edward townsend – The Hilltop Monitor

Fall arrives in Liberty

Edward Townsend — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 13:00:03 +0000

Last weekend, the town of Liberty marked the season change with their annual Fall Festival. Vendors, food trucks and amusements of all kinds were concentrated on the town square, and masses of people gathered to revel in the festivities.

There was some anxiety about what the weekend might bring. This was clear at Cody’s Corner Store, the locally owned convenience store and ice cream haven down the street. Detecting anxiety in the typically relaxed store, I asked one of the employees how she felt about the upcoming festival.

One of many different food and drink stands.

“Maybe it will be fun for most people, but for us, this will be one hell of a busy weekend,” she said.

I revisited Cody’s during the festival. It was exceptionally busy, but employees seemed energized by the traffic.

The festival itself was a whirlwind of sensory intake.

There were children running, shouting and laughing with adults casually in pursuit. The streets were lined with booths, some crammed with trinkets for sale, others with activities and fun distractions. One stall simply had an assortment of colorful wigs, scarves and absurd accessories which people could try on and photograph themselves in.

One booth had license plate art for sale.

There was music blaring. A local band called Oxford Remedy, consisting of two female guitarists and one singing drummer, filled all of downtown with Cage the Elephant covers.

The smell and sight of food was everywhere. Corndogs, hotdogs, nachos, stir-fry, bloomin’ onions, cheeseburgers and funnel cakes were all available. Perhaps the most visually astounding and absolutely delicious culinary indulgence on offer was a massive brick of fried potatoes. It was perhaps a little larger than a human head and consisted of countless thinly shaved potatoes compressed into an imposing brick of starch. It was absurdly delicious.

The rides were small but nevertheless an exciting attraction for younger attendees. Lines were long, and the kids waiting could not conceal their impatience. Eventually, they would be whirled through the air on small benches or steadily whisked in a circle in big colorful automobiles or on the backs of adorned horses.

Local kids enjoyed the rides.

Amidst the chaos of the festivities, I had a brief conversation with one of the vendors running a game stall. Targets lined the back of the booth, and the front was covered in stuffed animals and action figures to entice people into trying their luck. The woman was a retired nurse, her husband a retired naval officer in a booth across the fair. She had been on the road with this group of festival purveyors for three years. The whole group came to Liberty from Excelsior Springs and on Sunday would be heading to St. Joe to set up once again.

She spoke of the job and it’s routines with some fatigue.

“It’s kinda exhausting to be packing and unpacking every few days and hauling all this stuff around. Especially during the summer, when it’s so damn hot,” she said.

Certainly a lot of work, anguish and attention was devoted to the Fall Festival. For those that were able to indulge, it offered a simple and brief escape.

The Jewell Theatre Company and Concert Choir held booths at the Fall Fest.

“I liked the vibe, it was good. I bought a gourd, and was there for a bit. Aside from that, nothing really profound to say,” one Jewell student said.

For information about upcoming festivals in the area, including KC’s Renaissance Festival, pumpkin themed events and general fall activities, visit http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/article97368852.html

Photos by Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe.

To be honest…with Edward Townsend

Edward Townsend — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:00:05 +0000

To be honest, I have been a fool.

Over this past weekend, I was inadvertently led to a jarring realization, one that has left me unsettled and profoundly disconcerted. In the years prior to my coming to William Jewell College, I thought I had discovered an infallible ideal of personal conduct, one that prescribes a foundational humility, patience and discipline. This weekend’s realization doesn’t contradict the significance of this template, but it did upend my perception of how well I have practiced it. My humanity, it seems, is inescapable.

The circumstance of my epiphany could not be more ordinary. It occurred amidst my helping with the debate tournament Jewell hosted Sunday afternoon. As the competition was winding down and most of the work was completed, I found myself sitting at a table with two debate coaches and two students. The conversation between the five of us began slowly, and was easy at the beginning. We talked about movies, television and stand-up comedy lightly and playfully. I considered my companions’ preferences and felt welcome to share my own.

I can’t recall the specific catalyst for the turn, but all of a sudden, we were arguing. The particular topic and arguments are not important, but some context might be: I was the sole defender of my position, and the issue was one on which I am very opinionated. A switch was flipped in me. I was no longer an eager and amiable conversationalist, but a readied combatant.

Suddenly the interaction – and my “contributions” – had an entirely different energy. I became stubborn, mean, smug and patronizing. I was self-righteous. I defended my position relentlessly, and thoughtlessly, without consideration for the feelings of my peers. I felt victimized, sensing a disdain and dismissiveness emanating from my newfound opponents. In those moments, it felt as if my competence and ideological dignity were under attack, and instinct coerced me into a rash defense.

This account benefits some from hindsight, but perhaps the most personally troubling variable was that I knew exactly what was happening at the time. Clichéd as this might be, it was as if I was hovering above my body, watching myself do things I knew I would regret, that I knew were neither effective nor productive. My confidence in my position, in its self-evident validity and virtue, seemed to justify succumbing to whatever reactionary defense I could conjure.

Eventually, the argument died down and the contentiousness petered out. No one was satisfied, but everyone was tired.

