Category Archives: Uncategorized

January 31, 2012 · 7:43 pm

Human Hair, Pink Plastic Twist Ties, and Wax

Author: Lisa Marie Patzer

What could human hair, pink plastic twist ties, and wax have in common? They are all considered essential materials for fiber art by contemporary artists featured in the exhibition “In Material, Fiber 2012” at the University of Pennsylvania, Arthur Ross Gallery.

Arthur Ross Gallery

Arthur Ross Gallery

Lucy Arai, Sonya Clark, Mi-Kyoung Lee, and Cynthia Schira, the four artists in the show, use innovation, imagination, and unexpected materials to weave their personal approach in fiber arts from this long-standing traditional art form.  The work I was most impressed with was Mi_Kyoung Lee’s pink wall tapestry.

Mi-Kyoung Lee Untitled, 2011 and Untitled 2012

Positioned behind the bright yellow sculpture (also by Lee), I immediately walked over to investigate the wall piece more closely.  I was surprised to find that this enormous, bright pink weaving was made of common plastic twist-ties; the thin strands of wire and plastic used by shoppers to keep their produce in the bag.  The utilitarian object had been transformed into a material for artistic expression and inspiration.

Juxtaposed to Lee’s large untitled works she has several small, discrete, wax on paper pieces.

Untitled, 2011 by Mi-Kyoung Lee

Untitled, 2011 by Mi-Kyoung Lee

The other work in the show includes two large wall sculptures made out of black plastic combs and several small pieces made of woven human hair by Sonya Clark.  In her artist statement, Clark says she is guided by two questions, “What is fiber art?” and “How does function fit into the notion of her contemporary art practice?” She answers these questions through an investigation of hairdressing, what she considers a primordial form of fiber art; the comb the essential tool of this fiber art, “from hair salon to loom.”

But don’t take my word for it. Go investigate the exhibit for yourself. The show is up until March 25th, with a gallery talk by artists Lucy Arai and Mi-Kyoung Lee on Saturday, March 3, 10:30 AM in conjunction with the Fiber Philadelphia 2012 opening weekend.

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Filed under Fine Art, Lisa Marie Patzer, The Arts, The Arts at Penn, Uncategorized

January 26, 2012 · 6:24 pm

Memories of Penn

Author: Wanchee Wang, C’83

My recent visit to Penn’s campus was on a beautiful, early spring day.  The lovely weather brought the students outside in full force and they thronged Locust Walk.  Tables were set up along on the Walk and students were loudly hawking tickets to dances, shows, and other campus happenings.  The atmosphere felt festive.  Maybe it was the bright sunshine but the buildings seemed spiffier than I remembered.  The student tour guide took us into Huntsman Hall, the new (at least to me, I associate Wharton undergraduate with Dietrich Hall) home of the Wharton undergraduate school.

It wasn’t until later that I realized its benefactor, Jon M. Huntsman, was the father of the former Republican presidential candidate and ambassador to China, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.  The building inside is gorgeous, with polished wood interiors and state-of-the-art teaching equipment.  The place hummed with energy; as our tour group passed through the lobby, I could see students engaged in earnest discussion, meeting in the small conference rooms, or just studying.

At the admissions information session, I found out about some new things on the academic menu.  An interdisciplinary approach to academics is encouraged so students can take classes in any of the four schools, regardless of which school they are enrolled in.  There are more opportunities than in my day to pursue dual degrees such as international studies and business, management and technology, nursing and health care management, life sciences and management, computers and cognitive science.  This interdisciplinary approach makes a lot of sense in today’s rapidly changing economy.  There are some new majors, like criminology (which used to be part of the sociology department) and computational neuroscience.  Even with changes, some things remain: unusual majors that I remember from thirty years ago, like history and sociology of science, or biological basis of behavior, are still offered.

It is a university that has gotten better with time and a part of me wishes that I could go to Penn again.

Locust Walk, Spring (courtesy of University Communications)

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Campus Life, Memories of Penn, Uncategorized

January 26, 2012 · 10:55 am

The Secret Lives of Penn Alumni: Learning about Passions, Hobbies, and Extracurricular Activities

Author: Michal Clements, W’84

Many in my class have mentioned that they are celebrating their 50th birthdays this year. This milestone birthday inspires me to wonder more about this the untold stories and the “Secret Lives of Penn Alumni.” I’ve noticed that commonly adults will ask about each others work lives (and for some this may be the same as their other interests), but the more interesting question might be their passions, hobbies, and adult “extracurriculars.”

