Communication

This article appeared as a web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Fall 2009.

Photos by Jim Heemstra

The beauty of a late summer Iowa day provides a backdrop for the continuing construction on Phase II of Grinnell's Athletic and Fitness Center, north of 10th Avenue.

The trail around the soccer fields provides an excellent vantage point to view the construction.

Prairie flowers bloom with wild abandon along the railroad tracks on the east side of the construction project.

Grinnell’s natatorium will reflect the latest technology and design, as well as the highest standards of environmental responsibility and efficiency.

Sparks fly as welders do their work.

The finished facility will offer the College and the community a place to compete, train, and pursue recreational athletic activities.

A blue Iowa sky offers a dramatic backdrop to the beams of the fieldhouse.

A construction crane towers over campus.

A welder is intent on his work.

Beams form a geometric design against a brilliant blue backdrop.

Beams foreshadow Grinnell’s new state-of-the-art fieldhouse, which will feature a six-lane 200-meter track with an eight-lane straightaway.

Greetings from a Grinnellian who is living in Obamaland. Did you know I live a block from President Obama's Chicago home? It is incredibly thrilling and exciting. You can't imagine!

As I write this before the inauguration, the streets and sidewalks are blocked off. When we neighbors come out of our houses/condos, we run into the FBI in black, with their cars; the Secret Service, incognito, and their cars; the City of Chicago Police, in full dress, with their cars; and the sniffing dogs, with their cars. Security is so tight that neighbors are questioned and must show identification to get to their own homes. And visitors, well, that is another story. We are so proud of our famous neighbor, we have learned to deal with the inconvenience.

It is absolutely awesome to see the Obama entourage of five black limousines with smoked windows, thoroughly interspersed with City of Chicago Police cars, going at a good pace down Hyde Park Boulevard and Lake Shore Drive to a meeting downtown with the leaders of the nation. Or, he could be going to the health club down the street.

Never did I expect an African American to be elected president of the United States of America. I am descended from generations of Mississippians. I was born in the sovereign state of Mississippi. I remember my beautiful great-aunt, the lovely Mary Jane Calvert, who was born a slave in 1850 at the height of slavery. She died at the age of 104 in May 1954, at the time of the momentous Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education decision - the beginning of the civil rights movement in the courts.

I am a retired community college history faculty member. With this background, you can see why I am incredulous and so very proud of what the people did Nov. 4, 2008.

I am especially proud of the people of Iowa who gave Obama his first caucus victory, proving to the nation that Obama was a creditable and winnable candidate.

When you are in Chicago, call me, and we can explore Obamaland!

Originally published as an online web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Spring 2008

Arriving in London in early August, I expected to see less about the U.S. election campaign in the British media than at home in Iowa. The amount of election campaign coverage, however, seemed almost as great here as in the United States.

I should have remembered how intensely interested Europeans are in American politics. As was endlessly proclaimed in the media, what the U.S. president does has a huge impact globally. The British, who prefer leaders who can speak in complete sentences, were immediately impressed with Barack Obama, although they consistently mispronounced his first name as "Bearick."

In contrast, veteran TV presenters at first had difficulty keeping a straight face when discussing Sarah Palin, although they became increasingly sober when they realized that some (many?) Americans prefer their candidates ignorant and ideological.

As the campaign season went on, British interest intensified and became more worried. Obama was everyone's favorite here, or if not, people wouldn't admit it. Yet there was concern that if Europe was too noisy about its preference for Obama, the American electorate might vote against him for that reason.

All of the TV organizations had extensive election night coverage, with many Brits glued to their TVs until the outcome was clear, about 3:30 a.m. London time.

I found it too stomach-churning to sit in front of the TV that long and went to bed, intending to get up at 6 a.m. to get the news. About 4 a.m., I was awakened by groups of people shouting in the streets: "Obama, Obama!" It was safe to get up.

After the election was certain, I went to my neighborhood newsagent and bought a copy of The Guardian. A picture of the triumphant Obama, now president-elect, graced the front page of this and every other newspaper that day. Placing the newspaper on the counter and carefully stacking my coins next to the photo of Obama, I said to my South Asian-born newsagent, "It is a good day today!"

"It is a good day for the world!" he replied. It was, of course, a common sentiment globally.

"Now perhaps it will be possible for the U.S. to become respected again," he concluded, smiling broadly.

Originally published as a web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Spring 2009

I traveled to Nanjing, China, during spring break 2008 — for the first time as a member of the Russian department. The previous three times had been in my former capacity as director of the Center for International Studies, where one of my charges was to coordinate and institutionalize one of the most multifaceted international exchange programs in U.S. higher education.

