Sheena Brown Thomas::  My name is Sheena Thomas, Sheena Brown Thomas. I currently live in Des Moines, Iowa and I’m a member of the class of, Grinnell class, of 1971.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  When I came to Grinnell, I thought I came from a pretty politically active family. My father had done things like- well, we had one black family in town and he had interceded with a barber in town about getting his hair cut, and eventually had been forced from the Church we- he was presiding over in Atlantic, Iowa. And so, when I came here, I came from Ottumwa, Iowa.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  Immediately, when I came to campus, there was a sense of, “Wow. Where I come from is not nearly as active as what the campus is into." But I guess- well, I- Actually no, maybe that’s not exactly the way I want to put it. I know that when I came, I came from towns where- and places where only white people were. So, I was actively seeking out people who were different from myself.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  I had a roommate who came from Hawaii but was Japanese and I really appreciated that. I had a floor mate who was from Connecticut and went to the Congregational Church but she was half-Jewish, or her father was Jewish. And I remember her saying to me, “Sheena, you keep seeking out the differences in people. What is that about?” In the library, I ran across John Garang de Mabior, and we became really good friends, and I talked a lot with him about his experiences coming from the Sudan and his growing up experiences.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And then, the momentous thing that happened to me, and- in 1967, fall of 1967, was that the whole Convocation with Martin Luther King and Ralph Ellison and Marshal McLuhan and Ralph Rauschenburg- Ralph.... That may not be the first name, but Rauschenburg anyway...
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And my sense was that Grinnell had convocations like that every year, that it was normal, and.... and then I found out, subsequently, that that didn’t happen every year and it was disappointing, but it was- but, hearing those people was mind-blowing and then when Dr. King was killed in the spring of the same school year, it made it even more important to me, to have experienced that convocation.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  I was talking about activism, and I was on this floor, Cleveland first, where there were four freshman in two double rooms and four seniors in single rooms and they were the radical women of Grinnell. It was... They were- there were nightly visits of their boyfriends; there was political discussion; there was talk about mixing dorms even then. I mean, they were the radical women of Grinnell. There was no question of it.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  We had Molly Malcolm and.... Oh, shoot. Now I’m not thinking. But, Eleanor- I think Eleonore Spiegel was one of them, yeah, and... anyway, I can’t remember the other two. But, it was just a really close-knit group of women and a wonderful mix.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  I wanted to say that, part of my experience was meeting and dating lots of guys here. I... I couldn’t believe the number of guys that were calling me from my picture in the Herd Book. But then, in the Spring, I went into the forum with two of my friends, it was a rainy day, I had on this black leather coat that was too big for me, and it was wet and soggy and reeked. And, Light Escogan who was in my Spanish class and a senior called me over and introduced me to a friend of hers and that was Frank Thomas.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And... so, we were introduced and I was, eh, mildly interested in him but his reaction later was... uh, not impressed. Not impressed at all. However, through our Resident Advisor... He was friends with our Resident Advisor and she kind of reintroduced us later and, so I went to see him in a play that he was in. I can’t remember the name of it right now, and y’know, would talk to him off and on.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And then Martin Luther King was killed, and Frank was... became big man on campus in terms of talking to the community, both the College community and the Grinnell townspeople, helping to, I don’t know, calm things... It was pretty moving, what he was able to do, he and Hubert Farbes, and it made me a lot more attracted to him... And then he was coming around and flirting with me more, too.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  So, let’s see. Yeah, I think it was over the summer- that summer that he kind of- he kept calling me, and... And he would- he even came by train from Chicago to visit me in Ottumwa, and even though I’d had kind of a boyfriend at home, in the end, in August I broke up with him and when I came back on campus, it was kind of like Frank and I were together.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  Then, we were Student Advisors in- I was in South Younkers and he was in North Younker. We were the first dorm experiment for women on North Campus and men on South Campus. So, that made being together a lot easier. And because I was... Being interested in him, I also, and was friends with Mary Brooner, she and I decided to apply for a... an off-campus experience at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And so, she and I, Jon Royal, Diane Alters, Steve Parr and Robin Roy, all were part of a Grinnell Semester in- at LeMoyne-Owen College. Because, we figured that we needed, if we were gonna be at all involved with black people, black men, in a dating situation, we needed to find out what it was like to be the minority.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And our experience there was.... we did find out what it was like to be a minority. There were people who were kind of angry with us, but there were also many, many welcoming people and I got to stay with a family whom I still keep in contact with. I think of Regina as my sister, quote, “sister,” and a big family, and... I developed a different boyfriend there, different relationship, but still kept ties with Frank.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  The experience there was pretty amazing too, in that.... it felt- well, we did a lot of sociology courses and so one of my projects was to go to the black churches, and I did a paper on differences of different churches in the Memphis community. So, I got a really good feeling of what black church services are like and here I was at Herrick Chapel this morning and, black minister singing gospel, and taking me back, taking me back. I mean, those services are long, but they’re.... they're special.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  Where shall I go from here? Well, in the end, I came back to Grinnell... struggled with my fourth semester Spanish because I had missed it for a whole nine months and all the other students in the class had gone to Spanish-speaking countries, and the class was taught in Spanish, and I was pretty lost with this big hiatus, but... So, I struggled in Spanish and I decided to- that the major I wanted to go into was Art.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  So, I... started living in the Art building for forever, and also became President of Smith dorm because the President who had been elected did not return to campus and I was supposed to be an SA, but they elected me to be President. So I was thinking, “Oh my gosh. Here I am being President. I’m supposed to be able to advise my students, but I’m in the Art department 'til midnight and 2 o’clock in the morning everyday. What help am I?” I was just talking to people at the reunion, who had had me and they said, “Oh, no, you were OK! You were good.” Made me feel better, I- 'cause I’d been guilty about that all this time.
