Occupational therapy students solve problems for physically disabled

Melissa Clowers

Coloni Brown

Christine Deboda

EL CAJON – One woman no longer had sufficient strength in her wrist to twist open the cap on the fuel tank of her car.  A woman fighting cancer had lost the strength to lift her potted flowers to her gardening table. A young man with cerebral palsy couldn’t lower his finger sufficiently to click his computer mouse.  A woman who was far too stylish to wear a bib was embarrassed to go out to dinner because her hands shook so much she’d spill food and drink on herself. 

All these problems—and more—have been solved by Grossmont College students who are studying to become occupational therapy assistants. And none of their assistive technology solutions cost more than $25 each.

Student Christine Deboda created a wrench-like tool that her mother could fit around her car’s gas cap, which made opening it a cinch. Melissa Clowers created a garden pulley with a simple crank that could raise a potted plant to the table at which the cancer sufferer could sit.  Luis Velazquez disassembled a computer mouse and placed the clicker controls inside one glove, and the cursor control inside another.  When his friend moved his hands around inside the glove, he was overcome with emotion. “Now I can get a job!” he enthused. To enable her grandmother to go to social events without embarrassment, Coloni Brown designed some fancy blouses that were protected with Scotch guard, so that spilled liquids would just ball up on them, and food could be brushed off without smearing.

Deboda, Clowers, Velazequez and Brown all are learning to become occupational therapy assistants in a class taught by Darlene Cook, who has been devising solutions for people with disabilities for much of her professional career. 

Cook advised these students and others in her class to observe relatives, friends or neighbors who might have physical difficulties performing everyday tasks and then to devise a solution from readily available materials costing less than $25, so that the solutions would be financially feasible.

In a recent interview Cook disclosed that many of the students at first were dubious they could fulfill the requirements of the assignment. “Oh I could never do that!” more than one said.  But Cook insisted that if they observed the person carefully—understanding exactly what task they wanted to do and what were the impediments—they would be able to come up with a solution. For a period after deciding what disability they wanted to tackle, the students were permitted to consult with Cook, who rather than telling them how to do it, asked questions to help them discover solutions.

“Then came D-Day,” when the students had to commit to creating a certain device, Cook said.

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Among some of the other inventions:

--Therese Williams’ cup  sleeve with handles on two sides that helped a person who was unable to grasp objects with only one hand to drink in comfort.

-- Christine Flores’ pan stabilizer, consisting of a bracket that could fit over the handle of a pan or the rim of a bowl.  It enabled a person who could not hold such items to scramble eggs, or toss a salad.

--Linda Joghlassian’s “slice and dice” box that helped someone with shaking hands to dice the vegetable though a grate by closing the lid of the box.

--Patti Risi’s pouch sewn onto the back of a wheelchair into which the user could store a board when it was not being used as a lap table.

--Jennifer Gonzales’ “shakeless sleeve” to help a person with tremors to fasten weights to his arm with Velcro and thereby be able to handle tools.

--Frank Espiritu’s “grip and snip” gloves with Velcro that attached to clippers and other tools that also were equipped with Velcro, to help prevent a woman from dropping her tools.

--Liz Pacoan’s “Pull ‘Ems Pressing Aid” which with clamps and chords that loop over the wrists help  someone pull up his or her pants.

--Travis Nickerson’s “Power Grip Glove” helping a man with rheumatoid arthritis to hold onto a screwdriver and get sufficient torque to use it.

--Shannon Ingersoll’s “Skin Integrity Sleeve” which when worn could protect the wearer against rashes or bruises.  An insert in the sleeve could protect gardeners against thorns.

--Christy Lynch’s “Weighted Arm Trough” which allowed a man with arm tremors to slip his arm into the trough and keep his hand steady enough to write checks.

--Carissa Rocha’s “Give a Guy a Hand” device that wrapped around a person’s hand and a tool permitting the user to brush his hair or his teeth.

--Carlyn Stech’s “E-Z Crush” which allows a person with difficulty grasping objects to drop a pill in a container, put the container in a slot, and then pull down a lever, crushing the pill into a powder in the container. The power may be then stirred into a drink, apple sauce or oat meal for easier swallowing.

--Nikita Lindsay’s “space paper,” which allows a child who can’t space out printed letters to write them inside a cut out space on a plastic sheet. Different sheets correspond to the widths of different size rules on school paper.

