Munich and pigs knuckles

As we travelled by train toward Munich the meadows widened out
and fields of clover, yellow flowers, and still some lupine are beautifully visible. The little towns are spaced about every thirty miles, and the mountains are becoming less dramatic on either side of the valley. Trees are now mostly deciduous and divide fields where the cattle often lie down quite contentedly. I have seen no feed lots or any signs of giant agricultural operations.

A cerulean blue stream moves swiftly along side the train now and again. The waters clearly come from the glaciers, and I have to wonder what will happen when the glaciers are all gone -- most of the rivers in this region seem to be filled with glacial melt.

We were in 1st class on this trip, a space which we seem to have to ourselves. It is nice and roomy with very comfortable seats and space between them. This trip was non-stop and we arrived in Munich around 2:30. Since the train ended it run here we did not have to race to unload our luggage as we would have if the train had been moving on. Trains run on time in Northern Europe and there is little time for margin of error in arriving to catch one or even in getting your luggage off the train before it begins to move again!

We walked along a long platform to the central station. This is the station I missed when I went on to Garmisch...on my own last Sunday. There are Starbucks, Burger King, McDonalds --- Burger King advertises a meal of hamburger, fires and coke for 2.99 Euro....which is really cheap. A brie sandwich (lettuce cheese and tomato on a really lovely dark bread was 4.95 Euro --- the healthy choice was considerably more expensive.) Beer, water and wine are all pretty much equal in cost.

We arrived at our hotel Alpha Centre on Hirtenstrasse - just two blocks from the train station. At first they told us our reservation was cancelled, but on further investigation it is found, but they have not made provision for me at all....so Kathy winds up paying $55.00 more for the place AND we are in interesting rooms. They are pristine and very modern in some ways --but absolutely tiny --- there are two twins in one room --with a tiny refrigerator well stocked with booze -- a small closet a tiny t.v. --- rather like a small travel trailer might be in America. The bathroom is a step up --again very clean -- VERY small -- and there is a second step up into the shower of about 15 inches... it was also difficult to get up the lift -- to get to it we had to take our stuff up 15 steps --- before you get to the elevator which holds two people with two suitcases..
Our room is 294 but we are on the 5th floor --- of the hotel. After we deposit our stuff we hire a cab to take us to the Hoffbrau Haus (actually two cabs) --- it cost 11.90 plus two euros for each cab -- to get there -- The Hoffbrau Haus is a traditional beergarten -- There are rows and rows of wooden tables with benches and the ceiling is painted in ornate but primitive designs -- There is a bandstand where a German ompah band plays and Germans join in singing old German drinking songs...There are many Germans here dressed in native Bavarian costume -- After asking it appears that they wear these costumes out of pride -- to the Hoffbrau Haus and other places in Munich--as well --- they have not been paid or are part of the local color -- they apparently do it from pride.

I ordered the vegetarian Spetzle --with Swiss cheese (emantaller and a green salad that has a dressing like my grandmother used to make)--- Bunny had the Pork steak with potato gratin --- Kathy had the snitzle and Cindy had the bratwurst and sauerkraut. We shared a cheese plate and three apelfstrussel and we bought bread.....to go with it. None of us had beer....
After we sat listening and watching the kitchen produce vast quantities of food and deliver them on platters to guests -- we saw many tankards of beer leave the place --- and realized that probably beer was a necessary ingredient to the singing that would soon be going on...We stayed to hear the band and singing --- a bit by the tine we left the floor was covered in spilt beer --- and the floor sticks to my feet --- as we walk out of the beergarten.
We arrived back at the hotel and found that this one taxi which held us all and only charged 9.90 Euro -- we sat out on the back steps and visited. It is cool enough to keep my fleece jacket on so it doesn't feel like summer here -- the peonies and early spring flowers bloom --- everywhere. The taxi driver this morning said that they had hail and terrible winds just 15 kilometers from where we were....so I guess it has been unsettled here. I feel disconnected -- without knowing where to look for news or weather.

The Three Country Tour

(Sung to Gilligan's Island theme)

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.

It started out at Garmisch stadt for a three country trip.

We settled back in our seats totally unaware that the captain of this fateful bus was a yoddler with lots of hair.

Kathy rode shotgun with Bunny by her side

Snapping photos left and right at castles in the sky.

The weather turned from stormy clouds to bright and sunny rays

with Stedel's in the meadows filled up with golden hay

The driver rounded hairpin turns at speeds in excess and

Kathy and Bunny were in deep distress!

Karen sat at the back of the bus blissfully unaware thinking of Lichetenstien and chocolate and eclairs.

Well ---you get the idea we could go on and on -- but it was another wonderful day in which we saw Austria and Switzerland and gave away all our money in Lichtenstein -- where they "take any kind of cash --- Euros, Dollars, or Francs --- but whatever currency you give them they give you change in some other currency making it impossible to know if you got you change back-- Poor Bunny wanted the passport stamped and they charged her two Euros!!

We realized quickly that they way to make money in Europe is to get someone to give you some land and then declare yourself a prince and your land a country!

Maybe that is what Rick Perry -- Gov. of Texas is planning to do! We found that it was a beautiful 28 km across and 8 km wide.

The day was cool and it was downright cold at Greialetche glacier which was at the very top of the tour. I learned today that Germany is trying to save its last Glacier --- on its highest mountain the Zugspitze -- where we were Tuesday. Here is an article about the attempt which we contributed to by ascending the mountain and buying coffee at its top. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2467214,00.html

We saw many beautiful little villages which seem untouched by modernity -- except for the ubiquitous satellite dishes and cars. But they really have done a great job of keeping their heritage in tact despite the numerous tourists.

Almost everyone had little garden plots probably no bigger than our school gardens in which were planted neat rows of lettuces and beans there are big rhubarb plants in the gardens and peas --- it is still quite cold here and the gardens are just going in. You can see little cold frames where people have started there plants early!

The views as we climbed through the Alps were beyond spectacular. They were breathtaking. We also loved the mountain meadows with cattle on the hillsides. Apparently the cows can come up for a couple of months, and the goats are hartier....staying longer into the cold weather. Our tour guide described a shami goat that grows a long beard which is used to make a natural brush know as a shami.. These brushes cost upward of $400! I guess I won't be bringing that back home to Dean for Father's Day or his Birthday.

The waters rushing down the mountain are white with limestone and are fed from the mountain streams. Often waterfalls cascade down perhaps as much as a thousand feed before joining the main river. We saw three different rivers today -The Inn river which goes past Innsbruck, the Rhine of course and the one nearest Garmisch which escapes me at the moment --- it starts with an "L"

Tomorrow we travel to Munich --- then in the evening to Rome.........

Crazy Ludwig and Counting Swans!

Cool again, and breezy this morning with no rain. The peak of Zugspitze is still shrouded in clouds. We have yet to see its summit even though we were there yesterday! We joined an early tour for the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. It is the most popular castle in Germany with as many as 6000 visitors daily.

