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How Is Toilet Paper Really Made?
Every year, the toilet paper industry makes over $31 billion in the United States alone.
The pandemic has illuminated a fear that North Americans didn't know they had: running out of toilet paper. In 2020, we saw big box stores like Target and Wal-Mart completely sell out of toilet paper. Aisle after aisle was empty, proving that we do indeed have a special affinity for toilet paper.
But how is toilet paper made? And how did it become so ubiquitous? For both personal hygiene and to prevent the spread of disease, the use of toilet paper has become a daily occurrence for a lot of people around the globe.
For a tree-free option (that isn't made from recycled paper either) try out Public Goods' Tree-Free Toilet Paper. Made from fast-growing bamboo and sugar cane pulp, this soft and sustainable option is the best of both worlds. Go totally tree-free with tissues and wet wipes made from bamboo, too!
The Two-Ply Truth: A Brief History of Toilet Paper
Before the invention of the single-use paper we use today, ancient people got by with innovative solutions for cleaning. Evidence dating to 111 BC in China shows that people on the Silk Road used hygiene sticks. Researchers have long speculated that the Silk Road contributed to the spread of disease between Europe and Asia. Evidence of parasitic eggs on preserved hygiene sticks showed that this hypothesis has some credibility.
The Romans used shared latrine sticks as well, which were in the form of a sponge on a stick, cleansed between uses in a shared pot of vinegar or saltwater.
The Chinese began using paper in the sixth century B.C. and by the 14th century, they were manufacturing 10 million packages of rice straw toilet paper just in Chekiang. In Europe, the French began using the bidet in the 1600s, which was thought to be a safer way to get clean after using the bathroom or chamber pot.
In the early United States, colonists used corncobs or newspaper to get clean throughout the 1700s and transitioned to the first "toilet tissue" in 1857. By 1890, Scott Paper Company (who you might recognize) began selling perforated toilet paper on rolls and became the largest distributor in the country. Since then, dozens of brands have erupted and toilet paper has been a staple in households everywhere.
What is Toilet Paper Made From?
Typically, toilet paper is made from "virgin paper", which means it's made from a concoction of softwood and hardwood trees. Each tree has different qualities that give various levels of strength and texture to the final product. For example, Douglas firs have long fibers that give toilet paper its strength, and hardwood trees like Maple have short fibers that make it soft.
Toilet paper manufacturers each adhere to a similar process for making toilet paper, but with varying ingredients like a different combination of trees or various chemical combinations.
Alternative brands use recycled paper or bamboo to make toilet paper. These practices reduce carbon emissions and keep trees in the ground where they can continue to provide our planet with clean air to breathe. Bamboo is a sustainable option because it grows exceptionally quickly and is much easier to replenish than fully grown trees.
How Is Toilet Paper Made?
The first step in making toilet paper is to gather the materials for the actual paper. You might be wondering at this point, where is toilet paper made? Most of the trees used for toilet paper in the United States are actually grown in Canada and shipped to paper mills in the U.S.
Two key processes turn the tree into useable material through heavy machinery. First, the trees are debarked. Then, they get chipped into smaller pieces.
The chips are mixed with chemicals in a digester to create a pulp, which is very energy-intensive. This makes the fibers useable for the final product.
The pulp is then cooked and washed to help remove some of the cooking chemicals. Next, the pulp undergoes a bleaching process to make the crisp white paper we recognize. Until the 1990s, chlorine bleach was used, which was very harmful to communities living downstream from paper mills. Now, toilet paper manufacturers use an elemental chlorine-free process that releases fewer detrimental chemicals into the environment but still harms local waterways and communities.
Alternatives to bleaching with harsh chemicals include the use of hydrogen peroxide or oxygen instead of chlorine.
Once all the color is removed from the pulp, it's mixed with water to create a paper stock and strained. Next, it's pressurized and dried with heat to remove any residual moisture. This dried paper is rolled onto massive reels and perforated before being cut into the rolls and packaged into what we see on the shelves.
Recycled Toilet Paper: How is it Different?
The primary difference in production for recycled toilet paper lies in the first couple of steps. First, recycled paper is gathered. This could be anything from newspapers to textbooks to receipts. Once the paper is compiled, it's washed, bleached, and sanitized.
Recycled toilet paper diverts paper waste from landfills which produce methane and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, which can absorb 250 pounds of carbon dioxide instead of contributing more to the atmosphere.
Recycled toilet paper is not as common as traditionally manufactured toilet paper. While it does save a staggering amount of trees, there are a few reasons the public is not so keen on recycled toilet paper. To start, some of the materials used to make recycled toilet paper might contain BPA, which is a known endocrine disruptor. Plus, recycled toilet paper might not be as soft, which is really up to personal preference since ultra soft toilet paper could clog pipes.
What Should You Look for When Shopping for Toilet Paper?
First, consider the origin of the paper itself. Is it made from recyclable paper? Or maybe it's made from sustainable materials like bamboo. These products are less likely to directly impact climate change by eliminating the need for deforestation.
Certain brands are exceptionally transparent about their operations, so getting your toilet paper from a company that's openly combating climate change, producing toilet paper through energy-efficient production, or is a Certified B Corporation is a much better option than supporting the big guys like Procter & Gamble.
Some companies purchase wood from loggers who are a part of the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), which promotes conservation and biodiversity along with the consideration of indigenous communities. This is a program that is constantly enhancing, whereas the frequently marketed equivalent of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative is much weaker in its standards and actively promotes monocultural practices for tree growing. Be wary of certifications and when in doubt, choose FSC products.
The other component for mindful toilet paper purchasing is considering the added ingredients. While you might think there aren't any obviously added ingredients, toilet paper does have that chemical slurry and bleaching process which can sometimes affect the final product.
Look for products without dyes, inks, or fragrances to protect your body, since those are often unnecessary and cause more harm than good.
Your Toilet Paper Purchases Matter
Now that you know how toilet paper is made, you can see how it's come a long way throughout history. But, it's no secret that the industrial manufacturing of toilet paper is harming the planet. Traditional practices are pretty detrimental to Indigenous Peoples, wildlife, biodiversity, and all of this negatively contributes to climate change, which we all suffer the effects of.
Next time you're purchasing toilet paper, consider an eco-friendly alternative. As consumers, we have the power to support the brands that align with our own values through our purchases. If we all pause to purchase an ethical alternative to deforestation, the planet will quite actually breathe a little easier.
Download Our Free Guide to Sustainable Living.
From reducing waste to recycling and upcycling, our e-book shows simple ways to make choices you can feel good about.


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The Valpo men's and women's swimming teams turned around after competing Friday evening and returned to the pool Saturday afternoon in a dual meet at IUPUI. Four different Beacons posted second-place finishes in individual events to lead the squad's effort Saturday.
How It Happened
Next Up
Valpo returns to action next Saturday morning at Eastern Illinois, as both squads take to the pool starting at 11:30 a.m. The meet is the last for the Valpo women prior to the MVC Championships.
Athletics-Recreation Center (ARC)
1009 Union Street
Valparaiso, IN 46383
Staff Directory

subset: commoncrawl


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Looking for a place to enjoy great beer, brewed on the premises? How about the largest in New York State?
Brown's Brewing Company, located in Troy, is now ranked as the Largest Brewpub in New York State, according the Brewer's Association's New Brewer Annual Industry Review.
Not only is it the largest in NY, but it is also one of the largest in the country! With 2,650 barrels of beer brewed in 2011, Brown's is ranked as the 5th largest brewpub in the Northeast and the 25th largest in the United States.
What is a brewpub by definition? Well it's exactly as it sounds: a brewpub is a pub or restaurant that brews beer on the premises.
But the space is more than just a brewing facility with a few seats in the front. Brown's has a Taproom with plenty of seating and a great menu (their burgers and chicken wings are especially worth trying while you're there), an upstairs seating area, a patio and coming this summer a Malt Room with an ale focused bar in the basement.
And if that's not enough they also host trivia nights, live music, dinner events and more!
So make time to visit the state's largest brewpub located right in the Capital City's backyard.


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For three powerful nights, let's enter a vigil, to be impeccably present in the deepest prayer imaginable as we witness and be accountable to everything both inner and outer during this escalating time.
