{"id":12007,"date":"2017-07-31T14:45:54","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T20:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?page_id=12007"},"modified":"2023-09-14T09:31:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T15:31:16","slug":"celebrating-cc-people-professor-john-simons","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/people-of-impact\/celebrating-cc-people-professor-john-simons\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Emeritus John Simons"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laurie Laker \u201912<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

John Simons Staff Portraits 2014<\/p><\/div>\n

In early May, at Stewart House, beneath a glorious Colorado springtime sky, a gathering of Colorado College colleagues, friends, and former students met to celebrate Professor John Simons of the Department of English.<\/p>\n

Simons, who retired from full-time teaching at the end of this academic year, has been a pillar of his department and of the college community since his arrival on campus in 1971.<\/p>\n

\u201cI arrived at CC age 27, newly married to my wife Frear and freshly out of the University of Chicago,\u201d Simons says. \u201cWe taught nine blocks a year, then, with no blocks off, so it wasn\u2019t as much wading into the deep end as it was plunging headfirst into the deepest Pacific!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ambitious in my teaching,\u201d he explains. \u201cI team-taught courses for years, and have continued to do so, because so many of our faculty here at CC have crossover and varied interests to mine \u2013 it\u2019s a real joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A son of the Upper Midwest who grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan, in the small river town of Allegan, Michigan, Simons\u2019 home was like so many of that era \u2013 not poor, not wealthy \u2013 somewhere in that oft-forgotten middle band of middle class families in the post-war era. Books lined the shelves, so it\u2019s only natural that a love of reading, of words, should spring from a childhood spent lost in stories and in cinema.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
A young professor. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Simons <\/a>
Simons in full, inspiring flow. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

\u201cBalzac, Joyce, Hemingway, and my father\u2019s favorite, John O\u2019Hara \u2014 they were always on the shelves,\u201d he says. \u201cJoyce was too daunting, but I remember devouring Hemingway\u2019s short stories, especially the Michigan tales.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the movies alone, and often,\u201d Simons recalls. \u201cThe local venue had 25\u00a2 screenings, so I saw all the classic Westerns as a kid. I fell in love with these loners, these isolatos, these rough and tough lawmen. Randolph Scott was a particular favorite, that classic tall-in-the-saddle hero, laconic and more stoic than Gary Cooper, his life full of dark and painful secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, I couldn\u2019t articulate these thoughts, but I certainly felt them,\u201d Simons adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shared a house with my grandparents, something quite common at the time,\u201d he says. \u201cI have\u00a0two sisters, one of whom was a finalist for the title of Harvest Queen at the local county fair. \u00a0And my mother won a car raffle at the 1959 fair, a white\u00a0Impala with a bright red interior<\/span>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a shy kid, particularly before I went to college. But shy kids read a lot, and I did,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that\u2019s where a lot of my drive comes from,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In a quiet moment, Simons reflects.<\/p><\/div>\n

Following his sister, Simons\u2019 drive took him to Hope College, in downtown Holland, Michigan, just 30 miles from home and a few miles from the lake. Competing in long jump and basketball for Hope, Simons was a political science major until the final semester of his undergraduate career. In the fall of 1965, he went to Washington, D.C. for the Washington Semester Program at American University, only a few years after the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was a unique time to be in the nation\u2019s capital, \u201clugubrious\u201d and filled with \u201cnew rage\u201d every day.<\/p>\n

While at Hope, studying government, Simons learned quickly that he could not deny his literary leanings and a burgeoning passion for classic films. The Georgetown cinema, which Simons frequented in D.C., rekindled his love for literature and film, and he switched his major to English during his final semester at Hope. He hasn\u2019t looked back since.<\/p>\n

From Hope, he moved down and around the lake to the city, the University of Chicago, where his M.A. and Ph.D. research focused on modern poetry, fiction, and film, and where he met his wife of 48 years, Frear Steeter Simons.\u00a0A lifelong lover — now scholar — of\u00a0classic Westerns and crime films, Simons published his first article\u00a0on the Raoul Walsh masterpiece, “High Sierra,” starring screen giants Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart in what would be Bogart’s breakthrough film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arriving in Colorado Springs in 1970 for his interview, Simons immediately impressed with the breadth of his knowledge and the quiet fire he brought to his desire to teach. Starting at the college in the fall of 1971, the year after the Block Plan was introduced, as an instructor in English, he \u201chit the ground running, and stumbling, then running again, like all starting teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intensity of teaching under the Block Plan contrasted strikingly with the generation of students I encountered,\u201d he remembers. \u201cThe so called \u2018flower child\u2019 generation. They\u2019re so misrepresented with that moniker. They weren\u2019t layabouts or lazy. They were incredibly bright, but far less career focused than students are now. I think that attitude, of learning for the sake of learning, helped us as faculty get to know our students better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Film entered his teaching in the latter 1970s, as Simons first taught a Novel into Film class, then expanded into Westerns. The film program at CC was \u201cnew and small then,\u201d he recalls, and was led by Professor Emerita Marcelle\u00a0Rabbin of the Department of Romance Languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used 16mm rolls of film, it was cumbersome technology,\u201d he says. \u201cOnly years later did we have video tapes, DVDs, and now Blu-Ray and digital video.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a typically nervous teacher at the beginning, for sure,\u201d Simons admits. \u201cI stuck too close to the text, was overly diligent with my readings. Now, thankfully, I can generalize more, allow the text to \u2018breathe\u2019 more for the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Simons <\/a>
Simons consults with CC students, including Jon-Mark Colwell Patterson ’89, Stephanie Vignoul Owens ’88, and Marc Towersap ’87, at the College Bowl, October 1987. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jon-Mark <\/a>
Jon-Mark Colwell Patterson ’89, Stephanie Vignoul Owens ’88, Marc Towersap ’87, and John Simons at the College Bowl, October 1987.. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Simons <\/a>
Simons proudly displays yet another trivia prize. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

