MAKING CONNECTIONS

ASIST Scholarship

2011-03-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

Executive Women International is now accepting applications for its A.S.I.S.T. Scholarship Program.

The $2,500 scholarship targets non-traditional female students and "helps provide financial support to [candidates] in a variety of transitional situations." The main idea of the program is to offer an avenue for individuals for whom it would otherwise be difficult to enroll in trade school, college (undergraduate school) or university (graduate school).

For more information on this opportunity as well as to download the application visit this link.

Career Day 2011

2011-03-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars for Georgia Perimeter College's campus-wide Career Day. This event will be held on Friday, March 25 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m on the Clarkston campus.

The emphasis of Career Day 2011 will be to inform those interested in particular professions about how to adequately prepare themselves while they are in college. The event will feature an array of small, informative seminars and skills development workshops, all designed to give attendees a glimpse of a day in the life of those already working in the non-profit, corporate and government sectors. To complement the day's events Mark Butler, Labor Commissioner for the State of Georgia, will give the keynote talk. There will also be opportunities for Q&A as well as speed interviewing. Breakfast will be served.

This is a free event, but registration is required. (Note: The registration deadline has been extended from March 4 to Friday, March 18.)

For more information visit the GPC Career Day web page.

Social Networking Do's and Don'ts Personal Enrichment Workshop at GPC Decatur

2011-02-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning and Youtube have become common means of communicating and expanding one's circle of friends and associates. College students, especially, are likely to invest much of their time in these kinds of online forums.

This being true, it is important to consider the ways that divulging information on these sites can affect individuals' social interactions, future job prospects and current finances.

To address this issue, the Advising, Counseling and Retention Services Department of Georgia Perimeter College's Decatur campus will present "Social Networking Do's and Don'ts," a workshop that will help college students "explore ways to maintain personal safety and boundaries and learn strategies to manage [their] image online."

This program will run on February 15 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in Building F, Room 2100 and on February 16 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in the same location. Click here for more details about the event (as well as to learn of other personal enrichment workshops) and here to read a related article recently printed in U.S. News and World Report.

Georgia State University Mounts Black History Month Photography Exhibit on Women in SNCC

2011-02-14T07:26:00.000-08:00

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the many Civil Rights organizations that helped initiate change in the 1960s. Dozens of laws and a host of social, educational, agricultural and economic advancement programs that exist today came about, in part, because of their work.

Individuals such as Congressman John Lewis, former NAACP chairman Julian Bond, 1990 MacArthur "Genius" awardee Maria Varela were all involved with SNCC during their youth. Also involved was a twenty-something year old school teacher named Doris Derby.

Derby became a founding member of the New York branch of the SNCC and, upon moving from the Bronx to the Mississippi Delta, became a co-founder of the Free Southern Theatre. Eventually, Derby took it as her mission document the era through the taking of a photographs. Dr. Derby's photographs show not just the luminaries of the day but also "ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

During the month of February, "Reflections of Women Writers in SNCC" a three-part collection of Dr. Derby's photographs, will be on view in the Georgia State University Student Center Gallery. Click on the video below to her Dr. Derby speak about the exhibit:

Derby's images help convey a more holistic view of the '60s in that they depict humble aspects of the Civil Rights movement that could easily be overshadowed by the grand political stances which people now associate with the era. While Derby was involved with sit-ins and freedom rides, she also took care to document things like community arts groups, health clinics, organic food co-ops, youth and adult literacy programs that were formed in rural, Southern communites (often by the residents themselves, often by women) to address the communities' challenges.

Images such as those in "Reflections of Women Writers in SNCC" help bring history to life. When viewing photographs like these, viewers see faces reminiscent of relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even themselves "in full light," as Derby has said. The images allow the viewer to look deeply into how the small gestures of everyday people-- when viewed collectively-- created a monumental moment in U.S. and world history.

Making Connections Film Line Up for Black History Month

2011-02-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

Join the LTC during Black History Month as we screen two compelling and inspirational films: Akeela and the Bee and Ten Thousand Black Men Named George.

