a monkey wrench

My grandfather, Selmer (Sam) Bye used to visit us when I was a small child. As it was his hobby to visit auction sales, buy stuff and sell it at the next, the trunk of his car always held things of interest to a small child. He would let me select my own gift.

Monkey wrenches earned their name as they were frequently used when the correct size wrench was not available or at hand. They are noted for monkeying the heads of a bolt making it much more difficult for the next mechanic to use the correct wrench.

In any case, this small monkey wrench was one I selected from Grampa Bye's trunk when I was a very small child. Even then, I was drawn to tools, and I hope children of today still feel that same attraction. I hope also that adults realize the necessity of putting tools in the hands of kids.

My own monkey wrench had been severely abused before it found it's way to Grampa Bye's trunk. But I've kept it for years nonetheless because it has meaning. I found it because I'm doing a deep cleaning in advance of the Artist's Studio Tour here in Eureka Springs Friday November 1 and Saturday November 2.

If you attend, you'll see where I do my work. Some work will be offered for sale and there are other fine Eureka Springs artists you will want to meet and their works to explore.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2019-eureka-springs-artist-studio-tour/2019-eureka-springs-artist-studio-tour/491619561630665/ I'll be but one of thirteen artists making you welcome and sharing our creative passions. Please join us.

Make, fix, create, and

skills of hand, mind and eye

I have been on a push of late to assure intellectual content in providing lessons in the wood shop. This is based in part on the medical school prescription, see one, do one, teach one.

When you have the responsibility to teach someone else how to do something, you are required to do something more than go through empty exercises. Those exercises are observed, brought to mind, and absorbed at a deeper level. Questions about that? Do something real and then accept the responsibility to teach someone else what you've learned to do and you'll see what I mean.

My students love nothing better than "free day" in which they get to do anything they want, but they also like when I have concrete examples of things they can make and have the necessary materials on hand. The important thing for me as their teacher is that they gain both knowledge and skill, which of course go hand in hand. If I've built those lessons into the day, I've met my goals, and can feel OK as some students do whatever they want, while others work from the designs and materials I offer.

We have been working on the idea of square. Not the shape square, but the geometric relationship of planes (not airplanes) (and not the tools called "planes") that meet at 90 degrees. This requires an understanding of the use of the tool by the same name, the "square." It allows us to check our work, to assure that parts will indeed fit together as planned. We do this with the hand plane and the saw, and use the square to mark intended cuts and to assess the results of our work.

The plane is a particularly pleasing tool. The shavings are a delight.  A sharp plane leaves a surface smoother than sanding. It can be pirated just for he pleasure of its shavings. To form a straight, square edge, it requires attention to grip, posture and position. And the square is the perfect tool to check results. The students can check for themselves and the process invites them to do so.

With the elementary school students this week I offered lessons in engineering. An object that's not cut square will not stand straight up in opposition to gravitational force. An object standing straight up will not resist motion, and will not have strength unless other means are used to secure its attachment. I invited the students to offer suggestions as to how a stick could mounted to a flat plane, with sufficient strength to resist the forces involved in gravity and motion. They suggested using small building blocks to surround the pole that give more strength when glued in place. Others suggested strings and sticks to "triangulate" the attachment. As simple as their constructions were, they were pleased with them, with what they had learned about very basic engineering.

Make, fix and create... Provide for others to learn lifewise.

rafters

The new outdoor classroom being built on the Clear Spring School as an eagle scout project now has rafters. Four more rafter are to be added to the ends  providing overhang before the purlins and metal roof are added.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.

boxes by Don.

A box making friend of mine has announced his retirement and going out of business sale. Don Boudreau is an excellent artist and craftsman whose combinations of exotic woods are lovely.

Don had arranged for me to visit and teach in years past with the South Florida Woodworking Guild of which he was an officer and long time member. You can tell from just one sample of his work that he attained a great deal of skill and artistic vision. His shop that he plans to close is full of amazing equipment set up to achieve perfection in each piece.

I wish him well. In the meantime, he is selling is work at a steep 50% discount. https://www.boxesbyboudreau.com/ The box shown is one of my favorites.

Don, now 81 years old is moving into a retirement community with 2 6000 square foot wood shops where he'll no doubt continue to be an inspiration to others.

A good friend of mine, and fellow artist Ken Addington passed away this last week after a long bout with cancer. Ken's work was an inspiration for the artists of Eureka Springs. He will be missed. Ken made an appearance in this video at the 1:05 point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOnmWiLs5YA telling the story of what brought him to Eureka Springs and why he kept coming back. It was about the beauty of this place and the people that help to support each other in their artistic endeavors.

An example is the Eureka Artist's Studio Tour November 1 and 2 and of which I'll be a part. The studio tour was organized by our local artists and 13 artist studios including my own will be open for visitors.

Teachers and craftsmen have an important thing in common. We want to share what we've learned with new generations. We  know that what we know and what we do are important to human culture and to our own communities. We hope that what we've learned is passed on to be of greater use.

Make, fix, and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

K

For years my woodworking program had focused on grades 1-12. Last year we added Kindergarten woodworking classes, and so I've been building a set of designs that interest kids of the younger set, and that enable them to develop skills that will be useful later in woodshop and beyond.

Yesterday we made key holders. The idea is that even Kindergarten students can make things that are beautiful and useful to members of their families. Unlike refrigerator art, these pieces will be kept for years to come as evidence of learning and of growth.

One of my upper middle school students finished and delivered a music stand to her music teacher yesterday. That was exciting for all. Clear Spring School students grades 1-6 were camping at Lake Leatherwood City Park last night.

My new woodshop addition is ready for sheet rock and we are planning the conversion of the back porch of the Poe Hands on Learning Center to an art room. The long porch is ideally suited to arrangement in "centers" each offering a special aspect of the visual and constructive arts.

Make, fix, create and assure that all have the opportunity to learn lifewise.

shavings.

Yesterday we had a practice day with planes in grades 1-6. My hope was to get the students to observe the quality of their work, and to test their work for square by using a square. How you hold the plane and move it across wood can be either mindless or mindful, so I paired the students up so they could observe and offer hints to each other.

I've been using the medical school model, See one, do one, teach one, relying on my more experienced students to share what they've learned with each other but also thereby helping the "teacher" reach a greater depth of understanding.

We bring what the hands begin to understand through the mind and back to the hands,  and again through the mind creating a feedback loop.

