This was such awesome fun this weekend. This enormous blue tarp was one of a few that Atom had purchased back in February/March to keep the birth tub from leaking. (Oh, yeah, I still have to share that whole story sometime....) Why is it sooo huge? Because we were in a pinch (or so we thought - baby still didn't come for weeks after this purchase), and this is what he could find....
our future masterpiece as it was
So, this enormous big blue tarp, which was folded over many times and placed as one of many layers into a leaky birth tub, looking like a big blue plastic nest, has been being used to cover the super cool old phone booth Atom acquired, that is being refinished for an art installation. Gonna be so pretty.
With all the rain lately, the tarp had gotten pretty soaked, so to dry it out, we had spread it out on the ground, and then Atom decided to clip one end to the clothesline. Since it was a windy weekend, and the wind happened to be eastward, which was just the right direction, the results were fabulous! (It was an incidental bonus, right Atom, or was this intentional?) This kept the kids entertained, hoopin' and hollerin', for hours and hours on both Saturday and Sunday.
adobe & phoenix in the tarp ocean
And what a great lesson on aerodynamics in action, without us needing to say a word about it, to intellectualize it, or explain - just for them to see, and feel, and experience the joy of it.
surfin' waves in the tarp ocean
It dawns on me in retrospect that perhaps this is how Christo & Jeanne-Claude got started, with a happy accident.... If you don't know who they are, check them out. They adorn large stretches of land and other things with fabric. Well, really, if you're familiar with their work, that's a huge understatement. Their next undertaking is 'Over the River' - the Arkansas River:
"Over The River is a temporary work of art by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Christo plans to suspend 5.9 miles of silvery, luminous fabric panels high above the Arkansas River along a 42-mile stretch of the river between Salida and Cañon City in south-central Colorado.
Christo is currently working to obtain the necessary permits so that his team can begin the installation process. He is hoping to exhibit Over The River for two consecutive weeks in August, 2014."
This ocean we've discovered in our backyard is so awesome, I don't know if I ever want to take it down.
a grave marker in the beautiful Sierra Vista Cemetary in Taos, NM
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense."
Rumi
It's been an emotional few weeks. Quite a bit of weeping.
Mitakuye Oyasin. We are all related. I do believe that beyond these bodies, we are all one, and the sentiment of this poem by Rumi resonates deeply with me - yet still, the reality of mortality can be hard to deal with.
Two weeks ago today, our dear sweet neighbor and landlord Mr. Bowyer passed away. I truly miss him and wish that we had spent more time with him. His presence was comforting, and pretty much every warm day that we had, he would be out in his wheelchair, either in his beautiful big backyard, or occasionally in the front driveway. Adobe liked to take friends over to meet him, outside or in the house. He had an open-door policy. He was a real sweetheart, and I feel that he loved knowing there was a nice family here enjoying this house, which we do, so much. I wish that we had had him over for dinner sometime, which just seemed like it would be tricky because of his big automatic wheelchair, with both entrances to the house being a few steps up, but I really wish now that we had made it happen, somehow.
My heart aches when I'm in the kitchen, where I'd always look out the window and see him across the yard getting fresh air and sunshine. My heart aches any time I look over at the house, and think about the fact that he (his living body) is no longer there, and his grandson, who's just a couple years older than me, is now there alone, after all these years of living with him, and helping to care for him, and being his buddy. But I know that he is still here, I feel his spirit around us, over the trees and the grass, and the houses, and I talk to him.
I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to pay last respects while there was still breath in his body. I wept so much on the way to the hospital, going into the room, and when I was saying goodbye to him. I wish that I had had a couple minutes alone with him, but the room was full of family members and his caretakers. I wanted so much just to give him a little Reiki, and a kiss on the cheek. I did whisper in his ear that we loved him and would miss him so much. And even though he was unconscious, I know he heard me.
Yes, he was not a member of my blood family, but I love him, and this is my first experience really of 'losing' someone that I am used to seeing on a regular basis. The only other family member who has passed on was my grandfather, and I loved him so much, but I hadn't seen him for ten years. In both cases, there is regret, and things I wish I'd done when they were alive.
My granddad's funeral is the only one I've been to. Mr. Bowyer's is delayed until January, because it will be at Arlington Cemetary, and they are booked up. My granddad's viewing and funeral gave me great comfort & closure - I wept over him, and kissed him, and stroked his hair, and his Buddha earlobes, and talked to him, and told him how much I loved him. He looked so small lying there, a shell of the big robust man I knew, so full of life, the man who threw great parties on the holidays for his family, who would sing, and tell stories, and enlist me and my cousins to perform for him, much in the way he did with my mother and her sister apparently.
This morning, I am attending another funeral. Two days ago, my dance teacher (from age 7 to 18), Ms. Sparks, passed on. More regrets. I have been talking for years about going to visit her, right here in Arlington, and never did. I'm so thankful though for the many great memories that I have of her from my childhood, and for the focus she brought to my childhood, the influence she had on my life, and the training she gave me, which along with others, helped me to support myself by teaching dance for many of my adult years. I did get a chance to thank her, many years ago, but I wish that I had gone and told her these things again, and told her how much I loved her. Today, I will be doing alot more weeping, I'm sure.
I weep for the pain of our knowledge of our own mortality.
I weep for the pain that causes my father, and for the wish that he will find resolve with this before his time comes.
I weep for the pain and sorrow of loved ones who miss that special person they will see no more.
I weep for the pain of humanity.
I weep for the pain of mothers and fathers who have lost a child.
I weep for the pain of children who have lost their parents.
I weep for all of the suffering in the world.
I weep because change is so hard sometimes.
I weep with gratitude and joy for the gifts in my life, first and foremost being my family.
I weep with gratitude and awe for this amazing baby and my other children who have chosen me as their mother.
I weep with gratitude and joy for life.
Yes, I'm back! I have really missed writing here. Why have I been gone so long?
Well, two reasons: I had a long, drawn-out pregnancy that I really wanted to enjoy, but it was so difficult (a more detailed story of that and the birth, which went fine in the end, later...) that I couldn't really focus on much other than myself, my body, my family, and the little life that was growing in me, more, and more, and more, and more!
laboring away with my enormous melon of a belly and my sweet supportive husband Atom
Tammi checking fetal heart tones
our boy the moment after he was born, when he still had no name...
