Burning, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
How do you walk your talk? I’ve been thinking about what that means. I can write, paint, draw until I’m blue in the face. How does it change anything? How is it making a difference in the way I live my life?
A wise person once told me, it doesn’t matter what a person says — pay attention to what they do. The true measure of a person is in their actions. If someone shows you who they are – believe them.
Choosing to become a writer and artist has changed the way I look at the world. I dive for details; I poke at the underbelly; I take risks; I notice things that are tossed aside, hidden, secret. Other writers and artists are doing the same.
I have the greatest respect for those who form community, who give back what they’ve learned. I’m sitting here writing my butt off everyday, but who cares? How am I giving to the local community, my neighborhood, to family and friends.
It doesn’t matter what I learn, how educated I am, how many degrees I’ve earned, how much money I make. What matters is how I apply what I’ve learned to my daily life – how I walk the talk.
Does my word mean anything? Does the art mean anything? Do I show up to honor my commitments? If I make a mistake, do I admit it, offer apology? If I slip away for a while, disappear, do I come back? Or do I abandon.
What about my commitments to myself? I can put a structure together on paper – time to do my art, to work on my book, to read other writers. If I don’t follow through, live the structure, it’s not worth the weight of the paper it’s written on.
I can get out and teach other people about writing. And about the value of the Arts to a community. But if I’m not living what I am teaching, who’s going to listen? Who’s going to believe me?
How do you show up for others. Has writing changed the way you interact with your family, friends, students. Do you share knowledge and credit, model what you’ve learned? Or hoard information for yourself.
There are those who go to the opposite extreme — giving themselves away, until there is nothing left. Do you overgive or caretake? Do you know when you are depleted, exhausted, need time alone, downtime to replenish the well.
How do you walk the talk? Is it by going to writing retreats, taking risks with your art or writing, writing in a group, submitting your work? Do you support libraries, rally public funding for the Arts, frequent museums, encourage your kids to do art. Or is it as simple as showing up to the page, at the canvas, or with your camera, burning to create.
So many questions. I’m not looking for answers, only the sharing of ideas. Why do the Arts matter in this world. What does it mean to walk your talk?
…be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.
— Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, 1934
-posted on red Ravine, Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
-related to post, W. H. Murray – Providence Moves Too
QM,
A great post that raises questions for many people, but especially bloggers, since we are giving away our art to the electric sea.
I have made so many beautiful connections through writing online, and that’s why I continue. I quit teaching because it stopped feeding my soul. I was giving away too much, not getting the creative inspiration back from my students. Maybe I wanted too much. Maybe I was too excited about the questions Rilke mentions in his quote.
I am filled with curiosity. That’s the springboard from which I write, meditate, practice yoga, read, and wake up each morning. I feel like a child, ready to learn something new. I might be 47 in calendar time, but it doesn’t matter. We start over again every day.
Your photo is stunning. The vertical lines remind me of Chinese characters scrolling down the page. It’s a neon sign from a surreal dream diner. Beautiful.
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Thanks, Christine. Yeah, I think about that often, giving away our Art to the electric sea. I sure hope it’s inspiring a few people along the way! One great thing though – we get to self-publish, rather than having our work sitting there in files somewhere. One upside.
I love that you are filled with curiosity every day. And it moves you to keep creating. I have felt the depletion before as well, running myself ragged. I took a long break at the end of last year. But am feeling more energy lately. Those breaks are so necessary.
Your description of the photograph knocks me out. I love it. The Rilke, I was reminded of him in your Risk post (for others, the link is in the body of the post at: Other writers and artists) where you talked about passion. I also read him all those years ago. I decided at the last minute to add the quote.
This post was kind of unorganized for me. I had all these thought swirling around and didn’t know if I could bring them together. I’m glad the post made sense to someone!
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It makes total sense to me, QM.
First, I want to say that I love that quote. It makes me wonder if part of the difficulty in taking a risk is not having the patience to not know the answers. For example, can I admit something about myself while showing that I don’t know what to do with my flaw/s?
