AEG Review

http://www.kudzu.com/controller.jsp?An=0&Au=P_CompanyID&A=1396629

Grand Opening of Club Legacy - Atlanta

http://www.sandrarose.net/gallery/legacyfriday?page=1

Downtown Festival & Tour of Lofts

Downtown Festival & Tour of Lofts

By Collin Kelley, Managing Editor

Adiclere Hunter's loft in the Kessler Building downtown has a "tropical and traveled" theme, with unique pieces of art collected from Cuba, China, Spain and Morrocco. Hunter painted her walls vibrant colors to give "every part of the loft a different look and feel." (Photo by Laura Negri)

When the first loft and condo tour took place 10 years ago, Downtown Atlanta was still early in its renaissance. There was no Georgia Aquarium. Centennial Olympic Park was still under construction, the Rialto Theater was derelict, Castleberry Hill was a nearly forgotten fringe district, and anything approaching hip foodwise was farther up Peachtree Street. It was, basically, kind of scary.

What a difference a decade makes. At the 10th annual Downtown Loft & Condo Tour this month, visitors will see a radical transformation that is ongoing. Those who fled for the suburbs are selling their homes to move into the airy lofts and condos that have transformed former office buildings and warehouses in the Fairlie-Poplar and Centennial Hill districts.

Sponsored by the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association (ADNA), the May 20-21 tour will again coincide with the fifth annual Downtown Festival (see article p.50) for a full weekend of arts and culture.

Tour spokeswoman Beth Haynes said more than a dozen lofts and condos will be featured, including a number that have never been on the tour. A home cannot be part of the tour two years in a row, she said.

More than 4,000 people traipsed through the lofts and condos last year, and at least that many are expected this month, Haynes said, adding that some of the newly renovated lofts are eye-popping.

The buildings featured on this tour include Kessler Lofts, William-Oliver Building, Healey Building, 123 Luckie, Renaissance Lofts, Museum Tower and Centennial House. Haynes said the goal of the tour is to increase interest in living Downtown and to provide the public with a firsthand look at unusual and creative properties.

Many of the homes are walking distance from the Fairlie-Poplar area, where the Downtown Festival is being held and where the tour registration desk will be located. Bus/shuttle service will take tour participants to some of the further-flung buildings, such as Centennial House, Renaissance Lofts and Museum Tower.

Tickets for the loft and condo tour are $15 in advance at the Theatrical Outfit box office (corner of Luckie and Forsyth streets) or at Container Store locations. Tickets are $20 on tour days. Tour hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. www.TIX.com.

DOWNTOWN FESTIVAL

Before or after the loft and condo tour, make sure to leave time for the Downtown Festival being held on the streets of the Fairlie-Poplar district May 20-21.

It will feature an artists’ market, live music, food vendors and children’s activities. Festival hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday.

The festival is produced and managed by Downtown residents who volunteer their time, with sponsorship assistance from businesses like Target, the Container Store and Sweetwater Brewing Co.

Spokeswoman Beth Haynes says the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association-sponsored festival will feature a larger artists’ market, which will be juried and offer cash prizes.

The entertainment lineup will include modern jazz and funk from Jazztronic, blues from Szabo, theater from Synchronicity Performance Group, country rock from Little Country Giants and pop from Jan Morrison.

The children’s area, next to the Healey Building on Walton Street, will feature arts and crafts including a stained-glass station, and a quilting station set up by the High Museum of Art in conjunction with its "Quilts of Gees Bend" exhibition.



Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved. Web site by AirTight Design

Unleashing Our Power

Georgians get a lift from the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference

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“Unleashing Our Power”

BY RONDA RACHA PENRICE
Contributing Writer

From September 26 until September 29, Black Georgians and other African Americans throughout the nation took advantage of the 37th Annual Legislative Conference (ALC), sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, which allows people from all walks of life to interact with Congress’s African-American members.
“Unleashing Our Power” served as the 2007 theme and that took on several forms. Numerous panels explored how being knowledgeable about African-American culture and history could alter many of the negative trends in the black community but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Few subjects were left untouched – HIV/AIDS, the prison complex, hip-hop, inadequate healthcare, home ownership, voting rights – you name it, it was represented. Congressman Hank Johnson, most noted for defeating Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, generated an overflow crowd, which included many Morehouse graduates, for his Saturday morning session on “Making Education a Priority Again Among Black Males.”
He was not the only one with education on his mind. Spelman’s President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum was among the many noted educational leaders attending the conference. “I haven’t been to as many sessions as I would like because one of the benefits of being here is to take advantage to meet with agencies and talk about generating resources for your institution so I’ve been doing a lot of that, too,” Dr. Tatum shared in a hallway on Friday, as she scurried along to her next engagement. She wasn’t alone in finding an abundance of resources available to her. Atlanta-based entrepreneur Adiclere Hunter cosigned Tatum’s sentiments.
Hunter, who also attended the conference to support her sister, Eriade Hunter, who serves as the press secretary for Maryland Congressman Albert Russell Wynn, found the conference especially helpful to her emerging business, Suspension Designs, which specializes in tables that suspend from the ceiling.
“It was just really helpful,” Hunter said of the sessions geared towards minority- and female-owned businesses, “because a lot of times if you try to get that information on your own or on the phone or something like that, you don’t get it. You were able to go directly to the source so that’s what I thought was really good. They were answering the questions before we even had them because they knew that these were the questions that we had.”
WAOK’s Rob Wilson, host of Solutions and Remedies, raised questions ripped straight from the financial pages.
“I had a chance to sit in on the foreclosure issue with Maxine Waters,” Wilson explained from the ALC’s exhibit floor on Saturday. “I think the policymakers realize that they made a lot of mistakes when they allowed sub-prime lending to have a day in our community. Even though credit was made available to people who were not typically getting credit, I think they finally realize that they could have done it a different way. They authorized a process, sub-prime lending, [and allowed] them to do mortgages knowing they would use predatory products and that these products are predatory by nature. In the Georgia market alone, we probably got three or four hundred thousand homes that are going to be lost to foreclosure.”
Wilson did more than raise his voice; he gathered information that he will share with his listeners in Atlanta and nationwide.
The ALC was not just panels; there were plenty of parties with a purpose. Although Barack Obama dominated much of that activity, zipping from event to event to further bolster his strong campaign efforts, one of the most anticipated gatherings of the conference was Coca-Cola’s annual reception honoring Georgia’s black congressional delegates. Held on Saturday, September 29 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (known simply as the Women’s Museum), the invitation-only affair saluted Representatives John Lewis, Sanford Bishop, David Scott and Hank Johnson. Congressman Lewis was particularly inspirational in his remarks, reminding the crowd that “somebody prayed for me; somebody prayed for us to be where we are today.”
When Congressman Johnson took the microphone, he assured his D.C. home crowd that he had not forgotten that he was a D.C. native and realized the irony of having to come to Georgia to win a voice in the very Congress that served as his backyard; he vowed that he would fight to win D.C. its rightful voice.
Congressman David Scott capsulated the weekend best with his remarks. “We have to go back and bring our people with us,” he told the crowd, “and that’s the essence of the Congressional Black Caucus Weekend.”

