Pirates Rule
August 30, 2005
More later.
posted by Sara Hickman at 07:52 am
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I Met A Pirate! I Made Music!!!
August 29, 2005
Hopefully, to pique your interest, I will leave these notes so you will see what I will be saying in the not so far off future:
1) I met a real pirate who is named REDBEARD and he had PINK DYE in his beard! And he was NICE! Reallllllly nice.
2) Gas prices are not going down because the Bush administration is sick and twisted.
3) Went to Joe McDermott’s studio today and we finished my new song for the Austin Public Library system….Oh ho ho…is it FUNTASTIC!!!
4) All about my eggplant
5) More on the new record
6) Oh, something else. I’m sure there will be something else upon my return from the grocery store.
Love,
You Know Who
posted by Sara Hickman at 04:35 pm
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Cats in the Cradle
August 28, 2005
But, she just won’t eat anything. Not moist cat food, not tuna, not dry food, not cat milk, although she did take a few sips of cow’s milk (warmed) and is drinking lots of water. If she doesn’t start eating by tomorrow, I will take her back in. I don’t want her to starve. She seems content…but, it is making me anxious. I gave her a bath last night. She did really well, and it was good to get her all cleaned up.
The girls made a salon for Gene last night…it was called “Be You”. We have a sun room with burnt orange velvet curtains, which they had hanging down, and pulled back when they brought him into the salon. He got to soak his feet in the foot massager with warm, soapy water and they had arranged the different colors of nail polish, lipsticks, eye shadows, glitters…and one tube of blue hair goo. So, while Gene’s feet were soaking, they colored his hair bright neon blue. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!
We went rollerskating yesterday at Millineum, over on the East Side. Such a beautiful facility! Lily went around 110 times! Gene commented that all the video games were about shooting other people. There were games that actually had the warning: STRONG LIFELIKE VIOLENCE, which, indeed, they did have…and there was no monitoring, no parents watching the kids play these horrific games.
It made me sad that such a great place to hang doesn’t offer something for kids besides violent practice in the video games.
The cool thing about this place is that there IS bowling, movies, food, and the skating rink. Where are the mentors? Maybe they are there, and we just didn’t witness any of it. Where is the church involvement? Maybe we just didn’t witness any of it. Where are the conservatives who allegedly care about children? Maybe we just didn’t witness any of it. Maybe all these groups come at other times to help teach, mentor, share, love, and outreach. I’ll ask next time I go.
I told Lance today that the phone bills are ridiculous. Next time I do some fancy dinner party for some non-profit organization and the president of Southwestern Bell telephone shows up, I’m going to have a copy of our phone bill in my bag and pull him aside to say,
“Hey, what’s up with this? How can you guys charge so much? Tell me why this is.” I don’t care if it puts him on the spot. I want answers. I want to know why everyone is being charged out the wazoo, and some people don’t even have ANY phones….it’s crazy, I tell you!
We had a super time with Gene. I was on stage today when he had to walk on out to his car to head to the airport. He was so James Bond about it. I asked the audience to say, “Goodbye, Gene!” He and Chris Ng sat together on the front row and chatted….two nice guys. Standing back stage, waiting to go up between bands (I was helping emcee, too), it was neat to watch their eyes looking up to the opera singers…They looked totally enchanted!
I think Gene had more food this last week than I can imagine. We went to the Clay Pit and had Indian food last night….mmm. Gene had not eaten it before…I think he is a fan now…..I love that Saag Paneer….and who can resist naan? Who, I ask you? Mmm. I wish I had some right now.
My eyes are really tired. I’m having a hard time keeping them open from the heat and fatigue. My sleep the last two nights has been horrid. The ambien is starting to make me feel paranoid, I’m afraid. Last night I couldn’t sleep; I was so worried about the Any Baby Can benefit I was participating in today. Of course, it was a fantastic turnout, great bands, nice folks….I just worried I was going to forget lyrics or let them down in some way. It went swimmingly…especially when a male firefighter (I was calling him Fireman Buck…that was his name tag:
Buck) joined me to sing “I Wish You Well” on stage. That was suh-weet! And everyone was dancing; La Zona Rosa is a fun venue cuz you get to be LOUD!!!
