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WWW www.habermas.org

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: January 18, 2007
Latest Update: January 18, 2007
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Topic of the Week: Look Intensely; See Your World

Artists study for many years to learn the skills they use. But all of us see. Trust your eye. It makes your world special to you. Yes, even the blind can make art. Sculpture let's you feel the image. Find something that makes you feel good. Then look at it closely. Draw it. Color it. Change it into something else. Make it 3 dimensional. Play with it until it makes your heart sing. Then share it with your world.

I'd like to share a poem with you: Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau By Jacques Prévert. I'll translate it for you.

Pour Faire le Portrait d'un Oiseau. I'll translate it for you.

Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau
by Jacques Prévert
Peindre d'abord une cage avec une porte ouverte peindre ensuite quelque chose de joli quelque chose de simple quelque chose de beau quelque chose d'utile pour l'oiseau placer ensuite la toile contre un arbre dans un jardin dans un bois ou dans une forêt se cacher derrière l'arbre sans rien dire sans bouger ... Parfois l'oiseau arrive vite mais il peut aussi bien mettre de longues années avant de se décider Ne pas se décourager attendre attendre s'il le faut pendant des années la vitesse ou la lenteur de l'arrivée de l'oiseau n'ayant aucun rapport avec la réussite du tableau Quand l'oiseau arrive s'il arrive observer le plus profond silence attendre que l'oiseau entre dans la cage et quand il est entré fermer doucement la porte avec le pinceau puis effacer un à un tous les barreaux en ayant soin de ne toucher aucune des plumes de l'oiseau Faire ensuite le portrait de l'arbre en choisissant la plus belle de ses branches pour l'oiseau peindre aussi le vert feuillage et la fraîcheur du vent la poussière du soleil et le bruit des bêtes de l'herbe dans la chaleur de l'été et puis attendre que l'oiseau se décide à chanter Si l'oiseau ne chante pas c'est mauvais signe signe que le tableau est mauvais mais s'il chante c'est bon signe signe que vous pouvez signer Alors vous arrachez tout doucement une des plumes de l'oiseau et vous écrivez votre nom dans un coin du tableau.		First, paint a cage with an open door then paint something pretty something simple something beautiful something useful for the bird then place the canvas against a tree in a graden in a woods or in a forest shide yourself behind the tree don't say anything don't budge ... Sometimes the bird comes quickly but he could also take many a long year before deciding Don't despair Wait wait if you have to for years whether the bird comes quickly or slowly has nothing to do with the success of your painting When the bird comes if he comes keep very, very quiet wait for the bird to enter the cage and when he enters gently close the door with your brush then then erase one by one all the bars being careful not to touch any of the feathers of the bird Then add the tree choosing the most beautiful of its branches for the bird paint also the green foliage and the freshness of the wind the dusty whisper of the sunshine and the noise of the insects in the grass in the heat of summer and then wait for the bird to decide to sing If the bird does not sing that's a bad sign sign that the painting is not good but if he sings it is a good sign a sign that you can sign Then pull out ever so gently one of the bird's feathers and write your name in a corner of the painting.

I'd also like to share with you Le Déjeuner du Matin by Jacques Prévert.

Dejeuner du Matin
by Jacques Prevert

Déjeuner du matin
by Jacques Prévert
Il a mis le café Dans la tasse Il a mis le lait Dans la tasse de café Il a mis le sucre Dans le café au lait Avec la petite cuiller Il a tourné Il a bu le café au lait Et il a reposé la tasse Sans me parler Il a allumé Une cigarette Il a fait des ronds Avec la fumée Il a mis les cendres Dans le cendrier Sans me parler Sans me regarder Il s'est levé Il a mis Son chapeau sur sa tête Il a mis Son manteau de pluie Parce qu'il pleuvait Et il est parti Sous la pluie Sans une parole Sans me regarder Et moi j'ai pris Ma tête dans ma main Et j'ai pleuré.		He put the coffee In the cup He put the milk In the cup of coffee He put the sugar In the cafe au lait With the little spoon He stirred He drank the cafe au lait And he sat down the cup Without speaking to me He lit A cigarette He blew rings With the smoke He put the ashes In the ashtray Without speaking to me Without looking at me He stood up He put His hat on his head He put on His raincoat Because it was raining And he left In the rain Without a word Without looking at me And I, I took My head in my hands And cried.

