Critical Studies in Media Com m llnicatioll

Vol. 24, N o. 2, [uuc 200 7, PI'. 172 176

Casti ng Spells: Carey as Teacher Joli Jensen

In th e early 1980s, when he was Dean of the College o f Co m m u n icat io n at Illino is,

Jim Carey desi gned and taught a new, introductory, underg raduate communica tion

cour se. As his teaching assistant for three semesters, My job was to esco rt Jim from

th e Dean's office, up the stairs, and down a long hallway to the large lecture hall, then

take no tes on his lect ures , give subst itute lect ures when he was ou t of town , meet wit h

stude nts who were ha ving problems with the material, and write and grade th ree

exams. This meant that being Carey's TA felt simultaneously like be ing a celeb rity

hand ler, a bedazzled acolyte, an inadequate understudy, and - at its worst-an

academic taxiderm ist.

T he celebrity handler mo ments came walking down the hall, where he would make

the swi tch from dean to professor. He wo uld carry only a yellow notepad with a few

key phrases scrawled in some resplendent color-this was also a time when he was

experim enting with founta in pens and exuberan t in ks. He would ask me to remind

h im of the assigned rea d ing, an d wha t he had talked about last class period, and I

would stamm er ou t a few key points or ideas. He was tan gibly gathering his energies

as he headed down the hall. We would enter the room, and he would put down his

yellow pad an d greet the 100 or so students. I would take out m y notebook, and he

wo uld begin his lecture-a lecture tha t would enchant me and them for the next 50

minutes.

Spellbinding

It is a cliche, I know, but spellbinding is the o nly word to describe hi s undergraduate

lectu res. To me, they were even more compell ing than his conference p resentatio ns or

gradua te courses. When he was teaching Comm 101, he was in full command of his

eloquence, hi s cha rm, and his intelligence. It just radiated from him. He did not so

much lecture as tell st ories designed to help students become enchan ted , too, by the

nature of oral culture, the advent of p rint culture, t he dawn o f the electronic

revolution, the ways of th e senses, the vagaries of me aning, the possibilities of ritual,

the nature of experience.

[oli Jensen is l Iazel Rogers Professor of Co m m un icat io n at the University of Tulsa. Correspondence: Ioli Jensen,

Un iversity o f Tu lsa , 60 0 S. College Aven ue, Tulsa, OK 74104. Email: joli -jemen(i"utulscl.l'du

ISSN 0739-.1 ISO (p rint )/ISSN 1'1 79-5809 (o nline ) ~ 20D7 National Communication Association

DOl: 10.1080/0 739.1 100701262792

T he bell would ri

tha t I cou ld record

ser ies o f incomplete

pages wort h.

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would quiz me-s- he

abou t the spoken " sto ry he mentioned

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Translating Carey

I assume that all of

Carcy-e- sumrnarizi

original essay or di

course, the Carey I

reality is created, SL

of space and time-I

and Dewey; we can

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reducing it, making

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11 Routledge ~ l~_ h.c. Gtaup

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lication at Illinois,

.te communication

to esco rt Jim from

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I time when he was

j ask me to rem ind

class period, and I

ithering his energies

vould pu t down his

,y notebook, and he

hem for the next 50

Ie his undergraduate

nee presentations or

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him. He did not so

.chanted, too, by the

'n of the elect ronic

rossibilitics of ritual,

orrespondcnce: lol i lensen,

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OCiJliOIl

Critical F01"1I111: Carey as Teach er 173

Th e bell would ring, the spell would break, and I would look back at my not es. All that I could record of his rich, allusive, nu anced, and evocat ive talk was a CI\'P .

series of incomplete sentences, with arrows and quest ion marks, maybe two or three pages worth .

As I walked him back to his o ffice, he was both exh ilarated and exhausted. He would quiz me-how did he do? Ha d he kept my int erest? Had he really said eno ugh about th e spoken word? Had he said to o mu ch about th e telegraph? Was the news story he mentioned outdated? Du ring my second and third semester, he would oft en ask if he had repeated a story- he did not want to bore me . 130re me? He could never

bore me, as I to ld him th en and after. His talk s wer e so rich, so var ied , so in tr icate and eloquent- it was never the same twice. Listen ing to h im was like falling un der the spell of a master jazz mus ician.

