Plague Time

...you would arrange for a bunch of riots to break out by people destroying property and protesting the police.  In the middle of a pandemic.  In response to a case that the authorities actually seemed to be handling well, with action being taken against the guilty parties. My country is going crazy--first the anti-lockdown protests, now these new riots.  Maybe folks have just been shut up at home for so long that they are looking for something to do. Not only my country, though.  Apparently there were also protests in London and Berlin, in solidarity with the American protestors.  As if they don't have enough to worry about in their own countries right now?  (It shows, though, that even at our current nadir, America still has an outsized profile in the world.  Can you even imagine Americans protesting an instance of police brutality in some mid-sized British or German city?) Strange times.

I just re-read another of Gotthelf's early works, Die Wassernot im Emmental , a description of a terrible flood of the Emme River that occurred in the year 1837.  (The Emmental is the valley of the Emme River, and it is the area where Emmentaler cheese comes from -- i.e., Swiss cheese.)  Interestingly, the flood (and Gotthelf's account of it) even gets a mention on the very brief Wikipedia page on the Emme . Gotthelf, a pastor, describes the flood as a "sermon" of God's, who speaks to us, he says, not only through his Word, but also through Nature.  He describes the terror and suffering that the flood caused, and how it brought out both the best and the worst in people afterwards.  He treats it as a kind of parable, showing not only God's judgement but also his ability to bring new life to the devastated land the following spring, just as he can cause new life to spring in the hearts of humans, if they listen to his voice. I found it interesting to read

Someone pointed out this very interesting debate over lockdowns the other day.  One author argues that the lockdowns have caused far more harm than good and will go down as one of the great policy mistakes in history; the other counters that they have in fact saved numerous lives and that things would be far worse without them. Both writers are sensible and make good points.  It's not short, but it is interesting reading.  I incline toward the lockdowns-have-been-necessary side of the debate myself, because I am persuaded that coronavirus is indeed considerably more deadly than an ordinary flu.  But it is a good argument, and especially worth considering now that we are facing questions about how and how quickly to open things back up again.  In general, it nicely illustrates one of the central problems of public policy, how to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty.  (The same problem, incidentally, explains why the pandemic is and must be a political issue, not simp

I am not making as much progress on things as I need to so far this summer, but I did manage yesterday to finish re-reading Der Bauern-Spiegel , the first novel by my man Jeremias Gotthelf, pictured above.  The title means "The Peasant's Mirror," but I might translate it into English as Reflections on a Peasant's Life , which captures the idea of "mirror" but indicates its (fictional) autobiographical character. This first novel is in fact the source of the name "Jeremias Gotthelf," because Gotthelf wasn't really Gotthelf at all (it was a pseudonym), but rather Albert Bitzius, a Swiss pastor in the first half of the 19th century.  His book purports to be the life story of a man named, you guessed it, Jeremias Gotthelf.  Readers were persuaded that Gotthelf was the real author, so the name stuck, and Bitzius took it as the pseudonym for his future work, which was extensive. The story is a powerful social critique of a practice that was co

Another post for the nature lovers out there, though not as cute and touching as the last one.  I sat down yesterday evening to do some work, planning to grade some exams for my online classes and take care of a few other things, including posting to this blog.  But it was not to be. On Saturday evening while I was working, I was disturbed by a number of little beetles flying around the lights in the ceiling fan in our bedroom.  There were enough to be annoying, but not more than that.  I killed about 30 of them.  Tiny little black things, maybe half a centimeter long on average, drawn to the light but also liking to hide, harmless as far as I can tell. Sunday evening the same thing happened.  Not quite as many, though, maybe 15 or so.  Active again at the same time, after dark, mainly from about 9-11pm, then slowing down.  I was pleased there were fewer and figured that something had hatched and would scatter itself to the winds. Something clearly did hatch, but it has not sc

I didn't have 15 of them, to be sure.  But when I looked out the front window after getting dressed this morning, I saw not one, but two rabbits out on the front lawn.  They weren't very large, so I assume they were still young.  But I saw them do something I don't think I've ever seen before: play with each other.  They would run toward each other, and then one would hop over the other, bouncing off its back as it sailed over and while they made a kind of squeaking noise.  It was really quite funny. After a minute of that, they stopped and went back to eating dandelions, not fresh yellow ones, but old ones that had gone to seed, the kind you used to blow the heads off when you were a kid.  They bit them off at the base, so that the stems were sticking straight out of their mouths like a straw, with the heads at the end.  And then, phwoosh, in they went, nibbled right up--like a person sucking in a spaghetti noodle.  (Not that any of us would have such poor manners

Students know I have an interest in Switzerland--I am planning to teach my Switzerland class again next spring.  I have not yet been able to find anything about it in English, but was just reading an article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung --the Zurich newspaper, and (incidentally) my own favorite--about a new casualty of the coronavirus pandemic: the Appenzeller Landsgemeinde. The Swiss canton of Appenzell continues to practice one of the world's oldest forms of direct democracy, the Landsgemeinde , or cantonal assembly.  Once a year, the citizens of the canton gather in person, outdoors, in order to vote directly on the canton's most important matters of business.  They do this by raising their hands. The cantonal government has just decided not to hold this year's assembly due to public health concerns.  While it would apparently have been possible to devise a system involving measures like social distancing, the government was concerned that vulnerable parts of the p

