I miss fall. The orange, red, and yellow leaves that paint the sky filled with thunderous and dark clouds that remind me of romantic piano music and the strikingly green grass. We toured Wesleyan in a sprinkle of rain that left the cool air fresh and cleaned the buildings after we visited a class, Islamic Art and Architecture.
The class was great because the teacher interpreted the facts to form conclusions. I raised my hand and pointed out that the Islamic building from Spain and India both had walls around the main building, when the teacher asked the class if they saw any similarities. I guess it was not an educated observance. I guess I would have to be there for the other classes.
Anyways, on the ride to Wesleyan I flipped through the different radio stations to find out what this region listened to, and found that most of the stations were political -- many more than what we have at home.
At Wesleyan we toured the school, listened to an info session, and talked for a whole hour with Mr. Lancer, who gave thorough answers to our questions, liked his school, and was willing to provide contact information to answer the questions he himself could not answer. I took notes and grabbed the school’s “propaganda” (as I have always thought to be and what Mr. Lancer called them) and course catalogue.
At Providence we were one of the first to sign up for the symposium. Yes! I get the bed in the two person hotel room for three people.
The first event for the night was a dinner and then learning from a group of people working and moving forward with action plans of their own. They gave very good advice such on the importance of getting a support group and how to get one. Afterwards we played games!
I am looking forward to the sessions tomorrow.
Lydia,
ReplyDeleteSometimes we send students to classes and we pretty much know that it's just a vacation for them. Other times--like this weekend--we know that when we send our students they're going to soak up all of the knowledge they can. Once again, we picked the right people.
I'd like to know more about the question you raised about the walls around the main structures in Spain and India and whether they're a result of any Islamic influence.
Isn't it fun how semantics can be used to affect the way we perceive things? Of course, the literature you took is propaganda but when that word is used it has a negative connotation as if the message included therein is meant to mislead the readers into embracing something that may not be true or may be slanted in a direction that may be biased.