What is CWC?

Since its inception in 1998, the Community Working Classics program at Grand Valley State University has provided classes in the liberal arts to over one hundred and fifty community students at Project Rehab and Job Corps in Grand Rapids, MI, and the Muskegon Correctional Facility in Muskegon, MI. These classes, ranging from Moral Philosophy to English Literature to American History, are taught by upper-level GVSU students under the supervision of Grand Valley faculty.

Community Working Classics operates as a seminar in political philosophy with an emphasis on service. It raises, with some urgency for all involved, questions that are often addressed only theoretically in the traditional classroom. Why are people poor? Incarcerated? Can serious engagement with the disciplines of the liberal arts address the very real desire we all have to live better, fuller lives no matter our circumstances? What can these seemingly diverse populations learn from one another? Will these lessons make any difference?
Participating GVSU Students:

- Are introduced to the principles of community organizing and recruiting.- Experience the work associated with developing a service organization.- Examine various philosophical, political, economic, sociological and historical issues raised during sessions.- Participate in readings to provide context for group discussion and essays.- Travel to Chicago during the course of the year to meet with teachers, organizers and others involved in similar projects.- Serve, teach, reflect, discover, and learn.
The Community Working Classics seminar is open to qualified students willing to commit to a full academic year. Students are required to submit a substantial essay during their involvement and will earn 3 or 4 credits per semester for PHI 380.

Class #8

As the end of the class approaches, I am feeling pressure to make sure things get wrapped up well. With that in mind, we are working on getting some closure on the discussions we have had (though hopefully they'll continue beyond the class) and finishing our own class zine.

I was able to give them handouts: on postmodernism; art styles, movements, and interpretation; and a paper of my own on the book we used for class. I was so happy to be able to give them several color examples of artworks to illustrate the things we have talked about--though I should have given this earlier in the class. I have some space allotted for discussion next week around these, but that may have to happen the last week in a wrap-up session (the 18th).

Next week the major task is finishing the zine. They all have pieces prepared for publication, so at this point it is about preparing them and doing editing on the writing. This is exciting, because we talked in class this monday about knowledge, how (un)informed the U.S. public is, the need for more communication, the role of the media in this exchange ("exchange"), and more. It is my hope that somehow with bringing their work into a more public sphere I can contribute to a much-needed dialogue--cross institutional barriers, cross cultural barriers. I hope this is not too grandiose a goal for a project that will not likely be huge? The main goal now is to have something done, but we talked about how the internet is a useful tool as well, and NG asked about putting the zine online...I'm thinking of doing that after the fact, probably once the semester ends. The idea is really intriguing. Is it naive to think that even a small project like this can have an impact in the (less than bright) grand scheme of things? I remember seeing Emma's zine way back when and loved it; and other projects have made similar ripples. So maybe it is merely a matter of time before these kinds of things take off. I think too of the CWC project in general, and if it will catch on at other institutions. There are students/people out there who want to work on things like this, and if they had a venue or a model many would be incredibly inspired. (I hope to continue this conversation with you all, maybe over the summer?)

Class #7

Tonight's class was very disorganized, though I had thought before tonight that it wasn't going to be. The problems were that I didn't have the right materials (i.e. pictures) to show what I wanted to about artists and artworks we were to cover. Also, when going over a handout on design elements I pretty much choked because it felt silly to try to talk about design without having concrete examples to point to. And once that thought entered my head, I lost it/couldn't think of a way to continue so ended up rambling.

It is too easy for me to get frustrated. I know I need to use this to learn something and grow and all these good things. But I HATE the idea that I am wasting their time (and mine) by holding a fluffy class. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have made some of the fluffier classes more information-based (with lecture, handouts, and esp. hands-on activity)

adelante: more constructive criticisms
-t-a-l-k s-l-o-w-e-r. i recorded my thoughts on tape tonight, and am amazed at how incredibly fast I talk (even though people often tell me this, and I really have been trying to fix it). daaamn it's worse than i ever thought. could have done this earlier. will probably do it again to monitor progress.
-make sure the last classes are very well organized, and informative (but not rushed).
-don’t get lost in frustration, but accept the f*-ups and move on by making changes.

