.C . We would
be 'empty-nesters' but our
middle son has moved back
home until he gets established
after graduating from Boston
University last May."
JoHN GOODWIN (SF) is now
marketing director at the Plaza
Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M. "I am
also the president of Habitat for
Humanity in Las Vegas llJ.ld with
any luck will be single soon! "
RACHEL HALLFORD 'I'REIMAN (A)
decided it was time to bring The
College up to date: "I divorced in
2001, and after my son entered
college, sold the house in New
York and returned to Lewistown,
Montana, where my brother
lives, last December. I am now
coordinator for the Retired and
Senior Volunteer Program covering Fergus County and Judith
Basin County. Since that is only
30 hours a week with no benefits,
I also work online 20 hours for
benefits . My oldest, Grace , is now
21 and a senior at the University
of Pennsylvania, majoring in history. My son Andrew is 19, a
sophomore at the University of
North Dakota, majoring in Air
Traffic Control and on an Air
Force ROTC scholarship, planning to go career Air Force. I love
being back in Montana. I was
born in Lewistown (left when I
was six) and therefore , for many
of the older folks I identify myself
by my grandfather, mother, and
her siblings. That slots me in the
scheme of things. I'm fortun ate
my family was liked back thenpeople have long memories out
here!"
If you've lost track of BRAD ARMs
(A), it's because he and his family
have been on the move: "2004
was the year of moving for
us ... three times! After living in
various parts of the country
based mainly on the job ... we
finally had a chance to pick where
we wanted to live . We had always
liked Oregon for its beauty and
friendliness .. .so in early 2004,
we sold our house in Simsbury.
Since the house sold quicker than
we expected, we moved into a
1930 Colonial, which we had
fixed up as an investment
property. We were there for two
months while we made arrangements to move West. And then it
was on to Lake Oswego, Ore.,
where we rented a house while we
decided exactly where we wanted
to live and what to buy. Finally,
on November 30 , we closed on
our new house in West Linn,
which is about ro miles south
of Portland. The house is comparable in size to the one in
{ TH E
CoLLE GE .
{ALUMNI
NoTES}
Simsbury. It is built on the hill,
which gives it a view of Mt. Hood
in back. Jen & Chris have started
classes here locally. Their interests are in computer animation
and web site design. Meanwhile,
we are settling into the new
house and learning about all that
Oregon has to offer."
ROBIN KOWALCHUK BURK (A) is
at West Point: "I have been
teaching at the U.S . Military
Academy for the last 3 years,
first in the computer science and
information technology
programs and now in the systems
engineering department, where
I currently advise groups of
seniors applying Multiple
Objective Decision Analysis and
simulation techniques to projects
for real-world clients. I've also
begun doctoral studies at SUNY
Albany in the Information
Science program, with a focus on
intelligent software agents and
their application to group
decision making. Best regards to
the staff at St. John's and to all
the alumni that ROGER (A74) and
I missed seeing this past weekend
at Homecoming."
· .. .... · · · · · · · · · · · · · · .. .. · · · · · · · · · · · .. ·
1973
DONNEL (A) andJANET O' FLYNN
(A74) moved to Hamilton, N.Y.,
home of Colgate University, on
Oct. r6 , 2004. Donnel will be
rector of St. Thomas' Episcopal
Church . Janet will work as a
therapist, probably in the public
schools. AIDAN O'FLYNN (Aos)
graduates in May. Kathleen
O'Flynn is now an EMT and
looking forward to joining a
New York ambulance crew.
1 974
MARIE CLARK AVERY (SF) has
four sons : Justin, 20; David, 18;
Josh, 14; and Tyrel, rr. She
taught for the Jicarilla Department of Education, Apache
Government. A founding
member of the National Campaign for Tolerance, she also
received the National Nomination to the Wall of Tolerance in
February 2oor. The wall, she
notes, was designed by Maya Lin
and is similar to the Vietnam
Wall. She started her master's
degree program in rggg and
most recently has been a special
education teacher in Espanola.
1 977
CLIFF ADAMS (A) is divorced
and has three children: " I live in
Germany, I'm traveling a lot,
and loving life."
JUDY KISTLER-ROBINSON (SF)
recently visited classmate ELIZABETH (COCHRAN) BOWDEN (SF)
at her home in Marblehead,
Mass. The two celebrated their
birthdays and being friends for
more than half their lifetimes at
the Kripalu Yoga Center in the
Berkshires. Judy also watched the
continued
AGGIE JACOBS (SF71) has been engaged in the
type of work that reaps real rewards: "Mter
three years of composing music for Hebrew
prayers , I am about to release a CD of my work.
I don't expect to make any money from it, but
I'm hoping that my music will find an audience." -*'"
S t. John 's College . Winter 2005
}
33
FRoM HINDU FESTIVAL To HIGH ScHooL BASEBALL
Alex Shear, SFoo, Explores Lffe Through Documentaries
BY R o s E MARY HARTY
LABoR oF l~ovE
M
NoTES}
lex Shear (SFoo) has
had front-row seats
to two very different
phenomena united
by the fanatic zeal of
their participants.
The first is the Maha Kumbh Mela,
a Hindu festival believed to be the
largest gathering of individuals in
the wOTld; 27 million people made
the pilgrimage to wash away their
sins at the Sangam at Allahabad in
January 2oor. The second is the
National High School Baseball
tournament in Japan, a two-week
contest which draws the rapt
attention of the whole baseballcrazed country every August.
In India, where he recorded
digital sound for the film Take Me to the
River in 2001, Shear worried about being
crushed in the crowds, never quite managed
to get enough to eat, and met a famous yogi
who had been holding his right arm up in
the air for 30 years. "His fingernails were six
inches long," says Shear.
Working on the baseball film, Kokoyakyu, in Japan last summer, Shear ate
sushi, worked long hours, and met
Takashima Kantoku, the most successful
high school baseball coach of all time.
"Many Japanese consider him a living
samurai," says Shear. This time Shear was
producer of the project, with responsibilities in fund-raising, accounting, research,
interviewing, and when it was his turn,
getting everyone lunch.
AB different as the two proj ects and
cultures are, Shear found a common thread
in the power of devotion to bring people
together: "There were some similarities in
that both were types of national fe stivals.
In India we had millions of people from
every possible state, and all these different
cultures were represented. The high school
tournament in Japan is the only national
event like this. It's on TV all day, 24 hours a
day and 20 million people tuned in to watch
opening ceremonies.
Only recently has Shear been able to
devote himself full time to documentary
filmmaking. After graduating from St. John's
in 2000, h e landed a job at a dot. com
company in his hometown of Boston. But
company Projectile Arts . He
helped secure $roo,ooo in grants
from foundations and sponsorship
from United Air Lines. " I like the
creative aspect, working out the
content of the film ," he says.
"And I like the
entrepreneurial aspect, starting
something from scratch, and
against all odds, making
it happen."
Shear has always been a big
baseball fan . "I felt there was ver y
little known in the U.S. about
Japanese baseball and it could be
a great way to learn about a very
mysterious culture. It's a filmmaker' s dream: passion, history,
culture, youth, sports- it really
has it all," he says
The crew interviewed players, coaches,
cheerleaders , and fans, and filmed some of
the most intensely played baseball Shear has
ever seen. The work could be grueling; the
t emperature in the stands reached rr7
degrees one day. One of the highlights for
Shear was meeting Hidcki Matsui,
who earned the nickname " Godzilla" in
Japan before going on to become a N.Y. Yankees star.
Immersion in such fanatical national
fervor gave Shear a lot to think about. "As
an American, I don't think I would want my
son to play ro hours ofbaseball a day. It's
kind of like milit ru:y sch ool."
Shear isn't sure he's found his career.
Low-budget documentary filmmaking, he
says, has its pros and cons. "Pros: it's
creatively and intellectually stimulating, you
are your ovm boss, and you get to travel and
meet fascinating people. Cons: no money,
job security, or vacation time; it takes
forever, and it's a nerve-wracking rollercoaster ride .
"To me the satisfaction comes from
having an idea, which a whole bunch of people tell you can't be done , and going out and
proving them ·wrong."
Take Me to the River is showing at film
festivals; Shear hopes it will soon be
distributed nationally. AB for the baseball
film , he and director Ken Eng hope
PBS will pick it up for broadcast after
production is completed this spring. _..
ALEX SHEAR, SECOND FROM RIGHT, SUITED UP
FOR A PRACTIC E GAME.
': .. it:S a nerve-wracking
roller-coaster rzde. "
ALEX SHEAR ( SFOO)
when two of his good friends told him they
were headed to India to make a film , Shear
was desperate to go along. " I took a month
off, paid half my airfare and volunteered to
work for free doing sound," Shear says.
" It was ll1l incredible experience."
A few days after Shear got back to his
promising job in Boston, the company
folded and laid everyone off. He moved to
New York to be involved in post-production
on Take Me to the River, and took a few
temp jobs. After September rr, Shear went
back to Boston to sell ads for a tabloid. "The
stories are short, you can read it on the
train , and the ads get a lot of results, which
h elp ed us all make money."
But the next time his filmaker friend
Kenneth Eng called, Shear was ready to
commit to the project on Japanese baseball.
This time he quit his job and devoted his
sales skills to raising grant money for the
proj ect through the nonprofit production
{ T HE
C o L LEGE .
St. John 's College . W inter 2005
}
�34
{ALUMNI
KARL STUKENBERG (SF) is director of Psychological Services at
Xavier University's Psychology
Department in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He is also a tenured faculty
member in analytic psychology.
As CRAZY AS IT SoUNDS
W
ILLIAM (BRAD) HODGE (SFg2) is working for
the Department of State, managing security
issues for U.S. embassies in almost a dozen
countries. "It's fun, challenging, gets me
traveling all over the world, and reminds me
of one thing I remember from the St. John's program, 'That
which doesn't kill us makes us stronger,'" he writes. ""When
that is not challenging enough, I volunteer as a police officer
with the Washington, D.C., police department. Yeah, it's as
crazy as it sounds."+
cows changing pastures while
visiting LYNNE GATELY (A) in
Randolph Center, Vt., where
Lynne is a librarian. Lynne and
her husband, David, run a dairy
farm and a maple sugar business.
Judy also visited KEITH HARRISON (SF) at his home in New
Hampshire. Keith teaches law at
Franklin Peirce Law School. Judy
has been enduring Minnesota
weather for more than six years
now and is longing for a temperate climate '-vith mountains.
Anyone with job leads in New
Mexico, please contact Judy!
ELIZABETH KOCSIS (A) has retired
to a "hobby farm in north central
West Virginia (my husband,
Mike Kingston's, idea) where we
home-school our two boys
Steven (13) and Frank (g). I'm
active in the inclusive state,..vide
home-schooling organization
(wvhea.org), which recently
(2003) celebrated a political
victory in the state legislatureelimination of a rule requiring
home-schooling parents to have a
college degree to home-school
high-school-age children.
}ULIA PERKINS (A) writes: "My
daughter, MARGARET HENNESSEY,
joined the class of ' o8 in
Annapolis this year, adding to a
bunch of alumni children in
Annapolis now: Emma Plaut,
Ao7, daughter of Richard Plaut
(A77) and Carol Katrina (A7g);
and Bekah Ross, daughter of
Steve (A78); and Jessie Perry,
1982
PATTI NOGALES (A) recently
started her second year as an
assistant professor of philosophy
at California State University in
Sacramento. "The kids and I are
finding that Northern California
has some advantages. I would
love to hear from classmates."
Ao8, daughter of Steve Perry
(A78). Maybe there are others?"
1979
GERALDINE M. KLINE (SF) was
recently elected to a six-year term
of provincial leadership for the
Sinsinawa Dominicans in San
Antonio, Texas.
DANTE BERETTA (A) is teaching
biblical Greek at St. Mary's
Seminary and has been teaching
Latin at Garrison Forest School
since 1985.
ELIZABETH JENNY (SF) says:
"Greetings to fellow alumni! I am
getting a lot of enjoyment from
my alumni chapter. My family
and I are doing well in Colorado.
I invite you to see my work at
http:/ /artist.bldr.net."
1981
ROBBYN JACKSON (A) has a
"great new job as chief of
Cultural Resources and Museum
Management at San Francisco
Maritime National Historical
Park (check out the park at
www.nps.govI safr)."
CoLLEGE.
STANLEY SCHIFf (SF) has retired
after 14 years teaching at Sierra
Vista Junior High.
DAVID WEITZEL (A) married
Allison Hornvag in the fall of
~woo, after Dave had finished his
law degree at Catholic University
that spring. They welcomed
William Kenneth's arrival in
October 2002.
1980
{ TH E
{ALUMNI
NoTEs}
DAMON ELLINGSTON (A) is getting
a Ph.D . in physics at the University of Maryland College Park.
MARY (PUTNICK) GARNER (A) is
in her second year at Episcopal
Divinity School and a postulant
for the priesthood. Spouse
GEOFF (A86) is the academic
dean at the Naval Justice School
in Newport, R.I.
CHRISTINE GOWDY-}AEHNIG (A)
and her husband, Mark, recently
moved to Decorah, Iowa, and are
looking forward to living in a
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2005
}
college town of over 8,ooo
(six times larger than Preston!).
Their eldest child, Alexandra,
recently left for Hamline University in St. Paul. "It's been a year
of changes for us," she writes.
TRISHAA. HoWELL (SF) is
pleased to announce the
publication of her newest book,
a personal growth/self-help title,
The Journeying Workbook:
Unleash Your Inner Power.
Trisha would love to hear from
former classmates and can be
reached at Trisha@HowellCanyonPress.com.
1989
}ACK EGGLESTON (A) and EMMA
MORTON EGGLESTON (SFgo)
write: "We have moved back to
our home state ofVirginia after
many years of studying and
working elsewhere. I am working
as a hydrologist for the U.S.
Geological Survey in Richmond,
Va. Emma is doing a fellowship in
endocrinology at the University
ofVirginia Medical Center. We
have three children ages 3-9 and
are living in an old farmhouse
near the mountains.
"Hello friends!" writes KYRA
LYNN ESBORG (SF). "I live in
San Francisco and share intuitive
healing practices and stress
management as my business.
My St. John's experience
enhances every day. I am a wave
diver in the ocean waters near my
home, and enjoying life."
LINDA HAMM GREZ (A) is thrilled
to announce the birth of her first
baby, Anna Helene Grez, born
on Sept. 30, 2004-the week
Mt. St. Helens erupted (hence
Anna's middle name).
NINDA LETAW (A) reports that she
is the proud owner of Charlotte's
Home Cooking, a personal chef
service in Raleigh, N.C.
She would love to hear from
classmates.
1990
REV. GERARD THOMAS SPARACO
(A) is living in Little Valley, N.Y.
"It would be nice to hear from
people," he says.
}ONATHANYING (A) is a Ph.D. student in the School oflndustrial
and Labor Relations at Cornell
University in Ithaca, N.Y.
1991
FATHERKEvlNLIXEYL.C. (SF), a
priest of the Congregation of
Legionaries of Christ, is involved
in establishing the new Church
and Sports department within
the Pontifical Council of Lay
people as announced by the
Vatican in August 2004.
From CATHERINE BARRIER (A)
and}IMDUGAN (Ag3): "We'd like
to announce the birth of Lucy
Eleanor Dugan on December 10,
2004, in Los Angeles. We are, of
course, convinced she is the most
beautiful and smartest baby in
the world. We just hope we can
keep up. If anyone is rash enough
to ask for pictures, they can
contact us at ccb@
mnemonides.net! "
BONNIE FORBIS (AGI) recently
graduated as a certified nurse
midwife from the Yale School of
Nursing. She lives in Chicago
with her daughter, Meaghan,
age g.
1995
1993
CHRIS GRAM (A) has just started
in practice as a vascular surgeon
in Decatur, Ill. "We bought a
great house on a lake and our
daughter is two-and-a-half and
doing very well."
"I'm keeping very busy," writes
JANE McMANUs (A). "Not only
will I b e an adjunct professor at
the Columbia Graduate School of
Journalism this semester, but
Steve and I had our second little
girl, Charlotte Mason, on August
28. Big sister Jean just calls her
'New Baby.' I can be reached at
janesports@hotmail.com. Any
Johnnies wanting to know more
about J-school should drop me
a note."
1994
LEAH MuLHOLLAND AucKENTHALER (A) writes, "My husband,
Ben, and I welcomed a son on
June 10. Jonathan Titus Auckenthaler completes our family, '"lith
Nicholas Alan, 2, and Reggie
Pit-Shephard, 8. I always wanted
three boys. We moved from
Brooklyn to Minneapolis three
weeks after I delivered Nicholas.
Ben got a job in financ e here
working for American Express.
Not bad for a jazz drummer.
"Anyone interested in catching
up (Eddie, Matthew, Chad,
Johnnie, Janice , et. al.), please
e-mail me at leaha@
earthlink.net. And any of you
Minn./St. Paul peeps (Paul,
Amie, Muneet), let's have
a thing!"
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
35
NoTES}
" I am living the good life in
sunny Phoenix, Ariz .," writes
ALEX GOLDSTEIN (SF). "I own a
real estate business, and way
more wine and cigars than any
human should possess. Any
Johnnies in the area who want to
drink, smoke, or talk smack, call
me (602-405-9961). Best wishes
to all my friends with whom I've
lost touch ages ago ... "
Greetings from VERONICA
GVENTSADZE (AGI): "After some
four years of teaching the humanities at a university, I am back to
being a student, this time in veterinary medicine. I have no
regrets and am enjoying this new
experience immensely, and while
I have no doubt that I have made
the right choice , my liberal arts
background will always be there
to help me along. So four years
down the road I will be the
'philosopher-vet,' for what that's
worth . I would love to hear from
my classmates and from any of
those who remember me or who,
like me, are in the midst of
switching careers. But most of all
I want to thank Mr. John Verdi for
starting me on this great American adventure some I I years ago,
and I have a question for him
about Nietzsche. It's a long one,
so I won't take up any more space
here. "
}ULIA}. KELLY (A) sends in her
first update since leaving
Annapolis: "After graduation, I
attended the Maine Photo Workshops for six months , contributing to my decision to attend the
Savannah College of Art and
Design in order to get an MFA in
photography. After completing
that program, I worked for three
years with a commercial photographer in Savannah. Convinced I
could make a better living selling
real es tate for my mother's large
firm, I did that for several years
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2 005
}
before meeting my fiance, and
now am planning a wedding in
early 2005, along with a move to
Pensacola, Fla. I hope to get back
into photography when I settle
in, though I may end up shooting
more images on the road than of
weddings, as he is a musician and
travels across the country. I'll
keep you posted! If a band called
the CodeTalkers ever plays in
yow· town, please come out! My
fiance is the banjo player!"
MIKE LAYNE (SF) and family are
still in Barrow, Alaska. "Our
daughter, Audrey Rae, will turn
three in February. And we are
expecting a second child, a boy,
in March. Feel free to e-mail me
at michael.layne@northslope.org."
1996
HEATHER POOL (SF) is a firstyear graduate student at the
University ofWashington in the
political science department.
She's currently a teaching
assistant for Intra to Political
Theory. " I will likely be doing
political theory as my first field,''
she writes.
1997
Major news from }EHANNE
DUBROW(A): "}EREMYSCHAUB
(A) and I are engaged to be
married. The big day is set for the
end ofJuly 2005, in Washington.
Jeremy is currently stationed out
of Norfolk, Va. I'm in my second
year of a Ph.D. program in
creative WJ.'iting at the University
ofNebraska-Lincoln, where
I'm also teaching and working
on the editorial staff of Prairie
Schooner. This past summer, I
spent two months in Oswiecim
(Auschwitz), Poland, where I codesigned and created an exhibit
�.
-,
, -- - - -- ---------------------------- -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - -- -- --- - -- -- -- -- -- -- - - -- -- -- - - -- -- - - -
g6
{ALUMNI
THE OTHER. SIDE OF THE WALL
Navy PilotandAuthor Ross Mackenzie, AGio2
BY RosEMARY HARTY
ssigned to teach English at
the Naval Academy five
years ago, Ross Mackenzie
(AGio2) crossed the street
to see what the little college
on the other side of the wall
had to offer. AN avy pilot and 1994 graduate
of the academy, he had been invited back to
teach at his alma mater. "I went to visit a
seminar at St. John's and literally ran into a
good friend of mine from the academy
[Mason New, AGIOI] who I hadn't seen in
years," he says. "He told me, 'man, you're
going to love it.' "
An English major at the academy,
Mackenzie's passion for language and
literature has always had a
rival in his passion for
flying. Mter seeing Top
Gun as a teen-ager, he
went on to earn a private
pilot's license and set his
sights on one day flying
the Navy's fastest jets.
"Take a dark and stormy
night and land a jet on the
back of a ship that's pitching and rolling- that really
appealed to me."
Mackenzie followed his
older brother, Alec, into
the Naval Academy. He
did well enough to secure
a coveted aviation billet,
but had to wait to begin
flight school and spent a
semester as an English
instructor at the academy. When he was
called to flight school, Mackenzie still
expected to fly jets-until a helicopter ride
changed his mind. "I was sold on just that
one flight."
Flying helicopters has its own challenges,
he adds . "You know where it is and what
you have to do to get the aircraft on the
ground before a catastrophic failure,"
he explains.
Mter earning his wings, Mackenzie was
stationed in San Diego and deployed twice
to the Persian Gulf. When he was asked to
come back to teach English at the Naval
Academy, he needed to begin a graduate
degree program, and St. John's was the logical choice. He was a] so eager to fill in gaps
in his education. ''I'm proud of myNaval
Academy degree, but as an English major,
I was frustrated that I didn't end up
reading some of the things I thought
were important."
The texts Mackenzie read at St. John's
quickly found their way onto his syllabus at
the academy; midshipmen in his first-year
English class were assigned the Odyssey
and the Canterbury Tales. "I probably had
only a handful of English majors in my
classes, but I was determined to get those
guys excited about the literature," he says.
At St. John's, Mackenzie was invigorated
by the lively discussions in his classes. "The
thing about the Graduate Insthute that J
Ross MACKENZIE'S LOVE FOR BOOKS COMPETES
WITH A LOVE FOR F LYING.
find so remarkable is that it brings people
from such vastly different backgrounds to
share the same great works. Everyone
brings their own life experiences with them
to the table."
Mackenzie was enrolled in the literature
segment and discussing the Iliad when the
terrorist attacks took place on September
n; he was one of two students with military
experience in his seminar. "You can read in
these great books when and why it's appropriate to put people in harm's way. I've
been there and I was able to say 'this is what
I believe in.' "
{ THE
CoLL E GE.
{ALUMNI
PROFILE}
St. John's College . Winter 200.5}
Now stationed in Jacksonville, Fla.,
where he is a full-time pilot in a reserve
squadron, Mackenzie flies Seahawk
helicopters, often on counter-drug missions off the Florida coast. He's married to
his high-school sweetheart, Elizabeth, and
they have two boys: Stuart, 3, and
Cameron, I.
Last year, he put his liberal arts and
Navy backgrounds together to take over a
project his father, Ross Mackenzie,
launched shortly after Mackenzie's brother ·
graduated from the academy. "My father's
a newspaper writer who was frustrated by
having two sons in the Naval Academy and
listening to them talk-he always wanted
to know what was going
on-and he decided he
could tell other parents
about it."
BriefPoints (Naval
Institute Press, 2004) was
originally published in
1993 and revised n Igg6.
Much information in the
book was dated, and g/n
had brought changes to
the academy. A major
revision was needed, and
the publisher gave
Mackenzie the job. "I did
interviews with everyone
from midshipmen to academic deans to athletic
department personnel to
find out what really makes
the Naval Academy tick."
Mackenzie observes that family
members of middies are proud and excited
about their children entering the Naval
Academy, but they can be perplexed by the
military culture. A glossm·y of terms that
quickly become part of every plebe's
vocabulary-Mackenzie calls it "Midspeak"-is an important part of the book.
Parents aren't always aware of what their
midshipmen endure in terms of academic
and physical challenges. In his introduction, Mackenzie tells parents that the
academy-like St. John's-isn't for every
student. "As important as their advice is,
their support and understanding are even
more important," he says.~
of art and poetry, 'The Lost
Shabbos: the Jews ofOswiecim.'
Two ofmypoemswere recently
published in The Hudson
Review. And, staying true to
my St. John's roots, I'm still
translating poetry, at the
moment, sections from the
19th-century Polish epic, Pan
Tadeusz, by Adam Mickiewicz,
which is nothing if not obscure."
1998
CINDY LUTZ (A) and VINCENT
BAKER (Ags) were married on
October 10, 2004, in Frederick,
Md., nearly IO years after they
first met by the mailboxes in the
Coffee Shop. Johnnies in attendance included PAMELA BERGSON
(Agg), JosH EMMONS (Agg)and
the also newly-married MARISA
Jo and BILL ERSKINE (A97).
"We'd love to hear from any
friends in the D.C. Metro Area:
cinderlou@peoplepc.com."
1999
MELISSA "MISSY" PHIFER (SF)
writes: "After completing my
service in the Peace Corps in
Haiti in 2002, I worked in
various odd jobs until I began
graduate school at Temple
University in Philadelphia.
Currently I am working at John
Bartram High School teaching
biology and working on my
Master's ofEducation to be
completed soon! I would love to
hear from any of my former
classmates- send me an e-mail at
mphifeno@aol.com and let me
know what you're up to. I hope
all ofyou are well!"
2000
KARINA I-lEAN (A) will receive
her master of fine arts in drawing
from New Mexico State University
in Las Cruces, N.M. , this May. For
the time being, she's keeping busy
with exhibitions and teaching.
"Will be relocating to southern
Colorado soon-I'll be hiding in
the mountains, making artwork,
and protesting the Bush dynasty if
anyone would like to join meyou're always welcome: karinahean@hotmail.com."
"It was a long road similar to the
one described at the beginning of
the Inferno, but after nine years I
have reached the end of a long
road," writes CHRISTOPHER
VAUGHAN (A). "A journcy that
took me from the University of
Alaska and the wilds of the great
Northwest to the warmth of
Florida at Flagler College is now
history. I have graduated from
college at last!"
NoTEs}
37
certification training. She was
recently in London and Hawaii,
and is heading to France and
Mexico shortly! She would love
to hear from recent graduates
and alumni in the New York area.
Mter traveling to the far reaches
of Thailand and New Zealand
together, ANDREW RANSON and
MARTHA ROGERS (both AGI)
were married June 26, 2004, in
Annapolis . Martha is continuing
her studies in holistic healing
while Andrew is teaching high
school social studies and English
in Baltimore County. They have
found marriage to be greater
than they ever expected and are
looking forward to their next trip
abroad as husband and wife.
2002
JAMES GILMORE (A) is studying
phifosophy at Johns Hopkins
University. "My e-mail is jamesfgilmore@gmail.com, and it
would be great to hear from any
Johnnies, especially members of
the class of 2.002.."
CHARLES GREEN (AGI) writes:
"After completing my coursework as an English literature
Ph.D. candidate at Drew
University, fhave moved back to
Annapolis to prepare for my
comprehensive exams. I look
forward to getting to know the
city and the college again, as well
as seeing alumni old and new."
"As of August 2004, I am living
in San Jose, Calif. , passing on the
love ofliberal arts by teaching
general curriculum to eager
fifth-graders," writes MEGAN
MAxwELL-SMiTH (A). "My experience is, so far, quite rewarding.
I am at a very well-run school
peopled by bright students and
dedicated staff. I would love to
hear from anyone inclined to get
in touch: megan.maxwellsmith@sbc.global.net."
}USTINNAYLOR (A) and DILLON
WRIGHT-FITZGERALD (Aos) were
married on June :12, 2004, in
2001
}OSHUA VAN DONGE (SF) is still
"slogging away" at the University ofWashington's graduate
program in architecture.
"I've spent this year in
St. Michael's, Md., serving an
apprenticeship in wooden boat
building," ANNE NEEDHAM (A)
wrote last summer. "I'm now off
to Naguabo, Puerto Rico, for a
few months to do some house
repair and child care for my
brother and his family. After
that, if you know anyone who has
a wooden boat that needs work
(i.e., anyone who has a wooden
boat), please let me know."
SYLVAINE RAMECKERS (A) is still
working for Dateline NBC and
currently completing diver
{T
H E
Co
L L E GE .
A STRONG FouNDATION
orne things just seem meant to be, as AURORA
CASSELLS (Ao4) writes: "My sister, boyfriend, and
I, all of the most recently graduated class from
Annapolis, are moving into a cute little house in the
beautiful town of Shepherdstown, W.V., which my
sister, PROSE, is buying. This itself is exciting news,
since buying a house is considered a big step in establishing
oneself, but the real reason for writing in about it is of course
much more personal and familiar and Johnnie-based.
"Mter our offer on the house had already been accepted and
Prose was touring the outside of the house another time, she
found a remarkable, unbelievable sign that this was the right
house: It seems that someone had taken a finger to the concrete
foundation for the newer part of the house at the back while it
was still wet and written in 4-inch-high letters, underlined:
The Program. So, three recent graduates are all moving into a
house built on the foundation of the Program!
"We also discovered that it was obviously meant for Johnnies
from the Annapolis campus, since on the newly built back deck
there was an old lawn croquet stake! Already in love with the
little house and its great location, it was truly welcoming to find
such friendly reminders of St. John's. " ~
St. John 's College . W in ter 2005
}
�{ALUMNI
JoHNNIE
VOICES}
B. ATHENS
Athletic~ Aeschyl~
ABOUT THE CATS
and Spzderman
BY STEPHEN CoNN (SFg8)
first came to Athens I I years ago,
a post-high school gift from and
with my parents. Mom wanted
to give me an introduction to
classical culture before I headed to
St.John's. Several years and jobs
later, armed with only my Spiderman 2
backpack and a whole lot of can-d?, I
returned to Athens for the Olymp1cs.
I checked in at my hostel, the Hotel
Zorba on Victoria Square. Yannis the bellboy was pleasant enough, the bunk area
only had one unidentifiable odor, and the
toilets flushed as long as you didn't put
toilet paper in them. I learned .to j?urney
on the Piraeus-Kifissia metro hne m order
to get to the different stadiums. Fierybrowed Greek men pondered my Spidey
backpack, while old ladies crossed themselves every time we passed a church.
Many events took place at the aptly
named Olympic Stadium to the north,
where people walked under va~t white
archways while Greeks sat on lifeguard
chairs and announced on bullhorns,
"Parakalo [please] we are welcoming you
to the Olympic Games. Water polo is on
the right."
gymnasts happened to take an extra step
when I shoot-coincidence!
The Acropolis! Don't think I passed up
the ancient stuff, folks. The next day I
began the hike to that fount of democracy,
The Temple ofNike . To the east of~he
main structure, slightly down the ndge,
are the remains of the Theater of
Dionysus, where Sophocles and Aeschylus
received their first performances.
In honor of the occasion, I pulled out
my copy of Lattimore's Aeschylus, and
recited a bit of The Persians. A few cats
living among the pillars gathere.d in .
audience, and I felt the Apolloman veil
had been suitably rent.
And the women! Many a time I would
approach a sellers' booth and say, "excuse
me, would you have a ticketfor. .. good
God!, I considered asking one of these
Hellenic beauties for a night on the town,
but reflecting on the Medea-like anger of
most of my past dates, I opted for another
evening of Amstel Lights at t~e Zorba.
After sessions of table tenms and boxing between various breakaway republics,
it was time to head home. I brought an
American flag with me on the flight. Not a
huge hit in Athens, but the bu~z - ct~t
customs officer in Atlanta notlced lt as
he stamped my passport.
"You bring that to the Games?' he
smiled.
"Yessir."
"You must have waved that quite a bit,"
he said with a grin .
"Well, if we can put a chimp in the
White House then we should certainly be
able to wave CHd Glory once and a while."
Okay, I didn't exactly say this. ~ut ifye
Johnnies old and new want to get m t~uch
with the Mediterranean source, then JUSt
put those terrorist fears away ~nd tell
the ticket agent, "I want two t1ckets to
paradise."-'$-
But it was gymnastics I was after, my
old sport, many beers ago. I sat down
among sad-eyed Eastern-block:r~ to
watch one of the women's prehmmary
sessions. "GO KA-TY!" cried an
anguished Englishman into my left
eardrum. The Chinese girls tended to fall
off the beam and stumble a lot. "No flash
photos, sir," the usher chided me. So the
(SF or) writes, "For the most
part, my life is quiet and full of cats. If they keep
multiplying I might make crazy cat woman status
at the early age of 35· I live with ANDRE\V SMITH
and ISLA PINELO (both SFo3) . CAROLINE KN~P
(SF or) recently moved from our house to a qu~et
neighborhood and lives in a beautiful garden. I'm su~·e she m.lsses
h . g her bedroom windows rattle when the cars dnve bywlth
t : : ;bass all the way up . If anyone is in or passing through the
Berkeley area, give me a holler." -$-EBEKKA SHUGARS
Millvi1le, Penn. The Naylors now
live in Wilmington, Del., where
Justin teaches at Nativity
Preparatory School.
2003
Thorn Barry and MEG EISENHAUER (A) were married at
St. John's College in Annapolis
on July 31 , 20o4. " Many thanks
to everyone at the Annapolis
campus who helped us to make
this possible ," Meg writes.
(A) is moving to
Italy to study gastronomy at the
new Universita di Scienze Gastronomiche (www.unisg.it/eng).
He received a full scholarship.
"Drop me a line at aaron .foster
@gmail.com. I will be in
Pollenzo, a small town outside of
Bra, in Cuneo, Piedmont."
AARON FOSTER
biology.utah.edu or
bugle song@ juno. com."
RACHEL (ROCCIA) SULLIVAN (A)
Wl·ites with an update on what she
and husband MICHAEL SULLIVAi~
(Ao2) have been up to since
graduation. "As many already
know, we were married a week
after graduating from St. John's.
We then moved to Washington,
D.C., so that I could take pre-med
classes at the University of Maryland, and so that Michael could
pursue his Ph.D. in Philosophy
(particularly in medieval scholastics, which should come as no
surprise!) at Catholic University.
He is now in his third year. In May
of this year I gave birth to a
daughter, Clare Veritas Sullivan,
who is now a fat and happy little
five-month-old. We bought a
house in Silver Spring, Md., and
I've begun studying medicine
at the Uniformed Services University, which is located right
.
'
across the street from NIH in
Bethesda. I'm a commissioned
ofii.cer in the U.S. Army and learning to be an "Army Doc." I go to
school with several ex-midshipmen from the Naval Academy who
think it's bizarre that a Johnnie
would choose to join the military,
but the idea of practicing "Good
Medicine In Bad Places," as our
motto goes, is really exciting and
led me to choose this school over a
few more prestigious ones that
offered me slots. I found that
medical schools were surprisingly
receptive to me as a St. John's
student, and would love to talk to
and encourage anyone interested
in applying: I can be reached at
rmrsullivan@hotmail.com. I'm
also happy to report that
Michael's brother RANDALL (Ao4)
has joined the Dominican order
of priests, and has started his
novitiate . He's enjoying himself
immensely and has taken the new
name of Ezra. In closing I'd like to
say hello to all my old pals, to offer
my spare room to anyone who has
a reason to be in D.C., and to take
this opportunity to encourage
BEN FREY (A02,) and GABRIELA
HURWITZ (Ao2) to call me back!"
CoLLE G E .
St. fohn's College . Winter 2005
}
2004
LAURAA:NNEMANGUM (A)
married Michael Moore on
June 5, 2004·.
PAUL McLAIN (SFGI) was
awarded a scholarship to attend
Yale University Divinity School in
New Haven, Conn. He completed
an intensive Koine Greek class
this summer and is settling into
his first of three years' work
toward a Master of Divinity
degree. Ruthie, his wife , is office
manager ofHistoRX, a medical
research firm affiliated with Yale.
She now serves her patented
Thursday Night GI Gathering
Homemade Goodies to "Divvies"
instead ofJohnnies. They have
been blessed with a rent-free
four-bedroom parsonage provided
by St. Andrew's United Methodist
Church, where they work part
time. Johnnies are welcome to
stay when making New England
pilgrimages. Contact
pkmclain@comcast.net if
you are headed their way or if
you would just like to keep
in touch. -$-
NATASHA VERl\iAAK (A)
writes: "I just survived my first
quarter of graduate school in
the materials science and
engineering department at
the University of California,
Santa Barbara ...woah!
Visitors welcome."
ERIN HANLON (SF) Wl·ites: "I
entered the University of Utah
this fall as a Ph.D. student in the
biology department. I am
studying plant ecology with an
emphasis on the impacts of the
drought and climate change. I
would be interested in hearing
from any Johnnies in the Salt Lake
area, whether they live here or are
just passing through. I can be
reached al either hanlon@
WHAT's UP?
The College wants to hear from
you. Call ns, write us, e-mail us.
Let your classmates know what
you're doing. The next issue
will be published in May;
deadline for the alumni notes
section is March IS.
IN ANNAPOLIS:
Tlz e College Magazine
St. John's College, P.O. Box 28oo
Annapolis, MD 2I404;
rosemary.harty@sjca. edu
IN SANTA FE:
The College Magazine
St. John's College
Communications Office
n6o Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
alumni@sjcsf.edu
STEPHEN CONN WAVED THE FLAG AND
RECITED THE PERSIA NS IN GREECE.
{ TH E
39
{OBITUARIES}
CLARE SULLIVAN IS GOING PLACES.
{ THE
CoLLEG E .
St. John 's College. Winter 20 0 5}
�4I
{OBITUARIES}
{OBITUARIES}
REMEMBERING
MISS LEONARD
At a memorial service in October, former
St. John's tutor and Assistant Dean
Barbara Leonard (HAss) was remembered
as a star athlete with a zeal for competition, a scientist with an inquisitive mind,
and an able administrator with a skill for
strongly-worded memos. Mostly, she was
remembered as a good friend.
Miss Leonard died last August in
Oberlin, Ohio. Her health had been
failing for several years. She
had retired from the college
in rg87 after serving as
assistant dean and tutor for
36 years, but continued to
serve the college as a
member of its Board of
Visitors and Governors for
several more years.
In the midst of Homecoming festivities, alumni,
tutors, and former colleagues of Miss Leonard's
gathered in Francis Scott
Key Auditorium to share
their memories of a strongwilled woman with a great
sense ofhumor. And
although she was dean of
women for just one year
before her title became
assistant dean, Miss
Leonard remained a role
model, confidante, and
friend to generations of
women at the college.
Among them was Anita
Kronsberg (A7g), who read
from an account of Miss
Leonard's life.
Born and reared in Oberlin in what
she described as something of an "idyllic
childhood," Miss Leonard earned a
bachelor's degree at Oberlin College
and master's and doctoral degrees in
zoology at the University of Rochester.
She conducted research in histology at
Yale Medical School before becoming a
visiting lecturer at Oberlin. Before
coming to St.John's, she taught zoology
at Smith College. Her willingness to work
with men and to compete in a maledominated field had roots in her love for
"She came with us_,
J'he read the bookJ' with
us_, and J'he learned
at our rate. "
from my colleagues, male students
resented my presence when I arrived on
campus," she later recalled. "In fact,
prior to my appointment, it was a mass
protest of the then all-male student body
against the admission of women students
that convinced the college leadership they
needed to hire a female tutor and assistant
dean. These students would constantly
try to catch me off guard,
so I pretended nothing
fazed me."
The following year, when
the assistant dean for men
took a sabbatical, Miss
Leonard worked with both
male and female students.
From that point on, she
said, "I never weaned those
boys from me."
In the early rg6os, Miss
Leonard was a Fulbright
lecturer in India. She was
named an honorary faculty
member of Lady Doak
College and The American
College, both in Madurai,
India. When she retired in
rg87, the students dedicated
the yearbook to her:
"Though gruff in manner,
she has an eye for the
humorous and is quick
with a quip, delighting in
repartee," theywrote.
"She is also judicious in her
advice and careful to keep a
confidence . In her position
she has heard many."
Tutor emeritus Ben Milner (HAg7) recalled that after their first
meeting,
he thought Miss Leonard to be a "retiring
motherly sort. That was a Jirst impression
-and one I would discover in need of
correction," he said.
When Mr. Miln er began his new post,
Edward Sparrow (HAg3), dean at the
time, advised Mr. Milner about the
"importance of cooperating with Barbara
Leonard." "And to reinforce the point
smilingly, he asked if I was familiar with
her habit of firing off sharply critical
BARBARA BRUNNER KiEBLER (ASS)
Mrss LEONARD PREFERRED THE CoFFEE SHOP
To HER McDowELL HALL OFFICE.
sports: As a third-grader she was the
catcher on a boys' softball team.
Through colleagues in Oberlin,
President Richard Weigle (HJ4g) found
Miss Leonard and brought her to
St. John's to shepherd the first 25 women
to attend the college. Miss Leonard had to
win over the male students.
"Although I encountered no resistance
{ 'I'
HE
CoLLEGE .
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005
}
memoranda and letters to
various colleagues including
the dean and president of the
college," Mr. Milner added.
In her time at the college,
Miss Leonard became "the
first among equals," and "her
voice was always respected
and often decisive," he said.
"I think that it was universally acknowledged that she
had a love affair with the
students," Mr. Milner said.
"It was mutual and it was fun.
Barbara enjoyed nothing
more than a good joke, a
hardy laugh, and she had a
lot of company in this with
students and staff as well. "
Tutor emeritus Malcolm
Wyatt (HAo3) shared
McDowell 13 with Miss
Leonard in the mid-rg8os.
"She was very fond of the
students," Mr. Wyatt said.
"She maintained close
friendships with successive
generations characterized by sympathy,
warmth, acrostic humor. And the source
of that acrostic humor had a certain skepticism about it that sharpened her judgment but didn't keep her from being
attached to the student body and hence,
[she had] a very accurate perception of
what life was like at the college from day
to day."
A member of the first class of women
to graduate, Barbara Brunner Kiebler
(class of 1955), said Miss Leonard was a
genuine member of that class even before
the Alumni Association made her an
honorary alumna. "She came with us,
she read the books with us, and she
learned at our rate," Mrs. Kiebler said.
With all the new rules the college
adopted to keep men and women
separate-and with the inevitable bending
and breaking of those rules-Miss Leonard
was "good-natured and flexible" even as
the president and dean fretted over such
matters. "She was sanguine about the
relationship of the sexes-after all she was
BARBARA LEONARD BECAME AN HONORARY
MEMBER OF THE CLASS OF
I955
UPON HER
RETIREMENT, BUT LONG BEFORE, THE FIRST
CLASS OF WOMEN CONSIDERED HER ONE OF
THEIR OWN.
a biologist by training, she knew the
inevitability of the relationship," she said.
Miss Leonard could usually be found in
the Coffee Shop , but she spent a great
deal of time on the playing fields as well,
Mrs. Kiebler noted. "Barbara broke the
sports barrier for women at the college.
There were no sports here for women
except badminton and Ping-Pong.
Barbara h erself integrated the softball
team ... she was a whale of a softball
pitcher and she won her St. John's blazer
for softball. Whenever I came back to the
college at Homecoming, I would see her
in the blue blazer and a pleated skirt, her
school uniform. She wore it proudly."
When Mrs. Kiebler brought her
daughter, Amy Oosterhout (A82) to the
{ T HE
CoLLEGE.
college, she was pleased to leave
her in the capable hands of
Barbara Leonard. "Barbara told
me how pleased she was to
have at St. John's the children
of her girls. I never heard her
call us that before, but I guess
that's what we were. She
promised us she'd look after
Amy, and she did."
Two members of the Annapolis
class ofrg8o, Didrik Schanche
and Ann Schanche Ferro came to
the college as Febbies, leaving
their parents in Cairo, Egypt, for
a college halfway around the
world. In Miss Leonard, the
sisters found " landfall and a very
solid one in a sea of words and
great books." Like many
students, they forged a life long
friendship with Miss Leonard.
"Ann and I, being homeless,
were often around campus or at
least Annapolis during the
holiday because Egypt was a little
too far for a three-day weekend,"
Miss Schanche said. '"Miss Leonard would
periodically invite us up to her apartment
over the infirmary for a glass of wine and
some conversation and just to help us feel
that we did have a bit of home away from
home." Ms. Leonard also was a stickler
for certain thing, Ms. Schanche noted.
One in particular was the correct pronunciation of the word' dissect.'
"Most people, me included, pronounced
it 'dye-sect,'" she said. "The correct
pronunciation according to Ms. Leonard is
' dis-sect' and she drilled that one in. I am
now an editor and every time I try to
correct someone's pronunciation of that,
I think of Ms. Leonard."
"She was there for us," Mrs. Ferro
added. "And so in death she stays with us,
too. She is locked in our psyches, in her
flat-soled sneakers, her blue skirtconsistent, calm, humorous, solid, and
generous to a fault with her support and
guidance for us students. These are lifelong gifts that Barb am gave us and that
she expects us to share with others."*'
St. fohn's College. Winter 2005}
�{OBITUARIES}
BEATE
RuHM voN
{OBITUARIES}
0PPEN
Beate Ruhm von Oppen (HAor), St. John's
tutor emerita, died in August at her
home in Annapolis.
Miss von Oppen left Germany as a teenager to complete her secondary education
in Holland, moved to England and earned
a bachelor's degree at the University of
Birmingham. She worked in political
intelligence for the British Foreign Office.
Mter the war, she took a job with the
American Historical Association in
Alexandria, Va., when she learned from a
co-worker about an opening at St. John's.
She taught at the college for nearly
43 years, with an occasional break to write
books, conduct research, and serve as a
visiting professor at other colleges.
Her interest in the role of religion in
the German resistance led her to work
before starting college in England:
Letters to Freya, a collection ofletters
written by Helmuth James von Moltke,
a legal adviser to the Third Reich, to his
wife, Freya. Von Moltke worked within
the regime to undermine the Nazis
before he was captured and executed.
In 1989, the German edition of the book
won the Scholl Prize, a prestigious literary
award in Germany.
At a memorial service last
September, Miss von Oppen
was remembered as a careful
and diligent scholar, a lover of
music (particularly Bach) and
books, and a beloved sister,
sister-in-law, and aunt.
Several who spoke at the
service referred to an essay
called "The Tuning Fork,"
Miss von Oppen's account of
the bewildering change in the
Germany of her youth.
The following is excerpted
from the essay, originally
publishedinHumanitas, the
journal of the George Bell
Institute. Miss von Oppen
wrote of her attempt to go to
Holland, where she hoped to
work before starting college
in England.
crisis at the very tim e when the Hitler
regime created large numbers of refugees
or would-be refugees- trying to keep such
aliens out.
To admit my status as a worker, albeit
unpaid, would have meant being sent back
to the fatherland, with the additional
black mark of having tried to flee it. So I
denied it. The denial was an automatic
reflex. Unfortunately, my response to the
question about my religion was equally
automatic. I said 'Protestant,' having been
baptized at birth according to the
Zwinglian rite and having attended Prates- ·
tant religious instruction at my German
schools, with even a spell of Lutheran
Sunday school thrown in for good measure. It was a mistake. I did have the presence of mind and necessary minutes and
pennies to send a cheery postcard about
my 'good trip' to my Jewish grandmother
in Frankfurt from the Dutch side. I wanted
to reassure her; she had a heart ailment, of
which she died before the year was out.