The shavings that come from the plane are fascinating to the kids. The shavings can also be read to understand what the plane has done and how it is impacting the wood. To work well requires attention to posture, grip, position, and fluid motion in both body and mind.

In addition to training the kids to plane wood, they are also being exercised in mindfulness and are honing their powers of direct observation. The shavings, all carefully gathered, present evidence of learning.

Make, fix, create and adjust schooling so all children learn lifewise.

What the school has to do

The following is from Albert Szent-Györgyi in his essay "Teaching and Expanding Knowledge". Albert Szent-Györgyi won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of Vitamin C in 1937.

"So what the school has to do. in the first place. is to make us learn how to learn, to whet our appetites for knowledge. to teach us the delight of doing a job well and the excitement of creativity, to teach us to love what we do, and to help us to find what we love to do." – Albert Szent-Györgyi 

 He noted that "a discovery must be, by definition, at variance with existing knowledge," and so, should schools focus on sequestering children among known facts, or launch them with confidence toward the unknown? Let's consider the school wood shop as a laboratory in which discoveries are made.

Make, fix, create, and adjust schooling so children learn likewise.

outdoor classroom

Our eagle scout candidate made great progress with his crew in building the outdoor classroom at the Clear Spring School. It now has a floor, posts, and is ready for construction of the roof to begin. I helped with the design, the preparation of the materials list, and have been one of several advisors on the project.

Rain today has brought the project to a halt.

The open classroom when the roof is added will serve as a wonderful place for lessons during rainy fall and spring days.

Make, fix, create, and adjust schooling so that children have more time out of doors. It's necessary.

towers of wood

Publisher Robert Rodale, in the 1980's before his death, suggested that systematic harvesting and preserving of our trees could be used as a means to remove carbon from the environment. Of course back then folks would have thought him crazy for suggesting the need for such things. Few but the most progressive thinkers on the planet were ready to understand the greenhouse effect, the effects of atmospheric carbon and the climate crisis that was to come. The big oil companies had done research proving the  disastrous effects from their industry but they chose to keep their conclusions to themselves and invest instead in the careers of politicians who were willing to deny the connections between their industry and the degradation of all life.

Rodale was not just suggesting the harvest of wood, but its use in massive quantities as a way to sequester carbon.

Now green architects are suggesting the very same thing... That whole cities be built of wood as a means of withdrawing and sequestering the carbon from the atmosphere. You can read about this proposal in the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/opinion/wood-buildings-architecture-cities.html

Personally, I like our forests just as they are, filled with diverse species of wildlife, and harboring great beauty.  It strikes me as odd that the subject of conservation never comes up. But with the growing effects of climate change, our forests that we love will not stay just as they are, or were before warming.

Robert Rodale was the owner of Rodale Press, publisher of Organic Gardening. So the value of using wood to sequester carbon was not to be done willy-nilly without concern for the natural environment. Use wood as a means to give voice to our most precious natural resources, our trees and forests and they might just save us yet.

Make, fix, and create... assist others in learning likewise.

Moerenuma Park

Moerenuma Park, designed by world renown Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi features Froebel's gifts numbers 3 and 4 in a permanent arrangement. They form part of a children's playground. Ours in comparison, are in a constant state of flux, as our students arrange and rearrange them to meet their own creative interests. https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/destinations/hokkaido/moerenumapark The park is a renown international destination in Sapporo, Japan. Isamu Noguchi's mother, Léonie Gilmour, was one of the first Kindergarten students in Felix Adler's Kindergarten in New York City. So perhaps you can see where the connection between Noguchi and Froebel was made.

Make, fix and create.

from MIT- an essay creativity and play

We are having a crisis in American education as play based learning has been brushed aside to focus on reading readiness and standardized assessment. It is well documented that children are innately creative, and that creativity takes a plunge as children enter formalized schooling.

At the Clear Spring School we try to avoid that through the use of play. Our wood shop, hands-on mission and dedicated staff keep us heading in the right direction.

I would love for someone to take us on as a PhD learning opportunity. There are tests that can show whether our children are able to maintain their creative edge vs. students in more rigid and standardized public education. I invite scholars interested in pursuing this question to contact the Clear Spring School.

An essay on the maintaining creativity as a purpose of education is offered here: https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/bwp6cysy Material matters in children's creative learning.

Our carpenters are making great progress on building the addition to the new Clear Spring School wood shop. We'll be moving out of the old an into the new sooner than I'd expected. Thanks to all who have given generously to support to our matching grant.

Make, fix and create. Provide an opportunity for others to learn likewise.

more on blocks and more

The new woodshop is coming closer to the finish line. The walls and roof are up,  and the electrician is ready for the building inspector to check out the wiring installation. We may be ready to move in by Thanksgiving.

Today my students will be practicing whittling in advance of their camping trip that begins Wednesday.

The Froebel blocks are continuously rearranged. They were an obstacle course last week, but arriving on campus yesterday morning I discovered them to be arranged as a building or fort. With twice as many blocks available the construction has become more complex. I decided to to play myself by standing a cube on one of its corners. My idea was to invite further exploration beyond current boundaries in their use.

One of my students is building an outdoor classroom on the CSS campus as his community  project to become an eagle scout. You can support his project through his go fund me website. https://www.gofundme.com/dyfdh-steven039s-eagle-scout-project

The initial editing of my woodworking with kids book is nearly ready to go to layout in the next few days. The publication date is now set as May 5, 2020. https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Hands-Guide-Woodworking-Kids/dp/1940611881/

I completed a chapter for a new book of observations on age. Twelve other senior writers and I were invited to contribute and it will be published the spring. I used my simple lessons learned from woodworking to direct readers toward better lives and better preparation for death. We do not yet know the title of that book.

Make, fix, create, and adjust schooling to allow the hands to take the lead.

big cubes

Yesterday in the Clear Spring School wood shop I prepared stock for my lower middle school students to make small white oak spatulas. The idea was a stimulated by the educational sloyd recognition that children need to make things that are useful to their families and in the home as a way to build the student's self-esteem and build a strong relationship between home and school. The kids were excited, particularly by the cake knife I'd made as a gift whose birthday yesterday involved cake. They went home with small spatulas fo their own design. Marco said he needed his to cut his burrito. He made three and wants to make more today.

With the elementary school students we began making boxes.

