The following is from Joe Barry:

There is a philosophical concept from the Zen mystic Takuan that basically refers to "the sword that takes life and the sword that gives life" Like most Zen koans it is paradoxical. Basically, you can choose to practice swordsmanship as just a way of killing an opponent. The more enlightened practitioner uses the practice of swordsmanship to improve himself thus "giving life".

With our hands we have choices whether to "give life" or "take life". It is tragic when we choose to misuse our gifts and take life rather than create beauty with our hands.

Thanks Joe!

I went to the hardware store after school today and they had the television on, watching the coverage of the tragedy. I mentioned the role of the hands in maintaining mental and emotional well-being and balance. Rudy, who is capable of fixing nearly anything, and Carolyn who is an artist as well as a part-time hardware store clerk knew even without thinking it over that my hypothesis is correct. There are those who have common sense, learned in life, and there are those with academic sense, learned in books. I realize that people would take my hypothesis more seriously if I had a Phd. in Psychology to back it up. I urge those of you who share common sense to arise in defense of our children. Turn off the televisions, trash the games, put tools in the hands of children and teach them to create.

While the world watches in shock, the violence that we have all come to associate with America and our perverse relationship to guns, gaming, random murder and mayhem, at Clear Spring School we do Sloyd. In the 3rd and 4th grades we made stick shuttles for their woodshop made looms. In 1st and 2nd grades, we sanded stick shuttles, sanded parts for real working clocks they are making, and we began weaving on their looms.

In Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, Sloyd is a part of the standard school curriculum, and is very much like the art classes we have in American schools. The students choose wood, textiles or metal sloyd, and it is taught in complete isolation from other subjects.

At Clear Spring, the wood shop serves as a point of curriculum integration. The children's weavings could easily be called textile sloyd, except that in Scandinavian countries, it would be unlikely that the children would have made their own looms. Our depth of study is very much in keeping with what Otto Salomon originally intended in the development of educational sloyd.

A good friend of mine sent me the following comment on last night's post:

I think today's news is a result of too many video games, and too much violence on TV and in movies. I have heard people say they don't think these things affect people, but I disagree. I think if your hands concept were put to use a little more, there would be more people doing things that mean something rather than spending time playing games that don't have any consequence. But I do think that you are coming at this concept from an artist's perspective, and that some people can't relate to doing anything with their hands at all. John has had printing students who just couldn't function to stack the type up in the stick. They just couldn't make their hands do things the way they were told to do it. He had to re-train some of them each time they would come back. Since it's easy for you, you assume anyone can learn it and that's not always the case.

I want to thank my friend for her thoughtful response. It is through observation of ourselves and dialog with others that we gain greater insight.

In The Sloyd System of Wood Working (1892) by BB Hoffman, Superintendent of the Baron De Hirsch Fund Trade Schools in New York City, Hoffman quoted an unidentified writer’s view which may help to explain why some adult students may be lacking in hand skills.

“As the development of the motor centers in the brain hinges, in a great degree upon the movements and exercises of youth, it will be readily understood how important is the nature of the part played by the early exercise of the hand. There can be no doubt that the most active epoch in the development of these motor centers is from the fourth to fifteenth year, after which they become comparatively fixed and stubborn. Hence it can be understood that boys and girls whose hands have been left altogether untrained up to the fifteenth year are practically incapable of high manual efficiency thereafter.”

The addictive qualities of gaming are related to the direct hard wiring between the hand and brain. We will never stop using our hands for something. Use of our hands is nearly essential to our being human. It comes down to a question, "for what?" Do we use our hands sharpening our knives for the kill, to polish the guns, or to knit, garden, sew, paint, shape wood, and play music? Could we spend our time developing creative skills that can be shared with others? It might be nice. It might be smart. It might make our schools safe and our lives more meaningful.

It is interesting in an extremely tragic way, that educational institutions have become the focal point of wrath amongst the mentally ill in America. I have some ideas that some would regard as weird. There is a relationship between the use of the hands and the engagement of the heart in learning and in life. I can describe it in personal terms from observation of my own life. I can describe it in less personal terms from having observed a whole community of craftsmen and artists in Eureka Springs for over 30 years. I can describe it from the perspective of being a teacher of woodworking k-12. I can describe hearing from other craftsmen and artists the relationship between the engagement of their hands in making, and the feelings of emotional and mental well-being that result.