In looking up the Merriam-Webster definition of extracurricular, I see that while the first definition is “pursued in addition to the normal course of study”, the second definition is more relevant: “Outside the normal routine, especially that provided by a job or marriage”.  It’s interesting to think how much attention these passion point activities receive in high school and college, and how they seemingly subside during the young adult years (i.e., twenty and thirty year old age range), and then resume in later years.

This line of consideration was stimulated for me by learning about the “secret life” of another Chicago area Penn alumni recently. As background, our family has been spending a lot of time the past few years attending high school theater performances, as our oldest child, Chris Porzenheim, has chosen to make drama his extracurricular passion. Because of this, we’ve chatted a bit more with the other parents whose children are also performing. It turns out that our Chris frequently performs with Mitchell Stone. And, that Mitchell is the son of Matt Stone (CAS’84, W’84). But I still didn’t know about the fact that Matt is an accomplished singer, until I asked for his help to update class notes. From this, I learned that Matt is a singer/songwriter, and his debut CD, Nothing to Hide, can be found at CDBaby.com and on iTunes.

Another example is that Bart Miltenberger, who I know through his “day job” at Penn Alumni, is a professional musician and trumpet player. As summarized by Tim Hyland, music is a huge part of Bart’s life, and is well integrated with his professional life at Penn and personal life as a father of three.

Personally, I’ve spent five years co-writing a book about moms from a customer segmentation and insights perspective. Completing this work has encouraged me to do more writing than my normal business job entails (Powerpoint is not prose). Now, I’m excited to report that the book Tuning into Mom: Understanding America’s Most Powerful Consumer was released on October 15, 2011 and this is causing me to learn about giving inspirational speeches to audiences. Too late, I also realized that an acting class could have been helpful, and got a crash course in media training. For those who are interested, more information on the book can be found at www.tuningintomom.com and the book can be found at Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com and Wal-Mart.com.

I think it would be very interesting to learn more about the passions, hobbies and adult extracurriculars of my fellow Penn alumni. And to encourage one another! In today’s socially networked world with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more, we are not required to be physically together or voice to voice to share this information. While long form essays/blogs may not be the best mechanism, it’s a start.  It would be great to connect with Penn alums who have a shared extracurricular interest area.

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My Family on a Bike Trip this Fall.

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January 25, 2012 · 2:34 pm

Connecting Penn Alumni to Each Other

Author: Nicole Oddo, C’05

January brings a new Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia Board and another year of volunteer leaders planning events connecting local alumni to Penn, Philadelphia, and each other.  As the President of the Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia, I was determined to start the year energized and worked with one of the board members to plan a kick off retreat.  We did a short survey to learn what was most important to our mission and for the future of the club.  While the responses covered a breadth of interests (a wonderful quality for a board), one thing was common. Everyone wanted the club to help them meet other Penn Alumni.  The motivations varied from looking for professional clients, to making new friends, to networking and career exploration, but the end goal was the same, to meet new people.

Penn people love meeting each other and the Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia provides that opportunity. I love how alumni events and volunteering have introduced me to so many of “classmates” whether we were at Penn together or not! Whether you are interested in community service projects, speed networking, the Phillies, or grabbing drinks at a cool venue in the city, we have something for you. Like our next event this Thursday, Ben Franklin’s Birthday at the old Philadelphia establishment, McGillins. Check it out.  I hope to see you there!

P.S. If you are not in Philadelphia, there is a whole Global Alumni Network out there – see where your club is!

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Clubs, Events, GAN, Nicole O., Penn Clubs, Philadelphia, Uncategorized

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January 19, 2012 · 4:44 pm

View Video Related to MyHeartmapChallenge Below…

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January 17, 2012 · 3:21 pm

The Image as Archive; Towards a Third Cinema

Author: Lisa Marie Patzer

As I walked up the ramp to the second floor gallery at the ICA, I immediately recognized the whirring sound of the slide tray advancing and the click of the next slide falling into place.  Growing up in the 1970’s, I am nostalgic for all things celluloid, including 35mm slides.  Imagine my delight when I saw not one, but four slide projectors, sitting side by side in the gallery, dutifully rotating, loading and projecting images at regular intervals.  This is what I would call a little slice of cinephile heaven.

