HURRAY
FOR TEACHING PROGRAM!
I
just read the president's letter at the opening of the Summer magazine,
and I can't tell you how happy I am that Oberlin is starting a teacher
training program. As do many Obies, I believe that educating all children
is an absolute priority in order to ensure that children have equal
chances in life. That means finding people committed to democracy and
education, and ensuring that they have the tools to pursue careers helping
children learn. Many Obies have the combination of being strongly committed
to social justice (and so being willing to accept the limited financial
horizons that a career in education offers) and also being smart, creative,
and hard working. What a boon to finally give these people the tools
to work in public schools! Since leaving Oberlin in 1992 I have embarked
on a career in education, working in a science museum, for four years
as a private school teacher, and now pursuing my PhD in the design of
educational technology at Northwestern University. Had Oberlin had a
teaching degree, I probably would have gotten a teaching certificate
and spent time in the public rather than private schools, and would
have felt that I was contributing more to society. How lovely that those
students with the best of intentions are to be given the tools to put
them to work in public schools. I'm proud of my alma mater today.
Karen
Carney '92
WHERE'S
THE BEEF?
Sports,
alumni gatherings, eulogies of conventional academic achievement...and
nothing else. Behind the trendy pseudo-web page format, it seems
as if the OAM has gone generic. Is this true of Oberlin, also? Or
perhaps of the Americans left in general? I would like to see Oberlin
question itself more sincerely. There seems to be plenty of self-congratulation--from
older alumni--and aggressive statements of commitment--from students
and younger alumni--but all the issues seem like made-in-a-mold
copies of each other, generated to fit a category--rich/poor, black/white,
women, the environment--but otherwise substance-free. It's not hard
to make a list of stockholder liability for corporate debt, reparations
to victims of anti-marijuana law-enforcement activities, restructuring
of state borders to enfranchise racial and ethnic minorities...are
these too difficult to take on? I only hope I'm being premature
when I feel the urge to bow my head over Oberlin and say, "Rest
in Peace."
Peter
D. Hays '73
DAUGHTER
GRATEFUL FOR MEMORIAL MINUTE
Many
thanks to Professor Randy Coleman for his Memorial Minute to my
father, Joseph Wood (Spring 2001) and to Mark E. Foulsham '81 for
his letter in the same issue and to the Oberlin alumni, faculty,
and friends who have privately shared memories with me. Those interested
in my father's music may wish to know that in 1998, shortly before
her death, pianist Claudette Sorel released a retrospective double
CD set on EMSCO. The first CD is devoted to Rachmaninoff; the second
includes Sorel's 1961 Town Hall performance of my father's "Divertimento
for Piano and Orchestra," along with certos by Edward MacDowell
and Harold Morris. In addition, my father's choral arrangements
of the spirituals "No Hidin' Place" and "[Never Said a] Mumblin'
Word," as well as his choral setting of Blake's "The Lamb," are
available from Gentry Publications in Tarzana, California. Finally,
I have a fairly complete audio library of my father's music and
am happy to entertain inquiries regarding it at my address: 1030
South Gay St., Auburn, AL 36830. As this music shows, and as Mr.
Foulsham's description of my father's classes indicates, he upheld
high standards throughout his life, disdaining the shoddy, the faddish,
and the inept. In a culture that threatens to overwhelm us with
all of the above, this legacy is sustaining. I hope it will endure.
Lorna
Wood '86
ANDREW
HOOVER LIVES ON
My
memories of Andrew Hoover remain vivid and warm. He and I did a
Winter Term project on the Romantic poets. Our conversations and
readings of favorite passages lit up the gray Oberlin afternoons.
Lacing his fingers and grinning devilishly, he'd chuckle: "That's
Shelley, isn't it!" In his navy blue blazers and bow ties, Mr. Hoover
(too much of a mentor and a gentleman for me ever to refer to him
as "Andy") was a figure of patient thought and civilized pleasure
amid the free-form commotion of 1970s Oberlin. He inspired me to
pursue a PhD in literature. And although I'm no longer in academe,
I still teach a legacy of Andrew Hoover's delightful pedagogy.
Linda
DeCelles '74
San
Mateo, California
Editor's
note: Andrew Hoover's Memorial Minute appeared in the Summer 2001
issue.
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