Saturday, February 28, 2009
Social Explosion
Thursday was information rich to say the least. Public Social discussed the opportunity for change that's hidden within the meltdown of the economy. Some of us became part of a student group who manifest media to raise awareness of sustainability. We're essentially part of who decides how to spend some of the Miller grant. Then it was Soup and Comedy which was good fun. The TV was a bit intense for me, especially the Will Farrell movie. I wasn't closing my eyes to be anti social...it's just that the smash bang pop of that kind of media is easier for me to swallow if I just listen to it. Thanks for reminding me to not hold my breath ;-) Oh and the smiling bear sculpture- precious. That made me bust a gut.
Then Adam and I took off. He's going to South Africa soon for at least a few months, maybe to stay. He's going with an open mind and no concrete plans. I was really happy to deepen friendships within this social practice class and expand my web of community, but I wanted to spend some more one on one time with Adam before he leaves since I might not see him again. We went to Mt. Tabor and played push hands a bit and an astronomology class happened. I like teaching one on one cause then I can pay attention to one person and I feel the transmission of information is deeper and more meaningful than if I have to talk to a group where someone will inevitably be left out since I can't adapt my communication style to everyone.
So how does this relate to my residency? The Legba veve for the crows was something like a symbol to send a message to my deeper levels of consciousness where my real decisions are made. A gift to social creatures such as crows was all part of the symbolism. It seems to be working. I make different decisions and move more gracefully through the world when I'm not working against unconscious desires. Using symbols this way is sometimes called magick, but it's really just a way of programming yourself for greater effectiveness in the art of living. I think it's way better than just letting the TV tell me what to do.
Survival without so much industry and with less money to throw around means cooperating with people and sharing. It also means cooperating with the non human intelligences of this planet and treating them with respect so we can learn from them.
My residency is part of my overall dream of helping Portland to transform into a permaculture oasis, modeling good behavior for the rest of the country. The connections I've made this term are part of that process.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Experience & Education
500 Word Summary of
Dewey’s “Experience & Education”
For John Dewey, education and democracy are intimately connected.
According to Dewey good education should have both a societal purpose and purpose for the individual student. For Dewey, the long-term matters, but so does the short-term quality of an educational experience. Educators are responsible, therefore, for providing students with experiences that are immediately valuable and which better enable the students to contribute to society.
Dewey polarizes two extremes in education -- traditional and progressive education.
The paradigm war still goes on -- on the one hand, relatively structured, disciplined, ordered, didactic tradition education vs. relatively unstructured, free, student-directed progressive education.
Dewey criticizes traditional education for lacking in holistic understanding of students and designing curricula overly focused on content rather than content and process which is judged by its contribution to the well-being of individuals and society.
On the other hand, progressive education, he argues, is too reactionary and takes a free approach without really knowing how or why freedom can be most useful in education. Freedom for the sake of freedom is a weak philosophy of education. Dewey argues that we must move beyond this paradigm war, and to do that we need a theory of experience.
Thus, Dewey argues that educators must first understand the nature of human experience.
Dewey's theory is that experience arises from the interaction of two principles -- continuity and interaction. Continuity is that each experience a person has will influence his/her future, for better or for worse. Interaction refers to the situational influence on one's experience. In other words, one's present experience is a function of the interaction between one's past experiences and the present situation. For example, my experience of a lesson, will depend on how the teacher arranges and facilitates the lesson, as well my past experience of similar lessons and teachers.
It is important to understand that, for Dewey, no experience has pre-ordained value. Thus, what may be a rewarding experience for one person, could be a detrimental experience for another.
The value of the experience is to be judged by the effect that experience has on the individual's present, their future, and the extent to which the individual is able to contribute to society.
Dewey says that once we have a theory of experience, then as educators can set about progressively organizing our subject matter in a way that it takes accounts of students' past experiences, and then provides them with experiences which will help to open up, rather than shut down, a person's access to future growth experiences, thereby expanding the person's likely contribution to society.
Dewey examines his theory of experience in light of practical educational problems, such as the debate between how much freedom vs. discipline to use. Dewey shows that his theory of experience (continuity and interaction) can be useful guides to help solving such issues.
Throughout, there is a strong emphasis on the subjective quality of a student's experience and the necessity for the teacher of understanding the students' past experiences in order to effectively design a sequence of liberating educational experiences to allow the person to fulfil their potential as a member of society.
