Wabash FYI:

Padgett '84 Provides 'Special' Day for Student Journalists

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:30:14 -0500

Howard W. Hewitt (Bachelor Advisor)- “What’s special about this place,” asked Director of Public Affairs Jim Amidon, standing in the Bachelor office Thursday with a handful of students.

“That’s what special,” replied senior Patrick McAlister nodding toward Tim Padgett ’84 who was talking journalism with freshmen and sophomores in the adjoining room.

Padgett spent Thursday with Wabash student journalists catching up, sharing advice, heaping praise, and making suggestions. Padgett is Miami and Caribbean Bureau Chief for Time Magazine.

The veteran journalist met with approximately 30 Bachelor staffers over lunch. He talked about the changing face of journalism and his work for Time. He praised the group and its leaders for the Bachelor’s emergence in recent years as one of Indiana’s best college newspapers.

Later Thursday afternoon he met with a group of Bachelor staffers, primarily freshmen and sophomores, and critiqued recent papers, offered suggestions, and urged the students to embrace the value of the experience regardless of their future plans.

Throughout the day he emphasized how his liberal arts education plays out in his daily work and in the important pieces he writes for the national news publication.

But perhaps it was a more private gathering with student publication advisors Jim Amidon, Steve Charles, and me along with Gary James, Patrick McAlister and Chuck Summers that was even more “special.”

Dinner conversation was filled with laughter, stories and the liberal arts. The three senior leaders who have been such a big part of the Bachelor’s recent success reveled in the give-and-take conversation with the veteran journalist and Latin American expert.

The conversation ranged from politics, to Catholicism, texting, wine, national media, cigars, Wabash faculty, and late into the night on many other topics.

Padgett didn’t get to see what impressed me the most. I left early to return Gary James to campus and we ran into a sophomore who had attended both sessions. He was full of ideas and stories he wanted to write after listening to Padgett’s talks. Gary and he shared ideas and texted another student who wasn’t even at the dinner with suggestions.

Most of the students seemed truly energized by Padgett’s suggestions, praise, and enthusiasm.

That is what makes this place special!

Vic Powell at 90: "A Sense of Wonder"

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:53:37 -0500

Steve Charles—Vic Powell H’55—Professor of Speech Emeritus, Dean of the College Emeritus, Acting President of the College Emeritus—will be 90 years old next Wednesday, November 25. The day before Thanksgiving.

I discovered this last June at the Big Bash Reunion, where Vic and his wife, Marian, were guests of honor at the Class of 1959’s 50th Reunion. Just as they had been guests of honor at the 50th reunions for almost every one of the classes from that decade. In fact, Vic’s name almost always comes up when I travel to interview alumni, whether they’re from the 50s and 60s or from generations after he’d retired from formal teaching.

Still, it is hard to believe that this man I see almost daily from my Kane House window walking the two-plus miles from his home to campus and back is turning 90.

So when we began putting together an issue of Wabash Magazine on “men’s health,” I thought, Why not sit down and talk with someone whose life is evidence that he knows something about the topic?

We’ll print highlights from that interview in the Winter 2010 issue of WM, but here is one of my favorite moments from our talk.

About halfway through the interview I asked Vic to define “well-being.” He’d actually been doing this through stories about his and Marian’s long walks and his wonderful friendships with Professors Butch Shearer and Jack Charles, dinners with the Degitzes and the Strawns, but I wanted to hear him sum it all up.

“I suppose you would want at least a fair measure of health, but beyond that, the network of relationships is so important. I think isolation would be soul-destroying,” Vic said. “There’s family—I’m blessed with two great daughters who call every single week—and a network of friends. A sense of well-being means you have a sense of community, people whose companionship you enjoy.”

Then he included something I hadn’t expected as being “important to one’s well-being.” He told the story of a debate he had one day with Professor of Political Science Phil Wilder at the round table in the Scarlet Inn:

“Phil and I were at opposite poles politically… and we got into it, not in a nasty way, but a real knockdown political argument. By the time the bell rang for class, there were students and faculty crowded around that table just following this argument.”

“I thought it was important that students see faculty disagree with each other, argue with each other, but clearly respecting each other and enjoying each other’s company.

“Disagreement didn’t mean disregard or enmity. We could disagree and argue but there was a fundamental respect for each other.”

I was moved by what I heard Vic saying: That this capacity of respectful but often vigorous disagreement that’s so essential to the well-being of a community is equally essential to the well-being of the individuals in that place.

I thought of something else Vic had mentioned earlier in our talk: Butch Shearer would often drop in on the Powells to listen to St. Louis Cardinals games with Vic (a love of the Cardinals and of Wabash College being the only two things these men had in common, Vic has often said.) One night one of Vic’s daughters heard the two men downstairs, their voices raised, debating one thing or another. The little girl ran to her mother. “I thought Daddy and Mr. Shearer were friends,” she said. And they were. Good friends. They just had an unusual way of showing it!

Vic also called Professor Jack Charles “as close a friend as I’ve had.”

“We would meet every Sunday morning in his office, smoke at each other, and solve al the problems in the world, “ Vic said. “He was the most learned man I’ve ever known in my life.”

Vic would try to stump Jack during Scarlet Inn conversations:

“No topic would come up that he didn’t know,” Vic said. “So I was gonna get him. I took out the encyclopedia and, thumbing through it, I found what I thought was an obscure queen from around 1100. It wasn’t easy dropping that into an Inn conversation, I’ll tell you that right now. But I bided my time and saw an opening and I dropped a casual reference to this queen. Charles says, “Oh yeah; she drowned her husband in a bathtub. Just like that!”

Vic laughed as he recalled the moment, then added, “He was a very special man to me.”

Finally, a few stand-alone quotes from our conversation:

On walking: “You can solve a dozen problems a day just walking, you know. Sometimes I get up feeling lethargic, but by the time I’ve walked down to the school, picked up the New York Times, go to the Inn, with my colleagues around, I’m restored.”