Second, to answer the questions you raise — how do I walk my talk? The first thing that came to mind, oddly, was the notion that I purchase art. I have purchased art, much of it folk art, since I got my first tax refund at the age of 18. I was working in a frame shop and purchased four seriagraphs from a series done by a Native American artist named Harry Fonseca. He died last year.
I support other artists and writers by loving and surrounding myself with their works. I am also inspired by them. I didn’t come from a family that collected art or had literary tastes that fed my own tastes. But somehow I broke through our world view and wanted to experience things within and outside us.
With respect to my own commitments, I’ve never been as diligent as I am now in honoring my commitments. I am not getting a lot done, but what I do start, I do get done. I wish I were more disciplined about my online writing group, but when I fall into a hole with commitments to family, I do fall off in my practice with that group.
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QM, it’s an important question you raise, and walking the talk is indeed vital, especially to the arts. I have always placed importance on the arts & their expression in all forms. Also, having been educated to be a teacher, I strongly believed that arts education should be a permanent part of the curriculum! As president of the Dakota West Arts Council, I went to the Supt. of our school district and asked if we could have the visual arts replaced in the elementary schools, as the middle school art teachers were frustrated by the fact that they had to teach the very basic principles, which should have been taught years before. She informed me that the curriculum was in place, but it had been cut, due to lack of funds. “You have to ‘sell’ the idea to the school board,” she told me. So the art teachers and I did just that. Especially helpful in doing so, was an article that quoted top Japanese educators that stated that they credited the inclusion of the arts at ALL levels of their education for giving their engineers an edge over those from other countries.
I also invested much time and effort in children’s community theatre, which gives kids so much more than just fun. It teaches them to value commitment, responsibilty, discipline and team work. It adds to their self esteem and teaches them to place others in high esteem.
I was accused of being an “artistic snob” when I defended the NEA. But my accuser, a resident of L.A., did not realize that the small towns across the vast middle of America benefit greatly from the Endowment’s funding.
Our Arts Council supported 35 different arts organizations, from a symphony orchestra to Suzuki Strings & Theatre for kids. We needed and appreciated every dime we got; ( we had no pride.)
Forgive me, I will now step down from my virtual soap-box.
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Great point, oliverowl, about the difference between small towns and cities with respect to reliance on and benefits from something like NEA.
Art is no longer a permanent part of our elementary school curriculum, and it hasn’t been for years. (Well, No Child Left Behind leaves no room for art.)
It’s amazing, now that my 12-year-old is in a private independent school, how rich her education is. The art and music is amazing (we just went today to see the musical Oklahoma!). And the literature — they’ve read so many books already, just finished memoir called Red Scarf Girl (LINK). But have read Diary of Anne Frank, We Free Men, The Hobbit, and now I’m forgetting some of the others.
I had actually come back, QM, to tell you how much I love the photos and agree with Christine’s comment re: looking like Chinese writing. Really cool. It was fun to read this new comment thread.
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The electronic sea indeed. Are we the vanguard on some new cutting edge, or just a bunch of has been never wases desperately giving it away in hope of some kind of an audience? The vanguard things sounds good to me:P. Last year I was in a room full of people and most were bloggers and I found myself saying, “I’m the Turcot Yards guy” to someone has a sort of introduction. Later I thought, whoa, maybe not such a good way to think of yourself. But then, in that context, it was quite okay, and heaven help em if they don’t know who the Turcot Yards guy is, lol. But I sometime do wonder if I am also killing any other possibilities for my Turcot Yards work, re: exhibitions, etc. Or am I actually promoting that possibility? Lots of all or nothing questions float around the soul when it comes to putting ourselves out there.
This is a good discussion, one we all need. Do we walk the talk? I like to think I am getting there. One thing I know for sure is that my blog really elevated me at a period in my life when I was doing zippo else in the “real” world. It’s opened a lot of doors for me and I think I am also trying to give that back.
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ouch, poor spelling there.
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Really interesting question….
I feel that what I’m doing with my writing at the moment is talking my walk.
My life right now is about searching, and learning, and giving. And the writing and singing is part of that journey but not the destination. It helps to be able to express what is happening, because I can learn from my experience, share it, and look back on it. But it’s a means to an end.
You could say I’m running in order to get somewhere rather than to become a better runner or to make it possible for others to run. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of the second two, but that’s where I am just now.
