tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80792992024-03-07T12:58:41.667-06:00E-Learning Corgi E-Learning Corgi focuses on distance training and education, from instructional design to e-learning and mobile solutions, and pays attention to psychological, social, and cultural factors. The edublog emphasizes real-world e-learning issues and appropriate uses of emerging technologies. Susan Smith Nash is the Corgi's assistant. susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comBlogger472125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-19831032354983937612024-02-07T11:09:00.004-06:002024-02-07T11:09:00.242-06:00Kim Lonzo on Two Poems by Carlos Hiraldo and Susan Smith Nash<p> The two poems that I have chosen deal with the basic question, does our technological progress represent true human progress. Susan Smith Nash’s poem, “The Nature of Poetics,” (<a href="https://marshhawkpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Marsh-Hawk-Review-fall-2021.pdf">https://marshhawkpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Marsh-Hawk-Review-fall-2021.pdf</a>) explores the subjects of modern work aided by technology, traditional work aided by tools, and our possible disconnection as a society as the nature of work becomes more ephemeral. Nash uses Aristotelian analysis to search for her answers. This is a much different approach than the second poem. Carlos Hiraldo, in his work, “The Revolution Will Not Be Facebooked,” cleverly creates a sequel poem which updates and brilliantly plays off Gil Scott Heron’s seminal spoken word piece set to music, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Hiraldo mirrors Heron’s meter and style to call attention to how our modern life holds similar ills as the latter’s poem illustrates. The consensus of Nash’s and Hiraldo’s poems are that technology has not improved the human condition and has possibly added to the disconnections between us.</p><p>Nash immediately sets the mood by easing us into a state of relaxation. She opens: “No Zoom meetings this morning / so taking advantage / laptop on lap / leaning back in rocking chair.” By contrasting the images of the laptop positioned on her lap and the recumbent rocking chair, she foreshadows the theme of her poem. Not only is she reflecting on the nature of work but also the implications of technology on the quality of our lives. She continues: “feet propped up / sipping coffee.” Already in a position of relaxation, Nash adds an extra layer of cozy with the added action of the propping up of the feet. This coupled with the sipping of coffee conjures a sense that a moment of introspection is about to begin. She is at peace in this moment save for a repetitive sound that calls her attention. She continues: “thoughts punctuated by the sound of roofers pounding away the uncertainty of leaky surfaces.” This seemingly, clumsy sentence breaks from the gentle scene she has crafted. Suddenly, an uncertainty creeps into this idyllic setting. She uses evocative words like “punctuated” and “pounding” because this distraction is significant. She must investigate her own uncertainty. She acknowledges this here: “we dread getting wet / whether by water or fear / I respect the sheathed decking, nails, and composition shingles.” Now the uncertainty begins to take shape. She uses the word “dread” to express that the task before her will be difficult. She is afraid. She references safety when she speaks of the sheathed deck or a protected structure. She deconstructs what makes it safe almost as if to say that she must deconstruct or analyze her fear. In the next part, she muses: “where plans meet hands / the work is real / Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.” Finally, she arrives at the point where the soul searching begins. She acknowledges that roofing is real work and references Aristotle’s most well-known book about discovering the meaning of life, “Nicomachean Ethics.” She asks the reader to go on a journey with her to determine if what she contributes to society is work.</p><p>Nash continues,</p><p>What is the reality of work in a world of coordinated communication? This is the work of developing documents, tasks, programs meetings, conventions, projects ,plans, maps ,diagrams— infinite conversations and archived files;</p><p>And then there are the invoices, accounting, the back office-</p><p>And yet, I sit here imagining since I’m not perched on a roof I have no nail gun in my hand, no risk of slipping off onto a hard pavement;</p><p>I’m not really working; all my efforts are ephemeral. (Nash)</p><p>Now Nash begins to do a classical analytical dissection of the elements of the argument she is attempting to make. She defines the parameters. What is work in the setting she exists within and how does it compare to the traditional concepts of work? She proposes since she has no tangible risks like say a workman on a roof and her efforts are fleeting that it is possible her work is something other. </p><p>She concludes,</p><p>At least back when we printed and piled our paper files there was tangible evidence of work; External validation that mind and words had an objective correlative</p><p>And we could comfort ourselves that reality and life could be empirically affirmed.</p><p>But in my heart of hearts I don’t believe it, and I doubt myself just as I doubt this set of lines on paper is anything approximating a poem (Nash)</p><p>As Nash reaches her resolution, we similarly reach a catharsis. Her self-doubt about her own work throughout the poem countered with her admission that she believes tangible output with some element of real risks equals true work illustrates the objective correlative she references. In choosing her title, Nash calls to mind Aristotle’s “Poetics”, which first delves into defining poetry as an art and posits that art imitates life. Here the artist attempts to define the nature of a poem by comparing elements of the work of one who uses their hands versus one who uses words and ideas. Whether she considers her work a poem or not though is ultimately up to the reader. An artist’s intentions aside, the nature of any work of art is evident in its effect on its audience and not in its creators vision.</p><p>Hiraldo introduces the reader to his work by referencing the source inspiration which is the powerfully poignant, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” by Gil Scott-Heron. It is my opinion that Hiraldo wants his reader to be familiar with this piece to fully understand his message. He is tacitly teasing the point that if you are ignorant of the past, you may repeat it. This poem uses repetition and emulation of Scott-Heron’s master work to interplay themes of “old and new,” “mundane and absurd” in a very sharp, satirical tone.</p><p>He opens,</p><p>You will not be able to man your posts from the comfort of your offices or homes. You will not be able to sign in, rant, and log out. You will not be able to friend and unfriend your way into community, share your way to the communist utopia, like your way to power, brothers and sisters, because the revolution will not be facebooked. (Hiraldo)</p><p>By simulating Scott-Heron’s opening and updating from television to Facebook, Hiraldo introduces us to wonderful wordplay and humor, he will be using throughout. The puns on the words “posts”, “friend”, “unfriend”, “share”, and “like” force the reader to interpret at every twist and turn. The brilliant use of the oxymoron “communist utopia”(Hiraldo) illustrates this will be a fun journey into an intellectual discourse on how our technology has improved or possibly impeded us. When he hits his rallying cry, “The revolution will not be facebooked” (Hiraldo), which he will repeat throughout, he is attempting to show us that a new medium reigns and his emphasis attempts to refocus us on the fact that it is a medium.</p><p>He continues, </p><p>The revolution will not be brought to you by book length, newsfeed articles telling you everything you already know The revolution will not show you videos of cowardly officers shooting brothers at point blank range because they move too fast or they move too slow</p><p>The revolution will be no Onion repost The revolution will be front page news, brothers and sisters. The revolution will not be facebooked</p><p>There will be no smiley selfies of you and colleagues you never talk to at the Global Warming march, CNN will not be able to file an entire report based on your social media posts of events because the revolution will not be facebooked (Hiraldo)</p><p><br /></p><p>Here Hiraldo departs from Scott-Heron who takes a strong political tone. His message rooted in the Black Liberation Movement informed all his work. Hiraldo continues to have echoes of the former’s poem and acknowledges that violence against Black men by law enforcement is still newsworthy in the social media world. He then pivots to question what news in our new digital landscape is. He mentions the satirical website “The Onion” which is a well-known news parody site that is widely shared and often mistaken for real news. He uses the expression “front page news”, an old-fashioned way of saying something was particularly important, to show that our social media advancements aren’t themselves the agents of our change. Further, Hiraldo slyly takes aim at the state of protests by pointing out the vanity aspects of modern activism and the rise of news network coverage of citizen journalists.</p><p>He continues,</p><p>There will be no soft-porn pictures of meals to be shared There will be no soft-porn pictures of meals to be shared There will be no kooky anti-government conspiracy theory discrediting all opposition because the conspiracy to be attacked will be what they call reality The revolution will not be facebooked.</p><p>The revolution will not be brought to you by an old closeted celebrity or a nubile brainy hot thing giving brilliantly obvious quips </p><p>The revolution will not sell you Doc Martens boots The revolution will not give you flattering easy IQ tests (Hiraldo)</p><p>Interestingly, Hiraldo launches into an unflattering critique of two major uses of social media which are the sharing of food pictures and the dissemination of conspiracy theories. The tropes of “soft-porn pictures of meals” and “anti-government conspiracies” are used to show the prevalence of and importance placed on indifference and ignorance. Moreover, he juxtaposes the tropes of “an old closeted celebrity” and “a nubile brainy hot thing” to address that fact that our information is packaged in the form of entertainment or infotainment. With a wink, Hiraldo teases the rise of consumerism by mentioning the preferred boot of the anti-capitalist punk movement of the 1970’s. He drives his point even further with a nod to the “flattering easy IQ tests” which is an oxymoron laying bare how little we value integrity and intelligence.</p><p>Hiraldo concludes,</p><p>The revolution will not tell you what country you should have been born in because the revolution will make the country you were born in the country you should have been born in The revolution will not be facebooked.</p><p>The revolution will not be facebooked The revolution will not be facebooked The revolution will not be facebooked The revolution will be no parody, brothers and sisters, The revolution will be an original work of art. (Hiraldo)</p><p>The metaphor of “The Revolution” that Hiraldo has repeated throughout finally takes form here. He has been alluding to the meaning with examples of elements that are not endemic to this revolution. By defining what it is not, Hiraldo has been implying what it is all along this journey. His strongest statement is telling the reader the ultimate result of the revolution will be universal equity. Instead of going to a “promised land” somewhere else , the revolution will have made this unnecessary and no one will question if the grass is greener. For me as the reader, my absolute favorite line is the last. The wit is on full display as Hiraldo takes us home by subtly poking fun at his own work which is a parody. He does this because he is ingeniously showing us that his work like Facebook is a medium for a message and not itself the agent of change. The revolution after all is the movement towards universal equity and this requires active participation not passive acknowledgment.</p><p>Our technology has led to fascinating advances in our world. The benefits of which seem to have made our daily lives more comfortable even simpler. We now have a shared digital space that has ushered in a new era of virtual citizenship. Both Nash and Hiraldo question whether our advances in tech have advanced us as people in this modern landscape. Nash embraces her unease at creating a product or work that feels fugacious. She contrasts elements of the new (Zoom Meetings and laptops) versus the old (nail gun or rocking chairs) and decides to use Aristotelian analysis (literally old school thinking) to determine if “work” in an increasingly more digital world remains relevant. By embracing this trope of “new vs old,” she ultimately concludes that minus a tangible or real element, work, like her poem, may not be what it seems anymore. </p><p>Hiraldo too echoes this as he shows us that Facebook as a medium, like television in “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (Scott-Heron) has not been an agent of change but merely mistaken as one. By mimicking the structure and meter of Scott-Heron’s poem and comparing similar relevant issues in an update to this work, Hiraldo shows that the new medium of Facebook has merely replaced television and this time we are creating the soulless content. His novel approach with a nod to the “Old School” of critical analysis seems to arrive at the same destination as Nash with her traditional reasoning. The measure of our true progress is in how much or how little the individual physically contributes to the real world and not the virtual one. </p><p><br /></p><p>Works Cited</p><p>Nash, Susan Smith. “The Nature of Poetics.” Marsh Hawk Review, Spring, 2021</p><p>Hiraldo, Carlos. “The Revolution Will Not Be Facebooked.” Marsh Hawk Review, Fall/Winter,2019</p><p>Scott-Heron, Gil. “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Pieces of a Man, Flying Dutchman, 1971</p><p>Aristotle. Aristotle’s Poetics. New York; Hill and Wang, 1961.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-1478548323996986542023-10-04T18:40:00.002-05:002023-10-04T18:40:23.814-05:00 Revisiting “Black Chalk” (1994) by Rochelle Owens<p>It’s hard to believe it has been almost 30 years since the long poem, “Black Chalk,” was published as a chapbook by Texture Press in Norman, Oklahoma. A companion video was filmed and produced in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, to be debuted at the Fred Jones Museum of Art on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. </p><p>Video: <a href="https://youtu.be/EdTdsfaessY?si=6aUtiW3-ptsXfsiD">https://youtu.be/EdTdsfaessY?si=6aUtiW3-ptsXfsiD</a> </p><p>The text: <a href="https://rochelleowens.net/poetrybooks.php?book=black_chalk">https://rochelleowens.net/poetrybooks.php?book=black_chalk</a> </p><p>The poem consists of three interwoven threads. The first consists of the arrival of the Spaniards in North America and the brutality and mass death. The second thread ties to the work of Leonardo da Vinci, not only his works of art the studio, but also his anatomical investigations. The third interwoven thread is one of societal malaise, where there is a great gulf between social classes, privilege vs homelessness, and consumer culture. The interweavings and the repetition had an incantatory effect which generates levels of meaning as discordant sounds and disparate concepts are juxtaposed. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKAtAWkYrmMhmFd8Vle7-p9PgGllW6OHDVsYRG78nH9vPjAkIhhfxZKGvtqVZAOPt_WTv2uF7FlDQwk5qRGN6txpQRFp35_2foKjzV5qnYDer0VdfwHyhT7UJd9e96LY3NpM4mHb-gP9TPP3QUNx86jDpaOrXIIz_W6Ht_2GmCLpT57fwQrxSSA/s440/cover_black_chalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="282" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKAtAWkYrmMhmFd8Vle7-p9PgGllW6OHDVsYRG78nH9vPjAkIhhfxZKGvtqVZAOPt_WTv2uF7FlDQwk5qRGN6txpQRFp35_2foKjzV5qnYDer0VdfwHyhT7UJd9e96LY3NpM4mHb-gP9TPP3QUNx86jDpaOrXIIz_W6Ht_2GmCLpT57fwQrxSSA/s320/cover_black_chalk.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black Chalk (1994) by Rochelle Owens</td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the video, the layering, interweaving of dialogue is manifestly powerful and the visual narrative adds levels of gallows humor, horror, and bourgeois creature comfort stripped bare. The experience of watching the video “Black Chalk” is both disconcerting and enlightening as the inescapable realization dawns on one that the discomfort is evidence of a deep connection with the text. </p><p><b>Themes</b></p><p><i>Greedy devouring insatiable hunger.</i></p><p>The scene where a curly headed young man who could well have been a model in Leonardo 's studio devours a Peach. The extreme close up continues and lingers almost excruciatingly and is repeated a number of times just after lines about the Spaniards and the conquest are intoned which graphically illustrates the relentless, munching, finger licking horror of the Europeans rapacious destruction and ingestion of all that had pulp, which is to say, living value.