Sorry Night 2 (Blue Night)
The First match of the night pitted our very own Eric against the nights eventual bracket champion Kevin. Eric ended up losing the match, but quickly took over the position of official event photographer.(some of his pictures below)
The night sped along pretty quicly due to two competitors slotted for the 6:30 game not showing up, so the six competitors for the night played pretty quick games, and before you knew it we had made it to the finals.
The Finals once again were greatly entertaining with a crowd gathering after it went into the second game with the player who came out of the loosers bracket winning the first, and handing the player from the winners bracket his first defeat.(the winner from the night before watches the match intently below)
In the Second game the tables turned and Kevin (pictured on the left) who played Eric in the first round, took home top honors for the night!
stay tuned for info on wedneday nights action. The last night of the qualifying rounds happens tonight (Thursday-the red bracket) and the Saturday night will be the finals!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Soup & Comedy Redux
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sorry Tournament off and running (yellow night)
The night got underway early with the first game starting at 5, and from there it was non-stop sorry action till a little after nine
The final match was between Brian and Pablo (pictured below Brian on the right Pablo on the left). Pablo hadn't lost a game all night, and it was going to take a miracle for Brian to win, since he had to win two games in a row to be crowned the nights champion( and to be able to move onto the final night) but in a nail-bighter of a game he did it! winning two games in a row and securing a spot in the championships on Saturday night
Round two starts in just a few hours!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Public Social University - February 26
PUBLIC SOCIAL UNIVERSITY PRESENTS:
Free Lecture Series Part 4
Public Social University is a forum for diverse workshops and discussions taught by the people and for the people. Workshops are always free. We currently meet in the central library on select afternoons. Public Social University was created by the members of the art and social practice undergraduate class at Portland State University. On February 26th, they will present a mini-lecture/presentation series to the public on the topics of: Destructo! A drawing game, an Italian crash course, a discussion on sublimating the economic recession, and screen-printing, taught by Lori Gilbert.
FREE
Date:Thursday, February 26th
Times: 3:00-6:00pm
Place: Central Library, in the US Bank Meeting room.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Slipstream
Well one of my voluntary siblings stopped by tonight. It was a Yeticave visit and not just an old friend hanging out cause I did things differently. When she arrived she told me where she'd just come from in a shamanic workshop and it sounded like she would be better served by letting her do some art, make a viscerally felt record of her process then and there rather than continue chatting. So I asked if she wanted to draw in my sketchbook while listening to Bardo. So now my sketchbook has a bit of someone else's art in it, but I used my music to tune it to me so my defenses wouldn't reject it.
After as we talked her penetrating vision told me about how my room is constructed and who I was when I made the stuff that's hanging on my walls. I suddenly grokked in fullness that I'm done with the painter. I still like drawing, but I prefer the scale of things I can fit in my backpack, I prefer dry media that don't require using water I'd rather drink or use to make coffee or water plants, etc. just to make pretty pictures or keep a record of my unravelling. The short of it is I found an enthusiastic home for some canvases one of which was still empty and one that has an empty white canvas circle inside an india ink background. I'm downsizing in my drawing mode, but she's moving into a space where she needs more space to move things around. She's also more of a visual person than me so she might take to the painter naturally like I didn't. I also gave her the easel I had been babysitting for her that her mom donated to me from her store of unused art supplies way back (2005ish) when I was deep in the throes of my undoing posing as a painter.
So here's the social art project we dreamed up together: I took a couple of paintings out from behind the pile of old work I have in the Art Mausoleum I made around the landing at the top of the stairs in the house where I live and I said yeah they're kind of pretty, but they really belong in a graveyard. Sometime before the Aries equinox (end of March) I want to leave them in one. Next full moon perhaps? Maybe I'll leave them around the statue of Harvey Scott that looms over the south end of Mt. Tabor, pointing toward downtown, leading the people of the death culture to continue our rape of the planet onward and westward, puffing his chest out and scowling. To me that statue is a kind of grave. Leaving the paintings that are pretty, but really part of my unravelling process and not something I want hanging on my walls around a big symbol of death seems like just the purge I need to go where I need to go and do what needs doing. I don't need all that dead weight anymore.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
First Outdoor Class on Mt. Tabor
Then as we walked down the mountain we talked about our permaculture ideas. Last night We went to a lecture at the Pacific Crest School just north of Burnside over by the Whole Foods at se 28th by an Austrian permaculture genius named Sepp Holzer. By working with nature rather than treating her as an enemy he's been able to grow fruit trees including citrus as part of a thriving and diverse oasis on the slopes of the Austrian Alps.