With more Froebel blocks added to the Clear Spring School playground, I decided to mix up the way they have been used as late, by putting them into their classic forms, two large cubes. I wanted to observe how the students used them next.

Make, fix, and create.

trusses....

Yesterday carpenters added trusses to the construction of the new Clear Spring School wood shop addition. That's a real sign of progress, and I was glad to be on hand to help hoist a few and hold them while they were nailed and screwed in place. Today the plywood roof decking will be added.

One of my students has planned a small outdoor classroom for the Clear Spring School as his eagle scout project. It's a challenging project and with some funding from school, he's raising over half the funds himself. You can support his project through his gofundme site: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dyfdh-steven039s-eagle-scout-project

Yesterday we also added 5 more Froebel blocks to the school playground, giving our students full sets of gifts number 3 and 4.

An article, "Burnt Oysters" in Columbia Magazine described a project in which students and faculty followed recipes recorded by a craftsman over 500 years ago to make paint, varnish, pigments and the like. The craftsman whose name is not known had left 171 folios of instructions and observations. As one of the world's first how to writers his notes are now kept safe in the French National Library. They were written when it was rare to be able to read, so were left unpublished.

There is a great connection between making and knowing, and as I've suggested in the past, craftsmanship and the knowledge derived from it served as the foundation of modern science and are still the best means to unleash the powers of scientific observation.

According to the article the exercise of recreating the formulas "served as a reminder of the simple pleasures of hands-on invention–– and of the adage that there is no learning like doing."

Make, fix, and create. Give others the opportunity to learn likewise.

the power of a single image.

In 1993 my cousin Michael came to Eureka Springs and stayed with us for a few days as he participated in Omega Institute training. He left a copy of a magazine for my enjoyment called "The Sciences." In it I was inspired by an image of a book filled with rocks.

That image led me to begin using rocks as additive design elements in my work, ranging from tables to boxes. It also led to my first work featured on the pages of Fine Woodworking Magazine. I've not as yet read the article from which the image came. But I plan to today. You can read along here: https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.2326-1951.1993.tb03117.x

I find it fascinating how a single image and a singlular relationship can have such effect.

Make, fix, and create. Extend to others the opportunity of learning likewise.

straight and square.

My head of school asked about any particular academic content covered during the course of the week, and even in wood shop there are concepts important to the development of a child's powers to observe and discern. "Straight" is one that helps. Another is "square." Both are important in achieving accuracy and to assure that things actually work and go together as planned.

The square (a woodworking tool)  is used to mark 90° lines directly across wood so that a straight, square cut can be made. Students will find it difficult to do quality work without paying attention to the basic concept square.

 On Thursday with my elementary school kids I had a practice day based on the teaching model used in med school. "See one, do one, teach one." And so I put my slightly older kids in charge of teaching the younger ones. Results were good. Cutting accuracy was improved for both the older and younger students.

When one is given the responsibility to teach, enhanced learning is assured. That's why they follow the same rule in med school. An amazing amount of attention is required when making your first cuts. As you practice, less direct attention is required, thus making it appear deceptively easy when it actually is not. The ability to pay attention is an important skill in the arts and sciences and throughout schooling.

Make, fix, create, and assure that others have the chance to learn likewise.

more blocks

Yesterday my Kindergarten students made small lidless boxes, and my middle school students helped in the assembly of oversized Froebel blocks for the school playground. The addition of more blocks will add to their building capacity.

Today my elementary school students will work on small pivot lid boxes. Yesterday they began putting strings on the looms we finished earlier in the week so they can begin weaving. In the meantime, carpenters are making great progress on the addition to the new Clear Spring School woodshop in the Poe Hands on Learning Center.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.

billions in art

Need a safe climate controlled cataclysm proofed place to hide both your wealth and your art? In absolute privacy and so that it can be traded secretly on an international market without ever facing duties or taxes? And so that you alone can ever see it?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/13/arts/artport-storage-new-york.html
What a strange world of dramatic polarization we live within. Would it not be better if our world's wealth was more equitably distributed?

Today my Kindergarten students will be making small boxes and my middle school students will be helping me make very large Froebel blocks.

Yesterday the carpenters began building an addition to the Clear Spring School's new wood shop and golden doodle Rosie loves a good stick.

Make, fix and create. Adjust schooling so that all others learn likewise.

brain gain

An opinion piece in the New York Times suggests important things are happening in rural America. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/opinion/rural-america.html Folks are returning from the huge cities to find better lives in the small towns they had once sought to escape. The article claims this phenomenon as a "brain gain" for small towns throughout the US. It can be a truly good thing, affecting the balance of power in the US and bringing progressive ideals to the "heartland."

Today in the wood shop at the Clear Spring School students grades 1-4 will be making small boxes, practicing skills with hammer and saw. Students grades 5 and 6 will be helping me build more large Froebel blocks. I've prepared parts for assembling 8 more blocks giving us two full sets of gifts 3 and 4 in mighty size.

In the meantime, I've been making small pulls on the table saw to use on Jewelry boxes, using an interesting technique as shown in the photo. And I received word that the editing on my Wisdom of the Hands Guide to Woodworking with Kids book is nearly complete.

Make, fix, create, and adjust schooling so that children learn lifewise.

three days

I'm mentioning this report for the third day in a row because it is important regarding what we're doing with education. https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/09/03/1821936116 There are reasons that schooling sucks. One is that students are groomed for laziness by schooling that requires them to be passive learners. They actually seem to prefer to sit at desks and listen inattentively to teachers at the head of the class. Active learning informs a student how little he or she actually knows and may be perceived at first as a threat.  It leads them out of their complaisant zone. I'm reminded of the student who says, "I know that," but then when asked to demonstrate what he or she knows, faces the truth of how little he or she can do. You can watch someone play the cello. But take one in your own hands and see what you can do with it.

Another point is that teachers find classroom management much easier if the kids aren't doing anything. There are no materials to supply or put away at the end of class. And there are no limits to the number of students you can crowd into a lecture hall. That's great for administration, as it greatly reduces the unit cost of providing instruction. Passive, lecture based instruction simplifies the job of classroom management, making the teacher's job one of maintaining student discipline, not maintaining student learning.

So there are lots of reasons to ignore the necessity of providing active, project based learning. They boil down to one thing. Keeping schooling cheap. Let's ask some essential questions: Do we care about kids enough to give them the education we know works? Can we find reasons to invest in them to assure the future we deserve? By keeping schooling cheap, we waste lives and time by ignoring how children and adults learn best.

