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I agree that there are many pseudo-elite
schools laying claims to the inspiration of young minds. I agree that the tone
and emphasis in many courses will be guided by politics. But you still don't get
much more than the three R's in most publicly funded US schools.
I'm sorry you found Yale lacking in the
sixties. I'm sure you would be doubly appalled today. Nonetheless, I believe it
was Yale that was the recipient of an anonymous $100 million dollar donation to
cover all tuition fees for music students. Provided they don't merely pump out
marching band music, the money isn't entirely wasted.
Private schools are the ones that by far offer the
most art programs, as well as diverse recreational ones. I cannot argue
that most will be graduating little Dubya's, and interpretation of subject
matter by those teaching is everything.
I have been mostly disappointed with modern art,
architecture, music, and literature. When one examines the rest of society,
from the lack of respect for our planet, to the lack of respect for our fellow
humans, one can easily argue the case for the lack of guidance and leadership
because of the elected's poor quality of
education/upbringing/environment.
As to favelas being unlikely to produce the
next Shakespeare or 'massive erudition', for the most part you will be right.
Most of the best of the arts has been produced by rather more secure individuals
benefiting at least from Maslow's "most basic". It has also typically been
promoted by established agents. Yet, there are the exceptions. Excellent
song, music and literature came out of the holocaust, and two world wars.
In fact, the experience of overwhelming emotional loss or anger has
been the author of many incredible works, and many inspirational leaders. We all
grow from our most painful moments, in one way or another. My preference would
be for happy upbringings, but this doesn't necessarily result in a
guarantee of sanity. Sensitivity develops out of many different
factors.
What was interesting to me about the favelas was
that there is something there culturally for which tourists would risk the gang
violence.They all have paid guides to walk them through the appropriate
behavior; what to wear in a place where donning the wrong color can inspire the
wrath of the wrong groups, and where sudden movements like unbuckling a seatbelt
can be fatal. But there seems to be enough there today for a new tourist
industry--and if a lot of it is for the tourist mentality, then at least it's
providing some income where you would expect most to come from drugs, stolen
goods or prostitution or slavery. If drugs were the only game in town, everyone
would be dead. The slavery occurs primarily when the favela dweller gets a job
on the outside. Entrepreneurs are beating the odds, and women are the ones who
weave, prepare cloth, sew, bake and cook, along with countless other
tasks from which men have traditionally distanced themselves. Word has
it the street parties are happening most days and nights, and some can't resist
the allure of a good party.
We have a different type of security structure,
with security systems and police that may protect us. You could say that that
defensiveness, much like that of the Bush government, has been the direct cause
of aggression and subsequent guilt. Rio's favelas have a system in which they
don't tend to worry so much about their property being stolen because their
neighbors are extremely close, watching and ready to protect, but they are all
in the same boat. Religion has been central to the culture, and Ed's point of
this aspect affecting behavior has validity. They also have little to
lose--which puts a different value onto property, putting it into a clearer
perspective if one is to value that which has no price.
The people and their unfortunate circumstances were
there before the gangs. The gangs did not bring the people, though it can be
argued that the gangs have led the people into worse predicaments. The
people didn't just come up with a whole new culture, though their experiences
there would add or subtract to something already vibrant. Quite a sophisticated
self-policing and scouting system has arisen which does a fairly good job of
warning people of imminent gang activity and police retaliation. Most will
stay indoors, or abandon activities in certain areas when word gets out, or if
gun shots are heard. They have learned to cope, and given this, without the
myriad restrictions we have in our society, many will, I think, emerge as very
powerful and even very sensitive people. I think it unwise to underestimate what
may come from this new frontier. Europe, Asia, and America all went through
extremely violent pasts to arrive at where-ever they are at today. Some is
unwholesome, some is good, some is great.
