36 20 5655 https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/83b79b23cf68ed9e486893ecaa9865b3.pdf 083da7398bfdca7b06e822760363e890 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms 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. 7 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 Commencement Address, Graduate Institute, Summer 2016 Description An account of the resource Typescript of the commencement address for the Graduate Institute given by Peter Kalkavage at the end of the Summer 2016 semester in Annapolis, MD. Entitled "On the seriousness of play or the importance of not being Earnest". Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kalkavage, Peter Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-08-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College has been given permission to make this item available online. 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 CommencementAddressGISummer2016 Commencement Graduate Institute Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/5ae74d2e16339c51c41746bd9cc3c2fd.pdf ff7ab10e3d189f0deb01d67fec9fde68 PDF Text Text Goings and Comings Graduate Institute Commencement Address St. John’s College August 4, 2017 William Pastille “Every limit,” writes George Eliot near the end of Middlemarch, “is a beginning as well as an ending.” We come here today to mark a limit in the lives of you who are graduating—the limit of your time in our halls. Ceremonies like this are called “commencements,” even though they occur at the close of study, because this ending, the ending of studenthood, coincides with the beginning of a new life, the beginning of a new adventure. That, at least, is the conventional explanation. Scholars, of course, who can’t seem to abide the conventional, have tracked the historical source of the term “commencement” down to a medieval ceremony called the Inceptio. This event was a formal induction into the teachers’ guild, for which studenthood was the required apprenticeship. With the passage of time and changes in society, the original purpose of the ceremony was forgotten, and its name was replaced by its English equivalent, Commencement. At its inception, then, the Inceptio was all about beginnings and not all about endings. Well, you can pretty much count on scholars to evaporate poetic truth. Whatever the mundane antecedent of today’s ceremonies may have been, the poetic truth about commencements is that they are Janus-headed, one face looking toward student life in the past, the other looking toward a new life in the future. This truth is poetic because commencements, infused with wistfulness for what is past and expectation for what is to come, are figures—not figures of speech but figures of life— prefiguring something more universal, namely, that every moment, every Now, is also Janus-headed, both an ending and a beginning, both a going and a coming, both wistful and expectant. St. Augustine underlines this doubleness of the Now in the Confessions, in the section on memory, where he writes about the experience of reciting a psalm. Every word of the text stands before us in the future, enters into the Now as we speak it, and retires into the past as the next word rises up. The eternal Now sits unmoving and attentive at the intersection of the goings and the comings, occupying the space in which they meet. If commencements, then, are two-faced, like every Now, why do we name them after the Janus face that looks toward the future rather than the one that looks toward the past? The answer is obvious enough. If we called them “cessations” or “culminations,” we would call attention to what is about to pass away and risk lingering on the emotions that naturally attend the experience of loss. And why would we want to do that? These events are not funerals. 1 �Nevertheless, at the risk of provoking sentimental nostalgia, that is exactly what I propose to do now: focus on what is passing away. Why? Because the past you share is full of exceptional distinctions and achievements that deserve commemoration and a proper estimate of their worth. So, I begin with a distinction you shared long before you joined us. You are book lovers. Most people don’t care about books. Most people never have. You were already singled by sharing this trait before you came to us. Then, by joining this community, you singled yourself out again. You are not ordinary book lovers. You are readers, determined readers. You leapt eagerly at these difficult, sometimes impenetrable, books. You wanted the wisdom they might hold. This is the mark of genuine readers: they approach books like granaries of wisdom. They try to pry open hatches and extract seeds of insight. Real readers are seekers after wisdom. Next, you set about a series of exceptional labors. You raided the book-granaries and hauled off sacks and sacks of seeds. You learned to blow open the hatches by asking and dwelling on questions—and then learned how to ask better questions that go nearer the heart of things, where the greatest satisfactions are most likely to be found. In the process, you struck up lasting friendships with the spirits of some of our long-dead authors—permanent friendships that will stand you in good stead as the vicissitudes of life deprive you of other friendships. And finally, most exceptional of all, you discovered the master key that unlocks all the book-granaries. For most of them are locked, as Socrates tells us. In the Phaedrus, Socrates claims that written documents are singularly uncommunicative. Partly, this is because they are static; if you question them, they always give the same response. Partly, it is because they cannot attend to the character or the needs of the reader. And partly, it is because the author is not present to defend his words or to correct his errors. So, Socrates concludes that writing is not a serious occupation, but at best a playful art of note-taking that produces reminders of what an author once thought. Far more important for seekers, he says, is dialectic—living conversation in which seeds of wisdom can be sown into the participants’ souls, where they may someday grow to nourish both mind and heart. It is high irony that we encounter this critique of writing in a text. This points up Plato’s extraordinary way of writing that overcomes the usual limitations of the written word, a way that does sow seeds of wisdom in the souls of readers by prompting them to engage in internal dialectic. The details of Plato’s method—his deployment of unresolvable contradictions, perplexing myths, tantalizing but questionable analogies, and a host of other tricks that push the reader out of the text into a dialectical self-conversation—that is a subject for a different speech on a different occasion. But most books, even great books, do not stimulate dialectic on their own. Most of them are of the sort that Socrates criticized—static, always responding to questions in the same way. And because many of the best books are extraordinarily difficult, their unchanging responses are often cryptic. Their granaries remain, for the most part, under lock and key. 2 �The master key that opens all of them, as you well know, is serious conversation. Serious conversation—by which I mean the sustained, focused inquiry of a cooperative group of seekers after wisdom—supplies the necessary dialectic. When we share our perplexities and try out answers, when we interpret, reinterpret, and test interpretations against one another—in short, when we search together in our classes, we turn the dialectical key that opens up the stores. We shake out the seeds of wisdom so they can, with any luck, take root in our souls. But serious conversation achieves even more than that. It cuts through the usual divisions among us. If, as Aristotle says, all human beings desire to know, then serious conversation sets us all upon equal ground, uniting us in our common role as seekers. Serious conversation makes it possible for us to have meaningful, civil, respectful, and thoughtful exchanges about issues that, in unserious conversation, explode into animosity, hatred, and even violence. And you have learned how to do this. Summing up, then, your distinctions and achievements: You are book lovers, and, what is more, genuine readers, which is to say, seekers after wisdom. You have enhanced your seeking by practicing and honing your command of the art of questioning. You have created permanent, inspirational friendships with some of the authors we study. And you have learned how to use serious conversation to scatter seeds of wisdom and promote mutual understanding. All in all, as achievements go, this is not too shabby. So much for the going Janus-face. In the coming direction, however, the scene has no clear outlines. About your exceptional distinctions and attainments in the future I can make out less than nothing. The only fairly certain relief is that each of you will apply your common distinctions and attainments uniquely. But since the future is malleable, I’d like to encourage you to lead at least part of it in a common direction. Wherever your futures take you, I urge you all to carry on the practice of serious conversation. It is now common wisdom that our society is almost irreparably fractured, that we have become too self-opinionated and truculent to speak with—or even to want to speak with— those who hold differing opinions. But you know this to be false wisdom. Serious conversation is possible. You’ve done it. You’ve participated in searching—yet sociable and productive—discussions about God, for God’s sake, and politics too—topics far too combustible for unserious conversation like cocktail-party chitchat. Since among your attainments is the art of serious conversation, you can use that skill to relieve the epidemic of misanthropy and misology as few others can. You can have, or at least try to have, serious conversations with the people in your lives. I’m not suggesting that you set up St. John’s-style seminars among your friends and acquaintances. That’s too far a stretch. I’m encouraging something more spontaneous, something that can arise during lunch breaks or television commercials or taxi rides. Such little serious conversations don’t have to last long. Many people can’t sustain serious conversation for more than a few minutes anyway. These little talks don’t have to be about books. Most people, as I said, don’t care about books. And Socrates didn’t need texts to have serious conversations. 