Blogs

The Sunday before Thanksgiving break, I found myself thinking about mud.

On our geological biological tour, we did not exactly follow the directions to the letter.  The instructions were to spend time talking about the class, then proceed with either the geological or biological tour, and after that one was finished, go on to the next part.  Our group started by talking about the class, which was interesting.  It was like seeing a parallel universe Ecological Imaginings.  Small things like the places we have class and the majors within the groups are different, but we are really getting the same things out of the class, a better understanding of our ecology.

After that portion of our time together, we decided to walk across campus (from Erdman where we started to Mill Creek) and whenever we saw something that was incorporated into our respective tours, stop and talk about it.  I liked this.  In a way it was very ecological.  We didn't separate geology and botany into distinct group, but addressed them as they came in the natural flow of our sauntering.  

"Competing tendencies reside in a state of simultaneity: they are always at the same time separate and united, this and that...the Self is always at the same time both itself and other"-George Kalamaras

During our last silence exercise of our class this past week, I found myself pushing back on the silence. I found myself constantly wanting to analyze and critically think of Kalamaras' words in relation to silence. I found myself asking: "What is the goal of silence and how much of how silence is perceived, fueled by the "other" that the self "competes" with in a state of simultaneity?" I then found myself wondering whether the individual self has as much to do with how his/her silence is perceived. Can the self manipulate his/her environment in order to fuel her silence in a positive way? if so, what is necessary for this to happen?  

Since we're having trouble uploading our Virtual Tour video, we will be posting the research so you can get an idea of what the tour will look like. I'm pretty sure we'll be showing it in class.

360 VISION RESEARCH PROJECT: 1968 TOUR OF BMC/SOCIAL CLIMATE

By Esty & Chandrea

Here is where we can start to compile our information and the resources we use!

Project focus: Campus tour/map with a focus in 1968. Perry House and Batten do not exist at that time. So we could focus on the campus and social climate for the tour--it was HOT!


Areas of interest on dorm and campus life (guide questions/FAQs on tours?):

Why don’t we have sororities?
What affinity groups existed during this time period?
What were some popular activities?
What was the most common major?
What did the campus look like?
How did customs and other dorm supports function?
What historical events coincided and/or preceded--therefore, influencing--the 60s/70s
What slang was used so we look authentic?
What do students do for fun?
What religious services are available?

Information (Jotted Notes):

General/historical/big picture context:

In our last class I was very struck first by our readings, and then by the last part of our class. It was the first time that I realized the difference between how Quakers and Catholics pray. When I go to church, it is usually accompanied with music, sermons, speeches, and lectures and just words in general. Words words words. Music music music. Even in silent prayer we're not silent because the priest leads us. This is very different from our practice on Thursday where we were each in charge with connecting with whatever it is that we wanted to connect with it. I find it very interesting that the Quakers sit in silence and wonder what such spiritual experience would feel like, to be in charge of making your own connection with God. 

Sasha, Jomi, and I made a prezi about a timeline of the history of African American students at Bryn Mawr.  We also have a physical timeline that we will bring to class Tuesday: PREZI

...from yesterday that I don't want to forget:
"Just because they have life doesn't mean their life stops."
"What do I get by telling others that they are stuck?"
"Nobody's homework is done."

“Finally it’s my turn and I want the best education I can have”

In thinking about Bryn Mawr’s campus, it becomes obvious that many small communities exist within our walled community. Communities consisting of students of color, international students or students from the same area. An important community within Bryn Mawr is the Katharine E. McBride Scholars Program or McBride Scholars for short. They are women, twenty four or older, who did not complete their college education after high school for one reason or another. Bryn Mawr looks for non-traditionally aged students that exemplify intelligence, talent and achievement. These traits may be displayed through volunteer work, their jobs or some form of formal study. What separates McBride scholars from many traditionally aged students are their life experiences. Many of the women have family commitments such as children and aging parents or full time jobs. Some have put their education on a hiatus due to financial reasons or simply because of life and the tribulations it can bring along.

Paul Doherty, Water Waves Seen by Diffraction

I realized that by including my paper via attachment (because of picture issues), I wasn't creating a searchable document. So here it is in the best form I could get. The first picture is cut off on the side for some reason. Please follow links to see whole picture.

Maid in Silence: The Hidden History of Bryn Mawr’s Housekeepers

How are you coming to understand women’s prisons and colleges as similar and/or different?  

When I first started researching for this project, I was going to study crime and punishment at Bryn Mawr, specifically rape culture at Bryn Mawr, and how victims and perpetrators of rape at Bryn Mawr have been treated and characterized in the history of the school. Given that Bryn Mawr is an all female institution of higher education, both cloistered in terms of gender and in terms of physical space, and taking into account recent conversation about how Bryn Mawr takes a caretaker role in its treatment of its female students, I thought this to be a very interesting topic to discuss in relation to the overarching topic of women in walled communities. However, as I conducted my research I realized that in order to really get an understanding of this I would have to get first hand accounts of incidents of rape in the history of the college as well as interview campus safety officials about their experiences with rape cases on campus; the aforementioned would be difficult given the lack of voice on the issue of rape among women in earlier times and the latter would require IRB approval. Given the time for this project, I realized this would not be possible.