As with all tours you have to pay your dues and we stopped first at a tourist shop with the standard wood carving, lace, and cow bells. Next we pulled off the road at Wieskirche, ( church in the meadows). Located in the midst of a great alpine meadow in the middle of nowhere it is a most imposing structure which our guide assured us was the highest example existing of a rococo church. The story goes that in 1730, Father Magnus Straub and Friar Lukas Schweiger built a figure of Jesus for the Good Friday procession, using parts from other wooden figures, which they then covered in linen and painted. (they were too poor to have Jesus carved - the story reminded me of a Frankenstein Jesus). Apparently it was such a realistic representation of the suffering Jesus, that the congregation found it too moving and they stored it in an attic. It found its way to a farm, the "Wieshof." During evening prayers on June 14, 1738, its keeper noticed drops of water on Jesus' face, which she interpreted as tears. Following this miracle -- the place was built round it and it has become a pilgrimage spot.
The journey here by bus led us past the turn for Oberamergau and Augsburg on the way to Neuschwanstein Castle. Older local people all have walking sticks that look like ski poles, back packs and hiking boots They are prepared.....The tourist buses line up in long rows and tourists crowd into the church and then cross over to eat fried breads of some kind and other Bavarian treats. After many photos especially of the empty Organ chamber -- I found a sign indicating that the church was resorting it organ --- so for my husband Dean --I contributed 5 Euros to that cause, climbed back onto the bus and we were on our way climbing toward our goal.

The great Castle Neuschwanstein can be seen from miles away. It is easy to see why it is the most photographed castle. Built by Ludwig II (the crazy Bavarian king) in honor of his friend Richard Strauss and as a get-away, the castle was begun in the 1869. For the next 17 years it was worked on but even at the King's death it was not completed. It was not until 1969 that the first performance of Wagner took place in the performance hall. The castle was designed by a set designer -- not an architect. This was no surprising because Ludwig loved Opera and when he became king unexpectedly-- the first person he sought out was Richard Wagner -- whose operas he loved. They were operas that gloried in the tales of the Norse gods and goddesses. Across the valley stands a yellow castle which belonged to his father, Maximilian -- and in 1885 he had a telephone installed between the two castles. He only lived in his beloved Neuschwantstein for 172 days --- before he was to be committed. (being judged mentally incompetent. He was not doing his job governing and was spending the treasury on building castles for his entertainment.) On the way to the institution he asked to take a walk and was found the next day in a lake with his dead psychiatrist floating along-side. No one is sure if he killed himself or if he was killed by the government, but just 6 weeks after his death the castle opened as a museum so that the public could help pay the great cost of the structure.

It was still very cool indeed, and I was thankful to borrow Cindy's nice wool sweater from Ireland! We arrived at Neuschwanstein as the sun was breaking through the clouds and took a bus up the steep slope at the base of the castle....but there was still a steep climb to the Maria Bridge from which you can photograph the castle---the bridge goes over a a gorge ---and you can look back at the castle or down at a beautiful waterfall. Then it was back to the trail --and more climbing. We arrived at the castle and immediately had to ascend 89 stairs --- then we were in the servants quarters. Which were quite nice for what they were --- with dark wood everywhere and cradles and beds, tables and candelabras in evidence everywhere. Next we climbed another 64 Stairs to the main quarters of the King.

There is a waterclooset with running water and there is a little basin where he could wash up which featured running cold water. He had a chair for reading, a chair for writing, and a special little chapel just off his quarters-- Everything was covered with dark wood and carvings. The carvings in this chamber took 4 carvers 14 years to complete. It was during this time that we encountered two young visitors who were enthusiastically counting images of swans. After brief introductions --and showing them Westmeady we struck up quite a conversation. They were from Virginia, but were living for three years in Great Britain and they were attending British school rather than American school.

There parents kindly allowed Westmeady to interview the girls to let boys and girls in on the experience of being an American child traveling in many countries. Their count was up to 82 when we entered the dining room next to the chamber, but all the rooms are dark the windows are small so they admit little light. For such a large building the castle has relatively few rooms finished. It seems like the perfect idea to finish the rest as guest rooms for a resort! But much of the castle was never completed.

We climb down what seems like hundreds of stairs and then must walk down a steep hill to get to our destination for lunch and the return bus trip....I am nearly worn out just as we see a horse drawn buggy and hail a ride the rest of the way down. Our seat mates have an Australian shepherd with them and we immediately strike up a conversation. They do well with English and are training this dog to work their two horses. Murphy is very well behaved as all the dogs here seem to be as they join their masters for meals in the restaurants. (Often the owner provides a small bowl for his companion with water and the dogs receive treats for good behavior.

We have lunch -- again trying more Bavarian cuisine -- this time I ordered the potato pancakes with applesauce and shared with Kathy who had a "meat-salat" various cabbages, corn, red beans, bibb lettuce, turkey on a skewer with pineapple - grilled in a vinegar dressing, and Bunny had a turkey sandwich on a wonderful piece of brott --- but the turkey was flavored a bit like the sausage here --- and to me tasted similar to a Bologna. Matt chose spaghetti and we all shared apple struedel and coffee for desert.

The road winding back to the hotel criss-crosses and old trade route...the Via Claudia and we pass through the Austrian Alps before re-entering Germany and finding our way back to the Lodge. Oh, yes, the Swan count? Ultimately they had to estimate 2,220 total!

Oberamergau and Zugspitze

We sang every show tune that we knew today to the entertainment of the bus on the way back from Oberamergau. Early morning found us boarding the gondola to the top of the tallest mountain in Germany. Bavaria is beautiful -- rather like Switzerland. Water pours down off the mountains in huge waterfalls and rushes past the roadway in great torrents that seem to have a high mineral content for it has a remarkable opacity and white color.

It was cold today with the high reaching only to the upper 50s. As we rose into the clouds the sound of ice breaking from the cables and striking the gondola surprised us. There was snow everywhere and it felt very much like winter to me. We could see nothing of the four countries from the summit even though the light was blindingly bright.

We got a cup of hot coffee and waited until we could catch the car on its return trip. There was a little restuarant at the top with lovely white table linnens --- we were the only people there. Most have probably been more prudent in assessing the value of the trip and have gone to other places. It rained and poured yesterday afternoon and this morning the cold and fog have been a deterrant to this tourist site!

In each of these coffee houses there are elegant deserts which look very different from those we are accustomed to in America. They all involve pastry, layers of cream, layers of colorful transparent toppings with various exotic fruits embedded in them. And of course there is the Apple Struedel which is nothing like that which can be purchased at Kroeger. Kathy remained at the bottom of the lift --- and when we returned there was a great hill to ascend to the train which we rode back to Garmisch. The train ride down the mountain was beautiful. We passed meadows with sheep grazing and cows contentedly munching on grass to arrive in Garmisch and find our way to the bus station for the trip to Oberamergau.

This quiant town is the home of the great passion play which occurs every ten years. It was performed as a part of a bargain with God in 1634 -- if God would spare their community the plague -- they would do the passion play once every decade! They have kept their word. The next play will occur in 2010, so everywhere there were men beginning to grow their hair and beards. The town was relatively uncrowded and we enjoyed a fine meal where we were the only people in the restuarant. Germans seem to love their sausage and pig is a big item on the menu along with potatoe dumplings! We walked among shops where there were the traditional tourist things -- but also felted slippers and things you would not find elsewhere. Beautiful hand carvings costing thousands of dollars were next to linnens that were nearly as beautiful.

What I found most interesting was the gardens and I stopped and spoke with several folks who were gardening. Though English was an impediment they were willing to struggle to make themselves understood---and to understand me. One elderly couple especially had a beautiful garden of alpine flowers including edelwise....and also had familiar things like sedum and hens and chicks. They told me that many of the flowers were past their prime, but the garden was clearly lovely.

