Angelo Costanzo.  Editor's Notes. From Proteus. Volume 9,
Number 1. Fall 1992.  Published by Shippensburg University.
 
     After five hundred years, the significance of Christopher
Columbus's achievement in linking the old world with the new
still engenders much heated debate.  In the whirlwinds of strong
opinions circulating around Columbus, there are many views,
especially about the Native Americans, that are new to our era
and that reflect our concerns now.  In this issue of Proteus, we
are devoted into arriving at a closer discovery of what the
encounter of two worlds has really meant for millions of men and
women since 1492.
     Many scholars have pointed out that each age has conceived
an image of Columbus according to the needs and desires of the
people living during that time; and. of course, our period of the
1990's is no different in this regard.  However, leaving most of
the interpretations of columbus's place in history for others to
contemplate, I would like to recall the view of columbus in the
manner described by America's foremost poet Walt Whitman.
     In his late years, Whitman sometimes identified himself with
Columbus, In fact, the last poem he wrote a few days before he
died on March 26, 1892, was "A Thought of Columbus."  In this
poem, Walt Whitman invokes the spirit of Columbus and declares to
him the true import of what the 1492 voyage was all about: "Once
manifold, huge memory to thee! oceans and lands!/The modern world
to thee and thought of thee!" Whitman knew that it was the
creation of the new world-for better or for worse-that Columbus's
daring adventure made possible.
     In his early poetry; Whitman gives credit to Columbus for
bringing the people of the world closer together and, more
importantly, for enabling the West's scientific societies to
return eventually to the countries of the East-the spiritual
birthplace of Western culture and thus the origins of the moral
and ethical codes of the human race.  Whitman explains this idea
in his poem. "Passage to India," where Columbus receives praise
for opening up the route that permits men and women in modern
life to reach their spiritual home:
     (Ah Genoese thy dream! thy dream!
     Centuries after thou art laid in thy grave.
     The shore thou foundest verifies thy dream.)
 
     But there was a more personal dimension in Whitman's writing
about Columbus.  We see this when Whitman reveals the close
affinity he felt with Columbus in this poem, "Prayer to
Columbus," where he present the admiral as a controversial,
misunderstood, and visionary person.  In this assessment of all
that he was achieved:
 
     By me and these the work so far accomplish'd,
     By me earth's elder cloy'd and stifled lands
     uncloy'd unloos'd
     By me the hemispheres rounded and tied, the
     unknown to the known.
 
     The end I know not, it is all in Thee,
     Or small or great I know not- haply what
     broad fields, what lands,
     Haply the brutish measureless human
     undergrowth I know.
     Transplanted there may rise to stature,
     knowledge worthy Thee,
     Haply the swords I know may there indeed be turn's to
     reaping tools.
 
          Today's American citizens may argue over this picture of
Columbus that Whitman drew.  Perhaps, Columbus's motives were not
as beneficent as we once thought, but the above lines contain two
truths about his work.  Five hundred years ago he did unite "the
unknown to the known," and there is no doubt that, as Whitman has
Columbus say: "The end I Know nit, it ia all in Thee."
     Many dedicated persons worked long and hard to bring this
edition to press.  I especially want to thank all the members of
the Shippensburg University Columbus Quincentennial Committee and
our review editors Vera Reber and Lori Madden.  Our managing
editor Terry DiDomenico, who served in that capacity for eight
years and now a news writer for the university, helped us until
our managing editor Catherine Evans came aboard.  I personally
thank Catherine Ms. DiDomenico for all her assistance while
Proteus was growing, and all I wish her much good fortune in her
new position.
     Our next issue of Proteus will deal with ever increasing
crisis of the AIDS epidemic, and we will concentrate on the
political aspect of this dread health problem.  The strong
response to this special edition of the journal indicates the
seriousness of the topic.  We plan to offer a selection written
by the acclaimed American writer, Susan Sontag, who will speak at
Shippensburg University in November.  Ms. Sontag has published
University in November.  Ms. Sontag has published and spoken
extensively on there AIDS subject, and she is known for such
important works as Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its
Metaphors.
     We are still receiving notices concerning the memorable
essay written by Helen P. Mrosia entitled, "Good Night, Sister.
Thank You for Teaching Me!"
The piece appeared in the Spring 1991 issue of Proteus which had
the theme, "Profiles in Teaching: A Celebration."  The story was
reprinted in Readers's Digest,  where it inspired persons all
over the world: and it continues to be printed in publications in
the  United States and Canada. Sr. Mrosla's story about her
teaching experience with a young student who later killed in
Vietnam has been quoted at a conference of educators in Houston,
Texas: and it has brought her an appreciative letter from First
Lady Barbara Bush.  We are happy to be part of such a wonderful
success story, and we also send our congratulations to Sr.
Mrosla.