Gettin' In Tune

My father fancied himself a good cook. I took exception to that claim 30 years ago. However, one recipe of his has stuck with me my entire adult life-Raw Fried Potatoes. He was an artist. His sketches of the Lake Michigan shoreline once decorated our house in the Bay View area of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That artistry however, did not carry over into the kitchen. His avocation, art, did carry over to me and from me to my oldest daughter who rangled a bachelor of fine arts degree from our local university and became an art teacher.

My interest in art has been life-long. It initially led me from grade school to a local high school that had an outstanding art and music program. It followed me to Vietnam where I completed several sketch books and then home when my service time was completed. I did not follow my avocation as a college program nor as an occupation, turning to science and business instead. As I said earlier, I've maintained my interest throughout my life via indulging in pencil, pastel and ink sketching, acrylic based painting and visiting art museums where ever I have lived and traveled for business.

I recently discovered the world of art blogs. There are literally thousands of art blogs out in the internet. Two of my favorites are dcdocent.com and eyelevel.si.edu. The docent is an anonymous blogger who is an art museum docent in the Washington D.C. area. He blogs behind the veil of concealment about art museums, art galleries and art happenings around the United States and especially the Washington D.C. area. A docent, by the way, is a person who leads guided tours through museums and art galleries. It is a noble profession of would be scholars of various types that pass on to visitors to their museums or galleries their passion for their particular content area. I identify the majority of docents as "would be scholars" because they are very often hobbyests in their field working for very little or as volunteers.

Eyelevel is a blog of the Smithsonian organization in Washington D.C. It is a highly professional bog that features interviews with expert curators and conservators as well as producing first-rate articles about their current and future art exhibits. One exhibit that jumped to my eye level was "Mingering Mike: Just for the Record." It is a collection of vinyl music ephemera (record albums recorded in analog format on vinyl platters) collected between 1965 and 1979. The owner has chosen to remain anonymous but, his collection stays with Smithsonian visitors. You can visit his collection at eyelevel.si.edu/2013/02/mingering-mike-just-for-the-record-html.

While art blogs are fun and even relaxing-I like to comment on what I read and see, my favorite blog is talkingpointsmemo.com. This is an up-to-the-minute following of political happenings in our nation's capitol. News junkies can stay in touch with what is happening with the movers and shakers and the events that eventually make the network news. And that's the fun of it. I feel informed before the like of NBC, ABC and CBS can slather their diatribe across the airwaves.

But, these are not the most important blogs out in the ether today. I would argue that the mini blogs like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have far more impact upon our school age children than we care to admit. As a student teacher I have encountered a generation of composers who can only write for these electronic hosts and their followers. They have translated the sound byte to their cell phones via 144 characters inventing acronyms and codes I can't begin to understand. Therein lies the writing problem for this generation. Many are resistant to the formal language arts training that results in the ability to communicate effectively in writing.

This translates into my main concern about blogging-it is changing the vernacular I grew up learning via my mid-western education. How can I teach children science writing such as lab reports when I can get past 144 characters of attention span?

I think a possible solution might be to endeavor to engage students via their interests and point them towards blogs that encompass those interests. At least well written blogs that purvey some of the content that I offer. Maybe, just maybe I'm onto something.