Kenyon in Quotes

"The test of a book's quality is not if it reflects my life, but if it reflects yours."

—E.L. Doctorow '52, in a profile published on January 23, 2010, in the Guardian of Manchester, England.

"Like most kids, I was blown away by the power, energy, and voice of Holden Caulfield. That book [Catcher in the Rye] was intoxicating."

—David Lynn '76, editor of the Kenyon Review and professor of English, reflecting on the death of J.D. Salinger in the Plain Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio, on January 28, 2010.

"It's always better to leave the party early."

—Bill Watterson '80, discussing his decision to end the popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, on February 1, 2010, in the Plain Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio.

"It was so amazingly beautiful. I just knew it was where I wanted to be."

—Ellie Norton '10, recalling her first visit to Kenyon in a story about the world's most beautiful campuses, posted at www.forbes.com, on March 3, 2010.

"We live in a global community that becomes more interconnected and interdependent minute by minute."

—R. Todd Ruppert '78, commenting on the $2.5 million gift that he and his wife, Karen, made to support Kenyon's International Studies Program, in a story in the Baltimore (Maryland) Sun, on May 17, 2010.

"We live out in the suburbs of the Milky Way galaxy."

—Astrophysicist Meg Urry, in a campus lecture titled "The Discovery of Dark Energy: How and Why We Had to Re-think the Universe."

"What started this hour-long rant about the nature of human existence?"
"I asked if you wanted curly fries."

—Two male students, from the Facebook page "Overheard at Kenyon," which broadcasts anonymous one-liners.

"Mind you, I'm not sure Janzen has any business dispensing dating advice. This is a woman who accidentally married a gay man, and lets herself be picked up by a born-again Christian wearing a crucifixion nail around his neck."

—James Michael Playwright-in-Residence Wendy MacLeod in her National Public Radio review of Rhoda Janzen's Mennonite memoir, Fun in a Little Black Dress.