Marauding elephants throw great party in Racine: 3rd annual Hannibal a smashing success
Jason Lund, Staff Reporter
May 8, 2012
Filed under Campus
Many residents of Racine wondered why marauding elephants were trampling their city, and were relieved to discover that it was due to the 3rd annual HanniBall hosted by assistant professor of English and Great Ideas Dr. Seemee Ali and associate professor of Philosophy and Great Ideas, Dr. Michael McShane at the beautiful Dekoven Center. The gala featured music from the rather skillful Carthage Jazz Orchestra, while professors, students, and other members of the Carthage community made conversation over scrumptious appetizers and danced the night away.
Ali said of the event, “We hope that the Hannibal lecture series creates a sense of community, and the HanniBall is an opportunity to celebrate the formation of such a community”. And celebrate the community did. A unique feature of the event is the presentation of the Gadfly award that is awarded to the student who most persistently asked insightful questions at Hannibal lectures. This award calls our attention to the legendary Socrates, the Gadfly of Athens who was known to ask a question or two. The winner this year was Allison Van Borstel, 15.
Another traditional feature of the HanniBall was a skit based in part on Goethe’s Faust, in which students did their best to parody their beloved professors. Student Nick Tackes, 13, a participant, said of the skit, “I think you can probably see why we aren’t Theater majors, but it sure was a lot of fun.” Hunter McKenzie, bass player of the Carthage Jazz Orchestra, when asked what the event was like from the perspective of a musician said that, “I was really happy to have the opportunity to play. Throughout human history, music has been experienced foremost as a social event, in which people come together in the same room and have a good time. The HanniBall as a celebration really brought home that idea.”
College, in its ideal form, should allow students to grow intellectually, but more than that it should allow students to grow as human beings with the connections they forge with others. The lecture series and Ball both allow for these seemingly separate realities to converge and become intertwined; thus the HanniBall appears to be the best way for the Carthage community to cap off another excellent year of college.
Dr. McShane and Dr. Ali would also like to extend a very warm thank you to the following for their support: Clausen Center, the Provost’s office and the IDS Division.