Oberlin Philosophy Summer 2013, Volume 3

News from Alumni A Note from the Editor Many thanks to those of you who liked by Katherine !omson-Jones our Facebook page. Keep your own com- ments coming! (On Facebook, simply s we come to the end of another full and rewarding academic year, it is time search for Oberlin Philosophy). If you’re to take stock and reconnect. !ank you to all the alumni who have sent in not a Facebook fan but would like to share Atheir news; it is wonderful to hear about everything that life a"er Oberlin news, please email the newsletter editor: has to o#er. [email protected]. In department news, our course selection for the year was nicely balanced both in terms of level and subject matter. We o#ered three of our standard introduc- Kurt Beals ’02 completed his PhD in tory courses—two with a focus on value questions as well as several sections of German literature at the University of Problems in Philosophy. !e college’s First-Year Seminar Program also introduced California, Berkeley, and will be starting some students to philosophy, thanks to Dorit Ganson’s course on Rationality, a job as assistant professor of German at Objectivity, and Truth in Science. !e department o#ered two courses in logic, one Washington University in St. Louis in the in formal and one in informal logic; and, three courses in the history of philoso- fall. phy—modern philosophy, 19th-century philosophy, and 20th-century Continental philosophy. Our other core courses were in the philosophy of science, the philoso- Karen Bennett ’93 writes: “I am an as- phy of language, biomedical ethics, the philosophy of law, philosophy of mind, sociate professor of philosophy at Cornell, and the philosophy of music. Finally, we o#ered two advanced seminars, one on though going up for full professor next year. perception and one on representation in science. In 2012-13, I worked on two big projects: 1) !e importance of a full and varied course selection is now even greater due my book, Making !ings Up, which is under to changes in the philosophy major that follow a college-wide change to the contract with Oxford University Press, and course-credit system. In an e#ort to support and encourage the combination of 2) my daughter, Lila, who was born in May philosophy with other majors, students can now choose a particular focus for 2012. Both are interesting, but Lila is prob- their philosophy degree course—by taking more philosophy courses dealing with ably more fun. She is certainly messier.” value questions and the arts, for instance, or more philosophy courses deal- continued on page 2 Don Baxter ’76 is completing his $rst year as philosophy department head at the University of Connecticut. He asks that we The Magic Summer of ’66 look for an anthology in metaphysics he by Peter Miller ’67 co-edited with Aaron Cotnoir (St. Andrews University) entitled Composition as Identity, ith a title sounding as evocative as “!e Magic Summer of ‘66” you might due out from Oxford University Press later suppose I’d be referring to something in the nature of an intimate personal this year. Wawakening. And, indeed, the honors program that summer a#orded not just the singular experience of reading a Platonic dialogue with the commitment and Bill Bigelow ’63 tells us of his most sharp analytical guidance of Norman Care or the political and historical richness of interesting philosophy news: his recent Wilson Carey McWilliams or the classical brilliance and humble Socratic presence discovery of the works of Slavoj Zizek. “Are of Nathan Greenberg, any one of which would have been an education of note—the you familiar?” he asks, “He’s quite interest- combined occasion of all three was truly a dream made in Oberlin. ing and surprising!” !ough I probably couldn’t articulate it at the time, this was to be a founding experience in my journey to de$ne my role in the world. Just as Strauss and Cropsey’s History of Political Philosophy includes chapters on the all the great theorists as taken continued on page 6 continued on page 2 2 THE MAGIC SUMMER OF ’66, cont.

