The Antiochian Winter 2019 Supplement

Antiochian THE

019 Winter 2 nt e Supplem

A Publication of Antioch College

Class of 2015 Alum Elected to City Council Alumnus Receives Roebling Medal Peter Buseck ’57 has been awarded the 2019 Roebling Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA). The Roebling Medal is the highest award of the MSA for scientific eminence as represented primarily by scientific publication of outstanding original research in mineralogy.​ “I am honored to be recognized by my colleagues and to have made a significant impact on the science in my field,” Buseck says. “Much of the credit is shared with my former students, postdoctoral associates, and visiting scientists.”

Buseck studied geology at Antioch College and received graduate degrees from Columbia University.

After a postdoctoral appointment in Washington, D.C., he accepted a faculty position at Arizona State University where he holds joint faculty appointments in the School of Molecular Sciences and School of Earth and Space Exploration.

Buseck is known for his research in solid state geochemistry and mineralogy, geochemistry and cosmochemistry, and atmospheric geochemistry. He has pioneered in the use of transmission electron microscopy to study minerals, meteorites, and aerosol particles at close to the atomic scale. A recently discovered mineral, buseckite, has been named in his honor.

Given each year since 1937, the medal is named in honor of Colonel Washington A. Roebling (18371926), an engineer, bridge builder, mineral collector, and significant friend of the society. Buseck will receive the engraved medal and will be made a Life Fellow of the Society at the 2019 MSA Conference, to be held in association with the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Phoenix, AZ, in September 2019.

On Tuesday, March 5, 2019, Perri Freeman ’15, was elected to the Burlington, VT, City Council as a Progressive candidate, defeating a longtime incumbent running as an Independent. Freeman is a member of the first graduating class of the newly independent Antioch College following its reopening.

Freeman engaged in grassroots organizing and ran on a platform that included addressing climate change at the city level and affordable housing. In an interview with VTDigger, Freeman explains that she felt her winning campaign reached people who felt disenfranchised. On her campaign website, Freeman states that she “began organizing around community and environmental issues in 2013 while studying history at Antioch College.”

Perri Freeman received a Horace Mann Fellowship from the College, a competitive fellowship that guaranteed free tuition for her four-year degree, and graduated with a BA in History. One of 35 students who

entered Antioch College in 2011, Freeman was selected from among 3,000 applicants looking for admission. During her time at the College, her varied Co-op placements included an organic farm in the US and a community center for street children in San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico. Freeman

also worked as an administrative assistant at Yellow Springs Home, Inc. and an academic tutor for Yellow Springs Public Schools, where she helped lead a new literacy program for at-risk students and instructed an introductory Spanish course for middle school students.

Chair of the Writing Program

and Assistant Professor of Writing and Digital Literacy Brooke Bryan served as Freeman’s Co-op advisor and also taught her writing. Bryan comments, “Perri’s approach to local politics is entirely Antiochian in spirit—a commitment to social change and a willingness to work on big issues in small places, achieved through a boots-on-the-ground sense of inquiry and collaboration.”

Assistant Professor of History Rahul Nair remembers Freeman as active in the campus community. He says, “Perri was a student who was passionate about the issues she cared about, particularly those connected with gender representation and community mental health, about which she wrote a very well-researched senior project (I served as the Senior Project advisor). She took an active role in community governance while at Antioch College, serving as the ComCil President, and it is no surprise therefore to hear about her election to the Burlington City Council.”

WYSO to Be Community-Owned President Tom Manley announced in January that the Antioch College Board of Trustees is finalizing steps to establish WYSO as an independent public radio station serving southwest Ohio.

The College is finalizing steps to assign WYSO’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) public radio broadcast license to a newly formed nonprofit 501(c)3 organization with an independent governance board. President Manley assures that the station will maintain a close working relationship with the College and will continue to be located on the Antioch College campus.

“When WYSO was launched in 1958 by Antioch College students, it was always our intention that the station would someday belong to the community,” says Ed Richard ’59, a current College Trustee who founded WYSO with Terry Herndon ’57 and Harold Roeth ’61. According to Richard, “the time is right” for the assignment of the license to an independent community-based, nonprofit organization.

“All at the College are enormously proud of WYSO, and while One Morgan Place Yellow Springs, OH 45387

some alumni may worry about this change it is clearly time for WYSO to have full and free ability to steer its course as an autonomous radio station guided by its distinctive mission and vision,” says President Manely.

“Antioch College understands that need very well. We are an institution that has worked hard to reclaim our independence and to pursue an exceptional mission. Establishing an

teners, donors, volunteers, supporters, and employees have come to rely on the station as a trusted community resource. The College is now ensuring that trusted resource remains in the community by putting it in community hands. The WYSO story is part of Antioch and vice versa.

That won’t change. What a vivid example of how supporting the

independent organization for WYSO and assigning the broadcast license to it was a decision that makes great sense to the College and its Board of Trustees. It’s a win for the community, for WYSO, and for the College.”

“Since WYSO’s founding, its lis-

power of students to give flight to new ideas and enterprises can have lasting impact in the public square. That is the Antioch way and why WYSO will remain a shining example of how it can work,” says President Manley.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for WYSO, and we are ready to stand on our own,” says WYSO General Manager, Neenah Ellis. “We are a strong organization with dedicated staff and volunteers who are ready to guide WYSO into the future. We have experienced tremendous increases in membership, listenership, and revenue. Our budget has doubled in the last 10 years, we’ve expanded our geographic reach with a new tower, and we’ve created a corps of independent producers. We are a vibrant public radio station with a bright future.”

“Both Antioch College and WYSO have grown and benefited from our relationship. But a holistic, practice-based college education and public radio broadcasting are not

Inside: 2 The Stoop More news, Lines of Thinking, A Buffalo Grazing 6 The Mound 8 In the News 9 Volunteer Work Project

PAID

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

DAYTON, OH PERMIT NO. 709

10 InBox Rememberances: Jimmy Williams Katie Jako ’54 Al Denman 14 Antiochiana Songs From the Stacks

the same things obviously,” says President Manley. “The assignment of the license permits both organizations to pursue their respective missions, while continuing to maintain the very healthy strategic partnership they have nurtured.”

The term “assignment” is both important and intentional. “At no time, did we consider offering the station for sale in the open market,” says President Manley. “Our goal was, specifically, to place the station under community control— that is, the station will be wholly independent and operated for the benefit of the community at-large.

That is entirely in keeping with what the founders and early volunteers had in mind sixty years ago.”

Antioch College Trustee Sharen Neuhardt, an attorney at Thompson Hine, spearheaded the complex project. Antioch College will receive $3.5 million as partial reimbursement for its decades of investment in WYSO. Led by a $2.0 million pledge from Dayton philanthropist Charles D. Berry, the fundraising effort by Ellis and WYSO director of development Luke Dennis has raised the entire $3.5 million–a remarkable indication of community support for the station.

Among the many ways that Antioch College and WYSO will continue to work together is through The Center for Community Voices, a media training center developed by WYSO in 2010. The Center helps Antioch College students and members of the community, to create radio stories and learn 21st-century media literacy skills that are required for effective storytelling on digital platforms. Since 2010, the Center has trained more than 200 people including Antioch College students, faculty, alumni, and community members.

Join us in celebrating this next stage in the growth of WYSO and Antioch College—a great example of the College’s vibrant history of nurturing new ideas and enterprises which ultimately have lasting impact on the public good— and in congratulating the WYSO staff and volunteers for past success, for accepting newly added responsibilities, and for their continued success.

Stoop

The

Student and Professor Present at Conference

Antioch College was represented by a student and member of the faculty at the 111th Annual Meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, held in Cincinnati from March 7–9.

First-year student Delaney Schlesinger-Devlin ’22 and Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Teófilo Espada each made submissions which were selected for presentation.

Schlesinger-Devlin submitted a research poster titled “Perceptions of No Child Left Behind in Newspapers in Texas between 2001 and 2006.” In her poster she uses qualitatively and quantitatively content analysis to examine the impact of newspaper reporting on public perceptions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Professor Espada presented a paper titled “Ambivalent Morals: Debates on Human Morality in Evolutionary Theory” analyzing how evolutionary biologists studied morality in the 19th century.

The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology was founded in 1904. Its purpose is to promote philosophy and psychology by facilitating the exchange of ideas among those engaged in these fields of inquiry, by encouraging investigation, by fostering the educational function of philosophy and psychology, and by improving the academic status of the subjects.

“In the Horseshoe we can build a snowman And pretend that he is Horace Mann” January brought snow to campus.

Joy

By Tom Manley President, Antioch College

How can we engage in collective imagining?

(originally published February 14, 2019)

How does our work change when we create from a place of freedom?

“No one dies so poor that he does not leave something behind.”

—Pascal

Head for the Hills Dr. Kim Landsbergen and Dr. Brian Kot led a joint field trip to Hocking Hills, OH, for their students in Ecology and Conservational Biology courses over the weekend of February 9.

Among many outdoor activities at Hocking Hills, students enjoyed the geology and biology of the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, heard a great lecture by neutralist extraordinaire Paul Knoop about the geology of Ohio and how geology is the basis of everything, and shared spaghetti dinner and bobcat biology with Ohio University Assistant Professor Popescu and his grad student, who study bobcats and frogs in this region.

The Bieri Family Fund supported this faculty-led environmental field trip.

Online Update

The Antioch College website has a new look! For almost a year, we’ve been working on a website redesign and recently launched our new site at the end of March.

It’s still a work in progress as we continue to sharpen our content and migrate material from our old pages. We hope you’ll enjoy reading our news in a more engaging format and find our new pages more informative and up-to-date as we address each section of the new site.

2 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019

Winter Quarter Community Day

Lines of Thinking

Lately I have been struck by the absence of joy in so many life spaces, including in communities and settings where there is a comparative abundance of essential resources and institutions grounded in spiritual practices that center on forgiveness and love. Schools of any scope are, I am sorry to say, not exceptions.

To the contrary, it too often feels to me that the exalting experiences of teaching and learning have been driven out of the life of schools by fear, violence, scarcity, and a resignation to joylessness. But who will be the heirs of joy if we do not actively seek to discover and practice it?

Now I want to be clear my sense of this is in the aggregate.

Everyday I may encounter stories of insightful, appreciative learning and inspired, generous teaching, if I look for them as the pattern that rises to the surface.

These have the power to invite quite effectively the entrance of joyfulness as a discovered rather than a constructed outcome of education. A few years ago at Antioch College, before I came on the scene, a new professor in performance named Gabrielle Civil designed a remarkable project in which she convened a group of fellow poets and performance artists to undertake experiments in joy. While Gabrielle is now teaching at CalArts in LA, she writes about the genesis of that project and how it has since rippled and revealed itself since in her just released book by the same title, Experiments in Joy. The seven artists began by developing a most wonderful list of questions to serve as the doors, windows, and skylights through which to invite the creative light of those who would respond. I follow the questions below with the fuller statement of their “call.”

What is the urgency of our invention?

What is irresistible to us?

Are you available to yourself and to your calling?

How can we negotiate invisibility and hyper-visibility in productive ways?

How do we undefine the defined?

How can we sharpen our awareness of energy and rhythm in the body?

How can we make art that manifests change for a more socially just world?

How can we move through or without fear?

How can we sustainably care for and be accountable to ourselves and one another?

How can we achieve radical openness?

How can we claim joy?

In response, we call you to conduct experiments in joy This call invites you to play, explore, investigate and create: performance, poems, drawings, desserts, long walks, spirited discussions, textiles, hairstyles, dance, research—make it funky— cooking, music, maps, apps, structures, sounds, movements, games, artifacts, political actions, adornment, manifestations, encounters, new intentions, letters, photographs, or anything else— surprise yourself! Here’s how to do it: 1. Tell the truth 2. Make something new 3. Invite someone in 4. Document 5. Repeat

This process can be collective or individual, a single event or daily practice. Reasons to respond include: to participate in an artistic community; to connect to the enduring legacy of black women art-

ists; to experiment; to play; to find new sources of joy; to confront obstacles to your joy; to learn how to inhabit joy while embattled; to make new work; to transform the work you’re already doing; to interact in new ways; to heal. We don’t have all the answers and we don’t always agree on the answers we have. We do know the conversation is urgent. Join us.

Respond to the Call.

— Gabrielle Civil, Duriel E. Harris, Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle, Rosamond S. King, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Mire Regulus, Awilda Rodriguez Lora The sources of joy are indeed bountiful if not infinite. But they require us to be on the lookout, to be alert, to be disposed towards their appearance, celebrate their presence, and to explore the many ways we might find them in the least likely places and times.

The very title of Gabrielle’s book fires my imagination and brings me joy. I encourage you to join the Experiment!

Of course, a likely place to locate joy is through the experience of poetry. Here are a few lines from Walt Whitman on the subject to motivate your investigations.

O to make the most jubilant poems!

O full of music! Full of manhood, womanhood, in-fancy!

O full of common employments!

Full of grain and trees.

O for the voices of animals!

O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!

O for the dropping of raindrops in a poem!

O for the sunshine, and motion of waves in a poem.

O to be on the sea! the wind, the wide waters around; O to sail in a ship under full sail at sea.

O the joy of my spirit! It is uncaged! It darts like lightning!

It is not enough to have this globe, or a certain time —I will have thousands of globes, and all time.

February 11, Winter Quarter Community Day, was bustling with activity, starting off with diversity training around recognizing and healing trauma and understanding Race-Based Traumatic Stress Injury, led by the College’s Mental Health Counselor Nzingha Dalila.

After brunch in Birch Kitchen, a number of options were open to the community. Space Committee led clean-up and decorating in Weston and book packing in the basement of McGregor for the Prison Justice Initiative was accompanied by desserts created by students in Beth Bridgeman’s reskilling and resilience class.

During Community Meeting time, the Coretta Scott King Center hosted a forum for Black students to share their on-campus experiences with faculty, staff, and other students.

Another round of Weston clean-up and decorating was held concurrently with Community Meal prep. Right before the Community Dinner, Katie Sherman ’19 led yoga at the Wellness Center to get everyone moving before their meal. After an excellent dinner, students, faculty, and staff gathered back at the Coretta Scott King Center for Open Mic Night with the Antioch Creative Collective.

Public Programs

As a community hub for education and innovation, Antioch College continues to develop offerings to the public including the possibility to audit academic classes during block terms, quarterly not-for-credit Learning Collaborative workshops, and special Antioch Institutes.

During the coming July–August ( J-A) Block, two alums have volunteered to offer courses for credit or audit. Ted Goertzel ’64 is teaching Democratic Socialist Alternatives for the 21st Century ( July 15–19, 2019), and Michael McCrory ’69 will teach Introduction to American Law ( July 8–August 2, 2019).

Summer Institutes will include Oral History Training ( July 8–12, 2019) and Bootcamp For Activism (August 1–3, 2019).

Updates on these programs and information about registration will be available on the Public Programs page of the College website: antiochcollege.edu/publicprograms

Black History Month

A Buffalo Grazing

Professor Rahul Nair, Jade Marshall ’21, Zerqu Abid, Aliyah Yirael ’22, and Mila Cooper, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, Director of the Coretta Scott King Center

The Bucket List

By Stephen Duffy ’77 (originally published September 2018) Fall 2018 finds the arrival of Antioch College’s largest and most diverse entering class in a few years. This class is also maybe the most diverse class that I have ever seen, and I have seen at least four decades of new Antiochians arrive. On top of that, they seem like fairly sentient, balanced people who may be ready

evening. On Wednesday evenings there is a late-evening Chess Club led by Librarian Kevin Mulhall.

However, now people also play cards and some organic chem students have been close by building 3-D Organic Compounds with what almost looks like tinker toys. Other evenings have Capitalism study reading groups. Marx and snax!

A couple of years ago, we had Friday evening guitar circles also led

by Kevin Mulhall, library director.

never be sure if what elders like can be enjoyed by the new generation.

He said that it made him cry. Mission accomplished! While waiting in line for the doors to open, I talked with Joan Chappelle, an alum, and her friends. They all expressed hopes that Antioch will survive and thrive in this new age and say how impressed they have been with students they have met and wish to have their own deeper connection to the College.

Robert Fogarty passed through upon leaving The Antioch Review and wryly quipped. “Where are the cocktails?”

As well as student group events some unusual events happen at the College. This week the World House Choir which is loosely affiliated with the College and Coretta Scott King Center had a week long, several city event of performances. The Foundry Theater was host to two performances of Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the Dream.

The College and the region are truly blessed to have this regional choir led by award -winning Catherine Roma who retired to Yellow Springs. It now has 130 members that come from a 120-mi. radius.

Their sound is robust and most professional as Ms. Roma is an ultimate taskmaster. The Choir is open to all Community members and even regionals. When they first organized, they could fit in the Coretta Scott Center but now use the Foundry Theater or Wellness Center’s South Gym. Their recent performance in the Foundry was to an overflow with standing room crowd. Catherine Roma said, “Well, perhaps Antioch needs a larger venue.” The hour oratorio, which also brought soloists and musicians from Louisville and Maryland, provided great music, history, and inspiration about Bayard who indeed was an angelic troublemaker. Jeremy Winston, award-winning director of the Central State Choir was a guest conductor as well. Many people have forgotten about Bayard, someone who was one the Civil Rights Movement’s most important force and who actually has local histories at Wilberforce in the ’30s and then again at Antioch in the late ’40s when Coretta was a student.

Although the crowd at the performance was mostly white-haired villagers, there were about a couple of dozen new students and new faculty. I caught one new student in the library today and asked him what he made of the event as one can

The following night, Sunday night, the Library was full of people from ages eight to 80. So there are even tiny ways to add that desired interaction between the larger YS community and the college. Of course utopia is not always perfect. When I arrived there was a giant pool of water in the basement. Heavy rains from the remnant of Tropical Storm Gordon found their way through cracks in the seams in the roof and down the walls (our new roof is now 20 years old). So, much mopping and in-between some yelling at some slightly unruly village tweens who came to ride the internet.

Although one can be annoyed by some temporary things like leaks and tweens—what makes it all good is that we are here and doing good things. It almost seemed like forever for things to happen; that it was almost like trying to put something on one’s bucket list. One look at the tapestry of Chess Club faces made me feel that the long struggle to come back has been more than worth it. Seeing the College start to blossom, leaks and all, is something to check off on a bucket list even as it also includes a mop and a bucket. It is great to have so many and diverse faces and it is a great place for them to be in between all their Co-op adventures. And soon a giant rally on the Horseshoe on September 23 to help get the vote out.

