Delight Springs

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Getting ready for school

@OnPointRadio asks if it makes sense to major in the humanities anymore. I wonder if it makes sense not to.

The Vandy students have just moved back in, so the place was more poppin' yesterday than it's been in a while. Good day for a campus wander.

Had to mosey through the Sarratt Student Center, where I worked as Night Manager during Grad School. It's fundamentally the same welcoming place it ever was, though the Main Desk and adjoining offices have been reconstructed and reoriented from back in "my day" (during the first Bush's presidency). The exhibit space was taken up by the annual poster (etc.) sale, by which students adorn their dormitories and place a personal stamp & statement on their new homes. Snapped this just before the overly-officious desk attendant insisted "No browsing 'til 10!"

 I made a particular point of laying eyes on Gillette Hall, scene of a rape allegedly perpetrated last June by several footballers. It looks the same as ever too, and Vandy in general looks as ready to support its students' academic and life aspirations as it ever did.

Likewise the lovely faux cathedral to wisdom and learning (and Athena-sponsored peace) across the street.
Then reversing direction, I couldn't resist a stroll through Barnes & Noble to see what my Vandy colleagues are reading and teaching this Fall. Noticed that JT is working the free will problem with Robert Kane. Also noticed that incoming freshmen are supposed to have read this, this summer:
Good! I read it last summer, finding it a more-than-adequate answer to the implied criticism of humanities education in challenging economic times I later heard on the car radio. They're still chewing on that this morning, apparently, with Mark Edmundson. Maybe I'll tune in. But maybe I'll be busy with something more important: getting ready for college.


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