Namaste Readers,
Who knew that something as superficial ( in litera ) as fashion can be profound and enlightening? "Art Into Fashion," the latest exhibit in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, highlights Roberto Capucci-- the Thoreau of haute couture -- and his contribution to Italian fashion and art.
Like a transcendentalist or a Romantic, Capucci drew inspiration from Nature in his early years. He created dresses using colors and designs from flowers, ripples and concentric circles in ponds, waterfalls, and more. The puffy poppy mini dress en vogue in 2010-2011 was inspired from Capucci's 1950-ish rose bud dress, where the skirt looks like an upside down burgeoning rose, and from the waist up is the stem elongated by the lines and curves of a human body.
In his later years, his dresses became more architectural popularizing layers of pleats and origami folds and innovating chemise, sack dresses, and box-cut dresses; the implied lines of the body disappeared and became explicit architectural feats that outlined silhouettes of structural buildings, and various textures, such as stones, metallic wires, glow-in-the-dark beads from Assisi, straws from the wheat fields of Italy, plastic, and more.
It's interesting how Capucci's artistic vision and journey started outwardly and ended inwardly. In his youth, dresses/clothes are empheral ( subjected to the whims of the latest trend ) and wearable for everyday use ( in the present moment a la carpe diem ). As Capucci aged, the WILDerness is tamed, domesticated, and made more concrete ( literally? ); dresses/clothes are brick homes for the human body, and they are a shelter from harm: a static sculpture for display.
One can speculate that Capucci's shift from organic to synthetic reveals his delusions about the physical world and it senses. Maybe he's a closet-buddhist, who started to understand a truth about achieving happiness by DEtaching his human models from fabrics. In doing so, Capucci began to free himself from his PASSION ( literally from the Latin root ) for fashion and the illusion of the material world.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Writing Center: APA Workshop
Hello Readers,
We had our 3rd and final event for the semester: the APA Workshop. We considered it a success because 3 students showed up. That's 3 students we've helped out ( better than zero, diba?). It was great that another faculty ( besides our supervisor ) was also present; her voice in the matter lend credibility and authority along with the writing assistants' voices.
Our handout was done in APA style, listing page numbers from the standard textbook's APA section ( used in English classes here ) and showing examples of in-text citations. It also included 2 website references: APAstyle.org, and Purdue OWL ( for future considerations ).
Because of the small attendance, the atmosphere was definitely personal. The QandA segment was very helpful and interactive ( driven by students' concerns ). We hoped we stressed enough the importance of referring back to the handbook instead of memorizing ( also communicating with one's professors' and their modified/preferred style ).
We had our 3rd and final event for the semester: the APA Workshop. We considered it a success because 3 students showed up. That's 3 students we've helped out ( better than zero, diba?). It was great that another faculty ( besides our supervisor ) was also present; her voice in the matter lend credibility and authority along with the writing assistants' voices.
Our handout was done in APA style, listing page numbers from the standard textbook's APA section ( used in English classes here ) and showing examples of in-text citations. It also included 2 website references: APAstyle.org, and Purdue OWL ( for future considerations ).
Because of the small attendance, the atmosphere was definitely personal. The QandA segment was very helpful and interactive ( driven by students' concerns ). We hoped we stressed enough the importance of referring back to the handbook instead of memorizing ( also communicating with one's professors' and their modified/preferred style ).
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Writing Center: how other Writing Centers support professionalism
Hi Readers,
I wonder how life would have turned out if I understood earlier that "professionalism" was jargon for tutor training. Maybe my presentation wouldn't have been so abstract but rather more concrete. Not only is it good to learn from the past, but also to learn from others.
Elise T. Bishop, director of the Center for Writing and Thinking at College of the Ozarks has a Professional Development (PD) program called "Reaching for the Stars" that includes: "One hour of work on a PD project earns a student a star on the PD chart. PD activities include the following: reading articles from professional journals and writing article summaries about them to present to co-workers at staff meetings; writing articles for "Writers' Bloc," our weekly column in the campus newspaper, and for publication in professional writing center journals; completing grammar exercises online to strengthen areas of weakness; visiting a writing center at a neighboring institution and recording observations; volunteering at the writing center we helped establish at the local intermediate school; attending or presenting at a writing conference; or proposing a topic of one's choosing for the director's approval. When students accumulate fifteen stars in one semester, they are awarded prizes, such as a special edition CWT T-shirt or a $15 gift certificate to the campus bookstore."
