Around the Block

Open Dialogue: Continuing the Conversation

Montana Bass ’17

In order to continue the conversation regarding racial tension on campus sparked by painful, inappropriate YikYak comments and started officially at the all-campus meeting on the first Monday of this block, The Butler Center has held multiple open-dialogue circles. These dialogues were meant to give CC community members a place to reflect, heal, and reimagine an inclusive campus community.

Pearl Leonard-Rock, The Butler Center’s new assistant director, said these dialogues were truly helpful to the campus community, and exhibited the willingness of students to connect over these issues when given the opportunity. “Being new to CC, I really didn’t expect that students would heed the call. I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of faculty, staff, and students who have been present. There have been white-identifying students as well as students of color who have come to share this space with us. Many of the attendees have been unknown to me and they have been very open and vulnerable while in the circle. It has been very affirming to know that all students are seeing our genuine outreach to all community members.”

So that they could fully focus on this clearly pressing topic, The Butler Center cancelled all other Block 4 programming. “The Butler Center staff agreed that suspending regular programming in Block 4 would be a great idea to make time for individual and group support of community members,” said Leonard-Rock. “It became apparent that taking intentional and focused time for reflection, healing, and re-imagining a truly inclusive community could benefit us all greatly.”

The dialogues were unstructured except for a theme — newly created and presented each week — that was meant to drive discussion. Leonard-Rock noted that discussion leaders had to be flexible with themes in order to meet the needs of students.

Students joined together to discuss their own experiences with race, often focusing on their bewilderment about what defined “community,” in general and on campus. “Most students have talked about this time being the first time in their college experience they have felt compelled to have a dialogue about race,” Leonard-Rock said.

Students who have not had the opportunity to join one of these dialogue sessions are encouraged to do so, as they will continue next semester. Additionally, a two-day social justice training event, as well as other learning opportunities will be offered beginning in January.

The Butler Center will host Becky Martinez from the Social Justice Training Institute the weekend before the start of Block 5. Leonard-Rock described these trainings as is a unique and exciting opportunity to engage deeply in social justice education and a chance to dig deeper on topics of race and other salient identities for a full day and a half.

Please save the dates: Thursday, Jan. 14, Friday, Jan. 15, and Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016.

A session for faculty and staff will take place Thursday, Jan. 14, 9 a.m.-noon.
Sessions for students run Thursday, Jan. 14-Saturday, Jan. 16

Please email Pearl Leonard-Rock (pearl.leonardrock@coloradocollege.edu) to secure your spot in this on-campus experience.

Space is limited. There is a cap on the number of students who can attend and The Butler Center will work to create visible diversity in the session in an effort to enrich the dialogues.

Learn more about the Social Justice Institute.
Learn more about Becky Martinez.

Behind the Scenes of “American Falls”

Angie Bardsley, ITS: administrative assistant

The time and effort needed to produce and exhibit a piece of art can be deceptive. Take “American Falls,” for instance. Filmmaker Phil Solomon spent nearly a decade fulfilling his vision of creating an all-encompassing experience in American history. In addition, Jessica Hunter-Larsen, I.D.E.A. Space curator, worked with Solomon for two years arranging the exhibit at CC, and ITS: staff spent six months researching and preparing to assist with the film’s installation.

In the spring of 2015, Sean Roberts, smart spaces and AV manager, was asked to assist with the film’s autumn installation. Roberts prepared by studying triptych film — in which different images are projected on three surfaces simultaneously. He contacted other venues that previously exhibited the film, reached out to LVW Electronics for crucial advice, communicated with Solomon about his preferences, and pre-staged three projectors to do a trial run. In addition, Roberts enlisted the expertise of fellow ITS: team members Joe Hinson, Gerald Mondragon, Tulio Wolford, Joseph Sharman, Matt Gottfried, Linda Petro, and Vish Paradkar. “This was the largest, cross-department project I’ve worked on outside of events. It took all of us,” Roberts said.

