Happy New Year

Lately I have been catching myself making greetings like, 'Have a Merry Christmas!' and then remembering that I live in one of the most diverse cities in the World - with a rich woven myriad of creeds. I have come to the understanding that a lovely, and universal greeting to recall is the New Year. Although the calenders of some cultures vary in its time, all people understand and celebrate renewal each year. Here is Happy New Year greetings in a few languages from around the world.

Happy New Year!

سنة سعيدة - Kul 'am wa antum bikhair
Arabic

Shana Tova ראש השנה
Rosh Hashanah, the 'head of the Year' is Jewish New Year.

Bonne année
French

Feliz año nuevo
Spanish

'С Новым Годом! - s Novym godom
Russian

新年快乐

Mandarin
Chinese Lunar New Year/Spring Festival -


Heri za Mwaka Mpya
Swahili

Our Most Untapped Resource

"Educate a boy, and your educate and individual.
Educate a girl, and you educate a community. "
- African proverb via Greg Mortensen


"When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life. "
- Kofi Annan


"Women hold up half the sky."
- Mao Tse-Tung via 'Half the Sky' by Nicholas D. Kristof


*All photos by me, Rebecca Thom (Tanzania, Togo and Ghana)

Give a Little, It Will Mean A Lot

Emilie from Chad lives in the Bronx with her husband Bour

Another organization I can wholly support this holiday season is the work and efforts of the IRC. The International Rescue Committee works with refugees who have fled violence and persecution in their home countries. A fortunate few are granted sanctuary in the United States, where the IRC helps families resettle in a world very different from their own.

• We prepare adults to become self-sufficient by offering job skills training, English classes, job placement assistance, cultural orientation to life in America and practical advice including help negotiating public transportation and navigating financial systems.

• We invest in children by making sure they enroll in school and have access to tutoring, mentoring and recreational activities.

• We strengthen families through parenting classes and counseling. And we ensure every refugee has access to health services.

• We provide emergency housing assistance while refugees work to secure employment so that homelessness is never an option.

Give a holiday gift that helps refugees in your local community:

Your donation will support these efforts and will help newly resettled refugees in your community move beyond surviving and start thriving. And, when you choose one of the following gifts in honor of friends and loved ones by December 15, IRC will send them a personalized holiday card in your name.

A $25 gift can provide a backpack full of supplies for a refugee child starting school in the U.S.

A $75 gift can provide essential household supplies for a newly resettled refugee family including blankets, sheets and cooking utensils.

A $150 gift can provide emergency housing assistance to a refugee family.

A $300 gift can provide job training to help a refugee woman become a certified home daycare provider.

Conscious Christmas Shopping

I live in New York City - Where the month of November is but a gearing up for Black Friday, in a country where people leave their homes before digesting their turkey in order to get in line for the grand sales of the next day.

Yet, our country is edging towards a 10% unemployment rate. Couldn't we be doing more this season than just dashing for the next sale?

Here are just a few sustainable initiatives which have sparked my attention this Holiday Season, among others:

- Heifer International - You can give a Heifer, sheep or flock of ducks along with many other livestock, which provides someone in a developing nation with means to a sustainable living.

- Kate Spade and Women for Women International have created a partnership in Afghanistan and Bosnia, making quality goods while providing high wage jobs.

Both of these Afghan-made knitwear products can be bought in Kate Spade Boutiques in New York.

Ten-Thousand Villages also has goods from all over the world using Fair Trade Practices.

The World in 2011

This week I had the utmost pleasure of volunteering for The Economist's Annual Conference: The World in 2011 in New York City. In attendance were great thinkers and architects from disciplines across the board, and viewpoints voiced from around the world. Between speakers the two screens on either side of the stage played videos from citizens in Moscow, Shanghai, Jerusalem and Antarctica giving their predictions for the world in 2036.

Although some of the talks were dismal in news, a few speakers really caught my attention. Here I will only name two.

The first was a panel of remarkable women,

Mu Sochua, Member of Parliament, Cambodia,
Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO, Women for Women International
and Kah Walla, Director, Strategies S.A.

This talk made up the 'Women's Economy,' the most untapped, and fastest growing sector. The resounding message was clear; Women are taking the helm. Marcia Reynolds recently blogged a similar mantra in the Huffington Post titled, The Decade of the Woman is Upon us. She writes;

"In addition to the powerful worldwide consumer force that women represent today, factors such as urban migration, increased access to education, mobile technologies, micro-credit and low-market entry costs will create a global "she-conomy" where over one billion women will enter the workforce or start businesses by 2020."

Mu Sochua started her predictions naming women, the "she-economy" as the way forward in 2011. " As she as in economy, and she as in business," she said. Zainab reiterated, marking the need for inclusion for women not only in the micro- but also the macro- levels. Women need markets that are provided by the private sector. For example, Kate Spade, who has started outsourcing to a community of Afghan women, creating jobs while also responding to the consumer's demand to information and fair production. This is the way forward.

Girls in Kigoma, Tanzania, 2010.

Click here for more about the Women for Women and Kate Spade Partnership in Afghanistan.

Another deeply interesting speaker was Nick Shore, Senior Vice President of Strategic Consumer Insights and Research at MTV. His research of late has consisted of deep inquiry into the Millenial generation. The Y-gens are the single largest generational cohort in the history of the US, he started. They're rather narcissistic, he described, and yet they are the most powerful influencing factor propelling change. And research suggests that change is already here.