Vocabulary Building Secrets from Akeela and the Bee will feature the 2006 film that starred Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett and Keke Palmer. Akeela and the Bee is a crowd-pleasing film that tells the story of a child from South Los Angeles who must navigate a host of personal obstacles before she can earn a seat in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Akeela's tenacity and ultimate academic victory not only show the strength of the child's character but inspire her classmates and community. Attendees of this first screening in the LTC Making Connections film line up will themselves learn essential vocabulary building strategies and will leave the program with a handout that presents helpful mnemonic techniques. Vocabulary Building Secrets from Akeela and the Bee will be led by LTC supervisor Jerrie Brooks and will run on February 8 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Ten Thousand Black Men Named George is a 2002 dramatic depiction of the work of journalist and labor organizer Asa Philip Randolph's and the key role he played in helping to form the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids.

Incidentally, this Brotherhood focusing as it did on pay equity and better working conditions for blacks in the early 20th century hospitality industry, was a major precursor to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (See below for additional links on Pullman Porters and the Civil Rights Movement). Ten Thousand Black Men Named George stars Andre Braugher, Charles Dutton, Mario Van Peebles. Professor Shawn L. Williams will present an introduction to this film which will run on February 24 from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.

These programs will run in the Learning and Tutoring Center's Reading lab. Both events are free but require pre-registration. To register, visit the lab in Building F, Suite 1200 or call (678) 891-2575.

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

The Last Pullman Porters Are Sought for a Tribute (New York Times article)

Pullman Porters Helped Build Black Middle Class (National Public Radio article)

Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle (documentary film)

Rising from the Rails: The Story of the Pullman Porters (documentary film)

Katyn Exhibit and Film at Clarkston Campus February 10 through 28

2011-02-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

In the spring of 1943, a mass grave containing thousands of bodies was discovered in a forest in western Russia. This alarming discovery prompted an international investigation which revealed that the remains were those of Polish military prisoners of war. Also discovered were some civilians from various walks of life-- clergymen, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers and others-- who had been forcibly removed from their homeland at the order of the Soviet Union.

This event has come to be known as the Katyn Massacre. For decades Katyn was a censored aspect of the official Polish-Russian history. Still, the memory and effect were retained within Polish communities worldwide.

Kaytn: Massacre, Politics, Morality, an exhibit commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Forest Massacre that has traveled to a host of prominent North American venues, will be on view at the Georgia Perimeter College Clarkston Campus from February 10-26. Through this installation which features documents, letters, photographs, three-dimensional artifacts and text viewers will be able to better understand this little-known example of genocide that occurred at the beginning of World War II.

In conjunction with the installation will be a screening of the 2007 Oscar-nominated film Katyn, directed by Andrzej Wajda. A reception and informal discussion will follow.

This duo of events, co-hosted by Georgia Perimeter College and the Polish Club of Atlanta, is free and open to the public.

Ryan Anthony Mahan, GPC Student and Science Fiction Author

2010-12-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Ryan Anthony Mahan on the publication of his science fiction novel, Whether Men Do. The book's title is taken from the B.F. Skinner quote "The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do."

Support this emerging young author by visiting a traditional or online bookstore to buy a copy of his probing exploration of the place of artificial intelligence in the modern world. Also, visit Ryan Anthony Mahan's blog by clicking here.

Chinua Achebe Wins Gish Prize

2010-12-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe recently won the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for his over half-century of distinguished contributions to the arts. Achebe is considered to be one of the architects of modern African literature; his Things Fall Apart is required reading for many college students, including some at Georgia Perimeter College. For more on this story, click here.

(Above photo from Brown University website; photo credit Mike Cohea)

Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers

2010-12-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

The Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers™ was established by novelist Marita Golden. This award honors excellence in fiction writing by students of African descent enrolled full-time as undergraduate or graduate students in any college or university in the United States. It is given for the best previously unpublished short story or novel excerpt and is presented during an annual program where published writers welcome the honorees into the national literary community. Submissions must be received by January 14, 2011.

The Hurston/Wright Foundation is named after writers Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright.