Study in Chengdu, China

Apply online at usac.unr.edu 31
Chinese Studies:
Chengdu,
China
■ Offers three levels of
Mandarin Chinese, a
language becoming
increasingly important to
communicate effectively
in a global environment
■ Is home to 55 diverse
Chinese minorities such as
Tibetan, Yi and Miao and
is the gateway to Tibet
■ Students enjoy the
spicy Sichuan food and
traditional “hot pots"
■ Has picturesque field trips
to mountains, rivers and
waterfalls
■ Is one of the last homes
to the Panda, the
international symbol of
Chinese friendship and
good will
Fall 2007
Spring 2008
32 1-866-404-USAC
Chengdu, China
Host University:
Southwest University for
Nationalities
Maximum program
enrollment: 60 students
Minimum GPA: 2.5
Language of instruction:
English/Chinese
Application deadline:
Fall semester and Yearlong:
June 15
Spring semester:
November 1
Apply early to ensure a space;
however, late applications
will be accepted if space is
available.
Calendar
(Occasionally dates need to be changed slightly; if this happens, you will be
informed by the USAC Central Office.)
Fall Semester
August 26, 2007 Departure from the U.S. to Beijing on group flight
August 27 Arrive in Beijing
August 28-31 Optional Beijing tour
September 1 Flight to Chengdu
September 2-3 Orientation and tour of the University and Chengdu
September 4 Fall semester classes begin
September 8 Field trip - Panda Research Institute
September 21-22 Field trip - Leshan “Big Buddha" and E’mei Mountain
October 1 Chinese National Day
October 20 Field trip - Luodai Ancient Town
November 3 Field trip - Sanxingdui Museum
November 10 Teahouse and Show
December 13 Last day of classes
December 14 Final examinations
December 15 Program end date
Open return Students establish their own date of return
Spring Semester
January 6, 2008 Departure from the U.S. to Shanghai on group flight
January 7 Arrive Shanghai
January 8-11 Optional Shanghai tour
January 12 Flight to Chengdu
January 13-14 Orientation and tour of the University and Chengdu
January 15 Spring semester classes begin
January 19 Field trip - Yellow Dragon River
January 20 Field trip - Green Mountain and Irrigation system
February 2 Field trip - Panda Research Institute
February 7 Chinese New Year
March 14-15 Field trip - Leshan “Big Buddha" and E’mei Mountain
April 13 Teahouse and show
May 1 International Labor Day
May 8 Last day of classes
May 9 Final examinations
May 10 Program end date
Open return Students establish their own date of return
NOTE: When making your flight reservations, be sure to arrive in time for
the Orientation and to depart after the Final Examinations. It is required
that you be at the program site for BOTH.
Cover Photo Credit:
Kelly Corrigan
Wentao Song, Resident
Director
China – Chengdu
Apply online at usac.unr.edu 33
THE PROGRAM
The Chengdu program combines
learning through formal academic
coursework and direct personal
experience gained through visits
to sites of historical and cultural
interest, tours and an integrated living
experience both on and off campus.
Previous students have reported that
the yearlong program was especially
helpful in terms of language study,
and in becoming integrated into life in
Chengdu. However, you may choose
the fall or spring semester only.(Please
request a summer catalog if you are
also interested in the USAC China
summer program).
Academically, this program offers you
a high quality educational experience
with a focus on either language or
Chinese studies. Students primarily
committed to learning the Chinese
language enroll in one of the intensive
language tracks that allow you the
opportunity to complete one and a half
years of Chinese language coursework
in one semester. You may also take
one or two elective courses such as Tai
Chi, Chinese culture, history or Chinese
cuisine.
Students primarily interested in
Chinese studies are required to take
Elementary Chinese Language I
along with elective courses such as
Chinese history, literature, government
and politics, culture and society. All
courses are taught in English.
The academic courses are only a part
of the value of a semester or yearlong
program. Participation in formal and
informal activities, such as field trips
to museums and weekend trips to the
mountains, form an integral part of the
program.
The Chengdu program has a Resident
Director who is responsible for the
overall operations of the program
abroad: securing appropriate student
housing, hiring outstanding faculty,
organizing exciting field trips and
optional tours and overseeing the
students’ well being.
Wentao Song, a Chinese native, is
the Resident Director for the China
program. She holds a Masters degree
from Sichuan University. Fluent in
Chinese and English, Wentao will meet
the group flight at the airport, take you
to your housing and provide an on-site
orientation.
CHENGDU AND SICHUAN
PROVINCE
China is in rapid evolution with the
construction of high-rise office and
apartment buildings visible everywhere.
In 2005, this new construction was
responsible for
50 percent of
the concrete
poured in the
world. With
a population
of 1.2 billion,
China has an
enormous
consumer
base, which
has caught
the attention
of businesses
from around
the world. The
transformation of its social, political
and economic dimensions also has
brought a new openness and interest
in foreigners. Since English is a required
course in schools for children over
12 years old, you will find that many
Chinese are interested in practicing
their English and showing you their city
and country. This is particularly true in
Chengdu, where westerners, while not
