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Lunch Colloquium Harvey Klehr
January 6, 2020
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Harvey Klehr
January 6, 2020
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This issue of our newsletter is sent to members and friends of the Emory University Emeritus College (EUEC). I hope the newsletter will help keep you informed about our activities and help you feel connected with our members throughout the U.S. On the left are links to our website and links to contact either me or the EUEC office.
With best wishes,
Gray
Gray F. Crouse Director, EUEC
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 Message from the Director
What a great ending for our activities for this calendar year! A Holiday Party uniquely ours and a Lunch Colloquium on a topic both fascinating and unknown to most of us presented by one of Emory's many talented and world-famous faculty.
Not only did our Holiday Party feature a medieval play presented by three of our members, but the play was introduced and put into appropriate context by another of our members, all done in memory and honor of John Bugge. Thanks to Marianne Skeen, you can read about the party below, and thanks to Don O'Shea you can see the recording of the play and its introduction on our videos page under "Afternoon Programs." Thanks to Dianne Becht, the room was nicely decorated and there were refreshments to enjoy, as well as holiday singing thanks to Don Saliers and his amazing accompaniment.
Thanks to the astute article below by Vernon Robins, you can read about the Lunch Colloquium by Ruby Lal on Empress Nur Jahan. As is true of most of our Lunch Colloquiums, there was a lively Q & A session following Ruby's talk. Participating in these sessions, one truly recognizes one great strength of EUEC; where else could one find such a variety of knowledge and background contributing to a discussion? Having such distinguished speakers is both a tribute to our Mind Matters Committee, chaired by Gretchen Schulz, and to the University that has amazing faculty who are willing to come and speak with us.
There is much more in this newsletter. We are delighted to announce our next Sheth Distinguished Lecturer, Rosemary Magee, who truly needs no introduction to our members. There is a great listing of faculty activities--thanks to those who let me know about these. Please send more! It is always good to be able to welcome new members, truly the lifeblood of EUEC. It is correspondingly sad to say goodbye to others, but I do want to honor their contributions. We note Rick Ward's death below, one of our founding members who contributed greatly to Emory's growth in Psychiatry.
I am very grateful to Gretchen Schulz, Ann Hartle, and Marge Crouse for help with editing and proofing.
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Holiday Party: Tuesday, December 3
Our Holiday Party included a presentation of the York Tile-Thatcher's Play, "The Birth of Christ" featuring Clark Lemons, Brenda Bynum, and Don Saliers (above).
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Lunch Colloquium--Tuesday, December 10
Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan
Ruby Lal, Professor of South Asian Studies, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies
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Save the Date! Wednesday, April 1, Sheth Distinguished Lecture
We are delighted to announce that Rosemary M. Magee, Director Emerita of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, has agreed to be our Sheth Distinguished Lecturer for next year. The general theme of these lectures is "Creativity in Later Life" and there is no one in the University more attuned to creativity than Rosemary. One prime example is the Rosemary Magee Creativity Conversations series that highlights the importance of creativity and imagination in every discipline and pursuit. During these conversations, thinkers, creators, and innovators in their field offer a peek into their creative thoughts and processes. This series is made possible by an endowment in honor of Rosemary Magee, former Vice President and Secretary of Emory University and champion of the arts on campus and beyond. The Sheth Lecture, made possible by a generous donation from Dr. Jagdish and Mrs. Madhu Sheth, will be in Governors Hall of the Miller-Ward Alumni House at 11:30 a.m. on April 1.
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New Members
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Faculty Activities
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We note the death of member Rick Ward.
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Walking the Campus with Dianne
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Holiday Party--Tuesday, December 3
The Emeritus College holiday party was held on Tuesday afternoon, December 3, in our usual meeting space at the Luce Center, though we arrived to find that our hard-working and multi-talented administrative assistant (and hostess with the mostest), Dianne Becht, had transformed it into a decidedly holiday venue and provided a variety of holiday treats and beverages (including bubbly beverages) to be enjoyed as we took our seats to watch two medieval mini plays such as John Bugge taught often in the course of his career.
 Liza Davis's wonderful introduction gave us the context for this presentation. From the mid-14th century through the mid-16th century in pre-Protestant times in England, play cycles of such mini plays based on the Bible were presented once a year, drawing people from the surrounding area to the cathedral towns. While these plays were spiritual in nature, the church per se did not play a role in producing them. Rather local lay people wrote and enacted homespun versions of the biblical stories for both literate and illiterate peers. In York an entire cycle of 48 short plays was performed on Corpus Christi Day, in late spring when days were long. York's residents would begin gathering in the streets at dawn to view the plays in the various staging areas where they'd be performed, beginning with the creation story and going right through to the Last Judgment before sunset. Various craft guilds worked for months to present the plays they'd been assigned, dramatizing stories that generally were relevant to the function of the guild. For example, the shipwrights would present the Noah's ark play, and the goldsmiths would portray the three Magi play. The guilds each constructed their own elaborate pageant wagons, which served as stage and scenery. Costumes were medieval rather than clothing that might have been worn in biblical settings. Various means of attracting attention included musical accompaniment, oaths and obscenities, and descriptions of bodily functions. Comic moments were mixed right in with serious and reverential ones. And poor acting could result in levying of a fine! These productions brought to life the biblical stories for the entire community in a festive atmosphere.
