STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
Online Edition: May 2001 Vol. XII, No.
IX
A Modesto Peace/Life Center Publication
CONTENTS
Fremont
Open Plan celebrates 25 years of innovative education
Verge (Stanislaus
Arts Council's Literary Arts Award)
The
Three R’s: Reality, Reality, Reality
NORMAN SOLOMON -(Media Beat)
Peace Community
PANCAKE BREAKFAST
Peace
Camp 2001
Peace
Essay Contest 2001
First
Place Winner
Division
IV
Farm
worker organizer honored in Modesto
Voter Rights March to
Restore Democracy set for May 19
“House
of Peace” demolished for third time
Journalists
seek to end “news embargo” on Iraq
Witness
for Peace Reports from Colombia:
Colombia: the United States’ Newest War
Peace
and Justice Links
Living Lightly:
Mud Pies and Purple Onions
County
Solid Waste Management Plan Raises Local Concerns
Recipe: Anne's
Artichoke Dip
Book
review: Married to dysfunctional transportation
Cycle Modesto!
Modesto
Farmers Market opens for 23rd season
Living Lightly Links
Out and About
Cinco
de Mayo celebrations offer lively Hispanic pastimes
Heartland Conference and Fair
returns to Turlock
Health Fair
Cafe
Shalom means yummy ethnic fare
“Matters of the Heart” musical focus at
Modesto Church of the Brethren concert
Prospect Theater Project focuses on regional
theater, community outreach
Modesto area youth invited to “Overcoming
the Odds”
Photo-History
Exhibits at MJC Library
CALENDAR --CURRENT & COMING EVENTS
DIALOGUE:
LETTERS
Masthead and Back
Issues
Photo-History
Exhibits at MJC Library
The MJC library is hosting two
provocative photo-history expositions. The first - on Cézar Chávez and the
United Farm Workers Union - chronicles Chávez's personal growth as an organizer
and the emergence of the UFW as a major force for human rights and better
working conditions for farm laborers. The dramatic photos and the quotations
from Chávez about nonviolence are moving and inspiring. The exposition was made
by Sandy Sample as a project of the Modesto Peace/Life Center for the first
celebration commemorating Cézar Chávez's birth on March 31 at Modesto Junior
College.
The second photo-history, called
"Peace Under Siege in Mexico," offers a glimpse of the process of
violence, war, and inhumanity that has beset Mexico in recent years, as well as
the forms of resistance and peace-building that have opposed it. The show places
the indigenous struggle for autonomy in Chiapas in this context. This exposition
was made by SERPAJ (Servicio Paz y Justicia) in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and is being
promoted in the U.S. by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. SERPAJ works to
promote a culture of active nonviolence as both personal lifestyle and a means
of social change; offers peace education programs; and conducts research on
social conflict, militarization and poverty in Mexico. The MJC library is open 8
a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 - 5 on Friday, and 9 - 5 on Saturday.
Don't miss these expositions. They close on Monday, May 14.
"Open
Plan is able to continue such success in whole learning because of the
historical and ongoing parent-teacher-student philosophy of open, nongraded,
peace oriented education supported by almost total parent involvement."
--Jeanne Pollard,
teacher, Fremont Open Plan
Fremont
Open Plan celebrates 25 years of innovative education
By
TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL
On the surface is a string
of traditional 1950’s-style school classrooms with wall openings between the
first-second, third-fourth and fifth-sixth grade departments. A kindergarten
class is across the way with a kindergarten playground in between. There are
few, if any, rows of desks. Instead, each class features a couch or two, open
carpeted areas, computer centers, book areas, science areas and any other focus
the class and its particular teacher agree upon as necessary for the best use of
their classroom space.
This seemingly chaotic and
unstructured surface to the uninitiated visitor is in reality Fremont Open Plan,
one of Stanislaus County’s most highly organized and finely tuned educational
plants for alternative education. This school within a school, which will
celebrate its 25th anniversary May 30 in Graceada Park with a picnic and party,
has, as founding member Elise Osner proudly suggests, “grown kids who are
responsible to themselves and others and who...have become good and caring
adults.” Osner goes on to claim Open Plan instills these values better than
any other area school, because she feels students and graduates “chose to
learn and behave from internal motivators.”
Open Plan is able to
continue such success in whole learning because of the historical and ongoing
parent-teacher-student philosophy of open, nongraded, peace oriented education
supported by almost total parent involvement.
