i got a wonderful email from my friend Kathee today. i don't get a lot of friendly correspondence lately. i can't even remember the last time i got an actual letter in the mail (i think it was in 7th grade when i still had a pen pal... oh blissful youth!) all i get now are bills, paperwork and forms to be signed and mailed back with checks attached. even my email is being overrun by work-related things: grad school assignments, work-related meetings or conferences, reminders about bill payments and obligations. i like that technology enables me to be so easily and rapidly connected to ppl, but i hate the immediacy and omipresence it gives to my work, too. no one just sits down to write a friendly letter any more, to ask "how are you?" and share a story. i wonder if email will soon become the same?
i have self-identified three writing voices, and sometimes they overlap and/or take over each other:
1) my academic self – the tone and word choice i use when writing an academic paper. this has recently been subsumed under 2) my personal reflective/critical-reflective voice – the perspective i often assume when i'm actually writing, when i'm trying to be creative, when i'm thinking of language in a careful way, when i often have something to say and i'm being deliberate. that is, my "blog" persona. and then there's 3) casual/conversational – when i write the way i would probably speak if you were sitting with me face-to-face, if we were sipping cups of coffee (i'll be drinking tea) and we've been friends since childhood, or had just reunited after our returns from long adventures and were just sitting down together again to share our experiences. these voices, i've noticed, have come to blur and bleed together over time, which is a good sign, i think. lessening of the Cartesian dualism, onward toward symmetry. i'd like to think of my blog as an endless conversation (tho regrettably one-directional and monologic) between old friends about recent adventures.
which is what brings me to today's post. as i was writing a response to Kathee's wonderful email, i could see myself steadily switching my voice toward writing a blog post, too. it's not that the email i sent her wasn't meant as personal correspondence, but it generated an honesty that i thought deserved a wider audience.
and so, i give you updates on my life in L.A.:
I've been having a hard time adjusting to being a teacher, but I think about you from time to time and wonder how you'd handle similar situations and it makes me feel sane again. I'm a pretty shitty middle school teacher because I let the kids run amok and I get frustrated when I have to explain the most meta- things (over the summer, it was context clues. This fall, it's place values and times tables. I've been trying to shy away from the "it's this way because that's the way it is, so memorize it," but with math basics, it sometimes takes too much mental energy to explain everything. And the kids just get more confused when I try to tell them that multiplication is just like addition, but faster. So, onward...)
I know it's bad to have favorites too, but I definitely do. I hope it doesn't show in the classroom, but I can imagine it does. There are kids who are so cute and smart that even when they do something wrong, I just laugh and smile, and then another kid will continuously get something wrong and I'll get upset. It's hard not to, but I know it's HORRIBLE practice. I try to be fair, and I try to be consistent, but I'm not very good at remembering.
L.A. is sunny and warm. It got cold last night and I was worried that maybe it was finally going to start getting colder and I didn't have enough sweaters to wear to school yet, but sure enough, it was back up to 85 in the afternoon when I left work, and I felt silly for wearing my only sweater in that morning. It's weird to live in a place where the weather never really changes. It's actually extremely aggravating, because I can't feel time passing any more, and I want so desperately to feel the seasons change, so I can understand bodily that I will be going home soon.
I'm making friends. Mostly with people in my grad classes. Beyond work, that's the only way I meet people. My colleagues at school are pretty great, our science department is young, hip and friendly, the math department doesn't know I exist, and the special ed department is the crowd that really means business. But they're all great people, and I'm pretty happy with where I work. Whether intentionally or not, I've managed to successfully distance myself from most of the TFA crowd. I don't think we really get along. I kept hoping I'd find at least one really cool person who shares my views on education and activism, empowerment and the need for education reform, but I've yet to find those kinds of people. It's been really difficult for me to be so removed from that kind of community. I hadn't realized how much of a comfort it can be. It's funny, now that I think about it, because I guess at Miami I really came to depend on that intimate and distinct crowd of people who I knew I could have an intelligent conversation with, and we more or less had similar views and critical perspectives, or would at least be knowledgable enough to challenge each other. There were so few liberals and progressives on the Miami campus, that we could really build a sense of community and connection thru political interests and delight in being politically different. I don't know if it's because most people in CA are liberal-minded, or if because there's more diversity they take it for granted, but everything here seems so dull and uninspired. There's no fire, no energy, which surprised me for a while but then it made sense. I don't even think I'm going to vote this election because my vote won't swing anything. I can't find anyone to talk about politics with because they all feel indifferent. If I'm not talking to someone about work or state standards, the conversations turn to traffic, neighborhoods, or getting drinks (we can't even talk about the weather because it never changes!)
Anyway, I've made a few good friends in my grad classes, people who keep it real and let me vent to them about our work and our grad program. It's nice, but I desperately miss Western. I find myself missing it most at meal times, or when I have moments outside to walk around and I long for a bike ride and think of you and Will and Susan, and how we had some good bike rides last year and wonder if we'll ever be together to ride around Southern Ohio again. It makes me sad, I think I underappreciated that space when I was actually there. I imagine coming back sometimes, but I know it's different now, and the ways in which it's changed sound awful. It makes me sad to know there's no returning to that place.
... Sometimes I really wish I had gone straight to grad school instead of teaching, I imagine it will be hard to go back to being a critical student of spectacularization after even two years of the "real world." It's such a crushing place...
-stephanie
Showing posts with label Miami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miami. Show all posts
Monday, October 06, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
the long goodbye
pictures from graduation, post-graduation Mac N Joe's excursion, mother's day brunch, and the last weekend in oxford with friends... [click pic's to enlarge]
favorite moment:
Tom - "Hey Provost Herbst!!"
[Provost and President look over, wave, grinning like idiots]
---
the strappin' Tappan tutors (and Davida...)
candle-lighting ceremony
Pulkit and me
me and Matt Huelsenbeck
---
---
oh good times in familiar climes,
stephanie
hamming it up in Yager with Tom and Mikey J:
favorite moment:Tom - "Hey Provost Herbst!!"
