The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

Letter to the editor

Editor, The Channels

In a fitting legacy, the late anthropology professor Henry Bagish wrote: “From this gnarled, twisted, shattered tree, sprouts new green life–continuity.” The poem, cited last Thursday at the dedication of the Henry Bagish Overlook (“Hank’s Hill”), is a fitting tribute to his life and work of 50 years at City College. One of his legacies has indeed sprouted new green life: “Cultures Around the World 121-126.” When I started as the instructor of anthropology 121-126 in late 2002, one of my aims was to see to it that the course would retain its relevance through updated documentaries and the expansion of its cultural coverage. Five years later, thanks in part to a grant from the McDougall Course Improvement program, we have realized this promise. The number of cultural modules has increased from 39 to 44, with more on the way. We have increased and updated our DVD and video collection. And thanks to Henry’s son, Alan, all the slides created by his father will be reformatted into CDs by the end of this year. A host of individuals helped made this course a reality in continuity: from Janice Chase who smoothly runs the LRC-end of the course, to sociology professor Jill Stein and Dean Alice Sharper, who saw to the funding for updating this course. I will continue to work toward connecting the past cultures to the future in Cultures Around the World, as was Henry Bagish’s aim for this course from its inception. I invite all City College students to consider taking this course and see what we all can learn from cultures not our own.

-?Paul V. McDowell

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