ALUMNI
New York City Chapter
The New York City Chapter of the St. John's College Alumni Association facilitates social, educational and professional contact among alumni living in the New York metropolitan area.
Email Notice of Events...
Tuesday, February 7: American Humor: Parker, Twain and Thurber
Elihu Dietz (SF06) will lead a seminar on humorous short stories by Americans Dorothy Parker, Mark Twain and James Thurber. Click below for PDFs of the three chosen stories.
Tuesday, March 13: Sorrow-Acre
Seminar on Isak Dinesen’s “Sorrow-Acre,” 6:30 p.m. at John Hetland’s. The story can be found in her collection Winter’s Tales.
Tuesday, April 10: Family Happiness
Seminar on Tolstoy’s novella “Family Happiness” led by Annapolis tutor Marilyn Higuera, at Scandinavia House, sponsored by the St. John's Alumni Office.
Chapter News
This is Your Website
his website, dedicated to and maintained by St. John's alumni in the New York area, supplements the site. Here you may find more local color and it may possibly be more up to date. We are also looking for your news. What fun things are you enjoying about NYC? Do you have a blog or a website you wish to share with the rest of the community? Send us your snippets and we will post them! Do you want to write anything fun for the website? Send suggestions and content to .
Kevin Farrelly comments on the Persuasion seminar
[January 21, 2012] Our January 2012 seminar on Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, led by Melissa Sedlis, was combined with a potluck supper at Scandinavia House. Leah Casner took , and Kevin Farrelly had this to say about it:
I'm not sure I can well reproduce what Mrs. Sedlis said along with her question—she read a bit from an Agatha Christie (I think) story in which a parent’s preventing a marriage was viewed later as wise. She also quoted an essay by Eva Brann, “The Perfections of Jane Austen,” to the effect that a young woman is most alive in her early twenties—most has at that age the principle of motion within herself—and how the subsequent (and emphatically real) improvement and steadying that can happen in marriage or confirmed singleness is thus a diminution if not in life, then in liveliness. [I wonder if it would be too flippant to say that a woman well-married or rightly single has less the principle of motion and more the direction of behavior in herself?] She then asked, if I recollect it correctly, &lequo;What is persuasion?;rdquo; I think she also asked if it is a good thing as it comes to light in the novel.
The conversation was rather lively. While we were still more or less explicitly engaged with the opening question, someone contrasted persuasion with commandment on the one hand and with cajolery on the other. Along this line, someone ventured to suggest that Sir Walter Elliot, in sharp contrast to Anne, can't really be persuaded because he hasn’t enough mind to be made up. [That the man who convinces Sir Walter to let out Kellynch-hall in order to trim his debts is named Mr. Shepherd might seem to corroborate something like this as Ms. Austen’s intention.] On this view, even if Anne’s being persuaded not to marry Captain Wentworth may seem bad (though this was disputed), her openness to persuasion is certainly good.
A counter-view, deriving much of its force from the heartbreak that Anne’s refusal causes, held that Anne, at least at 19, was too much amenable to persuasion, that she wanted firmness or confidence in herself. Under this head participants examined (as I count) three causes, separately and jointly: tenderness of age, innocence of prior pain, and mores of time and place.
With these views out, and under their guidance, we lit into the story—discussing Anne’s choice and its ramifications in relation to the Crofts’ happy and precipitate marriage (which Anne’s might have been like), Mrs. Smith’s unhappy widowhood (which Anne’s also might have been like), the relation of love to class, class in it own right, the hazards of war and fortune, Lady Russell’s powers of judgment, whether Anne might really have married Mr. Elliot, whether Wentworth might really have married Louisa (or Henrietta) Musgrove, how each of the principal lovers was changed by time and rupture, the match between Charles and Mary Musgrove, Wentworth’s intellegence that Anne had refused Charles, and many other things I can’t remember.
I don’t know if it was because we were in a kind of party mood, or because any tolerably natural discussion of Jane Austen’s works must at least involve gossip, but we had a great propensity to talk ourselves into small groups. There were a few intervals of the seminar that I thought might have been improved by our speaking only four at a time. But in the other times, the grace and discernment of Jane Austen were audible blessings.