Let us summon these dark nights, 30th, 31st & the 1st November when the veil between matter and spirit is the thinnest to bring the level of illumination that we so desperately need. Now is the time to show up more fully in this twilight kingdom, asking for some very genuine assistance and wisdom. If we can get very quiet, very vast - perhaps we may be able to help ourselves and others reach for more ways to become truer, more real, more equipped and more capable of transversing what is coming our way.
This Full Moon brings yet another turning point, and of course, is the last days before the US election. Let's reach across into the 'Otherside' for real palpable assistance from our allies and well-wishers. Please join with me, friends, full disclosure of how, what, where and when - in the coming days.
I suspect that over the course of this weekend we will be with an even greater feeling of 'something's about to happen!'. Usually, this feeling is welcomed this time of the year, many of us seeking out ghosts stories, horror movies, trick and treating and/or having a dabble with the occult. But this weekend, this tradition may bear no fruit, as the Real Thing is palpably here. The last time we had a Full Moon on Halloween was in 1944, the time of Second World War. It seems that in every country and every continent the dead are rising. Ancient enemies and age-old feuds are beginning to appear, sending haunting chills down our spine with the promise of war, reprisals and vengeance. Things we buried centuries ago in caskets with nailed lids are stirring and clawing their way to the surface.
Our old enemies from antiquity have returned.
In our first night of mystery let us go consciously. Permit the crocodile to spiral us down deep into the abyss with heart and eyes wide open. Not as some limp and helpless soul, but one, who is curious to see - where does this all really lead?
Descending past all our fears, real and imagined, keeping a steady breath and a trusting heart - we meet the Dark Shepherdess. One who is willing, and one who does anyway, search for every single lost and wandering soul - to be shepherded home, along with the virtuous ones. The mind will want to snap, instead, let's receive the illumination that can only come in a place as dark as this, and as paradoxical as this. I cannot say more - as this would spoil the moment, this journey has to be received in all its tenderness and originality.
If this is something you can light a candle to - then please join me.
Each day we will receive a spoken transmission with guidance on how to work and hold this container. We will also have a group page to share and understand one another's wisdom.


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Here we have a Two-cylinder steam engine. The engine has been carefully manufactured. Steam cylinder Total length: 130mm Full size: 100mm Full-height: Width 85MM, Bore: 12mm Stroke: 15mm. Weight: 400g Output shaft : 4mm.Compact structure, which makes it very unusual, probably for paddle boats or land. Extremely well built with solid brass components. The machine is Boiler exhaust pipe containing boiler full height 200mm diameter 80mm length 120mm, weight 2.6KG.
Valve pressure 0.5MPA, boiler capacity 420ML. Boiler surfaces using high-temperature paint, wood inner use insulation materials. Insulation can play a very good role. Steam output pipe modification of the heat recovery unit.
I'm sureit will be a violent engine components. A very nice, original item. This item is in the category "Toys & Hobbies\Powered Toys\Steam Powered". The seller is "jinsteam" and is located in this country: CN. This item can be shipped worldwide.


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New York Music Review By Brian Scott Lipton
I don't like to brag, but I knew Kristin Chenoweth was going to be a big star way back in 1997 when I first saw her in Bill Irwin's hilarious production of "Scapin" at the Roundabout Theatre Company. But there was a special joy in my heart as I watched just how far her star has ascended as she enthralled a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall this past weekend in her aptly named new act "The Evolution of a Soprano," directed with incomparable finesse by Richard Jay-Alexander.
A mostly autobiographical concert that encompassed many of her past triumphs (and so-called "mistakes"), favorite songs, and crowd-pleasing hits from her Broadway and recording careers, the show proved not only how much Chenoweth has grown as an artist, but the extreme reaches of her talents. From the deep understanding she brought to Kander & Ebb's melancholy "My Coloring Book" and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's mournful "Why Was I Born," to singing bits of Stephen Schwartz's delightful "Popular" in German, Japanese, and Italian, to the sheer beauty of her voice in the timeless standards "All The Things You Are" and "Over the Rainbow," and the inherent passion she displayed in a brilliant rendition of Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow," Chenoweth was consistently impressive.
Chenoweth also proved (again) to be a very generous performer, not just in giving due praise repeatedly to her superb pianist and musical director Mary-Mitchell Campbell, but sharing the stage on numerous occasions with first-class artists, from 12-year-old boy soprano Sam Poon on Andrew Lloyd Webber's haunting "Pie Jesu," to a trio of fine back-up singers for two numbers (including a rousing take on Stephen Foster's "Hard Times").
It was even more wonderful as she brought composer Andrew Lippa to the stage, first to share in singing "My New Philosophy," the hilarious ditty he wrote for "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" that helped earn Chenoweth her Tony, and then singing to him (as a surprise) his own stunning composition about same-sex marriage "One Day." (As Chenoweth duly noted, "I'm a controversial Christian").
And just when you thought there would be no more guest stars, Chenoweth brought her "idol" onto the floor: opera legend Deborah Voigt. The pair flubbed their way so hilariously through Irving Berlin's "Anything You Can Do," it was better than if they had remembered all the words. But then these two soaring sopranos showed what they really can do by duetting beautifully on Rodgers & Hammerstein's "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."
As only a true pro could do, Chenoweth actually saved the best for last: a stirring, unexpectedly belty version of Jerry Herman's ballad "If He Walked Into My Life" (leaving us to wonder if "Mame" may be in her future), followed by a gorgeous, unmiked rendition of "Bring Him Home" (from "Les Miserables") that brought tears to the eyes and left the crowd floating on air.
You say you want an evolution? You got it!
Kristin Chenoweth: The Evolution of a Soprano. Carnegie Hall. Saturday, May 3


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web2ldap - FAQFrequently Asked Questions
SyntaxError: ...
ImportError: No module named ldap
I want to refer to the web2ldap gateway from a web page. Is there a way to get a persistent URL?
I would like to integrate web2ldap in my Netscape address book. Is there a way to do that?
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Michaels.serverName", "localhost"); user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Michaels.searchBase", "o=Michaels");and add something like
user_pref("ldap_2.servers.Michaels.customDisplayUrl", "http://localhost/web2ldap-fcgi/web2ldap.py/ldapurl?ldap://localhost/%s");Note that the prefix "ldap_2.servers.Michaels" here is only valid in my local configuration example which was automatically generated by the Netscape browser. The prefix in your preferences file will be different.
I would like to add multi-valued attributes but the input form just provides one input field for a certain attribute type.
I would like to upload a photo, a certificate or other binary attribute data. Is that possible?
I would like to delete a photo, a certificate or other binary attribute data. Is that possible?
I want to avoid displaying the raw DNs in the search result table. How to do that?
I have embedded HTML code with hyperlinks into some of the LDAP entries. When I display the entry with Netscape the hyperlinks work just fine but with web2ldap the HTML code is displayed instead of displaying the hyperlink.
This behaviour of escaping HTML entity characters is implemented for security reasons. It prevents execution of bad Javascript code a malicious user might have added (see CERT advisory 2000-02).
Plain URLs in attributes are converted automatically to hyperlinks. To be conform with LDAP standard you should use the attribute type labeledURI. Netscape also displays labeledURI as labeled hyperlink.
I would like to setup some automatically filled fields. E.g. automatically set the cn (common name) attribute with the concatenation of values of the attributes givenName and sn (surname).
I would like to define a "select" item for certain input fields.
How to customize the HTML output to use different colors, different font size, etc.?
I have started web2ldap in stand-alone mode. It runs and accessing it from localhost works but I cannot access it over my network. What is wrong?
You can enable binding to all interfaces by
web2ldap -l my.public.ether.addr:port
web2ldap -l 0.0.0.0:port
I try to run web2ldap but it quits during startup and throws an exception in the module DNS.
Is it possible to run web2ldap under Windows?
web2ldap crashs a lot of with segmentation faults.
configure --without-pymalloc.
You probably have to rebuild all C extension modules involved afterwards.
web2ldap does not work properly with SSL (based on M2Crypto) in stand-alone mode. HTTP headers seem to be truncated.
configure --without-pymalloc.
You probably have to rebuild all C extension modules involved afterwards.