You can hear the poem read in French Déjeuner du matin by S. Monnier Clay, Ph.D., of U.C. Davis.

love and peace,

jeanne

References:

• My Friend Is Unhappy. What Should I Do
  • Using Poetry to Express Learning
• Painting: Little Old Outrageous Lady It's a motorcycle from the Guggenheim Show.
• Meaning For Me On poetry and art.
• Poetry Class Index Great site for those who love poetry.

Announcements:

Sign up for Spring with Jeanne and Pat:
Independent Study Form for work with jeanne and Pat in Spring 2007

We have begun our work with with Challengers Boys and Girls Club on Vermont, just south of USC. Our work will be divided into two phases:

1. Accompanying jeanne and Pat at Challengers, learning how to build team work with a local agency, without interfering with their agenda. Good administrative training.

2. Work with jeanne and Pat on preparing and engaging others in art projects that are designed to stimulate and share discussions on local issues that matter to the residents and their children. This will include developing messages, including visual messages, that will register with kids of different ages. Those of you who want to work with your own or neighborhood children will want to focus on this section.

Instructions, readings, message-building, etc. will be given on line. For grades, we ask that you keep a journal of your learning and experiences for me to share with Dr. Hosokawa, who will turn in the grades for us.

Please check also the issues of Dear habermas I put up over Winter Break. And join our Yahoo discussion group, Write Free, for this project. Share what you are including in your journal as you put it together. I'll join you. Look forward to working with our children and families of all ages, as we learn to bring this learning to whole local communities, in cooperation with Challengers, and others who may wish to join us on Write Free. By the way, the title of our group means that writing will set us free, so it's important we learn to use it to that end.

Independent Study Form for work with jeanne and Pat in Spring 2007
Dr. Fumiko Hosokawa will sign for jeanne if jeanne isn't on campus.

love and peace, jeanne and Pat

• Los Angeles Gallery Exhibit

  Antonia Guzman, the Argentiniam artist whose works are in this issue, is having an exhibition in Los Angeles:

  El Otro - The other One
  

  

  Exhibition by Antonia Guzman
  Couturier Gallery
  166 N. La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles
  Reception: Friday, January 19, 7-9 p.m.
  exhibition from January 19 to February 24, 2007

• Say Thank You to our troops: See Site Index under "thanks" or "troops."

• Grades at CSUDH from Fall 2006: Check Issue No. 14, Week of December 3, 2006, for any information you need on winding up this semester at CSUDH.

Issues

• PEN Alarmed by Murder of Armenian-Turkish Journalist PEN is a professional organization for writers, editors, and translators, who defend free expression. This is a backup of Larry Siems recent article on the Assasination of Hrant Dink in Turkey. Read it: think about it. I'll follow up with it's importance to our study of media as soon as I have a free minute. jeanne Added on January 25, 2007.

• Civics 101 Reviewing the basics we all need to know about our civil rights in the United States. This file reviews an article that appeared in the New York Times on Saturday, January 14, 2007, when a deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, publicly stated that those who defended detainees in Guantánamo should deal with the wrath of their corporate clients for having done so. This was repeated on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. These guys wouldn't pass the high school exit test on Civics 101.

  Added Thursday, January 18, 2007: The L.A. Times announced on January 17, on the 13th page of the main section, that Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense apologized in a letter to the Washington Post for his misinformed comments on this issue. Consider the significance of the article appearing on page 13. Where did the original denunciation of defense lawyers appear? Page 1. What does this say about the power of the mainstream media? Do you always manage to get to page 13? I don't.

  Official apologizes to detainees' lawyers By JoAnne Allen, Reuters, Wednesday, January 17, 2007; 5:00 AM. I found this by searchin on the Washington Post site for Stimson apology. Good search engine. jeanne

  Added Friday, January 19, 2007: New York Times editorial on Friday, January 19, 2007: Apology Not Accepted.

  See the editorial at Civics 101.

  Added January 20, 2007:

  See Charles Stimson's Misinformed Interview Statement on GITMO Defense Read the interview. Listen to a recording of the radio interview Stimson gave. Read analyses of the ethics involved.

  "If seeking to punish criminal defense lawyers by equating them with their clients is not prejudicial to the administration of justice, what is? " Look at the interpretation of the ethics rules involved.

• We Need Our Investigative Reporters

  Surging and Purging By Paul Krugman, New York Times, Editorial Column, January 19, 2007.

