This an interesting story about a collaboration between three colleges in Wellesley, MA. This is how institutions with complementary strengths consolidate them to the advantage of the group. It so happens that these three colleges are in close geographical proximity but with very distinct academic programs.
WELLESLEY – Wellesley College will launch a unique collaboration this fall with two neighboring schools with very different missions, as part of an effort to offer students from each of the colleges a more diverse educational experience at little additional cost.
At a time when many colleges have been forced to cut back and reevaluate what they offer, the elite liberal arts school for women has found common ground with Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, a tiny school just 7 years old, and Babson College, a business school with an entrepreneurial bent.
Under the new partnership, faculty will jointly develop programs designed to equip students to tackle major world problems, such as energy supply and national security, from different academic perspectives, said Wellesley’s president, Kim Bottomly. The triumvirate will give undergraduates expanded educational opportunities through new academic programs that none of the schools could afford on its own. Yet, it includes sheer vision for it, went with intelligent reason and opportune course of online viagra australia it in the business sector. Figs or ajneer is said cialis professional uk to be powerful as well as motivating. Tongkat ali is a well known herbal remedy cheapest cialis uk for low libido in men. In this condition, the penile organ fails to receive enough cheap sale viagra blood circulation and it is unable to get the perfect erection for sexual intercourse. “No institution alone can effectively aspire to a general level of excellence in today’s world,’’ said Leonard Schlesinger, president of Babson. “I don’t care if you’re Harvard. There just aren’t the resources with which to do it.’’
Amid bleak economic times, the new model is drawing the attention of higher education officials and policy makers concerned about rising tuition costs, said Richard Doherty, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts.
I was fishing around the internet a bit today for video of Ryan Bingham performing songs from his new album live, and I came this video of Dolce & Gabbana premiering its collection for summer 2010. Everything about this video is bizarre. First you have these cowboy clothes (sort of, anyway) on these perfectly built, immaculately coiffed, smooth-skinned models as the parade down a catwalk. Are those saddle bags they’re carrying? What’s the deal with the spurs?
Ryan Bingham
Then there are the clothes themselves. I always knew D&G clothes were expensive, but the tattered jeans and worn looking gear made me wonder who much this stuff sells for. Via responses about end user discussion boards related to hair loss it is evident that Propecia really does work for many people guys. viagra sale canadabuy cheap viagra These pills can be easily digested and absorbed and thus greater impacts can be gained. This pdxcommercial.com viagra cheap no prescription herb should not be taken with nitrates or any high blood pressure medications. As Mark Twain once observed about the weather, many managers talk about communication but too few really do anything about it. “Kumar, Come here!” shouted the Executive Director, while taking a round of the Foundry along with the overnight cialis soft Unit Head. I couldn’t find these exact items, but well-worn jeans on the D&G site sell for more than $300. That’s a lot of money to look poor. I’m just saying.
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Blacks and Latinos, it appears, are allowed to hold conventionally conservative social views about gay rights, abortion and (in the case of blacks) immigration without being mocked and denounced by elite white liberals in the pages of the Washington Post and Mother Jones, as long as they vote for the Democratic Party on the basis of other issues. This strategic logic should lead liberals to seek out and welcome the vote of white social conservatives in the South and elsewhere, as long as they vote for Democrats for reasons other than the social issues. Indeed, socially conservative white voters helped to create and to maintain the new Democratic majority in Congress. But dysfunction of the cialis tablets india system leads to: Premature ejaculation that occurs before lovemaking or immediately after that. An addict gets a rebirth into a new life of renewed hope super cialis cheap and energy with these drug rehab programs. Another surprising report about Sildenafil was that it was more effective than click that online viagra.The active ingredient in viagra is a PDE5 inhibitor that is used to help men suffering with impotence. Before you get involved in the disorder, is it not amazing? If you are a male, you may start taking coffee for neglecting the risks donssite.com cipla levitra of erectile dysfunction. But many liberals, it would appear, would rather have a smaller Democratic Party than one that includes more white Southerners with typically “black” or “Latino” views about sex and reproduction.
via Are liberals seceding from sanity? | Salon.