I passed an elementary school and took pictures of a school garden similar to our own and was sad to see that the children had gone home for the day! We returned to Garmisch to the Edelwise Lodge, the military installation where we have been staying and enjoyed cheese, brot, local tomatoes, and fruits for our light dinner. After dinner there was much laughter as Bunny brought up two friends from my little school mascot, Westmeady the dragon --- We began filming them and laughed several times until we cried over the antics of these little entertaining creatures! I hope the school children find them equally entertaining.

Tomorrow we visit Neuschwanstein Castle!

Humor, rain, and cowbells

We slept until we woke up -- I guess that means we are all alive! My friends were exhausted from their travels and the late hour that we retired last night. I was exhausted from having only cat naps for 30 hours.

Breakfast at this beautiful lodge, built for the military families serving in far-flung regions, was oh-so American with bacon, eggs, pancakes, bisquits, gravy, ham,

country fried potatoes and numerous other choices.... Then we were off to the village of Garmisch to see what we could see....but mostly to relax and to rest for the onslaught of sight seeing scheduled for tomorrow. The town was not crowded, and there were amazingly few cars. Our cabbie arrived in ledehosen and quickly loaded the two wheelchairs in the trunk while three of us squeezed into the back seat. I was the smallest of the three, and we know I am not small...but I squeezed myself into the smallest space I could and we got the doors closed.

I burst into laughter when the first thing Kathy asked about was where we might find lunch! Yes --four fat ladies and all they want is lunch....tears ran down our checks as I recounted how that might have sounded to the fit cabbie in lederhosen. The picture above is our lunch (Kathy and I split this sizeable feast) which also came with red cabbage cooked in a sweet and sour sauce. The two round things are dumplings --- one is made of potatoe and had a gelatinous texture and the other is made of bread which was rather like an overly moist stuffing. The pork was seasoned with something delicious which I didn't recognize and the crispy looking thing on top we surmised was deep fried pig fat.

We watched as other guests were served interesting local cuisine... sausages of vast variety came in bowls of steaming hot water, sausages over sauerkraut which was somewhat milder than the American version -- but also had fat in it, a large ham hock with a good portion of leg attached -- rather like we would have a chicken drumstick was served to that man at the next table! AND there were dogs at dinner with their families!

I asked why we can't have dogs in our restaurants at home. Kathy suggested that it wasn't sanitary. "Well they let the mice and roaches in." suggested Bunny. "Yes, and in Tennessee, I said, you can now take your guns into restaurants and bars." Somehow it seems more sensible to let the dogs in. In fact I suggested that every restaurant have a bull snake to keep the rats down and a gecko to eat the roaches!

Again we were impressed with the friendliness and helpfulness of people who should have been grumpy and tired from all the stupid tourists....but we found only kindness from everyone. We did a bit of shopping and I got back into the wheelchair business as if I had never left it ..Maybe I will have sculpted pectoral muscles when I get home but I will have to stop eating the local faire! When everyone went out for dinner tonight....I stayed behind --- made some coffee and had cheese and apple --- my standard lunch at home --- only this cheese was fabulous --- obviously from the happy cows that we hear on the mountainsides (their cow bells ring out with delightful frequency).

This was the second day of magnificent weather --- cool and sunny----clouding over in the afternoon and then pouring down in torrents -- I got very wet trying to find a green grocer where I could acquire some buttermilk. If you have never had the cheese, butter and buttermilk from this corner of the universe -- I can only say you have never really tasted these delicacies before!

Tomorrow we begin our sightseeing with a trip up Germany's highest mountain, and a visit to Oberammergau. There was the opportunity to go to Dachau....but I don't think I could stand it. As I grow older my heart becomes ever more tender and such hideous atrocities are beyond my ability to maintain myself.

First Stop 'Garmisch

Neuschwanstein castle is just an hour from Garmisch. This is the castle that Disney based Sleeping Beauty's castle on.

I arrived in Garmisch at about 11:00 a.m. I was so pleased with myself...that I managed to find the Deutch Bahn (DB) in the airport, buy my ticket, board the train, change trains in Passing, and actually get here. But to say that I got here on my own would be a total falsehood! You see there was a lovly young man on the platform to help me choose the correct train. (They were both the same color and number but going in totally different directions) Then there was a young woman whom I asked the time of --to make sure I had not missed the stop in Passing.

At each step of the journey a kind person has emerged to help -- at Passing I had only 5 minutes between the arrival of my train and the departure of the one to Garmisch. It of course left from a different platform (I arrived on Gleis 2 and had to get to Cleis 3) and there was construciton going on, but I managed to climb down the steep set of stairs at the station to find the stairs for platform 3 and began dragging my one heavy suitcase up the stairs. There are ingenious little conveyor belts alongside the stairs to help with this -- but it was out of commission. A man at least as old as I am grabbed my bag and carried it to the top of the stairs...then turned around and took two of his own to the bottom. He barely gave me a chance to call out Danke and he was gone -- a good samaritan indeed!

Finally on the last leg of the journey a beautiful young woman who had taught in an American College in North Carolina for several years and had returned to get her PhD and was taking a new jog in Munich.

Her mother sat accross from me and we had a great visit. She was an exchange student to the U.S. to (imagine this) Crossville, TN...so I wound up inviting her to visit us when she come back to the U.S. so that she can enjoy Nashville and its many attractions. When it was time for me to get off at Garmisch she even insisted on hefting my bag to the platform for me. During the last leg of the trip, I conscripted her help in getting the man who took the tickets to send information to the station where Kathy was to arrive --- to have her paged at the time of the trains arrival and let her know that I was safely waiting in the train station in Garmisch.

In our discussion - I understood that the train station was in Munich not at the airport -- so I assumed that I needed to get off at the trian station in Munich -- but clearly once the train left we did not pass through Munich at all. So I worried that Kathy would think I was lost (which she did) when she arrived from Paris in Munich and did not find me there. It is easy in America to think that there would only be one set of stations in the town which all trains would pass through ---since AMTRACK only goes through certain places.....but the train is the way of transport in Northern Europe -- You might not even need a care if you have a bike and live within biking(walking) distance of a terminal....

As the day grew longer and no one arrived --I grew more concerned. Yet, I knew that Kathy would have to come through this station, since Garmisch is such a small place....and ultimately around 8 p.m. that is exactly what happened...but not until Dean and Noelle had been alerted that I was missing in Germany....

It was funny to hear Noelle scold me for not letting her know where I was and that I was safe.....Dean, less critical but equally concerned --expressed similar frustration --- why had I not called? I guess the answer is ---I knew where I was!! But in today's world where we communicate via the internet with such ease --- it seems frightening when we are out of touch even for a day! Think of what it might have been like when your child departed on the Oregon trail -- and you might not know anything for months on end about you kin!!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Leaving on a plane is a little like dying! Whatever you got finished before you left is finished. Whatever you left unaccomplished is just that -- incomplete. Just as in death, you are boarding a ship for an unknown journey. You think you know your destination, but things could intervene. The destination might be different somehow than what you imagine --- it might be a surprise!

