Ben Kitterman took an interesting turn at Wabash when he was a student. He ended up driving professional musicians around for a living. Tom Petty was one of those musicians. In fact, it was a Tom Petty dropoff and an Aaron Lewis pickup that led Ben on a different path. Aaron, then a heavy metal guy, was making a career move to Country music. That move ended up a career move for Ben as well.
In true liberal arts fashion, Ben had more to bring to the music table…and he did. You see, Ben is a really good dobro player. So good, in fact, that the other night is was country star Aaron Lewis and Ben sharing the Jimmie Kimmel stage.
The new album by Aaron is #5 on iTunes. Go check it out.
Meanwhile, here’s the video of Aaron and Ben doing “Country Boy”.
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I am delighted to see that Wabash is celebrating Ben’s success. He is a great musician and a great friend. But Wabash should not fail to recognize that Ben’s example provides an opportunity not only for celebration, but for institutional self-reflection, as well. Much like Ezra Pound’s tenure at Wabash, Ben’s time there ended with Wabash pushing him away. Undoubtedly, school officials would attempt to explain away Ben’s premature departure with any number of excuses about every student’s different “needs.” But the truth is that Wabash rarely looks hard enough at itself to understand why certain students leave year after year: because the school does very little to ensure that every student succeeds and flourishes. Many of the most creative and talented students, like Ben, feel stifled by the environment on campus–the lack of both academic and non-academic creative outlets, the many doors closed to newcomers, and the needlessly bureaucratic protocol and political maneuverings associated with almost every activity. When they leave, Wabash shrugs, “This place is not for everyone.” Well, with a little effort, Wabash, maybe it could be.
Jim Stephens ’07/’08