A couple of years ago Adam told me he wanted to be a kung fu farmer. At the time I thought- well that's cool for you, but how would I have time for my art? The more I learn about permaculture the more I want to be a kung fu farmer when I grow up.
With this kind of farming you don't have to work nearly as hard because you relate to nature as a partner rather than abusing her like a slave. Treat her kindly and she will reward you immensely. See, there's no need to water or weed or any of that because the diverse community of plants support each other. When you plant one thing over acres of land it takes all the same nutrients out of the soil as its neighbors. With a plant community like the 3 sisters known to the Native Americans of beans, corn and squash each plant trades nutrients with the others. Pests are controlled by the plant community's greater intelligence created by a diversity of organisms.
While I'm still in the idea stage of this process for the most part (I have a little pot of herbs I'm taking care of in my room and so far they have survived the winter) I'm on fire with inspiration to carry it to manifestation. A Dharma practitioner Adam met in a cafe asked him if he wanted to transform his lawn into a permaculture garden. We've talked about making it a business. I don't know how to pull it off yet, but I could see myself doing that sort of thing for my living and eventually run my own urban small permaculture farm right here in the city...and teach others how to do it themselves.
See, our present way of feeding ourselves is horribly wasteful. Global warming owes much to all the trucks that haul chemical fertilizers and feed for animals to farms and then they haul the harvest to packing plants and then more trucks haul it to the grocery store where people drive it home in their cars. If everyone in the city had at least a small herb garden we'd really be doing something to combat global warming. We'd also have much healthier food with more vitality and flavor than the half dead stuff we get trucked or shipped half way across the world to the grocery store. Evolve or die, human.
Grok this:
Thursday, February 19, 2009
What you are doing at noon on Friday February 20th, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Soup & Comedy
The First Day of Sol in Pisces Visions
See you on the mountain? Stars pretty.
astronomology mt tabor this saturday 7pm
Weather permitting I'm doing a cross between astrology and astronomy class on the top of Mt. Tabor this Saturday evening. Meet around 7pm at the tree with 4 trunks on the north end of the top of the mountain, opposite the creepy scowly dude in bronze who looms over the south end. If the sky is cloudy but not raining class will still happen, but then we can tell stories, do some Tai Ji, come up with something else. If the sky is clear the sparkly region around Orion will be overhead with bright Venus to the west.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Lets Get Connected
Monday, February 16, 2009
Yeticave Visit Improv
Later I went back inside and tried to dance some more, but I felt pretty ungrounded. I went upstairs to get my kung fu stick, a twisty willow staff that I've had since around 1994 that I've recently begun to use to strengthen and open my wrist joints. I danced to the dub for a good long while, letting the weight and wood of the stick to guide my motions and show me which way gravity goes, using it as resistance to work out tension in my hands and arms. I remembered the chillin' black cat in my lap and also my old training as an operator in esoteric rituals with Ordo Templi Orientis where I learned how to focus my mind to hold sacred space for a group.
It worked! The heart Qi in the room exploded and everyone thanked me for my dance. Then one of my 3 roomates called for a group hug and I found myself surrounded by about 10 people all hugging me and each other.
Then last night girl came back with a friend who she carried all the way from NE on her bike. I went downstairs to ask that they keep the thumpy speakers off for awhile cause I was working on remastering Bardo. She asked if she could come up and join me. I agreed. Later she brought up her other friend cause my roomates had become absorbed in their computers and he was all alone on the porch.
So I got to share Bardo with 2 relative strangers who tripped out on my art and music. They both loved the music. She kept asking, "is that you?" to which I replied, "yeah it's all me except a little bit of my mom and my niece at the beginning". It was a nice ego stroke to say the least, but most of all I'm glad my music is strong enough to speak for itself. It's something I've been cultivating for over 20 years. This album itself has been gestating since early '08. Since I play all the parts at separate times and construct it as I go I'm as surprised as anyone at the end result. I don't plan things when I compose. I play one part at a time as it comes to me so it's as if the music already exists on another level of reality and it uses me to construct itself.
Anyway, there you go. I've had a hard time all my life opening up to social experience which is a big part of why I chose to follow this class more than once. This weekend was a giant leap for me partly thanks to a little black cat on friday the 13th. Bad luck? Well just consider that the culture who decided that black cats and the number 13 were evil also thought that earth, women, dark skinned people and enjoying yourself were evil. Black cats and the number 13 are only made evil by fear which the little black cat helped to teach me how to transcend.
