tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91482357615253430722024-03-20T06:29:54.871-07:00the adjacent possibleJohn Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-9255076490123241202014-01-02T08:50:00.001-08:002014-02-22T09:19:19.856-08:00Over the Wall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The fourth wall of the classroom being both physical and psychological
is more difficult to cross than the theatrical one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The play <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sleep
No More,</i> an immersive version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Macbeth,</i>
blurs the boundary between stage and audience. In the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/theater/sleep-no-more-from-punchdrunk-transforms-chelsea-warehouses.html?_r=0">NYT</a>, the director said, “It’s
important that the audience feels empowered to break all the rules that they’ve
been trained in over their lifetime.” Our Designing Change class shared that goal.</div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The big community experience of my education was being a school
patrol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wore the orange belt, held out
the orange vinyl flag, and made adults I didn’t know stop their cars. If we
really want students to learn agency, that sense of capacity, autonomy, and
obligation to act, then they need experiences in the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During our semester long design thinking
class, I was repeatedly struck by our students’ discomfort engaging with adults
and often peers outside their grade or friend group. As much as students loved
the activities, conducting empathy interviews and wrangling subjects to test prototypes challenged their comfort zones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Admittedly, this is dangerous territory for teachers, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was responsible for student actions I
couldn’t see or control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5WDGRfUbMz8F4ndbCuzo7xRgh5qrpZgi6FRjW51xV4t4odW6aOZJVEwcFbEQuTPE4Y9YwKjSerq5V36qT04Gny79gY4jC2EVNZFRO-9_mS3vWThG7z9zUeqP6nQwGWo55Ez1kxvKudj-/s1600/library+presentation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5WDGRfUbMz8F4ndbCuzo7xRgh5qrpZgi6FRjW51xV4t4odW6aOZJVEwcFbEQuTPE4Y9YwKjSerq5V36qT04Gny79gY4jC2EVNZFRO-9_mS3vWThG7z9zUeqP6nQwGWo55Ez1kxvKudj-/s640/library+presentation.jpg" height="292" width="640" /></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In our library
redesign project presentation, all the students were amazed that the library
staff and architects addressed them seriously. They
didn’t expect to have agency; they didn’t expect the cars to stop. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
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Much of schooling is defining skills. We (or Common Core) decide what
is important, teach skills students need, and then assess. Mostly students do a
page of problems, or read a novel, or write an essay for a teacher. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More narrowly, we do this within academic
disciplines, and are held responsible mostly for grades, test scores, or
college admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all know the tension
between the orderly curriculum and the complex, messy world beyond the four
walls. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Designing Change, we tried to teach interdisciplinary 21<sup>st</sup> century skills of
collaboration, creativity, communication, and problem solving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My lesson from this class is that students
struggle to cross the fourth wall and need new skill sets and real world
assessments. But perhaps most importantly, if they are to learn to operate in
the messy world, they need to be empowered to break the ingrained and all too
comfortable expectations of schooling within the four walls. Our semester class
didn’t take down these walls, but it certainly opened doors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-83337315915450496422013-11-21T08:02:00.005-08:002013-11-21T11:37:37.522-08:00A couple water metaphors<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Charged by
LSE architects and the St. Paul Public Library to offer a proposal for the new
Highland Park community library teen space, our Designing Change class is diving in to makerspaces,
FabLabs, and tech centers using twitter,
interviews & site visits. We’ve saturated the studio space with the results
of our research. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMLAAt3PzzK2ohHY2mvEPg2fQJmpf3y5rgz1FN7-u8JUaXBDp0DhBHEOz1Zdz5rgqH0gcDG6WExT1gi1S5bvWmAQyJ-RFszDhLggmFft_TRkFPXYDpAquGpXeWuv8p2iHtlGvHchuvpNsc/s1600/saturate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMLAAt3PzzK2ohHY2mvEPg2fQJmpf3y5rgz1FN7-u8JUaXBDp0DhBHEOz1Zdz5rgqH0gcDG6WExT1gi1S5bvWmAQyJ-RFszDhLggmFft_TRkFPXYDpAquGpXeWuv8p2iHtlGvHchuvpNsc/s320/saturate.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We’re also
glad to have Stanford Design School consultant Anna Love-Mickelson’s enthusiasm
for this final design cycle. Yesterday she taught us how to unpack our site
visits and interviews using headline note taking to pull out and preserve
information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, we sorted the idea looking
for surprises, tensions, contradictions, and insights before creating Point of
View statements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PRhzn54rzAwzNC3cPc4E8jnvKxBEYb-CMvvKHYRkfAgIpbwIppUrYIze8WdrycBwclx4F1l1KpjDBlym6SDKMvk61VVYP4EVtL1uJKNf8X4Cx1f9F7omqa3pH6lchFZPizq9ZGbAz8eW/s1600/anna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PRhzn54rzAwzNC3cPc4E8jnvKxBEYb-CMvvKHYRkfAgIpbwIppUrYIze8WdrycBwclx4F1l1KpjDBlym6SDKMvk61VVYP4EVtL1uJKNf8X4Cx1f9F7omqa3pH6lchFZPizq9ZGbAz8eW/s320/anna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
While there’s a
temptation to focus on furniture and technology, the process keeps us focused
on emotional qualities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are a
couple POV statement observations:<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="color: lime;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">It would be GAME CHANGING if we could created a thought provoking
teen space where young people feel comfortable taking risks. </span></span></li>
<span style="color: lime;">
</span>
<li><span style="color: lime;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It would be GAME CHANGING if we
created a versatile space that fosters community within the teen space.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Aiming for a December 11<sup>th</sup>
presentation to the architects and the library, we’ll ideate and immerse ourselves in
prototypes in the next couple weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-68804909563975751612013-11-21T06:56:00.006-08:002013-11-21T06:58:27.151-08:00The collaborative curriculum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I couldn’t
resist telling the Designing Change class students one day that they were
taking a class without a curriculum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
the class wasn’t pass/fail, of course, we wouldn’t have quite this level of
comfort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet the design process
incorporates skills of collaboration, research, writing and presentation that fit
21<sup>st</sup> century skills descriptors better than most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When we planned
a class using the design thinking model for 9<sup>th</sup> and 10<sup>th</sup>
graders, I pictured several 9<sup>th</sup> grade boys in particular who
struggled with the expectations of sitting around tables talking about
literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the English classroom, I
always balance discussion with action such as group work, board work, or interpretive
work, but the thinking about texts in discussion, later reflected in writing
remains at that heart of most English classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even if we move toward production, the act of reading and interpreting will
remain central.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a particular group
of 9<sup>th</sup> graders, this will always be challenging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczp5Imt5mc5Iz20uQcrH3r_zGjDqNKa6p_0ZFyQ4nUFFkB7nwWYy9bsdaYuRJ-a5Wn-WtTbhyzV14YWYReRSzO0QAij_uXhhE14_QHY6dyp16V2ig3xrN_BBpO-JHnPC9e6mBJlf4oXdq/s1600/cad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczp5Imt5mc5Iz20uQcrH3r_zGjDqNKa6p_0ZFyQ4nUFFkB7nwWYy9bsdaYuRJ-a5Wn-WtTbhyzV14YWYReRSzO0QAij_uXhhE14_QHY6dyp16V2ig3xrN_BBpO-JHnPC9e6mBJlf4oXdq/s320/cad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So, when we
imagined and then created this class that starts with collaborative activities
and then moves into interviews, brainstorming and then physical prototyping, I
imagined these kids would become the stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And at first they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our first
activity, the straw and paperclip bridge, got everyone working with their hands
and each other to solve a problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while the enthusiasm for this first
problem in this novel class was electric, I noted that the students who took
the lead in the discussions and in the presentations, were generally the same
students who would have done so in regular class projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps, I thought, habits matter more than
skills here and different students would surface as we moved into
projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we moved into our
first design problem- a physical problem in the school- some different students
took the lead, particularly when computer aided design skills were required to
use the Sketchup software.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet once that
phase was done and the prototypes needed testing or iteration, these students
drifted to the margins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I mean that
quite literally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed that students
who liked working with objects or technology have very different skill sets
than those who work with ideas or people, and when the tasks became social,
these students check out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my circuits
around the class, I coached some students to face the group, to move closer, to
stop drawing or engaging in other distracted/ing activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our debrief, the division between those
