First album artwork that I shot and edited! Not too shabby, not too shabby!

Official mixtape artwork that I produced for UVA student and musician O’Shea Ziggy. I shot this on location at a mural hitting Downtown Charlottesville, and edited the picture with iPhoto and Photoshop. The inspiration for this shot was making sure the cover gave a heavy “street” vibe (“Ztreet”), yet was different, rather unusual (“Ztreet Politicz” = O’Shea’s version of “street politics”). To resonate these effects I played around with Photoshop (first time using it since summer camp in middle school….it took a while, but was totally worth it) in order to make it appear as if O’Shea was a part of the mural, whiles also highlighting the three dimensionality of O’Shea. Rather than leaving it at that, and simply adjusting the color schemes, I angled the shot to be off-center, and purposefully flipped my camera upside down (inverted world) during the shoot to provide the distinctness and what I perceive to be the uniqueness of the mixtape cover. Inspired by Supreme, I created my own “Supreme box logo,” edited it to fit our needs, and slapped the mixtape title over the eyes of the Indian. O’Shea specifically wanted the “parental advisory” template as an outline for where he would place the credits, and after watching a helpful YouTube tutorial, I provided him with just that. It was a really great learning experience from all ends. One’s imagination is truly a powerful tool…do not make waste of it.

Familiar? You never know what picture, song, work of art, etc. will inspire you next.

What I started with and how it ended! Not too shabby, not too shabby!

• Deaf, Dumb, and Dangerous
• Painter, Poet, Sculptor, Spy
• The Susan Project (I haven’t really said it – yet – but often refer to “my Poe project”)
• The Works and Wonders of Susan Archer Talley
• Tales of the Antebellest and Rebelliesque

Anyway, the Poe project has had few costs so far. Except for three membership fees (one of which was a gift) it’s been the relatively inexpensive purchase and renewal of URLs and books I’d have bought anyway. I suppose I could and should include the MacBook Pro’s upgrade to Mountain Lion (so I could check out iBooks Author), the new iMac (twice the monitor size of my 13″ laptop) and my copy of iBooks Author for Dummies.

Like I said, most of those have benefits reaching further than Poe-related work. Even the work which would have been hardest — comparing different versions of poems and stories — is made easier via works in the public domain and the wonderful eapoe.org site. Work by and Poe is pleasantly easy to find.

Susan’s not so much.

And much of what I do find … I have to pay for. Unpublished material in Special Collections of libraries and archives require several different tiers of fees. Here’s a few items from the shopping list I’m currently seeking space for in the budget of a family with many hungry mouths:

• $15.75 = Old article about Susan from the Virginia Historical Society that I hope is as interesting as it sounds. 3 pages at 25¢ each + $15 S&H. That $15 might sound like a lot but if you figure they’re paying someone to go get that article, copy it, send it me, etc. that’s about an hour’s work for someone who might just make $15/hour.
• $210 = Correspondence betwixt her and Darth Griswold proving, yet again, what a douche this guy was. 7 pages @ $30/page from the Boston Public Library.
• $28 = story by our Susan in the Rare Books collection of the Hodges Library. $3/page + $10 S&H.
• $11.95 = 24-hour/10-article pass into the Detroit Free Press archives for several stories by our Motor City Maiden. I love that, back in the day, she was a selling point in their advertising like Mitch Albom is today.

There are others on the list, there are others I’m debating and, of course, there are many clues and leads to work by and about Susan that are as irritatingly elusive as … well, no, not as bad as a legitimate Poe biographer would have … but pretty irritating.

May 29, 2013 Update

I’ve since got a couple of the above items and they’re well worth the money. I still haven’t heard back from the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. They’re home to a pretty darn big Poe collection with much of it already digitized and online already. Not the stuff I want, of course.

Just heard back from the University of Virginia peeps in charge of the John Henry Ingram Poe Collection there. I just wanted two little newspaper clippings copied so I thought I’d get off cheap, but nooooooooooo … they charge by the hour and $50 per hour at that so each little “article” is $25. I wonder if they pro-rate. I wonder how much that is per column inch.

June 4, 2013 Update

The Ingram peeps didn’t charge me anything and … AND … the Boston Public Library rock stars were awesome as well!

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s…” –Matthew 22:21

What better signs can you think of for violent extremism and political knavery?

I took a trip down to Charlottesville a few weeks ago to spend time with friends on the picturesque grounds of the University of Virginia. Though a Yale man, I tend to find myself easily at home in a world historically referred to as the “Harvard of the South.” (We will ignore any wisecracks from Duke, Vanderbilt, or Chapel Hill affiliates in the audience.) In an academic sense, Wahoos are not terribly dissimilar from Yalies or peers at other top schools in places like the People’s Republic of Unhappy Hours, Michael Bloomberg’s Animal Urban Farm, or that turnpike Chris Christie governs (I’m told there’s a Garden State around there somewhere). Politically, there are plenty of liberals, progressives, and Democrats, as can be found in abundance at most schools, even in places like South Carolina.

