COMMUNITY CALENDAR ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE JULY/AUGUST 2013 SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
VOL. 4.13
Music on the Hill 2013 Wednesday evening concerts in July
In this Issue: Dean’s Lecture and Concert Series Summer Lecture Series, Bread Loaf Lecture, Community Seminars, Concerts, Theatre, Bookstore
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. — WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
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DEAN’S LECTURE AND CONCERT SERIES Please join us for the beginning of the fall 2013 Dean’s Lecture and Concert Series. All lectures are free and open to the public and are followed by a question-and-answer period.
Opening Lecture Friday, August 30, 7:30 p.m. Great Hall, Peterson Student Center Walter Sterling, Dean, St. John’s College, Santa Fe St. John’s College Dean Walter Sterling will offer the first lecture of the fall 2013 series. Walter Sterling, dean since June 2011, earned his bachelor of arts degree in 1993 from St. John’s College, Annapolis, and master of arts degree in philosophy in 1997 from Emory University. He held academic positions at Loyola College, Gwynedd-Mercy College, and Temple University, and also worked with Project H.O.M.E. (Philadelphia) before joining the faculty of St. John’s College, Santa Fe, in 2003.
SUMMER LECTURE SERIES Join us for the continuation of this series of informal lectures, sponsored by the college’s Graduate Institute. Free and open to the public, each lecture is followed by a question-and-answer period.
Is the Soul a City? Jacques Duvoisin, tutor, St. John’s College, Santa Fe Wednesday, July 3, 3:15 p.m. Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center In what ways is Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics a response to Plato, especially to ideas proposed by Socrates in the Republic, but also, to a lesser extent, in the Meno? To the extent that Aristotle is right to think a moral psychology (in which the question of human happiness is properly raised) is the province of the statesman, one ought to say that the soul cannot be thought in isolation from the city. But Aristotle also thinks the achievement of happiness in perfect friendship, or in the perfect habituation to particular virtues, exceeds the limits of the city, and thereby suggests that the soul is, in important respects, not coterminous with the city. Moreover, since the question of happiness seems not to be bounded by the limit of death for both Plato and Aristotle, a moral psychology may also not be fathomable simply in terms of an individual or simply in terms of a city, but also (and perhaps most profoundly) in terms of a much greater whole, the cosmos. Jacques Antoine Duvoisin received a bachelor of arts degree in 1980 from St. John’s College, Annapolis, and went on to earn a master of arts and a doctorate in 1984 and 1992, respectively, from The Catholic University of America. Before joining the faculty of St. John’s College, Santa Fe, he was a Knights of Columbus Fellow (1981-1984) and a visiting fellow in the University of London’s School for Advanced Studies, Institute of Philosophy.
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Theories of Economic Value – Why they’re Not Boring William Kerr, tutor, St. John’s College, Santa Fe Wednesday, July 10, 3:15 p.m. Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center What constitutes or determines the “value” of a good or service? There has been little consensus on this topic among economic thinkers over the years. To a large extent, this has been due to the differing uses to which writers have wished to put the concept of value. However, the various theories advanced have had one thing in common: they have tended to insulate questions about economic value from considerations of the nature of value in broader senses. In recent decades, this has changed. Economic value theory, with all its practical and theoretical implications, has become inextricably bound up with deeper philosophical issues of value. This lecture will focus on the presuppositions of contemporary economic thought on the subject. Audience members will be responsible for suggesting alternative viewpoints. Before joining the faculty of St. John’s College in 1989, William Kerr held academic positions at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos and the University of Colorado-Boulder. He received a bachelor of science degree from
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Oklahoma State University in 1974 and a master of science degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1976. He pursued further graduate study in economics at the University of Chicago and earned a master of arts degree in classics from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1985. Further graduate study in ancient philosophy at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, preceded a one-year Reynolds Fellowship. Mr. Kerr earned a certificate in the Chinese Language Education Program at Providence University, in Shalu, Taiwan, in 1998.