My # is 503 819 8485. If you'd like to hear Bardo in its native environment and/or see my artfully constructed living space give me a call and set up a time. If you bring a laptop or a portable hard drive that can communicate with my iMac I'll give you the remastered version of Bardo plus the PDF of the artwork. If you bring a CD I'll burn it for you, but I'd really prefer reusable media than the little plastic frisbees.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Kindy V-Day, short and sweet!
GATHERING/EXHIBITION
I wanted to invite you all to this event happening at my house. If anyone is interested in exhibiting any of their work (objects or otherwise) or enacting any sort of group projects with those present, please let me know. There will be many great folks with few pretesions. We live about eleven miles north of downtown, so carpooling is always a good option.
Thanks, Nolan
nolan.calisch@gmail.com
Friday, February 13, 2009
Coincidence or Communication?
x-posted to UrBlog.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Nostalgia 3, socializing with the Random Gaming Club
Nostalgia 2, taking breaks
Nostalgia 1, where we started
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pleasant Thoughts of You
Sweet Nothings
Join in on some righteous Valentine’s Day card making
The old fashioned way, glitter, glue and love….
Don’t have a valentine? We will give it to an unsuspecting stranger.
Meet Fireside at the Native American Student and Community Center
Corner of SW Broadway and Jackson Street
Thursday, February 12, 2009
1 P.M.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Ghost of Duchamp Invades Portland
Snapped in motion without stopping cause I thought I was late to class. The context makes it public sculpture. Really it's a pretty elegant shape so why not? Porcelain is pretty high tech if you consider it in the context of human history. The pigeon in duct tape (?) adds a punk rock vibe. You can see this masterpiece (if it hasn't been removed yet) somewhere between 48th and 20th ave on Lincoln street.
Reschedule of BE CONNECTED
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Bardo
http://public.me.com/wandering_yeti
username is "Public"
password is eyed!sko
Bardo is done and stuffed into the Bardo in WAV folder. Download at will. I'll bring a few CD's to class tomorrow but I don't have many. Click the entry title to see the cover. I forgot how to layer multiple images in photoshop so it's only in iWeb for now. Happy fool moon eclipse.
Another tea party
I had another tea party on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and it made for some good times.
Here are some pictures of the event. At first I read aloud for a little while waiting for the tea to warm up and then we played scrabble and ate some cookies. The scrabble game started out in a mature manner but at one point we threw out the rules and threw all the tiles together trying as a team to fit all the tiles on the board. I laughed until my stomach started hurting.
I am noticing that the people that walk by all seem to smile. If anything I hope that these gatherings will brighten the day of those who saw us. A video of a dance that took place during the tea party. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Pictures from Rozzell's Workshop @ PSU
http://flickr.com/photos/58661292@N00/sets/72157613453303455/
Residency Documentation
Here is some documentation from my visit to my residency today:
http://flickr.com/photos/58661292@N00/sets/72157613452391403/
My Residency is taking place at the bus stop that I use to come to school, it's on 182nd Ave & Powell Blvd in Gresham and is serviced by the 9 Powell bus headed west towards Portland.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Wood and Water
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Public Social University - Feb 2
The third installment of Public Social University was launched earlier this week. We had three workshops:
The first was called "Let Yourself Express An Inner Monologue." Cara Deffilipi created a modern dance routine that we learned and embellished a little on. We were dancing to a Tom Waits song. 2 days later and my legs are still sore.
Here's a video of us trying to dance. Looks like we aren't so bad for beginners right? If you can see the video, click here.
For the next session, The Theory of Sandwich Making, Camilleo gave us the 411 on how to craft a sandwhich that does what its supposed to do: stay together, look good, and taste good. Did you know there's a science to this? It's true. From now on, my sandwiches will be twice as good as they were before.
For the third portion, titled OMG DIY FYI, Rozzell Medina asked people to pair up and then to talk about what sorts of things we might want to learn with our partner. We then went outside and learned them, came back to the library and shared with each other. Some people learned some interesting things. For example some learned about this young kid who plays drums on plastic buckets in order to raise money for college. Someone else tried to learn how to do kartwheels. Other people learned about hiccups, what causes them and how to get rid of them. We had a fun time.
time to rock out!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
FEED! Shwag
The logo has FEED on the top with a mirrored version of it. You can choose black ink or magenta and have it placed anywhere on the shirt.