Change or teach/create projects across ALL classes

All classes now incorporate the importance of personal efficacy, culminating in the 'personal/group impact change' or 'create/teach' projects and presentations as capstones.  Each student (alone or in small groups) will need to develop a project for change and report the results or create a means of teaching about needed change and report the results.

The goal is to add creativity (literature suggests it is sorely lacking in education) and personal efficacy to topics that are otherwise often 'soul crushing' or engender a sense of hopelessness.

Starter ideas are embedded in the project description on Talon, but new ideas arise daily.  In response to "Miss Representation," students were wanting to make projects to reach out to media outlets and politicians to state their frustrations.  They were also willing to come up with ways to share the documentary with others that might foster greater awareness (and hence the power to change!) of the social forces acting on us.

8th Annual (but my first) Dubuque Sustainability Conference- Day 2

For today's blog, I'm going to write around the session descriptions to capture the most information.  After further reflection on yesterday's sessions, I'm also going to send Scott Ermer an e-mail to inquire about training programs in rooftop and stormwater management through rain gardens, 'living roofs,' and 'floating islands.'  With the golf course industry 'belly-up' and interest in water conservation, it seems that Kirkwood may want to start training programs to get people ready to assist with water catchment and rain gardens.

SESSION 1:  "Part 1: Big Ox Energy will describe how a private/public partnership will convert high strength wastewaters, sludges and solid organics into renewable natural gas for injection into an interstate/intrastate natural gas pipeline grid. The project under development will take in wastes both piped in and trucked in for anaerobic digestion. The project broke ground in May, 2015. Its upper Midwest location is in the center of America’s industrial-scale food manufacturing and processing belt. Meatpacking and processing plants, fruit and vegetable canning, cereal manufacturing, and breweries produce hundreds of tons of waste each day that create a disposal challenge, which this project aims to solve.

Part 2: Converting over 1,400 tons per year of food scraps from local restaurants, schools and supermarkets into renewable natural gas fuel, electricity and value-added lawn and garden products, the Nebraska Organic Waste Resources (NOW Resources) Project is Lincoln, Nebraska’s first commercial food waste-to-energy program. The project will provide enough renewable energy to fuel a dedicated CNG trash truck, while making the partnership a net exporter of electricity and creating compost and liquid fertilizer as byproducts. The project is a partnership between Uribe Refuse Services, Inc., and Nebraska Organic Waste Energy, Inc., and is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust."

In addition to this session, I spent an hour talking to the Big Ox crew.  They showed me the schematics for their Wisconsin facility and explained they only need big stakeholders in Cedar Rapids to sign on to be able to build a facility in our area.  With a facility in our area, they would be in a position to divert animal, agricultural, and human (including packaging and food scraps) waste from Kirkwood into concentrated, liquid fuel for use in car fleets, etc.  The compressed gas they produce as fuel can be used in modified diesel engines including school buses!  Their greatest success (it seems) thus far is in South Sioux Falls where industrial waste was overwhelming municipal services (including water treatment facilities in Sioux Falls, IA.  Unfortunately, cities like Des Moines already have tax payer funded, oversized nitrate processing water treatment facilities and cannot afford to now invest in diverting industrial and agricultural waste.

The second session regarding Lincoln, Nebraska features a much smaller-scale process of separating food waste from packaging and then using AD to turn the product into natural gas for a fleet of waste trucks.  The process is less capital-intensive, but smaller scale and focused on food waste with hand sorting from packaging.  On the plus side, this project is replicable by a variety of entities within the city.  The organizers also recognize the need for increased education regarding food waste on the front end.  They wish to educate regarding nutrition needs and the perils of food waste in addition to better conversion to energy and diversion from landfills.

Unfortunately, both solutions are designed to work within our existing food and agricultural production rather than challenging the production of waste in the first place.  That said, until we have reverse deleterious trends in production, diversion from rivers and landfills is better than nothing.  [The Big Ox folks and I discussed the sad irony of the Des Moines Register front page articles (side by side) regarding reclaiming water use via recreation and the increased nitrate levels in said waterways.]

SESSION 2: "This presentation examines the relationship between the environmental consequences of sprawl development patterns and the economic viability of the places we build. Current research has uncovered an alarming disassociation between the perceived economic growth of suburban development and the true costs attached to such investments. The take-away from the talk will focus on urban design principles supportive of strong environments and economies from the scale of the region to the scale of the street. The financial numbers behind the impact of the physical characteristics of a place and its economic performance will be the lens through which these principles are studied. Case studies will include a comprehensive land use and transportation master plan for the greater metropolitan region of Chicago and the redevelopment of Main Street Broken Arrow, OK."

I think the above session is a nice complement to the keynote yesterday about the problems associated with sprawl and the new demand (and cost savings) associated with the 'old' model of live and work in place town squares.  The presentation also addresses reclamation of buildings rather than demolition as a means to supporting sustainability.  Additionally, reclamation adds jobs and commercial potential.

The awesome part of this presentation is meeting Peter Ruklic of 'undependentRockIsland' who suggested paradigm-shifting videos about walkable cities and environmental discussions wrongly focusing on wilderness rather than cities.  I haven't had time to view the longer videos he referenced on youtube ("Strongtown Curbside Chat Pondering Idaho" and "Cities for People, John Gehl (from Melbourne, Australia)," but I am super excited to see "Walkable City" by Jeff Speck.  This is the video Peter mentioned that challenges us to look at city use as central to environmental concerns.

The noon keynote includes discussion of how love for place can motivate grassroots activism and community development.  I think 'love of place' is an important intangible (also implicit in current class changes), but tricky for a student population that may wish to leave home.  That said, I think 'home' comes in many forms for our current students and hopefully a 'love of Kirkwood' can be engendered with personal connections and also potential for student-led campus actions and physical transformations.

Unfortunately, the conference in general has failed (as have most) to articulate a shared definition of 'sustainability' (something I discussed with NICC's President at lunch yesterday).  Likewise, we've failed to note that we cannot sustain these sick systems, but rather need to deconstruct them before creating newer, saner, humaner, and potentially 'sustainable' ones.

AFTERNOON MOBILE TOUR: "The Catfish Creek Watershed Management Authority was created in 2012 to educate watershed residents, farms and businesses about the resource an impact their actions have on water quality and runoff and complete projects that improve the quality of the diverse 57 square-mile watershed. The Water & Resource Recovery Center, a $67 million project, harnesses biogas from anaerobic digestion to use for heating and cooling generation, collects high-strength waste from nearby food processing plants, and makes biosolids, which were previously considered waste, available for fertilizer on local farm ground. This tour will include examples of the watershed management's agenda and a tour of the new W&RRC."

The afternoon tour was actually pretty cool.  The first part featured what I didn't even realize was Dubuque's waste water treatment (commercial and residential) facility near the Mines of Spain.  The facility features anaerobic digesters that produce 75% of the current energy needed to run the plant and may soon expand to include methane from food scraps as well as production of liquid gas for use in City of Dubuque transportation fleets.