  "Last month, Bud Cummins, the U.S. attorney (federal prosecutor) for the Eastern District of Arkansas, received a call on his cellphone while hiking in the woods with his son. He was informed that he had just been replaced by J. Timothy Griffin, a Republican political operative who has spent the last few years working as an opposition researcher for Karl Rove."

  This is why we need investigative reporters. Without them I would never have known that "Arlen Specter, the Republican senator who headed the Judiciary Committee until Congress changed hands, made sure of that last year. Previously, new U.S. attorneys needed Senate confirmation within 120 days or federal district courts would name replacements. But as part of a conference committee reconciling House and Senate versions of the revised Patriot Act, Mr. Specter slipped in a clause eliminating that rule." I thought we still needed Senate approval for such actions.

  Congress needs to put the rule back in place that Mr. Specter "disappeared." And we need to support our reporters and columnists who alert us to such nefarious activity. That's why we have newspapers, folks. They matter.

  Another Instance of the Importance of Our Newspapers

  Expert Ties Ex-Player’s Suicide to Brain Damage By Alan Schwarz. New York Times. January 18, 2007.

  There are no free lunches, folks. Sports are increasingly violent. Those who win pay for those wins with injuries. Pain can last a lifetime, or even cut that life off. What ever happened to "the game's the thing" and "good sportsmanship"? I know, I know: MONEY. So whatever happened to the things that really matter in life: good health, good friends, good communities in which to grow and realize our dreams?

  I knew that sports were sometimes dangerous. But without articles like this, I would never have realized that those sports were actually scrambling our brains. Read. Pay attention. And think carefully before you encourage your children or yourself to go for violent professional sports.

  Reference: Fellman, Rambo and the Dalai Lama, on mutuality and adversarialism.

Summaries and Sources

• Index of Summaries and Sources for Spring 2007 Updated and expanded index on sources for current social, economic, and political issues in our communities. I'll work on this index throughout the semester. It takes time. But you're welcome to nag me if there's a topic that concerns you. jeanne

Visual Sociology

• Street Art

  

  Street artist Buff Monster used acrylic and glitter to turn a found paint-can lid into an untitled work.

  Nice colors. Found objects are "hot" in the art world. Start finding. Story in Los Angeles Times, January 18, 2007.

• Draw! Draw! Draw!
  
  drawing from one of jeanne's notebooks, identified only as Variation on a frame.

  This old sketch of something served as the basis for this week's drawing. Maybe you could see something different in it. A drawing, especially when you haven't seen it in a while, can mean most anything. I saw a dancer, but one who is following her own whim. I wanted to use her for our Valentine celebrations. Her message could be "I love to dance!" or "Underwater fantasy!" for someone who loves to play and dream in water. This would make a wonderful Valentine's card for friends with whom you share football, tennis, dance, whatever. Just draw or find an image that will remind you both of your shared interest.

• I Love Football!
  
  The Rough Side of Sports

  "Mr. Waters’s brain tissue had degenerated into that of an 85-year-old man with similar characteristics as those of early-stage Alzheimer’s victims. Dr. Omalu said he believed that the damage was either caused or drastically expedited by successive concussions Mr. Waters, 44, had sustained playing football." From Expert Ties Ex-Player’s Suicide to Brain Damage By Alan Schwarz. New York Times. January 18, 2007.

  Think you could make a Valentine's card for a friend or relative that says "I love you, so I wanted to tell you about this. Be careful." ?

• Civics 101 Card
  

  

  Charles Stimson

  Instructions for Making Civics 101 Card Just started. jeanne

  Stickers for I love dance! for explosion card!

  

  

  

  

  

  Stickers for decorating inserts.

  Instructions for making an "I Love Music! box/card.

  Stickers for decorating the box/card for "I love music!":

                        

                      

                       and so on.

  Instructions at Explosion Box/Card for I Love Music!

A Range of Sources on Global Events

Left/Right Perspectives - Cursor - New York Times - The National Review
Arts and Letters Daily - The Economist - The Sierra Club - The Guardian
Wall Street Journal - The Weekly Standard - The Nation
The Cato Institute (Libertarian) - The Open Society
BBC NEWS | Americas - truthout - Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times - Chicago Tribune - La Opinion - The Washington Post
Cursor's Al Jazeera Archive - Ha'aretz - Palestine Monitor - Palestine Report

Wikipedia - Web Sources Linked from Dear Habermas
Concept Index

 

 

 

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