[Provost and President look over, wave, grinning like idiots]
Mikey J - "YOU SUCK!!"
---
Western graduation:
on Peabody steps
on Peabody steps
the strappin' Tappan tutors (and Davida...)
candle-lighting ceremony
post-ceremony
---
later that night, at Mac N Joes:
Ben and me
Ben and me
Pulkit and me
me and Matt Huelsenbeck
L to R: Karmen, me, Sudie, and Nicole
---
the next day, Mother's Day brunch:
---the following weekend, me with Britt and Ashley before moving out
oh good times in familiar climes,
stephanie
Friday, April 04, 2008
only at Miami and only in Oxford, Ohio...
the students at Miami have been hit by a "crime wave" in the past year. we get electronic announcements regarding the latest in the spree of thefts, break-in's, (armed) robberies, drunken malfeasances. they are "designed to notify members of the University community about a reported crime that may represent an ongoing threat to public safety."
WHITE FEMALES!
WEARING BLACK LEGGINGS!!
(= MIAMI GIRLS!!!)
this has the potential for satire written all over it. too bad it's a couple days late, i'd say the administration finally grew a sense of humor and got us with a good Fools' Day prank.
hm... based on that description, they've pretty much implicated at least half of the female student population (happy to say i get excluded from the line-up on two counts: not being white and not wearing leggings since the '80s or since '80s night disappeared from the weekly Balcony lineup).
i suppose if this should be any suggestion of an "ongoing threat to public safety," we best lock and bolt our windows and doors immediately, b/c our sad campus is sadly overflowing with a preponderance of these dangerous criminals. lock 'em up! not b/c they steal laptops or break into ppl's dorm rooms, but just b/c they perpetrate great harm on the human species for their very existence.
it's gonna be a dangerous Spring!
-stephanie
these are, of course, very serious. Miami takes its image and its terrorism very seriously. nevertheless, i couldn't help laughing out loud when i read the following Campus Crime Alert (they've stopped numbering them as they used to, but i think this makes #20+):
WHITE FEMALES!
WEARING BLACK LEGGINGS!!
(= MIAMI GIRLS!!!)
this has the potential for satire written all over it. too bad it's a couple days late, i'd say the administration finally grew a sense of humor and got us with a good Fools' Day prank.
hm... based on that description, they've pretty much implicated at least half of the female student population (happy to say i get excluded from the line-up on two counts: not being white and not wearing leggings since the '80s or since '80s night disappeared from the weekly Balcony lineup).
i suppose if this should be any suggestion of an "ongoing threat to public safety," we best lock and bolt our windows and doors immediately, b/c our sad campus is sadly overflowing with a preponderance of these dangerous criminals. lock 'em up! not b/c they steal laptops or break into ppl's dorm rooms, but just b/c they perpetrate great harm on the human species for their very existence.
it's gonna be a dangerous Spring!
-stephanie
Monday, February 04, 2008
a response from Students for Staff: on the nature of community and dialog at Miami University
in reaction to events surrounding the State of the Student Body Address (Jan. 29, 2008):
On Tuesday, Students for Staff spoke with a full-time staff member at Miami who lives alone and provides for herself by working a second job. Recently, she woke up in the hospital—her blood sugar had plummeted overnight and the sudden drop almost killed her. Now she's afraid to go to sleep. She broke her tailbone last year when a sudden drop in blood sugar caused her to fall, and she crashed her car when her blood sugar got so low that she nearly passed out.
An automatic insulin pump would be enough to prevent these incidents from ever happening again. She and her doctors are trying to get the pump covered through Miami's insurance, but she's been told it will likely be denied. The "market-competitive wages" from the "employer of choice" aren't enough that she can afford the device herself. Even with the addition of a second job, she is still forced to choose between her proper medication and other basic necessities. These are the realities at the heart of our demand for a living wage.
Nevertheless, the university's response to our concerns has been consistently clear: "not now, not here." Most recently, at ASG's Annual State of the Student Body Address, President Hodge said he was disappointed in us for bringing up "our" issue at yet another public forum. This comment followed a speech in which President Hodge commended students for embracing the issues that confront Oxford as a community. In response, we would like to inform President Hodge that poverty is a community issue, and, as community leaders, President Hodge and the administration have the responsibility to pay Miami's hard-working staff what they deserve, not as little as Miami can get away with.
Furthermore, the entire student body was invited to this event and encouraged to ask questions. It reflects poorly on our president's commitment to community if one of the few student organizations that cared enough to come tothe event was denigrated and condemned for voicing community concerns. We would like to inform President Hodge that community must emerge from collaboration and dialog; it doesn't appear overnight with the construction of an $80 million bicentennial student center. It is practically impossible to muster the excitement and enthusiasm President Hodge invoked in his discussion of plans for the bicentennial student center when you remember the full-time Miami staff who must live in extreme frugality because Miami is not paying them a fair wage.
If students' concerns for local poverty and economic justice are consistently unwelcome at student forums and events, when and where will community finally be realized at Miami?
On Tuesday, Students for Staff spoke with a full-time staff member at Miami who lives alone and provides for herself by working a second job. Recently, she woke up in the hospital—her blood sugar had plummeted overnight and the sudden drop almost killed her. Now she's afraid to go to sleep. She broke her tailbone last year when a sudden drop in blood sugar caused her to fall, and she crashed her car when her blood sugar got so low that she nearly passed out.
An automatic insulin pump would be enough to prevent these incidents from ever happening again. She and her doctors are trying to get the pump covered through Miami's insurance, but she's been told it will likely be denied. The "market-competitive wages" from the "employer of choice" aren't enough that she can afford the device herself. Even with the addition of a second job, she is still forced to choose between her proper medication and other basic necessities. These are the realities at the heart of our demand for a living wage.