Should you wish to review the findings of the
Spring trip by Avril Benoit, check out May 05/06 of CBC Radio One. This was an
excerpt from a series, done after the book Ed has recommended. I realize Planet
of Slums is an important work, and was discussed on the series, but it is
possible that the author is overlooking the cultural history the people had to
have brought with them to these slums. I wasn't suggesting that anyone was well
off, apart from the drug lords, but that in Rio, at any rate, something is
stirring, refusing to succumb to despair.
I bow to your personal experience, Ed, but you were
there some years ago, and in a different location. Is Sao Paulo on the
coast? It doesn't appear to be on my ancient maps. But more to the point,
people never remain inert for long. Things had to have progressed, apart
from the violence. As an outsider, you lived in fear to begin with, but I marvel
that you lasted that long. Was protection was provided for you as a special
consultant/researcher? Did you sleep behind cardboard? The people in Rio are
used to it, you were not. The kids laugh and play, but you would have been
constantly comparing what your kids have to what these kids haven't. Perhaps Sao
Paulo was more oppressed than in today's Rio favela.
Certainly, it's a crime to humanity that these
places exist, but I for one will be watching how they are going to change the
world in surprising ways for the better.
Natalia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2006 3:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Natalia has
sent you an article from npr.org
Quoting Darryl & Natalia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>
American socialization has been shaped by the market place, by the
cold
> demands of corporate agendas--which at the last count very much
included the
> military agenda. If culture was still encouraged at
school, which is
> unlikely at all but the elite private institutions today,
My experience at Yale in the mid 60's and elsewhere leads
me to think you are too optimistic here. If culture is
encouraged at "elite" schools, it is mostly, from my experience,
in the hypocritical way that honesty is also encouraged:
Don't cheat but if you get a low grade you may suffer
badly for the rest of your by-your-poor-performance-likely-
shortened life. The most important thing about the Iliad
is remembering who did what to who to answer questions
on the final exam. In this regard, the only reason the Iliad
is "higher" than a MacDonalds menu is that people generally
find it harder to memorize the facts in it and therefore can be
tested more "rigorously". Dickens is surely one of the
greatest authors because his books contain lots of difficult
to remember facts unlike, e.g., Sophocles' _Oedipus at
Colonus_, which clearly states: "Best of all not to have
been born; second best to have seen the light and go back
swiftly whence on came. The feathery follies of
his youth once past, what trouble is beyong the range of man?..."
[Sophocles didn't know about the SAT's....]
Shame on those who use high culture to hurt persons
[No, I am not talking about the Nazi leaders here but
about "our" teachers who are proud of being "tough"]
and thereby teach by example if not by their bocal (I believe the
Spanish word for mouth is "boca") effluents that
culture is truly anti-life.
\brad mccormick
then a revival of
> appreciation could occur. A steady diet of
math and computers leaves the
> soul rather empty, and the misguided
concept of having possessions to fill
> the emptiness inside
results.
>
> Culture, much like sports and outdoor recreation,
seem to have their very
> specific place, not to mention their price.
It's become rather cost
> prohibitive, unfortunately especially for the
young. Street musicians are
> now licensed, theatre and opera are a
costly occasion, and pro sports is
> costlier than the arts. Enjoying
the parks can cost a pretty penny too. It
> seems that the only things
the feds fund freely these days are corporate
>
concerns.
>
> Interesting how the Favelas in Rio are actually
doing well culturally. So
> much so that their main source of income has
become tourism. The CBC Radio
> One toured a few of the major world
cities' illegal communities, and
> discovered a vibrant community in
Rio. People there live in relative safety
> because neighbors watch out
for each other. Most people abide by a code of
> behavior that, once
understood, inspires a general sense of trust, and apart
> from gang
violence, most people make the time for song and music, art and
> even
architectural accomplishments out of low cost/no cost material. Women
> particularly have been thriving because of demand for arts and crafts.
This, surely is very good. But it is not Bach or Josquin,
or Kant or Husserl, or Palladio or Louis Kahn....
and never likely will be.
The rough and tumble of the streets cannot produce "massive erudition"
and
connoisseurship. Callouses help one to survive at the price
of desensitizing, etc.
Perhaps high culture does not deserve to exist?
