If this writing seems out of sorts, it is probably because it is. October rallies up the last bit of fire energy in its halloween antics before this ashy lull sets in; a simultaneous calm yet unsettling quiet before the demands of the holiday season seizes us.
Our first week of Open Gym in November, everyone seemed to be feeling it. The kid's moods were especially fragile, their frequency of complaints over little banters increasing, their energy plummeting with the sun, eager for snack or just to go home.
I have slowly been trying to inject some new inspiration into the atmosphere. On one of our last few nice days, I wandered outside with a couple of the girls, stringing my camera along. For the next two hours, they took turns posing or just randomly firing away at the camera and so I thought I should sit with them and let them look through their artwork. Thinking back to a photo workshop we did with kids in art school, I thought why not let them pick out a few to print? So last week, I finally cleared the gym board of the outdated artwork from years ago and created a space for a new art wall. On Wednesday, I surprised the girls with their photo work up on the board and offered them little labels to title their pieces with. I also tested the idea of putting a poster for the date each gym period and writing about a significant celebration or time in history for that day. For instance, November 6th was Finnish-Swedish Heritage Day to celebrate the bilinguality of the two Scandinavian countries. I am hoping that attention to the wall will catch on through the months.
Some of the photos the kids took:
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| L was getting accustomed to her "Hobo" role for Halloween. She makes a very adorable Hobo. Almost wanted to let her keep my hat and coat. |
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| C titled this "the forest" |
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| They were fascinated and freaked out at the same time |
All of these little side projects I am creating are probably of no use in keeping me on track for the big ones. But they will offer me something to work on when these slow November weeks are wearing on me.
I also happened to regurgitate these ideas after a horridly frustrating Garden meeting with the Superintendent and the White pass principal. As I should have guessed, a whole bunch of unforeseen logistics and red tape arose and I left with what felt like a bag of skepticism with a side serving of sympathetic support. Rebecca hacked our idea of the Tennis court, citing no water source (legit) and demanded much more comprehensive estimates before she would even think about taking the project to the school board for any of their involvement. As I sat there listening to her list all of the groups and organizations I should get in touch with and toe-stepping that needed to be considered, I felt trapped in that quintessential web of politics where everything isn't just as simple as it seems it could be. There was still hope and an offer to come to the schools and present the project to the kids once we had a concrete cost analysis but I definitely left just wanting to set the whole thing on the back-burner. A few days before the meeting, our garden group had met up at the library with some new faces on board, most notably E, an incredibly bright and talented 11 year-old. She is nothing short of a highly ambitious go-getter and before the meeting was done, she was begging to hop on the computer to make a website for us then and there. At Open Gym, she began posting signs about "wanted talent" for a talent show fundraiser we had discussed as an option. The day after the school meeting, E came up to me and handed me a one-page write out of a sort of recruitment pitch. I hated having to tell her that the Tennis property fell through. As it stands, I have an excuse to play the waiting game before having to pursue anything else as one of our new members is getting details on a possible deal with a local man's cultivated property that we could use for free.
And so I feel out of sorts. Everything is being acted out in little dents. Small efforts. Not one contained focus. Oh, November...
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| A final October sunset |
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