 After Liza's establishment of context, we were treated to adaptations of sections from two plays, one depicting The Annunciation and Conception, and one depicting The Birth of Christ. In keeping with the tenor of the medieval productions, some comedic elements were added to this serious stuff by our exceptionally talented colleagues from the Emeritus College. Brenda Bynum, looking and sounding like a very medieval version of the Virgin Mary, was quite astounded when Don Saliers, as the Angel Gabriel, gave her the news of her pregnancy. A set of white Christmas lights strung about her person flashed on as she received this news.
 Clark Lemons, who had served as the authoritative Voice of God from offstage at the beginning of the pageant, now joined Mary on stage as Joseph. He was rather surprised by their "enlightenment," too. After their journey to the village of Bethlehem, Mary gave a dramatic enactment of labor pains, began breathing rhythmically as one is taught today in childbirth classes, and gave birth.
As baby Jesus appeared miraculously in Mary's (Brenda's) arms, her Christmas lights went dark and those peeking out of the baby's swaddling clothes lit up. Angel Gabriel provided heavenly medieval music in celebration of the occasion. (Who knew the tambourine could be so heavenly?)
The assembled EUEC guests were both amused by the productions of these two mini plays and happy to learn something of the history of the cycles of such plays in old England. The presentation was dedicated to the memory and spirit of John Bugge, who first had the idea of doing it.
After a break to allow people to get more treats and beverages, Don Saliers accompanied the group as we sang some holiday songs. His flourishes on the keyboard helped liven up the singing by the attendees--from carols like "Silent Night" right through pop standards like "Frosty the Snowman" to our grand finale version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." A good time was had by all.
--Marianne Skeen
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Lunch Colloquium--Tuesday, December 10
Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan
Ruby Lal, Professor of South Asian Studies, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies
On Tuesday, December 10, 2019, the packed room of people at the Luce Center experienced ninety magical minutes with Dr. Ruby Lal, Professor of South Asian History, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory University. The magic occurred as two stories of remarkable women intertwined before our eyes and ears. The one story was fully prominent; the other story hovered over the entire event, subtly energizing and filling our minds, hearts, and spirits. The prominent story was about the first and only empress in India, named Nur Jahan (Light of the World) by her husband, who killed a tiger with a single shot from a musket while sitting on the howdah of a royal elephant. The tiger had been killing both people and animals, but only kings (namely persons of royalty) could legitimately exercise their rule over both humans and nature by killing a tiger in 17th century India. Her shooting of the tiger was only one of the remarkable feats of imperial power and status she enacted after her marriage to Emperor Jahangir in 1611. Later the story would emerge that Nur Jahan (1577-1645) had in her earlier years adroitly killed four tigers with six skillful shots from a musket. The subtle story was about our presenter, a brilliantly talented woman who was born, raised, and educated through her Master's degree in India, and who then attained her DPhil in Modern History at Oxford University, England. As Dr. Lal told her journey of writing three books about amazing women in India, with special inspiration from her Hindu mother, support from her Muslim father, and a combination of support and resistance from professors during her graduate education, the second underlying story gradually appeared. Dr. Lal has overcome formidable hurdles to bring the biographical story of Empress Nur Jahan fully to life in a context where the empress's story has been removed from children's textbooks in India, and where resistance to the remarkable story of the first and only Empress in India has been substantial in our Western academic world. As we left the luncheon, then, we had not simply heard the story of amazing Empress Nur Jahan. Rather, we had been invited into an important aspect of our world today. On the one hand, a singularly important story has been erased from textbooks of children in India by an aggressive regime intent on creating an authoritative national story of people who have created a strong, flourishing nation of Hindu people. On the other hand, a full account of the first and only empress in the history of India is being brought to light by a woman scholar whose Hindu mother told her a childhood story about an amazing Muslim (Mughal) princess who became Empress Nur Jahan in India four hundred years ago. As we learned the complexities of bringing to light an important story that many would prefer to be erased from history, our hearts and minds were energized to tell stories in our own midst who many might wish to expunge from knowledge and memory. --Vernon K. Robbins Click here to return to top |
New Members
New members are the lifeblood of any organization. Please make a special effort to welcome them to EUEC!
Members in Transition
Henry A. Liberman, MD, Professor of Medicine
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Faculty Activities
Brenda Bynum
Senior Lecturer Emerita, Department of Theater Studies
On November 14, Brenda received this Award from the Georgia Center for the Book for a decade of promoting the life and literary legacy of Lillian Smith throughout the south.
