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Vassar College WordPress A Digital Publishing Platform for the Vassar Community SearchHome About Featured Sites Request a Site Help Post navigation ← Older posts Now running WordPress 6.0 Posted on January 16, 2023 by Steve Taylor This platform is now running version 6.0 of WordPress, which includes a number of changes to the user interface for site builders, most significantly the default use of a modern block editor,” in place of the traditional text editor. If you have questions about the change or ing the new software version, please direct them to the CIS Service Desk or to wpadmins@vassar.edu . Posted in Uncategorized This server is frozen” until January 16. Posted on January 10, 2023 by Steve Taylor On Wednesday January 11, CIS will begin updating the software for this WordPress server. There will be two significant effects of this work: While these web pages will continue to be available for viewing throughout the process, the sites will be frozen– meaning that site builders will not be able to make changes to their sites– until Monday January 16. After the upgrade is completed, the platform will be running version 6.0 of WordPress, which will include a number of changes to the user interface for site builders, most significantly the default use of a modern block editor,” in place of the traditional text editor. If you have questions about the change or ing the new software version, please direct them to the CIS Service Desk or to wpadmins@vassar.edu . Posted in Site Feed , Site Information ‘Sky World’: Re-conceptualizing Space Exploration Posted on December 9, 2022 by admin Skywoman Descending Turtle Island, Arnold Jacobs Our class discussions about Dr Space Junk vs The Universe have touched on issues concerning space exploration and the potential colonization/industrialization of outer space. The frameworks we use in these discussions are very important. As we learn about Indigenous histories, postprocessual archaeology, and the future of anthropology, we should consider which paradigms we are operating within and where our research is based. Do we understand Western science as fact? Regard Indigenous history as myth? Are we driven by curiosity, or is there a looming sense of entitlement and capitalism in our language and discussion? Question your understanding and conceptualization of what space is. We consider ourselves so far removed from the world above, so it could even be seen as preposterous to the colonized mind that ‘space’ may be entitled to the same respect, cultural consideration that we (more or less) treat our planet with. Much like the ecology of our earthly landscape, this planet is part of a large interstellar community, and we are as well. I would also ask us to suspend our Westernized mindsets for a moment and reconsider our trust in science and denial of ‘myth.’ Only when we distrust, silence and regard histories as myth can we dignify colonial campaigns on this planet and intercellestially. I want to bring the story of Sky Woman into the conversation when discussing the conceptualization of space. In the beginning there was Skyworld,” starts Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass. Kimmerer describes how Sky Woman initially fell from the Sky World above. As she tumbled into the world below, she was caught by a flock of geese and greeted by a great turtle, among many other animals welcoming her to a world she had never known. Together they built the land, and they grew plant life from the seeds she offered as thanksgiving upon her arrival. We live today as descendants of Sky Woman, a mother native to the world above, and we will continue to offer thanks to this earth and to our co-inhabitants for welcoming us here. Relationality is key in the history of Sky Woman. Descendant from the sky, nurtured by the world below, tending to the land we sew. If we were to consider, actually consider, these truths, would we not approach the Sky World differently? With a perspective that essentially separates us from the world around us, you can see how easily we can turn a blind eye to exploitation on this planet and, to an even greater extent, ignore the exploitation we cannot see or comprehend, those taking place intercelestially. Western methods of science (the ones that have led the march into space) do not consider many spiritual or immaterial aspects of the world around them. Space expedition and colonization are rooted in western philosophies that not only disregard and mythologize Indigenous truths, but also excuse/corroborate the exploitation of land and space (on this planet and otherwise) through the denial of those truths. If we were to consider Sky World and other histories in our conversations, respect and protection might come more easily to the industrialized mind when considering ‘outer space.’ Regarding the universe as ‘community’ is just the beginning of understanding space, not as a land for discovery and exploitation but as home or friend, worthy of respect and honor. River of Souls, Carl Gawboy References A. Mitchell et al. Dukarr lakarama: Listening to Guwak, talking back to space colonization, Political Geography, Volume 81, 2020, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629818304086 Gorman, Alice. Dr Space Junk vs the Universe: Archaeology and the Future. The MIT Press, 2020. Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass. Vancouver, B.C.: milkweed editions, 2013. Maryboy, Nancy C. Process and Relationship in Indigenous Astronomy: Connectivity of Mother Earth and Father Sky.” International Journal of Applied Science and Sustainable Development, no. 2 (2020). Additional Reading https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/19145/16234 https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/47/5/5.27/231805 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Philip-Clarke-4/publication/276207325_THE_ABORIGINAL_AUSTRALIAN_COSMIC_LANDSCAPE_PART_1_THE_ETHNOBOTANY_OF_THE_SKYWORLD/links/555292f308ae6943a86d751f/THE-ABORIGINAL-AUSTRALIAN-COSMIC-LANDSCAPE-PART-1-THE-ETHNOBOTANY-OF-THE-SKYWORLD.pdf Link to original post in Reall Archaeology Posted in Site Feed | Tagged archaelogy , pages.vassar.edu , Vassar College Lenses Speech -Alice Fan ’22 Posted on October 28, 2021 by jliao Three years ago when I just entered Vassar, I had no idea how to initiate a conversation with anyone. During international orientation, I saw other international students so busily exchanging conversations with people sitting next to them, while couldn’t even spare a second to eat the breakfast bagel on their plate Link to original post. Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged international , pages.vassar.edu , Vassar College Posted on May 2, 2019 by mimoraru Today’s post comes from Ian Shelley, Vassar class of 2022 and Art Center student docent. Allison Miller Snare: A toddler saw what I could not see Modern art often asks us to gaze at a piece with childlike wonder, a kind of naiveté devoid of preconception Link to original post in Off the Wall Posted in Site Feed | Tagged pages.vassar.edu , Vassar College Post navigation ← Older posts Authenticate • Single Sign-On • Local Login • Log out Archives Archives Select Month January 2023 December 2022 October 2021 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July...