Shaun King, a Parkland survivor, other dignitaries, members of the World House Choir and perhaps the white-haired villagers and even the tweens to join the College Community. Maybe together we might make some good changes.

I hope you will have Antioch College as part of YOUR bucket list in some fashion, whether it be attending Reunion, Volunteer Work Project, a sojourn here anytime, an alumni chapter meeting, referring a student, and maybe even sending some much needed cash. (Buckets would also be swell.) We are not perfect but so worthy.

Annual MLK Lecture On Tuesday, January 22, the Fourth Annual MLK Lecture on campus, hosted by the Coretta Scott King Center, featured Zerqu Abid (Founder & Director of Muslims Against Human Trafficking, and Founder and President of MY Project USA).

The winners of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major for Justice Award were also announced at the Fourth Annual MLK Lecture. This year, the awards went to John Paul Robinson (staff ) and Rahul Nair (faculty).

This award is presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Center to an Antioch faculty or staff member in recognition of their commitment to social justice, diversity, and inclusion. The inaugural award in 2016 was presented to Kevin McGruder. In 2017, the recipients were Steve Duffy ’77 and Emily Steinmetz, and last year’s recipients were Mary Ann Davis and Shane Creepingbear ’08.

J.P. Robinson, nominated by a student, has provided unparalleled support to students of color as well as students in general. According to his nominator—he’s always been a staunch advocate for students on campus, especially our students of color. In a short time, he has connected with students to provide guidance, support, and mentoring.

Moreover, he has served on a number of diversity-related committees and assisted with programs and events sponsored by the Coretta Scott King Center. He also incor-

porated diversity and inclusion in his own work at the College.

The second award was presented to Rahul Nair. Nominated by a faculty colleague, his nominator wrote: He goes above and beyond in his teaching, service, and research to promote inclusivity and foster a just and diverse campus community. His teaching about the world has social justice at its heart. His class on Gandhi, for example, helps students understand social movements in a global context. He also teaches gender expression in a world context and addresses queer themes. He is kind and considerate to all community members but pays particular attention to underrepresented groups, i.e. students of color, and queer students. He serves on the global education committee and is helping to create a transnational focus that will diversify our community even more.

Each One, Teach One

On February 28, students participated a volunteer event organized by the Coretta Scott King Center: Each one, Teach One. Antioch students visited Mills Lawn Elementary School in Yellow Springs where they read Black literature to the elementary school students. Jade Marshall ’21, Ka’Dae Brockington ’22, and Chris Chavers ’22 all volunteered their time to the project.

Kingian Nonviolence Workshop The Coretta Scott King Center held a two-day Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation workshop in February, a comprehensive introduction to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy and strategies of nonviolence. The program is offered to students in conjunction with a two-credit course, but is also open to other students, faculty, staff, and members of the wider community.

Through experiential activities, participants learn the definitions of violence and nonviolence, conflict, overview of the Civil Rights

Movement, principles and steps of Kingian nonviolence, and a review of King’s key campaigns.

Mila Cooper, director of the Coretta Scott King Center says, “Given the turmoil, conflict, and violence we see and experience locally and globally, I have embraced a nonviolence approach to social change. Given our King legacy, it is most fitting for Antiochians to learn about this strategy.”

A cornerstone of an Antioch education is to “Act for Justice” as is the practice of Deliberative Democracy, Diversity, and Social Justice.

Chess Club at Olive Kettering Library to take on the world, first through their studies and Co-op and later in that big-Co-op-in-the-sky.

Speaking of Co-op, as week three of Fall term arrives, Community Meeting will include the new tradition of “Co-op Swap.” Sometimes since we have reopened this swap has happened in McGregor 113, but this time it will be in the Foundry Theater. People get up and tell an audience all about their Co-op experiences and then people in the audience ask questions. We all wrote Co-op papers, some even on corasable bond with portable typewriters, and I am sure students still write some similar accounts but “the Co-op swap” adds a second set of skills in putting one’s experiences together. (Public speaking and also the ability to field maybe some unexpected questions.)

Early on, I went to watch some Co-op swaps. In one of the first swaps, a student mentioned how they had gone to NYC and had used Craigslist to find an apartment.

They wound up living in their car for a while as they became a victim of a Craigslist scam. I imagine that was an uncomfortable learning experience and also cautionary tale to others in the room. Coop swap usually includes a great deal of shared laughter. This coming Co-op swap may include stories from experiences at the following places. Kyoto Seika University in Japan, Dayton Quest Martial Arts Center, D.I.Tall Ships, Chroma Technology, Glen Helen Ecology Institute, Raleigh Quest Martial Arts, WYSO, Homer Art and Frame Co., Robin Food Vegan Restaurant, Nikolaos Foundation, Ria Health, Tecumseh Land Trust, and much more.

One of the blessings of being a smaller community is this becomes an easy and joyful moment when numbers are more intimate.

For a campus our size with small financial resources. there is more happening than happens at places much larger than we are. The library often has fun groups in the

THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019 3

Stoop

The

How did the Mexico Bun become a staple in Hong Kong bakeries?

The Mexico Bun is a staple in bakeries across Hong Kong. The roots of this creation is explored in a recent article, “The Origin of Hong Kong’s Mexico Bun: A Story of Exile and Return,” published in Zolima CityMag, which draws on the expertise of Antioch College Professor J​​ulia María Schiavone Camacho.

Professor Schiavone Camacho is the author of Chinese Mexicans: Transpacific Migration and the Search for a Homeland, 1910–1960, published by UNC Press which traces transnational geography and explores how these men and women developed a strong sense of Mexican national identity while living abroad. Schiavone Camacho notes that Chinese men encountered a culture in Mexico that felt familiar. “Mexican and Chinese norms had some common threads. Ideas of family, marriage, honour, and death and the interconnections among these concepts coincided.

Extended families were key to social organisation, and people honoured the dead in homes and public spaces, often with food.”

Alumni Recruitment Team

Alumni volunteers are needed to help out at the UU General Assembly at Spokane in June Thanks to James Hobart ’58, Antioch College will be an exhibitor at the 2019 Unitarian/Universalist General Assembly (GA) in June in Spokane, WA. This is part of larger efforts to utilize alumni to help recruit prospective students. Antioch has a long history with the Unitarians (later the Unitarian/Universalists). The first ordained woman minister in the United States was Olympia Brown, Class of 1860, who was a suffrage activist and a Unitarian minister.

Over the last 160 years, hundreds of UUs attended Antioch and UU leadership provided major financial support to the College in the 19th century. Horace Mann was a Unitarian and Arthur Morgan had a strong affinity to Unitarianism.

Shane Creepingbear ’08, associate director of Admission, will be representing Antioch at the GA, making connections with youth group leaders, religious education leaders, and others to tell them more about Antioch and rekindle the connections that have lasted for almost two centuries.

If any Antiochians will be attending the GA and want to volunteer to help with this effort, contact Toni Dosik ’67, alumni coordinator, at alumnicoordinator@antiochcollege.edu. We need help during the following dates and times in the Exhibit Hall: Wednesday, June 19 from 12 noon to 7 PM Thursday, June 20 from 10:30 AM to 7 PM Friday, June 21 from 10:30 AM to 7 PM Saturday, June 22 from 10:30 AM to 7 PM Sunday, June 23 from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM

As you can see, these are extremely long shifts and Shane could use the help!

We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to using our experiences at the UU Assembly to help us connect with other “affinity organizations.”

4 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019

Big Apple Antiochians

By Steve Lipmann ’67 The New York City Chapter of the Antioch College Alumni Association is alive! After a dozen alums met at an affinity lunch organized by Steve Lipman ’67 and Alan Seige ’78 at the 2018 Reunion, the Chapter is up and running. With alums whose graduation dates range from the 1950s to yesterday, our conversations that summer day has led to six meetings since the reunion, all potluck lunches at alumni homes.

The food is good, the conversation animated, and the ideas doable.

Here’s our agenda. Most of us remember our entry into New York City—for many, an alien and confusing process. We are hoping to make it easier for Co-ops and new grads by providing them with practical information such as transportation and housing websites. We’re also developing a spreadsheet of local alumni who stand ready to help in various ways, from coaching job and grad school applications to providing respite from the pressures of work and life in the big city. Some of us are opening our homes, others offering to meet in coffee shops, still others to “coach” online. Our emphasis is on human contact and dialogue, including dialogue across generations.

We also plan to locate ourselves as a nexus for recruitment and fundraising efforts, working close-

Front row: Michelle Fujii ’18, Ellie Burck ’18, Odette Chavez-Mayo ’18, Bill Harris ’60 Second row: Beth Schacter ’69, Robin Rice ’64, Larry Rubin ’64, Claudia Schellenberg ’70 Third row: Matt Arnold ’69, Sonia Jaffe Robbins ’65, Bob Lake ’68, Peter Hochstein ’61, Hope Anne Nathan ’92, Lester Schulman ’55 Back row: Alan Siege ’78, Steve Lipmann ’67 Missing: Helen Bloch ’78, Noreen Dean Dresser ’77, Susan Kumin Harris ’68 ly with the Advancement Office and the recruitment staff in Yellow Springs. Several of us plan to attend the summer Volunteer Work Project and Reunion in July. We’re

hoping to sponsor an activity at the Reunion to broadcast our existence and our projects.

Stay tuned, and if you are an Antioch alum in the NYC area, please

join us! To get on our mailing list contact Steve Lipmann (shlipmann@gmail.com) and Noreen Dean Dresser (NoreenDeanD@ gmail.com).

Winter on the Farm

By Katie Sherman ’19 Winter in Ohio can be a bleak affair. I find myself bundled, two pairs of pants on, slogging through some fresh snow at what feels like too early on a Saturday morning. As I walk, I take notice of my surroundings.

The one-acre annual garden looks kind of lumpy covered in snow.

There’s nothing green to be seen and without the bright purple sign and my prior knowledge, I’m not sure I would think about this place as a farm.

I eventually reach my destination of the chicken coops. I turn off the electric fence and hop over, wishing I had taken time to find my gloves. I hear the chickens, ducks, and geese squawking and honking, excited to be fed. I quickly locate their food troughs, turn them over, and fill them so I can let the poultry out. I open the coop door and they all charge forward. I get

a sense of excitement seeing their energy and forget about my slowly damping feet and cold fingers and start watching them. I’m slowly learning to recognize each bird as an individual. There’s the oldest duck, slightly bigger than the rest, and there’s the shy little chicken with the yellow spot on its face.

One of the geese will make eye contact with me now, in a way that it knows me and isn’t as afraid as the others. I feel close to it, like it is the beginning of a relationship. This feeling of total involvement is one I feel often on the Farm.

Over the winter, it seems like there isn’t a lot that goes on at the Farm.

This is somewhat true when you compare the work to the rest of the year, but some of the most important work gets done during this time.

Two big yearly projects are peeling the garlic harvested for our kitchen staff to use and the plant nursery.

The plant nursery is where we

begin many of the plants that are grown over the summer. Everything is started from seed in the nursery and it is one of my favorite projects. This year many seeds were planted outside of our normal annual crops. We will be using these plants to start a sheep apothecary, medicinal native plant garden, and migration justice butterfly garden. Our sheep apothecary and native medicinal garden will be full of plants that can be used for health, whether they be put into a tea, tincture, salve, for humans, or fed to the sheep.

The migration justice garden is full of plants that help attract and sustain butterfly larva. It is being built in solidarity with the National Butterfly Center on the Mexico border, which is projected to be greatly impacted as Trump’s proposed border wall is constructed, as well as other efforts to support asylum seekers and migration justice. We

hope this garden will be a place where people will have a chance to meditate on migrating beings affected by the wall, whether they be human or animal.

I love holding each of these seeds and feeling them before planting. I imagine each one as different as I place them into the soil and wonder what they will look like. I cannot wait to see them germinate; see their life and how they grow and how each is unique. Having this space for connection to our food source and the land is one of my favorite parts of working on the Antioch Farm.

Katie Sherman is a fourth-year Antioch Student and holds one of the Miller Fellow Crew Leader positions on the Antioch Farm. She is working on a self-design major in Environmental Science titled “the environment in the anthropocene : a science of connection.” She is also the leader of Antioch’s Outdoor Club.

In early February, the Antioch Outdoor Club hit the slopes at Mad River Mountain. Student leader Katie Sherman ’19 organized the trip with staff advisors Wellness Center Associate Director Angela Moore and College Nurse Pan Reich.

Fifteen students participated, and Katie—a certified ski instructor—led a first-timers’ lesson for the six first-year students pictured.

Own Your Education?

By Ben Zitsman ’20 Bodybuilders sweat more than we do. I noticed it right away, but was reluctant to draw any conclusions: After all, I’d come to the Arnold Classic—the world’s largest bodybuilding exposition, held annually in Columbus, Ohio—to get to know bodybuilders. I wanted to learn what motivated them and how they spent their days; I wanted to know if protein supplements ever stopped tasting like ossified kelp. It seemed the best way to do this was to adopt a, “The Implausibly Hypertrophied: They’re Just Like Us!” kind of approach. It seemed unwise to pay too much attention to the physical differences.

Aside from—you know—the glaringly obvious ones.

But no. Bodybuilders sweat more than we do. The guy attached to the fifth or sixth hand I shook told me as much. He apologized to me before we sat down to begin the interview.

“Sorry, man,” he said, “It’s just another thing that happens with us.”

Go figure.

Nearly four years ago, when I came to Antioch, I distinctly remember reading a glossy brochure promising me a college experience rich in experiential education. I wasn’t sure exactly what this meant at the time. Even so, if you asked me then, “Does it mean gaining empirical knowledge about hyperhidrosis as a result of progressive resistance training?”

I’m pretty sure I know what my answer would have been: “Maybe for some other poor sap. I’m here to study literature.”

So, what happened? It’s a quintessentially Antioch story—an object lesson in what happens when you truly own your education. It starts over poached salmon in the home of a relative stranger.

Antioch first-years, during their orientation, spend one night at the home of a community member. It’s a great way to learn your way around Yellow

hearing what Jane did for a living, I very nearly blew it.

“No shit!”

OK: On reflection, I did blow it.

But I’d been reading The Antioch Review since I was thirteen years old, when I solemnly informed my parents I was going to be a famous writer and would therefore need subscriptions to some literary journals, and fast. This was a big deal. Even

I remember a brochure promising me a college experience rich in experiential education.... If you asked me then, “Does it mean gaining empirical knowledge about hyperhidrosis as a result of progressive resistance training?” I’m pretty sure I know what my answer would have been.

Springs, to learn about the people who live there, and to get the kind of home-cooked meal you’ll soon find yourself missing. (Don’t misunderstand: Birch Kitchen is great. It just isn’t the same, though.)

For four of my peers and me, that community member was Jane Baker—who, at some point over the endive salad, let slip she served as copy-editor for The Antioch Review.

I’d been on my best behavior all night. I’d even put on a sportcoat for the occasion. In Yellow Springs, that’s basically white tie. Still, upon

Pizza

so, for the rest of the night, I managed to play it cool.

But on my way out the door, as I thanked Jane for a delicious dinner, I paused—and here’s where the owning your education bit comes in—I asked her if I could maybe sit down with The Review’s editor, and talk about potentially working at the magazine that had published Ralph Ellison, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, and many other writers whose work I knew and loved. It seemed like a longshot to me: At any other school, I knew, it’d take a combination of seniority, du-

plicity, and blind luck to elbow my way into such a job as a first-year.

Yet two weeks later, Robert Fogarty and I were sitting across from each other in his office on the second floor of the Olive Kettering Library, and he was listening to me talk about why Thomas Pynchon rubbed me the wrong way. And he—remarkably, I thought—seemed to take my opinions quite seriously.

Two weeks after that, I was an intern at The Review.

Soon enough, I asked Professor Fogarty if we could do an independent study together. In addition to having read more American fiction than just about anyone I knew, it turned he’d written the leading study of American utopian communities in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. I’d always been interested in religion, and in American religion especially, and it was clear to me that I had a unique opportunity to learn from one of the leading scholars in the field.

I’d end up taking three independent studies with Professor Fogarty. Through my readings in them, I found out about something called Muscular Christianity: a religious tradition from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries in which adherents believed masculinity, vigorous physical activity, and— quite literally—the development of muscles were vital parts of Christian practice.

I began to wonder if this tradition had ever really gone away. I decided, after several long conver-

sations with Professor Fogarty, to make the investigation of this question the topic of my senior thesis.

And so last week I went to the Arnold Classic, a press pass around my neck, and I learned bodybuilders sweat more than we do. And, though I never expected I would be, I’m thrilled I did.

I suppose this is, as I wrote earlier, what it looks like to own one’s education. But that barely covers it.

I can’t imagine owning something by which I’m so consistently, so delightfully surprised. I can’t imagine owning something that’s changed me as much as my Antioch education has.

Then again, I can’t imagine “Find Out You’re Really Interested in the Spiritual Underpinnings of Bodybuilding!” would fit as neatly on a brochure, or would be as widely applicable.

So, sure, OK: Here at Antioch College, I own my education!

Alumni Submission

By Bud Howlett ’54

It would not have been Antioch College during the ’50s without the Old Trail Tavern on Xenia Avenue. It was not just a place to eat and imbibe Carlings Black Label, 3.2% beer, but it afforded students a place to earn a little income working during their college

days. It was there that I learned to make what came to be known as “Pasquales’s Pizza,” the best in southern Ohio. In Tavernmaster, Warren E. Lynn’s kitchen, I learned the art which became famous. He had learned the art from an Italian friend.

My job was pizza cook for the patrons on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Folks came from Wilberforce, Springfield, and even Columbus to enjoy the famous Italian delight. It was equally popular with Antioch students. There were not

many pizza places in Ohio in the ’50s, so this stood out.

Lynn called me aside and explained that a fairly large group from Dayton was coming for a celebration and I would show my skills. “However,” he explained “I have pushed the Italian thing. We have to change your name for this event. You have to pass as Italian.

Your name for the evening will be Pasquale Howletti. Can you sing a bar from O Sole a Mio?” That, I figured I could handle.

“One more thing,” he requested, “I know you roll the dough. You have to learn to throw the dough!”