When it was time to finally install the “American Falls” exhibit, Roberts worked closely with Briget Heidmous, I.D.E.A. Space’s assistant to the curator. Heidmous and Roberts spent three days adjusting the film’s resolution and manually positioning three projectors so the film had no visible edges. In order to give viewers the most meaningful experience, the film had to be projected with precision. Heidmous explained, “Phil Solomon is an important person in the experimental film world. Having his film in Colorado Springs, displaying it this way, is unique.”

At one point, Heidmous and Roberts contacted Solomon via Skype, so he could see and hear the exhibit. “Having access to technology makes situations like these so much easier. At Colorado College, we really have experts in their fields; we don’t have to look far for someone to help,” Heidmous said. Without know-how from the ITS: team, the project could have cost three to four times more. The equipment purchased for the exhibit will be repurposed for other projects, saving campus resources.

Technology is not only becoming increasingly prevalent in modern art, it also continues to evolve and permeate all areas of the academic world. As these changes occur, the ITS: division looks forward to collaborating with other departments to create a rich learning experience for CC’s students and a stimulating environment for its faculty and staff.

SolarWinds and Raspberry Pi are Improving Your Online Experience

By Linda Petro

What do solar winds, raspberry pie, and network access have in common? A creative ITS: solution uses the first two to determine an online user’s experience with the third, providing crucial data to improve the overall experience. Better online access through pie — who doesn’t like the sound of that?

The ultra-low cost Raspberry Pi computer, no bigger than a standard computer mouse (center). — ITS: has employed innovative problem solving using the ultra-low cost Raspberry Pi computer, no bigger than a standard computer mouse (center).

Here’s how it all comes together: The ITS: Division’s Enterprise Technology Team uses software called SolarWinds to record and report statistics about network access across campus and provide alerts for buildings that are offline. Unfortunately, it does not provide data about a user’s actual experience. Access may be available, but a user could be upset because a website is taking more than a minute to load. This user might express that frustration to friends about their network experience, but ITS: wouldn’t always hear about it to be able to fix it.

Those days will soon be history. A small group of ITS: Enterprise Technology teammates, including David Ziemba, Keith Conger, Dan Raney, and Manuel Rendon, got together to brainstorm and find a system to help identify these “slow spots.” One of them suggested they use a computer to monitor the network in each building. As it was cost-prohibitive to place standard machines everywhere, they focused on using the ultra-low cost Raspberry Pi computer, no bigger than a standard computer mouse, instead (pictured center). The idea was to take the tiny computer and program it to access websites as the average user would do when surfing the internet, then attach it to the SolarWinds software to record how long it was taking, making the information viewable and actionable through reports and alerts.

After some trial and error, the team started to receive data from the test Pis and was able to see how the network was performing. When a website took longer than a fraction of a second to load, the team researched why and implemented a fix. The idea was working.

Because the preliminary information was helpful, the idea expanded further. Pis were placed in nearly every campus building, with additional Pis positioned in high-need spots. Each Pi was programmed to access a list of websites every minute and send back data to SolarWinds and the team. When the team cannot monitor the software face-to-face, alerts are sent to their email addresses so they can respond quickly.

“This system is the only one I have seen anywhere that attempts to recreate the user experience, and we are all about a better experience for everyone,” said David Ziemba, senior network engineer. “We still need to come up with a cool name for it,” Ziemba expressed with a smile.

As the network upgrade continues into phase two, ITS: continues to look for ways to make a better network experience for all who live, study, and work here. And a better experience is worth celebrating. Raspberry Pi, anyone?

Kendall Rock ’15 Showcases Photography in Huffington Post

Montana Bass ’17

Powerful photographs by Kendall Rock ’15, a film and media studies major, have been featured in a Huffington Post article titled “The Truth About Refugees From a U.S. Student Abroad,” written by Jackie Montalvo, a student at Northwestern University.

Since graduation, Rock has worked as a freelance photographer. “I’ve never really contemplated my passion for photography,” she said. “I just have a passion for people, and like photographing them. I’m an observer, and I’m really lucky to have the skills to make a career out of capturing people’s moments and stories.”

