GREAT CLASSES
STIMULATING DISCOURSE
AMAZING TEACHERS
NO HOMEWORK!
Knowledge College 2011
Event Program
February 5th, 2011
Table of Contents
Knowle dge College 2011 Org anize rs .........................................1
Sche dule at a Glance .................................................................... 4
Sem inar Outlines .................................................................................... 5
Altered States: Alcohol and Substance Use and Abuse in Adolescents ...... 5
Building Crosswords: Your Clue to Solving Crosswords ............................ 6
Chinese Herbs: Food as Medicine ............................................................... 6
Embodied Breath Yoga .................................................................................7
Gotham Folk: New York City and the Folk Music Revival ......................... 8
Globe-Trotter Before Graduation:
Everything You Need to Know About High School Study Abroad ............. 9
Hiplife: African Popular Music in the New Millennium ............................. 9
The Lower East Side and East Village from the 1970s: Historical Research
in the Making .............................................................................................. 10
Plato’s Retreat: The Allegory of the Cave, Digitized ................................. 10
Pont Neuf: Tales from Under the Bridge in 18th-Century Paris ................ 11
Transitions and the Turbulent Teen Years: The Psychology of
Adolescence ................................................................................................. 12
The Wrath of Achilles ................................................................................. 13
Support Knowle dge College
2012 ........................................... 14
0
Knowledge College 2011 Organizers
Knowledge College is an annual event that brings inquisitive minds and
brilliant speakers to engage in an afternoon of seminars and workshops
by BHSEC faculty members and special guest
speakers. It is an annual event undertaken by the
Bard High School Early College PTA Executive
Board in cooperation with volunteers from the
School faculty and administration and current
parents.
Jean Chan, Co-chair
Suzanne K. Rauffenbart, Co-chair
Carol Shuchman, Co-chair
1
Thanks to our Volunteers, Patrons,
Supporters, and Benefactors
We thank all our many volunteers who help make this program possible
every year, and all attendees whose participation and enthusiasm keep
us going. We thank all the presenters who
contributed their valuable time and expertise
to Knowledge College. We also thank the
Bard High School Early College faculty and
administration staff for facilitating the
execution of this endeavor. We also thank all
our speakers who took valuable time from
their busy professional life to make this
program possible and to invigorate our minds
with intriguing ideas and concepts.
Susan Yohn
Becky Plattus
Ellen Goosenberg Kent
Anna Rabinowitz
Leslie Frishberg
Sherri Levine
David C. Collins
Maureen Marlow
Dustin Pittman
Julia Warr
Lidia Kunin
Maureen Van Bloem
Shaheen Rushd
Mike Wawrzonek, Netapp
Mary Kocy
Nancy Sher
Carolyn Meyer-Wartels
Toni Coburn
Dorothy Barnhouse
Elise Balboni
Peggy Teich
Carol Turitz
Linnae Hamilton
Eleanor Campbell
Abe Suleiman
Arlene Brownstein
Laurie Fried
Maria Schneider
Ruth Chasek
Mary McCune
Lynn Jones
Angela Murphy
Maureen Callahan
Susan Martin
Peter Kolbe
Eileen McColgan
Carol Mulholland
Randy Frankel
Michael Duddy
Jane Kelley
2
Thanks to our Instructors
Ray Allen, PhD
Professor of Music and American Studies, Brooklyn College, CUNY
David Clark, PhD
BHSEC Manhattan
Tabetha Ewing PhD
Dean of Studies, BHSEC Manhattan, and Associate Professor of History, Bard College
Michael Lerner PhD
Principal, BHSEC Manhattan
Caleb Madison
Crossword puzzle constructor, and Co-editor-in-chief of Bard Bulletin
Bruce Matthews, PhD
BHSEC Manhattan, Queens
Roxlyn Moret
World Yoga instructor
Peggy Schubert, MS, Lac,
Acupuncturist
Jess P. Shatkin, MD, MPH
Director of Education and Training, NYU Child Study Center
Jesse Weaver Shipley, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, and Coordinator of Africana Studies, Haverford
College
Susan Spieler, PsyD
Clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst
Olivia Tamzarian
Study abroad coordinator
Andi Wirz
Yoga Instructor
3
Schedule at a Glance
Session 1 Seminars
1:00 – 2:30 pm
Altered States: Alcohol and Substance Use and Abuse in Adolescents
Building Crosswords: Your Clue to Solving Crosswords
Chinese Herbs: Food as Medicine