Prior to the opening of the
current Modesto City School’s Open Plan site, Osner and husband, George, along
with a handful of other young families sought options for alternative education
for their children based upon such well-known programs and philosophies as
Montessori learning, the Summerhill program of England, and Kozol’s writings
on open education. Alternative Ways, a private elementary school, was being held
in a local church taught by Alan Friedman, one of Open Plan’s first staff
members. Other families took their children to Fairview School, and a League of
Women Voters study group prompted other parents to send children to John Muir
and Enslen Schools, where open education ideas were being explored. After many
months of negotiations with then MCS Assistant Superintendent James Enochs and
the MCS Board of Education, an agreement was reached to begin Fremont Open Plan
in September of 1976 at John C. Fremont Elementary School in Modesto. As Jeanne
Pollard, the only current teacher from the original staff, says, “Enochs put
the bones on the group of parents with John Barth’s Open Education’s
Assumptions.”
The school initiated such
ideas as non-graded cross-aged cooperative learning, literature with phonics
based reading curriculum, integrated subject matter, and off campus and hands-on
learning opportunities. Each day begins with a class meeting, returns from lunch
to a class meeting and ends with a class meeting. These ideas are now being used
more and more in mainstream settings.
Osner points out the Open
Plan emphasis is and has always been on the “social, emotional, intellectual,
physical and creative whole child.”
Carolyn Bronowski, another
founding family member, feels “lucky to be at the beginning of this
educational journey. It really met our kids’ needs. We’re still talking
about Open Plan.”
Bronowski, who has taught
at the junior high school and high school levels and is currently a counselor at
Ceres High School, credits Open Plan for recognizing the learning styles of each
student and trying to optimize individual learning paces and modalities. Both
her children are very different, one very methodical and one she refers to as an
explosion learner. Each was able to become successful, she believes, through the
nurturing atmosphere at Open Plan.
She strongly attributes
Open Plan success to the dedication of parents, who like she and her husband,
have made time in their work schedules to volunteer in their children’s
classrooms. That volunteer time has included countless trips to the library and
other field trips, as well as group and individual help in math, reading,
science, art and other subject areas.
Sangeeta Singh-Heinrichs,
who is a current Open Plan parent, notes she and her husband have always felt an
openness between teachers, parents and children within the Open Plan community.
Her children “have always felt a part of the Open Plan family,” and she has
always felt welcome to voice opinions or give input on any issue.
Comparing Open Plan to her
husband’s more than 16 years working in various Stanislaus County traditional
schools grades 2 through 8 and currently in special education with kids at risk
for failure, she sees an environment that is like day and night. She believes a
key factor here is parent involvement. “Schools are taking on more and more
social and family centered services,” she observes, and cites a time her
husband had to “go so far as teach tooth brushing skills.”
She reports that the skills
her junior high school aged daughter learned at Open Plan are “serving her
well. Open Plan is a place where cooperation, working together in groups,
sharing ideas and supporting each other’s learning along with peacefully
resolving conflicts are the skills needed in the real adult world.” This is
directly opposed to the competitive learning styles she has observed in other
school settings.
Osner, Bronowski, Singh-Heinrichs
and Pollard all question the impact standardized testing is having upon this
system that has worked so well for so many.
Pollard explains that Open
Plan is “process-based learning versus product-based learning/Integrated
curriculum. Specific subjects are required , but the `How They are Taught’ is
where we shine.” She goes on to say, “There continues to be experiential,
hands on learning in all levels, [which] takes a lot of extra planning and
follow-through. We know that children learn best by doing, by being actively
involved in all parts of their lives.”
She cites personal
responsibility as possibly “Open Plan’s greatest strength,” pointing out
that “age appropriate personal responsibility is expected and required from
the first day of kindergarten and continues the entire 7 years. When one takes
ownership of one’s work or actions, discipline and motivation take care of
themselves.”
Open Plan teachers are
committed to learning as a group process, “not something that one person puts
upon another (teacher to student, parent to child), but one where each part in
the triangle (child, teacher, adult) has valid input,” Pollard explains. The
“Open” part of Open Plan “refers to the technique of educating, the
American version of the British Infant Schools, that was trendy in the 1960s and
1970s. Fluid class configurations vs. desks in rows, many ages of children with
teacher/s for many years in the same physical room, familial attitude vs.
teacher/student hierarchy, responsibility and involvement from all people within
the school.”
She observes the Open Plan
staff is “stable and committed” to holding high such values as
“cooperation, peace, joy in living, caring for one another, service, taking
care of the world’s resources, personal responsibility for our part of the
world, and acceptance and tolerance of differences. Like all families, we
don’t always agree, but there is a common vision.”
