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The Gadfly
02
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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 meets where the body meets the soul. 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 Sarah Meggison • Staff Kevin Morris • Staff Charles Zug • Staff Contributors Sebastián Abella Drew Menzer Hunter Cox Evgenia Olimpieva Michael Fogleman Louis Pisha Robert George Hollis Thoms Lucinda Dukes Edinberg
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t’s been awhile, Gadfly readers, but we’re pleased to be back—and with an issue chock full of amusing and provocative pieces. We hope you enjoy. Please remember that we are always looking for pictures of campus life to publish in our pages. If you happen to snap some photos of parties, athletic events, or Johnnies-in-the-wild, send them to us! Our gmail address is listed in the masthead above. Happy reading!
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he thank-you for my piano playing which someone anonymously published in last week’s Gadfly was very touching; you’re certainly welcome! I’m glad people enjoy it when I play. Speaking of people enjoying my playing: when the entire dining hall gives me a standing ovation, I know that the magnitude of appreciation that you are expressing is exceeding how you actually feel, which makes it feel fake. I would prefer it if everyone made their applause proportional to their actual enjoyment. If I finish a piece and some people clap, but you didn’t like that piece, don’t applaud; I’d rather know that everyone who does applaud actually means it. One more thing: I may be good at rattling off half-baked arrangements of video game music, and I’m glad if that’s what everyone likes, but I’m not really a good pianist. I know approximately one “classical” piece well; if you give me a Beethoven piano concerto to play, I will be absolutely stumped. There are a number of Johnnies who are much better pianists both technically and musically, and I think everybody knows that. So if you like my music, great, I’ll keep playing; but please don’t tell people that I’m a good pianist. Because then somebody might hire me, and then I would only play video game music, and then I would get fired, and I don’t want that. Louis Pisha
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60 College Avenue Annapolis, Maryland 21401 sjca.gadfly@gmail.com
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The student newspaper of St. John’s College
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or years I have been asking to play Kunai. I am envious of the fact that women get to play twice as much sports as men do here, with the fact that they can play in both Kunai and our coed league. And netball, they get to play netball. How awesome is that? (answer: twelve. Netball is twelve awesomes.) At least once every year, for the past four years, I have made my case to the Kunai captains of why I should be allowed to play Kunai with them, but every time I was answered with resounding nos. They would give me very reasonable explanations about how, if they let men play, the men would ruin Kunai with their testosterone and excessive competitiveness. They would explain to me that Kunai had a very special atmosphere that would be jeopardized by the introduction of men, but I wouldn’t really hear anything they said after that because by then I would be curled up in a Kunai-less ball of sadness. I had almost completely given up hope of ever getting to play kunai until I heard about Kunai’s season pass. It turns out that, while I can’t talk my way on to Kunai, I might be able to buy my way on. This is a pretty big move for Kunai, so they are understandably being very careful about who they give the season pass to. With that in mind, allow me to explain why I should be the one to get the season pass. First and foremost is the fact that I would fit in with Kunai: while I do enjoy some good competition, fun is of paramount importance. Being on the Spartan intramural team, I’ve perfected the art of having more fun than the other team while still losing the game. This takes us to the second reason I should be allowed to playing Kunai: I’m not actually that good at sports. It’s not like they would be letting Lebron James in to Kunai; I would not be having a huge impact on the outcome of games. I would not be altering the way that Kunai functions now, I would be just be adding to the fun, and that is why I should play Kunai. Drew Menzer
The Gadfly
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!"#$%&%'()"*+"&,)"#*--).) Hunter Cox
A
A’13
t St. John’s we pride ourselves on the questions that we ask and our pursuit of them. As we engage in discussions with our peers, we seek not simply the answer to, What was Oedipus’s mistake?, but what this question actually points to: What is good? How do we know the truth? Does it exist? But among these great questions, one gets overlooked in the classes. I am, of course, referring to the question at the bottom of a bottle, the question that we supposedly answered in our applications: Why am I here? I propose to investigate this question through a close examination of four key texts. By looking at what motivates Achilles, in Homer’s Iliad, St. Augustine, in his Confessions, Don Quixote, from Cervantes’s novel of the same name, and the Absolute Knowing Conscious, from Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. In Book I of the Iliad, Homer uses the jerk Agamemnon to illustrate how great Achilles is and why he came to fight. Agamemnon states: “Son of Peleus, you always want to get the chicks, but I will not give up the girl” (III. 8354). This quote shows that Achilles only decided to go to Troy to win chicks, and when he will not get the girl, he refuses to fight, for completion without chicks just isn’t worth it. In his Confessions, Augustine is tormented by the act of stealing pears when he was a youth. As he recounts the acts of his youth, he asks what it was that caused him to steal pears that were unpleasing to the eye and to the tongue. He states: “Was it for the love of friendship? Or was it done for the desire for a juicy fruit to quench my thirst? Nay, I did it for the chicks” (Confessions p. 98983). It becomes quite clear that the only reason Augustine did anything was for the ladies, even if it was just stealing pears. It is now time for us to turn from the ancient dead to the modern dead, starting with junior year and the delightful tale of Sancho Panza (later Sancho Druid, first Druid captain) and his fearless leader, Don Quixote. As Don Quixote embarks on quests of danger to prove his courage and chivalry, he frequently reminds the reader of the beautiful Dulcinea del Toboso. After facing the daunting giant windmill, Cervantes informs the reader: “Although his pride and body were hurt, Don Quixote would not allow himself to forget the beautiful Dulcinea and uttered a silent plea aloud to Sancho: ‘Sancho, if I die, tell Dulcinea that I love her. She’s the best (like the Druids)!’” (Great Books edition, p. 69). This quote, while not using the word chick, clearly shows that Dulcinea, being a lady, causes Don Quixote to do all that he does. Finally, to finish my search of why I am at St. John’s, I turn to Hegel, and then because it doesn’t make sense I turn away and look instead to Marx, but before Marx I look to perhaps the longest book on the program: War and Peace. At the end of the book (spoiler alert), right before he has his sixth child,
photo by Anyi Guo
Prince Andrei tells his best friend in the waiting room: “Gosh, I do everything for the chicks” (p. 1,257,842). This quote doesn’t need any explaining, and if it does, you should really ask yourself: Why are you at St. John’s? It can be seen from this investigation that the great men of action, of faith, of stories, and of nobility all do everything for the chicks. This knowledge leads me to my conclusion: I’m at St. John’s for the chicks. But how can I fulfill my time at St. John’s if I never ever ever come out for the ladies on the Kunai field? Thus, in order to actualize my potential, I seek to play Kunai. A lot of Kunai. As For how much I will pay, I turn to my friend Marx. Marx comments on the value of items, saying, “Coats are worth money, but sports and work should be shared by everyone, and the state will pay.” Thus it is seen that Kunai should accept me, and the state will pay for me to play with them in netball and all other awesome sports. But I am willing to pay for my sweet jersey and the jersey of one other player. !
