Homecoming at Wittenberg

Jess and I disagree slightly about the lyrics to the Simon and Garfunkel tune “Kodachrome.” She favors the “everything looks worse in black and white” version, while I prefer the “better.” Of course it’s an uncomfortable opinion. I admit that Jess’s preference better agrees with the song title, which makes use of Kodak’s famous color slide film as a metaphor; nevertheless, black and white is clearly evocative of memories and the past, and subject-adjective agreement requires that Simon and Garfunkel sing “better” as they did during the concert in Central Park.

Lest it seem I digress, allow me a slight indulgence. Going back to a place where you once spent every day for years at a time, but haven’t seen in a decade, really highlights this concept. Wittenberg is a beautiful campus. It was beautiful when we were students, and it’s arguably more beautiful now with all of the new and remodeled buildings. Although in Boulder most of the trees had already lost their leaves, the trees of Ohio were awash in color. Neat colors like oranges and red that are seldom seem in Colorado, too. This, however, barely makes up for the depressing state of affairs just beyond the edges of campus. While Springfield, Ohio, was a small town experiencing deep economic troubles when we were students at Wittenberg, those issues seem to have deepened in the interim. The dismay is made even deeper coming from Boulder.

In order to make the best use of our time, Jess and I left work slightly early on Friday afternoon and made the drive to Denver International Airport. I tried to bite my tongue regarding all of DIA’s shortcoming, but I’m sure I made a few comments. Since we had no bags to check, we made our way straight to the security checkpoint. It was one of the shortest lines I’ve ever seen. We zipped right through and on to the concourse where we picked up some KFC (what passes for good food at the airport). Before long, we were on the plane and headed to Ohio. Jess slept most of the way while I listened to jazz on the iPod and read some of Angela’s Ashes on the Kindle. Some aspects of travel have really improved in the last few years.

We arrived in Dayton, Ohio, just after midnight on Saturday morning. It took us a few minutes to get our rental car from possibly the most cheerful woman ever observed at such an hour. About 25 minutes later, and no wrong turns, we were at the hotel. We were sharing a room with Jennifer and Lee and Alexander, who we were shocked to discover was still awake at nearly 1:00 a.m. It took another hour to settle in and get everyone to sleep, so we had just enough time for a few fitful hours of rest. With only 2 days to spend at Wittenberg, and a football game in the afternoon, we couldn’t sleep away the morning.

After a miserable breakfast buffet at the hotel, we headed to campus. We walked all over, with Alexander alternating between the stroller and various arms whenever he wasn’t insisting on doing his own walking. He’s actually a great walker, and runner, but he’s easily distracted. Jennifer popped him into a little tiger-shaped jumpy castle, but that really freaked him out. We didn’t even have enough time to get a decent picture! There was also a portable climbing wall and a giant inflatable slide. Alexander was a bit too small for all of them, but the attendant let him touch the climbing wall, and he seemed to enjoy that.

After walking around for a while, we’d worked up quite an appetite, really. We stopped into a favorite deli from our Wittenberg Days, Mike and Rosy’s, for some lunch. Apparently it was a favorite for a lot of other former and current students because the place was packed. We were able to get the last table in the dining room where we all waited for Lee to pick up our lunches while Alexander beat a poor gourd to death. Thankfully the other patrons found it equally amusing.

After lunch, we walked over to the stadium. By then, Ohio weather was really starting to get unpleasant. It was cold (around freezing) with a slight drizzle and a gusty wind. Awesome! The game started out a bit uncomfortably as well. When we were students, Witt was just about unstoppable in football. They won the NCAC and made a playoff appearance in 3 of the 4 seasons during our college years. This year was looking similar as the Tigers were undefeated heading into Saturday’s match against Carnegie Mellon University. To the dismay of the gathered, CMU took the opening kickoff and proceeded to march down the field. Well into field-goal range, the CMU offenses sputtered and eventually lost yards. They ended up punting on fourth and long, but they should have gone for the endzone. They got a great punt, inside the 10, but even that was a trivial net yardage. Witt faltered on the next possession, but eventually they broke the endzone and ultimately overcame the tartans for a 28-7 victory.

Around the middle of the 3rd quarter, we spotted my old lab partner Adam and his wife Sally. We chatted for a while, and once the outcome seemed assured, we abandoned the stadium for a warmer (inside) activity. Everyone was getting excited for the actual 10-year reunion event and the much ballyhooed “heavy hors d’oeuvres.” Our class gathering was set to start just after the football game in the newly re-designed science building. This was perfect for Jennifer, Lee, Adam, and me, as we were all science majors, but a bit of a bummer for Jess as her main building’s been completely demolished.

We were some of the first to arrive, but shortly thereafter one of my old roommates Jeremy showed up. It was interesting to see who would make an appearance. While I’d count many of my old classmates as friends, there are few I actually keep in touch with.  Eventually, several more familiar faces, and a few unfamiliar ones, trickled in, and the reminiscing began in earnest. The heavy hors d’oeuvres were a mixed bag. Jess gave the sliders a ringing endorsement, and Adam liked the cup-o-salad, but I thought the cash bar a little pricey. Nevertheless, I managed a little mini cheesecake and a Heineken. Jess pointed out that it was exactly the kind of food that’s difficult to eat while talking and mingling.

