tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40460336313644117322024-03-16T16:41:04.897-07:00Emily and JillAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11710888510205704491noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-78553493905018809372009-09-12T21:11:00.000-07:002009-09-12T21:47:17.939-07:002009 September 13We begin a <strong>New Year</strong> in the Big Room.<br /><br />We begin with a goodbye send off to our middle <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">schoolers</span> who are moving up to the <strong>Turning Tides.</strong><br /><p>We'll play our old game,<strong> Big Room Questions 123.</strong></p><p>We'll do some weaving,</p><p>And get out our journals</p><p>And sing.</p><p>We'll set our intentions for the year.</p><p>We'll make some final butterflies for the <a href="http://http//www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/index.html"><strong>Houston Holocaust Museum Butterfly Project</strong></a><strong> </strong> and read some poems.</p><p>Our objectives for the Big Room program are, as always, these:</p><p><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Explore<em> Ethics and Philosophy<br /><br /></em>Compare and Survey <em>World Religions,</em> great and small<br /><em><br /></em>Create building blocks for a<em> Personal Theology<br /><br /></em>Develop a<em> Unitarian <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Universalist</span> Identity</em></span></strong></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-80127380624113295852009-08-26T16:00:00.000-07:002009-08-26T16:07:07.129-07:00Main StreetI really had no choice in the matter.<br /><br />I knew my town had to have the word "Springs" in the name. "Springs" just has to put a bounce in your step as you walk down Main Street.<br /><br />But the front part of the name?<br /><br />I really wanted to have a bit of sophistication in the town's name. You know, as though I'd really thought it through...<br /><br />But it has named itself and I can't change it in my mind at all. It is what it is:<br /><br /><strong>"Hopeful Springs"</strong><br /><br />and that's that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-38507113449198595342009-08-24T16:05:00.000-07:002009-08-24T16:17:49.189-07:00Summer EndOh such a flurry of activity.<br />We are getting ready to begin a new year in the Big Room.<br />We've purchased a couple of new things to play with, and are still tidying up and organizing art materials and books.<br /><br />This year's topics to include:<br />New Year Celebrations around the world...they all aren't on January 1, you know...<br />Fresh starts and new beginnings<br />Seasons<br />Holidays<br />Holy Days<br />Calendars...that's right...they aren't all the same you know...<br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Orreries</span>, orbits, revolutions and rotations<br />What We Can Do With a Penny<br />Weaving<br />Wonder Cabinets<br />Life Changing Journeys and the <strong>Wizard of Oz</strong><br /><br /><br /><em><strong>When does it all Start?</strong></em><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>September 13!!!</em></strong><br /><em><strong></strong></em><br /><strong></strong>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-29690234796415117332009-07-26T12:33:00.000-07:002009-08-26T16:07:31.014-07:00Main StreetWeeks and weeks ago, Wendy asked me this,<br /><br />"In your imaginary town, would you have a street named 'Main Street'?"<br /><br /><br /><br />I of course didn't have an imaginary town. I didn't think I needed one. Has it ever <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">occurred</span> to you you needed an imaginary town?<br /><br /><br /><br />Dream House--yes. But I just can't go there now.<br /><br /><br /><br />Dream Town? A whole town?<br /><br /><br /><br />Holey Toledo...what a mind virus it has become. A good one though. At first I resisted, knowing it would become an obsession. And how many obsessions can one brain handle?<br /><br /><br /><br />So it starts with a Main Street running east/west. Parallel to Broadway where the movie theaters (2) and the community theater and the restaurants and the art galleries are. And the art supply store...which has the widest array of paintbrushes...<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">fitches</span> and filberts and flats and rounds and sables a person could imagine. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pinstriping</span> brushes, Japanese <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">sumi</span> brushes, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">woodgraining</span> brushes. Brushes for gold leaf. Pots and jars of brushes. I can't even get started on the paint and the canvas and papers.<br /><br />The County <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Courthouse</span> would be on the corner of Main St. and Finch Ave.<br /><br />All the north/south streets are named for birds and trees, actually. They are not all "streets" though, They could be avenues, lanes, ways, drives or places. It just matters how they sound.<br /><br />There is no Elm St., since Adam's allergic. Also no Mulberry. Pity since they are nice names.<br /><br />Of course Sycamore Drive has sycamores planted in the parkway. All the tree streets are graced with their named trees.<br /><br />At the far north of town...wandering off east into the hills where the bird sanctuary is would be Thoreau Place. Below it, Emerson, and Alcott and Hawthorne, and Fuller and the other transcendental friends.<br /><br />Mid town east/west would be Jefferson, Adams, Priestly, Paine, Franklin and Washington...<br /><br />Somewhere, I haven't found it yet, is Bradbury Street.<br /><br />Near the community College we have Tesla, Einstein, Newton, Leonardo...<br /><br />At the south end of town, by the hospital is Nightingale, Blackwell, and Barton. The mental health center is at the corner of Dix Lane and Sequoia Drive.<br /><br />Ten years ago, I would have set my town in Western <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Massachusetts</span>. But I really believe now it is in So. California. A ten minute drive to the beach...a State beach for 50 miles, no houses or stores or nothing along the coast. Okay, it's mythic.<br /><br />There is so much to consider. Are we a two high school town with a cross town rivalry? Or do we only have enough teenagers for the one?<br /><br />I don't know the town's name yet. I do know the center of town has been around since the 1900s. The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">neighborhoods</span> are all different 20<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> century revival styles...Tudor and Spanish and adobe and Norman and craftsman. 50's ranch and modern out at the edges of town...not much built after that.<br /><br />Where's the city park?<br /><br />Kristin thinks it's time I draw a map.<br /><br />I can't wait to s<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">ee</span> her town.<br /><br />Tell me about your town.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-2958905139965971112009-07-24T22:55:00.000-07:002009-07-24T23:51:02.790-07:00My big fat pile of library books--about Time<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SmqfFh4WjtI/AAAAAAAAAHc/yQon6ddez_A/s1600-h/time+machine+davies.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 137px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362273223680888530" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SmqfFh4WjtI/AAAAAAAAAHc/yQon6ddez_A/s200/time+machine+davies.jpg" /></a><br /><br />So, in my little <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">dilettante</span> way, as an appreciator of Science, I picked out a few library books on the subject of <strong>Time. </strong><br />That's because it is plain mystifying to me that <strong>time runs in one direction only.