!"#$%#%&'()*$ +,-./,012$34$56.7689 ! Evgenia Olimpieva, A’14
Books, balance, freedom, free men. Not an illusion freedom, but a true freedom of mind. It is only found by the ways taught here Light. Light. Joy. Euphoria. St. John’s College Forgetfulness of the world and everything, except Descartes. Grandeur of the human soul. Liberal Education, the modern world has not known you, but I have known you. Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy. I will never get a job Nothing in this world is free, neither is liberality What am I doing here!? Let me not doubt the Program ever This is the noblest life, to have experienced you, the Program, and the ones that breathe life into you, the Great Books Great Books Great Books I did not read them that well. But they are all on my bookshelf Let me never be separated from them Submission to Junior Year, total and sweet Eternal joy in math and French Amen
The Gadfly
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!"#$%"&'()*'+," (-"./012/+1(Jonathan Barone
I
A’13
photo by Anyi Guo
don’t think there’s one of us here that couraging. Even so, I couldn’t will mydoesn’t search for validation in one self to do better. I turned to the athletic way or another. field, hoping to find some value and selfNow, I’m not saying whether it’s worth there, but my striving in sports wrong or it’s right, healthy or unhealthy, was just as fruitless as my striving in but I do think we need to take a step class. I even contemplated leaving St. back and look at our motivations once John’s, because I had lost my passion for in a while. I seem to remember someone the school. recommending us to examine our lives One moment stands out to me as a from time to time, and I tend to think it’s turning point from this mindset. I was good advice. having tea with a tutor, and we were So, back to the matter at hand and a talking about seminar and how difficult question we all struggle with: Where do it was. She suggested that I wrestle with we find our worth? the text and make it mine, to wrestle Since we’re all here at St. John’s, I with these ideas in more than just an think it’s safe to assume we wanted to intellectual way. hat advice has helped escape the cutthroat academia of many focus me in many ways, because it brings colleges, where the object of learn- me back to the essential question: Where ing is driven largely by taking tests and do I find value? maintaining 4.0 GPAs. We’re here partly I have come to realize that more than because we’re more interested in pur- I more than I value the Great Books suing ideas and thoughts than chasing themselves, I find value in trying to comafter grades. It’s a choice we made, con- municate with my friends about these sciously or not. books that we both And yet, I think it’s It’s important to remem- love and hate. In tryeasy to get sucked ing to understand a ber that the work you into a different kind work, I shouldn’t be do and the books you of self-evaluation. At seeking validation in read do not determine least, I know I did. how much I know Ever since the beginyour meaning; you give (in pursuing knowlning of my time here, meaning to these works edge for knowlseminar has always by how much you invest edge’s sake); rather, been my most diffiI should be seeking in them. In this way, cult class. Freshman after knowledge beyour performance does and especially sophocause it’s something not dictate your worth; more year, I struggled that I enjoy and care with participation. your worth dictates your about. It’s important I constantly tried to remember that performance. to validate my perthe work you do and formance in class by comparing myself the books you read do not determine with other people. I worked very hard your meaning; you give meaning to these on making sure that I wasn’t the person works by how much you invest in them. who talked the least, and in the majority In this way, your performance does not of my seminars, I’d pay close attention dictate your worth; your worth dictates to who was (and who wasn’t) speaking. your performance. I hearken back to a I was hoping that by doing that, I would passage I’m probably misquoting from somehow persuade myself that I was a book I haven’t read called Big Game, improving. Small World by Alexander Wolff: “WinBut it didn’t work. I’d come out of ning is good, playing your hardest is betseminar feeling unfulfilled, that I hadn’t ter, but loving the game is best of all.” I tried my hardest, and it was deeply dis- think the analogy to life is pretty apt. !
