This past year, Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe, senior chemistry and communication major, served as editor-in-chief. She began her journey on the Monitor as a staff writer, becoming the photography editor her sophomore year and co-chief-editor her junior year. 

At the start of her college journey, Arthurs-Schoppe had aspirations to be a journalist. Excited to join collegiate journalism, she received a talent scholarship in journalism from the Monitor as she was being recruited to Jewell.

“In my first year I didn’t necessarily see the potential of the Monitor. I wrote a lot of things that were related to the national political climate or national events because I remember hoping that Jewell people would read them and be more engaged with what was happening nationally or even globally. But then, I think throughout my second and, especially, my third year as co-editor, I really started to see the value the Monitor offered as a student newspaper on Jewell’s campus,” Arthurs-Schoppe said.

Coming to grasp the indispensability of the Monitor and student journalism on campus, Arthurs-Schoppe got more involved, photographing more events on campus and writing about more Jewell-relevant issues. 

“For me, I realized that when Jewell started its rebranding initiative. I heard a lot of dissent from the people around me, and I realized that this is information that only the Monitor is going to share,” Arthurs-Schoppe said. “The Kansas City Star won’t care that William Jewell students are a little disgruntled, but we do because we have to live that every single day.” 

Speaking about what she’s most proud of in her time with the Monitor, Arthurs-Schoppe identified her work in emphasizing the role of the newspaper as an outlet for students as being one of the defining themes of her leadership on the Monitor. 

“We had a really good start at creating this newspaper as a platform for people who otherwise would have fallen through the cracks. We had articles about students who were coming to terms with their identity; we had articles about people who felt politically alienated from their family; we had an advice column where students would genuinely ask questions. We covered big topics like enrollment numbers and Greek life and the College’s probationary status with the [Higher Learning Commission]. In my opinion, that’s really important in terms of shifting the narrative of being a college student from having things happen to you to being a part of the decisions that are being made around you,” Arthurs-Schoppe said. 

Reflecting on her position, Arthurs-Schoppe emphasized that her proudest achievements have to do with her role in shining a light on the experiences of members of the campus community and offering a space for people to explore and share what they’re passionate about.

“Thinking about my role as editor-in-chief, it’s a nice title and a cool job, but it’s really nothing without a good team of writers supporting our role… I’m glad I could connect with so many people at Jewell and tap into what they’re passionate about and give them that opportunity to voice their ideas and opinions,” Arthurs-Schoppe said.

Though her long-term goal is to be rich by 30 and then retire young, in the short-term, Arthurs-Schoppe will continue her work in impact investing for Stray Dog Capital, a venture capital firm based in Leawood, Kansas, with goals of working to end animal agriculture and promoting conscientious consumption.

Madelyn Comeau, senior nursing major, got connected with the Monitor during her senior year of high school as she was looking for collegiate opportunities to explore her passion for creative writing. Since coming to Jewell, Comeau has participated in the Monitor for all four of her years at the College, serving as the social media manager her sophomore year and pioneering a health column for the Lifestyle page. 

“The biggest lesson that I have learned through writing for the [M]onitor is the importance of always being true to yourself and never being afraid to pursue your passions. The [M]onitor allowed me to research and write about many things I was interested in especially as they related to health and wellness,” Comeau said. 

Comeau noted that her Jewell experience overall has had a profoundly formative effect on her.

“I will miss all of the friends that I made as well as many of the important life lessons that I learned. I feel that I have become a completely different person that I was when I first stepped on Jewell’s campus. I am proud of how far I have come and I am excited for what lies ahead,” Comeau said. 

After graduation, Comeau has plans to work at Saint Luke’s North in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and will be cross-training to the Postpartum unit. 

Kitt Wilhelm, senior English and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major, described herself a “Monitor groupie,” who was hesitant about contributing to the Monitor until Arthurs-Schoppe asked her if she was interested in making cartoons for the paper.

“I joined the Monitor as a freshman, but lacked the confidence to write any articles. I had several friends on the Monitor and attended a few meetings. I spent two years as, essentially, a Monitor groupie before Sofia approached me about starting Kitt’s Toons. People on the Hill had already seen my work in the form of t-shirt designs and posters so the thought of weekly cartoons felt much less daunting than putting my name on an article. Then Kitt’s Toons was born. I was thrilled to win ‘Best Non-political Cartoon’ [from the Missouri College Media Association] in 2019,” Wilhelm said.