And so, while having my work read by others is deeply satisfying, and while their comments often provide a different and enriching perspective, most of what I write I would write even if nobody were to hear them. And somehow launching them on the electric sea (great phrase!) is in itself an important step.
Having said that, I also think that you answer your own question, ybonesy, in saying
“Choosing to become a writer and artist has changed the way I look at the world. I dive for details; I poke at the underbelly; I take risks; I notice things that are tossed aside, hidden, secret. Other writers and artists are doing the same.”
It sounds to me like you are walking your talk, and in doing so in this kind of network of blogging writers, you’re encouraging others to do the same…
It’s always great to look to see what more you can do, but don’t forget to give yourself credit for what you already do!
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oliverowl, what a great commentary on funding the Arts in small towns (as opposed to large cities). I think people who live in larger cities can take all that is available to them for granted. You brought up some great points, especially about how the Arts are one of the first things to get cut at the local level, and in schools and colleges.
One thing I didn’t go into much in this post, is how wide the umbrella for the Arts really is. Some think that supporting the Arts is for the rich, and only supports rich or famous visual artists, or high-profile, well-known galleries and museums. But the Arts are so much bigger than that and have a huge impact on whether or not a small community is able to keep a library or bookstore open, or offer small theater productions.
The Arts encompasses visual arts, performing arts, language arts, culinary arts, and physical arts, including drawing, architecture, painting, literature, theater, music, dance, photography, painting, video, film, documentary, opera, design, fashion, sculpture, poetry. It changes the way people think and problem-solve (as oliverowl mentions in her comment).
Sometimes art or creative writing can find a way in to a student’s mind and heart, open them to education, when other types of learning fail. A lot of art uncovers the secrets of our time, reveals the underlayer, and changes the way people think and respond to the world. Art and creative writing also offer a way for disenfranchised and marginalized peoples in our world to have a voice.
When people vote to support the Arts, they are supporting:
1) museums, city and small town (including local history museums in small towns that preserve our histories and heritage)
2) documentation and preservation of all the cultures who make up our rich history (the fact that we can go back and find documents for research on family histories and memoir is connected to Arts funding)
3) preservation of places writers and artists have lived and worked (Mabel Dodge, D.H. Lawrence, Robert Frost, Beatrice Wood, Georgia O’Keeffe)
4)scholarships for writing and art retreats (for those who would otherwise not be able to afford them)
5)Free days at museums (so families and individuals who might not be able to afford it have access to public art)
6) libraries in cities and small towns (sometimes the only access to books and literature)
7) Independent writers and artists through grants & arts funding (people like us, so that we can get our work out into the community)
8) local theater productions (see oliverowl’s comment)
9) independent bookstores (buying writers’ books; we talk about this a lot on red Ravine)
10) teaching art and literature in public schools (at all levels)
11) travelling one-of-a-kind shows (some I’ve seen over the last few years – Frida Kahlo, Diane Arbus, Nancy Crampton, Andy Warhol film)
12) artists and writers visiting cities, campuses, libraries to talk about their work (some I went to last year – Mary Oliver, Steve Almond, Josephine Dickinson, Galway Kinnell, Louise Erdrich, Ani Difranco)
13) performance art
14) poetry readings (like the one I just went to at the James J. Hill house)
15) preservation of great local architecture
16) ballet, opera, orchestra
17) art scholarships (or internships for young students to study with artists and authors)
Please add to the list if you all see any I am missing!
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neath, I really enjoyed your comment about blogging, and being known more for the blog we keep going on a daily basis, rather than by our own names. I have the greatest respect for your blog, Walking Turcot Yards, and the documentation work you are doing there. You are definitely giving back to the community. (For those who want to check it out, the link is on our sidebar under the Blogroll.)
The point you bring up about whether we are promoting our work or giving it away is a good one. ybonesy and I talk about those things a lot, in terms of our writing, art, and photography on red Ravine. We are constantly evaluating if we are getting back as much as we are putting in. At this moment, that would be a yes. But it is such a fine balance.
