John Martinson Honors Program

March 03, 2025

Newsletter link: https://mailchi.mp/215dfc2228c7/this-week-in-honors-march-3-2025

• From the Director
• This Week in Honors
• Advising Updates
• Service Updates
• Honors Student Association
• Outside of Honors

From the Director

Friends,

If you have midterms this week: good hunting on them!

 Hard to believe that we are halfway through the Spring semester: time keeps rolling. But we should be careful to mark each moment—to attend carefully to the moment and mark them.

Or we end up, with David Byrne (lead of the Talking Heads):

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

(“Once in a Lifetime,” 1980).

Or Honda, again a main character in Mishima’s tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, in the beginning of the second volume, Runaway Horses, set 18 years after the end of Spring Snow and his friend’s, Kiyoaki’s, death. He is lawyer and judge now, living what seems a secure life. But. “Was it really so secure,” Mishima writes? “Whenever the thought occurred to him, Honda had the feeling that long ago a glittering danger had threatened him, a danger that had been destroyed in a final flash of brilliance. And from that moment, he felt, he had become invulnerable to temptation, however compelling—a freedom that he owed to the armor that encased him ever since. The danger of that distant past, and its temptation, had been Kiyoaki …. But as a man grows older the memory of his youth begins to act as nothing less than an immunization against further experience” (italics mine). In Runaway Horses, Honda will be forced to confront whether he is living a life of freedom or running from it. Is living “encased” in armor freedom? Or is it the beginning of anguish—anguish that will reveal the existence of freedom. Remember, Mishima writing in the 1960s is deeply influenced by European thought, one strain of which is existentialism, which examines the way in which human beings are free. And for folks like Sartre, “anxiety is the reflective apprehension of freedom by itself.” Honda has the early hints that he (like all of us) is “a freedom which chooses, but we do not choose to be free. We are condemned to freedom … thrown into freedom … abandoned” to it.” Such will be the paradox that Honda will try to work out in Runaway Horses.

If we are free beings running from our freedom—running into security, into walls—then our task will be to make something else of this impulse. Sartre is reputed to have said that ‘freedom is what you do with what has been done to you.’ And the question of freedom is not one localized to Mishima, Sartre, Byrne, or to some other period—the 1920’s, the 1960’s, the 1980’s. The question of freedom—and our responsibilities as free beings—is our question. It is the preeminent question.

It should not surprise then that the question of freedom, its ground, and the responsibilities that follow from our recognition that we are freedom, can be found at the center of one of the greatest culture products of our time, Hajime Isayama’s manga, Attack on Titan (2009-2021). While I have been reading Mishima, I have been watching the anime (2013-2023). And the power and depth of its exploration of freedom, violence, responsibility, love, friendship, and forgiveness has taken my breathe away—nightly. And at the center of Eren Yeager’s claims and action about freedom. It seems possible to say that he embodies human freedom: “the human being is suspended in his freedom” (Sartre). It seems impossible to distinguish Eren from his freedom. But does freedom—Eren’s relentless effort to range beyond the Walls of Paradis—to seek the sea—have to end in the genocidal violence that Eren unleashes? What are the alternatives?

So, we have begun a series of workshops. I did the first (on reading) last Tuesday over in Bluff. Thanks for folks who came. I look forward to repeating in a few weeks. And developing more workshops on reading techniques for next year. The next workshop will be on Tuesday, 18 March and it will on public speaking. Watch for more details and I hope you can make it.

Finally, this week I want to call attention to a couple honors students who are doing impressive things. First, Emily Rosenthal, senior honors student, double major in Sociology and International Studies. She has been accepted to a number of master’s programs in Public Health! When you see her, congratulate her and ask where she has decided to go to continue her studies! Second, Frank Wember, junior Meridian Scholar, major in computer science, had an internship in Menlo Park with Meta last summer. He worked with a team building a music recommendation system, determined through facial expression, location, and the weather. He reports that he had to worker harder there than any other time because he was surrounded by really smart folks—folks he looked up. That environment made him “level up.” And he has kept leveling up, seeking out challenges. He will be headed to Meta’s New York City office this summer for a second 3-month internship! When you see him, give him a hearty congratulations!

This Week in Honors

• John Martinson will be attending the Shark tank competition! We are taking submissions until Monday March 10th. Here's what your proposal should have:

  • • Course description and title (1-2 paragraphs)
    • Honors curriculum fit (AKA which course number and why) (1-2 paragraphs)
    • Broad outline of schedule and content for the course (1-2 paragraphs or short table)
    • What students will get from your course (short paragraph/few bullet points

  Put these in a single document and email them to zriebel@siue.edu by 11:59PM on March 10th. Have questions or need advice on a course idea? Also send them to zriebel@siue.edu!

