I was not able to blog from the party but did take some photos last night for those who couldn't be there; I'll send those in a separate email, but not until I’m back and unpacked in Kansas, which will be Weds.
I will say this about the event. Many gave moving testimonies to Donna's impact on them. Jim Clifford gave a very humorous account of how Donna was hired that included the proverbial point about some of the "senior men" in and around His Con at the time not knowing quite what to do with her. Susan Harding talked about teaching with Donna and their class on Aliens. The students in the course came in thinking that they would have to decide the question of "belief," only to come to realize that this wasn't the overriding matter and that they didn't have to make that decision--at least I THINK this was what she meant. She also mentioned that the students coming into the course heard Donna and wondered, "what planet is she from?" a tribute to Donna's uniqueness as well as the way she could inspire all kinds of wonder in students. Helene Moglen talked about hiring Donna. Of all the things she said, what struck me was her noting that there were other feminist theorists that His Con could have hired that would have brought the kind of intellectual curiosity and generosity that Donna did, but that what was distinct about Donna was her ability to be an incredibly influential academic while also being "completely present" while on campus. The boundary between famous scholar and humility in the form of being willing to pitch in, help institutionally, and just engage in everyday forms of caring was Helene's point.
Finally, some of Donna's students spoke. Paul Edwards, who I didn’t remember being as tall as he is, spoke with friendship and humor about working with Donna. He talked about how he would share writing with Donna and during follow up meetings, she would have MANY questions. He would try then to answer oh maybe two in his next draft. He found her comments on his completed dissertation in which in the first paragraph Donna complemented him, speaking about what she liked in the thesis, but then what followed were a lot of questions! This testimony to Donna's intellectual curiosity made everyone laugh, because many of us are familiar with her ability to engage with seriousness and genuine interest in her students' work, while also kind of picking your brain in discussion.
I remember a time like that in relationship to my doctoral thesis and when I finally had an answer to her question that she then re-asked in a different way from the original one, being able to say something to the effect of "no you're thinking about the question in this manner, but if you think about it this other way, then this is the answer." She stopped, looked at me, and didn't say "you're right," but finally (from my point of view) "got it." Needless to say this was the ONLY time I can recall anything remotely like this in conversation with her, because her mind was so agile and combined with her definitiveness at moments, as a student it could be quite dazzling.
Katie King got up and talked about going to see Greystone with Donna and how in watching the film, when the ape came on, Donna turned to her and said, "This man will become very important in this film." At least I think that's the account of that particular movie viewing scene with Donna. She then went on to describe other scenes of watching films with Donna that were clearly ones of tremendous pleasure. The word that came to mine listening to Katie about these experiences was “joy.”
Sandra Azeredo, who came all the way from Brazil, remarked on thinking about Donna as a "friend." The highlight of her comments were when she described Donna visiting Brazil for a feminist theory conference or event of some kind?, and how Donna noted that she wanted to say with Sandra in her house, which she did. I think the rest of the story went as follows--Sandra then told Donna (either in Brazil or when she saw Donna again at a later point in time) that she was coming to Santa Cruz and told Donna that she wasn't just going to see her and Rustin but that she was going to stay in HER (Donna's) HOUSE. As Sandra put it, "to see Donna's face, when I said that!..." which she imitated by dropping her jaw. This was an incredibly funny story that made everyone really laugh hard.
A student of Gary Lease's who will be graduating next year (here I confess to not being careful and noting her name, which I should have, since she wasn't in my cohort) talked about how much Gary meant to her and how when he died, Donna said to her that she would "be there" for her, when she was ready to finish her thesis. And she is finishing, which is great testimony to her fortitude and the kind of support Donna offers students.
Another student, again I don't remember her name--my apologies, presented Donna with a beautiful gift, a wool blanket with a raven on it. She spoke of Raven as a trickster figure, and Donna wrapped the blanket around her, saying that she loved being surrounded by Raven.
Another student, I believe Claudia Castillo, talked about how much Donna meant to her. She mentioned something about Donna and writing on the body. She then turned to Donna, arms wide open and out at her sides and said, "Donna. You can write on my body anytime you want." Donna used to say that there was "eros in education," and this was one of great explicit formal enactment of that principle.
