Continuing with our discussion of using the senses to teach history, we were assigned a project in which we would create a soundscape, relating to some area of local interest. Of course, being the Duke fan that I am, I chose to use the Duke/UNC rivalry as the basis for my soundscape. I am attempting to inform people about the rivalry through sound alone. It was a fun project. Anyone who loves basketball knows that there are a great deal of sounds associated with the sport, and especially Duke and Carolina. These two teams have a long history and have created a very unique culture in North Carolina. I hope you all enjoy this brief history lesson, and I hope it gets you all excited for this upcoming basketball season. It did me!
Well, its not giving me and option to upload my soundscape, so until then you can just imagine what it would sound like....sorry!
The first clip is one that I found on Youtube of Bob Harris giving the play-by-play of the famous Christian Leattner shot vs. Kentucky in the regional finals of the NCAA tournament in 1992. Bob Harris is the voice of the Duke Radio network, and has become quite the historic figure himself, following the Blue Devils to all 4 NCAA titles. The second clip is one that I recorded of the Cameron Crazies doing one of their famous chants at a basketball game (You can hear me in the background!). The third clip is another clip I found on Youtube about the rivalry between Duke and UNC. This is the longest clip and you hear from players of both teams, as well as Dick Vitale, who we know gets a little too excited about the big game! This is followed by the Carolina Fight Song (I had to be fair!), and then a sound clip of my brother shooting around in our church gym. Hope you enjoy!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Historical Senses
For an assignment in one of my graduate classes at NC State, we were assigned to read several articles about the senses in relation to history. We all know the 5 senses: touching, smelling, hearing, seeing, tasting. We probably learned these many years ago in elementary school, and some of us may have even learned a song to help us remember them. I have never thought about the deeper use of the senses in history. Its just not something that was ever mentioned in any of my history courses. I guess it is just understood that we use our senses to make judgements and analyze situations. The readings were very interesting, and I would like to post several things that caught my attention while reading.
First, in James Cook's essay titled, Seeing the Visual in U.S. History, I was struck by his use of Mark Smith's quote that, "We have lost sight of other ways to understand beyond vision." Again, I have never given these ideas much thought, but he is completely right. We neglect so many of our other senses, and rely solely on our sight to make judgements, assumptions, and gain knowledge about people or places. Why is this? I guess because it is the easiest sense to put to use, and we use our sight 24/7. I guess this is one situation where being blind may give us a higher understanding of a situation, because people who are blind are forced to rely on their other senses. Ocularcentrism, vision being the primary sense, can be a problem when analyzing or describing historical events. Though vision is our primary way of taking in information, and providing information to others, we need to try to incorporate all senses into history, so that we get a more well-rounded, and full understanding of people, places, and events.
In Mark Smith's essay, "Getting in Touch with Slavery and Freedom" it surprised me when he states that not much is written about touch, and that many scholars see the non-visual senses as "unreliable or irrelevant." I cannot believe that people would consider touch to be unreliable. Our eyes can sometimes play tricks on us, but touch allows us to have a personal encounter with whatever it is we are seeing. Recently, my family went on a cruise to the Bahamas and I had the opportunity to go to Atlantis and swim with the dolphins (a highly recommended experience). I have never had an encounter with a dolphin before, but the thing I remember most is how soft they felt. I had imagined that they would feel like most other fish or sea life, slick or slimy, but they had the softest skin, It felt almost like velvet. This is one instance where touch became a primary sense for me. And in describing my experience, now and in the future, I will always mention how they felt. In reading Smith's essay, I had no idea the extent to which touch was used to understand slaves and slaveholders in the antebellum period. It was intriguing to read about how touch was used to evaluate character and status. It makes sense, hard labor would lead to hard, calloused skin, and many slaves were subject to hard labor and harsh living conditions. They would often have blisters after long days of work. Some historians have the opposite view, stating that Africans were genetically conditioned to withstand these kinds of conditions, but white people were the ones who ended up with the blistered hands. Slave buyers would even run their hands over the slaves at the market, to see if they were fit enough for work. This essay was very interesting to me, because touch is not one the senses I usually rely on.
The other 3 articles were interesting as well, and I had to go grab a bite to eat after reading the one on taste. It takes a special skill to write in ways that evoke taste, but there are many who apparently can! As the author suggests, understanding taste can help us understand a great deal about past generations and people groups. The same goes for Connie Chiang's essay on smell. Smell's can help the reader more fuller understand a time in history. Like the author suggests, there was a time when the smell of manure was a very common smell, or the smell of garbage or sewage in major cities. Smell helps us understand "historical change", as Chiang suggests. Even recent events, such as Hurricane Katrina can be better understood by using our sense of smell. Hearing is one sense that I can more easily relate too. I was a bluegrass minor at ETSU and took many music classes including the history of country music and American folk music. The sounds of the past, especially in music, can teach us a great deal about different eras in time and about the struggles people faced throughout history. It can also teach us a lot about how music has evolved and changed over the years, and how different cultures come together to create a unique sound, like bluegrass!