on the upside-gave them nice art paper tonight, and expect to get something from almost all if not all of them for the zine.
-working on being able to give them drawing pencils, and have asked Ms. Perry if there is a slide projector to use for images.
-question: can i hold my two last classes, but add another session the following week (april 18) to give them copies of the zine and have a closing discussion? I feel I owe it to them.
-a bug was put in my ear about getting the guys certificates for participating in the class. want to do that

on agenda for next week:
1. essay on the book we read (pulling ideas together)
2. overviews of modernism and postmodernism? (need to find good readings on this, because I'm having trouble gleaning simple information on these huge concepts)
3. review/critique piecies for the zine
4. discuss article i gave out this week

Class #6

Tonight’s class was full of good discussion, that felt really great because it was the most personal and real discussion yet. There was structure--we were talking about the article I had them read for today--but several of the guys got into it and talked about their personal experiences and that made the class really great even when it wasn’t directly referring to the text.

The general topic was on education, because our author this week (Ben Shahn) wrote on “the education of an artist”. For him this is a liberally educated person who experiences as much as they can in life, connects these experiences to themselves, uses them to form opinions and then acts with integrity. There’s more to it, but some main points came out in talking…we talked about the idea of “integration” and being “integrated” (as in character, in life). The dictionary definition was interesting because it gives both the idea of unifying/making whole, and also of desegregation. So we connected the idea of intellectual integration of ideas/experiences into our lives and also of connection with other people, eliminating hate and fear of ‘the other’.

One guy said that he sees value in this class, even though it is art in prison (who studies art in prison after all?), because he can talk to different people about art using more language, more ideas, where before he might have turned the conversation to those things he considered art such as music, basketball, hip hop, etc. He talked about how he has always liked reading as a way to learn about things outside what we know, so that when we’re in a new situation we can better handle it. From the beginning he has questioned the class, and had definitely been asking me “what is the point of this class?” He obviously has it now, and it is awesome to see because it’s not something I could articulate well—something I think you just have to get. I could be wrong, but that’s how classes have worked for me as well. A sudden connection, spark.

The guys asked JP and I several questions about school and the university...what do we think is the difference between college-educated people and those who aren’t? (Is there a difference?) Must we all take gen ed classes? How is our relationship with professors; do we challenge them intellectually when we think they’re not right, or are missing something? Do we get shut down or are they actually receptive to criticism? One guy has been through GVSU for business, and seems to think differently of college now than he did when he was here (more an extension of high school). One guy was floored to find that the past experiences of two cohorts seemed the same as his, and talked about his high school experience as someone who failed school but aced bubble tests.

All of this discussion was so great, so it ended up taking almost the whole class. But this was fine, cuz it involved them making connections and voicing new ideas so was really exciting. They wanted to see some of my own artwork at the end of class, so before leaving I showed that and they seemed excited about it. We will have to talk next week about art and specific artists; I think I’ll use that time to build on tonight’s talk…

Week #5

Monday's class went really well. For the first time in a while, I was over-prepared for the class and we did not get to get to everything I had planned to talk about. We did the second half of our art-share, where the guys brought in stuff that is meaningful to them as art. It is great to see some of them getting so into the class lately; a couple of them are going deep into researching artists. A few of them worked together on an extra project that involves re-writing Shakespeare and a large collaged poster to go with it. I told them when I expect to end the class (April 11), and gave a reading assignment and typed-up questions for them to respond to.

[our author describes the best 'education of an artist', and prescribes a liberal education with the goal of being 'integrated' person.] questions were:

1. do you see the author's philosophy as useful?
2. what obstacles are there to achieving this vision of being 'integrated'?
3. what does being 'integrated' mean to you, as someone in prison?

I should really do more with the question of what we want to know from the students. I am genuinely interested in some of the things they bring in to discuss, but I want to make the class inspiring so that they take back a different way of looking at the world when they go back to their day to day in the facility. (For me, that's what art has done: changed my perception of everyday 'mundane' things. Could it help them in prison (and beyond) if I can foster this?)

