Friday, April 17, 2009

Looking for a career? Free online seminar.

Starting and Building a Career in the Nonprofit World

Tuesday, April 21, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time

College students preparing to graduate this spring are facing extraordinary uncertainty about their career prospects. Not only is the job market tight, but they also confront increased competition from experienced nonprofit workers who have been laid off and businesspeople who want to change careers.

So what can new graduates do to land their first professional job? How can they stand out in a crowd of more experienced applicants? What should a college senior be doing now to prepare for a future career in the nonprofit world? And how can people who have been working for a few years for charities and foundations make the most of their opportunities?

Join us on Tuesday, April 21, as we explore these questions and others.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Extra Credit Blog Opportunity

Yale Professor Amy Chua

“Rise and Fall of Hyperpowers:
Tolerance, Intolerance, and Lessons for America”

Wednesday, April 16

12:30 – 1:30

Haggar Parlor

Professor Chua will be speaking about her new book, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall (Anchor, 2009), which was hailed by Paul Kennedy in Foreign Affairs as "Has a chance of becoming a classic . . . It has an almost Toynbeen sweep." Harvard's Niall Feguson said "Few readers will fail to be impressed by the height of this book's ambition and by the breadth of scholarship on which it is based." The Times Literary Supplement called it "Extraordinary . . . An incredibly ambitious book, but Chua is up to the task."

She has lectured widely outside the United States, including in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, China, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, and South Africa. She teaches in the areas of contracts, law and development, international business transactions, and law and globalization, and is a recipient of the Yale Law School’s “Best Teaching” award.

For more information, visit the CWIL Website. Refreshments provided and book signing to follow.

This event is co-sponsored by: CWIL, Business Administration and Economics, Political Science, Justice Education, History, and Intercultural Studies

Monday, April 6, 2009

Power discussion questions

One place to turn to learn more about the author, Linda Hogan, is at the NativeWiki website. There, you'll also find valuable resources pertaining to many indigenous populations and native peoples.

Reading Questions (optional):
In what ways does Omishto feel torn between different worlds? How does she describe these worlds?
How would you characterize her relationship to place?
How are her ties to other people/characters distinct from her ties to animals and nature?
What kind of a narrator is she?
Why is the novel titled "Power"? What different kinds of power are at work here?

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Lucy blog topics

1. Throughout the novel, Lucy's relationships with others reveal a great deal about the development of her sense of who she is. For example, we've begun to explore how Lucy's interactions with Mariah lead her to reflect on her relationship with her own mother. With this in mind, explore the significance of Lucy's friendship with Peggy.

2. Although we are often told not to "judge a book by its cover," cover art has a significant impact on our impressions of a novel. It has the power to shape the way we imagine a character's appearance, the setting, or even the mood of the story. How does the cover image on your copy of Lucy influence your understanding of the novel?

3. How does this novel relate to this section of the course (displacement) or even the previous one (room of one's own)?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Lahiri's interview



DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
  • What does "Interpreter of Maladies" mean to you?
  • What aspects of literary style does Lahiri mention (hint: when she described what she looked for in short stories)?
  • What "story" might Lahiri be telling about Indian-American identity and experience?
  • What "two worlds" is she trying to bring together and how might this affect your reading of "This Blessed House"?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

HUST week!

Two events to share with you to celebrate HUST week (3/16-3/20):

1. "What a liberal arts degree will get you in the global economy": A talk by recent SMC/HUST alums, Rachael Stow '07 and Kate Williams '07. The event will take place in 140 Spes Unica (our classroom) on Thursday, March 19 at 7 p.m. Check it out if you're interested in learning more about what Humanistic Studies translates into in the "real world."

2. An exciting, popular HUST course available in the Fall: "Friends and Lovers: Readings in Greek and Roman Culture" (TR 2-3:15, Instructor: John Shinners). Sign up for HUST 292 and get a chance to answer questions like: Do "love" and "friendship" mean for us what they meant for ancient Greeks and Romans? How did people understand beauty and sexual attraction? Do stories of classical mythology reflect the reality of what life was like in the ancient world??

