Reprinted from Tikkun Daily, an article by Adam Sher ’02

From Vacation to Transformation: How Spiritual Retreats Are Changing Judaism

Adam Sher ’02: I was getting into new possibilities for my work, my ideas, my spirituality, my social connections, and my life.

In the summer of 2006, I was teaching eighth-grade social studies in a Seattle public school. I was 26 years old, on a career path, in a long-term relationship, and a new homeowner. Life was good, and it was time for a summer vacation. So I signed up for a week-long retreat at the Elat Chayyim Jewish Retreat Center in Accord, New York. I thought I was getting away after a busy school year, going on vacation, learning a little, but basically relaxing and rejuvenating. All of that happened. But while I was getting away, I was getting into new possibilities for my work, my ideas, my spirituality, my social connections, and my life. Fast-forward seven years, and I’ve dedicated my work and life to the power and potential of Jewish retreats. I’ve connected with a sense of purpose within the Jewish community and the wider world that places the model of retreat – the temporary autonomous zone designed for transformation – at the center of a vision for how religion and society are evolving today.

Continue reading →

Thomas Herndon ’07 on The Colbert Report

Editor’s Note: Thomas spent the first week of June on campus speaking to students in a variety of programs ranging from economics to social justice and literature. He reconnected with friends and former faculty members and bowled over a lot of students with his brains, broad interests, history of social activism and his warm, approachable personality.

The Dismal Science is a term coined by Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle to describe the discipline of economics. Many say the term was inspired by T. R. Malthus’ prediction that population would always outpace food production, dooming mankind to unending poverty. These days,”economics” often conjures images of puffed-up people opining abstrusely about unimaginable amounts of money within a governmental or political context. Here’s our prediction: Thomas Herndon ’07, is going to up-end these moldy stereotypes. He will convince us that the study of economics is fascinating, that it possesses mathematical elegance and beauty and that it is a powerful front for progressive activism.

Like syllogisms? Here’s one: Economists are geeks; geeks are cool, therefore economists are cool.  Thomas is very cool.

Here are some links for Thomas:
The Evergreen Magazine, Spring 2013
The Paper That Almost Wasn’t
WSJ explanatory article 
Flaws Found in Study Favored by Backers of Austerity
On National TV Last Night, The Austerity Movement Became A Laughingstock

Evergreen Animation Labs

Marina Gagarina ’12,  former animation student of Ruth Hayes, now plies her artistry in Brooklyn, New York.  Ruth recently posted   Marina’s 5-minute animation about a dream, a tiny house, a tragedy, friendship, and hope restored.(Evergreen Animation Labs blog)

Ruth notes: Marina also studied with Don Morisato, Heather Heying and Bob Haft, among others.  She is a great example of a student who links the arts and the sciences.

Alumnus Andy Stewart, wooden boat builder

Andy Stewart is part of a wooden boat-building tradition stretching within his family, but he seems to connect with equal intimacy to another family, the human family of a boat-building past.

Listening to this almost hypnotic video interview, “Shaped on Six Sides,” one feels Andy’s organic connection to his materials, his tools, his craft, the sea, and the history of humanity as sea-going beings.

Warning: Watching this 7-minute documentary may cause flights of fancy and a lingering sense of longing.

Dana Simpson ’99

Gig Harbor, WA native Dana Simpson ’99 joins the Universal Press Syndicate family of comic artists with a new strip, provisionally titled Heavenly Nostrils.

For a decade, 1998 to 2008, she drew the internet comic strip “Ozy and Millie” for which she won the Comic Strip Superstar contest in 2009.

Quoting from ozyandmillie.org, Dana reflects on work, process and audience:

Like most artists, my old work makes me wince. I look at “Ozy and Millie” and I see its flaws vividly. But I also see thousands of little lessons learned. I started the strip in 1998, when I was 20 years old, and kept doing it for more than a decade. I often say it’s my graduate thesis in cartooning. It still seems to mean something to its readers. And, flaws aside, it still means something to me, too.

From “Girl,” by Dana Simpson ’99, Amazon’s first Comic Strip Superstar award winner

The challenge of Tina Hoggatt’s enchanting installation is Sit and Listen

“We’re all so full of stories, everyone is,”  Tina Hoggatt ’78 asserts in an interview about her audio installations, Story Chairs. The inspiration sprang, Tina says,  from a childhood fantasy – being cradled in a nest, high up in a tree, simply listening.  Many years later,  installed at Seattle’s Jack Straw Productions, two whimsical chairs entice visitors to sit and listen as the chairs tell stories, one after the other.

The act of sitting triggers an audio unit that is programmed to play the recorded stories.
Learn more about the chairs, the stories and the writers.

“Story Chairs” at Jack Straw Production on Roosevelt Way in north Seattle”

A long time champion of art in public places, for the past seven years, Tina has worked for 4Culture, King County’s Cultural Arts and Heritage organization. Learn more about Tina.

Nate Gibbs-Bowling gets top marks from students

There is not much to say about this student testimonial lauding the inspirational teaching of Tacoma School District’s Nate Gibbs-Bowling. Not much, except: WATCH THIS!

Nice Going, Mr. Bowling.