Wednesday
May302012
Lost Lyrics 5-Year Anniversary Conference: The Roots of the Rose
Amanda Parris - MemberDAY ONE - THE SYMPOSIUM
2012 marks the 5th year of existence for Lost Lyrics and to celebrate this anniversary we are organizing a 2-Day Conference entitled: The Roots of the Rose. Inspired by Tupac Shakur’s poem The Rose that Grew from Concrete, this conference will explore what it means to build an alternative education movement from the ground up.
REGISTER ON-LINE FOR THE SYMPOSIUM BY CLICKING THIS LINK: http://guestlistapp.com/events/103962
When: Saturday, June 2nd, 2012, 9am-6pm
Where: Ryerson University, 55 Gould Street
9am – 10am: Registration
10am – 11am: Introductions and Keynote One
REGISTER ON-LINE FOR THE SYMPOSIUM BY CLICKING THIS LINK: http://guestlistapp.com/events/103962
When: Saturday, June 2nd, 2012, 9am-6pm
Where: Ryerson University, 55 Gould Street
9am – 10am: Registration
10am – 11am: Introductions and Keynote One
Lance McCready
Dr. Lance T. McCready is Associate Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. His research and writing focuses on the education, health and well-being of urban youth and educators’ beliefs about culture, equity and social justice. He recently published Making Space for Diverse Masculinities with Peter Lang Publishers. He also serves as Principal Investigator for Educational Trajectories of Young Black Men, an exploratory study of young black men’s perceptions of k-12 schooling, postsecondary educational attainment and work in Toronto and Montreal. He is Co-Principal Investigator of an evaluation of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention’s Revised 3MV Intervention for young black MSMs. Lance’s professional goals include reawakening the artist within, conducting implementation and intervention research to reduce education and health disparities, collaborating with community partners and researchers across academic disciplines and professions, and engaging in knowledge translation to help inform public policy related to curriculum and pedagogy.
11am-12pm: Session One
Dr. Lance T. McCready is Associate Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. His research and writing focuses on the education, health and well-being of urban youth and educators’ beliefs about culture, equity and social justice. He recently published Making Space for Diverse Masculinities with Peter Lang Publishers. He also serves as Principal Investigator for Educational Trajectories of Young Black Men, an exploratory study of young black men’s perceptions of k-12 schooling, postsecondary educational attainment and work in Toronto and Montreal. He is Co-Principal Investigator of an evaluation of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention’s Revised 3MV Intervention for young black MSMs. Lance’s professional goals include reawakening the artist within, conducting implementation and intervention research to reduce education and health disparities, collaborating with community partners and researchers across academic disciplines and professions, and engaging in knowledge translation to help inform public policy related to curriculum and pedagogy.
11am-12pm: Session One
Workshop 1: Mapping Our Safety: Queer, Racialized and Feminine Bodies in the City by Asian Arts Freedom School
This workshop will look into the ways that different individuals experience safety in urban spaces around Toronto with a specific focus on how the way we look affects the ways in which we are able to move through the city. Specifically, the workshop will explore the ways in which race, sexual orientation, gender presentation and class restrict and change people’s movement.
Workshop 2: Panel – Mobilizing the T-Dot Moderated by Kofi Hope
Community Organizing for Social and Income Equality in Etobicoke-North by Nigel Barriffe
Can others imagine ‘Canada’?”—The Projected Imaginings of Muslim Youth Activists in Toronto by Sameena Eidoo
Community Organizing for Social and Income Equality in Etobicoke-North by Nigel Barriffe
Can others imagine ‘Canada’?”—The Projected Imaginings of Muslim Youth Activists in Toronto by Sameena Eidoo
Workshop 3: Film Screening – “Schooling the World: The White Man’s Last Burden” by Lost People Films
Schooling the World takes a challenging, sometimes funny, ultimately deeply troubling look at the role played by modern education in the destruction of the world’s last sustainable indigenous cultures. It looks at the failure of institutional education to deliver on its promise of a way out of poverty – in the United States as well as in the so-called “developing” world. And it questions our very definitions of wealth and poverty – and of knowledge and ignorance – as it uncovers the role of schools in the destruction of traditional sustainable agricultural and ecological knowledge, in the breakup of extended families and communities, and in the devaluation of ancient spiritual traditions.