Monday, March 16, 2009

Another extra credit opportunity

Since we've been discussing the relationship between space and self, place and person--especially regarding gendered spaces--many of you might take interest in a talk offered this week. Professor David Sokol (University of Illinois) will give a lecture on Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple (in Oak Park, Illinois) and the relationship between the congregation and the architect, as well as the exclusion of women from the design process. The talk will be next Wednesday, March 25th at Vander Vennet Theater at 4:30.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Extra Credit Blog Opportunity

FOURTH ANNUAL DIVERSE STUDENTS' LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
March 18-20, 2009
Saint Mary's College. Notre Dame, Indiana

Closing Keynote Speaker: Dr. Julianne Malveaux
Opening Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Fluri

This conference is structured to allow participants opportunities to:
(1) Identify the challenges and underlying prejudices that exist in various social institutions.
(2) Develop educational and interactive skills to transform the challenges of diversity into opportunities.
(3) Become empowered leaders actively promoting the advantages of diversity.

DSLC brings together professionals, faculty, community members and students from different universities. Workshop topics include issues of class, politics of difference, peace and conflict, immigration, global inequality, sexual orientation, peace and conflict, cultural and religious diversity. To check out a list of possible workshops or to sign up, go to this website. ** The deadline for registration is Friday, March 13th.

A highlight of this year’s DSLC promises to be our keynote speaker Dr. Julianne Malveaux President of Bennett College for Women. Recognized for her progressive and insightful observations, she is also an economist, author and commentator, and has been described by Dr. Cornel West as “the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country.” Dr. Malveaux’s contributions to the public dialogue on issues such as race, culture, gender, and their economic impacts, are shaping public opinion in 21st century America.

For more information, please contact Multicultural Services and Student Programs at Saint Mary's College at (574) 284-4721 or at lolinort@saintmarys.edu

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Othello (1965): Laurence Olivier & Maggie Smith

We'll be discussing film adaptations and performances of Othello in class this week. Please take a look at this 10-minute clip of the play's final scene (Act 5, scene 2) from a 1965 performance with Laurence Olivier as Othello in blackface and Maggie Smith as Desdemona (a.k.a. Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter).

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Placing Othello

While much of Othello takes place on the island of Cyprus, the play opens in and is colored by the city of Venice. As we've discussed in class, Venice served as a gateway between East and West on the Mediterranean. Its streets and buildings showed signs of influence from a variety of cultures, religions, and regions. In the image above, you'll see evidence on this in the domes and arches of St. Mark's Cathedral.

For Paper 1, you are welcome to write on Othello. In what ways does place or setting produce meaning in the play? What ideas do you have about how you might incorporate our discussions of Othello into your assignment? into our broader conversations on the importance of place, space, and location in forming identity?

Othello resources


Reading Tips:
  • As you make your way through Othello, don't forget to jot down summary notes to remind yourself what happened in each scene and Act. When you go to reflect on what you've read, these notes will be hugely helpful to you.
  • Also, highlight or bracket passages & speeches that you find really interesting, even if you don't fully understand them. Read and reread these sections. Maybe you can ask your roommate or classmate to read a couple lines or scene with you out loud. Hearing things aloud sometimes helps.
  • Underline patterns of language, images, or words you notice over and over (honesty, black/white, honor, see/sight...). This way you can identify those areas quickly later on. You might also keep note cards with you as you read so you can write down some of these thoughts and reactions and store them in your book.
Other Resources:
  • Summaries are very helpful. However, beware the quick analysis sites you can find online--through Sparknotes, enotes or any other random website. Generally, websites with "edu" are more reliable because they have affiliation with universities or colleges.
  • Some HUST majors recently read Othello, and they took some notes online that you might find useful. Check out their historical analysis and summaries.
  • Don't forget to consult your book. Kim Hall's introduction to the Bedford/St. Martin's edition of your text is very useful, especially for its explanation of how race is understood in Shakespeare's time.

