July 25

July 25  Rader pp. 131-40 (Chapter 6); Lampert pp. 224-234 (Chapter 21)

A few updates. You all should have received invites to Dropbox for the Kate Lyman articles. I thought we would read one each day next week. They illustrate how an elementary teacher has taken some of the issues we have read about and turned them into pedagogy/teachable moments. I think you will enjoy them.

I hope these literary chapters from Rader haven't alienated you a reader, but this is how literary criticism is written about in academe. And he is quite accessible. I am hoping that if poetry wasn't that interesting to you, that the movies will be. But poetry is a method or medium that is like reading for art's sake--and all of the poetry examined here is all about historic and contemporary identity and place. 

Keep in mind that museums don't sell work, they store it. Galleries sell work. When I asked about positive portrayals of Native Americans in media or cultures it reminds me that especially in movies, white people often see Indians as one group--not their differences; many whites are not interested in the lives or histories of Natives, much less how things are represented. Many whites seem to be very interested though in their own interests--if that makes sense, from what we have read.

Rader repeats, over and over, the privileges of being white in this culture; and having access to money--being middle and upper classes. 

Keep in mind, that by this upcoming Monday, I asked you to send us addresses, so we can peek at your blog or site under construction. On Monday, I am asking that you leave feedback to each other--there is space for comments. 

I hope you are enjoying most of the reads; I am learning a lot about the histories of art and artists.  

July 24

July 24  Rader pp. 121-30 (End of Chapter 5/Beg. of Chapter 6); Lampert pp. 211-223 (Chapter 21)

We only have nine class days remaining. Where does the time go?

First off--just a reminder that by Monday, can everybody give us their addresses to look at ideas or the beginning of your project? It's a work in progress and will probably end that way--no need to completely finish something. There isn't the time. I hope that helps a few of you who may be perfectionists. Sarah asked if you have to use blogger--no. Use another online site. I just thought we are using blogger and it is free. I understand how blogger isn't working with a few iPads. I don't know if that is a platform issue--does Chrome work better with iPads? I don't know.

About our readings. I am noticing that fewer and fewer are commenting on the Rader book. Don't let literary criticism and analysis scare you off. Especially as we are reading about poetry. I just plod along and read it, ask questions, and underline. I try to ask more open-ended questions, but please respond to those as well. He gets back to films with more pics shortly. 

I am noticing how nuanced the writings are--whose side/s do I/we take? And how understanding and siding may have to do with similar issues we have experienced in our lives. That's the beauty of a democracy. Finding many reactions and feelings in one story. Cheech MArin's book, Chicano Visions (2002), is a great little find. And cheap now--on Amazon for .89--though there is $3.99 shipping. It's only about painters, but a great resource book.

I was intrigued with Lynn's ratio of what to include based on contemporary stats. What might an art curriculum or museum show listing look like if it better represented current demographic stats? Lynn posted that she "almost" named a poet in an artist list. Let's think about that for a moment: Do categories and the ways we have been trained restrict us from telling our truths and/or even being creative? (I would venture to say yes). 

July 23

July 23  Rader pp. 111-20 (End of 4/Chapter 5); Lampert pp. 199-210 (Chapter 19)

Thanks for yesterday's posts. Lots of histories and stories embedded in posts. melanie posted about the "disconnects people make to do certain things." And/Or what knowledge is not known that allows people to jump to certain judgments and actions? Sarah posts about how dark many of our histories are. It got me to thinking about the updated version of the movie Hairspray with John Travolta and Queen Latifah. One of the main characters yells out "Everyday should be Negro day!" I often quote that now to the "shock" of friends and colleagues. We should be more shocked at what we don't know about our histories. 

I use an introductory exercise from a book edited by Susan Cahan and Zoya Kocur called: Contemporary Art and Multicultural America (1996). Under Part 4: Integrating Curriculum and Experience, Chapter 7: American Identity; Lesson 1: Immigration and the United States: Who Are We? is a suggested activity:

1. Divide class into pair(with teacher included as part of a pair if needed).
2. Have students take turns conducting interviews with each other working from the following list of questions or similar questions they develop through class discussion:
A. What is your name? Do you know the meaning of your name?
B. Where ar your parents from?
C. Where are you from?
D. Do you know or use any languages besides English?
E. Do you have relatives in other countries?
F. How long has your family lived in the United States?
G. Why did you family originally come to the United States?
H. What did they encounter when they arrived?