Sophie Haas & Sheena Brown Thomas::  Oh no!
Sophie Haas & Sheena Brown Thomas::  Anyway, I.... one of the questions is, what program, or, what’s missing from Grinnell that you had, and I would say the Metal-Smithing Program, Glenn Zirkle, are the things that are really missing, but the program in Metal-Smithing, too, ‘cause it was really an important- Well, it’s my life work!
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  I had gone into the Art department and had a sculpture course with Glenn Zirkle and thought, “Oh, yeah, this is what I wanna be.” Two-dimensionally I was not all that proficient but I really loved working with my hands on three-dimensional projects. And at the end of the first semester of sculpture I said, “Can I take an independent in sculpture?” and he said, “No, take my jewelry class first.” And....
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  Wow, a jewelry class.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And at that point I said, “Well, OK.... Frank and I are planning on getting married.” Could I have said that, at that point? No. I couldn’t have said it then. But it does seem like I did. Anyway, I was saying to him, “Could I make wedding rings at the end of the semester, just as an extra project? Not as part of the classwork,” and he said, “Sure.” So.... and I think I must have that wrong because it wasn’t until February that Frank asked me to marry him, so… something’s screwy in that timeline, but I have both things in my head as solid memories.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  So, I did the jewelry class and realized that jewelry is small sculpture, basically, and I liked that idea. So, I really enjoyed working on- in jewelry with Mr. Zirkle, with Professor Zirkle, and... So that was my junior year. For the following senior year I did a lot more in the metal studio.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  Yeah, one of the things that was... very different for me was that I came into Grinnell thinking I was gonna get this great education and I was gonna go out and do something and then I would only think about getting married when I was 25. And... then Frank asked me to marry him and I’m just, “Oh. OK.” And we did get married at the end of the summer of 1970... for our senior year.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And I guess I should digress, because 1970, the spring semester, when I had taken that first jewelry course, I should say that because we- the campus closed early due to Kent State... this is another place where I feel kind of guilty about my activism.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  I was not out there being active on the campus in- after that. I went back to the studio. We were supposed to get off-campus in two days, and I went back to the studio and made our wedding rings in those two days-
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  Wow. Sheena|- while Frank packed up my stuff. And then we- we needed to work during the summer so we weren’t being active, politically active, for that whole summer when other people were out there just, marching and doing whatever they felt they needed to do.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  So, at the end of the summer Frank and I were married. My dad married us in Ottumwa... in an outdoor wedding, and I had the hippie short dress, peasant dress, that I had made, and I had made his peasant shirt and we did a folk dance during our wedding because he was into folk dancing. And... we were gonna be taking folk dancing with Pirkko Roecker for fulfilling my PE requirements. I needed that. I had done swimming but, we did folk dancing. So, I guess that was a memorable part for other people in the- watching our wedding.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  And then, we were off-campus and, as I remember, we were one of three couples who were married and living off-campus. So, there weren’t very many of us... but- and it wasn’t always easy but we are still together and this will be our 42nd anniversary this year.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  Wow. Congratulations.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  So... I don’t know. Let’s see if there’s anything else I want to talk about..... Oh, clothes. Clothes. I’m sure I came to Grinnell with some dresses. They were left behind after the first semester. I wore jeans and bellbottoms... and t-shirts and sweatshirts and let my hair grow long and never shaved and that was just the way it was.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  My roommate Pearl was an SA with me the second year, on South Younker. And then she switched over to Berkley her junior year, but I kept up with her and just saw her a couple of years ago in Hawaii... My brother married- came here in ’73 and he also... well, he married someone from Hawaii who was also Japanese, and so... We have this nice, colorful family and.... and that- that in its own way was our activism.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  Mhm.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  So...
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  Yeah. Great.
Sophie Haas & Sheena Brown Thomas::  Are you- Do you have anything else you want to talk about?
Sophie Haas & Sheena Brown Thomas::  ...I will say that Dr. Kissane was one of my- besides Professor Zirkle, Dr. Kissane saved me my first semester because I had taken the Writing Lab- or, taken the writing test at the beginning of the year with all the other freshman and because it was analyzing, I was terrible at analyzing poems, and failed that exam. Even though, otherwise I thought I was a good writer.
Sheena Brown Thomas::  And so I had to take the Writing Lab which, freshman year, I had five papers for... oh, what do you call it? The Humanities thing... before tutorials. Anyway, papers on papers on papers. I had never written so many papers in my life, but then on top of the papers for the regular classes, music class included, I had these Writing Lab papers to do.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  And after the second paper for the Humanities course, Dr. Kissane said, “I don’t know why you’re in Writing Lab. You don’t need it. It's- Your writing is good.” And I have to say that that was the most affirming moment in my career here because I was just really discouraged with the fact that I’d failed that first test.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  Yeah.
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  So..
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  Great, thank you so much!
Sheena Brown Thomas & Sophie Haas::  You're welcome.
