Can Money Buy Happiness????

Bryan wants to know.

Dr. Kluthe points out that the richest County in the United States (Marin County, California) also has the highest suicide rate.

What Do you think?

Highlights From The Honors Blogs

Anthony Shipman has a post on his blog about his adventures this summer in Mexico with fellow Honors student Patrick Beckett. Read all about it here.

Lendi Stirewalt has reflections on the Hostage Crisis Simulation here. So does Tim Shelhamer.

Crystal Boles wants to talk about the dangers of drugs and alcohol; Bryan Petty wonders whether substance abuse is indeed a "morality" issue at all. Read about it here.

Kristen Hicks has finally got a hold of this blogging thing!

Thaddeus McCleary gives a wrapup on his first week as a sophomore. Nice words about our own Dr. Kluthe!

Heidi Lundgren tells us about the "fab five"---her best friends---and what they mean to her here.

Sarah Hoffmeister has tons to tell you about Oxford and the rest of her trip to Europe here. So does Katie Hargrove here. Adam Stratton has some deep thoughts on returning home after seeing Europe here. Tessa Woods wants to talk about how the local media covered the bombings in London and how her own words were taken out of context by KOAM-TV.

Stefan Iaru reports from Australia here; Alex Vassilev reports from down under as well. Matt Lawrence shares his impressions of India here.

Dr. Kluthe talks about defining an honors student here---and plenty of folks respond!


Finally, Bryan Petty asks for your advice on choosing a career goal that doesn't suck: should he be a biologist or a chef? Or maybe a guy who runs a confectionary shop. Or (dare we dream?)---president of the Maria Callas fan club?

Help him out---please!

Fast Cars and Rock and Roll: Honors Freshmen Strut Their Stuff

Jennifer Baxter shows off the award-winning Chevy Corvair that she restored.


















Cory Fullerton strikes a rock-star pose with his Fender Strat. Read his first blog post about his addiction to music and his thoughts about the first week at MoSo.

Netza Smith's McCaleb Peace Initiative Project

Senior Honors student Netzahaulcoyotl Smith was one of the 2004 student-journalists to study a foreign conflict under the McCaleb Peace Initiative Project.

Netza traveled to his native Mexico and reported on the conflict between the Mexican government and the Zapatista rebels in the southern state of Chiapas. Click here to read the series of articles he prepared for the The Chart on his experiences.

To read about the 2005 competition, click here.

Establishing Tone and Context in Blog Posts

Bryan Petty and I have been engaged in a very interesting exchange over at his blog on the topic of tone and context in blog posts. How do you communicate the fact that something that you've written was written in jest? What's the potential danger of your intentions being mis-read by someone who can't see that your tongue was firmly implanted in your cheek when you were writing?

The Wild and Wonderful World of Freeform Radio

Click here to read my long post about freeform radio that you can listen to over the internet.

I'm trying to see how many students might be interested in proposing a student-operated webcasting station for MSSU. I think---and Dr. Kluthe agrees---that it would be a terrific outlet for student creativity.

Honors Students Running For Student Senate

Both Bryan Petty (freshman) and Iulia Nastasa (sophomore) are running for Student Senate (click on their names to read their weblogs, where they discuss their reasons for running and the type of policies they's like to promote).

If you want to support them, sign the petitions they've posted on the door of the Honors office (Webster Hall 118). Bryan's is on the outside of the door and Iulia's is on the inside.

How to Use Your MSSU Student Blog

OK, you've got your blog. You know the address and how to log in. Now what? Here are the procedures for adding content:

Posting:
After logging in you will see the "Blogger Dashboard." This will list all the blogs you now have with blogger (you can create more if you like).

Find the blog with your name (your personal MSSU Honors blog) and choose "New Post." Use the editor window for text, photos, hyperlinks, etc. When you are ready, click "Publish Post."

From your main blog page you can access the "Blogger Dashboard" by clicking on the Blogger logo in the top left corner of the page.

Editing:
You can always do back and edit an existing post, but going to Dashboard and choosing "Change Settings" and then "Posting" then "Edit Posts." This will give you a list of all your posts. You can edit or delete any of them.

Remember that after you post something new or edit a post, you must go follow the instructions for "republishing" the blog. You may also need to refresh your browser to see the changes.

You can always change your Blogger password. Right after you log in you will see the "Blogger Dashboard" screen. There will be an option in the upper right corner of the screen that says "change password." Just follow the steps from there.

Another thing you can do to increase the privacy of the blog is the following:

Under Blogger Dashboard, choose "Change Settings"; then under the "Settings" tab, choose "No" under "Add Blog to our listings?" setting.

Keep in mind these points:

1) These blogs are PUBLIC. Anyone on the Internet will be able to view them. Thus, we want you to think of whatever you put on your blog as a sort of "dispatch" to the public at large, rather than a personal diary. Do not include any personal information that you would not share with a newspaper or other public organ of information. We strongly recommend that you keep your own personal diary, entirely separate from your blog, where you can record private or sensitive information that you don't want to forget, but which would not be appropriate for the blog.

2) These blogs are linked to MSSU Honors. This means that you are representing the Honors Program and MSSU when you post material, including pictures and links to other sites. We want you to be creative, original, spontaneous, funny, etc., but we also want to be sure that everything you post reflects positively on both you personally and the Honors Program at large. This doesn't mean that we want you to refrain from criticism or to avoid sensetive subjects: far from it. We definitely want you to tackle such things on your blogs. Just think of this as a public presentation: How would you present your thoughts and experiences to a large mixed group of people? Which pictures would you show? How would you phrase things, especially when dealing with sensitive topics? We trust you judgmentur best judgement along with your intelligence, wit, and creativity. If you have any doubts about posting something, please e-mail Dr. Kluthe or me for advice.

