Monthly Archives: February 2011

Icing in the garden

Posted on February 28, 2011 by jyourist

While I was at school trying to warm my students to the idea of breaking old habits and taking academic and creative risks, JB was in the garden preserving the icing. In all states that matter, the transformation of solids to liquids … Continue reading →

Posted in creativity, garden, nature, photography, winter | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

“Eggs”traordinary and mysterious

Posted on February 27, 2011 by jyourist

For the past five years we have discovered random stray eggs in our yard. Friends of ours have conjectured that this must be a joke someone is playing on us, but I don’t think so. It would be pretty tricky … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, garden, nature | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Criminal Cards—in the table

Posted on February 26, 2011 by jyourist

Presently, the display in our table (Opening the Books, In the Table/ On the Wall) is part of a collection of criminal cards that I bought at an antique store not far from our house. These were discarded by the … Continue reading →

Posted in chicago, collections, crime | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

William Kentridge- Automatic Writing

Posted on February 24, 2011 by jyourist

Animated, smudged, and morphing language, visuals, words, imagination, motion, reverie, images, poetry… Kentridge is a remarkable animator, artist, playwright from South Africa. I’m so grateful a friend of mine reminded me of his work and sent me this link.

Posted in animation, art, artist, short films, videos, words | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Riprap by Gary Snyder

Posted on February 23, 2011 by jyourist

Lay down these words Before your mind like rocks. xxxxxxxplaced solid, by hands In choice of place, set Before the body of the mind xxxxxxxin space and time: Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall xxxxxxxriprap of things: Cobble of milky … Continue reading →

Posted in poetry | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Cult of Silence

Posted on February 22, 2011 by jyourist

I was in a K-12 school and observed a single file line of kindergardeners walking down the hall behind a young blonde-haired teacher. The first few kids, as they were walking, started to fall to their knees and then slide. … Continue reading →

Posted in growing up, school, social justice, Teaching, truth | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Visual antis

Posted on February 21, 2011 by jyourist

One of my students, in a paper entitled “The North won the war, but the South won the peace” wrote, “In 1866, a group of white southerners, who were upset about losing the Civil War and the direction of Recon- … Continue reading →

Posted in school, Teaching, words, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Year of the Cat

Posted on February 20, 2011 by jyourist

For the past couple of years a friend and colleague of mine has celebrated the Vietnamese Tet Lunar New Year– ever since she and her husband adopted two children from Vietnam. The celebration seems to have grown over time from … Continue reading →

Posted in cats, Holidays | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

“I am necessary and proper”

Posted on February 19, 2011 by jyourist

Last summer I attended a writing workshop at Exeter in New Hampshire and the two facilitators of that workshop visited our school yesterday in Chicago. They did a workshop with our eighth grade students starting with Rosario Morales’ and her … Continue reading →

Posted in poetry, school, Teaching, words, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lillian Gish and Lady Gaga

Posted on February 17, 2011 by jyourist

We’re halfway through watching D.W. Griffith’s 1915 Birth of a Nation. Not an easy movie to watch—filled with racism and revisionist history. We have been immersed in the intricacies of Reconstruction and it seemed a perfect way to discuss how the … Continue reading →

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