Senses can play a major role in helping us gain a deeper understanding of past and present events. Now that I am more aware of the roles my senses play, I think I will start using them a little more when attempting to understand the past.
I didn't realize until last night that there was a specific question we were to answer, so this is an edit to the original post.
I just realized we were supposed to answer a specific question for this post, so I will answer now! As far as how to study topics from the perspective the the five senses, I believe this helps the students have a better overall understand of an event, and in a way places them in the event where they can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch the pieces that make the event whole. For example, if you use images and sounds, describe the smells, and the use of touch in historical events, such as the Holocaust, the students will get a better feeling of the event, and may be able to relate with what the people experiencing the event were feeling. The senses put us in a real place in which we can not only learn about something, but experience it to an extent.
As a follow up on this post, I believe it can be quite difficult to use the senses in instruction because of the amount of material that is to be covered in a short period of time. It would really add to the classroom experience to use these creative ways to engage students in the material. Using the senses to introduce the students to a topic, and to expand their knowledge can help them retain the information. I believe it also helps them understand how others may or may not have felt in a situation. The senses can play a major role in understanding material, you just have to know when and how to use them.
First, in James Cook's essay titled, Seeing the Visual in U.S. History, I was struck by his use of Mark Smith's quote that, "We have lost sight of other ways to understand beyond vision." Again, I have never given these ideas much thought, but he is completely right. We neglect so many of our other senses, and rely solely on our sight to make judgements, assumptions, and gain knowledge about people or places. Why is this? I guess because it is the easiest sense to put to use, and we use our sight 24/7. I guess this is one situation where being blind may give us a higher understanding of a situation, because people who are blind are forced to rely on their other senses. Ocularcentrism, vision being the primary sense, can be a problem when analyzing or describing historical events. Though vision is our primary way of taking in information, and providing information to others, we need to try to incorporate all senses into history, so that we get a more well-rounded, and full understanding of people, places, and events.
In Mark Smith's essay, "Getting in Touch with Slavery and Freedom" it surprised me when he states that not much is written about touch, and that many scholars see the non-visual senses as "unreliable or irrelevant." I cannot believe that people would consider touch to be unreliable. Our eyes can sometimes play tricks on us, but touch allows us to have a personal encounter with whatever it is we are seeing. Recently, my family went on a cruise to the Bahamas and I had the opportunity to go to Atlantis and swim with the dolphins (a highly recommended experience). I have never had an encounter with a dolphin before, but the thing I remember most is how soft they felt. I had imagined that they would feel like most other fish or sea life, slick or slimy, but they had the softest skin, It felt almost like velvet. This is one instance where touch became a primary sense for me. And in describing my experience, now and in the future, I will always mention how they felt. In reading Smith's essay, I had no idea the extent to which touch was used to understand slaves and slaveholders in the antebellum period. It was intriguing to read about how touch was used to evaluate character and status. It makes sense, hard labor would lead to hard, calloused skin, and many slaves were subject to hard labor and harsh living conditions. They would often have blisters after long days of work. Some historians have the opposite view, stating that Africans were genetically conditioned to withstand these kinds of conditions, but white people were the ones who ended up with the blistered hands. Slave buyers would even run their hands over the slaves at the market, to see if they were fit enough for work. This essay was very interesting to me, because touch is not one the senses I usually rely on.
The other 3 articles were interesting as well, and I had to go grab a bite to eat after reading the one on taste. It takes a special skill to write in ways that evoke taste, but there are many who apparently can! As the author suggests, understanding taste can help us understand a great deal about past generations and people groups. The same goes for Connie Chiang's essay on smell. Smell's can help the reader more fuller understand a time in history. Like the author suggests, there was a time when the smell of manure was a very common smell, or the smell of garbage or sewage in major cities. Smell helps us understand "historical change", as Chiang suggests. Even recent events, such as Hurricane Katrina can be better understood by using our sense of smell. Hearing is one sense that I can more easily relate too. I was a bluegrass minor at ETSU and took many music classes including the history of country music and American folk music. The sounds of the past, especially in music, can teach us a great deal about different eras in time and about the struggles people faced throughout history. It can also teach us a lot about how music has evolved and changed over the years, and how different cultures come together to create a unique sound, like bluegrass!