entirely uncommon, are still somewhat
of a novelty.
Historically, Sichuan always has been
known as the first province to rebel
and the last province to be subjugated.
It has produced many independent
thinkers such as Deng Xiao Ping, the
recently deceased premier of China
who was one of the architects of
China’s movement toward a freemarket
economy.
Sichuan was the
first province
where there were
entrepreneurial
farmers and the
first province
to have private
schools.
Sichuan is famous
for poets such
as Du Fu, Xue
Tao and Su
Shi. There are
several important
Buddhist and Daoist mountains in
the region, and the province is noted
as a research center for Daoism. The
province contains many minorities,
including the Yi, the Miao, the Qiang
Photo by: Adiclere Hunter
China – Chengdu
“… because of your
encouragement and support
[and Visiting Professorship] I
was better able to serve the
students, broaden my own and
my families’ understanding
of the world, and now more
able to do the same for my
students.”
– Dr. Gretchen McAllister
Northern Arizona University
34 1-866-404-USAC
and also Tibetans. There are many
ancient and unique villages in Sichuan,
including Lugu Lake, home of the
Mosuo people, a traditional matriarchal
society, and one of the 55 Chinese
minorities.
Sichuan is endowed with some of
the most dramatic natural scenery to
be found in China. To the west lies
the Land of Great Corrugations, wild
mountainous terrain that eventually
becomes the massive Tibetan-Qinghai
plateau. With an 11,000-foot base out
of which the Himalayas rise, this is truly
the “Roof of the World.” The train ride
from Chengdu south to Kunming in
Yunnan Province is considered one
of the most scenic in all of China. At
the north lies Jiuzaigou, an interlinked
system of beautiful lakes, rivers and
waterfalls.
Sichuan also is home to the panda,
the international symbol of Chinese
friendship and good will. The
Woolong Nature Reserve, just 40 km
to the northwest of Chengdu, is the
largest of the 10 reserves set aside
by the Chinese Government for the
preservation of these endangered
animals. Hua Mei, the first giant panda
born in the Western Hemisphere since
1990, recently returned to Woolong
Reserve where she will live with more
than 60 other pandas.
Chengdu, “the city in heaven," is
the capital of Sichuan Province, the
economic, culture and political center
in Southwest China. It has a population
of approximately six million in the city
proper, some 10 million in the greater
area, and 89 million in the province. Its
irrigation system, which was built more
than 2000 years
ago, still works
today.
Famous food
and tea culture
make Chengdu
very attractive to
travelers from all
around the world.
Many teahouses
can be found
where one can relax in a bamboo
chair, have a fine cup of tea and
exchange ideas while watching the
bustle outside. Chengdu also is known
for its fine cuisine, particularly snacks
and spicy foods, and is one of the few
places in China where fresh vegetables
are available year-round.
High rises and fashionable shops
give the city a modern feel; the street
markets and teahouses add a taste
from the past. Whatever you are
looking for, you can find here. Chengdu
is a great place to live, the people here
are friendly and welcoming and they
like to help “friends from the other side
of the ocean.”
SOUTHWEST UNIVERSITY
FOR NATIONALITIES
USAC classes and offices are located
on the campus of Southwest University
for Nationalities. In addition to the Han
people that make up 93 percent of
China, there also are minorities, such
as Tibetan, Yi, Miao, Russia, Korean and
others. These minorities are distributed
all over China, but mainly in the
border regions of the north, northeast,
northwest and southwest China.
Southwest University for Nationalities
is one of the universities specially
designed for these Chinese minorities.
Founded in 1951, it has 18,000 students
from more than 40 different ethnic
groups. In addition to the regular
areas of study, the university also has
programs to promote cultural studies
of ethnic cultures and society, such as
the Tibetan Culture Research Center, Yi
Language and Literature Department
and Nationalities Pharmacy Research
office and the Department of
Husbandry &
Veterinary.
Southwest University
for Nationalities
has two campuses
located in the heart
of Chengdu, USAC
classes are at the
campus surrounded
by the Tibetan area
of the city. In the
unique shops nearby, you can find arts
and crafts of various minority groups
in China. Many small restaurants also
surround the campus with various
flavors such as Sichuan and Tibetan.
Nearby is the community shopping
area where you can find electronics
stores, a trust mart (grocery store), Carr
Four, one of the largest bookstores,
western food restaurants and a
"My recommendation
would be to come on
this program - the city
is great, the classes
are interesting and the
people are the best in
the world.”
Photo by: Jason Chan
Discover the people of Chengdu by completing an Internship teaching English.
China – Chengdu
Apply online at usac.unr.edu 35
computer center in the city. Southwest
University for Nationalities and its
surrounding neighborhood is an ideal
setting for students to not only observe
and participate in Chinese social life, but
also to experience its diversity as well.
FIELD TRIPS
You are encouraged to participate in the
following program-organized tours and
field trips. Dates and destinations may
change at the discretion of the Resident
Director.
Chengdu City Tour
Bus ride to downtown Chengdu;
students will see important places such
