And there is this:

At the tender age of 48 49, my spouse has returned to the University as a full-time graduate student.

This means many things: big changes from a lifestyle standpoint; a much different schedule; a shift in the intellectual landscape when it comes to what he's reading at night.  He's never home; he's gone vegetarian; I now suspect he loves me for my staff parking pass as much as he loves me as the bearer of his child.

But the thing I'm REALLY dwelling on this month:  his sweet, sweet, health insurance coverage as a GSRA.  For serious, every time I think about it, I am practically lying on the ground sideways bicycling my legs while making crazy yipping noises.

And More Topics!

Again, the chance of me writing the entries themselves?  Bordering on 9%.

BUT HERE ARE THINGS I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT A LOT:

• The growing problem of student loans and the culpability of institutions in this mess
• Manfredo Tafuri's discussion of Rockefeller Center and whether I have the energy to dive into this level of critique when my usual depth of architectural engagement is "Ohh, that building is/isn't pretty."
• Concerns about whether campus tolerance and inclusiveness extends to those with political and religious views that skew conservative--and how to discuss (and fix) it without going all Horowitz up in here
• The glory of campus squirrels
• Ditto the U-M Marching band 
• Cemeteries:  A Genealogist's Playground

So again I am not keeping this thing updated.  IN MY HEAD, though, I have many topics awaiting treatment.

They include:

• The Frank Lloyd Wright stuff we encountered on our recent vacation
• My thoughts on the standards to which some people hold scholarship athletes
• Brueggers:  How I Love Thee
• More Angry Grunting about Pell Grants
• Will I ever learn the new office phone system?
• Is it still a "new" phone system when it's been 8 months?

We have a raccoon situation at my house.  They were coming onto our deck foraging through my birdseed, and I was largely okay with that.  Amused, mostly.


Yesterday I discovered one of my newly-planted tomatoes completely uprooted from the deck container.  I suppose I could be one of the squirrels which regularly visits, but I have my suspicions and IT'S ABOUT TO GET REAL IN THIS WHOLE FOODS PARKING LOT.  I mean, ON MY DECK.

Going back to Cali

Next week I'm headed back to the place where my profile photo was taken:  Sinskey Vineyards in CA.   It's not just Sinskey I'm going to; we're hitting several places in Napa and ending up in one of my other familiar CA stomping grounds, Sacramento.

I love wine country, but not because I'm that much of a wine drinker (I lack a sophisticated palate).  The thing I like about the Napa area is that there is a real sense of how the land has guided development and human interaction with the geography.  People grow grapes there.  Sure, they also drive around and drink wine, so its touristy, but it's very agricultural.  And it's extremely specific:  It's good for grapes, so grapes are grown there.   While it looks nothing like my home on the Great Plains, it reminds me a lot of Nebraska.  All that farmland, all those crops, dominating the landscape:  the corn, the soybeans, the alfalfa.   And the attention to weather, the awareness of commodity prices--it's agriculture!  THESE ARE MY PEOPLE, even if they are far less likely to wear overalls.

NYT: Top Colleges, Largely For the Elite

The topic of this article on lower-income students at elite colleges (or the lack thereof) is very close to my heart:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/business/economy/25leonhardt.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

U-M is called out in this article for the fact that we have a preponderance of wealthy students on this campus.

That's true.  It's also true that there are people on campus who care deeply about issues of equity and access.

What irks me are articles that blame colleges for ignoring or "overlooking" lower-income students (as this article did) or for "turning their back on" them (like an inflammatory 2006 paper titled "Engines of Inequality" put out by The Education Trust and paid for by the Lumina Foundation).  The assumption is that we don't give those kids a chance.

Before you can properly fix a problem, you have to have it defined correctly.  I'm not sure some of these screeds on the elitism of colleges have succeeded on that score.

My office has looked into this issue.  We were concerned about the income balance among undergrads, and we wanted to know more.  Some of what we found surprised us.

(1)  Lower-income students are admitted at the same rate at their wealthier peers.  We think that's good news; it suggests that our readers (the people who evaluate applications and judge a students' admissability) are being fair.  They aren't discriminating against students whose family backgrounds mean they have less-flashy profiles because they had to work more, travel less, participate in fewer extracurriculars, etc.

Now, to dig into this deeper, the NYT article alleges that being admitted equally could also be evidence of discrimination, and they have a point.  The fact is, the similarly-qualified peers of these lower-income students may have gotten those test scores (to use test scores as one example) thanks to prep courses, retaking the test, and other helps not available to lower-income students.   Their parents' affluence, and a lifetime of enrichment and opportunities, means they may have had an easier time acquiring their academic achievements.  I'll accept that.  There is more than one way to define fairness; one could argue that fairness means lower-income students should see higher admit rates than equally-qualified peers.  That's worth discussing.  Under our current parameters, though, I continue to think it's a positive that other things being equal, we don't see differences in U-M admit rates.

