1
20
2
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/05de8c26cd0a229d868fdac1838c59e9.pdf
e297c8a9fe15073f87c8b7a536ddfb0e
PDF Text
Text
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.
THE CO LLEG E | S T. JOH N ’S C OLLEGE | FALL 2016 11
�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
14 THE C OL L E GE | ST. JOH N ’ S C OL L E G E | FAL L 2 016
�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
�
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
pdf
Page numeration
Number of pages in the original item.
52 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 2016
Description
An account of the resource
Volume 41, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Fall 2016.
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
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
St. John's College owns the rights to this publication.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
The_College_Fall_2016
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
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
-
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/b6b50290f2bf08b23c0b09a5067e5e85.pdf
74038a96af953c82c5fe4e22a60cafa5
PDF Text
Text
�On O’Connor
“The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time andplace
and eternity somehow meet. His problem is tofind that location. ”
STJOHN’S
College
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
lannery O’Connor’s fiction tends to elicit strong reactions from her
F
readers. Some object to the mixture of comedy and pathos (country girl
wooed for her wooden leg) and the blend of the mundane and shocking
(senseless violence emerges from a clear blue day on a lonely country
The College (usps 018-750)
is published quarterly by
St. John’s College, Annapohs, MD
and Santa Fe, NM
readers was
uncomfortable.
OthersCeorgia,
are entirely
devoted
toon
hertoand
will
Mary Flannery O’Connor
born in Savannah,
in 1925,
went
earn
a read
and
re-read
her
fiction,
prose,
and
letters,
even
as
they
feel
the
discomfort
sociology degree at the Georgia State College for Women, and studied at the Iowa Writer’s
Known office of publication:
Communications Office
St. John’s College
Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404-2800
and
discordance
witnesses
to anfirst
accident
to beLiterary
lookingconnections
so closely. In
the interest
Workshop,
whereofshe
began her
novel. ashamed
Wise Blood.
made
in Iowa, of
full
editors
of’sThe
Colleger
admit
to in
devotion:
wc She
havewas
been
scheming
to get who
and disclosure,
later at the the
Yaddo
writer
colony,
helped
her
her career.
a devout
Catholic
Periodicals postage paid
at Annapolis, MD
road). The freaks, misfits, and fools who populate her world make many
O
’Connor on the
cover for
now,
and here
is in her
rightful
corresponded
regularly
witha while
Thomas
Merton,
theshe
Trappist
monk
who place.
shared her love of writing
along with her deep faith. She suffered from lupus, the wasting disease that killed her father
when she was 15. (It left her near death in 1950.) She was proud of being a Southerner and loved
many aspects of the quiet rural life she was forced to live in Milledgeville because her illness left
her dependent on her mother’s care. On the family’s dairy farm, she raised peafowl that dined on
her mother’s Herbert Hoover roses. She wrote, she explained, because she had a gift lor it.
O’Connor wa.s often amused by those critics who tried to label her. She argued eloquently
with those who insisted that something “socially uplifting’’ must come from fiction: “The
novelist must be characterized not by his function but by his vision, and we must remember that
his vision has to be transmitted and that the limitations and blind spots of his audience will very
definitely affect the way he is able to show what he sees” {Mystery and Manners}.
The focus of this issue, “Revelation,” was one of her last stories, published a few months
before she died on Aug. 3,196/,. We know from her letters that the story was inspired by a visit
to the doctor’s office and that she wasn’t making fun of her protagonist or offering her up for
scorn: “I like Mrs. Turpin as well as Mary Grace. You got to be a very big woman to shout at the
Lord across a hogjten” {The Habit ofBeingY O’Connor made her first appearance on the Read
ing List of St. John’s College in 1989 with “Everything that Rises Must Converge.” Throughout
the years, the standard reading has been “Parker’s Back.”
In addition to paying homage to a favorite Program author. The College accomplishes
another important goal in this issue by showing off the tutors and the interesting things they
have to say when we give them a chance. We posed a question about the short story “Revela
tion” to a group of tutors from both campuses, and they approached it with zeal. (Advancement
vice president Barbara Goyette, A73, wa.s inspired by a church sermon to contribute an essay.)
To get the most from this feature, read or revisit “Revelation” before exploring these essays.
-RH
Send address
changes to The College
Magazine, Communications
Office, St. John’s College,
Box 2800, Annapolis, MD
21404-2800.
postmaster:
Annapolis
410-626-2539
reharty@sjca.edu
Rosemary Harty, editor
Sussan Borden, managing editor
Jennifer Behrens, art director
Advisory Board
John Christensen
Harvey Flaumenhaft
Roberta Gable
Barbara Goyette
Kathryn Heines
Pamela Kraus
Joseph Macfarland
Jo Ann Mattson
Eric Salem
Brother Robert Smith
Santa Fe
505-984-6104
alumni@sjcsf.edu
John Hartnett, Santa Fe editor
Advisory Board
Michael Franco
David Levine
Andra Maguran
Margaret Odell
Roxanne Seagraves
Mark St. John
Magazine design by
Claude Skelton Design
�"I “I v„.
College
The
ZINE
FOR
Alumni
of
t
St. John’s College
Annapolis •
{Contents}
PAGE
JO
DEPARTMENTS
Revelations
a
FROM THE BELL TOWERS
A routine visit to a doctor’s office ends in
a painful revelation for a self-satisfied
farmer’s wife. But what is really being
revealed? Pondering Flannery
O’Connor’s “Revelation.”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Santa Fe Initiative invests in student life.
A new Web site debuts.
Johnnies and Journalism
Mids and Johnnies on Thoreau
Middle States affirms accreditation.
Wine, art, and conversation
PAGE 2izj.
9
LETTERS
The Habit oe Writing
PAGE la
Chris Lynch (A87) on Machiavelli’s
Art of War
A GI alumna considers the lost art and
missed opportunities of letter writing.
PAGE
30 BIBLIOFILE
35 ALUMNI NOTES
2i6
PROFILES
31 Tias Little (EC98) brings Eastern
classics to yoga.
34 Ben Bloom (A97) finds fame.
38 Owen Kelley (A93) pursues monster
hurricanes.
The Mind in Winter
The challenges of the examined life keep
Johnnies young.
PAGE
Zj.6
41 STUDENT VOICES
Summer at Stag’s Leap
Is wanting good grades a bad thing for
Johnnies?
Fine wine, good company, and seminars
make a traditional Northern Cahfornia
chapter event a popular summer
tradition.
44 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS
48 ST. John’s forever
PAGE 46
ON THE COVER
Flannery O 'Connor
Illustration by David Johnson
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
The Santa Fe Initiative
Concerned by the toll deferred
maintenance was beginning to
take on the Santa Fe campus,
the college’s Management
Committee came up with a
comprehensive plan: the
Santa Fe Initiative, a $4.5
miUion investment in buildings
and grounds, improved staffing
in the areas of student life, and
immediate upgrades to two of
the campus’ six laboratories.
When he unveiled the commit
tee’s initiative to the college’s
Board of Visitors and Gover
nors, Annapolis President
Christopher Nelson, interim
president in Santa Fe, received
a standing ovation from the
board. The reception from
tutors at a Santa Fe faculty
meeting was equally
enthusiastic.
For Nelson, serving as
interim president of the Santa
Fe campus in addition to his
regular duties in Annapolis, the
need for an immediate injection
of capital to the Western cam
pus was apparent. Even as the
college plans a Capital Cam
paign to fund a strategic plan of
long-needed initiatives such as
raising faculty salaries, Santa
Fe’s needs couldn’t wait. Nelson
had already seen what could
happen to a campus during lean
years: the Annapolis campus
found it expensive and time
consuming to catch up on main
tenance deferred when funding
for improvements was unavail
able in the early 1990s.
“With the Santa Fe initiative
we are jump-starting a program
of improving opportunities for
students outside the classroom
and for the improvement of
buildings and grounds,” says
Nelson. “This is just the start of
what we need to do over an
annual or intermittent basis
over a period of a decade or
more. We’ve invested about $35
million in the Annapolis physi
cal plant over the last 13 years.
We don’t want to see Santa Fe’s
physical plant deteriorate to the
level that Annapolis was.”
The purpose of the plan is
to make the kind of improve
ments that will encourage
student retention and enable
the admissions office to attract
a larger pool of qualified appli
cants to Santa Fe. Thus the
initiative focuses on areas that
affect student life, the appear
ance of the campus, and the
operation of the admissions and
financial aid offices.
At the same time, the college
will provide funding for an
internship program similar to
the Annapolis program funded
by The Hodson Trust while the
college seeks long-term grant
support for internships.
Costs for the Santa Fe Initia
tive will represent a a percent
''This isjust the
start ofwhat we
need to do over
an annual or
intermittent
basis... ”
Christopher Nelson,
Annapolis President
increase in the operating budg
et each year. The funds for the
initiative will come from unre
stricted endowment funds and
early unrestricted gifts to the
college’s Capital Campaign,
expected to officially begin in
June 2005,
Improvements that affect stu
dent life include funding for
additional staff in the Assistant
Dean’s office.
Career Services
office. Security,
and Student
Activities office.
Facilities
improvements
include renovat
ing the laborato
ries; resurfacing
all roadways and
parking lots,
curbs, and cen
trally located
walkways; adding
a new parking
lot; replacing
After 40 years,
THE Santa Fe
CAMPUS IS SHOW
ING SIGNS OF AGE.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
hardscape between the upper
dorms and Peterson Student
Center; repairing concrete
walls and steps; installing
uniform campus lighting;
installing patios for outdoor
study and social fife; and adding
attractive signs and a security
kiosk at a more formal campus
entrance. Some funding for a
director of buildings and
grounds and an additional
maintenance staff member is
also included.
While it will mean significant
short-term improvements in
Santa Fe, Nelson emphasizes
that the initiative is just a start
ing point: “The campus needs
an investment of about $30
million over time: new dormi
tories, a home for the Graduate
Institute and a new lecture hall,
renovations of the Evans
Science Laboratory, plus
additional renovations
campus-wide. For so many
years, we’ve sacrificed every
thing else to the Program.
We’re on a slow, steady plan of
improvement that requires
investments to make up for
deferred maintenance, for
poor salaries, and insufficient
student services-it’s time to
turn our attention to them with
out taking anything away from
the Program.”
To oversee the implementa
tion of the initiative, Annapolis
treasurer H. Fred “Bud” Billups
(HA03) will assume a new
college-wide position as special
assistant to the chair of the
Management Committee
(a position that alternates
between the two campus presi
dents). Billups will split his time
between the Annapolis and
Santa Fe campuses, providing
oversight over the two admis
sions offices, the two financial
aid offices, and the college-wide
Information Technology office.
He will prepare a college-wide
budget that will allocate annual
operating funds between the
campuses. 4^-Rosemary Harty
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
3
One College, One Web
Ifyou can make the time to
search all of the 4,285,199,774
Web pages available through the
search engine Google, let us
know ifyou find another college
with a Web site like St. John’swhere the dominant image is of a
chair and the valuable center real
estate is not a shot of smihng stu
dents or the beautiful campus,
but ofwords: the names of great
book authors.
On March i, after two years
of planning and gathering
comments from as wide a sector
of the St. John’s community as
possible, the college launched
the new site: www.stjohnscollege.edu. Previously, the col
lege’s student-designed site
diverged into two separate
paths for the Santa Fe and
Annapolis campuses right after
the home page. This new site
was designed from the start to
present St. John’s as one college
with two campuses. Thus what
is emphasized is the common
curriculum and the prevailing
Johnnie culture.
The front-page tour is also a
departure. The links in this
Web tour introduce Johnnies
and their wide range of reasons
for attending the college, the
unique and lively community of
learners, the Santa Fe and
Annapolis communities, and
the chair thing. Alert visitors
will also find surprises-“Easter
eggs” in Web lingo-on the
front page.
The new Web site was
designed to introduce the college
to prospective students and to
better serve alumni, current stu
dents, parents, faculty and staff,
and the communities of Annapo
lis and Santa Fe. The alumni sec
tion, developed with extensive
input from Alumni Association
president Glenda Eoyang and a
team of alumni testers, offers
something particularly useful: a
secure, password-protected
online Alumni Register.
Previously, the college issued
a printed directory of alumni
every five years. With support
and guidance from the associa
tion, the college now offers this
directory online. The search for
mat allows alumni to look up
classmates, find alumni in a new
city, or identify a group of alum
ni working in a particular field.
Like many areas of the Web site,
the directory is a work in
progress. Information in the
Register is drawn from two
separate databases, and the
program the college uses to
“marry” the data often falls
short of the ideal. The college’s
Information Technology and
advancement staffs are working
to remedy this. The more alumni
who use the database to update
their records, the more accurate
the register will be.
A few caveats: to protect
alumni privacy and restrict the
directory to alumni, the system
currently requires the college to
authenticate each user who
attempts to log
in. Once an
alumnus regis
ters, it will take
college staff
about two busi
ness days to pro
vide a password
that will grant
access. Similarly,
any changes
made to an indi
vidual record will
take a few days to
appear. Alumni
can choose at any
time to restrict
their information
to “name only”
or to not appear
in the Register.
If you encounter any
difficulty with the Register or
the Alumni section, or have
thoughts about how the Web
site can better serve alumni,
contact either of the alumni
directors: in Annapolis, Jo Ann
Mattson at 410-626-2531; in
Santa Fe, Roxanne Seagraves at
505-984-6103.
Diving with Sharks in South Africa
OR Wrestling with Plato in Santa Fe?
Along with articles about
pumping iron and healthy eat
ing, the April edition of Men’s
Health listed Santa Fe’s Sum
mer Classics among its “25
Greatest Getaways for Men.”
“We’ve found the best places
you’ve never been,” the article
begins-“high-point adventures
you can plan right now and
brag about for years.” The fea
ture lists opportunities such as
climbing the sand dunes of
Namibia, cage-diving with
Great White sharks in South
Africa, and piloting a subma
rine in Mexico. Studying the
classics at St. John’s sounds
pretty cool, too: “Do you really
want to check out of this life
without having known what
Shakespeare, Mozart, and Tol
stoy were going on about? Take
{The College-
a crash course in the human
experience-and spend a sab
batical summer to rememberby registering at St. John’s Col
lege, where laymen are invited
to delve into the great works of
man in small classes....”
This year’s Summer Classics
offerings are luxuriously eclec
tic, combining classics of the
East and West with modern
fiction and a generous serving
of music.
The first week, July rr-i6,
features Joseph Conrad and
Henry James, Xenophon, and
Freud in the morning; in the
afternoon participants take on
the stories and short novels of
Dostoevsky and Gregorian
Chant,
During week two, July 18-23,
morning session participants
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
can choose from Mozart or Lao
Tzu, or Jane Austen paired with
Shakespeare. Afternoon partic
ipants can take on Copernican
meditations, the short stories
of Thomas Mann, or the
Platonic dialogues Laches,
Charminides, otEuthyphro.
The third week, July 25-30,
features a.m, offerings of
Mahler, the Yoga Visitha, and
Spinoza. In the afternoon par
ticipants can study Maurice
Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenolo
gy ofPerception, Montaigne
essays, or Faulkner’s Absalom!
Absalom!
The full schedule of seminars
and tutors are available on the
college Web site: www.sqohnscollege.edu.
�{From the Bell Towers}
Journalistic Johnnies
The
Gadfly
What Dfcl You Do During the Hurricane?
The Moon ^z/z^/The Gadfly/
Politics, Poetry, Punditry
Of the four individuals who
edited the student newspapers in
Annapolis and Santa Fe this past
academic year, not one has the
shghtest interest in pursuing a
journahsm career. Yes, it had
crossed their minds at one point
or another, hut they have all
talked themselves out of it.
Cathy Keene, a rising junior
in Annapolis who helped edit
The Gadfly for two years, admits
to being a deadhne junkie and
loves being in the know on
controversies or breaking news.
But one summer spent working
at a magazine convinced her
she should consider another
way to make a living. “Too
much stress,” she explains.
Ian McCracken, her co-editor
this year, is graduating and head
ing to law school. Santa Fe Moon
co-editor Jonathan Morgan,
a senior, is more interested in
biotechnology; senior Margaret
Garry is now leaning toward law
school and politics.
So, if it’s not a career goal that
tethers these individuals to to to
12 hours a week of writing, edit
ing, and production headacheson top ofwork-study jobs and
all the regular rigors of the
Program- what is it?
“1 have no idea why 1 do it,”
Keene admits. “We’re all
friends at The Gadfly, and it’s
really fun getting it out every
week. It gives me a real connec
tion to the Polity.”
“We get to produce this little
snapshot of St. John’s,” says
Garry. “And it’s really cool
seeing the Moon come together,
from somebody’s idea to
publication.”
The two periodicals differ
significantly in graphic style,
content, and tone. The Gadfly is
heavy on politics and Polity
issues; fiction and poetry are
more hkely to turn up in the
Moon (though it doesn’t shy
away from hard news either).
The Gadfly savors the backand-forth of intellectual argu
ments between two people
j
that can span several issues.
In the Moon, the “campus
moralist” expounds on issues
of student conduct; The Gad
fly has “You Make the Gall,”
athletic director Leo Pickens’
regular sports rules quiz.
Consider some of the offer
ings in Volume 8, Issue 4, of the
Moon', an opinion piece honor
ing military veterans; a feature
on the Web site bartcop.com, a
first-person parody of a seminar
on The Runaway Bunny, an
explanation of the Student
Review Board, a think piece
about the value of studying clas
sical languages, an investigative
report on problems concerning a
Common Room, and a science
fiction fantasy offering on
“Poster Wars.”
And Volume 25, Issue 20, of
The Gadfly: of review of tutors’
performance of The Birds', an
extensive piece on a cover-up by
the liberal media, three-and-ahalf pages of letters to the edi
tors, a review of Mr. Grenke’s
Friday-night lecture on Kant,
and “Why 1 Hate George W.
Bush, the Final Installment,”
including the author’s offer of a
cup of coffee for those who
would sit down and talk with him
about their opposing views.
Both publications attracted
controversy this year. The Gad
fly was delayed when assistant
dean Judith Seeger and student
services director Joy Kaplan
decided two stories should not
run. One included potentially
libelous material, the other con
fidential college information.
Seeger doesn’t see her role as
a watchdog; she reviews the
publication with an eye to
{The College-
protecting the college from law
suits. “We have occasionally
seen things that we think are
sometimes cruel, and we’ll
say ‘do you really want to put
that in your paper?’ And some
times they have listened and
reconsidered.”
The Gadfly was also blasted
for running a sham review
submitted by two students on a
movie they called “Tough Jew.”
“What really got people mad was
the photo we ran with it-Leo
Strauss. The cutline was: ‘Leo
Strauss: tough?’ One tutor wrote
in and said, basically, ‘how dare
you?’ We were totally blown
away by the response. We
defended ourselves, and then
we learned the movie was a
fake-we looked even stupider.
It was a learning experience,”
Keene says.
The Moon editors also had a
learning experience in the
Santa Fe campus response to
the newspaper’s “2003 Dirty
Poetry Contest” issue last fall.
The issue included photographs
of female students that some in
the campus community consid
ered racy; others considered
them degrading.
“There were several different
objections to the issue from
faculty members, the administra
tion, even a couple of students,”
Morgan says. “I think the most
valid point is that showing
certain students in that frame
work contributed to kind of an
uncomfortable classroom
environment. I hadn’t really
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
thought it was that immense of a
deal. People have bodies.”
After Morgan and Garry sent a
letter to the faculty apologizing
for the issue, and promising to
be more responsive in the
future, a proposed resolution
condemning the Moon turned
into a resolution supporting the
newspaper. “I regret that we
offended some people, but I
still think it was a great issue
because it got people’s atten
tion,” he says.
While both publications
accept advertisements, they’re
not self-supporting and, like
other student groups, get fund
ing allocated by the college.
McCracken believes the publica
tions might be better if they were
independent and funded by ad
revenue. “Given all the guidefines, I sometimes think it would
be easier if we weren’t affiliated
with the school. I know of people
who would write more things if
they knew their copy wasn’t
going to be reviewed by the
administration first,” he says.
Morgan hopes future Moon
editors work to maintain the
publication as a voice for
students. “I like that the Moon
doesn’t have a strict focus,
that we can have poetry and
artwork, a commentary on
Dante’s Inferno or the Iliad,
philosophical pieces and funny
pieces,” he says. “I like the
creativity. ”4-Rosemary Harty
�{From the Bell Towers}
5
A Meeting of Mids: Students Launch
Joint Seminars with the Naval Academy
The Johnnies wore
jeans and t-shirts
and lounged
comfortably at the
seminar table. Bolt
upright in their
chairs, white caps
set neatly in front of
them on the table,
the midshipmen
were clad in their
dark uniforms and
polished shoes.
As they spoke, they
looked to the semi
nar leaders, tutor
Louis Miller and
Naval Academy
Professor Lt. David
Bonfili, and resisted
the urge to raise
their hands.
The text before
the group of to students was
Thoreau’s “On Civil Disobedi
ence.” Miller’s opening ques
tion drew from Thoreau’s
words: “Can there not be a
government in which
majorities do not virtually
decide right and wrong,
but conscience?-in which
majorities decide only those
questions to which the rule of
expediency is applicable?”
For two hours, students
grappled with the text not as
students from a military
academy or liberal arts
college, but as intelligent,
self-directed individuals eager
to grasp the heart of an idea.
The discussion quickly drew
out strong responses, but it
didn’t evolve into a debate
between students from the two
institutions. Thoreau’s stance
on not paying taxes and his
views about resisting an unjust
government were seen by
some of the midshipmen as
ideological luxuries. One
midshipman was distinctly
annoyed by what he described
as Thoreau’s “arrogant” ideal
Junior Rachel Hall
AND Midshipman
David Buck
ism. “He’d like to be a martyr,
but he’s not,” said a midship
man who pointed out that
Thoreau did not resist when
his friends bailed him out of
jail. And several studentsJohnnies and mids alikedisagreed with Thoreau’s
stance that it was not his
“business” to petition the
government to remedy what
he viewed as unjust laws.
Saida Johnnie, “Thoreau
believes that we won’t need gov
ernment if we’re enlightened.”
Enlightenment is a fine
thing, a midshipman coun
tered. But who will build the
roads? Can we convene a
government just when we need
one to accomplish some
particular goal? Can we call
up a military force only when
under attack?
One of the midshipmen said
that governments do make bad
decisions and meddle in per
sonal liberty; citizens should
protest when a government’s
actions are unjust. “There are
people who don’t have any
thing to do with me making
{The College.
decisions about how I live my
life,” she said.
“Not all of us,” said another
midshipman, “can be Martin
Luther King or Gandhi. If
everyone stopped supporting
the government, I don’t know
where we’d be today.”
After the seminar, the
group gathered in the Great
Hall with the participants of
the five other seminars, about
70 in total. Midshipman David
Buck attended all three semi
nars, partly out of interest in
the readings, but also because
his girlfriend, St. John’s junior
Rachel Hall, helped to organ
ize them. Hall hit on the idea
when she began reading Sun
Tsu’s The Art of War last year
and found she wanted to dis
cuss it with a group of people.
She brought the idea to Navy
Professor David Garren, and
Garren helped recruit Navy
co-leaders and organize the
seminars. “He was very enthu
siastic about it,” said Hall,
who found St. John’s tutors
were also pleased to partici
pate. The first seminar, in
St. Jo hn’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
January 2003, was
on Sun Tsu’s The Art
of War. Johnnies
went to the Naval
Academy to discuss
Plato’s Crito last fall.
Jacob Thomas,
a junior, found the
Thoreau seminar the
best of the three so
far, because mid
shipmen had caught
on to the dynamic of
seminar. In discus
sion of Sun Tsu,
their superior
military knowledge
tended to lead them
to dominate the conversations,
he said.
“But this time, they really
became involved in the discus
sion and in Thoreau’s ideas,
which was wonderful,” said
Thomas.
“It’s good for our students to
be exposed to each other,” said
Lt. Bonfili, a political science
professor. “I see the diversity
of opinions coming out.”
Having encountered John
nies during waltz parties,
croquet, and Reality, Buck
has been impressed with the
intellectual side of St. John’s.
Still, he added, “Johnnies are
crazier than mids.”
Like croquet, the joint
seminars seem to have become
another tradition, says junior
Mark Ingham, who helped
organize the seminars. “The
more you talk with the mid
shipmen, the less intimidated
you are by the uniform,”
he said.
