LESSONS FROM DISASTER
Brenda Ellisā recollection of the Thresher disaster [] and 91ĢĘ²®»¢ās connections then and now brought to mind that fateful April day 50 years ago. As a freshly mintedĀ ensign assigned to Adm. Rickoverās Naval Reactors office, I was an observer aboard the USS George Marshall during its initial sea trials out of New London, Ct. Like the Thresher only a hundred miles or so north, the Marshall was performing its initial deep-dive and quick-dive trials. The creaking hull and occasionally leaky valve clearly indicated we were approaching test depth. The calmness of the sea and the professional crew suppressed any thought of danger or fear.
But on the way back to port, the announcement that contact with an unnamed submarine on sea trials had been lost focused all aboard on the vulnerability of such a super-sophisticated vessel. Back at my office, I was to be involved during the next few years in major design and procedural changes that ensued after the tragedy.
Until reading the 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Magazine article, I was unaware of the 91ĢĘ²®»¢ connections and of Professor Steve Krahnās studies about the lessons to be learned. I am glad to know that some gain can come from the tragic experience. For me, it did teach a never-forgotten lesson that care and attention to detail cannot be overemphasized. Many of the reasons for the Thresher disaster have been, unfortunately, prevalent in more recent ones.
Thanks for telling the story.
JIM VEIRS, BEā62, MSā69,Ā North Granby, Ct.
GAMES AND MOOCS
I took Jay Claytonās seminar on hypertext in fall 2004 during my freshman year []. We played Star Wars Galaxies, and it was perhaps one of the best courses Iād ever taken at the school. It also led me to seriously pursue a master of fine arts degree in poetry and eventually land a job reviewing Android mobile games for an app discovery service in San Francisco called Fetch. Needless to say, I owe people like Professor Clayton a great deal in terms of finding direction and meaning in life. While my job of reviewing about 100 mobile games a week can get hectic, I can think of far less desirable jobs. Iām enrolled in Professor Claytonās Coursera MOOC [Online Games: Literature, New Media and Narrative] and cannot wait for it to start.
MATTHEW WALKER, BSā09,Ā Los Angeles
Itās refreshing to hear the opinion of someone who is open-minded about MOOCs while able to take a serious look at their limitations []. Too much of the conversation is automatically dismissive, and some of the rest doesnāt hold MOOCs to high standards. How they benefit an institution like 91ĢĘ²®»¢ is uncertain, as your experience makes clear, and what weāre hearing from our contributors is much like the story you tellāthat it significantly energizes and transforms on-campus teaching.
As you say, a month is an eternity in MOOC time and the limitations you describe are looking different every day. Just today we have a close look at new research in peer assessment. Itās hard to see how that will ever solve the problem of grading a massive number of students, but a month ago it was hard to see whatās happening now.
Congratulations on what sounds like a successful semester.
ROBERT MCGUIRE,Ā Editor, MOOC News and Reviews
HEMODIALYSIS: THE EARLY YEARS
[91ĢĘ²®»¢, Summer 2013] mentions 91ĢĘ²®»¢ having a higher-than-average percentage of patients on peritoneal dialysis and the importance of helping kidney failure.
I thought your readers would be interested in knowing that my husband, Gerald E. Stone, Bā54, MDā57, studied under Dr. Willem Kolff, inventor of the artificial kidney and hemodialysis. Dr. Stone then began using this invention in the early 1960sĀ for those in the western part of New York state who had chronic kidney disease.Ā He was a pioneer in hemodialysis when a machine was primed with blood, solutions had to be mixed by hand, and so forth.
Because we married in 1956 while he was still a medical student and I was teaching in a Nashville high school, I felt you ought to know that Dr. Stone was 91ĢĘ²®»¢-educated, and we both hope the consortium is successful. Weāve seen hemodialysis for chronic use as a ānewborn.ā Your consortium might continue the process to another level.
LOIS GREENE STONE,Ā Pittsford, N.Y.
