Interdisciplinary Praxis

Final Statement of Purpose

2008-12-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

I am not one to offer any specific answer that is the answer, but it is necessary, in my opinion, to question why people are homeless, why children are dying by the thousands every day, why women are so abused and made into objects of pleasure, why men have always been the hierarchy and the example for everyone to follow, and why some people are just simply forgotten and cast aside. The ultimate question each of us should be asking is: how can I make a difference?
So here I am at Appalachian State University seeking two degrees in Communication Studies BS and Interdisciplinary Studies: Third World Studies, not simply to earn two degrees, but to acutely listen to other opinions on social issues, shape my understandings through each course, and to see where there is a connection between the Third World and Communication. My focus is on the link between these two very different studies. I hope to find a way to use human communication in order to make a difference.
My degree in Third World Studies through the Interdisciplinary Studies program offers a view of different courses to better profile why the Third World exists in the first place through a liberal arts sense. There are no courses that say “IDS: Why you should care about Third World Studies,” but rather areas structuring around specific regions of the world that are considered to be “Third World” and historical, geographical, political, artistic, and anthropological fields are offered in order to surround this idea of “what is Third World?” This requires a substantial amount of thinking and understanding on my part since no person is telling me what there is to do to change the negative political and social constructions of the Third World. Since I want to find this focal point for the two areas of study, this degree allows me to search on my own time and in my own way without giving me one specific way to think.
This links directly as to why I chose to go into the Interdisciplinary program - this freedom of seeking a different opinion and way of thinking. My question is why we cannot manipulate in a resourceful, practical, and dignifying way to create stability socially, economically, and politically in order to find a solution to poverty and the unjust treatment of victims of race, class, and gender. Is it possible or not?
This is how I plan to make a difference or, hopefully, some sort of change.
So how do I go about doing this? My course of study through the Interdisciplinary department was already somewhat planned out for me as I am taking the Third World Studies track, from which I choose specific classes in different categories already laid out. I am still managing my way through General Studies finishing core classes to graduate, but now beginning my track towards an Interdisciplinary degree is promising for what lays ahead in my coursework for the major.
Next year as a junior I plan to do a student exchange through International Student Exchange Programs (ISEP) to Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand. Several classes they offer for their international students (Thai culture courses) will take the place of most of the areas I specified earlier to meet my Third World criteria. These courses are Thai Art and Agriculture, Modern Thai History, Thailand in the International Arena, Society and Culture of Thailand, and Thai Media and Society. Seven courses have also been approved for my Communication Studies major as well, some being Communication Theory, Introduction to Communication Research, and Mass Media and Society. Taking these courses in a country so foreign to my own where I have no knowledge of the language will be a great challenge for me, but I feel it will add substantially to the goal I am hoping to accomplish by integrating these two areas of study. The courses will thankfully be taught in English, but aside from what I learn in the classroom, I feel by going out into the culture and experiencing a new way of living and thinking will be something I can always look back upon when considering anything foreign to me.
At Appalachian State though, I also plan to take World Music, political classes, historical classes, literature classes that pertain to my fields of study. It is exciting to get the opportunity for variety in life, particularly while studying, and look forward to my next few semesters at Appalachian State in terms of what I will learn and take from each course.
In terms of integrated studies, I feel like my two degrees I am working towards complete the idea of “integration.” Thus far, I have taken classes based on public speaking and the incentive behind mass societies, those courses being Public Speaking and Introduction to Mass Communication, while simultaneously looking at the spatial distributions of Latin American indigenous populations in Geography of Latin American and learning the basics of the Spanish language as previously mentioned. So far these have aided in my sense of what I want to do and how, despite such different subjects, everything can interlock in some way or other. The interactions and communication between foreign relations directly affects the people involved, creating the basis for my studies and what I hope to potentially get from both.
Overall, I anticipate what I will learn, but it is hard to get a good sense of what the outcome will be since I am still so young in my education process. The courses I look forward to taking are forthcoming, but I have gotten a good start in both of my fields and feel secure that I will be learning the things I wish to learn and take with me post-graduation.

Final Statement of Purpose

2008-12-09T06:27:00.001-08:00

Kelly McRell

Histories of Knowledge

IDS-3150

Statement of Purpose: Non-profit Development and Management

I am an Interdisciplinary Studies Major, individually designing my course of study. My concentration is Non-profit Development and Management, the learning of skills and abilities one must have in order to create and maintain an organization. I plan to make a non-profit that gives positive influences to children and adults with disabilities and helps parents learn the skills needed raise a child with disabilities. The question I am working towards is “How can I develop more opportunities for the disabled population to succeed and grow while at the same time educating the surrounding population about the different disabilities?” The organization I would like to create is called Yahweh’s World- Come as you are, be who you be (the word Yahweh in Greek means “I be who I be”). This phrase applies to this population perfectly, what one child with Down syndrome can’t do another can.

There are four parts to the program. Part one is a life skills program set up for the adults in the area. This will give them a chance to work on skills such as setting the table, counting change and using cleaning supplies. There are a good percentage of people who could live in a group home or even in an apartment with a small group of friends, if they had extra training and practice. This part of the program will hopefully give adults with disabilities more opportunities for jobs and positive feedback. This will also be a way for them to get out and meet people through social gatherings and service projects. Part two is a summer camp for the younger population. Counselors will have a child with disabilities and a child without disabilities. The counselor will be responsible for facilitating growth between campers and teaching love and acceptance. Part three is a mentorship program set up in a similar way to the camp where the Big Sibling will have two siblings (one with a disability and one without). This will occur throughout the year, and have service and social requirements each month. I believe the best way to be accepted into a community is to give back to it. Part four is a support network for the parents of the children and youth participating in the organization. This will be a chance for them to get out and have fun, as well as, learn skills from other parents with children with disabilities. They will be able to learn from and encourage each other.

I chose career path after being taught and inspired by my friends Ronda, Cameron and Will. They have a range of disabilities from Down syndrome to Microcephaly to Developmental Delays. I have been hanging out with them for the last 7 years and each day they amaze me. Before I met them, I had no knowledge of disabilities and I was very ignorant. I was one of the people that pitied them and felt bad that they were born incapable. I have learned so much from them and had my expectations thrown out. This year Will is graduating from High School, and Ronda and Cameron are going to be seniors. After they graduate there is a limited amount of career paths and options for them. Ronda and Will have brothers and sisters that will take care of them after their parents pass away but Cameron is an only child, so after her parents pass away, if she is deemed unable to live with friends, she will be sent to a group home. I see a need to help those who need it. With some extra training and teaching less people will be forced to live in an assisted residency.

Something that drives my passion is the fact that we label this population of people. Each child, whether born with or without disabilities is special and capable, things may take longer but one thing that helps is having expectations and love for what they are capable of. I think we do a poor job of loving people for who they are, without comparisons to others. This is something that happens in all populations of people, Ronda is a girl who happened to be born with Down syndrome, she is not her disability. We get so hung up on titles whether it is disabled, freak, jock or prep and forget that we are all people who crave relationships. I want to teach people that we are more alike than we think.

Everyone deserves an opportunity to develop and grow while being loved in their struggles. I have been planning out this program since I was a junior in high school. I know it is going to be hard and there is a lot of work that will go into it, but taking a variety of classes and developing a spectrum of skills through the IDS department is going to help. My concentration is giving me the opportunity to develop the knowledge to succeed and the extracurricular activities I am in, which I will explain in detail, give me the skills needed to accomplish my plan.

To pursue an individually designed degree in Non-profit Development and Management I have taken classes from a variety of disciplines. As previously mentioned, after college I plan to create an organization that works with the disabled population. In order to do this, I decided to major in Interdisciplinary Studies because it gives me the chance to learn how to begin an organization, create a strong staff, work with the disabled population and maintain a balance in the program. Through this program I have taken classes such as Communication in Organizations and Public Speaking in the Communication Department which have helped develop my ability to speak in front of large groups, as well as, understand how people interact within a group. My sophomore year I took Careers in Not for Profit in order to understand the tasks and basis of a non-profit organization. This was a service-learning class that enabled me to assist in fundraising and program planning for a local non-profit, Sugar Grove Developmental Day School. I learned from the Executive Board what the needs of a non-profit are and helped raise a few hundred dollars in an ink-cartridge drive. I got a lot of good experience and got to interview all the different positions of the board including an essential member, the grant writer. After this class, I began the planning of the board and staff for Yahweh’s World and learned that it would be useful to have a wide variety of community members and people with more specialized degrees to help out along the way. This class is what really got me into the IDS department, I would have the opportunity to begin an organization, as well as, decipher the necessary tools and people to make it thrive.

Also, I am in the process of getting a minor in sociology, taking classes like Social Problems in America. Through this department I have gained an understanding of the larger problems in our society and also how to make a step towards progress. I have also been taking Special Education classes since that is the target population for the organization to gain credibility and a better understanding of the wide spectrum of disabilities. In the future, I am taking a Business writing course that will give me a chance to write grants and memos, and some leadership classes that will help build the skills needed to lead a team of workers. A great aspect of this degree is the ability to pull from several majors and make connections between each. In several of my classes, in different disciplines, ideas and concepts have been repeated and expanded. Learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in a psychology class and then going to a special education class and hearing about it helps me understand it better. Hearing a concept repeatedly makes sure that I know about it but hearing about it in different classes allows me to see the concept from a different angle, thus gaining more knowledge.

Along with these classes, I am doing a lot of extracurricular things to help in my integration of all my studies. I am a Resident Assistant in the dorms, so I am in charge of 36 residents. This position allows me to work on my managing and leadership skills. Each semester I have to do a certain amount of programs and also keep the hall clean and positive. This takes a lot of patience and time management, two skills that will help in the future. Also, I work in the ACT office as a co-chair for the impact team. This is a volunteer group of students that help raise awareness about social issues in our community, Boone. We plan the big events on campus such as MLK Challenge, a day of service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., and Dance Marathon, which is an event where students dance for 24 consecutive hours in order to raise money for two local non-profits. In working with the ACT office I am learning how to encourage and motivate volunteers, exploring new fundraising ideas that I can do in the future, and building a network for the future. On top of it all I try to volunteer as much as possible at a variety of organization. I have worked with the Hospitality House that gives warm meals and shelter to people living in homelessness, and with the Humane Society that works to get homes for abandoned and abused animal. I have also worked on trails and with environmental groups like Appalachian Voices and many others. I have helped with groups that were just getting started to groups that are well known and established. This is very helpful because it is helping me make a checklist of what needs to be done in each stage, as well as, formulate a list of classes needed. All of my extracurricular activities are giving me the hands on experience I will need in the future.

I am working towards an internship with a local non-profit. I try to apply everything I learn in class to what I do outside of the classroom. The outside activities are helping to fuse the many disciplinary subjects together. In working with Sugar Grove I put on a Thanksgiving feast, but because the school had a lack in funds I had to work on getting donations. This didn’t just require my programming skills but also my ability to write to businesses for donations. Everything is interconnected sometimes it takes an unexpected circumstance to see how they fit together.

In this paper, I have summarized several of the important classes I have taken along with the extracurricular activities I am participating in that I think will create the perfect blend of experience and knowledge in order to create a sustainable organization.

2008-12-09T06:19:00.000-08:00

Globalization and Social Change

Ally Scotton

As the cultures and peoples of the world become more interconnected and corporations have a growing influence on many of the world’s countries, the need for a critical examination of our interactions on a global scale magnifies. What forms of oppression and injustice are being fostered by corporate globalization? In what ways are local identities and diversity being traded for hegemony, monoculture, and assimilation? What forms of globalization, if any, foster democracy and social justice, preservation of human rights, and sustainability? What sort of society would maximize democratic involvement and minimize social stratification? How would such a society be organized, and how would power be distributed? How does the state of globalization reflect the power relations present within a society, and how does it affect or reinforce them? What role does government and social organization play in all of this?

I am designing my major to address issues revolving around globalization, social structure, and the nature of social change. I want to examine several aspects of globalization, including effects on local cultures and identities, labor and workers, and the environment. I intend to examine the structure and effects of current institutions of global economics, such as the World Trade Organization and World Bank. In addition to studying private systems of power, I plan to study social revolutions, social movements, and collective behaviors as avenues for social change.

In order to better understand international effects and politics of globalization and economic trends in the modern world, I will need to take a variety of courses from several disciplines related to globalization and social dynamics. I will draw from history, sociology, anthropology, sustainable development, and political science to explore power dynamics, problems, and social change in our dynamic world.

The Political Science/ Anthropology course titled “Globalization” will be helpful to my understanding of the processes surrounding global change. In exploring globalization, effects on indigenous and agrarian populations, and collective behaviors of resistance, the issues of equality and power distribution will arise. To address the various problems of inequality and their consequences, I will take the Sociology course “Social Stratification.” In this course I will study the distribution of wealth, power, and privilege, and relate those studies to the current economic and political system in place in the U.S., and its spread to the global scene. A course which I have already taken, “Principles of Sustainable Development”, has been central to my understanding of historical, conceptual, and theoretical foundations of sustainability in relation to global issues of equity, wealth and poverty, and environments.

The effects of globalization and economic pressures are felt around the world, and resistances and uprisings are happening as a result. Because the focus of my course of study revolves around issues of equity, democracy, power relations, and the nature of revolutions and social change, I will need to take courses addressing each of these topics. One course I will take is the History course “Comparative Revolutions.” This will develop analytical skills in comparative history, and aid in my basic understanding of the socio-economic and political forces contributing to modern revolutions and social upheavals. In order to understand the forces that impact society, and the nature of revolutions, I will take the Sociology course “Collective Behavior and Social Change.” This will give me an in-depth look at tactics, strategies, causes, and effects of social changes and upheavals. The questions of when, how, and by whom change is affected will be explored in this class.

During the past five centuries, indigenous communities throughout Latin America have lost control of historic lands and have been forced into various forms of slavery and/or virtual slavery. Many uprisings have taken place during this time in response to neoliberalism and globalization, including the Zapatista uprising in Mexico. The New York Times has called the Zapatista uprising the first "post-modern" revolution. I am particularly interested in learning from this ongoing struggle, and will thus focus my attention on Latin America.

In order to form a background on which to understand the current cultures, politics, identities, and institutions present within Latin America, I plan to take the course "History of Latin America." Subsequently, I plan to take the History course “Indigenous Resistance in Modern Latin America.” This course will give me an in-depth look at the social and political movements of indigenous and agrarian populations in response to forces of globalization, from an outside, academic perspective. The Anthropology course "The Politics of Ethnicity" will illuminate a framework within which to understand the effects of globalization on culture, politics, and identities within agrarian and indigenous populations. How do people construct their identities during times of social upheaval, violence, and resistance? What medims are available for understanding the dynamic cultural and political forces at play within border zones? How can a balance be found between solidarity and academic critique?

I will also take the Anthropology course “Agrarian Studies and Rural Development” to better understand and analyze rural populations in the context of global economic and political influence. Because I will be focusing on Latin American populations, I will need a cultural understanding of these populations, and thus and understanding of, and ideally a proficiency in, the Spanish language. I am taking four Spanish language courses to prepare me for studying abroad in Latin America. Spending time abroad will give me a better understanding of the culture, politics, and environment, as well as solidify and put into practice the base of Spanish that I will have accumulated. While abroad, I specifically intend to take cultural courses, as well as language courses to increase my language proficiency. I plan to work directly within indigenous social movements in Latin America, in order to gain experience in community building and organizing as foundations of effective social change. This opportunity will give me the chance to integrate theory and practice.

From these areas of study, each related to my topic, I can gain a better understanding of globalization from various perspectives. I will develop anthropological, cultural, historical, sociological, and political understandings of the issues surrounding my study, and will consequently be equipped with analytical, comparative, and problem-solving skills to address these issues.

Statement of Purpose

2008-12-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

Statement of Purpose
Erin Devlin

In the fall of 2003, I was enrolled in Praxis, and given the exact assignment I am now writing, my statement of purpose. I didn’t realize it then, but it is not a coincidence that I withdrew from the University that same semester. The following string of events, which at the time seemed random, started creating a pattern of which I began to realize was anything but arbitrary. I also began to realize that earning my degree is only the beginning.
I headed to New Zealand for some time to myself. I stayed with a midwife in a small town in the North Island. At the time, I thought I was there to get away, not realizing I would take that trip with me for the rest of my life. What I have kept with me from that trip is seeing Jan, a midwife, a massage therapist, a nurse, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, and an acupuncturist going about her day seeing patients with an abundance of knowledge, wisdom and the most humble demeanor. I also keep with me my journal of my time there, filled with sketches of views and sketches of ideas, homeopathic recipes, lines from the Tom Robbins books I read, and my thoughts. I didn’t know how much I kept with me from that trip until I looked back at that journal. Everything is so clearly written out, by me and for me but I still didn’t connect all of the dots.
I traveled a bit more in the States when I returned, but I mostly worked. I began remembering a lunch I had with my mother shortly after leaving Appalachian. She was telling me about a local massage school and asked if I would ever consider attending? I set up an interview and I remember walking in the front door, looking around, smelling lavender and eucalyptus and knowing instantly I would be enrolling. I fell in love with learning for the first time in my life there. The human body was so interesting to me and massage school sure did get me over a lot of my insecurities. I was learning a great deal about myself, and how I work as a person. It was there that I became interested in nursing school. I wanted to learn as much as I could so I could help others in any way I was able. I learned that you could only help other people if you at first help yourself. So I was ready to go back to Appalachian to finish my BA.
I was planning on declaring as a philosophy major when I returned, but one dinner with my parents changed that. I remember telling them that I was finally ready to go back and finish my degree. I told them about my plans of studying philosophy and they nodded. My dad then burst out as if he had been holding it in for years, why aren’t you going back to get your art degree? For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in art. When I was younger, I would beg my grandfather to let me play with a piece of wood and a hammer. He would reluctantly give them to me with a following warning, “If you hurt yourself girl, your Nan will have my hide.” I would sit and mold the single piece of wood for hours. As I got older my materials expanded and I began playing with whatever I could get my hands on. I loved creating things, but I never thought that what I was creating was good enough to do anything with, but I dreamed of the possibilities. So when my dad posed the question, I was a bit taken off guard, but I said I would at least apply. I was accepted into the art department and that was the beginning of putting an end to some of my self-defeating thoughts.
As I began to get deeper and deeper into my art classes I began to notice that art is how I deal with everything in my life. I have always used art as a way to explain and understand my experiences. It seemed so natural for me to be here, and studying something that I have always been interested in. I decided on a BA in studio art because I do not want art to be my main financial source, instead I want it as a tool to process my experiences. I decided to minor in IDS because it made sense of all my decisions in life and in school. It gave me the vision to see life patterns and a guide to see in the grey areas. My Interdisciplinary studies have been more of a natural progression than a strict plan of attack. My art degree, linked with my Interdisciplinary work has given way to a bigger picture of my overall lifestyle than just a four-year degree track.
To earn my degree, with a major in Art and a minor in Interdisciplinary studies I have had to take many classes that may not outwardly seem to relate, but they have all come together to give me a foundation for a lifetime of study. The art classes that I have chosen to take were very basically because of interest. However, paired with my interdisciplinary classes, those art classes taught me more than just the ability to work with a particular medium, they taught me life lessons that I will take with me forever.
A perfect example was my decision to take a ceramics class. I had always admired my fellow classmates who could work functionally and conceptually with clay, but more importantly I admired their patience with the clay. At that time I was apprenticing with a jeweler and my lack of patience was a common conversation topic. The retired jeweler was now working with clay and when I had some down time in the studio I would wander around looking at different pieces he was working on. I would always ask him about different surfaces he had created and he would always reply with the same answer, patience, you have to be patient. I enrolled in the ceramics course, yes to work with the clay, but also to slow down and be patient with a new art form. By no means did I master the art of patience, but when working with a new medium, you have to be patient. Through my IDS studies, I have been taught to see the different layers in which to view the world and my experiences. The ceramics class could have been taken solely for that purpose, of working with clay, but I looked deeper into the class’ potential. I not only learned about the material, I learned lessons about myself, how I work, and values that I believe to be important, like patience.
Besides ceramics, my art degree has taken me through two drawing courses, which have developed my skill of observation and given me the ability to sketch out my ideas. I have taken metals classes purely on the love of casting and the dirtiness of it. I have taken art history classes, which give me a basis, sculpture classes, which entertained my childhood imagination, a fibers course, and currently a bookbinding course to broaden my ideas and interests in art.
The interdisciplinary courses I have taken helped me to make connections where otherwise I might not have. The most helpful and meaningful course I have taken in IDS is by far Histories of Knowledge’s. It gave me the tools to be able to be comfortable in the sometimes-uncomfortable grey areas of life and experiences. I have taken a Chinese medicine course that taught me the philosophy and culture behind this form of healthcare. It also appeased my interest in acupuncture, medicinal herbs, and overall well being. Through IDS I have also studied at Penland School of Crafts. That month long experience changed my life. I enrolled in a bookbinding course and an oil painting/collage course. This was the first time that I saw the potential of education outside of the university setting that was validated. I learned that learning does not end once you’re out of school if you don’t want it to. This proves to be a very powerful lesson for me. Penland also taught me that there are many ways of accomplishing a task. You just have to find or create a way that works for you. All of my Interdisciplinary and Art courses have given me the validation that I have been longing for. They have shown me that education is all around, in many forms, and it lasts lifetimes.
I have chosen to approach my studies in this fashion because for me, education has been a natural progression. Learning is not a concrete structure. Instead, you follow the route that you think will get you to your specific destination. However, once en route, you may find you need to go this way or that way depending on what you have learned thus far. It is constantly changing, therefore I am dedicated to being a life long learner and my December graduation is only the beginning.

final statement of purpose

2008-12-09T05:42:00.001-08:00

William Lehman
Statement of Purpose
International Studies: Asia
I am studying International Studies: Asia with a Concentration on Japan with the intentions of using this degree to return to Japan for a teaching position. The IDS degree was a good fit for me because it allowed be to do a significant amount of observing into the concepts behind Second Language Acquisition, Teaching Methods and Education in Japanese Society, History, and Culture. This is my goal as a learner in the IDS program.
I hope to teach English as a second language in an established public/private school in a full time position or a night/cram school, while I seek further education in the Japanese Language to the point of fluency and possibly seeking a Masters in TEFL or TESL. This allows me to continue to teach English, in a well established position, abroad or to return to the United States to teach Japanese, preferably at an Undergraduate level.
The reason this degree is a good choice for me is because to teach a second language effectively it is very important to teach to nature of the students. A Montessori style of teaching is very similar to my ideal pedagogy but seeing as that would not be an option in a Japanese public school setting I have to try hard to meet on a middle ground. To do this I have to learn as much as I can about the Japanese Culture, Society, and even Identity. Being able to reach students is a large part of transferring the knowledge, but if one cannot connect, it is very difficult to pass on the knowledge.
Due to the furthering Globalization of the world it is important for successful young people to be multi-lingual. For the youth of tomorrow, to triumph in the economic world around them it is imperative to adapt to their surroundings and that means overcoming language barriers. Right now, the most highly successful business language is, arguably, English. Furthering the international market is important to the world economy and success.
The interest in my concentration on Asia/Japan came from my precious experience of living in Japan. While there, I fell in love with every aspect of Japan and the people. I have wanted to return to that country, to live, ever since I left. While there I had my first paying job as an assistant teacher of English in a classroom setting for three to five year olds. Since then, I have assisted in teaching most age ranges in official settings. This is what I think my calling is for my future. That is why I wish to continue on this path. However, since there is neither Japanese nor a TESL/TEFL major at Appalachian State, I decided on the IDS: Asia with a concentration on Japan and a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. I have been using my free hours to study other languages, learning methods, and technology. I think these are the key to my future and my efficiency as a teacher in the future.
My study of Asia has mainly focused on Japan but I have tried to expand my study to include: Language, Culture, Society, Identity, History, Anthropology, Geography, Religion, and Nutrition. I will have taken classes like Japanese Society and Identity through Literature, Japanese Society through the Visual Arts of Manga, Modern Japanese History, and plan to take Russo-Japanese Relations. I have already taken two Independent Studies with my Japanese teacher Misa Yamamoto. In these classes we had a focus on integration, a study of interaction, language, and modern conceptions. All of these classes will have prepared me for integration into the Japanese school system and to educate Japanese students. Understanding that I will have to cross the cultural gap of the Japanese classroom is part of this educational agenda.
To further help me with teaching skills and getting into the Japanese mindset I was also an Instructional Assistant with Appalachian State’s Japanese classes. Here I learned to focus my methodologies and get some real world application of language learning from an instructor’s view point. This was an invaluable experience that gave me a better idea of what I have to look forward to in the educational field.
My minor courses are all based around Teaching English as a Second Language. I took these in order to be a more efficient teacher to non-native speakers. While in these courses I worked closely with exchange students and local non-native speakers to increase their fluency. Those are examples of how I will apply the knowledge I acquire in these courses. The courses have also allowed me to compile my personal pedagogy and a small lesson plan for second language acquisition to Japanese youth and post them to a personal webpage. http://www.appstate.edu/~wl65727/will_page.html
To further understand language I have audited some other language courses that would help me as a language teacher, including courses in Arabic and Latin. Understanding where a language comes from is very important to learning the flow of the language. Finally, I completed a course in Introductory American Sign Language. It is a little more non-traditional then most languages but still a viable and important one. Like Japanese it is a high context language and requires a different mindset completely than English; thus, showing how culture plays strongly into the picture.