Takoda Din was born early March 7, at home in a birth tub, almost a full month after his supposed 'due date', after a very long and arduous labor, weighing in at exactly 9.5 pounds. It was awesome, exhausting, and so incredibly empowering! My lovely, amazing, and very very patient midwife, Tammi McKinley, was at my house for over 36 hours and never once made me feel pressured in the least. Atom kept telling me all the right things just when I needed to hear them, when I was totally exhausted and felt like I couldn't go on.
Reason 2: So, after I got that over and done with and rebirthed myself yet again, I came to Blogger, and things were all messed up! They had changed things, and there were some weird bugs going on, and I was so frustrated! I thought 'What is goin' on here?! Am I going to have to switch everything over to Word Press? Or to iWeb where I have much more control of everything visually?' But, I guess Blogger was having some growing pains too. But now, today I came here, and everything's more new and pretty fabulous so far! So I posted something I'd had in draft for months (the Race to Nowhere post). Thank goodness they got it together, because I really need to write. And you can tell I'm really excited, because I usually abhor gratuitous use of explanation points! :)
That's it for now, just wanted to fill you in, in case you've been wondering what happened to me, or happen to notice the huge gap in time here....
'Til next time.... I promise it won't be another 8 months.
And here he is just two weeks ago! My beautiful angel, baby #3.
sitting up independently for the first time really, at our friend's house <3
As children start a new school year, here's some food for thought. If you are a school-going friend, please don't take this as an affront, but a call to action. Here in the Northern Virginia area, many families are blessed to have their children attending pretty decent schools, even good, and in some cases, even great. But just stop to think about what it is that makes a school great. Ask questions. And see this film.
On a Saturday last winter, I had the pleasure of attending a screening of the film, “Race to Nowhere” by parent and first-time film maker Vicki Abeles, as part of the Alexandria Film Festival. I wrote a review for AlexandriaNews.org, the majority of which comprises this blog post that for some reason is just now being published. (Um, I birthed a baby on March 7. ;) Race to Nowhere was one of the winners of the festival, receiving the Audience Award. This is one of the most moving, timely and crucial films I have seen. Abeles said in the Letter From the Director, on the film's site: “Race to Nowhere was inspired by a series of wake-up calls that made me look closely at the relentless pressure to perform that children face today. I saw the strain in my children as they navigated days filled with school, homework, tutoring and extracurricular activities. But it wasn’t until the crisis of my 12-year-old daughter being diagnosed with a stress induced illness that I was determined to do something.” And do something she did.
This film is a great addition to the dialogue in an issue that is a hot topic right now – education reform. Race to Nowhere provides a healthy antidote to many of the current voices on the subject which seem to be missing the point by blaming teachers and still focusing on how to raise test scores. In an era that is still reeling from the effects of No Child Left Behind, what the system really needs is a complete overhaul in not only how we measure success, but the mere definition of the word, as it relates to education and to life. The film echoes my sentiment that what we really need to ask is this – what makes for a successful learning experience? What cultivates a successful – and fulfilled, and happy – human being? Shouldn’t that be the point of educating our loved ones?
One of the experts in the film states, “I’m afraid our children are going to sue us for stealing their childhoods.” Many children are growing up in a world where every minute of every day is scheduled, and there is little to no down time, time to be bored, time to just be a kid and play. Abeles own daughter Jamey says at one point in the film, “I can’t remember the last time I had a chance to go in the back yard and just run around.”
Countless youth are aware that something is just not right with this formula of get the best grade – participate in as many extracurriculars as possible – so you can get into a good college – so you can get a good job – and make a lot of money. It doesn’t sound so bad, really, as a premise, but at what cost? One of the girls in the film points out that not only do you have to get good grades, but you have to be involved in the arts and play sports, join clubs, and find something unique about yourself so that you stand out when applying for colleges; and that among all of that, you have to figure out who you are, because if you don’t, you’ll lose yourself. At the end of the day, what matters more – how much money you have, or whether you’re truly happy and fulfilled? Abeles herself admits in the film, “Sometimes, parents just need to step back and say, ‘You know what, you’re doing a really good job.’”
Abeles received inspiration for the title of the film when interviewing one of the high school students who commented that students “get caught up in a race to nowhere”. Many students either get caught up in the drive to succeed, and sacrifice everything they can, including their mental, emotional, and physical health, or they tune out, and just decide they don’t care. It’s a Either road often leads to trouble. It’s a widely-known fact, also highlighted in the film, that among the students who do appear to be succeeding, cheating runs rampant. I remember this from my own high school days, 20 years ago.
The film shows that pressure comes from both ends of the spectrum – from highly successful parents who worry that their children won’t be as successful as they are, perhaps higher income parents who want to be able to brag to others about all of the things their child is accomplishing, and from lower-income parents who perhaps never even graduated high school, or never attended college, who not only want better for their children, but demand that the only possible route to college for their kids is to get the best grades so they can get scholarships to attend school. “The pressure comes from the colleges, from the parents, from the government, but it has to stop.”
In the film, the young people who were interviewed were experiencing such pressure to perform and “succeed” that they experienced stress-induced health problems and depression, engaged in food and sleep deprivation so they could stay up well into the night, sometimes all night, to complete their work, used pharmaceuticals to enhance their performance, and in some cases, found themselves institutionalized or hospitalized for eating disorders or mental breakdowns. Parents expressed that the little family time they had to share in the evenings were often filled with conflict and strife, both with their children and their spouses, over homework and grades. And then there is the very serious increasing epidemic of teen suicide. The film was dedicated to a beautiful 13-year-old girl from Abeles’ community (not involved in the movie) who had always been a straight-A student and very successful at all of her endeavors – and several months into the making of the film, committed suicide one weekend, because she was devastated after receiving an F on a math test.
The system at large does not allow for innovation. There is so much pressure on everyone to “succeed”, including the teachers, that they are forced to “teach to the test” because that is the main method by which everyone’s success is being measured. Creativity and individuality, in teachers and students, are sacrificed to protocol. One of the important points of the film is that these rote methods of learning are not promoting problem-solving, not producing critical thinkers. “Our students are pressured to perform; they’re not necessarily pressured to learn conceptually and deeply.” “And what is that going to mean, when we have a whole population of dentists and doctors who have been trained from the script?” One of the teachers in the film, who winds up making the very difficult decision to resign from her job out of frustration with the system, says tearfully, “Things that actually get our students to think are pushed aside.” Matt Goldman, Founder and CEO of the Blue Man Group, and Co-Founder of the Blue School in Manhattan, says, “These kids come to the table with this creativity and this love of learning…. Let’s just not take it out of them!”
The problem is not going to be solved by more rigorous testing, by more drilling of facts that lead to high test scores, by firing teachers in schools that fail to “perform”, by cutting funding in “under-performing” schools, by making teachers feel the pressure of losing their jobs if their students don’t test well, by giving bonuses to those who out-perform others. One of the main messages of the film comes through loud and clear: what we need is a re-definition of success.
As a side note: unfortunately, Obama’s Race to the Top (not directly mentioned in the film), while well-intentioned, is only another piece of the puzzle that is serving to perpetuate the problem. The state of Virginia chose not to participate.
If this is an issue that concerns you, please try to attend, or even host, a screening of this film. Register on the Race to Nowhere website to receive their action points and find out what else you can do, in your life and in your community, to be a part of this movement. There you can also see when & where the next screenings of this film are playing.
Chime in! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please keep the conversation respectful.
Absolutely one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. This is a combo hand/computer animation made from a compilation of the main points made by Sir Ken Robinson in another recent talk about Changing Education Paradigms. This video really does a great job of illustrating the history and crux of the issue. I could watch this over and over (and in fact have already seen it about 7 or 8 times and see something new each time). It's incredible that this 11-minute video accompanies the audio of spliced-together main ideas from a 55-minute talk, and it's pretty darn seamless. You would never guess that this wasn't one from one continuous delivery, other than the fact that it does end rather abruptly. Definitely leaves me wanting for more. Enjoy!
Several months ago, we went to this awesome place out in Winchester, VA, called the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum. Even though we've only been there once, it's officially one of our favorite places in the world. We plan to visit there again soon, so I'll do a full post later, with pictures, about why the place is so awesome and all the things there are to do there. On the wall, they have this statement, nice and big, entitled 'Creativity Killers', and I requested a copy to bring home because I loved it so much, and it is a good reminder for me from time to time, especially when I feel like I'm being too controlling about what, how, and when my kids learn and do things. I'm not sure who wrote it, or I'd give that specific person credit.
If you want to inspire creativity in learning and life, here are some great reminders of things not to do:
CREATIVITY KILLERS
Surveillance: hovering over kids, making them feel that they’re constantly being watched while they’re working. When a child is under constant observation, the risk-taking, creative urge goes underground and hides.
Evaluation: making kids worry about how others judge what they’re doing. Kids should be concerned primarily with how satisfied they are with their accomplishments, rather than focusing on how they are being evaluated or graded, or what their peers will think.
Rewards: excessive use of prizes, such as gold stars, money, or toys. If overused, rewards deprive a child of the intrinsic pleasure of creative activity.
Competition: putting kids in a desperate win-lose situation, where only one person can come out on top. A child should be allowed to progress at his own rate. (There can, however, be healthy competition that fosters team or group spirit.)
Over-control: telling kids exactly how to do things--their schoolwork, their chores, even their play. Parents and teachers often confuse this micromanagement with their duty to instruct. This leaves children feeling that any originality is a mistake and any exploration a waste of time.
Restricting choice: telling children which activities they should engage in instead of letting them follow where their curiosity and passion lead. Better to let a child choose what is of interest, and support that inclination.
Pressure: establishing grandiose expectations for a child’s performance. For example, those “hot-house” training regimes that force toddlers to learn the alphabet or math before they have any real interest can easily backfire and end up instilling an aversion for the subject being taught.
Time pressure: restricting time for a child to explore a particular activity is a sure killer of intrinsic motivation. Children enter the ultimate state of creativity called flow more naturally than adults. This is a period in which total absorption can engender peak pleasure and creativity. In flow, time does not matter; there is only the timeless moment at hand. It is a state that is more comfortable for children than adults, who are more conscious of the passage of time.
Marcellita exploring watercolors.
Adobe laying out her composition.
Skyler exploring colors and strokes.
Which of these do you find especially challenging at times, or in what specific situations? Have you had any specific experiences that illustrate for you the points listed above?
Apparently, education reform is a hot topic right now. More and more people are waking up to the idea that something is just not quite right. Unfortunately, I feel that alot of folks are missing the mark. As stated by Sir Ken Robinson in the TED talk that I shared in a recent post, at this point, what we really need is not simply reform, but a revolution in education. Like so many facets of our culture, the current model for the education system is based on institutionalization that began roughly one hundred years ago, and it is outdated - and not necessarily an improvement over how things were done before. I think if more people were aware of how institutionalized education came about, and what its true main purposes were - largely, to serve the purposes of the Industrial Revolution - then they'd think twice about the system that has come to be accepted as the norm.
There is this "Waiting for 'Superman'" movie that has just come out - see trailer and Q&As here. I know it's currently playing at the Loews in Shirlington.
I'll reserve full conclusions until having seen the film, but having watched the promotional videos and Q&As, I'm not sure if they're really asking the right questions. In so many cases, it's not the teachers that are the problem - there are plenty of well-meaning teachers with lots of great and innovative ideas. It's that the system at large does not allow for innovation. There is so much pressure on everyone to 'succeed', including the teachers, that they are forced to 'teach to the test' because that is the main method by which everyone's success is being measured. Creativity and individuality, in teachers and students alike, are sacrificed to protocol. The problem is not going to be solved by more rigorous testing, by more drilling of facts that lead to high test scores, by firing teachers in schools that fail to 'perform', by making teachers feel the pressure of losing their jobs if their students don't test well. In my opinion, if a school does not have the highest test scores around, it could be a sign that they are doing something right, that maybe there really is a more holistic learning process going on.
What is 'success' for our children?! It looks like the film Race to Nowhere, which had its first screenings yesterday, may be taking a better look at the real problem. I can't wait to check out the whole thing.
Have a listen... Does this scenario seem at all familiar to you, either from your own schooling, or watching your own children now? It brings tears to my eyes...
(In the DC/NOVA/MD area, the film will be screening at the Alexandria Film Festival: AMC Hoffman Movie Theaters in Alexandria, VA on November 6 at 1 pm; the Flint Hill School in Oakton, VA on November 11, all day; and the Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda, MD on December 2 at 7:30 pm, among other places. Visit their site for more info and other locations.)
What we really need to ask is,
What makes for a successful learning experience? What cultivates a successful - and fulfilled, and happy - human being? Shouldn't that be the point of educating our loved ones?
Recently, I came across this article I'd like to share. It is written by William A. Reinsmith, Professor of English at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Here he offers some great reminders for all of us, whether you are teaching your own children, teaching professionally, or looking for some fundamental criteria by which to determine whether your children are being taught in an effective way. Of course, if your children are in school, you can only glean so much information by talking to them about their school day - your best hope at getting a real look at these determinants is to sit in on the classroom, more than once (especially since these days, children are being shuffled around to quite a number of teachers throughout the day, often even at the elementary level) - which of course for many parents means taking time off from work. In some cases, that is just not really possible. As your kids get older, you can ask them, how do they feel about the education they are getting? What else could you do? Ask them to watch these movies (Waiting for Superman and Race to Nowhere) or even screen them school-wide. Go to PTA meetings, write inquiries to the principle and teachers, and present all or some of these points. (I'll lay out the 10 points Professor Reinsmith makes, and you can go here for expansion upon each point, which I recommend you do.) Let them know you care. Ask them, flat-out, how they feel about these points, and how much they are really able to address the children's learning in this way:
"Ten Fundamental Truths About Learning
1. Learning first takes place through osmosis....
2. Authentic learning comes through trial and error....
3. Students will learn only what they have some proclivity for or interest in....
4. No one will formally learn something unless she believes she can learn it....
5. Learning cannot take place outside an appropriate context....
6. Real learning connotes use....
7. No one knows how a learner moves from imitation to intrinsic ownership, from external modeling to internalization and competence....
8. The more learning is like play, the more absorbing it will be-- unless the student has been so corrupted by institutional education that only dull serious work is equated with learning....
9. For authentic learning to happen, time should occasionally be wasted, tangents pursued, side-shoots followed up....
10. Tests are a very poor indicator of whether an individual has really learned something...."
In conclusion, Professor Reinsmith states: "All of these interconnected truths are general enough to apply to learning of any kind. They are so basic and obvious that one may wonder why they need to be stated at all. Our greatest educators have espoused them in some manner during the course of Western history. Yet it is the simple and obvious that we tend to overlook when discussing or recommending educational change. We often engage in educational activity as if these truths didn't exist--and then wonder why we fail to engender learning in our students. In any profession ignorance of its elemental laws will lead to shoddy, even disastrous, results. Perhaps a large part of the reason we educate so poorly is that we fail to observe and work within the fundamental principles of our craft, so we don't create environments in which they can be applied. Successful teaching can ensue only where the fundamental truths of learning are both observed and respected. Periodically, teachers on all levels need to return to those basic truths--however mysterious they may be--and reflect on them at length." (emphasis mine)
Many, if not all, of these points are at the heart of the unschooling philosophy (read a previous post that attempts to address what that is if you haven't heard of it), and why many of the life-schoolers that I know do what they do - because it is a whole lifestyle that lends itself naturally to nurturing learning in this way. And I don't think it's impossible for schools to move towards this model, especially with the boom and boon of the internet and technology.
At the beginning of the last school year, I had the pleasure of covering President Obama's Education Address delivered at Wakefield High School here in Arlington. (As some of you know, I'm a photographer who freelances sometimes with alexandrianews.org.) I have to admit, I was inspired by some of what he had to say, and reminded that school - as broken as the system may be - does serve many many children with a way out of poverty, with hope for a brighter future than their parents and grandparents had, with an environment where perhaps someone takes the time to show they care, when it seems that no one else does. And I know that there are also plenty of children, coming from supportive, well-meaning, involved families, who are self-motivated, strong, confident, and are able to weather the storm and get a pretty decent education out of the whole deal, with their sanity intact. But overall, at what cost? For so many of our children, even the ones dealing with it, the schedule, responsibility, and pressure is overwhelming, to the point that some just want it to end.
The sentiment coming from the top and trickling on down through the ranks is based on an old paradigm. I think there is more than one road to success to be considered, more than one way to 'get an education', in or out of school. As with so many issues concerning Obama, I believe his intentions are genuine and good, but that the actions needed to even begin to fix this issue may be insurmountable at this time, as the population has exploded and we are faced with a Herculean task of educating the masses; especially since society and the economy have been structured in such a way that both parents (if the child still 'has' both parents) must work, just to make ends meet, so children, from a very young age, must be placed somewhere, preferably for free, and occupied, all day long, 5 days a week. In many households across the country, any family time, much less 'quality' family time where there is real connection and bonding taking place - without the time pressure of rushing to extracurricular activities, dinner, homework, cleaning up, getting ready for bed - is rare. And we, as a culture, are experiencing the repercussions of that. But that's the subject for another post...
As long as teachers are being forced by protocol (and fear of losing their underpaid jobs) to adhere to the SOLs and teach to the test, how much are they really being given the freedom and creativity to draw on these fundamental truths about learning as espoused by Professor Reinsmith? How much are they being allowed to draw upon their own knowledge and ideas which inspired them to become teachers in the first place?
Here is a brief compiled excerpt of some of what the President had to say. The last 5 sentences here are the most significant to me. You can read the entire prepared speech here.
"...[W]hat I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide....
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it....
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork....
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future....That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America."
The problem is that at the end of the day, ultimately, what does matter for every single one of us, is happiness. And if you're being bullied day in and day out because of how you look, where you come from, where your parents come from, what your sexual orientation is, or so on, how can someone tell you that's no excuse for having a bad attitude? Where's the love? So many kids are really hurting because they are growing up in this disjointed, disconnected society where oftentimes they are left to feel emotionally isolated, like no one understands them, no one really knows them, and no one really cares. (Common sense says that the bullies are hurting too in some way, as suggested by some recent articles I've read on the matter in the recent flurry of teen suicides.) If they have the personal fortitude to tune it all out, or stuff it all down, and focus on their studies, get the grade, ace the test, what is awaiting them? The promised land of college, where they very well may find more cruelty and harassment, and where they will get a 'higher' education with a much higher price tag, emerging from said institution saddled with debt that will be facing them for, in many cases, the majority of (if not the entirety of) their adult lives, so that they can go work in a job that they may not even like. How many of you work in jobs that you can't stand? How many people do you know who actually like and feel passionate about what they do?
