Monday, March 3
- 12:00pm - 12:50pm // Under Pressure and in Hot Water: Algae Conversion to Fuels and Chemicals // 3310 Newmark Civil Engineering Lab // KELLY
- 4:00pm // Cultures of Law in a Global Context-Benton Lecture // Lincoln Hall Rm 1092 // Free // CATE
- 5:00 pm // Public Lecture: “How Important was 1453?" // Room 1065, Lincoln Hall // JILL
Tuesday, March 4
- 4:00pm // Cultures of Law in a Global Context-Benton Lecture // Lincoln Hall Rm 1092 // Free // CATE
- 5:00 pm // Public Lecture: “How Important was 1453?" // Room 1065, Lincoln Hall // JILL
- 7:00pm-9PM // Illini Art Therapy // Women's Resources Center, 703 S. Wright Street, 2nd Floor, Champaign // CORIE
Tuesday, March 4
- 4:00 pm-5:30 pm // Symposium on Survey Research in the 21st Century //Deloitte Auditorium, Business Instructional Facility // ROSHNI
- 5:00pm // Thinking About Answers: Looking Back and Ahead // College of Business Instructional Facility, 515 E. Gregory Dr., Champaign, IL // CHRIS
- 7:00 PM–9:30 PM // The Trials of Muhammad Ali - Community Cinema: Illinois Public Media/Independent Television Services Documentary Film Series // Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL // BRIAN
Maggie: His lecture was focused on what his life
has been like living with the condition, and how he has overcame his
insecurities that came along with it.
- 7:00 pm // German Film Series: Nichts Bereuen (No Regrets) // Lincoln Hall, Room 1090, 702 S. Wright Street, Urbana // BRIGITTA
Wednesday, March 5
- 3:00 pm // "Tal Como Somos (Just As We Are)" Film Screening and Discussion // 223 Gregory Hall // PUJA
- 4:00 pm // Salih Brkic: Bosnian Journalist and Filmmaker // Room 66, Main Library, 1408 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana // ANNE
- 11:30am - 12:00 PM // Mindful Meditation // Gallery of Ancient Mediterranean Cultures, Spurlock Museum // BRiAN
- 5:15 pm // Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Language Building // Lecture: The Trouble with Stars: Vernacular vs. Global Stardom in Two Forms of European Popular Culture // LINDSEY
Puja: we are introduced to Fatima Gailani, an important
humanitarian leader from Afghanistan who lived in exile during the Soviet
invasion of her country. Over a decade ago, she was chosen as a commissioner to
help draft the new constitution of Afghanistan’s next government.
- 7:30pm // Meredith Monk: On Behalf of Nature // $10-30 // Krannert Center, Colwell Playhouse // CATE
- 7:30 pm // Orpheus in the Underworld // Krannert Center, Tryon Festival Theatre // BRIGITTA
Friday, March 7
- 9:00 AM // Garden Smarter, Not Harder // Extension Auditorium, 801 N. Country Fair Drive, Champaign, Ill // ALEX
- 12:00pm// EUCE Director's Lecture Series: Halting a Tragedy of the Commons: The EU and the Arctic// Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Language Building// Free// JOEY
- 12:00 pm // "Working to Make Chicago the Most Immigrant Friendly City in the U.S." // Latzer Hall at the University YMCA // PUJA- extra!
- 12:00pm // Bach's Lunch Concert Series // Springer Cultural Center // ALEX
- 12:00pm // ISTC - Sustainable Seminar Series - The Realities of Energy in Illinois and Beyond “It’s much more interesting than you think.” // Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820 // CHRIS
- 3:00 pm // Pathways Into Single Motherhood and Their Implications for Children in Nicaragua // 101 International Studies Building // PUJA
- 7:00pm// Lemann Lecture Series: Taxation Issues in Brazil// 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign// Free// JOEY
- 7:30pm // Orpheus in the Underworld // Krannert Center, Tryon Festival Theatre // $8-$27 // KELLY
- 12:30pm-4:00 // Spurlock Museum WorldFest // Spurlock Museum // $5 // LINDSEY
Roshni: It was really nice seeing how kids find joy in the
little things. I started reminiscing about my childhood and how carefree I used
to be.
- 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm // Spanish Story Time: Book Fiesta // The Urbana Free Library Children's Department, 210 W Green St, Urbana // ANNE
- 3:00 pm // Lecture: "Water Supply on Shaky Ground: Life Leading up to the Eruption of Vesuvius" by Duncan Keenan-Jones // Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum // BRiAN
- 3:00 pm // Rudolf Haken, Viola Performance // Krannert Center, Foellinger Great Hall // MAGGIE
- 5:00pm // Thinking About Answers: Looking Back and Ahead // College of Business Instructional Facility, 515 E. Gregory Dr., Champaign, IL // CHRIS
- 7:00 PM–9:30 PM // The Trials of Muhammad Ali - Community Cinema: Illinois Public Media/Independent Television Services Documentary Film Series // Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL // BRIAN
Brian: The part that caught my attention
the most was when the said he was a political athlete, but where are such
athletes now?
- 7:00 pm // Lecture Series: Breaking Bad’s RJ Mitte // Illini Union I-Rooms // JILLMaggie: His lecture was focused on what his life
has been like living with the condition, and how he has overcame his
insecurities that came along with it.
Joey: He worked
hard to become an actor, overcame gross adversity, and got the role of a
lifetime. Why should he be some intelligent, thoughtful speaker?
Alex: His lecture was mostly about making the best of
your situation, and how to find good in whatever you take on. He said lots of
things that i would expect a motivational speaker to say, but he had incredible
back stories and experiences to make his point.
- 7:00 pm // German Film Series: Nichts Bereuen (No Regrets) // Lincoln Hall, Room 1090, 702 S. Wright Street, Urbana // BRIGITTA
Wednesday, March 5
- 3:00 pm // "Tal Como Somos (Just As We Are)" Film Screening and Discussion // 223 Gregory Hall // PUJA
- 4:00 pm // Salih Brkic: Bosnian Journalist and Filmmaker // Room 66, Main Library, 1408 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana // ANNE
- 5:00 PM // Susan Bazargan Graduate Lecture // Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center EIU // ALEX
- 7:00pm-9PM // Illini Art Therapy // Women's Resources Center, 703 S. Wright Street, 2nd Floor, Champaign // CORIE
- 7:00pm-9PM // Illini Art Therapy // Women's Resources Center, 703 S. Wright Street, 2nd Floor, Champaign // CORIE
- 8:00pm and recurring // dance jam boogy // IMC in urbana // SEANO
Thursday, March 6
Lindsey: I think the most important thing I learned at the
mediation session was how to breathe and how to sit in a chair correctly.
- 5:15 pm // Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Language Building // Lecture: The Trouble with Stars: Vernacular vs. Global Stardom in Two Forms of European Popular Culture // LINDSEY
Brigitte: One guy had
a vision of babies being named after him, shirts sporting his name in a tag line,
and being featured in a Simpsons episode.
Chris: In this
video, famous soccer stars envisioned their lives changing based on successes
and failures on the soccer field. Although the video was pretty humorous, it
was apparent that a statement was being made regarding celebrities in both a
local and international context.
Jill: He pointed out that being a “star” is more of an
American thing;
- 7:00pm-9:00 pm // Sex & Gender Film Series | Pray the Devil Back to Hell //Women's Resources Center, 703 S. Wright Street, 2nd Floor, Champaign (SW corner of Wright & Green St) // ROSHNIPuja: we are introduced to Fatima Gailani, an important
humanitarian leader from Afghanistan who lived in exile during the Soviet
invasion of her country. Over a decade ago, she was chosen as a commissioner to
help draft the new constitution of Afghanistan’s next government.
Cate: -In WWI only
15% of casualties were civilian and increased to 65% in WWII. Now 80% of war
casualties are civilian (mostly women and children).