Adam and Sally had a nice conversation with the new Witt President (Mark H. Erickson) about the economic difficulties facing the university. In truth, they’re probably about the same as those facing colleges and universities across the country. In short, enrollments are generally down and administrators are facing difficult decisions. It’ll be interesting to see how this economic downturn impacts higher education in the long term. Already the costs are so high, and ever-increasing, that the status quo seems untenable. Mark left for one of the other gatherings before we got a chance to say hi, but there were still plenty of others to catch up with.

Eventually the gathering broke up, and we wandered back across the campus. We stopped in at Weaver Chapel to admire the beautiful stained glass windows. When we were students, we spent an awful lot of time in the chapel. Not only were we there for church each Sunday, but I also hung out with Chris and Adam playing music on either the great big organ or the fabulous Bösendorfer piano. The chapel has typical acoustic properties, which were always a challenge during symphonic band conferences, but worked well for choral music and organ recitals. We sat for a while taking in the views as the sun slowly set across campus. Since Jess, Jennifer, and Lee all had to do some online teaching, and everyone was getting hungry, we went to grab some dinner and called it a night.

The next morning, we met up with Matt and went to the classic Bob Evans for breakfast. We got a chance to hang out with him for a while before we had to race back to the hotel and change cars in order to race back to Wittenberg for Reformation Sunday at Weaver Chapel. The service was awesome with the Witt choir and Doctor B (short for Busarow) on organ. Thanks to Jim, Gladi, Kristina, and countless others we enjoy great music at Mount Calvary every Sunday, but this was otherworldly. It was fun to once again sing Ein Feste Burg to Luther’s original tune. After the service we chatted with the university pastors (Andy and Rachel Tune) and Dr. B, who seemed completely unchanged.

After church, we hung out in the newly renamed Commons, now Post 95, where we’d once spent countless hours doing homework as Jess, Jennifer, and Lee once again did homework. I “watched” football on the laptop via the NFL’s website and free WiFi, another positive change over the past decade. After a bit, we walked around campus some more and eventually said goodbye to Jennifer, Lee, and Alexander, who had to drive back to Saint Joseph, Michigan. Jess and I weren’t flying back to Boulder until Monday morning, early, so we had some more time to enjoy campus.

After parting ways with our friends, Jess and I grabbed some dinner at Fazolli’s. It’s shockingly hard to find a decent restaurant in Springfield, and eating at the old CDR (Central Dining Room) wasn’t terribly appealing. We were planning to go to church again for the Festival Choral Eucharist, and just enough time to drive around some of the nicer neighborhoods around campus before heading back to Weaver Chapel. As good as the morning worship service had been, the festival service that night was even better. The Northeastern Ohio Synod’s Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, was giving the homily, and though it was on the long side, it was a thought-provoking and entertaining sermon.

After church, we headed back to Post 95 so that Jess could do some more teaching for her online classes. Since I didn’t have any homework, and didn’t need to watch Alexander, I excused myself to take another walk around campus. I’d been feeling a bit depressed, thought I can’t exactly say why. I think I’d been hoping for some reminder or validation of my decision to attend Wittenberg. Although the science building has a lovely new facade and some spectacularly updated classrooms, the physics wing is largely unchanged. When we walked through the music building, things were far worse. Wittenberg used to have a full conservatory, but that ceased to exist long before we matriculated. Considering the large number of students who participate in various music ensembles like the fabulous choir, the symphonic band, and even the jazz ensemble, you might think the university would place some premium on the music department. Having been a music and physics double major, I guess I was starting to rethink why I went to a university where both departments seem like afterthoughts.

After a delightful walk across the campus I arrived at the observatory. It was much warmer than it had been the previous day, and was turning into a delightfully clear night. I was hoping the dome might be open, but it was clearly shut. I decided to head back into the science building and look at some of the display cases to see what the students were doing for research. Wittenberg doesn’t offer graduate studies, so all of the research at Witt is a collaboration between professors and undergrads. It’s really a great learning environment when the tenured faculty actually care about undergrads. From my experience, you cannot count on getting this sort of attention at big research universities.

After reading all of the posters, I headed back out past the observatory and discovered that the dome was actually open! I’d spent an awful lot of time in the observatory as a student as well, and really wanted to see the big telescope again. I figured that if the dome was open Dan (Dr. Fleisch) would likely be up there as well. My hunch was right. He was holding an observing session for some of the astronomy classes. Just standing in the corner and observing the current students (and one visiting parent) learning from Dan really brought back some memories. Finally, I remembered why I chose Wittenberg in the first place. I got a chance to look through the scope at the moon (not the most exciting target) and later the ring nebula. Dan and Witt had done a lot to refurbish the scope’s mount in the past decade, but it managed to blow a fuse while we were observing, so some things don’t change. At least the blown fuse would be easier to change than the sheared cotter pins in transmission fluid that we suffered on a regular basis several years earlier.

Dan was a new professor when I was a physics student at Witt, but it was clear he was destined to be one of Wittenberg’s most popular. He logged hundreds of “extra” hours in the observatory every semester helping students conduct research and really learn about the cosmos. As the evening broke up, we chatted a bit about all of the changes around the department. Most of my old professors have retired, but it’s clear that the quality of the education has remained just as strong, and isn’t that what you really go to college for in the first place? I was in a much better mood as I jogged back across campus to join Jess after a couple of hours. Of course, I’d told her I would be just a few minutes, but that provided her a nice reminder of what college life was like as well.