[PeDAGoG] A shout out to Melanie Bush

Sat May 28 17:45:10 CEST 2022

Nice to see so many responses on this thread. Melanie and I can perhaps
write our experience together and as Ashish suggests post it for wider
audience.

On Sat, 28 May, 2022, 4:12 pm Melanie Bush, <melanie.e.l.bush at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Of course! Perhaps we can both share with you so you see our approaches.
> Ok Pallavi?
>
> Any one interested just email us…
>
> On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 12:14 PM <singhvan at rcn.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for this fascinating discussion, Pallavi and Melanie - would you
>> be willing to share details about this assignment?  I'd be interested in
>> trying it out with my students.
>> Best,
>> Vandana
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From: *"Melanie Bush" <melanie.e.l.bush at gmail.com>
>> *To: *"PeDAGoG" <gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org>
>> *Cc: *"Global Tapestry of Alternatives" <gta at lists.riseup.net>
>> *Sent: *Saturday, May 28, 2022 5:42:05 AM
>>
>> *Subject: *Re: [PeDAGoG] A shout out to Melanie Bush
>>
>> Pallavi, I am moved by your experience and your generosity.  Every time I
>> use this assignment the students go from being extremely skeptical -
>> including saying things like what do I have to offer and how could one hour
>> matter - to being opened to affirmations of worth and possibility.
>> Perhaps we might do a joint essay?
>>
>> We've already begun exploring how we might match our students with each
>> other in a future time bank experience.  I feel certain we'll figure out
>> how to do that for an extraordinary experience.
>>
>> I'll also report that from the PeDaGoG network, Sayan and I connected.
>> One of his colleagues at WITS CDS spoke with my Ethnicity class this spring
>> (as did Devika btw), and I spoke with folks at the center yesterday and
>> we'll be meeting up again later today. Also met with Patrick Bond
>> yesterday, Ashish, who I believe you know well.
>>
>> Building forward with inspiration from all of you. Thank you Ashish and
>> the GTA core team for all your efforts in pulling us together.   Very
>> grateful to be a part of this initiative.
>>
>> Blessings all,
>> Melanie
>>
>> On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 11:31 AM Ashish Kothari <ashishkothari at riseup.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> That's amazing and inspiring, Pallavi! And thanks Melanie! This is so
>>> much the essence of this kind of forum and network ... and it probably
>>> happens every once in a while but is not always reported back. In the
>>> Vikalp Sangam process we get such news occasionally, of bilateral or
>>> multilateral linkages made at the Sangam confluences or online, resulting
>>> in some wonderful collaborations and actions, and it then all seems worth
>>> the constant emailing, phoning, and following up! :)
>>>
>>> It would be great to get one or more of the students to write about this
>>> experience, which we can carry on vikalp sangam website .. and perhaps they
>>> can also publish in one of the youth magazines? And/or you writing about it
>>> ... with a bit more elaboration on what they tried, how they were
>>> transformed etc ?
>>>
>>> (I am copying in here also the GTA core team to let them know of this).
>>>
>>> ashish
>>>
>>> New, for post-COVID dignified livelihoods in India! Vikalp Sutra
>>> <https://sutra.vikalpsangam.org/>
>>>
>>> FREE DOWNLOAD! Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary
>>> <https://radicalecologicaldemocracy.org/pluriverse>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Ashish Kothari
>>>
>>> Kalpavriksh
>>>
>>> Apt 5 Shree Datta Krupa
>>>
>>> 908 Deccan Gymkhana
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/908%0D%0A++++++++++++Deccan+Gymkhana+%0D%0A+++++++++Pune%0D%0A++++++++++++411004,+India?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>
>>> Pune 411004, India
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/908%0D%0A++++++++++++Deccan+Gymkhana+%0D%0A+++++++++Pune%0D%0A++++++++++++411004,+India?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>
>>> Tel:
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/908%0D%0A++++++++++++Deccan+Gymkhana+%0D%0A+++++++++Pune%0D%0A++++++++++++411004,+India?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>> 91-20-25654239; 91-20-25675450
>>>
>>> Kalpavriksh <https://kalpavriksh.org/>
>>>
>>> Vikalp Sangam <http://vikalpsangam.org/>
>>>
>>> Radical Ecological Democracy
>>> <http://www.radicalecologicaldemocracy.org/>
>>>
>>> Global Tapestry of Alternatives
>>> <http://www.globaltapestryofalternatives.org/>
>>>
>>> https://ashishkothari51.blogspot.com
>>>
>>> Twitter <https://twitter.com/chikikothari> LinkedIn
>>> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishkothari1961> Instagram
>>> <https://www.instagram.com/ashishkotharivikalp/> Facebook
>>> <https://www.facebook.com/ashish.kothari.1297>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 28/05/22 1:09 pm, Pallavi Varma Patil wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear PeDAGoG Members,
>>>
>>> I wanted to share a recent interesting and meaningful experience that
>>> came about directly as a result of this network.
>>>
>>> You are aware (mostly thanks to my own emails) that Sujit and I offered
>>> the first session in the new webinar series called 'Learnings for
>>> Alternative Futures' (designed in collaboration with several valuable