We didn’t go see Adrian (Belew) last night. I wanted to, but we were wiped. It’s been a long, fun week. I did talk to Adrian’s son the other day when I called Adrian’s house, and we hadn’t spoken since I stayed with them to make “Two Kinds of Laughter.” He’s a young man now! We had a delightful conversation..what a good kid he is. He told me, right off the bat, that he had a girlfriend now. That made me smile, he was so proud to share that with me (last time I saw him, he was about six, you know.) He was very excited about it. I can understand. I remember my first boyfriend. He went off to ski with his parents at Christmas time, and I was hanging out in our gameroom…oh, this would have been back in 1974?…and it was a cold, dark night. I was just rolling the balls on the pool table, doing nothing…when there was a knock on the gameroom door, and I opened it, and there was Greg! I coudn’t believe it….He’d only been gone a week, but my knees got all wobbly and I could see his breath turning to steam from the chill of the night; he was lit from behind from the porch light. It was as if he was stepping off a train and it was war time, that’s how much my heart leapt at the sight of him! Ah, young love.
Congratulations, Stevie. Enjoy every minute of it.
The best part of having Gene visit (besides starting our hilarious documentary) was watching how much iolana LOVES him. She just couldn’t get enough of him! I think they must have been dearest friends in another life. They are so comfortable with one another. I swear, our faces were hurting from all the smiles. She was entertaining us just with her complete joy and enthusiasm.
And…after we took Gene to Indie Pop for gelattos last night, Lily started talking in an English accent, just out of the blue, and that was making me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. She would say, “Motha, I am missing Asia.” For no apparent reason, and we were bursting out, cracking up so hard. Then she went through a litany of countries, in this sweet English girl accent, and she started cracking herself up.
Wow. LIfe is good. Even during the blue times (lack of sleep just makes you sad. There is no way around it…)
Now…if I can just finish this record. Ugh. I am at that point where I am getting sick of myself/the music/the level of patience required. But…I am still excited about the income.
You know what I mean.
posted by Sara Hickman at 03:30 pm
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Electric Ladyland
August 26, 2005
Gene is my web, and blog, master. (Doesn’t that sound naughty?! And if he is the master, I think I’d like to be called the Barking Tiger…don’t ask me why…just popped into my head and doesn’t sound ANYTHING like the response most people give to “master”.) We are excited he is here…threw him a “surprise” birthday party with a homemade lemon cake and giant 3 foot in diameter balloons the girls picked out…one looks like a big red bug/alien with huge internal googly eyes; the other is a bright yellow happy face, complete with party hat. I think Gene is seeing how parenthood is rewarding and, dare I say it?, exhausting. He was wise not to crash at our house…he insisted on being at a hotel. Wise man.
I PLAYED ELECTRIC GUITAR on the cd the other day…A cherry red Telecaster!!! Mark Hallman shared his with me and I had some trepidation, but Mark kept cheering me on, and there you have it. Haven’t done it in a long time….I just had to adjust how I approach the guitar….I play so dang hard! Once I softened up my attacks, it was sounding really cool and was the glue I needed for the song.
Big kudos to Mark for being, once again, a lifelong buddy.
OUR CAT GRADY had to be rushed to the ER Wednesday night after Gene’s party. Lily had gone out to feed the cats, and came in with a seemingly broken, lethargic cat. She had found her, practically passed out, in the bushes. Her weak mews caught Lily’s attention…
We got a towel, and after gently wrapping Grady in itl, we hopped in the car; Lily holding our sweet pet, me driving, Gene along for support…The ER hospital responded immediately when we came through the doors, me stating, “Our cat has been hit by a car…” Two women rushed out, calm and confident, scooped Grady from our arms and disappeared back through doors
into the back of the building. Lily and I were crying like Niagra Falls, and Gene was holding us. They took us all to a little waiting room with a silver table in the middle of it.