Nevertheless, the university's response to our concerns has been consistently clear: "not now, not here." Most recently, at ASG's Annual State of the Student Body Address, President Hodge said he was disappointed in us for bringing up "our" issue at yet another public forum. This comment followed a speech in which President Hodge commended students for embracing the issues that confront Oxford as a community. In response, we would like to inform President Hodge that poverty is a community issue, and, as community leaders, President Hodge and the administration have the responsibility to pay Miami's hard-working staff what they deserve, not as little as Miami can get away with.
Furthermore, the entire student body was invited to this event and encouraged to ask questions. It reflects poorly on our president's commitment to community if one of the few student organizations that cared enough to come tothe event was denigrated and condemned for voicing community concerns. We would like to inform President Hodge that community must emerge from collaboration and dialog; it doesn't appear overnight with the construction of an $80 million bicentennial student center. It is practically impossible to muster the excitement and enthusiasm President Hodge invoked in his discussion of plans for the bicentennial student center when you remember the full-time Miami staff who must live in extreme frugality because Miami is not paying them a fair wage.
If students' concerns for local poverty and economic justice are consistently unwelcome at student forums and events, when and where will community finally be realized at Miami?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Colin Powell at Miami University and the culture of materialism
from a pro-peace/ending the occupation in Iraq listserv:
"Colin Powell's second visit to Miami University, bookending the Bush administration, brought to us a message that recalls Indiana Jones: Fortune and Glory.
Though Powell's speech laid out a sports metaphor that on its surface seemed positive, underlying the entire talk was a pervasive message that money rules. By means of setting up an introduction of 9.11, Powell spoke of a materialism, vanity and power. He told the story of how upon retiring, for the second time, he didn't know what to do with himself so he bought a car. This was met with much laughter from the audience. He then told us about how he was considered by Time magazine to be aging gracefully--more laughter. Lastly, he said that when asked what he misses most about being Secretary of State he answers--"My own plane."
This story was filled with kings, dignitaries, red carpets, bands playing for him, "adoring crowds," and so on. These three stories seemed to me to be the most powerful of the night. They were distractions from real issues that he could have addressed while at the same time established the importance of money--buying cars, having planes--and looking good. Fortune and Glory. I imagine some might object to my criticism that Powell was being funny, entertaining, but I think such criticism only makes the point stronger. He distracted people from real stories about what it's like to be a General or Secretary of State, the difficulties, the rewards, the work, the decisions, and narrowed all of his experience down to possessions--the things he got out of it.
Later, when Powell outlined the four major issues he sees the US facing, I could not help remembering the earlier stories. So, when he said that government left us--his "young friends"--with some positives, that countries are on playing fields rather than battlefields, he was less than inspiring. The four games being played, according to Powell are 1) economics--we need to strengthen the economy to bring people out of poverty; 2) energy--we need energy to build up economics; 3) environment--careful use of the energy needed to build the economy; 3) education--better k-12 education in order to build the economy. Why aren't those things exciting? Because they're burdened with greed. Those stories about corvettes, Time and airplanes defined Powell's issues. Everything was about what you can get. He ended his speech by telling a story about how he gets free hot dogs from foreigners. It could have made you cry to hear him tell of the sheer pleasure these foreign hot dog vendors get from simply being in America. And Powell, who was paid how much to speak to his young friends, doesn't give up six bucks to help this person? His speech, however, let's us leave feeling that we too can achieve like he did, we can get things, but mostly we should be happy to be Americans."
Though Powell's speech laid out a sports metaphor that on its surface seemed positive, underlying the entire talk was a pervasive message that money rules. By means of setting up an introduction of 9.11, Powell spoke of a materialism, vanity and power. He told the story of how upon retiring, for the second time, he didn't know what to do with himself so he bought a car. This was met with much laughter from the audience. He then told us about how he was considered by Time magazine to be aging gracefully--more laughter. Lastly, he said that when asked what he misses most about being Secretary of State he answers--"My own plane."
This story was filled with kings, dignitaries, red carpets, bands playing for him, "adoring crowds," and so on. These three stories seemed to me to be the most powerful of the night. They were distractions from real issues that he could have addressed while at the same time established the importance of money--buying cars, having planes--and looking good. Fortune and Glory. I imagine some might object to my criticism that Powell was being funny, entertaining, but I think such criticism only makes the point stronger. He distracted people from real stories about what it's like to be a General or Secretary of State, the difficulties, the rewards, the work, the decisions, and narrowed all of his experience down to possessions--the things he got out of it.
Later, when Powell outlined the four major issues he sees the US facing, I could not help remembering the earlier stories. So, when he said that government left us--his "young friends"--with some positives, that countries are on playing fields rather than battlefields, he was less than inspiring. The four games being played, according to Powell are 1) economics--we need to strengthen the economy to bring people out of poverty; 2) energy--we need energy to build up economics; 3) environment--careful use of the energy needed to build the economy; 3) education--better k-12 education in order to build the economy. Why aren't those things exciting? Because they're burdened with greed. Those stories about corvettes, Time and airplanes defined Powell's issues. Everything was about what you can get. He ended his speech by telling a story about how he gets free hot dogs from foreigners. It could have made you cry to hear him tell of the sheer pleasure these foreign hot dog vendors get from simply being in America. And Powell, who was paid how much to speak to his young friends, doesn't give up six bucks to help this person? His speech, however, let's us leave feeling that we too can achieve like he did, we can get things, but mostly we should be happy to be Americans."