For more information about this competition as well as other programs and awards, visit the Hurston Wright Foundation webpage.

Cleopatra Mathis Poetry Reading

2010-11-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

This morning, Southern-born poet and teacher Cleopatra Mathis read selections from her work in the Student Success Center at the GPC Decatur campus.

The primary theme of Mathis' reading dealt with how one reckons with dismal circumstances to eventually arrive at renewal. One of the ways that Mathis, whose maternal lineage is Greek, evoked this theme was through reference to the Persephone (Kore) and Demeter archetypes.

During the Q&A session, Mathis commented that the poems contained in What to Tip the Boatman? essentially constitute "a mother's story" dealing as it does the poet reflecting on her crossing the gulf of grief and her role as parent of a "troubled and gifted daughter" (from back matter of the book).

When asked during this session about her greatest literary influences, Mathis did not name a specific author but cited her experience as a high school English teacher as a catalyst toward her engagement with poetry. She remembered that as she prepped for her classes she wrote notes on the selections she planned to share with students. Over time, these notes organically took on poetic shape. She also spoke about how growing up working class and Greek during segregation in northern Louisiana shaped her artistic sensibility.

Mathis' work has appeared in numerous journals including The New Yorker, The Georgia Review and Southern Review and a host of anthologies. Her books include Arial View of Lousiana, What to Tip the Boatman? and White Sea. Since 1982, she has taught at Dartmouth College where she currently directs the creative writing program.

Toni Morrison Awarded French Legion of Honor Medal

2010-11-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

Toni Morrison, author of Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and other now-classic works of literature-- was recently inducted into the French Ordre National de la Légion d’honneur . Read the full story here.

Spotlight on Ntozake Shange

2010-11-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

One of this season's most talked about films is For Colored Girls. As everyone knows, media mogul Tyler Perry is responsible for bringing this 21st century adaptation to the big screen. Viewers of this new film may not know as much about the story's original writer, Ntozake Shange.

Shange (given name: Paulette Williams) was born into an upper middle class family in Trenton, New Jersey. Her father was a surgeon, her mother an educator and social worker. The environment that Dr. and Mrs. Williams raised their children in was intellectually and creatively stimulating. Shange recalls, "My parents have always been especially involved in all kinds of Third World culture. We used to go to hear Latin music, jazz and symphonies, to see ballets." The Williams family home was, in fact, frequented by luminaries of the day, including W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Dizzy Gillespie and a host of others. This semi-idyllic childhood provided seeds of inspiration for novels like Betsey Brown and the picture book, Ellington Was Not a Street.

As a young woman, Shange became involved in community arts groups and alongside this earned degrees and taught at prestigious liberal arts colleges across the country. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf was her breakthrough theatrical work, and its first performances were staged restaurants, bars and community festivals in Berkley, California.

Shange's work is heavily infused with sensory references, interweaving history, fantasy and dream. It is cosmopolitan and country, a hybrid in every sense, often using multiligual references as a way to build bridges between cultures and brims with references to musical forms such as jazz, blues and Afro-Latin. Her sensibility is one that is not easily described. However, viewing the clips below may offer something of a glimpse:

To learn more:

CNN article on 2009 stage revival of For Colored Girls, including author speaking about inspiration for this work

Voices from the Gaps Ntozake Shange Artist's Page

Application Fee Waiver Opportunity for Admission to Georgia Colleges

2010-11-08T06:36:00.000-08:00

Know anyone who is getting ready to apply to college?

High school students who want to attend Georgia Perimeter College or other colleges and universities in the state may want to learn more about Georgia Apply to College Week which extends from November 8-12. During this period, students can apply to any college in the state of Georgia for free.

Visit the Georgia Apply to College Week webpage for more details.

Ben Carson at Georgia State University

2010-11-01T06:09:00.000-07:00

We just learned that famed pediatric neurosurgeon, author and motivational speaker Dr. Ben Carson will be speaking and autographing books at Georgia State University this afternoon at 3 p.m. in the GSU Student Center Ballroom. The appearance is part of that college's Distinguished Speaker Series.

