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CONFERENCE THEME:

Patrick Henry wasn’t available as keynoter, but this year’s WCCHA conference speakers—filmmaker John de Graaf, conductor Christophe Chagnard, and storyteller Will Hornyak—will surround a series of sessions we imagine packed with politics, poetics, and polemics.  How do you find yourself taking liberties in the classroom, and in your practice as an artist and scholar?  And how have these same liberties you’ve previously enjoyed been limited?  We’d love for you to join us this coming October.

FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Our keynote speakers are filmmaker John de Graaf, conductor Christophe Chagnard, and storyteller Will Hornyak

	Liberty, Time, and Work in America TAKING LIBERTIES.   Freedom.  The Pursuit of Happiness.  That's the American Way, right?  Or is it?  John de Graaf argues that liberty above all means time and time is in scarce supply in the United States, where workers put in longer hours than in almost all other industrial countries and enjoy none of the mandated guarantees of family leave, sick leave, paid vacation time and paid holidays that workers in EVERY other industrial country take for granted.  John makes the case that trading some of our stuff for the liberty of time would improve American health, families, communities and the environment and lays out the national campaign for a paid vacation law that his organization, TAKE BACK YOUR TIME, is currently leading.
	Taking Liberties: A Necessity in Presenting the Classics One of the most sought-after conductors in the Pacific Northwest, French conductor Christophe Chagnard is an all-around musician acclaimed for his finely-etched performances and charismatic approach to music. Mr. Chagnard received his musical training in Composition and conducting from Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory where he graduated with Academic Honors. From 1992-1994, Mr. Chagnard served on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music and in 1994, he became the first Music Director of the New England String Ensemble in Boston. His repertoire includes chamber, symphonic, and operatic works of all styles and periods, and he has gained a distinguished reputation as a coach, educator and lecturer. He is also an active composer whose works have been heard widely in the USA and Europe and a Jazz guitarist with the Northwest Sinfonietta Jazz Quartet.  Mr. Chagnard has been featured on NPR's "Performance Today" and broadcast live on KING FM in Seattle.
	Story Tellers Do Take Liberties! Responding to our theme, “Taking Liberties,” Portland story teller, Will Hornyak, will present a varied program that would include Northwest myths, Irish folktales, a tall tale, and a participation story.  In honor of our theme, “Taking Liberties,” Will has resolved to not let any facts get in the way of his stories! www.willhornyak.com

Conference Program:

Friday, October 17th - Tacoma Community College Theater - Building 3

8:30 to 9:00 a.m.  Registration and Coffee
9 to 9:15 a.m.  Announcements and Introductions
9:15 to 10:15 a.m.  Keynote #1:  John de Graaf - Liberty, Time, and Work in America
10:15 to 10:30 a.m.  Coffee Break

Friday, October 17th
10:30 - Noon

Jim O'Donnell (Edmonds), Susanne Weil (Centralia), Don Foran (Centralia), Marlene Bosanko, Lois Garrison and John Sandin (Tacoma)
How Do We Build Reading Skills-and Interest-Among Our Students?
Faced with mounting evidence that community college students are reading less and reading less well as time passes, we propose a WCCHA discussion of how we can reverse the trend.  While there will be several short presentations related to classroom techniques, curricular reform, and campus activities focused on reading, the main intention of the session is to involve all attendees in brainstorming and sharing of ideas.

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Allen Braden (Tacoma)
Applying for a Poetic License
We will discuss different ways poets, from Boethius to  Baudeliare to Bukowski, have taken liberties within the genre.  In a generative, interactive workshop, we will also liberate poems or lines raging to be freed from each participant.  Expect to gain a respect for tradition and a knack for rebellion.

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Michael Darcher (Pierce-Fort Steilacoom), Ann Shuster (Pierce-Puyallup), John Falskow (Tacoma)
Taking Liberties with the Truth, Truths, and the Tradition
Three instructors and practitioners of their craft-a writer, a painter, and a musician-discuss how living in the Age of Data has impacted their particular discipline and their own approach to craft.

Friday, October 17th
1:15 - 2:00 PM

Carmen Germain (Peninsula)
The Sabbatical of Liberty:  Reflections on an Open Year
I pull a green folder from out of a pile of notebooks, rough drafts, note cards, and manila files that are stacked in my home office; in the folder is a crisp and thick sabbatical proposal:  "I have decided to ask for the gift of time.  I am reminded how quickly the seasons of teaching build into years, and I am keenly aware of the value of one open year to explore, read, write, think, and create."  What exactly did I want to do?  Live without demands and schedules and meetings in order to explore the art, literature, culture, history, and language of Italy and immerse myself in the novels of Elsa Morante.  Write new poems resulting from the luxury of time and take liberties to follow creative and scholarly interests as they arrived.  Now that my sabbatical is over, I learned I was (unconsciously) a subject in my own experiment.  What worked?  What didn't?  Like a good researcher, I live with the results.

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Don Foran (Centralia College)
Poets Take Liberties: Prophets for Sustainability
Aldo Leopold and E.O. Wilson both have landmark essays titled "The Land Ethic." What they suggest is inarguably important, but it may be the poets (Hopkins, Oliver, Kunitz, et al.) who most powerfully and passionately speak up for Mother Earth. Further, eco-theologians like Thomas Berry focus on the land ethic too, bringing science and poetry together in compelling mix. This lecture/discussion will explore sustainability themes and classroom resources.