So here's what we need to do.

1. Reduce class sizes.
2. Train teachers to actually engage kids.
3. Teach teachers to understand that hands must be engaged to deliver maximum effect.
4. Place the arts at the center of education.
5. Demand that school facilities be expanded to allow each to become a laboratory of learning.
6. Follow the lead that Friedrich Froebel established, putting play in full force.
7. Allow schools to reflect and enhance the character of their communities.

No, this will not be accomplished in the next three days.

Make, fix, create, and assist others in learning lifewise.

That little spinning ball

How learning works... It requires attention, does it not? Otto Salomon who was responsible for the spread of Educational Sloyd throughout the world through his Sloyd training school at Nääs, described the ineffectiveness of classroom teaching. A "class" of students is an abstraction in which the learning needs of individual students is suppressed.

Yes, you can have a certain number of bodies assigned as a class, but how many minds will be present at any given time while you as a teacher blather on with your lecture. How many of those minds can be brought equally to the same subject material at the same time? In the actual age range of a first grade class, there will be students as much as twenty percent older or younger than the rest, so even if all were coming from equal homes and equal experiences, the idea of a class of students is only for the convenience of administration and not to respond to the necessities of intellectual engagement of each child.

The little spinning ball that shows up at times on your computer while you are waiting for something to process, load or connect, is an apt metaphor. Just imagine a classroom teacher surrounded by spinning balls. Some are processing something already said, attempting to connect it with something already present in the learner's experience. Some are attempting to connect, having no clue where to grab hold. Some, having found nothing to connect with in anything you've said, have moved onto more pleasant and productive thoughts. And then there's the necessity of the wandering mind. In order for new information to find a secure fit in the thinking of a child (or adult) the mind must wander to find connecting points. During a lecture you might expect about 20-30 percent of attendees to be intellectually in attendance at any given time.

This  particular piece of research from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is particularly important: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/09/03/1821936116 It is crucial that we extract education from the clutches of lecture based traditional schooling.

I'm fortunate in having my elementary school students combined in two groups with grade levels 1-4 in each group. This allows me to better assess and observe the workings of mind. Some are completely new to the wood shop, but come from active homes. They are better prepared to engage and do than those who are less actively engaged.

I watched the democratic debate last night and was pleased that the subject of education came up. There is a very strong recognition that we need to restore dignity to the teaching profession and better compensate teachers for the contributions they make toward the advancement of societal goals. They touch on every front... our international competitiveness, the safety and security of our communities, the character and intelligence of our kids and their economic success upon which we also depend.

The photo shows one of my second grade students building his loom. It is remarkable how much he's grown over the past year.

Make, fix, and create.

Real learning vs. misperceptions of learning

Yesterday workers poured the slab for an addition to the school woodshop in our new hands-on learning center. And my Kindergarten students made "color wheels." The color wheels were a hit, and the kids enjoyed demonstrating how they worked when they got home. How do I know that? A parent sent me a video.

Today in the wood shop I'll be helping one of our students plan his eagle scout project, and I'll be helping our upper and lower elementary school students finish making looms the are making for study of world cultures.

An interesting study suggest that despite strong evidence that active experiential learning is far more effective, students and faculty have misperceptions that the opposite is true. https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/09/03/1821936116 The following quote is from the synopsis of the study.

"Comparing passive lectures with active learning using a randomized experimental approach and identical course materials, we find that students in the active classroom learn more, but they feel like they learn less. We show that this negative correlation is caused in part by the increased cognitive effort required during active learning. Faculty who adopt active learning are encouraged to intervene and address this misperception, and we describe a successful example of such an intervention."

This of course has to do with the difference between knowing about the world, and knowing how to actually navigate one's way in the real world. The German word Kentniss refers to the latter. You can put a kid in a lecture hall, and they may be able to recite in the short term a few of the things the professor had said. Put a kid in a laboratory of some kind, be it a chemistry lab or a wood shop, and the lessons persist. Both in the hands and minds, and the things a Kindergarten child makes from real wood will be kept for a generation or more.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

NAIS/ISACS

The Clear Spring School is an accredited member of the National Association of Independent Schools  (NAIS) through its regional organization, the Independent Schools of the Central States (ISACS). Today we meet with a representative of ISACS to formally launch our every seven year re-accreditation process. The accreditation process is important to us because it allows us to measure and observe whether we actually say what we do. It also keeps us connected to a larger body that works to further education in America.

"What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon it destroys our democracy.–John Dewey.

I'll suggest more along the same line. What the best and wisest educators want for their own students they also want for all children. And so the Clear Spring School is not just about teaching our own kids, it's about establishing a new model through which we may serve all kids.

During a previous cycle of accreditation review, the visiting team wondered aloud, "We can see whether or not they're hands-on as their mission statement suggests. How do we measure whether or not the Clear Spring School meets the second part of its mission, that of being 'hearts-engaged."

A few minutes on campus convinced the visiting review team we were not only hands on, we were also "hearts engaged." You recognize joyfulness when you see it, you feel it and are infected by it. And so that's why the Clear Spring School is one of the best kept secrets of American education. You have to set foot on the campus to feel its full effect.

In other words, come visit and dispel all doubts. That hearts are engaged is expressed through joyfulness. And there is no reason at all that children should suffer through learning.

The student in the photo is drilling holes for making a loom. Dowels will fit in the holes and allow for the warp to be wound back and forth from one end to the other. The jig on the drill press is one I made that allows the stock to be moved sequentially. It avoids the mistakes that come from measuring alignment and layout.

Make, fix, create, and adjust learning so that all others have the opportunity to learn lifewise.

inspiration lab story

I submitted a story from the Clear Spring School to the NAIS website, inspriationlab.org. about building Froebel blocks and their use at the Clear Spring School. I believe that children should be empowered to have effect.

It's wonderful that parents, teachers, and community members invest in building carefully engineered playgrounds for kids, but we must not overlook and ignore what kids can do for themselves. The story can be found here: http://inspirationlab.org/story/9906

Make, fix and create...

the discovery of cool things

Being surprised heightens our senses. It calls the mind and body to attention. It has physiological and emotional effect. And so, when delivering a piece of furniture, I try to have built a few surprises in. It's best when things continue to surprise, over a period of time.