</strong><br />You know, "the past is history, the future is mystery."<br />We take it for granted, it is all we know. <br />Time is a river. <br />Time marches on.<br />I just want to understand why.<br /><br /><br />There is actually a good deal of scientific debate about the whys and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">wherefores</span> of <strong>time's arrow</strong>. Everything else in the language of physics (other than time and entropy) works equally well backwards and forwards.<br /><br />So I have to tuck into a book by Stephen Hawking or Brian Greene every now and again. And I think I kind of get the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">gist</span> of things for a while, but when I try to explain what I think I just read, I realize I just have to start all over.<br /><br />But I must say this one,<strong> <em>How to Build a Time Machine</em> by Paul Davies</strong> is really wonderful. Just the ticket for my summer reading marathon.<br /><br />Part of what I love about it is the design of the book itself. It's slim and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">unintimidating</span>. <br />And the title made me want to flip immediately to the end to find out if there was a schematic for such a thing...because I am both a skeptic and a sucker. <br />The graphics are simple and elegantly designed to convey some hard to picture concepts. <br />And the font is a lovely sans-serif (no little lines that complicate the typeface you usually see in newspapers and books)<br />Which makes me happy. <br />Because reading complicated stuff is easier when the words are easiest to make out...(like the way green highway signs have lovely legible white letters without serifs, so you can read them at 70 mph) Because I have really bad eyesight.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-14411971692874995952009-07-17T19:12:00.000-07:002009-07-17T19:54:11.189-07:00My Big Fat Pile of Library Books--Dandelion Wine<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SmEwr7HAZUI/AAAAAAAAAHU/J63BPodTfsg/s1600-h/dandelion3.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 122px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359618562707187010" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SmEwr7HAZUI/AAAAAAAAAHU/J63BPodTfsg/s200/dandelion3.jpg" /></a><br /><div>There it was on the Middle School reading list.</div><div> </div><div>The best summer novel ever of all time.</div><div> </div><div>I hadn't read it since I was a teenager.</div><div>I remembered the part about the new tennis shoes </div><div>that felt like marshmallows and made you run faster than all get out...faster than antelopes and gazelles.</div><div>and able to leap high and wide, with your feet in total springy comfort.</div><div>But by the end of summer, they would just be a regular old pair of shoes.</div><div> </div><div>My own father one time made some dandelion wine in the basement. </div><div>I do recall gathering flowers for the project. (my dad was big on projects...weaving and knitting and homemade lamps...radio control aircraft...needlepoint, ham radio...all undertaken with the precision and discipline of an engineer and the soul of an artist)</div><div> </div><div>Anyway. The wine was too sweet and odd for my taste. The main ingredient was figs, not dandelions in his recipe.</div><div> </div><div>Here's a <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Dandelion-Wine">recipe for dandelion wine</a> which is heavy on the citrus and relies on a full <strong>6 cups of sugar. </strong>I guess it takes a hearty amount of some sort of sugar ro make wine.</div><div> </div><div>It might be good, but I don't think I ever want to try dandelion wine again. It could never taste like an August day. Like a day in the life of Douglas Spaulding in the summer of 1928.</div><div> </div><div>(My brother and I one time made beer milkshakes but that was a different novel and a different author and a different story)</div><div> </div><div>I do love this book.</div><div> </div><div>I love it better now than when I was in high school. I am sure I would have entirely missed the point when I was in 6th grade.</div><div> </div><div>I think I'll read it every summer until I die.</div><div> </div><div>It's all about waking up and finding life and death and youth and old age and danger and comfort.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div><strong> </strong></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-834648126327414262009-07-14T12:41:00.000-07:002009-07-14T13:20:25.762-07:00My big fat pile of library books--Stargirl<strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Stargirl</span></span></strong>--<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slzf3cNtm7I/AAAAAAAAAHM/uVCzQnb8rlA/s1600-h/stargirl.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 128px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358403800223554482" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slzf3cNtm7I/AAAAAAAAAHM/uVCzQnb8rlA/s200/stargirl.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br />So I'm reading off the <strong>Burbank Middle School summer reading list.</strong> Most of these books I'd missed since they mostly were written post 1974.<br />And holey-<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">moley</span></span>!<br />What a golden age of <strong>kid lit</strong> we are living in!<br /><br />In the hands of any writer other than <strong>Jerry <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Spinelli</span></span></strong> this story would be predictable and cloying.<br /><br />But oh.<br />Oh man, that Jerry <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Spinelli</span></span>.<br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Stargirl</span></span> has nestled into my heart, I love her so. And I love Leo <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Borlock</span></span>, who loves <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Stargirl</span></span>, too.<br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Non conformity</span>.<br />Kindness.<br />First love.<br /><br />I can't tell you how sad it is to read that there is a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Stargirl</span></span> movie in the works. I just don't think this is movie material. I fear they will get it all wrong. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Stargirl</span></span> is the opposite of Hollywood. I was rather hoping for "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Stargirl</span></span>, the n<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">on conforming</span> Stage Musical"<br />I've been recklessly pitching the idea around...<br />I'd so love for kids to be able to put a popular story onstage, that is a musical, that is neither "Annie" nor "High School Musical."<br /><br />No offence to Annie or <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">HSM</span>...it's just that we are living in a golden age of literature for young people...and none of it is on stage by kids for kids.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-27767491833921986802009-07-02T19:56:00.000-07:002009-07-13T19:50:43.156-07:00My big fat pile of library books--part 1<div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slvs1bcYrDI/AAAAAAAAAG8/t9BKcY1tBX0/s1600-h/lightning+thief.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 183px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358136584331373618" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slvs1bcYrDI/AAAAAAAAAG8/t9BKcY1tBX0/s200/lightning+thief.