Culturally, though, something is a bit different in Charlottesville. It’s often hard to put a finger on exactly, but you know you’re not in New Haven, Cambridge, or the Big Apple of Billionaire Paternalism for reasons distinct from questions of size or walkability. Yes, you’re more likely to hear country music, but the town is surrounded by the rural South. Yes, the campus is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but much of that dignity proves elusive amid the ebb and flow of inebriated masses. Yes, people drive everywhere, but so do most Americans living outside a few select megacities in the Frost Belt or D.C. So what, you might wonder, are we talking about?

It comes down to little things, really.

I remember going to weekly meetings, years ago, for an avowedly conservative organization at Yale. Among other things, this organization made a point of prominently featuring the American and British flags, while waxing passionate about the virtues of Western civilization and its literary canon. Yet for all that admirable passion, I could not help but notice that they placed the American flag on the viewer’s right. The group’s leaders did not grasp the problem.

At Virginia, I have seen flags in windows, on walls, atop polls, and every way else imaginable. Never once have I seen a single one anywhere in violation of U.S. code. I’m sure such a sin must exist somewhere down there, but the hypothetical invalid would be drowned out by a student body that displays a near preternatural understanding of proper flag etiquette.

A few weeks ago, I witnessed a bar full of people break out into patriotic songs at the end of a Friday night out. I sought after a reason from the Wahoo compatriots of my friend Edward, and they responded, with patronizing grins, “This is America.” It reminded me of that time I was driving through the richly forested hills of Prince William County with my friend Marcus from Connecticut, and the national anthem halted programming on the radio at high noon. Bemused, Marcus had inquired of me the occasion for such an event. Back then, I shrugged off the Nutmegger’s question, as Edward and the Virginians later would mine, with a simple reply. “This is America.” What more reason do we ever need for such things?

It is stories like these that come to mind when I reflect on the disturbing fact that the IRS actively abused its power to target conservative groups with “Patriot” in their names or constitutionalism as their purpose or that simply formed to make “America a better place to live.” However one feels about the Tea Party or conservative activists, there is indeed something culturally sick about the notion that identifying with and promoting the Constitution or embracing the will to patriotism reliably demarcates political opposition. Leaving aside the matter of political ethics, what does it say about us when certain elements reflexively impugn the legitimacy of wide swaths of people simply because they seem to love America too much?

Of course, those who were skeptical of Barack Obama from the beginning might remember his infamous “clinging to their guns and religion” remarks and draw a line through the Department of Homeland Security adumbrating peril in “Rightwing Extremism” to the administration’s early hostility to critical reporting from Fox News and reach a natural conclusion that a tone hostile to conservatism was set in a top-down rejection of Americana and its general unsuitability for the ideas and values of Northeastern coffee shops.

Hardly anybody would struggle to imagine Presidents Reagan or Bush, Congressmen Ryan or Cantor, or a generic movement conservative being visibly moved by the flutter of a flag or the sight of a servicemember in uniform. How naturally, one must ask, does such an image come of President Obama or Nancy Pelosi or any other prominent progressives? Today, it would strike many people as odd or disingenuous were avowed liberals like Terry McAuliffe to swell up at the mere thought of American greatness, but is anyone truly surprised—favorably or pejoratively—that a Virginia Republican would pour out a libation of tears in reflecting on America’s ongoing promise to defend freedom? To be sure, the image is not a wholly partisan one—Democrats Joe Manchin, Zell Miller, or Frances Underwood certainly fit the type—but there seems a widening rift of that nature.

There are many questions of politics, law, and general malfeasance to ponder in wake of all these scandals that may or may not derail what is left of the president’s second-term agenda. But when the media storms settle, cultural divides and questions of discordant perspectives will remain. Why is it that we have become an America where one side—or region or disposition—of politics is known to see zealous love of country as a sacred virtue, and the other is expected to scoff at and distrust what it sees as an incubator of rabid violence?

The IRS scandal merely confirms this narrative of paranoid division. Whatever staying power the story has will derive largely from the fact that the chasm has now been yawning at us for years. And it has finally found a voice.

One of the speakers is Justin Holcomb. His topic was an incredibly important theological topic when it comes to preaching: preaching God’s 2 words – law and gospel. Justin used Galatians 3:1 – 3, 10 – 14 as his text.

Justin is a pastor at Mars Hill Church, where he serves as Executive Director of The Resurgence and leads the Leadership Development department. He is also Adjunct Professor of Theology and Culture at Reformed Theological Seminary and previously taught at the University of Virginia. Justin holds two masters degrees from Reformed Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Emory University. He and his wife Lindsey are the authors of Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault, and he his new book is On the Grace of God.

Here are some things that jumped out in his talk:

• It is important to understand how law and gospel relate as both are from God. 
• If we mess up the relationship between the law and the gospel, we are corrupting the core of the Christian faith.
• When we miss this, we miss the core of the gospel.
• We know from Scripture that Christ died to set us free.
• Christ fulfilled the law perfectly.
• Christ was raised from the dead for our justification.
• We have been set free from the bondage of sin, the fear of death. We are called what Jesus was, pure and perfect.
• The gospel has no condemnation.
• Thesis 1: the doctrinal contents of the Holy Scripture, both of the Old Testament and the New Testament are made up of two doctrines different fundamentally from each other – the Law and the Gospel.
• The law condemns and the gospel comforts.
• The law is everything that commands, the gospel is everything that promises favor in Christ.
• The problem is not with God’s law, but with us.
• The law directs and the gospel delivers.
• The 10 commandments are the summary of the law.
• The law can’t heal what it diagnosis.
• The law of God is perfect, true and righteous. It is holy, right and good.
• The law can do nothing to create what it commands (Romans 7).
• The function of the law is not to generate obedience, grace is.
• God’s law and God’s gospel are two different words with two different functions.
• The law tells us the truth but fails to convey the power to fulfill what it commands.
• The gospel is the good news is that Jesus’ burden is light and there is no more “no” as that went to Jesus on the cross.
• The gospel reveals God’s goodness, his mercy and his benefits.
• Jesus took the law very seriously. He came to fulfill it, not abolish it.
• Jesus summarizes the law in Matthew 22 by telling us to love God with all of us and love our neighbor as yourself.
• Jesus commands love of God all the time.
• Jesus doesn’t just summarizes the law, he intensifies it. The sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7) is a great example of this. “You have heard it said…”
• Jesus goes past the outward evidence of obedience to get to our heart.
• Jesus’ call to be perfect is to give up what we worship so we can worship Jesus.
• Thesis #2: Only he is an orthodox teacher who not only presents all articles of faith in accordance with Scripture, but also rightly distinguishes from each other the Law and the Gospel.
• Law and gospel go together and in that order.
• When we use the law to look good, it isn’t to get what Jesus gives us.
• We can’t have the law without the gospel, but we can’t have the gospel without the law.
• Forgiveness means never bringing it up.
• Don’t replace the ministry of the Holy Spirit with law or exhortations motivating the human spirit.
• Your goal in preaching is not to motivate someone.
• Exhortation is not yelling or shaming.
• Thesis #3: Rightly distinguishing the Law and the Gospel is the most difficult and the highest art of Christians in general and of theologians in particular. It is taught only by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience.
• The only appropriate response to law and gospel is repentance.

Great opening session.

I graduated from the University of Virginia in 2009. This spring marks four years since I walked down the Lawn at the university, cherishing each step, flooded with memories of my time there. As I thought back on it, my mind went to the poem we were given on our first day at the school, written more than one hundred years before our time. It rings true, even today, and the words carry with it the memories, the wisdom gained, the experiences shared, and the joy of growing for four years with the purple shadows of the Lawn gracing my memory.

the honor men

the University of Virginia writes her highest degree on the souls of her sons.

the parchment page of scholarship – the colored ribbon of a society – the jeweled emblem of a fraternity – the orange symbol of athletic prowess – all these, a year hence, will be at the best mementos of happy hours – like the withered flower a woman presses between the pages of a book for sentiment’s sake.

but. . . if you live a long, long time, and hold honesty of conscience above honesty of purse; and turn aside without ostentation to aid the weak; and treasure ideals more than raw ambition; and track no man to his undeserved hurt; and pursue no woman to her tears; and love the beauty of noble music and mist-veiled mountains and blossoming valleys and great monuments -

if you live a long time and, keeping the faith in all these things hour by hour, still see that the sun gilds your path with real gold and that the moon floats in dream silver;

then. . . remembering the purple shadows of the lawn, the majesty of the colonnades, and the dream of your youth, you may say in reverence and thankfulness:

“i have worn the honors of honor, i graduated from Virginia.”

by james hay, jr.

editor in chief

corks & curls, 1903

(I don’t mean to make myself sound miserable.  I’m tired and burnt out, but I’m still having a generally good time.  My kids last week were awesome- probably some of the best I’ve ever had.  When they left on Friday, I was actually a little bummed.  That has never happened to me before.)

Pali has been a good experience, and I’ve certainly learned a lot, but I am so ready to be done.  I’ll go almost immediately from here to Camp Ocean Pines, which will be a lot of work, but the prospect of eating meals in peace with other adults and sleeping in a room by myself at night and just being out of the mountains and back by the ocean where I belong makes it seem like a wonderful vacation.  I can’t wait.

It’s been a while since my last post, so I’ll do a quick recap of the last few weekends.  At the end of April I flew home to Virginia for the Foxfield horse race in Charlottesville.  Not only did I get to see my parents and two brothers, I got to see a whole bunch of friends from college, some of whom I haven’t seen since graduation (almost a year ago!)  It was a pretty fun weekend.  Tiring, but fun.  It was awesome to be back in Charlottesville, a town that really grew on me throughout college and is now one of my favorite places.  I took a lot of photos while I was there; a lot of them were via Instagram, mostly as a joke to annoy one of my friends who is an Instagram hater.  Here are a few of those.

The actual race itself was quite an experience, as it is every year.  Foxfield is set up in a big field right near UVA and is basically a giant party.  Everyone dresses up in ridiculous outfits- sundresses and big hats for the girls, and lots of pastels and bow-ties for the guys.  Many (probably most) people never see a horse because they’re too busy drinking heavily.  It was kind of weird being there as an alumnus, especially when I saw people who still live in/near Charlottesville and live a similar lifestyle to the one they did in college.  I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, it was just weird for me to see when my life is so radically different now.  Sometimes I wish that I still lived in Charlottesville.  I miss that place.

Anyway, here are some photos from the actual race day.

Also, just for good measure, here are a couple photos of UVA’s beautiful lawn.