This would be a challenge. I had never “thrown” pizza dough. After experimenting, I found the recipe had to be modified and shortening reduced to make it more cohesive.

However, with much practice, I did get to where I could make a decent throw!

On the appointed night, the festive group from Dayton arrived with great anticipation. After a round or two of drinks, they gathered around the Italian pizza cook who not only sang a few lines from O Sol a Mio but improvised a song about Rome.

I gathered a sizable glob of pizza dough and began the routine of forming the circular crust. With much enthusiasm, I threw it into the air. So proud of my new skill, I again threw the circular wad much too hard and too high. It hit the ceiling—an old perforated celotex drop ceiling— and stuck. All eyes were up! There were gasps for a moment and then the catastrophe! It fell pulling the celotex square with it. Everything that had accumulated for many years came with it.

Ly n n g a sp e d ou t loud. The Dayton revelers blinked in silence.

Was this part of the pizza-making demonstration? Then, as if signaled, the tension broke. The guests offered a round of applause shouting, “Pasquale Pasquale!”

Lynn stepped forward throwing a towel over the catastrophe on the work table. Addressing his guests, he said, “Well, you’ve seen how it’s done. We have more dough prepared. Pasquale will only take a minute to prepare your delightful pizza. Join me at the bar. Drinks are on the house!”

I fully expected to be fired, but the Dayton group became regular customers.

From left to right: Ami Lane (Lakota), AIM of Ohio; Jake Stockwell ’08, Antioch College Alumnus and Indigenous Ally/Accomplice; Mila Cooper, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, Director of the Coretta Scott King Center; Corine Fairbanks (Oglala, Lakota), AIM of Ohio and W.A.R.N.; and Jennifer Knickerbocker (Annishinaabeg), Director of Foundation & Corporate Relations, Antioch College.

Indigenous Connections Members of AIM Ohio (American Indian Movement Ohio) and W.A.R.N (Women of All Red Nations) met with Mila Cooper and JP Robinson on Monday, February 18th, at the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom. Indigenous staff members, Jennifer Knickerbocker (An-

ishinaabe from White Earth Nation) and Shane Creepingbear ’08 (enrolled in the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma), convened the meeting to discuss new steps toward collaboration and connection at Antioch College. Jake Stockwell ’08 and Miller Fellow Michelle DeLeon ’19 also attended the meeting.

THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019 5

Mound

The

Fourth-year students are wrapping up their Antioch College educational experiences this term and working toward Colloquia—the annual showcase of capstone projects.

Colloquia is made possible thanks to generous support from the Janet Wheeler Fund for the Arts.

Jennifer Wenker, chair of Colloquia (among her other roles at Antioch), was in conversation with several members of the Class of 2019 just three weeks deep into their final term, to check in on their progress.

You’re invited to come to campus in person to see the results and celebrate the graduates at Colloquia 2019—June 19, 20, and 21—and to attend Commencement on June 22.

Lanique Dawson

realized the very thing that I loved wasn’t offered and will never be. In result, I opened a book, researched content on Google scholar, and am currently producing a paper on what I’ve wanted to learn about since the beginning of my career here at Antioch College.

And, your preliminary project title?

The ecological relationship between heterotrophs and autotrophs as mixotrophs with character as harmful algal blooms found within the Chesapeake Bay. What do you specifically want to know? To solve?

There is a gap of knowledge on the distinctions of plankton—most associate them with their color instead of their existence as organisms. As we have a distinction for a lion and tiger, there isn’t much context on autotrophs (aka phytoplaknton) and heterotrophs (aka zooplankton). When in reality, their eating styles don’t define them, their taxonomy does.

So, previously they were studied or classified in a way that really wasn’t helpful in the context you are trying to understand them?

The difference is that initially they were described as organisms that can do two things. One acts like plants and the other acts like carnivorans organisms; one can synthesize carbon from atmospheric relationships and the other can turn around and eat the other organism. This is not an ideal classification. These organisms behave towards what is limiting and their environment, not limited to one type of source as you may think for a rabbit or a lion. Instead it’s more like shopping at a supermarket in deciding which food you may want.

Lanique Dawson

What is your major and some of your areas of interest?

I am an environmental science major under the Leader of Environmental Science Antioch College Fellowship (LEAF). Generally, I’m interested in aquatic ecosystems under the respects of clean, ambient, and drinking water, and water chemistry in urban settings, as well as the relation between aquatic life—the Plankton Community as aquatic monitors— with anthropogenic coastal and non-coastal exposures.

What drove you to be curious, passionate, interested in devoting time and research into water?

I attended a Math and Science High School along the East River in New York City. We were selected to participate in an advanced science research course where I had the opportunity to work alongside a planktonic researcher.

Tell me more about working with that researcher, and, how you transitioned into mentorship here at Antioch.

My mentor’s name was an Antioch alum, Dr. Michael Levandowsky ’61. He was extremely fond of handson exposure to new concepts. Most of our adventures were going from site to site and seeing the differences between what was considered as healthy versus what wasn’t.

My transition into Antioch was similar because I had the opportunity to work alongside Kim Landsbergen (associate professor of Biology and Environmental Science) and her students on the EPA P3 grant project. This consisted of creating a filtration process with Xylem in order to have safe water for those without. I collected, stored, and assisted in modeling samples.

6 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019

Two examples are Hurricane Katrina and Flint Michigan. Results were sent to partnered labs to see the size and amount of microbes that may be filtered out of the water.

Did you, as a researcher get to field test your work in these waters?

I took that experience and developed a course curriculum for students in Boston during my sophomore Co-op. I aimed to have the students understand the difference between healthy/ideal environmental conditions as well as addressing the diversity within these systems.

My junior Co-op consisted of the the exposure of mountainous water discharge into the North Pacific and how that affects the biochemistry.

This involved me testing for the biomass density of plankton, being that they are bio indicators. This was significant to this region because they had not obtained information of the diversity, thus the quality of the water during winter events when flooding and drainage was prominent.

How did your two most recent Co-op experiences help you determine the course of your senior project?

Something that I didn’t learn here at Antioch College was the diversities and abilities of plankton. Each [Co-op] experience exposed me to either the habitat variability and the importance of these groups conceptually. However, without a formal education on the group, I found myself lacking the very thing I wanted to do. My solution was to make it my senior project: planktonic research.

How did you go about finding the answers you were seeking? How did mentors/advisors help you?

I started my senior project. I had completed almost 180 credits and

What’s next for you after graduation?

I’m going to find myself in the field of water toxicology. That may take the form of being in the field or being in the lab.

A dream position will look like a mentorship experience. A type of opportunity found near the coast or bodies water that focuses on water quality. This may appear as a training for certificates/experience as well as exposure or help into graduate school opportunities.

Ethan Marcus

What is your senior project called?

Building a Tiny Home. That name is kinda boring, though. I might try to have a more catchy name.

How did your project idea come to be developed?

I was taking my junior seminar and qualitative methods course and I realized I was being groomed to write a research paper, which I didn’t want to do. I had written enough research papers and found that my passion lies in creating spaces that I wanted to be, and so I completely audibled my whole major and senior sequence to accommodate a construction project rather than an essay.

Who is mentoring you through the making and construction?

Michael Casselli ’87 (assistant professor of Sculpture and Installation). He is an invaluable resource for his knowledge.

Who else has made a difference in helping you find your way?

Teó Espada-Brignoni (visiting assistant professor of Psychology) and Lara Mitias (associate professor of Philosophy) have set me up with a lot of things for my self-designed major, and Lara especially got me thinking about sustainable happiness.

So, you are primarily following a path of inquiry in psychology, right?

At this point, my self-design major is

called “Understanding Human Beings” and uses psychology, philosophy, and 3-D art (making items). For my first few years, I did pursue a psych degree, but I’m still swapping even now to this self-design major.

Tell me how making things, 3-D things, this living space which you plan to inhabit, might help you “Understand Human Beings.”

I became fascinated with happiness and unhappiness, and found that lots of unhappiness came from the capitalist mode of work to earn to buy goods and a lot of time the work is alienating and degrading, low paying, and can be done better by machines. Skillfully making things myself (especially homes) allows one way out of this cycle while still allowing myself to try and get the things everyone needs to survive like safe shelter, food, water, etc.

Understanding human beings is also very hard, but I try an empathy-based approach, plus layering in some of the manipulation strategies of behaviorist and social psychologists.

What have you discerned about your particular requirements for happiness?

I want to be using my brain in my job, and if there is hierarchy, I don’t want the higher-ups thinking they know everything and could never learn from someone like me. I don’t know if the career lifestyle is for me, though, since I like experiencing diverse jobs, and trying new things. To be tied into a corporate desk job where I just edit spreadsheets or am a bolt-screwer in a car factory both seem like a living death. If I like my job, I’m on vacation seven days a week.

Any academic heroes, guides along the understanding human beings path who you trust? Follow? Feel are getting it right? Resonating?

The Buddha had it pretty right with the truths of how the world makes you suffer and how to alleviate it. Why is life worth living? A good question.

So, maybe religion or philosophy are next on your horizon of curiosity?

Yeah, I’m actually considering seminary (probably Hindu or Buddhist) as a possible plan after here There are too many options and it’s exhausting trying to fully examine them all while graduating and taking classes and doing senior project stuff.

Maybe I’ll just be a monk and go live a nice life in the mountains.

Back to your project, what are you building?

How are you deciding its design and construction?

I’m building a temporary** housing structure that I can live in, about 6’ x 10’ wide and 8’ tall but really it’s based on what trailers I can find within my extremely limited budget, situating it on the farm and I think using wood frame and some paneling or other, but I’m still learning with Casselli.

The main goal of this is have a safe place to sleep that I like, I made.

Are you keeping a journal?

Recording your thoughts and feelings? Quantifying your happiness?

I’m planning on writing a reflection paper at the end, but no I hate the quantifying of unquantifiable things and so I won’t even try it.

So, push back against quantifying it and talk about how you will understand it qualitatively.

I’m just going to try and do it. The reason why I chose this project was to avoid as much as possible the senseless logging and classifying of different things to instead work with my hands and brain.

If I wanted to write an essay, I’d have stayed in social sciences.

Kyna Burke

What interests you? What are you majoring in and why?

I’m an Environmental Science major. I have a big interest in ecology, botany, and horticulture, which Kim Landsbergen has helped me to dive deep into!

She is my academic advisor and my senior project supervisor.

Tell me about your senior project? What is its title at this stage?

The work-in-progress title is, “Antioch College Tree Inventory.” I worked to manage a team to complete a project of making a tree inventory for the campus The information I am collecting with my team can be used to understand the value of trees and how they benefit us, to help the community understand the diversity of what trees are on campus, as well to work in a small activist project to help protect our sugar maples, which are being tapped too much and are damaged.

Value can cover both economic and ecological. Economic benefits would be energy savings, carbon sequestration, and ecological about keeping our trees healthy as well as maintaining and increasing species diversity on campus So the value is not just human benefit?

Exactly!

People would come on campus to tap our trees for “free” syrup, but it’s killing our beautiful maple trees.

We took notes on the health of the trees so we can report to campus maintenance about what trees need to be taken down before they fall and potentially hurt someone. So my project was leading a team to get this data and also analyzing it to crunch some real useful data for the College!

So, dig into this more. How does an ecologist determine economic and ecological “value?” How will the data be used? STARS? I’m using a program called i-Tree, which is developed and used by the US Forest Service for this same stuff! Yes, STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) is a great example of the use of this data.

The Forest Service can use this program to observe (specifically) species diversity, shade coverage, tree health, and forest health/diversity decline. i-Tree is a program that runs with Microsoft Excel. It takes data from spreadsheets and uses the weather and pollution data from your project location to run a bunch of calculations to determine these factors (tree value, etc.).

You typically input data by hand on a spreadsheet, but you can use the online version, which saves everything into your project. Since we had multiple people working together, I decided to use paper for all of us but work digitally on my own for analyzing.

STARS needs information about our carbon footprint as a campus (i.e. how much pollution we are creating). Having the information about how much our trees reduce the carbon created by us is a big part of a STARS rating.

It sounds like an excellent tool!

It’s really helpful to be able to quantify what many people understand in primarily a qualitative way!

Exactly! I feel that we generally understand that trees are good for the planet, but programs like i-Tree make those numbers useable for other projects and data!

Also, Kim and I are working on applying to make Antioch an official Arbor Day Foundation Tree Campus! There’s an application to submit which includes information like do you have a Tree Committee and what do you do to celebrate Arbor Day—details like that.

Tell me more about how you

arrived here at this major and this project?

Kim actually pitched the idea to my Botany class in Spring 2017 I believe. She talked about how she wanted someone to make a tree inventory, so I asked her for more details after class. She told me her basic idea, and I said I’d do it.

She’s led me through everything and supported me. She made sure I kept on top of everything and was well prepared to focus on my paper and analysis this final term!

What made you excited about it?

Trees… I am a giant plant nerd!

But also that I could give some real useful data to the College that would only help benefit us. This inventory can be updated by students in the future. It’s not a full inventory. There are a few areas of campus that were not able to be worked on.

But this project opens up a new opportunities for future fourth-years in need of this kind of experience!

Brian Kot (assistant professor of Biology and Environmental Science) also helped to encourage me to work on my “elevator pitch,” so my fast explanation of my work. But he has also been one of my instructors since my first term here and has always assisted and supported me in my interests.

You have excellent mentors.

I am so thankful for them! They kept me on track and continued to inspire me to keep moving forward! Brian was also my Junior Seminar professor, so he helped me to develop my project proposal paper and poster.

Because of that practice, I feel so prepared to get my project rolling and ready to go well before the deadline!

Can you talk about specific courses, Co-ops, people who strongly influenced where you are right now?

Definitely classes like Botany and Ecology that I took with Kim, as well as Conservation Biology that I took with Brian. I was able to learn so much about the details of ecology and of plant structure. There’s one lab from Botany that really sticks out to me. Kim calls it our “Fruit Lab.” We cut apart fruit and looked at the layout of the seeds, then we compared those to the structure of the flowers that the fruit developed from. That lab blew my mind!

I also have a big focus on and an interest in paper reduction from my interests in zero-waste practices, which are difficult in this heavily consumerist world. That’s why most of my project is digital. This also was inspired by Kim’s Botany class, where we created a digital herbarium as the keystone project of the course.

Basically, we would take photos of plants, trees, and shrubs on and around campus, identify them on our own, and submit a specimen to showcase plants of Ohio!

I am actually the TA for Botany this quarter. That’s how much I adore this class.

I actually did all of my Co-ops locally! Three of them were with the Dayton Quest Center, a martial arts dojo that trained Johanna Norris, an alum of Antioch pre-closure. She used to teach at Antioch.

I worked with her, trained with her, and took her classes both on campus and in town. She was my selfworth inspiration and powerhouse my first year!

She helped me to get the job at the Quest Center, which gave me so much opportunity to learn and grow professionally. I also worked a bit there to change up some processes and help them have a few more waste-reducing practices, like using washable cloths to clean the bathrooms instead of using only paper towels.

Balance is everything in ecology!

Exactly!

That’s what was so great about this project. None of my Co-ops were “science” based, but I made my own Co-op-esque experience as my senior project!

What’s after graduation?

I am currently working at Sephora part time, which I adore! I would love to move forward with them, becoming full time and working with color (makeup). I would also love to innovate to create a great experience for everyone who visits!

Right now, I’m looking for fulltime work, developing my job skill set and diversity, and spending time with my little family!

Okay, I’ll bite! How does a plant-nerd, tree inventory ecologist intersect with Sephora?

I’m a jack of all trades.

But really, I am a big advocate for cruelty-free and sustainable makeup and skincare (well everything, but for Sephora, makeup and skincare). I look at flowers of all shapes and sizes all day long. I love their colors and diversity. People (and makeup) are just the same! All different versions of beautiful.

I believe in sourcing good ingredients that work well for the skin (natural or “not natural,” which is a big debate in it’s own accord). That knowledge is easier when there’s a basic understanding of ingredients and chemicals and how they benefit the skin.

Alyssa Navarette

Tell me about your major and your senior project.

I’m doing a self-design major in anthropology and arts. The idea was to make art based off of anthropological research observations. The working title for my senior project is ”Malas Palabras.” It’s an installation piece that kinda features Alyssa Navarette

Hollyn Bermond

six words that are usually/have been used to describe women or feminine people in bad or negative ways, like “bitch” or “puta” for example. It’s about the decolonization of words, the reclaiming of their power, and about finding empowerment through embracing these terms and changing the definition of them.

So, my senior project will have an audio element, possibly video, and it will be an installation piece.

I will choose six words that have been used derogatively against women, at least half of them will be Spanish. I will reclaim these words and change the narrative. The installation is based off of research in (mostly) linguistic anthropology.

The self-design option was actually pretty empowering. I could study what I really was interested in studying, in the way I was interested. The self-design option allowed me to put together my Anthropology classes, which made me actually really excited.

My first Anthropology class, Culture Conflict, was really exciting to me. The professor didn’t just teach us, she taught us to be empowered.

To change things that we wanted to change in our lives. She gave us real resources that helped us really engage. It was such a different class.

Most of the Anthropology classes were good for me. Inside Out with Emily Steinmetz (assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology) was a really unique opportunity and experience. Antioch in general is like that, kind of rare. This class was a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to learn alongside incarcerated people. The opportunity to learn collaboratively.

Talk to me about the second part of your degree path—the Arts.

I think all of the Art classes I’ve taken overall have been really, really good.

Each professor brings something special to the class. I liked having a wide variety of options. We aren’t given limitations. We are encouraged to branch out and find our way.

One class stands out—one mentor—a performance class I took with Juan-Si Gonzalez (visiting assistant professor of Performance) around the time of the 2016 elections. It was so incredibly stressful for all of us, but he was really amazing working with us. After Trump was elected, he ripped up the class syllabus and asked us what we needed? What we wanted to do... we made these amazing anti-Trump stickers. We had to do something with all of those feelings.

I also did a few performance pieces about being diabetic (Type 1). It felt really good and was so empowering! He’s a really good person.

He’s like a part of my family to me, but also a great mentor and he empowered me—us really—reminded us of our potential and our impact.

I’m interested to find out more about where the idea for your project came from. Can you tell me about some of your Coop experiences and how they shaped you, changed you?