“
A Response to “Examining the Bible” Robert George
W
A’15
hile I appreciate Mr. Hope’s concerns regarding the quality of conversation in our Old Testament seminars (cf. “Examining the Bible,” Issue 5), it seems unlikely that his recommendations for approaching this text will bring about the honest “dialectical examination” he desires. Here’s the problem, as far as I can tell, according to Mr. Hope: the Bible is being given unfair privilege amongst the Great Books. It is not being submitted to the same challenges and questions as the other books on the Program. The Bible does present a unique challenge to our conversation, as has been discussed in previous columns. To treat this challenge as above questioning would be a serious misstep. In light of this, Mr. Hope suggests that we treat the Hebrew God like we did Homer’s gods, whom “we were quick to judge.” He alleges that “we don’t criticize the parts that don’t make sense to us at first.” While rationalizing the wrathful actions of the divine with the pretense that they must adhere to an imported sense of justice and the good is a regrettable approach, relying on quick judgments and criticisms based on limited understanding seems hardly better. Near the end of his article, Mr. Hope remarks that “the Bible is a great book for the same reasons people looked to it for guidance years ago.” While I think this is true, the wrathful nature of God’s presence begs the question: Why is this the God they chose to look to for guidance? Why this God and why these prophets? A reliance on criticisms founded on knee-jerk prejudices to guide our conversation does not seem to get us closer to tackling those questions. Rather, it will leave us articulating what is most evident (the harsh nature of God’s character) and skirting more fundamental issues (how this nature is incorporated into the guidance the text provides).!
The Gadfly
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In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed a St. John’s alumna to head a life-saving federal agency. Anne Ferro, A’80, discusses her path to the nation’s capital. What is your current job? I lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a federal agency that works to improve highway safety and save lives by preventing crashes involving trucks and buses. FMCSA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. President Obama appointed me to serve as FMCSA Administrator in November 2009. Did you attend other schools after St. John’s? Yes, University of Maryland School of Public Policy, where I received my Master’s in Public Administration in 1984. Did you know what you wanted to do while attending St. John’s? When I was young, President Kennedy’s call for volunteers to sign up for “the toughest job you’ll ever love” left a big impression. My interest in serving in the public sector evolved during my years at St. John’s and was strengthened by my service in the Peace Corps (Cote d’Ivoire, 80-81). Did St. John’s help prepare you for work in the field? Yes. Reading, asking questions, and discussing original texts of writers and thinkers whose works influenced civilizations and democracies through the centuries gave me critical thinking skills. Also, St. John’s cemented for me the fundamentals of an effective dialogue—listening, asking, reflecting, respecting. My St. John’s education gave me a solid foundation for every job I’ve ever had. What didn’t St. John’s prepare you for? Marriage and motherhood! All kidding aside, the curriculum and St. John’s community gave me every opportunity to engage fully in all aspects of academic and college life. The campus location, in the center of one of the most beautiful and historic state capitals in the US, gave me plenty of opportunity to work in town and balance school life with the larger community. How did you feel you compared, in graduate school or early jobs, to people from different educational backgrounds, particularly those with field-related degrees? I compared well to co-workers and fellow graduate students. In fact, the confidence to ask questions, work collaboratively, and solve problems civilly were real assets in graduate school and the workplace. Can you describe a general track someone from St. John’s might take to get into a career in this field? I encourage SJC graduates to seek out jobs, education, and ex-
Anne Ferro, A’80, testifies before a House subcommittee.
periences that challenge them on all levels. There is no one track to pursue a career in the public sector—I chose the Peace Corps, graduate school in public policy, local government, and odd jobs in between before settling on the path I’m on today. Careers in the public sector are as diverse and exciting as the needs of communities. Any general advice, especially for an upperclassman who is interested in this field but is not quite sure what to do? Talk with SJC alumni who are in positions or fields that interest you. These conversations will help you establish a sense of the many rewarding paths people pursue in public sector careers and the range of routes they took to get there. The conversations also build a network of contacts you may use in the years to come. How did you market yourself with a St. John’s degree? I highlighted math and philosophy as my primary areas of concentration and emphasized good communication and problem solving skills with a strong work ethic. How would you characterize your field as a whole? Is it accessible to newcomers? Stable or fluid? etc. Public sector career paths are numerous and dynamic. In fact, there is such a wide range of opportunities and points of entry that it may seem daunting to figure out where to start—education, law, government, not-for-profit, community service, policy development, military service, and more. What was your senior essay topic? Billy Budd, Sailor, by Herman Melville; my senior essay was titled “When you say Budd, You’ve said it All”…allusions to our lives of thirty years ago, when the Little Campus served as our watering hole and think tank… What is your favorite book on the Program? My favorite SJC courses of study were math tutorials and seminar readings on our country’s founding documents. Like most Johnnies, I have a few favorites: Plato’s Republic, the Federalist Papers, and Gulliver’s Travels. Another favorite was Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which we studied in Miss Brann’s music tutorial. Do you find that you lead a philosophical life? I’ve led a life of inquiry, thoughtfulness, humor, reflection, and always in pursuit of a good discussion. Without question, my life is richer for my St. John’s education. I highly recommend the program whenever I speak to high school students and their parents, and would love to return myself some day. !