“The biggest lessons I’ve learned during my time with the Monitor would have to be about confidence. It’s important to be confident in one’s own abilities and be willing to take risks—if I hadn’t been, Kitt’s Toons wouldn’t exist.”

Wilhelm remarked that her proudest achievement on the Monitor was her creation of “Kitt’s Toons” in 2018.

“I’m just hoping that someone else takes the reins after I leave; it would be unfortunate if there were no more cartoons in the Monitor. I would certainly be disappointed,” Wilhelm said.

As far as her post-Jewell plans, Wilhelm doesn’t have anything confirmed yet but is hopeful about her prospects.

Elliott Yoakum, current Arts & Culture page editor and senior Oxbridge: Literature and Theory major, had his first brush with the Monitor earlier than most. While taking piano lessons at Jewell during high school, his friend Jillian Bush – who was editor-in-chief at the time – invited him to drop by paste-up to view the layout of the Monitor. In the spring of his first year at Jewell, Yoakum joined the Monitor staff and wrote his first story on Mi Gente, which had just formed. 

Continuing, Yoakum said, “Sophomore year I continued to write, as the Ed Staff consisted of my group of friends. I loved Monday meetings where we ate together in Yates Dining Hall, paste-up and Monitor parties because there was always so much chatter and lively discussion about journalism, life and a lot of other things.”

Speaking of the most important things he’s learned from his time on the Monitor staff, Yoakum noted that the interview process was something of an art that, done well, could extend into and assist with other areas of life.

“It sounds kind of simple but thinking about how to ask questions and conduct an interview can really make or break your story. I always try to think a lot about the questions, do research on the topic and generate questions which enable discussion and prompt the interviewee to open up. It’s weirdly psychological, and thinking about how to evoke certain responses from others, or to ask delicate things tactfully, is an important life lesson.”

Yoakum recalls writing an investigative article about diversity in Jewell’s syllabi and reading lists as being a distinct achievement during his time with the Monitor and remarked that since that article’s publication, there has been an increase in the diversification of some Jewell reading lists. 

Reflecting on his years at Jewell, Yoakum commended the English department for stimulating his intellectual and social development in college and remarked that he will miss Jewell time, primarily because he felt it brought the Jewell community together in a special way.

In a final comment, Yoakum implored Jewell students to join the Monitor staff, regardless of how confident they may be in their journalistic capacities.

“Join the Monitor! Even if you don’t feel like a ‘writer’ the point is to grow as a group and to encourage each other. We need more writers, and we need good critical analysis of situations at Jewell and around Liberty and Kansas City!” Yoakum said.

Yoakum plans to take a gap year before applying to graduate schools for English and/or cultural studies. 

Dr. Lori Wetmore, professor of chemistry, agreed to be an interim faculty advisor for the Monitor in the fall of 2018. Though it started as an interim position for Wetmore, she stuck with it for over a year and a half, finally stepping away as she departs from the College as a whole.

Speaking about the reasons she agreed to take on the role of the faculty mentor, Wetmore noted that the firm structure and process of the Monitor encouraged her to take the role in addition to her several other positions on Jewell’s campus, including being the director of the Village Partners Program and working within the Core Curriculum.

“At first, I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I could take on one more thing,’ but as I started talking to the editors about process, I realized that there was already such an immense amount of organization in place – and even a very professional structure – that it wasn’t going to involve me doing any hand-holding. In fact, I had a sense that I would be learning alongside staff as far as how a student newspaper functions,” Wetmore said.

Wetmore found that, in her position as faculty advisor to the Monitor, the wealth of student talent she noticed at Jewell was only amplified, and she is optimistic about the direction in which the publication is headed.

“I’ve been really encouraged this past year to see some new young writers come on board, and I’m excited about that as well because I want to see the Hilltop continue to prosper and grow… Of the decisions to leave Jewell, one of the hard ones was deciding to step away from the Monitor. I’ve been wanting to find [a new faculty advisor] that could fulfill that role of being a true faculty mentor… It’s been a positive and affirming experience for me in the sense that I’ve always known our students are amazing, but now I have a better appreciation for that,” Wetmore said.

