Reese Tells Grads To Use Their Voice

Already an established professor and published writer, Jim Reese walked into his first day of a creative writing workshop at the Yankton Federal Prison Camp and quickly realized he was in for a challenge.

Re-tooling his approach to the course,High quality stone mosaic tiles.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. Reese eventually spent seven months with the prisoners that first session — a “hardcore writing process,” he calls it — and helped them eventually develop a book.

“Everyone wants to be a writer, but they have to earn it,” said Reese, the commencement speaker at Saturday morning’s Mount Marty College fall graduation ceremony at Marian Auditorium. “They have to come up with something that really matters, something from the heart.”

Speaking to just more than 50 graduates, Reese reflected on his time with the inmates. He said that more than simply showing them how to craft sentences and construct paragraphs, he tried to go deeper.

“The thing about prisoners is, you can teach them a trade in prison, you can teach a person to be a plumber,” he said. “That’s all great and good. But unless you can teach that person to tap into the emotional instabilities that brought them to prison in the first place, you’re just going to send an angry plumber right back out into society.”

Reese, who also serves as director of the Great Plains Writers’ Tour at Mount Marty and editor-in-chief of Paddlefish (MMC’s literary journal), said that while “tension was present” in his session with inmates, he is confident that he was able to break through. He shared with the graduates a class reflection that one inmate wrote at the conclusion of the session.

“‘I have learned so many wonderful things about creative writing from the teachers and the writers that we’ve had the pleasure to meet,’” Reese said, quoting Smith. “’I now understand the actual mechanics of writing and sculpting involved in developing a good piece of literature. I now write every day, and although it’s work, it is work that I now find very enjoyable.’”

It’s that enjoyment that was a prevalent theme in Reese’s nearly 10-minute speech Saturday.

Following the statement, “Don’t ever underestimate the power of your own voice,” Reese said that the first essay he has his beginning writing class students tackle is to share an example of how they use their voice to make a difference.

“Sometimes they look at me oddly. Some say, ‘I’m not sure I’ve ever used my voice to make a difference,’” he said. “I reassure them that they have. And with time and further discussion, they produce some wonderful writing.”

The classroom can be a “haven” for creativity and a place where ideas can eventually be turned into words on a page, Reese said. He encouraged the graduates to “read and write frequently, never a day without a line.”

“I find it imperative to help students find their voice through extended practice writing and speaking, discovering and developing uses for writing that will serve them personally, professionally and academically,” Reese said. “I encourage students to use writing as a form of thinking and as a mean to take part in public discussions.”

Reese’s speech began with a light-hearted poem that he and fellow professors Rich Lofthus and Dana De Witt crafted toward students.

Entitled “Composition 103: No Shoes Required,” the poem details how students like DVD’s more than books and the way they arrive to class (down to the Victoria’s Secret “I Love Pink” pajama bottoms and a cowboy with a holster for his BlackBerry).

A simple question from a student in the front of the class — “Are we supposed to be taking notes on this?” — prompts a pop quiz with four choices to describe the basis for the Hundred Year’s War. The first three choices are logical ones, but the fourth is a long-winded answer about how professors surrender control of the classroom.

Professors, Reese read, “finally recognizing the unalienable rights of students to text 24 hours a day, seven days a week as a natural right, based on loose construction of Thomas Jefferson’s pursuit of happiness clause in the Declaration of Independence.” The result, the poem says, is a “dramatic decline in the production and sale of hooded sweatshirts across all of Christendom.”

The punch line to the poem is when one student finally breaks the silence with the question, “Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? History? I didn’t sign up for that.”

Following the conferring of degrees,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. Betty Bisgard from the Mount Marty Alumni Association talked to the graduates about being active alumni members. She also added, “Please be generous with us.”

By integrating pickchain into handling and conveyor equipment, different tasks can be carried out concurrently, such as loading and unloading, stacking, gluing, clamping, turning, drilling and so on.

Conventional handling and conveyor applications in production use, which use linear motions for pick and place tasks, tend to be inefficient due to the continuous back and forth movements. By comparison, the igus pickchain operates with a continuous circular motion with no wasted start and return runs. By implementing pickchain into their equipment, machine and handling builders can realise an increase in output by as much as 30%.

“The compact pickchain concept gives engineers scope for new ideas in handling machine construction,” says Justin Leonard of igus UK. “Several beta-testers of our pickchain already intend to integrate the innovative conveyor chain in their equipment soon.”

The new pickchain system is vibration-free, moving smoothly at a continuous speed of between 2 and 3m/s. The conveyor chain has sturdy teeth and is driven by a double-toothed belt. Maintenance-free travel of up to 30m. The permissible load per transport chain link is around 5kg and each link can be controlled individually.

The pickchain can be equipped with grippers, suction cups, sensors, cameras and any other tools that receive their respective signals to work accordingly. This allows transport, machining and control to be carried out in one movement,Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. for example, with direction of movement and cycle times being controlled easily by the operator.

pickchain can be installed horizontally, vertically or side mounted according to the customer’s requirements. Areas of application include; pick & place robots, feeders, packaging,Thank you for visiting! I have been cry stalmosaic since 1998. tooling and woodworking machines, embossing presses and equipment used within the semiconductor and solar industries.