Grad school workshops help you put your best foot forward

Last week a panel of faculty and staff members, headed by Director of the Center for Student Success Dr. Catherine Emanuel, convened on the third floor of the library to give Reinhardt undergrads some great advice about planning (and paying) for graduate school. I know those who attended got a lot out of it. If you weren't able to make it, don't despair. They are planning to have another one in the spring. Not to mention the great thing about Reinhardt is that these experts are always available to help you, if you just take advantage of the resources they have!

Incidentally, there was another graduate school workshop last spring. If you didn't have the chance to attend that one, I blogged about it here.

Last week, the overwhelming themes of the panel speakers were research and communication. Research the schools, research the programs, research the people in the program, and then communicate with them so you know how best to present yourself. There are people out there willing to help you, if you know where to look and how to ask. (Some of the people who want to help were the ones sitting on the panel).

Brandi Berger, Records and Registration Coordinator, gave the nuts-and-bolts of how to use the Registrar's Office when applying to graduate school. They're the ones who have your college transcripts. There is a fee of $5 for each official transcript you request. The Registrar's Office can mail the transcripts for you, but you have to let them know where to send it, what the deadline is, and if there are any particular forms which need to be included. The Registrar's Office can mail the transcript to you, but you have to be sure not to open it--a transcript is only official if it is sealed. If you are still an undergraduate, most graduate programs will require two transcripts--one current one, and one after all of your courses have been completed. Usually your degree from Reinhardt is conferred a couple of weeks after graduation, but if you need your transcript sooner than that, let the Registrar's Office know.

Director of Career Services Peggy Collins spoke of how their office can help you evaluate your own strengths and goals when choosing a future career, and also talked about some web sites that show which college majors and degrees best prepare you for which jobs. On the Career Services section of Reinhardt's web site, there are links to sites which show you in more detail what a graduate school application looks like.

"The process you go through when applying to graduate school parallels the process of looking for a job," Ms. Collins said. The cover letter is extremely important. It is your opportunity to sell yourself. You want to show your accomplishments and what you have to offer, why the program should choose you over someone else. Graduate school is highly competitive.

Before applying to a graduate program, it's imperative to research both the school and the industry thoroughly. If you're interested in a particular profession, you should talk to people who are in that profession and see if that's really what you want to do with your life, Ms. Collins suggested. Ask the person if he or she would choose that particular field today, and why or why not.

Know your future plans and have an idea of what you want to do with your degree when you get it. Research the school. Talk to your professors, and talk to the professors and the students in the program you're considering. Manners count too--don't forget to send a thank-you note! You never know when somebody will be influential in your future, and you always want to leave a good impression.

To Be Continued Next Week... stay tuned for advice from Reinhardt professors, from Reinhardt's own graduate programs, and from Public Services Librarian Karen Preslock!

Have a good weekend!

YONAIP at the Fall Festival

Library director and Year of North American Indigenous Peoples chairman Michael Martinez "represented" at the Reinhardt College Fall Festival last weekend, selling t-shirts and bowls of his authentic Navajo chili. Looks as if he has a satisfied customer!

Dances with Wolves: 2 pm TODAY at the Funk

Greetings!
This week's movie for the Year of North American Indigenous Peoples is Dances with Wolves, directed by Kevin Costner. This movie won seven Academy Awards in 1990, including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and it also won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture--Drama.

Dances with Wolves stars Costner as Dunbar, an accidental Civil War hero transferred to the western frontier. Circumstances leave Dunbar isolated at his new post in the South Dakota Badlands, except for a wolf that he befriends and names "Two-Socks." After initially-strained relations with his Lakota neighbors, Dunbar finds himself drawn to their lifestyle and customs. Eventually he abandons his post to join the tribe. This leads to his arrest as a traitor. After his Lakota friends rescue him, Dunbar has to make a difficult decision for the good of the tribe.

The movie will be shown at 2 pm in the theater at the Funk Heritage Center on campus. Library director and "Year Of" chairman Michael Martinez will be on hand to speak about the film, and I think he'll have a lot of interesting (and maybe amusing)things to say about it.