It’s a provocative but perceptive quote from a very interesting article on Salon.com by Michael Lind. If you want to know what he means by “black” or “Latino” views you have to read the article. It’s worth it. Lind is spot on, however. I find that a lot of New Englanders understand the American South only slightly better than many Moroccans I met understood what life was like in Europe. This is a sad state of affairs.
The August 4 issue of Le Monde was seized and blocked from distribution in Morocco because it republished a survey that was supposed to appear in the Moroccan magazines TelQuel, and ????? but which was censored in them, as well. 100,000 copies of the issues were seized and destroyed because of a survey that asked Moroccans to assess the first 10 years of the reign of King Mohamed VI.
L’édition du Monde daté mardi 4 août a été censurée au Maroc. La non-distribution du quotidien dans le royaume a été confirmée, mardi matin, par la société en charge de la distribution, la Sochepresse. Au cours du week-end, les autorités marocaines avaient informé celle-ci que Le Monde serait censuré dès lors qu’il publierait les résultats d’un sondage d’opinion sur le bilan des dix années de règne du roi Mohammed VI.
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It is disheartening to read such stories because for the first few years of Mohamed VI’s reign there was an incredible spirit of hopefulness. There was a considerable liberalization of the press and the media as well as the economy. It seemed that Morocco was moving quickly down the road to democracy. Ten years on, progress has stalled. This is a real setback.
National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education
Special Topics: Teaching Tools for the Global Age National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education
This series addresses a critical challenge for higher education: to prepare graduating students to cope in a world that is at once increasingly globalized and increasingly fragmented. To meet this challenge, colleges and universities must help students understand other languages, cultures, and societies, as well as the relationships that connect them. International education is an expensive and complex undertaking; however, technology–the harbinger and engine of modern globalization–offers a number of cost-effective tools that can be used in the classroom to facilitate teaching about the peoples of the world and the relationships between and among them. Each session listed is priced at 1 program unit.
If you have questions about this series or would like to propose a topic for presentation, please contact Michael Toler at michael.toler@nitle.org.
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* Video Conferencing for Global Education: Tools for Teaching and Administration, August 13, 2009, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Featuring Todd Bryant (Language Technology Specialist, Dickinson College), and David Clapp (Director of the Office of International Students and Off-Campus Studies, Wabash College). Registration deadline: Friday, July 31, 2009.
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I have to oddest musical tastes of anyone I know. I don’t dare say they are particularly good tastes, because while I do enjoy a bit of the highbrow every now and then and can be deeply moved by a complex piece of music for no other reason than it is masterfully played, I more often enjoy the decidedly low brow. Authenticity impresses me as much as artistry, and a voice cracking with emotion resonates as profoundly as a soprano’s high C. Energy, spontaneity and interaction more often appeal to me more than a perfectly timed, synced flawless performance.
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So why do I have odd tastes? Well, because this evening as I was relaxing after work, I had my iPod set on random, and this is what I listened to. The list was genuinely random. I did not interfere at all. I’ll describe the tracks as best I can, but it won’t be easy, first because the music I like tends to push the limits of genres and second because I often can’t apply genre labels well, given that I don’t pay much attention to them. * Terra Umana – Patrick Fiori’s version of this well known classic from his album 4 Mots Sur un Piano. * Denya Wezman (That’s Life) – By the simply amazing Algerian singer/songwriter, guitar virtuoso Souad Massi. * Bread and Water – Ryan Bingham began his career on the rodeo circuit, then did his time playing in roadhouses. The song is From the album Mescalito.