Hobbesian Providence Jay Smith, tutor, St. John’s College, Santa Fe Wednesday, July 17, 3:15 p.m. Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center What role does Hobbes’s theological critique play in his political science? And why does Hobbes call his Sovereign a “Mortal God”? To begin to respond to these questions, the lecture will look at the last parts of “The Leviathan”— that is, the parts dealing with his (re)interpretation of scripture and his critique of “The Kingdom of Darkness.” Jay Smith earned his bachelor of arts degree from St. John’s College, Santa Fe, in 1977, a master of arts degree in philosophy from Marquette University in 1979, and a doctorate in philosophy from Fordham University in 2002. Before joining the St. John’s faculty in 2001, Mr. Smith worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and also as an environmental consultant.
Levan Lecture: Feminism and the “New” Ampersand Problem Reginald Williams, chair, department of philosophy, Bakersfield College Wednesday, July 24, 3:15 p.m. Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center Elizabeth Spelman coined the term “Ampersand Problem” to describe the fact that feminists have long been accused of ignoring or trivializing unique, non-reducible experiences and forms of oppression that, for instance, Black women and lesbians endure. The idea is that being a Black woman or lesbian is more than a “sum of its parts.” In this lecture, Reginald Williams highlights, and pursues the significance of, an additional Ampersand Problem: the fact that feminists and other oppressed groups tend to critique each other and to oppose each other’s interests, instead of uniting in solidarity in opposition to a unique, non-reducible group that oppresses them in society. This small group, whose members are more than a sum of their parts, consists of Caucasian-Heterosexual-Economically Privileged-Able Bodied Men. Professor Williams urges feminists and other oppressed groups to recognize their overlapping disadvantage in society and to join in resisting the pervasive advantage of this small group. Reggie Williams is professor and chair of philosophy at Bakersfield College, where he has taught since 2002. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He writes and publishes on a range of social issues, including abortion, racial profiling, affirmative action, and same-sex marriage.
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players... — WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, AS YOU LIKE IT
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Similarity and Equality in Euclid and Apollonius Michael N. Fried, associate professor, Program for Science and Technology Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Wednesday, July 31, 3:15 p.m. Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center In this lecture, Michael Fried will look at how Euclid and Apollonius understand the notions of “similarity” and “equality” as well as the additional notion of “equal-and-similar” (isos te kai homoios). He would like to show that in certain key ways their conception of these notions is fundamentally different from the general modern view; in particular, it reflects an emphasis on geometrical objects rather than on the space in which they are contained. In this way, Professor Fried believes considerations of similarity and equality provide hints of broader aspects of Greek geometry, including the idea of locus (topos). He will refer to Euclid’s Elements and Apollonius’ Conics, especially, Book VI. If time allows, he may also refer briefly to Euclid’s Data. Michael N. Fried is associate professor in the Program for Science and Technology Education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His undergraduate degree in the liberal arts is from St. John’s College, Annapolis, where he read the “great books” -- books he still reads and loves. He received his master of science degree in applied mathematics from SUNY at Stony Brook and his doctorate in the history of mathematics from the Cohn Institute at Tel Aviv University. In addition to papers in mathematics education, which are eclectic and include mathematics pedagogy, mathematics teacher education, sociocultural issues, and semiotics, Professor Fried has written three books connected to the history of mathematics: Apollonius of Perga’s Conica: Text, Context, Subtext (with Sabetai Unguru) (Brill, 2001); Apollonius of Perga, Conics IV: Translation, Introduction, and Diagrams (Green Lion Press, 2002); and Edmond Halley’s Reconstruction of the Lost Book of Apollonius’s Conics (Springer, 2011).
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BREAD LOAF LECTURE Life, Land, and Photography Lee Marmon, photographer Tuesday, July 2, 7 p.m. Great Hall, Peterson Student Center Internationally acclaimed photographer Lee Marmon, a member of Laguna Pueblo, will present a new film about his life, land, and photographic work. Named a “Living Legend” at the 2009 Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, Marmon has amassed a portfolio consisting of thousands of black-and-white images, a striking visual chronicle of the last generation of Native Americans to live by their traditional ways and values. Lee Marmon’s many other awards and honors include an ADDY Award for contributing to the Peabody Award-winning PBS-TV documentary, “Surviving Columbus,” a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southwest Association of Indian Arts, and the Kantuta Award from the Czech Ministry of Culture for promoting cross-cultural understanding with his photography. The Bread Loaf School of English, a graduate program of Middlebury College, offers courses in literature, writing, and the teaching of writing at St. John's College in the summer.