- Aaren Yandrich
oh YUCK. now i am extremely glad i didn't go to see this Tuesday night. i had made up my mind to go and help my friends protest against the war, was gonna walk across the bitter desolate expanse that is the frozen landscape of the Miami campus to go sit in a stadium full of self-entitled yuppie brats and listen to this jingoist garbage??! thank god insane sinus pressure and debilitating nausea intervened!
i think my pure unadulterated hatred for American jingoism and its close cousin rabid consumerism would have exploded my head and splattered my mucus membranes all over Colin Powell's face. so much for glory, eh?
seriously tho, to hear that he came to Miami to give a speech about the beauty of American capitalism, to urge the (already) materialistic Miami student populace to join him in drooling over and jacking off to the ideas of fast cars, oil, money, youth, power, and fame without shame or conscience, makes me wish i hadn't been too sick that night to go over there and punch him in the neck and groin. what kind of message is he sending to our college students if the only thing he urges them to aspire to is the accumulation of ever more material wealth and wasted potential?
oh, it just makes me so angry. this is exactly the kind of perverted political philosophy i am putting to shame in my senior thesis, but what good is it if the leaders of our nation - and the future leaders, too - are too busy gawking at themselves in mirrors to see that everything is completely fucked?
an image capture from American Psycho - a satire deriding the American corporatism and materialism of the 80s, a fitting analogy that was just too easy to pass up.
Colin Powell and his ethos of Fortune and Glory are a disease and a cancer, and he's only bound to flip that Corvette and pin himself under it.
-stephanie
i think my pure unadulterated hatred for American jingoism and its close cousin rabid consumerism would have exploded my head and splattered my mucus membranes all over Colin Powell's face. so much for glory, eh?
seriously tho, to hear that he came to Miami to give a speech about the beauty of American capitalism, to urge the (already) materialistic Miami student populace to join him in drooling over and jacking off to the ideas of fast cars, oil, money, youth, power, and fame without shame or conscience, makes me wish i hadn't been too sick that night to go over there and punch him in the neck and groin. what kind of message is he sending to our college students if the only thing he urges them to aspire to is the accumulation of ever more material wealth and wasted potential?
oh, it just makes me so angry. this is exactly the kind of perverted political philosophy i am putting to shame in my senior thesis, but what good is it if the leaders of our nation - and the future leaders, too - are too busy gawking at themselves in mirrors to see that everything is completely fucked?
an image capture from American Psycho - a satire deriding the American corporatism and materialism of the 80s, a fitting analogy that was just too easy to pass up.Colin Powell and his ethos of Fortune and Glory are a disease and a cancer, and he's only bound to flip that Corvette and pin himself under it.
-stephanie
Friday, October 12, 2007
friday night lights
SFS infiltrated the Miami University homecoming parade this Friday, with a beautiful show of solidarity (& it looked like Christmas!!!). we handed out AFSCME balloons and candy, and supplemented these with an informational flyer on our living wage campaign.
the float was a collaborative effort, with students and staff getting together 2 weekends in a row to plan, paint, assemble and build a replica football field, complete with a Sargent Pepper-ed audience of SFS members past and present.
we whooped and hollered, whistled and honked, whirred a siren and clanged a bell, while chanting to announce our arrival:
"everywhere we go-oh, (everywhere we go-oh - it's repeated)
people wanna kno-ow,
whooo we aaaare,
so we tell em:
WE ARE THE UNION!
THE MIGHTY MIGHTY UNION!
working for JUSTICE!
justice for workers!"
it was a lot of fun, and a great way to get the word out on a living wage.
SFS is working on a lot of these this year, finding creative and dramatic ways of inserting ourselves into the school's wider culture. as our activism has been interpreted as counter-cultural in the past, it's fun to play with expectations this year and appeal to a wider audience thru creative means.
-stef
Sunday, October 07, 2007
the final draft
here is the finalized course description for WCP 333, "Education for Social Change", or, as i will explicitly call it now: The Activist Subversion of the Miami Plan.
----
Do you dream of changing the world? Do you want to meet other people who do? Do you want to get course credit (and have fun!) while pursuing your dreams?
As you prepare to register for Spring semester classes (priority registration begins Oct. 11 at 7 am!), I hope you will consider taking the student-initiated Interdisciplinary Advanced Seminar: "Education for Social Change" (WCP 333).
I am working with Dr. Nick Longo, of the American Studies/ Educational Leadership departments and director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, to develop an exciting new class that will challenge the conventions and expectations of the traditional classroom, as we examine democratic and popular education, their histories, theories, philosophies, practices, and applications. We will look at the role of education in society, examine and reflect on our own educational experiences (through multi-genre and multi-media creative projects), and use this as an entry point to engaging in social change.
I started this class out of my own passion for activism and desire to "change the world," and because I believe that significant social progress can take place in our lifetime, if we are empowered and encouraged to create it. I believe education provides this hope, and I believe the critical-democratic practices of popular education in particular will free students to pursue their dreams. Students in this class will thus "learn by doing," practicing democratic education in the study of it.
If you are interested, or have questions, feel free to contact me.
Hope to see you in the Spring!
-Stephanie Lee
WCP 2008
----
Do you dream of changing the world? Do you want to meet other people who do? Do you want to get course credit (and have fun!) while pursuing your dreams?
As you prepare to register for Spring semester classes (priority registration begins Oct. 11 at 7 am!), I hope you will consider taking the student-initiated Interdisciplinary Advanced Seminar: "Education for Social Change" (WCP 333).
I am working with Dr. Nick Longo, of the American Studies/ Educational Leadership departments and director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, to develop an exciting new class that will challenge the conventions and expectations of the traditional classroom, as we examine democratic and popular education, their histories, theories, philosophies, practices, and applications. We will look at the role of education in society, examine and reflect on our own educational experiences (through multi-genre and multi-media creative projects), and use this as an entry point to engaging in social change.
I started this class out of my own passion for activism and desire to "change the world," and because I believe that significant social progress can take place in our lifetime, if we are empowered and encouraged to create it. I believe education provides this hope, and I believe the critical-democratic practices of popular education in particular will free students to pursue their dreams. Students in this class will thus "learn by doing," practicing democratic education in the study of it.
If you are interested, or have questions, feel free to contact me.
Hope to see you in the Spring!
-Stephanie Lee
WCP 2008
Friday, October 05, 2007
Exciting new course for Spring 2008: "Education for Social Change"
hiya,
as i mentioned yesterday, i'm teaching a class next semester!
and as excited as i am, i'm also struggling with ideas for how to market it to a broad base of students. obviously, i'd like to have a class size of more than 3, which is the current tally of committed persons (not too bad though, considering it became official just this afternoon).
i drafted up this general email that i suppose i'll forward around to departments and see if i can recruit people that way. i'm not sure how much i like the last paragraph, about wanting to "change the world," but i felt it was necessary to explain that this is a radical posture, without explicitly stating it.
let me know what you think?
