Tune into a new episode of Gettysburg College’s podcast, Conversations Beneath the Cupola. In this episode, podcast host and College President, Bob Iuliano, is joined by two members of the Gettysburg College community: Associate English Prof. McKinley Melton and Linguistics and Africana Studies Prof. Jennifer Bloomquist, who also serves as associate provost for faculty development and dean of social sciences and interdisciplinary programs. Together, they discuss the lasting impact of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words, what made his use of language so powerful and effective, and how we can apply the lessons learned from his life and legacy to our ongoing conversations on issues of race and identity today.
“We celebrate what King does as a speaker, but the reason why people were willing to listen to what he had to say was because he didn’t just talk the talk. He also walked the walk,” Melton said in the episode.
The episode concludes with an anecdotal “Slice of Life” told from the president’s perspective. Iuliano reflects on the meaningful ways that the College has rallied the community to celebrate MLK Day—from last year’s Damien Sneed performance at the College’s Majestic Theater to this year’s ongoing yard sale fundraiser. The yard signs feature some of the inspiring words of King, and all proceeds will benefit SCCAP’s Adams County Career Aid Project, which assists local, low-income youth and adults with costs related to post-high school education and training.