--Cathy Zombro’s “Zip Me,” an extension device that allows a woman who can’t easily flex her arms and shoulders to zip up the back of her dress.

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Therapy dogs help relieve the stress of finals

Morgan Rain and her new friend Muddy

EL CAJON -- Therapy Dogs Muddy and Kimo and their canine friends made their temporary homes outside the Grossmont College Library on Wednesday, Dec. 4.  Their missions--which they joyfully performed -- were to help reduce stress among students preparing for their final examinations.

Among the students who enjoyed petting and cuddling the four-legged volunteers from the Independent Therapy Dogs organization was Morgan Rain, who said the dogs were a perfect opportunity to give her mind some respite from upcoming exams in economics and calculus.

"I think animals are of a different type than humans," she reflected. "They are accepting, and when you pet them you kind of forget about your stress and you are able to connect with another creature."

She said she had been crossing campus when she spotted the dogs on the library lawn. At first she passed them, then doubled back, deciding that she really wanted to pet a dog.  "I like thinking about how dogs live in the moment," she said.  "Just look at their faces, they are so serene."

Muddy is a 2 1/2 year old golden retriever and Kimo is his five-month old son. Their owner, Sandy Story, said that in order to qualify as therapy dogs, the two also had to pass various tests-- although they didn't stress over them like some humans do. 

"They have to be able to sit, be able to stay, and want to be petted," she said.  "Depending on where we go, they have to be okay with having their tails pulled or their faces pulled.  Their temperament must be one that they enjoy people."

To become Canine Good Citizens, they also have to be able to lie down and stay in that position while their owner walks 25 feet away and back to them.   Afterwards, when the owners call them from a distance, they have to come.  To become certified as therapy dogs, they also need to understand the command 'leave it' so, for example, when they are visiting patients in hospitals, "they don't pick up bloody gauze, or needles, or syringes."

The therapy dog program on campus was organized several years ago by librarian Nadra Farina-Hess, after she took her own Boxer dog to a hospital to visit her ailing mother, and found that everyone--patients, nurses, doctors and other staff -- all enjoyed petting the dog.

Besides students, the therapy dog visit attracted some television coverage on the Grossmont College campus.  Here is a story that was carried over the CBS affiliate KFMB-TV:  http://www.cbs8.com/story/24136581/therapy-dogs-help-students-cope-with-finals-stress/

Student ceramicists showcase their pottery at Grossmont College

Art Prof. Jeff Irwin admires pitcher by student Leanne Ludvik

EL CAJON—For ceramic students, the outdoor exhibit on Grossmont College’s Main Quad on Tuesday, Dec. 3,  was an opportunity to test how well their work would be accepted in the market place. For passersby  the exhibit was a chance to purchase some one-of-a-kind holiday gifts.

Brandon Brusky with his sculptures

Brandon Brusky, a Navy veteran, had among his works for sale a multicolored Ode to Dr. Seuss, an abstract Madonnna and Child, and a large,abstract chess bishop.
  
Instructor Jeff Irwin praised each of these works as being “loose, gestural, and having a certain boldness that other works might not have.” He said they were in “very strong contrast to some of the other students’ work that is very delicate.”

While he is not certain that he could make a full-time living from making ceramics, Brusky said he is convinced that it could be a lucrative, and pleasant, way to make supplemental income. He has supported himself as a cook for many years.

His Ode to Dr. Seuss was a multicolored sculpture, which Brusky designed as a vehicle to try out different varieties and hues of glaze. The Madonna and Child started with the union of a little pot and a big pot.  To make the head  for the larger pot he tipped yet another pot at a precarious angle. The components of the bishop came from the potter's wheel, and then Brusky  fashioned its face by hand.

A table away was art work by student Andi Duke, who said she likes to make her pieces in “really pleasant shapes – round and curvy, kind of like a woman.”

Andi Duke

She said she often compares her pots to “sexy ladies – I really like the curviness.  I am trying to get that in my work, with a lot of colors.”

Rather than being a sculpture of a woman that might sit on a shelf or lodge in a breakfront, Duke prefers that her pieces have functionality, such as a vase, a plate or a cup. “I think the best part about pottery is that it is not art that sits on your wall for you to look at, but is art that you can interact with every day,” she said.