3 �But they do have to be serious—that is, directed at the truth about something that matters to the way we understand and lead our lives. Pushing a social conversation a tiny bit in the direction of universals, just far enough to strain the limits of routine, may make some seeds scatter. One or two of them might someday take root. Can this sort of thing make a dent in the wall of animosity? Who knows? You may inspire others to seek in ways they had not sought before. With enough inspiration, perhaps attitudes would soften, perhaps the compulsion to be right and to impose that rightness on others would give way to the milder and healthier compulsion to seek wisdom. Does this sound hopelessly idealistic? So what? Change takes time. The Grand Canyon wasn’t cut overnight. It was etched slowly over eons by the infinitesimal scratchings of innumerable water molecules, each one effecting next to nothing. Why couldn’t a similar process work to transform the landscape of human nature? At the very end of Middlemarch, George Eliot sums up the life of her protagonist, Dorothea Brande. In her youth, Dorothea dreamed of transforming society for the benefit of the less fortunate. A misconceived first marriage and a socially unacceptable second marriage made it impossible for her to realize her youthful dreams. Nevertheless, Eliot judges that her influence was inestimable. Here is the closing paragraph of the book: Her finely touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. I quote this not to imply that you should abjure a life of achievement. That would be foolish to suggest to you, who are already so accomplished. By all means, if you wish, reach out like Cyrus and bend the world to your will—provided your will inclines toward truth and love. But I do say that, in the matter of serious conversation, your influence will mostly go unnoticed, even by yourselves. It could hardly be otherwise, since the fruits of serious conversation do not ripen in the visible world. And yet, your husbandry may prove to be incalculably diffusive, making things not so ill as they might otherwise be for generations yet unborn. And so, I hope you won’t think it too impertinent of me to conclude this farewell-thatis-also-a-greeting by begging of you this simple, but audacious, favor: Please, on occasion, in all the goings and comings of all the Nows of the rest of your lives, please, spare a thought for the planting of seeds. 4 � 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms 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 Word doc Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 4 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 Commencement Address, Graduate Institute, Summer 2017 Description An account of the resource Typescript of the commencement address given on August 4, 2017 by Bill Pastille at the end of the Summer 2017 semester in Annapolis, MD. Entitled "Goings and Comings". Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pastille, William Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A signed permission form has been received stating, "I hereby grant St. John's College permission to: Make an audio recording of my lecture, and retain copies for circulation and archival preservation in the St. John's College Greenfield Library. Make a typescript copy of my lecture available for circulation and archival preservation in the St. John's College Greenfield Library. Make a copy of my typescript available online." 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 Pastille Goings and Comings (GI Commencement Address 2017-08-04) Commencement Graduate Institute Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/241c097068e331e110888fe7733c0df3.pdf b0a5e43d84680c6e4be9d6adf3f7e00e PDF Text Text Commencement Address St. John’s College, Annapolis given William Pastille material may be protected by law (Title 17 U.S. Code) At every moment, Life demands that we choose between Love and Strife, between the powers that bind and those that loose. If we do not hear the urgency of this demand, it is because we do not live fully in the present moment. Most of our attention streams away toward the remembered past or imagined future, relaxing our bond with the vivid Here and Now until we drift too far off to hear the voice of Life above a whisper. But today, with music, ceremony, and speeches, we try to dam the flood of inattention, to focus on the Now, on this single moment, which is both ending and beginning for all qf you who are about to receive degrees. If you search your feelings in this moment, you will find two commingled emotions: melancholy — for all that is past and gone, for a way of Efe that can never be relived - and expectancy — for all that is yet to come, for a way of life that you are hoping to create. Please remember this composite feeling, because it is the feeling that lives in the heart of every Now. When we are not experiencing this twofold emotion, we are not really in touch with the present, but have allowed our habits of inattention to separate us from the Now. In this state of habitual inattention, we nevertheless carry on the daily work of Efe: people are fed, cities and empires built, careers made and unmade, children reared, and academies of higher learning established for the purpose of passing knowledge and tradition from generation to generation. At this ceremony, and at thousands of others Eke it to be held across the nation today and in the coming weeks, those of us who serve and support the academy will confer upon you and upon your counterparts at other institutions the outward signs that we have discharged our duty, and that you, by completing rigorous courses of study, have increased in knowledge and learning. In thousands of speeches we will extol your virtues; we will praise you for your fortitude, perseverance, and intelligence; we will encourage you to develop your talents further, and to fulfil your promise; we will impress upon you the solemn obligation that you pass the baton of learning to the next generation; and we will express our pride in your achievements, for we honor the devotion, the toil, and the sacrifice that nourished your success. It is altogether fitting and proper for us to do this. But even on such a congratulatory occasion, a decent regard for truth and for honest self-criticism compels me to speak of failure as well as success — my failure, the failure of my generation, and of all who consider themselves teachers, mentors, and leaders in all walks of Efe. For the truth is that we have failed you. We have failed you because, being human, the better �angels of our nature are often bested by the worse; and because, being consequently inconstant, we preach ideals that we foil to honor in deeds; and because, being consequently hypocritical, we are forced to hide painful truths from ourselves; and because, being consequently ignorant, we hand down to you truth and falsehood mixed indiscriminately in unknown proportions. Among the falsehoods which we have given you to believe far too easily is this: that knowledge is an unqualified good. It is no such thing. For insofar as knowledge is power, it corrupts as power corrupts; and insofar as it is taken to be an unqualified good, it corrupts surreptitiously. Knowledge can ally itself with the slightest weakness of character and with any unexamined prejudice, transmuting unjust, intolerant, or self-centered attitudes into the figures of intelligence and ignorance: a latent racism, sexism, or class prejudice can manifest itself as an empirical observation that this or that individual is just not as intelligent as we. Egotism, above all, joins readily with knowledge, leading to the eihpirical observation that no one is quite as intelligent as we, and to the logical conclusion that everyone needs to be inoculated with ample doses of our own personal wisdom. You have witnessed something of this here, in the microcosm of the classroom, whenever I or one of my colleagues have used our familiarity with the books on the program or our knowledge of other sources as unfair advantages to attain a position of power in discussion, or to maintain a tenor of authority, or to sustain our own sense of intellectual superiority, perhaps going so far as to be dismissive, even rude, to students or to other tutors whom we regard as less knowledgeable, less experienced, or less sagacious than ourselves. Such behavior clearly creates estrangement and disaffection, scattering seeds of Strife about the world; it can only be the work of our worse angels. And yet I fear that some of you admire the ability to wield knowledge as a form of power, and are planning to master the skill through fbrther schooling. I earnestly hope that my fear is misplaced; I hope all of you understand that having and using such a skill is not worth the risk of planting a single seed of Strife in a single human soul. If the temptation to brandish knowledge as a weapon can infiltrate even here, where we have an official rhetoric that cautions us against the danger, how much harm is it doing out there, in classrooms and boardrooms, in factories and chambers of government where no such caution exists? - where knowledge is valued precisely and only for its fearsome aspect of power? In the world in which we live, knowledge consorts with Strife; and the belief that knowledge is an unqualified good has precluded your seeking out the one force