The Examined Life: The Learning Together Resour...

Introduction: I am an independent scholar, musician, singer, writer, editor, participant in artistic and creative projects of all kinds, activist, and the mom of special-needs cats, with an insatiable appetite for learning about pretty much everything and a long history and love of teaching and learning from others. I am deeply concerned with the way public education employs what I call the "Parrot-Education Method," which is dominating the majority of our K-12 public schools. It should not be surprising that students are struggling more than ever, given the lowered standards and disappearing classes in the arts and humanities and the increased emphasis on the idea that what matters for any course is the grade assigned, along with the decreased concern regarding whether the student gained anything meaningful by attending and passing the class. My aim is to help others discover the excitement that can and should come with facing a challenge and the absolute joy that follows the success of having worked hard and successfully meeting the terms of the challenge, whether it's in the capacity of a tutor, an editor, a collaborator, or a research assistant or engaging in evaluating one's life as it is now and as one desires to be in the future. I believe that learning and more importantly, understanding even the most-dreaded subjects can and should be able to be presented in a way that is exciting and relevant to each individual's hopes and goals for his/her life. Taking the cue from Socrates, a part of my preferred approach when working with someone through the process of understanding and improving in the desired ways involves engaging with them in the examination and reflection on those hopes and goals, so that they may go on to the next phase of pursuing a life worth living. My pricing is reasonable, and I am willing to negotiate the cost based on an hourly rate or custom project package. My clients and projects vary widely, although the majority of my own writing, whether published or presented at conferences and workshops include a long list of potentially intimidating sounding work. I will offer a partial list of my Academic work just to give you an idea of some of the areas I have expertise in. I love engaging in all sorts of projects, and I really enjoy talking with people and having fun doing whatever the task is. I am an animal lover, and am also happy to work out babysitting for your fur-kids. Last year I played bass guitar with a SF local band, but that was also interrupted by life. I've taught piano, but all of my instruments are in a storage unit at the moment. I've written articles for an online magazine, which is no longer in production, but I have the articles if you'd like to read my work: it includes an anti-war article prior to the invasion 14 years ago, an interview with Amanda Palmer when she was with The Dresden Dolls and on tour with NIN, and a concert review. I have experience in organizing and event planning. One I am most proud of is organizing the Intermountain West Student Philosophy Conference in 2008 for graduate and a few undergraduate students from the U.S. and a couple of presenters came from international locations. Organizing and planning included budgeting, and then finding ways to raise the money: I was able to get $11,000 in funding from a variety of sources, which is the record amount raised before or since (the previous amount raised for the two conferences organized by another graduate student topped out at $2000. The following organizer managed to raise $1000). I was also able to secure one of the most important, and difficult to get, contemporary philosophers, David Chalmers, Ph.D.. While I had subcommittees, my vision was bigger and required more work than what the majority of other graduate students were willing to do, so I did all of the fundraising, and event planning for a 2-day conference--feel free to ask for more details, but a few other parts of the event planning and coordinating included the good fortune of getting Professor Chalmers to agree to be our keynote speaker, in addition to giving a second talk that's for the public and one for the conference. We had a beautifully catered post-talk gathering after the free-to-the-public event, I hosted two parties at my home. I still have people contact me to let me know how much fun they had, and asking me when I'm going to organize another event. I have spent 18 years working on my undergraduate degrees (B.A. English major, Philosophy, Political Science, and Pre-Law minors. I had the luxury of taking my time in graduate school, although I finished my M.A. in 2 years, but I was more interested in learning than rushing out to get a "real job". My Ph.D. is almost finished, but I have taken leave from my department due to the unpredictability life brings. which Academic Conference participation presenting my own papers, presenting commentary papers in response to fellow philosophers' paper presentations, philosophy conference paper presentations Teaching Assistant position for a graduate level course on The Nature of Religious Experience offered by Professor Michael Lee Sudduth, Ph.D. at SFSU, Grader and Teaching Assistant for a graduate level course on The History of Ancient Greek Philosophy offered by Professor Allen Code, Ph.D. at The Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University New Brunswick, I have taught my own courses as an Adjunct Professor for the Department of Philosophy at The University of Utah, and Weber State University (also in Utah). Courses I taught include Introduction to Philosophy, Critical