United States

The Return of Mad Men

Waxing nostalgic? Thinking about those bad boys from what seems like an entirely different culture? Well, this week takes us out of our comfort zones, as we consider how we will deal with the young Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim-Jong-un, after news reports of his seeking to instill fear in South Korea and the US, with intimations of nuclear weaponry and potential attacks. While listening to a news program on NPR today, one of the esteemed guests was asked if this meant that Iran was no longer our greatest nuclear threat. The guest replied that now North Korea is a more urgent nuclear threat. There was not much consolation in that response. I’m so glad that Dennis Rodman recently took a jaunt to hang with Kim Jong-un; a guy he seemed to get along with quite well. That should have put us on alert before this week!

Of course throughout history there have been numerous mad men. The kinder term in modern politics has been strong men–men who lead authoritarian regimes who claim to create a new nation, while oppressing, and /or murdering en masse, citizens and other innocents.  The old cartoons (and for our younger viewers of The Austin Powers series), these Boris Badinoff, Lex Luthor, The Joker, Dr. Evil….etc…. are ridiculous and comical. Hitler, Stalin,Ceausescu, Pol Pot,Pinochet, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden….just to name a few… There are so many more to name just in the last 50 years.The list really starts from the beginning of time, and continues on past today.

These despots are of a particular category of mad men. There are also the Adam Lanzas and the James Eagan Holmes types,who are unstable and well armed, and open fire on innocent people. They are indeed dangerous to society, but at least are not in positions of political power.

This week also marked the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  He was a man with a vision of racial equality achieved through non-violent civil disobedience  who was gunned down. While we remember with heavy hearts,and continue to  extend civil rights to all, we must also remember that MLK Jr. was considered a threat by J Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI . Who were the real mad men?

The uptick in inflammatory rhetoric this week, emanating from the cloistered nation of North Korea’s media, is threatening and a bit confusing. It is difficult to discern what’s possible in this situation. While there are many in this country who offend other’s political opinions (and sensibilities), we must be vigilant in distinguishing agitators from true mad men. Violence and threats of violence must always be taken seriously, while strengthening  democracy through non-violent means and expanding civil rights must always be championed.

Boy, am I looking forward to starting the week off with Don Draper and Roger Sterling!

Art Forms

I have no particular talent. I can carry a tune, so I can sing along, but my voice is not particularly interesting or especially pleasing. Likewise, I can enjoy dancing, and have some rhythm, but my ability to retain choreography is lacking. Even basic party crowd pleasers can be awkward for me. I’m a lousy photographer. Actually, I’m no photographer at all. At least I have a phone. I can’t paint or draw or sculpt. I took piano lessons for a few years as a kid, and can’t play at all. I didn’t dare try any other instruments. I enjoyed being part of stage productions, but not because I was any thespian. I just had fun despite my lack of talent.

For me,creating art in any variety, was an alien experience. What I heard musically, I couldn’t reproduce (except in an ordinary voice, best blended among other voices and instruments). What I wanted to capture with a camera, rarely appeared as I saw it. Dance as rhythmic movement to music was always a good diversion, but memorizing steps was not natural for me. There seemed to be a disconnect between my memory and my feet. Likewise with the piano: I could hear the way the music should be, but my fingers couldn’t reproduce it. And the graphic arts eluded me entirely. Yet, I have always gravitated to the arts. The arts may not have been my  own expression, but learning to appreciate the arts and how to see art, hear music, and how the body can move, has shaped my entire life.

Like language, arts reflect cultural attitudes as well as manifest individual expression. The more one learns the grammar, the more one can access and comprehend and be enriched. I may lack certain abilities necessary for producing my own art form, but I have learned how to see and hear–how to appreciate, and that appreciation of all forms of art and their connections to all of life has enhanced my life experience.

As an educator, I can not underscore enough the power and significance of developing an appreciation for the arts. It is part of literacy. Like language, the arts connect ideas with expression. They are not peripheral. Not everyone needs to have artistic talent, but the arts are necessary for everyone. We need not be practitioners, but we do need to cultivate our appreciation and train our senses. Art is a human instinct. It drives culture. Art forms.

culture of education/education of Culture

Throughout my years as an educator, I have infused my lessons with works of art–from literature to paintings, to plays and movies, as well as dance and music. I don’t really know how to teach english or history or even government (remember civics???) without drawing upon Cultural  examples.  Our kids are often taught in schools that have relinquished the arts and Culture to nonschool life. How can we say that we are educating without Culture?  How can we outsource the arts; extricate it from formal schooling? To be educated is to be Cultured. To be Cultured is to be educated. When the arts are available as an extra-curricular option, or only to the wealthiest, we deprive our culture of excellence and opportunity.  I’m thrilled that there are so many out-of -school and extracurricular opportunities for students to engage in an art form, but we seem to have lost the connectivity that the arts inherently provide. We have also separated the artist from the teacher–except in the cases of the art or music, or the even rarer dance teacher. We employ school teachers who are often stifled and who must be managers first and foremost. They are often not even creators of their own curricula and must adhere to prescribed lessons and assessments. Creativity must return to education, and cultural centers must also play a greater role in educating our communities.

This is the beginning of a broader conversation. I invite readers to share ideas and practices that bring together the arts and education beyond the basics and beyond the early years, after which,  subjects become more segmented, and students’ lives are more rigid.  Educators, parents, students, artists, musicians, dancers, civic leaders and laypeople…..please share creative ideas.