Witt Nation Cast: About Michael Anes

Read Michael's Blog

Wittenberg Affiliation: Professor
Hometown: South Bend, Indiana

What is your favorite Wittenberg memory?
Working with students on senior honors theses is a great experience – sometimes you find cool results and sometimes not, but the thrill of finding out what the data say is always there, and I love seeing the students realize what they have accomplished.

Why Witt Nation?
I love being at Wittenberg and talking about the past, present and future of the place, so why not join a project devoted to doing just that?

What is your involvement on the trip?
I thought I was being brought along as the trip comedian.

What is a lesson you learned while at Wittenberg?
Wear pink shirts to class when I want to make sure students are paying attention.

Tunes?
The Modern Lovers. Boston area protopunk with a sweet side, recorded 1972 and released 1975. They were Jonathan Richman’s band (you know him as the troubadour in There’s Something About Mary) with Ernie Brooks (later of The Cars) and Jerry Harrison (later of Talking Heads).

Favorites:
Show: The short-lived series Freaks and Geeks, also Deadwood. I’m not a big TV fan.
Movie: Pick a Wes Anderson film…
Team: Besides Witt’s Women’s soccer team? Notre Dame football.
Book: Straight Man, Richard Russo; White Noise, Don DeLillo.
Food: Steamer clams, oysters on the half shell. Other than that if the food contains garlic I like it.
Music: 60s and 70s rock, late-70s to early-80s punk and new wave, 70s funk and disco, new stuff like Wilco, Spoon.

Interesting fact about yourself:
In 1994, I went on a trip to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and had some life-changing experiences.

Road Trip Essentials:
Rand McNally’s atlas (all others pale in comparison), sunglasses, music.