Magazine - summer 03 - St. John's College

College 

The 

F a l l 2 0 0 4 

St. John’s College • Annapolis • Santa Fe 

Jonathan Swift 

The Adventures of Travel

On Swift 

What does it mean to be human? is one of the questions often 

discussed in St. John’s seminars. In a seminar on Gulliver’s 

Travels, the question could be expressed in this way: Are 

human beings good and rational creatures, or just a step above 

wild beasts? 

Gulliver’s odyssey begins among the tiny Lilliputians who 

fight with their neighbors over whether an egg should be 

broken on the small end or the big end. Finding himself a tiny being among giants in Brobdingnag, 

he suffers the indignity of being carried away by a monkey. Among the ridiculous scholars 

of the Academy in Lagado, he learns of a scientist’s eight-year attempt to draw sunlight from 

cucumbers. By his final stop in a land where horses are gentle, rational beings, and men are vile, 

greedy brutes, he has seen enough to conclude bitterly that man falls far short of the ideal. 

Swift was born of English parents in Dublin on November 30, 1667. His father died shortly 

before Swift was born, leaving him dependent on the generosity of uncles. (He feared poverty 

throughout his life and was quite a penny-pincher.) Swift studied at Kilkenny Grammar School 

and at Trinity College in Dublin, and later received an M.A. from Oxford. At the age of 22, he 

went to live at Moor Park in Surrey, where he served as a secretary to Sir William Temple. There 

he began a very close friendship with Esther Johnson, the daughter of Temple’s housekeeper, that 

lasted until her death. (Swift had another long relationship with a woman, Esther Vanhomrigh, 

but he never married.) 

In 1695, Swift was ordained in the Church of Ireland in Dublin. During the reign of Queen 

Anne, Swift was a celebrated figure in the literary and political life of London, becoming editor of 

the Tory journal The Examiner in 1710. He harbored great aspirations for a political career, but 

when Anne died in 1714, and George I came to power, the Tories lost their influence and Swift 

found himself outside the political power structure. He reluctantly returned to Ireland, where he 

was dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Though he felt like an exile in Ireland, Swift identified with 

the poverty and misery of the Irish people. Few anthologies of satirical literature fail to include 

Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” written in 1729, which sets forth a logical argument for ending 

Ireland’s poverty by breeding infants for food. 

Swift suffered from Ménière’s disease, which left him dizzy—a “giddiness” as he described it— 

that he feared was madness. He was declared senile in his last years, and died on October 19, 1745. 

In many ways, Gulliver is a model traveler. He endeavors to understand the local customs and 

the native language of his captors and companions, and he is patient and diplomatic. In describing 

his culture to others, he gains insights into his own. Because he recognizes that Yahoo qualities 

persist in supposedly civilized men, Gulliver returns from his last voyage with a profound disgust 

for humanity. He can no longer tolerate the sight of his fellow man—even his own wife and 

children: “[M]y memory and imagination were perpetually filled with the virtues and ideas of 

those exalted Houyhnhnms. And when I began to consider that by copulating with one of the 

Yahoo species I had become a parent of more, it struck me with the utmost shame, confusion, 

and horror.” 

In this issue of The College magazine, intrepid Johnnie travelers share their perceptions 

about living in a new and unfamiliar culture. Their observations of interesting sights and 

sounds and experiences are made richer by the questions they pursue about themselves in 

other cultures. 

—RH 

The College (usps 018-750) 

is published quarterly by 

St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD 

and Santa Fe, NM 

Known office of publication: 

Communications Office 

St. John’s College 

Box 2800 

Annapolis, MD 21404-2800 

Periodicals postage paid 

at Annapolis, MD 

postmaster: Send address 

changes to The College 

Magazine, Communications 

Office, St. John’s College, 

Box 2800, Annapolis, MD 

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Annapolis 

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reharty@sjca.edu 

Rosemary Harty, editor 

Sus3an Borden, managing editor 

Jennifer Behrens, art director 

Advisory Board 

John Christensen 

Harvey Flaumenhaft 

Roberta Gable 

Barbara Goyette 

Kathryn Heines 

Pamela Kraus 

Joseph Macfarland 

Jo Ann Mattson 

Eric Salem 

Brother Robert Smith 

Santa Fe 

505-984-6104 

alumni@sjcsf.edu 

John Hartnett, Santa Fe editor 

Advisory Board 

David Levine 

Andra Maguran 

Margaret Odell 

Roxanne Seagraves 

Mark St. John 

Magazine design by 

Claude Skelton Design

College 

The 

Fall 2004 

Volume 30, Issue 3 

The Magazine for Alumni of St. John’s College Annapolis • Santa Fe 

{Contents} 

page 8 

Eastern Classics 

Santa Fe’s once-controversial graduate 

program is going strong after a decade. 

page 10 

Johnnies Abroad 

From China to Colombia, wandering 

Johnnies relish new experiences amid 

different cultures. 

page 18 

The Story-tellers 

Alumni who work as curators and in 

other interpretive roles make history 

tangible. 

page 22 

Commencement 

Tutor Chester Burke (A74) and University 

of Chicago Professor Danielle Allen gave 

graduates more questions to ponder. 

page 26 

Homecoming in Santa Fe 

Parties, picnics, and piñons. 

page 10 

page 18 

d e p a r t m e n t s 

2 from the bell towers 

• The long-lost California campus. 

• Annapolis dedicates Gilliam Hall. 

• Our man in Iraq. 

• New tutors in Annapolis and Santa Fe. 

• Summer interns are satisfied customers. 

• An honorary alumnus makes a generous 

gift. 

7 letters 

28 bibliofile 

• Writer Natalie Goldberg (SFGI74) on 

the great books, Zen, and writing. 

• Annapolis alumnus pens 

children’s poetry. 

32 alumni notes 

P R O F I L E S 

30 Finding a pattern in conjunctions told 

Carole Chaski (A77) that police had a 

killer on their hands. 

36 Sara Roahen (SF94) carves out a niche as 

a restaurant critic in the Big Easy. 

42 alumni voices 

Santa Fe alumni Paul and Laura Cooley 

on life without a car. 

46 alumni association news 

48 st. john’s forever 

page 26 

on the cover 

Jonathan Swift 

Illustration by David Johnson

2 

{From the Bell Towers} 

The California Property: 

A Happy Ending at Last 

Standing on a hill high atop 

what used to be the Marks 

Ranch, it’s hard not to feel a 

twinge of regret at what might 

have been—a cluster of picturesque 

dormitories here, an 

academic building there, a 

playing field bordering the 

state park. The view from these 

golden hills is of a scenic valley, 

and beyond that the city of 

Monterey and the Pacific 

Ocean. More than 30 years ago, 

the Marks family, enamored of 

the St. John’s program, donated 

this spectacular 850-acre property 

to the college for possible 

development for a California 

campus. The ensuing decades 

saw extensive studies—topographical, 

geographical, 

seismographical, political— 

followed by a decision by the 

college that the property was 

less than an ideal site for a 

campus. Most of the property 

was too steep to build on, and 

infrastructure would be too 

expensive. 

A report issued in 1990 by the 

Monterey Campus Feasibility 

Committee of the Board of 

Visitors and Governors, chaired 

by Warren Winiarski (class of 

1952), concluded that a California 

campus was not in the picture. 

That led the college to 

investigate selling the property 

to a developer—a decision unfortunately 

timed to a groundswell 

of opposition to growth in 

Monterey County. For years, 

several Annapolis and Santa Fe 

presidents and other college 

officers, assisted by members of 

the board, weighed the need to 

make the best business decision 

for St. John’s with protecting 

the college’s good name in the 

face of opposition from wellorganized 

conservation and 

citizens’ groups. 

The resolution came last 

summer, when St. John’s sold 

the property to the Big Sur 

Land Trust, a nonprofit 

organization that conserves the 

lands and waters of California’s 

central coast. The agreement 

also included California State 

University, which claimed a 22 

percent interest in the property 

through one of the many legal 

actions and settlements that 

evolved over the years. (CSU 

was to get the land if St. John’s 

didn’t build a college.) The Big 

Sur Land Trust—which is paying 

off the $4.5-million purchase 

price of the property in installments 

over the next three 

years—will draw from neighboring 

communities to seek a 

vision for the property as well as 

the financial means for carrying 

the vision out. 

Susanna Danner, conservation 

project manager for the 

Big Sur Land Trust, took time 

last summer to offer a tour of 

“It was an 

excellent 

resolution.” 

Robley Levy, class of 1956 

what used to be one of the most 

productive chicken ranches in 

the county—a family business 

led by matriarch Nisene Marks, 

whose children deeded the 

property to St. John’s. The land 

is still leased for cattle grazing, 

and a geologist initially hired by 

St. John’s, and now employed by 

the Trust, runs his business out 

of the Marks Hacienda and 

helps keep intruders away. 

Over the years, the ranch has 

attracted illegal campers and 

lots of debris: an abandoned 

bus, old appliances, barrels of 

some unidentified fluid. 

Up on higher ground, Danner 

points out the boundaries of 

Toro County Park and the 

hiking trails that extend into 

the canyon and the back 

country. Dotted with coastal 

live oak and chamise chaparral 

trees, the area offers a habitat 

for wildlife including mountain 

lions, bobcats, foxes, and many 

different species of birds, 

including golden eagles. Part of 

the Marks property may be 

eventually joined to the park. 

“On three-day weekends, the 

park routinely turns away visitors, 

and there’s no money for 

new park development in the 

The rolling hills of the 

Marks Ranch were too steep 

for a campus. 

county,” Danner says. 

On one border of the property 

is a visible sign of why the 

college faced fierce opposition 

to selling the land for development: 

luxury houses in the Las 

Palmas subdivision that are 

wedged into the hillside. 

St. John’s had a contract with 

the subdivision’s developer, the 

Fletcher Company, that gave 

the company a 20-year option 

to develop the property. A 

combination of forces emerging 

at the same time would have 

made development difficult, 

says Robley Levy (class of 

1956), a former Santa Cruz 

County commissioner who 

served on the college’s Board of 

Visitors and Governors until 

recently. But the cut-and-fill 

development near the Marks 

Ranch was probably the biggest 

reason the issue became an 

emotional one. 

“People were happy with the 

first phase of the (Las Palmas) 

development,” Levy says. “But 

the cut-and-fill development of 

phase two, that’s what drove 

the neighbors nuts. It’s classical 

for Southern California, 

but for people in this area, it’s 

not the accepted way to develop 

property.” 

A conservation group called 

Land Watch made the Marks 

Ranch one of its major issues. 

The group capitalized on ideals 

of the St. John’s Program— 

truth, justice, integrity—in its 

campaign rhetoric. Levy says 

the board anticipated some 

resistance, but never such a 

vituperative attack. Alumni 

were among those who wrote 

letters and signed petitions in 

opposition to development. 

“It might have been possible 

before all of the bad news got 

out to have a compromise where 

a portion of the lower part of 

the property could have been 

developed—if St. John’s had 

been willing to wait,” Levy says. 

“But I don’t think the college is 

really suited to be a developer.” 

Levy was co-chair of the 

continued on p. 3 

{ The College • St. John’s College • Fall 2004 }


3 

Gilliam Hall: A New 

Dorm Opens in Annapolis 

On November 11, when the college officially dedicates its 

newest dormitory, some special guests will join the St. John’s 

campus community in celebrating this milestone. Among 

them will be the family of James H. Gilliam Jr., for whom the 

building is named. Mr. Gilliam was a member of the Board of 

Trustees of The Hodson Trust from 2000 until his sudden 

death last summer at the age of 58. Generous funding from 

the Hodson Trust helped the College build the dormitory, 

which houses 48 students. A second group includes the entire 

board of The Hodson Trust, particularly its chairman, Finn 

Caspersen, who will speak at the dedication. 

A third group comes to honor Mr. Gilliam as an African- 

American businessman and civic leader, a man who was 

devoted to public service and to improving higher education 

opportunities for minority students. They are the first seven 

African-American graduates of the college: Martin Dyer (class 

of 1952), Leo L. Simms (class of 1956), Everett Wilson (class of 

1956), Joan Cole (class of 1957), Carolyn Baker Brown (class of 

1958), Jerry Hynson (class of 1959), and Charlotte King (class of 

1959). All seven are expected to attend the dedication ceremony. 

Mr. Gilliam’s widow, Dr. Linda G. J. Gilliam, and his father, 

James H. Gilliam Sr., will be present for the dedication ceremony. 

James H. Gilliam Jr. graduated from Morgan State University in 

1967 and earned a law degree in 1970 from Columbia University’s 

School of Law. After 

practicing law in New York, 

he joined a law firm in Wilmington, 

Del. He joined the 

Beneficial Corporation in 1979 

as vice president-legal, rising to 

executive vice president and 

general counsel. He was 

appointed to Beneficial’s Board 

of Directors in 1984 and to its 

executive committee in 1987. 

david trozzo 

James Gilliam was a 

philanthropist, businessman, 

and friend of the college. 

A glass-enclosed common room in Gilliam Hall offers splendid views 

of College Creek. 

An attorney and private investor, Mr. Gilliam served on a number 

of nationally recognized boards, namely, Household International 

Inc., T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Howard Hughes Medical 

Institute, and National Geographic Society. A longtime resident of 

Delaware, he also served as chairman of the Governor’s Judicial 

Nominating Commission of the State of Delaware, chair of the 

Administrative Enhancement Committee of the Delaware 

Supreme Court, and as a member of the executive committee and 

board of the Medical Center of Delaware. 

“Jim Gilliam was a particularly good friend to the College, and 

we are pleased that in this way he will become a permanent part of 

our community,” says Christopher B. Nelson, president. “Having 

the College’s first seven African-American graduates present for 

the ceremony honors both Mr. Gilliam’s memory and the College’s 

decision to open its doors to them at a time when segregation was 

the rule rather than the exception in Maryland. They have 

remained devoted to the college and its ideals,” he adds. 

The addition of Gilliam Hall allows the college to house 350 

students on campus. In addition, the College reduced the number 

of triple dorm rooms from 18 to 13 and created a new common 

room with a kitchen in Humphreys. Construction begins this fall 

on a second dormitory, which will house 32 students and should be 

ready for students by December 2005. x 

(continued) 

California property committee 

with another former board 

member, Stephen Feinberg 

(HSF96), and their time and 

expertise were instrumental in 

getting St. John’s out of the 

Fletcher contract and into 

negotiations with Big Sur. 

Board members Thomas Stern 

(SF68) and Robert Bienenfeld 

(SF80) were also involved at 

one point. “It was an excellent 

resolution,” says Levy. 

Annapolis President 

Christopher Nelson (SF70), 

whose many years as a lawyer 

were an asset in negotiations, 

was relieved to see the college’s 

days as a California property 

owner coming to a close. 

Proceeds from the sale will 

go to the Santa Fe Initiative, a 

project to address some of the 

critical needs—from new 

science laboratories to funding 

for student internships—of the 

college’s Western campus. 

Just days before the agreement 

was announced, Nelson 

was still getting e-mails from 

Californians urging him to 

“Save the Marks Ranch.” He 

was clearly pleased to be able to 

write back with the news of the 

Big Sur agreement. “Some 13 

years ago, our board determined 

that the property be put 

to its highest and best use. 

That’s just exactly what we see 

this to be,” Nelson said. x 

— Rosemary Harty 


4 


News and Announcements 

New Tutors 

CHRISTIAN HOLLAND (A84) 

joined the faculty in Annapolis. 

After graduating from St. John’s, 

Holland went to Rome, where he 

earned a degree in theology 

from the Pontifical Gregorian 

Institute and a degree in biblical 

studies from the Pontifical 

Biblical Institute. He has taught 

at the Monastery of Chevetogne 

in Belgium, at the Greek College 

in Rome, and at Emory 

University, where he earned his 

Ph.D. in comparative literature. 

In his research and teaching, he 

has specialized in biblical and 

patristic studies, postwar French 

philosophy, and theology. 

In Santa Fe, TRAVIS COOK 

joined the faculty. He earned 

bachelor’s and master’s degrees 

in political science from the 

In Memorium 

University of Maine and Boston 

College. He is currently completing 

a doctorate in political 

science at Loyola University in 

Chicago. His dissertation is 

titled, “Shaftesbury and the 

Ancients: the Enduring Concern 

for the Noble and the Just.” 

Before joining the St. John’s 

community, he was the assistant 

director of the Social Philosophy 

and Policy Center at Bowling 

Green State University. 

AALE Accreditation 

The college lost three members of the Annapolis campus 

community late in the summer. (The College will publish 

complete obituaries in the Winter 2005 issue.) 

• On August 17, former assistant dean and tutor emerita 

BARBARA LEONARD died. Leonard—an honorary member of the 

class of 1955—came to St. John’s in 1951 with the first class of 

female students. She had the important role of counseling, 

guiding, and supporting students throughout the years. She 

retired in 1987 after serving the college for 36 years. 

• Tutor emerita BEATE RUHM VON OPPEN (HA01), who was a tutor 

at the college from 1960 to 2003, died at her home in Annapolis 

on August 10. Born in Switzerland, she was raised in Germany 

and left the country at the age of 16 as the Nazis were rising 

to power. She earned her degree at the University of 

Birmingham and during World War II worked for the British 

Foreign Office. She moved to the United States in the late 

1950s. Her book Letters to Freya, which captures the story of 

Nazi resister Helmuth James von Moltke, won the Scholl Prize, 

a prestigious literary award in Germany. 

• Former tutor ALFRED MOLLIN died at his home in Philadelphia 

on August 22. Mollin taught at St. John’s in the 1970s, but 

many more Johnnies know him from the Greek manual he 

co-wrote with tutor emeritus ROBERT WILLIAMSON (HA02). 

After leaving the college, Mollin earned a law degree from 

the University of Maryland School of Law. From 1978 until 

his retirement in 2001 he was an appellate lawyer with the 

Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in 

Washington, D.C. x 

St. John’s College in June joined 

a select group of colleges to 

receive accreditation by the 

American Academy for Liberal 

Education, a national organization 

dedicated to strengthening 

and promoting undergraduate 

liberal education through 

accreditation of liberal arts institutions 

and programs. 

The AALE joined the Middle 

States Association in a review of 

the college’s self-study, and the 

two accrediting bodies made a 

visit to the college together last 

fall. At its June meeting, the 

academy granted the college in 

Annapolis full institutional 

accreditation. The AALE’s 

standards for accreditation 

center on “a program’s demonstrated 

ability to instill and 

develop in its students the characteristics 

of liberally educated 

persons,” characteristics that 

include “an ability to reason 

clearly and effectively about 

important questions and issues, 

the acquisition of a rich fund of 

meaningful knowledge, and an 

inclination for seeking out and 

acquiring knowledge and 

skills.” 

Agresto and Iraq 

“We’ve been bombed two 

nights in a row, and I expect 

more of the same tonight,” 

JOHN AGRESTO wrote from Iraq 

last November. The former 

president of the Santa Fe 

campus was just a few months 

into his post as senior adviser to 

the Iraqi Ministry of Higher 

Education, and in the e-mail 

to his colleagues back in the 

states, he wrote about how 

the war affected his daily life. 

“To go to the Ministry or to a 

university I have to travel in a 

secure car with at least one 

shooter—usually my driver has a 

pistol in his lap. I’m both 

preceded and followed by two 

John Agresto (right) needed 

flak jackets and armored body 

guards for his work in Iraq. 

armored humvees with two 

gunners in each and a soldier 

with a machine gun on the 

roof.” 

Once the most modern in the 

Middle East, Iraq’s institutions 

of higher learning withered 

under Saddam Hussein, and 

after his regime fell, they were 

further weakened by looting 

and vandalism. Agresto determined 

that the universities 

needed $1.2 billion to become 

viable again, but the reconstruction 

package approved by 

Congress last year allocated 

only $8 million for higher 

education, which Agresto 

directed to the construction of 

new science labs. He attempted 

to raise the remainder himself 

from the international community 

without success. 

Nevertheless, when he left 

Iraq in June, Agresto could 

report that some goals were 

achieved. These included 

reopening the universities; 

decentralizing the ministry 

and empowering the academic 

community through an academic 

bill of rights; removing 

admissions restrictions on 

female students; reestablishing 

Fulbright and other scholarship 

opportunities; and 

establishing three “American 

universities” in the Kurdish 

region of Iraq. x 

— Beth Schulman 



5 

Satisfied Customers 

ELIHU DIETZ (A06) and 

CHELSIA WHEELER (SF03) are 

among the true believers in the 

value of the Career Services 

offices on both campuses. 

Dietz spent the summer at a 

castle in Italy after spotting an 

advertisement for an internship 

in the Annapolis Career 

Services newsletter. Wheeler 

gained a lead on a graduate 

fellowship program, including 

a Capitol Hill internship, 

through the Santa Fe office. 

Here are their reports: 

Reading Retreat 

I found “Reading Retreats in 

Rural Italy,” a utopia for the 

socially awkward and artistically 

driven, last March through the 

Career Services newsletter 

Praxis. The notice was a laconic 

plea for anyone interested in 

performing remedial tasks for 

the upkeep of a 14th-century 

castle in exchange for cheap 

room and board and good conversation 

with international 

artists, book lovers, and 

travelers of all ilk. Believing it 

was too good to be true, I was 

determined to get in touch with 

the owner, Clark Lawrence. 

Five days later, I received a 

request for my resumé from 

Clark; six weeks later, I was on 

my way to Italy, to 

the Castle of 

Galeazza, where I 

lived for the next 

three months. 

There were four 

guest rooms and 

up to ten guests 

staying at the 

castle at a time. 

The first few days, 

my chores of 

watering and 

weeding the 

gardens, making 

up the rooms for 

the new arrivals, 

and feeding the cat 

were accompanied 

by the echoes of 

the two pianists practicing 

their program for the upcoming 

concert on the following 

Saturday. 

About every two weeks, the 

castle hosted a classical music 

concert (sometimes followed by 

tractor rides through the 

woods) and an open gallery 

displaying the works of six or 

seven painters from Moscow, 

Berlin, and Athens. 

On my two to three days off a 

week, I was just as likely to sit 

with a book or talk with guests 

as I was to take an overnight 

trip to Venice or Ravenna. 

While the daytime was usually 

spent awing over the Alexandria 

Quartet or Cide Hamete 

Benengeli’s masterpiece, 

dinners were always time for all 

the guests to come together and 

to tell stories or listen to Clark’s 

amusing antics. 

People listened to each other, 

drank with each other, and lived 

art (in all kinds of mediums) 

with one another. Every guest 

who came, like every student 

who comes to St. John’s, was a 

member of a community by the 

simple fact that they came willing 

to share their own thoughts 

and humor. All Johnnies love a 

great book but along with that 

they value a community of 

people willing to learn from 

others. It was lovely to experience 

a place where people took 

time out to enjoy life and 

simply live. 

Early this fall, yet another 

Johnnie will be there, Anna 

Schall (A07), who will take 

my place as an intern for 

three months. 

—Elihu Dietz 

Serving the People 

“Well you see,” said the woman 

on the other end of the line, 

“I am 64 years old, and I don’t 

have a lot of money. I fly my 

plane down to the Virgin 

Islands a few times a year to 

stay in my house there. But I 

have some business to conduct 

with the timeshare company, 

and I can’t afford to call them. 

Could you please call from your 

office and represent me?” 

It was a typical day in the 

office of the Hon. Donna M. 

Christensen, U.S. Virgin 

Islands delegate to Congress. 

But, as a St. John’s College 

graduate, I have excellent skills 

in diplomatically avoiding the 

direct request. After hearing a 

long, unsolicited medical history 

of my caller, I agreed that 

if she sent information to our 

office, we would write a letter. 

She never sent the information. 

Margaret Odell of the Santa 

Fe Career Services office 

pointed me toward this wonderful 

opportunity last winter. 

I was teaching English in Korea 

as a break from academia after 

graduation. The Charles B. 

Rangel International Affairs 

Fellowship Program provides 

an expenses-paid Summer 

Enrichment Program for six 

weeks at Howard University, 

then an internship for six weeks 

on Capitol Hill; then tuition, 

room, and board for two years 

of graduate study; then a 

summer internship at a U.S. 

embassy abroad; and finally, a 

five-year contract as a Foreign 

Service officer in the State 

Department. It fit perfectly 

my passion for traveling and 

learning. I can never thank 

Margaret enough for pointing 

me in the right direction. 

The congresswoman’s office 

contained a colorful mix of 

people, mostly from the Virgin 

Islands. One man argued on the 

phone with his girlfriend for 

hours on end. Another smoked 

out of the window of the federal 

building. And another spoke 

passionately of his readings of 

Kant and his search for the 

greater Good. (A Johnnie at 

heart.) I was amazed that I 

could find such a wonderful mix 

of people even in a congressional 

office, not to mention 

the constituents who called and 

wrote with strange requests 

every day. 

Now I am off on 

another adventure. 

I have just started 

graduate studies at 

American University 

to earn a master’s 

degree in International 

Affairs. The 

experience should 

prove another interesting 

new endeavor 

for a Johnnie. x 

—Chelsia C. Wheeler 

At left, Elihu Dietz’s 

summer castle. 

At right, Chelsia 

Wheeler meets 

Colin Powell. 