Like Brusky, she believes ceramics will be a supplemental income source for her.  She also is learning American Sign Language with the expectation that someday she might teach art in a class for deaf children.

Examining Duke’s work, Professor Irwin commented, “she is throwing very functional forms, but they have a sense of softness, a roundness, and a feminine characteristic.”  Turning a cup over in his hands, he added.  “They have this feminine aspect, very light, very thin.” 

He also expressed pleasure over designs of butterflies that Duke had transferred to the inside of a cup.

A few more tables away, another ceramic caught Irwin’s eye – a pitcher that was covered with little pads, such as one might see on the tentacle of an octopus. In fact, said the student ceramicist, Leanne Ludvik, the design was inspired by a sea anemone, which can have the same kind of bumps on its body.

“Most of my works are sea-life related,” she said. “I had the idea for a long time, but I hadn’t decided what shape I wanted to put it into. For a while I was thinking a round shape to emulate the shape of the animal, but then I made this pitcher. I decided the effect would be more interesting on a shape like this than on a round shape.”

So she “squished” down little pads of clay and added them in columnar fashions around the pitcher.  “I really like the radial symmetry of it,” she said.  “It has a nice flow.”   

The pitcher is subtly painted in such pastel colors as green, yellow and orange, Irwin noted.  Breaking up the design is a white horizontal ring—which Irwin agreed made the piece even more interesting. 

“This piece goes beyond being a pitcher,” Irwin said approvingly of the work. “She took the idea of a pitcher and added all this detail, symbolism, and gave all this attention to detail. I want to pick it up, examine it, feel it, and I really want to spend time with it.”

Ludvik has taken classes in painting and sculpture, “and I still love painting—I like to incorporate it into my work.” A friend suggested they take a ceramics course together “so I did it for fun, and now I am into it!”

For all three students, deciding which of their pieces to sell proved a difficult task. Brusky said he left at home a ceramic turtle that he made, so there would be no chance to sell it.  Duke that it is very hard to give up some of her pieces – especially “those that I’ve just made or just finished. I need some time with them before I let them go.”  Likewise, Ludvik said about the pitcher that Irwin was praising, “a big part of me does not want to sell it, but it would be a nice thing to let things go, I guess.”

The professor said that besides teaching technique to students, “we want them to try to figure out what their style is, what they relate to in terms of form, color, volume and mass, and really analyze that, look at it, and try to develop their own unique visions.”

-DHH-

Art show explores symbiotic relationship of painting and cinema

Between Patricia Patterson's "Patricia and Codin" and the late Manny Farber's "No Pencil" still life, stand artists Leslie Nemour, Jim Randall, Patterson and Bill Mosley at an exhibit at the Hyde Art Gallery on the Grossmont College campus

EL CAJON--An art exhibit to be shown through Thursday, Dec. 12, at Grossmont College's Hyde Art Gallery explores how artists are influenced by their mentors.  The works of five artists are examined, including those of the late Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson, a husband-and-wife team who inspired the works and careers of the three other artists represented in the exhibit.

The three "mentees," who today are successful artists in their own right,  are Bill Mosley, today an art instructor at Grossmont College; Leslie Nemour, who likewise teaches art at Miracosta College, and Jim Randall, who is a practicing artist in New York City.  All three took classes from Farber and Patterson when they were on the faculty at UCSD.  Farber and Patterson taught that paintings and films could mutually influence each other, and  the works of Mosley, Nemour and Randall, help to demonstrate that relationship.

Mentors Farber and Patterson

For this, the late Manny Farber is chiefly responsible as he was both a painter and a movie critic, whose reviews were published regularly in such prestigious magazines as New Republic, The Nation, Artforum and Art in America. Farber's reviews rarely dealt with the plots of the movies but rather focused on themes, movements, colors, and other aspects of the cinematographer’s art.  He looked at films the way a painter would examine paintings and he studied paintings from the perspective of a film maker, according to Mosley. 

When Farber was 49 and already an established critic, he was introduced to Patterson, about whom famed photographer Helen Leavitt wrote to him, "I met this young girl and I think the two of you would like each other." Patterson was 25 at the time, but their age difference mattered little, so transported  were the couple by each other's art and outlooks on life.  Very soon after meeting, they became married collaborators--she, of Irish background, whose paintings explored her ancestral country, and he the son of Jewish immigrants who had set down roots in Douglas, Arizona.