Remember, write a brief (one- or two-paragraph) review of this movie or any of the other movies and books in our "Year Of" collection, and you can be eligible to win a flash drive and a t-shirt. At the end of the year, all participants will be entered into a drawing for a Nintendo Wii. Just send your review to Karen Preslock at kp1@reinhardt.edu. Good luck!

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library

National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time designated both to honor the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States and to celebrate Hispanic Heritage and Culture. It is observed from September 15 to October 15 each year. The starting date of Sept. 15 was chosen because it is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The independence days of Mexico, Chile and Belize also occur within this 30-day period.

During National Hispanic Heritage Month, we invite you to check out our display on the second floor of the library, featuring books on the achievements of several notable Hispanic Americans. Also, please browse one of our newer databases, Latino Literature from Alexander Street Press. This database encompasses more than 100,000 pages of poetry, fiction and drama written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Puerto Rican, Dominican and other Hispanic authors working in the United States. You can read more about this database here.

(The novel pictured here, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez [PS3551.L845G37 1991] is available on the third floor of the library. It is a coming-of-age novel about four sisters, immigrants to New York from the Dominican Republic, and their struggle to determine their own identities while balancing their lives between two cultures. Good read)!

Exercise Freedom! Read a Banned Book Today!

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

The above quote is from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book is one of the most frequently challenged and banned books nationwide for its use of racial slurs and its depiction of adult themes.

Other frequently challenged books include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, Gone With the Wind, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Flies, Schindler's List, Beloved, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Call of the Wild, A Farewell to Arms (burned in Nazi bonfires), and Of Mice and Men, among others.

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based on the objections of a person or a group. A challenge is not simply one or more people expressing an opinion; it is an attempt to deny others access to the material by removing it from a curriculum or a library's shelf. Sometimes this is done with the best of intentions: to protect others, especially children, from difficult ideas and information.

Even if the challengers have positive intentions, Free Access to Libraries for Minors, an interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (ALA's basic policy concerning access to information) states that, “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.” Censorship by librarians of constitutionally protected speech, whether for protection or for any other reason, violates the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind...the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error."-John Stuart Mill, On Liberty.

A more complete list of challenged classics, along with the reasoning behind their challenge, can be found here.

Addendum: My library director has requested me to add The Adventures of Captain Underpants to the above list of challenged classics. It is duly noted.

"Year Of" movie today, Drums Along the Mohawk

Okay, guys, I gotta couple of great options for you this afternoon, and I'm not talking about a post-lunch nap (as attractive as that option always is). First of all, there's the graduate school workshop on the third floor of the library at 2:00 (that's where I plan to be). But if that doesn't float your boat, the "Year Of" movie this week is the 1939 Technicolor classic from John Ford, Drums Along the Mohawk. It was nominated for two Academy Awards (in a year when the competition included such tiny little films as The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind). The movie stars Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert, Edna May Oliver (Best Supporting Actress nominee for this picture) and John Carradine.

The movie is set in 1776. Newlywed American colonists leave a comfortable existence in Albany, New York, to settle in a small farm on the western frontier of the Mohawk Valley. When the American Revolution starts, the couple finds themselves under attack by the natives, who are working in concert with British sympathizers.

It's supposed to be an exciting, "blood and thunder"-type movie. I personally would like to hear Michael's take on it. Michael Martinez is, of course, the library director and the chairman of the "Year Of" committee. He will be at the showing today to give some historical background and lead discussion before and after the film. Show up at the Funk at 2:00, and you may win a t-shirt!

(You can take that nap afterwards).

It was Coosa!

I had a great time last night at the Year of Native American Peoples lecture last night by Richard Thornton. We had students, faculty and members of the general public attending. One smart fellow came up with the name of the mystery Georgia city-it was Coosa! Thornton is shown here with the prize, a bowl he made from local raw clay. The bowl features the Long-Nosed God, a figure from Mayan cultural tradition. One of the most interesting topics from last night's talk was the relationship between the Mayas of Latin America and the mound-builders of Georgia. Fascinating stuff!