Questions to Think About:
  • What are Iago's reasons for plotting against Othello?
  • After Cassio gets drunk and fights Montano (2.3), he laments the loss of his reputation (2.3.240). Why is reputation so important to Cassio? How essential is it for the other characters?
  • Why do Iago, Othello, Branbantio and other characters keep talking about what you can see? Othello claims he needs "ocular proof" of Desdemona's faithfulness--what are limitations does "ocular proof" present? Can we always trust what we see?

Saturday, February 7, 2009

SMC Monologues

Looking for a way to share powerful women's experiences?

Want to get in touch with your inner drama (or comedy) star?

Or just to try something new?

ACT in the 5th Annual SMC Monologues!
**No acting experience necessary--there's a part for everybody!**

Come to the Monologues info session:
When: Monday 2/9, 7:30 pm
Where: Women's Resource Center (2nd floor Student Center)ime Commitment: 2 hours a week for 3 weeks,
Performances on Sat. 2/28 and Sun. 3/1
--So Questions or schedule conflicts?
Email Becki at rfaunc01@saintmarys.edu

Thursday, February 5, 2009

_Girl, Interrupted_ film viewing


There will be two viewings for Girl, Interrupted before our discussion on Tuesday (2/10).
  1. Thursday (tonight!) from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Vander Vennett Theater (downstairs in Student Center).
  2. Monday from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Vander Vennett Theater (downstairs in Student Center).

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Cultural Context to "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Published in 1892, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" predates Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own by over 35 years, and, unlike Woolf's British text, takes place in America. What historical, national and cultural conditions might help us understand the broader context that Gilman was living and writing in? To help you explore answers to some of these questions, I've posted a few resources below.
  • "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'": Here you'll find Gilman's own response to the "elephant in the room" question, especially given her own personal experience at the hand of mental health "professionals" like S. Weir Mitchell (mentioned in the story).
  • What's going on in art? For a sense of how women are being represented in late 19th-century American art, check out The University of Virginia's American Culture pages on this very topic. You'll have to scroll down to the bottom to get to links to other related topics like women & domesticity, women in literature, etc.
  • What is a "nervous disorder" anyway? At the turn of the 20th century, a condition called neurasthenia was determined to be the root cause to many cases of anxiety and depression, especially in the U.S. and especially for women. The actual medical validity behind such cases, however, was often suspect, creating instead what some have called a "culture of neurasthenia" in which women were often portrayed in nervous, weakened states. Women said to suffer from such conditions were many times prescribed rest cures or periods of severely restricted activity: no reading, no exercise, no sewing, reduced diet, strict bed rest, etc. The American Journal of Psychiatry has a helpful article, "The Rest Cure Revisited," explaining the history behind the supposed "cure" and the physician responsible for its use, S. Weir Mitchell (the same doctor Gilman references in her story, one she was herself treated by).
  • Where was the story originally published and what did it look like? For links to images of the original pages from The New England Magazine, see Cornell's Making of America website. The image you see above was included in the initial publication.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Reading Questions - A Room of One's Own

Use the following questions as (optional) guides for reading and reflecting on Chapters 3 and 4 of A Room of One's Own.
  • Who is Judith Shakespeare, and why is she so significant to Woolf's argument?
  • What do you learn about the history of women writers in Chapters 3 and 4?
  • What does Woolf seem to suggest about the importance of rooms? What sorts of rooms does she discuss?
  • At the conclusion of Chapter 3, Woolf addresses the college women in her "audience," remarking that they have "got [them]selves to college and enjoy sitting rooms--or is it bed-sitting rooms--of [their] own" (56). As women in college, what are your reactions to Woolf's ideas about the importance of having rooms of your own? What are your own relationships to your dorm rooms, bedrooms, or campus study rooms? What effect do these spaces have on your mind?

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Did I really post that early??