Founded by the history department's Andrew Hsieh more than 20 years ago, our exchange program with Nanjing University has seen generations of Chinese and American students, faculty, and administrators visit each other's institution to study, teach, and do research - forging countless friendships and traditions over the years. As an administrator, I've enjoyed meeting my counterparts, negotiating our exchange agreement, and creating new possibilities, including an expansion of our teaching fellowship program, in which Grinnell faculty members teach each year at Nanjing University. Previously, instruction had been exclusively in English; last year, we decided to experiment with the foreign languages, and so March 2008 found me wandering the halls of the sixth floor of the Foreign Languages Building at Nanjing University.

Another thing made this trip different than those before: I was taking my two sons, Alex (16) and Patrick (11). It is hard to express what it felt like to watch them experience Asia for the first time, to walk in my footsteps, to discover a part of the world so very different from their home in rural Iowa. From Patrick gazing transfixed at Victoria Harbor from the window of our hotel in Hong Kong as we first entered China, to Alex's awe at the massiveness of Pudong and the Pearl of the Orient as we stood on the Bund in Shanghai on the eve of our departure, to all we experienced in Nanjing - the entire trip was, like every journey to Asia, eye-opening and life-changing. And apart from the usual tourist sites and obvious youth highlights of buying swords and cheap DVDs (can I feign the same ignorance here about bringing the latter back, as I did when we went through customs?), the boys enjoyed some of those everyday activities that make connection with a foreign culture so much more meaningful. Patrick attended some classes at the Nanjing middle school with the Grinnell Corps Nanjing Fellows (Logan Lewis and Maggie Connor, both '07); Alex played basketball on a team with Austin Dean '06 (a Grinnell Corps alumnus teaching history there) against Nanjing University students. We also enjoyed being hosted (at endless, sumptuous banquets) by our many Nanjing friends who had been in our home in Grinnell.

A personal highlight for me, though, was my experience in the classroom. And not because it was unusual, or "exotic" (a relative term that, together with "weird" and "strange," I encouraged my sons to avoid in describing this very different culture), but rather because it was familiar and recognizable. I was nervous before the first class (as most teachers are before the first meeting, I think), and had prepared far more material than necessary, just in case. But once things got started and we got through our introductions, I realized I was going to enjoy working with Alyosha, Lilya, Liza, Katya, Gulya, Panya, Ignat, Nadya, and Lyuda (yes, like here, students take Russian names).

Working through the content of the course (the dynamic Russian poetic movements leading to the 1917 revolution), we also talked a lot about how Russian is taught and learned in America and China. It became clear in our discussions that there were far more similarities than differences. I'd like to give one example, which I'll dedicate to the students in my Russian 221 class in the fall of 2007 - one of my favorite groups in my many years of teaching at the College. As I quizzed my Chinese students about their knowledge of Russian, I asked whether they knew any proverbs (my Russian students here will smile knowingly at this point, recalling my obsession with this aspect of the language); indeed they did. As we went around the room to see how many we could come up with, I experienced one of those epiphanic moments that everyone ought to have in their professional life: when we realize we're in the right place, and we can't imagine doing anything else. It's a feeling I experienced more than once teaching second- year Russian the previous semester; that I experienced it again halfway around the world told me something about the importance of educational exchange and the bridging of cultural borders. It also brought home to me how glad I was to be returning fulltime to the classroom here at Grinnell.

An American in China teaching Russian? From my perspective, I can't imagine anything more ordinary.

Originally published as a web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Spring 2009

Photos by Jonathan Daen '78
©1975 Jonathan Daen

Professor Emeritus of Biology Ken Christiansen (left) with Chinese graduate students Wu and Li. Grinnell College's longtime partnership with Nanjing University in China has proven beneficial for the students and faculty of both institutions. Although instituted in 1987, the program hearkens back to an older Grinnell-in-China program that started in 1916, through which Grinnellians taught at a missionary school in Shandong province. This exchange thrived until the Japanese occupation of the area in the 1930s made it impossible to continue.

In the late 1980s, the College was adding Chinese to the curriculum, and the decision to focus on China was both prescient and advantageous. Through the partnership with Nanjing University, Grinnell receives two research scholars from Nanjing each year, along with a visiting instructor of Chinese. Grinnell in return sends two of its faculty or staff each year to teach students in Nanjing.

Ken Christiansen, professor emeritus of biology, spent an entire semester there in 1990. His story is just one of many.

Caving and More

"I had been missing teaching very much," remembers Ken Christiansen. The professor emeritus of biology traveled to China in 1990 to spend half a year teaching at Nanjing University. "I've always been very interested in China," he adds.