On “working” at Wabash: “There wasn’t a day that I wasn’t eager to get down here to teach. It wasn’t a job. I feel sorry for people who have jobs. I thought Wabash students were the world’s best, the faculty colleagues were wonderful.”

On life: “There is a sense of spirituality about life, a wonderment… a sense of wonder about the world. No, I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t think anyone else does. But there are lots of wonderful questions to think about, turn over in your mind, and pursue in all sorts of ways.”

On the family dog:
Me: What kind of dog is it?
Vic: That’s a good question. [laughs] A very democratic dog!

Vic ended our conversation, not surprisingly, with a story about Wabash students—one he calls “a wonderful vignette of Wabash students at their best.” But I’m way over the limit for blogs here, so that’s a story for another day. We’ll have more in the Winter 2010 WM.

It’s ironic, perhaps providential, the Vic’s 90 birthday comes the day before Thanksgiving this year, for there are not many men in this College’s history for whom we could be more thankful. We’ve had our share of loss this past year; watching Vic as we talked, his leg flopped over the arm of his chair, and listening to his wisdom and stories, reminded me of how rich we are at Wabash in the things that matter, and what wonderful lives we’ve been given to share. A moment and a man to celebrate.

If you’d like to wish Vic happy birthday (and I realize that I invite this at the risk of being reprimanded by Vic himself!) you can reach him by email at: powellv@wabash.edu

Or just stop by the Scarlet Inn!

Did DePauw Really Have Any Shot at Winning?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:07:33 -0500

Howard W. Hewitt - Every now and then photographers will be shooting an event - say a Monon Bell game - and find something with a photographer's eye others might miss.

The shot above taken Saturday morning in Greencastle, captured beautifully by junior Bachelor photo editor Alex Moseman, makes you wonder if Wabash might had even a little more going for them during Saturday's game?

Without suggestion of any divine intervention, what a cool photo on Bell Game day!

Six Words Provide Epic Monon Moment

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:42:49 -0500

Jim Amidon — It was getting late Saturday afternoon at Blackstock Stadium in Greencastle. A back and forth football game between Wabash and DePauw was grinding to a conclusion. Boisterous fans on both sides of the field were screaming loudly with hoarse voices.

Wabash led 25-13, but DePauw’s powerful offense was on the move.

On fourth-and-11 deep in Wabash territory, the Tigers came up a few inches short of a first down. Wabash took over at it’s own eight yard-line.

It was Matt Hudson’s moment.

The senior quarterback, who has led Wabash to so many victories, but none against his archrival, knew that a long drive would kill most of the 11 minutes remaining on the clock.

The lanky, strong-armed passer ran nine yards to the 17 on first down — a good start. But two different Wabash running backs failed to gain an inch on the next two carries, setting up fourth down.

Anyone who knows anything about college football knows the only move to make in that situation — fourth down deep in your own territory — is to punt the ball and let the defense hope to win the game.

Wabash Coach Erik Raeburn wavered; a loud buzz of chatter was noticeable from the sideline where I was standing with my camera. I could actually hear people say, “You gotta punt it, coach!” I could hear others screaming, “Go for it, coach!”

Raeburn called timeout.

Matt Hudson sprinted to the sideline, his eyes wide and bright. He pleaded with his coach to allow him one more chance at redemption — to wipe away the pain of two Monon Bell losses.

I snapped a single photo of the exchange — Coach Raeburn’s expression was one of indecision. He knew the right thing to do was to punt. He also heard — as I did — Matt Hudson say, “I will not fail you, Coach.”

Six words rang out loudest in the stadium at that moment — louder than the clanging Monon Bell or the screams from 8,000 fans.

Raeburn looked into Hudson’s eyes and seized the moment. He made one of — if not the — gutsiest calls I’ve ever seen in the 27 Monon Bell games I’ve attended. He sent Hudson and his offense back onto the field on fourth down at the Wabash 17 yard-line.

There is no quarterback sneak in the Wabash playbook. But that’s precisely what Hudson did. He dove in behind his massive, senior-dominated offensive line and got, maybe, four inches more than he needed.

With the confidence of his coach and screams of excitement from the fans, Hudson willed his team down the field on a 14-play, 92-yard drive that ate up nearly eight minutes. When Tommy Mambourg scrambled over the goal line from a yard out, Wabash claimed an insurmountable 32-13 lead with only five minutes to play.

The crowd, already at a fever pitch, went wild. The Little Giant fans knew the victory was in hand.

A late touchdown from DePauw mattered little, and minutes later the Wabash seniors were ringing the Monon Bell in a sea of fans who had stormed the field.

I can’t imagine the pain felt by DePauw’s seniors, especially their gritty and talented quarterback, Spud Dick. But I saw the pure joy and jubilation on Hudson’s face as the game ended.

With thousands of fans streaming onto the field, Hudson went the other way. He ran into the stands and handed his father, Rusty, the game ball — a present on his dad’s 50th birthday.

Hudson’s legacy as one of Wabash’s all-time great signal callers was likely already cemented — conference championships in 2007 and 2008 that resulted in playoff runs.

What he did in the second half of the biggest game of his life — hitting 10-of-11 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns — erased his bad memories of Monon losses in both of those conference championship seasons.

Historians may remember the 2009 Monon Bell Classic as one of the truly great games in the storied rivalry. Wabash broke the tie and took a 54-53 edge in the all-time series.

But there’s no doubt in my mind that history will remember one epic Monon moment — when a senior quarterback uttered six little words that convinced his coach to make one of the riskiest decisions of his career.

“I will not fail you, Coach,” Hudson said to Raeburn.

Indeed, Matt Hudson did not fail. He succeeded in grand fashion on the biggest stage of his career, and in doing so provided an epic memory for all who witnessed the 116th edition of college football’s greatest rivalry.

It's Bell Week

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:47:53 -0500

Jim Amidon — It’s Bell Week.

That’s how Wabash students refer to the week leading up to the Monon Bell Classic football game. It’s a circle-it-on-your-calendar kind of week, filled with all kinds of events and activities — some of which are actually related to the storied gridiron football rivalry.

Generally, though, it’s just a week jam-packed with activities that brings the entire campus to life.

