Manifestation of Power Via Art In the Roman Empire

San Rafael, CA

ancandid.com

 I took an Art History class this semester that is now coming to an end. A theme in my life has developed over the past couple of years of being astonished at some of the things I've become interested in. Yoga is a total no brainer on the astonishment scale. I mean who would have ever predicted that? If you had told me I'd be teaching yoga in the near future when I was anchored not long ago in Bequia, I would have accused you of shopping for fruit as a cover at the Rasta Man Stand. He sold more than fruit. As an aside 
I am teaching class after class now, and loving it so.

Another pleasant surprise has been my Art History of the Greek & Roman World class. I give substantial credit to my professor, Heidi who is so dog gone passionate about the subject, that you just can't help but get swept up into her historical narrative. Art boring? NOT! I really learned a ton, and would have worn a Toga to class, but Dominican University has a Convent on the campus, and that would have been weird.

I wrote a paper about Roman power in Art after learning that the Saddam Hussein statue that was yanked down in Baghdad after the U.S. invasion in 2003 was inspired directly by the Romans. I started to do some more research, and I've come to learn almost all art is used to project messaging in some fashion. Anyway, below is the paper. Read it if you will or not. Maybe you'll see some connections. Jefferson's Monticello anyone?


CC

Manifestation of Power Via Art In the Roman Empire

            Today the Roman Empire is discussed in the context of a once great empire, its spectacular fall spurred by unchecked pride. The inevitable comparison between contemporary America, and her apparent hubris leading to over reach. The breath, scope, achievements, and length of the Roman Empire are truly amazing. Like all giants, the Romans stood upon the shoulders of those who came before. This famous metaphor, “Standing on the shoulder of giants,” was propelled into our modern lexicon by Sir Isaac Newton in 1676. However, the first usage of this metaphor stretches back to ancient mythological Greece when Orion, the blind giant god carries his servant Cedalion on his shoulders. Indeed, the Roman ruler Hadrian highlights his respect for his much admired predecessor Trajan, by inserting himself in panels on TheArch of Trajan at Benevento; thereby communicating to the Roman citizenry whose shoulders he stands atop.

A Reason I've Moved Into A House

San Rafael, California

 This semester past I took a required course call Humanities Seminar that required a great deal of reading. It is best described as a class based upon the Great Books model of learning. The student reads a spattering of books that are judged to be great works that have shaped the foundations of western society. A reading is assigned for the week, then the class meets in a circular fashion, and the professor facilitates a discussion based upon students interpretation of the reading. I loved it! Here is a list of some of the authors I had to read. Thoreau, Marx, Martin Luther, The Bible, Freud, Whitman, Woolf, Darwin, and Plato. 

From Google Images

My charge for my last paper of the class was to pick a reading that "moved me" and write about ways that it made me think a little differently or some new insights. Also, to discuss the value of the humanities, and suggest further research I may pursue in the future.

From Google Images

I was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" so much, and choose to write about her piece. I thought for sure that I would choose to furiously attack Marx, as his writings did more than move me. In fact, one of the Marx writings called "Wage Labor and Capital" was the best economics 101 explanation I have ever read. He understood free markets. But his works "On the Jewish Question" was so revolting to me, I had trouble getting through it. If you want to know how World War 2 culminated in the Holocaust, just go back to 1843 and read what Marx wrote. Crazy. Anyway, below is the paper I wrote for the class.

Generally, I learned how important a sense of "place" is for a person to think creatively and thrive. "A Room of One's Own" is a metaphor for a great many things. Living aboard Christa since I started school has become difficult because of lack of space. I'm a spreader outer, and was unable to build an adequate room of my own. Thus, I've decided to give shore side living a long-term go. Interpret what you will! Enjoy!

Humanities Sem Reflective Essay Final

CC

The Eagle Has Landed an Internship

Sonoma California
Sunny & breezy & kind of cool for wine country

Mill Valley California Public Library, Shot with my Canon G11

 The spring semester ended for me at Dominican University of California about two weeks ago. I'm happy to report to my two blog readers and the American tax payers that I've used the Post 911 GI Bill wisely. I manged a 4.0 GPA for the semester, and an overall 3.76 GPA. Of course I'm thrilled, but must temper my pride with the fact that my good grades can be traced with full throttle focus on educational pursuit while not balancing a job.