- 7:30pm // Meredith Monk: On Behalf of Nature // $10-30 // Krannert Center, Colwell Playhouse // CATE
- 7:30 pm // Orpheus in the Underworld // Krannert Center, Tryon Festival Theatre // BRIGITTA
Friday, March 7
- 9:00 AM // Garden Smarter, Not Harder // Extension Auditorium, 801 N. Country Fair Drive, Champaign, Ill // ALEX
- 12:00pm// EUCE Director's Lecture Series: Halting a Tragedy of the Commons: The EU and the Arctic// Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Language Building// Free// JOEY
- 12:00 pm // "Working to Make Chicago the Most Immigrant Friendly City in the U.S." // Latzer Hall at the University YMCA // PUJA- extra!
- 12:00pm // Bach's Lunch Concert Series // Springer Cultural Center // ALEX
- 12:00pm // ISTC - Sustainable Seminar Series - The Realities of Energy in Illinois and Beyond “It’s much more interesting than you think.” // Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820 // CHRIS
- 3:00 pm // Pathways Into Single Motherhood and Their Implications for Children in Nicaragua // 101 International Studies Building // PUJA
- 7:00pm// Lemann Lecture Series: Taxation Issues in Brazil// 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign// Free// JOEY
- 7:30pm // Orpheus in the Underworld // Krannert Center, Tryon Festival Theatre // $8-$27 // KELLY
- 8:00pm and recurring // The Planets // Staerkel Planetarium // SEANo
Saturday, March 8
Sean:
Uranus
PRO: HILARIOUS name, all
your friends will laugh when you tell then where you’re from. Also the cliffs
of Miranda sounds amazing. A fall from the top would take 10 minutes to hit the
ground. That’s enough time to thoroughly contemplate suicide after the
decision’s been made.
CON: You could slip on a 10
million mile ice cliff and fall.
- 12:30pm-4:00 // Spurlock Museum WorldFest // Spurlock Museum // $5 // LINDSEY
It was really fun watching
kids interact with different cultures and how curious the kids were. It was
nice interacting with them because I forgot how kids live life so simply.
- 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm // Spanish Story Time: Book Fiesta // The Urbana Free Library Children's Department, 210 W Green St, Urbana // ANNE
Anne: After we had all sung the song, she had
told us what the song was about and it was about a spider that liked to bite
people. It was kind of an odd choice for a children’s event but oh well
- 7:30pm // Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra: Inextinguishable // Krannert Center, Foellinger Great Hall // MAGGIE
Sunday, March 9- 3:00 pm // Lecture: "Water Supply on Shaky Ground: Life Leading up to the Eruption of Vesuvius" by Duncan Keenan-Jones // Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum // BRiAN
Kelly: The music was really pretty. It featured Rudolf
Haken on the viola and a pianist playing in tandem. The style was definitely
more traditional and reminded me of a fairytale or historic fiction movie.
_______________________________________________________________________
http://www.ted.com/talks/esta_soler_how_we_turned_the_tide_on_domestic_violence_hint_the_polaroid_helped
_______________________________________________________________________
http://www.ted.com/talks/esta_soler_how_we_turned_the_tide_on_domestic_violence_hint_the_polaroid_helped
Corie: The three videos strung together were an
interesting insight to domestic violence, a subject we are aware of, but don't
truly take the time to understand it.
mar. 3 // 5:00 pm // Public Lecture: “How Important was 1453?" // Room 1065, Lincoln Hall
ReplyDeleteSpeaker: Prof. Molly Green, Princeton University
Cost: No cost-Free entry
Description:"1453 stands as one of the defining dates of modern Greek history. In this talk I will make the case for a different narrative. I will argue that certain alternative geographies and chronologies are just as vital if we want to understand the Greek Orthodox experience in the early centuries of Ottoman rule. By the time the Byzantine capital fell to the Ottomans important parts of the Greek world had been under Ottoman rule for several generations; provincial society had come to its own agreements with the invading forces and these agreements were little disturbed by events in the capital. In addition, the Byzantine recovery of Constantinople in 1261 did not stop a process of fragmentation in the eastern Mediterranean. This meant that the Ottomans conquered not one Greek world, but many, over an extended period of time. Viewed from this perspective, 1453 was not so much the end of the Byzantine Empire but rather the beginning of a very long process of the reunification of the Greek Orthodox world, an accomplishment that would not reach its climax until the eighteenth century.”
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31522690&calMin=201403&cal=20140303&skinId=1
mar. 4 // 7:00 pm // Lecture Series: Breaking Bad’s RJ Mitte // Illini Union I-Rooms
ReplyDeleteCost: Free
RJ Mitte starred as Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) son on the award-winning show, AMC's Breaking Bad. Like his character, he has cerebral palsy, albeit a milder version. Mitte is involved with many organizations that raise awareness for of equality and diversity, including his role as Youth Spokesperson for the National Disability Institute's Real Economic Tour.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31618399&calMin=201403&cal=20140304&skinId=1
First off, let me just point out that I'm a huuuuuge Breaking Bad fan! So this event was major.
DeleteFor my week 7 event, I attended RJ Mitte's lecture at the Union. Sadly my event buddy Anne couldn't join me for this one, but my roommate Bri came with me! RJ plays Walt Jr. on the TV show Breaking Bad. In the show, he has cerebral palsy, and also has this condition in real life. His lecture was focused on what his life has been like living with the condition, and how he has overcame his insecurities that came along with it. He also discussed the different organizations he works with and supports. RJ is currently starring in a show on ABC Family called Switched at Birth. I was expecting the lecture to cover a lot of Breaking Bad-related content, but it was more focused in his life outside acting, which was equally interesting. After his speech, he opened up the room to a Q & A segment, and I GOT TO ASK A QUESTION!!! I was so nervous, and needed a minute to decide on what to ask because there’s so much I wanted to know. I ended up asking him which death in Breaking Bad upset him the most and why. Apparently everyone in the room wasn’t up to speed on the show, so his answer broke some hearts, but oh well. Overall, this lecture was awesome! I’m a big fan of TV dramas, so having someone from one of my favorite shows at our school was incredible.
Before you read this, you should know that RJ Mitte is a young actor. He played Walt Jr. in Breaking Bad, an incredibly successful TV series. RJ, like his character in Breaking Bad, suffers from a mild form of Cerebral Palsy.
DeleteI’m pretty sure the title of RJ’s event was Turning Disadvantages into Advantages. I say “event” because it certainly was not a lecture as advertised. In fact, it’s hard to say what it really was. Maybe it would be easiest to explain it through my thought process chronologically. The room was packed, and I must say I was really happy to see and hear how excited people were to see RJ. Maybe that was the part of me that loves Breaking Bad reveling at joy of being in a room full of fellow fans. OH MY GOD YOU WATCH BREAKING BAD TOO?!?! Or, maybe it was the part of me that was just glad to be at an event on campus that didn’t end up drawing only four people/not happening at all. Anyway, the atmosphere was awesome.
Then RJ came out.
Have you ever been surprised by the extent to which you were star-struck? I mean, as I said before, I really like Breaking Bad, and I think RJ plays his role really spectacularly. But, I hadn’t expected myself to react as strongly as I did. I was wide-eyed for a good minute. It was pretty damn cool. The room agreed.
Then RJ began speaking. Let me preface this paragraph by saying I corroborated with multiple other people in attendance, and that I’m not a hypercritical douche. It is the truth, RJ was by no means articulate, and there seemed to be no structure (certainly no introduction), no thesis, and perhaps not enough practice to his… presentation? Still not sure what it was. He came out and gave us a little history of how he came to be where he was. But as he moved into what seemed to be the meat of the night, it didn’t become clear what he was talking about. He rambled, and he talked in circles about “making that difference”, “changing someone’s life for the better”, and the actual advantages of being disadvantaged. I don’t mean to belittle these ideas, but we probably heard them upward of 30 times, and thus they became cliché. It is challenging to report what he said, because it was so unfocused. Unfortunately, his observations did not seem particularly insightful, beyond his unique position as an actor with Cerebral Palsy.
