Magazine - summer 03 - St. John's College

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10 {Johnnies Abroad} ADVENTURES ABROAD “My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language, wherein I had a great facility by the strength of my memory.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. Johnnies are the kind of travelers who approach a new culture like an unfamiliar text, ready to have their prejudices challenged and their horizons broadened. In these short essays, alumni who have spent an extended time in other countries write about the discoveries, disappointments, surprises, and delights found in the manners and dispositions of different cultures. Several went abroad to teach English: Mike Crawford in Colombia, Paul Obrecht in the Czech Republic, and Meredith Smith in Spain. Ryan Rylee spent a year in China and India during a break from the college to pursue his interest in the East. John Hartnett traveled to India and Lauren Sherman to Africa, both on volunteer medical missions. Recent dispatches or distant reminiscences, these aren’t typical travelogues. A Woman Who Danced with Fans by Ryan Rylee (A04) Beijing is hidden under a cloud, but it’s not the mystical kind. The cloud comes partly from the taxis and buses, of which there are more every year. As more Chinese get rich while auto import tariffs come down, those taxis are joined by private cars. One still sees, in outlying Beijing, modified tractors, smoking and jittering along the road. And it becomes less and less rare to see a coal-laden cart being pushed alongside a Mercedes Benz. The cloud over the city also comes partly from the coalburning stoves some people still use for warmth and cooking, and a little from the industrial plants. A lot of sand blows in from north of the city, where for hundreds of miles farmers are causing desertification with unsustainable grazing and farming practices, cultivating every inch of remaining land around the city. It has gotten so bad that some of them are now being paid by the state not to work. The cloud over the city is, more than anything else, the dust raised by development at what is certainly one of the largest construction sites in the world. Stand at the window of a Beijing skyscraper and try to make out the number of construction cranes across the city. Nimble giants stand stock straight in flocks that stretch out much farther than the eye can see, vanish into the smog, and seem beyond counting. The city—and a lot of the country—are trying, fast as they can, to be as modern and Western and capitalist and techno- { The College • St. John’s College • Fall 2004 }
“The city—and a lot of the country—are trying, fast as they can, to be as modern and Western and capitalist and technological as possible.” Ryan Rylee, A04 Modern life is crowding out the traditional in China, with Starbucks, McDonalds, and other American franchises moving in. { The College • St. John’s College • Fall 2004 }
Page 1 and 2: College The F a l l 2 0 0 4 St. Joh
Page 3 and 4: College The Fall 2004 Volume 30, Is
Page 5 and 6: {From the Bell Towers} 3 Gilliam Ha
Page 7 and 8: {From the Bell Towers} 5 Satisfied
Page 9 and 10: {Letters} 7 Free Thought and Reason
Page 11: {Eastern Classics} 9 and people int
Page 15 and 16: {Johnnies Abroad} 13 understood her
Page 17 and 18: {Johnnies Abroad} 15 “The guerill
Page 19 and 20: {Johnnies Abroad} 17 bellows invita
Page 21 and 22: {Culture and Context} 19 From the c
Page 23 and 24: {Culture and Context} 21 “The Naz
Page 25 and 26: {Commencement} 23 david trozzo but
Page 27 and 28: {Commencement} 25 david trozzo No c
Page 29 and 30: {Homecoming} 27 Opposite top: Futur
Page 31 and 32: {Bibliofile} 29 The Man in the Moon
Page 33 and 34: {Alumni Profile} 31 This painstakin
Page 35 and 36: {Alumni Notes} 33 practitioner, an
Page 37 and 38: {Alumni Notes} 35 more efficiency,
Page 39 and 40: {Alumni Notes} 37 2004 and will be
Page 41 and 42: {Alumni Notes} 39 After graduating
Page 43 and 44: {Obituaries} 41 tion of the heart.
Page 45 and 46: {Croquet} 43 Clockwise: Johnnies ad
Page 47 and 48: {Alumni Voices} 45 method less fuel
Page 49 and 50: {Alumni Association News} 47 Passio
Page 51 and 52: {Alumni Events Calendar} Clockwise

Magazine - summer 03 - St. John's College

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