The Artivism Prject: Life After Loss by

Haiku

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 14:52:26 UTC

Write me a haiku

On life after loss

Move me with your words

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 14:54:39 UTC

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 14:55:40 UTC

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 14:57:39 UTC

EXAMPLE: A Tiny Story of Life After Loss

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 15:06:49 UTC

One of the last times I saw my little brother before he was left to die on a New York City Street was on Christmas Eve. It was snowing as he left my house and he instinctively reached his arms toward the sky, as if he were thanking the heavens for this frozen magic kissing our skin. He unleashed a childlike laugh that shattered the quiet night; a million sparkling fragments of joy. In this burst of exhilaration, he was backlit by the soft glow of snow on the Christmas lights adorning the bushes on my walkway, like wool illuminated from within. It was as if he was ascending. A warmth in what’s frozen. Is that what hope is? Is there still warmth in us? Can we levitate ourselves above it all? Can we still illuminate in the cold?

Soundscape

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13QPTNnPKGNDmq7GYALih9iocnE_NjgZz/view?usp=sharing

In 100 - 200 words, submit a tiny story on the theme of "life after loss."

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 16:48:03 UTC

Create a 1-2 minute soundscape which captures the essence of your tiny story of life after loss.

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 16:48:21 UTC

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 16:49:49 UTC

For the duration of the semester, we've explored how artists have used music to address these profound topics. For this last final project, YOU get to be the artist and draw from your own personal experiences on the theme of "Life After Loss." You can define loss in whatever way you'd like. Loss isn't necessarily a death; it can be related to life transitions, sickness, world events, etc. Here is what you need to do:

1. Think about how the theme of "Life After Loss" connects to your own lived experience.

2. Capture an aspect of your personal experience with life after loss in a BRIEF (100 - 300 words) paragraph. (This is modeled after the New York Times "Tiny Love Stories" series. You should definitely check it out for examples of the kind of thing I'm looking for here.)

3. Pair this description with a piece of art that YOU create. This could be (but is not limited to) a photo, a drawing, a collection of sounds, music, a poem, a video, dance, etc. Any artistic expression is viable and acceptable.

4. Submit your description and a file of your artwork (again, using this term to encompass all kinds of creativity).

MUS 358: Social Justice, Music, Education

colleen_sears — 2024-01-05 16:55:52 UTC

TCNJ Wind Ensemble Concert: Life After Loss April 27th

colleen_sears — 2024-01-15 20:28:18 UTC

Hi everyone! I'm Colleen Sears and I currently serve as the chair of the Department of Music. I've been on the faculy at TCNJ for eleven years and actually went here as an undergrad! This is the fourth major collaboration of The Artivism Project, which aims to explore social justice and shared humanity through a variety of artistic experiences, curriculum development, and community partnerships. I'm excited to see what emerges from this iteration of Artivism!

colleen_sears — 2024-01-15 20:40:53 UTC

The Invisible String

2024-01-15 22:58:30 UTC

Everywhere, Still

hallm73 — 2024-01-15 23:01:37 UTC

Before I Die

hallm73 — 2024-01-15 23:05:46 UTC

'Before I die' is a public art project that asks people to publicly and anonymously write down something they want to do before they die -- prompting reflection on grief and loss.

A word about me

2024-01-16 03:22:29 UTC

Hello Everyone, this is Alan Amtzis from Graduate Studies (and School of Ed) Somewhere on this Padlet, I will (try to) post two very beautiful examples of writing that have comforted me...and others. it is hard to write about loss, especially death, and say something that doesn't feel smaller than the emotions and the experience of the hole left behind. BUT.....both Thornton Wilder and Rabindranath Tagore have succeeded, i think. Look for my samples of their writing about loss....and death....on this Padlet.

Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder

2024-01-16 03:23:26 UTC

Peace, my heart..... by Rabindranath Tagore

2024-01-16 03:24:03 UTC

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

2024-01-16 03:26:38 UTC

I can't even count the number of times I've read this heartbreakingly beautiful memoir about how we lose so much of what really matters to us.

Movie - The Shack

2024-01-16 15:57:41 UTC

Panel discussion

colleen_sears — 2024-01-16 16:41:24 UTC

Pre-concert lecture

colleen_sears — 2024-01-16 16:43:08 UTC

Glenn Steinberg: Introduction

2024-01-16 16:45:40 UTC

I'm Glenn Steinberg in the English Department at TCNJ. I study medieval literature as a scholar, and I've recently started a new research project on masculine grief in texts of the Middle Ages. Scholars of medieval literature tend to generalize about medieval male grief as always necessarily turning into vengeful anger (and anything else as being womanish), but I see many representations of male grief in medieval texts that don't fit this generalization. My research has also sparked an interest in the concept of "emotional communities" (Barbara Rosenwein), which are groups that share assumptions, language, and stories about feelings. Some of the texts that I study seem to belong to an emotional community that represents male grief very differently from the generalizations of modern scholars about medieval mourning.