I realized that about ten minutes into it, and after that I felt I had a pretty solid grasp on the situation. RJ was on this speaking tour as a spokesperson for Cerebral Palsy. He is somebody whose face is recognizable across the country, being an integral character on one of the most successful TV shows of all time. This tour, as well as his position as ambassador for a number of organizations in support of people with Cerebral Palsy and other disorders, happens because he can fill a room like he did this Tuesday. Not because he has a talent for eloquent speaking, or an original and thought-provoking message. And, you know, the more I thought about it, the less surprised I was by his disappointing “lecture”. The guy is only 21. He worked hard to become an actor, overcame gross adversity, and got the role of a lifetime. Why should he be some intelligent, thoughtful speaker? I’m sure his efforts are successful in spreading awareness to his cause, and he already has served, by doing what he is genuinely talented at, as an incredible beacon of success for people with disabilities of all sorts. Thinking of his work as a whole, and not focusing on his sometimes confused speech, I felt a great respect and appreciation for RJ Mitte. He is a funny, charming, talented guy who achieved something most people, disabled or not, only dream of. Even if he can’t explain it yet, I admire him and his unique accomplishments.
For this week, I attended this guest lecture at the union with Liz, who is a die hard Breaking Bad fan. I haven't even seen the first episode, so i expected to be a bit lost for this event. Fortunately, RJ didn't talk much about the show, but instead about his experience as an actor and a speaker. RJ has a form of Cerebral Palsy, and coincidentally, so did his character in Breaking Bad. However, the character her played had a much more sever form of CP. RJ was upbeat and positive about his experience, and was adamant that his experience was not that unique. He said that his disability was no different than any hinderance that any of us (the audience) face on any given day. His lecture was mostly about making the best of your situation, and how to find good in whatever you take on. He said lots of things that i would expect a motivational speaker to say, but he had incredible back stories and experiences to make his point. The question and answer section at the end was less fulfilling for me, because most people were asking breaking bad related questions, so i was in the dark. I think people expected him to talk more about breaking bad, but I'm glad he used the opportunity to talk about the organizations he works with and the good that we can do as young, educated adults.
Deletemar. 6 // 7:30 pm // Orpheus in the Underworld // Krannert Center, Tryon Festival Theatre // BRIGITTA
ReplyDelete$8-$27
The tragic Greek tale of musician Orpheus and his wife, Euridice, is turned on its head in this irreverent romp with contemporary humor. The gods on Mount Olympus stage a revolt from boredom, Public Opinion cajoles and chastises, and all join in the "Infernal Galop."
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=28563013&calMin=201402&cal=20140224&skinId=1
mar. 4 // 7 pm // German Film Series: Nichts Bereuen (No Regrets) // Lincoln Hall, Room 1090, 702 S. Wright Street, Urbana // BRIGITTA
ReplyDeleteMovie Night!
A blend of comedy and pathos, No Regrets is a light-hearted coming of age story that flags up its lead, newcomer Daniel Bruehl, as one of Germany's upcoming talents to watch. The film has done well in German-speaking territories, where it has taken DM 468,065 since opening last November, and also drawn acclaim on the festival circuit, taking the Hypo Prize at last year's Munich Film Festival and the German Film Critics' Debut Film.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31505098&calMin=201402&cal=20140224&skinId=1
Mar 6th // 5:15 pm // Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Language Building // Lecture: The Trouble with Stars: Vernacular vs. Global Stardom in Two Forms of European Popular Culture // LINDSEY
ReplyDeleteOlof Hedling, Lund University, Fulbright Hildeman Visiting Scholar in the Scandinavian Program in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=30608206&calMin=201402&cal=20140224&skinId=1
The lecture was held in the Lucy Ellis Lounge, which was now easy to find the second time around. There were maybe around 25 people ranging from students to an older crowd. Olof Hedling had a very thick accent so he was sometimes hard to understand, but he was a pleasant man who opened with a joke about the cold weather.
DeleteThe lecture covered stardom in both film and european football (what we call soccer). He spoke of how in Europe stars aren't treated the same way that they tend to be in the US, meaning their personal lives aren't so invaded by the media, and of the cultural and linguistic divisions across the globe. He used a quote from Wim Wenders stating, "People need to want to be stars, you can't just make them." Essentially, stardom is a tough path to follow because it can be very unhealthy.
He showed a pretty entertaining video from Write the Future of football stars playing a back and forth game and the reactions of onlookers, as well as visions into the future of what would happen should the stars fail or succeed. One guy had a vision of babies being named after him, shirts sporting his name in a tag line, and being featured in a Simpsons episode. He used this as an example of the element of celebrity in local, national, and global contexts. He showed us a still from the video of the player of the year, Ronaldo, envisioned at his own movie premiere. Hedling pointed out that while Ronaldo is not an American player, the promotional posters of his "movie" are in English which makes him globally appealing.
Overall it was a pretty interesting lecture that offered insight to a world of stardom I had never been exposed to. The Q&A afterwards was pretty entertaining to. I think Hedling's personality made this lecture worth while.
I attended this lecture with Jill and Brigitta. At the beginning, I thought that it was going to be rough, because Olof Hedling had a strong accent, and I struggle a bit to understand foreign accents. However, the speaker turned out to be fairly personable and understandable.
DeleteThe lecture touched on European film and soccer. It was apparent that Olof was more interested in soccer, however, based on the passion that he spoke about it. I was fascinated to learn that celebrities in Europe don't have their lives invaded nearly to the degree that American celebrities do. American celebrities can't buy a sandwich at a deli without ending up in the tabloids. Then, near the end of the lecture, Hedling showed us a video by Nike called "Write the Future". In this video, famous soccer stars envisioned their lives changing based on successes and failures on the soccer field. Although the video was pretty humorous, it was apparent that a statement was being made regarding celebrities in both a local and international context. I thought the video was I nice break from powerpoint, and served to strengthen his arguments in a quite complimentary way.
Overall, the lecture was interesting, and pretty different than what I had expected. It did drag at times, but his pacing was good enough that I never truly lost my focus.
This week I attended the lecture, The Trouble with Stars: Vernacular vs. Global Stardom in Two Forms of European Popular Culture. I went to the lecture with Brigitta and Chris. This was my second time visiting the Foreign Languages Building. It was located in the Lucy Ellis Lounge. The audience ranged between 20-30 people. The age was split between college students and middle-age adults.
DeleteThe guest lecturer, Olof Hedling, had a very thick accent, which made the majority of the lecture hard to follow. To make the lecture more enjoyable he threw in a few jokes. For example, Hedling said, “I love being in the US, but this time the embrace has been somewhat cold”. This quote directed to the chilly Illinois weather.
Through the rest of his PowerPoint lecture Hedling’s main focus was European star power compared to American star power. He pointed out that being a “star” is more of an American thing; Europeans have more of a theatre background and also would rather to not have all the public attention. The real stars in Europe are football (soccer) players. He showed a clip, made by Nike called “Write the Future”. It was an advertisement featuring popular football players. The advertisement made them out to look like celebrities. What Hedling pointed out and what I found interesting about the advertisement was that all the taglines in the video were written in English. By doing this, Nike is trying to appeal to a larger audience than just Europeans.
Overall I found Hedling’s take on stardom was interesting. At times I got lost within what he was saying. I believe it was a combination of the accent and his broad vocabulary.
Mar 8th // 12:30-4:00 // Spurlock Museum WorldFest // Spurlock Museum // $5 // LINDSEY
ReplyDeleteMultiple performances for the price of one! During WorldFest, the Museum celebrates the wonderful variety of performance arts practiced around the world and offers hands-on activities for everyone.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31206323&calMin=201402&cal=20140224&skinId=1
This week I attended the World Fest at the Spurlock Museum. This was a bit different because each exhibit had a performance from a different region and culture. I was able to see two styles of dance: Odissi and Irish Folk Dancing. Odissi is a form of dance style that I had always heard about during my years in an Indian Classical Dance School called Natraj Dance Academy. I learned Bharatanatyam at 13 for six years, which is similar to Odissi in terms of facial expressions and costumes. The girl who performed was a freshman in high school and took classes in Champaign and via skype with her teacher who is in India. People in the audience were fascinated with her costume, bells (placed on her feet to express beat and rhythm), head piece and jewelry. Even the youngest in the audience curious and had many questions for the little girl. This reminded me of the times I would perform for my dance team and how nervous I would be. It was amazing to see such a young girl have so much confidence and energy to dance alone in front of a group. She was also very knowledgeable about the dance which was nice to see.
