The Gadfly, Vol. XXXIV, Issue 11

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5,77,$*'9-*'(#)*+*,17%1-*@'F photo by Anyi Guo

The Gadfly

02 The student newspaper of St. John’s College 60 College Avenue Annapolis, Maryland 21401 sjca.gadfly@gmail.com www.issuu.com/sjcgadfly www.facebook.com/sjcagadfly Founded in 1980, the Gadfly is the student newsmagazine distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.

Opinions expressed within are the sole responsibility of the author(s). The Gadfly reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish a professional, informative, and thought-provoking newsmagazine.

The Gadfly is taking a break for stuffing, potatoes, and turkey. Can you blame us?

Articles should be submitted by Friday at 11:59 PM to sjca.gadfly@gmail.com.

Staff Nathan Goldman • Editor-in-Chief Ian Tuttle • Editor-in-Chief Hayden Pendergrass • Layout Editor Reza Djalal • Photographer Sasha Welm • Cartoonist Jonathan Barone • Staff Will Brown • Staff Jacob Glass • Staff Andrew Kriehn • Staff Robert Malka • Staff Sarah Meggison • Staff Kevin Morris • Staff Charles Zug • Staff Contributors Matthew Dudik Alvaro Duran Michael Fogleman Henry Robert III Joe Roberts Samuel Weinberg

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hank you for a great final issue before the Thanksgiving holiday! The Gadfly staff will be enjoying a break during Don Rag week and the week immediately following Thanksgiving, but we’ll be back in the Coffee Shop on December 4.

Until then...

Happy Thanksgiving! !

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A Review of Two Heavy-Hitters: Part II Charles Zug

A’15

In the completion of his review from Issue 4, staffer Charles Zug compares two performances of Brahms’ symphonies.

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he pathos of Brahms’ first symphony is heavier and fiercer, though in no way greater, than that of his second symphony. The great, sinewy tensions of the first find their genesis in the chromatic steps of the introduction to the first movement, and, to an extent, the entire symphony is a development of the first few notes of this introduction. In the second symphony, Brahms is no less economical with his choice of developmental material: three notes and a single interval, forming a quasi-introduction, establish the temper and provide the essential material for the sprawling dimensions and cantabile of the entire symphony.

In these three notes, however, is a latent darkness that dispels itself most poignantly during the development sections of the first and second movements.

Dohnanyi (see below for details) draws-out this darkness by isolating various sections of the orchestra. In the case of the first movement, he isolates the trumpets and trombones and therein greatly alters the texture of orchestration. In the case of the second, he exaggerates the crescendo by making ample use of the timpani; given the symphony’s otherwise serene temper, this rapid change is profoundly stirring, because it manages to both evoke and unify all of the symphony’s darkest moments.

The fourth movement, though pervaded by the same darkness, is an outpouring of elated and frantic energy. Karajan (see below for details) properly interprets this movement, because he maintains a primarily uniform tempo, drawing out the pervasiveness of motion without causing unneeded hurriedness or instability.

The first movement of the third symphony is a difficult piece of music because it does not lend itself to an interpretation that makes use of uniform tempo. It is a whole of profoundly different parts and, for that reason, must be treated with delicacy. In the case of this piece, Dohnanyi reveals himself as being incapable of such delicacy: it’s a mystery why he opts for that horrendous repeat, and therein disregards all of the exposition’s accumulated energy, which so desperately desires to pour into the development; or why, once he does begin the development, he adds a sudden, unwritten crescendo. Karajan manages a balanced and faithful, though not particularly noteworthy, interpretation. I would recommend Bruno Walter’s recording with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra over either of those reviewed here. ! *Reviewed: > Brahms: Symphonies, Overtures, and Violin Concerto, by Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra > Brahms: The Complete Symphonies, by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic

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Limericks ! Samuel Weinberg, A’14

Macfarland who went to Social Thought Saw St. John’s as his eternal lot With its ancient tomes and planetarium’s dome In perpetual archon meetings he was caught

Will Brown

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A’16

his review of Taylor Swift’s lat- personalities. Fiona is secretly an est album, Red, will begin with ogress. the words “Taylor Swift” and end Red is quite obviously analogous with “What is an Ogress?” to this story. With the first track, Taylor Swift is an artist I have lit- “State of Grace,” Swift immediately tle experience with outside of Dick- shows her chops as a nuanced songensian and involuntary experiences writer; I am not aware of how this is, in shopping malls with angry par- but I am assuming it is so because I ents. I associate her with commer- just compared the album to Shrek. cials of starving cats and moments in “Sad Beautiful Tragic” features which I have found the line, “you’ve myself eating Slim got your demons, Taylor Swift is an artJims. She is altoand darling, they ist I have little experi- all look like me,” gether representaence with outside of which seems kind tive of loud, dumb incidents in my life Dickensian and invol- of depressing to that I would not me. Other than untary experiences like to repeat, and that, I think the in shopping malls as such, I would like song “I Almost Do” with angry parents. to assess her latis probably pretty est album, which I good, and “We Are believe is called Red, with a compli- Never Ever Getting Back Together” mentary analysis of the movie Shrek. is presumably about some kind of reShrek is a movie about donkeys and lationship, so if you like pretty good ogres. things and relationships, this album The movie Shrek, starring Michael is totally your thing. What I still find Myers of Halloween fame and possi- amusing, though, is how Donkey bly Will Smith, if I remember cor- falls in love with a dragon that is so rectly, is a visual love song at heart. much larger than him and can’t even For, just as with Taylor Swift’s best speak English. country tunes, there is a conflict beShrek is rated PG and is only 92 tween two lovers: Lord Farquaad, a minutes long. If I could recommend modern-day Agamemnon of sorts, it for one thing, it would be Cuba has been intruding upon the Oph- Gooding, Jr.’s fantastic voice work as elia and Macbeth archetypes of the Donkey. Nevertheless, I’ve got some franchise, who are, of course, Fiona questions for the filmmakers that and Shrek. Shrek sets out on a dra- ultimately detract from the film’s matic voyage to save his future wife, score: Why is Smash Mouth featured accompanied by a talking donkey on the soundtrack? Why do I keep who reminds me of Eric Clapton in living? What is an Ogress? that they both are sort of irritating RATING: 4 stars !

