Gooooooood Morning SuperForest,
I’ve been afk (away from keyboard) for a few days and wanted to let y’all know what’s been going down.
In the past three days, the 4fives, their teacher Bee, and their blog have been a huge part of my day to day activities.
My father Graham has been in New York with my mother and brother as on Thursday he was inducted into the Songwriters hall of fame.
I went with my family, (except for my lovely sister Nile,) to the awards ceremony, which came hot on the heels of the 4fives T-shirt Makestravaganza, and all I could talk about was the 4fives and how utterly, totally rad they all are, and how much fun it is working with them. I got to tell a ton of very cool cats about the 4fives and everyone was completely taken with the simplicity of creating change by teaching children to blog, link together, and share ideas. Best of all, as I had my iPhone on me, I could show everyone the pictures we’d taken during the screen printing lesson!
I could do a whole post just on that, but it’s quite small compared to what happened yesterday.
Yesterday, my father, mother, brother, Uncle Bill, and I payed a special visit to the 4fives and my father did a private performance for them and a few lucky teachers. We showed up, and everyone in the classroom was wearing their 4fives shirts, and they’d just gotten done printing up a hot new batch, so there were shirts for everyone to wear.
Once we were all in our shirts, and had shaken hands and learned each others names, we had a lovely lunch and then the real fun began….
First the 4fives showed SuperForesters Graham, Susan, Bill, and William how they’d learned the SuperForest cheer (which I never posted…) Then they showed them the special 4fives relaxation and deep breathing techniques that we’d all worked out together. Since we were all sitting on the rug for the relaxation visualization, it was a natural segue into Graham sitting down and engaging with each of the kids, as each child had prepared a thoughtful list of interview questions for him.
There followed an interview where everyone (including me) learned amazing things about Graham, including the name of the first song he’d ever written (“Hey, What’s Wrong With Me?”) and how his passion for music and communication has charmed and driven his life. Every kid and adult sat spell-bound. Each 4fiver got to ask as many questions as they liked, and Graham happily answered all of them, which lead to the mini-concert!
Graham had thoughtfully brought a guitar, and he sang “Teach Your Children” to us all, and I was lucky enough to join in and harmonize a bit. It was such a thrill for me. I believe that this was the first time that my father and I had sung “Teach” in such a manner, and I was so proud and thrilled at the moment unfolding for all of us. We finished “Teach” and were talking about how playing and singing at once can be difficult, but how everything becomes easier with practice. The key is taking small step.
If you want to play the guitar, learn to play one chord. Then two chords. If you can play three chords, you can play most pop songs. To illustrate how simple most songs were, Graham then got us all to sing the Buddy Holly classic “Peggy Sue” and by the end, everyone in the room was singing “pretty pretty pretty pretty Peggy Sue…”
It gets better! After Graham was finished singing, everyone switched places! The 4fives got up and we all sat on the rug and the fives put on a special impromptu concert of their very own. Watching these kids singing their hearts out, wearing the shirts that they’d each made, each shirt emblazoned with a great logo that many loving folks had collaborated on, and knowing that each one of them would be blogging about the fun they’d had that day was the biggest win to date in all my years of SuperForesting.
The 4fives blogging experiment was a resounding success, and these kids are the living proof of how valuable a resource we all are, if we’re willing to treat each other with respect and compassion.
After all the singing, and the learning, and the sharing, there were hugs and smiles and handshakes and thank you. Julius will be pleased to know that the kids have polished their “please and thank you’s” and all thanked Graham, Susan, Will, and Bill in perfect Dutch.
So much more went on than just this. I’m working up a much larger post about yesterday. This is just the teaser. LOL!
4Fives Yes! SuperForest Yes! Positivity Yes! Posivity blogging Yes!
This SuperForest thing is just one huge set of win, wrapped in win, with wins for each and everyone of us.
Love to All,
Jackson
My deepest and most sincere thanks to SuperForesters Graham, Susan, Will, and Bill for coming in and making my and these kid’s day. To the marvelous Ms. Giselle McGee (the principal of P.S. 58) and assistant principal Ms. Jayme Perlman. To super art instructor Ms. Driscoll, and school statistician (and AV wizard) Mary-Margret Little. You all rock! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
None of this could have happened without the support and good will of the teachers and staff of P.S. 58 in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Thank you all so much. Your school and students are an inspiration.
Check out the 4Fives Blog!
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