This Week in Photos: Lessons In and Out of the Classroom</h1> <article> <h1>This Week in Photos: Lessons In and Out of the Classroom</h1> <p>ygay — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 20:39:46 +0000</p> <span>This Week in Photos: Lessons In and Out of the Classroom</span> <span><span>ygay</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-11-12T15:39:46-05:00" title="Friday, November 12, 2021 - 15:39">Fri, 11/12/2021 - 15:39</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p> </p> <p>Parents and members of the ��سԹ� community gathered in Dye Lecture Hall for the annual President’s Lecture, presented this month by <a href="/jay-fiskio">Professor Jay Fiskio</a>. The associate professor of <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/environmental-studies">environmental studies</a> and <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/comparative-american-studies" target="_blank">comparative American studies</a> discussed the labor of frontline communities to protect and repair the world and to create better futures through direct action, expressive culture, and social care. Her talk focussed in particular on ��سԹ� College’s collaboration with the community of Africatown, Alabama, the site where the last ship of enslaved peoples landed in 1860. Visit ��سԹ�'s Flickr page to <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmXc5qtk" target="_blank">see more photos from the lecture</a>.</p> <p>This week’s photo series continues with other lessons experienced both in and out of the classroom. </p> <hr> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>��سԹ� Conservatory students in the <a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" target="_blank">Division of Vocal Studies</a> and the ��سԹ� Orchestra <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmX6QckU" target="_blank">rehearse <em>Acis and Galatea</em></a> in Hall Auditorium. Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>Vice President and Dean of Students <a href="/node/362451" target="_blank">Karen Goff</a>, Associate Professor of Africana Studies <a href="/charles-peterson" target="_blank">Charles Peterson</a>, and Assistant for Student Support Dean <a href="/donna-russell" target="_blank">Donna Russell</a> discuss <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmX6CQ6A" target="_blank">“What First Gen means to me."</a> Photo credit: Yvonne Gay</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>Instructor of Spanish and Language Teacher Training <a href="/kim-faber" target="_blank">Kim Faber</a> instructs students in her elementary Spanish class. Photo credit: Yvonne Gay</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>Composer Theo Chandler '14 <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmX6QWBZ" target="_blank">returned to ��سԹ�</a> to work with Professor of Conducting <a href="/raphael-jimenez" target="_blank">Raphael Jiménez</a> and the ��سԹ� Orchestra as they prepared for the premiere of his work, "Eclipse.” Photo credit: Yvonne Gay</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>Parents and family members made classroom visits during <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmX5xSea" target="_blank">Parents and Family Weekend</a>. Photo credit: Yvonne Gay</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>��سԹ� jazz students <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmX5V7Gm" target="_blank">perform at the Cat in the Cream</a>. Photo credit: Jonathan Clark '25</figcaption> </figure> </div> <p><em>This Week in Photos is a selection of images and is not meant to represent a weekly timeline. Images highlight campus, community, people, and events related to ��سԹ� College.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-11-12T12:00:00Z">Fri, 11/12/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>An image taken at an annual lecture created as a way for the college’s faculty and selected alumni to share their expertise and insights serves as inspiration for this week’s photo series.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2379">Student Life</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2557">Parents and Family Weekend</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3155">��سԹ� Orchestra</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2546">Photo Feature</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4796">Hispanic Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=34691">Jazz Performance</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/kim-faber" hreflang="und">Kim Faber</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/charles-peterson" hreflang="und">Charles Peterson</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/hispanic-studies" hreflang="und">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Professor Jay Fiskio presents a President’s Lecture on “Frontline Communities and Environmental Repair” in Dye Lecture Hall.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Mike Crupi</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Who is Blanche Villar?</h1> <p>ygay — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 19:27:52 +0000</p> <span>Who is Blanche Villar?</span> <span><span>ygay</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-09-09T15:27:52-04:00" title="Thursday, September 9, 2021 - 15:27">Thu, 09/09/2021 - 15:27</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Blanche Villar started her 30-year career at ��سԹ� College in the Office of Residential Educational Housing. Find out where Villar can be found now in this installment of Who Am I?</p> <hr> <p><strong>Name:</strong> <a href="/blanche-villar" target="_blank">Blanche Villar</a></p> <p><strong>Department and location on campus:</strong> <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/hispanic-studies" target="_blank">Hispanic Studies</a>, <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/french-and-italian" target="_blank">French and Italian</a>, and <a href="/arts-and-sciences/languages" target="_blank">��سԹ� Center for Languages and Cultures</a> in Peters Hall</p> <p><strong>Job title:</strong> Departmental Secretary II</p> <p><strong>What does your job entail?