Final Statement of Purpose

2008-12-08T20:49:00.001-08:00

Film Studies

Here at Appalachian State University my self-designed concentration is in film studies. I knew there was an English major with a concentration in film, but that would not have given me what I really wanted. After figuring that out I looked around at different majors to see if there was another way to study film, one of the majors I looked at was the Communications major, but that was geared more towards television production. I even considered transferring schools until someone told me about the Interdisciplinary Studies program. I looked into it and immediately made an appointment with Richard Carp. After the meeting I had a vague idea of the classes I wanted to take because I already knew all the film classes from the English department. What I really want to study is the technical aspect of film because that really interests me, and to do that I must pull from different departments and connect them. I am pulling classes from the English department, the Curriculum and Instruction department, the Theatre and possibly the Communications departments, with my main focus being on the technical side of film.
I had not figured out that I wanted to study the technical aspect of film my first couple of semesters here, so I was focused on taking all of the classes I had to in order to graduate. After putting a little more thought into it I remembered a class I was placed into in high school. At the beginning of my sophomore year of high school one class I wanted to take was full so the school placed me in a literature and film class. Looking back that was the best thing that could have happened to me. That started my interest in film classes offered at Appalachian. I took the “Introduction to Film” class with Dr. Craig Fischer and I was hooked. I remember asking him one day after class if there was any way to study film outside of the English department. He was the one who told me about the Interdisciplinary Studies department and how students before me had wanted to do the same thing. He also gave me recommendations of teachers and classes in other departments that would help me.
The classes I am taking from the English department are “Introduction to Film”, “Survey of World Cinema I” and “Survey of World Cinema II”, “Advanced Studies in Film”, and possibly “Film Theory and Criticism” or “Screenwriting.” The two classes I am taking from the Curriculum and Instruction department are “Introduction to Sight and Sound” and “Beginning Video Production.” The only class I know of right now that I will take in the Theatre department is “Producing the Narrative Film,” but I think there is a film workshop offered over the summer by the same professor as the production course. I do not know if I am going to take any classes from the Communications department because I think they are more geared towards television production not films.
I am studying the technical aspect of film through the Interdisciplinary Studies department because it allows me to take classes from different departments and put them together in a specific way that helps me plan my career. The classes I have taken so far have been very interesting and as each one ends they keep me wanting more, and I look forward to taking as many more as I can. I hope to learn whole film making process. I am currently learning how to use a camcorder to shoot scenes and to edit them with different software. I do not necessarily want to be the next big Hollywood producer or cinematographer, I would be perfectly happy working on independent films. Just about anything that involves being hands on in the process of making films would be incredibly amazing.
I do not know how many times I have walked away from a film thinking, “Wow! I never thought about that before,” but I love that feeling. There have been countless films that have changed my point of view about certain subjects, whether they were documentaries or major motion pictures. I want to be a part of creating that feeling in someone else. If I could just get through to one person through an idea in a film it would be worth it. Then there is the lighter side of films that interest me too. Sometimes, I see films just to escape reality for a little while. I would also like to assist others in doing the same.
Other great things about studying film include looking into some of the greatest filmmakers of all time, learning how to accurately portray emotions, and learning how to put your own point of view out there for others to see. By studying some of the greatest filmmakers, and sometimes the not so great, I learn what is generally accepted and not accepted by societies in film. Not that any of that really matters, because I will put my view out there and if it gets rejected, so be it. I will keep trying and hope that at least once something good will come forth. By learning how to accurately portray emotions through film I will be able to get audiences to feel what the characters are feeling and that gets them generally interested in what unfolds through events in the film.
I have put a lot of thought into my portfolio and I figured out that I am going to make a website and create links to everything I do that relates to my major. Any films that I make, film reviews that I write, and papers that I write related to interdisciplinarity will definitely be included. The only thing I haven’t figured out yet is whether I’m going to strictly follow the portfolio requirements or create my own guidelines. I have a few papers I have written for Praxis that might be able to go in the portfolio, along with papers I have written for “Introduction to Film” and “Survey of World Cinema I.” The only actual film I have made was the one from the Apple iMovie Contest and once I actually create the website I will put it up. I will also create a link to my Introduction to Sight and Sound website because there are a lot of great projects I have done in that class that would fit well in the portfolio.

comprehensive statement of purpose

2008-12-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

Christina Fisher 900013016
Statement of purpose
November 18, 2008

Social justice through Environmental Stewardship

Social justice through environmental stewardship: a long string of words which
simply entertain the notion that the only way to address today’s social problems is to address that of a fragile environment as well. Environmental stewardship is a concept or personal ethic which guides one to seek integration of several areas of community life to achieve the great goal of sustainability of resources in such a way that will extend or improve life on this earth for everyone. In seeking social justice, one must also weed through the various causes of family and community deterioration, such as wasteful consumerism.
There are several avenues one can go down to incorporate these two issues in a constructive way and it is not always easy to decide which one to take. However, my background in interior design and building technologies, sociology, anthropology, and family and consumer sciences, has given a base for recognition that issues weighing heavily on society and the world at large put direct strain on the American family.
Experiences with the Tarahumara peoples of Chihuahua, Mexico during a crisis of famine caused by drought and McComb, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina show an inextricable link between environment and social problems of families affected. Believing in the truth that “you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but teach him to fish and feed him forever,“ makes the idea of working through issues from a more intimate level within communities appealing. What I learned especially from those situations is that Band-Aids only hold for so long in a crisis, but teaching people to live in a way that may lessen the brunt of a crisis before it occurs is more helpful. Also, building a strong sense of pride in their homes and faith in their communities to help one another can allow people to see the effects they have in the world and how important their roles in making positive ones can make people think twice about the weight of their personal decisions.
Stewards are the role models for the younger generations to look up to and learn from, parents and primary care takers of young children can make a huge impact in the future of the children if given the right tools. There are several ways to help stimulate the healthy growth of a child by taking the time early in their lives to provide a safe and clean home and teach them responsibility through role modeling and play. Creating a good foundation for children in their early years will ultimately better their adult life and decision making. Incorporating actions of environmental stewardship through home activity as well as community involvement can be done if we as a society start to see our children as the gems that they are, as well as seeing what we have around us that can be utilized creatively.
Through classes in sociology and anthropology, I learned how our society works at large. How we treat one another based on social precepts brings understanding of the types of consumers we are of this world, and why we feel certain wants as needs, and how to redirect those desires positively. Through classes of my Interior Design background, I learned not only just the aesthetic components of the home but how color, lighting, and chemicals affect the general well being of people in their home as well as how to design a space that is efficient spatially but also in its economical and energy costs as well. My experiences as a nanny for children of special needs I learned the challenges of raising families through adversity as well as how individuals relate to one another in this culture and how to reach seemingly unreachable kids. Through my art classes and relationships to dance and music in the cognitive processes of infant and toddlers, I learned how to ease transitions and learning through creative and highly energetic means.
In continuing this process of helping households become homes that become community, I will be taking courses in child development, Birth-2, family economics, society and technology, planning for communities, social issues and ethics, environmental ethics for a more comprehensive arrangement of skills to help working class parents feel empowered in a non-abrasive way.
Along with my coursework incorporating social concerns and illustrating that the power of simple changes, I am planning to host a Boone version of a program from the West Coast called “swap-o-rama mama” in which the community gets involved in donating clothes and infant items, with the opportunity to trade for what they need. As well there will be on –hand volunteers with sewing skills who can revitalize or reconfigure outfits and home accessories in exchange for the opportunity to sell their own crafts. This process started with the concept that we can collectively reduce the amount of waste of textile materials in landfills while engaging in the novelty of coming home with inventive creations that are truly one of a kind. Extra items or proceeds go to benefit organizations such as “women to work”. Sustainability of this earth depends on the ability to convince people why it is worth it. If you reach out to people where they are and impact them directly in a positive and approachable way, you spread the seeds that will eventually lead to a great flourishing of our global community.

IDS Enviro Policy & PLN

2008-12-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Environmental Policy and Planning Concentration
The Dissemination of Environmental Awareness and its Annexation to Social Consciousness
John Fitzgerald

To develop a clear and functional understanding of the biological processes of our environment, study our interactions with them, and attempt to improve upon them is the purpose I choose my major. Environmental Policy and Planning incorporates three different dynamic fields, environmentalism, politics, and planning techniques for development. These three fields have very strong ties that will become increasingly important in the future.
Currently, the economic values of our natural resources are not evaluated on a realistic basis. Our producer driven economic system does not support an everyday environmentally-friendly schedule. What once was a land of bounty is being raped for nothing more than profit at the loss of ideals that we as a nation once held dear. Our environment as well as our politics, and our physical development as a nation are interconnected systems that rely on each other to exist. The habitat we live in provides us with a physical plane on which we can determine how to interact with the habitat itself, the other people, animals, plants and various organisms which are sharing this habitat, and the best methods for organizing, managing and adapting our activities to promote the healthy function of these systems.
Through my studies in various academic organizations I have come to understand that my preferred method of approaching problems is awareness and appreciation of the whole while allowing magnification of more intricate, microscopic, aspects of the issue. Applying analytical knowledge to systems is a successful approach to gaining knowledge and problem solving. The skill of understanding these systems as whole and their interactions with each other, as well as the smaller processes acting within them and allowing them to function is contingent upon positive development. My choice of major reflects my manner of perception, as well as my personality. Human beings have a large impact on their surroundings, and have a large potential for positive growth. The promotion of a lifestyle that is disconnected with nature is the promotion of a wasteful lifestyle. While at the same time the promotion of a stronger connection with our natural world could inspire generations to come, and restore cultural and traditional aspects of human life through environmental appreciation.
A major stepping stone in the current environmental movement which is specifically relevant to us, considering our geographic location is mountain top removal. Mountains in the Appalachian region are marbled with rich coal seams. Modern mining methods have embraced mountaintop removal, which is the use of explosives to completely destroy the upper parts of the mountains so that the coal can be easily accessed. The “fill,” or debris, from what once used to be a mountain is then deposited into the surrounding valleys. The coal is then washed in slurry ponds, which seep water contaminated with heavy metals into nearby water killing off fish and other organisms which cannot tolerate the polluted water. Damaging our natural systems that provide vital services like cleaning water, providing sources of food for other organisms, and diversifying our environment are small issues that affect the major functioning of our environment. I am mentioning both mountaintop removal, and App Voices, because they are important on a local level and they involve key aspects of my major. As a local organization Appalachian Voices is a very influential non-profit environmental organization focusing on creating awareness of this issue.
Creating awareness of these issues, as App Voices does with their paper, is a key part in educating people about the weight of our impact on our planet, which is a first step towards adapting our lifestyle to be one that is in harmony with our habitat. I would like to be involved in the transition from educating the public about our impacts on the environment, to inspiring the public to make a positive change in their own lives, and possibly the planet. Another prospective direction for someone with a degree in this field would be lobbying for environmental organizations. One specifically dynamic part of this application would include applying biological field research to the justification of environmental regulations and providing a continuous reminder to politicians that people do indeed care about the environment even, and sometimes especially when it is juxtaposed to the economy.
Relevant to the issues of our environment and our economy is the issue of sustainability. Sustainability is an immediately important idea that is under increasing public contemplation these days. A sustainable future in regards to the principles of human rights, environmental protection, encouraging positive ecological economical investments is the goal of my concentration. The concentration of environmental policy and planning is a framework of courses that encourage the development of a conceptual knowledge of our environment and our interactions with it. An effective method for environmental protection is to teach respect and appreciation for the environment we inhabit. Our race populates this earth in common existence with many other life-forms. To reconnect people to the earth from which we arose is a fundamental idea behind positive environmental action and inspiring others to open their minds to a more harmonious existence. There are many changes we need to make in order to attempt to adopt a lifestyle of sustainability, the root of which occur with the initial change of perception from trying to compete with nature and control it, to developing with nature in mind. The principles of sustainability in conjunction with social leadership skills, a foundation in biology, and an array of classes spanning anthropology, geography and planning, Japanese, economics, anthropology, and ethics classes are the preparatory subjects I have studied and will continue to practice. These disciplines together make up integral knowledge formations which together create a functional manner of approaching our sustainability issue. From slowly drawing connections between these fields and observing their interactions a better understanding of the causes of our sustainability problem can be formed. Through the intricate study of these fields and the application of the skills learned from them, the issue of sustainability becomes increasingly accessible. Integration is a necessary fundamental part of IDS studies in general but also is a life skill which serves as a problem solving tool. This concentration is dependent upon the ability to disseminate the integrated parts of knowledge formations, so that the contributing factors can be observed individually, repaired and then reintegrated into the solved, repaired formation.
While approaching problems that occur on a global scale, such as that of sustainability, it is sometimes easier to compare them to a smaller similar example. Organizing a community garden is probably the most local application of this theoretical solution to environmental degradation. Creating a community garden helps to provide positive physical work for multiple people to contribute and gain from. Helping to reach compromise among contributing neighbors, developing an overall conceptual plan of the land available, organizing with diversity and efficiency included in plots, and finally the work of planting everything are managerial tasks I am currently employing to help develop my skills. What I aim to do could be considered to cause social change by providing a positive example for action, however there are many formations of knowledge operating at the same time, not only will I provide a positive role model for environmental responsibility, but I am also in a location where understanding the power relationships between the rental company; which may or may not own the land being used, the neighbors who have different priorities in what should be planted, what should actually be planted considering climate, surrounding plants, and sunlight are all my responsibility to contemplate and take into consideration. Developing a community garden helps promote diverse social growth, for plants and humans and it helps restore the connection between people and the environment that helps support them. Growing fresh food and preparing it can function as a conduit between people and our habitat, and works to help restore a respectful view of the land.
Developing environmental policy and planning for a sustainable future are two tremendous goals that cannot be accomplished without the skills required to manage and organize tremendous efforts. By redeveloping a cultural respect for the land which feeds us, and recognizing the potential of organized social progression we can make strides toward a sustainable future. Beyond the conglomeration of different subjects and their connection the IDS core classes help develop a method of meditation designed to help organize and renew the thought processes which are used most in academic studies. Observing the learning method by participation in it and analyzing it, helps to increase efficiency in personal understanding, as well as promote healthy emotional growth. By combining these courses and the ideas they promote I will develop and employ my skills to organize and inspire others to create a positive change in the way we think about and interact with our habitat.

Senior Seminar Presentations

2008-12-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

The Fall 2008 Senior Seminar Project Presentations will be in the Price Lake Room in the Plemmons Student Union on Reading Day, December 10, between 1:00 and 3:00 PM. Mark your calendars. This will be our last class event for our Praxis class. See you there.

Theories

2008-12-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

In his paper, Newell discusses several forms of disciplines, looking at various authors definitions. I liked the way he set up this paper for the fact that he first looked at the ways people see interdisciplinary, defining what it is but then also looking at other definitions of what people might see as interdisciplinary. I have always seen my major as a fruit basket, from his examples, several separate entities put together to form something great, they all share space and time but they are not blended enough to not see their form or their placement. What I mean by that is if you look at the methods I study and the curriculum I take you can see where different theories arose and which discipline I got what from, BUT like a fruit basket things overlap and play into one another.
Newell shows multidisciplinary as a collection of ideas and concepts resting side by side, then on the other end you have transdisciplinary that come up with this assortment of goo that has no real components just a greater form to the previous additions, like a smoothie of fruit, and in the middle, balancing the two, you have interdisciplinary. Newell then acknowledges and confronts the most difficult thing about studying anything not defined as a discipline, degrees of synthesis and integration, first defining for the reader what integration is. To be honest, when I first began studying Interdisciplinary Studies it seemed like the easy way out, I could take a wide variety of classes and call it a day. I never thought about the “conceptual framework” or the “locus of activities”. However, reading through Newell it is intriguing to me to see the variety of ways to see this major. I think most people when they hear interdisciplinary studies, and see the courses I have taken see it as multidisciplinary an “absence of any deliberate attempt at integration”. My parents constantly ask “how does this apply or why is this study better than anyone already laid out for you?” I usually brush off their questions telling them that they are old and far removed from the education system that they just don’t see the art and the privilege in this form of study. It is not that we have complete freedom in this study, rather a free reign. I am in control of the study I wish to achieve. I other disciplines you are forced to continue in a cycle of classes and stay in a rigid system. However, just looking at the ten or so people in our class you can see the excitement found in Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as the limits. Looking at the Mission statement found in the same packet of paper, you can see that the authors agree with me. “Knowledges are disconnected by several sets of barriers, including: economic class, disciplinarity (e.g., sciences/humanities), collegiate structures (e.g., education/business), intra-psychic formations, race, ethnicity, gender, and the expert and non-expert”. This is exactly what I was talking about, other disciplines limit students into a specific category and yet even with the path laid out those students find barriers, women just because they are women find limits in pay and advancements, even though we have Equal opportunities people of color still find limits on their learning and their advancements. There are always limits to education but when in a place of study there should be more leeway to study that which is necessary, finding ways to encourage “creative practices in teaching”. There are so many degrees of which you can teach. In this class we all are reaching for different goals. I am working toward creating a non-profit that works with the disabled population. To my right someone is working toward becoming a movie critic or analyst, we have student who want to work in foreign countries, who want to expand the internet, the list continues. The beauty in this form of studying is the freedom we have to explore.
Individually focusing this paper toward my study, it is interesting to see my level of integration from last year to this year. At the beginning I was just taking classes that I thought would help me, so I took some communication classes, and some sociology classes. In my head I was making connections, hearing things repeatedly helped with that aspect, but I was not really integrating the practices into future plans or even discussing them with fellow students and faculty. This year, I am in several IDS specific classes and all I do is talk about my major, rather my life goal and the studies I am in to prepare. Newell would classify me as a fruit basket, interdisciplinary, in the second level of integration. I have a long way to go before I am integrated to the highest degree with a “single, intellectually coherent entity” but I think that is the joy found in this area. All disciplines are mapped out for students, you will take this class your freshman year, and this your senior year. With IDS we have requirements and things to work toward like the portfolio but classes are not laid out the same. I think this is one of the hardest things for me is actually sitting down to look at all the classes offered and deciding which one would be more beneficial to me. Another struggle is knowing that this is the proper way of achieving my future goals, if employers in my early year out of college will see my plan as crafty, original and exciting or as lazy and an easy way out.
I have talked with several employers to get their opinion and I have come up with this sense of peace. All of them agree that is the employee has a heart for their studies no matter what it is, and show true desire to execute their learning’s in an effective way then they will gladly hire them. So for me, I need to work on making sure the classes I am taking are teaching me but that I am being receptive to the lessons and having an open mind to hear something new!

