Posts
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9oaawWoHps
Here's the link to the recently premiered Clinton School of Public Service video trailer. It tells the story of who we are and what we're about better than a 50 page report or a slick recruitment brochure ever could. Best of all, it highlights my fabulous classmates who, for me, have made this experience so worthwhile.
O’Malley Creadon Productions, documentarians and creators of Wordplay and I.O.U.S.A., are the masterminds behind this project. They filmed us through orientation last fall and I wrote a previous blog about that experience. They are great people to work with.
The speaking roles go to: James Mitchell, the driver; Sanford Johnson, the proud Mississipian; Lukman Arsalan, builder of world peace; and Idonia Trotter, the powerful woman.
I am so lucky to be a part of this smart, funny, wise, talented and passionate group of people!
Monday, May 12, 2008
"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult."
~ E.B. White, 20th century American writer
Love. This. Quote.
Because the truth of the matter is that public service is just a hell of a good time anyway.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, itis judgment rather than rules that prevail.
The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.
The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.
The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.
The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor number exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.
The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.
The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.
The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.
The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.
The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.
SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
In 2004, the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee's official announcement contained these words about Wangari Maathai: "Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment. Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa. She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women's rights in particular. She thinks globally and acts locally. "
Dr. Maathai caught the attention of the Nobel committee by establishing The Green Belt Movement in 1977 under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya. Basically, she started a worldwide movement to plant trees, sustain communities and save the planet. The program has already outgrown its name, The Billion Tree Campaign, since the movement is going to achieve the planting of 4 billion trees. Check it out and plant a tree: http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/
Tonight Dr. Maathai was in Little Rock delivering the Kumpuris lecture at the Clinton Libary. My classmates and I had the honor, of hearing Dr. Maathai speak, and of shaking her hand. Notable were her spunk and engaging sense of humor. She shared with us stories from her work in many countries around the world. My favorite was from a trip to Japan. She noticed that the people were using their wooden chopsticks once and throwing them away. She inquired about the impact of this on the environment and her Japanese hosts replied, Oh no, it does not hurt the environment of Japan, we import them from other countries. Dr. Maathai replied, Well I am here as ambassador for the cocoa tree forests and the Amazon forest to tell you that you are hurting our environment! Now, many people in Japan carry with them their own personal set of chopsticks which they wash after each use.
Dr. Maathai also shared with us the concept of mottainai, the Japanese phrase literally meaning "what a waste". She is teaching everyone to use it when they forget to turn off their lights or recycle their waste. A one word reminder that it is everyone's responsibility to save the environment.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Erin Jones broke the spell. She was the first domino to fall. The first of thirty. Erin left Little Rock this week to return to Chicago before embarking on her Clinton School International Public Service Project in India. Jay Thompson's domino topples soon after, on Saturday. Next week, Carly leaves for New York, Chance for Denver. The dominos fall very quickly after that.
And here's the thing: We will NEVER be together again.
Most would quality my proclamation by saying we'll be together at graduation, but I'm going to bet that someone decides to forego the walk across the stage.
We will NEVER be together again.
The spell has been unravelling for some time. People sniping at each other in the way that people do when they know they have to let go. Well, to be honest, we don't all always like each other, but the spell has been magical nonetheless. You see, being a grad student at the Clinton School of Public Service is an extraodinarily intense experience. We were thrown together in a total immersion experience: of academics, public programs, special events, volunteer projects, theme parties, happy hours, student sessions with speakers. During the first semester I told my classmates: "Be the Clinton School." "This isn't grad school, it's a lifestyle!"
We were together all.the.time. And now it's over. ***SIGH***
Sunday, April 27, 2008
-- Neale Donald Walsch
