Berea College
Berea College ‘will not waver’ on racial, social justice, says new president
BEREA — The day before Cheryl Nixon became Berea College’s 10th and first woman president, the U.S. Supreme Court renounced one of the principles on which the small but revered Christian, liberal arts college is built. “Our founder, the Rev. John Fee, was a staunch abolitionist and believed that there was a debt to be […]
A conversation with Silas House, Kentucky’s new poet laureate
LOUISVILLE – Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, author Silas House saw early the power of representation in literature. Lead character John-Boy in the award-winning television series “The Waltons,” for example, was his “hero.” Here was a young country boy who, like House, dreamed of writing. “I didn’t know anybody who wanted to be a writer,” […]
How Janis Ian’s ‘life’ came to Berea College
BEREA — On one of their visits, Janis Ian took Berea College President Lyle Roelofs to her studio. There he saw a photo of “a very young” Ian sitting at a grand piano. “Looking over her shoulder at the music she had written and was playing from,” he realized, was Leonard Bernstein, the legendary songwriter […]
Kentuckian David Sawyer helped found AmeriCorps, is remembered for a life of service
This article is reprinted with permission of The Rural Blog, published by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. David Sawyer, a Kentucky-grown back-to-the-lander who ran a student-service program at Berea College, helped start AmeriCorps and became an international consultant on the environment, civic engagement and a wide range […]