Well, the good news was that Grady had NOT been hit by a car, but had severe anemia from a wound we couldn’t see on the inside of her thigh (a “hot spot”, they called it). So, they set up an IV for fluids and then, later that night, gave her a blood transfusion. Yesterday we transferred her to our regular vet, where she spent the rest of the day being taken care of (more IV, more anti-biotics). Today she gets to come home.
She looks like a proud, brown and black lion…we had her shaved about a week and a half ago, so the fur is soft and tight to her body,except where it sticks out like a mane around her face. We are exhausted from the crying…I let the girls stay home part of yesterday morning…they wanted to help move Grady to the vet, and we had breakfast, and then took them to school…..
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:25 am
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La Mix
August 23, 2005
We’ll be back at it at 9:30 tomorrow morning. It’s so close, I am starting to taste it! You know what I mean?
Thanks for anyone who was helping out, spiritually and mentally, today. I could feel it!
posted by Sara Hickman at 08:34 pm
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Mixing Y Mixing
Ok, whoever is reading this blog, I have a huge favor to ask. If it is still Tuesday, August 23 and it is between 9:30 am and, say, 1:30 pm, please think the most awesome thoughts you can. Send a little love my way. No, no…I changed my mind. Go for it and send huge, sloppy, wet kisses my way, hugs so glorious that I can feel your arms wrapping around my songs and squeezing them into perfection.
Then you can say:
“I was there during the mixes of Sara’s new record. I’M the one who helped make everything delicious. Without my love, Sara was floundering like an egg on a hot sidewalk. I scooped her up. I am the reason she makes music to this day. All the songs are about ME.”
I grant you permission to be grandiose and spill the beans about how much you added to this recording! Go hog wild. Make up stories about how we met over lunch and you said, “Hey, I really like how “Two Days Today” is sounding, but what if you…..” and then go into explicit detail of wanting to add a harpsichord and how I nodded my head, enthusiastically, muttering, “Brilliant, yes! Of COURSE!” into my dull, lukewarm coffee. You left the restaurant feeling on top of the world. You even left the waiter a $20 bill! You had to go. You ran to your car. You were on to your next project—-re-kindling Freedy Johnston’s new mixes via the phone. (You had to help him over the phone because you were in the studio with Macy Gray begging her to please push her voice, to give more convincingly, on that love song the two of you wrote in Vegas last year.)
Do you see how much you bring? Bring it on, bring it on! and shine shine shine because I swear to God I enjoy your input and you center me. Thanks for keeping the circle in sight when my brain is fried from shows and I am pacing the floor. Your peace is my peace.
Here, please take this coffee crumble cake. I made it last night for you. I hope you enjoy cinnamon. There’s a lot mixed in.
Because I adore you!!! Really! I wanted you to taste the joy you bring.
Say, did you feel that hug? Are we picking up the same universal vibe?
Music! It’s everywhere! Let’s go!
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:46 am
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Teeter Totter Life
August 22, 2005
So, Lily made a chocolate chip pancake cake while I got busy slicing lemons. io, Lily and I squeezed lemons while I was boiling sugar water. The lemonade came out just dandy. Not too sweet, not too sour. Lily then decorated the pancake with icing (she drew a picture of a triangular piece of cheese, then finished out with scrolled white icing all over the plate). We decorated a breakfast tray with tiny ceramic plates, Lily cut 2 inch napkins and placed teeny-weeny forks on top. The lemonade was poured into minature toy champagne flutes.
Then all hell broke lose. The girls started fighting over a chair size for the mouse; I realized it is still only the beginning of school and they get so worn out during the day…they just let their hair down at home…but I couldn’t allow them to be rude to one another, so we went to seperate ends of the house, one screaming all the way, the other in tears. I just loved them both and asked them to work it out after they finished being upset. It was some work getting the “I’m sorry”s to come….but, then, suddenly, sunshine filled the house, the clouds were off and distant, and we were gathered around the little birthday yummies, ready to consume our hard work.
