We were walking, hand in hand, long through dry grass
and the pines were soughing, sounds of the ocean,
and the dog prowled the shadows and life was life,
not the pale imitation of television, but life clear to its top
where foxes and wild honey and barberries waited.
By Andrea Scarpino
A neighborhood. A pack. A group of friends. A people who share common beliefs, values. A people with whom you share a “feeling of fellowship.”
When Zac and I first moved to Marquette, we decided that to live in such a small town, we had to throw ourselves into the town’s community. Which we quickly found was easier said than actually accomplished. We immediately signed up for library cards, asked to be added to the library’s listserve. The library doesn’t have a listserve. I immediately went to the university’s English Department, asked to be added to their listserve. They don’t have a listserve. Again and again, we went to places that seemed to be doing interesting work, tried to find out about their upcoming events.
This strategy worked in Los Angeles; at the very first poetry reading I attended one week after we moved to LA, I met Jennifer, who became one of my very closest friends. And two years after we left LA, I’m still unsubscribing from theaters, political groups, libraries, local NPR stations.
In Marquette, we were told that the best way to find out what’s happening in town is to, “walk around and look for posters.” This seemed quaint at first—we’d moved to a place where no one uses the internet!—but grew aggravating as we missed events whose posters we didn’t happen to see, as we struggled to meet people who seemed interested in being our friends. Zac has a small built-in community at the university, but I work from home—not one of my colleagues lives in the UP.
And we have friends all over the world who, as Steve would say, we’ve already made part of our pack, who have already invited us into their pack. For me, at least, this means struggling to grow a community in Marquette while nurturing the communities elsewhere in which I often feel more comfortable.
And truthfully, I haven’t actually been in Marquette very often since we moved here. In the last two years, Zac and I have both had hectic travel schedules, often traveling for weeks at a time, stopping home to wash our laundry and re-pack the same clothes. Which makes it challenging to connect with friends here, to continue developing relationships.
Even so, we’ve begun to feel more connected in Marquette, begun to cobble together a network of friends, of businesses and organizations we regularly visit. I wouldn’t say we’re yet fully integrated into our new community, but we’re trying. We continue to try. Almost two years into our Marquette adventure, I think we’re making good progress.
Will Video of Teen Being Shocked 31 Times Shut Down Rotenberg School?
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/04/video-child-being-shocked-rotenberg-school
What goes around comes around: Bolsheviks in the Capitol washroom!
ALLEN WEST: I'VE 'HEARD' 80 HOUSE DEMS ARE COMMUNIST MEMBERS
WASHINGTON — As many as 80 House Democrats are communists, according to Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.). West warned constituents at a Tuesday town hall event…
Stephen Kuusisto
Director
The Renee Crown University
Honors Program
University Professor
Syracuse University
This week, the media reported that over $1 billion has been spent over the course of the last decade on autism research funding. During a time of constant budget cuts and increasing fiscal pressures on government, this is an astonishing sum. What have we purchased for this investment? How successful has the autism research agenda been in making the American dream a reality for Autistic people and our families? Has our society discussed the ethical, legal and social consequences of how autism research findings may be used? We think these questions are worth asking, and with your help, we think it is past time to get more people involved in the discussion.
Last December, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network joined with the Harvard Law Project on Disability and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics to hold a symposium on the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of Autism Research. Supported by a grant from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, the ASAN ELSI Symposium served as the launching point for a robust conversation about changing the way our society approaches autism research. From our partnership with federal research funders to get self-advocates on grant review panels to growing attention to ethical issues on topics like prenatal testing, self-determination in service-provision and more, the need to introduce values into our national autism research dialogue remains stronger than ever.
Nothing About Us, Without Us!
Ari Ne'eman
President
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
The Arts Experience is a partnership of Hobart & William Smith Colleges and the Collaborative of the Finger Lakes. The festival is an opportunity for participants, including people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, the college community, and the general public to explore various means of expression through the arts.
The Arts Experience will cultivate and embrace the spirit of inclusion through participation in the arts, artistic performance and celebration.
All activities take place in accessible venues on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Due to space limitations, free registration required for all ‘workshops’. No registration required for ‘events’. Please click on the form to the right to register.