Last semester, our own Georgia Perimeter College Learning and Tutoring Center hosted screening of the Carson biopic Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story as well as a reading of selected passages from Carson's memoir of the same name. All of the students who attended the event were moved and inspired by these glimpses of Carson's life, so we are sure that this appearance is one that no student should miss.

Those who wish to know more about Dr. Carson can read a brief bio here.

LTC Student Satisfaction Survey

2010-10-27T11:55:00.001-07:00

Students who visit the Learning and Tutoring Center between October 25th and November 6th can participate in our annual Student Satisfaction Survey!

This survey is a "report card" to let us know how well we're meeting the academic needs of students.

Students can complete a survey each time they visit, giving them multiple opportunities to win. The grand prize winner will receive a backpack stocked with GPC periphernalia and essential school supplies.

* Stop in (Building F, Room 1200)
* Get the Code
* Complete the online survey
* Win a prize!

Decatur LTC National Tutoring Week Challenge

2010-10-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Students Adrianne Ingram, Lydia Kamau, Kai Stenson and Kizzy Todd all won prizes during the LTC's National Tutoring Week Challenge.

The competition ran from October 4th through October 8th. On each of those days, a series of brain teasers was selected, and interested students tried their hand at answering. The brain teasers were drawn from a range of academic disciplines.

Daily winners received periphernalia such as t-shirts, portfolios and keychains. The grand prize winner received an hour-long tutoring session with the tutor of her choice.

Curious about the kinds of puzzles the students solved? Let's see how well you do:

A. There is a word in the English language in which the first two letters signify a male, the first three signify a female, the first four signify a great man and the whole word, a great woman. What is the word?

B. Assuming that you are paying, is it cheaper to take one friend to the movies twice or two friends to the movies at the same time? (Note: It does not depend on how much popcorn they eat!)

Congratulations, again, to all of our winners!

Answers: A. Heroine B. It is cheaper to take two friends at the same time; you would only pay for yourself once.

Photos: Kai Stenson (left), Kizzy Todd (right)

Li Li Li! /Read Read Read!

2010-10-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

In parts of the world where electronic media isn’t dominant, storytelling is a means of sharing stories handed down from ancestors as well as a way to convey information relevant to today. Not only is it a form of entertainment for children; it is a powerful way to capture the imagination and interest of people old and young.

Haiti is one of those places where storytelling is a vibrant part of the culture. Traditionally, when listeners gather around to hear a tale, the very first word that comes from the storyteller’s mouth is a loud “Krik?” to which the audience knows to respond with an enthusiastic “Krak!” This call-and-response exchange signals that everyone is ready to give their full attention to the tale about to be told.

Like many other aspects of Haitian life, the practice of storytelling suffered a blow from the earthquake that struck earlier this year. In response, Li Li Li!: Reading Out Loud to Haiti’s Displaced Children was created. The organization-- whose name translates from Kreyòl to English as "Read, Read, Read!"-- describes itself as a “psycho-social, literacy promotion and jobs creation” program that centers on reading stories aloud to young audiences.

The celebrated Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat sits on the advisory board of Li Li Li! Her essay, “I Used to Love the Rain” describes the resilient spirit of the Haitian children and the respite that can come from storytelling.

For more on Haiti, storytelling and Edwidge Danticat visit:

Storybook Ending, an Oprah magazine essay by Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat essays and short stories printed in The New Yorker magazine

"Sending Children's Books to Haiti" post from Summer Edwards' Caribbean Children's Literature Blog

Storyteller Diane Wolkstein describing her introduction to Haitian storytelling

Diane Wolkstein re-telling The Magic Orange Tree, a traditional Haitian folk tale

"Message in a Bottle" Poetry Workshop

2010-10-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

Many people avoid poetry because there is a popular idea that true poetry is dull, vague in its meaning and intended for an elite audience. LTC tutor Anita Dugat-Greene's recent workshop titled "Message in a Bottle: How to Read, Enjoy and Write about Poetry" sought to rid students of these assumptions.

