Week FourSpring 20 April 2009

SectionsA. Inside the BubbleB. Outside of the BubbleC. Op-EdD. Events

On Saturday April 18th attendants of COA’s annual Earth Day extravaganza were asked to consider this question. That day they were supporting local business-es, buying used books and other knick-knacks and listening to the Big Moose Band on the Red Bricks. The event saw lots sunshine and smiles. For the kids there was story time and arts and crafts from recycled materials, all while learn-ing about how they can best help the plan-et. For the graduates of story time there were panel discussions on sustainability, outdoor education, green business, green energy and what to consider when buy-ing and selling food. Ben Cowie-Haskell a COA graduate of 1984 was the speaker of the day. Cowie-Haskell is the super-intendent of Stellwagen Bank National

Marine Sanctuary, New England’s only national marine sanctuary. Overall the day was a success and everyone placed their trash in the proper receptacle.

Annual Earth Day Shines

Thorndike Used Book Sale

Photos Courtesy of Rebecca Woods

Complimentary Bike Cleaning and Tune-Ups

E. Wellness CornerG. Arts & LiteratureH. The Docket

Island Community Members Mingle with Students

A1Inside the BubbleCommencement Speaker Announced-David HalesIt gives me the greatest pleasure to confirm that Dr. Steven K. Katona has accepted the invitation of the Class of 2009 to give the Commencement Address at our ceremonies on June 6, 2009. Steve was President of COA when the class of 2009 entered. He has a lifetime of accomplishments as a scholar, administrator and environmentalist, and it was in recognition of his reputation nationally and internationally that the graduates selected him for this key role in the 2009 Ceremony.

Many of you are well acquainted with Steve, and have benefitted from his leadership and example. Nevertheless, a summary biography is below.

I know you will join me in welcoming him to Commencement 2009 in this very special role.

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Steven K. Katona, PhD, was one of College of the Atlantic’s four founding faculty members. He taught courses in marine biology, evolution and ecology at the college from 1972 until 1993, when he became the college’s fourth president, serving until 2006. In 1972, Katona also founded Allied Whale, College of the Atlantic’s marine mam-mal research group.

Since retiring from COA, Katona has become associated with the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massa-chusetts, where he is an adjunct senior scientist consulting on several projects, including a scientific overview of climate change and the marine environment and the effects of climate change on marine fisheries. He has also been active in exploring ways of communicating climate change to aquarium audiences. With Greg Stone ‘83, and an international team of marine scientists, he’s also heading a project sponsored by the aquarium, Conservation International and the National Geographic Society to develop an Ocean Health Index that evaluates how the ocean is responding to human activities, including conservation actions.

Additionally, Katona is working on developing research and demonstration programs that advance the use of re-newable energy, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles and “smart” vehicle-to-grid power systems for Maine and New England.

Under Katona, COA made sustainability a central focus, initiating the green design of what ultimately became the Kathryn W. Davis Student Residence Village, creating a zero-waste graduation and emphasizing the importance of renewable energy for all the college’s electricity. The college also expanded its reach, both internationally and locally, adding Beech Hill Farm and the Edward McC. Blair Marine Research Station on Mount Desert Rock and the Alice Eno Field Research Station on Great Duck Island, and bringing in the Davis Scholars from the United World College system.

Steven K. Katona was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He received a BA in 1965 and a PhD in 1971, from Harvard Uni-versity, both in biology. His dissertation on the ecology of marine zooplankton provided the first demonstration that chemical pheromones regulated the reproductive behavior of copepods. While at Harvard, Katona received a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Southampton, England.

As a research scientist Katona was instrumental in discovering that markings on the tails of humpback whales and the fins of finbacks are individualized. By keeping a photographic document of the tails and fins of these whales, scientists can now study the behavior, social groupings and migration patterns of individual whales.

Katona is married to painter and arts curator Susan Lerner, who also served on the faculty at College of the Atlan-tic, teaching literature, the arts and women’s studies. They have twin sons, David, Bates College ‘02 and Nicholas, Wesleyan University ‘03.