The second portion of the tour featured something near and dear to my heart (especially after getting my first ever infection from water): The Catfish Creek Watershed.  The executive summary provided reveals that all five branches of Catfish Creek exceed nitrogen and phosphorous (something the City waste treatment facility is looking at extracting to reduce 'dead zones' downstream and save on phosphorous mining for fertilizer use which is expected to be depleted in less than 50 years) levels.  Additionally, many branches exceed E. coli acceptable levels as well.  As a result, Swiss Valley:

is working to reclaim stream beds to prairie (to absorb rain), working with area farmers (including paying for 75% of run-off remediation via State and Federal grants), and implementing rain gardens to deal with storm run-off:

8th Annual (but my first) Dubuque Sustainability Conference- Day 1

Who knew my hometown would have such a well-organized conference with so many sessions of relevance to Sociology of the Environment.  Full sessions are listed here, but today's plan includes the sessions on Engaging Neighborhoods through Arts & Culture (fits nicely with my new 'creativity' in educating model), What's New with Green Infrastructure, and Using the Livability Index to Gauge Your City (of particular interest with new assignments asking students to 'grade' or create 'report cards' to assess their communities and campus, which they seem to really love and could make as semester-long independent projects).

Tomorrow's plan in includes (in addition to the breakfast and lunch keynotes), sessions on Bringing Waste-to-Energy into the Mainstream and The Point of No Return: Examining the True Economic Costs of Sprawl.  Tomorrow also includes a tour of the Catfish Creek Water Recovery System (designed to deal with run-off and amend water pollution).  This is an additional, two-hour mobile tour of the water recovery center so I'm hoping to have some pictures from my phone to post tomorrow as well.

I already spent the morning making connections with anaerobic biogas folks willing to come to Kirkwood for a free assessment of how waste from various parts of the campus (including Agriculture) could be converted into energy.  Turns out federal grants pay for the initial assessment.  I've also gathered details on 'living roofs' and spent quite a bit of time talking about the future of solar power.  The folks at Eagle Point Solar are doing solar farms in Kalona and relayed that current 'dollar for dollar' trades exist with Alliant and MidAmerican per federal law, but that completely off-grid options are a likely reality in the near future (with 10 year-lasting battery banks soon to be offered at less than $5000 a system).

smART [sustainability+madison+art] wants to create community in the room as well as in the community (by asking us first 'what is your story?').  The presentation reinforces class changes I've made to slow down material and make nametags based on the arguments that it takes time to build trust and relationships.  [The latter is their main takeaway.]  smART is based on just communities, healthy planets, and healthy societies using individuals as agents of change.  This also fits nicely with individual change models.  It turns out that only 10% of the population needs to be convinced that a new behavior is good in order to create a societal 'tipping point' in favor of that change.  At Sustain Dane, children work together with residents to create art that is positive and builds relationships and trust.  Elite artists combined with residents from diverse communities to plan community art projects and all participated in the production to grow community.  [Frankly, I think we could try a project like this with diverse student groups at the beginning of a semester to produce art for some area of campus.]  Importantly, the organizers have started by asking the community if they have interest and building a coalition (door to door) for community interest.  The program can also be done with a medium other than art but following a few helpful tips.  Presenters note we need community and social pressure (not just individual 'shoulds') to make real change.  We need to be talking with all involved to align goals from the start (ideally making fewer assumptions each time) and be flexible in response to the needs and wants of the community (how can what we want to achieve partner with what the community wants).  I think there's also application of this to climate change or industrial agriculture or any other social problem profiled [creating a group mural to depict some element of homophobia might also work for the LGBT Studies class].

Our noon luncheon included a presentation highlighting the demand for walkable communities by Millenials along with the warning that talent will dictate location for businesses in the future.  The transportation expert recommends RETURNING TO THE OLD in order to solve today's problems.  He suggests walkable, attractive city centers near transportation hubs to attract young folks rather than continuing the suburban sprawl characteristic since the 1920s.  (E.g., Dubuque's River Walk below.)

Cost is reduced in all forms (travel time, roadways, etc.) by rebuilding city centers that reflected the 'old time mainstreet' model of mixed use residential and commercial.  His presentation was exceptionally sociological in the sense that our suburban sprawl did not arise out of thin air.  We began to zone for residential only, create arterial roads, and invest only in transportation related to the automobile.  Almost as importantly, I was privileged to spend lunch chatting with President Liang Chee Wee from Northeast Iowa Community College.  I was tremendously impressed with his personal and professional philosophies, vision for the college, and caring about the students.

My first afternoon session details floating treatment wetlands and water resource management.  From the brochure: "Floating Treatment Wetlands are an innovative environmental solution that "biomimics" nature’s wetlands to pull unwanted nutrients and pollutants from the water. The island matrix and plants provide important surface area for microbes to colonize and help manage phosphorus, nitrogen and total suspended solids in the water. Covered with plants that grow roots down below the islands, the infrastructure helps restore wetland habitat, pollinator plants, and the beauty of native plants."  

This reminds me of the larger matrix of wetland and grey water resolution at Oberlin College that is capable of completely converting bathroom waste into water clean enough to be used on edible plants.  In this case, floating wetlands are intended to deal with overloads of nitrogen into the watershed.  You need not retrofit and can actually add in increments and to scale to remove nitrogen in harmless gas form and to sequester phosphorous.  The floating islands are modeled after peat bogs in Wisconsin.

My second afternoon session relates to now having students 'grade' or do 'report cards' on various social issues on campus and in their communities.  I would like to have students try the livability index, but also to consider creating one for Kirkwood as an individual project.  Students could ask for assessment by peers and then propose solutions to the college.

See and feel

In the midst of more of this, all I can say is that I think it's more important than ever to change our society and our educational system so that we are really *seeing* each other.  We can do better for each other, but perhaps we have to first look at our own hurts and to have someone validating those hurts (*seeing* us).  We can deescalate sometimes, we can "see," we can really get to know rather than demand, etc.  We are an angry society, but we don't have to be.

Real change from student input and Professional Development offerings

In an Introduction to Sociology assignment to find examples of symbolic interactionism, one student commented on the ubiquitous pink from a baby shower recently attended.  The discussion transitioned to the history of pink and blue as gendered colors as well as additional examples from today's world.  Another student raised her hand and said "like on the webpage right behind you."  Behind me on the overhead projector was the Talon login page and a picture of boys wearing Kirkwood blue and girls in pink.

To model the personal change projects for the last fifth of the semester, I decided to e-mail several folks at Kirkwood to see if there were alternative pictures.  After sharing the choices with my students and finding it difficult to find images that were truly representative of the diversity of the student body, another student said "why not use the Kirkwood eagle."  Brilliant idea.  Marketing came up with a new login page featuring the eagle, which fits nicely with both 'Eaglenet' and 'Talon' and still allows for pictures of representative students, activities, and campus facilities on the regular Kirkwood.edu homepage.

