Two Colorado College Student Scholars Win Watson Fellowships
April 30, 2008 | 
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Two Colorado College seniors, John Zirkle and Brian Hockaday, have been awarded Thomas J. Watson Fellowships., The Watson Fellowship is a one-year, $25,000 grant for independent study and travel outside the United States. A bright, articulate, and modest young man, John Zirkle met with CSR+ over a cup of coffee on the Colorado College campus. The interview with Brian Hockaday was conducted by email. They both talked about their academic passion, their experiences Colorado College as an undergraduate and their future plans in life.
CSR+: Congratulations on being awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowships. It is a great achievement. Can you tell us a little more about this fellowship?
JZ: The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is named after the founder of International Business Machines Corp. or IBM. It was founded in 1968. One of the foundation’s major activities is giving out the prestigious Watson Fellowships. Quoting from the foundation’s Web site “The mission of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program is to offer college graduates of unusual promise a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel outside of the United States in order to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.”
CSR+: Did you have to apply for the fellowship or someone nominated you? Can you please tell us about what’s involved in being considered for the fellowship?
BH: Any graduating senior of good standing among the fifty participating universities is eligible to apply for a Watson, and no nomination is necessary. In fact, personal impetus and self-directedness are integral components of what make a good Fellow.
JZ: The Foundation has about fifty participating colleges. These are mostly liberal arts colleges with fewer than three thousand students. Each applicant has to write a project proposal and a personal statement. Then, the nominees are interviewed by representatives of the Foundation. The Foundation representatives fly around the country conducting hour-long interviews. The recipients are announced based on the quality and potential impact of the proposed projects on the life of the nominee. For 2008-2009, there are fifty awards. Watson Fellowships are investments in people, not projects.
CSR+: Can you tell us about the project you want to pursue as a part of the fellowship? Give us an overview of what you intend to do and what you expect to achieve through your research.
JZ: I am going to travel to Eastern Europe and study the primary passion of my life, which happens to be choral music. I will spend the first five months of my year abroad in the Czech Republic with children in famous choral schools throughout the country. These organizations put choral music first for children at an early age, and they have produced choirs that are unique, mature, and expressive. After Christmas, I will catch the train down to Sofia, Bulgaria, and delve into folk ensembles of Bulgaria during the winter months. Next, I will relocate to Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn, to engage myself in one of the most steadfast choral societies the world has ever seen.
BH: I will be using my Watson year to study sexual identity and gay communities in six newly urban or developing nations in the context of globalization. Many in the West take for granted that the way we conceptualize of sex, gender, and sexual orientation are universal norms, that who one is attracted to can serve as the primary marker for their entire identity, and that this identity has various logical norms as perpetuated through common gay stereotypes. In the face of the massive rural-urban migration of the past few decades, newfound opportunities for same-sex persons to meet for sex and relationships are bringing to light new queer communities influenced by their cultural background, individual histories within the city, and the image of an increasingly homogenized global gay community. In my Watson year I hope to provide a face and a name to these otherwise obscured communities, to allow them to define themselves on their own terms, not merely as extensions of western images or as human rights victims, and to provide a litmus test for how well these groups are faring in defining their fates and achieving their goals in a global context.
CSR+: You are going to study choral music in Eastern Europe. Why choral music? And, why Eastern Europe? What are you actually going to study? What do you want to learn from your studies?
JZ: These three countries are from a region that has a very rich tradition in choral music, spanning several centuries. Choral music requires a group of musicians to work together to produce beautiful music. In choral music, there are no stars. It is a cooperative effort where everyone compromises but strives to perform the best as a group. That’s what attracts me to choral music. My ambition is to become a conductor of music. I am getting a BA in Music in a month. I have studied music theory and many aspects of music, including choral music in the United States, during my studies. Now, I want to study the technical aspects of choral music, as practiced in Eastern Europe, during my year abroad. I am hoping to be able to use what I learn in my evolution as a conductor of choral music.
CSR+: You have decided to visit the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Estonia for your study. Why did you choose these countries?
JZ: During the past several years, as my musical horizon has expanded, I have been listening to choral music from Eastern Europe. I have thoroughly impressed by the music I have heard; I have internalized them. I want to now go to these countries, sing in choirs of these countries, and totally immerse myself in the choral traditions of these countries.
CSR+: Are you involved in the music scenes in Colorado College, Colorado Springs, or your native Knoxville, Tennessee?
JZ: During my time at Colorado College, I have lived a life filled with singing. I have directed Room 46, a student a cappella group. I have performed with a professional choir, and interned with the Broadmoor Community Church Choir. I have worked with every choral ensemble at Colorado College. I have sung with bands, all-female groups, and friends on a daily basis. Most of my days are spent in the music building, and I am usually eating meals in between rehearsals. Outside of the classroom, I am almost always doing something related to choral music.
CSR+: In your writings, you have talked about a “post-gay” world. Can you elaborate on this idea?