Edge of Eden

The deadline for submitting to the art and literary magazine Edge of Eden is April 22. This is an annual publi-cation showcasing the talents of current COA students, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to publish your best works.

Please email submissions or clarifying questions to Alicia Hynes (ahynes@coa.edu)

A2Glass Blowing Offered at COA- Linda Perrin

Stephen Byrne and Linda GreccoPhoto Courtesy: Linda Perrin

Life Drawing StudioThe long awaited life drawing sessions are finally hap-pening!

-Real live model and drawing benches/easels provided-Bring your own materials (though word on the street is that there is some spare charcoal floating around the studio)Every Wednesday, 7-9 pm, in Studio 3

Email Julie Olbrantz if you have further questionsFor a senior project, one student invented robots which will walk through walls and incessantly pinch students who don’t do their dorm chores or attend house din-ners.

Another senior invented a TAB-dishware detector which will scan the campus daily, gather stolen crock-ery and cutlery, and wield dead fish against people caught hoarding it.

Rumor: There are no hippies at COA.

The herpetology class built a shrine to Anura the frog goddess and Urodel the salamander god, where they have been seen praying for divine memory-jogging during next week’s lab practical.

News in Brief- Sasha Paris

“There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman.” --Courtesy of Emile Zola

A new course is being offered to the college this term. Joining 2D Drawing, Intro to Arts and Design, and Pottery is: Intro-duction to Glassblowing. Ten brave souls are trying their hands, mouths and lungs at the ancient art. The class is taught by Linda Perrin, a local glass artist. Perrin started her own studio with the help of her hus-band Ken, over a decade ago in the village of Hulls Cove on MDI.As demand for their work increased and the realization of creating a public access glassblowing studio became possible, the couple moved the glass blowing studio, furnace and all, to a large warehouse space in the old part of downtown Ells-worth.It is here that the beginning glass blowers of COA meet once a week, learning how to create functional and expressive objects out of mol-ten glass. It is with great pleasure that the Perrins share their techni-cal, historic, creative and entrepreneurial lessons of a lifestyle made from blowing bubbles. For weekly up-dates on the adventures and progress of this class visit: www.atlanticartglass.blogspot.com, where the motto is “Don’t Suck”, and the poet and craftsmen inside each of these courageous students will have this unique op-portunity to shine.

B1Outside the Bubblewww.academicearth.org -- This website includes thousands of video lectures from top scholars around the world. Interested in learning something new, or hearing more about your favorite subject, this site is a great resource.

www.americanrhetoric.com --Database of and index to 5000+ full text, audio and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events. American Rhetoric is an excellent source for pulling direct quotes from recent political speeches.

http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php -- This website is an incredible resource for those interested in ac-cents and impersonations. It is a database of people from all over the world reading the same paragraph. Most recordings also have a text translation into the International Phonetic Alphabet.

For those seeking some mental stimulation, Alice Anderson (Off The Wall co.Editor) endorses the following sites

Op-Ed C1

Slumdog Millionaire is a precocious movie. It promises much -- the kinda rehashed underdog story; a let’s just say new location; previously unprecedented amounts of insiderly knowledge; an epic class-climb out of pov-erty; advances in storytelling with new improved, non- linear plots; a fresh, non-formulaic look at the East. Ben Kingsley didn’t receive his fateful call from Dan-ny Boyle -- instead, real, live Indian actors were cast. Promising, no?

“It was well-made and heart-warming!”For starters, the movie’s narrative is inept. It turns the dodgy processes that lead us to know what we know into an entirely explainable, crystalline set of incidents. An unexplored religious riot, regular encounters with death, clueless American tourists, angry schoolteachers: the movie’s writers take dramatic license an alarming number of times with an alarming number of things. The artistic license is not just restricted to the story, the camera has an unnerving way of focusing on crowds. It insists on gleefully dragging itself around the train sta-tion as it were the most captivating thing in the world. I’ve never wanted to communicate such a profound feeling of “been there, done that” to the camerawork of a movie. The illustrious Lonely Planet school of cin-ematography had me in an elongated ocular stupor.