DeleteI also watched Irish Folk Dancing in a different exhibit. This a bit different than the Odissi performance because audience members were pulled onto the dance floor for dance lesson in Irish Folk. Little kids and their parents were able to interact and learn different styles of Irish dancing together. At times the instructors would teach things too fast, but as they started trying the steps the kids would work through their confusion. It was really cute and funny to watch how the kids were interacting with each other and the steps. It was really nice seeing how kids find joy in the little things. I started reminiscing about my childhood and how carefree I used to be.
It was really fun watching kids interact with different cultures and how curious the kids were. It was nice interacting with them because I forgot how kids live life so simply.
Mar 8 // 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm // Spanish Story Time: Book Fiesta // The Urbana Free Library Children's Department, 210 W Green St, Urbana // ANNE
ReplyDeleteSpanish Story Time has been organized by CLACS & the Urbana Free Library since 2006. The event is for children and their parents and consists of storytelling, live music and art. It is presented bilingually in Spanish/English.
Attending an event at the Urbana book library is a must before you graduate!
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31608708&calMin=201402&cal=20140303&skinId=1
For my event this week I attended Spanish Story Time at the Urbana Free Library. I went to this event because last year I attended an event at the Urbana Free Library and I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. This lecture was geared towards children. It started off with a bunch of maracas getting handed out to everyone in the audience, it was a bit overwhelming having 15+ kids shake maracas for the first couple minutes but it was cute to see how much everyone enjoyed them. Most children had parents with them and they even joined in on shaking the maracas. The women who gave the lecture first started out with a song that was in Spanish and she had handed everyone out a sheet so we could sing along, so we did. After we had all sung the song, she had told us what the song was about and it was about a spider that liked to bite people. It was kind of an odd choice for a children’s event but oh well. Second, she read a story, which was called Book Fiesta, which was about children going on an adventure with several different types of animals and different scenarios. While reading the book, she was reading it in English but she would ask the kids what some of the words were in Spanish. Many of the children did not know but there was one girl in the back who I believe spoke fluent Spanish and she was shouting out all the answers and ruining it for all the other kids. I found it funny though. I had taken a couple years of Spanish in college and I could understand everything really well. To end this event each kid got to make a maraca with two cups and some beans. This was probably the best part of the event because it involved making crafts. Overall, this event was interesting even though I was one of the oldest people in the room.
DeleteMar 5 // 4:00 pm // Salih Brkic: Bosnian Journalist and Filmmaker // Room 66, Main Library, 1408 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana // ANNE
ReplyDeleteSalih Brkic is a war crimes journalist investigative journalist from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has been a professional journalist for more than 37 years. Srebenica is his focus, his "wound." He has made the documentaries Lovac Na Pravdu (Hunter: Return to Justice), which NBC has filmed; Nermine; Lampa iz Spilje Polja; Ubijali su i nerodzenu dijecu; Skorpijoni Streljane Dijece iz Srebenice; and 12 godina muke fate orlovic, which received an International Award and international acknowledgement.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31700400&calMin=201402&cal=20140303&skinId=1
Mar. 4 // 5pm // Thinking About Answers: Looking Back and Ahead // College of Business Instructional Facility, 515 E. Gregory Dr., Champaign, IL // CHRIS
ReplyDeleteNorbert Schwarz is Provost Professor in the Department of Psychology and Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and cofounder of the USC Dornsife Mind & Society Center. He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Mannheim, Germany (1980) and a “Habilitation” in psychology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany (1986). Prior to joining the University of Southern California in 2014, he was the Charles Horton Cooley Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan, where he held positions in the Institute for Social Research, the Department of Psychology, and the Ross School of Business (1993–2013). He previously taught psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany (1981–1992) and served as Scientific Director of ZUMA (now GESIS), an interdisciplinary social science research center in Mannheim, Germany (1987–1992). His research interests focus on human judgment and cognition, including the interplay of feeling and thinking and the implications of basic cognitive and communicative processes for public opinion, consumer behavior and social science research. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the German National Academy of Science; other honors include the Wilhelm Wundt Medal of the German Psychological Association, the Wilhelm Wundt-William James Award of the American Psychological Foundation and European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations, and the 2010 AAPOR Book Award recognizing the enduring impact of Thinking About Answers (Sudman, Bradburn, & Schwarz, 1996).
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/500?eventId=31462940&calMin=201402&cal=20140224&skinId=1
Mar. 7 // 12pm // ISTC - Sustainable Seminar Series - The Realities of Energy in Illinois and Beyond “It’s much more interesting than you think.” // Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820 // CHRIS
ReplyDeleteEnergy is used by everyone in the state of Illinois – we all rely on some form of energy or another as we live, work and play in a 21st century society. However, where does this energy come from? What are the challenges and opportunities associated with energy development and transportation? Are renewable energies really the answer? What’s next? Tom Wolf, the executive director of the Chamber’s Energy Council will give a high-level overview of energy issues in Illinois in an effort to ensure policy decisions are based on realty and not fantasy.
What do Illinois businesses think about hydraulic fracturing, energy conservation, climate change or exporting oil? This presentation will provide some insights as to the priorities for Illinois businesses when it comes to energy and where it might lead us in the coming years. Plus, it includes references to Princess Leia, Whack-a-Mole, and the 80’s rock icon, Meatloaf (Google him) – so it can’t be all bad, right?
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/500?eventId=31525674&calMin=201402&cal=20140224&skinId=1
Mar 6 // 7:00-9:00 pm // Sex & Gender Film Series | Pray the Devil Back to Hell //Women's Resources Center, 703 S. Wright Street, 2nd Floor, Champaign (SW corner of Wright & Green St) // ROSHNI
ReplyDeleteSex & Gender Film Series | Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Date Mar 6, 2014
Time 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location Women's Resources Center, 703 S. Wright Street, 2nd Floor, Champaign (SW corner of Wright & Green St)
Cost FREE
Sponsor Women's Resources Center
Contact Rachel Lauren Storm
E-Mail rstorm2@illinois.edu
Phone 217-333-3137
Event type WRC Documentary Film Series
Views 449
Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country. Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks. A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. The Sex + Gender Film Series occurs on Thursdays at the Women's Resources Center in collaboration with the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, National Organization for Women UIUC Chapter, DiversityEd, and Department of Media and Cinema Studies. Free and open to the public- bring your friends! Should you require any accommodations (assistance with food and seating, large print programs, an ASL interpreter, visual/audio assistance, etc.), please contact us at your earliest convenience. Paid for by the Student Cultural Programming Fee.
I believe I was the first person to arrive for the film screening, and one of the four or five people who actually showed up to watch it. It turned out that the original documentary we were supposed to see was not viewable for technical reasons, so the alternative film available was “Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines.” It involved similar themes of peace reconciliation in war-stricken areas of the world, with an emphasis on female leaders.
DeleteThis film follows women peacebuilders from Afghanistan, Argentina, Burundi, and Bosnia. One of the main points of the documentary was to iterate the importance of women reclaiming political power and their role in advocating for global peace. For example, we are introduced to Fatima Gailani, an important humanitarian leader from Afghanistan who lived in exile during the Soviet invasion of her country. Over a decade ago, she was chosen as a commissioner to help draft the new constitution of Afghanistan’s next government. There was a scene in which she was voicing her opinions at a meeting with other scholars, and she appeared to be the only female representative in the room. I couldn’t help but notice the way she stood out—women are obviously a minority within the political realm. She seemed very confident in what she had to say though, and the rest of the men were just listening, taking notes.