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /></div><div>So many Big Room kids recommended the <strong>Percy Jackson</strong> book series that I've raced through 4 out of 5 of 'em. The 5<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> book is always checked out every time I get to any of the 3 libraries in Burbank. Since it's only recently come out I know there are a lot of kids also pining to check it out, so I'd feel kind of bad grabbing it ahead of any of them. Kristin says she has a copy I can borrow, since they are still working on book 3.</div><div><br /><br /></div><div>The great thing about these <strong>stories by Rick Riordan</strong> is the fun that can be had imagining Greek Gods and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Goddesses</span> existing in our regular old world. And Mount Olympus hovers above Manhattan. And the entrance to Hades Underworld is in LA. Oh and I have to say they're all a rollicking good adventure.</div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slvr7fVu6rI/AAAAAAAAAG0/YIu0Y_Yy8PQ/s1600-h/d%27aulaires.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 96px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 135px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358135588944800434" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slvr7fVu6rI/AAAAAAAAAG0/YIu0Y_Yy8PQ/s200/d%27aulaires.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div><div>I never read the Greek myths as a young person...but this series has inspired me to devour the children's versions in the <strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">D'Aulaires</span> </strong>brilliant classic:</div></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><div><br />And then because <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cyd</span> raved about <strong>Robert Graves</strong> versions, which are wonderfully footnoted and really the first 20th century scholarly look at the myths. </div><div>I had to go here too:<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slvtnn721cI/AAAAAAAAAHE/TP4qH2hptrc/s1600-h/robert+graves.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358137446678058434" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Slvtnn721cI/AAAAAAAAAHE/TP4qH2hptrc/s200/robert+graves.jpg" /></a><br />And these by Graves are my favorites.</div><div> </div><div>I just had never considered a pantheistic worldview. It makes me think of Emily's ideas about Joan of Arc and Kali. I'd never thought beyond the myths as fairy tales. But I find myself reflecting on Hestia--<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Goddess</span> of the Hearth. She is a profoundly grounded character. She just doesn't get involved in all the chicanery and intrigue, so there are not many stories about her. She even gives up her Olympian Seat to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Dionysus</span> in order to tend the home fires. I wonder what goes on in her heart.</div><div> </div><div>I am fond of home hearths.<br /><br /></div><div></div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-62378824523393211802009-06-30T11:08:00.000-07:002009-06-30T12:00:46.154-07:00The Fledgling<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SkpfUDDmZtI/AAAAAAAAAGk/jHcb60Mv7i0/s1600-h/fledgling.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 136px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353195905105684178" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SkpfUDDmZtI/AAAAAAAAAGk/jHcb60Mv7i0/s200/fledgling.jpg" /></a><br /><div>I am so glad Wendy suggested this book</div><div>by Jane <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Langton</span>, </div><div>first published in 1980, </div><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Newberry</span> Honor book, </div><div>set in <strong>Concord, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Massachusetts</span>.</strong></div><br /><div>Just that makes it a must read for me.</div><br /><br /><div>But do you want to read it?</div><br /><div>Here's the Library blurb, <em><strong>"Georgie's fondest hope, to be able to fly, is fleetingly <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">fulfilled</span> when she is befriended by a Canada goose."</strong></em></div><br /><div>It's lovely, lovely. A kid's transcendent journey. Every page inspired by Henry Thoreau. That's what I like about it.</div><br /><div>What you might like is feeling like you, too, can fly.</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-44588929988577974422009-06-22T21:39:00.000-07:002009-07-24T22:51:12.993-07:00Summer is here!It's <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">official</span>...first day of summer,<br />And last Sunday was our final Big Room class for the year.<br />But no worries, Sylvia, David, and others will have activities on the playground for summer Sundays. "Box City," circus skills, and ice cream making come to mind.<br /><br />Our So Cal seasons may not resemble the New England pattern but we do have them.<br /><br />(I remember as a kid doing a quiz on seasons, and getting my Social Studies workbook answers all marked wrong. Here's what I knew:<br />Rain comes in winter, obviously,<br />followed by spring with tons of flowers, because by summer all the flowers except tough old zinnias had fried up.<br />We flew our kites in the summer at the beach where you could count on a steady sea <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">breeze</span>.<br />Snow...that was funny...we knew of snow falling in winter in cold places.<br />Snow was an ornamental conceit at our school, though. A design to be cut from a six layer folded triangle of construction paper. Later sprinkled with glitter and hung as a Christmas decoration.<br />My teacher had come from Wisconsin, and had not taken notice of our true seasons.)<br /><br />In So Cal we have Rain, followed by Mud. then comes Spring with poppies and blue eyes blooming and everything smells green and sage-y. And then it gets hot and Dry and it's best to get to the beach. Followed by Fire season, which we hope will be brief. And we hope that Rain will come in good time, not too much...not too little. This is a perfectly understandable rhythm of seasons.<br /><br />Here is my fav poem to prepare for the Beach Season:<br /><br /><br /><strong><em><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">maggie</span> and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">milly</span> and molly and may</em></strong><br /><strong><em>went down to the beach (to play one day)</em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">maggie</span> discovered a shell that sang</em></strong><br /><strong><em>so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and</em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">milly</span> befriended a stranded star</em></strong><br /><strong><em>whose rays five languid fingers were;</em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>and molly was chased by a horrible thing</em></strong><br /><strong><em>which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and</em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>may came home with a smooth round stone</em></strong><br /><strong><em>as small as a world and as large as alone.</em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) </em></strong><br /><strong><em>it's always ourselves we find in the sea</em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>--e.e. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">cummings</span></em></strong><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error"></span><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error">May you all lose yourselves and find yourselves, </span><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error">and your own adventure at the sea this summer...(Hopefully not the "horrible thing" adventure like molly's!) </span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-22215154121231167142009-06-15T18:05:00.000-07:002009-06-19T15:17:26.720-07:00Transcendentalists--Lydia Maria Child<div><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 119px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347725729702508034" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SjbwN7sidgI/AAAAAAAAAGM/mphq8PfO7oY/s200/lydiamariechilds.jpg" />Lydia Maria Child!</span></strong> </div><br /><br /><div>Never heard of her? </div><br /><div>. </div><br /><div>I guarantee you know her most famous poem! You"re gonna like this lady, I think...</div><br /><br /><div>Transcendentalist...Unitarian...abolitionist...Indian rights advocate...poet...essayist...editor of the first American magazine for children called <em><strong>Juvenile Miscellany</strong></em>. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=17659http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=17659">(link here to read her story, <strong><em>The Magician's Show Box</em></strong>, on Project Gutenberg) </a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SjwLUadJSMI/AAAAAAAAAGc/bWlTGFte3cA/s1600-h/frugalhousewife.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 158px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349162902736160962" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SjwLUadJSMI/AAAAAAAAAGc/bWlTGFte3cA/s200/frugalhousewife.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=17659http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=17659"><br /></a><br />The Big Room kids liked my suggestion that we e-publish our own <strong><em>Juvenile Miscellany. </em></strong></div><br /><br /><div>I now have even more incentive to create a Big Room Web site...and we can put our miscellany there! Just give me a couple weeks to figure that one out. I for one will miss the <strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">UU</span> and Me </strong>section in the center of the <strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">UU</span> World</strong> mag. All the more reason to start up our own! </div><br /><div>It was Maria's book, <strong><em><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1171387&pageno=2v">An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans</a></em></strong></div><div>which convinced many, including Dr. Wm. Ellery <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Channing</span> to speak out against slavery. It also made her unpopular in the 1830s with some of the Boston crowd.</div><br /><br /><div>So, that poem you know???<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SjwKoFygGFI/AAAAAAAAAGU/FdgzRrjkww8/s1600-h/800px-Grandfather%27s_House,_Medford,_Massachusetts.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349162141274347602" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SjwKoFygGFI/AAAAAAAAAGU/FdgzRrjkww8/s200/800px-Grandfather%27s_House,_Medford,_Massachusetts.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><div>Think about a Thanksgiving day sleigh ride over the Mystic River and through the woods to grandmother's house...</div><div>this house</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-28538965490111503032009-06-02T10:19:00.000-07:002009-06-19T15:33:25.328-07:00Religion in Life Ceremony<div><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Si7cnXIWcBI/AAAAAAAAAF0/cBbfxHV7jZw/s1600-h/2009+June+storytime.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345452376517406738" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Si7cnXIWcBI/AAAAAAAAAF0/cBbfxHV7jZw/s200/2009+June+storytime.jpg" /></a><br />The June 7 Ceremony was a wonderful culmination of well over a year's worth of work for these 5 Girl Scouts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Si7aXEbSs0I/AAAAAAAAAFs/0rzcJjin1mc/s1600-h/2009+June+067.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345449897595417410" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Si7aXEbSs0I/AAAAAAAAAFs/0rzcJjin1mc/s200/2009+June+067.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SiVgbBhaAqI/AAAAAAAAAFk/YHy2B07QTUc/s1600-h/backdrop.JPG"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br />The girls made puppets to help tell the classic Girl Scout <em>Brownie Story.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345452853970976786" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Si7dDJyJwBI/AAAAAAAAAF8/GHbtc7s-xqg/s200/2009+June+GS+law.jpg" /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Absolutely</span> a major high point of my year has been spending thoughtful time with these young ladies. I've enjoyed every moment.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Si7dV46HXtI/AAAAAAAAAGE/9e5NnEXPVAg/s1600-h/2009+June+cake.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345453175858486994" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Si7dV46HXtI/AAAAAAAAAGE/9e5NnEXPVAg/s200/2009+June+cake.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Look for more info soon on the Butterfly habitat project...we will need to recruit some more kids!</div></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-54372548467836122372009-05-31T13:09:00.000-07:002009-06-19T15:21:38.468-07:00Transcendentalists---Julia Ward Howe<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SiLzXrUzorI/AAAAAAAAAFc/rYVP1gb97LE/s1600-h/juliawardhowe.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 156px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342099696107365042" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SiLzXrUzorI/AAAAAAAAAFc/rYVP1gb97LE/s200/juliawardhowe.jpg" /></a><br /><div><div>This week in the Big Room we continue exploring the ideas of the Transcendentalists. This time in the company of <strong>Julia Ward Howe:</strong></div><div><strong>abolitionist, </strong></div><div><strong>prison reformer, </strong></div><div><strong>women's rights advocate, </strong></div><div><strong>poet </strong></div><div><strong>and anti war activist.</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div></div><div></div><div>Americans in the 19<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> Century were grappling with big unresolved issues--injustices that didn't jibe with the Revolutionary promise of "Liberty and Justice for All."</div><div></div><div>I wasn't sure how well our Big Room kids understood these social issues, since many have yet to study American History. But today reminding them that the Transcendental movement came alive in the time before Lincoln was President... most could recall, without any prompting, that slavery was happening and that African Americans had no rights. Some of us remembered that women didn't have the right to vote.</div><div></div><div>Native Americans were being massacred and forced off their land.</div><div></div><div>These were also the times when the <strong>American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals</strong> was formed by <strong>Henry <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bergh</span></strong>...a Unitarian...and before the end of the 1800's , in order to protect <strong>children</strong> from abuse, he helped expand the laws against animal cruelty to extend to children as well.</div><div></div><div><strong>Clara Barton</strong>...<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Universalist</span>... founded the <strong>American Red Cross</strong>.