I don't pretend to have all the answers, because I don't, not even close. At this point, what I can do is teach my own (because fortunately I am in a position to be able to do so), share & glean some knowledge and creativity with other families & community around me, and keep asking questions - how can I do it better? How can 'they' do it better? Is the competitive, end-goal-driven, one-size-fits-all way of educating our youth contributing to the increasing epidemic of general apathy and disturbing cruelty some students display toward each other? What type of education do our children, the adults of tomorrow, need to truly prepare them for life in the 21st century? Somehow I feel, for one, education has to move beyond simply educating the mind, beyond the end-goal of diploma-college-$$JOB$$, and address emotional and spiritual development as well. Is that possible to achieve on a mass scale? The Mind & Life Institute is one organization I've come across that seems to have some interesting ideas on the matter. I personally feel that integrating the arts and creativity are key to bringing in the emotional and spiritual components, which is why I'm a fan of Sir Ken Robinson.
What are your thoughts on the matter? How do you deal with these issues in your own family? Do you have any ideas for a revolution in education? I'd love to hear from you....
A little after the fact, but thanks to the internet and podcasts, none-the-matter - you can still check it out, and it's still relevant.
Kojo Nnamdi, one of my favorite radio hosts, featured this topic last week - "Homeschooling Joins the Mainstream." Here is a link to the podcast. For those of you who wonder why we do it, and how it works, this is a great segment which may answer some questions. It amazes me still how many misconceptions there are about 'homeschooling', one of them being the big question of 'socialization'. As the guest speaker reveals, one of the 'dirty little secrets' about homeschooling is that we're rarely home. Although we don't necessarily deal with the daily scramble to rush out the door at some ungodly hour, we have our morning routine, which looks different in different houses, and then, most days, we are out in the real world, with or without friends, interacting with people of all ages, and usually having a dang good time.
Phoenix at Cox Farms, psyched after coming down the huge slide.
Adobe pulls a surfer move as she speeds down the slide.
"Home education works. Children who are homeschooled score, on average, 20 to 30 points higher on measures of academic achievement - these are standardized tests...."
Unexpectedly, shortly after 5 this morning, as I'm doing my daily reading of news, emails and such, I find myself with tears pouring down my face as I come across the story of the first 7 of 33 Chilean miners who were rescued after 69 days of being trapped when 700,000 tons of rock collapsed on August 5, trapping them in the lower reaches of the mine. That is simply incredible - that's over 2 months that they have been trapped down there! I can't even begin to imagine what those men have been going through. What on earth have they been doing with themselves, day in and day out, with no outward indication of course of the passing of days, and just waiting, waiting, waiting?! Unfathomable.
AP photo: Chile's President Sebastian Pinera embraces Florencio Antonio Avalos Silva, the first miner to be rescued.
How much food and liquids were they able to get down to these men after discovering on August 22 that they indeed were still alive? Did they have room to move around down there? Were their head lamps working still or were they in pitch blackness?
[As a follow-up, post-post, here's a link to an article that addresses these questions...]
I think part of the reason this struck me so hard is because mining is in my blood - my grandfather was the youngest of a family of Irish coal miners, the first to be freed from that hell, and the first to attend school beyond the age of 12. His father and brothers all worked in the mines, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, coming home completely black, covered in coal dust - the only thing you could see was their eyes and their teeth - only to return again bright and early the next morning and do it all over again. I wonder how many miners were buried alive back in the day. They certainly did not have the technology then that afforded these guys a safe return. Of course, part of the culprit in the increased frequency of mining accidents is that many mountains, like this one, have been overexploited. In this case, part of what made the rescue operation difficult and risky is finding sufficient virgin rock through which to drill the escape shaft.
I know these guys were mining copper and gold, not coal, and that work conditions have probably improved a little, but I'm sure it's still extremely hard work, and before this happened, these guys were "nobodys", just busting their tails to support their families. Now, after enduring hell for over 3 months, they emerge to find themselves thrust into the world spotlight, being welcomed to the surface by their country's President and Vice President! That's another potential tangent that I won't veer onto, but what a surreal experience it must be. I also won't veer onto the conundrum that is our industrial/consumerist society, of which I, admittedly, am a part, that drives such mining operations.
The other thing, silly enough, that sent another wave of tears down my face, is that the 13-foot rescue capsule, used to travel the 2,041 feet down the carefully crafted escape shaft and bring each of these 33 men to safety, one by one, is named Phoenix. Just perfect. And I was 33 when I brought this beautiful boy named Phoenix into the world. (And 13 when I met his papa. Yes, I have a bit of a thing with numbers...)
Miner Osman Araya arrives as the sixth miner to be hoisted to the surface in Copiapo October 13, 2010. Chile's 33 trapped miners are set to travel nearly half a mile through solid rock in a shaft just wider than a man's shoulders on Tuesday night, as their two month ordeal after a cave-in draws to an end.
It's nice to see a story of hope and solidarity, and miracle even, amongst the barrage of hateful happenings of late. I hope that through last night the rescue operations have proceeded smoothly, and I send love and healing to the men who survived this amazing ordeal. I'm sure their lives will never be the same.
This is another fabulous TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson, an advocate for creativity, recognition of multiple intelligences, and education reform. (Thanks, Mana, for turning me on to this one.) This certainly touches on one of many reasons I live the way I do, and do my best to inspire others, in one way or another, to follow their passion. Some of you are lucky enough to teach, or have your children enrolled in, schools that are at least attempting to participate in the revolution. It is great that there are those gems out there who are able to step outside the status quo and truly inspire unique individuals to discover and love who they are, and encourage them to find their path, to follow their hearts' desire. If, however, you are feeling skeptical about how the system is functioning, about the education your children are receiving, make some waves. Share your thoughts and concerns, with their teachers, administrators, and county officials. Offer some ideas, research, point to some alternative sources (such as this video), ask questions. Or, if your lifestyle permits, opt out, forge your own path, do things your own way, jump into freedom, discover your tribe in your area and build a collective; find a way for you and your child(ren) to pursue your passions together.
We all have a path, and sometimes we start down the road without even knowing where we're going. Many happy discoveries and adventures can be found along the way. Follow your instincts. Below are some highlights from this talk.... I hope you watch and enjoy.