Do you hear what I'm saying? Do you get it? What we do with our hands is directly related to personal and societal mental health. Take some time to observe it in your own life. If I am dead wrong from your perspective, then perhaps you should stop reading this blog. If I am right, then we need to talk about things, about our hands, with others in our community. (Warning: It will involve some risk. Some might think you're nuts.)

Or we can just keep quiet. We can watch more Amish school children killed, a few more Columbines and Virgina Techs. I could decide I'm wacky myself for thinking that the hands could actually have such significance in our lives. People could arrive at the conclusion that I've gone off the deep end, inflating my sense of mission surrounding the "wisdom of the hands" to megalomanial proportions. But talk to some artists if you like... few would apply their own understanding as significant to the culture at large, but nearly all will confirm the relationship between making and mental health in their own lives. Can American craftsmen and artists all be so wrong?

I am so very sorry to read of today's events.

As you can see in the photo at left, I got to meet Sam Maloof on Sunday evening at the Arkansas Art Center where he made a presentation on his work. I gave him a signed copy of my latest book. He is a gentleman and a fine craftsman. My friend Jim Nelson, who went with me on the trip asked me what was really different between Sam Maloof and many of the other fine American craftsmen? My answer, "Sam Maloof has done more to encourage others to engage in woodworking at a high level of craftsmanship than any other American craftsman." Sure, Norm Abrams is on television, but he's no Sam Maloof. Sam is a national treasure, and exemplifies the wisdom of the hands.

This evening at the Arkansas Art Center, Sam Maloof will be presenting. I am driving down to be there and if I'm lucky, I'll have photos to post tomorrow. The rocking chair in the photo at left shows one of Sam Maloof's very famous rocking chairs.

I mentioned going to a Dutch Oven cooking class yesterday morning in Kingston, Arkansas. It was sponsored by the Kingston Library and featured a very good friend John Ragsdale teaching the class. He made roasted peanuts, baked potatoes, both sweet and regular, baked acorn squash, biscuits, and coffee cake, and of course made it seem simple enough that I now know that I can use the dutch oven I bought a few years ago at the Lodge factory outlet store near Gatlinburg, Tennessee on a trip home from Arrowmont.

It would be easy to get misled reading this blog into thinking the wisdom of the hands was only about woodworking. But if you watch for a few moments you will see that the hands can get you into all kinds of wonderful mischief. Some of the very best is cooking.The consequences are obvious. You get to eat and share what you've cooked to the delight of others.

John Ragsdale is the author of the books Dutch Oven Cooking, 4th Edition and Dutch Ovens Chronicled: Their Use In The United States. His interest in Dutch Ovens grew from being a father of sons involved in scouting. John is well known in Arkansas, having made biscuits for thousands of school children visiting the Arkansas Historic Museum's annual open house. The photo above is of John in today's class.

Last night I went to ReArt, a fund raiser for the Eureka Springs School of the Arts (ESSA). I am one of the founding board members of the school, so I had to do a few things to help set up, and then help clean up when the event was over. But all of that was fun, largely because of the wonderful people I was working with. And I am always much more comfortable at a social event if I have some kind of work to do.

Here in Eureka Springs, we have a huge number of artists who are always very generous in donating work to support charities and fund raisers. The idea of ReArt is different. Instead of artists donating the work to be sold, anyone can donate. People check their closets and bring out old works done by others. You can clean your closet of artistic treasures, turn them into cash for the organization and make the work available to a new and more appreciative owner, all in one fell swoop!

There is an old saying which I've mentioned before, "In Bali, we have no art. We do everything as well as we can." Here in the American culture, we have lots of art, and in Eureka Springs, we have lots and lots more than what would be normal, but "art" is made and acquired as a distinct reaction to a carelessness epidemic in American life.