There are good surprises and some not so good, so when the customers who ordered the table told me that it had exceeded their expectations, I was pleased. I seek purposely to violate the rule against mixing business and pleasure as I know that my best work comes when I work for friends whose trust I dare not offend.

This is not to say that forgiveness is not important. We know from lessons learned from our own humanity that nothing emerging from the hands of man is ever perfect.

Schools suffer from routine. We need to stir things up. Woodworking education is a way to accomplish that.

I am in the process of cleaning my wood shop. I began classes at the Clear Spring School on Wednesday. We had a ground breaking photo yesterday of the addition to the new Clear Spring School wood shop which we hope to occupy during the second semester.

I'm planning to add more blocks to our Froebel sets 3 and 4 on the Clear Spring School playground. They continue to be used with excitement, as you can see. While the blocks are being used as an obstacle course, they are also being continuously rearranged at the same time. Every time I arrive on campus they are in a new configuration. What do they learn from the blocks? One important lesson involves cooperation and collaboration.

Make, fix, create and extend the opportunity for others to learn likewise.

a big delivery...

I was grateful yesterday to arrive at the destination for the delivery of the maple table to find four strong men waiting to carry it into the house. The table's new owner had arranged with the contractor who had rebuilt his house to have his crew on hand.

Just as the table barely fit inside the trailer, it barely fit around one tight corner moving into the living room. But slowly, slowly, and carefully, we snaked our way through.

The table is at home among a collection of lovely works by other artists in a setting that overlooks the  Arkansas River. I am grateful to have had a chance once again to do lovely work.

How do we assure that American creativity lasts into the next century? By asking folks of all ages to create. It must begin in preschool and Kindergartens and before that even in our homes. It must involve mothers and fathers and teachers all being taken off the standard educational routine of preparing for standardized tests, and being relaunched with a renewed effort toward the arts.

For those who collect art, let's reward them with the recognition that they change lives. And for those who make art, let's reward them with the recognition that their spirit is essential to us all.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

a perfect fit.

The photo shows loading the silver maple table into a small trailer for the trip to its new home in Little Rock. My friend and sometimes assistant Greg is installing the lag screws that attach the top to the base.

The top fits into the door of the trailer with only about a quarter inch to spare, and fits the trailer in length with only enough extra room for blankets. The perfect fit and lots of padding and straps should keep it safely in place for its journey today.

I want to describe for you the ways that buyers encourage the growth of craftsmanship, character and intelligence. That seems to be a message that's little understood. Perhaps setting you thinking in that direction alone will help. Is it not obvious? And if it's obvious, why do we not choose to create craftsmanship in our own towns and cities? Is it that we'd rather just cheap out?

Make, fix and create...

fun guide and more

Our Golden Doodle Rosie is featured in the newly released Eureka Springs Fun Guide: http://eureka.news/themencode-pdf-viewer-sc/?file=http://eureka.news/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/FunGuide_September2019.pdf Look for her on page 21. On page 12 you'll find information on the artist's studio tour, November 1 and 2 during which my studio will be open to guests.

In the wood shop I've been making bridle joints for 32 looms that our students will use to weave textile patterns from around the world. Thirty two looms require 128 joints, each cut with precise fit.

School woodshop begins on Wednesday. Making bridle joints has offered another use for spacers. I found that I can use spacers to quickly set up and use a tenoning jig to form the mating parts of a bridle joint marrying two pieces of wood together at a right angle.

Each of the two spacers is thicknessed to fit exactly in the dado cut. The mouth of the bridle joint is cut with one spacer in place. The inside face of the bridal joint, forming one side of the tenon is cut with two spacers in place, and both are removed to cut the opposite side. I plan to make a set of spacers that will be use rare earth magnets to hold tightly to the body of the tenoning jig. An assembled joint is shown in the photo.

Make, fix, and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

young hands, young minds.

I've noticed in my teaching that it's often difficult for older adults to grasp things that come easy to to the young. It's best not to become discouraged when trying to emulate what I do. I've been making boxes and furniture for over 40 years and before that had studied woodworking in junior high, then pottery in college, and my dad bought me a shop smith for my 14th birthday. Facility with the hands and mind are best developed at an early age in which they are fresh to the world.

Getting an early start in your creative work gives you an advantage. Children learn quickly what it can take adults years to learn, and that they'll never grasp quite so easily or completely as the young. This applies to both hand skills and to what are thought of as "skills of mind," and it's idiocy to think that they are actually different things.

When we listen to a well trained pianist we are not instantly convinced that we can do the same thing. He or she will make it seem easy, but it will indeed not be as easy as it appears. It takes practice, and those who arise to the highest levels of the art, are most often given a very early start.

Woodworking takes place at a slower rate. That you can actually see the hands moving more slowly does not mean that practice was not required. In other words the same rules apply. It's best to get an early start.

I had made a suggestion in the blog and to some experts that the Quipus used by the Incans to record transactions and history were to be read not only by looking at but also by running one's fingers through the patterns of knots and thereby sensing the vibratory patterns they present. Quipus were, after all, described as talking threads. Were earlier scholars taking a purely intellectual approach not listening? https://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-if.html Now some experts are exploring this idea based in part on interviews as to how they were read. Unlocking their full mystery will be a challenge for untrained hands.

I have been asked by Fine Woodworking to be an instructor in their 2020 Hands-on Tampa Event. The maple dining table is upside down and ready for the lag screws connecting base and top to be drilled and installed.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

table base

I have been meeting with my fellow teachers and planning for the beginning of my school year. In my own shop, I've assembled the table base as you can see in the photo. It is extremely stable, as is necessary given the size and weight of the top.

As you can also see in th photo, my shop is a complete mess and ready for a thorough cleaning when the large project is delivered and out of the way.

Make, fix, and create. Adjust schooling so that others have the opportunity to learn lifewise.

inspirationlab.org

"We ask you to imagine Kindergarten classrooms where teachers are trusted to use their judgment about what's best for each class. Imagine a future where love of learning, not test-based performance, returns to the heart of our children's very first education experiences." -- Brookline, MA Teachers letter to their School Committee about returning the joy to kindergarten

And of course, the joy of learning need not stop at the Kindergarten level. If it does, we've really screwed up.

In Finland they say their success in education has to do with two things. They train their teachers well and then trust them to teach. In the US, we are lacking in two areas, training and trust.

