borntosing

FOR MANY YEARS, I'VE BEEN TOLD BY PEOPLE WHO OVERHEARD ME READING TO CHILDREN...MY OWN, MY GRANDCHILDREN, MY CHILDCARE CHARGES, STUDENTS,  LIBRARY ATTENDEES, ET AL..., THAT THEY ENJOYED THE WAY I READ, WITH EXPRESSION, ACCENTS, ENTHUSIASM, AND ANIMATION...THAT I SHOULD PUT TOGETHER A PROGRAM SUCH AS THE KIND THAT TRAVEL TO VARIOUS LIBRARIES, SCHOOLS, DAYCARES, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS...BUT I HESITATED BECAUSE THE STORIES THESE PEOPLE OFTEN HEARD ME READ WERE FROM ETHNICITIES NOT MY OWN, AND THAT MADE ME THINK THAT SOME PEOPLE MIGHT BE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH MY PRESENTATION OF IT. FOR EXAMPLE...I LIKE TO READ THE ANANSI TALES AND "WHY DO MOSQUITOS BUZZ IN PEOPLE'S EARS" STORY, OF AFRICAN ORIGIN...I AM NOT AFRICAN DESCENT, AND PERHAPS THAT WOULD MAKE PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE FOR ME TO PERFORM THOSE KINDS OF STORIES.

 

ANOTHER "STUMBLING BLOCK" WAS THINKING THAT ANY PROGRAM NEEDED TO ALWAYS COINCIDE WITH THE THEMES THE DISTRICT LIBRARY CHOSE...WHICH IT TURNS OUT IS A NATIONAL PROGRAM, NOT JUST LOCAL, AS I PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT. BUT THE LIBRARIES I HAVE WORKED IN OFTEN HAD INVITED THESE PROGRAMS YEAR ROUND, AND EVEN THE SUMMER READING PROGRAM "PERFORMERS" DID NOT ALWAYS PRESENT CONSISTENT WITH THE PRESCRIBED THEME.

 

SO...TODAY, ALL MY MENTAL RUMINATIONS ON THIS SUBJECT CAME TOGETHER! I SHOULD LIKE TO COMBINE CULTURALISM, MULTI-ETHNICITY, WITH LITERATURE, PERHAPS UTILIZING MUSIC AND OCCASIONALLY SOME SIMPLE PUPPETRY.

 

MY FAMILY TREE HAS SEVERAL ROOTS...I AM PART CHEROKEE, ENGLISH, LITHUANIAN, RUMANIAN...PERHAPS SOME OTHER ROOTS ARE ENTANGLED IN THERE AS WELL...THERE ARE STORIES FROM THOSE BACKGROUNDS I COULD USE IN A PROGRAM...i'll list these later.

ADDITIONALLY, IN MY EARLY YEARS, I LIVED IN A CULTURALLY DIVERSE NEIGHBORHOOD..."WASPS", POLISH, JEWISH, PUERTO RICAN, BLACK, ET AL...AND I GREW UP APPRECIATING THE DIVERSITY. MORE WONDERFUL STORIES.

 

I WAS REARED BY SEVERAL FOSTER FAMILIES AND LIVED IN OTHER ETHNICALLY DIVERSE NEIGHBORHOODS...SO THOSE CULTURES BECAME PART OF MY MAKE-UP AS WELL...PRIMARILY ITALIAN, BUT ALSO, SOME MORE LITHUANIAN, AND EARLIER THERE WAS A CUBAN FOSTER FATHER AND IRISH FOSTER MOTHER ALSO.   I'VE MARRIED A MAN OF ITALIAN DESCENT, WHOSE ROOTS ARE ALSO MESHED WITH CHEROKEE, ENGLISH, AND IRISH ANCESTRY.

 

AND NOW...I HAVE SEVERAL BI-RACIAL GRANDCHILDREN...   

 

I HAVE ALWAYS NURTURED A DEEP "ROOTED"  APPRECIATION FOR OUR OWN CULTURES AND THOSE WHICH BELONG TO OTHERS...

 

 

BEGIN WITH A DISCUSSION OF FAMILY TREES...START WITH A QUICK REFERENCE TO MY OWN...ASK OF THE AUDIENCE WHO WISH TO VOLUNTEER THEIR OWN BACKGROUND, ANCESTRY.

 

DISCUSS "THE DIVERSITY TREE AKA DIVERSE-A-TREE"  I'VE BROUGHT ALONG, (ADAPT A COAT-TREE? OR, GET A FAKE FICUS PLANT?) HUNG WITH BOOKS (COVERS ONLY, COZ ENTIRE BOOKS WOULD BE TOO HEAVY) AND PROPS (LIKE HEADGEAR) FROM VARIOUS CULTURES, AND AT ITS ROOTS, A BASKETFUL OF ADDITIONAL BOOKS AND PROPS. MENTION THAT THE "DIVERSE-A-TREE" IS THE WORLD'S FAMILY TREE, BECAUSE ESSENTIALLY, WE ALL COME FROM THE SAME ROOTS.

 

THEN CHOOSE OR HAVE SOMEONE FROM THE "AUDIENCE" CHOOSE A BOOK FROM THE DIVERS-A-TREE...AND SET IT ON A PROP STAND...THEN TELL IT...DON'T READ IT...

 

REPEAT AND RINSE. OH WAIT...THAT'S FOR SHAMPOOING...JUST REPEAT.  SEVERAL TIMES. 'TIL TIME RUNS OUT.

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

 

  

 

                      

 

oh Wow! there's a Helmuth Workshop for Singers at Carnegie in February 2009. The application appeared in a link of one of the BCF emails. It's a four-page long application with quite a few requirements, but i feel like i would really like to go. We shall see...

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                        

Well, i hadn't been feeling too well this week, and Wednesday was the worst! i'm sure it is "just hormones"--nothing contagious-- but was so dizzy in the morning, that i called in sick and hoped to be able to get there in time to  do the SRP. Fortunately, i was able to get up around noon, and my hubby was home, so he drove Faith and me to the library in time for that.

 

this week's program emphasis was on communication...illustrated by how insects communicate with their antennae (touch), body language (bees, for instance, use a "dance" to illustrate a map to the location of nectar-filled flowers), sounds (most likely other than vocal means--such as those sounds made by crickets and cicadas), even scent (some animals, including insects, emit phermones to warn, alert, attract other animals).

 

then we played games...a good way to practice communication skills. since i wasn't feeling well, i was grateful that it happened to be a fairly simple program, although the kids didn't recognize it as such. they enjoyed playing "Monopoly" based on their town rather than Atlantic City! and Bingo!

 

Glad, too, to have had three helpers available again! There were eleven young people!

 

Still not feeling all that great, so i will leave it at that.

 

thanks for reading!