Italy Summer in - College of Arts & Sciences

Volume 7, Number 1
“F
NEW COLLEGE NEWSLETTER February 2008
Summer
in Italy By Ted Trost
ood, Farm, and Culture” is a course directed by Catherine Roach and Ted Trost at the Spannocchia
Villa for two weeks in June. Students stayed in the 14th century villa that sits strategically atop a Tuscan
hillside 45 kilometers from Siena. This working farm is surrounded by olive groves, vineyards,
Continued on page 3

2
Snapshots
from the
2007
New College
Retreat

Last year’s class eats lunch on the terrace .
Continued from Page 1
and orchards. During the course of two weeks students
were immersed
in such diverse topics as the “slow food movement”
(which arose in Italy as a critique of the “fast food
lifestyle”); sustainable agriculture; organic farming;
wine-making; the pre-Roman legacy of the Etruscans;
and the role tourism plays in promoting understanding
among nations.
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As General Manager of Tenuta di Spannocchia, Randall
Stratton is responsible for Spannocchia’s on-going
educational mission. In this capacity (as depicted in
the picture below) he welcomed the Alabama group to
Spannocchia and served throughout our stay as both a
gracious host and a resource on Spannocchia’s mission
and lore. Among the social events that took place at
Spannocchia was “pizza night” – when all the guests
including our group dined “al fresco” and until sunset
on pizzas made in Spannocchia’s own wood-burning
stove.
The group also traveled to Florence and Siena,
among other cities, and also to nearby organic farms
where we learned about cheese production; preparation
of other foods such as salami and prosciutto; and
the care of animals. On one such visit the group dined
on locally-grown and made foods at Poggio Allora in
the beautiful country of San Gimignano (as depicted in
the picture above).
New College will return to Italy in June 2008.
This year the course will be directed by Julia Cherry.

The Final Product
of a brand new class
Last year was the first-ever semester for New490: Songcraft.
The class contemplated and discussed the craft of
song from the early troubadours to early blues all the
way up to modern pop. Their final project was to contribute
to the catalogue that they had been analyzing for the
entire semester. They put together an album of pure Rock
‘N’ Roll....and everything else. This is a review of that VERY
multi-genre and interdisciplinary album.
By Logan Yates
There seems to be
a theme present in the
flow of last spring’s
Songcraft album in
that the contour is created
out of the difference
between the
conventional singersongwriter
leanings
and the more surprising
stylistic twists.
Such diversion range
from a buried-vocal
demo track that recalls
live Suicide, to rap
with an early Roots
philosophy—not
exactly new or avantgarde,
but certainly a
surprise product from
a college class.
In fact, it’s that
freshness that keeps
the record alive.
There’s a reverence
for tradition in this
product of a very untraditional
class. After
examining the art of
song from a very
studied, academic
perspective as well as
more immersive ones
like a class retreat
to an encounter with
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local blues legend
Willie King (who is
scheduled to performing
for the second
NEW490 class on
Feb. 27, 2008), the
students seem to have
made a connection
between their newfound
understanding
of songcraft and the
way their own tastes
fit in with that.
The album
isn’t made of hamhanded
rewrites of the
forms these students
have studied, though.
Their familiarity with
this craft has, instead,
opened them up to
take these conventions
as their own and
use them as a jump-
ing-off point for their
own self-expression.
Viewing history as a
springboard lets even
the unadorned pieces
shine as the work of
a new voice in an old
tradition.
Clockwise from top:
(1) The cover of the songcraft
cd, which will be released
for sale sometime during the
spring 2008 semester.
(2) The (first) New 490 songcraft
class at camp McDowell
last year.
(3)The graphic supplement
for John Miller’s song “We
Are One,” which is featured
on the cd.
The New College Songcraft Collective
Songcraft 1 (2007)
1. Deaf, Dumb, and Blind
Erin Campbell & Dan Wakefield
2. Tidal Wave Rush’n
Sarah Barnard, lyrics (music and voices by Wes Day)
3. Bogue Chitto River Blues
Brandon Walker
4. Romans and Bedfellows Experi-Mental Track 5
Cody Head
5. To Dawn
Chris Birdwell
6. 48 Hours
Game Theory (Jackson & Taylor Mills, Daraius Guthridge, The
Drew)
7. Headlight Parade
Eric Frye & Matt LeJeune
8. Mooninite Invasion Blues
Cory Pennington
9. Gregory the Caterpillar
Blake Harnage, Cody Head, Rachel & Terry
10. Run to Me
Chris Boone
11. I Had a Dream
Dan Wakefield
12. Just Gimme a Clue
Thaddaeus Quince & the New Originals
13. Freddie Needs a Suntan (including “Me giet davan de ton autaur”)
Allison Thornhill, Mary Margaret Randall & Kali McNutt
14. White Star Line
Jesse LeJeune
15. We Are One!!!
John Miller