able to Uberate knowledge from the dominion of Strife: Only Love can conquer Strife. page 2 �Only Love can render knowledge harmless. Only Love can transform thought and sensibility into wisdom and compassion. Only Love can bind the separate moments of existence into a whole, meaningful life. But we have become such children of Strife that we no longer understand the universal application of Love. Because Love always involves submission to deep and overpowering feeling, we scrutinize it fearfully from within the protective cage of our current conception of rationality, which is, on the whole, a heartless, soulless intellectualism. Love requires the courage to hazard sentimentality; for the harm done by sentimentality - which can, after all, be educated, broadened, and elevated — is very light compared to the harm done by fear of sentimentality — which, like all fear, is an implacable agent of Strife. Love requires us to feel deeply» and to be carried away by feeling. Fortunately, there is always nearby one thing — the present moment — with which we can practice our ability to love. If we can learn to love the Now, which is to live fully in the present that is always with us, then the unifying force of Love will always be close at hand to shield us from the divisive force of Strife. And we are already prepared halfway, because we know the heart of the Now, we know the twofold feeling of melancholy and expectancy. To make a beginning, we must carry the memory of that feeling with us at all times; we must cultivate that feeling until the poignancy and fragility of the moment swells in our hearts, catches in our throats, brings tears to our eyes. Then comes the hard part — we must give ourselves over completely to the feeling welling up from within and to the moment embracing us from without, until we seem almost to forget our own existence. Because this is the essence of Love: sublation of self in the enveloping presence of the beloved. If you can love the moment this intensely — as Penelope loved Odysseus, as Dante loved Beatrice, as you loved when you first fell madly in love — then your knowledge will work no injury, nor will the seeds of Strife take root in your soul; and the failings of your teachers, mentors, and leaders will be redeemed. For Love makes all hurt as thou^ it had not been. At every moment. Life demands that we choose between Love and Strife. For the sake of the world in which you were raised, for your own sakes, and for the sake of the world to come, which you will help to fashion: please, please, please - choose Love, � 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms 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. 3 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 Commencement Address, Spring 1998 Description An account of the resource Typescript of the commencement address given on May 17, 1998 by William Pastille at the end of the Spring 1998 semester in Annapolis, MD. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pastille, William Alfred, 1954- Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-05-17 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A signed permission form has been received stating, "I hereby grant St. John’s College permission to: make typescript copies of my event available for circulation and archival preservation at the St. John’s College Greenfield Library. Make a copy the typescript of my event available online." Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource Love Presence (Philosophy) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Pastille_William_1998-05-17_Typescript Commencement Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/2cb28ab9fe12c7149504a725500187a2.pdf aacb090b6618eede96611e8793012732 PDF Text Text President  Nelson,  Members  of  the  Board,  Colleagues  of  the  Faculty  and  Staff,  Parents  and   Families,  Honored  Guests,  and  Members  of  the  Class  of  2016:   “So  after  St.  John’s,  what’s  next?”—the  opening  question  you’ve  no  doubt  been  asked  in  one   form  or  another  by  close  friends,  relatives,  and  remoter  acquaintances,  with  varying  degrees  of   curiosity,  interest,  or  maybe  even  skepticism  and  irony.  But  you  should  be  ready  for  this.  You’ve   already  felt  each  of  these  modalities  yourselves  on  occasion  during  the  long  hours  of  your   tutorials,  preceptorials,  and  seminars  here.  You  met  all  of  them  together  in  the  course  of   Socrates’  conversation  with  Meno,  which  you  read  and  puzzled  over  in  your  first  seminar   encounter  with  the  Dialogues  of  Plato.  Remember?  Come  to  think  of  it,  this  dialogue  makes  the   claim  that  learning  is  remembering,  or  so  I  recall.  But  this  question  What’s  next?—does  it  mean   that  you’ve  finished,    that  you’re  ready  now  and  should  now  move  on  to  something  different,   as  newly  minted  Bachelors  of  Arts  or  Masters  of  Arts,  either  onto  something  else,  or  back  to   whatever  you  were  doing  full  time,  or  perhaps  to  retirement?  And  is  this  something,  whatever   it  may  be,  somehow  more  real?  Well  you  might  wonder,  but  then  you  also  remember  that   wonder  is  the  beginning  of  philosophy,  and  so  you’re  off  and  at  it  once  again!   But  wait!  Is  this  but  an  endless  circle  to  which  you,  like  Gabriel  Conroy  in  Joyce’s  The  Dead,  have   been  consigned,  to  a  kind  of  “thought-­‐tormented”  life,  to  be  haunted  by  echoes  of  the  books   you’ve  read  and  the  conversations  you’ve  had  here?  Isn’t  “what’s  next”  supposed  to  be   different  and  elsewhere?  Even  if  you  find  kindred  souls  interested  enough  to  hear  about  what   you’ve  done  here,  it  probably  shouldn’t  be  more  than  an  elevator  speech,  but  don’t  count  on   even  getting  that  far.  I  recall  an  alumna  telling  me  some  years  back  that  at  her  Harvard  Law   orientation  she  met  an  equally  new  Ivy  league  alum  who  on  hearing  she  had  studied  here  cut   her  off,  saying,  “Oh  yeah,  that’s  the  big  books  school,”  and  who  then  went  on  to  tell  her  at   great  length  about  where  he  went  and  what  he  did.  I’m  inclined  to  think  that  the  kinds  of  books   and  manuals  that  fill  the  shelves  of  the  learned  professions  are  truly  the  big  books,  filled  with   lots  of  important  and  useful  knowledge,  but  not  great  ones.  I’m  also  reminded  here  of  the   aphorism  in  Epictetus’s  Handbook,  a  very  different  kind  of  manual,  where  he  claims  that   “when  a  man  says  to  you  that  you  know  nothing,  then  be  sure  that  you  have  begun  the  work  of   philosophy.”  He  adds  a  corollary  to  this  by  way  of  a  memorable  analogy:   For  even  sheep  do  not  throw  up  grass  to  show  to  the  shepherds  how  much  they  have   eaten;  but  when  they  have  internally  digested  the  pasture,  they  produce  externally  wool   and  milk.  Do  not  show  your  theorems  to  the  uninstructed,  but  show  the  acts  which   come  from  their  digestion.     What  are  these  acts?  I  would  suggest  that  they  are  a  kind  of  thinking,  of  listening,  and  of   learning  that  can  continue  to  open  up  new  possibilities  for  self-­‐knowledge  and  generous   endeavor,  for  life  in  a  word.  The  context  for  this  may  be  whatever  you  ultimately  pursue—or   what  some  are  already  pursuing-­‐  whether  it  be  in  a  courtroom,  a  classroom,  an  office,  a   laboratory,  a  sanctuary,  an  embassy,  a  farm,  a  hospital,  or  a  vineyard.  You  now  have   considerable  practice  in  certain  habits  of  mind  and  heart  and  imagination  that  have  opened  you   to  the  books  you’ve  read  here,  the  propositions  and  equations  and  lab  practica  that  you’ve   1   �demonstrated  and  worked  through,  the  music  that  you’ve  sung—these  are  all  part  of  you.  Over   time,  you’ll  probably  forget  many  of  the  details  of  much  of  this,  except  perhaps  the  music   you’ve  sung—memory  has  such  a  mysterious  power,  retaining  tunes  and  rhythms,  even  as   nearly  everything  else  seems  to  fade  slowly  away.  And  the  way  you’ve  done  all  of  this  and  the   people  you’ve  done  it  with  are  amateurs  all,  lovers  in  the  root  sense  of  that  word,  enamored  of   a  kind  of  learning  that  is  meant  to  liberate,  to  free,  to  enable  life  and  growth.  Such  growth  and   change  are  evidence  of  life.  John  Henry  Newman,  a  favorite  thinker  of  mine,  put  it  thus:  “To   grow  is  to  change,  to  be  perfect  is  to  have  changed  often.”       Think  back  to  when  you  first  came  here.  The  convocation,  then  the  gathering  afterwards,   meeting  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  question.  Do  you  still   remember  what  it  was?  How  much  can  you  recall  of  the  discussion  that  followed?—the  first  of   so  many  that  were  to  follow  in  classes  and  in  conversations  outside  afterwards,  testing  the   books,  finding  out  what  you  really  believe  and  what  you  have  doubts  about,  listening  to  what   others  think,  pushing  your  limits  and  having  them  pushed,  finding  ground  and  losing  ground,   feeling  keenly  what  may  be  at  stake  in  the  difference  between  mere  opinion  and  right  opinion,   let  alone  knowledge—all  challenging,  frustrating,  wonderful!  No  longer  mere  spectators,  you   were  off  and  in  it!  And  it  might  have  seemed  had  you  walked  through  the  halls  with  all  these   seminars  simultaneously  convened  that  Homer  and  Lucretius  and  Cervantes  and  Tolstoy  were   mysteriously  present,  despite  the  array  of  translations  -­‐  prosaic,  poetic,  or  plodding.  