E&H Library News

Quest10s: An interview with Ed Davis

Before we delve into the following interview, I would like to reiterate what you should expect from Quest10s posts. Each post will be highlighting a faculty or staff member at Emory and Henry through  ten simple, easy-to-answer, yet revealing questions that will give us all a chance to learn more about the people that make this college the amazing institution that it is. Simple enough, right? So to begin this series I took a virtual journey to the Geography and Earth and Environmental Sciences Department and delivered my ten question prompt to one, Professor Ed Davis. The following content has been unedited, unabridged, and uncensored for your enjoyment, entertainment, and curiosity:

-photo courtesy of E&H College

Question #1: What is your name, department and area of study, and an odd or unique fact about your field of study that isn’t commonly known?

My name is Ed Davis, and I am a professor of Geography and Environmental Studies. Most people are surprised to hear that one of my areas of study is collard greens. I co-wrote the only serious book about all aspects of collards - where they were first domesticated 3000 years ago, where they are grown and eaten today, what roles they play in our culture, and how they came to be what I call "the most Southern food" - it is a story partly about race and class, but also about traditional gardeners, and traditional cooking. The book is called "Collards: a Southern Tradition from Seed to Table" and you can get it on many online booksellers, or check it out from your local library!

Question #2: Recommend a favorite book, movie, tv show and hit me with your best elevator pitch. 

My favorite book is "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. When I finished it, I was left trembling. I think it is about how each of us must figure out our purpose in life, but we don't have to do it alone -we can do it as part of a community. The character Owen Meany is so odd and yet so relatable. John Irving helps us to love what is less attractive about human beings. He makes people more loveable - what a gift!

Question #3:Do you have any pets? If you don’t have any pets, what is your favorite animal? Why?

We have two rescue cats, Albert and Toby, and we remember our past cats very fondly. One of our favorites was Boris, who had lost a back leg to a farmer's mowing machine. Boris could climb better than most cats! Our cats give us such laughs and also affection.

Question #4:What is your favorite food dish to make? Would you be willing to share the recipe?

My favorite dish to make is "boiled custard" - It is so simple and a fond childhood memory. Ingredients = 3 eggs, 2 cups of whole milk, 1/4 cup sugar, a dash of salt, and a squirt of vanilla.

You combine the eggs, milk and sugar in a heavy saucepan, and heat on medium heat - while stirring constantly, and I mean constantly, until ALMOST a boil, when the spoon is coated with thick custard, and then quickly remove - plunge the base of that saucepan into a large bowl of ice and water to stop the cooking. Squirt in that vanilla and add the pinch of salt. Eat it warm for the best experience! That is (as I understand it) a rather common old dessert in the Lowland South where my childhood was spent. The recipe comes from the late Fulton Allen, father of one of my close friends in Wadesboro, NC. He made it for us many times.

Question #5:If you were to write an autobiography, what would be the title? How would it begin?

My autobiography might be titled "Listen to this!" I have been a clown all my life, trying to entertain - first my mother when I was little (she had a great laugh), then my friends, then my would-be-but-never-were girlfriends, and now my students. I love adventure and discovery, so I became a geographer, but going out in search of new things was always also just being open to the world. So I try to find and share fun things - and that translates into my love of improvisation. I also have sung and played music (very amateurly) all my life, mainly making up stuff. Now I play bass in a jazz quartet, and it makes me so happy. I have written about how jazz is freedom. That would be a chapter of my autobiography.

Question #6:What initially drew you to Emory & Henry College? 

I came here to a wedding, and loved the campus, and then a job came open and my wife and I both said, "This is the place." It is a place with so many brilliant faculty, and so many good staff people. I love the people.

Question #7: What is your favorite thing to do on campus?

Sit in a classroom and have a good, deep discussion with my students.

Question #8: How would you best define the E&H Community and describe what it means to you to be a member of it?

The E&H community is dedicated to growing up - as a person, as a group, as a species -through the interaction between the humanities and the sciences. I could go on, but it would bore you.

Question #9:Will you be teaching online courses? Do you have any advice or tips for students who may be experiencing online courses for the first time?

Yes, I have to teach using "distance delivery" but I am not comfortable with it - having been a teacher for 30 years, I am suddenly trying a different way - so I must make big adjustments. I recommend students do all they can to create interactive time with their faculty. Do the reading, do the preparation, and then when you are in a meeting (online or wherever) you will have something to ASK and something to ADD.

Question #10: You have been given the opportunity to address the entire campus community; what words of wisdom, encouragement, or inspiration do you have to share?

Love is the answer.