Take the nuclear family for example. In the past the configuration was the children radiating from the parents at the nucleus. Now he said, the children are designated the nucleus of the family. The children have become the main focus, and the family now operated more like a democracy, or 'peer-ocracy' than traditional family structures of the past.

Kids are living in an era of 'peer-ticipation' and 'peer-iarchy,' where everything is broadcast to friends and family. Youth have a voice more than ever, Shore said.

As social interface holds no boundaries this also means that increasingly youth do not find the time or space to reflect or spend time alone. I believe this new social paradigm will require changes in schools, to provide students with opportunities to quieten their brains from all of the information and chatter. Learning meditation or some other mind-body conditioning seems a healthy way for students to have the opportunity to check in with themselves, not to mention their bodies.

Another fantastic conference from The Economist community.

Why I'm loving 'Stones into Schools'

"Haji Ali spoke. ‘If you want to thrive in Baltistan, you must respect our ways. The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die. Doctor Greg, you must take time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated but we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time.’ That day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned in my life. We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly…Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them."

— Greg Mortenson 'Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time'

Photo from 'Three Cups of Tea'

Haji Ali was the Pakistani village elder that found and hosted Mortenson when he became lost after a failed attempt at climbing K2. The respect and integrity of this first relationship became the foundation for Greg's vision to help build schools in the far reaches of Pakistan, and eventually Afghanistan. Greg understood that in order to work with the communities he would have to build deep relationships, understand the complex tribal customs and languages and employ local members of the community. His team in Pakistan, the dirty dozen, he calls them, is made up of numerous different tribes and professional backgrounds. Some are educated, others are former Taliban members. Their common goal is to help build schools for children.

Greg Mortenson's NGO, the Asia Institute has built schools, and community-led projects throughout deeply rural areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. His story, told in both adult and children's versions of 'Three Cups of Tea' and the more recent, 'Stones into Schools,' accounts how balanced education is actually a mode of peace building, reducing the occurrence of students getting recruited into extremist Madrassas.

Mortenson understands the importance of working respectfully with local custom. His contracts with new projects always commence with the Islamic prelude,

'Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim'

(In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the beneficial)

Then, he underlines why they must build a school (i.e. Usually because the government has not provided one). 'The Central Asia Institute will provide building materials, skilled labor, school supplies, and help with teachers' salary and training,' he writes,
while, 'the local community, under local governance agrees to provide free land, subsidized manual labor and support for teachers.'

Then, they promise that the exact terms will be worked out after a jirga is convened. A jirga is a traditional council session, a formal gathering of elders sitting in a circle on a carpet, or under a tree, and as a rule the participants are forbidden from adjourning until consensus has been achieved around a decision. This means that it is only with the full support of a community that a project will get underway.
,
Other than his adept character, ceaseless work and courage, Mortenson understands the importance of sitting with the village elders, of taking the time to do it right. His approach has allowed him to build hundreds of schools in one of the most removed and dangerous regions of the world.

It is a lesson in Peace.

Elders, they're good n' plenty

My first friend in America was Ruth Henderson, a small, bright-eyed woman with soft white curls around her face. I had arrived in Oregon from England during the spring of first grade, and Ruth was one of the first people at school not to bother me for my accent. From the onset of our first discussion we commenced a dear friendship. She was 93. Despite her age Ruth was agile and vibrant. I went for tea at her home on a few occasions and can remember vividly the smells, her artwork and books stacked on the walls and shelves and the life in her voice when she told me stories of world travel. Even as I got older Ruth would visit me in my other classrooms when she would come back to volunteer for the first grade reading program; One day she brought me a little jewelery box filled with good n' plenties and a tiny gold ring with a small ruby embedded. I still wear it now, on my pinkie. I still remember Ruth everyday, though it's not because of the ring, it's because she was my first memorable mentor.

Perhaps I was a strange child, but I have always loved intergenerational closeness. It seems to me that elders and youth share a sweet, mutual sub-didactic. That is, there is a great deal of communication, learning and engaging - on a very elemental level. There have been times that I have connected deeply with an elder in the absence of a common language. Youth need elders, and elders need youth. It is a basic and age old formula.

Fez Orator tells a story to a group of young men. Morocco, 2007. -RT

Yet, we have forgotten. Western custom today dictates separation between ages. Kids in school are separated by age, rather than passion and our elderly are politely put away in retirement homes. It is my humble opinion that placing our Grandparents and Parents in homes only diminishes prospects of longevity. It cuts them off from life.

I just read about a superb program in Oklahoma, where they built a preschool classroom encased in glass, in the heart of The Grace Living Center, a Retirement home foyer. The retirees were naturally interested in the sprightly kids and some offered to volunteer time. That being so, Book Buddies was conceived; a partnership of elders and preschoolers who read to them aloud. The reading levels have since soared and many of the retirees diminished their doses of medication as a result of surging levels of vitality.

Are we tapping into our intergenerational treasure-chest enough? I don't think so. I believe it is an essential move in fostering greater understanding in an era when things are changing more quickly than we know how to grasp. We need the dialogue and shared learning between generations; A first grader can give technological support to a 90 year old, and the elder can help the child master reading, listening and the ever-valuable offering of engagement.

You can read more about the Grace Living Center partnership with Oklahoma Public Schools ain this edutopia article, or where I discovered the story, in Sir Ken Robinson's book; 'The Element; How finding your Passion can Change Everything.'