And is it taking away from us submitting or showing our work at galleries, putting energy into that kind of print medium? Do we have more of an impact (and a wider impact) as a writing and art blog? Or would our work see more people in a gallery or in a print magazine?
It’s a really good discussion we bloggers need to keep having. I always appreciate your feedback and comments.
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Lirone, thanks for your comment. You bring up the good point about all of us giving ourselves credit for all the ways we are walking our talk. It’s easy to be hard on ourselves, and look at what we are not doing, as opposed to what we are.
Your comment reminded me, too, that everyone is at a different place on the continuum. Some artists and writers are just starting out, some have been around a while. Some have done it professionally, and are now taking a stab at their creative writing. Some people have been teachers and are fried and need a break.
People write and do art for all kinds of different reasons. We also all have points where we just need to write – not do or give. Maybe the most important thing is for all of us to be acutely aware of where we are on the continuum. It helps us to appreciate others. The clarity seems so important.
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ybonesy, thanks about the photo. It’s a wild, Everyday Art kind of image. 8)
Public versus private schools. A whole other discussion. And why is it that private schools are so willing to support Arts education and fund the Arts? Is it because many parents of those in private schools donate and fund the arts? And many have the extra money available to do so? Or is it a learned value system? What is it.
It brings up the whole issue about class and the Arts. Many artists and writers don’t have a lot of money. But the people who buy and show their work, many times do.
I have a friend who teaches at a private school here locally. She’s an artist and teaches art to (mostly) wealthy kids from well-educated families. And when we get together, we almost always talk about the class differences, especially in relationship to art and opportunity.
So it begs the question – why don’t public schools want to fund the whole umbrella of the Arts? Why is it the first thing to get cut (usually for sports programs). Do you have ideas on that? I’m not a parent and would like to hear what other parents (or teachers) think about arts funding in schools.
I also love that you bring up buying art, having it hanging on your walls, as one way to walk the talk. Buying art (and books), attending openings, getting out to see artists and writers, is a great way to support the umbrella of the Arts.
And not all art is expensive. When I was in art school, I often traded my art, or bought (at a very reasonable price) the art of other students (great up-and-coming artists). Private art schools often have sales like these. I used to have art hanging all over my apartment. The wall space is more limited where I live now. But we still have art up that we like. I love the idea of living with art!
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I have lived with the arts all my life. While a poor art student I spent what little money I had on artwork by other struggling artists, and made regular gift of the arts to others – books, tickets to a performance, fine art print originals. No matter what financial condition we found ourselves in, I maintained a hand, foot, brain in some form of art practice due largely to the influence of my family of origin. For my parents, a key to a life well lived was awareness of the usefulness of all of the arts. It was a unifying principle; bound vastly different individuals together in a form of social sharing and traverse differences.
A culture which values individual striving and attainment at the expense co-operation and mutual support will not provide structural support to the arts and will seek to buttress those forms of entertainments which emphasize competitiveness, i.e. sports. It is also one which encourages a star system for identifying producers who have high financial capital value. Look at the state of the art market, the music scene, sports, etc.
As neath wonders if he is diluting his documentation by posting publicly on such a realm as the internet, many of us here must also. However, reasons for doing this are so diverse. I feel that sharing as we do encourages others to take up their own creative tools, and claim them useful in spite of the pressure to produce secretively with some financial gain at the end in mind.
I am overwhelmed by the rich sharing individuals have done on the net – anonymously, often, and with great generosity. G
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ybonesy,
I was glad you included the books your daughter is reading. I am happy you have found a rich learning environment for her.
Public schools are under unreasonable pressure with NCLB (No Child Left Behind). There are many facets to how it plays out, but one of them is that schools are punished in various ways if the students don’t score high enough on tests given in the spring. Factors like test anxiety, special education, poverty, and transient populations are not taken into account. Period. It has made public schools focus every nickel on reading, math, and writing instruction. It is terribly unbalanced and unhealthy. Teachers know this and can’t stand it. The children are totally stressed out. Everyone is running on fear.
My prediction is the moment NCLB is repealed (or properly funded), the pendulum will begin to swing back. It can’t come soon enough. This current wave of learners is learning that reading is a hardship, a drag, a chore. Very short-sighted on the part of people who rally behind NCLB.