For the next day or so, I hope to address this topic. I may not have much time to do any posting, but carelessness will be the subject of my contemplation. Join me.

Last night I saw an artist friend, who, bottle of whiskey in pocket, informed me "Its all bullshit!" Leaving me with the question: If art is a refuge from carelessness... a world in which we care and the outcomes of our efforts are reflective of higher purpose, then why doesn't it always work?

This morning I'm going to visit a friend who is giving a dutch over cooking demonstration at the Kingston, Arkansas library. Tonight is Lucy's Prom. Tomorrow I go to Little Rock to see a presentation at the Arkansas Art Center by Sam Maloof. If I'm lucky, I'll have pictures to post.

I've been re-reading Frank Wilson's book, The Hand: How Its Use shapes the Brain, Language and Human Culture. It is a wonderful explanation of the significant role of the hands in our lives, and fully explains why the purposeful engagement of the hands is necessary in education.

The book, published in 1998 should be enough to turn the tide in American education, and yet, we know things move very slowly. It took Don Imus 38 years in shock-jock radio culminating in his attack on innocent young women basketball players for the American public to awaken to the senselessness and verbal brutality of his program. The Almighty Dollar rules our nation. If you can make a buck, or a million bucks by displaying your senseless dehumanizing verbal brutality, "Great! Go for it!" Right?

In the schools, the Great God of the American Dollar has a different angle. If we can save a few bucks, "Let's do it!" We can make the students sit doing nothing except listening, then we can test them to see what they've learned. If some teacher happens to stumble onto some new technique that force feeds his students with the required knowledge in a more efficient manner, we can pay a bonus! Schools should be run on a business model like Walmart! Right? Lower prices. Cheaper goods.

Do you see a parallel? Being attacked verbally by a human monster is one thing. Having your humanity stripped from you by a system that isolates you, your life and your thoughts from the use of your hands is something else. Right?

The removal of the hands from learning is much more subtle. It is on a wider scale. It isn't generally applied to just a single race or class. We do it to all our children. We've created a system that deprives all our children of the essential expression of their humanity. And then, we see little reason to do anything about it.

Counting down from the Hand's publication date of 1998, and if it takes 38 years for America to come to its senses, we have 29 more years to go, a generation and a half, with unimaginable consequences for our children. Look for the revolution to come in American education in 2036 unless you want to join up and push for one now.

I heard from the agent today that they have chosen not to represent the Wisdom of the Hands book, so I prepared a proposal packet for a publisher I've had in mind as a fall back position. That went out in todays mail. It may take a few weeks to get a response. Again, my fingers are crossed. Finding the right fit for things often doesn't happen quickly. So, I try again.

I thought the posting from Conservapedia.com on the koala would have to be a hoax, but then I learned through the discussion of the kangaroo of the work of Dr. Richard Paley, Phd. in "Theobiology" His article on his expedition to the Congo in search of the last remaining dinosaurs is an amazing and humorous bit of reading. Is it also a hoax? Makes one wonder. Could any real person actually be so foolish?

He begins the article as follows:

Propagandists of Evolutionism, in their attempts to discredit research into the true Biblical foundations of Origins, have often accused Creation Science of being a non-experimental endeavor. This couldn't be further from the truth. Besides lab experiments involving such diverse fields as hydrology, discontinuity systematics, and design inference (to name but a few,) Creation Scientists also do fieldwork to test hypotheses and gather evidence of God's handiwork.

Dr. Paley's opening remark does brings up the important role of the hand in science and the discovery of the fundamental processes of material reality. Hands-on experience and experiment are required in all science. The sketch above and the photo below are the "evidence" of Dr. Paley's "discovery" in Africa. Equally entertaining is Nigel Stubbingwicke's response to allegations made by Dr. Paley toward Mr. Stubbingwicke's behavior in Africa. On Stubbingwicke's site, click on the link "facts".