For myself, hearing about the amount of violence present in our recent human history was perhaps the more difficult aspect of this film. I think I am rather privileged to live in a country where I do not witness many vicious acts on a daily basis, and actually feel somewhat far removed from those places that do. (Not that we don’t have a huge amount of other injustices, crimes, and discrimination here.) I also know that everything isn’t always as bad as what is portrayed in the media sometimes, but it is undeniable that horrible things like genocide have occurred. In the Burundi section of the documentary, a sea of skulls was shown in representation of those who lost their lives in the Rwandan massacre between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. America was shaken by 9/11, and approximately 3,000 lost their lives in the terrorist attacks. In the Rwandan genocide, significant portions of the population—hundreds of thousands of people—were killed. I do not mean to say that one tragedy is more important than another, but rather I want to reiterate that incredible suffering has happened across the world. When U.S. bombs began killing Afghan civilians, many were enamored by the idea of getting revenge. Yet some Americans realized, “This was somebody else’s September 11.”
HOW ADVENTUROUS ARE YOU??!?
DeleteWhat’s your favorite color?
(a) Red
(b) Navy
(c) Gray
*(a) Obviously RED*
What is the last meal you ate?
(a) Spicy Curry Chicken
(b) Ramen Noodles
(c) Cereal
*(a) That curry went right through me... but damn it was good*
How do you tie your shoes?
(a) I don’t
(b) Bunny loops
(c) Velcro
* (a) Technically... because I just slip my shoes on and off*
IF YOU ANSWERED MOSTLY (a), YOU ARE VERY ADVENTUROUS.
As uncontrollable as a blazing red forest fire and just as spicy as that curry joint on the corner, you are in fact as adventurous as you could be. If you had a schedule planned for tomorrow (which you don’t because you are so adventurous) you’d probably be cliff diving at nine a.m. and then wrestling alligators by noon. Blah, blah, blah.. the nonsense continues…
FACT: Navy is my favorite color.
FACT: I think the pepper my mom puts on my breakfast eggs makes them too spicy.
FACT: I only tie my shoes if I have to.
If you’re wondering what all of that was about, no worries there is a point to it…
Here it is…
At some point or another almost everyone breaks down and takes one of the online personality quizzes. Maybe it was for a class or maybe just out of curiosity but if you’re even remotely like me, you end up finding out more about the person you want to be rather than the person you actually are. This can be a good thing if you realize this but can also be very dangerous if you subconsciously believe you are making progressive steps towards the kind of person you want to be but never actually make any changes.
Looking back, I was really good at convincing myself and I’d like to think others as well. However, I don’t actually believe I made real progress towards anything while on the path that I was… not that I was on some self destructive path but I definitely don’t think I was looking for ways to enrich my life.
More recently and especially after watching that video (by no means was the video I watched life changing but it really puts things into perspective) I’ve started to think more about the kinds of things I’d like to accomplish at some point in my life and there has been a very distinct change in the way I view the world.
Anyone that’s reading this has been dealt a pretty stacked hand, regardless of where or how you’ve grown up, you are where you are and I have a hard time believing luck doesn’t play a role in it. Just to reiterate that a bit, here are some notes I took from the movie…
-In WWI only 15% of casualties were civilian and increased to 65% in WWII. Now 80% of war casualties are civilian (mostly women and children).
-Under Islamic law women are declared equal however once Taliban was in control women lost their rights.
- These people’s homes are a battleground of competing ideologies.
-Girls and children are harassed on their way to school (where there are no peacekeepers women are beaten and raped on their way to school.)
-Girls are only 32% of the children attending school in Afghanistan.
-Attacks robbery and rape are the daily realities of living there.
-People who know that they simply share their opinions and speak out against other, can recall times when they've feared their lives.
… Some of the things these people in other place around the world are viciously murdered for are simply protected in our very first amendment, but they’re not scared. They know in their hearts what is right and risk their life for it. Yet many people here are still unclear on what they believe to be right or wrong and even when there is no risk in them voicing their opinions they still don’t. It seems like there is a fear that utilizing what’s been given to you might make it disappear… like it’s a limited supply product and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Using freedom of speech as an extreme example... people choose their words carefully because why would they want to loose something so precious over one cause… but in the end they end up never really utilizing this gift they’ve been very lucky to receive.. something people risk dying for.
I know this is an extremely visited idea and I don’t mean to beat this dead horse anymore than it already has but the concept of right and wrong and living vs. going through the motions has been something I’ve spent a lot of time on recently. And I’ve concluded that it has a lot to do with fear… fear that I only feel because someone has told me I have a reason to feel it.. which is ironic because most of these conflicts are fear based that result in years of warring countries and are responsible for thousands of deaths. It’s also ironic because when I’m not being told to be scared of something, I’m being told to trust my gut… but how can I be expected to trust my gut when overtime my surroundings have shaped me to be gutless. It sorta seems like we are continuously allowing ourselves and producing more people to be products of the next big conflict.
DeleteI didn’t really expect my response for this week to end where it did.. and I’m honestly not sure where to go from there.
Here are some other points and quotes I found interesting throughout the movie
-“This someone else's September 11th.”
-Hate radio took a huge part in providing people with information.
-One man talked about being able to tend the land but having no land to tend. Then he asked the uneducated to not blindly follow the politicians.
-Looked to hide the woman said I can't but let me talk to my husband. She asked him he left and she held the woman hide.
-"It is time for women to convince their husbands to so what's right."
-You need the people for a deep democracy.
-"To have peace it means that you have food, education, to have what you need"
-"When people kill, something changes in side them. They've crossed the line.... Since traditionally men are the ones doing the killing… is women can bring the peace"
-"Men tend to view things as teams and say 'oh well we need to go win'."
-"It is not someone's ethnicity but what's deep in their heart."
Mar 4 // 4:00-5:30 pm // Symposium on Survey Research in the 21st Century //Deloitte Auditorium, Business Instructional Facility // ROSHNI
ReplyDeleteSymposium on Survey Research in the 21st Century
Date Mar 4, 2014
Time 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Location Deloitte Auditorium, Business Instructional Facility
Sponsor The Stellner Lecture Fund in the Department of Business Administration, Illinois
Views 9
Originating Calendar Business - Business Administration Events
Survey Research in the 21st Century:
Lectures Celebrating the Survey Research Laboratory’s 50th Anniversary
Featuring:
Richard Warnecke, University of Illinois at Chicago: "Fifty Years Serving the University of Illinois"
Norbert Schwarz, University of Southern California: "Thinking About Answers: Looking Back and Ahead"
Jon A. Krosnick, Stanford University: "The Future of Survey Research"
Mar. 7 // 3:00 pm // Pathways Into Single Motherhood and Their Implications for Children in Nicaragua // 101 International Studies Building // PUJA
ReplyDeleteSpeaker Mary Arends-Kuenning, Director, Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies
Date Mar 7, 2014
Time 3:00 pm
Location 101 International Studies Building
Cost Free and open to the public
Sponsor Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31305304&calMin=201402&cal=20140225&skinId=1
Mar 4 // 7:00 PM–9:30 PM // The Trials of Muhammad Ali - Community Cinema: Illinois Public Media/Independent Television Services Documentary Film Series // Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL // BRiAN
ReplyDeleteCommunity Cinema: Illinois Public Media/Independent Television Services Documentary Film Series at the Spurlock 2013-2014: The Trials of Muhammad Ali
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Watch the best independent documentaries before they come to television! Illinois Public Media (WILL radio.tv.online) and the Independent Television Series (ITVS) present Community Cinema, a monthly screening series of independent documentaries followed by a panel discussion. This series is presented the first Tuesday of every month in the Knight Auditorium. Guest scholars and members of the campus and local communities will interact with the audience in an hour-long discussion after the film. Then watch the film again later in the month on WILL-TV!
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
The Trials of Muhammad Ali covers the famed boxer's toughest bout of all: his battle to overturn the five-year prison sentence he received for refusing U.S. military service. The film explores Ali's exile years when he was banned from boxing and found himself in the crosshairs of conflicts concerning race, religion, and wartime dissent.
