Aughts

Shayna Plaut ’00 wrote recently to three of her Antioch mentors, Hassan Nejad, Professor of Political Science and International Relations; Scott Warren, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Science; and Bob Devine, College Professor of Communications.

“I just wanted to drop a note and tell you what’s been happening in my life, and how much my ACADEMIC experiences at Antioch helped in this and the three years I spent being the Human Rights Education Coordinator for Amnesty International USA-Midwest region. Antioch not only helped me with school – but also gave me the tools, or at least some of them, to work at Amnesty.

“I leave in a month for Macedonia on a Fulbright. I have devoted the past two years to studying self-representation within Romani media (especially the ideas of ‘nation’) and graduated three weeks ago from UC after writing my thesis on Romani media.

“Hassan, your class Islam, Ideology, Law and Gender was pivotal in this interest. Since then, the lines between ‘politics’ and ‘anthropology’ have blurred, what aspects of culture are regulated, how the personal becomes political and vice versa…what is said to the ‘outside’ world versus ‘inside.’

“Scott, your classes (and constant dedication during the senior project) provided me the tools (and more importantly the questions) about how such spheres of inside/outside are constructed – and constantly morph. I have found myself using the book Feminist Thought: An Anthology to justify that what is not said is as important as what is said.

“Bob, although it’s ironic that I’ve never taken another media theory class and many academic institutions have no idea what I am referring to, after Media and Social Change, my senior project, my thesis and my Fulbright proposal have used media as the text… Power: A Radical View is constantly appearing in everything I write.

“Thank you all.

“And on a slightly ‘lighter’ note, I never appreciated the creativity of Antioch, the idea that there are standards but not ONE truth/way of writing/thinking, until I was shoved into and stifled by the faux-ivory tower of UC. I guess Antioch is like wine; you appreciate it the longer it sits.”

Shayna also wanted to thank Ivan Dihoff, Professor of Languages and Linguistics, who helped edit and re-edit her autobiography and statement of purpose for her Fulbright application.

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