The Windy City Was Really Sunny
After a whole week of delay and anticipation, Professor Dudley and I finally arrived at Chicago O’Hare Airport Monday at noon to join our expedition team! I was so excited to have the mint green van rolling up the curb and the expeditioners jumping out to give us big hearty, welcoming hugs. Just then, Jason informed me on the phone that we would have to figure out our own public transportation to meet them at Evanston… Fine. After waiting for 40 mins for Prof. Dudley’s suitbag and worrying that United Airline left it in Albany, his bag arrived and we grabbed a taxi towards Evanston, IL..
This was my first visit to Chicago, besides being stuck in O’Hare during my numerous flight transfers. Luckily, Professor Dudley got his PhD in Philosophy from Northwestern University in 1998 and knew the area well, “supposedly.” Professor Dudley did not know which highway to take to Evanston, but he did point out the Chicago city-line when we saw a crowd of tall buildings. (This aspect of Professor Dudley’s forgetfulness of his PhD years will be discussed further in the post) After a short ride, we got to the wonderful red brick house of Kris Kelsh ‘90 and John Kelsh ‘89. There, we met up with Brooks Foehl ‘88, Williams’ Director of Alumni Relation, who was getting ready to go for a run by the Lake Michigan and the Kelsh’s children, Fred, Peter and Katie, who was preparing the delicious brownies for our dinner. Not surprisingly, though, our expedition team was not even there yet, so Prof. Dudley and I went on a walk to downtown Evanston for some sandwiches at a wonderful little place called Potbelly. A turkey and salami sandwich in, Jason, Jen and Emily finally arrived! It was so great to see them and I am psyched to begin the journey. They seemed a bit tired but full spirited like always!
Dudley at the Anthropology Department
Post lunch, Professor Dudley offered to give us a tour of Northwestern, and that is when our tourguide’s forgetfulness of his campus truly came to light. After being a little lost around the streets of Northwestern, we finally found this street where the Philosophy office was supposedly located. When we arrived at the building, there was a big sign stating “Anthropology Department”… Prof. Dudley was such a great sport that he still allowed us to take a photo of him in front of the building. The afternoon was undeniably pleasant, though, occasionally getting lost with Prof. Dudley, visiting the concrete student center that has a Starbucks and the good ol’ library where Prof. Dudley typed up his dissertation on Hegel, Nietzsche and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom (yes, this is a convenient link to Amazon.com).
For the evening, Prof. Dudley gave a lecture at the Union League Club of Chicago, where around 40 alumni gathered over drinks and tiny hors d’oeuvres. Although I have taken the class on Philosophy and Economics of Higher Education, which was the topic of the talk, the talk was still quite humorous. Duct Tape was tossed around along with liberal arts ideals. Eventually Prof. Dudley got a discussion going about what we would want to keep or change about Williams if we were a trustee.
Willl Dudley '89, David Brown '07 and guest
Shabaki Lambert '98 and Emily before Prof. Dudley's lecture
Casandra (Taliaferro) Hiland '90, John Kelsh '89, Alby Gallun '89, Kris Kelsh '90 Thanks for showing us Chicago!
Jen, Jason and our wonderful Chicago regional volunteers, Geshri Gunasekera '06, Kila Weaver '94, Jason Ren '08
Congratulations to newlyweds, Ted Unger '06 and Erin (Zolnick) Unger (Middlebury '06)
Summer is awesome. When we came out of the Union League, the sky was still bright and Alby, Casandra and John took us out in town to be somewhat of a tourist! We went to the Millennium Park to see the Bean by Anish Kapoor. If you haven’t been there, man, you should. This piece was also featured in the class of Lisa Corrin (Director of WCMA)!
Chicago's Awesome Bean
We were mesmerized.
The evening closed with us sitting around in the Kelsh’s backround chatting about old Williams days over Fat Tire, Chicago’s famous deepdish and homemade guac. We were so stuffed when bed called. I can’t wait for the next night!
The Kelsh family and the team! Thank you so so much!
-ko