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COMMUNITY SEMINARS Community Seminars are special opportunities for community members to read and discuss seminal works in the same unique manner as do our students. Seminars are discussion based and small in size in order to ensure spirited dialogue. There are topics to pique every interest, and for many participants the discussion-based learning model is an entirely new experience. To register for any of the seminars described below, please call 505-984-6117 or use our online registration form [click HERE]. Teachers with proof of employment can enroll in a Community Seminar at a 50 percent discount. Community Seminars are free to 11th and 12th grade high school students (limited spaces available).
Kierkegaard’s Stages on Life’s Way Tutor: Richard McCombs Dates/Times: Six Tuesdays, September 10 through October 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Cost: $210 Stages on Life’s Way, by Sören Kierkegaard, investigates the logic of personal, spiritual growth. Kierkegaard conducts his investigation by creating various characters who tell and interpret stories from their own lives so as either to praise romantic love for its joys and ennobling struggles or to blame it for its sorrows and illusions. Mr. McCombs recently published a book entitled The Paradoxical Rationality of Sören Kierkegaard.
Michael Ondaatje, Part I: In the Skin of a Lion Tutor: Lise van Boxel Dates/Times: Three Tuesdays, September 17 through October 1, 7-9 p.m. Cost: $105 How do you distinguish poetry from prose? If you think you have resolved this question, Michael Ondaatje’s work should change your mind. He is not wedded to conventional sentence structure; he is not interested in providing the reader with a continuous narrative. Rather, he arouses the reader’s imagination and passions with vivid descriptions and musical phrases so as to pull the reader into the experience and perspective of his characters. Ondaatje uses the main character of In the Skin of a Lion, Patrick Lewis, as a kind of fulcrum that unifies various vignettes about the immigrant workers who laid the foundations for a metropolis. Lewis is intent upon saving these workers, who contributed so much to the city, from anonymity. By means of his quest, we are given the chance to dwell imaginatively in the lives of these workers. What might seem to be a tale of social and political justice is perhaps, in the end, a story about love. More precisely, it is the story of a lover. The mood of In the Skin of a Lion is akin to that of a beautiful daydream. This novel is the precursor to Ondaatje’s Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which pulled Ondaatje into the mainstream of public consciousness when it was made into a film that won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Michael Ondaatje, Part II: Coming Through Slaughter Tutor: Lise van Boxel Dates/Times: Three Tuesdays, October 8 through October 22, 7-9 p.m. Cost: $105 If you missed the boat for “Michael Ondaatje, Part I,” but would like to join us now, we welcome you aboard for “Michael Ondaatje, Part II: Coming Through Slaughter.” Ondaatje’s fruitful disregard for prose structure, his
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intermingling of prose and poetic forms, and his vivid depiction of sensory experiences are fully manifest in this book. Coming Through Slaughter is a biography about Buddy Bolden, one of the greatest trumpet players (cornet, to be precise) and arguably the first jazz musician. There are no recordings of Bolden’s horn playing. He appears in only one photograph. Bolden was opposed to permanence, and Ondaatje’s style is perfectly suited to communicating this opposition. Bolden’s world is fluid, visceral, punctuated by lust, violence, and profound moments of emotional intimacy. The world you enter in this book is not one of polite conversation and teatime sandwiches without crusts. It is a world of sweat and grit—raw, quick-paced, often brutal. It is the world of the early Jazz Age; it reads like jazz; it is a heck of a ride!
The Novels of Jane Austen, Part I Tutor: Mike Bybee Dates/Times: Five Wednesdays, September 18 through October 16, 7-9 p.m. Cost: $175 Superficially Jane Austen severely limited the scope of her novels to narrow social interactions—yet, she managed somehow to subject her society to a critical appraisal, the power of which we can hardly overstate. She managed this effect by subverting her audience’s narrative expectations and by deploying a delicious albeit subtle irony verging on sarcasm—among other strategies. Two centuries later, however, we live with enormously different narrative expectations, in a time of palpably increasing democratic and social tolerance. Thus, we might well wonder what value these novels’ critical, reflective, and reflexive lessons might have for us about oppression, misogyny, financial inequity, and intellectual elitism. What is the locus of morality? What constitutes the authentic moral fabric of a society? We will explore these questions and more in our discussions of Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. In the spring, we will complete the canon with Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion.
