Not only was my technical world flipped upside down, but my job . . . let's just say it's been a challenge to stay away from the ledge. The kids that I teach have a lot of issues and when you put all of them together on one floor in a newly established school, with a minimum budget, understaffed, with not nearly enough resources to address their overwhelmingly unmet needs; it's a recipe for disaster. And frankly it has literally sucked the life out of me.
I am a community artist down to my core and all that I want as a teaching artist is to have a beautiful art experience. Sadly, I haven't had one of those in a very long time. It is long overdue but now the organization that I work for has decided to cut ties with the school that I'm working in because it's just not working. No one, including the artists, administration, and students are getting the support that they need and we have to bow out until somebody goes back to the drawing board to rework the plan. It's depressing because these kids are suffering from deprivation. It's no wonder why the inner city communities are losing their vitality by the second. It makes me feel helpless and dumbfounded.
However, on this day that we celebrate the birth of the great Martin Luther King Jr., I still feel driven to service. I still believe that little ol' me can do something to make a difference in an impoverished child's life. It's part of my purpose. So I'M going back to the drawing board, having faith that even the tiniest seed with the most humblest beginning can still hold an enormous promise.
You did thiis on you phone? Wow!
ReplyDelete