Embodied Breath Yoga
Gotham Folk: New York City and the Folk Music Revival
Hiplife: African Popular Music in the New Millennium
The Lower East Side and East Village from the 1970s: Historical Research
in the Making
Plato’s Retreat: The Allegory of the Cave, Digitized
Pont Neuf: Tales from Under the Bridge in 18th-Century Paris
Transitions and the Turbulent Teen Years: The Psychology of Adolescence
The Wrath of Achilles
Session 2 Seminars
3:00 – 4:30 pm
Altered States: Alcohol and Substance Use and Abuse in Adolescents
Building Crosswords: Your Clue to Solving Crosswords
Chinese Herbs: Food as Medicine
Embodied Breath Yoga
Gotham Folk: New York City and the Folk Music Revival
Globe-Trotter Before Graduation: Everything You Need to Know About
High School Study Abroad
The Lower East Side and East Village from the 1970s: Historical Research
in the Making
Plato’s Retreat: The Allegory of the Cave, Digitized
Transitions and the Turbulent Teen Years: The Psychology of Adolescence
The Wrath of Achilles
Knowledge College Café
Open from 12:30 until 5:00 pm
4
Seminar Outlines
Altered States: Alcohol and Substance Use and Abuse in Adolescents
Instructor: Jess P. Shatkin, MD, MPH; Director of Education and Training, NYU Child
Study Center
Who uses and abuses drugs and alcohol, and why? What are the effects of drugs on the
body? Why are drugs addicting?
Explore these questions with child and adolescent mental health expert Dr. Jess Shatkin.
He will also discuss the risk and protective factors for drug use, how to know if your child
is using drugs/alcohol, how to talk to your child about drugs and alcohol, and how
addiction can be treated.
Jess P. Shatkin is Assistant Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Pediatrics,
and Director of Education & Training, New York University (NYU) School of Medicine;
Director of Undergraduate Studies in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, NYU College
of Arts & Sciences; and Research Psychiatrist, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric
Research. He leads the educational efforts of the NYU Child Study Center; directs the
child and adolescent psychiatry residency training program at NYU, Bellevue Hospital
Center, and the Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center; and is the director of
undergraduate studies for the first child and adolescent mental health college minor in the
United States (the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies [CAMS] Minor) at NYU.
Dr. Shatkin received his master’s in public health from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, and his MD from the State University of New York at Brooklyn. His recent
book, Treating Child and Adolescent Mental Illness (Norton, 2009) instructs trainees and
primary care practitioners in the essentials of child and adolescent psychopathology and
evidence-based treatment. He hosts “About Our Kids,” a national radio call-in program on
the Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Network (Sirius 114 & XM 119).
5
Building Crosswords: Your Clue to Solving Crosswords
Instructor: Caleb Madison; crossword puzzle constructor, BHSEC student
Do you love solving crossword puzzles? Are you ready to start building crosswords
yourself?
Constructing puzzles can help you improve your solving skills. Learn the basic principles
of crossword puzzle construction from Caleb Madison, protégé of New York Times
crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz. The class starts off with a review of basic crossword
history and then focuses on how to come up with a theme, develop a usable grid, and
create the fill. Finally, Caleb offers an in-depth look at how a crossword constructor
creates a puzzle, and the editor’s goals in finessing it for publication.
Caleb Madison was 15 years old when his first crossword was published in the New
York Times in 2008. Since then, several more of his puzzles have been published in the
daily and Sunday editions of the Times. He teaches a crossword puzzle construction class
at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is co-creator and co-editor-in-chief of the Bard
Bulletin, the new student newspaper of Bard High School Early College, Manhattan,
where he is a Year II student.
Chinese Herbs: Food as Medicine
Instructor: Peggy Schubert, MS, Lac; acupuncturist, BHSEC parent
For thousands of years, natural Chinese herbs have been used to improve health and
vitality. Why are they so effective? How are they different from commercial medicines?