!"#$%&'()*+) Hollis Thoms
J
AGI’06
ames A. Garfield for President in 2012! Forget Romney or uments available in the James A. Garfield Papers at the Library Obama! of Congress: his extensive personal diary, particularly during Educator, congressman, general, and 20th President of the his years as a student, teacher and school administrator, 1848United States, James A. Garfield (1831-1881) was an extraor- 1860 (James A. Garfield Papers, Library of Congress, Series dinary Statesman-Literary Man, but his life of 50 years and 1, Diaries, 1848-1881, 21 Volumes, Reel 1, Volumes 1 -12, 1848 presidency of just a few months was cut short by an assassin’s January 1873); the equally extensive ledger listing his personal bullet, causing his speeches, writings and presidency to fade collection of books that he put together in 1872 (James A. Garinto obscurity. It could be argued that Garfield was our first field Papers, Library of Congress, Series 17U, Reel 169. Library Johnnie President and in 2012 we need a Johnnie President— Catalogue 1872-1884); and the detailed ledger kept by the one who can read and think comprehensively and deeply. We Library of Congress of the books Garfield checked out from need a Garfield! the Library of Congress while Congressman during the years Garfield was deeply affected by books of literature from 1863-1867 (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Receipt many different fields of learning, purchasing books through- Book M, 1863-1867). out his life and eventually amassing a large personal library. He loved to read, think, write, discuss, and speak about ideas Garfield’s Diary he read in the books he accumulated, as evidenced in his exGarfield kept a meticulously detailed diary, starting in tensive diary volumes, the many notes he left in preparation 1848, and one can follow his educational development as a for talks, the speeches he gave throughout his student and teacher. Early in the diary he allife, his personal collection of books, and the ready showed a love for the study of Latin and many books he checked out from the Library Greek. On April 15, 1850, he wrote “Amo Liof Congress during his tenure in Congress. bros” (“I love books”), on May 23, 1850, “PerColleague and life-long friend, B. A. Hinsseverentia vincit omnia” (“Perseverance condale, who was, like Garfield, President of quers all things”), and on December 7, 1851, Hiram College and spoke at Garfield’s memo“Lege et cogite” (“Read and think”). He loved rial service at Hiram College, after the assasreading Latin and Greek texts and became sination, noted that Garfield loved reading so proficient in reading and translating both “everywhere, on the cars, in the omnibus and that he would impress his friends by simultaafter retiring at night, and rarely, or never, neously translating Latin with one hand and went away from home, even for a few hours, Greek with another. In one of his most visionbut he took his book and kept his mind full ary speeches on education on June 14, 1867, and fresh.” Garfield’s scholarship and familihe wrote: arity with general literature was well known The cover of President James A. and respected in the educational arena and in Garfield’s ledger of his personal Greek is, perhaps, the most perfect instruthe halls of Congress. Hinsdale remembered collection of books that he put to- ment of thought ever invented by man, and its that “he had great power of logical analysis gether in 1872 kept by the Library literature has never been equaled in purity of and stood with the first in power of rhetori- of Congress style and boldness of expression. As a means cal exposition, the instincts and habits of a of intellectual discipline its value can hardly scholar, loved to roam in every field of knowledge, delighted be overestimated. To take a long and complicated sentence in creations of the imagination, poetry, fiction, and art, loved in Greek—to study each word in its meanings, inflections the abstract things of philosophy, took a keen interest in sciand relations, and to build up in the mind out of these polentific research, gathered into his capacious store-house the ished materials, a sentence, perfect as a temple, and filled facts of history and politics, and threw over the whole, the life with Greek thought which has dwelt there two thousand and power of his own originality.” years, is almost an act of creation; it calls into activity all the Garfield’s love of books can be seen by looking at three docfaculties of the mind.
In addition to being Principal of Western Reserve Eclectic Institute at age 26, he was also a teacher of Ancient Languages and Literature, teaching Latin and Greek, geology, religion, English, and history. Personal Collection of Books Among his extensive papers at the Library of Congress is a journal listing his personal collection of books, which numbered in the hundreds. He categorized all his books according to topics and also manually compiled an alphabetical listing. Garfield must have been a Johnnie; his personal collection of books closely resembles the Program: Aeschylus, Burke, Calvin, Cicero, Dante, Dred Scott Decision, Euripides, the Federalist Papers, Herodotus, Homer, Horace (his favorite writer), Plato, Plutarch, Lincoln, Lucretius, Milton, Rabelais, Rousseau, Shakespeare, Thucydides, Tocqueville, Virgil, U. S. Constitution, and, of course, the Bible. In addition to Latin and Greek grammars and texts, he had grammars and texts in German, French, Spanish, and Hebrew. He read in almost every subject area; there was nothing that escaped his interest. Library of Congress Readings By scanning the Library of Congress ledger of checked-out books for the years 1863-1867, one can see that Garfield read diversely. Some examples from the 200-plus he checked out: Jefferson’s writings, Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Rousseau’s Social Contract, Thucydides, Hobbes, Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, Shakespeare’s tragedies, Hamilton’s writings, Tennyson’s poems, James Fennimore Cooper’s Deerslayer, and Cicero’s letters and orations. Garfield had an amazing life, rising from the log cabin to the White House. His life can be summarized as follows: • Born November 19, 1831 • Father died May, 1833 • Student at Geauga Seminary, 1849-1850 • Taught at District Schools, 1849-1851 • Student and Teacher at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College), 1851-1854 • Undergraduate Student at Williams College, 1854-1856 • Principal and Teacher of the Eclectic Institute (Hiram), 1856-1860 • Ohio Senator, 1859-1861 • Soldier and General, 1861-1862 • Representative in Congress, 1862-1878 • United States Senator from Ohio, January, 1880 • Nominated for Presidency by Republican Party, June, 1880 • Elected President of the United States, November, 1880 • Inaugurated President, March 4, 1881 • Shot by an assassin, July 2, 1881 • Died from the wound, September 19, 1881 Garfield came almost out of obscurity during the Republican National Convention in 1880 and emerged as its nominee on the 36th ballot! If you read his most famous (but today
