We went and asked anthropology professor Mirka Prazak to talk about her work outside of the classroom.

All Bennington faculty members are teacher-practitioners, meaning they also do work and/or research in the areas that they teach. Just like the students with Field Work Term, these experiences add so much to the vibrancy of this place and its relationship to the rest of the world.

— Ezra & Michael

Everybody knows it’s OctoPI, right??? That’s what I thought. Last week, though, I heard biology faculty David Edelman talk about his work with Octopuses — he’s teaching a class next term on the Science of Consciousness, and uses these invertebrates as a way to discover a definition of consciousness that applies not just to humans but to animals with very different kinds of brains. Then Parke wrote about Paul Voice using the word “octopuses” — and getting away with it because of his awesome South African accent.

But what’s correct? Apparently, since “octopus” is originally a Greek word, the use of the archaic Latin plural ending “-i” is kind of incorrect… the archaic Greek ending would make it “octopodes.” But since the word has been in the English language so long, the most correct version is Octopuses. Weird.

Check out this great documentary that David Edelman was involved in (David shows up after 9:00)!

-Ezra ‘13

Flock of Canadian Geese circling the pond at sunset last night.

Ezra ‘13

A couple weeks ago we had the first Coffee Hour of term. For those who don’t know, it’s a tradition on Sunday nights for everyone in each house to get together and share food, announcements, issues, and laughs. In my house, Woolley, the theme for coffee hour that week was Rumspringa — the time in the life of an Amish youth when they leave their homes and (from my understanding) go and do pretty much whatever they want, then decide at the end whether or not they want to go back home. In the spirit of breaking free, and because my hair was getting PRETty shaggy, I came with a pair of scissors, and at the end of coffee hour asked everyone to take a snip:

30 people. 30 snips. and I believe we coined a new term in the process: Mull-hawk. Half mohawk, half mullet, all fun.

Ezra ‘13

This week saw the culmination of the Sacred Space Project, a year-long student-run tutorial lead by Sam, a senior studying community development and conflict resolution. The group of two freshmen, two juniors, and one senior spent the year researching sacred spaces, talking with community members about contemplative practice and spirituality, and finally raising funds and building their own sacred space, a beautiful timber-frame space for contemplation and meditation. Throughout the year they also brought in speakers from various faith groups in Bennington and the surrounding area. It’s really inspiring, not just to see a student, Sam, put his unique interests in spirituality and social action into practice through collaboration, but also to have a new space on campus for contemplation and conversation about religion and spirituality!

Learn more about the project at their blog and on this video.

Photos by Sam ‘12

Ezra ‘13