Guest Author

Exploring Passions

by
Emma performing
Emma Z. performing Sugar Plum Fairy. Photo courtesy of www.actionpic9.com.

I actually met Sarah-Jane Ripa during Orientation week at an event on Wesleyan’s campus where she was running a booth for Green Street Arts Center. I asked her about ballet classes at Green Street and she told me that none were presently offered but that she would be glad to find me a teacher so I could continue my passion for dancing. She told me that she would make it work.

I didn’t know it then, but I would be working with Sarah-Jane just three months later. Since coming to Green Street I have found it to be the kind of place that supports people following their passions. I have had the pleasure

Students working on Homework

of speaking with many of Green Street’s adult students who tell me how much they enjoyed their teacher or their class and they want to make sure to sign up for the next session. As for the kids of Green Street, it is clear in their faces. Just yesterday I worked with a child in the after school program, who quickly finished all her homework (getting all her spelling words correct) and who then wanted to color pastel pictures with me, and the day before I watched a first-grader correctly finish his math homework in 5 minutes, and then ask me for long division problems to practice for fun.

The Community Mural Project

I have spent the past year working with Sarah-Jane and the other members of the Green Street Arts Center team on various projects, helping to run events, working in the after-school program, and organizing classes. This is a group of extremely dedicated people who truly do make it work. Despite tough economic times, Green Street has remained dedicated to its students. There are so many options available to the point where you can sign up for a class or a private lesson in nearly any creative genre you could think of. You can also attend interesting events ranging from the Sunday Salons to cultural dance events to various performances by local musicians.

I think that Green Street is a place where anyone can come to express themselves and explore their passions. Sarah-Jane made the ballet class work for me and my friends and we study on Saturday mornings with a fantastic teacher.

I love coming to work at Green Street because it is my way of being active in the community I am living in. I thoroughly enjoy working with the children and adults of Green Street to share our common passion for creative expression with the Middletown community. It has affected me in a very meaningful way and because of it, Middletown, as well as each of us, is more beautiful.

Submitted by Emma Zawacki, Wesleyan Student and Green Street Worker

Green Street as seen through the eyes of After School Student Gabby M.

by

Gabby and Lisa sat down one day to talk about what Green Street Arts Center means to an 11-year-old 5th grader in the After School Arts & Science program.

Learning at Green Street:

Gabby M., After School Student

I first took photojournalism because I took some pictures for my best friend’s graduation, and they came out really, really good, so I thought maybe I should take pictures when I grow up.  My mom signed me up for the class and now I’m so happy.  I’ve learned a lot.  I didn’t know how to post pictures to make a calendar, and I can do that now.  The style of the cameras is really cool; we use different kinds of digital cameras, one blue and one grey.  I have my own, so after photojournalism I can still take pictures.  My favorite subjects to photograph are people and weddings.  I want to be a wedding photographer when I grow up.

Since Marela, the mural teacher, came to talk about the mural we are about to paint, I’ve taken time to draw pictures for the design.  Now she is going to put me in the Arts & Science program that will be working on the mural.

I also learn piano with teachers David Davis and Allison House.  Even though I didn’t sign up for private lessons, they just started teaching me scales and sharps.  I know some of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Mozart’s Sonata in C Major, the theme from Harry Potter, and I’m working on learning how to read music.

Green Street & my life:

When I first came to Green Street I didn’t know anybody, but now, 6 months

Gabby playing with angles.

later, I know everyone by heart.  The staff is really nice and helpful.  Wesleyan volunteers even help us with our homework! I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.  I’ve definitely changed since coming to Green Street.  I now get A+ on all my homework because of all of the academic help that I get.  I love it here.  I don’t have any friends at school, so I like Green Street because I’ve been making lots of friends.  My mom says I’m always smiling when I come out of Green Street.  When I’m older and finished with school, I would be proud to come back to Green Street to help with the kids as a staff member.