 However, the big news is my phat internship at the Mill Valley Public Library. I'm a Humanities & Cultural Studies student majoring in philosophy. This degree requires an internship, and this summer is perfect for such an endeavor. You'd think that the summer time for a retired guy like me would be a time of easy breezy saundering & sailing. No contrare. I'm as busy as ever! Hence my lack of blogging. 

 So why a library? I've always had a fetish for libraries. I've posted several pictures on this blog of me in front of libraries that I've come across in my travels. I discovered MV Library a number of years ago when I was stationed in San Francisco with the Coast Guard. When I returned to California last June, I reintroduced myself to the library, only to find that a bond had been floated, with a serious renovation. The library is more than a notch above. Mill Valley is very affluent with a location that sits in an old growth Red Wood forest. Bam! 

Pano of the Library, Shot with my Canon G11 and edited using Adobe Photoshop

One day while flopping around on my yoga mat at Red Dragon Yoga in Mill Valley I met the nice lady next to me. Turns out she is the director of the library. Of course I tell her how much I love the library. This is not news. Many people love that library. It is a busy place, a center of intellectual culture, but still maintains a serenity. I spend an amazing amount of time between the Mill Valley Library and the Dominican library. It makes perfect sense for me to intern at a library as I've really no clue how they operate. As I always say, when opportunity knocks open the damn door. People constantly ask me how is philosophy or interning at a library going to enhance my job seeking abilities. There is no simple answer other than to say educations biggest benefit is not for utilitarian purposes. Those who specialize to soon have limited ability to retool their life when their specialty evolves off the face of the planet. None other than John Dewey wrote extensively about this topic Democracy and Education, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. 

So onto a bit of sailing news. Pat & Ali & progeny sailed out the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday bound for Mexico on the monohull Bumfuzzle. Check in with the Bums, they are a hoot to follow and a real inspiration. Good Luck to all hands!

Capt Chris

The Faces and Places of Dominican University of California

San Rafael, California
Doing? Squatting@Starbucks
Why? Because I can

Two semesters down, and just two to go until graduation in May of 2012. On target and tracking with a 3.76 GPA. My experience at DUC has been pretty special. Just a quick reminder of why I chose DUC in the first place. While skyping from the St Lucia, trying to figure out what school in the San Francisco Bay area I could attend, I couldn't get any school to pick up the damn phone. UC Berkeley, San Francisco State, UCSF, Santa Clara U, Stanford, Sonoma State, College of Marin; all were embracing voice mail. Then Shannon from Dominican picked-up on the first ring, and my future was set in motion. 

Because of the number of credits that I came in with, and my chosen field of study, philosophy, I had most of my classes with people who were graduating this year. So it was with a heavy heart and excitement that I attended this years commencement exercises. 

I leave you with some random shots of people and places I've come to cherish. Really these shots are my daily life just about these days.

My Humanities Professor in the "Lyceum"

The Lyceum, Shot with my Canon G11, Edited in Aperture 3

Harlan's Office, Canon G11, Edited in Aperture 3

I Arranged Myself Up Front

The Sisters Were Stoked

Kelly, April, Erin, and Jana

Mercy, Amiya and Jessica

Martin and progeny

Lovely Colette

My English Professor Bobby, and Amiya

Yup, I'm a lucky guy!


Captain Chris

Internships, Networking and the Business of Life

Shelton Connecticut

Mission? Visiting family

Networking

It's weird transitioning in life. Were all constantly in a state of transition or becoming. It boils down to a matter of degree.  Since I left active duty in September of 2007, and began Christian Allaire's Sailing Life and Other Adventures, I've been in near constant state of hyper transition, while never really gaining my footing. Once I determined to make a bold move to stop sailing and head out to San Francisco, I really went into a state of flux.


