Epistemology \i-ˌpis-tə-ˈmä-lə-jē\

Epistemology
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek epist_m_ knowledge, from epistanai to understand, know, from epi- + histanai to cause to stand

Our students had a remarkable and rare gift yesterday of a visit from the Director of Curatorial Services for the Louisiana State Museum, Steve Maklansky. Steve brought with him a group of photographs he called “then and then”. He showed media photographs of the immediate aftermath of Katrina, with his own photographs made a few months after the storm and flood, retracing the steps of these photographers. Speaking about photography as not only an expressive tool, but a language in and of itself, he wove every student’s work into a quilt of food for thought. At this 1/3 point in the trip, when students have seen so much destruction, balanced with signs of hope and recovery, the thoughtful insights of a New Orleanian who has probably seen every Katrina picture ever made cross his desk, generated much conversation over dinner. It was the where do we go from here moment for me, and certainly for several students as they think hard about where to direct the gaze of their lenses for the rest of the trip. Thank you, Steve.



Dinner: To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before or Waiter, I Think There's an Oyster in My Shell!

Last night was my last night with the group before heading out on the flight I now refer to as "Delta's revenge for the students' inbound flight", at 6:20am. I wanted to go to this great boiled seafood place called Big Al's Seafood. We invited all of the students, some really wanted to go; some wanted to go to be nice because it was my last night (thanks Amanda); and then there were those who came only after I called and ascertained that there was something other than seafood to eat on the menu. I'll leave it to the students in their blogs to visually describe Victor, and his amazing talent with the oyster shucking knife, and say that many proud moments have been had in just a few days--and I'll get to that in my next post--but I never dreamed I'd see people who made faces when they heard the oysters were raw...eat them...



Instructor Bret Kallusky demonstrating his oyster eating technique.

Amanda Hoak finds her inner strength.

Ogden Museum Preparator, Richard McCabe demonstrates the 'on a cracker' method.

and

Beth Maas volunteers to try the oyster on a cracker.