How to Tame a Dragon

Not very often does a animated film come along that I honestly feel like I can enjoy as much as my children do. How to Tame a Dragon is just that movie. So inspiring, open and hopeful, this is a movie that has positive role models for every child, boys and girls alike. Set in a mythical Viking village our young hero, Hiccup, is the geeky son of the village leader. Obviously not living up to the cultural standards of his peers, Hiccup spends his time apprenticing a blacksmith making weapons, sharpening swords and creating his own ingenious weapons to help rid their village of their primary foe, the dragons. When one of his inventions actually brings down one of the most elusive breeds he slowly befriends the creature and learns that his village has been going into their battle all wrong.

Everyone loves an underdog, every Disney film since Lion King tells us that. But what kid can’t identify with the feeling of not living up to their parent’s expectations? And doesn't every child know what it feels like to not be the best in the class? Hiccup is just enough of an outsider for us to identify with him. There are even strong female characters, a girl who can outrun and outfight the boys and is the class overachiever without being a goody-two shoes.

The end was inspiring enough to put me and my kids on the edge of our seats, cheering on Hiccup as if he were in the Super Bowl. Hiccup trains his dragon to an adorable cocker spaniel obedience, wins his cranky father’s approval, saves his village, and changes the way his community views their enemy, oh yeah, and wins the girl’s approval (it is a cartoon after all!). This was the first children’s animated movie I had seen in a long time that I felt gave my children a positive message they could comprehend in a format that they could appreciate. (“Up” may have won the Academy Award but it left my son and I in tears!)

Reading Reflection about Teacher Firings in Rhode Island

No teacher left standing by President Dick Iannuzzi in the March 18, 2010 issue of New York Teacher really put in the spotlight the dirty little secrets behind the firing of an entire high school’s teachers in Rhode Island. Essentially the move was blamed on poor performance by the Central Falls school board, but as Iannuzzi points out there were many other factors at play.

In a time when many school scrabble for federal dollars is it any surprise that Central Falls made such a drastic publicity seeking move? This is a move that even received commentary from President Obama as well as Secretary of Education Duncan. Iannuzzi also points out that Central Falls superintendent could have seen that federal carrot dangling the promise of additional funding in front of them.

It does leave one wondering how much blame should teachers really be accountable for. Of course teachers are responsible for day to day educating of children but as Iannuzzi points out we often overlook the extenuating circumstances of a student’s life, like the child’s family situation, the cultural influences, finances, poor school support systems, and testing environments. As a parent I see how often parents just drop their children at the door and leave the teacher in charge like a free babysitter. Until parents take responsibility for their part in their child’s education many teachers are fighting an uphill battle. How can a child learn when their home situation does not allow for it? How can a teacher reach a child who has no encouragement in their home life? Using teachers as a scapegoat is a lazy man’s way out, as a quote from Mrs. Mimi, a blogger, stated “Since we can’t fire poverty, we can’t fire students and we can’t fire families, all that is left is to fire teachers.” I find this to be sadly true and utterly unacceptable.

Observing teens at a Starbucks

Observing teens at a local Starbucks in Kenosha, Wisconsin is like watching the most primal aspects of mating. There was a small group of boys, scruffy white mid-Western kids in their mid to late teens, clustered around a couple of laptops at a table in front. A gothic styled girl sits with them, possibly they’re working on a project together. I would guess they’re in their late teens, but when I realize one of them works there I adjust my thinking to early twenties maybe. They are happily talking back and forth until the girl is called away and the boys continue working.

Two younger girls come in and their dad(or older brother??) introduces them and leaves them there to talk. The youngest of the two is quite pretty, the way girls often are before they become too influenced by cultural standards of beauty and sits herself down in one of the leather easy chairs adjacent to the boys. The boys leave their computer and go sit with the girls.

“I have a boyfriend” she says in an almost bragging tone. They boys haven’t asked or said anything to this youngest girl about it at all. An observer might wonder why she would volunteer this type of information.