The trip held its enticements and challenges. He was anxious to meet a student in Beijing working on Collembola, the group of arthropods that has been the focus of Christiansen's research and study. He spent a week with her, and even canceled a planned trip to see the Great Wall in order to spend more time working with her. "That was really stupid," he says regretfully.

At Nanjing, he taught Soil Biology to about 48 Chinese students. Few spoke good English, so Christiansen was forced to compose and print his lectures ahead of time so the students could read along with him as he read them. It was a teaching style he did not enjoy. Christiansen supervised the senior theses of three students and got to know them very well.

Among Christiansen's most positive experiences in China was collecting cave Collembola in various regions of China. "I was very interested in cave biology," Christiansen says.

In one such area, the inhabitants spoke a language unknown to all of Christiansen's party, save the government guide. "I was the first foreigner of any sort anyone had seen," he says. "If I'd stop, a crowd would gather around just to stare at me."

His wife, Phyllis, came to China for a month-long visit, and the pair traveled together to see some of China's sights. Although the train travel was rough -- especially the bathrooms ("They made army latrines look like a model of cleanliness") -- the Christiansens saw many wonderful things. "We had some lovely, very interesting times," Christiansen says. He remembers in particular a kite festival ("They had fantastic kites") and a lantern festival ("Spectacular"). The banquets, too, were lavish, though cultural differences can make eating interesting. Christiansen recalls some corned beef -- "I thought it was pretty tasty," he says. Then he found out that it wasn't actually beef -- it was dog. "I found it tasty, and later, when I spent a week at the Karst Laboratory in Guilin, I attempted to have it included in the banquet I gave for the staff at the end of my stay. However, the staff person who was my good friend and translator changed it to duck, since he said dog was not suitable for fo reigners.

"China has changed so much I wouldn't recognize it," Christiansen says. One of his best students in his many years of teaching, Hanghang Wang '07, came to Grinnell from her hometown near Nanjing, China. She's now in medical school at Dartmouth.

Christiansen continues to cooperate and collaborate with his friend and research colleague Chen and Chen's biology students.

Christiansen says of his time in China, "We had some wonderful experiences."

Originally published as an online web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Winter 2008

"Not everyone who served wore a uniform--teachers, nurses, others had to do their job so we could do ours," Dole said.

He also recognized several veterans in the audience whose stories he'd read during his plane trip to Grinnell.

Professor Emeritus of History George Drake '56 has compiled oral histories of several Poweshiek County veterans.

"The stories tell about the sacrifices men in this city made," Dole said. "So many Americans made sacrifices," he said, and with emotion related, "On D-Day, 10,000 never drew another breath ... never had a chance to go to college ... to be fathers .... There is no way to repay them."

At several times throughout his hour-long talk, Dole also referred to his best-selling book, One Soldier's Story.

"The book isn't about me, it's really about us," Dole said. "Not only what you go through on the battlefield, but what happens to you later, who takes care of you when you return."

Dole is part of a commission working to improve veterans' benefits.

"They called us the greatest generation, but the greatest generation are those protecting us now," Dole said, referring to servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. "They are taking the risks now."

In addition to his serious "Veteran's Perspective on World War II," Dole also engaged the audience with light-hearted stories of his time in Washington as senator from Kansas and later as the 1996 Republican presidential candidate.

"I left politics--wasn't voluntarily, come to think of it. I thought the Senate would close down for at least a day or two. But they didn't. They were doing the same thing--not much--as they were doing when I was there," Dole joked.

He gave high praise to his fellow senator, George McGovern, with whom he shared the World Food Prize this year for their work on world hunger. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, who was also in the Herrick Chapel audience, received Dole's praise as "the hardest working guy in Congress. You are getting your money's worth," he said, referring to Grassley's work on behalf of Iowans.

Originally published as an online web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Winter 2008.

This article appeared as a web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Fall 2008.

Last weekend I traveled by train to Fuzhou province for the Tomb Sweeping holiday weekend. (Never heard of Tomb Sweeping Day? The Communist Party made Qingming Jie an "officially" national holiday this year in hopes of curtailing the massive and simultaneous movement of citizenry around the country on long holidays like May Day.) Since my Chinese friends "already" paid respects to their ancestors on Double Nine Festival or since they can't locate their ancestors' tombs, I went on a little excursion by myself!

