Not a bad way to wake up.

This morning I woke up to a surprise. Sam and I were on the front page of the Style section in the Washington Post. The background story: We were on a father/son outing picking up my guitar from a major repair and I decided to check out a few new ones that are way out of my price range. I picked up a Martin and a lady with a camera walked in the room. She introduced herself as a photographer for the Post and started taking pictures. She said the paper was doing a feature story on Chuck Levin's because it was an extremely successful independently owned music store (I guess that's pretty odd).

Nikki, the photographer, said that we may make the paper, but I never imagined what we found this morning. It was above the fold and about 5"x8"--that's huge! I was impressed. Sam reaction was classic. He looked at it as if he expected it to be there. I imagine he'll search future papers for a picture of himself. What can you say, he's famous! But lest it get to his head, I let him know they misspelled his name on the caption.

Samuel Godswa 2 1/2, beams as dad Michael strums a guitar at Chuck Levin's
Washington Music Center, a magnet for musicians the world over.

Interested in the article? Here's the link

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"Educators need not worry that religious involvement detracts from students' college experience"

This is an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education forwarded to me by our univeristy chaplain. I thought you may find it interesting.

A glance at the winter issue of Liberal Education: How faith affects education Educators need not worry that religious involvement detracts from students' college experience, say George D. Kuh and Robert M. Gonyea, who are the director and associate director, respectively, of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University at Bloomington.

Many faculty members, the authors write, believe that students who arrive at college with devout religious beliefs "are conditioned to resist the 'liberal learning' curriculum and may graduate without seriously re-examining their beliefs and values." But, based on data from the National Survey of Student Engagement, an annual study that the Indiana center conducts, Mr. Kuh and Mr. Gonyea conclude that there is no cause for alarm.

After examining nearly 150,000 responses from students at 461 colleges chosen to reflect the higher-education landscape, the authors found that "spirituality-enhancing activities do not seem to hinder, and may even have mildly salutary effects on, engagement in educationally purposeful activities and desired outcomes of college." Students who actively engage in "spirituality-enhancing practices" -- such as worship, meditation, and prayer -- also participate more in a wide range of collegiate and extracurricular activities, such as exercise and community service, the authors say. They also spend less time partying. Perhaps most important, however, is that such practices were not found to have a negative impact on other "desirable
activities, such as studying, deep learning, or extracurricular involvements."

Mr. Kuh and Mr. Gonyea note that although students at faith-based universities were found to be most engaged in spiritual practices, they were less inclined to participate in activities associated with liberal education -- such as conversing with students whose viewpoints differ from their own. Yet this seems to be more than anything the result of the relatively homogeneous makeup of most faith-based institutions, they say.

The article, "Spirituality, Liberal Learning, and College Student Engagement," is available at http://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-wi06/lewi06_perspective1.cfm The latest report from the National Survey of Student Engagement is available at http://nsse.iub.edu/pdf/NSSE2005_annual_report.pdf

--Jason M. Breslow

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Our February Newsletter is Published

For those of you on our mailing list you should have received our February edition of the Collegiate Chronicles along with your other snail mail this week. If you mistook it for a credit card offer, don't worry, it's in the archive. Click here to take a look.

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Rock Stars

Live from Washington, DC...2 year old sensations...it's Noise Complaint!!!

There's Sam and his friend Symon in their weekly jam session. Notice Sam's concentration, his perfect form. I think I'm being modest when I say he'd make a perfect front-man. Step aside Dave Matthews!

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Another step

*sniff* Sam's *sniff* growing up *sniff* so quickly...

Here's his latest feat. Drum roll please. Sam has said "bye-bye" to the crib. Yes, he has joined the big boy world by steping up to a toddler bed! Looks pretty proud doesn't he? Like the pacifer, he made the transition like a champ. We bought in on Craig's List, set it up in his room and he slept in it the same night. Sam used his crib exclusively as a trampoline for the next few days until Daddy got around to taking it down (always spoiling the fun).

Now if only potty training could be this easy!

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