Single-Use Plastic is of no use.

Although the world's oceanic gyres are largely imperceptible from land, these are the kind of systems that youth need to be grappling with. How does Consumption lead to Pollution, Circulation, Accumulation and Ingestion?

Ocean Gyre : is a kind of vortex, a large system of rotating ocean currents, particularly those involved with strong wind movements.

Plastic gets caught within the forceful currents of these gyres and, because it is made to last, will stay in the ocean for decades, not degrading, but breaking down into smaller bits. The North Pacific gyre is most heavily researched for plastic pollution - It spans roughly twice the size of the United States, though it shifts in mass and shape with the sea and changes in ocean current. There are efforts being made to understand these vast bodies of collected debris, yet, the real difference will take place from efforts on the ground. It is our habits that must change. We honestly have no use for single-use plastics. Can you eliminate them from your household?

Light on Plastic. South Eastern Coastline of Ghana. 2009

The most devastating aspect of the disposable-products era is that the inventions of the west have been shipped abroad. Most developing nations have survived throughout the ages without plastic, but now it is ubiquitous in markets, littered along the sides of the road and strewn across beaches such as this one in Ghana.

Here is a fantastic educational website about the oceans 5 Gyres. I learned a great deal about the ocean's health this weekend at TEDx Brooklyn; Here is a blog written by one of the speakers which focuses on plastic reduction.

Learning on the streets of Fez

Or, 'An Introduction to Globalization Education...'

Fez is Morocco’s spiritual capital. Like Morocco’s larger cities Fez is divided between the medina, the ancient, walled city and the new city with its supermarkets, boutiques, cafés and high-rise buildings. The call to prayer chimes and echoes throughout the city five times daily, reminding all of their place. However, unlike the uniformity of the prayers, the people are contrasting – Even within one family. Walking down the cobbled street there are three women, three generations walking arm in arm. The grandmother is covered from head to toe in a black burqa, leaving only her eyes visible, her daughter is wearing a simple hijab, leaving only her face exposed, while the granddaughter is dressed in the latest fad of jeans and a soft, form-fitting blouse. Her hair is exposed, blow-dried into a large coiffure, much like Egyptian pop singers on television. She is speaking French into her cell phone. As I look at them I recognize the significance of our time. We live in a global era, where modernity clashes with tradition and boundaries are no longer dictated by the nation state. There has been little foresight for the unprecedented scope of globalization we have entered. Tradition and culture are fluid and ever changing and schools too, must make changes to prepare and empower youth to be citizens in the 21^st century.

"…what a difference it would make to our understanding if we looked at the world as a whole, a totality, a system, instead of as a sum of self-contained societies and cultures; if we understood better how this totality developed over time; if we took seriously the admonition to think of human aggregates as “inextricably involved with other aggregates, near and far, in weblike, netlike connections.

- Wolf, Europe and the People Without History

BK Recycles

In Oregon most homes are provided with, and make good use of a few plastic boxes in which you neatly separate all your recyclable goods, even plastics. Then, once a week you put your boxes out on the street and the Recycling truck swings by, smiling, and takes them away. It feels good. It's a system you can have faith in.

Needless to say, when I moved to NY three years ago I was horrified by the notable insufficiency of Recycling here. For my first year in Lefferts Gardens I was one of the only tenants who placed my bottles and tins outside, separated from the rubbish. Then I moved to Bushwick, to an old industrial hood in an expeditiously developing area. My landlord promises me that the private garbage company separates recyclables from trash - but my conscience just can't take the mindless mingling of garbage, paper and bottle all in one place.

Asf I settled into living here, gradually noticing the depth of my ecology - I started to uncover a very productive recycling system at play. New York City's garbage sector is run by private enterprise; thus, it operates very much like a business - and is quite difficult to grasp. However, there is a folk system occurring on the streets. Intricately run by immigrant families, and those who have caught on and need the extra dimes to make ends meet. NY's garbage piles on the streets and in rubbish bins provide a plethora of potential petty cash.


Immigrants make up 37% of New York's population and 48% of its labor force. Earlier in August a report was released that the effects of the current Recession are effecting immigrant unemployment at a greater rate than Native citizens. The unemployment rate among immigrants in the country was at 4% at the beginning of the recession, and rose to 8.8% during the first months of 2010.

I decided to follow the system at play in my own neighborhood and found staggering results. Each night and early morn people from all over the world walk the streets of their communities in Brooklyn and collect recyclable materials from garbage heaps. Families will separate around neighborhoods, then rejoin, like flocks of birds - ending at places like the 'Redemption Center' on Flushing Avenue. It is a processing hub for old cans and bottles to be separated and amassed with corresponding brands; the result is a stockpile of thousands of cans of Red Bull, Bud or Papbst bagged together, which will actually get returned back to their respective corporations. The people congregate there, separate their goods and are redeemed for the work with a 5 cent bottle return. Some families come with vans full of industrial size garbage bags, containing thousands of bottles and cans.

We must each analyze the system at work in our own neighborhoods and decide the best way to take part. We can all separate our recyclable items, and even make them more readily accessible to the people whom are using the system to all of our benefit.

