Journal of a Living Experiment: a Documentary History of the First
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 328 909 CS 211 742 AUTHOR Lopate, Phillip, Ed. TITLE Journal of a Living Experiment: A Documentary History of the rirst Ten Years of Teachers and Writers Collaborative. INSTITUTION Teachers and Writers Collaborative, New York, N.Y. REPORT NO ISBN-0-915924-09-9 PUB DATE 79 NOTE 347p.; Publication of this book made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Ari:s. AVAILABLE FROM Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 5 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003 ($9.95). PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Collected Works General (020) -- Historical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Creative Expression; Educational History; *Elucational Innovation; Elementary Secondary Education; Enrichment Activities; *Experimental Teaching IDENTIFIERS Artists in Schools Program; *Teachers and Writers Collaborative ABSTRACT Intended to celebrate the first 10 years of Teachers and Writers Collaborative (the original organization which sent poets, novelists, and other artists into the schools on a regular basis), this book contains 29 articles, diaries, letters,manifestos, graphics, and memoirs. The book contains the following articles: (1) "Roots and Origins" (P. Lopate); (2) "Iliterview with Herbert Kohl" (H. Kohl and P. Lopate);(3) "Journal of a Living Experiment" (A. Sexton);(4) "Some Impressions Recorded as a Participant-Observerin the Summer Experimental Program in Deaf Education" (D. Henderson); (5) "The Use of Arts in the Education of Children Who Are Deaf" (K. Kennerly);(6) "Interview with Karen Kehnerly" (K. Kennerly and P. Lopate); (7) "A Fable" (M. Rukeyser); (8) "Issues of Language" (P. Lopate); (9) "'The Voice of the Children' Diaries" (J. Jordan); (10) "Dreams" (J. Baumbach); (11) "A Class Novel" (L. Jenkin);(12) "A Grave for My Eyes" (A. Berger); (13) "Attitude toward Teachers and the Schools" (P. Lopate); (14) "Working on the Team" (K. Hubert); (15) "Luis, A True Story" (M. Willis); (16) "So Far Away"(T. Mack); (17) "Teachers and Writers and Me" (H. Brown); (18) "CombiningArt and Dance" (S. Sandoval);(19) "Drawing" (R. Sievert);(20) "Teaching Art: Examining the Creative Process" (B. Siegel); (21) "Admiaistering the Program" (P. Lopate);(22) "Two and a Half Years" (M. Hoffman); (23) "Interview with Kenneth Koch" (K. Koch and P. Lopate); (24) "Nine Years under the Masthead of Teachers and Writers" (R. Padgett); (25) "Latin Nostalgia" (M. Ortiz); (26) "Don't Just Sit There, Create" (W. Brown); (27) "A Love Letter to My Church" (D. Cheifetz); (28) °Pausing, and Looking Back" (A. Ziegler); and (29) "Conclusion" (P. Lopate). (SR) REPRODUCE This IIMERIAL. MOE DULY OWEN BY .BEST Y A '1' Pilb.. l :ilkillilikl VOW CENTO U S. IMPAIRMENT OP fOucATiON OIncof Educations) Research and tmproverrient EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC, o this document NIS been reproduced as Wowed tnom the person or oroandation pronging it P04111'50 vs** of oPintoos stated in hos docu- ment do not nocessarity represent official CI Minor changn have boon niscle to imor ovo OERI position or MILLI. reproduction quality -.1116111i _rill-AIM. a wfa I.I *: g -..inent A Documentary Historj of the First Ten Years of Teachers and Writers Collaborative Edited, With Commentary, by Phillip Lopate Teachers&Writers 84 Fifth AI 'nue, New York, New York 10011 V.. Copyright @ 1979 by Teachers & Writers Collaborative. All rights re- served. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publica- tion may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, re- cording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the pub- lisher. This book is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., a federal agency. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Journal of a living experiment. 1. ArtsStudy and teaching (Elementary) New York (City) 2. Teachers & Writers Collaborative. I. Lopate, Philip, 1943- NX311.N4168 372.5 79-19199 ISBN 0-915924-09-9 Table of Contents Introductionby Phillip Lopate 7 PART ONE: THE FIRST YEAR Roots and Originsby Phillip Lopate 14 Interview With Herbert Kohl by Herbert Kohi and Phillip Lopate 21 Journal of a Living Experimentby Anne Sexton 44 Some Imr ressions Recorded as a Participant-Observer in the :Ammer Experimental Program in Deaf Education by David Henderson 76 The Use of Arts in the Education of Children Who Are Deaf by Karen Kennerly 81 Interview With Karen Kennedy by Karen Kennerly and Phillip Lopate 84 A Fableby Muriel Rukeyser 97 PART TWO: CLASHES Issues of Language by Phillip Lopate 1(X) "The Voice of the Children" Diariesby June Jordan Dreams by Jonathan Baumbach 158 A Class Novelby Leonard Jenkin 164 A Grave For My Eyesby Art Berger 171 PART THREE: TEAMS AND ALLIED ARTS APPROACHES Attitude Toward Teachers and the Schools by Phillip Lopate 190 Working on the Team by Karen Hubert 199 Luis, A True Storyby Meredith Sue Willis 207 So Far Away by Theresa Mack 214 Teachers & Writers & Me by Hannah Brown 