Now I was put on the next train to
Emmerich, where I was received-not
to say taken into custody- by the Evangelische Balznlzoftmission ... .It felt like a
halfway house on the way to more
serious, more purely political
confinement. Theywere stern
and forbidding and there was
nothing evangelical about them.
There was even a touch of
Nazism. As I was sitting, somewhat disconsolately, in a dark
reception room, a boy of about
eight came in and sang one of
those Nazi songs-1 don't know
why; perhaps it was just youthful
exuberance. It grated enough to
make me decide to accept no
food from this establishment or
run the risk of having to sit at the
table with these professional
Protestants. My grandmother
had given me enough provender
for the day.
What I did not have was
money, beyond the ten Marks
one was allowed to take out of the
country. When the woman in
"THE TUNING FORK"
It was spring 1936. They took me off the
train after it had crossed the border from
Germany. They asked me for my religionfor while they wanted to protect the Dutch
unemployed from the competition offoreigners, they also wanted to protect the
virtue of young women. I was 17. They
accused me of coming to work in Holland.
I denied it, though they were right. They
had no proof, but I had the burden of
proof. The fact was that I had in the prcvious December passed the examination
given by Oxford for entrance to British
universities. Being penniless and not
wanting to be a burden on the American
uncle who had paid my school fees for the
year that it had taken me to prepare for
that exam, I had gladly accepted the
school's invitation to stay on as unpaid
general dog's body until it was time to go
to England to study, the following October. So I was earning my keep as matron's
assistant, occasional coach or tutor, babysitter, and so on. But these services .. .were
work prohibited by the law or regulations
of the land that was , like most European
countries-struggling with an economic
ALTHOUGH SHE WORKED IN
BRITISH INTELLIGENCE DURING
WoRLD WAR
II, Miss voN 0PPEN
RESISTED BEING CALLED A SPY.
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. John 's College. Winter 2005
}
charge of this Internal Mission house
allowed me to go for a short walk in town,
I could not resist a tuning fork in the
window of a small music shop. I went in
and bought it. My instrument at the time
was the violin, which I played as badly as I
had played the piano and would later play
the oboe. I may have justified the rash
purchase to myself as useful: a violin has
to be tuned and there isn't always a piano
or other instrument present to give the
pitch. It was a modest tuning fork and
cheap, but it depleted my minimal
resources. I probably realized this, yet
probably felt, too, that there was not only
practical but also symbolic value in a
gadget that gave you the true pitch.
Before I went for the walk in the strange
town I had telephoned my school and told
my friends there what had befallen me .
They said they would certify me as a bona
fide pupil- I was taking lessons with the
music master-and get the local police
to put an official endorsement on the
43
'-/1s I was sittin~ somewhat disconsolately;
in a dark reception room~
a boy ofabout eight
came in and sang one
ofthose Nazi songs... "
This meant crossing the Rhine. I boarded
the ferry, paid my last Pfennige to the nice
conductor, and asked him how far from
the landing place on the other side the
railway was. It was a fal.r step, especially
with luggage. He found me a free ride to
the station. This turned out to be a local
butcher, who gave me the seat beside him
in the van, with the carcasses behind us.
He wasn't an anti-Nazi. He sounded like a
Nazi or at least a loyal citizen to the Third
Reich. In the absence of money I gave him
my last German postage stamps and
signed a document acknowledging my
debt to him for the additional small
amount it cost to connect my old rail
ticket with the new stretch from Cleve to
Nijmegen.
So offl went, crossed the frontier without further incident, and reached the
school safely. The tuning fork came in
handy when we played Haydn quartets.
I still have it. Tuning forks don't take up
much space._.
BEATE RuHM VON 0PPEN, THE T UNING FORK
document that would suitably impress the
Dutch border officials. The document duly
arrived by Express mail the next day, but
also a message that the police station had
closed by the time that my friends had got
there and that they had made their statement sound as persuasive as possible without the police back-up. They advised me
not to try the same border crossing again,
from Emmerich to Zevenaar, where I was
now known, but to take another, from
Cleve to Nijmegen, where I wasn't.
JOliN AINSWORTH
economy called Socialism in the Soviet
Union. He is survived by a daughter, Jenny.
JONATHAN AURTHUR
John Edgar Ainsworth, class of1942,
died Sept. 30 following complications
from a stroke. He was a resident of Silver
Spring, Md. Until his retirement in 1984,
Mr. Ainsworth was an atmospheric
physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, where he was primary designer of
the Pioneer Venus probe.
Mr. Ainsworth pursued many hobbies
including ice skating, sailing, skiing,
camping, windsurfing, hang-gliding, flying
small aircraft, ballroom dancing, and jazz.
He became one of the first students in the
college's New Program when he enrolled at
St. John's in 1938, but he left the college
shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor to
enlist in the Army-Air Force. As the Washington Post reported, Mr. Ainsworth was
sent to the Pacific, and "took with him two
books, both on calculus, and taught himself the discipline while in the military."
Mter returning from the service in 1946,
he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Harvard University.
He is survived by his wife, Anne, and
three children.
Jonathan Aurthur (A68), who wrote a book
about his son Charley's struggles with
mental illness in The Angel and the
Dragon, took his own life in November.
He was 56 and had lived in Santa Monica,
Calif. An account published in the Los
Angeles Times said Mr. Aurthur leaped to
his death from a soo-foot cliff in the Angeles National Forest in Arcadia, Calif. His
body was found Nov. 29. According to the
article, friends said that he was despondent
over several issues.
Mr. Aurthur was profiled in the Winter
2003 issue of The College. The article
described his attempts to understand his
son's illness and to determine if someone
could have found a better way to help
Charley, who committed suicide by
jumping from a freeway overpass.
Mter leaving St. John's, Mr. Aurthur
attended the University of California,
Los Angeles, where he majored in motion
pictures. In the late 1g6os through the
early 198os, he worked as a community
organizer and documentary filmmaker.
He was also the editor of a journal of
political theory called Appeal to Reason
and the author of a book on political
{ THE
CoLLEGE .
St. .John's College . Winter 2005
ALSO NOTED:
STEPHEN BRAUN (SF84), July 2004
}OliN-DAVID HINDLE HAIIDT (AGI96), Sept. 9,
2004
CHARLES HYSON (class ofr937), March 8,
2004
PERCY KEITH Ill (class ofi949), Jan. 17,
2004
JoHN LOGUE (class of1950), June r, 2004
}oHNMAGIDRE (class ofr946), March 13,
2003
ALAN PIKE (class of1937), Oct. 22, 2004
MR. WILLIAMT. ROBERTS III (class of1951)
ANDREW CAMERON SHERRARD }R. (class of
1941), Nov. 7, 2003
A. ROBERT SMITH (class of1937), June 2,
2004
ROBEitl' SNIBBE (class ofr937), June 8, 2004
}OliN STERRETT (class ofr950), Aug. 14,
2004
RICHARD B. TAYLOR, class of1936
THOMASUSILTON (class of1943), Oct. 15,
2004
VALYS ZILIUS (class of1958), Nov. 14, 2004
}
�~------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------,
44
ALFRED MOLLIN
Alfred M ollin, who died last August in
Philadelphia, was a tutor for seven years in
Annapolis. He later lift the college and
embarked on a career at the Department
ofJustice, where he rose to the position of
senior appellate counsel. Some alumni may
remember him.from his days at the college,
but many more know ofhim.from the Greek
manual used at St. John :S. Tutor emeritus
Robert Williamson (HAo2), who
co-authored the manual, offered this
remembrance at Mr. M ollin 's memorial
service at the college last September:
I first met Alfred Mollin when he visited this
campus in order to sit in on classes and he
interviewed for a position on the faculty.
Fellow graduate students of his at Penn
State whom I had known as students at
St. John's suggested that he stay over at
Marilyn's and my home .. .On the night
before he returned to Penn State, he and I
talked long into the night about St. John's
College, about our common friends, about
philosophy and the writings of philosophers, about politics and military history.
By the time we arrived at the subject of our
favorite movies, it was clear-I think to both
of us-that our conversation, if allowed to
continue into the coming academic year,
would develop into a friendship.
Since I first read his Ethics, Aristotle's
account of friendship has seemed to me the
truest and most helpful guide to understanding what can generally be understood
of an afiection so intimately bound up with
the particularities of those who share in it.
It is an abiding disposition or readiness to
take pleasure in another's company and to
wish for and work for that other's good. And
it is reciprocal. But, as always with Aristotle,
that readiness comes fully into being when
it is set to work. The highest manifestation
of friendship is shared activity which, in
itself or in its goals, is good. Activity, unlike
readiness, depends upon opportunity, has
its starts and stops. There are high moments
in friendship. And aside from the activity of
raising children which husband and wife
share, I have never enjoyed a more intense
and sustained experience of friendship than
in the two years Alfred and I collaborated in
the production ofAnlntroduction to
Ancient Greek.
The idea was first his. We had both come
to agree that the textbooks available at the
time did little to encourage serious
reflection on the forms and artful use of
language. I had been content to supple-
{OBITUARIES}
{ArJUMNI AssociATION NEws}
ment and occasionally correct the
treatment given by Chase and Phillips'
textbook, then in use. It was Alfred who,
after giving two informal lectures on
Greek and English grammar, proposed
that together we produce a textbook with
the aim of serving the principal aims of
the St. John's language tutorial. At first I
was skeptical. I'm glad he overcame my
doubts .
We decided that each of the major
themes which would be recurrently
addressed and developed in the course of
the textbook should be passed back and
forth between us. We knew that in what we
speaking. The striking triangular diagram
which he placed at the end of the introductory chapter on the verb is the visible
image of his unifying insight. In the years
since, I have marveled at this unifying
power in his thinking on the most various
of subjects, a unification which respects
and illuminates the differences of its units
by revealing their togetherness.
There was a third sharer in that activity:
Chris Dill, later Chris Mullin, who was at
that time secretary to the dean and then
registrar at the college. In addition to
those responsibilities, she undertook the
final stages of preparation of the text for
distribution to the freshman classes. This
required the exercise of taste and judgment .
as well as the transcription of Greek. Our
goal was to distribute each lesson at least a
week before it would be used by the freshman classes. She saw to it that we did,
not only by doing her part but often by
making up for time lost in our last-minute
submissions ofrough drafts to her ...
If I tried to describe Alfred throughout
the time I knew him, the word with which
I would begin and end is one with which
Homer often describes his heroes: megathymos. In English: "great-hearted," though
in Homer's use the meaning can range
from "generous" (or "big-hearted" ) to
"high-spirited."
I have already mentioned one instance of
Alfred's gcneTOsity. I wish to mention
another, lest it be forgotten sooner than it
should. Early in the fall semester which was
to prove his last, John Kieffer (HA7o) fell
ill and Alfred was asked temporarily to
substitute for him in his feshman language
tutorial. At that time a substitute was asked
to serve on a pro bono b asis for a couple of
weeks and then would begin receiving a
stipend in addition to his regular compensation. After a longer period ... the class
would cease to be assigned to the incapacitated tutor and be reassigned to some other
tutor, with proportional compensation.
Alfred knew how strongly John Kieffer
hoped to be able to return to his class, a
hope which, as Alfred knew, would probably never be realized. When the treasurer,
Chuck Elzey, objected that under the
Polity the college could no longer pay for a
substitute, Alfred responded, "I insist on
continuing as a substitute, and I refuse to
be paid." Alfred continued as a substitute
during John Kieffer's remaining months
and never told John what he had done for
him ...
"What we learned in the
e:x:ecution was that
same-mindedness can
be generative: as we
passed a theme back
andforth~ each ones
anticipated contribution
was deepened and
enlarged by the others
prevzous one. "
RoBERT WILLIAMsoN (HAo2)
were setting out to do there was what
Aristotle calls homonoia, same-mindedness, on all that really mattered. What we
learned in the execution was that samemindedness can be generative: as we
passed a theme back and forth, each one's
anticipated contribution was deepened and
enlarged by the other's previous one. It was
truly a combined effort.
But sequential combined efforts must
have beginnings. Early on we had agreed
that we would unfailingly present the textbook as an equal effort. He held me to the
agreement on several occasions. That was
an act of generosity on his part. Now that
he is gone, I feel free to speak the truth.
'I'he two most important and original
insights .which gave rise to our project
and which most pervasively shaped it
were his. I mean the distinction between
formal and material verb-complements
and, especially, the unification of the six
aspects of the Greek verb under the three
elements of subject, predicate, and act of
{ THE CoLLEG E . St. fohn 's College. Winte r 2005
+
}
FRoM THE ALuMNI
AssOCIATION
PRESIDENT
Dear Johnnies,
As alumni, we are always happy towelcome new members into our community.
This fall we've had the occasion to open
our doors to new students and a new
leader.
Welcome to incoming students-alumni
of the future!
Do you remember your first encounter
with the idea of St. John's? Your first visit
to a campus? First seminar? I certainly
do, and those memories rushed back
when; in late September, we hosted a
prospective student reception in my
home. "We" is the Twin Cities Chapter of
-the Alumni Association and my husband,
John. Together we welcomed a group of
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed below.for information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
SOS-275-90I2
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
4I0-47 2-9IS8
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin Gammon
4I0-28o-0958
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
6r7-964-4794
AUSTIN
John Strange
2I0-392-SSo6
Bev Angel
5I2-926-7808
CHICAGO
Rick Lightburn
lightburn@
earthlink.net
': .. thefoture ifthe
college seemJ' stronger
and brighter this year
than ever_ ifore."
b
young and enthusiastic would-be Johnnies
and their parents . It was a remarkable
gathering in many ways in addition to the
personal time travel it afforded.
One of the prospectives appeared with
her mother in tow-an alumna herself,
Annapolis class of 70-something.
Another brought a sibling who began
the afternoon clearly bored beyond belief
and ended it rather curious about this
strange place and the education it ofiered.
Another parent had read the great
books in her youth without benefit of
conversation. She was thrilled to find out
(via the "The Following Teachers Will
Return ... " mailing) that such a place as
St. John's existed. Her son was excited,
too. Next fall he'll be off to Annapolis
while she joins us for chapter seminars
and contemplates the possibilities of the
Graduate Institute.
The story is that prospectives who
attend such receptions are much more
likely to come to the college than those
who have no personal contact. It was a
delightful party, and the Santa Fe Admissions office made it quite easy! If you are
interested in hosting such an event, contact the Admissions office nearest you.
Not onlyvvill you be doing the College and
the prospectives a favor, but you'll also
find an occasion to revisit memorable
moments from your youth.
Welcome to President Peters!
As alumni from the East and West, we
are pleased to welcome Mr. PeteTs as the
new president of the Santa Fe campus.
Mr. PeteTs' experiences have prepared him
well for a role of productive leadership in
the college community. He has dedicated
DALLAS/,FORT
WORTH
Suzanne Lexy
Bartlette
8I7-72I-9II2
DENVER/BOULDER
Lee Katherine
Goldstein
720-746-I496
GLENDA H. EoYANG, PRESIDENT
ST.JOHN's CoLLEGE ALuMNI AssociATION
himself to learning and supporting the
environments of learning; he has managed
administTative functions that are similar in
size and structure to the College; and he
engages with a kind of seriousness and
attention that we like to think is characteristic of our community.
We are pleased that MT. Peters and his
lovely wife, Eleanor, will be joining us in
January. The Alumni Association Board
of Directors will be looking for ways to
support him and the College under his
leadership, and we encourage our fellow
alumni to do the same.
With a constant supply of eager students
and a promising new leader in Santa Fe,
the future of the college seems stronger
and brighter this year than ever before.
Thanks to all who continue to make the
idea of the college a reality: members of
the Board ofVisitors and GovernOTs,
administration, faculty, current students,
alumni, and friends.
For yesterday, today, and tomorrow,
Glenda H. Eoyang
President
St. John's College Alumni Association
NORTHERN CALIF.
Deborah Farrell
4I5-'{3I-8804
SANTA FE
Richard Cowles
505-986-I8I4
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
2I.5-465-0244
SEATTLE
Amina Brandt
206-465-778I
PITTSBURGH
Joanne Murray
724-325-4I5I
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Eastman
S62-426-I934
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freen1an
6I2-822-32I6
PORTLAND
Lake Perriguey
lake@law-works. com
NEW YORK
Daniel Van Doren
9I4-949-68II
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
6rg-423-4972
{ THE CoLLEGE . St. fohn 's College . Winte r 2005
45
TRIANGLE CIRCLE
(NC)
Susan Eversole
9 I 9 -9 68-4856
. WASHINGTON, D.C .
Jean Dickason
gor-6gg-6207
}
WESTERN NEW
ENGLAND
Julia Ward
4I3-648-oo64
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
IS Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
9-722-67I-7608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�~-------------------------------------------~----~--------------------------------------------~
{ALUMNI AssociATION NEws}
HoMECOMING
CHARLOTTE KiNG (CLASS OF I959) FOUND AN
OASIS FROM RACISM AT ST. JoHN'S.
ARouND THE CHAPTERs:
TwiN CITIES
DISCOVERING
HoNoRs
The Alumni Association extended its
highest honor, the Award of Merit, to two
Annapolis alumni at Homecoming in
October. William Carter, class ofig1~o,
was recognized for his contributions in the
field of technical education; Charlotte
King, class of rgsg, was honored for her
contributions to the field of social service.
The association named Glenn HousleyAnnapolitan, sailmaker, and Johnnie
supporter-an honorary member of the
Class of 2004 in recognition of his
contributions to the life of the college,
specially its students and alumni.
Dr. Carter was nominated for his award
by Bill Reynolds, also of the class ofig4o,
with whom he also attended Charlotte Hall
Military Academy. Dr. Carter enlisted and
served in the Navy after graduating from
St. John's. He went on to a career as an
executive with the Northwestern Mutual
Life Insurance Company, but it was in the
field of education that he made his real
mark. He was a founding father of Delaware
Technical and Community College in
Georgetown, Del., and served on its board
of trustees for more than I3 years. The
\Villiam A. Carter Partnership Center on
the Delaware Tech campus is named in his
honor.
After earning his doctoral degree from
Berne University in rgg8, Dr. Carter turned
his attention to the use of computers in
public school classrooms. The Teacher
Assistance Program he founded is now
being used in schools with great success.
Dr. Carter has served on numerous
state, regional and national boards and
{ALUMNI AssociATION NEws}
Maryland's Social Services Administration,
where she was responsible for a $300
million budget and the operation of all
family services and child welfare prograrn:s
in the state.
Miss King has served on the Anne
Arundel Commission for Women, the
Anne Arundel County Ethics Commission,
and the YMCA Board of Directors. In addition, she has volunteered time to more
than a dozen coalitions and commissions
devoted to helping women, chHdren, and
families.
In accepting her award, Miss King said
that although it was difficult to endure the
racism she encountered in the city of
Annapolis in the rgsos, she found in
St. John's an "oasis."
"St. John's is one of my longest and most
profound relationships," she said. "It has
all the characteristics of a good friend; it
has taught me, guided me, challenged me,
and supported me .. .St. John's enabled me
to be a better person by giving me an
expanded vision oflife and its infinite
opportunities for learning, discovery,
and actualization. "
When Miss King returned to work and
live at St. John's more than a decade later,
with her 7-year-old daughter Rachel in tow,
Annapolis had become a "hotbed of civil
rights activity." Here, Miss King found her
new challenges in the area of public service.
"I am so thankful to the college and the
Alumni Association for reminding me that
my life had meaning and that I should take
pride in some of my achievements,"
Miss King said.
At the All-Alumni meeting, Glenn
Housley joined the class of 2004, receiving
a college cap and gown along with his
honor. For IS years, Mr. Housley has hosted
St. John's students on the college's Annual
Sail Picnic and has introduced other
students to the art of sail making.
In his tribute to Mr. Housley, Chris
Denny (Ag3) said: "Glenn and his wife,
Sus3an Borden (A87) , the college's director
offoundation relations}, have opened the
doors of their home to students and faculty
with gracious hospitality through the years.
Students who know Glenn in his many
roles-sailor, craftsman intramural
competitor, and friend-are grateful for his
participation in the life of the college."_.
commissions, including the Delaware
Higher Education Commission and the
National Commission for the Support of
Public Schools. In 2000, he received the
Order of the First State from the governor
of Delaware, an award the recognized his
contributions to improving the quality of
life for residents of the state.
"It is gratifying to have one's efforts
recognized, but it is especially so that this
award comes from all of you," Dr. Carter
said at the Homecoming banquet. "I have a
special place for it right here," he added,
tapping his chest, "and I'll keep it there
for always."
Dr. Carter acknowledged the support
and assistance of his "capable and longsuffering wife, Ann," and introduced his
grandson, Matt Carter, (Ao8). "I have been
lucky enough to be in the right places, at
the right times, to be able to help make
good things happen," he said.
A native of New York, Charlotte King
became one of the first African-American
students to graduate from St. John's. After
graduation, she went on to a career in
social services and today is a senior human
services executive and clinical therapist.
In rg7o, she returned to St. John's to help
establish the college's first counseling
program. She entered public service,
becoming assistant director of the Anne
Arundel County Department of Social
Services, and later directed social services
in Charles County. She served as the
executive director of Associated Catholic
Charities in Washington, D.C. In rggo,
she was appointed executive director of
WILLIAM CARTER (CLASS OF I940) WAS
HONORED FOR HIS COWfRIBUTIONS TO
EDUCATION.
{ THE
CoLLEGE.
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2005
}
AMERICA
BY }UDY KISTLER-ROBINSON (SF77, SFG179)
For several years the Twin Cities alumni
chapter has engaged in reading books according to a theme. Mter a year-long theme on
tragedy, we read what was for some of us an
arduous list of Goethe's literature and scientific writings for a ydr. With that ambitious
undertaking completed, we had no theme in
mind when one member suggested reading
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville.
None of the group had yet read it, but the
keywords "travel" and "Mississippi" spurred
us to read TWain's Adventures ofHuckleberry
Finn first, followed by The Confidence Man.
At that time, we weren't sure whether our
theme should be travelogues or river tales.
Our theme evolved into "Who are we as
Americans?" when we chose to read
Tocqueville 's Democracy in America next
(over three months).
Since the time period of our readings started in the early rgth century, we attempted to
move gradually into the 2oth century and get
a range of different perspectives. Our readings encompassed W.E.B. DuBois' Souls of
Black Folk, Willa Cather's Death Comes for
the Archbishop, Henry James's Washington
Square, Sinclair Lewis's The Jungle, Jack
Kerouac's On the Road, and Anne Fadiman's
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down:
A Hmong Girl, Her American Doctor, and the
Clash oJTwo Cultures. Although our members all agreed we could have stayed on this
theme for years without even scratching the
surface, we ended our investigation into the
American psyche with an American Western
film. Which one to watch caused more
debate than any reading selection, but we
selected The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valence, directed by John Ford, because
we'd heard that Eva Brann once led a
seminar on it.
Many exciting and relevant questions came
up in the course of our readings and discussions. Some of the recurring ones:
What would Tocqueville say about
2-oth-century America? This surfaced in
discussions on immigrant experience and
cultural/ class clashes .
Questions of culture, as seen through the
immigrant experience. How does a group (or
individuals within a group) both keep a former culture and found a new one? Is assimilation inevitable, or does this very process end
up changing the dominant culture too?
How do time and experience change Western archetypal ideas, such as democracy?
What do we value?
How do we deal with the precarious and
important balance of individualism versus
the common good?
What are the different ways to approach
building a society?
What is the American myth? What are the
stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and
is there a basis for these?
Participants seemed to enjoy this theme
greatly, both due to the variety of readings
available within it as well as the timeliness of
the topic in this election year. Next up for our
chapter: epic adventures and journeys, starting with the Odyssey.-$-
47
ST. JOHN~S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
All alumni have automatic membership in the
St. John' s College Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association is an independent
organization, with a Board of Directors elected
by and from the alumni body. The Board meets
four times a year, twice on each campus, to
plan programs and coordinate the affairs of the
Association. This n ewsletter within The College magazine is sponsored by the Alumni
Association and communicates Alumni
Association news and events of interest.
President- Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President-Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary- Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team ChairLinda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76
Mailing address- Alumni Association,
St. John's College, P.O Box 28oo, Annapolis,
MD 2r404, or u6o Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Awards of Merit go to alumni who have
made outstanding contributions to the
college, their professions, or the nation.
Honorary Alumni awards go to individuals who have made significant differences
in the lives of students or the college
without having been enrolled as students.
At-Large Directors of the Alumni Association Board are elected by members of the
Association to represent them in the
decision-making processes.
Alumni-elected members of the Board
ofVisitors and Governors provide unique
alumni perspectives to inform the
decisions that set policy for the college.
Officers of the Alumni Association are
elected to provide support and leadership
to the Alumni Association Board of
Directors.
Do you know anyone-alumnus or
not-who should be recognized as an outstanding member of our community?
If so, please contact our Nominations
Committee chair Steve Thomas at
sthomas@fsa.com. Please provide your
name, class year, contact information
for you and the nominee, and a brief
explanation of your nomination._.
CALL FOR
NoMINATIONS
The St. John's College Alumni Association
recognizes members ofthe community in a
variety of ways.
. MEMBERS OF THE TWIN CITIES CHAPTER TOOK A
LITERARY JOURNEY THROUGH I9TH- AND 20THCENTURY AMERICA.
{ TH E
CoLLEGE .
St. f ohn's College. Winter 2005
}
�- -- - - - -- - --·--- ·
{ST.
}oHN~s
FoREVER}
Experience the beauty of early summer
along the San Juan, Colorado, or Green
rivers in an outdoor adventure led by
Mark St. John, director of student activities
in Santa Fe. This adults-only trip is open
to all alumni and their spouses/partners,
but is limited to r6 participants. Participants are invited to camp on the launch
site on Thursday, June r6.The cost
is $300. Contact the Alumni Office at
sos-984-6103, or e-mail Roxanne
Seagraves at rseagraves@sjcsf.edu for
more details. By April I, the office will
know which river has been chosen for
the trip.
THEigo8FOOTBALLTEAM,
AT A TIME INTERCOLLEGIATE
ATHLETICS THRIVED AT
ST.
JoHN's.
GLORY DAYS
n October ro, 1936,
The Black and Orange of
St. John's College entered
the field before s,ooo fans
in Ashland, Va., to face the
Randolph-Macon Yellow
Jackets. The Johnnies were clearly outmatched by the Jackets, who were expecting
to add an 18th game to their winning streak.
But the Johnnies, well prepared by new head
coach Valentine "Dutch" Lentz, held back
Randolph-Macon's star quarterback. Neither team scored until Johnnie Lambros
(class ofrg38) passed the ball to Bill
Stallings (class of 1939), who crossed the
goal line. The game ended in a 7-0 victory
for the Johnnies, the second in a six-game
winning streak.
But the glory days for the college's
athletic teams were waning. In earlier years,
even as the college's academic program
struggled, the athletic program thrived.
Championship lacrosse and football teams
regularly humbled rivals including Johns
Hopkins and the new state college,
Maryland Agricultural, now the University
participate in intercollegiate sports.
In the account given in J. Winfree Smith's
A Search for a Liberal Education, Barr
cited difficulties in scheduling games,
adding that intercollegiate athletics
"involves substituting a spectator
psychosis for student participation."
Lentz left St. John's and later became
head basketball coach at West Point.
Seniors from the class ofr939 voiced
their disappointment with Barr's decision
in thatyear'sRat-Tat, the college yearbook. "With the graduation of our class,
intercollegiate sports pass out of the
picture. And while it is no more our
purpose to bring up that question than
to re-fight the Civil War .. .looking at the
list of our activities, we find that half of
the class played [a sport] at one time or
another during our stay here."
The yearbook writers couldn't have
anticipated how many Johnnies still play
sports. More than roo of the students in
Annapolis and about J20 in Santa Fe take
part in intramurals.
of Maryland. The Johnnies' 62-0 victory
against MaJ:yland in r8gg recently made
the front page of the Washington Post as
one of Maryland's 13 worst losses in
football, a sidebar to a story on a Virginia
Tech-Maryland game.
The brilliant rg36 season was attributed
to some outstanding players and the coaching prowess of Lentz, a rgr8 alumnus who
became athletic director later that season.
A professional sports star in football and
baseball, Lentz had played with the Orioles
basketball team in the Eastern League and
was a high school coach until he returned
to his alma mater in 1926. The 1937 season,
with only two wins and one tie in a ro-game
season, was attributed to a tough schedule
and several injuries. The great triumph of
the final season, rg38, was a o-o tie with
Johns Hopkins, with whom the Johnnies
had the third-oldest sports rivalry in
intercollegiate sports. Failing to win a
single point that year, the team earned the
nickname "the galloping goose-eggs."
In 1939, President Stringfellow Barr
announced the college would no longer
{ THE
Co LL EGE.
St. fohn 's College. Winter 2005
-CHRISTOPHER UTTER
}
(Ao6)
Reunion classes are '70, '75, 'So, '85, 'go,
'95, 'oo. This year, a special roth anniversary reunion is planned for Eastern
Classics participants. Events include
reunion class parties and seminars, the
annual Alumni Art Show, Homecoming
Dinner Dance, Friday Night Lecture
(relating to Eastern Classics), and a
Saturday night Midsummer's Night Ball.
Meet the new president of the campus,
Michael Peters, over Sunday Brunch.
Join Annapolis president Christopher B.
Nelson and Santa Fe president Michael P.
Peters for an "Evening of Conversation"
about the state of the college and plans for
securing its future.
The venue is the Fogg Museum of Art
at Harvard University, and guests will have
the opportunity to tour the museum's
galleries before and after the program.
Beer, wine, and light fare will be served,
and there's plenty of time set aside to allow
Johnnies to catch up with each other and to
hear about what's happening in Annapolis
and Santa Fe.
This year's summer program is a week full
of intellectual stimulation, fun events on
and off campus, and a special participatory
theater event. Alumni can choose from
three seminars:
Chushingura, or The Treasury ofLoyal
Retainers, led by Claudia Honeywell
Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, led by
Kenneth Wolfe and Jay Smith
Milton, Paradise Lost, led by Eva Brann
and David Carl
Participants can also explore A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest by
joining a Shakespeare Reader's Theatre
production of the comedy. Reader's
Theatre is minimalist theatre in which
the script is used openly, staging is simple,
and no full sets or costumes are involved.
Special outings include a picnic and winery
tour along the Rio Grande and Puccini's
Turandot at the Santa Fe Opera. For information on fees, housing information, and
hotel discounts, visit the college's Web site
(click on "Alumni" and choose activities in
Santa Fe) or call the Alumni Office at
sos-984-6!03.
A QUIET MOMENT BY THE POND DURING
SANTA FE's HoMECOMING LAST suMMER.
September 30-0ctober 2
Reunion class years are ' 45, 'so, 'ss. '6o,
'6s.,
,
,
Alla11
Ce
"An Evening of Conversation"
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March rs.
Fogg Museum of Art ·
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge
RSVP by March r: 410-295-sssr, or
alexandra.fotos@sjca.edu
This event is the first of four planned
for 2005; similar gatherings for alumni,
parents and friends will take place in
San Francisco, Albuquerque/Santa Fe,
and Philadelphia later in the year.
:~~ DATE DUE
I
Back cover: Photo by David Trozzo
{T
H E
CoLL
E G E .
St. fohn 's College . Winter 2005
}
�•
STJOHN'S
COLLE~GE
PERIODICALS ·
POSTAGE PAID
ANNAPOLIS · SANTA FE
PUBLISHED BY THE
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
P.O.
Box 28oo
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
2I404
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
~I
�
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The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
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48 pages
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The College, Winter 2005
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Volume 31, Issue 1 of The College Magazine. Published in Winter 2005.
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St. John's College
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Annapolis, MD
Santa Fe, NM
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2005
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Harty, Rosemary (editor)
Hartnett, John (Santa Fe editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (art director)
Borden, Sus3an
Deimel, August
Goyette, Barbara
Hughey-Comers, Erin
Knapp, Carolyn
Maguran, Andra
Mattson, Jo Ann
Rinn, Natalie
Seagraves, Roxanna
Utter, Christopher
Weiss, Robin
White, Roseanna
Johnson, David
Eoyang, Glenda H.
The College
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/6b8d06ce38e6a21ddf56bf9ce5c6de77.pdf
10f3c0274f819bdc99f5ccb9601c60c5
PDF Text
Text
SPRING
.
2- 0
ANNAPOLIS
-..
0
5
�SPRING
THE
VOLUME
31,
0
THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI OF ST. JOHN 'S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA
2,005
I SSUE
FE
{CONTE NTS }
PACE
IO
DEPARTMENTS
2
BOATHOUSE REPUBLIC
Spending a sabbatical at St. John's gives
the president of Randolph-Macon College
a glimpse of sports and the Program.
PACE
14
BROTHER ROBERT
He came as a visitor to learn more about
the great books program; he ended up
becoming a treasured member of the
St. John's community.
PACE
8
PAGE
14
18
PROFILES
30 On "Marketplace" David Brown (AGI95)
talks business.
34 Newspaper editor Julia Goldberg (SFgr)
Annapolis tutor John Verdi points to the
writers who most influenced Nietzsche,
including Emerson, Plato, and Pascal.
likes to make waves.
38 Nathan Wilson (AGio1) unveils shroud
mysteries.
PAGE
18
44 STUDENT VOICES
A Johnnic ponders what it means to be a
member of a community oflcarners.
NIETZSCHE HAUS
In Sils-Maria, a Johnnie revisits the ideas
of her senior essay.
PACE
28 BIBLIOFILE
21 ALUMNI NOTES
WRITERS
23
LETTERS
Annapolis tutor Eva Brann shares
aphorisms in Open Secrets/Inward
Prospects.
NIETZSCHE'S FAVORITE
PACE
FROM THE BELL TOWERS
Michael Peters settles in.
A new dean in Annapolis.
A conversation across generations.
Grappling ideas-and more-in Santa Fe.
Warren Spector (A81) funds
Annapolis dorm.
46 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
' FOREVER
48 ST. JOHNS
26
CROQUET
There's always next year.
PAGE
26
ON THE COVER
Nietzsche
Illustration by David Johnson
2
�{FROM
THE
{FROM THE BEL L
BELL TOWERS}
A NEW DEAN IN ANNAPOLIS
MICHAEL P ETERS
On the Job in Santa Fe
It's been a busy six months for
Michael Peters, president of the
Santa Fe campus. On January 17,
he arrived in his office in Weigle
Hall, and a few hours later,
donned academic robes to
deliver his first Convocation
address to January freshmen.
Then the college's Board of
Visitors and Governors arrived
on campus for four days of
meetings, and the pace has
hardly slacked ofT since.
In spite of a busy schedule,
Mr. Peters has made it a priority
to set aside time to get to know
students and the Program by
sitting in on seminar with the
January freshmen. Although he
is juggling a great deal of out-oftown travel, he's been able to
make at least one seminar a
week and hopes to continue
with the JFs through most of the
summer. He does the reading,
sits in the side chairs-as
prospectives and other guests
do-and takes in the conversation. As a West Point graduate,
former career Army officer, and
most recently, former executive
vice president of the Council
on Foreign Relations, he particularly enjoyed the discussions
on Thucydides.
"There is so much in Thucydides that directly paraUels the
world today," he says. " Right
now on the global stage we are
dealing with many of the same
issues and facing many of the
same challenges."
He also was a member of a
senior essay committee on
LIBERAL ARTS
AND CITIZENSHIP
From Mr. Peters' Convocation speech, January 17,
2005
" ....You and I will be participating actively in this intellectual
community-a community which believes chat a liberal education is good for its own sake, but is also crucial for citizens of
our country and our world if, as former Dean Scott Buchanan
wrote in the college catalog from the late '30s, we are to:
'Distinguish fact from fiction, between principle and case,
between opinion and insight, between propaganda and
instruction, and between truth and falsity.'
"These attributes of citizenship are as important now as
they were in the dark days prior to World War II. Today, our
nation honors the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, who
demonstrated that the ideas and character of one man can have
a profoundly positive effect on many.
"It has become almost a cliche to say we are part of an
interconnected and complex world-a world that faces profound
issues of war and peace, poverty and plenty, disasters, plagues
and pestilence both natural and man-made, to name a few.
These issues require thoughtful and informed public debate if
we are to come up with imaginative and workable solutions.
Dealing with these problems makes a liberal education not a
luxury, but a necessity. In the individual and collective choices
we must all make, bumper stickers won't do and you won't find
bumper stickers at St. John's." ♦
{T
THE
Co
LL
B .
The Brothers Karamazov-one
of the highlights of his St. John's
experience to this point.
Observing January freshmen
take their first tentative steps in
the Program and participating
in a senior's culminating experience gave him appreciation for
the growth a student experiences in four years at St. John's.
There's also a great deal
of work to be clone in cultivating relationships with the
community and the state of
New Mexico. A step in that
direction was hosting the
state's Summit on 21st Century
Competitiveness on campus.
The event attracted state
leaders including Gov. Bill
Richardson and U.S. Sen.
Jeff Bingaman to the
St. John's campus.
The schedule for Mr. Peters
and his wife, Eleanor, won't
slow down much this summer.
He'll be busy greeting visitors
to the campus who come for
Summer Classics, hosting his
first Homecoming in July, and
getting ready for his October z8
inauguration. At his request,
the inauguration ceremony
will be simple and without
much fanfare.
St. John's College . Spring 2005 )
ELEANOR AND MIKE PETERS HAVE
BEEN ON THE ROAD, MEETING
ALUMNI AND FRIENDS.
"There isso
much in
Thucydides
that directly
parallels the
world today. "
MICHAEL PETERS,
SANTA FE PRESIDENT
St. John's students continue
to surprise him with their
diverse talents and extraordinary thirst for learning. " I often
reflect on these young men
and women and what their
contributions will be to our
world. They're learning,
through the Program and the
method, to address the most
important questions life asks of
us-helping them learn not what
to think, but how to think." ♦
-ANDRA MAGURAN
Shortly after President
Christopher Nelson announced
that tutor Michael Oink (A75)
was selected dean of the
Annapolis campus, Dink
received both "congratulations
and condolences" from his
colleagues.
The congratulations referred
to the great honor it is to be
selected by one's peers for
such an important position.
The condolences-most meant
in jest-spoke to the burdens of
the job: long hours spent in
committee meetings, hiring
and tenure decisions, meting
out justice in disciplinary
issues, and making other
difficult decisions that affect
the lives of students. It's also
not easy to take a long breakfive ye ars-from the classroom.
"It's true that tutors regard
ourselves as model learners,"
says Dink. "And there's always
the sacrifice of giving up our
primary activity for a while.
It's probably love for the
community as a whole that
motivates any tutor to want to
be dean. You have the chance
to see that St. John's is the best
that it can be."
Dink looks forward to
moving into the dean's position
July 1, succeeding Harvey
Flaumcnhaft, who served for
eight years. " It's an opportunity for a more thorough and
deeper involvement with the
college," he says. "It's a
challenge."
He feels fortunate that
his predecessor made great
strides in his years as dean: in
faculty development, support
for students, and forging bonds
with Santa Fe. "I'm very grateful to Harvey- he's left things
in great shape," he says.
After spending a year-ancl-ahalf at Harvard, Dink entered
St. John's as a Febbie. A high
school English teacher had
suggested the great books
program at St. John's, but at
the time Dink believed, "I
could get the same thing at any
good school." However, in his
philosophy classes, Oink found
his professors lecturing from
notes or teaching their own
books. He wasn't reading the
books he wanted to read and
wasn't encountering many
students who were serious
about their studies.
He returned to Harvard after
an unsatisfying first year, but
by the middle of sophomore
year, his thoughts returned to
St. John's. "J spent the reading
period for my exams at Harvard
filling out the Febbie application," he says.
After St. John's, Oink went
on to graduate study in philosophy at Catholic University.
Five short years after graduating from the St. John's, he had
{ T THECo
.
TOWERS}
completed the coursework for
his doctorate and was back at
St. John's as a tutor in Santa Fe.
"I knew I would like to be a
teacher, and the idea of coming
back as a tutor had been in the
back of my mind through grad
school," says Dink. In the
summer of 1980,Dink received
a call from Robert Bart, then
dean in Santa Fe, who needed
to fill a last-minute appointment. Dink flew o ut for an
interview and joined the
faculty.
WHILE MICHAEL DINK (A75) WILL
MISS THE CLASSROOM, HE IS LOOK·
ING FORWARD TO THE CHALLENGES
OF BEING DEAN.
In 1984,he transferred to
Annapolis where he also served
as co-director of athletics, first
with tutor Bryce Jacobsen
(class of 1942), and later with
Roberta Gable (A78). He was
then and remains a big fan of
St. John's College . Spring 2005 }
3
the college's intramural
program. " Intramm·als allowed
me to play sports, and I became
a pretty active athlete," he says.
Dink received a grant from
the National Endowment for
Humanities that allowed him to
spend a year pursuing questions in the works of Plato and
a second year leading a faculty
study group and delivering a
lecture.
Dink's three-year term as
director of the Graduate Institute in Annapolis from 1998 to
2001 was good preparation for
the dean's office, he believes.
"I t's on a much smaller scale,
but the responsibilities are
similar-you're involved with
other segments of the college
community, publications,
financial aid, transcripts, being
responsible for students. It
does give you some sense of
what's required in the dean's
office."
Dink looks forward to
working with "all segments of
the community, including
Santa Fe, supporting younger
faculty, and just hoping to find
ways to keep things running
smoothly." Among the changes
scheduled to occur in his
deanship is the discontinuation
of the Febbie program in
Annapolis, with the last class
entering in January 2006.
(The program will continue in
Santa Fe.) Does he have mixed
feelings, since the Febbie
program allowed him to enter
St. John's when he was ready?
While it's hard to see traditions
go, Dink says, the decision
was in the best interest of the
students.
"Febbies get a truncated
version of the Program, and it
puts a lot of stress on the students," he says. "In recent years
most Febbies have been students who would have come in
the fall ifwe had let them." ♦
-ROSEMARY HARTY
�4
THE
{FROM
THE
so-YEAR CONVERSATION
When women from the first coed graduating class at St. John's
returned to the college for a day with women of the current
graduating class, we did what we always do at St. John's: have
conversations. From a leisurely lunch to a seminar on John KeaLs'
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" and Virginia Woolf's "On Not Knowing
Greek" to a dinner at the Boathouse, a steady flow of conversation
continued, tying 1955 to 2005 as solidly as the conversation in a
freshman seminar ties new Johnnies to Socrates and Agamemnon.
Toward the end of the evening, Missy Skoog (Ao5), who
helped organize the day's events, spoke of the inspiration the
women of 1955provide for women of the current class. It was an
inspiration of which I was not much aware before meeting the
women from 1955. In my own experience at the college, I have
only recently thought of my presence as a woman in addition to my
presence as a student. The struggles I have experienced and the
ways I have questioned the Program and myself have felt very
personal. It is only recently that I have seen the ways I share those
struggles with others.
Over meals with Barbara Brunner Kiebler (A55), Cornelia
Hoffman Reese (A57) and Emily Martin Kutler (A55) , J saw that
the uncertainty I'm going through as I'm about to graduate is
perhaps a natural result of having a Johnnie's philosophical bent
and widespread interests. At lunch, Kiebler told Samantha Buker
(Ao5) and me a life story that included four children, graduate
courses in mathematics, and a law degree she earned in her 40s.
It put my own varied plans in perspective. I'm someone interested
in questioning and experiencing, like Johnnies have always been.
This interest is clearly what brought the first women to the
BELL TOWER S }
{FROM
college. Everyone I asked said t hey were not aware of making
history when they decided to come to St. John's. Though Kiebler
said she felt "on display" once she arrived at the college, the
decision co attend was based on a love oflearning rather than a
conscious effort to change the status quo.
Reese said she fell in love with St. John's as soon as she saw that
questions and answers were "part of the learning process ... for
both the students and the faculty." She said she had often been
told in high school, "That's a very good question, Miss Hoffman,
and I'm sure you realize why we don't have time to answer it." At
St. John's, she encountered a very different attitude toward asking
questions. "I felt like I blossomed," she said. "I felt like all my
eagerness to learn had a place to go, and a way to get there."
Talking to the first women at St. John's was fun and comfortable. We shared the common ground of the St. John's Program,
and therefore had a base from which Lo compare and consider
our life experiences. Carolyn Banks-Leeuwcnburgh (A55), who
couldn't make the event, but shared her memories in a phone
conversation, said she believes the Program produces this ease of
connection by being "so different and unique, it's timeless."
Though much of what I realized that day had to do with the
similarity of all women and of all Johnnies, I was also deeply
impressed by the courage the first women showed in coming to
such a deeply intellectual school at a time when there were doubts
on all sides as to a woman's ability to handle such a thing. Women
were alJowed to apply to St. John's in 1951 because of several
issues, according to Barbara Goyette (A73, vice president for
advancement in Annapolis). These included then-president
Richard Weigle's commitment to co-education, low enrollment at
the college, and a strong interest among women in attending
St. John's. When the women did enroJJ in 1951, they came in spile
of resistance from some
tutors and students.
Goyette said, " The men
were unsure socially
about how it would
change the campus, and
they were unsure that the
women could do the
work.AJ1ofthatchanged
very quickly once the
women came."
The women did
encounter some prejudice. Leeuwenburgh
remembers being Lold in a
don rag, in response to
the character of her
opinions, that she should
"go make babies." Reese
continued on p. 5
LONGTIME ST. JOHN'S
LIBRARIAN CHARLOTTE
FLETCHER (HA69, CENTER
TH E
B E L L
hornbcams, loblolly pines,
sycamores, dogwoods, red oaks,
and maple trees.
N EWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
In late March, the Santa Fe
can1pus hosted the New Mexico
State Summit on 21st Century
Competitiveness. The summit
brought together senior
New Mexico business and
community leaders with national
economists, industry and policy
experts, and federal policymakers to discuss the state's
higher education and workforce
challenges in the new economy.
President Mike Peters gave the
welcoming remarks and introduced Gov. Bill Richardson and
U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman.
The summit addressed one of
the state's thorniest problemsthe continuing drain of the
state's educated young people to
other states. After graduation,
the majority of college students
in New Mexico tend to leave
the state for better-paying jobs
elsewhere.
In his opening remarks,
Peters pointed out that St. John's
College actually helps reverse
this trend by attracting and
keeping college-educated people
in the stale. The college recruits
students from nearly every state
and several foreign countries,
yet approximately 25 percent of
St. John's graduates remain in
New Mexico after finishing their
studies. Currently almost 1,000
alumni live in New Mexico.
Approximately 31 percent serve
as teachers in public and private
high schools, as professors at the
state's colleges and universities,
and in the state's Department of
Education.
5
TO WE R S }
AP POI NTMENT S
In Annapolis: RUTHANDERSON
COGGESHALL
has been appoint-
development field. Arasteh
replaces RoBERTA G ABLE (A78),
who has moved from the Career
Services office co Admissions,
where she is associate director.
