Phoebe Christine Bush – Page 41

Alumnus returns to campus with ‘Surgeon Stories’

By Natalie Duleba
Photo and Copy Editor

Daly Walker ’62, came to campus last week to read from his award-winning collection of short stories, “Surgeon Stories.”

Walker is the first speaker of the Writers & Poets Lecture Series, and took place in the Bayley Room last Thursday afternoon.

Walker is both a Vietnam War veteran and an experienced general surgeon. “Surgeon Stories” is his first published collection of short stories, but his essay and stories have been published in literary magazines for many years.

Bob Olmstead, professor of English and published author, introduced the lecture and admired Walker’s life and talents as a writer.

“I sort of think of today’s writer as one of those kind of old-fashioned writers who lived an extraordinary, fascinating, I’d say dangerous life, and then somehow had the wherewithal, the talent, the skill to write it down, to fictionalize it,” Olmstead said.

Walker has retired from medicine, according to his website, but had a long career as a surgeon, both in foreign countries and domestically in Columbus.
He said his experience as a doctor gave him a rich source to draw from for his short stories.

“Every operation I performed was a short story in itself,” he said. “There’s always a protagonist, not necessarily the surgeon but sometimes, it can be the patient or the family member of the patient. There’s rising action and the epiphany during the surgery and falling action afterwards.”

Walker counts himself among physician writers of history. Anton Chekov is his favorite physician writer, and the one that has had the most influence over Walker’s own writing. He said it’s natural for a physician to turn to writing, as a physician is present at the most dramatic times of the human life.

“They are privy to peoples’ lives when they are the most vulnerable and probably the most interesting: birth, death, injury,” he said.

Walker has expressed this opinion before in previous interviews, as he did with Margaret-Love Denman and Barbara Shoup in “Story Matters.”

“Patients come to you when they are the most vulnerable, when they are hurting,” Walker said. “They want to trust you and open up to you. That is great material to write about.”

Not only this, but doctors possess a keen sense of observation, a skill that Walker attributes to a good writer. He advised writers, especially young writers, to hone their observational skills in order to become better at their craft.

The short story Walker read from his collection, “I am the Grass,” tells the tale of a Vietnam War surgeon who returns to the country to perform charitable surgeries on disfigured children.

This story, as well as the other story depicting war, was written so Walker could come to terms with his own part in Vietnam as a war surgeon.
However, these stories are not the only ones that hold truth in their fiction.

“There’s a kernel of myself in each story,” Walker said. “They are a collage of my memory, my experience.”

While his writing got out to a slow start, “Surgeon Stories” having been 25 years in the making, he said that his time at Ohio Wesleyan helped him decide what to do in life.

“My liberal arts education shaped my life in a lot of different ways, and continues to do so,” Walker said.

After the reading, those in attendance could purchase a copy of the collection and have Walker sign it for them. This was followed by a special in-depth question section with Walker for an hour, affording students and faculty to get a deeper look into Walker as a writer, a doctor and a person.

The next speaker in the Writers & Poets Lecture Series is poet Rick Mulkey, who will be on campus Sept. 28 at 4:10 p.m. in the Bayley Room.

Despite changes, campus still feels like home

Returning to campus this year felt like coming home after a long, summer family vacation. Being an upperclassman, I returned to a sea of familiar faces, friends to help me move in and a feeling of simply belonging. I did not experience any anxiety at all about roommates or classes or making friends. More than anything, it just felt good to be back.

I moved into Stuy and was overall extremely pleased with my rooming situation. My three roommates are awesome and I could not be happier with the layout of my room, the abundance of drawer space and the vast amount of light my room draws from our large window.

Having the sink in my room is a little strange at times, such as when I’m brushing my teeth nearly 5 feet away from my sleeping roommate, but I think it is something I could get used to without too much hassle. After sweating out my first few nights in Hayes last year, having air conditioning has basically changed my life.

My one and only complaint is probably very predictable: Stuy renovations are still not complete. The parking lot is chaos and trying to maneuver our minivan into a nonexistent parking spot on move-in day was difficult even for a native New Yorker like my dad. There are still construction workers visible all around the building, a think layer of construction dust encases everything in the proximity and the coffee shop is incomplete.