There really is a tangible change in the emotion and attitudes of students, faculty, staff, and — especially — alumni. You can just feel that it’s a very different week.

One of the great student traditions is the campus guard. Beginning last night and continuing through Friday night, freshman students will take turns guarding the campus. It is, of course, highly unlikely that rival students will make their way to the Wabash campus, but just in case, 40-50 freshmen will be on guard through the night.

You’ll see them huddled over steel barrels filled with burning wood, though with warm weather expected to continue for a few more days, the fires are likely to burn out.

While the guard itself is largely unnecessary, it is a rite of passage. I’m always surprised to hear graduating seniors reflect and say that campus guard in their freshman year was one of the great experiences they had at Wabash. A lot of that has more to do with class bonding and a unifying “us vs. them” mentality than actual campus security.

And it is a really cool tradition.

This is also a week of friendly competitions. Wabash will host a blood drive this week in the annual “Bleed for the Bell” campaign (Thursday, November 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Knowling Fieldhouse). Wabash tries to get a higher percentage of blood donors than DePauw — with the Central Indiana Regional Blood Center being the beneficiary of the bloody, but friendly rivalry.

Students, faculty, staff, and alumni from both schools are also raising money for the Co-Motion project, which generates a lot of cash for the Montgomery County Family Crisis Shelter and the Julian Center in Indianapolis. The two schools use the occasion of the rivalry to raise awareness of the horrors of domestic violence, while generating much-needed cash just before the holidays.

(Anyone can donate to Co-Motion. Just send a check made out to Wabash College with “Co-Motion” in the memo line, and send it to the Wabash College Business Office.)

The Wabash and DePauw rugby clubs will clash on Friday afternoon in what has become an incredible display of a sport I still don’t fully understand. Typically the rosters are filled with upperclassman students who have studied abroad and took part in European rugby scrums. Then they bring that spirit and enthusiasm back to campus with the “Monon Keg” trophy up for grabs.

On the intellectual side, it’s a big week as well. One of America’s brightest young authors, Jonathan Lethem, will come to campus Monday evening at 8 p.m. as the Will Hays Visiting Writer. Lethem, who will read from his new novel Chronic City, has written nine novels, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and received a MacArthur Genius Grant.

It’s also a week dedicated to the arts. On Wednesday evening at 8 p.m., Wabash’s Music Department will present a concert by the Brass and Woodwind Ensembles, as well as the Jazz Band.

On Wednesday and Thursday nights, Wabash’s theater students will stage a remarkable selection of scenes from the best of American playwrights. Students taking the directing class will direct other students involved in acting courses. The result is tremendous theater on a small scale.

All of this leads up to the big game between the Little Giants and Tigers in the 116th battle for the Monon Bell. The game, set for 1 p.m. in Greencastle, is a sell-out. The high definition network HDNet will televise the game to an international audience, and the two schools’ alumni offices have arranged joint alumni telecast events in 64 cities across the country.

So it’s Bell Week, and I think it’s pretty neat that Wabash tries to make it a special, memorable week for the entire community.

Bell week is seven days of activities and events leading up to kickoff of the best small college rivalry in the country. It’s a week of Campus Guard, exciting visiting lecturers, concerts, plays, competitions, and fund-raisers that celebrate all the remarkable opportunities available at good, small undergraduate liberal arts colleges like Wabash and DePauw.

Go Wabash. Beat DePauw!

Bring Social Media to Wabash Alums

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:07:56 -0500

Howard W. Hewitt - The communications revolution gives everyone a chance to create community and share in ways a cell phone or even e-mail has never allowed.

This morning (Nov. 7) Brent Harris and I are leading a session on Facebook, Twitter, and blogging for Wabash alumni leaders. We have 16 Wabash men in the room and another 7 following along through a virtual classroom online.

We're showing some of the things you can do with today's media and electronics. The photo at right shows Bryan Hutchens '13 working with Jon Pactor.

The first 45 minutes of today's program focuses on Facebook. Here is a short video I recorded as we started on a $150 flip video recorder.

My Return to Mythbusters

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:05 -0500

Jim Amidon — Not long ago, I wrote about an innovative approach Physics Professor Martin Madsen is taking with an introductory physics course at Wabash College. The course is modeled after the Discovery Channel’s hit show, “Mythbusters.”

Six weeks ago, I got caught up in the excitement of watching 40 Wabash students attacking the forces of mass, gravity, velocity, and acceleration with unbridled enthusiasm. Again, remember this is a course dominated by seniors who are not majoring in physics or math.

Since that first week when I saw them using their bodies as crash test dummies to explore the validity of automobile crumple tests, I’ve stopped in to visit the students several more times. I saw them figure out ways to drop eggs safely from atop a three-story building.

In one “experiment,” students riding on skateboard-like carts tried to catapult themselves over tall objects to see if a popular skateboarding You Tube video is real or faked.

In all of these experiments, the teams of students grapple with physics concepts that go far beyond entry-level.

So I decided to pay a visit to Professor Madsen’s class last Thursday to get a mid-semester update on how the new class is going. I asked the professor what he has learned about this new way of teaching physics to a bunch of economics and history majors.

“What’s really wild about this class is that I do far less teaching than in any other course,” he told me. He also believes the pedagogical approach is sound. The students are not just memorizing facts and numbers, they are applying the concepts, teaching them to each other, and communicating them out when they produce videos for their “exams.”

And, it turns out the students are spending between 10-15 hours on out-of-class research and project development — more than double the time they spend in the slotted lecture and lab time.

“The videos keep getting better and better each week,” said Madsen. “The students are learning how to communicate the science more effectively each time out, and the production quality is vastly improved.”

All of the students purchased inexpensive digital video cameras for the class instead of textbooks. The class also has access to a high-speed video camera that can capture up to 6,000 frames per second. By now, the students are fully competent videographers, and all of them are mastering high-end digital video editing software, too.

Last Thursday, the teams were spread across the floor of the Knowling Fieldhouse. The myth they were testing was whether a train car loaded with grain could increase its velocity by dumping its cargo while in motion.