This event is supported by the Illinois Public Media/Spurlock Museum Community Cinema Partnership.
For more information, visit http://will.illinois.edu/community/project/cinema (external link).
Cost: Free Admission
This week I attended the Trials of Muhammad Ali. This was a screening a film that is to be aired in April. The event was held in the Knight Auditorium at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana. Most of the people in attendance were much older adults than myself. Many of these people seemed to have lived through this time period that was discussed. I found the film to be very interesting and intriguing. I was not aware of the struggle and hardship that Muhammad Ali had gone through for "dodging" the U.S. military draft. Not only did he struggle with that but was also a political activist who followed behind Malcom X and one other man who's name I cannot think of. I was also not aware that Ali was a converted Sunni Islam, which makes sense now looking at his name, but I was always under the impression it was just a stage name instead of Cassius Clay. Ali had a loud mouth and the career to back it up, he said he was going to do something and did it. Many had found Ali to be a fascinating role model while others hated him for dodging the draft.
DeleteAfter the screening there was a panel of speakers who discussed the movie even further and also offered their own experiences during the time. The speakers were very knowledgable and spoke very highly of Ali. The part that caught my attention the most was when the said he was a political athlete, but where are such athletes now? That really caught my attention because being a large follower of sports I feel like there are very few political athletes, it seems all their concerned about is cashing their large paychecks. Ali was not about the money but about fighting for black freedom.
http://tinypic.com/r/5ov0ie/8
Mar 6 // 11:30 - 12:00 PM // Mindful Meditation // Gallery of Ancient Mediterranean Cultures, Spurlock Museum // BRiAN
ReplyDeleteMindful Meditation
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Present-moment awareness can be elusive and we often find ourselves distracted or lost in thought. Through the training and practice of mindful meditation we can discover a calm amidst our to-do lists and more fully appreciate the gift of each day. Mary Wolters from Green Yoga Spa will lead free, 30-minute drop-in mindful meditation sessions in the Knight Auditorium at the Spurlock Museum. No registration is required.
Presented each Thursday from March 6 through April 24.
Location: Gallery of Ancient Mediterranean Cultures, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
Time: 11:30 AM–12:00 PM
Cost: Free, donations accepted
For further information, contact Brook Taylor at (217) 265 - 0474 or taylorb@illinois.edu
This week I attended mindful meditation at the Spurlock Museum. I did not really know what to expect when walking in. It was held in the lecture hall at the museum. I was about fifteen minutes early and there was already two other people sitting in the hall. The lights were dim and there was a recording of waves crashing and birds chirping playing on the loud speakers. More people started to trickle in until there were about 20 people total. The meditation session started promptly at 11:30 when a women in a long dark dress and blonde hair walked onto the stage and sat in a chair. She had a very quit and soothing voice and began by introducing herself and letting us know what we were about to experience. She was an instructor at the yoga institute in Urbana and was going to be holding a meditation session every thursday in March and April at the Spurlock Museum. The beginning of the session was a lesson on how to breathe and how to sit correctly in your seat so that both feet are flat on the floor in-front of you, your posture is straight and your left hand is resting on top of your right hand on your lap with both thumbs barely touching. She then went on with teaching us a bunch of different hand motions and neck circles. She then introduced a mantra. It was a phrase that were supposed to say over and over in our head that meant "I am." This lasted for about thirty minutes and at the end we had a few minutes to reflect on what we had just done. I think the most important thing I learned at the mediation session was how to breathe and how to sit in a chair correctly. These are two things that I do all day long so it was really helpful to learn how to do these things the correct way and the healthy way. Overall I had a great experience and recognize that this is a task that one must do on a regular basis to really get something from it.
DeleteMar. 9 // 3:00 pm // Lecture: "Water Supply on Shaky Ground: Life Leading up to the Eruption of Vesuvius" by Duncan Keenan-Jones // Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum // BRiAN
ReplyDeleteLecture: "Water Supply on Shaky Ground: Life Leading up to the Eruption of Vesuvius" by Duncan Keenan-Jones
Sunday, March 9, 2014
The speaker is a postdoctoral research associate in the Fouke laboratory, Institute of Genomic Biology/Department of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has degrees in chemical engineering and ancient history and extensive field archaeological experience of Greco-Roman and historical archaeology. He will present a new reconstruction of Pompeii's water supply system and consider whether the problems plaguing the system before the eruption were due to the aqueduct supplying it. The presentation will then cover the implications for the history of the aqueduct, for life leading up to the eruption and for the study of the Vesuvius itself.
This event is organized by the Central Illinois Society of the Archaeological Institute of America and hosted by the Spurlock Museum.
Visit http://www.archaeological.org/societies/centralillinoisurbana (external link) for more information.
Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
Time: 3:00 PM
Cost: Free Admission
For further information, contact Jane Goldberg at jgoldber@illinois.edu
Mar. 5 // 3:00 pm // "Tal Como Somos (Just As We Are)" Film Screening and Discussion // 223 Gregory Hall // PUJA
ReplyDeleteSpeaker
Jesus Ramirez-Valles, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Filmmaker and Professor and Director of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago
"Tal Como Somos (Just As We Are)" reveals what it's like to be Latino yet not fit the cultural ideals of man, woman, and family. This feature length documentary follows the lives of six Latino gay and bisexual men and a transgender woman capturing their shared realities: the love and separation from their families, the support of friends, the struggle with religious faith, the unkindness of the school years, the alienation created by race and immigration, and the courage to confront adversity and HIV/AIDS.
Jesus Ramirez-Valles is a scholar, filmmaker, and an advocate of Latino and GLBT health. He is author of the award-winning book, "Compañeros: Latino Activists in the Face of AIDS" (2011) and creator of "Tal Como Somos/Just As We Are." He was named one of the "Top Gay Latino Activists who Have Broken Boundaries" by the Huffington Post. Dr. Ramirez-Valles has received awards from the National Institutes of Health and the Rockefeller Foundation.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/500?eventId=31696721&calMin=201402&cal=20140225&skinId=1
Mar. 3 // 12:00pm - 12:50pm // Under Pressure and in Hot Water: Algae Conversion to Fuels and Chemicals // 3310 Newmark Civil Engineering Lab // KELLY
ReplyDeleteSpeaker: Phil Savage - Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31595652&calMin=201402&cal=20140226&skinId=1
Mar. 7 // 7:30pm // Orpheus in the Underworld // Krannert Center, Tryon Festival Theatre // $8-$27 // KELLY
ReplyDeleteThe tragic Greek tale of musician Orpheus and his wife, Euridice, is turned on its head in this irreverent romp with contemporary humor. The gods on Mount Olympus stage a revolt from boredom, Public Opinion cajoles and chastises, and all join in the "Infernal Galop."
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=28563082&calMin=201402&cal=20140226&skinId=1
Mar 9 // 3:00 pm // Rudolf Haken, Viola Performance // Krannert Center, Foellinger Great Hall // MAGGIE
ReplyDeleteA noted composer and educator, Rudolf Haken is renowned for his performances on extended-range violas and innovative transcriptions of rock music. He is the principal violist with Sinfonia da Camera.
Cost: $4-$10
Sponsored by: School of Music
http://www.krannertcenter.com/performance.aspx?id=201423172450774128174106178
This week, I attended the Viola Performance by Rudolf Haken at the Krannert Center. My motivation behind attending this event was based more on my schedule than on my interests, which isn't ideal, but I had to work with it. On the plus side, I've attended more live music events in the last few weeks than I have in my entire life, which is pretty cool.
DeleteAt the performance, I noticed the audience before paying much attention to the music. It's just really interesting to see the types of people attending these events and trying to find patterns. At this particular show, I counted (yeah, actually counted) 45 people, including 3 ushers. Most of the people in attendance appeared to be older than 50 and sat alone.
The music was really pretty. It featured Rudolf Haken on the viola and a pianist playing in tandem. The style was definitely more traditional and reminded me of a fairytale or historic fiction movie. I really enjoyed watching the two play because of how passionate they were about the music. The woman on the piano swayed with it and made jerking movements at certain parts. Rudolf Haken would loudly stamp his feet and bob and it really seemed to make the music all that more powerful.