-stef
-----------------------------------
Hi everyone -
Do you dream of changing the world? Do you want to meet other people who do? Do you want to get course credit for pursuing your dream?
As you prepare to register for Spring semester classes (priority registration begins Oct. 11 at 7 am!), I hope you will consider taking the student-initiated Interdisciplinary Advanced Seminar: "Education for Social Change."
I am working with Dr. Nick Longo, of the American Studies/ Educational Leadership departments and director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, to develop an exciting new class that will focus on democratic and popular education, their histories, theories, philosophies, practices, and applications. We will look at the role of education in society, examine and reflect on our own educational experiences (through multi-genre and multi-media projects), and use this as an entry point to engaging in social change.
I started this class out of my own desire to "change the world," and because I believe that significant social progress can take place in our lifetime, if the leaders of tomorrow are empowered and encouraged to create it. I believe education provides this hope, and I believe the critical-democratic practices of popular education in particular will free students to pursue their dreams. This class will thus aim to practice democratic educational theory in the study of it.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
-Stephanie Lee
WCP 2008
as i mentioned yesterday, i'm teaching a class next semester!
and as excited as i am, i'm also struggling with ideas for how to market it to a broad base of students. obviously, i'd like to have a class size of more than 3, which is the current tally of committed persons (not too bad though, considering it became official just this afternoon).
i drafted up this general email that i suppose i'll forward around to departments and see if i can recruit people that way. i'm not sure how much i like the last paragraph, about wanting to "change the world," but i felt it was necessary to explain that this is a radical posture, without explicitly stating it.
let me know what you think?
-stef
-----------------------------------
Hi everyone -
Do you dream of changing the world? Do you want to meet other people who do? Do you want to get course credit for pursuing your dream?
As you prepare to register for Spring semester classes (priority registration begins Oct. 11 at 7 am!), I hope you will consider taking the student-initiated Interdisciplinary Advanced Seminar: "Education for Social Change."
I am working with Dr. Nick Longo, of the American Studies/ Educational Leadership departments and director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, to develop an exciting new class that will focus on democratic and popular education, their histories, theories, philosophies, practices, and applications. We will look at the role of education in society, examine and reflect on our own educational experiences (through multi-genre and multi-media projects), and use this as an entry point to engaging in social change.
I started this class out of my own desire to "change the world," and because I believe that significant social progress can take place in our lifetime, if the leaders of tomorrow are empowered and encouraged to create it. I believe education provides this hope, and I believe the critical-democratic practices of popular education in particular will free students to pursue their dreams. This class will thus aim to practice democratic educational theory in the study of it.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
-Stephanie Lee
WCP 2008
Thursday, October 04, 2007
i am worn out!
i have been so tired this week! it's inexplicable. it's almost inexcusable. i was falling asleep in class today, literally falling! my head kept swinging to the side, my eyelids were stuck at half-mast, i was practically drooling from slack mouth. embarrasing. earlier this week i went to bed at 10 pm, to wake up at 7:30 am, work for an hour, then go back to sleep for another hour!
while i worry about my bouts of narcolepsy, i wanted to share some exciting developments in my project process!
first, a new title: "Revolutionary Praxis: Empowering Alternatives for Renewed Democracy" [thoughts? do you like it better than the last one?]
and, most exciting of all: i'm (tentatively) teaching an upper-level seminar next semester! yes, i'm currently in the process of designing the curriculum for a Western junior sem that will focus on democratic education, its history, theories, philosophies, practices, applications, and implications in social movements. the class will likely be called "Education for Social Change" and will feature creative projects and civic engagement projects. i'm excited to get started, and even more thrilled by the possibility of my "students" getting institutional credit for it, a class i hope is so fun they forget about grades all together!
it's nice to think of myself and my beliefs being couched within this institutional reward system and having it work in my favor, for once. it is a radical posture.
so, my class schedule for next semester (my last semester) is looking decidedly revolutionary:
5 credits of Senior Seminar (writing the thesis, no small task, to be sure)
3 credits possibly taking Social Work Policy (a class taught by a friend to the living wage movement, Dr. Alfred Joseph)
3 credits of independent study (to work with my mentor Nick Longo on creating and planning the aforementioned seminar)
3 credits TA'ing for the aforementioned Nick Longo in one of his first-year seminars, "Leadership for the Public Good"
=14 credits, a bare minimum for Miami in my final year here
(barring any exciting electives, such as Social Dance or Photography, ideas my friends and i are batting around as last hurrahs in undergraduate education)
if i weren't so tired, i'd do a backflip. //
i'd do a backflip if my back didn't still hurt from paddle-boating on the Potomac.
-stef
while i worry about my bouts of narcolepsy, i wanted to share some exciting developments in my project process!
first, a new title: "Revolutionary Praxis: Empowering Alternatives for Renewed Democracy" [thoughts? do you like it better than the last one?]
and, most exciting of all: i'm (tentatively) teaching an upper-level seminar next semester! yes, i'm currently in the process of designing the curriculum for a Western junior sem that will focus on democratic education, its history, theories, philosophies, practices, applications, and implications in social movements. the class will likely be called "Education for Social Change" and will feature creative projects and civic engagement projects. i'm excited to get started, and even more thrilled by the possibility of my "students" getting institutional credit for it, a class i hope is so fun they forget about grades all together!
it's nice to think of myself and my beliefs being couched within this institutional reward system and having it work in my favor, for once. it is a radical posture.
so, my class schedule for next semester (my last semester) is looking decidedly revolutionary:
5 credits of Senior Seminar (writing the thesis, no small task, to be sure)
3 credits possibly taking Social Work Policy (a class taught by a friend to the living wage movement, Dr. Alfred Joseph)
3 credits of independent study (to work with my mentor Nick Longo on creating and planning the aforementioned seminar)
3 credits TA'ing for the aforementioned Nick Longo in one of his first-year seminars, "Leadership for the Public Good"
=14 credits, a bare minimum for Miami in my final year here
(barring any exciting electives, such as Social Dance or Photography, ideas my friends and i are batting around as last hurrahs in undergraduate education)
if i weren't so tired, i'd do a backflip. //
i'd do a backflip if my back didn't still hurt from paddle-boating on the Potomac.
