Wirzburger Revisits the Past

Several months ago, Professor Matt Masur ran into History grad Tim Wirzburger ’13 on a flight to Minneapolis. The two caught up, and as is so often the case with our alums, we prevailed upon Wirzburger to give us some details on what he’s been up to these past few years. And boy did we find some surprising things!

Q: Give me a little of your personal background—where you are from and how you ended up at Saint A’s.

A: I grew up in Hanson, Massachusetts, a small town about 45 minutes south of Boston. During spring break of my junior year of high school, I went on a three-day college tour with my friend and our moms. We visited a school in Maine and then UNH. On then on the last day of the trip, we saw Saint Anselm College. I remember thinking, “I don’t want to go there, I’ve never even heard of it. You guys go, I’m gonna swim in the hotel pool.” But my mom forced me to come, and good thing she did! Within minutes of being on campus, I knew it was the place where I wanted to be.

Q: How did you end up becoming a History major? Did you start out in History or did you choose History at some point after you got to St. A’s?

A: I’ve always had a passion for history, and for years I wanted to be a history teacher. At some point during my sophomore year, I realized that I wasn’t interested in teaching anymore but I stuck with the History major. I already had half my History credits, including a couple from AP classes in high school. I then minored in Communication because I love writing. A History degree gives you lots of great tools that prepare you for the business world, even if you’re not in a “history” field. I learned clear and effective communication, strong research skills, critical thinking and analysis, presentation skills—all things that have helped me in my career so far.

Q: What do you remember about your History courses at Saint Anselm? Anything that stood out about them? Any courses that you especially enjoyed?

A: What I remember most is the diverse course catalog that the History staff offered. I took classes on the Cold War, Ancient Greece and Rome, Modern Japan, WWII, you name it. War and Revolution was a favorite of mine. I was really interested in seeing how war was conducted, understood, and written about and how it evolved from prehistoric times to the modern era. It was fascinating.

The other course that stands out is the Writing Seminar senior year with Professor Salerno. It was by far the most challenging and rewarding course during my time at Saint A’s. Putting all that time and energy into this project—all those late nights and hours at the library—to produce a thesis that I was really proud was a great memory for me. It felt like I had elevated my college education to the next level.

Q: You mention that History “helped [you] in your career so far.” What have you been doing professionally? How has History played a role in your professional activities?

A: Between my History degree and my minor in Communication, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in writing. I also wrote for The Crier and Portraits, the alumni magazine, which gave me a good taste of what it meant to interview people, work with an editor, meet deadlines, and so on. It helped me with my professional life. I worked for four years as the copywriter for the communications and marketing department at Arbella Insurance, and now I’m at a new company in another writing-intensive marketing role. Let’s just say, being a History major gave me plenty of writing practice!

Q: Tell us about your experiences as a World War II reenactor. How did you get involved? What do you do? Has reenacting changed the way you view the history of World War II?

A: It was something James Farrington (also class of ’13) and I had talked about doing for years and we stumbled upon a Boston-area group portraying the 101st Airborne, just like in the HBO series Band of Brothers. We joined them in January 2017, and we’ve marched in several parades, participated in both public and private battle reenactments, and have hosted living history events where people can check out the uniforms, the weapons, and learn more about the history of the war. We’ve also been lucky enough to meet several WWII veterans. I met an original member of the 101st who talked about freezing in a foxhole in Bastogne watching the line for German patrols. I also spoke with a naval special warfare veteran who was actually driving landing craft on D-Day and got teary-eyed telling us about seeing his buddy die on the beach. I even met a woman who grew up in France and lived through the Nazi occupation and remembers being liberated by an American unit. The living history is just incredible and has totally changed the way I think about the war. It puts a human element to it to realize how incredible “The Greatest Generation” was, the sacrifices they made, and how each of them still carries the war with them in their own way.

Q: I understand that you’ve recently moved to the Midwest. Where are you now? What are your future plans?

A: I actually just moved to Traverse City, Michigan at the end of August. It’s a beautiful little town right on the water with a thriving downtown with tons of restaurants, breweries, and outdoor activities. My uncle and his family live in a small town nearby which has been great. I just started working for Web Canopy Studio, a quickly growing company that’s doing some really cool work in the digital marketing space. This is my home for the foreseeable future, and I’m really excited about being here. I also took the summer to work on my novel. Writing has always been my passion, and I wanted to take some time off to travel and work on the book. It’s completed now, and hopefully I’ll be able to get that published. In the meantime, I’ll be enjoying all that Traverse City has to offer!

