T.S. Eliot Poem

The Hollow Men

I

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer --

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death's other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

V

Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow

Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Part Deux - The story

The Snow Queen was beautiful and dangerous and terrifying all at the same time.  Her icy grip was intriguing.  Despite the  knowledge of certain doom, very few people had the power to resist her irrepressible allure.  Of course the girl, whose name was Rain, was one of those people.  She could resist the ice grip, because she had danced in the sunshine before.  She walked in the warm moonlit forest and had tasted the love of life.  She had no care for something cold to touch her.
It made her heart ache when she started seeing despair and hopelessness all around her.  When she started noticing all the people with icy hearts and frozen eyes and the pain it caused, she wanted to help.  Most of the problems were caused by all of those icy shards which were getting stuck in people's hearts and eyes.  By this time, the shards had been getting stuck in people's brains too.  This was causing all  kinds of disturbances and mayhem.  Imagine how the ice shards could mess up people's thought patterns.
Rain wanted to help these people.  She listened to them pour their heart out.  She loved them and she wanted to help.  Mostly she realized that just being there and listening would help melt the shards.  And tears.  Tears melted  the shards too, especially the really big ones.  But it was difficult for her, even if she didn't admit it.  Everytime she would listen and open up her heart, take on the pain and misery, it wore her down a little.   But she didn't mind.  It was what she wanted to do.  Seeing so many in misery, she wanted to help them in any way she could. She wanted to show them how much better the sunshine and warmth was.  The wearing down was so gradual, that she didn't notice it.  Of course, there was always a danger of ice getting stuck in her too.  A few times she actually saw pieces of ice flying around, trying to icify her heart, and eyes, and mind, but they were no match for her.  She could evade them or catch them and melt them with her fingers.  She felt it was her special gift.  Her special power.  She became a little conceited about it, in fact.  She thought nothing could affect her and change her.  She even started calling herself a special name.
While this was all happening, the Snow Queen noticed Rain.  Normally, she enjoyed getting hold of more flashy people.  Rain was not that type of girl.  She was a little odd, a little quiet, didn't mind being alone, and really didn't like attention in a crowd.  But now, the Snow Queen not only noticed her, but grew angry with her.  It was because Rain was getting people to de-icify.  See, the Snow Queen did not create the ice mirror, but she delighted in the affects it caused.  And once the ice shards touched a person, her job was SO much easier.  She could descend on a person, breathe her icy breath on them, and they would be her prisoner.  Once she had them captured, she would whisk them away, and bring them to her Ice Castle.  There, they would serve her until slowly they would become so frozen, they would become ice statues in her courtyard.  You would think she would run out of room with all these ice people statues filling up her castle, but since ice is an unlimited resource, she kept building on, so the castle was a neverending labyrinth of rooms which held these statues.  It made the Snow Queen quite happy.  And now, the Snow Queen wanted another statue. She wanted a Rain statue.

The Rewritten Tale - Chapter One

This is a classic fairy tale.  My favorite.  Totally rewritten..

A long time ago there was a girl and a boy.  Usually this tale begins with an introduction concerning how the devil creates a mirror which distorts everything.  The mirror breaks into a million shards and disperses throughout the world, it gets stuck in peoples eyes making them see everything distorted.  And the shards get stuck in their hearts, causing their hearts to turn to ice.

OUR story begins with the girl and the boy, though.  While this was all happening with the mirror, the boy and the girl were friends.  They knew they were destined to be friends forever.  More than friends, of course.  They knew they were soul mates.  They treasured every moment they had, and pretended it didn't matter.  The boy wanted to marry the girl, and the girl didn't even know.  The girl loved the boy deeply.  She didn't even hope that he would love her back, but when she found out he did, her whole world came alive. They told each other about their love.  Everything was perfect. The vowed to love each other forever.   Everything was the way it should be.

 There was never any reason to worry about anything with the boy and girl.  They loved each other.  They were happy.  But then the world got difficult.  The boy and girl saw cruelty, sadness, despair and utter failure.  They had each other though, and that should have been all that mattered.

However, a piece of mirrored glass got stuck in the girls heart and I will tell you about how it happened.  She didn't have the strength to reach in and pull it out. She was weaker than the boy knew.  She was weaker than she wanted to be and she was scared and ashamed.

Well, that piece of glass started to change her heart until she didn't know herself anymore.  And this delighted the Snow Queen.    (to be continued  http://ramblessilently.blogspot.com/2011/12/rewritten-tale-in-its-entirety.html)

Ransom Stoddard

I have been thinking about one of my favorite movies lately.  "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" starring James Stewart and John Wayne.  When my son Ransom was born, some old-timers told me to check out this movie because Jimmy Stewart plays a character named Ransom.  I don't know if you know this, but there are not that many Ransoms in the world.  (A fact that I am very proud of :)

The movie is great.  Here is a trailer...Liberty Valance  or blurb.  Seriously, it is a great western.  It is even better because it explores the whole hero concept.  The contrast of John Wayne's character with Jimmy Stewart's is priceless.  Ransom Stoddard (Stewart) is a senator in the newly established government of the old west.  He apparently got the job through his reputation for killing one of the worst bullies ever.  He carries the guilt of the killing for years, thinking he actually did it.  John Wayne plays the tough guy, never back down character that he always does.  I don't want to expand too much more, in case you want to watch it.
The whole point is that in this movie,  heroes come in different shapes and forms.   I think both of these men are heroes.  Ransom was not a fighter, but was willing to fight physically or legally to bring justice to the land.  Wayne, the gunslinger, gave up a family life and comforts to fight injustice in his own way.  I think that in this world, both types of heroes are needed.  Heck, we need heroes in whatever shape or form we can find them in.

20 years!