I think all of my Co-ops have been very good. My second Co-op was at a rape crisis center in Denver called the Blue Bench. And, I was getting trained by a woman named Mag-

gie. She taught me to educate, advocate, and stand up for myself and my work. It stuck with me.

My third Co-op was in Mexico interning for the center for Global Justice and working to help with marketing/certification process for organic farmers in Mexico. I was just 19 and I was living in another country. I mean I’m Mexican, but, I was alone and in a far away city and it was the first time I’d traveled by myself. That fact alone was empowering. It was amazing. Women are taught not to travel alone, to be afraid. But, I did it alone.

Then, in my next Co-op, I went to Argentina. Everyone in Argentina was shocked that I was traveling alone...I heard it daily that they were shocked that I was traveling alone as a woman. They’d called me a “Loca,” that means crazy. Maybe that is actually where the idea for the project came from...because they called me derogatory things, this name “loca” for doing something I was absolutely loving.

So, what’s next?

What experience do you see yourself in after Antioch?

I long to go back to Mexico—I like Mexico City (there is a large anthropology museum there I’d love to experience) and Guanajuato too... the first time I was there, I made friends and I’d love to go back to see them.

I like working in kitchens. I worked my fourth Co-op at Wolfdales with an Antioch alumnus, Douglas Dale ’76, in Lake Tahoe.

It was a really short Co-op, just six weeks, but it was very empowering. I started as Line Cook and really quickly, I was advanced to Line Expediter. It was a good raise too, all in just six weeks and I was the only woman in the kitchen and the youngest in the kitchen. Everyone else in the kitchen was a male and over 30! They offered me a fulltime job there. I really loved that, but I can’t take it. I want to move closer to home. I might work full-time at a restaurant in Austin, TX, and then later in a museum. I’d like to work in an art-related field too, maybe restoration work where I could learn more on the job as an apprentice or intern...I’m open to any opportunity.

Hollyn Bermond

Tell me the name of your project.

It’s going to be an Ecoperformance; the title may be “Home,” but its tentative.

Tell me some more about “Ecoperformance.”

It’s about the relationship between humans and nature. It speaks to the collective and the personal. The historical and the mythical. It awakens the unconscious realm and the parts of ourselves we push away.

The performance takes place outside in a traveling landscape in a cyclical realm of memories, dreams, and the unconscious. It is an invitation into our non-predominant senses and sense of place.

One might witness an externalized image of something hidden.

My hope is to invoke felt sensations of life and death by the very act of live performance. It can’t be cap-

tured our conquered. It’s transient.

So, is Ecoperformance a type or variation of embodied performance?

Exactly. I’m also designing a workshop on May 18 called “The Embodied Voice” that shares some elements of my practice. It includes movement and vocal practices I have worked with throughout my time at Antioch, including a yoga certification.

My performance piece is an adventure on the landscape of Antioch. Recognizing we are relational beings in a larger ecology, there will be a focus on collective grief, joy, and connection within the performance. The collective is more than the anthropocentric world.

What experiences impacted your current path?

My first Co-op, I co-facilitated a forest kindergarten program with the Antioch School as a Miller Fellow and I have worked with two nature programs since (Kauai Nature School and Nature Connect Ohio), which speak to my love to be present with others outside. My second Co-op, I worked with a musician and permaculturist named Matthew Human in an ecovillage in Costa Rica. I was also certified in permaculture design. I booked Antioch’s Reunion 2017 on his tour and we played a show together. It was a (literal) dream come true. I continue to include songwriting as a part of my performance art.

My last Co-op, I went to Kauai with the hopes of personal regeneration after 12 months straight of studies. I coincidentally met multiple alums along the way. Isa Maria ’87 connected me to musician and playwright Shawna Carol, who I helped care for in her late stage Parkinson’s. I would bring her to the ocean and float her in my arms and we would sing her chant: “I intend healing for my body. I intend healing for my soul. I pray to the goddess to carry me home.” She taught me how to Spirit Sing and I attended the choir she originally created but no longer attends called the Sacred Earth Choir. It was a magical experience to say the least. The director taught us the songs by embodying the lyrics rather than us reading music. I sang every single day.

I’m currently Co-oping at Heartbeat Learning Gardens with Nicole and Andrew Maneri. Nicole is developing a CSH (community supported herbalism) and Andrew a CSA (community supported agriculture). Nicole is also a performance artist and teaches a dream work series called Dreaming Awake that has been a great container for my dream practice as a part of my performance methodology.

The specific courses that have influenced me most are: Ecopsychology with Deanne Bell, Presence of the Performer with Gabrielle Civil, Ecology in Modern Religious Thought with Dorathy Dean, Rehearsal and Production with Louise Smith, and Writing and Performing the Self with Luisa Bieri.

What’s next for you?

After graduation I will be teaching a yoga series called Immersive Yoga at the Wellness Center, which has become dear and near to my heart over THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019 7

Mound

The

the years. A sanctuary. It’s an honor to get on the schedule alongside some of my favorite yoga instructors.

During the summer, I will be continuing to work with Heartbeat and Nature Connect. Perhaps Yellow Springs will become a home base, as it certainly feels like a home after four years.

My grand vision for 20 years from now is to be able to offer a regenerative landscape for creative collaborations, an outdoor school, and community actions.

Nonetheless, I will continue to travel and build a network around the world before settling into a final location.

In short, I’m open.

Anna Samake

Tell me about your major and senior project.

I am doing a self-design in “Transnational Environmental Science and Political Economy” with a focus on Spanish and French.

My senior project is about the political economic and environmental factors driving the transnational immigration and the refugee crisis of the 20th and 21st century. This project is linked to my degree because it focuses on the political economic and environmental factors of a transnational issue.

In the project, I am doing two cases studies: the Syrian Refugee Crisis and the environmental disas-

Anna Samake ters causing migration from Sub Saharan Africa. I will talk about Mozambique (there was a cyclone there last month) and I will talk about how it has caused displacement and migration These are deeply critical issues, Anna. You are really taking to heart Mann’s words. What led you to this project, this major?

I always wanted to get a degree that would allow me to work with nonprofits all over the world, and since I am good with languages, I decided to design my major with Spanish and French in order to make it transnational. The inspiration to mix Environmental Science and Political Economy came from the activism I had been doing prior to coming to Antioch. I saw that there

was a need to be knowledgeable in the science, but it was also crucial to look at science-related issues with political and economic lenses because these things are more interrelated than we will think.

Basically I wanted to know the science and use my knowledge of the politics and economics behind it to be an effective advocate.

It is absolutely critical to be fluent across divisional lenses, yes.

My second Co-op with Black Alliance for Just Immigration was instrumental in helping me study what I am studying and using it to talk about issues that are related to Environmental and political economic factors such as immigration, refugee crises, environmental justice, and others.

All of my Co-ops were advoca-

In the News The following is a listing of mentions of the College, alumni, students, etc. in the media since The Antiochian Supplement Summer issue. If you know of an Antiochian in the news, let us know at communications@antiochcollege.edu.

July 20—Pavel Curtis ’81, Undark.org, “A Mansion Filled With Hidden Worlds: When the Internet Was Young”

September 7—Nova Ren Suma ’97, NPR, “‘A Room Away From The Wolves’ Makes The Gothic Bitingly Modern”

July 24—Camas Davis ’98, NPR, “Food Writer Becomes A Butcher To Better Understand The Value Of Meat”

September 7—Ricardo Muñiz ’89, Remezcla, “Chulo Underwear Is Throwing a Puerto Rico Benefit Full of Hunky Models”

August 16—John Sims ’90, NBC News, “How Aretha Franklin’s commitment to civil rights and equality changed hearts and minds”

September 10—Bethany Saltman ’92 and Ted Bunch ’83, Refinery29, “3 Experts on What’s Missing From the Consent Discussion”

August 23—Lynn Estomin ’72, Williamsport Sun-Gazette, “Veterans’ issues proposal earns city resident $10k to capitalize on work”

September 13—Ann Grace Mojtabai ’58, press release, “Ann Grace Mojtabai Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who”

August 23—Christine Klinger ’79, Yellow Springs News, “Local artist Christine Klinger—‘Expressing the beauty I see’” August 24—Joshua Alper ’73, Joshua Alper Included in Best Lawyers Publication August 24—Michael Hambouz ’99, WYSO, “Michael Hambouz ‘Drank the Water’ Exhibition Comes to Antioch’s Herndon Gallery” August 27—Jorma Kaukonen ’64, Cincinnati Public Radio, “Jorma Kaukonen’s Sharing His Memories In A New Book” August 28—Prexy Nesbitt ’67, Forest Park Review, “Prof. Prexy Nesbitt: Making the history he teaches” August 29—Yellow Springs News, “Antioch recognized for sustainability practices” August 29—Jonathan Cope ’02, Seton Hall University News, “Critical Issues in Information and Education: Common Core and the Challenge of Discussing Education Policy in a Democracy” September 7—Marie Javins ’89, The Porterville Recorder, “DC Entertainment editor to give free presentation at PC” 8 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019

September 18—Christina Springer ’87, Frayed Edge Press, “Christina Springer Publishes Volume of Poetry” September 18—May (Kolodny) Benatar ’67, The Washington Post, “Relocating and reinventing can still be a big adventure when you’re a senior” September 24—Christopher Finan ’76, Wall Street Journal, “A Shameful Season for American Journalism” October—Nichole McDonald Dishman ’95, The Prince of Pinot, “Astina Cellars Profile” October 3—Louise Jaffe ’75, Santa Monica Daily Press, “Candidate Profiles: Louise Jaffe” October 10—Donald Thea ’76, Boston University School of Public Health News, “Professor Receives $5.3M NIH Grant for HIV Research in Zambia” October 14—Marty Rosenbluth ’99, The Guardian, “The only lawyer in town: a lonesome figure stands up for immigrants” October 16—Alice Gerrard ’58, HCPress.com, “Alice Gerrard and Piedmont Melody Makers at Jones House for Workshop and Concert, October 27”

October 16—Rod Serling ’50, Cincinnati Public Radio, “New Rod Serling Book Explores His Cincinnati TV Work” October 17—Jesús Canchola Sánchez ’00, Playbillder, Short play “the kind of thirst that...” by Jesús Canchola Sánchez premiered as part of Play Your Part Seattle’s production “More Than María” October 18—Lela Klein ’02, Yellow Springs News, “A co-op grocery comes to a Dayton food desert” October 21—Rani Crowe ’01, Facebook, “Heather Has Four Moms wins at the Syracuse International Film Festival” October 22—Bianca Stone ’06, The New Yorker, “Nature” October 24—Anna Turkalo ’74, Elephant Listening Project Facebook, “Meanie Mom”

October 24—Julia Reichert ’70, International Documentary Association, “Julia Reichert: Career Achievement Award” October 26—Lawrence Block ’60, Blog Talk Radio, “Lawrence Block & Wallace Stroby IN CONVERSATION on Authors on the Air” October 27—Peter Calthorpe ’72, The New York Times, “Urban Planning Guru Says Driverless Cars Won’t Fix Congestion” October 29—Cleveland.com, “‘Yes means yes’: How Ohio universities teach students about consent”

cy-based in some ways. In all five of them I worked with underserved communities.

Can you talk about specific ways a class, Co-op, and your mentors have pivotally changed or helped you focus your vision of advocacy?

As a Black and Muslim woman living in America, I felt compelled to get involved with grassroots organizations fighting for social, economic, and racial justice for the most vulnerable of our society.

My independent study on Environmental Justice with Sean Payne (assistant professor of Political Economy) was an eye-opener for me in terms of learning about environmental injustices in the US and abroad. It inspired me to learn about environmental justice movements and the racial and social economic factors linked with environmental racism in the US and abroad.

This class led me to do a presentation last week during Earth Week and also inspired me dig further about the issue and work on an environmental clean-up project in Mali.

The project in Mali is called the management of empty bottles of pesticides. I did my French Capstone on it. I worked with a team to initiate the project in villages and I got the opportunity to educate women about the health impacts of empty bottles of pesticides left in

the environment near their homes and their children.

I was empowering women to get on board with the project and motivate their husbands to collect their empty bottles and dispose of them in the designated areas.

Sean Payne, Dean Snyder (assistant professor of Political Economy), and Brian Kot really helped me design this major and straighten my vision of what I want to do with the opportunities Antioch has to offer.

In many ways, my PECO classes on environmental policies and related concepts provided me with the language I needed to start some of these conversations.

What do you envision next with your work?

I am applying for positions with few organizations—environmental, immigration, and social justice advocacy. I am hoping to attend graduate school to study global policies.

I’m still trying to figure out what I will do. But, for sure, I want to work with organizations advocating for immigration, environmental justice, social justice, or racial justice.

My language abilities allow me this flexibility. My perfect next step is landing a cool job working on policies for an advocacy organization in the US, Latin America, or Africa.

I want to win victories for humanity and I am excited to see in what part of the world it will take me.

November 20—Karen Mulhauser ’65, UNA-NCA blog, “Human Rights Award Reception–Spotlight! On Karen Mulhauser”

January 28—Julia Reichert ’77, Dayton Daily News, “Fuyao documentary debuts to sold-out enthusiasm at Sundance”

November 22—Gretchen (Engle) Schafft ’61 delivers Hackley Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities in May, titled “We are They: Building Diversity into Life’s Landscape”

February 3—Julia Reichert ’77, Sundance.org, “2019 Sundance Film Festival Awards Announced”

November 26—Julia Reichert ’77, WYSO, “Yellow Springs Filmmaker To Be Awarded High Documentary Film Industry Honor” November 28—Juila Reichert ’77, Dayton Daily News, “Sundance showcase film about Fuyao in 2019 lineup” December 5—Peter Klarnet ’91, The New York Times, “Einstein’s ‘God Letter’ From 1954 Sells for $2.9 Million” December 6—Yellow Springs News, “Encore Fellows spark collaboration” December 13—Julia Reichert ’77, Yellow Springs News, “Village filmmaker is honored by industry” December 18—Prexy Nesbitt ’67, Medill Reports Chicago, “MLK Protector Paves Road for Others to ‘Accomplish More’” December 24—Meredith Dallas, WYSO, “Two Christmases: Home And Away” December 30—The New York Times, “The Reinvention of Consent”

November 2—Duane Jones, WYSO, “The Legacy of Actor, Antioch College Professor Duane Jones”

January 1—June Howard ’73, Oxford University Press, “The Center of the World”

November 5—Liz Price ’78, silive. com, “Liz Price: Community organizer with a sense of civic responsibility”

January 2—David Meany ’75, Press Release, “Governor Walker Appoints St. Croix County Judge and Ashland County District Attorney”

November 5—John Sims ’90, The Grio, “Dear liberals, conservatives, Black folks, and millenials: This midterm message is just for you”

January 18—Michael Casselli ’87, “Work of Michael Casselli in Berlin Exhibition”

November 7—Mark Reynolds ’80, Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com, “Book Talk: 2016 presidential election recalled”

January 21—Joseph Lowndes ’90, KLCC, “City Club of Eugene: Decoding Language: Keeping MLK’s Dream Alive”

November 8—Paul Milman ’68, Brattleboro Reformer, “Chroma celebrates ‘bright future’”

January 22—Karl Grossman ’64, CounterPunch, “Darth Trump: From Space Force to Star Wars”

February 12—Julie Ezelle-Patton ’79, Cleveland Magazine, “Glenville’s Apartment By The Park” February 14—Trisha Arlin ’75, “Book

by Trisha Arlin ‘75” February 16—Liesl Schwabe ’97, The New York Times, “Everything I Know About Feminism I Learned From Nuns” March 1—Amanda Cole ’05, Press Release, “Plexus Hires First Executive Director” March 5—Linda Reisman ’80, Bleeker Street Media, “‘Leave No Trace’ Receives Recognition” March 5—Perri Freeman ’15, Seven Days, “Freeman Unseats Incumbent Knodell for Burlington City Council” March 5—Steve Law ’77, Portland Tribune, “My View: ‘Truth-teller’ takes bow in newsroom” March 7—David Sherman ’72, Purdue Libraries News, “‘That Sheep May Safely Graze’—A Q&A With Author David Sherman” March 14—John Sims ’90, Quartzy, “Math Artist John Sims Is Living a Life of Pi” March 15—Jason Fregeau ’81, “Jason Fregeau publishes novella” March 25—Allison Maria Rodriguez ’03, WBUR, “Meet The ARTery 25—Millennials of Color Impacting Boston Arts And Culture” March 26—Lillian Burke ’16, Free Times, “This Year’s Themed Indie Grits Arts Projects Highlight Rural Communities” April 2—Beth Meacham ’74, Press Release, “2019 Hugo Award & 1944 Retro Hugo Award Finalists” April 4—Josue Salmeron ’06, Yellow Springs News, “Four village manager finalists named” April 12—Elizabeth Wiley ’71, Dayton. com, “New restaurant in the works by Meadowlark, Wheat Penny owners”

Work Proȷect VO L U N T E E R

July 2018 VWP crew on the steps of Main.

I left Antioch with a different way of looking at the world, its people, and myself.

I decided to participate in VWP because I wanted to spend more time on campus and absorb some of the old essence. Working beside fellow Antiochians to do our small part in bringing back the place I love was everything I hoped it would be.

The following are selections from recent Volunteer Work Project newsletters.

Want to receive the full newsletter on a regular basis? Subscribe by contacting the Office of Advancement: alumni@ antiochcollege.edu or 937-767-2341.

Victories for Pennell House

By Warren McKay ’59 (originally published February 2019)

By Alan Siege ’78 (originally published September 2018) So, Pennell—I got hooked into working on it after breakfast that Thursday morning by Jim Spangler ’74, who drives a pickup and has been doing campus fix-up work for years and who impressed me right away as someone who wanted a job done well. When he said it was staining a deck, I was pleased as there’s nothing like being a given a job where the results are plain to see. What I didn’t realize was just how large the decking was that encircled the building! Nonetheless, I was given my five-gallon pail, and a brush and told to cover as much as I could. It wasn’t until hours later–after doing nearly two sides of the building– that I learned the correct way to use a brush so that your strokes were even and flowed perfectly from the inside to the outside edge! Ah well, at my next work week I’ll be a pro.