-Rosemary Harty
�{From the Bell Towers}
6
News and
Announce
and in Santa Fe from 1989-96
before she came to Annapolis
in 1997-
ments
Steve Linhard, assistant
Appointments
In the Graduate Institutes,
effective June i: Tutor
Krishnan Venkatesh
becomes director in Santa Fe;
tutor Joan Silver the director
in Annapolis. Venkatesh has
been a tutor since 1989. He
earned a bachelor’s in English
from Magdalene College,
Cambridge. He spent more
than three years conducting
postdoctoral research in
Shakespeare and Renaissance
English at the University of
Muenster, West Germany, and
later taught at Shanxi Universi
ty, People’s Republic of China,
where he helped develop an
ESL curriculum.
Silver earned her bachelor’s
degree from the State Univer
sity of New York, College at
Old Westbury, a master’s from
St. John’s, and a doctorate in
Theology and the Arts from
Graduate Theological Union.
She was a tutor in Annapolis
from 1974-77, a tutor for several
summers beginning in 1985,
Middle States Review
Annapolis Appointment
St. John’s in Annapolis has earned a lo-year reaccreditation
from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
The college’s accreditation was reaffirmed at the March
meeting of the commission and followed a review of the
college’s extensive self-study.
A report from the evaluation team affirmed that St. John’s
is carrying out its educational objectives. The college
community found its opening words most gratifying:
“St. John’s College (SJC) deserves its reputation as one of
the best and most distinctive institutions in the United States,
indeed the world. The College has a long and unswerving
history of commitment to a single ideal: the life of the mind
as principally represented in the great books of the Western
tradition. Everything in the educational program evolves from
this ideal and it has worn well over many years. By design,
change occurs slowly at SJC and this deliberateness buffers the
College from the swings of fad and momentary diversions that
often plague other sectors of higher education.”
The college this year also sought accreditation from the
American Academy for Liberal Education; a decision from the
AALE is pending.
treasurer in Annapolis, will fill
the position of treasurer on the
recommendation of St. John’s
President Christopher Nelson
and the campus faculty. The
college’s board approved the
appointment. Linhard came
to the college in 1997 as con
troller. Prior, he was the
accounting manager/
controller for the Chesapeake
Bay Foundation.
New Staff
in
Santa Fe
Doug Single joins the college
as director for college-wide
major gifts. He brings
extensive fund-raising and
management experience to
the new position. After earn
ing bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in political science
from Stanford University,
Single became associate
director of athletics and
assistant football coach at
Stanford; he also served as
athletic director at Southern
Methodist and Northwestern
universities. Single recently
served as chief executive
officer of the David Douglas
Marketing Group in San
Francisco.
John Hartnett (SF83) has
been named communications
director. Hartnett attended
the Santa Fe campus before
going on to earn undergradu
ate degrees in philosophy and
economics from the University
of Illinois. He also holds a
master’s degree in writing
from Hamline University in
St. Paul, Minn. Most recently,
he was the president of his
own marketing communica
tions company. 4"
Consider Consolidating
Alumni with student loans may
want to look into consolidating
them into one fixed-rate loan,
the college’s Financial Aid
offices advise. Student-loan
consolidation involves paying
off current federal education
loans in full and creating a new
loan with a new interest rate
and repayment term up to 30
years. Federal Stafford and
PLUS loans charge variable
rates that are set by formulas
based on the last auction of 91day U.S. Treasury bills in May.
Federal consolidation loans,
however, carry fixed rates that
are based on the rates of the
loans being consolidated.
In recent years, the variable
student loan rate, determined
by the government, has been
at record lows (3.4 percent
on Stafford loans in May), but
interest rates are expected to
rise this year. Parents of college
students who have taken out
PLUS loans may also consoli
date these loans at current
rates.
There’s another reason to act
quickly, says Caroline Chris
tensen, financial aid director in
Annapolis. Legislation expected
{The College -Sf.
to come before Congress as part
of its renewal of the Higher
Education Act this year could
turn that low fixed rate into a
variable rate in the future.
Proponents of the bill say the
government is losing millions
in subsidies it pays to lenders
and want the savings directed
to other aid programs for
currently-enrolled students.
However, new alumni face
complications. “Ifyou consoli
date during your six-month
grace period, you lock in at the
in-school rate, currently 2.82
percent,” Christensen says.
John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
“What ifyou lock in at 2.82 per
cent, then rates drop on June
30? You’ll have a higher rate for
the fife of your loan, in addition
to losing remaining months of
interest-free grace period when
you consolidate. So you want to
wait until very close to the end
of your grace period.”
Contact your lender or the
Financial Aid office on either
campus: in Annapolis,
410-626-2503; in Santa Fe,
505-984-6058. Information on
researching and comparing
loan programs is available at
www.estudent.com.
�{From
the
Bell Towers}
Board Approves Polity Amendments
Among the many actions it took
at its quarterly meeting in April,
the college’s Board of Visitors
and Governors approved a
change to the college Polity,
the governing document for
St. John’s College.
The Management Committee-which oversees non-aca
demic policy and coordinates
administration of the two campuses-was made a permanent
part of the St. John’s governing
structure. The Management
Committee was established in
3000 and included as an addi
tion to the Polity with a five-year
sunset clause. The board voted
to delete the sunset clause, thus
continuing the committee.
This action represents the
culmination of a several-year
review of the Pohty, which also
resulted in a rewording to reflect
gender-neutral language and
10 amendments being passed in
April 3003. One of these amendments-the addition of sexual
orientation to the college’s
non-discrimination poUcy-had
been controversial a decade ago.
During a review of the Polity in
r993, the board failed to adopt
an amendment that specifically
prohibited discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation.
Five years later, in 1998, the
issue was not even raised.
“The first time it came up, it
was so bitter, so divisive, that
people were afraid to bring it
up again,” said Jean FitzSimon
(A73), a lawyer who served on
the board committee that took
up the most recent review of
the document. Original resist
ance to adding to the document
was centered on the belief that
discrimination based on sexual
orientation was covered by
other laws, and therefore did
not need to be spelled out,
FitzSimon said.
FitzSimon and other commit
tee members believed other
wise: “Even if it [discrimination]
isn’t happening at the college,
the Pohty is the Polity. We talked
about the public nature of this
document, and we felt that this
was something that had to be
speUed out,” FitzSimon said.
This time around the Polity
Review Committee, led by Greg
Curtis, did bring up the issue as
it began to work through possi
ble revisions in 3003. This com
mittee recommended, and the
Board adopted, a revised
non-discrimination clause:
“There shall be no discrimi
nation at St. John’s College in
appointments, conditions of
employment, admissions,
educational policy, financial aid
programs, athletics, or other
activities, on the basis of race,
religion, age, sex, national
origin, color, disabiUty and/or
physical handicap, sexual orien
tation, or other characteristic
protected by any applicable
federal, state or local law.”
In the Nick of Time
A TRAFFIC STOP ON THEIR WAY TO THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE NEARLY MADE THIS GROUP OF AnNAPOLIS SENIORS
MISS THE MIDNIGHT DEADLINE FOR TURNING IN THEIR SENIOR ESSAYS. (ThE POLICE OFFICER WAS UNIMPRESSED
WITH THE students’ PLEAS TO LET THEM GO ON THEIR WAY.) FrOM LEFT TO RIGHT ARE DeAN HaRVEY
Flaumenhaft, Justin Berrier, Hayden Brockett, Melissa Thomas, and Joseph Method. A rattled
Thomas is more than ready to hand over copies of her essay, “Reconciling Faith with Action.”
{The College
■ St. Jo hn ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
7
Taxing
Bachelors
As Maryland’s legislators grap
pled this spring with measures
to raise money for the state’s
coffers, word of an innovative
approach from the past-a tax on
bachelors-reached The College,
thanks to Richard Israel, retired
Maryland assistant attorney
general.
While browsing through pages
of General Assembly proceed
ings, Israel found that in 1761
legislators issued a series of
proposals for funding a college
that eventually resulted in
St. John’s. The “batchelor’s tax”
was expected to have a value of
500 pounds or more, according
to a bill aimed at acquiring
Bladen’s Folly, now McDowell
Hall. Listed also were 600
pounds to be raised through
licenses for public ordinaries
(pubs), 150 pounds from taxes
on wheel carriages, and 90
pounds through fees on card
and billiard tables.
The idea wasn’t just to raise
money, but also to encourage
single men to settle down, as
Israel found in the Acts of the
General Assembly, 1755-56:
“Forasmuch as Divine Institu
tions ought to be strictly
observed in every well-regulated
Government, and as that in
Regard to the entering into the
holy Estate of Matrimony may
tend to the more orderly Propa
gation of Mankind, it ought, not
only in a rehgious, but pohtical
View, to be promoted, and the
continuing in a State of Gehbacy
discountenanced, especially in
every Infant Country.”
The measure, however, was
never signed into law. After
several subsequent attempts,
St. John’s was chartered as a
college in 1784, soon after the
end of the Revolutionary War.
The charter provided that the
college would be financed by the
revenue from several different
taxes.
— Rebecca Wilson
(AGI82)
�{From the Bell Towers}
8
Fun-Raising, East and West
Art, Wine, and Good Conversation Brighten Winter's Dark Nights
Two events in January show that alumni and other college support
ers won’t pass up a chance for self-improvement along with the
opportunity to stay connected to St. John’s. Fine wine and good
food can’t hurt, either.
In Santa Fe, Larry Turley (SF69) brought the extraordinary
wines of Turley Wine Cellars to a benefit hosted by the Philos
Society-a group of local patrons of the college. The event had
wine-lovers buzzing over Turley’s hard-to-find wines, paired with
gourmet food.
Philos Society Event
Features Turley Wines
“Wine is the glass ofthe mind. ’’-Erasmus
A wine dinner hosted by the
Philos Society of St. John’s
College brought too people
from the Santa Fe community
to the rooftop garden room of
La Fonda Hotel in January.
While the opportunity to learn
more about St. John’s College
and fine wines attracted many,
it was clear that the main
attractions were the Napa
Valley wines provided by Larry
Turley (SF69). After all,
there’s a two-year waiting list
for Turley’s coveted wines,
such as a aooi bottle of The
White Coat. The event was
limited to 100, and the tickets,
at $125 apiece, sold out well in
advance.
Now the owner of Turley
Wine Cellars, Turley earned a
medical degree and became an
emergency-room physician
after leaving St. John’s.
He co-founded the Frog’s Leap
Winery in 1981, and then
moved on to open Turley Wine
In Baltimore, Philanthropia (the Alumni Development
Council) and President Christopher Nelson hosted a “Conversa
tion About the State of the College’’ at the Baltimore Museum of
Art. Wintry weather in December cancelled the first attempt at
the BMA event, but the rescheduled event was well-attendedencouraging Philanthropia to plan future stimulating occasions
to keep Johnnies informed and involved in the college.
Cellars with his sister,
Helen (A67).
The hotel’s wine
experts and chefs
worked to create the
night’s dinner menu.
The White Coat was
paired with appetizers;
langostino and goat
cheese empanadas with
toasted pinon-green
apple slaw. Next came
the duck confit on
greens tossed with chile
cascabel-basil vinai
grette, served with a
aooi Pesenti Vineyard
Zinfandel. Paired with
the third course
(pan-roasted chicken
breast with white truffle
demi-roasted garlic
mashed potatoes and sauteed
spaghetti squash) was a aooi
Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel.
A aooi Library Vineyard
Petite Syrah accompanied
cheese and fruit.
The event raised $6,500 for
the college’s Annual Fund.
Left: Philos board member
Charmay Allred shares her
APPRECIATION FOR LaRRY
Turley’s wine.
Above: Richard Morris,
A PAST BOARD MEMBER OF THE
COLLEGE, AND
JeFF BiSHOP
(HA96), VICE PRESIDENT FOR
COLLEGEWIDE ADVANCEMENT,
PERUSE SILENT AUCTION
OFFERINGS.
{The College.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
Turley donated some of the
wine for the event and provided
the rest at cost. In his holo tie
and denim shirt, he circulated
among the guests, talking
about wine and wine-making
and graciously accepting
compliments from wine lovers
grateful for a chance to experi
ence something extraordinary.
The Philos Society of
St. John’s College was founded
to foster and enhance commu
nication, understanding, and
joint activities between the
college and its community.
Co-chairs of the board are
Donn Duncan, M.D., and
Robert Zone, M.D.
�{From the Bell Towers}
9
Friday at the BMA
WITH Chris
Thanks to Philanthropia (the Alumni Development Council)
and Annapolis President Christopher Nelson, BaltimoreWashington alumni had an opportunity to enjoy a private viewing
of the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Cone Collection. Afterwards,
the 82 alumni gathered for conversation, refreshments catered by
The Classic Catering People, owned by Harriet Dopkin (A77), and
an update on the college by the president.
The sights and sounds of the evening echoed the style of the
Cone Collection, creating an impressionistic tableau of delights
for the eyes, treats for the tongue, fellowship for the soul, and
ample food for thought. Thus, as an homage to the Cone
Collection, The College offers its report in the style of the
impressionists.
The Art
time in Paris among the expatriates. It was as though he had memo
rized all the accompanying notes on the walls. It was great fun hstening to him-he completed the experience for me. I’m not sure going
through the Cone Collection will ever be the same.
“Although I didn’t ask a question of Chris Nelson, I liked hear
ing what he had to say, and I know that people felt free to ask him
anything about the college. I was reminded that I still don’t know
very much about the Santa Fe campus and what its financial needs
are, or what those needs grow out of.”
Matisse, Purple Robe and Anemones, Interior, Flowers, and
Parakeets
Picasso, Mother and Child
Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seenfrom theBibemus Quarry
Monet, Waterloo Bridge
Van Gogh, Landscape With Figures
Fete avec Biere et Vin
Caprese skewers of pesto-rubbed grape tomatoes, baby mozzarella,
and kalamata olives
Dried fig, walnut, and goat cheese tapenade
Tenderloin roulades with spinach and portobello mushrooms
Jumbo lump crab fondue with a hint of dry sherry and old bay
Miniature fruit tarts, petite brownies, raspberry almond bars, and
fresh strawberries
DeGroen’s micro brew. Banrock Station wine, coffee, tea
Report of the President
Applicant pool up, attrition down.
Graduate Institute-healthy.
A new dormitory with water view is being built for 48 students.
The Santa Fe Initiative invests $4.5 million in the campus and
student life.
Gratitude for The Hodson Trust’s
$10 million grant, which funded
the Mellon renovation and new
dormitory.
Two or three additional major gifts
this year: a possibility.
The help and support of aU alumni
at all levels of giving: priceless.
President Christopher Nelson with Mark Lindley (A67).
Stacey Andersen (AGI93): “While we were wandering through the
Cone Collection, we noticed it was noisy: not normal museum
behavior. Yet we were expected to talk. There’s a commonality
we’ve run into with people who’ve gone to St. John’s. There’s a
shared dialogue. It’s a tone that was set and carried throughout
the evening. I think that’s what led to the discussion that contin
ued after Chris Nelson gave his introductory talk. We thought the
venue for an alumni function was fantastic. Is there abetter place
to unleash a group of Johnnies than in a museum? Thank you for
giving us the text! ”
- SUS3AN Borden, A87
The Reviews
Sara Stuart (Ago): “Mark Lindley
(A67) must have gone through the
Cone Collection before Brad (A89)
and I arrived. He was able to teU us
about all of the paintings and art
objects, and about the Cone sisters’
Above: The feast
Right: Sara Larson Stuart (Ago),
Brad Stuart (A89), and Philanthropia
EVENT CHAIR Steph Takacs (A8g)
{The College.
5t. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Letters}
Febbie Question Answered
Wendell Finner’s account of his query
concerning SJC’s lack of Eastern authors
(Winter 2004) brought back a memory of
Douglas Allenbrook that 1 cherish more as
political correctness continues to elimi
nate free speech.
During convocation for the Febbie 1980
class, one student asked about the lack of
Eastern authors. Without hesitation, and
with a charming smile, Mr. Alienbrook
replied “...the only thing good that has
come out of the East was the Sun.” Memo
ries like these convince me that St. John’s
College is more important than ever to
liberal education and free thought.
Steven D. Brower
(A83)
The Lost Languages
It was a joy and consolation to read the
article about the intensive Latin summer
classes in the Fall 2003 issue of
The College. It made up for the allegation
by a recent commencement speaker that
the students in front of him were lucky to
have the best education: liberal arts,
i.e. trivium and quadrivium-or, as my
Munich editor explained to colleagues at
the Beck publishing house, the “Septem
Artes”'we did at this interesting college in
America. Yes, the liberal arts, all seven of
them, and four foreign languages, the
commencement speaker said: Greek
and Latin and German and French.
The graduates kept a straight face.
Latin had already been dropped from the
curriculum when I joined St. John’s in
i960. German survived another couple of
years; then it, too, was gone. I taught one
of the last classes. It was a pleasure, and a
profitable one. We read bits of the Luther
translation of the Bible, the beginning of
Genesis and the opening of the Gospel of
John, and the juniors recalled some of the
Greek New Testament. We read Lessing
and a little Kant (with the surprising
earthiness of his vocabulary); we read
some Goethe; some of the rhymed caution
ary tales of Heinrich Hoffmann...and stuck
to texts that seemed more memorable and
discussable.
There was a young man in that class, Jim
Forrester (A62). He took the very first
[translation], six weeks into the first
semester. I was amazed at the result, which
included a perfect translation of a page
from Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy. He
translated it into real English, not translaterese, and showed an astonishing feel
''Yes, sing ye and
chant id andyou il learn to
speak and read it.. ”
Beate Ruh m von Oppen
for nuances. Next time the class met I
asked Mr. Forrester if he had been a begin
ner when we began six weeks ago. He said:
“Yes”-and after a moment’s reflection he
added: “I’d sung some Bach.”
Bach makes the language, especially
the biblical language, Luther’s German,
memorable. It sticks in the mind-even
as some of Picander’s poetry in the
St. Matthew Passion does, or perhaps just
first words like “Buss undReuf though
the Gospel of Matthew itself is more
memorable, e.g., “Der Geist ist willig,
aber das Fletsch ist schwach ” quotable
and even usable in daily life...
That remark by Jim Forrester taught me
that singing is the best way to learn a
language. Perhaps poetry, anything that
scans is the next best. So we now leave
German (and Latin) to the freshman
chorus and the other, voluntary singing
groups. Yes, sing ye and chant it! - and
you’ll learn to speak and read it...
Beate Ruhm von Oppen
Tutor Emerita
Thailand’s War on Drugs
I wanted to address something that [Tiitor
Linda] Weiner said in describing her
summer in Thailand (Winter 2004).
Ms. Weiner suggested that Thailand
benefits from an “enlightened monarch”
and described the king’s policy of replac
ing opium farms with organic farms.
While the king may be enlightened, Thai
land’s Prime Minister and police force are
not. In Thailand’s own war on drugs, 2,245
people were killed in an anti-drug cam
paign from February to April 2003. The
police admitted to killing 50 themselves,
and many others were killed as they
returned from police stations. Thai
officials have neglected to investigate or
prosecute the killings. In August Prime
Minister Thaksin said, in reference to drug
smugglers crossing from Myanmar to
Thailand, “From now on if their trafficking
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
caravans enter our soil, we won’t waste our
time arresting them, but we will simply kill
them.” This and other policy statements of
the Prime Minister suggest that more extra
judicial killings will come.
The international community, including
the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudi
cial, summary or arbitrary executions;
Amnesty International; and the Drug
Policy Alliance, have expressed outrage
over the human rights abuses stemming
from Thailand’s war on drugs. I would hate
for Johnnies to get the impression that the
program described by Ms. Wiener is
indicative of Thai drug policy. More
information can be found in the Amnesty
International report “Thailand-Grave
Developments-Killings and Other
Abuses” available atwww.amnesty.org
Renate Lunn
Room
for
(A96)
Gauss
Doing year-end cleaning I chanced upon
Sheri McMahon’s letter in the Spring 2003
issue of The College. I guess it’s a recurring
topic among alumni who reflect upon the
mathematics tutorial.
I personally have often thought it a pity
not to pursue geometry a little further.
I always felt a historical approach to
Gauss’s Theorema Eregiurn on curved sur
faces or something like that might be pos
sible. Michael Spivak does something
along these lines in his Comprehensive
Introduction to Differential Geometry.
I always felt there was no greater figure left
out of the program than Gauss, that there
was a route to some of his work in geome
try that would be accessible to seniors, that
it was the perfect context for glimpses of
non-Euclidean geometry and general
relativity that were offered in the tutorial
(nearly three decades ago!), that it has a
perfect antecedent in the spherical
geometry of Ptolemy.
Mark Copper
(SF76)
Words and Deeds
Thank you for the article in the Winter
2004 issue on Santa Fe’s martial artists.
The Annapolis campus has also enjoyed the
Asian martial traditions over the years.
In 1977 tutor David Starr persuaded one of
his former philosophy students from the
University of Rhode Island, a prodigiously
talented gentleman named Robert Galeone, to move to Annapolis to teach the
Okinawan system of Uechi-ryu karatedo.
continued on nextpage
�{Letters}
I was Mr, Galeone’s first student at the col
lege club, which met in one of the handball
courts in Iglehart Hall on Tuesday and
Wednesday evenings, and Saturday morn
ings. Mr. Galeone, a 5th-degree black belt,
produced quite a few serious students over
the seven years that he led the dojo....
Today, Annapolis students interested in
aikido may join the U.S. Naval Academy’s
Aikido Club, which holds classes on both
the Naval Academy campus and in Iglehart
Hall. (For more information, see
http://www.geocities.com/navyaikido/.)
It seems to me that study and practice of
the martial arts, whether from Asia or the
West, is essential to the development of a
free citizen. Whether the pen is mightier
than the sword is not the right question.
Rather, why should the study of one pre
clude the study of the other? To paraphrase
a Japanese proverb, in the hands of an
educated individual, the sword and the pen
are one. Unfortunately, it is too easy for a
student of the liberal arts to acquire a great
and unjustified faith in the power of speech,
along with an all-too-ready skepticism
concerning action. Words need the support
of deeds. As Mr. Galeone once said, “The
body remembers what it does, and not what
you tell it.” Martial arts training provides
the student with the framework to become
as proficient in the world of action as he or
she is in the world of reason, by teaching
balance, grace, and poise, all while facing
an adversary. I hope that students on both
campuses will take advantage of the
opportunities to pursue these disciplines.
Jim Sorrentino (A8o)
Calendar Mysteries Revealed
I was quite amazed to open the 2004
calendar and find a photo of my high
school math teacher (February 2004).
He is Thomas Yoon (A58), and he taught
me trigonometry and led a philosophy
seminar at Scarborough School, in
Scarborough, N.Y. My guess is that it
was 1967. He was an inspiring teacher with
a great sense of humor, and was the one
who told me about St. John’s College.
Pippi Ellison
few lists I have. The whole scene was
contrived, which is why there is a smirk on
the face of the guy front center and guy
left. Girl center was trying to look serious
and guy rear was told to pose in an
awkward position. The people at the end of
the table were told to look at each other.
No one has the same book. The photos
were intended for a catalog redesign, or a
flyer for the admissions office.
I was the student aide for Marsha Drennon, then admissions director, and helped
find the students and arrange the furni
ture. Notice how there aren’t any empty
chairs? We did have a blast doing the series
of pictures around the campus.
Michael David
(SF87)
Dumping Concerns
While I found the “Night Crawlers” letter
(Winter 2004) somewhat amusing as a
piece of black humor, I was taken aback
that there was no editorial note as to the
state of affairs since the dumping
occurred. Has all that stuff been leaching
into the ground and water and possibly the
creek ever since with nothing being done,
or was it cleaned up at some later date?
If not, I think [the college] is morally, and
perhaps legally, bound to address the prob
lem. Surely, SJC is not so philosophically
preoccupied that it doesn’t care what it
does to our environment?
Natalie Chambliss (class
of
1964)
Editor’s Note:
Steve Linhard, treasurer on the Annapolis
campus, says thatfor an undetermined
period oftime, a dumping ground was sited
on the college’s back campus. When the
college investigated severalyears ago, it
uncovered bricks, broken china, bottles.
(Aya)
The May 2004 photo of students at a table
on the dining hall balcony was taken in
June or July 1985. It was a PR photo from a
whole set of photos taken that day all over
the campus. The students in the photo are
mostly January freshmen, though I can’t
remember or find their names in any of the
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
cans, kitchen utensils, and similar domestic
refuse. “'Testpits were dug by an outside
survey company three summers ago, and
nothing ofany chemical nature was
found,” Linhard says. “In addition, core
samples were taken by a geological testing
firm to examine the soil contentforfeasibil
ityfor thermal conductivityfor the geother
mal heating systemfor the new dormitory.