I do not know if my expectations were unreasonable, but I expected the building to be finished when I was ready to move in. To be fair, I do not know much about renovation processes, so for all I know this project has been done quickly, but it still would have been nice to come back to a fully renovated and completed dorm.

Despite this complaint, I am enjoying Stuy immensely and will be fully in love with it once all of the construction work is finished. The other renovations on campus have been nice surprises to return to as well. The new computer lab in Welch is so much more spacious and all of the painting has made the building much more aesthetically pleasing.

I was also excited about the new desktop computers in Beeghly and the new laptops that can be checked out. To my surprise, I have also come to enjoy the fountain. I have loved sitting outside near it and walking by it lit up at night and thought adding bubbles to it was a perfect idea for Day on the Jay.

Overall, I’m really looking forward to a great year. As far as the paper, my staff and I are happy to be delivering news to the campus once again and we will strive to always abide by the high standards we set for ourselves in the spring and to remain the campus community’s main source of news.

We will delve deep into the issues most affecting our campus and quickly and accurately relate the news to you, our sole reason for publishing The Transcript: the reader. Here’s to a great year and an informed campus.

Marissa Alfano
Editor-in-Chief

The secret danger your planner does not tell you

By Elizabeth Childers
Transcript Oline Editor

“Danger Will Robinson, Danger!”

Okay, you’re not Will Robinson, and I’m not a robot. But I am writing today to warn you about a problem many college students often don’t see coming.
On a daily basis, we are bombarded by activities, clubs, events, campus jobs and classes, and all of them are telling us the same thing: come play with us!
As a freshmen with time on your hands (right now, anyway) or as a senior wanting to get that last taste of college, you may be inclined to.

But the problem here is, too much of a good thing is bad for you.
As a senior this year, I have a full course load (five classes), each with an extensive set of reading and writing to do.

But when my internship over the past summer offered to keep me on to do remote work, I had not realized being a full time student is a full time job (cliché, yes; wrong, no).

Suddenly, I arrive on campus with a ton of school work and three jobs, all of which are demanding more and more hours.

Needless to say, it’s only the third week of school, and I am already so stressed my guts are practicing their Girl Scout knots way into the wee hours of the lawn mower and leaf blowing filled dawn (seriously B&G, do you really have to mow the lawn at eight in the morning?).

So freshmen, before you take on that fourth club, look at your schedule all laid out for the semester.

Look at your course load; make sure you’re able to do all of your homework.

And be realistic.
No one wants to be constantly doing or working on something from the time you wake up until the time you collapse across your desk at 2 a.m. You’re going to want down time to chill and vegetate.

Remember, sometimes it’s okay to say no to the party or no to the extra club.

Seniors, you’re not exempt from this either. I understand the wanting to do everything on campus, thinking you now have time to do the things you passed up the past three (or in some cases for a few of us, two) years.

While it’s great to try knew things, know that though you might be done with school, school is not done with you.

In order to graduate, you still need to go to class, do your homework and stay focused. You’re running so fast for the finish line, you forget to look for the crack in the sidewalk that’ll roll your ankle.

So, my tale of caution to you all, know what you can handle, and don’t stress yourself out by taking on too much. Be a good student. Be an active socialite. Be a good employee. But do what’s best for yourself too.

SLU resident expects clean living space

By Suzanne Samin
Transcript A & E Editor

The entrance to the storage center where my housemates and I kept our belongings this summer is probably one of the easiest turns to miss.

So naturally, I missed it every time I tried to go there. Sometimes I missed it twice – once three times.

I’m not proud of it. I’m not proud of the twenty extra minutes I spent cursing under my breath, or the ten I spent trying to finagle the lock on what was, eventually, realized to be the wrong unit.

And by the third time turning around, I wondered why I even had this storage unit in the first place.

Then I remembered that Ohio Wesleyan’s department of buildings and grounds (B&G) and Residential Life very strictly reinforced several times that all storage boxes and extraneous furniture needed to be moved out of our house so that they could perform a nice, thorough summer cleaning.