Many students know very little about their own backgrounds. We discuss what surprising things we learned of each other. If it helped us better understand classmates. If we were interested in knowing more about our backgrounds. What we might learn about interviewing a parent or close relative. Similarities we have in common. 

Other ideas in the lesson are to brainstorm and have class build reasons people come, voluntarily or not, to the US. And also consider: have reasons changed for emigrating to US; what are some specific circumstances; what similarities exist no matter what the ethnicity; what differences; how does economic and historical circumstances of different countries make immigration experiences to US unique for different peoples; were earlier migrations of Europeans to US motivated by different sets of circumstances?

It also goes into John Ogbu's distinctions between groups who came to the US voluntarily and groups forced to come here. Artists highlighted/used are: David Avalos, Juan Sanchez, and Yolanda Lopez (pp. 234-236) 

Using interviews to collect data to then think about art projects was key. 

I continue to use this in face-to-face classes to set the tone for the often difficult topics that occur when I teach. It gives us all an avenue to wonder about our pasts. Who am I? Where did I come from? What did my relatives experience? How does that connect to other's experiences? Etc. 

July 22

July 22  Rader pp. 101-10 (Chapter 4); Lampert pp. 188-98 (Chapter 18)

Thanks for your posts. Keep in mind on Thursday I will invite you to DropBox to access one of the Lyman articles that we will read. They are very quick reads and demonstrate one way to integrate what we have been reading into a classroom format. Lyman describes all of the issues she had to deal with. Very interesting stuff.

Lynn, thanks for posting your semester blog address. I encourage everybody to follow what gets posted for semester projects. May give you ideas and encourage you on yours. Daniel posted about graphic novels and Persepolis. Great connection. And a great idea--someone could pursue/develop a short graphic novel for a semester project. Sarah posted about documenting immigrant stories--can never have enough of those. Another great semester project idea. (And now I will stop about ideas.) Blair posted about what Okubo was really thinking. COuld it be that she never felt safe to ever say what she was thinking. She may have witnessed many things that frightened her. We have been reading what US citizens have done over the years. One would have to have a lot of courage to do the things many of these people did because there seem to be lots of negative reactions and violence that followed. 

Keep this in mind about the questions that I pose. Thank you for your willingness and openness to respond to questions that I try to develop. You may always propose others for us to respond to. 

July 21

July 21  Rader pp. 91-100 (Chapter 4); Lampert pp. 176087 (Chapter 17)

Comments about Friday's posts. Lynn posts about her project and how to document it. You can take photos of the installation as far as it gets. You can focus on one aspect of the installation--dolls. You can post conversations had during making dolls, focusing more on one aspect of a larger event. It doesn't have to be the whole thing. Does that help?

Blair's example on dallasgraffitiobservations.blogspot.com are spot on. She is giving us a journey through a journal with her thoughts. One nice way to begin to document. Photos are grand. 

Lisa posted about road repairs and water taking priority over art, for ex. My opinion, just mine, is that each community has it's own histories with the arts as to whether or not they are important and on or at what level/s. As Lubbock grows its arts districts, different people will have different opinions as to what is or is not successful. Wealthy people depend on artists and artisans to this day--just look at their homes. What they think about artists--hippies or weird, that's more about them than the artists. Places I have visited recently, San Diego, New Orleans, Ottawa, Canada, Chicago, NYC, Wash DC, Seattle--all sport incredible visual and architectural scenes--whether they are considered important or not by locals. And, everywhere there are stratifications of the arts--who is in--who is out--who makes decisions--everything we have been reading about. Museums do it differently than local galleries who do it differently than schools--all have vested and different interests. It is often hippies vs. academics vs. local artists vs. formally-trained vs. self-trained vs. outsider artists vs. museum quality artists, etc. As Andrea posted, white artists still tend to be out of touch with anything having to do with others other than themselves and their own art--and making art is very difficult on its own. Students will tell us that their parents will not pay for them to go to college to learn about art--that that is a dead end. Galleries are another way, but Lubbock is not that much different from NYC in terms of galleries--where it costs a lot to be a part of that culture. Private galleries are businesses--they are in business to make money selling art first and foremost--no matter what anybody says--most decisions are profit decisions. What sells, sells. Sometimes the history book authors disagree.

