Worldmaking

I'm starting to think about my Fall classes - not just the what but the how. I had some fun ideas while doing the TESOL Methods intensive, using photographs and quizzes and breakout groups and even some meditation, but that was before it was certain that we would be online. Now that's settled I'm realizing that the what and the how have to be connected to be optimally effective. So here's an idea for the "Religion and the Anthropocene" class:

clay !

Inspired by a friend who, over zoom, showed me an adorable stegosaurus they'd fashioned for a little friend, I'm thinking of sending each member of the class some clay. During class sessions, they'll be permitted, indeed encouraged, to "doodle" with clay, and at some point we'll share what we've been doing with the class. Beyond activating our creativity, keeping hands busy this way might help students resist the surf the net, and the tactility and three-dimensionality of it might break zoom's 2-D curse when we show each other what we've done. I'm thinking of calling it

"breaking the third wall" !

But there's a further reason this makes sense in a class called "Religion and the Anthropo- cene." We humans are ourselves made of clay, according to many traditions, but we are also sculptors. While I'm not planning to spend time on The God Species I think owning the fact that we are makers will deepen our reflection on the anthropocene. (We make worlds and can even make extinct things, like dinosaurs! Gods, too.) My working name for the practice comes straight from anthropocene sci-fi:

"terraforming" !

 

(These images are of course not of clay but they are something I made: my latest, and most successful, expedition to planet sourdough.)