More fun stuff from Conservapedia.com

Origins of the Koala

Koalas are correctly said to be indigenous to the Middle East, as are all terrestrial animals. Australia became their adopted home to which koalas journeyed after the original two were released from Noah's Ark at the conclusion of the Great Flood. Most creationists believe that these ancient Koalas were considerably hardier, faster, and far less fastidious in their diet than their modern descendants, which have degenerated into sleepy, gum-leaf chewing opiate addicts as a result of human sinfulness. The virile, proactive Koala of Biblical times would have been far better endowed physically and emotionally to undertake the epic journey across the world from Mt Ararat to Australia. As original Australian fauna consist almost entirely of marsupials, it is likely that bands of marsupials undertook this journey together. Indeed, the Koala may have been carried by the Kangaroos in their pouches, along with other small marsupials for much of this time.

Deprive children of experience in the real world and you can convince them of anything... even such stupidity as this.

The following is from Conservapedia.com

According to the origins theory model used by creation scientists, modern kangaroos are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great Flood. It has not yet been determined by baraminologists whether kangaroos form a holobaramin with the wallaby, tree-kangaroo, wallaroo, pademelon and quokka, or if all these species are in fact apobaraminic or polybaraminic.

After the Flood, these kangaroos bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land[5] with lower sea levels during the post-flood ice age, or before the supercontinent of Pangea broke apart[6], or if they rafted on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding flood waters.[5] The idea that God simply generated kangaroos into existence there is considered by most creation researchers to be contra-Biblical.

Conservapedia.com was created by religious conservatives convinced that Wikipedia has a liberal bias that needs to be offset by active promotion of their own view. It is self described as:

A conservative encyclopedia you can trust with over 7,200 educational, clean, and concise entries.

It is interesting that belief has become a matter of personal decision rather than being directly derived from experience. It is a shame what can happen when the hands are extracted from learning.

Believe it or not, the 5th and 6th graders are still enjoying Paper Sloyd, but this was the last week of paper folding for awhile. The students having learned to follow the directions for the Paper Sloyd projects on their own have also been working on project plans for things they want to make in wood shop. The deal is: they have to present their ideas in a clear manner, using drawings and step-by-step instructions and then will be permitted to make the objects they have planned. My assistant Luke and I will prepare the materials for them. Next week while they finish their project plans they will make rubber band propelled paddle wheel boats and finish up their drawings and project presentations. The photos above and at left are Maggie, studying the instructions and then making the project called "bon-bon box". Finished projects, book cover and bon-bon box are shown below. The Paper Sloyd is helping the students with measuring skills, following complex written and visual instructions, and working with precision.

The following is from Kenneth A. Wesson

Our brain and skin are initially part of the same primitive formation during prenatal development, but they are separated during neurogenesis. Thus, in a sense, our skin is the “other half” of our brain. This, perhaps, explains why at nearly all stages of life, one learns a great deal about his environment (objects, another person, etc.) via our universal human preference “to touch to learn” more about an object. While touching an object, most higher order mammals will also turn it, twist it, view it from a number of other positions, etc., as a means of drawing out the most meaningful clues, cues, and relevant information needed for arriving at conclusions concerning the object. (My 2-year old son, Tyler, provides me daily evidence of this important mammalian information-gathering technique, as he walks past a picket fence and feels compelled to touch each picket as he passes by. Similarly, school children are admonished for touching the hallway walls, schools should install paneled or burlap walls that children are permitted or encouraged to touch whenever passing. This tactile activity helps to “turn on” the brain).

Sustained immobility in the classroom is as incompatible with life as it is incongruous with human growth and human learning. Suppressing the natural excitement of human learning by preventing, ignoring, and even punishing the brain's natural inclinations obstructs our mission for learners of all ages. While mobility separates plants from animals, the inherent need to communicate with others in various elaborate and complex ways serves as another significant characteristic that puts human beings into a category of our own. Combining mobility with hands-on learning in a cooperative learning setting, where learners communicate their ideas with one another appears to be the best equation for yielding the greatest learning results. It is the means by which most young children and adults deem the most comfortable and the most productive learning arrangement. All complex learning and consistent stimulation serve as the serious business of learning and the brain’s dynamic development.