I'm bringing the class into learning about formal aspects of art--how to understand it through elements of design and vocab (scale/unity/repetition/figure-ground/etc). I want to have them get this down while talking about art movements and art from different places. The idea is that they can benefit from knowing what to look for in art/imagery, how to talk about its meaning, and also can make thier own more affective because they'll have these elements in mind.

As a final project, I want to compile their work into a zine project, some kind of publication that can hold writing, drawing, photos, anything they want. This they can hopefully spend at least two class periods finishing, to be a venue (however small) for them to communicate to the outside. Back to that communication thing though; I think I have to open up more dialogue now about blunt questions, what they really think of in their day-to-day. That should be an assignment soon if we're to get into anything deeper.

One concern i am left with is that not all of them yet get the author's argument in the book we talk about. She critiques modern understanding of art, but doesn't lay out her assumptions clearly in the beginning. I take it for granted that how we commonly think of art (and everything else) is western, individualized, coming from within the liberal enlightenment tradition. We haven't gone there though, to discuss what "liberal enlightement tradition" means, and maybe they've, uh, never talked about that. I want to write my own essay or something to share with them, cuz clearly that is still a rock in some of their boots, giving us trouble.
that's "it"

Week #4

Class went better this week, I think. We discussed the book 'Believing is Seeing' that they had finished for this week, and I tried to re-emphasize key points. We talked about art mostly in the last century, and how 'modern art' really blew things up so that art could be more or less what anyone wants it to be. Some seem to agree with the author, and others disagree strongly; I'm trying to make sure they get her argument at least, so they can give a clearer critique.

One guy commented that our book caused him to change his mind on art, think of it differently. Other guys have said this too, and it is also echoed quite a bit in their writings, which is great. (There's a recurring sentiment that art is individual's expression, a form of communication, and broader than any pat definition tries to mandate. And lots of talk about how art matters…it seems to for everyone, so I want to find more ways to tap into that.)

Reading their writings has been amazing.

Also amazing was the 'art share', where they were asked to bring in some kind of example of a favorite artist/piece of art. Half of the class went this week, and the rest will go after break, because it would have taken too long. Hearing them talk about it was really touching, and the personal element made class that much more interesting. They brought in drawings by their kids, one brought poetry, another some leatherwork he makes there; there was also art by a fellow inmate (not in the class), a picture of Detroit mayor Coleman Young, and photographs from a family member's trip to Florida.

I gave the assignment of starting to do some artwork on that relates to what they've been discussing with Shakespeare or else another thing they are reading at the moment. I should have probably given a more in-depth assignment over break, but didn't have one really crafted. But I did say what my plan was for when we get back (studying the formal elements of art).

Need to work on:
Talking too fast—I think my nervousness really shows that way; they have lots of trouble following me. I may talk too softly as well, though I feel like I'm reeeally not.

Week #3

This week's class went, but not as well as i would have liked. We continued our discussion from last week; the guys who didn't get to read their pieces read. I tried to re-cap the main points from the article, then kind of let the discussion go from there because the guys had raised several good questions.

I had a problem trying to get us to focus on any one question, though. I think this was because (1) they're not questions with real Answers, are still pondered today and (2) I wasn't prepared enough with questions from the reading, though I tried hard to think of some good ones. It's true I have a hard time cutting people off, or correcting them when their reading of the writer's argument isn't right on. Have to work on that.

I had ideas for in class:
-'art share' (everyone tells us about an artist they like)
-questions in small groups
-do some writing in class
-bring in art/media/ads for analyzing
-show video on some art topic (an artist, movement, phenomenon etc)
-reading questions handed out with the readings

At one point someone suggested the assignment of having people bring in info on a select artist, doing an art-share. This was cool because it was the plan anyway.

For next week, I am doing research to try to answer some of the questions the guys have had. So I'm hoping to bring some material on different art movements, as well as what art means/has meant to different cultures. (Have to do a lot of studying for this, because it's not something I know much about and I feel awkward trying to talk about it.) I'm considering trying to incorporate a discussion/lesson on formal design elements too, which could lend itself to more hands-on stuff in class and also help them analyze images from a formal standpoint.

Ah, I also have to work on developing my "persona" as Prof. DeWilde says. That should be easier if I have some more structure for the lesson and the knowledge to back it up...