It’s been quite awhile, hasn’t it?  We apologize for all the delay – we were just so excited about Susan Hartnett’s arrival!  We’ve taken some time to show her more of what we do and how we do it, and she’s gotten herself in place to be a great leader for the wonderful future of CCAE.  I’ll let her tell you herself – here’s her message from the Winter 2010 catalog (which just came out today!):

It is my great pleasure and honor to join the Cambridge Center for Adult Education as its new executive director. Like so many others, I am drawn to this warm and welcoming community that fosters creativity, curiosity, and growth.

We all need to learn new things every day of our lives, not just when we are young and in the nest, but every day. We need to learn to stretch our bodies, to follow our breath, to savor the bounty of this great good earth.

Some people who come here learn to listen like never before to great operas, to dance the tango, to get inside a poem, or up on the stage. Others investigate the challenge of facing a blank canvas, the empty page; some learn to see a photograph like never before, or learn to spot the ripe hazelnuts at Fresh Pond; some work to end racism in America, or learn a new language — all with the guidance of our stellar, supportive teachers. The Center supports learning in all these ways and more. There is just so much to learn, to explore, to share! Isn’t that just a lovely and delicious and extraordinary fact?

And there is no better time to pursue a new interest in the company of wonderful people than right now! Our teachers are passionate; our students, dedicated and enthusiastic. In our winter term, the Center offers you over 500 courses, including our extraordinary arts programming, classes in cooking, foreign languages, yoga, astronomy, web design, massage, and much more.

Take a moment to browse our catalog. You can visit our website to register and/or get updated information at ccae.org. (If you prefer to register by phone, feel free to call the Registration office at 617-547-6789.)

For those of you who will be returning for another term of learning, I hope you will take a moment to tell us what you think about the Center after you register online. We have a new survey designed to gather your ideas and suggestions as we work to make the Center better than ever!

Come by the Holly Fair in December for great crafts and warm wassail, or in January for a cup of cocoa — and register for a class while you visit. We invite all of you to stop in any time you are in Harvard Square!

Susan Hartnett
Executive Director

We’ve gotten our registration season off to a great start – so come by the office at 42 Brattle Street, or log on to ccae.org and grab a seat in your favorite class – because they’re filling quickly!

Today was the staff’s farewell to our beloved Executive Director, Jim Smith, who’s been adroitly leading CCAE for the past 23 years.

Here are some of the things he had to tell us on his last day:

Your turn:  Do you have memories of Jim through the years?  Share them in the comments!

Our very last day with Jim Smith, our wonderful Executive Director, will be this Friday.  We at CCAE just have one thing to say:

Jim Montage

We’re so sad to see Jim go on to other adventures, but wish him the best of luck in his retirement.

Before he goes, Jim has issued one last challenge:

Would you donate $23 to honor Jim’s 23-year-term as Executive Director at CCAE?

As always, donations – no matter how large or small – are deeply appreciated and tax-deductible!

Donate online today.

If you’ve gotten our Fall Catalog (have we mentioned that Fall Term courses are now online?), you may have noticed this guy in the back cover.  If you haven’t taken the time to read Carl’s story, take a moment now to enjoy!

In 2000 I completed a certificate program for Web Design. Bright-eyed, I entered the job market, just as the dot-coms fell. The job market went bust. I found out about CCAE by opening one of the catalogs on the stairs at Twisted Village in Harvard Square, and saw that The Center offered classes in Flash, which I really wanted to learn, but had found to be unapproachable in my lone attempts. I applied for a scholarship, and took the course. I loved it! After finding out how much education thousands of dollars could buy from my certificate course, I was thrilled that The Center could offer such quality at a fraction of the cost. I wanted in. I proposed a course and wrote a curriculum to support it. Accepted!

One of the best parts about being an instructor at CCAE is that you get to take a class for free. Hence, my thirst for knowledge found an eternal spring. I have been involved with CCAE ever since. I have completed 18 consecutive semesters of Polish language courses with the incredible CCAE instructor Elzbieta Hinke, whose sparkling outlook and thorough class preparation I dedicate this Faculty Perspective to. Through CCAE I have met many talented people. I have carefully tailored my class schedule to always follow Doug Kornfeld (CCAE’s illustrious Dreamweaver instructor), just for the few moments of conversation we share between classes. I have enjoyed The Center’s computer lab, with CCAE system administrator Scott Hall’s creatively thought-out and well-implemented construction.

There have been countless interesting people — students and staff alike — that have touched me though CCAE. Oh — interesting? Have a conversation with Bobby Bear at 56 Brattle Street. He is a Boston rock ‘n roll legend drummer with stories a creative writer’s workshop could mine for months. Yes, you can see, CCAE has touched me. Give The Center a try. You might learn a new skill, and make friends through the journey.

Check out Carl’s Class:  Advanced Coding Topics:  Using Fireworks in Your Workflow!

Be sure to sign up for this or for the MANY other courses CCAE has available ASAP!