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I could not resist re-joining the conversation.
I live in an art storage facility with a bed. The purpose of my dining room table is to prop up art as I have no more wall space for the 260+ paintings, photographs, mixed media, sculptures that I now own, the result of collecting original art for more than 30 years. When I walk into my home and see these pieces, I know I am among part of my chosen family. Truth be told, when I’ve visited redRavine the last couple of days, I’ve felt the same way — when ANYone provides space for art of ANY kind, the world is a kinder, gentler place — and so is the beholder of the art.
I’ve been intrigued with why I need art around me. I’m not formally trained as an artist or even as an art critic or curator. All I know is that it has healed me. To learn more, it’s been kind of a hobby of mine to read books about it. One that I recommend (and it is a PBS series available on NetFlix) is, “How Art Made the World: A Journey to the Origins of Human Creativity” by Nigel Spivey. I also recommend The Art Spirit by Robert Henri. An amazingly practical book is, The Everyday Work of Art: How Artistic Experience can Transform Your Life by Eric Booth. Last, one that completely surprised me: The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa by the New York Times art critic, Michael Kimmelman. He ends his introduction with this lovely anecdote:
“It is said that in 1911 Edgar Degas paid the most extraordinary tribute to his nineteenth-century hero Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres when as an old man he went every day to visit an Ingres exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris. Degas was blind. He went simply to run his hands over the pictures. I imagine Degas hoped to touch Ingres’s works in the way that adults caress their children, not just out of affection but to make some physical contact through which to transcend the moment. Time briefly dissolves in these gestures of love and devotion — through these points of contact with what we cherish and deem longer-lasting than ourselves.”
All to say, I read QM’s post and the following comments and touched my computer monitor. Thank you.
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When I read this post, I kid you not, Sharonimo — I thought of you and your love of art and your tradition of collecting art. I really did, and so when I logged on just a bit ago and saw that you’d commented, I couldn’t believe it. Cool. It’s good to hear your voice again.
I’m intrigued by why it is art is so central to some people and not to others. It’s not just about what you’re exposed to or taught as a young person. I keep toying with a notion of a personal aesthetic, a personal characteristic that has to do with desire for certain stimulation. I don’t know.
neath, I love the way you baldly ask, Are we the vanguard on some new cutting edge, or just a bunch of has been never wases desperately giving it away in hope of some kind of an audience? Well, as soon as we declare ourselves the vanguards, we instantly become the never-were. Great question to talk about.
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Sinclair, guess what my 3rd grader is doing for three weeks? Yep, testing. Ugh. I mean, when you count all the readiness for it, the pre-tests, the pep talks, the conversations in class — it’s going to be a month of their learning racked with that anxiety. Well, at least the testing is only in the mornings. I think the school keeps playing around with rotating days, getting it all over at once, etc. Now they’re on to half days, mornings only.
What’s really sad is that art has become something that is more accessible to the wealthy or at least to the educated. I mean, if it weren’t for the fact that I take my daughter to museums or take her to galleries or paint with her and build things with her or put her into music lessons, she wouldn’t have hardly any exposure. It’s gotten so bad at the public elementary school that the roaming art teacher who used to cover the whole school isn’t even there any longer.
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BTW, QM, NCLB is the biggest factor, in my opinion, having to do with cuts in Arts programming. When you’re tested on certain things, those things become all that matters, and Art is not tested.
The teachers cite issues of time. They don’t have enough time to teach the Science curriculum for which they’re tested, much less allow time to go to Art or Music.
The school seems to have enough funding to at least pay for a roving Art or Music teacher, but the kids are lucky if they get two sessions a month. One teacher covers 1-5th grades. So then the parents try to get their kids into classes with artistic teachers. I kid you not. Em’s second-grade teacher was the most highly sought after, largely because she is an artist and emphasizes art in her class. But it’s what she can fit in, not anything that is standard and programmed.
