1,368,470 research outputs found

    What I believe about leadership and education

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    I remember when my morn was driving me to my first day of preschool. I asked her if she would drive me to school when I went to the University of Northern Iowa too? I was going to be a teacher, and I didn\u27t want to go alone. That was about twenty years ago, and my morn kept her promise. I did attend the University of Northern Iowa; I did become a teacher, and my mom did take me for my first day of orientation. Education is an American value that I feel is one of the most important ideas our Founding Fathers gave us. American education has plenty of challenges and is far from perfect, but I believe it is the best in the world. We may not always have the highest test scores or produce the most engineers, but our country does value education so much it is illegal not to send a child to school. Every child deserves the chance to achieve their dreams and do what they want with their lives

    The Extraordinary in the Ordinary.

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    I began my degree in Contemporary Art and Design in my early 40s with two young children, who were both still quite small and needed more ‘hands-on’ care than they do now that they are teenagers, which inevitably had an effect on my work. The ‘everyday’ is what I came home to at night; - the cooking, the laundry, homework, school trips, packed lunches and all the other countless things that provide security and certainty for those in my particular family unit. These ‘everyday’ things began to appear more and more regularly in my work, bringing a kind of comfort in the ‘normalness’, the ordinariness of their very existence. I began to realise that although these objects are almost invisible to us as they are such a familiar presence in our lives, they nevertheless have a value that we may not immediately recognise and perhaps they only have meaning for me. Chairs, cups and cutlery feature quite often in my work and it could be surmised that these are indeed everyday objects that make up family life.But, I began to realise that for me, these items also convey a much deeper importance. For me, they represent the importance of ‘people’ in my life, whether that be my core family or the much larger one of extended family and friends. This goes back to my childhood when my grandparents would expect all their children, their wives, husbands and grandchildren home on a Sunday afternoon for tea. No excuse for not being there was accepted. Both my Aunts carried this tradition on when they became mothers and grandmothers so I grew up with Sunday teas that were in turn full of mayhem, noise, laughter, drinks being spilt, children crying because they were overwhelmed and overtired. With hindsight, I am sure that some of the time, some of those present were filled with resentment, annoyance and frustration but I much prefer to recall those days with rose-tinted glasses. These ‘teas’ became an important part of my life as a wife and mother. My husband and I, with our children, moved away from our home town many years ago, opportunities have taken us to different parts of the country, so our ‘family’ has become that of our own making. Friday nights in our home became an ‘open house’ evening and anyone who was passing was welcome to join us for dinner and a glass of wine. Friends new and old and now our children are older, their friends have become part of the evening, as well as our family when they visit, gather at our house to connect or reconnect with each other. In this way my memory and the tradition of these ‘family’ gatherings has been carried on in my own life with a modern twist. These evenings are a way for different generations to socialise together, swapping stories and creating new memories, we discover untold histories and shared experiences that create bonds and strengthen ties amongst our man-made family. Over the course of my degree I realised that I place great importance on the objects around me, not because I am materialistic but because they remind me of my past, they are a method of remembering. I find it difficult to throw things away because I am throwing memories away in a very real way for me. Postcards, books, an absolutely hideous statue we received as a wedding present from a wonderful Aunt, that was so awful it became a much loved object and we were genuinely sad when it got broken in a house move. As Wittgenstein says: ‘The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something because it is always before one’s eyes.) (Sachs, 2011:47). These items help define my life and what has happened in it, these constant reminders of what has gone before and what I would like to pass on to my children as a way for them to remember the family and home life they shared growing up. ‘Telling stories about the past, our past, is a key moment in the making of ourselves. To the extent that memory provides their raw material, such narratives of identity are shaped as much by what is left out of the account – whether forgotten or repressed – as by what is actually told’ (Kuhn, 2002: 2)