Lovely.

Also lovely was approval for Marti from The Tapestry to speak to faculty and staff during professional development days in November.  We are excited by the possibility of greater faculty involvement (from across the trades, music department, etc.) as well as student volunteerism.

Last 'lovely' from today was a student in LGBT Studies who said, following a set of questions about gender roles, "my head is spinning...is it supposed to be."  Yes.  Yes, it is.  :)

Connections with the community and future service to the college from The Tapestry

Marti from The Tapestry time and furniture bank has been kind enough to speak to four of my classes about community and the mission of The Tapestry.  We met during my professional development year and spoke about possible collaboration.

Phase one is to have her present to my students.

Phase two will hopefully be student participation (possibly as a part of their individual change projects) with The Tapestry.

Phase three is a hopeful presentation by Marti to the greater Kirkwood faculty and staff about involvement with the non-profit.

"Look Up"

Assignments to engender mindfulness and assess feelings have yielded promising results thus far.  Students have been choosing their own current event topics, apply concepts from the text, and then sharing with the class.  Sharing activities largely occupy class time with time spent researching, interviewing, experiencing, etc. done before class.  As they ponder how to 'do something' to improve the situations they are researching, thoughtful responses evolve.

In assignments focusing on mental health (depression) and several on technology, students identified that it would be best to try spending less time with technology.  Instead, many sincerely suggested just smiling at each other in the halls and starting a conversation!  Another shared an excellent video on the importance of "Look[ing] Up" from your phone.

These revelations may be important for the future of Kirkwood as well.  One student shared in class that her friend decided to go to Clarke University in Dubuque rather than Kirkwood after noticing that no one at Kirkwood talked to each other in the halls because they were all too busy on their cell phones.  Indeed, when I left that class, not one student in any group was speaking: they were all busy with their thumbs.  I counted no less than 60 students, all of which were occupied with technology rather than each other.

Students stated that it was 'scary' to consider putting down their phones in favor of having real conversations, but I hope they try it anyway.  I will be encouraging many to do so as part of their individual change projects near the end of the semester

So far this year in teaching, learning, presenting, and publishing

Seems like it's been a busy first two weeks of teaching.  Before I forget, I want to make note of the following forthcoming items for my Kirkwood Goal reporting as well as updating my c.v.:

1) I'll be presenting again for Constitution Day on September 17, 2015 about animal and land rights.  I'll be discussing a few of the 'personhood' arguments associated with recent court cases, but mostly trying to raise awareness of the implications of our behaviors.

2) I'll be participating in Iowa City Free Lunch Project board meetings as a member this fall and for the next two years.  I look forward to seeing how Kirkwood faculty, staff, and students can both serve and raise awareness (or even donations) for this program).  It's possible donations could come via Table to Table and contributions made of excess food from the Iowa City Kirkwood Campus.

3) Our article, "Does Racial Isolation in School Lead to Long-Term Disadvantages? Labor-Market Consequences of High School Racial Composition" (Gamoran, Collares, Barfels) will be published in the January 2016 issue of The American Journal of Sociology.

4) After week 2, I am very pleased with how invested students have been sharing the articles and videos they are finding to apply sociological concepts.  People have been mindful and paused to note the working conditions in China associated with the latest and greatest technology as well as the eventual problem of recycling said discarded technology.  The ownership is empowering and the peer sharing is evoking much more attentiveness.  Last but not least, students are asking questions about how they can change their lives and the world around them.  As such, future assignments will continue to include reflective components where students can contact businesses, etc., to explain why they will or will not support certain products or manufacturing standards, etc.

5) I've also signed up for the 8th Annual Sustainability Conference in Dubuque October 6-7.  I'm very excited as there are many presentations regarding the latest in eco-smart urban planning as well as a tour of efforts to restore the Catfish Creek Watershed given damage from industrial agriculture.  I look forward to bringing back much to share with students and staff.  I'm also pleased that most of the examples are regional, which makes the solar/biofuel, etc., presentations that much more relevant and accessible on campus as well.

Name tags and field trips

Introduction to Sociology got to take a field trip today to do a census concerning the number of 'eat in' cafeteria patrons who took 'eat out' containers.  We linked it to the social force of 'convenience' and how that impacts our lives even when we don't need it.

I'm hopeful that a few students will want to do a change project related to choice of containers or food waste.  Other universities have demonstrated greatly reduced food waste by replacing trash and recycling containers with clear containers.  Wonder what would happen if we did that at Kirkwood...?

I also love the name tag assignment that I'm doing for the first time this semester.  All of us (myself included) made name tags to use in class that embody who we are.  Students did a fabulous job of being artful, creative, and also sincerely representing family, friends, interests, likes, etc.  Walking around to each student (they also shared name tags in small groups) and getting an explanation of their work was one of my favorite things in 10 years of teaching.  Peace out, B.

Weeds

Hurt.  So, Jenn was right.  Weeds need to be maintained often and early.  My garden has largely succumbed.

On the bright side, my beets are doing well and sheltering a myriad of eight-legged friends.  Would have taken a picture of the 'baby bulb' I unearthed today, but no camera or phone (as usual).

In future, I will definitely:

• weed,
• pay closer attention to planting times in terms of temperature,
• invest in good compost/soil,
• and research Polynesian (rather than conventional, row) planting methods to see if I can reduce maintenance [perhaps combined with mulching hay or terraced cinder block beds in the spirit of those featured at the end of "Locavore."

Clean-up caveat and assignments and policies that 'feel' mindful

Mel provided the following picture from a 15 minute clean-up near Hardee's on the strip in Coralville.  I'd like to suggest students (and I) replicate as a possible short (or longer-term) assignment.  Yikes:

I just finished reading Matthew Fox's "Creativity" to inform policies and assignments upon my return from professional development.  That book spawned the following ideas:

•  To go towards the pain and allow it to make us compassionate and inquisitive.  Try doing the things you most fear for growth and remember that nothing is 100% warmth and light (e.g., flowers die with nothing but sun).  At the same time, do not fear joy.
• Ask what you have learned each day and whether it has contributed to the love of life (biophilia).
• Allow for expression of learning in all things creative (e.g., music, theater, painting, sculpture, earth, animals, etc.).
• Allow for deep intimacy of nature (seemingly all the more important now that the Oxford Junior Dictionary has chosen to replace nature references with social media to reflect the increasing focus on the internet of today's youth!).  Likewise, be aware (sociological imagination and social construction) of how we have constructed 'diseases' with 'pharmaceutical cures' around nature deprivation (e.g., pg. 205 in Creativity regarding the Ciba class action lawsuit for motivating doctors, parents, and educators to prescribe Ritalin).  Likewise, remember that single actions (pg. 212) like the construction of a dam can decimate entire species.
• As such, construct exercises that allow us all to be mindful of the changes post-1610 (where the Heliocene meets the Anthrocene epochs) in which humans have manipulated the natural environment with the advent of trading and technology in the name of unquestioned 'progress.'
• 'Make silence' for the discovery of place in the universe and to foster intuition.  [See more exercises in doing so below.]  Allow for curiosity, wonder, and awe to replace despair and hopelessness via compassion and loving kindness for self and others.
• Consider whether our society and our actions (reflect and be mindful of various components of these) are 'human, animal, nature' friendly?  Fox quotes David Korten as saying "we have created an economy that values money over all else, embraces inequality as if it were a virtue, and is ruthlessly destructive of life....  It is hardly surprising, therefore, that we find ourselves in psychological and social distress (pg. 224)."  If this is true, what do we want to do about it at both the individual and collective levels?