Q: You’re working on a novel? We’re intrigued! Don’t give it all away, but can you tell us one fact or detail about the novel that will make us want to read it when it is published?

A: Sure! It’s been a labor of love on and off for ten years. The concept of the story started when I was in high school, and I was really into The Da Vinci Code and that show Lost at the time, so you could say it’s inspired by those. If you like thrillers with multiple storylines and lots of twists and turns, you might like mine!

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Horton from Graduation to the ARC

One of the best parts of teaching is finding out what interesting things our history alumni do with their lives years or decades after graduation. Recently, One Thing after Another heard about a fascinating archival and oral history project and tracked down the researcher. He turned out to be not only an Saint Anselm College history alum but also the current Assistant Director of the Academic Resource Center on campus, Benjamin Horton ’12. One Thing after Another asked him about the research project and what he’d been up to for the last several years.

Q: You graduated from Saint Anselm College as a history major in 2012. What do you remember most clearly from your time on the Hilltop?

A: In the summer between my sophomore and junior years, with the help of Professor Masur and other History faculty, I obtained a history internship at the Silvio O. Conte National Records Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  I helped to run the reading room there and through this experience became interested in archival and genealogical research. This work allowed me to practice and teach archival and genealogical methods, culminating in an archival research project focusing on Irish immigration in the 19^th century, conducted in collaboration with the National Archives of Ireland in Dublin. Many of the archival research skills that I learned working for the National Records Center have since become integral to my doctoral dissertation work.

During the Fall of 2010, with the guidance of Fr. Augustine Kelly O.S.B., I pursued a scholarship opportunity co-sponsored by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and the British Council, to take part in the Irish-American Scholars Program. This is a year-long full scholarship to live, study, and teach history on Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This neighborhood is frequently referred to as “ground zero” for politically and religiously motivated violence between Loyalist Protestant and Nationalist Catholic communities. While studying at Saint Mary’s College of Queen’s University, I taught history courses in an under-resourced school on the “Peace Wall” that divides the two communities. I also served as a community liaison between Saint Mary’s College and the Protestant and Catholic areas of West Belfast.

When I returned to Saint Anselm College, during my senior year, I had the chance to intern at the Saint Anselm College Archives under the direction of the College Archivist, Keith Chevalier. These archives, which house artifacts and documents dating back to the 1880s, gave me firsthand knowledge and experience in researching the history of Saint Anselm. This experience proved among the most powerful of my four years at Saint Anselm as Keith taught me so much about the art of historical inquiry. He took great care to provide me with meaningful work and to mentor me, always taking the opportunity to tie my work with the history classes I was taking at Saint Anselm and the skills I was learning. This experience deepened my passion for the study of history and provided me with the tools I needed to be proficient in archival research methods.

Q: After graduating, what did you go on to do?

A: When I was a senior, my advisor in the History Department, Fr. William Sullivan O.S.B., suggested that my passion for education in troubled urban environments could make a real difference in the world. I came across the University Consortium for Catholic Education (UCCE) programs, which provide graduate students an opportunity to teach for two years in under-resourced Catholic schools while pursuing graduate education.

I decided to attend the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education program in 2012 as a middle school history, English, and religion teacher at Holy Family Catholic School in St. Petersburg, FL. I also had the opportunity to do my practicum experience at John Adams High School in South Bend, Indiana and Elkhart Memorial High School in Elkhart, Indiana. These opportunities helped me improve my skills as a history teacher and to carry on my passion for serving students.

Q: You came back to SAC in 2014 as Assistant Director of the Academic Resource Center. What made you want to come back to the Hilltop in this role?

A: Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my time at Saint Anselm College. My father, an alumnus of Saint Anselm College’s class of 1977, and my mother, an alumna of the class of 1978, met at the College and were married on campus, something the College started doing for alumni in the mid-1970s. My father worked at Saint Anselm for forty years in various student affairs capacities and taught for the Humanities program as well as in the Department of Criminal Justice. As I grew up, Saint Anselm became an integral part of my childhood and the people I came to know there became like family to me.

I worked as a mentor and tutor in the College’s Academic Resource Center as an undergraduate. I also served as a history tutor and writing assistant. Spending long hours in the ARC as a student, this place truly felt like home for me.  When Professor LaFleur retired after many years in the ARC, I was excited by the prospect of returning to the Hilltop and overseeing the Peer Tutor Program. Working alongside Kenn Walker, Caitlin Albright, and Ann-Maria Contarino (my former Freshman English instructor, and one of the kindest people on campus) has been a true joy for me over the course of the past few years. The Benedictine monks of Saint Anselm Abbey view one’s work as the highest form of prayer. In the ARC, our professional staff seeks to embody this important aspect of the Benedictine charism in our interactions with students, faculty, staff, and alumni on a daily basis. Ultimately, it all comes down to love of Saint Anselm and love of our students.

