....Satisfaction Brought It Back

This week's blog title is the second half of the oft-repeated phrase "curiosity killed the cat" that few seem to really know.  I love it because it implies that curiosity and the satisfaction of that curiosity is a cycle.  That when we embark on a life of exploring that which we are curious about, we then will lead a life full of interesting pursuits and moments of satisfaction.  That sounds pretty incredible, doesn't it?  There is a reason that STAY CURIOUS is the motto of Honors.  In service to that and to all of our intellectual endeavors in the pursuit of satisfaction, our next Honors talk will focus on curiosity itself.  Dr. Jonathan Keiser, the FLCC Provost, has this to say about the conversation we will have...

Cultivating Curiosity: Who is going to encourage you to Stay Curious after graduation?  …you are!

Curiosity is often an overlooked and under researched personality trait in the Cognitive Sciences despite a widespread belief that it’s an important attribute for personal growth and career success. This Honors Talk will provide a brief overview of some research on curiosity and offer suggestions for developing a curious mind to support self-development, interpersonal relationships, and professional achievements.

Jonathan Keiser became interested in how be people learn and acquire knowledge while teaching Biology courses as a graduate student. He later went on to formally study learning and teaching theory and earned a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a doctoral minor in Educational Psychology from University of Minnesota. He served as a consultant to City University Hong Kong in designing and assessing discovery enriched curriculum which focused on leveraging and cultivating students’ intellectual curiosity to gain a deeper and broader understanding of discipline-specific learning outcomes across multiple fields of study. Fostering curiosity is a core tenant of his personal and professional philosophy for managing teams and leading a learning-centered organization.   

I hope that you can join us on MONDAY, 10/18 from 5:00 - 6:00 in room 2310 or via WebEx.

You can also earn an Honors point by attending an event being put on by the Social Science department the next day, Laker Day.  Some information on that event:

Meagan Sylvester is an author and senior lecturer at the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies in Trinidad and Tobago. She will give a virtual talk on the role of music in Caribbean society, on Tuesday, Oct. 19, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. via this link.

Sylvester’s research topics include music and national identity in Calypso and Soca and music and human rights in the Americas. Her talk is titled “People Power Movements in Caribbean Festival Culture: The Calypso Experience.”

The event is part of the History, Culture and Diversity series organized by Robert Brown, professor of history.

Join at this link: https://flcc.webex.com/meet/robert.brown

Hope to see you at one or both of these events!  Free T-shirts to those who come!  :)

Look...and Look Past

 

This week, on Wednesday, we have another FLCC alum coming to talk to you about some important things.  I asked her to share a short explanation of who she is and what she would talk about it and this is what she said...

Hi, I’m Jenna and I’m an alcoholic…but, I’m also a Criminal Defense Legal Assistant, a graduate of the FLCC Creative Writing Program, a sobriety and mental health advocate, a runner, a rock climber, a good friend, a respectful daughter and a supportive sister. Let’s talk about how all of that is possible while the first fact will forever be true!

In just these few sentences, we have such a powerful statement.  Most of society, and perhaps you yourself, would focus on the phrase "I'm an alcoholic" and perhaps not pay attention to the rest of it.  But there is so much here.  These labels we attach to people - like the week we talked about mental health - can sometimes be overly limited.  They can focus too much on one thing to the exclusion of everything else.  Jenna, like Laura from a couple of weeks ago, is more than just that short phrase.  She has accomplished so much in her life and we cannot look at her and just see that one word.  Alcoholism - like any addiction - is a disease.  We need to acknowledge that and we need to treat it just like we treat any other disease.  

We also need to not reduce those who suffer from it to JUST that.  Jenna may not look like what you think of when you see the word 'alcoholic' and that is yet another reminder that we have to fight the urge to judge others and to make assumptions about who they are based on the labels they may carry.  She is not just her disease.

I invite you to come see her.  REALLY see her.  Listen to her.  And maybe we can all learn something about addiction, sobriety, and strengthen our own life and choices.

Wednesday, 10/13

5:00 - 6:00

Room 2310

Or via WebEx.

Where Three Roads Began...

Good evening, friends…

How many of you are earning your degree in Liberals Arts?  Do you know what you are going to do afterwards?  Go into the work force?  Go onto to a four-year university or college?  Don’t know yet?  Well, have we got a talk for you, then.  Come virtually or in person on Friday, from 5:00 – 6:00 to listen to three speakers talk about how they walked the very path you are on.

Let’s face it, a Liberal Arts Degree from a Community College is sometimes a catch-all for students who aren’t quite sure what career they want to pursue.  For others, it’s a way to complete general education requirements before continuing on to a four-year institution (and beyond) for more focused study.  Regardless of why a Liberal Arts degree is chosen, the path from that degree to a job and a career is sometimes a meandering one and sometimes leads in unexpected directions.  Join three alumni of FLCC as they talk about the choices they made and the places it led, and is still leading, them.

