From the Ivory Tower to the Community: Reconciling the Ideal with Reality in New Orleans

In mid-April, my colleague Ann Fantauzzi and I had the opportunity to present at the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) conference in New Orleans. Our talk, “Accommodating Students with Chronic, Life-Changing or Life-Threatening Illnesses,” was very well received and allowed us to meet many people doing really great work to support the education of children worldwide. (We’ve posted our slides and handouts if you’d like to get a sense of the information we discussed.)

One of the highlights of the trip was a personal tour we took of New Orleans and, in particular, the Lower 9th Ward that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. As Ann and I have devoted our careers to trying to serve people in need, we were most interested in seeing how people are coping now, nearly six years after the crisis precipitated by the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, which destroyed homes and killed and injured some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens.

Our tour guide was a local resident, a relative of our hotel’s concierge. Learning that we were visiting the city to speak to educators, our guide made sure one of our stops was to the Dr. King Charter School for Science and Technology in the Lower 9th. As a kindergarten through 9th grade school, most of the students at this school were very young when Katrina hit the city, and their experiences during the crisis will likely affect them throughout their lives.

We were heartened by the exceptional work the Dr. King School faculty is doing to try to prepare these students for success. But we were also dismayed to see the incredible needs that this school has, and to see how difficult it is to implement ideal teaching methods (as we were discussing at the conference) when students are missing basic resources, in terms of adequate food, classroom supplies, and so forth.

“We believe that every student may not learn on the same day or in the same way, but every student can indeed learn,” is the school’s philosophy and one which perfectly captures what this school is trying to do.

While our primary purpose for visiting New Orleans was to teach and learn at an academic educational conference, we were thankful to also have the opportunity to learn from the city’s residents, in particular our wonderful guide, Mr. Manuel Sims, and his family.

I encourage you to take the time to learn about the world around you, and particularly how it impacts our people in the greatest need. If you have the ability, please consider helping provide support for the Dr. King School, or the many similar schools and organizations across our country and our world.

Lessons From David Kaczynski on Recovery From Trauma

I’ve posted the video of the third Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community (CRAIC) group meeting (held on November 3) on my website. I hope you’ll take time to view the video (it’s about an hour); feedback from participants suggests that this was the best CRAIC meeting we’ve yet had. I agree — David Kaczynski’s story is remarkable, not only for its courageousness, but also because of how he’s emerged from a highly traumatic experience with the commitment to help people who have also experienced trauma as a result of violence, illness or other circumstances.

David, as you may know, is the brother of Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber. As part of his healing process, David not only reached out to Ted’s victims to apologize for Ted’s actions, but also began to write poetry. He has recently published a book of these remarkable poems, A Dream Named You. During the Nov. 3 webinar, David and I spoke about his story and how creative expression is vital in coming to accept your altered life when it changes in terrible, unexpected ways, whether that is because of violence, chronic illness, death, or other situations.

Rather than telling you about the webinar myself, I’d like to share the message that photographer Ann Fantauzzi, who was one of our guests during our first webinar, sent me after the meeting. She captured this remarkable meeting extremely well.

“The discussion touched me personally as I felt my season of trauma and loss with losing not only my brother, but of the finality of family and being a mid-life orphan. Yet I was to enter the ultimate period of creativity, risk taking, and ambiguity. David said he felt he was the only one going through the feelings he had and I did too — even to this day sometimes.

“I listened to the webinar a second time and found I was emotionally drawn in and tearful as he spoke, and the discussion wound through ideas of recreating yourself. David’s struggle was personal in a way I can’t describe. I will probably listen to it at least one more time as I feel this was the best webinar yet dealing with the subject. I am really understanding all the concepts more fully and personally now and how they pertain to me. I think it is a struggle I am deeply involved in and his session and words brought it home to me clearly.”

I hope that you’ll also take the time to view the webinar because I think you’ll also gain tremendous insight from David’s story that you can bring to your own life. And please let me know how this affects you, either in the comments below, or by e-mailing me privately.

Creativity Group, Nov. 3, To Feature David Kaczynski

The third Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community (CRAIC) web-based meeting, November 3rd at 11 a.m. Eastern, will feature a very exciting guest: David Kaczynski. I’ve had the opportunity to present with David at numerous meetings and events and I’m very pleased that he’s agreed to participate in my next webinar and share his story and his experience with you.

Through his life and his work, David has sought solutions to human problems through understanding and compassion as opposed to violence and coercion. His story touches on the things we must learn and the balances we must achieve to develop meaning out of trauma and suffering, and to keep our sense of humanity alive through adversity and crisis.