In this most recent project, Rock’s photos accompany Montalvo’s article addressing the detached mindset often applied to the Syrian refugee crisis. By explaining her experience working with non-governmental organizations in Turkey and Greece, and juxtaposing a Grecian willingness to provide refuge with growing American suspicion toward refugees, the author encourages Americans to see the individuality and humanity of the people making up the masses.

To drive her point home, Montalvo includes Rock’s heartwarming pictures of refugees, mostly children, taken during Rock’s time in Greece with Lisa Hughes, adjunct associate professor of English, for the course Romantic Comedy and the Blue World. Realizing the opportunity for the class to contribute to crisis relief, Rock began working with the Salvation Army in Athens’ Victoria Square. Eventually, she worked with Hughes to coordinate efforts with the Salvation Army in the context of class discussions. They also organized a drive to collect funds from the CC community to contribute to the Salvation Army’s efforts.

It was during this time that Rock snapped the shots included in Montalvo’s article. “In Victoria Square, I kept my head on a swivel for moments, but I made sure that I always asked permission before I snapped a photo of someone, especially when I was photographing children. Hardly anyone spoke English, so I would hold up my camera and gesture to their child and ask, ‘OK?’ Some people said no, and some kids and young men came running toward me and posed, and then asked to see the photos and posed again and again,” she explained.

Rock has a knack for capturing photos that express the individuality of her subjects. From the refugees featured in the article to clients featured on her website, http://www.kendall-rock.com, personalities jump from the screen. “I rarely enter a photo situation looking for something specific (not really even when I photograph weddings), I instead just observe and have my camera ready all the time,” she said.

Kendall Rock '15 photo of refugees in Greece — Rock’s photos, like this one, were featured in the Huffington Post piece on refugees in Greece: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackie-montalvo/the-truth-about-refugees-_b_8610518.html

In May 2015, Rock’s filmmaking was recognized with the Richard A. Lewis Memorial Film Award, selected by an interdisciplinary panel of faculty to honor the best student film of the year. Her thesis film, “God’s in the Garage,” premiered at the JP2 Interfaith Film Festival in Miami, where it was also honored with a nomination for Best Documentary Short. Currently, Rock lives in Copenhagen and is editing a documentary about Alaska she filmed this past summer. She will return to the United States in the near future where she said she’ll continue with her work in photography and videography.

CC Students Report from International COP21 Climate Change Conference

This week, Paris welcomes 196 states and the European Union for one of the biggest international summits on climate change, COP21. Four CC students are there, too, attending daily workshops and meetings concurrent with the conference, reporting back via a daily blog of events and commentary. COP21 is the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, taking place in Paris from Nov. 30-Dec. 11. It’s is described as a crucial conference, targeting creation of a new international agreement on the climate, applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C. “We have been learning about the UN climate conferences throughout our college careers,” said Lily Biggar ’16, one of the students in attendance. “We feel like being here has given us a real-life application of our academic studies.”

Students at COP21 — Gabriella Palko ’16 and Lily Biggar ’16 take in lectures and workshops at COP21 Summit in Paris.

Biggar and the other three bloggers, Gabriella Palko ’16, Elliot Hillar ’17, and Zach Pawa ’17, are a self-described “group of driven Colorado College students optimistic about the opportunity to create positive systematic change in the world,” according to the blog. For two weeks, they will spend time at the Climate Generations portion of the summit, along with thousands of participants from around the globe, to convene and discuss global environmental issues. Every day, students have the opportunity to attend dozens of lectures, workshops, debates, and presentations on all aspects of climate change given by NGOs, scientists, artists, UN leaders, and government officials. Follow the group’s daily updates via the AnthropoScene blog.

Ian Johnson, director of CC’s Office of Sustainability, says it’s an incredibly powerful way for students to be actively involved in the real-time issues that are developing in Paris, engage with other students and organizations, represent CC’s sustainability initiative.