-stef
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Miami University Students for Staff Organize a Staff Appreciation Day
The Miami University student organization, Students for Staff, has organized a community-wide event in honor of all Miami employees. The free dinner and reception is an effort by the group to unite the community in a show of appreciation for and solidarity with staff.
The group has been waging a 3-year long campaign for a living wage for all Miami staff members. Based on records of staff wages and benefits, data collected from the Miami Human Resources department, and research by local poverty experts and market analysis reports, the group believes that a total of 449 full-time Miami staff are potentially living in poverty, with many more possibly qualifying for government assistance.
Students for Staff has taken multiple approaches to their activism. In addition to researching local economics, national poverty standards, and living wage policies at comparable universities, the group has informed their living wage campaign with an invested care and concern for the members of their local community. The students have made efforts in the past year and half to form genuine relationships with staff members and understand their situations, a perspective they have tried to share with the administration of Miami.
According to Stephanie Lee, one of the student organizers of the campaign, this is what distinguishes the group's approach.
"Administrators and management haven't taken the time to listen to the individual voices of the staff, to understand what each staff member goes through to make their living. A lot of staff won't even talk to a boss or supervisor about it because they're afraid. As students at this university, we have felt it is our responsibility to share these stories and to seek justice for our friends and neighbors at this university who aren't being treated fairly."
At a university with one of the highest Princeton Review rankings for "lack of diversity" and "lack of class interaction," this event marks a significant moment in the efforts toward community-building at Miami. When asked about the event, Stephanie Lee had this to say: "Some might note that this has wholly been a student effort. We came up with this idea, we planned and organized everything ourselves. We want to make a point about student-staff, student-administrator, and staff-administrator relations at Miami. It should be striking to everyone that the students are the ones who initiated a reception for the staff. I think it says a lot about our campaign that we have taken the time to get to know the staff, and that there is a genuine feeling of understanding and empathy. And I think that adds a lot of validity to our argument for better wages. Even though this event is not political in tone, it certainly has political intentions. We're not going to pretend that this isn't about a living wage, because of course it is. If you respect your workers and you respect your community, you'll understand that a living wage is just one way to right the wrongs perpetrated by our administration against our community-members. If you care about your community, and you care about the people in it, one thing should follow the other. If you support the staff, you would support a living wage."
The flyers advertising the event read as follows:
Staff Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, September 26th, from 5-7 pm at the Fine Arts Pavilion on the Oxford campus of Miami University. All are invited.
For more information, please visit the student group's website, at musfs.org
==============================
-stephanie lee, Free Radical Publishing
The group has been waging a 3-year long campaign for a living wage for all Miami staff members. Based on records of staff wages and benefits, data collected from the Miami Human Resources department, and research by local poverty experts and market analysis reports, the group believes that a total of 449 full-time Miami staff are potentially living in poverty, with many more possibly qualifying for government assistance.
Students for Staff has taken multiple approaches to their activism. In addition to researching local economics, national poverty standards, and living wage policies at comparable universities, the group has informed their living wage campaign with an invested care and concern for the members of their local community. The students have made efforts in the past year and half to form genuine relationships with staff members and understand their situations, a perspective they have tried to share with the administration of Miami.
According to Stephanie Lee, one of the student organizers of the campaign, this is what distinguishes the group's approach.
"Administrators and management haven't taken the time to listen to the individual voices of the staff, to understand what each staff member goes through to make their living. A lot of staff won't even talk to a boss or supervisor about it because they're afraid. As students at this university, we have felt it is our responsibility to share these stories and to seek justice for our friends and neighbors at this university who aren't being treated fairly."
At a university with one of the highest Princeton Review rankings for "lack of diversity" and "lack of class interaction," this event marks a significant moment in the efforts toward community-building at Miami. When asked about the event, Stephanie Lee had this to say: "Some might note that this has wholly been a student effort. We came up with this idea, we planned and organized everything ourselves. We want to make a point about student-staff, student-administrator, and staff-administrator relations at Miami. It should be striking to everyone that the students are the ones who initiated a reception for the staff. I think it says a lot about our campaign that we have taken the time to get to know the staff, and that there is a genuine feeling of understanding and empathy. And I think that adds a lot of validity to our argument for better wages. Even though this event is not political in tone, it certainly has political intentions. We're not going to pretend that this isn't about a living wage, because of course it is. If you respect your workers and you respect your community, you'll understand that a living wage is just one way to right the wrongs perpetrated by our administration against our community-members. If you care about your community, and you care about the people in it, one thing should follow the other. If you support the staff, you would support a living wage."
The flyers advertising the event read as follows:
Staff Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, September 26th, from 5-7 pm at the Fine Arts Pavilion on the Oxford campus of Miami University. All are invited.For more information, please visit the student group's website, at musfs.org
==============================
-stephanie lee, Free Radical Publishing
Thursday, September 06, 2007
that little pop you just heard was the sound of your mind rupturing
in one of my Educational Leadership classes earlier this week:
professor: "did you know they decided to stop teaching cursive as part of the curriculum?"
one music ed. major: "that is so stupid! how are people going to sign their checks?!?"
blank stares, long pause
prof: "yeah... lots of people sign in cursive..."
music ed: "i mean, older people will write in cursive and they won't even know how to read it!!"
---
later in class (same day):
prof: "so why do the authors say we need theory?"
another music ed major: "it's a necessary evil."
theory = evil...?
my mind: BLOWN.
