Individual Worth & Communal Affiliation

Today some news became available. Dana College will be closing its doors. (source links: 1, 2) This may seem insignificant to many of you. It also may be of great significance to others. (obvious sentences are obvious) To me, it is significant but only in a minor way. As some of you may know, Dana College (link) is my alma mater. I have fond memories of the place and horrible memories as well. My fond memories have more to do with individual people than with it as a communal or even educational institution. But as I have been reading the facebook posts and tweets of my friends, associates, and fellow alumni, I have been thinking about the role school plays in the formation of the individual.

Yes yes, we can all safely say that schools and other institutional bodies influence the formation of the individual. Such a statement is sociology 101. We're aware of how they inform and form us to be better (or unfortunately in some circumstances, lesser) than when we entered their midst. My concern here does not have to do with this genetic sense of institutions passing traits onto the individual as 'offspring'. Rather, I seek to explore what it means to be an alumni or ex-patriot of a community.

I have noticed variance in the ways my fellow alumni and associates regard Dana College. For some people, it is a cherished near-hallowed ground about which they will verbally fight tooth and nail for a perceived (or actual) integrity which they feel obligated to defend philosophically (or financially). For others, it is a milemarker that they have passed, signifying a time and place in their personal, social, or romantic development that only needs recollection insofar as it informs the overall development of their identity. Loyalty is variant amongst us all.

And yet I cannot help but wonder (how's that for a Sarah Jessica Parker phrase), what does it mean to call oneself an alum? I suspect that to call myself an alumni of Dana College is to philosophically, historically, and even religiously locate myself within a stream of communal development. When I make this affiliation (verbally or even just by virtue of the act of graduation), I am connecting myself not only to those in the past, those who have founded the college, attended its classes, instructed its students, and graduated from its halls, but also to those who will encounter this place in the future, those who will reform its leadership, attend its courses, instruct its students, and graduate in the years to come. When you read up on teachers, authors, senators, lawyers, and prospective leaders of government or industry, you are bound to hear of their C.V. (Curriculum Vitae), which includes the list of institutions at which they have attended or taught. We place a value on where someone has been instructed or where they have instructed others. The historical, geographical, and philosophical location of ourselves and those we cherish is important and informs the way we regard them and ourselves (for having encountered them).

So what do alumni do when their alma mater ceases to exist? How does that influence the formation/continuation of personhood? I'm not saying that my understanding of self will deteriorate now that Dana College is closing. There are others however, who might feel that way. I suspect it is not unlike familial death. There are members of our family with whom we are integrally knit together (mother, father, spouse, etc.) And if these members were to die, we would find our understanding of self, as a relational creature, to be irrevocably affected by that change/cessation of relationship. There are however, other members of our family with whom we may not be so integrally knit (step-parents, second cousins, etc.). If these members were to die, we might find ourselves affected and join our sympathies with those who mourn bitterly. Nevertheless, for ourselves these relationships of a lesser qualitative degree would not hold the same emotional sway over our own heart and mind.

It would be lovely to end this post here. To say that, well Dana College was the sort of relationship that one might have with a step-parent and really doesn't hold any sway over my present emotional, philosophical, or relational development. Such is true. However, we must revisit the matter of associated validity. If I, by virtue of saying I am an alum, am locating myself within or among the past/future development of a institution and its constituents, what does that reciprocating value (the worth, or lackthereof, placed upon one's self with such an affiliation) do when the development ceases? Is my value (or lack thereof, depending upon your perspective) as an alum of Dana College decreased (or increased?) by its closing? I wonder how often these contemplations occur in the mind of the educated (or uneducated, assuming you can transplant this hypothesis to a non-academic sector). Yale hasn't closed. The University of Illinois hasn't (although one could debate it's future).

... It perplexes me. Not in an emotional sort of way. Just curiousity. In the end, I think one can still locate one's self within the historical, philosophical, relational developments of an institution or community even once such an institution or community has ceased to exist. However, I think that in some cases (maybe not my own personal instance), such a cessation compels a growth of one's subjectivity and independence in order to facilitate their development and self-identification apart (though not necessarily entirely so) from the community/institution in question. We all identify ourselves with our historical development (family, friends, schooling, employment, living accommodations, etc.) but there is more to self-identification than these affiliations. There is a utterly subjective sense of self that must be identified and explored. This subjective self may have surprisingly substantive or lacking connections with our historical affiliations, but it must be examined on its own and not with continuing re-visitation of its communal/institutional predecessors.

Postscript: If one backs away from this 'conclusion?' and seeks to move in a more theological direction with its suppositions, there are shocking and alarming conclusions to be made concerning the place and affiliation of the faithful individual apart from the worshipping/confessional community. I do not wish to make these theological/ecclesiological conclusions, as I do not agree with their ramifications in the slightest, but would at least like to acknowledge their alarming nature.

from one onto the other.

It All Seemed To Be An Academic Exercise

So begins a new blog for me. I've done this before, writing in a blog and propelling the thoughts (whatever their quality) into the void of the internet. Perhaps you've done this before as well, reading the commentary and inquisitions of one whose thoughts may belong within his own head instead of on the screen.

Usually the introductory post of a blog entails some sort of biographical segment, a retelling of who it is that well be propelling their thoughts and the events of their life onto the screen of the reader. This introductory post will however, not have any of that sort. Rather this post will offer a short summary of the intended content of this blog.

It is the intent of myself, the author, not to blather on with these sort of overly formulated sentences that no-one really cares to read, but instead to write as I think. So, I offer you far warning that the Jacksonian Contemplations you will encounter in the future may be confusing at best and schizophrenic at worst. I realize that I have another blog and that its contents are largely filtered (certain people have access to read certain types of posts). This blog intends to be different from that blog insofar as, aside from the 'hiddenness' of its url, it will remain public. Comments and questions, dialogue and even insult is welcome. Because of its public nature, I recognize that I will have to maintain a more censored vocabulary. I will endeavor to do so, knowing that when I find myself enthralled in the contemplation of various topics, I usually lose track of my tongue (or fingers, as the case may be).

So, the sort of contemplation within this blog remains open to the fickleness of history and the unexpected interaction of peoples, communities, events, etc. with myself and/or those I love. It'll be a mysterious organic surprise in that way. I hope it works alright and I hope you stick around.