AC_1965_Web

146 AN T I OC H CO L L E G E C L A S S O F 19 6 5 5 0 t h A N N I V E R S A R Y B O O K S H AW SHAW ED THEN AND NOW 4 B.A. Biology 4 Newhouse School of Journalism, Syracuse 4 M.A., English and Creative Writing, Wayne State FAMI LY 4 Daughter, Jessica 4 Grandsons, Nate and Noah ADDRESS 4 937 Broadacre Ave. Clawson, MI 48017 CONTACT 248 565-8036 edshaw1000@comcast.net I’ve been finding it extremely difficult to express in words what my time at Antioch meant to me. And this is especially strange since, for almost the whole of my (40- year+) professional career I’ve been a writer. I’ve tried on several occasions to write my “Antioch story,” but each time the effort came out too ...what?...too superficial, too me- chanical, too historical. I spent five years in Yellow Springs (on and off, of course) and many an afternoon and evening walking inside myself through Glen Helen.What I learned there and gained there was not from any books or labs or even from my several co-op jobs, although those experiences were tremendously growthful. It was, rather, the way Antioch taught me how to think, made me challenge some deeply- held assumptions, and gave me con- fidence in myself through the men- toring of many fine professors. MyAntioch years were the most stimulating, the most gratifying, and the most rewarding years of my life—at least until a few years ago, when I became a grandpa (twice!), an experience for which no educa- tion can prepare you and for which there is no equal in bliss. I attended the Newhouse School of Journalism at Syracuse University for half a year after Antioch on full scholarship+stipend, but left once I discovered that they were actually cramming about four months’worth of study into a two-year curriculum. Instead, my (now ex-) wife, Barbara Masin, and I (we met on campus) re- turned to Yellow Springs where we joined J. David Coldren (of blessed memory) in helping administer and promote the Antioch Area Theatre’s summer arts and performance pro- grams.After a two-year+ stint in San Francisco where my wife (happily) found a job and where I (even more happily) was able perforce to pur- sue my playwriting, I returned to Detroit and, in 1969, received a mas- ter’s degree in English from Wayne State University in English and cre- ative writing. I was allowed—appar- ently for the first time in the English Department’s history—to submit as my master’s thesis a set of three original one-act stage-plays. I’ve published a couple of some- what obscure books and a dozen professional articles. I’ve had a cou- ple of plays produced and am work- ing with a composer right now who’s doing the score for a musical of mine which we hope might ulti- mately find its way to a stage on, off, off-off, or off-off-off Broadway. I’m in reasonably good health, considering, and am enjoying my semi-retirement, although I would say in all candor that growing old isn’t for the timid. But the only accomplishment of mine—my only victory for man- kind—was raising a wonderful daughter, who turned out to be a wonderful mother, and who had the great good grace of birthing two of the most beautiful, lovely and loving grandsons any grandpa could ever ask for, to wit: ON THE BIRTH OF MY GRANDSON Decades hence you’ll understand. And if You save this verse and have it still As you become a boy And then a man, and then a father on your own; And if it still be with you on that future-perfect day Your daughter lays your grandson in your arms . . . You’ll read these words and under- stand the tears, The smiles, the love, the joyfullness that filled Your grampa’s grateful heart today. Every Antioch grandparent will understand this. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z