In Santa Fe: P ENELOPE
B ENEKOS (SF99) has been
named advancement officer.
Prior to her return to the Southwest, she taught English in
France, traveled throughout the
Mediterranean, and worked in
development at the Museum of
Fine Arts in Boston.
St. John's in Annapolis received
a Plant Award (People Loving
and Nurturing Trees) from the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources for undertaking an
urban forestry program several
years ago. The inventory counted 118trees on the campus at the
time. Since then, another 90 or
so have been added, says Blythe
ed director of major gifts. Previously she was chief development
officer for the National Gallery
of Art, where she completed the
museum's New Century Fund
campaign and redirected the
gallery's development efforts to
solicit major gifts nationally and
locally. She also held leadership
positions at the Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine.
SrEFANlE TAKACS (A89) joins
the college as director of annual
giving from Abraham House in
the South Bronx, where she was
assistant director of operations
and development director.
Takacs had been a volunteer
fundraiser in Philanthropia
since 1998 and served as the
events committee chair for
Woods, the college's horticultur-
several years.
cation, "Girl Scout/STUDIO
ist. The college carefully tracks
the health of its trees, she adds.
Although the college and
community still miss the
magnificent Liberty Tree, the
campus is rich in American
is the
new Career Services director in
Annapolis. She brings to the
college more than six years of
experience in a variety of private
and p ublic settings in the career
2B Advisor Self-Study Guide."
The program was created for
older girls age II-r7, a group
that often loses interest in
ANNAPOLIS ENVIRONMENTAL
AWARD
SlWtRZAD ARAsTE:11
STUDENTS
ELIZABETI-1 V EGA (SFo6)
received an Excellence Award
from the Girl Scouts for a guide
she wrote to help orient leaders
of a new national program aimed
at keeping teenage girls in valved
in scouting. The award is given
annually co individuals whose
innovative contributions
significantly advance the work
of the council.
Vega wrote a 68-page publi-
scouting ♦
continuedfrom p. 4
remembers that some of her male classmates would make a point
of challenging women when they demonstrated propositions in
math class. Both women chalked this up to a lack of maturity on
the part of some of their classmaLes. Reese said that she felt "just a
little" hostility that seemed to come mostly from younger men
who didn't know how to handle the presence of women.
The women, regardless of these difficulties, acquitted themselves admirably. Goyette said, "They surprised everyone. I think
they surprised themselves." They returned to St. John's 50 years
laLer, confident in the abilities St. John's had given them, ready to
encounter another seminar. I hope to carry myself with that sort of
grace and ease someday. I hope I am as available to share questions and conversation as all these women did that day. I hope I am
ready to aim for the heart of any conversation, as Emily Kutler did
when she pursued the true intent of Woolf'sessay. I hope I will
walk, as Barbara Kiebler did when she accompanied me to a class
on Einstein and Minkowski, unhesitatingly toward any chance to
keep learning. ♦
TOP) JOINED 2005 AND 1955
CLASS MEMBERS FOR A
SAMANTHA BUKER (AOS) ANO SARAH CROOKE (A55) HAVE MUCH TO TALK
CELEBRATION OVER CROQUET
ABOUT DESPITE A SO-YEAR DIFFERENCE.
WEEKEND.
{ THE
C o COLLEGE
. St. John's College . Spring 2005
)
{ THE
Co LL E c
E.
St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
�6
{FROM THE
JOHNNIES GRAPPLE WITH
MORE THAN IDEAS
Jiu-Jitsu Takes H old in Santa Fe
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a new
addition to the martial arts
offerings on the Santa Fe
campus, but it's become
enormously popular in just a
few short months. C.J. McCue,
who joined the Santa Fe staff as
student activities coordinator
eight months ago, is an accomplished martial artist whose
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes
have attracted more than
30 students and inspired
several Johnnies to
enterand win-national
competitions.
During spring break,
McCue and seven ofher
students o·aveled to Las
Vegas. Nevada. to compete in a submission
wrestling tournament
for no-gi grappling and
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 1\vo
ofMcCue's students,
Alex Kongsgaard (SF05)
and Quinn Mulhern
(SF07), both blue belts,
took first place in their
divisions. McCue took
second place in the
women's advanced
~
division and third place ;
in the open-weight
!
women's division.
z~
]\1:,::Cue teaches
•
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in
the Gracie style, which was
created for self- defense. This
martial art relies upon body
mechanics and leverage rather
than strength, so a small person
can win against a bigger or
heavier competitor. That's one
reason the sport is popular with
women, says McCue.
There are two types of
Jiu-Jitsu: Brazilian, or modern,
was developed after 1900,
while Japanese Jiu-Jitsu is
considered traditional and dates
to pre-1900. Like many martial
arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu requires
a technical knowledge of
specific positions, development
of physical and mental strength,
and the use of strategy. However, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is
unique in that most of the
techniques involve grappling
on the ground. "Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu practitioners learn how
to defend themselves on the
ground," says McCuc. " Of
course this has enormous
real-world benefit as a selfdefense method for both me n
and women."
The clothing (gt) looks like a
traditional martial arts uniform
ofloose white pants and jacketstyle wrap shirt secured with
a belt.
"The gi is a very instrumental part ofBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu,"
says McCue. "Thegi can be
used as a way to control one's
opponent."
Most of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
techniques involve specific
positions. There are takedowns,
{ THE COLLEGE,
{FROM
BEL L TOW ERS}
self-defense techniques, and
striking, but the core of the art
involves mental so·ategy. That's
part of the appeal to Johnnies.
Competitors strive to improve,
maintain, or defend their
ground positions, along with
mastering submissions such as
chokes and armlocks.
Both Kongsgaard and
Mulhern apply themselves with
vigor to the martial art, as they
have with other endeavors.
After Kongsgaard graduated
from high school, he walked
500 miles from the CaliforniaOregon border to San Francisco, averaging 2,2, miles a day.
In addition to continuing his
wrestling training, Kongsgaard
ALEX KoNcscAARD (SF05) 1s
WRESTLED TO THE GROUND BY
QUINN MULHERN (SF07).
is an avid cyclist, a rock climber,
and a member of the St. John's
Search & Rescue team.
Mulhern aJso brings intensity
and dedication to his training,
says McCue. Mulhern's older
brother practices Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu and persuaded him to
take up serious study. "We
would wrestle, and I saw that
my brother's submission
St. John's Collese. Sprins 2005
}
movements were not angry, but
graceful and re laxed," he says.
He credits McCue, "a great
teacher," with helping him win
in Las Vegas. "She is able to
demonstrate something
physical in a way people really
respond to," he explains.
The psychological aspect of
competing is the most difficult,
says Mulhern, who practiced
breathing and visualization
techniques to enhance his
performance. "Adrenaline can
be one of your biggest enemies
because it can cause you to use
your energy right away," he
says. He credits his winning to
feeling calmer. "It's one thing
wrestling in class or wrestling
with your friends, but
another competing in a
tournament where you
have only four minutes
and you can easily
forget everything
you know. It's a lot
of pressure."
McCue looks forward to getting more
students involved in
sports at St. John's.
"While some Sc. John's
students are not very
physically active when
they first arrive at the
college, they find themselves in a community
of like-minded individuals and feel more
confident when they
discover the benefits of
physical activity," she
says. "You see students
make a connection to
something physical-whether
it is a martial art, climbing,
Search & Rescue, hiking,
skiing, winter camping, or
intramural activities. They run
with it because they've become
inspired by all this at a later
time in their life. For some it's
just the beginning." ♦
-ANDRA MAGURAN
TH E
B ELL
TO WERS}
7
NEw DORMITORY Is A GIFT FROM ST. JoHN's ALUMNUS
Spector Hall to Open in January
Warren Spector (A81) has
given the coJJege a generous
gift to fund, in his father's
memory, the building of a new
dormitory on the Annapolis
campus. Spector Hall, as the
dorm now under construction
will be named, together with
Gilliam Hall, which opened
last fall, will allow the college
to house 80 percent of its
students on campus.
Mr. Spector, President
and Co-Chief Operating
Officer of Bear, Stearns &
Co. Inc., a leading Wall
Street investment banking
and securities trading and
brokerage firm, says his gift
was motivated by his appreciation for the education he
received at St. John's.
"St. John's provides a
unique educational experience," said Mr. Spector,
a member of the college's
Board of Visitors and
Governors. " Building
this dorm will help
preserve the intimate
learning environment that
sets St. John's apart from
other liberal arts schools."
The college needs new
dormitories for two reasons.
Overcrowding in existing
dorms required the college
to convert some double
rooms into triples and
appropriate a few common
rooms for housing. The
college also wants to better
nurture a community of
learners by ensuring that
students who want to live on
campus can do so. I mpressed
by the recent renovation of
Mellon Hall's classrooms and
laboratories, Mr. Spector was
pleased to provide a gift to
further improve student life.
"The St. John's educational
experience is not limited to the
classroom. The ability for
students to learn from each
other is greatly enhanced by
living together on campus."
Mr. Spector continued, " For
me the dialogue with my
fellow students was a crucial
part of my education. I could
not be more pleased to further
the education offuture
generations by funding the
creation of a place for that
dialogue to take place."
Spector Hall wilJ house
40 students when it opens in
January 2.006. The dormitory
includes spacious common
areas, suite-style rooms, and
a tutor's apartment.
The building will be named
Spector Hall in memory of
Warren Spcctor's father, who
died in 1990. Philip Spector
had forged over his lifetime a
AN APPRECIATION FOR HIS ST. J OHN'S EDUCATION PROMPTED WARREN
SPECTOR TO FUND A NEW DORMITORY ON THE ST. JOHN'S CAMPUS.
"One cfthe most valuable tools I
gainedfrom my St. John s education
was the abtfity lo think critically. "
WARREN SPECTOR, A8I
{ THE
COLLEGE·
St. John's Collese · Sprins 2005
}
successful career as a contractor who was responsible for
numerous residential,
commercial, and industrial
projects in the Washington,
D.C., metropolitan area. "I
very much wanted to find a way
to honor my father. It seems
fitting considering his long and
successful career as a builder
that a structure is named for
him. It is my hope that he
would have been extremely
pleased with the results,"
Mr. Spector said.
Ironically, both of Mr.
Spector's parents were
initially concerned when he
announced his plans to
transfer from Princeton and
start again as a freshman at
Sc. John's. " It did not take
long for my parents to see
that I thrived in the environment of St. John's College,"
commented Mr. Spector.
"By the time I graduated,
they were big fans of the
St. John's education and
were pleased that I did not
go to college anywhere else."
One of several St. John's
alumni working at the top
of the investment field,
Mr. Spector credits the
college with providing him
with skills that have helped
him succeed in the fastpaced and ever-changing
world ofWall Street.
" One of the most valuable
tools I gained from my
St. John's education was the
ability to think cri tically," said
Mr. Spector. "In the highly
analytical and technologically
sophisticated world in which
we live, the ability to think on
one's own and make sense of
the seemingly endless data
that exists should not be
underestimated." ♦
�8
{LETTERS}
{LETTER S }
VARIED VIEWPOINTS
I must respond to Mary Campbell
Gallagher's rejection of Martin A. Dyer' s
diversity initiative. Ms. Campbell's principal objection is that Mr. Dyer relies on the
premise that different "life experiences"
will somehow enrich the college's seminars. She insists that he "present proof."
Well, I can-and so, I believe, can any
St. John's alum.
....Anyone who has gone through four
years of the Program knows that people
bring their "life experiences" into the
seminar room. Male, female, veteran, gay,
married, black, Mormon, elderly, handicapped, Orthodox Jewish-can anyone be so
naive as to believe that such factors don't
influence how we approach a text? This
doesn't mean surrendering to subjectivity.
But it does mean expanding the Annapolis
campus beyond affluent suburbs of Washington-Baltimore and New York City, the base
for the student body when I was a student.
No one is advocating affirmative actionthat is, preferential treatment to someone
because of his or her background. But the
college effectively makes decisions all the
time about the makeup of the student body
by the way it recruits and where. If the
college makes a concentrated effort to
increase diversity, it can only result in
livelier class discussion by including
more and varied viewpoints.
STEVE WEINSTEIN, A95
ON DIVERSITY
I agree with three statements in the letter
from Mary Campbell Gallagher (A6o)
published in the winter 2005 issue of The
College: (1) "all men are fundamentally the
same ...."; (2) "All men are educable without regard to the peculiarities of their ethnic
and racial backgrounds;" and (3) " ... students' racial and ethnic characteristics
[make] no discernible contribution to
their being able to read and think well."
I disagree, however, \.vith other assertions.
I do not believe that the Opportunity
Initiative is inconsistent with the college's
mission of providing a liberal education.
Although the college makes its unique
program equally available to, and welcomes
everyone, its recruitment efforts have not
been equally successful in attracting all segments of the population. A major purpose of
the initiative is to determine the reasons for
this failure and to work with the Admissions
office in devising corrective measures. Our
goal is to broaden the college's appeal to
people who do not now seem to understand
learn to function well in both, to speak and
act according to the expectations of each.
They can competently participate in and
contribute to ongoing St. John's dialogue
seen through the lens of upper middle-class
people of European heritage. But to feel safe
enough to share the particular lessons life
has taught them and to relate their own
unique backgrounds to the topics and readings being considered in seminar would
require the safety of numbers and the college
community's appreciation of the richness to
be gleaned from different heritages.
I know college recruiters, with the
support of alumni of color, are making
good-faith attempts at increasing the
diversity of students and faculty. I hope they
arc successful for the sake of all students.
that its program is also intended for them,
not change either the program or admission
policies.
The great books are indeed teachers, and
close reading of them and good logic arc the
principal means by which conversation is
advanced. Other factors also play an important role. "[P]eculiarities [borne] of...race
and ethnic backgrounds" are among them,
as are differences in economic status,
religion, nationality and personal life
experiences...My views of freedom and
justice, for example, are affected by the fact
that I am black, am two generations removed
from slavery, and grew up in Baltimore in
the 1930s and 40s and attended college in
Annapolis when racial discrimination and
segregation were still the way of life.
Blacks were denied basic opportunities....
I suggest that interactions among students
both in class and in their day-to-day social
lives are a vital part of teaching and learning.
In other words, the encounter of individuals,
separately and in concert, \vith the great
books is indispensable to St. John's unique
education.
MARTIN
PATIENCE GARRETSON SCHENCK,
POETIC PLANCK
I enjoyed Anna Perleberg's poem "Relativity"
in the Winter 2005 issue of The College. As
" Relativity" did mention haiku in the last
stanza, Joffer one ofmy own in response:
Late autumn
Reading Planck
In the cold room ...
A. OYER, AS2
SHARING LIFE LESSONS
LUCIA STAIANO-DANIELS, SF04
A recent letter suggested that diversity has
nothing to do with learning at St. John's;
that, on the contrary, it is the books that are
our teachers. I disagree. If we learned only
from the books, students could sit in their
rooms and read them by themselves. Rather,
it is the exchange of ideas that leads us to
enlarge our understanding of what the books
can teach us.
An African-An1erican student who has
been stopped by the police for "driving
while black" understands the relationship
between justice and power differently than
the daughter of a judge who sits beside him
in seminar. Someone who grew up in a working-class church with a ministry to the poor
understands the parables ofJesus differently
than someone from a place of worship
attended by the privileged. A Muslim reads
Genesis differently than either a Christian or
a Jew. These differing backgrounds and perspectives can greatly enrich the exchange
that takes place around the seminar table.
The challenge for the college is to attract
sufficiently large numbers of students and
faculty from diverse backgrounds to affect
the culture of the college. Members of
minority groups have learned to live in two
cultures, that of their ethnicity and that of
the dominant group they have encountered
in school and other public venues. They
{ 1' n ll Co
LL E c E .
St. John's College . Spring 2005
Cuss OF l'.959
WEIRD SCIENCE
... .Infatuation, it seems, is frequently
the outcome of a close encounter with
Dr. Einstein's work, but I think we would aJJ
agree that St. John's College strives not only
to expose its students to the works of great
thinkers, and to impress upon its students
the importance of giving those thinkers
their due, but also it strives to equip its
students to be critical of what those thinkers
have to say. Education, Plato reminds us,
involves entrusting the cultivation of your
soul to another, so it is only prudent to exercise some caution (Protagoras 312c-313b).
As a theory ofrelativity, Dr. Einstein's
work should be properly understood as one
of reciprocity.
...A strict interpretation of relativity,
however, is no longer tenable. Relatively
well-known experiments with muons and
atomic clocks have demonstrated tha t
"clocks" moving at high speed do slow
down. Here is where things get peculiar.
A strict interpretation of relativity would
require that people riding on high-speed
airplanes see the clocks down on Earth slow
down. When the travelers return to their
earthbound comrades, there should be a
grand argument as each group asserts that
)
the other group's clocks were rwming slow.
Instead, there is agreement: the travelers
are younger than they would be if they had
stayed at home, and the difference is more
or less what Dr. Einstein's equations predict.
It is, then, a matter of fact, that relativity
effects are not reciprocal.
Oddly, then, experiments of this kind
demonstrate that there actually is such a
thing as absolute space, for we obviously
can decide who was moving and who was
standing still by seeing whose clocks were
slowed and whose were not. Further, until
someone can find a place where clocks run
faster than they do here on Earth, relativity
actually supports the claim that the earth is
absolutely at rest. But wait! It gets stranger:
if the Earth is at rest, then, since we see the
sun , moon, stars, and planets moving across
the sky, the evidence suggests that everything revolves around the Earth. And jL1st
to top it off, if everything revolves around
the Earth, then, since the universe is now
regarded as infinite, there is no reason not
to regard the Earth as the center of the
universe. Oh! The progress we've made!
At this point, the door stands "vide open
to supplement Dr. Einstein's theorywhich indeed, provides nothing beyond
what Aris to Ile would label a formal causeby reintroducing the aether as the material
cause, and so take a step towards developing
an account on the level of the efficient cause
(which is what any of the natural sciences, as
studies of how the material world works,
should strive to achieve). It would be most
mysterious , however, to use the very theory
that killed the aether to resurrect it.
Weird science? You'd better believe it.
But, at some point somebody will feel
emboldened to declare it to be nonsense,
and, at that time, there will be some need for
clear heads who can distinguish the baby
from the bath water. We all, I think, not only
hope, but expect that St. John's will be the
institution o f higher learning where those
heads get clarified ...
}OHN NEWELL, A86
__________
-'-'-.;;.;.;.
EINSTEIN OMISSION
Your capsule biography of Albert Einstein
on the inside cover of the [Winter 2005)
issue omitted two critical facts. The first
is that Einstein was a Jew. Although this
omission can be excused because it is a
matter of general knowledge, it is widely
assumed that because Einstein was never a
"religious" Jew his Jewish heritage was of
merely accidental significance until the
Nazis decreed otherwise.
9
l CAN IDENTIFY ONE OF THE STUDENTS IN THE OCTOBER CALENDAR PICTURE.. .JANE D'AGNESE
(A74) IS STRIDING UP TO THE QUAD AFTER LAB. LOOKING AT THE PICTURE, AND JUDGING FROM HER
ENTHUSIASM, l CAN STILL HEAR HER SAYING, "CHESTAH, CHESTAH, ARE YOU GOING TO THE PAHTY?"
(YouR CAPTION ABOUT SEMINAR AWAITING IS WELL-INTENTIONED, BUT I LIKE MY STORY BETTER.)
BEHIND HER IS POSSIBLY ME, THOUGH THE DRESS DOESN'T RING A BELL SO l WILL GLADLY CEDE TO
SOMEONE ELSE'S BETTER MEMORY AND IDENTIFICATION. SrrTING IN THE FOREGROUND IS, I'M
PRETTY SURE, PATRICK D'ADDARIO (A7x), OTHERWISE KNOWN ASP-DAD. -DEB Ross, A74
I do not think so. The Bavaria of
Einstein's youth was hardly a hotbed of
tolerance. Not only was the young Einstein
exposed to anti-Semitism; even ifhe and his
family were not "believing" Jews, he grew
up surrounded by believing Christians
receiving mandatory religious education
. .. .It is fair to suppose that this experience
as an intellectual as well as ethnic outsider
contributed to Einstein's ability to "think
outside the box," his ,villingness to explore
counter-intuitive models of the universe.
Second, the biographical sketch totally
omits the fact that Einstein was a committed
Zionist. Despite his principled disapproval
of ethnic nationalism, Einstein recognized
that Jews could not be fully accepted citizens
of European ethnic states, and needed their
own hom eland where they would not be
merely tolerated guests in an alien culture.
Well before Hitler came to power, Einstein
helped raise funds to buy land for Jewish
settlement and to support the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem. After the war he
pleaded for the creation of a Jewish state,
and in his old age was offered (and declined)
the largely-ceremonial presidency of the
State oflsrael.
It is important to remember that even
such a universalist and hlLmanist as Albert
{ 1' H
E
Co
L LE
c
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St. John's College . Spring 2005
Einstein insisted on the importance of a
Jewish state for the preservation of the
Jewish people and their unique contribution
to human culture.
KEVIN SNAPP, SF72
CALENDAR MYSTERIES REVEALED
The May photo in the 2005 Philanthropia
calendar was taken in '72 or '73. That's me,
third from the left with the scraggly hair and
beard, with my leg up on the bench. Kit
(Kathleen) Callender (SF73) is to my left,
and Bill Blount (SF73) is seated to her left.
Beyond that, I'm guessing-it's embarrassing
not to remember everyone's names.
My sons will get a real kick out of seeing
their papa "back in the day."
PtTER MEADOW, SF73
The College welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters may be edited for
clarity and/ or length. Those under
500 words have a better chance of being
printed in their entirety.
Please address letters to: The College
magazine, St. John's College, Box z8oo,
Annapolis, MD 21404, or by e-mail to
rosemary.harty@sjca.edu.
)
�IO
{ATHLETIC S }
{ATHLETICS}
''Bein.g out on the Severn River at dawn . ..
is about as close to heaven as you wtll ever get. "
BOATHOUSE
REPUBLIC
BY ROGER H. MARTIN
Roger Martin, president of Randolph-Macon College in the team. Everyone." Leo seems to be looking directly at me,
Ashland, Va., spent a semester at St. John :S lastfall. His goal perhaps because I stick out in this crowd of youngsters. I am not an
was to experiencefreshman year at the college, in part to gain ordinary freshman, but a college president on sabbatical.
I decide to go out for crew. Since I cannot live in a freshman
some insight that might be helpful in shaping the
residence haJJ, crew will provide the chance for me to have contact
freshman-year experience at his college. Martin sat in on
with students outside of the classroom and give me an opportunity
freshman seminar andjoined the crew team. In November, he
to explore the unique connection here between academics and
joined competitors 40 years younger at the annual Head of athletics.
the Occoquan Regatta. His experience broadened his views
On September 7, about 60 students turn up at six in the morning
about college sports.
for the first crew practice. I recognize some of chem: Julie, Justin,
reshman orientation ends at Iglehart Hall,
the college's ancient gymnasium. One hundred of us are greeted on this withering
August afternoon by athletic director
Leo Pickens (A78). We sit on the floor in a
wide semicircle as this man of modest build
and piercing eyes looks over us in silence. I
sense that we arc in the presence of a sage.
We are not seated in a gymnasium, but
rather in a sacred building- a temple, Leo explains. He talks about
how athletics was as much a part of Greek culture and society as
political discourse and debate and tells us chat athletics must therefore be taken seriously and with reverence.
After describing the intramural sports and activities at the
college, Leo says something you would not expect to hear from an
athletic director: "Skill and previous experience are not required
here at St. John's, just tlzumos. Passion." As he says "tlzumos," he
pounds his chest. He concludes: "Everyone who shows up will be on
{ T u E Co
LL Ec E .
Victoria-all members of my freshman seminar. No one is saying
anythi ng, and the eyes of many are glazed over, probably from latenight reading.
Leo, also the crew coach, wears blue thermal overalls, a red
sweatshirt that says "Johnnies" in white letters across the front, and
a well-worn baseball cap. I suspect he knows what is going through
our minds at this very moment. We are all wondering why any sane
person would get up at five in the morning to spend two hours
engaged in punishing physical exercise, often in foul weather. "I
can promise you," he says, "that being out on the Severn River at
dawn on a crisp fall morning, watching the sun rising from the east
and the geese flying to the south as eight oars move together in perfect unison over the glistening water is about as close to heaven as
you will ever get in this life."
We don't have Jong to wait. Next morning we all march down to
the dock. The sunrise over the Severn is spectacular. The novices,
including me, climb into an 18-person training barge. As we row up
and down College Creek the poetry of Homer's Odyssey, the book
we are now reading in seminar, provides a balm for the pain I begin
to feel in my lower back.
St. John's College . Spring 2005
)
THU/IfOS- PASSION- IS WHAT L EO P ICKENS DEMANDS FROM HIS ATHLETES.
{ THE
Co
LL E c E .
St. John's College. Spring 2005
)
�I2
{ATHLETICS}
{ATHLETICS}
The images and voices cfthe great books
are everywhere~ in the Boathouse as
we!f as on the Severn River.
ROCER MARTIN
When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more
we hauled the vessels down to the sunlit breakers first ....
The crews swung aboard, they sat to the oars in ranks
And in rhythm churned the water with stroke on stroke.
And churn the water we do in a boat vaguely similar to the
Pentekontor that brought Odysseus and his crew to the ends of the
world. I am in first position in the barge and directly in front of me
sits a limber 17-year-old freshman. Mike, the assistant coach, who
is standing in the stern at the tiller, yells out, "Everyone in the
catch position, oars square and buried." Not knowing what the
catch position is, I lean back as far as I can-which is not very
far-and my oar immediately fouls the oar of my rowing
companion who is leaning very far forward. The result is a loud
noise and a huge splash as we start rowing.
The novices practice in this way on College Creek until we
become proficient enough to row in a proper eight. Over the next
several weeks, my rowing improves and as it does, I blend in with
the young men in my boat. I am no longer a college president, I an1
just another novice learning how to row. I keep my mouth shut, I
observe, and I listen.
Most student-athletes leave their studies behind when they go
to practice. Not at St. John's. The images and voices of the great
books are everywhere, in the Boathouse as well as on the Severn
River. It is now 6:30 in the morning and it's pitch dark. We are
rowing up the river to
the start of our race, past
the Naval Academy
bridge, past the Route 50
bridge. A month from
now, we will race against
other colleges on the
Occoquan Reservoir in
Northern Virginia, and
our practice races have
taken on a new intensity.
The sky is studded with
stars, still bright enough
to be seen above the dark
purple hew of the Chesapeake's eastern sky, and
there isn't a cloud to be
seen. Bobbing sailboat
masts look like black
sticks in the distance,
{ TH E
and I can imagine the port of Argos, and Agamemnon and
Menelaus leaving for Troy with the Greek armada to win back
Helen. Our own armada of two eights, two fours, and a single quad
docs a river turn just beyond the Route 50 bridge and at Leo's
command we race back to the end of the Naval Academy seawall, a
distance of some 5,000 meters. A gray-blue storm cloud suddenly
appears and empties its moisture into our low-lying shells, requiring the coxes to bail madly as they call out their commands. At the
finish, in complete exhaustion, I notice the geese Leo Pickens
promised several weeks ago, eight of them (like the number rowing in our boat), flying directly overhead toward Virginia, honking
loudly as they wing their way south. The vision suggests to me that
we will do well at Occoquan.
October is upon us. My seminar is reading Plutarch's Lives of
lite Noble Grecians and Romans, and my boat continues to
improve. Today, us our four racing shells approach the Naval
Academy bridge, rowing at a rather hectic pace over the usual
5,000-meter course, we see an armada of yellow Naval Academy
shells, approaching us from downriver. Laughter comes from one
of them as it passes to our starboard. The midshipmen are getting
a kick out of seeing this rather motley collection of}ohnnics. And
who can blame them? There they are, in their clean white t-shirts
with "NAVY" emblazoned on the chest, and dark blue shorts, all
looking extremely fit and athletic. Here we are, some of us in
multi-colored t-shirts, some obviously overweight, others rather
skinny, some men wearing earrings, others
sporting tattoos, and
one very tired 61-ycarold guy with a red beard
rowing in the numbertwo position.
This scene causes me
to ponder Plutarch's
biographies of Lycurgus
and Solon. As the leader
of Sparta, Lycurgus is
architect of laws which
are austere and unyielding. In Athens, where
Co LL E c E . St. John's College. Spring 2005
EVEN IN THE SHELLS ,
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT
THE BOOKS PERSIST.
}
Solon is the lawmaker,
individualism is honored.
Sitting in my shell and
watching our two very
different crews passing
each other on the Severn
River, I see how two
philosophies of society
exist side-by-side in Annapolis: St. John's, devoted to diversity and
pluralism, as Athens; the Naval Academy, with its focus on loyalty
to the corps, uniformity, and order, as Sparta.
Our training continues as November and the Head of the
Occoquan approach. I am amazed not only at how hard my teammates practice, but also how the great books arc ever part of
their chatter. Before launching our shells, I often hear students
talking about seminars, tutorials, or the Friday lecture. Even in
the boats, where crew is not supposed to talk, the great books
cannot be denied.
Our extremely capable cox is out of commission for a few weeks,
so a loquacious sophomore replaces her. While our regular cox is
all business and hardly ever talks except to give commands, her
substitute offers a running commentary on everything from
his favorite movies to college gossip to the current topics in
sophomore seminar. "Do you know what my tutor told us last
night at seminar?" he asks crew as we row out of College Creek
towards the Severn. His seminar is reading the Gospel of John.
"He said that because he first read the Bible in Greek he thought
that the first words of John were, 'The origin was the principle'
rather than, 'In the beginning was the Word.' "
As we round the seawall and head toward the Route 50 bridge,
now rov,ing at a fairly fast pace, his commentary regresses. He is
now talking about the Phoenicians. "Do you know why the
Phoenicians were the fastest rowers?" We are stumped. "Because
they had nubile Phoenician women to row home to." I find this
piece of information intriguing until, off to my port, I hear Leo
Pickens yelling at me from the skiff, "You're not focused Roger.
Snap those legs back. Square the oar. Drop the blade."
On November 6, the morning of the regatta. Leo assembles the
team in the back of the Boathouse. "Are you all ready for the
Festival of St. Occoquan?" he asks the assembled group. "OK,
now listen up. I have something important to say. First, I want to
commend all of you for the time and devotion you have given to
this sport. No matter how well you perform this afternoon, you
should all feel a great sense of accomplishment."
He continues by providing some interesting statistics. "Those
{ TH E
ON THE SEVERN AND IN
~ -........... SEMINAR, RocER MARTIN
( CENTER) SAW DEDICATION.
of you who are the grizzled veterans have put in
90 hours of practice, the
novices 80. And you've done this while being students in an
incredibly demanding academic program. Few athletes competing at Occoquan this afternoon have had to contend with the
incredible academic load all of you carry. You should feel extremely proud. You have achieved perfection. I pronounce this boathouse a republic."
In just six words, Leo says that we have come together as a team,
each doing his or her part, but each contributing to the good of
our community. Unity, one of the ideals of Plato's Republic, has
earned Leo's highest praise.We are not only rowing much better,
but we also care about each other. And there is a spirit-a team
spirit-that is very special. Clearly, we are far from perfect in our
rowing ability. But we really are, figuratively if not in reality, a
republic, and everyone understands exactly what our coach has
just said.
The race itself is a blur. My boat does reasonably well,
losing to the University of Maryland by only six seconds but
beating three other universities. However, before the day is out,
J witness C\vo contrasting scenes that speak to intercollegiate
athletics both in America and at my adopted college. As my wife
and I walk down the hill toward the launching docks just before
my race, I overhear a coach lecturing the women on a
large university team who are preparing to race. "You didn't get a
medal last year, girls. It was a real embarrassment to me personally and to the university. So are you going to screw up again this
year or win something?" I don't hear the rest of this speech as I
continue walking down the path, but I see discouragement in the
faces of the crew.
As I return to the parking area, I witness a more pleasing scene.
Seated on the ground and leaning on a boat trailer, one of our
team captains is reading an essay by Thomas Mann for preceptorial. Nothing, not even Occoquan, is more important than
Thomas Mann.
This is the way intercollegiate athletics ought to be. ♦
Co LL E c E. St. John's College . Spring 2005
}
�{THE
{TH E
TUTORS}
T U TOR S }
FAITH, FRIENDSHIP,
AND TEACHING
Brother Robert Smith u sail devoted to SL John:SBY ROBIN WEISS (SFG186)
rother Robert Smith (HA90) traces
his personal history-spanning
90 years-from his childhood near
the Golden Gate Bridge, through
adolescence in wine country, to
adulthood when, as a Christian
Brother, be stoked the fires of his
passion for educational reform: first
at St. Mary's College in Moraga,
Calif., then at St. John's in Annapolis.
"I just learned from a woman we both knew that Jacob
Klein told her that once I came here I would never leave.
This has turned out to be true," he says, reflecting on his
appointment to St. John's in 1972.
For Brother Robert, the Program is perpetually new.
"Each person is asking their own questions; that is the
heart of education," he contends. "There's a new conversation every time. You see the repeated miracle, each year, of
how students develop, with a renewal of life each time."
To generations of Johnnies, Brother Robert has served
"as practical advisor, career counselor, spiritual guide,
almost Any mentor-like role," says tutor emeritus Elliott
Zuckerman (HA95) . No one has been so unswervingly
devoted to the college, to the seminar in particular, and,
personally, to [former Annapolis dean] Jacob Klein."
During his graduate school years in D.C., tutor Michael
Dink (A75) enjoyed Brother Robert's standing offer of a
guest room in his Market Street apartment. "At breakfast,"
Dink recalls, " I did my best to keep up my end of the conversation, regardless of what kind of night I had.. ..These
talks helped me to keep a sane perspective on the sometimes trying world of graduate school."
{ THE
Devotion to faith, friendship, and the practice of teaching underlie Brother Rober t's story, which began in a "very
interesting part of Oakland," home to a flood of German
refugees fleeing the persecution of Catholics under Otto
von Bismarck, chancellor of the German Empire.
"At the beginning of the Prussian takeover, Bismarck
made life very difficult in Germany. A lot of these people,
specifically Franciscans, were aware of California because
that order had missions there." Brother Robert explains
how these "highly educated people started a parish in what
was then the edge of Oakland. Now it's deep in Oakland but
the parish is still there."
He remembers orchards near his grammar school, where
German nuns taught using methods "in advance of
Catholic schools anywhere."
"I benefited from that. I grew up in that parish and that
sch ool, and I'm very grateful. It was far-seeing, a wider outlook," he says. At a Christian Brothers high school in
Berkeley, he met the brothers and liked them. "I wanted to
do what they were doing-so I joined them."
In the fall of 1930, while a novice, he picked grapes
and was p art of the group who moved the Christian
Brothers Winery to their 400 acres in Napa Valley. During
Prohibition, because it was legal to sell alcohol for religious
pur poses, the ,v:inerywas allowed to stay open.
"As recently as 15 years ago, over half the brandy in this
country was our brandy," he recalls. Today, with their winery closed, the Brothers keep a small hospital on this land
high in the hills above Napa, but rent the remaining acres to
Stone Winery.
Founded in France in 1680, the Christian Brothers (an
order of teachers who are not priests) spoke to the needs
Co LL EGE. St. John's College. Spring 2005
)
FOR 33 YEARS, BROTHER ROBERT HAS REMAINED
"UNSWERVINGLY DEVOTED" TO ST. J OH N'S.
{ TH E
Co LL E GI!. St. John's College . Spring 2005
)
�I6
I7
{THE TUTORS}
{THE T UTORS}
"THE BROTHER"
BROTHER ROBERT SMITH, SAY
of the working poor as these
HIS FORMER STUDENTS, "MADE
people made the transition
HIMSELF THE BEST OF FRIENDS."
from rural to city life.
According to Brother
we were at war and various
Robert, the founder saw "a
people said: 'You'll eventucrying need to provide free
ally get into this war, and it
education," which allowed
won't be a good thing for
for "the very beginning of
you.' " Instead, in 1943 he
the possibility oflower-class
went to Laval University, in
people rising." In this time
Quebec, where he studied
of Louis the XIV, with finanphilosophy.
cial support from nobility,
He doesn't regret that choice. " It
the Brothers initiated radically new
turns out they were right." He
schools, which were French rather
remembers studying with people
than Latin-based. These schools
who had started at Louvain and
were for shoemakers, shipbuilders,
had to leave. " Laval was extremely
and other working people who deslively. There were refugees from
perately needed the basics of math,
BROTHER ROBERT SMITH , TUTOR
other European countries," creatreading, and writing to survive in
ing an exciting mix of teachers and
the cities. The movement started in
students.
Rheims and quickly spread to Paris,
After returning to St. Mary's as a teacher, Brother Robert
Avignon, and Rome.
continued work on his dissertation: liberal arts from the
Almost two centuries later, when Pope Pius IX asked
point of view of St. Thomas Aquinas, completed and pubBrothers from France to serve in California, they were
lished in 1947. A grant allowed him to spend the following
reluctant to go. " In effect, the Pope gave a polite order to
summer at Edinburgh University. "I studied, amongst
get us there, and we've been there ever since," Brother
other things, Hume," he admits, laughing. " He's not my
Robert says. "We had to do things we didn't do in France,"
favorite philosopher, but he came from that university. So I
such as teaching Latin and Greek to a more affluent populahad a good taste of him there."
tion, that oflawyers, doctors, and priests. "We had to scrape
In 1953, after a year in Rome, he was back at St. Mary's
around and find teachers who were competent," he says.
teaching large lecture classes. "We already had seminars,
Thus arose St. Mary's College in 1863, which the
but these lecture classes were the usual ones. At St. Mary's,
Brothers took over in 1869 and run to this day. After attendwe always had our eye on new needs and new ways of doing
ing St. Mary's as an undergraduate, Brother Robert taught
things, and that connects ,vith St. John's."
in a Sacramento high school for a number of years, a
Innovation at St. Mary's had much to do with a layman
requirement of his order.
teaching there, James L. Haggerty, who was acquainted
He recounts that, when he joined the order, there
with the original committee who went to the University
were ten thousand French Brothers as opposed to three
of Chicago in pursuit of "the ideal form of education."
thousand non-French. He'd grown to love French and, for
Brother Robert tells how the partial successes at Chicago,
graduate work, wanted to attend Louvain, in Belgium, "but
"You see the repeated miracle.,
each yea0 cfhow
students develop. . "
{ THE
Co LL E c
E .
St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
Annapolis tutor Howard Zeiderman worked with Brother
Robert in many environments. "The most memorable
ti me I spent with Robert was when he accompanied me to
participate in a Touchstones program we had in prison.
He and I and six others joined 12 inmates for a go-minute
seminar. That day the men had selected a text in Touchstones, a selection by St. Theresa of Avila, on prayer."
Brother Robert didn't wear his collar and was quicl for
the beginning part of the conversation. But after about
five minuLes, Zciderman recalls, Brother Robert began
to talk about forgiveness. "The men were transfixed.
None moved when the warning bells sounded, and Lhe
guards finally came LO move them along to their lunch,"
Zeiderman says. "As we left, they referred to him as
brother-a title of friendship. However as the months
passed, each time I came into prison, they asked about
Robert and referred to him as Brother Smith. Finally they
simply began to ask after 'the Brother,' a phrase no one
had ever heard them use before. Ile simply, even when
looking like the resl of us, became BroLher Robert." ♦
such as changing the undergraduate
structure
but
preserving departments, didn't satisfy Scott Buchanan and
others working with him. So,
at St. John's in Annapolis,
"We started anew here, eradicating traditional departments
and transforming the lecture
system to education through
conversation.
At St. Mary's, Haggerty
introduced changes, as far as
he could, such as reading original sources and implementing the seminar. " He talked to all of us about the wonderful
thing that was going on at St. John's. We sent people to
St. John's to look at it," Brother Robert remembers. "We
became closer to St. John's."
In the fall ofx956, St. Mary's received a grant to explore
possibilities for educational reform. Haggerty, initially
responsible, became ill. "Somebody had to run it, so I was
put in charge all the sudden," says Brother Robert. "All I
knew was St. John's. By that time, I had visited a number
of times."
Visits were sweeter due to Raymond Wilburn, a former
St. John's dean, who befriended Brother Robert while
Wilburn was stationed at a naval pre-flight school, located
on the campus at St. Mary's during the war. Wilburn wrote
letters for Brother Robert "to be nicely treated" during
his visits.
He recalls one trip in particular, when he attended a
seminar taught by Jacob Klein. " I was overwhelmed by it,
so I made a point of getting to know him. We became
friends and we remained friends until he died."
While in charge of the new project at St. Mary's, Brother
Robert called on Klein, Richard Scofield, and others for
help. He describes "bold projects," such as bringing in people from outside St. Mary's to examine each senior on his
essay. " I would not do that again. I was matching important
{T
H E
Co L
L E
people, sometimes, with very
ordinary students. I thought
every student should have the
same chance."
He spent his sabbatical
year of 1964 in Venice studying Rabelais. "Rabelais
despised the system under
which he was educated and
decided to get free of it. I've
read him, cover to cover,
many times." After Brother
Robert returned to the states,
Klein invited him to give a lecture.
" I enjoyed it," he says. "I think the students did, too. I
was more rambunctious than I would be now." He admits to
quoting Rabelais "in all kinds of unseemly ways that I
wouldn't do now... "
But after lecture, " Klein told me I would probably be
invited to teach here."
And he was. Students of his first class, a junior seminar in
1966-67, made him an honorary member. He corresponds
with some of them to this day.
" By committing himself as a teacher to thinking together
with his students about what matters to them, Brother
Robert has made himself the best of friends," says Steve
Werlin (A85). " It has also led him to surprising places. He
can speak well of Aristotle, Montaigne, and Baudelaire, but
also about the Talking Heads." Now a teacher himself,
Werlin relies on Brother Robert's advice: "Start where the
students are."
For the remainder of the 1960s, Brother Robert returned
to his duties at St. Mary's. " I had to put the new project in
good enough shape" before getting permission to transfer.
But when the time was ripe for Klein's prediction to come
true, Brother Robert telephoned Klein, asking, " Does
it make any difference to St. John's if I come this year
or next?"
" It makes a difference to me," Klein replied. ♦
c E . St. John's College . Spring 2005
}
�I8
{ON
{ON NIETZSCHE}
Ig
N I ETZSCHE}
"Ourfavorite author.s are .simply
those we cannot escape. "
JOHN VERDI, TUTOR
NIETZSCHE 'S
FAVORITE WRIT ERS
BY JOHN VERDI
t is probably true that all of us
ought to read more books by
those authors with whom we
deeply disagree , because only
they have the power to force us
to rethink our comfortable
ideas. Most of us, however, do not do so,
but instead gravitate to those authors in
whose books we recognize our own
thoughts expressed more fully and convincingly, or so we would like to think. In
any event Nietzsche cautions us against
reading any author "of whom it is apparent that he wanted to produce a book,"
but urges us to read " only those whose
thoughts unintentionally became a
book." (The Wanderer and His Shadow ,
I2I) Perhaps we should trust no idea at all
{T n
E
that comes to us while we are reading; as
Nietzsche says, "only ideas won by walking have anyvalue." (Twilight ofthe Idols,
I, 34)
Still, Nietzsche himself read widely,
and while we may not always find his interpretations of his predecessors accurate or
fair, he certainly did h ave his favorite
writers, those in whom he heard echoes of
his own insights and struggles, or who
represented to him types of their age, distillations of the thought around them, or
who entered the great conversation with a
destructive impulse, in an attempt to
refashion thought after their own image.
Our favorite authors are simply those we
cannot escape, because they are too close
to us, for better or worse. Our favorites
Co LL E c E. St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
READING NIETZSCHE'S FAVORITES GIVES US MORE INSIGHT INTO A
PUZZLING AUTHOR, SAYS TUTOR JOHN VERDI.
{T
tt
s Co LL s c £.St.John's College. Spring 2005
}
�{O N NIE T ZSC H E }
{ON N I ETZSCHE}
2.0
reveal aspects of ourselves that might otherwise remain
undetected, and so it can be valuable to reflect on them. For
a similar reason we might better understand what Nietzsche
means to us-what Nietzsche ought to mean to us-by asking
who the writers were that he could not leave behind. Nietzsche's pantheon of favorites is large, and I have chosen only
a few and not necessarily those who exerted the most
influence on him. In making this selection I am, to be sure,
revealing a favoritism of my own.
HERACLITUS
In the fragments of Heraclitus Nietzsche found a man who
was willing to live without the metaphysical comfort given
by belief in things that persistently endure. 0wqmjJuLorraorcavra peL, ouoev µevu: Everything changes, nothing
remains steadfast. Nietzsche says that around Heraclitus he
culture that after Socrates, Plato, and Jesus, becomes "pale
and ungraspable," even "immoral." (Daybreak, 103)
Nietzsche's praise ofThucydidcs makes me wonder if, in the
famous dialogue between the Melians and the Athenians
over the fate ofMclos, the historian even means for us to ask
whether it is the one or the other who are right. Might the
moral question be exactly the one Thucydides wants not to
raise? As if to suggest this, Nietzsche asks a rhetorical
question: " Does one reproach Thucydides for the words
he put into the mouths of the Athenian ambassadors when
they negotiated with the Melians on the question of destruction or submission?" (Will to Power, 42.9) The Athenians
argue from power, yet don't we find their words compelling,
if not decisive?
P LATO
felt "altogether warm and better than anywhere else. The
Nietzsche could never escape Plato. His relationship with
affirmation of passing away and destroying, which is the
decisive feature of a Dionysian philosophy; saying "Yes" to
opposition and war; becoming, along with a radical repudiation of the very concept of being-all this is clearly more
closely related to me than anything else to date." (Ecce
Homo, IV, 3) Throughout his life Nietzsche considered himself a disciple of Heraclitus. While St. John's does not try to
inculcate this reverence in its freshmen, we do ask them to
translate many of his fragments in the language tutorial.
Their depth and power, contained in such brief, aphoristic compass, invariably proves a remarkable springboard for
reflection on the depth and power of all language.
him and with Socrates often reads like a rocky love affair. On
the one hand he praises, saying: " One can conceive philosophers as those who make the most extreme efforts to test
how far man could elevate himself-Plato especially" ( Will to
Power, 973) and "What is needed above all is an absolute
skepticism toward all inherited concepts (of the kind that
one philosopher perhaps possessed-Plato, of course-for
he taught the reverse)." ( Will to Power, 409) On the other
hand he considers what has derived from Plato to be a sickness. "My cure from all Platonism has always been Thucydides. Thucydides, and perhaps the Principe of Machiavelli,
are related to me closely by their unconditional will not to
deceive themselves and not to see reason in reality."
