Silent Sunday: April 12, 2015
Leave a reply
Finding Focus
Sometimes life is so busy, it seems to go by in a blur. Images are out of focus and it’s hard to see with any clarity. But mostly, when things get busy, I forget to take care of what matters most–my relationships with the people I love.
My one little word this year is explore. And as the year has progressed, I have discovered that explore means more than journeying outside and exploring the world around me. It also means exploring my interactions with others, the limits of my physical strength, and how I use my time outside of my work responsibilities.
Hiking in the mountains Saturday with my hubby offered me time and space to breathe deeply (even at 8000 feet of elevation!), spend time together away from chores and other work, and to appreciate the beauty of the natural world.
I took many pictures, but the ones I will highlight here are those that include both a sharp image and a blur–thanks to my macro lens.
The drought means that things are dry, even high in the mountains. And while we saw a few lingering patches of snow, it’s clear that water is scarce. But the manzanita was in bloom with its beautiful red wood and pinkish-purple blossoms.
I’m not sure what these little pods are that caught my eye hanging from the tree I passed. Small and green and fuzzy looking.
This plant seemed to have found a water source…with some green buds visible. If you look closely, you’ll notice a hair caught on the bud while the background is a blur.
These dry little thistly plants look like weeds…and I love that you can see the blur of the forest behind the crispness of the dry looking plant.
And here, the mountains are in evidence behind these dry branches.
It’s easy to get lost in the blur of the hectic pace of everyday life, yet these images remind me that we can decide where to place the focus if we choose. Life’s too short not to take time to explore…and figure out what is important. Sometimes the blur is the perfect backdrop, the broad overview, the hustle and the bustle. And other times we need to focus on what matters most and appreciate what is right in front of us!
Silent Sunday: April 5, 2015
Words Have Power
Words have power. They can hurt…and they can heal.
Our students have been learning about our local history. They’ve studied the lives of the first settlers, learned about the homestead act, and are fascinated by the stories of those who lived here before us. And they’ve taken these stories and invented their own playground game. They call it history. Essentially, they role-play the lives of these early settlers–some playing the adults, others the children. (Our school is a part of that history–one of the early schools of the area)
But at lunch recess today, it all went wrong. Things got rough, and mean words and hurtful actions happened. We got a heads-up from one of the playground monitors, and expected to see tears as we headed out to our students. But things were surprisingly calm…until we started to walk back to the classroom. As the story unfolded, we got a glimpse at both our students’ creativity and imagination…and the escalation of energy, excitement, with some poor choices sprinkled on top of it all. It became clear that this was not a scuffle between two students, it was a result of good intention, poor choices, swelling anger, and overreaction.
So instead of the plan we had in mind for the afternoon, we decided to address this incident with the entire class…to help our classroom community grow and hopefully give students more tools to use to resolve their own problems.
After talking through the pain and frustration and hearing a variety of perspectives, my teaching partner Margit pulled out a book she had bought a few weeks ago…one we were saving for a time when it seemed useful…and she began to read. Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus tells the story of Gandhi’s grandson and his feelings of anger…and of not living up to his grandfather’s reputation and expectations. The ultimate message is that anger is a normal emotion that we all experience–it’s how we deal with it that matters. Gandhi explains to his grandson that anger is like electricity. It can split a living tree in two. Or, he explains, it can be channeled and transformed. A switch can be flipped and it can shed light like a lamp. We can all work to use our anger instead of letting anger use us.
We talked about the difference between being a bystander–one who stands by and sees things escalating and chooses to do nothing. Or we can be upstanders, people who make a positive difference and think about how they can help. People who notice when things are escalating and make an effort to change the dynamic. For our young students, that might mean summoning an adult or using kind, calm language to help their classmates remember to pay attention to the choices they are making.
Our students took some time to breathe out the pain of the negative lunch interaction and breathe in some warm light…and turned to a partner to talk about what they learned from Arun Gandhi’s story of his grandfather. One student asked me, before heading out for afternoon recess, if they could still play the history game or if it was now off limits. I responded by reminding that the game itself wasn’t bad…and that I believed they could play the game as long as they remembered what had gone wrong before, and made different choices.
Our students are wonderful. They are inquisitive, imaginative, and caring. And they are kids. They get excited, wound up…and sometimes they make choices that get them into trouble. The words we use as adults are powerful too. We can use them to punish or we can use them teach.
As we sent our students off for spring break today, I could feel the caring and the healing in our community. We all learned today. Words hurt…and words healed…and we all learned.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Light and Shadow
I notice light…the way it washes over images, bringing vibrance to colors and highlighting details. And I notice shadow, spaces between light and color that create texture and definition. I love the interplay of the two…and the challenge of capturing what my eyes see through my camera lens.
I came home today to my tulip plant opening in the light of the late afternoon shining through the window. The yellow blossom seems to bring the spirit of spring right into the house.