One group of students went north on US 231 to talk to guys at the grain elevator to learn about the train cars and how grain can be dumped, and designed their experiment based on that conversation.

With video cameras mounted to the carts and set at various angles to capture the experiment, the students pushed their carts down a path then dumped the cargo of pea gravel as the carts sped across the fieldhouse.

The high-speed camera captured frame-by-frame images that allow the students to measure the rate of velocity throughout the run. By measuring all of the variables, including the mass of the cart and its cargo, the rate the cargo was dropped, and the overall rate of speed, the students are able to determine if it is possible to gain speed by dumping the gravel.

Rabin Paudel, a brilliant and advanced physics student who helps out with the class, whispered to me, “These guys don’t realize this is upper level physics they’re learning.”

Once this project is wrapped up, the students will test one more popular myth before their final exam. The “exam” is a month-long project for which the students will choose their own myth, design the experiments, produce the equipment necessary to test the myth, and write, shoot, and edit a video.

Professor Madsen gets noticeably excited when talking about how well the class is going.

“Oh, it’s definitely working as well as I hoped it would,” he said. “Just watch how the guys throw themselves into these projects. They’re figuring out things on their own — learning the science as they apply it and test it.”

The course also got some international recognition when the Discovery Channel’s “Daily Planet” program did a short feature on the slow motion techniques the students are using.

Late in the morning on Thursday, one team accidentally dumped its load of gravel for the third time. Madsen burst out laughing — so hard he turned away so the students might not notice. Moments later, he walked over, leaned down, and helped them scoop up the gravel, all while teaching them how to make sure the experiment worked the next time.

The teaching and learning, in all its forms, never stops in this class.

Note: Anyone can see the finished videos. Just go to Wabash’s YouTube channel and click on Physics 105.

My Weekend with Bill Placher

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:36:23 -0500

Jim Amidon — I spent the weekend with Bill Placher.

Not literally, of course. I spent the weekend reading and re-reading the words of the legendary professor of religion and philosophy at Wabash College.

Bill was one of the nation’s foremost Christian theologians whose 13 books are must-reads for seminary and graduate students in theology. Bill’s gift as a writer was that he could grapple with difficult concepts and present them with a level of care and understanding that almost any person can enjoy.

As we near the one-year anniversary of Bill’s sudden passing, I’ve been poring over dozens of his speeches. As amazing as his books are, his speeches, sermons, and homilies may be even better.

His intellect, faith, passion, and love shine through — whether in a Sunday morning sermon at Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church, a chapel talk at Wabash, or speaking to Montgomery County high school honor students. And perhaps even more than in his books, in his speeches, Bill called us to be better, seek truth, and love one another.

Most people never heard those words; most don’t have access to his file cabinets filled with sermons. So today I’ll share a few of my favorite passages with you.

To a class of new freshmen who arrived on campus in the autumn of 1988, Placher was reluctant to give the students too much advice. He recalled his own experience 22 years prior, and knew most of the young men wouldn’t remember what he said the next day. But he did urge optimism when he said:

“It’s easy to be cynical, and in the midst of cramming for a quiz, doing a lab, getting a paper written, you will often enough get cynical yourself. Yet I’d guess that you have come to college with dreams too. Don’t forget them. Find friends worth treasuring among students and faculty. Get involved. Don’t ever be ashamed to be excited about learning. Now with the greens of high summer against the red brick, or later this fall with the trees on the east campus turned to a carnival of colors, or in a deep winter with the mall all still under new fallen snow, do not be afraid to let the magic of this place work on you.”

Six years ago on a Sunday morning in May, Bill gave a sermon at Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church reflecting on the Gospel of John and on God’s love. He said:

“God loves us even when we’re sinners, even when we mess up, even when we fail. We don’t have to earn God’s love. And therefore we can really have agape. We can really help our neighbor just because our neighbor needs help, secure in the knowledge that God has already taken care of us, no need to look nervously over our shoulders to see how we’re doing on a scale of virtue, but free in our love…

“We’re supposed to try to love the way God does — not to win honor or praise, but just overflowing, filled with the desire to help others because they need the help.”

In Wabash’s sesquicentennial year, 1981-82, Professor Placher gave a Founder’s Day speech reflecting on Wabash’s past and positing on its future. He said:

“Never before have we needed more people of common sense and integrity, people who ought to be a products of a college like this one.

“A few such people can make a difference. It takes only one lawyer in a small town to help the unpopular defendant get a fair trial. It takes only one doctor, one scientist in a research team, to raise awkward questions about human values. It takes only one business executive, one union leader, one social worker to bring imagination to bear and find a new way of solving a problem… It only takes a few truly educated people to make a difference. If, in the years ahead, some of those few are not graduates of Wabash College, we will have failed to be worthy of the tradition we inherit.”

Finally, near the end of his life, Bill researched and wrote extensively about vocation — what we are called to do. In a homily only a handful of people heard at a private function, Bill said:

“And as we think about how to improve this broken world, let us be content with ordinary work and small callings. If there are hungry to be fed, let us do what we can to help feed them. If our neighbors or co-workers are lonely or depressed, let’s try to cheer them up. Let’s remember at the holiday season that loving our families is the most important thing we do. Above all, let us never say to God, ‘Lord, I see some good work for me to do, but I was hoping for something more important.’”

Indeed, Bill Placher was true to his calling — as scholar, pastoral presence, teacher, and friend — and all of us who knew him are better for it.

Running the Path Home

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:20:49 -0500

Steve Charles—Last June, Professor Greg Redding ’88 ran a race of 100 miles up and down the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. He told me a little bit about it in the Allen Center locker room after he’d finished a “short” training run of 10 miles or so.

I didn't realize people even dared such things. It sounded more like the kind of running the Tarahumara people of Mexico would do in the canyons of the Sierra Madre, not the avocation of a Wabash German professor.

"Very few people have any idea what it’s like to run 100 miles,” I told Greg, and asked him to write about it. I’ve seen a draft, and we’ll have his story in the Winter 2010 issue of Wabash Magazine. It’s a piece you’ll not want to miss.