Since arriving in San Rafael, California last June, I've begun to find my stability. It is the first tine that I know of where I've arrived in a new town and not had the latent pressure of a move or transfer looming. This has been liberating, even more so than what one would think given I had the total freedom of sailing around the planet for as long as I wanted. That, as some know, did not turn out to be my cup of tea.


That is the business of life.


One thing the U.S. Coast Guard taught me was the value of networking. The trend of social media is one big gigantic networking tool. However, in my opinion it still boils down to personal relationships, brought on my happenstance, some luck and initiative. I am grateful to have been born with a gregarious nature which has assisted in networking. I have no problem busting a move on someone to find out what the program is.


Case in point. In October at Dominican University, I attended a job fair featuring about 50 companies looking higher college graduates. It is interesting to note that I have over a year and half before I graduate, so why would I attend? I thought it a perfect networking opportunity and a way to start learning about the mysterious world of internships. Well it worked. I gripped and grinned, schmoozed and practiced the art of informal interaction with potential employers. Worked on my 30 second "commercial" pimping out my strengths. I scored an internship interview with a big financial services company in downtown San Francisco. I went and interviewed in a high-rise with folks in suits and ties and presented very well. I was offered a position, but turned it down because I couldn't commit the time needed without jeopardizing my time spent study. What a great practice secession and learning experience.


I make it a habit of asking a lot of questions of many people, especially people who I informally determine may be succeeding in the world of work. I'm trying to learn and penetrate into a world I'm not versed in. My yoga habit is predominately about the fitness and health created. A close second would be the folks one meets, beautiful women included, but think about this statement. Losers do not have the motivation to practice yoga. What this means is that the people who attend are generally successful people, and some very very successful. During short conversations, before or after class, I've had a couple of enlightening conversations with fellow yoga folk. One girl inspired me greatly with a quick story about how she attained an art history degree, and somehow ended up making six figures selling software. She is not abnormal. This type of situation can be created with proper networking and social skills.


A few weeks back, I got to chit chatting with a guy who I bump in to at least a couple days a week. His name is David Gottesman, and he has successfully started three or four IT companies. He is a tech guy who looks like Mr. Clean. I told him my program, that I was looking for an internship to gain some exposure in different fields. He graciously agreed to meet up with me at a Starbucks, showed me what he is involved in and has agreed to take me on. Stoked. This is an informal situation, where over a period of time I start to learn about his world while not losing focus on my studies, and more importantly, hopefully, I can contribute to his enterprise.


Dave started a company called Ashburymusichall.com. When he showed me what was up, I was pretty impressed with the company. The user interface is built for music teachers to interact and teach students. But, it could be tweaked for many other situations where people need to interact and collaborate. Pretty cool stuff. With a little luck and some motivation on my part, hopefully I can maybe get involved with this company. Check out the video below, and don't forget to spend some time on Ashburymusichall.com. Take a music lesson why don't you!

Blast From The Past

That is Seaman Allaire flexing after leading the barby plucking detail from the hanger roof in 1989, aboard USCGC Polar Sea, somewhere in the south pacific.  Enjoy!

Capt Chris


PS: Please don't forget to subscribe to my blog. You can do that by clicking the subscribe link on the right.

American Exceptionalism and the Bush Doctrine

San Rafael, California

Below is my last paper I will turn in this semester. Yup, my first semester is closing out. I generally avoid politics or any other type of controversial topic on the blog. Chances are high of isolating about half the blog readers in a flash. This paper is on a controversial topic, but one that I'm surprised that more people are not conversant in. So, the hell with it! I post it anyway.

Can't Claim Photo Credit on This One

American Exceptionalism and the Bush Doctrine Personal Reflection Essay Foundations Final

Capt Chris, Student

P.S. Please leave comments! When a comment is left, an email is sent to me, and then I have to authorize the comment. The blog gets attacked by spam regularly.
If you click on title of a blog post, you can see all comments listed under the post. Not sure if the blog post opens in another window though. Thank you!