Last week when I was back east, I was mesmerized by the shadow of bare tree limbs. Spring wasn’t much in evidence, but the beauty of nature in all its shadow was. I love the way that looking up into the tree branches creates images of lace.
And when I looked up inside the the train station in Baltimore, I noticed light playing with the intricate stained glass ceiling. My photo doesn’t begin to capture the beauty of the glass and the light!
Earlier this week at the San Dieguito Heritage Museum my students and i entered this Native American kiicha made of willow branches and wetland reeds. Looking up I noticed the way the light played with the shadows inside.
And after school today I treated myself to a short walk on the beach–this is the beginning of my spring break–a much needed week off to gather energy and inspiration for the rest of the school year. It was warm today…and spring breakers were out in full force. I noticed the kites flying above the lifeguard tower and the way the sun created silhouettes in the distance.
So, whether you are on spring break or yours is long over, take some time this week to notice light and shadow. What time of day does the light catch your eye? What do the shadows reveal?
You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)
I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #lightandshadow for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.
So go into the light and explore the shadows in your life. I can’t wait to experience light and shadow through your lens!
Enormous Smallness: April’s Photo a Day Challenge
Photography reminds me to appreciate moments, to slow down and notice light and shadow, a fleeting smile, the graceful curve of a limb and the reflection in a mirrored wall. Another blogging photographer I admire, Joy of Joyfully Green, just today said, (photography) “…literally lets me stop time for a split second.”
There is something enormous about capturing the smallness of moments–making time stand still–so we can look more closely, study the details, and savor what is often unnoticed. Paul Strand (among others) did that with his photography. A friend of mine recently gifted me with some Paul Strand photo postcards from the recent exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art…and I am inspired by the simplicity and grandeur of the everyday moments he captured.
And I borrowed the title of this post from the title of a picture book I ordered today about the life of ee cummings–a poet who captured enormous smallness through his poetry. It seems fitting to celebrate the special qualities that photography and poetry share during April…typically a month that celebrates poetry (at least in schools).
Just this afternoon I was mesmerized by the buds on the orchid plant that nearly didn’t survive some time outdoors during our recent kitchen remodel…and the afternoon sunlight highlighted the enormous smallness of these emerging blossom.
And this tree that grows near my driveway often appears in photos when the sky catches my eye…like this sunrise a week or so ago.
Sometimes the enormous smallness is found in places where I share experiences–and food–with friends and family. And the people who accidentally appear in them serve to enhance that quality, like this photo of the Shake Shack in Washington DC…
or this from the inside looking out from Milk and Honey in Baltimore. (I like the way the words are reversed since I was photographing from the inside rather than the outside.)
Sometimes it’s in the grandeur of the mirrored high-rise that I notice the reflection of the neighborhood…
or the durability of historic architecture that reminds me that there is much to be learned by reading the world rather than solely depending on books.
Then there is the interplay of past, present, and future in our nation’s capitol–the place where government resides, but doesn’t live. Our laws and values are enacted in our neighborhoods and cities, but there is something about buildings like the capitol building that remind us that what is national is also local.
And in my local community where this historic movie theatre still hosts first run films, a place where people gather in the shadows of those who settled this area before the streets and infrastructure that we take for granted existed, we see that our lives interact with those who came before and will influence those who come after us.
So April’s photo-a-day challenge is to seek out enormous smallness, the beauty in the everyday, the complexity in simplicity, making meaning of seeming chaos. If you need them, here are some prompts to get your started:
1. April Fools
2. history
3. place
4. outdoors
5. new
6. family
7. work
8. poetry
9. laughter
10. inside
11. misery
12. in front of
13. behind
14. tears
15. life
16. tired
17. energetic
18. writing
19. fear
20. house
21. wheels
22. doors
23. nature
24. advocate
25. old
26. near
27. eyes
28. food
29. small
30. enormous
So for April, find the poetry in the everyday…be on the lookout for enormous smallness. Pick a single photo to post each day or create a gallery of your efforts. Post a photo or gallery each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the better!), so that we can all enjoy the posts. If you would like to expand your exploration, write the poem or the story of the photo, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, or make a video or slideshow. You are invited to create a pingback by linking to this url or post your blog address in the comment section. It’s fun for me to see what others are doing with the same prompts I am using!
You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. You can post your pictures in the order of the prompts or post the one you find on the day you find it–or make up your own prompt for the day or the week! You get to make your own rules as you seek out your own enormous smallness. Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them!
Appreciate those moments…and be on the lookout for instances of enormous smallness in your life. I can’t wait to see what you capture through your lens!
Silent Sunday: March 29, 2015
Weekly Photo Challenge: Monumental
Yesterday Abby and I spent our day on Capitol Hill talking with congressional reps, exploring the history of our county, and thinking about the multiple meanings of words (more details of that here). So as I thought about a weekly photo prompt, the word monumental came to mind.
There are the obvious images of monumental, like watching the sun rise behind the Capitol building. (It’s being renovated, giving it an almost Minecraft-like cubism.
