All photos by MJ.
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Showing posts with label liveandlearn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liveandlearn. Show all posts
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Live and Learn photos
Yes, these are all the photos we took. What can I say, it was a busy weekend!
All photos by MJ.
All photos by MJ.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
LnL gratitude
To Frank, MJ, and Chloe for putting up with my nerves for weeks, for listening to my talks several times (each), and for being you
To Steph for driving up from Georgia to offer moral support — GUH!
To Robin Bentley for being at my talks, flat but beautiful (she had Beth tape up her picture right there in the front row)
To Kade, for "Bohemian Rhapsody"
To Alec Traaseth for being a good friend, even if it did mean I had to cry when I told him good-bye on the last day
To Caren and the whole LnL Drum Ensemble for one of the most amazing experiences of my life — I'm kuku for cocoa puffs and I want some more!
To all the teens who came to my teen talk and provided the perfect (disgusted) reactions to all those nasty quotes I opened with
To EVERYBODY for being fun and creative and inspiring
And especially to Kelly, Ben, Cameron, and Duncan ("the Dunkster" Frank says) for hosting, for their incredible contribution to—no, creation of—our unschooling community, and for making me a part of the last Live-and-Learn-in-its-current-incarnation. You guys rock!
To Steph for driving up from Georgia to offer moral support — GUH!
To Robin Bentley for being at my talks, flat but beautiful (she had Beth tape up her picture right there in the front row)
To Kade, for "Bohemian Rhapsody"
To Alec Traaseth for being a good friend, even if it did mean I had to cry when I told him good-bye on the last day
To Caren and the whole LnL Drum Ensemble for one of the most amazing experiences of my life — I'm kuku for cocoa puffs and I want some more!
To all the teens who came to my teen talk and provided the perfect (disgusted) reactions to all those nasty quotes I opened with
To EVERYBODY for being fun and creative and inspiring
And especially to Kelly, Ben, Cameron, and Duncan ("the Dunkster" Frank says) for hosting, for their incredible contribution to—no, creation of—our unschooling community, and for making me a part of the last Live-and-Learn-in-its-current-incarnation. You guys rock!
LnL reports
I've finally had a moment to cruise blogs and read people's posts about Live and Learn. Wow. I'm right back in the conference groove now. Too cool. We didn't have our usual post-conference period of euphoria since we jumped right into jetlag and headcolds. Nice to enjoy it now.
I have "Bohemian Rhapsody" playing to help with that. What a fun 5 minutes that was! Anne has some photos here.
Ren (who is even more beautiful in person) has her writeup, photos, and links to a bunch of other conference posts here.
So, all this reminiscing has led me into thinking about—no, anticipating—LIFE is Good 2009. Mary has honored me with an invitation to speak there. I'm pondering what to talk about. My "Unschooling the Wrong Way" talk was so fun to do, I'm tempted to reprise that. But I think the teen one challenges me more (and perhaps my audience). But doing something all new might be fun, too.
You can help! If you heard my talks, drop me a line at hmsdragonfly at hotmail dot com and tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you wish I'd said, what you thought about afterward, etc.
If you didn't hear my talks, drop me a line anyway. I am craving feedback.
:-)
I have "Bohemian Rhapsody" playing to help with that. What a fun 5 minutes that was! Anne has some photos here.
Ren (who is even more beautiful in person) has her writeup, photos, and links to a bunch of other conference posts here.
So, all this reminiscing has led me into thinking about—no, anticipating—LIFE is Good 2009. Mary has honored me with an invitation to speak there. I'm pondering what to talk about. My "Unschooling the Wrong Way" talk was so fun to do, I'm tempted to reprise that. But I think the teen one challenges me more (and perhaps my audience). But doing something all new might be fun, too.
You can help! If you heard my talks, drop me a line at hmsdragonfly at hotmail dot com and tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you wish I'd said, what you thought about afterward, etc.
If you didn't hear my talks, drop me a line anyway. I am craving feedback.