These samples were examined and nothing
hazardous was discovered. ”
Errata
An article in the Fall 2003 issue stated that
Hans von Briesen attended and taught at
Stanford and the University of Rochester.
He attended the universities, but did not
teach at them.
The reading list on St. John’s history that
accompanied an article on the attempted
Navy takeover of St. John’s (Winter 2003)
should have included these works by
Charlotte Fletcher (HA69), former
librarian at the Annapolis campus: Cato's
Mirania: A Life ofProvost Smith, and
“St. John’s ‘For Ever’: Five Essays on the
History of King William’s School and
St. John’s College,” published in the
St. John'sReview (1990-91).
The College welcomes letters on issues of
interest to readers. Letters maybe edited
for clarity and/or length. Those under
500 words have a better chance of being
printed in their entirety.
Please address letters to: The College
Magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800,
Annapolis, MD 21404 or The College
Magazine, Public Relations Office,
St. John’s College, 1160 Camino Cruz
Blanca, Santa Fe, NM
87505-4599Letters can also be
sent via e-mail to:
rosemary.harty
@sjca.edu.
�{Revelation}
la
REVELATION
and
REDEMPTION
hat is the revelation in Flannery
O’Connor’s “Revelation”?
That was the question
The College asked of a group of
tutors and others in the St. John’s
College community. The short
essays that follow are presented as thoughtful responses to
a question posed in search of gaining more insight into a
puzzling and multi-layered short story. If you have not read
“Revelation,” or read it long ago, put this feature aside
until you can.
W
Ripe for Revelation
by Joan Silver
Lastfall I received a letter from a stu
dent who said she would be “graciously
appreciative” if I would tell her “just
what enlightenment” I expected her to
getfrom each ofmy stories. Isuspect she
had apaper to write. I wrote her back to
forget about the enlightenment andjust
try to enjoy them. I knew that was the
most unsatisfactory answer I could
have givenbecause, ofcourse, shedidnt
want to enjoy them, shejust wanted to
figure them out.
In most English classes the short story
has become a kind of literary specimen
{The College -John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
to be dissected. Every time a story of
mine appears in a Ereshman anthology,
I have a vision ofit, with its little organs
laid open, like afrog in a bottle.
I realize that a certain amount ofthis
what-is-the-significance has to go on,
but I think somethinghas gone wrong in
theprocess when, for so many students,
the story becomes simply a problem to
be solved, something which you evapo
rate to get Instant Enlightenment.
A story isn I really very good unless it
successfully resistsparaphrase, unless it
hangs on and expands in the mind.
Properly, you analyze to enjoy, but ids
equally true that to analyze with any
discrimination, you have to have
enjoyed already.. ..”
Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners.
I will assume that all who have read
Flannery O’Connor’s story, “Revela
tion,” have enjoyed it. We enjoy the
story, and her remarks above, somehow
as wholes, and also in their humorous
and penetrating details. In the spirit of
the above remarks, I would like to notice
numerous revelations which spring from
�{The Colleges?.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�14
{Revelation}
''In a crucial moment
ofthat vision, she
finds her own kind
bringing up the rear... ’
this story, which calls itself “Revelation” in
the singular. I hope that together they may
“hang on and expand in the mind.”
Perhaps the key revelation in the story is
the return to Mrs. Turpin of the enraged
question she asks of God, “‘Who do you
think you are?’”: “The question carried
over the pasture and across the highway
and the cotton field and returned to her
clearly like an answer from heyond the
wood.” This answer is a distillation of the
revelation already embedded in her earlier
questions: “‘How am I a hog and me both?
How am I saved and from hell too?’” At this
reply, Mrs. Turpin’s mouth opens (is it in
wonder or in understanding?), and she
does not speak. But this revelation is not
the end of the story.
Other revelations follow, mediated by a moment in which
she imagines the death of her husband, his truck hit by anoth
er, his “brains all over the road.” Seeing his truck return, she
herself begins to move, “hke a monumental statue coming to
life.” Only now do initial events of the story receive their
answering revelations.
An early revelation in the story is that “living demonstra
tions” are present in the world. When the story begins Mrs.
Turpin (who is “very large”) is entering the “very small”
waiting room of a doctor’s office; she is said to be a “living
demonstration that the room was inadequate and ridicu
lous.” As the story goes on, of course, we see that the waiting
room is exactly the right size for the events which take place
in it. A later echo which replies to this apparent “living
demonstration” immediately follows Mrs. Turpin’s “coming
to hfe.” The “old sow” and young hogs, above whose “pig
parlor” she confronts God, find their places in their “waiting
room” with ease: “They had settled all in one corner around
the old sow who was grunting softly. A red glow suffused
them. They appeared to pant with a secret hfe.” It is the sow
and the other pigs who become a real “living demonstra
tion” for Mrs. Turpin and for the reader. Her earher “glow
ering down” at the hogs and disdaining of others has become
a “gazing down”; she “remained there with her gaze bent to
them as if she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving
knowledge.”
{The College -
Two more echoes follow. The first is a
revelation and echo for Mrs. Turpin and
the reader alike; the second, for the read
er alone. Early on, Mrs. Turpin’s charac
ter is revealed by one of her inner
“games.” In one, she lies awake at night
“naming the classes of people.” She sep
arates and tries to rank human beings by
certain combinations of race and proper
ty, but the real people of her acquain
tance will not stay put in the places that
she gives them: “Usually by the time she
had fallen asleep all the classes of people
were moiling and roiling around in her
head, and she would dream they were all
crammed in together in a box car, being
ridden off to be put in a gas oven.” The
impulse from which such grading and judging spring leads
ultimately to the gas chamber-to spiritual and physical
death for all. This dream is echoed and transformed at the
end by Mrs. Turpin’s vision of the “vast horde of souls
rumbling toward heaven” in which all classes and kinds
are present. In a crucial moment of that vision, she finds
her own kind bringing up the rear: “she could see by their
shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were
being burned away.” Not the fire which makes the gas
chamber, but the fire of purgatory is needed. Note, too,
that hogs are easier to clean than humans; for pigs, only
water is needed.
The final echo is concerned with seeing (and with size).
Mrs. Turpin’s eyes were initially described as “little
bright black eyes . . . [that] sized up the seating situation”
and all else around her. After the vision just mentioned,
O’Connor tells us that her eyes are “small but fixed
unbfinkingiy on what lay ahead.” We may need to ask just
what is intended by “what lay ahead,” but, in this changed
description, we receive the revelation both that a kind of
steadfast looking is necessary for us, and that a transfor
mation of one’s manner of seeing in the world is possible,
(and that size-at least relative human size-does not
matter).
Among the many other revelations in the story, two
seem worthy of note in the context of the ones mentioned
above. The first concerns the catalyst for revelation, the
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
second the capacity to receive it. The story shows revelation-or the beginning of it-coming from the strangest
source: Mary Grace. The suffering of one human being,
her anger and anguish, gives birth to grace for another.
And in Ruby Turpin the story shows inquiry, linked with
sin, as a potential path to revelation and grace. Mrs.
Turpin’s inner “games” embody inquiry in a strange form:
who might I have been if not myself; what is my place with
in all of humanity? They also, of course, reveal pride mas
querading as gratitude. This picture remains a revelation,
if a comic one, of what can make one ripe for revelation.
Joan Silver is a tutor and incoming director ofthe Graduate
Institute in Annapolis.
In the Eye
of
15
Judgment Day
by Pamela Kraus
Ruby Turpin knows what should be and does her part to
make it so. She notices every instance of the messy, dirty,
unregulated world. She has her faults, she knows that, but
she’s a respectable, church-going woman who always tries to
make things right. She keeps pigs-just a few of the preemi
nent unclean animal-but she’s built them a concrete pen, a
“pig-parlor,” to keep them from wallowing in mud and slop,
and she hoses them down regularly. On the day of this story
Ruby accompanies her husband Claud to the doctor and sizes
up the waiting room: it’s small and dirty and filled with
slovenly, careless people. To counter the disorder she exer
cises the best force she can, her good disposition generously
Since the emergency, a wrathful Mrs. Turpin has been
demanding why Mary Grace called her an old wart hog from
hell. Mrs. Turpin is convinced that Jesus sent her the mes
sage and, though she has negotiated with him before, for
once, she finds that defense is futile. She has no one to turn
to. She doesn’t trust the cotton-pickers, whose comments
she finds intolerable and full of flattery. She can’t confide in
Claud (whose name sounds like “clod,” and who can’t shore
up her failing faith). She shouts defiantly to Jesus, “Who do
you think you are?”
The sight of the sun setting in the back pasture, “looking
over the paling of trees like a farmer inspecting his own
hogs,” triggers the collapse of her carefully-tended beliefs.
She inspects her own hogs, who are glowing rosy in the cor
ner of the pig parlor, and takes in the “abysmal life-giving
knowledge” from them-sees, I think, that though there is
no one out there measuring each person for a future crown,
yet we have the present life. There is no doctor behind the
waiting-room door, about to call our names. Mrs. Turpin
sees the vast parade of people, carried to heaven on the pur
ple bridge shouting hallelujah. She knows, for the moment
at least, that this is nothing but a dream.
Heaven
by Basia Miller
Mrs. Turpin’s revelation is pretty dark. She has experienced
the dark before-at the end of her dreams, everyone is
crammed in a boxcar and sent off to a gas oven. Today when
she and Claud enter their own dirt road on the way back from
the doctor’s, she is ready to see her home destroyed, “a burnt
wound between two blackened chimneys.” A few moments
before the end, she imagines the pickup truck being crushed
and her husband’s and the fieldhands’ brains oozing out on the
road. Her final revelation seems, too, to be of a world
destroyed, a kind of apocalypse that nevertheless offers “life
giving knowledge.”
First, Mrs. Turpin’s vision was affected in the waiting room.
When Mary Grace sent the book flying at her head, Mrs.
Turpin saw things smaller first, then she saw everything larg
er. The impact was particularly powerful because Mrs. Turpin
sensed that the girl had a deep, timeless knowledge of her,
perhaps of her soul. We who have heard Mrs. Turpin talking
incessantly, all afternoon, about her own goodness have to
ask if much of this talk isn’t inspired by self-doubt. She’s con
verted everyone’s gestures, everyone’s shoes, green stamps, Basia Miller is a Santa Fe tutor.
and traces of snuff into material for affirming her worth in the
eye of heaven, like a person feeding an insatiable hunger.
{The College-
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�i6
{Revelation}
''Thepurgatorial
vision reveals
all manner of
sinners lined up
ingroups...
bestowed, a veneer of nice manners and char
•
itable platitudes barely covering harsh judg
ments. This is her way of following the com
mandment Love Thy Neighbor. Both her
justice and her mercy are superficial rather
than utterly misplaced. They are poor imita
tions of the divine, not complete aberrations.
Yet they are not harmless: they hold her fast
in easygoing self-righteousness and could
forever blind her to herself.
Mary Grace is the only occupant of the wait
ing room who won’t submit to Ruby’s intru
sive geniality. An ugly, cranky, even mean
young woman, Mary Grace sees a deeper dis
order than Ruby sees, and her penetrating
eye is right on Ruby Thrpin. Mary Grace
waits in the waiting room but is sickened by
the world that surrounds her, as if she has
taken in its ugliness. She is most revolted at
Ruby, its banal and self-satisfied leading citi
zen. Seemingly lost to charity, or too bur
dened for it, she freely offers this world
her scorn.
Each of these judges is drawn to the other
from the first as to a perfect enemy. Mary
Grace rebuffs Ruby’s attempts at cordial
small talk, even when not directed to her, by making
grotesque faces. The affronts enliven Ruby’s insistence on
the virtue of good-naturedness. The garrulous, prettied-up
world of Ruby’s waiting room advances upon the stark,
friendless one defended by Mary Grace. When Ruby’s enthu
siasm reaches its peak, she bursts out in praise: “Thank you,
Jesus, for making everything the way it is! ” Mary Grace retal
iates. She launches her book at Ruby and goes for her throat.
Both fall in this battle. Mary Grace inflicts the blows, yet
she is the one sedated and removed to a hospital. The purple
swelling above Ruby’s eye and the marks on her throat are on
the surface; deeper is a more grievous wound. Not the book,
not the hands clenched around her throat, but the words
Mary Grace whispers as the two lock eyes hit home: “Go back
to hell where you came from, you old wart hog.” These words
“brooked no repudiation.” They strike Ruby’s center of grav
ity, confusing her sight and toppling her confidence. Ruby is
turned, readied for revelation; Mary Grace, an inadvertent
{The College-
cause of grace, goes to a fate we do not know.
The vision of an ugly wart hog besets Ruby
all afternoon. Driven by anger, confusion,
and need, she spills her story almost in spite
of herself to the Black cotton workers in her
employ. This veiled plea for compassion is
met with highly spirited but superficial concern-the kind of concern Ruby has been so
proud of and good at herself, especially with
the Blacks-and it angers her to receive it
from those she has considered so far beneath
her. She goes to her pig-parlor seething as
intensely as Mary Grace in the waiting room,
turns the hose on the pigs, and, like a comic
Job, thrusts question after question at God.
The questions begin in a forceful whisper,
“How am 1 a hog and me both?”, and reach a
summit of fury: “Who do you think you
are?”, the fundamental question to which a
vision is the mysterious answer.
The purgatorial vision reveals all manner
of sinners hned up in groups, each rejoicing
in its distinctive way, and puts Ruby in
her place. Ahead in line are the leapers
and rollickers; she, Claud, and the other
respectable people are last in the procession,
their virtues the sins being burned away. The vision is a
reminder of our essential unfitness to understand and follow
the commandment to love even when we desire to and a reve
lation of God’s inscrutable, comic ways. As Ruby stands gaz
ing upon “what lay ahead” and hearing at the crickets’ chirps
hallelujahs of praise, we wonder in what world Ruby now
is and whether it may embrace the edge that Mary Grace
inhabits.
99
Pamela Kraus, a tutor in Annapolis, also serves as editor of
the St. John’s Review.
The Private Hell
of
Ruby Turpin
by Cary Stickney
Without rereading the story, 1 want to say that the primary
revelation is what the girl in the doctor’s office says that
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
wounds Mrs. Turpin so: “You are a warthog from Hell!”
Ruby Turpin cannot forget it, and it brings on a kind of crisis
of faith, I presume because on some level Mrs. Turpin
acknowledges its truth. It is at least in part-the warthog
part-an inevitable consequence of existing as a creature in
the same cosmos with an infinitely good Creator. In this
sense I suppose even archangels are warthogs, compared to
the beauty of God. That the warthog is from Hell seems to me
to say that we have each taken the finite beauty and goodness
we might have had and thrown it away. That is, we are sin
ners, and we make a kind of hell for ourselves.
Looking back at the story I see that the girl in the waiting
room says, “Go back to Hell where you came from, you old
warthog!” Mrs. Thrpin had been revealing by her conversa
tion with the girl’s mother that she lives in a world of careful
ly maintained distinctions, and that she compensates herself
for the efforts she makes to be good by looking down on all
those who seem not to try as hard. She would not describe her
own world as a hell. But I see something hellish in the dream
we are told she sometimes has, in which her struggles to
17
maintain the picture of a well-ordered hierarchy of human
virtue and vice correlated with property ownership and
worth ancestry, to say nothing of skin color, give way to a
vision of a cattle-car crowded with every kind of human on
the way to a gas oven. In her waking hours, she sees a world
in which good people are the exception and things are get
tingworse. To be “saved,” as she believes she is, requires that
she think better of things than that, at least in an ultimate
sense, but it looks as if she has reduced God to a scorekeeper
and that her gratitude to have been created as the one we see
is dependent at least on her fear of and contempt for others.
The Wellesley girl, Mary Grace, may see that, and may mean
that she is far from heaven and fairly close to hell, so that it
would be easy to just go back. Of course being an effective
messenger may not require that the aptly named Mary Grace
fully understand the message she delivers.
Both the aspects of the revelation, that she is a warthog and
that she came from Hell, carry with them a redeeming and
mysterious grace: namely that in spite of our vanishingly
small claim to significance or beauty or even to being at all.
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
�i8
{Revelation}
we somehow do exist in the same cosmos with infinite beauty
and heing-God has made room for us and wants us to be.
That turns out to involve, in the Christian understanding,
that He has moreover forgiven us the waste of our time and
gifts, the pettiness and cruelty we might have avoided, and
that He offers us His love. What Mrs. Turpin demands to
know, namely how she can be herself and a hog too, or saved
and at the same time from hell, is the mystery that requires a
further revelation, or a deeper view of the one she has been
given.
In the story, Mrs. Turpin is hosing out the hog pen and
shaking her fist at God when the shape of the stream of water
momentarily comes to resemble a snake. She is at that
moment complaining to God that she might as well have
never tried to lead a good life at all, if she can be so insulted
and feel it so deeply; if, in a word, she is still just a warthog: in
spite of all her efforts still essentially no better than the worst
of sinners, the most lazy and wicked. This is a form of the
temptation to think that she should. Godlike, be able to make
herself, to accomphsh her own goodness and merit by her
unaided efforts, and thus, implicitly, to know good and evil:
to have the right to judge and condemn others presumably
less industrious or tasteful than herself. For if it does not ulti
mately matter what she does, and all saving power remains
with God, why has she troubled herself all these years? “Why
should we not sin the more, that Grace may abound?” asks
Paul, before repudiating the question.
The mystery and the final aspect of the revelation, granted
in her sunset vision, is that it does and does not matter. It
does: before she sees the highway into heaven she has seen
the setting sun like a farmer looking over the fence of the
treetops at his hogs, and she has seen her own hogs, clean
now and gathered around the old sow, the source of their
hves, and one kind of image of herself. She gazes “as if
through the very heart ofmystery,” and again, “as if she were
absorbing some abysmal, life-giving knowledge.” It is a
knowledge set off both by the previous sight of her husband’s
truck going down the road no bigger than a toy, liable at any
moment to be smashed, and by the fact of sunset itself. Even
without accident we are not here long. From the abyss, the
depths at greatest distance from God, she absorbs the knowl
edge that life-finite, particular, hog-ugly hfe-precisely in its
finitude, is beautiful, is full of God, its secret source. If those
hogs are beautiful, then so is she; it is right that she is who she
{The College-
is. But then it is equally right that others are who they are.
Her struggles to do right have not made her superior. When
she sees the horde of ascending souls, led by the crazy, lazy,
crippled, and off-key, she sees she had to make the efforts she
made to be who she is, not because God would not love her
otherwise, but because there must be all kinds of saved sin
ners, and it is a divine gift to be whatever kind you are.
It does not matter: the very virtues of the decent and
upright like herself are being burned away in the purging
fires of the ascent; that is, even their virtues are small and
small-minded in the hght of God’s love. That God’s love is not
hmited by human wickedness and yet does not annihilate the
significance of an individual life is part of the same revelation
as that an infinite being should make room for finitude to
begin with. Greation and redemption are revealed to be at
one.
Carey Stickney (A75) is a tutor in Santa Fe.
The Presence
of
Evil
by George Russell
Flannery O’Gonnor did not write about the lives of the
great, but the lives of the ordinary and the lowly. By conse
quence, the situations and actions of her characters are
most often the stuff of comic and not tragic report. One
finds himself laughing spontaneously at the human beings
in her stories. Nevertheless, she is not condescending to
her characters. She takes them seriously, holding them
accountable for their weaknesses and transgressions. They
may be ridiculous in the smallness of their views and
desires, but they suffer nonetheless for their sins, and one
is brought to feel for them in their sufferings and in the
realizations that their sufferings allow.
“Revelation” is a story about a day in the life of Ruby
Turpin, a farming woman who, as far as she knows, is
“saved” (“And wona these days I know I’ll we-era a
crown.”) and who, in her own words is “a respectable, hard
working, church-going woman.” From the first we are told
that Ruby Turpin is a woman, big in size (“I wish I could
reduce...”), blessed with a “good disposition” and “a little
of everything,” with the emphasis on “everything.” In the
story, we see her settled conclusions about the world
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
around her and her place and identity in that world and in
the divine plan come under an unexpected and jarring
attack during a visit with her husband to the doctor’s
office; and we witness a recovery which is as remarkable as
the fall.
A story with two distinct parts, “Revelation” in its first
part takes place in the waiting room of a doctor’s office.
The waiting room is emblematic of the shared human
condition. Human beings are susceptible to injury and
sickness. And their susceptibility is real; they get injured;
they get sick. However that maybe the case, the story is less
about bodily injury and illness than it is about another abo
riginal susceptibility, the proneness to sin and especially to
pride. It reminds one of the passage in the Bible from
On
the
Road to Damascus
by Michael Dink
The revelation that comes to Ruby, in the form of a book
thrown by Mary Grace that knocks her off her chair in the
doctor’s office, is in essence identical to that which came
to Saul, in the form of a flash of light that knocked him to
the ground on the road to Damascus. Prior to the revela
tion, Ruby and Saul shared a sense of their superiority to
certain other human beings, a superiority achieved by reg
ulating their conduct according to certain precepts and
recognized in the eyes of God. In Ruby this sense takes the
form of a self-congratulating condescension, in which she
sees herself as kind and tolerant to those inferiors, while
in Saul it took the more aggressive form of trying to pun
ish or reform those who had strayed from the right path.
When Ruby is called “a wart hog from hell” and Saul is
asked, “Why do you persecute me?” they are confronted
with the claim that they are sinners, certainly no better
than those they had despised, and perhaps even worse,
precisely because of the claim to righteousness implicit in
their despising, a claim that Saul, reborn as Paul, denies
that any human being can truthfully make.
Ruby struggles valiantly to deny this message, “But the
denial had no force.” She resents its being directed to her,
“a respectable, hard-working, church-going woman,”
19
Proverbs, “Pride goeth before destruction, and haughty
spirit before a fall.” The central dramatic incident that
takes place in the first part of the story occurs in the con
text of a conversation between three women, Mrs. Turpin,
a poor white woman, and the mother of a college student
named Mary Grace. The conversation of the women, taken
together with the reports of the narrator, reveals the pride
of the three women and of Mary Grace, but especially that
of Ruby Turpin.
About Mrs. Turpin we learn early on, that when she is
restless and unable to sleep, she has two nocturnal occupa
tions. In one, she seems to be acutely aware of the contin
gent character of her present life. Like Eve, who is tempted
by an alternative vision of the world, Mrs. Turpin’s imagi-
“though there was trash in the room to whom it might
justly have been applied.” A kiss from her husband and
flattery from the black womenfolk of their hired help fail
to assuage her resentment.
When she goes to the pig parlor and tries to cleanse the
pigs, she speaks out her resentment, evidently to God,
indicating that she does recognize the source of the reve
lation, despite her resistance to it. She continues to justify
herself, to defend her innocence, her charity, her superi
ority to lower orders of people. Her fury bursts forth in a
defiant challenge, “Gall me a hog again. From hell. Gall
me a wart hog from hell. Put that bottom rail on top.
There’ll still be a top and bottom.”
After seeing her husband’s truck in the distance as tiny
and vulnerable, she gazes at the hogs for a long time, “as if
she were absorbing some abysmal life-giving knowledge.”
Then she has a vision of a procession of souls marching
toward heaven. Leading the way are “the bottom rail,” all
the kinds of people she despised, “shouting and clapping
and leaping like frogs.” Behind them, with “great dignity”
but with “shocked and altered faces,” come people like
herself and Glaude, and she sees that “even their virtues
are being burned away.” In this final vision, she at last sees
how she is “saved and from hell too.”
Michael Dink fAyjJ is an Annapolis tutor.
{The College -5f. John ’5
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�ao
{Revelation}
Priestess and Visionary
by Elizabeth Engel
Mrs. Turpin’s revelation builds from the first face the girl
makes at her through Mrs. Turpin’s wonderful defiant
questions to God as she stands at the pig parlor; “What
do you send me a message like that for?” “How am I a hog
and me both? How am I saved and from hell too?” The set
ting sun, now far more mysterious than when Mrs. Turpin
saw it, hke her, “looking over the paling of trees like a
farmer inspecting his own hogs,” transforms everything.
Mrs. Turpin, ignoring the transformation, dares God again
and ends with roaring “who do you think you are?” An
echo comes back at her “like an answer from beyond the
wood.” God answers her by questioning her and her pride,
with far more right than she had to question him.
