What Andrew Hermeling Can't Work Without
What does it take to teach at Stone in 2022?
These days, it takes deep creativity, and a relentless love of students, a commitment to Designing for Joy — and really good coffee, and a few comfort-items to see us through these challenging days! Each month, we ask Stone Faculty members to talk about the “stuff” — the tools, the devices, the gear, the go-to-things —which enable them to show up for their students and care for their students while also providing some all-important self-care. Today, Humanities instructor Andrew Hermeling shares with us what he can’t work without!
The fact of the matter is, many people in my life wish I had less stuff. I have two young kids, but I’m coming to realize that I may be the primary generator of mess in my home. But as someone whose own scholarship is built out of long-forgotten scraps of 18th-century paper and dusty, broken artifacts, for me stuff is vocational!
Or, at least that’s what I keep telling my exceedingly patient family.
Regardless, what follows are five things that I don’t think I could work without.
Vinyl Records. Maybe it’s my geriatric millennial performatism. Maybe it’s my deep suspicion of the “metaverse.” Maybe it’s just because I love music and alphabetizing. Regardless, since starting at Stone, I have tried to find ways to bring vinyl records into my teaching. Whether I am leading in-class listenings(1) during my “Music as Culture” course or I am letting my advisees pick a record during advisory meetings, I always make sure that I keep a slice of my vinyl collection in my classroom.
American Slavery, American Freedom(3). As a history teacher, I emphasize to my students over and over that history is not a collection of facts arranged chronologically but instead sophisticated evidence-based arguments about change over time rooted in a larger scholarly conversation. Despite its age, Edmund Morgan’s exploration of “the American paradox”–or how a nation founded on the ideals of freedom could also defend slavery–continues to serve as an exemplar of deep research and bold argumentation. I keep it on hand so I can wave it around every once in a while when I’m trying to be inspirational.
Anything colored orange and blue(2). As the faculty lead of the 2021 StoneHunt champion LEE House, I have acquired an alarming number of orange and blue items in my wardrobe. Seriously. An alarming number.
My WatchAFL Subscription. It can be lonely being an avid Australian Rules Football fan in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Occasionally I will watch a game during my lunch and invite students and faculty to join me. It gives me an opportunity to show off my mastery of Australian slang and idioms(4), which brings me joy. Such joy is often fleeting since my beloved Hawthorn Hawks are not very good this year(5).
Passenger Coffee Travel Mug, filled twice. I need exactly two coffee drinks to get through the day. The first is a French press I brew at home and split with my wife. I serve it black with two ice cubes since my thermal Passenger mug works a little two well. I then drink that coffee with my breakfast and take it to the bus stop with my 1st-grade daughter. After that, I walk to school, finishing that first mug a block or so before reaching the Plum Street Passenger shop. I then order an iced latte with oat milk and a splash of simple syrup, a drink that usually lasts me until Morning Meeting.
(1). Pictured on the cover of this post is the album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa by Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik), who, in an attempt to diversify the classical music canon, reinterprets and samples the medicine songs of his ancestors that were recorded on wax cylinders at the turn of the 20th century. This album may or may not have made a former student cry at its beauty.
(2). Despite our efforts to retcon the story, the reason our house colors are orange and blue is because those were the only two colors of Mardi Gras beads available when prefect emeritus Maxwell went to Michael’s to purchase sorting swag for the first day of school, 2019.
(3). Fun fact, the book was featured prominently in issue #10 of Marvel’s Black Panther (2016) by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
(4). Such terms include “specky,” or a spectacular mark; “serving candy” or faking out an opponent by making it appear you are about to pass the ball but holding it instead; and “crumbing,” which refers to picking up a loose and hard-to-handle ball near the goal so that you can score.
(5). In fact, Hawthorn is the 2022 prognosticators’ consensus pick for winning the “Wooden Spoon,” which is the imaginary award given to the club that finishes the regular season in last place. Look, more slang!
See also: What Molly Holden Can’t Work Without; What Horst Rosenberg Can’t Work Without; Our Most Popular Stories from 2021;
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