Senses can play a major role in helping us gain a deeper understanding of past and present events. Now that I am more aware of the roles my senses play, I think I will start using them a little more when attempting to understand the past.
I didn't realize until last night that there was a specific question we were to answer, so this is an edit to the original post.
I just realized we were supposed to answer a specific question for this post, so I will answer now! As far as how to study topics from the perspective the the five senses, I believe this helps the students have a better overall understand of an event, and in a way places them in the event where they can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch the pieces that make the event whole. For example, if you use images and sounds, describe the smells, and the use of touch in historical events, such as the Holocaust, the students will get a better feeling of the event, and may be able to relate with what the people experiencing the event were feeling. The senses put us in a real place in which we can not only learn about something, but experience it to an extent.
As a follow up on this post, I believe it can be quite difficult to use the senses in instruction because of the amount of material that is to be covered in a short period of time. It would really add to the classroom experience to use these creative ways to engage students in the material. Using the senses to introduce the students to a topic, and to expand their knowledge can help them retain the information. I believe it also helps them understand how others may or may not have felt in a situation. The senses can play a major role in understanding material, you just have to know when and how to use them.
It's been awhile...
Well, it has been quite some time since I have posted on here! I have been super busy, as I just graduated from ETSU in May and am now a graduate student at NC State. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity, and I cannot wait to finish in another year and finally be a teacher!! I am going to be using this blog some for school assignments. I will try to post about other events in my life, but until then...enjoy the randomness!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A little weary...
We only have about a week and a half left here in Vancouver! I know we all have mixed feelings about returning home because we feel like there is SO much work left to be done, but we know that God has been working before us, and that he will continue working after us in the lives of the people here. We are seeing God working in many lives, and it has been such an encouraging and rewarding experience.
We are growing a little tired, and some days it is hard to find the strength to keep going. We have been very burdened by many experiences while here, and it is finally starting to take a toll. However, I was reminded the other day of the comforting words of our Father, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Mathew 11:28-30. Our team will lean on these words for our last days here. We know that through God we can find the strength to keep going, and that God will give us peace and comfort when we leave on the 26th. We will leave knowing that our God is greater, and stronger, and that His work here will never stop. So many seeds have been planted, and the harvest is ripening here in Vancouver. I have faith that the Lord of the harvest will continue to work, and that He will call more workers here, and one day the harvest will be plentiful and the Kingdom will be expanded! I can't wait for that day!
Please be praying for all of the people we have met, especially our friend Vicky who is warming up to the Gospel. We met a guy named Alvin, and his friends, Sam and Iman, at UBC last week and we had a great opportunity to share a little with him the other day. He is an atheist, but very open to discussing Christianity, so please be praying for him. Please be praying for Shiraz, Romina, Andrew, Peter, and all of the other families we have been able to connect with at SFU. Pray for The Point, as they will continue to reach out to these people after we leave. Pray for the pastors we have been working with, that they will be encouraged and given the strength to continue their work. Also, pray for us to receive the strength and energy we need to finish up our time here. Thanks for the support and encouragement, and especially the prayers!
We are growing a little tired, and some days it is hard to find the strength to keep going. We have been very burdened by many experiences while here, and it is finally starting to take a toll. However, I was reminded the other day of the comforting words of our Father, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Mathew 11:28-30. Our team will lean on these words for our last days here. We know that through God we can find the strength to keep going, and that God will give us peace and comfort when we leave on the 26th. We will leave knowing that our God is greater, and stronger, and that His work here will never stop. So many seeds have been planted, and the harvest is ripening here in Vancouver. I have faith that the Lord of the harvest will continue to work, and that He will call more workers here, and one day the harvest will be plentiful and the Kingdom will be expanded! I can't wait for that day!
Please be praying for all of the people we have met, especially our friend Vicky who is warming up to the Gospel. We met a guy named Alvin, and his friends, Sam and Iman, at UBC last week and we had a great opportunity to share a little with him the other day. He is an atheist, but very open to discussing Christianity, so please be praying for him. Please be praying for Shiraz, Romina, Andrew, Peter, and all of the other families we have been able to connect with at SFU. Pray for The Point, as they will continue to reach out to these people after we leave. Pray for the pastors we have been working with, that they will be encouraged and given the strength to continue their work. Also, pray for us to receive the strength and energy we need to finish up our time here. Thanks for the support and encouragement, and especially the prayers!
Monday, July 5, 2010
An Amazing Week!
Hey Guys! This past week was the busiest, longest, fastest, most tiresome week thus far, but it was AMAZING!!! We helped The Point church with a 3 day festival on Burnaby mountain with the help of a great team from Georgia. We were able to serve the community, most of whom are nonbelievers with no religious background whatsoever. We made some really good connections, and hope to build upon those relationships in the coming weeks. We have prayed constantly for God to make us bold and courageous, and for him to open up opportunities for us to share, and He has done just that. We serve an amazing God who is always faithful!
We were able to squeeze in a little fun as well! A team from Georgia came to help us out during the festival, and they were amazing. Thursday, Canada Day, after all the festivities were over we went with the Georgia team, and Vicky (read below) downtown to see the fireworks. We were able to see the Olympic torch as well, which was amazing! We had a great time of fellowship, and it was the perfect way to wind down an amazing week. I will post some pictures of what we have done so far in Vancouver.
We do have a few prayer requests:
1. Pray that we will continue to be bold and courageous for the sake of the Gospel.
2. Pray that though we may be ridiculed, or rejected that we would rejoice in our suffering because it is for the sake of Christ's name.
3. Pray for Vicky, a Chinese girl we met during the festival. She is no a Christian, and has no religious background, but she is very curious and asking a lot of questions. We have spent some time with her, and are going to spend more time with her this week. Pray that God will guide us, and work through us as we continue to invest in her, and build our friendship.
4. Pray for Shiraz, an older Indian man who we met at the grocery store. We made a great connection with him, and he loves to talk and ask questions. Pray that we can spend more time getting to know him, and that God will open up opportunities for us to share.
5. Pray for Alvin, a Chinese guy we met at UBC today. He was very friendly, and we spent some time talking to him. We are going to invite him to go to the beach with us on Friday, so pray for God's hand in that as well.
6. Finally, pray for all the contacts we made at the Festival this past week. There were 17 people who do not go to church, and are probably nonbelievers who wanted more information about The Point, and what they are doing in the community. We are going to have a Follow-up Fiesta tomorrow night to call the families who wanted to know more.
Thanks for the prayers, and support. I love you all =)
We were able to squeeze in a little fun as well! A team from Georgia came to help us out during the festival, and they were amazing. Thursday, Canada Day, after all the festivities were over we went with the Georgia team, and Vicky (read below) downtown to see the fireworks. We were able to see the Olympic torch as well, which was amazing! We had a great time of fellowship, and it was the perfect way to wind down an amazing week. I will post some pictures of what we have done so far in Vancouver.
We do have a few prayer requests:
1. Pray that we will continue to be bold and courageous for the sake of the Gospel.
2. Pray that though we may be ridiculed, or rejected that we would rejoice in our suffering because it is for the sake of Christ's name.
3. Pray for Vicky, a Chinese girl we met during the festival. She is no a Christian, and has no religious background, but she is very curious and asking a lot of questions. We have spent some time with her, and are going to spend more time with her this week. Pray that God will guide us, and work through us as we continue to invest in her, and build our friendship.
4. Pray for Shiraz, an older Indian man who we met at the grocery store. We made a great connection with him, and he loves to talk and ask questions. Pray that we can spend more time getting to know him, and that God will open up opportunities for us to share.
5. Pray for Alvin, a Chinese guy we met at UBC today. He was very friendly, and we spent some time talking to him. We are going to invite him to go to the beach with us on Friday, so pray for God's hand in that as well.
6. Finally, pray for all the contacts we made at the Festival this past week. There were 17 people who do not go to church, and are probably nonbelievers who wanted more information about The Point, and what they are doing in the community. We are going to have a Follow-up Fiesta tomorrow night to call the families who wanted to know more.
Thanks for the prayers, and support. I love you all =)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
First Week Down!
Well, we finished our first official week of ministry, and though it was a little difficult and frustrating at times, God always knew when we needed encouragement, and he would put someone or something in our path to do just that! He is really working in Vancouver, and it is so obvious to our entire team. The type of ministry we are doing here is very difficult! It is a lot of trial and error, and just letting God lead us when we don't know what to do. This week we have seen God work in so many situations, and it is a sweet reminder that He will never leave our side even during the most difficult times.