</div><div></div><div><strong>Dorothea Dix </strong>created new and better hospitals for the mentally ill.</div><div></div><div><strong>Susan B Anthony</strong> and <strong>Elizabeth <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cady</span> Stanton</strong> worked tirelessly for the abolition of slavery and the rights of women.</div><div></div><div>The Civil War certainly changed the nation, but so did the non-violent struggles of those determined to end injustice by speaking truth to power , educating the masses, writing, caring, laboring, organizing.</div><div></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Julia Ward Howe</span></strong>, writer of <strong><em>The Battle Hymn of the Republic,</em></strong> had her fill of war by 1870, and organized the first Mother's Day on June 2, as a <strong>day of peace</strong>. A day when all mothers would stand together and insist that their sons should never be sent to war. </div><div></div><div></div><div><strong></strong></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-77881684496510949122009-05-29T09:09:00.000-07:002009-05-29T09:16:04.581-07:00Wonder Cabinet--2<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SiAKEzpg1_I/AAAAAAAAAFM/tlJrS3HL_Wk/s1600-h/wondercabinet+2.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341280235761489906" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SiAKEzpg1_I/AAAAAAAAAFM/tlJrS3HL_Wk/s200/wondercabinet+2.JPG" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;">The Wonder Cabinet—<br /></span><br />---Is a <strong>centuries old tradition</strong> in Europe and America; </div><br /><div>a <strong>fanciful piece of cabinetry</strong> or box containing items that <strong>spark the imagination</strong>. </div><br /><div>These could be rare fossils, ancient artifacts, objects from far-away cultures, puzzles, optical illusions, scientific instruments, or machines that inspire and entertain. </div><br /><div>Our cabinet has a religious/philosophical/spiritual theme.<br /><br /><strong>What would you put in your Wonder Cabinet?<br /></strong></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-41021866508786710042009-05-26T21:31:00.001-07:002009-05-26T23:00:58.668-07:00Transcendentalists--Emerson<div><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShzCp697_mI/AAAAAAAAAEc/5hy-xhT6bbY/s1600-h/emerson.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 152px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340357283614031458" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShzCp697_mI/AAAAAAAAAEc/5hy-xhT6bbY/s200/emerson.jpg" /></a> <strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></strong>, was a Unitarian minister whose transcendental theology became too radical for the church of his time.</div><br /><br /><div>It took, what...half a century for the Unitarians to begin to catch up?</div><br /><br /><div>I think so many of us now would find inspiration in the transcendentalist's desire to <strong>pare down our material needs in order to be more free to follow a spiritual, moral, artistic path.</strong> Make time for the big stuff.</div><br /><br /><div>So...Emerson, the major dude. </div><br /><br /><div>But I have to admit, I have never gotten through a single one of his essays. </div><br /><br /><div>I told the kids last week, reading his stuff makes me feel really ignorant. It's so dense, and he seems to use words to define something so specific that only a disciple would catch the reference. </div><br /><br /><div>Apparently I have company. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Wikipedia</span> mentioned that folks attending his very popular lectures would comment, <strong><em>"I have no idea what he said, but it was surely beautiful!"</em></strong></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>So for the kids I pulled (from <strong><em>the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">UU</span> kids book</em></strong>) the rebus letter he wrote as a kid to his older brother. It's a fun puzzle.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>And even though I can't make heads or tales of his essays, <strong>Emerson is fabulously quotable...especially at graduation time. </strong><br /></div><br /><div>We read a dozen quotes including:</div><br /><div><strong><em>“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”</em></strong></div><br /><div><br /> </div><div><strong><em>“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”</em></strong></div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://thinkexist.com/quotes/ralph_waldo_emerson/">(read more quotes here)</a></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>T<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShzTzWryH3I/AAAAAAAAAEs/8wxRPKgLduA/s1600-h/emerson+rebus.bmp"></a>hen we took one of his quotes, and (I think quite brilliantly) made it into our own rebus:<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShzTMv5_hhI/AAAAAAAAAEk/xp5N_prcmuw/s1600-h/emerson+rebus.bmp"></a></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShzWJwqNufI/AAAAAAAAAE0/d0UnsM8-xHo/s1600-h/emerson+rebus.bmp"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 223px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340378721323694578" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShzWJwqNufI/AAAAAAAAAE0/d0UnsM8-xHo/s320/emerson+rebus.bmp" /></a><br /><div>and then several kids penned their own rebus puzzles, and wrote <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">their</span> own sage words of graduation advice.</div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-12711662087540960312009-05-23T18:26:00.000-07:002009-05-29T09:08:33.629-07:00"The Randomizer"--used to thinks<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShiirWRSTbI/AAAAAAAAAEU/_C30SoSsqdM/s1600-h/randomizer.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339196223843880370" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShiirWRSTbI/AAAAAAAAAEU/_C30SoSsqdM/s320/randomizer.JPG" /></a>Every <strong>Wonder Cabinet</strong> should have one. It's a irresistible way to enjoy a bit of random probability. Every kid wants to give it a whirl.<br /><div></div><br /><div>Okay, it's just a <strong>hand cranked card shuffler</strong> with a foam core sign on it. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Here's the great part: You can buy <strong>blank Bicycle playing cards</strong> from a magician's trick shop, and write whatever you want on them. (you can also try half size index cards but they don't slide very well)</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We've used ours for lots of stuff. One ongoing project is a collection of<strong> "used-to-thinks."</strong> Like:</div><div></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"> "I used to think that all dogs were boys, and all cats were girls"</span></strong></div><div>or</div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"> "I used to think that the odd numbers were just the weird looking ones"</span></strong></div><div></div><div></div><div> </div><div>You may find that kids have some interesting notions about God and Afterlife and Wisdom, though many of our used to thinks are of the factual "needing a little more info" sort.</div><div></div><div>Almost everyone in the Big Room seems to have experienced <strong>that ah-ha moment</strong> of <strong>changing a belief in an instant</strong> based on new info that turns an old assumption upside down. </div><div></div><div>Some of our used to thinks are ones we gradually form new opinions about.</div><div></div><div>It's all a part of <strong>Growing and Learning, </strong>right?