I was invited to speak as part of this year’s Environmental Forum at SSU, a lecture series put on by the Environmental Studies and Planning Department. I had a GREAT time giving this talk – I focused on the salmonid restoration that’s been done on Dutch Bill Creek near Occidental, and it went really well. The students were attentive, and asked a bunch of great questions at the end. Loved it!
My Restoration Ecology class spent the day in the Laguna Santa Rosa, helping plant sedges on a site being restored by the Laguna Foundation. Hard work, and good fun.
Another Restoration Ecology field trip . . . this time, to Point Reyes, to visit the long-term field exclosure experiment being conducted by Dr. Hall Cushman, to investigate the effects of Tule elk on vegetation. We also practiced some field sampling techniques. We did see a number of Tule elk, although I didn’t manage to get any good photos. Still, they’re magnificent to see.
Fantastic field trip today with A Watershed Year (Science 120 freshman experience course). First, we visited the brand new salmon viewing area at the water treatment facility in Santa Rosa, and then over to Occidental to look at salmon restoration efforts along Dutch Bill Creek.
Poor Skelly . . .
I had the opportunity to attend a couple of fantastic events this week sponsored by ieSonoma (Innovate, Educate, Sonoma).
On Tuesday night, I attended the keynote address: “The Art of Possibility” by Benjamin Zander. He is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and he’s also an inspirational speaker who encourages a great deal of participation from his audience. Right from the start, he got us involved by inviting anyone who chose to do so to come up and sit on the stage with him. It seemed like a good idea, so my friend, Kandis, and I both decided to take him up on his offer. (You’ll see me in some of the photos below . . . I’m wearing a purple shirt). These photos were grabbed from the SSU Department of Education’s Flickr:
Rather than trying to describe his talk, I’ll just point you in the direction of this video – this is some of the same material he shared with us, and I highly recommend giving it a watch:
There are a few things I took away with me that seem worthwhile to share. For example, the rationale behind asking people to come sit on the stage went something like this: when people enter a room, and decide where to sit, it’s an indication of how they “show up” in their lives, and that people who make the choice to sit in the very front row are open to being exposed, rather than “hiding” by sitting farther back. Hearing that did give me some added motivation to get up and sit on the stage, when he offered that option.
I also really liked what he had to say about how we can empower others by the way we are in our lives. I think what stuck most was the idea that we can know that we’re reaching other people when their eyes “shine.” I do like the thought of asking myself, “How am I being right now, if my students’ eyes aren’t shining?”
My very favorite part, though, was near the end, when he encouraged everyone present to sing the “Ode to Joy” movement from Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken.
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Now, I can honestly say that I have sung onstage in the Green Music Center! Haha!
A complete photo album from the evening is available on the SSU School of Education’s Flickr: “The Art of Possibility”
As the semester winds to an end, I thought I’d share some artwork . . . a couple of things I drew for my students during finals week:
Plus, some bonus artwork – a few things they drew for me (mostly on their final exam papers). I think it’s clear that pretty much all of my students will never again be able to see a Tyrannosaurus rex without thinking of me, haha.
Before there was a Teacup Rex blog, there was concept artwork. At the time, I never intended to use this as a blog of my own . . . I was just squatting on the URL so I could sell it for millions of dollars someday, when some genetic genuis finally engineers a tiny T. rex. (And yeah, I’d still sell it for the right price haha), but I’m glad to have an actual blog here now. And also some cute artwork (drawn by me).
This semester, one of the questions I asked on the final exam (to give them a freebie) was to ask them their favorite organism that we looked at during the course. I’m posting a few of my favorite responses here.
I found this one particularly touching:
“Thank You. You’ve actually caught my interests in science, which I never felt smart enough for. You’re also one of the most understanding and empathetic professors I’ve had, which helped with my severe anxiety disorder.”
This is so important to me. Being able to touch people’s lives in a positive way . . . well, that’s why I’m doing this. It feels really good to know that, at least some of the time, I’m hitting the mark.
I received this gift on the last day of class from one of my biology students. She’d grown it from a cutting . . . not only is the plant adorable, but it came with this (scientifically accurate!) caption:
“Asexual plants: only 1 parent required. Parent passes all its genes to offspring. Identical offspring, splits the contents of one cell into two.”
This makes me so happy. 🙂
Later, I found this comment at the bottom of her final exam:
