Mid Century Girl

Mid Century Girl

Last year, I orchestrated a one woman art show called, “Mid Century Girl”. My work dealt with baby boomer themes and how they influenced the world. It was a lot of fun to research. I organized the work like a quiz, I asked the viewing audience to try and guess the objects or people I depicted. I tried to interpret the iconic images of the mid-20^th century using the mediums of painting and printmaking techniques. I took a class of elementary students to the show, and they kept asking me who made all of the art. For some reason, they had a hard time accepting it was me! I wanted them to understand the roots of my social justice agenda that informs my lessons. I was inspired by the Beatles and there were some Abbey Road http://www.abbeyroad.com/  references as well as John Lennon in New York. In this blog I will look at how boomers influenced my classroom and the types of projects I work on with my students.

The origin of this social justice agenda probably came from my childhood. My father was a World War ll veteran and my mother was a “stay at home mom.” Dad was a typical veteran of his vintage; they rarely talked about the war. I would get snippets of information but not very much. On the other hand, the Great Depression and World War ll had a profound effect on my mother. She told me a lot of stories about wartime Cape Breton. She never forgot the fear, food rationing, air raid drills, and the anxiety of not knowing if she would ever see my father again. I got the sense from their generation that war should be a last resort; no one actually wins a war. I felt their generations sowed the seeds of feminism and the anti-war “Hippie” movement. The Hippies and their “counter culture” philosophy were the children and grandchildren of the survivors of the war. http://deoxy.org/leary.htm

I remember distinctly the day my brother brought home a Beatles album. I had never heard anything like it, it had a magical quality. They became the sound track of my life. Last year, I saw a Paul McCartney concert in Montreal. People of all ages were on their feet the entire concert, singing every word with him. We stayed in the Queen Elizabeth hotel in the room next to John and Yoko’s suite where they staged their, “Bed in for Peace” and Lennon wrote Give Peace a Chance in that room. It was like a religious pilgrimage. http://honeymoons.about.com/cs/canadiangetaways/a/johnyoko.htm

Other painting were about the Catholic of abstaining from meat on Friday, John Kennedy junior saluting his father’s casket, John Lennon portrait made from the word of the song Imagine, cat eye glasses, 45 speed records and cars with wings. People had a great time at the opening trying to guess a lot of the objects and eating the candy from their childhoods. I became very nostalgic during the process of making this show. I had not realized that the music, food and clothing had made such an impression on my imagination. That is probably why I have been collecting vintage clothing from the mid-20^th century for many years. Women had real bodies; they didn’t starve themselves to be underweight. Tom Wolfe called the ideal of the emaciated woman a “social x-ray”. http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/death-of-the-social-xray/2005/07/06/1120329491888.html

As my “Mid-Century Girl” show was evolving I was amercing myself in the past, the music, food, hair styles, clothing, and current events of the time. As far as I could tell, it was the first time people drew on their faces and their clothing. I responded by painting peace signs on clay face masks and decorating a t-shirt and jean with “counter culture’ slogans and icons. The 60’s was a time of conflict and peace. The war in Vietnam versus the Give Peace a Chance crowd. The charisma of the Kennedy`s, Martin Luther King and the promise of new and exciting times. The possibility of reaching the moon both literally and figureatively.All under the shadow of the Holocaust, reminding the world what can happen when we are indifferent to human suffering.

The opposite of love is not hate, it`s indifference.

Eli Wiesel

When I compare my teaching practice to some of the younger teachers on my staff, I see a different agenda. For me, everything I engage in comes from a social justice perspective. A lot of my issues are not even on their radar. They do not remember Pierre Trudeau`s `Just Society`

http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/prime_ministers/topics/2192-13269/ 

I was a teenage volunteer working on a campaign for Trudeau. He was magical and had a charisma that even a young girl could see. Richard Gwyn called him the “Northern Magus”. http://www.amazon.ca/Northern-Magus-Richard-J-Gwyn/dp/0771037325 I believe it was that sense of hope for the future and pride in our country that ignited my political passion. President Obama has that same type of energy, you can`t learn that in a Christopher`s Leadership course. http://www.clcnational.com/

