Welcome to the first ever themed edition of KISSiNTEL!! This week we decided to give a unifying theme to challenge the readers and contributors of this publication to make forced associations between what
interests them and BODIES! The format was still left open ended in order to accomodate maximum creativity! So smile, because you’re in for a super duper special treat this week...better than ice cream. Cheers. HaiBodies Many diverse shapes Some are large; some are tiny Inside, is what counts. - Vitamin P
Uncomfortable white space.....
My thoughts are your thoughts... A Rant ~Author: Frustrated~
Note from the Editors: Mandate Development! In the spirit of the recent reevaluation of the KISS structure, we (KISSiNTEL) also had a discussion on the plan and vision of this publication as we move forward with our biweekly editions throughout the term! The overall mandate of KISSiNTEL is to to be a publication that showcases and encourages KI students to share and have respectful and fun conversations around their passions, opinions, thoughts, and talents with the rest of the community. We value the diversity of opinion in Knowledge Integration and encourage both lighthearted and serious submissions. Because… KISSiNTEL is nothing without it’s submissions! And we’re open to all types of opinions/comment, news, in-depth articles, interviews, poems, art, comics, photographs, anything! They can be serious, passionate, quirky, zany, or something in between. If you’re constructing an argument, make sure it’s logical, clear, and critically thought out (we all took PHIL 145, and if you haven’t HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GRADUATE?!). We would like to include a variety of submissions, especially since our program is so diversely talented. We look forward to hearing from you, whether in comment or submission form [kissintel@gmail.com]!
Bo-De Foods in Waterloo is very unclear about what their store sells. From the store name I can only deduce that they sell food of the bo-de variety (pronounced bOH-dEE). Which sounds very Hannibalistic to me. Which brings up a very good point about business naming. Far too often I am passing by stores uptown, downtown or on the road and I see signs for places that are poorly named. Sorry Gloss, you’re a great clothing shop but absolutely nothing about the name tells me what to expect. Instead of tearing apart the many failures I can think of, I’d like to recognize the ones who know what’s up... Businesses that do it right: - American Apparel: look like an American by wearing our apparel - Sugar Mountain: you will consume a mountain of sugar tonight - Starbucks: spend bucks like a star - The Art Store: get stuff, make art... or at least try... - [insert name] Dentistry: Dentist stuff by [name]. (I love that - in general - dentists say dentistry, but lawyers are just listing their last names...) - Value Village: A store of value goods from the village (or used to be before Macklemore) - Knowledge Integration: you will integrate your knowledge (I know not technically a business, but close enough.) So use your minds and beautiful typing hands to come up with better names for businesses that fail to explain what the heck they are doing... I want to see them next issue! (Bo-de’s totally relates it to bodies.)
- Actual Master and Commander Tiffany Lin
such discomfort...
Thoughts to a Student Body
Alumni Vanessa Minke-Martin
After last Friday’s seminar alumni panel, one of the panelists, Vanessa Martin from the Amsterdam cohort, wrote a blog post reflecting on the afternoon and included the points that she had wanted to share with the KI community: Last week, I participated in the KI alumni seminar panel. I started my Masters at the University of British Columbia in January, so I wasn’t able to be there in person. I did get to share a teensy bit about my experience in KI via Google Hangout, but the technical difficulties made it frustrating. I sat down before the seminar and thought about how I really feel about KI. It’s hard to give advice that will actually be useful to someone immersed in their undergrad, because I’m not. You can ignore all of it and do your own thing. Still, what I wanted to talk about on Friday was this:
2. Don’t just take INTEG 121 and assume you understand design. There are so many applications and interpretations of the design method. Find the one that works for you. Being able to successfully analyze a problem, identify stakeholders, and iteratively create and test solutions will serve
