When will they ever learn...

Every once in awhile, Whitworth staff members get copied on the e-mails that are sent to the general student population. On Wednesday, the subject line in my inbox read, "Peace Songs in the Loop with Dale Soden - 12:30."

I was SO there.

 

Dale Soden is a history professor. I actually never took any of his classes as a student, but ever since I arrived as a freshman at Whitworth, I've known him through his role as Whitworth historian, i.e., he really did write Whitworth's history book. You could ask him how the heck Whitworth came up with "the pirates" as its mascot. Dale could tell you how this small, predominantly white Presbyterian campus reacted during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. He is also most eloquent in explaining the role each Whitworth president had in his respective era of leadership on campus.

 

Any time I happen to hear him speak, be it at convocations or faculty/staff gatherings, I always learn something. Well, that's the way it should be, I know - but they're things that actually stick with me.

 

And it's no different when you're singing songs of peace in the Loop with Dale Soden on a Wednesday afternoon. I guess I never listened all that closely to the lyrics of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" before yesterday. It goes on and on and on - it's a cycle - it's been in my head ever since.