2 things, and a plea for thoughts/ideas!

[peachkabob]

 One:  Help! How do I make sustainability a performing art? I might be designing my own class in sustainability (continuity between past-present-future) as an elective next year, but I have to turn it into a performing arts-like class. I was thinking like... how art can be an agent for social change/commentary... but that's a tricky  line since

Comments

[suri_the_cuckoo]

1. Sustainability through the arts sounds amazing! Perhaps when you pitch it to your supervisor, can you say that you will look at and teach about the use of arts throughout history to educate people. Passion plays have been performed for such a long time to educate about the crucifixion. The Crucible was a commentary on McCarthyism and of course there are millions of more examples. So you could make the point that while the course is going to focus on sustainability, it will also be educating in general about the use of art in education and politics.

2. I don't have training in this, but I think you did the best you could in that situation. It's good that you educated the other kids and took a stance against bullying. Unfortunately, Gabe seems like a hurting young man. I'm not sure how it feels to have ODD, but I have a very dear friend who struggled with it and even as an adult it was hard for him to see when people were actually reaching out to him with love and he will go on the defensive. If he was already angry, he may not have been able to tell that you were trying to help him. Perhaps you should talk to the dads, tell them what happened, what you did, how he reacted, and ask them if they have any advice for you- how to handle him when he gets really upset. This could also help the parents to know that you are an ally for them and their son

I doubt it's just a problem of having two dads- he probably would have acted this way no matter what they were bullying him about BUT perhaps having gay parents could be more confusing if he sees things in the media that portray homosexuality as bad. Not really sure. Gah, it's tough trying to to stop bullying and reach out to a troubled child. If you want, I can contact my friend who had ODD and see if he has any advice on the matter. Let me know.