The Right to Speak

Language is our soul.
(Aunty Rose Fernando, Gamilaroi Elder, 1998)

Image by Alex Simpson, flikr

Thousands of Tibetan Students gather in Western China to protest the proposal to eliminate Tibetan language from schools. From Beijing to the Western, Tibetan Plateau students and activists are gathering peacefully, in the name of preservation. The curbing of indigenous languages in schools is not a new, nor novel occurrence -

The sheer elevation that makes up the Tibetan plateau makes it the highest region on earth, often described as the 'roof of the world.' It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, among an increasing diversity of others - and operates as 'autonomous areas' within the People's Republic of China. Invasions of this antiquated, culturally astounding home to Tibetan Buddhism and way of life have been occurring for centuries - and from many directions. Prior to and throughout the span of the 20th and into the 21st century the Tibetan people have been subjugated by outside forces. Despite proclaiming Independence in 1915, China has kept a strong-hold rule on the region's people, culture, and now, economy.

The decision to wane the use of Standard Tibetan in schools is just another incarnation of Chinese cultural domination. It is a gradual removal of the very heart of the Tibetan People. To speak your mother tongue is to be empowered. China has been making efforts to strengthen the economy with greater expanse, throughout more regions. However, we live in an era in which the knowledge economy is a deep component of economic development. Thus, the perpetuation of mother-tongue languages in schools could actually empower the people themselves, within their own communities. Issuing freedom is a profound passageway to development - whilst fostering self-determination.



This is a very unshrinking Tibetan blogger's view.

Kahil Gibran; On Teaching

by Kahil Gibran of Lebanon, 1883-1931

No man can reveal to you aught but that
which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple,
among his followers,
gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom,
but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space,
but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space,
but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge,
so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God
and in his understanding of the earth.

A New Kind of Placement Testing

A view of Manhattan from Bushwick, Brooklyn, by Rebecca Thom.

I'm currently reading an amazing book that my best friend, an environmental educator, bestowed on me years ago -
'Deep Ecology; Living as if Nature Mattered.' It provides great breadth to notions of ecology through exploration of 'the philosophical, psychological, and social roots of today's environmental movement.'

I like this self-scoring test on basic environmental perceptions of place. Though, it may be more complicated for the average urban inhabitant, it is nevertheless a very good idea for all of us to ask ourselves...

Where you at?

1. Trace the water you drink from precipitation to tap.
2. How many days until the moon is full (plus or minus a couple of days)?
3. Describe the soil around your home.
4. What were the primary subsistence techniques of the culture(s) that lived in your area before you?
5. Name five edible plants in your bioregion and their season(s) of availability.
6. From what direction do winter storms generally come in your region?
7. Where does your garbage go?
8. How long is the growing season where you live?
9. On what day of the year are the shadows shortest wear you live?
10. Name five trees in your area. Any of them Native? If you can't name them, describe them.
11. Name five resident and any migratory birds in your area.
12. What is the land use history by humans in your bioregion in the past century?
13. What primary geological event/process influenced the land form where you live?
14. What species have become extinct in your area?
15. What are major plant associations in your region?
16. From where you are reading this, point north.
17. What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom where you live?
18. What kind of rocks and minerals are found in your bioregion?
19. Where the stars out last night?
20. Name some beings (nonhuman) which share your place.
21. Do you celebrate the turning of the summer and winter solstice? If so, how do you celebrate?
22. how many people live next door to you? What are there names?
23. How much gasoline do you use a week, on the average?
24. What energy costs you the most money? What kind of energy is it?
25. What developed and potential energy resources are in your area?
26. What plans are there for massive development of energy or mineral resources in your bioregion?
27. What is the largest wilderness area in your bioregion?

(The test originally appeared in CoEvolution, no. 23, winter 1981 - and was adapted for 'Deep Ecology, 1985)

Unaffected beauty

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I am grateful to the images posted around New York City; they are riveting, prepossessing and raw. Exposing the truth is transcendent.

If you know someone who has been diagnosed, there is a beautiful and courageous duo of women in Oregon, Sharon Henifen and Becky Olsen who started a non-profit called Breast Friends which is an immeasurable fount of support to women and families who are facing a diagnosis of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other women's cancers.

Local, Organic and Sun Powered

"Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people." ~Elizabeth Berry

I recently visited Hepworth farms in the Hudson valley. It is 400 acres of pristine, storybook farmland overlooking the Hudson river. The family has been tilling the soil there since 1818; that's seven generations. Amy Hepworth is now at the helm, and has been transforming the tradition of the farm since the early eighties when she returned from Cornell with a more holistic view of agriculture. Amy and her partner Gerry now run the most flourishing independent organic farm in New York. Amy has aptly been named a 'rockstar' farmer.

Amy and Gerry Hepworth with one of their employees.

As we drove through the fields on her tractor it became clear to me that for a vision of this propensity and courage to work; the farmer must be dedicated to her people, to the integrity of organic farming - and she has to be willing to work hard and against all forces of weather and mainstream agriculture. Hepworth is all of these, and she eats maggots as well as sharing her softer side to the three men I am visiting with; the founders of Brooklyn Salsa - who source most of their ingredients directly through Amy.

Hepworth is at the forefront of sustainable, organic and local farming.

In the field outside her simple processing office there are three enormous solar panels, tilted toward the beautiful early-October sun. Amy has been exploring solar power since the eighties. She is a fount of knowledge, with a wide understanding of where the food industry has been, and where it must go. She is a real woman holding strong to her creed in REAL FOOD.

Brooklyn Salsa Guys; Matt, Rob and Casey get excited over Solar Power.