August term begins in just ONE WEEK!

One of our writing students, Elliot Rosenberg, wrote the following in a class with Mopsy Strange-Kennedy, and was kind enough to share it with us!

Muse Mopsy

by Elliot Rosenberg

Try It. You Will Like It.
The Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE)

We all live in a huge glass house cheek to jowl among strangers. We are invisible out there. No one really sees us or listens to us in the real world.  Which is good for us and the world up to a point.

In the Writing and Acting classes at CCAE , the cameras are rolling. That’s why we are here. To try out for different roles.  To try on different masks. With teachers to validate us.  Our break ins. Our break outs. Our breakthroughs. If for only a moment.

No matter the follies our flesh and blood are heir to, we can tell things about ourselves in a way that disarms our enemies within and parries and muffles the infinite life and death inflicted blows without.

At home, at work, in our dreams, we have our dependable ‘must play’ roles, but here it is safe to experiment, reveal our feelings about the unsung parts of our existence, play at new roles.

Even when the script is not ours, we are attentive to each other. Sometimes we do cross one another’s lines, but we do not often misconstrue what we hear about each other. Otherwise, excommunication could quickly follow and we might depart our CCAE  bubble, our garden of tranquility, banished back to real life.

As Peggy Atwood says in The Blind Assassin, p 329,  “If you get hungry enough they say you start eating your own heart.” It is like that with our minds, too.  In life in the streets, Hamlet style, we think too much, feel too much, see too much, sans friendly ears, sans understandings eyes, sans kind but honest words.

Here at CCAE we are treated to attentive ears and shoulders for us to cry on. Here we harbor no grudges. Here we stake out no territory.  We are usually ready when called upon.

Action!  Camera!  My turn?

Pick up a catalog or pull up our website.
Take a picture of yourself looking through it.
Or get some friends together and get a group shot.
Then send it to us!

*Tweet it to @cambridgecenter
*Post it on our Facebook Wall
*Add a comment to our WordPress Blog

or if you’re feeling really creative – make a YouTube video!

Show us how much CCAE means to you -
and we’ll show you how much you mean to us:

Our staff will vote, and the best picture/video gets you a SURPRISE discount on your next course at CCAE!

Get your entries in by August 31, 2009.
Winners will be announced and notified by September 20, 2009.

To get you started, here’s our Education Director, Michael Cicone, browsing the August/September catalog:

And Communications Director, Liz Stewart loves a good catalog:

This fall, we will be sad to see Jim Smith retire after 27 years of wonderful leadership.

But we are excited to know that we are in good hands!

Susan Hartnett has been a staple in the arts and humanities in the Boston area, and now she’s coming to the Cambridge Center!

She’s worked at the Boston Center for the Arts, the City of Boston (as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events) and as the Director of Economic Development for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

She’s also done special consulting projects with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, ACT Roxbury, the Boston Society of Architects, and the New England Foundation for the Arts, and many more!

Susan earned a BA from Nazareth College and a Master’s of Public Administration from Harvard.  She will be working with us part time through the summer to get organized, and will start full time by September, just in time for Fall Term.

From Will’s Desk:

CCAE is home to an inspiring conglomeration of passionate, committed teachers.

We see a lot of art/computer faculty member Doug Kornfeld here at 42 Brattle Street because he often works in our computer lab when classes are not in session.

I was very happy to find Doug’s smiling face in last week’s Globe along with photos of his newest public art installation.

I knew that his work had been installed in other US cities, and that he really likes the TV series Mad Men, and that he likes (as I do) to wear hats – but I didn’t know that he grew up in Colorado, or that his dad played piano during his childhood, or that he came east to work at Sasaki Associates (a very innovative and prestigious architectural firm) before deciding to focus on making, and teaching, art.

Read the full story on Boston.com and check out more of Doug’s work on his website.  Check back soon to see what Doug will be teaching this fall!

Ever want to know what people in our writing classes cook up? Here’s your chance to find out! Join us for a FREE reading of CCAE student works this Thursday. Stop by for mingling and refreshments – and don’t forget to pick up a catalog!

THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2009 at 7:00 pm
56 Brattle Street (Blacksmith House)

Here’s what’s on the program:

A CCAE STUDENT READING

Diane Butkus
“O.K. to Roll”

Anthony Botti
Assorted poems

Marion Kenneally
“The Ceremony”

Michael Wigdor
“The Enlightenment Bar”

INTERMISSION
Ronee Saroff
“Surviving Desire”

Linda Larson
Poems:
“Mom O Mom O Mom O Mom”
“Dixie”
“I Must Have Been Ten”

Rock Shum
“My Name is Chino”

Sylvia Wheeler
“Lasagna Man”

Like Lady Gaga tells us!

Today’s Big Picture Blog on Boston.com shows us images of dancing around the world.

Want to learn how to bust these moves?  Check out our Friday Night Dance Craze!  Classes start tonight – sign up for one, or take them all!

Or, check out all our great dance classes starting soon, and get your body moving!