That nice little grey area

2008-12-02T06:05:00.001-08:00

William Lehman
Praxis
Theories of Interdisciplinarity
That Nice Little Grey Area
The reading of the multi-author packet highlighted several ideas for application of Interdisciplinarity. Newell defined the differences between Interdisciplinarity, Multidisciplinarity, and Transdisciplinarity. I think he does a rather good job at it; describing Multidisciplinarity as a collection of know ledges, at ones disposal, Transdisciplinarity as a very comprehensive subject that then becomes its own monster. Whereas, Interdisciplinarity is a middle-ground to these two ideas. I liked the reprint of a definition for Interdisciplinarity from the Handbook of the Undergraduate. (San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997)
I personally liked the one from Carp/Wentworth about our program. “We were never comfortable being a department and cannot be a discipline with a particular object of study, but that we have no subject matter is not true; our subject is whatever makes the world whole.” To me that speaks about the all encompassing nature of Interdisciplinarity and its application to the world. I think it is very important that as long as we know how we can take the unique conglomeration of knowledge we are acquiring and apply it to life/the world around us.
The relevance holds true to my own field of study as well. As an IDS: Asian Studies with a Concentration on Japan Major, I initially had a hard time attempting to figure out the underlying direction of my knowledge progression. But seeing as I found myself inherently drawn towards a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language I think that I found an application to work towards. Then it was just the problem of how to prepare myself to integrate these different pieces of knowledge I had acquired from my time, at Appalachian State, to my Interdisciplinarity. I have found that by melding my brief studies of other languages, my knowledge of second language acquisition and my understanding of what makes one “Japanese” I think my Interdisciplinarity would be better defined into something like a “Scholar in Japanese Identity and Language Acquisitionist.” For I have learned much about Languages, acquiring them, societal impacts, and Japanese society. This makes me great for teaching Japanese to Americans in NC or English to native “Japanese.” But I would not go so far as to cross say I have crossed the line in to Transdisciplinarity in that I am a Japanese teacher of a TESL teacher.
I am certified as one but I still have much to learn in that aspect because the focus of my studies have centered around “Japanese.” And my own personal Pedagogy (http://www.appstate.edu/~wl65727/will_page.html) requires a strong connection to the learner. For one to have a strong connection to the learner it is important to meet them on a cultural and personal level. That is why I would not personally qualify myself as an ESL teacher, but as a good candidate for teaching in Japanese to Americans, or teaching English to Japanese.
Because of my situation I have had to search hard to find corollaries between everyday lessons and their application to my field of study. But it has been possible ever since I decided on my major. Because of what I have to prepare myself for in the future every aspect of my college experience has been a great learning experience. From the odd roommates, to the amazing professors everything can be further applied in life once I am able to reach a summation point (probably my senior seminar portfolio) in which I tie everything together. That is when I will probably be able to consider myself a student of Interdisciplinarity.
However, Currently I would have to say that I am more of a Multidisciplinarian. I have so much knowledge spread out in the different fields of study that I have yet to tie together. But being in my shoes I must be the one to do it because of my intention to go teach abroad and then follow up with hopefully international relations in Northern Japan in reference to territorial disputes between the technically warring states of Russia and Japan. So I will have to also apply my nonacademic experiences of international relations and personal life skills of mediating disagreements, but then applying the my knowledge of historical and cultural influences that could sway the tide, but also learning the new cultural influences of Russo-Identity.
In conclusion, I would have to say that my personal journey through the world of interdisciplinary is still incomplete in that I cannot self consider myself among the few that are interdisciplinary. Besides the fact that there is a limit to the knowledge we can contain and apply I think that it is very important for us to seek to better ourselves through our gaining of all knowledge and consuming it and applying it to the world around us.

Theories of Interdisciplinarity

2008-12-02T06:02:00.001-08:00

Reflections on “Interdisciplinarity”
The multi-authored packet presents a series of theories on what not only being interdisciplinary really is and what it means, but also how unlike circumstances could raise questions which displays the “differences of opinions” in how to define interdisciplinary work.
One definition of interdisciplinary work is established in the very beginning of the article. Julie Thompson Klein and William Newell describe it has “Interdisciplinary studies may be defined as a process of answering a question, solving a problem, or addressing a topic too broad or complex to be dealt with adequately by a single discipline or profession...” Steve Fuller and Bryan Turner offer another perspective however. “I want to move away from the common idea that interdisciplinary pursuits draw their strength from building on the methods and findings of established fields. Instead, my goal is to present models of interdisciplinary research that call into question the differences between disciplines involved, and thereby serve as forums for the renegotiation of disciplinary boundaries,” Fuller writes. Turner looks to the same perspective as he writes, “interdisciplinary aims in principle at academic fusion…it seeks a recognizable and integration of disciplines.”

Taking into consideration these terms of interdisciplinarity, Newell (who is the driving force behind the entire article) explains that to first conceptualize definitions one must also have an understanding of what integration or synthesis is. He describes how the four issues (the nature of interdisciplinarity, its outcomes, the role of disciplines, and the nature of synthesis or integration) all affect the other in a certain way or other. Three “distinct visions” can come from the idea of integration and synthesis to get a better understanding of it: conceptual framework, comprehensive perspective, and a locus of activity. The conceptual framework essentially pertains to the idea of creating a foundation so that the disciplinary actions can proceed, i.e. just some basic research of what the intentions are for your interdisciplinary work. A comprehensive perspective is a more detailed conceptual framework – it is “a larger, more holistic understanding of the question, problem, or issue at hand.” (Klein and Newell) The locus of activity is another concept of research, but it is the ultimate goal to reach – where the main focuses of study come together as “interdisciplinary” to create the common goal.
So then the questions arise, some being what is changed? And must integration succeed to be interdisciplinary? This leads to the confusion of how interdisciplinary can be specific as a discipline itself. As a result, degrees of interdisciplinary have been proposed, such as the lowest degree is that integration is left entirely up to the students, and so on.
The mission statement, vision statement and the manuscript by Carp and Wentworth of the IDS department are included, but I would only like to focus myself of the part of the packet just discussed.
I have held for some time my theory on social issues, which in my opinion lead to every other issue in the world, being affected by the way humans communicate with each other. Being a military child my entire life living around the world when told to, but also having an open mind about most issues, has led to an interdisciplinary mindset. I find it easy to take the strict structure mindset and mixing it with a liberal mindset to create an overall idea of whatever is at hand. Therefore I tend to agree with both definitions presented, while the work I’m doing is more appropriate with Fuller and Tuner’s definition as an academic fusion. Taking the construction of the Communication Studies discipline and fusing it with the Interdisciplinary layout of Third World Studies simply by taking the planned classes within the same vicinity of each other (i.e. within the same semester) to examine the comparisons of each discipline and to understand how the two disciplines can become something greater for my theory, with of course not losing the boundaries of what the disciplines are (but not individually designing my major). It can be complicated because it is hard to sit down and think about which courses directly affiliate with another in different departments, but there are moments when a subject will come up in class that was brought up in another class and in which the courses have nothing to do with one another – which gives me hope that my two disciplines can really become interdisciplinary.
All in all, my conceptual framework is laid out, but I am now beginning to dive into the comprehensive perspective aspect of my interdisciplinary work because of the way courses are beginning to overlap though they are not technically related, thus everything is working out as I planned. I feel that the locus of activity part of synthesis
will not occur until I begin practicing my degree in the appropriate manner (after university), but so far everything is looking like it won’t be as difficult as initially planned for my overall interdisciplinary work.

theories of ids

2008-12-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

In the article “Being Interdisciplinary Is So Very Hard to Do” Stanley Fish begins by examining the critique of left culturalist theory on boundaries and hierarchies formed within and between academic disciplines and institutional structures. According to Fish, much of this critique on the current arrangement of boundaries stems from the belief that the institutional and academic structures are constructed by parties interested in maintaining the status quo by means of a repressive political agenda. In order to break free of repressive boundaries, critics suggest that each discourse of knowledge be situated, understood, and critically examined in the context of the institutional, cultural, and historical forces from which the emerged. As knowledge formations transform and dissolve and disciplines are “freed” from their bonds, perspectives will broaden and discourse will be unconstrained. Interdisciplinary studies, by definition, does not respect the boundaries inherent in disciplines, and seeks to widen perspectives and examine the processes by which disciplines and divisions emerge. To many radical critics of disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity is an “assault on those boundaries and on the entire edifice of hierarchy and power they reflect and sustain” (Fish 242).
Fish poses that this vision of interdisciplinarity is incompatible with its accompanying epistemology – that meaning and knowledge are not simply “there”, but are produced by a system that escapes the foundations which it enables. In other words, the system which enables knowledge formations can not be presented, is ignorant of itself, and always “excludes more than it reveals” (Fish 243). If bringing to light the constructions and conditions of knowledge depends on viewing them through a perspective similarly constructed and veiled, then interdisciplinarity cannot free us from bound knowledge; new boundaries will be formed and knowledge formations will continue to be constrained within historical, institutional, and cultural contexts. If interdisciplinarity is defined by the breaking free of such cages, then interdisciplinarity understood in accordance with this epistemological view is quite impossible.
How, then, can culturally determined perspectives and knowledges be surveyed? If the concepts and vocabularies within my fields of study define themselves in relation to one another as well as shape my own thought processes, is there a possibility of being interdisciplinary? These problems are particularly relevant to my course of study, as I am examining processes by which power structures and social movements evolve, cultures clash and interact, and revolutions succeed. A shifting academic structure greatly parallels a shifting social structure. If it is impossible to break out of the “prison houses of our various specialties” (Fish 244), how will the walls between academia and the “outside world” be broken? If we are again to be enclosed by partiality of knowledge in our attempts to free ourselves from such boundaries, will we continually be dominated by powers out of our reach, oppressed by our own partial and situated knowledges? Will any social revolution repress us by new and unforeseen boundaries, institutional orders, structures of power? These questions are central both to this article and to the study of social change and power.
I must agree with Stanley Fish that this particular view of radical interdisciplinarity is incompatible with the epistemology accompanying it. I do not believe, however, that revolutionary reconstruction of disciplinary boundaries, and of larger society, is fruitless, impossible, or should be viewed as merely reshaping the cages we inhabit. Although our knowledge is always partial and constructed, we can change many of the channels through which it is formed. I reconcile these problems of radical political interdisciplinarity with this epistemological view by posing that revolution is to be understood in terms of a constant process of reconstituting boundaries in spite of, and in light of, the obfuscatory nature of knowledge. As long as boundaries exist within knowledge, a revolutionary potential exists within those boundaries. Interdisciplinarity, then, is always a revolutionary avenue and instrument, and is not limited to movement between the spaces between academic disciplines; it is a character of people moving and learning in the world, reconstructing boundaries and knowledges to suit their needs.
A goal within my own field of study is the transgression of boundaries between academia and public participation. My own purpose for individually designing an interdisciplinary degree is to equip myself with knowledge and theory necessary to guide my political activity outside an academic sphere after graduation. I wish to create new ways in which to know and move in the world. By constructing knowledges in an interdisciplinary, or integrative manner, boundaries can be broken, new pathways can emerge, and we can each participate in many disciplines or knowledge formations in order to shape and be shaped by an ever-changing world.
By studying social theory in relation to anthropology, history in relation to philosophy, new questions will arise, new boundaries will be formed and broken, and new possibilities for understanding the wholeness of the world will emerge. The wholeness of the world will remain hidden, partially concealed, but always filled with revolutionary potential. I must regularly ask myself, in what forms will newly constructed edifices of knowledge arise, by what means can I alter the paths of their construction to attend to our present dilemmas, and in what way is my participation in this system of formation affecting the change I wish to see?

Statement of Purpose Part Two

2008-12-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

Statement of Purpose Part Two
Here at Appalachian State University I am studying film. This school does not technically have a film studies program so I am studying it through Interdisciplinary Studies. I am pulling classes from the English department, the Curriculum and Instruction department, the Theatre and possibly the Communications departments. My main focus will be on the technical aspect of film because that is what I am most passionate about.
The classes I am taking from the English department are Introduction to Film, Survey of World Cinema I and II, Advanced Studies in Film, and possibly Film Theory and Criticism or Screenwriting. The two classes I am taking from the Curriculum and Instruction department are Introduction to Sight and Sound and Beginning Video Production. The only class I know of right now that I will take in the Theatre department is Producing the Narrative Film, but I think there is a film workshop offered over the summer by the same professor as the production course. I do not know if I am going to take any classes from the Communications department because I think they are more geared towards television production not films.
I had originally planned to major in English with the concentration in film, but when I went to each one of my classes one semester I knew I would not last. English is not even close to one of my favorite subjects, so majoring in it would have been pure torture! After that I was shopping around different majors trying to figure something out, I looked at the Communications major, Business major, and a few others. I even considered transferring schools until someone told me about the Interdisciplinary Studies program. I looked into it and immediately made an appointment with Richard Carp. After the meeting I had a vague idea of the classes I wanted to take because I already knew all the film classes from the English department.
As for my portfolio, I have put a lot of thought into it and I figured out that I’m going to make a website and create links to everything I do that relates to my major. Any films that I make, reviews that I write, papers that I write that relate to interdisciplinarity. The only thing I haven’t figured out yet is whether I’m going to strictly follow the portfolio requirements or create my own guidelines. I have a few papers I have written for Praxis that might be able to go in the portfolio, along with papers I have written for Introduction to Film and Survey of World Cinema I. The only actual film I have made was the one from the Apple iMovie Contest and once I actually create the website I will put it up. I will also create a link to my Introduction to Sight and Sound website because there are a lot of great projects I have done in that class that would fit well in the portfolio.

Senior Portfolio

2008-12-02T01:44:00.000-08:00

here is a link to the wiki that I am using to present my senior portfolio. It is still a rough draft.

-kegan

Campus Events: Farmers Market

2008-12-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry Y'all. I thought there was a holiday farmers market this coming Saturday but in fact it was Nov. 29. However the market is a continuous event that will start again on May 2nd. Here's a link to the website which has more info. I strongly recommend you attend at some point.

P.S. the goat cheese, and the molasses alone are worth the trip.

http://wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org/

Campus Events

2008-12-01T22:40:00.001-08:00

John Fitzgerald
IDS Praxis
Campus Events

The Andy Warhol Exhibit was an enjoyable event to attend. There was a live Jazz band in the northwestern wing of the Turchin Center and a DJ playing remixed period themed songs. Energy was bouncing around the room with the music and imagery stirring imaginations. People were flowing around socializing, celebrating, and absorbing the effect of Warhol’s art.

The easily graspable Polaroid photography of well-to-do clients and models were intriguing, and almost nostalgic. Rich women slathered in white makeup and posed in highly dramatic poses, Warhol’s photographic plastic surgery was way ahead of its time reflecting the current usage programs to alter digital photographs to achieve astounding contrast in portrait photography.

The event was interdisciplinary in that it was a social celebration of previously unobservable art being delivered to the public, so that more people can be inspired by the artist’s unique sense and portrayal of ideas. There was a feeling of attending an exhibition with Warhol’s presence that was generated by the atmosphere.

The main connection between this event and my studies are purely the social and inspirational factors. Believing in the interconnectedness of human beings, or Warhol’s famous idea that everyone has 15 minutes of fame resonates with increasing global awareness, and the rapid adoption of new technology. The social aspect of generating the aura of the artist and creating his influence through both the physical art and peoples reactions to it is similar to the philosophical and anthropological focus of my major.

The other event I attended was the Watauga County Farmers Market. The market is an ongoing community gathering on Saturdays through the temperate seasons. Fresh produce and crafts are available from local vendors and crafters. This market is a good way to support local businesses and find high quality produce and crafts at reasonable prices. It’s also a cultural display of the products of the region. Through these physical items and comparing them with mass-produced items we can attempt to attain a better understanding of the real importance of our connection with the environment.

Buying local food and supporting locally owned businesses are two important concepts in promoting sustainability. Purchasing food that has been grown with traditional methods, and has been transported under one hundred miles prevents a lot of energy consumption and helps to establish a fundamental connection between the people inhabiting an area and the products of the land in that area. Supporting local business ensures the continual progress of the area, rather than slowly filtering funds to larger corporations that threaten inter-industry competition and prevent the consumer from having a variety of choices concerning production methods.

The market is also a great place to see friends, enjoy local musicians, pick up some seriously good food, and find some well made handcrafts. All parts of the reason why it exemplifies my studies in connecting the community with the environment, and exposing how fruitful the labors can be.

Theories of Interdisciplinarity

2008-12-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Integrative Praxes: Learning from Multiple Knowledge Formations written by Richard Carp explores and expands upon William Newell’s, “A Theory of Interdisciplinary Studies.” While Newell’s theory stays within the realms of disciplinarity, Carp travels beyond these historical and cultural restraints and uncovers the goal of all our studying.

Carp’s article divulges Newell’s beliefs that the disciplines are the foundations of interdisciplinarity (p. 78). In Newell’s words, “By definition, interdisciplinary study draws insights from relevant disciplines and integrates those insights into a more comprehensive understanding” (p. 83). Carp acknowledges Newell as an integral part of defining interdisciplinarity over the last thirty years, but fears that interdisciplinary study is losing more than it gains.

Carp talks of, “…creative insurgency—a desire to change the structures through which knowledge is generated and disseminated by confounding, resisting, transforming, and replacing existing institutional forms (perhaps in perpetuity)” (p. 85). Carp describes his understanding of interdisciplinary study as, “a search not only for new ‘knowledge’ but also of new ways to know and of new ‘things’ to be known, including new social relations that generate and validate knowledge, new spatial experience giving rise to new ‘knowing subjects,’ and new dimensions for knowledge (p. 85). The Integrative Praxes article wants to push past the constraints of disciplinary structures and open up dialogue to future foundations of knowledge systems.

What I have gathered from reading this article is that Western knowledge is based on a disciplinary knowledge formation that is only two centuries old. The disciplines formed, to keep our capitalist society moving smoothly for the people who created it. With the academy in place, it solidified people’s status and the cycle began. With this new knowledge system in place other forms of attaining knowledge fell to the wayside; with new technology comes new problems needing solutions.

Carp eventually begins to use the phrase, “integrative praxes” instead of interdisciplinarity. With interdisciplinary studies relying heavily on a disciplinary foundation, Carp prefers a vocabulary that encompasses a broader range of knowledge formations. These formations would come from other forms of learning such as, the knowledge of woman and mothers, the knowledge of apprenticeship, the knowledge from our bodies, and many more. When different types of knowledge come together, Carp says life happens.

The objective of Carp’s article is to clarify that the goal of the journey of knowledge formation is to live well (p. 71). Throughout his article, Carp describes and explains that knowledge comes from everything we do not just one institution or one experience. “The world we study is the world we live, and our studying of it is one component of our living in it. But the end and goal of all our studying is our life” (p.112).

Thus far in my life, my knowledge formations for the majority have come from inside the academy. I was taught from a young age that school was the way to do what you wanted in your life. No questions asked, until I went to college. The knowledge processes I cherish, and am most passionate about have come from other sources. I have learned so much from family and family history. Travel experiences and work experiences have taught me more than I could have learned from sitting in a blank classroom. I began learning about art on my own somehow, but wanted to take classes. My art degree is coming from a foundation of disciplinarity, but I do not believe that it had to happen in that way. Through my interdisciplinary studies, I have gained the knowledge and foundation to now see this. I have learned a great deal, I do not mean to discount it, but I feel strongly that there are other ways for me to learn and I know I will discover them. The academy is only one way to form knowledge processes and now, I am more confident in exploring other means of acquiring knowledge for myself in the future.

The overall goal of “living well” along with a lifetime of learning is a belief I share with Richard Carp. Reading his article, revitalized my thoughts and feelings about a lifetime of learning. The path I have taken for knowledge, I do not feel, could have been satiated in a disciplinary department. I feel this because, “living well” is what motivates my journey and takes me to unexpected places. Knowing that I am becoming more and more comfortable as a perpetual learner.

paper 4- multi authored packet

2008-12-01T22:12:00.001-08:00

Christina Fisher
Interdisciplinary Praxis
December 2, 2008

It Really Does Take A Village…
In the multi-authored packet of information on interdisciplinarity, there are several points that explain not only what interdisciplinary studies means, but also the several ways by which to obtain the goals and why they are hard to do. Klein and Newell see the goal as being “a more comprehensive perspective”; i.e., a larger more holistic understanding of the question, problem, or issue at hand.” Today the world has many problems that can only be solved by pulling resources from many areas to achieve the most complete answer. It is true that within a given situation, one must pull from sources that do make some sense in their relations to one another. Fuller discussed the concept of “interpenetration” which is described as a “process that transforms the disciplines in ways that help them to see each other as engaged in a common enterprise. Not every discipline interacts with each other well, but finding the ones that do correlate and using them to achieve one greater good is vital.
In my concentration, environmental stewardship is a means by which certain social problems can be solved. This will require several steps. First a specific problem must be defined as having the ability to somehow be answered. Within the range of environmental concerns as well as socioeconomic ones, there is an ocean of possibility. One simply cannot justify that their knowledge of the breeding habits of whales will bring world peace. More plausible connections can however be made that can help both the environment and the quality of life for today’s children and families.
The question of helping to better the lives of children through addressing the problems of the environment concurrently is still a difficult one, which does require knowledge of several fields. One must understand from geological and environmental standpoints, what is going on with the Earth itself. Also in examining environmental links to social problems, there must be an understanding of social problems themselves. The most difficult aspect of determining an interdisciplinary course on a seemingly broad topic is that the interdisciplinary approach needs to be able to create the solution or it is not useful. Sometimes it takes a lot of simultaneous instruction or field study to see the connections that can make this happen. As the author Bal has found, there are links to sources and text from several different areas of study than can provide that more technical proof of the necessity of integration to solve an issue.
In working with children in their early years on a microscale, I got a personal view of what is needed for a child to properly grow and be well integrated into society. Strangely at first, I noticed connections between their personal environments and their personal growth. Several children had chronic asthma and could not play outdoors in temperatures that were too high because the chemical content in the air was bad for them. The ozone depletion has affected their ability to go out into the sunlight as children should. Sunlight helps the absorption of vitamin D that helps them grow strong. Children with weaker bone structure and general health in infant or toddler stages could potentially have long term problems with bone growth.. As well, their teeth may be more prone to cavities and diseases of the mouth that could later in life actually affect the heart, if badly enough infected. Also, pesticides and additives in foods and toys children put in their mouths have been linked to mental impairments and conditions from ADD to autism. One last point on this, is that the sun is vital for mental health as well, so not being able to go outside because air quality is so bad is a pretty sad thing. On the other side of the chemical coin, not using pesticides in playgrounds are leading to higher rates of tick and other insect related diseases. Parents react to these problems by trying to keep everything sanitized so much so that children as a whole are less immune to certain communicable diseases because they do not have enough healthy bacteria in their bodies, which can lead to overuse of antibiotics and steroids to combat the illnesses.
These personal issues have become wide scale because of the lack of concern for what is put into foods, toys, textiles, and building materials. Add that to the depletion of resources and the problems will only get bigger. Special needs classes are becoming more of a norm than they ever should be. Many parents who have to constantly deal with expensive treatments and schooling issues have to work longer hours to physically take care of their children especially in this economy, that families have much less time and energy for simply having fun.
The reason I chose this specific issue to describe is to illustrate how closely related we are to our habitats. Everyday lives have become very complicated, and that is before the factors of war, direct dire poverty, and natural disasters that humans are escalating with our consumption patterns; buy now, pay later. Unfortunately, people are having to pay much sooner than expected for what they do right now. This issue has to be dealt within a multidiscipline because the chain reaction it long. My personal experiences with sustainability, sociology, child care, and technology and design shape the way I will approach this issue. Changing home environments and small communities to support healthier lifestyles of the American family is a reasonable mission, but as of now, few companies and builders are as concerned as they need to be because they have not studied long term effects of fast and cheap. Being involved in community planning and home environmental counseling for families of infants is one way that can begin to reverse the downward turn. The ideas really are more like a fruit basket than a puzzle because there is no one right answer for every situation. However, noticing patterns ahead of time and trying to keep children healthy as opposed to expensively treating their illnesses, can save families money and time but more importantly, children’s present well being and future on this planet.

statement pt. 2

2008-11-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

In order to better understand international effects of business involvement, politics, and economic trends in the modern world, I will need to take a variety of courses from several disciplines related to globalization and social dynamics. The Political Science/ Anthropology course titled “Globalization” will be helpful, if not central, to my understanding of the processes surrounding global change.
The Anthropology course “Sustainable development in the Modern World System” will enable me to assess material, cultural, and social impacts on peoples around the world and in the U.S. In this course I will design a program of sustainable development in my area of focus, Latin America. This will give me analytical and problem-solving skills, and further develop my understanding of complex political and socio-economic factors involved in globalization, and specifically in Latin America. This course will build on a course I have already taken, “Principles of Sustainable Development”, which has been central to my understanding of historical, conceptual, and theoretical foundations of sustainability in relation to global issues of equity, wealth and poverty, and environments.
I will also take the Anthropology course “Agrarian Studies and Rural Development” in order to understand and analyze rural populations in the context of global economic and political influence. Because I will be focusing on Latin American populations, I will need a cultural of these populations, and thus and understanding of, and ideally a proficiency in, the Spanish language. I am taking four Spanish language courses to prepare me for studying abroad in Latin America. Spending time abroad will give me a better understanding of the culture, politics, and environment, as well as solidify and put into practice the base of Spanish that I will have accumulated.
While abroad, I specifically intend to take cultural courses, as well as language courses to increase my language proficiency. Hopefully I will be able to become familiar with the social movements resisting globalization while there. The final regionally-specific course I plan to take is the History course “Indigenous Resistance in Modern Latin America.” This course will give me an in-depth look at the social and political movements of indigenous and agrarian populations in response to forces of globalization, from an outside, academic perspective.
The effects of globalization and economic pressures are felt around the world, and resistances and uprisings are happening as a result. Because the other focus of my course of study revolves around issues of equity, democracy, power relations, and the nature of revolutions and social change in general, I will need to take courses addressing each of these topics. One course I will take is the History course “Revolutions in the Modern World.” This will develop analytical skills in comparative history, and aid in my basic understanding of the socio-economic and political forces contributing to modern revolutions and social upheavals. In order to understand the forces that impact society, and the nature of revolutions, I will take the Sociology course “Collective Behavior and Social Change.” This will give me an in-depth look at tactics, strategies, causes, and effects of social changes and upheavals. The questions of when, how, and by whom change is affected will be explored in this class.
In exploring globalization, effects on indigenous and agrarian populations, and collective behaviors of resistance, the issues of equality and power distribution will arise. To address the various problems of inequality and their consequences, I will take the Sociology course “Social Stratification.” In this course I will study the distribution of wealth, power, and privilege, and relate those studies to the current economic and political system in place in the U.S., and its spread to the global scene. Finally, I plan to take the Political Science course “Human Rights” , in order to have a solid basic understanding of what civil and political rights, among other human rights, must be preserved, and the relationship between globalization and preservation/infringement upon these rights.
From these areas of study, each related to my topic, I can gain a better understanding of globalization from various perspectives. I will develop anthropological, cultural, historical, sociological, and political understandings of the issues surrounding my study, and will consequently be equipped with analytical, comparative, and problem-solving skills to address these issues.

