ENS NDON CALLING \ 4* He sent me to teach you this—To be a sveaker ofwords Modern Homer epics stir heroic passions Put Your "We've spent our lives building the Herbarium into Trust a valuable resource for KU ai inKU the region. This gift allows us H continue our involvement by contributing As a boy, KU alumnus Ronald L. McGregor, Ph.D., became fasci- to the future success of tiffs facility." nated by the varied and abundant — Ronald & Dorothy McGregor plant life on his grandfather's ranch. His youthful enthusiasm grew into a 42-year career at KU. As director of the Herbarium at KU from 1950 to 1989, he guided the growth of the Herbarium's collection of flora to become the largest in the region, including more than 400,000 different spec- imens. In 1990, KU honored his dedication by renaming the col- lection the Ronald L. McGregor Herbarium. Because his commitment to the Herbarium continues today, McGregor and his wife, KU alumna Dorothy M. McGregor, have funded a charitable remain- der trust at The Kansas University Endowment Association. In the future, the trust will provide sup- port for maintenance and research at the Herbarium. The gift benefits the McGregors by providing them with income for their lifetimes in addition to a current income tax deduction and a future estate tax deduction. ZJ KANSAS UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENT P.O. Box 928 LAWRENCE, KS 66044-0928 (785) 832-7400 TOLL FREE: 1-800-444-4201 FIRST WORD BY JENNIFER JACKSON SANNER (and tabloid notoriety) last year when he announced his ike a flap of torn skin, the brittle blue spine of my discovery of a lost gospel, this year tells a tale to gladden the Shakespeare: The Complete Works gapes open on one side. heart of any collector or packrat. A sophomore in Mirecki's But I dare not tear it off or bandage the cover, because course on the Bible one day brought to his teacher a framed yet this is no wound. L tattered document his father had purchased at a charity auction. Nor is the blue ink that unsteadily slices under black type on Enthused by Mirecki's lectures, the student had begun to eye the page after page. Such imperfections do not mar the book. They curiosity with more than mere curiosity; he wondered whether it make it mine. The bruises outside, the wobbly brackets and might be worth something. margin notes inside, remind me of the professor who made me yearn to make Shakespeare mine. Mirecki's joyous identification of the piece as a 3,000-year- old Egyptian papyrus stunned his student, the family and the A. Carroll Edwards, professor emeritus of English, for University. As our feature story explains, the papyrus' worth decades taught a Shakespeare course at the University. In spring is incalculable. 1978, as an ambitious (and foolhardy) freshman, I sat entranced in his class as he scoured "Macbeth," "Othello," "Romeo and So is the story itself, and so are those moments in classrooms Juliet" and more, revealing Shakespeare's meaning and motive when rare words from classic tales suddenly click. word by word, couplet by couplet. To this day, I can see My Shakespeare volume still beckons from time to time. Edwards' mischievous smile and knowing wink as he let us in Shreds of soliloquies I memorized for Professor Edwards' exams on Shakespeare's jokes and secrets. With authority and humor, surface during headline-writing sessions or idle office chat. he translated the language that at times seemed so foreign to us, These days I forget more words than I remember, but I still can freeing us to marvel at the author's powerful, elegant flourishes. summon the wondrous satisfaction of sitting in that Fraser Hall Thanks to Edwards, we savored those sublime moments when classroom, where, with a skilled professor's coaxing, I got it. we understood—when we got it. That flash of understanding, the rush of relief and confi- dence, is indeed worth something: It is worth everything. -"*•* Stanley Lombardo, professor of classics, has witnessed such instants of recognition. Lombardo's translations of Iliad, pub- lished in 1997, and Odyssey, released this March, are sensations not only among scholars of Homer but also among students for whom the classics perhaps seemed anything but modern. In classes with Lombardo at KU and Lawrence High School, students have more than dabbled in the epic tales; they have delighted in debating the foibles of Achilles and Odysseus, who set the standard by which we judge Shakespeare's tragically flawed heroes—and the formidable yet frail heroes of modern literature and history. Through poring over texts and passion- ately arguing in class, they have come to understand Homer. These young scholars get it, Lombardo proudly declares. In our cover story, Chris Lazzarino explores this resurgence in fascination with the classical hero, as evidenced by