Fall semester schedules are now set, and students are preparing for their first exams, finishing problem sets and writing essays. Just a few weeks ago I gave a talk to family members dropping off their new students in Middletown. It was a time of joy and poignancy, and a time for remembering those core things one should discover while at college: what you love love to do; how to get better at it; how to share it with others. Here’s a video of the talk.
I have followed you since taking Most Modern twice on the Internet. Wesleyan is a great university but you and it have had some difficulties. You hit a cord when you mentioned Upward Bound. Fifty years ago I was teaching at Mills College’s Upward Bound. That was 1966 and I was stunned to find it was still happening. I’m on the edge of my share as an election nears that seems in many ways to threaten the very existence of the liberal point of view I share with you. At one point you were mentioned as a contender for the library of Congress I was thrilled. This year I read Carl Schorke’s obit. He was a huge force in my life at Berkeley and even later when he spoke at a colloquium at the MOMA. In November I spent a brief spell at the Rusk Institute where I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Now my interest in the mind body conundrum has suddenly becoming immediate and personal. I feel a real connection to you and we are linked in many ways. I salute you.