Q: You actually join a number of former history majors who work at the College including Lee Joyce ’94 and Cassandra (Loftus) McCue ‘08 in Admissions (go here for a post about Loftus). Is there something about being a history major that inspires you or prepares you well for these types of positions?  

A: I certainly am humbled to work with other History majors like Lee and Cassandra. While I won’t speak for them, I think the thing that draws us all back here is the wonderful sense of community we have. The faculty and staff really have their priorities straight—a genuine emphasis on students and on serving the common good. As a History major, learning to read, write, and think critically prepared me to do my best in my professional role here.

Q: Now you are pursing your PhD in Higher Education and Leadership Policy at the University of New Hampshire. Your dissertation project “Perspectives on Change: The Coeducational Transition of Saint Anselm College, 1969-1979” seems to draw together your love of history and of education. Can you tell us more about this project?

A: My dissertation examines Saint Anselm College’s transition to a fully coeducational Benedictine Catholic liberal arts college between 1969 and 1979, using archival documents and oral history interviews with female alumnae, who experienced campus life firsthand during the 1960s and 1970s. I am interested in the factors that contributed to Saint Anselm College becoming a coeducational institution and the significant impacts on campus culture and environment.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Saint Anselm underwent an period of great change. During the 1960s, women were bussed onto campus from hospital-based residences in Manchester. Women were allowed on campus for restricted periods of time and their activities at the College were limited. Women were not allowed in the dining hall and had nowhere to gather outside of classroom buildings and the Coffee Shop.

In 1969, the College appointed Sr. Nivelle Berning O.S.B. as Saint Anselm’s first Dean of Women. This move marked an important period of transition for the College, as Joan of Arc Hall (or as it was known then, “The Nursing Dorm”) was constructed. Once women were admitted into the residential portion of the College, it changed campus culture almost immediately. During this period (the early 1970s), the College began to employ more female faculty and staff and to create activities and recreational spaces for female students. Bertrand Hall, Raphael Hall “The Studio”, St. Mary’s Hall, and Alumni Hall Streets were all renovated or constructed to make room for additional female housing during the early 1970s. These projects significantly altered the physical plant of the College and marked a period of the College’s investment in infrastructure and programming for female students.

With the admission of women into the Liberal Arts program in the fall of 1974, the College made its full transition to coeducation. The influx of women on campus not only increased the quality and number of applicants to the College but also made the College more financially stable. This period would define and sustain the College during an otherwise challenging period. Saint Anselm College was the first Benedictine College nationwide to transition to co-education.

Q: Working full time and getting a PhD must keep you really busy! When you get spare time, what do you enjoy doing with it?

A: My wife Alex (a 2011 Saint Anselm graduate) and I live in Manchester. We were married at Saint Anselm Abbey Church in 2015. Alex’s passion is small business, and in 2013, she opened Café la Reine on Elm St. in Manchester. It is a small downtown coffee shop. While Alex is usually the busy one, when the two of us aren’t working or writing, we enjoy giving back to the great Manchester community through a variety of service and business activities. We love Manchester and all of the wonderful things to do here. We also both love a good cup of coffee!

In the summer you’re likely to find us downtown enjoying lunch with friends. We also both enjoy fishing, kayaking, and being outdoors with our pup, a standard schnauzer named “Keefe.” Alex first met Keefe when she was volunteering at the Manchester Animal Shelter in 2015. Since then, we adopted him, and he has become part of the family.

Lefrancois at the Worcester District Attorney’s Office

Recently, history major Kevin Lefrancois ’15 got back in touch with the department to say hello and ask for letters of recommendation as he applied to MA programs in International Relations. We were really interested in his job at the Worcester District Attorney’s Office, so we asked him a few questions about his time there and how it intersected with his major in history.

Q: What drew you to Saint Anselm College?

A: I applied to about 10 different schools throughout the country. I had already decided that I would be pursuing a history or political science degree which helped me limit my options, but after visiting the school and quickly seeing myself walk across the quad and past the Abbey to attend classes, it quickly became apparent to me that St. A’s would be one of my top choices. I had attended a Catholic high school, which also helped me to feel more at home and lean even closer to choosing Saint A’s. Ultimately, the decision came down to the fact that Saint A’s was the only institution in my opinion that had a strong combination of devoted staff and unique course offerings for both majors. During Accepted Students’ Day I quickly struck up conversations with professors from both departments and saw their enthusiasm for their subjects which made me feel like even more at home.