Conclusion
Recognizing that early exposure to a wide range of learning experiences has a tremendous impact on the brain, we are taking a closer look at the critical role that early cognitive development should play in pre-school and child-care programs, as well as a truly foundation-building primary educational setting. These years are not just the “developmental years.” They constitute the most advantageous incubation periods for developing the fundamental skills vitally necessary for successful Kindergarten through college-level (and life-long) learning. No longer do we consider the first five years of life to be a vast cognitive wasteland, during which brain undergoes an arrested development. The neural networks by which all future complex learning will be based are forged during this crucial early period and by a specific series of vitally important brain processes.

Kenneth A. Wesson
Education Consultant, Neuroscience

I got a letter from a former student from Arrowmont that Mario will remember. Dr. Jerry Miller is a retired psychiatrist from Baltimore. He wrote in relation to my articles about Woodworking education:

My first 2 jobs were running craft shops in 2 different settlement houses. We knew that there was a connection between arts and crafts and normal child development and also that alienated and angry kids could connect through crafts. However, we didn't understand much about why.

It is interesting and disappointing that with so much anecdotal evidence about the the positive effects of working with the hands on the emotional wellbeing and development of children and adults, that there has been so little scientific investigation to prove and explore "why." The real challenge may be that understanding the value of handwork would undermine the illusion of superiority held by those who work exclusively within the verbal or written realm. The question they must face is "why investigate something that will reveal my latent sense of inadequacy?"

And yet, there are those like Dr. Jerry Miller who have lived their lives in that realm and have arrived at their own understanding of the Wisdom of the Hands.

It has been a long and stressful weekend in New York as my daughter Lucy and we settled her final decision on college. As a result of the trip, Lucy decided to follow her heart over the great financial opportunities that were offered at another university. She will join the freshman class at Columbia College in August. Only time will tell how it will all work out. Even with financial assistance, the challenge is significant, and Jean and I will no doubt have regrets at the distance, difficulties and costs of traveling to New York from Arkansas. It also feels great to see Lucy so excited about her choice and we have great confidence in her abilities.

In the wood shop this morning as you see in the photos above and below, we made looms. Some of the first and second graders insisted they will start today, but the 3rd and 4th grades will wait until next week and we get to visit a local weaver for instruction.

While in Manhattan, I met a teacher from the oldest independent school in the US, Collegiate School for Boys. It covers grades kindergarten through 12 grades, and like Clear Spring School is accredited through one of the regional associations of the National Association of Independent Schools.

I was looking through the spam file on my web server and found comments regarding teachers that had been kept from me by the marvels of the machine. The first is from Joe Barry regarding the "beginner mind".

A further thought on the subject of beginner's mind. I didn't really begin to master the basic skills of woodworking until I had to teach them. You abrutly run into the limitations of both your own knowledge and skill. It takes a good understanding of a skill such as sharpening or hand planing to teach it. Lacking the facility to quickly and consistently demonstrate a skill makes you all too aware of your limitations. Plus, teaching brings glaring and unswerving light onto your own habits- both good and bad! One problem I encountered was that I am ambidextrous and switch hands without thinking about it. I drove kids nuts until one of them pointed out that I switched hands as the grain changed. I had to learn how to do hand planing and sawing as a righty and a lefty in order to teach the skill and it made me re-examine just how I did those things. That contemplation trimmed away the extraneous things that I had picked up that were not good technique.

On the mat, as a martial artist the term beginner's mind has a somewhat different usage. One of the precepts is that practice is the most important skills. You need to practice and practice until it becomes second nature. Your mind needs to be open at every class to find something new in what can be the umteenth time you have practiced a technique. Dan Millman has observed that only perfect practice will make perfect. If you practice poor sloppy technique you will never improve. The most rewarding aspect of practice is that when you have thrown an attacker and it happens so smoothly you find yourself asking "what did I just do?" Technique cannot rise to the level of spontaneity without significant practice. Interestingly, when a high ranking teacher from Japan comes to teach a seminar he will not teach esoteric advanced skills but will concentrate on the minutia of a basic technique that you "learn" as a beginner. After the seminar you begin to realize just how much you have yet to learn.

