Hope everyone has a great break. I saw that there was an article in the recent DI that pointed to "alternative spring breaks" that relates to what some call "voluntourism" - where people travel to work as volunteers, such as relief work following a catastrophic event.
But, if you're not out saving the world, or even if you are and you find yourself with some down time in front of a computer, here are some of the audio based projects we looked at in class.
Remember - front/back presentations when we come back!
Christina Kubisch's Electrical Walks
New York Sound Map (lots of projects here)
Singing Bridges
David Byrne, Playing the Building
Stephen Vitiello
Folksongs for the Five Points
And if you do go on vacation, you can ask yourself, how authentic was it?

Movie: Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
Date: March 11th, Wednesday at 8pm
Place: Union (stage in courtyard cafe, next to Espresso)
Cost: FREE

Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district. The widely acclaimed film, written and directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, won a string of accolades including the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2004.

There are 3 short readings:
1. MacCannell's "Staged Authenticity" (from The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class)
2. Lucy Lippard's "The Tourist at Home" (From On the Beaten Track)
3. Part 1 of Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place (handed out last class)
Remember to post your response to the discussion forum. All three readings will be responded to in one discussion.

For those of you that wanted to follow up on some of the examples from the last class. Here are some links.
Superfund 365 by Brooke Singer
A Brief and Incomplete History of Resistance at the University of Illinois by Heath Schultz
Some notes on "toxic tourism" & "pollution tourism"
New Yorker's Guide to Military Recruitment by the Friends of William Blake
And in case you didn't get enough of the discussion about graffiti...
Style Wars (1982 documentary about graffiti in NYC) by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant
And a decent discussion of Shepard Fairey's strategy of appropriation and "street art".