6 

{Philanthropia} 

david trozzo 

A $4 Million Vote 

of Confidence 

Texas businessman Stephen 

Feinberg (HSF96) was spending 

a lot of time in Santa Fe and 

Albuquerque in 1977, when a 

good friend told him about a 

small liberal arts college in 

Santa Fe that deserved his 

attention. Richard Weigle, 

president of both campuses at 

the time, and vice president 

J. Burchenal Ault (HSF83) 

were successful in persuading 

Feinberg to serve on the 

college’s Board of Visitors 

and Governors. 

Feinberg joined the board at 

a time when the young campus 

was still experiencing growing 

pains. “I was somewhat concerned 

when I attended my 

first board meeting, and the 

president said he didn’t know 

if the college had enough funds 

to make the payroll,” recalls 

Feinberg. “I wondered if I’d gotten 

myself into a situation that I 

really didn’t want to be in.” 

Feinberg’s concerns about 

the campus turned out to be 

short-lived, and in July he 

expressed his unqualified 

confidence in the management 

of St. John’s College by 

announcing a $4 million gift to 

Something to Celebrate 

Making the college’s Annual Fund goal is no small feat, 

but thanks to more alumni participating, and more 

generous gifts from alumni, the college reached its 

$2.3 million goal for the 2003-04 fiscal year. This year, 

35 percent of the college’s alumni made a gift. Tuition pays 

only 70 percent of the cost of a student’s education. Draw 

from endowment, federal and state grants, and the Annual 

Fund make up the rest. Students in particular have something 

to celebrate: the largest portions of funds collected 

through the Annual Fund go to support instruction and 

financial aid. 

the endowment. “I 

have seen the college 

evolve into a very wellmanaged 

organization, 

a strong and stable 

organization,” he says. 

He hopes that his gift 

will spur additional 

investments in the 

college. 

“We, as community 

members, have a great 

responsibility to this 

college,” says Feinberg, 

who lives part of 

the year in Santa Fe 

and part in El Paso, 

Texas. 

He finished his 

fourth term on the 

board earlier this year. 

It took him several 

years to get “fully 

engaged” on the board, 

says Feinberg. When 

the board began to tap 

his expertise in real 

estate and finance—with 

tremendous results—his 

involvement grew. In turn, he 

became more aware of important 

issues facing faculty, staff, 

and students at St. John’s. 

He became more involved in 

the intellectual life of the 

college as well, attending 

Executive Seminars, community 

seminars in Santa Fe, and rarely 

missing a session of Summer 

Classics. His admiration for 

the tutors helped inspire his 

gift, which he would like to 

see help support improved 

faculty salaries. 

“The college’s mission is 

more important than ever,” 

Feinberg says. “With a global 

economy and all the conflicts 

and the terrorism, the ability 

to be open, honest, to question, 

to search, and to think about 

important issues—this is 

especially important to 

mankind right now. St. John’s 

stands out in the world of 

academia because this type 

of searching is the college’s 

core mission.” 

Christopher B. Nelson (SF70), 

president in Annapolis and 

Stephen Feinberg’s gift to the 

college expresses his confidence in 

the Santa Fe campus. 

interim president in Santa Fe, 

said Feinberg’s gift is particularly 

welcome during this time 

of rebuilding in Santa Fe. 

The college is still seeking a 

president to replace John 

Balkcom (SFGI00), with the 

goal of bringing a candidate 

before the board at its meeting 

in November. In the meantime, 

it’s important that the college 

continue to draw the 

confidence and support of 

its Santa Fe community. 

“Steve’s gift shows that the 

community understands our work 

here, and that the 40-year bond 

between Santa Fe and St. John’s 

College will continue long into 

the future,” says Nelson. 

Mr. Feinberg is the third board 

member to publicly announce a 

gift to the college in advance of 

the official start of the next 

capital campaign, expected to 

begin in the fall of 2005. 

Alumni Ronald Fielding (A70) 

and Sharon Bishop (A67), board 

chair, have also announced 

generous gifts to the college. x 

-Rosemary Harty 


{Letters} 

7 

Free Thought and Reason 

I was left scratching my head over Steven 

Brower’s letter (Spring 2004) in which he 

recalls Douglas Allanbrook responding to 

the absence of Eastern authors with the 

claim, “the only good thing that has come 

out of the East was the Sun.” Brower takes 

Allenbrook’s statement as evidence that free 

thought thrives at St. John’s. In fact, it shows 

the opposite. Not only is Allenbrook’s statement 

laughably false, but it also helps 

confirm the worst stereotypes about 

St. John’s: namely, that the college is 

provincial, self-important, and dismissive 

toward ideas that do not fall within a 

particular conception of the Western canon. 

I tend not to agree with this stereotype 

since I also believe that St. John’s teaches the 

importance, above all, of giving reasons for 

what one believes to be true. Evidence of 

free thought requires more than saying 

something controversial or unpopular: it 

also requires the capacity to give reasons. 

Perhaps Allanbrook had reasons for his view. 

If so, it is regrettable that he chose to 

respond with a fatuous quip. Likewise, 

perhaps Brower has reasons for lauding 

Allenbrook’s expression of “free thought” 

—but he, too, has given no reason to support 

his choice of words. Fortunately, Santa Fe 

now has a program in Eastern Classics. 

I always enjoy reading The College, but I 

am not sure what you hoped to accomplish 

by printing Brower’s letter. 

John Capps (A91) 

Mistaken Notions 

I am writing to correct some mistaken 

notions expressed in the letter from 

Erin N.H. Furby (A96), in The College 

Winter 2004). She was commenting on an 

article, “Admissions and Diversity, East and 

West,” published in the previous issue. Her 

response suggested that she misunderstands 

the “diversity initiative” under way on both 

campuses and the importance of diversity for 

the life of the college community. 

I agree that the word “minority” is 

ambiguous, and its meaning often must be 

clarified. The “diversity initiative,” which we 

refer to as the Opportunity Initiative,addresses 

different minority groups on the two campuses. 

In Annapolis, it is directed primarily 

toward black students; in Santa Fe, Native 

Americans and Hispanics are the primary 

focus. Why? As easily might be guessed, it is 

because the recruitment problem differs on 

the two campuses. That is largely a product of 

differences in the demographics of the areas 

from which the campuses recruit students. 

Hispanics and Native Americans, although 

the largest minority groups in the area from 

which Santa Fe draws most of its students, 

have applied in small numbers. On the East 

Coast and in the large urban areas from 

which the Annapolis campus draws most of 

its students, blacks, although the largest 

minority, have applied in even fewer numbers. 

This does not mean, of course, that both 

campuses are not seeking or would not welcome 

students from other minority groups. 

Why should St. John’s make this 

determined effort to recruit more minority 

students? Because seminars and classes 

“In attempting to 

diversify the applicant 

pool, [admissions 

officers] hope to recruit 

a student body that 

reflects the racial and 

ethnic diversity of 

this country.” 

Martin Dyer, Class of 1952 

achieve greater profundity and richness when 

students of different races, ethnicities, and 

backgrounds bring their life experiences and 

individual perspectives into the conversation. 

Students benefit. As fellow learners, tutors 

benefit. The entire community benefits. 

I agree also that skin color means nothing— 

in itself. Blacks, like whites, are a 

rainbow of colors. Variations of hue, however, 

are not the concern of this initiative. 

The cutting edge is racial difference, 

however defined, which creates for most 

blacks in American society unique life 

experiences and social and economic status 

quite different from other groups. In some 

situations, a different culture has evolved. 

Ms. Furby acknowledges that “ religion, 

age, home state, and economic background 

influence the perspective of students.” Why 

is she reluctant to acknowledge that race and 

ethnicity are equally important parts of an 

individual’s conditioning and development? 

Being of one race, however, does not make 

blacks a monolithic group. Like whites and 

others, they are of different religions, from 

varying states, cities, and neighborhoods, 

and of diverse economic backgrounds. These 

differences, plus the common conditioning 

their race provides, produce the “individual 

perspectives that [individual blacks bring] to 

the class.” 

As appalled as Ms. Furby may be that “the 

Annapolis campus was mentioned ... only in 

terms of having a small number of black students 

each year,” that is the unfortunate fact. 

Last year, three of the approximately 450 

students were black. 

Admissions officers are not being “pressured” 

into seeking “students of one race 

over another.” They seek black students, 

Native Americans, and Hispanics not as an 

alternative but an addition to white students. 

In attempting to diversify the applicant pool, 

they hope to recruit a student body that 

reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of this 

country. They do this also because they 

believe that it is the “right thing” to do for 

parts of our society subjugated for more than 

300 years and which, even now, still suffer 

from it. 

Just as the college is richer for having voluntarily 

added blacks and women to its student 

body many years ago, the reading list is 

enhanced by the inclusion of black and 

female authors. If the college is derided for 

this, it is because some erroneously believe 

that these authors cannot express ideas that 

are “universal and applicable to all thinking 

people.” As to “the unwise who looked only 

at the race and sex of [these] authors,” I 

respectfully defer to the collective wisdom 

and integrity of the college deans and faculty 

who serve on the Instruction Committee. 

Martin A. Dyer, Class of 1952 

Editor’s Note: Mr. Dyer was the first 

African-American student admitted to 

St. John’s. 

The College welcomes letters on issues of 

interest to readers. Letters may be edited 

for clarity and/or length. Those under 

500 words have a better chance of being 

printed in their entirety. 

Please address letters to: The College 

magazine, St. John’s College, Box 2800, 

Annapolis, MD 21404, or The College 

magazine, Public Relations Office, 

St. John’s College, 1160 Camino Cruz 

Blanca, Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599. 

Letters can also be sent via e-mail to: 

rosemary.harty@sjca.edu. 


8 

{Eastern Classics} 

Eastern Classics at Ten 

Enrollment Grows in Santa Fe Program 

by Rosemary Harty 

In 1968, Scott Buchanan explained in an interview with 

author Harris Wofford why he and Stringfellow Barr 

excluded Eastern works when they selected the great 

books of the New Program. “I think in ’37 reading 

Oriental books when then we had so slender a grasp on 

our own tradition would have led to the kind of phoney 

stuff that has happened often when Westerners have become 

intoxicated with Zen Buddhism or something,” Buchanan said. 

However, in a later interview Buchanan added, “We ought to have 

gone at the oriental books 

simply and hard and we’d 

have cracked them.” 

“Cracking” the great 

texts of the Eastern tradition—simply 

and hard—is 

exactly what students and 

tutors do together in the 

Eastern Classics program in 

Santa Fe. It is an intense, 

full-time program leading 

to a master of arts degree. 

Each student studies Sanskrit 

or Ancient Chinese to 

read original texts in those 

languages. Two of the five 

preceptorials taken by each 

student are mandatory and 

involve two weighty books, 

books worthy of a lifetime 

of study: the Mahabharata 

and the Tale of Genji. 

When a group of Santa 

Fe tutors proposed a program 

geared to the study of 

Eastern works, the idea met with strong disapproval from some in 

Annapolis and Santa Fe. Tutor Krishnan Venkatesh, now director 

of the Graduate Institute and a long time tutor in the program, was 

among those who weren’t sure the college should take on such a 

program. “I didn’t know if we would be able to teach it, and teach 

it well,” says Venkatesh. “But my fears were allayed rather quickly. 

I’ve seen how successful the program is. And I should have had 

faith all along that the books can teach us how to read them.” 

The texts may be different, Venkatesh says, but students in 

Eastern Classics ultimately embrace the same questions as undergraduates 

do: “What is it possible to know? What is a human 

being? What is ultimately real? What is the relation of pleasure to 

happiness? What is a good person? What does it mean to be free?” 

The Eastern Classics program is more similar to the undergraduate 

program than the college’s graduate program in liberal arts, 

says tutor Frank Pagano, who was GI director in Santa Fe from 

john hartnett 

2001 to June 2004. “Everybody starts at the beginning and everybody 

ends at the end. It’s a full-time program and it really has the 

sense of commitment, the structure, and the continuity of the 

undergraduate program.” 

After a yearlong pilot program funded by the Bradley Foundation, 

the Eastern Classics program began formally in the fall of 

1994 with an enrollment of 23 full-time students. It struggled to 

build enrollment during its first years, but interest continued to 

grow over the years. This fall, 33 full-time students, including 

15 alumni, enrolled in the 

program—enough for two 

full seminars. 

Students read and discuss 

the books of China, India 

and Japan—the classics of 

Hinduism, Buddhism, 

Taoism, Confucianism—in 

chronological order. In 

choosing books for the program, 

tutors initially consulted 

a comprehensive list 

assembled by Columbia 

University’s, but ultimately, 

the same standards for 

works selected in the 

undergraduate program 

guided the list. “You ask 

yourself what books work in 

seminar, what books are 

absolutely necessary even if 

they don’t work in seminar, 

and which books talk to 

each other,” Pagano says. 

Santa Fe GI Director Krishnan 

Venkatesh was initially doubtful 

that a program in Eastern Classics 

could succeed. 

Tutors like Pagano 

gradually migrated to the 

program when the time was 

right for them, he explains. 

He began by leading a 

preceptorial on the Grand 

Historian, Sima Qian. “That was my entryway to China. I started 

doing more Chinese works, then audited the Chinese language 

tutorial,” says Pagano, who by now has taught everything but 

languages in the program. “Jim Carey, who loves language, 

taught Sanskrit. Other people began teaching because they 

were interested.” 

In marketing the program, the college takes out ads in Yoga 

Journal, some of which have featured testimonials from Tias 

Little (EC98), one of the country’s leading yoga instructors. “Each 

year we have people interested in yoga who want to know more about 

the books behind the practice, people interested in Buddhism, 


{Eastern Classics} 

9 

and people interested in religion,” Pagano says, adding that most 

students simply seek to broaden their knowledge. 

Ronalie Moss (SFGI91, EC95), a recently retired teacher from 

Los Alamos, N.M., was among the students in the pilot program. 

She enrolled right after completing the liberal arts graduate 

program because she was still eager for intellectual challenges. 

“I fell in love twice at St. John’s—you know how you read 

something and you just discover a mind that 

you fall in love with? It happened for me in 

the liberal arts program with Aristotle and 

the Nichomachean Ethics. And again in 

Eastern Classics with the Analects of 

Confucius,” she says. 

Because the program was noncredit when 

she took part in it (those who completed it 

were awarded certificates), Moss wrote her 

papers and took an oral examination to 

complete requirements for the degree. Over 

the years, she integrated both sides of her 

graduate program into the 

high school Advanced 

Placement and World Classics 

courses she taught. 

“Of course we should study 

the Eastern classics,” Moss 

says, “how could we ignore 

half the world?” 

One of the program’s 

strengths is that it’s the 

only program of its kind. 

Nowhere else can a student 

interested in the Eastern 

texts find a comprehensive, 

discussion-based program, 

Venkatesh says. Many 

colleges offer programs 

with majors such as Asian 

studies, but these generally 

emphasize contemporary 

culture. Other programs 

focus on traditions and 

john hartnett 

practices instead of 

original texts. 

Among the biggest objections to overcome were those voiced 

by tutors who believed the program would weaken the college by 

overburdening tutors, or disturb the unity of St. John’s by creating 

a “department” within the college. But during the last three 

years, more than half of the members of Santa Fe’s Instruction 

Committee have taught in Eastern Classics, Venkatesh points out. 

He argues that the program has less of a “department feel” than 

sophomore music or senior lab. 

The fear that tutors would be overwhelmed was a reasonable 

one, Venkatesh acknowledges—the Program already requires so 

much of tutors. “Instead, tutors who have taught in Eastern 

Classics have been invigorated by the experience,” Venkatesh 

says. “It’s given them new ways to enter the conversation,” as 

well as “clearer focus and commitment, and a richer sense of 

what the questions are.” 

Pagano wasn’t surprised that alumni would be among the first 

to apply for the program. In the first years of the program, up to 

“I should have had 

faith all along that the 

books can teach us 

how to read them.” 

Krishnan Venkatesh 

half of the program’s students were Johnnies; more recently, that’s 

dropped to about a quarter. “During their undergraduate years, 

many develop a pent-up desire to take on the Eastern Classics 

program,” he says. 

Alexis Brown (SF00, EC03) took a year off after graduating 

before she enrolled in the program. It’s intense and difficult, but 

well worth the hard work, she says. “The whole time I was an 

undergraduate, I’d see the reading list for 

Eastern Classics and knew that I wanted to 

do it,” she says. “I knew I would gain a 

Students in seminars in Eastern 

works wrestle the same universal 

questions that undergraduates 

tackle, says Venkatesh. 

much fuller picture of human thought. 

Some of the best seminars I’ve had at 

St. John’s were in Eastern Classics.” 

Brown didn’t struggle as much with 

studying and translating poetry in ancient 

Chinese; plunging into the unfamiliar 

imagery and new concepts of Hindu texts, 

particularly the Upanishads, gave her 

trouble. She saw a few students drop out 

because the St. John’s 

approach of analyzing and 

discussing texts did not fit 

with their personal beliefs. 

“I met a few students who 

couldn’t understand that 

this was not a spiritual 

endeavor,” she says. 

In nurturing the 

program during his years 

as the GI director, Pagano 

has come to better understand 

the college’s mission 

as a whole. “I can imagine 

people arguing that we 

really don’t do Eastern 

Classics well—that the 

program really is a dilettantish 

affair. But if this 

program is dilettantish, 

I’d say the [undergraduate] 

program is. We’re after 

liberal education at 

St. John’s, we’re out to 

discover things.” 

Annapolis tutor Eva 

Brann is an admirer of the 

Eastern Classics program 

and is satisfied that it has 

added to the mission of the college. “This has done us no end of 

good,” she says. “It adds a new dimension to what we do here. 

And it shows that our way of doing things is universal.” 

However, Harvey Flaumenhaft, dean in Annapolis, told a group 

of the college’s Board of Visitors and Governors reviewing the 

program last summer that he would continue to oppose introducing 

it in Annapolis. “We already spread ourselves too thin,” 

Flaumenhaft said. “I don’t think that we can do all good things for 

practical reasons. And there are a lot of good things we don’t do in 

our undergraduate program. It’s unthinkable, for example, not to 

study Maimonides. The danger of taking on more is not that we 

don’t go broad enough, but that we don’t go deep enough.” x 


10 

{Johnnies Abroad} 

ADVENTURES 

ABROAD 

“My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, 

ancient and modern, being always provided with a good 

number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the 

manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning 

their language, wherein I had a great facility by the strength 

of my memory.” 

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. 

Johnnies are the kind of travelers who 

approach a new culture like an unfamiliar text, 

ready to have their prejudices challenged and 

their horizons broadened. In these short 

essays, alumni who have spent an extended 

time in other countries write about the discoveries, 

disappointments, surprises, and delights 

found in the manners and dispositions of different 

cultures. Several went abroad to teach 

English: Mike Crawford in Colombia, Paul 

Obrecht in the Czech Republic, and Meredith Smith in 

Spain. Ryan Rylee spent a year in China and India during a 

break from the college to pursue his interest in the East. John 

Hartnett traveled to India and Lauren Sherman to Africa, 

both on volunteer medical missions. 

Recent dispatches or distant reminiscences, these aren’t 

typical travelogues. 

A Woman Who Danced with Fans 

by Ryan Rylee (A04) 

Beijing is hidden under a cloud, but it’s not the mystical kind. 

The cloud comes partly from the taxis and buses, of which 

there are more every year. As more Chinese get rich while 

auto import tariffs come down, those taxis are joined by 

private cars. One still sees, in outlying Beijing, modified 

tractors, smoking and jittering along the road. And it 

becomes less and less rare to see a coal-laden cart being 

pushed alongside a Mercedes Benz. 

The cloud over the city also comes partly from the coalburning 

stoves some people still use for warmth and cooking, 

and a little from the industrial plants. A lot of sand blows 

in from north of the city, where for hundreds of miles farmers 

are causing desertification with unsustainable grazing 

and farming practices, cultivating every inch of remaining 

land around the city. It has gotten so bad that some of them 

are now being paid by the state not to work. 

The cloud over the city is, more than anything else, the dust 

raised by development at what is certainly one of the largest 

construction sites in the world. Stand at the window of a Beijing 

skyscraper and try to make out the number of construction 

cranes across the city. Nimble giants stand stock straight 

in flocks that stretch out much farther than the eye can see, 

vanish into the smog, and seem beyond counting. 

The city—and a lot of the country—are trying, fast as they 

can, to be as modern and Western and capitalist and techno- 


“The city—and a lot of the country—are trying, fast as they can, to be as 

modern and Western and capitalist and technological as possible.” 

Ryan Rylee, A04 

Modern life is crowding out the traditional in China, with 

Starbucks, McDonalds, and other American franchises moving in. 


12 


The woman was in labor.“I immediately understood her 

pain and terror without comprehending the words.” 

Lauren Sherman, A05 

logical as possible. There is a Starbucks now inside the Forbidden 

City. McDonald’s and KFC abound in Beijing, along 

with unlicensed imitations of everything American, from 

Levi’s to DVDs. And with Hollywood movies come the imitations 

of them, in appearance and behavior, the cars and 

bravado, the high heels and discotheques. Where is the 

Chinese soul? 

The blue suits and caps of the Cultural Revolution are 

still worn by a lot of the 60-and-older people. They amble 

slowly about the streets and gawk at the thousands of foreigners 

who have invaded the capital. A woman told me 

about growing up in her family’s Chinese-style, four-sided 

garden home: parents, grandparents, and children all eating 

together in the central courtyard, in the shade of trees 

and trellises, grape vines growing overhead. She showed 

me, with a mix of words and gestures, how her brother 

would reach up, pick the ripening grapes on the sly, and put 

them into her mouth. They taught her, in that kind of place 

and time, how to dance with a fan held in each hand, and 

she still remembers, even performed it for us, rhythmically 

folding and unfolding the fans, ephemeral butterflies hiding 

her face. That house, like so many old ones, has been 

demolished, and different generations packed off to apartments 

high above the city. Some of the old folks speak fondly 

of the days of yore, the lousy plumbing, leaky roofs, coalburning 

stoves, and drafty rooms of their charming, 

crumbling traditional-style slums. Some of them also, in a 

frustrated moment, will speak fondly of the days of Mao, 

but no one wants to go back to those days. And anyway, Chinese 

have become used to making way for progress, used to 

sacrifice. 

Mao campaigned to destroy anything ancient or traditional. 

I even heard one Chinese student reference, in a 

casual aside, “Mao’s mission to destroy China.” Was the 

mission successful? Tai Chi is still practiced in the public 

parks. Peking Opera goes on, now performing a mix of 

Mao-era and pre-Mao songs. And kung fu soaps, set in the 

days of emperors, are the most popular kind of show on television. 

The magical ancient China we sometimes see in 

movies is only available to most Chinese in just the same 

kind of medium, usually minus the effort and expense of 

making flying through the air and breathing fire look real. 

Chinese mystique, as we know it, is something only 

perfected in the movie studios and new-age bookstores of 

California. Perhaps the real mystery is how “China”—if 

such a thing persists—continues to be reflected through the 

industrial smoke and mirrored high-rises. As the opening 

lines of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching read, “Dao ke dao, fei 

chang dao.” The way is a becoming way, not a fixed way. 

Death in the Night 

by Lauren Sherman (A05) 

In the summer of 2003 I went to Africa with Operation 

Crossroads Africa, a nonprofit organization that sends 

young people to various countries on the continent to work 

on different projects. There were six of us, and our assignment 

was medical-related. I was there for two months in a 

rural section of western Kenya. 

We lived about a mile and a half from the hospital at the 

family compound of our group leader, Josephine, a Kenyan 

nurse who has been working in the U.S. for the past couple 

of years and wanted to bring a group of young people back 

to her home to help in the community. The houses were no 

frills, just concrete floors and walls, and the bathroom was 

an outhouse about 20 feet from the house. There was no 

toilet, just a hole in the floor, and showers were taken with 

a bucket of water and a cup. 

During one week of our stay we traveled to Mfangano 

Island on Lake Victoria to operate a free clinic for the 

islanders. This clinic was much needed because the closest 

hospital is three hours away by motorboat and very expensive. 

On the second day I was to be working in the pharmacy, 

but by chance I stumbled into an empty room where a 

woman, maybe in her late twenties, was in labor. As she 

called out to me in her native language, Luo, I immediately 



13 

understood her pain 

and terror without 

comprehending the 

words. I approached to 

comfort her, and 

placed my hand on her 

swollen belly as she 

moaned in pain. I 

looked into her eyes 

and felt utterly helpless. 

How was I, a 20- 

year-old student of the 

“great books,” going 

to stop her pain? 

For over an hour I stood with her, rubbing her belly in 

silence. The doctor reported that her condition was stable 

and that she had hours before she would give birth. He then 

left to see other patients. After some time, I followed suit 

and returned to the pharmacy, but throughout the day I frequented 

her room. More than once I again demanded the 

doctor’s attention, but he always reported the same. Her 

pain may have been steady, but was it normal? Without a 

better foundation for concern than my feelings, I trusted 

the doctor’s judgment and left for the evening. Soon I was 

overtaken by hunger and fatigue, and the woman’s suffering 

was pushed to the background of my thoughts. 

The next morning when we arrived at the clinic, the doctor 

told us that this young woman had experienced complications 

and was rushed to the mainland during the night. 

She and the baby both died. 

For a time I allowed the suffering and inequality that I 

experienced in Kenya to saturate me with helplessness. 