The movie has a rather blatant yearning to be consid-ered “well-made” and win awards. Its makers are far too precocious not to include racy camerawork, an elaborate plot that creates all kinds of tensions and an oh-so-likable hero. However, Boyle upping the raci-ness and stylistic prowess of the film should be cause for worry -- surely it heightens the risk of entrapment by the movie’s beating-all-odds fuzziness. This fuzzi-ness comes from a deceitful place. The movie has a less than flattering relationship with, err, accuracy and fact. It supports an enormous socio-economic untruth: that making one’s way out of slum is a matter of serendipi-tous encounters with gameshows, guns, riots and hap-less tourists.

“It addresses poverty”My objection is not that is depicts poverty -- I have no wish to hide from the (no doubt discerning) eyes of the West that such crippling poverty exists. Yet the movie trivializes it; poverty is just another backdrop like a pretty mountain or the world of horse racing. No thought is spared for any systemic causes of poverty and no acknowledgment is made of its own complicity in the oligopolies of the movie studio system that deal in billions of dollars. In short, the American Dream has finally been outsourced. In these times of recession and financial collapse, who will believe that the underdog story is still possible in the West? New backdrops, new possibilities: happy cash registers.

“It’s just fantasy, it doesn’t have to be realistic”For all its precocious intent, the movie smacks of a se-

Outsourcing the American Dream- Poorva Rajaram

lective, deliberately unheeding ignorance. Not a fantasy. To be sure, the plot and the claims made by the movie are fantastic -- fantastically untrue, that is. Rather, it co-opts the motifs of realism. The movie’s fast-paced edit-ing, Dutch angles and jump-cuts combined with the setting give rise to gritty, graphic imagery are very much the antithesis to filmic fantasy. Boyle’s glossy “realism” steps close to picking up on something remotely accu-rate in the texture of life in Mumbai -- but its concerns stop there. More egregiously still, it possesses a hollow triumphant chauvinism that lauds its myopia as somehow path-breaking.

I suppose it’s best to let sleeping slumdogs lie.

Seen any good movies lately? Fallen asleep in the the-aters and felt jipped of six bucks? Tell Off The Wall your opinions on recent movies, and enlighten your peers. At any rate, incite a debate! (we love debates)

Any thoughts, opinions, editorials, critiques, and reviews can be sent to offthewall@coa.edu

D1Events‘Nature of Poland’ at the Blum- Donna GoldThe Blum Gallery continues its spring series of shows by seniors with the Nature of Poland, featuring photos by Matt McInnis and ethnography by Mike Kersula. The exhibit explores Poland as a country of contrasting environments, from moss-covered old growth forests to smoggy industrial wastelands. It runs from April 27 to May 9 with an opening Wednesday, April 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The exhibit came about following the an-nual United Nations conference on cli-mate change hosted by Poland last De-cember. Kersula and McInnis attended the meetings-but with more than the trea-ty process on their minds. They wanted to understand how people of a post-socialist society connect to nature.

Kersula, of Bellows Falls, VT, worked on ethnography at COA. Having studied in Poland in high school and college, he is fluent in Polish. McInnis, of Portland, ME, took a more objective eye, looking for the aesthetic moments that would frame the contemporary Polish sense of nature.

The combination of the pair was a powerful one. Dur-ing their ten-week sojourn, they sometimes waited hours for the proper conjunction of light and setting, while also spending days speaking to various individu-als. Says Kersula, “sometimes people were quite amused with our questions, like ‘What does nature mean in Polish?’ It’s not a question people usually ask.”

But such questions led to some fascinat-ing discussions-and striking photographs. The two talk about their time with Ja-nusz Korbel, a journalist-turned-activ-ist. Speaking about the forest, Korbel re-called to Kersula the story of an engineer, “a developer destroying nature. He starts to cry and says that he remembers from his childhood a beautiful river. And now, this river looks like a wide road, you know, it’s completely destroyed, and he starts to cry. So it shows very clearly that if we feel some connection with nature, it has value for us. Then we can protect it.”