"Education, in a way, dislocates many people from their natural talents.... Reform is of no use anymore, because that's simply improving a broken model.... What we need...is not evolution, but a revolution in education.....This has to be transformed into something else.... Many of our ideas have been formed, not to meet the circumstances of this century, but to cope with the circumstances of previous centuries. But our minds are still hypnotized by them, and we have to disenthrall ourselves, of some of them. Now, doing this is easier said than done. It's very hard to know, by the way, what you take for granted. And the reason is, that you take it for granted.... Life is not linear, it's organic. We create our lives, symbiotically, as we explore our talents, in relation to the circumstances they helped to create for us. But you know, we have become obsessed with this linear narrative. And, probably the pinnacle for education is getting you to college.... Human communities depend upon our diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability. At the heart of our challenge is to reconstitute our sense of ability, and of intelligence.... When I arrived in LA about 9 years ago, I came across a policy statement, very well-intended, that said 'College begins in kindergarten.' No it doesn't - it doesn't.... Kindergarten begins in kindergarten.... There's such competition now to get into kindergarten, to get into the right kindergarten, that people are being interviewed for it, at 3 - kids sitting in front of unimpressed panels with their resumes, flicking through saying, 'What, this is it?! You've been around for 36 months, and this is it?! You've achieved nothing!'....
The other big issue is conformity. We have built our education system on the model of fast food.... We have sold ourselves into a fast-food model of education, and it's impoverishing our spirits and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies.... It's about passion. Often people are good at things they don't really care for. It's about passion, and what excites our spirit and our energy, and if you're doing the thing that you love to do, that you're good at, time takes a different course entirely.... You know this. If you're doing something you love, an hour feels like 5 minutes. If you are doing something that doesn't resonate with your spirit, 5 minutes feels like an hour. And the reason so many people are opting out of education is because it doesn't feed their spirit, it doesn't feed their energy or their passion.... We have to change from an industrial model to an agricultural model. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process, it's an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do is, like a farmer, create the conditions under which they will flourish.... It's not about scaling a new solution; it's about creating a movement in education in which people develop their own solutions, but with external support based on a personalized curriculum...."
(Closing with a quote from W.B. Yeats:) "'Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, and wrought with gold and silver light, of blue and the dim and the dark cloths, of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet. But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.' And every day, every where, our children spread their dreams beneath our feet, and we should tread softly."
And we should dream too. I'm a big fan of what I call 'active daydreaming' - something along the lines of the Law of Attraction. Dream big, and dream well, rather than not allowing yourself to dream for fear your dreams won't come true.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences....
I'm out front of the house, dead-heading the rose bushes, marveling at mother nature, not even minding getting a little poke from a thorn. I head inside for a quick minute, and ask Adobe, "Where's Phoenix?" She has 'no idea'; she's totally absorbed in creating her comic strip "The Adventures of the Retarded Hamster" - which I believe is in response to her friend's short film she saw this morning. I find Phoenix out back, with his shorts and underwear on the ground near him, spitting on a pile of his own poop, which is already totally covered in flies. Ewww. "And mommy, I'm cryin' 'bout it." (That's his new thing when he has an accident. But he's not crying. He just likes to say that for some reason - thinks it makes it better. I guess it's an expression of remorse. :) Picked the poop up with some t.p. and flushed it.
Luckily, it's warm enough out that I just got the hose and sprayed the residue off the ground, hosed down the undies and shorts, and then hosed him down like the little animal that he is. :)
And luckily, most of the time he's really adorable. Like this. All in a day's work....
This is a phenomenal experiment. The results are not at all surprising really, and speak volumes to the potential in children, and the potential of the internet to (further) revolutionize the globe.
Wow. Talk about 'where does the time go?'... and two, almost three more months have flown right on by...
Where have I been? The garden pic from my last post looks so cute and demure compared to the jungle that is out there right now. Mother Nature truly is amazing. Yes, there's been lots of growth going on, outside and in. And that's where I've been. Making baby. I'm preggo with number three! I'm still in a bit of shock hearing myself say this. I always knew I would have two, and I guess occasionally I entertained the idea that I might have one more than that, if things were going really well. After Phoenix was born, I was pretty adamant that there would be no more. But Atom and Adobe both worked on me for awhile, and eventually, especially as Phoenix works his way out of babyhood, the idea of doing it just one more time started to sound appealing. And here we are. I have to admit, I'm a little overwhelmed at the prospect of being a mother of three - already, two is quite a job. But, I figure that a woman who can manage three children has a different command of the world.
This was the roughest first trimester yet. I have been exhausted. And puky feeling. And generally feeling like a zombie. Luckily, I have not actually thrown up once. Now I am starting to see the light of day, although I must admit I'm still pretty worthless if I don't have coffee in my system by about 2 in the afternoon. I've been totally off my routine. But I feel so fortunate to be able to just be, go with the flow, and allow myself all the extra rest my body has needed, and really experience what my body is going through.
Making a baby is alot of work! It is truly amazing if you think about what is taking place in a woman's body during this time. We all begin, every single one of us (our current physical selves, anyway), from a single cell! Yes, we all learn about this at some point in biology, but how many times in your life have you really stopped to consider this fact and marvel at how miraculous that is?
And then, the being grows, and grows, and grows. As a mother, this is a truly surreal experience. First there are the symptoms and first signs of change happening with your body. Then, you start to feel little flutters of undeniable evidence that there is indeed another being coming alive inside of you. The bump begins to grow, and grow, and grow. Next thing you know, you have this 'alien life form' completely taking over your body. I am especially fascinated by imagining (having experienced it twice now) what the displacement of all my organs looks like. Because, believe me, they move. Muscle memory is amazing. I can feel all my womb's fellow internals preparing already, which is much earlier than with the other two. The body remembers; it has been through this before and recognizes the current state of affairs, and it knows full well what is to come. I can feel things shifting already.
From Lennart Nilsson's A Child Is Born
Now, I'm at about 17 weeks. This is probably a good estimate of what my baby looks like right about now. I've been able to feel it move a few times. It's quite exciting. Last night, the kids and I were playing with the stethoscope to see if we could hear anything. We heard some sounds, but weren't sure if they were the baby or my own body.
I feel so thankful to be able to take time to connect, with my own body, and with the little spirit who is taking form in me now. And indeed, I feel thankful to do it one more time. It is a truly miraculous experience, all of it, the pregnancy, the labor, the birth, and birthing of oneself as a mother, even when it's not the first time.
When I was pregnant with Adobe, there was so much going on, I was so busy, that I don't feel like I really was able to take much time to connect with myself and the little baby inside of me. I was finishing my Fine Arts degree at the Corcoran, teaching tap 6 days a week and running my performance company, dcArtistry:tap&drum - basically running non-stop like a chicken with my head cut off. Plus, there was a lot of turmoil in my personal life. With Phoenix, things were much more stable, and a bit calmer, but I still don't feel like I really took the time to connect with my self and my baby the way I could have.
