 Oh, this is Karl Ackerman, host of Journeys of the Mind. And today, we are so fortunate to have the wonderful Russell Modder, historian, and many other things, who is here today to talk about the Keebles Chair at Ilwani School. And for several decades now, Ilwani has had this wonderful chair, much like universities have chairs, and they invite people in. And I'm going to stop there because I want Russell Modder to tell us about the Keebles Chair. So Russell, give us a brief overview. And in so doing, I think you have a new title. Besides teacher, department chairman, head of the Elks for a while, the Elks Club in Waikiki. What is your new title? Well, Karl, it's a little bit premature to announce a new title, mainly because we haven't decided on that title yet. But I'm going to be facilitating speakers on campus beginning next year, not just the Keebles Chair, but some other speakers that we have on campus too. I'm not going to be the one choosing them, but I'm just going to handle logistics and things like that. But currently, right now, I'm the head of the Keebles Committee. That title is for certain. And I can talk a little bit about that committee if you'd like. I know that you were around at Eolani School when this whole idea of the Keebles Chair was conceived by Charlie Proctor. And basically what Charlie wanted to do was invite writers and also teachers of writing to Eolani School in honor Harold Keebles. And so it really began with a lot of small donations, but it has grown significantly since it began in 1982. And we've just had a wonderful list of speakers come through Eolani School halls, and they've interacted with students, and it's just been a great blessing for us, for our students, and also for the speakers themselves who come through and get a chance to visit Hawaii. Russell, that's great. And I'm glad that you mentioned the assistant headmaster and dean of the faculty, Charlie Proctor, because he did start it in 1982. And I remember that. I remember when he started that chair. Give us a sense of who the speakers have been. And if I'm not mistaken, one of the speakers at the end of his tenure you took out, I don't know if this is a true story or not, but you'll confirm it. You took him out on a boat and he caught a swordfish. So it's good to be a speaker at Eolani School, but I'm going to be quiet now. Yeah. Well, you're speaking of Bob O'Mealy. Bob O'Mealy I met at Columbia University when I was able to spend a year at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies on a sabbatical year that Eolani helped fund. And it was one of the really great experiences of my academic career. And I took Bob's class. He's an English professor at Columbia, but also he's the guy who began the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia. And I was really hooked on the idea of writing about music. And Bob was just a fantastic speaker and also a great scholar of Ralph Ellison, by the way. And so I thought, man, Bob would be so fantastic for our students to hear. And so I invited him. And he said, yeah, let's do this. So he spent two weeks with us. And on his final weekend, we took him out deep-sea fishing. That was something that he wanted to do. And we were really lucky that day. And Bob was in the seat for not more than 10, 15 minutes when he landed a really big fish. And it was just fantastic. So some of the other big fish that we've caught here at Eolani School for the Google Pay. Oh, great metaphor, Russell. But yeah, that thing. I thought I'd extend that metaphor a little bit, Carl. Of course, let me just go through the list here. Billy Collins, who was the poet laureate of the United States back in the early 2000s. He visited us in 2007. Lee Cataluna was with us in 2005. We've got two other wonderful Eolani graduates, Aaron and Jordan Kandel, who are Hollywood screenwriters. They came for our residency for two weeks back in 2018. Juan Felipe Herrera was also a poet laureate. And he was with us. Naomi Shehab Nye was with us earlier this year. So it's been a great run for us. We've had Richard Blanco here. We've had Juan Felipe Herrera here. Just recently, Naomi Shehab Nye was here visiting with us. And again, these are all two-week residencies. So students are getting wonderful opportunities to meet up with these great writers. But we've also brought in what we call Keebles Scholar honorees. And yeah, Billy Collins was Keebles' chairholder in 2007. He was the poet laureate along with Richard Blanco in 2017. Juan Felipe Herrera, also a poet laureate, he came through. And most recently, Naomi Shehab Nye, wonderful, wonderful poet. She was with us this January and first week of February. We've also got one-week stints at the school. We call them Keebles scholars. We've had Helen Jha, who was a great historian, writer of the Asian-American experience. We've