Jarret Crawford

2024-01-16 17:00:43 UTC

Hi all, I am a faculty member in Psychology. I am starting to explore more creative expression after having spent most of my career in quantitative scholarship. Colleen mentioned a great idea of getting involved via partnerships with local live music venues. I could also imagine incorporating themes of loss into my PSY390 Lab course, which focuses on drastic changes to the field of psychology. Such changes have led to existential crises not only for individual members of the field, but for the field itself.

on Solastasia...

2024-01-16 17:15:42 UTC

https://thegoldenhour.substack.com/p/barbie-burning-man-and-the-rest-of?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fsolastasia&utm_medium=reader2

Zines

2024-01-16 20:27:47 UTC

students can create mini magazines (Zines) that tell their stories

Storytelling nights

2024-01-16 20:28:12 UTC

live storytelling events (we can film)

Poetry to Go

2024-01-16 20:28:31 UTC

Pop up poetry events

playlists

2024-01-16 20:28:46 UTC

create a playlist of songs that tell your story of life after loss

transitions

2024-01-16 20:29:29 UTC

transitions to and from college can bring up feelings of loss

Visual Narratives

2024-01-16 20:44:40 UTC

Stories depicted through visual media.

colleen_sears — 2024-01-16 22:06:09 UTC

colleen_sears — 2024-01-16 22:06:37 UTC

colleen_sears — 2024-01-16 22:08:30 UTC

colleen_sears — 2024-01-16 22:08:49 UTC

HSS 487: Monuments, Memorials, & Belonging with Drs. Jaksch and Hutton

2024-01-31 20:34:54 UTC

What roles do monuments play in our local communities and in communities across the globe? How do monuments shape collective memory and ideas about the past, present, and future? Whose heritage tends to get commemorated, and, conversely, whose stories aren't told? Can memorials help heal pain? Can monuments be used to foster a sense of belonging? These questions and others will be explored through various intersectional and interdisciplinary approaches. We will visit local sites, talk to artists and activists, and discuss readings from a range of academic disciplines.

In particular, we want to explore how public monuments (defined in the broadest sense) on college campuses can assist us in grappling with complex issues regarding memory, history, trauma, and healing. For instance, how might we as a campus open up a conversation about descendants of the land TCNJ now occupies? How might we make TCNJ’s commitment to antiracism and social justice visible in meaningful ways? What would a welcoming, inclusive, accessible, and sustainable campus for future students look like? Our hope is that the result of our seminar will be a series of prototypes for monuments, memorials, or other types of interventions that can share our creative scholarly inquiries with the broader community in thought-provoking and engaging ways.

The work of Trinh Mai Thach

2024-01-31 23:34:37 UTC

Trinh Mai Thach is a Vietnamese-American artist who has done several projects about the losses experienced by Vietnamese refugees. The one that I like to teach is her installation, Quiet, from 2015, which you see in the above picture from her website. It is a memorial to all the people (especially children) who went missing in the escape from Vietnam. There is a lovely video about her work, Honoring Life, that discusses this piece as well as her other work: https://vimeo.com/652559357

(Deborah Hutton)

“Anything Essential is Invisible to the Eyes”: A Meditation on Love, Loss, and the Deeper Hearted Case for Music Education (Sears, 2019)

colleen_sears — 2024-02-06 01:43:35 UTC

http://act.maydaygroup.org/volume-18-issue-2/act-18-2-sears/

Cynthia Paces

2024-02-06 21:51:04 UTC

I am teaching a course this semester called Holocaust Testimonies, which is a group research seminar, HIS 390. Seven students and I are providing transcriptions of survivor testimonies archived at Yale University. The project reflects the very essence of "life after loss." Genocide survivors have witnessed the worst of humanity and have suffered unspeakable losses. But the act of giving testimony demonstrates that life does go on after loss.

Some people ask me how I don't get depressed teaching about genocide. The answer is seeing the hope that can emerge after the tremendous losses and believing that education can help us develop respect toward those who are different from us.

A Tiny love story

2024-02-06 21:55:35 UTC

Lox after Loss

I drove from Ben’s second Yahrzeit service to David’s apartment, wondering guiltily, could I carry grief alongside happiness?

The next morning, we walked down Fairmount Ave. “Is that Klein’s?” I asked. “That’s where Ben always got his bagels.”

“He had good taste,” answered David. “They slice the lox right there.”

My hands shook as I chose bagels from plastic bins. I lost count, but David kept track. He ordered a quarter pound of lox at the deli counter, and I paid the cashier. When I picked it up, the bag felt lighter than I thought it would.

cpaces

colleen_sears — 2024-02-07 20:15:30 UTC