Designing Spaces for Education

A Building with a Mission

St. Coletta School, unveiled September 2006 in Washington, DC, aims to "teach life and job skills to students with the most severe cognitive disabilities, including autism and mental retardation."

Houses are where students will work with teachers and therapists over the course of several years. "Each house is painted a different color, with a transitional color between them. The idea, says Robert Miller, the project architect, is for students to be able to identify a defined space and feel at home in it."



The atrium runs "like a spine through the center of the building. It is free of nooks and crannies autistic children like to hide in."

I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time a while ago and was intrigued by autism. Christopher suffers from Ausperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. He is a mathematical savant with a photographic memory and is extremely observant, though he has difficulty understanding human emotions and facial expressions.

Miracle Run, a Lifetime movie (yes I know...Lifetime), is also very accurate in its portrayal of life with autistic children. If you've ever wanted to know more about autism, I suggest reading and/or watching both of the above.

Battle of the Boulevard!

It's that time again! Battle of the Boulevard time!

From Nashville and don't know what the Battle is about? Well, you're really missing out!

The Battle is an intense collegiate basketball game between Belmont and Lipscomb Universities...and it's happening January 12.

Get your tickets today...before they're all gone!

Celebrities and Royals use the loo, too

Intrigued?

So was I.

Find the Queen and more here and at ABC News.

Ditch the Dish...

And I'm not talking about satellite television here people...

I'm talking about your microwaveable dinners and whatnot. After reading this, you might reconsider quick and easy.

Ten Reasons to Throw Out Your Microwave Oven

by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1). Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de- polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].

2). The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.

3). Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.

4). The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.

5). Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.

6). The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.

7). Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.

8). The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.

9). Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10). Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

And so begins a new year...

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that y'all were safe in everything you did last night, as well as throughout the entire Christmas season. Hopefully, there are good stories to tell...but not too good, if you know what I mean...and I think you do... :)

Tell me, what are your New Year's resolutions? How do y'all plan on "bettering" yourselves in this new year? Are you going for the routine, but ever appropriate "lose weight/get fit"? Or instead, are you getting more creative and personal? Of course, not at all saying that getting fit and losing weight are not personal...not by any means.

I haven't got all of mine down yet, but I know two thus far. I will keep you updated and I expect you to keep me in check.

First off, I want to go to church more often. This year I have come up with some pretty lame excuses as to why I haven't been able to go to church...when this year, above all others, I have had more reasons to be thankful and to be in church. I always start off with the best intentions but they quickly give way as life gets in the way. What is the saying? Ohh, that's right, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Riiight.

The second is that I want to volunteer more. I give money when I can...but it's hard to for me to give money when I don't have that much to begin with. But this doesn't mean that I can't give with my time. Or just think of this, if I decided cut one eat-out dinner per month from my budget, that would be $180 that I could give annually. $180! Just for cutting one meal out per month.

So, those are my two resolutions thus far. If you feel like sharing yours, please feel free! If not, I'm sure they are great anyway!

I hope you all have a blessed 2007!