as shopping centers, restaurants, banks,
cell phone street, computer street, etc.
Leshan and Emei Shan
Weekend trip to Leshan and Emei Shan,
one of China’s four sacred Buddhist
mountains. In Leshan see Dafu, the
world’s largest sitting Buddha (more
than 100 people could stand on his
foot!) and Thousand Buddha Cliffs; at
Emei you will spend the night, and
you can enjoy the beautiful view at the
mountain area. The following day we
will climb part way up the mountain
to Wangnian Temple: the Temple of
10,000 years, and the oldest surviving
Emei monastery. Usually there are wild
monkeys that play around the temple
and ask people for food or water. Next
we will go on to Qingyin Pavilion,
named the Pure Sound Pavilion because
of the sound effects of rapid water
coursing around rock formations in the
area.
Luodai Ancient Town
Visit a very famous old town near
Chengdu with very strong Catoness
culture. This is the residence for
Contones immigrants. You will learn
about one of the most important
pieces of Chinese culture and enjoy the
delicious local food.
Panda Research Institute
Visit the biggest panda research base in
the world. See the relaxed
adult and playful baby
pandas, and you will learn
about this “living fossil.”
Sanxingdui Museum
Exhibit of the artifacts
of the remarkable 3,000
- 5,000-year-old culture
of the people of the Shu
country discovered outside of Chengdu
in the last decade.
Tea House and Show
An evening activity to enjoy the old style
Sichuan tea house and famous local
shows such as blowing fire, changing
mask and Sichuan Opera.
Yellow Dragon River
Bus ride to an ancient village often used
in Chinese historical films, lunch and a
boat trip up the Yellow Dragon River.
OPTIONAL BEIJING TOUR
Fall Semester
Students fly into Beijing in order to
participate in this optional tour to
explore the many historical sites of
interest there: the Forbidden City,
the Great Wall, the Summer Palace,
Tiananmen Square . . . you also will
have time to explore the narrow streets
of Old Quarter Hutongs, which are
quickly falling victim to the wrecking
ball announcing the arrival of yet one
more high rise. The special local market
will provide you a wonderful place for
shopping, but be prepared to bargain!
The immensity of Beijing, you will
discover, is overwhelming. In size alone,
it is larger than all of Switzerland, and
it takes more than three hours to drive
from one side of the city to the other.
The Resident Director will make flight
reservations for the tour group to fly
together from Beijing to Chengdu at
the conclusion of the tour. This flight
will be paid for in China.
USAC encourages every student
to participate on the Beijing tour.
However, the segment is optional and
has an additional fee.
OPTIONAL
SHANGHAI
TOUR
Spring Semester
Shanghai is one of the
largest cities in the
world, and it shows how
China is developing
today. It is the city
with both historical sites and modern
buildings. Students fly into Shanghai in
order to participate in this optional tour
to explore: Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai
museum, Jade Buddha Temple,
Jingmao Tower, Chenghaungmiao
Market and Zhouzhuang, which is a
famous canal town. Many wealthy
government officials, scholars and
artisans have constructed beautiful
villas and stone bridges along the treelined
canals.
As the gateway to the Yangtze River, it
was an ideal trading port and became
very important in the 19th century.
The small towns near Shanghai
demonstrate the typical lifestyle and
culture of the South Yangtze River
area. The Bund, from Shanghai’s
colonial period, features the mixed
architectures of the French and English
colonies amidst the traditional Chinese
architecture.
Shanghai is still one of the most
diverse cities in China, from the new
state-of-the-art skyscrapers to the
peasant quarters, the rich elite culture
of international tycoons to the night
markets of the farming communities;
it has something to offer everyone.
The Resident Director will make flight
reservations for the tour group to fly
together from Shanghai to Chengdu at
(Field trips) “are
very organized
and fun. They are
a great bonding
experience for
students.”
Photo by: Kate Peterson
China – Chengdu
36 1-866-404-USAC
the conclusion of the tour. This flight
will be paid for in China.
USAC encourages every student to
participate on the Shanghai tour.
However, the segment is optional and
has an additional fee.
TIBET
Chengdu’s close proximity makes it
an ideal jumping-off point for Tibet,
with regularly scheduled flights from
Chengdu to Lhasa in just 1 hour. Fees
will vary according to the length of
stay, quality of hotel and so on. Because
of the varying interests of the students,
USAC does not sponsor nor organize
this tour. Students work directly with a
travel agent in Chengdu.
LIVING
ACCOMMODATIONS
An American-style guesthouse, located
near campus is available to students.
Each room is furnished and includes
central heating and air conditioning,
television, bathroom and telephone.
Bedding is provided along with
cleaning service.
Students also can choose to stay
in an apartment in local Chinese
communities. The apartments all are
furnished and have TV, fridge, AC/
heater, western toilet, etc. The utilities
are not included in the rent.
A limited number of home stays also
are available. There are two student
cafeterias on campus, and students
also often eat at nearby restaurants,
including the popular Hot Pot, those
bubbling pots of hot broth in which
you dip meat and vegetables until they
are cooked.
U.S. PROFESSORS