“Many other teachers are
uniquely talented as well, doing many things similarly to Open Plan,” she
continues. “The teamwork over the child’s 7 years make us unique.”
“For me,” she says,
“the students are always a present, no matter what their talents or
challenges, the parents an asset in team building, but the staff becomes the
family leaders, surrogate parents raising a communal family. That’s the glue
that has kept me there for 25 years, and I feel us together as a school for all
these years.”
The Open Plan extended
family (students, graduates, parents and teachers) are invited to celebrate the
school’s 25th anniversary Wednesday, May 30 beginning at 5 p.m. with the
annual Open Plan family style picnic in the Graceada Park picnic area and
continuing at 7 p.m. with a party at Mancini Bowl. A second informal party will
be held June 23 for students and families who cannot attend the May 30
celebration. Call 576-4679 or email pollard790@aol.com
for information.
"[T]he Open Plan
staff is “stable and committed” to holding high such values as
“cooperation, peace, joy in living, caring for one another, service, taking
care of the world’s resources, personal responsibility for our part of the
world, and acceptance and tolerance of differences. Like all families, we
don’t always agree, but there is a common vision.”
--Jeanne Pollard,
teacher, Fremont Open Plan
By LEE NICHOLSON
On
receiving the Stanislaus Arts Council's Literary Arts Award 2001, the
author's acceptance speech focused "on our
land and places in our county and the ongoing help some of our most important
writers have given in understanding our physical and spiritual ecologies."
Marlene
Dietrich, ah! Remember how she looked so directly into the camera when she sang
about falling in love again, sang as if she were on the edge, the verge. Out
there on the rooftop was there a moon for her? I hope so. Searchers need some
gleam.
There is a famous story of a drunk, looking for his keys in
the disc of yellow light around the standard of a street lamp, muttering. When
asked why he looked only there, he mumbled, “Because this is where the light
is.”
Whether he was shrewd or silly is a matter of opinion, but
to those of us in Stanislaus County—and I mean stream-lovers in Riverbank and
Waterford, friends of the generous trees of Oakdale, those classicists in Ceres,
the neo-Napoleonic in Empire, the cozy in Valley Home, the French colonies of La
Grange, and the demure and reserved homebodies of Modesto — there is much to
be discovered in out-of-the-way places and quiet people of our county, away from
the glare.
May I recommend some guides with brightly burning torches?
These guides have lived here, know us well, have walked by our Stanislaus and
Tuolumne Rivers, our small creeks, our vacant lots, our well clipped parks:
Oscar Acosta, Colleen Bare, Daniel Chacon, Dr. Ann Henry, Sylvia Lopez-Medina,
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, Dr. Allen Mattison, Dr. K. Silem Mohammad, Dr. Alice
Worsley.
Such writers know that far from being California’s Area
51, our place is lush, infinitely so, that grace hangs from our orchards, that
strength is in our people and always has been, that fierce beauty is in the
unexpected, that — along with me and Marlene Dietrich — our dotage
interrupted — artists of all ilks can make one, over and over, make one fall
in love again.
Falling in love, of course, is best done away from the
street lamp, away from the glare so attractive to drunks and babies looking for
shiny keys. And now I salute lovers, artists and you — on the verge.
The
Three R’s: Reality, Reality, Reality
The
author is a local elementary teacher
I want to be the first to
personally apologize to each of my students for the injustice the adults in
their world have put upon them. As a proud teacher and a child advocate, I can
no longer stand for the injustice most children in the California public schools
must face each year. The Stanford-9 (SAT-9) is given by teachers around this
time of year to all their students. Our children must be subjected to a test
that is more than 6 hours long, and it is usually twice as long or longer than
most college exams or graduation tests. This of course does not include the SABE
test which is given to many Spanish speaking students along with the SAT-9. How
is this fair to our children?
Based on my observations
and experience as a credentialed educator, standardized testing has become a
very dividing issue in public education. The tests are first of all political
tools for politicians who either have forgotten or do not understand how to use
assessment tools properly. Second, this test does not consider language
barriers, migration of the student populations, or the fact that it is one test,
given one day, at one time. SAT-9 believes all children have the same history,
same home life, and the same language.
Some of you may be thinking
that it must be the perfect test that treats all children equally. Let me make
the case to you why this is simply not true.
The SAT-9 is now a test
where passing and raising the scores are the only thing that truly matters.