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9azi3NhuaRC9d9Zb1thBBu6CYpKObEgL4r8pdBXJvbMHnnu-55uVaw8dw6oXQQ03tuY7AGJ_dDbgYVq-IIFrmD5vfdLeHlYENkZBWHf-sqRpPycNRBhi1KEqnunDoLJge-OW1Uf6BrHMNmUPYlRecZbSmkb14BJR9cNU87eQ1tZChpI0MusX_A/s1166/black-chalk-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="1166" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9azi3NhuaRC9d9Zb1thBBu6CYpKObEgL4r8pdBXJvbMHnnu-55uVaw8dw6oXQQ03tuY7AGJ_dDbgYVq-IIFrmD5vfdLeHlYENkZBWHf-sqRpPycNRBhi1KEqnunDoLJge-OW1Uf6BrHMNmUPYlRecZbSmkb14BJR9cNU87eQ1tZChpI0MusX_A/s320/black-chalk-1.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Gleeful celebrations of death.</p><p>Evoking the idea of an ecstatic dance macabre four privileged wealthy summer residents in a convertible luxury car echo medieval images from Bruegel or Hieronymus Bosch gleefully chatting blankets infected with plague which invokes the smallpox outbreaks in Mexico and North America which killed indigenous on a genocidal scale and also the ship of fools plague infested ship refused quarter in all ports of call until a fateful “yes” with devastating consequences. The actors shriek with carnivalesque glee which invokes horror. The “hungry bum” refers to an existential state. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPrx5I8_gw_FlLZkF6__yPPFihucgmF7JaHGf99gkmsU-TY9FsHDuF8GNlFlSmv7Z6CNdvzkxycK7srFfrSmRJ7OQfP6kWGpgDWlzehCvc4FXzB2BcA_xhD3DuyDgagEQjJ2xOy3CoolifUj2ai9taQyruczrBhkBgcqz-m9MlCjDVKXGTV01mw/s1151/black-chalk-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1151" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPrx5I8_gw_FlLZkF6__yPPFihucgmF7JaHGf99gkmsU-TY9FsHDuF8GNlFlSmv7Z6CNdvzkxycK7srFfrSmRJ7OQfP6kWGpgDWlzehCvc4FXzB2BcA_xhD3DuyDgagEQjJ2xOy3CoolifUj2ai9taQyruczrBhkBgcqz-m9MlCjDVKXGTV01mw/s320/black-chalk-3.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The hungry bum played by George Economou picks up a fanny pack containing an empty wallet and then he repeats the act many times as the camera encircles him creating a dizzying vertiginous journey into a disruption of the boundary between self and other. The bum’s hands rip through the wallet and the emptiness of that very wallet reflects the bankrupt morality of 20th century Americans who are comfortable in their neat New England town and expensive cars and studios but the search for self ultimately yields empty seams and compulsively repetitive digging and searching.</p><p><i>The Studio: The “Chalk” of Art</i></p><p>A black chalk dirtied hand moves over ink and chalk sketches of hands, bodies, and fingers but all are fragmentary and none are fully formed. The scene suggests process, the work in progress, and the ultimate goal, perhaps Leonardo’s Vitruvian man from 1490. The only fully formed complete images in the studio are those the artist and young man who could be the artist’s model or an angel coming to give the gift of artistic creation. In the scene, a slender, aged but attractive woman, the artist, contemplates work in her studio. Her art elicits ideas of fragmentation or even dissection. The angel touches the artist’s withered hand and arm. The lines and the body parts on the canvas are smudged which gives an idea of creation, but also that there is an essential horror at the core of creation. It is simply not possible to have creation without contact with dissection, disruption, and a canvas smudged black and gray with cremains, which could be the “chalk” of art. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLng-pEslBgWoJaxkETEoSiR7OUX6R2SvukC6Y8Fyhun4rmj-AJAGznn7YpF847DCMtrADHJVm1OFrMAPDOA4hOcA8hlfPiAc9hy3MFRKTyymOubNbPNpPoRARhdZoq34tF6DLlgdqx4uD4yQbXIZuiJ6ohHmcItbe9Fb6R74xXeHaBHF7lqmSbw/s1169/hungry%20bum.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1169" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLng-pEslBgWoJaxkETEoSiR7OUX6R2SvukC6Y8Fyhun4rmj-AJAGznn7YpF847DCMtrADHJVm1OFrMAPDOA4hOcA8hlfPiAc9hy3MFRKTyymOubNbPNpPoRARhdZoq34tF6DLlgdqx4uD4yQbXIZuiJ6ohHmcItbe9Fb6R74xXeHaBHF7lqmSbw/s320/hungry%20bum.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>There are many other repeated scenes, repeated snippets of dialogue and behaviors, all which build to a climax of vulnerability, invasion by the other, and profound grief. Some elicit visceral revulsion such as when we are confronted with the lusty munching of a peach, which represents the way the Europeans devoured the civilizations of the Americas.</p><p><b>The Artist</b></p><p>At the end, the artist’s chair is empty. This means, at the end of the day, the artist is obliged to depart. The artist’s white plastic beach chair is empty. In the world of <i>Black Chalk</i>, the artists is not a god or even Shiva. It is important to consider that the artist could even represent nothingness. The responsibility of meaning is in the consciousness of the viewer.</p><p>---Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-5692883254582341192023-09-20T17:09:00.001-05:002023-09-20T17:09:10.574-05:00"Oklahoma Too" - A Rare Video Gem by Rochelle Owens: Humor, Disruptions of Language, and a Question of What Is Real<p>The short film, <i>Oklahoma Too</i>, written and directed by Rochelle Owens in 1987, is filled with wry humor and social commentary. In addition, it is an exploration of the capacity of language to classify, represent truth, human desire and behavior, and ultimately to contain the seeds of its own disruption of meaning(s). </p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftmLNmqkfnWk_HSN9REupz7TuYR9qbFYXt7TWmbl5OHde3v-Slj9pC4sY95UtiVD4QW5YfKTGhjlw8mWa-KLcU5ELc2ifkbs9GzT556N2qdoJY3YIIdFv9GAc2CiCTdTrFFILihEc_22dKVaNF0ouL1lRcHt7JLG8gdFn3RrRcqvlgmjFP1unDg/s1373/oklahoma-too-screen-shot2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="951" data-original-width="1373" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftmLNmqkfnWk_HSN9REupz7TuYR9qbFYXt7TWmbl5OHde3v-Slj9pC4sY95UtiVD4QW5YfKTGhjlw8mWa-KLcU5ELc2ifkbs9GzT556N2qdoJY3YIIdFv9GAc2CiCTdTrFFILihEc_22dKVaNF0ouL1lRcHt7JLG8gdFn3RrRcqvlgmjFP1unDg/s320/oklahoma-too-screen-shot2.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In the gift store, Voila, in <i>Oklahoma Too</i></div><p>Video: <a href="https://youtu.be/1wVC8Oh6SPU?si=RXgZPNMcR6OyCEEH">https://youtu.be/1wVC8Oh6SPU?si=RXgZPNMcR6OyCEEH</a> </p><p>How Much Paint Does the Painting Need <a href="https://rochelleowens.net/poetrybooks.php?book=how_much_paint">https://rochelleowens.net/poetrybooks.php?book=how_much_paint</a> </p><p><b>BACKGROUND AND CONTEXTS</b></p><p>Filmed in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1987 during the depths of the oil bust, <i>Oklahoma Too </i>takes place in a gift store across the street from Norman Public Library on Gray St. and also in the nicely appointed living room in a private home. </p><p>(Personal note: There was a used bookstore in the same shopping center. I used to ride my bicycle to it after visiting the library in the mid 1970s, when the library was very new. I think it is possible that the used bookstore is still there. I used to buy and sell Regency romances as well as Jane Austen novels. The first Jane Austen novel I read or attempted to read was <i>Sense and Sensibility</i>, purchased in paperback form in Vermont).</p><p>The name of the store is Voila and it features jewelry in locked glass cases, plus gifts and lovely collectible decorative pieces for the home including cloisonné and China figurines such as a whimsical ornamental rabbit dressed in a jacket, reminiscent of the rabbit in <i>Alice In Wonderland.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTq3mJChNlsNDpk0eH5qX1XpW9RhWBTeaoc6JqxqQAK863UHbt9whSBdDtJd_aBc5xg29aPp7rAZDwbBhtbfF6PYI27R0g5i3gZEt02ImR-QSp94c9AE7ftBFYMraME7pg0yBYtF3A5chyIyU7Pxs3WXhlNGnPTB-WZ39dyoycRPF8i2_SWKD9g/s923/oklahoma-too-screen-shot5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="923" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTq3mJChNlsNDpk0eH5qX1XpW9RhWBTeaoc6JqxqQAK863UHbt9whSBdDtJd_aBc5xg29aPp7rAZDwbBhtbfF6PYI27R0g5i3gZEt02ImR-QSp94c9AE7ftBFYMraME7pg0yBYtF3A5chyIyU7Pxs3WXhlNGnPTB-WZ39dyoycRPF8i2_SWKD9g/s320/oklahoma-too-screen-shot5.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Gold nugget jewelry, fashionable in the 1980s, plays a prominent role in the film. Contrary to what one might think, based on the appearance of the nuggets, they were not mined by bearded prospectors panning for gold in streams in Nevada or California. Instead, the chunks of gold were 14 karat confections fashioned to look like nuggets and worked into pendants, rings, and earrings, and often considered investment pieces. Such an investment was a good one in the 1980s when gold and silver skyrocketed in price. In the video, the inauthenticity of the “gold nuggets” introduces a tension between appearance and reality, and the way that language convinces one of “the real.”</p><p></p><p><b>DRAMATIS PERSONAE</b></p><p>The video has several key characters. They include three upper middle class professional women eager to purchase something novel to reinforce their social status. Next is Mr. Markup, the owner of a line of nugget jewelry. He recruits a graduate student from Greece to sell the nugget jewelry to pay tuition. Finally, there is a local man who sits behind a jewelry case and reads excerpts from a poem by Owens, “Anthropologist at a Dinner Party” that later appeared in the collection, <i>How Much Paint Does the Painting Need. </i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FdcO5QeJoCsXI-xQ29Fj3zdsPOSRmz6h0iwCa7Dr5XvZWjJJBs8dNIy3SFTPBQ--NdknzQYRht03zJXbkWEm7U0O0fC9D7maOIukgK7xwlBkSSexpO9-xVTF-B9z-ea92afi3_mdHvKdm6zlVOBJ7qIrFeJfnPs5cMqPraasDAHlwoNzXj92nA/s1359/oklahoma-too-screen-shot4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1359" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5FdcO5QeJoCsXI-xQ29Fj3zdsPOSRmz6h0iwCa7Dr5XvZWjJJBs8dNIy3SFTPBQ--NdknzQYRht03zJXbkWEm7U0O0fC9D7maOIukgK7xwlBkSSexpO9-xVTF-B9z-ea92afi3_mdHvKdm6zlVOBJ7qIrFeJfnPs5cMqPraasDAHlwoNzXj92nA/s320/oklahoma-too-screen-shot4.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p>LITERARY FOUNDATION</p><p>The poem, “Anthropologists at a Dinner Party” was inspired by an actual dinner party with professors from the University of Oklahoma which included George Economou, chair of the English department, and professors from the anthropology department. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgySrWVqDYXxU4DojgBvQp9_nj-GWD8GTEx79WacVJPJTECXUiXfnjg_zGlOT0EelxN27vj010Ygjdf3Zbu3EoOOAPMMW3tycf_EeqgognGVuci00i_JSND0-aGhsk-fbV3_uwwMsmTQFw18tjxEvAAqiF1OqFde6riTbsFeqm52sT8sABW-7_ccg/s440/cover_how_much_paint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgySrWVqDYXxU4DojgBvQp9_nj-GWD8GTEx79WacVJPJTECXUiXfnjg_zGlOT0EelxN27vj010Ygjdf3Zbu3EoOOAPMMW3tycf_EeqgognGVuci00i_JSND0-aGhsk-fbV3_uwwMsmTQFw18tjxEvAAqiF1OqFde6riTbsFeqm52sT8sABW-7_ccg/s320/cover_how_much_paint.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br /><p>Although one of the anthropology professors ostensibly specializes in Native American culture, he brings the history of the peoples of northern Europe to the conversation. Despite his specialty, he himself is of European origin, and not Native American. He talks about Picts in Northern Europe and then mentions Aryans and intermarriage. The professor’s narrative is subverted by subtexts of eugenics, a theme that underscores a later work by Owens, “Black Chalk.” The history of Oklahoma informs <i>Oklahoma Too</i>, which includes the removal of Native Americans, the Trail of Tears, and a history of cultural destruction and the many attempts to subjugate, exploit, and potentially eradicate Native American peoples.</p><p><b>PLOT SUMMARY</b></p><p>The film commences as three women dressed as the elite of a small college town appear in the opening scene. The cast of men consists of the entrepreneur and an impecunious graduate student along with a diffident potential customer of gold nuggets or other trinkets. </p><p>Owens has said that she typecasts to facilitate and energize improvisation. In <i>Oklahoma Too</i> improvisations occur in the jewelry store and then later in the scene when the graduate student is attempting to sell the gold nugget jewelry. He's in the living room of a home of one of two women and the more insistent he becomes the more they resist. They even counter his sales pitch with one of their own: Why not contribute funds to save the Arctic seals being clubbed to death by hunters? There is an element of the absurd in not only the lively and humorous dialogue, but also in the exaggerated Western wear that the foreign student from Greece wears. He is a Greek cowboy wholeheartedly embracing the accoutrements of local culture, and thus potentially equipping himself to be more convincing in the heart of Oklahoma. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_2XHz4dReyrFJYVuZkFdhJBYgqxMSBBguMyqQ8aVSfu_F6ZUy8sncVOtHuzniDcsk5XChplh8NcrO5PPF5Fa9ZZX_zOItAg5lIr4HYhiIsO3wo5cQiKZxcm7aYCo9S0uKj3RAgmMHd5sdSBJUv8WF5vvx6Vs9o7HVGs3wSxUo6HSmz6YaswhJA/s1388/oklahoma-too-screen-shot3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="1388" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_2XHz4dReyrFJYVuZkFdhJBYgqxMSBBguMyqQ8aVSfu_F6ZUy8sncVOtHuzniDcsk5XChplh8NcrO5PPF5Fa9ZZX_zOItAg5lIr4HYhiIsO3wo5cQiKZxcm7aYCo9S0uKj3RAgmMHd5sdSBJUv8WF5vvx6Vs9o7HVGs3wSxUo6HSmz6YaswhJA/s320/oklahoma-too-screen-shot3.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Whether the Greek graduate student’s pitch succeeds, or if the women succeed in convincing him to donate to their cause, is part of the negotiation of text and textual space that marks <i>Oklahoma Too</i>. In fact, one could consider the improvisations as ultimate language play. One can further suggest the dialogue, with its many levels of ambiguity, and the three voices speaking over each other, are, by their very indeterminacy, a part of the world of art. Reality is a series of complex negotiations. Signification is just one of those negotiations. Another language negotiation is the right to deconstruct, which embodies the right to collapse and implode language itself the ultimate liberation from oneself and impositions of identity and thus fate.</p><p><b>THEMES</b></p><p><b>“Foreign” vs. “Local:”</b> The film toys with the notion of “foreign,” and suggests that all are constructed identities. In fact, when the “foreigner” (the Greek graduate student) dons the apparel of the Western cowboy, he reinforces the notion that appearances always deceive. </p><p><b>“Faux” vs. “Authentic” nature:</b> The “gold nuggets” are shaped to look like they came straight from a prospector’s gold-panning operations, with his donkey observing from the edge of the stream. In reality, they are simply lumps of 14K gold (or even just coated with a veneer of gold to be “gold filled”). At any rate, gold is melted and fashioned into a shape that mimics authentic nuggets. </p><p><b>Con the Con:</b> Mr. Markup is telling the graduate student that he can sell nuggets and earn enough for tuition. In a flash, the Greek graduate student becomes an accomplished sales rep, with a stunning repertoire of sales pitches. The bourgeois women are likewise cons – except what they “sell” is participation in a high-status philanthropical “cause.” They try to convince the graduate student to contribute to their fund to “save the seals.”</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b></p><p>The poem by Owens satirizes university faculty and the conversations they have at dinner parties, which are almost always remembered in retrospect as a platform for one or two dominating, bloviating know-it-alls, who, despite their seeming commitment to liberal perspectives (human rights, civil rights, etc.), reveal their internalization and unconscious espousal of normative forces. In this case, there is a subtext of eugenics. </p><p>Owens’s vision and direction create an energetic scene In the living room as all three actors speak over each other, creating “noise” rather than clear dialogue. Their attempts to con the others into giving money to their own cause or self-interest explore the way that the audience tries to make sense – which voice dominates? Which one can you follow? The fact that all three voices are of equal valence is critical: at the end of the day, cacophony prevails. Art is what happens when clarity comes from the cacophony. The artist provides the clarity.</p><p>It is also worth noting that the Voila gift store was a charming oasis. The University was likewise an intellectual and spiritual oasis, which fostered creativity and self-expression during the mid to late 1980s, when Oklahoma suffered through the devastating “Oil Bust” and farm crisis. </p><p>---Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.</p><div><br /></div>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-43358589847250159522023-08-19T20:45:00.007-05:002024-02-16T17:20:50.988-06:00O Jaw Bone: The Experience of the Two Choctaw Removals in Poetry and Biography<p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">In the winter of 1831, the Choctaw Indians were forced out at gunpoint to walk barefoot and in thin clothing from their homelands, 11 million acres in what is now Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, to the Indian Territory in what is now southeast Oklahoma. There are historical accounts of the privation, suffering, and extreme cruelty, but I did not realize that anyone who made the terrible journey had written a song or a poem. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Gilcrease Museum (located in Tulsa, Oklahoma), actually has a document written by an unnamed author about the removal. It appears on the Choctaw Nation website: <a href="https://www.choctawnation.com/biskinik/a-trail-of-tears-song-the-new-jaw-bone/"><span class="s2" style="color: #0b4cb4; font-kerning: none;">https://www.choctawnation.com/biskinik/a-trail-of-tears-song-the-new-jaw-bone/</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(19, 142, 188); background-color: white; color: #138ebc; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Poem</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(25, 28, 31); color: #191c1f; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">1. Jackson send the Secretary War</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">To the Indians of the law</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Walk o jaw bone walk I say</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Walk o jaw bone walk away.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(25, 28, 31); color: #191c1f; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">2. Eaton tells us go away</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Here no longer you can stay</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Walk o jaw bone walk I say</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Walk o jaw bone walk away</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(25, 28, 31); color: #191c1f; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">3. On my way to the Arkansas</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">G_d d__n the white man’s laws</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">O come and go along with me</span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">O come and go along with me</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizMRzcQ1NcCbQRXxQJavfV5V2K5F9DWKIej7NyXjV2q9kbJDekRImI6EnVBA3ZrIUIDi8GAfI2lDXvhzRzigbBE_41VZCrBQb2m7QuAdx-QQSNBT7t4he1mF6Xyf7Iand-nIDKdWindwfpyFIxj8oOqp0Ryc9zV5FbwoP-KioVJsY3fzZgO4BN-g/s756/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-19%20at%207.39.49%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="616" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizMRzcQ1NcCbQRXxQJavfV5V2K5F9DWKIej7NyXjV2q9kbJDekRImI6EnVBA3ZrIUIDi8GAfI2lDXvhzRzigbBE_41VZCrBQb2m7QuAdx-QQSNBT7t4he1mF6Xyf7Iand-nIDKdWindwfpyFIxj8oOqp0Ryc9zV5FbwoP-KioVJsY3fzZgO4BN-g/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-08-19%20at%207.39.49%20PM.png" width="261" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The manuscript of the poem by an unnamed Choctaw author</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> The website contains the poem along with a guide to understanding the people mentioned in the poem. Reading the poem and imagining the cruelty of the suffering, especially to the elderly and the young, gives me chills.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Until today, I did not realize that there was a second Choctaw Removal. It took place in 1903, and coincided with the dissolution of the Choctaw Nation. In it, Choctaws were sent by train to Ardmore, Oklahoma, which was in the Choctaw Nation. The way they were transported was brutal – they were loaded like cattle onto box cars, and when they arrived in Ardmore, they were imprisoned in a warehouse, where there was no ventilation, sanitation, heat, or adequate food (<a href="https://choctawnationculture.com/media/40683/2017.12_the_last_choctaw_removal_-_ardmore.pdf"><span class="s2" style="color: #0b4cb4; font-kerning: none;">https://choctawnationculture.com/media/40683/2017.12_the_last_choctaw_removal_-_ardmore.pdf</span></a>). Some were then shipped out to different farms and locations where they had to work for a place to sleep. Others were given allotments of land that had no water or arable land. Some stayed in Ardmore, living in abject destitution.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">My mother was born in Ardmore in 1932.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>My grandmother had lived in that town, staring in the late 1920s, and I remember her telling me that the way the Choctaw Indians had to live was worse than criminal. In addition to a lack of food and water, the Mississippi Choctaws suffered from outbreaks of disease. Despite the desperate poverty, the Choctaws pulled together the best they could and preserved their dress, songs, beliefs and culture. Here is a link to Choctaw tribal members wearing traditional outfits: <a href="https://www.choctawnation.com/about/culture/traditions/dress/"><span class="s2" style="color: #0b4cb4; font-kerning: none;">https://www.choctawnation.com/about/culture/traditions/dress/</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Lesa Phillips Roberts (1889 – 1994) was a very Choctaw girl who survived the Second Removal from Mississippi to Oklahoma. She ended up in Atoka, Oklahoma, where life was very precarious. The Mississippi Choctaws were given allotments of land, but they were often in undesirable areas, and the Choctaws already in Oklahoma were often placed in conflict with them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Her life story was captured by her son, Charles Roberts, near the end of her life. It was published in <i>The American Indian Quarterly</i> in 1990 in an article entitled “A Choctaw Odyssey, The Life of Lesa Phillip Roberts.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Choctaw Nation Cultural Center is located in Calera, Oklahoma, near the town of Durant.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Durant is a regional center with a four-year university (Southeast Oklahoma State University), Choctaw business enterprises (casino, food products), and the Choctaw Nation Tribal Complex. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-61934316975075831392023-05-12T19:31:00.005-05:002024-02-16T17:19:51.719-06:00History of Oil-Finders Friday: South Texas Serpentine Plugs<p> The 1915 headlines read, ‘Oil in an Igneous Rock,” which certainly piqued the curiosity of oil finders, used to displaying their porous sandstone and limestone cores, stained with oil, in their office display cases.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6fMiR0tdYeCHY2XOUkMXy4nRSBgzsRcJv5QeJnLCQ1iUi8o_rms2FMGw1wTm4BQFpFFP1_ugogQF7YaAfpv-x0sWy_7VdgtkKwgqT7BJo3YbsW6hphMI86FnIe2y9-bMXn8-7wjSzu7pPKqxy-Pup3_zxmCRISJjlOkPGdC7vNqEjTo1Ehk/s474/serpentine%20plug%20oil%20and%20gas%20fields.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="474" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6fMiR0tdYeCHY2XOUkMXy4nRSBgzsRcJv5QeJnLCQ1iUi8o_rms2FMGw1wTm4BQFpFFP1_ugogQF7YaAfpv-x0sWy_7VdgtkKwgqT7BJo3YbsW6hphMI86FnIe2y9-bMXn8-7wjSzu7pPKqxy-Pup3_zxmCRISJjlOkPGdC7vNqEjTo1Ehk/s320/serpentine%20plug%20oil%20and%20gas%20fields.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>But, in South Texas, they had done it. They had found oil in a green igneous rock they dubbed “serpentine,” even though it was actually an altered tuff resulting from underwater volcanic eruptions.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigkjRvqgdVJvoAOKlidRiYTvAu8deIVN2dj9YUp8F8500c7CFGY_EI6mVQSMG4sy5Gv797OMzFAudZ-Mvz79orRfyILvN7100p4kuoOGe1l8KekXPoab-_fuUmiQnA3tu7SvqUU6HtWoG5zhHE80tYxqUxh5HwbSbN9nLScdaSK2U2k0vLiL4/s4032/thrall-book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigkjRvqgdVJvoAOKlidRiYTvAu8deIVN2dj9YUp8F8500c7CFGY_EI6mVQSMG4sy5Gv797OMzFAudZ-Mvz79orRfyILvN7100p4kuoOGe1l8KekXPoab-_fuUmiQnA3tu7SvqUU6HtWoG5zhHE80tYxqUxh5HwbSbN9nLScdaSK2U2k0vLiL4/s320/thrall-book.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Udden, J. A., and Bybee, H. P., and others, 1916<p></p><p>The adventure had started a year earlier. In 1914, Fritz Fuchs, a rancher deep in south Texas near the small town of Thrall, decided to drill a water well for his cattle. He did not encounter water, but at about 300 feet, he brought up a strange mix of oil, salt water, and what appeared to be weathered igneous rock, green in color. Mystified, he called the University of Texas geology department to see if they could shed light. The result was a well drilled in February 1915, which was the discovery well for the Thrall field, and the first of many so-called “serpentine plugs.”</p><p>At least one study has pointed out that the deposition of the tuffaceous mounds occurred in conjunction with submarine volcanic vents which emitted volcanic ash which then was deposited in the form of mounds, which subsequently altered to palagonite. The volcanic activity occurred with the deposition of chalk and marl of the upper Austin and lower Taylor Groups, which served as both source and seal. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9dGmL7FTs-G8hk-79Cq3Uk7gtp8gMY6595GloIfgez-xoSsxr317i_C7hDgYx__40weS7r9C3xmHFbObzznyaZpJ8_r7cnLQgk4Wogx45aTXMdkOtIhUKrBE6LOjQIQTZkceEDkYQ7OioBjMOvP1Wpi5ByW1B2rw14t-ULLH39fX3jExBP8/s1238/3-Figure2-1%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1238" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9dGmL7FTs-G8hk-79Cq3Uk7gtp8gMY6595GloIfgez-xoSsxr317i_C7hDgYx__40weS7r9C3xmHFbObzznyaZpJ8_r7cnLQgk4Wogx45aTXMdkOtIhUKrBE6LOjQIQTZkceEDkYQ7OioBjMOvP1Wpi5ByW1B2rw14t-ULLH39fX3jExBP8/s320/3-Figure2-1%20(1).png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Interaction between the submarine volcanic system and carbonates<p></p><p>It turns out that all along a belt of volcanic activity, there were similar submarine volcanic eruptions and they became perfect reservoirs for oil generated in the adjacent source rocks. The stratigraphic traps were found in the porous zones of tuff, and also in porous zones in the surrounding carbonates, and in traps in sands draping over the serpentine plug, and in fracture porosity in the carbonates near the plugs (Loucks, 2022).</p><p>The wells could be incredibly prolific, with a feature covering less than 10 acres producing 100,000 barrels. Others were not as prolific. However, by 1986, more than 47 million barrels had been produced (Matthews, 1986).</p><p>The serpentine plugs are found associated with the volcanic centers that align with the pre-Tertiary Balcones and Luling regional fault and fracture systems. Some of the minerals in the tuffaceous mounds are magnetic, resulting in magnetic anomalies. </p><p>Some of the minerals in the tuffaceous mounds are magnetic, resulting in magnetic anomalies. While the first oil-rich serpentine plug was discovered by accident, science was used to discover dozens of the features scattered along the belt of pre-Tertiary-age submarine volcanic activity. The fact that the features tended to be shallow and of dramatically different lithology than the surrounding carbonates, and that were often oil seeps, made it possible to use new methods, which included surface geochemistry, in which soil samples were taken, and plants observed to see if they were affected by hydrocarbons in the soil. Second, newly developed magnetometers were used. Most were truck-mounted, and they were able to detect anomalies by means of differences in the magnetic field.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p></p><p>Source: Loucks, 2022</p><p>The features were small, and it took a lot of patience to find them, but when they did, the wells could be extremely prolific. Ranging from just a few feet deep, to 5,000 feet deep, the wells were inexpensive to drill.</p><p>Today, with high-resolution drone-mounted magnetometers, and highly accurate surface geochemistry, it’s possible to revisit a fascinating play, which to this day is one of the few areas of the world where oil is found in igneous rocks.</p><p>I love this play, and I’m thrilled to have an original copy of the November 25, 1916 Bulletin of the University of Texas published by the Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology which is dedicated to the Thrall Oil Field. </p><p>References</p><p>Loucks, R. G., R. R. Reed (15 April 2022) Implications for carbonate mass-wasting complexes induced by volcanism from Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk strata in the Maverick Basin and San Marcos Arch areas of south-central Texas, USA. Sedimentary Geology. Vol 432. </p><p><br /></p><p>Matthews, T. F. (1986) The Petroleum Potential of "Serpentine Plugs" and Associated Rocks, Central and South Texas. Baylor Geological Studies Bulletin, Spring 1986. </p><p><br /></p><p>Udden, J. A., and Bybee, H. P., and others, 1916, The Thrall Oil Field, by J. A. Udden and H. P. Bybee [and] Ozokerite from the Thrall Oil Field, by E. P. Schoch [and] The Chemical Composition of the Petroleums Obtained at Thrall, Texas, by E. P. Schoch and W. T. Read: University of Texas, Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology, Bulletin 66, 93 p.</p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-52967218405506836312023-05-05T19:30:00.006-05:002024-02-16T17:20:23.509-06:00 History of Oil Finders Friday: Dunkirk Black Shale Gas Well, 1825, in Fredonia, New York<p>In the 1820s in Fredonia, New York, William Aaron Hart, a local gunsmith long curious about the gas seeps emanating from the nearby Canadaway Creek, decided to investigate. According to a historical report, he first tested the gas by collecting it in a flipped-over washtub, inserting a gun barrel in a hole, and then lighting the gas as it flowed through the gun barrel. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkg-a3a8ALWqPCXYFAOZRzhIrhrO0yCsePKIEE-1S6U6WRiM9tScjJnKX9pR_FHyc5z4ohe8brvV8wZjkrvOZlMYpGSwmD1NJOuV56-exa6KYsg-bYeBUjUnwVZPmsTqjKnrYczkmWeHKd7KAfm0LmS9f-lFWnCOiOaG2T5KIw0QVAtBCQec/s525/lake%20erie%20district.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="525" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkg-a3a8ALWqPCXYFAOZRzhIrhrO0yCsePKIEE-1S6U6WRiM9tScjJnKX9pR_FHyc5z4ohe8brvV8wZjkrvOZlMYpGSwmD1NJOuV56-exa6KYsg-bYeBUjUnwVZPmsTqjKnrYczkmWeHKd7KAfm0LmS9f-lFWnCOiOaG2T5KIw0QVAtBCQec/s320/lake%20erie%20district.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Encouraged, Hart started to investigate the origin of the gas seeps, and soon found that they were coming from what he referred to as “slaty rock,” which was later classified as the Dunkirk shale, an upper Devonian black shale, typified by prominent and numerous joints and fracture networks. Early geologists such as Lewis Caleb Beck (1798-1853) studied not only the geology and mineralogy, but the surrounding vegetation as well. </p><p>The Dunkirk shale is a very low-permeability source rock which reached the oil window for hydrocarbon generation during the Permian. Heat flow occurred at the same time that the tectonic events were propagating the joints throughout the Devonian section in the Finger Lakes District (Lash, 2014). In other words, Gary Lash and his fellow researchers found that petroleum generation was a joint-driving mechanism, due to thermally-driven phase change.</p><p>Randy Blood, who studied under Gary Lash, has continued to do extensive fieldwork and to make further connections between thermal maturation and the development of massive joint systems which create a robust and persistent gas reservoir and migration pathway. The exploration implications are significant. </p><p>Gas generation from the upper Devonian black shales resulted from the desorption of methane from the surface of residual organic material (kerogen and bitumen) and clay minerals, principally illite. Production, however, depends the size, frequency, and interconnectedness of natural jointing. </p><p>After continuing to investigate and experiment, in 1825 Hart drilled a 27-foot hole into the rock, and encountered gas that would flow at a rate sufficient for him to invent and implement a small pipeline (first made of bamboo) and to use the gas in gas lamps, first in farms, a mill, and later in a hotel and a lighthouse. </p><p>Several years later, Preston Barmore, a creative engineer unfazed by what might happen as one ramped up the production volumes of natural gas, decided to drill a well to 127 feet in depth, and, when frustrated by the low volume of gas, decided to ignite the gas, causing downhole explosions (Martin, etal, 2008). This early version of fracing was highly effective. </p><p>Within a few years, hundreds of wells were drilled in the shallow Dunkirk shale, and pipelines were constructed to distribute the gas to street lamps, making Fredonia one of the first towns in the world to have gas street lamps (Martin, et al, 2008). Other pipelines were built in western and upstate New York, including ones constructed of hollowed-out tree logs, used for transporting produced salt water to evaporation ponds.</p><p>Whether or not the shallow, low-volume gas reservoirs of the Dunkirk shale might still have economic potential given current regulatory frameworks is something to be pursued. Because there were so many active gas seeps in the past, it might be worthwhile to conduct airborne surveys to detect methane and to see if there are any concentrations around natural seeps. There could be local uses for low-volume gas for innovative geologists and engineers today as well as almost 200 years ago. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>References </b></p><p>Blood, R., and Lash, G. (2019). Horizontal Targeting Strategies and Challenges: Examples from the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin, USA. Conference: Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC),2019 - Denver, CO. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334812445_Horizontal_Targeting_Strategies_and_Challenges_Examples_from_the_Marcellus_Shale_Appalachian_Basin_USA">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334812445_Horizontal_Targeting_Strategies_and_Challenges_Examples_from_the_Marcellus_Shale_Appalachian_Basin_USA</a> </p><p>Lash, G., Loewy, St., and T. Engelder (2004). Preferential jointing of Upper Devonian black shale, Appalachian Plateau, USA: evidence supporting hydrocarbon generation as a joint-driving mechanism. Geological Society of London. Special Publications. Vol. 231:1, p 129-161. </p><p>Lash, G. G., and E. P. Lash (2014) Early History of the Natural Gas Industry, Fredonia, New York. Search and Discovery Article. August 29, 2014. <a href="https://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2014/70168lash/ndx_lash.pdf.html">https://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2014/70168lash/ndx_lash.pdf.html</a> </p><p>Lash, G., and E. Lash (May 2015) The Unsung “Father of the Natural Gas Industry” AAPG Explorer. May 2015. <a href="https://explorer.aapg.org/story/articleid/19706/the-unsung-father-of-the-natural-gas-industry">https://explorer.aapg.org/story/articleid/19706/the-unsung-father-of-the-natural-gas-industry</a> </p><p>MacDonald, Ronald (2002) Application of Innovative Technologies to Fractured Devonian Shale Reservoir Exploration and Development Activities, Proceedings of the Forty-First Annual OPI Conference, Ontario Petroleum Institute, November 4-6. </p><p>Martin, J P., Hill, D. G., Lombardi, T. E., Nyahay, R. (2008). A Primer on New York’s Gas Shales. New York State Geological Association: NYSGA Online. <a href="https://www.nysga-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NYSGA-2008-A1-A-Primer-on-New-Yorks-Gas-Shales.pdf">https://www.nysga-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NYSGA-2008-A1-A-Primer-on-New-Yorks-Gas-Shales.pdf</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-41634360459575089712023-03-28T22:32:00.001-05:002023-03-28T22:32:00.169-05:00 Interview with Maureen Mahoney, Director of Online Learning with the National Speakers Association<p>Welcome to an interview with Maureen Mahoney, a multi-faceted professional who has experience and training in broadcast production, improvisation comedy, and virtual training programs. </p><p><b>What is your background?</b></p><p>My background is a little all over the place but I have found that my career has really come full circle thanks to the advancements of technology! I graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a major in Broadcast Production and a minor in History. Post-graduation and thanks to Hurricane Katrina I was forced to relocate back to my home state of Texas, landing a job in Midland-Odessa as a local TV News Producer. After that experience, found myself in the Insurance industry, working with advisors, helping them build their brand and ran sales and marketing trainings. After rising through the ranks and a move to Chicago, I found myself in the eLearning industry, building interactive experiences for advisors and running virtual training programs. Outside of work, I was formally trained in improvised comedy at The Second City & iO Chicago Training Centers performing with my improv group over the last several years around the country. All of these experiences have been instrumental in my current position as the Director of Online Learning with the National Speakers Association! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGSFHa4NQybqtZ74LvMqtCcjdZS5rwdRBCNHWKsssPxa8NtNQ-GZDZxQ2Z89dEJRdsBs2nupPcnJ0BGvdswxx1jecwM-bctQCX-njfKu7MVyfaXoMnnD7XhGOHkZbBtySzh72g85W-23VS2uAEUhLiIDey7gWAEtGDQqxXV68fngwcRpP6fTU/s3000/NSA%20Headshots%202022-Nashville-015%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGSFHa4NQybqtZ74LvMqtCcjdZS5rwdRBCNHWKsssPxa8NtNQ-GZDZxQ2Z89dEJRdsBs2nupPcnJ0BGvdswxx1jecwM-bctQCX-njfKu7MVyfaXoMnnD7XhGOHkZbBtySzh72g85W-23VS2uAEUhLiIDey7gWAEtGDQqxXV68fngwcRpP6fTU/s320/NSA%20Headshots%202022-Nashville-015%20(1).jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p><b>How did you come to be interested in topics of professional and personal well-being? What are some of the hidden issues that can block people without their being aware of the root cause? (ex. attention deficit disorder, Postpartum depression, dyslexia, etc.) </b></p><p>This is actually an area I am super passionate about. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was around 6 or 7 years old. This was in the late 80’s/early 90’s and there wasn’t a lot of information back then. Growing up I was always told to take my meds and I would grow out of it. No one ever explained what ADHD was or what some of the symptoms were that I was experiencing. I was just told that I was different and that I qualify for special testing privileges. Once I graduated college, I stopped talking my medication because, “I’m an adult now! I’ve been cured!”</p><p>It wasn’t until 8 years ago that I reached a breaking point. Nothing was working in my life personally or professionally. At work, it felt like I couldn’t please anyone. I kept getting told I wasn’t working hard enough, I talk too much, I was told not to share personal information about myself, I was told, “You may want to keep the fact that you have ADHD to yourself because your team will look down on you,” I was even told to change the look on my face. Spoiler alert, these are all ADHD symptoms (Maybe not the look on my face!). </p><p>I finally started to see a therapist. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what it was! It felt like a bit of a failure on my end that I needed a therapist but she said something to me that made sense. “When a business is failing, you hire a consultant to work with you to get things back on track. How is this different?” As I started building my relationship with my therapist, it was very hard at first. She would ask me questions that I didn’t like. She was telling me things about my situation that I thought she was dead wrong about. I stuck with her though. One day she suggested I get back on my medication. I was reluctant cause I thought I outgrew ADHD! As soon as I got back on my medication, everything changed. It was this ah-ha moment that I need this to function. Soon, things started falling into place.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWvcbYa_5u2etc5sZJkh3eIXTuVcD9NA0N-r3G3xzH1ea7PXdxO-gZsRggaEWDK6gqBN3Oa_y--nCFsfaI6Lq4U_yZ0hXkM6k2s8BFF-etgkijCKxYmyksGDWoU6U_gQIYuykKBQPXwj5-Ek54i84xs_SK3zf40_yEONtbyxf-Gnbs0d-bATc/s1544/Maureen%20and%20Fripp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1544" data-original-width="1158" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWvcbYa_5u2etc5sZJkh3eIXTuVcD9NA0N-r3G3xzH1ea7PXdxO-gZsRggaEWDK6gqBN3Oa_y--nCFsfaI6Lq4U_yZ0hXkM6k2s8BFF-etgkijCKxYmyksGDWoU6U_gQIYuykKBQPXwj5-Ek54i84xs_SK3zf40_yEONtbyxf-Gnbs0d-bATc/s320/Maureen%20and%20Fripp.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>While yes, getting back on my medication was step one, it wasn’t until I started working at the National Speakers Association that I really started to embrace my ADHD. I was meeting incredibly successful people who speak on ADHD, meeting experts with PhD’s on it. I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about this disorder, and I have it! </p><p>When it comes to these hidden disorders of ADHD, dyslexia, post-partum, etc., they are so much more common than you think and there are many people who have these challenges and they don’t even know they have it. Or like me, they’ve been told to hide it, or they know they have it but have found a survival method to live with it. The reality is we are human, and we need to embrace our differences and our challenges. The future can be an amazing place! These days, there are so much more resources, education, and technology around these things that can dramatically improve your life.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJapB9j6TmzZUoxsIKGh_t2UndGz4W_u-amKGDViq02casyju2kyO5XbPIv1L74mPtimpEN7CODVTW-e6IuoDJ1FQYLvPsPKuETzBYOh2-t07Sb3cxI_IWDZB81cSSrHV8UctLmE94Gccn0PgjVHKFS2iRrAzg7_rHkVatcgIARW9K6CdExsk/s912/Mauree%20Team%20Us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="912" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJapB9j6TmzZUoxsIKGh_t2UndGz4W_u-amKGDViq02casyju2kyO5XbPIv1L74mPtimpEN7CODVTW-e6IuoDJ1FQYLvPsPKuETzBYOh2-t07Sb3cxI_IWDZB81cSSrHV8UctLmE94Gccn0PgjVHKFS2iRrAzg7_rHkVatcgIARW9K6CdExsk/s320/Mauree%20Team%20Us.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Just like anything else, you just need to do the work. It’s your responsibility to educate yourself. We learned this lesson over the pandemic. Change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a trial-and-error period that I like to call “growing pains.” Some days you are on top of the world and some days feel like a failure. It’s not a failure, its just a growing pain! If you can commit to learn or implement one new thing a week to better your life, that’s a pretty big toolbox you built in just one year! </p><p><b>How can a person turn what they had considered a disadvantage to an advantage? </b></p><p>I am a glass half full kinda gal. I think you can spin any disadvantage into an advantage with the right mindset. You need to focus on what YOU can control. There are so many things out of our control especially when we are living in a time where it seems like we keep losing so much of our control! You don’t have control over the weather, but you can control what you wear when you go outside. You can’t control what’s going on in politics, but you can control how you vote. There are probably things going on at your organization that seem doom and gloom that you can’t control. You can control the way that you show up every day and your attitude. Take a deep breath and be present with yourself in that feeling of disadvantage and ask yourself:</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What are the things I cannot control?</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What are the things I CAN control?</p><p>Out of the things you said that you can control, assess the situation. Is there a way that you can help? How can you fill a void that needs to be filled? Perhaps you just need to stay out of the situation entirely and take yourself out of it. There is always some kind of way forward.</p><p><b>Please recommend a book that you have really enjoyed. </b></p><p>Surprisingly my favorite book that I’ve read lately is, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.” I have found this to be so incredibly relevant in my professional and personal life, especially if you are in a leadership role at your organization. Learning about how Lincoln handled his strong minded cabinet with opposing views, big egos, in a life or death situation is truly remarkable. So many lessons and insights came out of that book for me!</p><p><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-70859901945129190122023-03-14T21:56:00.004-05:002023-03-14T22:42:20.525-05:00Interview with Thomas Fink: Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic, and Abstract Painter<p>Welcome to an interview with Thomas Fink, whose latest collection of poetry, <i>Zeugma, </i>a fascinating title for a rhetorical term that refers to a single word that links disparate ideas ("she broke his glass sculpture and his heart"). It is a great pleasure to have the chance to learn more about his background and some of the ideas that inform his poetics, criticism, and art. In addition to his artistic and scholarly work, Fink has supported publishers and writing programs such as the <a href="https://marshhawkpress.org/" target="_blank">Marsh Hawk Press</a>. </p><p><b>What is your name and background?</b></p><p>I’m Thomas Fink, a professor of English at City University of New York’s LaGuardia Community College for the past 41 years. I’ve published twelve books of poetry and two books of criticism about contemporary poetry, as well as a recent book on teaching college students to interpret poetry. I “moonlight” as an abstract painter.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2rO94K7q9iO46imQNOxt5d2dizlxtxDxEtz88KazqNix2W8CTw73iu0koAHZBcJtq3PBOEVl-UXqMnT7BGm8ofthwt4aYdPrntxdsFqK3GMKfVcNs0E4V4wDohobhRM7KHnTnGBkHEoEWYTc7PSATla4XRuYYkdJYQ73Rxw-wWcldRJFzSs/s543/thomas-fink-portrait.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="401" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2rO94K7q9iO46imQNOxt5d2dizlxtxDxEtz88KazqNix2W8CTw73iu0koAHZBcJtq3PBOEVl-UXqMnT7BGm8ofthwt4aYdPrntxdsFqK3GMKfVcNs0E4V4wDohobhRM7KHnTnGBkHEoEWYTc7PSATla4XRuYYkdJYQ73Rxw-wWcldRJFzSs/s320/thomas-fink-portrait.png" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portrait of Thomas Fink by Maya D. Mason</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p><b>When did you become interested in experimental or avant-garde poetry?</b></p><p>When I graduated from Princeton University in 1976 and was just about to enter the MA and PhD program at Columbia University, a high school friend gave me John Ashbery’s Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror as a present. At first, I found the book infuriating, but eventually, it opened me up to a wide range of avant-garde poetry, and I wrote the third doctoral dissertation (after David Shapiro and Donald Revell) on Ashbery’s work. </p><p><b>What makes a poem experimental or avant-garde... especially in 2023? </b></p><p>I’ve given up trying to answer that question! For one thing, if I were to try to apply it to my own poetry-writing process, writer’s block would set in and persist indefinitely. The innovative practices and procedures that have been around since World War II or even before are still viable but can hardly be called avant-garde any longer. Some proponents of what is labeled Conceptual poetry perceive their poetics as a replacement for those earlier practices, which they consider exhausted and not worth “repeating.” I don’t agree. Others believe that particular kinds of politicizing of poetry, whether tied to formal choices or not, are the most authentic, useful avant-garde gestures. Sometimes I find that this approach produces poetry that is both intellectually and aesthetically compelling. </p><p><b>Please tell us a bit about your collection, Zeugma. What is the main focus?</b></p><p>I didn’t set out to have a single focus in <i>Zeugma</i>. But in her Foreword, Patricia Carlin finds that the title, which implies the yoking together of disparate things, is enacted in the book itself and hence serves as a focus to represent “the fragmented, unstable, and confusing contemporary scene” (9). It would be hard not to view “Bewilderness,” the opening poem, as a reflection on the pandemic, and individual poems surely have references, sometimes oblique and sometimes not, to extremism in the Republican Party. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvXVZSC11Mcpnm1PrgtRg9TVw_xmqHYr_yJtmhJR1aqg3zryHA9J7rh1VXuPbnUqwbY4D6-aXxyMXKT7UruXzATbUzdmpTdWQ3c37xyYKXhgJgXeK2p8noxckUX664mgftNr76I7tTQKvzEvufvW9x_5LI3xKuHUeucqNLtlpP7cDLKOp24Y/s600/Zeugma%20cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="600" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvXVZSC11Mcpnm1PrgtRg9TVw_xmqHYr_yJtmhJR1aqg3zryHA9J7rh1VXuPbnUqwbY4D6-aXxyMXKT7UruXzATbUzdmpTdWQ3c37xyYKXhgJgXeK2p8noxckUX664mgftNr76I7tTQKvzEvufvW9x_5LI3xKuHUeucqNLtlpP7cDLKOp24Y/s320/Zeugma%20cover.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zeugma</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I think everyone will recognize the allusion in the title of “November 7, 2020.” A bunch of poems are written in a hybrid form that I came up with called “Sonnina”; it’s a cross between a sonnet and a sestina. Also, there are continuations of long-running series: “Yinglish Strophes,” which uses an approximation (and often an exaggeration) of Yiddish-inflected English syntax to air topics such as intergenerational differences/connections in a family and perspectives forged by immigration, “Goad,” which actually reflects the theme implied in its title, and “Dusk Bowl Intimacies,” which registers both displacements and quests for individual security. The verse-play, “Who My People Are,” may also reflect some concerns of the three series I’ve mentioned. </p><div><br /></div>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-63084673771196756952022-12-27T11:17:00.006-06:002022-12-27T11:17:58.113-06:00A Conversation with Rochelle Owens about Patterns of Animus (2022)<p> <span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: arial;">Audio Recording of interview with Rochelle Owens over Patterns of Animus: <a href="http://www.zenzebra.net/audio/rochelle-2022-12-07.mp3">http://www.zenzebra.net/audio/rochelle-2022-12-07.mp3</a> </span><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1d2228; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5duYlWFGo67Ngmis5JRKDjffm4xgbKBiTf1SW59_9ANlXj-9RClfdhnRk7cfNTSbx6yoFPYgDacnwpbyoQYLiTq2VoQdWmOoMoFqXJKRAiqg_xKjygT7saZ_QK01avxRwpsKLU1bLKfxamZzskTNvkcN8vOiNr6PJrHk3s5rmHsx79_gQAg/s1200/patterns%20of%20animus.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Rochelle Owens Patterns of Animus" border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5duYlWFGo67Ngmis5JRKDjffm4xgbKBiTf1SW59_9ANlXj-9RClfdhnRk7cfNTSbx6yoFPYgDacnwpbyoQYLiTq2VoQdWmOoMoFqXJKRAiqg_xKjygT7saZ_QK01avxRwpsKLU1bLKfxamZzskTNvkcN8vOiNr6PJrHk3s5rmHsx79_gQAg/w400-h210/patterns%20of%20animus.jpg" title="Rochelle Owens Patterns of Animus" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rochelle Owens: Patterns of Animus</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speaking to Rochelle Owens is always a pleasure because she sheds insight on her work and philosophical underpinnings. She also explores the ideas that inform her poetry as well as her plays.</span></p><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome to an interview with Owens, where she reads from her new long poem, “Patterns of Animus,” and chats with Susan Nash about her work and interests now and in the past.
“Patterns of Animus” appears in her collection of the same name, which also contains a series of essays written about her earlier work.