Q: Why did you major in history? Did you think about criminal justice?

A: For me, history covers all aspects of a society including art, literature, science, religion, law and politics. I have thus always appreciated the subject. Also an astute observer of history may predict future trends. When I looked at the course catalogue and saw the range of topics, from Ancient Rome to the Modern History of Japan, I knew that I would be given the opportunity to expand my knowledge of the world in new and exciting ways. A fascinating aspect of history for me has been the development of law across different nations and people. Every country has its own way of judging morality, especially in the form of criminal justice. I had developed an interest in criminal justice during my high school years by participating in my school’s mock trial program. There I acquired insight into the basics of the American criminal justice system and how a trial is supposed to proceed. I quickly knew that I would love to work someday as an attorney who brought justice to others.

Q: What was your most memorable experience in history (or at SAC)?

A: The most memorable time for me at Saint Anselm College was the opportunity I was given to assemble the audio and presentation equipment for the Humanities lectures. The Humanities program was one of my favorite courses of study during my time at Saint A’s since it was then an extensive history seminar program that covered centuries of western civilization’s development. During these assembly sessions I was given the golden opportunity to converse with the professors and lecturers before they would address the crowd, giving me some key insights into various subjects.

Q: When did you first know you were interested in law? How did you get your foot in the door at the District Attorney’s Office?

A: I first became interested in law in high school, and I joined the mock trial team. Junior year I acted as an expert witness and had to learn to stand up under the examination and cross-examination of the prosecuting attorney, a challenging exercise in clearly articulating complicated legal concepts under pressure. This particular case dealt with white-collar crime, but senior year I had the chance to deal with a manslaughter investigation which kindled my true interest. I played the role of a police officer and had to learn forensic techniques by heart to provide expert testimony. I had a glimpse of the painstaking load law enforcement shoulders to prosecute a case properly. My fascination with law continued into college, and sophomore year at St. A’s I started looking for internships. My search brought me to Worcester, MA where I interned with the Worcester District Attorney’s Office for the next several years. I had a chance to impress the District Attorney himself with my work, and upon graduation I was offered a job.

Q: What do you do every day?

A: At first I worked as the Juvenile Court Administrator for the District Attorney’s Office. I worked with the Department of Children and Families, gang violence, drugs, firearms, and more. I organized the juvenile cases and assisted the attorneys in their trial preparation. In addition, I was a Trial Court Assistant, which involved presenting evidence, technical support, and in-court assistance to prosecutors. Usually I worked with homicide cases at the District Court level. After a year, I was promoted to Internship Coordinator in which capacity I interviewed, hired, and supervised hundreds of interns. I ensured that they had opportunities to handle casework, shadow attorneys, and otherwise have opportunities for hands-on education in the legal profession. Finally, I was also responsible for community outreach which often involved presentations at businesses, schools, and community centers within the county.

Q: What do you do on the Opioid Crisis Task Force? Do you feel like you are making any headway in this crisis? Do you focus on law enforcement, education, treatment, or some other aspect of this problem?

A: I worked with the Opioid Addiction Task Force created by the District Attorney. The Task Force was responsible for innovative programs intended to curb widespread drug abuse in Worcester County and was expressly tailored to community needs. Worcester County includes over 60 different towns in addition to the city, which meant working side-by-side with community leaders in all walks of life. I represented the District Attorney at many working meetings with these leaders. In addition I was responsible for the maintenance of the Opioid Addiction Resource List, which included rehabilitation clinics, hospitals, halfway houses, and other organizations that offer support to those suffering from opioid addiction. I especially focused on the families. We tried to walk a fine line between prosecution and rehabilitation of those suffering from opioid addiction, which included providing police officers with various alternative means of justice, such as education or medical support. Opioid deaths decreased rapidly in Worcester County, a strong sign of success. Our education initiatives were, in my view, particularly effective at a grass-roots level.

Graduating Seniors Remember Professor Shannon’s Conversatio Section

In addition to teaching history courses, some History faculty also teach in the first-year Conversatio program.  Because it is a required course for all first-year students, History faculty get to teach a wide variety of students with majors across all the disciplines. Four years ago, Professor Silvia Shannon had a particularly lively and engaged seminar.

