HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY!

Thanks for all your good work in Integrated Studies this fall. I look forward to seeing you in January. In the meantime, relax, restore, and enjoy the holidays!

Best,
Chris

PS Books for next semester are listed on the right--click on the links to find them on Amazon.

Final Conferences

The schedule for final conferences is in the right-hand column. Note the date and time of your appointment in your calendar, and please be on time.

Monday, December 7 - class in MCC 511

Just a quick reminder that our class on Monday, December 7th will take place in MCC 511.

Maya Lin Exhibit

Here's an image from a Maya Lin exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle in 2006.

Limericks from class today

Popcorn always makes me happy

Girlfriends can make me feel snappy

And sometimes it’s true

She makes me feel blue

And so I became slaphappy

~

There was a young man with a boot

Who really could not give a hoot

His feet were still dry

Megan makes me cry

He sat and enjoyed his loot

~

A black rhino named Arthur

Who refrained from meeting his father

Skipped to the zoo

To see what he could do

And proceeded to meet his illegitimate daughter

~

I go to the moon after dark

I kill them all like larks

They all bleed green it makes me keen

I enjoy the sounds of the park?

~

There once was a boat out to sea

Full of lads and lasses drunk on tea

They laughed and they sang

And shotguns “Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The party roared above the sea

~

I once met a man who was yellow

He was quite the odd fellow

He drank only tangelo

While playing the cello

So at least his music was mellow

~

The unicorn went to the park

And sniffed at all the bark

It smelled pretty bad

And it made him quite sad

So instead he sniffed glue in the dark

~

I thought that it had been bought

Now I’m stuck with what I got

I threw up my hands

And set to the sands

And found all I had sought

~

My Grandma once said “Listen Boy,

So I sat up and put down my toy,

Eat up some sweets lad

And don’t dare be bad

Or Santa won’t bring you no joy”

~

There once was a young man named Huy,

Who turned into a tall, stripy tree

He kicked and he cried

He wept and he tried

So a lumberjack let him go free

~

There was a poor lady in London

On her foot there was once quite a bunion

She wasn’t a witch

But her foot had an itch

So she had several onions

~

A cat sat upon a tall wall

And made a long delectable call

No one answered him

He felt quite grim

A rat sat in a small hall

~

A protestant man from New York

Flew fast away on a stork

In Dallas its said

He wore on his head

So many poked him with a fork

~

Up on an apple tree limb

A robin and squirrel so prim

Began first to squirm

Harassed by a work

The poem was written on a whim

~

If people were thinking of cheese

They would happily fall on their knees

To grab their keys

As if they were bees

And to all, “cheese please”

Andy Goldsworthy Stone Sculpture

Legendary Pacific Northwest Mountain Climber Fred Beckey

The Good Rain - Study Questions - sample student responses

I wanted to give you an opportunity to see responses to the study questions for the introduction to The Good Rain from classmates. This should give you a sense of what is being asked of your for these assignments:

1. Why does the river seem like a "logical last home" for Egan's grandfather's remains?

The river seems like a logical last home for Egan's grandfather's remains because he was a fisherman in the area and Egan thought it made sense to return him to the place that he loved. He compares his grandfather to the salmon in the river and how they die at the same place they are born. He wants his grandfather to have that "full-circle" experience.

2. How has the landscape around Seattle changed since Egan's grandfather was young?

It is "covered with Boeing barns stuffed with generic 737s and 757s." Every bit of terrain his grandpa used to trek, by the time of his death was all "freeways and cul-de-sacs."

3. Why were Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir considered "the twin demons of turn-of-the-century timber barons"?

At the time they met in 1903, Roosevelt was President of the United States and a well-known outdoorsman with a penchant for big game hunting. John Muir was the founder of the Sierra Club and champion of National Parks (most famously to his credit, Yosemite and Mt. Rainier). Both men were conservationists, and Roosevelt's national policies to protect certain parts of the wilderness were a direct affront to the timber and mining industries who wanted to exploit these resources.

4. What do you think Egan means when he writes, "We are not that removed--yet--from the arms of the land"?

We haven't conquered the elements. They still rule our behavior. Our roads follow rivers and our cities are built near water. We still need nature.

5. Who was Theodore Winthrop, and why is there a glacier on Mt. Rainier named after him?

Winthrop adventured in the Northwest in the 19th century and wrote a book about his travels, The Canoe and the Saddle. He was Egan's inspiration for The Good Rain.

6. "The regional icons--salmon and trees and mountains and water--spring from the elements. If people here become too far removed from those basic sources of life, then they lose the bond to a better world." Do you agree with Egan's statement? Why or why not?

A lot of what Egan says about nature echoes the teachings of John Muir. While Egan certainly doesn't share Muir's religious fervor and zeal0try, he speaks from a similar spiritual place. We need to remain connected to nature. Such a bond enriches our lives, changes our perspective, and makes us realize that there are bigger things than those created by human beings. Nature is the place where we go to be lonely, whether that is through communion with the land or becoming enveloped in the quiet solitude of the trees. Place is important.

Extra book

So i got an extra copy of The good rain, i'll bring it to class on monday if anyone needs to borrow it.

Columbia River and Cape Disappointment

This is the Cape Disappointment light house

( http://www.funbeach.com/attractions/lighthouse.html - a bit of history on the light house)

Here you can see the many log posts that kept the canneries afloat and the lush rainforest. A few winters ago a rock was lifted and pulled out by the river. Now has a tree growing on it and when the tide is high its a little island.

This is a makeshift bridge in the rainforest that we use to get to the river from the house.

