Category Archives: teacher as transformer

Wildness

Posted on December 1, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Michele‘s post reminded me of poems by two of my favourite poets.

Environmentalists refer to Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver‘s poems. An educated guess is that Henry David Thoreau, who Michele quotes, informed their writing.

Wendell Berry wrote in moments of despair he “comes into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought.”

Mary Oliver ends Summer Day with the following question: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do/ with your one wild and precious life?” Paradoxically, the question is an answer to her eloquent questions about who created nature.

Nature has a way of being and providing us with lessons for life. It is in meditative moments, when we just are, we grow to understand what that can mean. We grow and value what is essential not to us, but to those who come after us.

“We do not inherit the world from our ancestors, but borrow it from our children.”

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, Poetry, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized and tagged community, creativity, eloquent questions, environment, Mary Oliver, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, nature, photography, poetry, spirituality, stewardship, Summer Day, teacher as transformer, The Peace of Wild Things, Wendell Berry. Bookmark the permalink.

Fairmont Hot Springs

Posted on November 16, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

When we visited Fairmont Hot Springs, I walked each morning and we went below the hot springs one evening for a short hike. On the walks and hikes, I took pictures.

On Sunday, we went to church. As we came out, this buck posed for pictures. He was in the shade so I cropped the picture and, as a result, it is a bit blurry.

I walked each morning and afternoon. This doe crossed the road about the time the sun was coming up each morning. She kept an eye on me, just to make sure.

Just outside Fairmont is Columbia Lake, which is the head waters of the Columbia River. The lake appears to have a mist over it most of the time.

When I walked in the morning, I took this picture as it was becoming daylight. The mist was much heavier at this time of the day than it was during the day.

Several evenings we went to the hot springs. On one of the evenings, we walked below the springs and found a path to a small creek. The moon was just rising from behind the mountains.

A small water fall flows into the creek. The volume increases when they release water from the swimming pool to clean it. I took the picture without any flash. I don’t know if it is the rocks, the time of day, or some other reason that allowed the picture to appear so well-lit.

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Posted in Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, teacher as transformer and tagged Columbia Lake, Columbia River, Fairmont Hot Springs, nature, photography, Rocky Mountains, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

A Book Lover’s Tag

Posted on November 8, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

via A BOOK LOVER’S TAG

Diana passed on a tag and posed 13 questions to her followers with this re-blog. The best part of the her post was the John O’Donohue blessing about how our words make the invisible visible through our personal artistry and creativity.

Do you have a favourite place to read? No, I read everywhere but in vehicles.
Do you use bookmarks or random pieces of paper? I use both and more. I turn corners, highlight, and use sticky notes with notes.
Do you eat or drink while you read? I drink tea, but rarely ever eat while I read.
Do you listen to music or watch TV? There always seems to be music playing, but I find the TV distracting. Music fades into the background.
Do you read one book or several at a time? I do both. I find reading one book helps me focus, but I cannot help reading more books.
Do you prefer reading at home or elsewhere? There is a small coffee shop a few minutes from the house. The baristas and owners welcome me almost each day.
Do you read silently or out loud? I read silently most of the time, but, when I read something of particular interest, I read it to Kathy. I enjoy reading to our grandson when we visit with him.
Do you read ahead or skip about? I skip about. I like to read the index in a book and see who references are if it is a book I use for my writing. I cheat and read ahead in non-fiction.
Do you break the spine or treat it like new? I buy many of my books used, so they come well used. If I get a new book, I mark it up inside, but treat it like new.
Do you write in books? I mark them up with a felt marker and make notes for future reference. The exception is when I read non-fiction and poetry.
What books are you reading now? I am reading The Company of Strangers by Parker Palmer.
What is your childhood favourite book? I don’t have one, but I remember reading Little Golden Books and having them read to me as a special part of my early reading.
What is your favourite book of all time? That is like choosing who my favourite child is. I think it depends on mood and time. I enjoy great poetry i.e. Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry. I read books about spirituality i.e. Parker Palmer. I read about education i.e. William Pinar, John Dewey, and Madeline Grumet. I read about philosophy i.e. Aristotle, Hannah Arendt, and Paul Ricoeur. My favourite fiction writers are John D. MacDonald and Paulo Coehlo.