It seems prudent here to interject with an explanation, to elaborate on the rubric for thoughtful conduct that I mentioned at this article’s outset. In the past few years, I have become enamored with the idea of rigorous critical inquiry as a foundation for encountering all spheres of life. It has had a deep resonance with me, especially when contrasted with other templates by which I have been ensnared.

Throughout my life, I have gravitated toward ideologies with certain ethical and practical outlooks. The beliefs and conclusions they hold are finite and unambiguous. I have been an atheist: I was certain God does not exist. I have been a Marxist: I was certain that capitalism is amoral. I have been a Democrat: I was certain that Republicans are fools. These prescriptions were satisfying and offered a comfortable lens through which I viewed the world. My ultimate experience with all these rigid templates, though, was confusion. Invariably, I would find myself in disagreement with my fellow disciples and our doctrines. None of them were infallible, and each had its own distinct limitations.

Rigorous critical analysis, as a guiding principle for evaluating all my actions and affiliations, was a new religion for me. It separated itself from the confines of my previous tribal infatuations. Its only fundamental requirement was that one weigh all variables and engage with ideas without bias or preconceived truth. Humility in intellectual pursuits is the vital dictum. One must always be prepared to have one’s position uprooted by a better one. Though this seems obvious, I had not considered that one could be this discerning or nuanced in one’s opinions. The preponderance of hard-lined factions in our world had tricked me into thinking that I had to align myself with one of them. With this new wisdom, I felt uniquely empowered and began putting it into practice.

While overall this has served me well, it set a dubious trap. I am not sure I had become aware of it until I digested my conversation from Sunday. Though the tenets of critical inquiry are elevated above any specific dogma, its practice not immune to a dogmatic approach. Critical thought advocates formulating a response instead of acquiescing to a reaction, to ignore immediate feelings and instincts. This, though, is impossible. I will always be plagued by my humanity, by my hunger and lust and emotions. They can be kept at bay at times, but they always find a way to permeate my opinions. Despite my declared preference for critical inquiry and my proclamation that I will embrace its core maxims, I am nevertheless subject to the whirlwind of my self-centered experience.

My inattention to these basic human foibles culminated in my shameful participation in Sunday’s conversation. The social current of the interaction overwhelmed me, and I found myself acting in a way that I knew to be undignified and about which I am ashamed. I am not debilitated, but I am certainly humbled. Though my vigilance is renewed in vigor, I know now to be ready for it to abate. The real practical skill of critical thinking, I have discovered, is to confront my limitations and weaknesses constantly.

On this hilltop, in our self-proclaimed sanctuary of critical thought, students, staff and administration ought be weary of our stated mission obscuring the tedious work it demands. Eschew certainty and entertain uncomfortable alternatives. Though we have articulated our mission, our work has no end in sight.

Photo by Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe.

Humans of Jewell

Edward Townsend — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 17:39:27 +0000

The Hilltop Monitor spoke with Chuck Curtis, one of William Jewell College’s technology wizards. His official capacity is the campus’ Network and Telecommunications Administrator. As his work is ubiquitous on the Hill yet seldom discussed, it seemed prudent to enlighten the community as to how Curtis spends his busy days and to offer him the opportunity to ponder the larger questions of emerging technologies.

As a final obligatory note, this reporter should mention that while Curtis’ words here are certainly brimming with the brand of candor and insight characteristic of the man, they in no way encapsulate the comprehensive quality of his person.

On his daily routine…

“When we get in, first we make sure everything is operating correctly. If there’s something down, then I want to try and get that addressed before class starts, before students start waking up, before there are issues. The piece that I do is the internal infrastructure. It’s the network. It’s the wireless. It’s the firewall. It’s the phone system. That kind of thing. What everything runs on top of, if you will.”

“We address these major concerns first, make sure everything is up and running. Then we start going through the tickets, addressing individual issues and go from there.”

“And I like to be engaged with students. It’s good to be around students, see what’s going on with them, see what we can do to make things better for them and make their experiences with technology easier. That’s one of the things I see with most of the staff. People do care about the kids and what kind of experience that they have here.”

“And our department is very small. I’m the network guy. We’ve got a developer guy. We’ve got a server guy. We’ve got a PC guy. And that’s about it. We’ve got another programmer/analyst, but that’s about it. You know you are the first and last line of defense for your area. But the folks here have been around for a while, and are really good at what they do. Things are pretty solid right now. We’ve got some good people with some good skill sets.”

Sage advice surrounding technology on the Hill…

“I think there are a lot of resources and people available to help that students aren’t necessarily aware of, especially first year students. The hub over at PLC is a good place to start, because of course it can be stressful around mid-terms and finals when things aren’t working right. The main piece of advice I would give is keep your machines patched with antivirus, and keep things backed up.”

On the peril and promise of future technologies…

“Probably the ‘internet of things’ and artificial intelligence, would be something that I would embrace and be afraid of at the same time. The reason [these] concern me is we continue to yield personal privacy by allowing the use of those kind of technologies. I mean when you’re online—and let’s say you’re shopping for a computer online—you go to Amazon, you go to Best Buy, you’re looking at options. Then, for days after that, you get ads for computers in your browser. There’s geo-cashing involved there, where people are building analytics to track the types of things that you are looking at, so they can put ads in front you of you to sell their product.