To purchase <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Animus-Poetry-Accompanying-Reviews/dp/1945784121/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TFYFXPB2KKCA&keywords=rochelle+owens+patterns+of+animus&qid=1671728907&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=rochelle+owens+patterns+of+animus%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Patterns of Animus</a> or to read free on Kindle, click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Animus-Poetry-Accompanying-Reviews/dp/1945784121/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TFYFXPB2KKCA&keywords=rochelle+owens+patterns+of+animus&qid=1671728907&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=rochelle+owens+patterns+of+animus%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-1" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2228; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><br /></div>
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Post: EditChanges savedsusan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-16393686340131179672022-12-27T11:14:00.000-06:002022-12-27T11:14:08.798-06:00A Conversation with Rochelle Owens on The Aardvark Venus (2020) <p> <span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228;">Audio Recording: <a href="http://www.zenzebra.net/audio/rochelle-2022-12-08.mp3">http://www.zenzebra.net/audio/rochelle-2022-12-08.mp3</a></span></p><p><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Rochelle Owens has been writing and publishing poetry since the early 1960s, and now her early work is available together with recent work (from 2020) in a single volume, </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The Aardvark Venus: Selected Poems 1961 - 2020.<span class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aaApple-converted-space"> </span></i></p><p class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aap1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Welcome to an interview with Rochelle Owens, who chats with Susan Nash about her work, the philosophical ideas that have influenced her.<span class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aaApple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aap1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aaApple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aap1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aaApple-converted-space">To purchase a perfect-bound paper copy, or to read it on Kindle, please click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Aardvark-Venus-Selected-Poems-1961/dp/1945784113/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?crid=TC7F6WLTAVU3&keywords=rochelle+owens+aardvark+venus&qid=1671731460&sprefix=rochelle+owens+aardvark+venus%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1-fkmr0" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></p><p class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aap1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aaApple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aM57XPcYz4CjOnLJucxwZa-jD85CSAJNAWKH8cPtVZh4Tw8D980diT3J8Xo0YAQH8mO6rcjuvtv15ENPG3qoVioi3Plg6CCYhcEjIQu0uRc29wj9-zhYQgcCsAbIcOatqsR8pWG2R5is0t18xmFQV5hehym8-xVHekye7V455AhIWBQq4w/s1200/aardvark%20venus.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aM57XPcYz4CjOnLJucxwZa-jD85CSAJNAWKH8cPtVZh4Tw8D980diT3J8Xo0YAQH8mO6rcjuvtv15ENPG3qoVioi3Plg6CCYhcEjIQu0uRc29wj9-zhYQgcCsAbIcOatqsR8pWG2R5is0t18xmFQV5hehym8-xVHekye7V455AhIWBQq4w/w400-h210/aardvark%20venus.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Aardvark Venus, by Rochelle Owens</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aap2" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p><div><span class="yiv9799913084ydp5d3db8aaApple-converted-space"><br /></span></div><p><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-91241178684133749222022-09-15T12:06:00.002-05:002022-09-15T12:06:43.319-05:00Assessment in Moodle 4.0: So Much New Potential<p>Moodle allows you to bring together assessment, content, collaboration all in one place. In the <a href="https://youtu.be/Vn7R3ihjLak">video </a>below, I discuss the kinds of popular assessments and assessment strategies in this brief video. This includes multiple choice quizzes to use with your smartphones, tablets, laptops; self-grading assessments, short answers, essays, and collaborative workshops. All are available with Moodle mobile. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEY6asA8-C9yT8M2KGdzuwuGwzCXxFmH0XEv06TyqjlacYhrqxfzI6SK3YzQbmjB4vO3yCyfENLWjl1rxZESZkDgv13G3K7CiZTsMz_Lr1SxsuEkjsFlunD09lvAhbMhz-cAKroCuOl16Sted58BB55XKp1oPH3Eap3HWwFffRM_misH77nBA/s374/assessments-youtube-moodle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="assessments with Moodle 4.0" border="0" data-original-height="209" data-original-width="374" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEY6asA8-C9yT8M2KGdzuwuGwzCXxFmH0XEv06TyqjlacYhrqxfzI6SK3YzQbmjB4vO3yCyfENLWjl1rxZESZkDgv13G3K7CiZTsMz_Lr1SxsuEkjsFlunD09lvAhbMhz-cAKroCuOl16Sted58BB55XKp1oPH3Eap3HWwFffRM_misH77nBA/w320-h179/assessments-youtube-moodle.png" title="Assessments with Moodle 4.0" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out the video </td></tr></tbody></table><p>The key is following good instructional design so that you are aligning the assessments with the content and learning objectives. Moodle assessments are perfect for the courses set up for self-registration, on-demand content and assessment with automatic generation of certificates and badges upon successful completion of the assessment. The following book shows you how to incorporate activities (resources) and also popular plugins. </p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y4IM6SMS4SNU&keywords=moodle+4+e-learning+course+development&qid=1663258878&sprefix=moodle+%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1 " target="_blank">Moodle 4 E-Learning Course Development, 5th Edition / Packt Publishing</a></p><p>Link to the book: </p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y4IM6SMS4SNU&keywords=moodle+4+e-learning+course+development&qid=1663258878&sprefix=moodle+%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y4IM6SMS4SNU&keywords=moodle+4+e-learning+course+development&qid=1663258878&sprefix=moodle+%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1 </a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vn7R3ihjLak" width="320" youtube-src-id="Vn7R3ihjLak"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-49622579021706014982022-09-12T11:12:00.002-05:002022-09-13T06:40:00.348-05:00Interview with Claudia Ruiz-Graham, Co-Founder, Imaged Reality, on using Virtual Reality for Training, Field Work, and Team Building<p> <span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome to an <a href="https://youtu.be/44VF-A4uG_g" target="_blank">interview </a>with Claudia Ruiz-Graham, founder of Imaged Reality (</span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.imagedreality.com/">https://www.imagedreality.com/</a>)</span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Imaged Reality develops immersive technologies with applications to Earth Sciences in Energy, Mining, Engineering and Academia. With their technology, customers can create digital reservoir atlases and virtual core stores in immersive and collaborative environments, integrating data across different scales. This leads to improved interpretations and a better integration between multi-disciplinary teams, resulting in better decision-making, risk reduction and increased capital return. </span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaDDW7SQ9i1ArxEOCR618zj_JDwUkcHZB1lKxjkPPG1NUP63SNvOaKQ3c0gUVCDUkBuS6zW-LB_-Vr2A9wL2dc8fcU7lAb5gxescRmMzEpSpQnUS_6o9lSqrTNa6_5XQT1f7jmN-FO3GcWVmLRg1m0HRHLVWZmtK3qcLe5aHfBBY98eUQQoU/s1280/claudia-ruiz-graham-and-susan-nash-elearning-corgi-banner.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaDDW7SQ9i1ArxEOCR618zj_JDwUkcHZB1lKxjkPPG1NUP63SNvOaKQ3c0gUVCDUkBuS6zW-LB_-Vr2A9wL2dc8fcU7lAb5gxescRmMzEpSpQnUS_6o9lSqrTNa6_5XQT1f7jmN-FO3GcWVmLRg1m0HRHLVWZmtK3qcLe5aHfBBY98eUQQoU/w400-h225/claudia-ruiz-graham-and-susan-nash-elearning-corgi-banner.png" title="Interview: Claudia Ruiz-Graham and Susan Nash" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lively discussion of the amazing world of virtual reality and geology</td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><p></p><p>Stratbox, available in Desktop and VR, is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform for collaborative data integration in 3D space. It allows users to study and interpret reservoir analogues using 3D outcrop models, integrating data from regional to pore scale in a single 3D environment, in which users can collaborate remotely from anywhere. Imaged Reality offers customers “on demand” access to curated collections of digital outcrops from around the world which serve as reservoir analogues. Stratbox is also used as the software of choice in instructor-led virtual geology courses.</p><p></p><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/44VF-A4uG_g" width="320" youtube-src-id="44VF-A4uG_g"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Video Link: <a href="https://youtu.be/44VF-A4uG_g">https://youtu.be/44VF-A4uG_g</a></div><div><br /></div>Stratbox Core Explorer is a web-based platform that enables customers on-demand access to their internal collections of core images and automated integration of related data such as thin sections, metadata, etc. Users can collaborate to create core descriptions and participate in virtual core workshops from any location.</div>
The team at Imaged Reality is working with multinational companies and universities in the UK, US, Europe and Latin America. They have facilitated ground-breaking virtual field trips for Shell, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Staatsolie, and Ecopetrol. They are also proud to work with Plymouth University, Louisiana State University, Texan A&M, and University College of Dublin.
Our team is a mix of Industry and gaming technologies experts. We are starting our second funding round, we would like to invite investors, customers, technology partners and industry experts who want to work with us, to help people understand the Planet better.
In this interview, Susan Nash and Claudia Ruiz-Graham also discuss how the Stratbox platform can be incorporated with a learning management system such as Moodle to make it possible not only to have the immersive training experience, but also to incorporate assessments to earn credentials, certifications, college credit, and more.
In addition to Imaged Reality, please check out Susan Nash's new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3E3YSWUZYIQY&keywords=moodle+4+e-learning+course+development&qid=1662860448&sprefix=moodle+4%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Moodle 4.0 E-Learning Course Development</a> for guidelines for creating courses that build in virtual worlds, in an easy-to-access framework that incorporates assessments and repositories of supporting material</span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-91522189726696015502022-09-12T11:05:00.001-05:002022-09-12T11:05:23.560-05:00Effective E-Learning with Virtual Learning Environments<p> Virtual learning environments take advantage of all modalities of online instruction, ranging from listening to recorded lectures to interacting in real-time in a 3D immersive environment. Perhaps the most flexible virtual learning environment now is Moodle, particularly with Moodle 4.0's new capabilities. Please check out <a href="https://www.packtpub.com/product/moodle-4-e-learning-course-development/9781801079037?_ga=2.163639289.710424787.1660938296-2051522919.1656098789">Moodle 4.0 E-Learning Course Development</a>. </p><p>https://youtu.be/ft8003rMjag</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ft8003rMjag" width="320" youtube-src-id="ft8003rMjag"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are a number of ways in which virtual learning environments are the most effective path forward for training, primarily when there are health, safety, logistics, and cost issues.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When cohorts and distributed teams must be trained together over a multi-week or month period, collaborative virtual learning is extremely effective. It's often good to couple the virtual learning environment with a learning management system (LMS) such as Moodle or Canvas to integrate assessment and to provide calendars, student success apps such as check-ins and notices, and "did you know" and "check your knowledge" informal engagers. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zaVosvdIco4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><h1 class="style-scope ytd-watch-metadata" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; display: -webkit-box; line-height: 2.8rem; margin: 0px; max-height: 5.6rem; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; word-break: break-word;"><yt-formatted-string class="style-scope ytd-watch-metadata" force-default-style="" style="color: #0f0f0f; font-family: "YouTube Sans", Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">eLearnChat 396: Augmented Reality, back to the Cave? </span></yt-formatted-string><span face="YouTube Sans, Roboto, sans-serif" style="color: #0f0f0f; font-size: small;">https://youtu.be/zaVosvdIco4</span></h1></div><div><br />For pointers on how to develop and effective elearning course that follows instructional design principles, please check out the highly rated <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=12RMA1JLS0AR6&keywords=moodle+4+elearning+course+nash&qid=1662998603&sprefix=moodle+4+elearning+course+nash%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-1">Moodle 4 E-Learning Course Development</a>. </div><div><yt-formatted-string class="style-scope ytd-watch-metadata" force-default-style=""><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></yt-formatted-string></div>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-88128591806016482532022-07-14T18:24:00.002-05:002022-07-15T10:45:56.857-05:00Interview with Ian Wild on Effective E-learning: From 3D Immersive Training to Fearless Physics and Math<p><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome to an interview with Ian Wild, AVEVA, who shares his experiences with Moodle and discusses how to design effective, interactive learning experiences that are effective across the board -- from math and physics, to complex immersive 3D training environments. Some of his many publications can be found through his LinkedIn site: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/iandavidwild/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/iandavidwild/</a></span></p><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ian and I have an interesting chat about what it takes to be effective when using a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) such as Moodle to work with all kinds of learners and their learning goals. </span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Augmented Reality in Training:</b> Ian specializes in developing plugins to create 3D learning environment that can be used to simulate real-world locations and thus provide authentic training experiences in ways that reduce risk and allow real-time collaboration and training. </span><div><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a link on the "Unified Learning" platform that covers augmented learning (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.aveva.com/en/products/unified-learning/">https://www.aveva.com/en/products/unified-learning/</a>) </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In addition, here is a free plugin that will allow you to experiment with augmented reality in Moodle: Wavefront renderer plugin, <a href="https://moodle.org/plugins/mod_wavefront">https://moodle.org/plugins/mod_wavefront</a>.</span></div><div><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Fearless Physics and Math? </b> Ian shows us how this is possible in a completely different type of training and tutoring. Here Ian uses Moodle and Moodle plugins to create an environment where young math students can gain confidence as they work through the levels and successfully pass through the competency frameworks.
</span><div><br /></div><div>**** </div><div> Just released!! <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UQEZSIDZKHT1&keywords=moodle+4.0&qid=1657384998&sprefix=moodle+4.0%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Moodle 4.0 Learning Course Development </a>(Packt Publishing) -available via Packt (subscription) or via Amazon <span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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</span><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://authors.packtpub.com/interview-with-susan-smith-nash/" target="_blank">Author interview: Susan Smith Nash for Packt Publishing </a></span></div></div>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-15801431979471991602022-07-11T23:43:00.002-05:002022-07-11T23:43:48.332-05:00Interview with Stephen Downes on E-Learning and Connectivism<p>Welcome to a conversation with Stephen Downes, National Research Council of Canada. Stephen has been at the forefront of innovative approaches to learning and e-learning for many years, having invented and launched, among other things, the game-changing concept, the MOOC.</p><p>Stephen Downes works with the Digital Technologies Research Centre at the National Research Council of Canada specializing in new instructional media and personal learning technology. His degrees are in Philosophy, specializing in epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science.</p><p>Today, we talk about where we are with e-learning and how connectivism works in learning. How and where are connections made that result in learning? We address those questions and more in this <a href="https://youtu.be/EPd06IvzLZ4" target="_blank">video interview</a>. </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EPd06IvzLZ4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><p>If you'd like to read and listen to more, please start by visiting Stephen Downes's website: <a href="http://www.downes.ca">http://www.downes.ca</a> . </p><p>Then, be sure to subscribe to the free daily news aggregator and place for helpful insights and opinions: OL Daily <a href="https://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm">https://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm</a></p><p>**** </p><p>Just released!! <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=5m66U&content-id=amzn1.sym.bbb6bbd8-d236-47cb-b42f-734cb0cacc1f&pf_rd_p=bbb6bbd8-d236-47cb-b42f-734cb0cacc1f&pf_rd_r=SHM2Z6CAH4ZAW9VH4ZYC&pd_rd_wg=dlWbD&pd_rd_r=75b6652f-5b0e-4d9c-a903-c7620c57754e&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mi" target="_blank">Moodle 4.0 Learning Course Development</a> (Packt Publishing) -available via Packt (subscription) or via Amazon. </p><p>For more interview videos, visit Relatecasts: E-Learn Chat and <a href="https://youtu.be/ZXdKzIX7XLU">Life Edge</a> (here is a link with data scientist Sashi Gunturu). </p><p>Interview conducted by Susan Smith Nash. </p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-70974611112852985082022-07-09T12:55:00.002-05:002022-07-09T12:55:33.455-05:00How will Moodle 4.0 affect Human Logic and other Moodle Partners? <p> <a href="https://www.packtpub.com/product/moodle-4-e-learning-course-development/9781801079037?_ga=2.76134294.2053163004.1657384026-389173632.1657384026" target="_blank">Moodle 4.0</a> has been released and it represents a tremendous breakthrough. The upgrade has focused on improving the user experience while keeping the best of the legacy resources and activities, as well as the overall framework. </p><p>The result is a dynamic, revitalized platform that can energize learning programs so that students are more engaged and more likely to succeed. It's also a big "plus" for certificate programs and applied learning because bridging theory and application is easier than ever. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFaOvwLxkkwPYUL3TdXowhiUGQGEgT5nPWAg3Xpf7QCWnnhrRRo9YwvR2wgX_RSeg-KWdhvHA0nGaxScmFVBJCa6E20kYZ6Xdc_tK3XVmJ6bH4rLYOSlq6aTHeS_C_VjxZy8_iLSrxpP8w8tuuYIc5ed-G9-xpAah8vD_8BiNy3T2hTJ-G_cQ/s309/cover-nash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFaOvwLxkkwPYUL3TdXowhiUGQGEgT5nPWAg3Xpf7QCWnnhrRRo9YwvR2wgX_RSeg-KWdhvHA0nGaxScmFVBJCa6E20kYZ6Xdc_tK3XVmJ6bH4rLYOSlq6aTHeS_C_VjxZy8_iLSrxpP8w8tuuYIc5ed-G9-xpAah8vD_8BiNy3T2hTJ-G_cQ/w324-h400/cover-nash.jpg" width="324" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moodle 4.0 offers an almost infinite range of new opportunities for interaction, assessment, and commercialization of training and education</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>What does <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UQEZSIDZKHT1&keywords=moodle+4.0&qid=1657384998&sprefix=moodle+4.0%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-1">Moodle 4.0</a> mean to award-winning Moodle partners such as <a href="https://www.human-logic.com/" target="_blank">Human Logic</a>? Human Logic, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has earned a great reputation for corporate e-learning as well as providing integrated solutions for universities and technical institutes. </p><p>The first thing that the new interface assures is that students can more easily keep track of their work, see what is coming up, and to interact with their fellow students, collaborators, and instructors. That is a very important aspect, particularly in highly technical collaborative training for industries such as energy, manufacturing, and supply chain management. </p><p>The new interface and user experience (upgraded dashboards, redesigned mobile interface, etc.), is fantastic for young learners because it makes it easier for them to work with their parents and tutors as well as their core teachers. </p><p>Finally, the fact that Moodle is open source means that it's possible to customize solutions so that they align with the specific goals and mission of the organization and the learners. </p><p>Please stay tuned! This will be one of many articles about the fantastic capabilities in Moodle 4.0! </p><p><i>Susan Nash</i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_rZNI03qb5-VAmMGCo_mEI4UgO-kLcu6dvur-MYB_9JPi86nhydg9VUFLcxbgzoMG4v0Fr8bswMJJNhjKnvrne4XXnOass1C31_h5CMfjkTMe9mST-MGoOUCZVH7aMDVAW3Y_emlAP7IhpDzfQdRmWRTANDG36MbcoJ87gRx55OuRXtXUYI/s1440/susan-author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_rZNI03qb5-VAmMGCo_mEI4UgO-kLcu6dvur-MYB_9JPi86nhydg9VUFLcxbgzoMG4v0Fr8bswMJJNhjKnvrne4XXnOass1C31_h5CMfjkTMe9mST-MGoOUCZVH7aMDVAW3Y_emlAP7IhpDzfQdRmWRTANDG36MbcoJ87gRx55OuRXtXUYI/w169-h200/susan-author.jpg" width="169" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-70341319350980066622022-04-29T22:18:00.003-05:002024-02-16T17:21:17.192-06:00The Renaissance: New Ideas<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Renaissance (1450 – 1600) marked the flowering of culture, science and ideas about the nature of humanity that occurred in Europe, starting in Italy, spread throughout Europe. Characterized by philosophy, art, architecture, and literature, the Renaissance was a cultural revolution fueled by wealth from trade and new technology, along with political consolidations. It began in Italy in the 15</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century (the “Quattrocento”) where the wealth banking family, the Medicis, became great patrons of art and learning. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Big Question: </span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-021b1645-7fff-bf54-7bf3-8cca986e4ded"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did the philosophical ideas of Humanism reinforce the cultural and scientific revolution of the Renaissance?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">See: The Philosophical Foundations of Humanism</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> During the Middle Ages, Aristotelianism reigned. It was a nice, orderly way of thinking of the world. Everything was in its right place, and there was always balance, equilibrium, and symmetry. Perhaps nowhere was this more evident than in Aristotle’s book, Categories, from his Organon. The Renaissance embraced the structure and symmetry of Aristotle as a way of creating beauty, instead of enforcing order in the world and structure, as it was used in the Middle Ages. The renewed emphasis on the philosophy of the Classics allowed investigation into representation of the phenomenal world, which is to say during the Renaissance, it was now acceptable to explore the natural world, and to ask questions about his forms and functions. Finding new ways to represent the natural world was also encouraged, which meant that the Renaissance brought together art, science, philosophy in new ways. As a result, we see the development of 3-dimensional art on a 2-dimensional canvas (thanks to, for example, linear perspective converging on a vanishing point where there are orthogonals, such as large tiles in the floor in a painting). </span></p><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read: Defining Humanism in the Renaissance</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overview: Humanism represented a change of focus. Instead of simply seeking to define the right place of everything within a rigid hierarchy, Renaissance thinkers began to focus on the human being, and human potential for achieving great things, and finding a moment of unity with the good and the beautiful. There was a renewed interest in the philosophical writings of the ancient Greeks, primarily Plato and Aristotle. In addition to exploring the philosophy of the Classics, the Renaissance thinkers also studied their buildings, sculptures, and other works of art. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Foundational Humanism</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Petrarch: Considered the key philosophical figure in the Renaissance, Petrarch, who was Italian, was driven by the idea of the quest for the ideal. For Petrarch, there was no conflict between realizing human potential and having religious faith. Petrarch was very interested in the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the classics, not just in terms of art and architecture, but also poetry, philosophy, and lost works. He invented the sonnet form, and he wrote love poems for Laura, although he had very little real contact with her in real life. His poetry and prose championed realism and empirical knowledge. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: His “Oration on the Dignity of Man” is considered the Manifesto of the Renaissance. Pico resurrected humanism of ancient Greek philosophy, including Aristotle and Plato. His ideas mainly based on Plato. Through mental struggle, ascends great chain of being towards the angels and communion with God – unity which is very Platonic. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thomas More: Wrote Utopia, an example of an ideal world which represents humanistic philosophy. In it, each person has a place in society that corresponds with their true nature and abilities, and there is communal ownership of property. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Montaigne: Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most important philosophers of the French Renaissance. His essays were explorations of his own thoughts and attitudes, and he mulled over the prevailing philosophies and reflected upon the novelties of the times, such as the tales of travel in the Americas. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reformation</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Luther: Faith and the Individual</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Martin Luther, a German professor, was famous for his “95 Theses” which rested on the main concepts that the Bible is the core authority and that individuals can be saved (achieve salvation) only by faith and not by deeds. The “95 Theses” were published in 1517, and unleashed the Reformation, a religious schism which broke with the Catholic Church and repudiated the pope’s authority, rejected the validity of the sale of indulgences. Instead, he promoted “The Priesthood of All Believers.” Luther was excommunicated in 1521 at the Diet of Worms, after which he used the printing press to create pamphlets that explains the new doctrine.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Calvin: Break Away from Hierarchy </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John Calvin, a French Protestant, believed in predestination and the omnipotence of God. Calvin was a stern believer in the power of God’s word and the responsibility of individuals to learn to read the Bible directly and to obey the word of God, without intermediaries (priests, bishops, etc.). The core concept of Calvinism is that God selects those who, through grace, are made capable of believing in God, which is the route to salvation (not deeds, or purchasing indulgences). It was very anti-authoritarian, and was not welcome among the priests, kings, popes, bishops, and others who had benefited from a belief system that gave them privilege, power, and authority. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Middle Way</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Henry VIII, miffed at Pope Clemente’s refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, decided to create a religion that maintained hierarchies and the divine rights of kings, but which eliminated the Pope. That church was The Church of England, and it instantly made enemies of both Protestants (Calvinists, etc.) and Catholics. Henry VIII sought to replace both with his Church of England, and he did so by burning Calvinists at the stake for heresy, and beheading Catholics. </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Reflect</b>: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was impressive! What impresses you most? Please list the first thoughts that you have. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Expand: </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Machiavelli’s </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prince (1532): The End Justifies the Means</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dedicated to his patron, Lorenzo de Medici, </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Prince</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1532, but written earlier) contains advice to the prince about how to acquire and maintain power. Much of the focus is on the psychology of the subjects, and so it is often considered a practical guide into the psychology of leadership, and the dynamic between the leader and followers. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Machiavelli first defines principalities, types of armies, and then moves into the character and behavior of the prince. Written in a pragmatic style, with a tone of scientific inquiry, some of the passages seem almost satirical, such as when Machiavelli concludes that it is better for the Prince to be feared than loved by his subjects, better to be cruel than merciful, but is a good idea to launch large projects in order to create a positive reputation. Enormously influential, but not at all an antidote to political hot water, Machiavelli was accused of conspiracy and tortured in 1513. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later, Machiavelli wrote </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Prince</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as well as historical and literary works. The main point of </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Prince</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is that almost any tactics can be justified in achieving the overall goal (creating a stable princedom), and if the populace is treacherous, then treachery on the part of the leader is justified. The book was condemned by Pope Clement VIII, but nevertheless became widely adopted and studied. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Explore: Scientific Revolution</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Francis Bacon: The Scientific Method</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626) was determined to invent a scientific method based on experimentation rather than parsing scriptures for evidence of natural law. He wanted to bring to light all the things that were previously hidden or unknown, and to do it for the good of humanity. His most important scientific writings were in essence writings in the philosophy of science. His book, “Novum Organum Scientiarum” (The New Scientific Method) lays out procedures for scientific investigation. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Galileo: The World Is Round, Despite Orthodoxy</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1543): Born in Poland, Copernicus was an astronomer who developed a celestial model which placed the sun in the middle of the planetary system (instead of Earth at the center). The heliocentric solar system was described in “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.” Copernicus was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Galileo (1564 – 1642) was convicted of heresy for his belief that the world is not flat, and barely escaped being burned at the stake, although he did spend time in prison. He was most famous for his work in astronomy and math, and his assertion that the Earth is not flat. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Discuss: Similarity and Differences</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Discuss the ways in which humanistic philosophy found its way into science, art, literature, and philosophy. What were the similarities and differences across the areas of study? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check your knowledge Quiz (5 questions):</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. The great patron of the arts in Quattrocento Italy was</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a) Giovanni de Medici (correct)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">b) Pope Clemente VII</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">c) Niccolo Machiavelli</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">d) Pantagruel, as chronicled by Rabelai</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Machiavelli asserts in </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Prince</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that mercenaries are</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a) essential for defense</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">b) dangerous and can leave one vulnerable (correct)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">c) expensive and wasteful</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">d) useful because they bring new ideas</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3) Copernicus devised a heliocentric planetary model which asserted that </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a) the moon was at the center, and the “Prince of Tides”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">b) the planets have moons, and the moons are sometimes more important than the planets themselves</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">c) the sun is at the center, and the planets rotate around it (correct)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">d) the earth is flat</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4) Humanistic thought in the Renaissance includes all except the following:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a) a return to Classical models</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">b) the human being has infinite possibilities of self-actualization</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">c) human accomplishment should be celebrated, and it brings together science, literature, politics, architecture, art, and more</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">d) Literacy is dangerous and all serious works of science, politics, and literature should be written in Latin (correct) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glossary</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heliocentric planetary system: developed by Copernicus. The planets rotate around the sun. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reformation: The reaction and reorganization of the church based on Martin Luther’s </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">95 Theses</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (written in 1517) which criticizes the Roman Catholic Church. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quattrocento: The 1400s (15</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century) in Italian</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Petrarchan sonnet: a sonnet form popularized by Petrarch, consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and of a sestet with one of several rhyme schemes, as cdecde or cdcdcd</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Elizabethan sonnet: a type of sonnet much used by Shakespeare, written in iambic pentameter and consisting of three quatrains and a final couplet with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vanishing point: the point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Linear perspective: a type of perspective used by artists in which the relative size, shape, and position of objects are determined by drawn or imagined lines converging at a point on the horizon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Orthogonal line: A related term, orthogonal projection, describes a method for drawing three-dimensional objects with linear perspective. It refers to perspective lines, drawn diagonally along parallel lines that meet at a so-called "vanishing point." Such perspective lines are orthogonal, or perpendicular to one another.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Key Takeaways</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Define humanism in the Renaissance</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Explain the political philosophy of Machiavelli in </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Prince</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. List important works of philosophy in the Renaissance</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Identify key scientific works in the Renaissance</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Describe utopian writing in the Renaissance and its impact</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lesson Toolbox</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renaissance Links</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Encyclopedia Britannica: Renaissance art and architecture. </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Metropolitan Museum of Art: Renaissance. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/keywords/baroque-art/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/keywords/baroque-art/</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">History.com: Renaissance Art: </span><a href="http://www.history.com/topics/renaissance-art" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.history.com/topics/renaissance-art</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Art Institute of Chicago: Arms, Armor, Medieval, and Renaissance </span><a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/armor" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/armor</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Virtual Uffizi Gallery / Florence. </span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+UffiziFlorence" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://plus.google.com/u/0/+UffiziFlorence</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Art Museums: Where to see Renaissance Art. </span><a href="https://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Art-Museums.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Art-Museums.html</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renaissance Inventions: </span><a href="http://www.inventionware.com/renaissance-inventions/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.inventionware.com/renaissance-inventions/</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More, Thomas. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Utopia.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2130/2130-h/2130-h.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2130/2130-h/2130-h.htm</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Machiavelli, Niccolo. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Prince.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grotius. The Rights of War and Peace. </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46564" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46564</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cortes, Hernan. Letters to Emperor Carlos V. </span><a href="https://archive.org/stream/lettersofcorts01cortuoft/lettersofcorts01cortuoft_djvu.txt" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://archive.org/stream/lettersofcorts01cortuoft/lettersofcorts01cortuoft_djvu.txt</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lope de Vega. Comedias: El remedio en la desdicha; El major alcalde, el rey. </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28408" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28408</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Calderon de la Barca. La Vida Es Sueño. </span><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2587/2587-h/2587-h.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2587/2587-h/2587-h.htm</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Garcilaso de la Vega. The works of Garcilaso de la Vega. </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49410" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49410</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Montaigne, Michel. Essays. </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2235" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2235</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Petrarch. Sonnets. Triumphs and other Poems. </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17650" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17650</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sir Philip Sidney. Astrophel and Stella. </span><a href="https://archive.org/details/sirpshisastroph00sidngoog" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://archive.org/details/sirpshisastroph00sidngoog</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br />-- Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.</span><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3OvH1iQ3M3B26YawbYFnb7A73aSsxkOB7plwOtlI5-X9fJdk3ZFuuBGTRNmNBaW-V8h6E34iUubIwI7ohZYf8UsFgGR9B6tNmmqZHU-8MK8B7K_m6gWhUCQHky_Aed7g_-5dxvRIFBFj7l-UHs6qwqPtSV8IuragqC_QLJLhesWmBal1c1s/s400/susan-nash.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="400" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3OvH1iQ3M3B26YawbYFnb7A73aSsxkOB7plwOtlI5-X9fJdk3ZFuuBGTRNmNBaW-V8h6E34iUubIwI7ohZYf8UsFgGR9B6tNmmqZHU-8MK8B7K_m6gWhUCQHky_Aed7g_-5dxvRIFBFj7l-UHs6qwqPtSV8IuragqC_QLJLhesWmBal1c1s/w200-h194/susan-nash.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /></span></div>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-87185122705741426402022-04-29T12:58:00.003-05:002022-05-16T10:12:06.943-05:00Immersive History Takes You to the Plague of Athens: Interview with Spencer Striker, History Adventures<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Spencer Striker is determined to make history come alive, and to put learners in the middle of scenarios that let them role play in ways that relate to their lives in ways they never imagined possible. The latest addition is "Global Pandemics: Plague of Athens," which plunges learners in the middle of a mysterious pandemic that occured in Ancient Greece. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1RlK7YD2PQNQzXHP-8C4XmyEsFqGQyov_tqiZND8mt4WSOkDVyTfM9IuTjIas3sAr6vLdkUhILHHkkJCBAQFPQ3nMobIfIhobtLgMtffVLxfU_NNXS3MMpw3MEEHMga1H3si5X8VsXvqEJQ1XDFMhNpvfa6EFIvyccRVla5YkmQQMDsDBxY/s1058/history-adventures.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1058" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1RlK7YD2PQNQzXHP-8C4XmyEsFqGQyov_tqiZND8mt4WSOkDVyTfM9IuTjIas3sAr6vLdkUhILHHkkJCBAQFPQ3nMobIfIhobtLgMtffVLxfU_NNXS3MMpw3MEEHMga1H3si5X8VsXvqEJQ1XDFMhNpvfa6EFIvyccRVla5YkmQQMDsDBxY/s320/history-adventures.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dr. Striker, who is a Digital Media Design professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, earned his Ph.D. in Digital Media from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Here is an interview from May 13, 2022 about Global Pandemics. <a href="https://youtu.be/o-oTOO2ahSg">https://youtu.be/o-oTOO2ahSg</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o-oTOO2ahSg" width="320" youtube-src-id="o-oTOO2ahSg"></iframe></div><br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At Life Edge, we had the privilege of interviewing Spencer in 2020 over his series featuring revolutions in history in History Adventures. Here is a </span><a href="https://youtu.be/S5BNBD9INTk" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;" target="_blank">link </a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">to the show: </span><a href="https://youtu.be/S5BNBD9INTk" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">https://youtu.be/S5BNBD9INTk</a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQIHu-Jex1D0k-N1pKvGWX5TiDqJ56cELLExrTLRka2Wd_u2QFdHq388QVnat7ENYgiDjOgg7vC289l-BzogXBEyMUqv1W83W8csSb-EYpDuVFCgVRRIa3yYnNL3ZIcBwq-8V7IaxKCuK1whVhqQlImDzmxd_JhRjCXqmcfFD2j0s82vvFOw/s1268/history-adventures2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="1268" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQIHu-Jex1D0k-N1pKvGWX5TiDqJ56cELLExrTLRka2Wd_u2QFdHq388QVnat7ENYgiDjOgg7vC289l-BzogXBEyMUqv1W83W8csSb-EYpDuVFCgVRRIa3yYnNL3ZIcBwq-8V7IaxKCuK1whVhqQlImDzmxd_JhRjCXqmcfFD2j0s82vvFOw/w400-h225/history-adventures2.