(2) Lower-income residents, once admitted, enroll at the same rate at their wealthier counterparts.  This is also good news.  It means that U-M's aid policies are leveling the playing field for lower-income residents.

Note I said "residents."  Our need-based aid policies are geared towards residents, because we are a public institution.  [We pledge to meet the full demonstrated need of all residents.  We've even started a program to limit the loans for lowest-income residents].

(3) Where we "lose" lower-income students is at the APPLICATION stage.  Lower-income students self-select themselves out of the application pool.  They don't even apply.  They don't give us a chance to evaluate them fairly, to offer them aid, to communicate with them about the opportunities here, their place on campus our commitment to affordability for families like theirs.

Is this a problem?  You bet it is.  But it's a different problem than the hypothetical one that critics thrust forth, which is that lower-income students are clamoring at the gates but being turned away by unfeeling, elitist campuses.  They are not clamoring.  That is the issue.  It's not an admitting problem, or a cost/aid problem.  It's a recruitment problem.  And I'll bet other elite colleges face similar challenges.

I'll repeat what I said earlier:  Before you can properly fix a problem, you have to have it defined correctly.  As for U-M, we are getting there.

In my office in particular, we're doing additional work, exploring such questions as:

• Why don't well-qualified lower-income students apply here? 
• Do they understand that they are qualified to be admitted?
• Do they know about our aid policies?
• Is it an issue of perceived fit, or a lack of information?
• Where do they apply instead?  
• Are they going to colleges which are a good match for their abilities, or are they aiming lower?

And ultimately:

What can we do to change this, and get more of them to apply?

I've got more to say about that, but I'll save it for another day.

The U-M Symphony Band's China Trip

Boy, if you're not following along on their blog, you are missing out.  Really interesting reading!

http://moore.music.umich.edu/chinablog/

Two posts in one day, it's the 7th sign of that word I have trouble spelling

I barely understand what my husband does, but it's a lot easier now than when he was in software development for gaming physics.  He's been studying up at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, learning about digital fabrication.

Here's an interesting post explaining what goes into telling a robot to cut the chair you're designed. It's got geometry!  And robots!  What's not to like?

Mark and the Big Orange Robot Arm

Commencement is just around the corner -- Making a difference

U-M students are getting ready to graduate.  I'm not sure what the weather will hold for them that day, but I hope their spirits will be sunny.  Commencement ceremonies are chock full of cliches.  I can't think of a rougher gig than trying to come up with an original graduation speech.  And yet every time I attend one, I listen avidly, and I find the sentiments expressed (about the future, about new beginnings, about endless possibilities) to be very moving.  I think those sentiments are entirely valid.

I was just reading James Holloway's excellent blog where he has been reflecting on what it means to be in the engineering field and the contributions that those in the field have to make to society.  I confess that when I was an undergrad considering majors, engineering sounded like a horrible grind to me.   [Like econ isn't?! ]  But although I had no interest in being a student of that field, I'm certainly a consumer of the outputs.  And I've always been inspired by the optimism, vision, and excitement that surrounds the aims and achievements of engineering fields.  One awesome benefit about being affiliated with a University with an esteemed engineering school is that you get to hear those stories all the time.

James' latest entry talked about Making a Difference.   That's an excellent theme for U-M students to ponder as they think about their future careers.  It's exciting to think that some of those graduates crossing the stage will go on to amazing professional achievements.  They will change lives, and change the way we look at the world.   In fact, some of them already have.  I get a kick out of how many UM-affiliated folk end up recognized for things on that scale.  

That said, "Making a Difference" is more than just revolutionizing your field.  There are many spheres where U-M students and graduates can and will contribute and make a difference.

I have never forgotten hearing that from my own college president, Linda K. Lorimer.  It wasn't a commencement speech, but rather a convocation speech (they tend to be just as cliche-ridden, and yet just as likely to captivate me].  She said we shouldn't measure our success by how far we climb up the corporate ladder or where our name appears on the letterhead.  That the contributions we make to our communities and families were equally valid, important, and influential.   Those thoughts were reinforced by my graduation speaker, who had been the first woman ever elected president of the Boston Bar.  Both very professionally accomplished people, both urging us to invest ourselves in making a difference outside of our professions.   Those words have come back to me again and again in the 20+ years since I've heard them.

So, graduates:  When you set out to conquer the world, think broadly.  You can make a difference in many ways.  Be a great team member at work.  Volunteer locally.  Reach out to someone in need.  Be active and informed civically.  Encourage & mentor young people.  Raise great kids.  Advocate for causes you believe in.   These things matter!

And not-yet-graduates:  The great thing about the Michigan experience is that you can get a good start on pursuing the things you care about, whether they are personal or professional.  You can start thinking about the difference you want to make in the world, or BE in the world.   My greatest hope for students is that they take advantage of those opportunities while they are here!  And carry it forward when they graduate.

