Contrary to popular belief, there are many good things still happening in the world to applaud.
Give me a few minutes…I’m thinking.
Wait…let me go shut off the no good horrible day news coming from the tv and on my phone. And while I’m at it I think I’ll close my computer screen.
Yay! I thought of one good thing happening in the world. Fashion Camp! Yes. Fashion Camp. Every year a bunch of kids’ parents sign them up for a camp I created 13 years ago and have been teaching every summer since. A one-week total immersion into the world of fashion and the art of design for kids. It is a camp I created based on my years studying fashion design and illustration and art history at Parsons School of Design and The New School along with my years of experience working in the fashion industry.
I teach 7 -12-year-olds all about the art of design which includes repurposing, creating a collection and inspirational mood boards, how to think outside the box, understanding the use of fabrics, and lessons in fashion illustration and fashion photography. All culminating in them modeling their own unique designs sewn by me and my assistants, in two runway shows after having a lesson from a world-famous model, these past two years being Emily Sandberg Gold, on how to walk the runway. It’s truly an awesome week.
However, there is one thing each year I somehow forget. That is the energy of the youngest group. The 7-year-olds and their inability to focus too long on the task at hand especially while surrounded by a room full of jewelry, rows of fabrics, and accessories at their fingertips.
As much as I love children, I am reminded why I never became a full-time grade school schoolteacher. The decibel of the room can go from zero to, “I’m going to jump out the window,” in two seconds flat. I realized the other day that trying to get their attention requires way more creativity than screaming, “I’m having a nervous breakdown!” repeatedly which is what I found myself doing the other morning.
So, you can imagine my surprise in what followed when I spontaneously blurted out a sentence that even startled me. Once I realized shouting, “I’m having a nervous breakdown,” had zero affect and quite only exacerbated the situation since screaming on top of screaming only adds to screaming (somehow I’m having flashbacks to my mom yelling at us kids as I write this) I found myself calmly telling the 12 children who by now appeared to me as a room full of feral cats with no constraint, “I’m going to tell you all a Zen koan I want you to solve.” I’m not sure what it was about that sentence, however it seemed to stop everyone in their tracks, including myself, and got their attention long enough for them all to look up and start asking inquisitively what a Zen koan is. To which I replied. “It’s like a riddle. I’ll give you an example. First sit down at your seats.”
Amazingly they all ran to their seats excitedly while still yapping a mile a minute to hear this exotic riddle.
“What is the sound of one hand clapping? I asked.” First there was laughter, a few attempts at clapping with both hands, and a CIT slapping the head of the CIT next to her with one hand to which I responded, “It is not hitting someone in the head with one hand.”
I asked again. “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” And to my utter amazement, there was absolute silence, absolute stillness, you could hear a pin drop. Not a stirring or a sound for a good five seconds which felt like eternity after days of absolute crazy kid energy swirling around the room. It was like music to my ears. A breath of fresh air. A good night’s sleep. All in those five seconds. To which I then said to the class, “Ahhh, my favorite sound. Thank you.”
Then to add to the already unexpected moment, the kids all wanted to hear more Zen koans. Who knew? Fashion, kids, and Zen koans all work together to achieve desired results. And for the rest of the week, instead of screaming, “I’m having a nervous breakdown,” to no avail, all I had to ask was, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” to which they all replied in unison, “Silence.”
And it got me wondering, if that one simple Zen koan could instantly quell the out of control energy of a class of 7 – 9 year olds in one fell swoop, what would it be like if all over the world, with all its agitation, discourse, violence and wars, if everyone were to suddenly stop, all at the same time and mediate on that simple Zen koan wouldn’t that perhaps produce a wonderful result.
To which I’d say, hold the applause. For at least five seconds.
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