INTRODUCTIONS:

US Participants:  Chris Benner, Sarah Bontrager, Anthony Calamito, Andy Carson, Josh Casher, Becky Friar, Aaron Gotwalt, Katie Greenleaf, Jon Harahush, Megan Lavelle, Bill McLain, William Smith, Kristen Wilson.

South African Participants: Prinisha Badassy, Keith Breckenridge, Mxolisi Mchunu, Nafisa Sheik, Stephen Sparks.

 

US Participants:

Chris Benner:  This is my second year as a professor at Penn State.  I grew up in California, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I got very interested in African development issues while an undergrad at Dartmouth College, when I get very involved in the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s, and ended up majoring in African Development Studies.  I lived for 3 years in South Africa, from 1991-1994, before returning to graduate school in City and Regional Planning at Berkeley.  My research interests center on how information technology is changing employment patterns and economic opportunity, and there's lots more information about my research on my web page: http://www.geog.psu.edu/faculty/chrisB.htm .  I'm married, have a 4 1/2 year old son, play the saxophone, love to rock climb, and also love cycling.

Sarah Bontrager: I am a graduating senior and a geography major with a sociology minor. My interests in geography center around issues of housing and redevelopment, and I am especially interested in low-income housing. I was a participant in the Philadelphia Field Project last summer, and I'm currently working on my thesis, which is about concentrated poverty and how mixed-income housing could alleviate the experiencing of poverty. I plan on going to graduate school to get a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning, and eventually I want to work in either Houston or Las Vegas. I'm originally from Clarks Summit, PA (a suburb of Scranton), but I don't go back there much. In my free time, I enjoy reading, crossword puzzles, computer games, and spending time with my boyfriend and Siamese cat. I'm really looking forward to learning

more about Pittsburgh and South Africa, neither of which I know much about.

 

Andrew Carson (Andy): I am from Bel Air, MD a suburb of Baltimore and have lived in the region throughout my life.  After realizing I didn't want to sit in front of a computer all day, I changed to Geography with the GIS option.  I bowl competitively both individually and for Penn State.  Bowling tournaments has taken me across the U.S. and Canada.  I am currently going through a background check to get a security clearance.  This is my 8th semester and after graduating, I plan to work for a subcontractor of the National Security Agency.

 

Anthony Calamito: I am a junior/senior here at Penn State majoring in Geography / GIS.  I was born in West Caldwell, New Jersey (where most of the Sopranos are filmed), and I currently reside on the other side of the state in a place called Holland Township.  I live with my mom, dad, and a younger brother and younger sister.  This past summer I was stationed in Ames, Iowa working for NASA and the USDA studying soil moisture, and testing algorithms for NASA's new AMSR-E satellite. Currently, I am working for Amy Glasmeier under a grant from the Ford Foundation studying persistant poverty in the United States.  I have visited Pittsburgh once, but have never been to South Africa, and have never left the country (although I really want to go to Europe).  I love cars, the outdoors, and being Italian.  I would one day like to return to Penn State as a professor, but thats a few years down the road yet.  I guess thats it for now....

 

Josh Casher: I am a senior in Physical/Environmental Geography. Why I am taking this class falls into two reasons, first I had GEOG 120 last semester and enjoyed it and second I do need a 400 level "w" course to graduate, so with those ideas in mind, GEOG 420W seemed a logical chioce. I have been to Pittsburgh several times before, although not in the past 7 or 8 years so I am looking forward to the field trips. I was born and raised in State College and graduated from State High in 1992. During the past decade I have had the good fortune to live in a few other places (Texas, Mississippi, Saudi Arabia and Utah) thanks to my 4 year stint in the Air Force. Currently, I am in the Army National Guard, letting my military career inch forward at glacial speed. I found good things about everywhere I was stationed, but I must admit a particular attraction to the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain Rocky regions. I would love to visit New Zealand for the first time and I wouldn't turn down a second trip to the Hawaiian islands. Musically (since everyone seemes to be voicing their preferences) Grunge, Classic Rock and most forms of Jazz and what I listen too most often. As for the potential assignments, I am interested in interviewing Pittsburgh area persons about why they opted not to choose are career in a technology based career field. I hope to work for the government once I graduate and these

interview skills may come in handy.

