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Case Western Reserve
University
August 2009—
In May I completed my 4th year of teaching in the
SAGES program of CWRU (Case Western Reserve). WOW! The program is
innovative, challenging, and fascinating in many, many ways.
Friends have sometimes
wondered why I cannot always write detailed email responses. Well,
here's a little information for the curious well-wishers! (No, this
will not become a daily, weekly, or even
monthly "blog"! God forbid.)
In the SAGES program at Case, we use a discussion format and team teaching. In Fall 2009, I will work with 3 classrooms of "first-year students" (the PC term for "freshmen"). One of my co-instructors is a staff member who helps direct the Center for Civic Engagement, and the others are professors of music and American studies. Our different backgrounds add to the discussion, but collaboration takes time and experimentation too! Quite a challenge—and fascinating.
This fall courses focus on "Exploring a Sense of Place: The Doan Brook Watershed," "Music in Our Lives," and "Women's Education at CWRU: The Flora Stone Mather Oral History Project."
Each spring since 2007, I also teach a University Seminar myself, one that I designed to focus on the topic of Nature Writing. Students ponder such works as Henry David Thoreau, Walden; Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac; Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek; Barry Holstun Lopez, Arctic Dreams; Walter Inglis Anderson, The Horn Island Logs; and Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony.
During the last few years, my own writing and research have centered on Charles Lakofsky, Ohio ceramics, Walter Anderson, and Viktor Schreckengost. I continue to be interested in biography, one of the topics of my dissertation, and in ecocriticism and queer theory.
Because of my commitment to CWRU, I am not writing any books on pottery at this time. Nor am I able to spend much time on my antiques business these days.
Wish me well in this exciting endeavor!
If my life is as active during 2009-10 as it was last year, I may not have time to email and telephone all you dear friends with the detailed accounts of my activities that you probably want and deserve. However, I do have a Facebook profile, where I sometimes post photos taken while on vacation or at a conference.
Knowing that, I've written this summary in the hope that it will at least give you a flavor of what I've been doing... and why I sometimes do not respond to emails that say nothing much more than asking questions like these: "How have you been? What book are you working on? How is teaching?"
Thanks for understanding!
Mark Bassett (aka "Dr. Mark")
July 2009 Collectible Pottery Show - Zanesville, Ohio
As usual, Mark Bassett was busily selling books and art pottery this summer.
The first-rate annual event, usually called "Pottery Festival," features collectible pottery of all kinds, including both American (such as Roseville, Weller, Rookwood, Owens, Cowan, Brush McCoy, and much MUCH more) and European (French, German, Belgian, and others).
A new shorter schedule is in the works for 2010! If you have curiosity about American art pottery or if you are a collector/dealer, you owe it to yourself to make the trip to Zanesville. Tales of hot deals abound down there!
For full details, visit potterylovers.org.
© 2009 Mark Bassett
Updated
8/01/09