unknown) speeches you will see that he was able to balance what we would today term Republican and Democrat values. He understood a partnership role for government (common welfare and community) and citizen (individual liberty and responsibility), especially as he thought about education. Garfield might have been describing himself as a Statesman-Literary Man when he wrote about the true Literary Man in his “The Geology of Literature” essay back during his undergraduate years at Williams College: The difference is, that while the small man is a small, the great man is a broad and full, reflection of his day. But the true Literary Man is no mere gleaner, following in the rear and gathering up the fragments of the world’s thought, but he goes down deep into the heart of humanity, watches its throbbing, analyses the forces at work there, traces out with prophetic foresight, their tendencies, and thus, standing far out beyond his age, holds up the picture of what is, and is to be. If one were to measure Garfield’s stature as a StatesmanLiterary Man, one could look at two presidents who followed him. Garfield was to some extent a composite of Theodore Roosevelt, military man and man of action, and Woodrow Wilson, Christian moralist and college professor. Garfield was no “mere gleaner, following in the rear and gathering up the fragments of the world’s thought.” Hinsdale remembered, as we noted earlier, that Garfield “gathered into his capacious store house the facts of history and politics, and threw over the whole, the life and power of his own originality.” He had an ability to make sense out of the “fragments of the world’s thought,” and from those fragments created an intellectual whole. Garfield came at a time when America needed a visionary president who, with the strength of his will and imagination, could creatively take the fragments of a country still shattered by the remnants of the Civil War—educational, financial, psychological, sociological, philosophical, and political—and put these fragments together into a beautiful whole, building a unified nation. One wonders if Garfield had had the chance to fully realize his Statesman-Literary Man stature, what “prophetic foresight” he might have had for America, and “standing far out beyond his age,” what vision he might have had as to what America was and was to be. We live at a time where we need a leader that can creatively take up the fragments of a country shattered by perpetual war and economic disasters. One wonders what Garfield could do if he were elected president today in 2012 and what vision he might have had for America’s future. At least we would know that our president loved to read and think, that he read books we loved, that he cherished the discipline of study, that he was not afraid of intellectual challenges that even tested his own beliefs, that he could think deeply and expansively, and that he delighted in learning and discussing. He was a Johnnie. Garfield for President in 2012! !
The Gadfly
08
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Reza Djalal
A’15
We do not often associate heartfelt appreciation with subtle taboos and social strangeness. The modern mentality, it seems, would rather we not subject ourselves to these things at all, let alone find them endearing. Circle Mirror Transformation, the College’s first theatrical production of the semester, seeks to tap into the awkwardness of human interaction, moving us to sympathize with the characters if for no other reason than acute understanding; we know how they feel, because we’ve been in their positions before. I spoke with Nicole Havranek, the director, to learn more about the method and intent behind Circle Mirror Transformation.
For those of us who absolutely nothing about it, can you describe Circle Mirror Transformation in ten words? The best short description of the play that I’ve ever seen is in a review from BackStage. “[Circle Mirror Transformation] is about real people exploring their lives through tiny leaps of faith and creativity.” How is this genre of play, and this play in particular, different from other recent SJC productions? This play does diverge from St. John’s’ tendency to do older plays. Circle Mirror came out in 2009 and won the OBIE award (an award for excellence in off-Broadway theater). It is also interesting in that it has an essence of improvisation, and it is full of theater games (most of which are scripted). Yet, at the same time, I’ve never seen a play that’s felt more real. Is there a certain way you think the audience should approach Circle Mirror Transformation? The audience should be willing to give the play a chance, and to trust it. It tests the trust of the audience just as much as it tests the trust of its characters and actors. What inspired you to choose Circle Mirror Transformation as your first production at St. John’s? While I was participating in a playwriting apprenticeship at the Pittsburgh Public Theater in my senior year of high school, all of us involved got to see their entire season of shows. I ended up seeing Circle Mirror twice, as well as getting to talk to the cast, crew, and director. The show was so different from everything I’d seen and done in theater before, and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since then. I decided over the summer that I wanted to make my directorial debut at St. John’s College with a play that has inspired me so much theatrically.
With a title like Circle Mirror Transformation should the audience expect a lot of special effects? Haha, no. Circle Mirror Transformation is actually one of the acting games in the show. It appears in Week 3 (the show is split up into six weeks). Are there any controversial topics Circle Mirror Transformation draws attention to that the audience should be aware of before coming? The only topic that could be seen as controversial is the abuse of one of the characters as a child. It sounds like emotions behind the scenes are important for Circle Mirror Transformation’s fruition as a play. Why is that? We have been rehearsing this play since the second week of school, with about three rehearsals a week. One interesting aspect of our play practices is that we begin every practice with acting games that appear in the play. At the beginning of every rehearsal, we play a game during which we lie on the floor and count to ten, and have to start over if two people say a number at the same time. It really allows us to focus at the start of practice. After that, we usually play a few other acting games that appear in the script, such as playing a game of explosion tag, using the other cast members to act out important scenes from our lives or conversing using only the words ‘ak-mak’ and ‘goulash’ (the cast favorite). The games range from silly and active to serious and revealing. Over the last six weeks, we have embarrassed ourselves and realized the need to just go for it. We have learned to trust each other. We have allowed our lives to imitate the art. Through giving ourselves completely over to the play, and trusting it, we have grown together. !