But that richness, variety, in tr icacy, and eloquence made it extr ao rd inarily challen ging for me to do my TA duties-tutor students, give sub stitute lectures, and create and grad e tests. Serving as Carey's TA was my introduction to the aspect of

acad emi c life th at I find most di shearten ing. Helping students appreciate someth ing magn ificen t o ften requires-at least in my clums y hands -making it accessible by making it simpler, even banal. Successful teaching depends, too oft en, on turn ing art into a commo dity- a p roduct that will satisfy th e consumer's needs.

This was no t Carey's way -he believed th at we should ask the very sam e qu estions of kin dergart en crs th at we ask of graduate students. The only difference, he m aintained, is th at we sho uld expec t d ifferen t answers from each gro up. This mean s he never wat ered down or simplified the quest ion s he asked in that int roductory course-they were th e same ones that animated his essays, and the same ones that

oriented mu ch of what he taugh t at Columbia. His qu estions about how culture wo rks, how technologies emerge and sha pe thought and society, how social life proceed s and proliferates, how meanings arc made and communities sus tained, how dem ocracies can be protected and social relationships nourished - all th ese figu red in

h is lectures to freshm an as well as in his seminars for doctora l students.

Translating Carey

I assume th at all of us who teach Carey's work kn ow the expe rience of "translating"

Ca rey- sum mari zing his ideas un til they bea r only passing resemblance to the origina l essay or discussion in which we first encountered them. We can quote, of

cour se, the Carey mantra, "Comm unicatio n is th e process by an d through whic h reality is created , sustained, rep air ed and tr ansformed." We can sketch the key traits of space and time-binding med ia; we can reference McLuhan and Innis, Mum ford and Dewey; we can summarize the rnythos of the electronic revolu t ion . But when we try to co nvey Ca rey's thought, [ at least make a pal atable hash out of it. I kn ow I am

reducing it, making it banal in my desire to make it accessible. And yet I try again and again, year after year, because I so desperately want st udents to "get it." But what the y "get," too often, is my caricature of Carey, duti fully repeated bac k to me. It br eaks my hear t every time.

174 I. Jensen

Must teach ing involve turning gold int o dross? .a rey did not thi nk so , an d so he

refused to do so. In every public encou n ter, he offered his best, most eloquen t self. I yearn to believe and to do the same. Bu t I am no t Carey, an d neve r can be. I ask

Big Q uest io ns in my courses, and some of my best teaching moments follo w long bu t

companionable silences as studen ts pause to figu re ou t wh at they really think is the

difference between, say, citi zens and consumers, or art and trash. An d ( insist on

using primary sources in my classes, no t textbooks, so that students have the chance

to read trul y evocative writ ing . Bu t I have co me to recogn ize tha t red uct ion ism is

sometimes necessary if any of the magn ificen ce of those m aterials is to be transmitted

to students. As any Carey studen t will realize, th is reenacts the differences between a

rit ual and transmission view o f communication. I yea rn to enco un ter students in a

collaborat ive illum inating ritual suspended in time, but they- an d I-too o ften end

up sending or receiving a message fro m the front of the room. I first exper ienced this debilitating co m promis e as Carey's TA. Studen ts would

come to me in bedazzled confusion. Dean Carey was the most amazing professor th ey

had ever had, and they loved com ing to class, but they were worried . . . ho w were

they supposed to take notes? What would be on the test? Could I help them figure out

the main points? I would reassure them that just by listening, tak ing the best notes th ey could, and

letting themselves get carried alo ng wi th the experience, they were do ing fine . The

classroom was a rit ual space wh ere they were entering in to an ongo ing co nversatio n,

just as Professor .arey said on the vcrI' first day. Keep coming to class, and keep

do ing th e readings . I promised them that I was go ing to sort it all for the m - do

review lectures, an d give them study guides before each test. They left reassur ed .

Understudy and Taxidermist

And thus I took o n th e additional role s o f underst ud y and taxiderm ist. The instance

I reme mber most clearly is when Carey asked m e to lecture on chapt er 13 of C. Wright Mills' The Power Elite during a week that he was out of town . Ca rey's lectures

were never "over" the readings; they were "with" the read ings, in conversation with

the m. Because I already kn ew the readings, I loved he aring this kind of conversation

unfo ld. But most of the Comm 101 students barely noticed the ways that Carey

would weave in the terms, concepts, and co ntexts from each week's readings. So I

tho ught I should try a more tradit io nal app roach to Mills during "my" week-l

would review, and we would discuss. I p repared an outline of the chapter, with the main points highlighted. I made up a

summary handout. Together, for two class periods, we worked our way thro ugh the

major terms and ideas. What did Mills say on p. X? What did he mean by Y? Let us

read this passage together and decode it -how does this connect with the other

accounts we have encountered so far? Summarize and repeat. Compare and contrast.

