March 31st and April 2nd

This week the BG and Libbey students reunite at Libbey to begin to work on the performance piece and both days the BG students met with the Economics class. While the Libbey students were on break, the BG students worked on a rough outline of the performance and explored some techniques that could be used. The performance will be structured with an opening piece, four pieces discussing different issues pertaining to bullying, and then a closing piece. Both the American Government class and the Economics class will be split into two groups apiece, for a total of four groups, and each group will devise one of the main performance pieces. Two BG students will be responsible for providing a foundation for the Libbey students to create their piece around.

On Monday, March 31, the BG students read through the script for the opening of the performance so the Economics students could see what we had come up with and give us feedback. They really liked how we structured it! We then showed them an image theatre technique that allows images and movement to be created based on a particular story or phrase. After the demonstration, the class split into two groups to begin to work on their performance pieces. The Economics class will be devising the pieces that give voice to bullying victims as well as what role the government should play in dealing with the issue of bullying and the repercusions that could result from different actions. We got off to a good start with an interesting twist...a group of delegates from Morroco sat in on the class to observe this new approach to teaching! They really enjoyed what they saw us do and gave us some great feedback!

On Wednesday, April 2, we continued to work on the performance pieces. We started off with a warm-up exercise (psht-pajubi-dong) to make sure everyone was awake! We then split into the two groups. The group looking at the role of government in relation to bullying discussed what opinions and voices they want to be heard in the performance as well as began to decide who would be playing what role. The group giving voice to the victim shared some personal stories, some possibilities for images, and discussed what kind of music they want to use. All in all, a successful week!

Next Monday, April 7, the Libbey students will return to BGSU for another fieldtrip where we will work heavily on the performance pieces as well as make our t-shirts for the performance. It should be an exciting day!

March 24th and 26th

This week was Spring Break at Libbey High School but the college students still had regular class meetings. We had a lot of productive time discussing how we might create a framework for our performance at Libbey and we also had some time to read the "This I Believe" statements the Libbey students wrote before they headed off for break.

The "This I Believe" is an international project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values that guide their daily lives. These short statements of belief, written by people from all walks of life, are archived here and featured on public radio in the United States and Canada, as well as in regular broadcasts on NPR. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

Project Guidelines:
The students took this opportunity to dig a bit deeper into what WE personally believe in relation to our larger theme of Citizenship. Or more specifically, what it means to be a citizen. In the case of this project, we’ve been exploring the importance of being informed on public issues and taking time to look at the root of a problem before taking action. We could choose to expand on those ideas or explore different aspects of citizenship. Things to think about: citizenship comes with both rights and responsibilities. Think about the community we would like to live in – what kind of citizens will people need to be to make that a reality? What role does being informed and involved play for us?
With these ideas in mind, we wrote a CREATIVE writing assignment. We chose to write an essay, poem, a song, a strong, concise paragraph or speech. We chose whatever we felt most comfortable with and write about what you believe it means to be a citizen.

Here are two examples!

Carmen Nathaniel
19 March 2008

I Believe…

I believe in Jesus Christ,
I believe in wrong and right
I believe in the unborn’s rights
I believe in a London twilight
I believe in love and peace
I believe in positivity
I believe in summer and spring
I believe in daisies and ice cream
I follow and trust my beliefs,
(No matter how serious or silly).
Sometimes with facts or blind faith.
Mostly however, just a strong
Intuition in my heart.



Lauren Fraley
Citizen Artist Creative “This I believe” Response

Rhetorical Statement
For the department of communication’s course number 26657 Interpersonal Communication 102 – H (that H stands
for "special". With Quotes. Under the guise of Honors. Capital H. Sans Quotes.) The following actions are sacrilege of the canon of rhetoric's propositions of fact, value and policy.

I. Claim one.
II. Claim two.
III. Claim three.
IV. I’m bored.

While I propose this—poetry.
A proposition of poetry that punches out words
That land in your face and meld in your mind
Without so much as a thought of a thought of the conception of a thought from you.
Letters that need no commercialized velcro, zippers or snaps,
Or textbooks that claim that syntax comes from a steel, chrome machine
Where words come in and drones come out,
or a calculated formula filled with presentational, prepositional, present tense-ial?
rules…
up with which I will not put?
A proposition of poetry where a semicolon,
sleek with sophistication but a smidgen of sass
can put itself in a strategic spot;
[semicolon] I am the temptress of punctuation.

And I can choose to pepper my mainstream metaphors
with my innermost thoughts
(and include them in parentheses
(as if my thoughts are protected from judgement (and harm)
(if only they have a shield
(to save it from beasts (and republicans, of course)))))
And I can say things like being liberal doesn’t mean I burn bras
(though they itch and pinch sometimes)
And I would never vote for someone strictly based on political party
(though it helps the lazy citizen)
And that much to the dismay of some of my friends,
(though I suspsect they really don't mind)
Entwined in a braid of my socially radical views is my personal
life lived conservatively--
Complete with gratefulness for my country.
(though a few tiny things I would like to tweak. A LOT.)
But today I choose to use no parentheses
Because my claims are nothing but reality; [semicolon]
I don’t have to hide the progress of the world.
But some facts need hidden, say a select few extremists
(as I like to call them (forgive the parentheses)).

The world progresses,
But I choose to embrace and honor and that progress,
Because I have Faith,
not in some anonymous outside higher force who I have never met
Or faith in one sacred story that forces me to negate the others
from a culture or a time far away,
But faith in what is within me, and within us—
Faith that it is something within our own selves that
Keeps us from killing that neighbor with the barking terrier and
Keeps us from stealing that
cerulean and mother of pearl poly-cotton blend argyle sweater
That sits in the window of the store,
Where the cashier goes in the back for lunch at 1:00 every
weekday,
Far away from the window display.
(not that the thought of stealing has ever crossed my mind…)
And keeps us from thinking that an instinct is fact .
Faith that my citizenship is not determined by or my ability to
speak English
or a visa
or any other arrogant piece of paper
Instead, it is my loyalty
my love
my longing
not to for country, but for its progress.

Because Progressive, in my world is NOT a blind banchee call
screaming against the status quo.
Because Progressive would not exist if the status quo would
Get off its high horse and
Learn to walk on its own,
Learn to progress itself
Because I know it's worth wondering what is being "conserved"?

While straining American pulp in an attempt to find the crème of the crop,
We keep the mob mentality
We lose the pulp
We keep the clones
And lose the gulp
Of juice that truly is our country
Because somehow, somewhere, someone says
that a fierce, judmental push to the wall of expiration is
good.

And while a little beetle is doing a dance inside my stifled guilt,
He stops his cha-cha for enough seconds to realize that
My blending of fact, value and policy into a violently crumbled
head-banging utterance of rage
May not just make Aristotle roll over in his rhetorical grave,
but do a little cha-cha too.