Cheyenne works as a social services assistant at the VA and lives in Geneva.  She has done various things in between her graduation and her current position.  Jeff is an instructional designer at FLCC.  After earning his liberal arts degree here, he went on to get his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Buffalo State.  He currently lives in Fairport with his family.  Mandi Brown is currently a Technology Clerk for the Launch Pad at Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.  She, too, has done a number of other things between graduating and what she does now.  She currently lives in Buffalo.

All of these are valuable, valid, and worthwhile uses of an Associates degree and perfectly acceptable ways of being in the world.  And they are worth hearing about, too.

So, join us!  T-shirts available for all FLCC students who attend!  (Will be mailed to those who attend virtually).

Three very different people.

Three very different journeys.

Three very different results.

Date:  Friday, 8 October 2021

Time:  5:00 - 6:00

Location:  2310 or WebEx

Save your spoons...First Honors Talk, Fall 2021

 

...Honors Talk Series...

"Mental Wellness When the Rest of the World Doesn't Seem to Care"

Speaker:  Laura Johnson, FLCC Book Nook

Even in the best of times, there are those among us who struggle with mental health and wellness.  And you might be one of those people.  Add to this the idea that we are, and have been, living in some difficult times.  What we end up with is the raw fact that many of us are looking about for support, for coping mechanisms, for answers, and for acceptance.  Too often the world seems unable or unwilling to give those things.

I consider myself a fairly happy person, but there are times when I really struggle to understand why I feel the way I do or what I can do about it when I am feeling less than my best self and I have no idea why.  I have chronic pain, so I somewhat understand things that are hard to explain to others (and sometimes to ourselves) because others can’t see them.

I struggle with it, and yet I know that it doesn’t come close to how someone who suffers from depression must feel.  I want to be better equipped to help myself when I need to so that I can better support those around me who need me to be a good advocate for them and, so I can understand, so I can be a reliable member of their support network.  Even when times are dark or hard or a struggle, we need to know that we are not alone and we need to find ways to help ourselves and each other. 

Because we all know that sometimes it feels like the world doesn’t understand us, doesn’t see us, and has no idea how to help us or even that we need help.  Often, we are right.

Like my own chronic pain, mental un-wellness is often an invisible struggle and as a society we aren’t often terribly good at understanding things we can’t see.  Broken bones we understand.  A cut arm we understand.  Colds and headaches we understand.  But mental health?  That one is hard.  Not only is it often invisible, but it manifests itself in ways that seem ‘easy’ to fix for those who aren’t suffering from it.  Just go outside.  Just talk to more people and make friends. Get more sun.  You have no reason to be unhappy, so cheer up.  Just do the thing.

Have you tried not having the flu?

That’s what it seems like these sorts of suggestions or statements are saying.  None of them acknowledge the difficulty or uselessness of doing any of those things if the problem is beyond our personal control.  If you just. Can’t.  Some call this not having enough spoons.  Some call it having demons.  Some use the official names from the DSM-V.  Some make jokes about it. Some just smile and say they are okay because they are so tired of trying to explain.  And some don’t call it anything at all, because why bother?

But we HAVE to bother.  All of us together.  And that means talking about it.  So, we are gathering to do just that.  Laura Johnson knows these things all too well and she will share her thoughts with us and guide us in discussion.

Wednesday, 9/29, 5:00 – 6:00

Room 2310 with masks on (capacity 24)

Or come remotely via Webex.

Speaker:  Laura Johnson, FLCC Book Nook

 

We Need to Talk About Mental Health

Let the Talks Begin!

Happy Week Four, friends!

I am excited to announce that we are officially beginning the Honors Talk Series (HTS) for Fall 2021.  Our first speaker is Laura Johnson, who works in the bookstore as a store manager.  She has this to say about who she is and what she is calling us together to talk about:

Laura Johnson is a second-generation collegiate retail professional with an addiction to subsistence living. After living through a lifetime’s worth of experiences in mental illness, disability services, alcohol and drug addiction, marriage, divorce, love and heartache, the laugh and worry lines are well earned. Subsistence living and homesteading is a passion that maintains her sanity, as well as a healthy dose of therapy and healthy respect for medication.  Never one to let a living thing suffer, she named her homestead after the oddities and misfits: “Off Center Acres- Redefining normal, one living creature at a time.”

We hear time and time again that mental health is increasingly important and yet, there seems to be no shifts in how we operate to treat those suffering from mental illnesses. Society still operates as if mental health is somehow “other” from physical illness. This talk is to reinforce mechanisms to protect our mental health and reinforce our right to prioritize our mental health as part of our overall healthy lifestyle.

I don’t think I can convey how much I love this.  So many suffer from mental health challenges and they are too often overlooked, judged, disbelieved, or otherwise silenced.  This needs to stop.  We have to support those who struggle with issues relating to mental health, just as we support those with physical challenges.  Come engage in this conversation with us.

All are welcome – whether you have your own mental health challenges or you simply want to hear the conversation and brainstorm ways we can support those in our lives who face these obstacles.  Mental health should never stop someone from living their fullest life and we should never reduce someone to just their diagnoses.  Let’s have this conversation together; you are not alone.