-stef
professor: "did you know they decided to stop teaching cursive as part of the curriculum?"
one music ed. major: "that is so stupid! how are people going to sign their checks?!?"
blank stares, long pause
prof: "yeah... lots of people sign in cursive..."
music ed: "i mean, older people will write in cursive and they won't even know how to read it!!"
---
later in class (same day):
prof: "so why do the authors say we need theory?"
another music ed major: "it's a necessary evil."
theory = evil...?
my mind: BLOWN.
-stef
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
an o.k. kind of knowingness
i'm pleased to be found on the top 10 list of returns for a web search of "miami university - not liking it" [done by a MU student on campus, or so says the traffic report]
it's like when someone came upon this sight [sic] while searching for "sophomore slump symptoms," or any of the odd searches that bring ppl to this place.
-stef
it's like when someone came upon this sight [sic] while searching for "sophomore slump symptoms," or any of the odd searches that bring ppl to this place.
-stef
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
dangerous familiars
hi to all you patient and adoring darlings!
thanks for your patience these past few days. i've been busy traveling all over West Virginia and Kentucky, and have just recently returned to being settled and having all my things in one small room again.
that is, i'm back at Miami University for one final year. and as i'm shopping around for the most interesting and compelling classes to take, while i'm stressing out about my undergraduate thesis and studying for the GRE's and planning student actions for all my various activisms, i've also found, in the blissful off-time, a surprising nostalgia and reminiscence creeping over me.
even as i look around the campus, at the frightening droves of willowy blondes and preppy jock boys, their polished exteriors enough to make me insecure, and despite the inexplicable phenomenon of cornhole that seems to proliferate here, i can sense that i'm really going to miss this place next fall, when i will surely/hopefully be somewhere far, far away.
i know it's merely because i've gotten familiar with the place, have become accustomed to moving back to the same dorm for the past 4 years, am grateful to see the same familiar faces, to have such a strong community in which to wallow, enjoy coming back each year geared up and ready to fight for a cause i've been devoted to for over 5 semesters.
but...
this familiarity has me kinda scared too. comfort is overrated, even dangerous. keeping on your toes becomes kinda like floating, when you get good at it. and who doesn't want to defy gravity?
i got to thinking about this in one of my classes today. i was sitting in a class full of Education majors, a class called "Cultural Studies, Power, and Education," a class filled with typical Miami-types, feeling a little on edge because everyone in there was so white bread [sic]. the professor had been trying all of class to ease us into a radical mindset (which i gratefully dived right into), while we examined ads from the 90's that proffered 40's gender politics to preschool aged consumers. i glanced around the room to see students rolling their eyes, grimacing at the mention of atheism and Marxism, the girl beside me scrawling the word SOCIALIST in big letters across the first blank page of her notebook, and underlining it.
i give the professor a lot of credit. to open with that kind of radical leap in student expectation is truly courageous. i'm counting on a smaller class next time around.
anyway, this moment turned into a huge realization for my research into the practice of critical pedagogy:
for me (and i consider myself fairly radical, surprise, surprise), this first class wasn't unusual or myth-busting at all. in fact, it was too easy to agree with the professor, too natural to nod along, to laugh at his leftist jokes, to feel grateful for and, yes, comfortable with a liberal bias in the classroom.
on the other hand, my peers were noticeably unnerved, even perturbed, by the professor and what they must have perceived to be Commie rantings. and so, they were reluctant to engage, hesitant to open their minds to the possibility that advertisers care less about the consumer than about selling products.
and then i realized, looking around, everyone in this class was wearing nice Polo Ralph Lauren polo shirts, J Crew khakis, their heads gelled and kempt, glistening examples of Miami's "squarely in the box" reputation. of course they couldn't open their minds to cultural studies and critical pedagogy! it made them uncomfortable!
when capitalism is working for you, when you're comfortable with it, you see no need, no reason, to challenge it. comfort and capitalism are closely related, in fact, they are co-conspirators. in a society used to instant gratification, it becomes hard to get people used to stepping out of their comfort zones. why would they ever have to, if they can find a KFC wherever they go? same goes for ideological comfort zones.
existential discomfort = the worst kind.
thots!
-stef
---
speaking of familiars, you should get familiar with the guys over at Said the Gramophone. they keep one of the most beautifully written music blogs out there. in fact, it's one of only 2 i actually read on a regular basis. this post was particularly striking and appropriate for the approaching end of summer. FUN TIMES FOREVER.
thanks for your patience these past few days. i've been busy traveling all over West Virginia and Kentucky, and have just recently returned to being settled and having all my things in one small room again.
that is, i'm back at Miami University for one final year. and as i'm shopping around for the most interesting and compelling classes to take, while i'm stressing out about my undergraduate thesis and studying for the GRE's and planning student actions for all my various activisms, i've also found, in the blissful off-time, a surprising nostalgia and reminiscence creeping over me.
even as i look around the campus, at the frightening droves of willowy blondes and preppy jock boys, their polished exteriors enough to make me insecure, and despite the inexplicable phenomenon of cornhole that seems to proliferate here, i can sense that i'm really going to miss this place next fall, when i will surely/hopefully be somewhere far, far away.
i know it's merely because i've gotten familiar with the place, have become accustomed to moving back to the same dorm for the past 4 years, am grateful to see the same familiar faces, to have such a strong community in which to wallow, enjoy coming back each year geared up and ready to fight for a cause i've been devoted to for over 5 semesters.
but...
this familiarity has me kinda scared too. comfort is overrated, even dangerous. keeping on your toes becomes kinda like floating, when you get good at it. and who doesn't want to defy gravity?
i got to thinking about this in one of my classes today. i was sitting in a class full of Education majors, a class called "Cultural Studies, Power, and Education," a class filled with typical Miami-types, feeling a little on edge because everyone in there was so white bread [sic]. the professor had been trying all of class to ease us into a radical mindset (which i gratefully dived right into), while we examined ads from the 90's that proffered 40's gender politics to preschool aged consumers. i glanced around the room to see students rolling their eyes, grimacing at the mention of atheism and Marxism, the girl beside me scrawling the word SOCIALIST in big letters across the first blank page of her notebook, and underlining it.
