More Family & Professional Life
Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. The crenellated castle building on the right is Altgeld Hall, named for the Illinois governor who established the university in 1895. In the high-rise dormitories visible in the distance, Dave taught English classes in a special program called Living and Learning, at the same time that he worked toward the Ph.D. in English.
Prior to arriving in DeKalb, Dave was completely unfamiliar with NIU as a growing university with an expanding graduate program in English. He only knew personally the Chairman, Dr. Charles Hagelman, and the head of Freshman English, Dr. James Mellard, who had both been at Lamar State College during Dave's undergraduate years, and it was through the two men that he and his family moved to Illinois.
Also included in the Road Apple anthology are poets Alicia Galaz Vivar and Oliver Welden, who were active in Arica, a city in the far north of Chile. In 1971 Dave and María visited Arica and met the poets. Pictured above is Alicia's collection of poems, first published in 1972, and in blue an edition published in 2023 by Pampa Negra Ediciones in the Chilean city of Antofagasta. Dave was invited to write an epilogue for the second edition; below is his translation of one of Alicia's poems.
Among the faculty members who welcomed Dave to NIU was the fine poet and translator of Japanese Zen poetry Lucien Stryk. Dave would write a poem about the professor entitled "Lucien Stryk at Home," included in his Taking Stock. Unfortunately, Dave says in the poem that Lucien was a Dutch descendant when in fact he was of Polish extraction. Even so, Dave still likes the poem with its description of Lucien smoking his pipe and through it Dave's allusions to the poet's Zen meditations.
Karl Elder, a creative writing student of Lucien Stryk, made contact with Dave about getting together with him to discuss poetry. They began to meet at Dave and María's home in Malta, and on one occasion Karl photographed María. After Dave had issued three volumes of poems by Texans, through his Prickly Pear Press, he published Karl's first collection, Can't Dance and It's Too Wet to Plow (1975). Karl would later see his Gilgamesh at the Bellagio (2007) published by The National Poetry Review Press, his poems included twice in Best American Poetry, and his work featured in the Beloit Poetry Journal, the notable magazine in his Wisconsin birthplace.
Karl Elder's photograph of María in the living room of the Oliphants' rented duplex in Malta, Illiinois, ca. 1971.
Another faculty member who welcomed Dave to NIU was Dr. Arra Garab. Dave would also write a poem about this Armenian-American professor. Dr. Garab was the second Armenian Dave had known in person, and the two inspired his poem entitled "Armenia," included in his Footprints, 1961-1978. The poem is largely about works by Armenian writers William Saroyan and his son Aram Saroyan, as well as the music of Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness. Dr. Garab arranged for Dave's poem to appear in The Armenian Digest, with an introduction by this very gregarious professor. Dave would take Dr. Garab's course on the poetry of William Butler Yeats, in which he emphasized the ideas found in his book, Beyond Byzantium: The Last Phase of Yeats's Career, published by NIU Press.