(Twilight of the Idols, V, 2.) Nietzsche praises Plato as "the
most beautiful growth of antiquity," but one who invented
"the worst, most durable, and most dangerous of all errors
so far... the pure spirit and the good as such." (Beyond Good
and Evil, 2) Nietzsche also complains that "since Plato
philosophy has been dominated by morality." {Will to
Power, 412.) Philosophy has lost the ability to blur the
boundary between good and evil, in the way that Nietzsche
believes Thucydides could do naturally, to the extent even
of denying that morality has any role to play in our understanding of human actions. Plato and Socrates represent for
Nietzsche the triumph ofreason and dialectic over intuition
and instinct. Nietzsche, however, struggles to make clear
that "one does not make men better when one represents to
them that virtue is demonstrable and asks for reasons."
T HUCYD IDES
T hucydides is another program author Nietzsche considered a favorite, because Thucydides "takes the most
comprehensive and impartial delight in all that is typical in
men and events and believes that to each type there pertains
a quantum of good sense: this he seeks to discover." (Daybreak, 168) While this reason for his love of Thucydides
might seem at odds with his praise for individuality and
transcendence, and his beckoning to the " Overman,"
themes that pervade his later work, still Nietzsche often
wonders "what might yet be made of man" as a species
(Beyond Good and Evil, n8), andhow"the type 'man'" can
be enhanced. (Beyond Good and Evil, 2.57) He believes that
in Thucydides we see the "last glorious flower" of " that
culture of the most impartial knowledge of the world," a
{ TH E
Co LL e c; E . St. John 's College . Spring 2005
)
(Will to Power, 441), which
is what he thinks Plato and
Socrates do. If our favorite
writers ought to be the ones
that do us the most good,
then perhaps we ought
to include Plato in our list
of Nietzsche's favorites,
though Plato did not give
him the sort of comfort we
often seek in our favorite
authors. But Nietzsche
rarely sought comfort.
2.I
NIETZSCHE RARELY SOUGHT
COMFORT IN THE WORKS HE READ.
Nietzsche thought that
honesty was the one virtue
left to "free spirits," among
whom he counted himself.
"So few writers are honest
that one ought really to
mistrust
anyone
who
writes." (Schopenhauer as
Educator, 2,) In Montaigne,
however, he found the most ~
honest of writers. Mon- 8
taigne's willingness to
explore his own character and the prejudices with which he
himself reads and writes is what impresses and stimulates
Nietzsche most. "Since getting to know this freest and
mightiest of souls, I at least have come to feel what he felt
about Plutarch: 'as soon as I glance at him I grow a leg or a
wing.' " (Ibid.) Montaigne's honesty also infuses what Nietzsche considers his other admirable quality: "a cheerfulness
that really cheers ...with certainty and simplicity, courage
and strength ... as a victor...for there is cheerfulness only
when there is victory." (Ibid.) Montaigne hides nothing and
because he is deeply interested in the world as it is and as it
has been reflected in great books, he serves for Nietzsche as
a kind of Thucydides of the soul.
them both, and for this Nietzsche loves him. " He has
taught me such an infinite
amount-the only logical
Christian." (Letter to Georg
Brandes) At the age of 16
Pascal wrnte a treatise on
conic sections, a text that
marks the beginning of his
very fruitful work in science
and mathematics, and which
students at St. John's read as
sophomores. T hen at the
age of 31 he experienced a
conversion and devoted the
rest of his short life to
religious matters and to
introspection . Nietzsche
consider s him "the most
instructive victim of Christianity." (Ecce Homo, II, 3)
According to Nietzsche,
Pascal carries Christianity to its logical conclusion, "selfcontempt and self-abuse" ( Will to Power, #2,52,), a condition
in which "everything is sin, even our virtues." ( Will to
Power, #786) In such a condition reason, too, is corrupt and
faith is needed for every kind of kno,ving. Furthermore, in
his writing Pascal seems to share some of the honesty that
for Nietzsche characterizes Montaigne. "One should not
conceal ...how our thoughts have come to us. The profoundest and least exhausted books will probably always
have something of the aphoristic and unexpected character
of Pascal's Pensees." (Will to Power, #42.4) Both writers tell
us not only what they think, but how they came to think so,
which can be enormously supportive for those of us who
struggle simply to try to think a few good thoughts.
PASCAL
H EIN RI CH H EINE
Nietzsche sees personified in Pascal the conflict between
science and faith. While Nietzsche attacks both, Pascal.felt
Heinrich H eine was a German poet, cnuc, and writer
of Jewish heritage who converted to Protestanti sm for
MONTAIGNE
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St. John's College. Spring 2005
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BEYOND THE BOOKS
practical reasons. Nietzsche admired his work immensely
throughout his life, and wrote of him: " T he highest conception of the lyric poet was given me by Heinrich Heine . ... He
possesses that divine malice without which I cannot imagine
perfection ....And how he employs German! It will one day
be said that Heine and I have been by far the first artists of
the German language." (Ecce Homo, III, 4) In Heine can
perhaps be found the seeds of two of Nietzsche's most
famous pronouncements, the death of God and the eternal
return of the same. In The History ofReligion and Philosophy in Germany, H eine writes: "Do you hear the little bell
ring? Kneel down. They are bringing the sacraments to a
dying god." (Book II) And in his Last Poems and Thoughts,
we find this: " However long a time may pass, according to
the eternal laws governing the combinations of this eternal
play of repetition, all meet, attract, repulse, kiss, and
corrupt each other again." (We also find the eternal return
suggested by another poet Nietzsche admired, Friedrich
Holderlin, in his unfinished play, The Death ofEmpedocles.
Empedocles speaks: "Go, and fear nothing. Everything
recurs./ And what's to come already is complete.")
R ALPH WALD O E MERSON
Perhaps the writer Nietzsche held dearest from early in life
to late, and the one he returned to again and again, is an
American, Ralph Waldo Emerson . Nietzsche read Emerson
(in German translation) while a student at Schulpforta, and
after he lost his much-annotated copy of Emerson's Essays
some years later, he soon replaced it. While in the end the
differences between the two men may be greater than their
similarities, there is no question that Nietzsche found much
to admire in Emerson's views of nature and history, of
the role of genius in human culture, and of the paradoxical
character of good and evil. The first edition of The Gay
Science quotes Emerson's essay " History" in an epigraph.
"To the poet and sage, all things are friendly and hallowed,
all experiences profitable, all days holy, all men divine."
What Nietzsche finds in Emerson is a thinker who, like
Heraclitus, sees the natural world as shot through with
impermanence. "There are no fixtures in nature. The
universe is fluid and volatile. Permanence is but a word of
degrees." (Circles) He finds a man who recognizes that
"man .. .is that middle point, whereof every thing may be
affirmed and denied with equal reason." (Spiritual Laws)
H e finds a writer who acknowledges that "we do not see
{ TH E
directly, but mediately, and that we have no means of
correcting these colored and distorting lenses which we are,
or of computing the amount of their errors." (Experience)
Nietzsche also discovered in Emerson someone who was
willing to say: " I would gladly be moral ... but I have set
my heart on honesty." (Experience) In general Emerson's
skeptical attitude toward custom and conventionality is
thoroughly Nietzschean. Of both thinkers one might say (as
Nietzsche does say of Schopenhauer by citing Emerson):
" Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this
planet. Then all things are at risk. It is as when a conflagration has broken out in a great city, and no man knows what is
safe, or where it will end. There is not a piece of science but
its flank may be turned tomorrow; there is not any literary
reputation, not the so-called eternal names of fame, that
may not be revised and condemned." (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer as Educator; Emerson, Circles)
A N EC L ECTI C LI ST
While I promised only to give my favorites of Nietzsche's
favorites, I ought also to mention some of the other writers
Nietzsche admired, though his attitude toward most was
ambivalent. The list is eclectic. There are the great aphorists: La Rochefoucauld, Lichtenberg, Chamfort, Leopardi.
There are the German giants: Kant, Goethe, Hegel,
Schopenhauer. There is Spinoza, the "purest sage," who
because he denied free will, teleology, and the moral world
order, also stands "beyond good and evil." There are the
Eastern influences, especially Buddhism, which Nietzsche
came to know largely through his reading of Schopenhauer,
and Zoroastrianism, founded by the Persian, Zoroaster, or
Zarathustra. (Could Emerson's description of Zarathustra in
Character have influenced Nietzsche's development of his
version of the character?) And then there is Dostoevsky.
Nietzsche considered his discovery of Dostoevsky in 1887 to
have been "one of the most beautiful strokes of fortune
in [his] life." (Twilight of the Idols, IX, 45) I wonder what
twentieth-century writers Nietzsche would have esteemed,
but then I realize that hardly one has not been affected by
him to some degree. Would not the literature of the last
century be to Nietzsche a mirror in which the reflected
image, while perhaps distorted, would nonetheless be a
familiar one? ♦
John Verdi is a tutor in Annapolis.
Co LL E c E . St. John's College . Spring 2005
)
Revisiting Nietzsche in Sils-Maria
BY JENNIFER A. DONNELLY,
A96
- - - • he rituals of opening questions,
seminar and don
rags vanish after
graduation from
St. John's. But the
night the bells of
McDowell Hall
tolled my class's
submission of our senior essays, an
aphorism by Nietzsche, on whom I had
written my essay, seemed co ring out like
an opening question to the rest of our
lives. " What good is a book," he asks in
The Gay Science, "that does not even
carry us beyond all books?"
As is often the case with Nietzsche,
the formulation is enigmatic: we know
that the man who articulated it was an
avid reader, a prolific writer and a professional philologist, and we notice that the
format used to question the value of
books is, well, a book. But for us,
students of the "great books" program,
the teasing becomes almost a taunt.
What good are these books to which we devote ourselves for four
years? And what does it mean to be carried beyond them?
After seven years of being nagged by these questions, I made
a journey to what could be considered their source: the Nietzsche
Haus in Sils-Maria, the remote village in southeastern Switzerland's Engadine valley where the philosopher spent several
summers and produced some of his most notorious works.
Despite having poured my heart into my senior essay on Beyond
Good and Evil, I had not pursued further studies on Nietzsche or
in philosophy. On that first visit, however, I lovingly toted my
careworn copy of that book, its marginalia ranging from smiley
faces to question marks to "Yes!"
The house in which Nietzsche used to board now shelters a
small museum, library, and archive that present elements of his
life and ideas, as well as some aspects of the remarkably rich
literary and artistic history of the region (which drew authors
{T
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THE VIEW FROM JENNIFER DONNELLY'S ROOM IN THE NIETZSCHE HAUS,
WHERE THE PHILOSOPHER STAYED REGULARLY IN THE I88os.
from Rainer Maria Rilke and Hermann Hesse to Anne Frank
and Pablo Neruda). When co-curator Mirella Carbone mentioned
that a few rooms are allocated to artists, scholars, and writers, I
wondered whether the Engacline's reputed "champagne air" had
gone to my head. The prospect of unbroken space and time for
reflection stretched out wide and inviting like the glacier-topped
pea.ks, temperamental skies, and glassy lakes that inspired
Nietzsche's idea of"eternal return."
So return I did. One year later, the toy-like RhiitischeBahn train
was carrying me up an unending succession of misty switchbacks,
steep terrain that Nietzsche somehow covered in a horse-drawn
carriage. This stay in Sils-Maria was to last a month. Although I
St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
�{ALUMNI VOICE S }
{A LUMNI VOICES}
was eager to reread Nietzsche
in the environment that had
so powerfully inspired him, it
wasn't my intention to make
a pilgrimage to his ghost.
Rather, having recently completed a master's thesis on art
museums in Paris, which for
five years had been home, I
was mainly seeking distance
from everyday life in order to
WTite and think about something else, such as where my
next steps might lead.
My room in the Nietzsche
Haus turned out to share one
wall with that of its more
famous resident. It also bore
the type of Spartan furnishings upon which he had
insisted-little more tha n a
single bed and a WTiting
desk-although I had the
benefit of electric lamps and
a sink instead of gas lanterns
and a washstand. I soon
determined that my ends
were best achieved not by sitting at that desk, but by setting out into
the mountains framed by the window
above it. As I climbed the trails, one
panorama wouJd unfold into the next
and high-altitude valleys would come
into view; peaks previously hidden
would rise up, compelling me to continue moving, often over snow fields
and glacier streams, in hopes of glimpsing whatever Jay beyond.
Just so, fresh perspectives on my life
down in the "flatlands" (to borrow
Thomas Mann's phrase from The Magic
Mountain , set in nearby Davos) suggested themselves. The insights sometimes evaporated, but other times they
REVISTING N I ETZSCHE SENT
DONNELLY BACK TO P ARIS WITH
NEW APPRECIATION FOR THE
PROGRAM IN GENERAL.
l
evolved into realizations about
how I had wound up where I
was and resolutions about how
to proceed forward. The sound
of the German verb for "to
hike," wandern, aptly captured this dual motion of
rambling across slopes and
" .. the texu on the Program
create a sort ofmental
landscape through which
we Johnnies-and all those
who reai debat~ and write
aboutthegreatbookshave earned thepassport
to wander. "
J ENNIFER A. DONNELLY, A96
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meandering through thoughts.
Furthermore, so resounding
is the echo between Nietzsche's writings and the Engadine landscape that the hiking
paths-wanderwege-turned
out to give as direct an access
to his ideas as did the wellstocked shelves of the Nietzsche Haus library and the
Biblioteca Engiadinaisa. Trail
guidebooks quote the philosopher on the scenery (he
described a lake as " milkgreen ") and designate his favorite trails
(rarely too steep, because of his fragile
health). At the tip of the Chaste peninsula jutting into the serene lake of Sils,
where he dreamed of living in "a sort of
ideal dog-kennel," a boulder is engraved
with a passage from Zaratlwstra: "AJl joy
longs for eternity...."
On one hike, the words fit the scenery
with an exactitude that was downright
eerie. Takjng a break, listening to cowbells ringing through the valley, I
opened On the Advantages and Disadvantages of History for Life. "Consider
the herd before you," the book begins,
t
I
launching a discourse on the dangers of historical memory by
describing a herd of grazing cattle.
Off the trails, the magnetic gcist of the Nietzsche Haus and
its centrality in the Engadinc's cultural and intellectual life
encouraged the conversations that, as all Johnnies know, round
out reading and reflection. I met a Scottish professor from
the University of
Hawaii writing the
preface to his translation of Zarathustra, a
Ziirich screenwriter,
and a Swiss-German
novelist. Even the
library seemed to hum
with the whispers of
the absent authors of
weighty dissertations
sent from all corners
of the globe like travelogues from the territory of Nietzsche's
thought.
The image of those
heavily footnoted theses loomed in my
mind when co-curator
Joachim Jung asked me to explain my link to the house's
namesake. As I rendered into clumsy German a 20-year-old's
interpretation of Nietzsche's "philosophy of the future," I wondered whether my unmediated reading of that book was merely a
straying into a thick forest, and my senior essay for St. John's a
valiant but inexpert attempt to plot my haphazard steps back
through it.
I reread that essay, after descending to the flatlands of Paris, for
the first time since handing it in that cold January night in
Annapolis. Since my focus had been morality, religion, and dogmatism, the ending surprised me: "Art," I had concluded, "is
beyond good and evil. ..." Though I would no longer dare to
defend this proclamation as earnestly as I might have at my senior
oral, I like to consider it a portend to my later experiences of
studying and working in the field of the visual arts.
This perspective on my study of Nietzsche at St John's leads me
back to my opening question: what is the value of studying the
program books? Writing a senior essay on Nietzsche certainly did
{ THE
not make me an authority on his philosophy. But reading his work
in the Engadine years later reminded me that the texts on
the program create a sort of mental landscape through
which we Johnnies-and all those who read, debate, and write
about the great books- have earned the passport to wander. The
books (as well as the musical scores, the scientific papers,
and the mathematical
texts) can inform our
decisions, spark new
ideas, and color our
experiences long after
our formal studies
end. And we need not
become experts on
a book or its author
in order to be instructcd, entertained or
even annoyed, any
more than we need be
Alpinists to hike up a
mountain.
As for defining my
next steps, walking
through Nietzsche's
mountains convinced
THE MOUNTAINS T HAT I NSPIR ED NI ETZSCH E
me that reorienting
GAVE DONNELLY N EW INSIGHTS INTO THE
oneself
is a process
PHILOSOPHER'S IDEAS.
that never ends. "Der
Weg ist das Ziel, " ran
an ad in a paper I read over morning coffee at the Nietzsche Haus:
the path is the goal. The real challenge is not to stick to a narrow
trail but to keep climbing with all the strength in our limbs and
hearts in search of the most breathtakjng views. ♦
Notes: Nietzsche's description ofthe lake as "milk-green" isfound
in Eugen E. Hiisler's Engadin, Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 2001.
His favorite trails are described in Paul Raabe 's Spaziergange
<lurch Nietzsches Sils-Maria, Arche Verlag AC, Zurich-Hamburg,
1994. Nietzsche's description of his retreat as a "sort ofideal dogkennel" is mentioned in a letter to Carl von Gersdorff, 28 June
1883, cited in The Nietzsche Haus in Sils-Maria, by Peter Andre
Bloch, Calanda Verlag, Eng. trans. Albi &Julia Rosenthal.
Co LL E c E. John's College. Spring 2005 l
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{C R OQ UE T}
{CROQUET}
NAVY PREVAILS!
Cold and Rain Fatl to Dampen Spirits
at the 23rdAnnual Croquet Match
BY ROSEMARY HARTY
eforc the match started, the
only thing to grumble about
was the weather: unseasonably
cold, windy, patches of rainthe kind of weather that calls
for abandoning the picture hat
and sun dress in favor of a down coat and
jeans. Nevertheless, the crowd of alumni,
students, and townies approached 500. They
enjoyed the party under umbrellas, tents,
and blankets.
But then, the unthinkable! With the score
tied 2-z, a Navy team edged past Chris Mules
(Ao6) and Tristan Evans-Wilcnt (Ao7) after
the Johnnies tried a risk)' move and ended
up "staked out" by their opponents.
In hockey, it was the equivalent of sitting
in a penalty box while the winning team
scores on a power play. Jn basketball, it was
like watching a three-pointer swish through
the net with your best player on the bench
after fouling out.
It was a well-played, competitive, exciting
croquet match-just what the two teams who
took the field were hoping for. The Mids
emerged from Woodward Hall to Queen's
"Under Pressure." The theme from
The A-Team played as the Johnnies came
out dressed like characters from the movie
Napoleon Dynamite, in badly stenciled
white t-shirts that said "Vote for Pedro,"
short-shorts, and geeky headbands.
The two teams were tied for most of the
afternoon, with St. John's clinching one of
the final games when senior Cara Lammey
hit a winning stroke.
"I knew it was now or never ifl was going
to play a match-I also know they needed a
token girl," she explained.
Imperial Wicket Nick Whittier (Ao5)
had nothing but praise for the Navy team.
Having beaten Navy in an intercollegiate
competition a few short weeks before,
Whittier wasn't expecting
an upset.
" Some of their best players had an ei,.traordinary
game, and some of ours had
one or two off shots-and
that's all it takes," he says.
"I think the Navy team is
excellent."
Overall, St John's has won
r8 matches co Navy's five
wins. The last time Navy
upset the Johnnies was in
zoor. Navy's captain, Adam
Todd, declared himself
"stoked" over the win.
{ T H E
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St. John's College . Spring 2005
MIDSHIPMEN ADAM TODD (LEFT) AND
ALEX PLUMER GREET NICK WHITTIER (Ao5,
RIGHT) AND JOHN GERARD (Aos) FOR A
FIERCE BATTLE.
"It was a great match," he said. "The
Johnnies came out and played an excelJent
game."
The Navy team of Dustin Wood (next
year's captain) and Eric Watt succeeded in
"staking out" the Johnnies by hitting a rover
ball, a move the Johnnies had just tried
unsuccessfully. That forced the Johnnies to
sit out two rounds, allowing Navy the win.
Navy fans rushed the field in triumph.
Did the Navy team put in extra practice
this year? "We practiced less because of the
bad weather," he said.
A few days after the match, Todd was
unable to say where the Mids planned to
display the Annapolis Cup, the thrift-store
trophy awarded the winners of the match.
" I didn't even know there was a 'cup,'"
he said. "I had always thought it was just
a myth." ♦
}
SANTA FE CHILI
SAVES THE DAY
Alumni traveled from as far away as
California to attend the an nual Croquet
match against the Naval Academy, and
their spirits were only slightly wilted by
gloomy weather and ignominious defeat.
The weather didn't stop a group of Santa
Fe alumni from pulling off a pre-Homecoming reunion, or deter a grou p of young
Annapolis alumni from pitching a te nt
and enjoying a banquet of potato-leek
soup, vichyssoise, and salmon.
Tanya Hadlock-Piltz (Ao5) flew in from
Los Angeles to see her friends- all of
whom were dressed to the nines. "This is
homecoming for us," said Hadlock-Piltz.
The Santa Fe reunion class of zooo
used the annual party to stage a preHomecoming gathering in Annapolis.
Many alumni live on the Ease Coast, so
croquet gave them an impetus to get
together in case they can't make it back
to Santa Fe this summer. T he group
consisted ofr4 alumni from the class. and
even though their plans were somewhat
compromised by uncooperative weather,
they had a great time catching up, said
Alex.is Brown (SFoo, EC03).
The group rented lodgings in the
historic district and had Horseman's
Haven green chili, "a much-loved and
missed commodity from Santa Fe,"
shipped to the Annapolis alumni office
before the event. Their plan was to invite
any Santa Fe alumni and current students
(a group of about 20 made the trip) whom
they met during the croquet match to a
Saturday-evening barbeque. When the
match was postponed to Sunday because
of threatening weather, they partied
amongst themselves, ate more salsa, and
joined the Waltz party later that night.
All alumni got to sample the hoc stuff on
Sunday at the alumni tent.
"Evcr)one was very happy to have had
this opportunity to get back together,"
says Brown. "Some ofus hadn't seen each
other in six years.''
Amina Khattak (SFGI95) flew in from
Norther 1 California, bringing Annika, 3,
and CyT,1s, r4 months, to introduce them
to John me croquet. "I try to come out
every year, but this is their first match,"
she said. ♦
CLOCICWISE: ANNAPOLIS '04 GRADS IN THEIR
FINERY; MEGHAN HUGHES
(SFoo)
AND HER
BEAU, PATRICK; LAURENT MERCERON
(Ao8);
(Ao7).
AND JUDITH TORGERSON, MOM OF ERIC
PHOTOS BY MATTHEW BARRICK
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�28
OPEN SECRETS/I NWARD P ROSPECTS:
REFLECTIONS ON WORLD AND SOUL
By Eva Brann
Paul Dry Books, 2.004
n her latest book, Annapolis tutor
Eva Brann has collected
observations and aphorisms
written over more than
30 years. Open Secrets/
Inward Prospects divides
into two sorts: observations about
our external world well known to
all but not always openly told, and
sightings of internal vistas and
omens, wherein Miss Brann looks
at herself as a sample soul.
In the preface to this beautiful
volume that fits perfectly in one
hand, Miss Brann describes her
manner of composition: "I wrote
these thoughts down on about two
thousand sheets, two to three
thoughts per paper, and I kept
them in some used manila
envelopes, the earliest of which
bore a postmark ofI972."
Most of the sheets lacked a
notation of when and where they
were written, she added. "Whether
about 5,000 articulated notion per
person per lifetime is about average
or over or below I cannot tell; they
certainly stacked up high."
Miss Braun's instructions for
approaching the book are these:
"Open anywhere and if it irks you,
try another page. This book can be
long or short-As You Like It."
Any Johnnie who has been lucky enough
to enjoy a conversation ,vith Miss Brannin seminar or outside of it-will understand
why this little book is a gem. For those
who haven't had the pleasure, these interesting thoughts-a sample of which are
provided below-wiJJ offer a glimpse of the
experience.
Some people's chatter, God bless them, is
actually self-expression, but for others it's
self-sacrifice on the altar of sociability to
join in, and betokens not so much interest
in what is being said as interest in the mere
expression of interest, that is, the desire to
show civility-and to look each other over.
Sometimes it gets screamingly boring, and
then you catch a glimpse of one of these
others feeling likewise-and start a real
conversation.
{BIBLIOF I LE}
{BIBLI OF ILE }
maunder on for a long, long time. When
the last judgment is ready to be made we'll
be Jong gone.
To love your country is to love it openeyedly, sometimes for its flaws, sometimes
with its flaws, and most often in spite
of its flaws. It's not so different from
personal love.
The heroism of maintenance is severely
underrated. It is the resistance to human
and natural eno·opy- that cosmic
downward trend (which Lucretius
symbolized in the fundamental fall
of his atoms), that tendency toward
deterioration and featureless
homogeneity that will obtain if the
world is left alone. (In Washington
State I Ltscd to see a dentists' billboard saying "Ifyou ignore your
teeth they' ll go away.") But it isn't
only nattue and humanity in its
natural course that needs to be kept
going against time's grain; we also
need a counterinsurgency against
mindless novelty. Between entropy
and innovation-that's where my
heroes a.re at work.
"Vacation" is a sad word, the
vacancy of time after the press of
business. "Leisure" is a lovely
word, the freedom of time for longbreathed projects.
No one has sufficiently said what a
feeling is. I tis pathos, something
passably suffered, affect. Yet it is
also motion, being moved out of
oneself, emotion. No more do we
know what pleasure is, especially
psychic pleasure: It seems to be the
aboriginal accompaniment, not so
much reaction as concurrent commentbut every analytic description covertly
involves the word "pleasant." All the
definitions I've read of feeling or pleasure
are either diversionary or circular: Even
my trusty Heritage Dictionary can do no
better than to lead me from feeling to
affect and from affect to feeling. And the
definitions given in books circumvent
saying what passions are by telling how
they arise and what they're good for-as if
origin and effect were what is wanted.
Miss BRANN's OPEN SECRETS COVERS TOPICS
INCLUDING MUSIC , INTIMACY, MEMORY, AND
IMAGINATION.
Many of us feel ourselves to be living on
the cusp of time: Great questions are about
to be settled: Is nature infinitely transformable, or does she collapse if her own
Jaws are used too intrusively against her?
Is human nature indefinitely malleable or
does it ttrrn monso·ous when pushed too
far? How much virtuality can the human
imagination absorb before it loses its own
actuality?, etc. I don't think anything wi II
be concluded in the short run: Both nature
and humans will accommodate to more
impositions than anyone imagined and
rebel at less provocation than one would
have thought, and that way things will
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"Questioning" this or that is an act of
covert aggression. Question-asking is an
act of persistent love.
)
P ROFILES IN TERROR: T HE GUIDE
TO M IDDLE EAST TERRORIST
O RGANIZATIONS
By Aaron Mannes (AGI97)
Rowman & Littlefield, 2004
incc global terrorism emerged
in the 2.ISt century, it has
spawned dozens of shadowy
groups with elusive leaders.
Aaron Mannes (AGI97) sheds
light on 20 terrorist organizations in the Middle East and the regional
groups that are affiliated ·with them in his
book Pro.files in Terror: The Guide to
Middle East Terrorist Organizations.
Mannes, who wrote his handbook for
journalists, researchers, and those who
work in counterterrorism, describes
aspects of each terrorist group, including
leadership, ideology, financial support,
targets and tactics, and areas of operation.
"The modern terrorist phenomenon
really started when the age of media began.
It is political theater," says Mannes, who is
careful to distinguish modern terrorism
from other insurgencies throughout
history. "Terrorists play off the nature of
our modern, wired society and use mass
media to spread fear and their agendas.
Terrorists legitimize violence. They say the
society is so awful that violence as a whole
is appropriate."
When beginning his research,
Mannes was fascinated by what he
calls "asymmetrical warfare," and
says, "First-world countries such as
the United States are unbeatable,
but terrorism has emerged as part
of a vast equalizing process." Looking to the future , Mannes predicts
more terrorism. "There are different evolutions - the terrorism that
achieves a goal, such as the Madrid
train bombings that effectively got
Spain to pull out of Iraq. And there
arc the catastrophes that wreak
major havoc, violence as a goal in
and of itself."
Mannes was inspired by his tutors
at St. John's to pursue his interest
in public policy and writing. "All
my tutors were terrific," says
Mannes, "but Leo Raditsa (now
deceased) helped me even after my
graduation from St. John's. He
taught me about the importance of
freedom, liberty, and governments
that protect and preserve that.
Governments that undermine
this are viscious."
Mannes served as director ofresearch
at the Middle East Media Institute in
Washington, D.C., from r998 until 200I.
He currently works at the University of
Maryland's "Mind Lab," where he models
terrorist networks. ♦
During times of public stress, like war,
certain mental illnesses and suicides are
said to decrease. That's surely not an
argument for the redemptive power of war
but an illumination of the human condition
in peace: Normalcy is the most stringent
tester of sou.ls.
A PUBLICATION
OF JINSA PRESS
AARON MANNES' HANDBOOK DETAILS
20 TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN THE
MIDDLE EAST.
"Open anywhere and
ifit irks you~
try another page. "
Contrary motions: The young at their best
are intensely introspective but all their
dreams are for the world. The old a.re in
fact rooted in that world but their meditations turn inward. -Like passing ships,
they send tenders across and board briefly,
bringing news and victuals. Less fancifully,
coming and going, we've got things to tell
each other.
EvA BRANN, TUTOR
Childlike and childish: the ever-young at
heart and the willfully infantile. The first
are quirky but lovable, the second just
irritating.
Some looking into themselves come to the
limit and say, "I am the ground." Others
see no end and say, "It hath no bottom."
But perhaps you shouldn't search in the
soul but through the soul.
"A friend is another self." If so, why
bother? One ofmc is enough. No, it's just
because souls are never transparent to each
other v-.rithout remainder that they see each
other at all. Mutual opacity keeps us two,
together but unmerged.
We humans a.re temporally rooted in the
world, atemporally in the soul. Good
communities mediate these two realms
of the secular and the transcendent: Their
members live their daily life mindful of
something beyond.
{ THE
Co LL E c
E.
St. John 's College. Spring 2005
Do my colleagues see themselves, mutatis
mutandis, as I see my sclf?-a being of
dubious gravity, urgently perfectionist
about small things and dilatory about great
ones, an everlasting amateur frivolously
suspicious of expertise, kept callow by the
luck of life that has preserved me from
chronic tragedy, extensively introspective
in leisure rested from responsibility-an
old woman with an unconscionably
young soul? ♦
)
�{ALUMNI
{ALUMNI
PROFILE}
PROFILE}
THE HosT OF "MARKETPLACE" TUNES IN
David Brown (AGJ95) takes a liberal arts approach to business news
BY PATRICIA DEMPSEY
mid Brown (AGl95)
says the long oral
tradition in radio is
still vibrant and vital.
"There's more time on
radio to engage in the
art of this tradition, and there's more
room for nuance."
Brown is speaking from the Frank
Stanton Studios in Los Angeles, Calif.,
just a few hours before he goes on the
air to engage millions oflistcncrs with
his agile conversation as host of
"Marketplace," public radio's national
series about business and life. There's a
rustle of paper as an assistant slips an
urgent message under Brown's nose,
but right now his focus is elsewhere.
His meandering Southern speech downshifts, and Brown, who once customized
and sold Harley-Davidson motorcycles,
relaxes into a conversation about
road trips.
"When I think of favorite road trips,
one that stands out was the road trip of
the summer of '95, from Boston to
Annapolis to attend the Graduate
Institute," says Brown. "I was working
in Boston for Monitor Radio at the time;
Monitor is the public radio broadcast
produced by the Christian Science
Monitor newspaper. They offered me this
gig to host and I said, 'Hey, I'm happy to
do this hosting gig but this program at
St. John's is important to me.' "Brown
asked for the summer off to finish his
Graduate Institute studies. " I t is so vivid
in my mind, when I was finally crossing
the border into Maryland and feeling so
happy to be heading south of the MasonDixon again. And Annapolis as a place
has such resonance for me."
A native of Georgia, Brown lived in
Annapolis in the early 1990s when he
worked as Washington, D.C., bureau
chief and chief national correspondent
for Monitor Radio and Monitor
Television. In one of those happy
I
expand your perspective, you can see that
each point of view in fact is true."
"I also think quite often of
Tocqueville's Democracy in America,"
says Brown, who owns three copies of
Tocqueville's book and keeps one on
his bedside table. "When I look at the
domestic scene, so many of his
observations hold true today, such
as the religiosity of Americans, the
role race plays in the American
consciousness, the tension between
rugged individualism and civic duty, so
many of the things that made Americans
peculiar creatures in Tocqueville's time
continue to define us on the world stage
today." Of his three editions of the book,
Brown says "one is a precious, dog-eared
volume with my class notes, another is an
inexpensive paperback I can pack up and
take along as a casual read, and the third
is a library edition.' "
Brown offers another insight that he
culled from reading the great books.
"I think about art and science, how
radio brings these together and how at
St. John's, the concept of art versus
science, and the melding of the two, was
part of the curriculum discussion ," says
Brown. "Here in radio, you have storytelling-the art of telling-a-story-part of
radio-and then you also engage in the
science, the journalism, getting the
facts right. This is what we do here at
'Marketplace.' I t's a liberal arts approach
to looking at business," says Brown.
"At 'Marketplace' we have what we call
'front-yard stories' that touch a deep
chord, such as an issue of democracy and
justice. What's at stake when there's a
courthouse shooting in Atlanta? We look
at the social phenomena, the context
shaping the backdrop for the events that
are shaping the business news. Then
there are 'backyard stories' on topics like
bond prices that are not big on curb
appeal, but need to be included. Then we
mix it up-this is what makes us unique."
''.[fyoufree your.se!f
expandyourper.spective~
you can .see that each
pointefview in/act is
true. "
DAVID BROWN (AC195)
accidents that make a journey memorable,
when Brown was living in Annapolis he
stumbled upon St. John's, a perfect match
for his appetite for intellectual discovery.
" I was searching for something to keep
me mentally charged and stimulated,"
says Brown.
At a political function in Annapolis,
Brown met a recent GI grad. "He was
enthusiastic, incandescent even, about
his experience at St. John's. So I met
with [graduate admissions coordinator]
Miriam Callahan-Hean. At that time
the Graduate Institute was housed in
Mellon Hall and we walked around and
I remember thinking, 'This is extraordinary-there are conversations about
conversations going on here.' "
The ideas Brown encountered in his
conversations at St. John's find a forum
in his distinctive radio show today. "I ate
it up. I loved it. The reading, the being
exposed to ideas I wouldn't have exposed
myself to if left to my own devices," says
Brown. "I'm not a math person, but not a
week goes by that I don't think about
Lobachevsk.--y and Euclid and parallels.
You can see it, visualize it-the parallel
lines into infinity. I remember thinking,
'This is not possible. How can these
mutually exclusive ideas-Euclid's classic
definition of parallels and Lobachevsky's
vision oflines infinitely approaching
each other-both be true?' "says Brown.
"This opened a way of seeing things for
me in journalism. If you free yourself,
{ THE
Co LL EC & •Sc.John's College, Spring 2005
}
Brown recalls the skepticism
surrounding "Marketplace," when it was
a new show. "In 1989 there was this
cheeky upstart business program that
everyone said would fail," says Brown.
By 2000 Brov-m, who had just graduated
from Washington and Lee Law School,
was recruited to be senior producer of
American Public Media's "Marketplace,"
and du ring his tenure the show garnered
several awards, including the prestigious
Peabody Award for excellence in journalism. By 2003, Brown was host, a
challenge he relishes. "There is something that happens every day between
10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. when we go on the
air. I'm no CPA, so I have to synthesize
this, present it in an interesting,
engaging way co tell it to our listeners.
There's a pressure, but it's a good
pressure, and you spin out the story.
It's exciting, challenging, thrilling," says
Brown. "When I go home, I get calls from
friends and they say, 'That made so much
sense. I'm so glad you put it that way.'
That makes it meaningful for me-that I
got through, communicated. St. John's
prepared me; all the underlying conversations prepared me."
Brown is another hour closer to going
on the air, but he has one more story
about the GI. " Of the four GI segments,
I put off math until the last semester.
Lobachevsky, the logic, I wrestled with it.
One day I was having coffee with [tutor
': ..he [Mr. Kutler) knew
I was .straining. He told
m~ 'You 'fl.see this. You 'fl
get it. Give it time. ' "
DAVID BROWN (Ac195)
{ THE
Co LL E c
E.
St. John's College. Spring 2005)
DAVID BROWN WORKED BRIEFLY IN TELEVISION,
BUT PREFERS RADIO. "IT'S BEEN SAID 'THE
PICTURES ARE BETTER IN RADIO' ANO IT'S
TRUE."
emeritus] Mr. Kutler. I think he knew I
was straining. He told me, 'You'll see
this. You'll get it. Give it time.' He was
right. It was a loving, reassuring gesture.
He could see I was looking for an intellectually challenging experience. 'You
might really love law school,' he said to
me.'' He knew I was interested in talking
about ideas. He knew I was wondering,
'Where do I go from here?'"
Fortunately Brown ended up at
"Marketplace," adding intellectual spice
and artful conversation to evening
commutes. ♦
�{ALUMNI
1935
"1 'm very proud to have been a
II
graduate ofSJC," writes
MELVILLE L. B1SGY£R. "I'm a
very old man now (91+) and as I
look back, those four years are
among the highlights. The
memories of my fellow
students, the wonderful profs,
the staff, the old buildings, my
dorm-Pinkney Hall-the bell
rope running through a classroom atop McDowelJ, the
library, the gym, the proms.
Is the Sugar Bowl still in town?
The connict with Hopkins in
'35, the front campus, the old
Liberty Tree, which I know is
now gone. The All-American
lacrosse teams-all part of a
wonderful memory. A biologyzoology class of four students
and two profs-wow-other
memories we won't discuss, but
think about with many a
chuck.le. All the best."
s. WOODMAN is "still
practicing law here in upstate
New York and traveling quite a
bit to Jtaly and Australia in my
spare time. Would like to hear
from any classmates who are
still around."
R ICJWlD
Ii
I
{ A LU M N I
NOTES}
Q UITE IMMERSED
(class of1955) received the
"Conductor of the Year, 2004" award from the
Illinois Council ofOrchcstras. He is now
conductor laureate of the New Philharmonic
and Du Page Opera. He has accepted the
_ ~ _ ~ artistic directorship of the opera program at
North Park University in Chicago and is quite immersed in
composilion and painting. ♦
-
-
-
-
AROLD B AUER
-
1950
1943
has been
thinking about the college,
particularly about the reading
list, and especially about
Proust. " It seems to me," he
writes, "that since my time, the
Program has improved with the
two years of Greek and French,
the greater emphasis on writing
and laboratories without
Humphreys' sha1..-y floors. The
one disimprovcmcnt has been
the dropping of Proust from the
fourth year. Swann's Way,
although a part of a larger
whole, is a complete work in
itself. The author of a recent
article in The Atlantic Monthly
found it incredible that one can
graduate from Harvard without
reading Shakespeare or Proust.
How can a 'great books' program not include Proust? It is
time to include him again."
M ILTON P ERLMAN
"My wifeof 56 years, Phyllis,
(we were married two weeks
after graduation under the Liberty Tree) and I will be moving
to a Quaker-sponsored continuing-care retirement community,
Kendal on Hudson, on July
first," wTites P ETER D AVIES. "It
is close to New York and
Riverdale, so we will continue
to enjoy theater, concerts, dining, and city life, and friends in
Riverdale. We stayed with that
Republican, GERRY H OXBY
(class of1947); argued into the
night last August while in Ohio
campaigning for John Kerry!
I'm still representing the
United Nations at Safer World
(a British think tank) and working on a conference in July on
preventing armed conllict."
:
The eldest son of O SCAR L OUIS
L ORD, Lance W. Lord, an Air
Force four-star general, has
been made Commander of Air
Force Space Command.
1944
LINDSAY CLENDANIEL writes,
"I am happy to represent other
alumni who, like myself, didn't
graduate from St. John's but
from other institutions, yet
consider St. John's my alma
mater!"
{ TH E
Co
LL£
c
E.
A tribute from Eo LYNCH: "My
belief is that St. John's is one of
the finest educational houses in
the country. I did not graduate-I completed two full years
and did not return. I came to
St. John's from high school.
My classmates were men who
had attended other colleges,
gone to the war and returned to
St. John's to be enlightened and
truly free. I was intimidated by
their vast knowledge of the
world and the things in it.
Anyway, I guess I wasn't the
brightest bulb in the lamp,
nor the most energetic. I love
St. John's, and I always will.
I will never regret my time
there."
R OBERT G. HAZO
FREDERICK P. D AVIS: "We 3-Ds
in the low desert of Southern
California (son David, wife
Rita, and self) still plug along
respectively at a Riverside Nursing Home (broken, infected
legs), Rita on full-time oi,..-ygen,
and I without a driver's
license-revoked! But church
volunteers have supplied us
with food and rides to church,
etc., since this cruel blow of the
OMV on November 2.4, 2.004.
St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
is the most reliable and
strongest expression of real
love."
JAMES and AMY (class of1959)
JOBES are both retired. An1y
serves as an occasional supply
priest in Massachusetts. They
have three grandchildren now,
in Massachusetts: Amanda, 4; in
Georgia: Elijah, 2., and Sophia,
1 month.
is still writing
political books entitled Minorily
Rufe. "It goes slowly but well.
Publishing articles in the metropolitan newspaper here and in
the Washington Report on the
Middle East on doings in the
Middle East, especially Iraq and
Lebanon. Gave my annual
lecture on "Love" on Valentine's
Day to undergraduates. Attendance was good. Women outnumbered men by 2, or 3 to 1,
surpTising since maternal love
our regular lives and welcoming
friends in these more spacious
quarters."
M ARYFRANCES McCtrrCHAN is
retired from the National Park
Service. She lives in Annapolis,
is learning to play the flute, and
has three grandchildren. She's
also looking forward to her class
reunion in 2.008.
"I have finally found the Great
Hall ofSJC here in Santa Fe and
attended a wonderful concert by
Joan Zucker last week. Now that
I know where it is, my wife and I
will attend more concerts,"
writes MICHAEL TRUSTY.
1 959
H ARVEY and MARY (class of
1958) GOLDSTEIN are
planning ahead. "Members of
the class ofr959 are already
starting to plan for our 50th
reunion-log on to the class of
'59 Web page on the alumni site
for the continuing story."
1960
USAF, is
enjoying retirement. "Marie
and I are thoroughly enjoying
life in the slow lane. After many
years of high-stress/high-travel
jobs, having time to read, soak
in the spa, shoot pool, frequent
auction and estate sales, and
generally do whatever I want,
whenever I want, is wonderful!
The only downside is the great
blue heron that eat our fish, and
the deer that eat our shrubbery.
COL. JOHN J. LANE,
1953
1949
I
Lately "Seniors Helping
Seniors" (for a price) have
taken Rita and me to see doctors, get haircuts, etc., throughout this valley. But at 60 miles,
Riverside is out of their range.
It's over three years since we've
seen David. Rita and I shall
never forget SJC, where we met
at St. Anne's Church. I obtained
a classic liberal education."
CECILY SHARP-WHITEHILL
writes: "Along with the
seminars my colleagues and I
conduct several times a year for
senior executives of professional service firms on the topic
of management of PSFS (this is
a five-day course and qualifies
as education, not just training),
I continue to consult for firms
on the topic of business
communications, both spoken
and written. Having wearied of
relatively long, gray winters
and snow shoveling, I moved
permanently to Osprey, Fla.,
immediately south of Sarasota.
It's delightful here."
1966
"On December 10, we moved
into our new house designed
by us and our architect,"
reports J ULIA B USSER OU PREY.
"It has been an exciting, but
all-consuming project, and we
now look forward to resuming
{ THE
33
N O TES }
1968
ELIZABETH A. D OBBS (A) writes:
"I have an article coming out in
the Chaucer Review on an allusion to Ovid's Narcissus and
Echo story in The Franklin's
Tale. It's called 'Re-sounding
Echo.'"
G. K EENS (SF) is a professor of Pediatrics, Physiology,
and Biophysics at the Keck
School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
and a member of the Division of
Pediatric Pulmonology at Children's Hospital, Los Ange les. "I
was recently appointed Director
of Pediatric Subspccialty Fellowship Education at Children's
Hospital," he writes. "I have
crested a year-long course in
scholarship skills (research
methodology and proficiency in
teaching), which emphasizes
small-group interaction rather
than reliance on lectures. I conduct research in pediatric respiratory disorders and am investigating an innovative hypothesis
that the cerebellum has a majoT
role in control of breathing."
THOMAS
CllARL£S B . WATSON (A) writes:
"Anya Watson graduates from
Connecticut College this year
and has been awarded the Rolex
North American Our World
Undergraduate Scholarship
for 2.005, presented at the
Explorers Club in New York
City in April 2.005. It provides a
year's funding for undersea
research (and a Rolcx watch).
Her undergraduate major was
marine biology with a minor in
Russian and European studies
(age 2.1). Ivan most recently
reports from Kyrgyzstan for
NPR after recent travel to Iraq,
Beirut, Turkey, Iran, and other
newsworthy locations (age 28).
Michael, an avid scuba and
windsurfing enthusiast, is
working on Martha's Vineyard.
Other alumni are encouraged to
look us up in Connecticut and
Martha's Vineyard."
"Hello to H ENRY CONSTANflNE
(A) and his beautiful wife,
Christine," writes STEVE H ANFr
(A). "Thanks for the iospirational message-see you at the
reunion."
LIVING HISTORY
-
(SF74) continues to direct the Public H istoTy
program at New Mexico State University. His book
,_ ON H UNNER
Inventing Los Alamos: The Growth ofan Alomic
Communily came out last fall from the University of
Oklahoma Press. His program at NMSU has published
:_ •
books on Santa Fe and Las Cruces and conducts living
._. history events from the Spanish Colonial and Great
Depression era. Mary Ellen, his wife, is finishing a graduate
degree in nursing, and t heir son Harley is a first-year student at
Seattle University. ♦
Co LL E c £.St.John's College. Spring ~005 }
i
�34
{ALUMNI
NOTES}
{ALUMNI
SUSHEILA H ORWITZ (SF)
writes: "I'm still alive and still a
member of Madonna House.
I spent the last seven years in a
small city in eastern Russia.
I loved the people there and
would love to retllrn."
LIFE AT THE ALTERNATIVE
Julia Goldberg (SF91) and the Santa Fe Reporter keep an eye on the city
BY ROSEMARY
HARTY
here's a great deal of hard
work, long hours, and modest compensation attached to
the work Julia Goldberg
(SF91) docs as editor of
The Reporter, Santa Fe's
alternative weekly newspaper. So on a
recent winter's night, she was at peace
with relaxing her journalistic ethics just a
little to accept a free ticket to a sold-out
lecture by linguist Noam Chomsky.
Goldberg has always loved language,
and there's no better outlet for someone
in Jove with words than the satisfying
grind of putting out a weekly newspaper,
especially one as feisty and in-your-face as
The Reporter.
A life-size stand-up ofBuffy the Vampire
Slayer, adorned with Goldberg's press
pusses, overlooks the piles of newspapers,
files, and other materials stacked all
around Goldberg's office. After five years
as editor, she's had time to get comfortable in her job. Her path to The Reporter
was a simple choice.