This link, http://inspirationlab.org/?s=%22clear+spring+school%22 is to a couple articles I published a few years back on a website sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools. I'm grateful to play a part in a school where I've been trusted to teach.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.

cool catches

Cool magnetic cabinet catch. The photo shows a very strong magnetic catch for small cabinets using a rare earth button magnet. One part is embedded in the edge of the cabinet and the other drilled into the cabinet door.The nice thing is that these are unobtrusive.

When double doors are used, a stop must be made unless the doors overlay the top or bottom.

The cups are intended to fit in holes drilled in the cabinet. The magnets go in place covering the screw.

Put the magnet in only after both the cup and catch plate are screwed in place. The magnets are very strong and do not like being removed from the cups. And that is nearly impossible after the cup is embedded in surrounding wood.

The plate is mounted to the door, either surface mounted or sunk into a ½ in. hole drilled 3/32 in. deep. Of course the easier option is to surface mount. The cleaner, more professional look requires a hole.

How do you locate the hole to be drilled in the door for the catch plate?

You can use a ½ in. dowel center between the cabinet and door to mark the center of the hole fin the door. Put the dowel center in the hole in the cabinet and close the door, thus marking the where the catch plate must go. Another approach would be to put the cup in inside out with double stick tape on the exposed surface. The double stick tape will stick the cup to the door, allowing you to mark the proper location for the non-magnetic plate to fit. You can also do the same with hot melt glue.

These, except for the screws are available from KJmagnetics.com  They are not sold as a set so you have to order the individual parts.

I've been meeting with teachers to plan the coming year in the school wood shop.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.

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hands and self...

The features editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asked me if there was something special about woodworking as a tool in education. "Of course," I said. And there are special wonderful things about it. Not only does it provide observable outcomes that can be shared with family and community, the products of woodworking in school are often useful. And those products (and skills) do get used.

While crayon art may be put proudly on the refrigerator for display until the next art that comes home crowds out earlier efforts, the products of wood shop are more practical. When the child sees what he's made warmly accepted and used, it informs the child of his or her usefulness in the home, and not merely as a contributor to home decoration held in place by refrigerator magnets.

When done over a period of months or years, woodworking provides evidence of learning and growth in concrete form. That growth is witnessed within by the child and also by others in the family. An early work may go home with bent nails and misaligned parts poorly sanded, but it takes very little encouragement for the child to improve his or her own work.

Does this mean that other arts and crafts are not also important? No! I say. But if a school has limited resources as most do, woodworking is a powerful activity to unleash toward crafting a creative environment in education.

Here are just a few points.

• If children do not learn hand skills at an early age, those skills and proficiency with the hands become much more difficult (and expensive) later to develop, and likely never to the same level of ease and proficiency.*
• These hand skills do not reside in the hands alone, but also have profound effect on thought itself. 
• They create the sense within the child of his or her own place in the community of man: that of being a creator and not merely a consumer of cheap stuff. 
• They create an appreciation of the things one might discover from earlier generations in museums and the like. 
• They create a sense of the child's own investigative powers. Hands-on, children can test reality, and confirm or disprove what they are taught.
• Where the hands lead, the heart follows.

If we want to create a society of do nothings, American education is generally on the right track.

Make, fix, create, and adjust American education so that all children learn likewise
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*Hand skills are very much like language skills. It is easy for a child to develop fluency in various languages in very short time and much more difficult for an adult. What it takes children months, it can take adults years.

depressed kids?

Claiming that "We have ruined childhood," this  OpEd from the New York Times tells what conventional schooling is doing to our children's mental health. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/17/opinion/sunday/childhood-suicide-depression-anxiety.html

"The role of school stress in mental distress is backed up by data on the timing of child suicide. “The suicide rate for children is twice what it is for children during months when school is in session than when it’s not in session,” according to Dr. Gray. “That’s true for suicide completion, suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, whereas for adults, it’s higher in the summer.”

Surely we could do something to fix things. We have a model for better learning and social engagement at the Clear Spring School, but then most politicians would prefer that schools warehouse kids. An interesting point of the OpEd is that children turn to screen time because they have fewer real opportunities to engage freely with their peers and with real life.

Make, fix, create, and assist others in learning likewise.

old dogs, new tricks?

Yesterday I shaped the cross members that attach the table top to the base. It was a job quickly done that relied upon past experience doing similar work. I used the band saw to make the angle cuts and used the jointer to clean up the flat surfaces and remove the marks from the saw. Now with routing, sanding, drilling of holes and the application of Danish oil, the parts will be ready to install.

You know the saying, that you can't teach old dogs new tricks. It's not true. You can still learn to do amazing things. But old hands and old minds do not learn as quickly or as easily as the young.

Sir James Crichton-Browne was called the last of the great Victorians. His views on the relationship between hand, brain and body are described in Gustaf Larsson's book "Sloyd,"1902 as follows:

"The eminent English scholar and scientist, Sir James Chrichton Browne, tells us that certain portions of the brain are developed between the ages of four and fourteen years by manual exercises alone. He also says, "It is plain that the highest functional activity of these motor centres is a thing to be aimed at with a view to general mental power as well as with a view to muscular expertness; and as the hand centres hold a prominent place among the motor centres, and are in relation with an organ which in prehension, in touch, and in a thousand different combinations of movement, adds enormously to our intellectual resources, thoughts, and sentiments, it is plain that the highest possible functional activity of these hand centres is of paramount importance not less to mental grasp than to industrial success."

Again he says,"Depend upon it that much of the confusion of thought, awkwardness, bashfulness, stutterings, stupidity, and irresolution which we encounter in the world, and even in highly educated men and women, is dependent on defective or misdirected muscular training, and that the thoughtful and diligent cultivation of this is conducive to breadth of mind as well as to breadth of shoulders."

"The nascent period of the hand centres has not been accurately measured ... but its most active epoch being from the fourth to the fifteenth year, after which these centres in the large majority of persons become somewhat fixed and stubborn. Hence it can be understood that boys and girls whose hands have been altogether untrained up to the fifteenth year are practically incapable of high manual efficiency ever afterwards.