The session began with an imagined burning of the participants' apprehensions about poetry. Once the path had been cleared, each attendee was encouraged to recall poems that delighted them during childhood-- whether it was Dr. Seus, Shel Silverstein, Arnold Adoff, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langs ton Hughes, Nikki Grimes or classic nursery rhymes. Anita also used selections from Edward Hirsch's How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love With Poetry as a framework for this well-received workshop.

Some of the poetry explored included the work of celebrated artists like Jill Scott and Robert Hayden as well selections from the facilitator's own verse. Anita’s poem “Paradise,” incidentally, was published in the Fall/Winter 2008 Atlanta Review. More recently she won the International Merit Award in the Atlanta Review’s 2010 poetry competition.

Top image taken from Persian Arts Festival website.

Additional note: In many parts of the ancient world, poetry and music were closely related. The oud/lute that the woman in red is wearing was one of the instruments that was synonymous with poetry. Persia was one of the places where poetry was most highly-prized and respected. These poets frequently wrote about spiritual as well as romantic love.

College Reading & Learning Association Pinning of LTC Tutors

2010-10-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

L to R: Lisa Allen (Communications), Kwabena Sarpong (Math/Science), Jeffrey Canfield (Math/Science), Hieu Tran (Math), Constance Britt-Whitehurst (Communications), Christopher Zagrodny (Math), Jené Watson (Communications) and Sohayla Mohebbi (LTC Coordinator). Photograph by Charlie Lyon.

On October 8, 2010 the Decatur campus LTC staff joined their colleagues from other campuses of GPC were they all were awarded CRLA certification.

The CRLA credential recognizes college-level tutors who have amassed ten hours of staff development work shops and engaged in at least twenty-five hours of tutoring.

In honor of this achievement, a ceremony was held on the Clarkston campus where each qualifying tutor received a certificate and lapel pin bearing the name of the association.

Accounting 2101 Study Sessions

2010-09-29T10:54:00.001-07:00

Need help with Accounting 2101? Group study sessions are now available! The sessions will be offered on the following days/times until the end of the Fall 2010 semester:

Mondays

8:45 to 9:45 a.m.

Room SB 2180

Wednesdays

2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Room SC 1120

The facilitator for these sessions will be tutor, Yohannes Smith.

For more information stop by the Learning and Tutoring Center in SF1200, call (678) 891-2575 or log on to the LTC-Decatur website.

Above image: "The Daydreaming Accountant" by
Norman Rockwell

Creative License Call for Submissions

2010-09-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Calling all student writers! GPC's Creative License journal is looking for original short stories, poems, song lyrics, visual art and photography. Submissions must be received by Friday, November 19th at 4 p.m. E-mail Michelle.Frankhause@gpc.edu or SSims@gpc.edu for entry forms.

2010 Banned Books Week

2010-09-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

What do Stephanie Meyer (author of the Twilight series), Alice Walker, Rudolfo Anaya, Toni Morrison, J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series), Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Steven King, Zora Neale Hurston, Shel Silverstein and Maya Angelou all have in common? They are all authors of banned books, some of which will be spotlighted during Banned Books Week.

Never heard of Banned Books Week? Here's a description from the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom:

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. [It] highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of
unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

Books are banned or contested around the world for many reasons. What might be permissible in the United States might not be elsewhere and vice versa, and what might be accepted in one part of the nation might receive hostility in another part. Most banned books are challenged because they are perceived as pornographic, unpatriotic or heretical, containing language offensive to one or another group or for depicting violence or unsettling situations.

(Sidebar: It's important to mention that the issue of banned books is not as cut and dried as it may seem; everyone has preferences and biases, ideas that they believe should be preserved in print and ideas that they feel should not. In any case, when a book is banned it amounts to it being pulled from library shelves, removed from schools' approved reading lists or forbidden by a religious institution.)

Here is an annotated list of some book titles banned in the US and compiled by the American Library Association.

This year the banned books week nation-wide observance will extend from September 25 to October 2.

The Georgia Perimeter College-Decatur campus Learning and Tutoring Center supports the Learning and Resources Center (library) as they host an open-mic Read Out in recognition of Banned Books Week. The event will happen on September 29 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. and on September 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the campus courtyard.

