Children from a local downtown oakland schoool are having Physical Education around Lake Merrit, because their school lacks the funds to build the facilities needed to properly teach them on the school grounds. I am not judging how this school is conducting this activity, but is it really safe to conduct a class off school grounds???

In the last couple of years, there was and is talk of stopping or ending certain athletic programs on both the high school and college level because they are not making enough money the keep them going. It is sad and disappointing that such measures are being taken especially on the high school level when the school officials know that these kids depend on athletic scholarships to help pay for some of their college and in some cases all of their schooling. Now it is true that higher eduction is becoming more expensive every year, but why make it more difficult for student athletes to attain this goal? Whose really benefiting form all these budget cuts and program deletions??? As far as I can tell the only people not benefiting from this are the students and their parents who now have to find a way pay for their schooling. For high school students after school activities are an escape from whatever drama they might be dealing with at home and for others its a way to get into college and then for some into pro sport. so why on gods green earth would school officials terminate these programs? Is their bank account more important to them than higher education is to the students???

Laney College Football players, we've all seen walking around campus acting like they are the bees knees but do they really have the right to do so? How many of these athletes actually make it to the next level? but a more important question we should ask is, are these student athletes really taking advantage of the opportunity to actually acquire an education for just in cases football does not pan out the way they hope? Too many Junior college student athletes forget to look at the big picture that above all else, Education should come first. Case in point, my best friend Paul who played cornerback just thought that he was all that and a bag of chips until he was kick off the team because he was not performing Academically Two months later he dropped out of school to join the workforce to the chagrin of his mother. It took my best friend 5 yrs maybe more to realize that sooner or later you have to go too school. Graduating from college is one of the most important initiation in ones life, it makes you feel like you are finally ready for what life really has to offer...

The Laney Swimming pool facility... We have all at some point in time walked past it to see either the pool area empty, or to see quite a few people learning how to swim. But how many of you know that Laney College has a Swimming and Diving team???? I myself had no clue that such teams even existed. One thing that you would notice about both teams, is that they are a women's team only. It seems that male swimmers are in limited supply or they are being recruited straight to 4 yr schools in which case the swim coach needs to work on her recruiting skills(No judgement intended) The teams a lead by Coach Kim Bretz comes to us from Southern California. She has a BS in Physical Education (w/Aquatics Specialist Certification) from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; and an MS in Exercise Science from Cal State University, Long Beach. Both the swim team and the diving team have faired very well so far for being such a young team with a high turnover rate which brings a question up; is it necessary to waste money on Junior College Athletics???? and is the Peralta Colleges in a competitive enough conference for our student athlete population???

barbie

A toy is a toy, right? Well yes, but don’t you think there is something different between Barbie and, say, a toy train or a spider man action figure? I think so. Barbie is one example of how art (she is art, someone had to design her) can send a subliminal message. Throughout the course of history societies have had different ideas of what the ideal female figure is. All you have to do is look at one of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) paintings to understand. But what confuses me about Barbie is that nobody (and I really mean nobody) could ever have the type of body that she does. It is physically impossible. The first Barbie was released in 1959, along with some fashion accessories. To see the first Barbie commercial follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hhjjhYGQtY&feature=related
Only two years later, in 1961, Barbie’s boyfriend Ken was released (as if she couldn’t survive without a man in her life). To see the first commercial with him in it go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pcyHT838g&feature=related
Barbie’s figure is not the only thing that confuses me – my main problem is that for so long she didn’t really do anything. Nowadays she can be a snowboarder or a vet, but back in the 1960’s she existed solely for the purpose of buying clothes. She summed up perfectly the idea of “don’t think, just consume.” I believe her first job was as a flight attendant, and then later she advanced up to a secretary. What kind of role model was that for young girls? In 1968 Barbie was given a voice that could say six things, three of which were "I have a date tonight", "I love being a fashion model", and "Let's have a costume party." (Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/barbie/timeline.html). Just think about the power art has to culturally hegemonize America! Studying art is not only about looking at ancient Greco-Roman sculptures but being able to analyze our world today.

Leo drawing

Name: Leo

Age: 6

Occupation: ex-kindergarten soy milk drinker deflated soccer ball kicker and part time scarf knitter (when things don’t get too tangled)

Me: Can you tell me a little about your drawing?

Leo: It is a boat on the ocean making fireworks. I like to add colors. Art is about having fun. I would be really sad if in school we never got to make art or sing while a teacher plays an instrument. Does “fireworks” start with the letter “F”?

Me: Yes.

Leo: Its just that I know about how sometimes there is a sneaky P H that sounds like F so I was just making sure.

dancing to the nutcracker

Bum bum bumbahdahdum, la la la la la laaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh laaaaaaahh goes Tchaikovsky. It is the second time this week that I find myself watching the nutcracker while the little girl I nanny for twirls and jumps in front of the screen. The snowflakes grande jete perfectly across the snow and then relevé up onto one toe in a perfect arabesque. What is the obsession that some little girls have with ballet? “Rachie,” I ask, “why do you like this movie so much?” Rachel leaps over to me and then says “I like all the costumes, my favorites are the candy canes. I also like the chocolate dancers and the Chinese tea dancers because when they come out on stage he comes out of a box and jumps really high. But I would want to be the Sugar Plum Fairy because she tells the story. When she dances everyone watches her because they can tell she knows a lot and she tells them all the things she knows about by dancing it all.”

