Book Nook

Just received and have already read a few of your articles in DePauw Magazine. Excellent variety of alumni stories where sports provided the foundation for careers and lifechanging paths. My brother, David ’68, and I are former DPU swimmers with multiple pool records that still remain (at the old Bowman Gym pool, that is). Student athletes can and do make a difference in many ways beyond sports. Well done! – Michael Terry ’74

Is a recent read occupying your thoughts? Has a book indelibly imprinted your life? We want to hear from you. Send your recommendation to marydieter@depauw.edu.

What We’re Reading

By Charles “Biff” Geiss ’62

“On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts” by James K.A. Smith uses the wisdom of St. Augustine to address ambition, sex, friendship, freedom, parenthood and death. The chapter on freedom uses the film “Lady Bird” (Greta Gerwig) to illustrate adolescent flight to freedom in backwater Sacramento. But freedom from what? Augustine had similar flight problems as he dealt with his mother, St. Monica. Later in the chapter Christian existentialist Gabriel Marcel points out the futility in “flight to freedom,” writing “Vanity runs, love digs. If you fly away from yourself, your prison will run with you and will close in because of the wind of your flight; if you go deep down into yourself it will disappear in paradise.”

I wonder what Jean-Paul Sartre would think? Smith’s usage of modern authors, philosophers and musicians enables the reader to bridge the gap so that the old is ever new.

Editor’s note: In the last issue of DePauw Magazine, we promised that President White would announce, in this issue, her choice of the next book for The President’s Book Club. Alas, she has been busy welcoming students back to campus, working on the university’s strategic plan and, as the next few pages will attest, preparing for her inauguration. We ask your indulgence.

Terry McConnell ’69 “Breaking Through the Line: Bobby Marshall, The N.F.L.’s First African American Player”