We have done so much this week, a week where we didn't know if we were going to have plans from day to day, but God provided opportunities for us to share his love with the people of Vancouver. We are working on two college campuses (UBC and SFU) and it is very difficult to reach the students because they live in such a dark, lost place. Just to give you an idea, there is a huge sign up on the SFU campus that says "There is probably no God, so stop worrying and just live your life". We prayed for God to reveal to us just how dark, and lost this place is, and he is doing that more and more every day. As hard as it is to see, we needed to be broken. We need to see how desperate these people are for the gospel, so we can be more bold in reaching them. We passed out waters to the students at SFU the other day, and invited them to a Potluck/Lifegroup meeting that happens every week at the park near campus. Before we even started passing out the waters, we met a man in line at the grocery store who was a little curious as to why we were buying all of their cold water, and we started a conversation with him. We invited him to the event later that evening, and he showed up!!!! He was an old Indian man, and was very passionate about his poetry, and he brought plenty of copies along for everyone to read. We were able to build a relationship with him that evening over a game of frisbee, and he asked a lot of questions about Christianity, and the church. We hope that we can continue to build on that relationship over the next few weeks, so be praying for Shiraz!
We are also helping another church plant in the community where we are living, and we decided to buy a bunch of flowers, and pass them out to moms leaving the grocery store. We were unsure of how receptive people would be, but God provided us with so many opportunities to share with people, and many of them were men who we were not even giving the flowers too! It was a much needed encouragement for the team! We are going to continue to do things like that weekly here, and hope that more doors will be opened for us.
This coming week we are going to be busy! We are moving into our new place tomorrow, and have a three day festival at SFU that we will be a part of. We are also going to spend a lot of time at UBC this week, hopefully passing out free gifts to the students, and hopefully we will get a good response and an opportunity to build relationships with students on campus. Please be praying for this opportunities this week. These campuses are huge, and it is difficult to know the best ways to reach people, but we know that God will open up doors if we ask Him! Thanks for the support, and prayers =)
We have done so much this week, a week where we didn't know if we were going to have plans from day to day, but God provided opportunities for us to share his love with the people of Vancouver. We are working on two college campuses (UBC and SFU) and it is very difficult to reach the students because they live in such a dark, lost place. Just to give you an idea, there is a huge sign up on the SFU campus that says "There is probably no God, so stop worrying and just live your life". We prayed for God to reveal to us just how dark, and lost this place is, and he is doing that more and more every day. As hard as it is to see, we needed to be broken. We need to see how desperate these people are for the gospel, so we can be more bold in reaching them. We passed out waters to the students at SFU the other day, and invited them to a Potluck/Lifegroup meeting that happens every week at the park near campus. Before we even started passing out the waters, we met a man in line at the grocery store who was a little curious as to why we were buying all of their cold water, and we started a conversation with him. We invited him to the event later that evening, and he showed up!!!! He was an old Indian man, and was very passionate about his poetry, and he brought plenty of copies along for everyone to read. We were able to build a relationship with him that evening over a game of frisbee, and he asked a lot of questions about Christianity, and the church. We hope that we can continue to build on that relationship over the next few weeks, so be praying for Shiraz!
We are also helping another church plant in the community where we are living, and we decided to buy a bunch of flowers, and pass them out to moms leaving the grocery store. We were unsure of how receptive people would be, but God provided us with so many opportunities to share with people, and many of them were men who we were not even giving the flowers too! It was a much needed encouragement for the team! We are going to continue to do things like that weekly here, and hope that more doors will be opened for us.
This coming week we are going to be busy! We are moving into our new place tomorrow, and have a three day festival at SFU that we will be a part of. We are also going to spend a lot of time at UBC this week, hopefully passing out free gifts to the students, and hopefully we will get a good response and an opportunity to build relationships with students on campus. Please be praying for this opportunities this week. These campuses are huge, and it is difficult to know the best ways to reach people, but we know that God will open up doors if we ask Him! Thanks for the support, and prayers =)
Monday, June 21, 2010
First Official Week of Ministry
We are heading into our first official week of ministry! We were a little worried at first, because now that orientation is over, we are all on our own! It is up to us to make our daily plans and decide the best ways in which to serve the people here, and help the church planters in Vancouver. There is so much opportunity for ministry here, and we are certain that God will guide us in all that we do. We are planning on spending a couple of days each week on the campus of Simon Fraser and the University of British Columbia, where two churches have been started or are in the process. There is also a church plant that is in the baby stages, and we want to encourage their ministry as well. We are going to spend time meeting students, and serving them in various ways hoping that God will open up doors for us to share. We are also planning on passing out gift bags with a few necessities we take for granted, such as food and water, to many of the homeless who congregate around East Hastings Street downtown. Please pray that God will open up opportunities for us to share with them a message of hope that is only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Also please pray that we will be able to fill up our schedule every week, but that we will also have time to rest, rejuvenate, and grow together as a team. We are all excited about what God is going to do in this city, and what he will continue to do even after we are gone. Thanks for the prayers!
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