So that was Foxfield weekend.  The following weekend I celebrated Cinco de Mayo in San Diego with two of my best friends, which was also a lot of fun.  We went to a Padres game and then got Sunday brunch and followed that up with some bar hopping.  We played bar Jenga, got to pet a donkey, and Alexis and I got on stage and sang Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind, a.k.a. my favorite song of all time, with a live band.  I don’t have any especially exciting photos from that weekend but rest assured that it was a great time.

This past weekend I went to Catalina Island, which was a really awesome experience.  It was so awesome, in fact, that I’m going to give it it’s own post.  I have a lot of photos and this post is already pretty long.  Check back in a few days for that!

Clinical psychologist Meg Jay has a bold message for twentysomethings: Contrary to popular belief, your 20s are not a throwaway decade. In this provocative talk, Jay says that just because marriage, work and kids are happening later in life, doesn’t mean you can’t start planning now. She gives 3 pieces of advice for how twentysomethings can re-claim adulthood in the defining decade of their lives.

In her book “The Defining Decade,” Meg Jay suggests that many twentysomethings feel trivialized during what is actually the most transformative — and defining — period of our adult lives.

WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO HER?

Lately it feels as if 25 is just a bit too young to get serious. In her psychology practice, and her book The Defining Decade, clinical psychologist Meg Jay suggests that many twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation about what Time magazine calls the “Me Me Me Generation.” The rhetoric that “30 is the new 20,” she suggests, trivializes what is actually the most transformative period of our adult lives.

Drawing from more than ten years of work with hundreds of twentysomething clients and students, Jay weaves science together with compelling, behind-closed-doors stories. The result is a provocative, poignant read that shows us why, far from being an irrelevant downtime, our twenties are a developmental sweetspot that comes only once.  Our twenties are a time when the things we do — and the things we don’t do — will have an enormous effect across years and even generations to come.

Jay is a clinical psychologist who specializes in adult development, and in twentysomethings in particular. She is an assistant clinical professor at the University of Virginia and maintains a private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia.  She spent her own early twentysomething years as an Outward Bound instructor.

“A four-alarm call for the 50 million 20-somethings in America.”  Kirkus Reviews

This is my final post for this course, but just the beginning of the newest “me” …

After the last 10 weeks of meditation, listening to lectures, perusing the readings, and  much introspection, I think that I do know myself better and I am able to plot a course for a future in which I “do  more good things” and become better as a result.

My most exciting identity over the last 15 years has been that of Webmaster, but in tracing my history I have decided that what most attracted me to that position was the fact that in 1995 there were very few Webmasters in the world (and even fewer who were middle-aged women living in rural Alabama).  I will remember forever the excitement in February 1996 when my first webpage was “live,” but that was then, and now is now.  In planning for the future, I have decided to finally drop the  Webmaster title once and for all, and focus on my own website/blog (this one!) rather than posting for multiple clients.

Now – what to do with all the time saved?  I am going to continue  as a JABA FISH volunteer Tutor/Mentor for elementary school ELL (English Language Learner) students and I will begin training as a Literacy Volunteer helping adults in Charlottesville become proficient in English.  Part of my fascination with the web was in learning coding and programming languages to be able to communicate with computers, but I have always known that people are so much more important than computers.

The professors in the eLearning and Digital Cultures Coursera Course from the University of Edinburgh urged students to use their own blogs and other social media tools as well as the course discussion forums to communicate with other students. This storytelling approach has added a new dimension to the MOOC concept that I like because it provides a “keepsake” after the course is closed.

My next Coursera course is Social Psychology.  Hope to see you there!

This is my tenth and final weekly reflection on Coursera / Know Thyself by UVa Professor Mitch Green.

Summer has officially begun (now that class obligations are over). I’ve waited for this. And this weather is beautiful.

Why? Because of something that Jois Yoga backer Paul Tudor Jones said at an event at his alma mater (hint: it’s UVa). And because it ran on Friday in one of the nation’s biggest newspapers — admittedly not quite the mark of praise it once was — I’m just passing it on.

The newspaper, by the way, is the Washington Post. Here’s the crux of the story:

Four legendary investors gathered at the University of Virginia in late April to share their philosophies and strategies for success, personal fulfillment and philanthropy. All four were men, white and aging, and that prompted several audience members to submit questions wondering: Where are the women?

Paul Tudor Jones II, a 1976 U-Va. graduate and billionaire Greenwich-based hedge fund manager, took a stab at answering. According to those who attended, Jones explained how traders must have extraordinary focus and commitment, working long hours and forgoing personal time. A lot of women opt out of such a high-intensity career, he said, especially once they have children.

Carl P. Zeithaml, dean of the U-Va. McIntire School of Commerce, said that he immediately received complaints from alumni and faculty members who were concerned and, in some cases, appalled by the substance and framing of Jones’s comments.

There you have it. And then here’s the Ashtanga-related stuff:

In April 2012, Jones and his wife, Sonia, announced they had donated $1 million to U.Va. to create a Contemplative Sciences Center, which pulls together different academic disciplines to study contemplative and yogic traditions. In a video posted on the university’s YouTube channel, the couple explained how Ashtanga yoga changed their lives and how they hope the center will transform higher education.