For those of you who haven't already figured out how to change the default time stamp on your blog (one that is set to West Coast time), go to Settings/Formatting (from the Customization screen where you can edit your blog) and select "Eastern Time Zone" from the drop down menu. All posts will automatically reset to our time zone after this.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Lecture of Interest - 1/28

The Aquinas lecture will take place next Wednesday evening, January 28th at 7:00 in the Student Center Lounge. Fr. John Jenkins will be speaking, and the title of the talk is "Faith, Inquiry, and Community." The talk will focus on the legacy of Aquinas as it relates to the challenges of 21st-century Catholic colleges, a topic that holds distinct relevance for students and faculty of Saint Mary's College. Please consider attending and blogging about your reactions to the talk (in lieu of a regular, class-related blog entry).

Thursday, January 22, 2009

A blog of one's own?

As you read Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and begin to consider her argument that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction" (4), take a look at this blog post, "Blogs as Literary Devices," in which Paula Maggio links the freedom and empowerment of the blogosphere to Woolf's "room." Would you agree? Do you think blogs are an extension of Woolf's vision or something different?

For some historical context, check out this brief article, "Sisters of Suffrage: British and American Women Fight for the Vote," by Barbara Winslow from the online journal History Now. It sheds light on the moment in Woolf's text in which the narrator contemplates which is more important--the vote or the money--to women's intellectual independence (37). What were your responses at this point in the reading?

Friday, January 16, 2009

To blog or not to blog...or "What is a blog & why should I care?"

A blog (short for web-log) has many functions...and faces. We'll be discussing its definition in class on Tuesday, but there are two main benefits of using blogs -- particularly in classroom settings:
1. They are user friendly (no need to know programming languages).
2. Blogs encourage and support user interaction through the commenting feature--something you'll be using a lot in this class.

For class on Tuesday, I'd like you to do a little blog surfing on the internet. Using the links below, you'll notice blogs come in a variety of forms. There are personal blogs, professional blogs, community blogs, political blogs and educational blogs that range from musings on fashion to travels abroad to who should be the next president. Come to class ready to discuss features you feel are essential to what makes a blog different from a regular webpage, a chat room, a discussion board, Blackboard or even something like MySpace or Facebook.

To begin, you might want to check out the definition offered by Wikipedia (we'll be talking more about wikis later in the term). Also useful is an article, "What We're Doing When We Blog," written by blogger co-creator, Meg Hourihan. If you'd like to check out some sample blogs, try looking through the blogs listed on BloggerBuzz (see "blogs of note" on the right hand side) or on a site called technorati that keeps a list of the top 100 blogs. Also check out Google's blog search to find more that interest you.


Enjoy!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Discussion Groundrules

Below you'll find a list of discussion guidelines devised by Sections 3 and 4 of Lives and Times (Spring 2009). We'll use these throughout the semester to ensure that our class discussions are as respectful, vibrant, and thoughtful as possible.

DOs
  • Ask questions....questions are where our best, most sophisticated ideas begin.
  • Let people finish their comments and thoughts
  • Recognize that everyone has their own point of view, and you may have a different one.
  • Learn that revising your perspective or reading is ok, as is staying true to your initial instinct.
  • Be prepared: have evidence to support your points, ask questions, come to class having read actively (close reading) and thought about what you might want to say.
  • Try to use eye contact and other forms of feedback (nodding, smiling) to engage with the student who is talking
  • Encourage each other by asking follow-up questions
  • Step up and mediate between two students if a discussion "disagreement" arises, try to show them how they might be saying similar things or help them understand each other

DON'Ts
  • Allow one person to run/dominate a discussion (all voices are crucial!)
  • Hold back...everyone's POV is important.
  • Suggest that someone's idea is invalid, wrong, or (even worse) stupid
  • Interrupt, laugh, make faces or provide other disrespectful forms of feedback
  • Repeat. Strive, instead, to build on the previous comment and make connections.
  • Get angry/emotional. Use evidence to keep discussions about the ideas, and recognize that difference of opinion is what allows us to learn from one another.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to the Lives and Times blog for the Spring 2009 semester. You will receive detailed directions in class explaining how to sign up for your own blog through Google's blogging platform, blogger. You will also have the opportunity to learn more about blogs--what they are, who writes them, what power they have, how they can help you in college--soon with some online readings and in-class discussion.