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Fred Thompson and Alice Derry (Peninsula)
Teaching Europe:  Public Education, Private Journeys
During a period when Peninsula College is reaching toward Asia, Africa, and Central and South America, Alice Derry and Fred Thompson last year organized and taught two Europe-centered courses:  a study of the arts in late 18th and early 19th century Europe and a seventeen-day study tour of several European cities.  As they worked with students, the two instructors became aware of how these current explorations constituted culminating moments in their own lives.  In this presentation, Professors Derry and Thompson will share their insights about how teaching about Europe interacted with their life journeys.

Friday, October 17th
2:15 - 3:15 PM

Jim Fisher (Peninsula College)
Taking Liberties with the Arts: From Van Gogh to Van Halen
Vincent van Gogh dared to take liberties with reality when he painted "The Starry Night." Irving Stone did the same with van Gogh's life when he wrote Lust for Life. Vincente Minnelli returned the favor when he adapted Stone's novel for the screen. Anne Sexton took the liberty of writing a poem about van Gogh and his painting. Finally, but certainly not the last, Don McLean took liberties with them all in his song "Vincent (the Starry, Starry Night)." As Shakespeare once said, "'Taking liberty' [with the arts] is the highest form of flattery!" Jim Fisher will trace this interesting history in a PowerPoint presentation that includes stills of van Gogh's art, clips from the film, and audio clips of the poem and the songs, ending with a video from the rock group Van Halen.

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Susanne Weil (Centralia)
Taking Liberties With Language:  Using Song Parodies and Literary Imitations in Composition and Literature Classes to Spark Student Engagement with Texts
The Industrial Workers of the World (a.k.a. the "Wobblies") took notorious liberties with their parodies of patriotic and spiritual songs in the  free speech fights  of the 1910s in Seattle and Spokane.  Studying the spirit and intelligence of their parodies suggested to me that offering students chances to write creatively, but using the framework of others  work as support, might help them engage with complicated texts.  In this workshop, I would like to present examples of how students used song parodies to drive home their theses in Composition II final paper presentations.  I will also share examples of   imitations  done by students in a literature survey covering Beowulf through Shakespeare, in which students wrote  imitations that enabled them both to demonstrate their understanding of classic structures, while also expressing their own contemporary concerns in creative ways.  Finally, I would like to brainstorm with conference attendees about ways that we can encourage students to "take liberties" with our curricula in ways that help them learn.

3:30 to 5:00:  Tour the Museum of Glass with your complimentary WCCHA pass
5:00 to 5:30:  Woody’s on the Wharf informal gathering (clear out time for the Museum.)

5:30 to 6:30 p.m.:  Poetry Reading and Social Hour at the Tacoma Museum of Glass
6:30 to 8:00 p.m.:  Banquet and Award Ceremony at the Tacoma Museum of Glass
8 to 9 p.m.:  After-Dinner Entertainment:  Story Teller Will Hornyak at the Tacoma Museum of Glass

9 to 11 p.m.:  View Museum of Glass

Saturday, October 18th - Tacoma Community College Theater - Building 3

8:30 to 9:00 a.m.:  Coffee
9 to 9:15 a.m.:  Announcements and Introductions
9:15 to 10:15 a.m.:  Keynote #2:  Christophe Chagnard - Taking Liberties: A Necessity in Presenting the Classics
10:15 to 10:45 a.m.:  Coffee Break

Saturday, October 18th
10:45 - 11:45

Bruce Hattendorf and Matt Teorey (Peninsula College)
Viewing Books and Reading Films: Team Teaching a Linked, Cross-Disciplinary Course
This session will explore the process of adaptation individual courses undergo as they're filtered through the lens of a learning community. As a specific example, we will look at a LC we taught that combined the Art of Film and World Literature, reflecting on the risks, challenges and successes of a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning.

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Jennifer Locke Whetham (Green River)
The Politics of the Poetic:  Rooting Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture
One summer night in 1973, two kids threw a party in the burned remains of the Bronx to earn money for the newest, freshest school clothes.  Cindy and Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell, immigrants from Kingston, Jamaica, had no idea that their money-making venture -people dancing in the recreation room of their apartment complex-would be later deemed a creation myth, the beginning of hip hop culture.  Herc's role as the DJ and his creative use of his father's impressive sound system would be the first sign of the culture's aesthetic arms:  DJ-ing, MC-ing, B-boying, tagging.  It's tempting to judge this historical movement as a bunch of poor kids blowing off steam; yet the kids crammed into that tiny room, dancing, sweating, drinking, and partying, were doing more than just having a good time.  They were starting a movement.
This lecture will take an admittedly expansive definition of poetics, using it to frame and examine the elements of hip hop culture, contextualize hip hop's beginnings in historical events like the Burning of the Bronx, highlight parallel political and aesthetic movements in 1970s Jamaica, illustrate the innovation and the making something out of nothing ethic of hip hop culture, and illuminate its political possibilities as a youth movement for positive social change.

11:55 am Brief Closing

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