Senior Seminar Presentations

2008-11-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

here is the invite for our presentations.

Dear all,

I'd like to kindly invite you to the Final Project Presentations of the students in the IDS Senior Seminar. The event will take place in Price Lake Room in the Plemmons Student Union on Reading Day, December 10, between 1:00 and 3:00 PM. I hope that you will have a moment to come by and reap some of the fruits of our IDS program. I am sure that you will be fascinated by the imaginative projects and research skills of these young people. The event could also present a great opportunity for students in your IDS classes to get an idea of the program's expectations.

In hopes to see you there,
Elitza Kotzeva

Statement of Purpose II

2008-11-18T06:24:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Hunt

Banner ID

Statement of Purpose

My concentration is Environmental and Social Aware Event Promotion, with specific attention toward the music industry.

My reason for attending college and the goals within the system have changed over the years. Initially, I thought college a necessity solely because I could obtain the necessary tools that are required in finding a “good” job. However, in part due to my change to IDS and part due to my personal working experience outside of college, I now recognize immeasurable knowledge as the primary advantage and goal of higher education. This realization is what I have focused my concentration around; approaching business with a higher value on social and environmental aspects, instead of success in terms of monetary value. My goal within the IDS program is to understand underlying themes from several theories of thought, which help connect the bigger picture. Specifically, I intend to draw strengths from social and environment ways of thought to help personalize and create my own niche within the business world. I need to fulfill a greater understanding of business than any business degree can offer. I need to understand why people work, specifically what fuels the overall working class, as well as the individual. In addition, I need to learn how my actions within event promotion affect the current and future state of the environment. Overall, by combining my past courses and major of Business Management with my current IDS courses, I wish to finally merge the gap between business and social and environment awareness. I hope to combine my concerns for the environment and social justice, with a successful and profitable event promotions career.

My first two years of college were spent at a private, liberal arts school, Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. I was a double major in Economics and Political Science. Looking back, doubling in those two majors was the closest thing to an IDS degree at that particular school. When I transferred to Appalachian State, I immediately declared myself as a Business Management Major. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the raw, fundamental style of teaching, I yearned for something deeper. Possibly because I transferred, I was unaware of the IDS program all together, until my friend discussed his enjoyment within the program. Though I regret the length of time spent outside of IDS, I do not regret the knowledge learned. By taking nearly 4 years of some type of business, I was able to build a firm base of solid tools and tactics to enter the overbearing business world.

All my different backgrounds, such as my two prior majors as well as my personal working experience, blend perfectly with my IDS major. This past year, I was bitten strongly by the entrepreneurial bug, pushing me to start my own business; Black Paw Entertainment, LLC. I, along with my friend and partner, created our own Promotion and Production Company, with the idea of organizing the first, all green Music Festival in Boone. After a years worth of fundraising, booking entertainment, marketing, advertising, management, and finally production, our event was a huge success. Our event, Music on the Mountain which took place August 23^rd, 2008, was Boone’s largest music festival in nearly a decade drawing out over 2,500 attendees. We incorporated over ten non profits which specialize in renewable and alternative energy, as well as social justice. My move to IDS is in big part due to my journey with my business. There are countless music festivals offered today; however, few have tried combining raising awareness of social and environment issues as part of their overall scheme. These events are important because they are my medium to which I transfer other important life messages, such as sustainable living. Moreover, I use my business background to gage the correct logistics of large scale production, such as budgeting, finances, and break even points. By switching to IDS, and creating my own major, I can bring in the last aspects of my goal. I am now learning through Histories of Knowledge how and why people work, as well as how to plan and produce an event without destroying the land, though my Sustainable Development courses. Through the IDS program and my major I am able to carve out a new niche in event promotion.

It is extremely apparent that a regular major and minor within the business school would not suffice my goals and aspirations. I wanted more than the basic fundamental skills taught by a business school. I intend to draw upon many different aspects and relate them all back to my personal career goal, event promotion. The IDS program enables me to pull ideas from Marx Capitalism and fuse them with an environmental policy. I am free to fully understand, a privilege every college student should experience.

faith ringgold--

2008-11-18T05:21:00.000-08:00

artist Faith Ringgold is coming to speak wednesday the 19th at 7pm---
she uses quilting to tell stories--which are really amazing-- one of them was in the Raleigh art museum i think----- she really is a fascinating person and a very good storyteller--and i am sure this event will be as well

Statement of Purpose II

2008-11-18T03:29:00.001-08:00

William Lehman

Statement of Purpose II

I will have studied my particular interdisciplinary concentration by specifying my study of Asia to mainly Japanese based courses but then tried to expand the genre of my study to include: Language, Culture, Society, Identity, History, Anthropology, Geography, Religion, and Nutrition. I will have taken classes like Japanese Society and Identity through Literature, Japanese Society through the Visual Arts of Manga, Modern Japanese History, and hopefully Russo-Japanese Relations. I have already taken two Independent Studies with my Japanese teacher Misa Yamamoto. In these classes we had a focus on integration, a study of interaction, language, and modern conceptions. All of these classes are very relevant to my course of study because they all will have prepared me for integration into the Japanese school system and to educate Japanese students. Understanding that I will have to cross the cultural gap of the Japanese classroom is part of this educational agenda.
To further help me with teaching skills and getting into the Japanese mindset I was also an Instructional Assistant with Appalachian State’s Japanese classes. Here I learned to focus my methodologies and get some real world application of language learning from an instructor’s view point. An invaluable experience that gave me a better idea of what I have to look forward to in the educational field.
My minor courses are all based around Teaching English as a Second Language. I took these in order to be a more efficient teacher to non-native speakers. While in these courses I worked closely with exchange students and local non-native speakers to increase their fluency. Those are examples of how I will apply the knowledge I acquire in these courses. The courses have also allowed me to compile my personal pedagogy and a small lesson plan for second language acquisition to Japanese youth and post them to a personal webpage. http://appstate.edu/~wl65727/philosophic.html
All of the classes I will have taken are relevant to my course of study, because they all will have prepared me for integration into the Japanese school system and to educate Japanese students. Because, it is my personal pedagogy to attempt to meet the students in a realm they know and can freely expand in, so that inspiring a thirst for knowledge is easier attained.
To further understand language I have sat in on, and attempted to fit into my course load, some other language courses that would help me as a language teacher. I attempted to fit an Arabic class to analyze the different language structure and therefore the teaching methods that accompany it. I also sat in on some Latin classes in order to help with root word and language progression over time. Understanding where a language comes from is very important to learning the flow of the language. And finally I completed a course in Introductory American Sign Language. It is a little more non-traditional then most languages but still a viable and important one. Like Japanese it is a high context language and requires a different mindset completely then English. Showing how culture plays strongly into the picture.

statement of purpose part 2

2008-11-17T21:45:00.000-08:00

Christina Fisher
Statement of purpose, ii
November 18, 2008

Social justice through Environmental Stewardship

Social justice through environmental stewardship: a long string of words which simply entertain the notion that the only way to address today’s social problems is to address that of a fragile environment as well. Environmental stewardship is a concept or personal ethic which guides one to seek integration of several areas of community life to achieve the great goal of sustainability of resources in such a way that will extend or improve life on this earth for everyone. In seeking social justice, one must also weed through the various causes of family and community deterioration, such as wasteful consumerism in a tight budgeted economy.
Being that there are several avenues one can go down to incorporate these two issues in a constructive way, it is not always easy to decide which one to take. However, my background in interior design and building technologies, sociology, anthropology, and family and consumer sciences, has given a base for recognition that issues weighing heavily on society and the world at large put direct strain on the American family.
Experiences with the Tarahumara peoples of Chihuahua, Mexico during a crisis of famine caused by drought and McComb, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina show an inextricable link between environment and social problems of families affected. Believing in the truth that “you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but teach him to fish and feed him forever”, makes the idea of working through issues from a more intimate level within communities appealing. What I learned especially from those situations is that Band-Aids only hold for so long in a crisis, but teaching people to live in a way that may lessen the brunt of a crisis before it occurs is more helpful. Also, building a strong sense of pride in their homes and faith in their communities to help one another can allow people to see the effects they have in the world and how important their roles in making positive ones can make people think twice about the weight of their personal decisions.
Being that stewards are the role models for the younger generations to look up to and learn from, parents and primary care takers of young children can make a huge impact in the future of the children if given the right tools. As money is tight nationwide and workdays are becoming increasingly longer to make ends meet, family health emotionally and physically can often get pushed onto the back burner, until symptoms are too large to ignore. However, there are several ways to help stimulate the healthy growth of a child by taking the time early in their lives to provide a safe and clean home and teach them responsibility through role modeling and play. Creating a good foundation for children in their early years will ultimately better their adult life and decision making. Incorporating actions of environmental stewardship through home activity as well as community involvement can be done if we as a society start to see our children as the gems that they are, as well as seeing what we have around us that can be utilized creatively.
Through classes as social problems in America; social deviance; criminology; gender, race and class; and even the addictive process and propaganda, I learned how our society works. How we treat one another based on social precepts brings understanding of the types of consumers we are of this world, and why we feel certain wants as needs, and how to redirect those desires positively. Through classes such as color and light in interior design, chemistry of consumer textiles, and building materials and finishes I learned not only just the aesthetic components of the home but also how color, lighting, and chemicals affect the general well being of people in homes as well as how to design efficiently for the economy and energy. Family development over the life cycle; Bodies, spaces, places, time and things; relationships; and my experiences as a nanny for children of special needs I learned the challenges of raising families through adversity as well as how individuals relate to one another in this culture and how to reach seemingly unreachable kids. Through my art classes and relationships to dance and music in the cognitive processes of infant and toddlers, I learned how to ease transitions and learning through creative and highly energetic means.
In continuing this process of helping households become homes that become community, I will be taking courses in child development, Birth-2, family economics, society and technology, planning for communities, social issues and ethics, environmental ethics for a more comprehensive arrangement of skills to help working class parents feel empowered in a non-abrasive way.
Along with my coursework incorporating social concerns and illustrating that the power of simple changes, I am planning to host a Boone version of a program from the West Coast called “swap-o-rama mama” in which the community gets involved in donating clothes and infant items, with the opportunity to trade for what they need. As well there will be on –hand volunteers with sewing skills who can revitalize or reconfigure outfits from favorite items, including the ever-popular baby blankets, in exchange for the opportunity to sell their own crafts, clothing or accessories. This process started in revolt to the amount of waste that good clothing materials take up in landfills as well as redeeming value from used items people felt original in the process, coming home with creations that are truly one of a kind in a fun community building exercise. Extra items or proceeds go to benefit organizations such as “women to work”. Having been involved in a large chain of traders of clothing and other expensive items through many children’s first three years, I saw the power of saving money, which freed people to have more fun with their families, knowing there was a network to help; but the ability to return the favor is empowerment of a much larger scale. Sustainability of this earth depends on the ability to convince people why it is worth it. If you reach out to people where they are and impact them directly in a positive and approachable way, you spread the seeds that will eventually lead to a great flourishing of our global community.

IDS Statement of Purpose 2

2008-11-17T21:14:00.001-08:00

Oliver 1

Brianna Oliver
Professor Stranovski
IDS 3150-101
18 November 2008
IDS Statement of Purpose 2
My course of study through the Interdisciplinary department was already somewhat planned out for me as I am taking the Third World Studies track, from which I choose specific classes in different categories already laid out, but what makes it interesting for me is how I am able to choose these classes and enjoy them. Because I am only a sophomore I am still managing my way through General Studies finishing core classes to graduate, but now beginning my track towards an Interdisciplinary degree is promising for what lays ahead in my coursework for the major.
My interest is within Latin American Studies, so my intention is to take classes geared towards a possible minor or just an emphasis in this field with the Interdisciplinary degree. So far with this I have began the Spanish track, just now in 1010, and will complete this next year. I have also taken Geography of Latin America this semester which has compelled me even more to take interest in the affairs of the Latin countries. Aside from this I plan to take course involving Latin American politics and history.
I also hope to take various types of courses like World Music, political classes, historical classes, literature classes, and anything else that sounds interesting to me. It is exciting to get the opportunity for variety in life, particularly while studying, and look
Oliver 2
forward to my next few semesters at Appalachian State in terms of what I will learn and take from each course.
In terms of integrated studies I feel like my two degrees I am working towards (Communication Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies) complete the idea of “integration”. Most people question my sanity when I tell them my course of study at Appalachian State, but when it comes to the motivation behind the two degrees, it makes sense to some after. Thus far I have taken classes based on public speaking and the incentive behind mass societies while simultaneously looking at the spatial distributions of Latin American indigenous populations and learning the basics of the Spanish language. I honestly would not have it any other way. So far these have aided in my sense of what I want to do and how, despite such different subjects, everything can interlock in some way or other. The interactions and communication between foreign relations directly affects the people involved, creating the basis for my studies and what I hope to potentially get from both.
Overall I anticipate what I will learn, but it is hard to get a good sense of what the outcome will be since I am still so young in my education process. The courses I look forward to taking are forthcoming, but I have gotten a good start in both of my fields and feel secure that I will be learning the things I wish to learn and take with me post-graduation.

Envisioning Bodies of Knowledge Situated in their Habitat

2008-11-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

Theories of Interdisciplinarity
Envisioning Bodies of Knowledge Situated in their Habitat
John Fitzgerald

In Richard Carp’s article Integrative Praxes: Learning from Multiple Knowledge Formations, he seeks to respond to a Newell article and sharpens and focuses his view of Interdisciplinarity. Although summarizing Carp’s underlying theories of interdisciplinarity would provide analysis of his view, the method which seems more appropriate would be to draw contrast between the articulation of his view and how he differentiates it from Newell’s article. Studying under Carp leads to the assumption that our statements and our knowledge are situated within our bodies that also are situated within larger bodies in both the physical and mental senses. This flexible perspective of relationships allows for in-depth observation and the formation of knowledge through immersion in experiential learning and the recognition of patterns that are then further developed through the repetitive expression of relevant thought patterns. Learning relative ways for well being through the individualized and collective experiences we live, and building knowledge formations from well planned and correctly placed thoughts or truths from multiple fields or disciplines. Rather than confining interdisciplinarity to the weaving of theories from different disciplines to create a fabric of knowledge, the fitting metaphor would involve the formation of a new entity through the complete combination of the ingredients. Cooking soup, or baking bread, in the vein of addition of different properties and introduction of heat to disassemble the ingredients into basic elements which are then melded together to form a soup or loaf of bread. Although as metaphors often go some would prefer the term stew to relate to the degree of intertwining involved in the process, while others would yet still prefer cake. Whether the preference is for soup or stew the main ideals remain present. There will always be discussion as to the relevance of the disciplines in interdisciplinary studies as Carp sees it, and as long as the discussion resembles conversation rather than argumentation it will continue to be considered interdisciplinary or one of its synonyms and will deserve a presence in the academic realm. A presence that is much needed for the constant analysis required of the disciplines, and for the construction of new disciplines.

This view of interdisciplinarity can remain consistent when applied to the specific concentration of environmental policy and planning. The statement of purpose poses a useful synopsis description, “By combining a background in science with the perspectives of economics, planning, and political science, students will have the opportunity to consider public responses to ecological issues.” This initial section is a simplified statement regarding the specific disciplines that are highlighted within the concentration. The actual knowledge formations composed from the ideas generated in each field combining together form the interdisciplinary context of the concentration, while each field on it’s own is still grounded in the traditional structuring of university systems. The second part of the statement of purpose is where the concrete proof of the interdisciplinary weight of this concentration are conveyed, “They will learn to formulate and implement creative but practical public policy and procedures regarding the environment.” This portion ends the statement because it situates this concentration of knowledge in the abyssal space created between the planes of thought represented by disciplinary thought in comparison to the thought of knowledge as formations created between disciplinary planes. It ties together the disciplines to focus the concentration towards applying the skills and understanding acquired from each separate discipline in a new way that expresses a creative, progressive, and encompassing method of working within the world. Situating yourself as a knower in the world can be related to many different fields of study, however there are strong resemblances of interdisciplinary thought within environmental thought. The realization of the mind/body connection and the necessity of interaction with an intellectual and constructively critical social structure to justify and credit pursuits of truth are key requirements of both planes of thought. Overall the most significant requirement of pursuing truth in both interdisciplinarity and in environmentalism would be to never discredit ideas based on their initial perception, and to recognize the proper function of “gate keeping” in the development of these constantly changing fields. That is, understanding to what degree new ideas are accepted or published in the studies of interdisciplinary work, the importance of this filtration, and how it impacts the development of new fields by IDS.

This discussion of interdisciplinarity in comparison with the concentration of environmental policy and planning exposes the open fluidity required from serious attempts to study within these fields. There is great discipline required to open ones mind to many specific fields that could potentially (and often do) swallow people whole, and fight them off only to tame them and drive them in a co-coordinated manner towards a higher function. However there are some over-arching goals that require the strength to manage multiple planes of knowledge and access their inner workings in a functional and efficient manner. Interdisciplinary thought helps maintain a level of sanity when continually diving back and forth between multiple different pools of information. Tying together the anthropological, political, economical, and planning aspects of environmentalism requires lots of skill in managing, organizing, analyzing, and proper application of energy. Being situated between these heavily codependent social factors places the EP&P concentration on a balance beam of compromise. As is evident in much environmental work, as well as IDS work, patience functions as lubrication to a complex system of thought and action. Again discipline is largely a necessary trait of complicated realms of study. A current issue within this field is disregard for environment and disenfranchisement of people by large profit driven corporations. Beyond social control factors, are the instances of corruption within political systems driven by capitalistic greed. The method that seems to be arising in social and civil rights struggles is the promotion of popular resistance to this unfounded power. Although we have made great strides in improvement in the social, civil and political zones, if action is not kept persistent existing powers will see to the destruction of every step that has been taken rather. Informing ourselves about what is occurring in the world is a responsibility that we accept if we wish to act with political significance in mind. Analyzing and forming decisions on what we observe and recognizing the affective methods to fight for recognition of human rights and against environmental degradation are two main methods for combating these challenges. Helping disenfranchised people organize and assert their legal rights is a large part in the war of environmental protection, and putting an end to the destructive actions taken unjustly and defended by corruption and greed.

Campus Events

2008-11-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

Apple iMovie Contest

The first campus event I attended was the Apple iMovie Contest and Festival. Being a film studies major I thought this would be so much fun. First I had to find some people to help me come up with a proposal for the theme ‘An Appalachian Experience,’ and then submit it to the two guys in charge. I ended up working with two close friends and we came up with the idea of a mockumentary of a day in the life of an Appalachian student. The only thing was that the day before we were to start the ‘documentary’ the main character’s girlfriend dumped him, so he’s just trying to get through the day so he can hang out with his friends at night. He ends up seeing Sara, his ex, just about everywhere he goes, so he gets frustrated and eventually ends up at Cook Out.
Everything for the contest was provided for us. We got a video camera for a week to shoot all of our footage, and then the next week they provided us with MacBook Pro laptops to edit on. Even though we only had about two weeks to make these films it was so much fun! My group did all of our shooting in two days but then had a few problems transferring the footage to the laptop. We got the film done and turned in on time and then we just had to wait until the premiere date to watch all the other ones. There were originally about ten groups but only four made it to the end. Out of the four groups my group got best drama and we won some things from the bookstore along with gift cards around Boone and two free lift tickets to App Ski Mountain.
I would say that this event was interdisciplinary because I had to draw from different disciplines. I had to draw from previous knowledge about shooting and editing. I had to draw from emotional experiences and think of what other people would think or feel in similar situations, and I also had to think about what would be appropriate or acceptable to the judges.

