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

School Presentation

San Rafael, CA

Most people dislike presenting in front of a group of people. This includes me. I get nervous sometimes like most people. It is a function of overcoming an internal fear, so when a presentation goes well, it can give one an enormous buzz. Sometimes the heart gets pounding so fast a person runs the risk of hyperventilating. The only thing I've found that mitigates the symptoms of nervousness and assures a good presentation is preparation. You must understand your material, it helps to enjoy the material as this manifests as enthusiasm, but the best chance of success is to practice your delivery. If possible practice in the forum your going to present, this allows one use the minds eye to psyche yourself up. One last key bit of advice is test out your technology and understand the details of what your using. If using a projector, understand the resolution for any graphics embedded in PowerPoint or have the correct adaptors to jack into the system. Technology glitches add addition stress to a situation one is already nervous about. This prevents screaming "Tech Support!!!!!!!!!" just like in the move Vanilla Sky. Click on the link, its actually pretty funny when thinking about your presentation going wrong.

I presented the below PowerPoint last week about Aristotle's Ethics and his concept of eudaimonia. I'm quickly learning that college professors force students to narrow arguments and research. Some topics are so complex, it is really difficult to do justice to the topic. My charge was to deliver my presentation in 10 minutes. I went to 13 minutes. The first slide is the Film Clip I posted in this blog. I couldn't get it to stick in the below PowerPoint. To watch the clip, click here. I think my presentation went very well and I think my fellow students enjoyed learning about me and Aristotle.

Foundation Quest for Inner Self Final

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

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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

Tropical Storm Tomas...Approaching the Caribbean

San Rafael California

For long time blog followers, my sometimes irrational obsession with weather is well established. Don't think for a second, now that I've turned in my Sou'wester and trusty compass, for tweed jackets and Guzman Lecture Hall, that I don't get up in the morning and do a quick round of weather analysis. Old habits ya know. A couple of days ago a "yellow blob of doom" otherwise known as an area of disturbed weather had formed near the equator in the Atlantic way east of Trinidad. Much to my surprise during this mornings round up, the yellow had turned to a "red blob from hell" otherwise known as a tropical depression forming. Blam! Tropical Storm Tomas formed very rapidly and is a huge storm. Never has a tropical low formed this far south or east this late in the h-season. Tropical storm warnings are now up for Trinidad, Grenada and all of the Windward Islands. The center should track over St Vincent and the Grenadines. I took the picture below in Salt Whistle Bay, on the island of Myreau, in the Grenadines when I visited aboard Christa. Glad I'm not there now! They should see close to hurricane force conditions. Generally sailors this far south feel comfortable as almost all storms track much further north. I'm sure people are concerned.


I pulled this really excellent youtube forecast clip for all the other weather obsessed.


 

From Christa Mast Top. Salt Whistle Bay Myreau St Vincent and the Grenadines May 2009

I worry for my second family aboard Wandering Dolphin and Kristopher is in Wyoming attending his fathers funeral, while the rest of the gang, minus Jimmy is in St Thomas. Also, Tom and Amy and Sadie Sea are in St. John. So Tomas is forecast to spin up into a major hurricane by middle of next week when the forecast track becomes uncertain. 


Capt Chris
P.S. Two posts in one day. Who would of thunk it?

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

Randy Travis in the Spurr of the Moment

San Rafael California
Burr, hit 37 degree's last night

I was hanging out with Lena, a fellow art student, at the print shop on campus the other day. She says, "I want to see Randy Travis and I think he's playing soon." She launched Firefox and wouldn't you know it, he was playing in three hours. She surf's on over to Craigslist and some lady won tickets, but couldn't make the show. She was giving them away. Lena sends an email with phone number, contact is made, and in a flash we now have phat tickets for that evenings show. After a spasm of joy, we lit out for Napa! We had a great dinner, enjoyed the show and pretty much had a great day. These are important little breaks in life.

Lena & I at the Uptown Theater Napa CA

I apologize for the terrible picture quality. Taken on my iPhone4 in a rush by cowboy folks not so adept at technology. It's cool though!

Capt Chris

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