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Meno that most stubborn man Was not wise to Socrates’ plan Can virtue be taught?

From the sophist it’s bought!

He then rejected philosophy’s clan.

The tutor called Tom May Thought history the pedagogical way To his students he’d tell Far past the bell Of people from a bygone day James Joyce was studied by Yee The Irishman filled him with glee Joyce’s letters to his wife Exposed his whole life To men not as cultured as he The fine statesman Herman Cain Gave the GOP great pain for his 9-9-9 plan and invading Iran He boarded his Godfather’s plane Artistophanes in his Clouds Spawned laughter soft and loud Of Socrates’ school Filled with great fools But always drew quite a crowd!

That huge Canto named Ted Kept most Johnnies fed While they all did eat He would warmly greet And in gourmet trends they were led Shakespeare’s great King Lear Saw that his death was near Yet Cordelia he did banish But her love did not vanish For paternal love is always most dear There once was a man called Strauss Whose body was as small as a mouse His esoteric mysteries Rejected all histories While he walked alone to his house

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!"#$%&'(&)#"*+&!"#$%&'()*"+,-$&,.+&%((/0"(,1$2""0)3 Matthew Dudik

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A’13

o you know the saying “Two heads are better than one, tion of what potentially is, as such,” (once we’ve deciphered even if one is a cabbage”? I think that saying might con- what that means), and then we laugh at him with Descartes tain some encouragement for those of us who are struggling when Descartes reminds us how incomprehensible that is. here at SJC. The point of the saying is that if you have a ques- And then we laugh at Descartes when Leibniz says, “Too tion or a problem and you talk it out with another person, the much trust in genius led [him] astray.” But before Aristotle, simple act of talking will help you draw the answer out of who tried to define motion? No one! And what a struggle of yourself, Socrates-style. Even if the other head is a cabbage, a thing to do! And who decided that it was okay to stop using it’s better to talk it out with that cabbage than to meditate this definition as Descartes did? And what a struggle to let it on your own. So if you have a problem and don’t have any go! We struggle every day with these changes that happened friends, take heart! Run to the grocery store and buy yourself in Western Thought. But these books are Great for the very a cabbage; they’re cheap. The two of you can figure it out— reason that it’s a struggle to say what they say, and a struggle cabbages are such good listeners. Now, here at St. John’s we to believe them, too. give you tons of problems, but are a bit stingy on the cabbages.

There’s another kind of struggle, though, a more present Instead, we give you friends and even tutors to discuss with. one. I’m talking of the struggle of comprehending Ancient These are even better help than cabbages. St. John’s, then, is Greek, of understanding Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Kepler, the ultimate problem-solving institution: the Program gives us of finding in Apollonius the fact that “All parallelograms cirthe problems, and we give each other the means of addressing cumscribed about any conjugate diameters of a given ellipsis these problems. or hyperbola are equal among themselves,” as Newton does, Most of these problems that we address because he tells us, “This is demonstrated have been worked out and neatly presentby the writers on the conic sections.” It’s At least you labored, and ed on the glossy paper of the beautifully ilthat, my friend and fellow not even sort-of-demonstrated! I’m talklustrated textbooks that real colleges use.

Johnnie, is all that matters. ing of my very own struggle today of unBut really? Really, guys? Do you REALLY derstanding the wave-particle duality of That is what you get out of light, and I’m talking of a thousand other want to put up with those things again? the program, you get the They have no character, no subtlety, no struggles we face here at St. John’s. You ability to solve a problem. will find yourself reading a book today or beauty, no life! They don’t even smell like proper books! And what have you gained tomorrow, it’ll be a Great Book, and you But it’s a struggle. by reading and memorizing the answer? won’t understand it. It’s preposterous Nothing but the answer. There is no skill, no true develop- what the Program is asking you to do: to understand in a day ment in that, only an entry in the encyclopedia of your head. or two what took someone a lifetime of hard thought and inAs Plutarch says in “On Listening to Lectures,” “The mind is finite skill to understand and write. But study it! Read it carenot a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” (I’m so obnox- fully! The answer’s in there, it does make sense; it’s a work of ious—worse than a cabbage). But that obnoxious little quota- art in your hands, if you’re patient. It can change your life! tion is the thing that St. John’s is all about. It’s a kindling of But if your questions aren’t answered when you finish the the fire of the mind. reading, don’t lose heart. You have friends to help you This kindling, my friend and fellow Johnnie, is a figure it out, not just cabbages, and even if you don’t get struggle by its very nature. Why do we read original it, at least you strove for it. At least you labored, and texts? Not because they’re easy. Not even because that, my friend and fellow Johnnie, is all that matters. they said it best—they didn’t. We read original texts That is what you get out of the Program: you get because they said it first. We read the ability to solve a problem. But it’s a the ideas at their nascence, struggle. when they crawl and cry and Before I let you go, I’d like to leave scream. As we go through the you with the following. Viete claims Program, we watch the ideas (sophomore year) at the end of his Ingrow up, we watch them fall and troduction to the Analytic Art, in which hurt themselves, and we watch he invents algebra that, “THERE IS NO them make mistakes. We potty PROBLEM WHICH CANNOT BE train them and watch them SOLVED” (caps lock error his, not shove crayons up mine). I should like to their noses, and make a similar claim we watch them for St. John’s: there is no struggle to learn to problem we cannot solve, read and write and if we take the time to do it. add. At first we believe That might be a bit too much Aristotle when he says, trust in genius, but it’s “Motion is the actualizapretty true. !