Then finally, a few days before our departure, I realized that 

this woman knew that somebody cared about her and wanted 

to ease her pain, however inexperienced and unable I 

may have been. Even though we didn’t know each other’s 

name, I felt a searing love for her. I realized that the world 

is filled with nameless individuals, and it was my responsibility 

to show them this love. In a way, this nameless woman 

paul obrecht 

Marching to the River 

by Paul Obrecht (SF02) 

The Czech people are 

slowly rebuilding 

traditions, such as this 

wine festival procession, 

lost in the communist era. 

helped me far more 

than any remedies or 

medicines I could have 

given to her. She 

helped me to realize 

the power of the 

human heart. 

In the middle of March, having been in the Czech Republic 

for nine months, I was invited to participate in a traditional 

springtime procession in a tiny village in southern 

Moravia. A straw man was to be carried from the village 

square down to the river, set on fire, and then tossed into 

the water; newly green branches would be gathered, decorated 

with ribbons, and returned to the square. All of this 

was in the name of dismissing winter and welcoming the 

return of spring. When we arrived in the middle of the cold, 

gray afternoon, we joined a small group of parents and children 

and began marching to the river, singing Czech folk 

songs all the while. But I was misled about this being a traditional 

procession: At some point it was admitted that 

Czechs haven’t enacted this ceremony for a hundred years 

or more. I was part of a re-creation, an attempt to resurrect 

an old tradition that had died out generations ago. I discovered 

later that the people marching down to the river were 

Waldorf School moms and dads, and that this was a Waldorf 

event. (Waldorf schools were imported from the West in 

1995 or so.) 

I was tremendously disappointed, but I couldn’t quite say 

why. Was it just the tourist in me, disappointed by the lack 


14 


of quaint costumes? I 

recalled a wine festival 

I had stumbled upon 

the previous autumn 

in the village where I 

live, when the participants 

had been dressed 

in the traditional Moravian 

lace-and-embroidery-embellished 

garb. 

They started performing 

traditional songs 

and dances, parading 

through the streets of 

the village joined by a 

small marching band 

and a group of men pulling a red wagon that held a big 

decanter of burcak, an enticingly sweet midpoint on the 

journey from grape juice to wine. They poured glasses for 

the folks watching along the sidewalk or from their lacecurtained 

windows. I noticed that I was the only foreigner 

there, in fact, probably the only person not from the village 

itself, and this produced a wonderful feeling of satisfaction 

at the authenticity of it all. 

So why the disappointment at those real Czech folks 

marching down to the river, trying to resurrect some bit of 

their heritage, even if many could not remember all the 

words to the songs? The urge to resurrect old traditions is 

here, as everywhere, a reaction to the ever-accelerating 

pace of life and the fear that one’s own way of life is being 

consumed by the global behemoth of instant glitz, pop culture, 

and convenience. In a country that just 15 years ago 

was dominated by secret police, closed borders, and banana 

lines, things are changing quickly and people are in a hurry 

to make up for lost time. 

My disappointment, it turns out, was at being confronted 

with my own naivete. I had moved to the Czech Republic in 

hopes that I could learn something from a people who had 

had no choice for so long but to define themselves by other 

means than what they could afford to buy. Instead I found 

paul obrecht 

Glitz, pop culture, 

and convenience 

threaten authentic 

Czech culture. 

many of them eager to 

acquire as many as possible 

of the vices of the 

West. The march down 

to the river was a 

response to that, the 

unglamorous act of 

real people trying to 

do something real for 

themselves, trying to 

create meaning where 

meaning is in danger of slipping away. 

On my cynical days, the growing Czech hunger for the 

consumer lifestyle suggests to me that human nature longs 

for little more than cool stuff to buy; real and meaningful 

traditions seem only to survive as long as people are prohibited, 

whether by circumstance or design, from having 

enough shopping opportunities. 

On other days, however, I catch glimpses of an entire 

nation rallying to redefine itself after centuries of being 

ripped apart and re-sewn by the hands of various would-be 

empire builders. They are hard at work rebuilding their 

social institutions and public infrastructure, trying to 

purge the last whiff of totalitarianism from their souls. In 

effect, they are redesigning their society from the bottom 

up, and a necessary part of that is to resurrect old traditions. 

How else to remember who they have been? The 

enthusiasm and success of their effort suggest far more 

convincingly that the fabric of human nature is truly 

resilient and durable stuff. 



15 

“The guerillas put a price on his head and would 

kill him and his family if they could find him.” 

Michael Crawford (A87) 

The Guerilla’s Warning 

by Michael Crawford (A87) 

Graduation called, but South America beckoned. In the 

spring of 1988, my knowledge of the city of Cartagena consisted 

of exactly two items: it was 80 degrees year-round 

and it was full of cool Spanish colonial-era architectural 

remnants. My knowledge of Colombia in general was a bit 

more extensive, having followed the New York Times stories 

of Marxist guerilla fighting or drug-related massacres 

that took out three or four dozen people at a time. (In one 

story, the blood was literally running out the front door of 

the tavern afterwards.) Almost no U.S. citizens wanted to 

live there. This fact, plus the thought of the anxiety I 

would cause my parents if I went, appealed to me in a way 

that such things can only appeal to a 21-year-old. I went. 

The first few weeks did nothing to dampen the sense of 

the exotic. Yes, those are wild monkeys in the trees alongside 

the river. Yes, that is the beautiful but deadly blackand-yellow 

viper (no known antidote for the venom) slithering 

across the schoolyard while we are trying to play 

pick-up basketball. Yes, the discos throb with salsa and 

merengue until six in the morning. Yes, she likes you 

because she thinks you have American dollars. 

The height of this giddy new-ness came during a retreat 

the school organized for my 12th-graders. We were at a 

ranch in the middle of nowhere. The school’s forwardlooking 

rector wanted the students to talk about democracy 

and violence, and I was asked to lead a seminar on the 

Bill of Rights. The talk went well—back then it was not ludicrous 

for other countries to look toward America’s government 

as a model with real moral authority. My efforts 

in rudimentary Spanish were appreciated. But as the sun 

went down and the oil lamps were lit, I realized that I had 

only been the warm-up band for the evening’s main act: 

two hours with a real, live South American ex-guerilla. 

As we sat in a circle around the table, he was brought in 

flanked by two military guards. He told us to call him 

Alberto. The bandana covering his face only added to the 

mystique. For 12 years, he had been a foot soldier in the 

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the 

oldest and most hard-line of Colombia’s five armed 

Marxist insurgent groups. He joined because he believed 

in social justice, but after only one day he realized it would 

not be found among his guerilla comrades. Daily life 

consisted of endless making and breaking camp, or sitting 

through Marxism indoctrination classes in the middle of 

the jungle. Stray from the straight and narrow, and they 

would shoot you. In 12 years he had walked every sparsely 

inhabited inch of Colombia, shaking down farmers for the 

“tax” on coca and skimming profits on drugs that got 

shipped north to undermine bourgeois society. Fundraising, 

it seems, is a big part of every job, even if you are a 

South American revolutionary. 

They made him a bookkeeper, and then wanted to 

eliminate him because he knew that the leadership was 

partying at Bogota’s best hotels while the rank and file 

were swatting mosquitoes in the Amazon. When he got 

sick they sent him to a sympathetic doctor in the city, and 

there he defected to the Colombian army. 

We were mesmerized as we listened. The guerillas put a 

price on his head and would kill him and his family if they 

could find him. Later I recognized him as the night watchman 

at our school. As he was picking up his paycheck, our 

eyes met, but he was unflustered. He knew his secret would 

go no further. 

I would see and do many other fascinating things 

while in Cartagena, but none left the same impression as 

hearing Alberto’s story. Hyped by Clash lyrics, I had come 

to South America dreaming glitzy, shallow dreams about 

the glamorous revolutionaries. Now I was getting the real 

story. “If you want adventure,” he warned the 12thgraders, 

“sign up for the merchant marine. Do not join the 

guerillas.” 


16 


The Piercing 

Festival 

by John Hartnett 

(SF83) 

john hartnett 

From the moment 

you step out of 

the airport you are 

confronted by mass 

—a writhing, noisy, 

stinking mass of 

crumbling concrete 

pillars and gritty 

floors; tangled electrical 

wires; flailing arms and legs; voices of every conceivable 

pitch, tone, and key—all asking for something. It is at 

that moment that most Americans make up their mind 

about India. You either see nothing but the grit, nothing 

but the three-year-old living on the highway median begging 

for change, or you see past it. If you’re lucky, something 

helps you past your prejudices, some glimpse of the 

majesty of India. It might be the beaming smile of a man 

threshing rice by hand or a wrinkled old woman in a bright 

purple sari stooping to sweep the streets. 

By rights, my moment should have come at the clinic. I 

spent three weeks working in a clinic in Andra Pradesh next 

to all that mass: the hustle of the street vendors, the 

cacophony of honking horns, and the belching fumes of the 

three-wheeled moto-rickshaws that we called “tripods.” 

Working in the city, I was nearly blinded by the poverty and 

the grinding crush of everyday life. 

Toward the end of my trip, I had a chance to visit a distant 

state called Keralla. Almost every Indian I told about my 

plan called it “God’s Own Country.” On my first day in Keralla, 

I hired a driver to take me to Kumarakoum to visit the 

canals and waterways where people lived. As we turned a 

corner of the highway, I noticed a throng of people gathered 

by a side road. I stepped out, camera in hand. A festival was 

in full force, with young men and boys dancing to a captivating 

beat. Older 

men waved peacock 

feathers and circulated 

amongst the 

crowd, prodding the 

onlookers to notice 

the young men. It 

was then I noticed 

the piercings. These 

young men had 

pierced their cheeks with long skewers. The skewers were 

held in place by balls of fruit. As they danced, someone 

would approach and slide a rupee onto the skewer. The 

more these boys danced, the more hypnotic the effect as 

the drums thundered, their skin glistened, and the rupees 

collected on their skewer. 

For the rest of my time in India, I asked about this festival, 

but no one had ever heard of it. No Hindu or Buddhist, 

Jain or Muslim, Sikh or Christian I encountered had ever 

heard of anything like it. It was a completely local custom, 

this painful, intense festival. This devotion would not have 

found me had I not found it. Someone else might have seen 

only the rupees or the old men sidling for donations. But 

they would have missed the bright peacock feathers, the 

concentrated look on the boys’ faces, the intense focus on 

the divine in their bodies. 

Everyone is Beautiful in Madrid 

Meredith Smith (AGI03) 

Young men pierce their 

cheeks and dance for 

rupees in Keralla. 

The streets have been washed in daylight for hours when 

the waking sounds of the neighborhood begin to pass over 

the balcony and into my room in the heart of the Madrid 

shopping district. Below my window, the cherry vendor 


{Johnnies Abroad} 17 

bellows invitations to sample fruits that are so delicious 

she can’t believe it herself. Driving her calls louder are 

the building traffic and the accordion player’s rendition 

of “Besame Mucho.” Each morning this city melody mingles 

with the metallic, salty aromas from the seafood 

stalls to awaken me to another day in Madrid. 

In obedience to the Spanish morning ritual, I mix a 

strong espresso off the stove with hot milk and sugar. A 

staple of café life and social invitations, the café con leche 

has become an indispensable part of my mornings. Without 

it, I can’t imagine how I would brace myself for a day 

composed of exhausting attempts at communication. The 

robust, bittersweet brew seems perfectly fitted to the air 

of the people who lay their claim to it. If I am to have any 

prayer of matching their inexhaustible gift for gab, my 

first cup will not be the last. 

Properly caffeinated, I can embark upon the day. While 

it is easy to get lost in the graceful architecture of curling 

garlands and wrought-iron balconies overhead, it must be 

cautioned against. The Spanish pedestrian is considerably 

more focused on a conversation or a shoe in a storefront 

window than on the other people on the sidewalk. 

As a result, a certain nimbleness is required on the part of 

those who don’t want to be the victims of collisions and 

scowling faces. Perhaps the most abundant and treacherous 

obstacle is the ceaseless flow of little old ladies 

pulling their grocery carts. Prone to sudden stops and 

nonlinear trajectories, they served as my first introduction 

to the importance of staying alert. To tangle with one 

of these seemingly harmless teetering forms can mean 

bending under the force of one of the sharpest and quickest 

tongues in the country. 

In Spain everyone is beautiful. At the neighborhood 

market, undiscriminating greetings from the men behind 

the rows of hanging hams and pyramids of vegetables 

are bestowed upon their patrons in praise of their beauty. 

“Hello, beautiful,” is reciprocated with, “How’s it going, 

handsome?” And perhaps this familiarity is part of 

the shadowed Spanish tradition. For in the new supermarkets, 

frequented more by the youth than the traditional 

markets, the reserved dryness typical of modern 

business has replaced the intimacy that is prevalent in 

neighborhood shops and cafés. But it is this intimacy that 

allows one to experience a sense of belonging in a culture 

that is built upon secrets and mysteries inaccessible to 

foreigners. 

Work takes a back seat in this country, where recovery 

from and preparations for the next social engagement are 

the priorities. Leisure and pleasure are held in the highest 

regard, and the evidence is apparent each afternoon. 

Between two and three o’clock, the shops lower their 

metal gates and they will not raise them again until the 

late afternoon, giving everyone an opportunity to eat and 

nap. I am actually somewhat suspicious if the lunch hour 

ever ends, or if it just blends into the evening. For when I 

return from teaching a few English classes, it seems as if 

nothing has changed. All public spaces remain occupied, 

from badly lit fluorescent cafeterias displaying wide 

arrays of mayonnaise-drenched salads on stainless-steel 

counters, to park benches, and elegant umbrella-topped 

tables attended by uniformed waiters. 

In the evening, groups of friends that have gathered for 

after-work cocktails spill out of the bars, restaurants, and 

cafés and occupy the table-lined avenues. As the streets 

buzz with chatter and activity, the sunlight that has 

blazed throughout the day is replaced by a bluish haze 

from the cigarette smoke in the air. And when dinners 

come to a close right before the morning hours, and those 

who will continue their visits have moved indoors, the 

city begins its resistant farewell to the day. Everyone’s 

cheeks are kissed, everyone’s backs are patted, and we 

return to our homes to gather the energy to make it to 

lunch tomorrow. x 


18 

{Culture and Context} 

THE STORY-TELLERS 

Johnnies in Museums Make History Tangible 

by Sus3an Borden (A87) 

At the Smithsonian Museum of American 

History in Washington, D.C., a 

pair of shoes with sparkling red 

sequins and snazzy bows—the “ruby 

slippers” worn by Judy Garland in The 

Wizard of Oz—draws visitors from all 

over the world. Although not “real” 

items of history, like Mr. Rogers’ cardigan 

or Indiana Jones’ hat these artifacts 

of popular culture mean a great deal to the people who came 

to know them through movies and television, says Smithsonian 

curator David Allison (A73). 

Just a few blocks away, different shoes tell a different story: 

a heap of 3,000 shoes—dress shoes, tennis shoes, children’s shoes— 

turned gray by time and tragedy. Left behind by Holocaust victims 

at a concentration camp in Majdanek, Poland, the shoes are part of 

the permanent exhibition at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, 

D.C., where Steven Vitto (A85) works as both a researcher 

and a public reference 

librarian answering 

questions for visitors. 

What man creates, 

museums preserve. 

Shoes, documents, 

furniture, tools, art, 

weapons—all can be 

found in museums 

around the world. 

If these artifacts tell 

the stories of our past, 

the curators are the 

authors of those stories. 

What artifacts a 

curator selects, how he 

or she arranges them, 

and the context in 

which they are presented 

all combine to make 

the experience meaningful 

and evoke a sense of connection to history—even when we 

can’t understand it or would prefer to look away. Alumni who work 

in museums, historical societies, and other interpretive venues 

come to their work with specialized training, but also with a sense 

of how to draw disparate things—a Vietnam-era helicopter and a 

Civil War chair, for example—together to create a whole. 

Allison, a curator at the Smithsonian’s American History 

museum since 1986, is at work on a new permanent exhibit for the 

Smithsonian titled, “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War,” 

scheduled to open in November. There’s more to an exhibition than 

just the idea or the narrative, Allison explains. “It’s also about putting 

people in touch with original objects and helping them see history 

through these objects. How do you get people to feel that they 

are in a different place and at a different time?” he asks. The answer 

requires a thoughtful balance of design, content, and artifactual 

considerations, he says. 

At the Smithsonian, exhibition planning for major exhibits 

usually begins three years before the opening with a design charrette, 

several intense 

days where experts in 

the three-dimensional 

presentation of ideas 

meet with the people 

who have a story 

to tell. During the 

charrette, the rough 

outline of the exhibit’s 

content is mapped 

to the space allotted. 

Amateur genealogists 

and professional 

historians alike can 

find rich resources 

about American life 

from Lori Williamson 

(A94) at the 

Minnesota 

Historical Society. 


{Culture and Context} 19 

From the charrette, says Allison, 

all else follows. 

Although each exhibit is 

designed with a logical structure 

(large labels, secondary labels, 

then object labels), the visitor is 

not expected to follow that structure, 

Allison explains. “Usually 

there is a personal connection that 

draws you into the particular and 

you go to the general from there. 

If you see an object that interests 

you, that evokes nostalgia, curiosity, 

anger, love, you go and say 

what is that? Why is it here? Then 

you read the object label and if you 

want to know more you go backwards 

up the hierarchy. Museum 

behavior is much more like being 

in a shopping mall than reading a 

history book. In a museum it is the 

visceral connection with objects 

that people come to seek out and 

that serves as a guide for how they work their way through 

an exhibition.” 

In his upcoming exhibit, for instance, the logical structure is 

the chronological presentation of 16 major U.S. conflicts. The 

largest single object in the floor plan is a Huey Helicopter, an 

icon of the Vietnam War. “Helicopters were used in the Korean 

War,” notes Allison, “but in Vietnam it was the first time they 

were used to provide mobility and remove wounded, as well as 

perform other missions. [Vietnam] was the first helicopter war.” 

Another significant group of artifacts is the chairs that Robert 

E. Lee and U.S. Grant sat on at the surrender at Appomattox and 

the table on which Lee signed the surrender document. These 

articles of furniture have been in the Smithsonian’s collection 

for a long time, and are often exhibited against a painting of the 

surender. But for the new exhibit, Allison will place them in a 

context of discord rather than harmony. 

“This was, in some respects, our country’s most divisive war. 

But these two men knew each other, they had fought together in 

Mexico. When you show the meeting of the two men sitting in a 

room signing the surrender document, you capture their familiarity 

and the simple nature of the surrender. But you have 

not captured the meaning of the war.” To remedy this, Allison 

will exhibit the furniture against a collage of battle scenes to give 

visitors a greater sense of the cost of war. 

dave lachapelle 

living history: Emily Murphy 

made an 1840s-style dress to 

wear for the Nathaniel 

Hawthorne bicentennial 

celebration in Salem, Mass. 

Allison’s bold departure exemplifies 

the power of the curator as 

storyteller: no illustration, no captioned 

photograph, no chapter in a 

book could convey both the violence 

of the war and the brother vs. 

brother intimacy of its context 

with such visceral immediacy. 

That powerful connection isn’t 

as strong in other media, says 

Emily Murphy (A95), a longtime 

student of the elegant use of artifacts. 

Murphy is a Ph.D. candidate 

in American studies and a park 

ranger at the Salem (Mass.) Maritime National Historic Site, who 

recently completed an internship with the Peabody Essex Museum 

in Salem. Many people are content with surfing the Web to learn 

about history or art, says Murphy—a “terrible loss” in her view. 

“Seeing something in real life is a very personal interaction 

that I just don’t think you get with an image on a computer 

screen,” she says. “Being able to go to the National Gallery and see 

the Leonardo da Vinci portrait there, to see the depth of color, the 

brushstrokes, and the slight three-dimensionality of the layers of 

the oil paint—no matter how well-photographed something is, you 

don’t really get that.” 

In addition to the level of detail a real-life museum visit grants its 

visitors, there is another advantage to beholding the real thing. 

“The actual piece creates a connection,” Murphy explains. “All of 

us in our own lives have artifacts that we consider valuable. To be 

able to say, ‘this was my great-grandmother’s’ is very important to 

an individual. Museums are doing that on a larger scale. Instead of 

saying ‘this was my great grandmother’s,’ they’re saying ‘this was a 

part of history.’” 

Original artifacts are most valuable in creating a connection, but 

Murphy also works as a living history interpreter, and she is quick 

to acknowledge that reproductions also have their place. “Reproductions 

are valuable because they allow people to handle artifacts. 

Clothing is a great example of this. You do not want to wear antique 


20 


textiles, they’re simply too fragile. But when you put on a reproduction 

dress, it suddenly changes your whole idea of how people 

functioned in that period.” 

Murphy recently made an 1840s-style dress for the Nathaniel 

Hawthorne bicentennial in Salem. “This dress has four layers of 

petticoats, it’s got almost 500 feet of clothesline in the petticoats 

to give them stiffening. The corset is very long so that you really 

cannot bend at the waist, and the shoulders are dropped so you 

can’t raise your arms very far. 

“When you see the actual 1840s dress you can look and think 

it must have taken that woman weeks to sew something like that 

by hand. When you put on the reproduction you realize that once 

she spent six weeks making the dress, she couldn’t move very 

much in it.” The reproduction, it can be said, helps bring the 

artifact to life. 

For Lori Williamson (A94), acquisitions coordinator at the 

Minnesota Historical Society, sometimes “my great-grandmother’s” 

and “part of history” refer to the very same thing. “They 

greatly inform each other,” says Williamson, who works mainly 

with books, manuscripts, and photographs in the Society’s 

library. “When people begin work on a family genealogy, they 

often start out with a list of who bore whom. It sounds kind of 

biblical and it’s not helpful to them or to us; they need to add a 

narrative and a context.” To help them do so, Williamson directs 

David Allison (A73), standing before a shrouded Huey helicopter, 

recently prepared a Smithsonian exhibit that explores the 

meaning of war. 

them to the Society’s collections, rich in local and national history, 

to provide the large-scale backdrop against which the family 

history was played out. When a researcher is successful in 

thoughtfully filling out the family genealogy within this larger 

context, the resulting narrative can be added to the Society’s collections, 

and will be, in turn, used by other history writers to give 

detail and texture to their broader focus. 

While Williamson helps amateur and professional historians to 

integrate the personal and historical, Murphy says that, for many 

Americans, a museum’s collections in some way stand in for a 

family’s personal history. “Unlike people in other parts of the 

world, there are comparatively few of us who can say ‘my family 

has lived in this house for 10 generations.’ So we honor generally 

the pieces that belonged to our ancestors, real or imagined,” she 

says. “My family is Irish and showed up here in the 1860s and 70s, 

so I personally have very little connection with the aristocratic 

merchants of Salem, but the things they surrounded themselves 

with are beautiful and it would be a huge loss if we didn’t have 

these pieces to give all of us a physical connection with the past.” 

To Vitto, the very design of the Holocaust Museum demands a 

reflection on the relationship between artifact and reproduction. 



21 

“The Nazis tried to wipe them out. The registry 

brings them back.” 

Stephen Vitto, A85 

“The building itself is an artifact,” he says. “It’s made of the brick 

and steel of industrialization, with jagged lines of lights. There’s a 

lot of gray and black and an emphasis on poignant photographs. 

There are false doors, some parts are dark, some are cramped. Its 

layout is meant to be confusing, to give you some sense for the experience 

of the Holocaust: once the knock on the door came, people 

didn’t know what was going to happen to them.” 

The Holocaust Museum is an exemplary work of museum craft, 

says Murphy. “You hate to say it’s your favorite museum, because of 

the subject matter, but in terms of a museum that gets its point 

across, the Holocaust Museum is the finest museum that I’ve ever 

been to. It tells the story without devolving into mere voyeurism. It 

involves you from the minute you walk into the door. The skill of the 

people who put that together is unbelievable.” 

Vitto considers himself 

fortunate to have witnessed 

that skill first-hand. He 

began working at the Holocaust 

Museum three years 

before there was a Holocaust 

Museum, after answering an 

ad at George Washington 

University (where he was 

working on a master’s degree 

in history) for entry-level 

library work. At the beginning, 

he did a lot of cataloguing 

and answered reference 

questions. Early on, he says, 

the library staff was uncertain 

of how the collections 

would be used: by historians? 

scholars? for personal 

research? As library use 

grew, they learned that about 

90 percent of visitors were 

survivors and their families, 

a group that often formed 

lines of 20 to 30 people at the 

reference desk looking for 

personal information. 

By the time the library 

opened in April 1993, Vitto 

and a colleague had developed 

an expertise in finding 

historical information particular 

to the needs of survivors. 

Vitto, for instance, 

gary pierpoint 

developed a reading knowledge of Hebrew, Yiddish, German, 

and all Slavic languages. As the librarians learned to find their 

way around ghetto lists, transports, and work details, they began 

to focus their work on building a survivors’ registry, using as 

their foundation a registry started in 1981 as a project of the 

American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. 

Today, the registry database contains information on approximately 

180,000 Holocaust survivors and their family members 

worldwide and handles 34,000 requests annually. Vitto’s work 

at the museum is what he describes as a perfect mix of researching 

documents for the registry and working with survivors and 

their families. He talks about the registry’s relationship to one 

of the museum’s most poignant exhibits, the Tower of Faces. 

This three-story tall exhibition shows 1,500 photographs taken 

over a 50-year period in 

Ejszyszki, a shtetl in Lithuania. 