NameError: global name 'threading' is not defined


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For many literacy education doctoral students who have established strong professional identities as classroom teachers, transitioning from the role of a teacher into that of an academic with well-established leadership qualities is not as simple as acquiring a new set of skills and expanding one's knowledge of scholarship. Crafting an academic identity with exemplary leadership requires a conscious engagement in transformative learning practices through which students use their newly acquired knowledge and skills in leadership and service (Astin & Astin, 2000; Austin & McDaniels, 2006). Engaging doctoral students in active preparation for academia through leadership in student organizations can assist them in professional development and identity construction (Hall, 2012). However, many student organizations still struggle to provide transformative approaches to leadership and professional learning for students (Ewell, 2018). The current literature has not adequately explored the skills and resources that doctoral students need for successful leadership in professional development (Heflinger & Doykos, 2016).
In doctoral programs, in particular, professional development has traditionally occurred through short workshops on specific teaching techniques along with individual, apprentice-style mentoring relationships between professors and students (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Morris, 2017). While these time-honored practices can provide doctoral students with valuable experiences, they tend to emphasize the faculty mentor's philosophical stance, pedagogy, and research interests, thus limiting opportunities for doctoral candidates to develop their own epistemological beliefs and vision of themselves as scholars, leaders, and faculty members. In response to the limitations of traditional professional development approaches, professionals need to create spaces for engagement in transformative leadership for scholarship and service opportunities in universities and student organizations (Ewell, 2018; Hall & Burns, 2009).
In this article, we respond to the needs of doctoral students seeking professional development within their busy, fast-paced practices of preparing lessons in their academic programs and classrooms and managing work related to service and leadership in their communities. To generate discourses around leadership in professional development through student involvement in academic organizations, in this self-study, we will describe what and how we learned from our transformative leadership practices as part of our professional development in a student organization. Self-study can include disconfirming data (Loughran, 2007); our purpose is not necessarily to find answers to all questions directed in the literature. We will problematize the research issues at hand and reflect on our shortcomings because describing "the failed, the difficult, and the problematic" (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001, p. 18) enriches self-studies of professional development and transformative leadership.
Literature Review
A growing number of higher education studies examine how participation in student organizations promotes professional development (Gillentine & Daughtrey, 2001; Munoz et al., 2016), increases diversity on campus (Kuk & Banning, 2010; Perez et al., 2019), and enhances academic achievement (Farago et al., 2018; Hajart et al., 2007). These studies emphasize the importance of leadership and transformative practices in the development of students and their academic organizations. For example, Munoz et al. (2016) provide significant implications that student organizations need to attend leadership training and engage in experiential learning activities with transformative practices in professional development. Their study confirmed Montelongo's (2002) literature review highlighting that professional development activities in student organizations motivate students to engage in service and leadership by enabling students to discover their goals and objectives. Montelongo also suggested that student organizations help students perceive their educational journey as more significant and relevant because they develop core academic competencies that involve learning to communicate effectively, thinking critically, and participating in a just society as globally diverse citizens.
In terms of leadership education, participation in student organizations can be a valuable experience that leads to professional development for university students (Dun et al., 2019). Hoover and Dunigan (2004) investigated leadership characteristics and traits of student organizations. They supported previous literature that the reason for student participation in student organizations is the opportunities they offer for leadership and professional development. Kelling and Hoover (2005) also found that students in academic organizations learn leadership skills such as teamwork, reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, responsibility, and self-esteem. The researchers stressed that cultural identity affects how leadership is viewed in organizations and suggested students from diverse backgrounds discuss leadership practices and cultural leadership ideals. Finally, Patterson (2012) confirmed the work of Peterson and Peterson (2012) in that student organizations promote the flourishing of intellectual development and managerial skills together with leadership. They considered involvement in student organizations as opportunities for skill development that will be useful in real-world settings.
Still, not enough research adequately focused on the role of academic student organizations in supporting and transforming student's abilities in leadership and professional development at a doctoral education level (Gardner & Barnes, 2007; Stover & Seemiller, 2017). More studies are thus needed that explore how student organizations may be leveraged as hubs of professional learning to support the transition of doctoral students into academic professions and transform academic identities, student practices, and perceptions, many of which are implicit in political and ideological conversations within academic circles (Kriner et al., 2015). Therefore, in this self-study, we draw upon Mezirow's (1997) notion of transformative learning as well as Bass's (1990) theory of transformational leadership to examine how our participation in a student organization shaped our identities through transformative practices in scholarship, leadership, and service and how such organizations may be spaces for professional development.
Theoretical Framework
Transformative learning is "the process of effecting change" in our experiences that are "associations, concepts, values, feelings, conditioned-responses frames of reference" (Mezirow, 1997, p. 5). Transformative learning takes place when individuals re-envision problematic frames of reference and structures of assumptions, by engaging in critical reflection, establishing new points of view, and reflecting on our generalized biases. Transformative learning requires an environment where people learn from each other, become aware of frames of reference, and provide feedback to each other in extracurricular educational spaces such as student organizations. With this view, individuals question their assumptions and become more inclusive, open, reflective, and emotionally able to change.
Transformative learning has supporting principles for the theory of transformational leadership (Bass, 1990), in which a leader causes a change in individuals or groups such as student organizations through idealized influence, motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (see Ewell, 2018). Idealized influence requires a leader to act as a role model. With this aim, leaders inspire individuals to achieve their missions, inculcate them with pride, and build trust in groups. Intellectual stimulation promotes creativity by encouraging individuals to challenge the status quo. Leaders initiate positive change as they develop "new ways of looking at old problems" (Bass, 1990, p. 21). Then transformational leadership requires individual consideration in which leaders need to recognize each group member's strengths and weaknesses and act as a mentor for those who need emotional support.
Although transformative learning is "the essence of adult education" (Mezirow, 1997, p. 11), and transformational leadership is essential in student work and organizations (Bass, 1990), very little attention has been given to how transformative learning and leadership take place in student organizations (Ewell, 2018; Taylor, 2009). An evident gap exists in the literature about transformative learning as a professional goal in doctoral education (Cranton & King, 2003; Stevens-Long et al., 2012). Still, the question remains as to how doctoral students engage in transformative learning practices and professional development. Based on our own experiences, we posit that student organizations are appropriate spaces for the kind of transformative leadership and professional learning that can support doctoral students' transition into their roles and identities as academics. Accordingly, we chose to conduct transformative leadership in our organizations, including AUA, as a process of productive change in leadership by which individuals created new frames of reference as they motivated, inspired, taught, and learned from each other.
The aim of this self-study, therefore, is to discuss how leadership in an academic student organization, AUA, (a) provided fertile ground for collaborative professional development, and (b) transformed doctoral students' academic identities within the field of language and literacy education. Drawing from reflective notes on the professional development practices of the researchers as AUA members, we present how the Alpha Gamma chapter provided opportunities for professionalization in the areas of scholarship, leadership, and service, thus helping us, as budding scholars and leaders, cultivate an academic identity committed to critical literacy and social action and to shift our understanding of student organizations as spaces of professional development where transformative learning is possible.
We conducted this self-study because we wanted to address the gap in the literature about doctoral students' identities, theory, and practice with regard to their professional development. With many opportunities for reflection, collaborative self-study can inspire doctoral students to constructively shape academic identities and generate constructive discourses on leadership (Loughran & Russell, 2002). Such engagement in professional learning practices initiates powerful ideological questions with the purpose of transformative learning and leadership (Loughran, 2007). Because self-study explores individuals' experiences as "living contradictions" (Whitehead, 2000, p. 93), it can teach doctoral students how to navigate conflicts between their academic work and social practices. To achieve "a validation process based in trustworthiness" (LaBoskey, 2004, p. 817), we required evidence of transformative learning and leadership in our professional practices and used multiple methods to achieve broad perspectives on the research questions that we investigated.
Following the "four methodological features of self-study" (Loughran, 2007, p. 16), we first circulated emails through which we organized our questions and reflective notes on our transformative practices, identity development, and professional development activities in AUA and related communities. Second, using our "frames of reference through critical reflection" (Mezirow, 1997, p. 7) on our assumptions about identity construction, transformative learning, professional development, and leadership, we discussed the issues and agreed on the affordances, challenges, tensions, differences, and similarities in tackling these issues. In this process, we took notes on how we afforded, limited, and eliminated spaces for transformative learning and leadership as we negotiated professional and cultural discourses. Third, we evaluated emerging themes in one another's reflections. That is, we highlighted the most noticeable narratives, summarized common themes, analyzed, and deconstructed the related ideological inferences under the light of transformative learning and leadership. The conversations, questions, and reflections that we exchanged and evaluated provided evidence for this study. Through collaboration that relies on reflection, we aim to contribute to the debates among values, beliefs, and research-based evidence within self-studies. The findings will stimulate further conversations and research questions on the issues under investigation because we disrupt, challenge, and illuminate the common assumptions concerning transformative practice for leadership, identity development, and professional learning in student organizations.
Our self-study demonstrates how we weaved together our stories, reflections, and critical dialogues questioning and challenging how we, as doctoral students, engaged in transformative learning. At this stage, we continue by providing AUA's background and describing the research participants as AUA members.
Background of Alpha Upsilon Alpha and Research Participants. Chartered in 1985 under the International Literacy Association (ILA), AUA is an academic student organization whose purpose is "to recognize and encourage scholarship, the development of personal and professional leadership, and service to the field of reading" (ILA, n.d., para. 1). Taking its name from the Greek words for reading ("Anagnosis"), scholarship ("Upotrophia"), and leadership ("Archon") (ILA, n.d., para. 2), AUA thrives owing to the unceasing commitment of a group of students and faculty who encourage members to participate in on-campus and off-campus activities within their respective campus communities.
Our faculty representative, Dr. Gertrude Tinker Sachs, has played an integral role in AUA's Alpha Gamma chapter for 12 years. She has been a consistent source of support, guidance, and inspiration, providing scaffolding and leadership for our learning (see Wynter-Hoyte et al., 2014). Under her guidance, we became autonomous and agentic units, which required more than mere emulation of how she acted as a scholar and tenured faculty member. Mentorship with the guidelines of our faculty representative disrupted the traditional "teacher/learner dyad" of our mentor-mentee relationships and encouraged us to engage in "a richly diverse field of essential actors and . . . other forms of relationships of participation" (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 56). Tuba, the first author of this paper, explained how this unconventional and ongoing mentor-mentee relationship with Dr. Tinker Sachs transformed her academic identities, which then informed her teaching and research practices with critical perspectives (Angay-Crowder et al., forthcoming). Interrogating the relationship between language and power, we, as members of AUA, considered literacy as deeply connected to social action and democratic practices. Aligned with this understanding, we drew upon the notion of a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) to create a sense of belonging in our student organization. The newer members were initially encouraged to learn by observing more experienced peers, gradually gaining experience through participation in the community's practice, or what Lave and Wenger identified as legitimate peripheral participation.
Three authors as research participants in this study are former P-12 classroom teachers and now faculty or staff members at different universities. We all studied in the language and literacy doctoral program of a southeastern university and positioned ourselves in critical literacy perspectives in our academic work (see Albers et al., 2015). Here, we share personal experiences as doctoral members of the AUA student organization and reflect on the authentic, transformative opportunities that have helped us with professional development and the construction of academic identities. In the following sections, we present our findings on how our AUA Alpha Gamma student organization provided each of us with transformative opportunities for leadership in scholarship and service. At the same time, we delineate how leadership supports our transforming academic identities.
Leadership Through Participatory Professional Development. AUA modeled the act of idealized influence for its members. This type of leadership was instrumental in cultivating our professional development because we transitioned into our roles as leaders in the field of language and literacy (see Wynter-Hoyte et al., 2014). For example, we planned organizational meetings that provided one venue whereby we assumed leadership roles in our community and our academic field of literacy. We coordinated our leadership work through face-to-face meetings on the university campus and via web conferencing platforms such as Skype and Blackboard Collaborate. As leaders of the Alpha Gamma chapter, the AUA officers planned and facilitated the gatherings, which generally included discussion about general business matters, member recruitment, and potential service opportunities. We also discussed ways we could contribute as leaders to our community, schools, and teachers in a more productive and participatory manner.
Tuba joined the discussions of leadership by connecting her participatory work in AUA with broader discourses at the 2016 JoLLE@UGA conference where she presented. She drew upon the "art-based approach to transformative learning" (Butterwick & Lawrence, 2009, p. 45) to discuss how activist literacies can inspire students and engage them in creative and transformative practices. The conversations about an art-based approach to transformative learning during the AUA writing retreat, her presentation, and the reflections after the conference about the uses of art in classroom teaching facilitated "the process of transformative learning" which involved "taking action on one's reflective insight, and critically assessing it" (Mezirow, 1997, p. 11). The input Tuba received prompted her to think critically about art as a form of literacy and its importance in education. Compelled to further the conversations, she then wrote a manuscript in which she proposed strategies for incorporating art into a multimodal-oriented curriculum (see Angay-Crowder, 2015). Engaging in a process of dialogic exchanges, reflection, and thinking deeply about the importance of an art-based curriculum enabled Tuba to take action toward enacting change within communities.
Technology and its related learning are viable means to foster collaborative, transformative learning in professional development for teachers and teacher educators (Albers et al., 2016; Whitelaw et al., 2004). Encouraged by the promises of technology discussed during AUA meetings, in 2011 Christi, the second author of this paper, joined the project of Global Conversations in Litearcy Research (GCLR) (visit the project website at https://globalconversationsinliteracy.wordpress.com/). GCLR as a series of open access, one-hour web seminars delivered by internationally-known scholars in the field of critical literacy inspired Christi's dissertation study that focused on teacher educators' integration of web seminars into their pre- and in-service literacy education courses, a professional development approach not previously examined in the extant literature (see Pace, 2015). As a result of conversations with Christi, many AUA members were encouraged to participate in GCLR's critical, online literacy project as research assistants. Inspired by GCLR's professional development opportunities, Tuba wrote her dissertation that investigated doctoral students' academic literacies and intertextuality during GCLR web seminars (see Angay-Crowder, 2016). We all realized that online professional development provides opportunities for teachers to share their knowledge and experiences, to learn from others, and to collaborate in addressing real-world issues (Albers et al., 2015, 2016). Many AUA members broadened their conception of professional development and acknowledged the many benefits arising from extending beyond traditional, one-shot activities that typically occur within an institution's physical borders. We see this change in thinking as another example of transformative learning as a part of innovative professional development.
Another leadership opportunity was created as a result of an intellectual stimulation in 2014 when AUA members challenged the status quo by positioning themselves as the Executive Committee Members of the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators' (GATE) annual conference. GATE is the state affiliate of the National Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), the only national educational association comprised of members solely committed to the improvement of teacher education. While we were honored to be given the responsibility of supporting the Executive Committee, a few coordinators initially expressed concerns about our capability as doctoral students to perform this work effectively. Yet AUA members insisted that they take on this leadership role and produced counter-arguments against the concerns raised. We changed the coordinators' perspectives by taking on responsibilities that included accepting conference proposals, sending formal acknowledgments of receipt of these proposals, and establishing an on-line blind review proposal process, which was a new initiative. We also participated in the proposal review process in collaboration with GATE professors from around the state.
At the end of the conference, GATE committee coordinators not only shifted their perceptions about AUA members' capacity to organize the conference, but they also publicly recognized Alpha Gamma's leadership and service, praising us for our commitment to professional work and successful implementation. For Christi, this moment gave her a sense of agency because it marked her acceptance into academia by veteran peers. She believed that her work and that of the other AUA members was valued, which enhanced her understanding of the role of an academic, thus shaping her academic identity. This public acknowledgment verified that transformative learning is "the process of effecting change" (Mezirow, 1997, p. 5). We not only transformed other's perceptions but also improved our leadership skills during the conference, thus positively contributing to our ongoing identity transformation from doctoral student to academic. With our effective leadership, we demonstrated how the professional development of individual educators can improve the cooperative efforts of all concerned.
The aforementioned examples illustrate how AUA has served as a productive platform for honoring our leadership skills. First, planning and organizing Alpha Gamma meetings have afforded us an authentic experience of working collaboratively with the organization's officers and our faculty representative Dr. Tinker Sachs. Second, we have been able to transfer these skills to other endeavors, such as participating and presenting at conferences, researching and writing, and assuming leadership roles in academic projects such as GCLR and Global Conversations in Doctoral Preparation (GCDP), which we will explain later in this article. As a result, our student organization fostered our professionalism and academic identities in the area of leadership.
