Yes, we're after your children and grandchildren. Yes, we want to show them an alternative lifestyle. Yes, it may mean that they experience heartache and outright misery at times and people will point at them and call them names.
We need the arts. We need painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers, writers, actors, and those who practice art forms that may be strange and incomprehensible to some. We need to get the children inducted as early as possible exploring the many variations available to them in the art world.
Why?
The Arts are keys that unlock different parts of the brain. The Arts take us on trips to places we can't reach by travel. The Arts help us to understand those unlike us a little better. The Arts give people a chance to create something lasting without procreating.
My children were fortunate, though we were Welfare-beat-down poor. They were able to attend elementary schools that taught the "3 Rs" through the fourth R - ART. Gym class was dance. Math tied into music. Reading, writing, and science were supplemented in the art room and in drama class.
My son knew by the time he was nine years old he did not like Jackson Pollock's work, and he could tell you why because he'd been exposed to so many different artists and styles by that age he could say more than, "That sucks." He discovered early on the power in words, pictures, music, and drama. Did it make him an easier person to get along with? Not necessarily, but he did see options beyond the nine-to-five.
My daughter soaked up everything that was presented to her and later decided in high school that theater was her passion. She was the first person to earn a Bachelor's Degree in our entire family. It is a degree in Theater and she hopes to find the funds to get a teaching certification that would enable her to share her love with the next crop of future actors, set designers, stage hands, and stage techs.
Because my kids were able to experience the arts, they have great strengths in expression. They know they are not limited to words. They know they are not limited by culture. They are not xenophobes or homophobes.
They aren't rich like the kids who grew up to be doctors and lawyers, and they may never have financial security. What they do have is a creative view of the world, and it's the creative thinkers that see beyond the mundane and show us what can be.
What my son does now:
Warning - PUNK GOTH SHOCK ROCK ALERT!
Despair on the Radio
(He's the one punishing the flying V and whipping his dreads.)
What my daughter does now:
WARNING: Openly gay man featured.
Theme Song Gone Wrong
(She's the one sitting at the desk.)
(This article was inspired by an article by CC Miranda.)
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Comments: 32
Wow! I am with you all the way! Your kids are truly special.
I think the point is that all kids are special. We have to give them the opportunity to find and sing out with their voices.
APPLAUSE~BRAVO a thousand deep bows to you for being the exceptional parent who understands the crucial open windows of brain development in children and how exposure to multilayered forms of sounds and visuals enhance their perceptual skills and contributes not only to open and explorative creativity but also endows them with the capacity to think outside the box when it comes to everyday avenues of thought and complex problem solving skilss~
=D BIG HUG AND KISS
and I LOOOOOOVE THE VIDS~ you go you awesomely superkool woman~ =D
Thanks, Purrrrrrrrrrrrfection! I think they've accomplished quite a bit in a short time.
Some parents know what they were deprived of and deprive their kids of the same. Some parents know what they were deprived of and find a way to get it for their kids. It makes such a difference in terms of maturity and grasp of the world!
FEATURED~ =D
Be afraid, be very afraid! I am shaking in my boots! Wait, I am not wearing boots. As a matter of fact I am not wearing shoes or socks. Where does that leave us?
There is no frigate like a book. My introduction to Ms. Dickinson. I cannot remember the whole poem, but I always remember this line. Loved reading your thoughts and could not possibly agree with you more. Can't even add more becauase you said it so succinctly.
Please join my room full of insanity. I am going now to send you an invitation. Stop by if you have time, I have kind of an eclectic collection of friends, some of them you already know. I do have a hard time keeping up, but I mean well.
We were dirt poor also but I always found ways to get my kids to experience all sorts of dirrent things.
Your sons band is very good.
Thanks, Sugar. You and I know the more they see/experience, the more likely they'll grow up more thoughtful and creative. If it weren't for the city programs and being able to get both kids into Arts Impact schools, they could still be struggling to find their voices.
The band has one album out. Sad Sickness: Songs to Kill Yourself To. Probably won't hear any of it covered on American Idol.
I wish I could give this two 10's. Excellent message, well-written, and I got to meet your children! I love artsy kids (have a couple myself). When will our society realize what is important? Better yet, when will be willing to pay the artsy people enough to live on?
Thanks, Sandy. Both of mine have been able to make a living being involved in their chosen fields, but they certainly aren't raking in the big bucks. Son runs sound and lights for a company and daughter works at a costume company as well as the city's performance group where she is a parttime stage door manager.