Lombardo's writing and teaching and a new course led by James Carothers, professor of English, who this spring taught a seminar for honors students on the hero. Lazzarino attended classes and talked with both professors about their modern interpretations of the classical figure. Carothers, famous on the Hill for his quirky literary detours, includes not just Lombardo and Homer in his course—he also throws in A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh. And he introduces students to real-life heroes. Just as Lombardo renders the classic modern by illustrating the covers of Iliad and Odyssey with 20th-century news j photographs, Carothers makes age-old ideas real to today's students. Ancient ideas are Paul Mirecki's turf, too. Mirecki, associate professor of religious studies who gained fame KANSAS ALUMNI • NO. 3, 2000 LIFT THE CHORUS A KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Find success within Publisher Chairman Fred B.Williams Carol Swanson Ritchie, d'54, Wichita, Kansas As an African-American KU graduate, I Editor am both perplexed and concerned about Jennifer Jackson Sanner,j'8l Executive Vice Chairman Reid Holbrook, c'64, l'66, Overland Park, some of the information and opinions Art Director Kansas Susan Younger, f'91 expressed in "Faces in the Crowd" [issue Managing Editor Executive Committee No. 2]. I will first state that I often tell Chris Lazzarino, j'86 Carol Swanson Ritchie, d'54, Wichita, Kansas others that my days at KU were the four Staff Writer Jim Adam, e'56, Overland Park, Kansas best years of my life, mainly because the Richard J. Cummings, c'54, m'57, Megan Maciejowski, j'98 environment forced me to grow up and Editorial Assistants Wichita, Kansas Karen Goodell; Nancy Crisp, j'83 Reid Holbrook, c'64,1*66, Overland Park, recognize the world around me. Kansas Photographer Currently I am a doctoral candidate at Cordell D. Meeks Jr., c'64,1*67. Kansas City, Wally Emerson, j'76 Kansas the University of Kentucky, where race Graphic Designer Gil M. Reich, e'54, Savannah, Georgia relations are no better or worse and the Valerie Spicher, j'94 efforts to include and exclude black stu- Editorial Office Vice Chairmen Kansas Alumni Association Gary Bender, g'64, Scottsdale, Arizona, and dents are no different than at any other 1266 Oread Ave., Lawrence, KS 66044-3 169 Colorado Springs.Colorado major university. I would assume that on 785-864-4760 Michelle Senecal de Fonseca, b'83, Brussels, most predominately white campuses Advertising Office Belgium Sarah Lober, Advertising Manager Patricia Weems Gaston, j'81, Annandale, across our country the plight of the Knight Enterprises, 4840 W. 15th St., Suite 1000 Virginia African-American student is much the Lawrence, KS 66049 Lou Montulli, '94, Palo Alto, California 785-843-5511 or 1-800-844-3781 same: isolated and unsettling. But how is fax 785-843-7555 Directors to July 2000 that any different than what African-Amer- e-mail: [email protected] Jim Adam, e'56, Overland Park, Kansas Janet Martin McKinney, c'74, Port Ludlow, icans deal with in the real world? Kansas Alumni Magazine (ISSN 0745-3345) is published Washington As educated African-Americans, once by the Alumni Association of the University of Kansas Debra Vignatelli, c'77, d'77,Topeka, Kansas six times a year in January, March, May, July, September we enter the hallowed halls of the univer- and November $40 annual subscription includes mem- Directors to July 2001 sities that we attend, which inevitably bership in the Alumni Association. Office of Publication: Lisa Ashner Adkins, c'84, l'87, Leawood, Kansas cater to the success of white students, we 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66044-3169. Sec- John B. Dicus, b'83,g'85,Topeka, Kansas ond class postage paid at Lawrence, KS, and additional Robert L. Driscoll, c'61, l'64, Mission Woods, must recognize that our success comes not mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address Kansas changes to Kansas Alumni Magazine, 1266 from the support of the dean or the Office Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66044-3169 © Directors to July 2002 of Minority Affairs, but rather from an 2000 by Kansas Alumni Magazine. Non-mem- Lewis D. Gregory, c'75, Leawood, Kansas ber issue price: $7 internal drive. Part of the concern I had at Lynwood H. Smith, b'51, m'60, Lawrence, KU was that amongst the African-Ameri- KANSAS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Kansas The Alumni Association was established in 1883 for Linda Duston Warren, c'66, m'70, Hanover, cans, we were very divided! Who hung the purpose of strengthening loyalty, friendship, Kansas out with white people? Were you greek? commitment, and communication among all gradu- ates, former and current students, parents, faculty, Directors to July 2003 Were you from Chicago or St.