One of my favorite scenes has Greg running at night under a canopy of more stars than he’s ever seen, the bobbing headlamps of a few fellow runners flashing like fireflies in the valley below him. Every time I talk with Greg he recalls another intriguing detail.

The only problem I've had with the piece is figuring how to illustrate it. The one shot Greg’s running partner tried to take of him on the trail didn’t turn out, and I was hoping for something dramatic to accompany a story about a 30-plus hour 100 mile run through some of the most beautiful country in America.

Then I found out that Greg trains for these runs in Shades State Park. It’s not the Bighorn Mountains, but Shades has a quiet, deep beauty of its own. Ancient hemlock groves and hiding places even the Ice Age glaciers couldn’t find. Standing with Mike Bachner ’70 on the banks of Sugar Creek several years ago, the western naturalist and writer Terry Tempest Williams declared, “Wildness resides in the heartland of America.”

Greg has logged far more than 100 miles on the trails of this wildness, so with the fall colors fading I drove down Wednesday and photographed his training run up Trail 8 through Shawnee Canyon.

Here’s an album of photos from the day.

Splashing through the rain-swollen springs trying to photograph Greg, I learned a bit more about training for trail running. It’s less about speed than foot placement. If you’re going to be running over rocky terrain in the midnight darkness at 10,000 feet, you'd better learn how to pick your way through in all kinds of weather.

And the canyons at Shades with their running water, slippery rocks, and leaf-covered paths force you to focus on exactly where to put your feet, how to recover when you slip, when to slow down, how to resist that temptation to leap to a rock hiding a slippery edge that can knock you on your butt, or shoulder, or head. You build up the muscle strength in ankles and feet that you'll need when you're at high altitude, haven't slept for 30 hours, and treading difficult terrain at speed has to become second nature.

“This is my home park,” Greg told me, recalling many two hour runs through Shades during late fall, winter, and early spring when he’s been the only one there. I recalled his interest, ever since he returned to Indiana in 2002 from Pennsylvania, in the German-Americans who settled in Indiana, how he's taken students across the state to get them acquainted with these places, how he helped bring Indiana poet laureate Norbert Kropf to campus last year. The goal of these long training runs in Shades may be racing in the mountains of the west, but they also bring an Indiana boy back to the state of his birth, and perhaps back to the reason he began running in the first place, now decades and many Wabash cross country races and many marathons ago.

Greg calls trail running “getting back to my cross country roots,” and the smile on his face as he rock hops and picks his way up Shawnee Canyon made me think of the fun I found as a boy running up desert canyons in Arizona and hopping the rocks in Oak Creek. The sheer joy of leaping and running like a kid through beautiful country.

Even walking through Shades, a place I, too, spent many hours hiking and weeks camping when my kids were younger, I was able to re-collect myself, slow down and breathe deeply enough to take in the beauty of the rocks, streams, the last leaves falling from canopy trees, the paw paws in the understory stubbornly hanging onto theirs.

Walking through Greg’s “home park” made it my own for a few hours. But just as I can only imagine what it’s like for Greg to run 100 miles, I can only imagine what it’s like for him to have been born in this state, to have run these hills and canyons as a young man then left for almost a decade, only to return to them now.

During my early morning reading the next day I encountered this quote from the writer Peter Matthiesson on the frontispiece of Scott Russell Sanders' book The Force of Spirit. Maybe it fits here, maybe not. But they’re good words to end on.

“The search may begin with a restless feeling, as if one were being watched. One turns in all directions and sees nothing. Yet one senses there is a source for this deep restlessness, and the path that leads there is not a path to a strange place, but the path home.”

Greg's article will appear in the Winter 2010 issue of Wabash Magazine, which mails in March.

Taking Fall Photos Never Gets Old

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:46:04 -0500

Howard W. Hewitt - One of the great things working on a college campus is how the place re-invents itself every year. Seniors graduate and 18-year-old freshmen arrive on campus.

But there is a routine to many of the events. Tuesday night is Moot Court. I've covered Moot Court for the College website every year since I arrived. It is a really great event. I'll cover it again tomorrow night. But some of the others do become a bit more routine.

Something that never gets old is the fall and winter practice of taking seasonal photos. Most of us in Public Affairs enjoy photography as much as any part of our jobs. The leaves are going to be gone before long so I left the office after lunch with camera in hand and shot a photo album and a half of fall photos! Enjoy!

Photo Album No. 1 and No. 2.

By the way, the photo here is the view from outside my office window. Not a bad place to work for lots of reasons - not the least of which is the view this week!

Kicking the Leaves with Jud Scott ’80

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:26:31 -0500

Steve Charles—I spent a gorgeous autumn afternoon this week with Jud Scott ’80, one of only two registered consulting arborists in Indiana and founder and CEO of Vine and Branch, Inc. in Indianapolis.

I’ve wanted to interview Jud ever since a press release about one of several awards Vine and Branch has won alerted me to his vocation several years ago. But I wanted the story to be accompanied by photos taken in the fall, when the trees Jud takes care of in Indiana (several of the most historic trees in the state) are at their most beautiful, and it seems like every fall something would come up and we’d be into the winter before Jud and I could get together.

Not this year.

Jud was kind enough to take time on short notice to show me one of his favorite trees, the 150-year-old oak in front of the President Benjamin Harrison House in Indianapolis (in photo). Also drove up to Crown Hill Cemetery to see two species I’ve never seen before—an ironwood tree (the largest in the state) and a cucumber tree.

We also took a look at the city from the hill that gives the cemetery its name, and Jud noted that “Indianapolis really is a green city; that’s something people often miss. But you can look 360 degrees here and see trees spreading out in every direction.”

As I’m writing this, I realize I missed that photo. But it’s a gorgeous view I recommend it if you haven’t taken it in. And Jud’s right—an impressive amount of green space in that city. Changes the way I think of Indy, and I lived there for 15 years.

Jud’s path from Wabash history major to professional arborist is a true Wabash story, and we’ll have it for you this spring. For now, here are some photos from that afternoon.