Mrs. Turpin begins to see who she really is as she sees the
fragility of human life in Claud’s tiny truck, which from her
position looks like a child’s toy: “At any moment a bigger
truck might smash into it and scatter Claud’s and the nig
gers’ brains all over the road.” When she has seen the truck
home safe, she turns to the pig parlor: “Then, hke a monu
mental statue coming to life, she bent her head slowly and
gazed as if through the very heart of mystery, down into the
pig parlor at the hogs. They had settled all in one corner
nation brings her to envision the world other than it is. She
wonders how things would have gone “If Jesus had said to
her before he made her...You can either be a nigger or
white-trash.” Her preference, she decides, is for Jesus to
have made her “a neat clean respectable Negro woman,
herself but black,” changed but still saved, sidestepping the
lowly. In her other nocturnal activity, Mrs. Turpin is said to
have “occupied herself at night naming the classes of peo
ple.” She lies awake at night trying to sort out the people in
her world into classes, in accordance with their material
and social standing in the world. She assumes blindly that
she possesses the standard and judgment for the task of sav
ing and condemning. However, the fluctuations in the for
tunes of the human beings that she would rank make such a
jumble of her very attempts to rank them, that she finally
falls off to sleep, imagining them all condemned, (“she
would dream they were all crammed together in a box car,
being ridden off to be put in a gas oven.”). Her virtues
notwithstanding, Mrs. Turpin remains prey to these temp
tations, and we see her assailed by them too in the light of
{The College.
around the old sow who was grunting softly. A red glow suf
fused them. They appeared to pant with a secret life.” The
hogs have become beautiful gathered around the maternal
and musical old sow, a vision of animal life filled by grace.
This is how we can be both hogs and ourselves too.
Mrs. Turpin is herself transformed by gazing at the hogs;
she becomes a sort of priestess, raising her hands “in a ges
ture hieratic and profound.” Her transformation allows her
final vision, the bridge over which souls are marching
towards Paradise. The most respectable, the group she
thinks she belongs to, come last, and “even their virtues
were beings burned away.” In relation to salvation, virtue
doesn’t matter, nor does top and bottom, dignity and luna
cy, white and black. This, I think, completes Mrs. Turpin’s
revelation. O’Connor says, “she lowered her hands and
gripped the rail of the hog pen, her eyes small but fixed
unbhnkingly on what lay ahead.” We see what she sees, and
we see her seeing it, pig-like, with her small eyes, and still
as priestess and visionary. Is this our revelation? Our judg
ment of her has become irrelevant, just as have her judg
ments of other people. We turn with Mrs. Ihrpin back onto
the darkening path-surely O’Connor intends us to think of
Dante-and with her we hear “the voices of the souls climb
ing upward into the starry field and shouting hallelujah.”
Elizabeth (Litzi) Engel is a tutor in Santa Fe.
day. Mrs. Turpin feeds her false pride by imagining the infe
rior world or worlds that might have been. Those imagina
tions of worlds inferior to her world feature the lowly ones
of the here and now whom she judges so severely.
As Mrs. Turpin’s prideful attitudes leak out in the waiting
room conversation, they become contagious. In the chief
exchange in the waiting room, an exchange about the
Turpin farm, Mrs. Turpin and Mary Grace’s mother silent
ly join together against the opinions of the “white-trash
woman.” The two women form an alliance inasmuch as
“...both understood that you had to have certain things
before you could know certain things.” An antagonism
erupts between the poor white woman and Mrs. Turpin
regarding their differing opinions about the possessions
and associations that Mrs. Turpin has; Mrs. Turpin raises
pigs and associates with black people. According to
Mrs. Turpin, the Turpins have “a couple acres of cotton and
a few hogs and chickens and just enough white-face that
Gland can look after them himself.” That report elicits a
retort from the white-trash woman that she doesn’t want
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
''The corruptive
power ofpride takes
its toll once more.''
anything to do with hogs: “Hogs. Nasty
stinking things, a-gruntin and a-rootin all
over the place.” It does not matter to her
that the Turpins have a “pig-parlor” a con
crete-floored pen where the pigs are raised
and where “Claud scoots them down with
the hose every afternoon and washes off
the floor.”
The poor woman wouldn’t stoop to
“scoot down no hog with no hose.” And as
to the black people that the Turpins hire
(“butter up”) to pick their cotton, the
“white-trash woman” is equally as
adamant: “Two thangs I ain’t going to do:
love no niggers or scoot down no hog with
no hose.” As far above the “white-trash
woman” as Mrs. Turpin seems to place
herself, the “white-trash woman” places
herself above hogs and “niggers.” The
corruptive power of pride takes its toll
once more.
In the doctor’s office, then, we witness
Mrs. Turpin’s awareness of the contingent
character of her life (“When I think who
all I could have been besides myself and
what all I got...It could have been different!”) and how that
awareness contributes to her false pride and a lack of
understanding both of who she is and of the true character
of her world. Behind her “good disposition,” we see her
judgment on the world as it is given to her. Despite the fact
that her virtue has no positive ground, she imagines that
her goodness is sufficient both to judge and re-order the
world and to do that without any assistance: “It’s no use in
having more than you can handle yourself with help like it
is.” Hers is not a position where she needs help, and she
doesn’t ask for any. She divides her world into those like
herself and Mary Grace’s mother, who don’t need help, and
those like the poor white woman. Of the latter, she thinks,
“Help them you must, but help them you couldn’t,” even
though, “To help anybody out that needed it was her philos
ophy of life.” Mrs. Turpin is saved and she is a would-be sav
ior. From that vantage point of self-sufficiency, hers is a posi
tion of gratitude. (“Oh, thank you, Jesus, Jesus, thank you!”)
But she is more grateful for what she is not than for what she
is, perhaps grateful even that she is child
less. What she does not seem to acknowl
edge is that bad things and evil itself can
not be relegated to what is not or to
absence, and for that reason in part, no one
is completely “saved” in this world, cer
tainly not by dint of one’s own efforts
alone, from the power of temptation and
malevolence.
It is in the context of her ignorance of
the forces of evil in the world that Mrs.
Turpin comes to consider Mary Grace
(“Why, girl, I don’t even know you...”),
who gives up her reading and bears wit
ness to the display of pride. She takes up
her station, staring relentlessly at Mrs.
Turpin and making ugly faces at her until
she feels the need to defend herself. But
most importantly, at the point where Mrs.
Turpin claims not to know Mary Grace,
she thinks that Mary Grace, “was looking
at her as if she had known and disliked her
all her life-all of Mrs. Turpin’s hfe, it
seemed too, not just the girl’s life.” What
there was to be known all of her hfe is
nothing but the susceptibility to temptation and the
depredations of evil which are coeval with the garden and
human existence.
Mary Grace, possessed of money, family, education, is a
real puzzle for Mrs. Turpin. So obviously lacking in grace,
she is loaded with the worldly goods by which Mrs. Turpin
partially takes her bearings. It does not make sense to her
that Mary Grace with all of her books could be possessed of a
false pride dwarfing that of her and the others. (“The girl
looked as if she would like to hurl them all through the plate
glass window.”) It does not make sense to her that Mary
Grace as Mary Grace could be a source of evil. Mary Grace
would open her eyes though, and so she throws the book at
her. The incongruity of first being silently intimidated, and
then being assaulted with a book by someone such as Mary
Grace, convinces Mrs. Turpin that there is more to the situa
tion than meets the eye. And so she seeks out Mary Grace,
“What you got to say to me?” And she receives the retorted
command, “Go back to hell where you came from, you old
{The Colleges?. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�aa
{Revelation}
wart hog.” When Mary Grace tells Mrs. Turpin to go to heU,
Mrs. Turpin does not understand what she means, does not
accept the evil that confronts her. She thinks that God is
telhng her that she is not saved. The second part of the story
addresses that mistake and achieves in a way a resolution to
the story.
The shift in the story from the doctor’s office to the farm
marks a shift from pride to humility, the doctor’s office hav
ing pride of place. Mrs. Turpin is so convinced that God has
abandoned her, that when she and Claud drive home, and she
looks for their house, “She would not have been startled to
see a burnt wound between two blackened chimneys.” She
and Claud he down, but she cannot escape what had hap
pened or the image of her that had been deposited in her
soul. “She had been singled out for the message.” In her feel
ing of sohtude, she cries, but when her tears dry, “Her eyes
began to burn with wrath”: she is “a respectable, hard-work
ing, church-going woman.”
When her self-pity turns to anger, Mrs. Turpin turns to
the farm community, which she rules for affirmation and
assurance of who she is. In a sense, she wants the message
to be overruled by her loved ones, her husband, her black
field hands, and her hogs. But the fact of her rule presents
a problem for her, because now she needs help. She turns to
Claud for solace-(“‘Listen here,’ she said.” ‘“What?”’
“‘Kiss me.’”)-and Claud obliges her, as he does through
out the story, “as if he was accustomed to doing what she
told him to,” but nothing happens. She turns to the black
workers, but the workers think that Mrs. Turpin is beyond
anything bad happening to her, as if “she were protected in
some special way by Divine Providence.” When Mrs.
Turpin leaves the black workers, she goes down to the pig
parlor and takes the hose from Claud; on the farm, she is
“the right size woman to command the arena before her.”
When he goes off, Mrs. Turpin begins speaking to God,
raising her questions, wanting to know how she is herself
and a hog both and how she is “saved and from hell too.” In
a final display of pride, hosing down her hogs, she rants and
raves at God until she comes to the more general form of
her question, “Who do you think you are?” the question
echoing back to her.
The humihty on the farm appears to be the antidote to the
diseased pride infesting the doctor’s office. There Mrs.
Turpin comes face to face with someone “above” her, who is
{The College.
not thankful to Jesus, who does not “read from the same
book” as she does and who takes her bearings from what
Mrs. Turpin ostensibly is, a fat, indulgent, prideful woman,
who, just like Mary Grace, “complains and criticizes all day
long.” The evil in Mary Grace would claim Mrs. Turpin for
itself; hence, the condemnation. But because Mrs. Turpin
thinks that she is saved, she thinks that evil is somehow
warded off, existing in some imaginary alternative world;
and so, she mistakenly interprets what Mary Grace says.
Mrs. Turpin mistakenly thinks that God is turning away
from her because evil makes its presence known to her and
even as having a root in her; she thinks that she is no longer
one of the saved.
But to say that God is not turning away from Mrs. Turpin
is not to say that God was not working through the force of
evil. O’Connor clearly beheves that God does work through
evil, and that He is able to do such work just because of the
inroads that evil has made in the souls of human beings. God
was not turning away from her, but turning her so that she
might face the reality of her continual need for salvation. On
the farm, in her rant, Mrs. Turpin would fight God with her
pride-until she hears herself. Then it is that the day’s lesson
begins to come clear to her, the lesson about the world and
the serpent and the lesson of Job and God and the Adver
sary. Then she sees Claud’s truck, looking “like a toy,” and
sees the downside of that technological marvel, that it could
be smashed by a bigger truck and everyone in it destroyed.
Then Ruby turns to her hogs gathered around the sow,
where “A red glow suffused them;” they were God’s crea
tures, panting “with a secret life.” Her acknowledgement of
the presence of evil in this world and of the goodness of
God’s creation even in the lowly allows her to have a vision
of a new order marching to salvation; in that order the lowly
are entering first.
It is hardly accidental that the setting of the first part of
the story is in a doctor’s office, that there is even a black den
tist in town, or that the book that Mary Grace throws at Mrs.
Turpin was titled Human Development. Today, many people
have a difficult time talking about good and evil, preferring
instead to talking about health and sickness. But O’Connor’s
character, Mrs. Turpin, when she is in need of help, does not
want the doctor’s help. What is aihng her is a matter of the
spirit. Of course, the terms in which she understands the
“classes of people” and herself belong to the contemporary
John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�{Revelation}
^3
revelation is not a
quiet Inull...
•
United States South, where the old
notions of rank based on land owner
ship and breeding issue in such cate
gories as “good blood” and “white
trash” and “niggers.” She is a stock
character in O’Connor’s repertoire of
stories, each one having its place as in
a series of echoes originating in and
echoing from a single homeland,
O’Connor’s powerful imaginative
intellect. O’Connor is a Catholic
writer from the South, for her, the
land of the humble and the humbled.
Persisting in her faith and her South
ern roots and in allusions to the Holo
caust and the dark sides of technolog
ical life, O’Connor helps us navigate
our own darkness and locate the beau
tiful in lowly and humble lives. On
that account, in the aist century, she
is a writer whose meanings are not
only important but urgently needed.
George Russell is a tutor in Annapolis.
The Message-Bearers
by Barbara Goyette
Perhaps this story is not only about a revelation but about
revelation itself, the nature of a mysterious occurrence
that serves as a link between our everyday world (or the
somewhat off-kilter but nevertheless recognizably every
day world of Flannery O’Connor’s South) and some deeper
reality.
Revelation involves drama and it involves some kind of
truth or disclosure about something that wasn’t realized or
known before. In a theological sense, revelation involves a
manifestation of the divine will. A revelation is not a quiet
truth: Mary Grace hurls a textbook at Mrs. Turpin and then
pronounces her verdict, “You are a wart hog from Hell.”
The black field-hand ladies also tell her the truth: “ ‘Ain’t
nothing bad happen to you! ’ the old woman said. She said
it as if they all knew that Mrs. Turpin was protected in some
{The College.
7
99
special way by Divine Providence.”
This truth infuriates Mrs. Turpin; she
fervently hopes that it is as false as
Mary Grace’s revelation. And then
there’s the wild and wooly vision of the
souls marching up to heaven, violent
in its intensity and in its absolute nega
tion of all that Mrs. Turpin thinks she
believes to be right and just.
Revelation does not need proof. It
can’t be arrived at by logic, and one
can’t be persuaded to it. Revelation
suggests someone or something as the
medium of higher truth or another
level of reality. In this story, the irony
of the message-bearers-a disaffected,
angry, acne-scarred intellectual; a
troop of respectable, sycophantic field
workers; and the pigs, hosed off to spot
lessness from their naturally filthy
state-reinforces the disjunction that is
at the root of Mrs. Turpin’s sinful view.
Her sin is that of not seeing, not understanding the most
fundamental fact of grace-that it applies to everyone at all
times, no matter what their level of receptiveness or worthi
ness. Mrs. Turpin fails just as we aU fail, by virtue of being
human. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the
beatitudes, the unhappy are blessed and the happy are
cursed (this complementary “woe to...” set of pronounce
ments is often ignored in our recollection of the beatitudes—
it’s not only that the downtrodden have a special place in
God’s consideration, it’s that those who are successful do
not, at least not insofar as they are successful). Our measures
of success, those that Mrs. Turpin admires and with which
she measures the worthiness of others, are worse than mean
ingless. They get in the way of our understanding that we are
all in need of grace. Revelation is a gift, presented to
Mrs. Turpin and to us. It’s there every day for all of us, and
everyone around us is a messenger.
Barbara Goyette (A’^g) is vice presidentfor advancement in
Annapolis.
John’s College • Spring 2004 }
�24
{Alumni Voices}
THE HABIT OF
WRITING
BY Brigid K. Byrne, AGI03
hen I open my mailbox to find an
ingly [reflects] the object, the being, which [specifies] it.”
envelope addressed in a bold, careful
Studying O’Connor’s letters, I decided that Fitzgerald had
script and bearing an Iowa City post
given the collection the perfect name. O’Connor offered
mark, mixed in among bills and cata
her correspondents thoughts about everything: her pet
logs, I feel a small thrill, an excite
peacocks, her writing habits, and her peculiar interpreta
ment that there is something meant especially
It
tion offor
theme.
Catholic
faith. Her letters to friends, fans, pub
seems strange that finding a personal letterlishers,
in my mailbox
and fellow writers reveal a woman who wrote them
gives me so much joy. Yet, how often do we get a letter from
not only to maintain her connection to those she loved, but
someone we know and love? How often do we take the time
also to explore and reveal the parts of herself which the
to write to others? Most of the written communication we
intended recipient had the power to bring out.
send and receive are hasty e-mails, typed quickly, in lan
I was most struck by O’Connor’s correspondence with
guage created to speed up the time spent composing mes
Cecil Dawkins, a college professor who introduced herself
sages. While e-mail has perhaps kept us closer to those we
to O’Connor in a letter. Dawkins challenged O’Connor by
may otherwise have drifted apart from, our brief electron
asking her advice in matters concerning her career, her
ic conversations lack the richness and intimacy that are
desire to write, and her faith. In a response to a question
vital parts of human relationships. We compose our mes
Dawkins raised about the effectiveness of the Catholic
sages so quickly that we forfeit the benefits of self-reflec
Church, O’Connor wrote, “You don’t serve God by saying:
tion and personal growth that we can gain when we write
the Church is ineffective. I’ll have none of it. Your pain at
letters to others. The flow of thoughts seems better suited
its lack of effectiveness is a sign of your nearness to God.
to the flow of ink from the pen than to the pecking of
We help overcome this lack of effectiveness simply by suf
fingers on a plastic keyboard, and the act of sealing an enve
fering on account of it.” Reading this unusually lengthy
lope much more satisfying than hitting the “send” button.
response, I realized that Dawkins had asked a question that
I felt the loss of the art of letter writing poignantly as I
O’Connor herself struggled with and wondered if O’Con
recently revisited The Habit ofBeing, Sally Fitzgerald’s col
nor was speaking more to Dawkins or to herself.
lection of Flannery O’Connor’s letters. Fitzgerald titled
In her introduction to the book, Fitzgerald notes that “on
her collection The Habit ofBeing because she saw that the
the whole, [O’Connor’s] correspondence was an enrichment
writer’s correspondence reflected the attainment of that
of her life, to say nothing of the lives of her correspondents”
habit, which she defines as “an excellence not only of
and that “almost all of her close friendships were sustained
action but of interior disposition and activity that increas
through the post.”
W
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Voices}
As I reread
O’Connor’s let
ters, I realized
that my own
habit of letter
writing
has
enriched my life.
1 was not much
of a letter writer
until about five
years ago when
I began corre
sponding with
Sandra, an honors student from Iowa, whom I met while
interning at the U.S. Department of Education. After rais
ing her children, Sandra enrolled in a community college
near her home and was so successful in her studies that she
gained an internship through Phi Theta Kappa. Over that
summer, Sandra and I had many conversations, and I
learned much from her about courage and faith. When our
internships ended, Sandra and I exchanged addresses in the
way parting people do, intending to keep in touch, but
doubtful whether such a brief acquaintance would with
stand time and distance.
I returned to college that fall, but I could not forget San
dra. I pulled out the scrap of paper on which she had care
fully printed her address and wrote her a letter. Thus began
years of correspondence that have led me to question and
contemplate many of my ideas, choices, and beliefs. When I
first began writing to Sandra, I was feeling uncertain about
my faith. Having been raised Catholic and force-marched to
Mass, I purposefully spent each Sunday of my first few years
away at college lingering over breakfast in the dining hall,
ignoring the bells chiming at St. Paul’s, just a few hundred
yards away. I was torn between rebelling against my parents
and discovering my own sense of faith. In writing to Sandra,
I found that I could wrestle with my doubts and hesitations.
Through my letters to her, I came to recognize my struggle
was not between me and God, but one of becoming an adult.
{The College-
25
learning to make
choices for my
self. Sandra’s res
ponses, resonat
ing with her faith
in God, even in
the face of hard
ship and sorrow,
gave me the
strength to travel
my own spiritual
road. Without
Sandra as my
audience, I am not sure that I would have found that part
of myself.
While my relationship with Sandra has led me to a deeper
sense of faith, having a variety of correspondents challenges
me to look at many sides of myself. One of my favorite audi
ences is my friend Sally, who lives in Atlanta. Although Sally
and I talk on the phone frequently and see each other occa
sionally, letter writing is still an important part of our
friendship. We enjoy what Shakespeare might term “a mar
riage of true minds,” as our thoughts, interests, and experi
ences run uncannily parallel. Writing to Sally is almost like
writing to myself, except that I wait in anticipation for her
honest replies, replies that demand that I look into myself
more alertly.
In my day-to-day habit of living, running from job to job,
eating in my car, I have little time for reflection and clarity.
I have come to see this habit of living, which requires me to
direct so much energy away from myself, as distinctly differ
ent from the habit of being, which allows me to spend time
inside, listening only to myself. Like O’Connor, I have
found that I can practice my habit of being most effectively
as I sit down to write. So I will find time today to retreat
from the habit of living and write to my friend and fellow
St. John’s alumna, Sarah. I can’t wait to see what my letter
will reveal.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Johnnies
2,6
on
Aging}
THE MIND IN
WINTER
Living an ExaminedLife in Later Years
wi Sus3AN Borden, A87
would lose meaning and she knew that there have even
been suicides [among older people]. To provide meaning
to their lives, she endowed the institute, which provides
high-quality, exciting courses for seniors. The faculty,
illiam Butler Yeats
Institute, where he explores the world -W
from
a classroom.
from neighborhood universities and the U.C. Medical
“Hannah Fromm was worried that the life of retired people
Center, are also mostly seniors,” explains Brunn, who has
ohn Brunn (class of 1947) is no Magellan, no
studied history, literature, science, and music at the insti
Columbus, no Ernest Shackleford or Neil
tute since his retirement.
Armstrong, but in an important way, he has
Brunn’s explorations are important to an aging mind,
remained true to his childhood ambition to
says Helen Hobart (class of 1964). Hobart works with
become an explorer. “I thought of it then as
older people who are experiencing dementia, and she’s a
physical exploration,” he says of the ambition
true believer in the adage “use it or lose it.” “The more
that has become increasingly intellectual as he
we exercise our minds, the more protection we have from
has aged. “When I first came to California,
the effects of dementia,” says Hobart. “People who com
I fell in love with the Sierra and have spent
plete loth grade have five more years of protection from
vacations exploring the mountains, at first with friends
theand
effects of Alzheimer’s than those who don’t. You may
later with my wife. With increasing age-I have turned
be 77showing signs of the disease neurologically, but symp
that has become difficult. Most of my learning istomatically,
now
you’ve got enough other brain connections
indoors, but I am still curious about the world.”
that function because you’ve stimulated their growth, so
the assault of Alzheimer’s won’t show up.”
While keeping the mind active slows the effects of
aging, Hobart encourages us to recognize that, with the
loss of cognitive ability, other strengths can come into
Life moves out ofa redflare ofdreams
Into a common light ofcommon hours.
Brunn is fortunate to live in San Francisco, not just for
Until
old age and
brings
the but
redflare
the mountains
the city,
also foragain.
the Hannah Fromm
J
{The College -Sr. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
�27
{Johnnies on Aging}
play. “Roughly half
of people over 85
have Alzheimer’s
and we’re aU hving
longer,” she says.
“So it behooves
us to consider
what it means to
be human in addi
tion to our cogni
tive functions. I’ve
seen a lot of suffer
ing because people
feel they’re no
longer worthwhile
because their memoryis failing or they can’t figure out how to do something
that they used to do. But there are so many wonderful
ways of being in relationship with the world and other
people. The epidemic of dementia as we grow older really
invites us to consider our humanity, our affections, our
spirituality, our art, our love of music. All these things
can thrive, even flourish, if our cognitive functioning
{The College -St
Playing the piano is
JUST ONE RETIREMENT
PURSUIT FOR
Carolyn Banks
Leeuwenburgh .
gets out of our way
a little.”
Carolyn Banks
Leeuwenburgh
(class of 1955) has
yet to notice a drop
in her cognitive
abilities. She’s an
avid reader, an
insightful conversationalist, and a freelance teacher of
English as a foreign language. She also pursues a number
of interests that will serve her well if cognition begins to
fail. A retired opera singer, she is still involved with the
arts, maintaining subscriptions at the McCarter Theater
in Princeton in drama, dance, and music. She’s also an
avid movie-goer and a fairly active practitioner of several
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�2,8
{JohnniesonAging}
experiences mostly loss. Although
arts: “I paint, very poorly, but I
only 46, Nick Giacona (SFGI98) is
paint,” she says. “I play the piano
now facing the physical effects of
poorly. I still can sing and I still sing
'Tve always believed
age as he cares for his 8i-year-old
publicly.” Leeuwenburg performs in a
thatpeople older than
mother, Betty, who moved in with
small cafe just outside of Princeton,
him and his family last spring. “My
singing mainly popular music, blues,
mepossessed some
mom is a retired schoolteacher with
and torch songs.
wisdom.