"The small muscles of the eye, ear, larynx, tongue, and hand have much higher and more extensive intellectual relations than the large muscles of the trunk and limbs. If you would attain to the full intellectual stature of which you are capable, do not, I would say, neglect the physical education of the hand."--Sir James Crichton-Browne

Fixed and stubborn. Those are good terms, but depressing ones. We think of stubborn as being an attribute of mind. These terms may explain why a few readers of the blog take some offense when I wander slightly off from the favorite subject, woodworking. But woodworking is not an isolated thing. As much as we might like our shops to be a refuge and a retreat from the woes of the world and the occasional horrors we learn from it, woodworking also offers the power to engage deliberately and creatively  in making the world a better place. We do that through the making of useful beauty, and sharing what we do and what we learn with others.

As we transform wood, are we not also capable of transformation? As we reveal beauty in the wood, can we not show the same in ourselves?

Make, fix and create. Share with others

Fitting more parts.

Yesterday, in addition to staff meetings to establish schedules for the coming year, I worked on the table base, fitting cross members that will be bolted to the table top.

Woodworking is planned for every child K-12, each having woodshop twice a week.

The table parts are connected to each other with half lap joints, each routed or sawn 1 in deep. The joints in the cross members were cut using the sled on the table saw, gradually widening the cut by moving the stock left to right in 1/8 in. increments. The joints in the beam were formed using a template and a template following router bit. The new parts will be tapered, routed, sanded and oiled before they are bolted in place.

I had a reader complain that he hoped I would refrain from ever making political comments so that he would be more comfortable to continue reading the blog.

Excuse me, please. Woodworking and woodworking education are both political acts. They lead us beyond complaisance and toward service to each other. Done well they lead us more deeply toward an appreciation of the natural world and it's wonders, and thereby lead us toward protectionism. That sense of protectionism  would naturally lead us toward concern for a few things. Like: Stopping global warming. Protection of endangered species. Protection of national parks and preserves. Thus developing within us: An appreciation of diversity. An understanding that we are to be stewards of both the natural environment, and human culture.

If my occasionally mentioning my own opposition to certain political figures who've created policies in opposition to my own values bothers anyone, I hope they will look more deeply into their own scheme of things. You can learn a lot from crafting wood, but it helps to start with an open mind.

Make, fix, and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

what would you do?

What would you do if you had the power to save the life of a child? If you were sitting at poolside and a toddler fell in, would you attempt to rescue that child whether you could swim or not? The supreme court made the decision that corporations are people just like you. But corporations fail to show it.

Take Novartis, for example. They developed a drug that with a single dose could save the life of a child suffering from spinal muscular atrophy. It is a rare disease. The price that Novartis charges is 2.1 million dollars per dose, making it impossible for any but the most affluent parent to afford. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/opinion/novartis-drug-cost.html

If you were sitting at poolside, would you ask the toddler's parent's net worth before making your own plunge to the rescue?

Working with one's hands creates a sense of agency, but frames a sense of moral duty. When you struggle to make things that are useful and beautiful in service to self, family and community, you may have also developed compassion as an attribute of your character. If you have the power to do good then you must do so, whether you are sitting on a corporate board or more directly at poolside.

Make, fix, and create. Provide others the opportunity to learn likewise.

this day...

My wife and I returned yesterday from the memorial in Bloomington Indiana for my sister Sue. I'm tired, but it's time to get ready for the launch of the school year at the Clear Spring School. My meetings with administration and fellow teachers start on Wednesday, and I have a lot to do to get the woodshop ready for the return of kids.

The profile article in the Democrat-Gazette turned out to be a lovely piece of work, well outlining parts of my life. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/aug/11/douglas-stowe-woodworker-finds-wisdom-i/

There was one thing that I wish had been covered in greater depth: the ways in which the hands and their use in learning builds the heart-mind connection. It does so, in five distinct but interrelated realms. It affects how we feel about ourselves and strengthens the intelligence and sense of interconnectedness that resides within us. It builds healthy, happy, families and also builds the intelligence and feelings that resides within them. Healthy, happy, smart families are the foundation of great communities, great communities are the foundation for great nations and you can see that even the broad expanse of human culture is based on the foundation laid and continuously maintained by our very human hands.

This is not to say that machines don't have their effect. They are impersonal, careless, powerful, wanton, and we can do best for ourselves when we take a more delicate approach.

Try gardening with a backhoe. What will you get? Will you thence live in a place that offers the sensitivity your humanity will enjoy.

I enjoyed talking with cousins at my sister's memorial, and some of the conversation got deep. My cousin Michael, in agreement with my hands first approach, noted that the most important things we do as human beings are those things we actually do. We've been made complaisant and powerless like observers of a train wreck. But when the dust settles, those of us who've cultivated a relationship with our hands will guide others toward a more wholesome life.

Make, fix, create, and assist others in learning likewise.

profile article

Today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, our statewide newspaper contains a profile article about me. It can be read on-line here: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/aug/11/douglas-stowe-woodworker-finds-wisdom-i/

The article is very complimentary and well written and includes quotes from my wife Jean, my daughter Lucy, and our ESSA director Kelly McDonough.

I hope at the article directs a few folks to consider their hands.

Make, fix, create, and assist others in learning likewise.

being poked with sharp needles.

Today at ESSA I have my fourth day of making small cabinets. We also have a naming ceremony honoring the Windgate Foundation for their help in building our school campus.

Linsey-woolsey is a coarse pioneer cloth woven with linen and wool, the linen forming the warp and the wool the weft or woof. The linen makes the cloth strong and lasting, the wool makes it warm, but because it was usually made from local fibers and dyed with available vegetable dyes, it was looked down upon by those wanting only new stuff. Now  a cloth made of linsey-woolsey may have historic value. One unique aspect of linsey-wooley is that it can be repaired through felting. Felting is the process through which felt is made, by poking wool fibers with short barbed needles which force the kinky fibers of wool into a tight interlocking mass.

I have given some thought to the meaning of living in a small town. Linsey-woolsey is a term that applies. When first arriving in a new place you rest upon the surface of community like a patch. After some years, provided you are like wool and have some personal warmth, you become woven in, felted into the warp and weft. Your integration in to community may take a bit of poking with sharp needles. 

Time if you let it  has a way of removing your coarse edges and working you into the depth of the cloth.

As a culture, we are buzzing like electrons, skipping from one orbit to the next, and I would like to offer to my readers a strange notion. We live in a facebook, blogger age in which we can befriend or be befriended by others who will always remain unknown to us. It demands nothing of us but high speed internet and a device of some kind. But there is a real world out there where encounters can run deep.

