Princeton Weekly Bulletin May 25, 1998
Adult School attracts University faculty
By Pam Hersh
I laughed; I cried; I had my brain cells nourished. What more could anyone ask?" said Princeton resident Jan Weinberg, as he digested a "feast" for the mind -- a lecture by author Joyce Carol Oates, Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor in the Humanities.
Oates served her feast not in a University lecture hall to University students, but rather in the auditorium of Princeton High School to students of all ages enrolled in the Princeton Adult School. Oates was one of a dozen University faculty members who contributed their time and talents to what Adult School participants called a "fabulous," "priceless" program.
University contributions to the Adult School menu this past spring included selections for both right and left brain-oriented individuals: the humanities- oriented "Bards of Princeton" and the scientific "Universe: What We Know and What We Hope Yet to Find Out."
Presenters in the Bards series included Robert Fagles, Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor of Comparative Literature; Arnold Rampersad, Wood-row Wilson Professor of Literature; Paul Muldoon, professor of the Council of the Humanities and Creative Writing; James McPherson, George Henry Davis '86 Professor of American History; Robert Hollander, professor of European literature, comparative literature, and Romance languages and literatures; and Edmund Keeley, Charles Barnwell Straut Class of 1923 Professor of English, Emeritus.
In the Universe program were astrophysical sciences professors Richard Gott and Scott Tremaine, associate professor David Spergel, assistant professor Michael Strauss, and visiting lecturer Neil Tyson, who is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History.
Receptive, probing
The Bards series attracted approximately 130 enrollees with dozens of drop-ins who were fed elegant ideas on a somewhat primitive plate, commented Adult School president Nancy Beck. There were major parking problems on the night when the high school hosted a wrestling tournament; sets for Sweeney Todd embellished the auditorium stage; and El Nino weather brought driving rain and wind that made Oates wonder aloud whether anyone would show up for her lecture.
But "Nothing would have kept me away -- certainly not the weather," said Mel Benarde, one of about 80 people who braved the elements on April 9. "I was rewarded with a wonderfully entertaining program, highlighted by Ms. Oates's amazing intellect and sense of humor. I never realized how uproariously funny she is."
The lecturers were similarly enthusiastic about their Adult School students. Rampersad referred to the "extremely receptive and probing" members of the audience. Spergel and Tremaine appreciated the sophistication of the Adult Schoolers: it was stimulating, said Tremaine, to have "students who were occasionally twice my age, rather than half my age."
"I was delighted to take part in the Bards of Princeton series," commented Muldoon, "and I only wish I'd been free to sign up for the series as an audience member."