Dear River Community,
Such wonderful things have happened for the Global Rivers Project this month but I must admit I’ve put off blogging as I feel almost paralyzed with grief about Japan. I am beset by visions of radiation poisoning and devistation in our water and on our land. I’ve become prayerful and inward. Now it is time to reach out with all my might and start working again on our next project, which, was put in motion months before the tsunami hit, but, as serendipity, might have it, we have in the pipe line, an art exchange with Japan. We will be creating healing Origami for the people of Japan…

Thanks to Dr Peter Whitehouse we have been teamed up with the Saint Luke’s Hospital in Japan. We are calling the project, Healing Origami/Folding the River of Life. The idea is to get as many people as possible to fold and origami figures to ride above a folded river. We hope to have 1000 origami figurers just as in Japan it has been a time honored tradition to create 1000 cranes for someone who is ill. We will create 1000 animal birds and plants that grace the shore of our little, Cleveland , inner city river, the Doan Brook.

Next blog I will recap what I leaned as we completed the first stage of our  art exchange in Cleveland with the TIS School and nursing home, Judson Mannor. In the blog after that I’ll tell you about MoMA and the symposium on art and Alzheimers’s called Mapping Perceptions.

Thanks for visiting and please write back. Bernice

Dear Friends,
It is with a heart full to brimming, that I write to you today. I’ve just started the process of reviewing the Doan Brook Cleveland residency experience of last week and, I just can’t tell you how much I learned. The first thing that struck me is the amazing interconnectedness in concept and mission between the Intergenerational School and the Judson Smart Living community. The mission Statements of both create a perfect match, in that they are both based on compassion and connection with the earth. I might add, I witnessed some of the smartest and most effective, and compassionate methods in both childhood education and elder care that I have ever experienced.
I felt like I came into this perfect marriage with a puzzle, piece that was much appreciated, which were stories of the water and a few about the earth. The response to these stories was an incredible intergenerational celebration of what is.. How it is with the water. For this lesson I was embraced, agreed with and appreciated for one whole week by people of all ages who treat each other with respect.. Oh also, I got to meet 13 true hero/elders, the folks who fought to save the river in the late 60’s. During this residency they got to meet children from 4 generations later who appreciated their efforts. Sound like Heaven? It was.

Tori asks , where do we go from here? Let’s take a minute to vision about that… While we think I leave you with the words of some of these elder/heroes who worked in the late 60’s to save the Dan Brook.
When asked what words they would like to pass on to the youth about the waters here is what they said..
“Pru Garrettson
“Our bodies are largely made up of water, so, protect the Earth’s water supply for your health.”

Kathy Barber
“Don’t ever hang back! Jump in with both feet to save the water and protect the water of the Earth for your health.”

Florence Spurney
“Save the Earth let’s start at Home!”

Leanne Rayburn
The reaction to the highway was a huge spontaneous revolution. Everyone was in agreement, and against it. It was a ground swell.”
Let’s start our new chapter by passing these words along to the kids. They say volumes..
Much love to all new Friends,
Bernice