Dec. 21 graduation, board breakfast

            The college’s 58th commencement ceremony is set for Thursday, Dec. 21,  at 7 p.m. in Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus.

The diploma-day celebration will also be telecast live on one of the five Community Access Center’s channels – 19, 20, 21, 22 or 99.

Scheduled to make remarks are: Chris Schauer, chairman of the KVCC Board of Trustees; communications instructor Bruce Punches; and psychology major Jamielah Jenkins of Kalamazoo, who will start work on her four-year degree at Western Michigan University in January

Serving as faculty marshals will be Jean Snow and Linda Rzoska, while performing those duties for the students will be Tom Keena and Nick Meier.

Adding to the evening’s celebration will be the KVCC Choir directed by Michelle Bauman and the KVCC Campus Band directed by Chris Garrett.

With details forthcoming, the annual breakfast hosted by the KVCC Board of Trustees to launch the winter semester is set for Friday, Jan. 5, at 8 a.m. in the A gym on the Texas Township Campus.

Reservations will be required for the event that also pays tribute to employees for their years of service to the college. Eligible to attend are full-time faculty, full- and part-time support staff, part-time instructors, and administrators.

For those who like plenty of advance notice, be alert to the fact the graduation ceremony at the end of the 2007 winter semester will be staged on Sunday, April 29, at Miller Auditorium.  The Sunday date is the result of the auditorium being pledged to the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra that will be preparing for the performance of an opera.

Promise Week celebrates miracle gift

            Three public forums will be part of Promise Week activities Dec. 4-8 that celebrate the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the Kalamazoo Promise that made international news.

            The communitywide initiative is designed to expand on how student success and excellence in education will contribute to economic development and quality of life throughout Kalamazoo County.

            The free forums will focus on what has happened since it was announced last November that anonymous donors would – in perpetuity -- provide the funds to pay the tuition for all graduates of the Kalamazoo Public Schools who decide to attend state colleges and universities, on the economic outlook for 2007 with a Promise perspective, and on the formula for student success in higher education.

            Here’s the schedule:

            ● Tuesday (Dec. 5) at 5:30 p.m. in the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites:  A town-hall style of gathering will reflect on the past 12 months and what the Promise can mean to people throughout the county.  Prior to that and beginning at 3:30 p.m. will be a Youth and Education Fair in the Radisson’s Exposition Hall as booths showcase programs, services and opportunities available to the community’s young people.

● Wednesday (Dec. 6) at 7:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn West:  “2007 Economic Outlook – A Special Promise Analysis.”  Because light refreshments will be served, reservations can be made at www.kazoochamber.com.

● Friday (Dec. 8) at 7:30 a.m. at the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Services Agency headquarters at 1819 E. Milham:  “K-12 to College:  How to be Successful.”

Among the panelists providing the economic outlook will be:  George Erickcek, senior regional analyst for the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research; Brian Long, president of the Marketing & Management Institute; Hannah McKinney, chair of

the department of economics and business at Kalamazoo College and mayor of the city of Kalamazoo; Mitch Stapley, vice president and fixed-income officer for Fifth Third Bank; and Mark Wheeler, professor of economics at Western Michigan University.

Discussing the educational aspects of the Promise will be:  Roger Miller, KVCC’s director of financial aid; Patricia Coles-Chambers, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning for the Kalamazoo Public Schools; Vicksburg High School Principal Robert Kulman; Grant Chandler, who is overseeing K-12 reforms in the Kalamazoo schools with regard to the Promise; Employment for Education director Deb Miller of KRESA; and James Bosco, Western Michigan University’s point man for the Promise.

These and other Promise Week activities are being made possible in part by grants from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.  For more information about other free activities, visit www.PromiseWeek.com.

Digital artwork in spotlight

            The Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo is hosting KVCC’s ninth annual Electronic Art & Design Showcase, which opens on Friday (Dec. 1) and runs through Jan. 19.

Friday’s opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. in the center’s Arcus Gallery  will be part of the Art Council of Greater Kalamazoo’s “December Art Hop” that evening.

On display will be the juried creations of students enrolled in KVCC’s Center for New Media courses.  The exhibit will be divided into eight categories: fine art, graphic design for print, illustration, digital photography, 2-D (character) animation, 3-D animation, motion graphics, and web design.

Fifty pieces will be displayed throughout the center while the Arcus Gallery will be hosting the showing of animated shorts on its six large plasma-screen television sets.

Refreshments will be served at the reception and it is open to the public. 

There is no admission charge.

Part of the opening reception will be the announcing of first-place, second-place and honorable-mention awards in the categories.

The juror for the ninth annual showcase is Joe VanDerBos, who has worked with corporate, advertising and editorial clients for 15 years in the Austin, Chicago and San Francisco markets.  During that time, he provided clients around the world with illustrations, icons, logo development, custom typography, and specially designed typefaces.  He has served the technology, health-care, financial, travel and publishing industries.

VanDerBos, a graduate in graphic design from Western Michigan University, is currently employed as a designer for Kingscott Associates Inc. in Kalamazoo.

For more information, contact Valerie Eisenberg at extension 7883 or veisenberg@kvcc.edu.

   

More friendly voices needed

            Volunteers are still needed for KVCC's calling campaign to contact enrolled students who have not yet paid for winter-semester classes.

KVCC folks are asked to make telephone calls to these prospective students prior to batch cancellations.

Volunteers may make their calls Dec. 4-8 during the workday at their work stations. 

Those who are interested in helping the college, helping future students and helping the community can contact Pat Pojeta at extension 4018. The results of the counterpart effort for fall semester tell the story - nearly 5,000 enrolled students facing the prospects of losing their classes because of not yet meeting the payment deadline, and nearly 4,100 taking advantage of the friendly alert to meet that deadline. That’s an 82-percent payoff.

On Monday (Dec. 4), Pojeta will deliver to each volunteer a list of prospects, each's telephone number, and a suggested script for the conversation. The results of each call can be easily recorded on the document.

Free Dec. 8 concert in Lake

            Music and songs will fill Dale B. Lake Auditorium on Friday (Dec. 8) when the KVCC Campus Band and the KVCC choir blend talents for a holiday-season concert.

Free and open to the public, the concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

            The 34-member band, under the baton of Chris Garrett, will entertain its audience with these selections:

♫ “Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring”  by Johann Sebastian Bach.

♫ “Manhattan Beach March” by John Phillip Sousa.

♫” Mannin Veen” by Haydn Wood.

♫ “Toccata” by Girolamo Frescobaldi.

♫ “Colossus of Columbia” by Russell Alexander.

♫ and Garrett’s original arrangement of “Three Miniatures for Band.”