Pay the artists enough to want to pass on their passion to the next generation! And make sure every kid has a full box of crayons before s/he is a year old!
My daughter (the one who chose the same route) called a while ago to tell me about a job interview she has on Monday. She's thrilled about the salary, because it will enable her to do more with the arts she loves. Also, during this conversation, she thanked me for the years of music, dance, and voice lessons and told me how much her involvement did to build every aspect of her life. I told her about this article. Hope she signs on tonight to read it.
I agree - pay the artists enough to want to pass on their passion. There is nothing more energizing and healthy than passion.
I also agree about the crayones. The big question is, do you still have your own?
I've got several boxes of crayons, but I really prefer clay and glazes.
Very nice, EM JAY. The lead singer in your son's band reminds me of Joan Jett.
I was a pro musician for years. Even though I don't do that professionally anymore, I keep my hand in arts programs in the area. Both my kids grew up with music lessons and going to concerts and art museums. My daughter still plays every day in grad school (although she didn't go into music) and also plays professionally - has always said that playing music is her 'drug of choice'. My son plays guitar with his friends and composes, although he also didn't go into music as a profession.
The Arts are so important to who we are as a society and culture. Just look at any study of history and what is used to define a nation or culture - it's government and politics, its music, its art, its philosophy, its literature, its science. What would Vienna or Paris at the turn of the 19th century be without including its art movements?
Thanks so raising such wonderful children/now adults who know the value of arts and culture. I think it is one of the keys to our humanity.
Your daughter's choice of "drug" probably kept her out of a lot of trouble. I noticed when my kids figured out what they wanted to persue, they didn't have time to get involved in other activities outside of rehersals and practices.
It seems like the art kids always get their funds cut before the jocks.
And it does so much more than keep them out of trouble - both are sensitive, disciplined and open to new ideas. There's so much the arts give to us - as observer and creator.
I used to teach music in the public school - one of the reasons I left was total lack of support or funding. It's not like that in some towns, but most towns cut the arts first during tough budget times.
Yes, kids who get involved in creative activities get all the high they need from their own heads/hearts/hands. No time to wallow in the kinds of teen angst that lead to trouble. A rich, fulfilling life is not about money at all -- if we give instead the inspiration and creative insight to keep the spark bright.
LOL - Oh they did the teen angst thing. And they did it on stage.
Once my son did a mixed media painting that had the words, "Kill your parents" on it. Freaked the art teacher out. He was about 15 or 16 and very Gothy Emo Angry. I got called to the school and the teacher was just a nut. The LAST person who should've been worked up was her. I think she was mad at me for not being scared.
WAY COOL! Great article and I agree completely. I've watched the arts diminish each year from my first child to the last. That last kid was only exposed to the arts from being dragged to museums, science centers, science fiction conventions, listening to me (and others) write songs and plays, and my many interests in arts and crafts. And I consider that rather feeble, but better than nothing.
I've watched the kids get worse and worse at math. I've watched them have a more and more narrow view of the world and what is "right" (whatever they're used to seeing).
I consider it lucky that I happened to have gay friends, so they could see and understand the whole issue concerned people. Nice ones, too. People who came and talked to the kids like they were real people and were especially tolerant and kind. Heck, my friends tend to ALL have some kind of "alternate" in their lifestyle. I was horrified by what they brought home from school (a lot of intolerance) and fought hard against it.
Your kids are *great*! I don't particularly like that song the girl was singing (was it my imagination or were there only about 5 notes she sang?), but your son's playing was good. And it was great that they were performing, even if I don't care for it!
I'd be right there next to your daughter. I love acting and especially acting on stage. I love the feedback from the audience. I used to run a local acting troupe (extremely amateur, only performed once a year at a local science fiction convention) but gave it up to become immersed in saving ferrets. (not sure it was such a good trade) Acting is downright fun. I'm a born ham -- 2 or more people looking at me = an audience. So I can really relate to your daughter.
Congrats on raising kids who feel secure enough to do what they want to do.
Thanks, Barb. You pretty much wrote a good comment article there yourself!
Now can you get those ferrets to act out scenes from Classic Trek? That would get me going back to sf cons again.
Snort. You know, someone just asked me if I'd ever considered doing ferret opera. That led to musing about videotaping ferrets doing what they do and dubbing their voices in. And, if you haven't seen it yet, you should look up the YouTube video from a MediaWestCon in which ferret puppets sang the "Ferret National Anthem." It's a hoot.
