Author Archive
Elegância: Beauty in comedy, sorrow in beauty, and »
One of my favorite characters in film is Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp, which he portrayed in dozens of silent films. Chaplin was one of the greatest slapstick artists of all time. He took physical comedy to a new level, one matched only by Buster Keaton in my opinion. What Chaplin had that Keaton did not was sadness. Pathos surrounded the [...]
State budget cuts decided »
According to the Seattle Times, higher education funding took a big hit last weekend in the final hours of Washington State’s legislative session. Colleges got operating budget cuts of six to seven percent, tuition increased 14 percent at four year colleges, and over 9000 enrollments at Washington colleges disappeared, based on information [...]
Worker Retraining Program: Get your tuition paid, »
The demise of Worker Retraining has been greatly exaggerated. Joy Prosise is the Associate Director of Workforce Education and Special Projects at Worker Retraining. While the program has indeed run out of funds, as reported in the April 5 Seattle Times, the new fiscal year begins July 1. This means that funds will be available to pay [...]
Elegância: Many men have an uncomfortable »
I had a difficult time writing this. I wanted to give equal time to male attitudes about beauty in this series of columns, and frankly, I was embarrassed to talk to other men about it. During my childhood in the wilds of Eastern Oregon in the 1970’s, the men I knew mostly talked about guns, horses, and pickup trucks. Beauty was not considered [...]
Financial Aid »
By Jamie Johnson: The money in your wallet keeps disappearing. The price of gas is higher, the cost of living has gone up, and soon breathing will be a dollar per breath. But why should your education be at stake? There are ways to make sure that you get an education without going broke at the same time. The budget cuts to higher education are [...]
Art, or artlessness? Beauty considered as a craft »
This week, I’d like to write about beautiful women. Well, not just that. I also have serious questions I want to ask. How do we try to control how others see us? Is the image we project really so important? Is a portrait art, or a reflection of the subject’s soul? Fiona Moran is a broadcasting student that I got to know on a on a long [...]
Daffodils, Spring, and beauty in the ordinary »
This will be a little different, so please, bear with me. Elegância is the name of my new column, in which I hope to call attention to routine beauty and elegance in the world around us. I hope you enjoy it. Daffodil is the common name for the narcissus, a family of perennial flowering plant with dozens of species. This example is the [...]
Songs in the smoking hut »
Elvis sat on the recycling bin at the smoking hut at the back of the C building. He wasn’t smoking. He was playing a 12-string guitar. He stopped for a moment. “Play the one with the drums,” a friend asked. Elvis began to play again. He played it however he needed to, to get the sound he wanted to hear. Sometimes he used his finger [...]
Prof finds ancient campsite »
It’s a cold, wet March morning, but Magnus ver Magnusson is sweating as he removes the last debris from around the artifact and lifts it carefully from the surrounding earth. “Ah, yes, what a beauty!” The pride and sense of accomplishment battles with the sense of wonder in his face as his students carefully put the artifact into a [...]
Panel talks on health care crisis in America »
By Brook Stallings. Students and faculty gathered in room C120 last Wednesday for the winter 2009 Coffee, Tea, and Politics discussion, entitled "Health Crisis in America: Politics, Economics, and the Public's Welfare". The moderator was Dr. Aslam Khan, chair of BCC's Political Science and International Studies program. and the speakers were [...]