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Reza Djalal

05

A’15

Conflict has a frightening trickle-down effect.

Tension that seems worlds away often originates very close to home (sometimes so subtly we barely recognize the cause). In KWP’s upcoming production of Bent, we watch a tremendous domino effect, a world collapsing and unfolding before our eyes. Political turmoil in Germany results in murder, murder results in guilt, guilt results in fear, and this fear is what generates dissension between two lovers. And all this in just the first scene. In the following article, Ms. Leila Saad, the director of Bent, answers several questions about her upcoming production.

Can you give a brief summary of what Bent is about?

Bent is about the struggles of Max, a gay man living in Berlin in 1935. Shortly put, Max picks up the wrong man and ends up on the run. You’ll have to come to see the rest. On a larger scale it’s about the way secrecy can twist a person.

What inspired Bent to be chosen as the first KWP production of the year?

Technically, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is the first KWP production of the year. I hope you all saw it. Honestly, performance times were mostly a matter of production value—Bent has an extremely spare set and costumes, and Fuddy Meers has a lot more going on set-wise. I also really wanted the acting to be raw and heartfelt as opposed to polished and theatrical, and shorter rehearsal time means the actors don’t have time to get comfortable, which is both a blessing and a curse.

What kinds of difficulties did you have directing Bent?

Bent is a fantastic play, but because it was written in the 1980s there’s a lot of political subtext that an audience wouldn’t necessarily get today. It’s my job and my actors’ job to get people to connect with the characters as people first. I also chose to put a lot of emphasis on acting instead of complicated set or technical flourishes—it’s important that the audience feels how alone and vulnerable the characters are. However, this means that my actors have a whole show to carry that they had to put together in only two months. I’m extremely proud of the work they’ve done.

Bent takes place in a historically important time period. As the director, did you learn anything especially interesting about pre-WWII culture? Are there things that your audience might find useful to know before watching?

World War II is historical ground that’s been covered countless times. However, it was very interesting getting into the culture of Germany before the war. Before the Nazis rose to power, Germany was actually incredibly modern in many ways—its intellectuals were experimenting with new ways of

thinking, its playwrights were pushing the bounds of what a play could be. Berlin was a hotbed of ideas and sexual freedom. Of course, this sort of environment was accompanied by an economy struggling to make it back from utter ruin, and a growth of extreme conservatism and prejudice. The criminal code in Germany outlawed homosexuality, but it was not strictly enforced, and there was a thriving gay community in Berlin. This was true until the “Night of the Long Knives,” when Hitler detained and killed many of his political rivals on the (relatively) more liberal side of the Nazi Party. Homosexuality would no longer be tolerated. Bent opens on the morning after this night.

Bent has several scenes that are both violent and emotionally traumatic. Were any of these scenes censored? Or, conversely, how were you able to effectively capture that level of brutality?

The horror and sadness conveyed by violence is never the actual violence—it’s the expectation of violence and the reactions of the people who are witnessing it. Think of horror movies—the scariest part is always a character walking down a dark hallway with a flashlight that’s going out. To this end, we really worked to make the violence or descriptions of violence harsh, minimal, and full of tension.

You have quite a line-up of performers. How did you go about selecting your cast?

I love my cast! I knew going in I wanted to case “non-theatrical” actors—actors who might be a little more raw, but also a little more real. I knew if I was going to go that route, finding actors with charisma and chemistry would be incredibly important. Of course, I didn’t realize that finding actors with chemistry would mean that most of my cast would be friends already. It’s made the atmosphere during rehearsals a little more boisterous than I’d like sometimes, but also incredibly fun.

Do you think Aristotle would approve of this play?

Let’s not invite him. !

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!"#$%&'(")*#+,--).)/#!"#$%&'()$(*$+(,%-./# Nathan Goldman

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A’14

n June of 1992, St. John’s’ then-president John Agresto de- could consider it in relation to the English Civil War, in relivered a lecture to the Graduate Institute entitled “Read- sponse to which Leviathan was written, acknowledging that ing Great Books and the Problem of History.” Occasioned, per- Hobbes’ circumstances informed his views, without asserting haps, by the skeptical grumblings of graduate students, whose that they determined them. Other times, it is impossible to see undergrad alma maters had likely treated seriously questions the full force of an idea without contextual grounding: Aristoof history and context, the lecture is a brief criticism of histor- tle’s claim that slavery is natural derives its radicalness largely icism and an equally brief apologia for the ahistoricism found from the fact that the claim was made in a society with conin the St. John’s classroom. ventional, rather than natural, slavery.