Wetmore remarked that, in her role, she was able to learn about the collaboration, hard work, and creativity that goes into creating and maintaining a student publication.

“I learned about the amount of work that goes into creating just one issue of the paper – the amount of teamwork that’s needed, the amount of creativity, and just the breadth of the coverage that I hear in editorial and staff meetings as stories are being pitched. I also have an appreciation for the fact that the Monitor has leaned into being a campus community paper and being a part of talking about what’s really going on and interacting with the [Student] Senate and other student groups.”

Wetmore’s path away from Jewell will take her to Hogan Preparatory Academy in South Kansas City, where she will help build a biomedical science curriculum.

“My heart and passion have long been bending toward thinking about injustice and inequity in our cities and carrying a really heavy burden for being a part of fighting for equity and justice in our cities… Just in touring the school, seeing that the students are all African-American, I’ve been really frustrated with the ability for African-Americans to move into the science world, especially at the college level. I think it’s really important that we move into the high schools and really start to make a difference in training students because it’s not about them not being able to learn, it’s about creating opportunities for them to learn so that they can be successful in the sciences.

“I’m at the end of my career. I’ve got nothing to prove – I’m a full professor in chemistry, I’ve been a published scientist. You know, to me, this is just a win-win, because now I can really focus in on making a difference in my city for the tail-end of my career,” Wetmore said.

Over the summer, Wetmore will train for her role at Hogan and will officially begin when the school year starts Aug. 10.

“I’m excited about it, but it’s been a tough decision when I know that I’m leaving the students at Jewell. It’s been an amazing experience – to be a part of The Hilltop Monitor, to teach the students that I teach, leading Village Partners has been amazing…I’ve also been really amazed at the student response. Everyone has been really affirming… They’ve just been like, ‘I hate to see you leave, but I get it.’ That’s been a really amazing confirmation.

“Jewell has given me the opportunity to expand into the core curriculum and be able to work on community development and to feed my passion to get out of this country at least twice a year. It’s helped me build my language skills, but I’ve also worked with some amazing colleagues, in addition to my students, and that’s another thing that’s hard to walk away from. But I will say this: I know that Jewell is going to be fine without me because the amazing people who work there, and The Hilltop Monitor will be fine without me… We have a really amazing structure that builds leadership… I like the direction that I see the Monitor heading in. I just want to see The Hilltop Monitor continue to do what it does best and not be afraid to ask the hard questions. I think it’s important that they hold the College accountable and that they hold classmates accountable and to really make it about being that Critical Thinking College that we’re supposed to be.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, William Jewell College’s Honors’ Convocation – set for this Friday, April 24 – was canceled. Student awards typically announced at the event will be published online Friday, April 24. The Faculty Award – one of Jewell’s most revered awards, which recognizes a senior student who embodies the values of a liberal arts education – will be announced in a video to be posted at 7 p.m. April 24. 

In the week leading up to the announcement, Jewell will feature and celebrate each of the Faculty Award finalists on social media. The finalists for 2020 are Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe, senior communication and chemistry major; Tate Cooper, senior Oxbridge Institutions and Policy major; Margo Evilsizor, senior international relations and Oxbridge Institutions and Policy major; Caeley Pittman, senior physics, Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry (ACT-In) and Oxbridge Literature and Theory major; and Elliott Yoakum, senior Oxbridge Literature and Theory major. More information about these finalists and the process of nomination can be found in this article.

Dr. David McCune, professor of mathematics and chair of the Faculty Award Committee, will record a video of the announcement to be released. Jewell will release a teaser of this video during the week, and the final announcement will be posted to Jewell’s Facebook 7 p.m. April 24.

In addition to the online announcement and publication of awards, the College will print Honors’ Convocation programs for all awardees and will mail each Faculty Award finalist a plaque recognizing their achievement.

