How to Have a Heroic Mind (a eulogy for Dr. Mike Mehlman)

In his essay “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emerson says that “there can be no scholar without the heroic mind. The preamble of thought, the transition through which it passes from the unconscious to the conscious, is action.” To be a scholar is to be a type of hero. And heroes are people of action. However, those who use their minds to create action are exempted from that moniker. But like time and space, true thought cannot be separated from action. But what exactly is the action? I believe it to be the bestowing of your thoughts. For what good are thoughts if they cannot be shared?

So if thought equals action, then imparting those must also be a heroic deed. Dr. Mike Mehlman was that type of man, that type of hero. To teach is to train other young scholars, which is no mean feat. And Dr. Mehlman would agree with Emerson and say that mere thinking is not enough, for “the true scholar grudges every opportunity of action past by, as a loss of power.” Your thoughts must produce action. And for Mike, he chose the classroom (or the hallway or the parking lot) to act, to teach, to tell stories.

And for a man who loved stories and loved history’s quirks, he would no doubt chuckle at my use of “American Scholar’ to eulogize him. I’d first received the idea of teaching Emerson’s essay only after skimming through an American Studies book that he’d lent me. He’d also find an odd measure of humor in the melancholy coincidence that when I heard about his death, I was preparing to teach the essay for the first time. It was as if Mike was combining his love of history and teaching and irony even after his death.

Those ingredients were what made him so great at what he did: he looked at history as one great big story made up of many little ones. And he taught the subject as such. The ironic facts, the odd coincidences—those are what he relayed to his classes; those are what he relayed to his colleagues. And he didn’t tell history’s stories simply for the sake of telling them. No. He told us so that our thoughts could become actions, so that we could find our own stories, or better yet—make are own.

It’s at this point where the conscientious reader points out that the “American Scholar” talks of history as being “laborious reading.” Emerson does say this. But we can’t hold it against him; he never knew Mike Mehlman.

How to Educate a King

“I will come. But in the future you will have to go by yourself. Education is experience and the essence of experience is self-reliance.”
--Merlyn to Arthur

The tutor-student dynamic interests me greatly b/c it varies slightly from the teacher-student relationship. Either way, Book 1 of T.H. White's The Once and Future King chronicles how Merlyn the magicians teaches the future King Arthur how to think differently in order to change the inequities of feudalism. Merlyn does this in part by turning Arthur into a various animals and having him experience different worlds or, rather, the same world from different points of view. Merlyn's methods are the essence of a humanities education: give the pupil new experiences so that the world becomes larger, too large to contain their prejudices and misconceptions.

To use an historical example, after dining with President Taft, Fredrick Douglass talked about how he didn’t believe he could possess skin prejudice because the man had “read too many good books, traveled too widely.” Whether Douglass’ reasoning was sound, the point is that the more expansive the world is to you, the more willing you are to view a situation from multiple viewpoints, the more likely you are to see life as a prism rather than a mirror. This is hugely important for Arthur who will one day become king. A ruler must consider the seen as well as the unseen, the obvious and the clandestine.

And ruling a kingdom is vastly different from ruling a business or a household. But the same principles apply. You must be able to evaluate people and situations and then think through several different outcomes. The humanities are about understanding and responding to a given course of events. One must invoke their intellect without dismissing their emotions. The humanities are about simply understanding how to be a better human.

And since Merlyn has lived his life backwards, having seen the future he is able to teach Arthur as someone whose knowledge supersedes the confines of feudal Europe. As a teacher, knowing more than your students is not enough; you must occupy a different world than them and be able to draw them into your world. To do so requires more than mere intelligence; you must able to anticipate one’s expectations and then circumvent them so that what you teach them outflanks the walls of resistance people naturally build to situations and concepts that will challenge and make them think.

Benjamin Franklin and the Basketball Playing Linguist

Neologism (nee-ol-uh-jiz-uhm): n. 1. a new word or phrase. 2. the introduction of new words or meanings of words

Benjamin Franklin once said of neologisms that “I cannot but wish the usage of our tongue permitted making new words.” The interesting thing about living languages, is the manner in which they get updated-sometimes purposely, other times accidentally, often times incidentally. One addition English has enjoyed is the slang phrase, “my bad,” a small, two word apology for a slight mistake.