Fortunately, with both of them, the labor and birth, despite being quite long, were awesome. Home birth with both, over two weeks 'past due date' with both, over 24 hours labor with both after a month of practice contractions, and Phoenix was born in water. All quite hard work, and exhausting, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I'm planning another water birth at home and drawing on some new inner resources this time. It would be nice if things move along a little quicker this time. You know what they say, "third time's a charm."
Another thing that will bring me a special connection this time around: I've decided, with enthusiastic encouragement from local midwife Tammi McKinley, to offer childbirth classes specifically geared toward women/couples who plan to birth either at home or a birth center. The classes will incorporate body-mind connection, visualization, art, spirituality, and ceremony/ritual, with influences from various resources, as well as my own research and experiences. I'm developing my curriculum now, and plan to launch this fall. (See boundlessbirth.com ). I will continue to offer my photography services, as well as Reiki for women & babies, and individualized art sessions. More on all that to come.
Where does the time go? Two months have flown by, full of lovin and adventure, and travels. More on that to come.
I managed to get everything planted before we left for Mexico, and returned to find everything sprouting. Here are the beginnings of the spinach and lettuce. They've grown much more since then - we had our first salads from the garden this week. Yay!
I'm lovin the springtime, the garden is blooming, more beds to be dug, more plants to be planted, and always, lots more fun to be had. The world is our playground. Life is my meditation. My challenge, for myself and to you, is to live each moment in the now, while reflecting on what we have done, and planning what is to be done - remain ever present in the eternal now.
As of 4:56 a.m., 8 years ago today, I birthed my baby Adobe. Ah, what a wild ride it's been! If only I knew then what I know now :) How life has changed, in so many ways...
Well, for one, I was still under the impression that my father gave me, and had been professing to people while I was pregnant - "Oh, everyone thinks that your whole life has to stop when you have kids, that everything has to change. That's not true! You go on with life, you have a child with you now, but you just clothe it, feed it, give it love, & it's all good!" Hah!
I guess that approach worked for him - he was a single father, and that's how he did it, pretty much. And I turned out fine. I think overall he did a really great job of being both papa and mama, and he raised me to be very independent. But, we often don't do things the way our parents did them, do we? The idea is to continually improve upon the situation. All any of us can do as parents is strive to find balance in our lives with our children. As we reflect upon what was 'done' to us by our parents or whoever raised us - discover what was great & not-so-great, or in some cases, plain terrible - the best thing we can do is to release the wrongs and repeat the rights, and forge ahead with new ways of our own. As I look around and see how people are raising their children, I am continually struck by how each generation is reacting to the one before. I'll write a whole 'nother post at some point about this - the days of the house wife, the role of Women's Lib, the nuclear family, the explosion of single parenthood, and so on...
The main thing to say here, is that I wanted that baby so badly - the maternal urge was so strong - and I'm so glad that she was born. Those of you who were in my life at the time, which was mostly my Corcoran crew, saw what a crazy ride I was on, with school full-time, Adobe born in my thesis semester (art school - Corcoran College of Art + Design), working almost every day of the week (teaching tap & running a performing company), and strappin' that sweet baby on me everywhere I went. I wish that I'd gotten the partner part right from the get-go, but alas, I'm one of those people who has had to learn some lessons the hard way. I really wanted to believe it was right, that it was going to work out, but I knew somewhere deep down that it was not meant to be. And I stuck it out as long as I could. I'm sure I was not the easiest partner at that time either. Life is real, and we all gotta do what we gotta do.
So, on this 8th anniversary of my sweet girl's birth, I give thanks, and I reflect upon all the changes over the past several years. Now I can just say that I am so glad to have a real, beautiful, awesome family. Here they are, acting silly on the Photo Booth. For awhile I thought it would just be Adobe & I for the rest of the ride, but often, just when you're about to give up, the unexpected happens. I reconnected with my old friend Atom, aka Adam, aka Slahmed, and together, we will continue to make history...
Thank you Adobe, for being born, for being my grounding, for being such a fireball, such a great big sister, and such a sweetheart. Thank you Atom, for all you do, for being such a great father and partner, for supporting us in so many ways, and for enabling me to learn what a real family is like, since I didn't exactly learn that as a child.
I love you guys.
My girl got to have ice cream for breakfast - Blueberry Cheesecake Custard - from the Dairy Godmother. Yum! Happiness is an important component of health. Happy Birth Day Darling!
Last week was another fun one - the title about sums up the variety...
I'm not going to recap the whole week in detail, just some highlights.
This post will be more pictorial - excuse all the scrolling but ... enjoy. :)
As some of you may or may not know, we've started a small collective where we gather with a few other families every Tuesday & Thursday, and often other days as well. We mulled over what to call it, and I suppose we'll be calling it the Boundless Kids Tribe. I also have affectionately referred to it in passing as the Free to Be Me Collective, but I think the vote is for the former. And I guess it makes sense to go with the whole Boundless thing...
Some highlights from last week:
Last Tuesday, the older kids started the new session of the Homeschool Drama Club. Melanie, Kazha, Phoenix and I picked up some goodies from the fabulous Lebanese Taverna & had a picnic outside on the grass where the older kids joined us when class was over. Then we all went over to Hayes Park & the kids played for a couple hours. My little daredevil Phoenix climbed up a chain link fence til his feet were almost as high as my head. One of the older boys was spotting him. Then he climbed back down. All by himself. Pretty impressive for a 2-year-old.
On Wednesday we went to the Maryland Science Center at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. If you're in this area and haven't taken your kids there, go! Super awesome! We met our friends Kristen, Lucca, Marcella, & Kozhin there to check out their exhibit on geocaching & had fun checking out other stuff as well.
As you can see, there are no strings on this harp - it has light beams! And you could change the sounds that it made. Fun.
Phoenix & Marcella were having a little face-off. :) They love each other, but as they are both used to being the youngest alot of the time, neither of them likes the other to tell them what to do.
If you don't know what geocaching is, go to geocaching.com for info - but in short, you use your handheld GPS device to discover hidden treasures near or far, whatever you wish! Sounds really fun for family adventure. The exhibit - eh. That's how Kristen & I both felt about it. It was very informative, but a bit dry for kids, too much reading, not enough hands-on. I guess the idea is that you check out the exhibit about what it is & how you do it, then you could go on a geocaching adventure in the harbor area, but we didn't know that & didn't plan for it, so.... The kids had fun anyway.
