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News from CTA February 2013

Project Partner Spotlight: 

Wood's Earth Living Classroom  

   
The farm-to-school movement has evolved since the late 1990s to reach thousands of schools across the country. Farm-to-school programs can be anything from edible schoolyards to farm field trips to cafeterias serving local peaches in September. By building markets and more self-sustaining communities, giving kids a sense of the land where their food is grown (or how to grow it themselves) and broadening their food choices, these programs can transform interwoven economic, environmental and health systems over time.

Wood's Earth Living Classroom is a new project partner of the Center for Transformative Action. What started as an organic community gardens with on-site education has grown to encompass a school food production site and a farm-to-school system development program. Overall, we cultivate community involvement in growing and sourcing school food. The community garden plots and school food production field share a drip irrigation system, perimeter deer fence, tools, gardening supplies and beautiful surroundings.

To choose our crops and make sure the produce from our farm and others will get to kids through school food, we work closely with the Child Nutrition Program of the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) and the Cool School Food Program of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. ICSD serves lunch to approximately 2,500 students each day in a district of 5,000 students, and Cool School Food is bringing plant-based entr�e options to the school-wide menu. We have also begun to work closely with Regional Access to bring local, organic produce into cafeterias.

GIAC Conservation Core building a greenhouse
Conservation Corps building a Greenhouse
Teenagers in the Conservation Corps are starting a unit on building and construction this month, with support for supplies from the Sustainable Tompkins Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program. The teens will repair the cold-frame greenhouse and construct a shed, practicing design and carpentry skills and using lumber from a building they helped to deconstruct with the Finger Lakes ReUse Center.

The Conservation Corps program pays students in middle and high school to work with various community organizations all year round. Come April, along with other youth groups and volunteers, they'll plant seeds for school food in rotation with cover crops on one acre, while community gardeners prepare their plots for the growing season.

Community garden plots are available for 2013. Each plot sold supports our educational and school food programs. Drip irrigation, a deer fence, tons of shared resources, community support and educational workshop opportunities come with the terrain, plus you can easily bike, drive or take the TCAT bus 67. Lower Robert Treman State Park is right next door, where you can swim for free in the summer by walking from the gardens after working in the soil. Gardeners keep their plots from year to year.

Check out our website, or contact us at [email protected] or 607-592-2902 for more information.
CTA is Community Sponsor for upcoming OLEANNA Production

 

CTA Board members will offer a talk back:  
Be Right Or Be Heard--Listening for Understanding
 

In February, The Readers' Theatre of Ithaca will present the chillingly provocative and incisive Pulitzer Prize winning drama that dissects the controversial issue of sexual harassment from every emotionally wrenching side of the equation: OLEANNA by David Mamet. The modern production will premiere at The Readers' Theatre's new home, the Black Box Theatre at Lehman Alternative Community School, 111 Chestnut Street. Performances will be one weekend only from Friday, February 22nd to Sunday, February 24th with a total of four performances in Ithaca (see detailed dates and times below).

 Oleanna Poster

OLEANNA provoked fierce debates about sexual harassment and gender politics. Written during the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas sexual harassment scandal, this play, about a female student accusing her male professor of sexual impropriety, divided audiences between those who were angered by what they perceived as fabricated sexual harassment charges used as a tool to gain power, and those who viewed the image of a scheming woman as an attack on the right of women to defend themselves from improper sexual advances.

 

According to Anne Marie Cummings, Founder and Artistic Director of The Readers' Theatre,  the inspiration to direct OLEANNA came from a 2004 production at the Garrick Theatre in London featuring Aaron Eckhart and Julia Stiles. "I was very impressed with Lindsay Posner's direction and the performances," said Cummings. "It was clear how Posner wanted the audience to think of these two flawed characters in this situation. The beauty of directing a play like this is that a director can make restrained choices that dramatically sways the audience's thinking."

  

There will be free talk-backs following all four performances of OLEANNA. Guest speakers include Dr. Greg Eells, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Cornell University, Richard Polenberg, former history professor at Cornell University (last season Polenberg gave a fascinating talk-back after A STEADY RAIN), and John Suter and Vivian Relta, members of the Board of Directors for the Center for Transformative Action.  

 

Suter and Relta's talk, "Be Right Or Be Heard: Listening for Understanding," will be given on Sunday, February 24th at 3pm. 

   

Eells' talk, "The Complexity of Relationships at Colleges and Universities" will be given on Saturday, February 23rd at 8pm, and Polenberg's talk, "The Anita Hill/David Mamet Connection" will be given twice: Friday, February 22nd at 8pm and Sunday, February 24th at 6:30pm. Cummings will give a pre-show talk at Kendal, for Kendal residents only, on Sunday, February 10 at 3pm entitled, "The Director's Process."