The photographs capture 

the everyday lives of 

Ejszyszki’s 4,000 Jews 

before the Holocaust, with 

pictures from weddings and 

family reunions, school and 

the beach, graduations and 

bar mitzvahs. On two days in 

September 1941, all but 29 of 

the 4,000 Ejszyszki Jews 

were killed by German death 

squads. 

For Vitto, the photographs 

run seamlessly into his work 

with the registry and explain 

why he finds his work so 

fulfilling. “This is completely 

what my work is about,” he 

says. “The Nazis tried to wipe 

them out. The registry brings 

them back.” x 

At the Holocaust Museum, 

Steven Vitto has a daily 

reminder of the importance 

of his work: the faces of 

Jews from a shtetl in 

Lithuania where all but 

29 of the 4,000 Jews were 

killed by German death 

squads in 1941. 


22 

{Commencement} 

COMMENCEMENT 2004 

Inspired teachers always 

leave their students with 

something intriguing to 

dwell on. The two commencement 

speakers at 

St. John’s last spring 

shared that quality. 

Annapolis tutor Chester 

Burke (A74) spoke of the 

value of genuine conversation, and 

Danielle Allen of the University of 

Chicago spoke to Santa Fe graduates of 

the lasting gift of wonder that a liberal 

education can impart. Both left students 

with an assignment: Burke asked 

students to ponder Pascal, and Allen 

asked students to think deeply about a 

Greek poem. 

“Men and Women of the World” 

Annapolis, May 16 

As a student, Chester Burke thrived on 

conversations in the classroom, the Coffee 

Shop, and the gym; as a musician 

studying in Paris, he found how much he 

missed those conversations; and as a 

tutor for the past two decades, he has 

seen students discover themselves in 

those conversations. In life outside the 

college, real listening is rare, and “conversations 

too often consist of isolated 

outbursts of speech which rarely meet up 

with one another, and even more rarely 

build upon one another,” he told the 

Class of 2004. 

teri thomson randall 

“Such speeches are lonely endeavors 

which end when the participants have 

run out of words,” Burke said, adding 

that what happens at St. John’s is very 

different. 

“Your words, responding first to ours 

and now your own questions, have grown 

from tentative but honest beginnings, 

nourished by the active listening of your 

classmates, into vessels through which 

the world may be displayed in its fullness. 

During the past few months, I have been 

watching not only your faces, but your 

entire bodies come alive while you 

strained to respond both to texts and to 

Celebrating in Santa Fe. 

one another.” 

Some of the college’s veteran tutors, 

Burke said, including himself, may sometimes 

expect a conversation to take a certain 

shape in seminar, but students at 

their best will refuse to conform to it. 

“Our words rebound from your stubborn 

surfaces, and leave no indentations. You 

punish us with your silence and your 

glazed looks when we deliver beautiful 

speeches, continually reminding us that 

speech is not a rehearsed performance, 

{ The College • John’s College • Fall 2004 }

{Commencement} 23 

david trozzo 

but a way of 

responding to a 

genuine question. 

When you are at 

your best of bests, 

you slowly build an 

account with one 

another, which 

though it may have 

the fragility of a 

sandcastle, resonates 

as an image 

of the soul itself— 

not some abstract 

soul, but your 

particular souls.” 

This development 

can be witnessed 

in class, and 

also in senior orals, 

said Burke. “All of 

us have something 

to say and we 

become who we are 

by attempting to 

articulate it,” Burke 

said. “It’s overwhelming 

to be in 

the presence of 

someone telling this 

story, whether it be 

Odysseus or a 

david trozzo 

stranger on a long bus ride. It’s tremendously 

difficult to say what dwells most 

deeply in us, and we are rarely satisfied 

by our utterances. Sometimes we are 

embarrassed by these moments. 

Dostoevski was painfully aware of this. 

“You are able to listen, not without judgment, 

but with passion and fairness, with an openness 

that will encourage others to seek you out.” 

Tutor Chester Burke, A74 

His characters expose themselves in the 

most outrageous situations, expressing 

themselves in ways which often appear 

ridiculous and even monstrous. It’s very 

difficult to say the things which need to 

be said.” 

This fall, tutors will greet a new group 

of students, and the voices 

of students who have 

moved on will be somewhat 

lost. Students will also forget 

many details of their 

time at St. John’s, but 

Burke is certain, he told 

them, that “all of your lives 

will be spent remembering 

and nourishing the words 

that you have spoken with 

us and with one another… 

As he closed his address, 

Burke read a passage from 

Pascal’s Pensees: “Man of 

Christopher Nelson congratulates 

Bryson Finklea, 

who won a prize in mathematics. 

President Nelson 

presided at ceremonies in 

Santa Fe and Annapolis. 

Real conversation 

can be hard to find 

outside St. John’s, 

tutor Chester 

Burke said. 

the world. We must 

be in a position to 

say, not: this person 

is a mathematician, 

a preacher, or eloquent, 

but that he is 

a man of the world. 

This universal 

quality is the only 

one that appeals to 

me. It’s a bad sign if, 

on seeing a man, we 

remember his book; 

I should prefer not 

to be aware of any 

quality until we 

actually meet it, and 

the moment comes 

to make use of it 

(nothing in excess), 

for fear that one 

quality might be 

preponderant and 

give a man a label; 

we do not want to 

feel that he is a good speaker except when 

it is the right moment for good speech; 

but let us be sure to recognize it then.” 

Burke challenged the graduates to 

consider the meaning of honnête homme, 

which he translated as “man of the 

world.” 

“In Pascal’s century, an honnête 

homme referred to a cultivated man of 

the world, graceful and distinguished by 

his comportment, his spirit, and his 

knowledge,” he explained. “All of this, 

though interesting, is not essential to 

my intention, nor is the fact that Pascal 

indicates in another Pensée that one 

cannot learn to be an honnête homme. 

“I want you to supply your own 

translation, as I believe that all of you are 

men and women of the world, abundantly 

endowed with diverse qualities, but 

fundamentally human beings, respectful 

and in awe of the world, and overflowing 

with the desire to engage the world. You 

are able to listen, not without judgment, 

but with passion and fairness, with an 

openness that will encourage others to 

seek you out.” 

{ The College • John’s College • Fall 2004 }

24 



“Use and Wonder” 

Santa Fe, May 22 

University of Chicago classicist Danielle 

Allen told graduates and their families in 

Santa Fe that her address would not 

touch on the usual commencement topics: 

a tally of where graduates are headed, 

a celebration of future careers, and 

laudatory remarks on how well-prepared 

graduates are for success. “Such details 

are supposed to answer the twin questions: 

what has college made of this particular 

group of students; what does the 

future hold for these particular young 

people?” Allen said. 

Instead, Allen offered to share with 

graduates a gift “of real value” in the 

form of two poems by Simonides of 

Ceos (c. 556-468). The first, Allen said, 

was a gift with no strings attached, 

Simonides 567: 

Countless birds, all his 

in a way, fly above his head 

and from dark water 

up fish leap true, 

sounding the song. 

Allen told graduates she would ask for 

something in return for her second gift, 

Simonides 521: 

Since you are mortal, 

don’t prophesy the quality of tomorrow’s 

dawn, 

and when you meet the man of the 

year, 

don’t try to read his life line, 

for swifter than a dragonfly, 

pfft 

a change. 

“You have all studied Greek, 

here, so perhaps you recognize 

the argument in the poem,” 

Allen said. “Simonides repeats 

what the Athenian legislator 

Solon, one of the Seven Sages of 

antiquity, had already said ‘Call 

no man happy before his death.’ 

“Herodotus treated us to that 

bit of Solonic wisdom as part 

of the story of the travels that 

Solon undertook after completing 

the heroic work of resolving 

class struggle in Athens and 

establishing institutions that 

had in them the seeds of democracy. 

He left Athens in order 

that his personal authority 

would not interfere with the 

working of the new legal system 

and stopped in his voyages in 

Lydia (modern-day Turkey) 

where he visited the great king 

Croesus, a wealthy and powerful 

man entirely confident of his life’s success….Croesus 

put to Solon the question, 

‘Who is the happiest man you have ever 

seen?’ Solon answered, ‘Tellus the 

Athenian.’ Flabbergasted, Croesus asked 

who was the second happiest man. He 

was expecting to hear his name at least 

this time. But Solon said, ‘Cleobis and 

Biton.’ Angry, Croesus demanded an 


At its best, liberal education endows a 

graduate with the ability to wonder, 

Danielle Allen said. 

explanation for why he didn’t rate. Solon 

answered: 

“‘My lord, I know god is envious of 

human prosperity and likes to trouble us; 

and you question me about the lot of 

man. Listen then: as the years lengthen 

out, there is much both to see and to 

suffer which one would wish otherwise. 

Take 70 years as the span of a man’s life: 

those 70 years contain 26,250 days [on 

the Greek way of counting], and not a 

single one of them is like the next in what 

it brings. You can see from that, Croesus, 

what a chance thing life is. You are very 

rich, and you rule a numerous people; 

but the question you asked me I will not 

answer, until I know that you have died 

happily.… Often enough, god gives man 

a glimpse of happiness and then utterly 

ruins him.’ And indeed, Croesus eventually 

lost his empire and his children. 

He couldn’t in the end be called happy.” 

After the ceremony, a family celebrates. 



25 

david trozzo 

No college can ensure the future happiness 

or success of its graduates, but it 

can endow them with something of 

immeasurable value: the ability to wonder, 

Allen said. To illustrate her point, 

she told about inviting a colleague, a 

biologist, to a meeting of a Chicago 

parks and recreation advisory board on 

which she serves—a group often rent by 

contentious arguments. The biologist’s 

presentation on birds and other wildlife 

in the park gave the group “an opportunity 

to pursue knowledge for its own 

sake,” along with a chance to discuss 

something that didn’t require a vote or a 

stance. 

“The pleasure of knowledge is as real 

as the pleasures of the body,” she 

explained. “I saw it there in that room, 

in a group of argumentative people 

joined in a variety of expressions of 

pleasure from wonder satisfied. This 

pleasure was much easier to identify in 

that meeting than in a college classroom, 

because of the palpable difference from 

what we council members were accustomed 

to in our exchanges.” 

Practical matters such as food, clothing, 

and shelter can overwhelm us, but 

the “cause of wonder” has a restorative 

effect that will see us through crises and 

lead us to new sources of strength, she 

said. “Wonder sets us back on our heels 

and helps us turn in a new direction.” 

At the conclusion of her address, 

Allen returned to Simonides 521 and 

read the poem to her audience again. 

It is not a poem of despair, she noted. 

“In the midst of reflecting on the alarmingly 

unpredictable nature of change, 

the speaker of the poem marvels at the 

speed and beauty of dragonflies,” Allen 

said. “The poem is itself an example of 

what it means to draw on the resources 

of wonder to sustain oneself even as one 

confronts necessity.” x 

Above, Annapolis graduates Jackson 

O’Brien, Kelly O’Donnell, John Okrent, 

and Erin Page. 

At left, Annapolis graduate Sarah 

Stickney and her father, Santa Fe tutor 

Cary Stickney (A75), celebrate. 


26 

{Homecoming} 

PLANTING MEMORIES 

Alumni Make Time “For the Trees” 

by John Hartnett, SF83 

Most college reunions 

are for trading snapshots, 

bragging about 

children’s accomplishments, 

and 

comparing hairlines 

and waistlines, but for the nearly 200 

Johnnies who came to Santa Fe for 

Homecoming July 1-3, this gathering 

was for the trees—the fragrant and elegant 

piñon trees that help define the Santa 

Fe landscape. 

The weekend theme was “For the 

Trees.” In addition to the usual luncheons, 

parties, and award ceremonies, 

the weekend provided alumni with an 

opportunity to cultivate new memories 

while re-planting piñon trees. The trees 

nearest the classroom buildings were 

planted when the campus was built in 

1964; however, many of the trees on the 

surrounding college land are over 150 

years old. Since 2002, the Santa Fe 


campus has lost over a thousand 

trees to drought and devastation 

from the pine bark beetle. In the 

immediate campus vicinity, the 

college has lost over 150 trees. 

Replanting lost trees and 

tending to healthy ones is an 

urgent project for reasons other 

than preserving the beauty of the 

campus—the college is keenly 

aware of the need to head off 

future fire hazards and to work to 

prevent soil erosion. 

About 15 alumni and five current 

students spent a day tending to 

healthy trees that had been 

reseeded in the spring. Marni 

Hamilton (SF05) was one of the 

students working outdoors with alumni. 

“Interacting with the alumni made me 

think about my class and where all of us 

are going,” she says. “It made me think 

about life after St. John’s.” 


Roxanne Seagraves (SF83), director of 

alumni relations and parent activities, 

said that working together helped the 

alumni interact in the present as well as 

the past. “At a reunion, sitting in seminar 

with the same people you sat in 

seminar with years ago affirms 

the past,” she says. “But this 

weekend was also about creating 

beauty in the present. When you 

replace a 300-year-old tree, you 

are replacing a legacy and making 

a tangible commitment to 

the future of the college.” 

Besides planting trees and 

digging up memories, reunion 

classes also enjoyed a full weekend 

of fun including a Saturday 

waltz party, alumni dinner and 

fiesta picnic, awards from the 

Alumni Association, dance 

lessons, a President’s brunch, 

and, of course, reunion seminars 

with retired tutors 

William Darkey, Don Cook, 

and Robert Sacks. x 

More on Homecoming can be 

found in the Alumni Association 

report, pages 46-47. 


{Homecoming} 27 

Opposite top: Future Johnnies 

join in the festivities. Opposite 

left: Members of the class of 

1984 shares memories at the Fiesta 

Picnic Saturday afternoon. 

At right, Kevin (SF90) and Khin 

Khin Guyot-Brock (SF88) find a 

shady spot between activities. 

Below, clockwise, members of the 

class of 1979 blur the lines of 

time and space. Glenda Eoyang 

(SF76), Steve Thomas (SF74), and 

Joseph Tooley (SF69)enjoy the 

picnic. Members of the class of 

1969 and 1979 join Alumni 

Association board members at 

Sunday brunch. 

photos by teri thomson randall 


28 

{Bibliofile} 

The Writer in Natalie Goldberg 

Author Natalie Goldberg 

(SFGI74) found immediate 

success with her first book, 

Writing Down the Bones, 

Freeing the Writer Within 

(Shambala, 1986). Now in 

its 33rd printing, the book has sold more 

than a million copies in 10 languages. 

Goldberg’s other books include Wild Mind, 

Thunder and Lighting, Long Quiet Highway, 

Banana Rose, and Living Color. This 

fall, she published her newest book, 

The Great Failure: A Bartender, a Monk, 

and My Unlikely Path to Truth (Harper 

San Francisco). A poet, teacher, writer, 

and painter, Goldberg has studied Zen 

Buddhism for 24 years. She teaches writing 

workshops based on the clear-mind, 

clear-heart methods presented in Writing 

Down the Bones. 

Goldberg recently made time to sit down 

and discuss her books, her studies at the 

Graduate Institute, and the writing life with 

The College contributor Andra Maguran. 

I’m curious about why you chose to 

attend St. John’s College. 

I had gone to undergraduate school at 

George Washington University....I majored 

in English lit. And I had had wonderful high 

school English teachers, but George Washington 

was very disappointing.…I had heard 

about St. John’s in Annapolis, Maryland, and 

it had always intrigued me. I was very interested 

in philosophy and literature. So when I 

heard about the graduate program in Santa 

Fe, and that it met in the summer, I decided 

to come [right after graduating from GWU]. 

That’s how hungry I was and how disappointed. 

And it was very scary for me to come to 

Santa Fe—I’d never been farther than Ann 

Arbor, Michigan! I had no idea what the 

West was like, and I probably would never 

have come if I hadn’t gone to St. John’s. 

But was it the Program itself, the great 

books program? 

Yes, it was definitely the great books 

Program. I’d heard about it when I was in 

Washington. And it’s amazing to me, 

I don’t really know where it came from, but 

I just took a leap and said that I’m going. 

It wasn’t very much like me. But I think 

I had heard about it all during my undergraduate 

years, and it intrigued me, so 

when I heard about the graduate 

program I was ripe. 

It strikes me as interesting that 

you, being such a creative 

person, would come to a 

graduate program that focuses 

very heavily on critical or 

analytical thinking. 

I didn’t know I was a creative person 

then. I was just like a St. John’s 

person in that I was very analytical. 

I was actually an atheist, and I was 

sort of an intellectual. I loved 

books, and I think I didn’t know it, 

but I was terribly intrigued by ideas 

and thoughts. So it was only after I 

graduated from St. John’s that I 

took a huge leap into another arena 

of my life. 

At that time, the college had only been 

here for a few years. Did you have a sort of 

pioneering sense? 

It felt very fresh…I just loved it. It was really 

exciting to sit and just talk about a book 

directly, without reading any other sources, 

to have a conversation. And I loved the teachers; 

the tutors were wonderful. It was so 

intriguing that you could have a Ph.D. in 

physics, but you had to teach Greek. You 

couldn’t just be frozen any place. It was just a 

wonderful concept that you called them 

tutors and that the classes were so small. The 

tutors were so alive. And during that time, 

Rockefeller had given a grant to St. John’s for 

high school English teachers from the inner 

city. So there were a lot of African-Americans. 

My class was at least half African-Americans, 

people who had really lived their lives. 

They didn’t just read Socrates and just mouth 

it. They kept referring to their own life experience. 

It was very vital, very exciting. 

So you spent time studying Western 

philosophy—Western culture—and then 

you made this headlong leap into Eastern 

leanings? 

Yes. I have a new book coming out called The 

Great Failure, and I write about St. John’s in 

it—the fact that I studied Descartes: “I think 

therefore I am.” Later the man who ended 

up being my Zen teacher, a Japanese Zen 

master…said, “I’ve been reading your 

dissatisfaction with her undergraduate 

degree led Natalie Goldberg to St. John’s. 

Descartes, ‘I think therefore I am.’” And I 

perked right up. I thought, “He’s reading 

Descartes?” 

And he said, “Descartes probably remembered, 

but forgot to mention: ‘I don’t think, 

therefore I’m not.’” And in all those hours in 

the seminar on Descartes, no one thought of 

that angle. So it was sort of like Western civilization 

dropped off a cliff at that moment. 

But what I realized in writing this new book 

was that St. John’s prepared me for that. 

Because the other friends and students who 

practice with [Zen Teacher Katagiri] Roshi 

don’t remember that lecture. But for me, it 

was totally a lecture, because I’d been studying 

Descartes at St. John’s so I really paid 

attention. So, I went into the Eastern world, 

but I think I got my foundation in the Western 

world that let me lead into the Eastern 

world. 

Do you think that the Program 

influenced your writing life? 

Yes, I think it did, because it taught me to 

trust my own mind and to believe in what I 

think, saw, and felt. You didn’t go to secondary 

sources, you met something directly and 

that’s what writing is. That’s also what Zen 

practice is. And now that I’m living right 

near the St. John’s campus, it’s really fun for 

continued on p. 29 


{Bibliofile} 29 

The Man in the Moon- 

Fixer’s Mask 

by JonArno Lawson (A91) 

Toronto: Pedlar Press, 2004. 

In part, his diverse 

interests explain 

JonArno Lawson’s 

two most recent 

accomplishments 

in the publishing 

world. Not long after his 

chapters on Chechen literature 

and proverbs appeared 

in Chechens: A Handbook, 

Lawson’s third volume of 

poetry, The Man in the Moon-Fixer’s Mask, 

was published by a Canadian press. 

The other explanation is a relatively new 

audience for his work: his son, Asher, and 

daughter, Sophie. “We had our first child, 

Sophie, about three years ago and were 

reading a lot more children’s poetry,” 

explains Lawson (A91), who lives in 

Toronto. Asher joined the family in 

January 2004. 

Lawson and his wife, Amy Freedman, 

were reading books such as Shel Silverstein’s 

Where the Sidewalk Ends to their 

daughter, and Lawson found the musical 

style of children’s poetry infectious. 

Writing for children, Lawson adds, is 

distinctly different and a little more 

difficult than writing poetry for adults. 

“In adult poetry now in English, most of 

the time you don’t worry about rhyme, and 

meter isn’t as important. 

When you’re writing for 

children, all those things 

become very important 

again—word play, timing. 

I guess it’s the same with 

an adult poem in that you 

want the images to be 

surprising.” 

Children are a tough 

audience to write for, he 

adds. “Children are very 

honest when they don’t like 

something. We tried out all 

the poems on Sophie first— 

she was my first editor for 

this project.” 

Lawson began writing poetry as a teenager, 

and by the time he got to St. John’s, 

he was taking his craft seriously. He published 

his first book of poems and aphorisms, 

Love is An Observant Traveller, 

tackling themes such as families and 

relationships, in 1997. “One of the first 

poems I wrote was when I was at St. John’s,” 

he says. “It was based on the Odyssey. It 

hasn’t made it into a book yet, but it has 

promise.” 

Since poetry doesn’t pay well, Lawson 

also does freelance editing and teaches 

poetry workshops in schools as part of 

Ontario’s Artists in Education program. 

He continues to explore other types of 

writing, such as the chapters on Chechen 

literature. “It all ties together because it’s 

all language, and how people use language 

Horses in Cities 

Good and iniquitous, 

they were ubiquitous: 

Horses were everywhere 

anyone looked. 

But with cars, numbers dwindled, 

and sightings diminished, 

and then one day horses in cities 

were finished. 

I Spun 

I spun 

where I was told to spin 

and while I spun 

grabbed hold of him 

who told me 

where I had to spin. 

I could tell 

it startled him. 

as a tool to say things in different ways and 

as clearly as possible,” he explains, 

adding, “I probably am a better writer 

than a talker.” 

Lawson has two volumes—one of 

children’s poems and one for adults— 

nearly complete and ready for a publisher. 

“Children’s poetry is the most fun of anything 

I’ve done,” he says. “It’s the most 

fun, I guess, because there’s a better 

chance people will read it.” x 

(continued) 

me to walk around. The other thing for me 

was, when I came here I was blown away by 

the architecture of St. John’s. Like, wherever 

you are you know people take it for 

granted, there’s all this glass and light. 

We all know about the doors being painted 

different colors, but in 1970 that just blew 

me away. One wall would be blue and 

another pink. 

Some people think writing can’t be 

taught. How do you feel about that? 

A lot of those people who think that 

writing can’t be taught are people who 

can’t write themselves and have given up. 

Writing can be taught, just like anything 

else. When Writing Down the Bones came 

out, across the culture, people wrote me 

letters: Quarry workers in Missouri. Bluecollar 

workers in Nebraska. Vice-presidents 

of insurance agencies in Florida. Everybody 

has a deep desire to write. And that 

doesn’t mean they’re all going to become 

Faulkner, but people have a need to 

express themselves. 

How did you make the transition to 

being a full-time writer? 

I just made enough money and I could just 

make a living as a writer, so I quit doing 

other things. Before that I was teaching. 

My last full-time job was teaching fifth and 

sixth grade, at Rio Grande. Writing Down 

the Bones came out. It still sells, and is 

taught in colleges and high schools, and so 

I was able to just leave. After Writing Down 

the Bones, I started a novel, Banana Rose, 

and then I wrote Wild Mind. This book, 

The Great Failure, is a memoir about my 

father, who was a Jewish bartender, and my 

Japanese Zen Master Katagiri Roshi, the 

two most important men in my life… 

looking at the wonderful things about 

them, and also their darkness. I think it’s 

the best book I’ve ever written. I’m very 

excited about it. 

Do you still have dark periods where 

you hate everything you write or can’t 

write? What do you do when that 

happens? 

Yes. And you just keep your hand moving. 

Writing is a practice, and you do it whether 

you like to or not, whether you feel good 

about it or not. You’re in a good mood, you 

go write. You lost all your money, you go 

write. You just won the Nobel Prize, you 

start a new book the next day. x 


30 

{Alumni Profile} 

“From Homer to Homicide” 

A Love for Language Led Carole Chaski (A77) to Forensic Linguistics 


Carole Chaski had worked long 

and hard to earn her doctorate 

in computational linguistics 

and by 1992, was nicely 

settled in an academic career. 

She was conducting research 

on reading, setting up literacy programs for 

factory workers, and teaching at North Carolina 

State University in Raleigh. 

One day she took a call from a homicide 

detective investigating a suspicious suicide, 

and her life took a completely different turn— 

for the better. Chaski went on to help solve a 

crime in which the prime suspect might have 

otherwise gotten off scot-free. 

Today she is a leading expert 

in forensic linguistics. It 

turned out to be a lot more 

exciting than teaching the 

History of English to glassyeyed 

engineering majors. 

Between her teaching days 

and her 15-minutes of fame as 

the expert who cracked the 

case on a recent episode of 

Court TV’s Forensic Files, 

there were years of research 

and study of the structures of 

language, beginning with a 

deep fascination with the 

puzzles of ancient Greek. 

“If I ever wrote the story of 

my life, I could call it, ‘From 

Homer to Homicide,’” 

Chaski quips. 

Chaski’s work today 

involves analyzing language, 

finding patterns in syntax, and 

determining when a piece of 

writing departs from a pattern. 

Her ability for this work 

stems from the study of languages, 

especially ancient 

Greek, in reading and linguistics. 

Chaski left St. John’s after 

her freshman year to pursue a 

bachelor’s degree in Greek 

and English at Bryn Mawr 

College. After graduating, she 

spent a year teaching in an 

impoverished school district 

on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. 

