MAPA

Improbable Voices and Probable Delights: A Conversation about History and Historical Research with Derek Anderson and Candace Chen

This unique event, taught by MA History Department Chair Candace Chen and Improbable Voices author and MA Library Director, Archivist, and History Teacher Derek Anderson, will blend aspects of a typical MA class with elements of a book talk and podcast. We will host a short reading from Improbable Voices, followed by breakout rooms in which attendees will work with short primary source documents and guiding questions. There will be plenty of time for discussion and questions.

The Meaning of the First Amendment: Historical and Contemporary Understandings

Join MA history teacher Whitney Davidson for an in-depth look at the First Amendment to the Constitution. We will discuss the historical context for the genesis of the First Amendment and investigate how interpretations of the First Amendment have evolved throughout American history, including landmark Supreme Court cases. We will also analyze the ways in which the First Amendment takes on new meaning in a politically polarized era, including its ramifications for social media, "cancel culture," and politically charged speech.

MAster Class: "20th Century Poetry with Travis Brownley"

William Wordsworth said that "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquility." Another 19th-century poet, John Keats, defined this craft as "the knowledge of contrasts, a feeling for light and shade." Using two poems, Dylan Thomas's Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night and Elizabeth Bishop's One Art, we will look at how two 20th Century poets used structure to examine their own experiences of powerful emotions. I hope that participants will walk away with a renewed or new appreciation of this art form, the role that structure plays in expressing our most passionate experiences, and reflections on their own experiences.

"Do the Right Thing"

How do seemingly good people come to different decisions on ethical responses? What does it actually mean to be responsible for an action? What is justice? What does it mean to do good? These are the questions that seniors in the English elective, Freedom, Choice, and Obligation ask, and they're the same ones you explore with KaTrina Wentzel, Academic Dean and English teacher. 

In this Master Class, you'll learn about three ethical frameworks, grapple with some standard ethical dilemmas, and apply those principles and thoughts to modern day examples. Like the teenagers who take the elective course, you won't leave the room with answers. But hopefully you will leave with new understandings and questions to ponder about ethics, justice, and the greater good. If time, KaTrina will spend the last 10 minutes of the class sharing some of the unique aspects of this full MA course including competency-based grading and the final performance assessment.

"Don’t Be Prepared!”

If you are afraid of improvisation, associating it with having to be funny and clever, this workshop is a gentle, non-threatening introduction to improvisation through theater games that are applicable to all creative endeavors, whether in the arts or other aspects for life.  The workshop will explore spontaneity, imagination, and other topics through fun group exercises. Remember - you’re always improvising; it’s our natural state!

Annie Elias has been teaching theater and directing at MA since 2000.  She took her first theater class at age 27, a theater games workshop in a Vermont town hall.  The class changed her life and she’s been teaching and practicing theater games ever since.  Annie holds a BA in English and Art History from Mills College and studied dramaturgy at the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Studies in Cambridge, MA. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and Ensemble Studio Theater/Sloan Foundation Science and Technology grant for her original adaptation of Einstein’s Dreams. She has studied directing, writing and acting with a number of outstanding theater artists, including David Esbjornson (directing) and Ken Prestininzi (playwriting). Annie has a special interest in documentary theater and is reprising her original 2012 documentary theater piece “Tenderloin” this January at the Cutting Ball Theater.

Explore the Night Sky with Astrophotography

In our modern society, everyone is a photographer. Most people now carry a camera at all times. A consequence of this mass proliferation of camera technology is an amazing renaissance in night sky and astrophotography. Indeed, nighttime and sky photography can serve both artistic and scientific purposes. Jon comes to photography from scientific and astronomical perspectives. He picked up his first serious digital camera ten years ago (coinciding with his start at MA) and has been practicing ever since. This past summer, he had the opportunity to travel to Chile to photograph a total solar eclipse and the southern skies as a recipient of an EE Ford grant. Jon will spend the first hour of his class introducing techniques for photographing the night sky using everything from iPhones to GoPros to DSLRs. He will present photographic methods that include wide-angle to deep-sky, short and long exposures, and various image-stacking techniques for both deep-sky and high dynamic range (HDR). Objects of interest will consist of the Sun (yes, some daytime techniques too!), Moon, planets, stars and star trails, Milky Way and some fainter nebula, and deep sky objects, as well as lunar and solar eclipses. The goal of this Master Class is to present various entry points into the field of nighttime and astrophotography, as well as what is necessary to get started. There will be an optional half-hour after the main session for those interested in trying to capture images of a setting crescent moon over Mt. Tam or some star trails from MA. RSVP to event chair Vanessa Friedman to share your experience level and photography gear.

You can see some of Jon’s work here:

Chilean Eclipse 2019

Astrophotography

Portfolio

Jon currently teaches the Astrophysics and Electrical Engineering + Computer Science classes at Marin Academy. He is grateful the school is a place where he can create courses of such personal interest. He has also taught Chemistry, Advanced Chemistry and Advanced Physics, and is head coach for the Boys Cross Country Team. He holds a BA in Physics and Astronomy from UC Berkeley. He spends most of his time photographing his favorite subject: his 21-month-old daughter, Gemma.