</strong> Supporting the faculty and staff of my three departments, managing the daily operations of the departments, and reserve the classrooms in Peters.</p> <p><strong>How many years at ��سԹ�?</strong> Thirty-one. I started in what is now known as the <a href="/housing" target="_blank">Office of Residential Education Housing</a>.</p> <p><strong>Favorite place in ��سԹ� and why?</strong> <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJ2xvsw" target="_blank">Peters Hall</a>. I think it's the most beautiful building on campus.</p> <p><strong>What do you enjoy most about your job?</strong> Interacting with students and working with the most amazing faculty and staff in my departments.</p> <p><strong>Hobbies?</strong> Love music, dancing, spending time with my five grandchildren and volunteering in my church.</p> <p><strong>Nickname(s)?</strong> Nana, as my grandchildren call me.</p> <p><strong>Favorite food?</strong> Mexican food</p> <p><strong>Favorite Movie?</strong> <em>The Notebook</em></p> <p><strong>Favorite Quote?</strong> “Every one of us is equal. Every one of us has worth. Every one of us matters,” by President Barack Obama</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-09-09T12:00:00Z">Thu, 09/09/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2551">Staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25356">French</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4796">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/french-and-italian" hreflang="und">French and Italian</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/hispanic-studies" hreflang="und">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Blanche Villar, administrative assistant.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Bryan Rubin ’18</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Teaching in the New Normal: Professor Sebastiaan Faber</h1> <p>hhempste — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 18:25:25 +0000</p> <span>Teaching in the New Normal: Professor Sebastiaan Faber</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-04-22T14:25:25-04:00" title="Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 14:25">Wed, 04/22/2020 - 14:25</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Professor of Hispanic Studies <a href="/sebastiaan-faber">Sebastiaan Faber</a> describes how a chance assignment that would explore <em>The Exterminating Angel</em>, a film about contagion and confinement by surrealist Luis Buñuel, has become a fitting discussion piece for students in his senior seminar (HISP 447). Faber explains that the film displays particularly eerie parallels to the current state of the world, much of which is in a state of forced confinement. </p> <p>From Faber: </p> <p>An upper-class dinner party takes a dark turn when the guests suddenly seem unable to leave the sitting room. There is no physical barrier blocking them; some other power is holding them back every time they approach the threshold. Over the following days of compulsive confinement, base instincts inevitably break through the razor-thin veneer of civilization as the guests try to make sense of a situation they don’t understand, surviving like castaways on a desert island. Some fall victim to superstitious delusions and feverish hallucinations. Others turn into murderers or rapists. While a black bear and a couple of sheep roam the empty mansion—preemptively abandoned by the serving staff, who felt something eerie was aloft—life outside goes on. The authorities cordon off the entrance gate and mark it with the yellow flag indicating contagion.</p> <p>This is the disturbing premise of the film that my course syllabus happened to have scheduled for the weekend ��سԹ� students spent hurriedly packing their bags, a week before Ohio declared a state-wide lockdown in response to COVID-19. <em>The Exterminating Angel</em> was shot in 1962 by Luis Buñuel, the father of surrealist cinema. Buñuel—whose son was an Obie, Class of ’57—had a knack for disturbing practical jokes. He couldn’t have come up with a better way to mark the weird and unexpected transition from in-person classes to a second module in which we’re teaching and learning in a state of forced confinement.</p> <p>Two and a half weeks into this new world, I am happy to report that neither I or my students have succumbed, as yet, to murder or delusion. Sure, teaching to a screen of fifteen video thumbnails does not compare to the energy of an in-person class. Using Zoom is awkward and uncomfortable. It unsettles habits and routines. But in a way, our subject matter has helped prepare us for this: The first six weeks of the semester, too, were often awkward and uncomfortable. It couldn’t have been otherwise.</p> <p><em>The Exterminating Angel</em> is part of a senior seminar fully dedicated to Buñuel’s work and its legacies. Although the class is taught in Spanish, the twenty Buñuel films we’re viewing were shot in Spanish, French, and English in Mexico, France, Spain, and the United States. Some of them are downright hilarious satires of bourgeois life. Others are melodramatic and mysterious. Yet they are all profoundly disturbing. If Buñuel had a single goal throughout his career, it was to use the power of cinema to confuse his viewers while undermining their beliefs about the world, humanity, religion, morality, sexuality, desire—and themselves. Having your beliefs undermined is not a pleasant experience. Discomfort and frustration reign. And to make things worse, Buñuel’s movies stubbornly resist interpretation. As he liked to say: “Nothing in this film means anything.” Not a promising point of departure for a class discussion of any kind.</p> <p>Yet in hindsight, those first six weeks we got to spend in each other’s physical company were a useful boot camp for the online experience we’re limited to now. We were able to build a community—even if it was based on shared discomfort and frustration—that has survived into our current state of confined dispersion. What has also survived is the rigorous routine of (almost) daily viewing and writing we put in place before COVID-19 changed the world (two dozen films, twenty response papers, three papers with two drafts each).