This I Believe #12

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

This I Believe #11

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

Matt Wilson Notes

Thank you Hannah, for taking these at the Plantory!

Matt Wilson

Born in Missouri

Studied Geography- became interested in GIS Mapping Tool, which can analyze and organize data geographically.

So, he became interested in Computer science, and went to Grad school 2002 in Seattle—eventually got a PHD. He got a job at Ball State University, where he got interested in making maps that help people deal with what's changing around them.

At Ball State, he Taught a class called GIS workshop—this class focused on

1) Universities as a site of privilege 

2) Participatory action research

3) Creating a project that mattered outside the university

This I Believe #10

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

This I Believe #9

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday (after spring break). Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

This I Believe #8

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

Questions/Comments for Matt Wilson

Please read and respond to the following links to prepare for our class with Matt Wilson. Publish it before noon on March 2nd. 

Source 1

Source 2

This I Believe #7

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

Class Notes for 2/9 2/10 and 2/16

CETA notes February 9th

Kenya (Robinson)

Born in Germany in 1977

Studied Apparel/Design

Got a masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Yale in 2013

This I Believe # 6

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

Questions for Felice Salmon and Robyn Wade

Please read and respond to the following link to prepare for our class with Felice Salmon and Robyn Wade. It can be in question or comment format. Publish it before noon on February 16th.

Source

This I Believe #5

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

Steve Pavey Question

Post your questions/comments here by noon on Wednesday, February 10.

Try to respond to all of the sources. You can synthesize your questions or you can break them up. It's up to you how you format it. But make sure you read every one and respond to as many as possible.

The sources can be found in the email from Kurt and Kremena on February 5th--or in the links below.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Community

Steve Pavey-Acompanimiento-2014

Accompaniment as Policy

Baldwin-White Problem-1964

Class Notes 2/3

Notes from our visit with Tanya and Christian Torp at the Justice House. Thank you, Hannah Logsdon, for taking these and typing them up!

CETA Notes Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, 2015

Community Dinner with Tanya and Christian Torp (plus cats, Miriam and Zopora) at the Justice House (which has a facebook page you can follow!)

Tanya and Christian chose a place to live based on perceived needs of the neighborhood: as they lived there, they realized the needs and problems were different than they expected. They live in a food desert, which means there is no grocery within three miles (however, there is fast food).

Christian works with Seadleaf, and is an accomplished gardener. They turned their front yard into a community garden, and have an “urban farm” in the back yard, including rabbits, chickens, bees, and more garden space. Tanya and Christian also help alleviate hunger in their neighborhood by going on Costco runs and hosting weekly Saturday morning breakfasts, called “Hines Breakfast” after the previous owner of the house, who started the tradition. You too are invited to these!

The Justice House also has classes. Christian teaches canning, gardening, and larding, and neighbors sometimes teach art. The house also hosts alternative spring break students and retreats! Tanya sees it like Rivendell: a place where you should want for nothing.

The Torps are very passionate about Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. This organization started in Eastern Kentucky, when mining companies told residents that they might have the rights to their houses, but the mining company had rights to what was under them. Residents stood up to having their property hollowed out and their water sources polluted, and together, they won. Since, Kentuckians have banded together to push big issues. In Lexington, the issue is voting, particularly to do with felon voting rights.

This I Believe #4

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

Class Notes 2/2

Notes from our in class discussion on February 2nd. Thank you, Hannah Logsdon, for taking these! 

CETA Notes February 2nd

This I Believe Essays

1: Trent

2: Devin

3: Ashley

Teddy collected names of community members—If you didn’t say 2, send names to Teddy by Wednesday. You can also send more than two.

Info from Kurt:

1: Notice the papers behind the sewing machines stating post-sewing protocol. When you leave your station, the machine should be threaded, at stitch length 4, pattern set to straight. If your machine breaks, write “not working” on a piece of paper and put it under the foot. If three machines are like this, email Kurt, Kremena, and Dae Dae.

2: Guide to making capes will be sent by email.

Due Dates:

Tuesday the 9th: Your cape done minus string.

Wednesday the 10th: Logo for community member done.

Georgia’s advice for working with kids:

1) Talk with you teacher to get a basic idea of the kids and their abilities

2) Show examples to the kids

3) Keep things simple and clear—I.E. don’t say both “logo” and “symbol”

4) There are lots of ways to get kids to open up about their “superpower”—collages, drawings, and writings help, and you can work from their interests toward why they have those interests, ultimately to get to the personal qualities those interests express. You don’t have to mention “superpower” right away!

5) Don’t forget to count your kids!

Tanya Torp question

Post your questions by 12 Noon on Wednesday, February 3.

