We took off Saturday early morning, Williamstown bound! It's been some time since we've enjoyed the pleasures of a lovely, leisurely drive on the Mohawk Trail. The weather was gorgeous - bordering on hot - but the drive was easy.
Many of you know of the odd culture surrounding the Mohawk Trail, but it was apparently created as one of the nation's first scenic highways. It was indeed scenic, and we took in the awe-inspiring beauty of the kitschy American Indian gift-stores (aka "Trading Posts"), with their giant, wooden Plains-style Indians, and their culturally sensitive mini-golf offerings.
As we rose with the hills into Florida (Mass.), all signs of spring withered away. It is our opinion that Spring, Summer, and Fall come to Florida in the second, third, and fourth weeks of July, respectively. This is the place God visited when looking for inspiration for how to design purgatory. Why the 676 residents of Florida continue to 'stick it out' is beyond us... But then you come over the hill, around the hairpin turn, and look down the valley into North Adams and Williamstown, and you are home.
We stopped in at Mass MoCa and had lunch at the newly relocated - and quite good - Gramercy Bistro, before heading into Mass MoCa. There were two fantastic exhibits installed at the contemporary art museum. The first, entitled Material World, involved large-scale installations over two floors at the Museum-converted-from-a-mill...
This shot is taken in the Material world exhibit. The piece involved hundreds of strings of micro-filament strung across a huge room, with a single spotlight shining on the instalation. As you walk through and around the installation, the light patterns on the fillament change, intending to recreate the sensation of driving through the Hoosac Tunnel. But the true purpose of our visit to Mass Moca was the newly-installed Sol Lewitt exhibit. If you don't have time to make the trip this weekend, worry not, you might have time before it comes down in 2033.
Lewitt, whose work is familiar to Williams alums who recognize the geometric, colorful wall-painting in the stairwell at WCMA, designed highly geometric, stunning, and large-scale drawings, paintings, and murals on walls. The scale of the exhibit is stunning, taking up three floors, each dedicated to a stage in Lewitt's life... Loads of pictures of MassMoca are available here.
We spent the evening at a dinner for class agents and alumni fund leaders at Williams, where we heard Ed Burger speak. Burger is one of the most highly regarded math teachers in the country. (Trivia fact: 12% of Williams grads are Math Majors, compared to a national average of 1%.) Burger discussed the recently approved 'Gaudino Option' for Williams undergrads. Williams students are apparently suffering from a heightened sensitivity to their grade point average; this sensitivity is disincenting them from taking courses 'outside of their comfort zone' where poor performance might damage their overall average. The Gaudino Option gives students the option to designate a course on a Pass/Fail basis if (1) it's outside of their comfort zone; (2) they are intellectually engaged in the course; (3) they are dissatisfied with their grade; and (4) they achieve a minimum academic performance in the class. We're a bit skeptical on the impact of the Gaudino option; are there not better ways to encourage students to take interesting, challenging classes? Isn't this the point of a Liberal Arts education?
No comments:
Post a Comment