Agresto fashions three closely related straw men and claims Ahistoricism at St. John’s has been defended by variations they are the best claims to validity a historical perspective on the theory that the great ideas of great thinkers not only has. They are, briefly, that putting works in historical context transcend circumstance but in some way have basically nothmight: ing to do with it—thus foundational texts are not just complex a) let us “make reasonable excuses for why people in the and influential works, but Great Books. Maybe this is true. past did what they did, even when such actions go against con- But the way we go about things now presumes that it is. To let temporary sensibilities or knowledge,” such a huge claim—which, in separating ideas from the realm b) “allow us to see the past without being overly judgmen- of bodily circumstances, amounts to some kind of mind-body tal,” dualism—sit in the College’s methodology, unexamined, is not c) help explain things, e.g., “why did Aristotle believe in rigorously philosophical. slavery. That’s easy—he believed in slavery because he was a And though St. John’s disavows historical analysis and banGreek, and the Greeks believed in slavery.” ishes context from the classroom, it cannot actually rid itself Claims (a) and (b) constitute a certain caricature of his- of either. The St. John’s website claims, unconvincingly, that toricism: it serves merely to exonerate our heroes and help us the “chronological order in which the books [on the seminar take seriously the claims of slave-owners, list] are read is primarily a matter of conI worry that St. John’s witch-burners, and anti-Semites. Claim venience and intelligibility; it does not does its students a seri(c) presents a deeper worry I often hear imply a historical approach to the subject ous disservice by restrict- matter.” Convenience? This implies eiechoed in conversations about history at ing certain lines of questhe College: to consider anything historither that the order is arbitrary (which it cally is to consider it merely historically; tioning under the guise of clearly isn’t), or that it’s the only obvious that is, a historical examination of a text one (it’s not that, either; most schools find a reportedly more pure, will supplant formal and thematic analymore beautiful approach. discipline a more appropriate governing sis. Thus Agresto’s example, wherein the principle). And for it to be a matter of inreader explains Aristotle’s treatment of slavery in the Politics telligibility admits that there is some kind of intelligibility in as a consequence of his time and place. (A curious example, history. How can we reconcile giving credence to the idea of a since Aristotle’s notion of the natural slave is actually inher- continuing conversation—that we are better readers of Thomently critical of the slavery practiced in his own time. But more as for having read Aristotle, better readers of Leibniz for havon that later.) ing read Descartes—and thus acknowledge the importance of Why are these straw men? In the case of historicism-as- at least an ideological context, without giving history its due? apology, it’s because such an approach is not even properly Moreover, we create an arbitrary distinction between text historical. The reader whose only aim is to justify the (to mod- and context. We take many contextual points as granted: that ern readers) unappealing details of authors’ thoughts and lives there is such a thing as the Bible, that Don Quixote is a novel is just doing some kind of canon clean up. But, even for Agres- (it claims to be a history), that Plato wrote all those dialogues to, the true folly in this approach seems to rest on his other (who are we to judge that?). These may seem like obvious and worry, that historical analyses serve only to offer easy answers minor points. But once we’re blurring the distinction between to questions we find either morally troubling or difficult (as text and context, what right do we have to be making the disin an example Ms. Brann mentioned in her parents’ weekend tinction at all? lecture last year, of a freshman answering the question, “Why My fundamental concern about St. John’s’ relationship to is Achilles so unassuagably angry when Agamemnon takes his history as a discipline is not that it’s resisting the humanities’ woman away?” with the trite non-answer, “Because he feels modern turn toward historicism. I worry that St. John’s does dishonored, and in the culture of that time honor was impor- its students a serious disservice by restricting certain lines of tant”). questioning under the guise of a reportedly more pure, more Like any hermeneutic tool, historical analysis can be abused. beautiful approach. Arguments like Agresto’s caricature and But used well, it won’t explain away difficult questions; rather, distort the historical approach into the bane of serious philoit will further them, and deepen the analysis beyond what the sophical inquiry. But it isn’t historically minded readers who author has explicitly said. Take Hobbes’ Leviathan. A reader claim theirs is the only suitable method; that would be us. !

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!"#$%#&'()*+$%,&-(,+$.&-/$.(0(12 Jonathan Barone

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A’13

ust by the nature of this school and the numerous activi- way so that both of you can practice. You can’t be focused only ties it has, many clubs aren’t able to have their voices heard on yourself.” through the din. Unfortunately, this can lead to oversight; we Of course, Amelia admits, aikido is not for everyone, espeonly have so many hours in the day to dedicate our time to ex- cially those who are only interested in learning self-defense tracurriculars. One of the clubs that goes oft overlooked is the tactics in a short period of time. Most applicable experience St. John’s Aikido club, one of the only clubs here at St. John’s comes after thousands of hours of training, which manifests that allows you to practice and learn a martial art. For many itself in recognizing specific bodily movements and acting in of you, the closest you’ve ever come to observing this club is accordance with your knowledge. through the College Fair. But Aikido Unfortunately, St. John’s is a four-year is an exciting on-campus opportunity! program, and many will not continue Anyone has the opportunity to their activities here into their future.

Aikido is a relatively new martial art, developed solely as self-defense. practice it to its fullest capacity, What is the value of aikido for the casual It is designed so that one redirects the and it offers a different oppor- practicioner? Amelia relates her testienergy of an attack, rather than meets mony: “I had to learn the value of daily tunity to dedicate oneself to a it head-on. It can be practiced and expractice,” she says. “I had to struggle and physical and mental objective. be frustrated and eventually realize that ecuted effectively by anyone, since it depends solely on the strength of the it’s impossible to perfect [aikido]. I had attacker. Aikido is also distinct in the fact that it is a “soft” to be at peace with never understanding, and restless enough martial art, designed to protect the attacker; aikido aims to de- to keep working on it.” fend by neutralizing an attack, rather than directly attacking in return.

It’s because of this that aikido gets much flak. Many criticize aikido for the impracticality of the techniques and the way it is practiced. Since aikido is designed to protect the attacker, there is a great deal of falling and learning how to fall in practice. In addition, many claim that the situations people enact in practice are incredibly unlikely and thereby judge aikido to be not worth their time.