After taking time out of finals week to move big armchairs and other types of furniture that had dwelled in our house without interruption for many years, I was ready to come back to a well-deserved clean house.

You can imagine my dismay when I came back to dusty carpets, cobwebbed corners, and moldy bathrooms.

Not only did we all now have to clean three months of neglect off of our house, but also the money and effort we spent moving furniture and reserving a storage unit had all been for naught.

Never in my life did I think that my college would refrain from providing me a clean living space at the beginning of the year.

Then again, never in my life did I think that my college would allow my house to fester and fall apart with repairs only granted after weeks and weeks of repeated work orders.

The fact of the matter is, I pay $38,000 a year to go here (and that is on a scholarship) and I expect to have my house cleaned and maintained over the summer.

I’m graduating this May with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, and I do not expect to have mold, cobwebs, dust and dirt all over what should be a priority equivalent of a residence hall.

Whenever I tell my friends about this, they say something to the effect that OWU doesn’t care about the SLUs, and that they are all being knocked down in the next couple of years anyway.

So apparently, since Rowland Avenue SLUs are going to be phased out in the near future, it is perfectly acceptable to leave them completely filthy while students are still paying to live there?

I think not.

Is it also acceptable to be penalized because those responsible for maintaining our houses over the summer did not do their job? I think not.

The point is that I should refuse to pay for being neglected, and I should refuse to do someone else’s job for free.

But because my house’s mission means more to me than some potentially really gross situations, I continue to pay and I continue to clean.

However, one thing I will not do is allow this issue to go unacknowledged.

Students live in the SLUs because we care enough about a cause to live it every day.

We care enough to devote some of our time to putting on house projects and interfacing with the community, locally and abroad, in order to make a difference and further our purpose.

We choose communal living not because it’s trendy or fashionable, but because we want to be surrounded by people who care about similar things we do.
So much of the programming that benefits this campus is put on by SLUs.

It comes from college students who plan, budget and stress on top of their academics in order to benefit OWU.

The community service we receive those national accolades for is largely performed and perpetuated by members of the SLU community.
Given these facts, the lack of commitment OWU displays towards the SLUs, down to even so much as keeping our houses clean over the summer, is nothing short of appalling.

You can only miss a turn so many times before it begins to seem intentional.

Performance Art Series kicks off with something different

By Eric Tifft
Managing Editor

Last Sunday, Ohio Wesleyan faculty, students and the Delaware community were exposed to a unique form of music as part of the Performing Arts Series at Jemison Auditorium.

Peter Brötzmann and Jason Adasiewicz performed in a free jazz ensemble that left many concert goers a little perplexed at what they heard.
What appears to be a cacophony on the surface, free jazz pushes the boundaries of music interpretation.

With little or no melodic structure, free jazz is a difficult genre to define said Richard Edwards, assistant professor of music.

“Free jazz offers a different perspective of music,” Edwards said. “It is challenging to the idea of music. It shows that music isn’t always beautiful, it’s about expressing ideas.”

“Free jazz is all about broadening your horizons.”

Adasiewicz, a native of Chicago, tested the limits of the vibraphone by using multiple mallets in each hand, violin bows and even his fists in his dynamic performance.

Adasiewicz said he has always been involved with the music scene in Chicago, playing drums at a very early age.

“Chicago is definitely my biggest muse,” Adasiewicz said. “It is an outlet to experiment with music. Every night of the week you can hear different musicians perform their ideas.”

Brötzmann, originally from Koln, Germany, has played free jazz saxophone and clarinet all over the world for the past 40 years.

Brötzmann said he grew up playing music, but always wanted to be a painter. His musical inspirations come from all facets of his life.

“Sometimes I am inspired by a cigar,” Brötzmann said. “Other times it is a walk in the woods, or good company.”

Brötzmann heard Adasiewicz perform in Chicago two years ago.
“I didn’t care for the band (Adasiewicz) played in, but I could tell that he was a really talented musician,” Brötzmann said. “I then asked (Adasiewicz) to join me and he jumped on board.”