had journalists Jelani Cobb and Jamel Buie. And coming up, we've got Imani Perry and Robin Kelly. And they'll be appearing on Tuesday night at CETO Hall at 6.30 PM. Tell us about these last two speakers, Russell, because they're coming in. So I think that as we get this audience out to many people in Tink-Tek, Hawaii, and that wonderful audience that it attracts, who are these guys? Yeah, so Imani Perry is most recently a recipient of the Genius Award that's offered by the, I want to say, MacArthur Foundation. But I don't think that's right. Yeah, MacArthur Foundation. OK. It is. And she's also the winner of the National Book Award. Robin Kelly, a really well-known scholar of African-American studies, whom I met at Columbia. He's going to be with us as well. And the topic for Tuesday night's session is going to be ideas and inquiry in the classroom. So as you know, history has been in the news lately. And a lot of states are proscribing some of the ideas that we can talk about in our history classes. AP African-American Studies was a controversial course in some states of Florida, as you probably know, chose not to offer it in the public schools in their state, along with a couple of other states too. I believe Arkansas was another one. And Imani Perry and Robin Kelly both have been involved in that national conversation. As scholars of African-American Studies, I think they're well-positioned to talk about these matters knowledgeably. So that's what we're going to be talking about on Tuesday night. It's not just African-American Studies either. I think it is about what we do in the history classroom generally. And that is talk about ideas, and we're engaged in the process of inquiry. It's interesting that you mentioned the African-American Studies class, because Eolani is the only school in Hawaii that's offering. Well, no, Carl. Let me just stop you. I found out that Mililani School is offering it as well. So Mililani is offering the African-American Studies. Yeah, so it's fantastic. That's fantastic. And I apologize to Mililani because I think it's absolutely wonderful. So two schools in Hawaii, Eolani, and Mililani. So that's really great. So give us a sense, Russell, of when a Keebles scholar or a Keebles representative comes into Hawaii and goes to Eolani, what's the interaction with the children? What's the interaction with the faculty? And what's the interaction with the community at large? Because it's very kind of Eolani to share these great people that they're paying for to bring in with the rest of the community. Right, well, thanks for that. Typically, we've got small classrooms, small classes at Eolani. So I think Charlie was really insistent that the students were the ones who were going to benefit most from our Keebles speakers. That's the whole point. So students are in these small environments with really special writers. And it can be really life-changing for some students, especially those kids who have aspirations to write creatively, write poetry. We've got aspiring screenwriters among our student body. So this is just fantastic opportunity for our students to interact with people who are practicing the craft of writing. And it's also great for our teachers. Teachers can pop in for visits to these classes. And they can learn, too, about how to approach that really important skill of writing. And then for every Keebles chair, we usually have a special community night where we invite the community to hear a presentation from our Keebles chair of the year. Keebles Scholar, we don't always offer that opportunity, but we thought that it was such a unique opportunity for us to share with the wider community on an issue that is really on the national, as part of a national conversation. Yeah. You mentioned Jelani Cobb. And of course, he writes for the New Yorker regularly, among other publications. So these are top-notch American scholars. Tell us a little bit about your last Keebles chair and how she interacted with the students. Give us some examples of what happened in the classroom and how she, because I heard that she was quite prolific, but also very kind to the kids. Oh, yeah. And I have to tell you, I'll confess to being a bit afraid of poetry myself. I teach some interdisciplinary courses here at Yolani from time to time. And I always get a little nervous when I'm teaching poetry because it's not, it's shaky ground for me. One of the things that Naomi really did was assure students that they could be a poet, that they could be poets. And I remember her saying, if you text on a regular basis, as all of our students do, if you text, you are a writer. And I thought that was just such a wonderful message for our students. And our students responded really positively. So on community night, what Naomi did was shared the stage with our student poets. So