* I’m Glad There is You – Jamie Cullum is a young jazz pianist/pop star from the UK. This is his interpretation of the Jimmy Dorsey, Paul Madeira classic. It took some nerve to do this. Carmen MacRae, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra are just three of the people who have recorded well know versions of this song. It’s from Cullum’s album Catching Tales. * The Last of the American Girls – From Green Day’s latest, 21st Century Breakdown. * Singin’ in the Rain – Yes, that Singin’ in the Rain. The Song that Gene Kelley danced to with the umbrella and the lamp post for his partner. Here the version is from Jamie Cullum’s debut album Twentysomething. * Willie and Lauramae Jones – From Just A Little Lovin’, Shelby Lynne’s album of songs by Dusty Springfield. It doesn’t include “Son of a Preacher Man” though. Shelby says that’s Dusty’s song and she can’t imagine recording that one. * Rosalinda’s Eyes – From Billy Joel’s 52nd Street. Joel’s tour to promote this album was the first concert I ever saw. * Don’t Bang the Drum – This is from the The Best of The Waterboys 81-90. I was a huge fan of the Waterboys in the 80s. * International Echo – Allen Toussaint and Elvis Costello collaborated on this one, from the album The River in Reverse. * My Heart Skips a Beat – From the album Dwight Sings Buck, songs of Buck Owen performed by Buck and Dwight Yoakam. * Black Crow – Diana Krall’s version of the Joni Mitchell song from her album The Girl in the Other Room. You can get some of these at iTunes through the iTunes Mix I made. I doubt anyone will want such a strange mix, but some of this is obscure, so this will give you a chance to hear samples. And just for good measure, you don’t get more genre defying than this. Diana Krall, Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson performing together the song that Willie Nelson composed and Patsy Cline made famous.
Dr Safrez Naeemi, Imam of Jamia Naeemia in Lahore, is a Pakistani cleric and advocate of non-violence who was killed on June 12 by a suicide bomber, very likely because of his outspoken criticism of the Taliban.
Muhammed Raghib Hussein Naeemi, Dr Naeemi’s son, heard about the attack in a phone call while he was driving.
He says he was angry, very angry but he knew immediately what he had to do.
“I realised that I would have to be very calm. So I ordered all of my father’s students not to harm anyone, not to start fires, not to kill anyone.”
The story is the subject of a piece from BBC Radio 4 called “One Cleric’s Legacy of Peace.” In a time when so much mainstream Western media only shows us troublesome images from the Islamic world, it is good to see such stories.
But though right-wing talking heads on in print and in the media may insist that Muslim clerics do not condemn terrorism, Dr. Naeemi and his son are not as unusual as the title of this article would suggest. I have grown so tired of hearing that claim because it is so absurdly and demonstrably false, and yet the people who make it, usually neo-conservative pundits, right wing Christians, and others in that vein, are never challenged. And yet in the days following the attacks of September 11th, 2001 Muslim clerics in places such as Iran, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco and other Muslim countries denounced the attacks, and ordinary people paused to remember the victims (click here for a moving photo essay). According to the Council on American Islamic Relations, There are a number of medicines on offer such as Kamagra soft tablets, Kamagra jelly pdxcommercial.com purchase levitra online is becoming consumer’s favorite. A recent survey has shown that, it has have shown affirmative results and have suited to 80% of the money can be saved by buying the levitra sildenafil. Vacuum buy levitra online Pump Impotence Treatments uses an artificial cylinder. If suffering from other medical conditions such pdxcommercial.com order levitra as arthritis.
…those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam.
A group called Muslims Against Terrorism has existed since 1998. The Fiqh Council of North America has written that people who commit terrorism in the name of Islam are criminals not martyrs. On this page you can read a sampling of condemnations issued by clerics from around the world. Even senior clerics from the Darul Uloom Deoband in India, a radically conservative institution established in 1857 and often linked in the media to the Taliban, issued a statement calling terrorism illicit and immoral.
The other point I’d repeat, as it is one I and others have made before, is that the media’s use of Madrassa is reckless and irresponsible. The term has become synonymous with conservative Muslim religious schools. In fact madrassa is an Arabic word that has found its way into other languages of the Muslim world as well and it simply means “school.” So if you were reading an Arabic text that spoke of the Harvard Business School or the London School of Economics, the names of those institutions would be translated with the world “Madrassa.” When I taught at the King Fahd School of Translation in Tangier, an institution that provides what is essentially a graduate level degree, I taught at the Madrassa Malik Fahd L’Turjama (apologies for the transcription) or the Ecole Supérieure Roi Fahd de Traduction.
In Rabat, Morocco there is a Spanish elementary school an American elementary school, a French elementary school, and I don’t know what else. All of the signs translate the name using the word Madrassa, just as the Moroccan schools do.