Participant Theodore (Ted) Boivin ’18 described it “as one of the best highlights of my freshman year. We had a truly wonderful group with some excellent discussions on a wide array of topics, debating everything from ancient Greek tragedy to 20^th-century bioethics, sharing diverse perspectives on the material.”

Four years later, the students still remembered the seminar and their experience together.  As Ted wrote, “While we were being lined up for the procession into the Honors Convocation [in May 2018], Andrew Bompastore and I noticed that, of the twenty-eight students who achieved Summa Cum Laude status this year, seven of us were all in Professor Shannon’s Conversatio section: Olive Capone, Maddie Dunn, Emily Garcia, Erin Krell, Olivia Thornburg, and Andrew and me. We took a picture to send to you as a Conversatio throwback with our thanks for such an amazing start to our four years! We couldn’t have done it without you!”

A Classics major and History minor, Ted is headed off to the University of Cincinnati for a PhD in classical philology (the study of the life, languages, and thought of the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds). Biology major and Neuroscience minor Erin Krell is pursuing graduate studies in psychology at the University of New Hampshire. Education Studies major and Philosophy minor Olive Capone is pursuing teaching positions in New York State.

All faculty know that the success of a seminar requires a combination of excellent teaching skill, careful listening, curious and engaged students, and a little luck. Congratulations to Professor Shannon and these class of 2018 grads on one great seminar.

Recollections about Saint Anselm College in the 1960s

Last fall, Saint Anselm alumnus Dave Witham ’68 contacted Professor Masur after learning about his course on the Vietnam War. Professor Masur asked Mr. Witham if he would be willing to share some recollections about attending Saint Anselm during a very tumultuous time in American history. The first part of the interview appears below. We’ll post the second part of the interview separately.

Q: Can you start by giving me a little bit of your background? Where are you from? When did you attend St. Anselm and what did you study?

A: I grew up in Bangor, ME, during the 1950s and early 1960s and attended John Bapst H. S., a Catholic school in the city. It was a time when across the kitchen table and in the mass media U. S. foreign policy and military involvements were rarely questioned. I graduated in 1964 and began my freshman year at St. Anselm the following September.

Dave Witham a few years after his college days

I declared as an English major at the beginning of my sophomore year. Because of my interest in history—especially military history—I enrolled in several courses over the four years in that department. Having such an engaging and demanding (in the sense of requiring us to know and to try through hard work to remember facts—and not of the fake variety) teacher as Fr. Justin in Western Civilization (or From Plato to NATO, as I now call it) helped greatly in developing my love of the subject matter. My accompanying affection for biography and autobiography is probably a direct result of my desire to know in greater detail the lives of important and fascinating people that I had encountered in my historical studies.

As an English major, the important writers, poets, and playwrights—for example, Chaucer, Dante, Shakespeare, Donne, William Collins, Yeats, Joyce, Twain, Stephen Crane, Stevens, Faulkner, Baldwin,  and Jarrell, but alas, no Whitman or Dickinson until graduate school—that I encountered either in class or as reading recommendations by classmates initiated a lifetime of literary study. During my senior year I decided to become an English teacher and so had to take quickly enough education courses—including student-teaching at a Catholic high school in Manchester—to constitute a minor course of study.

Dave Witham while a St. A’s student

Q: 1968 was a big year in the United States and internationally. One important event at the beginning of the year was the Tet Offensive, up to that point the largest NLF/North Vietnamese campaign in the Vietnam War. What do you remember about the Tet Offensive?  Were people talking about it on campus?

A: Because nearly all students graduating from St. A’s during the years 1964-68 were draft eligible once their student deferment expired, the prevalent attitude that I recall was one of “whistling past a graveyard,” generally ignoring (except for a small group of students of whom I was a member) this horrific, seemingly interminable conflict in the hope that it would end prior to our graduation in 1968. News of the Tet Offensive dispelled that illusion, though I don’t recall much campus discussion of it. I remember thinking at the time that it was just one more disaster flowing from U. S. policy, a logical complement to U. S. weekly losses at times of around 250 soldiers and airmen. The Nixon Administration and such military leaders as Army Gen. William Westmoreland (also known among war protesters as “Waste-more-land”) portrayed the Tet Offensive as a U. S./ARVN victory due to the heavy NLF losses. However, over the next few weeks the increasingly skeptical commentary in newspaper editorials (but certainly not the then right-wing Union Leader) and some members of Congress centered on the fact that previous optimistic predictions about “a light at the end of the tunnel” were either outright lies or delusional opinions.