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Well, I now find myself wanting to chime in. The comments on this post have been so inspiring. NCLB is a joke. What a nice concept if something so simple as that could work. The public school system just isn’t working. No fault of the teachers. For the most part I believe they have the greatest of intentions & then the reality sinks in. It is simply about pushing the children through. I cannot begin to tell you how many schools in our area have trailers used as additional classrooms due to overcrowding. Sports, as an example , have overcome the need for the arts. I read where children who are talented in a certain sport are being pressured by colleges to sign agreements as early as the 8th grade! There is little incentive in the arts or in academics. I believe many who teach mean well, but are so restricted by a system that we as tax paying citizen’s support.
YB, I commend you for the choices you have made for your children.
For all who have commented on this post as being supportive of the arts, I commend you as well. Obviously the list is long. I am not as well educated as most of you. My biggest accomplishment was graduating 11th in a class of 69 students. (never made that top 10!) That was 35 years ago & things were much different then. And I can tell you that as a grandparent I put my heart & soul into inspiring our 6 year old grandson to enjoy reading and artwork. So much fuss about the latest video games, the latest this, whatever. So I hope by trying to inspire my grandson I am “walking the talk”. I hope…I believe much of the arts is now in the hands of the parents, until we all push for a more productive change… D
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When people support the performing arts in many large cities, they are also supporting union stagehands – the people who work backstage everyday making sure the show goes on. 😀
And, this is a great post, with great questions. I think I walk my talk by encouraging a sense of community amongst those interested in beadwork, by sharing my artistic process, by taking risks with my art, by attending museums, and by encouraging kids to get involved in the arts. But, there is always something more I could be doing…
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diddy — this is a great line: My biggest accomplishment was graduating 11th in a class of 69 students. (never made that top 10!) 8)
It’s so cool that you are a young grandmother. (My mom became a grandmother at the age of 40 — my oldest sister got pregnant at 17.) Anyway, yes, it’s in our hands (parents and grandparents) to instill that value system.
Oh, the one thing I wanted to comment about you, LB, that you didn’t comment about yourself — one of the ways I see you walking your talk is by putting your art out there and getting it accepted in different shows. That’s huge!
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What a great comment thread. I’m learning a lot. I know next to nothing about No Child Left Behind. It sounds like it’s had a pretty negative impact in terms of pressuring both kids and teachers.
So, yb, Sinclair, diddy, I just have one other question about NCLB – do you all think that the Arts were adequately funded before NCLB was implemented? Or just that it’s gotten even worse. Just curious.
G, you threw great insight on the me, me, me culture we live in and why a culture that does not foster community as a rule would also not want to support something as community minded as the Arts. Very elegant comment.
diddy, I think you are doing plenty to walk your talk! No worries. And I want to say that level of education has very little to do with whether or not someone is walking their talk. Some of the most educated people can be so distant from what is really happening out in the world. We all work with what we have and who we are. It’s the showing up that matters. And working one on one, right in our own families, what better way to show up.
Sharonimo, it’s really great to hear from you. Like ybonesy, I, too, thought of you and your vast art collection when I did this post. It would be so cool if one day, you just rented out a huge gallery space (or maybe you have some gallery friends) and had a show with all the work you’ve collected over the years. I’d love to curate something like that. And it could be a benefit for support of the Arts. Hmmmm. (BTW, loved the quote at the end of your comment. Moving words about the way art can touch our hearts.)
LB, good point about the union stagehands and Arts support for the behind-the-scenes infrastructure at concerts. They don’t just happen – people make them happen!
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Oh, diddy and yb, I forgot to comment on young grandmothers. I think it’s a gift. The grandkids then have the benefit of having their grandparents there for a longer period of their lives. Our family has a long history of young grandmothers. That generation of my own history had a big impact on me. I will always remember my grandmothers with great fondness and reverence.
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There is just SO much to think about here. Great information everybody!
When my child was in elementary school, I volunteered to come into the classroom for an hour every Friday afternoon, just to “draw” with the kids. The teacher got to tie up her weeks ‘loose ends’ at her desk, and I colored like a third grader with lots of ‘friends’. Good fun.
I recently put together a school program called “Cool Art Tricks”, and volunteered to present it during Love of Reading Week. I have half a file cabinet drawer full of handmade ‘thank you’ cards from all the kids in the classes that got to participate. Priceless.
My hat is off to teachers. The system works against them.
