Posted: 04 Jan 2011 01:07 PM PST

John Chaffee, philosophy department chair at LaGuardia Community College, with several students.

Enlarge Edward Hollins

John Chaffee, philosophy department chair at LaGuardia Community College (center), considers philosophy a necessity, not a luxury. Philosophy students from left: E.J. Lee, Liz Montesclaros, Kate Yacino and Gabriel Lockwood.

Edward Hollins

As state universities cut back on humanities programs in order to deal with budget shortfalls, LaGuardia Community College in Queens, N.Y., is going in the opposite direction. At LaGuardia, philosophy is king: Of the 17,000 matriculated students, 4,500 are taking philosophy. There are seven full-time professors, most of whom have been added in the past two years.

The school, which has a well-regarded nursing school and programs in engineering and veterinary technology, is overturning the stereotype that four-year colleges are for intellectuals and community colleges are for career training.

"People tell me the role of community colleges is narrow — to train students for tomorrow's jobs, says Peter Katopes, the interim president of LaGuardia. "But I ask them, 'What are these jobs?' " The real task, he says, is training students for what he calls "the entrepreneurship of the imagination."

"It is giving students the opportunity to really understand the context of their lives, and you do that through the humanities," Katopes says. "If you do even a cursory survey of successful CEOs, you will know that an unbelievable number of them did their undergraduate degrees in English or philosophy or history."

Asking Questions

All kinds of students are taking philosophy at LaGuardia. Liz Montesclaros, 29, had been in the military before enrolling.

The military "is not the best place for questioning," Montesclaros says. "It's very rigid, very structured. When I finally got out, that's when I decided I really wanted to explore the questions that matter to me: What are we doing here, why am I here in the first place, for what purpose?"

E.J. Lee, 22, started out as a business major.

"Growing up, my parents were 'make money, make money, make money,' so I figured business was what you do. But as a business major, I was required to take an ethics course, and as soon as I sat in that class, I knew that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life," Lee says.

These are the kinds of attitudes you might find normal at a four-year liberal arts college. But the students here speak 120 different languages. And most of them were not born in the United States.

"We are all so different on the outside, and on the inside we are all searching, we are all seeking," says Gabriel Lockwood, who came to LaGuardia at 36. He wandered through Europe, knows a half-dozen languages, worked as a translator and took courses at various European universities, but he couldn't get credit for them in the United States. So at 36, he is starting again. He is full of questions, and philosophy, he says, has helped to answer some of them.

'The Heart Of Life'

The classes in philosophy are the usual: introduction to philosophy; ethics; religion and philosophy; political philosophy; logic; aesthetics; Eastern philosophy. But there are also new courses being developed in African philosophy and Latin philosophy.

John Chaffee, the chair of the department, says philosophy is a necessity, not a luxury.

"It's something that is at the heart of life. It addresses the foundational questions that we all wrestle with, and these are questions that [Holocaust survivor, psychiatrist and author] Viktor Frankl said 'burn under our fingernails,' " Chaffee says. "Philosophy is a discipline that gives us the tools to really understand ourselves, and the skills to answer the mysteries that are really at the heart of ourselves and at the heart of life."

Take a recent philosophy club meeting, where more than a dozen students and two professors sit in a circle and debate happiness.

The question: Suppose you lived a totally pleasurable life, but found out that you had been living in a virtual reality the whole time. You had really not done any of the things you thought you had, but you had all the experiences, all the pleasure, all the satisfaction, all the contentment. Would you say you were happy in those previous experiences?

"Even if this life is a dream, you can't take away the experience of that dream or what you thought you accomplished," student Arthur Rodriguez says.

Javier Velasco says it all depends on suffering. "If you had no suffering, you can't really recognize happiness or appreciation for something if it is always there," he says.

Minerva Ahumada, who teaches introduction to philosophy and Eastern philosophy at LaGuardia, says these students bring very different things to the mix.

"It is more personal here. It is more challenging here, but also, the results you get are way more surprising than what I got at other kinds of institutions," Ahumada says.

Professor Richard Brown says many of the students here have serious real-life issues, but "to suddenly see them become curious about the nature of forms or universals or what is the morally right thing to do — it is really a privilege. These people never envisioned that they would be studying these kinds of things, and also understanding it and having it influence their life."

Five years ago, there wasn't even a philosophy major at LaGuardia. Now 60 students are majoring, and several say they want to teach it in the future.