  There's also a Suitable component for first-year students to rack up some points!

•  Save the Date: Fly High workshops will prepare you for  life-skills, not just classroom skills.  Employers want people who can get the most out of what they are taught and can communicate effectively what they know to other people.  It doesn't hurt to be ready for your classes, either. :D

Advising Reminders

• Drop-In Advising for quick questions and support with your advisor can be done in-person or virtually.
  • Ian In-Person Wednesdays 9:30-11:30
  • Carol & Meagan Digital Drop-In Wednesdays 1:30-4:30
  • Tisha In-Person Wednesdays 2:00-4:00
  • Everyone In-Person Fridays 2:30-4:30

Service Updates

• Promote STEM through outreach with local communities.  Contact our own Lillian Waghorn with questions!  Check out the flyer here.
• Career Fair Season begins this week, and volunteers are needed!  The Career Development Center has announced several career fairs this spring!  Faculty, staff, and student volunteers are needed for the larger fairs.  Volunteering is easy and fun, and your support helps ensure a smooth experience for attending students and employers.  Sign up via SignUpGenius.

  • Engineering Career Fair
    Tuesday, March 18
    11 a.m.-2 p.m.
    MUC: Meridian Ballroom & 2nd Floor Conference Center
    Volunteers needed!

  • IT Career Fair
    Wednesday, March 19
    11 a.m.-2 p.m.
    MUC: Conference Center
    Volunteers needed!

  • Spring Business and CAS Career Fair
    Wednesday, March 19
    11 a.m.-2 p.m.
    MUC: Meridian Ballroom
    Volunteers needed!

Honors Student Association

• Interested in running for an executive position? Elections are coming up, fast! Mark your calendars for an information session at our upcoming community meeting, March 24th, and get ready to vote at our election, April 25th! Location and time TBD.

• Calling all investigators, sleuths and detectives! The HSA Escape Room is coming up quickly, with this year's theme being Murder Mysteries. Will you be able solve the puzzles and answer the mysteries before time runs out? Registration is officially open. Not interested in putting your investigation skills to the test? Check out the opportunities for service hours! With any questions, please contact dhindri@siue.edu

  • Volunteer Sign Up: Help run our escape rooms the nights of the event!

  • Trial Run: Get service hours helping test the escape room, but be quick! Only 16 spots are available.

• Have questions about upcoming events, HSA, or college life in general? Come talk with an HSA Representative at our Kimmel desk! Dates/times here.

Outside of Honors

• 

  Super quick, 2-question survey about social book club interest.  This particular group is more focused on the social aspect of the club. There are no reading requirements or monthly discussions surrounding a specific book. Rather, in each meeting, we can discuss any recommendations, upcoming releases, and other bookish activities. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Megan Knight at meknigh@siue.edu.  

  Link: https://forms.office.com/r/pcV1fySMuj

• LGBTea Empowerment Group, Meeting March 18 and April 15 in LL 3021 from 2:30pm - 4:00pm.  Connect with fellow LGBTQ+ students in a judgment-free space.  Come as you are!  Contact Lisa Lilek or Sara Beiermann for more information. Flyer here.
• The Fuller Dome on campus is holding a 90th Day Celebration, a special five-day event from 3/27-3/31.  Everyone is encouraged to attend part or all of the event offerings.  In addition to the event, some special opportunities have been opened for Honors Students.
  • Attend the dress rehearsal for the one man play 'R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe' written by D. W. Jacobs.  (date/time TBD, likely either Friday, February 28th or Sunday, March 2nd). It will be a full dress rehearsal and the Playwright and Actor would love an audience. It will also be a good opportunity for you to see the play for free, as the actual event dates are ticketed.  Contact Tovia Black for final dates and to see if space is available.
  • Participate in the two interactive events, with preference that you can commit to participate in both part 1&2, especially the World Peace Game.  

    Friday 3/28/25  

    *8:00am – 11:30am: World Resource Simulation Center Part 1

    With Local bioregional concerns

    11:30am – 12:30pm: Lunch (MUC cafeteria)

    *1:00pm – 3:30pm: World Resource Simulation Center Part 2

    With Local bioregional concerns

    **We'll have 6 computer screens with real life data that we'll be working with, in teams of 2-3 students each

    AND

    Saturday 3/29/25 

    *8:00am – 11:30am: World Peace Game Part 1

    11:30am – 12:30pm: Lunch (MUC cafeteria)

    *1:00pm – 4:30pm: World Peace Game Part 2

    **This is an interactive, cooperative role-playing game with the goal of equally distributing world resources, using a floor sized dymaxion map as the game board. 

    The 2 events mentioned above will be free for the students who actively participate, and we'll have some other free events offered as well. Official flyer with full list of events to be shared soon!