“I’ve had boyfriends since I was little, and this boy kissed me” she continues. The boys don’t seem impressed and don’t seem to mock her either. Is she flirting? Or making a gesture that she is open to dating these particular boys? They are much too old for her but they seem to welcome her and her sister (?) to the conversation. In fact one of the boys pulls out a little ukele and strums a few notes. It almost felt like once they allowed her to sit in their circle, she sent her gesture back of being open to the boys and even though they weren’t interested in her romantically they certainly seemed to enjoy her admiring company. It was as if her appreciation of them kept them interested in her.

Precious *

Precious is the story of a sexually, physically, and mentally abused teenager growing up in the projects of Harlem. It is based on the first, and only, novel by Sapphire, an African-American lesbian who grew up in less than ideal situations herself. Though not claiming to be autobiographical, one can see how this could be the story of many abuse victims. As we learned with the show Shadowed Dreamer often times the most heinous of stories is the most truthful.

Precious is kicked out of school, pregnant again at 16 by her father, relegated to living a loveless life with her mother. Her mother is content to receive welfare checks destined for Precious' child and when Precious' school counselor stops by the house to offer her a spot at an alternative school, her mother berates her for thinking she's "too good" to go get welfare. The protagonist is her alternative school teacher, a quiet, and later we find out, lesbian who goes the extra mile for all her girls. She finds a home for Precious when the baby is born and teaches her to write, read, and value the love she does have. Finally, when her mother wants to see Precious and meet up at her case workers office we discover the dirty truth. Precious' mom allowed the abuse to happen and resented Precious her entire life for taking away her "man". This is the man who ends up giving both of them the HIV virus. Without remorse, with only regret, her mother tells the story through tears.j

Sadly, like Shadowed Dreamer, these stories are probably not too far from reality. They also show Precious' grandmother being the actual caretaker of her firstborn and only bringing the child by for home visits by case workers to approve welfare. It does not take much to see many young children in low income minority families being raised by the grandmothers or many children being raised without any male figure in the household. These are statistics that can be seen in any inner city newspaper. Why must this cultural disconnect continue? Is it the poverty? In the end, Precious pulls herself up and soldiers on. Like Stephan Hart, can this really be realistic? Honestly I don't feel that is a believable. Although Precious' reliance on the public welfare system does appear to be pretty accurate. As the movie points out clearly welfare is not the solution. People have learned to use the system and lie their way through it. Welfare seems only a form of social blackmail to force people to keep their kids in school, not abuse their wives, and steer clear of the law. All the things people should want to do naturally.

While all these problems pointed out are certainly not distinct to the African American welfare culture, I'm curious how that is how they are often portrayed. Or is it that we most often see depictions of the black welfare class in urban America this way in media? I'm not sure how to get more positive African American images out there. Surely now that we have a black president you would think more people would be able to see the culture outside the limitations of the media's representation.

Show and Tell Class

We had a fantastic time examining the various ways cultures infiltrate our media. From sweet German 'Fingerplays' to violent teen/adult comics, it was really interesting to see how different forms of entertainment are slanted to appeal to different audiences. Sometimes the audience they cater to (for instance violent comics meant for adults) ends up actually bringing in a different audience who aspires to be the target audience (for instance teens who aspire to be more like adults).

My conflict was with the comment that a violent comic movie ("Kick-Ass" in this case) must have been produced by a man because no woman would even take part in something so anti-feminist as this. In my opinion this is reverse discrimination stated by people who have no knowledge of the entertainment business or how it works. Myself and my husband have been in the film/TV business for almost 20 years. I am a costume designer and my husband a gaffer. We both have BAs in theatre design. My husband's field is almost exclusively male, whereas my field is almost exclusively female aside from the occasional gay man. When you chose to work on a project you don't have a say in the politics of the storyline, your job is to make whatever the story is as visionary as possible; whether its "America's Next Top Model" or "The Sopranos" you have to be able to find the art in whatever you do. That is the job. Just as producing or financing a violent comic movie, your job is to make the story as best you can so it can MAKE MONEY.