Working with other volunteers who were painting the lower parts of the deck, I came away with a profound sense of just how true the phrase, “We’re a 168-year-old startup,” really is. It’s all about diving in and knowing that no job is too small not to have real meaning and value to the rebuilding of this storied college. I took two selfies that day; one with “my” finished deck in the background.

The second was in front of the Horace Mann statue. I positioned myself so the words, “be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity,” could be seen behind me. Painting a deck. A victory for humanity? No. But at the end of the day, I felt that in a small way, I had helped make it possible for future Antiochians to have a place to go that welcomed them to think and plan their own victories.

Antioch Farm Welcomes All Ages

By Yunus Brevik ’03 (originally published September 2018) The Antioch Farm is a lovely place

give back to the place where all of us volunteers received our vital undergraduate educations, is the PEOPLE! And, more than any one person could ever imagine, we accomplish things that are really noticeable on the balance sheet—by working cooperatively.

For example, a two-year-old working with us at the Farm carried small garlics to the sorting table. I being 90, sat down a lot more than others while sorting and tying. Neither of us broke stride, and the work flowed on as new workers showed up. It felt good—digging up garlic and leaving a tidy planting bed.

Working out in the fresh air, often with the same people for years— in some cases decades—who return again each year to help OUR college! This kind of dedication is activism at its BEST! Elizabeth Hess, Mary Bowman ‘49 Yunus Brevik ‘03 and daughter. to be and its existence gives me confidence the College will be successful. I have volunteered each year since 2013. The garden grows. My family has grown. This year, six family members comprising three generations joined VWP. It is comforting to have an activity that can accommodate all family members.

Unlike my teenage daughter, the little child’s (and soon children’s) help with most projects won’t be significant for several years. However, my two-year-old loves the Farm, thank goodness, and she can join the adults and truly work. She prefers harvesting and taste testing veggies! My older daughter enjoys

harvesting too, especially when it requires sharp tools. They both enjoy observing the animals. And regardless of heat, humidity, pests, or precipitation, the Farm is a peaceful place to be.

Given the increasing ubiquity of technology, I am grateful for the opportunity to work on the Farm, surrounded by life, more likely to be distracted by a butterfly than a buzzing smartphone.

Mary Bowman ’49 (originally published September 2018) One reason I return every year to

Newcomers, Longtime Volunteers— All are Welcome

By Frank Manley ’64 (originally published February 2019) Driving west on Route 70 four years ago, I decided to turn south on Route 68. It had been 50 years since I had set foot on campus. I parked beside the Student Union Building and walked around to the front of Main Building. Looking up at the towers I was ambushed by my emotions…my face wet with tears. Five years at Antioch is a short time, but

Summing up many years of VWP isn’t easy, so I’ll begin with what matters the most to me: the enduring friendship of Antiochians of many vintages. Through VWP, we experience enormous satisfaction and solidify our commitment to our beloved college. Nothing in the whole realm of alumni activity is quite comparable!

I have been a regular since 1990, first on the painting-scraping crew, then on grounds keeping, where a capacity to defeat poison ivy without getting it brought steady employment. More recently I have been in the library, first on processing the Axel Bahnsen photo collection, then assisting in a massive collections inventory.

I hope this provides ample evidence that there is something for everybody in VWP—but, you must see for yourself!

Volunteers Script, Direct, and Act!

By Robin Rice ’64 (originally published September 2018) By day, volunteers Beth Richards ’06 and Angel Martinez and I worked outside sweating in the relentless sun—gardening, weeding, and repairing the South Hall porch.

By night, Beth agreed to direct and Angel to act in my play JOSEOWULF. These two intrepid volunteers dove into rehearsals; they did not hold back. They experimented, listened, tried things out–opened themselves up. Beth worked her director’s magic. I was thrilled. I was nervous. The play had won awards, but I had never seen it staged.

On Cabaret Horace night, yours truly, the playwright, got to see and hear the audience response. I knew there were funny parts in the play, but...the Antioch audience howled with laughter! I had a comedy. Wonderful!

I flew home to NYC, energized and happy. Thank you crazy Antiochians who don’t know when to stop working!

THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019 9

InBox

Why do you give to Antioch?

Last fall we asked people who made donations to Antioch College why they give. Here are a few of the many responses we received.

A

ntioch provided me with a vast number of Co-op experiences from which I chose my current profession, which I have been practicing for 56 years.

—Elizabeth Bronk ’60

M

y short time at Antioch provided learning and exploration of values that have influenced most of my lifetime by providing a framework for assimilating new experiences and appreciating many cultures and work experiences.

—David Graybeal ’61

C

o-ops! Co-op should be the norm for college educations. Co-ops open your perspectives on the world. Co-ops introduce you to the real world.

Co-ops help you figure out who you are and what you want to do with your life. My Co-ops were my first adventures in life, and the memories will always be cherished.

—David K. Chazen ’77

I

n the 1970s, other schools hassled me about transfer of credits from nursing school. Antioch College accepted that I had some knowledge and I repeated NO courses! Later, I attended Wright State, and completed my PsyD. Antioch gave me the chance that I have always appreciated! It took thirteen years for me—as an Air Force wife—to finish my bachelor’s degree.

I

n honor of my late husband, John M. Mead, M.D. ’52, deceased October 15, 2018.

Antioch was of the greatest importance to him.

—Nancy Mead

I

’m grateful that my daughter could go to college there.

—Michael Steinrueck P’17

—Karen Wasserman ’77

Remembering Jimmy Williams

James “Jimmy” Haywood Williams passed away November 11, 2018. Jimmy served as Dean of Students, Associate Dean of Students, and Affirmative Action Officer at Antioch College. An obituary was published in the Fall 2018 issue of The Antiochian.

The following are remembrances sent to the College.

Jimmy was a truly remarkable human being. He was a constant and consistent figure to students from all walks of life. He was a mentor, an advisor, an advocate, and a guide for all of life’s challenges.

He was integral in the life of students, always thinking of what was best for our future and our development. He praised and pushed us.

He was loyal to Antioch, and always worked in service of its vision and our future. He will be missed and never forgotten!

—Shadia Alvarez ’96 Everyday, I’m more and more grateful for my time spent, tallent given, and experiences made accessible while at Antioch.... Jimmy was a big part of that success…blessings, light, and progress to his family.

—Vivien Carter ’96 Jimmy Williams was an educator and mentor who touched the lives of generations of Antiochians. He was a dedicated advocate for students of color and was pivotal in advancing racial justice and equity at Antioch College. Jimmy was a huge force behind much of leadership I took on at Antioch and beyond. My heart goes out to Jan, his daughters, and the entire Antioch Community in the moment.

—Shelby Chestnut ’06 Honoring Dean James Williams in the Afterlife

You are in the bardo of Becoming Dean Williams In the buddhist Tradition. please do not be afraid. You have passed Away and must leave your body now It is like a change of clothes and you will get a new body in a favorable rebirth There are pebbles for good deeds similar to judgement day in Christianity.

Heaven help us all like Stevie Wonder sang You were at a college fair at FHS. I was with my girlfriend. She stood, watched, and listened to us talk.

Then you were the director of Admissions, As well, at that time so that when I visited campus, got a tour, sat in on classes as a prospective student, I believe a Psychology course, was interviewed by your cheery staff woman Then you were promoted to Dean of Students and connected with all of us in group and one on one in mentor sessions You invited me to Bronx Science, I think was the high school in NYC, College Fair to represent Antioch College with you at a college fair table. At the time, I was on my first internship as an actor with Theater for a New Audience. Our Theater Director, and Antioch alumni as well, had just returned from her theater career in NY I think, got me the interview, we partnered with the Federal Work Study Program funds and I was hired to work full-

time for $8 an hour. Theater for a New Audience is an Antioch College-alum-owned off-Broadway and theater education company that was based downtown and now is in Brooklyn, currently. It seemed natural that I was in NY. However being an Ohioan partially raised in VA, I had only dreamt of NY. It was beyond my dreams. I have not attained a job that matched cold reading and improvisation in NYC public high school special education classrooms with professional playwrights and fellow professional actors. I read and wrote poetry at the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe Poetry slams in my free time. Living the good life.

Doing God’s work, Bruh. You brother Jimmy were the consummate New Yorker, Antiochian, friend to all, good father to your children, and husband to your wife.

Last time we spoke was 10 years ago when you were back on campus giving the commencement address.

You had been working tirelessly in higher education liberal arts at St. Lawrence in upstate NY. Gone too soon by Michael jackson Man, be well, thanks for your service, positive energy to you in the afterlife and prayer for a happy favorable rebirth Unless you are our enlightened friend then you can report back as to what that is like How many of us alumni did you personally recruit in your travels

and tireless college fair work when you were in admissions/ I remember you and I talking about the Antioch College varsity jackets and then you got one. I did not have the $250 for the leather/ wool grey/cranberry varsity jacket with a varsity letter A. We Are all brothers and sisters By the melody makers Om mani padme hum Your Mentee, Thubten Nyma Do Good Be Good Serve All Love All Om Mani Padme Hum May The Entire Universe be filled w/peace, joy, love, and light Be Kind to One Another Have Faith May Peace Be With You —Jude Demers ’97 Jimmy was a stand-up guy and so committed to supporting Antiochians. —Catherine Jordan ’72 Jimmy was always there to listen to and share his insight and healthy sense of humor with students. Having the opportunity to work at the Dean of Students Office, I saw the open door he kept regardless of how busy he was. He was an integral part of my Antioch experience, learning who I was as a person and building my foundation of who I am today.

—Damien A. Joyner

Jimmy Williams made a significant, positive impact on a generation of students and on the Antioch community as a whole.

—Joyce Morrissey ’80 Jimmy was my valued colleague during my presidency. One indelible memory we shared was the time the KKK came to town. They announced they were coming “to support the white students of Antioch” who were perceived by the Klan to be under attack from students of Color. Why? Some Antioch students had staged a kind of “reverse racism” exercise; they had chalked “anti-white” slogans on sidewalks. Unfortunately, a local TV station found out and photographed the graffiti. Nobody actually felt attacked—it was just educational theater, as I tried to explain on TV the next day. But the KKK were coming anyway and everyone was quite nervous. So resourceful Jimmy organized a picnic out of town for all the students who felt threatened. In the end, only two Klansmen showed up and were greeted by a huge gathering of counter-protesters—not Antioch students, mostly villagers.

Luckily there was no violence. The only police citation that day was for someone whose dog was off-leash.

—Joan Straumanis ’57 (President of the College 2001–04) His kindness and activism are an example to all of us.

—Jill Summerville ’06

Remembering Katie Jako ’54

Dr. Katherine “Katy” Louise Cobb Jako ’54, a long-time staff member and passionate supporter of Antioch College, died peacefully at home on December 31, 2018. An obituary will be published in the Spring 2019 issue of The Antiochian.

The following are remembrances sent to the College.

I was one of many who contributed to her noble and creative effort. Although it "failed" initially, it was the precursor to the successful reopening of Antioch College. I greatly admired her effort and was happy that she lived to see the new college. I think there was a tribute of some kind and I wish I could have attended. She did a wonderful job.

—Terri Shaw ’63 I met Katy in 1954 when she came to be my roommate in a loft on New York’s Lower East Side. The Antioch grapevine landed her on my doorstep with guitar in hand. We proved to be immediately compatible. We used to sing songs like “I met her in Venezu-e-e-e-ela.” After a year, she left town to pursue a calling in folk singing–and somehow, higher education administration. We both married, exchanged Xmas cards and photos of our children.

Life and its struggles moved on.

We both were divorced. The next time I saw her was 20 years later. She was looking gorgeous and blooming in a pink wool suit as Antioch Alumni director visiting 10 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019

New York. We met again years later during Alumni Work Week when her studies analyzing the failures of aborted Administrative programs were being defunded thus edging her out.

One day, she called me out of the blue from California. “What are you up to these days?” I asked. She gig-

gled a little and announced “I am trying to save Antioch.” She was going to buy back the college. She spent months and years collecting alumni addresses which had been left to fade away or were withheld from her by the college administration. She also focused on the self-destructive educational policies of the

revolving-door administrations. She formed an organization, The AIF, to buy the College’s independence to govern itself while remaining under the umbrella of the University. Periodically she sent me copies of material involved in the battles and we talked on the phone.

Years went by, as AIF proposals

were ignored or turned down. One day the College was shut down. The ground under it was more valuable than what was on top. But suddenly real estate values tumbled nationwide. And the Alumni did ultimately manage to buy the college along with its grounds from the University.

The Antioch News called her the “mother of Antioch independence.”

That is a fitting epitaph for Katy.

Perhaps one day there will even be a plaque in North Hall (her choice to be remembered in). Without her corralling of the alumni, and proposing self government alternatives, there would have been no alumnae reactivated and prepared to buy the college, no intelligence to design its reentry or the running of it.

Meanwhile, the enclosed photograph, probably taken in our loft, is how I remember her singing with me. I think of her as young, soft, twinkly eyes, with a light touch, a warm heart and a wicked sense of humor. Her demeanor belying her steely conviction to pursue what she believed in, no matter the cost...

—Penny Jones (Judy Hartshorne) ’52

Remembering Al Denman

Alvin Lindsley Denman passed way on January 16, 2019. He served as College Pastor in 1965, and served as Professor of Philosophy of Law and Religion until his retirement in 1992. An obituary will be published in the Spring 2019 issue of The Antiochian.

The following are remembrances sent to the College.

I remember Al riding his bike with Donna and various children, orange safety flags flying—another instance of his always taking care of whoever he was with and doing the right thing. He was so kind and so generous. —Isabel Auerbach ’72

ful, insightful, warm, and down to earth. A spiritual father and light through the shadowy world of adolescence. He will always be a part of me—alive in my life—a light in my way. Thank you, Al. —Prentiss Phillips ’72

Father Al. We shall not see such a man again!

—Bruce T. Grier ’85

I attended Antioch from 1992 to 1996, graduating with a degree in

though I have no idea. I sensed a great kinship with him and trusted him implicitly. He did his best to help me through my confused adolescent years at Antioch.In fact, he sought me out several times to offer special opportunities.

In the summer of 1966, our first at Antioch, Jim M. and I, along with several others, went on a four-day

those poor folks, actually more than with the mostly urban Antioch kids.

When I went to the men’s room, located in the shack’s back end jutting over the river, I was surprised to see that the toilet just flushed directly into it. I also remember getting a bottled Coke out of one of those water filled coolers in which the bottles were arranged in long, parallel lines,

comparative religion/cultural tour of Kentucky, arranged and mentored by him. We traveled in his modest sedan, driving up and over the mountains in an era before any four lanes had been built in that rough, and to us, uncivilized territory to visit a couple of very rustic Kentucky mountain colleges.

Al was always so occupied talking that he frequently lost the way. This happened even before we crossed the Ohio River and entered the hills.

We soon learned that if we weren’t going to be deeply lost, we needed to be the pilots. So, we closely watched the map, while he continued talking.

Seeing firsthand the poverty in which the Kentucky hill folk lived, this was a powerful experience for us, learning that Al must have known would be worth the trip. This was before the Johnson era, anti-poverty programs had taken much effect.

We slept in mountainside log cabins and shared meals and seminars with various church and college groups, all arranged by Al. On a Sunday morning, we attended a small, decrepit oneroom mountaintop fundamentalist church. During the ceremony, the pastor focused on Jim, trying his almighty best to motivate him to proceed to the front, confess his sins, and be saved. Jim, whom I think had little if any religious training, was baffled and definitely not ready for a religious epiphany. I think his inner Eagle Scout, still in effect at that time, wanted to cooperate, but no lights went off, I guess.

I remember playing eight-ball in Hazard, in a little, unpainted clapboard pool room, next to the river that meandered through the mostly decrepit town. Being from rural Ohio, in a place where many Kentuckians ended up working in factories, I actually felt some kinship with

hanging by the knobs on their necks.

After putting in your dime, you slid the bottle out of the line into the exit line, through the opened gate and out. Remember those?

In the last 20 years, I have inspected timberland as a forester/appraiser all over—I mean everywhere—in eastern Kentucky as well as West Virginia. Every time I visit, my trip with Al and Jim comes to mind. It’s a far different place, not 100-percent better, 50 years later.

—Jeff Wikle ’71

Farewell, Al. An inspiration and support to so many.

—Lisa Marie Jacobs ’88 Al would have been a singular treasure for any institution of higher learning in America, and Antioch was fortunate beyond measure to have held onto him and to be held by him for so long and under so many trying circumstances. He embraced an especially inspirational role in the Alumni Board and led the rescue of the College from the shutdown imposed by Antioch University in 2008.

As a member of that Board throughout those “war years,” one of the highlights of my life was his invocation at Commencement 2015 in which he evoked the spirit of an 18th- to 19th-century Native American leader in his charge to the first graduating class of the newly independent Antioch (https://vimeo. com/132704432 at 38:15).

“I hear voices rising from these grounds…Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnee Nation: ‘This was our home, this was our land on which you are sitting…Earth our mother,’” Denman intoned. “…Today she is gravely ill, stripped, gouged…take care of our ailing mother.”

May we all cherish the memory of Alvin Denman and our memories of him.

—Tim Klass ’71 I have fond memories of Al Denman. He was my professor in Fall 1975 for a class called something like “Introduction to Philosophy Using the Films of Ingmar Bergman,” It is one of the few courses I have always remembered and the learning experience I had in that course helped motivate me to eventually earn my Ph.D. He showed me what it was like to have a teacher who was intellectually inspiring and also gentle and kind. I will always remember the peaceful smile of joy on his face....

—Shelley Diamond ’80 I remember him with an interest in and support of the Dayton Miami Valley College Consortium and a multi-disciplinary course, “Faith Crisis in Culture” at the University of Dayton in 1968. That year a generation of college students examined their lives, and then acted with a new will. Many who changed in Dayton were inspired, afforded, and supported by Al Denman and his colleagues. —Ken Finlayson ’70 I am so sorry to hear of Al’s passing. We taught together from 1968 until 1975 in our small philosophy and religion department. I will always remember his kindness to a new young colleague, even when campus craziness put us on different sides of the chaos. I believe that Charlie Love and I are now the only survivors of that time. I will try to find Charlie to let him know. My condolences to Donna and the family.

