The Walt Sessions

March 3rd, 1996In this sweeping and reflective conversation, Walt revisits the arc of his personal and political evolution—from WWII soldier to community organizer to radical educator—grounded in experience rather than ideology. He opens by expressing gratitude for the young people who took risks to work alongside him over the years and begins tracing the shifts in his thinking, marked by a journey through socialism, communism, and organized religion.Much of the episode centers on Walt’s intense and self-funded efforts in Germany during the 1980s to introduce the writings of French theologian Jacques Ellul—whom Walt calls one of the great but ignored thinkers—to German students and institutions. He recounts teaching in German, paying to translate an entire book, and ultimately winning credibility through a powerful candlelight speech at a major student rally in Germany. “Think globally, act globally” becomes a theme, rooted in these direct experiences.Walt also reflects on the origins of Project Neighbors and the Prince of Peace Volunteers, rooted in local risk-taking by youth, not institutional support. He critiques leftist movements for being overly fixated on economic definitions of poverty, arguing instead for a broader understanding of what it means to be uprooted and dehumanized. Marx, Mao, the Black Panthers, and organized religion all fall short in different ways—yet faith, especially if truly lived out from the bottom up, remains for Walt the only enduring source of revolutionary strength.The episode closes with a discussion about two new homes being supported by Project Neighbors and the informal, decentralized networks making them possible. Walt argues this “un-American” way—of people giving without strings—is closer to real change than anything he has experienced. But he also wonders aloud how to honor and deepen it without institutionalizing it: “Something is being born here.”

February 25th, 1996 A sprawling conversation, from personal philosophies, to current thoughts on work with Project Neighbors, to more on Walt’s history. Starting from a conversation on family values to the individual, and the destruction of the individual. Walt touches themes such as what it means to be a “true revolutionary” and moving against the state and “high tech,” before getting into more tangible work with Project Neighbors and how to build relationships, support one another, and moving away from “charity.” On talking about some of the families they have worked with in Valparaiso, and getting closer towards how Walt sees the world, he says: “I hate to use the word ‘make it.’ First of all, they won’t ‘make it’ in terms of the world. And secondly, I don’t want them to ‘make it’ in terms of the world. I want them to live and not just survive.”  From there, Walt and George dive into Walt’s history a bit during the Urban Studies program from 1968-1982. Walt talks about preparing to apply to go to Germany as an “out” financially, and spends years working on his German, spending summers working in Germany, and even working towards a PhD in Germany to apply to the Reutlingen program at Valparaiso University. Walt tries to move on, talking about how big Chicago/Cabrini Green were, and how Valparaiso was more manageable, but George brings him back to those 15 or so years during Urban Studies, where they talk about what fatherhood was like for Walt during that time – splitting himself, and his family – between Chicago and Valparaiso.  Walt ends reflecting on that time:  "After war and poverty, the other thing that has most affected my life – I'm leaving Lois out; she transcends it all – has been the fact that the students I've been with, have all been special students. Almost every single Urban Studies student in 20 years had to fight their faculty advisor, fight their parents. 'Why don't you go to Florence? Why don't you go to Cambridge?' ...'I don't want you to go to Chicago.' They had to want to come to the city....They were special students. They made some risky choices."

January 14th, 1996 This week, Walt and George spend their time talking about the operations of Project Neighbors, the nonprofit they run in Valparaiso, Indiana. They also discuss themes of leadership and the importance of building relationships and community. 

December 10th, 1995 Walt talks more about his personal history, from Christmases as a boy during the depression and waiting for “the” gift he knew was coming each year… to being marooned for weeks on an island in the Philippines during WWII where he and several others were taken in by local families and a person whose name Walt has never forgotten: “Domingo Valado.” George and Walt end this journey into Walt’s past by making the connection to a central theme that appears throughout: “choice”... “choices are what it means to be human, that’s what it’s all about.” And today we live in a world where we think we have more choices on the one hand, but in reality, the choice between a million different computer companies is not really a choice at all. In reality, we live in a world with far less real choice, and consequently less humanity?