Every year a committee of William Jewell College faculty recognizes a group of five exceptional seniors to consider awarding the Faculty Award. The annual award is usually announced at Honors’ Convocation – which will likely not occur in its typical format due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s finalists are Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe, communication and chemistry major; Tate Cooper, Oxbridge Institutions and Policy major; Margo Evilsizor, international relations and Oxbridge Institutions and Policy major; Caeley Pittman, physics, Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry (ACT-In) and Oxbridge Literature and Theory major; and Elliott Yoakum, Oxbridge Literature and Theory major.

“The Faculty Award is given to the student who best represents the ideals of a liberal arts education at Jewell,” said Dr. David McCune, professor of mathematics and chair of the Faculty Award Committee. “The award is the highest honor that the college can bestow on a student. It is kind of like being valedictorian of a high school class, but the award is given based on criteria that are broader than just GPA [grade point average].”

Seniors are eligible to apply for the award if they have spent at least six semesters at Jewell and have a GPA of at least 3.75. The written application details personal experiences and achievements, post-graduation plans and an essay discussion criteria the applicant thinks should be used to determine the Faculty Award recipient.

After students apply, the faculty committee identifies a group of semi-finalists who are interviewed by the committee and submit letters of recommendation. The finalists describe the interview as intellectually rigorous and based around a written text, this year it was a speech written by David Foster Wallace. The five finalists are determined based on written applications, interviews and letters of recommendation.

Arthurs-Schoppe discussed her history and path to Jewell in discussing her decision to apply for the Faculty Award. A native of Mauku, New Zealand, Arthurs-Schoppe dreamed of attending college in the United States despite skepticism from people in her hometown. She views her achievements and recognition by the faculty as evidence of her hardwork and dedication to achieving her goals. Arthurs-Schoppe hopes that being named as a finalist shows young people in her hometown and high school – Pukekohe High School – that they can achieve their goals despite the questions and skepticism.

“Where I grew up, there’s not a lot of people who have opportunities like they have here in the states,” said Arthurs-Schoppe. “To have been able to have this opportunity to come here and to go to school in this country and to learn all these things and to have these opportunities is really impactful.”

Arthurs-Shoppe also went on to discuss the lack of support she felt when she told others about her dream to study in the United States. 

“When I was going through middle school and high school, I was telling people I wanted to go to school in the states one day, and people didn’t really believe that I could do it. They kind of turned around and said ‘Well, that’s a nice dream but…’ and it just felt very dismissive,” said Arthurs-Schoppe. “ In some ways [being a finalist] is a way for me to dispel some of those doubts that were built up over years and years of being told I should stop trying and it wasn’t worth my time.”

She also applied for the award because she wanted to recognize all the opportunities offered by Jewell. Arthurs-Schoppe emphasized the close connections with professors and opportunities provided by the college to pursue individual interests. 

“To have an award where the faculty turn around and recognize – and say ‘Hey,  we noticed how hard you’ve been working. We think that it’s admirable and think that, for want of better words, you’ve done it right,’ I think that means a lot,” said Arthurs-Schoppe.  

In her time at Jewell, Arthurs-Schoppe won the Hall Grant, worked in Washington D.C. for the German Press Agency as a reporter and won the Pritchard Humanitarian Award for community service in Kansas City. Between her first and second years, Arthurs-Schoppe worked in the Middle East and Eastern Europe interviewing people about different conflict situations – resulting in her publishing a book. She was also the photography editor for the Hilltop Monitor before serving as Editor-in-Chief for two years. She views the work she’s done on the Monitor as defining her Jewell experience and as being a vehicle with which she made an impact on the Jewell community. She has also been involved with University Innovation Fellows, oSTEM and the International Students Organization.

Arthurs-Schoppe accepted a job as a venture analyst with Stray Dog Capital – a venture capitalist organization working to minimize the use of animals in the supply chain. A vegan, she views the mission of the organization as aligning with her own beliefs and convictions. Additionally, Arthurs-Schoppe is engaged to be married. 

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted so much of her senior year, but Arthurs-Schoppe has made the most of the situation. She was in Peru to do research on a Journey Grant when the pandemic started causing problems with travel. The trip was to be a culmination of research into electricity access in rural communities – yet it had to be prematurely disrupted before Arthurs-Schoppe’s safe return to the United States.