we had Hawaii's poet laureate invited to that night. And that was Naomi's suggestion. And alongside our student poets, and they got a chance to read their poetry in front of an audience and in front of a great poet like Naomi. So it was inspirational, just a delightful evening. Well, let's talk a little bit about one of the Keebles chair that actually was a duo. It was the Kendall brothers because they were Yolani students to begin with. And so what did they, because I think they're, if I'm not mistaken, they're screenwriters. So what did they produce recently that was kind of well-known? Well, I mean, everybody knows the movie Moana, right? And so, and by the way, the Kendall brothers, both of them were my students. So and I remember vividly some of what they actually wrote. Aaron, for instance, did a just a wonderful piece on Ralph Ellison's invisible man that I reminded him of the other night. And we had met up. But they were brought on to the Moana project for a specific reason. The production had kind of lost its way a little bit on, I guess, a local angle, a Hawaii angle on this particular production. And they were brought in to kind of clean things up a little bit. And they just did a marvelous job with that. And we're really proud of them at Yolani School as alums. And they've been very, very generous too, not just with joining us as Keebles Chair, but also over the years spending time with our students and encouraging them in their pursuits of writing as a career, perhaps. And back in the day, Yolani, there's a stereotype about Yolani. And just kids are working really hard and things like this. But when you talk about the Keebles Chair, it gives a view of Yolani as being sort of the center of all entertainment that's worthwhile, all intellectual entertainment that's worthwhile in Hawaii. Let me ask you a question about this. Because is there a sense, you being so involved with the Keebles Chair, that this fits in well with the Yolani one team? And also, with the notion of how respectful kids are, I was at Yolani recently and when you walk into a classroom and you're an adult, kids stand for you, which is kind of a nice tradition. I mean, I kind of yearn for those days because maybe I'm an old fovee or something like this. But does it fit in with the overall? How does it fit in with the overall ambiance and culture of Yolani at the Keebles Chair? Yeah, Carl, one of the goals of the school, and it's always been this way. I mean, going back to Reverend Dave Kuhn is we want to develop good people. That is a major priority for us. So kindness and humility and excellence too. Those things can go hand in hand. And it is a priority for us here at Yolani to make sure that students respect one another, that they recognize our common humanity, that they're good people, that they're kind people. Lord knows we need that in the world right now. And it's one of the things that I think our speakers remark on all the time is what great kids that we've got here at the school. You know, you can't do anything at normally at any school. This is a K through 12 school, Yolani, without the blessing of the headmaster or the principal. So let me ask you this. And I know that probably there are some of these guys that you were not around with because they were headmasters for a long time. But starting with David Kuhn, going to Tom Miller, Ballewashita, and now the headmaster, Tim Cottrell, what kind of sense and what kind of support do you think that these heads of school, well, in this case, one school, Yolani, what kind of support do you think they've given the Keebles chair? And of course, as we mentioned before, this was all started in 1982 by assistant headmaster of the very erudite, Charlie Brocker. Yeah, you know, Carl, it's a high point of our school year when our Keebles chairs and scholars arrive. But I think there's something else to beyond just the Keebles chair that we need to mention here. And Tim Cottrell has really been super supportive of us as a faculty. And it follows in the school's tradition of allowing teachers to teach courses that they feel strongly about. And I think it brings value to the classroom when I can teach a course like African-American studies that I think that students ought to know something about that history. If they're to know what it means to be an American, in my view, you've got to have a firm grounding in African-American history. In the humanities, we've got other courses, too. We still teach a Shakespeare course here. Dr. Peter Webb is a marvelous teacher of that course. But he's also developed a course on the literature of laughter and humor. And Tim has been very, very supportive about us teachers in the humanities, especially being able to teach to our passions. And that's something that the students recognize in the classroom, too. So our