Of course we had adorable, infintisimile (sp?) candles, all the wicks lit….Cat-in-the-Hat enjoyed herself tremendously as we all sang a rousing version of the birthday song, and io blew the flames away. Lily cut the cat and we also devoured some peanut butter crackers, with many toasts in between mouthfulls of good food and drink. Hooray for Cat-in-the-Hat! May you always be by my baby’s side!
Well, I was tired today, but stayed in a bright mood. This weekend was jam packed with travel and performances, starting in Oklahoma City at the leaning Blue Door. I hadn’t been there in eight years, but I couldn’t have felt more at home upon my return. I love having friends that you just slide right into banter with, as if you’ve been living next door from one another all these years. I enjoyed hanging with Otis…the breakfast at Classen Grill was a HUGE highlight!…Kari and Eric came out (and their baby….so exciting! Due in just a few months!)…seeing Greg, the owner of the club, always brings a smile to my face. He reminds me of someone so dear, but I can never quite put my finger on it. Perhaps a cousin from another life, I don’t know. But just good joo-joo…Everyone that was there, just helpful and friendly as could be. Oh, and thanks to the effervescent Leslie, too, for taking such good care of me….her eyes! Wow! She must be part blue-point Siamese…come on! No one has eyes like that who isn’t part cat! You know, even the folks at the Courtyard Marriott…what were they? FRIENDLY as all get out, too! Cuz when the taxi didn’t show up, one of the young ladies came out from behind the lobby counter and gave me a ride to the venue! (Every time I called down to the front desk they were calling me “honey” and “darlin’” and “sweetie”…I’m telling you, say what you will about the south, but it has its good points, too!)
I did miss my Spike. He couldn’t come out to play as he now lives in Santa Fe, but I put on my best behaviour, in his honor, and played like a lioness out of the cage. Grrrr. He used to be the Editor in Chief of the Oklahoma Gazette…even let me cover SXSW one year, and I wrote such a long article on Adrian Belew, he had to cut it in two, I swear!
Greg of the Blue Door can make the stage feel like Carnegie Hall. I really, truly, love the way he makes me feel on stage. His sound system and the way he sets me and the guitar up, well…gosh! I feel like I could make anything sound like Tina Turner meets Carly Simon. And my guitar(s) sounded HUGE and kick ass. So, I did. Kick ass, that is. You know it’s funny, people always compare me to Joni Mitchell (I’m not complaining, mind you), it’s just funny all my influences rarely get noticed in how I deliver a song, a twist of phrase, a note or a bend.
A very kind man came up to me before the show and wanted to share a story. His wife had brought him a song and told him to listen to it, as it described how she felt about him. The gentleman was about 6’ 2”, with a long, kind face, aching shoulders. His started to melt as he told me his wife had passed away last year, and I held him as he sobbed. Tears were running down my face, and I took him into the office to let him have some privacy. We spoke for awhile, and he told me the song was “Simply”…could I please sing it for him? Yes, yes, I said, choking back on his sorrow.
I let it rip the whole show, new songs and old. At the end, I played “Simply”…I wasn’t sure whether to look into his eyes, but finally, I realized his wife would have wanted me to…..certain phrases, I raised my face and sang directly to him. It was very moving, for me…
We held each other again before he left. I could be wrong, but he seemed less weighed down, he seemed to realize he was loved.
I am honored to have been a part of two lives through music, and I am astounded by the power that music can have, out there, on its own.
Who knows why we write songs, or make art, or create dance, poetry, music, photographs… but, thank God that these things can live on and bring comfort or joy or relief to someone seeking any of it. They are the strings of the heart.
Then I couldn’t sleep all night. It was hard and awful, but gosh, if that bed didn’t feel so soft! I loved the creaminess of the sheets and the room was completely dark. I just couldn’t shut my mind and just let go…
The clock was staring at me, and I stared back, and it was time to get up, shower (my motherlode plan for when I am about to fall over; never fails.) Went downstairs and Otis was waiting. We loaded up his borrowed 1979 Caddy, which was a blast, all metal and smelling like cigarettes and leather. We drove to the grill and had an excellent, five star breakfast. Then, off to the airport, hugs goodbye, chatted with the skycaps, saw my guitars head down the line and up I went into the friendly skies of Southwest. Beautiful, clear day, me loving the earth from up above. I was an astronaut!!!