Entertainment is a business. Its goal is not to educate, enlighten, or be politically correct. If it does that is excellent, but that is not the primary purpose. If you don't like it, don't go see it. Kathyrn Bigelow, the director of "The Hurt Locker" did not set out to make a woman's story, she set out to make a story. Would it have been OK if she had topless women in her movie? If we all had to only work on projects that we agreed with politically you would have a lot of poor people with high standards. Ask anyone who works for a tobacco plant or how about a conservative who works for the unemployment office? If you don't want to support something its important to show that by not giving them your dollar, saying you won't/can't work on something because you don't agree with it is only limiting your experience to those you agree with. That is the beginning of a closed mind, in my opinion!

Socrates Sculpture Park *

Socrates Sculpture Park is located in Long Island City, right on the water in an isolated corner of a warehouse neighborhood. Several of the works and interactive, inviting the viewer to walk on it, around it, or through it. The beautiful isolated location right on the East River with a view of Roosevelt Island invites lingering on a beautiful spring day.

Freefall is free for all consists of a Chevy that has been smashed flat. Boardwalk is a wooden boardwalk that winds its way through an approx. 50' square space. It winds through trees, over stumps, and around oaks giving the participant a tricky walk through a small grove of trees. Did the board walk come first, then the trees, or vise versa? There is a giant sushi whale made of leather like vinyl, laid out in the sun ready to be fileted. A yellow tile path suspended above the ground by yellow inflatable tires. Other pieces are scattered around the property invite the viewer to explore the property. Several locals even use the center space as an impromtu dog run, letting happy pooches run around the pieces.

Socrates is the perfect place for a picnic with or without children on a sunny day.

Observing at a Playground

On a beautiful spring morning at Rainey Playground, on the water in Long Island City children were experimenting with modern style playground equipment. There were several man-made hills with playground slides dissecting them, a rock climbing wall, and three free-standing sculpture-like pieces of equipment. One was a large steel globe that the children could sit on and spin, one was a large wavy pole with a small platform around the bottom that they could stand on and spin around, and the most coveted one was a pod type dish for two children to sit inside and spin while two steel bars looked as if they were orbiting around it.

The kids found the space pod with the orbiting poles the most enticing. Kids of all ages were drawn to it. It was amazing how different kids of different ages found ways to experiment on the equipment. Since it was not something they had ever seen before they had to discover on their own why it was there and how they could have fun on it! The littlest of children were content to sit inside spinning the disc to make it go faster. The older children (5 and up) grew tired of just sitting inside the pod and were happier pushing the pod around faster and faster. When they grew tired of that, some of the stronger kids realized if they held onto the bars after pushing they could hang whilst it spun around! The older children were respectful of the little kids who wanted to get out or slow down, carefully helping them in and out of the pod in between rides. They were amazing in their ingenuity, creating new ways to have fun together.

Inglourious Basterds *

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds follows the 'what if' school of thought asking what would happen if a band of vengeful American Jews, a Jew who escapes the massacre of her family, and a psychotic SS officer actually succeeded in killing Hitler? Many label Tarantino as a violence loving narcissistic director, and he may be that but he's also a history buff, an amazing lyricist of dialogue, and a filmmaker who gives credit to predecessors for inspiration.

He picks the perfect enemy, the Nazis. Who doesn't hate them? He lets the viewer actually cheer out loud for a bad guy everyone loves to hate. Its so rare nowadays for us to actually be happy to see someone get their head bashed in...but, if its a Nazi, everyone can cheer. Its hard to get past the stereotypes, of both the Nazis and the Jews. The stereotypical Jew would be a quiet, non-violent, almost a submissive type, these warriors are anything but. I truly appreciate how Tarantino turns stereotypes on their heads. His Jewish soldiers are inspired by Apache soldiers in their thirst for blood!

The stories are woven together with points of view from all sides of the story. Despite the fact that this is not a true story that doesn't make the viewer enjoy it any less. Tarantino has a way with characters, whether they be good or bad he give them each their own background, motivations, and quirks. Then he has the writer's skill of throwing them all in the same pot and stirring, creating an imaginary outcome to an extraordinary situation.

David Hockney's Special Knowledge

David Hockney's Secret Knowledge (BBC, 2004) is an artist's historical investigation of the

use of optics by artists throughout the majority of history. The amazing thing is that in my

educational career (BA in Costume design and history at Boston University) I spent many many

many hours examining period paintings, especially portraiture as those are the works that have

the most obvious fashions. And no one, not an art history professor (I was an art history minor)

not a costume history book, not one person in my college years brought this to our attention.