Leadership in Service With Social Action. The ubuntu notion, "I am because we are," is the foundation for AUA's community projects. Our leader believes that "we all need to draw on our living, teaching, and researching contexts to create the conditions for the betterment of humankind" (Angay-Crowder et al., forthcoming). Accordingly, AUA members, as critical literacy educators, favored theories that helped transform dominant discourses that often remain uncontested. By partnering with local organizations to bring literacy and literacy awareness to our communities, we took leadership by putting our theories into critical praxis (e.g., Wynter-Hoyte et al., 2014).
Accordingly, members volunteered at the Kids Shelter (pseudonym), a community shelter that provides homeless children and their families positive living conditions for current and future generations. In support of the shelter's mission, AUA Gamma members volunteered to assist the preschool teachers by reading with the children whom the shelter serves. Reading with children in this particular setting allowed us to better understand their specific needs and interests and respond to them by modifying the reading strategies we applied. Although it took several visits to the preschool students' classrooms, Tuba and her colleagues who worked on this service project overcame challenges and learned how to navigate the shelter's classroom norms, eventually becoming an integral part of its learning community.
Not having previous experience reading with children, Tuba initially felt uneasyComing from the Turkish cultural background, she thought she did not have the requisite familiarity with the children's established classroom norms and the community's cultural discourses. However, inspired by Christi's idealized influence as an AUA peer, Tuba changed her perspectives and gain confidence in supporting the particular age group that was "foreign" for her. Connected through the internet, Christi, who lives 150 miles from the shelter, joined Tuba and the children to read a story. With the scaffolding and inspiration that Christi provided, Tuba felt that she was prepared for her own reading, which eased the adjustment process for her. Eventually, Tuba's confidence increased as she interacted with the students and then took the lead in working with them on their reading skills. This transformative experience at the Kids' Shelter prompted Tuba to reassess her leadership skills with enough competence to support students within a teaching and learning context unfamiliar to her, but one where the students felt completely at ease.
Further, AUA's service work at the Kids' Shelter provided situated learning experiences through which AUA members generated the self-confidence and competence needed to take leadership in an active engagement with the local community by sharing their knowledge and love of literacy. For example, one AUA member, David, organized his second graders to select books from their classroom library to donate to the children at the Kids Shelter. Motivated by the strong desire to make a difference in children's lives, he, along with another second-grade class at his school, organized a school-wide book drive, collecting over 300 books for the home. This experience exemplified how a disorienting dilemma can be a catalyst for transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991). Realizing that the children in their local community did not have access to books and organizing the book drive, the AUA member and his students not only transformed their thinking about providing access to literacy for all but also took on the leadership role in the initiative. Participating in service-learning projects allowed them "to experience learning more directly and holistically" (Taylor, 2009, p. 6). Under the AUA member's guidance, not only were his second-grade students able to make a difference in their community but also another community in our state.
To support the education of young English language learners (ELLs), in 2014 AUA members partnered with the Urban Literacy Clinic (ULC) at Georgia State University (GSU). The voluntary work of language and literacy included organizing the books in their reading library. In so doing, they made the required resources readily available to teachers who prepare the research-based literacy lessons for ELLs whom they tutor there. Even AUA members who do not live near GSU found creative ways to get involved with this outreach. For example, Christi used internet communication to contact volunteers and suggested how the books might be reorganized. She also made a monetary donation for the purchase of containers to house the books and offered to create labels for the containers. Christi's contribution illustrates that with a little creativity, which is integral for transformation (Dirkx, 1998), AUA members can turn challenging circumstances of access and availability into transformative opportunities to actively participate in their organization's community outreach. More importantly, working collaboratively and creatively, all members were able to support ULC's mission to improve literacy among ELLs living and attending school in the greater Atlanta community.
Interactions within our local communities made us also realize that we had more work to do to improve and promote leadership in increasing access and success for traditionally underrepresented populations. As Kuk and Banning (2010) explained, student organizations have not given attention to supporting the efforts of diversity on campus. Following their suggestions for increasing diversity, we first questioned ourselves: "Does AUA serve as a significant social network for culturally diverse students on campus?" To avoid experiences as "living contradictions" (Whitehead, 2000, p. 93), we as AUA members had to monitor our actions or practices, making sure that they accomplished our mission for promoting multiculturalism in both local and global contexts. For this purpose, then, we identified behaviors not previously thought through or for which there was insufficient supervisory leadership. Next, we looked for stereotypic depictions of race and culture on our campus (e.g., advertisement describing Asian students achieving high academic scores and African American students involved in sports and dance). Realizing that we needed to establish more productive relationships and collaboration with multicultural organizations on campus, we discussed possible solutions such as supporting study abroad and language learning programs for more diverse cultures and/or programs. We also partnered with Multilingual Communities (pseudonym) to improve the literate lives of these multicultural adults and children. Thus, we took deliberate actions to first problematize and then address issues of race and culture, which ultimately promoted and enhanced our institution's leadership in diversity goals.
Transforming Academic Identities Through Leadership in Scholarship. Establishing academic identities is important for doctoral students as they work toward achieving research goals in their specific areas of interest (Austin & McDaniels, 2006). Similar to the participants in Hoover and Dunigan (2004), we took leadership roles in scholarly activities to reach our goals that included transforming our academic identities. We participated in research that drew upon teacher identities to improve pedagogies (e.g., Angay-Crowder et al., forthcoming), and investigated how teachers and scholars practiced literacy in ways that guided them to critically examine their world. In conducting such an analysis, we frequently engaged in social action within our communities as a way to promote social justice. Through its annual writing retreat, research projects, and conferences (among other initiatives), AUA provided opportunities for us to collaborate in ongoing and prospective research and take part in professional presentations.
Crafting academic identities in higher education can create tensions for doctoral students and academic faculty alike (Coke et al., 2015). One aspect of academic identity requires that we engage in scholarly research and writing. Meeting or exceeding expectations of research, teaching, and service brings challenges for newly appointed members of university faculties or doctoral students in higher education. Following Hall's (2012) suggestions, we made this transition into academia more seamless through apprenticeship and relationships that we developed in our student organization. We cultivated intellectual stimulation by managing relationships and achieving career success and satisfaction as we challenged the traditional and perceived power differences in our roles as students, teachers, mentors, and leaders.
For example, Tuba, as the newcomer and novice member of our organization, initially approached the challenge of writing for publication with trepidation. She felt intimidated due to her problematic frame of reference that only a few academic insiders could write professionally or have their work published. As a community of practice, more experienced writers in AUA challenged Tuba's assumptions by sharing stories about how they overcame their anxieties as novice writers. Sharing knowledge and insights about conducting research and writing for publication boosted Tuba's confidence and changed how she positioned herself as a writer. By learning from more experienced Alpha Gamma members, Tuba honed the research and writing skills necessary for developing as a literacy scholar in her local communities as well as the broader language and literacy community. We all became more confident and knowledgeable in the process. Our collaborative writing practices supported individual consideration in the organization. Thus, we grew professionally and began to interact more so as colleagues, eventually coming together to collaborate on writing projects such as this paper.
AUA also fostered the development of our scholarly identities through its annual writing retreat. The Alpha Gamma chapter hosted single-day and sometimes weekend-long intensive writing sessions, which provided all members a supportive environment to focus on writing projects beyond their required doctoral coursework. These projects included the development of manuscripts, Institutional Review Board (IRB) proposals, and/or research projects. AUA members offered and received feedback about their research projects, exchanged ideas, shared personal insights and experiences, and learned as future academics how to dedicate time for writing amidst the many other tasks vying for our attention.
Each year, a faculty member from the College of Education's Language and Literacy unit at GSU volunteered to attend the writing retreat to lend further support. These guest scholars typically afforded one-on-one or small-group conferencing with AUA doctoral students about a particular piece of writing. They also offered suggestions about the direction of our writing and prompted us to consider alternative approaches. Collaboration between faculty and doctoral students satisfied needs for deeper relationships garnered through professional development. The guest scholars then engaged us in discussions about time management, the nature of job searches, the expectations of working in universities and colleges, and the design of research in preparation for dissertation work. Our interactions, observations, and active collaboration with these knowledgeable and established academics have served as valuable models of leadership for us. This kind of support in leadership represented an important source of intellectual stimulation that fueled ongoing identity development and transformative work in our scholarship.
