September/October Community Calendar 2012

COMMUNITY CALENDAR A PUBLICATION OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 VOL. 5.12

AN EVENING IN E-FLAT MAJOR October 7, 2012 7:00 p.m.

In this Issue: Dean’s Lecture and Concert Series, Community Seminars, Concerts, Art, Events

Words, words, words!”

— WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet

DEAN’S LECTURE AND CONCERT SERIES Please join us for the fall 2012 Dean’s Lecture and Concert Series. All lectures are free and open to the public. See details below for times and locations.

The Sacrifice of Patroclus: Honor and Atrocity in Homer’s Iliad Claudia Honeywell, tutor, St. John’s College, Santa Fe Friday, August 31, 7:30 p.m.

Worrell Lecture Great Hall, Peterson Student Center Plato, Aeschylus, and other ancient Greeks used the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus to symbolize the highest ideal of comradeship, the “boundless capacity for self-sacrifice” exhibited by comrades in battle. In Homer’s Iliad, we find many warriors willing to risk their lives to defend one another and recover the corpses of their fallen comrades. Yet Homeric comrades routinely kill to avenge one another as well, a behavior that the law of armed conflict today attempts to forbid. Achilles’ response to the death of Patroclus includes berserk killing, reprisal killing, killing of non-combatants, and the mutilation of the corpse. Ms. Honeywell will take a close look at the events leading to the death of Patroclus, in order to understand how the emotional demands of this martial relationship can spur a warrior to the most noble as well as the most savage deeds.

Claudia Honeywell received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1986 and a master of arts and doctorate in classics and modern Greek studies from the University of Minnesota in 1991 and 1993, respectively.

Before joining the faculty of St. John’s College in 1994, she was visiting assistant professor of classics at Cornell College. Since 2010, she has been a distinguished visiting professor at the United States Air Force Academy.

“Dying Twice”: An Examination of Odysseus’ Journey to Hades* Evanthia Speliotis, professor of philosophy, Bellarmine University Friday, September 7, 3:15 p.m.

Worrell Lecture Great Hall, Peterson Student Center In Odyssey Book X, Circe informs Odysseus that he must travel to Hades before completing his journey home (X, 490-95). The reason for this, ostensibly, is so that Teiresias can tell Odysseus “the way to go, the stages of the journey, and … how to make [his] way home” (X, 538-40), making the visit to Hades central to the plot of the Odyssey. And yet, it appears to be much more than this. For one thing, it is virtually unheard of for a mortal to journey to Hades and return alive. For another, Homer devotes over 640 lines to this extraordinary event. Odysseus’ recounting of his visit to Hades begins with

Elpenor wishing to be remembered (XII, 71) and ends with Herakles reminiscing about his own journey to Hades to complete one of his labors (XI, 623-25).

In between, Odysseus speaks with Teiresias, who tells him of a further labor he will have to perform after returning home; his mother, who informs him of some of the events unfolding at home in his absence; past queens, who speak of their “origins”; Agamemnon, who warns him against perfidious women; and Achilles, who laments that he is no longer among the living.

Professor Speliotis will examine these characters and their tales to try to discover what Homer may be telling us about Odysseus’ particular journey (his return home), but, more importantly, what lessons he may be conveying about life and death to those of us who do not have the option of “dying twice” but who may learn from Odysseus’ having done so. *“Unhappy men, who went alive to the house of Hades, so dying twice, when all the rest of mankind die only once” (Circe, to Odysseus and his men, when they return from Hades to Aiaia: Odys XII, 21-22).

Evanthia D. Speliotis earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy in 1982 from the University of Michigan, a master of arts in philosophy in 1989 from The Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in philosophy in 1995 from Tulane University. Prior to joining the faculty of Bellarmine University in 1994, she held academic positions at Tulane and Catholic University as well as at the University of New Orleans and Southern University of New Orleans.

Professor Speliotis is currently working on a book entitled Phantastics and Philosophy: A Study of Plato’s Statesman.

Artistic Expression in Animals Linda Wiener, tutor, St. John’s College, Santa Fe Friday, September 14, 8:00 p.m.

Great Hall, Peterson Student Center This lecture focuses especially on artistic expression that does not lend itself easily to analysis in terms of survival and reproduction. Artistic expression is surprisingly widespread, occurring in animals ranging from protists to mammals. This includes music, collecting and decorating, fashion, disguise, and sheer inventiveness. Ms. Wiener will look at examples from nature and examine what biologists and philosophers, both ancient and modern, have to say. How might investigation into artistic expression in animals alter our understanding of nature and of ourselves?