She had already accepted and planned to start her job with Stray Dog Capital, and the company has helped her get started remotely. Despite acknowledging the importance of safety measures during the pandemic, Arthurs-Schoppe is disappointed she will not be able to see her family from New Zealand in the near future. They had planned to come to the United States in May, but all flights to and from New Zealand have been canceled through June. 

In summation, Arthurs-Schoppe emphasized that despite her gratefulness and recognition of the award, it is not a sole determinant of value or work throughout the college experience. She does not want such a concrete or restrictive award to be the only recognition or evaluation of four years of dedication and effort.   

Cooper said he was initially hesitant to apply for the award but ultimately decided to due to encouragement from his peers. In addition to his Oxbridge Institutions and Policy major, Cooper has minors in mathematics and music. He has been involved in band, jazz band, Pi Sigma Alpha – the national political science honor society, Cardinal Hosts and Mortar Board. 

In addition to these involvements, Cooper described other experiences which may have contributed to his nomination as a finalist. During his junior year, Cooper interned for congresswoman Ann Wagner in Washington, D.C., and Cooper interned with the Missouri Department of Public Safety. Cooper has won the Presidential Leadership Award by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, an award for Academic Excellence in Public Policy by The Fund for American Studies and  Jewell’s Edward Lakin Music Theory Award and Scholarship. He volunteers as a young adult mentor for the Immune Deficiency Foundation and participates in the Columbia Community Band.

The process of application led Cooper to reflect upon his Jewell experiences and further appreciate the close relationships fostered by the college. Cooper cites the close collaboration with professors and students’ deep involvement and engagement with academic work – especially as compared to other colleges and universities. 

In the fall Cooper will attend the University of Missouri School of Law and hopes to pursue his interest in public policy. As it has disrupted much of his senior year, Cooper commented on the coronavirus pandemic. Due to underlying medical conditions, Cooper started self-isolating about ten days before Jewell’s campus closed. He is concerned about his ability to attend law school in the fall, but he can defer his acceptance and scholarship if it is not safe to attend.

Though disappointed, Cooper emphasized that his position and that of many in the Jewell community is significantly better than many others. He is thankful for medical workers, sanitation workers, grocery workers, truckers, first responders and more risking their health to fight the pandemic. Cooper is glad to do his part in flattening the curve – especially if all it requires is completing his school work via Zoom.

In summation, Cooper expressed gratitude for his nomination.

“I am truly humbled and deeply grateful to be included as a finalist for this award,” Cooper said. “The faculty here are outstanding, and it means a lot to be recognized by them. When I look at the other finalists, I am incredibly impressed by so much of what they have achieved already, and it’s an honor to appear with them.”

Evilsizor applied for the award because she was encouraged by her peers to apply and was excited by the nature of the award. Throughout her time at Jewell, Evilsizor used Jewell’s Hall Grant to conduct field research interviews in Mafraq, Jordan for her honors thesis on women’s empowerment in the Syrian Civil War. With the Pritchard Humanitarian Award she spoke out against violence against women at a self-organized public forum at the state congress in Morelos, Mexico. Evilsizor has also co-authored an article with Dr. Fletcher Cox, professor of political science, about women’s empowerment. She is president of Pi Sigma Alpha and vice president of Mortar Board. 

The process of application led Evilsizor to reflect on the purpose of a liberal arts education, her education at Jewell and her growth as a thinker – as she thinks the application is intended to do.

After graduation, Evilsizor will move to Mexico City  – though her specific plans are still developing. She is a semi-finalist for a Fulbright program in Mexico City, and her primary backup plans have been put on hold due to the pandemic. If Evilsizor does not get the Fulbright, she will complete a Spanish language intensive before applying to jobs in Mexico. Evilsizor wants to pursue business consulting and eventually either get an MBA or attend law school.

The pandemic has put many of Evilsizor’s plans on hold and has concerned her regarding her entrance to the workforce. 