The Hepworth family story is an inspiring one, and would be a great lesson in science or understanding food source, the interrelations of people and place. For example, if we take two pieces of fruit; An apple from Hepworth and a pink lady apple from New Zealand and traced their stories back - asking questions of source - What would we find? I believe that by tapping into our local folk and food sources, we are able to learn more about the industry that feeds us and how it effects the greater ecology. At Hepworth it's all about ecological sustainability; refusing to sell more of just one thing because she persists on diversifying her crops.

Amy Hepworth's personality style is not for the faint at heart; she is hardcore, intelligent and brazen (and loves operating big machinery). I believe she is an amazing teacher. A handsome rendition of the modern farmer. Of course, she doesn't have time to teach kids about what she is doing, but I do ..and you might too.

You can read more about their farm and story here. Or buy her unbelievably inspiring produce at Whole Foods or the Park Slope Food CoOp in NY.

Inter-generational exchange of Ideas

The Economist is currently running a series of Conferences that duly make up the Ideas Economy, 'bringing together the top thinkers, and you to discuss the most important issues of our time.' Most recently there was a conference in New York City, which centered on the theme of 'Human Potential.' The speakers and debates were focused on ideas about human nature, education, entrepreneurship, technology and economy. You can read more about the Economists' 'Ideas Economy' here. Or read my post on the new Economist Ideas blog.


One debate, on education in NY especially piqued my interest. It was a flavorful exchange from the esteemed education historian Diane Ravitch and the Charter School Queen Eva Moskowitz. It was especially interesting because Diane speaks from a perceptive historical background, while Eva is on the ground, trying to make things work in the city. Both can agree that education has gone too far astray with the test-based system, and that in order to manage, education must become more individualized. Change must begin with the teachers. More cooperation between teachers and unions is needed. But the real change, Ravitch said, is changing the idea of prescribed learning, a return to learning before bureaucracy.

At lunch the talks continued, and people had the opportunity to share ideas they had - then everyone voted.

Most of the debates and speakers were representatives of the boomer and X generations. However there was a visible presence of the work-force-emergent Y-generation. The topic of one debate concerned Generation Y and questions of Social Media and cultural trends with this wave. The panel included such Generation experts as Tammy Erickson, the author of 'What's Next, Gen X,' and Linda Stone, a Writer and 'Generalist.' I love this term, Generalist. Both of these women were intelligent, engaging and inspirational. What's more, they both spoke as if they understood and celebrated Generation Y - which wasn't the case with the majority of the speakers. Various other speakers had referred to the Y-gen with all the blanket myths, they're 'lazy,' 'without talent,' 'too casual' etc. Stone was pleased with the confidence that 20 and 30-somethings have today.

It was important to have a few Y-generation representatives on the panel - Which both challenged and affirmed different beliefs about the group. But in reality, there is a broad spectrum of people and ways of living within each generation - Yes, there are some trends and historical alterations, but generations must not be held as something determined. This was illustrated within the group, in the great range of values within and between us.

That is why is it so essential that the dialogue involves many voices, from across generations. Especially in idea-harvesting, we can really benefit from the diverse talents and belief systems of all ages and upbringings. I was very grateful for the opportunity to speak on the panel, to be part of the dialogue surrounding the cultivation of Human Potential.

We live in Brooklyn

Exploring Place-Based Education in Schools.

I met a vivacious Science teacher this weekend. She is a biological anthropologist, and thus roots her curriculum in the all-pervasive notions of ecology. Tisa is an inspired and passionate science educator at the Green School in Long Island City. You can read more about her impassioned teaching style at her blog. She described to me how she uses recycled, locally made salsa jars from the Brooklyn Salsa Company as pen holders in the classroom. These recycled wares actually kick off further conversation with her students about such movements as local food, organic, and direct trade - which can also all be integrated into a science lesson. What better way to start talking about place than with food? Understanding the local, which is real to the students - is a prime way to go on into discussing the global.

Ecology comes from the Greek words : οἶκος, meaning "house" or "living relations"
and -λογία, the study of.
It is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms to each other and their surroundings.

Understanding ecology is at the core of understanding life. So what a better place to start than with place-based learning? Most school text books do not employ the study of place, or go on to paint a picture of the land when teaching history. But, the land where the war was fought has everything to do with what happened there. Ecology teaches us that nothing can be so neatly compartmentalized, that locale has everything to do with everything. We look to place as a relic of the past and an indicator of the future. What does the area look like? What is the health of the soil? How old are the trees? What kind of trees are they?

Times square used to be a beaver pond. What was the course of events that transformed it into one of the busiest, electricity-powered places of the 21st century?

National Geographic compares Manhattan in 1609, before Henry Hudson with Today.

“The goal of the Mannahatta Project has never been to return Manhattan to its primeval state. The goal of the project is discover something new about a place we all know so well, whether we live in New York or see it on television, and, through that discovery, to alter our way of life. New York does not lack for dystopian visions of the future…. But what is the vision of the future that works? Might it lie in Mannahatta, the green heart of New York, and with a new start to history, a few hours before Hudson arrived that sunny afternoon four hundred years ago?”