—Bob Atkins The door to Al’s office in back of the Quaker meeting house was always open. Inside, he would listen patiently to stories and dreams of a better, more peaceful world. We would talk of ways to search, ways to create more sincerity and honesty—love and compassion—the value of heart and spirit—how to awaken and enliven those within ourselves and in others. Always thought-

history. My time at Antioch was deeply formative, wonderful, intense. There were several people who made my years at Antioch life-changing, fascinating, and fun.

Al was one of them, for sure.

I took his class on world religions (I don’t remember its formal title). His class gave me and my classmates the opportunity to learn about and experience religions from around the world.

We read deeply about the religions, engaged in critical discussions about them. And, perhaps best of all, we had the wonderful opportunity to experience the religions by visiting a place of worship for each one right in the Miami Valley. We were able to learn by doing—so Antioch! And so key to learning was the opportunity to meet with, talk with, and to observe respectfully observants of the religions we were learning about. Al led the entire class and each experience with deep respect and wisdom. He steered the class in the right direction always and made sure the discussions were kept thoughtful, measured, and made us find answers to deep questions.

Al was a very special person and a part of my own learning experience. He is missed.

—Alison Stankrauff ’96 Al was a generous, open person, physically small, with a great, exceptional heart. In the late 1960s, times when a great deal of ideological and cultural unpleasantness was in fashion, particularly in Yellow Springs, he stood out for being above it all. As a teacher of religion and philosophy and very much still a pastor, he was simply a humble servant of God, focused on positivity, with an open mind, and no apparent interest in politics or identity group dynamics. I imagine he must have been from the Midwest,

Dear Family, friends, and ex-students of Al Denman, Before writing something about Al, let me apologize that, as is almost always the case in this sort of note, it will necessarily contain, probably too much so, personal details about my own person.

I began at Antioch in the Summer of 1964 as a rather naïve and analytically undereducated Texas boy.

Yates Hafner saved my “career” at Antioch that first semester, but then in 1965, still unsure of where I might be going with a college education, I met Al. He encouraged me to continue my searching as a possible candidate for the rabbinate and guided me with a kind, knowing, and open hand on a path that had so many twists and turns, I am not sure how he was able to keep up with me or with them!

Thanks to the wonderful inspiration of Paula Spier, there was an Antioch Education Abroad year in Israel from 1966 to 1967 in which I moved inwardly from a reformed Judaism place in my soul to a rather conservative one, and at the same time, transformed my love for folk dancing Friday nights in Red Square to an actual “job,” performing with the Student Union’s folk dance group in many places in Israel. It was during that same year in

Israel that a sort of modern dance training entered my life as a side line at the Hebrew University.

Returning to Antioch, Al helped me greatly to get out of the messy confusion I had created within my mind, heart, and body, at first with an encouragement to study acting and dance at Antioch while still pursuing my, by then, chosen major of Religion and Philosophy.

Then there was his complete support for my impulses to first apply to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and then, a year later, just as impulsively, to write that I would not be attending the Seminary early, but rather finishing the full five years at Antioch. Perhaps his most unusual support came as I decided, instead of writing a paper as a final department requirement for graduation, to choreograph a dance concert called “Antioch Sweet Dance.” I graduated and ended up in New York, not at the Jewish Theological Seminary, but at NYU School of the Arts in a Dance Theatre Master’s program.

Al and I remained in contact by occasional letter and a visit or two when I could get back to Yellow Springs. He shared my joy in my Broadway debut in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof with Zero Mostel. Ten years later, he continued to accompany from afar, the decision indeed, to go to seminary, but to one of the Christian Community in Germany. He knew of my ordination and sent some words of real wisdom for pastoral care that would come my way because of this new adventure, especially as I landed alone in a congregation in Lima, Peru.

Our last communication was his expressed pleasure at my impending marriage to my husband and a desire to attend the wedding, i.e. until he realized that I was still talking about Lima, Peru, and not Lima, Ohio! I would not call Al a Friend.

That is too small a role to assign him in my life. He was more like a leit-motif that at critical moments has shined up into consciousness, but that will, even with his passing, will, I am certain, continue to shine there.

—Paul Corman ’69 I remember coming back to campus in 1968 from an emotionally intense and deeply meaningful weekend with loved ones, not wanting to be back, being filled up with feelings, and not knowing where to turn. The only person I could think of was Al Denman. So I went to see him, and at the first kind word, I burst into tears. I don’t remember much of what else happened, but I left feeling seen, held, validated, and able to go on with life. It was a great gift, and I have held him in my heart all these decades. When I saw a note in The Antiochian a few years ago, announcing a scholarship in his name, I reached out for contact information, and was able to tell him directly how much he had mattered to me. I’m very sorry that he is gone, but mostly deeply grateful that he was alive and in my life at Antioch.

—Pamela Haines ’71 In 1977, I took a two-quarter course with Al in which we used the University of Dayton Law Library to research our topic. It was my introduction into law, and he impressed upon me the need to be very, very precise in what you “cite” when making a case. That still means a lot to me today. To be clear and focused about what you say and write. I’m sorry to learn of his passing.

—Alan Siege ’78 My spouse, Caroline Kastle McEuen ’71, needed to be baptized as a Christian before we could be married in 1968. We compiled our own text for the ceremony, from THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019 11

InBox

of education I have used throughknew how to listen carefully and ask out my life. It is a model I continthe hard and interesting questions. ue to lean on as I now find myself a At first, as so many of us threw ourprofessor in these dark days when selves into activism of every kind, American “education” is becomI did not get what Al was doing to ing more and more encumbered by and for us. Almost irritated and cer“outcomes assessments” and other tainly puzzled by the easy pace of “metrics” that often seem to have his conversation, observations, and nothing at all to do with education. questions, I kept wondering why he The most important intellectudid not leap onto the barricades as al gifts Al gave me were Epictetus, quickly as the rest of us. Was he just Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, dense? Afraid? Befuddled?

When I started at Antioch as an asCamus, and the other existentialIt took me at least half of my five sistant professor in the Department ists. The first day of Existentialyears to realize that he was simof Foreign Languages, I was invited ism, he plopped himself down on ply very wise and wanting to help

by Al Denman to join a small comthe floor of that chairless room in us learn at least as much as we acmittee of faculty members investiMcGregor and gave us our first lescomplished and produced. Even gating a program called “New Dison in existentialism: We had to as a young professor, he knew that rections.” That is when I had the choose. Would we follow the syllahis questions and puzzling obseropportunity to get to know Al. bus he had prepared or create one vations would serve us better than Later on we were both members ourselves? Would we use his text, impulsive/compulsive crusade. I do of Adcil, and also there he showed or find something else? We chose to not remember him criticizing our his undying loyalty to the College follow his lead and, at least for me, social justice rants, and it turned and the students. it was, perhaps, the formative class out that he was alongside of us in Sure, we had some serious disof my life. I still have that brilliant most of our activism. But in the decussions and disagreements, as Al textbook (now sadly out of print), cades that ensued in which I found was a very convinced liberal and I full of underlining and annotamyself in the high altitudes of nabelonged to the radical faction. But tions, so overused I’ve had to duct tional social activism with all its this never tainted our collegial relatape it together. Decades later, as I self-righteousness ambitions, I oftionship: when we wanted to leave trained to become a clinical counten wished for Al’s wry grin, underour car behind when in summer we selor/psychotherapist, I returned stated questions, and musings. visited the grandparents in Europe, to that class as I read Yalom and inAlthough I am sure that Al played Al was always prepared to help us corporated all of that wisdom into the central role in the high honout. This is just one example of the my theoretical approach to helping ors with which I left Antioch, the matter-of-fact way he treated his hilarious and powercolleagues, students, and members ful set of gestures most of the Yellow Springs community. typical of Antioch geIt was a pleasure to work with him nius and deepest gift and to experience his basic honesty. to me happened in my Oh yes, one more thing: when the fourth year. He was Marxist scholar and liberation theoloheaded out for his first gian Carlos Lenkersdorf had to flee for sabbatical, and he had his life after the massacre of the stuthe crazy idea that I— dents at the University of Mexico, the just back from a year first person we turned to for efficient abroad—should be Ansupport was, without any doubt…Al tioch’s college pastor in Denman. Need I say more? his absence. On top of — Ludo Abicht this ridiculous idea he (faculty from 1968 until 1981) piled the notion that I should teach the ReliSo sad to hear that Al Denman has gion Department acadied… he was always open to lisdemic courses. And it ten, to offer council, and tell stoall happened. I taught ries of past and relate them to now. two courses, providHe brought love to everything he ed counseling sessions did. He was an avid gardener who for students, and perbequeathed his orange tree to our formed the formal pubfamily with a request for a jar of lic religious roles for homemade marmalade each year. the College. I even conHe helped me to gather the courvinced myself that I reage to write a grant for First Presbyally was the College Pasterian and to weather storms of life. tor. The courses were He will be dearly missed by many in Al Denman with Jennifer Berman ’84 popular, and most of Yellow Springs and by the congreall, I learned so much. gation of First Presbyterian Yellow my clients. When I finally finished My (non-Antioch) partner just roars Springs. I know that he is with God. my Ph.D., 40 years after my Antioch with laughter when she hears this —Libby (and Dan) Rudolf graduation, Al had the place of honridiculous story. This set in motion or in my dedication. a life I had never expected as an acI have incredibly fond memories of Having lived a peripatetic childademic and a public religionist. But Al. He was my professor, friend, and hood, I learned early on how to most of all, it taught me to expect mentor. In particular, I remember a shake the dust of wherever I’d been myself to grab life by its public and class that I took with him, which I beoff my shoes. After I left Antioch, private parts, love it with passion, lieve was entitled Zen and the Art of it took me years before I could reask lots of questions, and mock my Glen Running. As the title of the class turn. But when I did, I looked for own and others’ self-righteousness. suggests, he took us places—physiAl and when I found him, I was asThank you, Al. —Hal Taussig ’70 cally, intellectually, and spiritually. tonished that his eyes brightened He cared deeply about his students, when he saw me. He then gave me I arrived in the Springs in the Fall of constantly exuding warmth and so much time, sitting on the steps 1975 as a transfer student trying to compassion. He exemplified the best of Main Hall, asking about my life, finish my checkered college career of Antioch and, in doing so, brought sharing his. When I told him about and trying to figure out at least the out the best in his students. I’ll miss how much I had treasured Existenfirst part of my life. That first quarknowing that he continues to touch tialism, he gave one of those great, ter, I took a first-year multidiscithe lives of others and I suspect the indescribable laughs of his. Then plinary course called “World Views broader Antioch community, past he confessed to me that when he’d and Ways of Knowing,” taught by and present, likely feels the same taught that class, he knew very litJewell and Al. Throughout that way. I’ll carry his spirit with me, tle about existentialism and that he quarter, I could feel scales I never knowing I was lucky to have known was learning as much from us as we knew were there falling from my him. I’m grateful that Antioch introwere learning from him. eyes. This was Al’s (and Jewell’s) duced me to Al. My heart goes out to The last time I saw Al in person first important gift to me.

Donna, my Antioch peers Todd and was almost 20 years ago. I had finalAfter that, the gifts and enlightDon, and Linnea and Matt ly married and my wife and I were enment came fast and filled my two —Ian Yolles​ ’80 driving across the country as we reyears at Antioch. Ingmar Bergman located from D.C. to Albuquerque. films on Friday nights in Main Hall.

I suspect that there is no more imI called Al and he sounded delightGeorge Sheehan and the joys of portant learning platform in my ed to meet us as we passed through. running. The history of the College, life than Antioch College, and no Of course, we met for breakfast at the Glen, the Village he shared with more important person at Antioch Young’s and I was amazed to see me as we ran together. The cooold than Al Denman. It was a wonderhim ride up on his bike. Without resNovember run when he took me fully curious and improbable sceervation, he gave me and my wife down a road I didn’t know to find nario that unfolded between Al and his undivided attention. Our breakthe Christmas Tree farm with its me, as we both landed at Antioch fast ended more because we had a small gathering of folks drinking in 1965, he as professor and college schedule to keep than did he. hot chocolate around a barrel fire. pastor and I as student. Of course, I know other Antiochians spent Of course, he provided guidance curiosity and improbability ended much more time with Al—and I that eventually shaped my life. up for both of us as central moniker must admit some silly jealousy over He provided gentle skepticism to for what Antioch does for people. that. But in the two brief years I was counter my naive views of law and It was the heyday of the 1960s and in Yellow Springs, Al and Antioch American justice—skepticism that Al was ready for it all. While much shaped me for a lifetime. As a therwould provide an intellectual founmore ready for the rough and tumapist and teacher, I hope I pass that dation for me when D.C. blew away ble social creativity and chaos of legacy along to my clients and stumy naivete. He, and other Antioch that era than much of Antioch itself dents. Last night, in my first class of professors, provided me a model and certainly me, he also already poetry and multicultural scriptures, and on a clear spring morning, Al officiated as we enacted the sacrament at the Yellow Spring in Glen Helen. It was a moment both visceral and spiritual, earthly and transcendent, of birth and renewal. Unforgettable. As is Al Denman.

Peace and safe journeying.

—Jim McEuen ’71

12 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019

the semester with students brand new to the counseling world, I shared a picture of Al and explained I would not have become who I am without him.

Al was my professor, guide, running partner, and mentor. He remains my model for how to be a counselor, therapist, educator, and decent human being. He was also the only real father-figure of my adult life Since my time at Antioch, I have always tried to win some victory to know I can die unashamed. While Horace’s words provide the text, it is always Al Denman’s gentle voice I hear, saying, “I think you might have won one today. Well done!”

I can only hope Al knew of the innumerable victories he was a part of. I can only hope he knew how grateful all of us were to have been touched by his life.

Thank you, Al.

—Michael Morad-McCoy ’77 I took a philosophy class with Al Denman in 1975, I think. I remember his very kind and gentle approach to the students and to the material. The class was small and he had us all over to his house at least once. He was able to make

these very important and influential thinkers accessible to our group of curious and so very young idealistic students. His class was a safe space to experiment with ideas and to learn to think and write.

—Tom Crowe ’77 Al Denman and I arrived at Antioch in 1965, and he was one of the first faculty members who welcomed me to campus. We both had to adjust to the new first-year program, and I remember participating in a seminar he offered that met in his house. I came from a much more structured high school learning environment, and the idea that a teacher could be so informal, yet committed to helping me adjust to the rigors of a college philosophy course, was so supportive.

During my time in Yellow Springs, I saw Al as a friend and mentor. We each struggled to help the Antioch of the late 60s negotiate its way through challenging and changing times. But I saw Al as more than a faculty member. To me, he was someone I could go to for advice and good counsel.

Once, when I happened to meet a young runaway kid from Dayton, I went to Al for guidance. He helped me understand that I should convince the runaway to go back home, and then he helped me get her back to Dayton.

I was sad to learn of his passing, and I’ll always remember his warmth, support, good advice, and leadership.

Al Denman was an important part of my Antioch and of who I became.

—David Greenberg ’70 Twenty years my senior, Al was a competitive running buddy who

made every training run a lesson in so many ways. He chugged up hills with his signature “toot” that was both inspiring and endearing. Between breaths we had conversations that ran the gamut from mundane to metaphysical. Time spent with him was usually the highlight of my day.

Others have beautifully captured the essence of the man and it is evident that his legacy lives with us as we speak a kind word or assist those in need of a helping hand.

— Michael Hughes, Antioch faculty, 1978–1983 Al had a shaping influence on my life, career, and how I see and interact with the world around me.

Along with Jewel Graham, Al Denman was one of two bookends that defined my time at Antioch. I came to Antioch in the fall of 1980 and graduated in spring 1984 with a major in social work and a focus on cross-cultural studies. During that time, I think I took every law, philosophy, and religion course that Al offered. He is largely responsible for starting me on the path to critical thinking and thoughtful writing.

There are so many “take-aways” that I learned from Al that have guided my life for decades. These

have helped me to be a conscious human being and shaped my ventures into academia. I will note a few here.

Al gave the clear message that a well-rounded paper must be informed by diverse perspectives.

As I remember it, he required that each paper’s reference list must cite at least three sources who were not coming from a position of privilege.

In other words, it was inadequate to draw on perspectives of only straight, white, male, middle- to upper-class perspectives. We were required to actively seek voices of people of color, LGBT, immigrant, non-Christian, and other marginalized peoples. This was no small requirement in the early 1980s when library resources were found by flipping through index cards in a large wooden card catalogue and not a single computer was in sight.

His requirement was unwavering. A good paper must be informed by diverse sources. There was no excuse for citing only white males whose perspectives were easily accessible.

Al guided us to explore different forms of learning and different expressions of what we learned. The experiential learning that he employed in teaching religions of the world took me and my classmates to synagogues, mosques, and churches where I learned about diverse peoples, diverse perspectives, myself, and my comfort zone.

I drew on this foundation and the importance of experiential learning as I entered academia and taught diversity courses.

In some classes Al required reading several books multiple times. Some classes required a paper each week and that students experiment with

different forms of writing from poetry to parody. Intense reading and writing demands pushed students to deeper levels of understanding.

I am eternally grateful for the experiences I had with Al in and out of the classroom in the early 1980s. We corresponded for a bit in the midto late-1980s, and I was able to tell him about my experiences in graduate school and my first teaching position at his old alma mater, University of Idaho. I was able to tell him how he influenced my life and career and he kept me updated on Antioch and his family. Although we lost touch in the 1990s, I was delighted to hear from him again in 2013. I was able to spend time with him and Donna in April 2016 when my children and I came to Yellow Springs for Jewel Graham’s memorial. I was truly blessed to have this time with him, reflecting on our connections over the decades, and the shaping influence he has had on my life.

Al Denman exemplifies Antioch at its best. He has made a difference in the world. His legacy will be a ripple effect carried out by the many students he taught over the decades. I am proud to be a part of that legacy.

—Hilary N. Weaver ’84 So Sad, indeed. So Chezals put “pen to paper” and wrote: Leaves’ Life Cycle

By Chezals, 17 Jan 2019 From Earth do they SPRING forth, Ever Rising, Reaching Wide and Far into the Sky, Creating Scenes of Beauty for all to Embrace; and Spreading Life’s Oxygen and Joy for All to Breathe and Enjoy, While simultaneously spreading COOL and GENIAL Breezes for all to share. ’Till Time and SUMMER slowly loosen the leaves’ GRIPS, Change their colors and they begin to SLIP; Falling back to EARTH to begin Anew, The Life Cycle from Ages Ago, As The Winter Snow prepares for a new “HELLO.” I knew Alvin as a friend, neighbor, citizen, activist, academician, strategist, fellow parent, sportsman, and an all-round good guy. I will miss his friendship and his counsel.