As I boarded the plane (exhausted from putting the library to bed on Friday, packing until 1 or 2 a.m. Friday & Saturday, and tying to tie up all the loose ends before departure) I have a mix of anticipation and sadness. I am leaving behind the familiar, the comfortable, and the predictable. I am leaving behind my family and friends all my routines. But as I settle into my seat next to two German friends who have been vacationing on Longboat Key, Florida, a certain peace pervades my consciousness.

I wonder why I can't extend this peace that things are now out of my hands and control is in the hands of others. In many ways this is the way of it. We cannot control our health, or a criminal's choice to rob or end another's life, or even our circumstances at work. The truth is we can only tack our sails depending on what life gives us. Yet, I know when I return to earth I will take all the of weight of responsibility and worry back as if I did control those things!

Physicist Leo Szilard once announced to his friend Hans Bethe that he was thinking of keeping a diary "I don't intend to publish. I am merely going to record the facts for the information of God." "Don't you think God knows the facts?" Berte asked. "Yes, said Szilard, "He knows the facts, but he doesn't know this version of the facts."

(I found this quote in A short history of everything - the book I was reading on the plane)

So it is that I will begin my "diary" of this trip so that the facts can be recorded from my perspective, in case God is curious! After dinner I note we are 1/3 of the way to Munich. There is a track of the plane superimposed on what appears to be a google map of the earth. We are just about to leave land and begin the transit of the Atlantic just South of Greenland.

People settle in for the night and cabin noise becomes more hushed as the lights of the cabin are dimmed. Plenty of things to distract -- movies on the screen, music in the earphones, newspapers, magazines----just like at home --it is seldom that we see people living in the present moment. What would happen if we did live more intentionally in the present moment?

I find my distraction in Bill Bryson's book "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" which provides a fascinating insight into science and scientists since the 18th century. His writing is a fast moving narrative providing tantalizing details about the lives of people whom we revere as giants. There are characters here which I have children's biographies for -- I am thinking next fall we might do some of these as Lunch Bunch Choices with the details added in this book which humanize the greats in humorous and eccentric ways! I fall asleep and sleep fitfully (it is cramped in steerage, and I know those in 1st class are stretched out on recliners with footies and every need tended!

Dawn floods the space with rose light and we are nearing the end of our journey. Interesting details like the airspeed, temperature outside the cabin, altitude, tail wind were displayed between movies all night long. It was -70 F tail wind averaged 100 miles per hour, speed hovered at 690 mph. We have landed, and all confidence disappears!

When is an aweful teacher wonderful?

Jesse stood in front of the morning news camera reading his research on our Solar System. He had illustrated all of the planets and even some asteroids.

Jesse is the kind of student every teacher dreams of. He has a fine mind which is coupled with a supportive family and enough personal discipline to insure that he can process the information he readily seeks out.

He was on my mind that evening as I looked for colored sidewalk chalk for our Field Day. As I walked down the aisle of school supply store, I passed a display of plastic colorform planets designed to be placed on the wall of a classroom. I couldn't help myself.....I bought them planning to give them to Jesse.

When I got back to school the next day, I realized I had another gift for him. I had purchased a telescope at the Goodwill store for only $5.00. A small refractor, it was far better than Galileo's scope. With it he should be able to see the four largest moons of Jupiter, the rings on Saturn, and fantastic close-ups or the moon's surface.

His parents were at school for field day to receive these gifts with Jesse and all were happy at the joy of such small gifts. But the greatest gift was the one presented me when his mother said, "Do you know when he got interested in all this?" "No," I responded. "It was when you had that fellow come from the Astronomical Society." she said.

I laughed out loud. You see, the very nice man who was an amateur astronomer, a NASA certified instructor, had been way over the heads of my students. I had been embarrassed because much of the material he presented and the questions he asked were beyond the reasoning capacity of early elementary students. The length of the presentation which went long frustrating the teachers in attendance.

Here in front of me was a young mind that had been deeply affected by a presentation that I had written off. It is a great lesson. We cannot judge the influence of each day on our students. One small thing that we do may have a deep and lasting impact for good or ill. I pray that even on my worst days when I am at my most boring, a few seeds of that lesson will fall on fertile ground....like Jesse's.

It is also a lesson of humility, to recognize that while good teaching is important, learning is often not about the quality of teaching. Often the quality of education depends on the desire of the learner. So in a day when "teacher quality" is considered the most important indicator of student achievement, perhaps we need to rethink the complexity and art of the learning interaction.

Experience and knowledge

Last night was a cherished and looked forward to event. Thanks to a dear friend, my husband and I attended a performance of La Boehme by the Nashville Opera.

The performance was lovely --- NOT cataclysmic --- just lovely. It has been years since I saw this opera. Of course, though I have heard the main arias many times, I had not heard the whole of it in years.

I wept piteously the first time I saw it, but with 40 years stretching between performances I was more jaded. I let my experience be framed by my knowledge of the time in which it was written and my adult understanding of opera as "over dramatic and tragic." I rejoiced in the beauty of trained voices flawlessly executing the runs. I rejoiced in the gift of art as I wondered at the beautiful set. I rejoiced that the people in the orchestra pit had worked very hard to master their craft . I reveled in the beauty of the old ladies who had come in traditional opera garb wearing their very expensive gowns and jewels. I rejoiced in the young couple dressed in garb I recognized from my youth --- probably someone else had given them their tickets ---just as Dean and I had received the gift of ours.

I loved talking to the elderly woman next to me whose son was a Navy Seal in Afghanistan. She wanted to know how I liked Nashville. I asked if she had spent most of her life here --- she thought and replied "Well, let me see how old am I?" I laughed and said, “I can see that this line of questioning might be leading in an unanticipated direction! Let me re-phrase it, and pardon my ambiguity!" Once again I failed the Southern Lady TEST by asking a question that could cause someone embarrassment!!!

On the way home we drove through McDonalds. I chuckled thinking of those around us who had probably gone across the street to the grand old Hermitage Hotel for their post opera discussions!!

Sipping my latte as we traveled homeward, I asked my husband (the music PhD person) about his experience. "I always forget how unsatisfying I find late romantic music." Puzzled, I replied,"What does that mean?" He explained that Puccini and other composers at this time were caught in a vortex (my term not his) where they were all trying to find their way into the next big age of music ---- they were pushing the envelope --trying things out --- harmonies that neither work nor break completely from the old conventions. They were fascinated with what they thought of as Chinese forms. These were really only mostly open 4ths and 5ths and actually were more a caricature of Chinese." He paused and sighed, "and then there is that overwhelming sentimentality to contend with...."

So -- I said, "Did you enjoy the opera?" “Oh yes!” Well there it is --while he was sitting there thinking all these deep thoughts -- I was experiencing the moment and not thinking deeply at all. I wonder how my friend would feel to know that her tickets were wasted on a simpleton and an effete opera snob!!?

A Very Red Shard

This shard of the stained glass window is ruby red. The same ruby red of the red carpet on Oscar night!

As with many things we reward children for their hard work and the ultimate successes! Curmudgeons would say that reading is a reward in itself, and I agree. However, for children to reach the point of intrinsic reward we often need a few extrinsic rewards along the way. Reading is complex. It often is difficult and certainly no fun when you are first learning! Which is why I am in favor of what some would call "bribery"!