More on Digital Photography

San Rafael, California

 My interest in photography actually goes way back to when I was very young. My pop bought me a Vivitar 35MM camera as a wee lad.  I remember my photography class in 7th grade at General Wayne Middle School, named after "Mad Anthony Wayne" the famous Revolutionary General. We took pictures and developed them old school style with the photo paper and all the chemicals in the dark room. It was really cool. The self portrait I did still hangs in my parents house in Florida.

I am disappointed with myself that I didn't take photography in terms of my sailing voyage more seriously. I took many pictures no doubt, but I didn't upgrade my camera until half way through the trip. I just could have done a better job that's all.

Trying to navigate the college school system and figuring out which classes satisfies my degree plan is not easy by any stretch. Dominican offers so much flexibility in terms of degree composition it actually creates a risk of taking the wrong course work. Outside of the fact one class costs about $2500 bucks, it is possible to merrily be studying away, only to learn a month or two before graduation, that your short 18 credits because you took the wrong courses. Even worse, it is so confusing, that much of the faculty can't navigate the system easily, and end up providing bad advice to the student. I'm very lucky to have the Chair of the Humanities Department, Prof Stelmach as an advisor. He's been around the horn.

My whole point with this diatribe is that I learned that Introduction to Digital Photography satisfies my creative arts requirement. Jazzed. Way Jazzed. Below is the course description.

Shot with my iPhon4 @night

I've struggled a bit about what to do with this blog. I've considered shutting it down as the original intent was sailing oriented. But I've decided to just keep on rolling as I keep on rolling. It is a wonderful archive. With my digital photography class coming on next semester, all hands can expect a ton of pictures to be posted. So maybe the blog will become more like a PhotoBlog.


Rookie photographers may learn something as I learn and post stuff. Stay tuned! Below are some recent images added to my iPhoto collection.

Canon G11 in Panorama Mode. Shot December 2010

iPhone4 using Hipsmatic App

Canon G11 @ GG Bridge Overlook

iPhone4 using Hipsmatic App. That's Charlie

Circa 1999. California Highway 466 where James Dean died in 1955

November 2010

Capt Chris....ashore smooth

Aristotle's Ethics Applied

Dominican University of California
San Rafael California

Thanksgiving 2010 in San Mateo California

An area of substantial interest for me has been Aristotle. He was a very smart guy. At the beginning of the semester I was stressed about the amount of work on had ahead of me. Go figure. I postured in such a way that I could research a topic (Aristotle's conception of happiness) and use the research in two separate classes. Well it worked. Below is a paper I wrote about Aristotle's ethics and how it applies to my personal life. Surely not a sailing topic, but Aristotle had a great impact on how I viewed cruising on a sailboat. Life will be joyless without friends and/or family regardless of any other circumstance. Maybe this is why I'm more content not sailing and why I enjoyed Thanksgiving so much. Read onward please!

Aristotle's Ethics

Foundation questforinnerselffinal

View more presentations from Christian Allaire.

Mark & Stacie

Capt Chris....in a chilly California

Art Project Update

San Rafael, CA

I was required to send four digital photo's to my art professor. The task parameters were a portrait, not showing the subjects face, that should tell a story of the subject. So I enlisted my yoga instructor and she graciously let me photograph her. So I snapped a ton of really great pictures of her, with all the "shadows" and "values" and what not. They really turned out great. As an after thought, I enlisted another student to snap some pictures of both Wendy and I. I submitted the pictures and the professor, much to my shock choose the bottom picture. I thought first sure the others were of much better quality. Well, what do I know, apparently the shot of Wendy and I in handstands happen to fit the process much better than the other pictures I submitted.

Here is how I "made" the bottom prints. The professor takes the digital picture and transfers an 8x10 onto an actual old school piece of film. I then transferred the image from the film onto a piece of cooper that has film emulsions on it via this gizmo that beams high intensity blue light onto the cooper. Then I gingerly did a bunch of rubbing and drying of the cooper and coxed out the image. Next step was to roll ink onto the cooper, then again gingerly rub off excess ink to bring out the image. Lastly the inked piece of cooper is placed face down on a thick piece rice paper, then rolled through this gizmo in the shop, basically two metal rollers. Waaalaaa! Now you have the inked image on the rice paper. Very cool! I'm getting my art on. The one below left I did in black ink and the second I did in purple ink. We will do a total of eight prints, so I will now will get as creative as possible and mix up some colors. Pretty cool stuff. I've never been much of an artist. I've always thought it is an innate talent, but like everything else in this world with some instruction and lots of practice one can become good.




















