“Dad, there is someone here that you need to talk to.” My daughter was working at Judson this summer, and her job on this day was at the switchboard. “Who is it Caroline?” “Don’t know but you need to talk to him.” “O.K., send him on over.”
This was how a very interesting and important episode of serendipity took place involving me, Ruth Kastenmayer, my daughter Caroline, one of the most important working scientists in the world, and an unusual college professor named Phil Sigler.
“Hello, good to meet you. Come on in and sit down. But, give us a minute to complete this e-mail message. This is a very important and difficult situation that we are attempting to solve with a really big-time scientist at the University of Washington. We don’t want to lose our train-of-thought,” I stated to Dr. Sigler. “By all means, do your work. I’ll talk to Caroline while you finish,” Sigler responded.
Ruth Kastenmayer, the Judson WebMaster, and I were constructing the syllabus for the course entitled SCI 101 Concepts of Science and we were attempting to get permission to use a copyrighted photograph of Mary-Claire King for the photo-format of the syllabus. We designed the syllabus with photographs of historical and important science people encircling a photograph of Mary-Claire King who most people consider a potential Nobel laureate and the most important and productive female scientist living today.
I e-mailed Dr. King an active link of the syllabus with the cluster of famous scientists and she immediately responded with a short and direct note to me, “You can use my work but don’t use my picture,” MCK. This was a major setback. We have never been refused permission to use copyrighted material for educational purposes. We were excited about featuring Dr. King on our syllabus. I decided to try one more time to persuade Dr. King to allow us to feature her on our syllabus. The response was a little more polite but still “no.” My plan was then for Ruth to write as the WebMaster and to reassure Dr. King that the syllabus would only be posted on the Judson Academic intranet and that we very much wanted our students to get to know Dr. King and to appreciate the work of an outstanding female scientist and human rights activist.
We were at the end of this critical composition when Phil Sigler entered my office. Phil became obviously aware and very interested in the excitement and energy being displayed by Ruth and me as we struggled with each word of the message and laughed at the almost simple but fun piece-of- work in progress. Phil settled in a chair and watched us fuss and worry about our effort. When we finally pressed the “send” button we leaned back and grinned. Nothing to do now but hope that she bothers to respond and that the pleadings of a fellow female will break the barrier.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Dr. Sigler. We just had to finish that message and get it on its way. We are determined to get permission to use Dr. King’s photograph on our intranet course syllabus. Actually, we have photos of her from the Web that are not copyrighted. We could use any one of them. But, we want Dr. King to know about our course and we hope that she might agree to be a telementor to the students. Dr. King’s recent discovery of the gene causing breast cancer and her discovery of mitochondrial DNA are tremendous contributions to science. We are taking our “syllabus conflict” with Dr. King as an intellectual challenge. The Internet and electronic mail in an important sense has taken us from being isolated to being in the mainstream.
We then realized we had no idea why Dr. Sigler was in my office. He had walked in at a busy and somewhat crazy moment and had become caught up in the “electricity of the moment,” as he put it. "Ruth, come on over and let’s talk with Dr. Sigler. He wants to know about Judson College."
Phil Sigler is a sociologist from the College of Staten Island. We quickly realized that this graying, bearded, and quiet professor from New York state had an electric spark of his own. “I am visiting colleges doing research on a book that I plan to have published in about two years. The book will contain vignettes of my visits to colleges and universities. The book's title will be something like, College: A Good Place for your Children?"
Phil had barely started his story when we heard the ding of Ruth’s computer informing us of an e-mail hit. We both jumped up to see who sent the message. We were shocked. It was from Mary-Claire King. “Don’t open it. I’m not prepared,” I somewhat joked with Ruth. Phil looked at me with a sense of disbelief and amusement. Ruth is use to me and found my anxiety and my need to milk the moment for all that is was worth very predictable.
“This is too quick. She has sent us a knee-jerk response ... Don’t call us and we won’t call you, sort of thing,” was my guess. Ruth quickly stated, “It is a good message, I can feel it.” Phil could stand it no longer, “Open it ... open it ... you are going to open it, aren’t you.” Ruth grinned and opened the message from Dr. King.