electives in the humanities are rich. And I think it's one of the dirty little secrets about Eolani. We typically think about Eolani as a math and science place, but we've got a strong humanities curriculum here. That's wonderful. I'm curious because we've talked about the kids and we've talked about the community. But I'd like to know a little bit more about how you think the Keebles chair benefits the faculty. And let me begin by saying that I encountered two gentlemen at Eolani back in the day. One was a guy named Christopher Strahan, who was a wonderful Latin teacher and did the SAT prep. And perhaps you should call him back because SATs are now being reinstated in many colleges. Right, right, right. And also there's a current math teacher named David Masanaga. And without qualification, I can say. And you know, I went to Berkeley. And so I met a lot of wonderful scholars there. But those two guys are equal to them. And what struck me, and I'll just be brief about this, is that Christopher Strahan would be teaching Latin and having his students sing Dylan or William Bootsie Collins, et cetera, et cetera. So he knew a lot about Latin. But he also knew a lot about rock and roll. And David, of course, does the geometric, universal geometrics and talks about architect, et cetera, et cetera. So you have renaissance mentioned. But anyway, going back to the question, how do you think the Keebles chair benefits the faculty? You know, I'll tell you how it's benefited me. Then to have, for example, Imani Perry and Robin Kelly come visit our school and talk about the issues of the day, especially as they relate to the courses that I'm teaching. And also our US history courses as well. I mean, I think that it really delivers the message to students that what I'm doing in the classroom and what I'm asking them to do and what they're doing is meaningful. And of course, teachers, I mean, we all benefit from hearing top scholars in our fields. I mean, I've never, I can't remember a Keebles scholar or a Keebles chair that I haven't learned a lot from. And so these are professional development sessions really when we have these great scholars come visit our classes. So let's get down to the nitty gritty here. Next Tuesday, how do people get to your forum? And it's our parking. And how early should people arrive and those sort of things, those details that can add to a wonderful lecture? Yeah, so there's parking right on Kamoku Street in our parking lot. The session will start at 6.30. You can come as early as 6 o'clock, if you'd like. Our jazz combo, student-led, will be playing a little bit of music beforehand. So it's open to the public, and we really want to see a nice turnout at Sito Hall that night. Russell, I wanted to, I'm going to ask you one more question. But I wanted to tell you that I was reading the February 26 New Yorker. And so you'll have an idea. The top of it has a bunch of people doing winter sporting events. And I was reading an article, and there's a poem by Billy Collins. And I thought to myself, this is a guy that was a Keebles chair, how appropriate. And so my last question for you is how in the world do you get these guys? Because someone like Billy Collins or Jelani Cobb, it's not as if they're not doing anything every day. And you're asking them to come to Hawaii, give. Of course, that's not a hard ask, but to give up two weeks of their lives and to talk to students and faculty. And I'm sure it gives them a lot of great pleasure, but it's enormously taxing. So how do you make the approach? I think that you have to ask. And that's what we do, Hawaii is not a bad place to be ever, but especially during these winter months. And I think that we probably do have a reputation for treating people well. And they enjoy their time with us. They enjoy our students. So the word of mouth on this is probably pretty important as well. But I think you just have to ask. You just have to ask. You never know. Aloha from Iolani School on the subject line is usually gets a response of some kind. OK, we only have less than a full minute left. So if you were to put into words from your personal perspective, that is Russell Mauder, why do you think the Keebles chair is important, not only for Iolani, but for Hawaii in general and perhaps the world? Oh, boy, I really think that at this particular moment that we're in, our common humanity is served when we talk to each other and when ideas are exchanged. And I think that's what the Keebles chair does so well. It's about sharing. And that's a perfect way to end. Thank you, Russell Mauder, for sharing the great things that the Keebles chair has done for Iolani, for the Hawaii community in general, and for the world. Thank you very much. And again, aloha to you, Russell, and aloha to all at Iolani School. Aloha, Carl. Mahalo for having me.