Local faculty teach most USAC courses;
however, the U.S.
professor(s) below also
are teaching on this
program.
Fall Semester
Karen S. Uehling,
Boise State University.
Courses offered: The
Literature of Travel
and Travel Journal
Writing
Karen Uehling has taught writing
for more than 25 years, including
composition and creative non-fiction,
as well as non-fiction literature. A
former National Endowment for the
Humanities Fellow in Literature and
Literacy, she has published two writing
texts and articles on writing and
teaching.
Spring Semester
Dr. Kathryn Hausbeck, University of
Nevada, Las Vegas. Courses offered:
Globalization and Visual Sociology in
the Global Village
Kathryn Hausbeck is an Associate
Professor and Director of Graduate
Studies in Sociology. She was honored
with the UNLV Distinguished Teacher
Award in 2000 as well as numerous
other awards and recognitions for
teaching, mentorship and service. She
is a returning USAC Visiting Professor.
INTERNSHIPS
Students have the opportunity to
engage in some form
of working internship
in a field appropriate
to their major. There
is no additional fee
for the internship.
The internship is not
guaranteed, and the
number of hours, the
field and the number
of credits will be
determined after the beginning of
the semester. The Teaching of English
as a Second Language internship in
the local schools often is available for
students. Requirements are: minimum
When Lucas Buchanan headed to Australia in 2004 to study vertebrate paleontology at Monash
University, he hardly expected to discover a new species of prehistoric crocodile that lived 40 million
years ago. Buchanan needed a research project, and his professors had him analyze fossilized bones
that had been found in an open-pit oil shale mine in Queensland where prehistoric crocodile remains
had previously been found. His new find belongs to the oldest and most primitive known genus of
Mekosuchinae crocodiles. “It’s very exciting when a new species is discovered," Buchanan said. “It
makes us realize that the world is so much bigger than we might imagine.” Lucas accompanied his
father, Boise State Professor Mark Buchanan, to Chengdu, China for his study abroad experience with
USAC and his two younger brothers accompanied their father on the USAC program in Bilbao, Spain.
Lucas Buchanan
Boise State Graduate
USAC Chengdu, China 2003
(living arrangements)
“I loved them! I had
great roommates
and conditions
were better than I
expected.”
Photo by: Greg Ford/Monash University
China – Chengdu
Outside the
Classroom
■ Intern with local schools
■ Practice Chinese with new
friends and a language partner
■ Explore the antique market
■ Learn Chinese Gongfu
■ Visit historical sites throughout
the city
■ Study Chinese medicine such
as acupuncture or massage
Apply online at usac.unr.edu 37
GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; and junior
standing at time of internship. A
refundable fee is charged of $100,
which is returned upon successful
completion of internship.
INTENSIVE LANGUAGE
STUDIES
Mandarin is the official/standard dialect
used in China, and Chengdu is a great
place to practice Mandarin outside
of class. This program intensifies all
Chinese language courses so that
you get the maximum benefit from a
short period of study. The language
courses are grouped into tracks and
are offered each semester unless
otherwise indicated, and the core
courses are taught sequentially within
one semester. Our intensive approach
allows students to complete up to one
and a half years of university foreign
language coursework in only one
semester; qualified students may meet
Chinese minor or major requirements.
Yearlong students completing Track
I in the fall enroll in Track III in the
spring; students of Tracks II and III
move into the advanced level courses.
For advanced level speakers, higher
levels are available, and your language
teacher will encourage you to take the
HSK test (like TOFEL for Chinese). If you
are interested in this option, please
indicate what level on your application.
In addition, students also may select
one or two elective courses.
Students choosing intensive language
studies are required to enroll in the
core courses listed for the appropriate
language track and also may select
elective course(s) from Chinese studies.
Track I - Prerequisite: none
Core courses taught sequentially:
Elementary Chinese I (FLL, 4 credits,
100-level)
Elementary Chinese II (FLL, 4 credits,
100-level)
Intermediate Chinese I (FLL, 3 credits,
200-level)
Additional courses are available to you
in English.
Track II - Prerequisite: two
semesters of college Chinese
Core courses taught sequentially:
Intermediate Chinese I (FLL, 3 credits,
200-level)
Intermediate Chinese II (FLL, 3 credits,
200-level)
Advanced Chinese I (FLL, 3 credits,
300-level)
Additional courses are available to you
in English.
Track III - Prerequisite: three
semesters of college Chinese
Core courses taught sequentially:
Intermediate Chinese II (FLL, 3 credits,
200-level)
Advanced Chinese I (FLL, 3 credits,
300-level)
Advanced Chinese II (FLL, 3 credits,
300-level)
Additional courses are available to you
in English.
Track IV - Prerequisite: four
semesters of college Chinese
Core courses taught sequentially:
Advanced Chinese II (FLL, 3 credits,
300-level)
Advanced Chinese III (FLL, 3 credits,
400-level)
Advanced Chinese IV (FLL, 3 credits,
400-level)
Additional courses are available to you
in English.
CHINESE STUDIES
Taught in English
The following courses familiarize you
with the region, the country and with
Asia. These courses will help you better
