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Upcoming Events
Lunch Colloquium
Justin A. Joyce
MONDAY, June 24, 2019
WEBCAST ONLY
Justin A. Joyce
MONDAY, June 24, 2019
Lunch Colloquium
Pablo Palomino
TUESDAY, July 9, 2019
WEBCAST ONLY
Pablo Palomino
TUESDAY, July 9, 2019
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Contact Other Members
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find out about a travel destination or find other EUEC members who would like to travel with you, send an email to:
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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
Those of you who have been attending our Lunch Colloquiums know we have had a terrific set of speakers this year. Bradd Shore's talk on Romeo and Juliet was certainly one of those, and thanks to Liza Davis you can read about his presentation below. In addition, we have recorded many of the Lunch Colloquiums and you can easily watch those that have been recorded by clicking here. Thanks to Don O'Shea's help, the more recent recordings are much better. The videos of the Lunch Colloquiums by Marilynne McKay and Bradd Shore are already on our website and 57 people have viewed Marilynne's talk and 26 have viewed Bradd's.
Note that it is also possible to watch our Lunch Colloquiums live from any place in the world. We are now using a program called "Zoom" for our webcasts, and this program seems easier to use and more reliable than Adobe Connect, which we used previously. To watch the webcast, just register for the Webcast on the link provided in this newsletter or with the reminder email that will be sent in a few days and you will receive detailed instructions on how to join the webcast using Zoom. You can also ask questions using Zoom, and during the Q&A part of the Lunch Colloquium I will try to make sure your question is answered. I have found that even a smartphone works well with Zoom! Occasionally there will not be a webcast, usually because of technical problems on our end.
Our next Lunch Colloquium, examining TV and movie westerns and their relationship to our laws about gun violence, might seem at first to be either esoteric or inconsequential, but as I have thought more about this topic, I realize it is all too relevant to problems we face today. I grew up in the heyday of westerns, and there were lots of guns and shootouts and lots of cowboys and Indians (never, I might add, were there any Native Americans!). What effect did constant exposure to those stereotypes have? Why is there so much more gun violence in the U.S. than in comparable highly-developed countries? Why are the possession and use of guns so important to many people in this country? I am certainly looking forward to our next Lunch Colloquium.
Who are our colleagues? Before retirement, we might answer "the faculty in my department" or "the faculty in my program" or "the faculty who work in my location"; in some cases, the boundaries might reach to the school or college level, but rarely beyond. We are usually so busy that we have little opportunity to get to know faculty much beyond those parameters. What about in retirement? One of the goals of the Emeritus College is that the number of one's colleagues should expand and not contract. For members who move out of the Atlanta area, those new colleagues will be "virtual" colleagues; for those who remain in the Atlanta area, there are opportunities to get to know faculty from all parts of the University face to face. I offer newly-retired members the option of introducing themselves to both actual and virtual colleagues by writing a paragraph or two for this newsletter about their career at Emory (always a difficult task for those who have been at Emory for decades!). I always enjoy reading those statements, and I thank Mike McConnell for his introduction in this newsletter. I also encourage all of you--whether new of long-time members--to let us know about your faculty activities--it is fascinating to read about the many ways you use your knowledge and experience in retirement.
I am very grateful to Gretchen Schulz and Marge Crouse for help with editing and proofing.
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Lunch Colloquium--Monday, June 24
Gunslinging Justice: The American Culture of Gun Violence in Westerns and the Law
The Luce Center Room 130 11:30-1:00
Justin A. Joyce, Research Associate to Provost McBride and Managing Editor of James Baldwin Review
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Lunch Colloquium--Tuesday, June 11
And the Flesh Was Made Word:
Romeo and Juliet
in the Kingdom of Cratylus
Bradd Shore, Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology
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New Members
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We note the death of members Grover Dill and Robert Chen
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Walking the Campus with Dianne
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Lunch Colloquium--Monday, June 24
Gunslinging Justice: The American Culture of Gun Violence in Westerns and the Law Justin A. Joyce, Research Associate to Provost McBride and Managing Editor of James Baldwin Review
In a new book that shares its title with today's presentation, Justin Joyce explores the cultural history of the interplay between the Western genre and American gun rights and legal paradigms. Commonly read as an indictment of the American legal system, the Western genre often imagines the procedural focus of American law as an obstacle to justice. On its face, the genre embraces justice by gun violence rather than by trial. However, Justin argues that this opposition is progressively undone by the genre's formulaic shootouts, which carry much of the spirit--if not the letter--of American legal regimes around gun violence. He will focus his presentation on the classic 1962 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance to demonstrate that rather than being "anti-law," the Western genre has long imagined and inspired new justifications for gun violence that American law seems ever-eager to adopt.