:-)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
My favorite one-two punch
Saturday at the conference was sort of "advanced unschooling" day, with a series of talks by and about teenaged and 20-something unschoolers. I enjoyed the whole day (well, aside from an extreme case of nerves about my own teenager talk), but the combination of Brenna McBroom's and Cameron Lovejoy's talks was a real highlight.
Brenna spoke first, sharing stories about her life as an academically inclined unschooler, her decision to go to college, and her preparation for that path. Brenna is tiny, but her intelligence and drive give her a presence beyond her height. Plus, she's a knockout. She talked about prom (she went to one and was unimpressed) and being valedictorian (she got an hour to talk instead of only 5 minutes). And she talked about the things she's gotten to explore as an unschooler that she wouldn't have had time for if she'd been on the AP track in school.
Then Cameron had his turn. He talked about starting out unschooling as a kid who didn't want to do anything. He was shy and something of a hermit. This image is hard to reconcile with the Cameron we got to know. He helped run the conference, for one thing, and he's a talented drummer who accompanied Amy Steinberg brilliantly, and he is just the neatest guy. Anyway, he talked about his gradual emergence from his shell and how unschooling gave him the space to do that. His plans for the near future include(d) working as a junior staffer at Not Back to School Camp, followed by some world-schooling with Eli Gerzon on a multi-month trip to Mexico.
The two talks complemented each other beautifully, especially because Cameron and Brenna are really close friends—something that might not have been an option for them without unschooling, even if they'd attended the same school. And the talks in combination really illustrated how unschooling can be tailored to suit an individual without forcing the individual into a mold.
Brenna spoke first, sharing stories about her life as an academically inclined unschooler, her decision to go to college, and her preparation for that path. Brenna is tiny, but her intelligence and drive give her a presence beyond her height. Plus, she's a knockout. She talked about prom (she went to one and was unimpressed) and being valedictorian (she got an hour to talk instead of only 5 minutes). And she talked about the things she's gotten to explore as an unschooler that she wouldn't have had time for if she'd been on the AP track in school.
Then Cameron had his turn. He talked about starting out unschooling as a kid who didn't want to do anything. He was shy and something of a hermit. This image is hard to reconcile with the Cameron we got to know. He helped run the conference, for one thing, and he's a talented drummer who accompanied Amy Steinberg brilliantly, and he is just the neatest guy. Anyway, he talked about his gradual emergence from his shell and how unschooling gave him the space to do that. His plans for the near future include(d) working as a junior staffer at Not Back to School Camp, followed by some world-schooling with Eli Gerzon on a multi-month trip to Mexico.
The two talks complemented each other beautifully, especially because Cameron and Brenna are really close friends—something that might not have been an option for them without unschooling, even if they'd attended the same school. And the talks in combination really illustrated how unschooling can be tailored to suit an individual without forcing the individual into a mold.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Crud, Torbole, and a little family porn
Frank was the last to get the conference crud, but it has hit him hardest, of course. He is sleeping a lot and missing out on some outings. We wandered Trento, Torbole, and Malcesine without him. :-(
In Trento the other day, we had our first taste of frescos, saw the duomo and the castle, walked the winding streets, etc. The streets are narrow enough (10 feet or less in some cases) and people are casual enough about sidewalk usage that I'll be wandering down a stradina, thinking of it as a pedestrian mall or something, and then be totally surprised when a car comes along.
I love Trento. Chiara, from her more youthful perspective, finds it pretty boring, and from an Italian perspective, it might be. But for an American tourist visiting her first Italian city, it's pretty darn special. (I took dozens of photos, but you'll all just have to wait to see them, because Chiara's computer is a dinosaur.)
Likewise, the drive from the lake to Trento, which Chiara didn't think we would find overly scenic, knocked our socks off. She's a funny girl.
Yesterday, MJ, Chloe, and I visited Torbole, a resort town on the north end of Lago di Gardo. We shopped, had maxi-pizze (individual pizzas that would each be considered sufficient for a party of three in America), and continued our quest for hot Italian boys. Pretty fun.
