On Saturday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m., the incomparable Michael Moore will be speaking at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds Hall of Flowers in an appearance sponsored by Associated Students Productions of Sonoma State University.
With only a handful of tickets remaining, ASP has devised an essay contest as a way to dispatch of this limited stock. The essay question is, "Michael Moore: Patriot or Rabble-Rouser?"Essays can be up to 600 words. Deadline for submissions is Tuesday Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. in the AS Office on the second floor of the Student Union. The first place prize is four tickets, while second place gets two tickets. This question is for students only; faculty and staff are not eligible to participate.
Michael Moore has been challenging economic and political giants for more than two decades and has emerged as one of America's freshest and funniest political voices.
At the podium, Moore offers a down-to-earth and refreshingly candid view of the American economic scene and national politics. Bringing his audacious and original perspective to bear on the nation's headlines, he delivers a turbo-charged presentation of dead-on commentary and riotous insight. His newest work entitled "Dude, Where's My Country?" will be released in October.
Now with his most recent film the Academy Award winning, “Bowling for Columbine,” Moore provides a powerful and thought provoking commentary on America's culture of guns. The film is an alternately humorous and horrifying journey through present-day America and throughthe nation's past, hoping to discover why America's pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.
Winner of an Academy Award for best documentary feature and unanimous winner of the special Cannes 55th Anniversary Prize, the film has already won 22 awards and been called the "best documentary of all time" by the International Documentary Association.
Moore's book, “Stupid White Men ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation,” looks at 21st century America; he finds a place where a man no one elected sits in the White House, California can't find enough electricity and it's cheaper to FedEx yourself across town than to drive there. The book has been at the top of the bestseller list for more than a year - an unprecedented feat for a work of satire.
The event has been sold out since the end of September. For further information, call (707) 664-2382.
Barbara Bloom A criminal justice professor at Sonoma State University has earned a prestigious award for her work in how women are treated differently than men in the criminal justice system.
Associate professor Barbara Bloom of Petaluma is one of the recipients of the University of Cincinnati Award presented by the American Probation and Parole Association for outstanding contribution to the field of corrections in the United States and Canada.
To improve policy and practice regarding women offenders in corrections, the National Institute of Corrections undertook a 3-year project with Bloom and her colleagues, Barbara Owen and Stephanie Covington, entitled "Gender-Responsive Stategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders."
The findings suggest that gender matters in terms of the management and supervision of women offenders and that many systems lack written policies specific to this population. Most correctional policies and practices are based on male offenders, Bloom's report finds.
Bloom and her colleagues found women come into the criminal justice system via different pathways; respond to supervision and custody differently; exhibit differences in terms of substance abuse, trauma, mental illness, parenting responsibilities, and employment histories; and represent different levels of risk within both the institution and the community.
"To successfully develop and deliver services, supervision, and treatmentfor women offenders, we must first acknowledge these gender differences,"says Bloom who is also the author of "Gendered Justice: Addressing FemaleOffenders."
This report is available on the National Institute of Corrections Web site, www.nicic.org, and is being widely distributed to criminal justice agencies throughout the country.
NOTE: A digital photo of Barbara Bloom is available upon request.
Sonoma State University announced on Monday that Evert and Norma Person have committed $3 million toward the construction of the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center.
The gift puts the fund-raising campaign within approximately $1 million of the projected $39 million required to start construction of the music center, which will also be home to the Santa Rosa Symphony.
"Norma and I are pleased and delighted to help build what will be one of the finest concert halls in the nation," says Evert Person. "It is our hope that the partnership between an outstanding university and a leading regional symphony will preserve and enrich the cultural arts of this region for generations to come."
SSU officials project that construction will start in spring 2004, once the remaining funds are secured and construction bids and other final approvals are obtained.
Construction of the 1400-seat concert hall and related facilities is slated to take two years. The University and Symphony plans to open the center for public performances in fall 2006.
"This gift was an extraordinary act of generosity," says Santa Rosa Symphony music director Jeffrey Kahane. "The Green Music Center will transform not only the music experience of everyone involved with the Symphony, but also the cultural lives of thousands of people all over the North Bay."
According to SSU President Ruben Arminana, "The Persons are expressing their love of the arts in a wonderful way. Their gift is turning the original vision of the University into reality." The university plans to continue fund raising to complete the project and to build the endowment to support programming in the music center.
Evert Person, former Press Democrat owner-publisher, and his wife Norma are longtime patrons of the arts and education, especially supporting programs that provide opportunities for youth. Evert Person previously established a $3 million endowment for the performing arts at Sonoma State University, and the 475-seat Evert B. Person Theatre on the campus is named in his honor.