Landed in Dallas, where I was met by the charming Tom Noe. Played his A frame all wood house in the woods Saturday night…
AND…There was Mark, who had just been at the show in OKC the night before!!! (And the show at McHenry’s in Ft. Worth and…) Mark! Stop it! You’re crazy, I tell you! How many times can you see me perform and not just lose your marbles? I tell you what, I’ll hire you to play extra shows…you’ve got to know all the lyrics/chord progressions by now…you can be me in Arkansas while I am playing in New Mexico! Sign here if you agree to this plan! You know we both have blonde hair…no one will know!! It’s perfect! You’ll make extra money and maybe I’ll get some sleep!
Anyhoo, back to the house concert in Wylie/Wiley. I still have no clue which is the correct way to spell that town. You’d think I’d pay better attention, but I was paying so much attention to Tom, I didn’t get to pay any attention to the city’s welcome sign, so you’ll have to look it up if you want to know where I was…I can not spell it, but I sure will talk about it….because….
A) I had another great show, except this time with NO MIC or P.A., so it took a little adjusting to go from a huge sound system to my
little voice trying to belt it out to 40 people in a living room with carpeting!!! This is why most musicians drink/use drugs/have too much sex/have no sex/can’t sleep (you know which problem I have (and don’t have! ha ha)….we have to constantly re-adjust to whatever the environment is that we have agreed to bare our souls.
B) Everyone was so super SUPER! Joseph, Alan and Paul were CRACKING me up with all their nefarious heckling, me heckling them and then them heckling one another and we had an entire different set of storylines breaking out to whatever I was doing….it was a complex evening and I love love loved it. I like it thick and fast and it was flying in all directions. Keeps me on my toes (which were barefoot, by the way, with sparkles on my toenails. Sparkles ROCK!) And people bought my cds, which was extra great because I am in the mixing stage of the new album and all that money will be going into the mix, so THANK YOU everyone for putting up with my/our antics at the Wayward House of Women…or is it Wayward Women’s House of Sparkle…? Or “SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT WE HAVE NO RULES HOUSE OF MUSIC AND SPARKLE!” Whatever you want to call Tom and Linda’s house, it sure was a dee-light and I enjoyed having my own apartment to crash in (no, I didn’t sleep Saturday night, either, and fell into Tom’s arms the minute he knocked on the window and peeked in to see if I was up….thanks for comforting this weary woman, sir Tom!)
C) I RODE A BMW motorcycle on Sunday morning before heading back to the airport…Tom took me to SONIC!!! Whoo-hoo! I didn’t go as fast as Kristin (de Witt), who he told me went 130 miles with him a few years back!!! But, let me just say, I loved riding! I was wearing a gypsy, flouncy skirt, hiked up to my thighs, the wind blowing along the length of my legs, my arms wrapped around Tom’s waist, knees in tight….we were flying down the road! I have GOT to have a motorcycle before I die….What a joy! I suppose I’ll be a grandma someday, driving around with a dog on the back…both of us with red bandanas, heading for Wyoming. Camping out in the rain. Sharing snacks.
Let’s see…I’ll name my dog Snickerdoodle. I won’t have an alarm clock. He’ll just lick my face when it’s time to get up and get going.
Ok, I’m off to have a cuppa tea with soy and rest in my loving husband’s arms. He just walked in, chewing gum (man, that was SEXY!!! he never chews gum)….
I’ll try to write more soon. Gene is coming to town for a week, the GENIE, who brings you the website, the newsletters….maybe we’ll write an entry together! We are going to start working on a documentary…..there, I’ve forewarned you!
Sending love out into this good night. I hope it is, indeed, a good night for you.