Will also throw in a few from Wabash on a late Friday afternoon, about dinnertime, wind tossing rain-soaked leaves onto the ground.

Remember these kinds of days?

No Small Thing

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:32:33 -0500

Steve Charles—For the past four years of W.A.B.A.S.H. Days, I’ve scoured the list of projects and tried to find a “big one” to photograph and chronicle: The Evansville guys building a playground set at a family crisis shelter under the leadership of Thom Liffick ’73; Herm Haffner ’77 and two shifts of Wabash students working on a house for Habitat for Humanity just up the road in Linden. Indianapolis alumni handing out food for Gleaner for those in need and cleaning up vehicles for the Second Helpings kitchen; Tim Craft ’00 and more than a dozen alums organizing, running, and referring the flag football weekend at Damar Services, restarting a tradition for Special Olympians across the state; Charlie Lopez ’05 in Greenfield starting a new project with the Hancock Hope House Homeless Shelter.

I love this day for many reasons. I get to see Wabash alumni in a new light. One of my favorite photos of the late Dr. Tom Topper I took while he was standing not in an operating room, but on top of the gym set he’d just helped complete. There's that photo of Herm Haffner covered with sweat and grime, yanking roofing nails from the house he’s rehabbing, another of John Bridge ’72 handing out food to the homeless at St. Richard's school

And it’s encouraging, in the middle of a busy semester, to see how much good can be done by a few caring people in just a few hours.

This year with a magazine deadline and Wabash Day activities converging, I had only a few hours to get away on Saturday and Sunday, so I thought I’d try a different angle—to see a couple of the “smaller” projects, and those led by younger alumni.

(See a photo album here.)

And I learned that there are no small projects when Little Giants are involved, even when just two or three come together.

First stop was Lafayette, where I met Matt McFarland, Lou Fenoglio ’81, and Michael Pugh ’00 as they collected food at the eastside Payless grocery store. The job: Hand out a flyer to customers as they enter the store, tell them about the Food Finders foodbank, and invite them to drop off an item of two in the Wabash Day/Food Finders cart. Simple enough, except that not every customer likes being jumped the minute they enter the store. Most are polite, some even enthusiastic. But others think you’ve got a coupon, and those folks can get cranky when they find out you’re asking for something from them instead; others act like your asking for money or serving a summons and run from you like you’ve got the H1N1.

McFarland, a friend of Lafayette Wabash Day organizer Joe Trebley ’01, learned to read customers’ body language well enough to at least get a flyer in almost everyone’s hands. It was fun to watch him work, even better when someone he’d approached returned a few minutes later with a can or box of food.

And Matt’s not even an alumnus! An Ohio Northern grad, he was joining us because of his friendship with Joe and, as he says, there aren’t a lot of Ohio Northern gatherings in Lafayette.

Next was the West Lafayette payless, where Joe and Mary Trebley placed their Wabash rug and banners in the middle Purdue’s Homecoming celebration with customers flowing into store so frequently that the couple could barely greet each one and hand out the flyers. They were positioned at the front of the store in such a way that few could get past them, though, and their warm welcome drew in those who might have otherwise turned the other way.

Mary is a pharmacist at the CVS across the street and seemed to know half the customers who walked in, often ending the conversations with a hug. In less than two hours they had collected almost three full carts of groceries for the food bank, and more were pouring in as I left.

“You’ll notice that a lot of parents will have their kids drop off the bags,” Mary told me, seconds before a little girl approached with her own gift of food items. Parents seemed to use the occasion to teach their children about giving, caring about others. And Mary’s warm “thank you” to each of the kids let them know they were really helping out. For those kids and their parents, it's an interesting introduction to Wabash College!

Sunday I drove to Bloomington and the Middle Way House, whose mission is ‘to end violence, both structural and interpersonal, in the lives of women and children.” There I met Parker Collins ’05, who had driven from Indy to lead the project, along with his dad, Bloomington county attorney Dave Schilling ’82.

"Anyone else here?” I asked as I took my camera out of the case.

"If you join us, that makes three," Dave said, though soon Todd Rowland ’85 and his son, Price, rode up on their tandem bike and lent a hand.

After I took my photos, I joined the crew, making this the first year I actually get to work on one of these things.

Middle House hasn’t asked for much—just some hedge trimming, weeding, and yard cleanup. Fairly mindless tasks that allow for some enjoyable conversation with Todd and Dave, and give me time to think about the place where we’re working.

Middle House offers help, housing, and hope to victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse. Lifesaving, heartbreaking, and heartening work is done in this old house off downtown Bloomington, and we’re just five guys cleaning up the yard. Maybe it sends some kind of message, five guys in Wabash sweatshirts crawling on our hands and knees, pulling up weeds around a house where women who have been raped and kids who have been beaten up, usually by men, come for shelter and healing, but doing yard work feels like a drop in the bucket. Maybe outside the bucket.

Yet three times women coming in or out of the house stop to thank me. The first time I respond “you’re welcome” but pass it off for polite small talk, the second time I take it a little deeper, regardless of how small I feel, and the third time I thank the women for their work, then realize I have no idea if I’m talking to administrators, counselors, or victims, if I’m thanking them for the work of running this place, comforting others, or healing.

It’s a small thing, I know, but listening to the Colts wrap-up show on the radio on the drive back to Bloomington Sunday afternoon, I’m grateful for the chance to finally do something on Wabash Day besides taking pictures. I’m grateful for Jon Pactor envisioning this day years ago, and for the now hundreds of Wabash men, families, and friends who participate. I look forward to getting back to the office and reading about all the good things that have been done on this day, “spreading the fame,” living the mission of this place.

And I’m glad my first one was a “small” project. I come from a "small" school where each member of the community and each teachable moment matters; where we call ourselves Little Giants. Which may be a good way to describe each of these projects.

In photos: Joe and Mary Trebley and two of the shopping carts they filled with donations for Food Finders in West Lafayette; Matt McFarland, Mike Pugh, and Lou Fenoglio chat while manning the Food Finders station in Lafayette; Dave Schilling trims up Middle House; Todd Rowland and son, Price, join the cleanup in Bloomington.

