The Tables Have Turned: English Professors Present Readings to Students

Each letter grade and comment on a student's paper is received with the assumption that the professor behind that red pen is a great writer. Every year the English department faculty has a chance to prove that assumption by reading a piece or two of their own work at the English Faculty Reading. On Wednesday students crowded into the Olmsted room to listen, judge, and enjoy the presentations that their own professors put together. The professors found themselves in a familiar position—at the head of the room—though not to teach but to share.

The first to share after a welcome by Gail Griffin was Andy Mozina with "My Non-Sexual Affair." He read not with energy and vigor but with discomfort and awkwardness as if telling a boyhood friend about a wrong he had just committed—unsure if he should be excited or guilty. His witty humor cause the crowd to burst into laughter while other readers chose a more somber tone.

Gail Griffin revisited the horror that was the murder-suicide of Maggie Wardle and Neenef Odah ten years ago on campus. Her personal account of the story, well known to most Kalamazoo College students, was moving, leaving the audience silent in respect both for Maggie and Dr. Griffin.

Another moving performance was that of Marin Heinritz as she told the story of her mother with the love and understanding that only a daughter could. Dr. Heinritz seemed to be on the verge of tears by the end of her reading, making her segment all the more captivating and powerful.

On the opposite end of the scale was Babli Sinha's piece on the "New Woman" of India. Reading like a research paper, the performance was arid and left many listeners uninterested. Although well researched and well informed, Dr. Sinha's informative lecture was pitted against the lively storytelling of many of the other readers and left as an outcast that night.

Di Seuss shared her piece titled "It wasn't a dream, I knew William Burroughs" a provocative poem about her encounter with the Naked Lunch author. She read, "He would have peed on my poetry but loved my porn." Outlandish and unapologetic, her piece received a variety of claps and whoops from the audience.

Both Beth Marzoni and Amy Rodgers shared pieces about academic exploration, appropriate for an audience of college students. Dr. Marzoni recreated the thoughts and feelings she experienced while visiting Rothko's Room in London, a room filled with the art of Mark Rothko. Dr. Rodgers told her secret of the times she snuck away from her studying to do a little detective work in the library on the son of Robert Frost, Carol. Her excitement of the subject alone kept the story alive and interesting, whether or not anyone in the audience had heard of Carol Frost.

The night ended with a reading by Bruce Mills about his son's autism. This touching tale told of the misunderstandings and confusion so common between parent and child. Dr. Mills gave the audience a different perspective on a lifestyle concerning a condition that is becoming more and more common in today's world.

The night was over. All of the professors had proved their writing skills great, and along the way honored the audience by sharing themselves and providing a few life lessons.


Audience: The Index