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Name: Kurt Shaw

Graduation Year: '93

address: 809A West Manhattan Ave Santa Fe, NM 87501

occupation: many

Email address: kgshaw@alumni.williams.edu

In a sense, my life sense Williams has had little to do with "philosophy." I went to Latin America to be a postmodern Che Guevara for a couple of years (as you've noticed from the news, I showed up a little late), then worked in a think tank in Washington, started a PhD in Religion at Harvard, dropped it, started to work with homeless teenagers, and have now started an agency to support latin americans who work with street kids.

What has philosophy had to do with that? Everything. It was Marx and Foucault who took me to Latin America (and gave me the tools to get out of my delusions), and the rigor and interest of philosophy that convinced me that grad school was boring. Homeless kids are thrilled to talk about philosophy, or anything else that will give meaning to a brutal life, so I would say this backgroung is infinitely better than psych or social work.

Perhaps most of all, when I majored in philosophy I became immune to the slings and arrows of "what are you doing with your life?" That thick skin has allowed me to do what I want, what I think is good, and not what I "should." Did I get preachy enough?