Philanthropy is Alive and Well

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:28:02 -0500

Jim Amidon — I was working with the folks in the Wabash Annual Fund office last week to implement fund-raising strategies when I got to thinking about philanthropy.

In poring over some data from last year’s Annual Fund, I noticed there were over 4,200 donors to the College, and that a pretty small group of people had the greatest impact on the Annual Fund. What I discovered was that just 13 percent of the donors to Wabash last year (543 families) contributed 83 percent of the record $3.125 million Annual Fund.

Both numbers — the 4,200 donors and the 543 families who contributed $1000 or more — are significant.

Who could argue that the last 12 months have been the most turbulent financial times in our lives?

Yet Wabash received more than 4,200 gifts from alumni and friends. And a small group of those people recognized the financial hardships of the College and stepped up to new heights. They had less to give, but somehow stepped up and gave more.

What an astonishing acknowledgment of their belief in Wabash College and the potential of its students. The students, 883 of them, are the beneficiaries of such extraordinary generosity.

Outside of Wabash — where private gifts sustain the institution — we don’t talk a lot about philanthropy in this community. I’m not sure why, especially since ours is a community of caring, giving individuals. Here, it seems to me, philanthropy just happens.

So how cool was it to read the story in Friday’s paper about the Montgomery County Community Foundation helping 22 important agencies with grants of more than $230,000? Oh, the group picture on the front page was nice and the dollar amount going to the various organizations was impressive.

But don’t just scratch the surface — dig a little to discover the deeper meaning of philanthropy.

How many people will make smart choices because of the funding for the AHEAD Coalition? How many children will receive vaccines or prescriptions because of the MCCF gift to Christian Nursing Service? How many kids will benefit from the new play areas at the Family Crisis Shelter, or take part in after school programs at the Boys and Girls Club?

We’re fortunate to have such a vibrant Community Foundation and its board leadership, which annually makes wise and difficult decisions about how to spread the resources around so that they have the greatest impact — particularly on our community’s youth.

Another event took place on the same day the MCCF grants were announced. I was making dinner when my doorbell rang Thursday night. (Well, actually, my barking dogs are currently subbing for my broken doorbell.)

Standing on my porch were two young Wabash students, both pledges at Phi Delta Theta fraternity. They were taking collections for the residential portion of the MUFFY drive. The students were only casually aware of MUFFY’s impact across Montgomery County, yet on a cold, wet, rainy night, there they were — knocking on doors and asking people to make a donation, even in tough times.

I wrote them a check, thanked them for coming, and offered them an umbrella as the rain began to fall a little harder. “That’s okay,” they said as they walked down the street.

I later found out that the Wabash students raised about $3,400 by the time they finished up, and even more is expected to come in. That’s a small slice of MUFFY’s overall goal, but it’s a start — and it’s more than was collected last year!

Most of those kids who knocked on doors don’t come from Montgomery County and hardly any will settle here after graduation. Unfortunately, they also won’t see the impact MUFFY has on the lives of the people of this community and the agencies MUFFY supports — like the Child Abuse Prevention Council, Red Cross, and Salvation Army.

Philanthropy is all around us. Last Saturday alone, MUFFY had its fund-raising “Extravaganza;” there were two different cancer fund-raisers; and the community continues to rally for young J.D. Taylor.

Lots of people define philanthropy differently. The word’s roots are Greek and it implies “loving one another.” But when writing checks or volunteering for an agency, how many people really think of what they’re doing as loving one another? Probably not that many.

But that’s what it is. Philanthropy is about love; about giving of our selves to others. And it’s safe to say that there’s never been greater need for such selfless generosity.

And it’s also safe to say that philanthropy — in all its forms — is alive and well at Wabash and in Montgomery County.

The Difference Alumni Make: A Student's Short List

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:01:15 -0500

Steve Charles—Senior Will Hoffman's speech at Saturday's Celebrating Leadership Luncheon got straight to the point about how essential giving by alumni, parents, friends, faculty, and staff is to every student who attends Wabash.

Of course, as Will points out in his talk, he is a triplet—so getting right to the crux of the matter is perhaps a practical necessity.

In fact, Will arrived at the Celebrating Leadership Luncheon fresh off the successful completion of the first Wabash-St. Mary's Homecoming Community Service Day, which Will co-organized with his sister, Jenny, a student at St. Mary's.

I thought you might like to read Will's short talk, and what he found out when he emailed his fellow members of Beta Theta Pi and the Sphinx Club, as well as teammates on the rugby team, and asked how their lives at the College had been "impacted by support from alumni and friends."

You can see a photo album from the luncheon here. (Some good baby shots there, too—don't miss Joe Klen with his son, Connor, or the newest member of the Castanias family, Ella-Anne.)

And here are Will's remarks:

"When the members of the Advancement staff asked me to do this talk, I emailed members of Beta Theta Pi, The Sphinx Club, and the rugby team asking how support from alumni and friends has impacted them in their time at Wabash.

"Of the 120 classmates involved in these groups, I received 65 e-mail responses telling me how alumni and friend support has affected them in their time here at Wabash. Here are just a few stories:

"Students for Sustainability President Will Logan traveled to Costa Rica for a zoology and conservation study last summer;

"Senior baseball captain Nate Schrader had an internship in Indianapolis along with 30 other students who participated in the Small Business Internship fund this past summer;

"Samar Kawak will be the first Wabash student to study in Dubai this coming spring;

"20 students travel each fall break to New York for a Corporate site and networking trip to meet and shadow alumni;

"Junior Jake Ezell, member of Lambda Chi is currently traveling in Europe studying on a scholarship that allows him to go as many places and see as much art as he can:

"A networking externship and employer visit site for students to Washington D.C. each spring break;

"197 suits, shirts, ties, dress pants, and shoes that have been donated that are available for students for the SuitYourself program in Career Services;

"Senior Sphinx Club member John Dewart has studied in the Amazon Rain Forest, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, and most recently Western Europe;

"380 alumni that have joined the online Alumni/Student Networking System with new alumni participants joining each week."