The president of LaGuardia Community College made philosophy a priority, the department chair built a department and hired faculty. Now this community college in New York City that's under many people's radar has more philosophy majors than many four-year colleges and universities. It's like that line in the film Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come.

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The Philosophy, "Return of the Bambulas"

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 08:21 AM PST

Fans of TJ Reynolds and The Freehand Orchestra deserve a warning before diving head first into Return of the Bambulas, the sophomore album by The Philosophy, a local three-piece hip hop collective comprised of T.J. "Toe Jam" Reynolds, Adam "Spread" Eaglesfield and Ike "Bambu" Boyd. Unlike Reynolds' Freehand Orchestra, the trio performs without live instrumentation, allowing for an emphasis on lyrics and reducing the sing-a-long factor, with Reynolds's stunning poetry-in-motion taking center stage.

The 10-track album begins appropriately with the anthemic "Start It Off," which bears a brass-heavy beat and rugged vocals. The hype continues on "Necessary" and "Doin' It," which calls listeners to action with statements such as, "Success is very dependent on whether we have the will to do what is necessary." The tone changes on "U Can't Get Me," a lighthearted song with nimble vocals and merry lyrics. The triad gets goofy on "Panty Inspector," the undeniable high point of the album's second half. "Hands up! Drawers down!"

Attendees of The Philosophy's December 22 CD Release at The Melody Inn not only heard the new album live, but were also fortunate enough to catch a rare, but always exquisite, appearance by NYC-based actress, director, and Toe-Jam-little-sister Teresa Reynolds. To commemorate the official release of Return of the Bambulas, prints of the leaf that adorns the album cover were also given to a select few lucky crowd members. Early arrivals watched up-and-coming beat boxer Tony Styxx perform, followed by Indy hip-hop super group ProForms, which features Skittz, ACE ONE, Son of Thought, Joe Harvey and Shogun.

Stream the entire album below and, if you like what you hear, cop a free download from their Bandcamp page.

Capitals' philosophy shifts

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 03:32 AM PST

PITTSBURGH – The Washington Capitals maintain the changes to their game in recent weeks are not a drastic overhaul but rather the natural evolution of a team. Once defined almost entirely by a seemingly infinite ability to score, Washington is developing its defensive identity.

On Saturday, the Capitals displayed their new priorities against their biggest rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the Winter Classic, the NHL's biggest stage aside from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Originally scheduled for 1 p.m. at Heinz Field, the league pushed the contest back to Saturday night to avoid rain showers forecast for the morning and afternoon.

While the Capitals have gradually added a new dimension, going 4-0-1 since snapping an eight-game losing streak, the Penguins were focused on perfecting their game. Pittsburgh went 16-3-1 in its 20 contests before Saturday, and even on nights when the odds might not have been in their favor, the Penguins found ways to win.

Washington hopes it can learn to do the same, even if it means there won't be offensive fireworks every night.

"There are 25 other teams in the league that are doing it, and we just felt the way things are going with our club, we needed to change something," general manager George McPhee said. "That's the silver lining in the adversity that we went through. We needed to change something, and we did. Now there's the emphasis on defense that we haven't had enough of in the last few years. They've all enjoyed scoring a fair amount, but you're not going to win every game just by outscoring clubs."

Perhaps the most quantifiable evidence of Washington's defensive focus is that over the past 16 games, which includes the losing streak that was the worst in three seasons, the Capitals have allowed an average of 2.43 goals. With a 7-0 loss to New York on Dec. 12 removed, the average drops to 2.1 goals.

Even the Penguins noticed some small adjustments in the Capitals when the teams met for the first time this season Dec. 23, a 3-2 shootout win for Pittsburgh.

"I thought that maybe they were a little more conscious of not letting us get to the paint and getting in front of their goalie," Penguins veteran Mike Rupp said, while Pascal Dupuis noted the heavy Washington forecheck.

"It's a pretty big change," Eric Fehr said. "We're really limiting teams' opportunities to gain speed in the neutral zone and come in and create opportunities. We're sitting back a little bit more, which is different for this team, but I think it's going to work for us."

Washington would savor a victory against Pittsburgh in the national spotlight with the help of its revamped philosophy.

"In the end, it's about two points," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, a former Komets player and coach. "But let's not make a mistake: We're all people that want the game of hockey to grow, and this is a big deal. … It's going to be a great."

Philosophy

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

“Philosophy Valued At One Community College” plus 2 more

“Philosophy Valued At One Community College” plus 2 more

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