The dismally high illiteracy 

rate there fed an interest in 

scott suchman 

how children learn to read, and Chaski went 

on to earn a master’s degree in the psychology 

of reading at the University of Delaware. 

While working on her degree, she assisted 

two computational linguists in their 

research. That subject took hold of her imagination, 

and she went on to Brown University 

for master’s and doctoral degrees in linguistics, 

with an emphasis on syntax, computational 

linguistics, and how languages change 

over time. At Brown she returned to ancient 

Greek grammar for her dissertation topic 

and settled on the historic changes in the 

syntax of Greek. 

“The verbal infinitive had been very prevalent 

in classical Greek and started to be less 

prevalent in Hellenistic Greek until finally by 

early modern or medieval Greek, it was 

essentially gone,” she says. “My question 

was, what caused Greek to lose the 

infinitive?” 

Examining long-distance anaphors (a word 

or phrase that takes its reference from another 

word, most often within the same clause) 

gave her a lead. “When you look at classical 

Greek you see two things: long-distance 

anaphors and case mismatches—case agreement 

mismatches in that you expect the case 

to be genitive but it comes out 

accusative, you expect dative 

and it comes out accusative. 

Both of these phenomena 

that were attached to the 

infinitive were odd because 

they went back past the 

boundary of a clause for their 

antecedents.” 

She cites an example of a 

long-distance anaphor from 

Thucydides: “Oerestes persuaded 

the Athenians to 

restore himself.” Expected 

to refers to the Athenians, 

himself refers instead to 

Oerestes. Chaski went 

through hundreds of lines of 

Greek works from ancient 

times to modern, assigning 

the terms “marked” and 

“unmarked” to phrases. 

Unmarked followed the usual 

patterns; marked were in 

some way remarkable. Examining 

those patterns allowed 

Chaski to study one narrow 

aspect of how a language 

changes over time. “When 

the condition that allowed 

these phrases to go outside 

the boundary—that is, the 

infinitive—disappeared, these 

oddities instantly died out,” 

she said. 

From criminal cases to civil 

lawsuits, Carole Chaski’s 

expertise is in demand. 



31 

This painstaking research was what Chaski 

went back to when a homicide detective 

named W. Allison Blackman brought her a 

computer disk with suicide notes allegedly 

written by Michael Hunter, a young man 

found dead of a lethal combination of drugs 

injected into his arm. Blackman didn’t have 

much to go on when he came to Chaski and 

asked if she could examine the note and 

other writing samples from Hunter to determine 

if he had really written the suicide note. 

“I know how to analyze syntax and I know 

how to find patterns,” she told Blackman. 

“I’ll try it and we’ll see.” 

Chaski looked at writing samples for 

Hunter and his two roommates, including a 

young medical student named Joseph Mannino, 

who had easy access to the drugs in 

Hunter’s system. Chaski found that patterns 

in the suicide note—particularly the use of 

conjunctions—were strikingly similar to 

those of Mannino, who was involved in a 

three-way affair with Hunter and a third 

roommate. The suicide notes were marked by 

conjunctions between sentences. Samples of 

Hunter’s authentic writing included more 

conjunctions between non-sentence phrases. 

Police eventually arrested Mannino. After 

a three-week trial, he was convicted of involuntary 

manslaughter and sentenced to seven 

years in prison. 

After consulting with the local district 

attorney’s office on another case (identifying 

the author of an anonymous threatening letter), 

Chaski knew she had found something 

more satisfying and more challenging than 

an academic career. “At St. John’s, we talk a 

lot about the examined life. I just wasn’t 

happy as an academic. It seemed that the primary 

role of professors was to get away from 

the students,” she says. 

She secured a fellowship at the National 

Institute of Justice (the research arm of the 

U.S. Justice Department) and set about finetuning 

a method to distinguish one author 

from another based on syntactic patterns. “I 

was the only one doing any research independent 

of litigation,” Chaski says. 

As part of her research, Chaski set about 

examining every method already employed 

in language identification. She demonstrated 

that analyzing language based on the 

spelling, punctuation, and grammatical 

errors was not good enough to determine 

individuality in writing. “I’m really against 

the prescriptive, stylistics method because 

what pops out to people as odd is not a pattern, 

it’s just what’s popping out,” she 

explains. “It’s like Plato’s cave—you can’t 

know the light until you know the shadow, 

and you have to have them both. In DNA 

analysis, if you’re looking for a chromosomal 

anomaly, you have to have the whole 

pattern. That’s where you start in syntactic 

analysis. Every document is analyzed for 

every syntactic pattern and nothing is left 

out. That way you can find out if something 

that seems unusual in a piece of writing 

really is unusual.” 

Similarly, the type of analysis scholars 

undertake in trying to determine the authorship 

of something like a Shakespeare play or 

a Biblical text (content analysis, vocabulary 

“It’s like Plato’s cave— 

you can’t know the light 

until you know the 

shadow, and you have 

to have them both.” 

Carole Chaski, A77 

richness, the complexity of sentences) is not 

suited to forensic linguistics, where documents 

conveying death threats or ransom 

demands are usually short and to the point. 

Chaski has spent the last decade or so 

refining and applying a scientific method for 

syntactic analysis that is rooted in linguistic 

theory and validated by statistical testing. 

Each analysis begins with taking texts apart 

and labeling each word for its part of speech, 

then taking phrases within the sentences and 

parsing those. “Once the phrases are all 

determined, I categorize them into two 

types: marked and unmarked. Unmarked are 

phases that are so common, they don’t stand 

out—‘it’s in the car.’ Marked are those that 

are more infrequent or more remarkable— 

‘it’s in the car, in the garage, attached to 

the house.’’’ 

Next, Chaski determines the frequency of 

marked and unmarked phrases in the writing 

samples. Those numbers are fed into computer 

programs that yield three different 

statistical analyses. The first two methods, 

discriminate function analysis and logistic 

regression, seek a clear division between the 

questioned document and the other known 

writing samples in her pool. The third test, 

hierarchical cluster analysis, seeks similarities 

by “clustering” similar samples into the 

same pool. 

“Everybody starts out in a pool of potential 

authors. If the statistical procedures 

show there’s a significant difference, people 

are excluded. If I can’t find any difference 

between a suspect’s writing sample and the 

evidence document, that’s what my report 

will say,” Chaski says, adding, “I never claim 

that only one person in the world could have 

written something.” 

Several years ago, Chaski left Washington 

for Georgetown, Del., where she founded the 

Institute for Linguistic Evidence, of which 

she is executive director. Along with continuing 

research, lecturing, and writing about 

her methods, Chaski has served as a consultant 

in a number of intriguing cases where her 

research influenced the outcomes. In one 

Annapolis case, the founder of a firm that 

developed environmental technology was 

sued by a former employee who wanted a 

significant share of the profits reaped from 

the company’s product. However, the company’s 

owner suspected the man had written 

damaging letters to potential customers. 

“The lawyers for the defendant came to 

me and they were already convinced that it 

was this engineer. In this case, the pool was 

limited to those who worked for the company—only 

they had the technical knowledge to 

write the letters, ” Chaski explains. Her 

analysis proved the defendant correct, and 

on that basis, the judge overruled the jury 

verdict to give the fired engineer the small 

sum the jury had agreed upon. 

In another recent civil case, Chaski 

determined that a woman claiming sexual 

harassment in her workplace was the 

author of e-mails that indicated the relationship 

between her and her supervisor 

was consensual. Chaski also showed that a 

federal employee who was fired for writing 

racist e-mails was very probably the author 

of those missives. In other cases, Chaski’s 

work has taken her into state and federal 

courts, where her testimony has passed 

successfully through the scrutiny of 

evidence hearings. 

Chaski believes it’s possible for someone 

to succeed in imitating another’s writing to 

a degree, but that it’s impossible to suppress 

one’s own style completely. “Language 

is meant to be meaning-centered, not 

syntax-centered. Syntax is fundamental, it’s 

what makes language efficient. But it’s very 

abstract, very automated. If we thought 

about it, we’d go nuts—‘how many prepositional 

phrases did I just write?’—and not 

actually be able to communicate.” 

Given her St. John’s education, it’s not 

really odd that Chaski was drawn to forensic 

linguistics. “That’s because Johnnies learn to 

think about, and talk about, language as language,” 

says Chaski. x 


32 

{Alumni Notes} 

1937 

HAROLD L. BROOKS just celebrated 

his 90th birthday with a big party in 

Sebastian, Fla. 

1941 

HENRY M. ROBERT III, who lives in 

Annapolis and has been a regular at 

Annapolis campus homecomings, is 

co-author of the seventh, eighth, and 

ninth edition of his father’s wellknown 

parliamentary manual, published 

in 1970, 1981, 1990, and 2000 

respectively, all under the title of 

Robert’s Rules of Order Newly 

Revised. And now in response to widespread 

demand by those who feel 

daunted by that book’s complete treatment 

of the subject, he and the same 

authorship team have now produced a 

brief introductory work published last 

May entitled, Robert’s Rules of Order 

Newly Revised in Brief (Da Capo 

Press). “And,oh yes,” Henry writes, 

“nowadays you have to make is something 

called ‘user-friendly.’ We hope 

we’ve passed muster on that score.” 

1944 

ARTHUR HYMAN serves as Distinguished 

Service Professor of Philosophy 

and Dean of the Bernard Revel 

Graduate School of Jewish Studies at 

Yeshiva University in New York. 

1945 

LAWRENCE L. LEVIN writes, “Just 

had my first grandchild—a boy!” 

1950 

TYLDEN STREETT is still completing 

sculpture commissions and teaching 

an advanced figurative class once a 

week at the Maryland Institute 

College of Art. “I am enjoying one 

of many slack periods and am able to 

return to work on my presentational 

busts of Barr and Buchanan that were 

begun in ’02,” he writes. “Barr is 

approaching a casting date but 

Buchanan is more difficult. I have 

received some critical help from 

John Van Doren and may have both 

cast by year’s end.” 

1951 

L. DONALD KOONTZ points out that 

members of the class of 1951 are 

featured on the cover of this year’s 

Philanthropia calendar. The students 

peering into their microscopes were 

members of his freshman lab class, 

working diligently in the spring 

of 1948. 

GEORGE WEND is still active with the 

book discussion group of the Alumni 

Association’s Baltimore chapter. He 

took a trip last summer to Peru to 

visit Machu Picchu, the Andes, 

and the Amazon; this summer he 

embarked on a two-week river cruise 

from Moscow to St. Petersburg. 

1954 

To mark the 50th anniversary of his 

graduation from St. John’s this year, 

RICHARD BURNETT CARTER sent The 

College two poems celebrating former 

dean Jacob Klein and one of his most 

memorable tutors, Simon Kaplan. 

Kaplan still influences Carter after 

these many decades. He wrote: “That 

man’s teachings,/Spoken 

quietly as dawn breezes sighing 

through pine forests;/They sing in my 

heart after 50 years,/Still forbidding 

any meanness to enter there.” 

Of Klein, he wrote: “That falcon 

sought eternity in Nimrod’s dense 

thicket,/But once there, he found 

poems bleeding on the thorns of 

Mind’s mindless veiling./So, he 

sheathed his dream-rending talons,/ 

And nursed those verses back to their 

long-hidden splendor.” 

1959 

ROBERTO SALINAS-PRICE has been 

an avid Homeric scholar for the past 

30 years. He has published Homer’s 

Blind Audience (1984) and Atlas of 

Homeric Geography (1992). The 

reader may visit his Web site at 

www.homer.com.mx. 

1962 

JOSEPH J. BRENNIG retired from the 

Foreign Service in 1997, but was 

called back to serve in Karachi, 

Pakistan, in 1998. Currently, he is 

working in the Department of State 

on the Pakistan Desk. 

1964 

JUDI WOOD writes: “No new news— 

except to say that we are traveling in 

May 2004 by car to East Lansing, 

Mich., to visit grandchildren while 

their dad, our son John, is working on 

his master’s degree in business. We 

will be in Fort Smith, Ark., and 

Nashville, Tenn., on our way.” 

1965 

A busy summer and second-career 

plans for CAROL JEFFERS: “I will be 

participating in a build with Habitat 

for Humanity in Durban, South 

Africa, in July and traveling with 

friends to Capetown after that. In 

August I return to the U.S. and retire 

from my federal job. In September I 

enter Lancaster Theological Seminary, 

pursuing a Master of Divinity 

degree. My long-term goal is to be a 

community minister in my Unitarian 

Universalist faith.” 

1966 

“After spending 17 years rehabbing a 

shell in South Philadelphia, we finally 

finished last December, at least 

enough to move in,” writes JUDY 

(MILLSPAUGH) ANDERSON. “I am 

sure we will be upgrading and 

improving for the next 10 years. I am 

still doing house calls exclusively, in 

the greater Philadelphia area. The 

practice is thriving. I have two parttime 

physicians, a full-time nurse 

Bluegrass on the Bayou 

Some retirement careers are more fun than others. 

That’s LARRY SCHLUETER (A67) in the back of the boat 

in this promo picture for his band, New Orleans-based 

Hazel and the Delta Ramblers. Schlueter recently 

retired from the U.S. Customs Service after “32-plus” 

years and spends much of his time recording and performing 

in and around The Big Easy. The band’s latest CD, Pickin’ 

on the Bayou, features 16 cuts of bluegrass tunes and original compositions. 

That’s Larry’s wife, HAZEL (A69), standing in the front 

of the canoe, holding her mandolin. x 


{Alumni Notes} 33 

practitioner, an office manager, a 

business manager, and two office 

workers to share the work (and the 

money). None of us will ever get rich 

doing this, but it is certainly more fun 

than punching a time clock with the 

Commonwealth of PA. 

“Step-kids are doing fine; all out of 

the nest for a while now, and I have a 

multitude of grandchildren, ranging 

in age from 3 months to 15 years. 

My dad passed away last year; I don’t 

know if there was a notice in the 

Annapolis paper. There was one in 

the Baltimore Sun, and a few people 

wrote that they had seen it. He went 

the way I want to go when my time 

comes: peacefully and painlessly in 

his sleep, after a pleasant evening 

spent reminiscing with family and 

friends. 

“My sisters are doing well. Both 

had surgery last year, one for breast 

cancer, the other for a thyroid nodule. 

Both recovered and are currently in 

good health, as am I. Well, except for 

arthritis, but nobody ever died of that. 

“My husband Joe is also doing OK. 

He closed his business a couple of 

years ago and is back among the 

salaried masses, and hates it with a 

passion. His inner entrepreneur is 

itching to be in business for himself 

again.” 

1967 

THE REV. CLARK LOBENSTINE will be 

part of the Assembly of Religious and 

Spiritual Leaders meeting and then 

participating in the much larger Parliament 

of the World’s Religions in 

Barcelona. He will be one of just 350 

leaders selected worldwide to be at 

the assembly. He was thrilled and 

humbled to be one of just 51 people 

internationally nominated for the first 

Paul Carus Award to be given at the 

Parliament. It is the most prestigious 

award in inter-religious work. The 

nomination was based on his 25 years 

as executive director of the InterFaith 

Conference of Metropolitan Washington. 

MARK LINDLEY (A67) is active 

with the InterFaith Conference. 

Three Boys in College 

SHEILA BOBBS ARMSTRONG (SF70, SFGI95) writes: 

“My son Ian will be a sophomore at the Annapolis 

campus this fall. He loves St. John’s, having spent 

three years at the University of New Mexico. Eamon, 

#2 son, is at Occidental College in Los Angeles. 

Quinn, #3, is at Idylwild Arts Academy in California. 

I am still with Mike and splitting time between Santa Fe and 

Perth, and traveling. Love to all.” x 

1968 

A story that ends well from 

JONATHAN AURTHUR (A): “I was a 

member of a group of 70 bicyclists 

(and one skateboarder) who were 

arrested at the Democratic National 

Convention in August 2000 for 

participating in a Critical Mass bike 

ride that was part of a week of protests 

against globalization and related 

matters. (Critical Mass is an informal 

international movement that advocates 

for more bicycles and fewer 

cars.) We were held in county jail for 

a day and a half, and the female members 

of our group were illegally stripsearched. 

A couple of weeks after our 

release, all charges against us (most 

having to do with ‘reckless driving’) 

were dropped. In late 2000 we sued 

both the County and City of Los 

Angeles for unlawful arrest and stripsearches. 

Last year we settled the 

County case (strip-searches and related 

matters) for $2.75 million, and this 

past March we settled the City suit 

(unlawful arrest) for $875,000.” 

MARY HOWARD CALLAWAY (A) writes 

that her daughter, Hannah Boone, 

will be graduating Phi Beta Kappa 

from Carleton College and traveling 

to France on a Fulbright teaching 

award next year. “She was grateful 

that when she was growing up, 

‘dinner was always a seminar, where I 

learned to hold my own in heated 

discussions.’ Ah, the St. John’s legacy 

runs deep!” 

Some recognition for BART LEE (A): 

“Not a Nobel Prize, but an academy 

award in History of Technology: I 

received the Houck Award for Documentation 

in Radio History from the 

Antique Wireless Association largely 

for the papers “Radio Spies” 2002; 

and “Marconi’s Transatlantic Leap” 

(1999). The Antique Wireless Association 

is an organization of some 4,000 

members linked by a common interest 

in the history of electrical and electronic 

communications. 

CHARLES B. WATSON (A) is still at 

work as an anesthesiologist and parttime 

physician administrator of a 50+person 

department that provides care 

for more than 18,000 people a year: 

“Rising elderly population and 

shrinking health care dollars create 

problems most alumni have or will 

experience, sad to say. Happy to 

report Ivan Watson, of NPR, is back 

from Iraq and going elsewhere until 

August. Masha, my wife of about 

30 years, is abroad with a high school 

group and recently managed costumes 

for 125 youngsters at a superb 

high school production of Les Miserables. 

Anya, age 20, is at Connecticut 

College (no basketball), pursuing 

Marine Science, while Misha, now 26, 

builds things on Martha’s Vineyard. 

Y’all call or stop by: 203-372-9586; 

CBWMDCT@aol.com or 

optonline.net.” 

1969 

DAVID E. RIGGS (A) sent his regrets 

about missing Homecoming this year, 

but it’s too far to come from Kyoto, 

Japan, where he is a research fellow at 

the International Research Center for 

Japanese Studies. Here’s his news: “I 

received my Ph.D. from UCLA in 

2002, writing about the reform of 

Soto Zen Buddhism in 18th-century 

Japan, and after a teaching stint at the 

University of Illinois and UC Santa 

Barbara, I am now halfway through a 

post-doc at this research institute. My 

wife, Diane, is doing her dissertation 

research on a different aspect of 

Japanese Buddhism, and we are 

living in a house on the edge of 

{ The College • St. John’s College • Fall 2004 } 

Kyoto, where I still can indulge my 

passion for cycling. My best wishes 

to you all.” 

“I decided it was time to bring you 

folks up to date,” writes RACHEL 

HALLFORD TREIMAN (A). “I divorced 

in 2001, and after my son entered college, 

sold the house in New York and 

returned to Lewistown, Mont., where 

my brother lives, last December. My 

new address is 19 W. Brassey Street, 

Lewistown, Montana 59457. I am now 

coordinator for the Retired and 

Senior Volunteer Program covering 

Fergus County and Judith Basin 

County. Since that is only 30 hours a 

week with no benefits, I also work 

online 20 hours for benefits. My oldest, 

Grace, is now 21 and a senior at 

the University of Pennsylvania majoring 

in history. My son Andrew is 19, a 

sophomore at the University of North 

Dakota majoring in Air Traffic Control 

and is on an Air Force ROTC 

scholarship, planning to go career Air 

Force. I love being back in Montana. I 

was born in Lewistown (left when I 

was six) and therefore, for many of the 

older folks I identify myself by my 

grandfather, mother, and her siblings. 

That slots me in the scheme of things. 

I’m fortunate my family was liked 

back then—people have long 

memories out here!” 

1971 

What has THOMAS DAY (A) been 

reading? “I recently read Churchill’s 

The Story of the Malakand Field 

Force. Very topical and readable. 

I’m currently going through his The 

River Won. If the situation in the 

Sudan doesn’t stabilize, it may turn 

out to be equally topical.” 

1972 

“We lost our first-born son, Ari Cody 

Sherr, June 7, 2003, in a bicyclingracing 

event to raise money for the 

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,” 

writes LAURIE SUSCO-SHERR (SF). 

“He’s now with his dad, Doug Sherr, 

who died June 7, at the same age. 

Twins: Jesse Doug Sherr graduated 

from UNM’s architecture school, and 

Dante Gabriel Sherr is to graduate in

34 


Thirty Years Go Fast 

ELLEN (USNER) LEITNER (SF73) left the college to 

study music after being inspired during concerts 

of the Moscow Trio, Czech Chamber Orchestra, 

and Natalia Gutman at St. John’s: “I studied violin 

with Renata Skoberne, then went to Austria, 

where I played with several orchestras in Vienna, 

The Innsbruck Symphony, and the Graz Philharmonic. After that 

I moved back to New Mexico (my native land) with my Austrian 

husband, Johann (Hans), and together we raised six children in 

Chimayó. All of the children were home-schooled for the greater 

part of their education, and two girls are now studying guitar and 

voice at North Carolina School of the Arts, our son is studying 

architecture at UNM, one daughter has a degree in psychology 

and is married, one daughter is married with two children and 

one on the way, and the youngest is still at home. Whew! That’s it 

in a nutshell! Thirty years go by so fast! 

“As a stay-at-home mother I started doing art, and since 1988 

my children and I have participated in the annual Spanish Market 

on the Santa Fe Plaza with our retablos. I have also been in the 

St. John’s College Spanish Market since its inception. I enjoy 

donating a piece of my work for the auction, checking out the 

book sale, and spending a little time at the college. 

“I have always been active performing in northern New Mexico 

and Colorado in symphony orchestras, chamber groups and as 

a soloist. Recently I have been working with classical guitarist 

Roberto Capocchi, with whom I have made a CD, Duo 

Guadalupe, Music for Violin and Guitar. You can hear samples 

from it at www.cdbaby.com/cd/guadalupe.” x 

religious sciences and computers 

next year. Proud Mom and Dad. 

Much love to all my fellow students, 

teachers, and compatriots.” 

1973 

DAVID ALLISON (A) is busy as curator 

of a new exhibit on military history 

at the National Museum of American 

History, which will open on Nov. 11, 

2004. His wife, YMELDA MARTINEZ- 

ALLISON (A74), is teaching art to 

children in Alexandria, Va., as well 

as serving as teaching director of 

community Bible study in Alexandria. 

They have two children: 

Camilla, 22, and Gabriel, 20. 

Many people love collecting, but 

ROBIN CHALEK TZANNES (A) has 

taken it to another level: “I am 

delighted to announce the online 

appearance of my little Greek 

museum— now known as the Kythera 

Museum of Natural History. Since 

1977, my husband, George, and I 

have lived part-time on the beautiful 

and remote Greek island of Kythera. 

There, with the help of my sons, 

JOHN (SF00) and PETER (SF04), 

I’ve made an extensive collection of 

seashells, rocks, fossils, pressed 

flowers, feathers, and skulls. Last 

summer, Peter and another 

photographer documented my 

collection, which can now be viewed 

at www.kythera-family.net (scroll 

down the left-hand menu and 

click Kythera Museum of 

Natural History).” 

1974 

TOM BYRNES (SF) graduated from 

the University of Kentucky School of 

Library and Information Science 

with an MLS on May 8. He is now 

library manager of the Lexmark 

Information Center, a unit of the 

University of Kentucky Libraries. 

“Lexmark may be the only 

corporation that outsources its 

Library/Information Center to a 

university,” he writes. “At least we 

know of no others. In June, UK 

picked me to run it for a while.” 

ROBERTA (RAZAFY) FAULHABER 

(SF) has been living in Paris, France, 

practically since graduation. She is 

married to a man from Madagascar 

and is the mother of two girls, 

one a painter and the other an 

ambassadress. 

RANDY O. and MARTHA (MACKEY) 

PENDLETON (both SF) celebrate 

their 30th wedding anniversary this 

year, Martha writes: “We have two 

children, one of whom (unlike his 

parents) graduated from St. John’s 

College and is also attending his 

class reunion this year. At various 

times we’ve written short stories (R), 

drawn portraits (M), folk danced, 

swing danced, and sung in a choir 

(both of us). Randy has mostly been 

working in pharmaceutical manufacturing 

(Syntex, Genetech). I was 

lucky enough to have been able to 

stay home and raise our two children. 

Currently we are following 

Voltaire and cultivating our garden.” 

1975 

DENNIS J. JOHNSON (A) writes: “Ann 

and I moved back to Newnan, Georgia, 

two years ago, after a 15-month 

stretch of employment in Charlotte, 

N.C. I wear a number of different 

hats at work here, including those of 

training coordinator, ‘machine 

vision’ system guru, and product 

trouble-shooter. Our grandchildren 

are now five in number, ranging from 

seven months old to ten and a half. 

We had planned to make a trip to 

Virginia and Maryland to see them 

this spring, but Annie cannot travel 

right now due to health problems. 

We were hoping to be able to visit 

with some of my Johnnie friends in 

that area as well, but for now we will 

have to make do with e-mail and 

phone calls. The online alumni register 

contains all of my updated info, 

so please feel free to use it and contact 

me here in the Sunny South!” 

