For decades Martin Fletcher was a foreign correspondent reporter who told stories. I learned that while he was in Maine not long ago he appeared in an interview (2-parts) on the TV show 207. His reporting took him to places in the world that were devastated by war, hunger and many other challenges. He saw people in the most horrible of situations.
I was attracted to this story because of the title of his book however, it’s not what I initially thought that it was going to be. The book called Teachers – The Ones I Can’t Forget. Martin, now retired from NBC, includes stories that are about some of the people he met along his journey.
His stories and interviews are captivating and provide, to his audiences in their busy lives, to reflect on what is important in the moment. His wife stated that the people he met along his journey “left scratches on his soul“. Ten of his correspondent friends died in the line of duty and several others injured. He believes he was lucky to be out of harms way. And, felt that perhaps his luck was running out which was one of the reasons he retired. The Japanese people say: “you fall down 7 times and get up 8”.
One of the stories in the book is as follows:
As Fletcher walked through the feeding station, jotting notes to himself for the story he would write, a boy who was about six years old began to follow him. Although clearly suffering from starvation, with a distended belly and only patches of hair on his head, the boy kept “a respectful distance” and refused Fletcher’s offers of water, a granola bar, and a sandwich.
Eventually, Fletcher asked a guide what the boy wanted.
“He wants your pencil,” the interpreter said.
“My pencil? That’s all? But I’ve only got one,” Fletcher replied.
The guide spoke harshly to the boy, who ran away “throwing one last beaten glance over his shoulder as he disappeared among the starving and the sick,” Fletcher wrote.
“That experience has haunted me ever since. Why didn’t I give him my pencil? What, I couldn’t find another one? But in the moment, trying to record the drama around me, and with only one pencil, I didn’t see any farther than my notebook.”
The heart warming part of this story for me is that all the profits from his book go to Artolution. Looks like an amazing organization. aWhat they do…
“We provide collaborative art-making experiences to our participants in vulnerable communities, strengthening mental health, social inclusion and livelihoods. Artolution programming is led by inspiring local Teaching Artists.”
I know that many of you read about or saw the segment on NBC news about the success of Orchard Gardens K-8 School. I received about 10 emails from Maine arts educators with the link to the segment. I had this blog post in draft form for about 2 weeks since I had read about the school and its success earlier. Thanks to those who sent me the information after it was on the nightly news.
Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on security at the Orchard Gardens K-8 School in Roxbury, MA the principal let go of the security guards and hired arts teachers to take their places. Five principals in 7 years and each year half of the teaching staff would leave. In 2006 principal #6 Andrew Bott came on board and he chose to “use the arts as a tool for academic success.” They went from one of the lowest performing schools in the state to rapidly improvement. The halls reflect the spirit of the school with art work on display everywhere.
Retired music educator Iris Fields said: “In my mind, it shows the drastic interventions that need our commitment to help schools in Maine!” You can learn more at this link http://orchardgardensk8.org/about-us/. You can see the segment from NBC news last week at http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/51739754#51739754.
NBC is funding an initiative to create musical theater programs in U.S. schools in need of arts education. Twenty schools from throughout the US have received funding to pilot the program. The program will expand in the fall to another 180 programs and they have a goal of 1,000 schools by 2014. NBC is parterning with Make a Musical project by iTheatrics to reach the 1 million students by 2014. Read the article recently posted in the Huffington Post about this program by clicking here. You can learn more and obtain the application on the iTheatrics website.
Argy Nestor
Arts Educator, Blogger, Artist, Connector meartsed@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/view/anestor/
Argy’s Blog
The purpose of this blog is to share stories about people and places; and to celebrate the amazing work (and play) that students, educators, and organizations are doing in and for arts education. In addition, the blog has a plethora of resources and innovative ideas. This forum gives blog readers the opportunity to learn from each other. It is essential that we listen, learn, and collaborate in order to build on teaching practices for the benefit of every learner in Maine and beyond.