" I wanted to WTite, and I didn't want to
leave Santa Fe," she explains.
Like many Johnnies, the Philadelphiaarea native was guided to St. John's by a
high school teacher who recognized
Goldberg's love of books. She loved the
language in the Program, especially
ancient Greek; however, " junior math
almost killed me," she says, shuddering at
the memory. She became a music assistant
and delved into journalism by editing
The Moon, the student newspaper, during
her junior and senior years.
Established in 1974, The Reporter is one
of the oldest independent weeklies in the
country. Given away free in boxes all over
town, it has a circulation of 21,000 and a
core of dedicated readers. "We have a
great relationship with Santa Fe, and we're
really considered a part of the city," she
says. On the other hand, Goldberg adds,
"we're always struggling to break even."
As editor Goldberg oversees two
reporters, a full-time art director, a
part-time assistant director, and a dozen
or so freelancers. 'Iwo other Johnnies
currently work for the paper: Andy Dudzik
(SFGI92) is the publisher; Jonanna
Widner (SFGloo) is assistant editor.
Many Johnnies have been on staff or
freelanced for the paper. Even when Goldberg's reporters are young and green, they
share a passion for breaking news stories
and digging imo complicated issues.
"I'm working with really smart people,"
she says. "We've broken a lot of stories in
the last year and a half."
"The Short Life of Jimmy Villanueva"
revealed that the county jail violated the
---
constitutional rights of prisoners by
failing to treat their health problems.
"Soldier's Heart" probed the psychological problems soldiers faced on their return
from Iraq. And a shocking lack of services
for autistic children in New Mexico was
exposed in "The Lost Ones." Goldberg
has won numerous awards from the New
Mexico Press Association and the National
Federation of Press Women. She created
and directed the Hip-Hop Voter Project,
designed co inspire young Hispanic
residents in New Mexico to vote.
The R eporter provides an importanL
alternative to the local daily, the Santa Fe
continued on p. 3 5
organic garlic farming. Visitors
are welcome at s Dodge Corner,
New Vineyard, Maine."
(SF)
has a short story in the online
journal VerbSap: http://verbsap.com/2oo5mar/sarai.html.
"Just got home from a threeweek wine and nature trip to
New Zealand," says LELIA
STRAW (A). "Love the Kiwis and
their homeland. We were there
over the U.S. election though,
and they're all mystified by the
outcome."
35
WORK AND PLAY
ARCO ACOSTA (A82) sends a hello to all his
1 973
(SF) reports:
"My daughter INDIA C L ARK
(SF01) and Challem Clark are
now living in Budapest,
Hungary, in a beautiful
apartment right over Vaci
Utaca, the main pedestrian
street. They are having a
blast and perhaps will stay
longer than the original
six-month plan."
INDIA WILL IAMS
SARAH (GANCIIER) SARAI
NOTE S }
1 974
and R ANDY P ENDLETON
(both SF) have news: "We are
delighted to announce the
marriage of our son, W ALKER
(A99), to R.Ac n EL V EDAA (SF99)
in April."
M AllTHA
"unique and talented" classmates: "I have
many great memories of our college years and
hope the best for you all and your families.
I continue to examine my life daily. Work is:
legal, filmmaking, public school teaching
K-12; Play/other: WTiting, guitar, music, recording, chess,
basketball. Personal: divorced. Peace and Prosperity to you allplease call when you're on the West Coast."♦
(A) directs, supervises, and interprets MRI
examinations of the brain and
body at 30 sites in 12 states.
"I teach and lecture on brain
development, brain imaging,
and brain pathology at
Georgetown University and
elsewhere. My four wonderful
children never cease to amaze,
amuse, confound, and inspire
me as they display the intricacies of brain development to
me, up close and personal."
JOIIN REES
1 975
C YNTIIIA Swiss (A) has been
elected to president of the
Maryland/DC Chapter of the
American String Teachers
Association. "I have organized
statewide certification exams
for young string players," she
writes. "I also schedule
workshops on Suzuki String
Teaching Technique. Our
chapter published a newsletter
called Stringendo, and I have
contributed several articles."
I RVINC WILLIAMS (A) is
"moving to the country estateroom for a pony-in July to start
continuedfromp. 34
New Mexican, says Goldberg. "They
cover what's happening; we try to be
progressive," she explains. Part of the
paper's job is to provide a guide to
enjoying Santa Fe, with special sections
on restaurants, art galleries, recreation,
and just living in the city.
The process of putting out a weekly
paper starts each Wednesday morning,
with a critique of the current paper.
Goldberg and her staff brainstorm new
story ideas, identify a cover story, and
plan what they need to report on in the
coming weeks. On Thursday, they start
working on a preliminary layout, Sunday
Goldberg spends editing the cover story,
and Monday and Tuesday are "slam days,"
as the final stories come in for editing,
headlines, and fact-checking. Tuesday
THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN
HER COMMUNITY KEEPS J ULIA GOLDBERG AT
THE REPORTER.
{THE
Co LL E c E. St. John 's College. Spring2005}
night is the press run, and on Wednesday
it starts all over again.
The Johnnies and other reporters who
work for Goldberg tend to get good training at The Reporter. But they soon head
off to New York or other cities where their
editorial skills can earn them a better
salary. After interning at the Phi/,adelphia
City Paper, the New Mexican and The
Reporter, Goldberg earned her master's
degree at the University of New Mexico.
"J:re 've broken a lot of
.stories in the last year
andaha!f"
JULIA GoLOBERC (SF9:r)
{ THE
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St. John 's College. Spring 2005 }
She acquired valuable experience at one
of her first jobs, the Rio Grande Sun,
where she covered county government,
politics, and schools. It gave her a sense
that an aggressive local paper is an
important tool of democracy.
"You need to ask questions, and you
need to listen carefully-a lot like what we
do at St. John's."
In between deadlines, Goldberg manages to get time off to enjoy the beautiful
city she's living i n. She enjoyed a recent
Community Seminar at St. John's and
vows to get up the hill more often to enjoy
campus events.
But even with the long hours, it's hard
for her to imagine giving up the work she
does at The Reporter. There's always
another story to tell. " I can't say the
perfect opportunity isn't out there, but
right now, I can't imagine a better job." ♦
�{AL U M NI
NOTE S }
{ALUMN I
37
NOT ES }
I
Beginning April I, MICHAEL
will be serving as the
regional minister for Northwest
Connecticut, responsible
for oversight of about 50
United Cht1rch of Christ
congregations.
C IBA (A)
MAUYELLEN LAWRENCE (SF)
has finished her subspecialty
training in infectious diseases
at the University of New Mexico
and is practicing medicine in
Santa Fe. She writes, "It may be
that, at last, 1 have completed
my formal medical training!"
" I've been eagerly scanning the
class notes for 21 years now, so
thought it was about time I
made a contribution," writes
} ACK A RMSTRONG (SF). I live in
West Chester, Penn., of all
places, with my wife, Ca1·men,
and kids Michael (16) and Emily
(8). I am happier than I ever
expected or deserved. I'm
printing ballots for a living,
and writing stories for my soul.
I also have a theatre with
Carmen, the Philadelphia
Shakespeare Festival, which
is the 800-pound gorilla of
hobbies. l miss you all."
ANNE M CCLARD (SF) reports
1980
" I am delighted to let everyone
know that I am now the proud
mother of Emily Sierra," writes
Gmu GLOVEU (SF). "She came
to live with me from Memphis,
Tenn., and I will be ever grateful to her birth mom for helping
me create a family. Can't wait
for you all to meet her at our
next reunion."
that NOAH MCC LARD
LEDBETTER (SF02) and DAGNY
CHICOINE-STANGL (SF01) were
married in July 2004.
STEVEN T. R EYNOLDS (A) writes:
"Landry Tait Anders Reynolds
joined the gaggle August II,
2004. The family and the
garden continue to thrive."
medical staff on January r,
2005. He will serve as president
for two years. He was previously
the medica 1staff vice president
for two years and has been the
laboratory medical director for
four years. Thia is currently
working with President William
Harvey to build a proton
therapy radiation oncology
center at Hampton University.
She has also recently been
invited to serve on the Board
of Directors for the Thomas
Jefferson National Accelerator
Facility, the American Physical
Society Division of Nuclear
Physics Program Committee,
and the Combined Theory and
Experimental Collaboration for
Quantum Thermodynamics.
Nothing but good news from
KATII EIUNE RowE (SF): "I am
still a preacher in the Episcopal
Church and still in a Denver
suburb. I'm still a speech and
language pathologist, and still
in love with my husband, Phil,
and my two ch ildren. I'm also
still glad that I went to
St. John's."
1985
writes,
"I continue to practice law in
Baltimore and am pleased to
announce that I have recently
set out on my own. Having my
own practice has allowed me to
do the cases I want to do, spend
ANNA L. D AVIS (A)
ERIN MCVADON ALBRlGHT (A)
welcomed his first grandson,
Patrick Alexander, into the
world one year ago.
News from BARRY H ELLMAN and
CYNT111A " TwA" KEPPEL (both
A): Barry became president of
Mary Immaculate Hospital
GoozILLA PHASE
STEVEN CRAMER (A) is an
attorney in private practice in
New York City. He lives in
Maplewood, N.J., with his
wife and two daughters, the
youngest adopted from China
in December 2004.
-
-
ife is "good and busy" for A LEX (AGI93) and
ELLERMANN. Alex works in the
national security field, flies C-13os in the Navy
Reserve, and is working toward his second
master's with the Naval War College's Distance
- - - - • Education Program. Vanessa practices Jaw with a
Georgetown firm that specializes in class actions. Son Alex, 5, is
going through a Godzilla phase at the moment, "which is pretty
fun," they write. ♦
V ANESSA (A93)
.J
{ THE
1:
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S1. John's College. Spring 2005
)
more time on volunteering and
pro bono cases, and most
importantly, better balance the
demands of work and family.
My husband, Richard Gordon,
and children, Aaron (IO) and
Rachel (6), and l are all well and
would love to hear from any and
all Johnnies passing through
Baltimore."
TE1uu K. LUCKE'IT (SF) worked
for GE for a long time but left
for Honeywell in 2002. "I lived
in L.A. for one year, but moved
to N.J. a year ago to become
vice president of Business
Planning for HON. I'm hoping
to move out ofN.J. back to
points west as soon as possible,
but time will tell. Beautiful
Carolyn is 12, now and a true joy,
was diagnosed with diabetes in
2001, but we manage. We grew
weary of corporate nomadic life
and bought a piece of Santa Fe
to call our 'home away from
home.' Ping us if you are either
here or there: terri.luckett@
honeywell.com."
is vice
president of operations at a
mid-size software company in
Maine. " It's quite exciting and
very busy," he writes. " I am
happily married to a woman
from Maine who makes me
laugh a great deal. For those of
you who remember my interest
in music, I wrote an orchestral
piece around 1995-96 and went
to the Czech Republic and had
it performed at a workshop for
orchestral composers. It was
really fun. Haven't written a
note since!"
K ENNETH MARTIN (A)
1986
MELISSANETfLESHI P Br-.J',EDICT
(SF) writes: "Since July of 2000
I have been director of finance
at Santa Fe Preparatory School,
released her thu-d album, Live
at Blues Alley. Her Web site is:
www.mclaniemason.com
JOHNNIE FRENCH TESTED
-
ATRICE MCSHANE (SF02) was on her way to Africa
earlier this spring: " I spent the two-and-a-ha lf years
after graduation in Portland, Ore., working at a
Montessori preschool. I got ants in my pants, shifted
direction, and applied to volunteer for the United
....
States Peace Corps. I was accepted and leave for
Burkina Faso, Africa , on March 17' An unusual way to spend
St. Patty's Day, don't you think? I'll be there for over two years,
teaching secondary math to Bw·kinahe high school students.
Let's hope my SJC French rises to the occasion! I am mighty
excited and would be more than willing to discuss the Peace
Corps application process/experience with any prospective
vo lunteers. Or just write to say "hey, you!" patsymcshane@
hotmail.com." ♦
just down the hill on Camino
Cruz Blanca from the Santa Fe
campus."
1989
"After many years in San Francisco, I've been in Denver for a
year, spending much of my time
practicing Tibetan Buddhism,"
writes LARRY SEIDL (A). "I've
been remiss in my alumni
activities, though I saw many
shining faces at reunion
number ro in '96. Twenty is
just around the bend. A warm
general hello to the community
in general, and the class ofr986
and my tutors in particular."
BURKE GURNEY (SFGI ) is
married with two children:
Kyra and Elise, ages 15 and 13.
"I am an assistant professor at
the University ofNcw Mexico in
the Department of Orthopedics,
Rehabilitation, and Physical
Therapy. I teach physiology,
orthopaedic evaluation and
treatment, professional ethics,
and gerontology. I am an avid
traveler, reader, skier, and
parent."
JAN UNDERWOOD (SF) is working
as a Spanish instructor.
AL1ZA S HAPIRO
(SF) was
recently engaged to David
Mandel.
1990
JOHN SELLERS (A) is "married to
Becky Woods and teaching
grades 8-12 math and science,
including chemistry and
physics-challenging."
THE RFV. M'N SLAKEY (SF) is
now priest-in-charge at
St. Matthew's Episcopal Parish
in Ontario, Ore.
is a fuUtime blues artist, writing and
performing original blues-rock
material as lead electric
guitarist and vocalist for the
Melanie Mason Band. She
also performs and records
traditional acoustic blues as a
solo artist. She recently
KEN TuRNBULL (A) writes:
"My wife, Leslie, and Tare both
lawyers in Washington and are
enjoying our seven-month-old
daughter, Fiona."
Co LLB c
E.
'
(SF) and her
husband arc pleased to
announce the birth of their first
child, Emma Lee Ward, born on
January 4, 2005.
J ENNIFER R YCIILI K
1991
is a 2004
winner of the National Poetry
Series award, and her second
book, Starred Wire, will be
published by Coffee House Press.
ANGIE MLINKO (A)
N ICOLE l<ALMANOR LEVY (SF)
writes, " l n August 2004, I gave
birth to our first daughter, Eve
Simone Levy. She's the apple of
our eye! My husband, Rob, and
I moved to the North Shore of
Boston last year, to Swampscott,
which is a small town next to
Salem-the Witch Capital, and
Marblehead-a sailing capital.
A fon destination with some
cultural treats! 1 am working
on a master's in Jewish studies.
Got through Jewish mysticism,
now working on a translation of
portions of the Book of Exodus.
I wish I could go to more
alumni events, it's been great
connecting!"
MELANIE M ASON (A)
{ TH E
Alrnapolis to sec his wife, SARA
ScnROEOlNGER (A92), he is logging lots of frequent-flyer miles
on bt1siness trips to China,
Thailand, and Malaysia.
1993
The commute to work for K u1n
HECKEL (A) got a lot longer in
early September 2004, when he
took a position ,vith Border
Concepts in Charlotte, N.C.
When he is not traveling back to
St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
1994
JANIE BOSWORTH (SFGI) and
GEORGE F. BING HAM (SF66)
were married July 3, 2004, at
the Audubon Center in Santa
Fe. Between them, they proudly
share six children and seven
grandchildren-with another
one on the way.
finished
writing his dissertation in May
2004 and spent the summer
backpacking in Montana. " T
hiked across the Bob Marshall
Wilderness once, enjoyed the
experience, and went back for a
second passage," wTites Kroll.
"Walking through the long
eveni ng light of summer in the
northern Rockies is not to be
missed. The bears keep things
interesting, too. Talso spent
numerous days floating the
Bitterroot and Clark Fork
Rivers, drinking beer and
formulating a master plan.
I completed my Ph.D. in
Wildlifo Biology from the
University of Montana in
December 2004 and accepted a
position as a research scientist
with Wcycrhaettser Corporation
in Federal Way, Wash.
I am responsible for habitat
plann ing for the company's
Wester n timberlands, as well as
general wildlife research and
operational support. I would
enjoy hearing from anyone, and
I am anxious to jump-start
ANDREW }. K ROLL (A)
I
I
I
I
�{ALUMNI
NATHAN WILSON
{ALUMNI
PROFILE}
(AGl01) UNVEILS SHROUD MYSTERIES
BY PATRICL\ DEMPSEY
ike many Johnnies,
Nathan Wilson (AGlor)
is unwilling to walk
away from an ino·iguing
question. Five years
ago, Wilson became
fascinated with the origins of the
mysterious Shroud of Turin and began
to wonder how the images ofJesus on
the cloth-believed by some to be
authentic-could have been faked.
Ultimately, with a few simple tools
Wilson demonstrated how a medieval
might have forged the images on the
shroud. His simple experiment showing that glass, paint, and sunlight
could have been used to create a
"reversed" photonegative image
sparked a media frenzy, with Wilson
appearing on shows including ABC's
World News Tonight.
Wilson (profiled in the Summer
2.002 edition of The College for his parodies
of apocalyptic novels) ruminated over two
questions: how do we know the dark image
was imposed on light linen at all? Further,
how could a forger in the Middle Ages
lighten linen without chemicals, paints,
or dyes?
"A negative image can be easily produced using only large pieces of painted
NATHAN WILSON THEORIZES THAT
C H RIS D AVI S and CARMEN
(both SF) write:
"CHARLIE B REW and P AT
BOHAN, it's high time you
stopped reading so much
Kafka!"
H ERIJIIG
SUNLIGHT TRAVELING IN AN ARC OVER
PAINTED CLASS CREATED THE
3-D IMAGE
ON THE SHROUD OF TURIN.
glass," explains Wilson. "In the Middle
Ages, glass was commonly made in large
sizes: six-by-eight feet or even nine-by-five.
It was made in a long cylinder and unrolled
into a sheet as early as the noos, a technique perfected in the 12.oos and r3oos. As
the Shroud is roughly 14 feet in length, two
pieces of glass would be necessary, both at
least six feet long. The image of the front of
alumni activities in the Puget
Sound area. I can be reached at
ajkroll64@hotmail.com."
English, Italian, and Latin, and
where Greek and Sanskrit are
offered as electives.
PATRICK SCANLON (SFGI) will
be resident clirector of School
Year Abroad's Italy campus in
Viterbo, Italy. SYA Viterbo
offers a one-year classics
curriculum for American
juniors and seniors in homestays. He and his wife, Linda,
and their four children return
to the central Italian town
(population 60,000) where
Pat had taught English for two
years previously. Now he'll
oversee a program that requires
GREG WATSON (SF) writes, "l
live in Washington State on a
beautiful island with my dog,
Rusty, and wife, Karen. During
the week I am employed as
assistant harbormaster at a
local marina, and on weekends
I teach sailing in Seattle. So I
am still using my captain's
license. Also, I am getting ready
to embark on a trip to Costa
Rica with Solar Energy International, where we will work with
locals installing renewable
energy power systems."
{ TH E
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the man would be produced beneath
one and the back of the man beneath
the other."
How would the forger create the
three-dimensional shading? "By painting an image on the top side of the
glass," says Wilson. "This leaves a gap
where the sunlight traveling in a 180degrec arc could penetrate at angles
that produce the 3-D shading."
Wilson used white oil paint to create
images on eight different window
panes and placed them over coarse
linen in the sun. The paint blocked the
sunlight from bleaching the darker
cloth, but everything around it was
bleached white. The results, Wilson
believes, point to one possibility for
how the shroud was faked. He detailed his
experiments in an article published in the
journal Books and Culture: "What I have
done is crudely demonstrate that such
an image could easily be produced in a
matter of weeks by wicked men with no
scruples, a little imagination, and a little
more skill." ♦
1 995
JEROME DuFFY (SFGI) is
working as an elementary
school teacher at the Chinese
American International School
in San Francisco.
ALICE BROWN and GREG
HODGES (A) are happy to
announce the birth of their
second child, Silas Wister
Hodges. "We are also pleased
to announce the completion of
Greg's doctoral thesis, "An
Ethnography Study of Lucan's
Bellum Civife," which has
St. John's College. Spring 2005}
arrived after a gestation of
many years and has earned him
a Ph.D. in classics from Ohio
State University. We arc
teaching and in the thralls of
Babydom in the Great White
North, and loving it. Fond
thoughts of all!"
CAMERON GRAHAM (SF) has
moved from South Carolina tO
the Defense Languages School
in Monterey, Calif. "I am a
specialist, and I will most Iikely
be there for a couple of years;•
he writes. "In the army, I
received an award for top
physical program at Fort
Jackson in South Carolina,
and now I am studying Arabic."
D AVID MALLEY
(A) writes:
"T didn't graduate from
St. John's, but my short time
there is a treasured memory.
For that, I am always grateful."
H EATHER (AGI)
my new company and will serve
as my launching pad for my
next year of helicopter flying,"
reports KI RA K. ZIELINSKI (SF).
"Happily, no more tourists. I'll
be flying as a utility pilot, which
means construction and
firefighting all over the western
U.S., just as Pericles would have
done had he not been occupied
with a higher calling. Same
e-mail: Hcrme5@juno.com."
and C HRIS
NOR.DLOII (AGI96) welcomed
Nicholas Nordloh into the
world on Dec. 24, 2004.
(A) and AolUENNE
(JAK0WSKI) RUIJENSTElN (A96)
have lived in the Washington,
D.C., area for five years, the last
three in Frederick, Md.
Adrienne teaches at the
Maryland School for the Deaf,
and Peter commutes to an
In tern et networking job in
Northern Virginia. Their big
news is the appearance on
the scene of Jonah Chester,
by far the littlest Rubenstein
currently extant. Born just
shy of Halloween 2004, Jonah
has made a splash among his
admirers. Blue-eyed and dark of
hair, he is considered by his
father to be "quite handsome."
Two-year-old beagle "Elway" is
said to be " adjusting well" to
the newcomer despite occasional lapses in respect for the
property rights of others.
P ETER
"Did I mention I'm engaged?"
writes APRIL I0AWALTERS (A).
"Getting married October r,
2005, to Travis Hopkins and
J'm keeping my name. Also,
I've been working at MICA as
the writing studio coordinator
almost as long as I attended
SJC!"'
1996
}ILL C111U!,'flNE NIENIIISER
(AGI ) writes: " T was recci:itly
promoted to director of strategy
at Mind and Media, Inc. in
Alexandria, Va. Last Friday I
had my first piano lesson since
1984. Upon leaving the music
store, I slammed my finger in
the car door. So far there is no
appreciable difference in my
playing ability, despite the
swelling! Hah ! "
1997
DAVID CANNELL (EC) dropped a
note from Japan: "Hidcko, the
three boys, and I are in Tokyo
for the next year or two on a
Japan Foundation fellowship,
praying it's enough to see us
thr9ugh the remainder of my
doctoral program (UC Irvine).
My thesis is on Matsuo Basho
and haikai poetry in late seventeenth-century Japan. Meantime, we're just enjoying being
here. The cherry blossoms have
come and gone-in a matter of
days! Can't wait for the next
sumo tournament. Would love
to hear from fellow EC grads
and know what's going on in
their worlds."
"I'm proud to say that I've used
up Las Vegas and am now off co
Tucson, which is the home of
{ THE
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E.
NOTES }
39
"My company, North Star
Games, is starting to pick up
momentum," writes DOMINI C
C1tAPUCHETrF.S (A): "Cluzzle
has won several prestigious
awards as a great family game
and our next game, Trivia
Casino, was picked up by a
larger game company. It looks
likely that both games will be
available at national outlets for
the 2.005 holiday season! If so, I
will finally get a paycheck after
12 months of working for nothing except a dream. WES DONEHOWER bought an apartment in
DuPont Circle so we have been
hanging out a bit recently. Give
us a call if you're in the area
and we'll get together: 202-2536070."
1998
News from ALEXANDRA D .E.
BOOZER (A): "Jam happy to
announce that I was ma rried to
Daniel Giguere ofWindham,
Maine, on September I9, 2.004.
Last year I received my doctorate in clinical psychology from
George Washington Univers ity,
with a specialization in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. We are
currently living in Holmes
Beach, Fla., where I am
working towards obtaining
Florida psychology licensure.
I would love to hear from any
old friends or to link with other
students/alumni with an
interest in practicing
psychology. I can be reached
by e-mail at: alexandra_FL@
hotmail.com."
(SF) is teaching
fifth-grade math. He and his
wife, Sara, are pleased to be
homeschooling their four
ch ildren. "This summer we
will be flying to England, where
we will be learning to build
wooden boats."
D AVID BRADEN
St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
MA'ITH£\V C. JOHNSTON
(SF)
sends greetings to his long-lost
classmates. "After stints as a
teacher, a college admissions
counselor (at SJC of course),
and a theology student, I'm
pleased to report that I'm back
at St. John's in Santa Fe, working alongside the assistant dean
to improve student activities
and services. My wife, A.NNE"ITE
P RA.PASI RI (SF04), and I are
expecting a baby in mid-April
and, ifwe can negotiate home
prices here, plan to stay in SF
forever. Drop me a line if you're
in town or needing the inside
scoop on SJC developments. I
can be reached at 505-424-3292
or mjohnston@sjcsf.edu."
1999
RACHEL VE0AA (SF) and
WALKER P ENOLEOON (A)
were married April 16, 2005,
at St. Mary's College in
Moraga, Calif.
2000
ANNE MCSHANE (A) is finishing
her first year at law school at
NYU. 'Tm spending the
summer at Nebraska's ACLU.
If anybody wants to chat about
going to law school, feel free to
write me at annecarolmcshane@
yahoo.com."
BENJAMIN SHOOK (SF) writes:
" I'm making beautiful furniture with a hint of Danish and
Asian influence. Visit
www.bcnshook.com to see
my work."
DE8EllNJERE } A.NET T 01Ul£Y
(AGI) is in Seoul on a Fulbright
fellowship, studying premodern Korean literature in
�40
{OBITUARIES}
{ALUMNI NOTES}
"A GIFT FOR FRIENDSHIP": REMEMBERING STUART BOYD
preparation for her dissertation
research in the Department of
Comparative literature at Penn
State University.
BY LYNDA MYERS
TuTOR, SANTA Fe
DAVE P ROSPER (SF) moved LO
Oakland and bas a new job. "I
also have a stack ofblack-andwhite Eexlebots comic books; if
anyone wants one. let me know.
Life is pretty sweet."
2002
ALANA and JOEY CHERNTLA
(both SF) had their second little
girl, Rose Isabella, on Feb. 25.
"Our first, Sadie Pearl, will be 2
in a few weeks. Besides enjoying
our intense domesticity, Joey
runs a daycare, and I work in
publishing and tutor homeschoolers in Euclid."
2003
NATE and REBEKA H (NEE
Go·rrtOB) EAGLE (both A) are
serving as Peace Corps
volunteers in Cameroon, West
Africa. They arrived at the end
of September for training in
agroforestry and moved to their
pose, the town of Poli, in
December. Their service will
end in December 2006. You can
view photos and a blog and find
out how to get in touch at
monadology.net.
KYLIE LIEBERMAN and ZEPJ-!Yll
(both SF) planned to be
married April 30, 2005, in Las
Vegas, Nev. See their Web site,
zheartk.com for pictures and
contact information.
R ENNER
2004
ENJOLI COOKE (A) is beginning
her second year as a postbaccalaureate fellow at the
National Institutes of Health.
"I'm beginning the graduate
school application process and
am planning to attend a Ph.D.
program in molecular biology."
RHO DA FRANKLIN (A) and
}All.ED 0 1mz (AGI05) were
married December 18, 2004,
in Annapolis.
LAURA MANION (A) was featured
as a "profile of the month" on
the Web site of the Mississippi
Teacher Corps. The corps is a
two-year program that recruits
recent college graduates to
teach in critical-shortage areas
in the Mississippi Delta, in
exchange for a full scholarship
for a master's in curriculum and
instruction from the University
of Mississippi. Manion teaches
ANNAPOLIS SENIORS COMBINED ENTREPRENEURIAL SP! RIT WITH
ALTRUISM BY CREATING A"WOMEN OF !l.005" CALENDAR TO HELP RAISE
MONEY FOR THEIR CLASS GIFT. THE STUDENTS PLEDGED MONEY TOWARD
PURCHASING LOBACHEVSKY MANUALS POI\ ALL SENIORS NEXT YEAR.
THEY HOPE THEIR GESTURE WILL INSPIRE OTHER CLASSES TO DO SOME·
THING SIMILAR, WITH THE COAL THAT ALL LAB MANUALS CAN BE GIVEN TO
STUDENTS. THESE TASTEFUL CALENDARS (MAY zoo5-MAY 2006) CAN BE
PURCHASED FOR $10 THROUGH THE ADVANCEMENT OFFICE IN ANNAPOLIS:
SEND ACHECK TO ALEXANDRA FOTOS, ADVANCEMENT, P.O. Box 2800,
ANNAPOLIS, MD 21404.
seventh- and eighth-grade
English at a middle school in
Arcola, Miss.
TATIANA HAIUUSON (A) was
married to Rob Harrison on
June 28, 2004.
RYAN R.lSING (A.GI) is attending
the University of Kansas School
of Law, where he hopes to
graduate on their fast track in
two years, rather than three.
He is at work on a novel that he
hopes to be the first in a ninevolume series. ♦
{ TH E C o LL E c E . St. John's College. Spring 2005
}
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 October;
deadline for the alumni notes
sect.ion is August 15.
Cla;;snotes posted to the college's online community will
also be included in The College.
IN ANNAPOLIS:
The College Magazine
St. John's College, P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 2r404;
roscmary.harty@sjca.edu
IN SANTA FE:
The College .Magazine
St. John's College
u6o Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
alumni@sjcsf.edu
When Stuart Boyd retired from the college in
1988, he was presented with a scroll that read:
To Stuart Boyd, Artist, writer, healer ofsouls,
lover ofknowledge, and teacher ofthe Books:
A testimony to lzis contribution ofover 22
years to the intellectual and convivial delights
ofthe College. "He was a man... we shall not
look upon his like again. "
His humanity, wit, common sense, and love
of life were celebrated again at a memorial
held on the Santa Fe campus at the end of
January, a week after he died of a heart attack
at his home near Can1busavie, Scotland.
Mr. Boyd joined the faculty of St. John's in
1966, when the Santa Fe campus was still in
its infancy. In the words of his wife, Nan, "At
St. John's Stuart found his spiritual home."
Before coming to the college Mr. Boyd had
already led a rich and varied life. He was born
on January 3, 1922, in Aberdeen, Scotland.
In his memoir, The Wind.swept Child, he
describes his childhood in Scotland between
the two world wars as a precious, fragile, and
fleeting time.
When World War II interrupted his
graduate work at Aberdeen University,
he volunteered for the Parachute
Regiment and saw active service in
Sicily and North Africa before being
wounded and captured at Arnhem
in the Netherlands in September
1944. (The story of that disastrous
mission is recounted in the book
The Bridge Too Far.) He spent the
remainder of the war in prison
camps near the Polish-German
border.
After the war, Mr. Boyd completed
his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in
clinical psychology, taught at
several universities in the UK and
the United States, and eventually
joined the faculty of New Mexico
Highlands University, where he
became chairman of the Psychology
Department. At Highlands he met
Robert Bunker (then chairman of
the Highlands' English and
philosophy deparonents and now
tutor emeritus of St. John's).
Ralph Swentzell (now also tutor
emeritus) was a student of both and
what the Confucianists would callJen or
benevolence for his fellow man."
Mr. Boyd's intellectual interests spread
quickly as he taught through the Program
and he became a loved and respected tutor.
Mara Robinson (SFGI83), a former member
of the college's Board ofVisitors and
Governors, first met him in a Community
Seminar, later studied with him in the
Graduate Institute, and became a close
friend. "Stuart was a brilliant, inspiring
teacher and a charismatic man whose classes
always overfilled with students cager to
'sit at his feet' and learn," she recalls.
" His knowledgeable and entertaining
leadership won over, not only many students
through the years, but an enormous number
of townspeople as well."
Faculty colleagues remember Mr. Boyd as
something of an iconoclast, as the faculty
meeting min Lites he wrote as faculty secretary
in :r974 show. According to Mr. Swentzell,
" Stuart, although loving the formal, was
always strongly sensitive about tendencies
toward pompous elitism or hypocrisy. He
valued straight, honest talk-preferably
accompanied by wit and eloquence,
both of which he had in abundance." Tutor Jorge Aigla remembers the way Mr. Boyd welcomed
him to the faculty: "Twenty years
ago it was my good fortune to be
paired with Stuart Boyd for my first
freshman seminar-a wonderful way
to be initiated into our educational
venture. I soo n learned with Stuart
to read honestly, carefully, sensitively; to respect the authors, to
laugh with them (I never managed
to laugh at them, as Stuart occasionally did), and to appreciate the
insights and awakening of our
students. His common sense,
wisdom, advice, courage, and sense
of honor were a great h elp to me."
In the early days of the Santa Fe
campus Mr. Boyd's gift for friendship and his capacity for fun were
cohesive forces among the faculty.
recalls a seminar co-led by "these Lwo most
philosophically exciting professors. I think it
had to do with science and religion, or maybe
it was
existentialism. Students talked about Stuart's
frequent exclamations in class whenever
Bunker would hint at the possibility of God's
existence, something to the effect that he
'didn't see any need for Easter Bunnies
running across his systematic reasoning.' "
In 1966, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Swentzell,
encouraged by Bob Bwlker (who had come
to St. John's the year before), joined the
fledgling Santa Fe faculty. Mr. Boyd served
both as a tutor and as campus psychologist.
As Nan Boyd observes, "Stuart always
managed to find time, and the right words,
when someone was in distress or in need of
wisdom. I know there are students without
number who have cause to be grateful to him,
not only for his role as a tutor, but also for
getting them through emotional problems to
graduation in one piece." Ralph Swentzell
adds, "What I most admired in Stuart was his
blunt honesty and genuine humani ty. He had
a great capacity for sympathetic compassion,
continued on nextpage
STUART BOYD WITH FANG IN
DoRNACH, SCOTLAND.
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continuedfromp. 41
According to Torn Harris, tutor emeritus,
"Stuart helped us form such strong bonds..
.we all resonated with his warmth and care for
us. Did we not dance beautifully and wildJy
then! With uncontained energy we danced on
into the night! He always had a wonderful
laugh. I hear it now." Nan Boyd adds, 'Tm
perfectly sure everyone of you remembers
occasions when the room was almost lit-up by
his laugh and general merriment-there was
nothing, absolutely nothing, he enjoyed more
than a gathering of good friends exchanging
stories and making each other laugh."
Mr. Boyd had a distinctive, very Scottish
presence on campus. Many remember his
military bearing-not quite a swagger-when
he arrived at waltz parties in full regimentals.
Even after 2.0 years, he found the bright sun
of New Mexico oppressive and lamented the
chill and clamp of home. Rumor has it that his
favorite philosopher remained fellow Scot
FACULTY M EETING MINUTES,
SANTA FE:
AN EXCERPT
Nov. 21, 1974
Stuart Boyd, Faculty Secretary
Dean Ncidorf, presiding, judging a
quorum to be present, asking for and
receiving, approval of the minutes of the
previous faculty meeting (noting the
objection by Mr. Jones, whose presence
and words had been reported but whose
absence and silence were the facts, ru1d the
correction by Mr. Venable who suggested
that something had been "evoked" from
Mr. Sacks, not "invoked" as reported nor
"provoked" as intended) invited Mr. Steadman to justify his request that a special
faculty meeting be called for Saturday,
November 2.3, a request to which
Mr. Steadman responded with zest.
Mr. Ncidorf then linked this specific
event with a request for Faculty discussion
of the suggestion that Facul ty Meetings not
be held at the time which had been agreed
on and which had become the tradition,
i.e. Thursday Afternoon, but that we tinker
with this arrangement, to find extra time
so that discussions could last even longer.
Drew wondered out loud if time could not
be saved by streamlining our procedures.
Robinson reminded the Faculty that the
AT 72, MR. B OYD DONNED HIS PARATROOPER'S SUIT FOR A JUMP IN THE NETHERLANDS.
David Hume. When Mr. Boyd retired from
the college, he and his wife returned to
raison d'etre for establishing the Thursday
Afternoon Faculty Meeting was to protect
Saturdays, and that to meet on Saturday
morning would see the remorseless,
insidious, and irrevocable engulfment of
all the hours of daylight and sunshine, in
accordance with Parkinson's Law. Dean
Neidorf finally pronounced that the
thought of rescheduling anything seemed
to involve great difficulty and pain, that
tradition must be respected, that he would
call Thursday afternoon Faculty Meetings
at l p.m. instead of1:30 p.m., and that he
would do what he could to streamline the
meeting procedures.
The Dean then asked for comments on
the recent All-College Seminar. There were
enthusiastic responses from some who felt
that it brought together those who would
otherwise not be so brought, with consequent excitements....Robinson, noting
the excitements that some had experienced, wondered if all seminars could not
be of this nature. The Dean paused, then
remaiked that of course such a suggestion
could be countenanced, but that he was
sure in his experience of the Faculty that
even in the event that a majority approved
such an idea, that that same majority
would reject taking any action. There was
some further conversation about seminars
and books, in which was heard the
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43
{OBITU AR I ES }
Scotland and settled in a small village near
the northern coast, cold and rainy enough to
satisfy even him. There he read, gardened,
worked on his memoirs, and painted in
acrylics, something he had begun doing while
at St. John's. In addition to enjoying quiet
activities near their home, the Boyds traveled
extensively and returned several times to
Santa Fe, where he gave lectures on topics
ranging from Shakespeare to T.E. Lawrence.
In 1994, at the age of 72., Mr. Boyd together
with several other survivors of the Arnhem
mission repeated their parachute jump over
the Netherlands to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem and to
raise money for the Airborne Forces Charities
of his regiment.
Mr. Boyd voice lingers on for many friends
like Jorge Aigla: "When Stuart retired in
1989, he asked me to take over his office. In
that space, I still sometimes hear him laughing, telling me (and us): 'ALL is well, my boy,
andallSHALLbewcll! '" ♦
predictable, conditioned suggestion that
Pavlov be expunged from the senior
reading list.
Dean Neidorf reported that the
Annapolis Faculty, in response to student
sentiment, was considering whether or not
to abaJ1don the practice of awarding
honors. After a lengthy silence, Harris and
Jones asked qu estions of Dean Neidorf,
wondering ifhe meant the Annapolis
campus of St. John's, and ifhe meant there
was consideration of whether or not to
award honors at graduation, and received
solemn assurances that all was as he had
said. The Dean went on to say that the
graduating class on the other campus had
registered the complaint that the system of
awaiding honors was oppressive and
offensive. Mr. Sacks remarked, somewhat
cryptically, that the oppressed should not
feel oppressed.... The discussion about
honors continued, with considerable time
spent on Descartes aJ1d "warm, effusive
feelings" and other comments which flew
too fast for this reporter to catch either
their significance or their relevance,
terminating in a masterly synthesis of
Greek ru1d Christian worlds by Mr. Long,
who urged us to think of honors as like
some Olympic Garnes to which many were
called but few chosen ... ♦
MICH AEL C. S LAKEY, C LASS OF 1985
Michael C. Slakey, Annapolis class ofI985,
died of cancer on January 30, 2.005, in
Lannion, Brittany, a region of western
France. He was 42..
Michael met his wife, Victoire Devaud
Slakcy, a French citizen, in Washington,
D.C., and they spent most of their married
life in France. Michael had a full life as a
painter and musician, and as an organic
farmer especially devoted to the care of his
land. He leaves behind his wife and three
children, Theo, Fay, and Yarrow.
H e is the son of Marion and Thomas
Slakey, a tutor emeritus and former dean of
St. John's, and the brother of Tom, Jr.
(SF81); Bill (SF88); and the Rev. Anne
Slakcy (SF88).
"Michael had an exceptional capacity to
take pleasure in what he was doing at the
moment, whether it was in the hard work of
cutting his own trees with an axe and
smoothing planks with an adze, weeding
and planting his garden, sitting and playing
his guitar or his Irish flute, or painting,"
his father wrote.
M UNTt;F. 8U UIIJAJLY, JK., CLA:>i> ot· 1947
Monte Ferris Bourjaily, Jr., who had been
the publisher and editor of Globe Syndicate
since 1977, died Jan. 4 at his home in Front
Royal, Va., after a heart attack.
Mr. Bourjaily was born in ClevelaJ1d, Ohio,
and raised across the country as he accompanied his journalist parents on their
assignments. He served in the Army Signal
Corps in Europe during World War II.
Early in his career, he was a reporter for a
newspaper in Floyd County, Va., and worked
in the U.S. House of Representatives radio
gallery. From 1952 to 1966, he worked for
Army Times as an associate editor and
author of the " Kibitzer's Corner" column.
He then was an executive assistant in
Washington for the Oklai1orna-based architectural, engineering, and planning furn of
Hudgins, Thompson, Ball and Associates.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years,
Marietta Dake Bourjaily of Front Royal, Va.,
and six children.
MARGARET NEUSTADT RANooL
Maigaret Neustadt RaJ1dol of Baltimore,
who was married to former St. John's Dean
John 0. Neustadt, died at her home in
Baltimore in December 2.004. She was 83,
and had been a longtime civil-rights activist
in the city. She was well known for her work
with Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc., the
Maryland Commission on Human Relations,
and American Civil Liberties Union.
MI CHAEL TOBCN, FORMER BVGMEMBER
Michael E. Tobin died April 2.1, at the age of
79, at his home in Tesuque, New Mexico.
He served as a member of the college's
Board ofVisitors and Governors from
1994-2000.
Mr. Tobin was born in Philadelphia. He
lettered in fencing and soccer at Central
High School. He attended the University of
Pennsylvania until he was drafted into the
U.S. Army, where he served in Europe.
After the war, he remained in France to
study classical piano. Although mus ic
remained one of his passions throughout his
life, Mr. Tobin returned to complete his
studies at Penn's "Wharton School of
Business. He inoved to New York to launch
a career in finance, later joining the firm
of Arthur Young and Company. There he
worked in bank and securities consulting
and became partner in charge of the
Chicago and Western offices.
As president of the Midwest Stock
Exchange, he pioneered automation for the
exchange, making it the second-largest
market in the U.S. by dollar volume. He later
became chairman and CEO of the American
Bank and Trust Company of Chicago. That
bank became the sponsor of a program that
sent teachers in Chicago's Paideia program
(which introduced Socratic seminars to
public-school classrooms) to the Graduate
Institute in Santa Fe.
Throughout his life, Mr. Tobin was actively
committed to the arts, and when he moved
to Santa Fe, he became an ardent supporter
of the Santa Fe Symphony. He also continued to cultivate a lifelong interest in world
history and Western literature at St. John's,
where he took part in comm unity seminars.
Mr. Tobin is survived by his wife, Judith
Brown Tobin; his children Michael, Jr.,
Allegra Love, and Corey; a stepson, Brett
Sylvestri and wife Virginia; and four
grandchildren.
EMIL MAsSA, FlUEND OF T HE MEEM LIBRARY
Dr. Emil J. Massa, who died in October
2.004, took an interest in St. John's College
as early as the mid-197os. Perhaps he fust
visited on one of his regular trips to Santa Fe
to attend the city's world-famous opera. By
1992., Dr. Massa had included the Meern
Library in his estate plan. Now, his bequest
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St. John's College . Spring 2005
will fund an endovm1ent for maintenance of
the library's collections.
Dr. Massa settled in Denver, Colo., as an
orthopedic surgeon in 1960. Born into a
first-generation immigrant family in the
Cleveland, Ohio, area, he attended
Dennison College in connection with his
military service, followed by medical school
at Northwestern University. Dr. Massa was
keenly aware of the value of a good education-not only professionally, but spiritually
as well. Following his formal schooling, he
became an avid reader and bibliophile of
broad and formidable intellect, drawn
especially to the humanities ru1d liberal arts
and sciences.
Dr. Massa was always questioning,
confronting his ideas with those of others
and trying to discern the best way to live.
He found it in his appreciation of fine workmanship of all kinds-books and the craft of
bookbinding, art, music, fine automobiles,
and wine-but most of all in his ongoing
personal search for truth. No great idea, he
believed, can flourish without serious
conversation, one of the highest activities in
which humans can engage. To enter the
conversation in earnest, we must know what
has been said already. For this, as Dr. Massa
knew, the best education is a study of the
greatest books ever written.
A LSO NOTED:
FRED ALEXANDER (class ofi937) , December
2.2., 2.004
LurH ER BLACKJSTON (A68), January 18, 2.005
MICHAEL B LUME (A78) , February 7, 2.005
} A.MPS H. C 1moERS (SFGI70), October 9,
2.004
WJLLL\M C. H ALL (class of1946), December
18, 2.004
ROWLAND ALFRED JONES (class ofx949),
February 2.1, 2.005
GEORGE L YON, JR. (class ofx940), January
14, 2.005
D UNCAN M CDONALD, former An napolis
tutor, January 2.4, 2.005
ERICH NUSSBAUM ( class of 1945), March 18,
2.005
HAROL D OAV1 0 Runm (Ao4), December
2.004
DEBORAH MICAEL TIIIELKER (A79), April 17,
2.005
J AMES TINDALL (class ofi949), March 2.4,
2.005
)
�44
COMMUNITY
F OR T H E
S AKE
O F
Miss HucHEY-COMMERS LEAVES ST. JOHN'S
WITH A PASSION FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION.
LEARNI N G ,
LEARNING
FOR T H E
SAKE
OF
COMM UNI TY
sv Ea,,. Hucttsv-COMMEas, A05
hroughout.high school my
image of college was a place
where people came together
to explore the knowable
world with gusto; I envisioned lively discussions and
a feeling of fulfilJment when I turned in
each assignment. I was interested in a kind
oflearning that would involve my whole
being- that would inform not only which
answer I put dovm on the test but also teach
me how to live in a more thoughuul way
once I stepped outside the classroom. And
I was interested in sharing this kind of
learning with other people who were
engaged in the same activity. I was fortunate
to find St. John's.
As an underclassman what I loved most
about the Program was the discussion.
How well I remember staying up until one
in the morning after my first seminar talking with my hallrnates about the character
of Odysseus in Homer's Iliad, or, much
later, my euphoria after reading Plotinus,
who, in his way of speaking about God
without personification, gave me just the
insight I needed to begin to talk about the
word of God in the Book ofJohn for my oral
examination. I learned what an amazing
thing it is to have a really good seminar, in
which the conversation takes its own
course, free of any student attempting to
determine its direction, and in which something completely new and unexpected is
clarified out of the chaos of my own reading.
Long after the newness of St. John's wore
off, I continued to find myself in unexpectedly thoughtful conversations, often in the
lunchroom with someone I didn' t know, or
with the girls on my hall while brushing
teeth after seminar.