Jones said: “This new center will tie these people and programs together and weave them into one fantastic whole for the benefit of the entire community.”

That announcement came as Vanity Fair’s April 2012 edition featured a lengthy article about Sonia Jones, the “lithe blonde” who started yoga studios and a clothing line inspired by her Ashtanga yoga teacher, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, who died in 2009. Some followers of Jois have criticized Sonia Jones for starting these businesses so soon after their teacher’s death.

One thing I’ll point out comes from the last line I just quoted. As more and more media cover the Joneses, or Ashtanga, in a natural fashion — events like this creating stories — quick takes on Ashtanga and its various “controversies” will get distilled down like this. That’s already a pretty quick take on the Vanity Fair story, which itself was a take on things. And when the next reporter is doing a story and searches about for information, this will pop up and that will be the basis for his/her quick explanation of things.

And so it goes.

Posted by Steve

The report released Wednesday by the New America Foundation is critical of what it calls higher education’s “relentless pursuit of prestige and revenue.”

The report analyzed U.S. Department of Education data on the average net price paid by students whose families earn $30,000 or less. It also looked at the percentage of undergraduates receiving federal Pell Grants, which serve families with the most financial need.

The analysis found that low-income students suffered in states such as Virginia where schools had a system of raising tuition but also increasing its financial aid to lower-income students, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Follow WNEW on Twitter.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Credit: Kiwi Commons

We also learned that you don’t have to be a lawyer, politician, or celebrity to give a great speech that commands people’s attention and compels them to take action. But you can learn a thing or two from watching speakers like that.

Credit: ehow.com/Demand Media, Inc.

You can also learn from people just like you, seeking to improve their public speaking in a no-pressure environment, by attending a Toastmasters International meeting at one of their 13,500 chapter clubs.

In April we wanted to explore public speaking because verbal persuasion is a powerful skill.  We communicate every day and knowing how to do it well makes all the difference. Good communication and effective public speaking are essential to your success whether you are a CEO, architect, teacher, yoga instructor, or public outreach professional like us.

This month we heard from a variety of experts in public speaking, including a world champion. We want to thank them for taking the time to contribute to our series and for offering their knowledge and great advice on the subject. They are:

Ryan Avery, 2012 Toastmasters International World Champion of Public Speaking

John Lau, 2012 President of Toastmasters International

Professional public speaking coach Geraldine Barkworth

Molly Bishop Shadel, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia and co-author of the book Tongue Tied America: Reviving the Art of Verbal Persuasion

Michael T. Motley, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis and author of Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking: A Proven Method, and other publications on speech anxiety.

Next month we turn our focus from how we speak to what we say. We will explore words and how and why we use them. We’ll look at word origins, meanings, new words and even words we wish we could get rid of altogether. Words are beautiful, fun, and fascinating.

We love words.
(Credit: http://kuteev.livejournal.com)

We hope you will keep reading our words and the words of the experts we interview. Then please provide a few words of your own and send us your feedback, comment on our blog or Facebook page, or tweet us at @CollaborateInc.

Catherine Smith, President
Collaborative Services, Inc.

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)–Just one day after learning she’d been accepted into the University of Virginia, James River High School senior Madison Ruddy is also learning that her family will pay $12,458 for her first year of education.

UVA recently announced a 4 percent tuition increase.

“My dream is to go to medical school,” Ruddy says.  “If the cost continues to rise, that’s definitely going to affect me.”

In the last few weeks, UVA, Virginia Tech, Virginia Military Institute and Virginia State University have all announced tuition hikes ranging from 2.9 percent to 5 percent.

The College of William and Mary’s governing board approved a 14 percent increase in annual tuition for incoming students, but locked it in for the next four years.

Republican State Delegate John O’Bannon says he believes tuition increases will put an unfair burden on many Virginia families.

“The average Virginia family is going to have a hard time keeping up with this,” O’Bannon says.

The tuition increases come on the heels of legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2012 that gave an additional $230 million to Virginia’s colleges and universities.

O’Bannon says the 2-year initiative was passed, in part, to keep tuition rates from rising.

In a letter to college presidents last year, Governor Bob McDonnell asked schools to hold down tuition.  The governor argued that Virginia students have seen double-digit tuition hikes annually, on average, for the past decade.

“This trend is unacceptable and cannot continue,” the governor wrote.

O’Bannon says while tuition caps were not written into the legislation, there was an unspoken understanding with state colleges and universities. “We clearly had an understanding and a commitment that part of what we did would be met by the universities keeping the tuition down.”

Many institutions argue that state budget cuts have forced governing boards into difficult fiscal decisions.

According to a report by the State Council of Higher Education, between 1992 and 2012, general fund appropriations to public higher education in Virginia fell from 14 percent to 10 percent of total state appropriations based on the revised budget for FY12.

On a per student basis, general fund appropriations declined by 23 percent at four-year institutions over the same time period.

In 2012, the governor pledged to continue to make new investments in higher education in future budgets as the economy improved.

However, O’Bannon believes colleges could dig deeper to make cuts that would decrease the need for tuition increases.

“I would love to see real good business level accountability,” O’Bannon says.

James River High School senior Mo Waddell says the rising cost of college is the primary reason he’s enlisting in the Marines after graduation.

He hopes to attend college later using his GI Bill.