In case you are reading this: Goodnight, Howard. Goodnight, Julie. Goodnight, Mal. Goodnight, Kevina. Goodnight, my love,
Me
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:56 pm
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Janet and Dean
August 17, 2005
posted by Sara Hickman at 08:38 am
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Lunchbox
….and a note that says how proud we are, how excited, how amazing she is…
Walking to school, holding hands, we three. Sun just kissing the treetops.
io in a handmade red dress sprinkled with tiny flowers and white socks and chinese slippers covered in happy cherries….Lily in a pink tee from Japan with cat and mouse connected by a thin black line…blue jeans, white leather sneakers with no laces (“hey, mom, my shoes are so much more comfortable like this!”)…passing the tall, wild flowers of summer, crossing over the faded forest green bridge, looking down into a ditch devoid of water but full of possibilities….up the hill, passing the parked cars and sleeping houses….the crossing guard holding her giant neon orange stop sign, walking inside the white lines, up the cement steps next to the newly cropped bushes…..there’s the school garden, the school flag…tinging against its metal pole… walking beneath the overhang and through the doors and down the hall….there’s the water fountain…into the cafeteria for morning assembly…excitement flying everywhere, the chitter chatter of voices and laughter and goodbyes…
lily’s off, over to her new classmates, io not so eager to be left behind….i sit on the cool cement floor and meet her classmates (cezanne,
evan, gena….)…we walk down the hall and io excitedly points out a spiders web, attached to an outside garden window, chock full of eggs in a small brown bag…we stare and stare and ooh and aah….
down to her classroom…she already knows the way….pulling out her water bottle and putting it in its proper spot…trying to hang her backpack on an already crowded rack…moving scooby doo so her pink pack has a space….walking in to say good morning to her fresh faced teacher….children in a circle; oh, everywhere: color and numbers and letters and bugs and books and toys and words and new beginnings and the thrill of filling minds with endless knowledge….
i leave a note on a hallway mural of butcher paper and colored markers….messages from moms and dads and sisters and brothers to the kindegartners to say “be brave” and “we love you!” and “oh, the places you will go!” and i write io’s name with a heart inside the “o” and
sign it from all of us, how much we love her.
lily, this is your year! this is the time of your life.
io…you will climb new heights and share more insight into the wonders of your mind.
my sweetpeas, my girls, my loves.
posted by Sara Hickman at 07:16 am
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Message from the Klein Foundation
August 10, 2005
Dear Klein Foundation Family/Supporters,
We are most excited to share with you 2 major “happenings” regarding the Klein Foundation that are available in September. The first is the reissue (7000 teachers) of the Klein Foundation/TIME Classroom Stand Up, Speak Out, Lend A Hand that can be viewed on our website. We have a few kits left if any of you need one for your class, children or grandchildren’s school, synogogue or church. Let us know this week!
Our second project is described below taken from an article just released by Southern Poverty Law Center. (http://www.splcenter.org/center/splcreport/report.jsp) I urge you all to take the minute to read below (if you have a minute go to the URL above and view the entire report) and then let us know if you are interested in receiving it. We urge you to let others know as well. This incredible teaching tool will be available in September free of charge.
IT IS THROUGH YOUR GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT THAT THE FOUNDATION HAS BEEN ABLE TO SUCCEED BEYOND OUR WILDEST DREAMS. ON BEHALF OF GERDA AND KURT KLEIN WE THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Holocaust survival inspires new Center educational kit
In April, 21-year old Sean Michael Gillespie of Spokane, Wash., was convicted of firebombing an Oklahoma City synagogue. He boasted of plans to burn others. In the same month, the Center’s Intelligence Project documented anti-Semitic vandalism in New York, California and Florida, with a 15-year-old charged with a hate crime in one of the incidents.
To help change the hearts of youthful haters and prevent future crimes, Teaching Tolerance has partnered with the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation to create a new teaching kit around an extraordinary life — an ordinary teenager caught up in the Holocaust whose spirit provided her the strength to survive.
Gerda Weissmann was a carefree girl of 15 when, in September 1939, invading German troops shattered her world. Nazis removed Gerda from her home and forced her to work as a slave laborer in German factories. Her family and friends all perished in the Holocaust.