“I’m half Jack-of-all-Trades and half 

Jack-in-the-Box, living in Madison, 

N.J., and trying to come out of retirement 

as an artist’s model or as a psychiatric 

caseworker,” says SUZY 

LARRISON (A). “I have the best 

resumé for those jobs, but what I 

really need is a seminar. The opening 

question is G. KAY BISHOP’S (A75) 

impression of John Wayne ‘Ta be or 

not ta be.’ 

“I was baptized on January 11, full 

immersion, but don’t want to see 

sports banned on Sunday, so I have 

trouble with my latest church. My 

fiancé is a trustee of a Baptist Church 

in Washington, D.C. We met in the 

park in front of the White House (he 

was taking a nap). He stopped at 

Freud—but I’m a Jungian. Figuring 

things out—didn’t know until recently 

that logos translates to tao in Chinese. 

The tao, the truth, and the 

light are making ME lightheaded. 

“Missing CAROLYN WADE LORING 

(A77) and GRETCHEN BERG SAVAGE 

(A75) with pains that would frighten 

a midwife. Also TEMPLE WRIGHT 

(A75), TINA SADDY BELL (A75), and 

KAREN BENT SALEM (A76). Trying 

to remember my additions to the 

Seminar Songbag and the Seminar 

Jokebook, as life can be pretty grim, 

as in the Brothers G. (Bruno Bettleheim). 

“Doing pretty well with my stage 

fright—but I still probably would be a 

SILENT student. Fondest regards to 

all.” 

1976 

MARIE CLARK AVERY (SF) has been 

nominated to the Wall of Tolerance 

for her work as a founding member 

in the National Campaign for 

Tolerance. Marie teaches Special 

Education in Espanola and is working 

on her master’s degree. She also 

raises four sons, Justin, David, Josh, 

and Tyrel. 

VICKY HANLEY (SF) published her 

third novel, The Light of the Oracle, 

in the U.K. in August; the book will 

be published in May 2005 in the U.S. 

“You can visit me at www.victoriahanley.com.” 

PHYLLIS HUFFMAN HERMAN (SFGI) 

writes: “I have been involved in the 

study of the work of two great 

thinkers: Moshe Feldenkrais and 

Virginia Satir. I am a Feldenkrais 

practitioner (i.e., I work with people 

exploring thinking/sensing/ 

feeling/moving in order to bring 



more efficiency, congruence, grace, 

ease, and satisfaction to their lives). I 

am currently training in the Human 

Validation Process Model, based on 

Virginia Satir’s work, which I find 

complementary to the Feldenkrais 

method of somatic education. I live 

in Arlington, Va., with my husband, 

Michael, and our younger daughter, 

Amy. Our older two children are in 

college. The nest is emptying.” 

As a postscript, she offers these 

lines from Adrienne Rich: “Anger 

and tenderness: my selves./And now 

I can believe they breathe in me/ 

as angels, not polarities./ Anger and 

tenderness: the spider’s genius/ 

to spin and weave in the same 

action/from her own body, anywhere—/even 

from a broken web.” 

1977 

BILL MALLOY (SF) retired in December 

2003 and spends his time writing 

and working on photography, in 

addition to volunteering four mornings 

a week holding babies in the 

(NICU) at Texas Children’s Hospital. 

He plans to get ESL training soon in 

order to teach English as a Second 

Language. “Other than that, I am 

blessed to have both of my parents, 

ages 88 and 83, who’ve been married 

an amazing 63? years (so far),” 

he writes. 

JUDY KISTLER-ROBINSON (SF) 

recently visited classmate ELIZA- 

BETH (COCHRAN) BOWDEN (SF) at 

her home in Marblehead, Mass. The 

two celebrated their birthdays and 

being friends for more than half their 

lifetimes at the Kripalu Yoga Center 

in the Berkshires. Judy also watched 

the cows changing pastures while 

visiting LYNNE GATELY (A) in 

Randolph Center, Vt., where 

Lynne is a librarian. Lynne and her 

husband, David, run a dairy farm 

and a maple sugar business. Judy 

also visited KEITH HARRISON (SF) at 

his home in New Hampshire. Keith 

teaches law at Franklin Peirce Law 

School. Judy has been enduring 

Minnesota weather for more than 

six years now and is longing for a 

temperate climate with mountains. 

Anyone with job leads in New 

Mexico, please contact Judy! 

1979 

Poetic entry no. 3 for this issue of 

Alumni Notes, from QUINN 

CUSHING (SF), an ode from Brooklyn: 

“Winter’s cold blues chase/ 

The summer’s heat/through the 

city’s sewers./They meet and rise,/ 

Coiling about my feet—Steam rising 

from the street/after the promised 

thunderstorms/have passed.” 

1980 

LISA LASHLEY (SF) writes: “I’m married 

to Santa Fe attorney Ron Van 

Amberg. We have two children, 

Alex, who will be attending CU 

Boulder in the fall, and Virginia, who 

is a sophomore at St. Michael’s High 

School. I am teaching algebra at 

St. Mike’s where I am head of the 

Math Department and advisor to the 

National Junior Honors Society. I’m 

still involved in Boy Scouts and Girl 

Scouts and plan to accompany my 

son on a two-week back-packing trip 

to Philmont this summer!” 

BOB NESLUND (SFGI) was named 

“Latin Teacher of the Year” by the 

Classical Association of Minnesota in 

November 2003. 

1981 

JIM PRESTON (A) and ELLEN MINER- 

VA (A80) “are happily raising their 

girls in Silver Spring, Md. Call anytime: 

301-585-8554.” 

1982 

MARIAN BETOR BAUMGARTEN (A) 

writes: “My husband, JONATHAN 

BAUMGARTEN (also A82), was 

ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal 

Church in February 2004. Jon continues 

to work as a systems analyst in 

Chicago, and I continue to work in 

human resources administration. 

Martha will be a sophomore in high 

school this fall, and Peter will be 

entering 7th grade.” 

1983 

JOHN HARTNETT (SF) has been 

named communications director on 

the Santa Fe campus of St. John’s. 

ANN WALTON SIEBER (A) is currently 

living in her hometown of Houston, 

where she’s working as a “bohemian 

freelance journalist.” She recently 

coordinated all the media for Houston’s 

Art Car Parade. On a more 

serious side, she’s involved in 

starting a halfway house for men 

released from prison. 

1984 

PETER GREEN (A) has finally left 

Prague and finished a year at 

Columbia Business School as a 

Knight-Bagehot Fellow. He expected 

a return to journalism this summer. 

“I’m in New York now and reachable 

at petergreen@pobox.com. See you 

all at the reunion!” Peter is compiling 

the virtual yearbook for his class 

reunion. Pictures and updates can be 

mailed to: sjc84reunion@ 

hotmail.com or to Peter personally. 

TRISHA (FIKE) HOWELL (SF) is 

pleased to announce the publication 

of her fifth book, The Adventures of 

Melon and Turnip, a children’s 

picture book. Trisha would love to 

hear from former classmates and 

can be reached at Trish@Howell- 

CanyonPress.com 

NATASHA WALTER-FISK (SF) writes, 

“I’m going to the Institute of 

Transpersonal Psychology, studying 

for a degree in counseling, planning 

on being licensed in 2008. Getting 

divorced from Peter. Gioia, 8 years 

old, is a joy. When a plant moves to a 

bigger pot, breaking the roots hurts, 

but then it flourishes. Sending kindest 

regards to all.” 

JOHN C. WRIGHT (A) sends an 

update on his literary career: “My 

fourth novel, Last Guardian of 

Everness, came out in August. The 

second two volumes of the previous 

trilogy—a work of science fiction— 

made the N.Y. Times Recommended 

Reading List for 2003. The titles of 

that series are: The Golden Age, 

Phoenix Exaltant, and The Golden 

Transcendence.” 

1985 

MARY WALLACE (SF) and Eileen 

Lynx were married in April in Vancouver, 

B.C., Canada. Their marriage 

“is recognized by the civilized 

nations of the world,” writes Mary. 

1986 

ELIZABETH BARNET (SF) writes: 

“Spring of 2004 finds me 14 years 

married to Rufus Blunk, whom I met 

working on a building project in 

Nicaragua in 1987. We have lived as 

land stewards in Marin County on 

Tomales Bay with a big garden, wood 

sculpture, and sustainable living 

projects. I have taught yoga here 

for 12 years and home-school my 

children: son Jasper, nearly 11, off to 

performing arts camp on a piano 

scholarship; son Silas, now 8; and 

daughter, Savilia, just 5. I am reading 

Catherine Clinton’s biography of 

Harriet Tubman and collecting 

signatures for a petition to make 

Marin County GMO-free. Hello there 

to old friends. E-mail me at 

lizbar@svn.net, or P.O. Box 636, 

Inverness, CA 94937.” 

STEPHANIE RICO (A) and TODD 

PETERSON (A87) welcomed their 

second daughter, Sasha Gabriele, to 

their family this past November. 

“She joins her sister, Tia Linda Rico 

Peterson, who is 2 years old and loves 

her new baby sister. You can reach us 

at srico@mail.sandi.net or 

boredout@concentric.net.” 

1987 

News from BOB HOWELL (AGI) and 

his wife, Lynn: Bob is the head of the 

English Department at the O’Neal 

School, and Lynn is the director of 

the Southern Pines Public Library. 

Their daughter Emma graduated as 

the valedictorian of O’Neal’s class of 


36 


A Taste of New Orleans 

Sara Roahen’s Restaurant Reviews Capture all the Flavor of The Big Easy 

by Sus3an Borden, a87 

When is smoked meat 

not just smoked 

meat? 

When it’s barbecue, 

the emblem 

of Southern food 

culture and the subject of a cover story for 

the New Orleans Gambit Weekly by SARA 

ROAHEN (SF94). 

Still, despite barbecue’s stronghold on 

Southern appetites, the story was not a natural 

match for the Gambit. New Orleans, 

although rich in food culture, is not much of 

a barbecue town. As Roahen points out in 

her article, an informal study published in 

the spring/summer edition of South at the 

Center puts New Orleans dead last among 

Southern towns in barbecue-restaurantsper-person. 

Nevertheless, Roahen managed 

to turn this low-priority topic into a vibrant 

story, weaving history, statistics, sociology, 

oral history, regionalism, race, and politics 

into its 4,000 words. 

“Writing about food isn’t just about writing 

about food,” Roahen says. “It’s also tapping 

into something everybody can relate 

to. There’s a lot of room for social commentary. 

Discussions of race, wage issues, values—those 

came up a lot while I was 

researching the story.” 

Roahen’s articles capture all the flavor— 

historical and social as well as gustatory—of 

New Orleans’ food culture. She has won a 

number of awards for her work, most recently 

first place in the critical review category 

for the New Orleans Press Club Awards 

2004 and first place in the food writing category 

for the Association of Alternative 

Newsweeklies 2003. In addition to the food 

news, restaurant reviews, and feature stories 

she writes for the Gambit, she is also a contributor 

to Wine and Spirits magazine and 

Tin House (a literary magazine), and has 

been published in Gourmet. Her essays can 

be found in 2003 Best Food Writing and an 

upcoming anthology, Cornbread Nation II. 

Roahen brings a solid background of 

restaurant work to her job. As a Johnnie in 

Santa Fe, she was a cocktail waitress at La 

Posada and worked after graduation at 

Cloud Cliff as a waitress and assistant manager. 

She was a line cook at restaurants in 

Wisconsin, San Francisco, and Wyoming. In 

1999, she moved to New Orleans where her 

“I can count the number 

of truly mind-bending 

meals I’ve eaten on 

two hands.” 

Sara Roahen, SF94 

then-boyfriend, now husband, MATHIEU DE 

SCHUTTER (SF94) began medical school. 

Burnt out from cooking, she decided to 

resuscitate an old love, writing. 

“I knew I wanted to make the move to 

writing, but I didn’t know how to do it,” she 

says. “I feel like luck was on my side, 

because the weekly paper ran an ad for a 

restaurant critic, and Mathieu pushed me 

to apply.” 

The ad asked applicants to submit published 

clips but Roahen had none. Undeterred, 

she wrote a restaurant review, a 

recipe feature, and an autobiographical 

essay and sent them in. Three months later 

she was offered her first in a series of assignments 

that lasted six months before she was 

officially offered the position. 

“I found out that I got the job in part 

because I went to the trouble to make up 

clips and in part because the editor of the 

paper, Michael Tisserand, went to St. John’s 

for one semester and wanted to see what a 

Johnnie looks like,” Roahen says. “I certainly 

never anticipated that St. John’s was 

going to help me get a writing job, but it 

did.” 

Roahen’s work as a food writer gives her 

an unusual relationship with food. For her 

weekly column she eats at the restaurant 

she’s reviewing at least three times. 

Research to find new places adds a few more 

restaurant meals, and occasionally she eats 

out for pleasure. 

“I love dining out. Sometimes I get physically 

tired of it, but there are a lot of great 

moments to be had in dining out even if you 

do it for a living. I’ve given up looking for 

the end-all-be-all meals, those are always 

rare. I can count the number of truly mindbending 

meals I’ve eaten on two hands. But 

I‘ve gained an appreciation for certain pivotal 

moments or dishes or mouthfuls. I can 

find something exciting in more than you 

would think.” 

On her list of mind-bending meals is a 

dinner she ate at a cider house in the Spanish 

town of Astigarraga near San Sebastian. 

Cider houses can be found throughout the 

Spanish countryside, each serving the same 

traditional menu. Meals are eaten standing 

up around tables and the food is brought in 

courses: first, a tortilla de bacalao (a sort of 

omelet made with salt cod); then, bacalao 

(salt cod) smothered in roasted peppers; 

next, rare ox grilled over an open fire; and 

for dessert, Idiazabal (a slightly smoky 

sheep’s milk cheese) with quince paste and 

walnuts. 

“Throughout the meal everyone at your 

table walks up to big casks of cider and fills 

their glasses with just an inch of cider, 

drinking it quickly before it oxidizes.” As 

the meal continues, Roahen says, the fun 

escalates. “You’re standing up digging into 

hunks of meat, getting tipsy, and everyone 

around you is doing the same thing. You 

start talking to people at other tables. Then, 

every 15 minutes or so, the owner walks to a 

secret door in the back and unlocks it. 

That’s where the really good cider is. 

Everyone leaves their table and stands in 

line to get a spot of cider. They toast each 

other, slam down the cider and go back to 

their tables.” 

Roahen, who was eating with her husband, 

his father, and his father’s wife, says 

that the meal had all the elements of a great 

restaurant experience: great food, great 

ambiance, and people you love. 

As for great moments and mouthfuls, 

Roahen says they often come during meals 

in New Orleans’ many neighborhood 

restaurants. “In New Orleans, neighborhood 

restaurants generally serve the same 

menu,” she explains. “There’s always going 

to be a gumbo, very likely there will be raw 

oysters, always red beans, especially on 

Mondays. They serve po boys, smothered 

pork chops, spaghetti, fried chicken, and 

probably a shrimp remoulade. In these 

restaurants they’ll do a couple of dishes really 

well and the rest will be mediocre. You 

end up going to these places just for those 

couple of things they do well.” x 



2004 and will be attending Rice 

University in the fall. 

1988 

ELAINE PINKERTON COLEMAN 

(SFGI) sold her World War II 

suspense novel, Beast of Bengal, 

to Polocl Press. Publication date is 

spring 2005. She completed a 

children’s book, A Hat for Emily, 

written for her granddaughter 

Emily Clementine Pinkerton, 

age 20 months. Visit her Web site: 

www.booksbyelaine.com 

LAURIE COOPER (A) lives in rural 

Chaplin, Conn., with her husband, 

Dov Kugelmass, and their two 

children: Carrie, 4, and Cyrus, 2. 

She is a clinical social worker in a 

community mental health center. 

DIANA SHAW-MCCARTHY (A) has 

graduated from the Robert F. 

Wagner Graduate School of Public 

Service and is working as a data 

coordinator for Project Renewal, a 

nonprofit organization in New York 

City that works with chronically 

addicted homeless individuals. 

1989 

News from JEANNE BLACKMORE 

(DUVOISIN) (A): “We welcomed 

baby Samantha on September 12, 

2003. She was born two years to the 

day after her brother Benjamin. Ben 

and Sam often get together with 

(A89 classmates) GARFIELD 

GOODRUM’S daughter Cecily, and 

ERIKA GAFFNEY’S daughter Cara.” 

EDWARD P. EAGAN (AGI) lives in 

Ipswich, Mass., with his wife, 

Camilla, and three children: Grace, 

8; Eloise, 5; and Charlie, 2. He is a 

practicing clinical psychologist in 

Newburyport, Mass. 

BRAD STUARt (A), SARA LARSON 

STUART (A90), and Eleanor welcome 

Phoebe Sophia Stuart, born 

November 4, 2003, at 1:42 p.m. EST. 

“Brown of hair and blue of eye, 

Phoebe has a crooked smile and a 

ready laugh. What a girl!” 

1990 

“After spending last year living in 

San Francisco attending Circus 

School (I fly on the trapeze), I have 

found my home in sunny Los Angeles 

and couldn’t be happier,” writes 

DAVID JOHNSON (SF). “No plans for 

the big top—just enjoying the ride.” 

“Martin and I are moving to 

Phoenix,” writes ELAINE (REISS) 

PEREA (SF). “I am finally going to 

grad school. I start a Ph.D. program 

in evolutionary psychology in 

August. I’d love to hear from classmates 

and other area alum. My 

e-mail is meperea@hotmail.com” 

ELIZABETH SPAETH STOLTZ (SFGI) 

reports that her daughter, MEG 

SPAETH (A01), married TIM FREE- 

MAN (A01) on September 20, 2003. 

1991 

PATRICK CHO (A) writes to 

announce the arrival of his son, 

Nicholas, on New Year’s Eve, 2002. 

Nicholas gets along well with his big 

sister, Samantha, he adds. 

MAGGIE FARLEy (SF) reports: “I 

married a Peruvian mathematician 

named Renzo last December and 

received a master’s in statistics from 

UNM in May. I am currently in the 

doctorate program in education 

psychology at UNM, where I am 

interested in studying ways to teach 

abstract reasoning so as to improve 

mathematical ability. I have been 

teaching undergraduate math at 

UNM for the last three years and 

before that taught high school math 

for two years at Santa Fe High. I 

value my time at St. John’s for how it 

encouraged me to believe in my own 

ability to inquire into the meaning of 

things as well as for all the times I 

got to dance thoughout the night.” 

LAKE (JAMES) PERRIGUEY (SF) 

hosted Nancy Buchenauer for an 

alumni seminar in Portland, Ore., 

on Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion. 

Lake is a litigator, civil rights 

lawyer, and community-based legal 

counselor in Portland. 

1992 

From CATHERINE BARRIER (A) and 

JIM DUGAN (A93): “We’d like to 

announce the birth of Lucy Eleanor 

Dugan on December 10, 2004, in 

Los Angeles. We are, of course, 

convinced she is the most beautiful 

and smartest baby in the world. 

We just hope we can keep up. 

If anyone is rash enough to ask for 

pictures, they can contact us at 

ceb@mnemonides.net!” 

ELYETTE KIRBY-BLOCK (SF) has just 

moved near Paris with her husband, 

Jonathan, and children: Benjamin, 

3, and Elyse, 18 months. “I’m home 

with the kids and expecting again in 

September,” she writes. “I’ll be visiting 

family this summer in Minnesota 

and Nova Scotia but will be back in 

France the rest of the time and, as 

always, would welcome visitors! 

E-mail elyette@hotmail.com.” 

LISA HOLLIS-BROWN and DAVID 

BROWN (both SF) have moved to 

Colorado Springs. “David is a shiny 

new math professor at that other 

wacky liberal arts college in the 

mountain time zone, Colorado 

College. Lisa is finishing off her 

dissertation, and making plans for 

lots of long weekends in Santa Fe. 

Drop us a line at dbrown@coloradocollege.edu.” 

PHIL HOPKINS (SFGI) just received 

the award for teaching excellence 

as a philosophy professor at 

Southwestern University. LISA 

(KALLMAN) HOPKINS (SF89) begins 

graduate studies in library science at 

Texas Women’s University this fall. 

PRAXADES RIVERA (SFGI) has lived 

in Venezuela for the last eight years 

and is now embarking on a year sabbatical, 

using her summer home in 

New York as “headquarters.” She 

intends to study, read, and travel. 

A Community in Cotati 

What is it like to live in a co-housing 

community? “Wonderful,” writes ANNE 

LEONARD (A89): “Last November, after 

several years of planning and many meetings 

and work, my family (me, husband 

Adam Hill, son Benjamin Leonard-Hill, 

2 cats) finally moved into our co-housing community in Cotati 

(Calif.). We live in an intentional community, legally a condominium, 

with shared common space, community meals several 

times a week, lots of kid-friendly play areas, private houses that 

were designed with ‘green building’ principles, and of course 

fabulous, intelligent, interesting people. All our [Homeowner’s 

Association] decisions are made on a consensus system, rather 

than voting. I can hang out with people and have either a frivolous 

or an intellectual conversation without going farther than 

next door. At its best, it’s like post-seminar hanging out in the 

Coffee Shop, with a short trek to your house when you get tired. 

“A couple of weeks ago, a dozen of us were hanging out in the 

‘gathering node’ by the swale, when the talk turned as it often 

does with this group to wordplay, language games, and mnemonics. 

A new resident, who had only moved in a few weeks before, 

said that she still remembered her Greek conjugations and 

conjugated “luw.” I joined in, and asked her why we both knew 

the same thing. It turns out she was SUSAN WELCH (SF89). We’re 

still trying to figure out who we know in common. 

“I’d love to hear from any other Johnnies who live in cohousing, 

or from anyone who’s interested and wants to know 

more.” x 


38 


1993 

“Yes!” writes JAMES DIPROPERZIO 

(A), aka James Propis. “My short 

story, ‘After the Fall,’ was published 

in a new anthology called Toddler: 

Real-Life Stories of Those Fickle, 

Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We 

Love, edited by Jennifer Margulis, 

Ph.D. The book just won an award 

for #1 Best Parenting Book of the 

Year from the Independent 

Publisher’s Book Association.” 

NANCY MARCUS (A) writes, “After 

serving as the National Abortion 

Federation’s State Public Policy 

Director since 2002 (See pages 139- 

143 of Molly Ivin’s Bushwhacked 

for some of my recent work), I am 

leaving the D.C. activist world to 

rejoin the academic world in true 

Johnnie style. For the next two years, 

I will be in Madison earning my 

LL.M. at the University of 

Wisconsin’s Law School.” 

PENNY SINONE (SFGI) is currently 

working on “Leftovers,” part II 

of a project called “The Dump 

Chronicles,” a collaboration with 

Sonoma artist David Povilaites. 

“In August 2003, I left Philly and my 

work at Project HOME (the best 

experience of my life!) to move to 

Santa Fe and begin teaching here,” 

writes J. WALTER STERLING (A). 

“So far, so good.” 

“Hi! I am living in Dumfries, Va., 

with my parents. I hope everyone is 

good,” writes ERIKA SUSKI (A). She 

can be reached at P.O. Box 1133, 

Dumfries, VA 22026. 

1994 

WILLIAM J. KOWALSKI (SF) and 

his wife, Alexandra, welcomed a 

daughter, Kasia, into the world on 

July 3, 2003. 

SARAH (LIVERSIDGE) and MIKE 

AFFLERBACH (both A) are still enjoying 

life in New Bern, N.C. Writes 

Sarah, “We’ve been doing a lot of 

sailboat racing and some cruising to 

the Outer Banks. Mike’s radio business 

is growing, and I should have 

my architecture license this year.” 

JULIE MEADOWS (A) writes: “I am 

finally ABD in the Ethics and Society 

program in the Religion Department 

at Emory. My dissertation director, 

MARK JORDAN (SF73), is also a 

Johnnie! I row on weekends on the 

Chattahoochee River with the 

Atlanta Rowing Club, while my 

sweetie Steve, a veterinarianturned-epidemiologist, 

goes 

kayaking. Best wishes!” 

1995 

GEORGE ERVING (SFGI) is enjoying a 

tenure-track position as assistant 

professor of Humanities, Honors and 

English Lit at the University of Puget 

Sound in Tacoma, Wash., where he 

has been since the fall of 2003. “It’s 

a great fit for me and my courses are 

substantially influenced by my time 

at St. John’s,” he writes. 

ZENA HITZ (A) is finishing her 

dissertation on the critique of 

democracy in Plato and Aristotle. 

This fall she will have a temporary 

teaching appointment in the philosophy 

department at McGill University 

in Montreal, and in January, she will 

take up a tenure-track position at 

Auburn University in Alabama. 

“Greetings from the greater Boston 

area!” EMILY MURPHY (A) writes. 

“Still in grad school—still working 

part-time for the National Park 

Service and helping with the 

200th anniversary of Nathaniel 

Hawthorne’s birth here in Salem.” 

1996 

ELIZABETH BUCHEN (SF96), daughter 

of JERRY (GERALD) BUCHEN 

(SF72), just earned her medical 

degree from the University of New 

Mexico School of Medicine and 

starts her residency in Ob/Gyn 

(“another four years!”) also at UNM: 

“I live in Albuquerque with my husband, 

Chris Lopez, and our four dogs 

and two cats. Anyone wishing to 

contact me can do so by e-mail at 

elizsb@unm.edu.” 

