George H.W. Bush. Walter Cronkite. Gloria Steinem. John Kerry. Oh, and Morgan Freeman. What do all of these immediately recognizable and remarkable individuals have in common, you might wonder? They were all Chubb Fellows.
Wendell Berry in conversation with Jeffrey Brenzel and Mary
Evelyn Tucker (Photo by Michael Marsland)
This year, my home state of Kentucky just made that list in a big way. My residential college, TD, has the Chubb Fellowship, which allows it to bring in a big-name speaker each semester. This semester’s Chubb Fellow was the prolific author, farmer, thinker—and Kentuckian—Wendell Berry.*
Like many other lucky students, I got to attend a formal dinner with Berry in the beautiful Timothy Dwight dining hall. The dinner, besides being a great excuse to break out the suit, featured a delicious meal prepared by the chefs of Yale’s fantastic dining services.
In honor of Mr. Berry’s life work, the entire dinner featured only sustainable items, with many of the fruits and vegetables grown on the local Yale farm. (For more information of the Yale Sustainable Food Project, be sure to check out their website at http://www.yale.edu/sustainablefood/farm.html)
I got to meet Wendell Berry. Who knows who you’ll be able to meet during your stay at Yale. After the dinner, Berry gave a speech on writing, the environment, and aspects of our shared heritage. It was so neat to hear him mention places so familiar to me, such as the University of Kentucky and various tobacco and horse farms throughout the state. It was wonderful to be just feet away from a personal hometown hero.
*For those unfamiliar with Berry, like Ron Burgundy, he’s kind of a big deal. To call Wendell Berry a prolific author and poet would be an understatement. He has written dozens of books, both fiction and non-fiction, hundreds of short stories, as well as several anthologies of poetry. In his works, he stresses the importance of localism, sustainability, agriculture, and the rural way of life. In addition, he is also an influential environmental activist, speaking out against mountaintop removal and coal ash, issues that plague our mutual home state of Kentucky. Check out his talk with TD’s Master Brenzel here.
Photos courtesy Chubb Fellowship and Alex Petros.
