Somebody Come and Play!

Nanny nanny boo boo you can't catch me!

Weeee I'm freeee!

 C'mon, silly, let's play! You can't be so grown-up and important all the time....

 Okay, I'm guilty, too, of being way too busy and important with grown-up style activities when I really should  just chill-out with the kids, whether in my home or in the classroom. Our inner young/fun person needs to come and play with our actual young/fun persons.

 Jona K. Anderson-McNamee and Sandra J. Bailey wrote a great article on this subject, "The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Development."

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT201003HR.pdf 

Here's a good quote: "Your child needs time with you to relax and play. Playing with children builds lasting bonds. Playing allows parents to appreciate the uniqueness of each child. Playing with children can also be a stress reducer for over-worked parents. Laughing and relaxing are important to your own well-being."

 http://www.schoolsparks.com/blog/four-rules-for-playing-games-with-your-children

My turn. 1, 2, 3, 4.....

These  “Rules” for Playing Games with Your Children are very practical. Of course, all of our children are above average intelligence, but all kids go through a developmental process that places them at a certain emotional and skill level.

Anthony T. DeBenedet, M.D. and Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D, both extreme experts in their fields, wrote a book called, The Art of Roughhousing. I had no idea it took such advanced degrees to goof off with your kids; I wonder if it takes a Masters to tickle.

Here are some great thoughts from the book: 

Roughhousing is physical, which means that it integrates our bodies with our brains, and promotes physical fitness, release of tension, and well-being. 

Looks like so much fun, I wish I was at the lake.

“Roughhousing is play, which means that it is done for its own sake, it is joyful, and it flows with spontaneity, with improvisation, and without any worries about how we look or how much time is passing by.  

Roughhousing is interactive, which means it builds close connections between our children and ourselves, especially as we get down on the wrestling mat and join children in their world. 

Roughhousing is rowdy, which means that it pushes us out of our inhibitions and inflexibilities. Rowdiness is not dangerous, as long as we have the safety that comes from knowledge, close supervision, and carefully paying attention.”

Moms have a say, too, though I'm not sure about the sticky floor part; not that a sticky floor was never a frequent reality in my kids' growing up years. The author has a degree in Recreational Therapy.

http://www.playwithyourfamily.com/2011/09/good-moms-have-sticky-floors/

FB here we come!

 I remember taking walks, playing cards, singing, listening to stories, swimming, telling jokes--we are validated as real and important people by these moments in our formative years when the most valuable resource- time- is given to us. Why would someone play with children? We love them. They are cute. Its fun.

The PS22 Chorus sings an update of the Sesame Street classic "Somebody Come and Play" as a bounty of red balls and children launch in every direction celebrating the connection between music and play. Conceived, produced and directed by NELA Film.

"Somebody Come And Play" PS22 Chorus on Sesame Street! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjs-BoWRYk 

Like your portrait?

MzTeachuh: Chillaxin' With My Right Brain

MzTeachuh: Chillaxin' With My Right Brain: This is a great love narrative.   by E. E. Cummings ...

Chillaxin' With My Right Brain

This is a great love narrative.

by e. e. cummings

anyone's any was all to her(Jackson Pollack) anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didn't he danced his did Women and men(both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn't they reaped their same sun moon stars rain          children guessed(but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew  autumn winter spring summer) that noone loved him more by more    when by now and tree by leaf she laughed his joy she cried his grief bird by snow and stir by still anyone's any was all to her    wish by spirit and if by yes. someones married their everyones laughed their cryings and did their dance (sleep wake hope and then)they said their nevers they slept their dream stars rain sun moon (and only the snow can begin to explain how children are apt to forget to remember with up so floating many bells down) one day anyone died i guess (and noone stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and was by was all by all and deep by deep Klimpt, The Kiss. and more by more they dream their sleep noone and anyone earth by april wish by spirit and if by yes.    Women and men(both dong and ding) summer autumn winter spring reaped their sowing and went their came sun moon stars rain         If you could interpret this, you were  using your left brain. Please promise, at least for today, you won't say your nevers or sleep your dream.             Now for some music!  I really enjoyed, "Rainbow Abstract."  Jesse Brethorstt 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtVAeoC_sGY&feature=related

MzTeachuh: What's Going On? Marvin Gaye 40 Years Ago

MzTeachuh: What's Going On? Marvin Gaye 40 Years Ago: What's going on? Trauma is what I heard through the grapevine The 60's and early 70's were an age of poetry, frequently sung. Marvin Gay...

What's Going On? Marvin Gaye 40 Years Ago

What's going on? Trauma is what I heard through the grapevine

The 60's and early 70's were an age of poetry, frequently sung. Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On,' which came out forty years ago, is a prime example expressing the age.

