Here's what occurred as I unfroze pipes and washed dishes: cultivate the Art of Contextualizing Juxtaposition, spinning out the stories liberated by juxtapositions, and encouraging others to play at doing the same. In the context of teaching-learning, it's encouraging students to MAKE things; whether they're haiku or collage or mashup or essay matters less than the evolving taste for making and mooting own expression, in [semi-] public space. The essential is that the instructor be seen to be doing the very same thing.
Posted by oook at January 3, 2008 11:22 AMmass and speed
unfreeze and wash
cultivate and spin
encourage and play
making and mooting (boy, I love that one)
and the essential is truly the essential, oh my yes.
There's also the art of heart, as in how not to lose it. The art of losing isn't hard to master, Elizabeth Bishop wrote, and she was correct. But the art of keeping heart--"failing to find me at first, keep encouraged," wrote Whitman--a blank refusal to give up--I want to master that art.
Posted by: Gardner at January 3, 2008 11:52 PM