There’s No Sushi in G As he walked back from Mears, he decided that he would eat out ...
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This is the story of Nathaniel, a professor at Grinnell College. He is 5’10, and just started working at the college. His students like him because he wears colorful shirts and has a pleasant voice. He teaches English literature, and loves to read. Nathaniel’s story invites us to think about living and thriving in Grinnell and some of the challenges that arise in our physical and social environment. Nathaniel is based on a real professor and his real experiences. Welcome to the City of Grinnell! The first thing Nathaniel saw as he drove into Grinnell was a painted wooden sign on the side of Route 6. It was cheerful and colorful; the red in the lettering matched the large red anthurium flowers that covered his shirt. He was excited to be in Grinnell, in a new place, at a new job.
When he uncovered Helen’s affair he found a new school to teach at, left the city, and filed for divorce. He rented a car at the airport. The drive had been long and flat, but the sky was beautiful: blue and empty, except for a handful of fluffy white clouds that looked as if they had been painted on. He enjoyed the change. After passing the welcome sign, he drove to the apartment that he had found online. It was on Main Street. The landlord, a middle-aged man in a grey Iowa Hawkeyes sweatshirt, met Nathaniel with a broad smile. Nathaniel smiled back. The landlord let him into the apartment. “If you need anything in the next couple days,” he said, “Let me know.” Nathaniel thanked him. He had shipped down all of his furniture, including his favorite russet red leather armchair and was planning to spend the next day unpacking and arranging the apartment. The apartment was entirely bare with plain white walls, but had natural light from the south-facing window. Nathaniel appreciated the brick fireplace in the living room. Given some time he was sure that he could make the apartment a great place to live. Besides, if he stayed at Grinnell for enough time he would probably want to move into a house. And he could picture himself sticking around. “In conclusion, the medusa serves as a symbolic representation of the castrating power of the female, while simultaneously enabling the male to break away from his all-enveloping mother,” Nathaniel said. The four students in his seminar filed out of the room. Nathaniel gathered his papers and picked up his 32 ounce Kum & Go mug. He took a swig of coffee. It was cold. He grimaced. It was 4:05 and the winter sun was already setting. As he walked downstairs to his
office he tried to decide what to eat for dinner. He had eaten pasta the night before. “Welcome to Grinnell. It’s great to have you here,” said Andrew as he shook Nathaniel’s hand. He had saltand-pepper hair and a grey wool suit. Nathaniel thought that his thin glasses framed his face well. “Thank you,” said Nathaniel, “It’s great to be here. I’m excited to finally meet some of my students.” He was going to be teaching Literary Analysis and a seminar on Irish literature. He had been told that the students at Grinnell were hard-working and bright, which would be a nice change from the students that he had worked with in Colorado. Andrew was the chair of the English department. He had been teaching at Grinnell for almost 10 years, and had just written a book on “Benito Cereno.” Nathaniel was looking forward to reading it. He had also published a book the year before and he wanted to compare the two. “The English department wants to take you out to dinner tonight, so that you can get to know all of us. It’s a big department,” said Andrew. “That sounds fun,” said Nathaniel. The first month of classes was everything that Nathaniel had ever dreamed of. On Monday one of his Literary Analysis students complimented his green shirt. All of his students had completed the short reading that he had assigned them, even though he had assigned it over summer vacation. He had put a potted pine tree in the window of his apartment and some potted flowers in the window of his office. He got along well with other faculty, and he was pleasantly surprised to discover that Andrew’s book was in fact better than his. It was succinct and eloquent literary pragmatism and was
