Smurftacular!

OK. So this is going to be a story. Kind of a long one. I feel the need to set the stage for you. Picture it, 1986. Location, Lexington, KY. Campus of the University of Kentucky. Governor's Scholars. And there I was, a fifteen year-old kid from eastern Kentucky spending time on a college campus, doing 'collegy' type stuff. Those were heady days indeed.

So I'm in some 'enrichment' activity, and in walks this vibrant lady to talk to us for an hour or so. She was introduced as Martha Gehringer, faculty at nearby Transylvania University (see also). That got my attention as my sister had gone to Transy and I was considering it. Now while the particular details of her talk escape me, I do remember being totally blown away by her. For at least part of her talk, she was focused on the importance of language and word choice. Her niece or nephew had been by recently on a Saturday and had demanded to watch Saturday morning cartoons (that actually used to be a thing; cartoons were shown on Saturday morning and no other time; certainly no entire channels dedicated to cartoons).

Anyway, Martha turns on the TV and the kid wants to watch the Smurfs. Martha had no idea what a smurf was, but she put the show on. She was dismayed (not sure if that is entirely the correct word) at the show, because, she said, they didn't use language. Every other word was 'smurf'. "This is smurfy!" or "What the smurf?" was all she heard. She turned the program off immediately.

Fast forward a couple of years and I'm standing in line waiting to register for my freshman year courses at Transylvania University. Being a good high school student, I had taken English 101 and 102 from the local community college. Most colleges in Kentucky would let those two courses count for whatever freshman writing requirements they had. I had that option. But the person helping me register encouraged me to look at the course Transylvania offered. Freshman Studies I believe it was called. "It's so much more than just English" the person said. I had time in my schedule and scanning the course offerings, there she was, Martha Gehringer. I immediately recognized her name and signed up for her section.

That class was the single most impactful course on me as an individual. Every week, we discussed some new issue, usually out of the paper. Martha encouraged us to think through the issue critically and find our own voice and I loved it. She assigned writing assignments that seemed grand and lofty to the kid from eastern Kentucky. I remember one time our assignment was to go to a particular art show and write a paper about one of the pieces of art and how it made us felt, what we thought it meant. I've always had issues with art - I don't generally get it. I went to her, in a mild panic. I had gone to the art show and every piece was just flat and non-dimensional to my eye. She talked with me. I talked to her about how music had been a large part of my life. She promptly changed the assignment for me - I could now write about songs the way she wanted us to write about 2/3D art. I was amazed that a teacher could listen and take my experiences into account.

However, the singular piece that has stuck with me all these years, was this one old 'thing' she made us read - The Allegory of the Cave by Plato. We discussed it in class for a couple of meetings and boy howdy. This piece really struck me - it opened my mind to perspective, subjective reality, empathy, the nature of reality. It did it all. I was able to see that because I had been raised one particular way, didn't mean that was the only way there was to be. It meant that people I disagreed with weren't maybe as 'wrong' as I thought they were. Rather, it might just be that we shared differing perspectives and each of us might only have a piece of the truth (that is, if truth can be known).

Taking this class from Martha was a very fortuitous happening. As an instructor, she was involved and engaged with her students - she listened to us and adjusted as she went along. She knew her material and  had genuine enthusiasm and love for what she was doing. Throughout the class, Martha challenged us all. She challenged our assumptions, the way we thought, how we grew up. She never was condescending - it wasn't about telling us the way we were raised was wrong, or that we were unintelligent. But it was about giving us our own voice and critical thinking skills that would serve us well while we were in College and beyond.

Martha Gehringer