The exhibit contains large photos, of up to 24 by 30 inches, and interview excerpts and translations. To see more of McInnis’ images, visit www.mattmcinnis.com.

JANUSZ KORBEL: Self-proclaimed radical environ-mentalist Janusz Korbel has fought for years to expand the Bialowieza National Park.

SILESIA: Abandoned coal mines and steel factories are a common view on the train ride through the industrial

D2‘On a Phantom Limb’ Maine Premeire at COA- Donna GoldBirds and cyborgs will splash across the movie screen at College of the Atlantic’s Gates Community Center on Tuesday, April 28, when Nancy Andrews offers the Maine premier of her latest film, “On a Phantom Limb.” The film, partially funded by her Guggenheim Fellowship, is an exploration of the postmodern condi-tion through the metaphor of a bird-woman.

The evening, which begins at 7:30 p.m., also includes performances by COA’s visiting artist Laure Drogoul, accompanied by COA faculty member in music, John Cooper.

Andrews, faculty member in video and performance art at COA, creates films that are collage-like narra-tives composed of drawings, animation, puppetry and live action. In this one, Andrews tips her hat to the influences of Edgar Allen Poe’s canon, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, and other explorations of the relation-ship between nature, science and the mystical.

Andrews has been making films for more than 20 years. Her films are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Flaxman Film Collection of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She recently completed a trilogy composed of “Monkeys and Lumps,” “The Haunted Camera” and “The Dreamless Sleep.”

Drogoul, who will also be performing during the evening, holds an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has performed throughout the East Coast and exhibited at Delaware Art Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, Cleveland Performance Art Festival and P.S. 122 in New York City. She cre-ates multi-disciplinary performances, music, film and dance and works in a wide range of visual media including large-scale sculpture and installation. She currently resides in Baltimore. The Maryland Institute College of Art recently presented a major solo show of her sculptures, interactive works and performances.

The Tuesday, April 28, Maine premier show-ing of “On a Phantom Limb” begins at 7:30 in Gates Center. It is not intended for children.

Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 26

A multimedia exhibit of alumni working in painting, sculpture, installation, photography, animation and more, curated by Xander Karkruff ‘06. Image is Fire, a book by George Bennington.

Third Annual Alumni Art Show

D3Trustees Invade Campus- information provided by Anna Murphy

Thursday, April 23, 2009

9:00 – 10:30 a.m.Finance Committe, President’s Office Will Thorndike, Chair Friday, April 24, 2009

8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Investment Committee, Straus RoomDan Pierce, Chair

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Academic Policy Committee, Straus Room Nina Moriarty, Co-chair

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch, Great Hall

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Development Committee, Straus Room

2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Committee on Student Life, Straus RoomCasey Mallinckrodt, Co-chair

Saturday, April 25, 2009

8:00 a.m. Gates Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Call to orderApproval of the minutes of the February 7 board meet-ing Approval of degree candidate Approval of resolutions Chair’s remarks

President’s report ACM Report Alumni Association Report

9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. College of the Atlantic Program Developments and DiscussionTrans-Atlantic Agriculture PartnershipGreen Business Incubator

10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Break

10:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Watson Fellowship Presentation

10:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Committee Reports:a) Development Committee1. Annual Fund2. Capital Campaign Schedule and Organization 3. Planned Giving Update b) Academic Policy Committeec) Investment Committeed) Finance Committeee) Committee on Student Lifef.) Council of Advisors Ad Hoc Committeeg.) Whale Museum Ad Hoc Committee 11:30 a.m. Executive Session

Board of Trustees next meeting: Friday, June 5 Commencement on Saturday, June 6, 2009

Wellness Corner E1

OPEN FOR BUSINESS – NO, we have no bananas!- Jonathan AppleyardI want to try something different this term. Rather than only meeting with students and staff who have made appointments starting on Thursday April 30th, I will also hold open door hours from 1-4 pm in the Wellness Center.

If you are interested in reflecting on your life, seeking deeper awareness of yourself, exploring relationships, come on by. Come with friends. All are welcome. No need to plan ahead, the door will be open except when it is shut.