The ability of the enemy to launch attacks throughout South Vietnam attested to their military strength and persistence. As Mark Bowden, author of Blackhawk Down, states in his book on the battle of Hue, no longer was the question among many Americans, “When will we achieve victory?,” but rather “How will we get out of this morass?”

Q: The war in Vietnam prompted Senator Eugene McCarthy to challenge President Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic presidential nomination in early 1968.  What was your role in the McCarthy campaign? What drew you to McCarthy?

A: Senator McCarthy was one of only a few in Congress who addressed the immorality of inflicting modern weapons of war upon a third-world country, an unleashing of massive bombing campaigns (whose tonnage exceeded that of all U.S. airpower in WWII), unrestrained use of herbicides such as Agent Orange (still causing birth defects in Vietnam), and search-and-destroy tactics by U.S./ARVN ground forces.

Pat Fox (friend of Dave Witham) with Senator Eugene McCarthy

McCarthy’s call for an unconditional end to U. S. bombing of the North, for greater reliance upon a diplomatic end to the conflict, and for the administration’s recognition of the immoral ways in which the war was being prosecuted elicited widespread agreement among students and adult voters alike (a campaign very similar in its emotional tenor to that of Bernie Sanders’s recent run). I and several of my friends and classmates worked for him in the upcoming NH Primary; our duties included mostly passing out literature in the severe cold at various Manchester locations. In retrospect it was basically only our moral outrage at this unending, terrible conflict (eventually taking more than 3,000,000 Vietnamese soldier and civilian lives and that of more than 58,000 Americans) that could have motivated us to leave the warmth of the dorm and our academic obligations.

Q: What was the atmosphere on campus, particularly in regard to the war and the presidential election? Were students politically engaged?  Did students have strong opinions about the war in Vietnam?

A: During my four years at St. Anselm, the campus did not experience the same kinds of demonstrations—marches against the Vietnam War, protests against some universities’ perceived complicity with immoral military weapons research and objectives, and occupation of administration buildings and laboratories to support demands for minority and women’s studies programs—occurring at other institutions, especially as Presidents Johnson and Nixon greatly increased the numbers of soldiers and Marines and escalated the bombing campaign beginning in 1965. Except for the group that I mentioned above and some individual students and faculty members who voiced either concern about or opposition to U. S. military involvement in Vietnam, the student body at large was generally oblivious to events there through about the end of the school year in 1967.

As we seniors returned for our final year, Sen. McCarthy announced his candidacy during the fall, which served to galvanize a portion—say, around a quarter–of the student body in its opposition to the seemingly unending horrific loss of life and widespread destruction in Vietnam. The great majority of students seemed to accept unquestioningly (a typical attitude for draft-eligible young people from the end of WWII through the Korean War and beyond) the narrative of the monolithic Communist Menace.

So both the public and young people subjected to a compulsory draft were generally unaware that there was no Independent North Vietnam invading a struggling So. Vietnam that sought its own autonomy. I learned of the thwarted Geneva Accords only by reading an account in a book by the French journalist Bernard Fall, who had spent years reporting on events in Vietnam. That sealed the issue for me:  U. S. intervention on behalf of (followed years later by the assassination of) the self-aggrandizing Diem totally contravened the desire of the majority of the Vietnamese people for self-determination. It was this faulty foundation of U. S. policy and the later immoral prosecution of the war that solidified my opposition to it.

In retrospect, one tactic that any St. Anselm faculty member concerned about U. S. foreign policy and its application—especially regarding the use of force—to Vietnam could have implemented was one that existed on many college campuses across the country: the teach-in. My understanding of this kind of on-site gathering, as described in news reports and magazine articles, was that an institution’s instructors conducted informational sessions about the war. Having researched Vietnamese history (especially during its nearly century-long struggle against French colonialism) and American political and military involvement in Southeast Asia after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, they presented the facts as they saw them about third-world nationalism, alleged monolithic Communism, America’s apparent anti-Communist crusade, and the morality of its conduct of the war. I assumed that lively discussion and debate ensued after each of these presentations.

At St. Anselm, however, no faculty member stepped forward to plan and host its own form of a teach-in, and I unfortunately lacked the self-confidence and imagination to approach anyone among the faculty to elicit his or her reaction. So it remains uncertain whether the college administration—despite the provisions of academic freedom–would have acted to prevent such a seminar and even whether faculty members could be expected to speak out beyond the confines of the classroom on matters of public policy, especially when lives wereat stake. On the other hand, I recall vividly in 1967 the appearance of New York attorney and incisive war critic Allard Lowenstein at the student center; although I was unable to attend his lecture, one student told me that he no longer supported the war after listening to Lowenstein’s persuasive arguments.

