Luxesto Summer 2001
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new faces E G E L L O C O O Z A Summer 2001 Erin Binney Girdler M A Seven new professors are coming to Kalamazoo College the fall of L 2001. Erin Binney Girdler (left, with son Otto) is one. The new pro - A fessors will bring exciting new perspectives to the teaching of K physics, biology, economics, health sciences and the computer F modeling of complex social systems. O "The world today is so interconnected, and its problems so com - E plex,” Erin says. “A college education provides a place for young N adults to become self-possessed, independent, and critical thinkers, I a place to be challenged by life and still be guided. To me, it's not Z just a place to train for a career, although it is invaluable for high - A G lighting strengths and introducing possibilities. College is also A about being exposed to people from different backgrounds, talking M about hard issues, figuring out what YOU think — as opposed to what your parents think. In short, I think higher education is the E H key to becoming a citizen of the world. And we need more citizens Erin Binney Girdler on Lake Dumore in T who think on this scale! Kalamazoo College develops these kinds Vermont with son Otto. of citizens." (See page 13 for “New Faces”) Office of College Communication 1200 Academy Street Kalamazoo Michigan 49006-3295 Our endowment enables the farther journey The Art and Habitat of BRAD BURKHART ’71 a d ifferent way of seeing BY LINDSAY BALLARD ’01 One of the first assignments in Basic Drawing involved the simple task of sketching my hand. I was not allowed to look at the page as I drew. Concentrating only on the object, I was to follow the contours in as much detail as possible. Letting my eyes slowly run along the intricate TTHHEE AARRTT OOFF CCHHEENN imperfections and crevices one by one, I looked at nothing “W hen the mind else but the closed left fist sitting gently in my lap. My and the hands work right hand drew the other blindly. The purpose of the task together, that is the Chens Give Art Endowment was to examine something with a focused attention, most exciting to Kalamazoo College which is contrary to the natural tendencies of vision and moment!" says Lilia perception. Our eyes are trained to assess quickly, estab - Chen. And the light of that excitement glows in her shining eyes. All as a student, she talked of my coming experiences. "You lishing a context in which to fit oneself. Such assessments around her, in all shapes and sizes, in varied hues of color, are the pots will spend nights talking until dawn about things you've are based on past associations with objects and space and and bowls, vases and mugs created by Lilia's hands and mind working never thought about before. You will meet people with prior experiences in similar surroundings. Observing together and molded by her love for her art. ideas and perspectives that open whole new worlds for something with such intense scrutiny for this assignment December 23rd, 2000, was the 50th wedding anniversary of Dr. Wen you." I was already eager for college, but I remember feel - quickly opened the door to a new way Chao and Lilia Chen. Wen Chao Chen is professor emeritus of political ing all the more energized, if that was possible, by her of thinking and sensing my environ - science, but he served in many other positions during his 36 years at ment. Kalamazoo College, including head librarian, fellow of the College, In my four years at Kalamazoo director of the L. Lee Stryker Center, and acting president on two College, such eye-opening experi - different occasions. ences have been plentiful. More times When Chen thought about the couple's golden anniversary, he con - than I can recount, challenges to con - sidered, then eliminated, the usual gifts: jewelry, a Caribbean cruise, a ventional ways of thinking have led to lavish fur. Instead, he chose a most unique and lasting gift: an art schol - continuous reassessment of my per - arship to Kalamazoo College in his wife's name. ceptions of the world and myself. It is Kalamazoo College already has an endowed chair in political science overwhelming to reflect on all the in Wen Chao Chen's name. The $10,000 gift honoring Lilia Chen will opportunities that have been present - generate an annual $500 scholarship given to art students. ed to me here. I have played so many Lilia first became "mesmerized," as she puts it, by the beauty of pot - different roles in my career as tery when she encountered examples during her visits to the annual Kalamazoo College student, more spring art fair at Bronson Park in downtown Kalamazoo. She signed up than I could have ever anticipated as for pottery classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and has participat - an eighteen-year-old from ed in those classes for 20 years. Columbiaville, Michigan. Through participation in differ - "Oh, the struggle! I was so frustrated when I began," Lilia says. "My ent organizations and programs I have acted as an advo - hands just couldn't seem to get it right. The pots would be crooked or cate, as a programmer, as a demonstrator, and as a leader. pieces would break off. But you must never give up when you are trying On study abroad I witnessed different cultures as a for - to learn something new! It requires persistence and determination and eigner, as a member of an amazing host family, as a tutor, love - just like a marriage." and as someone immersed in a different world, experienc - ABOVE: Lindsay working as a Land/Sea Leader. The Chens came to the United States in 1947, thinking they would ing first-hand rather than just visiting. In the classroom, LEFT: Lindsay with members of her host family in Beijing. return to their homeland of China after a year, maybe two. But China I have acted not only as student, but also as teacher, as was swept under by communism, and the Chens soon realized there was researcher, and as expert. no going back. They quickly developed a new life in their new home. words. In retrospect, even that excitement turned out to It is less than a month before I graduate. Reflecting on Lilia Chen taught as a substitute teacher for more than 20 years. In 1956, be an understatement. In these four years I have been to the many facets of my "K" experience, I realize I have yet Wen Chao Chen came to Kalamazoo College as a professor of political China and to Southeast Asia. I have formed relationships to suffer one moment of regret for my decision four years science. Chen helped institute the K-Plan , now a trademark of the with people from Iceland to Indonesia. I have written ago to leave my small hometown and come to Kalamazoo College, combining academics with off-campus experiences. grant proposals. I have learned another language. I have College. "When we were young," Lilia Chen remembers, "we worked hard to led students backpacking in the Canadian wilderness. I I remember a conversation I had while still in high build our future. We raised two sons, and we knew we had to work hard have done extensive interviewing and have presented a school with a woman very close to my family. She is one for financial soundness. It is a blessing that today we can give some - thesis to professors and peers. And I have stayed up until of the few adults I knew outside of school that had a col - thing back to Kalamazoo College." lege degree, and she had an immeasurable influence on dawn, listening to other's views and opening up my mind my development. Nostalgically reflecting on her own days to whole new worlds of ideas. Even as I marvel over what I have been able to achieve dUring my college career, I realize I have taken advantage of only a portion of the opportUnities offered here. As my time at Kalamazoo College comes to an end, I now realize that it is time to open my own doors, to create my own prospects, and to relinqUish the sUpportive crUtch that the College has provided for me thUs far. Polishing Up my Peace Corps application, I willingly, thoUgh sadly, sUrren - der that crUtch, prepared to take the next big step that will hopefUlly end Up beneficial, as my decision to come to Kalamazoo College tUrned oUt to be. When I completed the sketch of my hand and withdrew the pencil from the page, I allowed myself to look at the finished prodUct. The drawing was distorted, barely rec - Rosie in her house in Oaxaca, Mexico. ognizable as a fist. By no means did I find this discovery disheartening. Rather, I was looking at a creation of a dif - with my doUble conscioUsness—the mask I wear daily. ferent way of seeing. The overlapping wrinkles and W.E.B. DUBois describes "doUble conscioUsness" in The warped shapes prodUced by my hand were noble first Souls of Black Folk as a masking strategy Used by African attempts, and as a resUlt of the exercise, the way I see Americans to live in two worlds. A person lives behind a things has been permanently altered. When I leave mask among people of a cUltUre different from her own, Kalamazoo College in JUne with a diploma in hand, I will and she lives withoUt the mask among her own people.