I caught up with archousa Amelia Perkins, who was able to relay her experience with aikido. She argues that many of the criticisms are unfounded. “The role of the partner playing the attacker is not to look for openings or try to regain control; it is to protect himself from injury, which usually means falling down,” she observes. “Practice is unique: Your partner trusts you entirely, and the most important thing is to respect that.

You both know what is coming, but you allow the opening any-

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Amelia’s reflections point strongly to the value of what Aikido offers. In turn, it’s easy to see how it relates to St. John’s.

Anyone has the opportunity to practice it to its fullest capacity, and it offers a different opportunity to dedicate oneself to a physical and mental objective. As sophomore Daniel Koolbeck relates, “Aikido has given me a greater awareness of my own movement and my spatial relations to those around me.

It’s allowed me to enter a different frame of mind. Even if I can’t find a place to train after St. John’s, aikido, like the Program, is something worth taking with me for the rest of my life.”

I strongly suggest that you take the time and see for yourself what aikido can offer you. Aikido club meets at the new Naval Academy Field House on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6:30—8pm (they typically walk over from St. John’s’ Iglehart Gym at 6pm) and in Iglehart Gym on Saturdays from 9:30— 11am. Newcomers are always welcome. !

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E'$%")'$,%12@*2H:(*)%"7$,,2+2*@%$5$#$*)%2*%:(#491%"9)5""-%&(1% )'()% &$% -*$&% )'()% 2*% (55% 4,"8(8252)6% &$% &$,$% 2*$72)(856% #"72*@% )"&(,+% &(,F% $7$*% 2<% #9:'% "<% )'$% :"9*),601% 4"495()2"*% &"95+*0)% <(:$%)'$%<(:).%[*@5(*+%&(1%+$$4%2*%2).%E'$%:"*)2*$*)%"<%[9,"4$%&(1% An alumnus from the Class of 1941, recounts a prank that 85(:-$+%"9)F%:9)%"<<%<,"#%:27252I()2"*F%"7$,,9*%86%>2)5$,01%V(I21%)'$% occured one night to Chase Stone in the early years of the New 4,$:$+2*@%/9*$.%E'$%V(76F%2*%)'$2,%"9)4"1)%(:,"11%)'$%1),$$)F%&$55% Program. The effects of the prank can still be seen today.

-*$&%)'()%&$%&$,$%(5,$(+6%()%&(,%2*%)'$%3)5(*)2:.

X*%)'$%!()9,+(6%$7$*2*@%"<%)'$%&$$-$*+%"<%"9,%$421"+$F%)'$,$% Henry Robert III A’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ut that morning when we got up, +(6% (*+% (% 7"2:$F% +$#(*+2*@% )"% 14$(-% 8925+2*@% '(+% (% 12+$% 4",:'% 9*)25% 2)1% :"#; )"%'2#F%8(,-$+F%YE'21%21%)'$%!94$,2*)$*; lo and behold, staring passers-by +$*)01% X<H:$.% B$)% )'"1$% )'2*@1% "<<% )'()% 45$)$%,$*"7()2"*%2*%JKLMF%(*+%)'$%52*$%"<% in the face, on the outside brick 52@')$,% :"5",$+% 8,2:-% 21% &'$,$% )'$% 4",:'% &(55% VX\^Z% 3)% )'()% )2#$F% $(12$,% 1(2+% wall, on the side porch of Chase ,""<%&(1%())(:'$+%)"%)'$%8925+2*@%&(55. )'(*%+"*$.%E"+(6F%2*%)'()%12)9()2"*F%6"9% G$5"&% )'$% 4",:'% ,""N2*$F% ()% (% 5$7$5% House were two accurately drawn, &"95+%:(55%(%4"&$,;&(1'%#(*%&'"%+2+% )'()%&"95+%'(7$%:"*<,"*)$+%6"9%+2,$:)56% neatly painted swastikas, 30 inch 4(2*)%,$#"7(5.%>$%&"95+%:"#$%&2)'%'21% 2<%6"9%1)""+%"*%)'$%4",:'F%(,$%)&"%1O9(,$1% #(:'2*$% H))$+% &2)'% (*% ())(:'#$*)% )"% squares with arms two or three "<% 12#25(,56% 52@')$,;:"5",$+% 8,2:-% (4; <$$+% :$,)(2*% :'$#2:(51% 2*)"% )'$% 14,(6.% inches wide, inscribed with green E'$1$% :'$#2:(51% &"95+F% "*% )'$2,% "&*F% 4,"P2#()$56%MQ%2*:'$1%"*%(%12+$F%:$*)$,$+% paint! THE emblem of the enemy, 1$)% (*6"*$% 8(:-% "*56% (% <$&% +"55(,1% ()% <,"#% <,"*)% )"% 8(:-% "*% )'$% &(55F% #(68$% the symbol of Hitler’s Nazis!

JR% <$$)% (4(,).%E'$1$% +21:"5",()2"*1% (,21$% #"1)F%89)F%(,#$+%&2)'%'21%,2@F%'$%&"95+F% <,"#%(%7$,6%+2<<$,$*)%:(91$%<,"#%)'$%"*$% O92:-56%&(1'%(&(6%(55%),(:$1%"<%4(2*)` (5"*@%)'$%4",:'%,""N2*$F%(*+%)'$6%#(-$%<",%(%82)%"<%(%1)",6. <",%1$7$,(5%'9*+,$+%+"55(,1.

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a"8% (*6"*$% (%Y@"5+$*%(@$.Z%T)%&(1%$P:2)2*@F%)"%8$%19,$.%34(,)%<,"#%)'$%#(*6%+2; :"95+%#(-$%"<%2)`5$<)%<",%)'$%&$()'$,%7$,6%15"&56%)"%+"%&'()%2)% ,$:)2"*1%2*%&'2:'%)'21%&(1%),9$%()%)'$%2*)$55$:)9(5%5$7$5F%T%8$52$7$%&$% &"95+%)',"9@'%)'$%6$(,1%)"%:"#$.%!