            Currently, there are artists from the mid-century practicing art and still relevant. One that influenced my work is Yoko Ono. Outside of the conceptual art world her work may not be appreciated. Her influence during the mid-20^th Century was profound. She has recently enjoyed a renewed popularity. Since Lennon’s murder she has dedicated her art to creating a legacy for him. Most people have heard of Strawberry Fields in New York City, her Central Park tribute. She constructed an amazing light sculpture that was conceived during her years with John Lennon but installed after his death. The city of Reykjavik, Iceland is the home for her Imagine Peace Tower. It is lit on the anniversary of Lennon’s birthday October 9^th and is extinguished on December 8^th the anniversary of his murder. http://imaginepeace.com/

            Another piece of Ono’s that I have adapted it my classroom is the Peace Tree. This concept was influenced by the peace trees she saw in Japan and has gained popularity post atomic bomb. She has installed them in many places and encourages people to leave messages on the tree on the white tags she provides. To some people it may seem like schmaltzy hippy stuff but for me they are words to live by. http://imaginepeace.com/archives/16428

            I suppose it is a normal progression of events that each generation has a clash in values. I don’t feel that same sense of hope for the future that the post war world enjoyed. Everyone was putting the past behind them, starting families and buying as many plastic mass-produced products as they could.  By the time I became old enough to be a hippy, the movement was over. It was replaced by the disco era, the “Me” generation , http://www.generationme.org/aboutbook.html generation x  http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=generation%20x&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CFEQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theglobeandmail.com%2Flife%2Fthe-hot-button%2Ffor-generation-x-its-all-work-and-no-kids-study-finds%2Farticle2174324%2F&ei=HXtzT5bhGsWu0AGTvoCBAw&usg=AFQjCNE8qfCLkGmQy6Y6vwC-g17wV6xoNg&cad=rja   & y http://legalcareers.about.com/od/practicetips/a/GenerationY.htm  and it became cool to be corporate. Make money at all costs and spend what you don’t have.

            I believe trends are cyclical and we may be at a point in civilization, post Iraq War when we can again work for peace. I dream of that day, as idealistic as it sounds. In my opinion it is the only way. The only thing wrong with peace it that is hasn’t been tried before, Groovy!

           

           

Question

Question

Mark Bracher’s book, Radical Pedagogy Identity,Generativity, and Social Transformation dedicates a section in Part Three called Self Analysis for Teachers.(Bracher, 2006) I am willing to lay on Dr. Freud’s coach and answer a series of revealing question about my motives for teaching. In fact, I highly recommend teachers put themselves under the microscope on a regular basis.

I decided to become a teacher because my father thought it would be a good career choice. He worked for the Department of Education as the business manager for an adult trade’s school. I was a fine art student at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design studying painting, I planned to become an artist and live in poverty. My father believed I could never support myself painting pictures. He felt a teacher’s license would allow me to earn a good living and pass on my art skills to children. I would not have taken that path and at that time, I could not understand why a stable job was important but I trusted him. I was 18 and didn’t understand myself, I was drifting. I am so grateful to him for giving me that advice, he knew me better than I knew myself.

I enrolled in the Bachelor of Art in Art Education at NSCAD. This program no longer exists, at the time; it gave me an art specialist’s license. I enjoyed the program, for the most part, but only four of us graduated from the program. In retrospect, they were very hard on us. Decades later, when I had my own B.Ed. Fine Art students at Cape Breton University I decided I would never treat them the way I was treated at NSCAD. It is the same promise I made when I got my teacher’s license, I vowed to never make a chid scared of me. I have kept both promises.

Initially, I stayed in the art education program because I was fulfilling my father’s wish but I began to see why he had recommended this profession. I was painfully shy. Most of my teachers, from grade primary to twelve would not have recognized the sound of my voice. I didn’t look people in the eye and was socially awkward. My teacher training helped me to overcome this affliction. I had a lot to say but was not able to communicate in social settings. As I gained more confidence as a student teacher, I started to forget about my fear of public speaking. Feminists call it finding your “voice”. http://www.daringtobeourselves.com/ Anyone who knows me today would find it hard to believe I was quiet and shy. The truth is, the shyness is still there, I have better coping skills. Johnny Carson used to tell a joke about his shyness. He said he was the guest at a party who was standing behind the drapes with a drink in his hand when the host opened them.