If someone makes an appointment, the door will be shut for that time.

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I was raised in a New England town and spent many hours exploring Connecticut’s rivers and fields and playing every kind of game. In high school and col-lege, disheartened by the United States war in Viet Nam and the environmental crisis and the church’s apparent acquiescence, I ventured from my parents’ religious tradition in the Episcopal Church. Over time I studied and practiced Zen Buddhism, Hinduism and Buddhism, including study in India. Today I call myself a Bud-dhist Christian who practices contemplative prayer and Yoga.

Where Am I Coming From?- Jonathan Appleyard“Cheeky little bastard,” I thought, smiling. A lot like I was when I was 12, and increasingly like I am at 59. David had asked his father if I really thought the tasty, gluten-free crackers could pass as Holy Communion. “Is he for real?” It’s an interesting question. I am more curious to explore the question than I am to answer it.

That is why I jumped at the chance to be at COA. I seek out people who ask questions, laugh at assumptions, question answers, and prefer dialogue to agreement. As my mother used to say, “That Jonathan, for every solu-tion, he has a problem.”

I am at COA as a pastoral counselor, but that is not who I am. Titles make it easy to pigeonhole a person, to pin her or him down as known quantity, to fix an infinite mystery to a specific place and time. Most of us drawn to COA seek a community in which we are known and accepted as the unique individual we are, each of our names is important, and our lives are connected and shaped by an intricate web of relationships. And even more, I believe we seek to be an integral, particular, and peculiar part of one, vast intimate whole.

I don’t believe in institutional religion and I am not hear to talk about religion. Since my life is not shaped by a series of dogmatic statements, I don’t figure that yours is either. The deep questions of life are not settled by belief. It is our deepest beliefs that raise the questions,questions that wake us up and challenge our assump-tions, societal norms and habitual reactions.

Life provides me with endless chances to let go of what I know and consider something more. That is what makes getting to know other people so exciting. There is so much more to life and living than what we can discover on our own. I believe that when we share our particular experiences, our individual feelings, respons-es and reflections, we discover a voice that is deeply rooted. We participate in creating an authentic voice, a singular voice that is ours alone.

This is not easy work. I don’t know why, but we trip ourselves up. Sometimes we pursue questions that lead to dead ends. Along well-worn paths we get turned around. We second-guess ourselves ‘til we are dizzy. How curious we are.

None of us can tell another how to live, but all of us are capable of listening with compassion. That holy act can make all the difference. “Am I for real? What is holy communion?” How do we connect authentically with one another? I am in Health Center on Thursday after-noon and at jonathanappleyard@gmail.com.

Arts & Literature G1

Acadia- Lucy Atkins1.Evening atA vernal poolMy boots leakBut there!We lookTwo spotted salamanders intertwining in the leaf litterOne scoop with the net and one is alive in my palmssmooth skin, wide grinning mouthour eyes light up, smiling back at the fat amphibian

2. I have spent all week less than ten feet away from another personNow a ten minute bike ride and twenty minute climbit is just me and the pineswhich kind? oh yes count the needles—three strikes and you’re out—pitch pinesJust these stunted treesbarely taller than meand rocks lichensand blueberriesharmless tongues of fire painting horizontal bands across the mountainsI love the fall

I must admit I’m still thinking about my looming essayand the laundry soap I need to pick up on the way homebut don’t let me take this for grantedit’s nice to be here finallyalonewith space

3. Someone said that maybe views have a greater impression upon some of usmaybe even change our livesI stood atop the Bubblemy first day in Acadiasweating in the sunhands smelling tangy from the metal laddersIt seemedmy sister and I spent more time maneuvering arounddainty Japanese tourists packs of overweight and whining children (sunburned)and couples (the patient woman encourages her pudgy boyfriend/husband

––white running shoes with socks pulled up to his knees)There were a few like mewho I determined by their Chacos and polypropylene shirts but even they were overdoing it (who needs hiking poles for a stroll like this always in sight of the parking lot)So in general I avoided eye contactand focused on the sparkling seaspread before medotted with little white boats and emerald islands and I can’t describe the feeling because I’m sitting here typing this (my legs are falling asleep)but put me back on that mountain or any mountain with a viewand I’m gone.