The capacity to be open to others' perspectives sits neatly at the heart of transformative practices (Dirkx, 1998). As AUA members, we understood each other's viewpoints because we had many opportunities to reflect on our lived experiences. For example, writing retreats provided Rebecca, the third author of this paper, a space for critical reflection that is integral to transformative learning, leadership, and identity development. During writing events, AUA colleagues and invited professors acted as agents of idealized influence for her developing academic identity. That is, they became role models for critical reflection for Rebecca's writing development. In this process of transformational leadership, she held informal, one-to-one conferences with these scholars. From this experience, Rebecca realized that despite being new to the doctoral program, she could offer her valuable insights to her more experienced AUA peers about their own scholarship. Thus, she shifted her thinking and no longer ascribed to the dominant view of schools and universities as sole owners of learning and knowledge. Finally, encouraged by stimulating intellectual conversations and critical reflexivity, Rebecca developed her professional identity, transformed her skills, boosted her confidence, and took the agency to write for publication. By establishing positive leadership abilities together with other AUA members, she was able to ask for and receive useful feedback from more experienced writers. Without the support and push of her fellow members, Rebecca believes that her first article would not have been published.
Additionally, Rebecca felt that participation in an AUA writing retreat early in her studies prepared her to conceptualize her identity as a scholar. She attended the retreat to learn from the mentorship sessions regarding conference presentations because she aimed to be well prepared for her first solo presentation at an upcoming literacy conference. Rebecca expected to inhabit a subordinate position in the traditional mentor-mentee dyad at the retreat, deferring to the recommendations of more experienced participants. She, thus, was rather surprised to receive individual consideration from more experienced AUA leaders during the mentorship sessions. Advanced doctoral students and guest faculty attending this retreat recognized Rebecca's strength at organizing and presenting ideas with persuasive arguments. Therefore, they advised that she take the leadership in facilitating conversations during the sessions. This disruption of traditional school-context power structures presented Rebecca with what Mezirow (1991) referred to as a "disorienting dilemma" (p. 168). As Coke et al. (2015) suggested, this kind of dilemma can occur when transitioning between roles in academia. In such a case, a person may experience a disconnection between their own and others' perspectives or realize that their previous views and approaches are no longer adequate, which results in disequilibrium (Mezirow, 1991). However, Rebecca negotiated the tension between the roles of a doctoral student and a scholar in the context of the retreat by shifting her identity from "being" a doctoral student to engaging as an academic (Dirkx, 1998, p. 11). In other words, the dilemma resulted in a transformational leadership experience for Rebecca as it connected her to her internal resources related to her academic identity (Illeris, 2014). Her authentic experience is an example of how we see our student organization as a community of practice that fosters professional development and leadership opportunities in the field of scholarship, thus allowing us to shape our developing academic identities.
Another important means of improving scholarship was sharing our research in local and international communities of GCDP (visit the project website at https://globalconversationsindoctoralpreparation.wordpress.com/). AUA members as part of the GCDP project team provided a series of open-access web conference sessions in which doctoral students from across the globe shared their expertise with other doctoral students about a range of topics on the preparation of doctoral students. Tuba, as the coordinator of GCDP invited all doctoral students to share stories and research in this transnational space "that is liminal—i.e., between communities, languages, and nations" and develop transnational identities that "go beyond bounded, static, and territorialized constructs and norms" (Canagarajah, 2018, p. 41). All AUA members participated in the GCDP webinars with different roles as presenters, moderators, facilitators, and coordinators. During these webinars, we aimed at transforming our problematic frames of reference by detaching ourselves and other international scholars from limiting language ideologies and facilitating criticality and "creativity that attempts to go beyond existing language systems and monolingual ideologies to construct new textual homes" (Canagarajah, 2018, p. 58) for webinar participants. For example, during our chat discussions and presentations, we challenged the use of dichotomies terminologies such as first language (L1) versus second language (L2) and promoted translanguaging that "transgresses and destabilizes language hierarchies" and "that transform a present space with historicity, creativity, criticality, and power" (Garcia & Wei, 2014, p. 68).
Discussions and Concluding Remarks
Participating in our student organization was a transformative experience because we imagined how professional development could otherwise be. AUA provided us the space to acquire professional skills, including communication and relationship building through transformative practices, decision-making, and leadership, all of which are essential to advocating for and advancing the transition to academic careers. By developing social networking skills, collaborating with mentors and other doctoral students, and taking on leadership roles, we grew as individuals and academics ready to advance our profession. AUA membership, with its regular meetings and activities, such as writing retreats and volunteering options, enabled us to realize that the most innovative professional development processes for academics should be ongoing, supportive, and collaborative (see Albers et al., 2015, 2016). Therefore, we agree that participating in dialogic exchanges of ideas, knowledge, and scholarship through connected learning tools such as webinars or blogs can engage students in transformative professional development in communities of practice (Bali & Caines, 2018; Yang, 2009).
Perhaps the most important benefit of serving in a student organization is the confidence students gain, an essential trait of all successful leaders (Patterson, 2012). Through AUA-led initiatives, we learned to believe in our abilities to lead others and to gain from our academic experiences. We also realized that student organizations have the potential to serve as significant agents in leadership. AUA encouraged our members to look beyond our campus life and (re)envision our future as leaders and developing scholars in the field of literacy. Furthermore, AUA's professional development activities for doctoral students supported leadership as a fundamental function of our professional role. Through its many activities, we learned how to plan, organize, manage, and make decisions by engaging in real-world contexts.
AUA provided opportunities for establishing social and professional networks with people on and off-campus and connecting more broadly with members of the profession through conferences. The stories AUA members shared through publications and presentations function as a form of critical discourse, as they allowed us to fully participate in educational contexts that encouraged critical examination of society and the world. Inspired by these critical endeavors, we promote critical literacy in authentic ways that should take place in situated practices of student organizations as communities of practice. Therefore, we support Kriner et al.'s (2015) claim that student-based organizations should be recognized as a viable, important form of learning community that can further professional development through transformative leadership. Creating a culture of professional development within a community of practice is critical because it promotes a subtext of learning, transformation, and leadership; builds a level of trust; and develops a sense of team with clear goals and a solid foundation for success (Blanton & Stylianou, 2009).
We posit that student organizations should operate through transformative leadership in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991), which help understand and discuss how members of student organizations learn, grow, and lead with academic identities. Integrating communities of practice into doctoral programs and student organizations presents the opportunity for students to engage in transformative leadership and to learn with their peers in an effective learning space (Gardner & Barnes, 2007; Kriner et al., 2015). In our AUA community, this participation included the implementation of critical perspectives that supported the notion of transformative learning as it describes "how adults learn to make meaning of their experience" (Mezirow, 1991, p. 198). In our student organization, we assisted each member in negotiating their transformation in a way that nurtured the development of identities and the AUA community. Providing support for student identities in communities of practice is both critical and transformative in the professional development of doctoral students (Hall & Burns, 2009; Heflinger & Doykos, 2016).
The professional development opportunities in AUA transformed our identities and traditional roles, for example, mentors versus mentees; all mentors became learners (see Angay-Crowder et al., forthcoming). However, we still need to problematize other issues of identity, such as gender, class, and race in relation to student organizations with more inclusive understanding (i.e., emotional, cognitive, social, environmental, and societal dimensions) in the context of transformative learning, leadership, and professional development (Illeris, 2014). While engaging in reflections and discussing our transformative practices in scholarship, service and leadership, we should identify the affordances, challenges, tensions, and commonalities in addressing the problems in student organizations. As current and future educators, members of student organizations should seek to generate new knowledge by conceptualizing learning and problematizing the issues of professional development in transformative and innovative ways as we prepare to meet the demands of a global society.
Finally, we believe that all doctoral students must engage in self-study that can bring trustworthiness and integrity to our profession through critical reflection (Loughran, 2007). Then, we can promote professional development and identity construction, motivate ourselves to become educational leaders and optimize teaching and learning experiences for ourselves and community members. We posit that the planning and delivery of doctoral education should include more opportunities for transformative learning, which "is relatively rare within settings of adult education" (Dirkx, 1998, p.11). We need to continue discussions and critical reflections about participating in student organizations as an effective avenue for transformative professional development. Through critical reflection, we can transform habits of mind and a point of view (Mezirow, 1997). By fostering reflection and communication, acquiring new knowledge, making choices for change, and acting upon our changed perspectives, we will "generate awareness and acceptance of [our] purposes" (Bass, 1990, p. 21) and continue inspiring, energizing, and intellectually stimulating student involvement and leadership within our student organizations.