 

Becky Friar: Okie dokie, here's the lowdown on me. My fourth year at PennState in the engineering department looking to get a geography minor. I'm most interested in trying to find some way to integrate my satellite know-how with changes in data. I don't really have a clue what that entails, but it sounds cool. I also like to travel (though I have never been outside the country) and learning about other countries/cultures. I listen to Weird Al Yankovic and play the tenor saxophone in a multitude of bands on campus.

 

Aaron Gotwalt: I’m a junior in the Bachelor of Philosophy program at Penn State.  This program has very little at all to do with philosophy, and is actually a very flexible self-defined major.  I've been studying the impacts of technology on society, but after taking this course last year, my interests have very much shifted into looking at the ways technology and information flows affect the physical spaces of society. Other than spewing mindless academic drivel, I'm a part-owner of a software company in Lancaster called Elexio (http://www.elexio.com). I'm from Lititz, which is a very pretty town with the atmosphere of a retirement community. I also play guitar in a band called The New Black...we're just starting up right now, but we'll be playing a lot over this spring semester.  We do original brit-pop flavored guitar rock...think u2, radiohead (the bends), doves, and other random stuff...it's fun, and I think it sounds pretty good.

 

Katie Greenleaf:  Hi :) I'm, a sophomore majoring in Anthropology and Geography.  I am interested in economic and human geography, especially as they relate to anthropology, so this course looked like it would be really fascinating.  I still have a while to decide what my focus will be for grad school, but currently I'm thinking about Museum Studies. Outside of the classroom, I am involved in student government (I serve on ARHS), am a photography buff (I work in a local camera store), am a health nut and music lover.  I'm also a townie, but right now

William's suggestion about moving to a warmer city doesn't sound like a bad plan :)  I was born in Wichita, Kansas, grew up in a tiny town (Mansfield) in north-central PA, and then moved here in middle school.

 

Jon Harahush: I am a junior in geography.  I am officially in the urban and regional development option  but I am also taking some GIS classes because I am interested in cartography. I'm not really sure about what I want to do with my degree and I want to have a lot of options open for when I'm looking for a job.  Maybe I'll try a few different things and see what I like. I'm from Pottsville, Pennsylvania but I plan on moving to a New England state, the Pacific Northwest, or Canada after I graduate from Penn State. I really like music - most types except for country, and I can play the guitar and the trumpet.  I also like traveling and road trips – I like traveling within the United States and Canada, but I hope to travel abroad in the future. I would really like to see England, Russia, and New Zealand.  I like languages too. I took a few semesters of German, but I'm trying to learn French now. I've been to Pittsburgh once and all I really remember about it was that there were lots of yellow iron bridges around the city. However, I'm excited to do some research and learn more about it in this class.

 

Megan Lavelle: I am a senior at Penn State.  I am majoring in Geography with a dual option of Geographic Information Science and Urban Development.  I am interested in all aspects of geography, from settlement patterns to Satellite images. Outside of school, I enjoy long-distance running and playing the guitar  In addition, I do not enjoy this, but I have been attempting to look for a job since the begining of this semester...  I was born in Harrisburg, PA, but moved to Columbia, MD until I was in Middle School, then my family moved back to Harrisburg and are currently still living there. When I do find a job, I do not want it to be in Harrisburg, because I

want to experience traveling and living in many different cities throughout the span of my career.  So, I suppose you might be able to tell from my desperate need to travel, I have never been outside of this country, and so I am excited about the interaction with South Africa throughout this course.

 

Bill McLain: I'm a junior in Geography with the option in urban and regional analysis.  I'm interested in architectural history and anthropology and I hope to go to grad school after I  graduate.  I like playing pool.  I don't claim to be any good, but it's fun nonetheless.  I work at a coffee shop on campus, the Espress'ery.  I have a dog named Rocky and he's an English Cocker spaniel.  I guess that's all I can think of right now.