“I completed a round of interviews for a summer internship that had the potential to turn into a full-time job mid-March,” Evilsizor said. “After completing all the application steps, I got a notification that in light of COVID-19, all hiring processes have been put on pause. I had also planned to move to Mexico during the first week of June. Now, that seems unlikely. I am also closely watching Fulbright. While my program would not start until September, I am concerned that it will get delayed or canceled. Since it is a program funded by the U.S. government, it is difficult to know whether they would approve it for the fall.”

Pittman applied for the award because she viewed the application as a way to synthesize all the work she has done while at Jewell and in the Oxbridge program. Some of this work includes participating in Jewell’s Pillsbury Scholars Program, research experiences for undergraduates at the Maria Mitchell Association and CERN and seeking out extracurricular research in Oxford University’s department of physics. Pittman was also the creative nonfiction genre editor for Inscape Magazine and president of the Society of Physics Students. She participated in outreach at elementary schools and has worked at observatory open nights with Jewell’s physics department.

Pittman is in the Phi Epsilon honor society and has been awarded the national Barry Goldwater Scholarship, Jewell’s James R. Eaton Memorial Scholarship for Achievement in Physics and Jewell’s Pritchard Award for Humanitarian Service.

Pittman reflects upon how the application impacts her perspective on her time at Jewell.

“[In] this process I have interacted with professors who have supported me at different points along my journey at Jewell, which, combined with composing the application itself, helped me develop a more holistic view of what my time at Jewell has done for me,” Pittman said. 

In the fall Pittman will be starting an Astronomy Ph.D. at Boston University – where she will work with Dr. Catherine Espaillat on studying young star systems just beginning to form planets.

On the pandemic, Pittman expressed her disappointment about missing several senior events and a sense of closure to her college experience, in addition to missing the daily interaction and discussion with professors and fellow students.

Yoakum applied for the award because he felt the need to prove to himself that his Jewell education was worthwhile. He used the essay portion of the application to critique Jewell’s status as a liberal arts college – a designation of which he is skeptical given the college’s newest initiatives. Yoakum views changes made by the college as prioritizing production of workers and numbers. He questions Jewell’s position as the Critical Thinking College –  unaccompanied by actual shifts in the college’s priorities, this label is meaningless. 

“I applied ultimately because I am saddened by the direction the college is going, and I wanted an audience for my critique,” Yoakum said. “Being named a finalist means at least a small section of the faculty has at least heard my thoughts, whether or not they agree, so hopefully this can lead to meaningful change in the college’s direction.” 

Some of Yoakum’s accomplishments include receiving a Bright Flight Award, a music scholarship, being a member of Alpha Lambda Delta, winning the Hilltop Monitor Award and several Missouri College Media Association awards, a nonfiction reader for Inscape Magazine, presenting at the 2018 National Undergraduate Literature Conference, being a member of the Sigma Tau Delta English honor society and being selected to present at their 2020 Convention in Las Vegas—canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic—being a member of Mortar Board and presenting at Duke Colloquium. 

At Jewell, Yoakum has been president of QUILTBAG, a member of the diversity and inclusion work group, and a member of Concert Choir, Choral Scholars, Handbell Choir and Schola Cantorum. At Oxford, Yoakum sang with the selective St. John’s College Chapel Choir. Additionally, he has written for the Hilltop Monitor, where he currently serves as Arts and Culture page editor. During the school year Yoakum works as the Development and Finance Intern for the Harriman-Jewell Series. At the Series he has also worked as Box Office Intern and Gala Intern. He also spent the summer of 2018 volunteering with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) in St. Croix and Sacy-le-Petit, France. 

Yoakum initially applied in order to evidence his growth during his time at Jewell, and the process of application led him to recognize his growth as a thinker and person. 

“It also makes me extremely disappointed in the lack of opportunities at Jewell, the dearth of opportunities for departments which are underfunded or often, despite excellent performance [i.e. Music] overlooked for flashier projects [i.e. new sports and rec center],” said Yoakum.

 After graduation, Yoakum plans to take a gap year before attending graduate school in a humanities field like English or cultural studies. He is looking to apply for the master’s in Cultural Studies at SOAS, the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, and the master’s in Global Thought at Columbia University. Yoakum hopes to work at a museum, arts organization, publishing house or public radio station during his gap year but has not heard back about his applications. 