!"#$%&'()*&+$,-./'000

!

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The Gadfly

09

!"#$%&'()*+#,--.("/#0" @"A$,7/-,$"%/BC+2,%0-4"%.$"D/.--0$"C+66($E Joe Roberts

S

A’16

peaking as an outsider to this election, there are some is- Tuttle, a student of an establishment of higher learning, has a sues that truly interest me, and foreign policy is certainly problem with Obama being intelligent and showing his intelat the top of the list. Mr. Tuttle’s questionable, if not inde- ligence is nothing short of shocking. Secondly, why on earth fensible, criticism of Barack Obama’s does anybody, particularly any Amerforeign policy has truly got my blood ican, want an average Joe doing the Foreign policy is what affects me boiling. The line that truly stands hardest job in the world? I want a god out, “encouraging the ascendancy of and the rest of the world far more among men to be president, someone the repressive Muslim Brotherhood so fantastic that there is no way I can than the differing domestic idein Egypt” speaks volumes about a relate to them on an intellectual level. ologies, and I breathed a sigh of uniquely American stance on govDon’t settle for mediocrity, especially relief when Obama was re-elected. when the entire world has a stake in ernment: Democracy—but only if you pick who we want! The last 50 years the presidential election. of American foreign policy have been based on spreading deRegardless of your political stance, there is much to be hapmocracy and fighting oppression by government. Yet people py about with this election result, notably that Mitt Romney have the gall to get angry at the choice of the Egyptians, a right will not be in charge of the largest armed forces in the world. that minutes before they staunchly advocated, if the election We can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. ! result isn’t so favourable. American politicians in particular have to make their minds up: If they wish to spread democracy, then they actually have to allow democracy to exist and not accuse the president of allowing, even encouraging, a repres! Painter Bob sive regime to take power. Respect the choice of the Egyptian !"#$%"&"'$(("&)*+,%$)"#&people. './"(01$)"%.$"&#$203&-")2$&# To accuse the President of turning his back on Israel is %.2/+4."'/250-4"/+%".0,"6+,0-$,,"7(&-, equally ludicrous. Supporting the right to sovereignty of the 82/#"&"'$((9/0($)"(0#/+,0-$ Palestinian people is not turning his back on Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu’s lack of diplomacy has certainly not helped mat%/",&%0,8:".0,"3+,%/#$2, ters, although Obama did shoot himself in the foot when he .0,"3+,%/#"'&,"%/"420was caught talking smack about Netanyahu. That being said, '.0($",./'0-4"%.$#"&"3/-%2&3%;"%.&% Obama has stood firm in his support of Israel in regards to Ira.$",'/2$"'&,"'0%./+%",0nian aggression, but not advocating an invasion of Iran is not 3.&20,#&"0-".0,"-&%+2$ only sensible but should be widely supported by the American ):-&#03"%/"%.$"%/+3. people still reeling after two Middle Eastern wars. ,+3."102%+$".&)".$"-+2%+2$) Foreign policy is what affects me and the rest of the world %/"72/#0,$"%.$#",/"#+3. far more than the differing domestic ideologies, and I breathed &-)",/;"%.$:",04-$)"%.$")/%%$)"(0-$ a sigh of relief when Obama was re-elected. Mitt Romney as &-)",/"%.$:"/'-$)"&"./#$ commander-in-chief was a truly scary prospect. This is a can&-)",/",$3+2$;"%.$:"(&%$2"<-) didate who advocated a far more aggressive stance on Iran, .$=,"%.2/'-"%.$"./((/'"6/-$ despite the armed forces spending the last decade mired in 8/2"&,"8/2$3(/,+2$"3/#$,"%/"3&(( highly questionable wars. The United States as the World Po%.$:"3&-=%"6+%")/+6%"0%,"%2+$ lice Force already worries many people throughout the world, +-%0(;"%.$"<-&(",.$2088=,"3&2 and Romney was going to increase the defense budget, al3/#$,"6&350-4>>>:/+"5-/'"'./ ready astronomically large, by $2 trillion—which, notably, was &-)",/"%.&%"$1$-0-4;"0-"&"6&2 never requested by any U.S. military leader. Obama has been sufficiently aggressive in the Middle East with his killing of &"6&-5$2;"&-)",/#$"3/7, Bin Laden and repeated drone strikes. To elect someone even 5035"6&35"%/",.&2$"&".&2):9.&2 more bellicose would have been a catastrophe.

'0%."&"(&':$2"&-)",/#$",3.-/7, Mr. Tuttle also highlights another bizarrely American phe'.0($"&"3&27$-%$2=,"'./($"(08$;"4/$,")/'nomenon that occurs when electing a president and other '0%."&"'08$;"&-)",0?",.&27"50), officials—the desire for the leaders to be relatable, to be an &)&7%0-4"%/"%.$"'&:,"+7"%/'“average Joe.” Mr. Tuttle’s criticism of Obama includes “his 82/#"%.$02"-$'"./#$"6:"%.$",50),> intellectual pretense.” First and foremost, the fact that Mr.