If anyone wants to make a difference, even a tiny little one, go volunteer for an hour at an elementary school. Read to the kids. Draw a picture for them. It is magic.
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leslie, I love the idea of volunteering to teach or spend time doing art at an elementary school. Can you just show up and ask to volunteer? Do you have to know someone. How does it work if you don’t have kids in school and just want to volunteer your time.
Someone else, I think it was G, mentioned gifting art, too. I wanted to comment on that. Giving tickets to art shows, concerts, or bringing people along to see a friend’s art opening or show is a great way to expose people to the Arts who might not ordinarily spend time or money on them.
Liz has a tradition with her Mom (who lives in a small town now without a large theater production) to get tickets to the Guthrie when she comes to visit in the Summer. I’ve gone with them the last two summers and it’s been delightful.
The Arts are infectious, no matter the age. Look at all the thank you cards leslie got back for her volunteer time. The Arts inspire us!
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QM, do I think the Arts were adequately funded before NCLB? No, I don’t & I don’t honestly know when something so important was put on the back burner. Sad.
I enjoyed reading the comments in this post. I know several teachers who use their own money to purchase art supplies for the classroom. True dedication.
leslie’s devotion as a parent to volunteer leaves me in awe.
What an inspiring way of giving.
In addition I would like to comment on lb’s beadwork. Truly wonderful work & art indeed! I had checked out your work on line some time ago. I shared it with my grandson. My husband & I have purchaced beads in such quantity that they require the space of a special container & that is one of the bins that Brant most often chooses when he wants to be creative.
Well, now he is smitten by mandalas!
All of this because dedicated people share their art. D
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diddy, now I just learned something else new about you – that you have a collection of beads! How great that you checked out LB’s beadwork, too, and shared the art with Brant. The sharing about process that goes on at the Lone Beader’s blog is amazing. It takes a lot of time to photograph and lay all that process out.
I admire people who can bead. It is such detailed work. I’ve purchased beads over the years with every intention of creating with them and just never done it. I think it requires a lot of patience. Also nimble fingers and eagle eyes.
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In the district where I taught for years, we were always hungry for volunteers. There is some minor hoop-jumping you have to go through–an application and likely a background check. They have to make sure no one frightening is in contact with children.
I’m currently writing a series on women who taught in one-room schoolhouses during the Depression and World War II. Having taught 20+ years, I listen with great interest to how their days were spent.
These women had nine months of Normal Training and were then sent out to begin their careers as teachers. I’ve seen their lesson plan books (yes, they still have them!), and every subject (including art and music) were taught daily. This never, ever happened when I taught. Impossible with the demands of looming tests.
These teachers also talk with wonderful fondness of their inservice days, when all the rural teachers were gathered together for training. Clearly, the information they were given was relevant to their daily work. I compare that with the inane workshops I used to have to endure presided over by over-educated professors who hadn’t been in a classroom for 25 years. Or ever.
It almost makes me want to start a country school.
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Teri, I never even thought about volunteering around the Arts in that capacity before. You and Leslie have planted a seed. I’m going to mull it over.
That’s fascinating about the teachers. And they still have their lesson plans and everything? Amazing. When do you think it all started to change, where the teacher’s training got so far away from her daily work?
Was it the 50’s? Although I always imagine that time to still be pretty traditional as far as schools go. The 60’s? I’m curious about the question diddy raises – when did what we would consider important to education become so much less important.
I suppose back in the day (and in one-room schoolhouses), there were little to no regulations. And teachers were getting together and kind of making it up as they went along.
It’s mindboggling to me now, the amount of activities kids are involved in, and the pressure to succeed. How do they find the time to slow down and figure out what they are really interested in? Or what they have passion about. It seems like, if you were really gifted at art or writing, it would be hard for it to be okay to really focus in on that.
I’m rambling. I find the subject interesting from both the teacher’s and the child’s perspective.
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There was a program in place called Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS) when I volunteered. I don’t remember a ‘background check’ per se, but it was also a number of years ago. 🙂 My son was in the school at which I volunteered, so that may have been a factor.
I would hope for a background check these days, and would be happy to comply.
Most schools have Love of Reading programs, and my experience is that teachers are starving for volunteers. Just call your closest elementary (I like the 7 year olds!) and tell them what you can do.