 

William Smith: I'm a Geography major under the Regional Development option. I am from Southwest Philadelphia and I'm a Senior here at Penn State University. I choose the Regional Development option because I want to develop better and safer communities. My hobbies are playing sports, mainly football and basketball and, of course, playing videos games.  I also enjoy drawing and traveling.  After I graduate from Penn State I plan to further my education by getting a Master's degree and then move to a warmer city. Doing my first two years, I attended the Penn State Mckeesport campus so I am quite familiar with the Pittsburgh area.

 

Kristen Wilson:   I am a geography major here at Penn State in my 6th semester.  My hometown is Groton Massachusetts.  I live in a small town 30 miles northwest of Boston.  My town is known because we do not have any street lights and our high school is regional.  I only graduated with 100 students in my high school class.  I am interested in geography and would like to focus more on urban planning and social and humanistic approaches.  In the future I would like to attend grad school for geography, and ultimately work for a municipality or some other large company in planning.  I have visited Pittsburgh several times with friends, but I have never been to Africa.  My farthest travels have been to Hawaii, France and England.  I am looking forward to this class and the interactions with other students, countries, and companies

 

 

South African Participants:

 

Keith Breckenridge:  Hello All.  My apologies for a belated introduction.  I'm a historian based at the University of Natal, but currently teaching at the University of Michigan.  My research is on the relationship between migrant workers and the state in 20th century South Africa.  I'm particularly interested in the ways in which the state and workers sought to manipulate documentary tools to shape the politics of their relationship.  This interest--and a strange fixation with networks and computers--has carried me almost directly into contemporary problems of work, government and information.  Alas, I don't play any kind of musical instrument--my extracurricular activity doesn't get much beyond playing with my four year old daughter and a weekly game of touch rugby, which I miss tremendously in the frozen wilderness of southeast Michigan.  I look forward to learning a great, once again, from this course.

 

 

Mxolisi Mchunu:  I am from Pietermaritzburg (45 minutes drive from Durban). I have just completed my honours in History, where I was exploring Ilanga, the Zulu

newspaper that was established in 1903 by John Dube. I am doing Masters this year. I am also going to be working at Campbell Collection, which the University

of Natal Archive. I am also a Freelance Translator (Zulu to English) I am going to make myself available for the video conferences although I am a busy man this year.

 

Nafisa Sheik: I am a 20 year old honours student (fourth year) in the history department at the University of Natal. I majored in history and political science during my first three years at university and I've developed a bias toward historical perspective on just about everything! I am particularly interested in questions of gender and law in history, but my academic interests have always been pretty wide and include areas of political economy, labour and development as well as issues of human rights. Living in Durban as I do, I love the sun and the sea & I enjoy playing all kinds of sport. Cricket, squash and athletics are special favourites, and I coach kids' sport in my spare time. My music taste has often been criticised as undiscerning - I listen to just about everything (although I do draw the line at jazz!) U2 are all time favourites though, and I do have an unfortunate weakness ;) for popular boy bands. I'! ! m really looking forward to lively discussion and participation in this course, and the comparison of Durban and Pittsburgh which promises to be especially enlightening.

 

Stephen Sparks:  I'm a masters student based in the history department here at the University of Natal in Durban. I'm about to turn 22 (on Thursday!) For my first three years here my two majors were history and geography, and my fourth year research project was a 'historical geography' of South Durban one of the most important regions in our city which has been earmarked since the 1920's through to the present day as a major industrial area (it includes two major oil refineries) I took this course last year for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities it represented to get to grips with the trends we see in work and technology and comparing what’s happening in two seemingly different (but actually quite similar) parts of the world.  Since we're sharing music tastes I enjoy listening to British rock bands such as Radiohead, Blur, Supergrass, Oasis....oh, and I have to admit to a growing infatuation with the lovely Miss Alicia Keys!  I will be facilitating the running of the course from this side together with Prinisha Badassy another masters student based in history (she'll introduce herself to you all soon) and look forward to some great seminars.  The South African students taking the course should be posting their introductions in a while-the new year always starts a bit slowly in Durban....its damn hot!!!!!!!!!