Summer is here, but I am having trouble getting into a good work rhythm.  I have a number of things to do this summer, in particular some essays to write about Jeremias Gotthelf that are supposed to appear in a new Gotthelf Handbook that is under preparation.  But so far I am not making much progress. I blame it on the college, though.  Not only am I teaching a pair of online courses, but all faculty have been required (in part) and encouraged (the other part) to  "attend" a number of Zoom workshops this week, devoted to planning for the fall semester, when we must be prepared to teach both face-to-face on campus and also online.  These have been taking up quite a bit of time. Plus, I still can't get into my office except once a week to return some books and pick up others to replace them. And then there are the interferences that I can't blame on the college.  Yesterday I had to write a book review, which was my own fault, since I'd offered to do it.  (A

It is past time--you have all been waiting with bated breath--to announce the winner of our "Plague Time" Essay Contest .  And we have one!  The Department of History and Political Science is pleased to announce that the winner of the contest, for his essay "Plague Time: God's Judgment?", is... ...Blythe Gilbert!  Blythe is a rising senior, a double major in History and Political Science, and he will be writing a senior honors project next fall on Italian Fascist foreign policy under Mussolini. In his winning essay, Blythe ponders the fact that earlier generations of Christians, in the face of plague and pandemic, would have wondered what brought this terrible judgment of God down upon them.  Drawing upon examples from Byzantium and the Puritans, he concludes--inspired by Martin Luther's experience with the plague--that Christians today, facing the coronavirus pandemic, should ask themselves not, "Why is God punishing us like this?," but rat

Most of you are probably not familiar with Abraham a Sancta Clara .  He was an Augustinian monk in the late 17th century, a very popular preacher who became "court preacher" at the imperial court in Vienna.  While holding this position, he lived through the terrible plague of 1679. Afterwards, he wrote a book about the plague, "Merk's Wien!", which translates to something like, "Pay Attention, Vienna!"  I thought this seemed like the kind of thing to read these days, so right after the college canceled classes and sent us all home for the rest of the semester, I ordered an old used copy from Germany. It never arrived, and it never arrived, and I grew ever more despondent, until finally on Thursday I e-mailed the seller to inquire about it.  Not ten minutes later, the day's mail came... and there it was. I've started reading it, though I'm not very far yet.  Its consistent theme is memento mori : remember that you must die.  The sty

I came across this image in a book review I was just reading.  The review itself is not that interesting, or even very good, but the image is fascinating.  It shows a sturdy farmer, the salt of the earth--confronting a monster, a three-headed hydra.  On the body of the monster is printed "fraud," and each of its three necks bears the name of a different kind of fraud: glucose, cottonseed-oil-lard, and oleomargarine.  The farmer is fending off these fraudulent food products, while the monster is being egged on by what appear to be capitalists in their coats and top hats. That seems like it could be a pretty timely political cartoon.  So when did it appear in print?  How about 1887!!!  In a magazine called Rural New Yorker , which, if Wikipedia is to be trusted, was founded in Rochester in 1850, later moved to New York City, and from 1911 onward was published out of the old Chelsea Methodist Church.  Apparently one John J. Dillon served as its editor from 1892 until his de

Let the summer begin!  I finally finished off my grading yesterday.  Now the summer opens up before me. Well, not exactly.  I do have a few random independent study papers hiding in my inbox, which has been overflowing for the past week.  But I can get them taken care of.  And a handful of students still owe me late work, which will come in over the next few days.  I'm also teaching a couple of online courses; the first exams from one of those come in next Monday. At noon today I have a committee meeting, a group pulled together to work on curricular planning for next fall in the face of continuing uncertainty.  And this afternoon all faculty have to attend the first of several Zoom sessions devoted to online teaching, to help us prepare for all eventualities moving forward. Hmmm.... And oh, yes, I just remembered -- rats! -- that today is the deadline for reviewing the department's catalog copy for next year.  There is also that long overdue book review that I shoul

Well, I missed my deadline--doubling annoying, not only because it rarely happens, but also because I'd like to be finished! The remains: Humanities 102: 10 exams left to go Intro Political Thought: 8 more research papers Luther and the Reformation: Done! East Meets West: Done! Translation Workshop: 11 papers and revised translations Random independent studies and things lurking my e-mail I think I can wrap that up today... (famous last words).  Onward!

I feel like Aesop's tortoise as I plow steadily--but perhaps too slowly--through all my exams and papers.  An updated count of what remains: Humanities 102: 24 final exams to go (plus a few not turned in!) Intro Political Thought: 3 final exams left, plus 19 research papers (and a few not yet turned in) Luther & the Reformation: only a few stragglers left East Meets West: 10 more papers Translation Workshop: 11 reflection papers and revised translations Random independent studies and other odds-and-ends Can I make it by tomorrow evening?  The tortoise had a finish line to reach, but not a time deadline!