I think that David Hockney is as shocked as we are that this was happening so prolifically

and blatantly since the early fifteenth century. His re-creations and investigations are fascinating

and most significantly, do nothing to belittle the skill of the artists. He points out that mirrors

and lenses are tools, that they were the 'state of the art' for their time period. Hockney never

lessens the importance or skill level of the artist. I would only question why, if this was state

of the art and used by many prominent artists, it was kept under wraps. Prior to our modern

age, word of mouth got information around at quite a lively pace. There were servants, models,

patrons and wives to gossip simply for lack of entertainment. I find it wondrous to think

this was kept a secret by every person connected to optic using artists.

Regardless if they used optics or not, this doesn't lessen these artists skill levels, or lessen

the beauty of their work. In my opinion, it just adds another layer to the work and opens up

a whole other level of questions about just how they did what they did. After all, my costume

professors did advocate tracing of figures from fashion magazines as a way to add more dynamic

poses to our repertoire!

Reading Reflection from NY Times Magazine

Can Good Teaching Be Learned? by Elizabeth Green in the NY Times Sunday magazine from March 7, 2010 is a fascinating account of the acquisition of techniques needed to become a more effective teacher of any subject. Their premise is that there are good teachers who are not teaching well, not because they don't know their subjects or because they are not well educated, but because they are not skilled in classroom management skills.

One of the two primary researchers in this article, Doug Lemov, has been a teacher, and a principal, and now a consultant hired by schools to help them raise scores and improve overall. He actually worked backwards, a logical step, finding classes with high scores and tying them together to see what they are doing differently. Lemov eventually discovered there was a real technique to effective teacher-student communication. Small steps, he found, that lead to big changes in the way students hear teachers. Some of these techniques I have already witnessed teacher using in public school classrooms during my observations, others seem like common sense, although common sense is often one of the first things to go when dealing with a large class of rambunctious students. He named this set of techniques Lemov's Taxonomy and has a book coming out in April based on this study.

The other researcher Heather Hill, focused almost entirely on the study of teaching mathematics effectively. Her study, based out of Harvard and other university research centers, whereas Lemov's study is almost exclusively classroom based. She named her findings M.K.T. or Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Teachers who scored high on her study were found to be more effective teachers and actually taught about a month's worth of extra material over the course of a year.

The truly exciting thing about these studies is that they can help all of us become more effective educators. Who can't use a little help quieting their classroom? Or teaching a complex lesson? I find that as art educators we can learn a few lessons from academic educators (and them from us as well). But these studies are the perfect way to reach those good people who aren't good instructors yet. Teachers really have such a short spectrum of time to get a huge amount of knowledge to children that we don't have time to tip-toe around trying things that may or may not work. These studies really help us to learn skills it may have taken others a lifetime of teaching to learn. Its never to late for the teacher to become the student. Is it?

Reflection on Prof. Jiesamfoek's class Discussion

We spent the entire first class discussing "What is Art?" and "What is Education?" With the final conclusion that a majority of art is dependent on perception. Almost halfway through the semester there is still a debate which is particularly frustrating for me as many people still insist that art be put on a pedestal. Even after watching the Art 21 videos from Visual Culture class people are still putting a label on things that are and are not 'ART'. How you could not consider Pepon Osario's work art simply because it doesn't fit into a typical MFA perspective is an extremely limiting viewpoint, in my opinion. This is completely contrary to all that we have been taught this semester and a really sad reflection on an inability to see art from the perspective of those different from us.

During a discussion we read a few of our reading synthesis, my point of view was that any art education is better than none. Everything starts somewhere; even an opera tenor begins singing the same 'Twinkle twinkle little star' that the rest of us do. Several students were saying mechanical drawing is not even drawing or art. I would ask if any of them had ever studied drafting? Do they know the weight of line has differing significance? Is this the ideal art education? Probably not, but it is a starting point that gets students to pick up a pencil to do something besides write letters. And this was the 19th century for goodness sake! Life was a bit more of a survival game back then. Say, create art or forage for sustenance?