Luckily, there is Donna and the next generations of Denmans to carry on. May they take comfort, as do I, that we had such a good GUY in our lives.

—Al Smith I was fortunate to have taken a course with Al Denman when I arrived on the Antioch College campus in the Fall of 1975 as a transfer student from Syracuse University.

In the first class of Dr. Denman’s course, he did something I’d never seen a college professor do: he asked the students to give him five suggestions for topics they wanted to have covered in the curriculum. Not all of the students’ ideas could be included in the class but Dr. Denman selected a number of the offered subjects for study in the coursework.

One of those items was mine.

In the Fall of 1975, students from nearby Cedarville College, a fundamentalist Baptist institution, were periodically coming onto the Antioch campus to proselytize. I suggested a field trip to Cedarville for the purpose of being guests in a religion class. Dr. Denman arranged for a proffered invitation to sit in on a religion class at Cedarville and to have a group discussion after the lecture. It was an interesting experience to listen to another point of view, even if I did not agree with what was said.

In our current atmosphere of divisiveness and acceptance only of our own subjective set of facts, it was was good to learn the valve of listening to what other people have to say, especially when there are disagreements. Dr. Denman was the type of professor who wanted to know what his students want-

ed from their fields of studies. He was also a man who understood that there are many gods. God bless you Al Denman, and thanks for the great learning experiences.

—Rebecca J. Mark ’77 As a freshman, I took a philosophy course taught by Al Denman. I was very shy. In my evaluation (my grade for the class) he wrote that I spoke up when I couldn’t contain myself any longer, my contributions were important, and that he hoped to hear more from me. Al Denman helped me find my voice.

—Medora Ebersole ’80 Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, 2016 Dear Al, I am so thankful you were my teacher. You taught ideas, true, but often the ideas were posed as questions and the questions did not always have clear answers. Plus you actively encouraged us to ask our own questions, even if it meant challenging you. So, later in life, I could see what you were really doing was planting seeds of a different kind of idea—how to use questions in order to think. You knew that being able to formulate questions was essential if your students were to become critical thinkers, so we could go out in the world and “fight the good fight.”

Those seeds, planted by the gardener Al Denman, took root and caused new seeds to be planted by his students in others who in turn are sowing seeds of their own. If the physicists teach us that the Butterfly Effect—the fluttering of the butterfly’s wings which begin as a small effect but which can result in large changes in a later state—then so, too, can the results of the seeds that teachers plant…that Al Denman planted.

Thank you, Al. Thank you, thank you, thank you. —Harrell Guy Graham ’77 Earlier this week I learned of the passing to another realm of one of my professors at Antioch College. Al Denman was a philosophy teacher. He was my advisor for my self-designed major called “World Philosophy,” a synthesis of anthropology and philosophy.

A few years ago, I actually exchanged some snail mail letters with him as he and his wife did a handwritten campaign to alumni looking for support from the College. He even shared regards from the Eastern philosophy teacher, Ramesh Patel. I felt honored that they remembered me, and so kindly.

Since reconnecting with a lot of Antiochians on Facebook, I have realized how deeply my Antioch education has influenced my understanding of the world and of how to be in the world.

Reading this homage from the president of Antioch: “Al was a pillar of Antioch College and the Village of Yellow Springs. He had the rare gift of being able to see the world through the eyes of others.

He was a nurturing advisor, educator, and facilitator of authentic community. Indeed, he exemplified what it means to live as a citizen in what Seamus Heaney called the “Republic of Conscience.” I realize how much I try, in my own life in my “peaceful village” to facilitate authentic community and live in a Republic of Conscience.”

Thank you, Al. —Kirana Stover ’87 I remember the first paper I wrote for Al Denman in 1974. The class was, “An Introduction to Ethics Through the Study of World Hunger.” I was not only fascinated by the topic, but revelled in the deep satisfaction of righteous indignation. There was a special brand of righteous indignation that was endemic to the times and certainly to being an Antioch hippie. The readings Al chose for us were engaging and thought-provoking. Al’s gentle demeanor, humble approach,

and facilitation of respectful class discussion were deeply rewarding and a perfect antidote to the opinionated arrogance and moral superiority that I brought to him as an adolescent, but the real magic happened in how Al coached us in individual meetings. I was inspired to work hard on my first draft, turning it in to Al with great expectation. Al’s enthusiastic and deeply affirming response was even more complimentary than expected but embedded in the feedback were comments such as, “This is such a fine analysis, but can you imagine how remarkable it would be if you just tweaked this one argument a bit?” Al helped each of his students know they were the best and that we could do anything we worked at. His enthusiasm and respect were so acute that I came to think of getting feedback from Al as a celebratory experience. I would race back to my room, eager to respond to the suggestion, and full of intellectual curiosity. Each subsequent draft I turned in replicated the experience of the first draft. Al used supportive feedback, respect, academic rigor, and kindness to turn me into a thinker and a writer. My gratitude for that shaping of who I am and the deep rich satisfaction it continues to bring to my world, knows no limit. Al Denman was my favorite professor in both undergraduate and graduate school. He taught me not only the content of a philosophy class, but the joy of disciplined and creative thinking. His curriculum was kindness and curiosity, the philosophy of Al Denman.

I will always be grateful for his gifts and humbled by his memory.

—Susan (Jacobs) Buniva ’77 Al Denman performed the wedding service for us in June 1966. It took place in Glen Helen, at the Yellow Spring. Then we walked, with our guests, back to a dorm common room, and had a small reception featuring some homemade mead.

I do not remember many details about his counseling meeting with us beforehand, nor much else about the day. But I can clearly bring to mind the beautiful, joyful smile on his face as he completed the ceremony.

Mike and Kay MacLaury, still together and in love after 52 years —Kay MacLaury ’66 Antioch was such a life-changing experience for me, but no one impacted me more than Al Denman. He was my alchemist. I took his Violence and Nonviolence philosophy class in 1982, and it led to the Watson Fellowship a year later, another life-shaping passage. But Al’s influence never ended. I thought of him often and felt this love and strength many times on that and other journeys.

Al was not just my path to a deep plunge into investigating nonviolent social change, he was my first and most important Satyagrahi, a seeker of Truth. Like all seekers of Truth, while Al was filled with joy, respect, and kindness, he had high standards and he held both himself and you to them. Al was the one who told me I had to reduce my 50page Watson application to just 10 pages, a task that seemed impossible at first. But I knew he believed I could do it, and that faith carried me through.

I remember Al’s Friday Forums, dialogues on important topics, where he brought people together from very different backgrounds and perspectives. They were structured so that the invited speakers got their ideas out and then the audience—the participants really—weighed in and shared their opinions. We had to listen to each other and together we constructed a deeper understanding of the topic and ourselves. Al showed us again that we needed both self-examination and our opponents to get to the deeper truth.

Al played such key roles at critical times throughout Antioch’s evolution. I only learned of some of

them when Antioch went through its closure and I read more about the history of Antioch and could see his impressive contributions over a very long span of time. He never wavered in his devotion to the College and its students. Al and Donna’s creation of the Next Generations scholarship is yet one more example of their extraordinary generosity and vision.

Dr. King said the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. If it does, it is because of the tireless, steady efforts of people like Al and Donna Denman, pulling that arc towards a more loving, justice-filled world.

Perhaps now Al dances on top, lending his weight in yet another fashion. AL, I will miss you so. My love and blessings to Donna, Linnea, and his family.

—Bonnie Bazata ’83

and invited my sister and me to their house for cake and tea the next day. I am so grateful to have had the time with Al to tell him how much his teaching and modeling of philosophical practice impacted me. And Al told me that he had read my books. That last meeting reinforced the importance of expressing gratitude to those who have been in my life and who I have lost touch with, because he showed me that he remembered me just as I remembered him. Thank you for that last lesson, Al. Go in peace and light. —Kristin Andrews ’92

Please let me share some of my memories of Al Denman, my philosopher professor from 1989–1992 at Antioch College. Today I am a philosophy professor myself, and I owe so much to Al’s early influence. He shaped my approach to doing and teaching philosophy.

In my first year at Antioch, I took a class in the history of philosophy with Al, and I loved everything about it—how I got to call him Al, how the class was so small and he knew each student, how we got to debate ideas, and how he interspersed lecture and discussion with stories from his own life. I recall him telling us about the time as a young man he was doing manual labor digging holes for fences, and his philosophical contemplations led him to a conclusion about the meaning of life. But then he forgot what it was! That story makes me try to write down all my “good ideas!”

Al’s deep concern for people and for goodness was apparent in the way he taught his classes. Al treated me like I had worthwhile things to say. He encouraged me, the silent girl in his male-dominated classes, to play the game, and when I couldn’t quite do it he took me into his office to speak with me one-onone. I remember sitting next to his desk, with the window overlooking the east side of campus, seeing the trees and grass, Al’s manual typewriter on a stand beside him. He gave me an opportunity to ask my questions, and he encouraged me to appreciate my own philosophical work. Then he would type up comments for me to take away.

Al once told me that, for my senior project, I didn’t need to write a formal philosophy paper, but I could do a project of any sort. He gave me a couple of examples—an interpretive dance, or maybe a mobile. At the time I was not moved by these suggestions, but now I better appreciate the intention behind them, to bring philosophy into the wider world and not just see it as an academic pursuit. That is one of the things Al taught me that I now teach my own students.

Another important lesson Al taught me was how to be a philosopher. At a time when the academic culture of philosophy was a competitive attempt to undercut others’ arguments, Al modeled a collaborative approach to doing philosophy. Yes, we still looked for criticisms, but we did so in order to help develop the ideas and arguments, without needing to prove anything. Al showed me we that we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by helping to fill the gaps in others’ ideas. We are all just humans working together to grapple with questions about our world and how best to live in it.

I lost touch with Al for many years, though I often thought about writing him a letter to thank him for his early influence on me. I never did. I should have. But, I am so lucky that Al found me last spring when I came to Yellow Springs for a yoga class, and gave a talk at the Philosophy Roundtable. Al and Donna were there during my talk,

It was the spirit of 1976 in the form of Al Denman that brought me to Antioch College in August, 1976, when I interviewed as a candidate for Antioch’s philosophy position. I fell in love with Antioch at the first sight, so to say. Al hired me next month and the rest is my life changed forever. Al was my senior colleague in Antioch’s Department of Philosophy and Religion, although George Geiger also taught two courses a year even though he had retired. It was Al, George, and me for several years. This was the golden period of my life, which was all due to Al. Al left me alone at the Department in 1992, when one day he suddenly said he was 65 and retiring. It was a blow to me because it was impossible for me to imagine Antioch without Al. For me Al was Antioch and he still is. Fortunately, Al continued to help and guide me while I went on to teach at Antioch until 2002, when I too retired. To say that Al was my mentor would be a gross understatement. He was a lot more than that.

Al and Donna sheltered me throughout my life from the day in 1976 I came to Antioch with my wife and two children, driving late at night and sleeping at their house, to the day when both of them came to my home in Beavercreek and had lunch with us some months ago.

Best possible mentor, senior friend, greatest big brother was Al: I ran to him at the slightest trouble and he was always there to help, support, counsel, console, energize, inspire. He did all this not just to me, for I saw him do the same to countless students and advisees and all colleagues. He supported and toiled for Antioch more than anyone I knew in my 25 years of teaching at Antioch and beyond through retirement years.

Al and I taught many courses at Antioch as a team: Religions of the World, Legal Systems of the World, Ethics. Al arranged a big Friday Forum for me to speak on Gandhi as the film Gandhi was released, which paved way for my course called Gandhi: Truth and Nonviolence, which I taught for 18 years. I think Al was the greatest teacher, not only at Antioch, but anywhere that I have seen, heard, or otherwise known.

His influence of his students’ thinking was something to behold: he literally transformed their lives.

I, together with my whole family, will miss Al like our senior self. Greatest human I have witnessed and walked with. He fought injustice in the world in face of insurmountable challenges. Al was a true karma-yogin I have seen operate in real life. He was, is, and will be that for ever.

Good bye, Al. You have made the world a better place in many many ways. We will remain in debt and gratitude for this for all times to come. Once you talked to me about your mystical experience of non-dual unity with all existence.

Now that you have actually become one with that existence, we will continue to draw inspiration from you all the time. THANKS! —Ramesh Patel

I have continued to appreciate the wisdom Al imparted to us in the graduation benediction in 1967.

Short and to the point...” Arise, go forth, this is no place to rest.”

Thank you Al for your inspiration and wisdom.

—Bill Bruff ’67

THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019 13

Antiochiana

SONGS FROM THE STACKS

The Fra September 1912 Each month, College Archivist Scott Sanders digs into the archives and shares “songs from the stacks” which reveal pieces of Antioch College’s history. View more Songs from the Stacks at antiochcollege.edu/antiochiana

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) was one of the most colorful figures in an era positively loaded with them.

A writer, publisher, printer, artist, and philosopher, Hubbard got his start as a traveling soap salesman.

He was best known as the founder of Roycroft, an artist colony near Buffalo, NY, that had profound influence on American art and architecture. He effectively launched the Arts and Crafts movement, largely through two beautifully illustrated magazines he produced, The Philistine and The Fra. Highly opinionated and more than a little eccentric, Hubbard considered himself both an anarchist and a socialist, expressing his often controversial views in highly idiosyncratic language (he referred to those who disagreed with him as “gloomsters” and “groucherinos,” for instance). In 1913, he was convicted in Federal court for using the postal service to distribute “obscene” and “immoral” materials (his magazines), a violation of statutes known as the Comstock Law. Hubbard was pardoned in 1915 just in time to book passage on the ocean liner RMS Lusitania, and he and his wife Alice were among the 128 Americans who died aboard ship when it was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland.

Despite his many diverse talents, Hubbard was a lousy historian. He shows us just how bad in the following “history” of Antioch College reprinted from The Fra (short for fraternity). He was undoubtedly moved to write it following a lecture he gave in Yellow Springs as part of the 1910 Antioch Chautauqua. He gets practically everything wrong when it comes to the historical details of Antioch College and Yellow Springs, OH. His chronology is poor, his analysis is flawed, and his assertions by and large cannot be substantiated.

He sees conspiracy where none exists, gleefully displays debilitating bias, and drops names incessantly whether that individual had anything to do with Antioch or not (he’s especially enamored of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who Hubbard says spoke on campus four years before there was a campus to speak on). To punctuate this comedy of error, an obviously exasperated critique by Robert L. Straker, class of 1925 and one of the College’s more dedicated historians, is also included.

September 1910. The Fra

Elbert Hubbard: “Poetry, History and Tradition”

I have been down to Antioch College, where I liberated a few rhetorical jibes.

Antioch College is at Yellow Springs, Ohio, a place where you wade knee-deep in tradition and history hits you at every turn.

Yellow Springs derives its name from a chalybeate spring that gushes from a great cliff of limestone.

This spring flows a hundred gallons of water a minute, and has, since the memory of the Oldest Inhabitant. The quantity of water never varies; in season and out, it flows its steady, big, busy, sparkling stream, coming from the Everywhere, going to the Nowhere.

The water running down the hillside and over the flat rocks below, leaves a marked trace of yellow iron,–hence the name.

The first white man to locate Yellow Springs was Daniel Boone, who was led here by an Indian guide, that the great pioneer might drink of the waters and be cured of rheumatism. The Indiana were not much on sanitation and prophylaxis, but they were heavy on dope.

They had a scheme here that has 14 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019

Mudlavia skun a mile. Daniel Boone describes it.

The Red Brothers heated stones and placed them in a little tent made of hides fastened to the ground with pickets, within which the candidate was safely enclosed.

They gave him a sweat beyond

the dreams of Battle Creek. When the patient was about smothered with the heat, they cut a hole in the tent so he could stick his head out. Then they gave him advice and spring-water, and usually he drank a gallon or more. Also hot stones were pushed under the tent to increase the sum of caloric and the world’s stock of harmless pleasure.

In the meantime the big Medicine Man walked round and round the patient and sang a Billy Muldoon melody to a Bernarr MacFadden two step.

For a day and a night the candidate was kept in hic signo Vincennes, Indiana. The plan really had much to commend it. All those who didn’t die got well. Daniel Boone got well, but he only stayed in the bath for six hours, giving up a squirrel-rifle, eight feet long, to get out. Evidently, the Big Medicine Man who had charge of the case was on to his job, and the traditions still survive in ethical medical circles.

In 1832 there was a tavern here, built of logs, and in front of the tavern was a pile of crutches that would shame the Lady of Lourdes and put Doctor Munyon far to the bad.

Waters of Perpetual Youth About 1841, the man who owned the

Spring had a big idea. He must have been a mentally fecund person, gifted in the art of advertising, and a true Adscripter by prenatal tendency. This most enterprising gentleman warned all married ladies who did not wish to influence vital statistics, to keep away from Yellow

Springs, as the waters had a quick Malthusian effect on man and beast.

The result was a great influx of Has-Wases, male and female. Ladies of discreet age dares the Spirits of the Spring to do their worst. It became bruited abroad that here, if anywhere, were the waters of Perpetual Youth.

Two big hotels were erected: the Yellow Springs Tavern and the Neff House.

The latter was built by a company, headed by Henry Clay. This hotel had four hundred rooms, and stables that accommodated a thousand horses. The colored quarters, where the servants lived, took care of five hundred Negroes. These colored brethren proved all the admen claimed.

To run a hotel then was to have your work cut out for you. There was no calling Cincinnati by telephone, ordering fifty cases of this or that.

The Neff House had a farm which produced everything to feed and irrigate the throng, even to a distillery.

Yellow Springs is nine miles Southwest of Springfield, fifty miles from Columbus, twenty miles from Xenia, and one hundred miles from Cincinnati. It was on the direct stagecoach road between Columbus and the West and South. Travellers all stopped off a day or so for

rest and recreation, and women old and young, with a recklessness worthy of a better cause, flung caution to the winds and guzzled, gulped or sipped, as mood inclined.

Falling of The House of Cards The place prospered exceedingly, and there were rooms where the money stacked on tables by industrious gem’men with pasteboard

proclivities made the colored waiters who carried trays in and out, turn white with astonishment.