You don't need to venture far to offer students a picture of place. Even in some areas of Brooklyn, where there are few trees - any shrub or tree hosts an abundance of life. If students have the opportunity to work with the soil in their neighborhoods they may access a story layered beneath what, at the onset, looked just like 'dirt.' Students will feel a greater sense of ownership to their learning if it involves their own turf - a story that they can access with their senses. Everything, however far-fetched or global in nature, can be traced back to basic ecological insight. Even global fashion trends and business transactions are affected by place. All you have to do is look! And you probably won't find it in [text] books, unless it is literature, poetry or art written by people about places. And those are some of the best ways of uncovering history, through the wide-ranging voices of the people themselves. Not just white men, about white men, which tends to be our text-book tendency.

Dewey sees the need to integrate geography, history and nature study, for human events unravel in particular times and places. He writes:

"When the history of work, when the conditions of using the soil, forest, mine, of domesticating and cultivating grains and animals, of manufacture and distribution, are left out of account, history tends to become merely literary - a systematized romance of mythical humanity living upon itself instead of upon the earth."

You don't have to go far to break down notions of 'mythical humanity,' just look up from the American History Text, shift the gaze toward one another and outside.

The Gravitas of Independent Media

'We will not be silent' is a slogan that dates back to the 'White Rose Collective,' a nonviolent group of intellectuals who spoke out against the Nazi Regime. Their movement became characterized by leaflets which rendered the voice of the people, rather than of power. This mantra has been necessitated again and again, in every language, as people vie for their right to know in the face of dominant State propaganda and corporate media.

Last night I had the opportunity to see Amy Goodman, journalist extraordinaire and famed host of the Independent News program, Democracy Now!. She spoke at Calhoun, a progressive, Independent School on the Upper West Side. Goodman doesn't use detailed notes when she speaks, she is a vivid storyteller - linking true accounts from history with what's happening on the ground today. Her recent New York Times Best Seller, 'Breaking the Sound Barrier' is a collection of columns and stories that elucidate our deep-rooted need to hear the truth on the ground. Democracy Now! is one of these silence breakers, giving what they call the 'war and peace report.' Their aim is not to stand on the sidelines of news, but to really catch the voices and experiences of those in question.

"Where are the experts in their own communities?" she asked.

Let them be heard, she reiterated. In her talk Goodman gave voice to several different youth in brief anecdotes and quotations. These stories of inspired young people give us hope.

"Dissent must be encouraged."

Youth need to know that it's ok to speak out, and to question the status quo. We have essentially been fighting a war since the September 11th attacks in 2001. Yet, Goodman asked the audience quite seriously;

"Do kids get to talk about War?"

The answer is clear. Even some seniors, who are old enough to fight wars for their country, are forbidden to discuss war in their classrooms. Here in the United States we are carefully fed highly controlled information. Goodman knows this directly from experiences like the time when her and several colleagues were arrested during the Republican convention, despite their press credentials or another instance, being stopped and exhaustively interrogated at the Canadian border. Surveillance and patriotism in this country are more prevailing then ever. But these actions are a violation of 'Freedom of Press' as well as the 'Right to Know,' Goodman declared. The image at the top, 'We will not be silent' in English and Arabic was written on a T-shirt worn by an Raed Jamal, an Iraqi blogger and activist when he passed security at JFK. They forced him to turn the T-shirt inside out, saying that it was like going to a bank with a T-shirt that reads, 'I am a robber.'

'Independent media is dangerous because it challenges stereotypes,' Goodman said. Rather than depicting a recurrent, well-crafted image of the 'other' you are given the opportunity to find common ground.

"It is not about one person, it is about movements." Each person just becomes part of the momentum that is the wave, the change or awakening. You can become part of it by becoming involved, by supporting Independent Media and grassroots organizations. Amy Goodman conjured Woody Allen's famous remark that, " 90% of life is just showing up." It's true. That is what independent reporters are aiming to do; to show up at the front lines and offer a genuine account of the story unfolding there. Youth, with all their potential to bring about change and their need to be informed need to be given opportunities to see what's happening in the world firsthand. Goodman told a story of a high school girl who skipped school in order to attend Rosa Parks' funeral, despite the fact that she probably wouldn't be able to get in - 'the good stuff usually happens on the outside anyway,' Goodman winked. The girl called her school that day and left a message saying,

"I won't be in class today, I'm going to get an education."

We will not be silent. Thank you to Calhoun and to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!

*You can access news and interesting programs from the field at democracynow.org

Or, if you are in NY you can listen to the radio at 8am, M-F on WBAI 99.5 FM

Education as Eros

One of my favorite professors, a philosopher of education with antiquated languages tattooed on his forearms, commenced our first lecture together by inscribing, in large chalked letters the ancient Greek word:

Ἔρως,

Eros, he said, means Love. And seduction of the mind, which is education, is erotic. Education as Erotic? Hmmmm...He's taking it a bit far, I thought - but I was deeply engaged, almost to the point of perspiration, and I listened on carefully to his argument. The Greeks believed that knowledge was best derived through bodily interactions with the world; Hence the emphasis on music and gymnastics until a scholar was readily developed in physique.

Music and gymnastics were the subjects taught first in order to establish a strong attraction to knowledge. Activating the body through gym and the mind through music brings the body alive. It is an embodied encounter. The mind body dualism was essential to the foundation of Ancient Greek education; the mind mediates toward the body, and the body mediates toward the mind. Therefore, education begins as an inner dialectic. A dialectic with the body, the embodied and the world. Later, when the mind has developed and is agile and nimble from it's music and bodily training, it is ready for dialectic with the teacher.