The performance surprised many students at OWU, who went into the concert with different expectations of the show.

Sophomore Connor Stout said he was very pleased with the performance.

He said he enjoyed how Brötzmann and Adasiewicz set out to expand the minds of audiences to new ideas about music.

“You can’t really go into an improvisational event with any expectations,” Stout said.

“You have to pay attention to the sounds instead of the music,” he said.

There isn’t a melodic structure. It is an improvised conversation between the two instruments.”

Senior Zeke Brechtel said he was surprised at how the musicians pushed the instruments to their limits, trying to draw unique sounds that we may not have heard otherwise.

“It was definitely a novel experience,” Brechtel said. “It was an interesting exposure to a world of performance that I wasn’t aware of.”

Others were not as accepting to call the performance music.

Senior Bret Irvine said the concert was very bizarre and the music was not pleasing.

“It didn’t really broaden my understanding of music because what I heard I wouldn’t consider music at all,” Irvine said.

“I would have just called it sound but it did expose me to a new kind of art work.”

Senior Josh Decker said he finds it very necessary to be educated about different genres, eras and cultures of music.

However, he said he does not agree that the free jazz performance was music that contributes to the art.

“This experience has broadened my musical sense, but did not contribute to my musical appreciation of the art form,” Decker said.
Edwards said the performance was made possible by the Conrad Kent Lecture Fund.

He said they chose Adasiewicz and Brötzmann because there was interest among the central Ohio jazz community and Adasiewicz and Brötzmann were passing through the Columbus area during their North American tour.

Efforts to contact Kent were unsuccessful.

The next Performing Arts Series event is The Cody River Show on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. in the Chappelear Drama Center.

Women’s field hockey opens with a win

By Liza Bennett
Transcript Reporter

The Ohio Wesleyan Women’s Field Hockey team has started the 2012 season with a double header that left the team with a 1-1 record.

OWU played Bethany and Hendrix back to back on Sept. 2 and Sept. 3 at Selby Stadium. The Bishops were able to take down Bethany with a score of 9-0. Senior Lauren Bailey was the lead scorer in the win against Bethany.

“I did not expect to be the lead scorer in the first game, so it was very humbling and I wouldn’t have been able to score if our team didn’t work together as a whole,” Bailey said. “I didn’t score my first goal until my junior year, but it’s fun to have the opportunity to contribute to the team in different ways, since in the past my contributions were mostly defensive.”

Ohio Wesleyan took the lead just over five minutes into the game when junior defender Jenna Ortega sent the ball from the middle to the left side, where senior midfielder Calina Hilyard was able to score; they continued to outscore Bethany for the duration of the game. The Bishops outshot Bethany, 70-0.
The Bishops were unable to continue their winning streak on Sept. 3 and lost to Hendrix 2-0.

Bailey felt as though having two games back-to-back may have contributed to the defeat the suffered against Hendrix.

“We played Hendrix the day after Bethany so I think we were all a little tired and we didn’t play to our full potential,” Bailey said. “We can look at our mistakes from the Hendrix game and focus on improving those areas for our next game.”

Ortega, who is one of the captains, said that the team performed well for the first two games, but still has work to do.

“There are only 16 of us this year and all 16 girls have something to contribute to the team because we are only as strong as our weakest player,” Ortega said. “Since we are a small team we have been able to connect well on and off the field, this has been clear since the first day of preseason. The upper class-men have returned ready to play and we have a strong and ambitious freshman class.”

Senior Captain Calina Hilyard has high hopes the team will have a season to remember.

“I feel as though we have the tools we need to have a winning season that we can all be proud of, it’s just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together which I know we will do very soon,” Hilyard said. “I can’t wait to have the best possible senior year season with my fellow teammates.”

The next home game for the Bishops will be on Wednesday, Sept. 19 against Wooster at 4:30 p.m. at Selby Stadium.

Cross Country looks to rebuild

By Taylor Smith
Transcript Correspondent

Despite having some big shoes to fill, the men’s cross country team sets their sites on a bright future as the season kicks off.
The team returns this season with some big names missing. Three All-North Coast Athletic Conference runners graduated last year and a fourth, senior Shane Brandt, is out for the season.