    2022 Honors Portfolio

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    Four years flew by so fast. My four years at Fontbonne could not have been better. Well, maybe the pandemic didn’t have to happen, but some things in life you just can’t change. When I started Fontbonne four years ago I was a very different person than I am today. I was completely panicked to be starting college, I was shy and quiet, and I felt like I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Four years later, and although I would still consider myself an introvert, I realize that I had nothing to panic about. All of the faculty at Fontbonne were there for me; they helped me succeed. I became a member of TELOS, ALD, and ODK. I have made so many friends, and I love that my professors know me personally. Being a TELOS scholar has allowed me to explore my inner self and make the most out of this absolutely amazing school, Fontbonne University. My sophomore year at Fontbonne was, like many others, interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our family suddenly shifted from being scattered around the country to myself, my 3 siblings, and my parents now all learning and working remotely from home. I feel strongly about the importance of family, and I am close with all my siblings, especially my twin brother. Although it’s absolutely fabulous to have siblings, and I wouldn’t change it for the world, it can also come with challenges. My sister went to college in New York, and now works in New York as a teacher. My twin brother is in college in New York, and my younger brother is also in college in New York. Can you see a theme here? It was really hard for me to be the only one here with my parents. I felt less than them, and I felt like I was missing out. But what I’ve realized is that what I have at Fontbonne, a close-knit community with professors who know me by name, that is something that I wouldn’t get in New York. What’s important to me is to be in a friendly and supportive environment. That is where I succeed. I have no desire to ever live in New York. It’s a great place to travel to and be a tourist, but it’s not for me to live there. This was something that I struggled with at first, but now I am able to see it clearly. In June of 2020, after three months of quarantine, my younger brother, 18 at the time, went out for a bike ride. In his 20th mile, when he was almost home, a delivery truck driver reversed without looking, and struck him. I was on the floor of my room doing yoga with my puppy Charlie when my twin brother called me. He never calls me out of the blue. When I answered he said, “Don’t panic, Avi was out biking and was hit by a truck, we are on the way to the scene.” Avi was unconscious and rushed to Children’s Hospital. His saving grace was that he was wearing a helmet, which saved his life. Avi spent hours in the emergency room where he kept asking the same questions repetitively and screaming in pain from a broken bone. Avi had no idea what happened to him. On his care team was a child life specialist named Ericka. She came into the room and started talking to Avi. She asked him about his family and where he was going to college. Avi started telling her about our family’s new puppy Charlie. Ericka calmed Avi down, and that calmed the rest of us too. Ericka went from room to room with Avi explaining what was happening and what the procedures would be like. The accident changed Avi, and it also changed me. As my brother was home and recovering, I realized I wanted to work in a profession that benefited other people. Avi’s description of how Ericka helped him through his recovery piqued my interest in the field of child life. When I began college in the fall of 2018 at Fontbonne University, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for a career. I have always had a creative side to me, and a love for fashion, so I majored in Fashion Merchandising. This program allowed me to grow my creativity and expand my knowledge of fashion, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit my life to it. After my brother’s accident I realized I had a different calling. My brother’s accident was definitely one aspect that led me to this profession, but when I look back at my life, especially my four years at Fontbonne, this job of being able to help sick kids feel a little bit better really is so fitting for me. I know what it’s like to be a sick kid, and not know where your life is heading. I know what trauma feels like, and I want to help kids feel better when life seems out of their control. My education at Fontbonne has led me to a degree in fashion merchandising, however it is really much more than a degree. People can reflect and notice the challenges and hurdles they have had to tackle, or they can look at all those challenges and realize how that has made them a better person, perhaps the best person they can be. This portfolio reflects my four years at Fontbonne, and how each aspect of TELOS, transformation, exploration, leadership, occupation, and service/social justice has allowed me to showcase my true passions and allowed me to be the best version of myself possible. This is a portfolio of me.https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/telos-portfolios-2022/1001/thumbnail.jp

    Fast Changes Through Slowing Consumption: The Need for Sustainability in the Fashion Industry