Like  the   shades  Odysseus  met  in  Hades,  revived  by  the  sacrificial  blood  of  Circe’s  sheep,  these  authors   breathed  and  spoke  again,  but  all  of  them  in  the  modern  barbaric  tongue  of  English.     Since  that  first  day,  you  have  been  on  your  way,  on  a  path  undertaken  with  deliberation  and   hope,  only  gradually  realizing  what  you  had  gotten  yourself  into—the  reading  lists  of  the  books   providing  an  itinerary  of  sorts,  a  long  list  of  places  where  you  must  stop,  with  no  indication  of   what  you  might  actually  see,  whom  you  would  meet,  where  you  might  finish.  My,  but  you  were   really  in  it  now!  This  trek  has  been  both  exhausting  and  exhilarating,  with  lots  of  trudging  along   on  stony  paths  (you  can  name  inwardly  here  which  books  and  exercises  mark  them)  with   roadblocks,  detours,  and  delays;  but  also  with  glorious  mornings  and  golden  afternoons,  when   an  elegant  proof,  a  beautiful  poem,  a  moving  piece  of  music,  a  difficult  lab  reading  sparked  a   conversation  in  which  a  class  working  together  caught  a  glimpse  of  something  beautiful  and   true.  What  should  such  a  trek  be  named—Odyssey,  Exodus,  pilgrimage?  Each  of  these  has  a   goal.  But  does  any  of  them  have  an  ending?   You’ve  done  so  much  in  so  little  time—perhaps  too  much.  So  much  greatness  in  such  brief   compass  can  be  overwhelming.  There’s  a  clinical  name  for  the  kind  of  disorder  that  comes  from   extended  exposure  to  experiences  of  great  personal  significance.  It’s  called  the  Stendahl   syndrome,  named  for  the  French  novelist  who  described  a  very  disturbing  reaction  he   experienced  while  visiting  the  city  of  Florence  in  1817.  Prior  to  this,  Stendahl,  who  served  under   Napoleon  during  his  Russian  campaign,  had  witnessed  the  burning  of  Moscow  and   subsequently  arranged  for  supplies  prior  to  the  French  army’s  retreat  to  Smolensk,  yet  he   suffered  no  ill  effects.  After  the  war,  however,  coming  to  Florence  with  its  immense  treasury  of   2   �Medieval  and  Renaissance  art,  he  viewed  the  frescos  of  Giotto  in  the  Basilica  of  Santa  Croce  and   reported  being  overcome  with  an  initial  feeling  of  ecstasy,  which  was  quickly  followed  by  acute   psychosomatic  symptoms  that  included  heart  palpitations,  nervousness,  fear  of  falling,  and  a   general  sense  that  life  had  been  drained  from  him.  The  last  of  these  is  something  some  of  you   may  have  felt  recently.  The  prescribed  clinical  antidote  for  the  Stendahl  syndrome  is  removal   and  rest;  Stendahl’s  own  solution  was  to  exit  Santa  Croce  and  find  a  bench  outside  where  he   read  some  Italian  poetry.  Similarly,  David  Hume,  finding  himself  in  a  splenetic  humor  as  he   drew  near  the  end  of  Part  I  of  his  celebrated  Treatise,  called  this  sense  of  being  overwhelmed   “philosophical  melancholy  and  delirium.”  He  sought  relief  in  the  lively  impressions  that  come   with  dining,  conversing  with  friends,  and  playing  backgammon,  necessary  remedies  for  too   much  philosophy.     So  what  did  you  do  to  restore  equilibrium  while  studying  here?  Retreat  to  our  gym,  aptly  called   Temple  Iglehart?  Play  intramurals,  make  music  with  friends,  play  in  the  orchestra;  sing  in  one  of   the  many  vocal  groups,  large  or  small;  in  a  Fine  Arts  workshop  draw  or  paint  or  sculpt  or  throw   pots,  for  yourself  or  for  the  Mitchell  Gallery  Community  Art  Show;  act  or  work  with  the  King   William  Players?  Did  you  go  running  through  this  town  of  Anglo-­‐Palladian  architectural   beauty—but  focused  on  your  running,  of  course;  or  pursue  different  kinds  of  work  in  an  off-­‐ campus  job  or  profession,  or  play  chess  or  billiards  or  croquet?  Or  did  you  work  as  an  intern  for   the  state  legislature,  tutor  kids  at  the  Stanton  center,  or  write  for  The  Gadfly,  Energeia,  The   Epoch,  or  a  blog?  Whichever  of  these  you  were  in  brought  all  of  us  in  the  College  into  a  larger   life  as  it  is  lived  here  and  beyond  these  thirty  or  so  acres—and  these  other  pursuits  will   continue  to  do  so  beyond  your  time  here.  It  seems  that  the  nature  of  human  institutions  is  such   that  the  first  time  for  anything  is  typically  regarded  as  a  radical  innovation  and  is  thus   somewhat  suspect;  is  it  the  second  or  third  time  that  makes  it  a  tradition?  It  seems  that  in  a   four-­‐year  college,  the  fourth  year  should  make  it  a  venerable  tradition.  Think  of  croquet,  yes;   but  think  also  of  the  Program.   Books  with  a  balance;  both  of  these  emblems  grace  our  college  seal.  You  have  read  and   discussed  these  books  freely  and  collaboratively  in  this  distinctive  community  that  is  St.  John’s   College.  You  have  sought,  pursued,  and  practiced  the  activities  that  complement  and  balance   its  heady,  intellectual  life.  It  is  thus  so  fitting  that  College  tradition  has  had  you  toast  together   four  republics  in  the  special  social  gatherings  of  this  final  week:  the  Republic  of  The  United   States,  the  Republic  of  Letters,  the  Republic  of  St.  John’s  College,  and  the  Republic  of  Plato,  for   each  of  these  strives  to  express  the  necessary  balance  that  enables  and  fosters  human   excellence.  Plato's  Republic  and  the  Republic  of  Letters  both  predate  the  College  and  the  United   States,  and  both  recognize  the  community  of  those  who  seek  the  truth,  regardless  of  native   country,  culture,  or  religious  belief.  St.  John's,  from  its  founding  in  the  early  days  of  the   American  Republic,  has  aspired  to  be  an  instantiation  of  these  venerable  antecedent  republics.   The  international  students  in  both  programs  are  representatives  of  this  global  community  of   free  inquiry.  You  have  enriched  the  conversation  here  so  much!  As  living  communities  these   four  republics  can  thrive  only  through  the  continued  thoughtfulness  and  engagement  of  men   and  women  such  as  all  of  you  are  who  graduate  here  today,  your  energy  and  engagement,  your   conscience  and  sense  of  social  justice,  your  willingness  to  speak  out  clearly  and  to  act   3   �deliberately,  your  ability  to  listen  generously  as  well  as  critically,  and  your  imagination  and   flexibility.     And  here  you  are,  graduating  on  this  fifteenth  of  May,  2016,  having  realized  most  likely  that  the   last  seminar  reading  you’ve  just  read  and  discussed  is  not  the  end  of  the  path,  regardless  of   whether  it  was  on  Plato,  or  Nietzsche,  or  Kierkegaard,  or  Gibbon.  You’ve  reached  another   milestone,  doubtless  an  important  one,  but  the  path  goes  on  to  wherever  and  whatever  you   genuinely  find  yourself  in.  This  occasion  is  most  commendable  and  worthy  of  celebration,  but   you  haven’t  finished  yet  and  you  know  it.  Congratulations!  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.   Finally,  I  will  not  let  you  go  without  hearing  one  more  poem,  an  appropriate  one  for  this   occasion,  I  think:  Wendell  Berry’s  “The  Vacation.”   The  Vacation   Once  there  was  a  man  who  filmed  his  vacation.   He  went  flying  down  the  river  in  his  boat   with  his  video  camera  to  his  eye,  making   a  moving  picture  of  the  moving  river   upon  which  his  sleek  boat  moved  swiftly   toward  the  end  of  his  vacation.  He  showed   his  vacation  to  his  camera,  which  pictured  it,   preserving  it  forever:  the  river,  the  trees,   the  sky,  the  light,  the  bow  of  his  rushing  boat   behind  which  he  stood  with  his  camera   preserving  his  vacation  even  as  he  was  having  it   so  that  after  he  had  had  it  he  would  still   have  it.    It  would  be  there.  With  a  flick   of  a  switch,  there  it  would  be.  But  he    would  not  be  in  it.  He  would  never  be  in  it.   (Credit:  Copyright  ©  2012  by  Wendell  Berry,  from  New  Collected  Poems.   Reprinted  by  permission  of  Counterpoint.)   4   � 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms 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 digital Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 4 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 Commencement Address, Spring 2016 Description An account of the resource Typescript of the commencement address given on May 16, 2016 by Tom May at the end of the Spring 2016 semester in Annapolis, MD. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource May, Thomas Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-05-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission has been granted. 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 Relation A related resource <a href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/6580" title="Audio Recording">Audio Recording</a> Commencement Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/1f469fbb5764c06f4c8d499e450bf4c0.mp3 139816c6ed6b15bea59a2ccb68d240bf 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data wav Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 023:22 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 Commencement Address, Spring 2016 Description An account of the resource Audio recording of the commencement address given on May 16, 2016 by Thomas May at the end of the Spring 2016. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource May, Thomas Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-05-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A signed permission form has been received stating, "I hereby grant St. John's College permission to make an audio recording of my lecture, and retain copies for circulation and archival preservation at the St. John's College Greenfield Library and to make an audio recording of my lecture available online." Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Relation A related resource <a href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/925" title="Typescript">Typescript</a> Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Commencement Address, Spring 2016, May, Thomas 05-16-16 Commencement Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/3b8a866eb9185bd9ce19710c20af42d0.pdf 2b7abbb7d5da40ae9ca42ae7f6cda85d PDF Text Text “Fit for the World” Commencement Address, May 2017 St. John’s College in Annapolis Christopher B. Nelson Thank you for the honor of the invitation to address you today. The last time I did so, you had no choice in the matter, as you seniors were just embarking on the four-year adventure of your studies at the College, while you in the Graduate Institute were just undertaking an exciting extension of your formal studies. In August of 2013, when most of you arrived, I welcomed you to the Wonderland that is St. John’s College. Today we send you out into the World, another kind of Wonderland. Indeed, I have wondered at something Scott Buchanan said nearly 50 years ago about the relationship between these two worlds. Most of you know that Buchanan was the principal architect of the New Program of study brought to St. John's College in 1937. That New Program, back when Buchanan was dean, was in large measure much like the program we enjoy today. Shortly before he died in 1968, Buchanan was interviewed by his old friend, Harris Wofford. These conversations were collected in a book entitled Embers of the World: Conversations with Scott Buchanan. The book closes with a comment by Buchanan that has bothered me since I first read it some 45 years ago. It was this: "We used to say at St. John's that we were preparing people to be misfits, and we meant that in a very broad sense. Perhaps misfits in the universe for the time being." I can imagine that if I were to affirm that statement without explanation and close these remarks now, some of you would demand a refund of your tuition. So, you can understand why I have been restless for all these years, wondering at Buchanan’s remark while serving as your president. At long last, I thought I ought at least to make an effort to understand why Buchanan said this, what he meant by it, and whether I thought it was true, for your sake as well as my own. The Case for the Misfit Why might it be a positive good that the College should be preparing you to be “misfits” in the world? Consider, for example, the place of a misfit in a world characterized by conflict, where change is sought through violence alone, where rhetorical force is laced with fear-mongering or hatred. Such a misfit might bring reason to bear on the rancor, and imagination to the resolution of conflict. Or consider a world that is so conventional that people rarely contribute anything original or inventive …. where so little of our natural human capacity, and none of our imagination, is exercised! What kind of world would it be if everyone acted as though they had the answers to life and no one had any questions of it? What is the place of a misfit in a world that is out of joint? Or a world that has reduced all value to an economic metaphor? Where everything has a price and nothing is priceless? Where the end of life is service to the global economy? And the end of education is simply to fit one for the marketplace! Page 1 of 6 �What is the place of a misfit in a world governed by one rule only: that it’s what we can get for ourselves that counts, a world that does not accept that it is in our nature to do good for one another? Many of you will recognize those worlds or will imagine that all of these descriptions characterize aspects of the world we live in. The world is hardly perfect; a misfit may be what it needs from time to time to get it on a better path. Perhaps when Buchanan spoke of preparing “misfits in the universe for the time being,” he meant that misfits entering the world today could help shape the world of tomorrow, one that would be a better fit for the imaginative, reform-minded individual. Question: Why is Socrates so beloved of many of us at St. John’s? Is it because he was a misfit in the world of Athens? Recall his argument for the defense in Plato’s Apology: “I was attached to this city by the god – though it seems a ridiculous thing to say – as upon a great and noble horse which was somewhat sluggish because of its size and needed to be stirred by a kind of gadfly. It is to fulfill some such function that I believe the god has placed me in the city. I never cease to rouse each and every one of you, to persuade and reproach you all day long and everywhere I find myself in your company.” Socrates even likened himself to Achilles, who despised death rather than shirk his responsibility to avenge his friend and live the life of a coward ever after. If Socrates is a kind of hero to many of us, dare we ask whether we are prepared to be the gadfly he claimed to be and run the risks he ran? It is a lot of trouble to speak truth to power, and it takes courage. Recall Antigone, a heroine to many! Are we prepared to make the sacrifice she made for her defense of community mores that were out of favor in a kingdom itself out of joint? Are these the kinds of misfits Buchanan was talking about? Are these sacrifices to be expected of you? You want to be a doctor or lawyer, a soldier or farmer, a writer or painter, a scientist or engineer, a teacher or librarian. You are attracted to politics, or investment banking, or the revolution in technology. These are all fitting occupations in our world, all useful to it. Was Buchanan speaking of you when he said what he did? What should distinguish you from others in the worlds you are entering when you leave here? When Buchanan made his remark about misfits in the universe, he seemed to have used it as a punctuation to his reflection on the fate of tragic heroes. He understood that people generally identify tragedy with calamity or death, but he thought that these were merely accidental to the real point: that tragedy is about blindness and recognition, what the hero or heroine has learned from some misfortune, like Oedipus recognizing who he is - his father's killer, his mother's husband, and his children's brother - and then destroying his offending eyes that were useless to his recognition of himself as the source of the pollution in Thebes! This may be why we sometimes call such a protagonist a "tragic hero," someone "willing to pay the price for a certain kind of integrity and rationality and honesty...," Buchanan would say. He even went Page 2 of 6 �so far as to say that "happiness would be the life of a hero...who's willing to pay the price" for that integrity for he will have "maintained his soul." Such happiness can extract a high price, sometimes beyond the breaking point, he acknowledged. (Of course, the tragic hero may also come to recognize his blindness without enjoying the happiness that might have followed. Recall Othello, confronting his green-eyed monster; or Lear, his blindness to a daughter’s love.) Ask yourselves: Is this what you have been up to at St. John’s College: stretching your imagination, confronting your blindness and ignorance, and coming to some recognition, however tentative, of who you are in all your imperfection, what propels you to go where you must, what calls you to do what you will, what gives each of you a singular soul, what makes you whole? Do you recognize that you have sometimes been brought to a breaking point, when it hurt you to accept your blindness of something or someone, or when you heard a voice within you that you hardly recognized confront you with a truth you wished you could deny but could not? Are you prepared to keep asking these questions when you leave here, alive to the learning now begun? Do you have the courage to maintain your integrity in a world that may often seem not to care for what you think or who you are? Will you continue this search for an understanding of yourself and your world while engaged in the career you may choose to pursue, even if you should confront an uncomfortable truth about the work you are doing? The Case for the World I recognize that in trying to make a good home for our misfit, I may have come down pretty hard on the world, blaming it for our woes, setting up heroes and heroines to confront it. I now would ask you to look again at that world. In your four years at the College, you have been asking as many questions of your world as you have of yourselves. You have studied the heavens above and the earth below, the movement of planets and the elements of matter, the conception and growth of living things and the relation of their parts to their wholes, the laws of nature (such as they are) and the forces at work in the world - even spooky action at a distance. In the world of human affairs, you have studied political, societal, religious, psychological, historical, economic, and ethical forces that have more or less shaped the societies we live in … or vice versa. These forces may seem more capricious than those you have studied in the laboratory, but they have nonetheless influenced the world you will be living in, the world that belongs to you as much as you belong to it. The mysteries of the human heart, and of the soul within you, are every bit as wondrous as the mysteries of the political and the natural worlds. And so you have asked questions of the world, in part because it is your nature to wish to know, in part because you wish to know your place within that