“When something falls in front of you, like people, don’t we have an obligation?” sings Judy McLane in Everyman Theatre’s production of “Los Otros” (‘The Others’), a two-person musical story told in vignettes from the perspective of a white woman, Lillian, and a Latino man, Carlos, played by Philip Hernandez. With a book and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh and a score by Michael John LaChiusa, “Los Otros” comments on Latinx-American relations, focusing on the moments in time when Lillian and Carlos are outcasts.

In the opening song, Lillian sings of an immigrant family that she and her sisters sneak food to as the family hides out in a cave, waiting for the next phase of their lives to begin. But after three days of leaving food by the cave’s entrance, the family is gone, and Lillian and her sisters are left feeling saddened, but hopeful, as the family is led to a better place.

Lillian’s story starts at the beginning of her life when Carlos (Hernandez) introduces himself into the present tense – the mid-1990s – as he reflects on a bar of soap while taking a shower. His rich baritone flirts with the tenor range with ease, and he goes on to recount how a hurricane in Mexico drove his mother to take him north – to the United States.

These are Lillian and Carlos’s first experiences as outsiders in the middle of Southern California, where the majority of the musical takes place. The musical is almost entirely sung-through, with occasional stops for brief moments of dialogue.

McLane and Hernandez exhibit a friendly, yet playful, on-stage dynamic as the narrative, and their character’s lives, progresses. They are fierce, but unlikely friends, and their lives explore the differences in thought, culture and economic status between them.

Everyman’s intimate space lends itself to the musical’s message of unity in the face of division. As an abstract realist piece, “Los Otros” shines and it’s somewhat weaker, concrete plot points are carried by McLane and Hernandez, seasoned Broadway veterans who add depth and authenticity to their characters, making even the final scenes after a deus ex machina-esque event seem honest and sincere.

“Los Otros” is especially timely given the current political events. As art reflects what life could be, the audience is called to reflect on our own relationships and roles as “others.” When have we been the “other” and when have we “othered” those around us? How different are we from those whom we separate ourselves?

By the end of the musical, the answer is clear.

“Los Otros” is running through April 23 at the Everyman Theatre. Everyman features a $10 student rush for B location seating 30 minutes before every scheduled performance and is offered to those with a valid student ID. Additionally, all Sunday evening performances are $10 for students in B location seating with a valid ID. Full price tickets can be purchased for $43-49.

The post “Los Otros” paints a clear picture of unity appeared first on The Retriever.

UMBC CSEE Seminar Series

Resynchronization of circadian neurons and the east-west asymmetry of jet-lag recovery

Zhixin Lu
University of Maryland, College Park

1-2pm Friday, 21 April 2017, ITE 231

Cells in the brain’s Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) are known to regulate circadian rhythms in mammals. We model synchronization of SCN cells using the forced Kuramoto model, which consists of a large population of coupled phase oscillators (modeling individual SCN cells) with heterogeneous intrinsic frequencies and external periodic forcing. Here, the periodic forcing models diurnally varying external inputs such as sunrise, sunset, and alarm clocks. We reduce the dimensionality of the system using the ansatz of Ott and Antonsen and then study the effect of a sudden change of clock phase to simulate cross-time-zone travel. We estimate model parameters from previous biological experiments. By examining the phase space dynamics of the model, we study the mechanism leading to the difference typically experienced in the severity of jet-lag resulting from eastward and westward travel.

Zhixin Lu, PhD Candidate, joined the Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Group in the University of Maryland, College Park in 2011, as a Graduate Research Assistant in Dr. Edward Ott’s group. He acquired expertise in nonlinear dynamics and complex systems. Together with the colleagues from UMD, he used methods from nonlinear dynamics theory to investigate the synchronization of circadian neurons, the statistical properties of critical avalanching firing in integrate-and-fire neuron models, as well as dynamical behavior of artificial recurrent neuronal networks. His main research interests are the applications of nonlinear dynamics and the theory of complex networks to biological and artificial neural networks.

Host: Fow-Sen Choa; Organizer: Tulay Adali

About the CSEE Seminar Series: The UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering presents technical talks on current significant research projects of broad interest to the Department and the research community. Each talk is free and open to the public. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future talks.

The post talk: Resynchronization of circadian neurons, 1pm Fri 4/21 appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Best Practices: A preliminary checklist

The list below is a work in progress. When completed, it will show how well academic departments at UMBC treat adjunct faculty. All items are to be understood as criteria and as positive recommendations where applicable. Some items might be N/A for individual departments. Departments already doing these good things are shown in bold-faced font.

Pay, stipend, raises: 

• Regular pay increases/[cost of living] adjustments for adjunct faculty: SOC, CSEE
• Department advocacy for adjunct stipend improvement, raises: SOC, INDS
• Complementary registration to conferences, etc.: Econ, INDS

 Workload: 

• Ability, feasibility of choosing classes: CSEE, INDS, SOC
• Input into scheduling process of classes: English, Math, Econ
• Department sensitivity to time expended on new course prep: SOC
• Advance notice/planning re course scheduling: English, Math

 Job longevity, security, promotion: 

• Opportunities to teach Summer/Winter: English, Math, INDS, Econ, SOC
• Hiring into full-time positions: American Studies, SOC, PHIL
• Year-long planning

 Scholarship/research: 

• Adjunct faculty can be primary investigators: CSEE
• Adjunct faculty can qualify for research grants: CSEE
• Opportunities for research: CSEE
• Professional development opportunities:
• Ability to request own TA when applicable: SOC

 Collegiality: 

• Mentoring, orientation for adjunct faculty
• Included in department meetings: English
• Opportunities to serve on committees
• Included in the social life of the department: English
• Support by department office support staff: English

 Facilities: 

• Have own office or sufficient privacy if sharing office: English
• Access to computer/s, mobile devices, equipment as needed: English
• Telephone access: English

INPUT ? If you know of items to consider, or departments to mention, please add a comment below, or get in touch with any member of AFAC.

We will continue updating this informal survey.