January 2014
Welcome to our e-newsletter
Minds in Motion  

 

Before you bid goodbye to January 2014, we bring you news of the new year, new semester, and new opportunities. One student heads to Cambridge while another shares how his increased skills in the classroom may lead to new opportunities on the job. Plus, two great offerings that start next month.

So Long M Station, Hello Harvard!

If there's an empty seat at the Free Minds table this January, it likely belongs to Yvonne Cortez Flores. She's got a good excuse though. Yvonne is spending six weeks at Harvard, as one of 40 people selected from an international pool of 5,000 to attend the Harvard Trade Union Program in Cambridge.  

 

The program brings union activists from around the world to explore key issues in the labor movement and prepare them to be leaders. Yvonne, who works as an administrative associate for Travis County, is active in AFSCME Local 1624, serving as County Vice President and Executive Board Member as well as chair of the Next Wave Committee, bringing younger people into the union.  

 

Her inspiration came from her mother, who retired from AISD after working for 25 years as a custodian. She taught her nine children that the "union gives the working class a voice." And while attending seminars on topics ranging from dispute settlements to education inequality, the stories of other women who have paved the way stand out most to Yvonne. "I have learned about the total empowerment women earned during the early stages of union organizing and social justice," she says, citing Mother Jones, Margaret Fuller, and Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.  

 

Yvonne has juggled her work at Harvard with the Free Minds curriculum, dialing in on speakerphone and sharing her excitement with the class. We can't wait to tap into her new knowledge when she returns in February and to see what she has in store for the Austin community.

 

"Coming back I plan to use my extensive learning to get even more involved with upcoming elections that will make or break the government of Texas with issues of unions, education, and public awareness," she says.
Resolved to Write More or Go Back to School in 2014? Join Us!

WRITING WORKSHOP

Over eight weeks, participants will explore elements of writing craft and have the opportunity to share their work. Mary Lavallee, UT Austin Literature Instructor and MFA candidate will lead the group. Beginners and experienced writers are welcome!
Tuesdays, February 11 - April 1. 6:15-8:15 pm. M Station Apartments.  

COLLEGE FAIR  
 
Representatives from ACC, Huston-Tillotson, Concordia, Texas State, and St. Edwards will be on hand to provide information. Plus, get tips for college success and work with an expert to complete your financial aid application. All are welcome.
Thursday, February 27, 6:30-8:30 pm. M Station Apartments.

 
To sign up or get more information, call 512-610-7962
Dr. Patricia Garca guides class in discussion of Woolf's "A Room of One's Own."
Questions of Identity Drive Spring Semester

 

On January 9, amid a flurry of books, syllabi, and pizza boxes, literature professor Patricia Garca led students right into the spring semester by looking at a passage from Virginia Woolf's landmark essay "A Room of One's Own." Dr. Garca asked the class to consider how women's limited access to education in 20th-century England impacted their ability to develop a "little fish" of an idea into a great work of literature.

 

It was a big question to open a semester of big questions, many of which will focus on issues of identity and self-representation. Students will consider their culture and communities while trying their hand at ethnographic research in the anthropology unit. They will then use this work as raw material for crafting personal narratives in creative writing. They will round out the year by reading the second half of Plato's Republic, delving into its questions of the ideal state and the human soul. All of this, plus several essays, a college fair, and a tour of the Blanton Museum, adds up to a full semester with much to look forward to on the road to graduation.

 

Discover more about our spring semester by downloading the syllabus on our website. 

Issue 45
In This Issue
So Long M Station, Hello Harvard!
Workshop & College Fair
Questions of Identity Drive Spring Semester
The Final Word

  

 

Special Thanks

 

 Big shout out to our faculty this month! Your leadership makes the Free Minds classroom a place of rigor, exploration, and community. We salute you!

   

 

Dr. Matthew Daude Laurents 
Philosophy
ACC

Dr. Patricia Garc
Literature
UT Austin

Viv� Griffith 
Creative Writing 
ACC

Michael Noll 
Analytical Writing
Texas State University

Dr. Pauline Strong 
Anthropology
UT Austin 

 

   
If you are interested in volunteering with or supporting Free Minds, you can find more information on our website.

 

 


 
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 Minds in Motion

Archive

 

 

December 2013

We celebrate fall semester and look back at the East Austin of yore.


 A Free Minds student brings the word tenacity to life, and the class takes on Othello.


Introducing the Free Minds writing instructor and a student starts college 27 years after high school.



 

Looking for earlier newsletters?

Visit our complete 

online archive.

 

The Final Word

Michael Thibodeaux: "Skills I thought were of no use outside of a classroom are paying dividends already."

Prior to the essay on Plato's Republic in the fall semester, I had not written an essay since my senior year in high school. I have always been an avid reader, but recently, I haven't had the chance to communicate the ideas I was exposing myself to apart from casual conversation. The reading journals in the fall came fairly easily, but the structure required of the formal essay was daunting. After years of not writing, I felt like my ability to weave different points into one coherent paper had suffered a degree of atrophy. Now that I have the fall essay under my belt, I am much more confident approaching the spring assignment.


It is kind of funny how my increase in writing skill coincides with an increase in paperwork at my job. I have received several compliments on the improvements I have made in my paperwork. My job diaries are more detailed, and the job files are closer to 100% completion the first time I submit them. If I am consistent, this will mean a promotion. The skills I thought were of no use to me outside of a classroom are paying dividends already. I hope to further hone these skills and tools that Free Minds has reminded me I possess.

I think the spring semester will further increase my abilities, allowing me to approach future writing assignments, no matter what they may be, with a level of assurance I did not have at the beginning of the fall semester. Thanks to everyone involved in Free Minds for this opportunity to better myself. Thank you to the directors and instructors for your efforts, and thank you to all of my fellow students for making our classroom a community where I feel comfortable exchanging ideas and sharing perspectives.   

 

Michael Thibodeaux, a Louisiana native, is part of the Free Minds Class of 2014. 

 




A program of Foundation Communities, in partnership with The University of Texas at Austin and Austin Community College, 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
Foundation Communities
3036 South 1st Street
Austin TX, 78704

Project Director: Viv� Griffith

Program Coordinator: Amelia Pace-Borah

 

Ph: 512-610-7961   F: 512-447-0288

 

www.FreeMindsAustin.org