who preferred working with people those who preferred technology or objects
stood out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then, and despite
coaching, the challenge remains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimZoe8ZcGTziiF0qQFZyZP2h3bnhuopfgUZFk32FTujgoqZU5xhPr2jGt1HnJG05j_jEHWTjmLF7h9dd_xrGn5DxknbVaEVmdcOKui8BcOOilkKzKqN-DZtaE21NIR6O5RuSaPrRct9tl/s1600/collaborating1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimZoe8ZcGTziiF0qQFZyZP2h3bnhuopfgUZFk32FTujgoqZU5xhPr2jGt1HnJG05j_jEHWTjmLF7h9dd_xrGn5DxknbVaEVmdcOKui8BcOOilkKzKqN-DZtaE21NIR6O5RuSaPrRct9tl/s400/collaborating1.jpg" width="327" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Much of
the design thinking process is collaborative or social.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students who struggle interacting with others
struggle here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what stands out most
to me, is that these are the same skill sets that make students successful in
‘normal’ school projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So while I
imagined the design space being one that privileges non-traditional learners,
I’ve been reminded that much of traditional learning and design thinking
require social skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-5128420803483751182013-11-15T12:59:00.003-08:002013-11-21T06:58:41.836-08:00Better Lucky Than Good<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In schools
we all negotiate the limits of calendar and class period, except for schools
like <a href="http://www.riverpointacademy.org/">Riverpoint Academy</a> in Spokane
Washington where math is the only pull out class in otherwise full day project
based classrooms. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rest of us
struggle to fit the real world into 40, 60 or 80 minute pieces. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Similarly, projects outside of school often
don’t match the school calendar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
Designing Change class has landed on an amazing design challenge for our local
library that’s happening right when we’re ready for it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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After
starting with designing for physical problems in the school building like
doorstops and lockers, and then redesigning the tutorial period in our new schedule,
we were looking for a community based issue for our final project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We figured local politicians hear about
plenty of problems and invited a city and district council members to speak to
our class about what they’re hearing from the neighborhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They raised some problems, but also reminded
us how progressive St. Paul is by focusing on bikeways and the sharable cities
project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I hope we can come back
to the shareable cities idea, Councilmember Tolbert also told us about a local
library remodel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh842IyALnopnM2D4C1MIbMAU_1ob5LgQRWkEfJVzSgsO53NKgoK2Y7ewEku5eudD0O3dfR8WFGK5FDDBL73MHuLRD0ViIwxrq_6TrH0SrUU2havfpWWO-VHmm5AE4oiN6pd8THdtcU63Zi/s1600/architects.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh842IyALnopnM2D4C1MIbMAU_1ob5LgQRWkEfJVzSgsO53NKgoK2Y7ewEku5eudD0O3dfR8WFGK5FDDBL73MHuLRD0ViIwxrq_6TrH0SrUU2havfpWWO-VHmm5AE4oiN6pd8THdtcU63Zi/s320/architects.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple calls later,
the architects were here presenting their plan for the library and asking us to
help them design the new Teen Space for the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our charge- design a 28x34 foot space that
brings young people to the library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
launched a design cycle today asking, ‘What do we need to know?’ Students
will start research this weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-74106815083847533432013-08-01T07:44:00.004-07:002013-08-01T07:44:43.006-07:00Last thoughts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxXh3775shh_pHIBnvjoPblFV64JvnACBeIGz3hk59JTBd-4LeZwU9L5fP-6-ZW6SbLxLFHR_TQF6PuEKE9Iv9QAXWfKrcPk_ZhOt6WyE5rgUxZH_Q2VdKJ56NwHJjj6g0cEswGBOhcwb/s1600/flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxXh3775shh_pHIBnvjoPblFV64JvnACBeIGz3hk59JTBd-4LeZwU9L5fP-6-ZW6SbLxLFHR_TQF6PuEKE9Iv9QAXWfKrcPk_ZhOt6WyE5rgUxZH_Q2VdKJ56NwHJjj6g0cEswGBOhcwb/s1600/flowers.jpg" height="416" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"> Flowers are always appropriate, but on my last night finding a set of four flower stands like this felt particularly so. The wreathes of marigolds and white flowers are for honoring the gods, and people put them on statues or small sculptures. They also put incense sticks and pictures in these shrines. They're scattered everywhere and remind me of fairy houses somehow. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBtuzAaxalpvxo7RoJr_FvtfmusQBhJ6VI9PnBBUxL3hvTWNW-Z-XmDhZDo0Y3y646WPfC86fFk0HHJo5PZsBc0h5FiOxH-DCqJrRk970CBFH2e9Gd8eeGCb2XjZlGob26L5fABSE5BXdj/s1600/shrine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBtuzAaxalpvxo7RoJr_FvtfmusQBhJ6VI9PnBBUxL3hvTWNW-Z-XmDhZDo0Y3y646WPfC86fFk0HHJo5PZsBc0h5FiOxH-DCqJrRk970CBFH2e9Gd8eeGCb2XjZlGob26L5fABSE5BXdj/s1600/shrine.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;">I wandered some in new neighborhoods tonight- from Hindustan Park to Khalighat </span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;">It felt like goodbye, and I was struck by the low key density. In the past couple days, I've been less tolerant of the honking, of the aggressive motorcyclists, of the guys sidling up next to me to try and chat me up before making the pitch for their shop (this never happens in real neighborhoods- only in this one by the hotel). I've stared down some cars that expected me to jump out of the way despite the basic assumption that anyone who has a vehicle has priority over anyone walking. It's a sign of my transition back home, clearly. But I also admired the tiny stalls of people selling rice, tea, chai, or offering tailoring, grain milling, or cell phone repair. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;">I also came across this street where all the typists offer their services under a ubiquitous blue tarp. I recall an office like this in Marrakesh where the illiterate could get letters typed or forms filled out. In a legalistic, bureaucratic place like India, this must be an essential service for many. Yet juxtaposed to a large population w/ smart phones, the contrast feels jarring. Still, most of them had customers tonight. </span><br />
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John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-3930920476004154902013-08-01T01:04:00.000-07:002013-08-01T01:04:02.708-07:00Goodbyes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Warning- cute kids here. These are my two 6th grade sections on our final day. While the goodbyes were heartfelt ones all around, twelve year olds really feel things like that close to the surface. In one class I finished reading <i>The Animal Family</i> by Randall Jarrell, a story I'd started a while ago. In the other we wrote haikus- a form that makes students at home roll their eyes, but the exercise of counting syllables and making meaning in 17 of them was a novel challenge here. Of course, there are some universals. One boy wanted to write one about an AK47. I said, "A poem about a machine gun?" and he didn't understand my dismay. I reminded him that the name alone was 6 syllables thinking that might end it. He solved the problem by writing about an AK46. I received many sweet hand made cards, pictures, and little gifts. All of noted that such appreciation never happens at home, although I think I recall Pape Diop, another Fulbright teacher, got the high school version of such appreciation when he left SPA and returned to Senegal. <br />
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As usual and apt, I'm ready to come home after these five weeks. First, it will be very nice to see family and friends again. I'm also pretty excited to escape the humidity here. If there was any hint of exoticism associated with monsoon season, it's certainly lost on me. Constant sweating is straight up unpleasant. Bring on the 50 degree mornings. I'll gladly exchange the cappucino delivered to my room for a regular coffee on the porch. </div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-10520610276152251402013-07-26T10:56:00.001-07:002013-07-26T11:10:52.089-07:00New Light<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">New Light-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Kalighat neighborhood’s infamous red light district looked pretty benign in the afternoon as two groups of boys staged a kite battle in the main roadway. Then we turned down a narrow concrete path with small open two room dwellings. One had a person sitting cross legged watching a tv. Another seems to serve as a diner. A goat stood outside another. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAAXyXO1xlWqm1dASmy8XRz38smDfy3Ha4iMDMB708VErfXUtJnDGvt_l-LyShKHlFGBLNAYBv_28aQjYQ052Ic1Dch5KgsAA0udfB8xvjmsawUQ38E4WbSz9DwasiJdcDyxoIa54DKdRa/s1600/newlight1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAAXyXO1xlWqm1dASmy8XRz38smDfy3Ha4iMDMB708VErfXUtJnDGvt_l-LyShKHlFGBLNAYBv_28aQjYQ052Ic1Dch5KgsAA0udfB8xvjmsawUQ38E4WbSz9DwasiJdcDyxoIa54DKdRa/s400/newlight1.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At the end of the corridor, the second floor of a former temple serves as office, cafeteria, school, and dwelling for nearly 100 children. New Light was started by Urmi Basu who left the foundation world because the work felt empty (and as I later found out chose to leaver her husband, too, when given an ultimatum to choose him or her work). The organization serves sex workers, trafficked women, and their children providing shelter, food, education, and health services. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Given write ups in the NYT, in Kristof’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Half the Sky,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and recognition through various humanitarian awards, I expected more by way of facilities. But that’s a common feeling here. First we watched a dozen older girls do yoga on mats. Afterwards all of the 80-100 children lined up in rows for attendance and then meditation. Seated on the floor in tight formation, they all closed their eyes and assumed a basic lotus position. The smallest ones were terribly cute trying to stay awake nodding perilously before quickly recovering. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Afterwards we tutored them, after a fashion. The first night I started writing letters and words and pictures that they would copy, then we moved to tic-tac-toe. One girl beat me regularly, and not just because she cheated by ‘casually’ covering up her marks with a finger. These sweetpeas just loved the attention, as seems fitting for kids sleeping communally on the floor of a shelter without parents. Their mothers may visit them sometimes, but largely this feels like something between foster care and orphanage. Tonight I worked with older students on their English homework from school today. The levels vary widely, so I circled around working with small groups. One girl showed me her workbook with all the answers completed correctly, but as I was halfway through it, her friend ratted her out pointing out a cheat book with the answers in Bengali. I teased her about being a cheater, a word she understood immediately, and made a joke about it. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_4saQAEb96pM-Ngg46_dPCfltkXEreUuHQWgUekVcr1q7a5Mlv7YpqGVjfaoDORKXHqmiK4uiNQS8zAc6R_-rpQLbfZ5NgZnut01nQEZbISNhdF4AiQv13f7VJ6vMhUAMu5G22KtOUje/s1600/newlight3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_4saQAEb96pM-Ngg46_dPCfltkXEreUuHQWgUekVcr1q7a5Mlv7YpqGVjfaoDORKXHqmiK4uiNQS8zAc6R_-rpQLbfZ5NgZnut01nQEZbISNhdF4AiQv13f7VJ6vMhUAMu5G22KtOUje/s320/newlight3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">While this place is far from the fancy school I visited this morning, the appreciation I felt there tonight seemed much more real. While working with them, it feels like any other teaching moment. Sweet kids struggling with both material and motivation, working in part to please me as teacher. It makes Mitra’s School in the Cloud seem a distant second choice. I certainly sensed they preferred having me there over a computer screen, but maybe I flatter myself. I will be going back a few more nights before I leave. </span></span></div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-8025072099334393882013-07-26T10:18:00.002-07:002013-11-21T06:59:14.328-08:00School in the Cloud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">Sugata Mitra spoke today at a large, fancy local private school and I was excited to get a chance to see him speaking here. Having seen his TedTalks about the "Hole in the wall school" and the "School in the Cloud" I was curious to hear how he might talk to a hometown crowd. When I got there, I realized it was also largely a student audience. As Fulbright teachers (and as guests of Akshar's head and principal) we had the fancy front row seats with the white chair covers and the red ribbons. It's treatment that I've come to expect here, and going home will be a return to, well, reality.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;">Mitra's premise is that students can learn on their own with technology, and the latest iteration is that students in groups with online support and guiding questions can learn on their own. Rousseau's <i>Emilie </i>comes quickly to mind, and Montessori isn't far behind. I'm struck, however, by the movement here away from the radical, nearly Romantic conception of learning back toward the center in his new version. Now, students get guidance from adults and with questions. Moreover, they meet together in public communities to do the work. He still largely dismisses the role of teachers, although he doesn't want to quite come out and say it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;">I also discovered that he's working with schools in Calcutta including Akshar creating SOLE periods- basically small groups working online in small groups to answer questions. According to the teacher who's doing it, the purpose is to teach students internet research skills. That's certainly a more modest goal that suggested by his original talk which implied students could come to understand genetics and DNA. </span><br />
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John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-70607720935902130572013-07-22T08:22:00.002-07:002013-07-22T08:30:10.783-07:00Of monuments and men<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Putting one more photo of the Taj Mahel on the interwebs is very much a coals-to-Newcastle sort of thing. And not being a photographer, really, I was surprised to see the luminous quality to even my photos after this grey, hazy morning. But like the thousands of others who walk these grounds daily, I came and admired the most beautiful tomb in the world. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The story is as epic as the building. Akbar, the greatest Mughal emperor, is grief stricken when his third wife dies bearing his 14th child. He spends 20 years and untold lives constructing this memorial. According to our guide, he planned to build an identical second building in black marble but was deposed and imprisoned by his son in a nearby fort where he had a window looking out on the tomb of his beloved. Supposedly, this son also killed all his siblings. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> But places like this immediately beg the question- all this beauty at what cost? Even this weekend a handful of thin men redug the lawn on a hot morning. What are the conditions of of absolute power and feudal wealth that breed structures like this, Versailles, the pyramids, and so on? It makes me appreciate the Gates Foundation more, although I hear his house on the lake in Seattle is monolithic, too. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And while I may not be a 'high net worth individual' like Bill Gates, this sign made my own privilege clear enough. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">What stands out most about this place now, however, perhaps more than beauty and power, is some deep need to take a posed photo in front of it and no doubt post it to facebook. In France I often felt that the Oxbridge students didn't so much visit Montpellier as much as use it for facebook backdrop (and resume builder, of course). Baudrillard comes to mind-Do we have experiences anymore, or just stage images/</span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">simulacra </span></span></span> that stand for these experiences? In addition to being one of the seven wonders of the modern world, it also feels like the photobomb capital of the world. Everyone maneuvers for their spot, many pose with their finger touching the topmost point, and some, well, some do need to be seen to be appreciated. I'm sure this photo is already on fb making her small, anonymous contribution to the monumental, virtual Taj</span></span></span><br />
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John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-66242874682030782832013-07-17T03:14:00.002-07:002013-07-17T03:20:20.058-07:00Photo Hash<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Last night I walked around a new neighborhood and felt that travelers euphoria that comes from constant amazement. Wonder is a powerful force, and I get the sense India has always been a primary source. On my walk, I came across the motorcycle repair part of town. First there were the parts stores. Then I came across an outdoor custom seat repair shop. You choose the vinyl seat pattern and they sew it onto your pad while you wait. Finally, and in the dark, I came across the mechanics who worked in the street without benefit of light or lights. None had even the lean to shed of this shop from the village I visited last weekend.</span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In public transport, India also exceeds expectation. Dozens of people ride on the tops of buses in the countryside, while they merely stuff them full in the city. On the trains, especially in the air conditioned cars, its the vendors who create wonder. The snackwala whose custom metal carrying container had a large central storage area for puffed rice which he then seasoned from a set of about ten different seasonings. He mixed it all in another container and served it in a rolled newspaper cone. </span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Y_2UVMe73ChqCb99lignXmDV5ze6rVxh3ViBeUQ6ysrf3BxkOUGFOo3vOYKbip45XlLFBkRax8-iz6qbqmF9adbOKtgfJ9_AvR9MhYMbkFxsfCJx9ic8TV7K7bObij_-Yoh_uGx4soSx/s1600/P1000947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Y_2UVMe73ChqCb99lignXmDV5ze6rVxh3ViBeUQ6ysrf3BxkOUGFOo3vOYKbip45XlLFBkRax8-iz6qbqmF9adbOKtgfJ9_AvR9MhYMbkFxsfCJx9ic8TV7K7bObij_-Yoh_uGx4soSx/s320/P1000947.jpg" width="292" /></a></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Although
I didn't get a picture of him in action (it really required video) this
was the musician who mostly made me wonder when he was going to stop. He's playing a two string number that starts with an open drum held under his arm and ends with a handle in his hand. The strings are held tight along his forearm between drum and hand and played with a large wooden pick. </span></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz95ffybALAVLBP0IFoD7w3dE2plVlEeQ6UbWdclyXgveWMZeWTclv_X3LPcDkfe4RtcWj6I8SNNKqyY0224HCALYFmPyWtcyJUZRT8jSUMPUDmNposCBzYkn5S14hh3MATK1fdABcoplQ/s1600/shrine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz95ffybALAVLBP0IFoD7w3dE2plVlEeQ6UbWdclyXgveWMZeWTclv_X3LPcDkfe4RtcWj6I8SNNKqyY0224HCALYFmPyWtcyJUZRT8jSUMPUDmNposCBzYkn5S14hh3MATK1fdABcoplQ/s320/shrine.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="color: #cccccc;">This is one of many Hindu street shrines. They range from room size places of workshop to small objects perched on decorated platforms. This one was secured behind a metal grid. Some sit in the open. In the evening you generally see someone making an offering at one. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="color: #cccccc;">Chawalas (cha is tea here) or coffeewalas are among the most common vendors, of course. Like everything else on the street, they cook with open charcoal fires burned down to coals. Often these sit on the bustling sidewalks. While there was a letter to the editor about the hazards of this, like most hazards here, it's long established practice. Servings are very small, and most are offered in ceramic cups. What's remarkable is that these hand made cups are single serving. I'm still somewhat shocked that hand made, nonstackable cups are preferred to small plastic ones. When you're done you just drop them on the ground. Being very low fire terra cotta (perhaps just sun fired) they are ground underfoot and return to dust. Here's a picture of evening pile in front of the cha stand in Santinitiken.</span></b></span></div>
