Alumni Q&A

&AQ WITH TODD LAWRENCE, PH.D., ’95,

associate professor of English and American culture and difference, University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Q: Do you consider yourself primarily a folklorist, or an ethnographer, literary scholar, or all of the above? A: That’s a fair question, because I do a lot of stuff. I’m a literary scholar — I teach African American literature primarily, and I write about it, too. You can think of folklore as a body of material, or different kinds of expression, and ethnography is a way of studying it.

Ethnography is a particular research methodology, so when I say that I’m an ethnographer, it just means that I do a certain thing in researching about groups of people.

I was always taken with ethnography as a practice, theorizing it and thinking about ways it can be more collaborative, ways that it can be more equitable, ways that it can be more honest.

Q: Where does your interest in folklore come from? A: It was actually Doc (Francis) Sheeran (Ph.D., Rockhurst professor emeritus of English) who talked to me about going to graduate school because he had some connections at Creighton University, so I entered an M.A. program there. And I found out about folklore as an area of study when I went to the University of Missouri (doctoral program). I realized that people in my family were practitioners of folklore, and that you could study proverbs and you could study joke-telling cycles, and you could study traditional music and traditional knowledge.

It’s all of the traditional things that people say, make, believe, know, and do, which covers a lot of area.

Q: Your book When They Blew the Levee tells the story of the residents of Pinhook, Missouri, a small community that was flooded when the Army Corps of Engineers breached a levee to save the town of

Cairo, Illinois. What was the genesis of that book and what was it like to tell that story? A: We started that in the fall of 2011. Elaine Lawless (Ph.D.,

Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita at the University of Missouri) asked me if I was interested in working together. We went down there and started talking to people and learned an amazing story about the people of Pinhook. It was not just about the disaster, but also about their community before the disaster occurred.

The book is their story, filtered through us as writers. It’s their response to the “official” account of that whole 2011 flood. They are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Writing that book changed my life.

Q: Tell us about the ongoing Urban Art Mapping

Project. A: Two UST colleagues and I started that project three years ago with a team of students. We were mapping and documenting street art in a single neighborhood in St.

Paul. Then the pandemic hits and then three months after that, George Floyd is murdered right here, in front of our eyes, and the Twin Cities just exploded. In the aftermath of the uprising, we saw art everywhere in the streets. The plywood boards that went up on all the buildings became outdoor canvasses. We recognized the art was amazing, but we knew it would disappear quickly. So, we went on social media and asked people out in the streets to help us by photographing George Floyd-related street art and sending it to us. A year later we have more than 2,500 pieces documented from around the world. Our goal is to create the largest digital database of street art anywhere in the world around subjects like police violence,

COVID-19, global warming, elections, etc. In the case of

George Floyd, this art allows us to see what people were feeling inside, both individually and collectively, during a moment of social upheaval.

Men’s Basketball

1921 - 2021

Rockhurst to Celebrate 100 Years of Men’s Basketball

Don’t miss the celebration of the century when Rockhurst honors its 100th anniversary of men’s basketball Nov. 12-13. The Hawks completed their 100th season in February.

The celebration will include recognition of Rockhurst’s All-Century Team.

Honorees include former All-Americans Jack McCloskey, ’56, Ralph Telken,’64, all-time points leader Pat Caldwell, ’66, Jim Healey, ’69, and Aaron Hill, ’08, ’10 MBA, to name a few.

The 101st edition of the Hawks will play Davenport University at 7 p.m. Nov. 12, and Purdue University-Northwest at 3 p.m. Nov. 13 at Rockhurst’s historic Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse. The games are part of the 13th annual GLIAC/ GLVC Challenge.

Friday night’s game is Rock E. Hawk Bobblehead Night and Saturday’s game will be followed by a reception and dinner in the Convocation Center.

The St. Louis Leadership Series event comes back this year, with a little champion flair.