When I snapped out of my reverie I became aware of the tourists chattering away fussing with their white gloves adjusting their sunglasses They aren’t looking at the sky the sea the mountains

I’ll try to use wordsso you can understand(but I hope you’ve experienced it yourself)When I’m on top of a mountainI’m at the center of a circleand the very space I take up grows until it fills the entire circleI’m infinite

4. I take my friends to Acadia when they visit me from the cityTalk like I do this every dayWhen really its only once in a weekend(and that’s if I’m lucky).What do these “Islanders” do?Normal—people—thingslose their keyscheer at their kid’s swim meetroast a chicken for dinnerDoes Acadia belong to the weathered red handsthe glowing apples in TABor those who sport crisp pastel t-shirts bought in town fortwenty-nine ninety-nine each?

5.This Sheridan Steele guySuddenly what he thinks feels wants lovesmattersa lot

Working Guidelines of Off the Wall, adopted by Publications Committee, Fall 2008 - Off the Wall is a community-wide publication that seeks within the broadest possible limits to express the complete spectrum of thought at the college. Although Off the Wall is the publication to list governance infor-mation, it does not reflect an official voice of any segment of the college population and relies on community input to achieve a well rounded voice.- Off the Wall prefers signed submission. Contributors may request their name be withheld from the publication or that a pseudonym be used, but this is done at the editor’s discretion. The editor is responsible to review mate-rial submitted and make decisions regarding the appropriateness of content. The editor is responsible for the content of unsigned material that is printed.- Off the Wall has a faculty or staff advisor who is responsible for assisting the editor in making decisions about questionable material. The advisor should have knowledge of Off the Wall and the concerns surrounding its publication. The editor must submit the name of the advisor to Publications and Communications Committee before publication of the first issue of the term.- The editor has the right to decline to print material on the grounds of excessive length, illegibility, or obvious libelous content. The editor may defer printing matter thought to be harmful to another person, cause liability, or which for any reason should be checked with the Off the Wall advisor.Contributors should bear in mind that Off the Wall should reflect a constructive and respectful approach toward other human beings and a thoughtful restraint on the use of resources.

The Docket H1

Here’s what’s on the docket for future ACM’s:

Week 4: Discussion of the budget planning contingencies (Facilitator TBA) Open forum for ideas on how to economize the current budget, raise money, and keep the college open and operational. If you feel that you have a great new idea on how to help COA survive the economic crisis then PLEASE come and discuss.

Week 5: Board Report—Action items from the Board Meeting, what was discussed. Dialogue on how COA supports language studies (Gray Cox)

Want to be more active in governance at COA, but not sure where to start? There are a multitude of committees you can join (for more information on specifics, please refer to Appendix 1 of the Operating Model in your Stu-dent Handbook pg. 43). The following is a list of the standing committees on which student can (and do) sit on:

Academic Affairs Committee (W- 9:30 Library Seminar Room) Sub Committees: The Educational Studies Committee (W- 3:30 Ed Studies Classroom), The Internation-al Studies Committee (F- 11:00 Davis Seminar Room), The Internship Committee (TBA), The Library Commit-tee ( F-1:00 T1), The Museum Committee (2:30 Museum Classroom), Review and Appeals Board (Tu-2:30 Ed Studies Classroom)

Campus Committee for Sustainability (W- 2:35 Ed Studies Classroom)Campus Planning and Building Committee (W- 9:00 Gates)The Faculty Meeting* (W- 11:00 Gates)The Personnel Committee (W- 10:00 T1)The Publications Committee (W-2:35 Witchcliff reading room)The Steering Committee (W- 4:10 in the library Seminar Room)The Student Life Committee (W-2:35 in the Leadership Center in Deering) Sub Committees: The Food Group (First meeting set for Friday of week 5, listen for more updates), The Student Activities Committee (W-10 TAB)

*faculty meeting is closed to students

Governance What?

A.Anderson A. Eshleman M. ShawCo.Editors