As for student discussions about the war in Vietnam, they occurred sporadically—usually on an individual basis between members of our small group of antiwar protesters and students who conceived of North Vietnam as a separate nation from the South, and whose Communist aggression was an analogue of the Nazi conquests prior to WWII.  These students tended to subscribe to the highly emphasized (by such administration figures as Johnson, Nixon, Rusk, Laird, and other spokespeople) but ultimately simplistic domino theory, originally articulated by President Eisenhower, in which the loss of So. Vietnam through a policy of appeasement to the Hitlerian figure Ho Chi Minh, or his alleged handlers in Moscow, would inevitably lead to a Communist take-over of all Southeast Asia. As pointed out above in The Pentagon Papers quotation, Pentagon officials were skeptical of this scenario, though several administrations suppressed their opinion.

One common refrain that I heard occasionally over the years on campus whenever the subject of the war and its horrific violence came up was that “Life is cheap in the Orient,” a comment made whenever none of our few Asian students were within earshot. Obviously, it’s tempting to fall back on what we now would consider a racist remark when one is young and hasn’t been encouraged—or taken the time—to question the official line about national policies.  And only a few students or citizens stopped to think that it was the U. S. military’s use of search-and-destroy tactics, indiscriminate bombing, torture of POWs, chemical defoliants, and forced resettlement programs that so devaluated lives in Vietnam or “the Orient.” In fact, I don’t recall hearing the comment after the revelations of the My Lai massacre and the infamous published photo of terrified children running down a road after their clothes had been burned off by napalm and their skin severely damaged.

Drew Extols the Virtues of Latin American Studies

Christine Drew ‘17 was a Latin American Studies minor in the History Department in addition to her International Relations and Spanish majors. One Thing after Another caught up with Christine recently to talk about the Latin American Studies minor and the power of learning about and from diversity.

Q: What made you decide to minor in Latin American Studies?

A: I chose to minor in Latin American Studies because I have always been drawn to other cultures, the importance of understanding cultural diversity, and learning from different perspectives. I also wanted a genuine liberal arts education that was interdisciplinary with exposure to multiple schools of thought. While initially starting at Saint Anselm undecided, my volunteer experience with the refugee and immigrant populations as well as some international volunteer work sparked my interest in International Relations. I later declared a double major in International Relations and Spanish. Following this decision, my courses abroad in Latin American History continued to broaden my perspectives and led me to pursue a minor in Latin American studies.

Q: What particular skills, knowledge, or experiences did you gain from the minor?

A: The courses that fulfilled my minor requirements were completed both at Saint Anselm and during my semester abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Having the ability to deepen my understanding of Latin America and learn about the history, culture, and language while living in it each day was indescribable. To learn about Latin American culture while being in Latin America provided context and real-world experiences that the Latin American studies minor enhanced tremendously upon my return. The faculty that I had in the History, Modern Languages, and Politics departments are extremely knowledgeable and really make learning fun and interesting. Furthermore, Latin America is a region that is rich with history and culture that most people know little about. The minor broadens understandings and unifies multiple disciplines and areas of discourse to reflect on the view of Latin America.

Q: How did the minor complement your major?

A: My time with an interdisciplinary major (International Relations) really developed my passion for understanding complex global issues in politics, history, and modern languages.  With the Latin American studies minor, I was able to take courses that specifically aligned with my interest of learning about Latin American history and having this historical context, it offered a new perspective and a different way of thinking in my international politics and Latin American studies courses. It also helps to have the historical background knowledge to understand why countries interact with others in the way that they do today.

Q: How are you using your Saint Anselm education these days?

A: My passion and experiences led me to become Program Coordinator for Community Partnerships at the Meelia Center for Community Engagement here at Saint Anselm. The Anselmian values and education that I received continued into my professional life and I am grateful for the experiences that I have been exposed to throughout my time at Saint Anselm.

Q: What else would you like to tell potential minors about the Latin American Studies minor?

A: Any student who is on the fence about pursuing a Latin American Studies minor should certainly talk to their advisor(s) about the benefits. The ability to learn from people that are different than you is a skill that will be useful far beyond the classroom. The Latin American Studies minor provides the opportunity to do just that- gain new perspectives and strengthen understandings.

Stedman Teaches History–and Football–at BC High

Some weeks ago, One Thing after Another received a friendly note from alum Bernie Stedman ’08 who now teaches history at his alma mater, Boston College High School. As is often the case, this blog could not let Stedman get away without an interview, especially after it reviewed his Rate My Teachers ratings. Stedman kindly acquiesced, and what follows is the result.