The following is from John Grossbohlin, a thoughtful contribution on teachers:

Interesting question... I pondered it over night and I kept coming back to one theme. That theme was that my father showed me how to do things and how to solve problems when I was a kid. Seems he can make or fix just about anything--I thought this as a kid and still do as I approach my 50th birthday! As for his training, he served an apprenticeship as a tool and die maker at IBM in the 50s.

He recently retold the story of a visit to his plant by Tom Watson. During that visit Watson told the young apprentices that they were the future leaders of IBM... At the time they didn't get it. "We're just tool makers!" However, 20-30 years later those guys were in leadership positions. IBM grew their own talent in those days and Watson understood that if they could survive the rigorous tool and die apprenticeship, and learn how to solve problems there, that they would hold leadership roles in the future.

In terms of formal teachers, there were a lot of them in my academic career... a career that included college and grad school where I trained to be a researcher. I recall many of the teachers, some even became colleagues and friends when I taught college courses for about ten years. Some, like my high school mechanical drawing teacher Donald Muth, gave me an opportunity to push the envelope. I took two years of classes with Mr. Muth and then did an independent study in surveying with him. The independent study gave me the chance to use a transit and make a topographic map. Not your typical high school fare, and I never did it for a living, but I learned a lot. One of the classes was a basic architectural drawing class.

At about age 12-13 I did a lot of the work building a four car garage. In that project I learned about making a square and level slab, placing, screeding and smoothing concrete, laying out, cutting, and building framing, girders, and sheathing. When I was about 13-14 I built a foundation to support an addition on our home. When it came time to square up the layout strings on the batter boards my father didn't tell me how to do it. Rather he asked me what math I took in school might be useful here... It only took me a few seconds to respond "Pythagorean theorem!" That was one of those "Ah Ha" moments in my early life... you can actually do something with that stuff they tortured us with in school! Later in my teens and early 20s I also laid out, cut and framed hip and gambrel roofs. I was able to do these things myself by combining things I learned from my father and Mr. Muth.

I spoke with my father today when he phoned in search of a ride home from the airport. I had recently e-mailed him photos of the picture frames my boys made well as photos of them working on dovetails. He commented that I was good at that figuring out how to make things when I was a kid. Like he, I'm taking the time to teach my children how to do things and solve problems. Like he, I learned a lot by making things and using tools. Like he and I, my boys are being given the same kind of early experiences. For example, at ages 6 and 8 my boys helped me side our home, at 8 and 10 they scribed and helped secure sleepers to a concrete floor and put down the plywood sub-flooring, and now at 9 and 11 they are learning how to cut dovetails by hand. The siding was blind nailed and the floor system will be covered by finish flooring. Thus stray hammer blows and bent nails didn't hurt the finished project but did let them develop skills.

My mother was a strong influence also. She was the one who was involved with us in Cub Scouts and the Drum and Bugle Corp. She often took us camping in the summer during the week--my father joined us on the weekend--and fishing, canoeing, hiking and swimming.

The bottom line is my parents were involved in my life and served as role models. They also made it possible for me to meet a lot of formal teachers... Today my vocational work is done in my head and is often intangible in nature. My avocations, on the other hand, involve my hands and the creation of tangibles. Both are satisfying... and complement each other in that I can draw from both domains when solving problems.

Thanks Joe and John for contributing to the Wisdom of the Hands.

Grants tomb and the cutting of granite reminded me of the Masons and when I typed into Google, Masons and hand, I discovered the world of Mason's secret handshakes.

Another wonderful place in New York City is The Frick. The museum at 1 East 70th Street houses among other things a collection of ornate European furniture. You will marvel at the opulent and meticulous craftsmanship completed for the royalty of Europe. The building itself reflects a superb level of craftsmanship from an earlier time in America. If any readers would like to post suggestions of other must see places in New York, I promise I won't be able to see them this trip, but I will share them here in the blog.

Another thing of note. If you visit Grant's tomb, look for the mason's tools that were donated by a worker's family. Seeing the tools used in the making of such a monument, brings it into human scale. You might want to read about the mining of Maine Granite. You will find that Maine Granite was important in the architectural development of New York. The image above is from the granite quarries.