Pre
always
an alert mind and a body that’s fail
Music has been the saving grace for
ing.
She has very bad arthritis and is
many older people, even those whose
felt they were worth
pretty much confined to an electric
other faculties are deteriorating, says
working with and
wheelchair. Yet her mind is still very
Hobart. “It’s fantastic to watch people
active. She goes on the computer,
start playing the piano again. The
learninp^from, worth
does e-mail. She’s a voracious read
parts of the brain formed when we’re
sharing with.
er and we have great theological,
younger last the longest, so the capac
spiritual, and political discus
ity to play the piano can come back,”
sions,” he says.
she says. There may be no ability to
Philip Valley (SFGI75)
Giacona sees first-hand the trials
make a coherent sentence, but the
of life in an aging body. “I’m learn
reward and beauty of making music
ing day by day with her and I really
can persist for a long time.”
admire how she’s handling it,” he says. “It’s hard and
There are other compensations to counter deteriorat
frustrating for her to do the little things we take for grant
ing cognitive ability, according to Virginia Seegers Harri
ed, even something as simple as making herself a meal.
son (class of 1964), a geriatric case manager. “Over time
Yet
she’s handling that with grace and courage.”
you learn to tune out nonsense more quickly,” she says.
A discussion on aging that former Santa Fe campus
“The experience you’ve had in life makes it easier to say,
president John Agresto gave years ago left an impression
‘uh-huh, right.’ From observation and personal experi
on Giacona. “He said that our culture doesn’t really pre
ence, I would consider that a real advantage.”
pare
us for aging and death. I thought he was so wise. He
She describes the benefits that come in later years as we
said that death and aging should be the culmination of a
grow to accept our lives. “You can bring your mind to
well-lived life, an examined life,” recalls Giacona. “While
bear more easily on what is actually accessible, doable.
my mom didn’t have a St. John’s education, I’ve turned
You learn to pick your battles. You learn to pare down and
her on to the Apology and the Crito and the Tibetan Book
be satisfied. There’s a feeling in youth and middle age,
of the Dead."
‘this world is out there-where do I start?’ When some
Giacona says that his mother seems prepared for her
options have closed behind you, there can be a sense of
own death: “We’ve already discussed the whole memorial
liberation. That may be what makes working with elders
service. She wants to be cremated and have her ashes
so sweet, so affirming, for people in middle age who are
scattered where my father’s ashes were scattered. She’s
still struggling to be greater than they ever will be. When
even decided what songs we’re going to sing. If she died
people accept themselves and their lives, that in a sense is
tomorrow, she would feel that she had a good life.”
where life really begins.”
When his mother’s life does end, Giacona will consider
Harrison underscores her point with a joke: “A retired
himself lucky for the time that he and his family spent
woman is listening to several young mothers talking
with her. “My wife, Keiko, is so great and supportive. She
about when life begins. One says at conception. Another
helped convince my mom to stay with us. My mom had
says, no, it begins when the fetus quickens. A third says,
concerns about moving in and invading the family, but
‘I think life begins at birth.’ Finally, the retired woman
Keiko told her that when she was a kid her grandfather
leans over and says, ‘Listen, I’ll tell you when life begins.
lived with her family and she appreciated the time she
Life begins when the kids leave home and the dog dies.’”
spent with him.”
While it’s comforting to know that the mind enjoys
gains to offset its losses, a sad fact of aging is that the body
{The College -Sf. John’s
College - Spring 2004 }
�{JohnniesonAging}
ag
Although she’s a young
Giacona’s own chil7a, Leeuwenburg knows
dren-Sarah, 13, and
Kyle, ii-respond to his
she has some tough times
mother in different
ahead. “Many years ago I
ways. “My son is outgo
heard Bette Davis say
that getting older is not
ing and loves to hug
her and sit and talk to
for sissies,” she says. “As
her. My daughter’s really
you get older you aren’t
shy, so it’s harder for
really aware of getting
her. She appreciates hav
older, but you are aware
ing her there, but she
that you don’t do the
shows it in a different
same things you used to
way. It’s so rewarding to
do physically. There are
have three generations
times when I get out of
in one house.”
bed in the morning and I
don’t think I can move
Philip Valley (SFGI75)
runs day programs in
and other times I’m
New Hampshire for
fine.”
Leeuwenburg swims
adults over 55 with
nearly every day, but a
developmental disabili
recent cancer scare
ties. He says that sharing
revealed
her true attitude
time across the genera
Nick Giacona and his mother, Betty, are
tions is rewarding even for people LEARNING TOGETHER ABOUT AGING.
about exercise. “I was thinking, ‘hell,
who are not related. “Maggie Kuhn,
if I’m going to die. I’m certainly not
going to swim,”’ she says. “This is
head of the Gray Panthers, once
not something I’m doing for the
gave a talk where she told the audi
'She s a voracious reader sheer pleasure of it. At my age your
ence, ‘We are not wrinkled babies,
metabolism gets so slow that, even if
we are elders of the tribe.’ I’ve
and we have great
you do all your cleaning, all your gar
always believed that people older
theological, spiritual,
dening, you still have to exercise.”
than me possessed some wisdom.
Leeuwenburgh has not reached
I’ve always felt they were worth
andpolitical
working with and learning from,
the point where she feels encum
worth sharing with.”
bered by aging, but she has begun to
discussions.
ponder her own mortality. “I don’t
Harrison, the case manager, has
NickGiacona (SFGI98)
think anyone ever really comes to
nothing but scorn for those who
grips with the reality of their own
subscribe to the “wrinkled babies”
death. When we view ourselves, we
view of seniors. “Many people who
work in nursing facilities call the elderly ‘baby.’ That’s
view a disembodied creature. Chronologically, I’m 7a
absolutely not right,” she says. But she’s also disturbed by
years old. I’m at the point where I know I’m not going to
a subtler form of infantilizing. “Even older people who
be here in 20 years. Yet there’s a part of me that you could
are quite cogent are pretty much treated like they have to
stand up and say, ‘Caroline, you’re getting old,’ and I
be fed, clothed, and then amused. I really have trouble
would say, ‘I am?’”
with that. Yes, it takes time to go at the slower pace and
hear someone tell his story, but it’s usually extremely
worthwhile. I would encourage anybody to start to talk to
people over 75. Ask them about their lives. Ask them what
they remember.”
{The College* St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
�30
{Bibliofile}
Approaching
Machiavelli’s
Art OF War
Art of War
Niccolo Machiavelli, translated, edited,
and with a commentary by
Christopher Lynch
University of Chicago Press, 2004
hris Lynch (A87) traces the
origins of his newlypubhshed translation of
Machiavelli’s Art of War to
the questions posed hy what
is known in the academic
throats. As I studied him more, I realized that
world as the ancient/modern split.
Lynch says
Machiavelli
’s emphasis on the bellicose
that Johnnies have a more intimate
relation
aspect
of human
beings, an aspect acknowl
ship with the split, and rephrases its essence
edged but not emphasized by the ancient
for the SJC crowd: “Why was everything so
philsophers, was part of his overall goal to
much fun sophomore year and why did
transform the terms in which human life is
everyone get so depressed junior year?”
generally understood.”
Lynch arrived at the University of
Fortunately for Lynch, his academic inter
Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought in
ests dovetailed with a hole in Machiavelli
the fall of 1988 with this question (in its grad
scholarship. Of Machiavelli’s four major
school expression) very much on his mind:
vtorks—Prince, Discourses on Livy, Florentine
What is the end of human hfe? Is man natu
Histories, and Art q/' UAr-almost no one had
rally social or essentially alone? What is the
seriously studied Art of War. Lynch threw
purpose of philosophy? As he pursued these
himself into that text and, seven years (and a
questions, Lynch came to see Machiavelli as
Ph.D.) later, emerged with an impressive
the pivotal writer in the transformation
between the ancient and modern worlds.
“The most sahent aspects of the transfor
mation that Machiavelli tried to affect were,
first, to change the general climate of opinion
“Controversy abounds as to what caused
and discourse such that human hfe would no
the dizzying military changes during
longer be understood in terms of its ultimate
Machiavelli’s day. Also debated is
goal or purpose but instead in terms of its
whether these changes constituted a
origins and roots,” says Lynch. “The second
full-blown military revolution or instead
is the attempt to bring about in this world the
represented a particular moment in a
best regime human beings can come up with,
long-term evolution. In considering
the best way of living together, instead of
these questions, it is important to
leaving it to chance hke Plato. And the third
remember that the sense at the time was
is really a corollary of the first, to get subse
that tumultuous change was indeed
quent thinkers to be primarily concerned
afoot, but not rapid change in a single
with human freedom and independence as
direction driven by gunpowder technol
opposed to virtue as understood as obhgation
ogy. On the tactical level especially,
and duty to something higher.”
each of the battles that occurred on the
These issues gave Lynch a clear direction
Italian peninsula, from the battle of
for his graduate work. “The more I saw
Fornovo in 1495 to that of Pavia in 1525,
Machiavelli as the key figure in the
seemed to offer a new lesson to be
ancient/modern spht, the more I wanted to
learned, a new innovation that trans
figure out what was on his mind,” Lynch says.
formed the ways armies ought to be
“I started to see war as central to his thought,
armed, ordered, led and used.”
to understand that for Machiavelli, humans
- Christopher Lynch
are not social beings, but at each others’
C
Excerpt:
{The College -Sf.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
pubheation to his credit: a translation of the
text with an introduction, interpretive essay,
and (he points out with the pride of a Johnnie
who’s successfully negotiated secondary
sources) more than 600 notes.
Lynch originally wrote the translation for
himself, “blasting through it” in just a few
months, he says. “I wrote the initial transla
tion as a way to study it carefully. I translated
it as literally as I could so I could think about
it the way we do with readings in language
class, as a tool for closer reading,” he says.
Over several years. Lynch returned to the
translation, making changes after improving
his Italian by translating works by Machiavelh’s predecessors, including Dante and
Boccaccio. Later, when he decided to submit
a proposal to the University of Chicago Press
to turn his translation into a book, he first
reworked a portion of the text to see if he
could make it valuable to other readers.
Once the proposal was accepted. Lynch
had to rewrite the entire translation several
times. In the process, he discovered a practi
cal approach to translation that satisfactorily
answered for him the issues that arise in
discussions about translation in St. John’s
language tutorials: “You start off as literal
and as consistent as you can, then you puU the
translation back toward understandabihty,
readability and accuracy,” he says, “In the
next phase, you forget about the Italian and
ask what the passages mean in Enghsh and
how they sound. If it’s not in readable
English, you pull the Itahan out again and
start thinking about changes.”
Lynch notes that this is not the process for
most non-Johnnie or non-Strauss-influenced
translators. “They think about how it sounds
right away,” he explains. “But I think that
puts too much emphasis on the translator and
makes him think he is a sort of god mediating
between two languages with full omniscience
of what the author intended. I think it’s better
to approach it humbly, to cleave to the hteral
andonlybepushed toward readabi 1 i ty when
it’s clearly necessary.”
With the time and energy Lynch lavished
on Art of War, you’d think he’d be a fierce
Machiavellian, but that’s hardly the case.
“Machiavelli presents himself as the
ultimate antagonist to the basic understand
ings that I’m inclined to-ancient, philosoph
ic, and religious,” Lynch says. “However, I
think he’s also the most trenchant critic of
ancient thought, both philosophic and rehgious, and therefore I see him as the person
to understand if I’m going to understand the
truth about the big questions at stake in the
quarrel between ancients and moderns.”
-SUS3AN Borden
�{Alumni Profile}
31
Tias Little, EC98
Santa Fe Yogi Combines Wisdom with Practice
BY Andra Maguran
such as the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutra and
he word “yoga” once con
Bhagavad-Gita, along with studying San
jured images of health nuts
skrit or ancient Chinese in order to read
contorting their bodies in
works in their original language.
impossible, seemingly
Reared in Amherst, Mass., Little attend
painful positions. Now
ed Amherst College, where he earned a
women, men, even children
bachelor
are flocking in droves to yoga. An
estimat’s degree in English. Inspired by
mother,
who also taught yoga. Little
ed 15 million Americans say theyhis
have
a
began his studies in the Iyengar system in
regular practice; more than double that
the early 1980s, and continued his study in
number say they expect to try yoga in the
Mysore, India. Frequent trips to visit his
next year, according to a Harris poll. The
grandfather, a Presbyterian minister who
reasons for yoga’s newfound popularity are
served on the board of directors at
many: stress reduction, improved strength
Abiquiu’s Ghost Ranch, fed Little’s love for
and flexibility, and heightened concentra
New Mexico. He moved to Santa Fe in 1991
tion are among the many benefits linked to
to teach yoga, and in January aooo, he
this 5,ooo-year-old practice.
opened Yoga Source with his wife, Surya.
Inside Yoga Source, a small studio
Little began hearing about the Eastern
tucked into a Santa Fe shopping center,
Classics program at Santa Fe, established
studio founder Tias Little {EC98) walks
in 1994, from others in the Santa Fe yoga
among the students after his morning
community. Friend and fellow yoga teacher
class, preternaturally serene, his voice as
Nicolai Bachman (EC96) persuaded him
soft as a temple bell. Like yoga teachers
that the fledgling program was worth
everywhere. Little is benefiting from the
pursuing. “I was very enthusiastic [about
wave of yoga popularity-his studio sched
Eastern Classics] from the first day,” says
ules more than 40 classes every week,
Bachman, who now leads workshops across
many of them packed. The Santa Fe
the country in Sanskrit, Ayurveda (healing
New Mexican recently described Little
as “one of the emerging stars
of the yoga phenomenon.” He
leads classes for yoga teachers,
writes articles and serves as an
expert for a leading yoga
magazine, holds clinics all over
the country, and offers yoga
retreats in venues such as
Costa Rica.
But even if the craze wanes
and the numbers drop. Little
believes that people will con
tinue to seek out something
beyond yoga’s physical
benefits. His own devotion to
the practice, he says, was
informed and deepened by
intense study of the works in
the St. John’s Eastern Classics
program, a yearlong program
in which students read works
T
Tias Little’s yoga practice is
INFORMED BY HIS STUDY OF
Eastern classics.
{The College.
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
arts), and the Yoga Sutra. “I knew it would
be a great chance for Tias to deepen his
understanding of the Indian, as well as
Chinese and Japanese, traditions.”
Little began by auditing a seminar on the
Upanishads, after which he applied to the
program in full. After 15 years of practice.
Little hoped to find a solid foundation in
the original texts for his own philosophy
toward yoga, the Mahayana Buddhist
“middle way” teachings that are pertinent
to living in the world today. He had previ
ously read the Bhagavad-Gita and Yoga
Sutra on his own, but the formalism and
structure of a discussion-based graduate
program offered a key to deeper learning,
he says.
“The texts are complex and philosophi
cal,” Little says. “It would have required
an intense practice and austerity to have
read the works on my own and gained as
much insight and understanding of them.
The dialogue that the classroom setting
encourages is far superior to simply
reading alone.”
For Little, the Eastern Classics program
afforded a marriage oiprajna (wisdom)
andsadhana (practice).
Wisdom training comes
through study of scriptures
that are the historical backdrop of the practice. “Just as
scholarship feeds the practice
of yoga, so the practice feeds
the scholarship. To me, just
reading can become very eso
teric if one tries to cognitively
grasp the teachings one needs
to embody, or engage through
psycho-spiritual discipline.
The two modes of understand
ing are cooperative, but not
interchangeable. ”
Little encourages yoga
teachers-in-training to enroll
in Eastern Classics; already,
two Yoga Source instructors,
Wendelin Scott (EC03) and
Lynsey Rubin (ECoa), have
completed the graduate
program.
�{AlumniNotes}
3^
1935
and dance to a caUer. Will any of
the class of 1944 be at our 60th
anniversary?”
“I’m in my goth year,” writes
Melville L. Bisgyer. “My beloved
wife, Pauline, passed away a few
years ago. I now make my home
comfortably in a retirement home
named Signature Pointe. Many of
my children, including the normal,
the grand, and the great, live near
by. I shall never forget St. John’s.
I spent four very happy years there.
I wish good luck and much happi
ness to all my fellow Johnnies.”
1937
“Just a word from the Class of’37Bob Snibbe alive and well-will be
91 in April. Still playing golf and
still publishing small shirt-pocket
handbooks. One on ‘Our Flag,’ the
story of Old Glory... sold in large
quantities to big companies for
sales promotion purposes. I call
Harry Fahrig (Class of ’37) from
time to time. He is very sick and in
a nursing assisted living facility.
His wife, Frannie, was a former
model for Ponds-‘she’s lovely, she
uses Ponds’- ads in the ’30s and
’40s. They live in Jupiter, Fla. Also
call Alan Pike (’37 too). He’s also
in an assisted living facility with
his wife in Deland, Fla. And my
brother Dick, class of’39, lives in
Arlington, Mass. He’s also in an
assisted living facility recuperating
from a stroke. Have fond memories
of days in Crabtown. Football and
lacrosse. B.C. great books.”
1944
John Davis Hill writes that he and
his wife, Dorothy Murdock Hill,
spent the winter in Southern
California attending four Elder
hostel programs sponsored by the
University of Judaism at Camp
Ramah in Ojai and at their Bel Air
campus. “We like to sing folk songs
1947
Changes for Stephen Benedict:
“Three years ago, I pulled up
stakes in New York City after
40 years and moved 125 miles north
to the hamlet of Spencertown in
Columbia County. After prowling
the area, I bought an old farmhouse-type structure, whose earli
est segment dates to about 1750.
It’s said to be the second- or thirdoldest house in the area. The
transition from city life turned out
to be seamless. Time, of which
there’s never enough, is variously
allocated to work on family and
personal archives, the nearby cul
tural center, the local Democratic
Party, and play—the piano, tennis,
and cats. Then there’s always fixery
to be done on my ancient structure.
I do maintain one interest in NYC,
the Theatre Development Fund,
which I helped found 37 years ago.
Watch for the new half-price booth
in Times Square. Drop by if you’re
up this way: 518-392-0487;
stevebenedict@taconic.net.”
1949
Frederick P. Davis sends news
from California: “Since last report
ing from this always sunny and
warm southwest corner of the
‘lower 48,’ we ‘3-Ds’ (Fred, Rita,
and son David) are still holding
the line as ‘Mr. Outside’ and
‘Mrs. Inside’ (the house). David
recovers from infections of both
legs and feet resulting from badly
broken legs of late aooo. But
things are looking up. David, after
over a year at a Riverside City Con
valescent home, should soon come
home. He is now equipped with a
motorized wheelchair, enabling
him to be on his own to go out to
see docs.”
David B. Weinstein has retired
from the practice of medicine and
is living with his wife, Stella, in
Atlanta to be near his daughter and
her family. “Attending senior class
es at Mercer University and learn
ing to play the recorder to keep the
gray cells and fingers limber.”
do’s top was the thrill of a lifetime,
along with riding through a city
rainforest to get there. Anticipat
ing my trip to Alaska in July.”
i960
Peter J. Ruel sends in a book
1955
With a July production of
La Traviata, Harold Bauer will
conclude a 27-year tenure as music
director of New Philharmonic and
DuPage Opera in Chicago’s west
suburban region. His 42 years as a
conductor include the music
directorship of six orchestras in
the U.S. and numerous guest
concerts in this country, Canada,
and Europe. What’s next? More
reading, traveling, painting (oil
and watercolor), golf, composing,
and, of course, some guest con
ducting. He looks forward to the
50th reunion of his class in 2005.
1957
News from Joan Cole: “I am
continuing to enjoy my retirement.
With friends, I attend the Metro
politan Opera and work with the
New York Black Librarians Cau
cus, raising funds for scholarships.
Am also enjoying my vacations-in
September 2003,1 went to Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. Viewing the Christ
the Redeemer statue on Corcova
recommendation: “Thomas Cahill
has written an insightful history of
the ancient Greeks, printed 11/03:
Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why
the Greeks Matter.”
1961
Harrison Sheppard has been a
regular columnist for San
Francisco Attorney Magazine.
the quarterly journal of the Bar
Association of San Francisco.
“The regular title of the column is
‘Law and Justice,’ with a subtitle
relating to the particular column
subject. For the most recent col
umn (Winter 2004), the subtitle is
‘Law and Privacy: The Right To Be
Let Alone.’”
1962
JusTiNA Davis Hayden sends in
good news: Justina and Luci, her
partner of ig years, were married
in San Francisco on February 19.
A magical day! They are living in
San Diego now, having sold their
Startup to Success
(class of 1956) is now
general manager of Word Web Vocabulary, a new
curriculum for grades 5-10. “From a startup last
year we are now in 55 school districts in 16 states
plus Barbados. Word Web is a paperworkbook
system based on root words, prefixes, and suffixes,
all of which are Greek and Latin in origin. Grant Wiggins
{A72) thinks it’s an excellent way to approach vocabulary.”
ASQUALE L. POLILLO
P
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Notes}
33
Mark Bernstein (A) writes; “Linda
(Bernstein, nee Torcaso, A69) and
I are looking forward to our last
child graduating high school and
going off to college. I’m a judge in
Philadelphia court doing class
actions and about to finish a book
on Pennsylvania evidence. Linda is
also a judge of the Social Security
Administration.”
Courtesy of The Moon, Santa Fe students and hobbes
house in Berkeley. Luci is an artist
whose work from recycled materi
als may be seen at CorrugatedArt.
com. Justina designed and main
tains the web site. She is enrolled
in a certificate program in Finan
cial Planning and is having fun
with investing.
practicing law in Washington,
D.C., and is writing for the local
newspaper in her spare time.
“Am looking forward to the next
reunion of the Class of’65.”
“Niece Megan Drolet, daughter of
Melissa Kaplan (SF72) and Ray
Drolet (SF69) will be coming to
Annapolis this fall, continuing the
Kaplan/Drolet tradition,” writes
1963
Bart L. Kaplan.
Charles B. Watson (A) writes that
Madeline Rui Koster writes:
“I was very much looking forward
to attending the 2003 40th class
reunion, since as a Californian I
have not been back to Annapolis in
40 years. A sudden change in my
teaching assignment (high school)
from all algebra to algebra and
ceramics, in September, led me to
change my plans. I was a potter and
ceramic sculptor for 20 years
before becoming a full-time
teacher in the Bos. I look forward
to another Homecoming. As time
goes on, I value the St. John’s edu
cation more than ever, and greatly
enjoy reading The College.'"
Michael Trusty attended
Homecoming 2003 in Annapolis
and had a great time: “I’m
married, living in New Mexico, and
ride horses with my 12-year-olddaughter.”
1965
Grace Logerfo Bateman is
married, is the mother of four chil
dren (mostly out of college), is
Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Fran
cisco, the inaugural Distinguished
Alumni Award for “unique and
distinguished ministry in the
church and especially pioneering
contributions to liturgical
practice.” The church’s Web site,
www.saintgregorys.org, docu
ments this practice (and theory)
with extensive photos and articles.
Rev. Schell is a 1971 graduate of
General Seminary; his co-rector, a
1970 graduate.
1968
“Finally finished my B.A. in 1999only 30 years late-at Thomas
Edison State College,” writes
Megan Beaumont (A, formerly
Anne Beaumont Reid). “Received
an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology
2001. Nowadays I am an ordained
non-denominational clergy person
and spend my time leading person
al growth workshops, teaching
manifestation and self-forgiveness,
and officiating at marriages,
memorial services, and most
recently at an un-handfasting-a
spiritual ceremony to honor and
complete the severing of ties after
a civil divorce. My husband has
retired, and we are enjoying the
blessings of good health and happy
travel.”
“I’m somehow still in Britian!”
writes Deborah Rodman
Lawther (SF).
The General Theological Seminary
Alumni Association awarded
Donald Schell (SF) and Richard
Fabian, co-rectors of St. Gregory of
{The College.
he was sorry to miss the 35th
reunion of the Class of 1968 last
year, but he enjoyed e-mail and
pictures. “Spring has finally come
and our family looks forward to
visiting our Martha’s Vineyard
home again. Happy to say that we
are all well and enjoying diverse
pursuits. Would come to SJC more
often but we are far away...”
News from Bob Wycoff (A) and
Maya Hasegawa (A), first from
Bob: “Bob’s computer system
support job is going to India and
Bob has enrolled in Berklee College
of Music as a full-time undergradu
ate to pursue a B.A. in music,
starting in September. Four
grandchildren and still counting;
number five is due in August.
See you in October! ” And from
Maya: “Maya is now working as
compliance manager for the City of
Boston’s Department of Neighbor
hood Development. DND builds
affordable housing, finances
rehabs, and helps small businesses.
