The Public School

Time Banking Workshop

autumn — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:10:50 +0000

Learn how to set up your own time bank.
Looking for an alternative to the cash economy? Time banking builds self reliance and relationships.
Time banking is a “pay it forward” system for weaving community. When you spend an hour doing something for your neighbor you earn a time dollar. Then you can spend a time dollar to have someone in your community do something for you such as, dog walking, tutoring, yard work, haircuts and massage. We are all assets.
There are 65 time banks in the US and 300 world wide. Los Angeles only has two. Lets build a network of branches.
www.echoparktimebank.com

Frank Rich Film Series

sean — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:03:47 +0000

Whenever Frank Rich refers to a film in his weekly editorials to illustrate our contemporary political situation, we would watch it together and then talk about politics.

Ever since moving from the Arts & Leisure section a few years ago to the front page, these references have been a lot more sparse, but they’re still there. For example, he recently dropped the 1949 musical “South Pacific” as a way of thinking about the costs of the Iraq War today.

This would be ongoing, but only occurring when Frank substantially mentions a film. (A week or two after he makes the mention, ideally).

People Watching series begins July 3 at 8pm

D.A.N. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:03:14 +0000

People Watching is a monthly film-screening series with the goal of approaching movies for their anthropological significance, over their contribution to film history and academia. The title of each film will be a mystery until the night of the screening.

The inaugural session of People Watching will feature a classic Film Noir thriller about a serial killer. The aim of this screening is not to figure out “whodunnit”, but to ponder the notion that in 1931, in a city with a population of over 4,000,000, all its residents (though often working separately) might share the unified objective of apprehending a single criminal.

Thursday, July 3 at 8pm.
This is an outdoor screening, so dress appropriately!
Organized by Helen Cahng.

Position #2

D.A.N. — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:22:22 +0000

The following lists are collectively written and may occasionally contradict themselves. This is OK.

Questions The Public School should pose, concepts it should address, realities it should engage with, and ethics it should encourage.

* Challenge goal-oriented pedagogical models that promote economic value to learning.

* Arts education as a space for for open-ended inquiry and speculation.

* Continuous mobility between positions of teacher, student, and school administrator.

* Build a sustainable economy that doesn’t rely on volunteerism.

* Enact a model that can be adopted in other locations.

* Encourage multiple competing approaches to the same subject.

* Interdisciplinarianism (or: adisciplinarianism?)

* Engagement with the community (via events / exhibitions / calls for participation)

What kinds of classes/ subjects should The Public School promote?

* The expert and the amateur.

* Reading small amounts, slowly and carefully.

* Mutation of the arts following technological advances.

* Practical courses for practicing artists.

* Collaborative projects.

* The role of theory and criticism now and then.

* Obsolescence.

* Very specific, ideologically loaded software classes

* Games and play.

* Multiple political -isms (conservatism, neo-conservatism, liberalism, neo-liberalism, etc.)

* Structures of production in the arts.

* War and police.

* Peace and protesters.

* Screenings.

* Exhibitions.

Roland Barthes

anathemata — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:23:35 +0000

Barthes ‘from work to text’ seems to theorize the type of society wrapped completely in an informational fabric that artists and general citizens find themselves in today. Though I have read and enjoyed some of his other books, I would prefer to read and study his books in a group setting. I have no preset idea of what a class centered around the work of Barthes could be, hopefully others appreciate his writings as well and might have some ideas what possible shape a class like this might take?

The Public School Committee Meeting 04

D.A.N. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:42:20 +0000

New on committee! Caleb Waldorf
Thank you, John Houck

[ read meeting notes here ]

Sedgwick: Touching Feeling

sarahkessler — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:35:34 +0000

This is a proposal for a reading group focused on Eve Sedgwick’s Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity (2003). Eve Sedgwick is often credited with birthing queer theory as a field of study. Touching Feeling is her most recent book, and is comprised of essays spanning ten years. Major areas of focus include performativity and performance, spatial dynamics/metaphors, texture and affect, and what she calls “techniques for nondualistic thought and pedagogy.”

The class would not be “taught.” Rather, it would be a loosely facilitated discussion/close reading group. Ideally, this discussion/reading would take place in three 2 - 3 hour installments. Participants should come to the first session having read a certain amount that we will determine as a group on The Public School list.

About Touching Feeling Wayne Koestenbaum has written: “Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s gift is to electrify intellectual communities by reminding them that ‘thought’ has a temperature, a texture, and an erotics.”

from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Kosofsky_Sedgwick

Contracts, billing, and running a business for full time freelancers

universbold — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:28:35 +0000

How to write a contract for freelance work. Tips for running a small business. Filing a small claims court case against clients who don’t pay

Bad Theater as a Cradle for Self-Actualization

bedbug — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:00:30 +0000

This is a 4-week intensive on Bad Theater as a means of self-expression, introspection and relationship building. Through entering deeply into the principles of bad acting: constriction of the throat, clouding of the mind through fear and self-consciousness, bodily stiffness or limpness, apprehension and self-doubt in movement, and beyond, one can deepen one’s relationship with one’s physical limits, the limits of language/sound, and the flexible tension between two beings occupying a finite space. Students will learn standard theatrical bodily gestures, walking attitudes, blocking faux pas, keening and plaintive vocals, sensual breath, nerves as a source of transcendence, milking the gap between word and sound, human-object relations, as well as classic theater and film stereotypes. Class will culminate in performance.

The Conquest of Mexico

was57 — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:40:29 +0000

One night seminar of the history of the Conquest of Mexico. Based on the book by William Prescot, and the eyewitness account by Bernal Diaz del Castillo.

An amazing, tragic, heroic, and epic story of the clash of civilizations, the incredible charisma and ruthlesness of Cortez and the amazing true story of the destruction of Tenochtitlan the gleaming white capital city of the Aztec Empire.