</div><div></div><div></div><div> </div><div><strong>More on used to thinks..? </strong></div><div>check out "I <a href="http://www.iusedtobelieve.com/">used to believe</a>" ...for thousands of posts on topics like animals, religion, food...though not all of these are stuff I'd use in the Big Room.</div><div></div><div></div><div>Also, this brilliant episode of <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=378">This American Life</a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-10708667737681631102009-05-21T09:03:00.000-07:002009-05-21T10:17:43.874-07:00Transcendentalists?--not Hawthorne!<div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShWGYQsic1I/AAAAAAAAAD8/SikxAnCnt6k/s1600-h/nathaniel-hawthorne-1-sized.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 158px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338320684674347858" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShWGYQsic1I/AAAAAAAAAD8/SikxAnCnt6k/s200/nathaniel-hawthorne-1-sized.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>When <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">all's</span> said and done, <strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Nathaniel Hawthorne</span></strong> was not a transcendentalist. The writer of <strong><em>The Scarlet Letter, </em></strong>was a Concord neighbor to Emerson, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Channing</span>, Thoreau and Alcott, but he became deeply skeptical of their <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">utopian</span> beliefs.</div><br /><br /><div>Like Louisa May Alcott, he published stories for children at a time when he was in need of some cash.</div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShWGgzVpzrI/AAAAAAAAAEE/yoIkYQn6e6M/s1600-h/wonder+book+hawthorne.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 136px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338320831412555442" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShWGgzVpzrI/AAAAAAAAAEE/yoIkYQn6e6M/s200/wonder+book+hawthorne.jpg" /></a>We read from <strong><em>A Wonder Book For Boys and Girls, </em></strong>(I love the title), where Hawthorne presents Greek myths framed within a story of young college graduate, Eustace Bright.</div><br /><br /><div>Eustace, like some Yankee Pied Piper, tromps around <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tanglewood</span> followed by a hoard of children who can't get enough of his storytelling and lessons in natural <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">philosophy</span>.</div><br /><br /><div>(<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Hmmm</span>...I'm thinking this Eustace guy sounds an awful lot like Thoreau...coincidence?)</div><br /><br /><br /><div>The kids have names like:</div><div>Periwinkle</div><div>Blue Eye</div><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Dandelion</span></div><div>Clover</div><div>Squash Blossom</div><div>Buttercup</div><div>Huckleberry</div><br /><div>We read Hawthorne's retelling of <strong>Pandora's Box...</strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div>We made cardboard versions of boxes and decorated them...some of us decorated them with what we thought came out of Pandora's box...some <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">scary</span> stuff! But we all appreciated the last thing left in the box...<strong>Hope.</strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div>Then we considered whether Hope made it worth the trade off. Whether we wished all those horrible troubles had never escaped.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Here's some <strong>Emily Dickinson</strong> on the topic:</div><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShWKtfJPk3I/AAAAAAAAAEM/r8G6FTuaIXs/s1600-h/dickinson.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 164px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338325447376606066" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShWKtfJPk3I/AAAAAAAAAEM/r8G6FTuaIXs/s200/dickinson.bmp" /></a><br /><br /><em>Hope is the thing with feathers</em></div><div><em>That perches in the soul,</em></div><div><em>And sings the tune without the words,</em></div><div><em>And never stops at all,</em></div><br /><div><em></em></div><div><em>And sweetest in the gale is heard;</em></div><div><em>And sore must be the storm</em></div><div><em>That could abash the little bird</em></div><div><em>That kept so many warm.</em></div><br /><div><em></em></div><div><em>I've heard it in the chilliest land</em></div><div><em>And on the strangest sea;</em></div><div><em>Yet, never, in extremity,</em></div><div><em>It asked a crumb of me. </em></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-41295553653521577862009-05-20T14:05:00.000-07:002009-05-20T23:51:10.687-07:00transcendentalists--Alcott<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShT5cz79osI/AAAAAAAAAD0/137aGs1TODs/s1600-h/Alcott+Louisa+may.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 158px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338165731714245314" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShT5cz79osI/AAAAAAAAAD0/137aGs1TODs/s200/Alcott+Louisa+may.jpg" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Louisa May Alcott</strong></span></div><br /><br /><br /><div>Before <em><strong>Little Women</strong> </em>made her famous<em>, </em>Alcott wrote a volume of Fairy Stories...her first published book, which afforded her the ability to lift her family out of poverty.</div><br /><div>Bronson Alcott, Louisa's father, was an idealist with grand transcendental notions about philosophy, utopian society, education and self improvement. Pursuing wealth was not one of his priorities, and the family often scraped by on meager provisions. </div><br /><div>One thing they were rich in, though, was the company of brilliant thinkers and writers. </div><br /><br /><div></div><div>Can you imagine growing up in <strong>Concord</strong>, MA with neighbors and friends like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Lydia Maria Childs? What stories they must have told!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShTzrcsarZI/AAAAAAAAADs/ISECvcuyrYE/s1600-h/louisa+may+and+thoreau+flute.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 107px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 140px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338159386103295378" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShTzrcsarZI/AAAAAAAAADs/ISECvcuyrYE/s200/louisa+may+and+thoreau+flute.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div> </div><div>We read <strong><em>Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute,</em> by Julie Dunlap.</strong></div><br /><div></div><div> </div><div>Certainly Louisa and her friends were kept busy with an amount chores and school work that the average Big Room kid would find oppressive. But this story of the young Thoreau leading Concord's children in a discovery of nature and purpose, through quiet deliberate observation, is really inspiring.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We also read one of Louisa's <strong><em>Flower Fables, </em></strong>which you can find <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=zLmEW0MzjBsC&dq=louisa+may+alcott+flower+fables&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=CC79-isETi&sig=4W36itZNqMVsxK2TouCDH57vDTI&hl=en&ei=WfcUSuaeMcuJtgeu5eDiDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2">here</a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We made our own flower fairies with pipecleaners and fabric flower petals...</div><div>but I must insist...finding real flowers in nature or a garden and imagining them as fairies is far more satisfying. I hope we can all spend time this summer looking for fairy acorn dishes, and moss carpets, and pebble furniture.