Today is graduation at Houghton.  Congratulations to this year's graduating seniors.  Ironically, perhaps you should be glad to graduate virtually this year, since we have snow on the ground today.  Personally, I think that if we have to suffer through global warming, we should at least get the perks of it also and not have snow for a May graduation. It is sobering to think of how many graduating students I have known in one context or another: the History and Political Science majors, London and East Meets West Honors, In Search of Justice, general education Humanities, travel courses to Austria and Germany, pre-law....  One hopes not to have done them too much damage. I happened across the image below and thought it was rather humorous.  (And the verse, if you can manage to enlarge it.)  Not that Houghton, of course, would ever kick you out the door like that.  Oh, wait... er, never mind.

Yesterday I posted results for the Foreign Language Challenge; now it is time to announce the winner  of the Reading Challenge. First, two honorable mentions go to a pair of students who both read three or more books and over 1,000 pages: Seth Greene (3.5 books; 1,030 pages) and David Kralt (4.5 books; 1,220 pages). I myself read a whopping 10.5 books and 1,701 pages.  Could anyone beat that...? Well, in fact -- yes!  Or partly.  No one managed to read more books than I did, so I have not been totally embarrassed.  However, one impressive student managed to read 7 books weighing in at a massive 4,100 pages.  Drum roll... Congratulations to Adam Brown, who seized the challenge as motivation to read the entire Harry Potter series for the first time! For those who are interested, I include below complete lists of the books read by all these students as well as yours truly. Seth Greene Dorothy Sayers - Gaudy Night (528 pages) C.S. Lewis - Letters to Malcolm (167

The results for the Foreign Language Challenge are in!  First let me recognize four students who all accumulated 1500 XP or more on Duolingo: Seth Greene, Spanish: 1509 XP Josiah Wiedenheft, Japanese: 1871 XP Samantha Moore, French: 3766 XP Linette Taylor, French (6751) and Spanish (2950): 9701 XP!!! Did any of them manage to beat yours truly?  Here are my own totals: French: 2348 XP Italian: 132 XP Latin: 1004 XP Polish: 791 XP Czech: 16 XP For my own grand total of 4291 XP. So... Linette not only wins the challenge, she even beat me!  Very impressive.  Be sure to congratulate her. Thanks to everyone who participated.  I hope that it was enjoyable and will kindle a desire to keep learning!

Done with the semester.  Last class taught, last exam given.  "Only" the grading still to go. I have spent the evening (a) helping colleagues draft a grant proposal to apply for funding to support the college's humanities offerings; and (b) updating my two summer online courses, which start tomorrow morning.  No rest for the weary! I have collected submissions for the Foreign Language and Reading Challenges and will announce results tomorrow!

No, not the countdown until the semester ends, though that is probably the one my students are thinking of.  For me, it's the countdown until all the exams and papers are graded. Here is the current state of affairs: Humanities 102: 20 Unit Four exams still to grade (with 4 not yet turned in); 23 final exams to grade (5 still on their way) Intro Political Thought: 24 final exams coming tomorrow; plus 24 research papers Luther & The Reformation: 16 final exams East Meets West: 4 papers still on my desk right now, 10 more coming later in the week Translation Workshop: 11 reflection papers and revised translations to read Plus a few independent studies, some papers from students who are earning the credit from the canceled Germany trip, a handful of senior capstone papers to read....  So that will about 85 exams and 50 papers to work through. Seems like a good time to procrastinate with Duolingo or something!

I read an interesting article earlier today called "The Erosion of Deep Literacy," by Adam Garfinkle.  Garfinkle argues that the development of "deep literacy"--immersing one's self in a text, as opposed to the kind of quick and superficial skimming that we do online or on our phones--is linked to the modern development of conscience, interiority, and individuality, as well as to the imaginative ability to grasp different perspectives that is essential to a well-functioning liberal democracy.  He thus also wonders whether the decline of deep literacy might be linked to the growing appeal of simplistic and authoritarian political agendas on both the left and right. The article covers a lot of ground--too much, frankly--attempting to link the spread of deep literacy to everything from the Reformation to the repeated waves of "Great Awakenings" in American history to the success of democracy.  This one variable surely cannot account for so much, and

I couldn't find a good picture of "Constable Studer" in the public domain, but I needed a detective, so I settled for the more recognizable Sherlock Holmes instead.  I managed to finish one of those books I was recently "actively not reading" : Friedrich Glauser's Wachtmeister Studer . Studer  is a classic Swiss-German detective novel, a book that (like The Radetzky March ) has been on my to-read list for quite a while.  Glauser himself was a rather down-and-out character, and his detective creation, Constable Studer, is similarly more at home among the hard-luck, on-the-fringe types who drift in and out of prison than among the upper crust of society. There appears to be an English translation of the novel under the title Thumbprint  (what would have been wrong with "Constable Studer"?), so you could check it out if you like. And if you are up for some Swiss German (mostly beyond my ability to follow, I'm afraid), there is even a film