2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Reflection:

This passage speaks of a life that is claimed and formed by the Holy Spirit. Quoting from the Desert Fathers - “Abba Alonius said, “If a person does not say in his/her heart, in the world there is only myself and God, that person will not gain peace.” The Christian life is about experiencing the Holy Spirit forming his thoughts, emotions, way of being in us, into our very existence. As we take in what is new, we are no longer constrained or limited by our past for there is no room for the old in our present lives. In Christ, we are totally new and transformed by His Spirit.

Response:

Whether intentional or not, there may be times in our daily routines when we are challenged and find ourselves responding with old patterns of behavior. But we don’t have to! We can quickly get back on the path He has set before us without hesitation, because in Christ, we are new and we don’t have to doubt or be ashamed. Because of the Spirit living in us, we can know this true peace. Let’s proclaim and thank God for this truth in our lives in prayer today.

The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture celebrates its Fall 2011 K-12 school and community partnerships with an exhibition in the Hall Gallery on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building through February 9. The multi-media display features original artwork by more than two hundred students from four area schools—Lansdowne High School (Academy of Arts & Communication), Benjamin Franklin High School at Masonville Cove, Highlandtown Elementary/Middle School and Hampstead Hill Academy—alongside work by their UMBC student and faculty collaborators. Their artwork responds to the CADVC’s main gallery exhibition Image Transfer: Pictures in a Remix Culture, which was on display in Fall 2011.

Work by students from two of these schools, Highlandtown Elementary/Middle School and Hampstead Hill Academy, are also on display at the Pop-Up Gallery at 401 South Conkling Street in Baltimore City through January 14. This exhibition, Highlandtown Transfer Remix, is the result of a partnership between the CADVC and the Highlandtown Arts & Entertainment District, also known as “ha!”.

More information is available at the CADVC’s Image Transfer exhibition page.

Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher, editorial cartoonist for The Economist and UMBC artist-in-residence, discussed his current work in an insightful interview on “The Signal” that aired December 9 and 10 on WYPR. KAL is known internationally for his lectures on freedom of the press and the power of caricature. At UMBC he advises student bloggers in their coverage of current events and politics on USDemocrazy, a particularly exciting project moving into the new electoral season. Listen to “The Signal” to learn more about KAL’s work at UMBC and the value he places on seeing current events — particularly the economic crisis — through the eyes of college students.

Image courtesy of the New York Times.

The nation enjoyed/endured yet another Republican Presidential debate over the weekend.

In debate number 16 (yes,sixteen) we learned that Newt Gingrich is not a fan of Palestine, Michele Bachmann is courting the 9-9-9 plan, and Mitt Romney is a betting man.

Gingrich revelled in his new role as leader of the pack of hopefuls but came under fire for his comments on Palestine and his past marital infidelities.

Newt stuck to his guns, claiming he was examining the situation as a “historian” when he told a Jewish television channel last week that the Palestinians were historically an “invented” people.

When confronted with charges against him of serial adultery, Gingrich seemed to respond calmly under fire, striking a fine balance by stating,

“I think people have to render judgment,” … “In my case, I said up front openly, I’ve made mistakes at times. I’ve had to go to God for forgiveness. I’ve had to seek reconciliation.”

Hopefully Newt is able to field future marriage questions as smoothly in the future, as his own sister has questioned the sincerity of his stance on gay marriage.

Mitt Romney, meanwhile, caused a bit of a snafu by challenging Texas Governor Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet over an excerpt from Mr. Perry’s book.

The comment is being pointed to by some as evidence that wealthy Mitt is not in touch with the economic realities of the American consumer.

Meanwhile, Michelle Bachmann managed to create a new species.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s a Newt Romney! Bachmann worked to set herself up as the alternative to Romney and Gingrich, whom she presented as virtual clones. Does this make her the lucky inheritor of the Cain supporters? Only time (and poll numbers) will tell.

The Summer Medical and Research Training Program is for undergraduate students who are interested in exploring a career in scientific research. We encourage Ph.D.-oriented candidates to apply. Up to 80 students are recruited for the SMART Program from across the nation. The program offers:

• Nine paid weeks of biomedically related research in a broad range of areas
• Daily seminars designed for undergraduates
• Free SMART GRE prep workshops
• Career development activities
• Housing at Rice University dorms

The digital humanities is a common subject of discussion in the academic world, and Helen Burgess, assistant professor of English, recently contributed to this conversation by co-authoring an article in the journal “Digital Humanities Quarterly.”

In the article, Burgess and her co-author, Jeanne Hamming of Centenary College of Louisiana, argue that multimedia work places scholars in an extended network that combines minds, bodies, machines, and institutional practices, and lays bare the fiction that scholars are disembodied intellectuals who labor only with the mind.

The article is entitled “New Media in the Humanities: Labor and the Production of Knowledge in Scholarly Multimedia” and was published in the Summer 2011 edition of the journal.

Delegates and representatives have flown home allowing the dust to settle around the COP-17 talks in Durban, but the substance and outcomes of the two week long talks remain a bit hazy. Overall, our world's leading environmental envoys and ministers spent 14 days (after an unusual extension) debating the best approach to addressing global climate change, and came up with:

1) creating a Global Climate Fund to assist developing countries with climate adaptation

2) developing a new global treaty some time in the future to supplant Kyoto and require developing countries to also reduce emissions

Much like previous years, the passive nature of the resolutions is disappointing though not surprising; the fundamental economic disparities between developed and developing countries continue to yield discussions around accountability for emissions as opposed to strategic reductions of emissions.

Still, college students made an impression and conveyed the message that real action is needed, and it's needed fast. Most notably, Middlebury College student Abigail Borah interrupted Todd Stern, the US Special Envoy for Climate Change (see video below): "I am scared for my future. 2020 is too late to wait," she said. "We need an urgent path to a fair ambitious and legally binding treaty."

Photos

Japanese youth at COP-17

Indigenous group protests tar sands

For more photos from Durban, see Sustain Us's Flickr stream

Videos

Middlebury College Student Speaks Up:

US Youth say "2020: It's too late to wait"