Delicious food can ward off colds, lower cholesterol, increase concentration, lower
anxiety, boost energy, and much more to optimize health for you and your family. This
class will introduce concepts of Oriental Medicine, providing the basis to choose the
correct foods for different situations. There will be a discussion of the medicinal qualities
of foods commonly found in the kitchen and an introduction to Chinese herbs readily
found in Chinatown that may not be so familiar but are equally delicious and provide
tremendous health benefits. There will be samples of teas, soups, and snacks.
Peggy Schubert is a licensed acupuncturist and head clinician at Healing Ocean Oriental
Medicine. Diplomate Oriental Medicine, NCCAOM Board Certified.
6
Embodied Breath Yoga
Instructors: Roxlyn Moret; World Yoga instructor, BHSEC parent and Andi Wirz,
BHSEC parent
Peace. Quiet. Contentment. Don’t know how to find them anymore? You may discover
them again in this class.
Embodied Breath Yoga gives you the opportunity to listen to your body and to learn from
your experience, focusing on the questions and discoveries that arise along the way.
Balancing a nourishing flow with a dynamic sense of alignment, this class can help you
discover new and unexpected sources of support, strength, and ease. These sources
include the muscles, bones, glands, fluids, and all of the other body systems.
All materials will be supplied. Come with no experience or plenty of experience. Come
with curiosity, questions and a desire to have your yoga experience with our Bard
community.
Roxlyn Moret, a full-time yoga teacher with regular classes at World Yoga, has been
studying, practicing, and teaching movement and healing arts for 36 years. She is a
Certified Movement Analyst, Certified Body-Mind Centering® Practitioner, and longtime
student and teacher of yoga. She teaches teachers at New York City public schools,
groups at corporations, and a variety of other groups. She also teaches workshops at the
Breathing Project and has an active private practice, seeing clients individually.
Andi Wirz has been teaching yoga and movement over the last 20 years. He has a private
practice and teaches group classes in Switzerland in summer. Andi has a physical
education diploma from the University of Basel, Switzerland. He is a longtime student and
teacher of yoga.
7
Gotham Folk: New York City and the Folk Music Revival
Instructors: Ray Allen, PhD, Professor of Music and American Studies, Brooklyn
College, CUNY
New York City has been the center of the revival of American folk music since the 1930s.
Why New York? Who were the key figures? Why does “traditional” folk music continue
to flourish today in New York City, the most “modern” urban center in America?
This history of folk music in New York City will feature discussions and video clips,
beginning with the pre-War contributions of the iconic figures Lead Belly, Woody
Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, and then moving on to the post-War “Folk Boom,” exploring
the contributions of the Weavers, the Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, and other
commercial folk popularizers. Next will come the topical song and protest singers of the
1960s, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Phil Ochs, and the traditional wing of the
revival, led by Mike Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers. The Ramblers were experts
in old-time mountain music and early bluegrass who raised critical questions about what
constituted authentic folk music and how that music should be played and sung. A
discussion of the role of “tradition” in the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s, the era of the
civil rights, anti-war, and back-to-the-land movements, will conclude the class.
Ray Allen is professor of music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. In
addition, he directs the American Studies Program and serves as a senior associate at the
Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College. He teaches
courses on American folk, popular, and concert music, and American cultural studies.
Allen is the author of Gone to the Country: The New Lost City Ramblers and the Urban
Folk Music Revival (University of Illinois Press, 2010) and Singing in the Spirit: AfricanAmerican Sacred Quartets in New York City (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991). He
has co-edited the volumes Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Worlds: Innovation and Tradition in
Twentieth Century American Music (University of Rochester Press, 2007, with Ellie
Hisama) and Island Sounds in the Global City: Caribbean Popular Music and Identity in
New York (University of Illinois Press, 1998, with Lois Wilcken). He received his PhD
from the University of Pennsylvania.
8
Globe-Trotter Before Graduation: Everything You Need to Know About
High School Study Abroad
(Session 2 Only)
Instructor: Olivia Tamzarian, Bard College, 2005; study abroad coordinator
What are the major components of a successful study abroad experience for high school–
aged students? What are the benefits of study abroad?
This class will provide a comprehensive overview of the study abroad experience for high
school students, including its history, benefits, and challenges. It will also survey the
various study abroad opportunities available for high school students and offer
suggestions on how to select a program.