It's a challenge to get them to reliably use the litter pan, I doubt I could get them to act anything out, Trek or otherwise! When they were filming that PBS special (wherein I achieve my 15 minutes of fame), they jokingly asked if ferrets take direction well. Ha! Sure -- whichever direction they want to!
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976759056
artist's paean
You have amazing kids! How lucky they were to be able to get that fourth R in school. Schools need to take the focus off the sports and place it on arts and music programs. Both of my kids were in the music programs but each year the budget became smaller and smaller while Lacrosse was becoming yet another sport spotlight that was receiving the funding that was taken away from the arts.
Lacrosse?!
The arts high school here really suffered when the school system decided that jocks could attend and play for their neighborhood school. The arts school had no teams, but a good reputation for turning out college material students.Parents who had athlete kids but lived where the schools were just jock factories wanted that "designer" name on their kids' transcripts.
When they let the jocks in, it became a regular high school. The quality of instruction had to be dumbed down. The jocks tormented and bullied the art kids. That didn't exist there before. My son dropped out. He was always getting in trouble for fighting with the jocks who called him a fag and tried to push him around. He was one of the few art kids big enough to beat the hell out of a football player. They never counted on those mosh pit skills.
We sent our kids to that high school so they wouldn't have to put up with that crap and the system failed miserably.
It would seem that schools care more about sports awards than fine arts awards. The jocks are bullies, my son ended up dropping out because of it and it didn't matter what we did, who we complained to etc.
Parents are pushing more sports thinking their kids is gonna get a sports scholarship, turn pro and make tons of money. It's not just the schools around here, anytime the city or county wants to create a park a huge push begins to turn it into a sports park.
There is alot of talk about satelite schools in Ga. If this happens I hope that at least one in 10 can be a fine arts school.
Great article, Em Jay. Congrats on your creative and talented kids.
Thanks, Aniko. I'm just amazed at how much further along they are artistically than I was at their age.
Ditto - they are lucky to have you...
Haha - They don't see it that way!
I bought every art supply known to man - my kid never had the attention span for it, but I started to play and fell in love. I'm no artist, but drawing/painting does the left brain/right brain shift for me, so I like to draw a bit before I write.
There are a lot of artists in my family though - My son is a really gifted artist, but he won't do it - yet.
Loved this!! My kids had a more ordinary school, with just a smathering of the arts. BUT (and this is a big BUT), they grew up in the greater Washington DC area, and their parents (moi and Himself) took them to those wonderful, free museums that are so abundantly available in the Nation's capital.
So they knew the difference between a Monet and an O'Keeffe at an early age. They developed a liking for great architecture (by the examples they found along the National Mall) and for folk culture (encouraged by the annual National Folklife Festival sponsored by the Smithsonian). The Festival allowed them to dance the hora and sing Hatikva, eat soul food, and sample unfamiliar carbonated beverages from South America. They learned to love fantastic gemstones (National Museum of Natural History) and the rare creatures of the earth (the Giant Pandas in the National Zoo). They learned about Native America designs from pottery by Maria Martinez and history through the Burghers of Calais by Rodin. They sampled Asian art at the Freer, then wandered among the cherry trees on the Tidal Basin.
It would have been wonderful if they had been exposed to more art at school. As it was, however, they knew more about the artistic heritage of their country and the large global community than did most of their teacher. Now one is a kindergarten teacher who struggles with a curriculum that ignors art. She sneaks it in through the back door because drawing is the first written language of children. At home she uses her sense of color to accent her home and to create jewelry and photographic collages. The other daughter is an office manager who writes, creates watercolor, and has a talent for design. Art enriches both their lives in many ways.
We need more art in the schools. BUT (and this is a big BUT) we also need parents willing to expose their children to all that is art in the world that surrounds us. You don't have to live near a great city with great musuems to do this. You can do it with PBS and a bit of creative thinking. Where there is no great musuem, there is likely to be a local or regional museum that teaches the same lessons on a somewhat smaller stage. It also doesn't hurt to have a few art books around the house. Kids LOVE the colorful photos of great works of art.
Art lives in our world. It is our responsibility to see that our children are introduced to that fact. These introductions need to come early and often. Given the current constraints on public education, it is up to parents to step up and open these doors for their children.
Well spoken, Bubbeh!
drawing is the first written language of children - never thought of it this way - Love the concept!