224 CombiiIng Art and Danceby Sylvia Sandoval 227 Drawingby Robert Sievert 235 Teaching Art: Examining the Creative Process by Barbara Siegel 244 { 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS(continued) PART FOUR: BEHIND THE SCENES Administering the Program by Philip Lopate 250 Two and a Half Years Marvin Hoffman 263 Interview With Kenneth Koch by Kenneth Koch and Philip Lopate 269 Nine Years Under the Masthead of Teachers ,T4 Writers by Ron Padgett 282 Latin Nostalgiaby Miguel A. Ortiz 289 Don't Just Sit There, Createby Wesley Brown 302 A Love Letter to My Church by Dan Cheifetz 305 Pausing, and Looking Back by Alan Ziegler 309 Conclusionby Phillip Lopate 327 Contributors' Notes 343 a , reaChdt, & WHAM :tea, 1977: Seated flow, left to right Theresa Moth, Barbara Siegel, Halsey lorms, MigoalA. Ortiz, Meredith Sue Willa, Kama Hobart. Staodiog: Robert Sivert, PhilhP Lopata, Mark Solomon, [Pesky Brims, RichardPerry, Gleirda Adams, lairra Gip* Steven rbaler: Sylvia Sandoval, Adalberto Ortiz. Not shows: Bill low*, Alas Ziegler,Ron Padgett Christine Spoieh, Aerins Fogel. 7 Introduction When the director of Teachers &Writers Collaborative, SteveSchrader, asked me to put together aspecial issue of our magazinecelebrating the or- ganization's tenth anniversazy, we hadin mind a light, graceful walkdown it did not Memory Lane of approximatdyfifty-two pages in length. Obviously turn out that way. AsI began collecting the material, Ibecame fascinated with the complexity of the group's history,and the serious larger issues ittouched. What attracted me first of all wasthe sheer amount of literary historythat Tea- which has en- chers & Writers Collaborativehad a hand in. An organization gaged the dedicated energies of so manyimportant writers of the last decade Herbert Kohl, Muriel Rukeyser,Anne Sexton, Kenneth Koch,Grace Paley, David Henderson, Ber-'amin DeMott,June Jordan, Nat Hentoff,Victor Her- nandez Cruz, Jod Oppenheimer, RonPadgett, Florence Howe, Mark Mirsky, John Holt, Jay Wright, RasellenBrown, Sonia Sanchez, LouiseGluck, Felipe Luciano, Pedro Pietri, David Shapiro, A.B. Spellman, Tom Weatherly,Wes- ley Brown, Maria Irene Fomes,Robert Silvers, Jonathan Baumbach,Bill Berk- son, ArmandSchwerner, Sidney Goldfarb, CalvinTrillin, Richard Elrnan, Leonard Jenkin, Dick Gallup, MeredithSue Willis, Lennox Raphael,Karen Hubert, Richard Perry, and BillZavatsky, to name only the mosawidely-pub- lishedmust have a story worth telling.The cast of characters was rich, as was the verbal record they leftbehind of their struggles and satisfactionsin at- tempting a reformation of language artsteaching in the schools. But it could not be allowed to turninto a syrupy Feu/schrift. Thedecision of an organization to write its ownhistory must be based on somethingother than self-aggrandizement for it tobe of general value. There is a tradition at Teachers &Writers, grounded in the act ofdiary,- keeping, of self-reflection, and painfulhonesty about mistakes and tensions. This volume will in no way departfrom that t:adition. The value for some readers. I hope, is that an airing of thehistory of one group's struggles over an extended period will be useful to othersattempting similar enterprises; the value to us as an organization may bethat the excavation of the historical rec- ord will put us in touch with someof the old zcals which were present atbirth (and since routinized or blunted),while also enabling us to go forward on a new footing. Teachers & Writers Collaborative is. firstof all, the original organization regular ba- to have sent poets,novelists, and other artists into the schools on a sis. It came out of a series of meetingsin 1966-67 among writers whose awa- kened social conscience about the plightof the schoolsparticularly ghetto schools-- -compelled them to becomeinvolved and to take action in some way. Because they were writers they addressedthemselves initially to what they saw as disastrousshortcomings in the English curriculum;but their concern for language and the ways that schoolstraditionally choked off students' creative, alive, use of language was only ametaphorical starting-point for larger con- cerns about educationaltracking and racial and social injusticesthat seemed to be taking place in the schools. The writers(and later, the other artists') idea was that by goinginto the schools, they could both lend support tothe stu- dents' "authentic" voices and cultures,while taking students further through 7 professional guidance in art-making activitiesat the same ti ne helping to bring about a more enjoyable, unrepressed school environment. The twistings and turnings of that idea through every conceivable barrier and self-doubt, is one way of looking at the history of Teachers & Writers. This book is also very much a document of the past decade, from the 1960's into the 1970's, and the lives of a select and special group of people, somefa- mous, some not. This isfor mea book about"activists," not Mark Rudd type activists, nor Ralph Nader types, but peoplewho wanted to do some- thing andthough not without discomfitdid it.