Bouncing wildly, from one side of the room to the next, is a short-haired blond man, fingers dusted white from chalk and glasses askew on the tip of his nose. Behind him is an exhausted chalkboard, its original green surface hidden beneath a blanket of chalk and covered with wild ideas strewn across the board in fierce, curving lines.
The untamed man is Barry Shank, professor of American and comparative studies at Ohio State. The class is cultural studies in American music – the style is exciting.
Shank specializes in the interdisciplinary field of American studies. Interested in the relationships between the American experience and commercial popular culture, Shank investigates the history of American culture and its effect on its people.
He offers undergraduate students a challenging, yet approachable perspective on the world around them. His classes are lively, and will often feature a front of the room leap when a fresh idea arises.
“You can tell he really enjoys and understands what he is teaching,” said Natalie Ford, a junior in human development and family studies. “He was an interesting character.”
Shank was born in Overland Park, Kan., in the heart of Middle-America. Educated on the rebellious sounds of the Rolling Stones and rollicking folk of Bob Dylan, Barry began to build a rich appreciation for American music.
Shank was inspired not only by the sounds he heard from his radio, but the images he saw in magazines and the attitude they represented.
“I remember looking at a picture of Keith Richards in Rolling Stone magazine,” Shank said. “He was just standing there, smoking a cigarette, he was so cool; it represented everything I wanted to be.”
Feeling the pull of a burgeoning music scene in Los Angeles, Shank along with friends, decided they would take the daring leap and head out west to pursue bigger dreams.
“We all decided to just pack up and go out to L.A.,” Shank said. “But I was the only one who went.”
Arriving in the mid-1970s Shank met Kentucky native Sid Griffin and formed the garage rock revivalist band The Unclaimed. The band soon broke up, but Shank and Griffin formed the roots rock band The Long Ryders.
“It was great to be out in L.A.,” Shank said. “Sid had this great vision for the band. He had this desire that we needed to be good musicians, which was so unlike any of the bands out there. They all just wanted to rock and live the lifestyle.”
Then in a move uncharacteristic of rockers during this time, Shank left the band before they went into the studio for the first time and followed Shari Speer, the woman who eventually would be his wife, to Austin, Texas. The two now have a daughter, Claire.
Shank brings with him a fiery passion for teaching. He instills in his students the desire to open their eyes to those sweet fleeting moments of musical brilliance.
“He pulled you into the discussion during class,” said Justin Seymour, a senior in sociology. “He always let everyone speak and was never overly critical of anyone’s opinion.”
Shank’s teaching style is a dizzying display of the adoration he has for the musical craft. He immediately digs into the subject, prying out each side of the argument and exhibiting it on the chalkboard in manic fashion.
“I would describe his style of teaching as skittish,” Seymour said. “He was always jumping up and down during class, it was interesting to watch.”
However, if an inquistive hand were to rise in the class the crazy acrobatics would always come to a halt.
“I really enjoyed his humor, and the fact that he let everyone speak their opinion. He didn’t make anyone feel stupid when they talked,” Ford said. “He was also good about helping me out because I started the class three weeks late.”
Shank’s classes are always presented to encourage and strengthen the student’s critical thinking and should never be taken lightly.
“I thought the class was demanding for a GEC,” Ford said. “That’s a good thing because it got me to think.”
From the super charged lectures to the demanding exams, Barry Shank is never shy about his passion for music and its importance on society. Nor is he bashful about passing that same excitement and understanding along to his students whom arrive in class everyday waiting to see what strange illustration appears on the frenzied lines on the chalkboard.