Appalachian Leadership Forum

The second event that I attended was ALF, the Appalachian Leadership Forum. This event started with a key note speaker and then had three different sessions that had about four or five speakers each on different topics. The key note speaker talked about failure and how for you to succeed you have to fail first. He was a little dry but he got his point across. The sessions I attended were ‘Finding a Job: making your resume,’ ‘Civic Involvement,’ and ‘Financial Planning.’ Then after the sessions there were refreshments and a concluding speech by the Leadership Team.
The first session I attended was very eye opening to me. I had not put a resume together before this because I did not really know how. Now I have a general idea of how but I do not have very many things to put on it. If I were to make one right now all it would have on it would be my education history and the one club I am a member of. The session went beyond resumes too, which was nice. The speaker also talked about what to do after you land an interview. Overall, that session was every informative.
The next session I attended was ‘Civic Involvement,’ and I did not particularly enjoy it. It was informative, but not my cup of tea. The speakers talked about problems in the local, state, and country-wide environments and economies. My only contribution to this session was that I thought the campus smoking policy should be strictly enforced. I have asthma so it is hard for me to breathe when there are people all around me smoking constantly. We talked about how to strictly enforce the policy, but there really is no way to ensure enforcement. I have not seen anyone actually enforce this policy and it is very upsetting. I’m sure that if someone were to say something to someone smoking less than 50 feet from any campus building nothing would happen short of a flick on the wrist or a disappointing finger shake.
The last session I attended was just about as eye opening as the first. I am no good with managing money and this only furthered my fear of being on my own. The speakers talked about IRAs and managing your money and estate and even talked about insurance, death, and wills. After the session I walked out scared to graduate and be out from under my parents insurance!
I would definitely say that this event was interdisciplinary because it took from many different disciplines. Some of the other speakers in the three sessions that were offered talked about Yoga, playing games to de-stress, time management, and making and keeping commitments. I only wish there had been more than three sessions because I would have liked to have gone to more of the presentations.

Campus Events

2008-11-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

Campus Event #1 Dance Marathon
For my campus event I went to Dance Marathon this past weekend. This is an annual event where students pledge to raise $240 and then come and dance for 24 hours. All of the money raised goes to Parent to Parent Family Support Network which is an organization that works with families who have children with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or who have passed away. They connect families and have support groups to assist parents in the transitions as well as in coping. The other organization is Western Youth Network that works to give positive influences to middle school youth in the high country through mentoring, tutoring and after school programs. This year we had 70 full time dancers and a good amount of morale dancers, people who come for 2 hour time slots to support dancers. This was an event that I posted to the blog because it is a fundraiser. I want to make a non-profit and in order to do that I have to learn to write grants and use the local community to help fund the program.
I was the chair for this event and responsible for over seeing all the positions and committee members. My job included running the planning meetings and checking in with team members to make sure they were following through with their responsibilities. We had 8 volunteer committee members who met twice a week. Positions included food chair that was responsible for getting food donations for the day of, the advertisement chair that created posters and flyers to get the word out, community partner chair that worked side by side with the Executive Directors of the organizations, as well as a fundraising chair, entertainment chair, and a registration chair. This event, more the planning of it could be considered interdisciplinary because it took a lot of different skills to pull it off. We needed to know how to draw peoples attention to get them interested, how to budget and stay within our limits, how to ask for donations and write letters for businesses, etc. This event takes integrated knowledge from several areas of study.
Three days after the event, I am still recovering but it was worth it. Western Youth Network and Parent to Parent received a little over $10,000 and now have money to continue their efforts to help out the community. This was a great event to get involved in, especially to prepare myself for the future.

Campus Event #2: The Tunnel of Oppression
For my second event I went to the Tunnel of Oppression this past week. This is a great and very impacting event that is put on by SGA every year. I have gone the past three years and every time I learn something new and am impacted in a new way. The people who participate and help in putting it on transform the Blue Ridge Ballroom in the Student Union. The rooms are divided among issues and show a different act of oppression. You walk into this dark room to come across a wall of words, some you know and some you don’t. The words are of hate, and sometimes you use them not knowing the context behind them and also who the word is offending. The next section you walk into is video clips of past events, clips from Philadelphia showing hatred against the homosexual population, scenes from the Pianist that shows the Holocaust and the horrible treatment of Jews and more. Other rooms show sexual assault, abuse, self-image and eating disorders, disabilities, and racial issues. Each scene has people acting or talking and then facts that are given about the issue. At the end, and this part is my favorite, they give students the opportunity to express their feelings on what they just saw. You can read comments others have made and it is interesting to hear what they do. A lot of people are shocked at what they hear, or angry. Many emotions are played out in this tunnel. The group you walk through with is then led to a room where they can have a discussion about what they learned or found interesting.
This is an event that could be considered interdisciplinary because it takes a lot of planning and thought process to make sure that students learn and are rattled in their standings, but not offended or close minded in the process. Many different campus groups came together to put this event on and each bring different skills and talents to it. I as an attendee had to draw from all of the disciplines I have studied in order to get the most of it. Knowing the history of oppression helps to internalize what is happening now as well as what could happen in the future.
This is a great event that everyone should attend. You learn a lot and it is free, so why not!?

Theories of Interdisciplinary

2008-11-17T20:05:00.001-08:00

Kegan Refalo
Moving through these lines of text was a mix of nostalgic rediscovery and head-tilting reinterpretation. My reading of “Interactive Praxis: Learning from Multiple Knowledge Formations” was situated in my past experience of being a student and advisee of Richard Carp. The article felt like a synthesized version of the course, “Histories of Knowledges,” that first introduced me to Carp and the Interdisciplinary program at Appalachian. I was surprised to see how I have employed the concepts discussed in this article in my IDS: individually designed major and senior thesis project.

In this article Carp is responding to William Newell’s work “A Theory of Interdisciplinary Studies.” Carp critiques Newell’s article because he presupposes a common understanding of the term interdisciplinary, an understanding that situates disciplines as unquestioned natural occurrences. Newell’s position also ignores the body and inhibits the progression into the unknowable future (2001, p. 87).

Carp details his argument against rallying behind the term interdisciplinary because the term focuses too much on disciplines, thus erasing the legitimacy of non-academic knowledge formations (2001, p. 75). It ignores the history, the power dynamics and the cultural situation of disciplines, of research, and of knowledge. Carp suggests that the tendency of interdisciplinary studies to ask questions and find solutions only within the pre-established boundaries of disciplines and thus academia, limits the person’s ability to progress into the unforeseeable future (2001, p. 87). Disciplines, instead, serve the economy and the industrial complex. The false notion of objectivity is used to support and create the hierarchy of knowledge that lines more pocket than it expands minds. He also discusses the absence of bodies in the discussion of knowledges and in the structures of imparting knowledge on to others. Academia trains the body to be disciplined, still and invisible (2001, p. 101), which is counter to the lived experience of knowledge formation where formation, knowing, learning, and investigation all intermingled and dynamic (2001, p. 75).

Carps discussion on knowledge formation can be compared to a mobius strip where there is no beginning or end and all oppositions are inherently integrated and codependent. He “propose[s] that we abandon altogether the metaphor of “interdisciplinary” and its dependence on the image of the disciplines, replacing it with an image of integrative praxis that learn from multiple knowledge formations.” (2001, p. 109). He focuses on the importance in integration as a way to employ all of the tools available in order to actualize “living well,” which he sees as the aim of reason (2001, p. 73).

The desire to take theories and apply them to the world in a way that improves the daily quality of life is a main motivation for my concentration. I have come to terms with the reality that I cannot aspire to change the minds of others or inspire empathy. However I can provide tools. I can send ripples in the pond of status quo to stir the American zombies. I can believe in the ideal of “mindful bodies and embodied minds.” (2001, p. 87). My concentration on fashion draws upon the inclusion of the body as a legitimate source of knowledge. It supports the inclusion of visual signifiers, as embedded semiotic codes, in the meaning making process. My concentration draws from numerous disciplines, from my memories, lived experiences and observations of my surrounding communities. I could not properly articulate “fashion as a social skin” without this foundation of knowledge formations, which relay on the interdependencies of theory and praxis and of academic and non-academic knowledge.

An interesting point made by Carp is how the formation of disciplines and the western academic structure is dependent on the formation of a new understanding of self. The modern idea of an engaged self that is actively education, examining and inscribing their discoveries upon their bodies is foundational to my analysis of the role of fashion in the display of the self. Especially Haraway’s idea that the self is never a finished whole, but constantly being constructed and “stitched together.” (2001, p. 74). The fluidity of fashion that I propose is the praxis of the fluidity of self. I see fashion as a conversation. It is a negotiation between intention, contexts and environment. It is simultaneously an exploration and formation of knowledges.

As I solidify my senior thesis project, I struggle with what information should be included. I have a wide base of theory and study situated within disciplines. I have the last four years of poignant experiences in fashion related spaces and analysis. Theses experiences are built upon memories, memories that until recent reflection I was unaware of their influence on my ideas. I am situated in layers of context and acutely aware of my subjectivity. It is my narrative that keeps sparking people’s attention. It is the non-disciplinary knowledge that enriches my thesis and enables it to be more accessible. I choose to create an artist’s book instead of a research thesis paper because I wanted to engage the body. The formation of the book brought to surface my narrative. Presently, I am interweaving the theory, my narrative, images of my body and interactive textural elements into the presentation of my thesis. This culmination of my last four and a half years of studying is an integrated praxis of my knowledge formations. It is a manifestation of my attempt to “ imagine the world so that [my] imaginings reveal us to be in that very world [I am] imagining.” (2001, p. 111). My artist’s book is a conversation with the reader; it is the most recent manifestation of the “conversation without end” that I am engaging in as a knower.

Campus Events

2008-11-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

For my two campus events, I attended the opening of the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Turchin Center and the Tunnel of Oppression. Both of these events can be described as interdisciplinary as well as related to my specific area of study.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts started The Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy program to broaden the publics’ access to Warhol’s work. They managed to do this by donating 28,500 original Polaroid’s and silver gelatin prints to universities across the country. The Turchin Center was given 102 Polaroid’s and 50 black and white photographs to add to their permanent collection.

The Turchin center displayed Warhol’s photos from wall to wall as well as displaying a replica of one of Andy Warhol’s New York studios. This particular studio Andy and friends had covered the entire space in silver foil and metallic paint. So in one corner of the Turchin center, there was a mock up of this silver space. There was also two photo booths set up in the center of the exhibit so anyone and everyone could have their turn at being one of Andy’s photo subjects.

This exhibit and event can be described as interdisciplinary for many reasons. One, the artist himself was commenting on the art world, popular culture, and societal issues. Two, by the way this concept was both captured and displayed pulls from many different disciplines and viewpoints.

The second event I attended was the Tunnel of Oppression, which was held in the Blue Ridge Ballroom. This was my first experience with this event and it was an interesting one. You are guided through the different scenes depicting oppression as a small group. You witness reenactments of oppression in its many forms. I remember seeing and hearing a Native American tell about how little Native culture is left. I remember seeing racial scenes from movies, physical and mental abuse, the forced separation and brutal shower deaths from the holocaust, trans gendered discrimination in the workplace, wheelchair bound persons talking about inability to get around on campus, and many other scenarios. After the guided tour was over, our group was lead to a room to discuss what we had all just experienced.

This event could also be described as interdisciplinary on many levels. Again, for the concept coming from many forms of oppression and also how this idea was displayed to the viewer. It was a performance piece speaking on the issue of oppression, which is an interdisciplinary approach.

2008-11-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

The Tunnel of Oppression is being held on Monday, November the 10th from 5-10pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of the Student Union. The tunnel is a maze of scenes of oppression affecting various groups, ranging from transgender workplace discrimination to eating disorders to individuals living with AIDS. It is generally an intense and thought provoking experience, and I highly recommend attending. I will be performing this year, and I hope to see a few of y'all there...

it is free, btw.

Campus Events Paper

2008-11-04T06:11:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Hunt
IDS Praxis
11/4/08
Two Events

Campus Events

I attended the speech by Robert Kennedy Jr. at Farthing Auditorium on Oct. 23^rd as one of my two campus events. I thoroughly enjoyed this event, and was able to connect and take away a lot from his beliefs. I consider myself fortunate to hear first hand Mr. Kennedy speak, mainly because an essential part of my major and business deals directly with sustainable living. Though I was aware of his current activism, I did not know his extensive background and educational resume, which built upon the respect I already had for him.

My favorite part was when he got off topic, which was roughly the last hour. He seemed truly passionate, not taking a glance at a single note card or referencing a power point. Throughout that rant, I connected most with his approach toward the issues. Too many speakers and politicians today give the obvious problem, but offer no answer. Kennedy gave a specific and direct plan which would not only help our current environmental crisis, but also directly benefit our economic status.

I was also very fortunate to know the director of Appalachian Voices because we worked together on my green event this past Fall. She was able to let me go early to the event and meet with Mr. Kennedy very shortly. He was just as warm and approachable in person as his presence on stage.

I relate this event to IDS because his speech was formulated from many different aspects; environmental, social, and economically. Kennedy tied in both current and past examples to strengthen his arguments. He used the multidisciplinary route as well to highlight his main points on environmental activism.

The second event I attended was the Do it to Julia CD Release show, hosted by APPS and Split Rail Records at Legends, Oct. 29^th. This was a very fun show and the music was amazing. Do it to Julia is a band made up of all ASU students and over the last year have been boosted up and supported by the ASU community tremendously.

It related to IDS because there were several different, yet similar organizations working together to produce one event. Split Rail Records, the student run record label, and APPS, the student run promotional team, organized, promoted, and produced the event. They used print, radio, and tv promotion to help spread the word prior to the show. APPS monitored the music and sound and provided the essential necessities for a live music show.

Statement of Purpose Part Two

2008-11-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

Erin Devlin
Statement of Purpose: Part Two

My Interdisciplinary studies have been more of a natural progression than a strict plan of attack. My art degree, linked with my Interdisciplinary work has given way to a bigger picture of my overall lifestyle than just a four-year degree track.
To earn my degree, with a major in Art and a minor in interdisciplinary studies I have had to take many classes that may not outwardly seem to relate, but they have all come together to give me a foundation for a lifetime of study. The art classes that I have chosen to take were very basically because of interest. However, paired with my interdisciplinary classes, those art classes taught me more than just the ability to work with a particular medium, they taught me life lessons that I will take with me forever.
A perfect example was my decision to take a ceramics class. I had always admired my fellow classmates who could work functionally and conceptually with clay, but more importantly I admired their patience with the clay. At that time I was apprenticing with a jeweler and my lack of patience was a common conversation topic. The retired jeweler was now working with clay and when I had some down time in the studio I would wander around looking at different pieces he was working on. I would always ask him about different surfaces he had created and he would always reply with the same answer, patience, you have to be patient. I enrolled in the ceramics course, yes to play with clay, but also to slow down and be patient with a new art form. By no means did I master the art of patience, but when working with a new medium, you have to be patient. Many of my art classes have been taken to learn a bit about the medium, but also they all teach so much more, and the student has to decide how those lessons shape over time.
Besides ceramics, my art degree has taken me through two drawing courses, which have developed my skill of observation and given me the ability to sketch out my ideas. I have taken metals classes purely on the love of casting and the dirtiness of it. I have taken art history classes, which give me a basis, sculpture classes, which entertained my childhood imagination, a fibers course, and currently a bookbinding course to broaden my ideas and interests in art.
The interdisciplinary courses I have taken helped me to make connections where otherwise I might not have. The most helpful and meaning course I have taken in IDS is by far Histories of Knowledge’s. It gave me the tools to be able to be comfortable in the sometimes-uncomfortable grey areas of life and experiences. I have taken a Chinese medicine course that taught me the philosophy and culture behind this form of healthcare. It also appeased my interest in acupuncture, medicinal herbs, and overall well being. Through IDS I have also studied at Penland, which taught me that learning does not end once you’re out of school. Penland also taught me that there are many ways of accomplishing a task, you just have to find or create a way that works for you. All of my Interdisciplinary and art courses have taught me something, whether I see it now or will recognize it in the future.
I have chosen to approach my studies in this fashion because it seems like a natural progression. In my opinion, learning is not a concrete structure. Instead you, follow the route to get to your specific destination. However, once on that route, you may find you need to go this way or that depending on what you have learned thus far. It is constantly changing, therefore I know I am a life long learner and my December graduation is only a point along my way.

Campus Events

2008-11-04T02:42:00.000-08:00

William Lehman
IDS 3300-101
Dr. Derek Stanovsky
November 4, 2008
Campus Events

On October 6th, I attended a small lecture/informational meeting in Raley Hall. The event was hosted by a Business school professor; the guest was a multi-cultural, international businessman. He has worked significantly in globalistic settings. He spoke mainly on the inter-cultural struggles that he has overcome as an African educated in China and now working mainly with Germany, Mexico, and the United States. He discussed how he had overcome language barriers and how he had to struggle to connect to workers in the manufacturing plant in Mexico. He also talked about how we should have a very open mindset when working in an international setting.
This was an Interdisciplinary event because there was a melding of Linguistic, Socio-Political, and International Business. I consider this event a Socio-Political because he spoke of trying to understand the workings of the group in an official and unofficial setting. There is also an aspect of Linguistics portion to the lecture because of how of the language barriers that must be overcome to accurately represent expectations and meaning. International Business from the aspect of how a global business should be approached and managed.
The second event I attended was, on October 10th, the High Country Global Opportunities Conference. It was hosted by the AIESIC Club on campus; the guests were several successful business men ranging from niche entrepreneurs (Freddie Davis), to government employees from the US Dept. of Commerce (Greg Sizemore). The US Commercial Service is a government office that is there to help businesses go international, because of the significant amount of revenue that can be made through international trading. The business men went over the market that is available for us to capitalize on.
The Opportunity Conference was not particularly interdisciplinary. There was a significant amount of knowledge to be gained but it was mostly economical, possibly some International Law but to no great extent beyond that. It was informative but altogether not very helpful to me furthering education in Interdisciplinarity.

statement of purpose -part one

2008-11-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

Christina Fisher

November 4, 2008

Statement of Purpose: Part One

In the field of Interdisciplinary Studies, I am self-designing a program that merges the concept of environmental stewardship with the social and emotional growth of our young people. In 2000, I began my study in the field of Interior Design. I planned to design rooms ergonomically fit for small children. I had been a child care provider from a middle school age. In working with small children, I actively studied phases of developmental growth and tools by which to best facilitate that growth and learning in early childhood. I soon realized that a lot of struggles that young children dealt with the fact that they are very small in a big world. Preschool aged children can often learn to accomplish tasks mentally before they may so easily do them physically. In many situations, adjustments of chair height and ease of access to move from room to room as well as the ability to reach their own things gives them the confidence to explore beginning skills in areas earlier than if they to have constant help.

I originally thought that in would spend my life as a care giver because of all the wonderful things that little ones have to offer. However, in realizing the growing need for child friendly furniture and organization, I felt that an interior design degree would allow me the access to better achieve my ultimate goal of aiding in the development of the children. As I studied design, I also took classes in several other disciplines that I felt would help my future in the field. As I got further in my degree program I realized that the classes I liked the most and I felt satisfied my general goals, would only be a small niche in the design field, but seemed to come together for something that I was not quite sure at that time.

I have completed minors in sociology and art, which helped me see deeper into the roots of why children learn the way they do, what stands in their way, and a myriad of possibilities to facilitate better family communications and household needs with an approach that can hold their attention. At that time, as well, I was learning about issues in our society at large that were beginning to emerge.

By 2005, I felt that I needed time to reflect on what I was actually going to do. I felt further away from basic interior design goals and more focused on social issues at hand. Beyond the social or abstract areas I had studied, my interior design programmed classes addressed such a wide variety of skills that I was accepted into the Peace Corps. I was either going to work in Asia on a water and sanitation project or to work in Africa to help patients with AIDS. I was excited, because my program had led me to that path. However, my department head and advisor felt that it took me away from their goals for their graduates and that I no longer had the “heart for interior design”. I was stunned because I thought that they would be proud that I was taught such a range of things through them that allowed me to come to this point.

I did not that year go away to Asia or Africa, but I knew then that I obviously was looking at a much broader picture than I would be allowed to piece together as a basic interior designer. I left school to explore opportunities at home, the first of which was a trip to help rebuild a convent school in Mexico. On that trip, I learned much more than how to paint a classroom. I actually learned about the unique approach that nuns in this area were using to teach Spanish to the indigenous Tarahumara people of the mountains of Chihuahua, so that they could work certain trades as opposed to begging from tourists. Also I took note that the reason the people needed this help was that the drought they experienced, left them with nothing in their fields but licorice which is obviously not going to sustain a mainly agricultural society.

About a month after I came back from that trip, hoping and praying for those people to get rain, the rains did come. Unfortunately our prayers must not have been quite specific enough because where the rain fell was in Mississippi and Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina hit hard that fall and because of my interim of unemployment, I was able to be deployed with the Red Cross to help. Still having my college experiences fresh on my mind, with my use of Spanish and sign language I was able to help in ways I could never have expected. More than food or money, the people just needed compassion, because they were simply never given the tools to handle such a situation.

I started again piecing my experiences and my education together, this time realizing how much I felt the need for incorporation of my knowledge on basic geology and sustainability of our lands. Even after my return, my experience as a nanny for a family whose home in Florida was demolished by Hurricane Dennis made me realize even more that one of the biggest needs for our growing children at this time is rooted in our ecological state.

From the years of 2005 through 2007, I worked as a nanny, but constantly dealt with issues involving weather changes and our need for changes in our cultural climate of complacency. I was able to assist children from ages 1 to 9, not only by ‘babysitting them’ but engaging them in more healthful activities that encouraged them to be conscious of other people and respectful for what they had. In very nontraditional ways, including art projects from collected materials, and with their families, teaching them to take care of the toys they had so that they last longer, and to give away instead of throw away things they no longer needed or wanted. I got into recycling furniture and clothing for children and was able to create a small network of people who all traded toys and clothes which saved many people a lot of money, but also helped keep things out of landfills and gave the children a sense of pride in doing one act of kindness that would help in so many ways.

Because of the results I saw in the clothes recycling projects and work to help limit chemicals in the children’s foods and homes. I saw its importance for their social and emotional growth. I caught an ‘eco-bug’. I recognized a growing interest in parents of young children to participate in environmental activities, not just for their children’s own health but also to save money in this economy. Elements of functional clean design fit for children coupled with more energetic attitudes that empower them through art, dancing, and just being silly, can create not just fun learning environments, but can help them to be healthier in body and spirit. I have come back to Appalachian State to become more informed in my social and ecological efforts. I want to learn more inventive ways to utilize that which I have already learned, with a more refined touch that will give me the tools to be more effective in my endeavor.