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John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-84761928559155535192013-07-16T17:39:00.003-07:002013-07-16T17:39:36.525-07:00Santinitiken<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-4a1a178d-e862-7327-8c46-4e7d4ea373b5" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite the heat, these saffron clad students gathered in small groups under trees working on drawings, reading English texts, studying Sanskrit look idyllic. The place invites that sort of view. As envisioned by Indian poet and renaissance man Rabindranath Tagore, almost all classes meet outdoors as they have for over 100 years. One teacher said, “Students get so distracted when they’re stuck in a room all day.” And we all tried to imagine our students here on the ground every day. The kids in the English class we observed read their passages, laughed at some inside joke, and seemed unaffected by the heat or our group of 13 observers. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Patha Bhavana educates 1100 students in grades K-12 with several hundred more in the associated university. The campus spreads across several acres with a second campus six kilometers down the road. The colorful, colonial buildings are set in a simple grid pattern around parks, a large, green playing field, and a national historic site. Against the infernal honking and normal chaos of even the small village nearby, the school seems an oasis. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Unlike most private school classes here that have 40 or more students in small, stuffy rooms, these groups of less than 20 felt intimate. The fact that half of the students live on campus in dormitories guarantees it. I struggled to imagine a dormitory of 2nd gradesr, but was assured there was one. This is a slightly older group going to lunch. They all had short hair which seemed a necessary concession to group living. </span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNkHvTCtg8MYVO_MS52oD0RRVGcG_12YyEFT5XkYRLuDV4Cxn4_nX0Uyi6hkBJ-L4Hpwv2f88wcaWsedB1931ildhMugmFndENJloViCn6Tg_kCtIAelv9APy-5HJroe_eicX86q0AX1e/s1600/girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNkHvTCtg8MYVO_MS52oD0RRVGcG_12YyEFT5XkYRLuDV4Cxn4_nX0Uyi6hkBJ-L4Hpwv2f88wcaWsedB1931ildhMugmFndENJloViCn6Tg_kCtIAelv9APy-5HJroe_eicX86q0AX1e/s640/girls.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Our guides were English BA students one of whom had been there since 2nd grade. They were passionate advocates for the humanistic approach. Most Indian parents want their children to be doctors or engineers. The man on the train home told me how his son had switched from engineering to art, but he didn't seem too disappointed. Here, students can succeed in areas outside math and science and be recognized. Yet apparently students here prefer cliffs notes to reading just like students anywhere, and in the recent English exam for the BA students, 20 of 40 failed. Once admitted to the university, fees are very low and retesting later is a given. The motivation to work and graduate from the bucolic world can be a bit low. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Santinetiken was founded in 1901,</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Dewey’s Chicago Lab school in 1896</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Montessori’s Casa dei Bambini in 1907</span></span>, and Steiner’s Waldorf schools in 1919. Like Waldorf in particular, </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Patha Bhavana struggles to distinguish founding elements from important elements. Are three years of Sanskrit instruction really an essential part of the model? Should technology be included? And my own personal question- is it really necessary to learn the entire 2000 song canon of Rabindranath Tagore's canon? Like some of these progressive era notions, the school is seen as an isolated exception rather than a general model for the larger education system. At the current moment, High Tech High, Expeditionary Learning, Project Based Learning, and a host of other networks and organizations work to push similar open education ideas into the mainstream in the US. This historical educational island in India seems a good spot to view the larger educational tides. </span> </span></span></div>
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John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-86322022555832020342013-07-10T09:04:00.000-07:002013-07-16T17:17:40.316-07:00It's an experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">The line,“You will always have the poor among you” comes to mind often
in India, They live under tarps and on road medians and sleep in carts or on
the ground. I’m already more accustomed to the sights than I was a week ago
when a girl of no more than six carrying a still infant of about six months
conjured images of <i>Slumdog Millionaire.</i> And yes, it feels wrong
comparing real people to movie characters, but that seems like the closest frame
of reference for this kind of poverty. Although feeling wrong is the issue here.</span></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">At dinner with a local newspaperman this weekend, he said many of homeless
are refugees crossing the porous border with Bangladesh. While no doubt true,
this somehow masks the discomfort placing it within a larger geopolitical context.
In Dakar the ‘Talibe’ are generally child beggars from Mali, seen in a
similar context of otherness. But a new </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/world/asia/04iht-letter04.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><span style="line-height: 115%;">book </span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;">out here challenges these views claiming that ‘what is remarkably
obvious is a serious lack of interest in the lives of the Indian poor, judging
from the balance of news selection and political analyses in the Indian media.”
Conversely, <i>Slumdog Millionaire</i> and books like Katherine Boo’s <i>Behind
the Beautiful Forevers</i> sometimes get tagged with the label ‘poverty porn’
for exhibiting the lives of India’s poor. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Last night after a nearly drug-like
nap, I entered the fray of Calcutta’s streets in search of dinner. Not knowing
the area yet, this is always a bit of an adventure. But as uncertain wandering
attracts aggressive shopkeepers, I tend to walk with a sense of direction I don’t
possess. A block away from the hotel, a man fell into step alongside me, but
rather than the typical ‘where are you from’ opener, he said, “You’re staying
at the Oberoi. I work there.” And so I
turned to look at him to see if I recognized his face. He looked a bit older than most of the
beautiful 20 somethings who staff all the desks. I assume they’re like
stewardesses in the 50’s hired for aesthetic purposes and moved along at a
certain age. This man didn’t fit that description, but he quickly said that he
swept the floor in the main hall. I said
I didn’t recognize him. He asked if I
had been napping, surprising me with his accuracy which I acknowledged. He
asked if I was from MIT noting that there were people from there staying in the
hotel. I mentioned the Fulbright program, and soon we were talking about
restaurants in the area, and he offered to show me good ones. He pointed out a Chinese one and said a good
fish place was down the road a bit. So we walked and he noted that the roads
would be more crowded tomorrow as Ramadan was starting. I recalled the shopping frenzy for the post
sunset feast wondering how many Muslims live in Calcutta. “I’m going to teach a class,” he said, “It’<i>s </i>a taekwando class </span></span><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">for kids. It’s just an
hour a week, something the hotel likes us to do for the community.” I was immediately impressed and even guilty for my unfulfilled intention to visit Mother Theresa’s mission
nearby. Or, I wondered, should I try to
help out at the trafficked women organization I had heard about the day
before. I was all intention, while he
was going to teach the kids. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We soon arrived at the fish place, and
he pointed it out and also recommended a Bengali place next door. Always alert to underlying motive, I half
expected he would introduce me to a cousin who ran the restaurant, but a simple
recommendation felt like gesture of welcome for a stranger. I asked his name and shook his hand thanking
him and saying goodbye. As I turned, he said,
“Sir, would you have some money to help buy biscuits for the students?” Stuttering instead of speaking, I reached
into my pocket for a 10 or 20 rupee bill.
A couple hundres came out first, and then I found a 20 and gave it to
him. He smiled and said, “Could I have
220? There are many students.” Still speechless, I hand over a 100 rupee bill
and manage to say, ”Here’s 100.” “120,
that’s what I meant,” he said. We shook
hands again and then parted. And then the questions finally formed- What just happened? Why would he ask for money? Why did I feel suspicious? Would he really buy food for students? Were there really students? Suddenly with a simple request at parting, some
traveler’s radar flipped back on, and I retraced the conversation moment by
moment looking for gaps. He had said he
worked eight hours at the Oberoi. Was
that possible? I knew the hostess at the
restaurant works six days a week from 7 AM to 10:30 PM with only a short break
between. Was it possible cleaning staff worked shorter hours? He had said he worked six days a week. That
fit. I sat in the fish place and looked over the menu. The prices were good, but I realized I had
gone out in search of pizza. I didn’t want fish. I apologized as I left in search of something
else leaving the question behind as well.
I had only given up120 rupees. Two dollars at the new exchange rate.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">That night, I awoke in the dark
suddenly certain he had made up the entire story. He didn’t work at the hotel.
I was an obvious mark, and he knew enough to weave a convincing tale. I thought
he was interested in me as a person not as a wealthy western target. My radar had failed completely. It wasn’t the money, of course, it was
pride. I wasn’t they guy who got fooled,
and now I had been. Having traveled plenty, I recognized the touts and the
scammers and steered clear of them. Now
I suddenly recognized that I could be taken, fooled, duped like the little old
ladies who gave over their life savings to gardeners or maids on convoluted
pretext. How had he done it? Was it that
he seemed to recognize me from the hotel?