>>> networks)  by presenting our initiative, 'Living Utopias' on April 1,
>>> 2022.  It was a session with a small group and we had a very useful
>>> conversation amongst the participants. One of them , Melanie Bush (more on
>>> her in our google sheet <https://bit.ly/3MWczsB> ) reached out to us in
>>> the following week and we had a lovely conversation about pedagogies and
>>> experiential learning- making abstract values more tangible.
>>>
>>> And so I learnt from Melanie (with her generous sharing of ideas ) how
>>> to set up an assignment around a Time Bank in a classroom space . I was
>>> skeptical but my students in an Indian University (36 of them) rose to the
>>> occasion and exceeded the brief and more. They paired up on their own and
>>> shared their skills and gifts. So from bike rides to coffee evenings to
>>> cooking, a lake walk, a photoshoot, braiding hair,  to watching a film
>>> together, playing childhood games - they completed their time sharing tasks
>>> in  myriad ways.
>>>
>>> And just like that my University class transformed like magic . We had a
>>> whole unit on Solidarity Economics with the usual reading list but now each
>>> one of them came back to class with a different mind set towards learning.
>>> They were so much more engaged as participants in ideas around Living
>>> Utopias.  Without ANY exception I had 36 reflections that spoke about the
>>> huge impact a small assignment made on the possibilities that friendships
>>> and connections bring,
>>>
>>> It was difficult to read their sensitive reflections without tearing up.
>>> These students are in the age group of 22-27 years. Coming out of COVID
>>> closures, and increased polarisation in the world around them,  several are
>>> struggling to make and maintain real physical comradeship and friendships.
>>> Many are also very despondent about the future.
>>> In this context, thanks to such a  simple assignment, I got to connect
>>> with my students in a very different and humane way.
>>>
>>> I wanted to publicly thank Melanie in this forum for this impromptu
>>> collaboration.  Following our webinar was Dan Baron's fantastic session and
>>> a 3rd webinar in the series is on its way. I hope what is now set rolling
>>> continues and we do not stop soon.
>>>
>>> Because look how New York affected  Bangalore!.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Pallavi
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> https://naitaleem.wordpress.com/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> https://naitaleem.wordpress.com/
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> GTA-PeDAGoG mailing listGTA-PeDAGoG at lists.ourproject.orghttp://lists.ourproject.org/mailman/listinfo/gta-pedagog
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> .............................................
>> Rod Bush: Lessons from a Radical Black Scholar on Liberation, Love, and
>> Justice
>> Open access download for teaching purposes
>> <https://www.okcir.com/product/rod-bush-lessons-from-a-radical-black-scholar-on-liberation-love-and-justice/>
>> https://rodbush.org/
>>
>> ***********************************************************************
>> Tensions in the American Dream: Rhetoric, Reverie or Reality
>> <http://tupress.temple.edu/book/0399>
>> Free with audible trial:
>> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F44CBLK?ref=adbl_mfpdp_owns
>> Author proceeds go to Cooperation Jackson
>> <https://cooperationjackson.org/>
>>
>> ..........................................
>>
>> Everyday Forms of Whiteness: Understanding Race in a "Post-Racial" World
>> <https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742599994/Everyday-Forms-of-Whiteness-Understanding-Race-in-a-'Post-Racial'-World-Second-Edition>
>>
>>
>> *Eternal and infinite love for you, yours & the ongoing struggle *
>>
>> *for dignity, justice, wisdom and peace.*
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> GTA-PeDAGoG mailing list
>> GTA-PeDAGoG at lists.ourproject.org
>> http://lists.ourproject.org/mailman/listinfo/gta-pedagog
>> _______________________________________________
>> GTA-PeDAGoG mailing list
>> GTA-PeDAGoG at lists.ourproject.org
>> http://lists.ourproject.org/mailman/listinfo/gta-pedagog
>>
> --
>
> .............................................
> Rod Bush: Lessons from a Radical Black Scholar on Liberation, Love, and
> Justice
> Open access download for teaching purposes
> <https://www.okcir.com/product/rod-bush-lessons-from-a-radical-black-scholar-on-liberation-love-and-justice/>
> https://rodbush.org/
>
> ***********************************************************************
> Tensions in the American Dream: Rhetoric, Reverie or Reality
> <http://tupress.temple.edu/book/0399>
> Free with audible trial:
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F44CBLK?ref=adbl_mfpdp_owns
> Author proceeds go to Cooperation Jackson
> <https://cooperationjackson.org/>
>
> ..........................................
>
> Everyday Forms of Whiteness: Understanding Race in a "Post-Racial" World
> <https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742599994/Everyday-Forms-of-Whiteness-Understanding-Race-in-a-'Post-Racial'-World-Second-Edition>
>
>
> *Eternal and infinite love for you, yours & the ongoing struggle *
>
> *for dignity, justice, wisdom and peace.*
> _______________________________________________
> GTA-PeDAGoG mailing list
> GTA-PeDAGoG at lists.ourproject.org
> http://lists.ourproject.org/mailman/listinfo/gta-pedagog
>
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