Olivia Tamzarian graduated from Bard College in 2005 with a triple concentration in
anthropology, art history, and Latin American studies. She is a study abroad coordinator
with LPI (Learning Programs International), Austin, TX.
Hiplife: African Popular Music in the New Millennium
(Session 1 Only)
Instructor: Jesse Weaver Shipley, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, and
Coordinator of Africana Studies, Haverford College
How has Black popular music circulated across the globe? And how does this circulation
relate to the development of hip hop in Ghana, West Africa?
This class will examine the emergence of hiplife, a hip hop–related music, in Ghana, West
Africa. Hiplife music combines hip hop sampling, scratching, and rap lyricism with older
forms of highlife popular music, traditional storytelling, and political-proverbial oratory.
Artists rap in multiple Ghanaian languages, English, and pidgin. Dr. Shipley will discuss
how contemporary African popular music provides a way to examine changing musical
technologies, neoliberal political economic context, Pan-Africanist history, and multiple
musical connections. He also will screen his documentary film Living the Hiplife (2007,
Third World Newsreel), which focuses on the economic hopes and musical dreams of
young Ghanaians as they confront the realities of race, corporate sponsorship, and
political change.
Jesse Weaver Shipley, an ethnographer and filmmaker, received his PhD in sociocultural
anthropology from the University of Chicago in 2003. His research focuses on Ghana and
recent African diasporas as well as the emergence of hip hop–related popular music in
9
Accra, Ghana, with particular interests in integrating creative visual forms and critical
theory.
The Lower East Side and East Village from the 1970s: Historical Research
in the Making
Instructor: Michael Lerner, PhD; Principal, BHSEC Manhattan
Are you curious about how historical research is planned and conducted? Do you want to
learn how historians develop research questions?
Join Michael Lerner as he explains the process of approaching his new research project —
a history of the Lower East Side and East Village from the 1970s to the present. Dr.
Lerner will use the opportunity to explain how a project like this takes shape, what
questions are emerging, and the challenges of taking on this new research project.
Michael Lerner, principal of BHSEC Manhattan, has been teaching history at BHSEC
since 2002 and served as a dean there from 2005 to 2010. He has a Ph.D. in History from
New York University. His teaching and research interests include 20th-century United
States society and politics, American reform movements, popular culture, and U.S.-Pacific
relations. He is the author of Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City (Harvard
University Press).
Plato’s Retreat: The Allegory of the Cave, Digitized
Instructor: Bruce Matthews, PhD; BHSEC Manhattan, Queens
How does Plato’s critique of education and society in his “Allegory of the Cave” still
resonate with us today? Exploring his philosophy in the “Allegory of the Cave,” how can
we envision the possible impact of contemporary media on our education system and on
the acculturation of our children?
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is the oldest critical analysis of the awkward yet necessary
dance of society and education. Amazingly, this critique of “professors of education” stills
speaks to us. Transposing Cave to Media, what chance does education have competing
head-to-head with the multi-billion dollar media industry? Both schools and the media
seek to change behavior and cultivate habits, but which institution is better funded, do
they play by the same rules, or seek the same goals? Finally, with the decline of traditional
institutions, who really shapes and acculturates our children? Using some of the more
controversial elements of Plato’s philosophy, we will explore possible scenarios of how
these issues may impact both our educational system and our society in the coming years.
10
Bruce Matthews is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Social Studies Faculty, BHSEC
Manhattan and Queens. He received his BA from the University of Virginia, MRA from
Yale Divinity School, and PhD from New School University. He has taught at Tübingen
University, 2004-05; Hunter College CUNY, 1995-2000; and Parsons College, The New
School University, 1999, and has lectured extensively in Europe, as well as Turkey and
India. Awards and grants include Fulbright, Senior Scholar, 2004-5; Star Foundation
Award, 2002; Hans Jonas Award, 1999; National Endowment for the Humanities
Teaching Grant, 1997; Yale Divinity School Research Fellow, 1991-2; and three awards
for excellence in teaching. His current research focuses on German philosopher F.W.J.
Schelling.
Pont Neuf: Tales from Under the Bridge in 18th-Century Paris
(Session 1 Only)
Instructor: Tabetha Ewing, PhD; Dean of Studies, BHSEC Manhattan, & Associate
Professor of History, Bard College, Annandale
What does the study of derelict spaces tell us about the human condition? And why study
them?