up by their various students, so would I would be writing the Dewey chapter in the !eory” and the completion of my disser- contribute a chapter to Wolin and Schaar’s textbook, one that would revitalize the con- tation in political theory and community History composed of chapters by Berkeley nections of “!e American Philosopher” to technology, pulling lots of pieces nicely School of Political !eorists, clearly more both political theory—and practice—and together. eclectic and politically wise. I was going to to academic philosophy, along with the It has not quite been the career path I be the academic/departmental philosopher American Hegelian mo[ve]ment. had once envisioned. But then, again, for in this school of theory and practice. I was Alas, my 1975 work lay fallow down those of us fortunate enough to go through at Oberlin that summer to start my study through the decades, though its vision Oberlin in the 1960s, or perhaps most any and work on John Rawls and the contrast in continued to in%uence what would become time, whose career path is ever a clear or conception of the state of nature and politi- my life’s work in community media and traditional one? Attending my 45th reunion cal education with Jean-Jacques Rousseau technology, at periods racing round the this May, I was pleased to stop by the phi- that would be completed by graduation at country setting up community technology losophy open house and share some stories the end of the next academic year. centers/CTCs, some like “!e Bridge” on with the collegial attendees, students, other My path was further set eight years later Main Street in Oberlin, the experience of alums, faculty old and new. I hope to do so with my doctoral qualifying essay on John the summer of ’66 and the promise of ’75 again at my 50th in a few years. Dewey at the University of California at well integrated through all but explicitly N&'(: A)*&+' ,)) -,-(.+ /&'(0 Santa Cruz, where the Berkeley Political laid aside and forgotten. !at is, until some 1(.( ,.( ,2,3),4)( ,': !eorists had gone a"er their purge, my chance exchanges at the Oberlin ’67 cluster -('(.4*3))(..5&.0-.(++.6&*. journey extended, modi$ed, and deferred reunion in 2008 led to a paper on “Oberlin by plans in light of the Vietnam War. I College and the Berkeley School of Political

EDITOR’S NOTE, cont. 2013 Graduates Philosophy Majors: ing with questions about mind and the Declan Smithies (Ohio State University), (William) Austin Emerson* world. Along with the traditional option on the relationship between consciousness Alexander Lykoudis* for a general philosophy degree, we hope and cognition, and from Owen Flanagan Evan Baker that the new major will attract the most (Duke University), on life as a perfor- Kevin Gilfether re%ective students with a wide variety of mance. In the spring, we had talks from Stephan Goodwin interests and ambitions. Ram Neta (University of North Carolina Hana Jimenez While the day-to-day business of at Chapel Hill), on the nature of inference, Peter Meckel teaching and research occupied each of from Robert Stecker (Central Michigan Justin Murphy-Mancini us in the department, we were collectively University) on the relation between William Shenton and expertly represented to the college aesthetic and artistic value, and from Leigh Smith Maxwell Sugarman by our new (and $rst-ever female) chair, Carl Hoefer (Universitat Autònoma de Robert (Chip) Dorit Ganson. Dorit gave a most gracious Barcelona), on the relation between causa- Williams address at a recent reception celebrating tion and probability-raising. David Bayless’ endowment of a faculty Next year, we will be hosting the 41st *December graduate support fund in the name of Al MacKay, Oberlin Colloquium in Philosophy with Philosophy Minors: emeritus department member. For more a focus on metaphysics. !e colloquium’s Charlotte Donnelly on David Bayless ’72 and his generous organizers, Kate and Martin !omson- Charlie Hartford support of the college, see below. Jones, are very excited about the program Daniela Medrano In years like this one, which fall be- they have put together. Jack Mintz tween meetings of the biennial Oberlin Below you will $nd more news, from Violet Peña Colloquium, Martin !omson-Jones individual faculty members, alumni, and Elizabeth Ross organizes our departmental speaker graduating students, as well as informa- Benjamin Schild series. !is year’s series was no excep- tion about student achievements and Anrey Wang tion to the record in its high quality and speci$c department events. Happy read- Emily Whitaker rich variety. In the fall, we had talks from ing, and have a wonderful year. Amy Wiltzius Ian Wood Max Zahn Zoe Zetlin 3 FACULTY NEWS