Was it my guilt over not recognizing him? Was it the MIT detail that made me wonder
what MIT was doing in Calcutta? Was it
my admiration of his service to the poor? </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now, I have to admit I don’t know the
truth. Did I misinterpret his question? Why shouldn’t he ask for help feeding
the students? Did he weave a tale that I
bought completely? What is certain is
that I paid for a lesson, a class on class. I’m reminded of the professor
character in Paul Bowles “A Distant Episode” who seeks familiarity with the
Tuareg and is punished brutally for the attempt, or more of Guare’s “Six
Degrees of Separation” in which the transgressor knows that gifts of jam ease passage into upper class homes. What I
do know is that our driver yesterday earns 300 rupees a day, about five
dollars, and while he is grateful for it, I can’t help but feel there’s
something wrong. </span></span></span></span></div>
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John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-5715570754683762802013-07-09T08:17:00.002-07:002013-07-09T08:22:18.406-07:00Clever Hans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kolkata’s St. John's School for Girls holds 3900 girls ages K-12 on a small campus of colonial era buildings. We visited an 11th math class where 45 girls in close rows took notes from a popular teacher named Mr. Francis. He lectured on graphing parabolas, a lesson I somewhat recalled and somewhat understood. The method was strictly chalk and talk. There were no questions and few opportunities to offer any answers. Sitting in the back of the stuffy room drifting off to the lull of four ceiling fans, I suddenly came to a new appreciation for Kahn Academy’s video lessons. At least you could stop and review a lesson and do so at your own pace. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students here work toward two sets of board exams, one after 10th grade and another after 12th. The second one, as well as an optional additional exam, determine their college choice options. With a burgeoning student population, admission to the most competitive universities requires scores over 95%. In addition to the private schools that most aspiring students attend, they also go to ‘tuitions’ for up to four hours in the evenings. Here they study the material again, in theory. The teacher we spoke with said this isn’t really tutoring in the proper sense, rather many of them simply do more worksheets on the material. One girl noted that many Indian students suffer from depression from the work load, and then she asked about her American peers. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">St. Johns, like all the schools working with the Fulbright exchange program, is a private school. A NYT </span><a href="http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/what-are-you-doing-to-fix-indias-broken-education-system/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">article </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">notes that 90% of Indian students attend public schools which have larger class sizes and very poor instruction and accountability. So the kids in this class are the elite, cramming to do well on exams. The teachers feel the same pressure and largely teach to the tests which focus on content not understanding. In the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Telegraph </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">newspaper today the director of Modern High School for Girls, Devi Kar, compared Indian students to Clever Hans a horse who had apparently learned to add, but was ultimately proven to respond to subtle cues in his owner’s face. The Fulbright teachers here agree that students study advanced material at early ages but don’t really understand it. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of course test driven learning has a long if not noble tradition. I've seen French boys cry in their mother's arms after receiving poor Baccalaureate scores. My Senegalese students were entirely test driven as well. They said few students read the books as their instruction was often poor and the exam requires little more than rote memorization of plot and character. And my SPA students increasingly (and often unwillingly) take SAT prep classes for a few extra points as well. Despite huge differences in educational systems and resources, stressed, alienated children seem far too common.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rabindranath Tagor, the most famous Bengali/Indian author and philosopher challenged this approach to education a century ago in ways similar to Dewey and Montessori. His conclusions here still feel too true both here and at home. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“We have come to this world to accept it, not merely to know it. We may become powerful by knowledge, but we attain fullness by sympathy. The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. But we find that this education of sympathy is not only systematically ignored in schools, but it is severely repressed. From our very childhood habits are formed and knowledge is imparted in such a manner that our life is weaned away from nature and our mind and the world are set in opposition from the beginning of our days. Thus the greatest of educations for which we came prepared is neglected, and we are made to lose our world to find a bagful of information instead. We rob the child of his earth to teach him geography, of language to teach him grammar. His hunger is for the Epic, but he is supplied with chronicles of facts and dates…Child-nature protests against such calamity with all its power of suffering, subdued at last into silence by punishment. (Rabindranath Tagore, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Personality</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,1917: 116-17)” </span></span></div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-78311653772428434092013-07-07T03:44:00.003-07:002013-07-07T03:54:06.992-07:00Akshar Art Show<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-4a1a178d-b7b7-be10-4ee1-2794797a45f8" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">During my first week at Akshar school, I’d noticed the well done flyer for the Friday evening art opening. I appreciated, too, that they ended school early Friday to let people prepare for the event. Using a theme of ‘‘beauty from waste’ students at all grade levels had contributed something to the show and they had been working on it since the spring. Having it at the art gallery </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">across the street from the US Consulate which is</span> owned by one of the founders seemed auspicious as well. Yet I was still amazed at what they accomplished.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This picture from a balcony shows a part of the gallery. The art teacher had been working with kids all week setting things up. They created three rooms- one main gallery, another of science themed projects, and a third which modeled a sustainable house. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The night started with the students lined up in rows to welcome guests, and they dispersed afterwards. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students staffed each exhibit area reciting their nearly memorized information. In what seems somewhat typical fashion, they seemed more comfortable with recitation than discussion. My students would have been quite the opposite. Differences disappeared however in the way they approached the food table afterward.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Akshar's art teacher has been with the school since the founding, and he seems to get remarkable results across different ages and media. The photography both on the wall and mounted on this flowing room length paper was excellent. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And I particularly adored this sea cow.</span></span></div>
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John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-52524648429758756052013-07-04T17:38:00.000-07:002013-07-04T17:47:36.187-07:00The Akshar School<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kolkata- July 5, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I celebrated the fourth of July by learning cricket, a precursor of our great American pass time. Not sure if that qualifies as patriotic. The pictures show clearly different skill sets as I got schooled on the makeshift rooftop pitch where the students play during every break. I’ll offer an ultimate frisbee lesson soon. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Having left a week ago, I’m finally settled enough to know how to get around and what I’m teaching. I’m also through the initial travel euphoria and into the adjustment phase. Does everyone need to honk constantly? Is there a salad somewhere I could eat safely? What does it mean that my hotel is guarded by a sandbanked sentry and requires passing through a metal detector? Some of these questions are softened by the cappucino and cookies delivered to my door each morning. Others are only made more pointed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Akshar School sits near what passes for the river Hooghly wedged between a working marble factory and an empty British one. The remarkable 70 year old founder began the school 15 years ago in this former warehouse donated by a family who wanted a better education for their disabled son. The school’s mission is to educate students of all abilities in an inclusive, empathetic community. Their approaches include smaller classes, differentiated assessments and timelines, and some extracurricular courses that offer occupational skills. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The kids are open and adorable, and it does feel like a much more tolerant environment. Downs, autistic and physically disabled students participate as they can in classes and activities. On the first day the 6th graders peppered me with questions and gushed in response to my pictures. I wasn’t sure if they responding to me or something I represent.They wanted to know what sports and music I like, what hobbies I enjoy, and what kind of cell phone I use. The last question revealing a level of privilege not present on the streets. </span></span></div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-83150100295641025202012-12-28T14:40:00.005-08:002012-12-28T14:40:48.585-08:00Two Lilies<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
When Lily, a student in my History of the Novel class, noted that both of
her project partners were unable to help her videotape an interview, I offered
to help out. I'd already thought about observing the observers, going out
to watch my students work on the ethnography project I'd assigned. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a free period and she needed help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed like a good moment.<br />
<br />
This project asks students to consider how we read in communities and how
the individual act of reading becomes a social and communal one. It
invites them to consider what it means when we read together. Students
have chosen groups ranging from 1st graders, to Bible study groups, to an anarchist
reading group that won't allow audio or video recording. They completed observations
and interviews, and then made videos to share their findings. <br />
<br />
This has been an experiment for all of us. I've never done
ethnography, and most students haven't done video work. While I tend to enjoy
risk and novelty in the classroom, this project has been a stretch. More than
once I've wondered if it was too much to ask students to observe a group twice
and conduct some follow up interviews. Yet it also seems like the bare
minimum to create an understanding of a community. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
The most difficult part has been finding time for students to do the
visits. Students have met Bible study groups at 6:30 in the morning,
missed classes during the day to observe at the lower school, and pursued anarchists’
itinerant meetings around the cities on Tuesday evenings. Colleagues have
been mostly flexible as students missed classes, but some have been frustrated by
late notice or extra accommodations, the challenge of anything that doesn't fit
into an eight period school day.<br />
<br />
At times, trying to create or keep momentum on a long term project has been
a challenge. We're still reading novels and writing papers. While we work
on project proposals and questions, the reading sometimes feels distant.
So today's experience with the 1st and 2nd graders reminded me why we do the
extra work creating project based learning. <br />
<br />
At the lower school that morning, I set up the camera and tripod, Lily went
to get some students to interview as a follow up to the observation her group
had done last week. The three girls sat down on the couch, two blonde
twins and a little girl with glasses and missing front teeth. Lily told
them her name and asked them theirs. The twins answered first, then the
middle girl exclaimed, "My name is Elizabeth, but I go by Lily,
too!" Big Lily started asking questions, and soon after the other Lily
asked, "Are you Chinese, too?" Hearing that she was, the girl
blurted, "And I don't even speak Chinese!" All three girls
talked about their reading with remarkable insight for seven year olds,
describing the books they liked, and the pleasures of different kinds of
stories. At times they giggled and leaned into each other, and took polite
turns answering questions. In a brief pause, apropos of nothing,
little Lily stage whispered to big Lily, "I'm adopted" continuing her
revelations, pursuing a connection to this young woman, this powerful image of
herself in some distant future.<br />
<br />
After we finished the interviews, my student Lily and I discussed the power
of looking back in time, of nostalgia, certainly, but also of reflection.