November 19th, 1995 George starts their conversation by talking about his brothers’ partners’ death from AIDS and about having some control over his own death, not letting the medical establishment intervene when there was nothing that could be done. Walt talked about the importance of being able to suffer with those that suffer. He also talked about the joy he finds in reconciliation when there shouldn’t seem to be reconciliation possible. He relates this to being in World War II, a condition that he believes no one truly understands. He talked about what being in war meant for him and how it is the root of what has caused him to call out the bullshit whenever he sees it. He said that war was the start of “de-sacralizing” everything for him (the constraints of religion, America the Beautiful). While still calling out all the bullshit , God still remained a focus for him. The war led him to non-violence and believing in relationships with people. 

November 5th, 1995 Walt and George open their conversation talking about “where do I belong?, “who am I?” Walt talks about that biblical directive that we don’t belong to anyone – the quest of discovery of connections is the point. As opposed to any other religion or ideology, Christianity (especially organized religion) does exactly the opposite of what we are called to do. Walt recounts listening to “religious” channels to hear what people are saying and about attending his church; it is all about “belonging” but nothing about the quest. And often “belonging” is equated with giving money. Institutions are not the gospel; they are necessary but that’s all. There are two segments of organizational Christianity that are not freedom – the focus on origin or the focus on end times. The Christian Right is focused on both. Both are about rules, not freedom. To walk away from bull in the world is not the way to demythologize it. How to confront it is the constant struggle. Thought must be connected to action and that has to work the other way as well.  Walt talks about how he is always trying to figure out how to have real conversations even when they are uncomfortable, without harming relationships.

October 22nd, 1995 Walt and George start by discussing the Million Man March, organized by Louis Farrakhan and others to promote Black men taking responsibility and leadership in their families, communities and the country. Walt talks about how black families were not as violent and disconnected before the dominance of the welfare state. He says that both the left and the right are able to look at things like Brown versus the Board of Education and bussing as both bad and good. Positions are solidified-no gray areas. Policies to assure survival but are necessary but they also kill creativity. The focus on electing the right person as the number one focus for Black people diverts from taking creative control of their lives and their communities. Need a balance of focus between what is necessary and what is creative, which is true in religion, politics and other arenas. Absolutizing the law is the most dangerous component of Islam and Christianity as well as the Democrats and the Republicans. Walt also talked about the focus of “atonement” in the March and said that it is essential to look at history and understand the depth of the origins of the slave trade as including Islam. History is a “recounting of man’s absurdities.” He talked about the fact that really listening to one of the Black women that Project Neighbors has helped would offer more history than we could ever find -he has learned so much from her. He wanted so much to get her story out and talked about how to do it. 

October 8th, 1995 Walt and George start by discussing the difference in Black and White reaction to the OJ Simpson verdict… They launch into a far-reaching discussion about the role of religion-which Walt emphasizes is different from faith-in the world of work and society… Religion has become an ideology that promotes standard of living… The global ideology today is that production is everything… and consuming is the focus… Walt talks about the fact that this struggle is his primary focus but he has no idea about how to do it… The Bible is not answers, it is nothing but questions… They both agree that continuing to ask questions and heighten the contradictions drives them both.

October 1st, 1995 Walt and George start by discussing the launching of the Hilltop Neighborhood House daycare center. The Board had asked for a sponsorship from Immanuel Lutheran Church because it was important for daycare licensure. There is a tension between the identification as a Christian effort (because of the partnership with the Church) and the broad commitment to serve people of other faiths – or no faith – and that tension is born out in constructing a mission statement. The discussion is a good example of how words are put together to convey respect and love and not dismissal and exclusion. The discussion proceeds into the meaning of faith and its impact on global society. Walt also raised the issue of “equality” as a critical issue as the programs at Hilltop are developed… There will be a lot of pressure to be rigid about admission qualifications, which is not Project Neighbors style. George steers the conversation back to the purpose of these conversations – “why do you do what you do?” Walt talks about the fact that his faith is what gives his life meaning; it has a beginning and an end and everything fits into that… Work, thinking, and words must all fit into that timeframe to contribute to that meaning… particularly in light of the increasing systemization of society. Walt shared a story about the return of Fuzzy Thurston to VU (he had been a star football player for Walt at Valparaiso University who then went to the Green Bay Packers) and his speech in which he singled out the impact that Walt had on him. This act (and others) brought Walt out of the corner in which he had always been relegated. Walt mused about the fact that no matter that he had enormous experience (race relations, Jacque Ellul), he had been given little credibility and the weekly conversations with George have been his only outlet. They talk about how to have real discussions on a larger level.