I was especially upset by the comment from one student that someone who designs greeting cards is not creating art! Why is this? Because its not in a museum? What about the student who has never been to a museum and will never go? If they were to purchase a card and hang it on the wall does that make it art? Perhaps they don't consider Jackson Pollack's work art, its just splattered paint from their perspective. How can we ever expect to be good teachers if we put everything in a place that is so mighty, is so unattainable and so unrelated to their experience? Where were all these fellow students of mine last semester in Prof. Louis' class when we talked about making art relate to student's experience? This anti-greeting card arrogance can only serve to separate us, as educators, from the students who need us most! Students don't need us to judge their culture, they need us to teach them the qualities of other perspectives of creative expression. By saying that a greeting card is less-than, we are not only belittling the artist who does sit at their table creating lovely little scenes but we are also saying the desire to appreciate it is not appropriate.

Reading Reflection on McCready and Blackburn

The article Voices of Queer Youth in Urban Schools: Possibilities and Limitations does a great job of showing how ending the problems of harassment and persecution of queer students in public schools in an ongoing problem that doesn’t have just one solution. Many solutions work only in urban settings, or only for white, non-immigrant students, or some only for student lesbians. They have done a great job of showing how not one thing can work for all students.

Growing up with a gay best friend, and later, a lesbian roommate in boarding school, I have experienced first hand the teasing, harassment, and struggles to belong that many of these students feel. I can remember leaving a roller rink (remember those?) because some kids were teasing my best friend and we didn’t know quite what to do. We were twelve years old and didn’t have much experience, living in a small mid-Western town, with verbal violence. But we did feel shaken enough to leave, although this meant calling a parent to pick us up. My friends, did find a social group of acceptance in the music and drama departments at school. Typically a welcoming group for outsiders and other kids in search of belonging, the choir teacher left her music room open for kids to eat lunch in, saving them from the uncomfortable situation of the lunch room. These things did not solve the problems for my friend, but merely created a safe place in a school that, in the 80’s , had very little to offer in the way of protection.

Ideally, all schools would have GSA’s or groups to support LGBTQ students. However, like Blackburn and McCready state in the article, there have to be alternatives, not just to accommodate the urban, immigrant, or outsider students but the average white students in small mid-Western towns just looking for a place of acceptance. Maybe that won’t be a GSA but a drama or music group that doesn’t counsel but just allows the student to be who they are without judgment. The importance of these students cannot be forgotten about either because if we can change the views of these students’ parents, we’ve gotten one step further to opening the minds of parents and adults everywhere.

Observing at a Skate Board Park

It was a beautiful day at Midland Beach in Staten Island, the boardwalk was busy with walkers, the playgrounds had children and parents enjoying the unseasonable warm weather, and the skate park was bursting with...bikers?!? Yes, the skate park was dominated by bikers. At this particular skate park there were very few boarders. I had to wonder if it was because most of the kids had to get to the park first, therefor they had to ride their bikes to the park and it just made more sense to ride them in the park?

The park consists of several quarter pipes set up at opposing angles to get the best ride. They were surrounded by their own fencing with a sign of rules clearly visible right at the door. The crowd was male, varying in ages from early teens to maybe late twenties. They all had BMX style bikes. The older, more skilled boys claimed their domain over the largest set up of ramps, leaving the younger boys to the smaller ramps. They let each other go one at a time, respectfully or maybe competitively observing each other while waiting their turn. It almost seemed like an unspoken contest for which there was no score, no timers, only the admiration of your fellow bikers. None of them had on helmets, and although it was an unseasonably warm day, most of them had on t-shirts. Surprisingly the atmosphere was not loud or rowdy, but almost one of intense concentration. It was the atmosphere which drew other little boys from the playground closer to see what was going on. The young boys hung outside the fence, hoping to catch a glimpse of a daring jump or wheelie of heroic proportions.

Observing Girls Afterschool Class

Observing second and third graders in sewing class is particularly interesting as the class of eight is entirely composed of girls. Afterschool lends a certain casual tone to friendships as there isn’t any teacher there chiding students to keep quiet or stop their chattering. They feel a freedom to speak as if there were no adult present. The teacher is not called Mrs. or Mr. so they don’t seem to hold up the same protocol as they would for a classroom teacher.

