Article in YES magazine

“If we teach our children that to live is to do what other people tell you to do and to give up what you really want for yourself, your family and your community, then we will always live in a racist, sexist, classist and homophobic world. If we want a world free from injustice we cannot start by enslaving our children to an educational system that forces them to lay down their vision of themselves and of the world to the vision of others.”

This article was written by one of the Brooklyn Free School teachers for YES magazine.

The link:

http://www.yesmagazine.org/for-teachers/teacher-stories/teachers-stories-free-to-be-me

HAIR performs for a BFS Fundraiser

For Immediate Release: January 12, 2009
The Cast of HAIR ‘As Themselves’
A Benefit Concert for Brooklyn Free School
Contact: Corinne Goodman 718-965-3150 <mailto:corinneg@mindspring.com>corinneg@mindspring.com

Members of the Tony Award-Winning Broadway revival of the cast of HAIR are performing in a special benefit concert for Brooklyn Free School’s Building Campaign on Sunday, February 7th at 10:00 p.m. at The Laurie Beechman Theater, 407 West 42nd Street in Manhattan. In the spirit of Brooklyn Free School, who’s motto is: “Where Children Can Be Themselves,” every HAIR cast member will be singing original material by new composers, some written by cast members themselves, as well as some new arrangements of old favorites.

Brooklyn Free School (BFS) is a K-12 democratic independent school that was founded in 2003, then the first democratic free school in New York City in 30 years. BFS, a racially, culturally and socio-economically diverse school, is a community that helps every child who walks through the door take charge of their own learning and their own lives. BFS is an inclusion school, where many students who had difficulty in a regular public or private school get a second chance. Students and staff each have one vote at the weekly democratic meetings where issues related to the daily running of the school are decided. Ability to pay is not a factor in student admission, and 80% of the students receive partial or full financial aid.

Brooklyn Free School outgrew cramped rented space where it was housed for the past 5 1/2 years in a church in Park Slope, and just bought and moved into its own dedicated space – a 5-story building on Clinton Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The BFS Building Campaign is raising the money the school borrowed from individuals to meet the downpayment on the building, as well as for renovations. The school hopes to turn the building green within the next five years. Contributions to the campaign can also be made online at the school’s website: <http://brooklynfreeschool.org>brooklynfreeschool.org

Admission for the benefit concert on February 7th at the Laurie Beechman Theater is $45 for adults, $35 for students. For reservations call the Laurie Beechman: 212-695-6909. There is a $15 food and drink minimum. The audience is encouraged to bring their checkbooks for additional tax-deductible donations to the school and HAIR-related auction items.

The Notion of Freedom

Last night, I attended the first parent meeting at the new building for the Brooklyn Free School. Many things were discussed. Topics that I doubt you would find at a public school PTA. Racism, bullying, what we feel are the benefits of our children being in a school where the core concepts are freedom and democracy. There was one question brought up as one of the symptoms of a student dealing with that freedom, and how the conditions create a situation where you no longer are able to look to someone else to create motivation to learn. The burden falls on oneself. And this got me to thinking today about freedom, and what it might really mean, in reality.

Freedom is something that is bandied about casually as the goal of cultures, nations, and individuals. But what does that really mean? Our Bill of Rights state that we have the freedom to  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but I feel that this may be another collective fantasy.Do we really pursue such things like happiness. What is happiness. What is life. What is liberty?

A few years ago, I got the opportunity to see a British TV drama based on the original democratic free school,  Summerhill. The premise was of a free school facing being closed by government sources. This is based on real events, but for the sake of my contemplation on freedom, I only want to sight one example from the film. One of the characters, a new boy who has a history of difficulty in social circumstances is told by one of the advisers  “freedom is a difficult thing to handle if you have never had it.”

In essence, he was saying that freedom requires responsibility. We seem to demand it as a nation. We demand it as individuals. But do we understand the level of responsibility it takes to maneuver through life with this responsibility?

So it came out in this instance by a parent who was concerned about his son. A young man who has been with us since the school was founded and is now about 15, so he has been in the school since he was 9 or 10. He went from being mildly interested in music, to absorbing himself in economics, history, science and medicine. He recently did an internship with a pediatrician in a hospital as well as another with a bio technician. But lately he has felt the weight of the pressure he places on himself to continue to perform at such a high level. To most peoples eyes, this young man is impressive in his passion to learn, and to learn the things he is truly interested in.

His father, whom I spoke with after the meeting, is a virtuoso jazz guitarist. I suggested that for him to have attained to the level of playing he performs at, it must have required a level of demand on oneself to practice and study to bring one’s abilities to the top most level of jazz guitarists in the world. He admitted to me that this was true, and he never lets up on himself. So it is a case of  “like father, like son” only the young man in question places demands in a different category. I also suggested that being 15 may have been one of the shittiest years of my life (the father echoed my suggestion.) You are stuck in a body that is not quite manly, but filled with all the desires and hungers of an adult, and all this coupled with self doubt and awkwardness. One thing this young man has an opportunity to do as well: as much as he has the freedom to place pressure on himself, he also has the freedom to ease up, lay back and do nothing for a while. That is the beauty of a democratic free school. We get time to learn about ourselves, and feel what it might mean to be human.