understand Chinese life and culture
while taking courses in your specific
major. The truly adventurous can
take advantage of an internship and
discover what it is like to contribute to
a local organization. You may opt to
Course Information
Students are registered through one of the USAC Consortium universities,
using course titles and numbers appropriate to each institution; so you should
check with your home university adviser and USAC university of enrollment
for course equivalencies. For simplicity, we have employed generic course
titles and numbers in this publication.
Courses numbered 100 and 200 are lower division, 300 and 400 courses are
upper-division, and 400/600 courses have a graduate credit option. If you are
interested in enrolling in a 400/600-level course for graduate credit, contact
the USAC Central Office for more information, prior to your departure. Please
take note of the language of instruction and if there are course prerequisites.
This program offers two diverse academic areas: Chinese language and
Chinese studies. These are not exclusive of one another; you may choose
courses from any area. However, the list of courses is subject to minor
changes and course availability is subject to student interest and enrollment.
While your desire to do it all is understandable, you will want to have the
time to experience the area’s culture and develop friendships with locals.
We recommend you enroll in 12-15 credit hours, although a maximum of
18 credit hours may be taken per semester. Detailed course descriptions,
including language of instruction and course prerequisites, are on the
USAC website at http://usac.unr.edu/usac/classes.aspx?pid=2903.
China – Chengdu
38 1-866-404-USAC
combine one or two of these courses
with language study or enroll in these
courses alone.
If you are not taking the intensive
language track you are required to take
Elementary Chinese I. In addition to
the mandatory language course, we
recommend you enroll in up to 14
credits of electives each semester. All
courses are taught in English.
Fall Semester
Ancient Chinese History (HIST, 3
credits, 400-level, taught in English)
Art History - Asia (ART, 3 credits, 200-
level, taught in English)
Chinese Calligraphy (ART, 2 credits,
200-level, taught in English)
Classic Chinese Literature in
Translation (FLL, 3 credits, 200-level,
taught in English)
Elementary Chinese I (FLL, 4 credits,
100-level, required for non-language
track students)
Internship (Independent Study, up to
3 credits)
The Literature of Travel (ENG, 3
credits, 200-level, taught in English)
Sichuan Cuisine (NUTR, 1 credit, 400-
level, taught in English and Chinese)
There is an additional fee of $140 for
materials.
Tai Chi (PEX, 1 credit, 100-level, taught
in English)
Tibetan Culture (FLL/SOC/ANTH, 3
credits, 400-level, taught in English)
Travel Journal Writing (ENG, 3 credits,
200-level, taught in English)
Spring Semester
Chinese Calligraphy (ART, 2 credits,
200-level, taught in English)
Chinese Economy (ECON, 3 credits,
400/600-level, taught in English)
Elementary Chinese I (FLL, 4 credits,
100-level, required for non-language
track students)
Globalization (SOC, 3 credits, 400/600-
level, taught in English)
Government and Politics in China
(PSC, 3 credits, 400/600-level, taught in
English)
Internship (Independent Study, up to
3 credits)
Modern Chinese Culture and Society
(FLL/SOC/ANTH, 3 credits, 400-level,
taught in English)
Sichuan Cuisine (NUTR, 1 credit, 400-
level, taught in English and Chinese)
There is an additional fee of $140 for
materials.
Survey of Chinese Literature (FLL, 3
credits, 200-level, taught in English)
Tai Chi (PEX, 1 credit, 100-level, taught
in English)
Visual Sociology in the Global
Village (SOC, 3 credits, 400/600-level,
taught in English)
RESOURCES
Communicating Effectively with the
Chinese by Ko Kao. (Sage Publications,
Inc. 1998)
Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit: China
(Lonely Planet Publications)
Looking for Chengdu by Hill Gates
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by
Jung Chang
PAYMENT DEADLINES
$300 with application ($200 deposit, plus
$100 non-refundable application fee)
Fall semester and Yearlong
Cancellation deadline to receive
deposit refund: June 15
$800 due June 15
Balance due July 15
Spring semester
Cancellation deadline to receive
deposit refund: November 1
$800 due November 1
Balance due December 1
The unique Chengdu culture is
embodied in its tea houses.
Photo by: Joe Goodnight
Program Fees
Fees are:
Fall or Spring semester - $4,880
Fall and Spring semesters - $9,260
This fee includes:
■ tuition and fees
■ student health insurance
■ pre-departure information
■ USAC orientation in Chengdu
■ field trips (room also for
overnight field trips)
■ entry to some museums and
cultural events
Estimated expenses not
included in fees:
These estimated expenses are
affected by exchange rates, which
fluctuate daily. Please check the
current exchange rate before your
departure.
■ airfare $1,300-1,500
■ housing - $100-450/month
■ meals - $30-120/month
■ personal expenses - $100-250/
month
■ textbooks - $75-100/semester
■ optional tours: Beijing - $250;
Shanghai - $300
■ in-country air travel from tours:
Beijing $150; Shanghai $200
■ Chinese visa (multiple entry) - $50
■ re-entry visa for travel outside
of China - $32
■ residency cards: 12 months
- $100
■ in-country physical exam $40
- yearlong students only
■ Sichuan Cuisine course - $140
■ refundable Internship fee - $100
Information on financial aid is in
the “Money Matters" section at
the end of this catalog.
China – Chengdu

