A Justice Site

NEWS and Announcements Site Map
Previous Issue: Volume 20, No. 3, Week of June 10, 2004
Mirror Sites: CSUDH - Habermas - UWP
Play - Archives - Daily Site Additions
Search Site Topic Index - Search Site Index

WWW www.habermas.org

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: June 18, 2004
Latest Update: June 18, 2004
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Topic of the Week:

Who We Are, as Michael Griffin, Our Curator, Sees Us

On Friday, June 18, Michael wrote:

Jeanne,

Greetings from a recent grad of DH. What was it called dummy hills? The unmitigated gall...

One of the aspects of you is your insatiable thirst, likened to a black hole consuming everything in a swirling energy vortex, and where it comes out on "the other" side who knows...

Your experiential life is quite like that drawing from and consuming the swirling energies of the vortex of life it all comes together through your life experience and then the most wonderful thing happens,,, you give it all away, infect people with your exuberance, put those off who don't get your "lust" for life, moving so eloquently through the maze of life's trials and tribulations.

Your "Madonna and Child" or the Virgin and the mud flap girl, exposes your perspective on life. Is it really necessary for you to understand what it means to you? The swirling vortex of energy emanates from your work drawing the viewer in like a hypno spiral. People get the connection on a level I would suspect leaves something to be desired in their communication as to what it meant to them. The translation of the impact of your art for instance into meaning and validity for the viewer is the essence of learning is it not?

So far our classes have been steeped in reading some text and applying the discipline of the author to our, the students, life experience and formulating a response to you indicating to you wether or not we have a grasp of the subject matter...

Yet our lectures are filled with stories of your experiences, how better to relate those disciplines with life and it's expression by what you already understand and have the talent to express.

We have lost our tribal instincts, lost the ability to "Dance with the Divine" I remember the sixties where one could meet someone and unabashedly connect and explore and participate in the unmitigated joy of the moment, have sex or not, make love, or just be. Perhaps that is where the objectifying came into play, for once one has a peak experience, especially when one is young and inexperienced one yearns to own it. So one goes through the steps of setting priorities and making goals for oneself, and it is easy to make "the other" the object of the desire, believing somehow it's her that made the magic, and tragically not realizing it was us coming together in the moment that spawned the life force manifestations, the drugs just helped to intensify the situation, ha ha...

Part of learning is re connecting and this is realized when we see the icons of our time for what they are and begin to connect the dots of our own lives. Sensing the objectification is one thing , integrating and making changes is quite another.

I agree with your assessment of contemporary education and the time for change has never been better, these institutions are going by the wayside if not from lack of true education, but also from de-funding. The current administration in DC and Sacramento has the same agenda's and education is far from the top if even on the list.

So we slap on the mud flap girl and put on an art exhibition and doors opened to those who had not participated. That spawned more participation the question is how did this manifest? I had no idea it would be so successful I doubt anyone did. Isn't life wonderful when we lower our expectations and let life take it's course? That was it the art and all that was created resonated and reverberated with life, why else would it be so successful, because we all relate to life on some level, your teaching style revealed that to me as you use your life experience to teach from.

How do we package it so more can participate? All of the new media is too impersonal, and the class rooms are too dry, most of the time. It's community that blessed us with what we call success, it's all those folks coming together to celebrate that which we all share, life. I wonder what you think the meaning of the work you do has to do with your understanding of it? I believe you are more of a doer than a thinker, and your doing reflects who you are Jeanne. You have been at it for some time now and who could possibly sort out all the nuances of your projects. The natural wonderment of what you do is much more important than the analysis. I wonder about our system where we have to relate our life experiences to textbooks, theories and someone else's perception of the world in which we live. Is there not another paradigm we might explore, burn the box we think in so to speak, and embrace another reality we couldn't imagine before the Naked Space exhibits.

I am definite interested in continuing work with you how that might manifest is as elusive as Naked Space itself...So much in such a short time I do realize that after graduating I feel less enthusiastic compared to how I felt coming there. Maybe its just the work it took that I don't remember taking a toll, whatever it is or was I am still very interested in this concept called "education"

Michael A Griffin

On Friday afternoon, jeanne responded:

Michael, you are not only a wonderful student, one who drinks in many bits and mulls them over (probably an awful mix of metaphors, but what the hell) to make them your own, you also may be the best example I have out there to try this Naked Space on. You have the long term memory of the 60s. You were there as the Naked Space was born, messily, tentatively, with birth pangs that made me want to take off and leave the whole mess at times, and with a community of relative strangers that had formed enough solidarity to keep us together long enough to let it happen. You're right. I'm a doer. I started as a child as an actress, not a director, not a writer, but an actress. And improvisation is one of the keys. But there is that in all of us. Dewey wasn't a doer, but he knew that learning was best that way.

