A Deep Sea Performance, coming soon

Pedagogy

My choice for this diaristic assignment was sparked by my participation at the Baltimore Free School and witnessing firsthand the profundity of what is happening there. At the Free School, anyone in the community who feels compelled to teach something can do it, for free. Anyone in the community can attend, gain, and learn however little or however much they so choose–for free. Through this project I’ve realized that a lot of people are unaware of the value of those random facts, passionate spiels, or 5 minute skill shares that they uniquely have the power to share with the community. We should all be teachers, all students, of each other, and in so doing, build up a community collective knowledge and gain a better understanding of our fellow participants in life. Here’s what my constantly-changing spring break community had to share:

pedagogue 1.) Me, sitting in an airplane, a middle seat. I look to my left: elderly man, eyes closed. I look to my left: a middle-aged baseball-cap-wearing man, beer in one hand, skymall catalog in the other. I shrugged, introduced myself politely and explained my project, asking him if he’d like to contribute. He stared at me blinking, and then stared at the seat in front of him. “I’m drawing a blank,” he said. I gave him some ideas, reiterating my belief everyone has something valuable to share due to their unique and differing interests, lifepaths, and experiences they’ve lived through so far. “It can be anything,” I said. The man decidedly had nothing to say that everyone else didn’t already know. I had said that contributing was completely optional, but if he ever thinks of anything, to just say so. Discouraged, I offered to teach him about some edible weeds & common plants that I had been reading about. He declined.

pedagogue 2.) Man at the park. random fact:

If a military monument depicts a person on a horse with both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

pedagogue 3.) Volunteer Coordinator, sxsw. How-to:

que and project films with HDCam & DVDCAm

pedagogue 4.) Owner of White & Gro spice & herb shop.

Star Anise: aid for digestion, aphrodisiac, used for colic and to combat nausea, a stimulant and carminative; anti-spasmodic, anti-microbial, aromatic, and a galactogogue; improves memory, gets rid of oily skin, and calm coughs.

nettles: anciently a treatment for gangrenes and scabies. Native Americans used the fresh leaves to treat aches and pains. European herbalists used the leaves in a similar fashion to treat gout and arthritis. Nettles are a natural anti-histamine and also have anti-asthmatic properties. The dried powdered leaves can also be used to staunch the flow of blood from small cuts. In recent times the nettle has also been found to be effective in the treatment of benign prostate hypertrophy.

lavender: antiseptic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsive, and anti-depressant

pedagogue 5.) traveling street band. I learned how to play the musical saw.

here’s a youtube link so you can get an idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgU2C2FozHk&feature=channel

pedagogue 6.) some girl. “you can’t recycle pizza boxes!”

here’s the explaination:

Many people assume that pizza boxes are recyclable. In fact, most boxes have recycling symbols on them and are traditionally made from corrugated cardboard. They are, in and of themselves, recyclable. What makes parts of them non-recyclable is the hot, tasty treat that comes inside them, specifically, the grease and cheese from pizza that soil the cardboard. Any paper product that is stained with grease or food, is not recyclable – unless you remove the tainted portions.

Food is one of the worst contaminants in the paper recycling process. Grease and oil are not as big of a problem for plastic, metal and glass, as those materials are recycled using a heat process. But when paper products, like cardboard, are recycled, they are mixed with water and turned into a slurry. Since we all know water and oil don’t mix, the issue is clear. Grease from pizza boxes causes oil to form at the top of the slurry, and paper fibers cannot separate from oils during the pulping process. Essentially, this contaminant causes the entire batch to be ruined. This is the reason that other food related items are non-recyclable (used paper plates, used napkins, used paper towels, etc). “The oil gets in when you’re doing your process of making paper,” said Terry Gellenbeck, a solid waste administrative analyst for the City of Phoenix. “The oil causes great problems for the quality of the paper, especially the binding of the fibers. It puts in contaminants, so when they do squeeze the water out, it has spots and holes.” But what about other things regularly found on paper products, like ink? “Most inks are not petroleum-based so they break down fast. Food is a big problem,” he said. Also, be mindful of adhesives that may be on the pizza box (coupons, stickers, etc.) as those are contaminants. Known as “pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs)” these can ruin the recycling process just as much as oil or food remains. Contamination in the recycling business is a big problem. Some estimates put the costs of irresponsible contamination in the neighborhood of $700 million per year industry-wide. Gellenbeck estimates that for the City of Phoenix, contamination costs them around $1 million annually, because of damage to machinery, disposal costs for the non-recyclable material and wasted time, materials and efficiency.

The easiest remedy for this problem is to cut or tear out the soiled portions of your pizza boxes and trash them. For example, you can tear the top of the box off, recycle that and throw away the bottom part containing the grease. If the entire box is grease-free, the whole box can be recycled with a guilt-free conscience. Another option to recycling cardboard is to compost it, although the grease rule still applies here as well. “Even with oils, you shouldn’t compost [greased cardboard]. It causes rotting, you get more bugs and smell and it’s just not good for the plants,” said Gellenbeck. Most importantly, being well-versed on what your local recyclers accept, can make the biggest difference. “It all depends on where your processor sends your paper, too,” said Gellenbeck, whose authority applies only to the City of Phoenix.

Pedagogue 7.) a friend. How-to:

Crochet.

you can learn too!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Part-I-beginning-crochet/

& even if you don’t have a hook:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How_to_crochet_without_the_hook/

I shop at Whole Foods

edits

The World as we Think we Know It

The magnitude of thoughts, discoveries, documents, and scrawls of our past begin to buckle under their own weight, unable to keep up with the media surplus of our era. (photo: JHU Library, Jan 28, 2010)

The tangible world becomes more obsolete with each passing day as we turn to more convenient modes of sensory intake–through screens and headphones, with which our bodies need no more exertion than subtle movements in our fingertips. No longer is it necessary to venture further than the confines of a keyboard, a remote, a computer mouse.

But it remains evident that these media modes will not last, just as they never have. Books, Billboards, Flyers, Bulletin Boards face physical weathering of time. And in the deterioration of virtual media, is it the consumer or the agent that decides when this or that device is no longer good enough, fast enough, smart enough? I believe in a more physical form of experience and communication, and I lament the degradation and desensitization that the current forms of media have bestowed upon the world as we think we know it.