Graduation Weekend
Graduation day at Rhodes College had the Class of 2025 assemble in the amphitheater by 7:30 a.m., and it was a gently clouded 25°C when the ceremony began in Fisher Gardens. The sun broke out mid-ceremony, bathing the audience and graduates in light, and hit 31°C by noon, frying the Class of 2025 neatly in…
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
This wild American hitchhiking saga by Jack Kerouac can be read as a quasi-tour of the United States. And an introduction to the Beat generation. “Beat” was the new term I learned by reading this book. I thought it was a funny name for a generation—suggestive of music, drums, and defeat. The Beatniks were road-tripping…
On Freedom, by Timothy Snyder
My school had the privilege of hosting Mr. Timothy Snyder—Yale historian, expert on Ukraine affairs, and the author of On Freedom—as a visiting speaker at our concert hall. As I sat outside checking people in, I saw my professor’s kids, elderly alumni, current students and their families slowly filling up the auditorium. I’d never seen…