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Posted in Blogging, Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer, Writing and tagged Aristotle, Hannah Arendt, John O'Donohue, Madeline Grumet, Mary Oliver, Parker Palmer, Paul Ricoeur, Paulo Coehlo, reading, Wendell Berry, William Pinar, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

How Quotes Enoble Us

Posted on November 7, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

via How Quotations Ennoble Us

I love quotes. They make me reflect about meanings that are not clear. They raise eloquent questions that have no pat answers. They inspire me. Balroop provided three quotes that underscore these points.

Poetry is like quotes and I find many quotes from poems and poets. There are spaces between words, lines, and stanzas I can stand in and wonder.

I leave you with quotes that inspire me to think deeply and ask questions about the meaning of my life.

The first two are from Mary Oliver.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

“Said the river: imagine everything you can imagine, then keep on going.”

The following is from Wendell Berry.

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound…
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

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Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer, Writing and tagged eloquent questions, Henry David Thoreau, learning, Mary Oliver, quotes, reflecting, Rudyard Kipling, Wendell Berry, William Arthur Ward. Bookmark the permalink.

Mountains and Water

Posted on October 29, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

I was on the road today, driving through part of Alberta I do not spend much time. I drove to Fairmont Hot Springs, which is in British Columbia. To get there, we came via Banff National Park. The normal route west usually takes me through south of Banff and Jasper National Park.

It was a beautiful day and two mountains stood out against the sky with clouds in behind them. I am not sure of their names, because of a lack of knowledge of the area. It was in the Mount Norquay area, but I thought Norquay was further to the north.

This might be Mount Norquay. It seemed to be the mountain that stood out and was the focus of the pullouts, but I don’t know the area well enough to be certain.

These palisades are just off to the side of the mountain above.

This is just above Numa Falls in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia. The mountain parks on the British Columbia side are not as well-developed as the ones on the Alberta side. I use the word developed in a relative way, as none of the parks have significant commercial development. We were not able to get any closer to the falls as the bridge is out and the gorge has no direct access.

Below, is a video of the falls from YouTube. I don’t see a bridge in the video, but the gorge is inaccessible.

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Posted in Nature in All Its Glory, Photography, teacher as transformer and tagged Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Kootenay National Park, nature, Numa Falls, photography, Rocky Mountains. Bookmark the permalink.

Take Sides

Posted on October 26, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Source: Take Sides

The link is to a quote by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner. He is not referring to taking sides over a game. Instead, he speaks to taking sides when we witness wrong-doing and immoral acts. His book Night is a worthwhile reading.

I remind other Christians Jesus reached out to those who were most in need, living on the margins of society. He ate with sinners and tax collectors and stood up against the Pharisees and scribes (Luke 15:1–4) and (Romans 3:23).

We each have to decide what we is immoral and moral. It is not upholding abstract laws and rules, but the spirit of doing what is proper. I did not use the word right or correct . When I do, I fall into a trap of checking a binary box of right or wrong. Instead, I ask “is this proper?” In French, this is a matter of comportment and conduct.

I think the last sentence in the quote are important, worthwhile repeating. It is worth spending time whiling and linger over the words and the depth of their meaning, from a person who suffered and witnessed unthinkable human tragedy perpretrated by other people. “Whereever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe.”

I am not a big believer in thinking about my legacy, whatever that might be, but I want to be remembered as someone who stood up and spoke out against the wrong done to other people.

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Posted in Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, teacher as transformer and tagged community, Elie Wiesel, eloquent questions, Leadership. Servant-Leadership, social justice, spirituality, stewardship, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Love says, there is a way..

Posted on October 20, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Source: Love says, there is a way..

Karen‘s post included quote from two of my favourite poets: Hafiz and Rumi. Love is the essential idea behind the quotes.

The second Hafiz quote says fear is the cheapest room in the house. As we lift each other up with our love, we expand the rooms in the house we can each live in. Loving each other is a gift and a serving of each other. It can make people and the world whole again.

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Posted in Community, Mindful Life, Poetry, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, teacher as transformer, Uncategorized and tagged community, conversational journey, gift of love, Hafiz, Healing Your Grief, love, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, poetry, quotes, Rumi, servant-leadership, spirituality, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Nothing

Posted on October 16, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Source: Nothing

This is a wonderful quote from Buddha. Our thoughts and emotions are fleeting and impermanent. When we accept them as such, we are able to let go and suffer less. To be present in each moment, mindful of ourselves and the world. is accepting ourselves as we are in that moment.