New Artists Do Home Work

ajc.com > Living > Home & Garden

HOME/designNew artists do home workBy ALMA E. HILLPublished on: 09/21/06

This week, Home & Garden profiles two emerging Atlanta artists whose work is on display in homes and businesses around the area. Both have Web sites where their work is sold, and both bring innovative designs to traditional home accents.

Bita Honarvar/AJC Staff
(ENLARGE)
Lee Hannah Jr. has a studio behind his home in AtlantaÕs Inman Park. He works in clay as well as fused glass.

Keith Hadley/Staff
(ENLARGE)
Adiclere HunterÕs suspended tables can support a considerable amount of weight. She has sold some to local restaurants and bars.
Stone, wood floors can be modern or traditional
An inviting home inside and out
Historic with a modern twist
Update keeps charm of 1925 house
Urban vibe increases appeal of Crown Candy loft
Get inspired with these home tours
Country comfort and curb under one roof
Get the stainless-steel look for appliances with paint
Turn entrance into a personal statement
Upscale furniture at affordable prices in Cumming
Wilburn designs on Decatur home tour
Sneak peak: Sugarloaf home tour
Candleholders create holiday sizzle
Safeguarding home vital during holidays
Tint new mortar to match existing bricks
Photos
Who says a table needs to have legs?
Adiclere Hunter's obsession about keeping her home neat led to a fledging business: designing tables. Suspended tables, to be exact, that hang from the ceiling and don't require legs to stay balanced.
"I just didn't like a lot of things on the floor," recalls Hunter, 28, who lives in a loft in downtown Atlanta.
"So I hung my table, and it looked a lot cleaner, a lot more open and modern."
A political science graduate from Georgia State University, Hunter believes her invention is both stylish and functional because it eliminates the space taken up when chairs are grouped around a table.
"You can hide the chairs underneath. You can put a wine rack under there and pull it out when you have guests over," she explains. "If you use it at work, you can hide file cabinets or bookcases, and it just looks like a cleaner, more space-efficient area," she says.
Hunter says her suspended tables can be hung from drywall, a concrete ceiling or a lighting grid, and can hold the weight of a conventional table. But don't attempt to stand on one; like any object suspended from the ceiling, it could fall.
Hunter, who has a patent pending on the design, uses metal fixtures to hang the tables and covers the metal with something more attractive such as bamboo, circular tubes or whatever material her clients request.
Prices range from $300 for a small table to about $3,000 for a large dining table made of glass or metal.
Contact her company, Suspension Designs, at 1-866-245-0672 or online at www.suspensiondesigns.com.
Colorful glass takes graceful shape
Lee Hannah Jr. is as practical as he is creative.
He satisfies his creative appetite by designing table settings, serving dishes, centerpieces and wall art from fused glass. He also makes ceramic objects out of clay from his neatly organized studio behind his Inman Park home. Inside he has four kilns, work tables and a smattering of his collection.
But when business is slow, Hannah's practical side takes over. That's when you might find him under a kitchen sink or in a bathroom. "When there are shifts in the buyer's market ... I'm a plumber," Hannah says, smiling. "It allows me to keep my flexibility since I can't punch a clock."
Although the 36-year-old Hannah came from a creative family — his mother Tonye is a local interior designer — the thought of working in a creative field didn't hit him until he was pursuing his education at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.
"I've always loved working with my hands and being creative. One day in college I said, 'I want to take up pottery,' and it took off from there," Hannah recalls. "It allowed me to be free, to work outside of the boundaries."
He's been firing glass and clay for the last 10 years creating abstract objects that are either colorfully painted with food-safe paint or monotone. His trademark is making graceful shapes that seem to float on surfaces.
While many of his clients come to him word of mouth, the bulk of his pieces are custom-made. Hannah's jazzy tableware and wall art can be found online at www.leehannah.com (404-446-8122).