Due to the pandemic, many arts organizations have had to either close or restrict their budgets. Yoakum has been notified by several organizations he applied to that their process of evaluation has been delayed or that the summer internship program has been canceled. He says that if closures remain in place into the summer, it will be difficult to find a job in a museum or arts presentation organization.

 I’ve never taken a trip over fall break before. Being from Liberty, I’ve never even gone home because I was home. But after spending the last year at Oxford, where a trip to London or even the European continent was a few hours away, the last couple of months here at William Jewell College have made me restless. Unable to take a $15 bus to Paris for the weekend – my first choice – I settled for a close second: a short jaunt up to the University of Iowa to visit two friends I made at Oxford last year and one Jewell friend now starting a Ph.D. there. 

 I drove up to Iowa City on Thursday. The drive is about 4 ½ hours, so I stopped in Des Moines on the way to have some coffee and a pastry at Scenic Route Bakery and walk around the downtown area. I pressed on the two hours more to Iowa City, with plenty of peanut M&Ms as fuel, arriving in time to have dinner with friends at Bluebird Diner, which I quite liked. Afterwards, one of my friends who studies English – an Iowa specialty – took me to a reading at the famed Writers’ Workshop. Cody-Rose Clevidence, a poet, and Alexia Arthurs, a prose writer, both read selections from their work. While I cannot claim to get or even appreciate experimental poetry, the consensus of the crowd made me understand that this was good stuff. 

 I stayed on my friend’s futon for the weekend which was surprisingly comfortable, though I can’t compare it to anything because I’ve never been on a futon before. The next morning, because my English major friend had class – Iowa doesn’t have fall break – my economics friend and I met up for breakfast, pumpkin waffles, and to go have coffee and study. 

We went to Prairie Lights, the Iowa City version of City Lights, the famous San-Francisco indie bookstore and beat hangout. Prairie Lights as a bookstore and a café is great. They have a fantastic selection of new, old and independent books, and the café has good light and a pleasant atmosphere. After working for a while, I went to the Iowa City Public Library for a program from the International Writers Program called “Language at the Fault Lines.” At this panel, four different writers from four different non-English speaking countries read short prepared papers about their experience with translation and writing cross-linguistically and culturally. 

The panel was excellent and I came away with lots to think about. That afternoon, I took my two friends to the local HyVee. Neither of them has a car, because parking in downtown Iowa City can be hellish – as I learned – and the city is fairly walkable. HyVee, however, is a good 35 minute walk, so being the good friend and HyVee aficionado that I am, I offered to take them. 

 Upon returning, my English major friend and I went to another author reading at Prairie Lights. Susan Steinberg, author of “Machine” and other books, read and answered questions for about an hour, after which there was a wine and cheese reception. Expecting the cubed cheese omnipresent at Jewell functions, the cheese lover in me was ecstatic when I saw the board of assorted cheeses. After the reading and some great Japanese food, my friend, a few of their friends and I embarked on a bar crawl of the writers’ bars in Iowa City. After hitting four or so bars which famous writers from the workshop were known to frequent –we even saw Susan Steinberg at George’s, the oldest of the bars – we called it a night. 

 Saturday morning was low key – we had some great brunch and did some studying. Fall break didn’t mean there weren’t assignments due. Later that night I met up with my Jewell friend; we had falafel and saw the Downtown Abbey movie. After that, we went to Joe’s, the most central and maybe largest bar in downtown Iowa City. Being gameday, Joe’s was wild, and almost all of the majority blond, corn-fed Iowa fans were decked out in Iowa gear. After a few drinks, we wanted to dance so we headed to a club. After a few – read: many – more drinks, we danced for a few hours, talked with a few random people and then called it a night. 

I didn’t do much Sunday morning, and I headed back to Liberty around 10 in the morning, breaking up the drive by stopping in Des Moines again. 

Overall, my time in Iowa City was excellent. Although I’m glad I go to a small school, the college town feel is great. It’s cool to be surrounded by so many students with so many restaurants, bars, bookstores and cafes in a walkable area. While we may not live in that town, Iowa City is only a 4 ½ hour drive from Jewell, so if you know anyone at the University of Iowa, I highly recommend the trip.