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Posted in Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, teacher as transformer and tagged Buddha, Buddhism, Eddie Two Hawks, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, quote, teacher as transformer. Bookmark the permalink.

Take a Knee

Posted on September 29, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

I begin this post with two points. First, I am not American. I spend time in the US and enjoy my time there. One thing I enjoy, and I shared with my students, is the way Americans respond to their National Anthem. Second, Canada, where I live, has social and historical skeletons in the closet i.e. residential schools.

My aim is not to pass judgment, but to cast a different light on what it means to take a knee. In a world that is increasingly secular, perhaps I lose my way in what it means to live in a spiritual way and it can mean many things to different people.

The image that comes to mind when I think of is people kneeling and standing at the foot of the cross of the crucified Jesus. We were not there, but we are told his friends, family members, and followers knelt and stood. It seems there was no one right way.

When Colin Kaepernick first took a knee, I thought of it as praying. The etymology of prayer is to ask earnestly, to beg, and to entreat. Prayer is asking someone i.e. God or something bigger i.e. Universe or a nation than I am to intercede in a concern to me.

To genuflect is to kneel, usually with one knee. It is an act of worship and respect. Parker Palmer wrote about fidelity as something other than mere loyalty. It is loyalty to an obligation, cause, and idea one holds dear.

Who or what one asks depends on one’s spiritual and religious background. What I understand is that there are no fixed answers when I take a knee and pray. I have to listen. Part of praying is silence, listening to what Parker Palmer calls my inner voice. It is only in moments of silence, whether kneeling, standing, or walking, that I hear that inner voice.

I pray in various ways and have since I was a child. When I enter a church, I find holy water, bow to the cross, and complete the sign of the cross. I stand. As I enter a pew I genuflect, taking a knee. I do so with two surgically repaired knees. At times before, during, and after service, I kneel, I pray, and I listen to what my heart says. Other times, I stand. During the Lord’s prayer, I stand and join hands with others asking God to intercede on each of our behalf. As I receive communion, I walk slowly and quietly, bowing my head as I accept the host.

For me, kneeling, standing, and walking quietly show my fidelity to a cause and purpose larger than me. In this case, it is plight of people and our shared humanity. I make a point of being quiet, because it is a time of thoughtful meditation and mindfulness of how the world and I are broken. I beseech someone or something larger than me to intercede and, as Parker Palmer says, to make whole the broken.

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Posted in Blogging, Community, Leadership, Mindful Life, Reflective Moments, Social Justice, teacher as transformer, Writing and tagged community, eloquent questions, Mindful Practice, mindfulness, Parker Palmer, prayer, social justice, spirituality, take a knee, teacher as transformer, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Joining the Circus

Posted on August 31, 2017 by ivonprefontaine

Yesterday, this poem by Mark Nepo found me. I was checking some emails and a site I subscribe to had this poem on it.

For the first time in 30 years, I will not teach and/or learn in formal way this fall. It crept up on me. Yes, I want to teach. I prefer that to joining a circus. In a sense, I am joining the circus. The theme of the poem is how to deal with ups and downs in life. I applied at several universities and received one interview, but came up short.

My challenge is what will we I do in lieu of teaching in some conventional way? As Nepo says, I ready to kiss anything as I hover like a mystical molecule between one stage and another. Like the dozen beginners, I am learning how to juggle and have to begin somewhere.

Each day, I focus on reading and writing and hope to publish in academic journals. A colleague suggested I write and shed a different light on teaching. As well, I may take some of my poetry and bundle it together in a book. Perhaps, my smile will be so magical I will asked to teach something I did not expect.

I just saw a handwritten note from

Galileo. He was under house arrest

for believing we’re not the center of

everything. Now behind me, in the park,

a dozen beginners, of all ages, learning how

to juggle. We have to start somewhere. The

young man who’s so magical at this is asked

to instruct. He smiles, “You have to keep

trying. Just not the same thing.” Earlier,

I leaned over a letter from Lincoln to a

dead soldier’s mother. This, just weeks

after losing Susan’s mother, sweet