Advertising Meets Activism

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Advertising Meets Activism

Felicia Feaster Creative Loafing Atlanta July 31, 2003

"Just as all spontaneous, renegade forms of expression are hijacked by corporate culture, jamming is now being appropriated by corporations in its efforts to sell product."
On any day of the week, drive or walk under the Krog Street bridge on the way to Cabbagetown and you can catch the latest form of political activism. Currently, simple photocopied signs demanding "Racism, Sexism, Classism Must Go," and "Resist Empire" can be found beneath the bridge.
Turn the corner onto Wylie Street and you can see more homemade, stenciled signs, these imploring citizens to "Smoke" or warning passersby that it's a "Cell Phone Free" zone. Agendas both obvious and obscure are asserted in cryptic "advertisements" accompanied by images of the Morton Salt Girl, a Star Wars storm trooper, rabbits titled "heinous" or a crisp rendering of a gas mask accompanied by the numbers "25."
Some of the work appears where you might expect it, decorating the walls of East Atlanta and Little Five Points. But it's also in places you might not expect, like Atlanta highway overpasses and inside Buckhead bars. These and other examples of "culture jamming" are appearing on walls, telephone poles and bathrooms near you.
Culture jammers commonly mimic the tactics of huge corporations whose global presence has transformed their brand logos into universal icons, like the Nike swoosh, Ronald McDonald, Coke, Starbucks and the Gap. But the term precedes the rise of global corporate culture. According to Mark Dery, director of digital journalism at NYU and author of The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink, the "jamming" term originated with the CB radio phenomenon of airwave hackers interrupting CB communications and radio broadcasts with noise and profanity. But the term "culture jamming" was first used in 1984 by the band Negativland to describe a form of media sabotage they practiced in their music, of sampling copyrighted material for critical intent.
Using the same public space as high-dollar advertisers, culture jammers attack the imagery and language of corporate culture. It incorporates everything from the mock-advertisements in Cabbagetown to street theater performances by groups like phonebashing.com who assault cell phone users on London streets and stomp their phones to smithereens. Jammers run the gamut from sharp-shooting cultural critics — often-skilled graphic designers who can seamlessly manipulate corporate logos — to laddish neo-punks adding the word "sucks" to billboard facades.
To help the cause, publications like the influential Vancouver-based magazine Adbusters (adbusters.org) and the Melbourne website www.cleansurface.org advocate culture jamming as "the new social activist movement" and publish the work of these grassroots corporate critics.
In Atlanta, one of the most visible jammers is the "Yuppie Ghetto" guy. His slick, authentic-looking signs mimic the developer advertisements that increasingly pollute the Atlanta landscape. Fed up with what Yuppie Ghetto saw as the encroaching banalification of Little Five Points and surrounding environs with McCondos and McTownhomes, this enterprising jammer began placing his subversive signs advertising "Yuppie Ghetto: Over-Priced Shitoles, Pretentious Living! Lofty Lofts and Condos" on stakes and light poles along Moreland Avenue at Freedom Parkway and Ponce de Leon.
"So much is going on with our culture that people just accept and it just doesn't look like there's much you can do," says the Yuppie Ghetto jammer, who asked not to be identified. "There's a lot of great things about this city, but on the flip side, there's a lot of prefab terrible construction, just slapping shit up ... But I'm not going to leave. Instead I'm going to be a warrior."
Jamming doesn't always have to be slick — part of its appeal is clearly a rude-boy, low-tech response to the calculated schemes of corporate demographers and Madison Avenue advertisers.
Dr. Blade's stylish "twentyfive" (twentyfive.org) stencils, which grace the Wylie Street wall, are executed in a Cabinet of Dr. Caligari-meets-Soviet constructivist style and feature gas masks, crows and skyscrapers. The significance of the logo, in which the numerals 2 and 5 are presented as graphic echoes of each other, is described on Dr. Blade's website as "an illustrated metaphor for the concept of looking at yourself and your environment and re-examining what you see." Dr. Blade is frustrated by the fact that "way too many people do what they are told or take what they are given by the mass media because it's easy," and he's out to challenge that mindset.
Capturing the attention of the sleepwalking consumer is no simple task. The average American is inundated daily with corporate messages shilled via billboards, TV, radio and the Internet. But there are countless permutations of culture jamming on the Atlanta front, from the From the Heart scribe who inserts art rants into copies of Creative Loafing in an attempt to "fight the power" from the alternative press up, to those engaged in more sophisticated corporate assaults.
Inspired by Adbusters to meddle in the marketing strategies of corporate culture, Atlantans Franklin Lopez, Michael McReynolds and Thomas Worth began manipulating and distributing fake Kroger Plus Cards in July 2002. The trio created a perfect duplicate of the card, titled the "Privacy Plus" card, complete with bar code, which anyone could download from the group's website (submediatv.com). Since the faux-card's inception, Lopez says 400 people have downloaded the card.
What distinguishes culture jamming is not only its often playful, anarchical spirit, but the way it uses the element of surprise. Culture jamming can seem to suddenly just drop from the heavens in a form of what Dery calls "guerrilla media activism." Unlike more traditional forms of protest such as marches and political speeches, it is culture jamming's ability to suddenly appear out of nowhere and then disappear just as quickly that distinguishes it. Take the anti-war banners hung over Atlanta highway overpasses this past winter, put up by anonymous jammers. The banners greeted drivers during their morning commute to work but were gone before the first morning coffee break.
The war in Iraq inspired numerous Atlantans to take their first stab at culture jamming as an expression of public activism. This past winter, Adiclere Hunter worked with a group of 35 activists to unfurl anti-war banners across Atlanta highway overpasses around the city with slogans like "No War," "No Blood for Oil," and "War is Not a Family Value." Artist Allison Rentz, also inspired by Adbusters and its ilk, uses her alter-ego, a plastic-wrapped bimbo called I Miss a Merry K UH, at anti-war protests as a multifaceted critique of sexism, war, corporate domination and other issues tailored to the day.
While some culture jammers, like Rentz and Hunter, are overtly political, others are simply happy in that CB jammers tradition to interrupt the usual flow of information with a peel of symbolic Bronx cheers. They offer idiosyncratic visual alternatives to the branding of American life with Hilfiger logos and beer ad jingles. Cooper Sanchez, for instance, says of his plywood and painted monkey heads that adorn telephone poles in intown neighborhoods, "I'm not trying to make a statement. I'm trying to make people laugh."
"That's what's interesting about the culture jamming going on in Atlanta," asserts Sanchez. "Is the sense of humor it has."
One of the pre-eminent local jammers for the stealth and skill of his mock ads is Jeff Demetriou, mastermind behind the fictitious corporation Slumber Inc. (slumberinc.com). Slumber Inc.'s visually sophisticated mock advertisements distributed as fliers and posters throughout Atlanta, encourage young women to get breast implants if they want to find a mate ("Breast implants increase your lifespan by 10 to 20 years"), advertise fictitious raves or adopt the aesthetics of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad to shill a brand of all-American cologne called "Patriotism." Demetriou likes to get outside the expected irony-hip Little Five and East Atlanta crowd by addressing the slumbering populace at its source in Buckhead and Midtown, where he distributes his glossy, professionally printed cards at venues like Phipps Plaza and Eatzi's.
"That's kind of the point of Slumber Inc.," says Demetriou. "It's supposed to kind of function as this corporate conglomerate that's said, 'To hell with the innuendo and the metaphor and analogies,' and just comes out and says, 'If you don't have breast implants, you're ugly.'"
But just as all spontaneous, renegade forms of expression are hijacked by corporate culture, jamming is now being appropriated by corporations in its efforts to sell product.
Nissan recently inaugurated a new ad campaign aimed at the youth market in which the company's own advertising will be "pirated" with graffiti-style words and images to give the impression the ads have been manipulated by culture jammers. The campaign, which conjures up visions of business-suited executives playing air guitar and getting "wiggy," only betrays the clunkiness and absurdity of corporate America when it tries to plunder a subculture that continues to innovate and meddle in new ways.atlanta.creativeloafing.com/arts_visualarts.htmlE-mail this article
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