Mr. Person also was awarded an honorary doctorate from Sonoma State University and the Board of Trustees of the California State University in 1993 in recognition of his leadership and contributions to the university and region.
A graphic rendering of the Green Music Center is available upon request.
For further information, contact:
Evert and Norma Person, (707) 539-7679
Ruben Arminana, President, Sonoma State University, (707) 664-2156
Jeffrey Kahane, Artistic Director, Green Music Festival and Music Director & Conductor, Santa Rosa Symphony, 546-7097, x218
Stuart Jones, SSU Vice President for Development (707) 664-2712
Corrick & Norma Brown, Conductor Laureate, Santa Rosa Symphony, (707) 546-7563
Connie Wolfe, Development Director, Santa Rosa Symphony, (707) 546-7097, x214
A potential crisis in the future of social workers at agencies in the North Bay has prompted the offering of a Master's of Social Work from San Jose State University on the Sonoma State University campus.
Thanks to efforts between SSU and San Jose State University, the part-time degree program is being offered to 30 social workers in agencies in Napa, Sonoma and other North Bay areas this fall on a one-time basis.
Projected staff shortages in Sonoma and other North Bay Counties motivated a unique collaboration between two universities and North Bay County agencies.
The advanced degree will allow current social workers to continue their education in light of a survey of the area that showed that within the next five years, approximately 75 percent of the staff will be eligible for retirement, leaving a major crisis in staffing.
The survey also showed there will be a problem recruiting qualified individuals from out of the area, because of the high cost of living in Sonoma County.
"Social workers play a vital role in public and private agencies and are the front line workers dealing with child abuse, elder abuse, people with mental and physical disabilities, and people coping with severe medical and financial crises," says Elaine Leeder, Dean of the School of Social Sciences at SSU.
Students will specialize in services to children, youth and families or to people with physical and mental disabilities. They are officially enrolled in the School of Social Work at San Jose State University, but take classes on Saturdays at Sonoma State University. SJSU faculty travel to SSU to teach the classes.
For further information, contact the persons listed below:
Elaine Leeder, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Sonoma State University. (707)664-2112 or elaine.leeder@sonoma.edu
Dianne Edwards, Director, Sonoma County Human Services Department. She has insight into the problem regionally and has been extremely supportive of the program. (707) 565-5000 or dedwards@sonoma-county.org
Mary Ann Swanson, Chair of the Sonoma Unit of the National Association of Social Workers and Manager of the Sonoma County Valley of the Moon Children's Shelter. She has been a strong supporter of the need for a local MSW program. (707)565-8394 or mswanson@sonoma-county.org
Jim Featherstone, Assistant Director of Napa County Department of Health and Human Services. Very active in planning process. Wants to nominate this university-county collaboration for an award. (707)253-4279 or JFeather@co.napa.ca.us.
Madeleine Rose, Adjunct Faculty in Sociology at SSU and currently acting as SSU site coordinator for SJSU/SSU Collaborative Part-Time Program (707) 887-2400 or mrose@sonic.net.
A 21-year old senior from Sonoma State University has been crowned the 53rd Miss California USA.
Ellen Chapman, a resident of San Jose who currently lives in Rohnert Park, earned her crown at the annual state pageant held recently in Fresno.
In December, the brown-eyed brunette, 5' 10", will receive her bachelor's degree in American Multi-Cultural Studies from SSU. She is also completing requirements for her elementary teaching credential. Ultimately she hopes to be a school principal.
Chapman was selected as a Community Services advisor for 56 SSU freshman. She is the social chair for her sorority and has participated in extensive leadership training. Chapman is on the SSU Dean's List, is a California Scholarship Federation Life Member and has received a Chancellor's Quest for Excellence Award.
Researching and applying time management techniques have aided Chapman to achieve her academic and personal goals, she says, and has caused her to set priorities.
When asked where she would like to be as a VIP, in history or in the future, she replied, "I would be at Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech to hear and feel the power in that moment in time and to witness the world on the verge of change".
As Miss California USA, Chapman won her expenses to the national pageant, signature pendant, diamond crown ring, competition wardrobe and $5,000 cash.
The Miss USA Pageant will be produced in a live telecast on NBC in March and Chapman will be California's official state representative. She entered the state pageant as Miss San Francisco Bay Area USA.
Chapman will travel across the state promoting Breast Cancer Awareness, the Miss USA Pageant's official charity. She will also appear as a spokesperson around the country for Sun-Maid Growers of California, promoting the company's raisin products as healthy snack food for children and adults.
The Miss California USA pageant is produced annually and concurrently with the Miss California Teen USA pageant.
Ellen is the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Chapman. Her siblings are Sarah, 19, and Daniel, 23.
NOTE: A digital photo of Ellen Chapman is available upon request.