3. You do eventually have to figure out your future. If you’re interested in grad school, there are a few good first steps. Apply for an NSERC USRA to conduct your senior thesis research, if you’re interested in science. Talk to your thesis advisor about taking your poster to a conference (hint: that’s how I met my current MSc supervisor). Talk to professors whose classes you liked/did well in about acting as references for your grad school applications. Building these relationships early will generate much better letters of references (like, other than, “I don’t really know who this person is. I’m sure they’re fine.”). KI was probably the most excellent decision I have made in my life. So many people in my EVC and my MSc lives have commented on what a good foundation it was. I just wanted to share that. - Vanessa Martin This has been modified from its original version on Vanessa’s blog. Vanessa was part of the Amsterdam I cohort and is now doing her Master’s at UBC, studying pacific salmon ecology, after having completed the EVC (Environmental Visual Communication) program through the ROM and Fleming College. If you want to read more about her experiences (and you really do) so far, her blog www.vanessammartin.tumblr.com is fantastic. Photo courtesy of freehdw.com
1. Don’t worry so much about the future. You’re in an incredibly creative, productive community, surrounded by some of the most clever and engaged people you will ever meet. It’s cheesy and true. Focus on the things you can learn from and make with each other (not babies — projects and stuff!). The skills you develop in KI will help you to lead a learned, thoughtful, and challenging life. You will not take every course that looked interesting in first year (and you will be okay with that). You will figure out your senior thesis. You will get a job. And when you’ve done those things, you’ll wish you were back where you are now. Undergrad flies past, so focus on it. Have a few beers. Do some readings for fun. It’s not all grades, and it’s not all parties.
you so well. Read about past designers. Sign up for lynda.com and take some Adobe tutorials. Design cool shit with your cool KI friends.
W ba ell fo litt ck v lks th le s ersi , I h at ec on av ha ret o e a d “ . F f m to 1) bo or y u n o As Knowledge Integration students we’ve all occasionally spent a Saturday M dy thi su f a yB night questioning our academic goals, life goals, and what “42” really ” i s w al ss Th ody n t e ve ign i 2) means. Okay, maybe some of us have other things to do on Saturday he ek’s rb m So KIS s son – Yo tit ar ose ent ul SiN g un nights, but you’ve at least scrolled through the university website at le. tic so s rep g M He le, ng this T Th t e EL re he least once looking for an elective with the right mix of fun/inter- 3 e re’ I ju de w i t s s ) R W is s B . en Gi s w st sc ee esting/useful/doesn’t-make-your-head-hurt/fulfills-that-requireoc HA a g od ts an ha op rip k, w k my t T? re y – t I en tio h 4) Y ment. P a t s De So art our sh ca ed ns ich on at . m am me y, B e u my In f mea ga h ele bo get ody A i C p w Tu act ns nd a If you’re anything like me, you click on half the links in 5 d ss bf ) B 12 clas y T loud (Sk c – ith nes , I’l a ra on sic ol W or the calendar and write down a couple ‘maybes’ until , w ril od . : an l let the f d l o O C so M ha ex y r d s yo r u W m ng e you get to a course like KIN 100 Human Anatomy: Lo Ele tie tev Re i e a u s ca I t – v c y T fro Th er m rch in led An e h tri t Limbs and Trunk with the KIN 100L Human C . i o m x) e A ed on d n er c – t h K M my i –B e Anatomy Lab and think: “When will I ever for a o, or h La l E t le r he l c n I O a h so a do te a D ck m get to go to a lab like that after university and UT ild s ng htt e n’t he el E h o s ye NI oo ps f r have it not be creepy?” (Or, you know, “That looks u R , t d nd yo ey :// his d. NE P so ers u’v Se ea cool” – but I like my version.) My main interest in this iss YE un rio s tan e g ue AR d us course was that it fulfilled one of my science requirements clo d t ot of l S y. ha to r ud AG Th (I’d already vetoed chemistry, biology and physics) and it t n es .co is O, ick pe m so was different from everything else I was doing, had done, or was ct /o n n am th bie gc probably ever going to do. So I set out to get permission from Darlene, ee eS am br pa yc i eo t the lecturer, and the lab instructor through a series of emails that basically h e/s er. rkle ut e ts/ wh amounted to “Pleasepleaseplease can I?” until I got in. I loved it. Ju mp kis en sin Iw R op tel as Let me preface this by saying I don’t have any particular interest in pursuing a voe -fe Qu b r cation in medicine. I’ve met some great doctors, nurses, surgeons, physiotherapists, and ee ua n. ry podiatrists; I have never felt the call to join their ranks. I actually spent the majority of this -2 01 course thinking about design. Not intelligent design, but the efficiency of the function of certain 4 muscles depending on their shape and attachments. Why certain injuries are more common than others just based on location, and why certain small variations can influence larger processes in the human body.
