Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Signal's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
3 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(03/04/14 11:24pm)
On Thursday, Feb. 25, Alicia A. Broderick visited the College to discuss advocacy for autism, or the lack thereof, in her presentation, “The Autism Culture Wars: Hope, Fear and the Politics of Narrative.”
Broderick began her talk by displaying a blue puzzle piece on a PowerPoint slide and asked her audience if anyone knew what it represented. The audience responded by identifying it as the icon used by the organization Autism Speaks. Ultimately, this symbol would help tie in the metaphor with the presentation’s main focus.
Broderick explained there is a distinct division between what is considered the autistic community and those with autism. This separation derives, according to Broderick, from the multitude of definitions of what exactly autism is.
Autism by many is viewed as a disease, something to be cured. Autism is associated with cancer and diabetes. The commonality between these three suggests they are all detrimental, in need of expulsion from human life. Broderick went on to state that associating autism with a lens of biodiversity — the same lens through which cancer and diabetes are rightfully examined — would be unfair.
Broderick went on to suggest viewing autism through a neurodiversity lens instead. Returning to metaphor, she explained the lens in two ways: through fear and hope.
Viewing autism as a disease, like Autism Speaks advertises, creates a fear of autism “spreading,” including ominous outcomes such as “epidemics.” If autism is solely labeled as a disease, the only hope would be to find a cure or work toward prevention.
Broderick then described the hope and fear of autism being represented through an autistic, disabled-centric and progressive point of view. There were marginal differences. Through this viewpoint, the fear centers around discrimination, oppression and inequality, while the hope drives toward an acceptance of autistic children and adults, valued support, accommodations and non-discrimination.
With Broderick’s use of metaphor, she spoke out against false advocacy’s effect on autistic members of society, as well as others. Their voices have gone unheard through organizations such as Autism Speaks. Not a single autistic voice is represented in the organization, not a single opinion or vision is shared through an autistic point of view. Broderick left the audience with a resounding message: the acknowledgement of autistic individuals is necessary and the treatment of an autistic mind should be determined based off the discretion of the autistic individual, not of the community that surrounds that individual.
Broderick shared an alternative advocacy group for autism with faculty and students, The Autisitic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN). She also invited the College to join the national conversation on autism in order to deepen our collective understanding. In effect, to join the conversation is to promote an advocacy for autistic individuals, rather than solely focus on their disability. It is the hope that society can champion their unlimited abilities and not their restraints.
(11/19/13 6:14pm)
“This Trenton Life,” a documentary film created by students at the College, was shown in Mayo Concert Hall on Friday, Nov. 15. Special guest David Lee White, a leader at the Passage Theater in Trenton, was also in attendance to view the film for the first time.
The documentary, created by junior interactive multimedia major Josh Lewkowicz and senior communication studies major Nicole Thompson, captured life on the streets of Trenton and the back stories of several students involved in White’s youth theater program. More specifically, the film highlighted the positive effect the arts theater program has had on the students who participate. “Create, conjure, conceive” are the three principal words that the students involved in the theater program use as guidelines when referring to the potential goals of their talent and their peers.
“I’ve never met an untalented student,” White said about the students he met through his work with the theater.
The goal of this documentary was not to focus on the common misconceptions of Trenton as a tragedy case. Rather, its purpose was to display the positivity spread by the younger generations who live in Trenton and call it home. According to the opening speaker, the documentary also served as “a forum for their voices to be heard,” referring to the young adults featured in the film, as well as their work in White’s theater.
Two students featured in the documentary used poetry as a form of expression, regarding their personal experiences in Trenton as well as the stereotypes attributed to the city. Tamara, one of the students in the documentary, recited through poetry, “My voice, our voices are our outlets.”
Ultimately, the purpose of the documentary was to enlighten the audience on life in Trenton, not for all of its hardship, but for the opportunity to thrive through art. It demonstrated the need to open up one’s mind to perspectives that stray away from the theory that Trenton is solely a dysfunctional city and advocated for individual expression in a city that hasn’t lost hope.
(10/01/13 4:48pm)
Every Tuesday and Thursday, students congregate in the Spiritual Center for a relaxing 30 minutes of meditation.
For four years and counting, Lisa Caton has led Mindfulness Meditation. This year, the group meets from noon to 12:30 p.m. for a half hour of relaxation.
The basis of the meditation has a simplistic overall goal: to find inner balance and a peaceful state of mind.
As humans, “we’ve been taught to fight or flee,” Caton said, meaning that society too often becomes wrapped up in the upbeat pace of everyday life. When does one have the chance to stop and breath anymore?
With Mindful Meditation, Caton leads participating students in breathing exercises known as kegon. This allows students to free their minds and focus on the inner workings of their breathing by taking deep, exaggerated inhales and exhales of breath. The whole time Caton gently coaches students on what to focus. She tells them to understand their emotions and mentally elaborate on the thoughts that pass through their minds. She tells them to not deny energy, whether positive or negative, and that they should embrace that energy and use it as personal fuel. Caton aims for meditation sessions to help students reach an “inner grounded feeling within.”
Caton has been practicing the art of meditation for 20 years. She explained there are many forms of meditation. The meditation that takes place at Mindfulness Meditation meetings aims for a general focus of the promotion of compassion toward oneself and others. Students at the College engage in meditation to serve themselves in finding restful moments in between chaotic instances of exterior pressures, but also to achieve an extended connection with one another in the form of finding compassion within themselves. To further discuss the topic of compassion, Caton also holds weekly dinners on Monday evenings, which are open to all practicing meditating students and newcomers.
Thursday’s Meditation was led by Jacob Wright-Piersanti and focused on a different method of Indian breathing known as the pranayama technique. The pranayama technique involves a series of short, terse breaths to expel any uncensored energy.
After the breathing practice, Wright-Piersanti led the group in a meditation slightly different from the norm. He took the group through a meditation that placed special emphasis on the concepts of love and kindness. Wright-Piersanti focused on the mantra of every human wanting to be happy and loved. Concluding his session, Wright-Piersanti thanked the group of meditating students.
“Thank yourself for giving the time to do this radical act of sitting still,” he said.
Many of the meditation techniques used by Mindfulness Mediation share in placing emphasis on the process of self calming, something college students often struggle with. Mindfulness Meditation is always open and available for students looking for a mental escape to cool down and re-energize the inner self.