Attached to the test is a very large cash reward for the teachers and schools to
improve test scores. Based on a school’s overall percentage increase and
special needs from the previous year, the schools are eligible for this
“Bonus” developed by Governor Davis. This is all political hype! If the
governor has all this extra money available for the schools, why is he passing
it out through a divide and conquer method? There are still schools which do not
have adequate space, books for every child, counselors, nurses, or enough
resources to strive past the unfortunate barriers some children face daily. This
is not money being spent wisely. This is not creating equality.
I read somewhere, that
children who take standardized tests have difficulty achieving beyond the level
of the test. It is not because they can’t achieve, but rather, they are not
given the opportunity to learn to their fullest. The reason is teachers are
encouraged to teach to the test rather than to grade level content. If this is
true, then making sure every child has strong basic skills may not be
achievable. I want to ask, where is the time to teach these skills? As it is, I
have to take away several weeks of my already short school year and devote it
strictly to test taking preparation and ultimately administration of the test.
These tests are expensive in development, administration, scoring time, and pay
outs to schools. This is not a good use of our tax dollars and our children’s
time. Children should not be denied the chance to learn and fulfill their
dreams. It is time parents say enough is enough. Encourage our elected leaders
to put an end to high stakes testing at the expense of our children.
Cinco
de Mayo celebrations offer lively Hispanic pastimes
Cinco
de Mayo festivities will begin with a parade Saturday, May 5 from 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. starting at 13th Street between H and I Streets in downtown Modesto.
The
Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Tuolumne Regional Park will be held Sunday, May 6
from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
The
day’s activities will include live bands, food booths, arts and crafts,
children’s games and entertainment, information booths and visits from the
Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, Modesto Police Department, Modesto
Fire Department ,and the California Highway Patrol.
ACTION:
To learn more about the events, call the Stanislaus County Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce at 575-2597.
Heartland Conference and
Fair returns to Turlock
The 2nd Annual Heartland Conference and Country Fair will
be held at CSU Stanislaus and on a Stevinson farm on Saturday & Sunday, June
30 & July 1. Discover the science and art of agriculture, gardening,
ranching, sustainable living, and the environment during this weekend of fun for
the whole family.
The Heartland Conferences explore hot tops affecting land,
life, and health, sponsored by the Ecological Farming Association(for 20 year
known as the Committee for Sustainable Agriculture).
Workshops, demonstrations, nature crafts, and award-winning
videos fill Saturday. "The Soul of Agriculture," a dynamic exploration
of the true cost of producing food and how we can develop a new model of farming
with a higher ethic - one that protects and sustains life, land, and resource
and "For the Love of Food," on what we can do to make food systems
healthy and sustainable are two of the Saturday presentations.
Then moving a few miles out to Stevinson for a Saturday
night Barbeque and Barn Dance at Double T A-cres Ranch, an organic dairy and
agricultural museum. Sunday is also playing and working on the farm.
Last year's event sold-out!
Register now. Tickets are fully refundable if returned to EFA by June 1,
2001.
ACTION: For
more information about attending, sponsoring, or volunteering at this innovative
conference, contact phone 831-763-2111; email, info@eco.farm.org; or check
www.eco-farm.org
Health Fair
Sunday, June 3rd
12:00-2:30 pm
Modesto Church of the Brethren
2301 Woodland Avenue
Healthy lunch
Edutainment
-
Drama by the Workplace Wellness Group
-
Special Children's Program
-
Numerous
Health Displays and Presentations
ACTION: For more
information, phone the Church of the Brethren at 523-1438.
Cafe
Shalom means yummy ethnic fare
Cafe
Shalom, Congregation Beth Shalom’s annual bagels and lox brunch, will be held
Sunday May 20 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at 1705 Sherwood Avenue, Modesto.
The
brunch also features an ethnic bake shop, Israeli cultural dancing and
instrumentals, an ethnic gift shop, no-host bar and specialty coffees, hourly
sanctuary tours, and Club Cafe Shalom (children's games and arts and crafts.)
Take
out brunches will be available.
ACTION:
Tickets for the brunch may be obtained by calling 571-6060 or at the door.
“Matters
of the Heart” musical focus at Modesto Church of the Brethren concert
“Matters of the
Heart, A Concert of Folk Music with a Spiritual Twist,” will be offered
Saturday May 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Modesto Church of the Brethren, 2301 Woodland
Ave., Modesto.