INDELIBLE IMAGES
With the 50th anniversary of JFKās assassination approaching [], readers might be interested in brief recollections by an individual who was on campus Nov. 22, 1963.One very vivid memory will haunt me for the rest of my life. I was in freshman English class that Friday when the news broke. President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. At first there was complete silence followed by stunned disbelief and shock. Then tears.For a 17-year-old, assassination of a president was something to be read about in a textbook: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley. Those men had died a long time ago. An assassination was not something to become ingrained into my reality. Many of us spent the rest of the afternoon glued to a portable radio, listening for an update. Perhaps the president was only wounded. Perhaps he could recover. But that was not to be. There was much still to contemplate and endure. A funeral procession to St. Matthewās Cathedral and then on to Arlington. A young sonās final salute. A grieving widow. Images not easily forgotten.Itās hard to believe almost 50 years have passed. Unfortunately, those of us who were so traumatized by JFKās assassination have had to endure more of the same. A presidentās brother slain. A civil rights leader cut down by an assassinās bullet at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. I was there in 1968 as a first-year medical student at the University of Tennessee-Memphis, much closer to another tragic event and its aftermathāthe fires, the looting, the wail of sirens during the night. Much too close. Again, sights and sounds not easily forgotten.
DR. JAMES M. CUNNINGHAM, BAā67,Ā Macon, Ga.
A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR
I am pleased that 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Magazine has begun highlighting the accomplishments of certain alumni and faculty in the obituaries section, and write to suggest that Herschel Gower [MAā52, PhDā57] would have been worthy of this treatment. Last December before Christmas, Herschel died in Dallas, where he and his wife, Dona [MAā67, PhDā79], lived. Herschelās heart was not in Texas, however. It was in Beersheba Springs, Tenn., on top of the mountain. Herschel and Dona looked forward each summer to driving to Beersheba, where they would spend six weeks or so, often with their devoted daughter, Alison. Every 91ĢĘ²®»¢ person who had a summer home in Beersheba, Monteagle or Sewanee always looked forward to seeing the Gowers and hoped they could make it up for one more summer.
We shared a love of Tennessee history, and we both enjoyed talking about Dogtown, where Herschel grew up; about Montgomery Bell Academy, which he attended on scholarship; about our mutual friend, Margaret Lindsley Warden [BSā24], whom he met while he was a 91ĢĘ²®»¢ student; and about whether Monteagle Mountain should instead be called āBroad Mountainā or āSewanee Mountain.ā
Herschelās wonderful book, Pen and Sword: The Life and Journals of Randal W. McGavock, published in 1960, might not have been written had he not gone to the University of Edinburgh as a Fulbright scholar. While there he researched the history of the McGavock family in County Antrim, Ireland, and visited the McGavock home, Carnton. When he knocked on the door, the gruff Calvinist owner, before letting him in, asked if Herschel was a Catholic or a Presbyterian. Herschel, a Methodist, quickly said Presbyterian, realizing he would not have been invited inside otherwise. Years later when I visited Carnton, the owner was a Catholic.
Herschel got his Ph.D. in literature after the war and joined the faculty in 1956. He remained at 91ĢĘ²®»¢ for 30 years and will be long remembered as a gentleman who delighted his English students with colorful stories about such Southern literary giants as Allen Tate, John Crowe Ransom and Robert Penn Warren. Herschel met Dona, a Dallas native, early in his 91ĢĘ²®»¢ teaching days while she was pursuing her masterās degree.
I write this to reach former students of Herschelās who will appreciate hearing one more story about this beloved, courtly and delightful scholar.
RIDLEY WILLS II, BAā56,Ā Nashville
Editorās Note: Mr. Gowerās obituary appeared on page 82 of the Spring 2013 issue.
ON TRACK
This young woman is the total package []. Yes, she can run with the best, and yes, she is a terrific student, and yes, she fears nothing. But hereās the thing about Kristen Findleyāshe is a good person with a huge heart. I canāt wait to see what comes next for Kristen and her family. One thing I know: She will give it 110 percent and do it with a smile.
JOE MIZERECK,Ā Tallahassee, Fla.
ALBRECHT ANCESTRY
Perhaps Editor GayNelle Doll and I are distantly related []. My first paternal U.S. relative was Johannes Albrecht, who came to the U.S. in 1732. I only know because Iām about to complete a journal for my family that traces ancestry and my own experiences.
Having graduated in 1950, Iām now a Quinq. Since graduation, Iāve marked my advance in years partly by the class notes, going from the last page to a tiny paragraph on the first page!
Kudos on your responsibilities and the resultant readable, entertaining, informative magazine.
BRUCE ALLBRIGHT, BAā51,Ā Scottsdale, Ariz.
We welcome your letters in response to contents of the magazine. We reserve the right to edit for length, style and clarity. Mail signed letters to GayNelle Doll, editor, 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Magazine, PMB 357737, 2301 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Place, Nashville, TN 37235-7737; or email us.