Schooling the World takes a challenging, sometimes funny, ultimately deeply troubling look at the role played by modern education in the destruction of the world’s last sustainable indigenous cultures. It looks at the failure of institutional education to deliver on its promise of a way out of poverty – in the United States as well as in the so-called “developing” world. And it questions our very definitions of wealth and poverty – and of knowledge and ignorance – as it uncovers the role of schools in the destruction of traditional sustainable agricultural and ecological knowledge, in the breakup of extended families and communities, and in the devaluation of ancient spiritual traditions.
Workshop 4: The Vision of Alma by Luciana Braga and Mennatalla Shawki
The traditional word for ”dancer” in Egypt is “Alma”, which literally means “woman who knows or the knowledgeable one”. In today’s education system, the mind is seen as distinct and isolated from the body that carries it. This workshop attempt to erase this dualism by integrating the mind and body in the process of knowledge creation. This is a combination of two workshops (dance and photography) that aims to explore the concept of embodied knowledge through Baladi (traditional Egyptian dance) while using the medium of portraits for creating, accessing and transmitting knowledge through visual images of body movements
Note: This workshop is directed to women-identified participants. Please wear comfortable clothing if planning to attend.
12pm-1pm: Lunch
1pm-2pm: Keynote Two: Art Intervention
Unshackling Education: Questions. Reflections. Suggestions by Elimu Sanifu
This participatory play and discussion by the collective Elimu Sanifu, chronicles the life of a young Kenyan boy grappling between life in Nairobi’s informal settlements and the disconnection he faces with what and how he is learning in school.
In 2012, the agenda to school the world is largely unchecked. Governments, corporations and development organizations promote schooling as the only, and most important form of learning, with little questioning of how the western formal schooling model and curriculum has displaced indigenous knowledges, and does not teach students how to survive in their environment. Unshackling Education, is an invitation to discuss how we can make learning more relevant to students’ lived experiences and co-create alternative learning spaces which nurture creativity and community.
This participatory play and discussion by the collective Elimu Sanifu, chronicles the life of a young Kenyan boy grappling between life in Nairobi’s informal settlements and the disconnection he faces with what and how he is learning in school.
In 2012, the agenda to school the world is largely unchecked. Governments, corporations and development organizations promote schooling as the only, and most important form of learning, with little questioning of how the western formal schooling model and curriculum has displaced indigenous knowledges, and does not teach students how to survive in their environment. Unshackling Education, is an invitation to discuss how we can make learning more relevant to students’ lived experiences and co-create alternative learning spaces which nurture creativity and community.
2pm-3pm: Keynote Three
Lee Maracle
Lee Maracle, Sto: Lo nation, grandmother of seven, mother of four, was born in North Vancouver, B. C. and resides in Ontario. Her works include: the novels, Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, Sundogs, and Daughters are Forever, Will’s Garden, the short story collection, Sojourner’s Truth, the poetry collection, Bent box, and non-fiction work I Am Woman and First Wives’ Club. She was Co-editor of My Home as I Remember and Telling It: Women and Language across Cultures, editor of a number of poetry works, Gatherings journals and has published in dozens of anthologies in Canada and America. She has served as the Aboriginal writer-in-residence for First nation’s house, and Visiting Scholar in the Aboriginal Studies and English dept. at the University of Toronto. Ms. Maracle received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from St. Thomas University in May 2009. Maracle is currently an instructor in ABS and the traditional teacher at First Nation’s House. Ms Maracle is also a performing artist and instructor at the Indigenous Theatre School in Toronto
Lee Maracle
Lee Maracle, Sto: Lo nation, grandmother of seven, mother of four, was born in North Vancouver, B. C. and resides in Ontario. Her works include: the novels, Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, Sundogs, and Daughters are Forever, Will’s Garden, the short story collection, Sojourner’s Truth, the poetry collection, Bent box, and non-fiction work I Am Woman and First Wives’ Club. She was Co-editor of My Home as I Remember and Telling It: Women and Language across Cultures, editor of a number of poetry works, Gatherings journals and has published in dozens of anthologies in Canada and America. She has served as the Aboriginal writer-in-residence for First nation’s house, and Visiting Scholar in the Aboriginal Studies and English dept. at the University of Toronto. Ms. Maracle received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from St. Thomas University in May 2009. Maracle is currently an instructor in ABS and the traditional teacher at First Nation’s House. Ms Maracle is also a performing artist and instructor at the Indigenous Theatre School in Toronto
3pm-4pm: Session Two
Workshop 1: Panel – Indigenous Knowledge and Teaching Moderated by erica peña
My Owena; My Okra (My Word My Story) by Mahlikah Awe:ri
Remembering and Healing through Cinema by Kurt Orderson
My Owena; My Okra (My Word My Story) by Mahlikah Awe:ri
Remembering and Healing through Cinema by Kurt Orderson
Workshop 2: Money and Meaning by Seed II Soil
The aim of this workshop is to facilitate the process of unlearning ideas about wealth that prevent us from acquiring it, despite the fact we seek it. In order to improve the condition of attendees we are going to help them identify the meaning money has to them. By exploring students’ connection to money and its meaning we begin the process of decolonization around how money is presented to us through the media and other agents of socialization.Through the identification of how they perceive money and treat money, they will develop an understanding of how they relate to it. By identifying these behaviours, attendees will develop a deeper understanding of where their values reside and determine if this is where they would like them to remain.
