In Eckleburg's Eyes - 9/11/2008

On Wednesday night, my class resumed at the University of Tennessee. As you can see from this photo, the campus is preparing for the season’s first home football game. I am glad someone is eagerly anticipating that game.

My class was very good, though three people could not attended on this night. In a class of nine, this is noticeable. We had a great discussion regarding the philosophy of education.

One student, Nai, informed RGB that a link from his personal web site was dated. It seems a link that once went to Chautauqua Institue is actually now to an adult web site as opposed to an adult learning web site. RGB was more than a little embarrassed. Naturally, I brought this up more than once. (Note: He left to correct this last night, so don’t try to find it!)

Part of the class was spent watching the first half of a taped conversation between Bill Moyers and Myles Horton (1905-1990) that originally aired on PBS in 1981. The piece was called “Adventures of a Radical Hillbilly”. Horton founded the revolutionary Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. It still exists today in New Market, Tennessee.

Horton was very interesting. He studied under the highly influential theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) at Union Theological Seminary in New York. When stating his influences, Horton noted that the Bible was the earliest. He claimed that he took love from the New Testament. He characterized the Old Testament as being about creation and that we should be creative. It was an interesting take.

There was actually an article on the difficulty of adult learners on campus in the Daily Beacon, the campus newspaper. A university official (who shall remain nameless) said the university policy was that they it does not treat adult learners differently from other students. The usually reserved RGB (rocking the bow tie on this night) said, “I’m sorry. That’s pathetic.” Yes, the university has an entire department devoted to the adult education.

After class, I met JTH and JBT at Applebees. It was dead so our server (who has become our friend), AFH, sat with us most of the night. JTH had been there every night since Saturday. And I thought I was addicted...

JTH’s head was the topic of conversation. Not only had he shaved off his mohawk, but he was wearing a University of Florida hat. He went to a place selling $5 hats and all of the Tennessee ones were gone so he chose Florida as the substitute because he liked the way it looked. That is dangerous around Knoxville.

In other Wednesday news, my counseling sessions at the Hope Resource Center were postponed for the umpteenth time. Ironically, the nurse called in sick. I have requested to be scheduled many days next to week to prepare for all contingencies.

I used the extra time to visit the Bent Corner book store. The proprietors, Mark and Allie, were as friendly as ever. Their inventory had increased since my last visit.They were pleased that the News-Sentinel had run a feature on them on September 3rd. You can read the article here. Please support this business if at all possible.