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Welcome to our e-newsletter
Minds in Motion
Free Minds is growing! Read about our new credit-bearing alumni courses, community writing workshops, and a double dose of Shakespeare.
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This Spring, Study Philosophy with Free Minds
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MDL with Denise Jimenez '08 at the 2008 Carnival of the Minds
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Big news! This January we are launching a cycle of spring classes for Free Minds graduates, similar to the alumni classes we piloted in 2009-10.
The Spring 2012 class will be Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 1301), which meets the ACC core curriculum requirement in Humanities. The instructor will be Dr. Matthew Daude Laurents, who taught in Free Minds from 2006 to 2009. He's chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at ACC and a hilarious, high-energy, and challenging professor.
The class will be held on Tuesday nights from 6:00 to 8:50 at the Community Engagement Center at 1009 East 11th Street. We'll provide books for free and, if there is enough demand, offer on-site child care. This is a great opportunity to work with an inspiring professor in a supportive and engaging environment and to continue working toward your degrees.
Visit our blog for more details and call us at 232-6093 to register.
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| Writing Workshop Begins October 18
This fall, Free Minds is offering a free 8-week writing workshop. This is a unique opportunity to explore your creative potential, share your stories, and improve your comfort and skill as a writer. We'll meet once a week to do guided writing exercises in a supportive group environment to help you awaken the writer within.
When: Tuesdays, Oct. 18 - Dec. 6, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Where: Learning Center, Trails at Vintage Creek, Foundation Communities (7224 Northeast Drive)
Who: You. No experience necessary, and everyone is welcome.
To register or ask questions: E-mail or call 232-6093.
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Shakespeare Comes to Free Minds
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L-R: Rachel Martinez '11, Margo Walker-Brown '08, and AmeriCorps volunteer Hana Silverstein stage scenes from The Tempest.
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In September, students read and discussed The Tempest with literature professor Dr. Domino Perez, then staged scenes from the play with Clayton Stromberger from Shakespeare at Winedale (See this month's "Final Word"). On September 28, the class and a group of alumni went to see the play performed by the Actors from the London Stage on the UT campus.
Reflecting on their experience being immersed in Shakespeare, students were surprised by what they discovered about Shakespeare and about themselves. "I didn't know Shakespeare had such a sense of humor," said Anello Arce, referring to the riotous scene where Caliban and Trinculo are mistaken for a four-legged monster.
Stacey Kennedy was excited to see how much the class had prepared her for the experience of watching the play in the theater. And Debora Otero added that the play reinforced the theme of belonging students are exploring this semester. "When Miranda sees that she actually belongs to a world with people who are like her," she said, "she and her father are no longer alone. They are part of something."
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Special Thanks
Free Minds is grateful for the financial support of its project partners and individual and foundation funders. We offer special thanks to and for their generous contributions to our 2011-12 academic year. If you are interested in volunteering with or supporting Free Minds, you can find more information on our website. |
  
Minds in Motion
Archive
September 2011 The back-to-school issue! Including insights from a new student. August 2011 New students, new faculty, and a new childcare program. July 2011 Grant news, a record applicant pool, and a tour de UT. Plus, Vivé gives the Final Word. |
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The Final Word: Clayton Stromberger
"Freedom, high-day, freedom!"
-- Caliban, The Tempest
 | Clayton, right, guides the Free Minds Players.
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As coordinator of the UT Shakespeare at Winedale Outreach program, my job is to bring the "Shakespeare at Winedale approach" -- active, playful ensemble performance based on a close analysis of the text -- to upper-elementary classrooms around Central Texas. Our primary focus is on students in low-income or disadvantaged communities, and our aim is to give these students a boost as they head into middle school and high school.
For the past few years I have been equally privileged to work with Free Minds students, and these sessions have become among the annual highlights of my teaching year.
At the start of these sessions, I can sense the class's wariness: Is this going to be embarrassing? How can I act out these words, when they are such a challenge to read and understand? So while I always tell my fifth grade students I'm going to treat them like college kids, I tell Free Minds students the reverse: "I hope you will forgive me for treating you like fifth graders!" So we start with a fun clapping chant that soon has everyone laughing and loosening up.
Then we play the play, one moment at a time, using volunteers. And it never fails -- a "regular Free Minds student" is transformed before our eyes to Puck the mischievous sprite, or the jealous raging Leontes, or the snarling Caliban, depending on which play the visiting Actors from the London Stage are presenting on tour that fall. In the end, a few moments have come to vivid life. It's a wonderful thing to see, just as it is with the kids -- the joy of the performer and the astonishment of her classmates as she realizes, "I'm getting this, and I'm kinda good at it!"
Two nights later, the students sit and watch five amazing British actors perform the same play -- and it never fails that already, after one session, the Free Minds students feel a bit possessive about "their" roles: "I thought Patty was a better Prospero!" It is a real privilege to see students find their own voice through Shakespeare's "so potent art," to quote Prospero from The Tempest. |
A program of the UT Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, in partnership with the UT Humanities Institute, Austin Community College, and Foundation Communities, Free Minds offers a two-semester college course in the humanities for Central Texas adults who want to fulfill their intellectual potential and begin a new chapter in their lives.
Free Minds Project
Community Engagement Center
1009 East 11th Street, #218
Austin TX 78702
Project Director: Vivé Griffith Project Assistant/AmeriCorps VISTA: Hana Silverstein
Ph: 512-232-6093 F: 512-236-1729
www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/freeminds |
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