Below is a picture I took of Mount Tamalpais looking northwest into Mill Valley, California. There are a few things I dislike about California. The politics and the taxation of this state is over the top in my view. However, the sheer beauty of the Golden State helps me to blunt my irritation when it arises. I am a real creature of routine and stick with said routine until the routine becomes way to routine. Then I shake things up, establish a new routine and ride that wave until the cycle needs repeating. Routine for me is good. In fact, while writing a paper recently about my life I flushed out this pearl of wisdom regarding my sailing voyage. I figured out that the military life provided such sound structure and routine (which became overbearing and extreme for me) that when I went sailing the loss of routine and structure was unsettling leading to unhappiness. In other words, as Latitude38 pointed out, total freedom for me was disorienting. I'm no longer disoriented.

I took the picture below because the Mount Tam dominates the San Francisco Bay Area landscape for a great distance. In fact some of the best views of Mt Tam can be seen from east bay over at UC Berkeley. I see it just about all day, and my eye is constantly drawn to it, kind of like how the Pitons of St. Lucia dominate. I also took it because I journey to Mill Valley just about everyday to take my yoga class at Red Dragon Yoga. This is part and parcel to my routine that provides the stability I seem to require at this juncture of my life.

Remember I'm a philosophy student now, thus I have deep thoughts routinely.

Capt Chris

PS: Please send me a message or leave a comment. Love to hear from old and new hands!

Dominican Spring Course Work Schedule

Guzman Hall

 I successfully registered for next semesters classes. This semester has been heavy in the writing department. Next semester will be heavy duty in the reading department. Below is my schedule cut and pasted write out of the Dominican computer system.

A few exciting things. First off, my Philosophy of Nature class is being taught by a visiting Fulbright Scholar. This is a big deal, and I'm really jazzed and a bit nervous. Then I'm taking the Great BooksHarlan Stelmach. Again, I'm jazzed by this course, but the amount of reading will be significant. Click on the above link to learn about the Great Books movement. I've been able to finagle myself into an Introduction to Digital Photography course. This class meets twice a week for six hours per week. Thus, I will get a through education in photography. So the kids pretty excited about next semester!
Humanities Seminar taught by my academic advisor

 

Student Schedule 

Traditional 2011/Spring/A
	Registered Courses
	ART 2117/Art Studio/1 - Beginning Digital Photography	Duration 1/19/2011 - 5/11/2011
	Credits 3.00   Type Letter	CEUs 0.00
	Schedule MW 9:25 AM - 12:05 PM;  Dominican University, Library, Room 211
	Instructors Mr. Rod Laursen
	HUM 4930/Lecture/1 - Humanities Seminar	Duration 1/24/2011 - 5/9/2011
	Credits 3.00   Type Letter	CEUs 0.00
	Schedule M 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM;  Dominican University, , Room
	Instructors Dr. Harlan Stelmach
	PHIL 3104/Lecture/1 - PW: Philosophy of Human Nature	Duration 1/19/2011 - 5/11/2011
	Credits 3.00   Type Letter	CEUs 0.00
	Schedule W 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM;  Dominican University, , Room
	Instructors Dr. Alma S. Espartinez Ph.D.
	World Religions	Duration 1/20/2011 - 5/5/2011
	Credits 3.00   Type Letter	CEUs 0.00
	Schedule R 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM;  Dominican University, , Room
	Instructors Ms. Kerri A. Kor

---

Digital Photos For Art Class

San Rafael California

 One of my classes this semester is a printmaking class. I've never really been into art, but think the more training you receive the more one appreciates art. In other words, it really doesn't come naturally. I've had to exert a lot of effort in drawing and then printing my assignments. This week our charge is to submit four digital pictures of a portrait situation that tells a story about the subject. We're then going to imprint the picture onto a cooper plate, and then do some kind of a fancy are thing. Things are a little unclear at this point.

