Contents Spring 2003

Contents Spring 2003 Features: The Search for God Compromise in the Classroom at Vanderbilt The Thrill of It All Virtuoso Performers Arching into Space Departments: 1,000 Words In Class DoreWays The Arts & Culture VJournal S.P.O.V. The Campus A.P.O.V. Sports The Classes Vanderbilt Holdings Southern Journal Bright Ideas \ http://www.vanderbilt.edu/alumni/publications/contents_sp03.html8/17/2004 7:50:39 AM 1,000WoBefore the Ceremony r d s Year end at Vanderbilt offers groups across campus an occasion for gathering. For the Navy ROTC unit at Vanderbilt, its midshipmen image frozen in time celebrate the end of the academic year with One One the Spring Parade and Change of Command Ceremony, during which the graduating commander of the midshipmen battalion turns over command to the unit’s new commander. During the year, activities for midshipmen include color guard, drill team, Semper Fi and Trident societies, as well as taking part in community service. Approximately 100 Vanderbilt students are NROTC midshipmen. Nearly 25 percent are female, and 15 percent are Marine Option students. Photo by Neil Brake. 4 DoreWays From the Editor From the Reader The meaning in the shadows Lawson Revisited I was a student in the Graduate Depart- ment of Religion during the days in which “the grew up in Tennessee—three and a half hours southwest Lawson affair” [Fall 2002 issue, “Days of Thun- of Vanderbilt via I-40. I lived my adolescence in the shadow of Graceland, with- der,”p. 34] was unfolding. The venomous tone of in the sphere of influence of the Mississippi-delta blues, amid the river-town ideasA forum for exchanging one of the letters you published in the Winter 2003 ethos that was Memphis. So when I took on the editorship of Vanderbilt Mag- issue of the magazine has prompted me to write. azine and returned to the South after having lived in New England for nearly I knew Jim Lawson, of course, and some of the other persons who were involved in the protest 20 years, I anticipated a homecoming. I expected to be wrapped in the warm movement. Thank you for your fine story regard- blanket of familiar dialect, and to be reintroduced to cultural traditions and ing Jim and these important events in the histo- a way of life that would awaken memories. ry of Vanderbilt and the nation. What I found was a land sometimes familiar, but more often strange and always John C. English, PhD’65 multi-layered. Exploring this new land has been an adventure. I can’t say it’s been all Baldwin City, Kan. pleasant, but it’s often been surprising and sometimes delightful. One of the great I Compelling Images delights has been that as editor of Vanderbilt Magazine,I have been able to rediscov- er elements of southern culture, thereby gaining insight into people and institutions, Thank you so much for the inclusion of Carlton Wilkinson’s beautiful photographs [Win- through the stories of Tony Earley. His short story “Cross” appears on page 88 as ter issue,“Images of Man,”p. 44]. He is extreme- this issue’s “Southern Journal.” ly talented and owns the finest gallery in Nashville. A writer by education and trade, I enjoy imagery. I Please continue to include the work of Nashville can get lost in it. And the dogwood in Tony’s story is artists. rich, insightful, true to southern culture, and just plain Love the new format. fun to think about. I won’t try to unpack the image for Stephanie Thomas, BA’01 Atlanta you because, as a writer, I also believe that we all bring a history and set of values to the image, and that shapes To Be in France our understanding of it. I want to commend Katie Galbreath on Much of this holds true for the magazine you hold her recent contribution,“Reflections in the Foun- in your hands. I develop the contents for each issue of tain” [Winter issue, p. 66]. The article hit home Vanderbilt Magazine with the idea of offering the read- in revealing the beautiful essence of life in Provence. er rediscovering Vanderbilt an experience similar to Like the author, I, too, climbed to the top of Monte mine in rediscovering the South. Sainte Victoire and traveled to other local towns outside of Aix as part of my experience on Van- Vanderbilt, like the Middle Tennessee region it calls derbilt’s program. Reading her essay was deli- JIM HSIEH home, is multi-layered. Our dialect is the language of ciously painful in remembering the greatness of scholarly discourse. Our traditions: the rigors of scientific testing, the time-honored that experience as I took the metro train to work collaboration between faculty and students that we call mentoring. 