In watching students who start out in this process from the very beginning, my own son seems to follow me in that he is constantly inventing projects which totally engage him. He has gone as far as forming a gaming company with one of his friends. This has led not only to game ideas, but to the development of stationary, business cards and he is embarking on creating his own catalog for his fictitious company in Adobe Illustrator. I should remind you that he is 9.

This freedom thing sure is interesting. It is something that was never, in reality, ever an option for most of us. It wasn’t for me. I was made like everyone else to sit still all day and shut up. I occupied myself by ignoring what the teacher was doing and immersed myself in drawing…all over my notebooks. Not something public school teachers were in favor of. They saw it as a waist of time. We were being prepare for jobs. Certainly the idea of job and freedom seem adverse to each other. But business and freedom can go hand in hand. So why not let children pursue their innate desires and curiosities. It would probably lead to a healthier world, but that would require a revolution, and I do not believe in them. Like Roger Daltry sang “meet the new boss, same as the old boss!”

So to wrap up, it seems that I have still not solved the issue of freedom. As if I could. There is also the idea of spiritual liberation. An inner freedom that brings one’s own world view into a whole other realm of perception. In truth we are born with shackles. They are not iron and metal, but they are composed of thoughts, habits, parental expectation, social expectation, all of which lead to self doubt, lack of motivation and a feeling that we don’t contribute to anything useful. All of this can be summed up as wrong education. It would be my hope that by releasing a child early on, from the shackles of educational expectation, that it may lead them to have desire and need for this other inner freedom. And that, for me, is the seed of evolution.

A Life in the Day

For the first time since BFS moved, I got to spend a full day in the new space. Historically, I have come on a semi regular basis to work with students in drawing. The form this usually takes is that I come with my equipment, sit myself down in a visible area, and just start drawing. Whoever wishes to join me is welcome. In the old space, we had a dedicated work room in the basement. But I avoided it as it was cold, damp, musty and windowless. In the new space, we now have 2 dedicated art spaces (one not yet open). In this space it was warm, dry, and I was able to work in front of two huge windows. The room was always occupied by a few students, and the atmosphere was way more relaxing.

Danial Schaefer, another parent volunteer, and a professional comics artist was already in the room conducting a class. The class basically involves blank books with panels already set in place and the children just work on developing their own stories. So rather than doing my usual schtick, I joined them. I found that I was able to support the class with my experience.

My original career goal was as a cartoonist when I entered art school. I had Harvey Kurtzmen and Jerry Moriarty as teachers and occasionally crashed Will Eisner’s class where I would hide in the back and observe. My favorite class at SVA was History of Animation. Three hours of vintage cartoons with occasional lectures from the teacher. And then last of all was my half day class with Gill Miret who I believe was a former Disney employee (all the animation teachers hated Disney). Gil’s class was a workshop where we worked on our own projects. There was an old Oxbury camera set up and we all had light tables to work on. I spent the entire year working on my stream of consciousness animation which after 10 months rolled out to be 59 seconds in length.

I hope to post some of what I worked in Dan’s class, but that will have to be another time. I just wanted to share the excitement of having the school at a new and dedicated location. No more moving stuff around to accommodate the church. No more dank, cold, windowless spaces. Clinton Hill proves to be a very hip and quaint area with its many old mansions and brownstones. There are at least 2 large playgrounds within a few blocks and there may even be an athletic field one train stop away. It feels to me that BFS is in a place where it can really take new form as it places itself on the frontier of education reform.

If you wish to help in some way, volunteers and visitors are welcome. Visit the school on the web at www.brooklynfreeschool.org

First Day at the New Building

So today Brooklyn Free School entered a new era. Finally a permanent home. No more moving stuff to accommodate the church. Projects can be started and worked on long term. Now there are many more rooms, all spacious, for continuous study. Much room for retreat. A real library. A science room. A dedicated lunch and meeting room. A kitchen that is all ours, and spacious. And Alan gets a real office.

Rather than philosophizing, I will share some photos I took this morning. Noah was way too anxious after an extra week of vacation. He was way too excited to go to school. He was very specific about his dress this morning…he had to look cool.

HEADLINE NEWS-Brooklyn Free School Has a New Home

To all those who contributed, or supported us in any way, we have reached a milestone! From the days when parents, teachers and students gathered in apartments to form a new education alternative right here in Brooklyn, to now, where we have our own dedicated space. I have posted Mr. Berger’s letter below. Without him, this could not have gotten done. His focus and tenaciousness never let up.