Harvey Klehr
Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus of Politics and History
Harvey's article, "On The Trail of a Soviet Spy at Los Alamos" was published in Studies in Intelligence, the CIA's journal, in September. It has been selected as one of the four outstanding articles of the year. It formed the basis for a front-page New York Times article, "4th Spy Unearthed in US Atomic Bomb Project," by William Broad, on Sunday, November 24th. The entire article can be read by clicking here.
Donna Brogan
Professor Emerita of Biostatistics
Last month Donna Brogan taught two continuing education courses in biostatistics at CDC University (CDCU), located at Corporate Square.
"SUDAAN 1: Complex Survey Data Analysis" on Nov 7-8.
"SUDAAN 2: Health Indicators Time Trends" on Nov 20-21.
Ronald Schuchard
Goodrich C. White Professor of English Emeritus
Accolades continue to accumulate for Ron's work:
13th Modern Language Association Prize for a Scholarly Edition:
Ronald Schuchard, emeritus, Emory University; Iman Javadi, Cambridge, United Kingdom; and Jayme Stayer, Loyola University Chicago, for Tradition and Orthodoxy, 1934-1939, volume 5 of The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2017)
Ronald Schuchard, emeritus, Emory University, and David E. Chinitz, Loyola University Chicago, for The War Years, 1940-1946, volume 6 of The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2017)
James W. Flannery
Winship Professor Emeritus of the Arts and Humanities and Director of the W.B. Yeats Foundation
This will mark the ninth year in a row that GPB will feature the Southern Celtic Christmas Concert as one of their Holiday offerings. The broadcast time is 7:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and the program will be carried throughout the state.
The SCCC will also continue to be broadcast nationally on PBS, where it has reached virtually every major market in the country. By clicking here, you can read an article on Seamus Heaney's appearance in the SCCC in which he discusses the impact of Celtic spirituality on his work and, in particular, his marvelous poem, "St. Kevin and The Blackbird," which Flannery has the honor of reciting in the program.
Besides the talents of three Grammy Award-winners and some of the top Celtic and Southern traditional performers, the SCCC also features a number of faculty members and students from Emory's programs in music, dance and theater studies. The Schwartz Center has never looked more beautiful, thanks to the design by Theater Emory artist in residence, Sarah Ward. As President Sterk has said, it is "an accomplishment in which the whole university can be proud."
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In Memoriam
Richard S. Ward, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry
Richard Storer Ward, 99, of Atlanta, Georgia, passed away of natural causes at Emory University Hospital on Sunday, December 1, 2019. Rick was born in Beirut, Lebanon on October 9, 1920. His parents had met as missionaries. His father was a pediatric surgeon and dean of the medical school at the American University in Beirut. A college classmate of Rick's father, who headed Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, made a promise to educate his sons while the family was out of the country. When the time came, Rick moved to Massachusetts, attended and graduated from Deerfield Academy and then Amherst College in 1942. Rick then attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and entered into pediatrics. He interned at Babies Hospital, and then for 3 months at the Bradley Home in Riverside, RI, one of the first child psychiatric hospitals in the country. Rick finished his pediatric training in 1948 as chief resident at Bellevue Hospital. Rick then returned to Columbia University to train as a child psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and then teaching psychoanalyst. After his training was complete, he joined the faculty at Columbia. In 1960, Dr. Bernard Holland, Chairman of Psychiatry at the medical school at Emory University in Atlanta, asked Rick to join the faculty to help expand the department. Rick accepted the position and the day after they were married, Rick and his wife, Adele, moved to Atlanta. For the first 10 years, Rick continued as a faculty member at Columbia, flying up to New York City each week while he taught medical school students at Emory and helped lay the foundation for what is now the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute. Rick, considered the "Father of Child Psychiatry at Emory," retired from the university in 1986 and then from private practice when he turned 97 in 2017. A memorial service is scheduled for 11:00 AM at Floral Hills Funeral Home, 3150 Lawrenceville Highway, Tucker, GA 30084, on Saturday, January 11, 2020. Memorial donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders, www.doctorswithoutborders.org, 40 Rector St., 16th Floor, New York, NY, 10006. His complete obituary may be read by clicking here. Rick Ward was one of the "Circle of 100" Founding Members of the Emeritus College. |
Walking the Campus with Dianne
The quaint little building seen on our last walk can be found at the official entrance of campus on North Decatur Road at the roundabout. As you enter the brick paved driveway, you will find the small structure on your left with an attendant usually at the ready during regular business hours. I'm not sure if the building has an official name, but I call it the little welcome building, and personally think it's one of the cutest structures on campus.
Here we are at the end of another year! I won't be walking again until 2020 but wanted to leave you with something special...a few extra photos of the wonderful Emeritus Holiday Celebration. Enjoy, have a wonderful holiday, and a very Happy New Year!
A bow to the performance and to 2019!
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Emory University Emeritus College The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206 Atlanta, GA 30329 |
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