 

Alternatives Federal Credit Union is a financial sponsor for OLEANNA. The Center for Transformative Action is a supporting sponsor.  

 

Performance readings of OLEANNA take place at THE BLACK BOX THEATRE, 111 Chestnut Street, located at Lehman Alternative Community School. OLEANNA begins on Friday, February 22nd at (8pm), and will be performed on Saturday, February 23rd (8pm), and Sunday, February 24th (3 & 6:30pm).

 
Tickets for students are $10 with a reservation (student ID at the door).  
Tickets for adults and seniors are $12 with a reservation and $15 at the door. Reservations are recommended, and can be made by calling 607.217.6272.  www.thereaderstheatre.com.
News and Events

CUSLAR is offering a 12-week Spring language classes  

 

CUSLAR, a CTA Project Partner,  is offering 12-week Spring language classes on the Cornell campus, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Classes are fun, interactive, and taught by fluent speakers. Registration now open.  

  

Classes take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays

February 5, 2013 and ending May 2, 2013 

(excluding Spring Break: March 18th-22nd)

 

Beginning Spanish- 5:00pm to 6:00pm

Intermediate Spanish- 6:10pm to 7:10pm

Advanced Spanish- 7:20 to 8:20pm  

 

Early Registration fee- $375; Regular Registration fee $395

Early Registration deadline- January 29, 2013

 

For more information or to register email [email protected] or call the CUSLAR office at (607) 255- 7293 www.cuslar.org 

 

Prisoner Express and An Open Window Present  Two Exhibitions of Art
 

The first show will be exhibited in the Alternatives Federal Credit Union, 125 N. Fulton St., Ithaca, from February 1 through  March 30, 2013.   The second exhibition is the annual Big Red Barn show and can be seen from February 18 through mid-March

 

An Open Window is a project in the Center For Transformative Action that conducts workshops in various prisons throughout the United States.  Prisoner Express, a program of CTAs Durland Alternatives Library, has an educational newsletter for 2000 prisoners throughout the US.  This year, the two projects developed an art curriculum for these prisoners.  This curriculum is unique in that it develops a dialogue of art with individuals in solitary confinement.

 

The philosophy of this curriculum, "Drawing From Life," is contrary to most prison art in that it asks the students to develop a visual vocabulary through drawing what one observes rather than working from one's imagination or self-expression. The students are asked to look beyond themselves. The course is challenging for many in that it asks the students to develop a capacity to "listen through the eyes." A good example of this "listening" is a description written by Manuel, who lives in solitary confinement, in response to the assignment asking him to explore the observable patterns of light and shadows in his cell:

 

"Inside the cell, I could see that the light and dark tones are not flat. I've noticed the light and dark patterns near the windows. The areas around the windows are extremely dark, but the area where the light comes from the window is bright.......The window light reflecting on the concrete bed has a very bright light tone and there is no light in the darkness surrounding this light..."

 

Manuel continues to describe the different light and shadow patterns for the next five paragraphs of his letter. He then develops a drawing from this exploration of what to the average person is just an empty room.

 

Another prisoner, Robert, who is also serving a life sentence of solitary confinement, in a California prison, wrote:

 

"I am always stuck within my four walls and I am trying to learn to express my thoughts and emotions through drawing....I would be grateful if you can help me by sending me your inspiring instruction package on how to draw."

 

We write back to everyone who mails in the assignments; sending suggestions and copies of art that will inspire them to see beyond their four walls.

 

While this exhibition is work from both workshops and through the mail, it is based upon the philosophy of the curriculum of "Draw From Life"; a visual understanding in a shared world.

 

Vitamin L's workshop to the Ithaca City School District provides music for upholding the Dignity for All Students Act   

 

On Jan. 28, Vitamin L, a CTA project partner, sang for 1,000 Ithaca City School District Staff and gave a workshop about using songs to support the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA).This presentation coincided with Vitamin's L's gift to the Ithaca District of 195 copies of the new CD, Sing for Dr. King!,  and 14 copies of the songbook. Each music teacher in the district received a CD and songbook, and each elementary classroom, each library, all the middle school social studies teachers, and some of the high school social studies teachers received a copy of the CD. This gift was made possible by support from The Park Foundation, several individuals, and IPEI.  

 

The Vitamin L songs can be used to support lesson plans created by district staff for the M.L.K. Community Build.   Instructions on matching Vitamin L songs to specific lesson plans can be found here

 

People yearn for authentic experiences from the heart, and this music is from the heart! Listeners will also learn a bit of civil rights history from this CD via 2 songs about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a song about the Freedom Riders. Veteran civil rights leader, Dorothy Cotton, from CTA's Dorothy Cotton Institute joins Vitamin L on the CD for "This Little Light of Mine." This CD is The Vitamin L Project's contribution to the M.L.K. Community Build.