Here are some pictures of my first stop: Xiamen City and Gulang Yu Island. This trade portal was one of China's Opium War concessions. The island (also known as Piano Island because it generates celebrated classical musicians) features narrow cobblestone lanes that wind around 1880s colonial architecture. I enjoyed the car-free lanes (even carts had to heed to specific traffic rules — below), birds chirping (unheard of Guangzhou — pun not intended), the cool sea air and Min Nan language — very similar to Taiwanese.

From there, I hurriedly moved on to Yongding, a small town in the countryside seven hours away from Xiamen. I was nervous about arriving at 11 p.m. at a train station in a town few seemed to know, but I had no choice! Fortunately the clusters of drunk gambling men, brothels lit red, and leashless German shepherds on the otherwise desolate main road didn't pay much attention to me. Actually, there were two police officers at the train station who helpfully directed me to the hotels on the main road.

The next morning, I effortlessly made friends with people along the short main road — actually since my arrival, it was the other way around. I experienced firsthand the hospitality of the Hakka (Kejia) people — from investigating hotel rates, inquiring about how to get back to Guangzhou, eating a bowl of delicious beef and fried onion crinkly noodles, buying bus and train tickets, etc.

The bulk of these pictures are of the Hakka tulou (earth houses), many of which are hundreds of years old. The Hakka people originally migrated from the north. As they settled in the mountainous parts Fuzhou and to a lesser degree Guangdong, they built these tulou in order to communally protect themselves from invaders and wild beasts (i.e., tigers — I'm told that now there are only wild fowl and boars that might wander over). Clans of up to 200 people would live in these houses — which are round, rectangular, or oval shaped. Each family lived/lives in one vertical "column" — the first floor was reserved for kitchens and wells, the second floor usually for storage, and the third floor for bedrooms. There was only one entrance but these mud, grain, etc.-mixed structures do not burn. Today, these houses feature electricity boxes, "fire exits" (the regular staircase ... just with a sign indicating "This Way"), and fire extinguishers.

It's true that after seeing one or two of these roundhouses, you sort of know what the deal is. But the cordial people, fresh mountain air and visuals (especially from above) made it well worth the trouble to put up with 30 hours of sometimes horrifically smelly/hot/crowded train rides and 12 or so hours of sometimes horrifically smelly/hot/crowded train-waiting time! When returning to GZ, I had six hours to kill in a very quiet town until my train was due to pull in (the earth houses were another hour up some hills but the mini-buses stop running after 4 p.m. ... Ah, small towns ...) In this time, I was overjoyed to bump into "old" friends — one after the other! For instance, on my walk along the town's river (no name), the bus attendant from my trip up the hills called me over and we spoke for over an hour! The noodle soup shop lady and her son (below) also pulled me back into their shop and made me sit for tea for an hour and a half. At a certain point — no joke — I couldn't contain my enthusiasm and accidentally broke their teacup. They absolutely refused to let me pay for a new set!

OK, well, enough enthusiasm-frothing here! ... Next weekend I'm planning to visit two girls who are also from Grinnell and teaching in Macau. May Day weekend is also coming up, and I will stay here and save money ... or go to Chairman Mao's province! We'll see!

All photos courtesy of the author.

Love 'em or loathe 'em, you just can't ignore the plentiful and beautiful fox squirrels that thrive on the Grinnell College campus. We asked several of our photographers to catch the many moods of Grinnell's squirrel population.

The fox squirrel is named for the fox-like color on its magnificent tail. by Sarah DeLong

Streeeetch! Fox squirrels love nuts, insects, seeds, buds, and pilfered fast food.
by Sarah DeLong

So close! by Sarah DeLong

At last -- success! by Sarah DeLong

The fox squirrel is found throughout Iowa and most of the Midwest. by Sarah DeLong

Whaddaya want?" Grinnell squirrels are assertive to say the least, and exhibit personality to spare. by Sarah DeLong

Grinnell's squirrel contingent seems to be thriving, as demonstrated by this solid citizen. Fox squirrels are Iowa's largest squirrels. Experts say they range from about 10-15 inches in length, and can weigh up to three pounds (anecdotally, Grinnell squirrels can weigh a lot more). by Sarah DeLong
 

It's a tightrope act, but no sweat for this guy. by Grant Dissette ’12

"Really? You don't say!" Students frequently become fond of the squirrels, who often boldly take food directly from human hands. by Grant Dissette ’12

"Scratch where it itches." by Grant Dissette ’12

"I know I left it in here somewhere!" Squirrels make their nests in holes in trees, or build the big round leafy balls visible among the branches. by Grant Dissette ’12

Up close and personal. by Grant Dissette ’12

"I'm a handsome devil, aren't I?" February is mating season for the squirrels, which accounts for all the wild activity in mid-winter, including high-speed chases and daring leaps from branch to branch and tree to tree. Courtesy of Ben Gordon ’11