Last year Gus Powell,
Daniel Wooten, and I all ventured
east. We ventured to the Far East
in fact, and ended up in Japan for a
year of
challenge and change. Gus and I
were to spend the year in Kyoto
while Daniel was a little southwest
of us in a place called Hirakata,
where the majority of the Japanese
students you see around campus
come from.
I had gotten the feeling that
spending that much time outside
the nation, and certainly in an environment
where the native language
was not English, would have an
effect on me that would stay with
me for the rest of my life. Turns
out I was right; yay me. Living in
a place that has so much history
to it gives one a different sense of
time. The real sense of tradition
you could sense was something
completely new, much to UA’s
corny marketing strategy’s dismay,
I’m afraid. Engaging a nation and
a culture as different from our own
as Japan really taught me how to
evaluate different parts of society,
and how to relate them to the
whole as an entity within itself.
Of course, don’t
think I’m forgetting about the sheer
beauty of the place. They don’t
call it the land of the rising sun for
nothing, you know? While I was
5
1 Year in Japan
By Scott Morris
there I had opportunities unlike
anything I could have ever dreamt
would reward me the way they did.
Studying under Jack-Sensei, and
learning the ways of traditional
tea and how one can create a
universe and an experience that
can be, and often is, life changing.
Climbing Mt. Fuji and huddling up
for two hours of cold, wet, sleep
only to get back up and summit it
in time to find out exactly why they
do call it the land of the rising sun.
But don’t just take my word
for it; you can see the pictures for
yourself on my facebook profile.
Gus knows much more about this
one than I do, but getting up and
meditating with a monk in the
temple complex just a ten minute
walk from our apartments was
beyond (any sort of adequate)
description. Those are just a few
examples of the exact kind of thing
awaiting you to challenge yourself
to put yourself out there. No,
really, GET OUT THERE.
And if that’s not enough to
convince you, try my last spring
break.
A friend from Rutgers
University, Christy Butt, and I
caught a ferry from Osaka over to
Shanghai in China before heading
up through Beijing, over to Xi’an,
down through Guilin to Hong
Kong where we stayed through
the Chinese New Year and caught
the single best fireworks display
I’ve ever seen in my life among
Hong Kong’s other wonders and
pleasures. We headed back up
through China by train, and got to
Vietnam just a tad bit sooner than
our visas were valid from.
After waiting the night
there we headed down through
Vietnam and up through Cambodia
before finishing off the trip in
Bangkok, Thailand. Remember I
haven’t even bothered telling you
what we did, just where we went.
Now, doesn’t that sound just a tad
better than going to some beach to
get drunk? And honestly, at least
for this skinny dude, that water’s
too cold for swimming in even in
April. Go somewhere! Whether
you come back telling of how you
windsurfed some giant wave or
how the snow was so high you
couldn’t see over it, I can guarantee
two things: that you’ll learn
something about where you are,
and you’ll learn something about
yourself that you never
knew. Now GO!
Scott Morris

