1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (New International Version)

19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Reflection:

Isn’t it interesting that Paul was free, and yet he chose to become slave to everyone?  Being a slave is not what we think of when we talk about freedom.  However, Paul didn’t become slave because this was something he wanted to be, but he chose this way of life so that he may win over as many as possible for the Lord.  As you can see this true freedom that Paul had was regulated by the love of God.  Paul exercised this freedom by becoming slave to everyone for the sake of the gospel.  We too are truly free in Christ, and we can express this freedom by becoming servants to those around us so that they may be saved.  May we do all this for the sake of the gospel that we may share in its blessings.

Response:

Let’s pray that God will help us to live out this true freedom that is regulated by His incredible love for us.  Let’s respond to God’s great love by becoming all things to all people so that by all possible means we might save some.

Outstanding Exhibition in a University Art Museum 2010: "For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights"

Contact: Thomas Moore
Director of Arts Management
410-455-3370
tmoore@umbc.edu

This release is available as a pdf file.

Maurice Berger, research professor and chief curator of the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, received a curatorial Award for Excellence, "Outstanding Exhibition in a University Art Museum 2010," from the Association of Art Museum Curators in a ceremony on Monday, May 16 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Berger was honored for his work on For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, a traveling exhibition organized by CADVC in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The AAMC prizes are among the highest honor afforded museum curators in the United States and Canada and the only awards voted on by curators themselves. "Each year our awards stand as the high-water mark for acknowledging the exemplary work of curators from across North America," says Sally Block, Executive Director of the Association of Art Museum Curators, "What is most impressive is the these are the only awards given to curators by their peers." In addition to Dr. Berger, this year's winners include curators from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Cincinnati Art Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Dallas Museum of Art. This award affirms the high standing of UMBC's Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture in the community of art museums in North America and its place in the top tier of university art museums.

Symmes Gardner, the executive director of the CADVC, commented, "The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture is delighted that the Association of Art Museum Curators has selected For All the World to See as the Outstanding Exhibition in a University Museum for 2010. This award signifies the quality and depth of Dr. Berger's research in the area of race as well as the vision of the CADVC to produce programming which challenges us to address the important aesthetic and social issues of our time."

Maurice Berger
Dr. Maurice Berger is Research Professor and Chief Curator at UMBC's Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture. His writings on art, television, film, law, and the politics and culture of race in America have appeared in many journals and newspapers, including Artforum, Art in America, The New York Times, Village Voice, October, Pen America, Wired, and The Los Angeles Times. In addition to For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, he has organized 25 exhibitions and is the author of eleven books, including the critically acclaimed White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999), which was named as a finalist for the 2000 Horace Mann Bond Book Award of Harvard University.

Berger is the recipient of numerous honors, including multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts, the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award from Boston University School of Social Work, "Exhibition of the Year 2008" and "Best Exhibition in a University Museum 2010" from the Association of Art Museum Curators, and "Best Thematic Exhibition in New York, 2008" from the International Association of Art Critics, American Section. For his work on the "For All the World to See" segment of WNET Sunday Arts, Berger received an Emmy Award nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, New York chapter.

For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights
For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights is organized by the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Through a host of media--including photographs, television and film, magazines, newspapers, posters, books, and pamphlets--the project explores the historic role of visual culture in shaping, influencing, and transforming the fight for racial equality and justice in the United States from the late-1940s to the mid-1970s. For All the World to See includes a traveling exhibition, website, online film festival, and richly illustrated companion book. More information is available through the online exhibition at http://www.umbc.edu/cadvc/foralltheworld/index.php.

About the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture is dedicated to the study of contemporary art and visual culture, critical theory, art and cultural history, and the relationship between society and the arts. The CADVC serves as a forum for students, faculty, and the general public for the discussion of important aesthetic and social issues of the day. Disciplines represented include painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital art, video, film, television, design, architecture, advertising, and installation and performance art.

Since 1989, the CADVC has incorporated a number of public programs into its exhibition programming schedule to further impact the communities it serves. Symposia, lecture series, conferences, film series, visiting artist series, and residencies have all been fundamental in an effort to create an ongoing dialogue about contemporary art and culture. The Center has also initiated a number of projects with Baltimore and surrounding schools to integrate the contemporary artist and their concerns into the classroom. These projects take place on-site at both middle schools and high schools and are team taught by the instructors at these schools, professional artists, and students from the CADVC's Internship Program.

The Center produces one to two exhibition catalogues each year. Each document is fully illustrated and contains critical essays on the given subject by a variety of distinguished professionals in the field. Recent publications include Postmodernism: A Virtual Discussion and Paul Rand: Modernist Design. These books and catalogues are published and are distributed internationally through Distributed Art Publishers.

