loving art, science and creative kids
9/18/2015 2:44:26 PM
First Fight
Acrylic Painting 36” x 25” : $ 425.
Anger can underline an issue but if not dealt with in a timely manner it festers over time and becomes destructive.
Marriage Controversy — Finding a Solution
The issue of gay marriage has been controversial for much too long. There is a simple solution that should take it out of the realm of moral imperatives and put it in its rightful societal place. This subject does not have to be such an emotional and divisive one.
If our country really accepts the doctrine of separation of church and state then why not get the government out of the business of issuing marriage licenses? It would take the sting out of the word “marriage” if a civil certificate was given to any two people who find it beneficial to live together in an economic union. Rights would be spelled out involving health benefits, social security, hospital visitations, ownership of property and children. The license would be a binding agreement that clarifies legal instead of moral responsibilities. The couple would not have to declare themselves to be pillow partners. Those issuing these government contracts would not have their religious beliefs called into question.
Instead it would be up to the churches to issue marriage licenses. In this way, a religion that preaches that marriage is between a man and a woman would have the right to follow its conviction. One with a more liberal interpretation could condone gay marriages. Followers of each denomination would feel satisfied that their beliefs were being fully taken into account. A government clerk would not be asked to act against his or her beliefs.
There are many people besides gay or male-female couples who might benefit from a civil license. I know of older people who have lost their spouses. Not wanting to remarry, they live together and might benefit from a legal document to bind their current co-habitation situation. There are others too who may choose to reside with a man or woman of the same or opposite sex purely for economic and friendship reasons.
Also benefiting would be those who are asexual or severely handicapped, preferring not to marry yet needing to reside with a partner without being looked at in a questioning way. There are many gay men or lesbian women who prefer to reside with someone of the opposite sex even though their relationship is asexual. If they decide to dedicate themselves to their partner for legal, health and economic reasons why should anyone object? There are so many business contracts that are agreed to, a civil union would just be one more.
A multitude of relationships are presently studded with emotional and complex innuendos could benefit from the more tolerant approach of a civil union — one that is not burdened by a definition that challenges our Judeo-Christian heritage.
Since this is a controversial subject I would appreciate hearing your opinions on my blog site at eichingerfineart.com/blog.
9/11/2015 11:27:39 AM
Summer Night’s Dream
Acrylic Painting : 26” x 32” : $ 498
What are the dreams of our youth? How do they imagine their future?
Flash Mobs
Living in the moment, ignoring society’s values and social abandonment is nothing new. When still a teen I heard tales of Fort Lauderdale spring breaks. There were wild parties with lots of alcohol loosening the morality of boys and girls on vacation without adult sanctions. Boy…did I want to join them! My parents, however, had other ideas and kept me quietly busy at home during the break. I thought it was a missed opportunity for fun.
Another mob gathering happened one July holiday when our family went for a week’s camping trip in a Michigan sate park. The site was beautiful, with huge old trees near a lake for swimming and fishing. The first two days were idyllic but we were awakened on the evening of July third when tens, then hundreds, and later thousands of kids between 18 and 25 years invaded the park. They set up sleeping bags, tents and boom boxes everywhere there was an open spot, including our own reserved camping space. These partiers rarely left their sites. The men sat in lounge chairs on top of their mini-vans downing beers while shouting obscenities at the skimpily clad girls gyrating-below to loud music.
I observed a police car being rocked back and forth by a rowdy group of kids. Scary! Law enforcement never showed up again that weekend. One kidnapped girl was carried away in the back of a car while her boy friend ran after, shouting for the abductors to stop. Other young women were molested by mobs of inebriated men and there was no one around to stop the resultant rapes. I was afraid to leave my tent and go to the bathroom. It was outrageous, but the local community just acknowledged the behavior as college students and working youth letting off steam, so it was permitted to continue in the same park year after year.
As bad as it was, the gatherings in the 60s and 70s differed from the flash mobs that assemble in various locations throughout the country today. On a moment’s notice text messages, viral emails, tweets and mobile phones invite people to assemble for marches, protests, and parties. They often bring together disruptive elements as well as socially minded citizens. Some flash mobs, lasting only a brief moment, are publicity stunts organized by paid professionals while others are fun gatherings promoting the arts and entertainment.