This is the last stretch of the Columbia River before Astoria and the Ocean

A useful resource . . .

Check this out for local news and highly opinionated opinion: http://crosscut.com/

Pioneer Square Pictures

Three shots I grabbed.


An alleyway.

And two of the archway
.

A map of major shipwrecks at the mouth of the Columbia River

I got this map a few years ago at Cape Disappointment and it lists many of the major shipwrecks at the mouth of the Columbia River. Relevant to the chapter 1 reading! Click on the map to view it large.
--huy

For Today: Monday, Sept 28

Please bring your Seattle Public Library journal entry with you to class. We will be reading these aloud today.

Paper #2 - Draft

Due: Monday, September 28 (Bring 3 copies)

Analyze bell hooks’ essay “keeping close to home: class and education” and connect her ideas with your personal experience. In her essay, hooks offers her perspective on a variety of themes, including
· class and its role in education and family relationships
· the process of assimilation or resistance to a dominant culture
· the significance of the language we use to communicate with various groups
· the choices involved in staying connected to our past or becoming removed from it as we enter new learning communities

1. With these themes in mind (as well as others we’ve discussed in class), choose a brief quotation from hooks’ essay that is meaningful to you. Write it down. This will serve as a springboard for your paper.

2. Jot down notes in response to the following questions:
· What do you think hooks means in this quotation? Explain your reasoning.
· Why did you choose this quotation?
· How does the quotation connect to your own experiences with education, family, class, etc.? (Note specific examples.)
· What insight into your own experience do hooks’ words offer?

3. Write a short paper (2-3 pages) explaining your interpretation of the quotation you’ve chosen and using hooks’ idea to explore your own past experiences. (Please give equal attention to unpacking the meaning of hooks’ words and relating them to your own experiences.) Provide specific, concrete details to make your ideas vivid for a reader.
Your audience for this paper is your instructor and your peers who are still getting to know you. We may have varying opinions of what hooks’ essay means, so be sure to provide examples and reasoning that explain your particular interpretation.

4. Read your paper and evaluate:
· Have you expressed yourself clearly?
· Have you explained your reasoning?
· Have you provided specific examples?

5. Revise as needed.

6. Proofread your revised draft. Correct errors of spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

7. Save a copy of the paper on your computer, and print 3 copies to bring to class. (Your paper should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins. At the top of the page, please include your name, the date, “The Lure of the Local,” and “Paper #2 - Draft.”) Due Monday, September 28.

Friday, September 25

I wanted to touch base with you following yesterday's class. Here's what I propose for Friday:

1:30-2:30 - Continue our discussion of bell hooks' essay.

Please spend some time preparing for that discussion by reviewing the article, updating your questions/points of discussion, and looking up the following terms from her essay:
- dominant culture
- cultural hegemony
- counter-hegemonic
- dichotomy
- false dichotomy

This article demands that we explore questions that can be difficult to talk about--race, class, family, etc.--but that are essential issues of life. Please challenge yourself to respond to the questions at hand with thoughtful analysis. Please remember as we continue that it's okay if there is difference among the members of the group in terms of responses to the text. What matters most is that the discussion is:
- on point, i.e., focused on the text itself (what it says, what it means, why it matters)
- civil (free of dismissive or inflammatory language)
- open (that everyone has the opportunity to speak and listen)

In response to Maggie's question in class, the article was first published in 1989.

2:30 PM - We will walk to Seattle Public Library and undertake our field study there. (I'll give you instructions in class.) Read "Seattle Public Library" in your course reader as preparation. Please bring picture ID, a notebook, and a pen or pencil. Wear walking shoes.

Also! It looks like we'll be joined by 4 new students. Please join me in welcoming them to our group.

Please bring your final draft of Paper #1 (or you might call it your "revised revised draft") on Monday, along with your first draft of Paper #2.

The Film School - free panel discussion at Cornish

On September 25, at 12:15 in the Main Gallery, Cornish will host representatives of TheFilmSchool for a discussion of cinema as an art form that bridges the visual, the verbal, the aural, and the performative as it constructs narrative and tells stories. Actor Tom Skerritt, director John Jacobsen, screenwriters Stewart Stern (“Rebel Without a Cause”) and Lisa Halpern (Cornish theater alumna; TheFilmSchool alumna, too!) and possibly Warren Etheredge (host, TheWarrenReport) will be on hand to say a few words and lead a discussion. They will also discuss and answer questions about the 3-Week Intensive, a screenwriting program at TheFilmSchool.

More Pictures: Olympic Scultpure Park

The trail going into the ground
Lonely Picnic-er

The Man Hanging in the Sky

The Fish

The man again

Surreal

Angular The Eagle

Beautiful view earlier in the morning

This man didn't know what the heck was going on.

Pictures: Olympic Sculpture Park

A quick shot of Wake that didn't turn out so bad.

A fair amount of the class sitting at Love and Loss. Also pictured: Megan's foot.
The always lovely, Chris. Maybe it's Mabelline?You can never go wrong to finish off with a picture of thinking old people.

See you tomorrow!

It was great meeting you yesterday. A few reminders:

- The course reader will be available at Perfect Copy starting this evening. Just stop by and ask for the reader for "Integrated Studies: The Lure of the Local."

- Please go to learning-styles-online.com, take the Learning Styles Inventory, and bring your results with you to class on Friday (tomorrow).

- We'll meet Friday (tomorrow) at 1:30 in our classroom on the 7th floor, then walk together over to the Olympic Sculpture Park. For those who will already be at the park for your Foundations class, please meet us in the building at appx. 2PM.

Chris