All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

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“Pythian Condo,“ 2006, mixed-media installation, room size 12 x 7 feet. This piece is from my “Home Improvement” series. The objects are installed to mimic the angle in the photograph. The title was derived from the text accompanying the photograph in the original listing. “Bathroom,“ 2006, mixed-media installation, 3 x 8 x 6 feet. This is a scenario into which the viewer can almost enter, hence the tile walkway and actual slippers. Left: “Interior,“ 2006, mixed-media installation, 5.5 x 6 x 6 feet. The materials in this piece invoke socioeconomic differences; they fail to live up to the grandeur represented in the found photograph.
47 Lessons of War Elaine Handley and Claudia Hough, Northeast Center “War is so epidemic in its occurrence, devastating in its impact, and lasting in its aftermath, that we must study it and tend to it and treat it.” – Edward Tick He stood in the front of the room, holding the book he authored Ghosts of War (2009). Ryan Smithson looked like a typical college kid, not like a veteran who had recently spent a year in Iraq as an Army engineer. Smithson came to our War Stories class to read from his book, to share how he came to write it and talk about using writing as a way of healing. Smithson takes a deep breath, opens his book and begins reading the chapter “The Town that Achmed Built.” The students, including three veterans, are riveted in their seats as Smithson reads about being ambushed by insurgents in the town of Samarra. It is the first time he witnesses the destruction of women and children. It isn’t easy for Smithson to read these words that describe the loss of his innocence. It isn’t easy for the rest of us to hear them. We’re all visibly shaken, including Smithson, who pauses to compose himself. He continues with another chapter from Ghosts of War: The hardest part of a combat tour is not the combat. It’s not the year or more away from home and family. It’s not sleeping in Humvees or eating MREs. It’s not the desert sun that makes everything too hot to touch. It’s not the fear and wild atrocity you experience. You get used to all that. Bombs are just bombs. Blood is just blood. The hardest part of a combat tour, I’ve discovered, is coming home. (p. 290) Now the veterans in the class are leaning forward in their chairs; they are really connecting to Smithson’s story – the inability to talk about what happened in Iraq, the feelings of loss at leaving other guys behind, the night terrors, the paranoia. Smithson’s words are brutally honest – we’re all getting emotional. When he finishes the Ryan Smithson, veteran and student Claudia Hough (left) and Elaine Handley chapter, no one says a word; the room is totally silent. The two younger vets speak first. There is an instant tangible bond between the vets and Smithson. They have questions, they want to know more, and, to our amazement, they immediately start to open up about their own experiences right in front of the class. It is a transcendent moment. Our veterans returning home to families, jobs and college face overwhelming obstacles, including the long-standing rift between the military and the public. As one student soldier put it: “The majority of college campuses don’t support the war, they don’t support what we’re doing … it’s a struggle.” They often speak of being invisible to the American public who is unaware of some of the good they are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as building roads and schools. It’s not so much that they do not feel cared about; it’s more that society seems to be unaware of what soldiers are facing. Adding to feelings of misunderstanding, veterans returning to college are often intimidated by the academic environment. suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring <strong>2011</strong>
Page 1 and 2: MENTORING ALL ABOUT A PUBLICATION O
Page 3 and 4: 1 Table of Contents Editorial - The
Page 5 and 6: 3 Imagination and Art: Children Cop
Page 7 and 8: 5 Drawing 3: Darfur, 2005. “All o
Page 9 and 10: 7 The child artist’s title for he
Page 11 and 12: 9 support, caregivers being in actu
Page 13 and 14: 11 Mentoring: A Poet’s View Susan
Page 15 and 16: 13 Educating the Digital Citizen in
Page 17 and 18: 15 their learning activities. In th
Page 19 and 20: 17 While I find this useful in the
Page 21 and 22: 19 Shirky, C. (2011, January/Februa
Page 23 and 24: 21 Changing Ways of Knowing for Tra
Page 25 and 26: 23 intrinsic effort to self-protect
Page 27 and 28: 25 The evidence of education’s in
Page 29 and 30: 27 were present could participate e
Page 31 and 32: 29 her feelings about the treatment
Page 33 and 34: 31 Blended Learning Online: New Per
Page 35 and 36: 33 Students also will take self-gui
Page 37 and 38: 35 making certain she had forgotten
Page 39 and 40: 37 “At that restaurant” “We d
Page 41 and 42: 39 reports. Walking again to Jenna
Page 43 and 44: 41 Mentoring: A Social Relationship
Page 45 and 46: Interiors Installations by Carol Wa
Page 47: “River View,” 2010 (detail). Th
Page 51 and 52: 49 win. Students read two Tim O’B
Page 53 and 54: 51 War veteran and author of Semper
Page 55 and 56: 53 Education and Individualism: Som
Page 57 and 58: 55 My Lost Stories Steve Lewis, Hud
Page 59 and 60: 57 Reflections on a Journey of Lear
Page 61 and 62: 59 A Teacher Reflects: Learning Abo
Page 63 and 64: 61 a devoted reader of the left-lea
Page 65 and 66: 63 total absence of any smell excep
Page 67 and 68: 65 Found Things: Empire State Colle
Page 69 and 70: 67 because the College will have an
Page 71 and 72: 69 “Goin’ Mobile”: Designing
Page 73 and 74: 71 of iPods in particular allowed t
Page 75 and 76: 73 “Music never stops; it is we w
Page 77 and 78: 75 Adult Education and Politics Ric
Page 79 and 80: 77 democratic learning did not simp
Page 81 and 82: 79 could never serve the market tha
Page 83 and 84: 81 Here are a few preliminary thoug
Page 85 and 86: 83 Honoring George Drury (1917-2010
Page 87 and 88: 85 came to my mind, and also on top
Page 89 and 90: 87 Submissions to All About Mentori
Page 91: 2 Union Ave. Saratoga Springs, NY 1

All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

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