I have written before about the tale of Arwen and Aragorn, as it is written in the appendix of the Lord of the Rings.  It is truly the most romantic tale ever.  It is a parallel tale to Beren and Luthien. Beren and Luthien was written to describe Tolkien's own romance with his wife.  How incredible!  Tolkien believed that true love exists and he lived it.
In a couple of weeks, it will be December 2011.  In December 1991, my husband and I started dating.  That means we have been loving each other for 20 years. Although I was in love with him and only him throughout my teen years, even before we began dating.
The tale of Arwen and Aragorn is our story.  He is Strider in so many ways.  Strong, wise, kind, and a real hero.  He would run into any battle, fight any foe, and forgive any wrongs. Since he likes privacy and doesn't like people to talk about him like this, I will stop.  But he is THAT type of man.
And to think he loves me like Aragorn loved Arwen, fills me with awe and gratefulness. 

Why do I teach art?

I have been pondering what the purpose of education in general is all about.  Art, in particular, since that is my passion, background, and what I teach.
In the big scheme of things, is it important that I teach children how to draw and paint?  Is it important, at all, that I teach them about Leonardo Davinci or Picasso?  Will it make a difference in their life?  Especially since so few kids will actually find a career in the art field?
 I want to communicate vital reasons for spending time on art, since every moment of education is precious, and kids have so much to learn and to do.  But to do so, my thoughts go to the whole picture, the major scheme of what education should be about.  Generations ago, advanced degrees, and even a highschool diploma, was not necessary to be successful.  That was when America was more industrial, more trade-oriented.  My grandmother, Rose, finished 8th grade.  Even though, she never worked outside the home, her command of the english language  was far beyond that of  most college graduates of today.  (She grew up in a house with Italian parents fresh off the boat, bilingual, although she never spoke Italian to her children, she wanted to be fully American.) She enjoyed proofreading papers of her grandchildren, if asked!   I digress, this is not even my point.  Yes, there is something wrong with education today, but that is not what I am searching for.  I have been working on refining my intentions.  Purposes.  What is the ultimate goal of teaching children anything, including art.
My philosophical influences include of course, C.S.Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, Charlotte Mason, and Mortimer Adler.  The first two I won't go into detail about, but they have both influenced classical education immensely.  Charlotte Mason believed in the gentle art of learning.  She believed in creating a heart love for learning instead of just pouring information into their heads.  Information is important, but if a child does not love it, it won't stick and won't create a lifelong learner.  Mortimer Adler is a fascinating person.  Son of immigrants himself, born in 1902, he was a great proponent for classical education,  he believed that we need to enter into the "conversation of great ideas".  Literature, art and music contain the great ideas which spur humanity to think, grow and act.  He came up with a list of the Great Books... the books everyone should read to be educated properly. (if properly is the right word, even)  His foe was John Dewey. I read the following online:
"Interestingly, at Columbia, Adler also become familiar with John Dewey against whom he would later rail with great passion, claiming that Dewey's brand of intellectualism was entirely too objective. Students, said Adler, needed also to be grounded in the Great Ideas embodied within the great classics -- specifically truth, beauty, goodness, liberty, equality, and justice. Dewey's problem, said Adler, was that he had never read Aristotle." Mortimer Adler page   This is why I like Adler.  This is why I have always enjoyed the classics and science fiction, for that matter.  And finally, that is why I did not particularly like Twilight.
So, on to my particular passion and calling as an art teacher.  Teaching children art. It is not only about vocabulary and skills.  These are important.  You need to have the foundation.  I am always acutely aware of the fact that no matter what subject you are teaching, you must instill excitement and the love of the subject as well.  I believe this can happen in any subject, regardless of whether it is easy or not.  Rigorous education does not have to be boring, or too difficult. Just like Adler's list of books, I think there are certain pieces of art and certain artists that every student should be familiar with and study.  By study I mean some type of imitation, copying and discussing the piece.
Really, when you come down to it, I think for art, that the skills and concepts learned should be taught ultimately, not to teach kids how to communicate visually.  Although that will be an outcome and result if your end goal is right.  It is not to create a child who can  spit out facts about artists, colors, and harmony in art.  Although that will be an outcome and result if your end goal is right.  The ultimate goal of art education is to promote and encourage an understanding and love for the great works of art in the past and in modernity and to be able to evaluate it through the lens of their beliefs. I aim to evaluate art through the lens of scripture, church history, and church culture/traditions. There is nothing that is created in neutrality.  Ever.  Every piece of art communicates the big ideas and worldview of the artist and often the culture of the time. I am continually fascinated by the messages I find in paintings.  Take a look at Son of Man by Magritte which is below.   You could spend an hour just observing the symbolism and meanings within every aspect of the painting. The apple covering individuality, the red hands, the conformist suit, the barrier behind him.....

Ultimately,  I hope that through teaching skills, concepts and exposing my students to the great pieces of art (ones which contain the great ideas of humankind), that they will learn to be able to engage in the  conversation of great ideas which has always been going on since the beginning of time.
My secondary goal is for my students to love and appreciate art.  For them to desire to go to a museum or look up a new artist online to learn more about them and their work.  I want them to learn pieces of art "by heart" by copying them and by discussing them, much like they would do with poetry.  To sum it all up, it is not just the head, or even the hands that I want to train.  As a christian educator, my purpose in all of this is further reaching.  I want to somehow be able to reach their hearts, to allow them to understand that art is a way to learn more about God. I think that is what the great conversation of ideas is all about.  Trying to figure out why we are here, what our purpose is on this planet, and why bad things happen and what we can and should do in response.
Oh gosh, I think this just ended up being my soapbox.  But seriously, I don't think art is about having a fun time, or doing something different, or even communication of personal ideas.  It is bigger, it is more important.  Not because it needs to be taken more serious, but because it needs to become more of who we are.