That phrase was coined by former NBA defensive player of the year Manut Bol who died this past Saturday of acute kidney failure. The wording originated from his broken English and, like many trends in history, caught on unexpectedly-even inexplicably. The 7'7” Sudanese center was famous for a myriad of things: a distinguished if not peculiar basketball career, killing a lion with a spear while working as a cowherder, and perhaps most importantly, his selfless charity work towards the end of his life. But his diminutive contribution to our language, a two word phrase, assures him a special place in the hall of fame for sports-loving philologists like myself. I can't help but think that perhaps somewhere in heaven Dr. Franklin, the original American polymath, is meeting a new Scrabble partner.

Committee Meetings Can Make You Feel Like a Kid Again (In a Good Way…Seriously)

I had my first faculty meeting the other week. It was longer than I expected, but it didn’t feel drawn out. I remember attending meeting in college and thinking that, for the most part, they were empty exercises in procedure meant to give college students practice for when they were real adults. And I dreaded revisiting that feeling, especially since now there’s not much to practice for.

We did talk about student retention and student performance, many of the same subjects I discussed 10 years ago as a student senator. But as a professor, I feel as if I can better turn talk into action. Also, my ability to focus (or maybe I simply have fewer distractions) allowed me to zone into the topics and big picture behind those topics. Either way, time marched more than trudged, and I’m looking forward to more progress at our next get together.

Also, Robert’s Rules of Order—the absence of them—made communication less complicated. No doubt Robert’s plans have their place, but not in meetings where I’m present. I guess my presence brings a sense of order in itself, and anything else is mere superfluity.

Was Picking the Smartest Man in the NFL a Dumb Idea?

"Like a smart jock, right?...Now ain't that an oxymoron?"
--from the movie Renaissance Man

"Can't read defenses? He's a Rhodes Scholar. He can read 'em in Latin."
--from the HBO show Arliss

With the 207th pick in the 2010 draft, the Tennessee Titans picked Myron Rolle out of Florida State, a Rhodes Scholar & future MD. More significantly for the Titans, he’s a safety and should provide depth to their underachieving secondary.

A lot of speculation as to whether his scholarly interests will detract from his football responsibilities. I know this is where I’m supposed to defend him for being a renaissance man and a true student athlete. And no doubt he deserves praise from me and everyone else who’s heaped him w/ adoration. But any wariness an NFL team had of him concerning his non-football goals are actually legitimate.

When a teach drafts a player, they are making an investment. And if they have reason to believe that player won’t develop for some reason (injury prone, lack of talent, other interests, etc), then that team should be cautious. Granted, being afraid a player will retire early or be distracted because of an interest in the medical profession, is definitely different from most NFL red flags (and is much better than some recent former Titans players’ off the field activities), but it must be taken serious.

For example, if you’re hiring someone for a job, and that person is overqualified, then you would be right to hesitate because the person may be gone soon. Now, Rolle isn’t quite overqualified in the usual sense, but he definitely has qualities that make him less likely to drape his life in football, which is really what a player needs to do in order to succeed in the NFL, especially someone with the talent of a 6th round draft pick.

This is not to say I was upset the Titans drafted him. In fact, I remember sitting in front of my tv pumping my fist profusely when his name scrolled across the screen. But I do side with NFL execs whose jobs lie with not only whom they pick but whom they do not pick. And the more players you pick who don’t work out, the greater your chance of being out of a job.

All this said, does anyone have Myron Rolle’s contact info? I’d like for him to guest lecture one of my sports & lit classes.

Quote of the Week: Alcohol & College Students

The following quote is the first sentence from a student essay about a Jose Cuervo ad. We talk about grabbing a reader's attention at the beginning. Well, it's hard to overlook the following sentence:

"When you drink alcohol, the panties are going to fall."

Ten Year Sleep: Re-reading Rip van Winkle

"Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues." --Washington Irving, "Rip van Winkle"

I remember reading Rip van Winkle as an undergrad. I remember liking it well enough. My mind still possesses the ethereal remnants of our in-class discussion about it. I also remember being underwhelmed. That's why I never thought to teach it in my own American Lit classes. Thinking back 10 yrs, I thought the story long and unwieldy. As a hinterland, preternatural tale, I preferred its younger cousin "Young Goodman Brown."

But after rereading Rip Van Winkle for my American Lit class, I admit I overlooked or disregarded its humor and depth. It's only taken 10 years for me to wake up to its greatness. One of my mentors told me that teaching literature is a good way to supplement my literature education. Luckily, it's not just for stories I haven't read, but those I've read and slept on.