Often, we read derelict spaces as the site for and the sign of late modern malaise and the
economic, social, and psychological disconnectedness of urban life. This talk will present
aspects of city life around the Pont Neuf bridge in pre-modern Paris using police archives
and contemporary chronicles as sources. It will confirm and contest some of our basic
assumptions about modern life. Fragmentation and aloneness characterize the individual’s
existence but so too do personal stories, well-defined identities, social continuity, and
communication. Using techniques of “writing from space,” workshop participants will
complete a writing assignment on urban life and their own derelict spaces.
Tabetha Ewing, Dean of Studies, BHSEC Manhattan, and Associate Professor of
History, Bard College, Annandale, is a specialist in 18th-century French history, public
opinion, rumor and oral communication, and international politics. She received her BA
from Bard College in 1989, and her PhD from Princeton University in 2005.
11
Transitions and the Turbulent Teen Years: The Psychology of Adolescence
Instructor: Susan Spieler, PsyD; clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, former BHSEC
parent
Many adults and teens find adolescence puzzling. Why is there often so much turbulence?
What if there is no drama? What are the key concerns of most teens? What do teens need
from parents?
Adolescence is characterized by many transitions. The way these transitions are handled
plays an important role in the evolving relationship between teens and their parents. In this
workshop, Dr. Spieler describes the developmental accomplishments of a successful
adolescence and offers guidance about how healthy relationships can be maintained
between parents and youth as the needs of both evolve. She also identifies some behaviors
that signal a need for professional help.
Open to both parents and teens. Related parents and teens are welcome, but it is not
necessary that they attend together.
Susan Spieler is a Psychologist/Psychoanalyst in private practice on the Upper West Side,
working with adults and adolescents–individually, in couples, in families and in groups.
She works with parents who seek help understanding and talking with their teens and want
to learn how to maintain the connection with their teens as they mature. She has taught
doctoral-level courses about adolescence and the treatment of adolescents and teaches
postgraduate courses for mental health professionals at the Training Institute for Mental
Health. In addition, she has written and published about psychoanalytic developmental
theory and gender issues. She received an MA from New York University, and a PsyD
from The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University.
12
The Wrath of Achilles
Instructor: David Clark, PhD; BHSEC Manhattan
Simone Weil famously wrote about Homer’s Iliad: “Nothing the peoples of Europe have
produced is worth the first known poem that appeared among them.” How does Achilles’
wrath define the Iliad?
This class—one of the most popular at last year’s Knowledge College—will focus on how
Homer’s announced theme of the ‘rage of Achilles’ is the meaningful core of his
sprawling epic. The class will begin with a brief description of the basics of Greek epic
poetry and the important mythological background to the Achilles story. We will then
examine several key passages in the poem to get a grasp of how Achilles’ simultaneously
superhuman and human-all-too-human rage is presented in the poem and attempt to come
to some tentative decisions about its meaning. We will also look at some of the poetry of
one of Homer’s most perceptive readers, the contemporary poet Christopher Logue.
Bring a copy of the Iliad in English, preferably Fagles’ translation. If you don’t have the
Fagles translation, bring any translation you have.
David Clark has been a member of the language faculty at BHSEC since 2001. He has an
M. Phil. and a Ph.D. (Classics) from Columbia University. His interests include Latin
literature of the late Roman republic and early Roman empire, ancient philosophy, and the
New Testament.
13
Support Knowledge College 2012
Here’s my tax deductible donation to the Bard High School Early College PTA
My gift is In
Honor of
Donor Name
Address
Apt./Unit
City
State
Phone
(
)
ZIP Code
E-Mail




Check
AMEX
VISA
MasterCard
Gift Amount
Credit Card #
Exp. Date
/
Name as it appears on
card
Signature
Thank you for your generosity. Please print this page and present it with your
donation to Carol Turitz, the School’s Parent Coordinator or mail it to:
BHSEC PTA Treasurer
Bard HS Early College PTA
525 E Houston St
New York, NY 10002
Visit www.KnowledgeCollege2012.com
14
Thank you for attending Knowledge
College 2011.
We look forward to seeing you again
next year.