The daily news mostly covers flash mobs that have taken a political twist used by society’s have-nots. I know of homeless organizers in our town who amass large numbers of kids in order to take over upper class tennis courts so they can play dodge ball with hundreds of stolen tennis balls. Several gatherings by disenfranchised youth have led me to believe that there are great differences between the Ft. Lauderdale type of assembly and today’s flash mob gatherings. In the past, after high school, teens were headed to jobs or to college. Though some events were certainly unruly, at the end of the weekend these kids went back to their stable homes to become law abiding citizens.
Most children today grow up with working parents who are not home to monitor their movements. We may applaud the mother who admonished her son for participating in the Ferguson looting, but she was the exception rather than the rule. Adults often do not know what is going on outside of their homes. Unfortunately many flash gatherings and riots are attended by undereducated, untrained youth who live with bleak future prospects. One 20 year old homeless boy told me with joy in his voice how much fun it was to walk down a street in a mob and take over an area. These kids were not violent but enjoyed putting fear in faces of the adults in their way. Many were on drugs and it would not take much to turn their bravado rendezvous into tragedy. The kids talk about the unfairness of the rich and they want what they can not afford so are willing to take when they can not earn.
On the fringes of political mobs are celebrities and social do-gooders who hope to bring attention to tragic incidents and turn them into a media acknowledgement of inequities. Though they do focus on underlying issues, the public’s willingness to do something about them is fleeting.
These young disenfranchised men and women are likely to be part of the 25 % nationally who have not graduated from high school, and there are many more who do graduate but have not received training that would enable them to work. What should they do? They are angry, scared, and very bored. THERE ARE NO JOBS FOR THEM. Do they want to work? Yes, they do, though they need to learn a trade and have supervision because their skills are poor. They, like most people, want to feel needed and have a sense of belonging.
How did we handle inequity in past years? Schools had vocational programs and realized everyone was not college bound. There were apprenticeship training opportunities to develop specific skills. During wars the draft took large numbers of these kids off the street and sent them to fight. Modern warfare does not require large numbers of bodies but rather well-educated technicians leaving the streets filled with the homeless.
Is there a solution? Of course, I’m an optimist. Perhaps it is the time to reinstitute a youth training program like the Civilian Conservation Corps operated during Roosevelt’s era. Yes, it reeks of socialism, but so what? It is better than growing pockets of idleness. It should be looked on as part of the education system.
Sent to camps, city kids experienced nature, built their own barracks, rose early, worked hard, and were fed good nutritious food. They made friends, learned construction skills including carpentry, electrical wiring and plumbing. Their jobs took them to national parks where they developed conservation techniques, fire fighting, learning how to work in a team and to follow instructions. They were off the streets, out of jail, not drinking or on drugs. They felt good about working, had money in their pockets and could see the fruits of their labor benefiting the community at large.
Our politicians and business people could also bring manufacturing back to the United States? Let’s make things here, not overseas, and provide jobs to our own youth. We will always have citizens who need to work with their brawn instead of brains. An average IQ of 100 means that half the people in our country fall short of the intelligence needed to run businesses, be doctors, or lawyers. Yet these people can be fine, helpful, and happy contributors to society.
College trained children are also worried that there will be no jobs for them upon graduation. Perhaps a year of public service would be a useful way to transition from school to work. Employment in the arts, in our parks, or assisting teachers in overcrowded schools develop work-a-day skills such as time-management, organization , compassion and communication
Solving these issues will determine whether our society lives in fear of the next mob or in harmony with content citizens. It will determine if the wealthy have to build walls to contain themselves in self- imposed ghettos or if all will feel free to roam the city without being accosted by beggars and looters. Those of us who are educated are needed to solve these social issues now. Our ideas, our energy and our belief in a better society can certainly be used to tackle these difficult problems.
Do comment at my blog site: eichingerfineart.com/blog.
Art is always for sale. Contact me at [email protected] for more information.
References:
http://www.wikihow.com/Organize-a-Flash-Mob: How to organize a flash mob
http://wordspy.com/index.php?word=flash-mob: meaning of flash mob and a few examples.
http://six.fibreculturejournal.org/fcj-030-flash-mobs-in-the-age-of-mobile-connectivity/- from the first mob in Manhattan in 2003 to today flash mobs have become part of a socially networked society. Article discusses the history of flash mobs.
9/5/2015 4:13:16 PM
Oregon Museum Of Science and Industry
Acrylic painting- 27” by 22”: $450
Science Centers are special places for hands-on learning.
You Never Know!