Go blue!

More on "Photoformance"

My spouse put up some photos about the art installation I described in my last entry.

Check it out!

http://mkmra2.blogspot.com/2011/04/umma-installation-photoformance.html

Multimedia art thingamabob

I'm pretty geeked about the new exhibit at the University of Michigan Museum of Art called "Photoformance."

It's the collaboration between:
Monica Ponce de Leon, the Dean of the Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning;
Peter Sparling, a Thurnau Professor of Dance at U-M, Choreographer, and video artist
Ernie Rubin, U-M alum and photographer
Erik Santos, Composer

Each of these people is highly respected in their respective fields.  They've put together an installation that projects gorgeous images onto semi-opaque architectural structures and walls within the gallery.

What you may not realize, when looking at the video, is how carefully they were constructed.  I've grossly oversimplifying things but in a nutshell, Ernie Rubin created still shots of Peter Sparling dancing, which Peter then carefully merged together to make a film.

To be honest with you, this probably wouldn't have been on my radar screen if my husband Mark hadn't had a large hand in the architectural structures.  They are curved, sloping, soaring tunnels, but they are made entirely of tabbed triangles.  Mark helped create the programming that figured out those triangles and guided the cutting.  He also helped put some of them together, which was done by hand by a whole lot of people at the architecture school.  I think there were over 2000 of the things.  Triangles, I mean, not people. 

I'm very glad I went to the opening talk, because it's the kind of exhibit I would otherwise have walked through for four minutes, said "that's kinda neat" and not given it much more thought.  But the process that went into making each component is extremely cool--and hearing the collaborators talk about it was eye-opening.

They are still in the process of working out the projection of the film.  The opening day had only a few projectors running; I stopped by yesterday and the whole thing was locked up while they work out some glitch.    But once it's up and running, they'll keep it running each night after the museum closes.  That means passersby will be able to peek in through the portholes in the blackout curtains.  I love that. 

Not the same experience as walking through, but still a nifty way to encourage interaction with the museum and its art.

A description of the exhibit here:
http://www.umma.umich.edu/view/exhibitions/2010-photoformance.php

Ah, the Michigan Difference.

I was amused by this site:

http://themichdiff.com/

A few highlights:

Running through the airport in Florida to catch a flight with a Michigan sweatshirt on and people start singing The Victors as I pass. So epic. TMD.

South Quad fire alarm goes off at 8:30PM, you can clearly smell something burning but you stay in your room because there's homework due at 9:00PM and you know "the building was on fire" could never be a legitimate excuse unless UHS signed it...TMD

The 7-Eleven has a study room. That's the Michigan Difference.

Not sure how sober I am, but I'm going to my 8:30 class. That's the Michigan Difference.

Decaying Central Depot to get spruce-up | detnews.com | The Detroit News

PLEASE let this happen--and let it be the thing that helps a developer take the next step. This building breaks my heart.

Decaying Central Depot to get spruce-up | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Quick update

Well, the husband got into the grad program to which he applied.  That's super news, although it raises some new challenges.

I'm excited that he's exploring a new field.   He has often been a source of education and mind-broadening for me.  I knew almost nothing about architecture when we met, except maybe an uncanny ability to appreciate Queen Anne style (thank you alma mater, R-MWC).  Now I know a lot more about that.  I've learned a lot about wood and woodworking.  Next up: digital fabrication. 

You are aware that we get more cloudy days than Seattle?

This is the time of year when people in Michigan think about whatever crazed psychopaths they've heard about on the news, or learned about in history class or the History Channel, and feel compassion, sympathy, and understanding.

Winter is INTERMINABLE.   I want sunshine.  And WARMTH.

On reading

There was a time when I was a good student of literature.   I read voraciously, anything I could get my hands on.  I never failed to complete an assigned book.  On those SRAs, I kicked butt.

But the further along I got in school, the more I began to realize that a lot of the greatness in literature eluded me.  I didn't grasp the symbolism.  I missed foreshadowing.  I didn't catch on to themes.  I couldn't see the common threads across a writer's works.  I enjoyed literature classes primarily because they'd help point all these things out to me, but I was continually surprised to have so little to contribute.

I'm still that way.  I am a fast reader.  I enjoy books.  But I'm not at all *good* at it.  I am shallow.  I'm not critical; my book club rates books, and I am the easiest grader in the group.  If I want to spark a conversation, I have to go online to find other people's insights, and read them as quotes.  I'm sure as hell not going to dredge up any personal insights worth sharing.  I need a Cliffs Notes for everything.

This drives me crazy about myself.

I should add to my last entry.  I discovered today that I also have a good view of vagrants peeing between the houses.

Squirrels!

One of the pleasures of my new office is that my window faces a residential block which features big trees and some of Ann Arbor's big honkin' squirrels.  I love those crazy rodents, I always have.  And now, when I need a break, I can gaze out the window and watch them frolic.