I was struck by the power of experience, unlike a reading or a lecture or a
discussion, to prompt us to consider our histories, our lives more
deeply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asked if she could return
and volunteer with that class second semester, and I noted it was certainly
possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> But mostly I was
reflecting on this experience of messy, complex assignments rooted in community
that taught much more than I could ever have intended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-61536462173748316022012-12-28T14:18:00.001-08:002012-12-28T14:18:16.270-08:00"A thing there was that mattered"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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“A thing there was that mattered,” Woolf writes at the end
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mrs. Dalloway</i>, that infuriating
beautiful book, “a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her
own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter” (Woolf 184).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My juniors and seniors gather at 8:30 in the
morning bleary with fatigue and buzzing with outrage over some Facebook post that
fuels some interclass conflicts among the seniors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Online now being the natural place where
things that might be best held back sneak out onto one screen and then instantaneously
onto everyone’s screens. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Amidst the chatter of a hopelessly chaotic last day of the
quarter when a group of boys has supposedly created a ‘boys club’ in the
lockeroom <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(did somebody say defaced by
obscuring chatter?) when the bells howl every 45 minutes and semester exams
line up on the horizon of next week, my class gathers around two pages of this
difficult novel to consider a thing that matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Can I ask a question not about this book?” she asks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m wondering why we read books.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asks this not accusingly but knowingly,
aware that she herself and the class are on this cusp of an answer, an answer
that she says she has been looking for since her 9<sup>th</sup> grade teacher
talked about symbolism in a story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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And I follow the question, wondering if these words creating
a privileged, somewhat unlikeable 50 year old woman throwing a party, words written
by a privileged woman who herself committed suicide, words looking into the void
of their parallel real and fictional lives, words evoking the emptiness of
England’s passing moment of greatness, suddenly visible at the end of World War
I, a moment much later howled out by Sid Vicious punked up and coked out foully
screaming, “There is no future in England’s dreaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No future, no future, no future for you”, can
help this class understand why we read novels. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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And the 13 privileged students (certainly privileged to be
so few, to be skilled enough to read Woolf) around this table who have
struggled with Woolf’s density and with my academic demands and with what can
only feel like the expectations of everyone looking at them while they reach
out for the golden ticket of college admission; they read these words aloud and
listen to each other and open themselves to the possibility that these words just
might be able reveal something to them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are miraculously open, which is perhaps
all we can ever hope to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Immediately, they try to answer the question themselves
rather than looking to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One compares
it to the moment writing a lab report when you suddenly understand what it was
you were trying to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another asks if
it’s like a movie, “are movies the new books?” and each pauses amidst the
chatter to look for that thing that matters to him or her and say it aloud for
the others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sit amazed at the baldness
of this moment, the way our own truths suddenly rise up out of the commutes and
the backpacks and simmering resentments and the unstated, background of sadness
for one of their classmates, and we grope together for meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask them to observe this moment of their
own search reading about Clarissa Dalloway’s epiphany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We seem to have our own rare moment of truth
on the last day of the term, and then the bell rings and we all return to the
chatter of our daily lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-47899555412835212762012-02-27T12:37:00.003-08:002012-02-27T12:37:54.357-08:00home againI'm looking out my desk window at the snow, struggling to reconcile the speed with which bodies can be moved around the globe. My mind's not here yet, certainly. The trip was easy.<br />
<br />Mostly, it was easy because the election results were seen as positive, and people were quite happy in Dakar last night. Many people were out walking and shops were open and there was a sense that democracy had done what legal maneuvering and protesting had not, sent President Wade a message that his efforts to seek a third term would not succeed. He still appears to have the most votes with 34% by one count, but another candidate is close behind w/ 27% and the others have already pledged to unite around whoever had the most votes to defeat Wade. So, there will be another election in March, and much political discussion until then, but my sources feel like a change is now assured, and there was a sense of celebration last night.<br />
<br />
I look forward to seeing you all soon.<br />
<br />
j<br />
<br />John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-67531466422160552012-02-26T03:47:00.001-08:002012-02-26T03:47:13.792-08:00Election dayIt's a quiet election day here, so far. People have stocked up on food, prepared for the worst but hoping for better, of course. Discussion at dinner last night suggested President Wade can't win, but many people still fear he'll steal the election, that the countryside vote will still carry him, or that some unexpected deal or trick will happen and enrage people. On the TV and radio news, the voices are tense. The former president of Nigeria was on the TV last night trying to broker a last minute deal to arrange delayed elections and an orderly transition. Twitter feeds are tracking poll station crowds and transportation problems. Nothing significant yet. If there is accurate polling information predicting today's results, it doesn't seem to be public knowledge. So everyone waits- anxiously. Mme Diop is walking around the house with a portable radio to her ear. <br />
<br />
I'll be spending the day with Mamadou in Rufisque, a town just outside of Dakar, and then having dinner at Pape's house and getting on a plane at 2:30 this morning. I'll be home Monday morning. I'm very much looking forward to it. I don't expect to be adding things here until I switch to work on my digital literacy project. I have to admit writing into this virtual space has been interesting (that word I forbid students to use for it's useless ambiguity), albeit strange as feedback comes so episodically and obliquely. I have enjoyed sharing my trip here with those of you who enjoy reading it. Thanks.<br />
<br />
JohnJohn Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-26056902768534766152012-02-25T14:59:00.001-08:002012-02-25T14:59:19.047-08:00goodbyes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On the first day I started this w/ an entry on the coffee shops- local guys (always guys) who serve coffee (ok, Nescafe, or cafe Touba) on many corners from rolling carts. I mentioned then that Abou sold his from a cardboard box. He's still doing so, but I've worked with him to prepare a microcredit loan application w/ a local agency. He's written a couple drafts of the proposal and I've passed it to the director of the organization. He's there six days a week from 7 AM until his hot water thermoses run out. Jobs here remain impossible, and people do things like this all the time for a few dollars a day. A student today told me he worked as a janitor for 1500cfa/day. Just over three dollars. I hope to see a picture of a new coffee cart sometime soon. Insh'allah.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0MEQstHq1pfMmZIJGebIFfDqhyphenhyphenZIsj5gJt_EU6bMOPeoiGuC95KaPv9Pav-iICO0lgDhvltzGDwqW6KU1QC6mel5Vq-ppz_QyCKspwg7pYxZ1o5m_J-HAOWOGzTQgzvHP5OCaqBiIp_z/s1600/Abou.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0MEQstHq1pfMmZIJGebIFfDqhyphenhyphenZIsj5gJt_EU6bMOPeoiGuC95KaPv9Pav-iICO0lgDhvltzGDwqW6KU1QC6mel5Vq-ppz_QyCKspwg7pYxZ1o5m_J-HAOWOGzTQgzvHP5OCaqBiIp_z/s640/Abou.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Babocar or 'Homicide' as he likes to be known (I've renamed him 'Daisy') is my strongest student. He'd read an overview of the rest of <b><i>The Scarlet Letter </i></b>and was quizzing me today about the meanings of the events while we walked. He's also the only Wade supporter in the class, but he's gotten pretty quiet about that. Today several of the students met for the last time to say goodbye. The didn't know about the four US college programs in Dakar, so I gave them contact information, introduced them to Ryan who lives in my house from one of the programs, and even stopped to random girls from the SIT program on the street and made introductions. They plan on proposing conversation groups or perhaps even study groups to one or two of these groups to continue their work together. Given the general disregard and dysfunction of the university system, they know they need to take initiative. They were so appreciative of our class, and I damn near got teary about saying goodbye to them, although they didn't like my hugs preferring 'gangster' handshakes and shoulder slams. <br />
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<br />John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-63934758069714642812012-02-24T13:37:00.001-08:002012-02-24T13:37:20.829-08:00goulash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqn4Iyfz-HcW5KJvqX_imwmOCWmtlb4eY7hnkIEeIjg0-k_3mLndM7NfdFpBDExz8czm1_lA5b_eZfUe2bkKerUSlTiINGiXuY_CADeG-VhfvL7Sx9cEYCJYG3jv3mJG5HXw5GyxGngUhq/s1600/boats.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqn4Iyfz-HcW5KJvqX_imwmOCWmtlb4eY7hnkIEeIjg0-k_3mLndM7NfdFpBDExz8czm1_lA5b_eZfUe2bkKerUSlTiINGiXuY_CADeG-VhfvL7Sx9cEYCJYG3jv3mJG5HXw5GyxGngUhq/s640/boats.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Back from the beach, I enclose one more picture of boats in Guinea Bissau, mostly for myself. And the goulash was part of the nice last night dinner at a sweet French restaurant in Cap Skirring that served locally made cheese- a rarity here. As I write a pro-Wade event is going on down the road- at his party headquarters. It's all politics back here in Dakar. The schools are all shut down now, even the private ones. Mme Diop has stocked up on food for the weekend.<br />
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The three local college programs have put their students on short leashes, if not quite as short as the tethers on these city sheep. The CIEE program would be on spring break, but they've forbidden students to travel in the country. They're not happy. So these photos, well they're rather random returning to the city photos I've liked but not found occasion to use. This laundry gets hung on a main road on Sundays right next to the open sewer ditch which is below the railing. The<br />
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contrast between grand projects President Wade has promised or completed contrasts starkly with basic needs like closing sewers that go unmet. <br />
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For some reason I don't understand, coiffures often use pictures like this to advertise their shops. I love both the retro look of the images and the cuts. Given that backwards hats or rasta dreads are what seem most popular, these feel even more dated. The 'check drop' or 'sagging' as we might call it, wearing your jeans way low on your backside, is also big, and a newspaper even had an article mostly focused on the horror of girls sagging, too. <br />
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But all conversation now is about the elections. In a facebook poll, Wade comes in 3rd at 15%. The tailor I visited today to pick up some sewing launched into tirade against the president. There are many rumors flying around about last minute political "deals," about the fraud already being found in voting cards, but mostly about what will happen on Monday if Wade 'wins.' For most people I speak with in Dakar, no Wade victory is possible fairly or acceptable politically. I did see more evidence of pro-Wade graffiti and posters and t-shirts when I was in the south this week. One strange rasta local launched into a harangue about how Wade was a 'real man' and that's what the people wanted. A French woman who lives here suggested another theory is that Wade and his crew have 'assez manger' (stolen enough money to satisfy themselves) and that a 3rd term might result in less corruption than new politicians who haven't begun to 'manger.' It's harder to think of a more cynical political calculus, but that reflects some of the desperation here. With many schools and shops already closed before the Sunday election, the city feels very quiet, as if holding its breath. This burned out Citroen remains in a local street from the first protests two weeks ago. Most people think if President Wade somehow manages to declare victory after Sunday's election, there will be many more burned things around Dakar starting Monday.</div>
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<br />John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-22229702107371110832012-02-24T00:41:00.002-08:002012-02-24T00:41:53.920-08:00vachement intelligent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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‘Vachement’ was popular, figurative and untranslatable slang for ‘cool’ or ‘great’ when I was in
Aix-en-Provence many years ago.