At our AR Party last Friday children put their stars on the AR Walk of Fame in the Hall. They got individual glamour shots on the RED CARPET where they wore feather boas hats and ties and held a real Addie Award (which one of the parents won)! They sat at festive tables and enjoyed treats-- AND they selected a book or toy of their choice -- no one left empty handed!

It did me good to see the beautiful gowns the little girls wore (last year's Easter dress, or Mama's cocktail dress!) The boys wore their ties and fancy church clothes and suits! We had fun!! Something that is rarer at school than it used to be....

A Tiny Shard of Earth...

One of the reasons I love stories is that metaphors let us move about flexibly within a larger framework of an idea. It is this need for flexibility and depth that causes me to wrestle with NCLB and its climate which makes teachers focus on discrete facts and skills.

While in philosophy I believe that we can teach a child everything s/he needs to know to pass those all important measures by focusing on the big picture, I am also very aware that a child doesn't have the capacity to know that he knows something if the words which surround it are not familiar.

For example, I watched the children, intent as they were, learning how to take a plant from its pot and place it at the proper depth and distance from another plant. They were all equally focused, equally eager, equally engaged and they were learning something they would never forget because it involved them wholly. In education we often refer to the many different learning styles - auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and more - with which a child experiences the world and knowing! The garden involved them all.


But suppose they encounter a question on the test using words they do not know to describe this particular activity. They will have no way to demonstrate mastery! This is the difficulty teachers face as they divide up their year into small bits of time in which they will teach small bits of information, or small skills. If I am not mistaken there are more standards than there is time to teach them in 3rd grade (and probably 4th as well). And now we have heard that next year 2nd graders are to memorize their multiplication tables! (Audible sigh goes here)

For these reasons I am not surprised to find that not all the teachers are rushing to be involved during school hours with the planting of a garden. It is why we planted the garden during spring break -- which meant that only a few kids got to have this wonderful experience!

So I pick up and place this shard of earth-colored glass in my stained glass window which grows every so slowly to make something positive of the broken glass. You see, despite the odds Westmeade now has a garden..... To see more pictures of the garden go to http://www.westmeadees.mnps.org/Page53162.aspx

A Single Shard -- of stained glass and flying fish!

"When do you shelve the books, Ms. McIntyre?" Bushra looked up at me with her twinkling brown eyes through that open and joyful smile! I picked up one shard of glass --- ah yes --- "Bushra, when you come in at the beginning of the day-- when we are getting ready for our WMES Broadcast. (WMES is a morning news broadcast -- another of my responsibilities.) I always have a 4th grader at the circulation desk. That is one of the times I try to shelve books. While you are looking for a book, I am trying to put books away. I also shelve during my lunch break, and after school."

"Oh" she said. I continued, providing her with more information than she wanted,"You remember Ms. Margaret who is my friend who comes once a week? Well she helps me shelve books on the day she is here and that really helps. And you know how I put all the Dr. Seuss, Curious George, and Henry and Mudge books in piles on the table? Well, most of the 4th grade news reporters know where those books go and they put them away sometimes before they have to get back to class.

And you remember Nora? She was in 4th grade when you were in Kindergarten? Well she sometimes comes back to visit after she gets home from Middle School and helps put books away....and I've been thinking about training an army of roaches that live in the school....maybe they could learn the basics and I could leave books out for them to put away....(no actdually I didn't say that last part --- but I have always thought that it would be fair -- since we provide them with paper and book binders paste to keep them going....surely they could return the favor).

So what is hopeful about this shard of broken glass? It is simply that somehow despite the fact that I don't have an aide --- the books get shelved. Not to quibble about how well they get shelved. I simply hope that the picture books and non fiction books find their way to the general vacinity of where they belong.

When I came to this library the former librarian didn't actually put them on the shelf in Dewey order --- they were filed according to their AR color. For those of you who don't know what that means -- it is simply that books are marked with a colored sticker to indicate reading level. So in the last 8 years I have succeeded in placing call numbers on all the books as well as marking all the books that have AR tests available with colored stickers! See there is more positive stuff...I just have to pick up each shard and find out where it fits in the overall picture!

How did that happen? Back when I first came to this school -- we still had parent volunteers (there were still many stay-at-home moms) I had a core group that came once a week and affixed the call numbers. There it is! It got done!! That is the first shard of a stained glass masterpiece.

Walking Barefoot on Broken Glass

It has been a year of walking barefoot on broken glass. It is why I have not written much. Since writing exposes our deepest despair or highest hopes, such exposure seemed like a bad idea, and there have been few posts.

Thursday when I was helping fourth graders use the figurative language of metaphor, it fell from my head. This metaphor describes how I felt about this year's work in my elementary school library. A school library serves many functions. Independent reading, reinforcing literary concepts, (like figurative language), using technology, helping students learn to question, to think, to evaluate sources of information for validity...encouraging and coaching! Really that is it! That is all! ENCOURAGE AND COACH.

To know this and to not fulfill the mission is walking on broken glass. I walk on the glass not because I am ill-prepared, not eager, not willing. My feet bleed because I have failed to impress those who control funds with the value of a school library done well.

• A good library program requires planning time to carefully craft, in collaboration with teachers, the shape of student experience with data and analysis, their individual interaction with literature, their independent use of technology to achieve their goals.


• A good library program requires support staff to do the clerical work (shelving - repair-processing-cleaning checking in and out) as the librarian works with students or does planning and coaching.

So far this is pretty drenched in despair, right? That is where the metaphor takes over my thinking. What can I do with broken glass? For the next few days I will reflect on individual pieces of broken glass and maybe I will find my way through the metaphor to hope.

What if

I was listening to an NPR report about a fight between drug traffickers and the Mexican army in the small town, Villa Ahumada, just 60 miles from the border. The small town was controlled by a drug cartel. The numbers were shocking. "...spiraling drug war that killed more than 5,700 people across Mexico in 2008," The most shocking thing about the report is that these drug lords were using guns brought in from the U.S.

Suddenly my mind does what it does so well --- it spiraled from a drug war in Mexico to a preemptive war in Iraq -- to suicides by children-- and drive by shootings on our streets--- and suddenly I wondered---

What if....

What if the surgeon general posted a warning
"Guns may be harmful to your health! They often cause death, disfigurement, depression, and a host of related problems"?

What if those wounded by guns filed a class action suit against the manufacturers of these weapons? and

What if they won? and

What if the gun companies had to contribute billions of dollars of profit to a trust fund for those whose lives had been destroyed by gun violence?

What if gun manufacturers like tobacco farmers started looking for new crops to plant?
New ways to contribute to the GDP.

What if people who sold guns south of the border to drug lords
suddenly saw the error of their ways as they spent stretches in prison or did public service?

What if the 2nd amendment meant you could own a gun for hunting, but not a semi-automatic machine gun?

What if?

Black Doll in the White House!

I recently received an email from a friend about some of the difficulties the new 1st family will face, particularly Michelle Obama. The piece suggested that Michelle breaks many of the stereotypes of African American women and that finally "There will now be a black doll in the Whitehouse...." While its author may have meant that Michelle was a "black doll" it made me think---I wonder if there has not already been a black doll in the white house? A real doll, one made of ceramic or composite.

When Noelle (our daughter) was in kindergarten our children's choir was painting ceramic angels as gifts for parents to hang on family Christmas trees in very white households.