There’s some less obvious uses of monumental too–at least in my mind. Like the monumental effort it took to capture this image of the squirrel sitting on this piece of branch, facing out, eating breakfast. I wanted to get close, but not so close that I would cause him to dash. So I did a bit of editing to bring him more into focus so you could get a glimpse too.
And what teacher wouldn’t love a monument made of books? I was a bit flabbergasted by the enormity of the stack–tower–monument of books written about Abraham Lincoln on display at Ford’s Theater.
I was also thinking about my visit to the desert near my home last weekend…and the monumental majesty of the mountains that frame our local desert spaces. I love the blooming ocotillo in the foreground, bringing a touch of color to the endless palette of browns against the brilliant blue sky.
And then there is the monumental beauty in the ordinary…like these yellow flowers that somehow find enough water to survive…and thrive and bloom in this dry, hot environment.
Back to my day on the hill yesterday…I had a monumental amount of fun with Abby. We worked hard, talked a lot, and Abby’s playfulness is contagious! After me filming her dancing on the steps of the Supreme Court (she was tempted to ask the armed security guard to dance with her!), she asked to take a photo of me…and encouraged me to move, react, not just stand still. I’m no Abby…but I appreciate the invitation to push out of my comfort zone of standing back, out of the limelight, to take in the sun on the hallowed steps of this historic place.
So…what seems monumental to you? Is it a place? An event? An experience? An emotion?
You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)
I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #monumental for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.
So explore the multiple meanings of the word monumental and represent it in your way through a photo (or two or three). I can’t wait to see monumental defined through your lens!
A Day on the Hill
Representative government, a staple of our democracy, is something we often learn about in school…and yet seldom engage in beyond voting. But for the last several years, through my interactions with the National Writing Project, I have had the opportunity to push myself to delve more deeply into the governing process as I visit the congressional representatives of our region to advocate for our organization by heading to Capitol Hill in Washington DC. This means making appointments with our congress people, meeting with them to talk about the work we do locally, and often making a request that they sign onto a Dear Colleague letter or support a particular piece of legislation coming up for a vote.
And for the last few years, my friend and San Diego Area Writing Project colleague, Abby Robles, has been coming with me, setting up appointments, and helping to build relationships with the representatives and their staffs.
There’s something larger than life about this city. Monuments loom large, bringing the history of our country into focus. The streets teem with people…and when you are on Capitol Hill, most are in dark suits rushing here and there. Armed sentries stand at attention and the entryway to all governmental buildings require passage through metal detectors.
Like hives, the houses of representatives buzz with groups of people in conversation. Tiny elevators carry people from floor to floor of massive marble hallways, old fashioned clocks beep and wink indicating voting in progress. Impossibly young interns man the phones, handle queries, and usher people in and out for appointments. Each office is decorated with artifacts of “home,” the place the congressperson represents.
Last year Abby decided to make a movie about her trip to DC to show her students. So we talked through her plan, scoped out potential shots, and considered how we could use our time in at the Capitol to tell a story. With Abby as the star, I was pressed into service as cinematographer, filming pieces of our visit that she would stitch together into the movie. It was great fun…and the movie was quite a hit!
And so this morning, Abby was eager to make a new movie for her students and we began talking as we walked to the Capitol for our meeting. A conversation we have had before is about the word capitol with an “o” and how it is different from the word capital with an “a.” This led us to the discussion of the multiple meanings of words…and what ultimately became the inspiration for the story Abby would create for her students.
I was studying carefully today, taking in Abby’s process as we thought about the different movie scenes and planned the shots. I have tiptoed into some movie making…but have only used photos…no video at this point. (Here is a movie I made a year ago) We had lots of fun with word play as we considered the many possibilities for words that had meaning in this place where our government lives. And as we shot each scene, we were thinking about what would come next…knowing that we would ask our representative, Scott Peters, to play a role in the video. And what a great sport he was, not only agreeing to play along, but also adding his own twist to the plot, creating complexity and authenticity.
Making the movie kept our day lively, as each place we went became fodder for our thinking about multiple meaning words. And by including the congressman in the movie, our conversation with him became more genuine. We laughed, shared stories about our work and his, and engaged his staff in our video vision. The making made us curious…about words, about this place, about angles and light and sound. And it felt good to find a suitable end piece…and a crazy coda with Abby dancing on the steps of the Supreme Court.
Abby pieced the movie together…some during our lunch in the House of Representatives cafeteria…and the rest in the hotel bar as people came together to share the results of their day on the hill. And here it is! A lovely movie that reflects Abby’s thinking and her hard work…and I can’t wait to share it with my students too!
I think I’m ready to try a movie of my own. I don’t think I will be starring in it…I don’t see myself as quite the actress that Abby is. But I’m ready to try my hand at thinking through scenes, planning shots, and creating a story through the process. Wish me luck!
Silent Sunday: March 22, 2015
Thinking Through My Lens 