Remember to include context to connect your question directly to one specific reading/source (of the 3 provided by Tanya Torp) or to frame a question about how 2 or 3 of the sources speak to similar issues.
source #1
source #2
source #3

This I Believe essay #3

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

This I Believe essay #2

Same as last week, please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

Class notes 1/13

***Many thanks to Katie Coyer for taking these notes***

Community Meeting at the Wild Fig Bookstore on North Limestone

January 13, 2015

Angela Baldridge, the Plantory

·         Bringing divided communities together through understanding

·         Ideas taken from Center for Social Innovation in Toronto

·         Creative people come together to solve problems under 1 roof

·         If 10 different groups share a wifi bill, more funding can go towards their actual missions

·         There are currently around 71 members

·         Promotes exchange of ideas

·         Walls built from scrap lumber leftover from their desks

·         They are able to fundraise around $100,000 each year for partners, super-low rent rate as a result

·         Built around the basis of identifying strengths and figuring out how to apply them

Andrea James, Blue Glass Community Foundation, East End

·         Born and raised in Lexington

·         Before she was 18, she had moved 17 different times

·         H1 overlay proposed for the neighborhood

·         Noticed a wide gap, a disconnect

·         Saw potential— self as filler for that gap

·         Also noticed government representation was not communicating, and that she could run for city council

·         Became the first black woman on Lexington city council

·         Race reconciliation became an inevitability

·         Observed inequality that she hadn’t necessarily experienced personally before, but could not deny it

·         Goal to celebrate successes and each other

·         Fostered authentic partnerships

·         Saw same dynamic in rural community after her move from East End

·         Relationships

1.      Trees and economic development

2.      Art and transportation

3.      Food and privilege (who gets what? Cost? Expectation?)

4.      Inequities and structure        

·         Plenty and how you place it

·         Now works for the Blue Grass Community Foundation

·          

Sean Gladding, MLK Neighborhood

·         Bought Andrea James’ house when she moved, a community member

·         Focus on reconciliation

·         Which he defines as becoming friends with someone who people say you shouldn’t be friends with, for whatever reason

·         Pastor who became a part of a motorcycle gang

·         Experienced judgment when he was with his friends, to be looked at as an outsider

·         Understood that feeling of looking for a place to belong

·         Started Communality

·         a place for welcoming people

·         Experiences with Iraqi refugees and Bosnians

·         Became human beings in a room dealing with something together

·         Position as a white man asking and hearing important questions (e.g. gentrification v. community development)

·         Worked at Mercy Street for 7 years--a place for people who may have been hurt by the church in the past

·         Back in Lexington because he missed the community

·         Now gives life to being a good neighbor

·         Believes in people with resources becoming friends with people who have fewer resources

·         But what if people are all in the same boat as their friends?

Richard Young, NoLi CDC

·         Once never felt sense of belonging

·         Highlighted his frequent moving (6-8 times, compared to Andrea’s 17…)

·         SCAPA, later went to a music conservatory

·         American music system--improve self for privilege of playing with the ensemble

·         1 of soon to be 3 staff members of the “NoLi” CDC which is only two-and-a-half years old

·         interested in creative place making

·         art in development conversations

·         Has experience in reclaiming abandoned spaces and turning them into affordable housing (which I remember from last year Griffin saying they prioritized bringing young artists into the community through that housing, though Richard did not mention this--maybe their priorities have changed)

·         Kept calling the Night Market “interesting”

·         Mentioned night market’s “unintended consequences” but did not address what those were or how they were handling them

·         Says they do a “surprising amount of environmental work”

·         Venezuelan orchestra as social group—model for MusicWorks at Arlington Elementary, sponsored by NoLiCDC

Ron Davis, Co-Owner of Wild Fig Bookstore

·         Visual artist and poet

·         Discreet by design

·         Introvert who daydreams about anarchy

·         Constant self-examination

·         Accidental poet

·         Reluctant artist

·         Bookstore has been open for four months since reopening on North Limestone (used to be located elsewhere)

·         Teacher and preacher inside

·         Felt very welcomed by the neighborhood

·         Wants to host conversations

·         Can’t remain static

·         Need to get involved, even as an introvert

This I Believe essay #1

Please post your essay here before class on Tuesday. Please also remember to bring a printed copy of your essay to class and be prepared to read it aloud.

"Burning Truth in the South" question

Post your questions by 5pm on Monday, January 18. Remember to include some context to connect your question directly to the reading: "Burning Truth in the South," a speech by Martin Luther King.

Randall Horton question

Post your questions by 6pm on Sunday, January 17. Remember to include some context to connect your question directly to the reading from Hook, Randall Horton's memoir.

Welcome to Community Engagement Through the Arts (CETA) 2016

Welcome to CETA 2015. Now that you have found our class blog, please return to see photographs of what we are up to, get updates about our visitors on Wednesday nights, and follow our collaborative, community-based public art project: Heroes.