Julie’s Freshman Seminar

Welcome to the Freshman Seminar Blog!

My name is Julie Biando Edwards and I’m the Ethnic Studies Librarian at the University of Montana. As a librarian I’m responsible for teaching, reference, and book acquisition for the students and faculty in Anthropology, Asian Studies, Central and Southwest Asian Studies, Native American Studies, African-American Studies, Linguistics, and Women’s Studies.

I love being a librarian now that I am one, but I never planned on choosing librarianship as my profession. I started out as a journalism major and then switched to biology and then switched to literature, which is my first love. All this was done in my first two years at The University of Montana! I graduated here with a BA in 2000 and then went on for an MA in English at UCONN and an MS in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, after working at a public library and realizing that good librarians are an essential part of a thriving democratic society. Librarians have to be culturally and politically aware and involved, and you are as likely to find me reading US Weekly as the New York Times.

I grew up in central Massachusetts and have lived in Wyoming and Connecticut as well, but I think that Missoula is the best place on earth. I love to hike Mount Jumbo, shop downtown, sit on the deck of Finn and Porter, go to the Farmer’s Market, head to Out to Lunch in the summers, and take in the many Missoula parades (this town loves a parade – check out my favorite, the Day of the Dead Parade in October).

Teaching Freshman Seminar is the highlight of my Fall semester and my role in the classroom is to guide students as they learn to read and think critically about information. As a librarian I am interested in being a medium between information and the people who need it. In Freshman Seminar my job is to help students to critically evaluate the world around them and to not passively accept information no matter what the presentation – class lectures, friends, politicians, media. In my class you’ll read a lot and write a lot, ultimately being able to argue and defend your positions while recognizing and understanding the positions of someone else. You’ll read essays and chapters, but also apply what you’ve read by attending art exhibits and watching YouTube (in class!).

So welcome to The University of Montana! I hope you decide to take a section of Freshman Seminar – it will be the first best decision you’ll make here!

Favorites Quotes:

“Keep on Keepin’ On” — Bob Dylan

“The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” — Albert Camus

The largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs ever shown in the United States will open Friday, August 7, 2009, at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture’s Meloy and Paxson Galleries in the PARTV Center, as well as the Gallery of Visual Arts in the Social Sciences Building.

Pulitzer Prize Photographs:

A Traveling Exhibit of Award-Winning Photography

“Capture the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs,” a dramatic display of award-winning photography, has appeared in 17 cities after initial exhibits in Japan and Korea. More than 2 million visitors have seen the exhibit in the United States since its New York opening in 2000.

From the poignant shot of an ailing Babe Ruth watching his number being retired at Yankee Stadium, to the U.S. Marines raising an American flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, the photographs illustrate the enduring power of the still image.

The exhibit includes each of the photographers and photo staffs who have won the prize since the Pulitzer board began awarding it to photographers in 1942.”

Citation: Newseum. Pulitzer Prize Photographs: A Traveling Exhibit of Award-Winning Photography. 2009. 11 May 2009 <http://www.newseum.org/exhibits_th/traveling/about.aspx?item=traveling_exhibit&style=d>