September 10th, 1995 Walt continues to talk about what God means to him. War had a major impact on his views… His mother raising him with a constant “no” on his forehead, being surrounded with people who only said “yes,” struggling with the opportunities of his anonymity, closer ties to his Jewish roommate than others who were evangelical Christians… All of that resulted in real thinking about what God meant… What does it mean to be in the world (sociological) but not of it (theological) – these must be in tension with each other… Being able to have respectful discussion and debate is so critical but so hard… Faith is about both the individual and the collective… Man always demands to define what it means to be faithful (rules)... The first step toward freedom is recognizing what is predetermined by history and tradition and culture and the next step is to rise above it…

September 2nd, 1995 George asks Walt to start talking about “god” and what that means to him, which he assumes is not what it means to others. A concept of god, for Walt, that doesn’t touch the real world is meaningless… there is no way life is by chance – it has meaning… What is the source of meaning? Walt explores changes in the source of meaning over time and cultures… We only know about god through what god has chosen to reveal… Man cannot describe god… Everything comes from belief…..it’s like life – you cannot prove it you can only believe… Institutional religion has taken the grace of god away from the world… Rules become the sacred.  Walt ends with a very personal story about how pride played a role in his relationship with his wife and what he learned about himself through that episode.

July 16th, 1995 Walt asks George about what is driving him right now… they talk about the value about having something that pushes them forward… changes for Walt since he cannot be as physical as he was before his heart attack… being comfortable is not what drives Walt-the opposite… his physical focus has moved from building to long walks that he uses to think about people and things that should be fine-even if he needs to get others to do it… thinking without action is bullshit but so is action without thinking… discussion about the launching of Hilltop Neighborhood House and turning leadership over to others-hoping that they will continue to be responsive to beat down people… significant talking about how do we live differently that encourages citizenship (shared living, new approaches to education)...truth is not “the facts”-- they are always in tension… he must walk with all people who are striving for freedom but also be upfront with asking questions and raising lessons of history.

June 11th, 1995 In a free-wheeling conversation, Walt and George start by blasting the movie “Bridges of Madison County” as a warped view of love… Walt talks about how the self-focus of “being all you can be” (the US army’s slogan from 1980-2001 and omni-present in popular culture in the 1990s) is being used to pacify society… Love has to be acted out or it is bullshit… Love is responsibility and openness… When Walt told Jacques Ellul that there is a lot of chaos out there Ellul responded – “there isn’t enough” (Jaques Ellul is a 20th century French philosopher and his works were foundational to Walt’s thinking. Walt spent a week with Ellul in 1976)… We don’t like change in society when that is what we need… whatever we – “the first world” – tries to do with the poor, we must take a look at ourselves first (using unconditional wealth sharing as the basis for Project Neighbors as an example), which is very hard for people… The poor cannot make it without help but that help cannot have conditions imposed, and while there must be self-determination and a commitment to working together in a process, we also must work through true respect for everyone… There need to be real conversations, with respect, but there are no strings attached… There is value in making change where we live and not simply ceding that responsibility to the government. Towards the end, the conversation turned towards a more global conversation on the “production sphere” as the new “sacred,” the “New World Order,” producing endless garbage (plastic toys, etc) in order to survive, and it is destroying individuality and the environment at the same time… We should champion the “non-productive world” and that won’t be easy.

May 29th, 1995 "The only way you destroy the power of money, is to give it away, with no strings attached." George starts the conversation by talking about family, and how lucky we are to have an extended family in Valpo. Walt talked about what his thinking was when he moved with his family into the middle of Chicago in 1965 for four years. He was driven to go, and he had to figure out how to maximize the experience for them… "Living service has to be real. It can't be idealism. I hate idealism" … demythologizing the family means that all children are my children.. the responsibility of the family is to support its members to survive and live in the real world… what is the new family and who determines that.. the importance of connections in the world in making family richer.. .we need to understand that our grandchildren will need to invent the new family, but they are going to need to think about it hard  nd must be steeped in the real world and not be isolated and be willing to reject the trajectories of the new world order. 