Workshop – Visual Arts, Found Art Sculpture, 9:00 am – 11:45 am, Elliot Studio Arts Center
Workshop, – Visual Arts, Recycled Book Sculpture, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Elliot Studio Art Center
Workshop – Performing Arts, Get Your Groove On: Secret Dance Rehearsal, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm, Winn-Seeley Theater
Workshop – Performing Arts, A Moving Experience, 1:25 pm – 2:50 pm, Winn-Seeley Theater
Event – Assistive Technology Innovations for Individuals with Visual Impairments and Other Disabilities: Expo and Panel Discussion, facilitated by Betsy Bixler (Perkins Training Center) and music by J.P. Simpson and the Gregory Street Blues Band, 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Vandervort Room, Scandling Center
Workshop – Video-Making, Video-making Part 1: Filming, 1:25 pm – 2:50 pm, Vandervort Room, Scandling Center
Workshop – Performing Arts, Making Movement A Sensory Experience, 10:20 am – 11:45 am, Bristol Gym
Workshop – Performing Arts, Dance & Media Part 1: Becoming Avatars, 11:55 am – 1:20 pm, Bristol Gym
Workshop – Performing Arts, Get Your Groove On: Secret Dance Rehearsal, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm, Bristol Gym
Event – Wretches and Jabberers documentary with Larry Bissonnette & Tracy Thresher, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Vandervort Room, Scandling Center
Workshop – Visual Arts, Paper Mosaics, 10:00 am -3:00 pm, Elliot Studio Art Center
Workshop – Visual Arts, Dance and Media Part 2: Creating Avatars, 10:10 am – 11:05 am, Digital Learning Center Learn Lab, HWS Library
Workshop – Visual Arts, Photography: Sun-Printing Technique, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Elliot Studio Arts Center
Workshop – Visual Arts, Mannequin Decoupage, 10:30 am – 1:30 pm, Elliot Studio Arts Center
Event – Lives Worth Living & panel discussion facilitated by James Wilson, 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm, Sanford Room, HWS Library
Workshop – Video-Making, Video-making Part 2: Editing, 11:15 am – 1:15 pm, Barron Multimedia Lab, HWS Library
Workshop – Performing Arts, Laugh Session Improv, 1:25 pm – 2:50 pm, Vandervort Room, Scandling Center
Event – World Dance Performance: Dances of the African Diaspora, 7:00 pm – 7:45 pm, Winn-Seeley Theater
Workshop – Starting from Scratch: Creating a Stage Performance, 3:05 pm – 4:30 pm, Vandervort Room, Scandling Center
Workshop – Visual Arts, ‘Make Your Mark’ Collaboratively Assembled Art Poster, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm, Elliot Studio Art Center
Event – Arts Gala Finale with the band FLAME, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Scandling Center Patio/Café
BloomFest HWS student-initiated event, Renovated Storefront Art Gallery, Downtown Geneva (Details pending)
BloomFest student-initiated festival, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm (Details pending)
BloomFest student-initiated festival, (Details pending)
Here’s the famous black milk of Paul Celan. Here’s Vasco Popa’s horse torn in the branches of a tree. That’s the kind of shit able bodied people dream up. My friend who can’t speak sees words flying around the ceiling like trapped birds.
Study Ties Conservative Beliefs To 'Low-Effort
Thinking'
Conservatives and liberals don't seem to agree
about much, and they might not agree about recent studies linking conservatism to low intelligence and "low-effort" thinking. As The Huffington Post reported in February, a study published in the journal "Psychological Science" showed that children who score
low on intelligence tests gravitate toward socially conservative political views in adulthood–perhaps because conservative ideologies stress "structure and order" that make it easier to understand a complicated world. Ouch. And now there's the new study linking
conservative ideologies to "low-effort" thinking. "People endorse conservative ideology more when they have to give a first or fast…
“In short, Horatio Alger needs lots of help, and a large thrust of contemporary Republican policy is dedicated to making sure he doesn’t get it.”
From The New York Times:
OPINIONATOR | THE STONE: The Taint of ‘Social Darwinism’
President Obama used a politically charged phrase to attack the Republican budget. It also happened to be true.
Stephen Kuusisto
Director
The Renee Crown University Honors Program
University Professor
Syracuse University
Planet of the Blind 