The Dissemination of Environmental Awareness

2008-11-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt in my mind that sustainability will become increasingly more important in the near future. A future of Sustainability in regards to the principles of human rights, environmental protection, encouraging positive ecological economical investments is the goal of my concentration and personal life. My major concentration in environmental policy and planning is a framework of courses that encourage the development of a conceptual knowledge of our environment and our interactions with it. The best method for environmental protection is to teach respect and appreciation for the environment we inhabit. Our race populates this earth in common existence with many other life-forms. To reconnect people to the earth which bore them is a fundamental idea behind positive environmental action and inspiring others to open their minds to a more natural existence. There are many changes we need to make in order to attempt to adopt a lifestyle of sustainability, the root of which occur with the initial change of perception from trying to compete with nature and control it, to developing with nature in mind. The principles of sustainability in conjunction with social leadership skills, a foundation in biology, and an array of classes spanning anthropology, geography and planning, and Japanese language and culture classes, are the preparatory subjects I have studied and continue to hold an interest in. Slowly drawing connections between these fields and observing their interactions helps formulate a plan of action with efficiency in mind. Understanding the systems of our environment and the systems of our society and trying to tie them together while remaining balanced and not viewed as radical, hypocritical, overly liberal, or ecocentric, but rather rational, logical, and impartial is how I will approach my concentration.

Creating a community garden helps to provide positive physical work for multiple people to contribute and gain from. Helping to reach compromise among contributing neighbors, developing an overall conceptual functioning idea of the land available, organizing diversity and efficiency in the plots, and finally the physical work of planting everything, are managerial tasks I am currently employing to help develop my skills. What I aim to do could be considered to cause social change by providing a positive example for action, however there are many formations of knowledge functioning at the same time, not only will I provide a positive role model for environmental responsibility, but I am also in a location where understanding the power relationships between the rental company which may or may not own the land being worked, the neighbors who have different priorities in what should be planted, what should actually be planted there considering the climate, and surrounding plants, as well as sunlight are my responsibility to take into consideration. Developing a community garden helps promote diverse social growth, for plants and humans and it helps restore the connection between people and the environment that helps support them. Growing fresh food and preparing it can function as a conduit between people and our habitat, and works to help restore a respectful view of land.

Developing environmental policy and planning for a sustainable future are two tremendous goals that cannot be accomplished without the skills required to manage and organize huge efforts. By redeveloping a cultural respect for the land which feeds us, and recognizing the potential of organized social progression we can make strides toward a sustainable future. Beyond the conglomeration of different subjects and their connections the IDS core classes help develop a method of meditation designed to help organize and renew the thought processes which are used most in academic studies. Observing the learning method by participation in it and analyzing it, helps to increase efficiency in personal understanding, as well as promote healthy emotional growth. By combining these courses and the ideas they promote I will develop and employ my skills to organize and inspire others to create a positive change in the way we think about and interact with our habitat.

Reflections on Campus Events

2008-11-03T19:45:00.000-08:00

The two campus events I attended were the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speech on environmental policies and progressions and the Hispanic Heritage Festival.
Robert Kennedy Junior came to Appalachian State October 23 and spoke at Farthing Auditorium at 8:00 pm on his ideas for the environmental issues and the emphasis that we as a nation should be putting on these policies. His passion for his field of work was fascinating and inspiring as he spoke well over his time limit and was never exasperated on everything he mentioned. His statements, facts, statistics and ideas were nothing less than impressive and displayed his wide range of knowledge on everything dealing with the environment. He spoke on such issues as mountain-top removal-where his relationship with Appalachian Voices Executive Director Mary Ann Hitt is very close-, maintaining the rivers, creeks and streams that comprise our water systems, and essential sustainable advancements for all environmental issues. An example used to prove potential environmental political necessity on the American economics is that Americans use 700 billion dollars on foreign oil each year, which was the exact amount of the bailout this year, and if we outsource that amount of foreign oil on other ways of creating efficient energy through bio-fuels or whatnot, then the deficit would meet par. His campaign for the environment was very moving and the Watauga county audience was deeply moved. He ended his speech with this, “It is time to restore American prestige. It is time for every American to become an entrepreneur and every home a power plant, making everyone the ‘dogs of war.’”
The other event I attended was the Hispanic Heritage Festival which was held on October 24 at 7:00pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of the Student Union. This event was completely for fun and to bring awareness to the Latin culture that is present on the Appalachian campus. The evening was filled with enormous amounts of food, eating contests, educational power points on the different Latin American countries, and salsa dancing. It was very much enjoyed by myself and the international community that was present there, as most of the students studying abroad here are friends. Learning the salsa was a feat unto itself, but was very much enjoyable, despite my inability to salsa even after lessons.
Neither events were really interdisciplinary because both focused on a specific subject and advocating for their educational purposes. I did share qualities with both events though. Kennedy’s passion reflects my own, not necessarily the same passions, but passion none-the-less. His passion is for the environment, and while I agree that much emphasis needs to be put on ways to make the environment top-priority, my passion lies within people and helping those who are unable to help themselves because of political or economic oppression. With the Hispanic Heritage Festival, I compare with the event because I am concentrating in Latin American Studies and enjoy everything international. Education was inevitable, however, through both events, but both were very enjoyable.

Statement of Purpose Part Two

2008-11-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

In order to be able to create Yahweh’s World, the non-profit organization, I need to be skilled in a lot of different areas. I decided to major in IDS because it gave me the chance to do that. I have taken classes such as Communication in Organizations and Public Speaking in the Communication Department which has helped develop my ability to speak in front of large groups, as well as, understand how people interact within a group. I have taken Careers in non-profit in order to understand the tasks and basis of a non-profit organization. This was a service-learning class that enabled me to assist in fundraising and program planning for a local non-profit called Sugar Grove Developmental Day School. I learned from the Executive Board what the needs of a non-profit are and helped raise a few hundred dollars in an ink-cartridge drive. I got a lot of good experience and got to interview all the different positions including an essential member, the grant writer. I am in the process of getting a minor in sociology and have taken Social Problems in America. Through this department I have gained an understanding of the problems in our society and also how to make a step towards progress. I have also been taking Special Education classes since that is the target population for the organization. In the future, I am taking a Business writing course that will give me a chance to write grants and memos, and some leadership classes that will help build the skills needed to lead a team of workers.

Along with these classes, I am doing a lot of extracurricular things to help in my integration of all my studies. I am a Resident Assistant in the dorms, so I am in charge of 36 residents. This position allows me to work on my managing and leadership skills. Each semester I have to do a certain amount of programs and also keep the hall clean and positive. This takes a lot of patience and time management, two skills that will help in the future. I work in the ACT office as a co-chair for the impact team. This is a volunteer group of students to help raise awareness about social issues in our community in Boone. We put on the big events on campus such as MLK Challenge, a day of service in honor of Martin Luther King, and Dance Marathon, which is an event that you raise money for 2 local non-profits and then dance for 24 hours. With this organization, I am learning how to encourage and motivate volunteers with things other than money. I am learning cool fundraisers that I can do in the future and building my network for the future. On top of these two things, I try and volunteer as much as possible and also at a variety of organization. I have worked with the Hospitality House that gives warm meals and shelter to people living in homelessness, and with the Humane Society that works to get homes for abandoned and abused animals; I have also worked on trails and with environmental groups like Appalachian Voices, and a mass of groups in between. I have helped with groups that were just getting started to groups that are well known and established. This is very helpful because it is helping me make a checklist of what needs to be done in each stage. All of my extracurricular stuff is giving me the hands on experience I will need in the future.

I am working towards an internship with a local non-profit. I try to apply everything I learn in class to what I do outside of the classroom. The outside stuff is helping to integrate the many disciplinary subjects together. In working with Sugar Grove I put on a Thanksgiving feast, but because the school had a lack in funds I had to work on getting donations. This didn’t just require my programming skills but also my ability to write for a non-profit to be able to get donations. Everything is interconnected just sometimes it takes an unexpected circumstance to see how they fit together.

Statement of Purpose Part One

2008-11-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

I am an Interdisciplinary Studies Major, individually designing my course of study. My concentration is Non-profit development, learning the skills and the abilities one must have in order to create an organization. I aspire to make one that gives positive influences to children and adults with disabilities, as well as, help parents learn the skills needed raise their child. The question I am working towards is “How can I educate the surrounding population about the different disabilities while at the same time developing more opportunities for the disabled population to succeed and grow?” The organization I would like to create is going to be called Yahweh’s World- Come as you are, be who you be. The word Yahweh in Greek means “I be who I be”. This phrase applies to this population perfectly, what one child with Down syndrome can’t do another can. I hope that this will become a safe haven and a place of guidance.

There are four parts to this program. Part one, will be a life skills program set up for the adults in the area. This will give them a chance to work on skills such as setting the table, counting change and using cleaning supplies. There are a good percentage of people who could live in a group home or even with a small group of friends, if they had extra training and practice. This part of the program will hopefully give adults with disabilities more opportunities for jobs and positive feedback. This will also be a way for them to get out and meet people, by having social gatherings and doing service projects. Part two, will be a summer camp. Counselors will have a child with disabilities and a child without disabilities. The counselor will be responsible for facilitating growth between campers to teach love and acceptance at a younger age. Part Three, will be a mentorship program set up in a similar way to the camp where the Big Sibling will have two younger ones. This will occur throughout the year, and the requirements will be to do at least three hours of service as a group and have at least two social gatherings each month. I believe the best way to be accepted into a community is to give back to it. Part four, will be a support network for the parents of the organization. This will be a chance for them to get out and have fun, as well as, learn skills as a parent with a child with disabilities. This gives them a chance to talk with, to learn from and encourage each other. I hope to have Parent’s Night Out at least once a month.

I chose this area of study out of inspiration from my friends Ronda, Cameron and Will. They have a range of disabilities from Down syndrome to Microcephaly. I have been hanging out with them for the last 7 years and each day they amaze me. Before I met them, I had no knowledge of disabilities and I was very ignorant. I was one of the people that pitied them and felt bad that they were born incapable. I have learned so much from them and had my expectations thrown out. This year Will is graduating from High School, Ronda and Cameron are going to be seniors. Each child, whether born with disabilities or without one is special and capable, things may take longer but one thing that helps is having expectations and love for what they are capable of. I think we do a poor job of loving on people for who they are, without comparisons to others. This is something that happens in all populations of people, Ronda is a girl who happened to be born with Down syndrome, she is not her disability. We get so hung up on titles whether it is disabled, freak, jock or prep and forget that we are all people who crave relationships. I feel a calling to teach this to the world: that we are more alike than we think.

Everyone deserves an opportunity to develop and grow while being loved in their struggles. I feel called to create this program. I know it is going to be hard and there is a lot of work that will go into it, but this is something I have been planning out for over 5 years now. My concentration is giving me the opportunity to develop all the skills needed to accomplish my goal.

statement of purpose, part 1

2008-11-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Katy Barnard
11/2/08

Here at Appalachian State University I am studying film. This school doesn’t technically have a film studies program so I am studying it through Interdisciplinary Studies. I could have majored in English with a concentration in film, but I decided English was not my forte and I would find a better way to study what I really wanted. What I really want to study is the technical aspect of film because that really interests me, and the English department didn’t have anything on the technical aspect of film.

I hadn’t really put any thought into what I wanted to study nor do with my life my first couple of semesters here. I was focused on taking all of the classes I had to in order to graduate. While taking those classes I couldn’t seem find anything that I liked enough to take more of or that had potential for me to work in after graduating. After putting a little more thought into it I remembered a class I was placed into in high school. One class I wanted to take was full so the school placed me in a literature and film class. Looking back that was the best thing that could have happened. That made me look into film classes offered here. I took the Introduction to Film class with Craig Fischer and I was hooked. I remember asking him one day after class if there was any way to study film outside of the English department. He was the one who told me about the Interdisciplinary Studies department and how students before me had wanted to do the same thing. He also gave me recommendations of teachers and classes in other departments that would help me out.

I’m studying the technical aspect of film through the Interdisciplinary Studies department because it allows me to take classes from different departments and put them together in a specific way that helps me plan what I want to do career-wise. The classes I have taken so far have been very enjoyable and I look forward to taking as many more as I can. I would really like to be a part of the whole film making process. I have only just recently learned how to use a camcorder to shoot scenes and to edit them with different software, but I love it! I don’t necessarily want to be the next big Hollywood producer or cinematographer, I would be perfectly happy working on independent films. Just about anything that involves being hands on in the process of making films would make me incredibly happy.

I don’t know how many times I have walked away from a film thinking, “Wow! I never thought about that before,” but I love that feeling. There have been countless films that have changed my point of view about certain subjects, whether they were documentaries or major motion pictures. I know that most films have to be taken with a grain of salt because there can be major biases present, but sometimes they hit home for people. I think it would be amazing to help change someone’s life through a film. But, then there’s the lighter side of films that interest me too. Sometimes I see films just to escape reality for a little while. I would also like to assist others in doing the same.

2008-11-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

The Third Annual Diversity and Social Justice Conference will be held Friday, Nov. 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Appalachian State University’s Plemmons Student Union.

Registration is $7 and includes lunch and giveaways. To register and for detailed information about the conference’s sessions, visit www.multicultural.appstate.edu or call 262-6252 for more information. The registration deadline is Nov. 5.

The keynote speaker is Jamar Banks, director of the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership at Appalachian.

Participants can choose from concurrent sessions that begin at 1:10, 2:10 and 3:10 p.m.

All of the sessions would relate to my course of study, and all seem very interesting...I'm not sure yet which ones I will attend....

Response to Events

2008-10-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

Kegan Refalo

Invisible Inc.

The gallery exhibition was remarked by attendees as being haunting and eye-opening. The gallery was filled with a mob of people weaving through the clothed mannequins suspended from the ceiling, which brought to life the photographic narratives on the walls. Invisible Inc. was the final presentation of a collaborative project between Will Connelly and myself. Connelly was the eye behind the camera and I was the hand behind the stitches. We came together to reveal the underlying meanings of fashion. Fashion is more than a superficial decoration of the body according to media and trends. Fashioning one’s visual presentation is a semiotic charged practice that people engage in everyday without awareness of their participation in a larger social system. The everyday rituals of dress are embedded with the social and cultural norms of a person’s environment; the choices of an individual situate her/him/hir in racial, gendered, class and subculture appositional communities. The semiotic meanings of fashion were explored and communicated in this exhibition, with specific emphasis on gender and class.

The show was made up of three separate series. The first one was “Zewi Ze’s,” which focuses on gender identity. The setting is an expansive open field with a sapling with hollowed out eggs hanging from it. The models interact with each other, the tree and the grassy landscape. The eight photograph series is accompanied by a written narrative describing the journey of the two models to find a social space free from the constraints of the binary sex-gender system. Both of the models identify as genderqueer, which is a gender identity under the umbrella of transgender, where the individual identifies as both a man and a women, neither a man nor a women or the spaces in between genders. The title of this series “Zewi Ze’s” use ze a gender-neutral pronoun, sometimes preferred by genderqueer people. The models were each wearing a suit. One of the suits was brown, felted wool, tailored in a classical Italian style accompanied with brown, straight-leg cords with contrasting pocket details. This outfit is specifically gender neutral; the body inside the garment adds the gender or in the case of this a genderqueer model maintains the gender ambiguous neutrality. The other suit in this series was a navy, wool, jacket with brown and cream plaid silk, piecing and piping accompanied with brown, herringbone pants. This suit is made from elements of 16th century, Japanese armor with a Dior influenced silhouette. This suit is a deliberate amalgamation of a traditional masculine garment with a feminine silhouette and flamboyant design elements.

The second series was called “Formal Service.” In this series of five photographs, the models are enacting the ritual of eating a meal a formal meal. The setting is a dark and eerie room lit with candles; the meal critiques fine dinning by serving the guests canaries, mealworms and crickets elaborately arranged on the plates. The models uphold social dinning norms, but the setting turns the ritual in its head. The garments in this series work to further the critique of formality, because neither model is wearing a shirt. Instead both have formal wear tattoos on their torsos that use the characteristic lines and forms of a tux shirt, a bow tie, suspenders and a neck tie to communicate the social significance of these garments without their textile presence. The tattoos were handmade temporaries; I made them using a modified lithography process on moisture release paper. The models were also wearing custom made, wool, black and gray, dress slacks with top stitching details. The slacks acted as accompanying pieces to the formal wear tattoos.

The third series was titled, “White Collar Exposure.” In this series of five photographs, the models are attending a cocktail party. The setting is a dimly lit room, which acts only as a neutral backdrop for the glowing martinis. The models are wearing custom altered suits that have been cut away to expose their tattoos. The body art is original and personally significant to the individual models. The models are also wearing white gloves and theater masks. The models interact as a group, in pairs and individually posed to reveal their body art. The masks act as a reminder that professionals must hide their full identity to be successful in the white-collar job market, while the gloves take a symbol of formality to also represent the professional distance maintained in the workforce. People that see each other everyday are never come in contact with one another; they are stranger’s to one another, covered and confined by their suits. This series works to reclaim the personhood of workers. The suit becomes the frame for the body art, a visual signifier of the individual’s identity. The suit becomes a window to the layers of the person’s individuality instead of the defining caricature of her/his/hir uniformity.

The tile of the show, Invisible Inc., has a lot to unpack. The word “Invisible” is in reference to the layers of meaning implicit in fashion that are over looked. It highlights specific themes in different series. In “Zewi Ze’s” it represented the invisibility of transgender people as a minority population that lives as second-class citizens without protection against discrimination or violence. It highlights the invisibility of the gender queer identity even within the transgender communities because it is outside of the binary sex-gender system, and lastly it acknowledges the lack of fashion that caters to transitory bodies and shifting identities. In “Formal Service” it reveals the how the fabric of a garment is rendered irrelevant when specific class-charged signifiers are employed. The models did not need fabric on their torsos because the lines were enough to communicate the formal attire and the class status signification. In “White Collar Exposure,” the invisibility of white-collar professionals, who often have body art under their suits and are forced to keep it hidden, is addressed. Also the loss of respect for body modification by majority culture; the loss of an awareness of the tribal roots of body modification, where the markings on the body were a social symbol of class status equivalent to the modern suit now used to obscure it. The use of “Inc.” communicated two main concepts. The simple association with tattoo and body markings, and the influence of institutionalized social norms that are ingenerated in our lives yet go unnoticed. The power dynamics of othering minority populations and subcultures and then producing a consumer culture that denies their existence. When a person attempts to purchase clothes for their body and their manner of embodiment and there is no available garment it is a form of social erasure and discrimination. Invisible Inc. was a project of putting the people back into the garments and consequentially discussing how personhood is simultaneously enabled and made invisible by the fashion system.

This exhibition was my first attempt to visually articulate the ideas and critiques I have concerning the fashion system, and to combat the lack of awareness our everyday participation in this system. Previous attempts to orally articulate the ideas in my head were often lost in translation. Often my audience was at sea level and I was speaking from a mountainous altitude based on my specialized studies and life experiences. Without common ground nothing was communicated. I was pleased to find that the exhibition enabled common ground to be established. The images and garments communicated complex ideas in an easily digestible form, thus when people came to me to ask questions or discuss a concept communication was possible and both participants moved forward in common understandings. This exhibition was not only a valuable lesson on collaboration and problem solving, but also a successful integration of two mediums, two peoples visions and complex theory with visual arts.

Republican National Convention Protesters Speak Out

The presentation by the students and community members about their experiences at the Republican National Convention was overwhelming. The abstract knowledge that somewhere in America cops are brutalizing American citizens and abusing their power is very different from peers and close friends detailing these abuses. The RNC was a politically monumental case of government sanction violence against American citizens. The numbers of riot cops, the pre-convention raids, the brutality of their actions and the charges filled against the protestors, set new precedence, especially because it was the first time the patriot act was used against American citizens. Many protestors were arrested under the charge of conspiracy: conspiracy to incite a riot, conspiracy to resist arrest, and conspiracy to commit terrorism. These charges were trumping up disorderly conduct arrests to felony offences, which enabled longer jail holding, higher bail and more police license for abuse. Americans are currently on trial as conspiring terrorist for organizing demonstrations and direct actions to voice their criticism of the government. This is a scary reality.

One point that struck me as particularly interesting was the fact that possessing a handkerchief soaked in lemon or line juice could inspire a conspiracy to riot charge and arrest. Twelve square inches of citric infused fabric became contraband because of its social significance. Lemon and line juice help ease the painful burning of mace and pepper spray, common weapons used against protestors, so prepared activists will soak their bandanas in the juice as a precaution. Handkerchiefs, also known as bandanas, have been adopted many activists because they are a utilitarian accessory that can act as a face mask, eye protection, bandage, snot rag, hair tie and head covering. The bandana, an American symbol of the working class, has been made into criminalizing contraband. Why? At what point is it necessary to pre-soak you bandana because police spraying the crowds is a given and sanction response to citizens taking their critiques to the streets. At what point is the cycle fulfilling its self. We would never fault a backpacker for being prepared for the worst-case scenario and yet it is criminal for a citizen. The Twin Cities prepared for the worst with record numbers of riot cops and funding new tactical equipment to prevent citizens from interacting with elected officials. Activists, anarchists and enraged citizens are not the kind of people worthy to talk with the body of people that governs them. And in recent days not even our veterans of the Iraq war.

Interestingly enough, during the election campaigning of the 2004 election, activists did find themselves granted access to political representative. Groups of activists dressed in business suits and had professionally printed signs and literature, which was mocking the candidates and revealing their corruption in subtle clever ways. These groups were able to have presence on the streets and hand literature to a typically unreachable demographic. The groups employed garments and social signs of class status to meet their aim. Police used social stigmas and stereotypes to legitimize their actions. Both instances are interesting examples of how the social significance of garments directly affects political resistance, awareness and direct action tactics, and the safety of the participants.

2 more events

2008-10-27T05:59:00.001-07:00

Hi, here are two more events which will be fun and help explain what my major is about:

1. Do it to Julia's CD Release Show, Wednesday Oct. 29th, at Legends. Presale tickets are only $3 and are $5 at the door. Doors open at 8. If getting tickets is an issue, let me know and I can possibly work something out!
2. Tim Reynolds and tr3 is performing at Canyons, Nov. 9th at 10 PM. Tim Reynolds is best known for his collaboration with Dave Matthews over the years. Tickets are $15 and again, if tickets are an issue, please let me know.

I booked both this shows and have incorporated several different fund raisers for the High Country Conservancy at the shows.
Call me with any questions, 919 818 2614.
Jimmy

I almost forgot to post this.....

2008-10-27T02:00:00.001-07:00

William Lehman

Statement of Purpose

International Studies: Asia

I am studying International Studies: Asia with a Concentration on Japan; with the intentions of using this degree to return to Japan for a teaching position. The IDS degree was a good fit for me because it allowed be to do a significant amount of observing into the concepts behind Second Language Acquisition, Teaching Methods and Education in Japanese Society, History, and Culture. This is my goal as a learner in the IDS department.

I hope to teach English as a second language in an established public/private school in a full time position or a night/cram school, while I seek further education in the Japanese Language to the point of fluency and possibly seeking a Masters in TEFL or TESL. This allows me to continue to teach English, in a well established position, abroad or to return to the United States to teach Japanese, preferably at an Undergraduate level.