"Bet you couldn't hang upside down like this!" Courtesy of Ben Gordon ’11

Many gardeners and bird-feeding enthusiasts can attest to the cleverness of these rodents. A Grinnell faculty member of the early 20th century left us this story of the squirrels of his day: "Last year some hazelnuts brought home one day were spread out on a level area of roof to dry in sun and air. The village squirrels discovered them in surprisingly short time and made spirited and frequent predatory excursions to the store. The antics of the squirrels were worth far more than the nuts." (Selden Lincoln Whitcomb describing Grinnell, Iowa in 1902) by Stephanie Puls

At home in the trees. by Stephanie Puls

Squirrels don't hibernate, but they do spend more time in the nest when the weather gets cold. by Stephanie Puls

"Got anything to eat?" by Stephanie Puls

The fox squirrel's beautiful tail provides a useful counterweight for acrobatic leaps from branch to branch.

Secret Agent Squirrel! by Jim Heemstra

Grinnell College isn't the only campus in Iowa where squirrels seem to have the upper hand. On the website Campus Squirrel Listings, Joseph Bauer reports: "The University of Iowa was the first state-supported institution of higher education to admit squirrels on an equal basis with humans. They now constitute about 8 percent of the student body ... Here in Iowa City we know that the squirrels here have a the highest graduation rate in the Big Ten and finish consistently higher in most of the squirrel polls." by Jim Heemstra

"Grinnell squirrels stick religiously to the 100-mile diet." by Jim Heemstra

"Looking good!" by Jim Heemstra

Ins & Outs, a Grinnell admission publication, once reported that Grinnell College was home to 476,704,685,230 squirrels. Several readers responded, concerned that the campus was some 20 feet deep in squirrels. by Jim Heemstra
 

"I'm ready for my close-up!" by Jim Heemstra

This article appeared as a web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Winter 2008.

The road to El Silencio is bumpy and covered with gray rocks. It is lined by dense rows of African palm sparsely interspersed with the teal and pink homes of plantation workers. Young men on tractors bob up and down towing behind them beds filled with palm fruit. After an hour on the rocks through the palm tunnel, you cross a river and the landscape opens up like a scene from Jurassic Park. (Coincidentally, as we jounced in, John Williams' score played on the radio.) A vulture scavenged over the stumpy open field to the right, and to the left small forest-green humps of mountains shaped the horizon. There was the land of El Silencio.

Over spring break, as part of a seminar called Sustainable Development in Costa Rica, we (10 students and Associate Professor of Anthropology Monty Roper) traveled to El Silencio--a small rural cooperative-based town that opens its homes and workplaces to tourists looking to experience Tico culture--to research the costs and benefits of development on the community.

While the cooperative, which effectively governs the town, relies heavily on African palm for income, it has created a diverse set of projects both to earn colones and draw tourists. Contrasting the surrounding palm monoculture, these projects include a cattle ranch, an organic garden, and an animal rescue center that houses spider monkeys and red macaws, among other species. Ideally, tourists come to be "volun-tourists" and work on one of the projects while living with families in town.

Tourists have become an everyday occurrence in El Silencio. Not only do four or five minibuses of rafters come through and get snacks at theAlbergue, but also people like us stay in town for weeks at a time, becoming fleeting parts of the community. They play volleyball with community members, go for dips in the river, and eat and watch TV with hosts.

Tourism has caused some tension in the community. According to community members we interviewed, some associates of the co-op are more agriculturalists and think they would be better off if they scrapped tourism--and the wealthy gringos who impact youth behavior--and focused more on palm. Others hold that tourism is one of the best projects for the co-op and that they should spend more to improve the rescue center, hotel, and other tourist draws.

As development in the region continues, the bumpy road from Quepos will be paved to accommodate the heavy trucks of a large cement producer--a condition to attaining rights over sand from the rivers. The paved road will mean more traffic through El Silencio, and more tourists--whether this is for better or for worse is the crux of the co-op's tension.

After two weeks of research, our class returned to Grinnell to contemplate what we saw and heard, and to assess El Silencio as if we were "development experts." We created a development diagnostic of the community, identifying current strengths and weaknesses related to various aspects of the community, and also developed recommendations for the town based on our research and broader development theory.

In completing these assignments, the tensions I observed between different development approaches remained pressing yet somewhat hard to grasp. While the objective goals of development--long-term increases in health, wealth, and education--will drive the process, the intangibles will determine its success.

Originally published as an online web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Summer 2008