Dear Friends of BFS,

I am hereby announcing that Brooklyn Free School has a new home!  We closed on the purchase of 372 Clinton Ave. yesterday!  We will begin the new year in a school building that belongs to us, is 50% larger, is 100% above ground with high ceilings, lots of light, plenty of space and in a great location and neighborhood!

I want to thank all of you who contributed to this purchase or helped out in any way!  We couldn’t have done it without the support of the immediate and greater BFS community and its many supporters.  Now we are on to bigger and better things–the future is bright for BFS and for democratic education in NYC!!

We will be very busy over the next several weeks closing down 120 16th St. and getting 372 Clinton Ave. ready for school to open, so if you want to help out in any way, let me know.

We also still need funds to help pay for the renovation work we need to do to move in and fees that we were able to defer so that we could close on the building yesterday.  We’re only doing the work necessary to make sure the facility is safe and clean for now.  We estimate that we will need about $50,000 to do this work and pay off the remaining fees.

Thanks again for helping us get us this far. I look forward to continuing to partner with you to build BFS into a major educational institution in NYC, and hope you have a chance in the near future to come and visit us in our new home!!

Enjoy your holidays and have a happy new year!
Alan

Joy to all for the coming New Year

The Zeines Family Photo

In a sense, we are mired in the world of appearances. Everything that crosses our eyes, seems to have an influence on me. A spiritual struggle, would inevitably take me to a place where the world of illusion is just that, nothing more. And THAT I AM THAT I AM. The koan that appeared in the mind of Moses in front of the Burning Bush.

We live with a false sense of what existence means. We are defined by social status, material possessions, ambitions, sexual desires and self esteem issues. How to become truly free, inwardly, is a question that has dogged humanity for eons. And it is this question we most need to ponder. Especially in a time when it is made clear to us on a daily basis that our old illusions and dreams no longer support our pristine self image. Our old somnambulistic mode of living.

The Buddhists suggest that we let these attachments fall away like dust, even before the ultimate demise of the physical body. We have no idea what lies beyond. If a consciousness exists, we need to develop a relationship with it while we still have a physical body. Only by developing something strong within my own self, is it even conceivable that something can last beyond death. And though all this is truly unknown, our quest for it is what gives our lives meaning. Without an inner search, man is exiled to a realm of fantasy and delusion.

A Day at School

Every once in a while I have the opportunity to spend a day at school. On these days, I usually bring along a box of quills, pencils, pens and ink bottles. I do not make a formal announcement about what I am doing. I merely set up shop in the main room, where the light is good, and I begin to draw. Usually I have a piece that has been worked on in this environment before. My main task is to demonstrate the base technique that I employ, namely crosshatching.

As I sit and draw, it may be that I am left alone for a time. But then gradually one student or another will begin to venture over to see what I am doing. “What are you doing?”

My answer, “I don’t know.”

My reply is sincere. It has taken me years to cultivate the act of not knowing what I am doing. But it certainly looks cool. Eventually one or two children will ask if they can draw with me. This is where it gets challenging. Working with ink is an unforgiving process. If you drip, or spill, it is a mess. I have spilled ink on myself, on my work. (A recent incident resulted in my taking my ink stained pants off, soaking them in OxyClean, and forgetting my cell phone was in the pocket) Dripping is the most common problem working with young boys and girls. Now my attention needs to be on them, and not on my own work. Now I am in damage control mode.

Also, the points I work with are of a specific design. I tend to buy slightly pricier Japanese pen points commonly used for Anime. I like the fine smooth line they give me. They lend themselves to a fast but accurate rendered stroke. Of course this is not really appreciated by a 7 year old and they tend to press too hard on the paper with the ink. But I suck it up and try to give advice as it is needed. Hopefully I get out of this with nothing being ruined, and a small mess to clean up.

Ken at work with pen and ink.

By 10:45 am it was time to stop and move on to the democratic meeting. It has been some time since I attended one of these, and I was unaware of a slight change in the process. Every other week, the school divides into upper and lower (under 12 and over 12). I went with the younger ones in the basement. Three children are nominated by others to chair the meeting. It is then voted on, and the vote winner, chairs, second becomes co-chair. It is very interesting seeing how this acts as a very acute teaching tool. The student has to step into a leadership role, and oversee a meeting. All the children at one time or another, will get to serve in this capacity. It is the one thing that evens the playing field. Everyone is accepted as part of the community and everyone has equal say. Both student, teacher and volunteer.

Democratic Meeting of the lower school.

The agenda items focused on eating in the basement and the chewing of gum at school. If a child is unruly at the meeting, he is asked to stop. If they continue, they are asked to leave the meeting. Only one had to be removed.

