Monday, January 11, 2016

Sowing seeds for future generations - Spontaneous generosity

When I feel discouraged about the restrictions placed on teachers within our current situations I look to various artists, teachers, philosophers, and activists for inspiration. Amy Franceschini is an artist/designer working with the social practice group Future Farmers. They have created many wonderful projects that address various design and food cultivation issues. In this interview she talks about the concept of "Tzedakah" which is a hebrew word for obligation to give. Amy Franceshini has collected heirloom seeds for an exhibition to make public the efforts of Vavilov, a Russian seed preservation collector, who started the first seed research institute in Russia in the 1930s.

Why write about seed preservation for future generations? Well, I think this is precisely the place where were are at as educators now. We need to store some heirloom seeds (coronals of wisdom) for future generations before we become too tainted with GMOs or GMT (genetically modified teachers). We are seeing some valued wisdom go by the way side in teaching now. I wonder how can we still evolve but not get rid of the enormous reservoirs of knowledge and wisdom within our teachers now? Hmm. Check out this interview with Amy.  I think she's inspiring. Think metaphorically. Sometimes this is the only way to transcend the ordinary.


No comments:

Post a Comment