Corpus scientiae
The course and lab are 0.75 credits of (mostly) memorization of the Latin terms for bones, nerves, arteries, veins, and muscles along with their attachments and functions and recognition of these in the human body. (Did I mention the lab has pre-dissected human cadavers? Thank you do-
nors.) If memorizing hundreds of facts is your forte then you’re halfway there. For the rest of the way, and for the people who equate memorization with kryptonite, you have to find some way to organize the information and make sense of it all. The lecture is in a large hall, but the lab involves about five stations for interactive and experiential learning with a ratio of teaching assistant to students at something like 1 to 6. The TAs, mostly upper-year undergraduates who are volunteering their time, can be your greatest asset. They will happily give you mnemonics, analogies, rhymes, models, pictures and rubber bands until you understand, recognize and remember. There is lots of opportunity to ask questions for clarification, or even for general interest beyond the course and for active engagement in your own learning. (Why does that muscle do that? Well, pull on its tendon and see – do not try this at home, kids.)
Anyway, in the mingling of student bodies, we got to hear a bit about different ways people are doing interdisciplinary education. The conclusion is that there’s nothing quite like KI, but there are plenty of other cool people. Democracy has spoken, and next year the conference will be hosted by McGill. So all y’all should put your bodies on a bus and go intermingle with other student bodies when the time comes.
Okay, so it was much less sexual than the previous paragraph may have led you to believe. Sometimes I get carried away. By my body. Because bodies. But anyway, it was a weekend of talking about interdisciplinary education. The core of it was working groups – five hours of close time talking through some specific interdisciplinary matter, such as biomimicry, or the roots and facets of poverty, or spying & national security, or how you can build the skill of observation. These were mixed in with skill sessions, which were partly included as an excuse to move our BODIES, but also taught invaluable life skills such as drawing, yoga, and Quidditch. Apparently Waterloo has a good Quidditch team. Who knew? No body.
Today, we will be talking about bodies. You might have realized that by now. This article will be specifically about student bodies. Yeah, now you’re interested. This past weekend was Combining Two Cultures, a.k.a. #C2C2014. In attendance were various student bodies. They intermingled. They were curious about each other, desperate from being apart for too long.
Combining Bodies with Robert G-T
One of the things that made the course especially awesome for me was the former lab instructor and current lecturer Tamara Maciel. Instructors can sometimes make or break an experience and I lucked out. Tamara is familiar with KI: she has collaborated with members of the KI faculty and is currently a thesis advisor. She got me enrolled in a lab as soon as possible, sent me a welcome
message, and allowed me to come into alternate lab sessions when I couldn’t make the review times. She was one of my first experiences of the impact and influence that the KI student body had made on other faculties. The choice to take the course led me to becoming more involved in more teaching and learning opportunities such as Kin Lab Days, dissection club, and passing on my knowledge and experience as a volunteer even before I had taken my final exam that same term. I’m not saying y’all should take KIN 100 and 100L. (Although you really should. Offered every winter. I’m also told every non-KIN student who wanted it got into the lab this year so it’s totally doable.) However, taking a chance on a course that just makes you pause and wonder, or even just taking a peek at courses under subjects that you never intend on taking can be worth your while. At the very least, you’ll run into something you hadn’t expected there to be a course on and find out exactly what’s offered. ~ Akanksha Madan
LOLS From Profs!
“Of course you have a cat! You’re such a hipster.”
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s u r d C er W
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