“To have students in Paris during the fervor and excitement of the event is a completely different experience from reading the daily recaps in the media; they’re a part of this history, and so are we as a college community by virtue of their participation,” said Johnson, who worked with Biggar and Palko when they served as interns in the Office of Sustainability.

Lily Biggar ’16, an environmental policy major and global health minor, co-authored the college’s first State of Sustainability Report last year and works as the sustainability intern for Residential Life. Biggar’s blog bio states that she deepened her interest in environmental issues while spending a semester studying in Copenhagen, a city often regarded as the “green capital of Europe.” She is pursuing a career in environmental consulting and corporate sustainability.

Gabriella Palko ’16, also an environmental policy major, served as CC’s greenhouse gas inventory intern and is now the intern manager at the Office of Sustainability. In her blog bio, Palko says she’s passionate about climate change, and is particularly interested in the role of industrial agriculture in the current environmental crisis, hoping to play a major role in bridging the detrimental gap between science and politics.

Elliot Hillar ’17, an environmental policy major, and Zach Pawa ’17, an environmental science major, are also participating in the summit and contributing to the blog.

In addition to keeping a blog, the students have scheduled Skype sessions with both Mark Smith’s Environmental Economics class and Corina McKendry’s Global Environmental Policy class. They will also give a presentation about the experience when they return.

CC Special Collections to Grow with $10,000 WES Gift

CC's Special Collections curator and archivist Jessy Randall accepts a $10,000 gift from the Woman's Educational Society. — CC’s Special Collections curator and archivist Jessy Randall accepts a $10,000 gift from the Woman’s Educational Society.

The Woman’s Educational Society of Colorado College Co-President Ann Burek presented $10,000 this fall to CC Special Collections curator and archivist Jessy Randall. The gift is for the purpose of enhancing the college curriculum by acquiring significant books and documents that focus on women’s history and contributions to society.

WES has a long history of support for Special Collections (also known as the Colorado College Room) at Tutt Library, including purchasing a case for rare documents in Tutt Library in 1969 and providing the Colorado College Room with furnishings in 1974.

Special Collections includes: documents, papers, publications, and photographs chronicling CC history; books by CC professors and alumni; important book collections; rare books and other valuable items (such as a page from a Gutenberg Bible or the contents of CC’s time capsule opened in the year 2000); electronic files; and access to some of the above via the internet (yearbooks, student newspapers, and time capsule contents).

CC Special Collections is open to everyone. Its main purpose is to serve CC students, but people visit from all over the world to use the rare and unique materials preserved there, including medieval manuscripts, printed books from the Gutenberg era, and the papers of 19th century writer and Indian rights activist Helen Hunt Jackson.

In the past decade, Special Collections has become much more focused on students. In 2001, it saw about 600 visitors. Since 2009, Special Collections has had about 1,600 visitors each year. The majority of these researchers are CC students, though visitors come from all over the world. Special Collections used to get a dozen class visits a year, and now it sees about 50. This means CC classes are visiting almost once a week. Many of these classes do block-long projects using the historic materials. Some examples from the last academic year include a medieval history class looking at manuscripts and early printed books; a Southwest studies class using primary sources of diaries and letters; and an architecture class studying the development of the CC campus using photographs and files.

Part of the library’s mission is to capture CC’s history, and to provide students with access to books and documents of the sort maintained by Special Collections. The Woman’s Educational Society said this gift allows the organization to make a proud contribution to this mission.

CC Dubbed “Bike-Friendly” and Striving to be Even Friendlier

Monica Black ‘19

Many CC students, faculty, and staff know that campus is a great place to be a bike enthusiast, but now CC has finally received formal recognition: Colorado College has been named a “Bicycle Friendly University” by the League of American Bicyclists. Factors such as CC’s 1:1 bike rack to student ratio, a student-run bike co-op, and the bike rental program all played into the decision. The ranking also included a space for testimonials from students on the friendliness of the campus bike culture.

