Susan Raber Bray - Recent Work

Susan Raber Bray, a Vermont artist and CCV art faculty member, will have a show of her recent work on display at Frog Hollow in Burlington (85 Church Street). An opening reception will be held on Friday, November 7 from 5 – 8 PM.

The show is titled “La lumière intérieure des oiseaux et des chèvres” (The interior light of birds and goats) and will be on display from November 1 through 30, 2008. For more information on Susan Raber Bray’s work, visit her website at http://www.susanraber.com.

Gail Salzman: New Painting Displayed SVAC

Gail Salzman, a Vermont artist and member of the CCV Burlington and St. Albans art faculty, will have some of her recent paintings on display from November 1 - December 2 at the Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) in Manchester, Vermont (click here for directions)

The Bennington Banner reports that Salzman's "abstract paintings have their source in the elemental forms and rhythms of nature. Combining luminous layers of color with animated brushwork, she suggests both depth and continual movement, and reflects upon the shifting relationship between our internal and external lives. " (Click here for the complete article.)

Want to learn more about Salzman's work? Visit her homepage at http://www.gailsalzman.com.

CCV St. Albans Transfer Fair: November 6, 2008

CCV St. Albans will be hosting its 3rd annual College Transfer Fair on Thursday, November 6th from 4:30 pm—6:30 pm. This is a fantastic opportunity to talk with college representatives about transfer options. You will also be able to talk with a representative from VSAC about career decisions and financial aid opportunities.

The following schools will be represented:

• Burlington College
  
• Champlain College
  
• Clinton Community College
  
• Johnson State College
  
• Suny—Plattsburgh
  
• University of Vermont
  
• Vermont Technical College

The event will be held at CCV St. Albans (142 South Main Street in St. Albans). For more information contact Kerri Brooks at 802-524-6541 or kerri.brooks@ccv.edu.


DON'T FORGET! CCV Burlington's Trasnfer Fair will be held on Tuesday, November 18 from 10 am - 2 pm. For more information, visit http://www.ccv.edu/burlington/transferfair.

SAB Organizes Food Drive!

CCV Burlington's Student Advisory Board (SAB) is holding a food drive to benefit the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf in Burlington. Two shopping carts are set up to collect your donations. One is located in the lobby of our Pearl St. building, the other is on the second floor of the Cherry St. building (outside the Learning Center).

Many Vermonters are feeling the effects of the current economic downturn. As a result, the Food Shelf cannot keep up with the demand of providing food to Burlington residents. If you can, please make a donation to this good cause to benefit those in need. Collection carts will be available until mid-Novemeber!

Spring 2009 Course Schedule Now Available

CCV's spring 2009 semester schedule is now available! To view the schedule, visit this webpage:

https://andromeda.ccv.vsc.edu/Learn/Grid/SiteList.cfm

Starting Monday, October 27, Burlington students can call (802) 652-2087 to schedule an appointment to register for the spring semester (Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM - Noon & 1:00 - 4:30 PM). Registration will begin on Monday, November 3. For more information on course registration at CCV Burlington, visit this webpae:

http://www.ccv.edu/burlington/registration

Register early to get the courses you want!

CCV Burlington welcomes Natasha Pratt

CCV Burlington recently hired Natasha Pratt as a work study student in the Learning Center and Admissions office (110 Cherry Street, Room 204) and we would like to officially recognize her joining the staff.

Natasha was born and raised in Vermont. She has sophomore status at CCV and is pursuing the Liberal Studies degree. She also plans to transfer to UVM after her time at CCV in order to study Anthropology, where she plans to pursue both her bachelors and her master degrees.

After college, she would then like to do field work and research throughout the world, focusing on indigenous populations and Latin America.

Welcome to the staff Natasha. We’re glad to have you here!

Champlain College Fall Internship Failr

CCV students are invited to attend the 2008 Champlain College Fall Internship Fair. This event is co-sponsored by Champlain College's Career Services office and Student Government Association.


The event will be held on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, October 27th, 28th & 29th from 2:30 until 5:00 p.m. in the Hauke Conference Room. Plan to attend all three days since the list of participating employers changes each day! 100+ employers will be in attendance!


For more information, including a full list of employers that will be in attendance click here. For additional questions regarding this event, send an email to Patricia Boera at Boerap@champlain.edu.

Opening My Eyes to the World of Politics

The following is a guest post submitted by Gary Walker, a CCV Burlington student in his third semester. He wrote this piece for his Fall 2008 English Composition class with Deborah Straw.

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Growing up, I really never paid any attention to politics. In fact I often ignored it as something for older people to enjoy. In my neighborhood, the topic of the conversation was never why Scooter Libby lost his job, or how Elliot Spitzer disgraced himself by entertaining prostitutes. Most things I would see on the cover of a magazine and immediately dismiss because this is so far fetched from the reality I live in.

A reason why politics is not so attractive in my neighborhood is because there are always things that are more important than spending time worrying about politics. For instance some people are single mothers in college that have to work very hard on school work, so they have little time to get into politics. This is just one example of many, which echo throughout a lot of urban environments.