May 21st, 1995 This episode focuses on the changes in Walt’s job to first taking on the creation of the Youth Leadership Training Program at VU in the early 1960s to going to work for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod to create a national organization called the Prince of Peace Volunteers (referred to as “POPV” throughout the episode), headquartered in Chicago. He moved his family into the city in 1965 and took on the creation of this program, which brought young people into both US cities and into several countries around the world. The next four years were characterized by increasing tension with the church, both the synod leadership and the local parish pastor in Chicago, culminating in a heresy trial. Walt describes in detail the conflicts between the institutional conviction that this should be a traditional missionary program but the priority was, rather, engagement with the communities being served. The opposition to the war in Vietnam and the civil rights movement were also becoming focus areas. Despite the fights with the church, POPV resulted in lifelong relationships with young people involved in the program and brought Walt into direct relationships in Chicago, which would guide the next phase of his life, both in Chicago and Valpo.

April 30th, 1995 George starts by raising his concern about recent news from Walt’s doctor that he has a progressing heart disease and the urgency to keep going on this project…“freedom” to him is couched in what his limits are and death is one of  those limits. A major focus of this episode is the betrayal of “the church” in dealing with an individual (him) who has confronted the total and sacred conformity of the church… the history of the impact of the church and the university as he took on the issues of race and calling into question of the “new world order…” Being “colorblind” is not real….he talks about the days of VBA (precursor to Project Neighbors) and the multitude of ways that helping black and brown people move to Valpo rocked the town and church and impacted Walt and his family… Everything is now about making nice gestures on race without impacting the real control of the powers that be… everything in the church (broadly speaking, many religions) now is us and them and good and evil… the starting point is to figure out where the individual is at in challenging the control… He talks about the centrality of relationships in truly dealing with race or any difference—how do you really get to have the depth of relationships with people who are different… He attributes depression and war and “church” as being responsible for making his choices in life inevitable and relationships (a Jewish sailor, a Black college roommate) as being pivotal.

April 9th, 1995 Episode 5 starts soon after Walt’s second heart attack and as Project Neighbors are starting to create Hilltop Neighborhood House (a daycare center that would serve the poorest in Valpo and established with a retired University prof, Ed Senne, taking on the role of Director and the University selling a former rat lab to be used as the facility). He and George struggle at first to figure out where to start but then get into a far-reaching conversation that covers such issues as….the problem of the sacredness (a concept that will be discussed near the end of the episode as well) today of consumerism and “standard of living” over humanness and the tension between the two that should be, but is not, talked about……the importance—and rarity—of real repentance (brought to mind by Robert MacNamara’s public apology for what he did in as Secretary of Defense leading the Vietnam War) and how life would be so different if there was more of that…about the danger of basing man making judgements on the literal “Gods will” (on such things as homosexuality, divorce) when the important lesson of Christianity is to serve your neighbor……the danger of the growth of specialization in breaking apart building relationships and addressing complex problems in the world……what does it mean for a person to truly be a person—"being over doing.”

February 12th, 1995 Walt talks about the early years at Valparaiso University… his football career… role as a chaperone to all frat parties… stories related to meeting Loie and the three weeks between their initial meeting and asking her to marry him.. receiving notice to report for the Korean War (after years in World War II) the day after he asked Loie to marry him… he believes that the only reason that he wasn’t fired at VU was because he coached a winning football team, and he went back to war… his year in Korea was the beginning of heavy reading for him (Kierkegaard, Luther, etc) for someone who was never an “intellectual”… hilarious description of his wedding (“I had never been to a wedding before”) on June 6th (D-Day) so he would always remember it… .transition from coaching at VU to moving to Chicago and the growing sense of who he should be spending time listening to (not the powers that be).. he alluded to the concerns that he had in making the transitions that he did as it related to his family and the importance of those experiences.

February 12th, 1995 Walt opens this episode by talking about how he ended up at Springfield College due to the GI bill (when there would have been no other way for him to go) and his time there as he sought to become a football coach… his schooling supplemented with a job at a prep school coaching… talked about how he tried to get across what he wanted to say while still not failing… he had a major car accident and was in a coma for weeks… talked about how he ended up as a coach at Valparaiso University and the first attempts that he made to rework the approach to the game there, an approach that caused some discomfort at the University… he talked some about the importance to him about not needing credit and recognition.