When Noelle had finished her painting --- I stood awe struck. One side of the angel was a cherubic white child with red hair (Noelle had red hair) The opposite side was painted a deep chocolate brown with black hair.


Some might have thought this schizophrenic, but I realized what a wonderful metaphor it was. Angels come in the colors of the rainbow! One of the parishioner had a beautiful handmade black raggedy Ann made for Noelle when she was a toddler! Francis explained the important role that an African American woman had played in her early childhood, and she believed Noelle needed at least one African American playmate!

I quickly heard from many other mothers that their children also had "multi-racial" dolls! No one ever accosted me in anger to comment on this fact.....maybe they were too stunned. My hope for my daughter was that she would grow up -- not unaware of color--- but appreciating the many varieties of color that God made us! And that some day skin color would have no more effect than hair color or freckles on what we thought of people we met!

All of that to say, maybe there has already been a black doll in the White House -- paving the way for the beautiful real, live, Michelle Obama!

Fingers of firelight on the wall

"This is the best day of my life!" The kindergartner in the front row looked up expectantly. The announcement that I would share a story elicited that exuberant exclamation. While they enjoy being read to, most students LOVE to hear/participate in a good story.

I laughed. My heart leaped up with joy. Seven small words had just altered the course of my entire day.

At school, without any clerical support, I cannot do the job justice. I am often torn between doing those things that make a library functional and those things that make a library soar....those things that focus on individual student needs and things that put the books on the shelf. What makes it possible to carry on is simply those sweet faces looking up expecting that something wonderful will happen within this inadequate space.

I would like my library to be a sanctuary. A place where children can come and seek knowledge or wisdom or imagination without being judged. I know that we must support the mission of learning to read. But that doesn't limit the real work of a library. Library is not a subject -- it is not about a particular type of media --- A library reaffirms that all of human knowledge can be organized and made accessible even to young minds. Its cornerstone is questioning and critical thought which challenges commonly held beliefs of grown-ups.

These lofty goals begin with a young child who loves to hear a story. The old tales and nursery rhymes carry the wisdom of our cultural heritage. The message of truth, faithfulness, unconditional love, justice, and mercy. The library may be the only place that students have the opportunity to experiment with these treasures.

"Who does not remember the old tales? Fingers of firelight on the wall, lances of
sleet on the shutter, Whoever does not remember the old tales has lost the key
that opens the door of life."

It should not come as a surprise that such magic depends less on reality than on a child's anticipation that today will be the best day of her entire life...as the tale begins.

I've done with flags

Last Saturday as I walked among the graves at Mt. Olivet, an ancient Southern cemetery, I was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. Next to many gravestones fresh Civil War battle flags were planted. These graves often had bronze plaques telling of their service to country (not the U.S.). They are maintained by Sons of the Confederate War Veterans who rightfully wish to preserve this piece of our heritage. Yet, as I looked around I was certain that some of these stones were also those of citizens who supported the Union (a word carefully avoided on the bronze plaques). Tennessee was the last state to secede and it was the first to re-unite with the Union following the conflict.

War always leaves a trail of death and hatred in its wake --- maybe that is what I was feeling when I wrote this:

I'm done with flags
That in death divide us
Fields of cloth stained red with blood
Charging into battle colors flying
To fields of green
Now soon-to-be stained red with blood

We mark the divides with
Graves that sprout stars and bars
Next to those that would sprout stars and stripes
While the dead lie, oblivious, at peace
Sharing the same earth
Sharing the same sky

It is left to the living
Who are stirred
By blood stained rags
Crying for "justice"
Crying "avenge the wrongs"
So that we, too,

Can charge into battle
Blood-stained colors flying
So that we, too, have their chance
To lie here in the same earth
Under the same sky
At peace with their mortal enemies

I'm done with flags
That in death divide us, the living!

Among the tombs....Shelley

I spent the afternoon with friends wandering among the tombstones in Mt. Olivet Cemetery here in Nashville. The skies were overcast and occassionally spit rain so we began our time together in Confederate Memorial Hall. This building built into the side of the hill was originally where bodies were stored for burial. In this crypt-like structure we learned about the many famous historical figures who were buried in this old cemetary. I was unprepared for how I would feel as I poked about among the graves. When the sun finally forced aside the clouds and the air became warmer, I sat under a beautiful old Magnolia tree listening to the cicadas sing. Unlike the dog days of summer, when they deafen, this song now was anemic rising to a crescendo and then stopping suddenly as if they forgot their purpose.

In the distance I heard the hymn of interstate traffic occassionally punctuated by a truck ratcheting up - shifting gears. As I sat observing, I noticed the old Magnolia was covered with the skeletons of thick vines that had long ago been hacked off at the ground level. There bones formed a thick network and at one time probably posed a threat to the survival of the tree itself. As my eyes traveled down the trunk my attention was caught by tiny green English Ivy all around its base. Some of these tiny ivy were beginning their relentless march up the trunk again. How transitory is the work we do!

It reminds me of the poem my great Uncle Frank used to quote to me as a young adult,

Ozymandias- Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,

Which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; .

And on the pedestal these words appear:

'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my works. Ye Mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

My Old Brown Earth; lament in joy

A dear friend died this month, far too young. It was not unexpected. She had cervical cancer years ago and the radiation had left a great deal of scar tissue that damaged her digestive system making it increasingly difficult to process food for her own nourishment. As I looked at her picture, it was hard to imagine a world without that infectious smile and those sparkling eyes. She was beautiful in every respect of the word with a spirit that welcomed, accepted, and encouraged her students and friends. I was deeply mourning the fact that her memorial occurs when I have a commitment at the opposite end of the country....and cannot attend.

Then, tonight, I was listening to a PBS tribute to Pete Seeger. It ended with his song...

To my old brown earth

And to my old blue sky

I'll now give these last few molecules of "I."

And you who sing,

And you who stand nearby,

I do charge you not to cry.

Guard well our human chain,

Watch well you keep it strong,

As long as sun will shine.

And this our home,

Keep pure and sweet and green,

For now I'm yours

And you are also mine.

Farewell dearest Sue. Your molecules are now scattered to the old brown earth and the old blue sky.....you are indeed stardust.....as you were golden.

Another year gone....

Each new school year comes to us unsoiled and fresh - new binders filled with pristine white paper waiting the touch of colorful ink from marvelous new glitter gel pens! Think back to those years when you were a school child getting ready for the excitement of a new school year. There was the organization of your underware and brand new socks that matched your wardrobe. Your clothes meticulously laid out and waiting the dawn. Maybe you loved getting everything organized – ready for that first morning when you arrived and found your name outside of one of the classrooms on a roster….REMEMBER?

It was for me always the idea of a fresh start – what I had failed to accomplish last year could be placed on this year’s to- do list. It was a time to acknowledge connections with the wider community of learners, A time to welcome another year, forgetting what was past and looking hopefully toward the future. It was a time to take stock of things. A time to celebrate all that was possible! All that lay ahead!

As we begin the year, I hear "There is so much to be done! We don't have time to do in depth planning now. It's a bad time of year. " Then by the time December rolls around I hear, " We really have to push for the TCAP (state mandated tests) at the moment. There are so many skills that must be mastered, we just don't have time right now to work on something that isn't directly related to testing." As the end of the year approaches I hear, "We are all so exhausted and all is so unsettled. We are not even sure what assignments we will have next year. It is not a good time to look ahead and plan for next year right now. ."