The students were attentive and responsive, I felt good about what we had done, and

I hoped that I was more or less on track with what Carey had in mind for that section.

The next week,

had covered, and

at me, half-smilin

accurately reducer

" But there's not [

explored the plig

spellbound, encha phrases.

But come test t

and reading outlir

user-friendly curn

power of Carey's I,

for some appropri:

order to learn fro i

Whatever the tc

popularizing the a

Arendt wrote in he

of neglect, but not

for ot her intellect.

Once made banal,

Arendt wants to pr

Her critique of p

"commercializatiOl

more pu re, virtu u

marketed artifacts.

I have argued a contrarian, I have

recedi ng, and I hav

I am all for the ere,

in these moments c

erected and are still

professor-skinnee

kind of academic t.

"Why Is He Such •

Which bri ngs me b

ago, Carey gave a m

people I am about

you exactly what he

me , listening to ma

reweavin g. I was In

well as convcrsatior

ink so, and so he

»st eloqu ent self. ever can be. I ask

ls follow long bu t

.eally think is the

. And I insist on

s have the chance

t reduc tionism is

to he transmi tted

ercnces between a

nter students in a

I - too often end

.. Students would

ing pro fessor they

Tied . . . how were

lp them figure out

es they could, and

re doing fine. The

ping conversation,

to class, and keep

all for them-do

y left reassured.

rmist. The instance

1 chapter 13 of C. wn. Carey's lectures

1 conversati on with

ind of conversation

ie ways that Carey

eek's readings. So 1 .ing "my " week- l

lighted. I made up a

ur way through the

? mean by Y? Let us

nect with the other

mpare and contrast.

at we had don e, and

lind for that section.

Critical Forum: Carey as Teacher 17'5

The next week, I met with Jim a few minutes before class to let him know what I

had covered, and where I had left things. He read over my outline and then looked up

at me , half-smiling. Was I on the right tra ck, I stammered? Well, yes, sort of. I had

accurately reduced Mills' argu ment to an orderly package of key terms and key ideas .

"But there's not much M ills left, is the re?" he said , bem used. His lecture that day

explored the plight of mass man, experi encing life as a series of traps. I was

spellbound, enc hanted . So were the students. My notes were a few scattered, evocative

phrases. But come test tim e, of course, Carey's spell didn't matter. From my cryptic notes,

and reading outlines, and study guides an d review lectures, I concocted a simplified,

user-fri endly cur riculum that bore onl y a passing resemblance to the passion and

pow er of Carey's lectures. Eviscerate may be too stro ng a word, but I have cast abo ut

for so me approp riate term-what is it when you kill, gu t, skin and stuff something in

order to learn fro m it? What is the term for tu rning meaning into a message? Whatever the ter m for the process, i t is akin to what was so reprehensible about

populari zing the arts, at least for the mass-culture debaters of the 1950s. As Hannah

Aren dt wrote in her essay "Culture and Society" - "works of art can survive centuries

of neglect, but not an entertaining version of what they have to sa)'." Fo r Arendt, as

for ot her intellectuals o f the era , the popularization of art is a form of destruction.

O nce made banal, works of art lose th eir abilit y to grasp and move us acro ss the ages.

Arendt wants to pro tect and conse rve the arts-to defend them from popularization.

Her cr itique of popular ization is one version of a more widespread attack on

"commercialization ," an attack that assumes tha t genuine, handmade artifacts are

more pure, virtuous, and valu able than mass-cre ated, mass-produced and mass­

marketed artifacts. I have argued aga inst thi s poi nt of view most of my academic life. Always the

contra rian, I have tried to show how authenticity is socially constructed and ever­

receding, and I have argued for th e meaning and worth of mass-mediated forms . And

I am all for the creativity ofbricolage and th e delights of "blurred genres." But I sense

in these moments of evisceration why the boundaries between art and trash have been

erected and are still being defended. I have gutted too many autho rs in my year s as a

professor- skinned and stuffed them and set them up for students to study. It is a

kin cl of academic taxidermy.

"Why Is He Such a Big Deal?"

Which brings me back to one last Carey sto ry, a painful one. At NCA several years

ago, Carey gave a major talk. I will leave it vague so tha t I do not unwittingly hurt the

people I am about to mention . The room was packed. And, as always, I cannot tell

you exactly what he said. It felt like yet another wonderful, ephemeral jazz concert to

me, listening to masterful riffs on familiar themes, making them new, refining, and

rewea ving. I was mesmerized, o f course, an d awash in m emories of Com m 10 I, as

well as conversat ion s sin ce.