Former St. Louis Cardinal Kyle McClellan, pitcher on the 2011 World Serieswinning squad, will share lessons for “Leadership On and Off the Field,” scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis. In his presentation, McClellan will talk about two life-changing experiences — being part of a championship team and a trip to Haiti that led to the establishment of the nonprofit he founded alongside his wife, Bridget — Brace for IMPACT 46. The organization has worked to support the people of Haiti through the establishment of a children’s home, educational facilities, a medical clinic, and a partnership with local coffee farmers and Kaldi’s Coffee, a St. Louis based chain. Brace for IMPACT 46 also serves families in need in the St. Louis area, purchasing and renovating housing for families and children living in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood of north St. Louis in partnership with local corporations and The Tabernacle Church.

As part of the program, two St. Louis-area alumni will be honored — Reggie Thorpe, ’71, will receive the Magis Award, and Melody Schaeffer, ’12, will receive a Faber Young Alumni Award. See page 26 for more on these honorees.

For information about game tickets and reception registration, visit rockhursthawks.com.

Cardinals Pitcher Headlines St. Louis Leadership Event

Kyle McClellan

For more information, including individual ticket sales and sponsorship opportunities, visit rockhurst.edu/stlleadershipseries.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: TAYLOR (SKALA) SARES, ’15 Alumna’s Experience as a Hawk Inspires Her to Give Back

There were a lot of people who helped Taylor (Skala) Sares, ’15, succeed as she found her passion on the field, on the court and in the classroom.

A two-sport athlete in soccer and basketball, Sares said her coaches, particularly women’s head soccer coach Greg Herdlick, inspired her on the pitch and the hardwood. And her science instructors made her more aware of the role science played in her performance.

“I learned the importance of maintaining my health to play from July through March, since the soccer and basketball seasons overlapped,” she said.

Taylor (Skala) Sares, second from left, joins family members and University officials in opening the additions to the Loyola Park baseball field in 2016.

After Rockhurst, Sares earned a master’s degree from Butler University and has worked for the last three years as a physician assistant in orthopedic surgery near her hometown in Illinois while working toward her doctoral degree also at Butler. In this path too, Sares said the values and skills learned as a Hawk — including teamwork, communication and dedication — helped her succeed in her medical career.

“I can relate with my patients who are young athletes whom I may have to sideline due to injury,” she said. “I can understand their frustration, provide quality, compassionate care and discuss their care plan to try to get them back to doing what they love to do.”

Because of those experiences, Sares remains a steadfast supporter of her alma mater, including most recently as a member of the committee tasked with choosing the University’s new athletic director. She said giving back is an easy decision.

“Rockhurst helped shape me into who I am today," she said. “Not only did having a Rockhurst degree help further my educational journey, it also inspired lifelong friendships. Whether it’s out on the field, in the classroom, or in the operating room, I believe Rockhurst helped me foster my passion and commitment and as a result I chose a fulfilling career and get to do what I love.”

EVERYDAY LEADERS

Alumna Seeks to Spread “Gwendolyn’s Gifts” Through a Simple Smile

It was in the midst of a difficult time for her own family that Erin Walker Kramer, ’07, received a text from her husband that would change everything.

“Make a difference today for somebody who is fighting for their tomorrow,” it said. It was a quote from NFL player Jim Kelly. It wasn’t hard to see that wisdom in their own situation. Their daughter, Gwendolyn, was born in 2014, diagnosed with a rare, terminal degenerative brain disease, and was in hospice care. Inspired by those words, and by their shared goal to make their daughter smile every day, Erin decided to do something positive.

On Gwen’s fourth birthday, the couple asked for homemade cards and donations that could be assembled into care packages and delivered to other children in hospice and palliative care in the hopes of coaxing a smile. The small gesture of those “September Smiles” has grown steadily into something bigger — a registered nonprofit organization called Gwendolyn’s Gifts that provides emotional and financial support to children in hospice and palliative care and their families. That can mean a small “smile bag,” gas money allowing the family to visit their child, or fulfilling special requests those children might have. It’s all, in the spirit of the quote that started it all and the daughter who continues her own fight every day, a way to make a difference for someone facing the challenge of their lifetime.

Erin Walker Kramer, ’07, and her daughter Gwendolyn.

›››››››››››› HIRE A HAWK

rockhurst.edu/hireahawk

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