The ensemble is made up of KVCC, Western Michigan University and community musicians who rehearse twice a week in the Dale B Lake Auditorium.

Director Michelle Bauman’s Kalamazoo Valley Chamber Choir will have a six-composition program:  “Sing with Pleasure,” “In the Arms of Winter,” “Bidi Bom,” “Hashivenu,” “The Bells,” “Ding Dong Carol of the Bells,” and “Canon of Peace.”

The 2006-07 edition of the KVCC Campus Band includes:

Flute:  Crystal Cooper of Kalamazoo, Christine Griffith of Kalamazoo, and Katie Martinez of Allegan.

Clarinet:  Jenny Wagner of Kalamazoo, Kayla Armstrong of Climax, Matthew Bowers of Kalamazoo, Caitlin Brooks of Richland, Caitlin Chase of Portage, Sara Fall of Parchment, Dawn Garrett of Vicksburg, Meagan George of Otsego, Steven Heimann of Comstock, and Carolyn Hiestand of Kalamazoo.

Bassoon:  Hans Engelke and Ruth Birman, both of Kalamazoo.

Saxophone:  Delia Baker of Portage, Hugh Lynch of Portage, Michael Lathrop of Parchment, Jared Selner of Kalamazoo, and Ward Vanderberg of Portage.

Trumpet: Valerie Glasscock of Kalamazoo and Merle McCoy of Portage,

Trombone/horn:  Aleks Copeland of Comstock, Matt Dodson of Vicksburg, Ben Hastings of Warren, and Frank Jess of Kalamazoo.

Euphonium:  John Griffith of Kalamazoo and Mark Schuitema of Portage.

Tuba:  Bill Button of Kalamazoo, Jeffrey Dally of Portage, and Ray Zitek of Mattawan.

Percussion: Shelby Angeletti and Jennifer Pesch, both of Parchment, and Brandon Silverlight of Kalamazoo.

Including accompanist Anita Rummery, the choir members are:

Sopranos:  Stefanie Deneau and Sara Lord of Kalamazoo, Sharon Green of Portage, Heather Mickaels of Plainwell, Sara and Anna Rumsey of Marcellus, Jeanne Mosketti of Schoolcraft, and Melanie Vlietstra of Parchment.

Tenors: David Fisher of Oshtemo, Mathew Kloosterman of Kalamazoo, and Justin Loofboro of Plainwell.

Altos: Shantell Brown of Lawton, Trisha Helder of Holland, Brandi Maxam of Vicksburg, Jennifer Page and Brianna Dickmon of Kalamazoo, Danielle Burns of Gobles, Meagan Kohlmann-George of Otsego, and Marcia Stickels of South Haven.

Basses: Jonathan Cramer and Kyle Hartman of Plainwell.

For more information please contact Garrett at extension 4102 or cgarrett@kvcc.edu.

Deadline for animation entries is Jan. 30

            Professional, independent and student animators have until Jan. 30 to submit entries for the 2007 Kalamazoo Animation Festival

International (KAFI) that will be staged over four days next May in downtown Kalamazoo.

            The four-day festival of competitions, screenings, professional development, and networking interaction between today’s and tomorrow’s animators is booked for KVCC’s Arcadia Commons Campus May 17-20.

            Festival attendees will be treated to screenings of animated films created by major studios, independents and aspiring animators. At least four shows will feature finalists in the KAFI competitions with $15,000 in prize money on the table. The call-for-entries opened Nov. 1.

            Nuts-and-bolts information and updates about all KAFI activities -- dates, times, location, tickets, and entry information-- is available at this webpage -- http://kafi.kvcc.edu -- or by calling Maggie Noteboom at the festival office at extension 7883.

Ellen Besen, a 30-year veteran as an animation professional and professor, has been appointed KAFI’s creative director.  Besen spent more than 10 years on the faculty of the Sheridan College School of Animation in Oakville, Ontario, between 1987 and 2002 and has directed award-winning animated films shown around the world.

In addition to her creative and teaching activities within animation, Besen has engaged in broadcast journalism for CBC Radio, been involved in film curating for institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and in festivals such as the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF), and has written articles on the role of storytelling in animation for a variety of magazines, including Animation World Network.

Besen’s workshops on film analysis and storytelling first brought her to Kalamazoo in 2002 to take part in the first of what will soon be four KAFIs, which have been sponsored by KVCC and the Center for New Media.

In recent years, she has served as director and head mentor of The Zachary Schwartz Institute for Animation Filmmaking, a school specializing in writing and storytelling for animation.

"As creative director," Besen said, "I will be working with the existing KAFI planning team at KVCC to develop programming, arrange for guest speakers, and set the schedule of workshops and retrospective screenings for both the KAFI Educators Conference (scheduled for

Thursday of KAFI week) and the festival itself.

"This year," she said, "we plan to broaden our scope with even a greater variety of programming and new faces mixed in with already popular speakers from previous years such as John Fountain (a Hollywood-based cartoonist who is a graduate of Western Michigan University)."

Besen will also play a key role in curating and overseeing the jury process for the competition screenings.

"Competition screenings sit at the heart of the festival," she said. "People want to see new films and that’s what we are all about. But KAFI also has the potential to be a gathering place for animators, educators, studio reps, software reps, students and the general public."

There will be three days of professional-development seminars led by animators who are knee-deep in the industry’s technology age, training sessions for students, workshops that explore animation as a career, and portfolio reviews. Students can learn what it takes to get into the animation business and the state of the industry,

Presenters from past festivals have come from Walt Disney Productions, DreamWorks SKG, PIXAR, Sony Pictures Imageworks, the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and those who helped create the Warner Brothers’ stable of cartoon characters. Animators involved in such superhits as "The Polar Express," "South Park," and the "Shrek" and "Spiderman" series have spoken at the Kalamazoo event, which has attracted entries that went on to win Academy Awards.

One of the festival’s unique attractions, "The Cartoon Challenge," selects 10 teams from animation programs spanning North America who engage in a "24/7" cartoon-creating competition prior to the convening of the festival.

The teams selected to compete arrive at the Center for New Media on the Sunday preceding festival week and bivouac there. Over a four-day period, their objective is to conceive, script, design and produce up to a 30-second, animated public-service announcement on a topic chosen by the event’s sponsor. The winning school receives scholarship funds for animation students.

As a result of past challenges and their under-the-gun, beat-the-clock experiences, one participant earned an internship at Nickelodeon Animation Studio in California, an appointment that led to a full-time position. Another was immediately hired to be part of the team assigned

to create "Shrek 3."

The 2007 festival is being guided by an advisory board whose members come from the animation industry and from college programs across the country. The festival’s industry liaison is Kate Swanborg, a former Bangor resident and theater major at Western Michigan University who is now a production manager at DreamWorks.