I am a little embarrassed at how intimidated I am to do simple things like make a purchase or walk into a ristorante. I completely freeze up when it comes time to speak a few words of Italian. This stems mostly from my Spanish/Italian confusion: I'm never sure which language is going to come out of my mouth, and the one doesn't consistently translate to the other. But we're muddling along (mostly because all the shopkeepers are tri- or quatri-lingual).
When it comes to understanding the Italian we hear and read, I do pretty well. I can get the gist of or at least the subject matter of conversations between native speakers, and I can translate the news pretty well with all the video providing context. I'm enjoying the attempts, anyway, and wish we could stay longer so I could keep learning.
Saturday night, the four of us sat down to watch a little Italian TV. The lake house doesn't get many channels, so we surf a lot, hoping for an American movie that we know well enough to be able to follow along. We caught 'The Matrix' the other night, for instance. (In English, there is no spoon. In Italian, the spoon doesn't exist. It's a subtle but important difference, I think.) But on this particular evening, what we found was porn. It was so strange that we couldn't turn away, even though it felt VERY weird to watch porn with my daughters. The program was sort of a travelogue, filmed in the 30s I think, in New York City. Our Italian protagonists toured the city, visiting the Empire State Building and so forth, and every so often the travelogue would be interrupted with a period nudie shot. The big conclusion was the protagonists' return to their hotel, where they proceeded to have very awkward sex (for example, their shoes were nearly the last thing to come off). It was pure (unintentional) comedy. And while the most graphic parts were fuzzed out, it was still like nothing you would see on American TV.
They also show nursing mothers in their Pampers commercials, and we saw a non-tabloid German newspaper at the newstand that had a full frontal shot on the front page. We're definitely not in Kansas any more, nor even the wild West coast.
Anyway, today we are back in Trento. Gloria, Chiara, and Max put on a little birthday luncheon for MJ: bruschetta, formaggi, pizzina, salami, etc., followed by chocolate torta and apple streudel. It was lovely. Later, we will go visit Gianguido's mom and perhaps do a little shopping: Chloe is dying for more reading materials.
In the morning, Frank and the girls and either Gloria or I are taking a helicopter ride to tour the Dolomites. Who will be the fourth passenger depends on the state of my stomach. I get queasy just thinking about being up there. We'll see.
Gianguido, aka the tour guide, arranged the helicopter and has made reservations for us all over Italy. Wednesday, we drive to Roma for a few days, and then we come back north to Venezia before returning to Milano and our flight to Dublin. Pretty nice to have such accommodating hosts!
I have a handwritten journal that contains so many more details than this, but I keep forgetting to bring it with me. Maybe tomorrow. I also have to remember to bring the reservation info for the Venezia hotel we no longer need. If I forget, my mom will be getting another phone call. :-)
Ciao! Biacci!
P.S. to Gillian: What do you want to know about Live and Learn? I've decided I kicked ass on my first talk; perhaps the delusion of distance, but it feels good to think it. :-) The other talks were all excellent: so nice to hear Ren and Anne in person, and Beth's Peaceful Partnerships talk was very special if a bit different from the one she did at LiG. I didn't get to any funshops except the sign-making one that Kelli ran. I spent all my spare time drumming, I think. The girls hit the ground running, knowing just enough people to be able to dive right into the teen groups. Frank and I felt more tentative, thinking we were surrounded by strangers, until we started putting faces together with screen names, blog names, and so on. Still wish you all could have been there.
Favorite moments: At my first talk, looking out from the podium at this big group of people on my right who were all there to support me (family, Steph, Traaseths, Stonebrakers, etc.). The end of the dance. The video tribute someone made for Kelly, sung to the tune of 'Live and Let Die' but titled 'Live and Learn,' which shows a classroom full of bored kids breaking free to run across a beautiful open meadow. Eating in the cafeteria with everybody else, even though the noise level was pretty overwhelming. Sitting in the first drum circle looking out over the hills -- er, I mean mountains. It was a good and beautiful time.
