Combining spoken word and modern dance, Sydney Hutton and Gabri Posard gave voice to Fair Isolde from Gottfried von Stratssburg’s Tristan. They probed the duality of love, the physicality of passion as both lustful and romantic and the interdependence of all experiences in the character’s life using the nuanced character of Isolde as inspiration.
The Channel Tree News team takes a look at the life and eventual murder of one Stanford's most treasured mentors and icons: the J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library. Utilizing the medium paved by Chevy Chase on the Weekend Update and Jon Stewart on the Daily show, the Channel Tree News team is sure to make your eyes burst out in pathetic tears as we unearth the secrets of Meyer Library's family, childhood, and eventual collapse into Charlie-Sheen-like angel dust.
“The New Lay of Tristan and Isolde” is a retelling of the legend, famously told in Gottfried von Strassburg’s romance, of Tristan and Isolde—of the love between them and of their tragic deaths. In the poem, I attempt not only to make the story more palatable for the modern reader, but also to better understand the characters emotionally and psychologically.
Over the course of the class, we studied various perspectives on the 'rules of love'. For my final presentation, I decided to make a short video. In this, I asked 17-21 year olds from 10 different countries: "What are three rules that you would have for yourself in love?" When I looked closely at these videos, the results were interesting. Answers varied across genders and cultures. There were differences and similarities.
In a hands-on experimental component of The Science of MythBusters, students work in teams to build and launch custom-modified alcohol-powered film canisters, called piezo poppers. Applying their skills in experimental design and statistical analysis, the students modify their launcher, canister, and fuel to maximize the launch distance of their canisters, culminating in a class-wide contest at the end of the quarter.
As part of THINK1: The Science of MythBusters, students built small piezoelectric devices (“piezo poppers”) in which a small spark ignites an alcohol-based fuel inside a film canister, launching the film canister into the air. After building a custom-modified launcher, students used their piezo poppers to see how variables like launch angle and fuel type affected the distance the canister traveled, applying statistical tools learned in class. Students then worked in teams to modify relevant variables and optimize their launch distances.
“It's the year 2113, and there is no fear. There is no pain. Thanks to an innovation made decades before, knowledge became instantly attainable, feelings became immediately suppressible, and society could focus on pure, unadulterated progress. Until one day, a malfunction occurs, and the fate of this society hangs in the balance...”
Click below to watch the video by Alex Barron, Ariel Bobbett, Jay Moon, and Sri Muppidi.
In THINK 25: Evolution on Earth, students examined evolution from scientific, historical, and artistic perspectives. For his artistic project, student Michael Dickens rapped about the evolution of tool use in crows. Matthew Scott (faculty), Hania Köver (lecturer), Julie Desjardins (lecturer).
For the Gabriella Safran's Thinking Matters course “Why do we like (to read about) vampires? Folklore, (mostly) Russian Literature, Film,” students presented collaborative group performances for their final projects. The course itself explores theories and examples of folklore, and the relationship between folklore and other forms of cultural production, including literature, film, music, and ballet. Students put this knowledge to creative use in their collaborations: some groups adapted personal folklore, while others reflected on themes and theories of the course.