11 years later. (Wow, am I really that old?) As you read Vanderbilt Magazine,I urge you to explore, to experience some of the Her essay reminded me of my favorite “French” elements that make up this University. Spend some time with the departments. Maybe lesson. I remember enjoying fresh fruit and cheese at a picnic held by a French World War II veter- “Vanderbilt Holdings” or “Bright Ideas.”Read about Bart Victor, our featured profes- an, Monsieur Aberlain, who was my host. After sor in the “In Class” department. Or invest a little more time and delve into a feature. devouring an apple, I started to walk into the Vanderbilt is, of course, much more than the sum of the parts you experience through kitchen to throw the core into the trash when my this magazine. It is the people, their ideas, and the debate, scholarship and research host stopped me in my tracks. He remarked,“Oh, that surround those ideas. I’ve heard this labeled “the shadows”—that intangible you Americans always want to throw nature’s creatures in the trash when they can be returned element of university life where ideas take shape and new knowledge is born. It’s a to nature.”He then took the core out of my hand place those of us who serve the University seek out and a place where we find mean- and walked over to the trunk of a small tree ing in our work. It’s the area into which I hope this magazine can shed some light. and dug a small hole near the roots where he Ken Schexnayder buried the core. He then said,“What comes from V anderbilt Magazine 7 the tree should be returned home.” To me, that {Featured Letter} sion of the Mayan empire to S.A. a new discovery ence. Vanderbilt—to firmly entrench a richly Fugitives and Agrarians significantly racist—except Davidson, who was lesson demonstrated the essence of life in Provence. by [Ingram Professor of Anthropology Arthur] deserved national reputation—needs a better alum- explicitly prejudiced. I enjoyed Mr. Kingsbury’s piece on the A beautiful, yet simple reminder that the sym- In Tribute Demarest? Please cite a reference that discuss- ni outreach program, and you are directly con- After WWII, Red Warren came South on leave Fugitives [Winter issue,“Pride and Prejudice,”p. 30]. metry of nature is right in front of us if we just When Vanderbilt Magazine and es when and where the Mayan empire extended tributing to that accomplishment. Well done, and from Yale doing research for his long book, Segre- In 1962, Mr. Ransom was back on campus after open our eyes. the A&S Cornerstone came today, I learned to South America. thanks. gation. At Ole Miss, where I taught “race rela- retiring from Kenyon. He taught a modern poet- Scott Seder, BA’93 that Gisela Mosig had retired from Van- Robert C. Nabors, BS’54, MA’54 Brad Gericke, MA’96, PhD’02 tions” in the sociology department, we consumed ry class, which I audited. I found him a consum- Chicago derbilt last year and then Fort Washington, Md. Stockbridge, Ga. much of a night (and modest amounts of his Ken- mate gentlemen, a gentle soul, without an ounce died from cancer this Jan- tucky bourbon) exchanging information and opin- of hatred, and a person with no pretensions. uary [“In Memoriam,” [Editor’s note: Vanderbilt Magazine incorrectly Regarding the comments about the “new ions on the changing South. We continued this A Question of Gore The class dealt with the work of other poets, but Faculty and Staff, p. 84]. gave the Mayan empire a great deal more real estate look” and the content of Vanderbilt Magazine,I relationship via correspondence until his death. His I would like to respond to Christopher I had begun to read Mr. Ransom’s poems on my I am very sad to learn that they in fact possessed. Their empire did not suppose it is why I liked Vanderbilt: intelligent letters relating to Vanderbilt, the South and the Agrar- Talbert’s comments regarding the failure of Van- own. If, as professors Kreyling and Daniels seem of Professor Mosig’s death, extend into South America.] diversity of opinion. Some graduates may not agree ian movement, etc., I gave to the Vanderbilt Library; derbilt Magazine to recognize Al Gore as a distin- to indicate, his poetry is not currently being taught, since she was an inspira- with others, but at least the opinions are articu- those about his career generally, I gave to Yale. guished alumnus of Vanderbilt [Winter issue,“From it is a great tragedy. He is, I believe, one of the great- tion to me when I was a student. The story late and thoughtful, unlike most letters to the edi- To be even an undergraduate major in the after- the Reader,”p.

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