While sitting in my museum office one quiet fall day, I heard the sounds of shouting voices and footsteps running towards my door. Needless to say I was worried and jumped from my seat thinking that there had been an accident. Instead, a surprising story greeted me. An autistic child had spoken for the first time and the excited observers wanted to share their wonder with me.
Both mother and teacher were visiting the science center with a class of disabled elementary age children. A young girl happened to have been left alone for a few minutes and allowed to explore the small exhibit hall on her own. The child had stopped before an oscilloscope, picked up the microphone and started vocalizing. As she made a noise, her voice pattern was displayed on the scope. Since neither adult was paying attention, the child she felt free to play with the display without having to perform for an audience of concerned educators. When the mother turned to check on her daughter and observed what happening, she grabbed the teacher, and with excitement the two ran to share the news.
The teacher later told me that the incident was a reminder of research that suggested an oscilloscope be used to help non-verbal children. Back in her school she put in a requisition for a scope to use during therapy sessions with several children.
The conclusion of this story, however, gave me pause for thought. Parent, teacher and child returned to the museum a week later. The three immediately dovetailed to the oscilloscope where the child was handed the microphone and instructed to talk. There were high expectations of a repeat performance. Instead they got silence and disappointment in the child’s reaction. I thought the experience provided an interesting insight into human behavior and I tucked it away for further analysis.
What conclusions did I draw from the incident? Several . . . first, children need a rich and varied environment within which to roam and second, they need freedom to make choices away from the eyes of overly anxious adults.
What I like about science centers and children’s museums is that they provide a safe environment for self-exploration. They are designed to enable participants to learn in their own way and in their own time scale. Parents do not need to hover over their children and teachers are not asked to comment about what should or should not be learned. The visitors experiment with the displays and form their own conclusions. Since no one is watching or testing it is acceptable to make mistakes and then try once again. Montessori schools take a similar approach. Their educational materials are organized in such a way that the room becomes child rather than teacher centered. In a Montessori classroom the teacher shows the child how to use age appropriate equipment but then lets the child alone to use it or not. Once a basic skill is mastered experimentation with other variations is encouraged as imagination dictates.
When I was a child the neighborhood was my domaine. During vacations I often left the house early, meeting friends to ride bicycles and explore the adjacent woods. Our parents were not worried, assuming we would come home when we were hungry or tired. In this way I experienced nature, found abandoned bird nests, listened to bull frogs, tried to catch polliwogs and climbed trees. When our apples fell in the dirt we picked them up and washed them off in the nearest stream. My friends and I made up stories and played our parts as lost princesses to be found by daring knights. To experiment with outdoor cooking, I put an egg in a frying pan to see if the sun was hot enough to cook it. After three hours the fried egg was well done but not very attractive for eating.
Childrearing practices today make me concerned that parents and grandparents have forgotten that children need freedom to explore their communities and need to be allowed to make mistakes. Instead they create pristine environments for play and provide constant praise for the smallest success or inconsequential achievement, making sure that the child is never bored. Without realizing it they are working against their child’s ability to be self- sufficient and develop confidence in their own competency.
A woman I met last week told me that her brother invited her to the Spaghetti factory for a celebration. When she asked about the occasion she was told that her five year old niece had just completed her first week at school. The woman, a teacher, was concerned that a kindergartner should be awarded for having attended a week at school and wondered how the accolades were going to continue as the child aged.
The teacher went on to say how spoiled and demanding her students were. They (and their parents) insist on being given good grades even if they were not earned. These helicopter parents hover over their children, contributing to their homework, and observing every activity. When away, cell phones put their child in regular contact, and they text frequently, remaining in constant contact. Their children are told how to behave, what to do and where to do it. And when they do something wrong there are few consequences. All of this loving attention creates spoiled children who talk back and rule the household. By the time they are teenagers they are difficult to control yet have not learned how make sensible decisions on their own.
By not being given the freedom to experiment and fail, or allowed to experience boredom and find their own amusement, many children grow up ill prepared to leave home. Going away to college can be a traumatic exercise. I know of a single mom who went so far as to move to her child’s college town, renting an apartment in order to be near. Parents are text back and forth throughout the day to lessen the confusion, fear and loneliness that comes from being away from home for the first time. The result of these actions denies the student the experience of joy and confidence building that comes from having to overcome difficulties.
You never really know what is going to happen in life, and there is no way to protect children from every possible disaster. The best we can do is to let them know of our love. We can help them learn to problem solve, provide skills needed for supporting themselves, and then leave them to find their own way.