Many of the books we read deal with the
question of what it means to live a good and
virtuous life. Reading and discussing these
T
books changed, among other things, the
way I thought about my future. When I
came to St. John's, J knew that I wanted to
be a teacher. In my previous teaching
experiences, I had enjoyed helping students
discover the fun of learning, and showing
them that they were capable of more than
they had believed. After coming to
St. John's and reading so many books that
applied directly to my life, I became interested in finding a way of teaching that would
provide students with the opportunity to
make the clear connection between what
they were learning in class and their lives
outside of school. Before, it had seemed
enough for me to help students bring themselves as whole people to their learning, and
what I had hoped to accomplish as a teacher
had rested in empowering individuals by
helping them enter the world oflearning;
now I saw it was equally important that they
turn back to their daily lives as snidentsthat they thus learn how to live thoughtfully
as well as learn vibrantly. Teaching enlarged
its scope then; I came to see it as the work of
strengthening a society.
As a resuJt, I became interested in the
Waldorf School, which is based on the
writings of Austrian philosopher Rudolf
Steiner. The summer following my sophomore year, I was fortunate to get a Hodson
internship to work in a Waldorf School for
the remainder of their school year. In the
process of giving its students a balanced
education, including art, music, and
handwork, the Waldorf School also seeks
to awaken in students an awareness of
themselves as a part of a social and natural
whole-and to prepare them to make
thoughuul decisions about the way that they
act as citizens of this whole. In addition the
Waldorf School is an example of the way
that philosophical ideas can be implemented in the world. It turned out that it
{ THE
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St. John 's College. Spring aoo5 )
provides an education much like the one
that Socrates describes in the Republic,
the education of the future philosopherk.ings: certain kinds of music arc played and
stories told based on the students' level of
development.
The summer after my junior year, I
received another Hodson grant to intern
with the Nelson County Museum of Rural
History in central Virgina, where I learned
about the work of educating an entire
community. Dttring the internship, J helped
lead an oral-history workshop for fourthand fifth-graders, in which we invited senior
citizens to be interviewed on tape. Everyone
benefited from this experience: the older
people were happy to share their stories and
spend time with the students, and the
snidents showed surprise and pleasure at
what the seniors told them about life during
the Depression. History became real for
these students through conversations with
their elders, once again demonstrating the
importance of dialogue to meaningful
learning. I believe that such dialogue is not
only important for education but also
essential for seeing oneself as part of a
larger whole- as a citizen of a locality where
one's actions have a direct and tangible
effect on the community.
Since becoming a student at St. John's,
I have been impressed by how much
learning depends upon interaction with
other people. One night in seminar, toward
the end of the semester, I felt weighed down
and found myself participating little in the
discussion. I was stopped after class by
another student who asked me my thoughts
on the conversation. I expressed my frustration, and we shared anecdotes about the
tension we felt while sitting in seminar,
often caught between interrupting the flow
of conversation and wanting to clarify a
particular point for ourselves. It was so
45
{ ST U D ENT V OI CES}
{STUDENT VOIC E S}
refreshing to talk to a classmate like this
that I began to speak more vigorously and to
feel more impassioned about our seminar.
When I returned to my room that night I
had gotten my energy back for the Program.
There is something amazing about the
power of conversation. Not only do we
uncover ideas and get co ask ourselves
questions we would never have thought
about on our ovm, but we are also able to
discuss the learning process itself, to realize
what is standing in the way, and above all to
become connected once again with our
passion for learning. When we learn
through dialogue, our relationship to
learning is not distinguishable from our
relationship to ocher people. Through that
human relationship, we are able to pursue
truth and knowledge as whole beings.
In the Republic Socrates divides the soul
into three parts: the highest is the intellect,
the lowest, the desiring part, and that which
connects these is the spirited part, or
thumos. When I said at the beginning of my
talk that I wanted to bring my whole self to
learning, I meant that I wanted the spirited
part of me to be just as involved in the
conversation in its own way as the intellectual part. Spiritedness not only asks but
embodies the question, "Why is this
important to me?" Even in the most
abstract discussion, something must be
at stake for the conversation to live and
breathe, for us to find ourselves in it.
That's the thing about St. John's- through
our interaction with the people around us
and, by means of the texts, with the great
thinkers of our culture, we enter into
learning with all parts of the soul and we
discover that there is little chat does not
interest us.
At St. John's we call ourselves a community of learning. My time here, as well as my
summer internships, has driven home for
{ THE
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me the truth that in order for either to be
ftilly what it is, community and education
must not be separate. Thinking along these
lines, during my fall and winter breaks this
year I have worked with teachers, students,
and community leaders in Nelson County
to design a program for high school
students in which they will learn about
the workings oflocal government by
conducting research, attending meetings,
discussing issues, and writing articles
for the newspaper about what they are
learning. Starling this fall, I will coorclinate
the program for a year; beyond that, I am
excited about making community education the focus in my career. Indeed, I am
indebted co St. John's for helping me
find such a strong focus for my career as
a teacher.
When my parents told me they would be
unable to help me pay tuition at St. John's,
I began to fill out application forms for as
many local and national scholarships as I
had time to apply for. I knew that St. John's
was the right school for me, and I believed
that somehow it would be possible for me to
go. I was extremely fortunate in chat a
Ruritan club, a local church, and a private
foundation assisted me at different times.
At first it seemed awkward co be receiving
money from others; however, after the first
time that I went to the Episcopal church
service to thank the parish for its help, the
experience of being a scholarship recipient
changed. When I stood up to telJ the
congregation about my work at St. John's
and saw so many smiling faces looking back
at me, I realized I was not alone in my
endeavor, financial or academic.
It is easy for us to consider our education
as something we obtain ourselves, for
ourselves. What I've realized in the course
of talking with my sponsors is that this is
not true. An education is brought about
through the efforts of many people and if
all goes weJJ, many people will be the
beneficiaries of that education. To put it
more strongly, an education is a gift from a
community to a community. I've come to
the place of being able to accept help with
deep gratitude, joyfuIJy looking forward to
the time when I can give back, and aJJowing
the boundary between myself and my
community to become less distinct. ♦
�{ALUMNI AssocrATION NEws}
FROM THE ALUMNI
AssoCIATION
PRESIDENT
•
•
•
Dear Alumni,
•
Even at St. John's
College, technology
changes quickly.
Last year, the
college and the
Alumni Association
instituted an online
register, which provided little more
than contact information for alumni from
both campuses and all programs. Thanks
to all of you who registered for your commitment and patience during a bumpy
implementation process.
This year, the online register is being
replaced with an Online Alumni Community, a user-friendly, flexible, and powerful
tool to help you connect with fellow alumni
in many different ways. This new virtual
community offers:
• Powerful search features to help you
find and connect with other alumni.
The site is designed to allow alumni
to conduct a search for special networking-for example, look for alumni
working in the Jcgal field in New York
City. As more alumni become
•
•
•
•
•
• Phoco galleries from special alumni
events, such as chapter picnics,
outings, and Homecoming, can be
posted here.
It is a wonderful and flexible tool for
staying connected with others and with the
college, and we' ve only begun to use just a
fraction of the features available. One area
ripe for development is a Career Services
section that allows Johnnies to learn of job
openings, post resumes, and advertise
positions that are just right for Johnnies.
If you're concerned that the list could be
used for "spamming," don't worry: the
system has safeguards built in to avoid
alumni or unauthorized users from
creating lists from the system.
Your friends can only reach you through
the Online Community if you have registered as a member. As of May, close to r,600
alumni have joined the community, with
our younger alumni really taking the lead.
It only talccs a few minutes, and approval is
most often automatic-so do it today. You
should also encourage your friends to
register, so you can reach them through this
virtual "Johnnie homecoming."
members, this search feature will be
more helpful.
Announcements for alumni and other
college events around the country.
Member forums where you can start a
conversation or enter one in progress.
Information about Alumni Association
chapters' contact information and
activity schedules.
Faculty listings from both campuses
with e-mai l addresses.
" Meeting space" for special groups of
alumni. One current group is Military
Family Alumni, for alumni who are
either serving in or associated with
the military. Mary Ruffin (Ao4)
started the group after marrying a
Naval officer.
"Personal space" where you can share
information about yourself with ocher
alumni, including your personal page,
buddy list, web log, photo album, and
resume.
Class home pages, class notes, and
e-mail lists to help you stay in touch
with members of your class. Alumni
notes from The College magazine will
be posted here, and classnotes you
submit through the online community
will also be printed in the next edition
of the magazine.
Instant messaging.
A process that allows you to easily
upload your photos of special events
(a wedding) or special people (the new
baby) to share with your classmates.
It was a busy year for Alumni Association
chapters across the country, with the usual
mix ofhmchcons and receptions, potlucks,
picnics, and seminars. (With or without
a potluck, Johnnies still turn out for a
seminar.)
Here's a look at what's happening:
• Albuquerque had six seminar/
potlucks; Austin had IO seminars,
Baltimore enjoyed five seminars and
hosted a networking seminar for
juniors and seniors with the Annapolis
and Washington, D.C., chapters.
• The revival continues for the Boston
chapter, which reported an "excel{T
tt &
Co LL E c e . St. John's College. Spring 2005
GRANT PRESERVES
GYM PLAQUES
le talces 2.0 laps around the suspended
wooden track in Iglehart Hall to complete a
mile. That gives determined joggers and
walkers ample opportunity co read the
plaques lining the wall of the gymnasium in
Annapolis, reminders from past generations
of}ohnnie athletes that every sport requires
the best effort every time.
Thanks to a grant from the Alumni
Association, the plaques look better than
they have in years: 23 of 38 plaques in the
collection, commemorating the alumni of
the years 1871-192.8, have been cleaned and
restored. The association provided a grant
for the work, which cost $3,800. These
plaques are of both nostalgic and historic
value to alumni, being among the very few
publicly displayed relics of the college's postCivil War through post-World War I period.
A ss O C I A TI ON
N EWS }
The class of 1889 left behind the motto
Respice Finem- "look to the encl." The class
ofr916 was a bit more Spartan in its athletic
philosophy: Aul Vince,-e Aut Mori- "co conquer or die, death or victory." The Latin
phrases embodied by those athletic teams of
years past represent a time when St. John's
competed with the likes of Navy and Johns
Hopkins in football and lacrosse, and usually
won. Lofty values that transcended athletics
were also emblazoned on the plaques:
Omnia Vinci, Veritas, "truth conquers all
things," declared the class ofr927.
The plaques were cleaned and oxidized to
a dark statuary finish, with an architectural
coating applied. "Now you can really sec
chem- even read the names-and from the
court floor no less," says Athletic Director
Leo Pickens. "Until the cleaning they were
just like dark holes on the wall. The details
on many of them are almost architectural
and quite lovely." ♦
47
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
All alumni have automatic membership in
the St. John's College Alumni Association.
The Alumni Association is an independent
organization, with a Board of Directors elected by and from the alumni body. The board
meets four times a year, twice on each campus,
to plan programs and coordinate the affairs of
the association. This newsletter within
The College magazine is sponsored by the
Alumni Association and communicates
association news and eve ms of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary-Barbara Lauer, SF76
'freasurer- Bill Fant, A79
Cetting•tlze-Word•OutAction Team ChairLinda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76
Mai/i,,gaddress-Alumni Association,
St. John's College, P.O Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404, or n6o Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
To register, go to:
www.stjohnscollege.cdu; click on "alumni"
and follow the directions from there.
For the past, present, and future,
Glenda H. Eoyang
President
St. John's College Alumni Association
lent" year with 13 well-attended
seminars, many of which attracted
new faces. Boulder enjoyed a poetry/
reading potluck along with 10 seminars; Chicago had seven seminars,
and there were six seminars-one with
dinner-for the Greater Puget Sound
chapter.
• As one of the largest chapters, New
York is very busy: five seminars, seven
movie nights, a reception picnic, and a
holiday party. The chapter expanded
its Web site significantly this year.
• In Northern California, eight seminars
and a seminar/picnic at Stag's Leap;
one seminar and one outing to the
Philadelphia Sha.Jcespeare Festival for
Philly, and 12 seminars for Pittsburgh.
• In Portland, alumni have been meeting
regularly since October and have had
AROUND THE
CHAPTERS
{AL U M N I
four seminars since July. A tea party
and six seminars took place in Santa
Fe, six in Southern California, r2 in
the Twin Cities, where the chapter
completed a yearlong plunge into the
theme of ""Who are we as Americans?·'
• A highlight for the Washington, D.C.,
chapter was "A Day in the Country,"
hosted by Sharon Bishop (A65), with
Eva Brann leading a seminar. The
chapter will return this spring to
Bishop's country place for another day
in the country with a great book.
• In seven other areas, reading groups
are considering organizing chapters,
or the association is reaching out to
alumni to gauge the interest in getting
a group of Johnnies together. ♦
- COMPILED BY CAROL FREEMAN, AGl94
}
PLAQUES LINING THE WALLS OF IGLEHART H ALL
ARE GLEAMING ONCE AGAIN, THANKS TO AN
ALUMNI AsSOCIATION GRANT.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed below for information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
actfrities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
BALTIMORE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
Deborah Cohen
505-275-9012
410-472'-9158
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin Gammon
410-280-0958
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
AUSTIN
John Strange
210-39 2-5506
Bev Angel
512,-926-7808
CHICAGO
Rick Ligh tburn
lightburn@
earthlink.net
DALLAS/FORT
WORTH
Suzanne Lexy
Bartlette
817-i21-9rx2
DENVER/BOULDER
Lee Katherine
Goldstein
72~46-1496
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST.PAUL
Carol Freeman
612,-822-3216
{ THE
Co
LL E c E.
NEWYORK
Daniel Van Doren
914-g49-68rr
PORTLAND
Lake Perriguey
lake@law-works.com
NORTHERN CALIF.
Deborah Farrell
415-i31-8804
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619•423-4972
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
SANTA FE
Richard Cowles
505-986-1814
PITTSBURGH
Joanne Murray
724-325-4151
St. John 's College. Spring ,ioo5 }
SEATTLE
Amina Brandt
206-465"'7781
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Eastman
562,-426-1934
TRIANGLE CIRCLE
(NC)
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Jean Dickason
301-699•6207
WESTERN NEW
ENGLAND
Julia Ward
413-648-0064
�{ST.
JOHN'S
FOREVER}
"COEDS INVADE
ST. JottN's"
n the fall of 1950, the faculty
of St. John's College voted to
admit women the following year.
As Richal'd Weigle later recounted
in his book Recollections ofa
St. Johns President, the vote was
to be kept secret until the college's Board
ofVisitors and Governors t0ok up the
matter. One eal'ly plan suggested the
possibility of establishing a women's
college with the St. John's PI"ogram.
The enrollment of women was in pal't
a response tO the college's difficulty in
building enrollment and achieving
financial stability. But the overriding
reason, Weigle said, was that women
wanted to be here.
When the news leaked out shortly after
the boal'd's approval of the matter, he
wrote, "students were in an uproar.
A protest meeting was held in the Great
Hall of McDowell ...just before students
left for Christmas vacation .... Students
believed that discussions in serninal's and
tutorials would suffer and that women
were not up to the rigors of the St. John's
Program," Weigle wrote.
The banner headline in the Evening
Capital was set in type just a bit smaJ ler
than the news of a big development in
the Korean Wal'. It read: "Local College
to Offer Program to Limited Number
of Girls."
A yeal' later, the Washington Post
greeted the arrival of women with a photo
spread and the headline, "Girl Students
First to Enter Old College." The article
quoted some male students as saying, "we
were afraid... that they were going to be a
bunch of giggly girls, only interested in the
Naval Academy." The men, the article
concluded, were pleasantly surprised to
note that the women took the rigors of the
Program as seriously as they did.
This fall mal'ks the 50th anniversary of
the 1955 graduation of those pioneering
women. Several members of the class are
expected back for Homecoming in
Annapolis this fall, where their role in
forever changing the face of St. John's will
be celebrated. ♦
{ TH E
Co LL E c
&•
St. John's College . Spring 2005
FEMALE STUDENTS LEAVE CLASS IN MCDOWELL
HALL WITH TUTORS AND CLASSMATES,
DATE DUE
I
}
I
�S!JOHN'S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS• SANTA. f'&
PUBLISHED BY THE
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
P. 0. Box z8oo
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND z1404
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
PERIODICALS
POSTACE PAID
�
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<em>The College </em>(2001-2017)
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Annapolis, Md.
Santa Fe, NM
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The College, Spring 2005
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Volume 31, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Spring 2005.
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St. John's College
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Annapolis, MD
Santa Fe, NM
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2005
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Harty, Rosemary (editor)
Dempsey, Patricia (managing editor)
Hartnet, John (Santa Fe editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (art director)
Borden, Sus3an
Goyette, Barbara
Hughey-Commers, Erin
Maguran, Andra
Mattson, Jo Ann
Naone, Erica
Weiss, Robin
Martin, Roger H.
Verdi, John
Donnelly, Jennifer A.
Myers, Linda
Hughey-Commers, Erin
The College
-
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Text
S T. J O H N ’ S C O L L E G E
FA L L 2017
VOLUME 42, ISSUE 2
Confucius
A Foundation of
Eastern Thought
�OPENING NOTE
During these past 12 months, you may
have read articles in The College and
on our website highlighting the 50th
anniversary celebration of the Graduate Institute—stories about such
alumni as Ariel Winnick (SF11, EC12),
who is studying medicine at BenGurion University’s Medical School
for International Health in Israel;
Mary-Charlotte Domandi (SFGI91),
an award-winning broadcast journalist; and David Hysong (AGI11), whose
success in cancer therapy development
landed him in Forbes magazine’s “30
Under 30.” You may have also reconnected with fellow alumni at Homecoming this fall in Annapolis or Santa
Fe, where special seminars, dinners,
and other events took place to mark
the milestone anniversary.
In this issue of The College, we
continue to recognize GI alumni
accomplishments. We also shine light
on a key enterprise in the history of
the Graduate Institute: the Eastern
Classics program. Founded more than
20 years ago on the Santa Fe campus,
David McDonald (SF95) describes
the EC program as “a way of seeing
how the human mind responds to
universal problems and universal
questions.” Sound familiar? Like
Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, and Woolf, the
Eastern Classics authors—Confucius,
Lao Tzu, Kālidāsa, and Sei Shōnagon,
among others—beckon us to examine human nature through a fresh
lens that is both timeless and timely,
unique and universal.
Gregory Shook, editor
ii THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017
THE C OL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 1
�FALL 2017
VOLUME 42, ISSUE 2
“� ould there be questions for thinkers
W
in India, thinkers in China, that we never
considered in the West?”— James Carey, tutor
FEATUR E S
P A G E 1 6��
DEPAR TM ENTS
P A G E 2 0��
PA G E 2 6
WHY WE READ THE
EASTERN CLASSICS
EXPLORING THE
JOHNNIE WAY
ST. JOHN'S:
THE NEXT CHAPTER
For more than two decades
the Eastern Classics program
has explored some of the
greatest thinkers in India,
China, and Japan.
Alumni across the country
share stories about life after
St. John’s during a two-week
road trip from Annapolis to
Santa Fe and back.
The college’s new president
in Annapolis hits the ground
running—and dives headfirst
into the Program, starting
with the Iliad.
��FROM THE BELL TOWERS
BIBLIOFILE
FOR & ABOUT ALUMNI
4 �
Testament to a Legacy
Curtis Wilson (1921–2012)
32 �imba Sana’s (AGI13) new memoir
S
Never Stop is a brutally honest
look at a life of struggle, success,
and hard-won knowledge.
34 �JCAA News
S
6 An Eclipse for the Ages
7 �
Greek on Steroids
8 �
Experimenting in France
10 Tutors Talk Books
11 Sharing from Experience
12 �I Commencement:
G
Openness for Other People’s
Experiences
13 Friends and Arrows
14 A Man for All Seasons
35 � Message from the Presidents
A
36 �rofile: David Diggs (AGI91)
P
addresses social and educational
issues in Haiti.
33 �aura Sook Duncombe (SF08)
L
excavates history to give real and
legendary female swashbucklers
their due in Pirate Women.
38 �lumni Notes
A
43 �irst Person: Jonathan Barone (A13)
F
� Tan (SF97) joins the nomads
Gillian
of Eastern Tibet and details the
lifestyle changes facing them in her
book In the Circle of White Stones.
� Sasse (AGI98) takes aim at
Ben
our nation’s youth—and offers
a prescription—in his new book
The Vanishing American Adult.
44 � Memoriam
In
46 �hilanthropy
P
JOHNNIE TRADITIONS
48 �t. John’s Forever
S
EIDOS
49 Peter McClard (SF83)
ON THE COVER:
Confucius illustration
by Harriet Lee-Merrion
ABOVE: The village of Lourmarin in the
region of Vaucluse, France, photographed
during a semester abroad.
PHOTO: ALAIN ANTOINE
2 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 3
�From the
BELL TOWERS
A Testament to a Legacy
and a Life Well Lived
by Louis Petrich
He taught me a lot, simply by letting me know him a little in his good last years.
I am referring to Curtis Wilson (1921-2012), who taught on both St. John’s campuses
and twice served as dean, whose dean’s lectures and other writings for the college have
just been published in a single volume of 400 pages.1 The book, Curtis Wilson Selected
Writings: Dean’s Lectures and Other Writings for St. John’s College (St. John’s College
Press, 2017), is the result of a five-year project led by tutors and the book’s editors
Chaninah Maschler (1931-2014) and Nicholas Maistrellis, along with instrumental
support provided by tutor Bill Pastille and Robin Dunn, manager of St. John’s Annapolis
bookstore. I would say the writings in this book are for anyone who can be taught the
unexpected by the reading of a thoughtful, articulate man of science and the arts.
The first thing Curtis Wilson taught me
was how to carry the years well that carry all
things away. I called him on the phone out of
the blue one day because I had some questions
about Kepler’s long battle with the motions of
Mars. Curtis, much esteemed for his work in
the history of astronomy, listened quietly to the
particulars (on which everything depends with
Kepler) before saying that he did not remember
enough about his studies long past to address
my precise questions properly. He invited us to
return to them upon better preparation. Then
he asked what my studies had chiefly been.
“Literature,” I said. This led to an invitation to
join a play reading group that he and his wife,
Becky, were hosting that month.
Thus Kepler took a seat next to the great
playwrights during our conversations about how
to give form to irregular motions. “The dramatic art takes on human motions that make
the battle with Mars look almost like child’s
play.” This he once confided as we imagined how
Kepler might answer to certain cosmic questions of hope and despair present everywhere
in the plays of Shakespeare. He spoke softly
to questions of all kinds, as if not to disturb
an equilibrium that he maintained alongside
a capacity for surprise to the end. That was
one way, too, that he made himself present to
people on their own irregular paths of knowing
the world, not insisting on any sun-center, least
of all his own. And yet he was quick to defend
Copernicus from the charges that lesser lights
seem frequently to levy against the greater for
some deficiency or other. There was tenacity
underneath the calm surface, strong currents
of affection that carried family and friendship
alongside scholarly work and liberal study for
many years of goodness to all.
Something particular that he taught us
about liberal studies: they cross-fertilize each
other, as if in imitation of nature, whose inhabitants depend on this process for better fitness
to survive in this tough world. We have heard
much about this benefit of liberal education for
many years, and there is some danger that by
over-rehearsal we make even the truths that
most matter sound tedious and stale to taste.
But even a freshman dull to truth will perceive
that Curtis Wilson’s lectures as dean elevate
common speech and hearing above the surviving habits of high school and save taste in the
high from extinction in the vast technologies of
vulgarity and boredom. Curtis probably would
not like how I said that sentence—too much
assertion by one who cannot know that much
about causes and effects. He respected the
hard, technical discipline of science, and there-
4 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017
fore recognized the dangers that accumulate
from the proud phrasing of preferred ideas.
But shall I attempt to demonstrate, in not
many sentences, what I do mean to say here
without fondness of prejudice?
The first and oldest piece in this book is his
dean’s lecture from 1958: “The Archimedean
Point and the Liberal Arts.” This lecture asks an
ancient question: can we find a standing point
of epistemological leverage, analogous to the
Archimedean fulcrum, from where we can apply
our senses and intellects to know ourselves and
the world in unity? This is no idle question, as
Curtis points out at once, since wars are fought
over its rival answers, and even those who have
no answers, only the net of irony to catch modestly and critically at learning them, have been
put to death for no more than that.
Curtis reviews the attempts of the early
modern philosopher-scientists and mathematicians to find this point of leverage. He begins,
of course, with Copernicus, who put it in the
sun; then considers Giordano Bruno, who shifts
attention to the infinitude of the universe and
the human mind (he paid for infinity with his
life); Einstein next appears, who lets us freely
stand wherever we choose in that infinity;
Kepler and Galileo invite men and women to
calculate their travels through space and time
and take the satisfaction that belongs to gods
by knowing these things certainly; Pascal
insists that the esprit de finesse give subtle
voice to spirit to make those infinite spaces of
travel not so certainly silent; Descartes stands
himself certain on his own reflective mind—
until Nietzsche makes obvious that Descartes’s
mind is pure reflection, still unsure of each and
every thing; but this does not prevent Marx
and Freud from standing proudly on theories of
man in terms of forces at war with each other.
Here, on the verge of dissipation or fanaticism, Curtis gives up the Archimedean point
as sought by these philosophers and begins his
inquiry anew into who the human being is and
may yet become. Homer points him the way
with his epithet for men and women as those
who articulate their voices. This leads Curtis to
introduce a theory of signs, which even birds
“� his display of collective
T
self-understanding and
purpose, without any false
notes, I have not witnessed
here or abroad.”
and bees make limited use of, and he proves
by their essentially triadic nature (sign, object,
interpreter) that no dyadic system of relations
(Lucretian atomism, for example) can give us
this world. (That proof he entertains in passing,
but I think it is pretty indicative of the man.)
Now considered as namer of the oneness of
things (note how Euclid’s geometry appears
essentially linguistic at this point), Curtis
reminds us of this wonderful image of the
soul in Aristotle: naming things in sentences
according to regularities of oneness is like the
stopping of a rout in battle: first one man stops
to make a stand, then another, and so on, until
the formation has been restored. That is what
we do in speech when faced with the diversity
of things in and outside of us and we try to put
proper form to their impending chaos. Naming
becomes liberal artistry (here he draws upon
Kant) when men and women make signs of
signs and thereby become conscious of what
they do in speech. This verbal self-reflection
causes them to invent grammars to preserve
meanings, logic to maintain consistency of
truth, and rhetoric to persuade embodied souls
to practice the formations of true meanings as
moral beings responsible for the world.
And that is where his lecture ends, after
nearly the entire program of learning at St.
John’s College has been tasted and justified in
thought and action. This display of collective
self-understanding and purpose, without any
false notes, I have not witnessed here or abroad.
It is given first place in this collection of his
writings so that we may remember, with determination and gratitude, who we are, and who we
may yet become, as artists of liberal learning.
1
Curtis Wilson Selected Writings:
�
Dean’s Lectures and Other Writings
for St. John’s College, Eds., Chaninah
Maschler and Nicholas Maistrellis, St.
John’s College Press, 2017. Curtis was
dean from 1958-1962 and 1973-1978.
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 5
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
ASTRONOMY
An Eclipse
for the Ages
Greek on Steroids
As the moon crossed slowly into the rays of the
sun, a crowd congregated in the plaza of St.
John’s, Santa Fe. Students. Tutors. Staff. Community members. All gathered to witness history.
A similar scene played out a short time later
in the observatory at the college’s Annapolis
campus, their gazes aimed skyward, their eyes
covered by protective glasses. A solar eclipse,
the first total eclipse in the contiguous United
States in nearly 40 years, was taking place, and
dozens gathered on both campuses to view it.
While many used protective glasses to peer
up at the sun, others looked through makeshift
projectors: empty cereal boxes, popcorn boxes
and shoe boxes, for example, complete with
pinholes, aluminum foil and paper. “It’s nice
to get people enthusiastic about it,” said tutor
James Beall, who helped organize the event in
Annapolis. “As long as people are careful, it’s a
great experience.”
A total eclipse was visible on a path stretching from Salem, Oregon, to Charleston, South
Carolina. Many across the country gathered to
view it in cities along that path. In Annapolis,
NASA scientists estimated approximately 80
percent of the sun was covered at the peak of
the eclipse. The percentage was about the same
in northern New Mexico. Santa Fe junior Lauren Max (SF19) said the event made her think
of sophomore math and Ptolemy’s first model
of the universe. “As I’m watching, I’m thinking
of perspective and of Ptolemy: where we are in
relation to other [things] and how things happen
to line up,” she said. “Perspective affects so
much. Perspective matters.”
The event in Santa Fe also attracted members of the public, like Jude Redstone, who
heard about the viewing and decided to attend.
“This is an opportunity to watch Time with a
capital T,” Redstone said. “I’m seeing a conjunction of color and of cosmic change.” The last
total eclipse in the contiguous United States
occurred on February 26, 1979.
Among the students who gathered in
Annapolis was sophomore Maddie Nell Jane
(A20), who peered up at the eclipse through a
pair of protective glasses. “It was great,” Jane
Santa Fe tutor, Patricia Greer, developed a
passion for Sanskrit vocabulary “ages and
ages ago,” born of her interest in Indian texts.
In the early 1970s, while studying linguistics
and literature at the University of Southern
California, she thought she would take a year
off in India. In Auroville, or the City of Dawn,
an experimental township in Southern India
(founded in 1968), Greer felt so at home that
she stayed for 20 years.
In this international town dedicated to
human unity, Greer felt like a pioneer. “It was
very exciting,” she says, recalling a couple
hundred people trying to plant trees in an
otherwise ecologically devastated landscape.
“We started building this town. By the time
I left, I was the administrator of an international high school.”
Greer’s family lived in Annapolis where she
loved visiting the St. John’s campus. “If I had
gone there as an undergraduate, it would have
changed my life,” she says. During a one-month
visit, she discovered the Graduate Institute
(GI) and realized, “This is my next adventure,
to study the great books of the West.” She
earned a master’s in liberal arts in 1995, then
headed to the University of Virginia and began
her formal study of Sanskrit. Pursuing a PhD
in the history of religion, Greer focused on the
great Sanskrit epic, the Mahābārata, which
she explains is “ten times the length of the
Iliad and Odyssey combined.”
Greer was drawn to the GI Eastern
Classics (EC) program on the Santa Fe
campus where students choose classical
Chinese or Sanskrit, with the hope of teaching
the latter. “The people here call it ‘Greek on
steroids’. It’s really a kind of mother language,
and very beautiful.” Like Greek, Sanskrit is
a classical language, she explains, but more
complicated. “Sanskrit is a highly inflected
language. There are more cases, many more
tenses, a gigantic vocabulary. Every word
permutates as the case, as the verbs change;
words come out of each other. There are so
many paradigms that you have to memorize
or at least know how to navigate.”
This past summer, Greer participated in
a summer classics study of the Upanishads,
with David Townsend, as well as a study of
Zen works, with Krishnan Venkatesh. In Sanskrit, Upanishads means “sitting down near”,
referring to the spiritual practice of sitting
down with the teacher. In the past, Greer has
studied Arabic with Ken Wolfe, “our resident
expert in Arabic,” she says.
“I’m not one of these people who simply
inhale languages. It’s something I have to
work at,” she insists. During this year’s sabbatical, she and her husband, whom she met
in India, will live in Southern France for six
months. Along with Sanskrit she would like to
learn “a little classical Japanese, my project.”
She hopes to write a lecture on The Tale of
Genji, a mandatory preceptorial in the summer
semester for all EC students, which is considered the first novel ever written. The writer,
Murasaki Shikibu, was a noblewoman of the
high court around the year one thousand.
According to Greer, only a handful of scholars
in the world can read the Japanese in which
this book is written. “That’s quite a hurdle. I’m
trying to screw up my courage to do that.”
H I D D E N TA L E N T
PHOTO: AARSTUDIO/GETTY IMAGES
by Robin Weiss (SFGI90)
“� s I’m watching, I’m
A
thinking of perspective and
of Ptolemy: where we are
in relation to other [things]
and how things happen
to line up.”
said. “It definitely looked more like the moon
than I expected.” The light washing over both
campuses dimmed as the eclipse progressed.
Temperatures dropped slightly, too.
Annapolis astronomy assistants Anna Hubbell
(A19) and Xiaotong Jin (A20), who also helped
organize the event, held binoculars, the light
from the sun shining through, the outline of
the sun and moon illuminated below. “It’s really
cool,” Hubbell said. “It’s always been something
that has captured my imagination.”
—Tim Pratt
6 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017
LEFT:
Maddie Nell
Jane (A20) watches
the eclipse from
the Annapolis
observatory.
BELOW: Tutor emeritus
Bill Donahue sets
up telescopes in
Santa Fe.
“� ost scholars think that
M
two or three thousand years
ago, when the great classical
texts were being written,
probably most folks, who
were farmers and normal
people, spoke a simplified
version of Sanskrit.”
The College
In the EC program, students who have
chosen classical Chinese, which is character
driven, are translating short Chinese poems
within a few weeks of the first semester.
Those immersed in Sanskrit must wait until
the second semester to translate anything
like literature. According to Greer, that’s quite
ambitious, compared to other programs. “We
really do it down and dirty,” she says. “The
students find it very rewarding.”
“The languages of India are Indo-European,
influenced by Sanskrit, but nobody speaks it;
you have to study it,” she says. “Most scholars
think that two or three thousand years ago,
when the great classical texts were being
written, probably most folks, who were farmers and normal people, spoke a simplified
version of Sanskrit. It would only have been
the Brahmin and the upper caste scholars who
were able to deal with the highly developed
language that the texts were written in.”
is published by St. John’s
College, Annapolis, MD,
and Santa Fe, NM.
thecollegemagazine@
sjc.edu
Known office of
publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
60 College Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
Periodicals postage
paid at Annapolis, MD.
Postmaster: Send
address changes to
The College Magazine,
Communications Office,
St. John’s College,
60 College Avenue,
Annapolis, MD 21401.
Editor
Gregory Shook
gregory.shook@sjc.edu
Contributors
Judith Adam
Anna Perleberg Andersen
(SF02)
Samantha Ardoin (SF16)
Jonathan Barone (A13)
Carol Carpenter
Charlotte Jusinski
Anne Kniggendorf (SF97)
David McDonald (SF95)
Louis Petrich
Tim Pratt
Eve Tolpa
Robin Weiss (SFGI90)
Andrew Wice
Design
Skelton Design
Contributing Designer
Jennifer Behrens
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 7
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
JOHNNIES ABROAD
LEARNING TO LISTEN
Experimenting
in France
Many Johnnies have studied at Aix’s Marchutz
School of Fine Arts. Others have studied the
great books at Aix’s IAU College, the host
campus for St. John’s experimental study
abroad program.
by Judith Adam
This spring 18 St. John’s students from Santa
Fe and Annapolis, along with myself and three
other tutors—John Cornell, Patricia Greer, and
Russell Winslow—embarked on an experiment:
to complete the second semester of the junior
year in Aix-en-Provence, France. This was a
first for the college. We took the Program, or
part of it, to another continent; our challenge
was to see if we could do it justice while opening up the college to a foreign, yet somehow
familiar, place and language. While we were
not responding to any perceived lack in the
Program itself, but to the interest of many of
our students to study abroad, the experience
helped us to reflect on the college in surprising and revitalizing ways.
Classes were held on the campus of the IAU
College (Institute for American Universities),
in the heart of the city. There was a certain joy
for all of us to be found just in the daily experience of inhabiting this strikingly beautiful
place, with its Roman and Medieval roots and
architecture stretching across the centuries,
surrounded by Cézanne’s Provencal landscape
on all sides. There, just living appears to be a
goal—and an art.
The everydayness of Aix is a public life. The
people effectively live “outside,” walking everywhere, shopping at the many daily markets
(extraordinary for their number and variety
even in France), and punctuating their day with
coffee at cafes and bars, a habit that we all
easily adopted—taking our books with us. The
complex, somewhat formal, system of greeting
one another that we encountered in France—
even between storekeepers and waiters and
their customers—struck a contrast with the
warmth of American informality. The students
lived with French host families in town—an
adventure in itself. And for some students
who were temporarily adopted by their host
“parents” this was perhaps the most important
aspect of their immersion experience in France.
Once we had settled in, cobbled together
some tables and blackboards, combined the
students of two campuses, and waited for the
college to emerge in this strange place from
These intersections can be traced to a number
of alumni and tutors, but foremost among them
is John Gasparach (SFGI03), who attended IAU
as a young man, and who now serves as the codean and co-head instructor at Marchutz.
Born in Seattle just after World War II, Gasparach spent his junior year studying abroad
at IAU. Unable to speak French, he learned to
appreciate the universal language of art. While
there, he met German painter Leo Marchutz, a
committed scholar of Cézanne and teacher at
IAU. Under the tutelage of Marchutz, Gasparach
began to draw and paint. Haltingly at first,
and then with greater confidence and curiosity, he devoted himself to the pursuit of art at
Marchutz’s newly formed Marchutz School of
Fine Arts—a place where students have an
intensive regimen of drawing and sculpture
studio art, art history, and a seminar.
T
� he everydayness of Aix
is a public life. The people
effectively live “outside,”
shopping at the many daily
markets, and punctuating
their day with coffee at
cafes and bars, a habit
that we all easily adopted—
taking our books with us.
all of its assembled parts, our engagement
with the St. John’s curriculum was reassuringly
like it is at home: the classes were St. John’s
classes, and the Program was the Program.
In fact, despite the distracting wonder of the
place, our studies seemed even to be enlivened
by our new and challenging circumstances.
As it turned out, doing lab without a laboratory led to a deeper reading of texts, and
8 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017
stimulated a new spirit of inventiveness among
the students when it came to constructing
their own demonstrations and exploring the
phenomena from scratch. A language tutorial
reading Racine and Molière—playwrights that
every French student reads in high school—had
its own parallel resonances with the place. And
the fact that we were combining students from
both campuses seemed to spark interesting
exchanges about how we do things at the college. Though we arrived with the curriculum
already in hand, our time together in France
felt like revisiting the foundations of the college, which was reinvigorating and refreshing.
Through IAU there were regular weekend day
trips, led in French, to sites and cities around
Provence and the Mediterranean coast, including
Avignon, Nice, Arles, and the villages of the
region. But the highlight was the St. John’s
excursion in early March to Paris, where the St.
John’s Alumni Association treated us to dinner
on our first night. It was a thrill the next day to
sit down together quietly in front of Rembrandt’s “Bathsheba” in the Louvre and hold a
seminar, led by Marchutz School professor and
St. John’s alumnus John Gasparach (SFGI03).
PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAIN ANTOINE
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Students wander in
Lourmarin's streets in search of a food vendor;
Clara Rhoades, Leah Mozzer and Noah Leal
on a tour of the neighboring villages; Students
walking toward Mount Sainte Victoire,
immortalized in many of Cézanne's paintings.
And we were able to tour the Arts and Métiers
museum—where Lavoisier’s workshop, the first
Leyden jars and voltaic piles were on display.
Based on this experience the tutors began to
see the future possibilities for tailoring a number
of our own excursions for St. John’s students
next spring, both in Aix, and farther afield.
This year has been a beginning—an unforgettable beginning, with promising future
possibilities. It would be hard to express all of
the gratitude that is due to the many members
of the college community (and beyond) on both
campuses who have contributed to the success
of this experiment so far—to just getting it
off the ground and landing safely in Marseille.
And to the 18 students who took a risk with
us, and to the faculty who pioneered in good
spirit, we are immensely grateful. Nous nous
souviendrons toujours.
In 1973, Gail Haggard (SF71) made the initial
connection between Marchutz and St. John’s. It
was a connection that would change the way
Gasparach taught, and change the future of
many Johnnies’ lives. Haggard’s ex-husband
was the late Dean Haggard, one of the original
tutors at the Santa Fe campus of St. John’s,
who brought his passion to Aix-en-Provence during a summer session in 1973.
Gasparach watched Haggard lead a seminar on
Plato’s Symposium—and saw firsthand how art
students were transmuted from disinterested
to engaged. It was his first encounter with a
purely Socratic method of tutelage. “He asked
questions and never left a single student out of
the conversation, which developed and took on a
life of its own,” Gasparach says. “Watching Dean
teach, never lecturing or imposing himself—with
his vast knowledge—on the conversation, I said
to myself, ‘If that can be learned, I want to learn
how to teach that way.’ And from that moment
on, I wanted to come to study at St. John’s.” It
took him almost 30 years to get to St. John’s, as
his role at Marchutz was a stabilizing force during periods of change. The school was brought
under the aegis of the IAU, and he ascended to
full-time teacher and administrator.
Students at the Louvre studying Rembrandt’s
masterpiece: "Bathsheba at Her Bath."
“� n that first seminar,
I
I realized that the foremost
thing I was going to learn
was how to listen.”
—John Gasparach (SFGI03)
In 2000, Gasparach finally made the journey to
Santa Fe’s Graduate Institute. Over four summer
sessions there, he found that the Socratic method of teaching still distinguished its academic
system. “What stunned me was that I thought I
had come to St. John’s because I was interested
in the texts, in the fact that it was all discussion
in seminars,” he says. “But in that first seminar,
I realized that the foremost thing I was going to
learn was how to listen. I hadn’t considered that.
It’s not just one teacher; it’s fundamental to St.
John’s College. It’s part of the ethos.”
Today, Gasparach’s duties continue to expand
with the Marchutz School’s brand-new master
of fine arts program—to which Johnnies have
received scholarships—and he remains involved
with St. John’s initiatives there, such as the
study abroad program and Global Pathways
fellowships. He is confident about entrusting the
school’s future to the next generation when that
time comes. They have been patiently learning
and listening under his guidance, perpetuating a rare and valuable continuity. “Listening is
fundamental to teaching, to learning,” he says.
“Listen to the text, listen to the discussion. You’re
not imposing yourself on the experience, and the
act of painting parallels that. It’s learning how to
open yourself to nature; it goes back to Socrates.
You’re a midwife, you’re not there to impose.”
—Andrew Wice
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 9
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
Was there anything that pushed you in
a certain way during your time as an
undergraduate, that you now feel totally
differently about?
In freshman year, there are often Plato people
and Aristotle people. The Plato people are really
moved by Plato, and are really interested in that
style of writing philosophy—I was that person. I
loved Plato. When we moved to Aristotle, I just
shut down. I did not know what to do with it. I
hated it. And now, actually, I don’t know if I like
Aristotle better, but Aristotle really interests
me. I find him fascinating to read, and work
through slowly, and there are ways I prefer reading Aristotle to Plato. That’s one big switch.
Q&A: MARSAURA SHUKLA
Tutors Talk Books
by Samantha Ardoin (SF16)
Tutors Talk Books is an online series of
interviews with St. John’s College tutors. The
following in an excerpt from an interview with
Marsaura Shukla (A93), a tutor at St. John’s
since 2012. Shukla gave a lecture in Santa Fe,
hosted by the Graduate Institute, this summer
on Keats’s poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Read
the full interview, as well as others, at sjc.edu.
What is your next project?
I’m hoping to do a preceptorial on Keats’s odes
and letters. I want to follow this idea through
with Keats himself. Another part of the project
is related to the Emily Dickinson and John
Donne preceptorial I did recently. I want to
think about Emily Dickinson’s treatment of soul
in her poetry; she talks about it a lot, but it
feels a little ironic. I want to understand what
she’s doing when she talks that way. She seems
to be thinking about the body, the soul, the divisions of the self, and how to understand them.
Do you think that’s because of the
shocking shift in style between Plato
and Aristotle?
I think it’s partially that Plato is more userfriendly. There’s a narrative there, a smoothness there, that’s deceptive. I don’t think I
was a good reader of Plato, but I was a happy
reader of Plato. With Aristotle, I couldn’t
see where the readings became complicated
and interesting. I had begun to see that in
Plato—those places that invited thinking. With
Aristotle I couldn’t do it, but now I can.
Were you teaching anything this summer?
I taught a week of Summer Academy, and
enjoyed that. We read Shakespeare, Donne,
and Dickinson in the language tutorial, and the
(high school) students were amazing. It all went
really well. In relation to the undergraduate program, the readings are shorter, but apart from
that it was like a St. John’s-style tutorial. There
were moments of silliness, but it was good.
What will you be starting in the
fall semester?
I’m going to try again this year to carve out
some time for my own thinking and writing,
but that is one of the challenges to being a
tutor: finding the time for your own writing. I’m
also going to be teaching senior seminar with
John Cornell, and I’m very excited about that.
I’ve done one all-college seminar with him, but
otherwise I have not taught with him, and I
have not taught this (senior seminar book) list,
and it looks really great.
I think senior year is always good,
no matter the list.
I’m glad you think so! I think senior year is a
really fraught year. People are trying to figure
out what they want to do next. They’re afraid of
leaving the structure of St. John’s, and I think
“� think ... that Plato is more
I
user-friendly. There’s a
narrative there, a smoothness
there, that’s deceptive.
With Aristotle, I couldn’t see
where the readings became
complicated and interesting.”
10 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
that has an impact on the seminar. The last
senior seminar I taught was with Walter Sterling, with whom I graduated from St. John’s. He
was wonderful to work with, but our seminar
often seemed a little distracted. I think it’s
important to impress upon seniors that you’re
going to miss this, you’re not going to have
this thing again, and I get that you’re tired of it
after four years, but you should really savor it.
When you were a student, did you ever
think you would do become a tutor?
No, I thought I would definitely not become a
tutor! I mean, I really loved being at St. John’s—
but that wasn’t part of how I envisioned the
future unfolding. For one thing, I didn’t think I
wanted to work as hard as tutors work. It struck
me as a student that the tutors were really
laboring at something. It was a very ascetic way
of life. I knew I wanted to go to grad school, and
I thought I really wanted to narrow down the
things I wanted to think about. But the transition to grad school was very painful.
Only after St. John’s I realized how much
I liked our way doing things. I wanted to
continue doing that in a specialized field—in
theology—but it turned out that that’s not
really possible. Academic grad school is very
specialized training, and there is this emphasis on productivity which is not ruminative or
conversational. I grew to like it, and to think
of research as a form of conversation—but
thinking of it that way made me research very
slowly, which you can’t do as an academic. So,
I’m very happy to be back here. I think there
are significant ways in which St. John’s is my
intellectual home.
Krivák leads,
and listens
to, the
conversation.
Sharing from
Experience
literature. After a brief stint at the University
of Rhode Island, he came to St. John’s and his
love of the great books grew. His abilities as
a writer also progressed. Krivák says one of
his proudest accomplishments as a Johnnie
was winning the Baird Award for a short
collection of poems he composed.
Andrew Krivák (A86) lends
guidance to future writers
Andrew Krivák (A86) has led an interesting
life since he graduated from St. John’s College.
Yacht rigger. Poet. Student. Jesuit. Teacher.
These days, he is an award-winning author
whose latest novel, The Signal Flame, tells the
story of a family awaiting the return of their
youngest son from the Vietnam War. Like his
previous books, The Signal Flame has received
critical acclaim. Krivák, who lives in the Boston
area with his wife and children, returned to the
Annapolis campus in April to read from and
sign copies of his new book. He also met with
Johnnies who are interested in careers in writing or publishing to give advice on how to find
success in the industry.
When a student asked how to overcome
writer’s block, Krivák says he often reads
other writers’ works, listens to music, or
goes fishing. When asked how he knows
when a novel is done, Krivák spoke about the
“arc of the narrative,” and the importance
of completing a story with a strong final
sentence. When a student asked about how to
handle the rejection of a manuscript, Krivák
spoke of the importance of “ego strength.”