You can attend this talk virtually or join us in a classroom on the FLCC campus.  Here is what you need to know:

Talk Title:  “Mental Wellness When the Rest of the World Doesn’t Value It”

Date:  Wednesday, 29 September 2021

Time:  5:00 – 6:00

Room:  2310 (24 person capacity, masks required)

WebEx Link

(email me if you need more information or other WebEx login info)

Come Chatterbox with Us....

Hello and well met, friends!

I am excited to have just completed the second week of the semester and beginning the third.  We still seem to be holding healthy and though there’s a flurry of activity around testing, vaccinations, and uploading paperwork, there is also a steady focus on learning and getting back into the swing of education in an actual classroom.  I hope that you are finding the transition a relatively painless one though I suspect that many of you, like me, are finding it remarkably exhausting as well.  It’s okay to be tired and a little overwhelmed.  Hopefully things are going to settle down for us all and we will forge ahead with a semester of good learning and good experiences at FLCC.

I’m pleased to announce that we will be continuing the Honors Talk Series this semester, with an added twist!  Since we are now back on campus, I’m happy to say that our talks can now be a mixture of in-person and virtual.  FLCC has these amazing classrooms that are fitted to serve students who are remote as well as ones sitting in the room so I think that is a perfect way for us to have these talks.  This allows you to choose each time; you can come to an actual room with the speakers and hang out with others (masked, of course!) or log in from the comfort of your car, home, or wherever else.  Either option will allow you to participate in any discussion, ask questions, and be present in real time.  So far, this is what we are working on...

• “Cultivating Curiosity” with Dr. Jonathan Keiser, Provost of FLCC
• “What I Did With My Liberal Arts Degree” with three FLCC alumni: Mandi Brown (’09), Jeff Dugan (’12), and Cheyenne Wilke (’15)
• "Exploring Science in Our World" with John Bateman, Assistant Professor in Conservation
• “Marketing and Selling Your Art” with Sara Jackson (’12)
• “Tales from the West Coast” with Riot Games narrative writer Ro Williams
• “Wooly to Wearable, the Joy of Sheep Keeping” with Lydia Garofalo (’21)
• "Cultural Competency and Cultural Humility" with Nasim Sarvaiya, Assistant Professor of Social Science
• "Inhumane Humanitarianism" with Jade Myers (’12)
• "Addiction and Navigating Sobriety" with Jenna Williams (’20)
• "Mental Wellness in a World that Doesn't Value It" with Laura Johnson, Bookstore Director at FLCC

I think this is an AMAZING list and I hope there is something on here that you find interesting.  We will have dates and descriptions coming soon, so keep your eyes open.

You may have also noticed, if you are enrolled in an FLCC Honors class this semester, that you are now getting emails from me.  I hope this will help us to communicate more smoothly.  We also have Facebook and I am in the process of setting up a Discord for Honors.  Let me know if you want to be part of this project.  Perhaps you even want to help resurrect the Honors Club at FLCC?  There are so many ways to get involved and I hope that you will find your place at FLCC and in FLCC Honors. 

Half a face is better than no face...

 

Happy new semester one and all!

Whether you are brand new, returning, or returning after a time away, welcome!  I am so excited to be back in my office, hearing the chatter of voices in the hallway.  They may be muffled by masks, but they are there.  The halls and classrooms across campus have life and energy again and that feels amazing.  We aren’t out of the woods yet, of course.  We have some work to do to ensure the health of everyone around us, but we are making strides towards a world with less COVID in it.  And that’s not a bad thing.

It’s been an interesting ride, hasn’t it?  Strides are being made, but we have also seen politics and fear get in the way of the greater good.  It’s troubling to see, but I hope you know that SUNY and FLCC and Honors are doing what we can to bring folks back and to keep them healthy while here.  So, keep your mask on, keep your distance when you can and when you smile?  Well, make sure it reaches your eyes – that way we can all see it even with the mask on!

And maybe you aren't on campus much and are taking online classes or remote ones or hyflex ones.  It doesn't really matter what format your classes take.  What matters is that you are here and that you are ready to learn.  It's the start of a new semester - we are still in summer weather, but we know those chill days are coming.  We know some of what lies ahead, but there is always the unknown, too.  Find excitement in these early days of the semester.  Think about all the friends and acquaintances you will make, the things you will learn, the strides you will make towards reaching your goals.  We are glad you are here...in whatever form that 'here' takes.

I wish you all the very best in the days and months ahead.  We have a small number of Honors classes this semester – in English, science, and sociology.  We hope to have more in the future, but we have struggled in the pandemic, like everyone else.  That Honors feeling is hard to capture when we cannot share the same space.  We did a good job with what we had, but being in the same space for as long as we can will make a huge difference and I am so glad you're going to be a part of it.

So, stay healthy, get good sleep and good nutrition, stay tuned for Honors events you can attend in person or virtually, and, of course, STAY CURIOUS!

Best,

-T