Additional musings include:

•  The need for creatively designed nametags by students (not sure what to do for my own, B.).
• Presentations by students daily after sharing work with another.
• I do all work along with students!
• The creation of an 'Amnesty week' for approximately 3 assignments without being late near the end of the semester.
• The possibility of calling me (my home phone) when not in class.  [This one is an exercise in going toward exactly what I would otherwise avoid!]
• Using Talon to have students watch documentaries on their own time for linking to text in class discussion.
• Experiential assignments like the following with respect to mindful reading and participation in practices that lead to the construction of our society. [Even how you feel after collecting trash for a short period of time (see above by Melanie) and how this might change your patterns of consumption to be more mindful?!]
• Experiential assignments could also include standing in class on piece of paper to mimic confinement chicken in wake of bird flu and rise of bureaucratic production of food.

And, lastly, an article shared by those teaching mindfulness classes for undergraduates at the University of Iowa (Chapter 5 from the book Contemplative practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning) yielded the following insights:

•  Many are using mindfulness to allow students to be curious about stressful issues rather than want to 'turn away.'  Examples include: "space for silence by sufferers of rights violations, learning to read forms of storytelling that don't conform to expected patterns, cultivating a compassion that clearly acknowledges power imbalances and privilege, and critical thinking about humanitarianism itself."  All of these allowing students to "delve deeply into the intellectual core of the course."
• Practices emphasize allowing students to heal themselves as they challenge civic engagement to heal society.  They practice being "unconditionally friendly" to themselves.  One example includes 10 minutes of class spent:
• In silence with simple observation of any thoughts or emotions that arise.  Welcome those thoughts or sensations rather than 'getting caught' in them.  'Simply notice the mental chatter, the resistance to what is.'
• Educators at Claremont Business School want graduate students to understand the need for greater attention spans (especially in our 'goldfish' attention span world...) at work.  As a result, students are asked to focus on objects (like a cell phone) and their behaviors regarding those objects.  Though students report checking their phones to alleviate anxiety when bored, doing so invokes more anxiety.  As a result, University of Washington professors do the following exercise:
• Students are asked to spent time observing a practice (checking e-mail, texting) mindfully by observing how they feel (in the body, breath) while doing the practice, deciding if there are parts of the practice they wish to strengthen or others to reduce, and then make choices to either strengthen or reduce.  This exercise could be used for a short assignment first and then later as part of a larger, individual change project as well.
• Lastly, reading reflections are suggested by those at the University of Arizona with the following:
• Spent 10 minutes centering (see above example) then begin your course reading.  After completion, spent 10 more minutes focused and then write one page linking the reading to your own personal experiences.  This exercise could be modified to link the reading to interview data from another, to current events, etc., as well though the primary goal would be to engage and validate student experiences.
• This could demonstrate various principles as well such as the sociological imagination.  If you relate to whether or not any of these practices cause you anxiety or other 'personal troubles,' you can then expound on how everyone engaging in these practices (say...in a car...) leads to a variety of 'social issues,' for instance.

"Occupy" [and] Oberlin

Art is good.  I miss touring the work of the masters and was happy to have the chance to stroll through Allen Museum on Oberlin's campus today.  I can feel parts of my soul moved and parts of my brain activated after years of deprivation.

Stephen (Director of First Year Experience at Oberlin College) was kind enough to give me a tour of Kahn Residence Hall (2008):

The hall features a student pledge regarding sustainability:

KAHN HALL SUSTAINABILITY PLEDGE

I embrace the concept of sustainable living and pledge to do my part to promote environmentally responsible practices as a member of the community that will reside in the LEED-Silver rated first-year residence hall.

I understand that central to this agreement is my commitment to engage actively and responsibly in practices that conserve energy, reduce pollution, and minimize the negative impact of daily life on the environment:

TRANSPORTATION

I will not bring a car to Oberlin during the year in which I live in this residence hall. I will seek alternative transportation options that have fewer negative impacts on the environment than the use of individual cars (e.g., biking, taking buses, carpooling, using college vans, etc.). Should a situation occur that requires me to request an exception to this policy based on an accommodation, I will petition the Office of Residential Education. If I choose to bring a car to campus, I understand that I may be removed from Kahn Hall.

ENERGY

I will engage in behaviors that will help to conserve energy by:

Turning off lights when I leave a room. Taking advantage of natural sunlight during the day by keeping lights off until I really need them. Unplugging appliances that do not rely on a steady stream of electricity (e.g., phone chargers, stereos, etc.) Turning off my computer when I am not using it and putting it to sleep whenever possible.

WATER

I will minimize unnecessary consumption of water and use resource responsibly by:

Limiting the time I take to shower Using organic and natural body care products (if possible) to minimize the environmental impact of cleaning products Conserving water in my everyday activities Using reusable water containers instead of purchasing bottled water

WASTE MANAGEMENT

I will minimize the amount of trash I create in an effort to reduce waste by reusing, recycling, or composting items I discard.

These commitments to which I hereby agree will inform my decisions at Oberlin this year and will be integral to my experience of living in this residence hall community, but will also lead me to adopt habits which I will exercise outside of my residence hall, in my future Oberlin residential experience, and throughout my life.

I think students could adopt all/some of this pledge at Kirkwood for individual change projects.  I am going to contact Stephen again, however, as I am curious whether the pledge could include reference to diet.  If meat and dairy consumption fuels more carbon emissions than all transportation combined (18 and 14%, respectively), perhaps a future redaction could mention diet?

As the theme for the community is sustainability, the hall features energy feedback monitors in each segment of each floor of the building:



Before heading to the "Occupy Spirituality" conference, I also arranged to tour the renown Lewis Environmental Studies Center on campus:



Catherine gave me a tour (along with Oberlin's Director of Development) beginning in the carbon sequestering foyer with fountain pump run by the outside solar array:



This building also includes an energy meter, but the readout includes the use of various community/City agencies in town under the stewardship of a Psychology Professor looking at the impact of feedback on individual behavior (if I am able, I will join her on the alumni kayaking trip in July to learn more!):

The Lewis Center uses solar arrays on all structures including parking:



The College is currently producing about 130% of needed energy and selling back to the grid.  Unfortunately battery size and cost are prohibitive.

