Dr. Laux's Road to Happy Talk

In his 26th year at Slippery Rock University, professor, Dr. James Laux, succeeded in bringing the first happiness class to the university, but this was not granted without opposition. Based on Tal Ben-Shahar's successful "Positive Psychology" class, Dr. Laux first proposed "Happy Talk" in 2007. His class was rejected for several years, and on the year of his retirement, it was approved, and garnered the interest of over 90 students.

Despite having taught a similar class called "The Pursuit of Happiness" at Hiram College, Laux only taught between 5-26 students. On the enormity of Slippery Rock's Happy Talk class, he said that he was glad he could reach as many students as he did, though he does regret the loss of class discussion that comes with a smaller class.

The Road to Happy Talk Draft

Meograph Proposal: The Road to Happiness at SRU

Dr. Laux has been fighting for years to teach his happiness class at SRU. Already having taught at Hirum College, and inspired by Harvard University's class on the same topic called "Positive Psychology," I'd like to get Dr. Laux's perspective on how his first (and last) Happiness course at SRU went. I'll also be interviewing Dr. Flynn, who approved the course, a "non-traditional" student, and several other students who've taken the course.

"Positive Psychology" was taught by Tal Ben-Shahar, and became Harvard's most popular class, superseding even "Intro to Business." That inspired Dr. Laux to not only teach the course, but also to fill up the auditorium in Eisenberg.

This Meograph will be important to SRU students because people other than communication majors were interested in, and are enrolled in the course. Dr. Laux has also taught at the university for over 25 years, and recently the sorority AOII awarded him with the title of "Most Influential Faculty Member."

This story is relevant to timeliness in that the class is just about to end, and people will have concrete judgments about it by now. I think a lot of people will be interested in how the class went if they didn't take it, and if they did take it, how others' feelings compared.

In relation to significance, 95 people have enrolled in the course, and it's one of the bigger elective classes people have shown interest in taking. If people themselves aren't enrolled in the course, their friends have certainly talked about it and piqued their interest.

It's also a human interest story because a retiring professor stayed and extra year, and realized his goal course just as he was about to retire.

Native American Celebration Day kicks off with storytelling and traditional dancing

Smith Student Center Ballroom, Tuesday Nov. 4, 10:30 a.m.

 Traditional Jingle Dancing

            Slippery Rock University brought in this year’s Native American Celebration Day with cultural dancing, and craft making.

           The Pittsburgh-based Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center joined to bring the event together in the Smith Student Center Ballroom. The celebration began on the morning of Thursday, November 6th with Native American storytelling that began at 9:30 a.m. SRU invited local elementary and middle school students to this event and those students were invited to stay for the Native American jingle dancers

            The jingle dancers introduced the story of their origin, which began when a man’s granddaughter became sick. He then dreamt about women adorned in silver dresses, and constructed his own dress out of lids of tobacco cans. He folded each lid into a cone, and sewed them on to a dress for a dancer. The first time a dancer danced with the dress on, his granddaughter became conscious. The second time a dancer danced, she sat up. The third time she stood, and the fourth time she danced alongside the other dancers.

            Crafters were able to display and sell their wares throughout the day. The setup included various stands displaying traditional jewelry, dream catchers, and arrowheads. Students were also welcome to participate in crafting dream catchers.

Sophomore Alyssa Pauletich, 20, art education and special education major, said that the social aspect of Native American Celebration Day was what drew her to the event.

“I like how interactive these cultural events are,” Pauletich said, “I’m especially excited about making a dream catcher. It’s too often that cultural events don’t go out of their way to involve participants.”

            Junior Haley Cardwell, 20, said that she went to the event to check out the jewelry and to make a dream catcher. Cardwell said she’s also part Native American, and that drew her to the event as well.

           "It's really interesting that people are still so connected to their culture," Cardwell said. "It makes me want to be more connected to mine as well. 

Why Cardwell came to Native American Celebration Day.

Students making dream catchers