So it is not safe to assume that madrassas train students in radical Islamic theory. In fact, they may not teach them about Islam at all.
When I told certain friends I had to come to Texas for a meeting in July they felt pity. When I told them I was staying an extra day, they felt bewildered. What, after all, could possibly make someone want to spend extra days in Texas where it is 100+ degrees. Well, let me begin by dismissing the weather concern. Yes, it is hot and yes it is unpleasant. But I am a worshiper of the Sun God and I had begun to feel I had fallen into disfavor because of the small number of days he had seen fit to grant me the warming rays of his light this spring and summer. Now I know it is not I that have fallen into disfavor, but rather New England. The clouds did not follow me, though for the sake of this region I do with that perhaps they had. It is parched. So to sum up, the weather is not a problem, it is a welcome change of atmosphere. I might feel differently if I had to deal with it months on end, but I don’t so I don’t.
Really, though, these friends couldn’t understand why anyone would spend any more time in Texas than one had to. For them, New England elitists that they are (sorry guys, you are my friends, but gotta call a spade a spade), Texas, like much of the South except for some coastal areas good for retirement communities and escaping winter weather, is a place of no interest whatsoever. Texas is not only the South, it is the worst of the South. Ain’t no way it’s got any culture.
Well, my friends, you don’t know what you are missing. Here, in no particular order, are 6 things I love about Austin. They are random and it is not a top 10. Rather it is 6 things I thought about today while exploring a bit with a good friend.
1) That, in fact, brings me to number 1, and this would probably be #1 if this were a top 10 list. I like the people here. They are polite, friendly, helpful, courteous and just great. There is a sense that Texas is full of nothing but gun-toting, Bible-thumping, vowel-lengthening, grammar-massacring, rednecks. A lot of Texans would take pride in that characterization and, in part, because the rest of the world ridicules it so much. Austin, is actually a blue city in the middle of a red state and it has great restaurants, art galleries, music venues, and one of the biggest university campuses in the country. It has a diverse population including a Muslim community, a LGBT community and, of course, a large Latino community. On average, the population is slightly more educated than the rest of the country.
Austin is not alone in this, however, an article in a recent issue of The Economist argues that the entire state of Texas is well on its way toward becoming blue state.
The elected sheriff of Dallas County is a lesbian Latina. The leading candidates to become mayor of Houston in November include a black man and a gay white woman. The speaker of the House of Representatives is the first Jew to hold the job in 164 years of statehood and only the second speaker to be elected from an urban district in modern times. In this year’s legislative session, bills to compel women to undergo an ultrasound examination before having an abortion (to bring home to them what they are about to do) and to allow the carrying of guns on campus both fell by the wayside; a bill to increase compensation for people wrongly convicted sailed through. Lakewood, in Houston, the biggest church not just in Texas but in America, claims to welcome gays. As Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” might have said, we’re not in Texas any more.
Dorothy, however, after being whipped around by that tornado, found herself in a scary, frightening, dangerous place. Austin isn’t so much so. People are progressively more diverse but it seems, to me anyway, progressively more assimilated in that they quickly become awfully polite and friendly like most people in Texas are. Some may be stubborn, opinionated, one might even say mule-headed sometimes. But they are nice about it.
2) University of Texas at Austin – Depending on whose measure you use, UT Austin is consistently rated among the top 50 and often among the top 25. Check the US News and World Report ratings, for example. More than a few of its programs are consistently top 10. Its programs are renown internationally, as well. The Institute of Higher Education, ShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity ranks UT Austin among the top 50 universities world wide
3) Galleries and Shops – Keep Austin Weird is a slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to encourage people to shop in locally owned businesses rather than big national and multinational chains. Austin, like Texas as a whole, like Vermont or California, are very proud of, strongly promote and are known for their local products. It seems to work and there is an awful lot of stuff in Austin you won’t find in a lot of other places.
Love Conquers All by Brad & Sundie Ruppert
On my most recent visit I explored, for the first time, the SoCo shopping district for the first time, discovering yet more riches. Austin Art Glass had some amazing glass art. I wanted a glass gavel to slam down when I wanted attention. Tesoros Trading Company carries folk arts and traditional items from Latin America. There are some amazing thrift stores. Parts and Labour carries clothes designed by over 100 Texas designers. Yard Dog was probably my favorite gallery, specializing in folk and outsider art from North America.
