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The aims of this two-part discussion/workshop/collaborative project are...
* to lay a theoretical grounding in geography for activists, artists, and people of all fields; to create new ways of thinking about place & space in our work, whatever it may be
* to become familiar with interesting projects & avenues of thought that other radical geographers are engaged in
* to become more aware of what's (in)formed our notions of space and place
* to network a community of geographers that are interested in future collaborations & investigations
 
The class will be held in two sessions & will involve some mini-lectures, discussions, and at least one collaborative, creative mapping exercise.
See geography.charting-sustainability.org for detailed info on what will be covered.
 
Topics involved:

What is geography?  How has the study of it evolved? Does globalization make it less relevant, or more relevant than ever?  We'll explain what the major topics in human geography are (economic geography, political geography, etc.), discuss the global, local, and "glocal", and think about the state of geographical awareness/education in the US and what can be done to improve it.

We'll also explore questions of geographic mythmaking and metageography (i.e. how we talk about space, the spacial structures that we use to order the world).  Is there really such a thing as the "Middle East", or does it exist only in relation to Europe?  Is it better to call that region "Southwest Asia"?  Etc.

Cartography and Counter-mapping-- If maps are a technology of power, what can mapmakers do to question or subvert prevailing assumptions?  We'll discuss how the GPS system works, what can be done with GIS databases, and what "critical GPS / GIS" might mean.

Creative Geography (art & geography in practice)-- How does geography interact with other disciplines, and what does it mean to practice or perform geography?  We'll take a brief look at what other people are doing, from situationism & improvisational psychogeography to art and performance related to space and place-- smellscapes, emotional cartographies, etc.

Readings:  see geography.charting-sustainability.org for links to stuff we'll be exploring.
 
Please Note:  this class might use a lot of academic jargon, but please don't be put off by it-- we can discuss the terms (or create our own terms we like better).  You don't have to have taken a university course or read a bunch of postmodern theorists to join in-- the class is designed for anyone who's interested in place / space / the world.
 
Discuss this course.
 
 

The purpose of this workshop is to bring to life the five elements, used by acupunturists for thousands of years as a way of understanding and relating to the nature and movement of life. We will learn what the five elements are, how they manifest in nature and in human beings, and keys practices to working with the elements in day-to-day life.
This will be a practical overview for those interested in fundamental principles of Chinese Medicine and philosophy. There will be didactic material and experiential work. Participants will leave with a good beginning knowledge of the material, as well as sources for further study.

We will learn and study how a bicycle works, and what we can do to maintain and repair them.


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During this hour and a half session you will learn the basics of performing a self-led home energy audit. Participants will learn how to find and solve energy loss problems; as well, as save some money on their next energy bill. This class will be personalized. We will be able to discuss budget constraints and how to save money with no-cost-to-low-cost methods. Also, we will discuss novel ways to save energy and water at home. Lastly, we will use actual data collected about the Baltimore area to calculate expected savings. The goal of this class is for participants to learn how to perform energy audits at residential locations. Every participant will be given an information packet, so that they can perform their own home energy audit!
 
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Within the past decade, a stealth wave of female poets born in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s has snuck onto the contemporary poetry scene, reinvigorating it by raising pertinent, paradoxical questions about femininity, sexuality, and pop culture. In 2003, poet Arielle Greenberg outlined her theory of the Gurlesque: “I came up with the term Gurlesque because of the word’s evocation of three different ideas: Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque, burlesque theater, and the feminist punk movement riot grrl.” Greenberg noticed a trend among female poets of her generation to write poems that reveled in traditional aspects of girlhood (sparkly things, dresses, dolls, barrettes, and the like) while simultaneously subverting them, often by juxtaposing the cute and the grotesque.
 
But there’s much more to the Gurlesque than blood-spattered, sequined prom gowns. This course will explore the works of several prominent Gurlesque poets to see how writers from disparate backgrounds and parts of the world, working independently, all started addressing similar concerns. More a cultural phenomenon than a movement, Gurlesque poems (and other associated works) offer entry into a world both autobiographical and fantastical, an often giddy mélange that may challenge your ideas of what poetry is and how women should sound on the page.
 
Writers we will discuss include Arielle Greenberg, Danielle Pafunda, Catherine Wagner, Chelsey Minnis, Lara Glenum, and Aase Berg as well as others. (One independent chapbook press, Dancing Girl, publishes chapbooks exclusively by women, many of which include poems that could be considered Gurlesque: I have some of these, which are difficult to find in libraries, and am happy to share them during class.) I also work at Johns Hopkins, so I can easily access the Eisenhower Library’s excellent collection of these poets for class use.
 
Questions that we will discuss include the following: What do other Gurlesque art forms look/sound like (visual art, film, music)? How do writers from non-white, non-middle class backgrounds approach the Gurlesque? What forms does the Gurlesque take outside the United States? Will the Gurlesque continue for the foreseeable future or will it lose momentum as the poets age and become more established in their fields? Will the Gurlesque poets “outgrow” the Gurlesque? What is the male equivalent of the Gurlesque, and can male poets be considered Gurlesque? How do these writers feel about the term being applied to them anyway?
 
The first Gurlesque anthology, edited by Arielle Greenberg and Lara Glenum, will be published next year, so this discussion course will give you a one-up on your coffee shop cohorts who are sure to be poring over  it once it hits bookstores.
Discuss this course.
 
 

From the clearing of the Paris streets by Baron Haussmann in the 1860's to the more recent policies of "spatial deconcentration" aimed at America's inner cities (and their populations), this one-time lecture will examine the connections between urban development and urban counterinsurgency.  Special attention will be paid to how market mechanisms and even seemingly well-meaning liberal urban policy can be seen as providing cover for more insidious forms of war on the poor. 


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As most of us know, the Drug War has failed...miserably. We are fighting a 'war' in our own streets against our own people with no end in sight under our current policies. The purpose of this class is not to reiterate statistics, not to tell people that drugs are dangerous, but instead to design a proposal stating a logical solution to the Drug War to be presented to Baltimore's Mayor Sheila Dixon and the General and City Assembly.
Below is a list of issues that I wish to address throughout this course:
 
-Expansion of Adult Drug Treatment and Needle Exchange Programs
-Youth Drug Treatment Programs
-Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
-The Incorporation of Dealers and Users back into Society
-Regulation and Taxation of Drugs
-Funding
-Proper Drug Education
-Hemp: Saving America's Farmers and Economy
 
...and any other issue that the class deems necessary.
 
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at thevolunteer1@gmail.com
Thank you all very much for your time and interest.
 
Love,
Brett
 
Discuss this course.