Still from "Sample Frames", 2011, by Alexandra Navratil

The four slide projectors are part of an installation titled Sample Frames, 2011 by Alexandra Navratil (born 1978) and is featured as part of the current exhibit Living Document / Naked Reality:  Towards and Archival Cinema on display at the Institute of Contemporary Art Project Space.

The show is curated by Jennifer Burris, the Whitney-Lauder Curatorial Fellow.  She states about the show, “Living Document / Naked Reality: Towards an Archival Cinema presents works by contemporary artists who explore cinema’s complex political, formal, and ideological history from the 1910s to the 1960s.  Each project engages with the often contradictory responses to the question ‘What is cinema?’  Together, these works—which include video, found object, and slide installation as well as a series of ‘black box’ screenings and events—provoke both critique and nostalgia for the outmoded film technologies and abandoned utopias of a previous era.”

Alexandra Navratil addresses the question “What is cinema?” through synchronized projections of 81 images that were produced by Eastman Kodak Company from 1916 to 1927 as a series of “color guidebooks”.  Kodak produced these slides in an attempt to demonstrate the correct way of tinting black and white slides.  What is fascinating is the way in which the film material has decomposed over the years, negating their original purpose as “pure sample frames”.  Instead, with the viewer sees are four variations of the same exact image, without reference to what the “true” or “correct” image would look like.

Accompanying the Sample Frames installation is an artist book designed by Navratil, Permanence Vocabulary.  On each page, a single term from the “Imagining Materials-Permanence-Vocabulary” manual is printed and defined. For instance, the first word “Abrasion” is printed in dark gray and following the word is the definition.

Permanence Vocabulary, Artist's Book, by Alexandra Navratil

The ICA has several events planned in partnership with the International House, Temple University and Penn, to run concurrent with this show.  See here for more information.

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Filed under Events, Film, Fine Art, Lisa Marie Patzer, The Arts, The Arts at Penn, Uncategorized

Aside

Author: Dan Ber…

Author: Dan Bernick, C’14

Winter break is supposed to be relaxing.  Time off from school and away from campus; time spent with family and friends at your home; time for vacation or movies or shopping.  Winter break is supposed to be relaxing, but then again, I’m a Penn student.

Winter break is for cleaning out your email.  My inbox gets especially full during finals because I “never have time” to actually read and sort email.  Worse yet, it takes a long time to respond to them (sorry if I have not gotten back to you yet).  Once the inbox is clean, it’s worth taking a look at all the folders and label systems I have, deleting useless ones and creating new ones for next semester.

Winter break is for filling out applications.  Programs and clubs and positions all have applications due the first few weeks in January.  The good student has been working diligently all semester on these.  But I tell myself all semester that I will have tons of time over winter break to work on them.  It means writing essays (uh-oh writer’s block), getting letters of recommendation (sorry I forgot to mention its due in a week – thanks!), and trying to make yourself look good on paper (as long as I don’t attach a photo I should be ok).

Winter break is for preparing for next semester.  Classes need to be dropped and changed and dropped again, and I need to quadruple check that all of my courses fulfill at least six different requirements each.  This meticulous search of PenninTouch is not for the faint of heart.  Then I need to work on housing, textbooks, and, of course, finding a summer internship.  Done well, preparation makes the next few months smooth sailing.

But like I said, I’m a Penn student.  I make my to-do list and hide it in a drawer until the last few days of break.  Then (hopefully, fingers crossed, I promise I’ll be better next break), I will take out the list and start getting things done.

Winter break is for relaxing, and for better or worse, that is what I have been doing.

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January 6, 2012 · 3:59 pm
December 29, 2011 · 4:59 pm

Battery-Powered

Author: John Mosley, C’14

Since grade school, the winter break was the most looked forward to event of the school year. For me it meant, no homework, snow days, and, most exciting of all, the holiday season. My parents and my teachers have always referred to this break as a chance to “recharge my batteries”, a phrase which, until very recently, I thought was extraordinarily stupid. I do not run out of energy. I do not require recharging. Even during my break, I always plan to be as active as possible. “Recharging the batteries” was not something that I needed. Until this semester…

Now, I fully recognize the importance of my battery maintenance. I am dead tired and feel like I could collapse at any moment after this most recent round of finals. I may need a change of batteries. “Relaxation” is my keyword this break. The first few days have been a bit hectic, with the last minute holiday shopping and whatnot, but I absolutely cannot describe how good it felt to wake up late this morning and saunter around the house in my pajamas. The couch was such a comfortable fortress from which to drink tea and watch CNN. I can even read a novel of my choosing on my own time! Also, with growing older and maturing, I have come to view the holidays not as a gift machine, but as a time to enjoy the company of my family and friends.

