Spring Break
The Daily OrangeProfessor aims to help turn Syracuse into art powerhouse
By Nic Corbett
Posted: 9/8/06, 12:22 AM EST Section: Feature
Social Studies 101, Weems' class, will explore these themes this semester. Students of all majors are welcome to enroll in the course, where they will create art that represents local ethnic and cultural communities using a number of media. But don't enroll in the course if you don't like to test your boundaries.
"They have to be willing to get out of their comfort zone," Weems said of the students in her class. "They have to be willing to leave this campus, they have to be willing to go out and explore the city of Syracuse in a way that most students don't."
Dressed in chic black and wearing glasses with a rectangular tortoise-shell rim, Weems gestures excitedly and her voice takes on a roller coaster ride of octaves when she talks about the projects she has in mind for her students this semester.
Fresh from her trip, she sprinkles her speech with Italian words, asking "Capito?" when she's unsure if someone understands an idea she's expressing.
Weems said she hopes one of her students will choose to explore how the young people living in the projects on the South Side view the university.
"It's just right up the hill but it seems like a thousand miles away, I think," Weems said. "Why is that? So, I thought it would be very, very hip to have a walking tour for students from down in those neighborhoods. It'd be like a podcast."
The walking tours would be called "soundscapes," she said.
Another project Weems envisions is called "If Looks Could Kill," which would explore the economics of the hip-hop fashion that she sees portrayed as a threat to the dominant culture.
"We know that hip hop, of course, is making a killing around the world, so the money attached to it is enormous," she said. "I think it's a question of economics, but how?"
Jeff Hoone, Weems' husband, said Weems has taught similar courses at Harvard and Williams College, where she brought in students majoring in different subjects and had them focus on one theme or issue.
"They have to be willing to get out of their comfort zone," Weems said of the students in her class. "They have to be willing to leave this campus, they have to be willing to go out and explore the city of Syracuse in a way that most students don't."
Dressed in chic black and wearing glasses with a rectangular tortoise-shell rim, Weems gestures excitedly and her voice takes on a roller coaster ride of octaves when she talks about the projects she has in mind for her students this semester.
Fresh from her trip, she sprinkles her speech with Italian words, asking "Capito?" when she's unsure if someone understands an idea she's expressing.
Weems said she hopes one of her students will choose to explore how the young people living in the projects on the South Side view the university.
"It's just right up the hill but it seems like a thousand miles away, I think," Weems said. "Why is that? So, I thought it would be very, very hip to have a walking tour for students from down in those neighborhoods. It'd be like a podcast."
The walking tours would be called "soundscapes," she said.
Another project Weems envisions is called "If Looks Could Kill," which would explore the economics of the hip-hop fashion that she sees portrayed as a threat to the dominant culture.
"We know that hip hop, of course, is making a killing around the world, so the money attached to it is enormous," she said. "I think it's a question of economics, but how?"
Jeff Hoone, Weems' husband, said Weems has taught similar courses at Harvard and Williams College, where she brought in students majoring in different subjects and had them focus on one theme or issue.
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