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    Overview: In 2015, a court in Bangladesh upheld charges against 38 people accused of murder. With a death toll of 1,135 people, and thousands more injured, few were able to escape the bloodshed unscathed. Years later, the bodies of 200 people remain lost. A manhunt for those involved lasted four days, as the accused attempted to flee the country. Those charged with murder in Bangladesh can face the death penalty (Calvo, Amanda). In America, people continued their daily lives unaware of the trial taking place. However, we were more connected to the trial than we could have realized or imagined, because the 1,135 people who were killed died while making our clothes (“Factory Collapse in Bangladesh”). Author\u27s Reflection: My name is Melissa Boehlert, and I am a nursing major. The hardest part of writing this paper for me was finding the best sources as basis for my arguments. There was so much information on the topic that it was hard to determine which would be the strongest resources to support my paper. As the topic is very complex and multifaceted, it was important to find a balance of perspectives. The most enjoyable part of this paper was continuously discovering more information about something I am passionate about. It was incredibly rewarding to write this paper, not only because I learned so much through my research, but also because it gave me an opportunity to discuss a topic that I believe needs to be addressed. The process of writing this paper was meticulous but well worth it, as I believe it made me a better writer and the subject was something I was truly passionate about. Taking a 199 course helped me further develop my ability to articulate a point clearly while acknowledging all aspects of an argument. It strengthened my writing and gave me a much better grasp of researching a topic in depth. The class also gave me practice at citing information, which I can use as a foundation for any future papers I write. Dr. Lowe\u27s Summary: Melissa\u27s research on the topic of fast fashion is deep and broad. This allows her to convey a nuanced understanding of what many might initially think is a trivial issue. Her paper is an exemplar for several reasons. First, it is deeply and carefully researched. The facts used are expertly chosen and blended into the text, adding both interest and credibility to her arguments. In addition, Melissa opens her paper with a case that readers cannot help but see the ethical relevance of and, because the case is powerful, are internally compelled to read on. Melissa also does a very nice job of addressing multiple perspectives on this issue, complicating the issue with and for the reader while also pointing to reasonable ways to move forward. This is an important paper as it calls on all of us to think more about our part in creating a sustainable future in all aspects of our lives, especially our fashion choices

    Roots to Ridges

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    We all want a place to call home where we get to put our roots down. For some, this place is the state they were born in, and for others, it is a place they stumble upon along the journey of life. Some of us are lucky enough to live in such unbelievably special places, however, we don’t always seem to notice or appreciate this. The seemingly endless nature of our bustling society seems too often keep our focus shifted away from the natural beauty around us. This thought prompted me to begin this series of paintings and prints that highlight not only everything I love about my home state of Kentucky, but also all that it has to offer, from land to resources. Roots to Ridges stands for many things; from the roots we put down, to the roots of the agriculture that provides for us all, to the ridges that our livestock roam, to the ridges we explore. To bring this to life, I first focused on my hometown. These works explore multiple facets of the Kentucky landscape, from the rolling hills of horse country to the lush forests, rivers, and small towns that shape The Bluegrass State’s identity. This visual story creates a balance between our breathtaking geography to the agriculture that provides so much for us. My mission behind doing this is that I hope it brings the viewers to appreciate all of our untouched natural beauty. Our society\u27s constant need to expand is consuming not only miles of land, it is consuming wildlife, habitats, and scenery that can’t be replaced. Through the appreciation I hope to spark, I also hope it sparks the conversation of conservation. Conserving what we have is important for so many reasons; the most obvious reasons are to protect wildlife and to promote biodiversity but also so that we can preserve what we have so future generations can enjoy it as a reality and not a distant memory. In these works, I address many components of the Kentucky agriculture system from the industry overall to livestock and crops. My lithographs take a scientific visual approach. The choice to complete these works monochromatically in black and white allows the viewer to get lost in the realistic detail used. Through my careful attention to rendering, I work to capture the essence of what is and what once was and to intimately appreciate all that our agricultural system provides for us. In contrast, my screen-prints and paintings incorporate a more colorful and playful approach. Vast and bold color bring life and energy to my oil paintings. I use these heightened color palettes to convey my feelings of love and gratitude for the landscape’s generosity and never-ending beauty. I take inspiration from printmaker Stephanie Berrie’s ability to render subject matter with attention to detail and for her compositions. Ioana Villatoro also inspires me with her acrylic paintings of the natural world that she enlivens with intuitive, expressive decisions about color and mark making. Highlighting all that Kentucky’s environment provides is important for those that live here because in a world that is so fast paced, we could all use a reminder to slow down and take a look around, Hopefully, Roots to Ridges inspires us all to take pride in the wild spaces our Southeastern state of Kentucky.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art498/1106/thumbnail.jp