And so it goes, days pass, years vanish....and we walk sightless among the miracles. Change grinds so slowly, and in a world that values small discrete skills over creativity, imagination, and curiosity there is little incentive for the kind of shift that must take place. The state education agency which has taken over many of our schools because we are not meeting NCLB deadlines says innovation should be set aside until we master the basics --- but I wonder if this approach isn't entirely wrong headed.

When my daughter was in 1st grade and I eagerly attended my first parent teacher conference. I was stunned to learn that while others in her class were in readers, she was not. In my surprise I spoke candidly. "Noelle reads to me each night from the books I used as a second grade reading teacher."

"That's not possible." replied the astonished teacher."She is still having difficulty with diphthongs and ending blends." She pulled out some examples of phonics worksheets. Again in my surprise and candor, I said, "But she is reading fluently. Isn't phonics utilized to help children learn to read? Why would you insist on these phonics worksheets if a child is already reading?" I realized that I had crossed a line. Her demeanor altered and she stiffened noticeably. "All students must have a working knowledge of phonics if they are to succeed in reading" was her response.

It is still the same. Students must demonstrate that they know their letter sounds even if they arrive reading! We seem mired in formulas. There is lip service in technology to reform and using authentic learning experiences where children participate in their education in a more direct way, but this philosophy flies in the face of the back to basics, linear, one size fits all approach that happens in most skills instruction.

Everything we know says children are unique and learn via different modalities. Their learning is paced not by age or grade, but by the interaction of experience, support, and other variables. Students must interact and create meaningful connections with their understanding and new information. How long will it be before teachers receive the kind of support they need to change this teaching model?

We measure what we value?

We have just completed our spring standardized testing rituals at school, and once again I am left with that empty feeling that what we measure is not what we need to be measuring. Many people have warned us about this over the years of the 20th century.

We measure I.Q. and assign vast importance to this figure. Yet, as I grow older I wonder just what it really measures. We force students to take SATs and ACTs and GREs to predict if they can succeed in college. I wonder if these tests really predict success? Here is an amazingly important challenge issued to what we test for during the 1968 presidential election by Robert Kennedy.

Thinking about Metaphors and Monday!

Monday, April 28th, will be a staff development day. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a whole day to spend exploring--listening to inspiring speakers, talking about 21 century education and how it is different from what we are doing, sharing our dreams and our fears! Wouldn't it be great to spend the day getting comfortable and acquainted with some of the ideas that all the new technology is designed to bring us? What happened on Friday brought all these thoughts bubbling to the surface.

A teacher asked for help saving a project that a middle school student had produced and loaded on the school's homepage. Unfortunately, her district machine had been locked down, and she had no rights to download the current edition of Quicktime, to make seeing it possible. I could display the project on my laptop because I had the right software, but I could not burn it to my CD. I tried several different routes, but had no success, and since I'm not permitted the right click I couldn't even trouble shoot. I will have to wait until our faithful technician shows up.

Disappointed, when I told her I couldn't find a way to do it. she said. "I can't believe you couldn't do it." Puzzled, I looked at her and said, "Why, do you say that?" Her response? "You know everything about this stuff."

"How can you say that? There are a million things I don't know," I shot back incredulous! Her reality and mine were certainly at odds. Over the past seven years, I disconnected from technology because of an unsupportive environment. As a result I feel as much of a novice as I did in 1993. Still this teacher thought of me as an expert.

This difference between what is and what we believe to be is one reason we have a critical need for time together to explore what is available, to see places where technology is being integrated wisely, and to try on different technologies to see what fits us.

One of the things we need to explore is this dynamic that someone knows everything --- the guru. The metaphor for technology is a network where everyone contributes. We need to help everyone catch a glimpse of it. We share its blessings and struggle with it curses together -- equally. The truth is that those at the top of the network don't know how to do everything either. Because of increasing complexity, we all need to share what we learn as we become comfortable with it. The Laubach model of literacy applies. Each one teach one.

Playing the Organ is a little like Web 2.0

Incorporating Web 2.0 tools has been a goal for me at school this year. The fact that I am so slow to incorporate these tools places me at the bottom of the food chain of educational technology bloggers. My experience this year has reminded me of a distant time when my husband was studying Organ Performance at Syracuse University. I had been playing the piano for a long time, but certainly not at the level of a keyboarding student at Syracuse. I thought it would be fun to learn to play the organ, too, and Will O. Headlee who was the head of the Organ Department obliged by offering me lessons.



I was thinking how Web 2.0 is very like my experience on the organ. Being a listener or receiver of the beauty of the instrument is what the Internet has been about...but now it is interactive and messy and like an automic reaction as people contribute their gifts....So it was for me. I would contribute, my meager talents to the long line of those who played at this console.

I don't know why Headlee decided to extend himself for me. Perhaps he thought it would be interesting to teach someone so lacking in gifts. Perhaps it was a chance to hone his skills on someone who was a rank beginner. In any case, once a week I went for my lesson on the Magnificent Holtkamp that dominated Crouse Hall. I let my own embarrassment interfere with what might have been a really remarkable experience. I was so embarrassed, I would get up to do my practice on the majestic instrument at 3:00 a.m. on Friday mornings. I wanted to be certain that no one to heard me.

It is not so different now. I deal with teachers who feel embarrassed because they are coming late to the table. I want them to know that there is a place at the table for them and for me. We are all late to dinner. Me because I have been out of the loop for the past seven years, and they because they were not being propelled into technology by our district. They are just beginning to experience some of the blessings that will make them want to be more proficient users.

With luck we will all have a Will O. Headlee of technology who rather than make fun of our foibles will consider it an opportunity to learn and hone her own technology teaching. Above is the Holtcamp Organ being played just this January....It still looks and sounds as awe-inspiring as I remember it!

Ferengi is US - How much am I bid for the future of education?

Bowker published its Annual with some ominous data, and independent publishers discussed the changing landscape where hedgefunds buy and sell them forcing staff cuts and requiring a 25% profit on any book published. In the past, wildly popular books helped to pay for those which were deemed worthwhile, but not so profitable. Harry Potter could have supported several hundred perhaps. Benefit to society? PRICELESS!

Independent bookstores used to buy niche books and stock unusual gems waiting to be discovered, but large chains pushed them out of business. We consoled ourselves with the thought that at least there were a number of national chains - Today I read that Borders may be going under- falling prey to Barnes & Noble. Independence and diversity? Cost to society? PRICELESS!

Libraries once had the buying power to keep independents alive, but Cuts to library funding are ever popular in a world where personal gain is the yardstick by which to measure success. Impact of the Loss of Library purchasing power? PRICELESS

Libraries are pressured to throw out (weed) books that are more than a few years old. They no longer provide an opportunity for authors to be discovered or re-discovered on a dusty shelf by that unique reader. In doing this they are forced to ignore Ranganathan's 2nd & 3rd laws. As a result authors do not have the time needed to find their readers because the time they sit on a shelf waiting for that right reader to arrive is too short. Cost to readers? PRICELESS

I remember the joy of finding Generation of Vipers on my high school library shelf in the late 1960s. Published in 1942, I glimpsed a world that was already disappearing. That book lead me to Wylie's ficitonal classic, When Worlds Collide, published in 1933. My librarian would have been given a warning for having aged tomes on her shelves in today's world. But, thankfully that was a different time, and I, the reader found my books! Today, readers are denied the joy of finding such treasures. Cost to Authors and Publishers and readers? PRICELESS!

