22 November 2015 – How has journalism been reacting to the Yale and Missouri debates?
Will Gordon ’17 and Ian Morse ’17 began a discussion on the ethics of journalism in the debates regarding free speech. The discussion began with a brief showing of the video of a University of Missouri photojournalism student debating with a group of protesters on the university’s campus, confronting the conflict between ‘safe spaces’ and the right to report. From here: http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/university_of_missouri_protests_first_amendment.php
8 November 2015 – What are the real costs of fast fashion?
Danielle Moore ’18 gathered Grossman residents in the Library to talk about the social costs of buying and promoting ‘fast fashion’ – or buying cheap clothes intended for quick use and disposal. Discussion started after watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhkBfbwCzxc
19 October 2015 – An evening with Riyaaz Qawwali
Grossman residents and students from around the college sat down with the Indian group based in Austin, TX and discussed the meaning of their cross-cultural music and their importance of keeping with tradition while still experimenting musically. All sides shared musical experiences. (http://www.riyaazqawwali.com)
About 20 students spoke with them for an hour
13 September 2015 – Who funds the preservation of historical documents?
Our first discussion of the semester and led by Noey Kosarek ’16, we confronted the question of ethics in preserving art and historical artifacts.
4 December 2014 – BRAZIL: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future.
From 12:20pm to 1:00pm Gui de Avila, Amanda Furtado and Geraldo Neto led a panel discussion. Students brought friends and ate pizza while they learned about one of the most vibrant countries in the world and gained a broader perspective on emerging markets.
6 November 2014 – Lunchtime Discussion with Paulina Alberto
We hosted our first academic discussion of the semester with the award-winning Historian Paulina Alberto. Professor Alberto teaches at the University of Michigan, and her work focuses on issues of race and nation, racial ideologies, and racial politics in twentieth-century Latin America, particularly Brazil and Argentina. Because Professor Alberto also presented in the afternoon in Skillman Library on her work on these topics, our lunch-time event at Grossman was an informal discussion during which students were able to speak about their interest in issues of race and ethnicity, multi-racial societies and different ideas of the meanings of racial inclusiveness across Latin America and the United States. Grossman residents, HOLA students, professors, and other staff attended.
19th October 2014 – Creative Writing Workshop with Mayda del Valle
Mayda del Valle is a renowned spoken-word artist from the South Side of Chicago, working her way to national acclaim by appearing on six episodes of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on HBO, later allowing her to be a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. She has appeared in Urban Latino, Latina Magazine, Mass Appeal, The Source, and The New York Times. Smithsonian Magazine chose her as one of “America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences” and Oprah’s O Magazine named her as one of 20 women for the first ever “O Power List.”
Grossman House residents Alexandria Sousa ’15 and Eddie Andújar ’15 invited Mayda del Valle to conduct a Creative Writing Workshop in Grossman House’s Library on Sunday, October 19th, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on campus. In this conversation, Mayda demonstrated to Grossman House and other members of the campus community some of the techniques that she has used to successfully create the poetry that she has performedx throughout her MFA courses at California Institute of the Arts and onstage during Def Poetry Jam.
13th October 2012 – First Dinner Discussion
Grossman House had it’s first dinner discussion on Saturday, October 13th. Each of the five suites would host a dinner discussion in the library and it was suite 202 that marked the beginning of this program. The discussion was focused on online education via mediums such as Coursera, Khan Academy, edX, etc. We talked about what is the main issue with online classes, how is knowledge shared, up to what extent can online education be helpful, etc. Aside from that, one of the points that came up was the accessibility issue. While online education is great and the internet is making global education more feasible than ever, there are many parts of the world where people do not have access to the internet. Such places have the greatest need of education. We also discussed alternative ways of transfer of knowledge. Examples like that of early Kenya was brought up where an entire village would send a student to study and the student would bring back education.