A Reflection
By Tiffany Y’vonne Thompson
Supportive
Engaging
Loving
Fulfillment
Wondering what the above
words have in common? These
are the first words that I associate
with the New College community.
The NC community or family is
connected to and driven by each of
these words and nine times out of
ten, each current NCer will have
stories, just as I do, that bring their
meanings to life by the time you
graduate.
As a graduate and proud
NCer, I practice the NC
model of a Supportive environment,
community balanced with
guidance cultivated by staff and
students, every time I recruit and
develop small teams for various
projects. I apply the renowned NC
in-house concept of ownership and
responsibility to create the “workspace”
I want to Engage in and the
type of staff I want and need to
engage with.
Being a member of New
College was adopting a family and
extended community. I recall a
tumultuous senior year as a triumphant
highlight in my life; thanks
to the Loving outreach that staff
and fellow NCers shared with me.
They chose not to forget or distance
themselves from me in my
time of need personally nor academically,
and I pulled through to
graduate because of their influence.
6
Many people hear about
New College and give you the
“what” expression, which is oftentimes
followed by the “cool” or
“interesting” remark. I am grateful
that New College does happen
to be “cool” and “interesting” and
let’s not leave out fun, but more
importantly, I remember NC for
the intellectual rigor towards the
theoretical and practical.
I joined because of its commitment
to embrace unique perspectives
and seemingly un-related
interests to help create an individualized
degree-bound program that
is coherent and cohesive. I joined
New College because it represents
growth of the Self and celebrating
the Self on the never-ending
journey of Fulfillment achieved
through learning, engaging, being,
and actively contributing to the
betterment of our interconnected
world. If there is any community
or family model that I could share
with the world, it would be New
College.
As I continue to travel the
unfolding path of life personally
and professionally, I still interact
with my prior NC professors and
rely heavily on my interdisciplinary
background — especially in regards
to its innovative thinking and
synthesizing process.
So I urge and challenge
every NC member to get involved
and celebrate our connections to
our community by exemplifying
the Best of New College in our
actions, thoughts, and endeavors.
It is through our active practice of
what NC stands for that we contribute
to NC’s fulfillment to us to realize
our dreams, visions, interests,
and potential. Be Bold, Be Daring,
Do New College!
Tiffany Y’vonne Thompson (Class
of 2005)
Seeker4Truth@gmail.com
Tiffany Y’vonne Thompson is
currently living in New York,
New York in cultural and historic
Harlem. She is working on a few
projects, including a sci-fi fantasy
novel. She hopes to return to
NC to teach or work on programming
and development.

Faculty Note:
By Joe Brown
We’re now approaching
midterm of my second semester
here in New
College, and the time has simply
flown by. That may be because I’m
having such a good time and I’ve
been busier than ever. Whether it’s
preparing to teach new classes,
writing grants for our organic
farming program, setting up my
water quality lab, starting various
research projects, or driving
my tractor around on the farm, the
(fun) work never ends. I am truly
thankful to be here among such interesting
and interested colleagues
& collaborators (that includes
students) as New College and the
university experience what seems
to be a period of intense growth
and development. Like you, I
know what a special place
New College is and I’m happy to
be a part of it.
For those of you who don’t
already know me, allow me to
introduce myself by way of stating
a series of facts about where I came
from and what I intend to do now
that I am here. I’m returning to my
native Alabama after several years
of being elsewhere, first Berkeley
and then England and most recently
Chapel Hill, via Cambodia. As
many of you know, I was a student
here at UA several years back. I
flirted repeatedly with the idea of
applying to New College – all my
friends were New College folks
– and to my shame and eternal
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regret I never took the
plunge, content as I was to
be a hanger-on, obviously
not living fully. I was,
however, among the first few
to have a show in New Gallery,
a founding member of
(anar)croquet-on-the-quad, a
contributor to the NC review,
AEC devotee, and
guerilla bike-in film
coordinator. In any case,
I’m thrilled to be here officially,
finally,
and Sara and I have received
a very warm welcome from
the New College
family. Many thanks to all for that.
I feel like I’ve righted a wrong
of the past and regained some karmic
momentum.
Our own Ed Passerini likes
to say that New College faculty
members get to “play in many different
puddles.” I’m having a great
time splashing around so far. My
research is mainly on the intersection
of environmental science and
public health, specifically environmental
health microbiology (water
quality and infectious diseases in
developing countries – mud puddles
in the literal sense). I also
have interests in sustainable technologies
of various kinds, green
building, and organic farming. I’ll
be teaching green building every
spring and organic farming in the
fall and summers, and teaching one
section of New 243, the interdisciplinary
laboratory class also taught
by Dr. Cherry. I’ll also be leading
a summer abroad experience in
Bolivia in 2009, so stay tuned for
that. I like hands-on projects and
creative channeling of our frus-
trated, youthful energies for the
betterment of the world, local to
global. I hope I can contribute to
our community here and be a helpful
resource for students.
If I haven’t had the pleasure
of meeting you yet, please do stop
by and introduce yourself. Now
that the weather’s feeling a bit
springier, I particularly welcome
the odd challenge of bocce or croquet.

Photographs taken on Oct 02 at the “Yoga on the Quad” event in honor of First UN declared Day of Non-violence.
Theprogram went off well for 108 minutes but only a small group participated in it.
Plan to attend the next “Yoga on the Quad” next fall.
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