In Trento the other day, we had our first taste of frescos, saw the duomo and the castle, walked the winding streets, etc. The streets are narrow enough (10 feet or less in some cases) and people are casual enough about sidewalk usage that I'll be wandering down a stradina, thinking of it as a pedestrian mall or something, and then be totally surprised when a car comes along.
I love Trento. Chiara, from her more youthful perspective, finds it pretty boring, and from an Italian perspective, it might be. But for an American tourist visiting her first Italian city, it's pretty darn special. (I took dozens of photos, but you'll all just have to wait to see them, because Chiara's computer is a dinosaur.)
Likewise, the drive from the lake to Trento, which Chiara didn't think we would find overly scenic, knocked our socks off. She's a funny girl.
Yesterday, MJ, Chloe, and I visited Torbole, a resort town on the north end of Lago di Gardo. We shopped, had maxi-pizze (individual pizzas that would each be considered sufficient for a party of three in America), and continued our quest for hot Italian boys. Pretty fun.
I am a little embarrassed at how intimidated I am to do simple things like make a purchase or walk into a ristorante. I completely freeze up when it comes time to speak a few words of Italian. This stems mostly from my Spanish/Italian confusion: I'm never sure which language is going to come out of my mouth, and the one doesn't consistently translate to the other. But we're muddling along (mostly because all the shopkeepers are tri- or quatri-lingual).
When it comes to understanding the Italian we hear and read, I do pretty well. I can get the gist of or at least the subject matter of conversations between native speakers, and I can translate the news pretty well with all the video providing context. I'm enjoying the attempts, anyway, and wish we could stay longer so I could keep learning.
Saturday night, the four of us sat down to watch a little Italian TV. The lake house doesn't get many channels, so we surf a lot, hoping for an American movie that we know well enough to be able to follow along. We caught 'The Matrix' the other night, for instance. (In English, there is no spoon. In Italian, the spoon doesn't exist. It's a subtle but important difference, I think.) But on this particular evening, what we found was porn. It was so strange that we couldn't turn away, even though it felt VERY weird to watch porn with my daughters. The program was sort of a travelogue, filmed in the 30s I think, in New York City. Our Italian protagonists toured the city, visiting the Empire State Building and so forth, and every so often the travelogue would be interrupted with a period nudie shot. The big conclusion was the protagonists' return to their hotel, where they proceeded to have very awkward sex (for example, their shoes were nearly the last thing to come off). It was pure (unintentional) comedy. And while the most graphic parts were fuzzed out, it was still like nothing you would see on American TV.
They also show nursing mothers in their Pampers commercials, and we saw a non-tabloid German newspaper at the newstand that had a full frontal shot on the front page. We're definitely not in Kansas any more, nor even the wild West coast.
Anyway, today we are back in Trento. Gloria, Chiara, and Max put on a little birthday luncheon for MJ: bruschetta, formaggi, pizzina, salami, etc., followed by chocolate torta and apple streudel. It was lovely. Later, we will go visit Gianguido's mom and perhaps do a little shopping: Chloe is dying for more reading materials.
In the morning, Frank and the girls and either Gloria or I are taking a helicopter ride to tour the Dolomites. Who will be the fourth passenger depends on the state of my stomach. I get queasy just thinking about being up there. We'll see.
Gianguido, aka the tour guide, arranged the helicopter and has made reservations for us all over Italy. Wednesday, we drive to Roma for a few days, and then we come back north to Venezia before returning to Milano and our flight to Dublin. Pretty nice to have such accommodating hosts!
I have a handwritten journal that contains so many more details than this, but I keep forgetting to bring it with me. Maybe tomorrow. I also have to remember to bring the reservation info for the Venezia hotel we no longer need. If I forget, my mom will be getting another phone call. :-)
Ciao! Biacci!