Overall, the event was really nice. I wish my mind had been a little less distracted by classes and homework and such, because I feel like I would've been able to enjoy the music more. For $4 dollars though, it was definitely worth it.
Mar 8 // 7:30pm // Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra: Inextinguishable // Krannert Center, Foellinger Great Hall // MAGGIE
ReplyDeleteThis program celebrating the inextinguishable nature of love, life, the human spirit, and music features Wagner's "Prelude and Transfiguration," Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending" with violinist Igor Kalnin, Russell Peck's "Signs of Life," and Carl Nielsen's "Symphony No. 4, 'The Inextinguishable.'"
Cost: $5-$35
http://www.krannertcenter.com/performance.aspx?id=20137189591269128174106178
March 3rd // 4pm // Cultures of Law in a Global Context-Benton Lecture // Lincoln Hall Rm 1092 // Free // Cate
ReplyDeleteLauren Benton; Department of History, New York University will give a lecture on Cultures of Law in a Global Context. Protection, Empire, and Global Order in the Early Nineteenth Century.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=31542070&calMin=201402&cal=20140227&skinId=1
March 6th // 7:30pm // Meredith Monk: On Behalf of Nature // $10-30 // Krannert Center, Colwell Playhouse // Cate
ReplyDelete“MacArthur Award winner Meredith Monk offers a music-theatre work and poetic meditation on our intimate connection to nature and its fragile ecology. Drawing inspiration from Buddhist concepts and environmental writers, the piece weaves human, natural, and spiritual elements into a delicate whole.
http://illinois.edu/calendar/detail/7?eventId=28558368&calMin=201402&cal=20140227&skinId=1
March 7th// 12pm// EUCE Director's Lecture Series: Halting a Tragedy of the Commons: The EU and the Arctic// Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Foreign Language Building// Free// Joey
ReplyDeleteNowhere is the evidence of a heating planet more dramatic than in the polar regions. Over the last 50 years, the Arctic has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the globe. The melting Arctic is the proverbial canary in the coal mine of planetary health and a harbinger of how the warming planet will profoundly affect global security. At stake under the threatening cloud of global warming are billions of barrels of petroleum and other minerals potentially worth trillions of dollars, and the opening of new shipping lanes. Both are triggering trade and resource competition, accelerating international tension . Indeed, the European Union recently released a report warning of "consequences for international stability" as countries scramble to stake claims in the Far North.
We will discuss these problems as "tragedies of the global commons" and examine their impact on Europe and the role of the EU in the attempt to mitigate them.
Bio:
Beverly Crawford is a Professor of International and Area Studies and Charles and Louise Travers Department of Political Science; the Associate Director of Institute of European Studies; and the Director of European Union Center of Excellence, University of California, Berkeley.
March 7th// 7pm// Lemann Lecture Series: Taxation Issues in Brazil// 101 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign// Free// Joey
ReplyDeleteEstablished in January of 2009 and officially inaugurated in October of 2009, the mission of the Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies is to promote study and research about Brazil by faculty and students at Illinois and their Brazilian counterparts, who take advantage of the extensive resources available at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
http://www.clacs.illinois.edu/news/lectures.aspx
March 3rd // 7-9PM // Illini Art Therapy // Women's Resources Center, 703 S. Wright Street, 2nd Floor, Champaign // Corie
ReplyDeleteCome participate in art workshops led by the Illini Art Therapy Association! Take a break from your classes and create art for self-reflection, self-knowledge and empowerment. You don't have to be creative or artistic- though you may find out that you are! You'll be encouraged and guided in making images and writing that help you to reflect and reconnect with your emotions and aspirations. The Illini Art Therapy Association will provide all necessary art supplies, occasionally offer refreshments, and lead self-expressive projects. Should you require any accommodations (assistance with food and seating, large print programs, an ASL interpreter, visual/audio assistance, etc.), please contact us at your earliest convenience.
March 5th // 5:30PM // Visitors Series: Jason Wallin Lecture // 62 Krannert Art Museum // Corie
ReplyDeletePutrid Deadagogy: Rethinking Public Pedagogy through Zombie Life Jason Wallin, University of Alberta While sympathetic to interpretations that would cast the zombie as an analogy for the corporate exploitation of human and non-human life, this presentation will seek to steal back the import of the zombie as a social conductor irreducible to the ethically devoid or death-obsessed interpretations through which it has been thought. The intent of this rethinking pertains to detecting the potentials for resistance and experimental alterity inhering the concept and conceptualization of the zombie. Through the use of Deleuze|Guattarian philosophy and the figure of the zombie as an image of thought, I will call into question a number of presuppositions and commitments in the field of educational research including a latent commitment to anthropocentrism, the reduction of difference to difference in identity, and the general attitude of negativity and disavowal operative within education's interpretive approach. The key question as it pertains to this inquiry follows from the contemporary popularity of zombie performance and might be posed thus: What are people doing by becoming zombies?
march 7th // 9:00 AM // Garden Smarter, Not Harder // Extension Auditorium, 801 N. Country Fair Drive, Champaign, Ill // ALEX
ReplyDeleteUniversity of Illinois Extension and Home and Community Education (HCE) will be offering “Garden Smarter, Not Harder” on Friday, March 7, 2014. This program will be held at 9:30 a.m. at Extension Auditorium, 801 N. Country Fair Drive, Champaign, Ill. All are welcome to attend this program. In the “Garden Smarter not Harder” program Sandy Mason, UI Extension horticulture educator, will discuss different ways to garden and provide some simple ideas to make gardening more enjoyable for everyone of any age. Topics covered include tool selection (try out some of the new ergonomic types) and special gardening techniques.
march 7th // 12:00 PM // Bach's Lunch Concert Series // Springer Cultural Center // ALEX
ReplyDeleteBach’s Lunch Concert – Nelly Matova March 7, 12-1pm Springer Cultural Center All?Ages, Free At this free concert series, you can treat your senses to a musical meal that will satisfy your hunger for melody and rhythm. Feel free to bring your lunch. Nelly?Matova?–?Four centuries of piano music ranging from Bach & Brahms to Jazz & Pop
This one is a bit of a drive, but looks interesting. My friend at EIU told me about it, and i might try to make the hike down there!
ReplyDeleteMarch 5th // 5 PM // Susan Bazargan Graduate Lecture // Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center EIU // ALEX
Kurt Spellmeyer, director of the Writing Program and professor of English at Rutgers University, will be the guest speaker for the annual Susan Bazargan Graduate Lecture at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. His presentation titled "English in the Market Society” will be held on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, at 5 p.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public. Spellmeyer is the author of “Arts of Living: Reinventing the Humanities for the Twenty-first Century,” “The New Humanities Reader,” and “Common Ground: Dialogue, Understanding, and the Teaching of Composition.” He has also written articles on the theory of composition, critical theory of composition, critical theory, and academic institutions. He is currently at work on a book, “World without End: Saving the Humanities in an Age of Specialization,” which examines the ways in which the modern system of professorship has helped to reconstitute older—and undemocratic—forms of social privilege. The lecture is sponsored by the EIU Department of English and the EIU Graduate School. The Susan Bazargan Graduate Lecture in named in honor of professor emeritus Susan Bazargan, who taught at Eastern for many years. Doudna Fine Arts Center is located west of Ninth Street at Garfield Avenue on the EIU campus. For more information call 217-581-2428 or visit www.eiu.edu/english.
Mar. 7 // 12:00 pm // "Working to Make Chicago the Most Immigrant Friendly City in the U.S." // Latzer Hall at the University YMCA // PUJA
ReplyDeleteSpeaker: Adolfo Hernandez, Director, Chicago Office of New Americans
When: Friday, March 7, 2014 at 12 Noon
Where: Latzer Hall at the University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright St, Champaign
(At the corner of Wright and Chalmers)
In 2011, Adolfo Hernandez was appointed by Mayor Emanuel to serve as the Director of the newly created Chicago's Office of New Americans. The Office of New Americans was created by the Mayor to make Chicago the most immigrant friendly city in the country by better leveraging the contributions of immigrants through enhanced collaboration between city government, community organizations, academic and faith based institutions, and the private sector.
