Tag Archives: Leuphana

24 June 2020Creativity CornerContest Winners, Haiku, Haiku Contest, High School Students, Jennifer Kronovet, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Poetry, U.S. Consulate General Leipzig, University Students, Winning EntriesHenrike Kattoll

2020 Haiku Contest

Compiled by the U.S. Consulate General Leipzig

Just last month, the U.S. Consulate General Leipzig organized a Haiku contest for both high school and university students. The motto for this creative writing challenge was “Looking outside – Looking inside,” that is, noticing the connections between the change in season and the change in one’s internal landscape. Students were asked to put their thoughts and feelings into a Haiku consisting of three lines and 17 syllables in total.

The consulate received about 100 submissions from eight German states and places as far away as Nigeria. American poet and now also haiku contest judge, Jennifer Kronovet, selected 10 of her favorite Haikus and commented on her top three.

The blog editors congratulate all winners. Keep up the good work!

17 June 2020Access AmericaAmerican Reserach Universities, Critical Reading, Critical Writing, Digital Age, Digital Age Ruminations, Digital Humanities, Digital Humanities Techniques, Digital Teaching, Employability Concerns, Humanities, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Liberal Arts College, Liberal Education, U.S. HumanitiesHenrike Kattoll

Digital Age Ruminations: The U.S. Humanities and Employability Concerns

By Andrew Urie

As anyone who has scanned recent U.S. education headlines knows, the humanities face a crisis of legitimation amidst a tech-driven economy in which the mantra of ‘job preparedness’ seems to have trumped the traditional academic notion of humanist scholarly inquiry. Faced with the task of defending the relevance of their field of study, academics have justifiably cited the critical thinking skills that are gained via a humanities education.

Saint Anselm College, a traditional New England liberal arts college.

More often than not, however, many of these very same academics proceed to undermine this eminently legitimate point by claiming that a university education should bear no relation to vocational concerns. Indeed, whenever anyone parrots out this shaky line of reasoning, I find myself pondering the following question: In what sense has the American university ever stood entirely apart from concerns about employability?

10 June 2020Teaching ToolsAfrican American Culture, African American History, Against Racism, Anti-Racism, Black Lives Matter, Educate Yourself, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Race, Racism, Talking About Race, White PrivilegeHenrike Kattoll

A Call for 60s-Style Teach-ins on Anti-Racism

By Sabrina Völz

Photo Credit: “DSC8902 – The Elephant in the Room” by damienconway30

Let’s start off with a few telling facts: The origin of the word “racism” stems from the French word racisme which appeared during the last decades of the 19^th century. In English, however, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, “Racism appears to be a word of recent origin, with no citations currently known that would suggest the word was in use prior to the early 20^th century.” Now, let that sink in. The people at Webster are also quick to point out that just because the word is “fairly new” doesn’t mean that “the concept of racism did not exist in the distant past.” No wonder we – and with we, I mean all societies – have a problem with racism. So let’s get to the root of it and root it out.

3 June 2020Access AmericaBinge-Watching, Content Streaming, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Multi-Season Shows, Netflix, Netflix Subscriber, Playback Acceleration, Reed Hastings, Series Binge, Streaming, Streaming ServicesHenrike Kattoll

So much to stream, so little time? Netflix has a solution.

By Kai-Arne Zimny

Whether it’s the mo(u)rning routine of having to leave your beloved bed, or the deviously brilliant book that won’t let you stop turning pages while the digits relentlessly move towards 3 a.m. – there are quite a few occasions where having more time would come in handy.

I’ll spare you any more time-consuming passages of introduction and cut right to the chase:

Netflix is testing a feature that lets users accelerate playback speed up to 1.5 times the normal speed. Ever since the news went viral, Netflix was hit hard with backlashes from a number of moviemakers and actors. Netflix defended the choice by stating it’s been a “heavily requested feature from subscribers.”

It’s impossible for me to validate whether that’s true or not; what we do know is that as of now, Netflix is only testing the feature on a small fraction of their customers and only on Android devices. And even if this were to become a regular feature, as long as Netflix doesn’t force customers to indulge in streaming-quickies, it’s all fine, isn’t it?

27 May 2020Teaching ToolsLeuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Poem Analysis, Poems, Poetry, Teaching, WritingHenrike Kattoll

A Changing Mindset: Teaching “A Mown Lawn” by Lydia Davis

By Sabrina Völz

Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020 (10:47 a.m.)
Lydia Davis (1947- ) is a lover of language and an American writer, probably in that order. She’s best known for her minimalist writing style and works of brevity (short stories, flash fiction, and narratives made up of only a couple of lines). One of my favorite prose poems is “A Mown Lawn.” It is literally one-of‑a kind. Well, almost. I think Davis wrote two political pieces, of which “A Mown Lawn” is one. If you aren’t familiar with it, please read it, otherwise this blog might not make sense (see image below).
As some of our loyal readers might recall, my colleague Maria Moss has written several blogs on how to teach poetry, including “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost and Haikus. But I’m not like her. To be honest, I’m somewhat leery of the long faces students often make when they hear the word ‘poetry.’ Determined to give it a try, I prepared a lesson that would hopefully help my students appreciate Davis’s poem, engage with the topics, and think about language – the power of language, or should I say, the lack thereof? Anyway, here are my notes:

12:10 p.m.
Off to class. Let’s see how it goes.
Read more »

20 May 2020Access AmericaCelebrities, Celebrity Collaborations, Charity Projects, Climate Change, Earth, Influencers, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Lil Dickey, Save Humanity, Save The Planet, Social MediaHenrike Kattoll

Can Artists Save Us?

By Jessica Müller

How much do celebrities, influencers, and social media actually impact us? The way we consume media has changed dramatically over the past decade, and while many of these changes come with a multitude of new challenges, social media has also enabled us to communicate on a global scale. Celebrities, influencers, artists and the work they promote and produce directly and indirectly influence our society and our behavior towards our planet.

A while back, rapper Lil Dickey released a song in collaboration with thirty famous artists and celebrities in order to raise awareness for the issue of climate change and the damages it produces. Lil Dickey’s song immediately went viral, and millions of people watched it. But what is this song actually good for? Will it change anything at all?