Professor Loconte Hosts Alumni for Washington, D.C. Gathering
Alumni from the King’s Manhattan campus recently gathered in an 18th-century row house in Washington, D.C. for reunion, discussion, and lots of food.
On a December weekend afternoon, about 30 alumni from the King’s Manhattan campus gathered in an 18th-century row house in Washington, D.C.—the home of history professor Joe Loconte—for reunion, discussion, and lots of food. Politics Professor David Tubbs also traveled from New York to join the assembly. Sarah Ferrara ’12 wrote, “To describe the scene, it was cozy and littered with books, with a fire going and lots of food. Tubbs handled taking everyone’s coats, except that Loconte kept scolding him for getting too absorbed in conversation and leaving the coats neglected. Loconte was at the stove making—what else?—pasta.”
Those present represented about a ten-year span of King’s graduates, from 2006 graduates to a current student. Many brought babies and significant others.
As is fitting for a Washington, D.C. event, the afternoon’s discussion centered on political events of 2016 and, as Ferrara put it, “what they mean for us as King’s students and Americans.” One aspect of the discussion highlighted the problem of too many entitlements for both the baby boomer generation and Millennials, enabling people to remain in a state of prolonged adolescence for a considerable portion of their lives. But those gathered also saw signs of hope that upcoming generations are motivated to address these problems seriously.
The group also drew encouragement from reminding each other of what actions and beliefs matter and make a difference in fragmented, unstable times. An abiding love for truth is important, as is the ability to recognize and model statesmanship. Professor Tubbs recounted, “Someone once told me that ‘an intellectual is someone who sobers everyone up when they are giddy, and by the same token, provides hope when everyone is somber.” Loconte emphasized the study of history that “inoculate[s] us against the lie about humans”—the lie that they are perfectible—and quoted at length from C. S. Lewis lecture on “Learning in War Time”:
“Most of all, perhaps, we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion. A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.”
Loconte wrote afterward, “We had a great time with the alumni, who really seemed delighted to be reconnecting with other students and with their old profs. Our event was slated from 1:30 to 4:30, but I don’t think anyone left before 6 pm, and a few students hung around until 8. It was a full house and a real pleasure having everyone over at Villa Loconte in the heart of Washington, DC.”
Ultimately, those gathered recognized that whether politics and world events turn for good or ill, our hope is found in the Christian faith: that Jesus is coming again to reign and put all the world to rights beyond our imagining.