</div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-2310446696361812162009-05-15T12:47:00.000-07:002009-05-15T18:12:17.367-07:00Shakespeare at Nevin Elementary School<div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4OMwfmkbI/AAAAAAAAAC0/lMfppiH_VP8/s1600-h/two+households.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 131px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336218220819288498" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4OMwfmkbI/AAAAAAAAAC0/lMfppiH_VP8/s200/two+households.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4N8cYfpLI/AAAAAAAAACk/ereeVRgr6Uc/s1600-h/in+fair+verona.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 124px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336217940542858418" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4N8cYfpLI/AAAAAAAAACk/ereeVRgr6Uc/s200/in+fair+verona.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4NhktUD3I/AAAAAAAAACU/6ECgGJmBdYo/s1600-h/from+ancient.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 130px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336217478921195378" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4NhktUD3I/AAAAAAAAACU/6ECgGJmBdYo/s200/from+ancient.jpg" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4OXboNHsI/AAAAAAAAAC8/xU3dlqL_cdY/s1600-h/where+civil+blood.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 147px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336218404196785858" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4OXboNHsI/AAAAAAAAAC8/xU3dlqL_cdY/s200/where+civil+blood.jpg" /></a><br /><div><div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4Ns9peHfI/AAAAAAAAACc/694wERthags/s1600-h/from+forth.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 111px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336217674594524658" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4Ns9peHfI/AAAAAAAAACc/694wERthags/s200/from+forth.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4OEwHgX-I/AAAAAAAAACs/7M__vu8hO7M/s1600-h/starcrossed+lovers.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 119px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336218083279265762" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4OEwHgX-I/AAAAAAAAACs/7M__vu8hO7M/s200/starcrossed+lovers.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4Qq80-FZI/AAAAAAAAADE/TE971PjR9Tk/s1600-h/whose+misadventured.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 127px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336220938549466514" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4Qq80-FZI/AAAAAAAAADE/TE971PjR9Tk/s200/whose+misadventured.jpg" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4NVJ_YAgI/AAAAAAAAACM/jNPMjUuYFYc/s1600-h/doth+with.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 116px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336217265590764034" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sg4NVJ_YAgI/AAAAAAAAACM/jNPMjUuYFYc/s200/doth+with.jpg" /></a><br /><div><div><br /><div>It actually had not been my idea to do <strong><em>Romeo and Juliet</em></strong> with the Nevin kids. </div><br /><div>I was hired on after the project was in full swing, to teach the kids a bit about <strong>design</strong> and to help them create <strong>scenery for the production</strong>.</div><br /><div>We looked at photo research of Shakespeare's Old Globe Theater, of scenery from all kinds of R&J shows: movies, stage plays, operas and ballets. </div><br /><div>Some were modern, </div><br /><div>some were all romance and Renaissance, </div><br /><div>some an eclectic mix of periods and styles. </div><br /><div>We looked at pictures of the real Verona. </div><br /><div></div><div>We made a bunch of drawings.<br /></div><div>I encouraged us to look at the way Shakespeare used <strong>Celestial Language </strong>when Romeo and Juliet talk of each other:</div><br /><div><strong><em> "It is the East and Juliet is the sun"</em></strong> (he says of her)</div><br /><br /><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em> "Take him and cut him out in little stars, </em></strong></div><div><strong><em> And he will make the face of heaven so fine </em></strong></div><div><strong><em> That all the world will be in love with night </em></strong></div><div><strong><em> And pay no worship to the garish sun.”</em></strong> (she says of him)</div><br /><br /><div>Anyway there are about 15 more <strong>heavenly</strong> references, including: </div><br /><br /><div><strong><em>Prologue: “A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life”</em></strong></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>So our concept for the show became:<br /><strong> "Verona's Ancient Feud Runs so Deep, that it takes the Power of the Sun and Moon to turn Hate into Love."<br /></strong></p><p>As part of our scenery we decided to make <strong>8 giant murals</strong> for the auditorium. <strong>4 with the sun moving across the Verona sky</strong> on the west wall, and <strong>4 with the moon in his various phases </strong>on the east.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-13932393030267106192009-05-14T18:04:00.000-07:002009-05-20T14:21:21.023-07:00transcendentalists--Thoreau<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShLddqu9rBI/AAAAAAAAADc/zXgJddZV3DM/s1600-h/Henry_David_Thoreau.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 162px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337572010144672786" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShLddqu9rBI/AAAAAAAAADc/zXgJddZV3DM/s200/Henry_David_Thoreau.jpg" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>The best place to start is with <strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Henry David Thoreau</span></strong>, and DB Johnson's perfect storybooks, <strong><em>Henry Hikes to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Fitchburg</span>, Henry Builds a Cabin, Henry Works, </em></strong>and<strong><em> Henry Climbs a Mountain.</em></strong><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShLb5rsrEOI/AAAAAAAAADM/w47SOxfQbRg/s1600-h/henry_hikes.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 149px; HEIGHT: 136px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337570292416581858" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShLb5rsrEOI/AAAAAAAAADM/w47SOxfQbRg/s200/henry_hikes.jpg" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShLb_9newSI/AAAAAAAAADU/ZrUkG3s4c-4/s1600-h/henry+builds+a+cabin.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 160px; HEIGHT: 134px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337570400305856802" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/ShLb_9newSI/AAAAAAAAADU/ZrUkG3s4c-4/s200/henry+builds+a+cabin.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>We built a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Lincoln</span> log cabin...but it really needed a pond beside it.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><em>Henry David Thoreau, A Neighbor to Nature, </em></strong>by Catherine Reef, is an excellent biography. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Perfect</span> for young readers.</div><div></div><div> </div><div>I suggest it is worth making a spot in your heart for Thoreau. </div><div>He speaks to the idealistic, earnest aspirations of 19<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> century American philosophy, literature, spirituality, environmentalism, and civil justice.</div><div></div><div>We are not a perfect people. Henry suggests we have the means to become better.