World Views was a great class, I thought. But most of the radical ideas in it were things I was exposed to either through having done L-D debate in HS or through the english class "Critical Thinking" that I took my sophmore year of HS. Fun stuff. =)

I know that we read a Rabindranath Tragore book in there, but that may have been a newer addition to the cirriculum for the 1988 class (and I probably misspelled his name).

Oh, and don't forget the neverending endurance-fest that was the film-version of Tess of the D'urbervilles. The story stuck with me, but the experience of sitting through a three hour movie in an air-condition-less auditorium and having the film continually break (stretching it out to five hours, IIRC) was not fun. Of course, if I hadn't seen the movie, I wouldn't have had any idea what the Terry Pratchett book Reaper Man was actually all about. =)

Dana, the Tagore book was "The Home and the World", I think. I didn't read it, I'm ashamed to admit. I had no need to, if I recall; none of my essays required it.

What I find more amusing about your comment, though, is that the film kept breaking on you. WTF? It did for us, too! In fact, I got so frustrated sitting in Smith waiting for them to fix the film that — gasp! — I just left. I'd already read the book in high school, so I figured the film couldn't add anything. Instead, I wandered over to the UC where the Opening Days staff was hosting some sort of a capella group for the few returning upper classmen. (This must have been the first day or two of school.)

I felt oh-so-grown-up sitting there, ordering hot cocoa and some sort of pastry, watching the upperclassmen cavort. A true moment of independence from which I probably gained more than I would have by sitting next to Danny James and Scott Adams, my roommates, watching the film. Or not watching it, as the case might have been.

Oh! Another World Views memory.

I had Professor Loftus, who taught Japanese and was an altogether good guy. I received high marks on all my papers until the end of the class. Toward the end of that first semester, my attention wandered (influenced in no small part by the wild and wonderful Danny James) and my studies suffered.

It came to be the night before our final paper was due, and I hadn't written a word. I was sweaty with panic. What to do?!?

I sat down and, in one pass, hand-wrote with four colors of ink (I had one of those four-color pens) a nearly stream-of-consciousness paper that basically summarized my intellectaul development during the preceding few weeks.

The paper didn't meet the stated requirements, but it did lay bare what I'd learned, and that I was being challenged. For much of it, I was flip, basically throwing up my hands and admitting defeat. Loftus was flumoxed by this paper. He refused to grade it. "How can I grade it?" he asked me when we met for a final time. He interviewed me at length and must have decided I'd gained enough from the class. He gave me an A-.

Now, years later, I actually quite admire that paper. It was unconventional, and reflected the changes inside me.

(My favorite paper was the Dickens vs. Mill paper, though. I wrote it as a letter from a young man visiting Coketown. I adopted what I thought were Victorian writing mannerisms, etc. It was quite fun.)

Ok - this has nothing to do about world views...but I just wanted to say THANK YOU. I clicked on the Mr. Durbin link and found the site for his group.

THANK YOU GOD! Finally kids music that won't drive me insane.

I ordered both CDs. Thanks J.D.!!!

Holy cats! You Internet Explorer users have got to tell me when I break the display. IE is funky; though it's the most widely-used browser, it doesn't conform to web standards. Therefor, sometimes I'll do something — like post a picture that's too wide — and poor IE will freak out. I can't ever see this because I don't ever use Internet Explorer. So: let me know if something's broken!

I did.

And how did discussing books in boxers and suit jackets contribute to your learning and personal development???

I just thought that was the dress code for Willamette.

You have no idea how grateful I am that I did not see JD in his boxers at college. Or if I did, it wasn't a memorable experience. Now that I think about it, I didn't see him in a jacket and tie ever, either.

Is the girl in the blue skirt Corinne without her glasses? I can't tell, but it could be.

Geez you look young, JD. Nice amish-style beard you have going there ;)

And I would like you all to note just how skinny JD's knee/leg look in that picture...yet I was the one called Grasshopper.

Go figure.

Dana: I did not see JD in his boxers at college. Or if I did, it wasn't a memorable experience. Now that I think about it, I didn't see him in a jacket and tie ever, either.

The nice thing about Dana is her poor memory rivals — and probably surpasses — mine. (Which is my way of saying, "Yes, you saw both.")

Tie and Jacket? I can believe seeing you wandering around your dorm room in boxers, but I think you in a suit would have stood out more. Then again, maybe not. Shrug.

without this freshman seminar, I would still be a Christian,

Thanks for that tidbit. I will discourge my kids from ever taking this class. You my have just saved me some heartache down the road.

Wow! my pic inspired a weblog and two CD sells. Many thanks JD. BTW, the middle name is actually Kimball ;)

I do remember that our debate was totally lopsided as our opponents were unprepared and quite intimidated by our jackets and shorts, dresses and tennis shoes.

Do you remember the others in this photo?

Yikes. The scary thing is, Scott, I know your middle name is Kimball. I'm not sure why I put it up as Kendall. Momentary brain fart, I guess; I'll fix that so all your fans can find this page. :)

I don't actually remember much about the debate. Or maybe I do. Was it held in the basement of Waller Hall? Did we take on another class? I vaguely remember that our opponents included my roommate, Scott Adams. And I do vaguely remember that we were far better prepared.

As for the other people in the photo: I recognize Craig Pepin sitting next to me, of course, but of the others I only have vague recognition.

I want to say the blond guy is named Rob, but I know that's not true. There was another blond guy in the class and he was Rob, a Rob who later was elected as an ASWU officer (treasurer, I think), serving along-side Dawna Davies, Cari Bacon, and Pam Stuckey. The blond guy pictured — whose name I cannot recall — was a soccer player, earnest and intense. But that's all I have.

For some reason, I think that both of the women pictured are named Beth. I'm not sure why I think that, though. I'm almost positive that the Beth on the right lived a few doors down from me in Laussanne, was the room-mate of Laurie Bowen from Bainbridge Island, WA (who also played soccer) and Kat from Alaska (and who had a fancy-schmancy VW-type car).

What do you remember?

Wasn't his name Jason? I remember he was a White Water Rapids guide somewhere in our great land.