As a school librarian I am writing about these issues because reading and learning are individual and personal - they cannot be mass produced - they spread virally. I am writing about this because thinking and learning cannot be reduced to a profit/loss or test/measure mentality.

Finally, I am writing about this because the gift of education is not the sole purview of formal public or private schools and universities!

As a public librarian in Clovis, N.M., in the 1980s, I used to travel to Albuquerque to visit a marvelous children's bookstore, Tresspassers William. It was owned and operated by a free spirit, Gwynne Spencer. She was a beuatiful woman prone to wear Indian bedspreads, trailing long, wild ,curly hair, and effusing about the latest childrens book! I used to look forward to her monthly newsletter filled with the newest and best books, and great ideas to help children respond to them! I learned about storytelling from her after I had started telling tales in my story hour. Her bookstore sponsored workshop after workshop with the finest people in the West! In so doing she provided one of the invaluable services that books,bookstores and libraries provide; they are the University of Life-Long Learning. How can we calculate the economic impact of that? It is truly PRICELESS!

So what does this have to do with the Ferengi? The Ferengi were a race of beings who valued only the material and the ability of each Ferengi to create personal wealth. The concept of greater good did not exist for them! Can America be far behind? Everything we do is based in profit. Education, health care, even prisons are privatized!

As educators we are to educate children so that they can integrate into the workforce and to the extent that we succeed in this task we are deemed to have value. The problem is the workplace and indeed the world is shifting beneath us and we are training a workforce for jobs that will not exist when today's kindergarteners graduate! We continue to measure discrete skills in a world that needs something we are not measuring! The cost of measuring the wrong thing? PRICELESS!

I read with deep sadness that our Mayor, Karl Dean, here in Nashville, (a mayor I voted for) has decided to fully fund "education" (I should be cheering, right?) BUT to do this he is cutting Public Library services. Clearly he and others on the 1% of the LCurve have missed the point. Indeed, he is not fully funding education when he cuts public library funding!

How costly this is to our societey (if we measure using something other than money) would be difficult to assess. I'd like to ask my wise friend, Gwynne how she would do it.

If you find this confusing -- watch this video which is on You Tube -- but I have included it from a new site which allows you to view it in many languages -- how about Esperanto?

Is the Story Enough?

Meaning, in the end, is always a private construct built from the brick of our experience, and the mortar of our mood. In conversation we have opportunities (taken or not) to clarify the speaker's meaning.

Editing allows the print author precision of expression, but still the reader constructs the meaning. Until we can read each others thoughts, communication both oral and written will be problematic. Oral and literate communicatoin rely on completely different skills and yet they are wed in a remarkable way. It is a paradox.

Moving from a pre-literate to a literate culture changed the way in which humans thought. Now we may be moving in the dirction of post-literacy if some of what I have been reading is correct.

At a workshop I atttended recently, the presenter considered the impact technology has on reading and thought. He described a recent event at nearby Vanderbilt University where a student presented his thesis proposal to his professor on a post-it note.

"Y IPL BFD o +"

For those of us for whom text messaging remains a mystery it translates - "Why the Internet is the biggest F____ deal of our lives."

In his research he asked several professors about the declining use of standard English. One told him that she no longer marks down for spelling, punctuation, and errors in grammar. If the student can cogently argue her point it is enough.

It reminds me of the old Jewish story in which the Rabbi, whenever danger threatens, goes into the forest, lights a fire, and recites a prayer after which the danger passes. He is followed by a succession of Rabbis who take up his mantle. Each one forgets a part of the ritual until the last Rabbi can only tell the story -- but God is gracious and the story is enough...and danger is averted.

So for me this past couple of weeks the question has been -- will technology ultimately improve our thinking and deepen it or will it, as Neil Postman suggests, only broaden exposure as we amuse ourselves ourselves to death? Will the story be enough?

Footnote: My thinking is formed here by my experience as a storyteller and observing both the lake of density in oral language and the impact of story on a group of listeners as compared to impact of exposition (most sermons fall into this category) on listeners. Here is a link that summarizes a lot of the thought beginning int he 1960s regarding this oral/literate divide and its implications for society. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/litoral/litoral1.html

Informing my thinking were these books - Savage Mind - Claude Levi-Strauss, Orality& Literacy - Walter Ong, Preface to Plato - Eric Havelock

Words, words, words

Words, Words, Words.....



Eliza Doolittle is talking about love, but the words are equally appropriate for technology in education. For the past 15 years computers and internet connections have dramatically increased in schools, but this doesn’t seem to have improved student outcomes. It is not just the luddites who are questioning the impact of every increasing technology.

Peter Salovey, Dean of Yale College said,

A stunning trend is emerging for the first time ever. We test incoming freshmen with a general knowledge instrument, then test them again when they graduate. For the past three years, the majority of our students score higher as freshmen than they do as seniors—on the exact same test. The reality is, many of our students know less when they graduate than when they entered.

Carolyn Wakeman, Professor at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

The most alarming change I have witnessed is in the literacy of our students., Twenty years ago most journalism students were avid readers and testing placed them at a college reading level. We currently have students that read nothing outside of class assignments and a few test as low as third grade reading level.

It is difficult to be in the midst of monumental change and understand what is really happening. As a person of a certain age, I straddle both the digital technology age and the world in which reading and listening to an expert were the beginning of knowledge.

Could the change be as dramatic as the shift in consciousness that occurred between the oral and literate world with the introduction of the printing press? Reading had been around for centuries, but until technology made it possible to mass-produce books the culture remained an oral one. It is no accident that the paintings in the Sistene Chapel “tell” the story of the Bible from beginning to end.
Claude Levi-Strauss who studied the differences between oral and literate cultures pointed out that once people could read and write memory dropped dramtically. One of the unitended consequences of the literate revolution was that human memory atrophied.

It is time to look at the unintended consequences of technology. As McCluhen indicated, are we moving back toward a pre-literate consciousness?
So along with our struggle to move technology into the schools we need to talk also about which of these consequences need to be welcomed and which need to be combated.

My Audacity of HOPE

The darkest hour is just before dawn! The first time I heard this lyric I was a teen listening to the Mamas and the Pappas. I came of age in the turbulant dark hours of the late 60s and early 70s.

Still in the chaos and darkness of assisination and riot, I believed that dawn would arrive. My generation would usher it in! We would end war, poverty, racism, sexism, and wait quiety for the second coming! Well, perhaps I wasn't that optimistic, perhaps, I only had the audacity to be hopeful.

Today in the world of Web 2.0, I feel that same rush of hope that dawn is just over the horizon. In the darkness before this dawn several librarian friends and one technology coach have met for dinner during the deep months of winter to share food, company, and technology. But as I think about the dawn, I am forced to wornder what the light will reveal. How much of the landscape will I recognize?

Fifteen years ago, when I first began to use the Internet I thought about the changes hyptertext made in the way we understand text. The linear tyranny of the author is gone as readers construct meaning in their unique way.

Today, I am stunned by the Web 2.0 tools that speed up the disintegration of the old ladnscape. Then today I ran across this little video on You Tube - http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

In a virtual world what will dawn reveal?