We broach some of the heavy abstract concepts: love, beauty, evil, happiness . . . We begin the unit by reading the Washington Post article called "Pearls Before Breakfast," in which the paper conducts an experiment in which the world class musician Joshua Bell performs at one of the busiest places in downtown Washington DC.
Their question is simple - will people take a break from their routine to witness sheer beauty. I mean this is a world class musical prodigy playing the greatest compositions ever written on a multi-million dollar violin.
Of course, very few people stop and soak it up.
It's also a great lesson in context. Usually Bell commands thousands of dollars per minute. And if he were in a music hall, everyone would recognize the beauty of his work. Because it's in the right context. But when he appears just as another street musician, then the context isn't effective.
So to drive this point home about context and recognizing beauty in our lives I charged my students with creating beauty blogs in which they have to find several examples of beauty in various contexts (I'll list them below).
I like to say that I painstakingly developed this lesson and aligned it with various standards and so on, but really I thought it up one morning over breakfast when I knew I'd have to stay home with sick kids.
You see my College Comp II kids loathe subs. Now it's nothing against the sub, it's just that usually when a sub is in a classroom that means a whole bunch of busy work for the students. And my CC 2 students never get busy work. Thus, they hate it and would rather not even be there if we can't discuss and analyze the readings.
So I knew I didn't want to lose a class period with my CC2 kids, who have been known to just not show up when word gets out that there's a sub, I decided to have them get out of class and conduct a beauty scavenger hunt.
Then to illustrate what they discovered, I decided to have them create a blog and upload their pictures and video to it to present in class.
And I'm always left in awe after the students present. It's amazing what motivated students can accomplish when you give them an assignment that allows them to create meaning and relevance. And then it's my job to just get the hell out of their way.
In the spirit of their blogs, I'm going to generate my own beauty blog here.
1. Two examples of natural beauty (as in nature) here in TRF:
First, the maple in our back yard. The colors in fall are amazing. I love how it goes from green to yellow to red to brown in only a few weeks.
Second, believe it or not, this picture was taken just a few days after the gorgeous day pictured above. We basically had a blizzard in early October. Late one afternoon I looked out the back window of our deck and saw these guys grazing in our neighbor's lawn. They haven't been out a bunch lately, but now that the acorns are all down, the deer seem to be munching happily along. It is always a highlight of the late afternoon to look out at the field in our back yard and see the families of deer out grazing. I hope they lay low in a couple weeks though.
Of course, the best part of the most beautiful season? Halloween. What's not beautiful about that?
2. Artificial beauty
I think this bridge, which is really a 'water' bridge since it's built over a natural river, is a thing of beauty. Not that it's aesthetic so much as it's ingenious. I find that beautiful.
And here is another. This is so beautiful that there is no explanation needed!
3. Acts of beauty
This was one of the happiest days of my life. I'll treasure this day forever.
This video, I believe, is an act of beauty. What these students - just watch them strut their stuff - are able to do with Reese is beautiful. No doubt.
4. Spontaneous beauty. The best kind. I went overboard here. I have so much beauty in my life that I'm blessed. This is just a small snippet of some of the beauty I've been able to capture in my life.
And now you see what I mean by having beauty in my life.
5. Beauty taken for granted.
Dad and me on the tractor. I'm struck by how much Dad then resembles me now and how much me then resembles Kenzie now.
Every time I get on the floor to play with Cash and Kenz, I have this picture in the back of my mind.
Me with Mom and Dad on Mom's last Mother's Day.
I think that intent look on Mom's face while Amanda is perched on her lap is truly beautiful.
I don't believe I ever took my parents for granted. Mom was my best friend and my father and I had a great relationship and we grew closer than ever after Mom passed. But now that they've been gone and now that I have my own children, I still feel like I should have cherished them both even more than I already did.
6. Manufactured Beauty
If you know me, this first one is a no brainer
And another example of manufactured beauty
7. A piece of beautiful music
A group of people performing together - in such a spirit - for others is beautiful.
And this is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Of course, it is from the first movie Kristie and I ever watched together.
And finally "Seasons of Love" from Rent.
8. Modern or classical piece of art
Oh, where to start? There are so many . . .
Rothko . . .
There is just something happy and uplifting about the colors here.
Lichtenstein . . .
I saw this in Atlanta. The house rotates as you walk around it. Amazing.
Rockwell . . .
Sorsdahl . . .
Caravaggio . . .
Van Gogh (with a twist) . . .
This is recreated with images from the Hubble Telescope.
9. A video of beauty
It's hard to choose. These are all beautiful and powerful.
10. I think one of my students said it best, "Just about anything can be beautiful, but the one thing that isn't beautiful is hate." Wise, wise words. So here is an example of something I consider to be ugly, the exact opposite of beautiful.
11. Something I've created that is beautiful . . .
Our kids, of course . . .
This poem which I wrote my incredibly beautiful wife, Kristie . . .
I Stand in Awe Before Love
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