Shel Silverstein

When you think of Shel Silverstein, you generally reminisce about old favorites like A Light in the Attic or The Giving Tree. However, after doing some very minor research for a group presentation, I discovered that Shel Silverstein more or less secreted art from his pores. He not only wrote children's lit, but also wrote plays, and rubbed elbows with people like David Mamet. In addition to that he composed music. One of his most famous is "A Boy Named Sue," which was performed by Johnny Cash - It won a Grammy. Perhaps the funniest thing About Shel is that he wrote for Playboy. He even lived in the mansion. No wonder he always looks happy in the pictures on his books. You'd think that most parents would faint at the idea of a Playboy author reading their kid a bedtime story...especially one who refered to himslef as "Uncle Shelby."

Sterling A. Brown

Last week I skipped a class that I figured would be of little benefit to my overall academic experience, and for the most part I was correct. However my absence caused me to miss the memo that our 3rd exam, scheduled to happen at our next meeting, was moved back one class period. In place of studying for the exam we were assigned material from Sterling A. Brown. Even though college can be difficult at times, it is usually pretty easy to fake it when you're not prepared, so when I heard that my test was rescheduled, it was like winning the power ball. But as I sat in my desk, smug and feeling content with my procrastination and the favorable odds of luck, I perused the supplemental material and noticed the name John Edgar Tidwell. It was the name of the scholar who had written the background piece on Sterling A. Brown. It was also the name of my professor. Oops. Not a good day to be unprepared.

Props to Machiavelli

Last Friday my Western Civilization class discussed Machiavelli's The Prince. The overall reaction was surprising. Without a doubt Machiavelli gets a bad rap, often being labeled as a tyrant or a man of pure evil. However, Machiavelli's advice centers around what is necessary, and that includes being generous as well as being ruthless. To him, neither characteristic is good or bad in and of itself, and shouldn't be implemented to an excess for practical reasons. The focus on the practical and not the ideal paved the way for the philosophy of Realpolitik, which highlights a "The end justifies the means" mentality.

What I thought was interesting about some of my classmates' responses was the fact that many of them felt that Machiavelli's ideas were refreshing compared to the impractical ideas of Jesus, Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, the Qur'an, Seneca, etc. Many students praised the "realness" of the work and liked the fact that Machiavelli didn't shy away from the harsh facts of life. All of this I can at least sympathize with, but their perspective seemed to clash with one of the most popular pastimes of college students in general - criticizing our own government. I asked the question: "How is it that we can applaud Machiavelli's tactics for gaining and holding power, and then turn around and criticize our political leaders -be they Democrat, Republican, Green, or Whatever- when they appeal to the necessity of actions that we as a majority deem wrong, immoral, or tyrannical?" (A hot topic right now would be the use of torture... and the dance that politicians do when asked to define torture) I don't usually take pride in creating awkward atmospheres in university classrooms, but it grew so uncomfortably quite in that room that I must. People looked at each other in silence, curious to see who would be bold enough to offer their opinion. It was all much more dramatic that it should have been, but finally, a few students put their two cents in and my question was completely avoided.