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Hailey Bieber's Cutout Blazer Dress Is the Coolest Transition Into Fall Style
Hailey Bieber has the solution to transitioning your wardrobe from summer to fall: a cutout blazer dress. On Aug. 18, she and husband Justin Bieber attended Kendall Jenner's event for 818 Tequila in Los Angeles. Bieber wore a stylish cutout blazer dress from Blumarine's fall 2022 ready-to-wear collection with thigh-high, sheer black tights. The low-cut blazer featured symmetrical cutouts on the waist and a loose knot draped down the center. She paired the edgy look with Balenciaga sunglasses, chunky platform loafers, and a trendy By Far patent-leather purse. Bieber also wore gold Jennifer Fisher hoop earrings.
Her husband opted for a more casual ensemble with oversize wide-legged jeans and a gray hoodie from his Drew House brand. He paired the laid-back look with a beige corduroy hat with an orange Drew logo stitched in the front.
As Jenner celebrated the launch of a new product for her tequila company, she was surrounded by her closest friends and family. She wore a white Rick Owens dress with a high leg slit, as well as strappy sandals from The Row. Kim Kardashian was also in attendance, wearing a sleek, dark-gray, shimmering bodysuit and a tiny Balenciaga purse.
Bieber has been a big fan of integrating a blazer into her end-of-summer wardrobe. Earlier this week, she was one of the cover stars of Harper's Bazaar's September 2022 "Icons" Issue, along with Amanda Gorman, Bad Bunny, Florence Pugh, and more. Styled by Samira Nasr, Bieber wore an oversize Saint Laurent suit by Anthony Vaccarello with a bra underneath. It might still be August, but we are big fans of an open blazer ahead of the cooler months.
Check out the stylish photos of Hailey and Justin Bieber at Jenner's 818 Tequila event in Los Angeles ahead.


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Article Title
Barriers to and Strategies for Engaging Extension Educators in Family Caregiver Education
Oklahoma Extension educators encountered barriers related to trainings and program delivery for a caregiver education program produced by Oklahoma State University Extension. Oklahoma family and consumer sciences educators were interviewed about perceived barriers to attending trainings and delivering the program. Findings indicated that staff shortages, program prioritization, challenges in developing an audience, and communication issues with the program team made it difficult for educators to engage with the program. Strategies for improvement based on the findings were devised.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Struckmeyer, K. M., Roberts, E., Gordon, S. R., Raczkoski, B. M., & Singh, C. (2021). Barriers to and Strategies for Engaging Extension Educators in Family Caregiver Education. The Journal of Extension, 57(6), Article 16. https://doi.org/10.34068/joe.57.06.16


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Can you bring a pet bird into a house with other pets? Absolutely. Should you approach introducing a bird to your other pets with caution? Yes. Dogs and cats are natural predators, and your bird would be prey in the wild. If approached properly, your pet bird and dog and cat can get along just fine. In this video, Dr. Laurie Hess explains how she introduced Dale, a blue-headed pionus, to her cat, Bean.
Watch Introducing Your Bird to Other Pets in the Home | Bird Owner Tips on YouTube
Video Transcript
Hi, I'm Dr. Laurie Hess, exotic animal veterinarian, and I'm here with my own family of pets. This is Bean, he's 15 years old, and this is my bird, Dale, a blue-headed pionus who's twenty-four years old. And we're here to tell you that when it's done properly, you can live together with multiple different kinds of pets in the household, even cats and dogs who are predatory animals with birds, with parrots here who are prey. If you do it the right way and you supervise your animals and that's key, they can all live happily together.
Now, even the most well-intentioned and well-meaning cats and dogs are still predators so they may be very, very curious about your pet bird, your parrot, who is a prey species. That's very important because cats and dogs may want to play with your animals, even just pick them up and have them act as a toy, but they can really inflict some serious harm. They have sharp teeth. They have saliva that has germs, and they also have sharp nails.
So, it's really, really important that if your bird is out of his cage at any time, that you're supervising him around your cat or your dog, and that he is in a secure and locked cage that an animal such as a dog or cat can't break into. You can take them out together and have them in the same room if you are there watching. You just never want to let them out unsupervised.
When you first introduce them, what you want to do is you want to make it a positive experience for both. So when I first introduce these guys, Dale was naturally a little scared. Again, he is that prey species and this is a scary predator so I gave Dale his favorite bird treats in very small amounts when he first saw Bean and he understood that the sight of Bean, the smell of Bean, even the sound of Bean was something not to be afraid of. He paired it with a positive interaction of getting some of his favorite treats. At the same time, I cuddled Bean and I pet him and I let him know that if he was calm around Dale, that it was really, really a nice interaction and that it was a positive thing and nothing to get anxious about.
So you can do this. You have to do it gradually and again, I always stress, please supervise this interaction. Never let your birds and cats and dogs out together alone, because again, these are the most well-intentioned, sweet animals – dogs and cats – but they may do their natural behavior, which is to swat it or be curious about a bird, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's natural. But again, you can have serious injury in your bird. So when done the right way, you absolutely can have cats, dogs, ferrets, birds, rabbits, any kind of other animal together, on the same home, living happily.


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Best things about Fanless Laptops are how silent and energy-efficient they are. This new laptop trend was made possible by the latest production methods. New equipment manufacturers use can offer good performance with very low energy consumption and heat production. So, your laptop can be silent, cool and energy-efficient as a tablet or smartphone.
Advantages of Fanless Laptop
How does fanless laptop work?
First of all, the main reason that fanless laptops can stay cool is that they do not get that hot even without any cooling. They use low TDP processors with low frequency and wattage to create minimal heat. Fanless laptops mostly use low heat producing backlit LED screens, low-frequency CPU/RAM and SSD storage to minimize the heat each part can produce.
The produced amount of heat is low but still, there is some. This heat flows through the entire system of mostly aluminum body and copper heat pipes and is finally released to the air.
TL;DR Fanless laptops create as little as heat possible and lose that heat by passive cooling.
Do fanless laptops overheat?
Shortly no! If a fanless laptop overheats (actually applies to all laptops) it means there is a malfunction. You mostly cannot feel the heating of a fanless laptop.
An overheating fanless laptop probably has a software issue that prevents the chip from limiting frequency and let the CPU (or other parts) at turbo speed all the time. If you encounter such a problem, call warranty or manufacturer.
Top 8 Best Fanless Laptops
Intel i7-3960X
12.3" PixelSense 2736x1824
13.5 hrs
1.7 lbs.
Intel Core M3
12" Retina Display (2304 x 1440)
10 hrs
2.03 lbs.
AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS
16GB 3200MHz
1TB PCIe
14" FHD 120Hz IPS-Level Display
13 hrs
3.5 lbs.
Intel i7-8550U
13.5" MultiTouch 2256x1504
8 hrs
3.53 lbs.
Intel Celeron N4000
64GB eMMC
14-inch 1920x1080
8 hrs
3.3 lbs.
Intel i7-7Y75
14" Multi-touch 1920x1080
8 hrs
2.65 lbs.
Intel Core M3
12.5" Touchscreen 1920x1080
10 hrs
2.65 lbs.
Intel Core M5 6Y54
12.5" LED-lit 4K
4.5 hrs
2.8 lbs.
1. Best Fanless Windows Laptop
Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is a premium fanless laptop that can satisfy you in every way. You will be surprised when you take it in your hands. I bet you will think, "how did they add so many things in this featherweight laptop?".
There are too many things to talk about but let's start with its most important feature. It has an unbelievable weight of 1.7 lbs. There are many tablets heavier than this. The lightweight and compact structure make Surface Pro 6 extraordinarily portable. It is like having a tablet with all utility peripherals like keyboard, mouse and stylus pen.
Speaking of portability, it has officially 13.5 hours of battery life. You cannot be sure if it can last that long but unofficial resources approve it can last at least 10 hours with heavy-tasks like watching movies, working on Photoshop, AutoCAD, Revit, etc.
Despite its small screen, Microsoft used a magnificent display on this device. 12.3-inch PixelSense display has 2736 x 1824 resolution. The touchscreen is very responsive and easy to use. With more than 400 nits of screen brightness, you can comfortably use it outdoors in direct sunlight.