Dr. Edward Castillo says he teaches college classes filled with students who know little about Native American history or the contributions of Native Americans who helped shape California.
He's not surprised, since his childhood education wasn't much different.
But the Sonoma State University professor and some colleagues are primed to change what elementary school children are taught about Native Americans and they've received more than $100,000 from the California State Library Research Bureau to produce a teacher's guide to assist teachers with their classroom discussions about California Indian history.
"The guide will contain engaging classroom activities that teach students about the unique identities and cultural contributions of California's First People, past and present," says Castillo.
The teacher's guide will be used throughout California in all 8th grade classes, a pivotal time for children learning about history, Easily digestible outlines of reservations, rancherias, cultural areas, current practices and governance issues are will make California's Native American history comprehensible to contemporary students.
Castillo is chair of the Native American Studies Department at the University. He's a relatively young, intensely passionate teacher who works every day as a scholar to enlighten and education
college-aged students about Native American history and culture.
The grant he and assistant researchers Dr. Jack Norton of Humboldt State University (emeritus) and Dr. Clifford Trafzer of the University of California at Riverside received will allow them to take that education to younger students.
Castillo is hoping that someday his college students will come to him better informed about the contributions of California's Native Americans.
"It's important to teach children the culture of California Indians and to explain why more than 10,000 acres of reservation and rancheria lands were lost in an ill-conceived plan to "Free the Indians."
Teachers will be encouraged to outline Euro-American historical experiences, technology, and philosophical attitudes toward the natural environment, and especially the human beings they encountered in this place they called the New World.
An important question for this curriculum project is how pre-1846 policies and attitudes shaped American views toward California Indians," says Castillo.
The Teacher's Guide will also overview the Constitution of the United States, the Gold Rush, statehood and the Westward movement, the period of rapid immigrant population growth, and the rise of industrial America all from the perspective of the Native Americans.
This unique perspective is something that Castillo, Norton and Trafzer hope will help young students understand what led to a modern reservation life through allotment of Tribal Lands, the fight for self-governing rights and the current life of California's Native Americans.
"We want students to also understand the growing participation of California Indians in national civil rights efforts; to feel the history behind the effort," says Castillo. An example of a noted civil rights effort was the occupation of Alcatraz Island by American Indians in 1969.
Castillo was there and later helped make several documentary films on this pivotal event in modern California history.
Castillo is well known for his scholarly work in the discipline of Native American history and culture and is called upon by other scholars and the media for comment on Native American affairs. He is editor of Native American Perspectives on the Hispanic Colonization of Alta California and The Pomo, A Tribal History.
He wrote several chapters in the Smithsonian Institution's Handbook of North American Indians as well as "Mission Indian Federation: Protecting Tribal Sovereignty 1919-1967" published in the Encyclopedia of Native American in the 20th Century.
He has written dozens of book reviews for Indian Historian, Journal of California Anthropology, Western Historical Quarterly, and the American Indian Quarterly and California History.
"We know we can begin to address the desperate need our Indian children and their non-Indian classmates have, by producing accurate data, visual aids, activities, classroom and computer exercises that will engage them in Native American history and culture.
Our goal is to show children of the 21st century, and their teachers, a part of the history of California that they might have missed. It's an important history, and one that will further their understanding of their world," he says.
NOTE: A digital photo of Dr. Edward Castillo is available upon request.
A lively political pundits forum will take on the California recall election from 3-5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 22 in the Cooperage at Sonoma State University. The public is invited. There is no charge for the event.
The pundits will include Assembly member Pat Wiggins speaking against the recall and Republican First Congressional District candidate Lawrence Wiesner speaking for the measure.
Sandra Lowe, Sonoma Valley Unified School District board member and political consultant to the California Teachers Association, will address the implications of the recall and Proposition 54.
Political science lecturer and author Gerald N. Hill will tell the history of recalls and ballot initiatives. Sonoma State University political science professor David McCuan will explain current issues in "direct democracy."
Political science lecturer and author Kathleen Hill will moderate the forum which is being sponsored by the University's Lifelong Learning Institute. The Hills teach in the LLI program and this year their class is called "The Politics of Health Care."
For further information, contact Barbara Books, Lifelong Learning Institute, (707) 664-2691.
The University Art Gallery at Sonoma State University is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition Renunciation: A Requiem, a site-specific installation by Oakland-based (and Iranian-born) artist Seyed Alavi. The exhibition opens with a reception for the artist on Thursday, Sept. 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. The show runs through Oct. 19.
Alavi has exhibited his work both regionally and nationally, including Franklin Furnace, The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, The deSaisset Museum, The Museum of Santa Cruz County, The University Art Museum- Cal State Long Beach, The University Art Museum, San Bernardino, and San Francisco's Capp Street Project. Last year he was awarded a six-month residency in Kyoto, Japan through the NEA US/Japan Creative Artists' Fellowship.