It was a long letter, I leaped to the last paragraph ... fully expecting a polite rejection. Then Phil and Ruth filled the room with yippie-yoos and lighthearted laughter ... we got permission. Not only did we get permission, Dr. King informed Ruth that she was mailing additional articles and information about her laboratory and workers and that she was interested in following our efforts in the course.
Ruth was so proud. She had broken the barrier, and she had beaten me. Phil was more excited than either of us. He really got caught up in the business. “This is exactly what I am searching for. Faculty still alive in their work. People believing in what they are doing. This is wonderful ... simply wonderful.” Phil was on his feet, almost dancing around the little office. What a sight ... three “older” people deep into computer technology, excited with their work, laughing and enjoying a small moment in the outback of Alabama. In a strange way we felt bonded with a great scientist that we had never met.
We finally settled down and returned to Phil’s story and purpose for being at Judson. “I am visiting all 1,100 colleges and universities east of the Mississippi. I only have to visit 200 more and my work is done. I have been at this effort for over 18 years. I have a lot of good memories of people and events ... and this day with you two and Dr. King is one of the best ... maybe my featured vignette,” Phil stated with a sincere smile.
Phil Sigler is as interesting a person and he is a sociologist. In 1984 he walked across the nation, New York to L.A., over 3,000 miles. Phil combines physical challenges with social interactions. He spent much of this walk alone ... meeting people and becoming part of their world. He used and needed these unplanned and unexpected human encounters to “charge me emotionally ... so that my mind stayed sharp ... so that I could respond to the people and not just focus on walking across the nation.”
This walking with people adventure produced a book, “One Step at a Time.” Ruth remembered seeing Phil on T.V. He was being interviewed about his experiences. Phil has run and walked marathons in many parts of the world. On this day he wore shorts, walking shoes, a pull-over shirt, and his hair was windblown. He looked like a retired fellow out for a stroll. Far from it. Phil Sigler is a tough, focused, well-read, and bright person with many poignant stories of his Jewish heritage.
“Caroline tells me that you will be in Birmingham on Wednesday,” queried Phil. “I’ll be at U.A.B. on that day ... let’s have dinner together ... my treat,” continued Phil. “Well then, do you like Chinese? We enjoy eating at the Jade Palace in Inverness,” was my quick response. We decided to meet at 6:30 pm and, after swapping e-mail addresses, Phil was off to UNA and other colleges in the State.
We were on time at the Jade Palace. We settled in for hot and spicy soup, and Phil inquired if they served beggar's duck. Phil and the Chinese waiter quickly got into a fairly long and detailed discussion of strange Chinese food and I realized we were with a cosmopolitan person with vast experiences and verbal abilities. “Ate beggar's duck in Hong Kong ... duck covered with dirt and baked ... really tasty,” explained Phil. Caroline ordered cashew chicken and an egg roll. I had hot and sour soup and Mongolian chicken extra hot. Phil had number 13.
“So you visited New York twice this year? Why?” Phil’s questions to Caroline came fast and left her somewhat "big-eyed". “I love N.Y. ... especially the ballet and the theater. I saw RENT and loved it,” was Caroline’s quick and excited retort. “RENT, what a mess, and you considered that quality theater?” was Phil’s stab at Caroline ... his NY personality was seeping through. “Yes, the story is about my generation and our problems, AIDS, personal struggle ...” I looked at my daughter and watched her hold her own in defense of an American classic, a musical that marks a generation’s struggle ... a story that Caroline found touching and meaningful. She made me proud. I hardly heard the end of her response ... I was lost in my feelings of love and admiration for a young lady growing into a new station in life ... and doing it with poise and purpose.
“Well, Caroline, what do you make of the Clinton’s situation. What is your point-of-view. Should he be impeached if he lied? This isn’t about sex you know ... what do your and your friends think?” Phil continued. Caroline started her discourse about morality when the waiter scurried up with our soup and his uncontrolled prattle about living in “Boringham”, Alabama. Having food on the table saved Caroline from the inquisition from both Phil and Dad.
It took us two hours to eat and talk. Phil’s emotional battery was charged and it was time for him to head north. “Come visit us in New Jersey, Caroline. Bring a friend,” invited Phil. I grinned, waved, and thought to myself ... “Phil, I predict that you and Mrs. Sigler will be seeing Caroline at your penthouse and she will bring a friend. Caroline loves New York.”