Additionally, the Center features a movable (i.e., Joel Salatin) chicken coop:

The chickens, along with the orchard and gardens (see below) are part of the education of students regarding the cycle of food production through growing/composting all the way to waste.  I learned it's best to situate fruit trees buffered on the North side to prevent bark splitting with sun/temperature difference in winter.  I also appreciate that Catherine is also a fan of Polynesian/vertical style plantings (as opposed to row crops).



Speaking of waste, as soon as I sat down to use the facilities, I was greeted by the following reading materials:

All waste is treated by the 'living machine' in the building:

The 'living machine' uses plant filtration to turn waste products into water suitable for toilet flushing and watering.

Speaking of toilet flushing, there's also a toilet that doesn't flush; a composting toilet:



I have been a snob about smells my whole life and have to say this restroom has less odor than any I've been in.  All you need to do is 'do your deed' and scoop 1/4 cup of wood chips (the 'green' that breaks down the 'brown') in after you.  In the basement, there is a large composting machine and single fan.  Again, there is no odor and the machine has only been emptied once, which resulted in composted material safe to touch with your hands.  [I did not take a picture of the machine not due to odor, but because I was afraid of the spiders downstairs and wanted to leave quickly!]

Catherine and I also talked small-scale home building and discussed the merits of passive solar, highly insulated, radiant floor heating (plus wood burning, though there are emissions from that) with a composting toilet (state law allowing on the latter) for individual homes.  The tour was fabulous.

After my tour, I headed to Cleveland and the River's Edge Spirituality Center for the two day conference on "Occupy Spirituality" starting with a keynote address.  The book has already been the genesis for numerous assignment ideas in previous blogs.  Adam and Matthew are magnetic and Adam's presence transformative.  I was reminded of many things that will contribute to assignments, including:

• "The artist carries the wounds of the culture," which applies both to the instructor and to the sociological imagination.
• The importance of: letting go, not responding to chaos with fear, not taking anything (including the breath) for granted, and be true to yourself.
• Knowledge is not something static you can 'catch,' but rather a dialogue that erodes false categories of professor and student (as well as all other false dichotomies of status and identity).
• It is important to feed the creative side of the brain and not lose the soul in the intellect given that the intellect is the aspect rewarded within educational institutions.
• You must drop your mask and allow others to drop theirs in order to feel.
• Policies must FEEL acceptable and authentic and purposeful.
• Assignments are best when experiential and the result of questioning and curiosity in class discourse.
• New economies must protect the experienced nature rather than anthropocentric needs.
• Practice that 'calms the reptilian brain' must be done (e.g., Vipassana meditation).
• Assignments must be creative and experiential and could tap: 'Adbusters' mentality, art, music, growing, building, doing/service, COOKING,spending time with animals/nature, living on minimum wage, etc.  Assignments that are larger with documentaries or change projects and creative endeavors must be presented with question and answer.
• Students and I need to gather in small community, ask questions, learn how to be 'leaderless' (and hence leaderful) by allowing students to find true gifts and develop/present those.
• Assignments should be shared with a classmate for clarity and evaluation and then shared with larger groups/class.  By teaching, students will know that they understand.
• Mentors must listen and allow students to share their wisdom.  Students cannot be told, but rather taught to question in community.
• Missed assignments result in coming to talk to me?!  Same goes with missing class (it is what would happen with jobs as well).
• Assignments, large and small, will be approached one step at a time with help from all of us.  Obstacles will be identified and eliminated.
• Our class will not live in boredom and pessimism, but rather alive with students pursuing true calling/vocation in life.
• All of us will do and share assignments together, including creative endeavors (like my new 'art of exploitation' adventure).
• We will challenge ourselves to do the things of which we are most afraid.  Matthew Fox, after praising my heavy use of their book (Adam even  took a picture of this),

dedicated the book by saying 'dance.'

I typically do neither and yet I found our 'prayer circle' praising Native traditions through song and dance one of the best things I've done in recent history.  Mantra: Do precisely that which you think you do not want to do or of which you are most afraid.

• Along with 37 questions first week, share my 'what breaks your heart' (violence toward others and animals, early, air, water) and 'what makes feel alive' (doing things that are new and different).
• Allow questions to be organic.  Students are probably more in touch with the right side of their brains than I am and hence better equipped to ask some questions.
• Creativity can include personal change projects.  I used to love architecture and think it's now time to design our home based on repurposing and environmental principles.
• Rewire myself to be in touch with spiritual.
• Allow compassion in class to use the heart to assist others (and employ metta).
• Encourage students to build/create new institutions in addition to buy/boycotting and voting change (as all politicians are bought and paid for).
• Don't struggle in the 'small world' of ego.  Instead find fun, play, experiential, spontaneous that energizes with newness and learning.
• Ask: do we need a new world order?, is our culture mature?, etc.

I still lack a firm sense of more course policies, but I think if I follow the 'averse to means move forward' rule, I'll be getting somewhere.  I'm presently thinking students should call me if they can't make it to class.  It's what they'd have to do with work, right?!  :)  Peace out, B.

Acceptance is an expletive...

but sometimes it must happen.  And you have to let go of the fact that you are not living the life you intended (the latter phrase stolen from Matthew Fox).  Please just grant me the wisdom to not fight anymore, but rather to just accept what is.  The decision to go by 'B' in class (and often outside of class as well) also reflects 'just be [B.]'

Speaking of Matthew Fox, more soon from his book Creativity.  I love it so far.  I will blog about his words from the conference in a separate post, but his invigoration of the 'right brain' with creativity may be just what I need.  I was moved to tears by art at Oberlin's museum, now it's time to deal with the breaking of my heart by news headlines with making some art of my own.  I will call it the 'art of exploitation.'  I'm not certain of the medium, probably mixed, but I am excited to start.

I am also excited to start my creation of home design that is repurposed as much as possible and the nearest to low impact that it can be.

LOCAL (organic) vegan

In addition to growing some of our own food in the community garden (hopefully?!), the DVD Locavore
reinforces the imperative of eating locally and preserving abundance whenever possible.  I think the film will work well for students as it is full of step-by-step means of moving in a local direction as well as helpful resources like: localharvest.org and foodroutes.org, which further the idea of a "glocalized" (e.g., regional economies) society.  The above resources can be used to find farmer's markets, CSAs, and/or learn the routes foods travel.

Vipassana and professional development- Part 2

Just finished visiting the Pakasa Vipassana Center to serve (May 6-8) in Illinois.  It was interesting both to visit a new center and to have the opportunity to serve.  Serving really does blend the 'real world' with contemplation as you are both (stressfully) cooking and coordinating meals for 70 people at the same time you are sitting in meditation.