On this day R., A., and N., got into a discussion that led to the taking of sides, the calling of names, and was an example of how girls can to turn on each other, using their manipulative skills to pit friend against friend for the slightest of infraction. R. who is usually the most rambunctious of the group has a hard time keeping her voice down and remaining physically quiet. A., her buddy, usually sits on the same side of the table and confides in R. A discussion started about how N. was born in Mexico.

“Was your mom pregnant when you got to Mexico?”

“You don’t look Mexican.”

“Is your family Mexican?”

N., who is Caucasian never explained the circumstances behind her birth, but seemed proud of being Mexican. She tried to explain that you don’t have to be typical Hispanic Mexican to be Mexican. This led to an argument, never using racial profiles or slurs but at the end of the conversation R. and A. had taken sides. N. was labeled as “weird” by the two girls. The teacher, in an effort to break up the discussion and quiet R. announced it would be silent for the next 5 minutes. N. was clearly agitated over the label of being different, even though she looks the same and the others with fair hair, skin and eyes.

R. was clearly the dominant personality and had A. there to back her up and take her side. N., being on the other side of the table with the younger kids had no strong personalities to back her up. R. used her loud jovial personality to joke to the younger girls, winning them over to her side of the discussion, leaving the more quiet N. feeling isolated and angry with the turn of events.

The 5 minutes of quiet time and teachers admonishments to turn back to their projects seemed to work. Soon clean up began and took the focus to something else.

The Invisible Dog Gallery *

The Invisible Dog is a gallery space located on Bergen St. in Brooklyn. It consists of a gallery space on the first floor and several studios for selected artists on the upper floors. The exhibit is The Ant, an installation piece encompassing the entire storefront space of a giant ant. The Ant is composed of large inflatable white nylon balloons and steel welded legs and spine. Perched atop the Ant’s head is a jaunty little boater hat!

The placement of the Ant in the space allows you to pass by its head and pass under its legs. By placing him with his head facing the door in the space he seems to happily greet you entering his space. Wandering in and out between his legs allows the viewer to appreciate his stance and his size. Because the space was an industrial factory in a prior life there are structural pillars and heavy wooden storage around the back of the space. The Ant himself is almost wedged between these structural items, trying to make a home for himself and accommodate his size. It’s interesting to see an installation outside of a museum or well known gallery. Not only for logistical reasons but the expense and vastness of the project cannot be underestimated for a small gallery space.

Alllooksame.com

Alllooksame is a website created to break down the generalizations we all hold onto about how another culture looks. Throughout history cultures, usually dominate ones, have set guidelines as to how another, subordinate culture appears to them. A simple example is the Nazis in WWII who infamously made charts and signs allowing other anti-Semitic sympathizers to identify the enemy. Did all Jews have dark hair, large noses, or other noticeable traits? No, but this allowed the group in power to put a label on a culture and package them with visuals.

Alllooksame.com lets the viewer take a test to identify particular Asians as Japanese, Korean or Chinese using only photos. I happen to have quite a few Asian friends. My co-worker who sat 10 feet from me for six years was 100% Chinese. I have two close mom friends who both are Korean, and even have the same last name! Yun. So I would have thought I would score particularly high looking at these friendly faces everyday. The photos themselves are clear and in focus. They play a few tricks by having punk style or nontraditional haircuts on several of the subjects. All my Asian friend have very similar haircuts, which my Korean friend insists is because Asian hair is very difficult to style! So the radical hairstyles threw me with the women subjects. Also my Chinese friend loves to get tan on vacation, and she does. Her skin turns a beautiful tan when returning from whatever Caribbean vacation she has been on. So that misled me to take the subjects who had a suntanned appearance to be of Chinese heritage. I felt I had a pretty good grip of general assumptions that might help me cheat a little bit.

Surprise surprise. I scored really bad, no, really bad the site said! Did my friends steer me wrong? No, turns out you really can't categorize a people or a culture just by using a few visual cues. People are just as different on the outside as they are on the inside, we all know this. Happily, alllooksame actually proves it!