Kalamazoo’s Irving S. Gilmore Foundation has joined the college in being the major underwriter of all four festivals. All of the activities and events will be held in the Center for New Media, KVCC’s Anna Whitten Hall, and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum with the major screenings booked for the State Theater.

In the 2005 edition of KAFI, nearly 500 student, independent and professional animators from 20 nations entered the juried festival. About 130 entries were selected as finalists and compiled into shows held at the historic State Theatre.

KAFI is now a biennial event, sharing the every-other-year format with the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival that brings world-famous performers to downtown Kalamazoo for two weeks in May of even-numbered years. In its off year, KAFI organizes animation workshops for K-12 students and other events designed to show the applications of this art form to business and other professions.

Take a trip through the ?BRAIN?

            It’s about the size of a blue-ribbon head of cauliflower and looks like that vegetable, but it’s the V-8 juice and garden salad of human organs.

            It’s the human brain, and what it is, how it works, what keeps it healthy, and the disorders that affect are all explored in an exhibit at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

“BRAIN:  The World Inside Your Head,” sponsored by Pfizer Inc and designed by Evergreen Exhibitions (formerly Clear Channel Exhibitions) in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, is a free, interactive exhibition.

With a plethora of special events, programs and films for people of all ages, the nationally touring showcase will complete its downtown-Kalamazoo run Jan. 7.

            “BRAIN” made its debut at the Smithsonian Institution in July 2001.  After its five-month stay in Washington, the exhibition was booked by museums in Portland, Atlanta, Cleveland, Indianapolis, New York City, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, Boston, Dallas, Memphis, Raleigh and Mexico City.  Next stops are Houston and then Honolulu.

The 5,000-square-foot display in the museum’s third-floor Havirmill Special Exhibition Gallery provides a hands-on, look at the human body's most essential and fascinating organ by exploring its development, functions and malfunctions. 

Since more than 44 million adult Americans suffer from diagnosable brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and anxiety each year and two-thirds of them receive no treatment, one of the exhibition’s prime objectives is to de-stigmatize these conditions through education.

Using virtual reality, video games, optical illusions and other interactive features at its score of stations, the exposition introduces visitors to some amazing facts:

● The brain is regarded as one of the most complex structures in the universe.

● It contains as many neurons as there are stars in the Milky Way, which is viewable in one of the museum’s planetarium shows.

● The computer between each person’s ears never turns off or even rests in its lifetime.

● By age 4, a person’s “thinking cap” is full size.

● While it is only 2 percent of a human’s weight, it

consumes 20 percent of the body’s fuel.

● The brain doesn’t feel any pain.

In addition to viewing the brains of humans and animals, visitors can “walk through” a brain complete with neurons flying about and can explore a 19th-century lab when researchers began more intensive and extensive studies of the complex organ.

The “interactives” include launching an electrical signal down a neuron tunnel, stimulating memories through the sense of smell, deciphering optical illusions, “conducting” brain surgery, and playing a game filled with facts that boost one’s brainpower.

One of the objects in the exhibit is a replica of a human skull from around 1300 A.D. found in Cinco Cerros, Peru, with signs of cranial surgery. Another, on loan from the Smithsonian, is an epoxy cast of a triceratops’ brain cavity from an animal that lived around 70 million years ago.

In addition to outlining what is coming next in brain research, the exhibition sheds light on the realm of conditions from manic depression to bipolar disorder to schizophrenia, on the power of brain chemicals, and the organ’s role in dreaming and language development.

            The interactives include:

● “Synapse Pop” that shows how a synapse makes the connection between neurons, the brain’s electrical-relay system.

            ● “Back and Forth,” a three-station platform that demonstrates how the brain controls reflexes, autonomic functions and balance.

● “Neuron Sightings,” a microscopic view of real neurons from a variety of species.

● “Nightshift” is a video game showing how sleep

"recharges" the human battery. While the body sleeps, the brain is doing memory, repair and growth work.

● “Wired” illustrates how an infant will not recognize himself/herself in a mirror until he/she is between 18 and 24 months old.  This station also offers the chance to take apart a brain model and put it back together, bringing to light the five stages of brain development.

● “Brain Live!” uses electrodes to see real-time EEG measurements and simulated imaging of corresponding brain activity.

● “Unhinge-a-Brain” charts the evolution of the human brain and reveals many of its components, including the cortex, the site of thinking that helps to set humans apart from other animals.

● “Yesterday” is an encounter that shows, with the help of popcorn, grass and fire, how different senses produce different intensities of memory.

● In “Virtual Reality,” visitors can experience the "phantom limb syndrome," the sensation of feeling in an amputated or nonexistent limb.

● “Be a Brain Surgeon” offers the chance to wield a gamma-knife simulator to excise a brain tumor.

● “Hills or Craters” is an exercise showing how the brain interprets the world according to built-in biases.

            ● “A Hole in the Head” is the story of Phineas Gage, the iron rod that rocketed through his skull, and how he lived to tell about it.

 

KVCC?er organizing holiday concert

            A Christmas-concert fund-raiser Friday (Dec. 1) night to benefit the Senior Ecumenical Center and the New Direction Outreach Center is

being coordinated by Robyn Robinson, who is a staff member for the college’s Focus and Brother2Brother programs.

            The first-ever event featuring an evening of fun and music will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Lincoln International Studies School’s newly refurbished auditorium at 912 N. Burdick St.

            Admission is free, but a free-will offering will be collected with the proceeds designated for the two human-service agencies.

The idea was the brainchild of Robinson and her husband, Howard, who co-host a Saturday-morning program of gospel music on 1560 AM "The Touch."  Initially, she said, the concept was generated by community residents who wanted to stage the event to show their appreciation for the Robinsons, but that morphed into shifting the show of gratitude to two organizations “that serve the community, but that struggle, especially at this time of year,”  Robinson said.

The Robinsons assembled a planning committee that organized the benefit and lined up the entertainment that will include:

♫ soprano Alfrelynn Roberts, who performed in the Detroit Opera’s production of “Porgy and Bess” and has sung with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.

♫ Michigan Nightingales, a quintet of gospel singers started a generation ago by the fathers of the current members

♫ vocalist Tammy Lockett, a 2005 “State Theater Idol” and "Showtime at the

Apollo" winner.

♫ songwriter-musician Myron Cobbs and his teenage son, Darek.

♫  the Galilee Baptist Church Choir.

♫ dance performances by members of Faith Temple Church of God, First United Baptist Church and Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

             The Ecumenical Senior Center, located 702 N. Burdick, serves meals, offers a variety of classes, and provides  a host of other services to seniors, primarily from Kalamazoo’s Northside  neighborhood.