That textual breathing Simons speaks to is evident across the years of his teaching, but perhaps no more perceptible than in his famous, long-running class on James Joyce\u2019s masterwork, \u201cUlysses.\u201d The course is everything that\u2019s good about our Block Plan, affording students the time and space to dive deep into the work and world of the great modernist author. On the first day of class \u2014 for example \u2014 the students and Simons cover the first page of the novel, just that. Simons, who\u2019s taught the course for decades, enters the room with his well-worn copy, Post-It notes protruding from every possible page. For the student, it\u2019s an enthralling, breathtaking experience, a mantle now borne by his department colleague, and team-teacher of recent years, English Professor David Mason. It\u2019s one of the most remarkable experience any student can have at CC, and for those who\u2019ve been in the room, along for that ride, it lingers long in the memory.<\/p>\n

As his career developed, Simons found himself branching beyond the classroom, into mentoring, writing, and scholarship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took the intensity of my teaching and put it into my scholarship,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In 1972 and 1984, Simons won Ford Foundation grants and Benezet Summer Research stipends, furthering his research into film and the literature of film.<\/p>\n

Channeling his love of Westerns into his research and writing, Simons is the co-author of the 2011 book, \u201cPeckinpah\u2019s Tragic Westerns,\u201d along with his former University of Chicago colleague Robert Merrill. The book covers classic Westerns including \u201cRide the High Country,\u201d \u201cPat Garrett & Billy the Kid,\u201d and Sam Peckinpah\u2019s masterpiece \u201cThe Wild Bunch,\u201d and examines the filmmaker\u2019s art in the greater context of 2,000 years of Western tragedy.<\/p>\n

His writing and scholarship has remained varied and versatile, with articles and conference papers ranging from wilderness in the work of William Carlos Williams to unpacking nightmares in Joseph Heller\u2019s \u201cCatch-22.\u201d Commenting on film is ever-present in Simons\u2019 scholarship, as he has co-published recent essays on Clint Eastwood\u2019s \u201cMystic River\u201d and Billy Wilder\u2019s \u201cDouble Indemnity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Simons keeping office hours, honing research and helping students.<\/p><\/div>\n

On campus, he remained instrumental in shaping the Department of English throughout the years, co-chairing the department on several occasions, as well as serving on numerous campus committees and the Board of Directors of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (MLA). He also took part in the now-legendary CC Trivia Bowl, debating student and faculty teams to triumph with his long-time friend and colleague, English Professor Barry Sarchett. He is, as Sarchett said in his speech at the retirement celebration, a \u201ctrue polymath \u2013 he knows everything!\u201d Simons has been happiest in recent years working on the college\u2019s architectural committee for the beautiful new and expanded Tutt Library, while serving on Team Tutt during the construction process.<\/p>\n

There is a humility and a humor to Simons as a teacher, as a man. It perhaps, after all this time, comes from where he grew up. As his friend and team-teacher Political Science Professor Tim Fuller wrote and spoke of him, Simons \u201cremains a patriotic Michigander, committed to the idea of Michigan while happily settled at the foot of Pikes Peak.\u201d There\u2019s a tenacity and a strength of character to the wind and snow-driven denizens of the Midwest, a drive to learn, to build community, and to care. Simons, as a teacher and member of Colorado College, has done that \u2014 and so much more.<\/p>\n

In a line from his beloved \u201cUlysses,\u201d the main character \u2014 Stephen Dedalus \u2014 talks about his journey through the world. It is one worthy of Professor John Simons, and his impact here, on so many generations of this community.<\/p>\n

“Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love. But always meeting ourselves.”<\/p>\n

Thank you, John, for helping so many of us meet ourselves \u2014 in your classroom and beyond.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Simons fell in love with westerns at an early age.<\/p><\/div>\n

Share your anecdotes and recollections about this wonderful member of our community!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have photos of John to share, please email them to<\/p>\n

communications@colorado\u200bcollege.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laurie Laker \u201912 In early May, at Stewart House, beneath a glorious Colorado springtime sky, a gathering of Colorado College colleagues, friends, and former students met to celebrate Professor John Simons of the Department of English. Simons, who retired from full-time teaching at the end of this academic year, has been a pillar of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":769,"featured_media":0,"parent":13983,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12007","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12007"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12049,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12007\/revisions\/12049"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}