LGBT

A teacher's subtle efforts in helping a student can be the most beneficial. When I say subtle, I mean in private, quietly, and inconspicuously giving help. I experienced an event in the eighth grade that warranted help. I was told by my family not to tell anyone for fear it would change the perceptions of others. I went to school the next day-running through the monotonous tasks, hoping not to break down in front of my peers. I found it difficult to perform well in class. My body was walking through the hallways, but my mind was elsewhere. Although I was surrounded by classmates and faculty, I felt alone. I am not the type of person who can keep emotions hidden. I needed to talk with someone. I spent the morning looking for someone I could trust. I resorted to writing a note to a friend. After handing her the folded piece of paper, I began questioning whether it was the right thing to do. I was screaming inside and I needed help, but could I trust my friend? Could I assume she wouldn't slip that note from friend to friend, exposing everything I was to keep hidden? I was anxious and concerned, wondering had I done the right thing? Her response was limited and indicative that she hadn't an idea how to help. In response, she directed me to the guidance counselor. The counselor provided the help I had been searching for. She gave me reading information on how to cope with similar issues. She also gave me excuses for when I needed to talk, which happened frequently. The rest of the year was difficult for our family, but I was thankful to have such help. It was the quiet, comforting, never intruding, subtle assistance that helped me overcome my issues in private.

I wrote this story as an example as how I hope to be of assistance to a student who came-out to me in private. Although I am not well-versed in the difficulties with coming-out, I can imagine how daunting the task can be. You are exposing a big secret, a revelation that could possibly change everything. If I were approached by a student, I would give him or her information about coming-out, keep the secret and help him or her to understand that everything will be okay- that by coming out could be the most relieving process. It is crucial for some people to have someone with whom to talk in confidence.

Discrimination

I have been discriminated often by men who assume I cannot do something "boyish." When I was young, my brother and I had a lawn care service. We had thirty-five lawns we would manicure with two push mowers, a trimmer and a leaf blower. We would hitch a trailer to the back of my jeep, and often I would drive. The looks I would get from men when pulling up to a gas pump, backing the trailer into a tight spot or lifting the lawn mower on and off of the trailer was hesitant and constant, as if they didn't know whether to help or stand aside. Lawn care or labor services are associated with men, not a brother and sister operation. I read their thoughts from their looks. I wasn't supposed to be able to parallel park a trailer, nor lift a push mower on my own. According to their looks, I was in need of assistance.

I was also a Tom Boy growing up and often found myself on a football or soccer field next to the boys. I've always felt the need to prove myself in a male dominated world of athletics. I don't know whether it's just my competitive nature, but I would fight until I was noticed as a comparable athlete. I was relentless, and was subsequently known as a tough girl and good athlete. It's sad when someone feels as though they have to prove their strength when they are being discriminated against because of their gender.

Although I am quick to identify moments I have been discriminated against, I am aware of how privileged I have been. I do not feel as though I have been discriminated against daily, and unfortunately, some people in this would are. I know I have been discriminatory in the past, but a moment that stands out above the rest was when I was helping students read in a high school Language Arts classroom. The two boys I was assigned with were black and Hispanic. We were reading aloud to one another in the hall. These boys were behind in their readings and I was to help them catch up. I had assumed these students were not good readers because of their position in comparison with the rest of the class, not because of their race, although studies always associate poor performance with race and socio-economic statuses. I was soon to find out, one was terribly adept in critical reading. The book we were reading was written during the Civil Rights movements of the fifties and sixties. Because of the topic, I assumed it would be difficult for the African-American boy to discuss and read aloud. I was surprised and thankful when he was the one starting and continuing discussion. While the book was centered on racial discrimination, I was discriminating against these boys because of the fear I had as a white, privileged woman to be reading about social inequities with two minority students. I wonder as a white woman who has had it pretty well, how does one get over the fear of being an unreliable source when discussing social inequality?

New Favorite Website

You must check this website out!

There are some ideas that could be incorporated into a classroom. For instance, the twist on finger paints??! Amazing.

http://lg071.k12.sd.us/Art.htm

Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan from 2.q External Source of Inspiration: Collaboration

Working with partners, take a flat piece of paper and decide as a group how to make it into a three-dimensional object.

My friend sent an attachment to me a long time ago showing the art one can make with one sheet of paper. It was amazing, and apparently, was an exhibit at Hirshhorn Modern Art Gallery in Washington D.C. The intricacy and thought displayed in the projects is spectacular. Below is an artist statement by one of the artists showcased in the exhibit.