world, and in part, I dare say, because it is your world and you are bent on loving it as you love yourselves. It will be your love of the world that will bridge the divide between you and it. Page 3 of 6 �Your world needs you; it needs your desire to understand it, your openness to what it has to teach you, your acceptance of its imperfections, and your sincere wish and best efforts to be useful to it because you care for it as it has cared for you, however unconscious that care may have been. The Case for the Hero in the World Once again, consider Socrates and how he put the case in his own defense: that he was a gift of the god, and that he was attached “as upon a great and noble horse” that needed to be stirred. That great and noble horse was the City of Athens, the world’s first democracy of any sort, the city that reared and educated the man, the city that Socrates so loved he would not trade a death sentence in Athens for life in any other city. This was Socrates’s world. He saw his service as a gadfly to be a divine gift, a gift of love for his world in the hope that he could help Athens recognize the corruption within it, correct its course and recover its integrity. How different is Socrates’s world from ours? In her essay When I was a Child I Read Books, Marilynne Robinson located the American Western hero on the frontier, something she called “neither a place nor a thing.” Such a hero could perhaps be located someplace in the imagination, on a frontier of society, a frontier of science, a frontier of medicine or law or technology or any other discipline you might commit yourselves to. The frontier might be on the edge of a habitable wilderness, at a town hall meeting, in the workplace, or even within the warmth of a household. These frontiers will always remain open. Robinson described the archetypal hero or heroine as sometimes a visionary, sometimes a critic, sometimes a rescuer or an avenger, expressing discontent with the status quo and a willingness, perhaps even a calling, to seek change, always with a positive interest in the good of society. But she added something more, a reflection on the beauty of human society: “Rousseau said men are born free, yet everywhere they are in chains. Since the time of the Hebrew prophets it has been the role of the outsider to loosen those chains, or lengthen them, if only by bringing the rumor of a life lived otherwise.” The Allegory of the Cave in Plato’s Republic reminds us that we need help to break the chains that have kept us staring comfortably at the mere shadows of things; that we need to be turned around to face the reality that has been hidden from us; that we need to be dragged up the rocky slope and out into the light of the sun where we can see the extraordinary beauty of the world of things as they are; and that the journey up is a painful one. We realize how exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, it must be to make this journey to understanding alone. We need that “outsider” to shake us up and help us free ourselves to make lives worthy of our humanity. The Case for Your Education This image of the lone individual in society should be a familiar one. Consider the paradox you face every day in your education at our College: the learning you each come to enjoy is yours alone, but you pursue it in the company of others. You make from the bits and pieces that you have read, heard, and thought through, something entirely new that belongs to you alone. And yet, you have needed others Page 4 of 6 �around you, helping you with your discoveries of the world, helping you uncover unsettling truths about yourselves, and opening fruitful paths to your learning. Nonetheless, what you have learned you have freely learned (it is your learning, not a learned professor’s or someone else’s.) That freedom has helped you develop an adaptable mind, equally open to tradition and to progress, one that gives you practice in the art of inquiry, in asking the questions the human race has asked since mankind first began to speak. They are questions arising from the depths of wonder; questions revealing the vast extent of your ignorance about the world and about yourselves; questions demonstrating a startling truth: that your ignorance is the source of your greatest strength. For it is ignorance, not knowledge, that will propel you forward. It generates the desire to know, which draws you expectantly into the unknown. This humility of the intellect is actually a powerful force. We often call it wisdom, and it is one of the things the world needs: a good understanding of how to develop and where to direct our desire to know and our desire to be better women and men. This generative force is also something your professions will need, something your co-workers and neighbors will need and hopefully appreciate, and something your children will need to live well in the world they will one day inherit. You are fit to enter the world, having had four years of practice in the art of recognition without having to pay the price of an Oedipus or an Antigone or an Othello or a Lear. You have had this practice within the confines of a relatively safe classroom and among friends who have helped you recognize what you don’t know and what you still need to learn to grapple with what the world will throw at you. These friends - the books and the natural objects of your study, your tutors, and your classmates – these friends have helped you understand both the limitations of your reach and the possibilities open to you. They have freed you from conventional thinking, freed you to doubt what you have been taught about the world, and thus freed you to imagine a world different from the one you find yourselves in and the possibility of a future that you may lay claim to one day, a future you may even help to shape. This mention of the power of the imagination reminds me of a story that may shed some light on what Buchanan might have had in mind when he said we were making misfits in the universe. Stringfellow Barr, president of St. John’s when Buchanan was dean, said this of his friend: “The difference between Scott and me was that when I see a baby, I’m enchanted with him; and Scott is always feeling, ‘Well, that’s not the baby I had in mind. Babies ought to do better than that.’ All human enterprises, including birth, seem to him a little disappointing. He’s a Platonist in the sense he’s got some notion of the baby in the back of his mind that no baby lives up to, whereas to me it’s such a miracle the little brat is alive – so what, if he has defects. His ears stick out and he’s cross-eyed, certainly, but he’s alive.” Barr was talking then about the birth of the St. John’s Program, but his observations about Buchanan – about Buchanan as a kind of Socrates – these observations may help us understand how Buchanan saw the world in general, and that only misfits were well fit to recognize the world as it is and the world as it is meant to be … and then to make the effort to do something to close the gap between the two. It is now your turn to take the gift of your education out into the world, which needs the open, thoughtful, loving stewards, critics, and visionaries you are capable of being. May you fare well and find happiness in this endeavor! Page 5 of 6 �Thank you! Page 6 of 6 � 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms 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 Word doc Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 6 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 Commencement Address, Spring 2017 Description An account of the resource Typescript of the commencement address given on May 14, 2017 by Christopher Nelson at the end of the Spring 2017 semester in Annapolis, MD. Entitled "Fit for the World." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nelson, Christopher B. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-05-14 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College has been given permission to make this item available online. 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 Commencement, Spring 2017 Chris Nelson Fit for the World May 14 2017 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Macfarland, Joseph C. Relation A related resource <a title="Audio recording" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/2179">Audio recording</a> Commencement Presidents Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/42532a7f90842826362584af4dff9845.mp3 28be47a0295d8c0c6f7b128a889decc8 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data mp3 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:23:20 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 Commencement Address, Spring 2017 Description An account of the resource Audio recording of the commencement address given on May 14, 2017 by Christopher Nelson at the end of the Spring 2017 semester in Annapolis, MD. Entitled "Fit for the World." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nelson, Christopher B. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-05-14 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Macfarland, Joseph C. Relation A related resource <a title="Typescript" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/2163">Typescript</a> Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJCAnnapolisGraduation2017 Commencement Deans Presidents Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/263ce199c8b4bf6b4cd73f6bd5dfd45e.mp3 5363a7d6b01d00b53febf56410b54f4e 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data wav Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:20:29 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 Commencement Address, Spring 2018 Description An account of the resource Audio recording of the commencement address given on May 13, 2018 by Matthew Holtzman at the end of the Spring 2018 semester in Annapolis, MD. Introduction by Panayiotis Kanelos. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Holtzman, Matthew Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-05-13 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kanelos, Panayiotis Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2018Graduation Relation A related resource <a href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/3870" title="Commencement Program">Commencement Program</a> Subject The topic of the resource Commencement (St. John's College, Annapolis, MD) Alumni Commencement Presidents Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/cb28883f5669c152184185ef9bf6a3bb.pdf a3c105aa99f1a2b01d4639e28f9f57e5 PDF Text Text COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS St. John’s College, Annapolis May 9, 2026 Rebecca Steiner Goldner Thank you so much to the class of 2026 for inviting me to speak with you today. Many of you know that, come springtime, I have a question I regularly ask seniors. I do not ask where you will head after graduation or what work or school you have planned for the future. Instead, the question I like to ask seniors is “what will you read next?”. There is an assumption behind this question, an assumption I largely stand by as an assertion. That assertion is this: to be a Johnnie, you have to be a reader. Being a reader takes myriad forms, but a rough sketch will suffice: to be a reader, you have to choose books, books of any sort, as companions. You see books as real beings, beings with whom you are willing to spend quite a bit of time. You, as then-future and now-forever Johnnies, likely chose your compatriots early in life, finding some book, some series, or some author who, through words put to page, constructed a place you wanted to be. Whether the books were fiction, fantasy, romance, philosophy, science, plays or poetry matters not. What matters is that magical combination of physical object and internal content. Something you held in your hands, carried around with you, and entered whenever the opportunity presented itself. Therein, you found a new world. Here, at the college, we readers have found each other. We are a community, a gathering of readers. If I had to come up with a collective noun for us, I would call it “a companionship of readers”. This is what we have found, or, better, what we have made and what we continue to make persist here. The worlds of our books live on in our conversations, both in and out of the classroom. Those worlds are nourished and enriched by the ongoing discussions of what we read and also by the friendships we build around them. It may be there are a handful of you who do not consider yourselves readers. You perhaps came here for the discussions, or for some sense of ‘great ideas’. My guess, however, is we have made of you something of a reader. It is possible, for some of you, that you find yourselves, in this moment, so exhausted by the onslaught of reading that is our program that you think you need a break from reading for a bit. But I am willing to bet that you will all find your way back to books, sooner rather than later. Reading, however, is not a mere habit for us. Nor is it a quaint pastime, the quirky- perhaps even trendy- hobby of those who long for simpler times with fewer distractions and devices. Reading, for us, is pleasurable, but it is also quite serious. Reading is central to our mission of liberal arts education and to our dedication to community. Reading is a matter of freedom and reading is a matter of friendship. What do I mean when I say that reading is a matter of freedom? I mean this: reading is an imaginative activity that repositions us, that takes us beyond our own thoughts, perspectives and beliefs. To be a free person one must be capable of seeing what is not immediately present to you, of 1 �positing choices beyond the obvious, of surveying alternatives that arise from a sense of the past and a vision for the future. This vision is the work of imagination, so let’s think about the ways in which reading supports the imagination, our faculty for freedom. Seniors recently read Frederick Douglass, though not his Narrative of the Life of a Slave. In that work, as Douglass recounts his journey from slavery to freedom, a central moment concerns learning to read. His master’s wife has decided to teach him to read; his master disapproves, remarking that learning to read would “forever unfit him to be a slave.” i Hearing this, Douglass understood that reading was “the pathway from slavery to freedom”.ii It was not an easy path for Douglass, either to learn to read in stolen moments, or “to find that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read…As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing.”iii The discontentment Douglass notes, the same discontentment that led him to flee slavery and ultimately to write the very works we read in seminar, is the discontent of seeing a world better than the one you exist in. Of seeing the potential for revolt, for education and a life beyond slavery. Of being able to place oneself beyond the path that seems inevitable. Reading, in fact, demands this un-settling of us. Reading tears us away from the present and launches us into the world offered to us by an author. Thus to read is to find oneself at home, ever so briefly, in the mind of someone else. It is to enmesh oneself in someone else’s words and thoughts. A striking example: Toni Morrison’s novel Jazz ends most extraordinarily. In the final lines of the book, our unknown narrator speaks directly to us, and this is what she says: “I can’t tell anyone that I have been waiting for this all my life and that being chosen to wait is the reason I can. If I were able, I’d say it. Say make me, remake me. You are free to do it and I am free to let you because look, look. Look where your hands are. Now.” iv Our hands, of course, are on the book. Why does Morrison, at the end of the story, draw our attention to the fact that we have been reading? Why create such intimacy, such awareness, between the reader and the narrator of our book? She reminds us of our freedom, and of hers. Free recognition of one another, grounded in our choice to enter the world she has created, to linger there, to feel there, to experience there- all of this demonstrates a belief that in the reading we become active participants in bringing that world to life through our own imagination. Because reading is a way of being-at-work, reading requires activity. Reading does not merely passively show us a world, it requires of us the real work of contributing to the existence of that world. We, too, are artists. We make the book into something real just as the book brings about changes in us. “Narrative,” Morrison has said, “is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created.” v Jean-Paul Sartre recognizes a similar reciprocation between reader and author when he writes : “ the author… requires that (the readers) recognize his creative freedom, and that they, in turn solicit it by a symmetrical and inverse appeal. Here there appears the [other] dialectical paradox of reading; the more we experience our freedom, the more we recognize that of the other; the more he 2 �demands of us, the more we demand of him.”vi The dialectical paradox of reading is that the more we are changed- freed, discontented- through the work of reading, the more we want that others likewise change, grow, and experience their own freedom. Reading does not just free us, it incites us to work for the freedom of others, to wish for them the radical uncovering of potential that we experience when we read. It is not only literature, of course, that can ask and demand this of us. When the seniors or GIs read Lobachevski, they again find this act of reciprocal creation and freedom. With no real guide other than his words, we must imagine the non-Euclidean world with Lobachevski which defies our visual experience. We must assent to his propositions in order to bring this world to life, and we must be flexible and bold enough to, even temporarily, find ourselves at home in a world where infinitely converging lines can be parallel. We read ourselves into the being of plants, the movements of the heavens, the desire of tones to find their tonic, lines of force, imaginary numbers and special relativity. In doing so, we train the muscle of the imagination to offer us more, we resist the temptation to become inflexible and atrophied. We dwell in the discomfort produced by the hard work of being open to possibility. You may recall, dear readers, that I have also said that reading is a matter of friendship. It is of course the case that reading gives us some of the most beautiful images of friendship a life could ever know: Achilles and Patroclus; Socrates, Aristophanes and Agathon; Augustine and Monica; Dante and Virgil; Rocinante and the Grey donkey; Dorothea and Lydgate, Elizabeth and Jane; Pierre and Andrei, Ilyushka and his schoolmates, to name but a few. But I also mean that the virtues of a good reader mirror those of the good friend: patience, playfulness, courage, honesty in questioning. We exercise these virtues when we extend to authors the openness we aspire to grant to friends. Sartre, again, tells us that “reading is a pact of generosity between author and reader. Each trusts the other; each one counts on the other, demands of the other as much as he demands of himself.” vii Reading requires that we exercise discretion about what to accept and what to reject, but we learn that we must spend time with the author before making those choices; we must carefully evaluate what we are offered before we leap to judgement. We treat the authors as friends when we show ourselves willing to explore with them, laugh with them, and respectfully challenge them. The authors treat us as friends insofar as they expect this of us. The imaginative act of free worldbuilding is a joint activity, one that works best among those who trust one another. Reading, as Morrison reminds us at the end of Jazz, is a deeply personal relation. And here, at the college, we apply these virtues not only to authors but to our friends: the classmates, tutors and peers we find in this community. In our conversations about the books, we strive to offer to one another the same generosity, the same trust, the same thoughtful and patient judgement. Perhaps in our weakest moments we fall short, but the books we share and the activity of bringing them to life together offer firm and common ground on which to jointly discover and create. Through reading, we learn to explore and inhabit the thoughts of others; when we put down our books, we turn to encounter those around us with this gift of openness. 