For more information about this even or to sign up, visit the Learning Resources Center (Library SA-3100), call (678) 891-2585 or contact claudia.shorr@gpc.edu or adrienne.graham@gpc.edu.

Related Articles:

10 Ways to Celebrate Banned Books Week (The New York Times)

Campaigners Defend 'Celebrated Novels' from US Censors (The Guardian, UK)

2010-08-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Many of us have heard of the television program What Not to Wear. If Stacey London and Clinton Kelly were writers, they might write a text like Charles Haddad's Pity the Poor Reader: A Pirate's Manifesto On Writing Well. The author has generously made a full text version available for online viewing. Check it out here.

Bookzilla and the Decatur Book Fest

2010-08-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

Can you hear it? The sound is coming closer! It's the thundering footsteps of Bookzilla approaching our town!

The 2010 AJC Decatur Book Festival will be hosting a range of literature-centered events ranging from traditional readings by local, national, and international authors; a book fair, a children's stage and writing/publishing workshops to cooking demos; parades; poetry slams and more. You can follow festival events on Facebook and Twitter or take a look at the "Authors by Genre" page here.

Jaggy Reads

2010-08-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

A message from Dr. Terry Bozeman, Assistant Professor of English:

Please remember to pack your lunch and join us for the GPC Reads group discussion of Pat Conroy’s The Great Santini on Monday, August 30 from Noon to 1:00 in SF-2100. Everyone is welcome: those who have completed the text, nearly completed the text and even those who just want to have lunch with us and listen to a lively discussion of the text.

The next GPC Reads selection will be The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King. Also, those interested in joining a Facebook readers' circle for The Great Santini can do so here. Cassandra King's Facebook page is accessible here .

Have Your Say: Learning and Tutoring Center Spring 2010 Survey

2010-04-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

In 1993, Sadie and Bessie Delany, two black women elders, published a bestselling memoir titled Having Our Say. In it, the Delany sisters spoke about their ancestry, childhoods, careers, values and visions. For the pair of one-hundred-someting-year-old sisters, speaking up and sharing their insights and opinions was a way that they decided to be of service to others. “If it helps one person, then it’s worth doing,” was, they said, one of the Delany family philosophies that inspired the writing of their book.

The example of the Delany sisters teaches us that in social interactions of all types, feedback is valuable. Think about it. A compliment unshared cannot encourage. Constructive critique left unspoken doesn’t inspire change. Communication works two ways, benefitting both the speaker and the listener.

From April 12 to April 26 you, the students of GPC, will get the chance to have your say about our Learning and Tutoring Center services. It will be your opportunity to compliment, complain or comment about the quality of what we do and how we do it. What you share will give us information that will help us make our services more responsive and relevant to your needs.

Interested? If so, then come by the LTC in room F1200 to:

* get the code
* complete the online survey
* enter the drawing

The winner of the drawing will receive $100 worth of credit applied to their Jag card, good for buying merchandise, food and paying for services around campus.

Have Your Say (Part 2): Worth a Thousand Words

2010-02-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

All artists, writers included, are inspired to one degree or another by the life taking place all around them. Zora Neale Hurston and writers of the Harlem Renaissance (known at the time as the “New Negro Movement”) paid attention to many dimensions of life and based their work on what they saw and felt. They, in other words, allowed culture to serve as their muse.

With this in mind, we've put together a Power Point presentation called "Drop Me Off In Harlem," named after a once-popular jazz tune written by Duke Ellington and Nick Kenny. Our presentation features images drawn from the New Negro Movement/Harlem Renaissance. We'd like for you to study the images, and then select one that you like best. Try not only to explain what you see happening within the frame, but imagine and create a scene or story based on what it brings to mind and makes you feel.

Write no more than one thousand words, roughly three pages. Post an excerpt of about 250 words from your essay/creative response as a comment beneath this blog entry. Also, be sure to include your e-mail address. The first ten posts will be automatically win a Harlem Renaissance-related book or Learning and Tutoring Center gear such as book bags and umbrellas.

Keep in mind that we are not judging essays, as such. We just want you to flex the muscles of your imagination.

