Steven M. Miller ’87
Perhaps to fully appreciate the artistic genius of Steven M. Miller ’87 one should be deeply educated in the theory, practice, science, history and technology of all things aural. But even a general music lover will get the gist by reading this Trebuchet Magazine interview, embellished by visits to his website, blog and Soundcloud page. Dive in. This is a quintessential Evergreen Mind at work and it is a beautiful thing.
Scads of children from visiting school groups surround the green area outside the Lab buildings for a demonstration of homemade pyrotechnics. Exhibitors lit smoke bombs and a rocket before the finale of a sparkler mandala set in a bicycle wheel. — Andrew Jeffers photo
Faculty Peter Pessiki shows a volunteer how to light sparklers made of starch. — Shauna Bittle photo
Is it just us, or was the Science Carnival extra exciting this year? We could hear a stampede of feet as we neared the Lab buildings, where we found what seemed like a hundred school groups running from exhibition to exhibition.
Evergreen students were hopping as they presented their chosen topics. They gave talks on Tardigrades, Lichens and Ethanol, and walked kids through workshops on plating pennies and making sauerkraut. The hallways echoed with the sound of excited voices as kids told each other what they’d seen and plotted where to go next.
And when an explosion appeared on the agenda, everyone showed up. It seemed that they were everywhere on Friday: soda bottle exploding due to dry ice pressure, burning metal in the thermite demonstration, and fountains of pop reacting to Mentos candy. The grandest of all, however, was the pyrotechnics show in the lab courtyard. Faculty Peter Pessiki and his students set off a rocket and smokebombs, then set fire to a giant sparkler mandala made in a bicycle wheel.
It was a lot of fun for everyone present, and we’re glad to share the event through these photos.
School children on campus for the Science Carnival search the ivy bed outside the Arts Annex for tiny snails. — Shauna Bittle photo
An Evergreen student holds a diagram of a sheep’s digestive system as he talks about the pre-stomach in Room in the Rumen. — Shauna Bittle photo
Kids get covered with soda as they try to take sips from a fountain made by dropping Mentos candy into pop bottles. — Andrew Jeffers photo
Originally posted by Inside Evergreen
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
Faculty member Jose Gomez
Students in Jose Gomez’s Equality and the Constitution program will give oral arguments relating to six cases before The Evergreen Supreme Court this spring. Although not a public event, we thought alumni would like to know what issues are being critically examined on campus this spring.
The Court will hear oral arguments in the following six cases. Each case involves controversies that implicate equality, primarily equal protection under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. These are real cases recently decided by various circuits of the United States Courts of Appeals and one state supreme court. Three of the cases (two involving same-sex marriage and one involving affirmative action in higher education) were argued before the United States Supreme Court earlier this year, and decisions from that court are expected any day now.
1. Case No. S2013-05: United States and BLAG v. Edith Windsor, on a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – 9:40 to 10:40 a.m. Issue: Whether the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines the term “marriage” under federal law as a “legal union between one man and one woman” deprives same-sex couples who are legally married under state laws of their Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection under federal law.
2. Case No. S2013-04: Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Issue: Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment permits the consideration of race in undergraduate admissions decisions.
3. Case No. S2013-02: City of Arlington v. Frame, on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – 12:20 to 1:20 p.m. Issue: Whether Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. (and their implied private right of action) extend to newly built and altered public sidewalks.
4. Case No. S2013-06: Hollingsworth v. Perry, on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – 9:40 to 10:40 a.m. Issue: Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state of California from defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
5. Case No. S2013-01: State of Iowa v. Mootz, on a writ of certiorari to the Iowa Supreme Court – 11:00 a.m. to 12:0 p.m. Issue: Whether a state district court erred when it denied a defendant a peremptory challenge during the jury selection process on the basis that he was using the strike to engage in purposeful racial discrimination.
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.
Allecia Clemons ’02 launching new album with the help of Kickstarter crowd sourcing site
From classic, hard times ballads to culture targeted comedy, Allecia Clemons ’02 sings of modern life and shared experience. Read more in the West Seattle Herald/White Center News.
Article except: Clemons, a youthful 43, and a graduate of West Seattle High School and Evergreen State College, now lives in Burien. She has begun a fundraising campaign on KICKSTARTER for the cost of producing her comedy CD. It’s title, “what’s for lunch”, is a whimsical song she sang about food items with residents at the now-closed Life Care Center of West Seattle where she was activities director in 2011 & ’12.
Any other alumni using crowd sourcing sites to fund projects? Share your dreams with the Greener community by posting comments in The Evergreen Mind.
Evergreen Faculty Member, historian, and author Stephanie Coontz – internationally respected expert on contemporary family issues
Par Stephanie Coontz
Il est toujours séduisant de savoir où l’on se situe par rapport à la moyenne. La première fois que j’ai reçu un résultat en dessous de la moyenne à un examen, alors que j’étais une étudiante de première année très sûre d’elle-même, fut un avertissement nécessaire. Je trouve actuellement encourageant d’apprendre que je fais de l’exercice plus que les autres femmes de mon âge.
The Evergreen State College has been planning a June 1 learning and celebration event for alumni and the community called Return to Evergreen. The College announced today that the event has been postponed until fall 2013.
“Return to Evergreen gives alumni and other participants a chance to engage with each other, the College and current students, share their experiences, expertise and successes and enjoy a day on campus,” explained Evergreen spokesperson Todd Sprague. “Unfortunately, representatives of the Student Support Services Exempt Staff bargaining unit, with whom the college is currently negotiating a first contract, and supporters of the Washington Federation of State Employees have communicated plans to engage in labor actions related to and/or during the planned event.
“It’s our sense that the uncertainties caused by these union communications and potential actions could pose challenges for both staffing and seminar participation that could negatively impact the event experience for participants. Because the college does not want alumni or other guests to travel to campus with the intent of participating, only to have those plans obstructed by the union, the event is being postponed until fall 2013.
“While registrants will be contacted directly, some elements of the event were open to the general public and we want people to know that it has been postponed.”
Sprague noted that the college’s annual Science Carnival – showcasing the work of Evergreen science students and bringing youngsters and other visitors from around the region to share in science presentations and activities – will continue on May 31 and June 1 as scheduled. For more information on the Science Carnival, visit www.evergreen.edu/sciencecarnival/.