Renunciation: A Requiem is inspired by "The Merchant and His Clever Parrot," a story by the13th century Sufi poet Rumi and incorporates a poem by Hafez, also a Sufi poet of the14th century.
Alavi has used various materials along with this text and the very architectural character of the Gallery as metaphors to investigate the nature of life and human existence. He has created a contemporary version of Plato's cave, where the viewer is asked to question the very notion of reality and freedom.
The installation utilizes all 2,500 square feet of the Gallery's exhibition area and takes advantage of the existing dividing walls to suggest and express the idea of a meandering pathway. The air is suffused with the scent of aloeswood incense and all of the walls are painted with Sumi-e ink creating a vast abstract, gestural drawing.
The entire space is lit from above by the light emanating from the words of the Hafez poem made out of neon tubing. The words to the poem hang face down at various heights from the ceiling and are legible only when the viewer looks up. The floor is covered with a thin layer of soil to record the footprints of the visitors as well as to further emphasize the concept of a passage. There are nine yellow canaries, each in their own cage, placed on black chairs and tables throughout the space.
Renunication: A Requiem seeks to explore the nature of life as well as our human existence, and more specifically the notion of absolute freedom.
Alavi uses various materials along with text and the very architectural character of the Gallery as metaphors to investigate the more subtle layers of this abstract concept called "freedom."
Renunication: A Requiem is the first exhibition in a year-long series of programs celebrating the University Art Gallery's 25th anniversary. The University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, is supported in part by its members, the Art Advocates, proceeds from the annual "Art from the Heart" benefit auction, and through grants from the Instructionally Related Activities Fund of Sonoma State University, and the SSU Academic Foundation.
For more information, call the gallery at (707) 664-2295.
CAPTION: Seyed Alavi uses the very architectural character of the Gallery, a Sufi poem and nine canaries as metaphors to investigate the nature of life and human existence.
Since the abundance of costumes are spilling into every nook and cranny of storage, the SSU costume rental studio will hold a clearance sale on Sept. 24, 25 and 26.
Everything from vintage clothing to fantasy costumes go up for sale from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on the stage at Evert B. Person Theatre. All proceeds from the sale will pay towards the costume storage warehouse monthly rental fees.
Thousands of costumes will be available for purchase. "We have too many suit jackets, band uniforms and items that are not frequently reused in theatrical productions" says Costume Director Pamela Johnson, "But the prime targets for costume hunters might be the 20-foot rack of fantasy apparel."
Most of the clothing are jackets, dress shirts, hats and shoes. Some might even be classified as retro. Some accessories, remnants of fabric and craft items will be for sale. "Everything you need to create an expressive Halloween costume," she says. Payment is by cash or check only.
Whatever is not sold by Friday will be handed over to local high school drama departments for one last round of free picking, and then sent off as a donation to the homeless.
The Center for Performing Arts has two locations at which they store their costumes for rent to the public and theatre groups. The rental of the costumes must pay for the storage space and there is need for a donation of warehouse space closer to campus, says Johnson. All donations may be made by calling (707) 664-2216.
The studio has a solid history of providing costumes for many productions in Sonoma County and the greater Bay Area.
Prominent artist and California native James Turrell will discuss his art work of light and space at 7 p.m. on Sept.16 in the Evert B. Person Theater at Sonoma State University. The talk coincides with Turrell's exhibit: "James Turrell: Light and Land," currently on display at the Sonoma Country Museum through January 4, 2004.
Turrell, who was born in Los Angeles, has been working in the medium of light, color and perception for over thirty years. His artwork explores both psychology and optical illusions, focusing on basic shapes, colors and sizes.
The goal of Turrell's artwork is to make people realize their own powers of perception. His work is open to interpretation, and also allows questions to be asked about the way that one sees the world. "I want to create an atmosphere that can be consciously plumbed with feeling, like the wordless thought that comes from a fire," he says.
In his talk at SSU, Turrell will not only address his artwork, but will also discuss the Roden Crater project, which he has been involved in for thirty years. It is Turrell's vision that this now-extinct volcano in the Arizona desert will become a monumental celestial observatory, linking man with the movements of the heavens. A tentative date for the opening of the Roden Crater Observatory has been set for 2005.
This event is co-sponsored by the Sonoma County Museum and the Department of Art and Art History at Sonoma State University. For more information or to book tickets for James Turrell's artist talk, contact the Evert B. Person Theater box office at (707) 664- 2353. Admission is $10, with a $5 discount for Sonoma County Museum members. This event is free to all SSU students and faculty.