Michael. I'm just going to stop here and put your answer up on the site. This is Friday - new issue. You have no idea how glad I am to hear from you. I'm going to forward you an abstract I just sent to Amsterdam. More later. love and peace, jeanne

Later Friday afternon, June 18, 2004: I've discovered I need to get up an enormous amount of material. But there are many of you who want to share in this debriefing, so I'm uploading all these files for you to read and share in. I still have Pat's to get up, and I have a message waiting from Kathleen. love and peace to all, jeanne

Your Part of This Project:

You know I'm too much of a teacher not to make an assignment. Notice that both Michael and I, now in the debriefing, AND, during the exhibit, are using voices that are personal. I happen to believe that the personal is political, and that it's pretty darned hard not to be personal when you're trying to figure out what's going on in this world from wherever you happen to be (Catharine MacKinnon). Our exhibits are personal. They matter to us as who we are. And so do the people who come to see us and to share our learning with us. And so do the issues we address. Some of them we've been known to be near hysterical over. Neither Michael nor I know each other very well. Almost all of our exchanges have taken place in classrooms or on email that has immediately been put up on the site. That says something about our ability to use the space and institutions and tools we already have to communicate on governance issues of social and political theory and praxis.

Now it's your turn to share your feelings about what we're doing. It's summer. You've got time. Write! jeanne

Debriefing the Naked Space Exhibit

This IS A Site Map
For The Naked Space Exhibit "Freeing the Feminine Other" in May 2004
Link on Section Titles for Hypertext Poem Table of Contents.

• Poster from the Gallery Exhibit
  

• Table of Contents
• Hypertext Poem: Freeing the Feminine Other
• Debriefing Readings for the Hypertext Project: "Freeing the Feminine Other"

NEWS and Announcements:

• Cultural Analysis Summer Academy Conference in Amsterdam, July 2 though July 5, 2004 was kind enough to include our Internet version of the Naked Space Exhibit of May 2004 on their program, so that others who are concerned with the integration of community and academy in real education will be able to reach us.

• Held Over: Contexts is worth the time to check out its contents. I'm working on a file on the effects of nights and weekend work on families. According to the Contexts article, "the economy that never sleeps", by harriet b. presser, "[f]orty percent of the American labor force works mostly during nonstandard times." Volunteer to share this reading in our first What Are You Reading Session in the Fall.

  Read the article: the economy that never sleeps for discussion of the issues. Backup. Contexts might be a good source for reading after you graduate. Consider it. jeanne

  "If you read the daily newspaper conscientiously, are intrigued by current social events and policy, or are captivated by fresh perspectives on society, Contexts is the publication for you. Contexts is an accessible, timely means through which researchers disseminate current research to both an academic and public audience.

  "Drawing from sociology and its related fields, Contexts encourages its readers to interact with their surroundings. It includes feature articles, photo and personal essays, bulletins of the latest findings from social science research, and reviews that are relevant to daily life, ranging from religion and discrimination, to pop culture and foreign crises. Contributors challenge outdated ideas, provoke creative thinking, and stimulate lively debate. Contexts is an indispensable guide to understanding our dynamic society."

• Held Over: Understanding Election Issues: Jobs A look at what both National Committees have to say.

• Held Over: Dem Swingers Web Site devoted to getting Democratic Students from Swing states to register and use absentee ballot to vote Democratic this Fall. This is the left moderate perspective.

• Held Over: I don't think there is a right moderate perspective anymore, but as your teacher I am ethically bound to offer you material that represents all perspectives. Closest I could come to right perspective was:

  The Republican National Committee Because George Bush is presently in office, most Republican sites will feature his perspective on re-election. We'll pull out issues for discussion from both party nationals platforms.

