Regis University
Honorable News Volume 8, Issue 1 19 Oct 2012
Ya Just Can’t Get Away From It . . . At Least, I Can’t —Tim Etzkorn, Class of 2009
“How many times can a professor realistically ask a student to write a thesis, to re-write a thesis, to evolve a thesis, to come to some new insight that just doesn’t seem possible? ”
After a three-year hiatus in which my cup of life brimmed with mad road trips exploring the Americana ideal and careers ranging from an ESL tutor to a bike mechanic to an industrial welder, I returned to Academia. The great books called my name again, and apparently, so did Bowie. Yes, I have been there. Yes, I remember the agony, the sorrow, the hangnails and ravaged cuticles wrought from writing, re-writing, scrapping, rewriting, scrapping, and writ-
ing again. How many times can a professor realistically ask a student to write a thesis, to re-write a thesis, to evolve a thesis, to come to some new insight that just doesn’t seem possible? Well, the answer is: as many as it takes. Now, fast forward. Empowered by Regis‘ ethos and an honors education, I have found myself in a Master‘s program pursuing Literature and teaching my very own section of composition. And as I do so, the ghostly specter of Bowie continues to loom over me. Recently,
Inside this issue: We Say, They Say
2
A Pleasant Surprise
3
Director’s Note 3
Where Are They Now?
4
Announcements 4
Above: Tim‘s annotations in Stephen Prothero‘s book
I was preparing notes to lead a discussion on an article written by Stephen Prothero. As I annotated, a pattern emerged: Page 191: thesis. Page 194: thesis (different). Page 199: thesis (different). Page 203: thesis (DIFFERENT!). I stopped, reflected, and embarked on my own little dialogue: ―Stephen,‖ I say to myself, ―I know what you are up to.‖ I went to class and paid a little Regis forward to my students. ―What is going on here? What is Stephen Prothero doing with his thesis?‖ If you want to find out what Stephen was up to there, I teach MWF from 12:00 – 12:50 in the Business Building at the University of Wyoming. If you‘re content sitting in the cozy honors office, coffee and snacks in hand, reading this haunted anecdote, then I will leave you with this: it all has meaning, just make sure to pay it forward when you find it.
We Say, They Say: What Color Has the Most Metaphorical Value? We‘ve asked students to stop by the Honors study room to enjoy snacks and contribute to the Honors Discussion Board. This semester, the question asked by Dr. Howe is, ―What color has the most metaphorical value?‖ Many have written their answers, and many have engaged in lively arguments over what color is the winner. Now, we‘ve asked to hear from the professors.
―Blue of course, because it‘s the color of life, of ―Things as they are‖! See Wallace Stevens for further evidence: I. The man bent over his guitar, A shearsman of sorts. The day was green. They said, "You have a blue guitar, You do not play things as they are." The man replied, "Things as they are Are changed upon the blue guitar." And they said then, "But play, you must, A tune beyond us, yet ourselves, A tune upon the blue guitar Of things exactly as they are." ……. IV. So that's life, then: things as they are? It picks its way on the blue guitar.