3 �I would be remiss if I did not address the elephant in the room: the potential problem that Don Quixote presents, the man who entered the world of his books and struggled to leave, the character his own loving author described as “mad”. And, yet, who better than Quixote as the hero for the day: a man who saw a world in disarray and sought to remake that world in the imaginative vision of his books. Quixote did not remain passive, he found liberation through reading and sallied forth. And in his quest to make the world in the image of his books, he found the priest, the barber, the bachelor and his most faithful of companions, Sancho Panza- the friends who gather at his deathbed. After having been a lonely, isolated man, Quixote populated his ideal world with real people, true friends, those who are with him as his story comes to an end. Who better to teach us that reading is a matter of freedom and a matter of friendship? As we approach the moment when you will receive your diplomas, you- the undergraduate and graduate students of 2026- already have before you a rather delectable form of freedom: the freedom to choose the very next book you will read. And on this topic, too, I have thoughts. It took me a long time in life to begin to discover who I am as a reader. To learn to love what I loved and not what I ought to love, to see beauty where I found it, not where others told me it would be, to realize that learning who you are as a reader is a matter of learning your own character. Choosing what to read then becomes an enactment of the Socratic quest to know thyself. It is not an easy task; indeed it is, as Kierkegaard tells us of faith, a task for a lifetime. But, in a world which threatens us with scrolling through life, passively digesting what algorithms feed us, I feel confident that you, our graduates, will continue to choose the stunning discontent of being readers. You are now lifelong members of the companionship of readers. Give us our books, overflowing into the world we imagine and create with them. Set out with images drawn from the greatest minds and read into your own souls. Sally forth into that world with friends who want to create and recreate it alongside you. Be, in short, quixotic. Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Chapter VI. Yale University Press: Connecticut, 2016. Page 32. ii Ibid. iii Ibid. Chapter VII. Page 37. iv Morrison, Toni. Jazz. Vintage International. New York: 2004. Page 229. v Morrison, Toni. “The Nobel Lecture in Literature” (in The Source of Self-Regard, Vintage International. New York, 2020). Page 108. vi Sartre, Jean-Paul. ”What is Literature” and Other Essays. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass, 1988. Page 58. vii Ibid. Page 61. i 4 � 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 Commencement Programs and Addresses 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Description An account of the resource Addresses given at commencement and programs of events related to, and including, the annual commencement ceremonies at St. John's College. Includes both the undergraduate and Graduate Institute commencements. <br /><br />The College Archives holds programs and/or addresses for the following years:<br /> <ul> <li>1796</li> <li>1835-1836</li> <li>1842</li> <li>1852</li> <li>1856-1857</li> <li>1870</li> <li>1878</li> <li>1880</li> <li>1890</li> <li>1893</li> <li>1895</li> <li>1897</li> <li>1907</li> <li>1910-1918</li> <li>1920-1924</li> <li>1928-1929</li> <li>1932</li> <li>1936-1937</li> <li>1939-1945</li> <li>1947-present  </li> </ul> Click on <strong><a title="Commencement Programs and Addresses" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=18&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the Commencement Programs and Addresses Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context commencementprograms 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. 4 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 Commencement Address, St. John's College, Annapolis, May 9, 2026 Description An account of the resource Typescript of the commencement address given on May 9, 2026, by Rebecca Steiner Goldner at the end of the Spring 2026 semester in Annapolis, Maryland. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Goldner, Rebecca Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2026-05-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived PDF Subject The topic of the resource Books and reading Graduation speeches St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COM_Goldner_Rebecca_2026-05-09 https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/d445367356e81278281a0532376b004a.jpg 1a41c4fb37b13babd7133ec3d1af5b2c 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data photograph Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 25.5 x 20.5 cm. Resolution Resolution of the image in dpi. 600 dpi 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0919 Title A name given to the resource Commencement Lunch on Campus, Annapolis, Maryland Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1948-05 [circa] Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Type The nature or genre of the resource still image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Subject The topic of the resource Commencement (St. John's College, Annapolis, MD) Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/654ee454a943251a3e5f5a606845a97f.jpg eaf1169b10c4d1a3fe21d943af69f5c9 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1170 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 18 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/be6a99e18d523fec1821d8427288760b.jpg ac01e665f5c789a911338add17161d4d 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1171 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 11 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/0a54846601661e6861a480d582dbcd92.jpg d7e122078682d71f95b90a709e798f52 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1172 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 11 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/38d00221585b80619ee1551def400dc7.jpg 123f42850030b26478f65522ee40c378 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1173 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 11 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/d97e231d27b4e1375b90f813724cd53c.jpg 3efa4867bbc9a89e3e609bbeaf7cab7b 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1174 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 12 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/2291b26eaf466f912fa0e324a054001a.jpg 105c813689c32e3072b48fd9c5a18c76 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1175 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 24 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/0bcdf69aea7ad4397753b6e36bba53f9.jpg 4dc8f96a16f4f3f76133e790d7e72ead 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1176 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 24 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/39bbe2e39cf55ca86589000c725da663.jpg 94ed6cf50c761082a9dee4f1497b68a5 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 20.5 x 25.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-1177 Title A name given to the resource Commencement on Front Campus, Annapolis, Maryland, 1972 Description An account of the resource 1 sheet : 21 proof prints from 35mm film : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elzey, Craig C. 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/170f7870709adbf22ebe87829548b2c6.jpg 02a394ad1c9fab034fbcfdfbb45dc980 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data photograph Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 17.5 x 13 cm. Resolution Resolution of the image in dpi. 600 dpi 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0642 Title A name given to the resource Commencement Procession Exiting McDowell Hall, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1947-06-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Type The nature or genre of the resource still image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Subject The topic of the resource Commencement (St. John's College, Annapolis, MD) Relation A related resource <a title="Commencement Program" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/3196">Commencement Program</a> Commencement McDowell Hall https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/c095f3cf77c6d52f2af866e06be4fe57.jpg aaadab74d74aa31f0f5fe9797ba1b2b0 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 Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library 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 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 17.5 x 13 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0643 Title A name given to the resource Commencement Procession Exiting McDowell Hall, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, June 9, 1947 Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974-06-09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Subject The topic of the resource Commencement (St. John's College, Annapolis, MD). 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Commencement McDowell Hall