“The rejection is part of your formation
process as a writer,” Krivák says. “If you
have a really good novel, a really good story
to tell, it will get out there.”
Krivák grew up among a family of
engineers in rural northeastern Pennsylvania,
where he developed an interest in books and
“� think one of the biggest
I
questions a young writer
like me has to struggle
with is whether the
writing life is possible.”
—Joshua Colon (A18)
Joshua Colon (A18) says he was impressed
by Krivák’s experience and the advice he gave.
“He seemed very earnest, open, articulate,
and enthusiastic about his life and vocation;
he seemed to be everything I want to be as a
writer and a father,” Colon says. “I think one
of the biggest questions a young writer like
me has to struggle with is whether the writing
life is possible; meeting a Johnnie writer who
has found success is a real encouragement.”
Stuart Lombard (A19), who has looked into
publishing in the past, called Krivák’s experiences “inspiring.” “I haven’t written for a long
time, but I yearn to return to that magical
time when writing used to consume my life,”
Lombard says. “I walked away from the discussion with a refreshed desire to write—and
a couple new books to read.”
—Tim Pratt
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 11
�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
GI COMMENCEMENT
S A N TA F E A R C H E RY
Openness for Other
People’s Experience
For William Edelglass (SF93), openness to
the experience of others leads to empathy. It’s
a worldview that springs from his St. John’s
education and one that he shared in an address
at the Graduate Institute commencement
ceremony held on August 4 at the Santa Fe
campus. When Edelglass completed his undergraduate degree at that same campus in 1993,
he was “thinking I’d spend a decade living in
different places” exploring different jobs. To
that end, he worked with St. John’s Search and
Rescue team, taught philosophy in a prison in
New York, and spent many years as a wilderness guide, among other things.
A path in academia
wasn’t initially in his
plans, but Edelglass
found himself increasingly drawn to philosophy and enrolled in
Emory University’s doctoral program, which,
at that time, “was
deeply committed to the history of philosophy, a
commitment I shared coming from St. John’s.”
His dissertation focused on the self and the
suffering of the other, drawing on the work of
modern Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas
´
and eighth-century Buddhist scholar Sāntideva,
a dual focus that allowed him to situate himself
within both Eastern and Western traditions.
Now a professor of philosophy and director of
environmental studies at Marlboro College in
Vermont, as well as a regular faculty member
at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Edelglass co-edits a journal called Environmental
Philosophy. He recently received a National
Endowment for the Humanities grant for his
project Peoples, Places, and the History of the
Written Word in Brattleboro, VT. “A lot of my
professional career is doing academic work
and teaching that go along with my personal
values,” Edelglass says. He also encourages students to arrive at their own views,
an approach rooted in his experiences at St.
John’s. “The practice of reading and exploring
through conversation the great books in the
Western tradition cultivated a sense of open-
Friends and Arrows
The thup, thup, thup of arrows punctuates
the spring air on the Santa Fe campus. An
arrow hits a target, creating a sound similar
to a basketball bouncing on a carpeted floor.
Another misses the target and a puff of dust
rises from the earth behind it. The St. John’s
archery team is competing against the Institute of American Indian Arts, a college on the
other side of town. With the iconic Monte del
Sol standing tall in the distance, the Johnnies go on to sweep the individual and overall
team scores. Although the tournament is
competitive, Ben Kidderman (SFGI18) says the
competition in archery is within one’s self. “And
the rest is friendship.”
The other students seem to agree. As they
move through a series of targets that increase
in distance from 20 to 40 to 60 feet away, they
discuss each other’s studies, families, cultures,
A multiplicity of perspectives,
he finds, is crucial to any
intellectual endeavor. “One of
my favorite Tibetan proverbs,
is ‘Where you find agreement,
you find fools.’”
—William Edelglass (SF93)
ness for other people’s experience and other
accounts of the world,” he says. As a result,
Edelglass integrates race, gender, post-colonial,
and environmental theory into his curricula.
A multiplicity of perspectives, he finds, is
crucial to any intellectual endeavor. “One of my
favorite Tibetan proverbs, is ‘Where you find
agreement, you find fools.’” He’s currently working on a multi-author book and notes that, from
a collaborative writing perspective, “someone
else’s critical mind helps me refine my own
view of things. This is why Plato says that
courage is one of the most important virtues of
philosophy. Without being vulnerable and saying what we think, we will not be able to find
out where we are making problematic claims.”
12 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
In his commencement speech, Edelglass
referred to an incident from a period he
spent teaching Western philosophy to Tibetan
monks at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics,
in Dharamsala, India. An elderly monk had
confessed that he viewed the study of Western
thought as a distraction at best and harmful
at worst. “I think I laughed out loud, because
what this monk said was so similar to a view
I had heard from some Western philosophers,
who believed that philosophy from India and
Tibet, for example, should be taught in a religious studies department, or an area studies
program. Somehow they believed both in the
universality of reason, and also seemed to think
that this universal reason only arises, or is only
accessible, in particular locations, or by particular people. The Graduate Institute is a welcome
alternative to such parochialism.”
—Eve Tolpa
This year in Santa Fe, the Graduate Institute,
which celebrates its 50th anniversary this
year, awarded 17 master’s degrees in Eastern
Classics and six in Liberal Arts. In Annapolis, the GI awarded 11 Liberal Arts master’s
degrees. To view the college’s coverage of the
Graduate Institute’s 50th anniversary, visit
sjc.edu/graduate/anniversary.
and languages. Abdullah Mirza (SF20), who
took first place in the competition, likes that
archery is an individual sport that demands
intense focus. “It also has a rich tradition in
my religious background and throughout the
world,” he says. “Ever since the first days of
Islam, it’s a traditional practice that you learn
archery. The three traditional skills are swimming, horseback riding, and archery. I have
done the other two in the past, but I am the
most interested in archery.”
Other high-scorers, Liam Warren (SF19)
and Hao Luo (SF20), were pleased with their
performances on the field. “I did a bit of traditional archery when I was younger,” Warren
says. “It’s something I wanted to continue.”
The team shares his sentiment. After a full day
of intense competition, when St. John’s coach
Richard Dew asks, “Do you want to do the
targets again?” The students respond in unison,
“Yes!” They gather their equipment and start
again from the beginning. Thup, thup, thup go
the arrows.
—Charlotte Jusinski
RALLY ROUND THE CHAIR,
JOHNNIES!
When “Johnnie Chair” furniture makers E.A.
Clore Sons, Inc. announced last May that it
would be closing after nearly 200 years in
business, company officials expected a slight
surge in last-minute orders. Instead, Clore was
swamped with orders, says company president
Troy Coppage, with St. John’s alumni putting
in dozens of requests for Johnnie Chairs. The
chairs—listed on the company’s website as
Plain Master Chairs—are a longtime St. John’s
tradition and part of the college’s identity.
The influx of orders, including those by St.
John’s alumni, has caused the company put its
closing plans on hold, Coppage says. E.A. Clore
Sons has a months-long backlog on orders, and
is staying open indefinitely. “Orders are coming
in as fast as we can make them,” Coppage says,
much to the delight of Johnnies everywhere. St.
John’s has been ordering Johnnie Chairs for its
Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses for decades.
The Annapolis chairs are typically made of
walnut and cherry while Santa Fe chairs are
typically made of oak.
Since the closing announcement in May, Clore
reports that alumni from both campuses have
been ordering the chairs individually, in pairs,
or in sets. The chairs are made in batches and
typically take weeks to complete, with the bending of posts and other handcrafted features. The
company is still taking orders for them, Coppage
says, and will do so for the foreseeable future.
“Since we made the announcement last May,
the response has been overwhelming,” Coppage
says. “It was crazy here for two to three weeks.
It’s been a somewhat steady stream ever since.”
—Tim Pratt
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�F R OM T H E B E L L T OW E R S
Follow St. John’s College:
A R T I N S A N TA F E
A Man for
All Seasons
Four framed lithographs of Frederick Douglass
now grace the first floor of Weigle Hall on the
Santa Fe campus. The lithographs, by famed
American artist Ben Shahn, are a gift from
Santa Fe President Mark Roosevelt, a great
admirer of the former slave, abolitionist, author,
and orator. “I love Douglass, and I love Shahn,”
Roosevelt says. “And I believe that what you
put on your walls is important.”
During the small ceremony to recognize
Roosevelt’s donation, tutor Frank Pagano
invited the audience of students, staff, and
tutors to consider Shahn’s strikingly different
depictions of Douglass. “We see before us what
a free man looks like. But to my eye we see
four looks, almost four different men.” After
considering each image in great detail, Pagano
posed the question, “Do the challenges to our
freedom and our education require a man for
all seasons, a man for all humanity, both the
“� e see before us the
W
images of the liberally
educated human being.
We see courage, moderation,
justice, and wisdom.”
oppressed and the oppressor, the educated and
the ignorant? We see before us the images of
the liberally educated human being. We see
courage, moderation, justice, and wisdom.”
Roosevelt recalled the story of Douglass’s
attempt to gain access to President Lincoln after
his second inaugural speech on March 4, 1865. As
Douglass stood in a crowd of white men, Lincoln
called to him: “Here comes my friend Frederick
Douglass.” This simple statement, within the
complexities of the time, was a remarkable
moment for the abolitionist movement and for
America’s expanding definition of justice.
But, Roosevelt said, “I hesitate to make
Douglass important to me or to anybody
because of his relationship to Lincoln, because
that minimizes him.” He pointed out that
Douglass was frustrated with Lincoln’s slow
progress toward allowing African Americans to
fight in the war and toward emancipation. “But
eventually Douglass’s own incredible capacity
for forgiveness made him continue to grow in
closeness to and admiration for Lincoln, which
I think says something about both of them.”
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
SUMMER AT ST. JOHN’S...
#sjcsummer
Instagram.com/sjcannapolis
Instagram.com/sjcsantafe
facebook.com/stjohnscollege
twitter.com/stjohnscollege
@stjohnscollege
—Charlotte Jusinski
MINDFUL MILESTONES
With the publication of his sixth book of poetry,
A Bird for Buddha: Voices from Afar (2017),
Santa Fe tutor Jorge Aigla recently celebrated
another important milestone in his life at the
college: the 30th anniversary of his Karate Dōjō
on the Santa Fe campus. Aigla sees a natural
connection between the art of writing poetry
and the mental and physical discipline required
to master martial arts. “There is no mind
versus body. Everything is a practice—presence,
mindfulness,” he says. “The Program is a practice, too, not just here [on campus], but after
graduation. Physical activities help students
become more integrated. It’s a process.”
Aigla first discovered Karate as a teenager growing up in Mexico. He continued to practice after
he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to study
medicine at the University of California. After
earning his MD degree from UCSF, he worked as
a medical examiner and taught at City College
and St. Mary’s College, California, before joining
the faculty at St. John’s in 1985. Aigla left medicine to dedicate himself to his favorite things:
Karate, reading, writing, and thinking.
After his first year as a tutor at St. John’s, Istvan
Fehervary (1925-2014), who established the
Student Activities Organization on the Santa Fe
campus and served as its director for 20 years,
urged Aigla to teach Karate. He agreed under
two conditions: “It has to be run like a real dōjō,
not a club, and I will do so only on a volunteer
basis,” said Sensei Aigla—now an 8th Dan and
Shihan—who has been the head Karate-Dō
instructor ever since. Over the past three
decades, Aigla has taught hundreds of students,
several of whom have earned their black belts.
14 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
But he is quick to point out that “a dōjō is made
by spirit, not numbers.”
In addition to practicing Karate-Dō and writing
poetry, he also teaches in the St. John’s Eastern
Classics program. Aigla likens the title and
content of his new book—poetic articulations
of living and traveling experiences in Asia—to
the authors read in the EC curriculum. “They are
voices from afar,” he says. “The program is worthy on its own, and also a very good beginning
for people to enter Eastern traditions.”
—Gregory Shook
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�TUTOR VIEW
WHY WE READ EASTERN CLASSICS
by David McDonald (SF95)
T
“� ow could we not be
H
interested in what
the human mind does
when it has leisure and
letters and it’s free from
political persecution—
what fundamental
questions arise for it?”
—JAMES CAREY
“� ix your mind on truth,
F
hold firm to virtue,
rely on loving kindness,
and find your recreation
in the Arts.”
—CONFUCIUS,
THE ANALECTS
HE EASTERN CLASSICS MASTER’S PROGRAM
of the St. John’s Graduate Institute began in the fall of 1994 on
the Santa Fe campus, after several years of preparation. Some of
the initial impetus had come from St. John’s alumni who asked
the Board of Visitors and Governors that the college make some
approach to books of the East. Coinciding with this interest
among alumni, the faculty had been engaged in conversation
and study of Eastern texts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Life of Confucius,
probably late Qing dynasty
(1644–1911), four volumes
of woodblock printed books,
ink on paper. Metropolitan
Museum of Art
16 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
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�TUTOR VIEW
H
“
ow could we not be interested in what the human mind
does when it has leisure and letters and it’s free from
political persecution—what fundamental questions
arise for it ... and what form do they take, particularly
if they’ve not been touched by Greece, or by Jerusalem,” says tutor James Carey (Class of 1965), during
whose deanship the early development of the Eastern
Classics (EC) program occurred. “So the idea of looking
at the thought of ancient India and ancient China was
immensely appealing....”
The new Eastern Classics program, then, was to be
not only a study of a set of books for their own sake, but
also a way of gaining insight into the human mind. “My
thought was, would we find that the same fundamental
questions arose in the East that arose in the West,”
Carey says. “If so, did they get the same answers as
those proposed in the West, or did they get different
answers? Or were there important questions for thinkers in India or in China that never arose in the West?
Getting clarity about these matters struck a number
of us on the faculty as a worthy project, and one very
much in the spirit of St. John’s.”
Some among the faculty had objected that
these Eastern texts were not great books,
while others felt that the best way to assay their
depth and greatness was to read them.
Tutor and former Graduate Institute (GI) director
Krishnan Venkatesh explains that we should not expect
“that the East starts from the same philosophical starting points as we do.” To read and discuss texts from
traditions so much different from those we study in the
St. John’s undergraduate program and in the GI Liberal
Arts degree program is to philosophize from a significantly different set of presuppositions, but still informed
by the same central aspects of the human experience.
Doing so therefore presents an opportunity to cultivate
deep questioning with regard to first principles. Venkatesh adds that Eastern texts are an important part
of the Western philosophic conversation: “The assimilation of Eastern texts into the West, from the 18th
century on, is part of modernity.” Philosophers Hume,
Leibniz, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Heidegger were
acutely aware of Eastern writings and were in conversation with them through their own works.
In considering how to take up Eastern texts in the
St. John’s classroom, it became clear the Graduate
Institute was the appropriate avenue for doing so; the
undergraduate program was already very full, and in
any case the addition there of a few texts from the East
might have seemed mere tokenism. Some among the
faculty had objected that these Eastern texts were not
18 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
great books, while others felt that the best way to assay
their depth and greatness was to read them.
So the Eastern Classics curriculum began to take
shape. One prominent aspect of the program is the study
of either classical Chinese or Sanskrit. In a 1989 faculty
seminar on the Bhagavad Gita, the tutors involved discovered that the same Sanskrit word was being rendered
as “grace” by one translator, and as “force” by another.
From this, it became clear that we had to study the languages of these traditions, so as not to rely entirely on
translators. Tutor Bruce Perry joined the faculty in 1990
and brought knowledge of Sanskrit, while tutor Ralph
Swentzell had already been studying Chinese—he would
go on to teach the very first Chinese class in the new
program, and had developed computer software to aid
in learning Chinese characters. Soon there were faculty
study groups devoted to both of these languages.
Venkatesh points out that the addition of Chinese
to the EC program was very important in that it gave
the college a chance to study a non-Indo-European language. Language tutorials in both the undergraduate
program and the EC program understand themselves
as not being primarily for the sake of achieving mastery in a particular language, but rather for the sake of
gaining insight into language itself, and its relation to
thought. On this score, studying classical Chinese is a
way of deepening the college’s philosophical inquiry into
language as such, by working with a language entirely
outside the Indo-European lineage.
In the fall of 1992, a pilot program called the “Institute
for the Study of Eastern Classics at St. John’s College”
began in Santa Fe. It was overseen by Carey, who served
as its director, or “archon.” The new institute was hosted
at St. John’s, Santa Fe, and operated under the auspices
of the Graduate Institute, but was funded by donor gifts
and foundation grants, rather than by the college. At that
time, Nancy Buchenauer was the director of the Graduate Institute in Santa Fe, and Stephen Van Luchene was
dean. John Agresto, the Santa Fe president, was involved
in raising money to start the program, as was Carey.
After recruiting work by Carey and others, a total of
21 students enrolled in the new program. Of those, 14
received a certificate of completion in the summer of
1993. With the writing of a master’s essay and additional papers, students who had received this certificate were eventually eligible to be granted an MA in
Eastern Classics. Four or five students from the pilot
year took this option. Among the students in the pilot
program was Paul Cooley (SF92, EC96), who recalls, “I
was thrilled when the pilot program in Eastern Classics
was offered. I believe there was some concern before
the pilot program was approved that the Eastern texts
would simply be too difficult for discussion, but I never
felt that to be the case before the program began, and
our discussions proved lively and enjoyable.”
In its primary elements, the program was very much
as it is now. It required three consecutive terms of
study—fall, spring, and summer. In the language tutorial, there was study of either Sanskrit or classical
Chinese, and extensive translation work. The seminar
covered major works of India, China, and Japan, and
there were preceptorials in every term, for close reading of selected texts.
At least initially, the summer term was understood as
a time for comparative study of Eastern and Western
works; as the program developed in practice, the summer was given over entirely to the study of Japanese
works. The uniting thread of the program, as Venkatesh
describes it, is the encounter of each tradition with
philosophical Buddhism, which arises in India amidst
the Hindu tradition, then finds its way to China, where
it encounters Taoist and Confucian traditions, and then
is transmitted, by way of China, to Japan, where it
takes new forms. To address this, the summer had to be
devoted fully to Japanese readings, and the comparative effort was put aside.
Venkatesh points out that our earliest sense of what
ought to be read in the Eastern Classic was modified
over the years, as our characteristic practice of not
just reading, but rereading revealed just how productive particular books might be for us. For example, in
the early years of the Eastern Classics, we read Sun
Tzu’s Art of War and Musashi’s Book of Five Rings, but
found with experience that these books did not have
the same depth for our mode of study as other books,
for example the writings of Dogen. One way of seeing
such changes is that we moved from a popular Western
understanding of what was essential in these traditions,
to an understanding grounded in our practice of reading
and discussion.
Other texts have remained more or less constant,
because of their foundational importance. The Mahabharata and the Upanishads have this place among the
Indian texts, while the Analects of Confucius are indispensable for the Chinese tradition and the Japanese.
“Trying to understand China and Japan without Confucius is simply inconceivable—like understanding the
Hellenic world without Homer,” says Venkatesh, who
emphasizes that the thought of the Confucian tradition
is tremendously important intrinsically, even apart from
its influence in East Asia. Scott Hannan (EC11) adds
that “Confucius fits into the St. John’s method by insisting that asking about the elements and purpose of a
ritual is as important as practicing the ritual itself.”
After the completion of the pilot program in the 19921993 year, Eastern Classics went on hiatus on account
of logistical considerations, but the initial experiment
seemed a success. It became clear that for Eastern
Classics to become a degree program, a formal instructional proposal would need to be made, and be approved
by the faculty. So in the following academic year, in
November of 1993, such a proposal was discussed by
the faculty on both campuses, and was approved. In the
fall of 1994, the first degree students were enrolled in
the EC program.
Even when the program was at the pilot stage in 1992,
the Meem Library had begun to expand its collection
to support the new academic effort. Several foundation
gifts supported initial purchasing of the needed texts
for the pilot year, and once Eastern Classics became
a full degree program, additional gifts helped fill out
the collection in the ensuing years. Meem Library
continues to renew the collection as books wear out
through regular use by students. In other ways, the college continues to maintain the strengths needed for the
EC program: faculty new to Sanskrit or Chinese audit
Eastern Classics language classes in order to be ready
to teach them, and study groups help acquaint faculty
with Eastern texts they hadn’t previously encountered.
The Eastern Classics enterprise is, at least in part, a
way of seeing how the human mind responds to universal problems and universal questions. “It’s such a gift
to read these books that contain humanity’s struggles
to make sense of itself,” says Sara Klingenstein (EC12).
“St. John’s allows these texts to be as challenging and
interesting as they are. I cannot express how much
that’s done for me.”
Krishna and
Radha with Their
Confidantes: Page
from a Dispersed
Gita Govinda, ca.
1655–60, India
(Rajasthan, Mewar),
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
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�Road Trip!
ALUMNI STORIES
BY TIM PRATT
Exploring the
Johnnie Way
A two-week summer
road trip—from Annapolis
to Santa Fe and back—
brings together stories from
seven Johnnies who reside
in cozy towns and bustling
cities between the two
St. John’s campuses—
and who share a love for
great books, thoughtful
conversation, and the college
that changed their lives.
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�ALUMNI STORIES
“� ohnnies are Johnnies,
J
no matter where you are.”
As Graham Gordon (AGI13)
strolls up the sidewalk in front
of a new home in Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, he smiles widely
when a dog begins barking
from behind the front door.
of
front
don in
m Gor Tennessee.
G raha ome in
his h
Within seconds, Gordon is greeted warmly by
Shari Hinton, who moved into the 1,100-squarefoot, single-story structure two days earlier. The
house was built by Habitat for Humanity, an
organization that constructs homes for the
less fortunate with the help of volunteers and
the new homeowners themselves. Gordon is a
site supervisor for Habitat’s Rutherford County
chapter and oversaw construction of this house
from start to finish.
“It feels great,” he says after a few friendly
words with Hinton and a quick look around the
property. “It’s fantastic—the physical
changes and dealing with the future
homeowners.”
Gordon is one of more than
a half-dozen St. John’s College
alumni who shared their stories
with St. John’s, gathered over the
summer on a road trip between
the college’s campuses in Annapolis and Santa Fe.
The goal was to highlight what
a few St. John’s graduates who
live between the two campuses
have been doing since they
graduated, and see how their St. John’s education
has played into their lives. What transpired was an
eight-day, 2,544-mile road trip, including discussions with seven Johnnies along the way.
Read more alumni stories
from the road trip at
sjc.edu/road-trip
Clockwise from left: Riverboats
on the Mississippi; Cadillac
Ranch; Grandfather Mountain;
Ruby Falls
Similar trips between the campuses have been
completed by many Johnnies over the years—on two,
three, and four wheels.
Annapolis admissions counselor David Conway
(A16) says when he and some classmates made the
trip from Annapolis to Santa Fe over spring break
in 2014, it was his first time leaving the East Coast.
“It was unfamiliar territory for me, but what was
really incredible was that when we arrived on the
Santa Fe campus it felt like we had made it home,
despite having never been there before,” Conway
says. “Part of that was that we had friends there, and
another part of it was that St. John’s is St. John’s,
and Johnnies are Johnnies, no matter where you are.”
Former Annapolis president Chris Nelson (SF70)
made the journey from Santa Fe to Annapolis on
bicycles with several colleagues in the early 1990s.
Santa Fe tutor Grant Franks (A77) completed the
trip from Santa Fe to Annapolis over 30 days on
a trike in 2003. When asked why he did it, Franks
answers simply: “Why wouldn’t I?”
Other alums along the way (from top): Jillian Sico,
Tianlu and Patrick Redmon, Daryl Breithaupt.
Read their stories at sjc.edu/road-trip.
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�ALUMNI STORIES
The Journey
The trip this summer began on a warm and
muggy morning in Maryland. After a quick
sojourn into Washington, D.C., the journey
continued through the rolling farmland and
lush green mountains of Virginia. It then proceeded into western North Carolina, where a
stop at Grandfather Mountain and Mile High
Bridge showed off the sprawling Appalachian
landscape from 5,280 feet above sea level.
Then it was on to Asheville and a conversation with Quinn Roberts (SF16), who works
as a mentor at a therapeutic boarding
school in the area.
After Asheville, the journey continued south—
including a stop at Black Rock Mountain, the
highest state park in Georgia—and a conversation near Atlanta with Jillian Sico (A05).
Sico for the last three years has worked with
refugees in the United States, but is now back
in school to pursue a career in the book arts.
24 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
The next stop was Ruby Falls and Lookout
Mountain in Tennessee, with a towering
underground waterfall and mountaintop
view of several surrounding states, before
continuing northwest toward Murfreesboro. It
was in Murfreesboro where Graham Gordon
(AGI13) discussed his work as a site supervisor for Habitat for Humanity. A short trek to
Nashville and an impromptu trip to the U.S.
men’s national soccer team’s game against
Panama followed, complete with raucous
crowds, new friends and stifling heat.
The trip continued west after the game, with
a brief stop in Memphis and a crossing of the
Mississippi River, before proceeding northwest through Arkansas. Stops at a natural
bridge and Pedestal Rocks Scenic Area
showed the beauty of the Ozarks, and a visit
to downtown Rogers included a conversation
with Daryl Breithaupt (SF13, EC14), who now
teaches there in his hometown.
With more than half of the trip complete,
Oklahoma beckoned. More back-road adventuring continued through the eastern half of
the state, including a stop in Okemah, the
birthplace of folk music icon Woody Guthrie.
Dinner followed with the family of a St. John’s
alumna in Oklahoma City, who was following
the trip on social media.
The next day included stops at the National
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum,
and Lake Hefner, before meeting Patrick
Redmon (AGI13) and wife Tianlu Redmon
(AGI13). The couple’s relationship blossomed
while translating The Odyssey in the Graduate Institute. Patrick is now a federal law
clerk, while Tianlu runs her own translation,
interpretation, and teaching service.
ILLUSTRATION: ERIC HANSON
After a visit to the Oklahoma City National
Memorial, which honors the victims of the
bombing of a federal building there in 1995,
the journey continued into the plains of
western Oklahoma.
The last stop on the road to Santa Fe was
Amarillo, Texas. The visit included a trip to
Palo Duro Canyon south of the city—the
second largest canyon in the United States—
and Cadillac Ranch, a public art installation
consisting of old, upright, graffiti-covered
Cadillacs. The visit also included a
conversation with Liz Bush (SF08),
who is preparing for a career helping
people with communication disorders.
The journey ended in Santa Fe as some
of the first rains of monsoon season
rolled into town.
The trip passed through nine states and
Washington, D.C., included an elevation
change of more than 7,000 feet and
resulted in seven Johnnies sharing their
stories. There were good people, tasty food,
beautiful sights, and, most importantly,
great conversations along the way.
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�THE NEW ANNAPOLIS PRESIDENT
St. John’s:
The Next Chapter
BY TIM PRATT
As the newest class of St. John’s College students
donned their robes and gathered for Convocation in
Annapolis, Panayiotis (Peter) Kanelos headed to the
back of the line. The new college president wore a smile
on his face and a black and orange tie around his neck
as the Class of 2021 stretched out ahead of him.
Over the next few minutes, the line moved slowly into Francis Scott
Key Auditorium, past a crowd of cheering upperclassmen gathered to
greet their new schoolmates. At the end of the line walked Kanelos,
the first new president to greet the enthusiastic students in more
than two decades. The former dean of Christ College, the Honors
College of Valparaiso University in Indiana, began his term July 1. He
succeeds Chris Nelson (SF70), who retired in June after 26 years in
office. “I’m a freshman, too,” Kanelos said to students earlier in the day.
“We’re going to go through this together.”
Kanelos has a number of goals as he begins his first year at St. John’s:
Increase enrollment. Preserve the St. John’s Program. Engage with
the community. He even wants to follow along with the student reading
list over the next four years. Although Kanelos is new on campus,
he says he feels like he has entered a world with which he is already
familiar. The Chicago native has been reading the great books of
Western civilization since he was a child. “It feels new, but in a sense
it feels like I’m returning to a home I haven’t yet lived in,” he says.
“The ethos, the types of things people read, this has been my world
for a very long time. So, in some ways, St. John’s feels less like a
destination and more like a homecoming.”
26 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
PHOTOGRAPHY: HOWARD KORN
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 27
�THE NEW ANNAPOLIS PRESIDENT
“� o walk around campus and see this
T
storied institution, and know I’ve been
asked to play a role in its continued
thriving, is really humbling to me.”
— Annapolis President Panayiotis (Peter) Kanelos
Above: Students and
president dive into a
conversation.
Right: The new
president is a regular
at the dining hall.
Welcome to St. John’s
Kanelos began making his rounds on campus well
before he officially moved into the president’s office.
With the new school year underway, he has a number
of goals, including one to attract more students to
the college. “I think St. John’s is undisputedly the
finest undergraduate institution in America, but
not enough people know that,” he says. “How do
you increase visibility? How does every person that
should be a Johnnie become a Johnnie? In a crowded
higher education environment, how do we make our
voices heard?”
Another goal is to experience the Program in realtime, completing the same readings as students, in
sequence, over the next four years. He started with The
Iliad this semester, just like the freshman class.
“My hope is that will allow me to jump into conversations and participate in the intellectual life of
the college,” he says. “I want to feel like I understand
the rhythms of the Program. I want to understand
the textual encounters the students are having
28 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
and be more familiar with the things the faculty is
thinking about and feeling.” Kanelos estimates he
has read 60-70 percent of the works on the college’s
reading list already. One of his favorite books is The
Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevski, which
is on that list.
On Liberal Education
Looking ahead, Kanelos says he sees “absolutely
no changes” coming to the Program or the way St.
John’s educates its students. A liberal education is
important to “expand the horizons” of those being
educated, he says.
“The thing to remember about liberal education is
its end point is the education of a human being,” he
says. “The end point is not what we seem to be drifting toward in higher education as some other instrumental function—a human being as an employee, a
human being as this or that. The goal of a liberal
education is to develop the human being as fully as
possible, intellectually and soulfully. In order to do
that you have to expand rather than contract the
range of things that human beings encounter in their
education.”
Kanelos says his time as dean of Christ College,
a great books honors college, prepared him for the
move to St. John’s.
Christ College has an enrollment about the same
size as the St. John’s campus in Annapolis. It also
has a history with the great books movement. Many
of the people involved in its founding were affiliated
with the University of Chicago, where the great
books movement began in the late 1800s.
“Coming to St. John’s was pretty much the only
thing that would have made me leave Christ College,” Kanelos says. “It’s a wonderful program with
great people and great students. This was just one
opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Kanelos says he is eagerly awaiting the start of the
new semester, when students return to the classroom
to discuss the works of Homer, Plato and many more
of the most influential minds in Western civilization.
“Getting ready for the full blast of fall, the first
full day of the semester, I’m really excited,” Kanelos
says. “To walk around campus and see this storied
institution, and know I’ve been asked to play a role
in its continued thriving, is really humbling to me.”
A Literary Life
Joining Kanelos in Annapolis is wife Christina,
daughter Emmie, 10, and son Theo, 8. The family has
a pet goldendoodle, too.
Outside of work, Kanelos enjoys cooking for his
family, hosting dinners and dining at restaurants.
His love of food, like his affinity for great books,
dates back to his childhood.
Kanelos was introduced to the “classics” at an early
age, he says. His parents were in the restaurant business, first in Chicago, then in Arizona, and Kanelos
often spent time in the kitchen with a stack of books
to keep himself busy. He recalls reading Homer and
developing an early interest in epic poetry.
“That’s how I spent my time as a child, growing up
in the back of restaurants, reading books,” he says.
Nobody in his family had ever gone to college, he
says, and he assumed he would stay involved in the
restaurant business—or become a singing lumberjack, a goal he laughs about today and attributes to
a flannel shirt he once owned.
Kanelos eventually enrolled in a Jesuit high
school in Arizona. It was there where he decided
to go to college.
When it came time to pick a school, Kanelos chose
Northwestern University in the Chicago area, where
he had spent his early years and family members still
lived. Kanelos’s interest in writing emerged at Northwestern, specifically poetry and fiction. It also was at
Northwestern where Kanelos met his future wife.
The Next Chapter
Kanelos received his bachelor’s degree in English
from Northwestern in 1991. Shortly after he
graduated, one of his poems was published in the
journal Poetry.
“At the time I don’t know if I thought I’d be a writer
as a profession, but more as an avocation,” he says.
With a bachelor’s degree in hand, Kanelos considered attending graduate school to further pursue his
interests in writing and literature. But first he joined
Teach for America, a program that sends recent college graduates to low-income schools to teach.
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 29
�THE NEW ANNAPOLIS PRESIDENT
“� e’s the right man at the right time.
H
He has the focus and the knowledge
and the skills to get to the issues
we have to face at St. John’s.”
— Santa Fe President Mark Roosevelt
Kanelos was a member of the second class of
Teach for America, and was sent to the Rio Grande
Valley in Texas. Looking back, he calls it a “fascinating” and “intense” experience. Kanelos taught junior
high school English to an entirely Latino student
population, he says, many of whom were part of
migrant farmworker families. He spoke little Spanish and says it was a difficult assignment, not coming from a teaching background.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and
it’s made everything I’ve done since then seem
easy,” he says.
In the years since then, Kanelos has lived all over
the United States. He received his master’s degree
in literature and political philosophy from Boston
University, where a chance encounter with Nobel
and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Saul Bellow put
him on a path to attend the University of Chicago.
It was there where he received his PhD in literature
and political philosophy.
Kanelos also taught, wrote and got married while
in Chicago. He then became a fellow at Stanford
University, worked as an assistant professor and
associate professor at the University of San Diego,
and served as an associate professor at Loyola University of Chicago. Among his areas of expertise, he
became an authority on Shakespeare.
Kanelos’s career as a Shakespearean has been lively
and rewarding, he says, from teaching Shakespearean
actors in the Old Globe MFA program to founding
the Interdisciplinary Shakespeare Studies Program
at Loyola. In addition to publishing several books on
Shakespeare and editing a book series, Shakespeare
and the Stage, he has been called upon to speak or
work with many of the most prestigious Shakespeare
30 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
theaters and festivals in the
world, from the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the Blackfriars Theare to the Globe Theatre
in London.
His early love for creative
writing has accompanied him
on his academic journey, as well.
While at the University of San
Diego, he founded the Cropper
Center for Creative writing. He
continued to publish poetry and
recently completed a novel. In
2013, Kanelos joined the faculty at Christ College, where he remained until
he was tapped earlier this year to lead St. John’s
into the future.
“We’ve gotten off to a very good start,” says Annapolis Dean Joe Macfarland. “He’s eager to meet with
and hear from many people; he listens well; he keeps
calm while appraising what he hears; and he has the
energy to make good things happen. I’m encouraged
by our conversations and our work together.”
Over the past few months, Kanelos has stayed busy
running the college, but he’s also made time for his
other interests. He has tried some of the city’s many
restaurants; visited Greenfield Library, where he held
an original copy of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, on
which he wrote his master’s thesis; and even brushed
up on his swing-dancing, another St. John’s tradition.
Santa Fe President Mark Roosevelt is optimistic
about the future. “He’s the right man at the right time,”
Roosevelt says. “He has the focus and the knowledge
and the skills to get to the issues we have to face at
St. John’s. He’s both willing and eager to do so.”
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�BIBLIOFILE
SIMBA SANA
(AGI13)
Never Stop
S
imba Sana (AGI13) has been many things
over the course of his life: a diligent
student, an amateur boxer, a passionate activist, a successful businessman, a
husband and father. But then he lost it all,
and was left fumbling for meaning. Following years of
struggle, he set out to chronicle his life and hard-won
knowledge in Never Stop, a thoughtful, brutally honest
memoir published in September 2017 by Chicago’s
Bolden Books.
Born Bernard Sutton in 1968, Sana’s
early life in Washington, D.C., was marked
by poverty and upheaval; after reading The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in his
elementary school library, he found a muchneeded escape in fantasy novels. Sana’s love
of books and his academic talent provided
stability in his youth as he grew up on the
streets of rough-and-tumble D.C. neighborhoods, seeing too many of his friends consumed by gang violence and drug dealing.
When Sana was applying to colleges,
his Jesuit mentor suggested he study philosophy, given his interest in life’s big questions. At the time, he scoffed. “Philosophy?
Socrates, Plato and the other philosophers
we studied at Gonzaga [a Catholic high
school] were well off, or at least had access
to resources. They had leisure time! I’m
too poor to do that,” Sana writes in his
book. Instead, he majored in business at
Maryland’s Mount St. Mary’s University,
graduating magna cum laude.
While attending “the Mount,” Sana encountered the works of Eldridge Cleaver and
Malcolm X. Inspired, he became an advocate
for black liberation, earning a master’s
degree in African Studies from Howard University and taking a Kiswahili name. Later,
he became disillusioned with radical black
nationalism, saying he’d used race as “a
barrier or as a false sense of connection. We
have so many things that we use to divide
ourselves from other human beings.”
He realized that the tools
he’d always used in life—
“reason, logic, planning,
and determination”—
weren’t enough to bring
him inner fulfillment.
32 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
Hired out of college by global accounting firm Ernst
& Young, by the early 1990s Sana fled the corporate
life to start a book distribution business with a friend.
The company, named Karibu from the Kiswahili for
“welcome,” would eventually open several stores in the
D.C. area, hosting authors such as Toni Morrison and
Maya Angelou, and become one of the most successful
black-owned bookselling ventures ever. During this
time, Sana also married and had two children. He had
made it to the top of the heap, able to purchase a
$3,000 watch on a whim.
It didn’t last. By 2008, Sana’s relationship with his
business partner had deteriorated, and his marriage
was shaky—both would fail in a short period of time.
At 40 years old, he realized that the tools he’d always
used in life—“reason, logic, planning, and determination”—weren’t enough to bring him inner fulfillment. His
second wife encouraged him to study philosophy, but he
didn’t want to just debate about technicalities, he wanted
to discover a new way of life. A professor at George
Washington University suggested he might be a good
fit for St. John’s. Impressed by what he learned of the
curriculum, Sana enrolled at the Graduate Institute in
Annapolis in summer 2012, finishing the following year.
“Beyond a doubt, St. John’s was my most rewarding
formal educational experience,” writes Sana, whose
favorite authors included Hume, Cervantes, Rousseau,
and Nietzsche. Already at work on the manuscript
that would become Never Stop, he feels the school
“gave me the space I needed to really finish my book,”
reminding him of his boxing days. “I had to go to
training camp to get ready for the big bout.”
The resulting book, as much philosophy as memoir,
brings to mind Augustine’s Confessions: it’s candid,
raw, and vulnerable to a degree unusual in men’s
writing. By sharing his journey and reckoning with his
flaws, Sana wants to demonstrate that self-knowledge,
though difficult, is the most worthwhile knowledge of
all. “My chief concern in telling this story is to focus on
my behavior, my actions: the things that were within
my realm of control. This, I feel, is the only way that
looking at these experiences can provide some benefit
to me and, I hope, others.”
—Anna Perleberg Andersen (SF02)
Pirate Women: The Princesses,
Prostitutes, and Privateers Who
Ruled the Seven Seas
By Laura Sook Duncombe (SF08)
Chicago Review Press, 2017
Female swashbucklers finally get their due in
Laura Sook Duncombe’s new book Pirate Women:
The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who
Ruled the Seven Seas. This first-ever comprehensive
survey shares the stories of women, both real and
legendary, that history has largely ignored. Utilizing
her law background, Duncombe conducted exhaustive
research on the subject, including court transcripts
In the Circle of White Stones:
Moving through Seasons with
Nomads of Eastern Tibet
By Gillian Tan (SF97)
University of Washington Press, 2016
By virtue of living nomadically, it is fitting that the
nomads of Eastern Tibet are facing rapid lifestyle
changes—as if they are temporally nomadic as well
as geographically. Gillian Tan captures nomad life
and its changes over a seven-year period; her first
person account is very much at ground level. Tan,
a fourth generation Peranakan Chinese, grew up
The Vanishing American Adult:
Our Coming-of-Age Crisis—and How
to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance
By Ben Sasse (AGI98)
St. Martin’s Press, 2017
Ben Sasse seems to be everywhere these days,
from national television talk shows to newspaper
articles to radio interviews. Widely known for his
role in politics, the U.S. senator from Nebraska,
former president of Midland University, and St.
John’s Graduate Institute alumnus has recently
garnered attention for his new book, The Vanishing
American Adult, in which he offers a personal look
from cases in which pirates were being tried for their
crimes. From the ancient Norse princess Alfhild and
warrior Rusla to Sayyida al-Hurra of the Barbary
corsairs; from Grace O’Malley, who terrorized
shipping operations around the British Isles during
the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, to Cheng I Sao, who
commanded a fleet of 400 ships off China in the
early 19th century, the book explores not only the
lives these women lived as pirates, but also the lives
they left behind at home. Duncombe looks beyond
the stories to the storytellers and mythmakers,
to explore why and how these stories are told and
passed down—and how history changes depending on
who is recording it.
in Malaysia and was educated in the United States
and Australia. She says in the preface to her book
that she had always felt “simultaneously familiar
and strange” in the country of her birth. She was
well-versed in simultaneously observing the “other”
and being the “other.” In order to write about the
nomads, she lived with a family in Dora Karmo—
which translates to “the circle of white stones”—for
13 months. As she worked to become a part of the
household by milking yaks, shouldering heavy loads
of vegetation, and playing with the children, she also
continued to process what it was to be an outsider,
and what it meant to have a place in a community.
at America’s young generation and the profound
changes he has seen in today’s college students.
In his book, he argues that well-intentioned but
overprotective parenting, flawed government
programs, and an emphasis on the consumption
of goods have spurred a generation that is illequipped to thrive in our highly-competitive global
economy—and play an active role required of
citizens in our democracy. As a remedy, Sasse, a
father of three, identifies core formative experiences
he feels that all young people ought to pursue: hard
work to appreciate the benefits of labor, travel to
understand deprivation and want, the importance of
nurturing one’s body, and the power of reading.
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�For & About
ALUMNI
On June 4, the SJCAA elected
the following alumni to serve
in these positions:
A full slate of workshops, social events,
volunteer opportunities and seminars were on
offer at the eighth annual Alumni Leadership
Forum (ALF), held in June in Santa Fe.
Alumni Association Board
President Elect:
Briana Saussy (A03)
Organized by the St. John’s College Alumni
Association with support from college staff,
ALF draws alumni from across the country
for a weekend of activities designed to inspire
deep and meaningful alumni engagement
with the college.
A regular feature at ALF is training for alumni
who want to give back to the college. One
of these sessions was led by the Admissions
Advisory Group, which taught attendees how
to effectively recruit prospective students for
St. John’s at college fairs and through adopta-school programs. Another session, by the
Career Services Advisory Group, provided
a forum for conversation on how the Office
of Career Services can help alumni—and
how alumni can help the office. “Our alumni
volunteers are an important ‘force multiplier’
for the association as we work together with
college staff to advance the mission of the
college,” says Tia Pausic (A86), former Alumni
Association Board president. “Our workshops
help our volunteers be more effective.”
ALF also serves as a hub for alumni leaders
to strategize for the year ahead. Alumni
chapter volunteers plan for upcoming regional
events and share best practices for engaging
alumni while the Alumni Association Board
holds an all-day board meeting. Graduate
Institute alumni use the weekend to plan as
well; this year, they met to discuss the GI
50th anniversary, including involvement in
Homecoming 2017 on both campuses. Over the
last year, the Office of Alumni Relations has
supported ALF organizers in turning the event
into a volunteer-led effort, with appropriate
involvement from staff.
During the Alumni Association board meeting,
Director of Annual Giving Mark Piekarski
listened to alumni ideas about starting donor
recognition societies and shared efforts to
The Votes Are In!
“� lumni involvement helps us
A
understand some of the college’s
most salient needs, and how
best to respond to them.”
–Santa Fe President Mark Roosevelt
raise alumni giving rates. “We need to plan the
work and work the plan if we hope to raise our
giving participation, now less than nineteen
percent,” Piekarski says. “Annual giving
should be a year-round effort and alumni
can help by encouraging their peers to make
a gift each year to support the Program.” In
addition, the Office of Communications led a
capital campaign identity focus group, where
campaign themes were both solicited and
tested. The focus group was the eighth one
undertaken since February, and is part of the
college’s growing efforts to involve alumni in its
messaging and identity development.
The weekend culminated in the annual
All-Alumni Meeting, which was attended by
Santa Fe President Mark Roosevelt, who led a
lively discussion about the state of the college,
growing alumni involvement, receptivity to
alumni concerns, and upcoming initiatives.
“Alumni are essential to the future of St. John’s
College,” Roosevelt says. “Alumni involvement
helps us understand some of the college’s most
salient needs, and how best to respond to them.
Together, we are laying a foundation for a new
and robust era at St. John’s.”
At-Large Directors:
Josephine Escalante (A92)
Elisabeth Long (A86)
Merry Peckham (SF07)
Sabina Sulat (A87)
Sheila Virgil (A88)
Katarina Wong (A88)
Representative to
Board of Visitors and Governors:
Leslie Kay (SF83)
Alumni also voted to approve
an amendment to the bylaws.
Officers and at-large directors
of the association are elected
to two-year terms, while
representatives to the Board of
Visitors and Governors serve
three-year terms. Each of the
newly elected alumni began
their terms on July 1, 2017.
Alumni Association Mission
To strive for the continued
excellence of our college and
fellow alumni by celebrating our
distinctive educational experience,
connecting our community in
efforts toward shared support and
benefit, and fostering a culture of
intellect, generosity, and service.
A MESSAGE FROM
THE PRESIDENTS
College Leaders
Open the Lines of
Communication
We prize discourse at St. John’s. In fact,
we pride ourselves on “doing” discourse
like no other college. Given all the intellectual simmer and boil that happens on
our campuses and in our alumni community—and given the current state of
national and international discourse—
the college’s ability to foster reasoned
and civil discussion is nothing short of
remarkable. And we, as presidents, appreciate the good fortune of our association
with such a place, a college that remains
fiercely authentic and true to itself. We
owe you the same candor and forthrightness that illuminated your lives as students. And we are trying to deliver.
Soon after Mark’s presidency in Santa Fe
began, he instituted a series of regular
communications with alumni and friends
of the college, including e-mail messages
about the college’s financial challenges,
“JohnnieCasts” (town hall-style meetings conducted by telephone), postJohnnieCast surveys to determine which
issues were of most importance to the
majority of alumni, and post-Board of
Visitors and Governors meeting summaries. Pano, whose presidency began in
July, embraces the importance of keeping
the college’s key constituencies informed
(and of listening) and will be putting his
own stamp on these efforts. In short, we
are deeply committed to keeping the lines
of communication open.
Sometimes, the news from our end is
going to be terrifically cheering: the
combined $50-million gifts from BVG
© 2017 INSIGHTFOTO.COM
Alumni Take the Lead at ALF
Chair Ron Fielding (A70) and Campaign
Chair Warren Spector (A81); the work to
create an innovative Center for Personal
and Professional Development (we are
fully aware that career services is an
area of tremendous concern to alumni).
