Liberal Arts
In 2006 when I moved to Birmingham, a friend pointed to me to the Birmingham Ultimate Disc Association. This friend named Tim was a senior at Whitman who I got to know through playing pickup ultimate. I was trying to find things to do in this new, foreign place to me, and I only had a learner’s permit so I couldn’t get around.
I signed up for the winter league. I think I was drafted in the last round by Will Newton. I emailed Will to let him know my situation. He responded that he could pick me up and drop me off. Will lived on the other side of town, so he’d have to go 20 minutes out of his way each time just to do this. But, every week until I got my driver’s license, Will was there every Sunday at about 1220 and off we went to the fields at Birmingham Southern College (BSC). I remember this time specifically because NFL Sundays start at 12 Central, and I’d catch a bit of the early games before catching up on everything when I got home.
I think we lost in the semis that year but that team was one of my favorites to play for. Our chemistry was great and everyone had a positive attitude. We all trusted each other to do the right thing. It definitely started with Will.
Over the years, I never attended BSC but it was always around and inviting. Back when I was teaching chess in undergrad, I became good friends with the other teachers of the Knight School.
On Fridays, my buddy Thomas and me would teach a big class out at Vestavia Elementary West (IIRC) and then go hang out afterwards. He was a Theta Chi at BSC and I became a frequent visitor there. An unofficial brother usually found sitting on the couch watching Around the Horn or PTI. There was one party where the smack talking was so immense that Thomas had enough and we left to play a game of chess. He proceeded to stomp me and we went back downstairs. I may be getting my memories mixed up but the cover band they had that night was great. A+ version of Highway to Hell. I made a point to tell the frontman how good his voice is.
When we were seniors in high school at John Carroll and we started talking about where people would go to college, if someone said BSC, you thought they were going to a good school. And as is with Birmingham, maybe they lived on campus because they got a full ride, maybe they were commuting for financial and/or family reasons.
In the above, I didn’t even mention anything about society or why a liberal arts education is important. Clearly that’s a given because it allows us to expand our thinking and creativity. Being criticized on that is only good for you. Which, a certain president at BSC was incapable of doing or receiving. That’s what’s being robbed from us by bad leadership and management.
By not leaning into modern times as far as what majors to offer and have the adequate professors for, and instead spending a lot of money on unimportant things, this huge plot of land will vacantly sit, occupied only by the birds that pass through the man-made lake built with funds that could’ve gone to programs and professors. But hey man, look on the bright side, at least said lake can’t be taken away by the state.
BSC’s baseball run feels fitting in that way, where the incompetency of the administrators brings the whole thing down but the kids and coaches go out there with nothing to lose. Based on my experiences, the team’s beautiful run may be over, but they represented what BSC was about and I’m glad that will be the school’s last memory.