What is a dialectic? Historically, it is a shared, mystical experience in which Socrates served as a sort of psychagogic midwife; assisting in the divulgence of new ways of thinking through asking questions, through seduction into 'seeing' what is already there. It is teacher as guide and corruption of the mind, or seduction as learning.

Seduction in Latin is: SE DUCERE - lead towards / EX DUCERE - to lead out of

So, my Professor had written the word EROS and essentially led me towards the understanding that the attraction to learning comes through bodily interactions with the world. We were sitting in a classroom, in neat little chairs beneath fluorescent lighting and breathing controlled air while learning about how embodied knowledge and mind-body dualism can actually make education an erotic experience. I believed him, though not because he was telling me it was so - my body already held the wisdom for knowing it to be true. My deepest moments of learning have always occurred when I have been in direct, embodied contact with the world. Whether traveling, falling ill, through touch or taste, a piece of music or the exchange between a merchant, and especially through communicating with others of all ages and creeds.

Couldn't we transform schools with this little philosophic quip?

By giving students the opportunity to connect with learning, through some deep interface with the world? Wouldn't this inflate a sense of responsibility to their community? This is exactly what Greek Education was all about. The word for education, paideia, actually involves a triad understanding of education, philosophy and the polis or community. Paideia was holistic in approach, and emphasized involvement with ones society. Which, today, is not bound to a metropolis, but to the world. Therefore, schools must deliver some interaction with the world in order to make their students fall in love with it, and to be drawn toward their own illumination.

Pressing Forward: 21st Century Skills

What is the purpose of schooling?

Fernando Reimers, a contributor to 'Educational Leadership' writes that the 'purpose of schooling is to prepare students for life in the real world in their communities and societies, both in the present - while students are in school - and in the future - after they leave school behind.'

So, good educators today must be adapting outmoded systems in order to reflect the interconnected and interdependent nature of life as we know it now. Educator's must be leading with a new set of skills. One American organization; the Partnership for 21st Century Learning is working to provide a new framework for teaching and learning in our era. They redefine the three r's of learning (reading, writing, r'thmatic) into a broader configuration which includes the integration of the four C's, critical thinking/problem solving, communication, coolaboration, creativity and innovation. A fusion of these is necessary to cultivate effective student outcomes. Elizabeth Burmaster, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Wisconsin breaks down the new demands as the following:

"Students need to be technologically proficient, globally aware, civically engaged and financially and economically literate to most effectively use their creativity in the 21st century."

See the interactive version of this rubric at Route 21

The demand for global competency is more dire than ever. If students want to be a dynamic part of the global workforce and competitive in the economy a sense of global proficiency is essential.

"I define global competency as the knowledge and skills people need to understand today's flat world and to integrate across disciplines so that they can comprehend global event and create possibilities to address them. Global competencies are also the attitudinal and ethical dispositions that make it possible to interact peacefully, respectfully, and productively with fellow human beings from diverse geographies (Reimers, 2009)"

Cell Phones Have No Boundaries

Image from an article on elearning; Mobile Phones revolutionizing education in Africa, Kevin James Moore.

The last time I visited Tanzania one of the grandiose changes that I witnessed was the looming presence of cell phone towers, high on hills and in the remote skylines of National Parks. However unsightly the 'vodacom' spires are, they are making cell phone reception possible from the slopes of Kilimanjaro to the distant bush of Serengeti. This kind of accessibility is unprecedented - in places where there are no schools, or running water - there is mobile reception. One reoccurring style trend around the world today is the mighty cell phone, clasped in hand.

Last week here in New York I had the opportunity to take part in The Economist's Ideas Conference on Human Potential. There was much sprightly discourse on new ways of thinking and doing. The Economist has recently launched an initiative called the ‘ InnoCentive Challenge’ in which the floor is opened to unconventional ideas which press forward. The last challenge was focused on the challenge of ‘21^st century Cyber Schools.’ The challenged winner is awarded a small grant, and be given more opportunities to present the proposed idea at the upcoming Economist conference.

The winner for the first challenge in 21^st century cyberschools is Andrew Deonarine, a Public Health and Preventative Medicine resident at the University of British Columbia, a facility reputed for the sciences. He won for his proposal on “Educell,” a start-up that uses cell phone technology as a platform for basic literacy through “phonecasting.” A teacher anywhere in the world can use the mobile medium to write and load curriculum in multiple languages using simple coding. The lesson is then published to a server, compressed and sent out to cell phone users in audio and video format (obviously necessary for literacy learning).

Deonarine is pushing the limits by bringing together medicine, biology and computer science in order to advance learning across demographics. The beauty of this idea is that most people around the world have access to and are willing to invest in a mobile phone. Even some of the most rural areas in India and Sub-saharan Africa, where there is no running water or electricity, people have access to mobile phones and coverage. This would be a fantastic move, and not unrealistic to do, especially in teaching basic literacy and rudimentary health promotion.

Most teachers prohibit the use of mobiles and texting in schools, however, might this be one of our most untapped, and tapped-in resources? Students send hundreds of texts a day, they access information and engage with one another. Could we be using cell phones, which are available to youth throughout the world and across demographics to foster more dialogue, and to spread more conscious learning initiatives? This is an idea that could help push things forward in both western, and developing nations.

Texting could also be used between students in classrooms from Kentucky to Kochi.

September 11th Prayer

Reflecting on humanity,
Remembering the brave souls,
and the countless lives lost since and because of those lamentable acts of 9 years ago today.