BH: In societies in which homosexuality is becoming increasingly acceptable across social circles, young gay men and women have the opportunity to identify themselves more so with other social categories – race, nationality, region, religious beliefs, etc. – than with their being gay persons per se. This leads to a decreased reliance on a unified ‘gay culture’, causing some to worry that the broader social aims of the gay movement, to breakdown hegemonic constructions of sex and gender, misogyny and sex-negativism, are being undercut by the newly formed suburban gay bourgeoisie. It’s ironic that opponents of gay marriage are attempting to stall a process that could very well undermine those aspects of homosexuality they find most subversive!
CSR+: You have decided to visit South Korea, Vietnam, India, Turkey, South Africa and Brazil. The countries cover Asia, Africa and South America. Why did you choose these countries? Why didn’t you choose a country in Europe for your studies?
BH: I chose countries that have all undergone strong urbanization within the past twenty years and have witnessed the emergence of new queer communities within the last decade or so. I chose areas that were as disparate as possible in cultural and religious backgrounds and which have not traditionally been a part of the same evolving dialogue on sex and sexual politics as that of the United States and Western Europe – a dialogue that is now entering these areas with a presumed sense of authority. Does a western notion of gays in short shorts and disco balls make sense in a Muslim nation? Certainly not. But such is the latent assumption of globalized media, and no one is going into these areas asking them what does.
In a way, you could say a large part of my life has been involved in undertaking such a study in the United States and Latin America (I’m half-Chilean myself). My own internalization of these issues has been a significant part of my life story as I’ve transitioned out from my rural Texas community. Gay society isn’t like other cultures wherein there are a set norms and traditions passed down between generations – it a group that crosses all social boundaries and is continually seeking to redefine itself with each new generation. The newfound field of queer theory has been tackling these questions in the US and Western Europe for several decades now.
At best, as I said, I hope to provide a ‘snapshot’ of these communities at this time of such strong cultural flux and allow them to define themselves. I’m working through various social and academic networks as well as through international LGBT organizations to make contacts in each location now.
CSR+: As a whole, the population of the world is almost equally divided between urban and rural. Are you interested in the lives of gay people in rural communities as well?
BH: My study is focusing on the emergence of sexual communities as a product of urbanization. Such communities have often not existed in a visible sense in a rural setting for social or practical reasons. While sex factors into every society in myriad and complex ways, as has been shown though generations of anthropological research, the way in which we define these terms is now changing in an increasingly globalized context.
CSR+: You are about to graduate from Colorado College, a prestigious liberal arts college. What are some of your most memorable experiences in the city and at the college?
JZ: I didn’t come to Colorado College thinking I wanted to become a choral conductor. My studies and musical experiences at CC have led to the germination and the growth of this idea in me. My senior project, Playground, where I am preparing a concert of modern experimental choral music I have written and programmed, stands out as the highlight of my experience at CC. I really like the Block Plan at CC. For example, when I took a class in Buddhism, I was able to immerse myself for twenty-four hours a day for a month in Buddhist philosophy, thought, and practices; the experience transformed me as a person.
BH: My stay at CC and in Colorado Springs has been just fantastic. I’ve enjoyed every moment of getting out into the mountains and exploring the Rocky Mountains with my professors. I’ve learned a lot from them as well as from the friends I’ve made here in the arts community and downtown area. I suppose one of my most memorable experiences from the Springs has been the simple act of watching the seasons change – I’d never been exposed to that growing up in the South!
CSR+: Please tell us a little bit about your background before coming to Colorado College. What made you choose Colorado College for higher education?
JZ: I grew up in the Knoxville, Tennessee. My father is a well-known surgeon and my mother volunteers in community and church activities. I went to a private school in Knoxville. As a senior in high school, I really wanted to go to Stanford. When that dream did not materialize, I had to choose between Middlebury College in Vermont and Colorado College. I am an avid skier and outdoor person. I like rafting and mountain biking. I love the Rockies. I decided to go the best college in the Rocky Mountain area. On top of all this, the hand-written acceptance letter from CC was the deal clincher.
BH: I grew up in a small shrimping town in South Texas, and took a few years to live, work, and travel on my own before coming to college. I chose Colorado College because it was important to me to have a close relationship with my professors, I found it to be a college that resounded with a strong personal ethic, and has a real and practical concern for broader-scale social and environmental issues outside of the context of pure academia.
CSR+: What are your future plans? Where is life going to take you from now on?
JZ: My dream is to become a choral music conductor or a composer. I met Eric Whitacre, one of the biggest composers in choral music, last year. I want to do my best to follow the footsteps of someone like him. My family in Tennessee has created a name in medicine. My parents were apprehensive of my pursuits of choral music. But, my love of choral music, affirmed by the Watson Fellowship, has given me the hope that, maybe, a Zirkle will do well in music, particularly in choral music, as well.
BH: Hah! Isn’t that the million-dollar question? Well, like most graduating seniors, I’m not quite sure, but upon returning from my Watson year, I’m sure I’ll be ready to continue on with my post-graduate education in biology. I hope to integrate the issues facing a quickly urbanizing world with efforts for sustainable development.
CSR+: It was a pleasure talking to you. Thanks so much!
JZ: The pleasure is mine!
BH: I think that pretty well covers it. Thank you very much. I’ve enjoyed it.
- J
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