Dorit Ganson was busy in her $rst year authored by former Oberlin student number of introductions to philosophy. In as chair of the philosophy department. Ben Bronner, titled “Visual Prominence addition, he taught a section of Philosophy She delivered an invited talk last spring and Representationalism,” appeared 235, Biomedical Ethics, in the spring. Tim at the Paci$c APA in San Francisco, in Philosophical Studies. Todd has an- reports that the pleasures of philosophical “!e Bayesian Critique of Dogmatist and other paper titled “Are Color Experiences conversation are, as he recalled, great with Evidentialist Responses to Skepticism.” In Representational?” forthcoming in that a great number of interlocutors. the paper she defends the idea that you can same journal. Todd also has a paper forth- Tim also gave a couple of invited newly gain an epistemic reason to outright coming in Philosophy & Phenomenological lectures this past year. In November, he believe, even when your rational degree Research with the title “Burge’s Defense delivered “How !ere Can Be a Right to of credence goes down. She introduces an of Perceptual Content.” !e paper was Bear Arms?” at the University of Madison, example, Joe the Plumber and the Cruise co-authored with two former Oberlin Wisconsin, as part of a broader conference Ship Murder, inspired by Kate and Martin’s students: Alex Kerr and Ben Bronner. Ben on gun policy. In April he gave a lecture at entertaining tales of their cruise ship and Todd also completed two other papers: Trinity University entitled, “Occasioning vacation over winter break. She served as a “Skepticism about Meaning in Life” and “A Crime, Libertarian Property, and Agency.” referee for Paci"c Philosophical Quarterly, De%ationary Approach to Illusion.” !ese Both lectures addressed, at di#erent levels !e Southern Journal of Philosophy, and two papers are currently under review at of abstraction, the moral status of be- Philosophers Imprint this past year, and top philosophy journals. Todd is currently haviors that might occasion crime. Tim enjoyed advising Kevin Gilfether’s honors writing a paper on the concept of a sense reports intensive discussion on these topics project on thought experiments in philoso- with two former Oberlin students: Robert of contemporary controversy. phy. Now that her parents have settled in Williams (aka “Chip”) and Ben Bronner. Madeline Hall, Tim’s Timneh African to their new home in Oberlin, she has been As a teacher, Todd is spending a lot of Grey parrot companion, appeared occa- able to take her mom to lots of concerts, time making slides as he switches to using sionally in philosophy classes this school including the wonderful senior recitals in PowerPoint more and more in the class- year. Madeline continues to perform composition and organ of Justin Murphy- room. Next year he has a research leave speech acts and various inscrutable acts of Mancini, who is one of our graduating during which he plans to do a lot of read- cognition. Maddie enjoyed her occasional seniors in philosophy. ing on perception. forays into philosophical conversation, Tim reports, punctuating her superiority Todd Ganson has been spending a Tim Hall taught four sections of over humans with displays of %ight. lot of time thinking about perception Philosophy 121, Philosophy and Morality, and the meaning of life. A paper co- this past year and thus oversaw a great continued on page 4

SOME OF OUR GRADUATES’ FUTURE PLANS Austin Emerson writes: “A"er a nourishing four years spent as a communications associate for Blue Oak School in Napa, molding his brain in the rare$ed air of the Oberlin intellectual Calif. It’s a small, private K-8 school, and I’ll be managing web environment, Austin Emerson will seek wisdom on the open content, writing articles, taking pictures, and doing general road—in the hills of northern Spain, the beaches of Greece, graphic design/layout work for their pamphlets, internal doc- and the peninsulas of Mexico. He plans on traveling for the uments, and whatnot. I can’t wait to get started, as northern next year or so, with no foreseeable plans a"er that.” California is one of my absolute favorite places in the world, and it’s been too long since I spent time out there.” Kevin Gilfether will be attending Tu"s University’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) elementary Chip Williams writes: “I plan on returning to North Carolina education program. He’ll be doing his student teaching in to $nd gainful employment doing something or other, before Cambridge, Mass., at the King Open Elementary School. applying to philosophy graduate programs in the fall. With my philosophy degree in hand, I’ll enjoy explaining to strang- Patrick Haggerty will be attending the PhD program in math ers and members of the extended family alike what I ‘plan on at Indiana University. doing with that,’ and I look forward to basking newt-like in the warm glow of their approval as I reveal my plans to spend Will Shenton writes: “I am extremely fortunate in that I actu- several years in pursuit of another, bigger philosophy degree.” ally have a job lined up! Starting in August, I’ll be working 4 FACULTY NEWS, cont.