i give the professor a lot of credit. to open with that kind of radical leap in student expectation is truly courageous. i'm counting on a smaller class next time around.
anyway, this moment turned into a huge realization for my research into the practice of critical pedagogy:
for me (and i consider myself fairly radical, surprise, surprise), this first class wasn't unusual or myth-busting at all. in fact, it was too easy to agree with the professor, too natural to nod along, to laugh at his leftist jokes, to feel grateful for and, yes, comfortable with a liberal bias in the classroom.
on the other hand, my peers were noticeably unnerved, even perturbed, by the professor and what they must have perceived to be Commie rantings. and so, they were reluctant to engage, hesitant to open their minds to the possibility that advertisers care less about the consumer than about selling products.
and then i realized, looking around, everyone in this class was wearing nice Polo Ralph Lauren polo shirts, J Crew khakis, their heads gelled and kempt, glistening examples of Miami's "squarely in the box" reputation. of course they couldn't open their minds to cultural studies and critical pedagogy! it made them uncomfortable!
when capitalism is working for you, when you're comfortable with it, you see no need, no reason, to challenge it. comfort and capitalism are closely related, in fact, they are co-conspirators. in a society used to instant gratification, it becomes hard to get people used to stepping out of their comfort zones. why would they ever have to, if they can find a KFC wherever they go? same goes for ideological comfort zones.
existential discomfort = the worst kind.
thots!
-stef
---
speaking of familiars, you should get familiar with the guys over at Said the Gramophone. they keep one of the most beautifully written music blogs out there. in fact, it's one of only 2 i actually read on a regular basis. this post was particularly striking and appropriate for the approaching end of summer. FUN TIMES FOREVER.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
and it's only monday...
--->this is how the penultimate week of school makes me feel...i've been busy. the last few weeks have borne upon me a ridiculous amount of work, and i didn't sleep more than a total of 8 hours all of last week. as you can imagine, i was hardly a person by week's end, merely a doughy shell.
i also ran out of money on my meal plan, so lately have been occupying myself with foraging for little snackies to keep alive with. i had a lunch of baby carrots before i passed out on a bench and slept until the storms came in. i woke up and the land had turned dark and i didn't know where i was any more. and i found the tiniest little bird hopping around in front of my bench, whistling and just having a hell of a time despite my utter confusion. he sure was whistling the hell out of himself. it was kinda a magical moment i wish i had on Kodak film or something.
so this post took place over the course of 3 hours because i kept getting called down to the writing center. it's finals week at last, and the signs are everywhere.
stay well friends, and don't eat more than eight pieces of cold pizza a day. cold leftover pizza is hardly nutritious enough to subsist on, and i'm pretty sure it does permanent damage to your digestive organs.
love and all,
stephan!e
Saturday, April 21, 2007
living rage
for immediate release:
Miami University Students for Staff take the campus by storm! Give our staff fair wages! Information Blackout! Blam! Confrontation with Hodge! Hodge puts a hand up to silence and ignore community concerns at Miami University!
What do we want? I don't know, maybe A LIVING WAGE. when? how 'bout NOW!
-stephan!e
Miami University Students for Staff take the campus by storm! Give our staff fair wages! Information Blackout! Blam! Confrontation with Hodge! Hodge puts a hand up to silence and ignore community concerns at Miami University!
What do we want? I don't know, maybe A LIVING WAGE. when? how 'bout NOW!
-stephan!e
Thursday, April 19, 2007
SFS Rally! video
my favorite part: when President Hodge says "the problem is you can't tell us what a living wage is. when you tell me what a living wage is..."
and then my friend Dylan says "it's right on here, Dr. Hodge" and then he points to the letter and reads "A LIVING WAGE IS A DECENT WAGE"
-stephan!e
p.s. i've been up for nearly a whole week straight. i've slept a total of 7 hours in the last 4 nights. but there's good news: i think my body is learning to take it, and i'm getting closer to getting my work done...? i did waste a lot of time editing video for fun, but at least it was thrilling at the time...
and then my friend Dylan says "it's right on here, Dr. Hodge" and then he points to the letter and reads "A LIVING WAGE IS A DECENT WAGE"
-stephan!e
p.s. i've been up for nearly a whole week straight. i've slept a total of 7 hours in the last 4 nights. but there's good news: i think my body is learning to take it, and i'm getting closer to getting my work done...? i did waste a lot of time editing video for fun, but at least it was thrilling at the time...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
he gives us the hand
does this look like someone willing to engage in conversation?
not likely...
(from the Living Wage Rally video. link forthcoming...)
-stephan!e
not likely...
(from the Living Wage Rally video. link forthcoming...)
-stephan!e
Friday, April 13, 2007
Living Wage Rally!
Students for Staff organized a successful rally and protest outside the Miami University student center yesterday. Despite the unusual cold, there was a crowd of about 50-70 students and staff gathered together on the patio, eating snacks and hanging out.
This is a rare occasion on our campus, when people come together and engage in meaningful dialog with one another, and even more rare is the opportunity to apply our shared concerns into ACTION.
But, that is exactly what we saw yesterday, as the event kicked off with speeches and testimonials from students AND staff, in support of a mutual fight for just wages at Miami University.
We then took to the streets in collective action, carrying signs and this letter to President Hodge,
snaking through campus, hitting a campus landmark, the Upham Arch,
where traditionally most Miami mergers begin with a kiss (the image of students and staff charging thru in peaceful protest is thus particularly poignant),
to end on the steps of Roudebush, the administrative building.
We extended hands and ascended the stairs, a chain of students in solidarity, from the President's door, where we delivered the letter, down to the door.
It was beautiful to see so many people out there doing something political together, and standing strong even in the face of the police, who came expecting to break up a student protest. It made me swell with hope, realizing that maybe we'd finally woken people up.
-stephan!e
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