In 1945, Gerda was forced to go with the Nazis as they fled from the advancing Soviet army. When the American lieutenant Kurt Klein, who would later become Gerda’s husband, liberated her — just one day before her 21st birthday — she weighed 68 pounds and her hair had turned white.
Gerda recounts the horrors of those years in her memoir, All But My Life. The book is the basis of a Kary Antholis documentary film, One Survivor Remembers. Co-produced by HBO and The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the film won both an Emmy and an Oscar award.
The One Survivor Remembers kit includes the 39-minute video One Survivor Remembers, an accompanying standards-based curriculum guide and a box of primary documents. The new kit, scheduled for distribution in September, is designed for secondary schools, grades 8 through 12. The Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation was instrumental in the Center’s development of the new kit.
This kit comes at a time when one in seven Americans — 35 million people in all — hold unquestionably anti-Semitic views, according to the 2005 Survey of American Attitudes Towards Jews, conducted by the Anti-Defamation League.
A separate survey concludes that Americans who are most likely to have negative attitudes toward Jews also are noticeably more likely than the rest of the population to hold intolerant beliefs about other groups, including immigrants, lesbians and gays, and people of other races, ethnicities and religions.
With these findings in mind, the goals of this curriculum kit are to increase:
<ul><li>student empathy for the plight of Jews during the Holocaust;
<li>student understanding of the dangers of hate and extremism;
<li>levels of tolerance and appreciation of human differences among students; and
<li>student commitment to civic engagement.</ul>
Holocaust education enjoys popular support in American schools, with 20 states mandating or explicitly supporting its inclusion in classrooms. The lessons and activities in the Center’s new guide meet the Holocaust education guidelines established by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. They also support academic content standards in United States history, world history, civics and language arts.
One Survivor Remembers enables thoughtful classroom discussion about a historical topic that is sometimes difficult for students to comprehend. Klein’s account lessens the distance and makes the topic more accessible to students because it is the story of a girl their own age, demystifying the Holocaust. It also places the responsibility of remembering not solely on the shoulders of one woman, but on the shoulders of us all.
“In working on this project, I have watched One Survivor Remembers about 20 times,” said Brian Willoughby, interim director of Teaching Tolerance. “It still moves me, and I know students and educators across the country will be moved by it as well. Gerda Klein has valuable lessons for all of us to learn.”
SPLC Report, June 2005
posted by Gene Cowan at 11:12 am
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Living This Creative Life
August 09, 2005
The room itself was very Amish…peaceful, calm, earth tones with a plain, chocolate stained bench in the entrance, two handmade iron crosses hanging on the wall. There is an off white tiled bathroom with juniper shampoo, conditioner and lotion…oh, it smells so fragrant! There were two full sized beds, with two enormous brown pillows embroidered with paisley designs and tiny droplets of shimmering flowers, a la Morocco. My clothes were already hanging in the closet, thanks to my friend and helpmate, Teresa.
I laid down on the bed and rested my mind for a moment, breathing in and out, slowly.
The weekend couldn’t have been more in the moment. In the moment of self-awakening, of self-motivation, of caring and laughing and love and concern and friendship. There were ten of us…me, the teacher, and nine students from around the country…gathering at the Fallen Oaks, a sunbeam colored yellow facility with a plentitude of windows and light. We dove in, head first, and never looked back.
I would like to say that teaching really thrills me to no end. Not just because it is fun to spend time organizing what I wish to share, but because the affect is so positive, so shining! Everyone in the room was pushing themselves to try something beyond their comfort level…and I became a proud mother hen. I don’t think I could have loved these new friends more than I do at this very moment, thinking back about all the art and sounds and movement and music and writing and spontaneous combustion we all created. The spirit in the room was so DEEP. It was as if time didn’t really exist…when I got home Sunday night, I was completely exhausted.
