Los Angeles Planning Director Michael LoGrande and Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne will discuss how to make Los Angeles a more livable city in a free public dialogue and Q&A on Wednesday, December 1 at 7 p.m. in Occidental College’s Johnson Hall, Room 200.
The City Council confirmed LoGrande as Los Angeles’ top planning official August 4 following the July 16 resignation of his predecessor, S. Gail Goldberg. LoGrande, 39, has spent 13 years with the city’s planning department, most recently as chief zoning administrator.
Preceding the talk, former Los Angeles transportation planner James Rojas will host a 5:30 p.m. interactive workshop on creating your own version of a livable Los Angeles via 3-D modeling. The workshop is free and will be held in Johnson Hall, Room 204. Read more…
Tags: Director, Planning DirectorHomework is one activity that normally doesn’t top the charts of the “favorite things to do” list, but unfortunately it’s a necessary evil. So how can a student make homework as painless as possible? Try these “homework helpers” and you might even find have fun doing your homework…….maybe
Find a Homework Companion There’s a famous proverb that quotes “A good companion shortens the longest roads”. The next time you find yourself intimidated by the tall pile of assignments stacked on your desk, find a like-minded classmate who will spice up your homework routine. Working as a team to meet your homework deadlines can help you optimize your time and strengthen your weak subject areas. “I Need Help” Do you tend to procrastinate because you just can’t figure out how to do your homework? If you’re stumped on a particular homework assignment, simply ask your friends, professors or acquaintances for a little help. Another effective way is to seek online homework help. Although there are a ton of homework help websites, always rely on those that not only help you to answer your homework question, but teach the core concepts to help you in the future.
Establishing a Homework Groove Today’s world offers a multitude of homework distractions – texting, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Avoiding these distractions can be more challenging than having to solve a difficult math question, but it’s important to disconnect so you can get into a homework groove. A homework routine should dedicate a specific time of the day and number of hours for homework so you can complete your assignments quickly and enjoy some “me” time.
Homework Motivators Create a list of homework motivators to revive you when you sense you’re being sucked into homework frustration. Listen to your favorite song, spend time with your pet, chat with your best friend or find a reason to laugh. Once you find yourself in a happy state of mind, get back to your homework with renewed energy.
Stay Positive Love it or hate it — you can’t ignore homework. The key is to accept homework as a part of the learning process and stay positive. Learn from it and most importantly, come up with ways to have fun with your homework and enjoy the process of learning something new. It’s only homework after all…
Tags: Possible
Jonathan Alter, Newsweek senior editor and author of the new book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One, will speak at Occidental College on Monday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. in Johnson Hall, Room 200. The event is free and open to the public.
In his talk, “Can Obama Get His Groove Back?,” Alter will analyze the president’s first two years in office and the effect he’s had on the recent midterm elections, which saw a resurgence in Republican power in both the House and Senate. His talk will be preceded from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. by an informal reception and book signing of “The Promise” in Morrison Lounge, located on the second floor of the College’s Johnson Student Center. Read more…
Tags: College, Jonathan Alter, Occidental CollegePicking the wrong college can cost a fortune today. Consider these comments from StudentsReview.com, a website where students review hundreds of American colleges . . .
- “This place is definitely not worth your parents’ 45K/year . . . The resources here are average at best. The labs are small and clearly cannot accommodate the growing number of science students each year . . . The dorms are pitiful: small, dark, and poorly kept . . . Our medical center doesn’t have a doctor on staff.”
- “Worst two years of my life. Can’t wait to transfer next year. People here suck. Classes are not stimulating. DO NOT GO HERE. IT IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY.”
- “Do not go here! My one friend here just graduated in the top ten and cannot get a job! [Employers] alwa
October 29, 2010
Contact: Jim Tranquada, (323) 259-2990
Based on measures of academic quality and affordability, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine has named Occidental College one of the country’s 50 best values among liberal arts colleges for the fourth year in a row. Occidental was ranked No. 30, one of just eight western colleges ranked among the top 50.
Some 79 percent of Occidental students receive some form of financial aid, which last year averaged $31,883 per student. Occidental also enrolls more Pell Grant recipients (24 percent) than most other nationally ranked liberal arts colleges. Last year, 19 percent of Occidental students were the first in their family to attend college.
Kiplinger’s used 12 factors when ranking “best value” schools, including admission rate, SAT or ACT high scores, ratio of students to faculty members, graduation rates, total annual cost, student cost after need-based aid, percentage of aid from grants, and average debt at graduation.
Tags: Occidental, Occidental Best October 21, 2010
Contact: Rhea Borja, (323) 259-1406
The 35 voices of the Occidental College Glee Club will perform classical and contemporary favorites at its annual homecoming concert Friday, Nov. 5 at 8:15 p.m. in the College’s Thorne Hall. The a cappella groups the Accidentals and Cadence will also sing.
Tickets for the homecoming concert are free for Oxy students and employees with college ID, and $10 for family, friends, and the general public. The concert is one of many events scheduled for Occidental’s annual Homecoming and Family Weekend, Nov. 5-6.
“I wanted a wide variety of historical styles, so I chose choral chestnuts, which are famous or iconic pieces, as well as pop songs whose arrangements are pretty complex,” said Desiree LaVertu, Occidental’s choral director.
The contemporary songs the Glee Club will perform include Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.
Tags: Concert, Glee Club, Homecoming ConcertHe was 18 months old when his parents brought him across the border in the dead of night, for what they considered a chance for a better life. At eighteen months old, he could not persuade his parents to choose a different means to enter the United States. His choices came later and those choices qualified him for admission to college. It’s those choices and the motivation behind those choices, that I believe we need to look at when discussing whether or not to bar undocumented students from admission to college.
SAT Guru
When we get on the topic of undocumented students being barred from college, sometimes I think we need to remember what it really takes to get into college. It’s not a guarantee for anyone, let alone someone who is most likely the first one in his/her family to go to college. It takes motivation, commitment and hard work from the moment you start school. It requires a spirit of determination to overcome all the obstacles you will face at home, school and in your community that have the potential to lead you down a very different path. But most importantly, whether you are undocumented or not, getting into college takes hope; hope that you can make it to college and once you get there learn what it takes to make a difference for yourself and others. Hope is what you hang onto when it would be easier to give up.
Imagine what that “undocumented” boy has done to get to the point where he is admissible to a selective college. He has taken the hardest classes possible and done his best in them. He’s probably in the top third of his class, if not higher. He has managed to score