I had, in a way, the accidental distinction of ending the seminar. There was some talk of, and bewilderment with, the exacting and complex demands of civility on people in raptures of love in Austen’s work (some were saying that much of this is essentially English and therefore not wholly intelligible to us). I mentioned something to the effect that I think the frisson of ecstasy and self-containment is half the story. To support this view, I cited the incident in the second-to-last chapter just after Anne has read Wentworth’s love letter in a noisy hotel room full of friends, pleads she is ill and must go home, but is then obliged to accept the dutiful escort of Charles Musgrove. When she encounters Wentworth on the street, and manages to acknowledge her love by not repelling his glance, it occurs to Charles to ask Wentworth if he is going by her house, and he thereby gives the pair an opportunity to be alone together as lovers for the first time in eight years:
“...Because if you are, I shall have no scruple in asking you to take my place, and give Anne your arm to her father’s door. She is rather done for this morning, and must not go so far without help. And I ought to be at that fellow’s in the market-place. He promised me the sight of a capital gun he is just going to send off; said he would keep it unpacked to the last possible moment, that I might see it; and if I do not turn back now, I have no chance. By his description, a good deal like the second-sized double-barrel of mine, which you shot with one day, round Winthrop.”
It was the next sentence, the first of the next paragraph, to which I wanted to call attention—“There could not be an objection.” I think I meant nothing more than for the laughter this would elicit to do away with any claims of unintelligibility, but something in the character of the laughter seemed to make it a fitting and more general ending, and Mrs. Sedlis called us to it.
St. John's in the New York Times
[October 17, 2011] Did you see the laudatory story about St. John's on page A13 of today's Times? The headline is "Seeing Value in Ignorance, College Expects Its Physicists to Teach Poetry." Read it here.
James Crotty Interviews President Peters in Forbes Magazine
[August 21, 2011] Is St. John's College the antidote to what ails us politically, culturally, and educationally?
James Marshall Crotty (SFGI 02), believes it is, and as a contributor to Forbes magazine, interviewed Santa Fe president Michael Peters. Click to read the full article.
Enlightenment Book Club is Back!
[July 25, 2011] Dean Hannotte (A ’68) is reviving his Enlightenment Book Club. If you like to read and discuss it, go to Member News for the details.
A Message from President Charlotte Latham
[May 17, 2011] Many thanks to all who attended the seminar and annual party this evening, choosing to re-elect the current chapter board. John, Kevin, Carol and I will continue our efforts to keep you engaged.
For pictures of the event, see “Media Galleries” below.
Among the suggestions that we received were to provide dates for upcoming events earlier and have more social interaction around the seminars. With that in mind, I am asking everyone to contact with readings that you would like to lead in discussion. Don’t be shy! Do not hesitate! It is actually quite fun. We are planning seminars for next year and need you to suggest yourself. Additionally, John has been so kind as to welcome us into his home at 6.30 so that we can socialize, exchange names, chat about life, have a cracker or a glass of wine before the seminar begins when we get down to the very serious business of cracking the text and solving the once eternal questions of mankind. Or, at least asking some questions, making some suggestions about the texts we love.
Another suggestion was to increase purely social events. The easiest way to make these happen, we have found, is for you to decide on something fun that you would like to do, at a specific time and place — then let us know. We can get the word out to other alumni. For example, do you want company to go see Shakespeare in The Park? Pick a day and time to get in line, let us know, we'll spread the word, and see what other alumni join you. You'll have more fun waiting and good company to discuss the production. Do you know about a very nifty art show in Chelsea and want to discuss with others? Bored with your friends and know a great Happy Hour where others could join you? Let us know. We'll let others know as well.
We have mentioned it before, but why not say it again — please use the website to share your activities and interests. Do not hesitate to send John a link to post your website or blog on the chapter website. The advantage of this website is that it need not be directly related to SJC topics. Please describe your freelance talents with an email where you can be contacted. Let us know about your business with a short paragraph and a link. Post your blog to get more readers. These are great ways to get to know alumni and build your network. Email with your information.
To conclude, I want to reiterate my thanks to all the seminar leaders this year for their great recommendations and willingness to participate. Of course, none of this would happen without Carol Trent’s invaluable planning and reminders, Kevin Farrelly’s assiduous financial acuity, and John Hetland’s welcoming home and attentive web maintenance.
Thank you all for another great year. Dates and Plans TBA!
Keep checking in and we'll let you know.
Walking from New York to Los Angeles
[May 12, 2011] Constantino Diaz-Duran (A ’06) wants to commemorate his eligibility to apply for U.S. citizenship by walking across the country. He says, “I want to hear the stories and get the insight of as many people as I can. I want to meet Americans from across the great spectrum of ages, races, ethnic backgrounds, and lifestyles that this country has to offer.” you can read about it at www.newamericanwalk.com.
Talking to Other St. Johnnies
[May 12, 2011] Gil Roth (AGI ’95) makes interesting observations about meeting and talking with other Johnnies. Check out this blog entry: http://chimeraobscura.com/vm/maybe-leo-strauss-was-onto-something
Could a lawsuit last 40 years?
[May 12, 2011] Jethro Eisenstein (A ’65) and two other lawyers sued New York City in May 1971 over the Police Department’s procedures for investigating political groups. In May 2011 the litigation continues. Read about it in the NY Times City Room blog.
