Prof . McKenna gives first Last Lecture '

Short men can wear long ties and tap dancers can be serious schol­ ars, Professor James McKenna said in his “Last Lecture” Wednesday. McKenna, Notre Dame’s Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. chair in anthropolo­ gy, shared the most important les­ sons he has learned through his years as a student, husband, father and friend in the first of a series of lectures planned by student gov­ ernment. M cK enna spoke to a packed room for an h o u r and a half. S tuden ts crow ded shou lder-to shoulder in the Coleman-Morse lounge, spilling out into the hallway and smaller lounge. He o p ened with an anecdo te abou t the day he rea l ized th a t although he is short, he can wear a long tie by giving it a long tail and tucking the tail’s end into his pants. “You can break a paradigm,” he said of this realization. He described his terror when, as a graduate student, he had to teach his first class. “If you had said, ‘Your hanging is April 1 6 ,’ 1 cou ld n ’t have been more afraid.” Despite his initial fear, he now