Although CC received praise for its current biking culture, unique challenges remain for those who get around on two wheels. Most of the throughways around campus are city streets, so CC’s ability to make an impact on crossings and bike lanes is minimal. Additionally, the campus is isolated from many of the business centers in sprawling Colorado Springs because many busy municipal roads lack bike lanes.

But, Ian Johnson, director of the Office of Sustainability, who submitted CC for bike-friendly campus recognition, said he’s looking eagerly toward the future. “As CC is a major part of the downtown biking culture, we’ve embarked on a feasibility study with [the city of Colorado Springs] and other key stakeholders to develop a bike share program that suits both the city and our campus, to help tie us more closely to the community,” said Johnson. This program aims to help connect the college to Old Colorado City, Manitou Springs, and University Village, and encourages the culture of biking among a student body, which sometimes claims “you need a car in the Springs.”

Students, staff, and faculty will play the biggest role in further adopting bike culture into campus life. “The biggest thing that people can do is to bike to work and class regularly, and let us know what sorts of challenges they’re facing,” said Johnson. “It’s not for the sake of a designation, but for the benefit of the real users on our campus.”

Women’s XC Head to Nationals, Castaneda Named Coach of the Year

Montana Bass ’18

The CC women’s cross country team took fourth in regional championships last weekend, qualifying three runners (Allysa Warling ’19, Leah Wessler ’17, and Katie Sandfort ’17) for the NCAA National Meet Nov. 21. This comes after wrapping up October with an exciting win and another Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship in October. Additionally, in exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, CC’s Ted Castaneda was selected SCAC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.

As part of the team’s conference win, six of the Tiger’s runners finished in the top 10 and junior Leah Wessler captured her second consecutive individual title at Stone Creek Golf Club in Sherman, Texas. She also repeated as SCAC Women’s Runner of the Year.

Wessler said much of the team’s success this season is owed to the addition of “awesome new runners, who pushed returning athletes to work even harder.” The team also lost only one senior from the previous season. “We were able to build on the momentum of last year, when we finally beat our rival, Trinity,” said Wessler.

But the team has overcome some challenges en route to the championship. Last year, tendonitis flared up in Wessler’s ankle during track season, so this year she maintained a regimen of consistent icing and massages. The addition of new recruits and different racing styles required team-wide adjustments. “Members of a good team need to know and predict the movements of other teammates around them during a race, so people know when to step in for a member who is having a bad race, when to make a move on runners of another team, and so on,” said Wessler. “I think one of the reasons we were so successful at the conference meet was that we have fully adjusted to the new team dynamics, and we were running for each other as well as for ourselves.”

About two weeks leading up to a big race, the team “eases up” their workouts. “I usually stop doing two-a-days to rest my legs,” said Wessler. The day before the race, they run the course to make sure everyone knows route. “I’m very good at getting lost,” Wessler admitted.

Though they felt fairly confident entering the conference meet, Wessler called the course one of the most difficult the team had experienced this season. “Usually my mind wanders a lot during races, but there were so many ups and downs, swamps, mud puddles, and sharp turns, that there was always something to pay attention to,” she explained. “I was pretty stressed by how fast my energy and adrenaline were subsiding because of all the hills and mud.”

Dan Levitt ’16 and Professor Clay Haskell Tell Story of Syrian Refugee Camp

Montana Bass ’19

Senior Dan Levitt and Clay Haskell, assistant professor of film and media studies, are in the midst of pulling together the finished product after a moving independent study experience. They spent Block 2 filming a documentary focused on former Syrian wrestling star Mohammed al Krad in Za’atari, a Syrian refugee camp on the border of Syria and Jordan.

Levitt became interested in filmmaking the summer after his sophomore year, when he took a class with Haskell. “I realized this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,” Levitt said. When his close family friend Linda Mason wrote an article on al Krad and the wrestling program he had built in Za’atari for The Huffington Post, Levitt was inspired and immediately saw the possibility the story held for film.