The satisfaction comes from seeing
formerly vacant lots with houses on
them. Spare time is spent practic
ing tai chi and researching a
Methodist deaconess named
Hattie B. Cooper.”
1970
Isaac Block (SFGI) writes:
1969
High praise for tutor Steve Van
Luchene’s second Tecolote
colloquium for K-12 teachers from
Elizabeth Aiello (SFGI), who
found it “even more gratifying and
professionally stimulating than the
first one. It inspired me to expand
my Great Books class by offering
two more sections. Each section
has 12 students, all enthusiastically
participating in meaningful
dialogue related to meaningful
text. I have been honored as a ‘Los
Alamos Living Treasure’ in recog
nition of my 14 continuous years as
‘the Great Books Instructor.’”
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
“My wife, Mamerza Delos Reyes
Block, has published her book.
The Price ofFreedom: The Story of
a Courageous Manila JournaHst."
Last fall, Theda Braddock Fowler
(A) published her second book.
Wetland Regulation: Case Law,
Interpretation, and Commentary.
After an illustrious career with the
Postal Service and World Bank
(over 30 years and 83 foreign coun
tries), Juan Ianni (A) has decided
that it’s time to hang up his spurs.
classnotes continued on page 36
�{Alumni Profile}
34
Rich and Famous
Ben Bloom, Aq7, Finds Fame, Fortune—and Something Even More Important.
vi Sus3Aw Borden, A87
embers of the
Annapolis class of
1997 may not be
surprised to learn
that classmate
Ben Bloom (A97)
has achieved a degree of celebrity. He was
certainly well known as a student, and his
jump-head-hrst approach to life revealed a
boom-or-bust attitude that leads those who
meet him to believe that he is not destined
for an ordinary life.
Indeed, he is not. Today, seven years
after graduation, he has won a measure of
fame in three categories: Scrabble, poetry,
and table tennis.
Bloom was already a skilled Scrabble
player when he arrived at St. John’s, but
since graduating, he has played in tourna
ments in Italy, Israel (his home for much of
his life), Turkey, Norway, Reno, San Diego,
Tennessee, and Florida. Although his cur
rent rating is 1428, at the height of his play
in March 2003, he was rated 1649 (a rating
over 1600 is considered expert).
Bloom learned of his Scrabble-world
celebrity in 2003 when he was flying to
Reno for the National Scrabble Champi
onships. “I had to fly via O’Hare airport in
Chicago. There were several players there,
wearing their typical Scrabble t-shirts,” he
recalls. “In the airport lounge, I saw a bald
guy in his early 4os-black pants, white
t-shirt, and two red braces with which he
was continually fiddling. I recognized him
as Joel Sherman, the 2002 National Cham
pion and one of the top three players in the
world. I got up the courage to ask him if I
was correct in identifying him. He said,
‘Yes, and you are Ben Bloom.’”
Stefan Fatsis, a Wall Street Journal
reporter and author of Word Freak, a New
York Times bestseller about Scrabble, also
knew who Bloom was before the two were
paired in an expert match in the 2002
he read from his thesis at Books & Books, a
finals in San Diego. Bloom beat him and
prominent Miami bookstore.
walked away from the match with a signed
As for table tennis. Bloom has been prac
copy of his book.
In the world of poetry. Bloom is complet ticing for years. He was an aggressive play
er at St. John’s and shared the Annapolis
ing his final semester at the University of
campus titles in men’s doubles and mixed
Miami, where he received his master’s
doubles in 1996. When he lived in Israel,
degree in poetry in May. His 15 minutes of
he played in the National League for the
poetry fame took place on March 31, when
M
{The College -St. John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
For the poet in Ben Bloom, words have
GREAT MEANING. FoR THE SCRABBLE PLAYER,
they’re just part of the game.
�{Alumni profile}
suggestion: “During my late teens I was
disabled (he has cerebral palsy). After
graduation, he took his game on the road,
still in denial with regards to my CP. I
wanted to fit in with other students and
coming in third at the European Disabled
was ashamed of being different. This feel
Championships in Budapest in 1998 and
winning the silver medal at the World
ing turned into anger and resentment. I
Games for CP athletes in 2001.
wanted nothing to do with other people
Thus accounts for the fame. The fortune
with CP as I felt this would be letting go of
my aspirations, a stupid concept which I
is a different matter. It stems from the con
look back on and thank God I have come so
ditions of Bloom’s birth, which are both
far in the last decade.”
tragic and miraculous. The short version is
Bloom has indeed come far. He is calm
this: Ben was born brain dead. The attend
ing nurses thought he
and relaxed, accepting
was stillborn. His par
and tolerant. He has
grown into a man with a
ents asked the hospital
strong, healthy sense of
staff to do all they
himself. It would be
could so they put him
in an incubator. After
impossible to recount
all that went into that
72 hours, he came to
growth, but Bloom cites
life. The staff said that
a particularly transfor
if he survived a week it
mative experience he
would be a miracle.
had during the World
The price of that
Games for CP athletes.
miracle is cerebral
“While there I felt
palsy, the condition
like never before,” he
that Bloom has lived
says. “I made friends
with-and struggled
with other CP athletes
against-his entire life.
from Russia and France.
In 1999, after a nineI speak French well, so
year legal battle.
-Ben Bloom
it was easy to break the
Bloom settled out of
ice with them. Many
court with the hospi
athletes had more
tal. A profile of Bloom
severe CP than me, and were very hard to
by Sam Orbaum, Web-published in 2000,
understand. We communicated through
sums up his situation: “He is now, in the
other means; the bond that we shared, of
most grotesquely literal sense, a self-made
being equal, made for a wonderful feeling.
millionaire.”
At the end of the Games, we had a party
Bloom’s cerebral palsy makes him hard
to understand, contorts his face, and gives
with Karaoke. All of us moved the same
him a peculiar, dragging walk. But it’s not
way. All of us had the same unclear voice.
just his speech, gait, and appearance that
There was an intense feeling of cama
raderie and equality.”
CP has disfigured. His condition has also
Bloom is now finishing his thesis-a col
affected his sense of self.
lection of 50 poems that reveal much about
Bloom has a history of buoying up his
him and the way his world is shaped by
challenged sense of self with humor. The
cerebral palsy. His poem, “Jane Fonda’s
Orbaum article quoted some of his witti
(pain in the) Neck Workout” describes the
cisms: “Hey, you know what happens when
mechanics of dealing with a stranger’s
I have a few beers?” Bloom asks. “I talk
insults. “Special Olympics” describes a
clear and walk straight.” He describes giv
night out for eight people with CP. In the
ing his own brand of speech therapy to a
crowd: “I make them repeat the alphabet
poem, the group tries to order drinks:
“Two Heinekens, two Carlsbergs, two
after me, with all 26 letters sounding
Guinness and two Everclears./Five min
exactly the same.”
utes trying to communicate, then we settle
Humor, of course, does not heal all
for eight domestic beers.”
wounds, and Bloom has not always known
In “The Extremities Of A Line Are
how to salve them. When he first arrived at
Points,” Bloom describes the obstacles,
St. John’s, several people unwittingly
both interior and exterior, of everyday
found themselves on his bad side by sug
events. The poem reveals Bloom’s writing
gesting he get to know Santa Fe tutor
for all it is: story, insight, therapy, balm,
Robert Sacks, who also has CP. An older
and wiser Bloom recalls why he hated that
''All ofus moved the
same way. All ofus
had the same
unclear voice.
There was an
intensefeeling of
camaraderie and
equality.
{The College -St John’s
College • Spring 2004 }
35
The Extremities Oe
A Line Are Points
-Euclid, Elements., Book i. Definition
3
Standing in line
Motionless
Passing glances from strangers
Maybe three-quarters of a second
longer than normal
Nothing to get upset about.
“Next!”
Four steps to reach the desk
One-two-three-four
People have other things on their
minds
They’re here for a reason
They’re all adults
They’re not going to stare.
“Next!”
They want to rush me
No, it’s not me
Don’t be oversensitive
Do other people have these inner
dialogs?
Am I Socrates or his interlocutor?
“Hi. I'm here to... ”
Said too much
She’s been working all day
No patience for me
No patience for my voice
Fuck it
Can’t stop now.
“For my appointment. ”
Confusion. Disappointment. Disgust.
Pity.
The myriad of facial expressions tell a
familiar story
The patented neck strain won’t be too
far away
Yup, here it comes
In answer to your next question, “I’m
here alone.”
“Is anyone responsiblefor
this... guy?”
Should I look around?
Should I glare at the people behind
me?
No point. One day they’ll read about it.
In a poem.
They can wait.
“Next!”
�{AlumniNotes}
36
et al.), ‘What constitutes scientific
proof?’ Very fun.”
1971
In April, pediatrician Linda
Belgrade Friehling (SF71)
embarked on a trek to Everest Base
Camp to raise funds for Himalayan
Health Care, serving the people of
rural Nepal. In a fund-raising letter
she sent along, she described the
trek and its mission: “We will cover
lao miles on foot and attain an
elevation of 18,500 feet. The funds
raised will support the completion
of a project sponsored by
Himalayan Health Care. Himalayan
Health Care is a small non-govern
mental organization founded
approximately a decade ago by a
Nepalese and an American to
promote better health and life in
remote rural areas of Nepal. With a
dedicated group of volunteers,
including physicians, dentists,
nurses, and other professionals,
this small organization has facilitat
ed impressive improvements in pre
natal care, infant mortality, dental
hygiene, and overall health for over
40,000 people. Learn more by
visiting the Web site: (Himalayanhealthcare.org)...One of the things
that has impressed me most about
Himalayan Health Care, is the
forward-looking approach that
emphasizes educating the Nepalese
team to carry out on a day-to-day
basis vastly improved health prac
tices. In a country that currently
has one doctor to 32,000 people,
I feel this is the only way to make a
substantive difference.” For more
information, e-mail her at:
tlofftrax@aol.com.
From Colorado, Michael
ViCTOROFF (A) writes: “After
nearly five years as medical
director for Aetna, I left to work
as an investigator for the Depart
ment of Toxicology at the Universi
ty of Colorado Medical School.
Officially, I’m a private detective.
Our group has M.D.s and Ph.D.
toxicologists. We investigate
medical claims of inquiry from
environmental chemicals. Sort of
like Erin Brockovich-only we use
science. Much of the most difficult
work is philosophical (Karl Popper
1972
Wesley Sasaki-Uemura (A) writes,
“On December i, 2003, we
finalized the adoption of Melina
Mei (Xin Yi) Sasaki-Uemura. She
was born October of 2002 in
Jiangxi province, China. She has
‘smiling eyes.’”
IleneLee (A) reports: “McKee
(A72) and Ilene’s daughter, Mollie,
now 25, is completing her first year
at Yale Law School after a summer
South American tour that ended
with sailing from Galapagos to
Tahiti on a 37-foot catamaran. Ilene
has a busy play therapy practice in
the San Francisco area, specializing
in autism and consulting with
schools.”
1973
Jose F. Grave de Peralta (A) is
taking a group of art and architec
ture students from the University of
Miami to Florence, Italy, for six
weeks to learn fresco painting and
restoration. Side trips include
Assisi, Rome, and Pompeii to view
fresco sites in those places as well.
1976
Jonathan Mark (A) was a recent
William Malloy (SF) writes that
he took early retirement in Decem
ber 2003 for health reasons. “Now
I have the opportunity to work four
mornings a week holding prema
ture babies and to concentrate on
improving my health. Additionally,
I am a volunteer reporter for KPFT
(Keep People Free, Thinking), the
local Pacifica station in Houston.
Not only can I put up a couple of
alumni who may be passing
through Houston, I am also accept
ing invitations to visit alumni.
Particular consideration will he
given to those invitations that are
accompanied by a prepaid airhne
ticket. Kidding? No, really, I mean
it!”
David Pex (SF) is “working hard as
contributor to Popular Science
magazine and built an off-road
course for Toyota in San Antonio.
From Steven and Melissa Sedlis
(both A): “Our daughter Elizabeth
is a first-year medical student at
Columbia College of Physicians
and Surgeons. Our daughter
Jennifer will graduate in May from
Scripps College, Claremont, Calif.”
1974
From California, Gerard (A) and
Daphne Kapolka write: “Daphne
(nee Greene, A76) retired from the
Navy in July. She is now a senior
lecturer in physics at the Naval
Postgraduate School in Monterey.
Gerry continues to teach English at
Santa Catalina School in Monterey.
Basia Kapolka (Aoi) is studying
acting in New York City.”
John Rees (A) is working hard as a
tele-neuroradiologist: “I live for my
work and my family. I greatly enjoy
participating in a small seminar
group of old SJC friends!”
{The College.
1975
is not yet completely comfortable
with the “Transgender Club” and
similar organizations constituting
student life today-but he’s trying.
He is feehng very old these days.
A career change for Idell KesselMAN (AGI): “After more than 20
years of teaching college composi
tion, literature, and other related
courses, followed by two years as a
vocational rehabilitation counselor,
I am working as a psychotherapist
at a nonprofit agency in Phoenix
operating under a managed care
system. In July I begin a one-year
residency in Dialectical Behavior
Therapy, a cognitive approach to
helping individuals with Borderline
Personality Disorder. My daughter
Bisa, nearly 25, is completing her
master’s in education this June,
with several years of elementary
teaching already completed. We
live in our separate apartments in
Phoenix, with our own cats and
habits. It helps us to keep our
friendship strong. I’d enjoy hearing
from old friends and tutors:
ideleyz@earthlink.net.”
1977
Brad Davidson (A) still lives in
Annapolis with his wife, Lynne, and
children Teddy and Lucy. He’s been
taking Teddy on college visits and
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
the finance director at Ecos Con
sulting, which implements energy
efficiency programs for electric and
gas utility companies. Write me at
dpcx@qwest.net.”
Carla S. Schick (A) won an
honorable mention in the Barbara
Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Award.
The poem, “The End of the
Words,” can be found at www.
wagingpeace.org.
Marlene Strong (A) has news:
“After a year of being a lady of
leisure, which I spent fixing up my
new house and garden in Boise, I’m
starting work at a therapy center,
so I’ll finally get to use my hardearned MET (Marriage and Family
Therapist) license. Life in Idaho is
calmer; Boise is small enough that
you know your neighbors, but large
enough to have plenty of culture,
and the mountains are beautiful.
Any classmates are invited to stop
by if you’re in the neighborhood-if
not, see you for our 30th reunion.”
�{Alumni Notes}
1978
Robert McMahan (SFGI) reports
that he is now full professor at The
College of New Jersey and has given
many recent concerts both as per
former and composer. His wife,
Anne, continues to teach at the
Pennington School, working with
West African drumming. Renais
sance recorder, and Native
American music.
An invitation from Lawrence
Ostrovsky (A); “I see a lot of gray
haired people in the summer who
come up here to visit Alaska. So
I’m sure there must be someone
from the class of ’78. If you find
yourself up this way, please give me
a ring.”
1980
Leanne J. Pembvrn (A) writes:
“After five years of planning and
hard work, Mark and I have com
pleted phase I of home building in
our woods. Next phase will be straw
bale-all help is very welcome for
the bale raising. Contact me via
e-mail: leanne@pemburn.com.”
Tom G. Palmer (A) sends a quick
update: “I was in Iraq in February
under the auspices of the Ministry
of Education and the American
Federation of Teachers for a
conference for educators on civic
education and have been working
to get a lot of important books
translated into Arabic and pub
lished. In addition. I’m helping
Iraqi libertarian friends to set up a
think tank there, for the purposes
of educating people in the princi
ples of classical liberalism and
producing policy studies for the
new Iraqi government on how to
reform the judiciary to secure the
rule of law and the protection of
the rights to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, how to priva
tize state-owned industries, and so
forth. I’m leaving this Wednesday
for the European meeting of the
Mont Pelerin Society in Hamburg
(Free Trade from the Hanseatic
League to the EU) and from there
to Moscow to give a paper, ‘The
Role of Law and Institutions in
Economic Development’ at a
conference, ‘A Liberal Agenda for
the New Century: A Global
Perspective.’ I hope to be back in
Iraq in May and July to set up a
series of seminars for students,
some of which will involve SJC-like
seminars and discussions, as well as
lectures.
I’ve recently published a few
items, including a monograph,
‘Globalization and Culture:
Homogeneity, Diversity, Identity,
Liberty’ (published by the Liberales
Institut in Berlin for worldwide
distribution through the many
offices of the Friedrich-Naumann
Stiftung) and a paper, ‘Globaliza
tion, Cosmopolitanism, and
Personal Identity in the Italian
journal Etica e Politica. ’ I’ve got
a few other items in the works,
as well.
All in all. I’m keeping busy and
off the streets.”
37
Susan Read (SFGI) writes that her
1986
“Greetings, SJC,” writes Clayton
DeKorne (A). “I live now half time
in Burlington, Vermont, with my
daughters, Cecilia (16) and Helen
(14), and halftime in Brooklyn,
N.Y., with my new wife, Robin
Michals. I work as a full-time free
lance writer with regular assign
ments at The New York Times
Learning Network and a steady
stream of multi-media production
work from a handful of education
media companies. I would love to
hear from old friends and any John
nies interested in the brave new
world of online learning:
cdekorne@verizon.net. ”
son, Harry, is a thriving 8-year-old.
“We have just bought the house of
our dreams. I continue to enjoy
teaching English at Wooster
School.”
1988
Juliet Burch (A) writes from
Boston: “David (Vermette, A85)
and I are still happily impoverished
in Boston. I am apprenticing to be a
film projectionist and he is
researching Franco-American and
Quebec history alongside an edito
rial job. We continue to use our
St. John’s education for good
instead of evil, vigilantly keeping
cocktail party conversations away
from portfolio talk and on track
with suitable topics like ‘what is
color, anyway?’”
About the Tattoos
1982
Geoffrey Henebry (SF) writes:
“Ana and I and our brood of seven
(Patrick, Claudia, Gus, Thomas,
Isabel, Maria, and Tessie) continue
to enjoy the Good Life here in
Lincoln, Neb. My research over the
past five years has been diverse:
from modeling the ranges of native
vertebrate species in Nebraska to
analyzing the consequences of the
collapse of the Soviet Union on the
annual cycle of greenness in
Kazakhstan.”
1983
Theodore Zenzinger (A) just had a
daughter: Sophia Anne Zenzinger,
born in April.
{The College-
to have passed in a flash. Sophia is a fearless, joyful, lively
child, and she infinitely enriches our lives. She doesn’t have
any tattoos yet, but I was able to locate some black clothing in
her size. Our families and friends helped us adjust to parent
hood, but we are especially grateful to my classmate Ken Hom
(A80). Ken has logged thousands of hours in Babylon with us.
If Sophia develops a taste for good music and a knack for pool,
she will owe it all to him. I continue to practice the Japanese
martial art of aikido, in which I currently hold the rank of 4thdegree black belt. Since 1999,1 have been the chief instructor
at Aikido of Northern Virginia. I have about 75 students, any
30 of whom may show up for a given class. You may visit the
dojo’s website at http://www.aikido-nova.org. I’m still a
bureaucrat in the Department of Housing and Urban Develop
ment. For the past two years. I’ve been working as a housing
program policy specialist in the Office of Lender Activities and
Program Compliance. We spank mortgage lenders when
they’ve been bad. People may reach me at
Jim_Sorrentino@hud.gov.”
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�38
{Alumni Profile}
Looking for the “Monster”
Owen Kelley, Agg, Finds a Clue to Why Hurricanes Intensify
BY
Rosemary Harty
Before investigating hurri
omputer models can often
canes, Kelley had entered a
make accurate predictions
doctoral program in compu
of where a hurricane will
tational science immediately
wander. But no one has yet
found an accurate method to after graduating from
predict how intense a hurri
St. John’s. He ended up
cashing
out his credits for a
cane’s damaging winds win hecome.
Grapmaster(A93)
’s degree in physics
pling with this question, Owen Kelley
because he worried that he
asks, “Why does one hurricane become a
“wasn’t smart enough to be a
monster and another one doesn’t?”
As a scientist with George Mason Univer
Ph.D. scientist.” After honing
sity, Kelley is part of a team that works at
his skills at NASA for six years
NASA’s Goddard Space Fhght Center to
and feeling a growing desire to
study satellite data gathered by the Tropical
“ask the big questions,” he
Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The
decided last year to continue
TRMM satelhte is a joint effort between
where he left off with his
NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
doctoral studies.
Agency, and its data are being analyzed by
When Kelley began his
scientists around the world. For most of the
hurricane research last year,
past six years, Kelley created graphics and
he did not immediately think
software for other researchers. Through this
to look for hot towers. “Erich Stocker, my
work, Kelley met Joanne Simpson and
project manager at NASA, came in my
learned of her pioneering hurricane
office one day and saw me poring over my
research. Back in the 1950s, Simpson
hurricanes pictures, getting nowhere. He
proposed that short-hved “hot towers”
told me to pick one thing to study, and that
sustain a tropical cyclone, allowing it to
made all the difference. I had in the back of
travel a thousand miles in a week. But with
my mind how Joanne Simpson would talk
out computers or satellites, Simpson’s hot
passionately about hot towers, so I looked
tower hypothesis was difficult to prove.
up one of her articles and then taught my
Hot towers are rain clouds that reach at
computer how to find towers. It turns out
least to the top of the troposphere, which is
that the only instrument in space that can
nine miles above the earth and four miles
clearly see hot towers is the radar that’s
higher than the rest of a hurricane. The tow
onboard the TRMM satellite. This radar
ers are called “hot” because heat released by gives us ‘x-ray’ vision. It doesn’t look at just
water condensing allows these towers to rise
the upper surface of a hurricane-it sees into
higher.
the heart of the storm.”
Once Kelley began pondering the myster
ies of hot towers, his training at St. John’sparticularly his fondness for a question that
begins with “what is?”-began to pay off.
“Freshman year, I was horrified when we
started Euchd and my class argued for an
hour about the definition of a point. By the
time I graduated, I appreciated the power of
simple questions. Instead of becoming lost
in the data, I repeatedly asked the simple
question, ‘What is a hot tower?’ Every paper
I found seemed to use a slightly different
definition of hot tower. Eventually, I settled
on a precise definition and my persistence
C
Kelley’s computer models show hot towers
RISING FROM HURRICANES.
{The Colleges;, John’s
College ■ Spring 2004 }
As A SCIENTIST,
Owen Kelley appreciates
THE POWER OF SIMPLE QUESTIONS.
led me to patterns that other scientists failed
to notice in this same dataset.
“It took my breath away when I first
examined my statistical summary and I saw
that hot towers appear often in the intensify
ing hurricanes, but rarely in the ones that
are not intensifying,” says Kelley. A good
example of an intensifying hurricane with a
hot tower is Hurricane Bonnie in August
1998, as the storm intensified a few days
before striking North Carohna.
Kelley cautions, “We still can’t predict
which hurricanes will become monsters,
but perhaps we are now one step closer to
an answer.” Kelley’s results suggest that
seeing a hot tower near the hurricane’s eye
is a clue that the hurricane is twice as likely
to intensify than it would be otherwise.
In January, Kelley flew to Seattle to
present his findings at the annual meeting
of the American Meteorological Society.
He was not prepared for the media atten
tion that resulted when NASA issued a press
release about his findings on the day that he
presented them. While answering journal
ists’ questions, he had to learn how to
describe his research in a few words. In the
end, more than 80 Web sites, newspapers,
continued on nextpage
�{Alumni Notes}
Shannon May Lavery (A) and her
husband, JOHN (A87), celebrated
the eight-month birthday of daugh
ter Aurora (A2025) in Healdsburg,
Calif., where they recently relocat
ed with their first-born dog, (Vizla)
Lucius. All are well and peaceful.
“Fellow Oenophiles and Tahoebound schussers and ski rats pass
ing through should get in touch.
We are local and down to the
ground. Hookenzababy!”
Kim Paffenroth (A) has published
another book. In Praise of Wisdom:
Literary and Theological Reflec
tions on Faith and Reason (New
York and London: Continuum
International Publishing, 2004). In
it he traces the Biblical image of
wisdom as it unfolds in Dostoevsky,
Shakespeare, Augustine, Goethe,
Pascal, and Melville.
1990
Rebecca Ashe (SF) writes:
“I’m turning 40 this year and going
back to the UK for my high school
class reunion in June. Still happily
married to Steve Simmer with three
gorgeous and interesting daughters
(10, 8, and 4-all avid readers).