P.S. to Gillian: What do you want to know about Live and Learn? I've decided I kicked ass on my first talk; perhaps the delusion of distance, but it feels good to think it. :-) The other talks were all excellent: so nice to hear Ren and Anne in person, and Beth's Peaceful Partnerships talk was very special if a bit different from the one she did at LiG. I didn't get to any funshops except the sign-making one that Kelli ran. I spent all my spare time drumming, I think. The girls hit the ground running, knowing just enough people to be able to dive right into the teen groups. Frank and I felt more tentative, thinking we were surrounded by strangers, until we started putting faces together with screen names, blog names, and so on. Still wish you all could have been there.
Favorite moments: At my first talk, looking out from the podium at this big group of people on my right who were all there to support me (family, Steph, Traaseths, Stonebrakers, etc.). The end of the dance. The video tribute someone made for Kelly, sung to the tune of 'Live and Let Die' but titled 'Live and Learn,' which shows a classroom full of bored kids breaking free to run across a beautiful open meadow. Eating in the cafeteria with everybody else, even though the noise level was pretty overwhelming. Sitting in the first drum circle looking out over the hills -- er, I mean mountains. It was a good and beautiful time.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Live and Learn
Hi, everybody! I'm writing to you from Jamaica, New York (aka the JFK airport area), where we spent the night after a wonderful weekend in Black Mountain, NC, at the Live and Learn Unschooling Conference. I only have a few minutes, so I can't go into all the detail you know I'm dying to, but here are a few tidbits:
- My talks went well, especially the first one, "Unschooling the Wrong Way." That's from my perspective; the "Enjoying Teenagers" one received some nice feedback, too, but the first one is the one where I had more fun. It surprised me, because I felt better prepared for the teen talk. I mean, I rewrote UTWW the day before the talk. But I got into a groove while delivering it, and I got some nice laughs, so I started having fun. For the other one, I was running on nerves.
- Drumming, drumming, drumming, drumming. Ohmigosh, I had so much fun drumming. Caren brought a vanload of drums and held several drum circles, each one different from the last. I thought I was really partial to "anarchist" drum circles—where everyone does his or her own thing and this really magical, organic thing happens—but Caren organized a group of us to learn Kuku (my spelling), a West African rhythm, and perform it in the talent show. I'm still high from that night. Our practices involved a lot of mistakes and laughter, and the performance involved a lot fewer mistakes and this feeling of total triumph. We rocked the house! Everybody was on their feet, and all the kids danced like maniacs, and Caren led us to go faster than we had in practice, and it was amazing.
- I got to meet so many people I have only known online. It's kind of an odd experience to walk into a room full of strangers and discover half of them are already friends, but that's an unschooling conference for you.
- I got so much out of the other speakers' talks. I went to all of them, I think. Some brilliant people and a few new ideas to ponder. I might write more about those as I continue pondering.
- We danced! As the masquerade ball wound down on Saturday, a group of us diehards (even not-gimpy Frank) danced together. The DJ played "Bohemian Rhapsody" and we all knew all the words, including 6yo Kade, who was so obviously thrilled to be included in the big circle of teens, and the Ohmans, who belted it out with great and hilarious enthusiasm. As the song ended, I thought, "That's it, that should be the last song," but there were more, and each turned as special as the last. For "Closing Time," we all danced in a big, goofy circle, and then there was "Delilah." We were all singing along to that one when the music suddenly cut off. Undaunted, we continued singing, led by Jake Ohman, and finished off the song. It was a fun and special bonding time.
Phew! Anyway, it was a beautiful weekend, and I was so honored to be a part of it. I just wish more of the LIFE is Good part of the tribe could have been there!
More about L&L here (at the bottom) and here and here and here.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
A little announcement
I feel a little odd about this, but I also felt a little odd not saying anything, so here goes...
I have been invited to be one of the speakers at the Live and Learn Conference in Asheville next fall. I am very excited about this and very nervous. I hope my own personal unschooling support group will be there to "seed" my audience with friendly faces. :-)
Kelly says the 2008 Web site will be live soon with all the details.
I have been invited to be one of the speakers at the Live and Learn Conference in Asheville next fall. I am very excited about this and very nervous. I hope my own personal unschooling support group will be there to "seed" my audience with friendly faces. :-)
Kelly says the 2008 Web site will be live soon with all the details.
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