Formal meditation at the center helps prevent me from lapsing into 'thinking' about equanimity by forcing me instead to experience equanimity (balanced mind free from craving/aversion).  If I want to implement contemplative practice in the classroom, I will need to return, perhaps monthly, to a center to serve.  True selflessness and indefatigable compassion are fairly antithetical to the teachings of modern society.  In my opinion, they also must be experienced and not just contemplated.

• As such, future professional development will likely hinge on in-semester visits to serve at a center.

From the experience, I am reminded of the following for class:

• Students must be given an opportunity to heal themselves before caring about others.
• Curiosity and questions are always better than 'knowing' and 'telling.'
• Solutions come about more easily when shared goals have been identified and individual agendas loosened.
• Individual agendas do no good.  It is so much easier to question and listen without simultaneously fighting to prove your own point.
• Assignments in mindfulness can be as simple as looking for representations in society, pondering the origins of personal favorites, and returning to nature.

It doesn't look like much now...

...and it probably won't look like much later, but it's a start.  Another 'personal change' project is to increase the amount of local food consumed.  If we were eating as in the olden days, we'd be eating seasonally rather than mass produced, post harvest ripened, genetically engineered foods (e.g., Tomatoland).  Since disgust was registered last spring at my $2 orange pepper from Holland, here are my before:

and after:

pictures of plot 2 at the Coralville Community Garden.

Though I've never grown anything, "Cowspriracy" reminds that it's still important to pay attention to the organic and local elements of a vegan lifestyle.  The garden features beets on the far left, spinach on the far right (I think...I might have that reversed!), watermelon in the rear, peas in the middle, and winter squash (acorn like, I think) in the front.  I will have to place some Irish Spring soap around the perimeter as things begin to sprout.  I also have a small pot of basil (with green onion coming soon) at our condo.

Lessons learned so far from the garden:

• Slow is good.  I've always read, moved, processed, etc., with the end of getting things done as quickly as possible and then moving on to 'the good stuff.'  I'm working hard to go deeper and slower so that each task is, instead, part of the good stuff!  [Plus it's hot out there and I have to go slowly.]
• I like biking to the garden.  I don't need a lot of supplies as there are some tools on site and I'm old school (read: I don't buy extra things for this endeavor).  12th Avenue is a bit of a doozie for me, so I take shortcuts, but otherwise I didn't die on my first garden commute.  This is good.  I guess.
• I made friends.  Someone spared a bit of 'brawn' to open the water spigot for me, someone else asked a question about getting a plot, and a third gentleman came over to offer some advice.  The latter was greatly appreciated and confirmed my suspicion that fencing was not indicated (rabbits burrow under and deer scoff).
• Speaking of critters, I like them.  As I was digging in the mulch and dirt, I saw many (many!) spiders and lots of different types of ants.  Historically, I run screaming from spiders (or worse, commit spidercide).  Since adhering (mostly...) to the 5 precepts of Vipassana meditation, I haven't killed a critter.  I've tried to be curious about them, study them, and move toward the fear I have.  Spiders are the biggest challenge.  I like interacting with them outside the best as I believe that's their turf.  Inside, I am practicing spider relocation.

Biking to "work," etc.

Despite not knowing how to ride a bike beyond trial and error (learning how to 'unweight' from the handlebars to turn, etc.), I am on a personal change project to bike (or walk) wherever possible instead of driving.

I've biked "to work" at the Coralville Public Library and most recently to return a DVD to the IC Public Library.  I'm tempted to try biking to a doctor's appointment as well.  It's a shame (for my kombucha and vegan carrot cake habit) that the New Pioneer Co-op is on my way to "work" at the library....

I think this is partly an environmental experiment and largely an exercise in trying to face my own fears.

Next up (later this week or early next week): Biking to my 'plot' at the Coralville Community Garden and starting my first foray into growing fruits and vegetables.  I'll be sure to take pictures.

I'm also heading back to the Menominee Vipassana Association as a server for 3 days next week.  Will be good to reconnect to practice and interesting to see what it feels like to 'give back' as well.

Julien Dubuque International Film Festival Documentaries (minus one...)

Took advantage of 'free day' at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival to screen four documentaries: "The Breach," "Food Chains," "Racing Extinction," and "Realm of the Oceans."  Unfortunately, missed the grand prize winner for documentary, "Angel Azul."  The latter is now on my 'must see' list for ocean degradation and recovery.

"The Breach" was an excellent film about the pernicious impact of logging, aquaculture, overfishing, and dams on salmon stocks.  Unfortunately the filmmaker is backing a wild salmon manufacturer and sending an overly simplistic (in my opinion) message to just 'eat wild.'  No matter how sustainable the salmon becomes in Alaska, it is not capable of 'sustaining' in a 'sustainable' manner, the unmitigated demand of the U.S. (let alone abroad).

"Food Chains" was a lovely work about tomato pickers in Florida demanding more in wages (one more penny per pound of tomatoes picked!), but fell short in terms of focus.  Organizers note that the extra penny doubles worker wages, which translates into an additional 44 cents per year per customer for tomato consumption at the grocery store.  They demand the extra penny from the grocers directly, noting that the massive grocery conglomerates (of which there are only 4), but not the farmers, can afford the pay.  Unfortunately, this reads as giving the workers a raise and then expecting them (plus the rest of the general public) to pay for it.  My belief is that this argument is what impedes progress in wages, including raising the minimum wage, by failing to place the burden on CEOs and the rest of the top 1% at the expense of the consumer.

• The above makes me wonder if the first assignment of the new year should be to identify "how much you need" for future happiness in all realms of life (done by interviews, research, etc.)?

"Racing Extinction" was the interesting new documentary by the maker of "The Cove" (and a native Dubuquer) whose next project will focus on the issues related to livestock production and the imperative to go vegan.  [He plans to focus on this by profiling high endurance vegan athletes.]  During the Q&A, however, I was a bit disappointed by his reluctance to address the e-waste associated with modern gadgets, but did not find it altogether surprising given his backing from both Paul Allen and Elan Musk!

Remember: Experiences are (sometimes) worth more than readings!

• I also want to remember to brainstorm more (per several books from previous posts) assignments that are experiential.  I know first-hand from my 10 day retreat that experiences are worth more than any readings.  I have to find ways (permission slips, timing around work schedules, use of class time for activities, etc.) to make several assignments in each class experiential for students.

• I was rereading the Bell Environmental Sociology (4th Edition) text again and reminded that I want to use the text on pages 151-153 regarding Calvinism and Weber in all classes.  Specifically, I want students to reflect deeply, read slowly, and look up unknown vocabulary with respect to passages pertaining to the myth of the meritocracy.  Bell does an excellent job of explaining Weber's analysis of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and the rise of capitalism.  He notes that the inculcation of Calvinist doctrine supported the notion that having material items reflected hard work.  The more material items one had, the more one must have worked for them.  Conversely, the fewer material items, the more slothful one must be.  Very little evidence in contemporary society supports this with respect to income and wealth inequality, but the ideology remains pervasive and powerful.