Linda Wiener joined the faculty of St. John’s College in 1985, after holding a number of academic positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard University. Wiener earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Miami in 1977, a master of science degree in entomology from Colorado State University in 1979, and a doctorate in entomology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. She also cofounded, in 1979, the Foundation for the Rediscovery and Protection of Trilobites.

Walpurgis Night's Dream: What is a Little Shakespearian Comedy Doing in the Middle of Goethe's Faust Tragedy?

Joseph Lawrence, professor of philosophy, College of the Holy Cross Friday, September 21, 7:30 p.m.

Worrell Lecture Great Hall, Peterson Student Center In his interpretive notes to the Walter Arndt translation of Goethe’s Faust, Cyrus Hamlin writes that “critics have been embarrassed by the apparent lack of any direct relevance to the Faust story demonstrated by this ‘Intermezzo’.” It seems, then, that we have the makings of a real mystery. What in fact is it doing there? Since the entire Walpurgis Night scene can be read as a descent into hell, the sudden staging there of a Shakespearian comedy represents, at the very least, a sign of hope.

Professor Joseph Lawrence will argue that it is that--and much more. Structurally, it constitutes a bridge to the much longer and not-often read Second Part of the Tragedy. Lawrence will give an account of what happens in Part II (e.g., the Redemption of Faust) and why it is so important. He then will show how the Walpurgis Night’s Dream functions to reconcile Goethe’s paganism with his Christianity--and how it serves to illuminate his deepest understanding of the task of poetry as such.

Born and raised in the hills of Kentucky, Lawrence received his doctorate in philosophy from Tübingen University in Germany in 1984. After that, he taught at the University of Dallas and at the College of the Holy Cross, where he currently is a professor of philosophy. In addition, he twice served as a visiting professor at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan. The author of Schellings Philosophie des ewigen Anfangs (1989) and Socrates Among Strangers (forthcoming with Northwestern University Press), he is working on a book entitled The Harrowing of Hell, which illuminates the idea of redemption by bringing together religion, philosophy, and tragic literature.

Lawrence also has written a wide range of articles on German literature as well as Greek and German philosophy.

On the Role of Questions in Learning Richard McCombs, tutor, St. John’s College, Santa Fe Friday, October 5, 7:30 p.m.

Great Hall, Peterson Student Center Human beings by nature desire to understand. In his lecture, Mr. McCombs will analyze the use of questions in the search for understanding, argue that for all profound learning questioning is not only useful, but necessary, and explore the paradoxical possibility that questioning may play a more important role in learning than answering does.

Richard A. McCombs II earned his bachelor of arts and of science degrees from Fordham University in 1990 and a master’s degree and doctorate from Fordham in 1992 and 2000, respectively. Before joining the faculty of St. John’s College in 1999, he held academic positions at Fordham University, Marist College, Rose Hill College, and the University of South Carolina..

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallow

Darwin on the Evolution of Morality Kenneth Wolfe, tutor, St. John’s College, Santa Fe Friday, October 19, 3:15 p.m.

Great Hall, Peterson Student Center In The Descent of Man, Darwin argues that human beings, like all other living things, have undergone evolution by natural selection. He confronts all the traditional claims of uniquely human characteristics—the use of tools, language, reason, religion, and morality—and argues that these characteristics are either not distinctively human or that they have more primitive antecedents in other animal species. The largest challenge, he admits, is to account for the development of ethics. In doing so, he presents a theory accounting for morality as arising from a combination of social instincts, reason, and habit. This lecture will both examine his theory and explore what implications it has for existing moral systems.

A 1994 graduate of St. John’s College, Santa Fe, Kenneth Wolfe earned a master of arts degree in Latin from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996 and a doctorate in classics from UC-Berkeley in 2000. Before joining the faculty of St. John’s College in 2002, he was visiting assistant professor in classics and humanities at Reed College.

Zeno the Gedankenexperimentalist Bill Bloch, professor of mathematics, Wheaton College Friday, October 26, 7:30 p.m.

Great Hall, Peterson Student Center Zeno’s famous thought experiment The Dichotomy, also known as The Arrow, supposes that because a magnitude may be bisected infinitely, a person walking from one point to another must first move half the distance, then half the distance again, and again, and so on. Depending on how the original Greek is interpreted, due to the infinite number of points that must be touched, in Zeno’s view, either the first step may not be taken, or conversely, the journey may not be completed. Another of Zeno’s well-known paradoxes is Achilles and the Tortoise, which is frequently seen as equivalent to the Dichotomy. It proposes that the ‘fastest’ can never catch up to the ‘slowest,’ for by the time Achilles reaches the spot where the Tortoise was, the Tortoise has moved forward.