            The New Direction Outreach Center at 308 W. North St. is  an outreach of the Faith Temple Church of God.  It provides free breakfasts

on Sunday mornings and runs a

computer center for the community in its basement.

For more information, call (269) 341-4500.  Robinson can be contacted at extension 4779.

 

Loaves, fishes and other edibles

            Those canned goods and other nonperishable foodstuffs collecting dust in your larder can be donated to Loaves and Fishes to do over the holiday season what they were intended to do.

            The Student Commons staff is conducting a food drive for the Kalamazoo human-service agency that serves the homeless and needy through Dec. 15.

            Those who would like to help can bring their food items to Room 4220 in the Student Commons.

            The last pickup of edibles by Loaves and Fishes personnel is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 15, at 11 a.m.

 

Hollar part of holiday-harmony fund-raiser

            The Mid-Lakes Chorus of Sweet Adelines will join forces with the Mall City Men's Barbershop Chorus for a 7 p.m. Christmas concert on Saturday, Dec. 9,  at the Third Christian Reformed Church, located at 2400 Winchell Ave. in Kalamazoo.

According to math instructor Sue Hollar who sing baritone for the Adelines, there is no admission charge, but “the hat will be passed” to raise money for the Kalamazoo County Drop-in Child-Care Center, a nonprofit that offers free child care to those who have little or no income. 

“This service allows the parents the opportunity to go job hunting, take care of medical appointments, and do other important family tasks without having to stretch their already tight budgets,” Hollar said.

When the hat finished its rounds last holiday season, there was more $1,200 for the 2005 recipient, the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, Hollar reports.

After the concert, light refreshments will be served.

Foundation?s annual fund seeks in-house support

            A gift to the KVCC Foundation’s annual fund is really a gift to yourself.            Because the foundation provides a variety of assistance to the college, students and faculty, those donations benefit everybody at KVCC because they contribute to the institution’s financial vitality and ability to serve the community.            In announcing the initiative to raise $100,000 for the annual fund, Jeffery Eckert, the chairman of the foundation’s governing board, said:            “It’s a win-win situation for the recipients (of scholarships and projects) as well as the donors because an educated populace improves the prosperity of the overall community.”            Eckert acknowledged that the Kalamazoo Promise ranks as the most remarkable act of philanthropy in the community’s history, but it is out of the reach of thousands of other students from throughout Southwest Michigan and beyond “who could use a hand in achieving their goals.  Frequently overlooked costs such as textbooks and supplies can create financial obstacles, even for those receiving assistance through the Promise.”            In his letter to the KVCC community, Eckert also stressed that, while scholarships are an important beneficiary of the annual fund, it accomplishes much more, such as:            ♦ A pledge of financial support in the college’s capital campaign for the Center for New Media that has added to KVCC’s educational arsenal and injected even more vitality in downtown Kalamazoo.            ♦ Support of the nursing program’s innovative initiative in which students engage in real-life experiences at two Kalamazoo public schools to improve the health, nutrition and wellness of youngsters.            ♦ Bringing established poets, novelists and essayists to interact and dialogue with students and community members about their writing and the literary craft.            Eckert said that 100 percent of a gift goes directly to the college with no administrative fees.  Payroll deduction is also available. 

            Gift envelopes have been distributed to KVCC personnel.

Students-as-tutors deadline is Dec. 18

            By acting as peer tutors, students receive valuable lessons in volunteerism and provide support service for faculty members.

Natalie Patchell is asking full- and part-time faculty members to spread the word to students about the chance to be trained as a peer tutor for the 2007 winter semester and beyond.

The volunteer peer tutors will be enrolled in TRS 110 (Peer Tutor Training) for the winter semester and the college will pay for the one-credit course. The tutors will receive a grade after they have completed the training and tutored a minimum of 25 hours.

The training course will be conducted by Patchell.  The dates and times of the mandatory Friday sessions are:  Jan. 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Feb. 2 from noon to 2:30; March 2 from noon to 2:30; and April 6, from noon to 2:30.

The prime prospect for tutor training is the student who has demonstrated solid learning techniques in completing a class and has a firm understanding of course materials or subject matter.

Other likely prospects are students who are pursuing careers as teachers and those who enjoy volunteer work.

Each peer tutor will work directly with the instructor in a particular course and will agree to tutor students enrolled in that class two hours a week during the semester.  The tutoring process will begin after the first training session on Jan. 12, but the training will be ongoing throughout the semester.  Each instructor will determine when, where and how the tutoring will be accomplished.  Each volunteer will keep a tutoring

log.

            Faculty members and students who are interested in taking part can contact Patchell at extension 4362 or npatchell@kvcc.edu.   An application form can be transmitted via e-mail and should be completed as soon as possible.  The deadline is Dec. 18. 

Once an instructor nominates a prospective tutor and that student makes contact with Patchell, she will handle the rest of the process.

                Among the faculty members who have taken part in the peer-tutoring initiative with students are Sherri Adams, Deb Bryant, Gordon Bielby, Kim Grubka, Ron Cipcic, Sue Hollar, Theresa Hollowell, Tim Kane, Eunice Levy, Jean Snow, Tim Stebbins, Fred Toxopeus, Jan White , Lisa Winch, Nancy Beers and Patchell.

Students who complete the training and engage in tutoring will receive a certificate.

 

Thievery takes no holiday

            With the holiday season now here, it is time to increase awareness about some precautionary measures regarding protecting one’s belongings, reports security coordinator Jeff Roseboom.

“Petty thefts always increase during this time of year because of the tendency to carry more money in purses or wallets,” he advised.  “This is generally accompanied by our desire to pay cash for a lot of Christmas gifts that are purchased. 

“To avoid the unnecessary loss of Christmas money, a couple of simple practices should be followed,” he suggested. “Never leave your articles unattended.  If you leave the office, always lock them away out of sight in a desk along with securing the area when you leave. 

“A little extra time and awareness will make the holiday season more enjoyable,” Roseboom said.

Because of the age of technology and constant communications, a

growing favorite target for thieves is a cell phone.“

People tell me that they just put it down a moment ago and when they looked back, it was gone,” Roseboom said.  “That’s because it takes less than a moment to steal it.

Winter-semester printing needs

            With fall semester winding down, KVCC's Printing Services is asking that end-of-semester printing requests be submitted as soon as possible

According to Terry Coburn, media services manager, there will only be seven working days between the end of the fall semester and the start of the winter term.

"In order to have any chance at all to get the winter-semester work ready for you, we need you to input your printing request soon," he said.  "Don't make delays for yourself.  Get your printing in now"." 

Coburn can be reached at extension 4215.

Those who wait until after the holiday break?  Well, one can almost hear both the moaning and the gnashing of teeth.

?Abraham, Frederick and John?

            “Has anybody hear seen my old friend Abraham?”

