[Xmca-l] Re: The Highlander Center in Tennessee

Sun Aug 31 07:58:03 PDT 2014

Good luck, all.
Mike

On Saturday, August 30, 2014, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:

> Helena Worthen and Greg Thompson have responded off-line, in addition to
> Robert Lake and you who proposed it, Mike. And Helena wants to involve
> someone on the Highlander faculty. When does a collaborative review article
> become a broth with too many cooks? Pretty soon I think.
> I will send a message to this group off-line to see if we can get a plan.
>
> Andy
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Andy Blunden*
> http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
>
>
> mike cole wrote:
>
>> I have heard no news of deadlines about an article of the sort I thought
>> Andy was suggesting. And it appears that at least Andy and Robert are
>> interested, and perhaps Henry? And?
>>
>> No centralized organization seems appropriate here. Those interested can
>> recognize themselves from the discussion and let the editors what emerges.
>>
>> The theme(s) is/are clearly generative of interest.
>> mike
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 30, 2014 at 2:27 PM, Henry G. Shonerd III <hshonerd@gmail.com
>> >
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi Robert and Andy,
>>> Taking a biographical perspective on a smaller scale, it's interesting
>>> that an Australian Vygotskian/Hegellian/dialectic scholar would find so
>>> interesting the civil rights work of a courageous Black woman, that a
>>> white
>>> professor who gets impetus for writing while in movement (as he explains
>>> in
>>> his letter to Vera) would have a thorough knowledge of her work, and
>>> that a
>>> Black scholar (Lisa Delpit), should be associated with the "dark side" in
>>> literacy for minorities. How pun-ishingly ironic, maybe at the heart of
>>> the
>>> dialectic? Does it make sense to see such "entanglements" as consonant
>>> with
>>> a fractal model of history and culture, fractal formations at any scale
>>> being "self similar" and complex. Surely dialect thinking and fractal
>>> thinking are blendable, just as science and art are blendable. I am
>>> thinking about Fauconnier and Turner (on blending), Cantor (on fractals)
>>> and articles by Andy on metaphor and narrative, romantic science and the
>>> interaction of conceptual and pre-conceptual thinking. One more personal
>>> anecdote ties in. Two weekends ago my wife and I had lunch with Vera and
>>> Ruben in Santa Fe. She talked about the creative "leap". In her 1985
>>> Notebooks of the Mind, Vera talks about "the joining of rapid bursts of
>>> thought with a regime of disciplined work". And finally, Anna Stetsenko
>>> in
>>> the the letters to Vera (Constructing a Community of Thought), argues
>>> that
>>> "Creativity…is an ineluctable feature of all and every person in their
>>> even
>>> utmost mundane activities and pursuits of everyday life." Vera and
>>> Vygotsky
>>> bring us creativity at all scales. Typically, "going to scale" means
>>> growth. Cancer is a growth. Destructive. Creativity is generative,
>>> nurturing. In all of this I find hope, which was got me into the xmca
>>> dialog in the first place.
>>> Henry
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Aug 29, 2014, at 7:43 AM, Robert Lake <boblake@georgiasouthern.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi 
>>>> Andy,
>>>> I am so glad you are intrigued by Septima's role in the formation of
>>>>
>>>>
>>> SNCC .
>>>
>>>
>>>> She was often overlooked in the chauvinist culture of the times (both
>>>>
>>>>
>>> white
>>>
>>>
>>>> and black) and that is why began researching her life. Most people see
>>>> recognize Rosa Parks and Ella Baker's role and later those who were
>>>> credited for the "Freedom School curriculum
>>>> ". If you look at Clark's life and the manner and content of what she
>>>> taught on John's Island and other parts of South Carolina, 
>>>> you can easily recognize that her work was seminal in the formation of
>>>>
>>>>
>>> the
>>>
>>>
>>>> Freedom School Curriculum.
>>>>
>>>> I have tried to get permission to reprint Septima's autobiography from
>>>>
>>>>
>>> her
>>>
>>>
>>>> family, but I have been unsuccessful. The book by Cynthia Brown  *Ready
>>>> from Within *has a lot of  primary source interviews. Catherine Mellon
>>>> Charon's book,  *Septima Clark: Freedom's Teacher *is richly detailed
>>>>
>>>>
>>> with
>>>
>>>
>>>> many interviews of her friends  and documents from primary sources from
>>>>
>>>>
>>> the
>>>
>>>
>>>> University of Wisconsin Highlander collection.
>>>>
>>>> Here is a link to a recorded interview with Septima that may be useful
>>>> to
>>>> you. I enjoyed hearing her voice at least.
>>>>
>>>> http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/G-0017/menu.html
>>>>
>>>> *Robert*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 
>>>>
>>>> On Aug 29, 2014 5:05 AM, "Andy Blunden" <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> So you are placing Septima Clark right up there in importance, Robert.
>>>>> I am part way through a "chronicle" of Highlander, called "Highlander.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> No
>>>
>>>
>>>> Ordinary school, 1932-1962". It is very useful for me, so I can get
>>>>> everything in sequence. So here I discovered that Septima Clark was in
>>>>> charge of the discussions with the students who later joined SNCC. So
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> she
>>>
>>>
>>>> is coming into focus for me. I have just ordered two books on her,
>>>>> including the one you recommended. Unfortuantely, an autobiography she
>>>>> wrote in 1962 seems to be out of print and entirely unavailable now.
>>>>>
>>>>> Andy
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> ------------
>>>>> *Andy Blunden*
>>>>> http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Robert Lake wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Andy,
>>>>>> Yes I do. Start with this .
>>>>>> http://highlandercenter.org/about-us/history/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And this biography of Myles Horton
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.amazon.com/The-Long-Haul-An-Autobiography/dp/0807737003
>>>>>> and the biography of Septima Clark.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.amazon.com/Freedoms-Teacher-Life-Septima-
>>>>>> Clark/dp/0807872229/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=
>>>>>> 1408889271&sr=1-2&keywords=septima+clark <http://www.amazon.com/
>>>>>> Freedoms-Teacher-Life-Septima-Clark/dp/0807872229/ref=sr_1_
>>>>>> 2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408889271&sr=1-2&keywords=septima+clark>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have written a piece on her as well and will send it this afternoon.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I think the book We Make the Road by Walking: A dialogue between Myles
>>>>>> Horton and Paulo Freire
>>>>>> is one of the best books on both these leaders.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> More Later,
>>>>>> Robert Lake
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I will send more this afternoon.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> <mailto:
>>>
>>>
>>>> ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    Does anyone on this list know about the Highlander Center, what
>>>>>>    used to be called the Highlander Folk School?
>>>>>>    The people there are very helpful, but they're also rushed off
>>>>>>    their feet (like everyone, I guess) and if there were any other
>>>>>>    sources of information about it, that would be helpful. I'm
>>>>>>    particularly interested if anyone is familiar with what they were
>>>>>>    doing in the 1950s and 60s.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    Andy
>>>>>>    --     ------------------------------
>>>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>>> ------------
>>>>>>    *Andy Blunden*
>>>>>>    http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
>>>>>>    <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> *Robert Lake  Ed.D.
>>>>>> *Associate Professor
>>>>>> Social Foundations of Education
>>>>>> Dept. of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading
>>>>>> Georgia Southern University
>>>>>> Secretary/Treasurer-AERA- Paulo Freire Special Interest Group
>>>>>> P. O. Box 8144
>>>>>> Phone: (912) 478-0355
>>>>>> Fax: (912) 478-5382
>>>>>> Statesboro, GA  30460
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>