My identity needs are met by becoming a teacher. I see myself as an educator, no matter the particular job I am engaged in. In the earlier half of my career, I was the justice educator for the John Howard Society. The job straddled the education and criminal justice systems. I developed a series of lectures that I presented to school children and community groups that were designed to demystify the justice system. I had the freedom to develop the program from the response forms of the students. Students would evaluate my class and give me suggestion for future lectures. I wrote new material based on their suggestion so it would always be current. I developed my writing and teaching style working for this non-profit organization. Whenever a new school year starts, I always think about the fact that every September since I was five years old I was in school. Thirteen years of public school, four years of university, two years of graduate school, twenty one years at the John Howard Society and now an art teacher for the Cape Breton Victoria Regional School Board. I cannot see myself ever in a position that does not involve education.

I also have an identity as an artist. It is a struggle to maintain that identity because I do not produce as much work as I would like. I think being an artist is more than producing paintings; it is a start of mind. It is the way I approach the world. It is the way I learn and express myself. I think visually and make associations that make sense to me but often leave others in the dark.

I believe the artist‘s role in society is to be a free thinker, to go against the status quo. People look to our out spoken nature to get a fresh perspective. We can hide behind our eccentricities to not receive the wrath of our opponents. We capture a moment in time with paint, metal, charcoal or clay.

I want my impact on my students to be part of the catalyst that helped them to find out who they are, to be productive members of society, and fully realized human being. I want them to celebrate their uniqueness and be brave. Bravery to me is being scared but doing it anyway. Jumping in with both feet and having faith in yourself that you will figure things out. I want them to care about this world and contribute to its greatness. I want them to be comfortable in their own skin. They should develop a love of learning and stay curious about life. It all sounds very cliché but I really mean it and I hope I model these ideals.

Being a teacher is a very noble profession. I am constantly reminding myself of the responsibilities I have shaping young minds. I am often amazed at the ideas they take away from my class. It is sometimes hard to tell if you are making any impact or if they are going through the motions. Every once and a while, a parent will tell me something their child told them about my class. It is very gratifying to know that I touched someone’s life. Students leave handmade cards on my desk. The elementary students have such pure hearts, I live for those cards.

            I see the role of the teacher evolving to a combination of teacher/counsellor. The social problems and mental illnesses that are present in our students will make our job descriptions morph into a different combination of skills. Presently, I don’t feel, teachers are equipped to deal with the types of emotional problems in our classrooms. Our teacher training did not prepare us for the inclusive classroom, lack of resources, and the types of learning issues that are a regular part of our day. I believe each school will need an expert to deal with the students with autism spectrum disorder. This disorder is more prevalent in the classroom and research indicates it is on the rise. http://autismcanada.org/

There is no question the role of the teacher has changed since I took my teacher training. It is natural for professions to evolve. Although I feel it is more challenging to be a teacher, my love of the educational process has not wavered.

                                                    Reference

Bracher, M. ((2006).Radical Pedagogy Identity, Generativity, and Social Transformation. New York: Palgrave MacMillan

           

           

I Do Not Live in the Past

I do not Live in the Past,

the Past Lives in Me

                                                                                      Ellie Wiesel

          Chapter 9 in the Bracher book Radical Pedagogy Identity, Generativity, and Social Transformation gave me lots of food for thought about how I teach the Holocaust. I am going to back track and explain why I teach my students about the Holocaust before I put “how” I teach under the microscope.

When my mother died, I discovered that she had a secret. I was going through her belongings and I found a plastic bread bag of press clipping and some typed manuscripts. The manuscripts were typed on her old manual typewriter and the text matched the clippings. After some investigation, I discovered that during the 1950’s my mother wrote under a number of pen names for a magazine called the Cape Breton Mirror. I was able to find out the name of the publication during my research for an article and a CBC Information Morning phone in show called “Remembering the Cape Breton Mirror”. The CBC was interested because I had written a magazine article about my mother, Isabel Lewis. Before the magazine was released the publisher told me I had to find out more information about the Cape Breton Mirror. I was able to track down the publisher 50 years later. He was a Holocaust survivor, Norman Lipschutz.The Lipschutz family were Polish Jews who fled Hitler and eventually settled in Glace Bay. Norman’s dream was to have a literary magazine, my mother wanted to be a writer. Their worlds collided in the 1950’s for a few years and then that was basically the end of both of their dreams. My mother became buried alive as a post World War ll homemaker and Norman never achieved the same level of success. After the CBC phone in, I was offered the opportunity to write and narrate a documentary for a CBC Radio Program-Maritime Magazine-Reflections from the Cape Breton Mirror. I was taught how to use the editing equipment and learned as I went along how to make a documentary. The documentary led me to Yad Vashem in Israel, the March of the Living for Teachers in Poland and Germany, The Paper Clips Museum in Whitwell Tennessee and gave me the impetus to successfully lobby the Nova Scotia government to proclaim the first provincial Holocaust Education Week. That is why I teach the Holocaust.