“

!"#$%&'()*)&+&'(),

The Gadfly

10

!"#$%& '(%& )#"*+ Alvaro Duran

I

GI

t has been an absolute gas to watch the right implode after to the right. the presidential election. The polished rind of this rotten Charles Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Instifruit has sloughed off, and the maggots within have either be- tute, wrote that the “young guns” of the GOP needed to “keep gun feasting on each other or wriggled off to the nearest damp their message consistent, avoid talk of truces on the issues, corner. The resulting fibrillation of opinions shows just how learn how to speak to and represent women...rethink the fordeluded the right was before the election, how shocked they eign-policy rhetoric that implies the next war is just around were afterwards, and how useless they promise to continue the corner, and reach an accommodation on immigration.” to be. Out of the “big tent” came a bizarre crew of neo-Con- Steve Schmidt, an advisor to the McCain campaign, urged Refederates arguing the virtues of secession, anti-immigration publican leaders to repudiate “extreme statements.” Kathryn activists demanding that borders be sealed to all, armchair Jean Lopez, obviously more dazed than the rest, wrote at Naauditors decrying how welfare queens have taken over, and tional Review Online that conservatives needed to “make great evangelicals finished with our republic on Earth and await- art that uplifts the spirit...feed a generation wanting someing their kingdom in heaven. Indeed, despair and resignation thing better...[and] rebuild, starting with the basics of what is primary among the mourning calls works and what we believe, telling that across all spectra. story with confidence, enthusiasm, and So after more than $4 billion Robert Stacy McCain of The Amerilove.” And I’m told Obama is the repwas thrown into this election can Spectator was the most blunt: “Even resentative of empty rhetoric? Clearly cycle, the right gained little of before the unmitigated political disasthe “big tent” has become a big top value. Hopefully, this is the last where “moral decline” stands aside ter of November 6, 2012, a date that will we ever hear of Mitt Romney. live in infamy, the prospects of salvaging God-willing rapes and where creationthe United States were not particularly ism is as welcome as the development hopeful. Now, however, we are permanently and irretrievably of a 21st century workforce. screwed.” Donald Trump went through a histrionic meltdown, It may be that the party holds on to its constituents in the imploring, then deleting, calls for a revolutionary takeover. near future around their common dislike for Obama, but David Gelernter of National Review called the Romney loss a changing opinions on social issues like drug legalization and “battle in the slow-motion civil war the nation is undergoing” gay marriage will eventually lead to unsolvable absurdities beagainst “post-religious, globalist intellectuals.” Tea Party Pa- coming more visible in the party and forcing a schism between triots, an organization of Tea Party activists, blamed the loss the Christian right and the social libertarians. Gay marriage on Romney’s being a “weak moderate candidate, hand-picked across the nation is an eventuality that no absurd notions of by the Beltway elites and country-club establishment.” Her- “gay therapy” can reverse. All that weirdoes like Maggie Galman Cain openly called for a third party to abandon the GOP lagher and Bryan Fischer can do is wage a steadily retreating and challenge the current conservative establishment. defensive game.

As the Wednesday morning hangover kicked in and RepubSo after more than $4 billion was thrown into this election licans surreptitiously peeled off their Romney/Ryan bumper cycle, the right gained little of value. Hopefully, this is the last stickers, fingers began pointing in all directions. Ann Coulter we ever hear of Mitt Romney—a man who encased himself in begged conservatives not to attack Romney, calling him “the a cocoon of stupidity and denial and couldn’t even contemperfect candidate.” Instead, many were blaming Karl Rove plate losing enough to write a concession speech in advance. for failing to turn $400 million of donations into meaningful And what of his electoral campaign, a machine so inept it acelectoral results. Others, like talk-show host Laura Ingraham, tually believed the risible predictions of George Will and Dick turned their rage on New Jersey governor Chris Christie for Morris? It shows that a Romney administration would have praising Obama’s response to Hurricane Sandy. Meanwhile, been no less incompetent than the current one in foreseeSean Hannity announced that his views on immigration had ing and reacting to crises. Finally, now that we’ve seen that “evolved,” and that a pathway to citizenship was necessary. independent conservative groups outspent liberal groups by Charles Krauthammer wrote that the GOP problem of appeal- hundreds of millions, perhaps we will finally stop hearing the ing to Hispanic voters required “but a single policy change: paranoiac cries from the left regarding Citizens United. If the Border fence plus amnesty.” Mark Krikorian, executive direc- people need the state to keep them safe from their own obligator of the Center for Immigration Studies, however, fired back tions to be informed citizens, the people no longer deserve the against claims that such moves would charm Hispanics over republic. !

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The Gadfly

Ian Tuttle

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A’14

ell, it was fun while it lasted. America the superpower.

[A democracy] can only exist until the voters discover that Land of the free, home of the brave. Shining City on a they can vote themselves money from the Public TreaHill. Last, best hope of earth. 100 years as leader of the free sury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for world. Not bad, guys. It was a good run. the candidate promising the most benefits from the Public Now say goodbye to all that.

Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses “How long can a government with a $16 trillion foreign debt over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship. remain a world power?” That’s not Mitt Romney. It’s Iranian president and genocidal-wannabe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