Literally it means cow-like, but that doesn’t really help understand the
usage. But the cows on this coastline
seem the coolest ones I’ve ever seen.
They know the beach is cooler, and move down to the water line during
the day to chew their cud and maybe even to enjoy the view. They’re often more numerous than people this
year as it’s a particularly bad year for Senegalese tourism given the
elections. The cows, however, don’t seem bothered by
much of anything, and they leave the beach at night for the scrub forest
nearby, I’m told. It rather changes the connotations of the word- bovine.</div>
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<br />John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-16484264312957522322012-02-24T00:37:00.002-08:002012-02-24T00:37:33.880-08:00Running on the edge<br />
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While I tried to describe my run along the corniche in Dakar earlier,
my runs this week feel even more difficult to capture. I’m accustomed to the perfect morning
temperatures of Senegal in February- 60’s at dawn rising quickly to 70’s. The sun is warm, too, but not as searing as later
in the day. Running in shorts and t-shirt
feels perfect nearly every day, so much so that I don’t really notice it
anymore. There’s no gauging the temperature and layering appropriately as
Minnesota requires.</div>
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But running on the beach constantly amazes. Unlike the chaotic images of Dakar, the
essential simplicity of the boundary between ocean and land defies
description. The strip of hard, dark
sand between waves and the row of shells extends to the horizon. It’s a clear, straight path. Yet once I leave Senegal crossing into Guinea
Bisseau, a border with no sign beyond the apparent end of habitation, I’m suddenly
absolutely alone. Low sand dunes roll on
the shore as waves roll in from the Atlantic.
After reaching a point covered in gulls, the coastline arcs inward
creating a shallow bay to the next distant point. Knowing how every 100 sq meter patch of sand in
Spain has a six story apartment building filled with retired Brits, and how
Morocco’s and Senegal’s coastlines sprout ostentatious new hotels or villas,
this sudden expanse of perfect and perfectly empty beach seems baffling. In fact, I’ve often wondered when the moment
passed, some second Turner thesis, the closing of world beaches to all but the
rich, occurred. Who was the last teacher
to buy a house on some ocean coastline? When did that moment pass forever? Clearly legal and political differences
somehow protect this property. I cynically doubt it’s protected intentionally. And if I could buy a piece, I couldn’t afford
to come and visit it. Omar, the native
Guinean who runs a little resto/bar on the beach (and bears a passing
resemblance to Omar in “The Wire”) said Guinea Bissau is known for drug
trafficking and makes border crossing difficult. I guess that might help explain the emptiness</div>
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At first, such an empty beach feels almost spooky. Today I turned to check a shark’s head and
noted a white pickup behind me. Pickups
here seem associated with government functions, and I assumed some border
patrol and readied my ignorance. Should
I speak in English? Play just arrived
tourist? I remember I have the phone
number of Mamadou’s brother, the mayor of Ziguinchor, in my room with my
passport. But neither will help me if I
get picked up by a Guinean border patrol speaking Portugese. When the truck passes it has Senegalese
plates, pulls a boat behind, and soon turns to launch it from the sloping
sand. With vehicles crossing the border
unofficially, I relax knowing a runner was below the radar.</div>
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And so I continue southward running from one country to another along suddenly
empty edge of this large, overwhelming continent. I hear my daughter’s voice wondering if this
will satisfy my wanderlust, recognizing the power of that wandering that
brought me to Senegal, that disregarded the warnings about Casemance’s
rebellion, and now crosses national boundaries to run on this stunning empty beach. Clearly, this is the end of my trip, the
farthest point from home, the most stunning landscape. This destination, the one I’ve run to twice
and hope to reach twice more in my remaining days, feels like some marker, some
extremity, some sign. The emptiness, the
unmarred coastline, the perfect arcs of water meeting sand, the white gulls rising
and swirling spiritlike into the sky.
Even the ethereal voice of Bon Iver singing about Wisconsin winter
fields seems oddly apt.</div>
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But what do I see? What have I
found at this farther point of my trip? What’s beyond the sun’s glare and
ocean’s haze? Ahh, if only, right? If it were a real sign, what would I find on
the perfect beach? What vision would I
faint before? What stranger would appear
from the dunes and what would he say?
Of course, there’s no answer yet.