 As some may know yoga as become a large part of my life. I'm going to class about six days a week now. To say that I feel healthy is an understate. I thought maybe some yoga shots would be cool for my art project, and thus I asked one of my yoga instructors if she'd let me snap some pictures. They turned out really really awesome. She rather remain anonymous and so I won't show any of her face. Check em out!

 

Movie Trailer For School

San Rafael California

I have to give a presentation this week in my Foundations of Adult Learning class, which is a study of American culture. My topic is Aristotle's ethics applied to my sailing voyage not completed. So at the end of my Power Point I'm going to show this little clip I put together. None of my fellow students have a clue about my sailing life.



Capt Chris

Racial Identity in America

San Rafael Califoria

 I dashed off another difficult research paper for school. Racial identity is controversial. My parameters for the paper was 3 to 5 pages long, but I slipped a few lines into page 6. The paper was a serious challenge, in that most writing I've been doing has been closer to 20 pages in length. Plenty of room to develop an idea and support said idea by research with 20 pages. In the case of my  racial identity paper,  I had to leave out a substantial amount of blathering. 

I'm out of the sailing world now and in the Humanities and Cultural Studies world, so this is why I would post this on my blog. What can I do?

Racial identity is a very emotional topic, so leave comments if you like!

Capt Chris


Racial Identity in America

Spring 2011 Course Work

San Rafael California
Status? Full time Humanities and Cultural Studies student
Major? Philosophy
Why? The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living, and because I'm deep.
Where? Dominican University of California

Here are the courses I'm scheduled to take this coming spring. The current semester has been all about writing. The spring semester seems to be all about reading. Lots and lots of reading.

PHIL 1104 - Philosophy of Human Nature
Inquiry into the enduring questions of human nature including the meaning and purpose of human life, the questions of its spiritual origin and destiny, its capacities for good and evil, the scope and limits of its freedom, the nature of knowing, and the question of immortality, drawing upon a range of Western thought. Particular attention is given to the tension between classical religious and philosophical views and those stemming from modern human sciences such as psychology, sociology, and sociobiology.

This course is being taught by a PHD Fulbright Scholar 

RLGN 1076 - Western Religions
An exploration of one or more of the major religious traditions of the Western world–Judaism, Christianity, and Islam–in their historical and cultural contexts, examining how each conceives the nature of reality, the goals of human life, and the way to those goals. 



HIST 3306 - Ancient Sumer/Egypt
Explores the origins, history, and legacy of ancient Summer and Egypt upon the Western experience. Special attention will be placed on geography and river systems (Tigris-Euphrates, Nile) of the Fertile Crescent as well as how architecture, art, literature, and politics reflected a deep fascination with life's mysteries including man's perennial quest for meaning as exemplified by the epic of Gilgamesh and immortality as exemplified by the pyramids and Egypt's cult of the dead. Field trips will be an integral part of the class.  

Humanities Seminars: The Great Books Course

A university or college Great Books Program is a program inspired by the Great Books movement begun in the United States in the 1920s. The aim of such programs is a return to the Western Liberal Arts tradition in education, as a corrective to the extreme disciplinary specialisation common within the academy. The essential component of such programs is a high degree of engagement with whole primary texts, called the Great Books. The curricula of Great Books programs often follow a canon of texts considered more or less essential to a student's education, such as Plato's Republic, or Dante's Divine Comedy. Such programs often focus exclusively on Western culture. Their employment of primary texts dictates an interdisciplinary approach, as most of the Great Books do not fall neatly under the prerogative of a single contemporary academic discipline. Great Books programs often include designated discussion groups as well as lectures, and have small class sizes. In general students in such programs receive an abnormally high degree of attention from their professors, as part of the overall aim of fostering a community of learning. 

This course is being taught by Professor Harlan Stelmach, my academic advisor and all around scholar. His academic street cred is pretty substantial.

That is the plan for next semester. In my next blog installment, I plan on writing some thought about what is has been like to enter college as an adult. Obviously, the experience is much different than entering in one's teens.