The reason this degree is a good choice for me is because to teach a second language effectively it is very important to teach to nature of the students. A Montessori style of teaching is very similar to my ideal pedagogy but seeing as that would not be an option in a Japanese public school setting I have to try hard to meet on a middle ground. To do this I have to learn as much as I can about the Japanese Culture, Society, and even Identity. Being able to reach students is a large part of transferring the knowledge, but if one can’t connect it is very difficult to pass on the knowledge.

Due to the furthering Globalization of the world it is important for successful young people to be multi-lingual. For the “youth of tomorrow,” to triumph in the economic world around them it is imperative to adapt to their surroundings and that means overcoming language barriers. Right now the most highly successful business language is, arguably, English. Furthering the international market is important to the world economy and success.

The interest in my concentration on Asia/Japan came from my precious experience of living in Japan. While there I fell in love with every aspect of Japan and the people. I have wanted to return to that country, to live, ever since I left. While there I had my first paying job, being an assistant teacher of English in a classroom setting for three to five year olds. Since then I have assisted in teaching most age ranges in official settings. This is what I think my calling is for my future. That is why I wish to continue on this path. However; since there is neither Japanese nor a TESL/TEFL major at Appalachian State, I decided the IDS: Asia with a concentration on Japan and a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. I have been using my free hours to study other languages, learning methods, and technology. I think these are the key to my future and my efficiency as a teacher in the future.

Statement of Purpose

2008-10-21T06:08:00.001-07:00

Statement of Purpose

Event Promotion and Production

Jimmy Hunt

My concentration is Event Promotion and Production, with specific attention within the music industry. I am pulling from all my different backgrounds, such as my two prior majors; Business Management and Political Science. In addition, I am using my real life experiences and company to help guide me through my concentration.

Event Promotion and Production covers many areas of study which I’ve already taken and many I wish to pursue while at ASU. The events which I’ve already produced tie in other aspects of my study, such as Sustainable Development which I now take with Chuck Smith.

Specifically, Event Promotion and Production is the ability to plan, promote, and produce community events, with music being the main feature. These events are important because they are my medium to which I transfer other important life messages, such as sustainable living. Moreover, I use my business background to gage the correct logistics of large scale production, such as budgeting, finances, and break even points. I intend to fully support myself and my family with the events which I promote and produce, so my major is a directly effecting my future by giving me hands on guidance.

The classes I am taking for my concentration range from Sustainable Development to Histories of Knowledge. I intend to pull the tools from each class I need to help make the events more successful. For instance, another class in my IDS studies is Karl Marx’s Capitalism. From this class, I’ve been able to draw out vital theories on labor and why people work. Theories such as these better me to understand approaching others to work for my events. It is helpful to understand which kind of people will work with what incentives, etc. Another class I am taking is Sustainable Development. My last event, our goal was to have as little trash/waste as possible. We encouraged people to only pack in what you were going to pack out and also required our vendors to serve on all compost-able material. In SD, I am learning that though my actions were in the right direction, they were only the tip of the ice berg. SD is helping me find ways to produce events in the long term and keep a long term sustainable aspect.

I choose IDS and my concentration for several different reasons, but mainly because the discontent I felt with other schools with ASU. I wanted a major and class structure which would allow me to create and move unrestricted throughout my studies. In doing this, I learn much more because my mind works better with this approach. I am so pleased so far with my short time spent with IDS because of many reason; class size, open discussion and theory based lectures, and an open minded approach. It is crucial for kids our age (18-22) to be able to think on their own and not be shipped in to a major, taught the basic fundamentals, and then shipped out. My concentration and IDS studies have left room for me to grow, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes.

ally's statement of purpose, part one

2008-10-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

This is a critical time in the history of our world. Rainforests are being demolished, global poverty is rising, and people are being kicked off their land and out of their houses. The earth around us is being bought and sold and privatized, and shopping malls are replacing community gardens everywhere. How can we put a stop to this domination and exploitation?

The nature of my course of study requires that I draw from several disciplines in order to examine overlapping areas in relation to my topics of interest. I will draw from history, sociology, anthropology, sustainable development, women’s studies, and political science to explore power relationships in our dynamic world.

I am designing my major to address issues revolving around globalization, power relations, and the nature of social change. I want to examine several aspects of globalization, including effects on local cultures and identities, labor and workers, and the environment. I intend to examine the structure and effects of current institutions of global economics, such as the World Trade Organization and World Bank. In addition to studying private systems of power, I plan to study social revolutions, social movements (such as the Global Justice Movement), and collective behaviors as avenues for social change.

As the cultures and peoples of the world become more interconnected and corporations have a growing influence on many of the world’s countries, the need for a critical examination of our interactions on a global scale magnifies. How democratic is the spreading system of capitalism? What forms of oppression and injustice are being fostered by corporate globalization? In what ways are local identities and diversity being traded for hegemony, monoculture, and assimilation? What forms of globalization foster democracy and social justice, preservation of human rights, and sustainability? What sort of society would maximize democratic involvement and minimize social stratification? How would such a society be organized, and how would power be distributed?

Another focus of my course of study will be on social power dynamics and inequalities in relation to class and gender. What systems and ideas perpetuate sexism and classism? Who benefits from globalization? Who benefits from capitalism? How does the state of globalization reflect the power relations present within a society, and how does it affect or reinforce them? What role does government play in all of this? What impacts do transnational corporations have on global structures of governance? How do current structures of governance act to support or restrict the power of corporations?

I am especially interested in examining the effects of corporate globalization on agrarian populations and on farmworkers, with a specific focus on Latin American populations. I plan to consider the effects of globalization on immigration and poverty, as well as the effects of free-market ideas and capitalism on globalization. I will focus on indigenous resistance to corporate globalization, water privatization, ecological devastation, worker exploitation, cultural domination, and imperialism. What are people doing everywhere to fight for their land and for human rights?

This is just a broad and basic look at my studies of interest, and I hope that more detailed and specific questions will arise and be explored throughout the course of my study.

Statement of Purpose, Part 1

2008-10-21T04:16:00.000-07:00

Throughout the history of intricate social structures among human relations there has always been a dividing line between right or wrong, good or evil, respect or callousness, and simply the willingness to understand and appreciate or not. During my numerous years of continuing education in order to actually learn, I find myself always pondering why it is so difficult to find a median between absolute power and equal distribution of power. Of course, I am not one to offer any specific answer that is the answer, but it is necessary, in my opinion, to question why people are homeless, why children are dying by the thousands every day, why women are so abused and made into objects of pleasure, why men deem themselves the hierarchy of all living things, and why some people are just simply forgotten and cast aside. The ultimate question each of us should be asking is: how can I make a difference?

So here I am at Appalachian State University seeking two degrees in Communication Studies BS and Interdisciplinary Studies: Third World, not simply to earn two degrees and consider myself intelligent, but to acutely listen to other opinions on social issues, shape my understandings through each course, and to see where there is a connection between the Third World and Communication, if there is one. I theorize that there is link between these two very different studies, and in order for me to make a

difference, I must seek this correlation and find a way to use the betterment of human communication in order to help those who need it the most.

My degree in Third World Studies through the Interdisciplinary department offers a liberal view of different courses to better profile why the Third World exists in the first place. There are no courses that say ‘IDS: Why should you care about Third World Studies’, but rather areas structuring around specific regions of the world that are considered to be “Third World” and historical, geographical, political, artistic, and anthropological fields are offered in order to surround this idea of ‘what is Third World?’ This creates a substantial amount of thinking and understanding on my part since no person is telling me what there is to do to change political and social constructions to decrease the potent definition of Third World, and since I want to achieve finding this molding point of two areas of study, then this degree allows me to search on my own time and in my own way without giving me one specific way to think.

This links directly as to why I chose to go into the Interdisciplinary department, this freedom of seeking a different opinion and way of thinking, but I feel it is important because human power was initially created and made substantial due to this idea of ‘thinking’ and how those who are able to do it better in order to manipulate win. They are the monarchies, hierarchies, and democracies today. My question is why can’t we manipulate in a resourceful, practical, and dignifying way in order to create stability socially, economically, and politically in order to find a solution to poverty and the unjust treatment of victims of race, class, and gender. Is it possible or not?

This is how I plan to make a difference or, hopefully, some sort of change. If I fail, I fail, but it is reassuring to know that one can think, feel, and understand through a typically strict construction of learning.

EP&P Statement of Purpose

2008-10-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

Environmental Policy and Planning Concentration
Connecting Social Consciousness with Environmental Awareness
John Fitzgerald

To develop a clear and functioning understanding of the biological processes of our environment, study our interactions with them, and attempt to improve upon them is my purpose for choosing my major. Environmental Policy and Planning incorporates three different dynamic fields, environmentalism, politics, and development. Personally I feel that these three fields have very strong ties that will become increasingly important in our future development.
Currently the economic values of our natural resources are not evaluated on a realistic basis. Our producer driven economic system does not support an everyday environmentally friendly schedule. What once was a land of bounty is being destroyed for nothing more than profit at the loss of ideals that we as a nation once held dear. Our environment as well as our politics, and our physical development as a nation are interconnected systems that rely on each other to exist. The habitat we live in provides us with a physical plane on which we can determine how to interact with a: our habitat, b: the other people, animals, plants and various organisms which are sharing this habitat, and c: the best methods for organizing, managing and adapting our activities to promote the healthy function of these systems.
Through my studies in various academic organizations I’ve come to understand that my preferred method of perception is awareness and appreciation of the whole while allowing magnification of more intricate microscopic aspects of functioning. Applying analytical knowledge to systems is a successful approach to gaining knowledge and problem solving. The skill of understanding these systems as whole and their interactions with each other, as well as the smaller processes acting within them and allowing them to function is contingent upon positive development. My choice of major reflects my manner of perception, as well as my personality. I have a strong faith that human beings have a large impact on their surroundings, and have a large potential for positive growth. I think that the promotion of a disconnect with nature is a promotion of a wasteful lifestyle. While at the same time the promotion of a stronger connection with our natural world could inspire generations to come, and restore cultural and traditional aspects of human life.
A major stepping stone in the current environmental movement which is specifically relevant to us, considering our geographic location is mountain top removal. Mountains in the Appalachian region are marbled with rich coal seems. Modern mining methods have embraced mountaintop removal, which is the use of explosives to completely destroy the upper parts of the mountains so that the coal can be easily accessed. The “fill” or debris from what once used to be a mountain is then deposited into the surrounding valleys. The coal is then washed in slurry ponds, which seep water contaminated with heavy metals into nearby water killing off fish and other organisms which cannot tolerate overly acidic water. Damaging our natural systems that provide vital services like cleaning water, providing sources of food for other organisms, and diversifying our environment are small issues that affect the major functioning of our environment. A local organization: Appalachian Voices is one of the major non-profit environmental organizations focusing on this issue.
Creating awareness of these issues, as App Voices does with their paper, is a key part in educating people about the weight of our impact on our planet, which is a first step towards adapting our lifestyle to be one that is in harmony with our habitat. I am mentioning both mountaintop removal, and App Voices, because they are local issues that involve all the aspects of my major. I would like to be involved in the transition from educating the public about our impacts on the environment, to inspiring the public to make a positive change in their own lives, and possibly the planet.

Interdisciplinarity in terms of Film

2008-10-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

Katy Barnard
10/20/08

In the packet “Interdisciplinarity: Essays from the Literature,” edited by William Newell, I found that even the authors or supposed ‘interdisciplinarians’ didn’t know how to describe interdisciplinary studies. Each person seemed to have a different explanation for how they went about doing something. One of my favorite definitions of interdisciplinarity was by Bryan Turner, he said that “interdisciplinarity aims in principle at academic fusion… it seeks a reorganization and integration of disciplines.” A few more important pieces that I found in the reading were when Newell talks about the nature of interdisciplinary integration. First he asks about what changes, does the integration change the contributions of disciplines or do the disciplines themselves change? I found myself answering that in my case the integration changes the contributions of the disciplines that I am studying. Second, he asks if interdisciplinary integration must lead to a solution or if it can lead to a mere appreciation of the complexity of the problems. To that question I thought definitely the later part because I’m not looking for strict answers, I want to appreciate film as an art and learn how to make my own art through film.

One of the most helpful things about the reading was stating the difference between multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. Multidisciplinarity is described as the absence of any deliberate form of integration of disciplines and transdisciplinarity is more of a mix of disciplines. At first I didn’t really get these definitions until Newell mentioned the idea of the “metaperspective” and the fruit basket concept.

I think the closest match to what I am studying is transdicsiplinarity. I say this because transdicsiplinarity was defined as “seeking integration so comprehensive and fundamental that the contributing disciplines are subsumed under or replaced by a kind of superdiscipline...” I thought this was closest to my area of study because I am a film studies major and I will take classes from the English department, the Theater department, and the Curriculum and Instruction department. Though these three departments seem to have nothing in common, they actually have the perfect mix of information for me to study film. The English department offers film history and screenwriting classes, the Curriculum and Instruction department offers hands on production classes, and the Theater department offers technical theater classes that help with blocking and setting scenes. My main concentration is the technical aspect of film, but I need to understand film history and screenwriting to be able to put forth my ideas. In the sense of the interdisciplinary fruit basket, I am taking my fruit and mixing them together while adding other ingredients to bake into a pie or something that requires them to be fully mixed to produce something different from what each was alone.

In the vision statement for the Interdisciplinary Studies department it mentions that knowledges are disconnected by several barriers and that the objective is to bring the knowledges into appropriate and transforming relationships with each other. Some of the barriers include economic class, disciplinarity, collegiate structures, race, and gender. I definitely agree with collegiate structures being a barrier because Appalachian doesn’t have a specific film major, and that is what I am studying. Therefore I must pull from different disciplines to get to what I want. In the Carp and Wentworth Manuscript it talks about interdisciplinarity being a transdiscipline in that whoever teaches it seeks a view of the world as complex but inextricably interrelated as a whole. But, individually whoever takes it on studies a particular interstice of knowledges while leaving loose ends behind. Through studying the different disciplines the loose ends eventually come back and end up being attached to other aspects of other disciplines. For example in the film history classes that I take we talk about different angles and shots that make certain scenes from films look more dramatic than others, but we don’t necessarily learn how create them. That’s where my hands on production classes come in. In those classes I learn how to set up certain shots then I learn how to edit and make it all seem real.

According to Armstrong I am led to believe that I am at the second level of integration because at the second level “the institution provides the opportunity for students to work together toward integration.” I know I am not the only one to come to Appalachian and study film, therefore I learn from what others do to see what might help me to achieve my goals. I could set up my plan and just go with whatever comes to me, but there are certain classes that I know would be more helpful to me than others. I know other students doing what I am doing too, so we work together in a way to figure out what is the best course of action for our specific fields.

enlightening events

2008-10-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Christina Fisher

Interdisciplinary Praxis

Monday, October 20, 2008

Infusion of Heart and Mind-Event Reviews

Masankho Banka is a storyteller, dancer, and drummer from Malawi, Africa. I was excited to see his talk at the Turchin Center on Wednesday, October 15^th was that the basis of his performance style is to bring about change and understanding of other cultures, through the dance and relation of his cultural heritage. He explained how people in his community are named for the events or occasions happening at the time of their birth. His name is Masankho Kumsisi Banda. Masankho means choose, Kumisi means small root, and his family name Banda means group. Because he was born during the fight for independence in his country, his name signified the hope for choosing the small grassroots group movement for this independence. He said that as a child he knew that his career path would involve helping to find peace for people in whatever way he could. His forte happens to be the dance and the drumming.

His lesson for this hour long program was to share with the audience how to see and think by the heart, and respect people and the Earth that holds us. The people in his community greet each other with a dance called the ‘welcome dance’. During times of strife and political persecution, people from other areas of the country would come long distances, so the dance is the way the receiving group would show to the strangers that they see them and recognize that they are friend, not foe. They greet them with both hands as well to show and convey trust between the visitor and host.

My major involves the use of alternative media and integration of sociology and sustainable living, by helping to teach people how to infuse community activism with a general healthy lifestyle. The program itself was fairly short but the reason I was so eager to see it is because part of his works involve teaching children how to live in harmony with the land that supports them. He and some of the organizations that he has worked with exemplify the interdisciplinarity in clearer context how I see myself incorporating my skills in eco-design into that broader context of creating better social environments for families to raise children in. His group, Interplay, is a “system of ideas and practices that can help shape your life and communities. Get mind, body, heart, and spirit working together again.”

The next event I attended was the film, “The Greatest Silence, Rape in the Congo” on Monday, October 20, 2008. In this film was a real look at the wars in the Congo which started with the Rwandan and multinational corporations’ theft of the mineral Coltan which is used in all cell phones and laptop computers. The base of the film was the effect of rape on the women in the Congo, during this time of war. Every day 30 women are raped as a spoil of the war. Men in Congolese society, more often than not, abandon their women after the assaults happen. Soldiers use the women to exhibit their dominance over the whole people, showing the villagers that they can and will have everything they want.

This issue is heartbreaking all around. It is definitely an interdisciplinary issue because helping to resolve these conflicts, in and of themselves, requires reconfiguration in chain of power by governmental bodies who are allowing this to happen, including more aid from the United Nations. As well, the global economics of today need to be reevaluated by corporations. Deciding who should take responsibility for regulating the exchange of Coltan between countries is fairly hard at present. Most importantly, the resounding effects psychologically and physically on the women and children affected needs to be addressed. Only one hospital does reconstructive surgery for women who are suffering from damaged bladders and other delicate organs. Beyond hospital care, social workers are trying to build housing and create jobs for the women who survive. Then when you add unwanted or, at the least, unexpected births and AIDS, more medical and psychological help is required. Educational programs to help men understand and accept their women are also being instated. As sad as this situation is, as in Darfur, national media attention and protests by students and other organized peoples can help, but it does require analysis and help from many sources.

Going to these events has opened me up to feeling much better about going into a field that will help people through the environment they live in. Even though the tone of each event was different, the messages were somewhat the same. Social change involves a real reevaluation of what our global concerns should be, but when people work together in unique ways, the change is still possible.

Statement of Purpose

2008-10-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

Statement of Purpose

2008-10-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

I am an Interdisciplinary Studies Major, individual designing my course of study. My concentration is Non-profit development and learning the skills and abilities one must have in order to create an organization. I aspire to make a non-profit that give positive influences to children and adults with disabilities, as well as, helping parents learn the skills needed to have a child with disabilities. The question I am working towards is "How can I educate the surrounding population about the different disabilities while at the same time developing more opportunities for the disabled population to succeed and grow?" The organization I would like to create is going to be called Yahweh’s World (Come and you are, Be who you Be) and be a refuge for people to come. There are four parts to the program. Part one will be a life skills program set up for the adults in the area. This will give them a chance to work on skills such as setting the table, counting change and using cleaning supplies. There are a good percentage of people who could live in a group home or even with a group of friends, if they had extra training and practice. Part two will be a summer camp. Counselors will have a child with disabilities and a child without disabilities. The counselor will be responsible for facilitating growth between campers to teach love and acceptance at a younger age. Part three will be a mentorship program set up in a similar way to the camp where the Big Sibling will have two younger ones. This will occur throughout the year, and the requirements will be to do at least 3 hours of service as a group each month. I believe that the best way to be accepted into a community is to give back to it. Part four will be a support network for the parents of the organization. This will be a chance for them to get out and have fun, as well as, learn skills as a parent, and be able to talk to each other to get tips and encouragement.

In order to be able to create this organization I need to be skilled in a lot of different areas. I decided to major in IDS because it gave me the chance to do that. I have taken classes such as Communication in Organizations and Public Speaking in the Communication Department which helped develop my ability to speak in front of large groups, as well as, understand how people interact within a group. I have taken Careers in non-profit in order to understand the tasks and basis of a non-profit organizations. I am in the process of getting a minor in sociology and have taken Social Problems in America. Through this department I have gained an understanding of the problems in our society and also how to make a step towards progress. I have also been taking Special Education classes since that is the target population for the organization.

This is important to me and enables me to make a difference in the community. There is a lack in programs for the disabled population and also a lack in education about the different development issues. This is something I feel called to and I would like to make a change in how our society treats and views disabilities, IDS is giving me the chance to.

Statement of Purpose

2008-10-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

Therorizing Fashion
Kegan Refalo

The Associates degree in Fashion Design that I completed before transferring to ASU was focused in conceptual design, trade skills and preparation for employment in the fashion industry. The school offered no courses to explore the theory of fashion design; there was no opportunity to discuss the context of the fashion industry as a social institution and how designing and making clothes affects American culture. The primary motivation for my transfer to ASU was to critically analyze the fashion industry; I wanted to view it from the other side of the looking glass.

The questions that I am exploring are: historically, how has fashion acted as a social control? How has the subjection of a population related to the cultural laws or mores concerning appropriate attire? How is fashion a social skin? Is there a separation between body adornment and fashion? What makes up an individual’s visual presentation? How does an individual’s environment shape his/her/ze’s visual presentation? Who has authority over what the social significance of garments and/or body adornment means? Is visual presentation limited to the race, gender, class stereotypes? What elements of a person’s visual presentation have higher social significance in situating their gender? Is gender only the visual presentation and daily performance of the individual? How is fashion used to perpetuate a dichotomous understanding of gender and can it be used to deconstruct the binary gender system? How is the body negated or emphasized by person’s visual presentation?

The classes that make the core of my study are a combination of philosophy, religion, history, gender studies, body studies, and apparel construction courses. These courses provide multiple perspectives in my attempt to answer the above questions. I originally applied to ASU as a sociology major, but quickly discovered that my exploration of these questions was limited by the meager options in the sociology department to talk about fashion, visual presentation and the body. The sociology minor that I am earning to complement my IDS major is enabling me to acquire useful research skills, social observation skills, and sociological theories of fashion as a social control. The full breadth of my exploration, however, required the combination of multiple disciplines. Each department had a few classes to offer, but no single department facilitated an education that answered the questions I have about the fashion industry.

The overreaching motivation of my degree is to enter the fashion industry as an aware participant- conscious of the effects of the fashion industry in terms of race, gender, class, historical precedence, and economic motivations. The education I received at FIT prepared me to enter the industry as a well skilled designer, but as a pre-programmed cog in the machine; I would have been perpetuating a system that I knew little about and with little awareness of the consequences of my design choices. I understand that I am idealistic in my hope to affect change on a massive social institution, but feel that a solid foundation in theory and analytical skill is the best place to start.