The more exciting development in the last couple of weeks is that I am wrapping up the celebration of my very first Hanukkah with my girlfriend’s family. It really has been a great experience to spend time with both families on two different holiday celebrations. I even got to learn the Hanukkah prayer, so I guess I know can add Hebrew to my list of (semi) learned languages.

While my batteries are on full recharge mode, I greatly look forward to the next semester. It may just be the nerd in me, but I love the feeling of starting 5 brand new classes every few months. I feel it about 2 weeks before every new semester. New instructors, new and interesting subject matter, and, overall, 5 brand new experiences to carry with me through life. Of course, by the end of February, I will be sick to death of most of these classes and the stress involved, but, for now I will hold onto this warm and optimistic feeling. Of course, I will very much miss Sweeten Alumni House during this break!!! Happy Holidays!

 

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December 21, 2011 · 11:55 am

Penn Year in Review

Top 11 Moments for Diversity at PENN in 2011

-Cecilia Ramirez C’05 SPP ’10

This has been a big year for diversity and multiculturalism at Penn. In honor of the New Year that is upon us, I decided to do a little “Year in Review ” of my own.

Here are eleven of my preferred moments of 2011 at Penn:

#11.  La Casa Latina Receives Biggest Donation- La Casa Latina: The Center for Hispanic Excellence receives a $20,000 donation. This was a big deal this year because this became the center’s largest donation in history. The generous contribution was made my alumna, Ruth Colp-Haber, C’81, WG’85, and will help strengthen student programming, and hopefully provide more events featuring delicious Latin food!  🙂

Denzel Washington at Penn's Commencement 2011

#10.  Denzel Washington Comes to Penn- So maybe this didn’t do anything for multiculturalism at Penn per se, but I sure was excited to see one of my favorite actors be selected as Penn’s Commencement speaker- Denzel Washington- a talented, inspirational, and accomplished actor and philanthropist, who happens to be a black man- bonus!

UPAAN Celebrates a Decade

#9.  Asian Alumni Network Celebrates a Decade- The University of Pennsylvania Asian Alumni Network (UPAAN) celebrated its tenth anniversary this past Homecoming. The celebration featured their 7th annual mentoring exchange and a delicious luncheon that welcomed student, alumni, staff, and faculty from across the years.


#8.  Makuu (Also) Celebrates a Decade – Makuu Black Cultural Center, one of my favorite places on campus, also celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2011. Their elegant evening celebration featured speakers, performances, and remarks from Dr. Amy Gutmann.


#7.  The ARCH Receives $15M- The Arts, Research and Culture House (ARCH), home to the Asian, Black, and Latino cultural resource centers on campus, received its largest donation in history as well- 15 million buckaroos! The donation will be used to renovate the entire building, providing the cultural resource centers with state-of-the-art offices and upgraded meeting space- and an elevator! Yup, an elevator 🙂 Renovations begin in the summer of 2012.


#6.  LGBT Colors Project Launches- The first issue of LGBT Colors Project, Penn’s first student publication targeting queer students of color, was launched at Penn in December. The ground-breaking magazine publishes articles, essays, poems, fiction, and interviews to provide visibility and support to the diverse and talented queer student community at Penn. Awesome!


#5.  Two Students of Color Win Marshall Scholarships- Kristin Hall W’ 11 C’11 and G.J. Melendez-Torres NU’11 W’11 were each awarded the prestigious scholarship to study at the world-renown University of Oxford in the UK. What a fantastic accomplishment!


#4.  Penn Spectrum hits the road! In 2010, Penn hosted its first alumni conference focusing on the Asian, Black, Latino, LGBT and Native alumni populations—Penn Spectrum. This successful conference took to the road last spring, starting in the Big Apple, then DC, and Atlanta; next stops include Miami, LA and Puerto Rico! Hundreds of diverse alumni from across the nation are coming out in support of this traveling series. Looks like the Spectrum Conference of 2013 at Penn will be even bigger!


