Inside Higher Ed: "The deadline for submission of climate action plans by close to 400 signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment came and went...with not even a quarter of those institutions submitting blueprints on time...Another 135 asked for extensions, citing the need to get approvals from boards of trustees or go through a final stage of evaluation by their local communities in the next few weeks and months. The remaining 169 institutions will be contacted by ACUPCC staff and offered assistance in drafting plans."

Naropa is one of the institutions that requested an extended due date (in our case, January 15, 2010).

Daily Camera: "The dates of the Jewish High Holidays (or Holy Days) moves from year to year, but fall in September and October...a Boulder Jewish Renewal congregation, Pardes Levavot, is really serious about reconciliation, and not just with God...even if many liberal-minded Jews are willing to cross the divide in reaching out to Eastern religions, Judaism and Christianity have seemed, to many, to lie on opposite sides of an unbridgeable divide. Tell that to Pardes Levavot and Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, congregations that have shared a worship space for more than six years."

Rob Hopkins: "How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march?"

Karla McLaren: "I've been studying the conflict between the skeptical community and the metaphysical/new age community for a few decades now, and I think I've finally discovered the central issue that makes communication so difficult. It is not merely, as many surmise, a conflict between fact-based viewpoints and faith-based viewpoints. Nor is it simply a conflict between rationality and credulity. No, it’s a full-on clash of cultures that makes real communication improbable at best."

"The New Liberal Arts project...began earlier this year as a conversation about what a liberal arts education for the 21st century might look like, and ended up as a book, which now reads like a curriculum for a crazy, marvellous university...and it’s now available freely as a PDF."

The American Psychological Association invites: "Read what writing experts say each week about all aspects of writing and style — from publication ethics to precision in reporting research to reference style and the clear expression of ideas."

Via Tenured Radical:

The Women's Review of Books has a blog.

"The Sangat Project brings communities together so that we can learn from each other. We are dedicated to the preservation of cultures around the world. We have worked in the India/Pakistan (Punjab) border region, where cultural heritage has been sacrificed for political factionalism. Unfortunately, the people suffer when they are denied access to their own history because of an accident of geography and government policies."

Waylon Lewis in the Huffington Post: "Bill McKibben and Climate Scientists in Boulder: A Critical Report."

Longmont Times-Call: "Grain by grain, Dorjee is assembling a Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala in the Bhutanese tradition at the Longmont Buddhist Temple this week."

Via the Allen Ginsberg Project:

Tom Clark reminisces about Jim Carroll, poet and author of The Basketball Diaries, who died this past Friday at the age of 60.

The Allen Ginsberg Project: "In 1987 Sony Corp gave out a batch of High 8 cams to artists and writers around the world, and in return they asked that each make a movie. Allen got one, and Household Affairs was the result. Edited by Allen's close friend and accompanist, Steven Taylor, this was filmed over a period of two months, October-November, 1987."

Via Theolog:

"America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian...But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity."

"Global Village Academy (GVA), an Aurora public charter school, has been awarded a five-year, $1.4 million Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant by the U.S. Department of Education...Grant monies will enable GVA, a charter school that currently offers successful Chinese language immersion, to develop a program designed to address the critical shortfalls that hinder students’ ability to reach advanced levels of proficiency in Chinese as a second language...Currently there are no Teachers of Chinese certification programs in Colorado. Under the FLAP grant, GVA will attempt to tackle this challenge by offering intensive professional development to current Chinese language teachers, and partnering with Naropa University in Boulder to create an alternative teacher’s licensure program. Headed by Dr. Debra Young, Chair of the Education Department, Naropa will offer an onsite program at GVA that enable teachers to be fully employed as a Chinese language instructor at GVA, while simultaneously receiving their teaching license."

The main library will be closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The Paramita library services desk, which is ordinarily closed on weekends, will be closed on Monday as well. Have a great long weekend, and we'll see everyone on Tuesday, September 8!

Via Inside Higher Ed:

"In search of wisdom found in unlikely places, The Philosopher Kings takes us on a journey through the halls of the most prestigious colleges and universities in America to learn from the staff members who see it all and have been through it all: the custodians."

Daily Camera: "Boulder's Naropa University getting a fresh look...New president, student center remodel among changes as school year begins."