About my paper works

My paper works have been based around an exploration of the relationship between two and three dimensionality. I find this materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form almost a magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is also an aspect of something tragic in most of the cuts. Some of the small paper cuts relate to a universe of fairy tales and romanticism, as for instance Impenetrable Castle inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Steadfast Tin Soldier, in which a tin soldier falls in love with a paper ballerina, living in a paper castle. Other paper cuts are small dramas in which small figures are lost within and threatened by the huge powerful nature. Others again are turning the inside out, or letting the front and the back of the paper meet - dealing with impossibility, illusions, and reflections.

I find the A4 sheet of paper interesting to work with, because it is probably the most common and consumed media and format for carrying information today, and in that sense it is something very loaded. This means that we rarely notice the actual materiality of the A4 paper. By removing all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white 80gsm A4 paper as a base for my creations, I feel that I have found a material which we all are able to relate to, and at the same time is non-loaded and neutral and therefore easier to fill with different meanings. The thin white paper also gives the paper sculptures a fragility which underlines the tragic and romantic theme of the works. More photos and statement can be found here:

http://www.petercallesen.com/index/A4PAPERCUT_000.htm

I think this could be a wonderful lesson teaching students how to utilize and manipulate an object we use on a daily basis. I have always loved the process of making a snowflake, and find a similar child-like wonder when I look at the paper works of Peter Callesen. Although I revere snowflake making highly, the paper projects I expect from students will not be simple snowflakes but sculptures that provoke thought. I wonder what grade level I should center this project, and I am thinking the more mature the better. The students will need to be able to look at a piece of paper and imagine cutting, tearing, adhering and taping it back together into a solid sculpture. It might be difficult, but I think it could be insightful and illuminating.

Classroom Rules

I am in the process of amplifying my classroom rules poster. The rules I want to implement are focused on letting the students be aware of what they must do rather than what they cannot. The poster (which will be larger and more legible than the first) will be up shortly. Sorry for the delay.

3.c Self-Identification: Transpersonal

1. daughter/sister

2. Female

3. Caucasian

4. 24

5. American

6. healthy

7. wavering Christian

8. small-medium

9. middle class

10. straight

11. dating

12. Liberal

13. Art and English Ed./photo/how to be a life-long student

14. Ipod/touch screens

15. npr.org

16. boating

17. blues/indie

18. modern art

19. comfortable chic

20. Goosetown

ATC 3

This ATC is a portrait of where I come from. "Di dove se?" means "where are you from?" in Italian. The drawing is of a family portrait taken while my brother was baking in my momma's oven. The dogs in the upper right is a cutout from proofs I had made. Black dog is Roxy and white is named Brandy Alexander. I'm guessing you can tell which one craves for the most attention. Brandy is old and terribly arthritic. I love her dearly. She is my girl. The bottom row of photos are scanned photos from childhood. the first is of my brother, uncle, grandma, and myself. I would practice standing in the Model T and tap dances with my grandmother while my brother would be running around shooting Nerf guns. The center is a photo of our first Labrador, a chocolate named Hershey. She was a good girl to let me put her in a swing! The third is of my brother and I goofing off... which was, and still tends to be, a regular occurrence.

ATC 2

For this ATC, I thought about my apprehensions for my future and how I find comfort when listening to this song as anxiety surges. This is the chorus from I Shall Be Released written by Bob Dylan. I appreciate Bob Dylan's version, but adore Nina Simone's. It's soulful bluesy quality with spiritual essences is indicative to the lifestyle in which I was raised. Music is very dear to me, and I find Nina Simone's style to resonate in the halls of my memories. The photo of the man is again a cutout from a proof I had made from photos taken in Florence. I was walking behind this grandfather and was reminded of my grandmother's walk. At the moment, my grandmother was still alive but slowly dying. She was the greatest advocate of my art, and was the one who introduced me to the world of creativity. The background is a portrait of the California's coastal landscape. I was there in August and fell in love with this view.

Check out Nina Simone singing I Shall Be Released:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po_oXdzKWKw

ATC 1

"What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" -Mary Oliver

This ATC is made from images I took while studying abroad in Florence, Italy. It was during that semester, I was introduced to the intimate relationships I could form with photography and subjects. The small photos are cutouts from proofs I had made. I constantly write on them, noting tonal values that need to be changed and which areas need to be heightened. The couple in the upper right were standing at the water taxi platform in Venice. I do not know them, but would like to. They have classic sophistication. I can't help but look in awe and wonder... will I look like them someday?

The image in the bottom right was near the entrance to the Duomo (also the image in the background). People were awaiting the grand procession of Easter Sunday. Most of the onlookers were tourists, but the man on the left was alone and seemed to be a native. This proof is an example of how photography can be manipulated, and the process artists make when making the perfect print. This one is no where near perfect.