Well, you can see him, along with John, as in John Wilkes Booth, and Frederick, as in Frederick Douglass – but no Martin – at upcoming performances of KVCC language instructor Rick Bridges’ play on the Texas Township Campus.

What would Abraham Lincoln, Booth and Douglass have to say to each other if they crossed paths in an ethereal setting?

The imagined dialogue is the focal point of “Abraham, Frederick and John” that Bridges’ Rockhill Free Theatre Players will perform.

Co-directed by Anna Barnhart, the play centers on Lincoln and his assassin both trapped as souls in Purgatory.  Shacked together on opposite ends of a long chain, they have no idea why they are in such a

situation and what they should do about it.  Enter the legendary abolitionist activist Douglass to offer them insights and to “set them free.”

The performances are booked for the weekends of Dec. 1-2, Dec. 8-9, Dec. 15-16, Jan. 12-13, and Jan. 19-20. in the Student Commons Theater.  All begin at 7:30 p.m.

They are free and open to the public.

Shopping 19th-century style

           “Shopping in Kalamazoo in the 19th Century” is the Dec. 3. installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s “Sunday Series” that highlights the history of Southwest Michigan.

Curator Tom Dietz will flash back to the stores where shoppers spent their money on gifts for the holidays and what they bought for their loved ones in the late 1800s at 1:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. All programs in the series are free.“As everyone heads for the department stores, and specialty shops for the annual holiday season,” Dietz said, “we’ll take a look back at where area residents shopped 100 to 150 years ago. As Kalamazoo grew from a frontier outpost to an early-20th-century industrial city, the number of stores and the variety of goods available increased.”            In the 1860s, Mannes Israel’s store offered dry goods; Brown & Henderson carried a full line of saddles, bridles, and trunks; Thomas Cobb offered fine china and glassware; and gentlemen bought their liquor and cigars at David Lilienfield’s shop on Main Street. By the early 1900s, Sam Folz’s Big Store offered a full line of men’s clothing while the growing Gilmore Brothers store carried clothing, carpets, and china. Ladies could buy the latest fashions at J. R. Jones & Sons Department Store or get their fancy goods at the Flexner Brothers Department Store. The Michigan Amusement Co. offered slot

machines.             A key element, Dietz said, was the role of downtown Kalamazoo, particularly along Main Street (now Michigan Avenue) and Burdick Street, as the regional retailing center. In an age before suburban malls, downtowns were the focus of retail, and shopping meant a trip to the city.Upcoming “Sunday Series” topics are:

            ● A repeat performance of “The History of the Kalamazoo Insane Asylum” on Jan. 7.  The first two were standing-room-only attractions at the Stryker Theater.

            ● “Bankers and Banking in 19th Century Kalamazoo” on Jan. 14.

            ● “The Things of History II:  More Artifacts, More Stories” on Jan. 28.

            For further information, contact Dietz at extension 7984. The series will run through the first week of May.

 

How to run an effective meeting

            Running effective meetings is the theme of Wednesday’s (Dec. 6) seminar at the KVCC M-TEC.

Open to people who work in a team environment and are involved in training, team leading, negotiating, human relations, and all levels of management and supervision, the workshop will be guided by KVCC communications instructor Bruce Punches:

            "Maximize Meeting-Facilitation Skills" is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  This workshop offers clues for preparing team members for meetings, the do’s and don’ts of agendas, and communication strategies for keeping meetings and members on task with full participation.  Also covered will be how and when to postpone discussions, how to enhance

creativity, how to promote cooperation, and how to improve presentation skills.

            The fee is $295.  Both offerings include meals and beverages.

            Punches holds graduate degrees in counseling psychology, personal development, and interpersonal communication.  He is a licensed psychotherapist.

            For more information or to register, call extension 1253 or visit the M-TEC website at www.mteckvcc.com.

Novel with autistic hero is Reading Together choice

            KVCC will again be taking part in the Kalamazoo Public Library’s “Reading Together” initiative in 2007 and the college’s liaison to the project, Arcadia Commons Campus librarian Jim Ratliff, is seeking colleagues to participate.

            The chosen book for community events next February and March is Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” a fictional, first-person account of a 15-year-old boy with autism who overcomes obstacles to solve a mystery surrounding the death of a neighbor’s dog.

            The college’s book-discussion group is getting a jumpstart on the initiative.  On Thursday, Jan. 18, “Curious Incident” will be the topic of conversation.  The group gathers at Pete Patel’s Saffron restaurant at the top of West Main Hill beginning at 5:30 p.m.  The spotlight will be on “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay on Thursday, March 15.  The discussions are open to all KVCC personnel.

            The boy can perform complex mathematics functions in his head and admires the logic of Sherlock Holmes, but the emotional complexities of social interactions are a mystery to him.  His investigation into how the dog died leads him down unexpected paths.

“Set in England,” Ratliff said, “the book's combination of an unusual storytelling style, insights to the mind of a child with autism, illustrations, family conflict, mathematics, humor, literary allusions and compelling characters opens the door to discussion. The book is an accessible, quick read that should spark conversations

about what it means to be different in our community.”

Copies of the book will be available in KVCC's libraries, at the KVCC Bookstore and at all the area's public libraries. The project’s website, www.readingtogether.us will soon include a calendar of events.

                The New York Times described “Curious” as “stark, funny and original.  It eschews most of the furnishings of high-literary enterprise as well as the conventions of genre, disorienting and reorienting the reader to devastating effect.

            Joan Hawxhurst, who coordinates Reading Together for the library, said the committee of 35 community members who selected the novel represented high schools, colleges, libraries, bookstores, book clubs, civic and social-service organizations, news-media outlets, and various religious denominations.  The members wanted something that could appeal to both adult and young readers, that could generate community dialogue on an important topic.

            “There was a sense to provide space for people who are perceived and treated as different to open up and tell their stories,” she said, reflecting on what happened when Vietnam War veterans came forward because of the 2006 selection of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried.”

            “This book should spark discussion because of its portrayal of an autistic person’s point of view,” Hawxhurst said.  “It is written in a style that gets into your head.  The teachers on the committee said their students absolutely loved the book, that it’s really meaningful.  Parents on the committee talked about having extended family members who were in similar situations, folks who had been diagnosed with autism.”

            Ratliff reports that the Kalamazoo Valley Museum will be screening the film "Refrigerator Mothers,” a  documentary on mothers of the 1950s and 1960s who had children with autism, on March 18 at 3 p.m.

            Ratliff wants KVCC instructors to provide some feedback to him:

            ♦ Whether they are planning on using the book in association with their classes during the 2007 winter semester?  If so, which classes and how many?

♦ Would there be a KVCC program or event they would like to lead or attend with their students?