My beloved Faraday died at age 13.
Lee Whiting (SF89) and I got him
in Santa Fe. I still run daily and am
training for a half-marathon in May.
Also starting a private practice in
West Springfield. Would love to
hear from classmates again:
Rebecca.ashe@the-spa.com.”
“Greetings to all. I hope you are
well. Zip bang,” writes William
Culley (SF).
James Clinton Pittman (SF) writes
1989
After a year in Thailand, Elizabeth
Powers (A) and her husband
returned to Brooklyn in late 2002.
They gave birth to a daughter,
Madehne Josephine Wagner, in
October of 2003.
that younger son Sam just turned
two. “Hope everyone is well. I
need to write a book-anyone know
how to get political commentary
published when you hate Democ
rats and Republicans alike?”
1991
Brad Stuart (A) and Sara Larson
(Ago) are delighted to announce the
birth of their second daughter,
Phoebe. Brad is a software engineer
for General Dynamics in
Westminster, Md.
RonalieMoss (SFGI, EC95) is still
a teacher at Los Alamos High
School, but she looks forward to
retiring soon. “I have had a reward
ing career, but now I am looking
forward to reading great books
again instead of student papers.”
News from Megan Smith (A):
My husband, David Dougherty
(AGI98), and I welcomed our baby
television stations, and radio stations picked
up the story. His hurricane results appeared
in the media from Texas to Canada, Switzer
land, Colombia, Australia, and Japan.
A European Web site has even posted an
Italian translation of the story.
Perhaps the most gratifying attention
came from Simpson, who sent Kelley an
girl. Harper Claret, into our world
on September 2, 2003. She is a
bright and smiling baby with a full
head of spiky hair, just like her
mother’s. We are still living in
Annapolis, and I am working part
time as an optician and trying to
start a career in freelance ad design
for small businesses. David is a Java
programmer with Anne Arundel
County government. We’d love to
hear from any of our old friends.
My e-mail is peanutmom®
comcast.net and David’s is
dsmithdi@comcast.net.”
1992
From London, Victoria Burgess
(SF) writes: “I wish to thank every
one for their kind wishes following
the death of my father. They mean a
great deal to me. I would love to see
any Johnnies passing through the
London area.”
“After almost eightyears at the
Consortium for Oceanographic
Research and Education (CORE),
I will start a new job in April with
the Office of Education and
Sustainable Development at NOAA’s
headquarters in DC,” writes Sarah
ScHOEDiNGER (A). “While this job
won’t shorten my commute from
Annapolis, I am looking forward to
the new professional opportunities
it presents.”
Michael Zinanti (SF) tells us:
“I am an antenna design engineer
for Centurion Wireless Technologies
and have contributed to three anten
na patents with one more pending.
Susan (formerly Switich, SF93) and
I are raising and home-schooling one
e-mail that pointed out weaknesses in his
research, but closed with the statement:
“An old person feels that his/her life has not
been in vain when we see young people
grabbing the ball and running with it.”
This year, Kelley plans to revise the
material he presented at the conference
and submit it to a scholarly journal. Once
(The College.
39
daughter, Anna. We would love to
hear from any Johnnies passing
through the Denver area.”
1993
“Hello, all!”AMYFlack (A) writes.
“Things in South Dakota are going
well. Ministry is an adventure,
harrowing, wonderful, blissful,
wacky, and so many other adjectives
both good and bad.” E-mail:
thiers55@yahoo.com .
1994
Natalie Arnold and William Blais
(both SF) were married in July 2001
and celebrated with a 30-day cross
country train trip. Currently, they
“five in Pittsburgh and are the proud
owners of a happy house in need of a
little TLC. We are happy to provide
bed and breakfast, good conversa
tion, and a warm welcome to any
Johnnie traveling through Pitts
burgh. We are best reached through
e-mail at bill.blais@pobox.eom.”
Larissa Engelman (A) is currently
living in New York after moving
from Washington, D.C., in 2002.
“Working as marketing manager of
the New York office of Covington &
Burhng. As a side project, am look
ing to raise money for an independ
ent film project and would love to be
connected to others who have expe
rience or contacts in that world. My
hellos to the class. Hope to see you
at our lo-year reunion.”
he finishes his doctoral studies, Kelley is
not sure what the future holds. “The
ultimate goal is supposed to be teaching at
a research university and doing ground
breaking research between classes. I just
want to look at data and see things other
people haven’t seen before. I’m not sure
how to make that happen.” -*■
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
�{Alumni Notes}
40
1995
Joel Ard (A) and his wife Hannah
(A92), announce the birth of their
son, David Frederick Ard, on
September 4, 2003. David made his
first appearance at St. John’s at
Homecoming a week after his birth.
“Remember kids,” writes Chris
Davis (SF), “funk is its own
reward.”
Benjamin “Alex” Ruschell (SF)
has a new baby. George Alexis
Ruschell (8 lbs., 20 in.) was born in
Schweinfurt, Germany, in
December 2003.
Jessica VanDriesen (A) is about to
complete a master’s in education as
part of the New York City Teaching
Fellows. “I have been teaching
math at Wadleigh Secondary School
since 2002. It is a far cry from
explorations of the conic sections or
Minkowskian space-time, but there
are moments. I plan to travel abroad
next year, teaching in an interna
tional school or possibly switching
to ESL. Anyone with suggestions,
please contact me via e-mail:
jvandriesen@hotmail.com.”
Tracy Whitcomb (A) is still in
Vermont and now back in school for
a second bachelor’s degree: in nurs
ing. “I hope everyone else is well! ”
An invitation to adventure from
KiraK. Zielinski (SF). “Anyone
in or passing through Las Vegas,
Nev., I’m now flying the Dam
Helicopter Tours out of a Bell 206
at the Hoover Dam-the tours are
quick, but a ton of fun, so drop by
and fly with me! I just bought a
house and I’ll be here for a year.
Because it’s Vegas, I think I need
to consider modifying my uniform
to sparkly midriff-baring nomex
with rhinestones! My callsign is
Dam Helicopter...too cool...
I’m obviously having a blast with
my new life. Also need to design
more bookshelves to go in the
helicopter...”
business journalism, I moved on to
Moscow. As of March, I have been
here for two years and I’m now writ
ing for a Dutch AIDS charity. I got
aggie Roberts Arnold (A95) writes:
married last summer to Elena
“Late as usual, I am announcing the
Rudykh, a Siberian intellectual
arrival of our son Augustus Bullock
beauty queen. We see ourselves
Roberts (Gus), born on September 16,
moving back to the homeland
2002. Parenthood is a blast! Thanks to Gus
eventually, but in the meantime,
we are frequent visitors to the San Antonio
I hope to see the day when one of
Zoo. (I am expecting the bears to wave to us out of
therecognition
many Marx readings on the
any day now.) We are also frequent visitors to theProgram
McNay isArt
replaced by Bulgakov’s
Museum. As parents we love this enthusiastic rediscovery of
‘Heart of a Dog’ for a modest
the basics: the naming of and conversational focus on ani
injection of reality.”
Rediscovering the Basics
M
mals, shapes, colors, vehicles, body parts, foods, nature (you
name it). I think fondly and frequently of the time I spent on
each campus and wish my contemporaries great happiness
and fulfillment! (And the courage to send in a note!)”
1996
1997
Maya Brennan (SF), formerly
J. Maya Johnson, is in New Jersey:
“I’ve recently moved from Baltimore
to central New Jersey where my
husband. Grandpa of evihobots
.com, found a paying job after his
election-induced unemployment.
I’m working at Princeton University,
compiling and coding data for the
Cultural Policy and the Arts National
Data Archive (CPANDA). Anyone
interested in the cultural pohcy field
will want to check out our free online
data archive atwww.cpanda.org. I’d
love to hear from former classmates,
especially anyone passing through
the central New Jersey to New York
City area. My e-mail address is
mahimsab@yahoo.com. Snail-mail:
501 Raritan Ave., D6,
Highland Park, NJ 08904
Erin N.H. Furby (A) is working as a
massage therapist in Anchorage.
“My husband and I are enjoying our
attempts at balancing middle-class
American fife with the fife of the
mind, and we still love Alaska, even
if it snows five days before April.”
{The College.
Michael Chiantella (A) married
Karen Burgess in Buffalo, N.Y., on
August 2, 2003. “Taffeta Elliott
(SF) gave a reading at the wedding.
Currently almost completed an
LL.M, in Trust and Estate law at
the University of Miami.”
1998
In September 2003, Julie Bayon
(AGI) graduated from Claremont
Graduate University with a Ph.D. in
education. The title of her disserta
tion is “The Neo-Classical Ideal:
Liberal Arts Education for the
Twenty-First Century.” She is
currently assistant professor of
English and chair of General
Education at Washington Bible
College in Lanham, Md.
Jacqueline Camm (A) announces
Shannon Stirman (SF) writes:
“We’re moving from Philadelphia,
where I’ve been studying at Penn,
to San Francisco, where Kelly will
begin working for a new software
company. Henry turned 2 in August
and we’re trying to keep up with
him. I’m finishing up my disserta
tion in psychology and will plan to
start an internship in the fall.
As soon as we figure out exactly
where we’ll be hving, visitors wifi
be welcome!”
“I think the last time I appeared
here, just after graduation, I was
rather optimistic about saving the
world through economics,” writes
David Veazey (A). “Well, since then,
I got my M.A. at Fordham but
stopped just before I had to start on
my dissertation. Over the years I had
become disenchanted with the
inherent inabihty of economics to
solve any meaningful problems.
Then later, after becoming an expert
in maximizing my unemployment
checks and dabbhng in health and
St. John’s College . Spring 2004 }
her marriage to Robert Travis
(a 1998 graduate of Columbia
University) on February 8, 2003, in
the Cathedral Church of St. Luke,
Orlando, Fla. The Rt. Rev. John
Howe, bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Central Florida,
presided. Amy (Norman) Morgan
(A96) and her husband Bill provided
music for the ceremony. Writes
Jacquehne: “We moved to
Tennessee in August for Rob to
attend seminary. We also purchased
our first home with the help of
Milk Klim (A02) of Columbia
National Mortgage. If anyone
would like to reach us, or is passing
through Tennessee, please send us
an e-mail: jacquelinecamm@
hotmail.com.”
Method-acting studies for Stephen
Conn (SF) finally hit Hollywood
gold! Look for him this summer in
Troy, he plays the third spear from
the left in that big battle scene
towards the middle. “Brad was a
dream to work with,” Steve adds.
�{Alumni Notes}
Christopher Pagan Nelson (SF)
Grateful for Phlogiston
reports: “Right now. I’m living in
Texas and concentrating on my
turbo-gangster country band. The
drian Lucia (SFoo) writes: “After living in
Foggy Mountain Cop Killin’ Boys.
Philadelphia and Chicago for three years. I’m
College didn’t really prepare me for
pursuing a master’s degree in library and infor
the scads of fame and money I’m
mation science at the University of Illinois,
receiving, but it was cool anyway. I
Familiarity with the theory of phlogiston has
would love to hear what other John
never been so helpful. I plan to flee the Mid
nies are doing, so please e-mail me
west in basically any direction when I finish this program.
Any
at donkeytown@hotmail.com
.
A
Johnnie librarians out there?”
James Petcoff (SFGI) is teaching:
a college administrator for the
University of Chicago’s economics
department, serves as president of
the Chicago chapter of the Society
of Architectural Historians, and is a
member of Chicago’s Caxton Club
(for bibliofiles): “I collect 16thcentury Aristotle texts.”
“I recently left my job as a mental
health counselor in Hyannis, Mass.,
and now work for The May Center
for Child Development at The May
School in Chatham, Mass., teach
ing children with developmental
disabilities. I recently moved to
Wellfleet, Cape Cod, from
Yarmouthport. When I am not
involved in the above, I play with
my jazz, folk, blues rocka-billy band: Skeeter and the Buz
ztones. I would love to communi
cate with fellow Johnnies in the
area.”
1999
Benjamin Closs (A) is serving at
the Marine Corps Air Station in
Miramar, Calif. “I may go overseas
for a while this fall, but Pacific
Beach isn’t bad until then.”
from Philadelphia to Frederick,
Md., a year and a half ago to live
with Vince Baker (AgsJ-yes, that
Vince Baker. We’re now engaged,
we’ve just bought a house and are
planning an October wedding. I’m
working for a biotech company,
while Vince is an editor. We have a
bit of a menagerie with the cats
Apollo & Artemis, and our recently
acquired blue-fronted Amazon par
rot, Pancho, the Bird of Mass
Destruction. We’d love to hear
from anyone in the D.G. metro
area: cinderlou@peoplepc.com and
oldmarley@hotmail.com.”
announce the birth of their son.
Mason, on February 14, 2003.
“We’d love to hear from our former
classmates at ShannonandKerry@
earthlink.net.”
Mike and Abby Soejoto (both A)
are pleased to announce the birth
of their first child, Lucila Adele.
Lucy was born on September 30 in
Los Angeles, where Mike is begin
ning his second year as an attorney
in the tax department of O’Melveny
& Myers. Abby recently finished the
post-baccalaureate program in
classics at UCLA. They’d love to
hear from anyone, especially those
in or passing through Southern
California (asoejoto@cs.com or
323-572-0343).
Nevin Young (A) writes: “I am now
Mauricio Rojas in August. “Also I
am currently teaching in Prince
George’s County. I got my certifica
tion through their Resident
Teacher Program and would be
happy to talk to any seniors or
graduates who are looking into
doing the same.”
“Hey all,” writes Jessica Sprout
Morgenstern (A). “Still busy out
here, loving my job, loving the
weather-sunny Santa Barbara. Feel
free to e-mail anytime...anyone
looking for a fun way to get paid to
learn (and teach) dance (ballroom
and social) give me a call!”
{The College.
Christopher “Casey” Vaughan
(A) is living in St. Augustine, Fla.
“Anyone who wants to come surfing
feel free to contact me at cvaughan@flagler.edu.
2001
Katharine Christopher (SF) and
Billy Davis (SF) were married on
December 20, 2003, in a beautiful
traditional ceremony at the Church
of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe.
Katharine reports: “We were
attended by our five sisters as
bridesmaids, and Jackson FrishMAN (SFoi) and Chris Carlisle
(SFoi) as groomsmen. Nikki
Mazzia (SFoi) sang two lovely
solos, and Juliana Corona
Kirmeyer (SF02) read a Scripture
passage. A number of other John
nies also came to celebrate with us,
as well as family and friends from
all over. It was a wonderful day, as
well as the beginning, God willing,
of a long and joyful marriage.”
2000
Lori Beth Kurtyka (AGI) married
Cindy Lutz (A) writes: “I moved
married in Rocky Mount, N.C., and
now live in Indianola, Miss., which
has been my home since gradua
tion. I will be ordained in May and
we are expecting our first child in
November.”
Shannon Rohde and Kerry
O’Boyle (Both AGI) would like to
Robert Herbst (SF) is employed as
A report from Andrew B. Hill (A):
“I’m getting married sometime in
2004 to a tremendous woman who
did not, sadly, attend St. John’s.
I reside in Fort Worth, Texas.
I recently completed an unsuccess
ful bid for the mayorship of my
lovely city, for which I was reward
ed with a whopping 206 votes, as
well as about 60 hours of Digital
Beta footage, which I intend to
convert into something remotely
saleable. Thus, no matter how
vague my connection to the school
may be, I am following in a
tradition of Maverick Johnnie
filmmakers, or at least I think I
am.”
41
finishing my third year in the
evening division at the George
Washington University Law School,
and am working for a lawyer in the
District of Columbia. (I cannot
understand why anyone would not
want to be a lawyer.) I would be
happy to answer any questions from
Johnnies who want to know about
law school in general, or GW.”
“Greetings from the Mississippi
Delta!” writes Paul Spradley (A).
“This past January 1 got married to
Caroline Taylor of Rocky Mount,
N.C. In the wedding party were
Derek Alexander (A99), David
Bohannon (A99), Adam Dawson
(A03), Alan Hudson (A03), and
George O’Keefe (A03). We were
John ’5 College . Spring 2004 }
What’s Up?
The College wants to hear from
you. Call us, write us, e-mail
us. Let your classmates know
what you’re doing. The next
issue will be published in
September; deadline for the
alumni notes section is July 15.
In Annapolis:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College, P.O. Box 2800
Annapolis, MD 21404;
rosemary.harty@sjca.edu
In Santa Fe:
The College Magazine
St. John’s College
Public Relations Office
1160 Camino Cruz Blanca
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599;
alumni@sjcsf.edu
�4a
Katrina Costedio (SF) has finally
decided to use her powers for good
and is heading for law school,
although she isn’t sure which one.
“Also shaping the young minds of
California in various volunteer
positions and as a sub. And on the
weekends I work with an adult who
is learning to read. I’m struggling
with the demands of being a good
citizen. Most of the time I still feel
like I’m pretending, but what’s the
difference really?”
Terence Duvall (A) writes: “I just
returned from my first major trip
since graduating college so I
decided it was about time to send
an update. My lomo and I spent six
stupendous weeks in Slovenia
taking pictures of castles by lakes
for my upcoming art exhibit
‘Reflected Castles.’ In Ljubljana I
met a producer who has offered to
put out a split seven-inch of my
{Alumni Notes}
band. Big Brother, and the Sloven
ian underground rock quartet
Sister City. I think I finally under
stand why you can’t spell Slovenia
without the word ‘love.’ And so in
the immortal words of the poet
Jerry Garcia, ‘What a long strange
trip it’s been.’”
Talley Scroggs (A) moved to
Bennington, Vt., after a half year in
Agen, France, where she assisted
in running The French Kitchen at
Gamont, a 1720s inn. Her friend
Louis Kovacs (A), is in the post
baccalaureate program at
Bennington College. Talley works
at North Shire Booksellers and
plans to start an MBA program
next fall.
An intriguing “heads up” from
Peter Speer (A): “You’re the king
of hearts for four years and then
you come out into the real world
and you’re the two of spades. And
there’s no don rags in your new
office, and no one wants to read
your senior essay. But that girl by
the water cooler is awfully cute,
and she blushes when I quote
Dante, and though she’s never
heard of Virgil she swears it sounds
familiar. So all’s well and I’m
going to Vegas. Feel free to contact
me with lucky numbers.”
2002
Margaret Tobias (A) will be
attending graduate school this fall
at the University of Chicago,
enrolling in the Master of Arts in
Humanities program.
2003
“I am enjoying Eastern Classics
and highly recommend the pro
gram,” writes Allison Webster
(SF).4-
Alek Chance (A) and Iva Ziza
(Aoi) had a daughter, Emma
Katherine Chance. Emma was
born on August 10, 2003, in
St. Johnsburry, Vermont.
{Obituaries}
Diana “Danny” Bell
Herbert Brent Stallings
Diana “Danny” Bell, the wife of Santa Fe
tutor emeritus Charles Bell, died March 24
of pancreatic cancer. She was 80.
She was born and raised in Darlington,
Md., trained as a teacher, and after marry
ing Charles Bell in 1949, lived with her
family in Chicago and Annapolis. She
taught first grade in Annapolis until mov
ing to Santa Fe in 1967. Along with her
husband, she was named one of the city’s
“Living Treasures” in 1996 for contribu
tions to the Santa Fe community.
“Everything she did was in proportion
and infused with order, kindness, and
delight,” her family wrote in her newspa
per obituary. “Whether it was a picnic, or
the peaceful sharing of tea, Danny filled all
with joy and the sense of her unconditional
acceptance of our human foibles.”
The family has arranged for two ways for
friends to remember her: contributions
can be made for the publication of Charles
Bell’s poems through the non-profit
Lumen Books (40 Camino Cielo, Santa Fe,
New Mexico 87506) and also to one of
Danny’s charities. La Luz de Santa Fe Fam
ily Shelter, (2325 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe,
NM 87505).
Herbert Brent Stallings, class of 1941, died
January 8, 2004, in Cary, N.C. He was 84.
A native of Baltimore, Stallings played on
the college’s football team (nicknamed the
“gallopinggoose-eggs”) before intercolle
giate sports were dropped. His pastor, the
Rev. William Green, remembers Stallings
bringing his family back to the St. John’s
campus several years ago, videotaping his
old dormitory room, and fondly revisiting
his days at St. John’s. When the college
adopted the New Program in r937, Stallings
had the option of sticking with the old pro
gram or starting in the new and spending an
extra year at the college; he chose the New
Program, Green said.
“He has always said that St. John’s really
formed who he was,” said Rev. Green. “He
really loved talking about the college.”
Stallings went on to serve as a lieutenant
in the Navy during World War IL After the
war, he launched a 30-year career in adver
tising with the Baltimore News-American.
He met his wife, Ruth, on a Chesapeake
Bay Cruise. Married for nearly 60 years,
the couple had two children who live in
North Carolina.
{The College-
St. John ’5 College ■ Spring 2004 }
“He was a wonderful man who loved
books,” Green said.
Medora Cockey
Medora Cockey (A03) died January 3, 2003,
after a brief illness. She was 23.
Miss Cockey was born in Baltimore and
moved to Salisbury with her family in 1983.
She attended St. John’s College for two
years, then transferred to Warren Wilson
College in Asheville, N.C., to finish her
studies. She was to have graduated with a
fine arts degree in May.
Miss Cockey was a talented artist. She
loved hard physical farm work, and her
favorite summer job in recent years was
working on organic farms in Virginia and
Georgia. Her sister, Mary, is a member of
the Annapolis class of 2004.
Also noted:
Clayton Davis, class of r938, died Feb. 9,
2004.
John Falencki, (A68), died Dec. 30, 2003.
Merrill Turner (SF79) died March 16,
2004.
Charles T. Westcott, class of 1936, died in
July 2002.
�{Student Voices}
43
On Grades: How Can Genuine
Learning be Measured at St. John’s?
BY loHN Peterson, A05
grades? Do any students complain about
y grades were never
their grades? One can respond to a tutor in
something I worried
a don rag because he is stating observations
too much about. In
and offering suggestions, but how does one
middle school I earned
respond to a B on a piece of paper?
As, but in high schoolThe college’s recent self-study, “Liberal
where I didn’t always
Education
in a Community of Learners,”
do homework or attend class-I
maintained
states
that the college wants students to
a consistent B+, or 90 percent
average.
“work for understanding and not for
These grades were meaningless, I thought,
grades,” but acknowledges that students
because the work that the A-kids were
need transcripts, and therefore grades, for
doing to get their grades was out of propor
life after St. John’s. Grades interfere with
tion to a grade’s value. I scoffed at the arti
the college’s goals of fostering genuine
ficial scale of greatness that accompanied
learning and cultivating freedom, they
the grades: “High Honor Roll,” “Honor
distract students, encourage competition,
Roll,” etc. I beheved that I was wiser than
and are “inadequate as means of evaluating
these students, because while they were
working hard to slave for top grades at their a student’s success in liberal learning,” the
report states. Nevertheless, it says, tutors
college choices, I was heading to a place
take the “fair determination of grades very
where grades didn’t matter and where what
seriously.”
would really be measured after four years
The “Grades and Grading Poficies” sec
would be the true worth of an individual.
tion of the student handbook says that the
When I came to St. John’s College, I
college “does require all tutors to award let
found classes to be radically different from
ter grades to their students at the end of
high school, the teachers much more alive,
each semester...and authorizes them to
the students more interested and interest
decide what elements they will take into
ing. There were no tests and no homeconsideration and in what proportion.”
work-at least not in the high school sense
As opposed to the pre-determined system
of busywork from a textbook. Why, then,
of my high school days, this process is mys
were there still grades?
terious and vague, perhaps even arbitrary.
St. John’s is an egalitarian institution
What are these “elements” that a tutor may
that loves truth and rewards hard work not
or may not take into consideration? Class
with good grades, but with understanding,
room participation, attendance, attitude,
good conversation, and good judgment.
papers, and demonstrations all seem like
Could it possibly be true that with all these
candidates. However, different tutors may
riches around them, students here would
be more interested in different things, and
be worried about their grades, look them
this is something that a proportional grad
up every semester, and work for them, even
ing pohcy, in which various assignments
to the detriment of learning itself?
are given certain weight in a total grade,
During my first semester, I don’t think
is designed to alleviate.
grades ever crossed my mind-I was having
It is unhkely that St. John’s will implement
too much fun. I was worried that I did not
any pohcy such as this in the near future.
talk as much as some of my classmates and
One reason is that the more specific we get
that maybe I did not study enough. In my
about grades, the more it will appear that we
don rag, my tutors were nice to me and
care about them, and as a result, we will care
said some helpful things. This was enough
about them more. If tutors needed to discuss
for me.
grades, they would have to think more about
This year, however, I began to think
grade-giving and less about teaching.
about life after St. John’s and checked my
Students would consequently worry more
grades. This raised a series of troubling
about grade-getting than about learning.
questions about grades and the learning
Competition would inevitably result.
environment at St. John’s: How many other
“It’s a weird situation,” acknowledges
students check their grades? Students dis
Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft. “On the one
cuss don rags all the time-what about
M
{The College.