In 1996, David, a social worker living in Schenectady, N.Y., had no idea the Unabomber could be the brother with whom he shared a bedroom growing up in Chicago. But when newspapers printed the Unabomber’s “manifesto,” David and his wife, Linda Patrik, recognized similarities to Ted’s ideas. David faced an almost unimaginable dilemma – he could turn in his brother knowing that he might be executed, or he could do nothing, knowing more innocent people could be harmed.

David chose the path of life by taking steps to stop the violence. His actions led FBI agents to the cabin in the Montana woods where Ted had been building bombs. Despite Ted’s history of mental illness, federal prosecutors sought the death penalty. It was only through the work of highly-skilled lawyers – an advantage often denied others facing capital prosecutions – that Ted was allowed to plead guilty and is now serving a life sentence in a federal penitentiary in Colorado.

After helping turning in his brother in 1996, David sought healing from his experiences by reaching out to Ted’s victims to apologize for his brother’s actions. He also began writing poetry as a creative outlet for his grief. During the webinar, he will discuss how creativity has played an important role in his recovery from trauma and loss and his decision to use his experiences to help others.

The CRAIC group meets periodically as a safe environment for sharing and getting feedback on artistic expression, and for learning to use creativity to develop a healthy response to chronic illness. There is no charge for participating, but you must register in advance.

Video From Second Creativity Group Posted

I’ve posted the video of the second Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community (CRAIC) group meeting (held on August 25) on my website. I hope you’ll take time to view the video (it’s a little less than an hour), as well as the video from our first meeting, and let me know what you think.

Some of the things that happened during the webinar include:

• Musicians Scott Petito and Beth Reineke offered great feedback on how they use innovation and improvisation in their art. You can also listen to their music on the same webpage where we posted the video from the August 25 meeting.
• We had a great talk about the five capacities of improvisation — 1. Tolerate ambiguity, 2. Take risks, 3. Become curious, 4. Improvise, and 5. Innovate. We asked participants what they thought were their strengths and weaknesses among these capacities and got some really interesting responses. None of the participants thought they were very good at tolerating ambiguity, so it was logical that most people thought that’s the area where they needed the most help.
• We also had a lot of questions about the difficulty of judging your own work and about sharing your work with others. Some people felt that the idea of “art for art’s sake” — doing something creative that you like, regardless of what other’s might think — is sufficient.
• Scott and Beth offered a lot of insight on the topics of ambiguity, getting started on a project and the benefit of sharing your work with others.

We intend to hold CRAIC meetings every other month and will soon announce a date for the next event. To receive notification about the next CRAIC meeting, join our e-mail list by contacting us — please note in the comments box that you would like to be added to the CRAIC e-mail list. We’ll also post the next date on the Events page on our website.

Creativity Group Meeting Aug. 25

The second Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community (CRAIC) web-based meeting will be held on August 25th at 11 a.m. Eastern. This group is a safe environment for sharing and getting feedback on artistic expression, and for learning to use creativity to develop a healthy response to chronic illness. There is no charge for participating, but you must register in advance at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/671968747.

I’m pleased to have Scott Petito and Beth Reineke join me as our featured artists in residence this time.

Scott is a Grammy nominated composer and producer. His NRS Recording Studio in Catskill, NY has been a popular destination for acoustic and jazz artists for many years. Scott is a gifted bassist and multi-instrumentalist who has performed on hundreds of recordings in many musical styles. James Taylor, Rory Block, The Band, Dave Brubeck, Jack DeJohnette, Mercury Rev and Keith Richards are only a few of the many artists with whom Scott has recorded and/or performed with. Scott is also a member of the legendary punk/poet band The Fugs, who have recently released, Be Free! The Fugs Final CD [part 2]. Scott has his own solo bass ambient instrumental CD titled Sbass Music and for over a decade has been performing as a duo with his partner, Leslie Ritter. Together they have released three highly acclaimed vocal recordings, In The Silence, Circles in Sand and This Christmas Morning. For more information, visit scottpetitoproductions.com or leslieandscott.com

Beth has been involved with music in one way or another for most of her life. After moving to Woodstock, N.Y., she began working at Scott’s NRS Recording Studio in 1997. She has worn many hats while there, including recording assistant and session singer. Beth has been Leslie Ritter & Scott Petito’s road manager, as well as providing stirring harmony vocals at their performances over the years. Some of the other artists she has recorded and/or performed with include; Rick Danko, Tom Pacheco, Pete Seeger, Michael Jerling, Scott Ainslie, Michael Franks, Helen Avakian, Aine Minogue and Anne Hills. Beth has also worked as a music publicist and radio promoter for multiple record labels and musicians such as the Hudson Valley Records roster of artists, Artie Traum, Happy Traum and Priscilla Herdman. For more information, visit myspace.com/lehemmusiconmyspace.

I hope you’ll be able to attend the meeting – please make sure to register in advance at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/671968747.