Brandt is out for the season with a torn tendon in his knee. Entering his third season, Coach Matt Wackerly said between Brandt and the team’s top 3 graduates from last year their top four runners are gone. But there are younger runners there to step up.

“I think guys like [sophomore] Landon Erb, [seniors] Nathan Kafity and Tyler Tomazic, all had really good summers and are committed to doing something special,” Wackerly said. “And so I think we can surprise some people.”

Kafity, one of the team captains, said he believes the team isn’t as consistent and solid as last year and looks a little more spread out than what it has been in the past.

He said there is still some hope, though.

We have a lot of potential,” Kafity said. “We’ve had some people show they can do big tings, but it’s still too early to tell.”

The team is going to have a lot on their hands for conference contention. The NCAA has both Alleghany and Wabash teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation.
Kafity said he believes Alleghany, ranked in the top 10 past five years, is coming down form their five year high after losing some big names and have a shot against them.

Wabash, number two in the conference last year, is also weaker and the top three schools (Alleghany, Wabash and OWU respectively) all lost their strongest runners, but still show a balance of young potential.

Wackerly said that Alleghany and Wabash are both returning with some outstanding teams.

“Alleghany brought in maybe the best freshman I’ve ever seen in the NCAC to be honest,” he said. “Ohio Sate doesn’t have guys as fast as him an he is in our conference.”

Wackerly said there is no shame in finishing third in this conference.

There is also a large freshman class this year that shows a lot of potential. With eight our of the 17 men on the team freshmen, Kafity said there is a great mix of guys on team that create a whole new dynamic.

Wackerly credits the upper classman for setting the pace and example for the large young group.

“Our seniors really done a good job in terms of leadership,” he said. “In terms of showing these younger runners what it means to be an Ohio Wesleyan cross country runner.”

Wackerly said he is not changing anything in his coaching method this year, but Kafity said that he is addressing a lot of the smaller details and that that is a sign of what a good coach will do.

The men’s cross country team has run at Kenyon and placed fifth of 11 at the OWU Invitational this past weekend. Their next meet is the pre-NCAC Invitational at Wooster Sept. 15.

Day on the Jay

President Rock Jones was “pied” on Friday after receiving the most donations for the Senior Class Challenge, which is aiming to have over 65 percent participation by the class of 2012.

Members of the men’s lacrosse team join the fun as well.

Biologists receive honorary degrees for research on Galapagos finches

Peter and Rosemary Grant received honorary degrees for their achievements in evolutionary biology in front of Ohio Wesleyan students, faculty and community members on Wednesday, April 18 in the Benes Rooms.
The Grants are British evolutionary biologists and professors emeriti at Princeton University.

Photo from OWU Department of Communications Husband and wife researchers of evolutionary biology Peter and Rosemary Grant visited OWU to receive honorary degrees and present a lecture on their research.

They are most known for their work on Darwin’s finches on the Galápagos Island Daphne Major.
Since 1973, the Grants have spent six months of each year capturing, tagging and taking blood samples of the birds.

President Rock Jones welcomed and introduced the Grants and explained what an honorary degree involves.

“We are privileged and honored to have Peter and Rosemary Grant here with us at Ohio Wesleyan,” Jones said.
“On rare occasions the university bestows an honorary degree. This requires the whole faculty to be in agreement, and it is given to those who demonstrate the examples of scholarship and service that we want for our students.”

Jones said the Grants are leaders in evolutionary biology and their study of the finches in the Galápagos is a tribute to Charles Darwin.

He said that in light of their research and commitment to the scientific community, they will receive degrees titled Doctor of Science.

“In recognition of their service to the scientific community and their commitment to show how evolution works in real time, we bestow upon them the degree: Doctor of Science,” Jones said.

Upon the presentation of their degrees in traditional commencement regalia, the Grants received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Jed Burtt, professor of zoology, introduced the Grants before they presented their lecture in correspondence with the Clark Ornithological Lecture Series.