Joining Ratliff in planning and promoting Reading Together are English instructor Jackie Justice-Brown and Donna Odom of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and president of the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society.

For more information, contact Ratliff at extension 7867 or jratliff@kvcc.edu.

Corn Fed Girls next in concert series

            The six-member Corn Fed Girls, an acoustic combo that actually includes four males, will wrap up the 2006 edition of the “Music at the Museum” concert series on Thursday (Dec. 7).

The first chord will be played for the Thursday-night adult audience in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5. 

The five-year-old group of a pair of “healthy corn-fed girls” and a quartet of “semi-healthy guys” came together to create a synergy of their songwriting and vocal talents that are expressed in both three- and four-part harmonies.

The sextet consists of second- and third-generation Kalamazoo-based musicians:

♫ Guitarist Darcy Sahlgren

♫ Sarah Halsey on bass

♫ Ira Cohen on banjo.

♫ Guitarist Phil Barry

♫ John Campos on mandolin

♫ Violinist/fiddler Mike Fuerst

“The Corn Fed Girls show a strong respect for tradition while maintaining their own sensibilities,” commented one reviewer.

Five of the six members share the lead vocal duties, “which makes for an incredibly broad range of sound tucked neatly into their unique style.”  Only Campos does not take the singing lead.

For more information, contact Jay Gavan at the museum at extension 7972.

?Toys for Tots? deadline is Dec. 15

            KVCC folks can express their holiday spirit by making this year's "Toys for Tots" initiative an even greater success.They can take new, unwrapped toys to collection boxes in Room 4220 in the Student Commons, the faculty-reception office, the Texas Township Campus Library, the gymnasium, the M-TEC, Anna Whitten Hall, the Center for New Media, and in the counseling offices on the Texas Township Campus. Members of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserves, which orchestrates this annual effort, will pick up the donations and distribute them.  The deadline to donate playthings appropriate for young people from infancy to age 17 is Dec. 15.  There is no price range.  Nothing is too small or too large.According to the organization, “Toys for Tots” especially needs toys for children ages 1 to 3 and 12 to 16. Monetary donations can be made online at www.toysfortots.org.

                The college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter and its members are also seeking volunteers to take part in the sorting process alongside the Marines.  The next session is set for Saturday, Dec. 9, from 2 to 5 p.m. in the unit’s Battle Creek location.

Contact chapter adviser Lynne Morrison at extension 4164 or the chapter at ptk@kvcc.edu to volunteer and for directions to reach the Marine location.

The gospel, according to a warm meal

            KVCC faculty members and students who have served meals at the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission this fall are looking for more assistants when they repeat the volunteerism on Wednesday (Dec. 6).

College employees interested in joining the KVCC contingent can sign up on the KVCC Faculty Association  bulletin board by the faculty lounge, or send an e-mail to Natalie Patchell.  Students may sign up on the Service Learning bulletin board. 

Those who participate in the project on Dec. 6 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. can park in the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission lot across from the new bus depot/train station in downtown Kalamazoo and enter through the center doors to the cafeteria.

“Dress casually and somewhat cool as we work in a warm kitchen,” said Patchell, who has been accompanied on the previous cook-ins by KVCC’ers Robert Sutton, Rita Fox, Gerri Jacobs, Chris Preston, and Nancy Vendeville.  Sue Reynolds has already signed up for the Dec. 6 venture.

Two weeks in Costa Rica

            Two part-time instructors will be leading a 15-day study-abroad adventure to Costa Rica next May under the auspices of the KVCC-based Midwest Institute for International and Intercultural Education.

Guided by Anthony Squiers and Stephen Shubert, what is described as the “Ultimate Eco-Cultural Excursion” is set for May 12-27.  The fee, based on 10 participants, will range between $1,875 and $1,975.  The deadline to register is Jan. 31.  KVCC students enrolled in the college’s International Studies Program can earn two credits for the educational trip.

The two weeks of study will explore the Central American nation’s geography, history, flora, fauna, contemporary politics, literature and art.  Learning modes will include field trips, lectures, walking tours, readings and group discussions.  There are no language requirements, but participants will be schooled on the basics of Spanish.

Slamming Costa Rica as "just another banana republic" compares to classifying Kalamazoo as a culturally dead community.  Yet it truly is a republic full of bananas, ranking No. 2 in the world behind Ecuador in the harvesting of that delectable yellow fruit (which is actually a herb).

Situated in the middle of the Central American isthmus, Costa Rica is a blend of rain and cloud forests, waterways, green-clad mountain ranges, pristine solitary beaches, rainbow-hued flora and fauna that would rival the mythical Garden of Eden, lava-spewing volcanoes, natural hot springs, an international preserve for sea turtles, and a climate (a mean temperature of 69) conducive to producing as much fresh fruit as one would ever want to eat. 

A naturalist's paradise, it's the home of a spider whose web is so strong it can be used for fishing line.  There are more varieties of plants in Costa Rica's nearly 20,000 square miles than in all of the United States that is east of the Mississippi River.  There are more kinds of ferns than in all of North America.  More than 6,000 species of flowering plants have been identified.

And it's rebellion-free, which is quite remarkable since troubled Nicaragua is to the north and the henchmen of Manuel Noriega once

practiced their deeds in Panama to the south.

But there's more to know about this relatively little-known nation: Try these stats on for size:

♦ It's about the size of West Virginia with a multi-lingual population of 3.5 million.

♦ It's No. 3 in the world in the production of gourmet coffee with Juan Valdez directly in its sights.  Beef and sugar cane (for making liquor) are also major crops.

♦ Gambling and prostitution are legal in this predominantly Catholic country.

♦ There is no such animal as the Army of Costa Rica, which is Spanish for "Rich Coast" and was so named by Christopher Columbus in 1502 when he spied gold-ladened "indigenous people." He proceeded to wipe them out via disease and sword in the name of queen, country, religion, and greed.

♦ On the way to being wiped out in the name of grazing lands for cattle and fields for sugar cane were the rain forests of Costa Rica.  When the Spaniards arrived at the dawn of the 16th century, the country was one big rain forest.  Today, 32 percent of Costa Rica is designated as national parks and preserves to retain that natural heritage.

♦ Costa Ricans are "Ticos," which roughly translated means "we are all little brothers."

♦ The democratic nation is run by four levels of government, a president who can only serve a single four-year term, and a pair of vice presidents.  The nation's first governor was a teacher, not a power-hungry general.  When compared to election turnouts in Costa Rica, Americans should be ashamed of their voter-participation percentage back home.