SONIAH KAMAL (A) will have her 

first novel, An Isolated Incident, 

published by Penguin in the fall of 

2005. “A short synopsis is ‘East is 

East meets Osama Bin Laden,’” she 

reports. Kamal has had a lot of short 

stories published, writes a column 

for a periodical in Pakistan, and is 

working on a movie script. She lives 

in San Francisco. 

DANIEL SILVERMINTZ (AGI) has 

accepted a position as assistant professor 

of Humanities at the University 

of Houston-Clear Lake. He can be 

reached at silvermintz@cl.uh.edu. 

SHANNON STIRMAN (SF) writes: 

“KELLY (SF97), Henry (who is now 

almost 3), and I have moved to 

Menlo Park, Calif., where he’s 

working for a software company, 

and I’ll be doing an internship in 

clinical psychology. I defended my 

dissertation in February, so this is 

the last step before I finish school. 

We’d love to hear from other 

Johnnies who are in the area!” 

1997 

DOMINIC CRAPUCHETTES (A) 

recently graduated with an MBA 

from the University of Maryland. 

Happy news from LORI FREEMAN 

(A): “I’m too excited not to write 

The College and let everyone know 

that I’ve gotten engaged! Wes 

Smedley and I will be married in 

Philadelphia this October. This is the 

funny part—he’s an Episcopal priest, 

which is actual proof that God has a 

sense of humor. Anyway, we’re being 

married at Christ Church in 

Philadelphia on Sunday, October 17, 

during the regular 11 a.m. church 

service. If you’re around, come and 

join us! My e-mail address is 

lorifreeman25@hotmail.com; 

Johnnies and friends are always 

welcome at the house I share with 

KEVIN GARDNER (also A97), who, in 

addition to being my Maid of Honor, 

just completed his second year at the 

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 

and is working on a huge, beautiful 

mural project this summer. I’m still 

working for a women’s literacy 

program in the Kensington area 

of Philadelphia.” 

KIRA HEATER (SF) and her husband, 

RUSSELL DIBBLE (A92, EC97) are 

living in Missoula, Mont. Kira is 

finishing a master’s degree in 

mathematics, and “Russ is on a 

BLM hotshot wildland fire crew 

based out of Salt Lake City. If you’re 

in Missoula, look us up. Johnnies are 

always welcome.” 

BRENT HINRICHS (AGI) is now working 

as the Upper School Head at 

Hillbrook School in Los Gatos, Calif. 

In addition, he and Evie Schneider 

got married last August and purchased 

their first home in San Jose. 

“We would love to hear from GIs 

from ’94-’98! Where are you, 

BILL BUYSSE (AGI96) and 

PATRICK WAGER (AGI96)?” 

ANNE KNIGGENDORF (SF) reports: 

“TONY LAGOURANIS (also SF97) is 

serving in the Army and is currently 

stationed in Iraq. I think he will be 

there until early 2005. If you would 

like to send Tony something, I have 

his address and would be glad to 

give it to anyone interested. Please 

contact me at annekknigs@cs.com. 

My family is well—still in Georgia. 

Stephen and I have TWO little 

boys now!” 

INYA LASKOWSKI (SFGI) has 

been invited to be art educator in 

residence at the Museum of 

Contemporary Art at the Luther 

Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, Calif. 

She has shown her monotypes in 

nine exhibitions in the last two years. 

Her work can be seen at Hand Artes 

Gallery, Truchas, N.M. 

KIT LINTON (A) and SONYA SCHIFF 

LINTON (A00) are happy to 

announce the birth of their 

daughter, Viola Mae Linton, on 

June 3, 2004. Kit heads up the New 

York City office for a small consulting 

firm, and Sonya just finished her 

first year at law school. They would 

love to hear from friends at 

Kitandsonya@hotmail.com. 



After graduating from Yale Law 

School in May, RICHARD 

SCHMECHEL (A) plans to move to 

Washington, D.C., in the fall. He will 

be working at the Public Defender 

Service on a two-year project funded 

by the Open Society Institute. DNA, 

memory reliability, and other forensic 

issues are the subject of the project. 

He would love to hear from 

Johnnies, “indicted or not,” at 

richardschmechel@aya.yale.edu. 

1998 

An announcement from DAWN 

BORCHELT (A): “Wolfgang Guy 

Borchelt was born at home Feb. 24, 

2004.” He was 6 lbs., 11 oz., and 

19 inches long. 

JESSICA COVITZ and ALAN 

PICHANICK (both A) are excited to 

announce the births of their second 

and third daughters, Katherine and 

Elisheva, this past January. Along 

with their 5-year-old daughter, 

Sophia, they are living in Philadelphia. 

They would love to hear from 

old friends and can be reached via 

e-mail: jcovitz@uchicago.edu or 

adpichan@uchicago.edu. 

After finishing a master’s degree in 

Divinity at the University of Chicago, 

ALEXANDRA MUDD (A) moved to 

Cambridge to work on a Ph.D. in 

History and Philosophy of Science. 

“Any A98 Johnnies in England 

should look me up!” she writes. 

“I am living in that Johnnie haven, 

Brooklyn,” writes FELIX S. 

LESLIE (A), “practicing law across 

the river in Manhattan and 

enjoying life. I can be reached 

at felixleslie@hotmail.com.” 

Santa Fe alumni looking for long-lost 

alumnus MICHAEL OLSON (A99) 

can find his classnote among entries 

for 1999. 

TIM POMAROLE (A) has graduated 

from Duke University School of Law 

and will be working for the Appellate 

Division of the Suffolk County DA’s 

Office in Boston. Last summer, Tim 

worked at the International Criminal 

Tribunal in The Hague, 

Netherlands. 

1999 

MICHAEL BAAS (SF) married Megan 

Bello on January 2, 2004, in Galisteo, 

NM. 

RUTH BUSKO (SF) graduated from 

the Tai Sophia Institute for the 

Healing Arts in March 2004 with a 

Master of Acupuncture degree. 

She is living in Baltimore, Md., 

and practicing acupuncture in 

Ellicott City, Md. 

GREG KOEHLERT (SFGI) married 

Merrie Schlein in August 2003; t 

heir first child is due at the end of 

November. “Of course, we’re still in 

NYC,” Greg writes. 

MICHAEL OLSEN (A) checks in after 

a long absence: “Almost 

immediately upon graduating five 

years ago, I lost my way on the path 

to law school and never arrived. 

Instead, this fall I begin my fourth 

year of teaching English and Social 

Studies in grades six through eight at 

a private middle school in Chicago. 

Although this career began 

unexpectedly, I’m having a great 

time teaching and cannot think of 

anything else I’d rather be doing 

right now. I will probably continue 

with it well into the future, although 

it is likely I will leave Chicago again 

once I complete the masters degree 

New Ventures for 

John Balkcom 

I’m starting to work on. Not a day 

goes by when I do not miss the 

college. I occasionally attend 

Chicago-area alumni events but 

regret that I have kept in touch with 

only a few classmates. I am fortunate 

to be doing a fair amount of traveling 

and generally living the life of leisure 

during my summer vacations. 

All are welcome to write, e-mail, or 

telephone: 1354 W. Argyle Street, 

Chicago, IL 60640; 

michaelolsen123@hotmail.com; 

773.989.8491. I am interested in 

hearing from anyone I knew, 

whether in Santa Fe or Annapolis.” 

“It’s funny to think that it’s been 

eight years since I last saw most of 

you, writes BEN THORNBER (A). 

“I have just gotten an M. Div. degree 

from Earlham School of Religion, a 

Quaker seminary located in Richmond, 

Indiana. I am now looking for 

work as a pastoral minister at a 

Quaker church, having become a 

Quaker two years ago. I’m largely 

looking at Quaker churches in the 

Midwest but I am also talking to a 

Quaker church in Tennessee. I value 

the time that I spent at St. John’s and 

the friendships I developed there. I 

hope to hear from you. My snail-mail 

address is: 824 SW A Street, Richmond, 

IN 47374, and my e-mail 

address is thornberbenjamin@ 

hotmail.com. I hope things go well 

with each of you.” 

Former Santa Fe President JOHN BALKCOM 

(SFGI00) joined the board of directors of IMCO 

Recycling, Inc., in December 2003 and became 

the chairman of the board in April 2004. He participated 

in the announcement of a merger with 

Commonwealth Industries in mid-June. “Carol 

and I are pleased to be back in Evanston and looking forward to 

hosting our second reception for prospective students in June,” 

he writes. “I’m also excited about co-leading a seminar in Summer 

Classics with tutor Michael Rawn on Faulkner’s Absalom, 

Absalom! We send our gratitude to the Santa Fe class of 2004 

for their warm welcome at commencement.” x 

2000 

JOHN HUNTER (AGI) and his wife, 

Lisa, would like to announce the 

birth of a son, James Elias Brinton 

(“Jeb”) on Oct. 3, 2003. 

ANNE MCSHANE (A) expects to begin 

studies at New York University’s 

School of Law this fall, and offers to 

coach others thinking about a similar 

path. “I have taught and am 

teaching Kaplan’s LSAT course and 

am happy to advise on the law school 

application process. I can be reached 

at annecarolmcshane@yahoo.com.” 

NICOLE NELSON-JEAN (AGI) is 

enjoying her time in Tokyo. “Last 

year I accepted a position as the 

director of the Department of 

Energy Asia office and also became 

the Energy Attache to the U.S. 

Ambassador of Japan. I have had a 

fabulous time here. The food is 

wonderful and the art, historical 

sites, and people are even better.” 

DEBERNIERE TORREY (AGI) was 

awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to 

Korea. Torrey is pursuing a Ph.D. in 

comparative literature at Penn State 

University. A Korean instructor at 

Penn State, she’s also active with the 

university’s International Languages 

and Literature Student Organization, 

the Conversation Partners 

Program, and the Ballroom Dance 

club. The fellowship will allow 

Torrey to spend a year in Korea 

studying 19th-century Korean 

literature in preparation for her 

thesis proposal and further research. 

The topic of her research is the 

effect of modern/western thought 

imported from China. 

2001 

LANCE BRISBOIS (A) recently joined 

the editorial staff of Hackett 

Publishing. He works and lives in 

Cambridge, Mass. 

PAIGE POSTLEWAIT (A) and 

MICHAEL MAGUIRE (A02) were 

married in 2001, “and have a 

beautiful son, Daschel Auden,” 


40 


Paige writes. “Michael is currently 

serving our country in the Army, and 

we will all be relocating as a family in 

the fall to Berlin, Germany. I will 

teach English and attend school 

while we are there. I have recently 

started a Web site for Johnnies from 

the Annapolis campus to use. It is 

located at www.youthriot.co.uk/sjc, 

and includes photo galleries and 

message boards. We are also looking 

for links to Johnnie homepages. I’d 

encourage anyone who wants to get 

in touch with me to help with the site 

or suggest links! It is a work in 

progress but we’re very excited. 

Feel free to contact Mike and me at 

sizeofthoughts@hotmail.com.” 

SUZANNAH SIMMONS (SF) expects to 

be in law school this fall. 

“Hi, everybody!” writes ERIK 

STADNIK (A). “I’m one of the 

growing number of Johnnies who 

has settled in the DC area for the 

time being. I’ve lived in the 

Alexandria, Va., area for the past two 

years or so, and I just started a new 

job at the Library of Congress Law 

Library. So, if anyone is in the area 

and would like a tour, get in touch! 

Sjcaustenite@yahoo.com. 

2002 

LUCAS FORD (A) is pining for certain 

aspects of the Johnnie life: “I miss 

vacations, breaks, and long weekends 

and all that sweetness.” 

SHELLEY ROSE WALKER (SFGI, 

EC03) is enjoying life in the East: 

“Since graduation, Doug Saxon and 

I have been teaching English at a 

university in South Korea. We live 

about an hour from Seoul, which 

allows us a primarily relaxed, quiet 

lifestyle within a short jaunt from the 

cultural and culinary advantages of 

the capital city. We spent two 

months last winter traveling in India 

and we can’t wait to go back. This 

summer our adventures will lead us 

through China, into Tibet, and then 

boating down the Yangtze River 

before we head back to our East 

Asian abode come September. Our 

tentative plan is to hold down the 

fort here for two to four more years. 

One of the great perks of our jobs is 

the enormous amount of free time 

we’re given, during which you can 

usually find us gleefully occupied 

with reading and continuing our 

conversations. We’d love to hear 

from you: swalker_@hotmail.com or 

dougsaxon@hotmail.com.” 

RACHEL AVIVA POLLACK (A) spent 

the summer studying at the 

American Academy of Rome. 

2003 

KATHY CHRISTIE and JOHN ANDERS 

(both SF) were married in Houston, 

Texas, in August 2004. 

LAURA DABNEY (SF) writes that 

JUSTIN “GUS” HURWITZ (SF) has 

made it into the Chicago School of 

Law. “Go him!” 

Another new law student: SEAN 

MCLAIN (A) will be beginning studies 

at the Columbus School of Law at 

The Catholic University of America, 

Washington, D.C., this fall. 

2004 

SEAN MADDEN (AGI) will embark on 

the Eastern Classics program in 

Santa Fe in August. x 

What’s Up? 

The College wants to hear from 

you. Call us, write us, e-mail us. 

Let your classmates know what 

you’re doing. The next issue 

will be published in January; 

deadline for the alumni notes 

section is November 1. 

In Annapolis: 

The College Magazine 

St. John’s College, P.O. Box 2800 

Annapolis, MD 21404; 

rosemary.harty@sjca.edu 

In Santa Fe: 

The College Magazine 

St. John’s College 

Public Relations Office 

1160 Camino Cruz Blanca 

Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599; 

alumni@sjcsf.edu 

{Obituaries} 

EDWIN LEROY LOTZ, CLASS OF 1931 

Edwin Lotz, whose skill as a lacrosse player 

at St. John’s during the days of intercollegiate 

athletics won him a place in the 

Lacrosse Hall of Fame, died May 25, 2004, 

at the age of 93. Born in Ellicott City, Md., 

Lotz earned his degree from St. John’s in 

1931. He received the college’s Allgernon 

Sidney Sullivan Award for Outstanding 

Leadership. 

In 1934, Lotz earned a master’s degree 

from Johns Hopkins University, where he 

conducted research on the effects of electrical 

shock to the heart. His basic discoveries 

later led to the development of the defibrillator. 

He received his doctorate in electrical 

engineering from Hopkins in 1938, and 

went on to a career in research. He retired in 

1975 as vice president of research and development 

for the Glass Fabrics Company, a 

division of Burlington Industries. He held 

numerous patents on the treatment of glass 

fabrics. He was a member of the National 

Academy of Sciences and a fellow in the 

American Institute of Electrical Engineers. 

With his brother Phil, a member of the 

class of 1932 who also is in the Hall of Fame, 

Lotz was among the most accomplished athletes 

in the college’s history. He played football, 

boxed, and played baseball. When the 

baseball team was disbanded, Ed Lotz and 

his brother picked up lacrosse sticks. Lotz 

played on three 

national championship 

lacrosse 

teams (1929, 1930, 

and 1931) that beat 

much bigger 

schools, including 

Harvard, Yale, 

Johns Hopkins, and 

Maryland. He was 

Edwin Lotz 

named to the All-American Lacrosse Team 

in 1930 and in 1931. In 1966 he was inducted 

into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, as “one of 

Lacrosse’s all-time great defensemen.” The 

December 1999 issue of Sports Illustrated 

named Edwin Lotz one of the top 50 

greatest sports figures from the state of 

Maryland in the 20th century. 

In a letter he wrote to The Reporter in 

1998, Lotz said that he once believed that 

his participation on the St. John’s championship 

teams and being named to the Hall 

of Fame would stand as his life’s greatest 

achievements. “However, something happened 

to me shortly after my 86th birthday 

that changed all that,” he wrote. Lotz 

described how in the midst of the Great 

Depression, unable to find a job, he decided 

to attend graduate school at Hopkins: 

“During the research work on my thesis… 

I discovered the basic principle of electric 

countershock as a means to stop the fibrilla- 


{Obituaries} 41 

tion of the heart. Using dogs as subjects, I 

found that a very small electrical shock of 

1 milliampere would cause the heart to go 

into fibrillation and a countershock 100 

times stronger would stop the fibrillation. 

“This basic discovery in 1934 led to the 

development of the defibrillator that is now 

used worldwide in all hospitals and doctors’ 

offices to stop fibrillation of the heart, 

saving many lives every day. About the size 

of a portable typewriter, the defibrillator 

sits over in the corner of the room awaiting 

its turn to save another life.” 

It was his life, Lotz noted, that was saved 

by a defibrillator when his heart stopped 

during the implantation of a pacemaker. 

“This remarkable story illustrates the 

importance of basic research, because you 

never know where the discovery of new facts 

or information will lead.” 

Lotz and his wife, Kay, had four 

children. After his wife died in 1991, Lotz 

lived with his daughter and her family in 

Charlottesville, Va., until his death. 

CALVIN BAUMGARTNER, CLASS OF 1944 

Calvin Baumgartner, a member of the class 

of 1944 who survived the sinking of the 

Merchant Marine ship on which he served 

during World War II, died in May at the 

age of 90. 

Baumgartner was born in Baltimore 

County, Maryland, and received his first 

education in a two-room schoolhouse. 

During high school at Baltimore’s City 

College, he delivered telegrams for Western 

Union. He attended St. John’s before the 

war interrupted his studies. 

After the U.S. entered World War II, he 

joined the Merchant Marine Army Transport 

Service. In April 1945, he was assigned 

to the S.S. Black Point, which on May 5, 

1945, was off the coast of Rhode Island, 

carrying coal to Boston. A lookout at Point 

Judith heard an explosion and saw the ship 

come to a stop: a German U-Boat torpedoed 

the Black Point just eight hours after the 

U-Boat command was ordered to stop 

attacks on Allied ships. 

The torpedo blew off the last 50 feet of 

the nearly 400-foot ship. Minutes after the 

last survivor was rescued, the Black Point 

rolled over. Twelve men lost their lives in 

the attack; 34 men were saved. Baumgartner 

was the last crew member to be rescued. 

A program assembled by his family for a 

celebration of his life spoke to Baumgartner’s 

enduring pride in his military service. 

“He felt that World War II was America’s 

finest hour and the most outstanding event 

of his lifetime. He was so proud of how the 

Calvin 

Baumgartner 

country came 

together and the 

troops rallied.” 

After the war, 

Baumgartner 

went on to 

several different 

enterprises: 

managing an apartment complex, converting 

coal furnaces to natural gas, and 

operating a grain hauling company on the 

Chesapeake Bay. With a partner, he hauled 

grain from Norfolk to Baltimore until his 

barge, the B.S. Ford, sank in 1960. Baumgartner 

retired in 1980 from a job as stationary 

engineer for the Maryland Training 

School for Boys. Baumgartner and his first 

wife, Dorothea, had four children. After her 

death, he married Violetta S. Bateman, 

who died in 1996. 

His goal, his family said, was to live to 

be 90. He celebrated that milestone on 

April 22, 2004. 

RICHARD “WOODY” WEST, CLASS OF 1961 

Richard W. West, a long-time Washington 

journalist, died in May at his home in 

Hagerstown, Md. He was 70. 

A high school football star, West was 

recruited to play for the University of 

Missouri, said Annapolis attorney Darrell 

Henry, also a member of the class of 1961. 

West served in the Marines in Thailand and 

Japan for three years before enrolling in 

St. John’s in 1957. “We used to kiddingly 

call him the ‘Old Marine,’” Henry recalls. 

“He had both feet firmly on the ground, 

he was very bright, an excellent manager. 

He was a good athlete, and a very intelligent 

guy.” 

John Pekkanen, class of 1961, shared all 

his classes with West for two years. “He 

was five years older than me, and he was 

very much a big brother to me,” he says. 

“He showed me the ropes of life.” 

History, especially 

the great 

battles and heroes 

of the Civil War, 

and literature were 

West’s great interest, 

and he left St. 

John’s to complete 

Richard West 

a bachelor’s degree in history at American 

University. His first newspaper jobs were in 

Nebraska, at the Lincoln Star and the 

Omaha World-Herald. 

After moving to Washington in the early 

1960s, West worked first as a reporter 

and later as an editorial writer for the 

Washington Star. When the Star folded in 

1981, he moved on to the newly founded 

Washington Times as an editorial writer 

and quickly climbed the ranks, becoming 

managing editor in 1983 and later executive 

editor, the newspaper’s chief editorial position, 

from 1985 to 1986. West decided to 

step down from that stressful position 

because it consumed all of his time. “Now 

I’m going to sit on the porch and read, go 

out and scare a few geese in the winter,” 

he told the Washington Post in 1986. 

Since 1986, West worked part time as the 

associate editor for the Times. He edited the 

weekly Civil War page and served on the 

committee overseeing the Sunday book 

pages, choosing books for review and 

matching them with reviewers. He was also 

a frequent reviewer himself for the Times, 

Insight, and the Weekly Standard. 

“Woody saw life a little off-center, and I 

mean that as a compliment,” says Pekkanen, 

adding that West encouraged and 

helped him when he was starting out in 

journalism. “He was a skilled and perceptive 

writer and a great thinker. He was a 

newspaper man.” 

West is survived by his wife of 43 years, 

JoAnn Wochos West, of Hagerstown. x 

ALSO NOTED: 

GEORGE BONIFANT, class of 1939, died in 

March. 

CHARLES HYSON, class of 1937, died in 

March. 

JOHN LOGUE, class of 1950, died in June. 

ALEXANDER MORSE, class of 1945 and 

SFGI73, died in September 2003. 

LESTER H. PALMER, class of 1930, died in 

February 2004. 

ROBERT SNIBBE, CLASS OF 1937, died in 

June 2004. 

WILLIAM JOHN RICHARD THOMAS JR., class 

of 1935, died in June 2004. 


42 

{Croquet} 

Cruising to Another Croquet Victory 

Santa Fe Seniors Join the Party 


With The College’s 

veteran croquet correspondent 

Sus3an 

Borden (A87) taking 

on new duties in 

the Advancement 

office this year, this editor planned to capture 

the action at the 22nd annual croquet 

match against the Naval 

Academy, held on the 

customary date of the last 

Saturday of April. But I was 

recruited for champagnepouring 

duty in the Alumni 

tent, where in an attempt 

to weed out impostors, 

would-be imbibers were 

quizzed on senior essay 

topics. (“Um, something 

about…Homer,” was a 

typical response.) The 

sound of cheering reached 

the alumni tent, but we had 

a hard time following the 

action, like most of the 

estimated 1,200 spectators 

who crowded onto the 

campus for a great party 

on a spectacularly sunny 

April day. 

Good thing the press was 

there. The match brought 

out the local papers, the 

Associated Press correspondent, 

and a shamefully 

biased correspondent from 

The Trident, the Naval 

Academy’s newspaper, who 

again blamed the loss on 

the allegedly rigorous 

Naval Academy schedule. 

The most interesting 

development this year was 

the participation of 28 

Santa Fe students who 

came to Annapolis on their 

own dime to see for themselves 

what croquet fever is 

all about. Most caught a 

red-eye flight from Santa 

Fe after seminar Thursday 

night, but a couple of determined Johnnies 

of the West drove all the way to Annapolis 

and back. 

“Most of us had never been to Annapolis, 

so we wanted to see the campus,” explained 

Chris Coucheron-Ammot (SF04), who 

organized the outing. Being an honest 

fellow, Coucheron-Aamot readily acknowledged 

that the contingent came first “for a 

fabulous party” and second for a show of 

solidarity. 

“The senior class in Santa Fe really 

believed in the ‘one college-two campuses’ 

ideal of St. John’s,” he said. “We don’t 

feel like there’s a big difference between 

Johnnies in Santa Fe and Johnnies in 

Annapolis.” 

The visitors understood 

“parts of the game,” and 

were particularly taken by 

the contrast in traditions 

between the rivals, he said. 

“We liked the way the Mids 

had Plebes in white jackets 

carrying around water bottles 

for them, and Johnnies 

had their girlfriends carrying 

around bottles of Colt 45.” 

Johnnies put their 

Western classmates up on 

couches and floors in their 

apartments around town. 

Sarah Stickney (A04) and 

John Okrent (A04) organized 

barbecues to feed them. 

The campus community out 

West would welcome an 

Annapolis contingent out 

for one of its best parties, 

Oktoberfest. 

“We usually bring snow 

down from the mountains 

because it hasn’t snowed 

on the campus yet, and we 

have a snowball fight,” 

he explained. 

Why not include a 

croquet match in Oktoberfest 

festivities? “Have you 

seen our soccer field?” 

Coucheron-Aamot asked 

in reply. x 

Imperial Wicket Sam 

Spalding lines up a shot. 


{Croquet} 43 

Clockwise: Johnnies adopted an Army look to intimidate Navy this year. 

A group of Santa Fe Johnnies enjoy the party; Ronald Fielding (A70) 

strikes the first ball. 

photos by david trozzo 

Highlights: 

Score: Johnnies 4, Mids 1. 

Record: 18-4. 

Team: Sam Spalding (A04), imperial 

wicket; Nicholas Whittier (A05), 

vice wicket; Ian Morochnick (A04); 

Kabe Erkenbrack (A04); Justin Berrier 

(A04); Aurora Cassells (A04); Jackson 

O’Brien (A04); Nick Garklavs (A04); 

Riley Ossorgin (A05); John Gerard 

(A05); Shunji Matsuzawa (A06); and 

Matt Mangold (A06). 

Dramatic moment: Dressed in 

camouflage outfits, faces smeared with 

grease paint, Johnnies emerge from 

Woodward Hall to the Top Gun theme. 

