Member of the Faculty, Greg Mullins discusses the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural with Evergreen students in downtown Olympia.  Greg explores literature and human rights in his research and teaching. Photo taken by Shauna Bittle

Editor’s Note: We recently asked Greg Mullins, Member of the Faculty, to write a piece about his research into human rights and literature.  He is the author of Colonial Affairs: Bowles, Burroughs, and Chester Write Tangier.  Greg is currently working on a project called The Banality of Good: Cultures of Human Rights and teaching a program called Freedom Dreams: The Cultural Revolutions of the 1960’s.

Greg Mullins: When I first read John Milton’s Paradise Lost many years ago, I noted an irony much commented upon by literary scholars: as heroes go, Adam is anemic at best. Lucifer, the villain, has all the star power. In fact, many readers find him powerful and charismatic.

Ordinarily, wouldn’t we expect villains to be vile?

Over several years of teaching and writing about human rights and literature I’ve often thought about that irony. In a morality tale, the good guy wins and the narrative offers a moral lesson to the readers. But in a great deal of contemporary literature concerned with human rights violations, there is no simple moral to the story. Frequently, the text refuses closure, leaving the reader on her own to contemplate what to think upon finishing the book. Consider, for example, Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians, Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost, or Danticat, The Dew Breaker.

Is it possible that reading literature concerned with human rights violations can nudge readers toward a better ethical and political understanding of why those violations happen, and what can be done to prevent them? I would argue that literature can serve that function. In fact, I argue that literature can provide a sort of antidote to the banalization of the language of human rights that we see all around us in political rallies, slogans, bumper stickers, fundraising appeals, and sound bites.

Not only does the act of reading literature force us to slow down and think, but the best of that literature challenges us to reevaluate what we think we know. A vile villain is easy to hate; a virtuous hero is easy to love.  But why would we need to teach ourselves to think ethically if the world were as simple and unambiguous as a morality tale?

Readers: What’s your response to Greg’s questions?  Can literature nudge us towards a better understanding of human rights violations? 

This Halloween the President’s Office was open to trick-or-treaters and a band full of monsters, animals, and mythical creatures visited:

Animator and illustrator Drew Christie ’07 created this cover art as well as the illustrations featured throughout this issue.

The latest Evergreen Magazine is now available just in time for election season.  The Fall 2012 magazine highlights various ways Evergreen alumni engage in the political process.

Evergreen students, faculty and alumni continually demonstrate extraordinary public engagement, driven by a sense of responsibility rooted in social justice.

This issue also features the colorful drawings of cartoonist, Drew Christie ’07.

Our friends at the Organic Farm pulled off a great event last weekend.  Check it out!

Editor’s Note: Sandy Yannone, Director of Evergreen’s Writing Center provides the following guest blog post about the latest edition of Inkwell.

Each year, the Writing Center’s tutors in Olympia and Tacoma practice the writing process they encourage student writers to explore by writing, designing, and editing Inkwell: A Student Guide to Writing at Evergreen. Now in its seventh edition, Inkwell features eclectic essays, poems, and tidbits of wisdom regarding how writers can cultivate their voice. As 2012 Co-Editors David Imhoff and Madeleine Stephens write, “Inkwell is both the end and the beginning of collaboration. The fruits of our collective reflection live here, accommodated by hours and weeks of conversation and writing.” Distributed free each fall, Inkwell also has sparked its own writing festival. This year’s InkFest includes writers Giovanna Marcus ’01, Paul Whitney ’04, Marissa Luck ’10, and Shanda Zimmerman ’10.

What was your experience as a writer at Evergreen? Has it helped you in the alumni afterlife?

Nancy Koppelman ’88
guest blogger

Editor’s Note: Nancy Koppelman ’88, Member of the Faculty provides this guest blog about a new program on campus.

The new faculty-led project called the Academic Statement Initiative begins during Orientation Week.  New students meet in seminars to learn about Evergreen’s philosophy and think together about a common reading.  This year’s book was Carlotta Walls LaNier’s A Mighty Long Way:  My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School.

A Mighty Long Way, Evergreen’s common reading for 2012

The campus thought deeply about LaNier’s experiences as one of the “Little Rock Nine”—students who made the first brave step to integrate Arkansas’ public schools in 1957.  During Convocation, Ms. LaNier urged us to appreciate the opportunity that a college education represents.  During the school year, sustained faculty-led activities will help students nurture that appreciation, culminating in each graduate’s transcript-ready Academic Statement.  This Initiative continues Evergreen’s history of innovation, and of trusting students to invent their own paths toward graduation.

New students are welcomed in by Evergreen’s President, Les Purce. All Campus Convocation taking place in the CRC. Photographed on Sept. 18, 2012.

Evergreen’s gym was packed; it was standing room only. The air buzzed with anticipation for the start of our All Campus Convocation.  In the past convocations haven’t always been this well attended or dynamic. So what made the difference?  Here are three keys to this year’s convocation success:

1. Civil rights leader Carlotta Walls LaNier as the keynote speaker
2. 1,200 copies of LaNier’s book, A Mighty Long Way, mailed to all new students three weeks earlier
3. 240 seminars led by faculty to engage new students with LaNier’s book during orientation week
   

   Carlotta Walls LaNier, author of A Mighty Long Way, and President Dr. Les Purce at the Evergreen State College Convocation on Tues., Sept. 18, 2012.

After brief opening remarks by President Les Purce and Provost Michael Zimmerman, LaNier opened her talk with a characterization of the Little Rock Nine’s fight for school integration.  A struggle of state rights vs. federal authority, Arkansas governor vs. the President of the United States, 9 kids vs.an angry mob. And at the bottom of it all, a staunch determination to receive a fair and adequate education, marked a major shift in the struggle for desegregation.

Author and speaker Carlotta Walls LaNier speaks to a crowd of over 1,200 students, staff and faculty at The Evergreen State College Convocation on September 18, 2012. LaNier was one of the Little Rock Nine who integrated public schools in Arkansas in 1957.

At the end of this thought provoking and serious look at an important time in our history, Evergreen’s very own Marla Beth Elliott led the crowd in a round of Alma Mater and the Geoduck Fight Song.  If you’re feeling rusty on the fight song, Randy Stilson ’77, the college’s much beloved archivist has posted an audio recording and sheet music on the college archives page.

New students, faculty, and staff rally the Evergreen spirit, singing the geoduck fight song! All Campus Convocation taking place in the CRC. Photographed on Sept. 18, 2012.