Have fun and good luck!

Above image of three flappers strolling on Seventh Avenue taken by unknown photographer

Book Picks for 2010 African American Read In

2010-02-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

Stumped about what to buy or check out for the upcoming African-American Read In? Here is a quick list of suggestions (click on the book titles for descriptions):

Abouet, Marguerite and Clement Oubrerie/Aya of Yop City

Baszile, Jennifer/The Black Girl Next Door: A Memoir

Brice, Carleen/Orange Mint and Honey

Carson, Ben/Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose and Live with Acceptable Risk

Chisolm, Shirley/Unbought and Unbossed

Coates, Ta-Nehisi/The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood

Conde, Maryse/Segu

Davis, Ossie and Ruby Dee/With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together

Ellis, Normandi/Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Gray, Farrah/Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out

Lee, Spike/Black Genius: African American Solutions to African American Problems

Luckett, Jacqueline/Searching for Tina Turner

Nunez, Elizabeth/Anna In Between

Perkins-Valdez, Dolen/Wench: A Novel

Pitts, Byron/Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges

Powell, Kevin/The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life

Senna, Danzy/Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History

Skloot, Rebecca/The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Somé, Sobonfu/Welcoming Spirit Home: Ancient African Teachings to Celebrate Children and Community

Whitehead, Colson/Sag Harbor

Still don't see anything of interest? Click here for a longer book list to browse.

Have Your Say (Part 1): Quotable Zora

2010-02-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

Zora Neale Hurston appreciated plain-spoken wisdom. Sometimes the source of this wisdom was her personal observation and reasoning. Other times it was adapted from the mouths of the everyday people to whom she felt deeply connected.

Hurston was like a geologist and gem cutter rolled into one. Much of her creative energy was spent extracting the precious material of folk speech and philosophy and then carefully cutting away so that light and beauty shined through.

As true as this is, a careful reading will reveal that Hurston was concerned with far more than lyricism or dazzling her readers with pretty words. She wanted her work to say something and speak truth. “It’s no use talking,” she once said, “unless people understand what you say.”

In honor of Black History Month, we’ve gone hunting for more from Hurston. Here’s what we found:

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.
The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.
There are years that ask questions and years that answer.
I had hundreds of books under my skin already. Not selected reading, all of it. Some of it could be called trashy…[a] whole slew of dime novels in addition to some really constructive reading. I do not regret the trash. It has harmed me in no way. It was a help, because acquiring the reading habit early is the important thing.
She didn’t read books, so she didn’t know that she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop.
Merely being a good man is not enough to hold a Negro preacher in an important charge. He must also be an artist. He must be both a poet and an actor of a very high order. Negro preachers…are…artists, the ones intelligible to the masses. A voice has told them to sing of the beginnings of things.
Laugh if you will, but that man in the gutter is the god-maker, the creator of everything that lasts.
Once you wake up thought in a man, you can never put it to sleep.
Faith hasn’t got no eyes, but she’s long legged.
I’ve been in sorrow’s kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountains, wrapped in rainbows with a harp and sword in my hands.

We want to hear from students: which quote is your favorite, and what do you read into it? When you post your reply be sure to include the whole Zora quote somewhere in the body. If you select one of the longer quotes then feel free to condense. We’re looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

French Films at Clarkston Campus

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Enjoy a first-class vacation without leaving Atlanta!

Georgia Perimeter College will host the 2010 CERCLE FRANCOPHONE MARDI GRAS FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL beginning Monday, Feb. 15 through Friday, Feb .19 on the Clarkston Campus in the Jim Cherry Learning Resource Center Auditorium, 555 North Indian Creek Drive, Clarkston.

This multicultural assortment of English-subtitled films include many Cannes Film Festival award-winners and Oscar-nominees. The screenings are free and open to the public. All films start at 5 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 15: La Vie en Rose is a film about the legendary French singer, Edith Piaf, and named after one of her most famous songs. It explores the bends and twists of Piaf's life, including her unstable childhood and her gradual climb to stardom.