Eureka Springs is a linsey-woolsey kind of place. And my wish is that we may each find a place like it. 

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.

small cabinets.

Today I begin a small cabinets class at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. It was suggested to me that ESSA is like a Clear Spring School for adults, and those who missed out on the kind of early education that Clear Spring School provides.

Come check it out. Studio Stroll where you get to see what's going on in this week's classes will be at 4 PM on Thursday afternoon. We'll have demonstrations in wood turning and small cabinet making. This week we also have a naming ceremony for the building that holds the woodworking and iron studios. 4:15 PM.

The small cabinet shown in a key cabinet from my book Building Small Cabinets.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.

the epidemic of gun violence.

We are facing an epidemic of gun violence in the US, and our friends around the world must be mesmerized by the stupidity of our legislators, who stand by with thoughts and prayers and no action. Yesterday separate incidents in Texas and Ohio left at least 29 dead and the lives of others shattered.

Republicans and some Democrats have been made powerless by their ideology and their fears that gun rights advocates will punish them at election time if they stand up against guns. Families and communities are forced to stand by helplessly as politicians refuse to even debate the issue.

Some blame it all on mental health. We also have politicians who fan the flames of ideology and race who set things on edge and pit folks violently against one another.

Can we not yet admit that American fascination with guns is a mental illness that affects us all? Guns provide a perverted sense of agency that would have been better provided by engagement in the creative arts. All of us need to feel as though we have power and some sense of control. And we can get that though the creation of useful beauty, thereby strengthening our social fabric, and leading us toward a more civil and just society.

Today I make a brief presentation at the UU fellowship in Eureka Springs, on how the engagement of the hands can help process grief. When the world grieves for victims of gun violence, politicians  offering "thoughts and prayers" is like saying, "Hey bud, I really feel for ya. So sorry. Better luck next time." When will they take concrete steps to fix things or make things better? I would have thought that the murder Kindergarten students at Sandy Hook would have pushed things over the edge and forced politicians to act, but I failed to realize how deeply and badly corrupted our politicians had become.

Make, fix, and create. Encourage others to learn likewise.

hands and grief.

The eyes may be the "window" to the soul. The hands are the more direct connection. When we hold hands, our human care and compassion are shared with each other. When does one know when to hold tighter or let go? Hand holding can hold some awkward moments when one party's grasp lingers too long or too tight, and yet we come into the world alone and will leave the same in a time and situation that's unique, though it's been repeated a billion times.

It is odd to me, how little attention we place on our own human hands. Perhaps that's because in order to attain the efficiency in their use necessary for human survival, they take a back seat in our conscious effort, allowing the brain to claim the illusion of command. For example, the first time we hold a chisel and attempt to direct it to make a cut in wood, the chisel feels awkward in hand, (how do I grip this thing?) and yet with practice and more practice the craftsman goes about his or her work and the hand serves its apparent master.

In actual fact, the hands and brain co-evolved in the earliest age of man as a system in which the hand trains the mind and the mind trains the hand in coequal partnership in the development of human culture. To think of hands and brains as isolated from each other is foolishness whether you are a humble tradesman or the most powerful person on earth.

I lost my younger sister Sue to pancreatic cancer on July 10. I held her hand tightly until it became apparent to both of us that it was time to let go. And so, then what? As a box maker, I've gone through the same routine before. When my father passed away from cancer in 1977, I was a potter here in Eureka Springs and made a raku box to hold his ashes. When my mother died in 2010, I made a wooden box for the burial of his ashes at the site of my father's grave. As we stood there at my father's grave, my nephew David and I taking turns with the shovel, I dug deep and we heard the sound of the shovel's steel scraping on fired clay. We knew we'd found the right spot and the right depth that my mother's ashes and my father's would be united.

This is of course a simple work in progress. The start of tomorrow's presentation on crafting through grief at the Eureka Springs Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 11 AM on Elk St.

Make, fix and create.

welcome to the hand tribe.

One need not pour over statistical analyses to begin to understand the relationship between hand and mind. The hands are in fact, attached to our own bodies and are available for direct observation. We have been trained to be reliant upon outside expertise, (What do those experts thinK?) and yet, we are each capable for observing what the hands do in our own lives. I grant you license to do so.

I was sending the features editor from the Democrat-Gazette a list of folks who have been helpful to me in refining my thoughts. One who came to mind is Dr. Frank Wilson whose book The Hand, was on the short list for a Pulitzer Prize a number of years ago. It describes how the hands shape language, culture and even the brain itself. Dr. Wilson and I became correspondents on the subject of Educational Sloyd and my attempts to restore woodworking education in schools. That led to my being invited to a couple hands conferences in which a number of Dr. Wilson's friends gathered to construct a strategy for the return to an emphasis on hands-on learning in American education.

According to Dr. Wilson, the hands and brain co-evolved as an educational system, sharing equally in the development of human intelligence. If you are awake to your own body long enough to observe this simple relationship between hand and mind, and then trust what you've witnessed and then act upon what you've learned, you'll be a member of what Dr. Wilson described as "the hand tribe."

Let this be your invitation. The group is not exclusive. In its full potential, it could include the whole of humanity. And now in this digital facebook age of distraction, membership is more important than ever.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.

make, fix, create.

Yesterday I had an interview with the features editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She's writing a profile article that will be in the statewide Sunday paper on August 11. She wanted me to tell the story of my life.

I talked about the hands and how they shape character and intelligence. The hands have always done that. Anaxagoras had stated it clearly when he said that man is the wisest of all animals because he has hands. So what I share is not something new that I discovered myself. In fact, you can learn the same principles by observing your own life.

When and under what circumstances did you learn something that had a profound effect on the direction of your own life? Think, reflect and learn. Just as a friend alerted me to the fact that my brains are in my hands, you can test the idea yourself. Then act upon what you've learned. Make yourself useful in service to what you know.

"The hand is the instrument for perfecting the other senses and developing the endowments of the mind itself." -- Sir Charles Bell.

In other words, to fail to educate the hands is also to fail in the development of the mind. And so to teach well, one must make the decision (and the effort), even in rebellion against the established order of education, to teach hands on.

The box shown is for my sister Sue's ashes. I'll rout the bottom edge, fit a bottom, sand it, and apply a clear finish that will bring the color to life.

Make, fix and create.