Tim wishes our alumni well and he teaching purposes. In Irvine, Kate also talked to a number of looks forward to hearing from Oberlin He stopped %ying small planes a digital media scholars, toured various art philosophers over the coming year. number of years ago, but he still plays bas- museums, and spent as much time as pos- ketball and tennis. His wife and daughter sible outdoors with Orla. Peter McInerney taught a full range of are doing well. Since returning to Oberlin, Kate has courses in 2012-13, including 19th Century been writing furiously about digital im- Philosophy, 20th Century Continental In the fall Kate Thomson-Jones taught the ages. She spent the summer in Montreal, Philosophy, and Philosophy of Mind. Philosophy of Music and a section of her visiting the Center for Interdisciplinary His research concerns the interaction of introductory course, !e Nature of Value. Studies in Society and Culture at scienti$c claims (from psychology, behav- Both courses were considerably re-worked Concordia University. While there, she ioral economics, and neuroscience) about from previous years’ o#erings, and partic- engaged with the work of digital scholars the workings of human psychological ularly in Philosophy of Music, Kate learnt and artists, while enjoying francophone systems with philosophical and com- a great deal from her students (including culture and city life with Martin and Orla. monsense conceptions of these matters in why she should care more about jazz!). Upon her return from Montreal in August, ethics, practical reasoning, and philosophy In January, Kate began her ACLS- Kate took up a short residency at the Allen of mind. He is particularly interested in sponsored research leave with a Memorial Art Museum. With the support the extent to which people can exercise month-long visit to the Humanities of an Andrew Mellon AMAM Summer conscious control over what happens in Collective at UC Irvine (accompanied by Curriculum Grant, Kate is looking for their own minds. He has written several Martin and their daughter, Orla). While ways to incorporate the Allen’s collection articles concerning various ways in which there, she gave a talk to a diverse audience into her teaching of a new seminar, to be re%ective activity can a#ect automatic, on the aesthetic implications of digital o#ered in Spring 2014, on Realism and non-re%ective mental happenings. Since movie projection. Work on this talk served Representation in Art. some of his courses cover topics in these as a useful bridge between Kate’s earlier areas, there is a nice $t of research for research in the philosophy of $lm and publication purposes with research for her current book project on digital art. continued on page 5

ENDOWMENTS !e philosophy department was de- He also represents mortgage-backed lighted to learn in the spring that David securities broker-dealers, investment Bayless ’72 is endowing a faculty support advisers and their employees in investi- fund in the name of emeritus faculty gations by the SEC and FINRA. member Al MacKay. !e fund is to Before training in law, David com- support faculty in philosophy and the pleted a PhD in philosophy at Cambridge humanities with expenses related to University and taught in the philosophy research, travel, journal subscriptions, department at the University of Notre and other such activities and programs Dame for two years. that will enhance the faculty experience At a philosophy department recep- David Bayless ’72 (center) with Al and Anne at Oberlin. tion in his honor, David spoke of the MacKay David is a partner in the San importance of his Oberlin philosophical Francisco o7ce of the law $rm training, particularly with Al MacKay, Covington & Burling, which he joined for his success in practicing law. As he in 2007. His practice focuses on SEC en- explained, philosophy and litigation are forcement work, internal investigations, both concerned with language and the and private securities class action litiga- structure of arguments even if the ends tion. He represents public companies, of the latter are rather more practical their directors, and senior management. than those of the former. As our chair, He has extensive experience in SEC in- Dorit Ganson, conveyed so well in her vestigations involving $nancial reporting address at the reception, the philosophy From left to right: Al MacKay (emeritus fac- and accounting fraud allegations, stock department is deeply grateful for David’s ulty), David Bayless ’72, Dan Merrill (emeritus option backdating and insider trading. support. faculty). 5 FACULTY NEWS, cont.