A few days later I asked my friend, a dance major at UCSD, some questions.
Q: How does dance compare with other art forms like literary works, paintings, music, photography, films, theater, ceramics?

A: Dance is the same as any other art form. Every artist has something within them that needs to come out and be expressed, some of us put it on paper or canvas or stone or movie screens or like me movements that last only a moment. It just depends on the dialect of art we speak. Though I think dance is a bit more abusive to the artist physically compared to other arts. Dance, I think, can often be like an abusive relationship - especially ballet. You do it and it just eats away at your body with joint problems, bruises, blisters etc. But you love it so much you can't leave it. Ha ha.

Q: What does dance give you?

A: Dance gives me happiness, bruises, knots, a story to tell, a challenge, deeper knowledge of how my body and mind work together, peace, a debt to UCSD, high self esteem, low self esteem, a desire to share my passion, insight into other cultures and backgrounds and life styles. I really think dance is a culture that can be shared by anyone.

Q: Do you ever get any weird reactions when you tell people you are majoring in dance?

A: Oh yes. It's sad really. I've meet many people who, after hearing my answer to my major, give this expression and make a sound as if I had just told them my grandmother died. The, "oh I'm sorry to hear that" or "good luck with that" look. A few were actually surprised that it "was allowed to be a major". These reactions, I'm sure, came from people whose parents told them from the start that they had to be doctors or lawyers and nothing else. Hopefully in the end I'll be the happier one.

Q: Do you think dance, along with the other arts, is crucial to a well-rounded education as well as to self-awareness in general? Do you think public education is lacking in that way?

A: Art in all it's forms is crucial to a well rounded education. Ages ago Greeks believed that you had to live a balanced life. For example, you had to do well in art/dance as well as math and living otherwise meant something was wrong with you. I really wish the education system these days thought that way. There are so many hard science students that take dance for the "easy A" and can hardly function. I wonder sometimes how they can walk from one class to another with out falling down a hill. One of the professors asked us to improv across the floor and a few of them couldn't process that. They said "No, I need you to do something so I can copy it". This just made me wonder how they will ever be able to think for themselves. Everyone just wants to copy and paste to get threw life it seems. Also, there is a school in LA, you can find in online if you google "everybody dance," that incorporates dance into their curriculum and the students there tested in some of the highest scores in the nation.

Victoria's Secret

Art? Yes. Somebody picked these two models, somebody told them how to pose, somebody did their makeup and designed their lacy bras. But what does this image tell us? A century ago (maybe even a few decades ago) you would not have seen these two lovely ladies pasted in the window of a Victoria’s Secret as you strolled around town. I almost completely passed them by as I was walking up a street in SF, but I just saw this bare stomach out of the corner of my eye and had to stop. And I felt completely weird doing so. And then I thought maybe I should take a picture of them for this project and when I took out my camera I felt even weirder and people passing by were giving me strange looks because it was not exactly like I was taking a picture of the Statue of Liberty. And yet, in some way, they are actually a more accurate representation of our nation.

This photo has some similarities to my paragraph on Barbie, but I just have to point out a few things about their bodies/poses that strike me as odd, as five years of ballet instruction will do - dancers are trained to read body language. The brunette has her body jutted out, her chest lifted up, her shoulders pulled back, everything is kinda on display. But then you look at her face and her lips are slightly parted, her eyes stare somewhat blankly into the distance, to me her whole expression screams defeat. Submission. Here is my body for you and I don’t really care what you do with it. Dehumanizing anyone? Is her body simply an object to help market the bra?Now look at the tan blonde. Notice the way her leg is propped open, the place her hand hangs over, inviting yet shy. What the hell does that MEAN? And we heatedly debate the idea of hijab, that black veil is so oppressive we say, oh those poor Muslim women, and I just want to ask you, my fellow female citizen of the United States of America, after taking a good long look at this photo ARE WE REALLY FREE?

circle time and singing

Last Friday I went to help out at the special education preschool my mom works at. I had worked there a few days last October, so getting to see some of the kids again was an incredible experience – they had all developed so much. These teachers and speech therapists and occupational therapists and aides had obviously been doing an amazing job. I feel really positive about their future if these wonderful helpers keep doing what they are doing. But unfortunately this California school district is facing budget cuts. Aides are being laid off, resources will be cut back, and this class has to relocate to another building in August. Tensions were running high while I was there, and it just made me really sad to think of these children not receiving all the help that they could be getting due to our state government’s problems. Some students are being forced to switch to other school districts, there is a huge reshuffling process going on, and I know some of this will have negative impacts on the children. People are getting screwed who have no voice/power.

I took this photo during circle time while they were singing "head, shoulders, knees and toes."

sensory motor skills

The aides set up a type of obstacle course that helps the children develop fine motor skills (which are needed for us to do things such as tie our shoes, do puzzles, zip up a jacket). Working on balancing and other activities that help connect the two hemispheres of the brain will help in the development of reading, writing, math, sports/movement, communication, and behavioral issues. Here are some good websites that explain it:
1.) http://business.intuit.com/directory/article-the-importance-of-sensory-motor-skills
2.) http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/fine-motor-skills-activities-for-children.html

let's go crazy with the paint!

One of the aides told me that art is an important part of the curriculum. Art serves not only as a creative outlet, but it can also help with sensory disorders and speech issues/communication difficulties. And to think that we are cutting it from our schools because we consider it a hobby or a luxury!