those who cannot help themselves because of poverty. I want to treat people who cannot afford insurance or who have fallen through the cracks. I want to be a beneficial part of my community.”
action. My Skidmore experience taught me to step out of my comfort zone, think outside the box, and take chances.”
ALBANIAN NATIVE Ermir Bejo ’10 is a self-described “con- temporary troubadour and errant composer.” He first came to Skidmore to study economics, but “along the way,” he recalls, “my interests took a sharp turn, and I found myself majoring in music and composition. This decision really shocked friends and family. They interpreted it as caprice.” He says friends and colleagues, Skidmore Italian professor Shirley Smith, and several music faculty members mentored and inspired him.
Name/Nom/Nombres:
penleak chan cambodia
Nationality/Nationalité/Nacionalidad:
ENTHRALLED WITH SKIDMORE even from her home coun- try of Cambodia, Pinkie Chan ’12 says she and the college “chose each other.”
She was interested in pursuing economics, but also enjoyed art, and saw that “Skidmore would let me explore my inter- ests without compromising one for the other. When the ad- missions officer said, ‘Creative Thought Matters,’ I didn't have to look further.”
Chan also took on management and business studies, al- though, she confides, “I was frightened by the idea.” But she says Professor Tim Harper told her, “Pinkie, you cannot live your life driven by fear.” Emboldened to explore widely, Chan performed analytical
research and also worked at the Tang Museum, where she learned about visual teaching based on exposure to art and design. At the time, the process was strictly a source of enjoy- ment; now it is a tool she uses in her work as a data and in- formation communicator, creating maps and infographics for Open Development Cambodia, an initiative that aggre- gates and maps development trends in the country to pro- mote equitable, sustainable development and good gover- nance. ODC assists the general public, investors, researchers, journalists, and policymakers.
“I discovered at Skidmore that I am not one to settle for the confines of one orthodox practice. Having many pas- sions is good, because it accommodates my natural tendency to learn many things at the same time; however, it’s chal- lenging to find a job that satisfies most, if not all, of them, including feeling that I make a difference,” she says. “Now, I function as glue to connect multiple disciplines and practices, to tap into their combined value. I am in- trigued by innovations for simplifying information and want to create processes for shortcutting the time from insight to
Now a PhD student in music composition at the University of North Texas, Bejo is also exploring new media, envisioning a future at the intersection of art and science, such as produc- ing computer-assisted composition and applying algorithmic tools to music analysis. He feels he is, “by many criteria, an outsider, forcing my way into modern music-making, but equally fluent in both traditional and fringe practices.” He says he also draws from visual art and cinema, classic litera- ture and philosophy, “as well as good food and great drink.” A natural philosopher, Bejo ponders, “What can music contribute to society?” His answer: “It would be a mistake to think of music as only entertainment, simple storytelling, or a refuge, because the ability to perceive, create, and commu- nicate through music is a testament to the human potential for intellectual enrichment.” He concedes, “Unfortunately music cannot accomplish much to counter the rather grim political and socioeconomic global situation.” In fact he be- lieves that artistic endeavor—no matter how life-altering— can never directly address fundamental global crises. He con- cludes, “Solutions to global problems reside primarily in eco- nomics, and only secondarily in social relations, technology, and humans’ relationship to nature.”
Still, with his roots in practical economy and his wings aimed at the loftiness of the arts, Bejo hopes that somehow “music and the arts in general might make a small, positive contribution.”
Name/Nom/Nombres:
ermir bejo albania
Nationality/Nationalité/Nacionalidad:
24 SCOPE SPRING 2015
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