3) Be sure to properly attribute any quoted material. Clearly state the source, put the quoted material in quotes and provide a link, if possible to its original source if it's online.

4) Keep track of other student blogs through the current student pages of the new Honors sites. We want to see creative and productive competition between bloggers. We'd like to see students learning from each other and pushing each other to new levels of observation and analysis. If you read something on another blog that makes an impact, write about it on your own blog and provide a link to it. See if you can learn from this and use the ideas and/or approach to enrich your own blog.

5) Surprise and delight us. These blogs will be exhibit A in our presentation of "the college within" to the world, and we can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

Happy Blogging,

Summer Backpacking Trip in Europe

Senior Honors Student Steven Sparkman is interested in organizing a backpacking trip to Europe for the summer of 2006. If you are interested, contact him by e-mail or go to his blog to read his proposal.

Honors Web Project Update

It's been a busy and very educational week for us here at the Honors Program. Not only is the first week of classes and the first week with our new student assistants (Mac Kenney and Adrienne Huser), but it's the first week in which we've taken control of the new website.

Since the site's creator, Alex Vassilev, is doing his international study in Australia, we've been trying to learn how to maintain the site on our own---no easy task for us hitherto-HTML-illiterate types. But thanks to a few timely lessons from Honors students Thaddeus McCleary, we are now taking control.

We have added entries, including pictures, for almost all of the students in the program and we are almost finished re-alphabetizing the students by last name. We've also been adding current students to our blogroll and encouraging students in MIDS 101 to get used to blogging on a regular basis. As more and more conent appears, we will be talking about and linking to it here.

Some students have asked about using the new blog network to promote ideas such as a Hispanic student organization and an Honors hiking club. We say go for it! Write about your plans, ideas, etc. in your blog and let us know. We'll use this site to direct traffic your way.

We are of course always open to your ideas for improving the website and the blog network. Just drop us a line or stop by and pitch your idea.

Happy blogging!

Jeff Martinek,
Assistant Director,
MSSU Honors

The 2005 "Hostage Crisis" Role-Playing Simulation

For the past few years all incoming freshman Honors students participate in a "Hostage Crisis" role-playing simulation on the last day of the Freshman Survival Seminar.

The simulation was developed by Moorehead Kennedy, one of the hostages from the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Kennedy felt strongly that the entire ordeal could have been averted if all sides had been more adept at communication and negotiation. He thus designed the simulation to teach these skills to students, who are given a variety of roles to play out, from President of the United States to insurgent leader.

We are happy to report that this year's simulation was one of the best ever.




















Shannon Borgard interviews insurgent leader April Keener for the "World Television Network"






















US. President John Carr lays out his nation's position on negotiating with terrorists.
















News anchor Ashley Beckett prepares to report on breaking news.















U.S. State Department representative Iulia Nastasa speaks long distance with "Keibar Businessman" Brandon Hilburn.

The post-game analysis was intense and revealing. Perhaps the most interesting question to come up dealt with the role of the media in the simulated crisis. Did the U.S. President have a right to forbid the "World Television Network" from "giving free airtime to terrorists"? Or did the reporters have an obligation to report the events, including the statements by all sides involved? Students took different sides on this issue, but everyone who offered an opinion was able to defend it with logic and evidence.

Good job guys!

Scenes From the 2005 Honors Freshman Survival Seminar

The Honors Program Freshman Survival Seminar is an intensive 2-day program that all new Honors students participate in before taking their first freshman class. Students are given all kinds of advice on surviving and thriving in the MSSU Honors program from administrators, professors, and veteran Honors students.

There's also lots of food and fun, including a luncheon just for Honors students and a pizza party at the end of day one. Below are some photos of this year's festivities.

Crytal Boles, Adrienne Huser, Lesley Thompson, and Jennifer Baxter at the Honors luncheon.
Tessa Woods and Lauren Oxendine give advice to the freshman Honors students.
Vice President for Academic Affairs McCallum speaks at the luncheon
Dr. Art Saltzman explains what he expects from Honors students: "In class I'm a bus driver with a busy schedule. If you want to flag me down, I'll be happy to stop and pick you up, but if you're just going to stand there, I'm going to keep driving. I can be quite happy spending class time with Emily Dickenson or William Faulker, whether you are there with us or not."

Say Hello To Our New Honors Secretary---Ursula Tresvan

Ursula took over the Honors Secretary chair as of August 8th, 2005 and we are delighted to have her as part of the team. Please give her a warm welcome and introduce yourself to her when you stop in to the office for the first time this year.

Honors International Experience Blogs

This summer marked the beginning of a new era for MSSU Honors. Our new website is up and our student/faculty blogging venture is well under way.Many of the Honors students who traveled this summer have blogs with lots of interesting pictures and writing about their experiences. Here are the ones to look at:

Lauren Oxendine (Sophomore-- Oxford Trip)
Adam Stratton (Junior--Oxford Trip)
Amy Barnicle (Junior--Oxford Trip)
Katie Hargrove (Junior--Oxford Trip)
Matt Lawrence (Junior--India Trip)
Sarah Hoffmeister (Junior--Oxford Trip)
Yvette Bowden (Junior--Oxford Trip)
Tessa Woods (Senior--Oxford Trip)
Stefan Iaru (Senior-- Australia Trip)
Jeff Martinek (Faculty Representative--Oxford Trip)

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