In 2012-13, Martin Thomson-Jones taught and Complacency: Metaphysics and the spent a week in December on a Caribbean Philosophy of Science, Deductive Logic, Methodology of the Sciences,” will be cruise, but a veil of silence has been drawn and a seminar entitled “Representation appearing in a volume to be published over that episode. in Science.” He also had the pleasure by Oxford University Press sometime of supervising Chip Williams’s honors in the next year or so. (Other writing And $nally, from our emeritus faculty: work, and is very pleased by the out- projects continue to inch along, as is their come. Departmentally, he ran the visiting wont.) He also had a paper accepted for Dan Merrill and his wife, Marly, co-edited speaker series, as is his wont, and, with a conference in Hannover but thought a book that was published last year: Up the Kate, he began organizing next year’s better of making the transatlantic trip Winds and over the Tetons: Journal Entries Oberlin Colloquium in Philosophy, which mid-semester. It was a good year for travel and Images from the 1860s Raynolds will focus on metaphysics. Research- nonetheless. Martin went to San Diego Expedition (University of New Mexico wise, Martin is happy to report that in November for the 2012 Philosophy of Press, 2012). Dan writes, “Marly’s an expe- the paper of which he was so anxiously Science Association meetings, and then rienced documentary editor (this was her awaiting news in last year’s newsletter returned to California with Kate and their seventh book); I had never done this kind (“Modelling Without Mathematics”) did daughter Orla for the month of January. of thing before, and it was great fun.” indeed appear in the December 2012 He spent the bulk of the second California issue of Philosophy of Science, as part of trip visiting the (excellent) Logic and I8 9&:’0 )3;( '& ;/&5 *&.( ,4&:' the proceedings of the 2010 Philosophy Philosophy of Science Department at U. 8,6:)'9 .(+(,.61, -)(,+( +(( of Science Association meetings, and C. Irvine, and $nished the trip o# with '1( 0(-,.'*(/' 5(4+3'(: that another paper, “Against Bracketing a workshop at U. C. San Diego. He also 1''-:///(5.&4(.)3/.(0:/-13)&+&-19.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Philosophy Majors Committee Essay Prizes Ari Benjamin, Kevin Gilfether, Chip Williams !e Christopher P. Dahl Essay Prize is given for the best under- !e Majors Committee hosted several events this past year. Chip graduate essay in any area of philosophy, and the Rhoden Essay and Kevin held a peer paper review session toward the end of the Prize is given for the best undergraduate essay in the areas of eth- fall semester. In the spring, the committee arranged a forum for ics, medical ethics, or the philosophy of law. the discussion of privilege in philosophy and at Oberlin College, following a series of bias incidents on campus. Finally, with the Chip Williams won this year’s Dahl Prize with his essay, “!e support of the Nancy K. Rhoden fund, the committee organized Rovers and the Bees,” which the examiner described as the “most a trip to Case Western University in Cleveland to attend a lec- polished” of the submissions as well as perhaps the most creative. ture by Donald Brown (Pennsylvania State University) entitled “Navigating the Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change Ethics in On the department’s Facebook page, Alan Durning ’85 com- Light of a !irty-Five Year Debate.” mented on this news: “Congrats to Chip, from the 1985 winner of the Dahl Prize.” Honors Work Kevin Gilfether, under the supervision of Dorit Ganson, suc- Chip also won $rst prize in the Rhoden Essay Competition, with cessfully wrote and defended a thesis entitled “!e Content of his essay, “Nozick and Cohen on Distributive Justice.” Second !ought Experiments and Philosophical Context.” Kevin received prize went to Whitman Barrett with his essay, “!e Second an overall grade of high honors. Amendment and Gun Bans.”

Chip Williams, under the supervision of Martin !omson-Jones, Graduate Chip successfully wrote and defended a thesis in the philosophy of biol- Williams ogy entitled “Natural Selection and Replicators.” Chip received an (center) with overall grade of Highest Honors. his parents.

We o#er special thanks to Simon Fitzpatrick, from the department of philosophy at John Carroll University, for serving as external examiner for Kevin and Chip’s Honors Defenses. 6 ALUMNI NEWS, cont.