Since 1992, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture has actively pursued the organization of exhibitions that contain the aesthetic, theoretical, and educational potential to reach both a national and international audience. Over the years, the CADVC has traveled these exhibition projects to a broad spectrum of museums, professional non-profit galleries, and universities national and internationally. Recent traveling exhibitions include:

- For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights (2010)
- White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art (2003)
- Fred Wilson: Objects and Installations (2001)
- Adrian Piper: A Retrospective (1999)
- Bruno Monguzzi: A Designer's Perspective (1998)
- Minimal Politics (1997)
- Kate Millett, Sculpture: The First 38 Years (1997)

Beyond the scope of these traveling exhibitions, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture also undertakes projects such as the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership. As part of the educational mission of the CADVC, one graduate thesis exhibition and one undergraduate senior exhibition are presented each year. This multi-faceted focus for presenting exhibitions, projects and scholarly research publications focused on contemporary art and cultural issues positions the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture in a unique position within the mid-Atlantic region.

Projects from Fall 2010 - Spring 2011 semester.


Tim Bubb
Andrew Caughy
Max Hathaway
Andy Hsu
Stevo Karolenko
Michelle Martir
Lauren Sparks
Ben Webber

and special thanks to all the commonvision Graphic Designers and Laura Schraven.

There are numerous reasons campuses are beginning to implement smart microgrids (small-scale versions of centralized electricity systems). Many are interested in improving the ability to measure and reduce energy usage by tying together a campuses power source, transmission, distribution and consumption into one system. For institutions investing in on campus renewable energy systems and who have made commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, smart microgrids are an idea to consider.

Below are recent microgrid stories we (and others) have covered on this growing trend:

Santa Clara U Completes First Phase of Microgrid Installation. Noteworthy: "Santa Clara University has estimated that once its system is complete, they will be able to reduce energy consumption by 50 percent and save about 20 percent in energy costs. "

Illinois Institute of Technology Research into Microgrids and "Perfect Power"
Noteworthy: "The system consists of smart microgrids featuring a High-Reliability Distribution System (HRDS) loop design and redundant electricity and will allow IIT to eliminate costly outages, minimize power disturbances, moderate an ever-growing demand, and curb greenhouse gas emissions."

UC San Diego Partners on Energy Optimization and Microgrid Project
More on UCSD is in the article "Microgrids Get Big"
Noteworthy: "[UC San Diego] a leader in climate change research is also home to what is likely the most advanced microgrid in North America. As such, it aims to highlight how small, semi-independent power grids could help solve the problem of how to reliably integrate renewable energy into distribution systems, boost grid security and even make money for their owners, operators and developers."

First microgrid in Washington, D.C. at Howard University. "Howard University plans Washington’s first microgrid"

Also, an example of incorporating smart microgrids into the curriculum is described here; West Virginia U Institute of Technology Students Study Microgrid Technology

These investments in research and implementation of microgrid technology are significant and have the potential to play an important role in campus sustainability, particularly for campuses who are participating in climate action planning and have set greenhouse gas reduction goals (as the 670+ campuses participating in the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment have done).

Is your campus considering implementing a smart microgrid? Perhaps your campus has information to share? Please post a comment or email resources@aashe.org if you have thoughts or ideas to share.

Thanks to Wikicommons.

Heart disease existed before fast food? Ancient Egyptian mummy is believed to be the oldest case of heart disease.

With friends like these… Oil Minister defects from Team Qaddafi.

Maybe you should resign? Following an arrest on charges of sexual assault International Monetary Fund director is asked to step down.

You’re about to hit the ceiling!

As of Monday the United States government has reached its debt ceiling (think of it like a credit card limit).

Though this sounds ominous, reaching the ceiling is more symbolic than substantial. The US treasury will no doubt pull some accounting tricks to allow the US to borrow money until around August 2. By then the Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner will ask Congress

to increase the debt limit in order to protect the full faith and credit of the United States and avoid catastrophic economic consequences for citizens.

Congress will do as Mr. Geithner asks, right? Well, the Republicans are a little grumpy about our national debt right now (remember those tea-partiers?)

They are demanding major spending cuts be made before they support any growth in the US debt.

Call it brinkmanship or aggressive bargaining but Republican Super Star Paul Ryan expects the negotiations to be resolved at the very “last minute.”

So should we be worried  America might default on its debt?

Probably not as Calculated Risk astutely notes

The first rule for most politicians is to get re-elected, and the easiest way to guarantee losing in 2012 is to throw the country back into recession. If that happened, I believe the voters would correctly blame the leaders of Congress, and I think Congress knows that too.

Furthermore, Simon Johnson, for Slate, doubts that debate will acheive anything as

If President Obama’s administration plays its hand well, the result will be a last-minute extension of the debt ceiling with no significant concessions. It is unclear how Boehner or anyone else would be able to portray that as a political victory.

Which makes us wonder… is the debt ceiling foolish symbolism or a sign of foolish spending? What do you think (especially those under 30 who’ll paying this debt back for decades to come)?