Project ideas look great. Keep they low-key and personal and it should work out well. We only have two chapters today. Starting Friday and all of next week, I will be adding one essay to ground us pedagogically. You will be invited to Drop Box. We are almost half-way through. 

July 18

July 18  Rader pp. 81-90 ((Chapter 3); Lampert pp. 156-75 (Chapters 15 & 16)

*Consider creating your blog with initial ideas for project starting this weekend or upcoming week. I'd like for us to share those no later than July 28th--meaning we are all going to take a look at each of our blogs--so plenty of time for initial thoughts/ideas/plans--that could change from what you end up with.

Also, not, that starting next week, we read one chapter from Lampert and continue ten pages from Rader. Starting next Friday on the 25th and the following week, we will be reading one essay from Kate Lyman a day. Her essays are accessible and interesting and quick reads. 

A few comments from your posts: Sarah you posted about mapping Native Americans--thinking about artists, writers, community people, others? Just wondering. Daniel, you posted about being surprised about the freedom to choose a topic. As an FYI, I base part of my pedagogy on AS Neill and Summerhill School, which promotes love and freedom and democratic principles. I love being surprised by student's connections to passion and learning; having them make decisions as part of learning and loving to learn. I've tired of controlling and directing teaching. (And this online class is quite controlled and directed.) Melanie posted about reading the violences against people. I'm noticing that too--that there is lots of day-to-day violence in our histories--and that's excluding wars we were/are in. Agitprop is defined as beginning with Communist issues, but since then, feminisms, AIDS, all kinds of writers and visual artists use it as one method to focus their passions and art. ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is mostly agitprop. And Lynn, have you tried using a different platform? I find Safari and Chrome work, but sometimes on other computers they don't. 

And one comment about us reading literary analysis these past few days in Rader. What you are reading--10 pages a day--as he deconstructs Native writings against the Eurocentric canon, this is the kind of reading I had all of the time in grad school--sometimes 100 pages of it a week. Very dense and you almost have to be an insider because everything is self-framed and self-referented. As Rader mentions Foucault, Beth Brandt and others, he is flexing his academic muscle telling us as readers that he has read all  of these writers and theorists. But also keep this in mind. As he writes about his ten books, he is literally giving us his Cliff Notes version of all of the novels.

July 17

July 17  Rader pp. 71-80 (End of Chapter 2/Beg. Chapter 3); Lampert pp. 135-55 (Chapters 13 & 14)

I apologize for posting so late today, but we had another MAE defense in Junction in the morning and then had to settle up some paperwork.

Some reactions to questions about semester projects. Andrea, you can use your current blog and create a sidebar for semester project. Daniel, your topic is not straying at all--there is no way to stray--it's all about what you are interested in. You project can be about one person or one historic idea or event. 

When I asked about the idea of "ladylike," I was thinking in terms of how I/we treat others: men, women, trans, etc. Do I do anything differently around men than I would around women or trans persons? Would I open a door for a woman but not a man? Just regular genders stuff. Would I kiss my grandmother but not my grandfather? 

Starting later next week when we are only reading one chapter from each book, I am going to send you an invitation to read one of Kate Lyman's essays from Rethinking Our Classrooms, Volume 2; well one each day--she had six in that essay ranging from a variety of topics. Here's the kicker--she is a 2nd/3rd grade combination classroom teacher. And she tackled issues brought up by students about AIDS, LGBTQ, Civil Rights, Homelessness, Death, and gender issues. We will be using her as our pedagogical guru and guide into what is possible and how the possible evens begins. You will find the essays refreshing, thoughtful and engaging. I will notify you when we will be reading those--from DropBox--you ill be invited.

How's your weeks going? Hopefully well. Sorry again for posting so late in the day.