But evil days were to come.

The Neff House had been built in three months with a penalty clause in the contract. Guests were living in tents waiting to move in. The hardwood timbers were green, and, according to the custom of the time, mortised and pinned. Such a frame is built for the centuries. An earthquake could not shake it down; no blizzard could blow it over.

It had but one drawback. The green wood would warp. In time, the floors of this hotel looked like the ground-swell of the ocean after a storm. The Colonels swore that in places the floor flew up and hit them. To dance in the dining-room, you had to skate up hill and slide down. Beds were tilted by the right oblique. At night there were loud R.G. Dun reports of creaking, cracking timbers “letting go.” No table stood on four legs. The colored folks gave it out that the house was haunted. And the Yellow Springs Tavern people whispered industriously that the Neff House was unsafe.

Publicity Methods About the year 1850 there was no resort West of the Atlantic as popu-

lar as Yellow Springs, save the Mammoth Cave, alone.

At the Mammoth Cave there was a hotel very much like the Neff House, and no doubt Henry Clay and his colleagues stole a deal of adcraft thunder from Mammoth Cave, both places were advertised in many ingenious ways.

A reasonable amount of humbug is always allowable, and, in fact, is in demand where idle people much do congregate. Ice was stored up at Mammoth Cave, where visitors were shown it hidden in a cavern.

The temperature in the Cave never falls below fifty, and how the ice could form there was a question which long puzzled scientists, and caused much hot and angry debate among the Solons, until a [n-word] testified that he carried it in from the icehouse every morning. lce was also carried Into a cave dug out under the gushing waters at Yellow Springs, and long gave a thrill of awe and breathless oh! and ahs! to bridal couples and such.

Horace Mann’s Ideal College Here came Ralph Waldo Emerson to lecture in 1849; for culture and cards, suh, were the happy possession, suh, of the best Society of the South and West.

Emerson carried back to New England tidings of the growing metropolis Next came Theodore Parker.

At that time the Transcendental Movement was at its height. George Ripley, Henry Thoreau, Horace Greeley, George William Curtis, Wendell Phillips, Horace Mann and the Alcotts were firing their shots heard round the world.

Brook Farm had failed for want of a business head, but a big crop of ideas had been produced and sent out for seed purposes.

Horace Mann was quite the most level-headed and consistently safe man in the group.

He was a graduate of Harvard, a lawyer who turned schoolmaster, and became principal of one of Boston’s public schools. He had read Froebel and studied the methods of Arnold of Rugby. His ideas of education had been tinted by the Brook Farmers until his faith in the Classics had about departed.

He would bring men and women up to be useful, not ornamental.

Also, he stood for co-education, at a time when to do so was to be regarded as eccentric–I use the mildest word that was applied at that time to these who dared advocate the education of young men and women together.

“I want a school where a brother and sister can go and graduate from the same platform.” This remark doubtless cost Horace Mann the Presidency of Harvard.

However, as a consolation-prize, his friends got together and elected him to the State Legislature–or General Court. He was chosen Speaker of the House, and served with distinction. The following year he was nominated for Governor of Massachusetts. The nomination was equal to an election, but Horace Mann declined it. He had other ambitions. He was quietly raising money to found his Ideal College.

Horace Greeley, Peter Cooper, George Peabody, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edward Everett Hale were on the Board of Directors.

Antioch College A Hundred thousand dollars in cash was raised as a “nucleus.”

This college was to be the Harvard of the West–only it was to be an improved Harvard, a Harvard with all Harvard’s flummery omitted, and all her virtues conserved.

Yellow Springs, Ohio, was chosen the place. The fact that the wealth and fashion of the West and South converged at Yellow Springs was the casting vote.

A college must have a constituency–it must be braced by Society.

Yellow Springs–yes, certainly.

And Yellow Springs it was.

The hundred thousand dollars were invested in buildings, with as

little delay as possible. The style of these buildings was worthy and right.

They were built to last. In every appointment they were complete.

Brick-kilns were erected, and the brick for the buildings was made on the spot. This brick-making was to become a part of the regular college work, and a planing mill was installed with similar intent.

The school opened with a thousand applications for entrance.

Only half of this number could be accommodated.

But matters went swimmingly.

The faculty was made up of Harvard men, disciples of the “New School of Thought.”

Many of President Mann’s old friend came out to see him, including Emerson, who on one visit remained a week and gave lectures every day to the students, and to the people from the hotels who packed the hall.

Emerson wasn’t in very good repute at that time–even fair Harvard had disclaimed him. He had given a goodly part of his library to the College. Theodore Parker had made similar gifts. These books are now in the library, and are spoken of by some of the townsmen as “That Infidel Library.”

Curiously enough–or not- the patrons of the hotels, the folks who came to drink the waters, were orthodox–very orthodox. Instead of helping the College they criticized it.

Horace Mean was an Abolitionist–all his friends were abolitionists. It was rumored that the place was simply a station of the underground railroad.

Then the idea of setting people to work and of education for human service was beyond the Colonels.

“We don’t want our son worked, we want him learned,” wrote a fond Mamma to President Mann.

The good old idea of education for show and as a means of evading hard work was strong even in the minds of many who intellectually assented to the new regime.

At first, the name of the school was to be simply The Horace Mann Institute, this on the suggestion of Peter Cooper.

Horace Mann, however, objected to having his name used so prominently, and insisted on the title, “Antioch College.” Success of a product, no matter how good, turns often on the name you use. It was declared that Horace Mann was not a Christian, and now as a sort of disclaimer he stuck to the word Antioch. “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch,” says the bible. The name was a subtle form of defense, and a mistake all around. Horace Mann was truly great, but like that good man mentioned by Carlyle he had his limitations. He should have let the world come to him, as it would have done. In order to put hie college in first-class shape, he accepted a loan of forty thousand dollars, at five years, from the orthodox local nabobs for nabobs who run horses, fight cocks and manipulate paste-boards, when they are religious, are very religious.

The Shipwreck of Mann’s Hopes It’s a sad story—a story of the shipwreck of all the high hopes of as noble a man as the world ever saw.

The world was not ready for the New Education. And certainly it was not ready for the New Religion.

The student body dwindled away, debts piled up, the mortgage became due, for that is the way mortgages have.

And Antioch College wae sold under the auctioneer’s hammer.

Peter Cooper and several other men of means came to the rescue and bought in the property, turning it over to a self-perpetuating board of trustees, and arranging by a new charter that the place should never again be mortgaged. Horace Mann continued the work with shortened sail. The stigma of failure was upon the enterprise.

Work, worry, debt, unkind criticism undermined the health of the brave founder. He knew his days

were few. On a certain day all the students, a bare hundred, came to the President’s House at his request.

They filed by the bedside of the stricken man, and each one pressed his hand. He called each by name, gave all his blessing, and closed his eyes to open them no more.

So died Horace Mann.

His worn out body was buried on the College Campus and there a monument to his memory now stands.

A few years later, his bones were exhumed and taken by kinsmen to Rhode Island, where the good man and great was bom.

It was the last sordid blow at Antioch, given by the cheap and unthinking. They wouldn’t let the College which the man founded and for which he died, have even his dust.

And yet Antioch College still lives, and lives, too, the unselfish soul of Horace Mann.

A Land of Promise The country around Yellow Springs is of rare beauty. Surely God has smiled upon the place. Such diversity of landscape one seldom sees.

Gentle, undulating pastures, studded with noble, solitary oaks: fertile fields that laugh a harvest on sight of an Oliver Plow; woods as wild as Nature made them, lining the bluffs of the Little Miami River– woods that house a hundred kinds of birds, and hillsides that form a herbarium which would have delighted the soul of Linnaeus.

These bluffs reveal the strata, touched by the tooth of time, of great masses of limestone, from which run in steady streams of inexhaustible springs of pure and sparkling water.

No wonder the Indians called it a Sacred Place where the Great Spirit made his home. There is everything here that might appeal to the savage heart, the soul of a poet, or the heart of a lover.

Also there are ruins here–and has not the taunt been thrown at America by blase Englishmen that we have neither a leisure class nor ruins? Hut, suh, I’d have you know, suh, that we have both!

John Bryan of Ohio, King of Cranks,, recently sought the property where once stood the Yellow Springs Tavern in order to preserve it, as Kenilworth castle is preserved, just for the ruin. I think it cost him fully five hundred dollars.

The tavern was destroyed by the devouring element, as the village editor would say, about forty years ago.

Many of the bricks have been carted away by the colored brothers, who here constitute a true leisure class.

But the remains of wide fireplaces yet stand, and toppling chimneys, which refuse to fall, wring from us our pity for the days gone by.

In these old chimneys, thousands of swallows make their homes, where the kitchen once stood a cellar so well built of stone that It affords a refuge for skunks who drove out a family of foxes, and now rule by right of squatter sovereignty.

On the spacious lawn, or what was once a lawn, groundhogs gambol and defy the colored population. There are the long strings of white-washed cottages, and the remains of what was once the great barn, most of the wood having been carted away for fuel.

Down in the valley are the jutting ruins of a beautiful stone wall where the spring was dammed to make an artificial lake, the size of the lake can be safely gauged by some steps, with big rusty iron rings where rowboats were moored and tied.

The great stone steps worn deep by the feet of travellers as they entered the tavern are there, but there is no tavern.

The fountains are filled with watercress, fresh and crisp, over which the spring-waters flow, and where frogs and turtles sun themselves on the low wall and laugh softly in derision at the pomp and pride of man.

Verily the tumult and the shouting have died away, and the captains and the kings have departed.

There is a dance-hall across the

creek, once reached by a picturesque suspension-bridge, and over which lovers lingered late in the moonlight.

The dance-hall is now a cowshed. The ruins of the distillery still stand, but no still is there, although through the place dance the waters that gush from the hill. Evidently there will be water here, even when whiskey is no longer in demand.

In Yellow Springs there is now no hotel or inn for the tired traveller, but I was directed to a boarding house kept by a “widow-woman,” who offered to house and feed me for four dollars and fifty cents a week, being as how I was a college professor.

But while the hotels which once were mints of money are all gone, done into dissolution by the devouring hunger of moth, rust and the . death of the advertising man, the Antioch College buildings are in good repair.

This speaks well for the Trustees.

They have not made a great success of the College but they have held the plant intact over against the day when a strong man would come and pick up the work of Horace Mann where the great teacher left it.

And so the Messianic instinct never dies. And surely Antioch College will be redeemed. Its buildings are noble; its site is lovely beyond compare. Here traditions are splendid and inspiring. Here we tread the boards where have stood Tom Corwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, Wendell Phillips, Horace Greeley and Peter Cooper.

All these men had a great and loving solicitude for the place, because they loved Horace Mann.

Antioch College and Horace Mann stood for the New Education, the education for usefulness; and for the New Religion which is the religion of the Now and Here.

These things worked the downfall of the institution. But now the world is catching up with Horace Mann. Every great college ie in degree patterning lta work after the philosophy which he expressed.

And the orthodox theology of our day is the unitarianism of 1856.

Horace Mann, the abolitionist, died the year that John brown was hanged, and the year when Darwin issued his Origin of Species. The next year died Theodore Parker, in far-off

which come within the scope of the Carnegie Foundation. In truth, no State in the Union has been so blest and benefitted by the small college, where every professor knows every student and the personal touch is not a theory.

Doctor S.D. Fess, the present President of Antioch College, left a position that paid him five thousand a year to work here for one thousand a year. He is a strong, earnest and tireless worker–a man of brains, all ballasted with common sense. He is a teacher and a teacher of teachers.

Other teachers who could command two or three thousand dollars a year struggle on here for six or seven hundred. They love the place, and eventually hope to tow the barque into the fairway of popular favor, where her sails will catch the breeze. Just now they need help.

But poor little Antioch, so rich in memories, so noble in tradition, is without the pale for the lack of a paltry two hundred dollars endowment.

When Horace Mann had passed beyond the reach of praise or blame, as a sort of tardy recognition of the ideas for which he battled, his successor. Thomas Hill, was called from Yellow Springs and made President of Harvard. Hill was the predecessor of Charles F. Eliot. What a pity that some Harvard man–aye! or some Ohio man–does not think to render himself immortal by stepping into the breach, writing his check for two hundred thousand, thus putting this splendid old place on its pedagogic pedals!

There is just one thing wrong with Antioch College–just one and no more–and that is its name. It should be the Horace Mann Memorial.

Italy, an Indictment hanging over his head for treason and conspiracy.

There was none to seize the standard as it fell from the dying hand of Horace Mann. It fell, and was trampled ever by the hurrying rush of armed men.

During the war the place was used for a hospital for returned Union Soldiers, and as a storehouse for the Sanitary Commission.

Since the War, several denominations have tried to maintain it, and all with a degree of success. Surely an Alumnus of Antioch College should be proud of his Alma Mater!

There are forty colleges in Ohio

In Yellow Springs, Ohio, lived and passed out a great and noble and unselfish soul–one of the world’s great teachers. From now on let the school born of his hope and love bear the name of The Horace Mann Memorial.

The Horace Mann Memorial The trustees have the legal power to change the name, and I believe that if this were done it would give the place a new lease of life. Antioch wae a city in Asia Minor. Long ago it crumbled to dust. There is only one thing that can consecrate a place and that is man. We are all hero-worshippers.

But we only reverence places because great men once lived there.

The word “Antioch” has a significance that grows dimmer as the days pass, but the name of Horace Mann is a coming quantity.

Comment on Hubbard’s History

by RL Straker

Hubbard’s badly informed pseudo-history is one of the less fortunate by-products of Dr. Fess’s Chautauqua. The article contains so many inaccuracies that it is suspect throughout. He just made it up: he

was blood-brother and fellow-artist with Mrs. Louise Hall Tharp.

Boone may have passed by the Yellow Spring in the spring of 1773.

He was captured in northern Kentucky in Feb. 1776 and taken to Old Chillicothe (Oldtown), thence to Detroit, and back to Old Chillicothe, from which place he escaped in June 1776 and returned to Kentucky.

The Indian path may have passed by the Spring. Boone waa then 43 years old and in fine physical condition; no rheumatism; he made the 160 miles from Oldtown to Boonesborough with great rapidity on foot, having only one meal on the way.

The Neff House was built during the winter of 1669–70, and opened July 29, 1870—nearly twenty years after Mann’s death. It was dismantled in 1892 and the lumber shipped to Cincinnati and sold; timbers probably not badly warped. Henry Clay died June 29, 1852.

Emerson was in Yellow Springs only once, Feb 1, 1860, when he spoke before the Antioch literary societies; he may have stayed overnight with. Dr. Hill but even this is not certain.

Mann was a graduate of Brown, not Harvard; he seems to have had no special partiality for Harvard.

It is doubtful that Mann ever read Froebel (they were contemporaries); Froebel’s work not known in America before 1860. Thomas Arnold wrote on Roman history, not education. Mann not appreciably influenced by the Brook Farmers; he did continue to teach the classics. It is highly unlikely that Mann was ever considered for the Harvard presidency, since as a Free Soiler he would not have been in much favor with the Trustees or Overseers; Jared Sparks was President of Harvard from 1849 to 855, And James Walker from 1855 to I860; both were chosen from the Harvard faculty. Mann was elected Representative in the General Court, 1827–33, and State Senator, 1835–37, President of the Senate, 1835–37 he was in the National House of Representatives, 1848–53.

He was nominated Free Soil candidate for Governor; he duly ran without expectation of election, and was defeated, 1852, by Clifford in a threeway contest which was thrown into the State Legislature because Clifford, the leading candidate, did not have a majority. Mann first heard of Antioch in May 1852 the Main Building and North Hall then being constructed, and the name Antioch already chosen. Of the men mentioned, only Cooper (1854–57) and Hale (1865–99) was ever a Trustee. There were no Harvard graduates on the faculty the first year.

The brick for the buildings were not burned on the old main campus, unless the clay was hauled in– burned on west edge of town, near Prospect Hill (?). Brickmaking not a part of the program for students.

Probably no planing mill either; cured lumber was imported, partly from Dayton. Enrollment, 1853–54 was 8 in College, and 240 in Preparatory School. Emerson and Parker may have given some few books to the college library but not any great number. Mann was a Free-soiler, not an abolitionist. The Colonels had nothing to do with the college.

There was a fair number of students from the south, but they were not from the aristocracy. The college had been named Antioch before Mann ever heard anything about it.

Cooper probably gave some comparatively small amount of money to the college; it was Palmer who advanced money for its purchase, though by no means all, in April 1859. The stigma of failure in 1859 was not noticeable, since the class of 1860 was the largest in its early history. Mann was horn in Massachusetts, not Rhode Island. Mann’s body was removed from the campus for burial in Providence beside his first wife, by his sister and widow, according to agreement with him the day he died; this hardly cheap or unthinking. According to the trustee minutes of June 18, 1907, Fess’ salary was $2,500.

THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019 15

Mix it up at Reunion 2019!

Come home to Antioch College, July 11–14 Alumni Award Plenary Sessions Second Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Distinguished Seminar Series Presentation Second Winning Victories Grants, including proposal presentations and community vote Keynote and Movie Night with Jay Tuck ’68 Cabaret Horace featuring HICK: A Love Story, The Romance of Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt by Terry Baum ’69

+

DIV Dance!

Maples first-ever reunion!

Celebrating a hundred years of history, legends, and achievements, with a bar hang Thursday, Friday lunch, tour of the rig(s), and Sunday BBQ. Come catch up with members across the decades and take in other Reunion events as well. Bring photos and memories to share!

Contact Mikey Chlanda ’83 for more info: scarecrowcity@gmail.com

Rematch: Antioch Nine vs. Cincinnati Red Stockings

Rained out in Yellow Springs on May 31, 1869—the first recorded rain-out in professional baseball—the Antioch Nine with Hugh Taylor Birch on the pitcher’s mound, played the Red Stockings in Cincinnati to a 41–9 loss. At the invitation of last year’s students, the Red Stockings return to Yellow Springs 150 years later for a rematch with the revived Antioch Nine.

Meet the students!

This year’s graduates—our newest alumni!—and current students from this summer’s block sessions will present their academic work.

Dorm Living

Stay right on campus in North Hall for Reunion! Space is limited, so register soon.

And much more!

Get all the details and register today: antiochcollege.edu/reunion 16 THE ANTIOCHIAN WINTER, 2019