NEWSNEWS
April, 2012Volume 12Issue 4
PACE Home Page2011-12 Theme: Step UpFor monthlyLists
Next Edition Scheduled for late May, 2012 (subject to change)
Administrative Corner
Blaine County Center Director
We Are Community
We know it from our mission statement: The College of Southern Idaho is a “comprehensive community college.” This statement indicates what kind of institution CSI is, but “community” does not just identify a classification, it describes what we are doing every day. It’s action. At CSI, we are building community.
Everywhere I go – to retail stores, restaurants, government offices, the hospital – I see people I know. My husband always marvels at this, because he knows that, really, I am an introverted, reserved person. Left to my own devices, I wouldn’t know a lot of people (I might, in fact, be a hermit!), but through my job at CSI, I get the opportunity to interact with a broad and fascinating spectrum of people – because so many people plug into CSI’s resources to advance their educational and career goals.
Because I work at one the college’s most far-flung outposts in its eight-county service area – the Blaine County Campus – I get a particularly wide view of just how far the college reaches. Little towns like Hailey, Rupert, Gooding, Wendell, and Bellevue are connected to each other and to a broader southern Idaho community through the resources of CSI.
When I see a biochemistry student working weekends as a barista at a coffee shop in Sun Valley, when I see a paraprofessional from Bellevue Elementary running to algebra class at night because she wants to become a teacher, when I see a nursing student leave Hailey before dawn on a winter morning to get to her lab on the Twin Falls campus – I am humbled. Manyof the people who make our community work are advancing their education through CSI. It is a privilege to get to know them.
Whether it’s in a chemistry lab or the peace garden or the Matrix on the main campus, or a classroom at an off-campus center, or even a virtual classroom through an online course – the college provides a commons where our southern Idaho community takes shape. Our community exists in these connections!
Jenny
Picks from the Shelf
The Music Never Stopped, DVD – Based on a true story from author Oliver Sacks. Some may recognize his previous work Awakenings. This movie is a testament to the fact that music can build a communication bridge between people. A father and son have been estranged for 2 decades. The last communication they had was an argument. The son ends up with a traumatic brain injury. He has lost 20 years of his life and can’t remember things from one moment to the next. He doesn’t communicate until he hears a Beatles song that a music therapist plays. He begins to communicate while the music plays. What happens after this is a wonderful journey of healing for a father and son brought together by music from the sixties, with the highlight being the Grateful Dead. – Ann Keane, ADC Office Spec.
Letters of a Woman Homesteader - Book – The letters in this book range from 1909 to 1913. They are a delightful account of Elinore Pruitt Stewart’s journey towards becoming a homesteader and proving up on parcel by herself. She set out to prove that any woman wanting to could accomplish it. If a person could do this there was never any reason to go hungry. It doesn’t take long to read the letters because they are so delightful. They were published in 1914 by the Atlantic Monthly Company. Gretel Ehrlich wrote a forward for the book in 1988. This book has proved to be so popular another has been published with some additional background. And we are lucky in that our very own CSI library has a copy of the later publishing with a forward by another person. The book is so delightful you could read it in a weekend. – Ann Keane, ADC Office Spec.
The Adventures of The Woman Homesteader , The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart - Book – Edited by Susanne K George. This a wonderful companion book to the previously published Letters of a Woman Homesteader. Susanne has provided more insight into the life of Elinore with information gleaned from Elinore’s own children. There are more letters to be read that have not been published before. They came from some private collections. I found it hard to come to the end of the book. I felt I had discovered a new found friend in Elinore and didn’t want my visit to come to an end. I think others will enjoy her companionship also. Readers would discover what it was like for those women who accomplished the hard tasks of making it and they would come to appreciate all that nature has to offer to replenish the soul. Now I just have to read Letters on an Elk Hunt by Elinore. – Ann Keane, ADC Office Spec.
Letters on an Elk Hunt: By a Woman Homesteader, - Book – These letters are written by Elinore (Pruitt) Stewart. Let me tell you that it was a good thing I read the other two books on Elinore Pruitt Stewart previous to this collection of letters. I don’t know if it was due to the fact that the particular edition I read was published by BiblioBazaar or what. There is not introduction or forward from anyone. You don’t know why the letters were written. Are they true or made up? With that aspect out of the way, let me say these are fourteen wonderful descriptive letters of life spanning July to October, 1914. Traveling by horseback up into the high mountains of Elk hunting territory in Wyoming Elinore and companions experience extreme thirst and severe temperatures and are witness to starvation, dementia, romance, elk tooth-hunters and more. Elinore descriptions of surrounding land and on-going events pull you right into the middle of the journey. After reading these three books I have to say I am more and more impressed with Elinore as a person. She is modest in her story telling and is not full of herself and it is obvious she genuinely cares for people. – Ann Keane, ADC Office Spec.
If you have a favorite book, movie or CD from our very own CSI library you would like to recommend to your co-workers, let me know about it. You don’t need to be a professional critic. All you need is two to four sentences giving info on why you think it is something folks might want to spend their time on. – Ann Keane, PACE newsletter editor, ext. 6530,
New Faces on Campus
Corina Bigham, Replacing Ty Culbertson
Custodian
McManaman, ext. 6600
Maria Ortega, New Position
Communications Manager
Idaho STAR, 888-280-7827
“Maria Ortega is the Communications Manager for Idaho STAR. She joined STAR in April 2012 to manage communication, public relations, and marketing activities, as well as community outreach efforts for the program. Maria has over 15 years of experience in communications. She believes effective communication is critical to fulfill STAR’s mission to educate and increase awareness of motorcyclists, and she’s excited to be part of the STAR team, where everyone is a strong advocate for the program. After living in Spain, Utah, and Washington, Maria was happy to settle in Boise with her husband and son.”
Anne McMurry, Replacing Ed McCarroll
Student Services Specialist
Mini-Cassia Off Campus Center, 732-9647
Hello, my name is Anne McMurry and I am pleased tobe working at theMini-Cassia Center! I have lived in the Mini-Cassia area for over twelve years and I have a wonderful eleven year old son who plays the clarinet in band. In our spare time we enjoy fishing, hiking, and trying new recipes.