\brad mccormick
It's
> as if we have been provided assurance in this new dark
age, as a result of
> their budding successes, that arts and culture
once again prove to be the
> foundation of society and economy. I'm sure
that Ray has been following
> closely.
>
>
Natalia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Not that I would suggest that America must fall to its knees and be
deprived
> of all things material so that it could at last appreciate
the life that
> still pulses deep within...
>
>
Natalia
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message
-----
> From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc:
<[email protected]>
> Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2006 2:41
PM
> Subject: Re: [Futurework] Natalia has sent you an article from
npr.org
>
>
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>> > Natalia thought you would be interested in this story:
NPR : Tiny Houses
> Find a Friend on the Gulf Coast
>>
>
>>
>> I heard this one. Some of the houses are 70
sq/ft -- but also in
> "daddy's"
>> back yard so that the
tenant can use the facilities in the big traditional
>>
house.
>>
>> The Unabomber certainly was a proponent of
small houses -- but with
>> self-sufficiency.
>> Today's NYT
has a fine article: "Bigger Housese, Longer Commutes"
>>
>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/realestate/21cov.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
>>
>>
I think the problem is largely that Americans' socialization --
even
>> many with
>> PhDs -- does not cultivate in them a
love for high culture but rather a
>> lust for more square
feet.
>>
>> I knew the son of the person I consider one of
the important writers of
>> all times -- not comparatively, but
irrespective of comparison: Hermann
>> Broch.
>> "Broch's
son" lived in a one bedroom apartment with his wife on the
>> upper
east
>> side of manhattan. It was a small apartment: the
kitchen was especially
>> small,
>> perhaps 5 by 6
feet??? But it was a place filled with the culture of
>>
pre-WWII "Vienna" (and also a few chotchkies(sp?)). I am sure
there
>> are MacMansions in Westchester that are furnished to a
higher level of
>> culture than Broch's little apartment -- I am sure
of this because I
>> believe there exist persons in our society who
have both a lot of money
>> and also a
>> lot of cultivation
-- but I suspect these are few. Broch's little
>
apartment
>> was tight on square feet, but rich in "the life of the
mind". I loved
>> visiting
>> him and his wife -- I
would always get a glass of fine cognac (well that
>>
would
>> probably be available in many of the MacMansions...), but I
would
>> savor to look at the details in the apartment: the lovely
japanese
>> screen on the
>> libing room wall, the cigarette
holder on the table (not that I smoked),
> the
>> bookcase, the
poster of his father from Surkamp Verlag (sp?).
>> Aristocracy
reduced to having to count its pennies, probably, but
>> a
graciousness that generates a world of meaningful symbols, not
just
>> "space". Of course, the symbols were meaningful *to
me*, and
>> another might have found it all not really serious
compared to
>> acquiring another company or exceeding wall
street's
>> expectations by a quarter
percent....
>>
>> Was man made for the Sabbath, or was the
Sabbath made for man?
>>
>> Was man made for space, or was
space made for man?
>>
>> Of course, given my druthers, I'd
like to live some place
>> like Katsura, or even just an apartment in
one of Trump's towers
>> (there was once a piece in the NYT about an
apartment in
>> Tudor City across from the UN, a "triplex", where the
owners,
>> went away each weekend -- no, not to the Hamptons, no, not
to
>> the Berkshires -- but to their *third floor* for the weekend
-->
>> now *that's* where I'd like to live. But if I can't
live there,
>> I'd rather live in a small place where I had the
leisure to savor
>> my Glenkinchie in my Kakumi Seiho sake cup, than
be
>> putting in sweat equity to earn square feet on the
road.
>>
>> Why is it better to be a kamikaze pilot than to
have
>> a long commute? Because the kamikaze pilot
only
>> has to make the trip once.
>>
>> \brad
mccormick
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5366823>
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>>
Let your light so shine before men,
>>
that they may see your good works.... (Matt
5:16)
>>
>> Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
>>
>>
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. /
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
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Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
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>
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>
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--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt
5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes
5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. /
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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