Three Early Films by Terrence Malick: Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line Tutor: David Carl Dates/Times: Friday, November 22, 7-9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, November 23 and 24, 10 a.m.-noon Cost: $105 Malick’s Tree of Life exploded on the movie world in 2011 when it won the Palme d’Or in Cannes and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography for the 2012 Academy Awards. In the international film magazine Sight and Sound, 16 critics voted Tree of Life one of the 10 greatest films ever made in, and it was ranked as one of the 100 greatest films ever made in the magazine’s overall poll. But before Tree of Life, Malick made a series of movies that first established his reputation as one of America’s most important filmmakers. Badlands (1973), Days of Heaven (1978), and, after a 20-year hiatus, The Thin Red Line (1998) marked Malick as one of the most original and searching independent directors in the United States. We will spend the weekend charting the formal and thematic development of the first 25 years of Malick’s career to better understand the artist who produced Tree of Life 13 years later. Please view all three of these films on your own before attending class. We will only watch various scenes from the movies to facilitate discussion.
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LUNCHTIME CONCERT Works of Ravel Tuesday, July 23, 12:30-1:15 p.m. Junior Common Room Peterson Student Center Peter Pesic, piano There is no charge for admission. Tutor and musician-in-residence Peter Pesic will give an informal lunchtime concert, featuring Ravel’s Pavane, Sonatine, and Miroirs. Peter Pesic is a tutor and musician-in-residence at St. John’s College, Santa Fe. He attended Harvard and Stanford Universities, obtaining a doctorate in physics. He has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Mr. Pesic is also a visiting scholar at Harvard University.
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MUSIC ON THE HILL™
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Celebrating its eighth season, Music on the Hill™ has rapidly become a signature Santa Fe summer event. St. John’s College would like to thank the Santa Fe community and the concert series’ lead sponsors—Los Alamos National Bank, Verve Gallery, Santa Fe Properties Luxury Market Group, Barraclough and Associates, Chalmers Capitol Ford Lincoln, KSFR, and the Santa Fean—for supporting our annual event. From early June to late July, local and nationally known musicians offer free weekly Wednesday evening concerts in a wide range of jazz styles. TM
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Concerts take place on the college’s athletic field, from 6 to 8 p.m. Parking is limited, and concertgoers are encouraged to take the free shuttle from Museum Hill. Concertgoers may picnic on the field. Food is available for purchase from Walter Burke Catering, and water and soft drinks can be purchased from Sprouts Farmers Market. (For parking options, information about the shuttle, and our cancellation-due-to-weather policy, visit the Music on the Hill webpage. For details, click HERE. Please note that NO PETS are allowed on campus, and that bicycles must be parked in designated areas.
THIS YEAR’S MUSIC ON THE HILL™ CONCERTS CONTINUE IN JULY WITH THE FOLLOWING PERFORMANCES: July 10 Janice and Vinnie Zummo Jazz Vocals and Guitar July 17 John Proulx Quartet Nat “King” Cole and More July 24 Nosotros Latin Jazz This project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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ALL FOR YOUR DELIGHT An Enchanting Medley of Scenes and Songs from Shakespeare’s Most Popular Comedies Friday through Sunday, August 16 through 18, 7:30 p.m. Center of campus above fish-pond placita $20 in advance ($12 for students) Enjoy an evening under the stars as a gifted ensemble of actors and musicians perform highlights from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Pericles, The Taming of the Shrew, and other classics. Presented by Shakespeare in Santa Fe and the Shakespeare Guild, the performances are devised and directed by Nagle Jackson and produced by Rachel Kelly and John F. Andrews. Pre-show music begins at 6:30 p.m., and picnic items are available for purchase. Seating is by advance ticket purchase only. Call 505-988-1234 or visit www.TicketsSantaFe.org. For more details, call 505-231-0190 or visit www.shakesguid.org/events.html.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these f lowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: — WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
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VISIT THE ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE BOOKSTORE
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Letters to a Young Scientist Edward O. Wilson Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking Daniel C. Dennett Hitler's Philosophers Yvonne Sherratt Ancient Greece: from Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times Thomas R. Martin Book of Barely Imagined Beings Caspar Henderson
SUMMER HOURS Monday 8:30-7 Tuesday 8:30-6 Wednesday 8:30-6 Thursday 8:30-7 Friday 8:30-5 Closed Saturday Sunday 12-6
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