♦ With no military budget to suck up financial resources ever since 1949 when a new constitution abolished the army,  the Ticos spend their money on education and universal health care.  Schooling has been free, mandatory, and bilingual since 1917.  Uniforms are required so that kids are at the same level and can easily be spotted when skipping school.  Costa Rica's literacy rate is 95 percent.  The United States' is 87 percent. 

♦ The system of socialized medicine emphasizes prevention.  Life expectancy is the third highest on the planet -- 76 years.  Americans rank fifth in that category.

♦ If "Yanks" have to work three months or more before their income stays in their pockets instead of Uncle Sam's, the Ticos must work two months.

♦ Fifty percent of the population is regarded as middle class, 30 percent are among the economic elite, and the balance are the "down-and-outers."  Many of those in the latter class are recent arrivals.  The United States is not the only "Land of Plenty" with an influx of illegal aliens, immigration woes and border problems.

♦ The cost of living is low.  A week in the United States will buy you a month in Costa Rica.  Because of that factor and the fact that the Ticos are better educated than their peers in other Central American countries, many global companies are targeting Costa Rica for manufacturing plants and operations.  Government-subsidized trade schools add to the technological skills of the Tico workforce.

♦ More than 95 percent of the population is served by plumbing, running water that is safe to drink, and electricity.

So what are the downsides?  Well, there is a reason they are called "rain forests."  On occasions, Costa Rica is like being in a giant shower.  But the upside to that is the gorgeous tropical foliage that grows everywhere 365 days a year.  Poinsettias sprout like weeds.  The dry season is December through April.

Mount Aranal gurgles continuously, spitting molten rock down its sides while rocketing white-hot globules toward the heavens.  With that kind of awesome-looking surface action, there has got to be something happening down in the depths.  And there is -- earthquakes. 

Of course, there is a crocodile or two (13-footers), the vermilion-colored dart frog so named because the warriors that Columbus antagonized used its poisonous venom on the end of their blow-gun projectiles, jaguars, and snakes -- 136 species, 18 of which pack lethal venom.

 While one or two may be aggressive when it comes to human encounters, the vast majority of the deadly snakes are as scared of you as you are of them.  That's why the chances are slim you will ever see one in the wild, even when touring the rain forests and other natural

attractions.  Because people don't rate even a mention in their book of prey, snakes have no interest in nailing you, not even one of the larger boa constrictors.

From dark lowland jungles to rolling savannas, from the Pacific surf crashing against rocky headlands to the tranquility of palm-fringed Caribbean beaches, the climate is idyllic.  In the lowlands, which are dry in the northwest part of the country near the Pacific and humid elsewhere, temperatures range in the 80s to 90s.  Usually in the 70s at middle elevations, the mercury can fall as low as the 40s and 50s at the top of the mountains.  Within each of these elevations, temperatures remain fairly constant year-round in this near-the-equator nation.

                Squiers, who can be contacted at 323-1433 or asquiers4185@kvcc.edu for more details about the trips, teaches both writing and courses in political science at KVCC and Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac.  Shubert,  frequent traveler to Latin America, teaches Spanish.

 

 

Susan Harrison to entertain families, pre-schoolers

            Susan Harrison, equally adept at entertaining adult audiences as she is families and pre-schoolers, will give a pair of free performances for the latter on Saturday (Dec. 2) at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

The Kalamazoo-based singer, puppeteer, storyteller and guitarist will entertain an audience of pre-schoolers at 10 a.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater and return to the stage at 1 p.m. for a family-oriented show.Soulful and hard-edged enough to perform at the2005 Kalamazoo Blues Fest, Harrison can also tailor her material to lead conferences and workshops for teachers in how to use a guitar, drama, puppets and songwriting in their classes.

 For example, “Improvin’ Through Movin’” fosters creativity in students through interactive music, movement and drama ideas while nurturing self esteem, imagination and creative self-expression.  Another promotes a multidisciplinary

approach to learning.

            Singing since childhood, Harrison began strumming “chords” with a hand-made guitar that consisted of a ruler and rubber bands, which was a harbinger of her musical elasticity.  The first music festival she attended was Woodstock at which she was inspired to blend genres of music into an adult and alternative sound.

            Harrison began to cater to younger audiences in 1987 when she established PALamazoo Puppets.  As PALamazoo Sue, she has shared her songs and high-spirited humor at libraries, festivals and schools throughout the Midwest.  She has also worked with teachers as a performance artist for the Wolftrap Institute for Early Learning Through The Arts and counterpart organizations in Michigan. 

            A stable of CDs has targeted both young-child and teen-age audiences with the latter featuring “rockin’ tunes.”

            Harrison said she enjoys working with puppetry because it allows a combination of many different arts disciplines.  From scriptwriting, set and puppet design to music, movement and drama influences, puppetry can cover it all, she said.

Limited seating in the Stryker Theater is on a first-come, first-served basis for these free presentations. 

A maximum of four tickets per household or group can be reserved the day before each performance by calling (269) 373-7990 or (800) 772-3370.

Seats that are not occupied by 10 minutes before show time will be released to other guests.

The museum’s series of specialty concerts will continue on Jan. 6 with mime and juggler Rob Reider performing at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

 

Get fit instead of just sit

            Drop-in fitness classes in the KVCC Wellness and Fitness

Center are continuing through Dec. 19.

            Here is the schedule for the free sessions held in Room 6040:

            ☼ Middle Eastern dance – Mondays, from 11 to noon.

            ☼ Core conditioning – Mondays, from 1 to 2 p.m.

            ☼ Yoga – Tuesdays, from 11 a.m. to noon.

            ☼ Pilates – Tuesdays, from noon to 1 p.m.

            ☼ Core conditioning – Wednesdays, from 1 to 2 p.m.

            ☼ Yoga – Fridays, from 11 a.m. to noon.

On top of the Kalamazoo Promise. . .

            Gov. Jennifer Granholm is reportedly close to enacting a plan that would offer all graduates of Michigan high schools – starting with the class of 2007 -- $4,000 to pursue higher education, according to news reports out of Lansing.            While faced with a lame-duck Michigan Legislature, she wants the Michigan House of Representatives to take up the proposal that has already been endorsed by the Michigan Senate before the calendar turns to 2007.            The $4,000 scholarship for every graduating senior in the state would replace the $2,500-to-$3,000 Merit Award that was created during the tenure of Gov. John Engler and first given to the class of 2000.            The Senate Fiscal Agency estimated it would cost the state about $60 million more a year than the Merit Award starting in 2010.            That scholarship, which cost the state $126 million this year, is funded, along with a variety of other state program

Do you have any surplus winter apparel?