St. John’s College Spring 2004 }
John Peterson
hand we give [grades], and we don’t want
them to be some kind of secret document
that a student can’t look at, but on the other
hand we don’t report them to the student,
and we try to play it down. I don’t think it’s
hypocritical...It’s trying to foster a commu
nity where people are really concerned
about the depth of each individual student’s
self-education-and it really works.”
With all the debate about how much to
talk about grades, by which standards they
are given, and how much they matter to
students as opposed to how much consider
ation tutors have in giving them, my
inclination is to revert to my old high
school attitude. I begin to suspect that the
behavior of the students around me is
geared toward getting better grades.
I wonder if this or that student has better
grades than I, and if so, why. I become
taken with the feeling that we are all here
to go somewhere else, to get our tickets to
graduate school. I begin to resent my fellow
students and to think only of myself. Worst
of all, I stop all learning and introspection,
adopt an air of superiority, and start to
think about my future.
Only at this point do I realize that the
school knows what it is doing: it has foreseen
these problems, and in its grading pohcy has
tried to circumvent them. It recognizes that
grades can be a potential threat to learning,
but that they are necessary. If a Johnnie is
still worried about the arbitrariness of
grades, he only needs to ask himself,
“Do my grades reflect anything real?” and
he will answer, “More than they did in high
school.” That should be enough, and he
should go back to his studies.
�44
{Alumni Association News}
From the Alumni
Association
President
Greetings!
Your Alumni
Association and
the staff of SJC
have heen hard at
work supporting
the network of
Johnnies. I wish I
could share in
one letter all the
projects and possibilities that are emerging
from our shared work, but we only have
room for three this time. Watch this space
for more in the coming issues.
Part 1 - Reconnect
What ever happened to that interesting
woman in my freshman seminar?
WTio are the Johnnies living in my state?
Is there someone from St. John’s practicing
law in my city?
How many people were in my class?
What is Glenda Holladay’s last name now?
Does my favorite waltz partner have an
e-mail address?
How can I be sure the college has my
correct address and phone number?
Soon you can answer these and many other
questions about alumni around the world.
The Alumni Association and the college
joined forces to put the St. John’s College
Alumni Register online. It will be a great
new tool for you to stay in touch with the
rest of the college community. To use the
Register1. Go towww.stjohnscollege.edu.
2. Select alumni.
3. Select Online Register.
4. Apply for access to the Register.
5. Within a week, you will receive an
e-mail with your username and password
that will give you access.
Then you’ll be searching to your heart’s
content. As you use the new Register, we
strongly urge you to:
• Send your feedback about the Register
and the rest of the Web site to Jo Ann
Mattson (A87) joanne.mattson@sjca.edu
or Roxanne Seagraves (SF83)
roxanne.seagraves@mail.sjcsf.edu.
• Update and/or complete your own
information. The Register is only as
good as the information it holds. Please
make it most useful by keeping your own
data up to date!
• Let the college know if you prefer not
to have your information appear in the
Register. You should have received a
postcard asking if you wanted to opt out.
There are also places online that you can
choose not to have your information
appear.
• Use the Register as a tool to stay in
touch with Johnnies from your era, your
campus, your profession, or your locale.
Part 2 - Come Home
Are you going to Homecoming this year?
Please consider making the trip to Santa Fe
in the summer or Annapolis in the fall. You
will have many reasons to be glad you did.
• Seeing old friends and making new
ones.
• Thanking that tutor who opened your
mind to the books (or the books to your
mind).
• Seeing a rejuvenated campus whether
you’re in the East or the West.
• Watching a Santa Fe sunset over the
mountain or an Annapolis sunset over
the creek.
• Sharing the unique conversational
experience of seminar.
• Dancing as if you were ao again.
• Munching on burritos or crab cakes.
• Welcoming new honorary alumni.
• Gongratulating fellow alumni with
Awards of Merit for their remarkable
lives and work.
• Learning about the current state of
student hfe and the Program.
• Exhibiting and/or observing work of
creative and industrious Johnnies who
have books to sign (Annapolis) or art to
show (Santa Fe).
You will be receiving information and
invitations from classmates, the Alumni
Association, and the college. We look
forward to seeing you!
Partg - Reach Out
The Next Steps Action Team of the Alumni
Association and the Career Services offices
on both campuses support new alumni as
{The College .
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
they venture out into the world. If you’re
interested in providing support or in get
ting a boost yourself, consider reaching
out. Among the many opportunities and
services:
Virgil Initiative: Juniors who volunteer
are matched with an alumnus mentor.
The two meet periodically and stay in
touch through senior year and beyond.
The purpose of the relationship is to share
experiences and insights about the transi
tions after St. John’s. Career counseling is
not part of the plan, but mentors may have
helpful suggestions and resources for the
job or educational market as well. (Thanks
to Lee Zlotoff (A74) and Tom Krause
(SFGIoo) for conceiving and launching
this program!)
Networking receptions: Several Alumni
Association chapters host receptions that
bring new alumni and older ones together
to share career and grad school informa
tion. As you might imagine, many other
topics come up for conversation and a
lively time is had by all.
Communities of Interest: Clusters of
alumni have shared interests such as
psychology, dance, quilting, art, academic
research in various fields, law, or educa
tion. Often these Johnnies don’t have ways
to be in touch with each other even when
they know they’re not alone. The Next
Steps Action Team is planning to launch
a network across time and space to get
like-minded alumni connected.
Internships: A generous grant from the
Hodson Trust inspired summer internships
for students on the Annapolis campus.
Recipients have pursued a variety of
activities from arts to sciences to services
to professions. The project has been very
successful, and plans are afoot to begin a
similar program in Santa Fe.
We all have transitions to make as we
leave the college. These programs and
others help make the transition a time for
extended learning about how the great
ideas are the foundation for happy and
productive lives. If you’re interested in
participating in any of these programs,
either as supporter or supported, please
be in touch with Jo Ann or Roxanne.
They’ll help you make the connections.
For the past, present, and future,
Glenda Holladay Eoyang, SF76
�{Alumni Association News}
Chapter Update
With i8 active chapters meeting on a regu
lar basis throughout the country, including
a new chapter in Pittsburgh, St. John’s
alumni have plenty of opportunities for
seminars, social events, and cultural out
ings with other Johnnies. Efforts are also
under way in six new areas to develop
chapters from reading groups or nurture
budding interest in the formation of new
chapters and alumni groups.
In her annual report on chapter activity
to the association board, Carol Freeman
(AGI94), reported on an encouraging year
marked by active chapters planning innova
tive events and emerging interest in areas
yet to establish chapters.
Here are some highlights:
• The Santa Fe chapter is now meeting
bimonthly, and has formed a steering
committee to select topics and plan
meetings.
• The Boston chapter is thrilled to have
read Marcel Proust’s In Search ofLost
Time. This inspiring endeavor (5,000
pages) was a project embraced enthusias
tically by chapter members.
• The Annapolis chapter has decided to
develop a reading list for several months
in a row to attract more of the 500
alumni in the area to seminars.
• Inquiries about starting a chapter or
reading group are being pursued in
Ithaca, N.Y., and the Greater Miami area.
In Miami, Johnnies traveled up to three
hours to attend recent alumni gettogethers in Miami and West Palm
Beach, hosted by Annapolis staff
members Barbara Goyette (A73),
vice president for advancement, and
Jo Ann Mattson (A87), director of
alumni activities.
• Russ Dibble (SF97) and Kira Heater
organized the first seminar, on February
II, for alumni in the Missoula, Montana,
area.
In addition to seminars, Johnnies are
demonstrating their interest in socializing
with other alumni by turning out in large
numbers for crab feasts (Baltimore),
picnics (New York), and an annual
alumni dinner (Greater Puget Sound),
Check the Web
FOR Election
News
The Alumni Association nominations for
alumni representatives to the St. John’s
Board of Visitors and Governors and for
directors-at-large for the Alumni Associa
tion Board for 2005 will be posted on the
college Web site atwww.stjohnscollege.edu.
Select “Alumni” from the left-hand menu
(under the SJC seal), then click on the
Alumni Association homepage. A special
nominations page will appear among the
left-hand menu options
that are now highlighted in
red. Names, photos (when
available) and biographical
information about the
nominees, as well as infor
mation on the election
process, will be available
online on or before
August I, 2004.
45
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Whether from Annapolis or Santa Fe, under
graduate or Graduate Institute, Old Program
or New, graduated or not, all alumni have
automatic membership in the St. John’s
College Alumni Association. The Alumni
Association is an independent organization,
with a Board of Directors elected by and from
the alumni body. The Board meets four times
a year, twice on each campus, to plan pro
grams and coordinate the affairs of the Associ
ation. This newsletter within The College mag
azine is sponsored by the Alumni Association
and communicates Alumni Association news
and events of interest.
President - Glenda Eoyang, SF76
Vice President - Jason Walsh, A85
Secretary -Barbara Lauer, SF76
Treasurer - Bill Fant, A79
Getting-the-Word-OutAction Team Chair Linda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76
Web site - www.sjca.edu/aassoc/main.phtml
Mailing address - Alumni Association,
St. John’s College, P.O Box 2800, Annapolis,
MD 21404, or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599.
Brett Heavner (A89) and
Nancy Lindley (A58) at an
Annapolis networking
reception for students and
ALUMNI.
CHAPTER CONTACTS
Call the alumni listed belowfor information
about chapter, reading group, or other alumni
activities in each area.
ALBUQUERQUE
Bob & Vicki Morgan
505-275-9012
BALTIMORE
Deborah Cohen
410-472-9158
ANNAPOLIS
Beth Martin Gammon
410-280-0958
BOSTON
Ginger Kenney
617-964-4794
AUSTIN
Jennifer Chenoweth
512-482-0747
Bev Angel
512-926-7808
CHICAGO
Amanda Richards
847-705-1143
DALLAS/FORT
WORTH
Suzanne Gill Doremus
817-927-2390
DENVER/BOULDER
Lee Goldstein
720-746-1496
MINNEAPOLIS/
ST. PAUL
Carol Freeman
612-822-3216
NEW YORK
Daniel Van Doren
914-949-6811
{The College-
NORTHERN CALIF.
Suzanne Vito
510-527-4309
SANTA FE
Richard Cowles
505-986-1814
WASHINGTON DC
Jean Dickason
301-699-6207
PHILADELPHIA
Bart Kaplan
215-465-0244
SEATTLE
Amina Brandt
206-465-7781
PITTSBURGH
Joanne Murray
724-325-4151
SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Elizabeth Eastman
562-426-1934
WESTERN NEW
ENGLAND
Julia Ward
413-648-0064
PORTLAND
Dale Mortimer
360-882-9058
SAN DIEGO
Stephanie Rico
619-423-4972
St. John’s College • Spring 2004 }
TRIANGLE CIRCLE
(NO
Susan Eversole
919-968-4856
ISRAEL
Emi Geiger Leslau
15 Aminadav Street
Jerusalem 93549
Israel
9-722-671-7608
boazl@cc.huji.ac.il
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
46
“A LOAF OF BREAD,
A GLASS OF WINE, AND ... I AND
ThOU.”
Sn^ng, Swirling, and Seminar at
Stags Leap Wine Cellars
BY Mark Middlebrook, A83
Here with a LoafofBread beneath the
Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and
Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
- FROM Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat^ c. iioo.
Nine centuries later, the sentiments
expressed in Khayyam’s verse echo each
summer in a vine-rich valley watched over
by a rocky palisade known as Stag’s Leap.
Alumni from around Northern Californiaand perhaps an eagerly welcomed visitor
from Santa Fe or Annapolis-rise early on a
sunny Sunday morning to prepare our pic
nic lunches and finish our seminar reading.
And then we’re off to the annual Stag’s
Leap Wine Cellars picnic and seminars,
where we’ll once again be the blessed
beneficiaries of St. John’s alumni Warren
(A52) and Barbara (A55) Winiarski’s
hospitality.
The drive from the San Francisco Bay
area takes about an hour, and many of us
carpool-if only for the pleasure of packing
in extra hours of conversation with fellow
alumni whom we may not have seen since
last year’s pilgrimage. As we head north,
fog often lingers on the Bay and even in the
lower reaches of Napa Valley, but its cool
ness provides a lovely contrast to the
intense valley heat that will come in the
afternoon.
We pass through the town of Napa and
head north on the Silverado Trail, a road
threading up the eastern side of Napa
Valley that’s traveled mostly by winery
hopping tourists and bicyclists. Vines
appear-lots of them-as we speed past the
now-familiar litany of wineries: Luna
(where former tutor Abe Schoener, A82, is
now winemaker), Altamura, White Rock,
Clos du Vai, Chimney Rock. After a few
miles, we see the distinctive notch in the
craggy ridge to the east. That’s the Stag’s
Leap. Just before the road begins to climb
out of the Stags Leap District and the
bicyclists start to down-shift, we pull into
the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars driveway.
To keep track of all the stags in these
parts, you need a scorecard-or maybe a
punctuation handbook. The “Stags Leap
District” (multiple stags) is the name of
the small wine-growing region that sits
just below the notch in the ridge called
Above: Alex Poulsen (SF74) and Daniel
Cohen(SF90)
Left: Former Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
events coordinator Gabriele Ondine and
PICNIC GUEST
{The College-
St. John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
“Stag’s Leap” (singular possessive stag).
“Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars” (ditto) is the
Winiarskis’ winery and home of our annual
picnic and seminars. “Stags’ Leap Winery”
(plural possessive stags) is an unrelated
winery in the district.
We bypass the tasting room parking lot
and instead take the road that skirts below
the white wine fermentation building and
around a wooded hill to the small lake
tucked behind. There we unload our picnic
baskets and coolers, carry them up to the
lake’s grassy banks, and spread a blanket
on a spot to our Uking-full sun, full shade,
or dappled with some of each. It’s a little
more civilized than Khayyam’s Wilderness,
but with boughs, wine, and books-not to
mention a refreshing lake to jump into-it
will be Paradise enow for us.
Despite the claims of some that our
palates are most discerning in the morn
ing, we defer to the scruples of those who
might find earnest wine tasting at 10 a.m.
a bit unusual, and instead we sally forth on
a vineyard walk and winery tour. We stroll
past FAY-a storied vineyard where Stags
Leap District pioneer Nathan Fay planted
the region’s first Cabernet Sauvignon
grapes in 1961-and then into S.L.V. (Stag’s
Leap Vineyard), whose grapes catapulted
Warren Winiarski to fame when his 1973
S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976
Paris tasting. We taste some of the grapes
and wonder at the winemaker’s techne that
�{AlumniAssociationNews}
reveals supple, prize-winning
wines from these juicy but still
tart berries.
From the luxuriant but care
fully-coifed wilderness of
grapevine tendrils, we return to
paved road and make our way to
the civilization of a modern
winery: crusher-destemmer
machines, fermentation tanks,
oak barrels, and bottling lines.
Our tour culminates in the
spectacular caves, which are
home to hundreds of barrels of
aging wine, a bronze bear and
cub nestled among several of
those barrels, a Foucault pen
dulum, a dramatically lit,
chapel-like room designed by
Catalan architect Javier Barba.
An hour of walking, plus the
heady, deep aromas of ferment
ing wine, have eliminated any
remaining scruples, so we make
a beeline for the lake. At a table
nearby, our host begins pulling
corks and pouring tastes.
The diligent among us work
methodically through the full
lineup, sniffing, swirling, and
then either swallowing or spit
ting-depending on one’s
lunchtime drinking plans and
desired degree of lucidity
during the afternoon seminars.
We start with Sauvignon
Blanc, several Chardonnays, and a pair of
Merlots. The simpler wines bear the Hawk
Crest name-Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’
second label-while the grander ones
display the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
name and distinctive “standing stag and
tree” logo. We finish with an impressive
phalanx of Cabernet Sauvignons,
including the FAY Estate, S.L.V. Estate,
and occasionally, if we’ve been very, very
good, a precious taste of the CASK 33
(a blend of particularly excellent lots from
FAY and S.L.V.).
Tasting wine is all well and good, but
drinking wine is better, so we pour a glass
of our favorite and bear it gingerly back to
our chosen picnic spot. There we fling
open picnic baskets, unwrap deli sand
wiches or flip open cardboard carry-out
containers, and begin to enjoy the happy
union of good food, good wine, and good
company. Congenial swapping ensues-of
victuals, opinions about the wines, opin
ions about the seminar readings, stories of
Liz Travis
(SF83)
our lives during the preceding year (many
of them true), stories of our times at
St. John’s (some of them true).
All of this eating, bibbing, and creative
embroidery under the hot summer sun is
arduous work, and some of us reinvigorate
with a jump into the lake. At the stentorian
bellow of the ceremonial conk shell, we
commence the annual chapter meeting.
This short but raucous affair typically com
prises effusive thanks to the Winiarskis
and the hard-working winery staff,
announcements of upcoming events, a
desperate plea by the current chapter
president for a successor, and directions to
the various seminar rooms scattered about
the winery.
Despite the unquestioned zeal of
St. John’s alumni for seminars, the next
{The College.
5£. John’s College Spring 2004 }
47
half hour offers irrefutable proof
of the validity of Newton’s first
law. Every body assembled there,
in its tranquil, well-fed state of
rest, does indeed continue in
that state of rest unless com
pelled to change its state by
powerful forces impressed upon
it. Several of us cajole, plead,
and eventually threaten in order
to get these bodies rolling
towards their seminar rooms.
We typically run five simultane
ous seminars on readings
ranging from Plato to the Lotus
Sutra to Wallace Stevens to a
contemporary political essay,
plus one film.
An hour and a half later, the
seminars disband and we
regroup at the Arcade outside
the caves for a reception with
scrumptious desserts and
cheeses, perhaps a sip of dessert
wine, and coffee. “How was
your seminar?” mingles with
other typical post-seminar chat.
There is more catching up on
the previous year, expressions
of wonder that we’re able to
enjoy a day like this each year,
and the wistful sense that this
year’s day is almost done.
One more slice of cake or
piece of cheese, another round
of grateful thanks to our hosts,
perhaps a stop in the tasting room to buy
a few bottles, and then we’re heading
south on the Silverado Trail, back towards
the Bay Area. The day’s heat is starting to
wane, and sun slanting off the vines
makes the early evening sky glow. 1 roll
down the window, and the air rushing by
seems to sing.
This year’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
picnic and seminars have not yet
been scheduled at the time of this
writing. Please note that reserva
tions are required, and that we some
times must limit attendance in order
not to exceed the winery’s capacity.
See the St. John’s College Alumni
Association of Northern California’s
Web page for more information and
reservations instructions:
http://teamrioja.org/sjcaanc/
�48
{St. John’s Forever}
Initiating the
Young into the
Tribe
‘!i4s well you know there is only one com
mencementspeech. It has been delivered
many times and it has many superficial
variations, but it always says the same
thing. An old man ofthe tribe tells the
young men that they are beautiful and
strong, that the world isfull ofevils, and
that they must go out into the world tofight
its evils and keep the vision ofits highest
good. ”
—Scott Buchanan, Commencement 1952,
he commencement rite
calls for a memorable
speech filled with sage
advice on how to go on
with the business of life.
Scott Buchanan called
commencement “the great rite of initiation
of the young into the tribe.” Some speech
es are memorable; some are not. Some
focus on history, some on urgent current
events. But at St. John’s College the selec
tion of the commencement speaker always
falls to those to whom it is primarily
directed, and throughout the years tutors
have been heavy favorites in the selection
process.
Scofield said in his 1950 speech that a
Tutors Richard Scofield and the Rev.
possible interpretation of the custom of
J. Winfree Smith became commencement
choosing a speaker from within the
traditions themselves. Scofield delivered
the commencement speech four times;
college is that students “think of the
Smith was selected by the graduating class
occasion, in spite of its name, as not only
looking forward. Since the life that lies
five times. Tutor Nancy Buchenauer was
ahead of you. . .is more complicated, more
selected by the students in Santa Fe in
serious, and more precarious than the life
1997, and after transferring to the
you are leaving, you could hardly go
Annapolis faculty, was asked to deliver the
without a backward glance.” dtp
2000 address.
T
{The College.
St. John’s College . Spring 2004 }
Tutor Richard Scofield, shown here in
1950, DELIVERED THE COMMENCEMENT
SPEECH FOUR TIMES.
�{Alumni Events Calendar}
Santa Fe
Homecoming: July a-4,2004
classes
are: ’69, ’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94, ’99.
Childcare is available.
Friday, July 2
Picnic on the Placita, 5 p.m.
Reunion class parties
Movie: The Tao ofSteve
Saturday, July 3
Homecoming Seminars, 10 a.m. to noon
Barbecue, 12-2 p.m.
Alumni Art Show opening, 5 p.m.
Banquet, 7 p.m.
Members of the Denver-Boulder chapter
Sunday, July 4
Annapolis
GATHERED FOR A SEMINAR LAST WINTER.
President’s Brunch, 10:30 a.m
Homecoming: October 1-3, 2004
L2I2EEZ1liunni
____
Week i; June 28-July a, 0004
Kierkegaard’s Meditation on Abraham and
Isaac
Led by David Starr
Hegel, Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling,
and excerpts from the book of Genesis.
Painting & Reflection
Led by Phil Le Cuyer &
Elizabeth Pollard Jenny (SF80)
On-campus and off-site painting experi
ences, gallery tours, seminars.
Week2: July 5-9, 2004
Plato’s Republic
Led by Eva Brann & David Carl
Revisit one of the seminal texts of Western
political theory.
Don Giovanni & the Operas of Mozart
Led by Peter Pesic & George Stamos
Once again, Don Giovanni is dragged alive
through the gates of Hell.
Call the Office of Alumni and Parent
Activities, 505-984-6103
Registration, 4 to 8
Career Panel, 6:30 p.m.
Homecoming Lecture, 8:15 p.m.
After lecture: Wine and Cheese with the
class of 2005, Rock Party in the Boathouse
Saturday, October a
Seminars, 10 a.m.
Homecoming Picnic, noon
Class Luncheons, 11:45 P ®Afternoon: Autograph Party, Soccer,
Gathering of All Alumni, Dance
performance in memory of Harry Golding
Hors d’oeuvres & wine, 6 p.m.
Homecoming Banquet, 7:30 p.m.
Waltz/Swing Party, to p.m.
Sunday, October 3
President’s Brunch, ii a.m.
* Tentative schedule.
All alumni are welcome. Reunion classes:
’39, ’44, ’49, ’54, ’59, ’64, ’69, ’74, ’79,
’84, ’89, ’94, ’99.
Contact Planit Meetings for special rates at
Annapolis hotels. Space is limited for dis
counted rates; mention St. John’s College
when you call for reservations.
Phone: 301-261-8284; fax: 919-642-0062.
E-mail: kelder@planitmeetings.com.
For more information, call the Alumni
office: 410-626-2531.
{The College -St.
John’s College ■ Spring 2004 }
Back cover: Reality observers in Annapolis
�STJOHN’S COLLEGE
ANNAPOLIS • SANTA FE
Published by the
Communications Office
P.O. Box aSoo
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
D A N IE L H O U C K
( ao 6)
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Periodicals
Postage Paid
�
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.
48
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The College, Spring 2004
Description
An account of the resource
Volume 30, Issue 2 of The College Magazine. Published in Spring 2004.
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
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2004
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
St. John's College owns the rights to this publication.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Harty, Rosemary (editor)
Borden, Sus3an (managing editor)
Behrens, Jennifer (art director)
Hartnett, John (Santa Fe editor)
Wilson, Rebecca
Silver, Joan
Kraus, Pamela
Miller, Basia
Stickney, Carey
Russell, George
Dink, Michael
Engel, Elizabeth
Goyette, Barbara
Byrne, Brigid K.
Maguran, Andra
Peterson, John
Eoyang, Glenda H.
Middlebrook, Mark
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
The College Vol. 30. Issue 2 Spring 2004
Deprecated: Directive 'allow_url_include' is deprecated in Unknown on line 0