The aim of this workshop is to facilitate the process of unlearning ideas about wealth that prevent us from acquiring it, despite the fact we seek it. In order to improve the condition of attendees we are going to help them identify the meaning money has to them. By exploring students’ connection to money and its meaning we begin the process of decolonization around how money is presented to us through the media and other agents of socialization.Through the identification of how they perceive money and treat money, they will develop an understanding of how they relate to it. By identifying these behaviours, attendees will develop a deeper understanding of where their values reside and determine if this is where they would like them to remain.
Workshop 3: Reclaiming Hip- Hop Urban Dance Styles: Context by ILL NANA/DiverseCity Dance Company
Hip Hop is often taught in very gendered way. You will often hear things like; guys do this, while girls do this. Having these gender binaries informs us of how we must conform to heteronormative ideals of what is male and female. We are seldomly allowed to explore what movements feel right for us as individuals. Reclaiming Hip Hop; is an intro to Hip Hop, and street styles that allows for a safer more affirming space to learn Hip Hop. During the class people have the option of changing the movements to what feels right for them. Gendered movement that is considered “masculine”, “feminine”, in between, or neither are explored, and talked about. Participants are encouraged to find what movement feels right for them.
*Note: This class and the space that it will be taught in is a LGBT affirming space
Hip Hop is often taught in very gendered way. You will often hear things like; guys do this, while girls do this. Having these gender binaries informs us of how we must conform to heteronormative ideals of what is male and female. We are seldomly allowed to explore what movements feel right for us as individuals. Reclaiming Hip Hop; is an intro to Hip Hop, and street styles that allows for a safer more affirming space to learn Hip Hop. During the class people have the option of changing the movements to what feels right for them. Gendered movement that is considered “masculine”, “feminine”, in between, or neither are explored, and talked about. Participants are encouraged to find what movement feels right for them.
*Note: This class and the space that it will be taught in is a LGBT affirming space
Workshop 4: Film Screenings on HIV Peer Education by Empower
Empower will be showing a series of ‘how-to’ videos created as a way to inspire and provoke dialogue about the use of the arts in HIV prevention and harm reduction work with youth. Videos were visioned, produced and edited by a team of ten youth and four community artists over the course of three months. Videos including using burlesque and drag to talk about sexual health, using spoken word to talk about HIV, facilitating an HIV or Harm Reduction workshop (cooking-show inspired!), as well as interviews with Empower participants and community artists on community arts work, HIV prevention, and youth engagement. The videos will be followed with a short Q & A panel with participants.
Empower will be showing a series of ‘how-to’ videos created as a way to inspire and provoke dialogue about the use of the arts in HIV prevention and harm reduction work with youth. Videos were visioned, produced and edited by a team of ten youth and four community artists over the course of three months. Videos including using burlesque and drag to talk about sexual health, using spoken word to talk about HIV, facilitating an HIV or Harm Reduction workshop (cooking-show inspired!), as well as interviews with Empower participants and community artists on community arts work, HIV prevention, and youth engagement. The videos will be followed with a short Q & A panel with participants.
4pm-5pm: Session Three
Workshop 1: Summoning the Sacred: A Conversation on the Diasporic Healing Power of Plants by Jeff Tanaka
This workshop proposal was inspired by Professor Jacqui Alexander and her classes at the Universityof Toronto entitled Aboriginal, Black and Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars and Migrations of the Sacred. Over the course of the semester, the stories of plants mediated our learning process and served as a space for interrogating our varied diasporic histories. Using the knowledge and stories of the jujube, gingko, sweetbroom, lemongrass and willow we will share the urgency with which these plants spoke to us, while also telling stories that speak to our diasporic histories in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa.