Angela Davis then came and told a dog contraband tale, which I believe Donna has also written about. When Angela was hired at SC she spent a semester in Donna's office, when Donna was on sabbatical. She looked at Donna's books and tried to imagine what it was like to be Donna. She then told the contraband story about when she wanted to bring her dog to campus. As some of us recalled, dogs used to be permitted to be on campus, but there was some incident, possibly involving a dog attacking goats with the goats being there maybe because of some kind of research/food/plant-animal kind of coop?--now I'm purely inventing—and dogs were bannished from UCSC. But Angela had her dog, and as she explained to the dog authority person she needed the dog for "security purposes." I have to say that I thought that was very smart of Angela, since the discourse of security, pace Foucault, has great familiarity and commonsensical power that one can invoke and at least be attended to when doing so. Angela had to write many letters to get permission to bring her dog to campus, a dog that Donna chimed in and noted was tiny, so the security reason seemed happily perverse. She mentioned that it took about three months, and then when she finally got it, Angela told the woman in charge of "animal control"(?--sorry, I don't mean to offend with this term just can't remember her official title) that she had a colleague who also wanted to bring her dog to campus. The dog authority asked “Is it a research dog?” Of course Angela said “yes,” and thus begun the process initiated by Angela where Donna could bring her dog to campus without any “smuggling,” as Angela put it.
Finally, Donna got up to speak, and not surprisingly, what she had to say moved us but also enacted a kind of representation for which Donna is admired and to which many listen carefully for what they can learn from it. She said that His Con had formed this kind of “we,” and that it wasn’t always an easy “we,” but there was something to it. She then in her usual gracious manner talked about how much she had learned from all of us, that she could look around and see people and identify how that person had impacted her. It is this warmth, capacity for reciprocity, and also sheer faith in us that I think distinguishes Donna as a human or species being as well as scholar, intellectual and teacher.
After that, Donna’s students gathered for a group photo. Barry Schwartz, who some of us remember from SC, was supposed to be our professional photographer who Paul Edwards shouted to us to “wait wait” for, who was going to snap some shots. Unfortunately and fortunately, we all starting drifting as His Con students are bound to do, which was just as well, because Barry’s camera was not working. At least that’s what he said later in the evening.
For those who were not able to attend---
ReplyDeleteI was not able to blog from the party but did take some photos last night for those who couldn't be there; I'll send those in a separate email, but not until I’m back and unpacked in Kansas, which will be Weds.
I will say this about the event. Many gave moving testimonies to Donna's impact on them. Jim Clifford gave a very humorous account of how Donna was hired that included the proverbial point about some of the "senior men" in and around His Con at the time not knowing quite what to do with her. Susan Harding talked about teaching with Donna and their class on Aliens. The students in the course came in thinking that they would have to decide the question of "belief," only to come to realize that this wasn't the overriding matter and that they didn't have to make that decision--at least I THINK this was what she meant. She also mentioned that the students coming into the course heard Donna and wondered, "what planet is she from?" a tribute to Donna's uniqueness as well as the way she could inspire all kinds of wonder in students. Helene Moglen talked about hiring Donna. Of all the things she said, what struck me was her noting that there were other feminist theorists that His Con could have hired that would have brought the kind of intellectual curiosity and generosity that Donna did, but that what was distinct about Donna was her ability to be an incredibly influential academic while also being "completely present" while on campus. The boundary between famous scholar and humility in the form of being willing to pitch in, help institutionally, and just engage in everyday forms of caring was Helene's point.
Finally, some of Donna's students spoke. Paul Edwards, who I didn’t remember being as tall as he is, spoke with friendship and humor about
working with Donna. He talked about how he would share writing with Donna and during follow up meetings, she would have MANY questions. He would try then to answer oh maybe two in his next draft. He found her comments on his completed dissertation in which in the first paragraph Donna complemented him, speaking about what she liked in the thesis, but then what followed were a lot of questions! This testimony to Donna's intellectual curiosity made everyone laugh, because many of us are familiar with her ability to engage with seriousness and genuine interest in her students' work, while also kind of picking your brain in discussion.
I remember a time like that in relationship to my doctoral thesis and when I finally had an answer to her question that she then re-asked in a different way from the original one, being able to say something to the effect of "no you're thinking about the question in this manner, but if you think about it this other way, then this is the answer." She stopped, looked at me, and didn't say "you're right," but finally (from my point of view) "got it." Needless to say this was the ONLY time I can recall anything remotely like this in conversation with her, because her mind was so agile and combined with her definitiveness at moments, as a student it could be quite dazzling.