About Justin Joyce
Justin received BA and MA degrees in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a PhD in English from the same university in 2010 (where he was a NCAA Academic All-American as a member of the men's gymnastics team). He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the graduate school at Northwestern University from 2010-2017 and a founding editor and managing editor of the James Baldwin Review from 2014 to the present. Since 2017 he has been a research associate to Provost McBride at Emory. His teaching and research interests are in American and African American literature, Hollywood cinema, American jurisprudence, American Studies, and intersectional theories of race, sexuality, class, and gender.
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Lunch Colloquium--Tuesday, June 11
And the Flesh Was Made Word: Romeo and Juliet in the Kingdom of Cratylus Bradd Shore, Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology
At the EUEC's June 11 Lunch Colloquium, Emory anthropology professor and author Dr. Bradd Shore combined his interest in symbolic and linguistic anthropology with his "first academic love," Shakespeare, in a reading of Romeo and Juliet. Noting that the play begins with "hot words" and ends with "cold silence," he systematically explored the complex polyphonic language in the play. He launched his discussion by noting the "confusion of discourse" in the "low play" of words and signs in the play's first scene, followed by Shakespeare's parody of euphuistic writing and speaking, with its "stylized and overwrought" use of language. In both cases, the "troublesome relationship between rhetoric and truth" emerges as a central theme. This theme, in turn, led Dr. Shore to the Socratic dialogue in Plato's Catylus. Socrates, Hermogenes, and Catylus debate the "naturalist position" that natural analogues inform an individual's, object's, or concept's name, and the opposing theory, that names are simply arbitrary. Even Socrates, who initially champions the naturalist position, ultimately acknowledges that however natural and mimetic words may be with first use, they "are shaped over time by the contingencies of human history."
In Dr. Shore's estimation, language, then, is "an unsteady guide to truth" in Romeo and Juliet, which uses a broad array of rhetorical devices and sounds "to question the value of rhetoric," a potential "source of self-deception." The sonnets that open Acts I and II speak to Shakespeare's broader rhetorical intent; in homage to Petrarch, they "sanitize" (or "sonnetize") the portrayal of the unwilling or inaccessible object of a courtly lover's affection. Romeo immerses himself in the role of the Petrarchan lover; he retreats from society into the artificial world of rhetorical forms, where Juliet has become "a text surrogate for a lover."
In Dr. Shore's analysis, Juliet, too, falls prey to a questionable idealism, which is reflected in her assessment of Romeo's name; taking the "naturalist position" she implies that it is purely arbitrary, for "That which we call a rose/ By any other word would smell as sweet." In reality, his being a Montague, while she is a Capulet, creates almost insurmountable difficulties for their relationship. Examining the social history of the word "rose," Dr. Shore highlighted its layered meanings as he questioned Juliet's interpretation. Analyzing additional scenes from the play, he also discussed the "dense web of associations" created by the play of sounds. For instance, the homonyms "aye," "eye," and "I" in Act I's exchange among Juliet, her Nurse, and Lady Capulet are "charged with nondiscursive meaning." The Elizabethan audience would have recognized this aspect of Shakespeare's genius as perhaps a modern audience would not, interpreting nonverbal as well as verbal signifiers in the act of "reading the world." Unfortunately, communication through language can also lead to misreading, misdirection, and tragedy. "By the play's end," Dr. Shore concluded, "we realize that no one has mastered the art of correctly reading the world." The play ends in silence, the Montagues' and Capulets' reconciliation marked by a mute statue of Romeo and Juliet.
The colloquium, however, ended not in silence, but with a hearty round of applause for a rich and provocative analysis of the play and excellent presentation. Many of us left inspired to revisit Romeo and Juliet.
--Liza Davis
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New Members
New members are the lifeblood of any organization. Please make a special effort to welcome them to EUEC!