This is when we still had their attention, at the beginning, before they all went running off thru the maze to break the codes and find caches and figure this all out.
Phoenix got mad at me at one point & ran off. He was laying on the floor pouting, until Marcella found him and broke that hard shell.
I'm looking at them through a fabric mesh, that's why these two images look strange. Don't expect professional photo work here from me people. The lighting conditions in this place were difficult to work with.
From there, on to some other parts of the Center:
Okay, this was definitely one of our favorite parts of the whole place! There was a sheet of plexi that you first laid down on, with all the holes drilled in it for the nails to pass through. Then, once you've laid down, the woman pressed a button and the plexi receded, leaving you on the bed of nails. I tried it out too. Totally comfortable! Here is Lucca.
And Adobe...
Kozhin...
Little Phoe...
The next thing was pretty cool too. Did you know that to your brain, cold + warm = hot? There were metal bars, cold from one side, warm from the other. When you put your hand in the middle, where you could feel both simultaneously, it felt hot! Ooooh, trippy!
Optical illusion.... hypnotized! One down...
And another one bites the dust...
Here are our cuties!
And next - ah yes, payphones! Remember those? Also known as Dial-a-Germ.
Phoenix's cave man side shows itself a little...
And this thing simulated your digestive tract. If you could move that ball through the mesh tube, it made the gurgling sounds that your guts make! Yeah! (Sorry for the excessive use of exclamation points throughout the post; I'm just a bit excited...)
Next, of course Phoenix had to get on the Dial-a-Germ. I had daddy in mind here; I knew he would 'love' this as he's pretty grossed out by germs in public places.
Not sure what he was listening to here, but he looks so darn cute!
Oh lordy, okay, I know it's alot of pictures, but wait, there's more! I just wish blogger would let me format this differently so I could do a gallery with captions or something. Wordpress can do that, but alas, I didn't like the interface! So.... in the future, I'll try to whip up quick slideshows instead.
That's it for Wednesday's adventures. We left, and the kids came with me to Oxon Hill where I teach tap on Wednesday nights. Long day.
On Thursday, our little tribe met up at Alcova Heights Park. The kids played, meandered in the creek, snacked; the moms talked, about all manner of things.
Alcova Heights, aka 'the Creek playground' is one of my favorite spots. I've been taking Adobe there since before she could walk.
I suggested that today might be a good day to discuss Daylight Saving Time and the Spring Equinox, since one just happened, and one was about to happen. (Yay Spring!) What is Daylight Saving? Why does it happen? Who 'invented' it? What exactly is the Spring Equinox? What are some cultures whose New Year corresponds? etc... We discussed all this over a picnic lunch, and then we made some 'land art' together, inspired by the fabulous Andy Goldsworthy, who Melanie & I both love. We collected sticks, branches, and leaves to make a sun, in honor of the longer daylight hours bestowed upon us by the Equinox, & Daylight Saving (sort of - well at least it's light later in the day...)
Yes, that's Phoenix sitting in the middle of the sun - Adobe put his hair in piggy tails, and everyone was calling him a 'she' all day.
Skyler is approving the work.
Beautiful momma Melanie...
Sweet Amman at this point then asks if he can sing a song, which turns out to be, "You Are My Sunshine..." Awesome! And everyone joins in as they continue working.
Kazha says 'hmmmm, what else does it need?'....
Placing the final touches... momma Stephanie, and the girls.
At this point, I video'd everyone holding hands and singing the song again - so cute! Don't have a way to share that here, and haven't uploaded it anywhere...
Here is Melanie in fetal position inside our sun.
That was fun!
Friday, we handled some business at home and then met the tribe and other folks at the park. Phoenix was so beat that he fell asleep around 6:30ish and slept straight through til the next morning. Saturday, first day of spring! - it was nice & warm. We busted out the kiddie pool, the kids played, we did yard work, picked up mulch, I trimmed the rose bushes, and stuff like that. Sunday, more work outside, making the front and side of the house look all nice. I rescued our violet tree (or whatever it is) that was being suffocated by ivy - pulled it all off, which was quite a job, and Atom took out two thorny bushes on the side of the house (huge job), and we did a bunch more stuff. Hard labor. Fun. No, seriously, I like it. I know it's not as fun for Atom since he does hard labor at work all week. But it's different when it's your home. Therapeutic. More pictures to come.
And if you've stuck around til the end, guess I'm not doing too bad, cuz I know this was a long one. Thanks!
documentation of life learning with my children and classes i'm teaching, snippets of inspiration and gems of information, my thoughts on life, spirituality, metaphysics, esoterica, politics, childrearing, 'homeschooling', education, teaching, the history of institutionalized schooling, the (brief) history of institutionalized childbirth, the miracle for which women's bodies were made, love, travel, daydreams, holistic health practices, food as medicine, glimpses into my family life, trips down memory lane, adventures with my photography & art, and thoughts on humanity's paradigm shift... the possibilities are boundless. please share your thoughts on whatever you read & see - leave comments! your feedback means the world to me. thanks so much.
one of my many callings in life, one that has gotten the least attention from me, is my role as a writer. it is an incredibly strong & natural impulse in me - i write in my mind all the time, literally, and have been for years. i had promised my self that eventually i would find an outlet for this, because i am one of those people who just has an extremely busy mind already - constantly planning & developing various aspects of my business, being hit with strokes of inspiration, ruminating on the changes humanity will see over the next few years & what the best plans are for my family to see it through safely, and so on... plus, i am very interested in dialoguing with other people on a variety of subjects, so in some cases, this may serve as a starting point. if nothing else, it helps alleviate a bit of the burden my big beautiful mind carries. (thank you, mind!) and now that we are back to our 'free to be...' schooling, this blog will also serve as a way to paint a clearer picture of daily life outside of an educational institution.
i am passionate, and sometimes perceived as opinionated, but i never pass judgment on anyone who feels differently about things than i do, and i would never try to ram my viewpoints down anyone's throat. i have lots of friends with differing beliefs on various topics, and where there is respect and love, there are no obstacles. i simply wish to share a piece of myself, my discoveries, my way of looking at things. i am always open to someone else's perspective. we all have something to learn from one another. maybe you will read something here that you hadn't thought about. maybe you will make a point that i had not thought about. my hope is to inspire you, and be inspired. and most importantly, to spread light and love.
if you like what you see, subscribe to my blog, or if you're a fellow blogger, follow me! thanks.
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