The Writing on the Wall
The article on Indian students at Beloit by
Philip Burnham’74 (“Path of a Modern
Warrior,” summer 2005) was very interesting
and covered a topic that I am sure
was new to most of your readers. I am
puzzled, however, by the photograph of
the incised Frazier signature “clearly visible
on Campbell Hall’s west exterior wall.”
I am sure that most readers are wondering
where and what was Campbell Hall?
— Bill Fischer’39
Boulder, Colo.
Editor’s Note:
Early Beloiters scratched
their names on the bricks of
what was then North
College, Beloit’s first residence
hall. That building
now houses faculty offices,
classrooms, and the Kemper
Computer Center for
Economics and
Management and is known
as Campbell Hall.
RELATED
LINK:
"Path of a Modern Warrior," Beloit
College Magazine, Summer 2005
Recognizing
Colleges That
Change Lives
As a sometimes-published author, I have
frequently asked myself, “Did anyone read
it?” Perhaps President Burris asked himself
the same question. I write to say
that I
did read his
message in the summer issue of the magazine. Over the years,
as a college
counselor, I have sent several students
to Beloit College. In fact, Paulina
Barrios’09 is one of mine.
To make a long story short, Burris’
review of the book Colleges That
Change
Lives has changed mine. I have ordered
it
for my school (John F. Kennedy, the
American School, Queretaro, Qro.
Mexico) library, and I assure you,
it will
be used.
It is sometimes very difficult to
advise
students when the only schools they
know
about in the United States are the
Ivies,
the southwestern state schools, and
other
big names. An example: Last year,
a young
woman from Asia graduated from JFK.
She was tri-lingual, tri-cultural,
with three
years in Argentina, and one in Mexico.
She had traveled in the United States
and
was accepted at Johns Hopkins for
pre-med.
Her parents, on the advice of others
in her home country, did not let
her go.
None of them had ever heard of Johns
Hopkins. Pope’s book will make my life a
bit easier.
— Roger D. Gouran’59
Queretaro, Mexico
RELATED
LINK:
"From
the President," Beloit
College Magazine, Summer 2005
Ultimate Fever
Many thanks for a great article (“Catching
the Ultimate Fever,” spring 2005) on
the continuing springtime campus craze. Author
Kasten’s descriptions triggered memories
of playing ultimate at Beloit some 20-plus
years ago. I recall it all started in the
early ’80s, when several self-organized
teams gathered on Maurer Field to huck the
disk, battle the wind, and make spectacular
bids in the endzone.
At that time, the players gave it structure
since it was not sanctioned by any organization
or intramurals. Garren Mayer’85 was
the main facilitator in the beginning. Ultimate is great
with its self-imposed rules and easy participation
by anyone who wants to run, catch, and throw.
I commend all students (present and past)
and faculty who have carried the competitive
fun forward, and I admire the creative team
names and logos.
Most of all, I enjoyed learning of the championship
game with its unique conditions and appeal.
For the record, Beloit’s first intercollegiate
ultimate game occurred one sunny Sunday in
April 1982, when we invited UW-Whitewater
to play at Strong Stadium. We played several
games and “it was physically intense
but not physically violent” to borrow
the words of one recent alum. We would have
benefited from 600 fans to gain more points,
but winning wasn’t the primary objective
as much as camaraderie and the basic joy
of play. Armed with a Beloit turtle disk
(from Aaron Bauhs’05) and fond memories,
I can share and teach all of this to my daughter
and her friends, too.
— Peter Kozelka’82
Albany, Calif.
RELATED
LINK:
"Catching
the Ultimate Fever," Beloit
College Magazine, Spring 2005
Frisbee
as Metaphor
The
Underkofler Award article (summer
2005 news) with its oblique reference
to
the Socratic Method, “lively questioning
style of Prof. Ann Davies’ teaching” connected
with your wonderful article (spring
2005) covering the Frisbee
phenomena.
All games are metaphor.
Marbles: the universe.
Football: war. Basketball: aerial
war. Baseball: South
American war (half are sitting,
half are standing around,
two guys are playing catch).
Hopscotch: American family
values. Checkers: politics
(players are the politicians,
the checkers are our money).
Pick up sticks: brain surgery.
But Frisbee is metaphor for
the Socratic method. Toss.
Catch. Move.
Think. Move. Think. Catch.
Toss. Add cheer-laugh-love.
How wonderfully Socratic.
Everyone arrives at the same
place at the same time, or at
least, closer. Uncertainty is
less uncertain, commonality
more certain.
All Socs wanted to do
was to engage the brain,
bypass the
adrenal system,
and
strive to attain
the universal
definition.
“Fris-Being”
accomplishes
this to a higher
degree than
any other game. It is equal parts
problem-solving,
prioritizing, decision-making, and
movement (growth) plus a garnish
of positive
emotion reinforcing commonality
while negating judgementalization,
i.e.,
the dialectic in motion sans invective.
An obscure philosopher was asked, “Why do you intellectualize everything?”
The philosopher thought for a long
moment, then he smiled and answered,
“Because it makes me feel good.”
— John Langley’58
Ruidoso, N.M.
RELATED
LINK:
"Two
Underkofler Awards go to Beloit Faculty," Beloit
College Magazine, Summer 2005
"Catching
the Ultimate Fever," Beloit
College Magazine, Spring 2005
EMAIL:
Susan Kasten - Editor, Beloit College Magazine