Series on Republic of Congo: Breaking the Silence Week

2008-10-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

October 19-25th- "Breaking the Silence Week"

A week to raise awareness of the Congo War.
Monday, October 20th. I.G. Greer 7pm-FREE The Greatest Silence Movie: Rape in the Congo
Wednesday, October 22nd. 12-6pm Cell Out- Turning cell phone off for a day.
Saturday, November, 1st. 10am State Farm Intramural Fields- Run for Congo- 5k run/walk $10 pre-registration, $15 day of event

for more info contact Beth Davison davisonb@appstate.edu or Robin Potawsky potawskyrs@appstate.edu

2008-10-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

2008 Hispanic Heritage Festival - 10/24
Blue Ridge Ballroom, Student Union - 7:00pm-10:00pm
Come celebrate the different latino cultures that Hispanoamerica brings together! We will have music, dance lessons, free food, games and so much more! This event is held once a year so don't miss it!

Event in November

2008-10-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is a little while down the road, but I am planning an event called International Cafe which falls during the week of International Education week November 17-21. The Cafe will be that Monday night the 17th starting at 7pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of the Union. There will be free food, performances by the international students and hopefully faculty, and towards the end a dance for everyone to participate in. It will be really fun and I hope everyone can make it. Peace, Bri
Questions? Talk to me in class

2008-10-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

A Servant of Two Masters
by Carlo Goldoni
Directed by Joel Williams
Valborg Theatre
November 19-23, 7pm
Adults $10
Students/Children $6

The action of The Servant of Two Masters, one of the world's great comedies, centers on how an out-of-work servant, Truffaldino, tries to make his way in life by hiring himself simultaneously to two employers, keeping each ignorant of his other job. He unknowingly thrusts himself into a world of disguises, broken marriage contracts, duels and incorrectly delivered letters. The struggle of this upwardly mobile innocent to keep afloat creates a 'man-versus-society' comment as hilariously valid today as it was in 1745.

2008-10-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

The Queer Film Series continues tonight (Monday) at 7 in room 114 in the library if anyone is interested. If you can't make it tonight, I believe it's every Monday until a certain date.. when I know that date I will let you know.

The Apple iMovie Contest is back, and this years theme is "An Appalachian Experience."
The proposals are due this Wednesday in the basement of East Residence Hall. A couple of friends and I are submitting a few proposals hoping they will choose one. There are three different categories you can submit proposals to: first year (groups comprised of freshman using imovie only), open (groups comprised of any year students using imovie), and pro (groups comprised of any year students not using non-imovie software). The judges said they will only take 15 submissions, 5 for each category. For any more information please visit imovie.appstate.edu
(Sorry this information is so last minute, I only found out about a few days ago myself.)

Hunger Banquet

2008-10-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

On October 30th at 7pm in the Blue Ridge Ballroom there is going to be a hunger Banquet. This is part of Hunger and Homelessness week and is a great way to inform yourself on the topic. If anyone wants to go let me know. :)

oct. 23

2008-10-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

on october 23rd at farthing auditorium at 8:00p Robert F. Kennedy jr. will be speaking---

Global Opp. Conference

2008-10-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is coming on friday. I hear its gonna be great forum for Globalization.
More information.

2008-10-08T18:46:00.001-07:00

Stacey Lane, jeweler, is coming from Penland to spend the afternoon with our
advanced and beginning level Metals students. She is here as Angela Bubash guest
artist (Teaching in Metals & 2011)

We have decided to form a panel discussion for life after grad school:

Stacey, Sunny, Sean, Adam (maybe), Angela and myself. Will share some of our
experiences, but will primarily be answering questions.
Stacey will be able to answer questions about Penland, residencies, life as a
studio artist
Sunny - business practices and life long safety for studio artists - also
building a studio
Angela - Studio practice, Penland residency, and adjunct teaching studio practice
Sean and Adam - grad school after this program and adjunct teaching.

Should be good. Sorry about the short notice. Opportunity presented itself and
so - threw it together. . Hope you can make it.

All are welcome to come and bring classes.

When/Where
Thursday 10/9 from 1:00 to 2:00 in the Sculpture Woodshop: Wey Hall

Writing Assignments

2008-10-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

Interdisciplinary Campus Events

1. Post invitations on our class blog to at least TWO campus/local events with some connection to your major concentration. Be expansive and creative in imagining the connections with your area of study. The events may be scholarly, artistic, cultural, or just fun. They may be free or not.

2. You are to GO to at least TWO of the campus events posted. At least one of the events should be connected in some way to your area of study. The other should be unrelated.

3. Write a brief 300-600 word essay about BOTH of the events you attended. Be sure to explain why (or why not) the events could be described as interdisciplinary along with specifics describing the events. Post your essay to the class blog and hand in a printed copy to your instructor.

---------------------

Theories of Interdisciplinarity

1. Pick ONE of the three handouts we have read and discussed in class (the multi-author packet on Interdisciplinarity; Stanley Fish; Richard Carp).

2. Carefully explain and explore the vision of interdisciplinarity being discussed by the author/s.

3. Then explore and explain the connections and implications of these arguments for your own area of interdisciplinary study. Be specific and focused in applying the discussion to your own concentration.

4. What conclusions can you draw about your own interdisciplinary work from this discussion? What particular challenges does your area of interdisciplinary study raise? Why? How might you try to address these issues. Explain.

5. Your essay should be 750-1500 words. Post your essay to the class blog and hand in a printed copy to your instructor.

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Statement of Purpose

1. Write a 500-1000 word essay describing exactly WHAT you are studying and WHY you studying it. That is, explain your interdisciplinary concentration as clearly, directly, specifically, and concretely as possible. Then explain why you chose this area of study and why it is important. Post your essay to the class blog and hand in a printed copy to your instructor.

2. Write a 500-1000 word essay explaining HOW you will study your particular interdisciplinary concentration. And WHY you will approach your concentration in this fashion. Be clear, specific, and concrete in your discussion including a discussion of methods, areas of knowledge, and strategies for integration; a list specific courses for your program of study; and an outline of your portfolio plan. Post your essay to the class blog and hand in a printed copy to your instructor.

3. After discussing your essays with your instructor, revise and integrate your two essays into a final Statement of Purpose. Post your final essay to the class blog, hand in a printed copy to your instructor, and submit a completed individually designed packet to the IDS program director if appropriate.

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Due Dates:

10/15: Post invitations on the blog to at least two campus events related to your concentration.

10/21 Essay due in class (any one of the four described above).

11/4 Essay due in class (any one of the four described above).

11/18 Essay due in class (any one of the four described above).

12/2 Essay due in class (any one of the four described above).

12/9 Final Integrated Statement of Purpose Due in class.

TBA: Attend Senior Seminar Presentations.

This Week

2008-10-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

No class on T 10/7 and TH 10/9. But I'll be in my office during class times for individual conferences as needed.

Little Late

2008-10-06T12:54:00.001-07:00

There is a International Econ Guest Lecturer in Raley tonight. The Campus econ group is bringing in a man that works for a fiber optics company to speak. I know its last minute but I will be going. Its in Raley 3017 at 6pm.

2008-10-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

This event is random and for fun.. but you might be able to write something about it. The hypnotist Jim Wand is coming here again on Saturday Oct. 4 in Farthing at 9pm.

Body and Embodiment

2008-10-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Humanities Thematic Lecture Series: Body and Embodiment
they have a lecture every month. the one i feel would most relate to my concentration is titled " Evolutionary Narratives: Gender and Embodiment." The presenters are from the women studies, English and philosophy departments.

date: Tuesday, Oct 28
time: 7-9
location: Price Lake (student union)

one more event

2008-09-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

oct. 15th-12:00-1:00pm
-Masankho Banda-is a multi-disciplinary performing artist and educator-- a performance piece then lecture about his use of the fine arts to motivate people for "peace, social justice, and cultural understanding" it sounds awesome, he is sharing how he has been able to teach through dance and storytelling all over the world-

in the TCVA lecture hall

Another Event

2008-09-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Join Majka Burhardt for a presentation on her climbing expedition to unexplored sandstone spires in Ethiopia. October 2nd at 8PM in the Price Lake Room, Plemmons Student Union. op.appstate.edu

Event!

2008-09-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 7:30pm - ?
The Nth Gallery
683 West King Street
(above Loretta's Vendetta)

The Groove, New Works by Billy Fowler
check out his website @ sweatybuffalo.com

2008-09-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008 Lecture Hall 114 Belk Library 7:00pm
Walking among the Iraqi people: making peace with many truths
Journalist and photographer Lorna Tychostup uncovers the war you won’t see on TV by opting to get as close to the people as possible. Since 2003, she has visited Iraq four times collectively spending almost 4 months there, most recently for the Iraqi election on Jan 30, 2005. Living in modest unprotected hotels and traveling in beat-up cabs, she has found her way from the ordinary people in the street, to the squatters living in bombed-out government-owned properties, to high-ranking state ministers, to the judges of the new Iraq who have chosen to uphold the law of the land at incredible risk to their lives. Her haunting photographs and poignant stories enable her audiences to share the tragedy, the struggle and the triumph of the various communities that make up the Iraqi people. This presentation is essential for anyone hoping to understand any aspect—domestic, political, or otherwise—of what is currently the world's most conspicuous crisis.

Event! Japanese International Cafe

2008-09-25T11:53:00.001-07:00

Japanese Club is hosting the International Cafe,
tomorrow Fri Sept 26
from 12pm till 2:30
at White Water Cafe
on the 2nd floor of the student union.

There will be some free food and other Japanese activities.

Saiyonara

Integrative Praxes

2008-09-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here is an electronic copy of Richard Carp's "Integrative Praxes."

Your Portfolio

2008-09-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Below is the format for the traditional IDS portfolio:

Portfolio Requirements

Signature sheet
Table of Contents
Resume

Define interdisciplinarity and explain your answer, illustrating with examples from your own concentration as well as other authors writing on the topic; or discuss why and in what ways you are interdisciplinary, similarly with reference to published authors analyzing interdisciplinarity (medium/a optional). While your own experience will be central to this assignment, external sources must be cited.
Provide
- (a). An annotated list of 10-20 "matrices of meaning" (e.g., books, articles, films, museum collections) central to understanding your concentration. Proper bibliographic format must be used. Your annotation should indicate both what the item is, what it is about, and why it is important to your concentration. This list should be such that faculty in your concentration would agree that these are central or very important to the field.
- (b) your reviews or responses to at least three of the items on this list (more would be better if the quality remains high)
- (a) Describe as many methods of doing interdisciplinary work as you can (at least five), explaining why these methods foster interdisciplinarity
- (b) Demonstrate that you know how to use three or more.
- (a) Describe as many transdisciplinarities as you can (at least five)
- (b) Demonstrate that you know how to use three or more.
Explain your concentration as an interdisciplinary and polymethodic enterprise (check with your advisor if you wish to use a medium other than writing).
Demonstrate skills in the following areas, with a brief explanatory paragraph (in general, samples of coursework will satisfy this requirement, but it is possible for non-class material to do so):
- a. integration
- b. research
- c. speaking
- d. problem-solving
- e. collaboration
- f. ability to create a computer generated presentation that takes advantage of non-text capacities of computers
- g. use of at least one medium not dependent on writing (dance, music, clay, print-making, video, paint, performance art, etc.). Check with your advisor if you are not sure whether a medium will qualify.
Include your proposal for and evidence of accomplishing a senior project (medium/a optional, but must incorporate a significant written component).
Anything else you wish to include to demonstrate your experience or understanding of interdisciplinarity or your concentration.

Portfolio Signature Sheet

However, there are other options available. You may, after consultation with your IDS advisor, substitute a revised portfolio. In any case, you should begin collecting work from your IDS core classes and courses from your major concentration with an eye towards demonstrating the development of your interdisciplinary work over your college career.

Next Two Weeks

2008-09-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

For the next three classes, I'll be meeting with small groups over coffee in the Whitewater Coffee Shop during our regular class time from 9:30-10:45 on the second floor of the student union. Then we'll meet again as an entire class. Come to coffee on the day you're scheduled below. See you then.

T 9/16 Katy, Erin, Christina, John

TH 9/18 Jimmy, William, Kelly, Bri

T 9/23 Travis, Kegan, Lane, Ally

TH 9/25 Entire class meets in our regular classroom, LLA 124.

Intro.

2008-09-09T05:42:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Jimmy Hunt and I'm in my last semester here at ASU. I switched my major from a double business major of management and marketing, to a major in IDS with a business minor. My focus is Entertainment Promotion and Production; which fortunately fits in line with my life outside of school. This past year I started my own business, using resources offered by ASU and the ASU Entrepreneurship Center. My business, Black Paw Entertainment, LLC enabled me to organize, promote and produce Music on the Mountain. Luckily, all our work paid off and we had record setting numbers; 2,500 in the first year.

I hope to use all areas of my IDS classes to help understand not only logistical business knowledge, but also, people more sensible areas such as people management. Combining theory, reason and knowledge to the tools I've already learned in the business school will be a huge help and a whole new way to look at things!

Readings...

2008-09-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

There will be two reading handouts in class on Tuesday.

We will read and discuss the first, short, handout in class on Tuesday.

The second will be your reading assignment for class on Thursday.

D

Sweet event

2008-09-03T09:16:00.001-07:00

Hey friends, so my event that I am going to do is Dance Marathon. This is perfect for my concentation because all the money raised goes to two awesome non-profits in the area. Western Youth Network works with middle school students in the high country providing good influences, tutoring and mentoring. Parent to Parent works with families who have children who have died, have chronic illnesses, or disabilities in learning how to handle, and cope. You all should be 24 hour dancers. You have to raise $240 but it is really easy and we in the act office help with that. It is going to be on November 15th this year at 9am. If you are interested let me know. Even if you don't feel like boogying all night long come be a morale. It is amazing and really fun though so I would suggest being a champ and dancing! :) Have a great day!

What's Up

2008-09-03T09:11:00.001-07:00

Hi, my name is John,
I'm very new to blogging so this might not be the right way to post, but I'm trying. This is my sixth semester here at ASU. My major is IDS Environmental Policy and Planning, which is a mixture of political science, physical science, anthropology and IDS classes. I hope to use this degree to help make a positive change especially in the American way of life pertaining to energy consumption. Mainly I'd like to focus on the low-hanging energy fruit which plagues our society, by which I mean making energy conservation a way of life. I was originally inspired to achieve this goal when I was hosting a Japanese exchange student in my Senior year of high school. I remember when he took showers he'd ask for a washcloth and use the water as sparingly as possible, even though he wasn't in Japan. Although Kento was 4 years younger than myself he still was aware of the impacts of his actions on the environment. I guess then I decided that accepting responsibility for our actions was not as daunting as it seemed, and that not doing so is somewhat irresponsible especially if you are aware of the potential negative impacts you could cause.

2008-09-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

ABOUT ME

2008-08-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! my name is lane. i am from a very small town, in the farthest western tip of north carolina, called brasstown. it is a town full of mountain culture and craft, which fueled my desire to do something artistic with my life. i came to app in 2005 and this is my fourth year here. i decided to come to boone because my uncle lives here and my family has been visiting boone since i was very little and i have always loved it here. i am a senior now. however, because of my indecisiveness, i will not be graduating for a while. i started my college career having absolutely NO CLUE what i wanted to do. i have thought about everything from psychology to forensic chemistry to meteorology. my current degree path is graphic design, but i quickly realized that i wasnt fitting in there either. so, i plan on switching to IDS in order to create my own major where i am able to combine art and business. i originally wanted to concentrate in metalsmithing and jewelry design, but i might just say fine arts and get a little bit of everything in there. i am combining the art with the business so that hopefully one day i will have a successful and prosperous artistic business (doing whatever i finally decide on), or if the whole art thing doesnt work out, i will have a business background to fall back on.

ok...thats me in a nut shell. hopefully i covered everything i was supposed to. :-)

A little about me.

2008-08-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hello. I'm erin. I came to App. in 2001 as a wataugan. I couldn't shake that interdisciplinary, so I began creating my individually designed major, combining art and sustainable development. I didn't get very far. I left App. my junior year to "figure some things out". Really, I traveled, became a massage therapist, and decided I wanted to finish my BA. So I came back, began the art program and I graduate in December. So, as of now, I am a studio art major with a minor in IDS.
So why am I studying what I am studying? I went to massage school on my mothers intuition, and ended up loving it! I'm studying art because that was always my special something. And IDS was thrown into the mix because it made sense of it all. Now that I have that sense, I want to go to nursing school when I finish up with App.

hey

2008-08-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

hey everyone-im christina
interdisciplinary studies/individually designed

I started Appalachian in 99/2000 for interior design, but after coming extremely close to the end of that major and as well, finishing minors in art and sociology in 2005, I began to explore what i truly want to do and did not feel that an interior design degree would accomplish my goals.

I took 3 years away from the school to do as many random, interesting, and hopefully helpful things including Hurricane Katrina relief with the Red Cross twice in 2005 and working other various jobs with children who showed a wide range of abilities and challenges. I often had to find many 'original' solutions to problems I didn't know existed until i was met with them.

Long story short, i realized that I was using several aspects of my college education that i never thought I would ever need, from green building design and plumbing to family development and more social service oriented classes i have been in. I enjoyed that strange integration so much that I am returning under the interdisciplinary studies title, so that I can better and more properly apply the tools I was given and as well learn many more. Even though I know I will be challenged to better articulate truly why I am here I am grateful to be, and i think that is a good start?! I am really excited to meet everyone and learn what I can from such a diverse group of people this semester and look forward to learning from you all.

~christina f.

~

ally

2008-08-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all. My name is Ally and I am a returning student to ASU. I was a biology major for my first 2.5 years here. I took 1.5 years off, and now I'm back for IDS Labor Studies but I'm considering designing my own because I'm still all over the place with my interests. I hope that this class will help me focus what I want out of college. I do a bit of political activism type whatnot here and there, and I'm looking into focusing on class struggles, minority relations, social power dynamics, and social change. OK, I'm about to attend a "know your rights" workshop up here in St. Paul, MN...so this will be all I can say for now. See you all in a week!

peace,
ally

Hello All!

2008-08-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

My name is Katy and I'm from Charlotte. I am currently a junior majoring in IDS with a concentration in film studies and minoring in business. I had never been to the mountains until the first orientation the summer prior to my freshman year here. I had no idea what I was missing. I love it up here! Working in Charlotte over the summer was torture, I couldn't wait to get back up here and settle into my apartment.

I really enjoy going to the movies APPS provides for the students at Greenbriar and Grier on campus. When I find the schedule for the films this semester I will post a link here for everyone. I joined the Appalachian Student Filmmaker's Organization and I think it should be really fun. When they email me with the final meeting times and places I will post it here if any of you are interested in going.

Hello Everyone

2008-08-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

I am William Lehman. I am a super senior here at ASU and have been loving my time at App since the first day I got here. I have worked in housing in res life as a nightstar and summer CA for a couple years now. I grew up in Japan from age 5-13 then came back to NC.

I am an IDS:Asian Studies w/ a concentration on Japan/Japanese and a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language.(TESL) I intend to go to Japan after I graduate to teach english in a cram school in the Kansai region, or possibly move to Hokkaido and teach up there with a focus on researching the Russo-Japanese relations in the Kurile. Maybe even spit out a book a few years down the road. Finally to come back to America and either teach Japanese or return to school for Veterinarian Medicine.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Introduction

2008-08-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hey all. I have never done this blog stuff before so I hope I am posting to the right group and whatnot.
Anyway, my name is Brianna - better known as Bri. I am a military child and so I can't quite claim a particular place I am "from", so I generally just say I have been everywhere. I did live in Boone for nine years, moved away for my last three years of high school, and missed the mountains so much I came back for college. I have not regretted this decision at all. At ASU I am heavily involved with the International community and am loving every single minute - other than that I enjoy religious life, volleyball, and going to free concerts.
I am a Communication Studies BS and IDS: Third World Studies BA double degree-seeking student. I basically have big goals along with the other students of the course to make a difference, or attempt to, in this crazy world we live in. My heart is for those around the globe who suffer the most and yet are invisible - and so my passion lies within the means of global communication socially and through the government to make sure each voice is heard and that needs are met. After the needs come the wants of course. I love traveling and getting my hands dirty so I won't mind the work ahead, but after I finish at ASU I plan to make my way to Boston University for a dual-masters of Arts in International Relations & International Communication.
I think that about sums it up - questions? Ask on Tuesday =) Peace and Blessings

2008-08-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

my name is Kelly and I am a junior creating my major. I love working with people with disabilities and I really want to make an organization called Yahwah's World. The word yahwah in greek means "I be who I be" which is so fitting to the population I want to work with. So many time we get wrapped up in a name or a title that we classify people and judge them too soon. Yahwah's World is going to be a safe havent for people to come and be loved for who they are. I would love to have it be a life skills program during the school year for adults where they can come learn skills like how to count change, or set the table...basic things that they just need a little extra practice with. Also tied with that, having a mentoring program set up where a person who wants to be a big brother type person would have a child with disabilities and a child without, teaching that they have the same desire and dreams and that they are more alike than they might think. During the summer I would love to have a camp where they can come and learn about the great outdoors and just have fun. SO, I am doing IDS in order to gain skills needed to run and create a non-profit so im pulling from communications, and business as well as special education and minoring in social work.

That part was really long so i'll keep this short. Im originally from New Jersey, so I talk loud and fast and use my hands a lot. I love to write and play music and just learning new things. enough said.

Homework for T 9/2

2008-08-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Due by Midnight, Sunday 8/31

Check your campus email for an invitation to this blog.

Then post a brief paragraph or two telling the class a little about yourself, your interdisciplinary concentration, and your reasons for studying it.

Remember that this blog is public, so only post information about yourself you are comfortable with sharing. You do not need to use your last name.

Bring a printed copy of your post to class with you on Tuesday.

Be sure to read your classmates responses before class time on Tuesday.

See you then.

Derek

Kegan

2008-08-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Class,

I am one of those seniors that Derek was talking about because i'm a transfer student, who just switched thier major from sociology to IDS indv. design. My focus is "A social Critique of the Fashion Industry." this focus stems from my pervious degree in fashoin design from FIT in NYC. I was fully emursed in the fashion industry and i was aplled that there was no space for critique or discussion of the effects of the industry as a social insitution. My hope with coming to ASU was to have a space to learn about the history, the effects of the indusrt on society and vice a versa. So far i have focused on gender and class in my analysis, two social constructs that fashion both strenghtens and is submissive to. I intend on furthering my fashion line in a socially consious way that moves the industry in the direction of supporting the people i cloth instead of further situating them in an oppersive social classification.

I came to ASU, in 2006, not ever being in NC or knowing anyone within 12 hours of Boone. I have enjoyed my time here and the community of ASU. I am an overly involved student activist, mostly focusing on transgender rights, labor justice, community building, and reuse of waste. I am grew up in metro Detroit, Michigan and moved to NYC after graduating high school. I was there for two years before moving to Boone. I intend on graduating in dec.

Welcome

2008-08-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our Praxis class blog.

You'll be posting your class papers and assignments here along with information about campus events.

I will also be posting information about class meetings and assignments here, so be sure to check the blog often.

Derek