</p> <p>Our virtual meetings, meanwhile, have also had some unexpectedly positive aspects. Students who watched the films together on campus now sometimes share them with their families, who become unwitting focus groups for their papers. Zoom’s panopticon effect—students don’t know when the teacher is looking at them—puts everyone on their best behavior and makes cold-calling more acceptable. Although breakout rooms frustratingly put students out of the teachers’ view, the fact that the groupings are random allows students to work with people they didn’t sit next to in class. And being able to use a shared Google doc for in-class group writing or brainstorming in real-time is useful for quickly generating—and visualizing—ideas.</p> <p>Has Buñuel’s surreal take on the world as we knew it prepared us for the surreal world we’re finding ourselves in now? “I feel I’m appreciating this quarantine differently,” a student writes. “How linear or logical is time anyway? Why do we insist on analyzing this abnormal reality with normal eyes?” “I feel like this whole pandemic could be a Buñuel film,” another tells me. “He would very much enjoy its ironies. The wealthier ‘bourgeois’ groups in our country have continued to socialize and travel, for example, while the pandemic impacts low-income communities to a much greater extent. And Buñuel would find great pleasure in critiquing religion, as religious ‘devotion’ has become a catalyst for the rapid spread of the virus. The parallels between Buñuel's films and our current state are painfully absurd, and his films seem more appropriate now than ever.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-04-22T12:00:00Z">Wed, 04/22/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>These days, the classroom has taken on new meaning for both faculty and students at ��سԹ�. In this series we are sharing stories from faculty on how they are navigating this new normal. How have you adapted instruction to a remote learning environment? How have students shifted how they learn and participate? What’s changed, what’s stayed the same, or what has come as a pleasant surprise? Please <a href="mailto:communic@oberlin.edu">share an example or anecdote</a> that addresses one of these areas. </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2410">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4796">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/sebastiaan-faber" hreflang="und">Sebastiaan Faber</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/hispanic-studies" hreflang="und">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">A screenshot of students Hispanic Studies 447 in a Zoom discussion.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Photo courtesy of Sebastiaan Faber</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div class="field field--name-field-bio-card-el-biography field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> <div class="biography-card"> <figure> </figure> <div class="biography-card__content"> <h2><span>Sebastiaan Faber</span> </h2> <ul class="item-list list--clean" style="margin-top: 0px;"> <li class="professional-title">Professor of Hispanic Studies</li> <li class="professional-title">Program Director, Latin American Studies</li> </ul> <a class="view-more" href="/sebastiaan-faber">View Sebastiaan Faber’s biography</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Ana Cara in the Classroom</h1> <p>Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:19:24 +0000</p> <span>Ana Cara in the Classroom</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:19:24-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:19">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:19</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>“There’s a wonderful way in which ��سԹ� students are able to switch courses and integrate material,” says Chair and Professor of Hispanic Studies Ana Cara. “I think part of that is that they’re very bright, but I think also it’s a certain kind of disposition and openness to the world, openness to learning, and openness to learning in different ways.” For more on Cara’s thoughts, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga6XRD5ovjY">see her faculty profile on YouTube</a>.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-12-08T12:00:00Z">Tue, 12/08/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2391">Languages & Literatures</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2546">Photo Feature</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4796">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/hispanic-studies" hreflang="und">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Zach Christy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Teaching the Cultural Aspect of Language</h1> <p>Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:19:57 +0000</p> <span>Teaching the Cultural Aspect of Language</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:19:57-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:19">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:19</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em><a href="https://oncampus.oberlin.edu/source/articles/2015/04/20/12-receive-tenure">Granted tenure in April 2015</a>, Claire Solomon ’98 teaches courses in modern and contemporary (19th-21st century) Latin American literature and culture, comparative literature, literary analysis, and theory. Solomon teaches these courses in Spanish, not only to help her students become proficient in the language, but also to enrich their understanding of the greater culture. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPjWSRGT9DA">She explains more in this video</a>.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-06-22T12:00:00Z">Mon, 06/22/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2391">Languages & Literatures</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2546">Photo Feature</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4796">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/claire-solomon" hreflang="und">Claire Solomon ’98</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/hispanic-studies" hreflang="und">Hispanic Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Zach Christy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>