Growing up in the small town of Douglas, her husband had seen every movie that came to the two movie houses, Patterson said.  “He was born in 1917 so we are talking about very early film. He started out with the silent movies.”  Farber also frequented the town’s library, “where he would study writing – how writing was done.  He was a very, very hard worker.” 

In the entry exhibit space of the Hyde Gallery are two large paintings by these mentors -- a 26" by 40" still life by Farber entitled "No Film" and a 4'2 x 65" scene by Patterson which she titled "Patricia and Coidin" after a couple who had been her hosts in Ireland.  Patterson was an advocate of artists painting what was familiar to them, rather than forcing themselves to try to make some big statement.

As curated by Grossmont College's Prudence Horne, the balance of the exhibit space in the gallery is devoted to the works of Mosley, Nemour and Randall.  Each of these artists spoke about how film affects their painting.  While their subjects are quite different, there are some similarities in how Mosley, Nemour and Randall go about their paintings.  All three of them begin either with the images they find in movies or on still film.  All three of them typically will draw or paint a small, test version of the work that they ultimately will create.

Grossmont College instructor Bill Mosley stands by his freeway bridge series

William Mosley

Mosley likes to paint different kinds of landscapes. Instead of those that view a scene from a horizontal perspective, as most people are used to seeing, his studies look down from the air toward the ground.  At the gallery, a sequence of three large paintings gives us the sense of approaching, flying directly over, and departing from the airspace above the Interstate 805 freeway bridge as it crosses over Interstate 8 in Mission Valley. 

Using the photos he took on a helicopter ride—along with images from Google Satellite photos—Mosley paints and repaints the scene, varying the perspective.

Leslie Nemour poses by one of her 'Fistfight' series

Leslie Nemour

Nemour had a dozen paintings on display in the gallery, all of them involving fistfights, wrestling matches or other types of physical violence. The images are intentionally blurred to give the sense that the depiction “is not forever, it is moving, it is changing and it is a moment in time,” she explained. 

The paintings are not a glorification of violence, but to the contrary are an effort to come to terms with it, she said.  “I am kind of making it into something else; I am making it symbolic of more contemporary kinds of fights, which are struggles for belief systems.” The fight scenes are intriguingly titled as battles over Feminism (the only one in which the subjects are women), Realism, Obama Care, Gay Marriage, Roe vs. Wade (abortion), Futurism and Cubism.   A companion piece, “Fight Over Conceptual Art,” has a perplexed woman holding her face in her hands. 

Jim Randall is framed by two of his paintings of fire

Jim Randall

Randall’s images are far more abstract, but they too start with photographs.  He pointed to a large canvas covered in hues of red and orange.  Initially, he said, he saw a newspaper photograph of a fire.  He magnified a section of the photograph until he had eliminated all that surrounded the flames, so that he could concentrate on the interior of the fire itself.  And that, in abstract, was what he painted.

“Before, I was making things that were much more recognizable – the same material, the same source material, but I wasn’t happy with it,” he said. “So I decided to zoom in as if it were a movie and get more atmosphere into the painting.”  He also gets more “physically active” in executing the painting, using a string dipped in paint and then flogging the color onto the painting.  He supplements this technique with brush strokes.  He said he utilizes some very expensive materials, such as linen instead of canvas, rabbit skin glue/ resin,  and a particular line of paints from Germany.

Randall zooms in like a movie to find the desired image; Nemour blurs movie images;  and Mosley sequences his paintings as you might see them on a strip of movie film.  The influence of cinema—and the  love for the medium taught by Farber--is manifest. 

-DHH-

Triple Coincidence: Thanksgiving , Chanukah and Comet ISON perihelion

Professor Ross Cohen

As if Thanksgiving and the first day of Chanukah falling on the same day were not coincidence enough, the comet ISON will be at its closest point to the sun—about 750,000 miles away-- on that day, Thursday, Nov. 28th.

Grossmont College Astronomy Prof. Ross Cohen says for people who don’t have the proper equipment for comet watching,  at the time of its closest approach to the sun, it is safest to turn to the Internet or to television to view images from satellites that will be tracking the comet from various vantage points in space.