            Clean, “gently used” winter wear for men, women and children is being collected by the Focus and Brother2Brother programs through Wednesday, Dec. 13.            Donated coats, sweaters, sweatshirts, scarves, gloves and “new” hats will be distributed to residents at three locations:

♥ the YWCA’s Domestic Assault Shelter, The Rickman House, and Ministry with Community.Items can be dropped off in the Focus Program office in Room 1364 on the Texas Township Campus or in the front office of Anna Whitten Hall on the Arcadia Commons Campus.For more information, contact Ezra Bell, coordinator of the Brother2Brother Program, at extension 4045 or Kenlana Burton, a graduate assistant for the Focus Program, at extension 4058.

?Orange,? Keaton, Indian classic next in film series

            The brain-teasing “A Clockwork Orange” and Buster Keaton’s last independently produced silent comedies are the upcoming billings in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s movie series.

Booked for the Mary Jane Stryker Theater, “A Clockwork Orange” and the strange perspectives of director Stanley Kubrick will fill the Stryker screen on Dec. 2-3.

Keaton’s 1928 production of “Steamboat Bill Jr.” is the Dec. 10 billing while on the horizon for a Dec. 14 showing is the globally recognized Indian film, “A Peck on the Cheek.”

Through the end of the calendar year, the museum is showing classic motion pictures, epics from the silent-film era, movies targeted for children, and five-star, independent productions from the international scene.

They are being shown on weekends and Thursday evenings in the Stryker Theater.  Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students.  However, tickets are $3 only for the Saturday-afternoon matinees targeted for families.

The silent films are shown at the museum on Sundays at 3 p.m.  The Hollywood classics such as “A Clockwork Orange,” are booked for Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. 

The matinees for families are set for 1 p.m. on Saturdays, while the foreign and U. S. independents, such as “A Peck on the Cheek,” are booked for 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays.Kubrick’s 1971 perceptive and dark satire about the future was adapted from the novel by Anthony Burgess.  The scene is 21st-Century England where gangs of young hoodlums run rampant and ordinary citizens are afraid to venture far from their homes.

A young murderer returns to society after being brainwashed by the authorities in a prison experiment.  He learns that the violent nature of society has increased.

“A Clockwork Orange” stars Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee and Michael Bates.  It is laced with stark images and a chilling political message about the future.  It was nominated for Academy Awards as best picture and best director. 

After audience members leave the Stryker Theater with their brains titillated, they can go to the third floor and check out the museum’s latest nationally touring exhibition, “BRAIN:  The World Inside Your Head.”

“Steamboat Bill Jr.” is the last of the “Great Stone Face’s” nine independent feature films and one of the last silent comedies. The film was co-written, co-produced, and co-directed by Keaton. 

It’s known for two amazing sequences:

(1) Keaton's dare-devil, death-defying stunt when a three-story building facade crashes on top of him, saving him because the third-floor window opening clears his head;

And (2) the destructive cyclone sequence.

The farce was probably Keaton's funniest film.  He followed it with two final silent comedies at MGM:

Later in life, Keaton admitted that the decision to give up his own independent studio and sign a

contract to move to MGM was the worst move of his career.  He lost artistic control.  While two of his MGM efforts, “The Cameraman” in 1928. and “Spite Marriage” in 1929, provided excellent showcases for his unique comic talent, Keaton’s movie fame and personal life were on a downward spiral that would be marked by alcoholism and humiliation.

“Steamboat Bill Jr.” is a father-son tale of an educated, effeminate, accident-prone, college-educated but simple-minded son.  This archetypal underdog American hero is ultimately transformed and triumphs when he assists and impresses his burly, red-necked, hard-working, Mississippi River-captain father in combating the threatening efforts of a rival tycoon to take over the steamboat business in the South.  He also wins over the business rival's daughter.

The 2002, 136-minute “A Peck on the Cheek” that was directed by Mani Ratnam won awards at the Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco and Indian film festivals.

It’s the story of a young girl’s search for her biological mother who abandoned her as a new-born amidst 20 years of civil unrest in Sri Lanka.  As she grows up in an adoptive home in India with the couple’s two sons, she is unaware of her true parentage until she is told the truth on her ninth birthday.

After overcoming the shock of disbelief, she seeks to locate the woman who abandoned her.  With the assistance of her adoptive parents, the search hunt takes them back to strife-torn Sri Lanka and reality. 

The movie is about the adopted refugee child, her angst, her quest, her understanding and, lastly, her hope.  With blood encounters being waged around them, the three gain a sense of why the woman decided to do what she could to liberate her baby from that kind of death and senseless destruction.

While there are many dramatic elements, the film also contains comedic elements.  The cinematography is superb.

Here’s the museum’s movie schedule through the rest of the calendar year:

● Dec. 16:  “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992) about nightmares on Christmas Eve.

● Dec. 16-17:  “Vertigo” (1958).

The theme of documentaries being shown at the museum has shifted to PBS productions that focus on the brain.

Through Dec. 9, segments of “The Secret Life of the Brain” will be the big-screen attraction in the Stryker Theater: Dec. 2, “Adult Brain:  To Think By Feeling”; and Dec. 9, “Aging Brain:  Through Many Lives.”  Each begins at 4 p.m.

 

            Sheila Rupert of the KVCC Wellness and Fitness Center is leading a final session on “Stretching Stress Management” this week.

She’ll be on the Arcadia Commons Campus on Thursday (Dec. 7) from noon to 1 in 128 B of Anna Whitten Hall.

For more information about the workshops and personal fitness goals, contact Rupert at 488-4367, at extension 1305, or at srupert7750@kvcc.edu.

            A new website – www.letssaythanks.com – allows Americans across the nation to offer their best wishes to U. S. military troops stationed overseas.By taking the right computer steps, any of us can submit a message for a postcard that will be sent to military personnel assigned to bases and duties in other countries.And you can’t beat the price – it’s free.By doing so, you are joining the likes of Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis, “NYPD Blue” actor Henry Simmons, comedians Phyllis Diller and Whoopi Goldberg, and singer Wayne Newton.

According to the website, the mission of Let's Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas. By submitting a message through the site, people have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women.

The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries submitted by children across the country.

All you have to do is click on your favorite design and either select the message that best expresses your sentiment or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed on the Xerox iGen3® Digital Production Press and mailed in CARE packages by the military-support organization Give2TheTroops®.

Xerox is committed to helping people across the nation express their gratitude to U. S.  troops overseas and remind them how much Americans appreciate their service.

And finally. . .

            Five surgeons are discussing the types of people on whom they like to   operate.             The first surgeon says: "I like to see accountants on my operating table because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered." The second responds: "Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside them is color-coded.The third surgeon preferred librarians because “everything inside them is in alphabetical order." The fourth surgeon chimes in: "I like construction workers.  Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."             "You're all wrong,” observed the fifth surgeon.  “Politicians are the easiest to operate on.  There's no guts, no heart, no brains and no spine.  And the headand the butt are interchangeable."