Mike Blejer ’06 writes: “Well, my most philosophically relevant news is that I’ve Rahul Chaudhri ’07 successfully defended just been cast in an ESPN/Coors Light na- his doctoral dissertation in philosophy at tional commercial. Don’t tell, but I’m going Stanford University. !e title of his dis- to play my character as a cross between two sertation is “On Nietszche’s Historical of the greatest names in British thought, Philosophy.” David Hume and Shaquille O’Neal. Basically I’ll be a giant who denies that my Mary Conger ’03 writes: “I currently live future free-throw statistics can be inferred in Bangkok, !ailand, where I work at a from my crap free-throws in the past (n.b., I British international school. Since wrest- Jeff Dean ’91 and his son Oscar. know nothing about sports but according to ing myself from Oberlin I have $nished hands-on material relating to the media Socrates that means I’m wise at sports, so I a masters degree in education, culture, & and performing arts (such as $lm, photog- think the joke works). society (a mish-mash of philosophical and raphy, audio, animation, theater, gaming “I appeared at the Boston Comedy anthropological perspectives on education) and so on). It was a very tough decision, but Festival again this year and also had my and completed doctoral coursework in edu- outside of philosophy my main interests are $rst Television Stand-up debut on X$nity/ cational leadership at Penn. I also started in the media arts, and this was an opportu- Comcast. Network TV still eludes me (both a small company, Collegocity, that helps nity I couldn’t pass up. in it’s reason for existing and in practice). I families and school groups undertake af- “I should also note that since my last suppose by the time this comes out I should fordable and productive campus visit trips. update, my wife Clare and I had our son, have the video up on my website, http:// But really, these days I spend most of my Oscar, on August 8, 2012. I’ve included a mikecomedy.com. time avoiding a dissertation and marveling picture of me and the little fellow.” “I’m the comedy editor at !e Daily Dolt, at our Roomba. a political satire site. Our $rst video, which “On the personal side of things, my Emily C. Francomano ’92 is associate I cowrote and starred in, recently hit 70,000 partner, Adam Bliss, and I are tickled to be professor of Spanish and teaches in the views. Give it a look at http://www.youtube. expecting a child in October. When back in comparative literature and medieval studies com/watch?v=cfYIjwhDjVE. I’m also writ- the States this July we’re also hosting a Love programs at Georgetown University. Her ing some satire for the Dolt and my $rst Fest to celebrate our commitment to each second book, !ree Spanish Querelle Texts: article was on the top ten of Reddit, which other with our families and community.” Grisel and Mirabella, !e Slander against I’m told is the “front page of the internet.” [email protected] Women, and !e Defense of Ladies against It’s about another college trying to silence Slanderers, A Bilingual Edition and Study, a victim of sexual assault, and I think you Katharine Cook ’59 writes: “Inspired by was just published. Emily writes that she can see my Oberlin showing: http://www. John Liu of Bioneers fame, I’ve been at work “remembers well her conversation with Dan thedailydolt.com/2013/02/28/university-of- outside ‘the monetary system based on the Merrill about going to graduate school in north-carolina/. production of goods and services’ trading philosophy. He said something along the “I recently appeared on the NPR quiz native perennial grasses for food, research- lines of: ‘No, no, you don’t want to do that, show Ask Me Another, which should be out ing native plant foods such as the California you want to study comparative literature.’ on their podcast/website by the time this is walnut, and tending a native wild%ower He was right! Nevertheless, my philosophy published. garden. A poem of mine was just published major at Oberlin certainly in%uenced the “Finally, my podcast Malignant Brain in the Pulitzer prize-wining local newspa- ways I read and write about literature.” Humor is still going full steam, and was per, Pt. Reyes Light. Daughter Amber, also included in the $rst ever NYCPodfest, a an Oberlin student, is a $ve-minute walk Jay Garﬁeld ’75 writes: “I am leaving podcasting Festival in New York. Our live away. Happy to hear from alumni at katha- Smith College for at least three years to take show went amazingly and I’m hoping to do [email protected].” up the Kwan Im !ong Hood Cho Temple some more of those and hopefully tour the Professorship in the Humanities at the new show in the next year or two. As ever, the Jeff Dean ’91 writes: “In April I began Yale-NUS College in Singapore, where I podcast is available at http://mbhumor.com, a new role as publisher for Focal Press will be head of the discipline of philosophy, which discerning readers will note redirects (now part of Taylor & Francis). Focal responsible for leading the development to mikecomedy.com. Two plugs for the Press doesn’t publish philosophy books, of a new curriculum in global philosophy price of one. Or one for the price of two. See so that means my long tenure (14 years!) at a new interdisciplinary college, the $rst I knew I should have majored in math. as a philosophy editor has come to an liberal arts college in Asia, and the $rst “I also recently ran into an Oberlin ’92 end. Instead, I’m now managing a team liberal arts college with a truly global core graduate at a clown orgy. It was weird.” of editors who publish rather practical, continued on page 7 7 ALUMNI