Sometimes, that message from St. John’s
will carry with it a call to action: please
tell us what you think of campus culture;
please reply to a survey on alumni attitudes; and, of course, please donate to
the college as a vote for the value of the
Program you love.
St. John’s needs your support, both
moral and financial, to move beyond a
challenging operating deficit, to invest
in activities that promote the college to
prospective students and their families,
and to give current students the best
possible St. John’s experience, in and
outside of the classroom. The presidents
are charged, broadly, with earning that
support. Our transparency as leaders is
one way we discharge that responsibility,
and we hope that as our communications
continue, you will feel better connected to
the college and increasingly motivated to
help St. John’s thrive.
Is it discordant to both celebrate the wide
variety of points of view in the community
(that famous impulse to discourse) and
to ask that we all pull the same oar? We
hope not. There is a great deal of work
yet to be done to put the college on a firm
and lasting foundation, and as we do that
work—perhaps moving in directions that
cause some unease—we will count on your
good faith as well as your counsel. We will
ask what you think, and we know we will
hear from you, just as we have heard you
say that we must envision career services
anew, honor the Program, and create a
vibrant and respectful campus culture for
all students and employees. And when we
choose a direction, informed by you and
others, we will ask you to grasp the oar
with us. For St. John’s.
—
Mark Roosevelt and Panayiotis Kanelos
—Carol Carpenter
34 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 35
�ALUMNI PROFILE
A MERITORIOUS LIFE
By Tim Pratt
I
n Haiti, thousands of poor, rural families
each year send their children off to live
with people in distant cities. The goal
is for those children to attend school
and live better lives, says David Diggs
(AGI91), co-founder and director of the nonprofit organization Beyond Borders in Haiti.
However, many of those children end up in
some form of servitude or slavery.
Over the last 24 years, Diggs has made
it his mission to end child slavery in Haiti
and empower Haitians to fix other social and
educational issues in the impoverished Caribbean nation. “What we do is invest a lot in
tools and in people, and in doing so build their
capacity to lead these social movements that
will produce lasting change,” Diggs says.
For his efforts, the St. John’s College Alumni Association honored Diggs with an Award
of Merit at Homecoming this fall in Annapolis.
He is one of four St. John’s graduates who received awards this year, along with Huffington
Post Editor-in-Chief Lydia Polgreen (A97) for
outstanding service in the field of journalism;
U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (AGI98) for distinguished
and meritorious service to the United States
and to the state of Nebraska; and Jason Viseltear (SFGI96) for outstanding achievement in
the field of lutherie. For Diggs, St. John’s still
holds a special place in his heart. “It was the
best educational experience I’ve ever had,” he
says. “It’s had a big influence on the life we’ve
had here in Haiti.”
Originally from a small farm town in southwest Missouri, Diggs completed his undergraduate work at Colorado Christian University. He
also lived and studied in Europe before heading
off to Haiti in the late 1980s to work with the
Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education. Diggs’s time in Haiti was eye-opening,
he says, as he saw classrooms that were “violent
and authoritarian,” with many teachers who
didn’t speak the students’ native language. After
a couple years, Diggs decided to return to the
United States—and visit the St. John’s campus
in Annapolis, where he considered attending
“�We gave teachers a chance
to reinterpret their role
in the classroom from
authorities who were
tasked with cramming
facts in the heads of kids
to mentors who were
helping students learn
from one another and
from the texts, and to
think critically.”
years earlier when he was looking at colleges
to complete his undergraduate work. “I was
attracted to the idea of being in an environment
where you have the freedom to explore and follow your own curiosity and questions.”
Diggs enrolled in the Graduate Institute
in the summer of 1990 and began working
again for the Evangelical Association before he
completed his master’s, taking trips for a few
days at a time to Haiti during breaks between
classes. After he graduated from St. John’s in
1991, he returned to Haiti to continue his work.
36 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
Within a few months of Diggs’s return to the
island nation, he witnessed a violent coup.
The country’s democratically-elected government, in power for less than a year, was overthrown. “We were traumatized by that, so we
decided to engage in advocacy work,” Diggs
says. “That pulled us into the struggle for a
return to democracy and human rights.”
Diggs and colleague John Engle formed
Beyond Borders in 1993 with a focus on
education reform, though its mission would
grow quickly. At the time, there was no room
in classrooms for students to ask questions or
be curious, so outcomes were “very poor,” he
says. The educational approach Diggs wanted
to spread was similar to the style he experienced at St. John’s—lots of reading, discussion,
reflection, and critical thinking. Diggs invited
one of his old St. John’s tutors to Haiti to
introduce the Touchstones program, which
was adapted and used to promote educational
reform among teachers. “We gave teachers a
chance to reinterpret their role in the classroom from authorities who were tasked with
cramming facts in the heads of kids to mentors
who were helping students learn from one
another and from the texts, and to think critically,” Diggs says. “That’s another thing that’s
very rewarding: to see how this experience
at St. John’s and what we all value from that
education has taken root in Haiti. Now all over
Haiti there are groups that use this approach
and methodology.”
Along with the new style of teaching, Diggs
and his colleagues at Beyond Borders helped
start a movement for native language instruction, where Creole was used in the classroom;
they promoted non-violent classroom management; and students began to take responsibility for their own education and “learned how
to learn,” Diggs says. In addition, the group
wanted to promote a kind of education that
was inclusive of everyone in the community,
from children to adults. In largely rural areas,
they began promoting education based in “local
reality,” Diggs says, teaching, but also getting
positive change in the country, Diggs says.
While other programs or projects introduced
to Haitian communities over the years had some
short-term effects, Beyond Borders is looking
for long-term solutions in Haiti—getting at
the complex roots of the country’s problems.
“Haitians have tremendous capacity and a lot
of strength,” Diggs says. “We see ourselves as
allies of social movements there and focus on
social movements that see sustainable change.”
In the communities where Beyond Borders
has worked, there have been “huge” reductions
in child slavery, Diggs says. Many children
also have been reunited with their parents and
returned to school. A network of child slavery
survivors now works together to share their
experiences and free other children. Still, child
slavery and gender-based violence remain major issues in Haiti, Diggs says, and more work
needs to be done. He travels to the country
four or five times a year, and regularly communicates via telephone or Skype. “I’m always
hearing very powerful stories of lives that are
transformed through our work,” Diggs says.
“That’s very meaningful to me.”
50
CELEBRATING
YEARS
students curious about their environment and
how to farm their land sustainably and grow
more food. Their efforts led them to the work
they continue to focus on to this day—attempting to end child slavery.
About one-quarter of Haitian children under
the age of 18 live apart from their parents,
Diggs says. About half of those children end up
in some form of exploitive relationship, including about one in six Haitian girls and one in 10
Haitian boys, he says. Beyond Borders began
working on children’s rights issues and genderbased violence. The organization provided
training and funding, and set up the largest
network of groups in the country to end child
slavery. An initiative to end violence against
women and girls also took root.
Beyond Borders continues to work with community and child rights activists, civic leaders
and others. The tools and models the organization provides can be “scaled up” and used by
the government and other agencies to make a
The Graduate Institute
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
In celebration of the Graduate
Institute’s 50th anniversary, the
college is featuring a series of stories
to highlight the history, students—
past and present—and other
contributors who have made it what
it is today. Read more at sjc.edu/
graduate/anniversary.
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 37
�ALUMNI NOTES
1946
Peter Weiss (A) was honored
on June 8 by the Center for
Constitutional Rights in New
York for his half century as board
member, vice president, and
cooperating attorney.
1949
With his family, Peter J. Davies
(A) celebrated his 90th birthday
on June 10 at a luncheon in
Chappaqua, N.Y. He and his wife
Phyllis continue to lead active and,
most fortunately, healthy lives.
The couple got married 68 years
ago under the Liberty Tree on the
Annapolis campus, just two weeks
after he graduated from St. John’s.
1952
Pierre Grimes (A) published two
articles in 2016, “The Philosophy
of the Self” and “The Betrayal of
Philosophy: Rediscovering the
Self in Plato’s Parmenides,” in
Philosophical Practice: Journal of
the APPA (American Philosophical
Practitioners Association).
1955
After a 50-year career that
included conducting symphonies
and opera, serving as music
director of six orchestras, and
guest conducting in the US and
Europe, Harold Bauer (A) has
retired from the field. He now
devotes his time to painting
and serves on the board of the
Evanston Art Center, where he is
also a student. Bauer’s work will
be on view in a one-man show at
the Rainbow Gallery in Evanston,
Ill. on November 3.
John M. Gordon (A) announces
the publication of the first
Penny Summers mystery novel,
Katelyn’s Killer. Set in presentday Annapolis, the book’s
30-something amateur sleuth,
Penny Summers, is partly
inspired by Gordon’s experiences
as a St. John’s student, Navy air
intelligence officer, landscape
designer, and garden pond builder.
1964
1971
gist and neonatologist at the
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
(CHLA). “Over the past 40 years,
our program (at CHLA) has established an international reputation in areas of clinical care and
respiratory physiology, especially
in respiratory control disorders,”
Keens says. “We are consulted
from around the world about the
management of children requiring home mechanical ventilation,
diaphragm pacing, children with
congenital central hypoventilation
syndrome, and other disorders.”
He is grateful to everyone who
taught him, and who helped him
to succeed and help others.
After 20 years, Jeffrey Escoffier
(A) retired two years ago from
the NYC Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene, where he
coordinated the production and
placement of the department’s
mass media campaigns on
smoking, obesity, HIV, infant
mortality, Ebola, and West Nile
disease, among others. He’s now
a full-time writer working on a
couple of books about health policy
in New York City and about the
history of sexuality. He is also the
co-editor of Q Public, a new series
of books on LGBTQ issues from
Rutgers University Press.
1966
Judy (Millspaugh) Anderson (A)
enjoyed seeing old friends at
Homecoming last September, for
the Class of 1966 50th reunion.
She is sad to report, though, that
her sister Susan, who lived with
her during her junior and senior
years, passed away on Easter
Sunday this year.
Constance (Bell) Lindgreen (A)
shares news about her family of
Johnnies. Her mother Mary Jean
Bell (SFGI73) published her first
volume of her poems, Tangerine:
Poems at 94. Her sister Alice, a
composer and musician, wrote a
requiem mass, Crux, in memory
of their sister Sarah (Bell) Kitchin
(Class of 1967), and her brother
Sam Bell (A71) has won awards for
38 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
Rita Collins (A) continues to run
her traveling bookstore, which
went across country to the Brooklyn Book Festival last summer.
Plans for next year include
stops in Illinois, North Carolina,
Alabama, and Florida.
1977
1979
Michael St. James (A) enjoyed
a miniature class reunion at
Summer Classics in Santa Fe,
with Susan Ferron (SF) and tutor
Grant Franks (A), who co-led the
seminar—one of the best St.
James has attended—on two of
Alan Turing’s seminal papers.
1978
1965
Jessica (Hoffman) (A) and Will
Davis (Class of 1964) will celebrate
their 53rd wedding anniversary
this fall. Both are retired (Will
from the investment business
and Jessica from academics), and
they divide their time unequally
between Squam Lake and Boston.
Will follows the markets and
savors the opportunity to read and
reflect while Jessica has redirected
her writing from books on the arts
in education to plays that she puts
on locally.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Her current plans include
completing a book about raising
her son and traveling with her
husband, Chuck, as he performs
jazz music around the country
and the world.
After their first engagement ended
36 years ago, Elizabeth (Betty)
Burch (A) and Rick Allen Stephan
(A) reconnected and were married
in September 2016 on the front
porch of McDowell Hall. Rick
received his PhD in neuropsychology in February 2015 from the
For the past decade, Peter Macdonald Blachly (A) and his
wife, Johannah Harkness, have been living in Maine, near
two summer vacation homes that have been in his family for
generations. Peter and Johannah premiered their rock opera,
“One Way Trip to Mars,” at Waterville Opera House, in August.
They hired cast and crew from New York; the show attracted
the attention of NASA and the space exploration community,
as well as a lot of media coverage in Maine.
his books on car maintenance. As
for her, she been writing short
stories; two of which, “A Restaurant in Venice” and “Case in
Point,” have won local prizes in
France, where she lives. Later
this autumn three more stories
will appear in the Blue Fountain:
Crossroads Writers Anthology.
Rebecca Tendler (A) has been practicing as a psychologist in Philadelphia for more than 30 years.
She is happy to say that she is in
training, again, in a mind-body
psychotherapy devised by Ron
Kurtz that incorporates the work
of Perls, Reich, and Feldenkreis
and taps into Eastern philosophies
of Buddhism and Taoism. We are
never too old to learn.
1968
Thomas G. Keens (SFGI) celebrates 40 years since he began as
an assistant professor of pediatrics
at the School of Medicine of the
University of Southern California;
and as a pediatric pulmonolo-
Rick Wicks (SF) and his family
live in Sweden. His daughter
Linnéa recently graduated from
medical school and now works on
the psychiatric ward of a hospital
near Göteborg, Sweden.
1973
Frazier L. O’Leary Jr (SFGI), an
English teacher at Washington,
D.C.’s Cardozo High School, was the
subject of a Washington Post article
that appeared online on June 9.
Michael Aaron (SF) recently published an Expert Insights white
paper through the IBM Institute
of Business Value on “central
banks and digital ledger technology governance.”
1976
With a warm send-off from her
colleagues, Gail Webber Redd (A)
retired after 34 years with the
Baltimore Johnnies Lisa Simeone
(A), Bill Tripp (A), and Kim Schraf
(A), enjoyed an Annapolis Class
of 1979 get-together this summer
with Bruce Babij (A) at his home.
1981
California School of Professional
Psychology. Betty, now Liz, has a
JD from George Mason University.
Together they founded MindWealth in Boca Raton, Fla., offering comprehensive, innovative,
and efficacious treatment protocols
for substance abuse facilities.
William A. (Gus) Steadman II (SF79) received his doctor of public health
degree from New York Medical College on May 24 at Carnegie Hall. He
received the “Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation” award for his work
entitled “Practice Characteristics of New York Medical College School of
Medicine: Predicting Primary Care Specialty Choice and Likelihood of a
Practice in a Rural or Economically Disadvantaged Area from Medical School
Applications.” Gus is the nephew of Santa Fe tutor, Jack Steadman, and the
father of alumna Margaret Steadman (SF16).
Robbyn Jackson (A) recently moved
to Hancock, N.H. after retiring
from a 30-year career as a historical architect for the National Park
Service. She spent the last 25 years
in San Francisco, most recently
as the chief of cultural resources
and museum management at San
Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. She and her husband,
Timothy Przygocki, purchased
the house in Hancock to retire
to several years ago, though he
passed away in 2014. She welcomes
those in the area to look her up.
After retiring from teaching in
California, Marilynn R. Smith (SFGI)
moved to Spring, Texas, in 2005 to
live near her daughter and family.
Her children were 12, 9, and 4 then,
and she has enjoyed her role as
babysitter and homework-monitor
while both their parents worked.
Twelve years later, she says, “this
ride has just been amazing.”
1985
Terri Luckett (SF) and Harry
Hamilton (A86) married on July
15 in Afton, Va. The couple dated
when she took her “junior year
abroad” in Annapolis. They then
went their separate ways in life,
but through the miracle of social
media they reconnected and the
magic reignited. They live in
Seattle, Wash., where Terri is an
executive with Amazon.com. Harry
is retired from a career of care as a
therapist and social worker.
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 39
�ALUMNI NOTES
ALUMNI NOTES
1984
1988
GLOBAL CALL FOR CLIMATE ACTION/GREG MCNEVIN
Katarina Wong (A) joined Columbia University this year as the
program manager of the arts
administration graduate program.
Her own artwork will also be
included in the Getty-sponsored
Pacific Standard Time exhibition,
“Circles & Circuits I: History &
Art of the Chinese Caribbean
Diaspora,” on view in Los Angeles
through February 25, 2018. More
info at www.pacificstandardtime.
org. In addition, her cross-cultural
curatorial project, “Hecho en
Tránsito / Made in Transit,” (www.
madeintransit.com) involving
Cuban and American artists will
be exhibited at Columbia University’s Macy Gallery from February
5 to March 1, 2018.
Jeni Miller (A84) heads the Global Climate and Health Alliance,
an international alliance of health organizations working together
to address climate change and its impacts on health. This spring
the group launched a health sector-led initiative to tackle urban
air pollution, Unmask My City, in 11 cities around the world.
“The cutting-edge visuals for the campaign use personal air
quality monitors connected to innovative light mask technology,
and helped draw significant media and social media attention
to viable, city- and country-level solutions to air pollution,” Miller
writes. With three million premature deaths annually due to
outdoor air pollution, more than 80 percent of city dwellers globally breathe air that breaches World Health Organization guidelines, and with fossil fuels driving both air pollution and climate
change, Miller sees the push for clean air as a major global
opportunity to improve both health and climate.
1986
Keith Rosen (AGI) never married
or had children, but he’s been busy
over the past 35 years. He retired
from teaching and keeps active
as a tour guide around Houston,
Texas, and Louisiana. In 2000 he
started his own company, Houston
Historical Tours. With his mortgage
paid off early, he enjoys collecting
a pension and taking annual vacations. Alumni visiting Houston are
invited to drop him a line.
Elaine Pinkerton Coleman (SFGI)
announces two new publications:
A revision of Santa Fe on Foot:
Exploring the City Different (Ocean
Tree Books, 2016) and the debut of
All the Wrong Places (Pocol Press,
2017), a suspense novel set in the
Southwest. Her website www.
elainepinkerton.wordpress.com
recently won an award for Best
Adoption Blog. She is currently
at work on a sequel to her latest
novel, set in southern India.
40 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
1991
Joan Crist (A) still teaches at
Calumet College of St. Joseph in
Indiana, where she shares her love
of rowing that she gained while at
St. John’s with students there. She
also assists interfaith community
partners with their urban farming
and revitalization efforts. She has a
child in college and is encouraging
her other two to choose St. John’s.
Ramona (Denk) Webb (A) currently
lives in Townsville, NE Australia, with her Aussie husband,
Thomas. She is studying for a MS
in midwifery through a distance
program from the Midwives
College of Utah, and managing the
guest rooms that the couple rents
out through Airbnb. The couple
recently celebrated the birth of a
granddaughter in England, and
plan to fly halfway across the
world to see her.
Julia Goldberg’s (SF) book Inside
Story: Everyone’s Guide to Writing
and Reporting Creative Nonfiction was published by Leaf
Storm Press. Her book tackles
the myriad approaches to the
burgeoning genre of creative
nonfiction—from memoir to criticism to literary journalism—by
deeply exploring each stage of the
generation, reportage, writing,
and editing of stories. Drawing
on and integrating examples and
advice from diverse practitioners
in the field, Inside Story extends
beyond idea and inspiration with
practical advice, examples and
exercises geared toward everyone,
from writing students and teachers, citizen journalists, bloggers,
and to working writers.
1997
1990
John Obenauer (A) works as a bioinformatics scientist, spending
most of his time looking for gene mutations or changes in activity
that contribute to diseases. He lives near Memphis, Tenn., with
his wife Michelle and 12-year-old daughter Lily. They had fun
visiting Stonehenge last year.
Brian Brock (SF) is making music
in Laveen, Arizona.
Heidi Jacot Hewett (A) released
a new book, The Adulteries of
Rachel, a philosophical novel
about love and marriage with lots
of Plato references.
Melanie Margarita Kirby (SF) is
taking a sabbatical from her own
queen bee farming to serve as the
bee lab manager at Washington
State University (WSU) and to
work on international bee breeding research. She will be pursuing a graduate degree at one of
the nation’s leading bee research
labs at WSU with esteemed bee
researcher Steve Sheppard, and bee
geneticist Susan Cobey. She recently
completed research on medicinal
herb and pollinator health trials of
Monarda fistulosa (var menthifolia), also known as wild mountain
bergamot (oregano de la sierra)
with New Mexico State University.
Check out www.herbs4bees.com
for more info. She can be reached
at melanie.kirby@wsu.edu.
1992
Johann A. Klaassen (SF) and
Angela Kelly Klaassen (SF)
celebrated 25 years of marriage
in December 2016. Johann is
nearing five years as a principal
of Horizons Sustainable Financial
Services, Inc., which is headquartered in Santa Fe. He and
his business partner specialize in
sustainable, responsible, impact
investing, and serve clients across
the country. The family remains,
for the moment, headquartered
in Colorado. Daughter Gretta
Klaassen (SF18) is a senior at
St. John’s, Santa Fe, and twin
sons Bram and Ben are sophomores in high school.
1993
In July, Pamela Stark (A) began
a new position as director of The
Rockefeller University Child and
Family Center.
1994
Dan Farley (A) and Elizabeth
(Rhodes) Farley (A) recently
celebrated their 20th wedding
anniversary. Their daughter
Hannah finished her first year of
college at Juniata College in Pa.,
studying biology in their pre-med
program, and their son Dylan is a
senior in high school and currently
looking at colleges. Their youngest
son, Samuel, started third grade.
The family keeps busy with travel,
reading, sports, and outdoor
activities. Dan also defended his
dissertation and finally got his
PhD in quantitative research
methods from the University of
Oregon. The Farley’s pace of life
is slowly returning to manageable
levels, so they welcome anyone
visiting the Pacific Northwest to
drop by. Dan can be reached at
dfarley@uoregon.edu.
Jill Nienhiser (SFGI) married Dane
Petersen on June 17. Jill is a
strategist at Mind & Media, Inc.
in Alexandria, Va., and Dane is a
marketing and events manager at
The Theatre Lab in D.C.
2004
Conor Heaton (AGI) completed law
school at Loyola University Chicago
School of Law in 2007, and was a
practicing trial attorney in Chicago
until recently when he made a
significant professional pivot and
became the director of school growth
for the Cristo Rey Network.
Lisa Hedley (AGI) started a
personal development business.
Her website, lisahedley.com, has a
platform for online seminars.
2006
Russell Max Simon’s (SFGI) first
feature film, which he wrote
and directed, will be released on
Amazon in November.
2008
Adam Braus (SF) now runs a small
college called the Product College
at Make School, which focuses
on teaching 18- to 28-year-olds
how to be software engineers.
He also started a turmeric latte
mix company called Copper Cup
(drinkcoppercup.com). “Turmeric
is a spice that helps your body regulate stress and gives you energy
and helps you regulate your sleep
and digestion,” says Brau. “I’m
also engaged to Katherine Koh,
and we will be married October 14
in Oakland.” The couple lives in
the Mission in San Francisco.
2009
Zach Alarcon (SFGI) was named
a Diamond Teacher of the Year
by the Colorado Springs International Rotary Club. “Without
my solicitation, students wrote
brief essays to nominate me, and
I’ve been pretty humbled by the
1999
Tobin Shulman (SF) was recently
promoted at Siemasko + Verbridge,
where he will help lead the firm’s
residential, commercial, institutional, and academic design
practice.
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 41
�FIRST PERSON
ALUMNI NOTES
2015
serves as senior learner experience designer in the Education
Research and Development
Department, inventing new ways
to do education, setting up campuses around the world, and doing
empirical research on learning. In
his free time, he goes rock climbing and kayaking and reads with a
good cup of coffee at his side.
2010
Ina Dixon (A) is entering a PhD
program in American Studies at
the University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill this fall. She will be
exploring how history and the
humanities revitalize Southern
communities in the United States.
2011
Bingsheng Chen (SFGI) spent this year as a visiting professor
of philosophy and ethics at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in
Guatemala City for one semester, and then started a journey
around South America for six months, including visits to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.
award,” writes Alarcon. “It has
inspired me to continue striving to
transcend my previous best. I have
recently been doing an in-depth
study about how to develop critical
consciousness and cultural relevancy in my pedagogy. The study
has centered around the authors
Paulo Freire, Maxine Greene, L.S.
Vygotsky, and Maria Montessori,
amongst others. Needless to say,
my experiences at St. John’s have
provided me with many of the
skills I now use to continue transcending my previous best.”
Aaron Dukette (AGI) is living on
the northwest slope of Pike’s Peak
in Divide, Colo., with his wife
Michelle and daughter Elizabeth.
He is teaching and serving as a
dean of Boys with several other
Johnnies at Thomas MacLaren
School in Colorado Springs. On
the side he teaches college philosophy courses online for Ashford
University. Over the past year
he has volunteered heavily for
the Convention of States Project
for which he served as Colorado
state director and now serves as a
regional captain and state media
liaison. As time permits, he writes
for Lanterns Media on politics
and culture, and plans to start a
podcast for Lanterns in the fall.
Matthew Robertson (SFGI) recently
completed a PhD through the
Religious Studies Department
at the University of California,
Santa Barbara, and will begin a
post-doctoral research position at
Florida State University in the fall.
With the exception of about a year,
Austin Volz (SF) has spent his time
since graduating living overseas
in Germany and China. Last year
he moved back to the US to work
in New York City with Avenues:
The World School. At Avenues he
42 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
Kaura (Mackey) Lavery (A) and
Darren Lavery celebrated the
birth of their daughter Moira
Quinn Lavery on February 5.
2012
Barbara Scott (SF) lives in Taos,
N.M., and has been interviewed
about St. John’s Graduate Institute on Asheville, N.C.’s WPVM
radio station.
2014
While attending the Graduate
Institute, Aileen Sawabi Coccia
(AGI) began work to open Sedes
Sapientiae School. Her school was
incorporated in 2013 and opened
in fall 2015 with 12 students and
four full-time tutors. The school
begins its third year at a new location in Boonton, N.J. Last year the
school graduated one student who
attends Thomas Aquinas College,
and two seniors this year both
attend Christendom College. In
2018 five seniors are expected to
graduate. Nineteen students are
enrolled for the fall.
2016
Bineet Ojha (SF) started his MA
in ancient philosophy at Western
University, Ontario.
2017
Since 2009, Kenneth Robert
Baumann (SF) has run a small,
nonprofit publishing company
called Sator Press, which recently
published its ninth title, A Guide
For the Perplexed, which he
describes as “an epistemological
exercise for the end times.”
2013
Anthony Cole (A) and his wife
welcomed their son Aiden Patrick
Cole into the world on June 30.
“Mom and baby are healthy,
and 2-year-old Felix is thrilled
about having a little brother,”
Cole says. “We’ll be encouraging
him to be whatever he wants to
be as he grows up, but joining
the Annapolis Class of 2039 will
certainly be suggested.”
Susan LaRocca (AGI) writes that
she and 14 other alumni really
enjoyed the Piraeus seminar on
Jane Austen’s Persuasion with
tutors Eva Brann and Erica Beall
in June. “So much fun getting lost
in Austen at St. John’s!”
Do you have news to share
with The College? Send your
note, along with your name,
class year, and photo(s), to:
thecollegemagazine@sjc.edu
GREENWAVE THROUGH AND THROUGH
By Jonathan Barone (A13)
A
s the years have passed by, I have
found myself reminiscing with
my classmates about our time at
St. John’s. This is nothing out of
the ordinary; waxing nostalgic on
your college years is a nationally time-honored
tradition. But St. John’s is a unique place
with a singular community, and what makes
this place special often varies from person to
person. For some, it’s singing Sicut Cervus in
a packed McDowell Hall. For others, it’s the
intimacy of a cohesive seminar. Personally, I
always found the greatest sense of community
in the intramural program.
When I arrived, I hardly knew the rules to
most of the sports we played (though to be
fair, no one knew the rules to our Calvinballinspired version of flag football). Despite that,
I still felt like I belonged on the field. There
was always a teammate to look up to or an
opponent to joke around with. At that time,
winning or losing didn’t hold great concern for
me. Of course, the victories tasted sweeter, but
I found more joy playing sports with my friends
within this storied intramural league. I was
enthralled by the history and tradition, and I
would sometimes while away spare moments
walking the track in the Temple, wondering at
the names on the plaques of years gone by.
But here’s the problem with nostalgia: the
lenses through which you view the past are
rose-colored. Even though intramurals were
where I found my closest community, they were
also the place where I felt the deepest isolation. When you’re in class, it is very difficult
to fail at something outright. While you might
screw up a proposition or say something inaccurate, you aren’t disappointing others.
Not so on the intramural field. When you
make a mistake, it has a direct and immediate effect on the game. Failure is palpable and
inescapable, and it doesn’t affect just you. It
affects your entire team.
It was in those moments of failure that I
faced my darkest moments at St. John’s. I
distinctly remember walking back from a soccer
Barone (front row, second from right) and his Greenwaves clench the 2016 intramural basketball championship.
“� ven though intramurals
E
were where I found my
closest community, they were
also the place where I felt
the deepest isolation.”
match, filled with self-loathing. I had made a
mistake that cost my team the game, and I
felt it viscerally. I had betrayed the trust of my
teammates. As I walked, those feelings of guilt
turned to shame. It wasn’t that I had failed—I
was a failure. Instead of making a mistake, I was
the mistake. I continued to repeat and internalize
the pernicious lie: “I’m not good enough.”
But if I’m being honest, it wasn’t intramurals that created that cycle of shame and
self-hatred. My insecurities were with me long
before I came to St. John’s. Rather, it was those
moments of failure that exposed what I truly
believed about myself. I was forced to confront
unpleasant truths. I realized that I was trying
to build my self-worth through my performance.
My purpose was coming from comparing my
success with the success of everyone around
me. I had to face my ugly self-image and the
belief that I was a burden on others.
Though I am by no means rid of all my
insecurities, I’m at a much healthier place now
than I was in sophomore year. And strangely
enough, as I healed, I started to gain perspective. I saw that I wasn’t the only one dealing
with the same fears and doubts. Even though I
knew I was not the paragon of emotional wellbeing, I knew that I could help others with the
same struggles that I faced.
Even though I couldn’t find the words then,
it was the intramural program that sparked
my passion for leadership. As I reflected on
the need for affirmation and belonging that
I sought as a freshman, I realized that I now
had the ability to provide that for others. Since
graduating, I’ve found that it was my experience on the field, not in the classroom, that
led me to where I am today. The Program will
always serve as the foundation between myself
and other Johnnies, but it was the intramural
program that helped me discover who I am.
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 43
�IN MEMORIAM
and kindness she exemplified,
her willingness to help anyone,
to work actively with the Caritas
Society, for which she served as
president. We remember the joy
she took in her artwork, all the
fun she had bouncing around
a basketball in the gym with
students, her devotion as mother,
wife, and friend.”
Michael Musgrove (A94)
March 20, 2017
Malcolm Wyatt (H03)
April 22, 2017
Tutor and assistant dean,
Annapolis
In 1958, after he received
undergraduate and graduate
degrees in mathematics from the
University of Virginia, Edward
Malcolm Wyatt (1932-2017) came
to Annapolis, where he was a
beloved and dedicated member
of the St. John’s faculty until his
retirement in 2002. At St. John’s
he served as assistant dean from
1984 to 1988 and as director of
the Graduate Institute from 1989
to 1992. He also served as head of
the campus’ continuing education
program. Wyatt was an accomplished flute player and spent his
last sabbatical studying chamber
music in Vienna, Austria. He
was predeceased by his first wife,
Martha (Class of 1961). Wyatt is
survived by his wife of 25 years,
Cecelia; daughters, Rachel and
Ruth; son Mark; stepchildren,
Michelle, Medea, and Bee Elvy;
and numerous grandchildren.
Lydia Sparrow
April 8, 2017
Caritas Society president
“It is with regret that we learn
of the death of one of St. John’s
great ladies,” Becky Wilson
(H83) shares. “When we think
of Lydia Sparrow (1932-2017),
we remember her graciousness,
the open hearted hospitality she
extended to hundreds of students
and faculty members while her
first husband, the late Edward
Sparrow (1929-2015), served as
St. John’s dean and tutor. One recalls the combination of elegance
44 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
Michael Musgrove (1971-2017)
is remembered for his gift for
words, wry sense of humor, and
fierce determination. After he
graduated from St. John’s, he
took a job in the mailroom for the
Washington Post and worked his
way to staff writer and columnist.
On occasion, he wrote articles
on happenings at the college.
He traveled extensively, wrote a
novel, and, in 2013, completed
an Ironman Triathlon. He also
loved spending time with his
friends and listening to loud, live
music. But most of all, he loved
his daughter Zoe and his stepson
Jackson. Fatherhood was, by far,
his greatest joy. Musgrove was
the son of Patricia (Burton) and
the late William Musgrove; the
husband of Kimberly Baer; the
father of Zoe Musgrove and Jackson Baer; and the brother of Skip
Musgrove and Cindy Deacon.
Irwin Hoffman (H85)
May 26, 2017
Board member
Irwin Hoffman (1925-2017), who
served as a member of the
St. John’s College Board of
Visitors and Governors for 12
years, passed away in Santa Fe
at the age of 92. Born in New
York City, Hoffman showed immense promise and aptitude as
a child. He skipped many grades
in school and received his high
school diploma at age 14. He
received a degree from Harvard
in three years and subsequently
completed medical school at New
York University.
After serving as a military doctor during the Korean War and
attaining the rank of captain,
Hoffman married Maya Bravy,
a concert pianist. He then established what was then the largest
cardiology practice on Long
Island. After 30 years, the couple
relocated to Santa Fe, where
Hoffman continued to treat
complicated cardiology cases in
New Mexico. He wrote a number
of books and scholarly articles
about cardiology; his 1974 book,
XYZ is the ABC of the EKG, is
still used in medical schools. He
also served as the clinical professor of cardiology at the University of New Mexico’s School of
Medicine for many years.
In addition to his accomplishments in the medical field,
Hoffman was a renaissance
man. He taught himself ancient
Greek and regularly met with
other Greek language scholars in
Santa Fe. Irwin and Maya Hoffman supported many nonprofits,
including a number of organizations for the arts, through
the Hoffman-Bravy Charitable
Foundation. He made deep and
lasting impressions on the hundreds of friends, students, and
colleagues he left behind. Santa
Fe was enriched by his life, passions, and commitment to the
community. He is survived by his
wife, Maya; son, John; daughter,
Annabelle; brother, Allan (Class
of 1949); and four grandchildren.
Errol Pomerance
(AGI72)
April 15, 2017
Tutor, Annapolis
Errol J. Pomerance (1942-2017)
had a passion for intellectual
pursuits, and for beauty, which
led him toward a transcendent
view of life. An avid learner
and teacher, after receiving his
bachelor’s from the Polytechnic
Institute of Brooklyn in 1962, he
joined the faculty at St. John’s
in Annapolis, where he taught
for five years and attended
the Graduate Institute. After
St. John’s, he went on to earn
additional master’s degrees
from Harvard and West Chester
State University, and then his
doctorate from the Polytechnic
Institute of New York. A lover
of literature, classical music,
and astronomy, Pomerance’s
experience at St. John’s instilled
in him a sense of wonder and
inquiry, and a compassion and
respect for his fellow man, which
he always retained.
John Oosterhout
After his discharge at the end
of the war, Oosterhout used the
GI Bill to attend St. John’s. He
graduated in 1951 and remained
connected to the college—he was
a frequent attendee at lectures
and community seminars in
Santa Fe—until his death.
In 1991, Oosterhout received
an Alumni Award of Merit in
gratitude for this service on the
Board of Visitors and Governors
from 1968 to 1974 as well as in
admiration for his professional
achievements at NASA, where
he had served at various times as
a branch head, systems analyst,
and electronics engineer. Oosterhout’s daughter, Amy, graduated
from the Annapolis campus in
1982. Oosterhout was well-loved
by his family and many friends
and is deeply missed by them.
A memorial contribution can
be made to St. John’s College
either online at sjc.edu/giving or
by check to: St. John’s College,
P.O. Box 75905, Baltimore, MD
21275-5905.
John D. Oosterhout (19272017), an alumnus, a former
board member, and a longtime
resident of Santa Fe, passed
away peacefully in Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
Oosterhout was born and
raised in Port Arthur, Texas.
After high school, he was drafted
by the U.S. Army for service in
WWII, and after basic training,
was deployed to northern Italy.
Also Deceased:
Natalie R. Chambliss, Class of 1964
June 1, 2017
Deborah Moll, A69
Sarah B. Fisher, A68
June 8, 2017
May 2, 2017
Mark M. Ainsworth, A78
June 5, 2017
Robert G. Cozzolino, Class of 1963
July 1, 2017
Jewell Hall, AGI85
June 1, 2017
Alvin Aronson, Class of 1952
May 2, 2017
Miranda S. Cully, SF97
July 24, 2017
David W. Herman, A72 Matt Rarey, AGI06
April 3, 2017
June 22, 2017
Donald K. Bandler, SFGI98
February 24, 2017
Christian J. Dallett, SF88
February 23, 2017
Leroy W. Brooks, Class of 1939
May 19, 2017
Phillip L. Dionne, SF72
June 1, 2017
Class of 1951
May 9, 2017
Robert S. Hill, Class of 1954
March 8, 2017
Patricia G. Loring, Class of 1958
August 21, 2016
William Brown, SF11
Judith Dome, SFGI88
Lee M. Mace, Class of 1942
December 10, 2016
July 14, 2015
March 16, 2017
George J. Bunting, Class of 1954 Paul D. Finney, AGI82
June 20, 2017
June 1, 2017
Barbara L. Murray, Class of 1963
May 31, 2017
Albert Robertson, AGI91
March 7, 2017
John Sitzmann, A14
September 20, 2017
John C. Wallace, III, Class of 1949
March 22, 2017
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 45
�PHILANTHROPY
I N TR O D U C I N G :
A New and
Improved
Annual Fund
A TRIFECTA OF GIVING
Chris Olson (A78) shows that there are many
ways to make a difference for St. John’s
Giving to St. John’s College is personal
for Chris Olson (A78). He has given to the
college for years, mostly modest amounts.
He points out that it is the number of alumni
who consistently make annual gifts that
matters, not the amount they choose to give.
But recently Olson has gone well beyond
the occasional gift. In fact, he has created
what classmate Leo Pickens (A78)—also
the college’s director of Leadership Annual
Giving—calls a “trifecta” of giving.
Olson has set up a monthly auto-recurring
gift of cash to support the Fund for St.
John’s; he has established a planned gift,
also known as a deferred gift annuity, to
support the college. In addition, he made a
“stretch gift” to strengthen the endowment
and to join those who are bolstering the
college’s fundraising efforts as it gears up
for the public launch of a major campaign.
His endowed gift has gone to the Klein
Tutorship Endowment Fund. Jacob Klein
was a scholar who came to the Program
as a tutor in 1938, and whom Olson met
years ago. He is also author of Greek
Mathematical Thought and the Origin of
Algebra, which many tutors have excerpted
over the decades. “That’s cool to be linked—
to be helping—something named after Jacob
Klein,” Olson says. “I like that a lot.”
What makes giving personal for Olson
is, in part, his continued closeness to
the college throughout the years via his
friendship with Pickens and the college’s
long-time vice president of Advancement,
the late Jeff Bishop. Olson says that the
power of such personal relationships should
not be underestimated. “If I’m going to give
money, which I don’t have a great deal of,
I’m going to give it to St. John’s as a priority
over anybody else.”
“� f I’m going to give
I
money, which I don’t
have a great deal of,
I’m going to give it to
St. John’s . . .”
Although Olson earned a master’s in
international relations from the University
of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School,
he says the specialized knowledge he gained
there was not transformative in the way
his education at St. John’s was. In fact, St.
John’s continues to both transform and
inform his thoughts. On a recent visit to
Annapolis he chatted with Pickens and other
46 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
Johnnies about the current political climate—
and fake news. He believes that separating
fact from fiction is more important than
ever, and more difficult to do with so much
information invading our “knowledge space,”
as he puts it. “Education is so important,
and the St. John’s education is by far the
best, I believe, in order to help you sort out
a very, very complicated world.”
Referencing the school’s logo, which
reads ‘Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque’
and translates to ‘I make free adults from
children by means of books and a balance,’
Olson views the relationship between
freedom and knowledge as fundamental
to living. “You always return to yourself
as an individual and your own capacity to
understand and adapt to the world. And
that’s what you can get from St. John’s more
than from anywhere. That first year at St.
John’s is absolutely tremendous. If you have
that in your education at any point in your
life, it’s worth gold.”
Today, Olson is an independent financial
consultant for the World Bank and is
completing a 10-year program that will
license him as an analytical psychologist
in the Jungian tradition. To write his
psychology thesis, he is rereading many
of his Program books—in some cases he’s
even translating from the Greek again. He
considers himself to have come full-circle.
“It’s a very exciting world at the moment
for me,” he says by phone from London.
“I’m 62 years old and it’s shaped up into an
interesting situation. I’m very happy about
it, and very grateful to St. John’s for the
education and the other opportunities it
gave me over the years.”
And so he gives back.
-Anne Kniggendorf (SF97)
WE’VE HEARD YOU! Based on your requests for choices,
we’ve re-designed our Annual Fund.
The Annual Fund represents current-use dollars that
address core college needs. Gifts to the Annual Fund
keep the Program strong and impact every aspect
of the Johnnie experience.
Any gift, any size, supports the ongoing work of the college,
enabling St. John’s to maintain its place at the vanguard
of liberal learning.
FUND FOR ST. JOHN’S
Historically our most popular fund,
the Fund for St. John’s keeps the
Program strong and enables the
college to address priority needs
in any given year.
The transformative power of the Program
lasts a lifetime. Gifts to the Johnnie
Scholarship Fund alleviate undergraduate
students’ financial burden, enabling
them to immerse themselves in this
powerful educational experience.
TUTOR FUND
GRADUATE INSTITUTE FUND
Tutors are the beating heart of the St.
John’s experience. Gifts to the Tutor Fund
ensure that our beloved tutors receive
respectable compensation as well
as opportunities for professional
development to keep the Program strong.
The Graduate Institute Fund provides
graduate students access to financial
aid, assistantships, academic enrichment
opportunities, and on-campus housing. It
also funds teacher scholarships, lecture
series, and student-run publications.
STUDENT SUCCESS FUND
STUDENT LIFE FUND
Through internships and fellowships,
Johnnies take their Program insights into
the world and explore career and postgraduate interests. Gifts to this fund
enable St. John’s to keep internship and
fellowship programs vital and strong.
The Student Life Fund enables
Johnnies to explore extracurricular
and athletic interests and engage
in activities that enrich their
personal health and happiness.
LIBRARY FUND
STAFF EXCELLENCE FUND
Libraries are sacred spaces.
Gifts to the Library Fund help
to address ongoing needs and
fund special projects including
acquisitions, renovations, and
technology upgrades.
GIVE ONLINE Select
and donate to your
preferred fund online
at sjc.edu/giving.
JOHNNIE SCHOLARSHIP FUND
St. John’s staff strive to ensure that
students and tutors have the resources
they need to experience the power
of the Program. Gifts to this fund
enable the college to address staff
professional development needs.
GIVE VIA MAIL Please
remember to write the name
of your chosen fund in the
“memo” line of your check,
made out to St. John’s College.
Gifts for either or both
campuses can be mailed to:
St. John’s College
P.O. Box 75905
Baltimore, MD 21275-5905
QUESTIONS? Please
contact Mark Piekarski,
director of Annual Giving,
at 505-984-6104 or
mapiekarski@sjc.edu.
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 47
�EIDOS
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE GREENFIELD LIBRARY
S T. J O H N ’ S F O R E V E R
VINTAGE
VICTORY
While the St. John’s football team closed 1902
with a modest 3-6 record, the 1903 yearbook,
the Rat Tat, highlights a special victory
that season: “The week following was one of
excitement and was trying on the nerves, for
Saturday brought on the game with our old
rival, Western Maryland. The day dawned clear
and cool and at twelve o’clock, amid the cheers
of the rooters and the waving of flags, the two
teams trotted upon the field. After the usual
preliminaries the teams lined up and Beatty
(D. H. Beatty, Class of 1903), kicked off to
Western Maryland. The contest had begun and
for St. John’s it was do or die.”
“In the first half St. John’s scored twelve
points to Western Maryland’s five. At the
A group portrait of the St. John’s College 1903
football team on the steps of McDowell Hall
beginning of the second half Western
Maryland soon scored six more points, but
DuVall (E. P. DuVall, Class of 1905), our
star full-back, soon raised them six by his
magnificent run of ninety yards. He received
Robert’s punt on our twenty-yard line and
with the ball tucked neatly under his arm, he
wriggled, dodged, blocked off tackles and soon
planted the ball behind the goal posts. Never
has there been exhibited in the football history
of St. John’s, brighter examples of noble
daring, grit, courage, and determination than
was shown by our team on that day.”
“Since the 1980s, I have been working on
a proprietary art system I refer to as the
Art Fountain, comprised of a large set of
mathematical paint brushes. The subjects
and compositions I choose vary extensively
from photographs or existing artworks to
original compositions, but I tend to like
simple subjects that explore the beauty
or facets of ordinary things which I then
abstract. I have little interest in standard
computer graphics or filter effects but am
more about the colors and interesting textures created from geometrical primitives
that subtly reflect the subject in a unique
way. Because its roots are mathematical,
the size of my art is independent of the
final form it takes. I seek to combine the
power and infinitude of mathematics with
the aesthetics of color, composition and
texture in an organic, ‘non-computery’ way.
My art is conceptual and not so much
about creating beautiful things as it is
about beautiful ideas for things. My main
medium is not pigment suspended in oil,
but ‘artful algorithms,’ liberally redirected
by chance. I create by exploring a realm
that lies beyond my imagination and my
physical skills, using random numbers,
mathematics, and computers as tools.
Each subject I explore produces dozens of
variations coaxed out of fiddling with many
parameters. The works are best viewed
quite large because of the small details
that get lost on reduction.”
View more of McClard’s work at vectorartlabs.com.
Peter McClard (SF83)
48 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 017
THE COL L E GE | ST. J OH N’ S C OL L E G E | FA L L 2 017 iii
�Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Annapolis, MD
Permit N0. 120
Communications Office
60 College Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
Address Service Requested
�
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 College </em>(2001-2017)
Description
An account of the resource
The St. John's College Communications Office published <em>The College </em>magazine for alumni. It began publication in 2001, continuing the <em>St. John's Reporter</em>, and ceased with the Fall 2017 issue.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=56">Items in The College (2001-2017) Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
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.
Santa Fe, NM
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
St. John's College Greenfield Library
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
thecollege2001
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
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
paper
Page numeration
Number of pages in the original item.
50 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 College, Fall 2017
Description
An account of the resource
Volume 42, Issue 2 of the The College Magazine. Published in Fall 2017.
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
Santa Fe, NM
Date
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2017-10
Rights
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St. John's College owns the rights to this publication.
Type
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text
Format
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pdf
Language
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English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
The College Vol. 42, Issue 2 Fall 2017
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Shook, Gregory (editor)
Lee-Merrion, Harriet
Petrich, Louise
Pratt, Tim
Weiss, Robin
Adam, Judith
Perleberg Anderson, Anna
Ardoin, Samantha
Barone, Jonathan
Carpenter, Carol
Jusinski, Charlotte
Kniggendorf, Anne
McDonald, David
Tolpa, Eve
Wice, Andrew
Behrens, Jennifer (contributing designer)
The College
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