            Traveling to Israel had a profound influence on my teaching and my life. I studied at Yad Vashem an internationally recognized Centre to learn about the Holocaust. It is a Museum, archive, Art Gallery and meeting place for scholars. I am trying to specialize in Visual Art and the Holocaust. It is a massive subject and I feel everyone needs to carve out their area of specialization. The workshops I attended talked about Holocaust Education disappearing from schools all over the world. One professor from Germany L discussed research that suggested Holocaust education presented improperly could create anti-Semitism. He said that teenage boys do not relate to victims but ally themselves with the power of the armed forces and often admire the German military. This made my heart stop. I thought of the responsibility I had to teach this material in away that did not victimize people. I wondered if I was approaching this topic correctly.

  Yad Vashem is an incredible structure built by Moshe Safdie. The design is like an arrow piercing the side of a mountain. The arrow is a metaphor for the Holocaust, piercing the heart of the Jewish people but not destroying them. They did survive in spite of the Nazi’s and their collaborators. When you start to go through the Museum you might become overwhelmed but there are no exits, you would have to retrace your steps to exit the exhibit. This is intentional. The lack of exits makes the visitor confront the Holocaust. The last exhibit you visit has pictures of people killed in the war displayed in a circular fashion in the ceiling. These pictures cast their reflection on the floor which resembles a dark pool. The idea is that when we die we go into the ground, but Jewish people believe their body is transformed and goes to heaven. Over to the side of that room is a lookout over the Jerusalem, the holy city of David. It is quite an experience.    

Speaker after speaker recommended that Educators focus on human rights. They believed that a society that values human rights would not allow a Holocaust to take place. They also felt that Jewish history should be taught in its entirety, focusing on their accomplishments.  For thousands of years, the Jewish people have survived many persecutions, but they have been triumphant.

            When I got home I met with Dr.Katherine Covell from the Cape Breton University Children’s Rights Centre. After that meeting, I accepted the challenge of writing a curriculum that would show teachers how to use art to teach the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.  I wrote the lessons and worked out the strategies with my Grade 10, Visual Art classes at Memorial Composite high school. This curriculum called, “Using Art to Teach Children’s Rights”, is now currently being used by UNICEF. http://globalclassroom.unicef.ca/en/resources/featured_lessons.htm

            This brings me back to Bracher, Page 109, paragraph 1, “…many teachers and scholars who want their work to promote social justice view historicism as an essential weapon in their battle against injustice and oppression...” I have definitely used history to teach about social justice, I believe it is important to know the roots of issues. I don’t think I have to throw the baby out with the bath water; it is a question of how much emphasis to place on the parts of the lesson that is historical.

Also, Page 111, paragraph 1, quotes Nietzsche with a different opinion, he felt that”…while the lessons of history are indispensable, they can be learned from a relatively small piece of history….historical sense makes its servants passive and retrospective.” I see these comments as looking at the weighting of issues and the techniques of getting enough information on a topic to move forward and put everything in context.

Further, Page 113, paragraph 2, reminds us that “…Dead White European Male literary histories promote suppression and oppression of, and repression in, those (women, racial and ethnic minorities, and others) whose attributes are not recognized in these histories.” The balances of voices, genders, social status, and ethnicity should always be considering when choosing research. Allowing the dissenters to have a voice is crucial.

Page 114, page 2 warns that “…overinvestment in a single identity (racial, gender, sexual, national, etc) produces two negative consequences.” It makes ones identity vulnerable and cultivates an identity as a victim.

           

            It seems in an attempt to disclose the injustices of the past and right past wrongs, we are in danger of victimizing groups of people thus damaging their self worth to the point when they stay victims. We get the opposite of what we are trying to achieve. When teaching students about racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and other injustices there is a huge burden of responsibility on the purveyor of information to do justice to the material and those who are suffering.

            The information in Chapter 9 appears to support what I learned in Israel about Holocaust education. When students learn about and value human rights they can analyze situations and determine if people are being treated fairly. That is the most effective way I have found to help children understand that, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”(George Santayana.)

References:

Bracher, Mark. (2006) Radical Pedagogy Identity, Generativity, and Social Transformation. New York: Palgrave MacMillan