I can't believe how busy I've felt over the last couple of months; it's really hurting my blogger-status if I ever had any and must come to some sort of conclusion: a set day or two a week to blog or a blogger-vacation. In other blogger news, we've (well really MB) set up a blog space for our Engl 1010 curriculum which I "unveiled" last night during our adjunct forum and my younger sister finally started a blog where she has a few photos of her wedding and honeymoon.Wednesday was a great day. Jennifer Michael Hecht gave the Tanner Lecture at our main campus: it was, in my estimation, a perfect mixture of history, philosophy, analogy, and lightness. Several of my students attended and responded positively, though one said if she thought as much about those kinds of things (i.e. difficult, complex things) she wouldn't be able to enjoy the simple things in life. I want to say more about the details of what she said but want to quote her exactly from my notes, notes I left in my office.
I will however quickly recount a gem from a small group meeting with students after her presentation which, for me, epitomizes her style. Near the end of the session she tried to see if she could get some students to disagree with her, to share what they really thought. This led to a few students questioning Hecht about her complete denial of a God: a very young student (turns out he is part of the Kingston polygamous clan) asks, "What about all the miracles?" She replies, "Hon, there aren't any." It was a great moment, the word quickly and sweetly expressed "hon" diffusing any threat or tension. It seems representative of her balance between knowledge (she talked of Plato's Cave, nitty gritty philosophical movements, The New Testament etc. without looking at any notes that I could see) and gracious humility.
Very rarely do I have complete confidence while experiencing something that it will be forever important in my life-history--this was one of those times. Hecht is my doubting angel, red streaked and bespeckled.
6 comments:
I'm still pissed that I couldn't get in. Why did they have it in the Oak Room?
(okay, that's the end of my rant, but c'mon, if it's a lecture, shouldn't it be in a lecture hall, not a dining room?)
But maybe I'll just read her book.
It should have been at the theatre at South. I heard there was an overflow with 50 or so people in TB.
What about us who are already thoroughgoing doubters? What do we read?
I heard she was great. I'm sorry I couldn't make it. I was in Son's school helping the children learn the finer points of freeze tag.
couldn't the "hon" be demeaning though?
I haven't read the book, didn't go to the lecture, but I did hear Hecht on RadioWest and thought she was good.
I talked to one student who went (she was in the small group discussion) and she wasn't very impressed. She thought Hecht was "unprofessional and all over the place."
sure it could be, probably was to some. Still, considering the circumstances, it seemed one of a few good options.
All over??? It wasn't a presentation--she responded to the quetions we had, it was the nature of the event to be "all over."
well, i wasn't there. just the student's thoughts (and she's a smart student)
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