Pre-class activities (9-28)

Required Reading:

1) “To Name the World: A Dialogue about Holistic and Indigenous Education” (Four Arrows and Miller, 2012)

2) “Nature Needs a New Pronoun: To Stop the Age of Extinction, Let’s Start by Ditching ‘It’” (Kimmerer, 2015)

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/together-earth/2015/03/30/alternative-grammar-a-new-language-of-kinship

Suggested Reading:

3) “Doing Good Science: On the Virtues of Simply Messing About” (A practical demonstration of how a young child developed a deep sense of knowing about an “other-than-human” creature) Kesson, 2003)

Assignment:

Choose a “being” from a species other than human (a plant, animal, tree, wind, falling leaves, the sea) to be with (30 minutes). Just sit with ki.  BE with ki. (Hint: You will understand the word “ki” when you read the short required article #2)

Use all of your senses to get to know this being (observe its visible characteristics, smell it, engage your sense of touch, listen to it, or taste it – whatever is relevant.)

Using whatever expressive format appeals to you (poetry, music, art, craft, or movement) describe in depth and detail  this being and your relationship with it, including whatever you learn, feel, or think about when in this relationship.  Whatever format you choose, it must be “sharable” with a small group at our next class.