Phantastic Phling

Philander’s Phebruary Phling brought the heat to thaw the winter blues and, for over two decades, took its place among Kenyon’s epic parties—only to be undone by fading student support and the rigors of pre-partying.

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Tuning into Childhood

Musician, tunesmith, and pied piper, Justin Roberts ’92 enchants children and hooks their parents.

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Time Out

Sabbaticals for a semester or a year keep Kenyon’s tenured faculty energized, engaged, and immersed in their fields. But critics claim that the breaks may do little more than take professors out of classrooms on subsidized vacations.

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Also In This Edition

"Renaissance Man" by Charles Gagnon, donated to Kenyon anonymously in 1972, finds a permanent home in the garden below Ascension Hall.

Hitting the Right Notes

For Jane Symmes ’16, there is no offseason and no time to waste. Symmes of Concord, New Hampshire, carries the title “student/athlete/musician”—and she’s a two-sport athlete. When she isn’t lifting weights, throwing or kicking round objects, or studying for the next exam, this international studies major and recording artist is penning notes, striking strings, and belting out harmonies. Her family’s passion for music lifts her heart and comes to life in the form of her lyrics and scores. Symmes also patrols the midfield for the Ladies soccer and lacrosse teams. An injury-shortened soccer season takes little luster off her success in all three phases of her life. —Ryan Gasser

Treasures in Glass

For the College’s book on the literary windows of Peirce Hall, Professor of English Jennifer C. Clarvoe wrote about making sense of nonsense in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll:

"It is wonderful to find Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland in a series of windows with Paradise Lost and Pilgrim’s Progress; like the first, it concerns itself with a fall, albeit down a rabbit hole; like the second, it concerns itself with the education of its main character by allegorical figures. ... In Carroll’s brilliant, subversive work, it is the child-heroine Alice herself who is supremely sane, debunking, pragmatic—and yet, through her, we enter a world of infinitely entertaining marvels."

Margin of Error

55: Percentage of Kenyon students who think it’s more likely that hell will freeze over before Congress finds a plan for the solvency of Social Security.

70: Percentage of Kenyon students who find their coursework more challenging than expected.

62: Percentage of Kenyon students who have read a book in The Hunger Games series.

Bookstore Olympiad

As the Sochi games were winding down, the Kenyon Bookstore got into the Olympic spirit by sponsoring its own Winter Olympiad, featuring a book-balancing relay (with books balanced on competitors’ heads), a literary trivia quiz, and tabletop bagel curling (“all the excitement of real curling, with Bookstore bagels, sand, and toothbrushes”).

A three-student team competing for the United Kingdom took home the gold.

Class Notes

Recent Class Notes
’02

Jesse W. Donaldson, Portland, Oregon, submitted, “Headed west and wester / Poet wife, funny kids lucky / Man halfway through life.”

’89

Susan Bloom Hudgins launched a new business, Blooming Brains Coaching. “I offer a blend of college consulting, executive function coaching, and writing and reading support to students of all ages. I love it! My son William B. “Dell” Hudgins ’22 works in Richmond, Virginia, with Philip F. Abraham ’79. When he interviewed for the job, he was unaware of the connection but was wearing his Kenyon tie! My youngest, Porter, returned with me to Gambier to help plan our 35th. Susan also visited Melissa Thorn Tierney and her husband, Bill, in Boston.

’23

Abigail C. Navin shares, “I am currently living in Los Angeles with two Kenyon pals. We have a turtle named Tanklin, who is skittish but ultimately pretty cool and cute. I work at UCLA, but in my free time, I like to explore the city via bike or walking.”

Past Editions