Class Profile: Course examines legacies of Civil War

What do you get when you ask an English professor to teach alongside a history professor? You get AMST 201: the Civil War and Memory, co-taught by associate professor of English Alice Rutkowski and associate professor of history Justin Behrend. The word “memory” immediately catches the eye of those who read the course title. “We chose memory as a way to approach it from each of our disciplines and provide insights,” Behrend explained. “Memory is elusive. It’s not just history, it’s not just literature; it’s an odd blending of both.”

“The idea is not so much that we’re studying what happened during the war itself, but primarily how we remember the war as Americans,” Rutkowski said.

Since this class is not just based on textbook facts about the Civil War, the course uses many sources such as movies and novels. One of the films the class watches is the classic Gone with the Wind. Rutkowski and Behrend plan to use this movie to show the major misrepresentations that this movie perpetuates.

Behrend said that he wants to address thought-provoking questions to the class. “Why do people latch onto [Gone with the Wind] as their memory of the Civil War? What does it mean for this to be the framework for understanding the Civil War?” Behrend said.

As well as literature discussed in class, the professors also want students to be able to use this film to be able to understand the implications these sources have because of popularity.

Besides this film, the class also watches sections of Birth of a Nation and Glory. As a final project this year, the class also gets to compare one of the films watched in class to more modern films interpreting the Civil War era, including Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave and Lincoln.

The class also utilizes literature ranging from the modern-day text The March by E.L. Doctorow to the antiquated novel The Clansman by Thomas Dixon, which celebrates the Ku Klux Klan as heroes. In using both these novels, the class is able to see a range of views on this historical event.

The variety of perspectives helps the class because the course looks at the Civil War over a 150-year period, ranging from the end of the war to present day. “It’s a good opportunity to bring up how the past is present in the present,” Rutkowski said. In looking at this event over many decades, the class is able to understand how society’s memories have been altered.

“[Memory is] a lens to understand the moment, there is no authentic past waiting to be captured and brought back to us today; it’s always an interpretation,” Behrend said.

This is the third time Behrend and Rutkowski have taught this class together. The class is held on Mondays and Wednesdays in Milne Library.

Career Connections Brunch encourages alumni network

As undergrads, many of us are just barely being labeled “adults” due to our age. It is intimidating to try and decide what we want to do with our lives after school at this early stage of adulthood. The notion of the “real world” can still feel like another planet for many of us. In trying to assuage anxieties about transitioning into this new chapter, the Career Development Center partnered with the Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development program to host the Career Connections Brunch on Saturday Oct. 18. This event occurs every year on the weekend of homecoming. The purpose of the Career Connections Brunch is to bring Geneseo alumni together with current students to aid them in figuring out which fields may interest them.

About 100 people attended this year’s event—15 alumni and about 85 students. The brunch was structured with 13 tables set up, with one or two alumni per table along with six or seven students. There were a wide variety of fields represented by the alumni including financial, education, nonprofit fundraising, dentistry and many more.

Upon entering the event, students received a packet of information about various alumni members. This included details like the alumni’s major/minor, current employer and position, as well as a short description of their job. The end of the packet also had career advice that each alumni gives for students. The students are also given a sheet from the CDC, offering tips on how to present one’s self in a professional manner and making the most of the brunch.

“This networking event is to give students the experience of networking in a real world setting,” CDC counselor Heather DiFino said. DiFino emphasized that this event is focused on giving students peace of mind when figuring out their future career plans.

There were three rounds of networking during the brunch. The first round was blind; students sat down at a random table without knowing the alumni. This first round gave students a chance to talk to someone in a field that they might otherwise not have thought to speak with. During the next two rounds, students were able to pick which alumni they wanted to talk to based on their career interests.

This event is not only beneficial for students, but also alumni. Alumni are given the chance to directly give back to the college while interacting with current students. They are able to help students decide what careers interest them, something that every one of them has had to do at some point.

If you were not able to attend this networking event, there is another event on Nov. 18. This will take place at the Big Tree Inn from 5-7 p.m. and will include alumni as well as staff. Students can sign up for this event on the GOLD website.

DIY ideas for the crafty, creative student

On Saturday Sept. 27, Geneseo Late Knight hosted a Do-It-Yourself room decorating event. The activities included whiteboards with a photo taken at the event as the background, cardboard letter “G”s for people to customize and blank canvases of different sizes for people to paint and decorate. “Some people did amazing things for [the projects],” coordinator of Late Knight programs and activities Lauren Thompson said. “I didn’t realize how creative our students are.”

Thompson said that about 160 people attended this GLK event. “People ended up staying a lot longer then they did last year [at a similar event]. We ran out of our letter G’s and canvases in the first hour,” she said.

If you missed this DIY event, don’t worry because GLK is planning on having more, similar events entitled “Pinterest Project” nights. Some past crafts GLK has sponsored for “Pinterest Projects” include duct tape wallets, flower pens and Mason jar snow globes.

If you want to make your own Pinterest crafts right now, here are some suggestions for easy and useful DIY crafts, inspired by these GLK events.

Melted crayon wall art

Supplies: blank canvas, box of crayons (enough to fill one entire edge of the canvas), glue and a hair dryer.

Lay newspaper down underneath your canvas before starting. Glue crayons down on one edge of the canvas––it looks best if one full edge of the canvas is covered in crayons. Make sure that the tips of the crayons are pointing down toward the blank part of the canvas. Once you have glued all the crayons down, simply use the blow dryer to melt the crayons onto the blank canvas. This may take some time but you will get an amazing piece of art worthy that’s gallery-worthy.

Clothespin picture frame

Supplies: cardboard, scissors, glue, clothespins and pictures.

Get a large piece of cardboard and cut it into a circle; feel free to make it any size depending on how many pictures you want it to hold. Then, cut out the center of the circle, leaving a border large enough that a clothespin will fit on it comfortably. After cutting out the center, glue down clothes to fill up the entire edge of the circle. When it’s dry, you have a place to hang all those photos or maybe even that paper you got an “A” on.

Shoebox pencil holder

Supplies: shoebox, toilet paper tubes (or paper towel tubes cut up), glue and decorations.

Take an empty shoebox and decorate the outside as you want. You can use wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, jewels, sparkles––anything that you like. When you finish decorating the box, figure out how many toilet paper tubes will fit in the box and glue down one hole, so another hole is facing up. If you’re feeling lazy, just add more toilet paper tubes into the box so they’re closely packed together and you won’t have to glue them down. Then, you can store pencils, pens, scissors or even makeup in there.

There will be another “Pinterest Project” night on Friday Oct. 3 where more crafts will be available for students. GLK is holding “Fall into Autumn” on Saturday Oct. 4. There will be fall-themed crafts such as decorating ceramic pumpkins and pinecones to make mini wreaths. The event will also have apple cider and cider donuts.