4 minute read
Dispatches from Alums
The Music Never Stopped
BY ANDREW WICKENDEN ‘09
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Awash in creative energy, Eric Andersen ’65, L.H.D. ’22 left Hobart in 1963 and hitchhiked to San Francisco “with my notebook and my guitar...to meet the Beats,” as he recalls in the 2021 documentary of his career, The Songpoet. Writers like Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti “taught me new ways to see and a new way to live. Their words have freed and inspired my own writing as intensely as any reality that surrounds me.” The following winter, Andersen moved east to Greenwich Village and began composing songs like “Thirsty Boots” and “Violets of Dawn,” which would cement him as a folk musician of the rst order.
Drawing inspiration from an eclectic range of music, art and literature, he has transcended the folk scene and the “singer-songwriter” label. He has performed in concert with Bob Dylan, Elton John and The Doors, and was part of a trans-Canadian train tour with Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy and The Band — all between writing and recording scores of original songs that have been covered by everyone from the Dead and Dylan to Johnny Cash. Early on, he taught Joni Mitchell her rst open tunings, which became her signature style of playing.
Through thick and thin, Andersen’s proli c creative output has continued unabated, with dozens of albums to date alongside essays for National Geographic Traveler and The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats. As he told Rolling Stone last year, “My wife Inge says you’re put on Earth to nish the things you were supposed to nish. And I know with me, in my case, it’s music and writing. I know there are things that are not nished yet. So, you know, we hang in there...to accomplish the things we were planning to do.”
▲ Eric Andersen ’65, L.H.D. ’22 (right) rehearsing with Rob Stoner, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan in New York City, ca. 1975.
FEEL LIKE COMIN’ HOME
BY ERIC ANDERSEN ’65, L.H.D. ’22
Can’t say this world’s been wrong to me Live and let live and let us all be So many faces gone away from me I ask, where do they all go?
Better find shelter you’re out on your own Get out of harm’s way get out of the road Some days you wonder why you ever were born Ya come in and go out alone
I saw the apple of my eye She looked so young but she looked so wise She don’t back down or compromise She knows just where it’s all going
Like I’m comin’ home
THE PULTENEY STREET SURVEY
300 Pulteney St., Geneva, NY 14456 Non profit org. U.S. Postage
PAID
Burlington, VT Permit No. 19
LITZY BAUTISTA ’23
President of William Smith Congress and aspiring lawyer Former Intern for Brian Barnwell, New York City’s District 30 Representative
Junior Board Member of the Boys & Girls Club of Geneva
Major:
Political Science and Latin American Studies
Hometown:
Los Angeles, Calif.
PARALLELS
legal minds, family bonds and optimistic visions across the generations
What interests you most about the
law? LB: Being able to protect and defend my community. JBJ: Helping people solve difficult problems that they cannot solve alone.
Favorite political science course?
LB: Modern Political Theory. JBJ: Native People’s Politics.
If you could share a meal with anyone, living or dead, who would they be?
LB: My grandparents. JBJ: Either of my parents and their parents.
What’s the most interesting thing about you that’s not on your résumé?
LB: I’ve been trying to learn Zapoteco, an indigenous language spoken by the Zapotec people in Oaxaca, Mexico, which is my father’s first language. JBJ: I underwent rites of passage as a teenager in my father’s ancestral village in Sierra Leone. Who I am as a man is a direct result of that experience.
What motivates you? LB: My younger siblings and parents. JBJ: Making my family proud of me.
Who is your hero? LB: My parents — their journey of moving to the U.S. and raising a family will always amaze me. JBJ: I just welcomed my second son, and the difficulty that my wife endured during both postpartum periods is unbelievable. She is my hero.
If you could wake up tomorrow with a new skill, ability or quality, what
would it be? LB: Being able to speak all languages! JBJ: Getting my newborn to sleep at night.
What are you most grateful for?
LB: The beauty the Earth provides. JBJ: The life and good health of myself and my family.
What’s the best way to start the day? LB: Going to the gym. JBJ: Some good music and karate exercises with my son.
What is something you will never
do again? LB: Eat pickles. JBJ: Climb Mount Fuji.
Name two things that make you optimistic about the future.
LB: Technological advancement helping us be more eco-friendly, and social movements helping us reach racial equity. JBJ: The beauty I see in my kids’ faces, and my upcoming vacation. (Don’t judge me. Lockdown was long.)
JONIS BELU-JOHN ’04
General Counsel at a startup
J.D. from Georgetown University
Major:
Political Science and French
Former Student Trustee
Hometown:
Upper Marlboro, Md.