The concert will
feature the original music of Steve Kinzie and Shawn Kirchner, on piano, guitar,
and banjo.
Shawn Kirchner is the
Director of Choral Music at the University of LaVerne, LaVerne, California, and
a former concert pianist. He also writes songs of faith and compassion and
brings them to life with his clear tenor voice. Steve Kinzie is a gifted
songwriter and folk musician whose music features songs of peace, inclusion, and
the Spirit. His songs range from the driving rhythms of life to the haunting
melodies of justice unrealized.
Suggested donation:
$5-10.00.
ACTION:
Call 523-1438 or 522-7865 for
information.
Prospect
Theater Project focuses on regional theater, community outreach
By
TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL
Based upon the
concept that “the best theater is rooted regionally,” Modesto native Jack
Souza opens the first production of his new Prospect Theater Project with “The
Weir”, an Olivier Award-winner by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, weekends
through May 13 at the theater’s newly refurbished 520 Scenic Drive space in
Modesto.
They play, set in a
rural Irish pub, is a tribute to the art of storytelling and revolves around a
collection of ghost stories. It involves a group of longtime friends and a young
woman who abruptly alters the course of their evening, as they share their
encounters with the supernatural and in so doing gain glimpses into their own
personal and emotional interiors.
Souza and wife,
Kathleen Ennis, will star in the production along with regional actors Martin
Norquist, Fred Cross and Jere O’Donnell. Valley and Sonora actor/director
Carin Heidelbach directs.
Souza hopes through
the theater project to “develop and present traditional as well as new and
unconventional work in the theater arts; to encourage innovative alternatives to
the community’s performing arts repertory of dance, opera, and musical
theater; to promote collaborations of community theater artists with working
professionals; to promote working relationships with regional theaters in
adjoining areas; and to reach out to the community through educational
activities and multicultural experiences that specifically serve the interests
of a culturally diverse and increasingly urban population.”
The theater mission
will include a five show season comprised of a production coordinated with high
school, college and university curriculum; a non-traditional holiday offering in
December; a company special presentation in February and March, and a new
staging of a world theater classic in April and May. The fifth offering will be
generated from the winning selection of the Prospect Theater Project annual play
writing competition.
Souza and Ennis,
master’s degree recipients from University College Dublin, have led local
workshops since 1995. They will be joined by the theater’s resident staff to
lead programming in dance, movement, voice, auditioning, beginning through
advanced acting, acting for business professionals, improvisation, acting
Shakespeare, preparing a monologue, and individual tutoring.
The theater’s
community outreach will include a touring children’s play to be presented in
regional grammar schools each Fall and another touring show each Spring
addressing teen health and social issues.
The company’s slate also
will include the best of regional and national touring children’s companies,
and its regular subscription season will include four theater- subject lectures
(open to the public).
Souza, who has actively
worked toward the project for close to 18 months, seeks to foster enthusiastic
audiences who are motivated by compelling shows with compelling presentations.
ACTION:
To make reservations for “The Weir”, which will be presented Fridays and
Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., or to learn more about the Prospect
Theatre Project, call 549-9341.
Modesto
area youth invited to “Overcoming the Odds”
The
second annual “Overcoming the
Odds” youth conference for Modesto area junior high and high school youth will
be held Saturday, May 19 at Mellis Park and King-Kennedy Memorial Center, 601
Martin Luther King Drive, Modesto.
Registration
for the free day-long event will be held between 10 and 10:45 a.m. Any area
youth is welcome to attend and will be provided with free t-shirts, snacks and
lunch. Activities will include Highland Games and Scottish Dancing, a classic
car show, professional soccer demonstrations, information booths, and an
opportunity to network with law enforcement and other community agencies.
Featured
speakers will be Roy Sianez, a Sacramento legislative assistant and former
Modesto youth-at-risk; Dr. John Castor, family practice doctor with the Scenic
Medical Clinic; Pobedy Montez, 15-year-old singer; Jolene Gonzalez, detective
with the Modesto Police Department; Jair Juarez, a local fireman recognized by
the Modesto Bee Hall of Fame; and a representative from the local National
Guard. All are role models for youth and diversity.
ACTION:
To learn more about participating in or helping at the conference, call 577-5355
or 549-2451.
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ARTICLES TO CONNECTIONS.
Tenth of each month. Submit peace, justice and environmentally friendly event notices
to P.O. Box 134, Modesto, CA, 95353, or call 522-4967 or 575-4299, or email to costello@ainet.com. Free listings
subject to space, availability and editing.
04/25/04