    JakuĆĄevac landfill sanation example

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    Potreba za brigom i zaĆĄtitom okoliĆĄa u danaĆĄnje vrijeme postaje sve veća. Ljudi su postali svjesni koliko je bitno zaĆĄtititi i očuvati okoliĆĄ. Prva “stepenica“ u zaĆĄtiti okoliĆĄa je briga o otpadu i odlaganje otpada na uređenim odlagaliĆĄtima tako da utjecaj i ĆĄteta za okoliĆĄ bude svedena na minimum. U radu se opisuje izgled saniranog odlagaliĆĄta i pravilima njegove izvedbe. Sanirano odlagaliĆĄte otpada ne predstavlja nikakvu opasnost za ljude koji ĆŸive u blizini,takvu činjenicu treba objasniti ljudima koji ĆŸive u blizini. Ljude bi trebalo educirati i skrenuti im paĆŸnju koliko je bitno razvrstavati otpad, takvo ponaĆĄanje bi trebalo postati svakodnevno i prisutno u svim domaćinstvima. Mislim da ljudi u Hrvatskoj nisu dovoljno upućeni u vaĆŸnost ovog problema i koliko je bitan utjecaj svakog pojedinca na zaĆĄtitu okoliĆĄa. Nedovoljno se u medijima govori o problematici otpada i smanjivanju istog. Sigurna sam da se od strane vlade RH pokrene pokret edukacije građana da bi rezultati bili puno bolji od stanja koje imamo danas. Nadam se da će u budućnosti viĆĄe paĆŸnje biti posvećeno odlaganju otpada!The need to keep our enviroment safe and clean is progressing on a daily bases. People are begining to realise the importance of environment protection. It is my belief that the first step in environmental protection is waste disposal. In order to do so it is very important to have clean and modern waste disposal sites in which all the dumping would provide minimum health and eco risks. In my papper I have been writing about landfills and what it takes to keep waste disposal in them safe, proficient, cheap and most importantly eco friendly. The safest landfills are the one's that provide different options of waste disposal such as waste recycling, incinerators, transfer stations or treatment plants. The key to my mission is education. Very few people are aware of ecology, waste management. In my opinion it is governments responsibility to provide options and information that are essential for our countrys eco sistem. It has come to my attention that every fifth person in this country knows what waste recycling is. It is our task to change and upgrade the knowledge of our children, friends, colleagues or neighbours but it is also important that our academic systems make the effort. The law should be a harsh regulator for everyone taking part in unauthorised and hazardous dumping which is becoming a rapid threat in our environment. The fact that there are many options of waste disposal is something that makes me happy. Energetic waste value, waste export, waste incinerators, underground storage, waste treatment plants, polymer waste recycling, lapse rates, overall recycling are just some of the options and tools for waste disposal. Not knowing anything about them is not an option because not knowing menas we do not care about our earth, country, health and life for that matter

    Lines of Tribe

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    It is important to begin by explaining why I take the title of my essay from the statement in President Barack Obama\u27s 2009 Inaugural Address: the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve. During the address, his words affected me and they remained with me long afterward. President Obama may very well have meant what he said in a metaphoric or figurative sense; I have certainly been provided with many interpretations and assurances by most that a literal meaning was not his intent and that he instead spoke in a good way of the beneficial melting of divisions between us. It serves my purposes, however, to complicate the statement\u27s usage and to choose not to lose the opportunity to consider it in a literal sense given the history of our country, and not only our country, but the whole of the American continent. That is to say that there is a belief that the dissolution of the lines of tribe, in fact, can result in good and in peace. It is the chilling language and metaphor of colonists. I am familiar with the history of the good that white reformers thought would come from detribalization of Indigenous Peoples in the United States. Detribalization efforts severely weakened the lucky, but destroyed and disappeared others, and, in doing so, opened vast tracts of lands for, yes, the peaceful settlement by others. We have seen the lines of tribe dissolve, and not in a poetic sense, but violently. President Obama\u27s reference to tribes brought to mind the modem tribal peoples the United States is engaged with in Iraq, Afghanistan, and within its own boundaries. There can be hope for a peace that does not require that the lines of tribe dissolve. Additionally, President Obama\u27s words evoke a picture that connects to present work on Indigenous identity. The words evoke an image that modem day tribes, in their utilization of blood quantum, may be hastening along. To a tribal person, the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve means the end of a tribe\u27s existence. There is no Indigenous identity without the existence of tribe, or the People. Such words convey the failure to recognize the significance of tribalism, of the United States\u27 history with tribes, and of the sense of how near we came in this country to its literal meaning. The statement, spoken as metaphoric prophecy, focused my attention on the lynchpin of tribe (that is the continuation of tribe , or the People ) to Indigenous identity and the link between blood quanta, the line of tribe, and dissolution