“I’ll do four years active duty and then four years in the reserves while I go to school,” Waddell says.

Image By david Campbell

Rosenberger v. The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia is a case from 1995 that deals with two different clauses within the first amendment the first being the freedom of  the establishment of religion clause and the second being the freedom of speech clause. It’s an interesting case because the two clauses of the same amendment are at odds with one another and essentially the court must determine which right takes greater priority the freedom of speech or the freedom of the establishment of religion. I also find the case interesting because the original discrepancy took place at a State College.

Ronald Rosenberger and several other undergraduates at the University of Virginia formed Wide Awake Production (WAP) a on campus publication which qualified as a “Contracted Independent Organization” or a CIO under the university’s guidelines. As a CIO they are entitled to the use of university facilities and are eligible to apply for funds from the Student Activities Fund (SAF). SAF is funded by a mandatory fourteen dollar fee per semester from each student.  The purpose of SAF is to promote and support various student groups and their extracurricular activities. However these activities must “relate to the educational purpose of the University” Under SAF guidelines it must be administered “in a manner consistent with the educational purpose of the university as well as with state and federal law”.

WAP was established for the publication of  a magazine of philosophical and religious expression. The magazines main agenda was to devote it’s content to a Christian perspective. This print media would offer “a Christian perspective on both personal and community issues, especially those relevant to college students at the University of Virginia.” It considered it, it’s mission “to challenge Christians to live, in word and deed, according to the faith they proclaim and to encourage students to consider what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ means.” Under the university’s guidelines SAF recognizes eleven categories of student groups that may request payment to third-party contractors (such as printing companies). One of those categories being “student news, information, opinion, entertainment, or academic communications media groups.”  However SAF would not reimburse certain CIO activities such as religious activities or any activities that would jeopardize the university’s tax-exempt status. The school defined a religious activities as something that “primarily promotes or manifests a particular belief in or about a deity or an ultimate reality.”

The question here is, is the university establishing religion by allowing SAF to provide funds to WAP for the cost of their printing or is it violating the groups first amendment rights to freedom of the press by abstaining from providing funding on the basis that they are a religious organization?

If we have no “selves” to lose, perhaps living in the present rather than dwelling on the past or trying to predict the future is the simplest way to deal with the fear of eventually losing our memory links.   I have read recently that every time we remember something, our brain makes small edits so that the memory gradually changes over the years.  As the years go by, maybe the selves we think we are become mere fiction.

I have chosen to post a weekly reflection for Know Thyself, which will serve as a permanent record of my thoughts during the ten weeks of this course so that I will have something to keep when the very interesting lectures and discussions fade from memory after the course closes.

The Web has given us new tools for preserving the past.  In preparing for this course I thought over my life and accomplishments in order to start my journey towards knowing myself a little better.  In  trying to reconstruct my years as an early  Webmaster, I discovered that my webpages (probably because they were on a .edu website) were preserved starting in 1996 and are available on the Wayback Machine.  I have started writing a history of my Webmaster years from 1995-2004 and intend to go back from time to time to see what else I can discover.  The Web is surely a lot better than my brain at keeping exact copies!

Want to enjoy meditating, relaxing, thinking, and learning?  There is still time to sign up and join us in this adventure: www.coursera.org/course/knowthyself

This is the ninth of my weekly reflections on Coursera/ Know Thyself by UVa Professor Mitch Green.

But now I’m back and ready.

So, again, I’m Johnel.

Graduating from THE University of Virginia on May 19th,  2013! I’ll be getting my degree in Sociology and African American Studies and I’m kind of nervous about that. When I tell people what I major in the first response is always, “Oh, what do you plan on doing with that?”

Well, haters of the world, I plan on doing A LOT with it…

Rewind four years…I came into college wanting to be a veterinarian, chemistry kicked my butt, then I wanted to be an art director for advertising. This path was also not my thing. I like doing art for fun, not to be critiqued and shot down in art class. During the whole time of struggling with what I wanted to do with my life and how to become rich, I was taking sociology and AAS (African American studies) classes because they genuinely interested me. I never planned on making a future with them because…who the heck makes big money from THOSE majors, right?! Luckily, after going through a few quarter life crisises I realized these classes really showed me what I was passionate about. I learned that all the “big money” jobs that I was chasing before were not what I really wanted to do with my life…and wouldn’t leave me fulfilled.

Cut back to present day Johnel: A new, caring, passionate, driven young lady.

All of the readings and work from my classes showed me just how horrible the world really is…even in the place of dreams, The United States of America. Like really, this place is really really really bad and needs a lot of work. That’s where I come in

What specifically grinds my gears is the current state of education in America. Sure, some kids get great educations…but others get really crappy ones. And the ones that get really crappy ones often have no choice but to accept their fates. Sad, right? I’ll have a whole different post on this soon. I could go on all day about this, literally.

Lucky for the youth of the world, I’m NOT one of those people who’s all talk, no action. So, in August I’m moving to Newark, NJ to work at Great Oaks Charter School! I’ll be tutoring and mentoring a group of about 6 middle schoolers and helping them excel in school! AND I AM SUPER DUPER EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!! More about this later too, I don’t want to give you too much in one post.

