Editor's Note, December 2004
Elizabeth Haller
PhD Student and Instructor, Kent State University
E-mail: editoraee@hotmail.com
Well, we are in the midst of the holidays, which coincide with the midst of great stress, for some. I hope you all have your holiday shopping at least close to complete (ha, ha). Personally and academically, I truly love this time of year.
Personally: I love the bright, colorful lights; the cheerful, and sometimes somber, music--I'm a sucker for the rich holiday melodies of Crosby, Sinatra, Mathis, and Williams; the resonating sound of bells; and the look of wonder in a child's eyes as he or she takes in every sight and sound. It is a beautiful time to be out and about, enjoying the beauty that is the holiday season.
Academically: it is a winding down time; a time when students and teachers alike feel the stress of finals but also the joy that they've made it through another semester. It is at this time of year that I love to play a trick on my students; all in the name of fun. On the second to last class meeting of the week prior to finals, I inform my students that the next class session will entail a short writing assignment that cannot be made up if missed. When they arrive to class, they see that I have requested a TV and DVD player be sent to the room (or, if I am fortunate enough to have a mediated classroom, they arrive to find that the screen is prepared for something visual). I tell them they will be watching a movie, at the end of which I will provide the writing prompt regarding what they watched. Once they are settled, I start the movie: "A Charlie Brown Christmas." I can feel the stress level lower in the room immediately as I look around at what initially appear to be looks of confusion melded into looks of sheer delight followed by sounds of, "Oh, cool ... Sweet ... Right on." Once the movie is over, I provide the writing prompt: fill out your holiday wish list. Smiles abound as I pass out candy canes to all. It is my way of spreading a bit of holiday cheer and easing the tension that permeates the week prior to finals. Someone's got to do it, right?
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
As always, enjoy this issue's submissions, and as you do, consider offering us a piece of your work for publication. We invite your continued perusal and encourage you to submit articles, poetry, and fiction for consideration in future issues of AEE. Please review our Call for Papers on this site for more details on submission requirements. If you are unsure whether your contribution would be suitable under the terms of our Call for Papers, please send along an inquiry, and I will be happy to respond forthwith. do not forget to check out Grist for the Mill for possible submission ideas.
A reminder that if you are interested in joining our editorial staff, positions are available. Please e-mail me for more details.
Lynne Fukuda returns with another entry for her monthly column, "The View From Here." Her focus this month is the hula. According to Fukuda:
"Hula is an art form as well as a dance. It can be personal and religious. To those who grew up during the Hawaiian Cultural Revival, it was an art form that was reborn. It arose from the underground during the prohibition years, practiced in secret with its meanings, poetry, and movements preserved with love and pride. It was a precious gift from the ancestors to a people who were lost for a time, and found themselves. The cultural movement of the native Hawaiians is similar to that of the native Americans. As a people who were forgotten and enculturated into the Western culture, there was a lot of pain. But even suffering and pain brings forth regrowth and better things.
Hula is a gift from the gods of Hawaii to its people, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian. It is my own Christmas gift to be enjoyed every day of my life. As I dance it, beginner that I am, the past centuries come back to me, and I am able to envision another time. Like many native dances, the dancer is connected with the land of his origin. And, like all true gifts, it also gives back to the giver, who feels satisfaction from the simple act of giving. Have a Merry Christmas, dear Readers."
Charlie Balch's "Learning and Loss" is the first featured article of this edition. Balch's article discusses the "sense of loss and frustration that learners experience [which is] an often overlooked part of the learning process. For many, the sense of loss experienced when understandings change is equivalent to death and just as scary."
Elie Antopol's "Mountain Woman" is our first featured story of this issue: "Abandoning her career as studio art teacher at a Boston college and ending an unsatisfactory long-term relationship with Leonard, Eudora Horton purchases and renovates a barn in the Adirondack mountains as residence and a studio for her own work. After a period of loneliness and celibacy she meets a much younger man from the locality and contemplates the risks and pleasures of this new relationship."
Our second featured story is Carol Fletcher's "Revision's," where "a journalism professor learns first-hand the limits of reporting."
S. Purcell Woodard is the sole contributor to this month's Poet's Corner with his poem titled "The Comeback." According to Woodard, "this poem centers on themes of tension and connection, purposefully blending art, science, and common interactions. Multiple readings result in a playful shifting of the speakers and their dispositions, emphasizing the fluidity of relationships (i.e., chemistry) in our everyday lived experience."
ENJOY, AND SEASONS GREETINGS!
Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.
- Web Editor
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