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spencer Striker on E-Learn Chat in 2020</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><p>Welcome to an interview with Spencer Striker, Ph.D., along with links to demos. </p></span><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">1. Is the <a href="https://www.historyadventures.co/global-pandemics/" target="_blank">Global Pandemics</a> game ready now? </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Yes, absolutely! You can find the fully interactive web app available here: <a href="https://pandemics.historyadventures.app/">https://pandemics.historyadventures.app/</a></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnpKfy8u1ciB6IJYKar077tFNFmvBDX-2d0uOtvOPvinuWWEpJe0nn0UepZotWbdcKjYljTveq5FWzhi0vEmODaiQMU1nLnEYEN7fc1Hhh6bZKz3cg4kNAQaIq53U5iXONLTKlMAnstmcsn4NJnKcBUPPn3lfaTwaEPJL54h2lPss1AP3rcw/s1614/plague-of-athens.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="1614" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnpKfy8u1ciB6IJYKar077tFNFmvBDX-2d0uOtvOPvinuWWEpJe0nn0UepZotWbdcKjYljTveq5FWzhi0vEmODaiQMU1nLnEYEN7fc1Hhh6bZKz3cg4kNAQaIq53U5iXONLTKlMAnstmcsn4NJnKcBUPPn3lfaTwaEPJL54h2lPss1AP3rcw/s320/plague-of-athens.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">(It’s built for a desktop or laptop running in the Chrome browser, i.e. Chromebooks)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Please also find the full gameplay demo here on YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ-HVOJvqSs&t=7s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ-HVOJvqSs&t=7s</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Also, please find a full Media Kit of product screenshots here: <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YL0fFQBSErBGqYXVueXuKQ_gCdWXSCRj?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YL0fFQBSErBGqYXVueXuKQ_gCdWXSCRj?usp=sharing</a> </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">2. How much does it cost? </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It’s absolutely free!</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">3. What do people think was the main thing that caused the plague? Was it something unique, or was it a massive cholera outbreak or something like that? </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">To this day, historians are not certain what was the cause of the Plague of Athens. In the product, we challenge students to think like historians/epidemiologists and examine the possible causes in a feature we call: What Was It? Please see the attached screenshot as a reference! The possible suspects include: smallpox, bubonic plague, ebola, typhus, and typhoid.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-RwqesIa74bTFY2Da4E7Xqo9KhO3wTVVc7QnuoPeWcmfAqf5StlvKQ-qcpYRGJ6GacfCkNzCjgu4IAWFLbCEOC3bbwA9tAYYHW3H8p1SEw03lGgLfhhNJ9cbTX6GOcOy_bJNkKia05CgynpFPoMGX7XEcuI5a4GHZPmljGUP8fqF9kkORqVQ/s1621/plague-of-athens3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1621" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-RwqesIa74bTFY2Da4E7Xqo9KhO3wTVVc7QnuoPeWcmfAqf5StlvKQ-qcpYRGJ6GacfCkNzCjgu4IAWFLbCEOC3bbwA9tAYYHW3H8p1SEw03lGgLfhhNJ9cbTX6GOcOy_bJNkKia05CgynpFPoMGX7XEcuI5a4GHZPmljGUP8fqF9kkORqVQ/s320/plague-of-athens3.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">4. Can students interact with the vectors? (for example, with rats and fleas? a first-person shooter game to kill the rats? or run from the fleas in a maze?)</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We have many amazing interactive features built into Global Pandemics: Plague of Athens. Please find a list here!</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">3D Motion Design to Recreate History</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Advanced Web Animation to Simulate Pathogens</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Immersive 360 Panoramas of Historical Locations</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Animated Historical Timeline & Maps</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Choice-based Narrative Design</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Interactive Original Historical Documents</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Media-Rich Adaptive Assessments</span></li></ul><p></p></div></div>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-57210505425308003022022-04-28T12:38:00.007-05:002022-04-29T09:29:12.174-05:00Moldy Strawberries by Caio Fernando Abreu: Dangerous Self-Knowledge<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-d220eb51-7fff-8a5e-b653-8bafad2bf25c" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="ES">Abreu, Caio
Fernando. Moldy Strawberries. </span>Trans. from the Portuguese by Bruno Dantas
Lobato. Brooklyn, NY: <a href="https://archipelagobooks.org/" style="white-space: pre;" target="_blank">Archipelago Press</a><span style="white-space: pre;">.</span> 2022. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Caio Fernando Abreu, or Caio F. (as he signed his letters
and manuscripts), died in 1996, but was most active in the 70s and 80s, when he
first wrote the highly taboo and scandalizing stories. The stories in this collection, first
published in the 1970s and 80s, feel as though they were written yesterday. The
descriptions are visceral and unsettling - almost as though one were a large
brass cymbal or a gong hanging from cords that continues to vibrate long after
being struck with a wooden mallet. His body is your body, and your body is lost
somewhere in the collective consciousness of the stories, where desire is mixed
with shame, confusion, Dionysian abandon fueled by a seething rage for
connection.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisF2OQRYS8idK9YjVlJhEb7rQfMEGMnr5x09dItXJR8b_Z9H9kSljn4Lef92Fg1P0FEWZotTJtkXhKaROSrZ5ZIpOdwUUk6u-T3efoeC7uNrZ98KkuELNfuCy2yoJ4Lz520YpFyJ7GhZLp9ChalHxQ3jRZCmrYWJWCq8aan17MGXIYl6F9B4E/s2040/moldy2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="2040" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisF2OQRYS8idK9YjVlJhEb7rQfMEGMnr5x09dItXJR8b_Z9H9kSljn4Lef92Fg1P0FEWZotTJtkXhKaROSrZ5ZIpOdwUUk6u-T3efoeC7uNrZ98KkuELNfuCy2yoJ4Lz520YpFyJ7GhZLp9ChalHxQ3jRZCmrYWJWCq8aan17MGXIYl6F9B4E/w640-h202/moldy2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Some of the stories, such as “The Survivors,” are experimental in form. "The Survivors" is a 7-page
single stream-of-consciousness paragraph that blends art, music, philosophical
and psychological ideas with the memories of a relationship that may have just
ended (the narrator isn’t sure). What is left is “saudade” - the deep,
melancholic longing so characteristic of Brazilian music and literature. I’m
not sure which story was the most unsettling, but the one that first comes to
mind is “Sergeant Garcia,” the story of a corrupt police officer who arrests
adolescent boys and young men to physically and sexually assault, all the while
maintaining a charade of hypermasculinity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Caio F. died in 1996 of AIDS in a Brazil deeply conflicted
about homosexuality. His impact on
literature was profound, with the sense of a hand-held movie camera, with jerky
quick cuts, somewhere between cinema verite and a tone poem. The collection of
short stories opens with a sense of sambas and saudade and ends with classical
suite (“Moldy Strawberries” with the sections, Prelude, Allegro Agitado, Adagio
Sostenuto, Andante Ostinato, and Minuet and Rondo), that begins with the taste
of fruit going bad, but ends with a reflection on the possibility of growing
strawberries in one’s own garden. The ending is life-affirming, which is a
relief, because through the stories, the reader experienced harrowing
encounters in a world that denies gay sexuality, and in doing so, creates
cruelty, hypocrisy and obsession. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">-- Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1_z-BAgN-sCVDGFpZzMDP6lA9oBn0p2nGq48EPCZsiVmmXqvIKGLdmIwmVt9hvW4ShsxmhFJKk0ZSb_rPpSDh83JAjccg06Y4RcKTfTxAkm8GOUTZVgN1uRtzyCyZspTuPPvFIh_MAIqlakFI6mYBXQCmU-SfV3KJ43yYPb2ckolaGwxzXjU/s640/IMG_0634.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1_z-BAgN-sCVDGFpZzMDP6lA9oBn0p2nGq48EPCZsiVmmXqvIKGLdmIwmVt9hvW4ShsxmhFJKk0ZSb_rPpSDh83JAjccg06Y4RcKTfTxAkm8GOUTZVgN1uRtzyCyZspTuPPvFIh_MAIqlakFI6mYBXQCmU-SfV3KJ43yYPb2ckolaGwxzXjU/w200-h150/IMG_0634.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h4><i>Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. </i></h4></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /> <br /></span><p></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-54696239726251057492022-04-22T12:24:00.012-05:002022-04-25T13:32:32.853-05:00Saadat Hasan Manto's The Dog of Tithwal: Precarious Lives during the India-Pakistan Partition Years<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-8bbe5bf5-7fff-8786-ea4c-7dbc905b4291" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Saadat Hasan Manto. <i>The Dog of Tithwal.</i> Translated from the Urdu by Khalid Hasan, Aatish Taseer, and Muhammad Umar Memon. Introduction by Vijay Seshadri. Brooklyn, NY: Archipelago Press. 2021.</span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-8bbe5bf5-7fff-8786-ea4c-7dbc905b4291" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-8bbe5bf5-7fff-8786-ea4c-7dbc905b4291" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was born in British India and when India was partitioned into Pakistan, he, as a Muslim, had to move to Lahore, Pakistan. It was in Pakistan that he began to produce the vast number of stories, radio plays, and essays that made him a formidable influence in Urdu-language writing. Manto’s life and times were shaped by conflict, disruption, and confusion as Kafka-esque political absurdities erected boundaries and divisions between previously happy cohabitants of a beautiful land. </span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-8bbe5bf5-7fff-8786-ea4c-7dbc905b4291" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSF4WkBU_RAAmfft11GD44nW49GS48YTnJG1AhnAeQk2CGEMGngsuuh58lZql7LTaqNjKtFMX0PotiY80zdcwzYm-J_gjNYBKUfEtg9YY3YxkZPfB0amKMAxhnBnjSFkKehDK4BSQHj4QV701Y2pHqHMrSmawlW4V6mmE4FxcDD6efDpwlV4/s251/tithwal2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="201" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSF4WkBU_RAAmfft11GD44nW49GS48YTnJG1AhnAeQk2CGEMGngsuuh58lZql7LTaqNjKtFMX0PotiY80zdcwzYm-J_gjNYBKUfEtg9YY3YxkZPfB0amKMAxhnBnjSFkKehDK4BSQHj4QV701Y2pHqHMrSmawlW4V6mmE4FxcDD6efDpwlV4/s1600/tithwal2.jpg" width="201" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The story that is also the name of the collection of short stories, “The Dog of Tithwal,” perfectly illustrates the tragic absurdity of a politically engineered clash between the Hindus and the Muslims. They take up arms against each other and decide to fight on the border. However, no one really has the heart to fight; it’s a political imperative imposed from on high. In the No Man’s Land between the two sides is a rag-tag, importunate dog who is regularly fed by both sides, and both consider the dog to be of their nationality. The dog survives, somehow, in this existential limbo until one day (spoiler alert), he is killed. The dog perfectly embodies the capricious nature of fate, and the razor-thin margin of safety that keeps people and dogs alive. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">That razor-thin margin between life and death is also apparent in “Ten Rupees,” in which a mother faces the terrible consequences of having sold her young daughter into prostitution. In “Kingdom’s End,” an educated man occupies an office and yet does not seem to have any work to speak of. He falls in love with a voice on the telephone that started out as a wrong number. The precarious nature of his life is perfectly illustrated as he falls ill with a high fever just before he is to meet her. In “The Monkeys Revolt,” monkeys attack the insulting idea that humans, whom they consider to be quite beneath them, “evolved” from them. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Other stories in the collection are likewise intelligent, sympathetic, and they unflinchingly face life in a world with few safety nets but with many ideas about the nature of survival, both physical and intellectual. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">-- Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXuqk0zHFEswHx8-Migjdgs0n4tNPPMjmNCO0qiy-Sl30fx0Gd20dPydpoBLLP9yvWBP01Bj_KAkAIeLG6ry7o2HUr4PGX0OBqjr-ov0A7WRi7HNNku6Sn8Dcaw5W-kKTSnsgLDR7Gt1t0XSb7FdpQ7do_WCmnEkBIJs7h0_1NE4-0ePLav8/s640/IMG_0634.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXuqk0zHFEswHx8-Migjdgs0n4tNPPMjmNCO0qiy-Sl30fx0Gd20dPydpoBLLP9yvWBP01Bj_KAkAIeLG6ry7o2HUr4PGX0OBqjr-ov0A7WRi7HNNku6Sn8Dcaw5W-kKTSnsgLDR7Gt1t0XSb7FdpQ7do_WCmnEkBIJs7h0_1NE4-0ePLav8/s320/IMG_0634.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><p></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-88825895630631124172022-04-16T17:17:00.007-05:002022-04-18T13:54:45.233-05:00Moodle 4.0 Is Here! What's new? <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://moodle.com/moodle-4/" target="_blank">Moodle 4.0 </a>is here! I’m trying
to determine just what the advantages are and how much of a step change it is
from Moodle 3.11. I don’t think that Moodle can change the basic
architecture for a number of reasons. So, the changes have to come in things
like user experience and efficiency. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYlCmtzyc9350mJTLMOjBF9Jx40KKaJFve4vTXV7LsFM_pBtgokq0uhpoDeVlvzw44IKXr51x9gT4d-rhz0uB6NaSh6dua8-pivkmYxj7XzCPOKLYOOg9zFviAiczWpCYhXlSzOOiH9QNvBp10-py6bC9ap5Oj89Sl9ZuMzDRIY9mYut1VjIo/s2304/moodle40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="2304" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYlCmtzyc9350mJTLMOjBF9Jx40KKaJFve4vTXV7LsFM_pBtgokq0uhpoDeVlvzw44IKXr51x9gT4d-rhz0uB6NaSh6dua8-pivkmYxj7XzCPOKLYOOg9zFviAiczWpCYhXlSzOOiH9QNvBp10-py6bC9ap5Oj89Sl9ZuMzDRIY9mYut1VjIo/s320/moodle40.png" width="320" /></a></div> If you've worked with
Moodle for very long, you know that it can be a place of almost infinite
complexity, but also almost Zen-like simplicity. It's also a veritable ant-hill
of programming activity, as programmers develop productivity and design apps -
some are available for free, others require a download fee. Moodle and
Moodle partners are likewise entrepreneurial, and you can quickly use pre-built
templates and hosting and an integrated software-as-a-service solution.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9umwjLgBDAGgQgLC3AYQXJJ1mR8ezYPA450xz4IrULm3aCkZ4WHvP7roSINRYcZV_LjgygV47evzdLg8ExlhE-dru2NEUmoA0u1RDOnZwiujD4Cl3aE5L-8jlErYQSr0J-o6miyztigecGlciUWMwd4CQZE6FQhvzzrVz7b_ytbDdIP2caQ/s1456/moodle%204-overview.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="1456" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9umwjLgBDAGgQgLC3AYQXJJ1mR8ezYPA450xz4IrULm3aCkZ4WHvP7roSINRYcZV_LjgygV47evzdLg8ExlhE-dru2NEUmoA0u1RDOnZwiujD4Cl3aE5L-8jlErYQSr0J-o6miyztigecGlciUWMwd4CQZE6FQhvzzrVz7b_ytbDdIP2caQ/w400-h236/moodle%204-overview.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Improved User Experience, with modules listed in an easy-to-follow design. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">MoodleCloud is still in 3.11, so I
can’t experiment with it as much as I’d like. However, the “sandbox” is still
available, and one can select a role as student, teacher, or manager, to play
around with it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here are some of my initial thoughts:</span> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PROS:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Much improved user experience, in terms of navigation, layout, use of
new thumbnails, and course construction (with drag and drop).</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The default theme being used in the Sandbox (probably either Clean or
Boost) is very attractive and easy to use. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fully responsive interface that works well with tablets, laptops, and
phones.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Improved navigation – you can tell where you are, and can go back to a
previous screen very easily. There may be some AI-based plug-ins that can help refine "smart navigation." </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One can use the calendar as a dashboard. The "My Courses" screen can
display in a number of different options. The “Card” option makes the interface
look a lot like the way Canvas displays available courses. </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5j3I4WTdiO2IWaC_SfWn-_ZDUv8Ks8ADOfFYbpFnqCv8qCaxWnum3trOctmJ2sC0Ne92bQx6UuvhuYmlJ3eyfgHOzVagaLlGRA8g_vJa_tFwUEv_PZsKWUfTPdBZcPZP5z9RUxjp3jtFWyJoIPCLX6QAm6OwMm8pdtM4Qj8BjcRcHVcJVQ/s876/my%20courses.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="876" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5j3I4WTdiO2IWaC_SfWn-_ZDUv8Ks8ADOfFYbpFnqCv8qCaxWnum3trOctmJ2sC0Ne92bQx6UuvhuYmlJ3eyfgHOzVagaLlGRA8g_vJa_tFwUEv_PZsKWUfTPdBZcPZP5z9RUxjp3jtFWyJoIPCLX6QAm6OwMm8pdtM4Qj8BjcRcHVcJVQ/w400-h230/my%20courses.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Courses page<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The basic structure of the learning management system is the same, so
the same names, arrangement, process and procedure works. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Moodle 4.0 is available for download if you’d like to host courses on
your own server. That PRO is also a CON if you’re not ready to be a Moodle
Administrator.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Outside Apps more easily integrate with Moodle 4.0.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Integrating apps has always been fairly easy
by means of a link or embedded log-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t know to what extent single-sign on is facilitated, and if authentication
is otherwise streamlined.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is less content on each screen. Not only is it easier to see with
your tablet or phone, it’s much easier to stay focused and avoid distractions
due to a busy design. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">10. Moodle is open source, which means that there is an entire industry dedicated to building plug-ins and other features that are useful and needed. I would not be surprised if there will be machine learning-based apps that can detect patterns in student performance and help administrators and even teachers, see student preferences, gaps in knowledge, and collaborative strengths. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CONS: </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you have not worked with Moodle before, you may feel a bit
discouraged. Moodle is not a very intuitive LMS, and one may not know where
everything is without going through a pretty thorough training course. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnsNz2FS0X6G80jHytMsJBGOCSLuTpVCem9dQ2XuwsEYQ_HrIRzBZX9RO7qqXTa6vtx6PtwyPWHbLt9eOWYEukt2NCAX8oVH-kP3A47Ozr-7W3eEgxNVWGn3BqR4whM8lkp_iKbstcIJyQJMVN-zPNXOGhRukErkSbc3iRLyUutB8VGKlRA/s1800/manage%20course%20categories%20and%20courses.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1800" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnsNz2FS0X6G80jHytMsJBGOCSLuTpVCem9dQ2XuwsEYQ_HrIRzBZX9RO7qqXTa6vtx6PtwyPWHbLt9eOWYEukt2NCAX8oVH-kP3A47Ozr-7W3eEgxNVWGn3BqR4whM8lkp_iKbstcIJyQJMVN-zPNXOGhRukErkSbc3iRLyUutB8VGKlRA/w400-h173/manage%20course%20categories%20and%20courses.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courses and categories admin screen<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><p></p><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s not clear how much Universal Design for Learning was used with the
new interface, dashboard, icons, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
did not see multiple modes of content delivery on the sample classes in the
sandbox site, but that does not mean that they are not available. </span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Moodle 4.0 is not yet available in MoodleCloud, which is the most
