By Carrie PorterThe Daily Northwestern
Combine a cup of tea with social critique. Stir in a former People magazine editor and shake with student participation. The result: tea time with Landon Y. Jones.
The tea time brewed an evening of lively debate at the John Evans Alumni Center Tuesday night, as Jones, the former editor of People and Money magazines, led a discussion on America’s cultural landscape with NU residential college members.
Sponsored by Northwestern’s Center for the Writing Arts, the event gave about 20 students the opportunity to talk with the current NU Writer in Residence in an intimate setting.
Sitting back into his chair and bouncing his crossed leg, Jones spoke to the circle of students about contemporary issues, such as who is the modern American hero.
“There is a certain sense that the rich and famous are not as enviable as we might fear and that the little guys, like firefighters in 9/11, are just as heroic as we might hope,” said Jones. “The nature of public interest seems to be focused on the bad things of celebrities.”
After discussing patterns in public interest, Jones appealed to the audience for their opinions on transformations within society and the impact on the students’ generation. Noting advancements in technology and mass media, students debated their role as the “9/11 Generation,” without direction and saddled with inherited problems. One student suggested a lack of unity exists because “there is not one Vietnam that we are fighting for.”
Phillip Swarts, a Medill freshman, was surprised by the turn of the tea time talk.
“I didn’t expect the conversation to turn to us, but I enjoyed the insight of my peers,” he said. “The general sense I got is that our generation is fractured, and we don’t have any commonalities. The important part is the exchange of ideas and getting views of your own.”
The hour-long meeting provided Jones with the welcome chance to hear students’ opinions.
“I am sorry that I didn’t bring a tape recorder,” he said. “It was really of great interest to me to hear student opinions that are out of the box.”
Reginald Gibbons, director of the Center for the Writing Arts, attributed the lively conversation to the tea’s setting. “The main thing is that this is outside the context of a professor evaluating students,” the English and classics professor said. “This had so much energy.”
According to Weinberg sophomore Erin Reynolds, the small group setting raised student participation and enthusiasm.
“You are able to voice your own opinions and can interact with the speaker,” she said. “In comparison to large lectures, it is more of an actual friendly setting.”
Reach Carrie Porter at [email protected].