A million people on one string? And all their manner in the thing, And all their manner, right and wrong, And all their manner, weak and strong? The feelings crazily, craftily call, Like a buzzing of flies in autumn air, And that's life, then: things as they are, This buzzing of the blue guitar . . .‖ (From ―The Man with the Blue Guitar‖) —Dr. Bowie
―In my own experience, I‘d say it‘s BLUE. It has a range from innocence to brokenness, can take us to ourselves and to another, while following us along from morning to night. And with this, there‘s also the ―country of blue,‖ a place where Henry James suggests we might find the very source of metaphorical power.‖ —Dr. Howe ―Nature‘s first green is gold, but nothing gold can stay.‖ —Dr. Bruhn
Ideas for what our next conversation question should be? Let us know! Email Connie at cgates@regis.edu, or James Persichetti at jpersichetti@regis.edu. And don‘t forget to still come by and add your thoughts to the board. Page 2
Honorable News
A Pleasant Surprise —Gabe Harper, Class of 2016
The idea of a being a freshman is always quite daunting. Being in a new surrounding offers experiences that are as exciting as they are frightening. As Honor Program students, we are placed in the Honors Writing Seminar with three professors with a handful of kids we have never even met. We‘re expected to bond and learn and grow together. At first, we were terrified. Terrified to speak. Terrified to interact. Terrified to do anything that would make us look inferior or vulnera-
ble to such a wide variety of tremendous academic talent. We were a part of the Honors Program for crying out loud! We expected rigor and rules and guidelines and a list of measurements that we all had to stand tall against. But the seminar was a surprising plot twist in our expectations of college. Within just a few short days, it was as if the entire class blossomed. The professors seemed just as inspired by us as we were of them. Friendships formed, and the ambi-
ence within the classroom setting changed dramatically. We were no longer frightened of messing up because we knew we‘d have three understanding professors and roughly forty students in our same position to catch us if we fell. The Honors Writing Seminar has been such a welcoming experience and it really changed the way I perceived my academic career in the university. At first, I was terrified and I was mortally concerned about being the ‗doofus‘ of the seminar and the
college in general. But the seminar really opened my eyes, and the eyes of many of my colleagues, in a way that I don‘t think I would have experienced if I hadn‘t been enrolled in the Honors Program. It is such a tremendously positive environment and I‘m sure my peers are just as thrilled to be included as I am.
“The Honors Writing Seminar has been such a welcoming experience and it really changed the way I perceived my
Director’s Note
academic career in the
—Dr. Tom Bowie, Head Honcho Honors Program
Dear Lovers of Learning: Over the past month, I‘ve been hearing from an unusual number of graduates. They‘re all off doing amazing things after graduation, whether they are Teaching for America in the Mississippi Delta, or walking in solidarity with the poor and marginalized in Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic, or struggling through the first months of medical school, or closing in on a PhD in Chemistry from Georgia Tech. We have lawyers working as DAs, Rhodes Scholars doing policy Volume 8, Issue 1
research for legislators on education, graduates who have returned to grad school (where they are thriving even as they have become the teachers), and journalists writing in Berlin and NYC. So when I think about the stories we tell in order to live—and most of you realize my passion for such stories—I‘m struck by the power of those told by our graduates. They are indeed redeeming their specks of the world, accomplishing the mystery as they do so. Of course, in our seminars this fall
(Senior: Magis and the Search for Meaning; Freshman: The Idea of a University) there‘s lots of redemption underway as well. And I‘m hearing good reports about the other honors offerings this fall, as each course challenges our students to reflect on the stories they are telling. So keep telling your story, keep looking for the narrative line that best fits the shifting phantasmagoria of your daily life. As you do so, continue to look for the places you‘d like to get involved in redeeming the world—
university.” then strap yourself to the fuselage of your life and see where it takes you. We hope to see all of you at Fall Fest (22 Oct, 6:00, Main Hall 333) where we‘ll hear from some of our seniors and recent grads. As always, you‘re welcome at all our activities, you‘re welcome to share your input, and most of all, you‘re welcome to help the honors community at Regis become the one you want it to be.
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Where Are They Now?
Above: Regis Alumni from left to right: Shannon Quirk, class of 2012, Gabriel Gallegos class of 2010, and Caitlin Wojcienhoski, class of 2012, now attending Creighton University School of Medicine. Congratulations and keep up the good work!
Attention Honors Students!! Things to know for this Fall Semester  Fall Fest will be Monday October 22nd at 6 pm Main Hall room 333  Wish to join the freshmen for Cheesecake Factory and White Christmas? Submit a short (no more than 250 words) request to Dr. Bowie no later than Friday, November 16th to apply. We will be attending dinner and the play on December 6th from about 4:00 to 9:30. Apply now, we are limited on the number of extra students!
Regis University Honors Program Address: Carroll Hall 121 3333 Regis Blvd H-16 Denver Colorado 80221 PHONE: 303-458-4360 E-MAIL: honors@regis.edu WEBSITE: www.regis.edu/honors
Newsletter requests, ideas, submissions? Contact James Persichetti at jpersichetti@regis.edu for further information.