And I think I’m at the point of too much now…soo…

Ta Ta for Now,

Johnel

Selfie alert:

Bonus hipster instagram filter included!

Gymnasium, University of Virginia, VA. (Photo credit: Boston Public Library)

“Can you please tell me if this had anything to do with the incident on Saturday night” said Dean Laushway sitting next to me on the ER bed I was in. “No!”  I said, although I was lying but I had no clue I was lying. I didn’t think that the incident that took place could have driven me to attempt suicide. Once I was released from the hospital, Dean Laushway and Dean Groves both wanted to see me in their offices. “Tell me exactly what happen” dean laushway said, “Julia Roa has told us everything you have told her, but please can you repeat it?”  Julia Roa is  the Program Coordinator for Multicultural Student Services  at UVa and I had previously gone to her to ask what I could do. She suggested I file a report with ODOS and see what happens. In dean Laushwa’s  office, I was speechless, being just released from the psychiatric ward at the UVa hospital and have undergone a suicide attempt, I was out of words but I faked a smile and told him what happened. “I was on the dance floor at trinity dancing with a female friend when a brown-skinned man came over and attempted to pull off my headscarf.” “What did you then do?” he asked, “I just stood there. I was frozen; neither my friend or I knew what to do. I then looked around to try and find him and saw him in a group of 5-6 white men, laughing and staring at us.” “ I’m sorry this had to happen to you, but do you know who might have done this?” he asked. Ofcourse I didn’t! If I knew who he was it would be him here filing charges against me not me in here trying to make sense of it all. 

Dean laushway suggested I fill a report but he informed me that there was little they can do about it since it happened off school grounds, after dark, in a bar. I was mortified. How can someone commit a hate crime and just get away with it? This wasn’t fair. How can a university built on trust and honor fail me and protect someone who is racist?!

That was not the first time I have encountered racism at The University of Virginia. I have dealt with my share of stares and “ahh’s” for being a veiled Palestinian Muslim female.  But there was once where I felt like less than a human because of my religion. It was on a January night and I was out with a few of my international friends. They wanted to go to a frat party at SERP so I went along. I avoided going to frat parties all of my first semester of college but here I was, going to a fraternity party willingly. At the door one of the brothers stopped us and asked for ID’s. My friends handed over their school ID’s and his response? Only AMERICAN ID’s are accepted here!! I was stunned and no one even noticed that. My friends began to beg to get in and another brother was like “let it go and let them in!” and no I’m not finished. I was last in line and the same brother who let my friends in was standing in front of me and said “where do you think you are going?”  Instead of slapping him across the face like I should have, I naively answered “inside with my friends.” Him and his frat Bros began to laugh and eventually let me in. 2 minutes in that hellhole and I wanted out.

See this is perfect example of UVa culture. If you look different, you can’t come. If you are different, you can’t sit with us, mean girls style. However, hate crimes are not confined to a certain race, oh no, this past weekend while at an international party down town, a girl and her boyfriend attempted to pull my headscarf off while I was walking. They both looked international and I’m almost certain they were internationals. As soon as they did this, I pushed the girl with my elbow. If they thought it was their right to physically touch me, then I sure as hell had the right to fight back. Later during the weekend I saw them at trinity, where they both looked at me and smiled, and the guy pointed and winked. What the hell, I know.  Here is another story for you, while at trinity I had a French exchange student come up to me and bluntly ask why I was smoking with “that thing” on my head. Now see, I lived in the same residential college as this kid, where I served on its executive council. He knew exactly who I was and how liberal I am and he still felt the need to ask. Later that semester he apologized and blamed it on being drunk. Another story? In front of No3, as my friends and I were walking out, a townie stops me to ask what I was doing out so late without a male gardian. Um excuse me?! Why did he think it was his right to ask me that? Is it because I am a Muslim female? Yeah maybe that is why.

Point is, I can go on for days with stories about how I am discriminated against because I’m different.   The recent events at the university, with the spray painting on beta bridge is proof that UVa isn’t this accepting place that we all make it to be. Even if people publicly are not racist, it doesn’t mean that they accept people who aren’t white middle class American. Best proof? Just go to Collegiate ACB and read the threads on Middle Easterners, Asians, Indians, and etc. People hide their racism behind the keys of a message board and the option of being anonymous. It is pretty pathetic if you ask me. And please don’t get me started on the rape victim blaming culture UVa has or the homophobia that exists so clearly on grounds.  

See, UVa is my home away from home and I love it more than anything. The people I have met changed my life. So does this mean I should just ignore all these things that have happened and take the good with the bad? Or should I speak up and share my stories so others know they aren’t alone? I think ill go with option two!

Product Description

Tag : @$@University of Virginia UVA Cavaliers Capitol Decanter Boxed Set, $University of Virginia UVA Cavaliers Capitol Decanter Boxed Set, #University of Virginia UVA Cavaliers Capitol Decanter Boxed Set, *%University of Virginia UVA Cavaliers Capitol Decanter Boxed Set

I recently learned of an organization called Coursera, and thought I would share my experience and thoughts thus far.

Coursera is an education company that partners with the top universities and organizations in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. Coursera “envision[s] a future where everyone has access to a world-class education that has so far been available to a select few. [They] aim to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in.”