If you are good at reading out loud, I know that’s a BIG hit!
I took in my favorite childhood P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins Little Golden Books and read from them. The books that turned me on as a kid still fascinate kids these days!
And you really don’t even have to be ‘good’ at it! Kids are so starved for adult input, that you just ‘being there’ is a thrill for them. (maybe not high school kids, but hey, why not?)
After school programs need help, too. I was able to go to my local newpaper office, and ask for the “end rolls” of clean newsprint (the big rolls of paper left over when the newspaper switches out rolls)
Then I would roll out this massively long 20 foot piece of newsprint, on the gym floor, get down on my tummy with boxes of crayons and the kids, and c-o-l-o-r !!!
I learned more from seeing how kids approach art, and how competitive they are at first, and then how they get generous to one another…seemed we would always finish our time with everybody making ‘I love you’ cards for their mothers or siblings or teachers.
“I’m taking this home to my mother!” was always the final verdict! 🙂
The fun thing about volunteering is, you don’t have to do it more than once if you don’t like it!
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Although the lion’s share of the one-room schoolteachers I’m interviewing worked during early years, there are those I’m meeting who taught up until 1971, the year all country schools were absolutely forced to close. The 7th and 8th graders did have to take State Board Examinations in all subject areas, but the tests were reasonable–unlike the marathon testing sessions ybonesy’s daughter is currently enduring.
I think there was a degree of common sense and sensibility ever-present in those communities. Activities like chopping wood for heat and hauling water for the crock kept people grounded and real. No room for B.S.
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QM, beads a plenty! Brant has made many bracelets, keychains, bookmarks, you name it. I’ve had to limit the abililities of beading to that of a 6 year old. But, have incorporated alphabetical ones, so he can spell out names on his beadwork. It has been great for his imagination & dexterity & every piece is made with a specific person in mind for whom he chooses to give to. I made a huge score at a yard sale last summer, some very cool beads at very little cost.
Last year when Brant was in kindergarten J & I attended “Grandparents Day” at his school. What a joy! Each child had made a book with pieces of their artwork for every month of the year. Imagine how proud we were when in the November issue each child drew a picture & said what they were thankful for. Brant’s answer was “I am thankful for Grandparents”.
I like Teri’s comment that there used to be a degree of common sense & sensibilty. “No room for B.S.” D
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QM, I wanted to add that when I made my original comment & brought up sports, I didn’t mean to imply that I am against them. Indeed they are important in helping children become well rounded. But, academics has to come first & foremost in our school systems. My youngest brother has 3 children & they are involved in so many sporting activities that I fear they are headed for overload. All 3 do well in school & I am proud of them. But, I also feel that the amount of activities should be limited. I don’t know how they manage to fit it all in.
For the last 2 years Brant was in T-ball. I loved that they didn’t keep score. It was all about sportmanship. And then, to my dismay I would overhear the parents & grandparents keeping score on their own. J & I rooted & cheered for both teams. Now, I am rambling…so enough said. D
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Thanks for all the great info, Teri and Leslie. Really great comments. Good point about the common sense that was kind of built into the way people lived. What happened to that?
Leslie, I love the newsprint thing. And the way you described how they went from competitive to community, all in the course of one art session. I think that’s what G. was talking about, too.
diddy, understood about the sports talk. I think we’re all in agreement that we want kids to be well-rounded, including sports and physical activity. I was really into sports. Sports, (and two amazing English teachers) saved me. They helped so much with my self-esteem at a time when I wasn’t feeling that great about myself. I learned so much about teamwork, too.
Sports for girls and women are a great asset to a curriculum. It just seems like people are fanatics, especially about men’s and boy’s sports. I wish they paid as much attention (and gave as much money) to women’s and girl’s programs. Professional women’s sports can’t even get funded anymore. And before Title 9 (yes, I’m old enough to remember that) girls’s and women’s sports in schools got NO funding. Thank goodness for the Women’s Movement. Ah, don’t get me started. 8)
Anyway, I’m all for sports. But not at the expense of the Arts. Really sweet about Grandparents Day. That is priceless.
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