I was born in 1950, so the 60's were my teen years, mostly. I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. When a paint factory in Oakland blew up in early 1963, I thought it was a nuclear explosion. JFK was shot later that year.  The cities blew up when Dr. King was murdered, then RFK. Members of my family went to Vietnam. It was absolutely terrifying, even when I had moved from Oakland to a little burb in San Diego County called Chula Vista. So cut us Baby Boomers a break. Our formative years were freaky times. I will say it ticks me off when folks talk about 'the summer of love,' and Woodstock representing my generation. I was not one of the rich East Coast kids zoned out on drugs, or up in the Haight. We lived reality. We studied, worked our way through college, worried about the country. And this music describes our reality.

  What's Going On

Brother, brother, brother

Mother, too many of you crying

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today 

We don't need to escalate.

Father, father
We don't need to escalate

Anti-war demonstration, Kent State 

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that

You see, war is not the               answer       
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today


Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see

San Francisco 1968--the real San Francisco

Oh, what's going on

What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Ah, what's going on

In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on

Father, father, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
                                                                                      

MzTeachuh 1969 CVHS

                                  Picket lines and picket signs
                                  Don't punish me with brutality
                                  Talk to me
                                  So you can see
                                  What's going on
                                  Ya, what's going on
                                   Tell me what's going on
                                   I'll tell you what's going on 
                                   Right on baby
                                   Right on baby

Interesting read.

I don't pretend to know the answers to these difficult questions. But I do know this is great poetry and music.

These topics deserve more attention:

Vietnam War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

Anti-War demonstrations http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/antiwar.html

Kent State shootings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

NPR's article about Marvin Gaye  http://www.npr.org/2011/05/21/136459286/marvin-gayes-whats-going-on-songs-we-love

And now for the remarkable music:

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M&feature=related 

We're still figuring out what's going on...

Tranquil Afternoon--Art, Music and Maybe a Faun

'North Woods' by Richard Kozlow, 1988. But I don't know if the woods in Michigan have mythological creatures or not.

 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun' (complete), by Claude Debussy, with an animated graphical score.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YazhxBA7oo

I love this animation guy.

This is to honor the greatest, bravest faun of all times, Mr. Tumnus.

Mr. Tumnus the Bold

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Tumnus

Yes, I'm trying to trick you into reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to your class. Or maybe they would like to popcorn read it.

Calm Thyself

Monet would get up 3 am so he wouldn't miss the dawn on the Seine River.

Peace, be still.

Here's some Chopin to help with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--ykTqoQnqI&feature=relmfu

The Avengers--In Theatres on Saturday!

"If we can't save the world, we can darn well avenge it." (Well, I vote for saving it.)

"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, but their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then—for now, the Avengers Assemble!"

—Prologue from The Avengers

Number One

Stan Lee, creator of innumerable comic book heroes, put together the Avengers as a team of superheroes. I am not an expert on this, but I have always enjoyed Batman. If you are really into this, you could Google 'Fosaken Toys' and a guy named Sean can find lots of good comic book stuff for you. 


You may notice just a few heroes from world mythology, like Thor from the Norse. Folks love heroes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor

The following is a sort of home-grown site of world mythology, and it is kind of fun.


http://www.gods-heros-myth.com/nmain.html

I think that literature is as literature does, and there are many outstanding storytellers who happen to spin their tales in comic books. If there are good themes, characters, and a dynamic story is there--hey it's literature to me! Is it great? Let's give it time.

Marvel's The Avengers- Trailer (OFFICIAL) 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrNdBpGMv8

Backlit by the Dawn

The new light, new day, new start.

Nature recycles naturally. Every 24 hours its a new day. Lesson to learn from this? Let the mystery of a new dawn be at your back.

This is what a sublime new morning sounds like: Debussy's Reverie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFL2MWuxa4&feature=related






Hey, I just thought of a haiku---must be the influence of the Poem in Your Pocket day, or maybe the Reverie.

Dawn Haiku

nature recycles
morning reconstituted
backlit by this dawn

So Thoughtful, What's on Their Minds?

Leonardo's figures are so pensive--it makes you wonder what they're thinking. Even the babies.

Leonardo's 'Virgin of the Rocks.' National Gallery London. It was a privilege to view it in person.

Here in the US, Mother's Day is coming up. Good to consider that closest of relationships. This is a very beautiful piece of sacred music that not only reinforces religious belief in some groups, but reminds of the invaluable maternal bond.



Andrea Bocelli in Rome singing, "Ave Maria," in Latin. Written by Schubert. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwp1CH5R-w4&feature=related