Humanities News, Features, and Other Updates

Spring ’12: Andrew Benda

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Andrew Benda and Justin Jones have collaborated on a number of video, music, and art projects during their time as CCM students.
Andrew Benda
Born and raised in the Keweenaw, the things that I have pursued while attending Michigan Technological University are (in order): lakes, stories, and saunas. Exploring expression in the arts, particularly film and music, I have worked on several projects including two trailers for MTU’s Northern Lights Film Festival for which I serve as project manager as well as working with Justin Jones on a series of short films marrying footage with music and more abstract sound design.

Serving as former President of MTU’s Rotaract Club, I spoke at last years Rotary 6220’s District Conference on Rotaract, Media, and the Future of Rotary. While president I led a fundraising initiative to send our representatives to Rotary’s International Conference which was held last year in New Orleans. At the conference I was intrigued by ShelterBox, a disaster relief non-profit, and I am now one of district 6220’s representatives.

I work during the summers at Camp Manito-wish YMCA where I do leadership initiatives in a wilderness setting with youths from around the midwest paddling lakes and rivers of Northern Wisconsin for four to five day routes.

Justin and I wrote directed, and produced a short film for the Hint Fiction Film Contest, where we were given a poem under 25 words and were given 1 minute of film to tell its story. The film has been selected as a finalist, and we will be traveling to Vail, CO at the end of March to see it screened.

I also play guitar in the band Two Sunrises. We play around town.

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“Khipu” from Communication & Culture (HU2820)

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Tom Maynard created a record of his work schedule using a khipu, a system of writing developed by the Inca people of South America prior to the Spanish conquest. Although khipus are still not fully understood, researchers have discovered that khipus use knots and cords to signify different types of data.

From Tom’s description of his project: “Short cords indicate date, and overhand knots indicate punctuation. Ashley’s Stopper Knots indicate a quantity of 10. The number of turns in each Barrel Knot equates to a number (between 1 and 9). Work hours are indicated with the task signifier (a particular type of knot) followed by the number of hours worked in that day. Figure 8 Knots: Challenge Course. Masthead Knots: Domino’s Pizza. Alpine Butterfly: Outdoor Adventure Program. Square Knot: School Work. All strings between the date strings signify one day, and are arranged chronologically.”

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