#3.  Penn Unites Against Racism- More than 200 students and faculty, including Amy Gutmann, united against racism in a silent circle outside of College Hall this spring. The “We Belong” protest was in response to a DP article written about one man’s experiences with racism on campus. The sobering accounts called anti-racism allies to action and led to a victorious display of solidarity and advocacy at Penn.


#2.  Homecoming Toasts to 40Years of Black History- The Center for Africana Studies (CFAS) – originally Afro-American Studies and the University’s first program dedicated to studies of the African diaspora- celebrated its 40th anniversary during Homecoming! CFAS had a jam-packed day of events that honored this milestone in Black History at Penn and attracted hundreds of alumni to join the celebration. Cheers!


#1.  Faculty Diversity Plan Unveiled- Penn released a $100-million Action Plan for Faculty Diversity and Excellence this summer to diversify the university’s faculty. A few weeks ago, this historic plan also received $2M for the Presidential Term Professorships, an integral part of the plan that will support up to ten professorships.  This was a huge step for diversity at Penn and definitely my #1 moment at Penn in 2011!

What do you think of the top 11 moments? What was your favorite moment of 2011?

Can’t wait to see what 2012 holds for Penn.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, QUAKERS!

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Filed under Cecilia R., Commencement, Events, Homecoming Weekend featuring arts and culture, Memories of Penn, Multicultural Outreach, Review, Uncategorized

December 13, 2011 · 9:05 pm

Food Justice

Author: Lisa Marie Patzer

For Thanksgiving, I made my annual trek back to Colorado to visit family and friends.  This is one of my favorite holidays because my brother-in-law, a bona fide “foodie,” makes the Thanksgiving meal a true event.  This year, he made hand braised bananas, mushroom stuffed onions, organic turkey, two different kinds of homemade cranberries, pecan, walnut and apple pie; the list of food goes on and on.

Braised Bananas

And he is very particular about the ingredients, making sure everything is fresh, locally grown and when possible, organic.  My two nieces and nephew are developing not only a refined palette for well-prepared food; they are learning the importance of food selection and preparation.  Maggie, my 13-year-old niece, illustrated her awareness of food politics when she labeled the recent legislation passed by congress making pizza a vegetable “doublespeak.”

This family education about food is somewhat atypical, especially in neighborhoods where access to affordable, locally grown, organic food is limited.  Three representatives from the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI), a program of University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, recently spoke about the issue of Food Justice on The Green Hour, a radio program about health and environment.

Kristin Schwab, Youth Development Director, Matthew Johnson (19), Youth leader and alumnus, and Tiara Parker (16), Nutrition Educator, spoke about the Youth Development Program at UNI.  Matthew, now an alumnus of the Youth Development Program, first joined UNI as part of a gardening crew.  The gardening crew learns how to grow fruits and vegetables, harvest what they grow and teach others about urban gardening.  Tiara, currently a member of the cooking crew at University High School, interns as a nutrition educator, teaching healthy habits and inspiring people to get excited about cooking.  Tiara explained the Think AHEAD model. The acronym reminds people to choose foods which are affordable, healthy, easy, accessible, and delicious.

Based in West Philadelphia at W.L. Sayre and University City High Schools, the UNI Youth Development program provides paid internships to approximately 60 high school students during the school year and 100 students during the summer. UNI empowers teen interns to explore and identify solutions to the problem of urban American health disparities via their placement in either peer nutrition education or urban agriculture work sites.

By teaching healthy cooking classes, tending school gardens, and operating local farmer’s markets, UNI interns enrich their local neighborhoods, increase access to healthy food, and improve community and school health while building their leadership capacity and developing academic and job-related skills.

Additionally, interns involved in UNI’s Youth Development program play a lead role in advancing youth-led solutions to improving community food systems through participation in multiple regional and national networks and conferences.

In July of 2011, Matthew attended “Rooted in Community,” a 4 day conference of young people from various organizations.  Ty Holmberg, Bartram’s community Farm and Food Resource Center Director for UNI, helped organize the event.  He was quoted as describing the event as, “it’s a summit of youth from around the nation that have come to fight for food justice and have come as a network of young people to really change their food systems.  Not just in their community but nationally.”  One of the outcomes of the conference was the Youth Food Bill of Rights.

Youth Food Bill of Rights

As I prepare for my next holiday meal, I am going to use the UNI Think AHEAD Model to inspire my food choices.

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Filed under Food Fiends, Lisa Marie Patzer, Philadelphia, Sustainability at Penn, Uncategorized, Volunteering