After the meeting is lunch and since it was bring your own lunch, it had the usual lunchtime madness, I staked out a small place for myself to eat what I had prepared for the day. After lunch, an all school mandatory meeting was called to address the issue of people taking or messing with other people’s stuff. I am sure this is standard Free School fare that has been brought to agenda for decades. The meeting was chaired by one of the oldest students and co chaired by a younger one. In this case the call to order came with more authority.

I was able to slip out and get myself a coffee.  Once I returned, I was no longer in volunteer mode, but needed to retreat into my own world. I took up finishing the drawing I had started. I always give the teachers credit for their ability to pace themselves, because I leave the day exhausted. I do this because I am deeply interested in this unique process of learning at a democratic free school. I am continually amazed at the development that I see taking place. Students stay engaged throughout the day in one activity or anther, without coercion. Out of this, in my opinion, develops deeper thinking individuals.

School Trip – Tim Burton Exhibition

One of the key learning experiences at the Brooklyn Free School, is the constant and frequent excursions into the city. Everything from exploring the river coastline, walking through an old cemetery, visiting a studio or visiting the many exhibitions at the multitude of museums. Occasionally, I opt to join them on one of these jaunts, usually when it coincides with my own interest.

The last trip I went on was a few years ago to the Pixar exhibit at MOMA which resulted in me buying a 1 year artist pass, and returning to the museum a few more times over the course of the year. This time, MOMA has done it again with a retrospective on the work of Tim Burton.

Mr. Burton has always been a family favorite. My son quickly became an avid fan at 5 asking to see the entire Tim Burton catalog. We have seen every movie he has made with the exception of his worst film, Planet of the Apes.

I must say the museum did a wonderful job. There were many of his early sketches from college. Many of his story conceptions for his animations and early directorial efforts. With the help of his close friend, Rick Heinrichs, there were sculptural representations of many of his ideas. Some that never made it to film. Many, that were used like: Oogy Boogy, from Nightmare Before Christmas, all of Jack Skeleton’s heads, Beetlejuice as a snake head, robots from Edward Scissorhands, Batman cowls, models from Corpse Bride, props from Mars Atacks! and the list goes on and on.

There are a multitude of sketches for movies and unrealized film ideas. Many with written notes on how he wanted a scene to be shot. Much of this was reminiscent to my own life as I too have a multitude of early drawings which can explain how I arrived at my current style. But I must admit, Tim was definitely more focused then me. I was impressed with the energy that he put into every piece. You can see the idea racing through his mind and getting his hand to catch up with his head. I loved seeing his conceptions for The Penguin in the second Batman film. All of his drawings have a serious cartoonist hand at work (he did work for Disney.) Many of these drawings were never meant to stand as museum pieces. Much of the work was executed on scraps of paper, not archival, and some of it already beginning to yellow. Tim himself said that this show made him nervous, because much of this was private and intimate, and was never intended to see the light of day. But on the other hand, it tells a really great story about a very public career. One in which many of us have been able to see on screen.

The kids got a big kick out of the 3D material all around. The show is abundant. So it was interesting to hear one of the young girls exclaim to us as we got to the end “David, this show is starting to get boring!” Interesting how the show, which was so exciting for them, got SUDDENLY boring. But this is how it goes.

The truth is, when David (teacher) asked if I wanted to stay in the museum and stroll around, I opted to return to school with the children. It has been my observation, that more than an hour or two in a museum is more than enough. Here we were, looking at 30 years of a mans’ life in the span of an hour. At that point, my back begins to hurt, I want to sit down and eat something, and yeah, it starts to get boring, because in truth, I am now flooded with impressions, and I need to digest what I have seen.

I once observed while walking through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that my body began to feel very heavy after two hours. I realized that I was experiencing thousands of years of art, in a concentrated period. I had gone from ancient tombs and sarcophagi to 17th and 18th century painting to modern art in a matter of steps. No wonder I felt like I was carrying a block of granite on my back. So what this young girl was expressing, was essentially truth.

All in all it was a worthy excursion, and I hope to get a second look before the show closes. My only criticism is that it is crowded, which makes for viewing any art, difficult. And MOMA is not cheap. At $20 bucks a head  (children free) this it not for the lower classes, and the lack of diversity in the crowds is apparent. I believe we had the ONLY dark faces in the entire place, with the exception of the security staff. And that is a crying shame. That ordinary people cannot afford to come and enjoy, and learn from the creative expression that is taking place in their own culture. Somehow, this needs to be brought to the attention of the museum, if it hasn’t already.

But I will go back. I will blend into the milky white crowds, that sip lattes, eat croissants and wax on intelligently about things they can hardly understand, and I will stand tall among them. Because I have looked behind the veil. And I understand, and live the root of creativity. And that is something that the entitled masses can never take away. I highly recommend getting to see this show. You will not regret it.

The World Famous Bruce Zeines Interview