I wonder how life would have turned out if I understood earlier that "professionalism" was jargon for tutor training. Maybe my presentation wouldn't have been so abstract but rather more concrete. Not only is it good to learn from the past, but also to learn from others.
Elise T. Bishop, director of the Center for Writing and Thinking at College of the Ozarks has a Professional Development (PD) program called "Reaching for the Stars" that includes: "One hour of work on a PD project earns a student a star on the PD chart. PD activities include the following: reading articles from professional journals and writing article summaries about them to present to co-workers at staff meetings; writing articles for "Writers' Bloc," our weekly column in the campus newspaper, and for publication in professional writing center journals; completing grammar exercises online to strengthen areas of weakness; visiting a writing center at a neighboring institution and recording observations; volunteering at the writing center we helped establish at the local intermediate school; attending or presenting at a writing conference; or proposing a topic of one's choosing for the director's approval. When students accumulate fifteen stars in one semester, they are awarded prizes, such as a special edition CWT T-shirt or a $15 gift certificate to the campus bookstore."
Jared Odd, Writing Center Coordinator at Lindsey Wilson College, includes readings in Writing Center history, theory, practice, and a regular handbook in his tutor training course. He recommends "The Longman Guide to Peer Tutoring." These readings, says Odd, help students "to contextualize their work within academia, giving them a larger sense of purpose."
According to Odd, "It's important for the consultants to have a say in the policies and procedures." Even if the administrator were to make the final decisions, the feeling of being heard first and having a voice are important, says Odd. "We're currently revising our consultant handbook together," he says.
Star Coulbrooke, Director of the Writing Center at Utah State University, takes her tutors "to the Rocky Mountain Peer Tutoring Conference this month, having helped them prepare and rehearse for the excellent presentations they gave. [They] also help and encourage tutors, from the beginning of their employment here, to write papers to submit for publication. [They] promote [their] tutors to supervisory positions and to apprentice-directorship. [They] help them find and carry-out internships in related fields-of-interest, the Helicon West Community Broadsides and Helicon West blog, for instance. [They] write letters of recommendation for them and nominate them for awards and scholarships. Along with all this advocacy and promotion, [they] keep up with training through semi-annual observations, monthly staff meetings, and yearly reviews."
If I were a WC director, assistant director, or coordinator, I would support consultants' professionalism by facilitating tutor-initiated dialog consisting of readings, reflections, and renderings of administrative tasks. Like Odd, I would include readings in "Writing Center history, theory, practice, and a regular handbook." However, tutors would shape the discussion ( from the clay of readings chosen for them ). Like Bishop's tutors, they will "[read] articles from professional journals and [write] article summaries about them to present to co-workers at staff meetings." They will reflect about what they have read in relation with their own writing process, tutoring practices, weaknesses, and strengths. Lastly, tutors will render administrative tasks. They will do observations of sessions ( for peer critiquing and for personal training ), and they will be encouraged to do presentations at conferences and to publish for professional journals. Similar to Coulbrooke's methods, tutors will be promoted to supervisory and apprentice-director positions.
If I were a WC director, assistant director, or coordinator, I would support consultants' professionalism by facilitating tutor-initiated dialog consisting of readings, reflections, and renderings of administrative tasks. Like Odd, I would include readings in "Writing Center history, theory, practice, and a regular handbook." However, tutors would shape the discussion ( from the clay of readings chosen for them ). Like Bishop's tutors, they will "[read] articles from professional journals and [write] article summaries about them to present to co-workers at staff meetings." They will reflect about what they have read in relation with their own writing process, tutoring practices, weaknesses, and strengths. Lastly, tutors will render administrative tasks. They will do observations of sessions ( for peer critiquing and for personal training ), and they will be encouraged to do presentations at conferences and to publish for professional journals. Similar to Coulbrooke's methods, tutors will be promoted to supervisory and apprentice-director positions.