</div><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-11625653131233009662009-05-13T13:59:00.000-07:002009-05-29T09:06:00.077-07:00treasure from trash<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sgs1Pk3mtSI/AAAAAAAAACE/IM5L66T3jVY/s1600-h/trashtreasure1.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 321px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 330px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335416725261694242" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sgs1Pk3mtSI/AAAAAAAAACE/IM5L66T3jVY/s320/trashtreasure1.JPG" /></a> If you look closely, you may see that our <strong>treasure chest</strong> is made from <strong>old <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">cardboard</span>, newspapers, pop bottle caps, an orange juice can top</strong>...and a generous amount of glue and glitter.<br /><br /><br /><br />The things outside the treasure chest are <strong>true treasures</strong>, treasures in disguise, that we always want to <strong><em>reduce-reuse-recycle</em></strong>.<br /><br />A <strong>Glass</strong> jar has a postcard attached that says it is a <strong><em>treasure from the beach</em></strong>. Yes indeed! glass is made from the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">ordinary</span> kind of <strong>sand </strong>we sit on and walk on and dig in and make sandcastles out of at the beach.<br /><br />Our comics from the Sunday <strong>newspaper </strong>are printed on paper...A <strong><em>treasure from the forest</em></strong>, since we know that paper is made from the trunks of <strong>trees</strong>.<br /><br />Our <strong>aluminum</strong> pop <strong>can</strong>'s post card says it is a <strong><em>treasure from the mountains</em></strong>. Aluminum comes from a mineral called bauxite...which is mined from mountains.<br /><br />And finally, our <strong>plastic bottle</strong> says it's a <strong><em>treasure from the dinosaurs</em></strong>. How's that? Well plastic is made from <strong>oil</strong>, which <strong>comes from the ground</strong>, which has been compressed by the earth <strong>since the time of dinosaurs</strong>!<br /><br />Next time you have to take out the recycling, you may want to remember that <strong>your trash is really treasure in disguise.</strong>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-12108278770640321062009-05-12T00:02:00.001-07:002009-05-13T23:17:11.968-07:00Tree of Life--more photos<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsvcAAjgUI/AAAAAAAAAB8/ovgyhs9dz-U/s1600-h/treelife+snake.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 118px; HEIGHT: 167px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335410341635653954" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsvcAAjgUI/AAAAAAAAAB8/ovgyhs9dz-U/s200/treelife+snake.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsvQt63gEI/AAAAAAAAAB0/g7p07BGnLiI/s1600-h/treelife+people.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335410147801399362" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsvQt63gEI/AAAAAAAAAB0/g7p07BGnLiI/s200/treelife+people.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsvChuwvOI/AAAAAAAAABs/s2KRd681gwE/s1600-h/treelife+lizard.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 148px; HEIGHT: 120px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335409904011230434" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsvChuwvOI/AAAAAAAAABs/s2KRd681gwE/s200/treelife+lizard.JPG" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsuqyVwQgI/AAAAAAAAABc/TGfidunCox0/s1600-h/treelife+giraffe.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 150px; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335409496152883714" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgsuqyVwQgI/AAAAAAAAABc/TGfidunCox0/s200/treelife+giraffe.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sgsu5GdcFbI/AAAAAAAAABk/bJQTJEp2SDo/s1600-h/treelife+girl.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 161px; HEIGHT: 113px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335409742071993778" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sgsu5GdcFbI/AAAAAAAAABk/bJQTJEp2SDo/s200/treelife+girl.JPG" /></a><br /><div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkfMBpXtgI/AAAAAAAAABU/PU8QvhDFrqU/s1600-h/treelife+food.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 153px; HEIGHT: 113px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334829525057910274" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkfMBpXtgI/AAAAAAAAABU/PU8QvhDFrqU/s200/treelife+food.jpg" /></a> </div></div></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4046033631364411732.post-52519349791831973402009-05-11T22:23:00.000-07:002009-05-13T23:28:01.506-07:00Tree of Life...an intro<div align="right"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkZ-hClufI/AAAAAAAAAAM/TeE_1u0a74s/s1600-h/treeoflife.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 356px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 430px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334823795408878066" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkZ-hClufI/AAAAAAAAAAM/TeE_1u0a74s/s400/treeoflife.jpg" /></a> One of our ongoing <strong>Big Room</strong> projects is the <strong>Tree Of Life</strong>. <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkcV2xpmgI/AAAAAAAAAA8/spr_PqUaao8/s1600-h/treelife+monkeys.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334826395403655682" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkcV2xpmgI/AAAAAAAAAA8/spr_PqUaao8/s200/treelife+monkeys.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkdPctDx1I/AAAAAAAAABM/CGa1bW0fOdI/s1600-h/treelife+bird.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334827384837490514" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkdPctDx1I/AAAAAAAAABM/CGa1bW0fOdI/s200/treelife+bird.jpg" /></a><br /><br />We spend some time thinking about <strong>creation</strong>...how life came into being on our fine blue planet. We explore what science can tell us about life on earth, and we also consider the stories that various cultures have developed over thousands of years to explain the existence of people.<br /><br />Many <strong>creation myths</strong> imaginatively describe a tree that is essential for life to occur.<br /><br />Interestingly, the <strong>science of evolution</strong> describes an entirely different kind of tree of life...A family tree including all the interrelated forms of life, spanning hundreds of millions of years.<br /><br />Some kids like to write their own creation stories. <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sgkch7E_zTI/AAAAAAAAABE/JPyWT3KQDbU/s1600-h/treelife+turtles.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334826602716974386" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/Sgkch7E_zTI/AAAAAAAAABE/JPyWT3KQDbU/s200/treelife+turtles.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Most all like to make a <strong>critter or a plant out of sculpey</strong> to add to the tree.<br /><br />All forms of life are welcome on the tree...with these rules:<br /><br /><strong>They have to have lived at some point on earth</strong>...dinosaurs, okay...dragons, not this time...<br /><br />Or, <strong>they have to represent something that <em>could</em> evolve</strong> from something living on earth.We love hearing the stories of our evolved sculpey critters, because even with the rules, we get some <strong>highly unusual life forms</strong>!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkbB4zjtXI/AAAAAAAAAAs/rS6n9DkFu5Q/s1600-h/treelife+evolve.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334824952839517554" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j-HeFwIgBSU/SgkbB4zjtXI/AAAAAAAAAAs/rS6n9DkFu5Q/s200/treelife+evolve.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0