That’s Obama’s America—“fundamentally transformed,” The man’s got a point. America ain’t just broke. We’re as as he promised in 2008. What remedy is there when voters broke as it gets. We’re the brokest country in the history of discover that the Public Treasury can be a public trough? “If money. Combine every dollar of every currency on the plan- Obama wins, liberals and conservatives will go on to contest et, and you still cannot cover our debts. Most people with a new issues,” wrote The Weekly Standard’s James Ceasar just checkbook recognize that once you run out money you can’t, before the election, “but they will do so on a new terrain that you know, do any more stuff. But rather than confront fiscal accepts the core of Obama’s changes.” reality, the federal government has chosen What is that new “core”? In the words of to max out not just our credit cards, but the opening video at September’s Demothose of our children, our grandchildren, cratic National Convention, “Government America’s business is our great-grandchildren—so that Sesame is the only thing we all belong to.” Family? no longer business, as Street is available via public broadcasting, Church? Dance troupe? Rotary Club? ForCalvin Coolidge once women do not have to pay for NuvaRing, get ‘em. With a full third of the country ussaid. It’s government. and we can each cruise to the local job fair ing one of the federal government’s 80-plus in a minimal-emission Chevy Volt. Last And Tuesday confirmed welfare programs, and the entire population Tuesday, the majority of Americans dethat we like it that way. about to get sucked into Obamacare, like cided that, on the whole, they were pretty it or not, America’s business is no longer We accepted Obama’s comfortable with this arrangement. business, as Calvin Coolidge once said. It’s vision. We looked at Of course, people were not voting just government. And Tuesday confirmed that the last four years and we like it that way. We accepted Obama’s about the economy. Foreign policy, immigration policy, “social issues,” personality— vision. We looked at the last four years and said, “More, please.” a whole host of factors were no doubt at said, “More, please.” play. But the fight for abortion rights is not “The People” are sovereign in America. going to be the downfall of the republic. American bankrupt- That doesn’t mean we are smart. “I think the people—the cy? That will be. And sooner rather than later. holy, sacred people—are wrong about movies, music, moraliI wrote last week about historical inflection points. Tues- ty. A whole range of things,” writes National Review’s Jay Norday was a big one. “Consider this,” writes my friend Charles dlinger. “But they’re supposed to be brimming with wisdom Cooke, at National Review: when they enter the voting booths on Election Day? That would be strange.”

A president of the United States just ran a reelection camBut in the past when we’ve gotten it wrong, we’ve changed paign based on the promise of government largess, exploi- course. This time we doubled down. tation of class division, the demonization of success, the I quoted Joseph de Maistre last week, but he’s worth quotglorification of identity politics, and the presumption that ing again: “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” If women are a helpless interest group; and he did so while in 2016 things look bleaker than they do now, we can’t say we steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the looming—poten- didn’t know. tially fatal—crisis that the country faces. And it worked.

“In the end,” wrote Edward Gibbon, chronicler of collapse, “more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. When That’s a turning point for America. It’s hard to think that the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for sowe won’t look back and mark November 6, 2012, as the day ciety to give to them, when the freedom they wished for was America opted for a path of least resistance, the day we de- freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.” cided government aid was preferable to the burden of personChisel that on the epitaph of the republic. al initiative. Ask not what you can do for your country—ask A 1984 ad for Ronald Reagan declared “morning again in what your country can do for you!

America.” It’s looking more like dusk now. But hey. We all get The Scottish historian Alexander Fraser Tytler is supposed phones. to have written, So there’s that. !

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The Gadfly

12

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Examining Writing in the Program Michael Fogleman

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his past Thursday, November 8, the SCI convened to discuss writing at St. John’s. How can students and tutors work to develop students’ writing? What works and what doesn’t?

The discussion began by clarifying why writing is a part of liberal education. One formulation was that writing well is necessary for tutorial and annual essays, for reading, for speaking and thinking well, and perhaps most practically, as a skill required by many jobs and careers. Another was that writing is thinking, and independent thinking at that; if practiced, writing should benefit all of these areas.

The concern was raised that students are not given enough opportunities to write at St. John’s. Certainly tutorial and annual essays are an opportunity for students to think out an issue or question in a book at a slower pace than the seminar does—but several times a semester will not necessarily be enough to develop writing skills like explication or organization. Still, it was agreed that both students’ and tutors’ time is precious, and that whatever opportunities students have should be used wisely.

Tutors stressed that improvement in writing requires that the student be interested in doing so. Some thought that students might become more interested if they were reminded that attending St. John’s does not automatically improve a student’s writing; individual effort is necessary for achieving this end. In turn, the tutors said that, when they advised essays, they had observed that this kind of interest in improvement was both possible and effective at that time. If students start early on their annual essays, and work with an adviser, they will generally improve their writing. Other suggestions that students of any skill level could take up included writing regularly on their own, visiting Writing Assistance, and attending workshops, as well as reading lectures and prize essays in the library. This last suggestion could help overcome the difficulty that students are not usually required to read the kind of Students of all skill levwriting that they are expected to produce; els should take initiative reading lectures and prize essays with an towards improving their eye towards fruitful imitation might help writing, and tutors...should overcome basic questions of structure. continue to make expediMeanwhile, students shared possible exent but effective efforts to ercises or assignments that tutors could use to maximize the effectiveness of those writprovide opportunities for ing assignments. To alleviate the workload students to do so. on both students and tutors, some praised frequent but shorter papers, which would develop a comfort level in producing coherent material quickly. An emphasis on revision has also proved helpful in the past, especially with a focus on specific stylistic issues like questions, sentences, paragraphs, and transitions. It was felt that grammatical concerns need attention but cannot be of primary importance. Using class time for peer editing or sharing excerpts of essays at the blackboard could also be a solution to pervasive problems.

The tutors at the meeting expressed concern that freshman language has a dual role as both a writing and Greek tutorial. If students were required to bring a paper to writing assistance by the end of the term, such an assignment could be fruitful without hindering the class’s advancement in learning Ancient Greek.

Both students and tutors at the meeting agreed that learning to write was of primary importance in the liberal arts education St. John’s is supposed to provide.

Continued effort from both may help to alleviate the difficulty of achieving this end while immersed in the Program. Students of all skill levels should take initiative towards improving their writing, and tutors, especially language tutors and paper advisers, should continue to make expedient but effective efforts to provide opportunities for students to do so. Meanwhile, my motto at Writing Assistance continues to be “Come early and often!”!

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