"These names and stories are just a small sampling of how your gifts impact Wabash men every day. Thank you for participating in the Annual Fund and giving gifts to the college to help make all of these opportunities and many more possible for the students of this college.

"My story is not much different than the rest of the students I have already mentioned:

"Growing up as a triplet, money has always been tight in my family. With three of us in a private school all the way through high school, college really didn’t help the budget at all. My sister attends Saint Mary’s College in South Bend and my brother decided to attend Miami of Ohio. Without the help of Alumni and friends of the college, it would be near impossible for me to attend Wabash.

"People often focus on the monetary aspect of support to the college. After freshman year, I really began to see support from alumni in different ways; most importantly, through their time. From coming back to mentor young students and giving talks on different topics, to volunteering their time to drive to campus and participate in events in Career Services, to even just coming back for Big Bash each summer to support the college, alumni are always active in what is going on at this special place.

"Most recently, I have seen this strong support with my internship this past summer. I interned for John Reuter, Class of 1980 at Raymond James and Associates in Indianapolis. What amazed me most was not the generosity and willingness to help out a fellow Wabash man from Mr. Reuter, but it was how many Wabash connections he still stayed in touch with and used on a daily basis.

"Yes, this school may be small, but I believe the support of our alumni and friends is stronger than any other college.

"These examples and stories represent only a handful of students who have had their Wabash career impacted by gifts to the college. There are hundreds of other students at this school who benefit daily from this support and take advantage of the great alumni network that Wabash has.

"I hope these stories illustrate why your investment in the students of Wabash College is worth it."

Lawyers and Students Discuss the Future of the Law

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:38:48 -0500

Steve Charles—I was talking with a campus visitor Saturday morning and mentioned that I was on my way to photograph the 2009 Wabash College Lawyer’s Reunion, and that the turnout had been even better than we’d expected.

“How do you get so many lawyers to come back to college?” the visitor asked. It sounded like a set-up for a joke, but I resisted the temptation find the gag line (and attorney David Kendall ’66 had used up all the lawyer jokes during his keynote address at the previous night's dinner).

Instead, I mentioned the hard work and years it had taken for those organizing it to put this together; I told him about the ICLEF sessions, and the panel the day before featuring Kendall, Greg Castanias ’87, Seamus Boyce, and Indiana Solicitor General Tom Fisher ’91, all who had argued or contributed to arguments before the Supreme Court.

The visitor was surprised that such folks came from this “small” campus, and was impressed when I told him I was on my way to photograph a similarly accomplished group about to spend almost two hours with our students.

See a photo album from the session here.

He would have been even more impressed had he attended that session. The enthusiasm for the work, for encouraging the next generation of their profession, was like few exchanges I’ve seen between alumni and students here. And I’ve seen some excellent ones.

In fact, such excellence is the norm.

What set this one apart for me though—beside the fact that the questions and informal conversation kept going long after the event was over, and beside Professor Scott Himsel’s thoughtful and well-paced moderating of the panel—was the passion. To a man, these guys love their work (though not always the job, one alum admitted.) And you could see that as they reached out to this next generation.

I’ll put this all together in a more organized, reader-friendly form for the "Back on Campus" section in the next Wabash Magazine. For now, let me share a few of the quotes I scribbled down as these attorneys—and students were talking:

Bob Wright ’87 of Dean-Webster, Wright, & Kite LLP in Indianapolis, shared a hilarious “Perry Mason “ moment, then offered this advice to students fresh out of law school and looking for their first job: "It's like meeting a bear in the woods—you don’t have to beat the bear, just the guy next to you.

"If you graduate from law school and pass the bar, you’re a lawyer. And people need lawyers. You can help a lot of people early on; the money will eventually come in if you do the work."

Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law Professor Roger Billings ’59 offered this on the same topic to the "90% of law students who aren't in the top 10% of their classes": "Sometimes you have to find a way in the back door. What do you do? Look at niches. Add a CPA to your law degree, or internationalize—learn a second language, particularly chinese or spanish.

"Find a niche and make yourself an expert in one of those."

Scott Himsel ’85, who teaches constitutional law at the College and is a partner at Baker & Daniels in Indianapolis, added, "the fun is learning the odd niche. These specialities are so much fun.

"The law is about teaching and learning—being the best student you can be, then figuring out how to teach it—to your client, to the court, and to the jury."

Nelson Alexander of Frost Brown Todd LLC warned that "a lack of mentoring is undermining the education of young laywers—and that’s got to change.”

Rick Cavanaugh ’76 described his work as associate counsel for Duke Energy, most recently the rapid-development of wind energy farms.

And Steve Bowen ’68, partner at Latham & Watkins in Chicago and chairman of the College's Board of Trustees, added this advice to current students:

"If you do nothing else, learn to write. The inability to do so is the most frequent shortcoming I see in young lawyers. Enjoy your liberal arts education to the fullest. You’ll find that the law is just another liberal art. But learn to write.

"Pick the best law school you can get into, but also realize that in 20 years, all that doesn’t matter. A lot of legal education is self-education, you have to do the work—great lawyers come from everywhere.

"Clients hire individuals, not firms; but the practice of law is teamwork. Our firm wouldn’t be worth a damn without the team.

"You need to learn a lot of things about the law to do the one thing you’re going to specialize in. You get really good at something, then 20 years down the road your client will ask your opinion about something outside that speciality .'I don’t specialize in that' is not the right answer in that situation! Over time, you develop a relationship, become more involved in your client’s problems and legal needs, and they'll come to you with those. That’s when you know you’re practicing law.”

Most of the students stayed long after the “formal” discussion was over, their chance to ask their own personal questions. One student I talked with said his conversation with Roger Billings had both clarified the direction he wished to pursue and reaffirmed his desire to practice the law. Others were still in conversation as I left for Homecoming Chapel.

I've known several of these alumni for a while, but I've never had the opportunity to watch them practice their trade, much less reach out to and teach our students. If practicing law is, as Scott Himsel says, "about teaching and learning," these guys are among the best.