Hernandez, who is the son of Mexican immigrants and was born and raised in Chicago's Little Village community, has worked to develop and implement policies and strategies that support the creation and expansion of immigrant-owned businesses, that develop, attract, and retain talent and expertise from other countries, and that bolster Chicago's status as a vibrant and welcoming international city.
In September of 2013, the White House recognized Adolfo for his work in Chicago as one of ten local heroes who are "Champions of Change" and that work tirelessly to effectively integrate immigrants civically, linguistically, and socially into the fabric of their neighborhoods by bringing all residents together to create welcoming communities.
This lecture is a part of the Spring 2014 Friday Forum lecture series, Rethinking Security: Community Approaches to Economic Development. For more information on each lecture, visit: universityymca.org/friday_forum/
March 6 // 930am // student health care demonstration // diana fountain (union) // SEAN
ReplyDeleteThe Board of Trustees at UIUC will be voting on the final student insurance plan on March 6. Community members are encouraged to attend a demonstration which will be held from 9:30am to 12:00pm on at the Diana Fountain (by the Union).
The proposed health care changes will approximate $2.55 per semester per student to go toward hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery (which are the only known treatments for those with body dysphoria). The rest of the increase in costs includes eye care, dental, and bariatric surgery for all attending students (graduate and undergraduate).
Come show support to ensure a truly Inclusive Illinois!
MArch 7 // The Planets // Staerkel Planetarium // SEAN
ReplyDeleteRecurring event.
March 7, 2014 - April 26, 2014
Fridays & Saturdays through April 26
Join us for a breathtaking tour of our own planetary system, including some of the latest discoveries. See how our solar system may have formed and then visit planets in other star systems far beyond our own. The show originally written and distributed by the Southeastern Planetarium Association and is narrated by Kate Mulgrew of “Star Trek: Voyager” fame. Tickets are $5 adults; $4 students, seniors, & kids, all sold at the door.
No shows March 28-29
8pm
DeletePart I
Deletehttps://soundcloud.com/sean_oconnor/planets
There’s finally a new show playing at the planetarium this week, so I drove out with a couple friends to gaze at the projected night sky. This show is called Planets and as the title suggests, it profiles the 8 planets and Pluto. First thing I want to mention is that they had a different person in the operating chair than last time, now it’s a guy with a really great planetarium voice, you’ll see what I mean in the recording. Another thought I had was when he turned the irisis in the projectors off, how the screen had appeared to be black but was not really (cuz you cant project blackness) and then all of the sudden was empty and deep black. The clarity was beautiful. I think there’s some kind of romance in there for me, related to photography and a perfect black, and what that does to the rest of the image. Anyways, they started the show with a kind of summary of our current night sky in relation to the show. Admittedly I’d much rather attend a kind of lecture like this where the operator is taking you through the sky and maybe being a little more interactive with someone who seeks that out. If I had the keys to a planetarium I would try to make people’s minds expand. Some of the stuff I learn in these things is sort of common sense, I just didn’t know I knew it. It was interesting to learn that right now in the morning sky, you can see Venus, Saturn and Mars and that they appear on an orbital path across the southeastern sky. Obviously they move, unlike stars, which makes the positions of Mars and the star Spika really interesting. One is red obviously, and the other is bright blue, and every night for a few weeks the red star dot closer to the blue dot. Ok maybe its not that cool. I think its cool. So anyways the movie thing starts and it starts with first how our solar system came into creation; a huge nebula cloud (that’s where stars are born) just floatin around is hit by a shockwave of gravitational density or a supernova or something and it compresses. Molecules collide and it heats up and kind blows up or something, and then dust and gas condense again into what are called plantesimals that kind of pickup stuff around them like a snowball. After that it profiled each of the planets and its moons. The most new information I learned was about the moons in the solar system. Some of them have hot cores and could have water, some like Miranda on Neptune have crazy ice cliffs and dazzling geological activity. A thought came to me immediately after the show; “holy shit were we lucky to show up on this one”. Literally every other possible place to live on in our solar system would be TERRIBLE (except maybe a utopian Mars). So I’ll end this post with a profile on the pros and cons of living on each planet.
Part II
DeleteSun
PRO: Sun spots shoot out these cool looking electro-magnetic flares, they take 2 days to hit Earth and when they do, they’re filtered through atmosphere and create the northern lights.
CON: 30 million degrees and millions of humongous explosions are happening all the time.
Mercury
PRO: none
CON: no atmosphere, 300 below zero at night and 800 above during the day.
Venus
PRO: Corona formations are pretty cool (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venus_Aine_Corona.jpg)
CON: Air is 100x thicker than Earth, clouds are made of and rain sulfuric acid, 900 degrees all day long.
Mars
PRO: Has water, could maybe support simple bacteria life? We need to get up there and check it out. Olympus Mons is 2x size of Everest.
CON: Probably a little chilly
Jupiter
PRO: Io is a super geologically active moon, closest to the planet and probably heated at the core due to gravitational forces. Methane geysers make it smell like rotten eggs, so I guess that’s a con unless youre into that sorta stuff.
CON: No solid ground to stand on. And a big storm 3x the size of Earth.
Saturn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWCA5R5cmv8)
PRO: Looks really cool! Avg. Density is less than water too, so it could float in your bathtub.
CON: Also no solid ground. Metaphorically not compatible with me.
Uranus
PRO: HILARIOUS name, all your friends will laugh when you tell then where you’re from. Also the cliffs of Miranda sounds amazing. A fall from the top would take 10 minutes to hit the ground. That’s enough time to thoroughly contemplate suicide after the decision’s been made.
CON: You could slip on a 10 million mile ice cliff and fall.
Neptune
PRO: none
CON: 400 below zero and 1500mph winds, might as well call it Illinois.
Pluto
PRO: Adorably cute. New Horizon will pass it in 2015 (launched in 06) and will snap a bunch of pics for us.
CON: hasn’t really been taken seriously as a planet by physicists for several decades (I learned this in a recent interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson on NPR -- http://www.npr.org/2014/02/27/283443670/neil-degrasse-tyson-explains-why-the-cosmos-shouldnt-make-you-feel-small).
There are other planets out there too. I think I want to go to some of them, maybe hang out for a few months and find myself.
March 5 // 8pm // dance jam boogy // IMC in urbana // SEANO
ReplyDeleteThis is recurring bi-monthly, my roommate puts it together and tonight is the very first one. A little late notice I know, I'll post a reminder next time.
https://www.facebook.com/goodtimesdancejam
For week 7, I again strung together 3 TED talks -this week focusing on domestic violence. The first talk, "How We Turned the Tide on Domestic Violence" explained how domestic violence has progressed in reporting to the police, how women are now coming forward and how it is now seen as a problem to the public. Domestic violence has dropped 64% in the US, the use of technology and communication is a strong factor in this drop. I then watched, "Why Domestic Violence Victims Don't Leave". Morgan Steiner tells her own story of her early 20's to when she was married to a abusive husband and how she truly thought that their love was the most important thing. A great speech to hear and realize that anyone can fall under this trap and how it is almost impossible to get out. The last video I watched was "A Call to Men". Tony Porter, grew up in the Broncs of New York, where he was raised to be a man. As a grown man and a father, he began to teach his son the same lessons; but realized that it is okay for men to show emotion and to love women and not to treat them like objects. He gave his speech as a plead to everyone to change the way they raise their sons so their daughters will be treated with respect. The three videos strung together were an interesting insight to domestic violence, a subject we are aware of, but don't truly take the time to understand it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ted.com/talks/esta_soler_how_we_turned_the_tide_on_domestic_violence_hint_the_polaroid_helped
http://www.ted.com/talks/leslie_morgan_steiner_why_domestic_violence_victims_don_t_leave
http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_porter_a_call_to_men