Professor Ponders Peace, Love, Life in New Book

Lisa Kaminski

With his new book Living the Questions, philosophy professor Vince Kavaloski asks readers to contemplate the mysteries of peace, love, and life.

Kavaloski, who has been compiling the collection of brief memoirs, articles, poems, and parables for the past five years stresses that this isn’t a typical philosophy text.  “A lot of professors write for professors and their professions, but I prefer to write for students, the general public,” he said.  He prefers to use straightforward prose to communicate his vision.  “You can think philosophical thoughts without wading through philosophical prose,” he said.

With this in mind, Kavaloski reflects on a topic he’s studied for years: peace.  In Living the Questions, he discusses the teachings of the Dalai Lama and the ideas of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  A Gandhian of sorts, Kavaloski admires these men for their quest for peace through nonviolence.

Vince Kavaloski: “Learning to live the questions and find joy in the journey.”

Kavaloski also stresses the important role of the United Nations.  Acting as a sort of global parliament, the UN provides a neutral forum for countries to solve international problems.  Kavaloski also points out that one of the organization’s greatest accomplishments, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that sets a standard for global human rights and dignities, and also a subject covered in many of Kavaloski’s classes.

However, through his multi-genre book, Kavaloski always returns to questions: how to find the meaning of life, how to achieve peace, and what it means to love.  He admits in Living the Questions that he first engaged in philosophy “with a hunger for definite, comprehensive answers.”  Yet as he studied, questions kept resurfacing, and after years is now “learning to live the questions themselves and find joy in the journey.”

Now on sale in the Edgewood bookstore, all proceeds from Living the Questions go towards the World Peace Travel Fund, which allows Edgewood students to visit the United Nations in New York City and the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

Alan Luft Takes on Berlin Art Scene

Lisa Kaminski

More than 10,000 negatives later, Edgewood art professor Alan Luft is showing 25 years worth of photographs during the European Month of Photography in Berlin, Germany.

Luft’s show at the Photoplatz Gallery in the Hotel Bogota opened October 17,and he as among the hundreds of artists showing in cities across Europe, including Paris, Rome, Moscow, and Vienna during the monthlong celebration of the arts.  His exhibition consists of 40 black and white portraits taken in Berlin.

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Receiving positive feedback from the nearly 300 individuals that attended the show’s opening, Luft said, “I was very moved by the interaction with all these individuals.”  He attributes much of this support to the Hotel Bogota’s extensive network of artists, but especially to the Rissmann family, owners of the hotel and generous supporters of the arts.

Common Reading Author Moves Campus Community

Emily Pokorny

Dave Isay had his audience in tears during his presentation October 20.

Isay, the author of this year’s common reading book, Listening is an Act of Love, visited campus to share his experiences with the project he founded, StoryCorps.  Members of the Edgewood College community gathered to listen to Isay and ask him questions, as well as hear real recordings from the StoryCorps project.  One story in particular, the story of Danny and Annie Perasa, which is published in Listening is an Act of Love, touched the audience so much that many were moved to tears.

The StoryCorps project is the gathering of the stories of everyday individuals.  Two people go into a StoryCorps booth and participate in an interview with one another, which is then recorded on two CDs.  One goes home with the speakers, while the other goes to the American Folklore Center at the Library of Congress to become a part of the oral history of America.

On the Edge reporter Emily Pokorny sits down with author David Isay

FULL, UNCENSORED INTERVIEW WITH CONGRESSWOMAN TAMMY BALDWIN!

So what is your story, when did you know you wanted to do what you do?

The earliest I can trace my interest in public service to is middle school, believe it or not. The “A-ha!” moment wasn’t running or winning the student council race, but it was some of the work I was involved with once I was elected. It was just that light-bulb moment for me that a small group of people could make a difference in others’ lives. Our school had a sister school in Nicaragua. There was a huge earthquake and the school there was heavily damaged, so we raised pennies, nickels quarters and dimes, and got letters back from those children thanking us, saying they were able to buy books. So here we were, pre-teens in Wisconsin, making a difference halfway across the world.

There was also an issue that brought me to public service, which is my belief that everyone should have comprehensive healthcare coverage that’s affordable. When I was nine years old I had a very serious childhood illness and was hospitalized for a long time. I know that my grandparents who raised me weren’t able to get insurance coverage for me after that. I just thought that shouldn’t happen to families, having to pay out of pocket and not being able to get insurance. It became a life-long goal.

How have you seen Madison change culturally and politically since you grew up here? How do you see it continuing to change, it what direction?

I remember Hildale being the periphery of the city, and when they opened West Town you had to travel through farm fields to get there. Watching the city grow has been interesting. The economy has become a lot more diverse, which is great because it has really helped a city like Madison weather the recession better than some communities where they’re really dependent on one sector of the economy; in particular, manufacturing towns like Milwaukee, Janesville and Beloit.

My mother was an undergrad here when I was born, and she was really involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement. I remember as a child all the demonstrations on campus, not violent ones, but students saying, “If we unify our voices we can really make a difference”, just by sit-ins, teach-ins, marches, etc. I think that really did make a difference. I think that has remained a tradition here, but has been strong or weak at various points in time. Obviously there are many campuses in the area and lots of opportunities for young people to engage both on campus and their larger community.

President Balances Budget, Work, Play

While awaiting the upcoming issue, enjoy this May 2010 profile of Dan Carey by staff writer Michael Stock.

“I’m happy to tell you that I think my background is very similar to a lot of Edgewood students.  Well, maybe not a lot.”  These, his first words of the interview, describe the mystery around Dan Carey.  Despite Carey’s efforts to get involved with campus life and the student body, few Edgewood students seem to know anything about their president.  Some don’t even recognize the name.  So is he the familiar, average guy, or the distant authority figure?

Carey, 64, became Edgewood College’s eleventh president in 2004.  “I’m one of the people that love my job,” Carey said, “but it’s pretty demanding.  If people think it’s a glorious job or somehow glamorous–I guess is the word I’m really looking for–if they think it’s a glamorous job, it’s not.”

 “I think sometimes maybe people are surprised a college president would have a very modest background.”

Carey has short, white hair and glasses.  He’s wearing a blue sweater with a button-up dress shirt underneath.  Carey dresses based on his meetings of the day.  Some days it’s a sports coat, tie, and dress shoes.  “Today,” he said, “I can be in tennis shoes and a sweater.”

Carey is friendly in conversation, his laid back Midwestern speech punctuated with a hint Southwestern drawl.  He is welcoming, accustomed to being approached and interviewed.  “I think sometimes maybe people are surprised a college president would have a very modest background.”

Carey came from a farming background in Iowa.  His dad, three brothers, and one sister were all a part of the daily operations: “We milked thirty or so cows.  We raised corn, beans, alfalfa.”  Carey was the first in his family to got to college, something  made possible only by scholarship and work-study programs.  “I worked in a packing house a couple summers.  I worked highway construction.  I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to go to college.  Because I was first-generation, I’m very proud of the fact that Edgewood serves so many first-generation students.”  Always prepared to promote Edgewood, he added, “Generally more than a fourth of the freshman class is first-generation every year.”