More personal change project reports

Since I need to be putting my money where my mouth is, I continue on the following 'personal change' projects designed to reduce my impact on the Earth (in particular, emissions related to transit of me or food and unnecessary energy consumption/rare Earth mineral use/'unrecyclable' reduction):

• Bike commuting (even though I barely know how to ride)
• Official letter stating I can start working my community garden plot on Monday in Coralville (even though I do not know how to grow food)
• No cable or internet at home (hence bike commuting to Coralville Public Library as much as possible and soon...always?)
• Continued buy nothing with the exception of Goodwill for clothes (read: professional development in contemplative education=weight gain)
• Vegan and local food choices (working on eliminating all processed food and kombucha...but it's been tricky)

The logic behind these changes has already been blogged, but I wanted to remind myself of these and also create a record of progress so that I am able to speak about the process and the challenges with students starting this Fall.

Education and Contemplation video (thank you, Dennis!)

One of my dearest friends, Dennis, shared this video on education and mindfulness/contemplation, entitled "Educating the Heart and Mind Creativity" and featuring the Dalai Lama among others.

The video could be an excellent resource for faculty at Kirkwood upon my return.  Clips could be featured in presentations and the entirety could be shown/discussed among a KCELT group.

I think portions of the video might also be of interest to students to 'soften the blow' of a different form of education (i.e., less linear, hierarchical).  Panelists explain the importance of creativity, compassion, and reflection in (early childhood) education.  [I will share this video link with Melanie N. in case it is of interest!] Without too much complexity, they also begin to explain the trouble with identifying strongly with the "I" or solid thoughts, though this is a difficult thing to explain (rather than experience).

Lakeside Laboratory as a resource for future students

I accidentally came across an article for the Lakeside Laboratory as a resource for future Kirkwood students.  Any Iowa college or university student can take the week(s) long immersion courses in ecology through the center.

I may also take a class through the laboratory in future!

Abundance Ecovillage- Fairfield, Iowa

Melanie and I visited Abundance Ecovillage on Saturday (April 11).  Stacey was kind enough to give us a tour of one of the homes (solar array visible) and explain several of the features of the sustainable community:

Homes are designed (as are the Sustainable Village structures at Kirkwood) with thick insulation and passive solar:

Homes do not have air conditioning.  Many have radiant in-floor heating and also have "earth tubes."  The earth tubes are tubes dug deep in the ground in the area around the home's foundation.  In summer, a fan draws fresh, outside air into the tubes, which remove heat and humidity providing cooler air for the home.  In winter, fans draw the air through the warmer earth providing a warmer source of air to refresh and help reduce the amount of heat the furnace needs to provide to heat the home.

Additionally, the entire community is meant to be off-grid by utilizing solar, wind (they have a wind turbine), and propane reserves.  Stacey shared, however, that the car batteries used to store the solar energy are becoming a bit cumbersome, so the community is currently on a buy-back program for back-up energy with a local energy cooperative.

As is popular in Hawaii, solar hot water heaters provide hot water in the home:

Water use is also meant to be completely self-sustaining even in periods of drought.  The community uses septic systems to treat solid waste, but gray water is treated through a natural set of wetlands:

Ponds in the community as well as catchment systems provide the rest of the water needed for human consumption, permaculture, and recreation:

Speaking of permaculture, residents have small lots on which to grow food, but the community also maintains a greenhouse (with CSA shares) as well as asian pear and mulberry trees:

I hope to share insights from Stacey's tour with Kirkwood faculty at the Sustainability Village as well as Social Science faculty, other staff, and students in each of my classes upon my return.

Clueless

...is what I am often.

Somehow I managed to completely forget about the earlier applications of mindfulness to teaching that I learned about 'when back when in the Fall of 2014' through the University of Iowa exploratory group for mindfulness in education.

• Specifically, I was reminded by a contact from that group that I can have a variety of mindfulness/awareness based activities that can be related to findings from the text.  For instance, when discussing normative changes related to social media, students can simply be 'aware' of patterns and usage and how this impacts their lives/makes them feel.  Those findings can be reflected on and linked back to the text.  Likewise, these inquiries can extend to things like food choices (and linked to readings on bureaucracy or the environment), health insurance status, educational opportunities, political practices, etc., and the text.

Biking and camping

Per my 'individual change' projects I would like students to complete, I am engaging in my own efforts to eat/drink locally (and giving up expensive, shipped kombucha), bike (rather than drive) as much as possible, and...go camping.  A bit by way of background as to why this is significant:

I didn't learn to bike until I was almost 35 years old.  To join those who are increasingly commuting via bike rather than car is then pretty significant (according to Census data, bike to work commuting has increased from 488,000 people in 2000 to 882,198 people in 2013).

As for camping, I want contemplative education to confront the notion that we are separate from our natural environment (rather than a part of it!).  I believe that issue is applicable to all classes.  However, just like I needed a spiritual experience to see the infusion of spirit in curricula, I need a natural experience to infuse nature in curricula.  So...as much as I fear spiders and bodily functions without 'modern' comforts, I must plan a camping trip (Mel says she has a tent and sleeping pad, which should get us/me started).

The Yoda of all assignment lists?

So much reform in curricula for the fall in order to infuse spirit, sense of purpose/self, and experience in education.

• I'll be trying the 'sit beside' instead of 'stand over' model.
• We'll invoke a variety of personal/group change, experiential (e.g., explorations in nature, service learning agency profiles), non-profit agency research, historical (tax rates per "Inequality for All")and cross-cultural comparison research (e.g., Denmark homelessness, health insurance, education, and taxation), interview, current event, example/application, lectio divina reflection pieces etc., in dynamic engagement with the text.  Where engagement with the text contradicts research or experience, the approach will be one of questioning rather than assuming that I have the right answers.
• Assignments will ask students to work toward figuring out how they want to relate to the world now (e.g., what they do/buy) and in the future (e.g., their contribution in the work world that supports their spirit).  Again, I cannot decide this for them.  I can only use theory and the text to help them learn what questions to ask in their lives.  Clearly, I do not have all of the answers myself and need not be conceived of as the source of all learning!
• Class assignments must retain hope.  As stated in Nature and the Human Soul (henceforth NHS) by Lewis Carroll (pg. 456) from "Alice in Wonderland" "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."  Likewise, Einstein (same pg.) "No problem can be solved fromt he same level of consciousness that created it."  On pg. 313 of NHS, Vaclav Havel also states: "Either we have hope within us or we don't; it is a dimension of the soul.  Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not hte same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.  The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is."  As noted on pg. 25 of CTL (see next paragraph), while 'great and all,' "critical thinking, when it becomes an ethic, can turn into a metaphysics of nihilism or a psychology of pessimism...like a carefully employed butcher knife hacks the whole animal to pieces.  Contemplative teaching teaches on the other side of critical thinking...where affirmation is again possible."  After all, "contemplation of our subjects teaches that freedom is always a freedom to love, and that love must always spring from an inner freedom." (pg. 27).