Now the surprising part. This little guy is a monster in terms of performance. There are customization options but the model we choose got Intel i7 Processor and 16 GB RAM. You can do everything on this laptop except gaming. Maybe some soft gaming can be possible but graphics-heavy games will not work since Surface Pro 6 only has an integrated GPU. Also, storage is up to 1TB. This size of an SSD is not easy to fill up.
We want to add a little footnote here. Those cool accessories are sold separately. They cost extra but some of them might well worth the money.
2. Best Fanless Macbook
Apple MacBook 12 is another good choice for people looking for fanless a laptop(especially you like Mac). 12" models discontinued by Apple for various reasons. However do not afraid, it is not like a chronic problem or a production error. They decided to go with 13.3" after user-needs researches.
We must say that MacBook 12" does not offer the typical MacBook performance. Intel Core M3 CPU is good at staying cool and using less energy but it sacrifices a bit of performance in return. Retina display as fascinating as always. Good colors, sharp images and high resolution are been standard for MacBooks.
This is probably the thinnest and lightest Macbook you will ever get. With dimensions of 12.1 x 8.7 x 2.1 inches and a weight of 2.03 lbs. it is small enough to fit into a small shoulder bag. Thanks to Apple's innovative terraced battery design, almost every inch inside the body is used. Thus, MacBook 12" does not have to give up on battery life. It lasts up to 10 hours.
The only major problem we can talk about is connectivity. MacBook goes with a single does-it-all USB-C on this model which forces you to buy a multiport adapter if you are planning to connect multiple peripherals, displays, or storage devices to it.
3. Best Silent Gaming Laptop with Quiet Fans
Let me get this straight, there is no fanless gaming laptop. Do not believe anyone who says the opposite. The reason behind that is, the passive cooling technology to keep high-end CPU/GPUs under 80 degrees Celcius (176 °F) is not invented yet. Also not any CPU/GPU on market can sustain +100 °C for a long time.
Luckily, manufacturers started working on quieter models already. One of them is Asus Zepherus G14. It is equipped with an Nvidia RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU.
Max-Q line of graphics cards are designed to create the fastest, thinnest and quietest energy-efficient gaming laptops, according to Nvidia.
Moreover, Asus used GC Extreme TIM (thermal interface materials) upgrades for Cooler system temperatures of GPU/CPU. So they can prevent throttling and minimize fan noise.
G14 has a maximum 45 dB noise level at Turbo mode. Silent mode can go as low as 23 dB while fans are still cooling the system but it runs with a bit restrained performance. You can still use software to limit fan speed, reduce your clocks and get rid of extra noise as much as possible. Of course, every bit of silence cost performance.
Now you know this machine is as silent as a gaming laptop can get. Another reason we choose it is that G14 can still run the latest AAA games with ease while not sounding like a jet engine. AMD 4th Generation Ryzen 9 (8 Core – 16 Thread) Processor can go up to 4.3 GHz on turbo mode. It is a total multi-threading monster. CPU-wise you are in good hands.
Also NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q with 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM is good enough to run latest games at medium-high settings and somewhat older games at ultra with ease. 16 GB 3200MHz RAM and 1 TB PCIe SSD are both top level hardware for gaming laptops.
You know how good Nvidia RTX 2000 series is, believe it or not, it is the weakest part of this build. You can now imagine the performance of other parts.
14″ FHD 120Hz IPS-Level Display is large enough for a gamer and 120 Hz is very important especially if you play competitive games like CS:GO, Overwatch, Valorant, etc.
Also, with 3.5 lbs weight and 13 hrs battery, it is one of the best portable gaming laptops on market.
Lastly, dot matrix design on the lid made with 1,215 mini-LEDs creates a visual feast. It is definitely one of the coolest looking laptops out there.
4. Best Fanless PC for Performance
This is the powerhouse of fanless laptops. Were you afraid of performance problems while looking for a fanless laptop? Fear no more! Acer Switch is equally good as performance laptops with fans. Acer somehow managed to keep temperatures low enough for Intel i7-8550U to let it do its work with Dual LiquidLoop cooling instead of fans and we appreciate it.
It comes with a stylus and the pen works great on the sensitive multi-touch screen. Using it on a 2256×1504 IPS display adds an extra taste. You can use it as a tablet, laptop or at stand mode. Nvidia MX150 GPU adds visual software capabilities and opens up some room for soft gaming.
Despite being a tablet-laptop, Acer Switch 7 has much higher port availability than average laptop, including a thunderbolt and a regular USB 3.0.
Even if it has specs of other high performance laptops on the market, Swift 7 has a good weight and battery life to travel. Shortly, we can say this tablet pc has everything you expect from a laptop but still manages to take out the noise of the equation.
5. Best Budget Fanless Laptop
If you do not expect much from a laptop, this is a great choice for an average user. It is super-cheap for a 14" FullHD touchscreen Windows 10 laptop. Also, since you read this, you should be looking for a fanless laptop. Vivobook Flip 14 is one of them.
It meets all requirements for surfing on web, watching videos and working on documents. But if you will use heavy software like AutoCAD or Photoshop, check out other options.
While most laptops on this price range comes with a 1366×768 display, you can enjoy Full HD 1920×1080 on Flip 14.
This robust laptop is aluminum instead of plastic which is very popular at this price range. Durable hinges can resist thousands of rotations and since the body is made of aluminum, they will not pop out of the body.
As it is a cheap product, it should have some weaknesses right? For Flip 14, that is storage. 64 GB eMMC storage will not be enough if you keep lots of media and documents on your device. So, you should be careful about what to keep.
Also, the webcam has a poor visual quality. If you are planning to do lots of video calls, this might not be the right laptop for you.
Note: On the deal we choose, you can get 1 year Microsoft office 360 for free!
6. Best Fanless Laptop for Cooling
Acer Spin 7 is another great fanless laptop from Acer who release lots of new models lately. It is one of the thinnest laptops out there. While thin body looks like it will easily bend with a bit of overpressure, Acer did their best to keep it as rigid as possible.
The aluminum body of the laptop is sturdier than it looks. It is connected with 2 solid hinges that provides you 360 degrees use. Also, the screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 that used on many smartphones to avoid scratches and impacts.
As 8 hours battery life is not that impressive that is a sacrifice Acer made to make Spin 7 as thin as possible. Moreover, smaller battery made it possible to create this featherweight laptop.
14 inch Full HD IPS display will satisfy you with both colors and touchscreen quality. Performance-wise it is adequate for professional and casual use. If you want to run heavy programs or games on your laptop, it might not be a good choice for you.
7. Best Fanless Chromebook
If you are on a tight budget, Chromebook Flip C302 is a sufficient solution to end your fanless laptop search. It is quite portable with 2.65 lbs. weight and 8.3 x 12 x 0.5 inches dimensions. 10 hours battery life allows all-day long productivity.
Since it is a Chromebook, C302 does not run Windows 10. Instead it uses ChromeOS as operating system. You can learn more about Chromebooks here. If you already fine with Chromebooks or you are just convinced to buy one after a short research, check out these 10 Chromebooks under $300.
12.5" Full HD touchscreen can give you fine visual experience. Also it is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass for extra protection. As it is a small foldable laptop, you will be using it as a tablet a lot. Only thing we did not like about the screen is thick bezels, especially at top and bottom. They did a better job with the bezels on newer model C434. Make sure to check it out too.
Last point to mention is the backlit keyboard. Even it sounds like a small feature, it can be a lifesaver for some situations.
8. Best Fanless Laptop with 4K Display
Renowned XPS series has a new member of the family now. It is a very different approach from DELL. They focused on portability and flexibility in this model. This 2.8 lbs. laptop can be even lighter when you detach the keyboard. Yes, it is a detachable laptop that can be used as a tablet. So you can detach keyboard when you just want to crawl into bed to just surf on the web or take your laptop just to watch some Netflix on the metro.
Speaking of watching Netflix, this laptop/tablet might have a higher resolution than your TV if it is not equal. 4K display will fascinate you with immense visual quality. However, it has a downside. As the 4K display drains the battery at high rates, it will not last more than 4.5 hours. If you go hard on it, you can encounter a black screen in 3-4 hours. So, keep this in mind if you are planning to buy this laptop.
Best fanless laptops of 2022 are listed here for you to easily make your choice without spending countless hours on researching. All you have to do is compare them and go with the one with features you need.