NEWS, cont. curriculum. Should be exciting. Visitors on Audiovisual Performances; I was head welcome!” of the U.S. delegation, and the folks behind me are all the other members of the U.S. Adam Gordon ’06 is currently pursuing delegation. a master’s of science degree in sustain- “!e Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual ability management at the Earth Institute, Performances was the $rst substantive mul- Columbia University. !is summer, he was tilateral treaty in intellectual property since an EDF Climate Corps fellow with Colgate- 1996. !e treaty establishes rights for $lm Justin Hughes ’82 (front and center) at the signing Palmolive working on sustainability and and television actors; while those ‘perform- of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances. energy e7ciency projects within the global ers’ rights’ already exist in most developed supply chain. countries, there are many jurisdictions In my non-working hours I enjoy writ- lacking such statutory rights, putting actors ing. For the last several years I have been Kyle Greenﬁeld ’08 writes: “A"er four in a substantially weaker negotiating posi- writing reviews of recordings and perfor- years running a startup in San Francisco, tion with $lm and television producers. mances for Elmore Magazine, a publication I gave it up last fall to travel for a while “!e initial e#ort to complete the treaty dedicated to American Roots music. I also and work on some philosophical musings in 2000 %oundered on a disagreement be- have a short story entitled ‘!e Spectacle of integrating economic and social theory, tween the European Union and the United a Lifetime’ published on a literary humor taking full advantage of the fact that writ- States. In late 2010, the U.S. negotiating website called Eric’s Hysterics.” ing is location independent. I sailed down team led by me got e#orts to complete the from California in October and spent treaty restarted and a tentative agreement Chris Patton ’91 completed his second $ve months living on a boat in Mexico, on how to complete the treaty was reached year teaching creative writing and litera- then went on land, spending a month in in the summer of 2011, paving the way for ture at Western Washington University. Guatemala and a week in Honduras. I’m the ‘diplomatic conference’ to complete His most recent publication is a book of currently in Leon, Nicaragua and will con- negotiations in June 2012 in Beijing.” translations from 2011: Curious Masonry: tinue to work my way south. !ree Translations from the Anglo-Saxon “I’m attaching a picture of me playing Wes Kania ’04 writes: “I currently live in (Gaspereau Press, Kentville, Nova Scotia). tag with some sea lions. Just another day Indiana with my wife, Rebecca, and 2-year- In that same year, he completed his PhD in the life. I’m keeping a blog at old son, Tommy. I’ve been working for in literature and creative writing at the www.beyondthemast.blogspot.com if any- Jaguar Land Rover for the past two years, University of Utah. one is interested in longer, semi-melli%uous and traveling extensively. I cover a territory descriptions of my travels.” that spans as far north as Minnesota, as far Lei Zhao ’08 writes: “I think it’s worth west as Kansas, and as far east as Kentucky. sharing that I got married last summer! Sommer Hodson ’07 is “nearly done” with I completed my MBA in marketing and Here’s a picture of me and my wife (Maria her graduate work in philosophy at the $nance at Northeastern University in the Land ’08). We did this all backwards—got University of Rochester; She will be defend- beginning of 2012.” the legal part done at the courthouse and are ing her dissertation, on the topic of personal planning the celebration for this summer.” identity, later this year. Jon Kleinman ’91 writes: “I earned an MA in counseling psychology at the California Justin Hughes ’82 sends a photo of Institute of Integral Studies in 2000. I work “maybe the $rst time an OC philosophy as an academic advisor for the School of major negotiated and signed a multilateral Arts and Sciences at SUNY College at Old treaty for the United States. !is is from the Westbury. In 2012, I gave a presentation June 26, 2012 signing of the Beijing Treaty entitled ‘Liberal Arts in a Career Oriented World’ at a regional conference of the National Academic Advising Association. I focused on the personal and intellectual Lei Zhao ’08 and his wife, Maria Land ’08. bene$ts gained by students who complete coursework in the liberal arts. Much inspi- ration for this presentation came from the book Liberal Arts at the Brink, written by Oberlin alumnus Victor Ferrall. A review I wrote of Ferrall’s book was published in the Kyle Greenfield ’08 swimming with sea lions. Spring 2012 issue of the NACADA Journal. 8 Department of Philosophy

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OBERLIN PHILOSOPHY

Editor: Katherine !omson-Jones

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Dorit Ganson (Chair) In an effort to curb print, postage, and environmental costs college- Peter McInerney wide, Oberlin is moving several of its print publications online. Please Martin !omson-Jones make sure we have your email address, so that you don’t miss out on Todd Ganson newsletters, invitations to alumni regional events, and more. You can Timothy Hall update your email address (and other information) via OBIEWeb at Katherine !omson-Jones www.oberlin.edu/alumni. Go to the MyOBIEweb box and click on “register to access the community” (it’s free). Please direct questions to Administrative Assistant: Karen Barnes [email protected] or call the Alumni Association at (440) 775-8692.