Per the issue Contemplative Teaching and Learning (henceforth CTL with citations from pg. numbers though an edited volume) from the journal New Directions for Community Colleges, future assignments will focus heavily on the above as well as much slower, more deliberate, and in-depth reflection on readings. Reflection, contemplation, and spiritual integration (not in the religious, but in the life purpose sense) benefits teacher, administrator, and student (pg. 19,92-93).  Future work can further explore (along with KCELT, admissions, and counseling services) how contemplative practices might improve campus climate.  [Quotes in section immediately below all from CTL.]

• Rather than quantity, we will focus on quality and depth of reading with frequent reflection assignments that apply or analyze (see second bullet above).  Passages of text will be "reflection" pieces per lectio divina (pgs. 14, 34, 44).  The authors of all entries suggest contemplative learning is most apt for the fragmented lives of community college students.  Reflection assignments will likely start on the first day of class.
• All of the quoted passages in this blog (and the others noted here from NHS and CTL) can be the source of lectio divina reflections.  Likewise, the textbook and other texts (e.g., the fabulous quote near the beginning of Occupy Spirituality re: the enduring myth of the meritocracy) should be the source of material for lectio divina.
• Assignments will ask how what we are studying impacts what is going on with students' lives in the present and how it is connected to history and other people in a bit picture way (pg. 22).  One instructor (pg. 24) asks students to consider: "Although this course fulfills a requirement, I can make it my own by_____________________?"
• Noting Berry's (pg. 37) observation that "community cannot survive under the rule of competition" (as is the case for present economic systems [this could be a reflection quote for any class as well!]), the classroom is a sangha and needs spiritual healing.  I plan to use metta (loving kindness meditation) to help support/heal individuals and our classroom community (pg. 36).  We will direct happiness and peace to ourselves and to all beings faced with the difficult subject matter we will address.
• We will try to remember solutions are not dualistic though society presents them this way and will instead focus on questioning and pondering the multiplicity of solutions available beyond the limiting, dualistic options.  We will remember that "listening is loving" (according to "Hector...and the Search for Happiness").
• We will study (again, possibly as early as the first week of class) the limits of all dualistic or fixed labels in society.  The problems of socially constructed 'divide and conquer' identities will be a recurring theme.
• The syllabus and assignments will leave many things independent and unstructured to reflect our fluidity (pg. 84-85).  We will have specific discussions about the anxiety this might generate and talk about how to address this.  Likewise, we will talk about any anxiety concerning the 'sit beside' rather than 'stand over' model of education and challenges to assumptions about a 'sole source of learning.'

• Building on the work of Palmer and Fox, we will explore education as a means to find your life's path in a way that is spiritually rewarding as well as remunerative.  We will ask "what am I meant for" and "how can I be for myself and also for others" (pg. 103, CTL).  Since our subject is sociology which relates to all aspects of life in community including vocation, we will be exploring our subject matter as also an issue of vocatio that will fulfill students as they age rather than leaving them at age 40 wondering about their life's purpose (see pg. 238, 255-7, and 316-7 of NHS).  This level of reflection is one of the predicating tenets of Nature and the Human Soul (NHS) [quotes below are from NHS).

NHS (as well as CTL on pg. 107) also advocates strongly for the return to nature (and an 'ecocentric' orientation) as a balance to the 'culture-centric' model in modern society (pg. 4-5).  [To this end, I will camp!  Just like with the spirit, if you want to return to nature, you have to have an experience in nature.  D'uh.]  We can use lectio divina on various passages from NHS including those that argue we suffer from our alienation from the natural world (these also sound a bit like Marx and can be used with free association on capitalism, communism, and socialism) (pg. 6-7).  According to NHS, a truly actualized society is not necessarily a "developed" society (use pg. 7, 46-47, 210 (and globalization here), 448-9, 452-4 for in-class reflections on this) but rather one that learns to balance culture with the realities of our interbeing/dependence with the natural.

• A course inspired by NHS will be "soulcentric" in the sense that it is "designed to assist all members in discovering and living from their deepest and most fulfilling potentials in this way contributing their most life-nourishing gifts to their community and environment."  More broadly, then, "a society that is soulcentric is necessarily ecocentric" since the individual's place is always "granted and revealed by nature.  In so doing, the society roots itself in the natural world.  the greater Earth community is accurately understood as the locus of every person's first membership...[with] interconnectedness with everything else."  Thus, "to say that a culture is ecocentric is to say that its customs, traditions, and practices are rooted in an awareness of radical interdependence with all beings." (pg. 45).  This is in contrast with the typical, egocentric models on which we can also reflect (pg. 224-5).  We can use the passages on pg. 124 and 126-7 to explore the social construction of such things as ADHD within the 'nature-deficit' model proposed.  We can wonder how a mind orientation (rather than nature) might be harming our (and our children's) ability to care about life (pg. 126-7).  We can reflect on the importance of identifying with place and with how this allows us to be our fully integrated selves rather than just consumers convinced of our fundamental separation from "nature" (pg. 144-145, 155-7, AND 261 [re: consumption of material resources] passages for lectio divina).
• Relatedly, we can try the exercises on pg. 158-160 in all classes to see how we might reestablish a connection to our environment rather than remaining separate and isolated from it.
• We can try the exercises on pg. 195 and 196 also to try to learn more about our connection in terms of the plants, animals, and food sources around us.
• Additionally, we might investigate pg. 205 to see what we think of the divisions of 'masculine' and 'feminine.'  [Eh hem.]
• Contemplation via reflection (lectio divina) and meditation (metta, mindfulness as a means to awareness and a "pause" in the action before reacting) also helps us to practice questioning, curiosity, beginner's mind, and innocence (child's mind) in our pursuits.  We will be better apt to be equanimous rather than reactive as a result of our awareness of sensation, thought, and interconnection (pg. 106).
• For quote on syllabus?:  "Not all those who wander are lost" (J.R.R. Tolkien).  Related to this (pg. 285), NHS advocates for experiencing (pg. 402-3) above all else and abandoning the preoccupation with self (or the "I, me, mine") in favor of seeing the interdependence of all.  We need to provide experiential, service learning, and volunteer activities for students with mentorship.  Students need 'employable skills,' but also the lived experiences that will allow them to take their place in an integrated, soul/eco-centric (rather than ego-) society (pg. 212).  Through ecocentric and soulcentric ways of being, we will arrive at service work that creates new and hopeful social institutions (pg. 292).  As a result of our experiences, we will act out our truth as part of nature (pg. 326).
• For those who think we have lost our minds focusing on our fundamental interdependence, we can remember Einstein's words (pg. 402) that "We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest- a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."