Art Matters Too

Professor J,

Now that I've settled back in, where to begin? I Feel hopelessly behind on every front. But I shall make a start.

First, I'm not surprised that those bullying men were in their 40s and 50s. The younger one is, the easier change and adaptation is (unless a conscious effort is made to remain open to new things as we age). It's harder, though not impossible, to imagine a guy in his 20s or 30s behaving so boorishly. Conservatives, more than others are set in their ways, add age and a rapidly changing world for men more than for women and it's a recipe for a death grip on whatever control they currently have.

The lack of common manners (Is this age related in the reverse?) is frustrating. How can they value another person's time so little? If you figure this one out let me know.

Libertarians and abortion: Perhaps there is some issue of control over women which you seem to allude to but I read it as more of speaking for the voiceless and defenseless, which has always seemed like it would be the liberal stance to me. However the perception that pro-lifers/conservatives/libertarians care less about humans once they are born can seem quite valid at times. At what point the law becomes involved and to what extent to protect the rights of both parties would require the wisdom of Solomon to untangle. People want to make it black and white. Like a lot of ethical and moral questions the complexity and areas of gray are hard for most people to think about since it is an uncomfortable and troubling line of thinking.

Libertarians aside this issue has been used in a brilliant strategy by the Republicans.

It's so emotional (How many rational discussions about it have you EVER heard?) so divisive, and the opinions about it so tightly held on both sides that it often trumps all other issues for the many voters.  If this is your issue...your ONE issue, your litmus test for candidates, then they own you. And they know it. After all, where are you going to go? You will put up with all kinds of other nonsense, you will overlook things you know are wrong, or you will pay less attention in an effort to keep from throwing up in the voting booth. You may even convince yourself that you believe in preemptive war and other fun things like the surveillance powers provided by the Patriot Act. While the Democrats think the woman is the victim and the Republicans think the unborn child is, the truth is that everyone held hostage by this issue on both sides is. If there ever was an issue that needed to be sent back down to the states, I think this is the one.  The country is too divided to achieve a tolerable consensus.

Your Franklin P. Adams quote is the story of my life. ;)

Now, I was so happy that you finally shared some quotes from the evening with Bly. It only took nearly a year! LOL I loved the one about our wanting the impermanent to be permanent. That is so true. So many wonderful things are fleeting and temporary and enjoyed all the more for it. Permanent rainbows in the sky would be less miraculous as would babies, bubbles, and Christmas lights. Mr. Bly is very wise indeed.

While we are meandering (we haven't done that in a while) I'll share something of interest I learned today. I'm in training to be a docent at our local art museum. Today's class was about the VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies) program, that teaches children to look at a work of art and discuss it without giving them any information about the piece. They use critical thinking skills to figure out what they think is happening but must supply evidence for their opinion. ("What do you see that makes you say that?") There are no right or wrong answers. Everyone's opinion is valued equally. In the video (you can see a segment here) we watched of elementary school children from an inner city school viewing art,  I was struck by them articulating how they agreed or disagreed with the interpretations of their peers.

Our instructor related that she had visited classes of FIRST graders where every comment included statements like "I agree with Josiah that the man looks sad" or "I disagree with Josiah that the man lost his dog." Educators report that this behavior carries onto the playground where children understand that it is okay to have a different opinion and that you can discuss calmly.

Teaching civil discourse through art. Who knew?

Another interesting thing that made me think of Sir Ken was that adults generally don't like this approach. They want someone to tell them what it means. They are far more interested in getting the "right" answer, or being right, than exploring the work together and embracing the perceptions of others. Which may bring us back to the top of this post. ;)