Q: One Thing after Another recalls that you were simply a history major as an undergraduate and that you were not involved in the secondary education program at Saint Anselm College. Were you always interested in teaching, or did you head in that direction after graduation? In other words, how did you become a teacher?

A: I can say that I knew I wanted to become a teacher pretty early in my freshman year. I had always entertained the idea, as my mother, uncle, and grandfather were all teachers and, obviously, the notion of summers off was tremendously appealing! But I would say that during my freshman year I experienced a confluence of finding a strong interest in studying history as well as feeling the pull towards a career in teaching. However, I found that pursuing education classes would diminish my experience in history, so I chose to fully invest myself in a history major and take some education courses when I could spare the time.

Q: Boston College High School is a prestigious institution. How did you position yourself to obtain a job there?

A: I count myself blessed to be a part of Boston College High School. Obviously, I feel that my being an alumnus of the school had a great deal to do with my being able to secure an interview for the job opening, but I also benefited from having been a history major. Since BC High is a college preparatory school, it often focuses on finding candidates who majored in the field they teach and who have had at least some experience in the classroom. Fortunately, I had been a substitute teacher in the Quincy public school system for a couple of years, so I had both the degree and the classroom experience. In addition to that, I had been coaching football and basketball during my time as a sub. Many educators view coaching as an extension of the classroom, and in this particular case I believe the school was looking for someone with experience in both coaching and teaching.

Q: In the school directory, you are listed as a Social Studies teacher, but you got in touch with our department because you are teaching a new course on World War II. What does your teaching rotation look like? What is your favorite class to teach?

A: At BC High, teachers have a lighter course load (four total classes) than most school teachers who typically have five classes. This year, I am teaching a senior elective on WWII, two sections of US History AP (which consists mostly of juniors), and one section of freshman world history. I generally ask to have three different classes because I enjoy having students in different class years. My favorite class to teach is US History AP because I have always been partial to that field, and the course is made up of high-achieving students who are very committed to doing well. This dynamic affords me the opportunity to teach it as a college-level course and put a particular emphasis on the material itself. This was the environment I experienced  at Saint Anselm College, and it’s why I loved studying history.

Q: One Thing after Another’s sources, which are omniscient and omnipresent, indicate that you coach football for Boston College High School. Coaching is a form of teaching; do you find much crossover between instructing students in the classroom and on the football field?

A: I take great joy in coaching football for many of the same reasons that I enjoy teaching US History AP. It is most definitely an extension of the classroom and a form of teaching. And, like US History AP, it is full of kids who are devoted, and willing to work hard and learn. That creates an atmosphere that cultivates strong bonds between you and your students, which is the basis of good teaching. One of the challenges of coaching football is to stress the importance of the teaching dynamic in such a highly competitive environment. Many coaches are not teachers by trade and so it is all the more important to be a classroom teacher on the field in order to maintain the culture and identity of the school. This is a challenge and a task I take very seriously and enjoy very much.

Q: To what extent do you believe your liberal arts education and your major in History helped prepare you for your current position?

A: I would not be in my current position without my liberal arts education. All of the abilities I possess that make me an effective teacher I owe to my education. The ability to think critically, analyze material, engage in discourse, and see situations from different perspectives are skills that my liberal arts education honed for me. I always try to put these at the forefront of my teaching because these are paramount. This is what I try to impart to my students more than details and material from class, because I feel that without the ability to think, write, and speak, knowledge of history, literature, or religion would be useless.

Q: According to Rate My Teachers (yes, we have stooped so low as to check that site), your students think the world of you, and in their inimitable way, their comments indicate that you are hilarious in the classroom. Why do you think you’ve made such an impression on your students?

A: When I teach, I always try to remember the teachers who made me want to be a teacher, and I simply try to emulate them in my own way. At the risk of embarrassing Professor Dubrulle, he was one of my primary inspirations. I always admired the way he was able to incorporate who he was into the material he taught, so whenever I took one of his classes, it felt like something other than a professor conveying material. There was always a richness to lectures because it was obvious that he loved what he studied and what he taught. I try to be the same way in my classroom. I try to incorporate who I am into what I teach so that the subject matter and the exercise of studying history can be more rewarding for both me and my students. I always try to remember the sage advice a teacher gave me: if you are not having fun and sharing a few laughs every now and again, then all you have is history, and most teenagers don’t want that.

Furthermore, I consider that the myth of the unemployable History major must be destroyed.