February 5th, 1995 Walt talks about “desacralizing the sacred” over history….the role of Islamic scholars in the transformation of European society in part by challenging the previously sacred… the Bible is steeped in nonviolence but the church is based on violence and power… work was not alienating until the advent of Taylorism, when workers were kept from realizing the “end product” of their labor… but even though you may be alienated from your work, you are not physically destroyed by your job… work was “the sacred”—“you are what you do”… work is the worst place in the world to exercise freedom. George talks about what Walt is talking about resonates with Derek Bell’s book “Faces at the Bottom of the Well”… Walt says that you can have Section 8 housing and food stamps and health insurance but if you have to sell your soul it is not revolutionary… Our sacredness of progress is destroying us as human beings. Walt ended by saying that when he went to college (on the GI bill after the war) he felt like a confused 90-year old and 16-year old in one body—he has no idea how he got through.

February 5th, 1995 George and Walt start by discussing a speech just given at the University by Derek Bell (one of the original founders of Critical Race Theory), with a particular focus on the impact of work (an area that they say that they want to discuss in more depth over the next months)... Walt talks about his conception of “revolution” which is very different from what is being put forward by both the left and the right… both rely on maintaining the dominance of the state… Real revolution requires understanding that society is growing more and more rigid… He discusses the tension between the growth of the church’s, and all religions’, adherence to the state and conformity and his interpretation of what faith means to him (“the meek shall inherit the earth”)... He delineates the difference to him between faith and religion… We are being programmed by the state and by the church to conform to certain norms and not to question anything… Happiness is promised if there is no questioning—but that is not true happiness. Walt talks about how he has tried to write much of his thinking and history but it is mostly “incoherent.”

January 29th, 1995 Walt continues to discuss his childhood, including the trauma of his near fatal illness. He also alludes to the impact of his father leaving the family in the early years of the depression on his childhood. His high school years were heavily impacted by both extreme poverty and the fact that he had been pushed ahead nearly two years in elementary school. He relates his connection to a local minister with whom he starts having regular discussions about theology and talks about work after high school before he enlists to fight in World War II, something he saw as a way of “getting out”.

January 29th, 1995 Walt starts this session by discussing the changing nature of the proletariat in a technological society. There are two proletariats-one of affluence and one of misery-that are being generated. This is a topic which Walt and George agree that they will come back to. The bulk of the episode is spent discussing Walt’s childhood, significant events that shaped his life going forward—relationships with family, approach to academics and work, core connection to faith- and, most notably, the centrality of the concept of “freedom.”

January 22nd, 1995 Walt starts discussing his own history in this session. The impact of “work” is something that was a key part of his life (grandfather, brothers, shipyards, etc) and the subject of conversation with George. Many stories are shared  related to his childhood including… the fact that his mother’s family (Mugge) were aristocratic of German heritage (mother sent to Europe to study) and created the city of Tampa Florida…. his father was a German intellectual who wrote for the Kaiser but gave him no credit so he came to the US… Walt was born in 1923 and family was totally wiped out by the time he was six or seven due to The Great Depression… because his father had no ability to do physical work, he left the family and went to Chicago where he worked as a hotel desk clerk for many years… his mother took in two other families and became responsible for all cooking and cleaning for thirteen people… total poverty… he and two older brothers had to work in addition to going to school… heritage meant that they were destined to go to college but there was no way that was economically possible… work from mowing lawns at seven to working in shipyards at seventeen dominate stories here.

January 22nd, 1995 George and Walt kick off this conversation that started in 1995 and would continue over the next four years. This first episode starts with the two trying to figure out how to accomplish two things—create a chronology of Walt’s life and also answer the question “Why do you do what you do?” Walt jumps into the second question first and discusses… The starting point for everything for him is faith… choosing to focus on living versus survival (which is necessary but not enough) is the moral imperative and the only revolution that makes sense to him and his faith calls him to be a revolutionary… His conversations with college students has convinced him that there are no reference points today and there is little ability to be human beings who say yes and no… people in power today understand that to control people they must be more than fed—they must be loved… spirituality is the new pacifier (the right is nothing without evangelical Christians)… we aren’t examining our history and what we learn from it (most notably the collapse of socialism across the world in the blink of an eye) and people have no reference points…“the university is the culprit,” which doesn’t allow any real discussion—"you will not be successful unless you study more and more about less and less.” Walt asks George to provide topics for these conversations and he will intersperse lessons from his own history.