Also, I've agreed to mentor a 21 year old Dominican undergrad who hails from Oakland California. He's been struggling with school and life. I met with him the other day and hope I can be of benefit to him.

Capt Chris

My Little O'le University in the Spotlight

Dominican University of California
San Rafael CA
Sunny with a high of 93

Angelico Hall

 Campus was certainly a buzz with the influx of busy bodies and protesters this week. Last night the California Governor's debate was held in Angelico Hall where I have one of my classes. Tis a big deal for Dominican University and the town of San Rafael. I am at the library today on campus, and all seems to be getting back to normal. Don't forget to vote!


Capt Chris, Student

The American Melting Pot and Multiculturalism

The American Melting Pot and Multiculturalism

Educational Compromise

Dominican University of California
San Rafael CA

 I took the above picture just the other day. Very amusing, very California. But I guess what I want to write about today is what is happening in the present and will have a heavy impact on my future.

In the past I have blogged about the next chapter in terms of career. I felt pretty strongly about teaching and would investigate the occupation. Teaching is not completely off the table, but I am less inclined to follow the teaching path. You can read about what I wrote about teaching in May by clicking here.

First off, after spending 20 years working for the government I much prefer to enter the private sector regardless of what is happening in education today. While I am versed in the trend toward charter and private schools, the majority of teaching positions are public. The thought of entering a bureaucratic laden situation turns my stomach. Such instability exists in terms of school funding and property taxes and the like; it gives me enough pause to where I'd rather play my cards elsewhere. Plus I'm no fan of the standards movement.

My classes start in about two weeks. But mentally I've already begun. This means meetings with my academic adviser and career councelor. Based upon information I gathered from these meetings, I reached out to the Humanities Chair for further advise. This lead to a meeting with his assistant, who doubles as an associate professor. And back to my academic adviser and career councelor I go with new perspectives. I always knew that once I was exposed to the university, its curriculum and its voluminous network I'd evolve. It seems I am a question machine, which fits well with philosophy major as all philosopher's do is ask questions. An answer is a rarity. Or more accurate like is an answer is provided in the form of another question which is dubbed the answer. Get it? I think therefore I am.

My educational compromise is as follows. My planning is driven in large part by the Post 911 GI Bill which provides 36 months of benefits. Given that time frame I can achieve a Bachelors degree and a teaching credential in the state of California. My intent has always been to get a Graduate degree. I naively thought I could do all three, BA/BS, MBA and have the certifiables to teach. No can do within that time frame. And the teaching route would really jimmy up my curriculum as an undergrad. The totality of the situation has compelled me to shelve the teaching for now. I must be cognizant that time is a slipping and that entering the workforce at 47 will be weird anyway.

Capt Chris

PS: My coveted iPad was stolen. Puke.

Way Into Libraries

Mill Valley Library, Mill Valley California

I love visiting libraries and always make it a point when traveling to check out the local scene. You can derive alot about a community based on their library system. Here I am at the Boston Library. Love the "Free to All" etched in stone.

Boston Library

And again, here I am at the New York City Library in Midtown Manhattan.

My favorite library thus far in life has to be the Nantucket Public Library, pictured below.

Nantucket Library

In my current location in California, I have two gems to choose from. The first is the Alemany Library on the campus of Dominican University. I blogged recently of the beautiful and peaceful nature of the campus. The library is the same. Wireless, an art gallery, plenty of seating and great views outside giant windows. Below is my base of operations I've been setting up on some days. The chairs are comfy and functional. Blam!

On most days, I head about 8 miles south to Mill Valley to take a yoga class. This works well as the library is just a stones throw away. Now Mill Valley Library is in hard running with the top spot of my favorite library. The place is stellar in terms of its services and beauty. It sits in a small red wood forest, with full on picnic tables, small theatrical stage and babbling brook to boot. It also has a wooden deck where you can sit outside in the sun and soak. Lots of folks falling asleep on the deck......and cell phone chatterers too. Here are some pictures I took just the other day.

Mill Valley Library

Enjoy!

Capt Chris