Reunion!

Hello, everyone. I hope you all have had a nice break before the semester begins again. Kristin and I have put our heads together and decided upon kickball and pizza for our reunion. Get psyched! I'm thinking we should do this on a Sunday, since some of you poor souls have Saturday classes. Do you all want to do this the first Sunday after classes start or the second: 13th or 20th? Let me know. Also, how do you feel about 2:00 p.m.?

Get your game face on!

Crazy Sand

Hey all. A friend of mine showed me this, and I thought it may interest you because of the interesting creation/ visual aspect. Continue blogging :)
-Kristin

http://www.wimp.com/crazysand/

8/12/09 Poke'mon

Most of us know about the cartoon Poke'mon. The Poke'mon used to come out of a little ball. In our own little way we all came out a little ball or "shell". How do you think you've came out of your ball and open up to people? Also if you "had to" choose wich Poke'mon you would be when you came out that ball?

Continue the smarts :P

Will anyone use the knowledge they gained in Bridge this summer so it wont diminish in the month before classes start?

August 11: Food!!

We have eaten a lot of food in this class, including donuts, cookies, and jollof rice. How is what you eat influenced by your culture? How does food represent or reinforce certain cultural values?

For example, generally, we as Americans want cheap and fast foods like hamburgers or frozen and prepared meals. What does this say about the United States?

Using what you know about other types of food and the countries that eat it, what can you infer about their culture?

8/11: Reflection

What is the most valuable thing you've learned throughout Bridge? Why?

8/10 Question 2

Our lecture this afternoon is on "fact" and "faith." How do you interpret these terms? How many different interpretations can you think of? How do these terms relate to art and the process of making art?

Final Project 08/10

So I feel like my final proeject is going to rock! I thought of all the steps and i really think it will end up to be great. Is anyone still having problems or doesnt know what they want/will to do? What do you think is so complicated about the project? If you know what you will be doing, what makes it easy?

Music

In the class, Kate allows us to listen to music when she is not lecturing. Some teacher believe that it helps people concentrate more on their assignment, others think that it is distracting and does not benefit the students grades. I agree with the first point. When I am listening to music, it kind-of isolates the background and allows me to pay attention to what I am doing more. Its just me and my music. There's no distractions such as someone talking in class, someone rustling through papers. When I am listening to music the thoughts just seem to pour out of my head, and sometime I relate what I am writing to the music that I am listening. Does anyone feel like it is better for them to study or pay attention to their assignment more, with or without music? Does it help you write papers like it does me?

College

So I was just wondering, is anyone else really excited to go to school in the city? I mean instead of going to a state school where theres really nothing to do but party, we have the opportunity to live in a place where we can do so much more and go out and adventure. What's everyones feelings on that? Who is so excited to be in the city instead of somewhere else?

In the News: 130,000 Illinois college students denied financial aid

This may be of interest to a few of you. 

Million Bones 8/05

We got introduced to a project that we have to participate in and have no say in whether we do it or not. The Million Bones project is for a really great cause but how do you really feel about it?

8/5/09 Groupie Love

Theirs so many celebrities in todays society, and theres so much hype involving them. Everybody has at least one celebrity they have a crush on. Who is the celebrity that you would consider spending the rest of life with? Why? How would they benifit your future ? Would you stay for the money or for true love?

8/4 Last 2 weeks

Next thursday is are last day in bridge. I don't know about you but i'm happy. We have been through a lot together, we have lost people and we became smaller. I still feel that we really don't know each other that well. What are you going to do to get to know each other more?

8/4/09 Futuristic

Life is full of twist and turns. As time continues to tick people get older. When people get older they tend to gain more knowledge. The future is constantly coming, and the unown can be scary. where do you see yourself in ten years? How do you see yourself living? Who are you living with? Why are you living with them. Where are you living? This should be more than one paragraph of writing class.

Drum and Bass(DnB)

July 30: Respond if you have time...

After reading some of your blog posts about your high school experiences and Bridge, I'm shocked that you all weren't excellent students in high school. What habits in the classroom have you changed? What are you doing differently? You all could have fooled me!

July 30- Success or Failure

While reading Our America, I never would imagine living like that and still being up to normal tasks like going to school, making friends or even just leaving the house. Some people assume because you were raised in a bad neighborhood, you're a bad person or if you're raised in a good neighborhood you're destined to be successful. Does anyone think that where they were raised destined them to be successful or unsuccessful? Why? Do you think if you were raised somewhere else it would have made a difference in your education, sport or personal goals?

July 30: College

There are many different types of Colleges and Universities. Lets be honest, do you think that Columbia College Chicago would have been a serious choice if you had been like a top student in your class and had the oppurtunity to go to an Ivy Leauge College. The college came to your house and told you that they wanted you to come to their college. Would you go to the college, or would you still want to come to Columbia College Chicago?

Ink July 29

Tattoos have been a part of my life for a long time. Then there are the people who go past tattoos and get body modifications such as spikes in their head, tongue splitting, eyeball tattoos, and tattooed eyeliner. How much do you think is too much? Is there even such a thing as too much?

7/29 Got Pride?

