Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2009. Peter and I took Mattie for a walk that day passed his favorite fountain near us. When Mattie was healthy, we would walk to this fountain often, especially on a hot day to watch and hear the water. So many gallons of water shoot up in the air from this fountain that it really does capture one's attention. Some times when we visited the fountain ducks were swimming there and Mattie got a kick out of it. Now when we pass this fountain, both Peter and I naturally think of Mattie.
Quote of the day: You've faced horrors in these past weeks... I don't know which is worse. The terror you feel the first time you witness such things, or the numbness that comes after it starts to become ordinary. ~ Tasha Alexander
Before I describe my day, I think it is important that I pause and continue to acknowledge the tragedy in Boston. It is ironic that I can be disgusted and in awe all at the same time. I am in awe of the bravery, courage, and sheer strength of everyday people who risked their own lives (after all they didn't know whether more explosions were timed to go off) to help those who were direct victims of the explosions. I included a link to a CNN article below. An orthopedic surgeon was running in the marathon and he stopped to help injured people. As a surgeon he is used to blood and a certain level of gruesomeness, but even he said, "In all of my medical training, I've never seen anything like the amount of trauma I saw yesterday on the sidewalk there."
I find it very touching that victims want to be reunited with the "heroes" that saved them. I suppose this has occurred in other National tragedies, but I just don't recall this level of unity and desire to give thanks. The story of the Northeastern University Student, Victoria, and her desire to find Tyler (a firefighter who helped and stayed with her throughout her ordeal) intrigued me and Tyler did hear the televised plea and has reconnected with Victoria. Thank goodness for people like Tyler, who give us some glimmer of hope in the midst of such great turmoil and terror.
Boston Marathon Bombing Heroes: Running to help:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/boston-heroes/index.html
I returned to Mattie's school today to work with Donna's kindergarten class. We covered Matisse, which is my second session a three part series. On my way into school, I passed the playground Mattie used to spend time on. The playground is glorious with all its spring trees blooming. Take this cherry tree for example. It is huge, pink, and so fragrant. I was compelled to take a photo of it before going into the school. 
I have to tell you I have taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels for over a decade. The retention from one week's class to the next was never exactly high. So when teaching five and six year olds, I suspected I would find the same or worse! This is my third year in Donna's classroom and each year I am simply amazed. Why? Because young children are sponges! You would be amazed at what they retain!!!! Last week, I covered Picasso. This week I asked the students some questions and they knew immediately that Picasso was born in Spain, that his first word was pencil, that his first art teacher was his father, and that he is considered the master of shape and the founder of cubism. I could go on, but you get the point. They are amazing.
This week, they are now used to my sequence of things. They know I lecture them for 45 minutes with a PowerPoint presentation (by the way, I think this is very impressive because this is a significant amount of sitting time), then we do a hands on activity, and the final part of each session is FOOD. I always bake them something that is applicable to the culture we are discussing. Since Matisse was born in France, the children had pain au chocolat today and LOVED IT!
The children learned today that Matisse and Picasso had very different personalities. Matisse was very clean cut, well dressed, liked order and neatness, painted by day, and followed a daily routine, whereas Picasso was messy, had mice in his studio, and painted by night (because he wanted absolute QUIET around him).
Unlike Picasso, who was literally born an artist, Matisse came into art later in life. At age 20 to be exact. I explained to the children that one day when Matisse was 20 years old he became sick and his mom spent many weeks helping him recover. However, back then there was NO TV, radio, or cell phones. The children were stunned and couldn't even comprehend this..... after all what occupied Matisse while he was sick in bed? Well Matisse's mom solved that problem by giving him paper, paints, and other drawing implements. It is thanks to Matisse's mom that the world experienced the Master of Color and the artistic style of Fauvism.
The hands on activity today was "cut outs." At age 72, Matisse developed intestinal cancer and was wheelchair bound. Instead of giving up on life, he used is artistic talents to create another art form, using PAPER and scissors. I even showed the students a video clip of Matisse on youtube in which he created one of his cut out masterpieces:
I am sharing six final products with you tonight of the wonderful cut outs the children created. Unlike last week, this week, each child worked independently. I provided them with the cut out shapes and I assure you this is a LABOR of love that takes me two weeks to generate enough cut outs for the whole class to use. I work off templates because I want the children to have similar cut out shapes that Matisse worked with. But this is a ton of cutting using a very small scissor!
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