Grades for Spring 2004 Classes

To our knowlege grades are in. If you have a problem with your grade, email me with a cc to Pat at patriciaacone@hotmail.com. jeanne

• Notes for Grades for Spring 2004

Readings for Fall 2004 Classes

• Held Over: Understanding Election Issues: Jobs First file on election issues. This one includes data sources from the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee. Your choice. Your vote. But please vote knowledgably. Discussion questions up later. For now, consider which social and political issues are most important to you, so you can be sure we cover them early in the Fall.

What Are You Reading? Sessions for Fall 2004

• Introduction to Shared Reading Sessions
• Template for Preparing Shared Reading
• Index List of Shared Reading Sessions
• Readings for Scheduled Session 1

Academic Support

Higher Education

1. A Range of Sources on Global Events

   Left/Right Perspectives - Cursor - New York Times
   Arts and Letters Daily - The Economist - The Guardian
   Wall Street Journal -The Weekly Standard - The Nation
   Los Angeles Times - Chicago Tribune - The Washington Post
   Cursor's Al Jazeera Archive - Ha'aretz - Palestine Monitor
   

   Indymedia - Mother Jones - BBC News - New Profile
   Progressive Sociologists Network Environmental Working Group

2. Mentoring

   • Online Tutoring for our classes
   • Template to guide you through shared reading preparations
   • Pat's summer schedule

3. Finding Internet Resources Paul Brians' Site at Washington State University.

4. Evaluating Internet Resources

   Evaluating Hoax Email with samples, including an old one about charging for email that's going around again. Link updated March 29, 2004.

   • Evaluating Internet Resources Library Site at University of North Carolina. Don't forget to question. This is a good detailed source. Link checked March 29, 2004.

Using Academic Language and Visuals Effectively

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Search:

Today's Word: From the Word.A.Day Site

Dictionary of Critical Sociology
Maintained by Robert E. Mazur, Associate Professor, Iowa State University, Sociology.

Words of Art: Front Page
Wonderful Fine Arts dictionary at Okanagan University College in Canada.
Will cover many of the terms social theory shares with literary theory.

Citation Styles Citing Internet Sources for Social Science Papers: A Quick Note.

APA Style Style sheet for Psychology. Good reference for proper rules of citation.

Twenty-five Easy Steps Toward a Correctly-Formatted Paper or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love MLA by Keith O'Neill. Style sheet for humanities.

Internet Mission Photography Archive

and Careers

• Letters of Recommendation: How to get me to respond to your request. Many of you need letters. If you will follow this format, I can do them quickly and make them good.

• Dog Letters If you do not give me adequate information, but do manage to get my attention, you may end up with a dog letter. That is a letter that says that you work well with people, that you are enthusiastic, that you persist at getting things done, and that everyone likes you. Of course, my dog gets along well with people, brings his ball to them, is enthusiastic, and persists at getting them to take his ball. Everyone likes my dog. That's a dog letter. It's so general it could be about my dog. jeanne

• Held Over: Jobs:
  • American Sociology Association Report on the the State of Sociology Lots of tables for you to read, so you'll be in practice by Fall.
  • Money Available at Various Schools for Ph.D. programs. Tells you a little about how much money is available for graduate study and where. But minimal detail. Note identification of data sources.
  • Employment Record for Ph.D. Sociologists through 2001 Tells you that we're doing better than other social scientist groups, neck and neck with psychology. But you need to know a lot more about what jobs these are.
  • Notice that the ASA offers you a paragraph of interpretation with each Table. But I don't think this helps a lot with career planning. What questions would you like to ask? What data would you like to see? Would you like to offer this as a Shared Reading Session project?

• Resumes:
  College Journal Resume Suggestions . . . Backup

Play:

• History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, 12th Century. Colorful history, lightened by a few images, of the story of Britain that gave stimulus to Arthurian legends.

• American Painting American Painting - 19th Century

• The Nature Conservancy
  
  A newly discovered species of cave harvestman.
  © Danté Fenolio
  Cave Critters
  See if you can find it on their site.

  • Fun with Nature Spend a few moments, hopefully with friends and relatives, to browse the many wonderful slide shows of flowers, fish, animals, and yes, even cave critters.

  • A Visit to China's Remote Yunnan A Nature Conservancy trip on the Yangtze. Time for me to post some of our pictures, too.

Bug in a Bowler Hat, after Curran and the Nature Organization

PLAY!

Who To Take:

Don't forget to add your comments for next year's students. jeanne

---

---

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.