The Gadfly
09
!"#$%&'()$*(+%&*,!"#$%&'()!*+#$)!,%&)-#(.$%/ Lucinda Dukes Edinberg
Art Educator, The Mitchell Gallery
Editors’ Note: Because of the Gadfly’s October printing schedule, we were not able to publish this piece before the exhibt ended on October 14, but we hope you enjoy reading, even after the fact. any reference to sex.” Owing to, in part, societal proprieties and limited educational opportunities, the usual subjects of the 19th- and early 20th-century works of women artists were domestic scenes, Yet oh! that the dames of the Scandalous School portraits, animals, and landscapes, as seen in Mary Nimmo Would but use the same acid, and sharp-pointed tool …. Moran’s 1883 Tween the Gloamin’ and the Mirk When the Kye “Etching Moralized,” To A Noble Lady, Thomas F. Hood Come’ Hame and Mary Cassatt’s c. 1905 drypoint Denise Hold(1799-1845), British humorist and poet ing Her Child. Moran’s etching style is distinctive and like many of her other prints, she used many techniques to create had the pleasure of working with the Freshman Lab classes the mood of this Long Island landscape, which hints of her while they were exploring the magnolias and other foliage native Scotland. around campus at the beginning of the semester, and while It was not until the last half of the 19th century, when the they were examining the attributes of the plant, I found myself more open society and economy of the United States facilievaluating my own observation skills. tated the entry of women artists into the art world as early Among many of the topics included in working with the in 1848, that the Philadelphia Academy of Design for Women classes was the importance of the line in art. The line has so was established. The formation of various etching societies in much work to do—curved, broken, jagged, undulating—and New York, Chicago, and California helped produce the Etchhow much that mere shift in touch changes the interpretation ing Revival movement (and the birth of American printmakof a work. ing as a fine art) but also enabled women to learn and enter the Because many students have had writing assignments, it has field of professional printmaking. In addition, the burgeoning provided me, as the Mitchell Gallery Art Educator, opportu- publishing industry offered job prospects for women with nities to discuss the works from the exhibigraphic arts skills. tion in other ways—sometimes one-on-one, By the 1930s the Works Progress AdminisBreaking the boundother times as a group. These discussions altration nurtured the employment of women, aries of art became ways renew my appreciation for the works, thus expanding their subjects and experience but they also provide other points of view the central preoccupa- of the world. Artists such as Mabel Dwight and observations. tion of late 20th-cen- (1875-1955) and Peggy Bacon (1895-1987) be“Pushing the Line: American Women came well known for caricatures and satirical tury American artists. humor. Mabel Dwight’s urban vignette of a Printmakers” comprises 54 fine prints from 1879 through 1993 by 44 American women common New York neighborhood, Backyard, artists through the generous loans of Syracuse University Art magically conveys both physical decay through the dilapiGalleries and Baltimore-area print dealer Conrad R. Graeber. dated backyard fence and vitality, seen in the cat walking on Line is the primary element in most of these works executed it, the large hovering tree, and, in a window, a man reading in drypoint, aquatint, collagraph, silkscreen, lithography, and a newspaper and smoking a cigar. Several prints demonstrate mezzotint. The selection of prints shows both the evolution of the continuing interest of women printmakers in genteel subprintmaking and the role of American women printmakers as jects, yet also their turn to new subjects. One of the wood enpractitioners, teachers, and innovators, from the 1870s-1900s gravings, Forgotten Things (1943) by Grace Albee (1890-1985) American Etching Revival to the last decade of the 20th centu- is a rural scene, which explicitly evokes a nostalgia for a vanry. While most of the 44 artists were well-established, such as ishing rural America, while one of the lithographs, Top Deck Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, and Isabel Bishop, others (1938), by WPA artist Margaret Lowengrund (1902-1957), is an received no recognition. The works of these artists range from industrial scene. the traditional work of skilled technicians, for example, the Breaking the boundaries of art became the central preoc1879 drypoint and aquatint portrait by the self-taught print- cupation of late 20th-century American artists. Anne Ryan’s maker Anna Lea Merritt (1844-1930) of Louis Agassiz and haunting 1947 woodcut of ships at sea, Now, Ever Alack, My Mary Nimmo Moran’s multiple tool and technique method, to Master Dear, I Fear a Deadly Storm, uses the simple shapes Helen Frankenthaler’s unorthodox use of silkscreen and the and wood grain to express the horror of two figures watching traditional, but exalted, use of mezzotint by Carol Wax. the foundering ships and texture of the roiling sea. In sharp In my research for the exhibition, I found little contempo- contrast is Carol Wax’s poetic treatment of a humble and outraneous scholarly attention to early American women print- moded typewriter, Remington Return (1993), in which her full makers, in part, due to the overall number of printmakers. range of black to white mezzotint animates this ordinary, now However, New York Public Library Curator of Prints Frank out-moded, machine. In the last 50 years the achievements Weitenkampf (1866-1962) wrote a concise history of Ameri- and influence of so many American women artists, in all mecan printmaking, titled American Graphic Art, with commen- dia, have been so much more recognized that one hopes the dations on the first exhibition of prints exclusively by women gender expectations of Hans Hofmann’s comment to his stuartists held in 1887 at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and a dent Lee Krasner, “This is so good, you would not know this second one, the following year, at the Union League in New was painted by a woman,” have become, like Wax’s typewriter, York: “The best of their work deserves praise unmodified by obsolete. ! And which now your own feminine fantasy wins, Tho’ it scarce seems a lady-like work, that begins In a “scratching” and ends in a “biting”!