What are the artifices that imbue these paradoxes with their enduring irksome appeal? If the tricks are exposed, is there a way to update Zeno that recaptures some of his puzzling magic? Is it possible to see Zeno’s work as being more than a flawed philosophic wrecking ball designed to destroy the arguments of those who would dismiss Parmenides’ claims? Do Zeno’s thought experiments contribute to the early development of the real number system?

Already in love with music, literature, and The Big Questions, William Goldbloom Bloch was smitten equally by fractals, chaos, and the classics while at Reed College. He studied mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. His mathematical research centers on Baire spaces and notions of

wed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

— SIR FRANCIS BACON

density and, more precisely, on different notions of the density of fractals in spaces of continuous manifolds. His book The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges’ Library of Babel was a runner up for the 2008 PROSE award in mathematical writing, and he is currently collaborating with a computer scientist, a philosopher, and a proto-meme-ologist on The Persistence of Paradoxes and the Limits of Language.

FALL 2012 COMMUNITY SEMINARS Community Seminars are special opportunities for community members to read and discuss seminal works in the same unique manner as our students.

Seminars are discussion-based and small in size in order to ensure spirited dialogue. There are topics to pique every interest, and for many participants the discussion-based learning model is an entirely new experience.

Please call 505-984-6117 to register for any of the seminars described below.

Teachers with proof of full-time employment may enroll at a 50 percent discount. Community Seminars are free to 11th and 12th grade high school students (limited spaces available).

Rumi, Masnavi-ye Ma’navi Tutor: Michael Wolfe Dates/Times: Four consecutive Saturdays, September 8 through September 29, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Cost: $140 Seminar participants will read all of Book I of Rumi’s Masnavi-ye Ma’navi, or “spiritual couplets,” which was begun in 1262 AD and is thought to be the longest single-authored “mystical” poem ever written. Jalaluddin Rumi was a poet and mystic of the highest attainment, but he was first and foremost a spiritual teacher. Rumi draws on a vast range of sources, from fables to stories from daily life and religious tradition, to compose a remarkable text, which is a ladder to the spiritual world.

Fortunate Fall? Exploring John Milton’s Paradise Lost Tutor: Gregory Schneider Dates/Times: Six consecutive Wednesdays, October 10 through November 14, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Cost: $210 John Milton’s blank verse masterpiece, Paradise Lost, announces in its opening that it will “justify the ways of God to men.” Springing from just a few lines from the Book of Genesis, the poem puts forth a much expanded version of the relationship between Adam and Eve and their cursed choice to eat from the forbidden tree of the Garden. As it unfolds, Milton offers a portrayal that attempts to justify the God who put humans in the place to make that choice.

Along the way, we meet a captivating Satan, hear of the story of the rebellious angels, and see the unique ways that Adam and Eve each respond to their predicament. Over six sessions, this seminar will explore this complicated story, often considered the greatest epic poem in the English language.

“Citizenship should be placed above everything els of citizenship where good citizenship and all that i

Rabbinic Stories Tutor: Ken Wolfe Dates/Times: Five consecutive Tuesdays, October 2 through 30, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Cost: $175 Seminar participants will study a collection of rabbinic stories selected from the Talmud. The rabbis told stories about law, piety, sin and suffering, the relation of Jews to Gentiles, and important events in Jewish history, such as the destruction of the 2nd Temple and the revolt of Bar Kokhba.

Plutarch’s Essays Tutor: Topi Heikkerö Dates/Times: Four consecutive Saturdays, October 20 through November 10, 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Cost: $140 Plutarch, best known for his biographies of important Greek and Roman men, was a skillful essayist, too. Seminar participants will read a selection of his essays, including “On Listening” and “How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend.”

If Rousseau were a Woman: Women Thinkers’ Points of View Tutor: Michael Bybee Dates/Times: Six Wednesdays, September 12 & 19 and October 3, 10, 17, and 24, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Cost: $210 Arguably, the great minds of Occidental philosophy were predominantly male, almost universally unmarried, and without child-rearing responsibilities.

One might wonder whether the major doctrines in Western philosophy, history, and literature seem plausible only to this class of individuals. What if we were to look at these themes from the point of view of their female counterparts? What insights into the human condition would we find? This seminar will examine society through the thoughts and writings of some of the foremost female minds of past and present, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, and Alice Walker.

se, even learning. Is there in any college of the land a chair it implies is taught?” — MARK TWAIN, Speech, 14 May 1908

LUNCHTIME CONCERTS Chopin: Waltzes and Polonaises Schoenberg, Berg, Webern: Piano Works Peter Pesic, piano Friday, September 14, 2012, 12:15 – 1:10 p.m.

Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center There is no charge for admission.

Chopin: Waltzes CT 220, opp. 18, 34/2; Schoenberg: Three Pieces, op. 11; Chopin: Polonaises CT 161, CT164, opp. 26/1, 40/1 Peter Pesic is a tutor and musician-in-residence at St. John’s College, Santa Fe. He attended Harvard and Stanford Universities, obtaining a doctorate in physics. He has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Mr. Pesic is also a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.

Brahms Sonatas Robert Marcus, clarinet Peter Pesic, piano Friday, October 26, 2012, 12:15 – 1:10 p.m.

Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center There is no charge for admission.

The program includes Brahms: Two Sonatas, op. 120, and Berg: Four Pieces, op. 5.

EVENING CONCERTS Violin Sonatas Liang-Ping How, violin Pamela Pyle, piano Friday, September 28, 7:30 p.m.

Great Hall, Peterson Student Center This concert is free and open to the public.

Violinist L.P. How and pianist Pamela Pyle will be performing the Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano by César Franck, the Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Major, Op. 12, and works by Kreisler and Elgar.

Long-time member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, violinist Liang-Ping (“L.P.”) How is a familiar and welcome sight to Santa Fe audiences. Born in Taiwan, Mr. How came to the United States to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Curtis Institute

of Music under Jaime Laredo. He has been a member since 1980 of the New York City-based, Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, appearing frequently with the orchestra as a soloist and concertmaster and on recordings with the orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label. His many annual performance engagements include the Caramoor, Spoleto, Lochenhaus, and Moab Music Festivals and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Since 2005, Mr. How has also served as the concertmaster of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra.

He plays an 1863 J.B.Vuillaume.

Pamela Pyle served for more than a decade as principle pianist in the studios of Itzhak Perlman and renowned Juilliard teacher Dorothy DeLay. An award-winning soloist and chamber recitalist, she has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and continues to serve as an accompanist for nationally recognized summer music institutes. A regular performer at the Aspen Music Festival, Ms. Pyle is currently professor of piano and collaborative piano at the University of New Mexico.

An Evening in E-flat Major Christine Chen, violin Gail Robertson, viola Dana Winograd, cello David Bolotin, piano Sunday, October 7, 7:00 p.m.

Great Hall, Peterson Student Center This concert is free and open to the public.

The musicians, performing as a piano trio and as a piano quartet, will be performing Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat major, op.1, no.1, Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, op. 47, and Dvorak’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, op. 87.

Christine Chen is a tutor at St. John’s College, and David Bolotin is tutor emeritus. Both Ms. Chen and Ms. Robertson perform with Santa Fe Pro Musica.

Ms. Winograd plays in the New Mexico Philharmonic—as does Ms. Chen from time to time—and is also the principal cellist of the Santa Fe Symphony.

All Alumni and College Art Show: Opening Reception Saturday, September 15, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Junior Common Room and Art Gallery, Peterson Student Center Alumni from both the Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses of St. John’s College join faculty, staff, and students from Santa Fe in a celebration of creativity.

On display through October 6 are works on canvas, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and more.

For Gallery hours, visit www.stjohnscollege.edu and click on Events.

PLEASE NOTE! We are going GREEN with our first Community Calendar of 2013.

Details to be announced in the November/December 2012 issue.

FREE GRADUATE INSTITUTE EVENT TO LEARN ABOUT THE LIBERAL ARTS MASTER'S PROGRAM Experience the Liberal Arts Saturday, October 27, 3:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Levan Hall This event is an opportunity for curious or prospective students to participate in a St. John’s College seminar and experience firsthand the great rewards of dialogue as learning. Tutors David Carl, Krishnan Venkatesh, and Natalie Elliot* will lead a discussion on Montaigne’s Of Pedantry, in which Montaigne considers the ends and goals of liberal education and explores the obstacles that stand in the way of our achieving these ends.

Following the seminar, participants will enjoy light refreshments while continuing the conversation with St. John’s faculty, staff, current students, and alumni.

During a subsequent panel session, they will learn more about the graduate program, which has often been described as a life-changing experience, as well as about the application process.

Space is limited. Please RSVP before October 5 to Katie Widlund by email, KatieScarlett.Widlund@sjcsf.edu, or phone, 505-984-6050.

*Tutors are subject to change. Other tutors may be added depending on attendance. If you are interested in the Liberal Arts Master’s Program at St. John’s College, Santa Fe, but are not able to attend the event, please also contact Katie Widlund to discuss planning a personalized visit.