Cloud 9

I recently spent two days at a campus/hamlet in a rural town in Eastern Alberta called "Rosebud". The town has existed now for some time in the collective subconscious of most of the people I've spoken to about it in Calgary, due in large part to the quality and accessibility of their "Theatre". But this post is not about them. (however you can learn more about them by choosing this link: http://www.rosebudtheatre.com/index.html)

A view from the road (moving about the campus) at Rosebud
The clouds on the horizon brought snow, similar to the clouds in Part 2 of this blog.

What was special about this trip was that it was the result of ACSI (http://www.acsi.org/) and the vision they have for arts in education approaching Rosebud School for the Arts to host a two-day retreat for students in member schools to attend workshops on how to "tell important stories".  This brought together students from Calgary Alberta, Drayton Valley Alberta, Kooteny British Columbia and this one other place distant that I can't recall at this moment.  The students ranged from grade 8 to grade 12, both male and female.

What was important about this trip as moment in time for teaching was that upon arrival the students were handed a name-tag with a schedule on the back and were welcomed and blessed by the ubiquitous ACSI representative Dr. Phil Hills.  That was all anyone got...

Let's put this in perspective.  Rosebud is a small town.  The campus for the theatre school covers three of the four corners of the town (roughly 3 city-blocks in any direction).  The students have not been here before, nor are their any large sign around saying "please walk this way."  The instructions were:  You have your class listings, and a name of a building. Find some friendly people, they're all around and they know the place well.  Ask them, they'll give you directions.  There's a welcome sign on every door you might need to be in.  If you're going to be late, use public transit. It's free.  Oh, and there is a completely uninsured trampoline on one of the sites, so don't tell anyone when you use it.  Your chaperons are free to wander as they wish.

This is Public Transit in Rosebud.  It's free.

Freedom, the outdoors, lack of walls and bells, the ability to talk to strangers, roaming free with coed teenagers from out of town of a prime "socializing" age... oh look, a black bird in the reeds of an Oxbow Lake...

It's a wonder that anyone got to any workshop at all, right..? Actually, wrong.  It's not a wonder at all... this style of teaching is 100% 21st Century education.  It smacks of all the right tools for engaging a 21st Century student.

So now the icing -- my cell phone had no coverage out there in the Boonies, and though I had my iPad with me at all times, it never occurred to me to check if there was a network available.  It became a tool for focus rather than an element of distraction... and I, along with several others, put away my phone and became present. 


Present.  What a lovely word.  So important when storytelling, and so-much the reason I think that Rosebud has developed a solid reputation for fine theatre-art.  It helps that it's a beautiful town nestled in what appears to be an ancient lake-bed with a river valley anastimosed on a line of remnant hills reminding us of the ancient and beautiful creation around us... (I was once a geologist, every so often I get stratigraphic-reflux... sorry)

My point, I guess, is that I didn't once have to speak to a student about being where they needed to be, or about getting there on-time... because time didn't really matter much.  The teaching that needed to happen was closer to mentoring them on how to be a good neighbour as they moved through the community.  I had to show them how to be aware of the world around us, how important it is for Grade 8 and 9 science students to really comprehend the majesty of a water system and the morphology of the river... sorry; there I go again...

I want to break some rules and share one more picture.  This one is of three students, in three different grades, from three different schools preparing for an improvised presentation that will illustrate Laban's 7 Efforts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laban_Movement_Analysis)  Body language really tells this story which happened more often than not throughout the course of the workshops.  By design.  By necessity.  By accident.

Was every workshop perfect?  No.  Engaging for all?  Absolutely not.  The students I took responded mostly with the reflection that:  "We got to show others our story, and they liked it."  Speaking of the work they did to show off the One-Act play we derived over the past four months (one lunch-hour per week).  For teenagers, it's still about relationships, and getting feedback.

And Rosebud was primed for that.  What does an actor enjoy more than the applause at the end of the show; the validation that their work had personal meaning to someone else.  When that personal meaning can be faith derived we've found a bit of the kingdom, and that puts me on "Cloud 9".

I can't possibly capture all the wonderful things that happened these two days, nor will I ever reveal the traumatic nightmares that came for two-days post-trip as my body recovered from being around adolescent theatre-students...  I would like to say that if you get the chance, the show is great, the food is excellent, and the town is a delight not to be missed.

---

Part 2

The Cloud

After using the iPad to capture several photos and video my next experiment was to use my vast array of "cloud" providers to ensure that, having filled up my iPad, I could empty it out and quickly use the information on any computer that I might be near at the time.

Here are my favorites:

1. Dropbox:  Linked to my PC's desktop so the files sync automatically between them.  Free, so the space is somewhat limited.  The first attempt to upload files went -- okay.  Some files were too large to be uploaded.
2. Google Drive: (aka Picasa) using a PC I was able to see my iPad and thereby bring files over from local media and upload into Picasa.  It was labourious and slow, but at least I could store the bigger files.
3. Box.net:  great iPad app, but some irritation with the work-flow, and some issues with the output.  The file size again (for free) is a limiter and the upload process does not occur in the background so any interruption means having to restart certain files over again.  Most annoying feature - it renames files so if something doesn't upload you have to make an educated guess to which file it was...  So why use it?  Nice integration, 50GB space for free.
4. Skydrive:  the other three did what I needed them to do, so I didn't bother.  Not enough integration with the other apps to make this one worthwhile.
5. iCloud: My photostream is set to only accept pictures and not video (which is nice, because I only have 5 free GB).  Unfortunately everything goes in automatically and to save space I'm often having to delete files twice.  I always get my files to where I want them, and I always know what's there though.  I love this feature.

So the problem now is:  which do I decide to spend my money on?  I can't stay on the Lite versions forever?  Can I?