popular cloud-based Moodle. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Moodle documentation is still at 3.11. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An Initial Chat:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Relatecasts' Rick Zanotti and I had an informal conversation about Moodle 4.0, just hours after its release to the web on April 14. Please click on the link to hear our conversation on E-Learn Chat. I'm not as clear as I could be as I respond to Rick's questions -- I think my enthusiasm about the arrival got the best of me :) Please click and listen, then share your thoughts. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PqjHqLuWRqg" width="320" youtube-src-id="PqjHqLuWRqg"></iframe> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">E-Learn Chat on the debut of Moodle 4.0 - speaking with Rick Zanotti <br /></div><br /> Here's a link to the chat: <br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://youtu.be/PqjHqLuWRqg"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://youtu.be/PqjHqLuWRqg</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Please note that an updated version of <a href="https://www.packtpub.com/product/moodle-e-learning-course-development-fifth-edition/9781801079037" target="_blank">Packt Publishing's guide to Moodle course development </a>will be published in July 2022, just in time to get courses and programs up and running. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">****</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. </i><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-58978765758347124242022-04-11T11:26:00.001-05:002022-04-11T11:26:00.168-05:00A Visual Poetics Coup de Dés of Meaning: Thomas Fink's Selected Poems<p> <span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thomas Fink. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Selected Poems and Poetic Series. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">East Rockaway, NY: Marsh Hawk Press. 2016. 244 pages. ISBN: 978-0-9964275-0-0</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-faaafeb6-7fff-3f89-1676-23f092f04814"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This stunning collection includes examples from some of Thomas Fink’s most innovative and subversive work. His work subverts the subversive, thinking specifically of all the concrete poetics that followed Malarmé’s </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hazard (1897)</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that has been used as the foundation for so many visual poets, including John Cage, John M. Bennett, Jesse Glass, Dick Higgins, F. A. Nettlebeck, Rochelle Owens, and Armand Schwermer, just to mention a few. The visual poets subvert reading and meaning-making practices by add the aleatory, while Fink systematizes the strategies for generating meaning from a visual poem, particularly in his series that use the same form. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN5tSpMC4wKVJAUY2UKwXLYDHspMUUnGynaI4z8etNDCVMifbj4JaSGqsMSU_y7qPsJqIe9AhIWAKGiJL1se8HV-r5aDHH42RZi2xNHvqg2IijXS3rllld8a1mm-xBEehlM9fMjcD7KSwpVm-WwEhnnh8u3DAWi25mvPfowppCwuilwlbonsk/s700/fink-selections.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="460" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN5tSpMC4wKVJAUY2UKwXLYDHspMUUnGynaI4z8etNDCVMifbj4JaSGqsMSU_y7qPsJqIe9AhIWAKGiJL1se8HV-r5aDHH42RZi2xNHvqg2IijXS3rllld8a1mm-xBEehlM9fMjcD7KSwpVm-WwEhnnh8u3DAWi25mvPfowppCwuilwlbonsk/s320/fink-selections.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p>For example, subversion of the subversive occurs in “Jigsaw Hubbub” where a Figure 8 / vertical Infinity sign is used several poems. The reader automatically resystematizes his / her method of approaching the poems, and looks for similarities and differences. The same can be said for the “Goad” series where the upside down Greek letter Omega suggests the end of meaning (a common conceit in the twentieth century), but the fact that the shape is the same for each of the “Goad” poems instantly imposes at least two types of strategic meaning-making processes: first, comparing the shape of the upside-down Omega in each for raw semiotic meaning, and second, in the words themselves and the meanings forged by reading from right to left, descending from line to line. </span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The collection of work is particularly fascinating because it is arranged chronologically and we can see a timeline of textural and thematic innovation. The collection begins with 1993’s </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Surprise Visit.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The poems serve as an antidote to the then-ubiquitous L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, and are intertextual in the sense that they evoke and import an entire body of exogenous work. Perhaps the most delightful example is “Louise Bourgeois” which one cannot read without thinking of her big daddy longlegs spider sculptures, her bold prolificity, and the workshop where basically everything was cubed, drilled, formed into serviceable art (which is to say that it beckons itself to be in the service of EveryPerson).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Excerpts from </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gossip</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2001) reflect the giddy sense of having dodged apocalypse, until, of course, apocalypse showed itself to be a narrative characterized by its innate multiplicity. Such inescapability from deterministic narratives is reflected even as natural phenomena are considered to be random, are likewise subjugated to narrative, as in “Reprise”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like a refugee</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and every time you kiss me it’s like </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">another little piece of my</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lightning striking again … (p. 13)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After Taxes (2004)</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> incorporates poetics of unparalleled sweetness, with a palpable desire for meaningful connections that flow through dreams, memories, and the actual experience, past or anticipated. “In Memoriam” is either a letter from a grandfather to a grandchild, or from a grandchild to a grandfather, or simply from / to childhood to later life, a homage to the ability of language and letters to forge enduring bonds and to affirm life. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dusk Bowl Intimacies</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> stretch from 2011 to 2015. Each has more or less the same formal structure: A block prose poem followed by a minimalist verse, three to eight lines in length. The voice is the persona of an older woman, possibly a grandmother. She is an inquisitive spirit who investigates the underlying assumptions in the ways that language embodies everyday life, and then closes with lines that assert a personal commitment or an exhortation. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Home Cooked Diamond” and “Jigsaw Hubbub” are visual poems. As mentioned earlier, “Jigsaw Hubbub” toys with infinity, and subverts the popular notion widely espoused in the twentieth century that a visual poetics liberated language, thus unleashing an infinite number of potential meanings, and thus finding a way to define infinity. “Jigsaw Hubbub” puts a playful stop to that, while “Home Cooked Diamond” has enough variation in the shape and textual arrangement on the page to look like shadows from a tree as the day progresses, looking “slant” and also into a mirror. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Home Cooked Diamond” has the feel of a memoir and an awkward road trip with parents whose flaws are all too obvious to the children, which makes the telling all the more uncomfortable. The struggle one has to read parallels the emotional struggle in the author’s voice. It’s strangely emotionally compelling. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--- Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4W2rnabH6ITi3JCwdBs1IReCg1ym-BTWANlz0LUAhopC2HWxFmDUqOUzbWZeC9wDi5YVEl_t2hkx5K-s885ws2DORiJaJKl4LF2AHOpFtY-1dHXEqplixyag7UTyGF6BieTfWnC9rXrBE-dnRsXUlGCSGVkc-B_so9QxC_wMFO4JQnrsyzf0/s303/Susan%20Nash-headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="susan smith nash, ph.d." border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="303" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4W2rnabH6ITi3JCwdBs1IReCg1ym-BTWANlz0LUAhopC2HWxFmDUqOUzbWZeC9wDi5YVEl_t2hkx5K-s885ws2DORiJaJKl4LF2AHOpFtY-1dHXEqplixyag7UTyGF6BieTfWnC9rXrBE-dnRsXUlGCSGVkc-B_so9QxC_wMFO4JQnrsyzf0/w200-h200/Susan%20Nash-headshot.jpg" title="susan smith nash, ph.d." width="200" /></a></div><br />susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-49359007276132336232022-03-31T11:26:00.004-05:002022-03-31T11:26:29.043-05:00The Irreducible Uncertainty of Poetics in Hedge Fund Certainty: Thomas Fink<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thomas Fink. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hedge Fund Certainty.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Meritage Press and I.E. Press. 2019. ISBN: 978-1-934299-14-2</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-64680c69-7fff-101b-6ef1-138772c13d0f"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The beauty of poetics is its irreducible uncertainty. The meanings are unmoored, allowing the reader to do what she / he would like. They can attempt to lash meanings to a limited number of options which may prove satisfying for some (especially those who consider the interpretive enterprise as a kind of exegesis). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS3mdHTGpLRED8bZVS-IILLXWzuTU7_62zZ56aFllVbDAxtTQtuMd6uYtR0sfkJ8vF7_YKLHqDvEdpl4IF37P7OtdffkTCMXhu1DbgYjt9E1RoIbu5vn3zA5SGZOns5v27tjUfezdMhc5H0vIr-yVVBQpNy7ezFRT80xg2iHJRBIAMyUmNp2U/s576/hedge-fund-certainty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="384" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS3mdHTGpLRED8bZVS-IILLXWzuTU7_62zZ56aFllVbDAxtTQtuMd6uYtR0sfkJ8vF7_YKLHqDvEdpl4IF37P7OtdffkTCMXhu1DbgYjt9E1RoIbu5vn3zA5SGZOns5v27tjUfezdMhc5H0vIr-yVVBQpNy7ezFRT80xg2iHJRBIAMyUmNp2U/s320/hedge-fund-certainty.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, the real joy of discovery engaging in a sense of play. The process involves observing the words, the structure, the syntax, and arrangement on the page and then embracing all the possibilities as they come to mind. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A hedge fund is probably as far from certainty as one could imagine, so Fink’s play on the idea of certainty gives rise to ideas of gaming the system to have a positive outcome. The collection begins with “Yinglish Strophes.” All are in English, but with Yiddish syntax and arrangement, line breaks, and subjects that create an intense sense of place and of character. The words trigger a deep sense of nostalgia and loss: .. “Never later / was I back Russia the same once” (Yinglish Strophes 25). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is delightful to see the long poem, “Subprime Mortgage Bargain Lot” series. The title alone is amusing, because most readers will see that this has everything to do with rolling the dice and losing, seeing something you thought you possessed, whether it be the meaning of numbers on a page, or your ability to agree on a value with other readers. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hedge Fund Certainty</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> evokes Stéphane Mallarmé’s </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Un coup de dés Jamais n’abolira le hasard (1897). Translated to “A throw of the dice will never abolish hazards (or risk)” </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mallarmé created a concrete / visual poetry notable for the aleatory aspects of the word choice, and the open arrangement on the page. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Likewise “Subprime Mortgage Bargain Lot” is seemingly aleatory, and it gives you the choice to read the words in clusters or straight across the page. Further, the words break in unusual places and words interject themselves. The result is a vertiginous race to the bottom of each page. It is a thoroughgoing condemnation of greed and the brutalization of humanity as wholesale wealth redistribution occurs: “Out with / your ragid / daydreaming / that costs / & costs / the hard / working” (from “Subprime Mortgage Bargain Lot 16). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The collection ends with “Prohibitionism,” which proclaims a message of hope: a telethon for poetry, that would suggestion unity, but the arrangement on the page denotes separation into opposing clusters of words (or camps), although the last line suggests a coming together: “walls / curve toward one another.” </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4jeQ19VO4-RnpbXkLVOtKRPbDamhK_TL7mZ588Puc_oFs1DK-FrQDWde7zB6Qov134K9zb996g220r7AQdZwzy-F52ELbD-Cr4-hRvhDUNWZt6KIluyynp1hyAvoomeVacs6q29EtLaL7bdxQzQ5mHPQRps38wcLxl6W6fEyUhR5pOai2GKw/s303/Susan%20Nash-headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="susan smith nash, ph.d." border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="303" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4jeQ19VO4-RnpbXkLVOtKRPbDamhK_TL7mZ588Puc_oFs1DK-FrQDWde7zB6Qov134K9zb996g220r7AQdZwzy-F52ELbD-Cr4-hRvhDUNWZt6KIluyynp1hyAvoomeVacs6q29EtLaL7bdxQzQ5mHPQRps38wcLxl6W6fEyUhR5pOai2GKw/w200-h200/Susan%20Nash-headshot.jpg" title="Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D." width="200" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-49107659428435415042022-02-02T19:04:00.004-06:002024-02-16T17:21:52.969-06:00Preserving Alternative Epistemologies through Preservation of Indigenous Languages<p> Irma Pineda. <i>In the Belly of the Night and Other Poems: En el vientre de la noche y otros poemas. Ndaani’Gueela’ne xhupa diidxaguie’</i> English translation: Wendy Call. Illustrations: Natalia Gurovich. Mexico City: Pluralia Ediciones e Impresiones. 2021. 9780607-7655-xx-x</p><p>To publish poetry written in endangered indigenous languages not only preserves the language, but also a way of knowing, which is often an alternative epistemology. </p><p>The work of poet Irma Pineda is no exception. She writes in Isthmus Zapotec, from her rural small town in Oaxaca, Mexico, where the number of speakers is dwindling rapidly. She also writes in Spanish in what she considers to be “mirror poems” rather than denotative translations of each other. </p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">In order to accommodate both versions in a single English version, translator Wendy Call sat with the author, Pineda, who explained just how each poem is shaped, and the kinds of word play that each has, and why. In investigating the differences, core ideas about the world and systems of knowledge came to light. For example, in Spanish, “En el vientre” means “in the belly.” However, “Gueela” does not mean belly or intestines at all, but umbilical cord. Further, the umbilical cord is inextricably linked to the house where one was born, because, after birth, the umbilical cord is placed in a small pot, which is then buried under the house. </span></div><p>The earth and the body have a unique connection that does not occur with the Spanish colonial impositional culture. The fact that the translator spent time to learn about the embedded beliefs and traditions, and to incorporate them into her English translation, and to explain the process in the preface, is a great contribution to the understanding of the Isthmus Zapotec culture and poetic output. The themes in the clusters of poems include the concept of the “guenda,” which is simultaneously spirit and animal. </p><p>In “Sun,” reflects an animistic view of the world, where objects in the natural world can take on human traits, and then shape-shift back. Similarly, the crocodile’s eggs swim just as the observer’s mind opens to the fecundity of all things, and unbreakable (albeit not always visible) connections. </p><p>An animist perception of the world is also apparent in a poem from the first cluster of poems, “Red Belt,” where the red ribbon wrapped around the narrator’s pregnant belly both adorns and protects. The final cluster of poems, “From the Cord House to the Nine Handspans” incorporate the Isthmus Zapotec traditions while reflecting on the deep love the narrator has for Sebastian, in his journey through life, from the “[umbilical] cord house” where he was born, to the “nine handspans” (the grave, nine handspans below the surface of the earth). </p><p>Knowing that Pineda is writing from her home in Mexico City, and lives in a kind of self-imposed exile from the cluster of Isthmus Zapotec speakers she grew up with, adds another level of loss and nostalgia. </p><div><br /></div>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8079299.post-57208801444307633672022-01-11T12:40:00.004-06:002022-01-11T12:43:34.551-06:00The Enduring Value of Linguistic Play: Thomas Fink and Maya Mason's Collaboration: A Pageant for Every Addiction<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> It’s a remarkably cold and windy New Year’s Day, and I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than to sit with a small stack of Thomas Fink and Maya Mason’s playful and intelligent poems and let them take my mind wherever it wants to go.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I love the way their poems are an invitation to a dance: they spur a conversation with the future, the past, and the present. I enjoy seeing how the anxieties of antecedents play out: one visual allusion leads to another, one set of topics and tropes leads to thinking of other authors, and so on. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sometimes this approach leads to specious connections and I wonder which corners of my mind produced them, which is something akin to finding YouTube has created “My Mix” that contains principally opera from Henry Purcell and Mexican rancheras performed by mariachi bands from the 1950s. </span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thomas Fink and Maya
Mason. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Pageant for Every Addiction.</i>
East Rockaway, NY: Marsh Hawk Press. 2020. 77 pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ISBN: 978-0996991209</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The cover art is what captivates first: It’s compelling,
especially on a cold New Year’s Day when one is obliged to trot out one’s New
Year’s Resolutions, even if they constitute little more than cleaning out a
closet and ordering vegan protein supplements and Vitamin D on Amazon and
“Favoriting” a morale-boosting podcast on YouTube. A man holds elongate objects
in his hands (lumpy anise treats?) and a woman holds what appear to be $100
bills between her hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Multi-colored
dots give the painting an effervescent, playful feel.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGto2HbAt3evUbOP2sydilc1-MnfwQiPVnrrYoPmh-car0nGTqtUSssGUCGdQcnnOsNTtpRf6diIRP9j1EQakVdRCur2-X220RaqS2mRSyF7dbt_J29W1DLaON1A6gJRPjb3rHfHnJ7tbX8c5oI-EdBebUNYK0vjEY8UHp-BSko8_NSPUypMY=s1513" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1513" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGto2HbAt3evUbOP2sydilc1-MnfwQiPVnrrYoPmh-car0nGTqtUSssGUCGdQcnnOsNTtpRf6diIRP9j1EQakVdRCur2-X220RaqS2mRSyF7dbt_J29W1DLaON1A6gJRPjb3rHfHnJ7tbX8c5oI-EdBebUNYK0vjEY8UHp-BSko8_NSPUypMY=s320" width="212" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The first poem made me smile. “First Date Questions” – I
could not even imagine anyone asking me such questions, but if some did, I
would immediately pay attention. The questions move from the concrete to ones
that are clearly playing with cultural assumptions, asking you to look at
things in new ways:</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">… Don’t <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">you just hate when you reach the
zoo,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">and the zebras have been sent<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">out for cleaning?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I love the whimsy and way they ask one to consider the basis
for our underlying mindsets:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I hate to think of <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">worms eating my</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">dog’s eyes; is that love?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The questions are a perfect form for a collaboration, and an
ideal way to start a collection since they embody a kind of conversation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Addictions are judgments. They are condemnations of sorts,
and impugn the character of the addict, even if the addiction is to something
as innocuous as hoarding blank journals. So, it is only fitting to see a poem
entitled “You’re Morally Inferior If” and to see that each 4-line stanza
contains at least one criterion upon which to judge and condemn a person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also made me smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are a few: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>you keep<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>your
fingernails long – <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rendering
hands useless<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">or<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>…. you<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>buy two
of the same <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>necklace,
you’re too <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>sentimental
to kill<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>mere
mouse.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">As a geologist with a soft spot for paleontology, I was
drawn to “Substitute Fossil,” wondering first, how fossils relate to addictions
although I can easily envision a Fossil Pageant in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Pageant for Every Addiction.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fossils are fairly meaningless unless they are classified;
fossils are not only remnants of the past, they are used to time-stamp a layer
of the earth (formation), since many fossilized organisms lived in very defined
spans of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fossils then, invoke
classification systems, and as such, naming and identity.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you substitute fossils, it’s possible to completely
subvert the entire classification system, and suddenly the system will have no
connection to a stable time frame, orientation, or even meaning.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">That’s exactly what is going on in “Substitute Fossil,” and
it’s up to the reader to create a new set of relationships of time, meaning,
connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If fossils are indicators,
they can be both the alphabet and the syntax of meaning. If we substitute, we
have the arbitrariness of classification laid bare:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">… convict<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">our glad workhorses into gold <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">deficits – to <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">a new alphabet for potpourri to
assum<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">maneaters of grammar castrate <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">the chairmen of prattle …</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The final minimalist long poem, “A Few Promises” makes the
reader smile with whimsy, sometimes schadenfreude:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“A staircase for<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">every stiletto”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“A straightjacket<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">for<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">every extrovert”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The verses incorporate professions, physical phenomena, and
life forms. They also relate back to the realities of uncertainty,
unpredictability, and gambling, including market plunges. They are not only
promises to fulfill dreams, but also to solve problems (or even create them –
“a shark for every bathtub”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the end, the collection touches the experiences of
readers and triggers one’s own “conversation” in a Bakhtinian, carnivalesque
manner, while showing ways to restructure assumptions and gently subvert
generic expectations. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><br /><p></p>susan smith nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359124978277153789noreply@blogger.com