Monday, April 11, 2011
A Professional: ideals perverted
What's Up Readers?
An important lesson to learn when making any types of reform is to be wary ( especially if it’s too good to be true ). The idea of choosing one’s school for example can be liberating and powerful, but it can also show how ideals can be perverted.
In 1955 Milton Friedman outlined his belief that government should fund schools but not run them ( The Role of Government in Education ), so vouchers were born. The Brown v. Board of Education, which ordered the desegregation of schools, continued to spotlight vouchers and choice.
Some citizens, who didn’t want their children to attend desegregated schools, took advantage of vouchers and choice to send their kids to “segregation academies.” Technically these citizens weren’t breaking the law because they chose a school, which was 100% populated by their preferred race.
While these citizens’ choices were overlooked, others focused on vouchers for Catholic schools, which some believed shouldn’t get funding because of the clause “separation of church and state.”
There must be a solution, right? In 1988, Ray Budde proposed the idea of Charter schools. Originally these schools were supposed to be managed by teachers, and these schools were a place for experimentation and innovation. As a supplement to Public schools, research conducted by Charter schools were supposed to support Public schools in educating and motivating “disaffected students.”
Once again it seemed like the cure-all has been found in Charter schools. They didn’t raise any constitutional issues, and they seem to be addressing the problem. However, they started becoming more hostile to teacher unions, and since they didn’t want to lose funding, they tend to enroll motivated students leaving behind special education and English language learning students. Others also used the façade of Charter schools to steal funding from the government.
In spite of this backlash, the 2002 decision from Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ruled that vouchers for Catholic schools were still constitutional "because the benefits of the program went to individuals to exercise free choice between secular and religious schools" ( Ravitch 120 ). But by this time, Charter schools had contributed to the closing of most Catholic schools especially as Charter schools’ popularity in urban areas sky-rocketed.
What started out as empowering people by giving them choices and supplementing low-performing public schools using aides from Charter schools became a way for some citizens to promulgate racism and segregation, leave behind and ignore low-performing students, and ultimately curtail choice in closing down most public schools and Catholic schools.
An important lesson to learn when making any types of reform is to be wary ( especially if it’s too good to be true ). The idea of choosing one’s school for example can be liberating and powerful, but it can also show how ideals can be perverted.
In 1955 Milton Friedman outlined his belief that government should fund schools but not run them ( The Role of Government in Education ), so vouchers were born. The Brown v. Board of Education, which ordered the desegregation of schools, continued to spotlight vouchers and choice.
Some citizens, who didn’t want their children to attend desegregated schools, took advantage of vouchers and choice to send their kids to “segregation academies.” Technically these citizens weren’t breaking the law because they chose a school, which was 100% populated by their preferred race.
While these citizens’ choices were overlooked, others focused on vouchers for Catholic schools, which some believed shouldn’t get funding because of the clause “separation of church and state.”
There must be a solution, right? In 1988, Ray Budde proposed the idea of Charter schools. Originally these schools were supposed to be managed by teachers, and these schools were a place for experimentation and innovation. As a supplement to Public schools, research conducted by Charter schools were supposed to support Public schools in educating and motivating “disaffected students.”
Once again it seemed like the cure-all has been found in Charter schools. They didn’t raise any constitutional issues, and they seem to be addressing the problem. However, they started becoming more hostile to teacher unions, and since they didn’t want to lose funding, they tend to enroll motivated students leaving behind special education and English language learning students. Others also used the façade of Charter schools to steal funding from the government.
In spite of this backlash, the 2002 decision from Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ruled that vouchers for Catholic schools were still constitutional "because the benefits of the program went to individuals to exercise free choice between secular and religious schools" ( Ravitch 120 ). But by this time, Charter schools had contributed to the closing of most Catholic schools especially as Charter schools’ popularity in urban areas sky-rocketed.
What started out as empowering people by giving them choices and supplementing low-performing public schools using aides from Charter schools became a way for some citizens to promulgate racism and segregation, leave behind and ignore low-performing students, and ultimately curtail choice in closing down most public schools and Catholic schools.
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