A prayer today for more interfaith dialogue

Y-generation

beep bep bob beeb bep beop… Crraaaarrrraarr… Crraaaarrrraarr… Crraaaarrrraarr…

If the seemingly prehistoric sounds of dial-up Internet were a part of your childhood experience – then you are probably part of the Y Generation.

Unlike the X generation, which begins after the baby boomer era and ends in the eighties, 1961-1981, the dates of the Y generation are still debatable. The Y-geners appear to be those born between 1976 and 1996. But, more generally we can say that the Y generations are the first of those to come of age under the flowering of the Internet. That is why they are sometimes referred to as iGen, net generation, Internet generation as well as echo boomers and millenials. What we can be sure of is that this generation has been under the constant influence of technology.

Some have been honing their technological literacy since learning to read. They have literally had the world [wide web] at their fingertips. The world has been in a period of steady, dramatic and accelerated change in the past thirty years; so it wouldn’t be surprising to confirm that this generation is now refashioning what it means to be a ‘twenty-something.’ And they’re in no rush to grow up. The New York Times recently published an article called, ‘What is it about Twenty Somethings?’ which introduced the possibility of a new developmental phase called ‘emerging adulthood,’ a term coined by Psychologist Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, and brought about by the social and economic changes of our time. The article is a well-written exploration on what is means to be an ‘emerging adult’ today, and whether it’s helpful or just a setback to use the twenties as a time of self-discovery and continued dependency. The article was written by a regular New York Times contributor in her 50's.

The articles negotiations between pros and cons illustrate just how little we understand this generation of youth. Come to think of it, do Generation Y-ers understand themselves? It seems they are caught between the conventions and pressures of their parents, and the limitless opportunities of the world today. They are supposed to discover themselves in ways that their parents were never able, but at the same time expected to get the degree, the job, and the family before expiration (a date that is protracting more than ever). The Y generation and the world have changed, but the architecture of our schools and institutions are lagging behind. So, what can we learn from this generation in order to better bridge schooling with the work force, and world? Because, come on, these twenty somethings don’t have the time to mess around – they want to reinvent jobs to work for them.

As a bonafide member of the Y generation and a scholar of ‘21^st century education’ I have a few ideas about who we are and what kind of support we need in order to thrive:

1. More learning outside of the classroom; schools are still operating from an Industrial Revolution style model of learning. What students need is more access to real world relationships, work experiences and relevant pedagogy.

2. Support Youth to take a Gap, or Bridge Year ; Princeton is at the forefront of this movement in America, encouraging prospective students to apply and then take a year ‘on’ of public service. This gives youth the support they need to engage in self-discovery, volunteer, as well as ensuring continuation in school.

3. Beyond-the-office training; How much work is really performed during office hours? How much money and management is needed in order to monitor how many times people check their facebook accounts on the job? This generation doesn’t want to be confined to offices, professional attire or the 9-5 nightmare. So how can we reinvent the wheel? We need more a innovative approach to work… How to guides on thriving as a freelancer, entrepreneur and actor in the 21^st century workforce.

4. Capitalize on Capitalism; the NGO trend is a swing in the right direction, however, people working for them are often burnt out and underpaid. Social entrepreneurship is the way forward, and the Y generation is at the helm. People are much more likely to give money when there is a cause attached (see cause and cone marketing). Enterprise redesigned.

5. More cross-cultural/inter-generational interface; One of the major issues of our era is the growing gaps between rich and poor, cultures, and generations. As the world is changing at ever accelerating rates more efforts must be made to foster dialogue between civilizations (see dialogue among civilizations). Using technology in schools to promote discourse between students around the world is one way of cultivating global competence (see Global Nomads Group).

6. Environmental and Social Responsibility; The eighties and nineties commenced a period of exposure to global crisis unlike ever before. New media started to uncover war, famine, genocide, and environmental degradation, in ways that make it impossible to turn a blind eye. This generation has a unprecedented responsibility, and if they haven't realized it, or are too overwhelmed with information - some real focus and guidance is needed.

7. The willingness to change; If we want to continue to be competitive in the global economy we must take action to change the architecture of old systems. The future of our success may not greatly resemble structures of the past. The Y-generation is not willing to go along with outmoded ways of working and living - and that should be OK.

We are constantly learning how to adapt and integrate news ways of doing in the 21^st century. The Y generation is still emerging on the scene with their gadgets and an epoch-making sense of autonomy. Rather than trying to hold on to convention, and ideas of what it means to ‘grow up,’ let’s nurture the sense of immeasurable options that youth feel today. Take the advice of Ken Robinson, the author of ‘The Element’ who writes,

“My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”

So, with the last wave of the Y-generation entering college it would be a good time to put trust in evolving the new technology they are already so intimate with. As well as creating opportunities to bring innovation into the academic methodology – such as cultivating the skills that employers are looking for; innovation, self-starter attitudes and experience – all of which comes from direct work and experience in the world. The Y-generation may be seemingly gradual in reaching adulthood, but personal evolution in the twenties may be a step toward unlocking human potential in our era. So let’s be kind to the Y-generation, in a world of constant growth and flux, they’re still getting to know themselves.

Sometimes, the Y generation is even known as Generation, 'Why'? for the ways they are shaking up notions of workforce. Often met with an attitude of skepticism by older generations, this era of youth and their inclination to query and taking their time should be treated with heed - the importance of questioning obsolete conventions may be a step forward in building ones that work.

-Rebecca Thom