Thinking, and Contemporary Moral Problems. I have been a Teaching Assistant at the University of Utah, where I did my graduate work in Philosophy, and a sample of the courses I assisted with include Introduction to Philosophy, World Religions, Critical Thinking, and Engineering Ethics, which provided me the opportunity to co-author the following paper: * Engineering Ethics -- A Collaboration between Engineering and Philosophy by JoAnn S. Lighty, Margaret P. Battin, Angela R. Harris, and Gordon B. Mower, presented at the ASEE conference in June 2004. More academic presentations and refereed papers: * Bridging a Gap Within The Gap: Strengthening the Link Between Primary and Secondary Possibility by Angela Harris and Melissa Ebbers, presented in Tucson at the Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference, April 2008. * On the Possibility of Particularist Willing: A Reply to Korsgaard presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in January 2005. * Korsgaard, Particularism and the Antichrist: A Defense of Particularist Agency presented at the Pacific Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in March 2003. * Nietzsche's Ethics: Do They Exist? -- presented at the spring meeting of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters in March 1998. Academic publications: * Lyra's Journey to the World of the Dead: Who's Going with Me? in The Golden Compass and Philosophy, Richard Greene and Rachel Robison eds., Open Court Press, November 2009. * Bridging a Gap Within The Gap: Strengthening the Link Between Primary and Secondary Possibility Center for Consciousness Studies, Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference 2008 Abstract Book, abstract no.26, available online * Nietzsche's Ethics: Do They Exist? Utah Academy Journal, Spring 1999. Academic conference presentation commentaries: * The Natural Time of a Natural Kind by Andrea Borghini, Inland Northwest Conference of Philosophy in March 2009. * Elusive Causation: Does Quiddistic Contingentism Defeat Lewis Counterfactual Analysis of Causation? by Georg Theiner, Intermountain West Student Philosophy Conference in February 2004. * Paying the Price for the Transitivity of Causation by Christopher Kane, Pacific Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in March 2004. Academic conference paper presentations by invitation: * Bridging a Gap Within The Gap: Strengthening the Link Between Primary and Secondary * Possibility by Angela Harris and Melissa Ebbers, presented at the Rutgers Graduate Student Workshop, March 2008. * Ulysses is not Enough: Using Aristotle to Inform us about contemporary Treatment Methods for Bipolar Patients presented at the Central Division meeting of the APA, April 2006. * To Be or Not to Be: A Continuum-Valued Case for the Existence of Ordinary Objects presented at the April meeting of the Rosenblatt Junior Speaker Series, Salt Lake City, 2004. * A Defense of Incommensurability and Value in Theory Choice: Kuhn Reconsidered presented at the March meeting of the University of Utah's philosophy club, Salt Lake City, 2003. * Korsgaard, Particularism and the Antichrist: A Defense of Particularist Agency, presented at the November meeting of Weber State University's philosophy club, Ogden, 2002 and the December meeting of the University of Utah's philosophy club, Salt Lake City, 2002. * Group-Work in the Classroom: A Way for Students to Take an Active Role in the Learning Process, presented at the November meeting of the University of Utah's philosophy club, Salt Lake City, 1999. * An Examination of The Problem of Evil Through the Eyes of Dostoevsky and Hume, presented for the University of Utah's Introduction to Philosophy class, Salt Lake City, October 1999. * Nietzsche's Ethics: Is There Such a Thing and What Does it Have to do With Aristotle? presented at the November meeting of Weber State University's philosophy club, Ogden, 1998. * Aristotle's Criticisms of Plato's Forms presented at the October meeting of the University of Utah's philosophy club, Salt Lake City, 1998. * The Nuts and Bolts of Writing Argumentative Essays presented at the annual Rocky Mountain Peer Tutoring Conference, Ogden, January 1998. Non-academic publications: *Feeding America's Working Class: Let Them Eat War Sick Among the Pure, August 2004. Workshop presentations: * Using Technology in the Classroom, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, spring 2006. * Teaching Large Classes Seminar, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, spring 2006. * Supplemental Instruction Weekly Leader Training Workshop, Weber State University, 1997-1998. More teaching and tutoring experience: * Supplemental Instructor, Student Services Office, Weber State University, 1997 - 1998. * Tutor (English, philosophy, political science), Tutoring Services Office, Weber State University, 1997 - 1998. * Writing Center Tutor, Writing Center, Weber State University, 1997 - 1998. * Piano Instructor, Self -Employed, 1990 - 1996. * Ballet Instructor, Self-Employed, 1988-1989. Office Experience: * Office Assistant, Department of Political Science and Philosophy, Weber State University, 1997 - 1998. Due to current circumstances, I am only able to work with people via phone and internet. I hope to be able to expand out by December. If there is a project or resource you are looking for that you don't see listed here, feel free to contact me. In the attempt to keep this relatively short, I have not offered a complete list of resources and services. I'll be happy to work with you if I feel I have strong competence in the skills and/or subject matter you are looking for.