One of the things we talked about was creating abundance. Of putting your desires out into the universe, out of your body, to get the juices flowing, to be specific in what you ask for…For example, many, many months ago, I had said to Teresa (my lovely assistant), “I’d love to teach at the Crossings,” and I believe it was the next day THEY called US and asked me to come out and teach a class!!! “On what…?”, we asked…”Oh, anything…” they said. And so….my wish was fulfilled.
It sounds so ridiculously simple, a bit of Harry Potter. But I really believe it only takes one step to get the journey started. That’s it.
You think to yourself, “I want to be here,” and then you make travel plans, buy a plane ticket or rent a car, and then, there you go…
you’re on your way. What if we all looked at everything in our lives that way? From the small (I want to paint my bedroom blue) to the big (working with orphans in Africa….) to really big (I want to be an astronaut)…That’s what is so clever about the Nike ad….”Just do it”. What could be more on target than that statement? Really brilliant.
I don’t know when I will teach another class like this…but I know I will, someday. Right now I have to focus on my children and this summer of fun, finishing this new record and figuring out the tour plans for next spring….
We had our dear cat, Grady, shaved yesterday. She is a longhaired calico with a meow like a tiny fairy. She had been missing for the last thirty days, and returned covered in thick, binding dreadlocks. Oh, it was painful to see! We called Exmoor, and they took our dear one in IMMEDIATELY….she is so soft and happy now. We are keeping all of our cats as close as possible with all the cat trauma we have endured of late. Our newest addition, Pepper, is a kitten Lily gained trust with over the course of several weeks. He had been dumped and was living under our shed. He now lives inside and Lily is determined to teach him to walk with a leash.
So we got one of those halter collars yesterday, a leash, and we shall see…Lily is quite capable of making her thoughts reality, so I don’t doubt I will see her walking, gaily, with the little nipper by her side any day now.
Off to buy a pinata for Lily’s birthday….!
Pictures from the workshop, courtesy of Delia!
posted by Sara Hickman at 08:04 am
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Feet
August 04, 2005
[Photo courtesy of Scott Walker]
posted by Sara Hickman at 07:33 am
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io’s surgery
August 01, 2005
tonight, i went to walgreens to get her antibiotics and pain medicine. as the girls and i were hopping out of the van to come inside the house, io’s medicines slipped from my hands and fell to the driveway with a sickening crash. one of the bottles, the antibiotics, was in plastic, and survived. however, the other one was in glass, and it shattered.
i frantically picked up the paper bag, but the medicine was already leaking out, all over me and down the drive. i don’t know why, but i burst into tears. i couldn’t stand the thought of io not having comfort after the surgery because of my mistake, and our insurance already didn’t cover the cost of the medicine: $98 for just this one bottle.
lance was just pulling up from work, and he saw me crying and came over. io was saying “it’s ok, mama” and lily was patting my back, and lance was cooing in my ear that everything would be fine, but i just felt heartsick. it was after six pm, and i knew the doctor’s office would be closed. how would we be able to refill the prescription?
lance took the broken remains back up to walgreens, and the pharmacist went beyond the call of duty. he called the doctor on call, he tried to call my insurance company…he worked very hard to help us. we were waiting to hear back while we were having dinner, when the phone rang. i took it back in the bedroom and the pharmacist told me he had permission to refill the prescription, but that it would be another $98. the insurance company would not help. i had to choke back tears.
i returned to the table and announced that everything would be fine, we would have the medicine. (i didn’t want iolana to be anxious about anything; we had been having such calm conversations about her surgery for the last two weeks.) so, lance went back to walgreens to retrieve the new bottle, and almost as soon as he left, the phone rang, again. it was mr. joseph, the pharmacist, calling to say he had talked to the store manager and they wanted to split the cost with me. i was so touched, but i told him my mistake should not cost the store. i declined his offer, i thanked him profusely, and said good night.
well, of course, lance came home with the medicine and this kind man went ahead and split the cost.
now i am crying because people can be so kind in a world that sometimes seems crazy. i would like to herald mr. joseph for his
help and consideration. we are grateful for his support and that of walgreens. thank you, mr. joseph.
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:15 pm
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