Art, Books, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Sail Away – Oceans, Seas, Rivers, and Rainstorms

There’s a lovely exhibit currently on show at the Morgan Library. It’s the work of artist-illustrator Ashley Bryan (see below for the Morgan’s description.) Many of the pieces are collages in the vibrant colors of the kind of elementary school construction paper. I could imagine school group trips and the response to the words and the pictures as inspiring “I…

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Art, Poetry, Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Let America Be America Again

Langston Hughes wrote this in 1935.  It had meaning and relevance then. It still has. Read it. Let America Be America Again  Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America…

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Art, Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Subway Rush Hour and Modern Art

Subway Rush Hour by Langston Hughes Mingled breath and smell so close mingled black and white so near no room for fear. Hughes published Subway Rush Hour in 1951 part of “Montage of a Dream Deferred”.  In “My Early Days in Harlem” 1963 he wrote of his arrival Harlem as a young man from the mid-West.   On a bright September…

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Education, Poetry, Politics, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Two Cheers for Diversity and the Unfinished Work of America: Stronger Together

The NAIS Annual People Of Color Conference opens this week in Atlanta. It will draw independent educators from across the country. They will gather in groups small and large; renew friendships and make new connections; listen to speakers and attend, participate in, and lead workshops and meetings. I am sure it will all be a necessary time of re-dedication, renewal and affinity.…

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Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Thanksgiving Time

When the night winds whistle through the trees and blow the crisp brown leaves a-crackling down, When the autumn moon is big and yellow-orange and round, When old Jack Frost is sparkling on the ground, It’s Thanksgiving Time! – from Thanksgiving Time by Langston Hughes I hope your holiday is wonderful.