Best Selling Books by Susan Wheeler

The question of dwelling, how, where, in what way and in what manner describes a crisis in many professional women s lives especially when living in pursuit of equality becomes dissatisfying and the demands of traditional stereotypes unappealing. Books such as Desiring Practices (1995) demonstrate the need for some sort of shared expression and community to resolve the career frustrations of working academics in traditionally male dominated environments. Documents such as Why Women Leave Practice? (2003) record what is seen as a very real difficulty for the Institution. The important aspect of Irigaray s work for these debates, however, is how she has already begun to unravel the problems women face in contemporary societies. For architects concerned with diversity, her work is an incitement to reformulate this question by thinking how we can positively approach sexual difference as the basis for approaching all other differences. For feminists, Irigaray s philosophy also presents the possibility of a practice (albeit a practice profoundly reconsidered) beyond a simple desire for equality with men but nevertheless, without denying the problem of a culture of discrimination within the profession. Furthermore, for theorists concerned with how we approach the other, the hidden, or the devalued within our discourses her work is motive to take further these theories towards a more radical poetic or artistic practice. The question of dwelling as a reconsideration of coexistence, co-habitation and co-belonging, as relation rethought, extends the problem of the intimate to address issues of the architectural.

This qualitative case study examines how the concept, "art as transformation," functions, conceptually and practically in Peter London''s Institute teaching. "Art as transformation" is an alternative experiential approach to current art education methodologies that promotes personal growth through cohesive, highly structured art encounters. These encounters are based on existential questions that invite students to address issues of ultimate concern in a nonjudgmental atmosphere. Emphasis is on process more than product. Basic concepts that undergird London''s teaching are explored and include art as expression of authenticity, empowerment, sacred language, connection to nature, Zen, and art as transformation. This study concludes that "art as transformation" is a viable and effective approach for art and art education instruction that offers unique opportunities for students to experience art''s original and deeper functions--to empower, to make wiser, to make whole, and to create harmony--for themselves, and thereby to significantly enhance their own becoming.

The early morning dawn peeks over the oceans waves awakening the sea life below its surface. Several of the town''s people still slumber. For one teenage girl, sleep has eluded her. Someone had viciously dragged her out of bed. Now she must fight for her life. She knew she had only one chance for survival against the five that encircle her. That was to make her way to the door. With the skill of a ninja and the training of an assassin, she scarcely escapes. As the blinding hot pain courses through her, she adjusts the gym bag she managed to grab. Precious seconds was all she had to find a safe haven from the monsters that hunt her.