This spring, Astri Snodgrass, painting and drawing lecturer, and Dr. DeAnna Beasley, assistant professor of biology, geology, and environmental science, are teaming up to teach their students about intentional observation—the practice of slowing down and taking the time to examine their environment.
Bill Gauntt unzips a small, red pouch and pulls out a triangular shard of clear plastic. Its edges are uneven and the plastic has yellowed with age. But Gauntt knows exactly what it is and where it came from. “This is part of my canopy,” he says. The canopy from his fighter jet that crashed in Vietnam in 1972; the jet that he and his “backseater,” Lt. Fran…