At its closest point to the sun, called the perihelion, Comet ISON skims past the sun– as viewed from Earth.  But various satellites have other vantage points and might even see it cross in front of the sun.
If Comet ISON survives the transit, it is expected to display a bright trail of rock, ice and other space materials gathered from its origin in the mammoth Oort Cloud, a vast expanse of comets surrounding our solar system.  Cohen suggests that pre-dawn in the first several days of December may be the safest time to see the comet because viewers won’t have to contend with the sun’s glare.

Comet ISON is named for the International Scientific Optical Network, under whose auspices two Russian scientists -- Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok—spotted the comet at a distance of 6 A U on September 21, 2012.  An A U is the distance between the Earth and the Sun, approximately 93 million miles.

In that it was visible by telescope more than a year before it would reach perihelion prompted a lot of speculation among astronomers that the Comet ISON might be among the brightest ever observed, Cohen said.  But further analysis of its narrow elliptical orbit helped pinpoint its origin to the Oort Cloud, which is up to 50,000 times farther from the Sun than is the Earth.

In that ISON comes from the Oort Cloud, rather than from the closer Kuiper Belt, it can be reasoned that it has been traveling hundreds of thousands of years in its first trip to our solar system since some unknown event occurred to knock it out of its previous orbit.  “It either had a collision with some other Oort Cloud object or possibly  the gravity of a passing star could have perturbed its orbit and sent it on one heading for the sun,” Cohen said.

Unlike comets that have gone around the sun before and have survived the trip, Comet ISON faces a more uncertain future as it approaches and reaches perihelion, Cohen said.  “It could disintegrate and when it comes around we could see nothing, or the ice could be greatly energized by the sun.  All comets leave some sort of trail of dust and water vapor and the more this material spreads out, the more extravagant that is going to be – unless it gets too hot, and then it would go bust.”

Cohen says the convergence of the American Thanksgiving holiday, the Jewish Chanukah holiday, and ISON perihelion is a remarkable triple coincidence—but that is all it is, a coincidence.

Thanksgiving is celebrated on a solar calendar.  Chanukah is celebrated on a lunar calendar, to which a full month is added in certain years to stay synchronized with the solar calendar.  Comets can travel for hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years, he said.
-DHH-

Over 240 high school students attend Day of Dance at Grossmont College

High school students practice dance moves at Grossmont College (Photo: Stephen Harvey)

EL CAJON – With California’s cash-starved K-12  public schools often feeling forced to deemphasize the arts in order to provide education in traditional academic subjects, East County high schools in cooperation with Grossmont College have an encouraging message for students with aspirations toward careers in the performing and visual arts.  There’s light --and movement--at the end of the tunnel!

More than 260 students from eight East County high schools recently attended technique classes and performances put on by Grossmont College’s Dance Department to familiarize themselves with the wide range of opportunities for aspiring dancers.

Prof. Kathy Meyer said that the high school students were treated on Friday, Nov. 15, to an abbreviated performance of “Breaking Boundaries,” the dance concert that Grossmont College presented in three performances last week at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre in San Diego.

In addition, high school students from Valhalla, Grossmont, Monte Vista, San Pasqual, Ramona, El Capitan, Helix Charter, and San Diego SCPA got to try their feet in a variety of dances demonstrated by Grossmont faculty.

David Mullen instructed the Jazz, Partnering, and Contact Improvisation classes, Kathy Meyer taught the Pilates mat classes, Melissa Adao instructed the Hip Hop classes as well as a Horton style Modern Dance class, Debi Toth-Ward instructed a Modern Dance class in the Taylor technique, Nancy Boskin-Mullen taught sections of both Salsa and Swing dance, and Colleen Shipkowski instructed the Ballet classes.

Meyer said over the years the day of dance has proven popular with serious young dancers.  “We often hear from students that their visit to Grossmont College for the High School Dance Day was the deciding factor in attending Grossmont College after their high school graduation,” she said. 

“It is an exciting event for the high school students, the Grossmont College dance instructors, and the high school dance educators and allows for a dialog that would not be possible without the one-on-one connection created during this annual event.”

-DHH-

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Editors: An interesting discussion on the status of the arts in K-12 schools may be found at http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2013/05/31/are-the-arts-dead-in-californias-public-schools/ideas/up-for-discussion/