Tuesday, Feb. 16: Entre Les Murs (The Class) Based on a semi-autobiographical novel by a French language and literature teacher, the story focuses on tension and eventual respect that develops between the main character and his students whose families have migrated from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Wednesday, Feb. 17: Un Conte de Noel (A Christmas Tree) is a dramatic tale of how a family navigates one loss after another and the messy business of life.

Thursday , Feb. 18: Reves de Poussiere (Dreams of Dust) set on the African continent, the alternate American title of this film is Buried Dreams. It tells the story of a Nigerian peasant who seeks to unburden himself of memories of the past by migrating to a gold-mining town in Burkina Faso.

Friday, Feb. 19: La Graine et le Mulet (The Secret of Grain) centers on a Franco-Arabic family and their determination to adapt to life on the southern coast of France and in the process open a restaurant serving comfort food from their native country of Tunisia.

The event is sponsored by GPC Student Life, the Alliance Française d’Atlanta, the Consulat de France d’Atlanta and the GPC Center for International Education. For information contact Genette Ashby-Beach at 678-891-2385.

The Big Read Celebrates Their Eyes Were Watching God

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"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things
enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom were in the branches."

February is Black History Month. It is also the month of an annual event called the African American Read In, a National Council of Teachers of English-sponsored festival promoting literacy, heritage and imagination. For years, the Decatur campus LTC has rallied campus participation in this event, and this year is no different.

Overlapping the African American Read-In is another major literary event called The Big Read, a National Endowment for the Arts initiative "designed to restore reading to the center of American culture [and] encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment. " How it works is that a title is selected and everyone within a particular community agrees to read and discuss it.

This year's pick for Atlanta is Zora Neale Hurston's classic love story, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

The Atlanta History Center will be hosting its Big Read kick off on February 17 with a free Harlem Renaissance themed party, complete with music and a photographic exhibition titled Let Your Motto Be Resistance. AHC has also planned a host of festivities stretching throughout February and March.

Stay tuned as our Learning and Tutoring Center announces its own line up of events celebrating the African American Read In and Atlanta's Big Read.

Of course, be sure to check out Their Eyes from the campus or local library, buy it from a bookstore or order a copy online, and celebrate Black History Month by letting books like this one lift your imagination to greater heights!

Dr. Ben Carson and the Power of Reading

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Physician, professor, author, motivational speaker and humanitarian Dr. Benjamin Solomon Carson is a super star in the world of medicine. Holding degrees from Yale and the University of Michigan, he has headed the department of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University Hospital since he was thirty-three years old. At the peak of his career Carson would perform more than five hundred surgeries a year-- far more than most brain surgeons take on. People travel great distances in the hope that he will be able to help their cases, ones which have often been written off as impossible. Families from the United States, Africa, Europe and the Middle East trust their children to him because of his development of innovative surgical techniques, including one that helped him become the first surgeon to successfully separate twins joined at the head.

With a resume like this, it would be easy to assume that Carson was groomed by educated parents or is following in the footsteps of a grandparent similar in stature to Daniel Hale Williams, Charles Drew or William Augustus

Hinton. Not so.

Journey with us on Thursday, January 28 as we retrace some of the steps in Dr. Carson’s inspirational odyssey through poverty, uncertainty and anger to personal victory during our screening of Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. This recently-made dramatization of highlights of Carson’s life centers largely on the power that reading has to transform a life and stars Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Boyz N the Hood and Jerry McGuire) as Carson and Kimberly Elise (Great

Debaters and Beloved) as Carson’s determined mother,

Sonya.

As a segue to the film, Professor Shawn L. Williams will read highlights from "The Power of Reading" chapter in Carson’s motivational memoir, Think Big.

The program will start at 11 a.m. and run until 1 p.m.

Welcome

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We’re looking forward to exploring ways to use the blogosphere to dynamically link our students’ voices with instructor curricula and the academic support that we offer in the LTC. There are so many exciting possibilities!

Please stay tuned as we gear up to bring you news about our programming line-up. In the meantime, we invite you to spend some time browsing our links (which will continue to expand along with the growth of this site).

We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.