A segment on bird watching on National Public Radio reported that birds are among the animals with which humans have most successfully shared space. My guess is squirrels and rabbits and bees place a close second. Possums might come in third, and there is a really big racoon that lives right across the highway that runs in front of my home in the city. In the Southwest, the list might also include geckos and armadillos.
Rats and ants and wasps don't count because, although we often share space with them, our intent is hostile. We hope to exterminate them.

I recently sat in on a meeting of a group of pre-K through second grade teachers planning their school's Halloween celebration.They were charged with coming up with Halloween games for the event. One of the teachers provided the succint suggestion: " Take a traditional game, like bowling or bean bag toss, and put a ghost on it." This seemed to me to be a wise, efficient, and sufficiently scary recommendation for a holiday that calls for just the right balance between terror and delight.

Arnold Aprill
Founding and Creative Director
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE)

Every year, at Easter time, I buy a new box of yellow "Peeps" (marshmallow candy chicks) as a kind of ready-made art installation that I keep on my living room coffee table. They look comfortable and attractive and synthetic in their neat little rows, sealed beneath the cellophane. I keep them in the box.

More and more, we are hearing calls for a more creative workforce activated by, as the business writer Daniel H. Pink calls it, "a whole new mind". The idea seems to be that in an information economy, developing creative and critical thinking skills is becoming increasingly necessary for our citizenry in order to effectively adapt to an ever-changing workplace and a radically fluctuating economy. If this is indeed true (and I believe that it is), our education systems must actively support learners in becoming increasing flexible, collaborative, and innovative.

 A few weeks ago, in a combative mood, I gleefully posted an attack on “tacky craft activities” as the enemy of aesthetic education. Today, in a more contemplative mood, I am wondering what is it specifically about these activities that make them so perennial?