Ceremonial first ball: Struck by 

Ron Fielding (A70), a member of the college’s 

Board of Visitors and Governors. 

Press highlights: 

The Capital: “Tim Kile, a St. John’s 

junior, wore a straw hat, a sleeveless 

orange T-shirt and suspenders and held 

an acoustic guitar—the ‘wandering 

cowboy minstrel look.’ ‘I don’t know anything 

about croquet, but my roommate 

made ice cream—that’s the best part so 

far,’ he said.” 

The Baltimore Sun: “Before the 1 p.m. 

start of the 22nd Annapolis Cup, Naval 

Academy player Brock Zimmerman got 

in some last-minute practice shots. The 

first-year mid hoped to make a dent in 

St. John’s series advantage of 17 victories 

to the academy’s 4. ‘I think we have the 

best chance to bring one back to Navy in 

a long time,’ he said.” 

The Associated Press: “Special attire— 

much of it harkening back to the days 

when croquet was played on grandma’s 

lawn while everyone sipped lemonade 

on sultry days—is popular at the annual 

croquet game. 

“Elizabeth Durham, a St. John’s junior, 

was a little more inventive, wearing 

shimmering gossamer wings and a saarilike 

cloth draped over her long white 

dress. ‘Honestly, I just threw it together 

in 10 minutes,’ she said.” x 


44 

{Alumni Voices} 

One Less Car on the Block 

Santa Fe Graduates Go Car-Free 

Paul Cooley (SF90, EC98) 

and Laura Hunt Cooley 

(SF92) were married in 

1996 and live in Santa Fe. 

Paul is a writer and an athome 

dad to Sadie, 4, and 

Zebediah, 2. Laura is a librarian at the 

Meem Library on the Santa Fe campus. 

The two have been dedicated bicyclists 

for many years, but last spring they reached 

a point of no return: On May 5, 2005, they 

sold their only car and committed themselves 

to getting around by bicycle, bus, 

and other means. Here’s how they coped 

with the first few days of the transition. 

May 6 

Paul: The Saab sold yesterday. We priced it 

at $4,200 based on its book value, but 

knew a few things were not working well. 

The prospective buyer took the car to the 

dealer, and the cash value of the repairs 

came to over $2,000. We settled on 

$3,600, which seemed fair. 

Getting rid of the car is not all about the 

money, but the money is certainly one of 

the things I focus on. Gas is almost $2 a 

gallon and seems to be going up. The 

repairs and constant maintenance are 

irritating. There was a time when I 

felt extra responsible, changing the 

oil, rebuilding the engine. But now 

it doesn’t seem to be that important 

to me—the cost and the waste 

of oil and time are not repaid by 

enjoyment of the vehicle. The cost 

of insurance every six months 

threw our financial balance off 

kilter. I cancelled the insurance 

this morning. The company is 

sending back $140, and we will not 

get billed again. 

The empty driveway stirs up a 

variety of emotions. There is something 

strange about it, in spite of 

the fact we haven’t used the car for 

over a month. I feel as if I am waiting 

for someone to come home. 

john hartnett 

The fact the driveway was built specifically 

for cars, and now there is no car there, 

makes it seem like an unneeded 

appendage. I plan to go out there later in 

the morning and do some chalk drawings 

or something. I fantasize about building a 

deck out there or putting out some lawn 

furniture. 

Laura: We are now officially car-free! We’d 

been thinking about it for a while, but only 

got serious whenever the car needed an 

expensive repair. Usually this was in the 

fall or winter, when it’s harder to get motivated 

to use the bike and bus to get around. 

I’m extremely sensitive to the cold and 

have to bundle up in crazy ways to stay 

warm in the winter on my bike. 

Once we had made the decision to sell 

the car we had to figure out an asking price 

for it. To us, it was no longer valuable–we 

were through with it. In fact, it felt stupid 

to sell it because we weren’t stopping it 

from contributing to the sick automobile 

culture in this country. We ended up 

selling it to a girl who didn’t already have 

another car, which was a relief. 

The kids have started using the driveway 

for their chalk art. We all started writing 

each other little messages that we could see 

when we swung into the driveway on our 

bikes. Today, Paul proudly wrote, “One 

Less Car!” 

May 7 

Paul: Today there is a complicated situation 

with Sadie’s nursery: everyone is 

going over to the big Waldorf school for 

their Maypole and carnival. Laura has an 

acupuncture appointment in the morning, 

and I am supposed to help with a commuting 

workshop at the Runnels Building at 

noon. One of the changes that we have 

noticed now that the car is gone is a growing 

impatience with other people imposing 

“running around” on us. It is certainly 

possible to make it out to the school, but 

we are irritated that we are expected to do 

so. There are several possibilities: I can 

bike Sadie and Zeb over, and Laura can 

come join them after her appointment; we 

can keep Sadie out and do something fun 

with her; or we can take her car seat over to 

the nursery and hope someone will give 

Sadie a ride there and back. The first two 

options are what we are considering. 

With the children doing so well with the 

bicycles, I am not as worried about feeling 

trapped anymore. I don’t know if there will 

come a time when they are too big for the 

trailer and will not want to bicycle 

as far on the tandems and triples. 

We will deal with that when we 

come to it. Perhaps we will use the 

bus more often. Of course there 

are always rentals, and I suspect 

that we will rent a car a couple of 

times a year. We will probably 

need to in order to get to the airport 

for our trip to the beach, or 

maybe we can use the Park and 

Ride and spend the night in Albuquerque. 

I hope we can begin to 

use the train more often. The airplane 

is the only transportation 

Not having a car means keeping 

the driveway free for playing. 


{Alumni Voices} 

45 

method less fuel-efficient than the private 

automobile. 

I hope that we never have to resort to 

buying another car. 

Laura: At first I felt a bit nervous about 

not having a car. I didn’t really have any 

good reasons—it was just unsettling. We 

had heard, and answered, many of the 

arguments against getting rid of the car 

altogether. What if there’s a medical 

emergency? Call an ambulance. What if 

you’re in a hurry? It can’t be helped, even 

with a car. What if you want to haul something 

big and heavy? Get a heavy-duty bike 

trailer or rent a car for a day. What if you 

want to go on a trip? Rent a car, or take 

public transportation, trains, or planes. 

I think what was behind most of my 

unsettled feelings was the big step we had 

just taken outside of mainstream culture. 

We’re already a little outside mainstream 

culture. We don’t own a television, dishwasher, 

clothes dryer, or microwave, and 

we went to St. John’s College. But something 

about the car seemed so essential 

to the American identity. And we were 

abandoning it. 

Now we have to think through each trip 

to see if it is worth the effort. I like having 

to be creative about how we’re going to get 

places. I like the freedom of traveling outside 

the main stream of traffic. I like providing 

a respectable role model for my kids. 

I’ve even stopped impulse-shopping at 

thrift stores and yard sales. Now I wait until 

there’s something I really need before I go 

on a shopping trip. 

The other day, Paul expressed exactly 

how I felt about the car. He said he changes 

his behavior when he catches himself doing 

something that makes him feel like an 

idiot. Like using the plastic produce bags 

at the market, rather than some of the hundreds 

of bags we have stuffed in a drawer at 

home. Once he reaches the idiot point, he 

changes his behavior. I realized that the car 

enabled me to do idiotic things—things for 

which I could not summon any self-respect. 

I was adding to pollution, road rage, the 

economy of cheap plastic crap, and I was 

getting no benefit from it. 

May 9 

Paul: Yesterday, I ordered the Bike Friday 

Family Triple bike. I think it is going to be 

a good bike, but it is costing us quite a bit 

of money, almost $700 over what we 

received for the car. We are getting the 

john hartnett 

suitcases and trailer kit, so we will be able 

to bike to the train station when we get to 

that point in our lives. In the afternoon, we 

bicycled out to Eldorado for a baby shower. 

I wanted to mention that we sold the car, 

but I was somewhat uncomfortable, almost 

apologetic about it. Getting rid of the car is 

a bold move, but if it works out, it is, in a 

way, an indictment of others’ behavior. 

And people are apologetic about their own 

car use when I talk about getting rid of 

ours. I suppose that’s a good thing, but I 

wouldn’t want to lose any friends over our 

decision. 

Laura: Yesterday, Paul ordered us a triple 

bike. We already own a tandem bike. Paul 

rides on front and Sadie rides on back. 

Together they haul Zeb in a bike trailer 

that we refer to as “the Chariot.” 

We now have nine bikes and one on 

order. I have a backup in case mine needs 

repair. We own three tandem bikes, two of 

which we ride a lot. The first one we 

bought has sentimental value (we got it for 

each other as an anniversary present). Paul 

has three bikes. He’s a collector at heart, 

but he tries to ride all three. And we have a 

kid trailer and a bike trailer for stuff (not 

people). 

Everyone seems to think Santa Fe is not 

a safe town to bike in, mostly because there 

isn’t a good trail system. Personally, I feel 

safer on the roads. As long as I follow the 

traffic rules and act predictably, I get to 

flow easily with the traffic. I think Santa Fe 

is a very bikeable town, only seven miles 

across, and most rides within city limits 

can easily be done in less than an hour. 

The Cooleys found a better use for their 

garage. 

May 18 

Paul: It’s been almost two weeks since we 

sold the car. I am working on a book on 

being car-free, focusing more on the 

difficult-to-describe social impacts of the 

reliance on automobiles. Ivan Illich’s 

Energy and Equity contains many of the 

ideas I would like to focus on and which I 

am still struggling to understand. He 

speaks of the growth of time and space 

scarcity as vehicles begin to pass 15 miles 

per hour. He also points out that our 

freedom to travel is restricted by industry 

once we begin to rely on motor vehicles 

and transportation engineers for our 

means to get from one place to another. 

We make a fundamental shift from travelers 

to consumers of transportation. Has 

the ability of our intellect to wander over 

vast and shifting fields of imagination 

been influenced by the restriction of our 

physical wandering to well-laid roads and 

clear destinations? 

Behrman’s The Man Who Loved Bicycles 

captures some of the spirit of what I would 

like to say. How can I express the freedom I 

feel at not being restricted to driving when 

so many people would look at the same 

thing as a deprivation? We do have more 

friends taking to their bicycles, if only for 

short rides. 

Laura: We just got back from an overnight 

camping trip to Hyde Park. I never thought 

I’d spend three hours riding up, hauling 

kids and camping gear. It’s amazing to see 

how my perspective is changing. It’s very 

empowering to know that we can take our 

family on a self-supported bike tour–even 

one that includes mountains. 

Lately, we’ve found ourselves drawn to 

bike activist meetings, trying to get more 

rights for bicyclists in our city. If we don’t 

do it, who will? 

Paul’s wondering again what to do with 

the driveway. He’s mentioned digging up 

the concrete and putting in a garden. 

He’s talked about putting in a bike shed 

for storage, or a bike rack to encourage 

visitors to bike over. But for now, I’m 

enjoying the new open space and the 

satisfaction of one less car on the block. x 


46 

{Alumni Association News} 

From the Alumni 

Association 

President 

Dear Alumni, 

Exciting things 

are happening 

with the Alumni 

Association and 

for alumni 

around the 

world! Here is a 

quick update on 

what’s happening 

in your Association these days. 

It was great to spend time with friends 

old and new at Homecoming in Santa Fe 

the beginning of July. It is always intriguing 

to make connections with others who 

share the passion for books and talk and to 

see where their paths have led them since 

they left the college. Consider joining us 

next year to enjoy seminar, sun, and 

sunsets that grace the campus! Though I 

wasn’t able to attend the Summer Alumni 

Programs this year, I understand that they 

were stimulating and satisfying. Art, 

music, philosophy, and fun—what more 

can one ask? 

The annual Alumni Art Fair was a raging 

success thanks to Santa Fe staff member 

Maggie Magalnick and Liz Jenny (SF80). 

The range and quality of the work were 

amazing. As a bonus for alumni, the 

college hosted a special breakfast for the 

artists with a presentation by an art consultant 

about how to build and maintain 

their passion for art as a business. 

We are planning again this year to host 

a picnic and reception for incoming freshmen 

in Santa Fe in August. We introduced 

this event last year. It welcomes new 

students into the SJC community, gives 

local alumni an opportunity to meet new 

alumni-to-be, and begins the bond-building 

process that is part of every Johnnie’s 

experience. 

Another new event was added to the 

alumni calendar last year when seniors on 

the Santa Fe campus invited alumni to join 

them for Fasching Ball. For you Easterners, 

this is a celebration that takes place in February. 

Istvan Fehevary, long-time friend 

and director of the Student Activities office 

in Santa Fe, brought this tradition to the 

college from his native Hungary. The party 

gave another opportunity for students and 

alumni to get to know each other, practice 

their dancing prowess, and raise a glass in 

farewell to the long days of February. 

Of course the Alumni Association Board 

continues to pursue the more serious and 

business-like aspects of our work. We’re 

updating our operating resolutions to 

reflect changes in technology, policy, and 

practice. We recognize members of the 

community with prizes and awards. We 

select members for work on the Board of 

Visitors and Governors, and we explore 

new and interesting ways to help alumni 

stay connected to each other and to the 

college. 

If you have suggestions, questions, or 

requests, please feel free to give me a call 

or drop me an email. Until then . . . see you 

at seminar! 

Glenda Eoyang 

Association 

Honors Three at 

Homecoming 

A New Mexico educator who brought the 

Socratic method of teaching to many schools 

was honored with an Award of Merit, and a 

retired faculty member and staff member in 

Santa Fe joined the ranks of Honorary 

Alumni during Homecoming 2004. 

Michael Strong (SF84) received his merit 

award during the Homecoming banquet July 

3. Strong is the author of The Habit of 

Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic 

Practice, the definitive account of how to 

implement Paedeia, a teaching approach 

emphasizing Socratic questioning, academic 

coaching,and interactive learning. 

Strong is the former director of Moreno 

Valley High School in Angel Fire, N.M., 

a charter school. Over the years, he has 

worked as a Paideia/Socratic Seminar 

consultant for dozens of schools and organizations. 

He has worked with the Alaska 

Paideia Project, and served as the director 

for the Center for Socratic Practice at the 

Judson Montessori School in San Antonio, 

Texas, as the founding headmaster of The 

Winston Academy in Fort Lauderdale, and 

as the founding director of Middle School 

Programs for the Early Learning Institute in 

Palo Alto, Calif. He attended Harvard University 

in addition to St. John’s College and 

earned his master’s degree in Social 

Thought from the University of Chicago. 

Glenn Freitas, who retired in 2003, 

touched the lives of many members of the 

St. John’s College community in his 34 years 

of service to the college. 

Freitas attended St. Mary’s College in 

California and received his undergraduate 

degree in classical languages, a Th.L. in 

theology from Laval Universite in Quebec, 

and another licentiate in sacred scripture 

from The French Biblical and Archaeological 

School of Jerusalem. 

Merit award recipient Michael Strong 

(SF84) has devoted his career to 

bringing the Socratic method to 

education. 

Ginger Roherty, who recently retired as 

director of the Annual Fund in Santa Fe, was 

a devoted member of the St. John’s College 

community from 1989-2004, one noted for 

her warmth, energy, and skill. She shepherded 

the Library and Fine Arts Guild into 

a healthy membership, with more than 

400 participants. She also nurtured the 

growth of the Philos Society and its seminar 

program, “Inviting Conversations.” x 


{Alumni Association News} 

47 

Passion 

for Proust 

by Kevin R. Johnson (A93) 

At a bookstore, I saw a posting for a reading 

group. This gave me a romantic idea. If I put 

up a posting to read all of Proust’s In Search 

of Lost Time, perhaps I could find a mate. I 

never carried out this absurd plan, but it 

would sometimes haunt me. And so, when 

Jason Bielagus (SF98) proposed that our 

local alumni should create a group to read 

the magnum opus, it seemed fate was knocking 

at my door. I was more than eager to 

answer. Little did I know that one of Proust’s 

central objectives was a comprehensive 

critique of the romantic imagination. 

The pace that Jason set for the readings 

was harrowing. He wisely considered the 

importance of finishing before we had forgotten 

the beginning, and relentlessly held us to 

our schedule. We had to find time to read 

several hundred pages of dense prose every 

three weeks. Casualties were heavy for even 

the second and third seminars. By the end of 

the second volume (of six, in my edition), we 

were left with a hardy band whose passion for 

Proust alone could have given the stamina to 

withstand the pace of our schedule. 

None of them were single contemporaries, 

and Proust was delivering devastating blows 

to my romantic sensibility. My hopes had 

been dashed completely. Or had they? On 

the train one morning, I looked across to see 

an attractive woman who was also reading 

Proust. It turned out that she was leading a 

discussion of the first volume at the Boston 

Athenaeum, a private library of which I am 

a member. Unfortunately, none of these 

synchronicities could outweigh her sour 

personality, which became apparent all too 

quickly. Now, even my resurrected hope had 

been dashed to the ground. 

I attended the Athenaeum discussion, but 

it only served to give me greater gratitude 

for the company of my fellow alums on my 

journey through Proust. These were people 

who knew how to talk about books. The fellowship 

of these companions proved to be 

just as enriching as the book itself. Through 

our dialogue about Proust, we came to know 

each other well, and I think dearly. And, of 

course, we came to know Proust very well and 

very dearly. 

We emerged from the seminars as different 

people. We had absorbed to some extent the 

world that a great genius had created and 

lived. New images and themes had woven 

themselves into the tapestry of our inner 

lives. My own romantic life would never be as 

innocent as before; I would suffer less as a 

consequence. The time had been well spent, 

but it was lost. Writing this has won back 

some of the experience from the shady realm 

of oblivion. If I ever read Proust again, these 

10 months of my life will be evoked and live 

again. Proust’s memories had become mine, 

and a time in my life will forever be linked 

with In Search of Lost Time. x 

The intrepid members of the Proust 

Reading Group began their journey on 

February 17 2003, and, meeting once or 

twice a month, completed their discussions 

of the work on December 14, 2003. They 

met in January 2004 to view and discuss 

Time Regained, a film based on the final 

installment of Proust’s masterpiece. 

“Johnnies are attracted to Proust not 

only because of what he talks about, his 

choice of themes and books, but also 

because of the way he talks,” says Jason 

Bielagus(SF98). “Proust states the Johnnie 

appetite for articulating ideas. Proust’s 

language is superlatively articulate and 

ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE 

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 

All alumni have automatic membership in the 

St. John’s College Alumni Association. The 

Alumni Association is an independent organization, 

with a Board of Directors elected by and 

from the alumni body. The Board meets four 

times a year, twice on each campus, to plan programs 

and coordinate the affairs of the Association. 

This newsletter within The College magazine 

is sponsored by the Alumni Association 

and communicates Alumni Association news 

and events of interest. 

President – Glenda Eoyang, SF76 

Vice President – Jason Walsh, A85 

Secretary –Barbara Lauer, SF76 

Treasurer – Bill Fant, A79 

Getting-the-Word-Out Action Team Chair – 

Linda Stabler-Talty, SFGI76 

Mailing address – Alumni Association, 

St. John’s College, P.O Box 2800, Annapolis, 

MD 21404, or 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, 

Santa Fe, NM 87505-4599. 

precise. There is little that is vague and 

ambiguous. A common seminar question is 

something along the lines of, ‘Could you 

clarify that?’ or ‘What do you mean by 

that?’ Proust obviates those questions; 

he anticipates them and addresses them 

without needing to be asked.” 

Bielagus had tried to read the work on 

his own, but “there was too much to keep 

up with. In the group, each person naturally 

gravitated to one theme, so when we 

met, each could share his observations on 

the theme he tended to follow. Our discussions 

were like culling the fruit of several 

reads of the text.” 

CHAPTER CONTACTS 

Call the alumni listed below for information 

about chapter, reading group, or other alumni 

activities in each area. 

ALBUQUERQUE 

Bob & Vicki Morgan 

505-275-9012 

ANNAPOLIS 

Beth Martin Gammon 

410-280-0958 

AUSTIN 

John Strange 

210-392-5506 

Bev Angel 

512-926-7808 

BALTIMORE 

Deborah Cohen 

410-472-9158 

BOSTON 

Ginger Kenney 

617-964-4794 

CHICAGO 

Amanda Richards 

847-705-1143 

DALLAS/FORT 

WORTH 

Suzanne Lexy Bartlette 

817-721-9112 

DENVER/BOULDER 

Lee Goldstein 

720-746-1496 

MINNEAPOLIS/ 

ST. PAUL 

Carol Freeman 

612-822-3216 

NEW YORK 

Daniel Van Doren 

914-949-6811 

NORTHERN CALIF. 

Suzanne Vito 

510-527-4309 

PHILADELPHIA 

Bart Kaplan 

215-465-0244 

PITTSBURGH 

Joanne Murray 

724-325-4151 

PORTLAND 

Dale Mortimer 

360-882-9058 

SAN DIEGO 

Stephanie Rico 

619-423-4972 

SANTA FE 

Richard Cowles 

505-986-1814 

SEATTLE 

Amina Brandt 

206-465-7781 

SOUTHERN 

CALIFORNIA 

Elizabeth Eastman 

562-426-1934 

TRIANGLE CIRCLE 

(NC) 

Susan Eversole 

919-968-4856 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Jean Dickason 

301-699-6207 

WESTERN NEW 

ENGLAND 

Julia Ward 

413-648-0064 

ISRAEL 

Emi Geiger Leslau 

15 Aminadav Street 

Jerusalem 93549 

Israel 

9-722-671-7608 

boazl@cc.huji.ac.il 


48 

{St. John’s Forever} 

st. john’s college archives/greenfield library 

An Accidental 

Architect 

One of the most important 

men in the modern history 

of St. John’s College was 

also one of the preeminent 

figure of 20th-century 

architecture. 

John Gaw Meem was born to missionary 

parents in Brazil, earned an engineering 

degree at Virginia Military Institute, then 

went to New York to work for his uncle’s 

construction company. After World War I, 

during which he served as an army captain, 

Meem choose a career in international 

banking. He had just begun a new job when 

he developed tuberculosis, and to regain 

his health, went to the Sunmount Sanatorium 

in Santa Fe. His interest in architecture 

and the culture of the Southwest was 

kindled during the five years he spent at 

the sanatorium, and after he recovered, 

he took a job with the Denver architecture 

firm of Fisher & Fisher. From 1924—when 

he designed a home for a fellow patient at 

the sanatorium—until his retirement in 

1959, Meem was one of the most influential 

architects of the West. He was credited 

with creating the Territorial Revival 

style of architecture. In addition to his 

professional accomplishments, he was a 

civic leader in Santa Fe and a major figure 

in the preservation of the city’s historic 

architecture. 

The idea for an expansion campus of 

St. John’s initially came from a citizens’ 

group in Monterey, Calif., but though the 

interest was there, the funding was not. 

In 1960, then-president Richard Weigle 

was corresponding with California backers 

when a group of Santa Fe citizens came 

forward to make their bid for the college. 

Meem and his wife, Faith, donated 

John Gaw Meem (left), shown with thenpresident 

Richard Weigle and shaking 

hands with former assistant to the 

president William Hooton, was a founding 

benefactor of the Santa Fe campus. 

His gift of 225 acres of land made the 

founding of the campus possible. 

225 acres northeast of their home for 

the college. Meem later assisted with his 

successor firm, Holien & Buckley, on 

the design of the college. 

In Facing Southwest: The Life and 

Houses of John Gaw Meem, the architect 

is described as someone that any Johnnie 

would welcome at the seminar table: 

“Meem knew how to ask questions and 

then be quiet and listen, how to identify 

common interests, and how to allow 

imaginations and enthusiasms to mingle.” 

In 1990, the college named its newly 

completed library in Santa Fe for Faith and 

John Gaw Meem. x 


{Alumni Events Calendar} 

Clockwise top: PARALLEL UNIVERSE, by Betsy Williams, SF87; REDUCTION, by Donna Loraine 

Contractor, SF82; SILVER BARK BROOCH, by Nancy Kahn DeMulder, SF80. 

Santa Fe 

Whitewater Rafting Trip 

June (details on date and location pending) 

Homecoming 2005 

Friday July 1-Sunday July 3, 2005 

Join the classes of: 1970, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 

and 2000, celebrating their reunions, at 

Santa Fe this summer. 

Summer Alumni Program 

July 4-8 

A special Eastern Classics Alumni Seminar 

week will be offered with two additional 

seminars. 

Alumni Art Show A Success 

This year’s Alumni Art Show featured 

paintings, drawings, photographs, 

sculpture, jewelry, video, textiles, and 

glasswork from 22 Santa Fe and Annapolis 

alumni. Opening over Homecoming 

Weekend July 3, the show was on display in 

the college’s Fine Arts Gallery through 

August 30. In addition this year, the 

Alumni Association Board’s Events Action 

Team sponsored a breakfast and meeting 

for alumni artists seeking some guidance in 

turning their art into a business. Geoffrey 

Gorman, from Advisory Services for 

Artists, offered a presentation on how to 

put together a professional portfolio and 

how to approach commercial galleries. 

Interested in including your work in next 

year’s show? Contact Maggie Magalnick in 

Santa Fe: Maggie.magalnick@sjcsf.edu 

Annapolis 

Third Annual Alumni/Student 

Networking Reception 

Sunday, November 21, 4-7 pm. 

Check the Alumni section of the Web site for 

updated calendar information. 

Back cover: Photo by Peter Howard, 1998 


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