In other countries homosexuality is banned and outlawed. In Nigeria, homosexuality can be punishable by death. There has also been hate crimes toward homosexuals in the US. For most, some of our friends are homosexuals. Do you think that we as a people have to go to that extreme to keep homosexuality closested in the world?

Easy As Life - Aida

this song is Easy As Life from the musical Aida. i performed it at a solo competition at Milton HS in Milton, WI and placed 5th out of 35 contestants. This is shot at the showchoir show "After Dark 2009"

Helping Hand - July 28

I watched Black in America 2, where Chris Rock’s wife took a group of New York youth to Africa. The kids came from bad neighborhoods with violence and some of them struggled within their homes, as far as having enough money for food, new clothes etc. But when they went to Africa they actually felt sorry for children there, whom didn’t have anything. After seeing the things these kids go without you start to think whether or not having the new Jordan’s or iPods is really a big deal. If you had the chance to go anywhere in the world to lend a helping hand, where would you go and why?

July 28th. What do you feel about the Program.

When I got info about the Bridge Program in the mail I was like, what the heck is this? After I read it, it sounded pretty cool. There are not a lot of colleges that have this kind of program. Everybody that I told I was going into this Bridge Program for my college, they were like I wish they had something like this when I was going to college. Does anybody else feel like this is a good thing they have for the students? What did their parents say about it?

7-27 How do you like bridge?

" We've all been here about a week. What has been your favorite part of the Bridge Program so far?"

Impact-Monday, July 27 Question 1

We all have situations in our life that has shaped who we are and what we want to be. I have very special moments in my life that made me who I am now, and who i want to be in the future. Is there a specific moment that impacted your life and made a difference for ever?

July 23 Question 2: So how is bridge?

So far I feel pretty motivated about college in the fall, the bridge program is giving me the headstart that I need in my college career. My only downside is that I am not from the city and have to commute via train, but gotta do what you gotta do in a couple years I plan on living here so it should become easier. What are your ups and downs about bridge?

July 23 Question 1: INVISIBLE

At my highschool and many highschools around the country a organization called Invisible Children brought awareness to us about the happenings in Uganda because no one was aware of the struggles,poverty and their voices were never heard. Does anyone in the class feel like their invisible or that their voice is not able to be heard?

Progress Reports

The Bridge Program

Individual Weekly Progress Summary

July-August 2009 
 

Note to Bridge Program Instructor:  Please complete this summary if you have major concerns regarding an individual student.  Please e-mail this as an attachment to Pam Jackson at pjackson@colum.edu and to Dan Jordan at djordan@colum.edu  

This Progress Summary is for Week#:   ______ 

Instructor’s Name: _______________________________________ 

Course taught and Bridge Section Number:____________________ 

Student’s Name: _________________________________________ 

Student’s OASIS Number (see your class list under ID)        __________ 

Student has missed class.     ___________

Student has been late for class.    ___________

The quality of student’s work is unsatisfactory.  ___________

Student has turned in late assignments.    ___________

Student has missing assignments.    ___________

Student appears unengaged in class.  .  ___________

Student exhibits negative attitude towards instructor,

peers, or class in general.     ___________

Student is disruptive in class.     ___________

Other ________________________________________ ___________   

Please explain event(s) prompting this report:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

July 22 Question 1: Bridging us

In the book “Our America” there’s a constant reference to the differences between white kids, black kids, suburban kids and city kids. Every one of us is different, were from different communities, different areas, different cities and even different countries? How do you think we can all learn from each others differences to get through these past 4 weeks?

July 22 Question 2: How Does Music Effect People?

What kind of music do you like? How has the type of music that you listen to shaped the person that you are? How does music shape culture in general?

July 21, Question 2

After watching the clips about the Somali pirates and seeing two different sides of the story, can you identify the personal and professional motivators for both sides? In your opinion, is one side more legitimate than the other? Why? In the videos, are there any images or words that influence your opinion more than others?

K'naan Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxJLlQCe4U

CNN Coverage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3NKQNoC_tY

K'naan Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0DUuZpZwyk

July 21, Question 1

In yesterday's lecture, Ames discussed how professors have both personal and professional motivations for what they study and teach. On both a personal and professional level, why do you want to study at Columbia?

July 20, Question 2

On a more global scale, meaning anything outside of this classroom, how do communities, organizations, objects, etc. bridge themselves together? For example, complete sentences and poetry bridged together to create the prose poem. Obama and Biden bridged themselves to create the current Presidential team. The spoon and the fork merged to create the spork. Poodles and Labs made the Labrodoodle. What examples can you think of? If you could bridge any two things in the world together, what would you pick? Why is this connection important to you?

July 20, Question 1

I've titled our blog "Bridging the Blank." For the sake of our class, what do you think this title means? What does it mean to "bridge" something? What is the significance of the word "blank"? What could it mean? 

Welcome to our class blog!

Hello, everyone!

This is a space designed for you. Throughout the next four weeks, your and your peers will use this space to discuss various questions that the teachers, your peers, and even you, will pose. Each day you will answer two questions: one local and one global. You will use the full 55-minute class period to answer the questions and respond to your classmates. In essence, you will have a conversation with each other through writing.

Your teachers have created the questions for days one and two. However, after that, you will take turns creating the questions yourselves. Happy blogging!