Workshop 1: Summoning the Sacred: A Conversation on the Diasporic Healing Power of Plants by Jeff Tanaka
This workshop proposal was inspired by Professor Jacqui Alexander and her classes at the Universityof Toronto entitled Aboriginal, Black and Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars and Migrations of the Sacred. Over the course of the semester, the stories of plants mediated our learning process and served as a space for interrogating our varied diasporic histories. Using the knowledge and stories of the jujube, gingko, sweetbroom, lemongrass and willow we will share the urgency with which these plants spoke to us, while also telling stories that speak to our diasporic histories in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa.
Workshop 2: Panel: Education and Mobilization Within and Outside of the System Moderated by Alexandra Arraiz
Political Education for Building the People’s Struggles by Kabir Joshi-Vijayan and Steve DaSilva from BASICS
Educational Attainment West featuring Natasha Buford and Khary Collins
Workshop 3: Panel: Hip Hop Education – Engaging the 5th Element Moderated by Natasha Daniel
Featuring: The Real Sun, J-Rebel, Simon Black and Tonika Morgan
Featuring: The Real Sun, J-Rebel, Simon Black and Tonika Morgan
Workshop 4: The Dirty Secrets – The Parents Cheat-Sheet for Rebuilding the School System
A roundtable discussion unpacking the baggage, exploring the tools for advocacy and visioning the future of education with parents and caregivers. Facilitated by Lost Lyrics Parents Sabrina “Butterfly” Gopaul, Andrea Vernee Boucaud, Neil “Logik” Donaldson and Benjamin DeGraaf
A roundtable discussion unpacking the baggage, exploring the tools for advocacy and visioning the future of education with parents and caregivers. Facilitated by Lost Lyrics Parents Sabrina “Butterfly” Gopaul, Andrea Vernee Boucaud, Neil “Logik” Donaldson and Benjamin DeGraaf
5pm-6pm: Keynote Three and Closing:
Darrick Smith
To most, he is a revolutionary thinker and educator, but to his students he is a father, brother, counselor, and a friend. Perhaps one of the most admired and respected young educators in the Bay Area, Smith has found a way to teach what many would consider post-baccalaureate material to inner-city, often times low performing students and watch them develop into better thinkers, students, and community members.
Darrick Smith is the founder and former director of the TryUMF program (Trying to Uplift My Folks), a youth empowerment program in Oakland, California. He is also the former Co-Principal of June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco, California and has served as an instructor of sociology at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California and Laney College in Oakland, CA. He is currently the Center Director for LearningWorks, a educational policy organization focusing on equity issues in higher education.
Darrick Smith
To most, he is a revolutionary thinker and educator, but to his students he is a father, brother, counselor, and a friend. Perhaps one of the most admired and respected young educators in the Bay Area, Smith has found a way to teach what many would consider post-baccalaureate material to inner-city, often times low performing students and watch them develop into better thinkers, students, and community members.
Darrick Smith is the founder and former director of the TryUMF program (Trying to Uplift My Folks), a youth empowerment program in Oakland, California. He is also the former Co-Principal of June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco, California and has served as an instructor of sociology at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California and Laney College in Oakland, CA. He is currently the Center Director for LearningWorks, a educational policy organization focusing on equity issues in higher education.
On-Going Spaces Throughout the Symposium:
Healing and Self-Care Space: Offering services in Reiki, counselling, art therapy and a variety of workshops throughout the day. Facilitated by The Real Sun, Chiedza Pasipanodya, Tanya Pillay, Kemba King, Kim Crosby and Braxton Wignall.
The Reflection Room: The Reflection Room will be a space to take a breather from the scheduled programming of the conference, look back on the events of the day and put your knowledge in conversation with the stories of others. There will be poems of resistance from writers on education, as well as an opportunity to contribute your own words of wisdom and advice. Share what you’ve learned in the breakout sessions, reflect on the keynote speakers and bring the knowledge that you’ve gained through your journeys before the conference! This will allow us to collectively continue our conversations and share resources, all in order to work together to build an alternative education movement, from the ground up
Vendor Fair: Featuring Equitable Education Initiative, A Different Booklist, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands, Stolen from Africa, mina danielle designs and Aware and Accent Books
Lost Lyrics 5-Year Anniversary Conference: The Roots of the Rose is brought to you with the support and partnerships of: Toronto Arts Council, Toronto Community Foundation, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Centre for Urban Schooling, Ryerson Student Union, African Heritage Educators Network, Accents on Eglinton Bookstore and Educational Attainment West
Register On-line for the Symposium by visiting this link: http://guestlistapp.com/events/103962
Reader Comments