 

The CD is available locally in a few locations, in Atlanta at the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, at Vitamin L's website, I Tunes, CD Baby, and Songs for Teaching.com.

 

Vitamin L's official CD Release Concert Celebration will take place on Monday Feb. 18, Presidents' Day, at 1:00 pm at the Unitarian church. This is also part of the Ithaca Loves Teachers Week promotion. CTA is one of the sponsors of the community concert. There will be door prizes for teachers and complimentary refreshments from Wegmans.

 

The Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) was put into place in New York State on July 1, 2012. DASA concerns mandates "instruction in civility, citizenship, and character education by expanding the concepts of tolerance, respect for others and dignity to include: an awareness and sensitivity in the relations of people, including but not limited to, different races, weights, national origins, ethnic groups, religions, religious practices, mental or physical abilities, sexual orientations, gender identity, and sexes." Vitamin L music has been addressing these issues for over 23 years.

 

Groundswell Launched its Winter Farm Business Course

  

The Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming, a program of the EcoVillage Center for Sustainability (a CTA project partner), launched its winter Farm Business Planning Course on January 10 with 20 trainees, all serious beginning farmers. They hail from Ithaca to as far as Kersey, Pennsylvania, and are planning farm enterprises as varied as vegetable CSA, hops, honey, raw milk dairy, and pastured hogs. After introducing themselves with an elevator speech at the first class, they'll finish the 10-week course with a business plan under their belt and new know-how about marketing, finances, legalities, and improving efficiency and profitability. To learn more about Groundswell follow this link.  

 

Mapping the Mentor's Journey:  

A Workshop for Farmers and Farm Educators 


Sunday, February 10
9 am - 5 pm
EcoVillage at Ithaca
Potluck lunch- bring a dish to pass
Dress for indoor and outdoor activity

$25; scholarships available

  • Are you a farmer, farm manager or farm educator with a passion for cultivating new farmers?
  • Do you care deeply about building intern and employee relationships that go "beyond teaching" to a place of mutual support and growth?
  • Are you ready to take your mentorship skills to the next level to become a truly inspirational on-farm educator?

Join leading nature awareness educators and experienced mentors Tim Drake and Jed Jordan and leadership coach Corinne Eisenman for an exciting and transformative day-long experience on the farm mentor's journey. From hands-on exercises to co-created conversations, and even the occasional download, we'll take a look at farm education through the eyes of a mentor. Farmer folks will leave with new tools and renewed passion for educating aspiring farmers and managing farm staff.

 

Space is limited. RSVP required. To RSVP, send an email to  [email protected] and answer two of these three questions:

  • What skills would you like to share with other individuals wanting to start a farm?
  • What experiences inspired you to pursue your farming dreams?
  • How do you believe you can contribute lasting change to your community as a farmer?

This workshop is a collaborative effort between Primitive Pursuits, which offers skills and experiences that create life-long connections with nature, and Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming, dedicated to nurturing the next generation of farmers through hands-on education and community building.

 

CTA logoThe Center for Transformative Action (CTA) helps to create communities that work for everyone. We do this by providing fiscal sponsorship to innovative social change agents in New York State, as well as financial, human resources, and grants management services. CTA is an educational non-profit organization affiliated with Cornell University.

 

Our Vision

We envision change makers everywhere engaging and strengthening the power of the heart to remake the world.

 

Our Mission

We are an alliance of individuals and organizations inspired by principles of nonviolence and committed to bold action for justice, sustainability, and peace. CTA supports change makers with the tools to build thriving, inclusive communities that work for everyone. We serve our projects, the public, and Cornell University by offering educational programs and strategic organizational resources.

In This Issue
Project Partner Spotlight: Wood's Earth Living Classroom
CTA is community sponsor for upcoming OLEANNA producition
News and Events

Quick Links

Project Partners



  CUSLAR

From Here: Making Our Future

Human Rights Educators USA

New Projects!

We are pleased to announce that the Sustainability Center and Wood's Earth Living Classroom are new CTA Project Partners!

Next deadline to apply to become a  Project Partner with CTA is April 15. Please see our Fiscal Sponsorship Guidelines if you have or are starting a social change project in New York State that needs a nonprofit umbrella. 

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CTA Staff
Anke Wessels, Ph.D. Executive Director
117 Anabel Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-5027

Richard Lansdowne Director of Operations

119 Anabel Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-6202
  
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