Starry, Starry Night with our Kim Chi Ensemble

Friday evening's GOODNEWS helicopter poised over Central Park's 79th Street western edge. Our view revealed a pulsing ribbon of multimedia aficionados moving toward the Swedish Cottage.  Inside this thoughtfully appointed nineteenth century schoolhouse,  hours of preparation -and years of training - would herald many 'firsts.'

The most obvious 'first' was Kim Chi's enactment of the avante-guarde dance performed decades ago at Lincoln Center by venerable multimedia artist, Elaine Summers.  Summers, now in the winter of her Rainbow-rich SkyTime adventure, cheered on the live ensemble of musicians, lighting and laptop technicians, and of course the dancer!

Kim Chi, still in the springtime of her life, moved like a butterfly emerging ever so slowly from an invisible cocoon.  Elaine's legacy of of choreographing kinetically-aware dance held the audience in suspension  -we could hear a pin drop!  Time virtually stood still for ten full minutes -eyes entranced- as Kim Chi allowed the inner momentum alive within the tiniest of muscles move her practiced body gracefully from the floor to standing!

"No one had ever done this before," intimated choreographer Elaine Summers - referring to her first performance of this particular dance forty years earlier.  Acknowledging each one of the artists, critics who attending the very first production, and the organizations that supported and publicized this innovation, Elaine simply sparkles with appreciation, sizzles with zeal!

This list of contributors and benefactors are readily available at 
www.Skytime.org.

There is one more first to report!  Anticipating many more than the Cottage could comfortably seat, the UArmory Planning Council requested nearby installation a Big Screen - so the performance inside the  1876 Centennial celebration by Sweden, was projected outside for thousands to see outside! Blankets and sit-upons made a patchwork quilt of enthusiastic viewers -international visitors to the Big Apple, as well as athletes and families here for Sunday's marathon (Good luck today, guys and gals!)

GOODNEWS Reporter, Bendt Woulfe, FirstYear Palladio

Team Project Announcement: Applications open through 11/13.

"Please take a look at these pictures from last week ... on the sidewalks of New York," reports 1stYearUS, Tienna Navarro.  Interested in dogs, since the age of three, Tienna wants to start a new club during her first year of middle school ...  Caring for Our Furry Friends.  


She needs one Teacher, one Delacorte 6thYear, and One Global Parent to join her Club Council.  She aready knows her focus for her graduation project.  "We may be Middle School, but we are not living in the Middle Ages.  That's when folks didn't know about germs and refuse, illness and prevention.  Without this knowledge they were known to dump such stuff out their windows and front doors ... sullying everyone's path!"

I make it my duty to educate all dog owners/walkers - calling forth their civic duty - to dispose of refuse properly! Give us our streets ... especially our sidewalks... clean for little children to walk upon, strollers to return dooty-free to family apartments, and pedestrians to trust that the cracks in our track shoes remain empty and buoyant!  And what about the health and sensitivity of our city street workers?!"

Being a team learner, Tienna is  recieving applications from fellow first years. Please visit her website where you can download and upload your application, if interested.  Tienna also posted more pictures...you'll be disgusted enough to be motivated to doooo something positive!  She will select two promising applicants who will partner with Tienna over the next two years to initiate a needed Contribution of Great Merit, temporarily entitled: DOOTY-FREE (from the Sidewalks of New York).

(Interview with Tienna Navarro, 1stYearUS, 11/2/10, on the way to the polls ...oops! by Janna Simon)

What's in our word choice, a word like "Armory?"

While the history of our "US" building precedes the Civil War, few may know that it began as The Arsenal. When Palladio International was being designed our founders decided to examine this history and name metaphysically... no surprise here!  Dr. Prof. Rene Renard (Doc Ray as she is fondly known to US students) goes on to inform, " Our Founders felt that in a very real way Palladio International's constitution and mission refer to the ways many human beings have simply evolved from using a physical 'arming' to activating our spiritual/emotional arming.  We consciously practice The Principles and a curriculum that activates our Power of Twelve.  Since the word arsenal would refer to things, and our school refers to people ... middle school people developing diverse internal powers of thought and vision...  founders dialogued until the word  'armory' agreed with everyone present. (Voila...WE are where we store and cultivate such 'armor.')  Thus, our students become in a very real sense 'armed'...thus, our word choice ARMORY."
(Interview with DocRay, 11/3/10, in The Children's Garden, by Roan Nievey 2ndYearUS)

For historic details and more, visit ...
 http://www.centralparknyc.org/maps/

ElderFair - A Contribution of Great Merit by Harmony Brook

Our UpperSchool ("US") June graduate (2010), Harmony Brook, hasn't stopped contributing to the improvement of ElderLife.  Despite her move onto the campus of Palladio High Academy, Harmony wends her way past The Dairy to our campus each Tuesday at ClubTime.  Harmony has recruited and leads a large group of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd "US" Years committed to furthering ElderFair initiatives voted upon last May.

The first decision the group made was to name themselves, ElderFaeries ... magically making good things happen behind the scenes for all the elders in our lives around the world.  In fact, ElderFaeries are now in search of a new meeting room that better accomodates thirty to fifty active middle school students.  Spacious rooms on our affiliate Columbia campus promise not only roomier surroundings, but also ongoing support from last fall's recruits into Columbia's TeacherIntern Program.

Harmony hopes for an adult/student ratio of 1/4.  Great ongoing results accrue from last summer's workshop series (Cooperative Group Model, by the extraordinary Patterns for Thinking trainer, Robyn Fogarty).  Each group is now using a different strategy to to conduct their project research and construct their action goals.  All teams would benefit though from Debriefing during the last fifteen minutes so that "loose ends" get resolved, and a steady pace resumes in the week following. Despite crowded conditions in our current location, Harmony expects ElderFaeries to double next spring's outreach results!


"The culture of our elders' world is rapidly advancing in quality because BabyBoomers are an informed generation, and because our world is finally realizing the great value of elders common to the Great Indian Nation (my geneology and personal legacy) and because as an international campus we benefit from incoorporating the thinking and ways of "Elder-Rich" cultural traditions of Eastern Nations. I especially thank my peers who have taught  their ways with me, Nadja, Kim, and Raj." (Interview with Harmony Brook, by Weston Scott Davis -3rdYear, on Tuesday 11/2/10.)

 To begin exploring facets of the elderworld, visit...
http://www.eldercarelink.com/Go/Nursing-Homes/Investigating-the-Culture-Change-in-Nursing-Home-Care.htm