I just want to say thank you to Miss Cookie for letting me go to Green Street because without her I wouldn’t even be here writing this blog.

To view some pictures that Gabby took, visit our Facebook page.

Submitted by Gabby M., After School Student, with help from Lisa Bruno, Development Assistant

Thinking About Pete Seeger

by

Sunday Salon Series Brings Wesleyan Professor to Discuss Legacy of Legendary Folk Singer

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger is very possibly the most important U.S. folk singer of the 20th century, a central figure in the music of social movements from the labor movement of the 1930s to the environmental movement of today. For the past year Wesleyan Professor Rob Rosenthal has been working with Seeger on a forthcoming collection of his papers, The Pete Seeger Reader. At Green Street’s Sunday Salon Series, Rob will discuss this work, Seeger’s place in American music, and invite audience members to share their thoughts and memories of this beloved musician.

This informal lecture takes place on Sunday, April 25 from 2–4pm as part of the Sunday Salon Discussion Series, Green Street’s monthly discussion series for creative minds and curious individuals hosted by Wesleyan University Chemistry Professor David Beveridge. Each monthly salon includes plenty of opportunity for socializing as well as a reception with light refreshments.

Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for Green Street members, seniors, and students. Green Street Arts Center is located at 51 Green Street, Middletown, CT. To register or get more information, please visit:  www.greenstreetartscenter.org or call (860) 685-7871.


More About Rob Rosenthal
As a professor of sociology at Wesleyan, Rosenthal is an expert on housing, homelessness, social movements and the culture of social movements. He received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and his master’s of arts and Ph.D fromthe University of California Santa Barbara.

Rosenthal is the author of 18 published articles, seven of which cover the topic of homelessness. His book, Homeless in Paradise received the Association for Humanist Sociology Book Award in 1995.

He teaches Introductory Sociology, Urban Sociology, Housing and Public Policy, and Music in Social Movements to undergrads, and recently taught Music in Social Movements to students enrolled in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program. In this class, Rosenthal questions how the actual use of music can create movement cultures. Students listen to musicians such as Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, Rage Against the Machine, and Public Enemy and discuss how their music relates to movements in the United States including the labor, civil rights, new left, woman’s, and current inner city movements.

Submitted by Adam Kubota, Center for the Arts

Teaching Artist Shawn Hill connects Healthy Eating, Creative Writing, and Technology

by

Shawn Hill’s extensive web-design experience and creativity continue to expand the imaginations of kids in his animation class and adults who have taken his blogging classes.

After School students love Shawn’s animation class because it allows them to get silly with colors and images while exploring topics that interest them.  Walk into class, and you’ll see kids discussing how best to present the topic: “How can we show glaciers melting?”, “What colors will be the most vibrant to combine?”  Global Warming was the theme for projects two years ago, after which the students focused on healthy eating.  This year, kids are letting their imaginations go wild as they animate science phenomena, vividly demonstrating the splitting of an atom, magnets, the mixing of colors, and electricity.  Check out their video about eating healthy: Fruit is Fuel

The After School students in Shawn’s class will debut their exciting videos at Green Street’s Arts Fest on June 12th.

Green Street Community Members also benefit from Shawn’s knowledge of the blogging world.  Photographers, painters, individuals concerned with a social issue, or people who want to share their passion and experiences have all gathered for Shawn’s Web-Design and Blogging class.  Shawn is especially excited by the blogging world because of the wide range of topics that blogs can cover. One of the most unique topics he has assisted with was for people interested in duck-decoy carving.  As an expert in web-design, html, and many other intricate computer languages, Shawn thinks that these techniques are overly complicated for practical, every-day purposes.   Even though blogs are not “God’s gift to original aesthetic,” they work well for anyone wishing to share information on the internet.  Shawn hopes to continue to share this passion with interested community members this spring in his Blogging & Web Design Class on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30pm.

Submitted by Noah Klein-Markman, Wesleyan University Class of ‘13