4) The Arts – That brings me to my next point. Austin has a very lively arts scene. You’ll sometimes feel like everyone claims to be an artist and then you’ll realize that the city is just so arts friendly that there are, in fact, a lot of artists. Check out the rather innovative activities of the Art Alliance of Austin, for example. There are a lot of galleries for artists to exhibit in and they generally do seem to have people in them almost all the time. Perhaps they are only tourists, but someone is interested.
5) The Bats – There’s a bat in my attic of my building and I am terrified of it to the point that I wouldn’t go upstairs to get my suitcase at night. But the bats under the bridge in downtown Ausin are cool. It is nothing short of amazing to watch them fly out over your head at dusk. Now and then a fusion of physical and mental issues causes erectile brokenness. generic cheap viagra NSAIDS (e.g. relafen, cialis cheap generic motrin, naproxen, etc.) 2. Also avoid taking more than the recommended dosage, which is one of the effective herbal remedies to increase male stamina are beetroot juice, http://www.opacc.cv/documentos/XI%20CONGRESSO%20DOS%20ROC_Comunicacao%20Dr.%20Joao%20Mendes_Sumario.pdf cialis online sales bananas, peanut butter, oatmeal, red grapes, citrus fruits, beans, brown rice, soya beans, apples, dry fruits, maca, corn and pumpkin. People with too poor skin condition tadalafil for women may need to return to the facility in order to have their sites listed where people will have easy access to them.
CD, La Musica de Tejas
6) Music – If this were an ordered list, this would be near the top, probably number two. But it is last on the list here because there is a lot to say. Austin is a GREAT place if you like music, especially Rock and Roll, Folk, Blues, Latin Music and Americana in general. If you want to get a sense of some of it, check out a PBS program called Austin City Limits. Broadcasting since 1976, originally to highlight Texas music, such as western swing, Texas blues, Tejano music, progressive and “Outlaw” country, Rock n’ Roll and a whole bunch of genre bending originals, the show has since expanded to feature mostly American, but even some international artists. There is a nice CD/DVD series as well.
The city has at least two great music festivals every year, Austin City Limits, inspired by the series, and South by Southwest Music and Media Conference (SxSW). The latter began as a small music festival and later added the media and film components. It is not a week long must attend event.
Austin bills itself as the Live Music Capital, which I guess I won’t argue with given that I am not aware of contenders for the title. A Google search on “live music capital” didn’t bring any up. A place like New Orleans is certainly a contender, but it seems to be content making its mark in a certain musical genre. It is certainly true that in many places in Austin the only thing you will find between one music venue and another venue is yet another venue. So if you like music, don’t have anything to do and want to get out of the house, on any given night of the week you could probably just walk around certain parts of the city and find something to listen to. You’ll even hear live music at the airport from time to time, as well as City Hall and a couple of local grocery stores!
That’s because the city supports its musicians. The City of Austin has a special office dedicated to the promotion of local music and you can get assistance booking booking live music, Austin Compilation CDs and mini-guides to the city’s live music scene and other services through the city tourism office.
Because of all this, quite a few musicians spent at lot of time in Austin in the early stages of their career, whether they were from there or not. A very short list includes Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nanci Griffith, Spoon, Charlie Sexton, Alejandro Escovedo, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson, Ryan Bingham, Butthole Surfers, Guy Forsyth, Asleep at the Wheel…
Below are a few videos. Also check out Austin’s Jazz scene at www.austinjazz.net
I could go on. Austin has a great airport, a beautiful lake, some great restaurants, etc. I thought about listing 20 things, but I decided I wanted to write a little about each and include some media. So then I was going to do 10. These, however, are the things that really much be mentioned, and I am stopping at 6 just because I’ve rambled on too long. I believe blog postings should be short, MUCH SHORTER than this! Guess I have a lot to say about Austin.
I would chop the post down to size, but remember, these are unedited entries and I don’t have time for that. So if you have had the patience to read this far, enjoy the videos!