I’ve read the values of journeys appear after you return, and I hold to
that comfort now. Certainly, I hope the
message wasn’t borne by the thin, bronze white haired Frenchman who rounded
gull point clad only in tiny bikini and red beret as I was leaving. One of those retired colonists or children of
colonists (does the make them
post-colonists?) who live or retire here in luxury afforded more easily than in
Paris. Is this the message, my own Francophile fate? Am I to end up out here on the edge of a
continent, and do I have to wear one of those French bikinis (on
looking at the picture below taken the next day, the word ‘thong’ seems more apt) even
smaller than the ones the Québécois wear in Maine? I look down at the sand as I round the corner
and pick up my pace as I head back. </div>
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<br /></div>John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-75326397165955240472012-02-20T06:59:00.000-08:002012-02-20T06:59:17.045-08:00Gilligan's Island<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJHlWmeM4cVOQHARGQz9Q-IUbujsprIespjkxU7VqfZOEsf7MSF01xKxZmUoPTjb9XgabBPa-EIPSCYsr5foDgTOEJDZTHZmluan-FBlGprRaEgCdgNWDMbNOGvDcOl9hSK0D2VxZn8bz/s1600/perfectpalms.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJHlWmeM4cVOQHARGQz9Q-IUbujsprIespjkxU7VqfZOEsf7MSF01xKxZmUoPTjb9XgabBPa-EIPSCYsr5foDgTOEJDZTHZmluan-FBlGprRaEgCdgNWDMbNOGvDcOl9hSK0D2VxZn8bz/s640/perfectpalms.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I couldn't help thinking about that damn TV show when I saw these palms leaning over the water. Really, who's been colonized? But of course these places are not empty like <span style="font-family: inherit;">that </span>island was. And yesterday I took a pirogue tour around several islands on the inland w<span style="font-family: inherit;">aterways behind the beaches at Cap Skirring. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZlpTsZ1ApkLlJU226XhDQ6Q-XWzfW50w9dnbAs9HizXAioIgViQtC14NQxfLqBTkktntxamR3p_oJ7yRU261sfBl60uycNfloW0u68HBV3xecsZ0Ny9lPKpE8L_fa_TRzJlzVYaNQZxVy/s1600/kids.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZlpTsZ1ApkLlJU226XhDQ6Q-XWzfW50w9dnbAs9HizXAioIgViQtC14NQxfLqBTkktntxamR3p_oJ7yRU261sfBl60uycNfloW0u68HBV3xecsZ0Ny9lPKpE8L_fa_TRzJlzVYaNQZxVy/s320/kids.JPG" width="318" /></span></a></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplJwoyWRfhzpqB7k-aBAwlGEhWGqboX9pjCoNqatf36XcIPaQZSL6pHM0Ni_-34ajDE4FJDFDjGSRwGyP5rrA2cJvODjtRsST1KhtXvU9L7Zd-rPqkQp9b5Od3DdyEPtNB02bWwtZ12Ss/s1600/mamadou2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjplJwoyWRfhzpqB7k-aBAwlGEhWGqboX9pjCoNqatf36XcIPaQZSL6pHM0Ni_-34ajDE4FJDFDjGSRwGyP5rrA2cJvODjtRsST1KhtXvU9L7Zd-rPqkQp9b5Od3DdyEPtNB02bWwtZ12Ss/s320/mamadou2.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Mamadou, our guide</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="line-height: 115%;">Before that, however, I started my day early, thinking I’d
get out for a run on the beach before leaving for the trip.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">However, I was too early (no surprise there), up and out before
the sun had really started rising at all.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">In fact, if I ran south, I really couldn’t see my feet.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Going north, the two lights from Club Med
created enough reflection on the damp sand to let me see the ground. So, with
coffee an hour away and my running shoes on, I started out in the pitch dark on
the damp edge of Africa</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>Of course, running blind is plenty disorienting, and
although I trusted the flat sand, it also felt particularly odd as I turned
south once I’d reached the rocks and headed toward Equitorial Guinea with palm
trees slightly silhouetted by the rising sliver moon on my left and the pounding
waves on my right. I still don’t quite know where the border was as it was too
dark to see any signs. I turned around
when I reached the point and soon had enough light to move more comfortably. I never quite warmed up however, and I tired
soon, no doubt more from strange disorientation than from effort.<br />
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After breakfast, I took a day-long pirogue trip among
villages and islands in the mangrove swamps and rivers that drain coastal
lowlands into the Casamance river. I went with two French people and two locals as
guide and driver, which made for a leisurely day without feeling too touristy. Like the boundary waters, you move in a <s>Kevlar</s>
<s>canoe</s> hand made pirogue from through green landscapes that start to blur
after awhile. I’m assuming mangrove is
the only thing that can grow in the salty marshy soil, as there’s absolutely
nothing else in the low areas. Some
coastlines or islands rise above the swamp, and the soil there grows the palms,
baobabs and the few other plants native to or scratched out of the sand here. </div>
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Of course being part of a group of three toubabs with guides
doesn’t mean we move unnoticed through these little Diolla villages. Of course, these aren’t the kinds of places
readily visited without pirogue and guide.
I was struck by the fact that having water everywhere doesn’t change the
villages. The salt water isn’t useful
for watering, of course, and the soil seemed as sandy and deep here as
it is elsewhere. Still, as the first picture
shows, there’s a sort of tropic paradise look to some of these places. They seemed more open, cleaner, and more
organized than villages elsewhere. One was a Malian village, populated by a
Malian family for generations. According
to Mamadou, they have a fetish tree they make sacrifices to, and bury their
dead on the mainland as the ground here won’t accept bodies and spits them
right back out. Clearly, the Malians
have a bit of a rep here. </div>
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On another
island we visted an abandoned Breton style church and graveyard from the
1890’s, and a maison des esclaves that served as a transfer station like the
one in Goree. This one was much larger,
however, and unrestored. ‘The door of no
return,’ as it’s always <span style="font-family: inherit;">called, where slaves were herded onto boats, had the same ominous feel however, despite or perhaps because of the
children walking outside of it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As internet is hard to find here, I don’t expect
to post again until I get home on Friday.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX-_urbeP2idd473xJAI2O-26T9p8d63zBQV9LJtix9IzycEXJ78mBEg0D1WlcFF2GGm6zz-U7OKJEj9MemX4udLCLd4tcUzr7T8RoaDNAI1SqD6OA_g4nySDCQfwrWFFIMZ5CBpfs_1vU/s1600/beach2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAA5G-P6NN1jbKzuhn0amj2QoLPJ2LPXO4MD3KJxt3hRK1mHM4Le9fG_xqMrCZ4plbaG8hh5_W_Kh9pnqHg9dEUaD3S5Z9pRq5ciDQRaMbrI3CtUhTHrjLQwNhJKjEcNoxO41EEEnxD0kC/s1600/noreturn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAA5G-P6NN1jbKzuhn0amj2QoLPJ2LPXO4MD3KJxt3hRK1mHM4Le9fG_xqMrCZ4plbaG8hh5_W_Kh9pnqHg9dEUaD3S5Z9pRq5ciDQRaMbrI3CtUhTHrjLQwNhJKjEcNoxO41EEEnxD0kC/s640/noreturn.JPG" width="464" /></a></div>
<br />John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9148235761525343072.post-59842436138014527902012-02-20T06:40:00.000-08:002012-02-25T15:03:33.269-08:00a la plage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb8sNWkv_cAV_ixV5U2yTB83lkQ3XiO1wF3cCY9HohFI5j5q6bdNJhGpxCDgENXj_3tioH0sqVT3vlUgizjwYCJftFReftTkkRTxkDJSBmtOZ0h44Ilr9msyleUY0XPH3tNXO0OmpJ_IH/s1600/porch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb8sNWkv_cAV_ixV5U2yTB83lkQ3XiO1wF3cCY9HohFI5j5q6bdNJhGpxCDgENXj_3tioH0sqVT3vlUgizjwYCJftFReftTkkRTxkDJSBmtOZ0h44Ilr9msyleUY0XPH3tNXO0OmpJ_IH/s320/porch.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw3XEIJ4sTSNZGsk7HBaYFKboqNcVhetJDks-TZh6dOGXf4USzNWXNb6YwLiSzjJuE0DcVv8fYFaKwdfp14myhlo5Bq9TWVDiN9OB8O3p5oxHgWS4EC3FScvdlbe6HjY2MlVgXF-l_UTp0/s1600/beach1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw3XEIJ4sTSNZGsk7HBaYFKboqNcVhetJDks-TZh6dOGXf4USzNWXNb6YwLiSzjJuE0DcVv8fYFaKwdfp14myhlo5Bq9TWVDiN9OB8O3p5oxHgWS4EC3FScvdlbe6HjY2MlVgXF-l_UTp0/s400/beach1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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(This was written a couple days ago. Less wifi here than I thought).</div>
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Et quelle plage! Both drumming and the surf work out different beats from the beach, and once again I’m find myself asking- why do I live in the Midwest? From the boat coming in this morning, we watched pelicans roosting along the shoreline and river porpoises playing in the wake. </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Although the misty haze washes out the pictures, this beach goes for miles in each direction. Just a kilometer or two south, Equatorial Guinea starts, and perhaps 20 kilometers north is The Gambia. The mostly empty white sand beach feels endless and the longhorn cows sleeping on it make it feel African, somehow. Fishermen in the village north of here bring in their catch all day long, and people come out to buy conch, flounder, some whiskered sort of catfish, and a few others I couldn’t name. </span>
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On the advice of a couple French people I met in the taxi, I’ve landed well at beachfront place with a large common area for morning coffee and after dinner tea and conversation. My room has a porch that opens onto the center courtyard. The rooms facing the ocean were taken, but at $25 a night, I’m pretty happy. There is a Club Med (Club Merde, the French called it) with a large manicured grounds and guards on the beach. In town tonight, the guys who follow and befriend you here seemed more insistent and harder to shake. Somehow, I attribute that to having a Club Med in the area, fairly or not.</div>
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Tonight I talked politics, protests and media distortion with the manager and his two friends. They feel that the violence in this area, the Casemance, get exaggerated on the news, just as I’ve felt the protests in Dakar get exaggerated in the camera lens. Yet watching the news on the boat coming down, even I felt the street violence Friday afternoon and evening looked worse. In one clip, three policemen were in the back of a pickup truck watching a crowd which threw rocks and drove the policemen to take cover behind the truck. They played it multiple times during the broadcast, and there were grins and laughter at the image each time it came on. Clearly, there’s no love lost between the police and the people here. </div>
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I left early to catch the boat yesterday, fearing that the protests would back up traffic near the port which is a half kilometer to the Place D’Independence where the tear gas and plastic bullets were flying again. Yet the conflict remained pretty localized, and there was no problem moving about town. Now getting out of Dakar feels like a good call, and I’m glad to have a few days here before heading back to Dakar and then back home. </div>
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<br /></div>John Wensmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04491497661434084877noreply@blogger.com0