[76 ]. jet/sell

Afterwards, in the mi lling crowd, I found m yself standi ng near a clum p of grad uate stud nts. " What was that all abo ut?" said o ne of them , with ,I nasty chuckle. "All that

glasses twirling- why is he such a b ig deal- I had no idea wha t he was trying to say." I was, as you can im agine, d u mbstruck. The clum p of studen ts moved o n. How

could those st udents not be spellb o und? How co uld that eloquence fall on deaf ears? But it can, and it d id, in sp ite of Carey's deep desire to exp ress and engage . o t everyone "got" Carey, then or no w. No netheless, h never gave up t rying to co nnect with everyo ne he met , and everyo ne he talked with. He was p ro fliga te, almost d riven, in h is energi s. H se m d t beli ve he always owed us hi s bes t s If.

So I wanted to pu nch out that grad student who was rid icu ling so meth ing he refused to understand. I knew - o r presumed - the desire to co nnect that fueled Carey's talk. I knew that Ca rey wa never, ever , purposely obscure or elusive. He really wanted the respo nsive mi racle th at comes fro m face-to -face co mm un ication - and po ured h is even tually dim inishi ng energies into every teach ing occasion , in th e ho pe

that such co nnections would be made. This is, [ rea lize, an inescapable clemen t of a ritual view of co mmunicatio n. Not

everyone gets it. Th reality we crea te and sus tai n , and o ffer ' s a gift with such good will, may be refused by those who want to be m rely receivers, no t engaged parti cipa nts. O ur effo rts to co nne t can be spurned. So to offe r su ch a gift is to op en

o urselves up to m isu ndersta nd ing at d to ridi cu le, becau se we are tr ying to share meani ngs, ra ther th an sim ply transm itt ing mes sages.

And wi th Carey'. deat h , we have los t all future chanc s o f having those envelo ping, jazz-riff mome nts. [ am in xp re ibly gratefu l for each o f h is es ays, but as he hims If

taught, pr int is only partially eloquent, and says almost the sa me thing , every time. It is pa inful to accept how m uch we have lost-not just the ver bal b rilliance, and the personal warm th, but also the possibility of being taken by surprise. We have lost the way, wi th every enco unter, Carey could make th ings new.

T he academic conversation goes on , of co urs e, and we his students keep his

mem ory alive, and his ideas circu lat ing. But whenever I teach h is work. I am painfully aware of my own limi ta tio ns, as well as the Faustian ba rgain we strike when we sim plify and prepare read ings for o ur student '. [ am still not .o rn eone who think. we should keep art sacred and separate from th e masses, bu t if 1 am to honor h im, I can also vow to fight aga inst the sed uctive sirnplicitie: of academi c taxidermy.

If [ am to t ruly honor Carey, th en , I will always ask the hard, good qu estions, no

matter who I am talking wit h- kindergartener, fresh ma n, grad uate stu den t, or co lleague. I will assu me that lowe each teaching situation my best elf. I will avo id , as m uch as possible, turning the go ld o f o riginal so urces into the dross of po wer po int s and ou tlin e and summaries. And- pai nfu l as it is- I will accep t tha t th e very best I can give will so metimes be dism issed by peop le who canno t und erstand or who

sim ply do not want what is bei ng o ffered. Jim was indefatigab le in h is des ires to connect, whi ch is why, o f course, he was a

magn ificent teacher. I learned more than I ca n ever ex press from b ing under his

spell.

Critical Studie in M..d, Vi,I. 2-1• .Yo. 2. lune 20(

Under tj w. Care' Inte lect Lance Strati

I can spea k of Jam( terms such as thesl life that we call a incomplete and il fo remost an cxtrac

hear t. Carey excclk human beings, in

exc lied at intellect perspectives, and s( th ings. a scholar if

gr at med ia ecologi history, and also a arrow, its wound s a and its divine and

Like Harold Inn: civilization, which echoed Inn is's plea we have moved fre mis ing from our ori ginal invisible er up, we have come I

and running out OJ

the mo st. Jim's res1 your time, give YOt: Th is ru ns counter approach was not ; wisd om, nonethele

Lance Strate i. Professor I ornrnunica tion a t Fordh

M .dia Studies, Fordham

ISSN 0739-3180 {prinl)/l

DO l: 10.1080/07393l X0701

I