Over the last few years, I have increasingly exlored how we use language. For example, we use the word organization as a noun for places where we work, learn, and play. It grows static and lifeless Yet, its root, organ, suggests life and interacting with one another. John Dewey and Ivan Illich referred to interacting and communicating as intercourse. This suggests we engage in intimacy and love as we communicate with one another.
As well, an organ, as a musical instrument, needs a human touch. At our best, we organize, work, and learn, through a common purpose, like in a jazz ensemble, and what calls each of us in some meanfinful way. In a neo-liberal and neo-conservative world, organizing, working, and learning fall short of the common good (common weal) and what calls each of us to feel fufilled, perhaps self-actualized.
Out of this reflecting emerged the following poem.
This place–
This space–
Welcoming–
Beckoning.
When cold, aloof–
As a frigid lover–
Pushing us away;
Denying intimacy.
As an anxious lover–
Frantically clinging;
Giving no room to breath.
As a capricious lover–
Now here;
Now gone.
At its best–
Fully alive;
Not on life support!
Exuding hearty warmth–
Healthy, vibrant;
Touching in human ways.
Gentle lover embracing–
Inviting and holding close;
Letting us breath.
A place–
A space–
Wanting to be.
A place–
A space–
Calling, giving voice.
Sharing–
Drawing us each closer;
To our common humanity.
Yesterday, I heard the following song by Mavis Staples. It reminded me, regardless of how things are going, there are always high notes in life.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 