Burtt nominated the Grants after hearing them speak at Ornithology meetings.

“I’ve known them (the Grants) for a while, and I really wanted to bring them to Ohio Wesleyan, so finally having them here is the end of a lot of work,” Burtt said.

“I’ve published on the Galápagos, too, so it’s neat for me to have them here and spend time with them learning about their research. I think that honorary degrees are a great thing because they expand on what we have here.”

Peter Grant first spoke about their research and showed a video to give an idea of how they did their research on the island of Daphne Major.

Rosemary Grant then finished the lecture by elaborating on their findings and explaining what is next in their research.

She closed by thanking everyone for the honorary degrees.

“On behalf of Peter and I, I would like to thank everyone for the honor you have given us to make us an honorary part of your community,” she said.

The Grants received a second standing ovation following the lecture. Afterwards there was a reception at which the Grants autographed the lecture pamphlets and other pieces of their work.

Peter Grant said receiving the degrees was an unexpected “terrific honor”.

“When one does research biology you only hope that your research ends well,” he said. “When you do receive an award, you can’t help but thank everyone who helped to make the research possible, everyone who provided funding, and of course, lady luck.”

Peter was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1987; Rosemary followed in 2007. In 2008 both were among the thirteen recipients of the Darwin-Wallace Medal, presented every 50 years by the Linnean Society of London.

In 2009, they won the annual Kyoto Prize in basic sciences, an international award honoring significant contributions to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind.

The universe learns how to dance

Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Greg Mack, is collaborating with both science and dance students to explain the creation of the universe as part of a Science Lecture Series Presentation to be performed on May 2.

Mack’s goal, which is based off of a TedX presentation model, will be to use dancers instead of a PowerPoint as a visual aid.

TedX is a program with growing popularity designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through interesting speeches.

Mack said he had been thinking for a while of a good way to incorporate science and dance, when he stumbled across a video presentation by John Bohannon, the creator of the “Dance Your PhD” competition, which challenges scientists and others to come up with ways to express their research and studies through dance.

“We will be explaining the history of the universe, from the Big Bang until present day,” said junior Tessa Cannon, a zoology major and dance minor.

“It is a really great opportunity to combine two disciplines that would normally be seen as completely different,” said Cannon. “I think this is a really interesting way to help people understand really complex ideas.”

Cannon said practices have been a great learning experience.

“Since not everyone participating has taken astronomy, many of the more complex ideas are new to us and Dr. Mack always takes the time to explain them so we know exactly what is guiding our movement.

“I think it’s really fascinating to see those two worlds come together,” junior Jordan Ahmed said.

“You realize that there’s an underlying art to science and vice-versa.”

Ahmed said blurring the line between science and art has been a fulfilling experience.

“Getting to dance as a photon is something I don’t think I’ll ever get to do again,” he said.
“It’s no surprise that so many inventors in the past drew from the arts, and that’s a bridge we’ve long forgotten.” he said.

Senior Brittany Robertson decided to help because she has worked on several dance projects with Mack in the past.

Robertson said there are strong intellectual benefits to multi-disciplined learning techniques.
“Studies have shown that if students are able to interact with course material in more than one way- seeing, hearing, etc., they are more likely to remember the information,” Robertson said.

She said the use of dance will make things clearer for viewers.

“It’s a fascinating topic about the movement of both incredibly massive and incredibly minuscule parts of our universe,” Robertson said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to imagine things on such a huge scale, so performing it in terms of body movement can make the information more relevant to viewers.”

Mack said dancers provide him with unique advantages in presenting his ideas.

“Since I’m using dancers, I can ask them to perform movements that aren’t so pedestrian, but I can add those in as well,” Mack said. “I also had to figure out the right text to say, and what to include. Some aspects are just too difficult to represent in this style, and so I had to discern exactly what message I wanted to get across.”

“In thinking through what to say and how the dancers should dance, I had to let the science and dance talk to one another, in a sense, to influence each other in order to express the ideas I want the audience to learn.”
The performance is open to the public and will be in the Schimmel-Conrades Science Center on May 2 from 4:30-5 p.m. in the Atrium.