Torture: Immoral, Illegal, Counterproductive, and Un-American
[May 12, 2011] Peter Weiss (A ’46) writes against "enhanced interrogation," from personal experience. Read it here in Other Words.
Reviews of Polka CDs
[May 12, 2011] Can't decide which Polka CD(s) to buy? Barry N. Sher (A ’71) has the answer at The Polka Page, a website he maintains, with reviews of more polka CDs than you ever imagined existed.
Opening Question for Montaigne seminar
[Feb 15, 2011] To open the seminar on Montaigne’s "Of the Power of the Imagination," Jen Zweibel read a couple of passages from the essay and then asked, "What is imagination good for?"
If you have a thought, send it to and we will post it here.
Opening Question for Paradise Lost, Book I
[Feb 15, 2011] William Moeck’s opening question at the January seminar on Book I of Paradise Lost was: "After Satan’s first speech in Paradise Lost, he is said by the narrator to be ‘racked with deep despair’ (line 126). Why is he described this way?" to which Kevin responded,"Do you mean why is he racked with despair, or why does Milton have the narrator say so?" Mr. Moeck said, "Which do you think is the better question?" The question provided a lively and engaging conversation over issues including despair, evil, heroism and sympathy. We would welcome comments from any who attended but thought of something later, or who missed the seminar but wanted to share an idea or two.
Send your contribution to and we will post it here.
Special Events Coordinator Needed
[Oct 16, 2010] We are looking for someone
to help with the annual business meeting, holiday party, and tutor-led
seminars—those events that are slightly larger and may involve a rented
location and catering. It would involve being a contact for coordination as well as coming up with ideas for events. We would much appreciate some assistance!
If you'd like to help with an upcoming event or have some ideas, contact . Thanks!
Know a great meeting or reception space?
[Oct 16, 2010] We are looking for a meeting or reception space to hold our events of 30 or
more persons. Does anyone have a space in their office building or
something of the sort that would be available for occasional use? We
are looking for free, or very low-cost, spaces to hold the business
meeting, any receptions, the holiday party, the bi-annual tutor led
seminars. Our upcoming events are the Annapolis tutor led seminar
January 12th and the Santa Fe tutor led seminar in March. Please let
us know if you can recommend anything! —
St. John's Santa Fe Gets Designer Touch
[Aug 22, 2010] Here's a story from the Santa Fe New Mexican about improvements made over the summer of 2010 at the Santa Fe campus: SantaFeNewMexican.com
Want to Lead a Seminar?
[Jun 29, 2010] The NYC Chapter of St. John's College Alumni Association is looking for a seminar suggestion that you would be willing to lead. Please contact with the short seminar reading that you would enjoy introducing to the chapter. Seminars are held on one Tuesday of each month, beginning at 7 p.m. and concluding at 9 p.m., when the conversation is invited to continue at the local diner. We look forward to your suggestions and thank you in advance for your participation.
“Dans” a Music Video Project
[Jun 29, 2010] Joshua Paverud, SF03, wrote in June 2010 that he's making a short film and he'd like us all to be a part of it. He received the funding he sought! Click on the Dans picture at the left to read about it.
Media Galleries
Here are galleries of many events. Keep sending in your pictures! (And, thanks to Benjamin Van Doren, we even have 4 video clips of our Schooner Odyssey!) So far you can tour:
— our , thanks to Leah Casner,
— our , thanks to Leah Casner and Nic Strahl,
— our , thanks to Leah Casner,
— our , thanks to Leah Casner,
— our , thanks to ,
— our , thanks to ,
— our , thanks to Leah Casner,
— our , thanks to Gina Lee,
— our , thanks to Benjamin Van Doren and Leah Casner,
— our , thanks to Xhuliana Agolli, Leah Casner, and Dean Hannotte,
— our , thanks to Leah Casner and Jenn Coonce,
— our , thanks to ,
— our , thanks to Dean Hannotte,
— our , thanks to Leah Casner and Dean Hannotte,
— and the collection of we use to adorn our masthead.
Famous Faces
Our masthead is decorated with pictures of men and women who have made significant contributions to philosophy, science, religion or art. We've collected over 500 portraits, so we change them randomly — but only once an hour. (To see the person's name, just hover your mouse pointer over their image.) To see all the pictures, . If you have an interesting picture you'd like to contribute, or can think of someone we've overlooked, please contact .
Please feel free to contact any of us at the following email addresses. And remember that we're only one chapter of the — so don't forget to visit their site as well.
Click this button to pay your dues using PayPal, or if you prefer to pay by check. Suggested donations are only $10 a year for the five most recent graduating classes, $20 for those who have been out from five to ten years, and $30 if you've been out of school for more than ten years.