    Modernity from Far East. Kazuo Shinohara’s Fourth Space

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    This paper is funded by the School of Doctorate Studies of the University Iuav of Venice and will be part of my PhD dissertation about Kazuo Shinohara’s work. Since the Japanese book Jutaku kenchiku (Residential Architecture) by Kazuo Shinohara has never been translated into English, the quotations reported here have been translated by me, thanks to Mr Yosuke Taki who did the Italian translation for me.Since, according to Kenneth Frampton, 'regional or national cultures must today, more than ever, be ultimately constituted as locally inflected manifestations of “world culture”’, contemporary Japanese culture would be in this sense the 'world culture' par excellence, structured on two important cultural imports - the first occurred between the 6th and 7th centuries when from China was introduced the ideographic writing, Confucian model of society and along with them Indian Buddhism; and the second one, during the late 19th century, when for the rapid modernization of the country Western politics, science and technology were adopted. Having soon faced, and deeply questioned, the possibilities and problems of a global dimension of the thought, Japanese culture could be considered an original synthesis of universality and local identity where, although the many contradictions, the meeting with the stranger allowed to discover what ‘not to be’, rather than what to be. Starting from the other side of modernity, and tracing the different aspects of the adoption of Modern Movement in Japan, aim of this paper is to introduce the figure of the Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara (1925-2006) who unveiled the plurality and richness of our spatial structures, the universal and the particular in which we are immersed, most of the time, without consciousness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    ‘Tentacular thinking’ in creative practice research as a radical intellectual gesture

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    As a filmmaker and scholar I have been involved in the project of creating knowledge through making films, even before I did a PhD and became an academic. It has always been unclear to me why there is the curious divide between the so called ‘academic’ and creative’. All my documentaries for the broadcasters in some way I would argue were ‘practice research’ without me being quite aware of it. The paper considers the notion of what ‘knowledge’ might be for a creative research practitioner and how ‘high theory’ might be of assistance in inspiring ideas and creative strategies. I will share my most recent experience of working across disciplines with the new experimental film Wash (2022). It is a hybrid documentary with element of animation and drama dealing with serious issues of development in Zimbabwe, a country in which I have done much work over the years. The piece of work has been funded by Strategic England Research 2021 and the University of Edinburgh. In terms of methodology for any creative practice research work, here I suggest that casting a wide net in the search for theoretical and artistic inspirations, using what Donna Haraway would call ‘tentacular thinking’ is not only not a hindrance in the creative process but could be positively helpful. In this context I discuss here Surrealism, arguably the most influential artistic and theoretical movement, which itself began with a bold drawing from a different praxis and theory, namely psychoanalysis and the work of Sigmund Freud. Surrealism as a creative tool has of course been re-framed, re-thought and re-positioned by various cultures as demonstrated by Venice Bienale and the recent exhibition at Tate Modern in London.) In some way it has also influenced the hybrid film Wash I am presenting here, even as it deals with important issues of understanding a given community before introducing practices that might even be ‘good for them. In the film I have used a patchwork of knowledge, a patchwork of influences, drawing from Surrealism as well as other influences such as postcolonial theories and intangible local knowledge reservoirs
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