I created an account and began my first course a couple of weeks ago. I enrolled in a physics course entitled “How Things Work 1″. This course was taught by Professor Lou Bloomfield of the University of Virginia. Quite frankly this was the best physics course I have ever taken. Period. As an “arts person” (I’ll give you my definition later) I’ve always been curious about science, but also intimidated by it. Especially physics. I always thought that it was a subject that was beyond my comprehension. Interestingly enough once I found someone who utilized video and real world experiences, it all makes sense! I am still surprised by how much self-confidence I felt once I grasped a concept I once thought was out of reach. Why don’t more science professor’s do this? I think that might be the subject for another conversation.

My next class is “Introduction to Operations Management” from Wharton Business School. What really got my attention about this course, and well Coursera in general, is that as someone who has been considering graduate school options I have very quickly learned how cost prohibitive this can be. One of the things that I really like about Coursera is that the only fee involved is if you opt to participate in their “Signature Series”. This gets you a verifiable certificate from Coursera and the university the coursework was offered by. I should add, that the certificate is completely optional however very, very affordable.

What I like best is that Coursera not only offers knowledge, but the potential to lead to additional learning or employment pursuits. For anyone on a low or fixed income, perhaps not even a “typical successful student” (a pharse that I think is thrown around recklessly), Coursera offers something exciting. Any eager, enthusiastic learner is welcomed!

I would like to add that working as a cohort matters. There are over 1,500 Meetups all over the world related to Coursera. There are message boards and study groups. The fact is that a peer group will help you complete the course. Best perk: greater confidence as a learner. I’ll never forget the courage and joy I felt when finish my first physics course and celebrating with my peers!

P.S. By “arts person”, I mean: someone who’s a highly visual and highly tactile learner. The end result, I tend to gravitate to the arts.

(Graphic courtesy of Bruce Watson’s article The High Cost of Higher Education Explained in One Simple Graphic.)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WTVR) —  Researchers at the University of Virginia hope to unlock the positives of ADHD in children at a new clinic.

WCAV reports that Children’s Learning Center will accept patients from 8 to 12 years old.

The center will  offer everything from assessments to alternative treatments to medicine, including a wristwatch that can monitor the disorder.

Clinic Director Michael Kofler said the center’s mission is to help kids thrive through their difficulties.

Click here to read more on this story from WCAV. 

U.Va. likes to present itself as what UVM in fact was: a new type of educational institution for educating leaders in a new republic. But U.Va., you don’t quite cut it. Here’s why: 1) UVM had already been in operation for years before U.Va. opened; 2) U.Va. was, in essence, a meritocratic institution – that is, Jefferson’s primary intention was to open Virginia’s slaveholding aristocracy to new talent, not foster democracy and 3) Jefferson was a slaveholder, something that Lafayette openly challenged him on. Here’s the account of Israel Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s slave carriage driver, who overheard their conversation on the subject and related it years later:

“In those times I minded but little concerning the conversations which took place between Mr. Jefferson and his visitors. But I well recollect a conversation he had with the great and good Lafayette, when he visited this country in 1824 and 1825, as it was of personal interest to me and mine. General Lafayette and his son George Washington [Lafayette], remained with Mr. Jefferson six weeks, and almost every day I took them out to a drive.

On the occasion I am now about to speak of, Gen. Lafayette and George were seated in the carriage with him. The conversation turned upon the condition of colored people–the slaves. Lafayette spoke indifferently; sometimes I could scarcely understand him. But on this occasion my ears were eagerly taking in every sound that proceeded from the venerable patriot’s mouth.

Lafayette remarked that he thought that the slaves ought to be free; that no man could rightly hold ownership in his brother man; that he gave his best services to and spent his money in behalf of the Americans freely because he felt that they were fighting for a great and noble principle–the freedom of mankind) that instead of all being free a portion were held in bondage (which seemed to grieve his noble heart); that it would be mutually beneficial to masters and slaves if the latter were educated, and so on. Mr. Jefferson replied that he thought the time would come when the slaves would be free, but did not indicate when or in what manner they would get their freedom. He seemed to think that the time had not then arrived. To the latter proposition of Gen. Lafayette, Mr. Jefferson in part assented. He was in favor of teaching the slaves to learn to read print; that to teach them to write would enable them to forge papers, when they could no longer be kept in subjugation.

This conversation was very gratifying to me, and I treasured it up in my heart.”

“I treasured it up in my heart”: you can see why Israel Jefferson loved Lafayette and thought him “great and good.” He was. Nor was Lafayette done with merely privately chastising Jefferson. Visiting James Madison the same month at his nearby estate, Lafayette raised the slavery issue again among Madison and his friends. He was one of the few people who could get away with it.

As always, Lafayette also put his money where his mouth was. In 1785 he had purchased a sugar plantation in French Guiana for the express purpose of freeing the slaves, and he had earlier corresponded with George Washington about a plan for turning Washington’s slaves into free tenants. Washington eventually ordered in his will that his slaves would be freed at his wife’s death.

And Jefferson? For him the bottom line was that having the best wine cellar in America was more important than freeing slaves. He ran up his debts until the end, and in 1827 his family auctioned off 140 human beings.

So sorry, U.Va. “Mr. Jefferson’s University” needs to let its let go of its pretentions and acknowledge UVM as the birthplace of the democratic university.