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The Gadfly
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An Interview with Athletic Director
.()/"$0%.)12"##($ Sophomore Sebastián Abella speaks with Michael McQuarrie, St. John’s’ new Athletic Director, about his background, his experience at the College so far, and his plans for the future. Sebastián Abella
A’15
What were you doing before becoming the Athletic Director at St. John’s? I was hired to start the office of Recreation and Intramural Sports at The New School three and a half years ago. Before that I was the Coordinator of Intramural Sports at “the other” St. John’s in Queens, NY. I also have backgrounds in teaching sociology, experiential education, and officiating various sports. What brought you to St. John’s? What are your impressions of the school so far? I grew up in southern Montgomery County (near Takoma Park) and had heard of the academic program here. It has always intrigued me. I was also ready to leave New York City after living there for five years. The commitment of the students to the Program and athletic pursuits is amazing! How do you think the academic and athletic programs complement one another? I am still learning about the academic program, but I definitely hear some of the ties through the chants, cheers, and motivational talks during halftime. How important would you consider the athletic program to be in relation to the College community? The athletic program is obviously ingrained in the culture of the whole community. I love seeing tutors and faculty participate! What do you hope the athletic program will accomplish for the St. John’s community? Whenever I start in a new situation, my main goal is not let the program diminish. Then I can use that time to ask questions, observe, and plan what future changes we can make. Have you spoken to former director Leo Pickens? What are your impressions of him? Mr. Pickens has been in contact in all forms of communication since my appointment. We definitely come from different backgrounds, but with his knowledge and commitment to the College and my experience of running and organizing athletic events, I’m hoping for a smooth transition! Have you spoken to any upperclassmen about their experience with the St. John’s Intramural program? I have been working constantly with the Intramural and Kunai captains. They have such a passion for their programs, and I am trying to balance getting my input in but
also staying out of the way when I can. If you had anything to say to freshman you are uncertain, what advice would you give to them? As I said in my orientation session with the freshmen, this is their time to redefine themselves, within athletics, academics, and through other avenues of their lives. Leaving home and becoming part of a brand new community as dynamic as this offers so many new opportunities. Any upcoming events we should be aware about? Intramural sports are still rolling. Reasonball has begun. Kunai is transitioning to netball, then handball soon. Keep an eye out for two new programs that I’m looking to implement. I don’t have a name for one, but it will be about general fitness, and the other is a running club (I’m a runner and will probably be running a marathon in the next six months or so). !
!"#$$#%&$#'()$*%+'$,-* CAREER CONVERSATION: The Skills You’re Gaining at SJC Wednesday, October 17, 5:30pm, Private Dining Room Join an open discussion about the skills you bring to the workplace. THE EX LIBRIS SYMPOSIUM: Conversations on Careers Saturday, October 20, 10am – 12:30pm, Conversation Room Open at 9:30 with a continental breakfast and with lunch following at 11:30. RSVP required if attending lunch. Panelists will include: • Talley Kovacs (A01) – law (attorney in private practice) • Louis Kovacs (A02) – medicine (family practice physician) • Jay Schwarz – architecture • Loretta Haring – journalism • Claiborne Booker (A84) – finance • Bryan Dorland (A92) – science/physics (U.S. Naval Observatory) • Ethan Bauman (A78) – government (NSA) • Julie Janicki (A06) - education
The Gadfly
Ian Tuttle
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all it the Big Bird & Barack Barnstorming Bonanza. Capi- ally had nothing to do with the attacks. talizing on Mitt Romney’s vow, during the first presidenBut the first death of an American ambassador in 25 years tial debate earlier this month, to stop subsidizing the Public does not merit a mention on the campaign trail, nor do the Broadcasting Service (PBS), which has long enjoyed pecuni- myriad questions that arise, such as why requests for inary assistance from the United States Treasury, the president creased security at the consulate were ignored, or why the has taken to the road promising, in his second term, to “worry Obama administration trotted out a false narrative of the about Wall Street, not Sesame Street.” attack for nearly a month, when intelligence available from It’s too bad the president couldn’t think of that line dur- hours after the attack indicated a long-planned terrorist oping the debate. Instead, he stood behind the podium looking eration. more like Oscar the Grouch. Never mind, though. Threats to national security and There is a certain aura of surrealism surrounding these last American personnel abroad are not as important as (halluciweeks of campaign. T-minus 30 days and nated) threats to Count Von Count here at the sitting president of the global superhome. T-minus 30 days and the power is traveling cross-country riling up Average household income is down 8.2 supporters by promising public funding for percent since President Obama took ofsitting president of the sock puppets. You couldn’t write this stuff. fice in January 2009. Unemployment has global superpower is It’s hardly worth countering the presihovered at 8 percent for three and a half traveling cross-country dent’s bird-brained argument, but just years, despite the president’s promise of riling up supporters by to be thorough: The Sesame Workshop, 5.6 percent unemployment by July 2012. promising public fundwhich produces Sesame Street, reports an The national debt has soared to $16 trilannual operating budget of about $130 miling for sock puppets. You lion under Obama—and, in an appearance lion. Combining government grants to the couldn’t write this stuff. on “The Late Show with David LetterWorkshop directly and federal dollars that man” last month, President Obama could end up in its coffers after filtering through local PBS affili- not even remember that number. He ought to look it up: That ates, the organization receives about 10 million government figure is one of the reasons the nonpartisan Congressional bucks a year. In the meantime, it brings in $50 million from Budget Office predicts the U.S. economy will collapse in 2027. merchandising alone: must-haves like Elmo’s Potty Time DVD Obama’s Health and Human Services department has im($13), Bert and Ernie finger puppets ($8.50 each), the Grover posed a mandate on religious employers that directly violates Reusable Tote ($10), etc. And in case the numbers are not the conscience rights of religious citizens, while Obamacare enough to guarantee that this childhood staple is in no need is so unpopular that it merited only a sentence in the most reof government assistance, Sherrie Westin, executive vice cent State of the Union address and has garnered even less atpresident of the Workshop, announced on CNN recently that tention on the campaign trail. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are “Sesame Street will be here”—even without a welfare check. falling to pieces in the wake of the American military withYet last Thursday, Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, drawal, and Iran is on the fast-track to a nuclear weapon, fully aboard Air Force One, “There’s only one candidate in this race aware that the present American leadership lacks the moral who is going to continue to fight for Big Bird and Elmo, and he courage to resist. The International Monetary Fund predicts is riding on this plane.” that the United States will no longer be the world’s leading In the week after the first presidential debate, Obama economy by 2016, and China fully intends to take its place. mentioned Sesame Street characters 13 times. He mentioned But those things don’t come up. Instead, the president emLibya…zero. You remember: Libya, where, on September phasizes abortion “rights,” government-funded contracep11, a mob armed with mortars and RPGs overran the poorly tion, and tax dollars for Sesame Street. protected American consulate in Benghazi and killed four During his 2008 campaign against John McCain, Obama staffers, including the American ambassador, Christopher said, “If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your Stevens—an attack the Obama administration blamed on a opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big “spontaneous” movie protest. That was the line from General election about small things.” Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Susan This election is huge. But the president is showing just how Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and even Sec- small he really is. retary of State Hillary Clinton. Until last week, when the administration suddenly changed the narrative, acknowledging A reminder: The second presidential debate will take place tothat the film in question, Innocence of Muslims—whose cre- night (Tuesday, October 16) at 9pm ET. The townhall-format ator was marched out of his California home in the middle of debate will be broadcast from Hofstra University, in Hempthe night shortly after the Benghazi attack, purportedly for a stead, NY. The final presidential debate will air next Monday, probation violation, and whose family is now in hiding—actu- October 22, at 9pm ET, from Boca Raton, FL. !
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The Gadfly
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Examining Music in the Program Michael Fogleman
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his past Thursday, October 4, the cal vocabulary could be distracting and SCI convened in the Private Dining obstructive. The upperclassmen and tuHall to discuss the role of music in the tors sympathized with these complaints Program. We began the discussion with and confirmed that they were recurring a quote from J. Winfree Smith’s A Search concerns. However, they stressed that for the Liberal College, which discussed criticizing Zuckerkandl was a red herJacob Klein’s conception of the role of ring because his text is a manual and not music in a liberal arts education. Klein the content of the music tutorial. Fur“considered the study of music to be the thermore, students observed that these study of rhetoric in its purest form and difficulties are not accidental, but are acas deserving a place within a liberal arts tually the music tutorial’s central work. curriculum because of maintaining, not Just as freshman laboratory gives us a as is so often said, a balance between chance to learn to see with reason, the the intellect and emotions, but a balance music tutorial allows us to develop our within the intellectual life itself.” How is ability to hear. We can learn to supplethe study of music a study of rhetoric? ment our feelings with a rational underHow does it balance the intellectual life? standing of order and proportion. How effectively does the music program The discussion turned to finding the enable us to achieve these goals? best way of gaining that technical voThose at the meeting agreed that cabulary, so that classes can discuss music did have a rhetorical aspect. Its the shared phenomena of music. Like elements, such as chords and modes, other tutorials, the music tutorial reallow for a study of tension and resolu- quires a certain amount of preparation tion. While the music that we sing and and legwork from its students in order study often has a text, it was noted that to accomplish its goals. Students and even without words tutors shared sugmusic has rhetorigestions for how How is the study of music a students cal power. Several could upperclassmen and study of rhetoric? How does make this preparatutors mentioned tion more active, it balance the intellectual Plato’s Republic and such as copying life? How effectively does the interest Socrates scores, attempting the music program enable shows in music. to compose one’s us to achieve these goals? Freshmen may find own music, playing it helpful to keep piano, and, most this connection in mind while singing in importantly, singing. Neither Zuckerchorus, and while reading and discuss- kandl nor the score are the text of the ing the Republic. It was unclear whether class; the experience of hearing and perawareness and consideration of music forming the music is the text. While the as rhetorical began in the freshman or tutors were adamant that students have sophomore year, but it was agreed that not really prepared for class if they have freshman chorus provides a necessary not brought the music to life, they emand helpful prerequisite for that study. phasized that they were doing this work Some sophomores expressed concern on their own, too. that, while these goals seemed noble Overall, there seemed to be a consenand worthwhile, their music tutorials sus that music has a unique role in the have found it difficult to discuss mu- Program, with its own difficulties and sic, whether as rhetorical or otherwise, opportunities. Still, comparing both simply because many students limited freshman chorus and the music tutorial themselves to discussing their emotion- to other classes proved helpful for findal reactions to a piece of music. It was ing ways of overcoming the difficulties also felt that Zuckerkandl’s idiosyncrat- of music, so as to take advantage of its ic attempts to provide a common techni- opportunities. !
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