By no means am I saying that all people where I grew up are not into politics, I’m saying that I was not. I’m sure there’s a fair share of older people in my neighborhood that are glued to NBC, ABC and CNN. In fact, my grandmother is one of those people. By far I think for the most part politicians look at urbanites in America as people who don’t vote and are out of touch with things that are going on in the government and congress today. I think for a while that was a pretty fair argument.

It’s no secret that urban environments consist of mostly working class to impoverished minorities. Despite working hard from 9 to 5, they find it hard to make financial progress, living paycheck to paycheck. It is also no secret that the working class people are the backbone of our Democratic society and often work hard to do their part for America. When they need a little help with their daily lives to get by, they often find themselves on their own.

One reason for these feelings could be because in urban or impoverished neighborhoods, there are never any politicians coming to their aid. A few examples of this are Hurricane Katrina, the murder of Sean Bell, the Jena 6, and the list goes on. So many things hinder or hamstring the opportunity for a person in an urban environment that it is easier to stay focused on day-to-day operations than to dwell on things that are out of their control.

When things like Katrina and the Sean Bell murder happen, I think it builds on the distrust that some people in America harbor for politicians and their government. In return a lot of people tend to believe politics is rigged and that if you vote, it would not count anyway, so they can’t see the point in voting. Time after time, they go to the poll to vote, hoping they will get someone in office that will help average citizens. Time after time, they realize it is all political rhetoric and politicians are just telling them what they want to hear.

Recently all this has changed for me. It all started with the candidacy of Barrack Obama. In the last race for the white house I voted for John Kerry not because of his stance on issues or his values but because I was under the impression that he would bring help to average working class Americans. In a way this was a bad decision, not because he would not deliver on promises, but I really did not investigate whether Kerry comes close to the morals and values I believe in.

Believe it or not before Barrack Obama decided to run, I never heard of a primary race. In addition to that, there were many more things that I had never heard of like caucuses, electoral votes or a convention. Realizing this, I found myself wondering what other things I had missed over time by not being involved in politics. Often now I try to go back in time to find other presidential races, searching for things that I might have missed or discounted as irrelevant.

This presidential race I decided to get the facts on my own. So what I did was go buy John McCain’s book, Faith of our Fathers. In addition to that I also purchased three books based on Barrack Obama: Dreams of our Fathers, Audacity of Hope, and The Improbable Quest by John K Wilson. The reason I did this is because I wanted the facts in their own words without the idealism or spin you get from Fox or other new networks.

After reading all four books and not before reading all the books, I decided that Obama was the lesser of the two evils. Reading the books, I realized he stands for some of the same things I believe in like pro choice for women, universal health care and the thought of revamping the free trade system. Personally I like McCain. I think he has done outstanding service for the country and is a very funny and likable man, but when it comes to his policies and political agenda, this is where we don’t see eye to eye.

In my opinion, if you are a part of the middle class, a woman, or live in an urban environment, particularly if you’re African American, it just does not make sense for you to vote for John McCain. My reasoning behind this is that I have a sister; John McCain does not support equal work for equal pay, which means my sister will not get paid the same for doing the same job as me. Also John McCain does not support abortion, which could contribute to why some families in urban environments have to work harder, often enduring a lot of stress. Another issue where we don’t see eye to eye would be for me, as I am an African American, is he voted against the Martin Luther King holiday three times and conveniently had a change of heart when running for president.

The candidacy of Barrack Obama has opened my eyes to the world of politics, but I still find myself not enthusiastic about politicians. In light of Barrack Obama running for president, I have now been open to the thoughts of politics, and I am more aware of the political process. With that said, I often find myself watching this presidential race with a microscope for words, phrases and terms that are uncommon to me. Even if Americans don’t elect Barrack Obama, the candidate for change, he has brought change to me by opening my eyes to politics.

CCV Burlington welcomes Liz Thibault!

CCV Burlington recently hired Liz Thibault as a work study student in the Learning Center and Admissions office (110 Cherry Street, Room 204) and we would like to officially recognize her joining the staff.

Liz is a born and raised Vermonter and this is her third year at CCV. She is currently working toward her Associate Degree in Liberal Studies. After CCV, she plans to transfer to another Vermont State College to finish out a Bachelors Degree, and perhaps pursue a Masters later on. Liz says that her "goal would be to get into teaching or doing anything art related. And Iʼll be President at some point."

Welcome to the staff Liz and good luck with your run for the Presidency. We hope you'll give CCV a lot of credit when you make it there!

VT International Film Festival: Admission Free for CCV

The Community College of Vermont is proud to again be a sponsor for the Vermont International Film Festival which is being held from October 23 -26, 2008, at Burlington’s Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center and the Palace Cinema 9 in South Burlington.


As a special bonus this year, all CCV students, faculty, and staff can attend for free! All you have to do is show your CCV ID at the door. The opening show on 10/23 is excluded from this offer as are any sold out events. See you at the movies!


Want to keep up to date on what is in store at the VT International Film Festival? If so, visit, and subscribe to, the VTIFF Blog: http://www.vtiff.org/blog/