He reached out Haskell to see if he would collaborate on the project. “It was an easy choice for me,” Haskell said of working with Levitt. “He is really top quality.” To which Levitt added, “I felt an immense honor to be working with a master of the medium.”

As the retired chairwoman of Mercy Corps Leadership Council, one of the organizations providing aid for refugees in Za’atari, Mason was able to help orchestrate time for Levitt and Haskell in Za’atari. Levitt started fundraising for the trip at the beginning of this academic year. Eventually, he raised enough money to cover all costs with a combination of grants from the CC Political Science Department, the President’s Fund, a Venture Grant matched by Dean of Students Mike Edmonds, and his own Kickstarter campaign.

Conditions in Za’atari saddened both Haskell and Levitt. “We were astounded by the destitution of the situation,” said Levitt. “There’s a feeling of deep sadness because people are without the means to advance their lives. Here at CC, we have so many opportunities to pursue our passions. They’ve had everything taken from them. A lot of these people were educated professionals in Syria.”

“The border situation is a mess,” added Haskell. “People are stuck because they don’t have the financial resources to get out. Many escape across the nearest border they can find. They’re trying to get to Germany or they’re drowning in Greece. This is probably the biggest humanitarian crisis of our age.”

Amid this destitution, Mohammed al Krad stands as a symbol of community and hope. After he escaped Syria and the government’s attempts to use his celebrity to influence Syrian youth on their behalf, al Krad found himself in Za’atari and, with the help of Mercy Corps, started a wrestling program to give the boys of the camp a positive focus. “To say he was only a coach would be reductive. He was really a therapist and a community builder,” explained Levitt. “He knew the ins and outs of all their lives and was there for them, and that was reflected in their love for him.”

Now, Levitt is in the process of editing his film, which he plans to finish in about a month. Along with bringing awareness to the situation, Levitt hopes the finished product will carry the message that “even in the darkest of times, life goes on,” as he said. “People were getting married, having kids, life goes on.”

“It was an extraordinary experience all around,” said Haskell of their project. Both Levitt and Haskell express thanks for the support they received from Colorado College and Mercy Corps, which made their endeavor possible. The CC community should keep an eye out for Levitt’s documentary screening, which will probably take place later during Block 4.

New Resource Tracks CC Speakers, Scholars, Events

Message on behalf of CC’s first Tiger Pen team:

Wondering what major speakers are coming to campus next semester? Looking for more information about a presentation you saw last year? Searching for ideas while planning for a major speaker?

We are proud to present “Speakers, Scholars, and Events,” a new web resource that aims to meet those needs. With the Block Plan’s rapid pace, sometimes you don’t hear about an outstanding speaker until she’s already gone. The new web resource aims to keep the campus community better informed, and features a selection of the many amazing visitors who interact with the campus community each block.

“Speakers, Scholars, and Events” is the result of CC’s first Tiger Pen, which convened this summer to solve a problem selected by campus community vote: With so many events happening and the pace of the Block Plan, we often miss some of our amazing visitors entirely, or aren’t able to connect with them as much as we’d like.

The web resource aims to solve this problem by providing a new lens through which to view CC speakers. The web resource:

Enables the CC community to better anticipate upcoming academic events and prevents scheduling conflicts
Presents information well in advance of speakers’ visits
Keeps a record of past events including additional information after the event is complete
Enhances the new CC Events Management system by providing more depth and breadth of information and highlighting major events appearing on the campus calendar
Showcases how endowed funds are used

The Tiger Pen is a focused way to solve problems and/or implement new ideas directly related to CC’s academic mission and the format means a different team of experts is selected for each project.

The Tiger Pen concept was 1 of 10 innovative pilot projects funded by the Center for Immersive Learning and Engaged Teaching Action team.

First Tiger Pen Team Members:

Caitlin Apigian

Bethany Grubbs

Mark Lee

Tomi-Ann Roberts

Chad Schonewill

Jenn Sides

Christine Smith-Siddoway

Brenda Soto

Kris Stanec

Stephanie Wurtz