Katie King got up and talked about going to see Greystone with Donna and how in watching the film, when the ape came on, Donna turned to her and said, "This man will become very important in this film." At least I think that's the account of that particular movie viewing scene with Donna. She then went on to describe other scenes of watching films with Donna that were clearly ones of tremendous pleasure. The word that came to mine listening to Katie about these experiences was “joy.”
Sandra Azeredo, who came all the way from Brazil, remarked on thinking about Donna as a "friend." The highlight of her comments were when she described Donna visiting Brazil for a feminist theory conference or event of some kind?, and how Donna noted that she wanted to say with Sandra in her house, which she did. I think the rest of the story went as follows--Sandra then told Donna (either in Brazil or
ReplyDeletewhen she saw Donna again at a later point in time) that she was coming to Santa Cruz and told Donna that she wasn't just going to see her and Rustin but that she was going to stay in HER (Donna's) HOUSE. As Sandra put it, "to see Donna's face, when I said that!..." which she imitated by dropping her jaw. This was an incredibly funny story that made everyone really laugh hard.
A student of Gary Lease's who will be graduating next year (here I confess to not being careful and noting her name, which I should have, since she wasn't in my cohort) talked about how much Gary meant to her and how when he died, Donna said to her that she would "be there" for her, when she was ready to finish her thesis. And she is finishing, which is great testimony to her fortitude and the kind of support Donna offers students.
Another student, again I don't remember her name--my apologies, presented Donna with a beautiful gift, a wool blanket with a raven on it. She spoke of Raven as a trickster figure, and Donna wrapped the blanket around her, saying that she loved being surrounded by Raven.
Another student, I believe Claudia Castillo, talked about how much Donna meant to her. She mentioned something about Donna and writing on the body. She then turned to Donna, arms wide open and out at her sides and said, "Donna. You can write on my body anytime you want." Donna used to say that there was "eros in education," and this was one of great explicit formal enactment of that principle.
Angela Davis then came and told a dog contraband tale, which I believe
Donna has also written about. When Angela was hired at SC she spent a
semester in Donna's office, when Donna was on sabbatical. She looked at Donna's books and tried to imagine what it was like to be Donna. She then told the contraband story about when she wanted to bring her dog to campus. As some of us recalled, dogs used to be permitted to be on campus, but there was some incident, possibly involving a dog attacking goats with the goats being there maybe because of some kind of research/food/plant-animal kind of coop?--now I'm purely inventing—and dogs were bannished from UCSC. But Angela had her dog, and as she explained to the dog authority person she needed the dog for "security
purposes." I have to say that I thought that was very smart of Angela, since the discourse of security, pace Foucault, has great familiarity and commonsensical power that one can invoke and at least be attended to when doing so. Angela had to write many letters to get permission to bring her dog to campus, a dog that Donna chimed in and noted was tiny, so the security reason seemed happily perverse. She mentioned that it took about three months, and then when she finally got it, Angela told the woman in charge of "animal control"(?--sorry, I don't mean to offend with this term just can't remember her official title) that she had a colleague who also wanted to bring her dog to campus. The dog authority asked “Is it a research dog?” Of course Angela said “yes,” and thus begun the process initiated by Angela where Donna could bring her dog to campus without any “smuggling,” as Angela put it.
Finally, Donna got up to speak, and not surprisingly, what she had to say moved us but also enacted a kind of representation for which Donna is admired and to which many listen carefully for what they can learn from it. She said that His Con had formed this kind of “we,” and that it wasn’t always an easy “we,” but there was something to it. She then in her usual gracious manner talked about how much she had learned from all of us, that she could look around and see people and identify how that person had impacted her. It is this warmth, capacity for reciprocity, and also sheer faith in us that I think distinguishes Donna as a human or species being as well as scholar, intellectual and teacher.
ReplyDeleteAfter that, Donna’s students gathered for a group photo. Barry Schwartz, who some of us remember from SC, was supposed to be our professional photographer who Paul Edwards shouted to us to “wait wait” for, who was going to snap some shots. Unfortunately and fortunately, we all starting drifting as His Con students are bound to do, which was just as well, because Barry’s camera was not working. At least that’s what he said later in the evening.