Michael E. McConnell, MD, Associate Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Medicine
I am a retiring pediatric cardiologist and have worked at Emory since 2000. I have practiced pediatric cardiology for 32 years, and have a sub-sub specialty in adults with congenital heart disease. When I arrived at Emory, there was not a program for people over the age of 21 who were born with congenital heart disease This meant that many of these patients, who had serious life-long problems, did not have a group of doctors who understood their initial problems and their potential complications. I was fortunate enough to meet a wonderful colleague and fantastic physician, Dr. Wendy Book, and also to have the support of my pediatric cardiology chief, Dr. Robert Campbell, and with the support of the medical school and hospital, we were able to build one of the largest Adult Congenital Heart Disease centers in the United States. The program currently trains pediatric cardiology fellows, adult cardiology fellows, and adult congenital fellows, and sees patients from all over the USA and overseas.
I have been the course director for many programs dealing with congenital heart disease and enjoyed teaching greatly. My wife is a retired physician, and we look forward to interactions with Emeritus faculty in the future. Our hobbies include reading, golf, travel, wine, and cooking. We are also fortunate to have 3 grandchildren living in Atlanta, so it is quite likely we will stay here for many years to come!
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In Memoriam
Robert Long-Wen Chen, Professor Emeritus of Physics
Dr. Robert L.W. Chen of Atlanta, Georgia passed away on Friday, March 24, 2019. He was born in Shanghai, China in 1925 to Yu Gwang Chen and Ming Bau, the oldest of five siblings. Dr. Chen's father was Nanjing University's president. He grew up next door to Pearl Buck, during a tumultuous time in China--during the second Sino-Japan War and World War II--and moved with his family during the Japanese occupation of China. He attended Nanjing University and obtained his bachelor's degree in Physics and Philosophy. As a young man he served as a translator for the United States Army in China during World War II. In 1949, Dr. Chen moved to the Philippines when the Communist Party overtook the Nationalist Party government formerly led by Chiang Kai-Shek.
In 1953, Dr. Chen came to America to pursue his PhD in Physics at Syracuse University. Syracuse was specifically chosen so he would have the chance to study under Albert Einstein's research assistant, Peter Bergmann, who is known for his work with Einstein on unified field theory encompassing all physical interactions. Dr. Chen's specialty was in plasma physics and quantum mechanics.
From 1963 to 1964, Dr. Chen was a physicist for NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New York City. Moving to Atlanta in 1964, he joined Emory University's Physics Department faculty where he happily stayed for 41 years. He earned the Sigma Xi award for Most Distinguished Research in 1967. Even after his official retirement, Dr. Chen continued to inhabit an office at Emory, believing that intellectual stimulation was key to his longevity and mental sharpness.
Grover Cleveland Dill, Jr., Executive Vice President Emeritus, Health Affairs
Grover Cleveland Dill, Jr.,96, passed away Tuesday, May 28, 2019, at Ft. Gaines Nursing Home in Ft. Gaines, GA. His cremains will be interred at a later date in the Highland Cemetery in Norton, VA. Mr. Dill was born on November 13, 1922, in Norton, VA to the late Grover Cleveland Dill, Sr. and Etta Creech Dill. He was a Dentist with his BS and DDS degrees and a Professor of Dentistry at Emory University. He was a retired Navy Lieutenant in Dental Corp. He is survived by a nephew, Dwight Browning Billings of Lexington, Kentucky.
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Walking the Campus with Dianne
Did you enjoy our evening stroll in the last newsletter? If you haven't figured it out, we stopped in the covered patio area at Cannon Chapel to sit under the lights. During the day, the patio is really not much to look at, but at night....the illuminated ceiling is quite nice and creates a relaxing spot.
More information on Cannon Chapel:
Cannon Chapel is named for William R. Cannon, who was dean of Candler School of Theology and later a bishop of the United Methodist Church, and it was designed by internationally acclaimed architect Paul Rudolph, son of one of Candler School of Theology's first graduates.
Ground was broken for the chapel on August 30, 1979, by President Jimmy Carter. The building was consecrated on September 30, 1981. The building houses the office of the Dean of the Chapel, Candler School of Theology's Office of Worship, a large chapel, meeting space, and academic classrooms. Weekly services including Catholic Mass and University Worship take place in this building.
The weather has been nice for the past few days, so let's stay outside, breathe some fresh air, and look at a building on campus from an angle that most people may not notice or even pay attention to.
Where will you find this on the Emory campus?
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Emory University Emeritus College The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206 Atlanta, GA 30329 |
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