昨天 Yvette 被小天使嚇一跳！Yvette 才在上課說香皂雕刻的事,一下課開電腦就發現小天使寄來十二張手雕香皂的照片！)


話說從頭------

昨天下午教的是保羅科賀的《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》，等「觀眾」進場的時刻，
Yvette 用一枝【倚薇特手工筆】的例子暖腦，引出大家對諸物形式的表現及其潛能聯想。

「筷子、木頭、抽籤、刺人、化學物coating...」學生針對功能、質料、環保話題應答，答案都很可愛。然後 Yvette 才展示它【豪華美工筆】的這一面來！

「自從我開始使用衛生筷子寫字之後，不管躺在士林夜市還是教室外的垃圾桶裡，它們再也不是筷子了，就像是Donald Batchelder 寫了〈青香蕉〉之後再看到香蕉，眼中的香蕉再也不只是香蕉了，香蕉可以是修理汽車冷凝器的替代物、可以是用來害人跌倒的整人玩具、可以是按摩頭皮敷臉美容聖品，也可以是 Yvette 不懂事的小時候拿來作弄『阿祖』的玩具。

(Yvette 小時候用針插入香蕉，將裡頭的果肉一節節切斷，可是外皮看不出來，請想像曾祖母打開香蕉然後香蕉掉一桌的樣子…）

「〈青香蕉〉的作者說他自從知道『香蕉的另一個潛能』，曉得『世界有另外的中心點』之後，他開始『一輩子都要收集世界的中心點』。

然後Yvette 要學生再凝視同一枝竹筷，想像它裡頭還包有什麼形式（潛能）。所有人都知道，接下來的答案是一朝一夕講不完的！

「也許竹筷對妳們比較陌生，假如是香皂，你們的答案就多了，因為大家都曾經在美術課的時候雕刻過香皂。」很多的學生拼命點頭。

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待會兒有兩門課，我要去備課了，剩下的，有關《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》小說中所談論的的「天命」與「潛能」，下課再來寫。先放這一篇〈青香蕉〉讓大家欣賞一下。（沒時間斷字，下午一起改。）
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The Green Banana

By Donald Batchelder

Although it might have happened anywhere, my encounter with the green
banana started on a steep mountain road in the interior of Brazil. My ancient
jeep was straining up through spectacular countryside when the radiator
began to leak, ten miles from the nearest mechanic. The over-heated engine
forced me to stop at the next village, which consisted of a small store
and a scattering of houses. People gathered around to look. Three fine
streams of hot water spouted from holes in the jacket of the radiator.

“That’s easy to fix,” a man said. He sent a boy running for some green
bananas. He patted me on the shoulder, assuring me everything would work out.
“Green bananas,” he smiled. Everyone nodded in agreement.

We exchanged pleasantries while I mulled over the ramifications of the green
banana. Asking questions would expose my ignorance, so I remarked on the
beauty of the terrain. Huge rock formations rose up all around us. “Do you
see that tall one right over there?” asked my benefactor, pointing to a
particularly tall, slender pinnacle of dark rock. “That rock marks the center of the world.”

I looked to see if he was teasing me, but his face was serious. He in turn
inspected me carefully to be sure I grasped the significance of his statement.
The occasion demanded some show of recognition on my part. “The center of
the world?” I repeated, trying to convey interest if not complete acceptance.
He nodded, “The absolute center. Everyone one around here knows it.”

At that moment the boy returned with my green bananas. The man sliced one
in half and pressed the cut end against the radiator jacket. The banana
melted into a glue against the hot metal plugging the leaks instantly.
Everyone laughed at my astonishment. They refilled my radiator and gave me
a few additional green bananas to take along. An hour later, after one more
application of green banana, my pesky radiator and I reached our destination.
The local mechanic smiled. “Who taught you about the green banana?”
I shared my good fortune with him. “Did they show you the rock marking
the center of the world?” he asked. I assured him they had. “My grandfather
came from there,” he said. “The exact center. Everyone around here has
always known about it.”

Upon returning to the US, I took time to internalize the possible meanings
of these events. A roadway led to temporary difficulty, resulting in a discovery
which resolved the problem while opening up a whole new perspective of shared
belief and speculation. As a product of American higher education, I had never
paid the slightest attention to the green banana, except to regard it as a
fruit whose time had not yet come. Suddenly on that mountain road, its time
and my need had converged. But as I reflected on it further, I realized
that the green banana had been there all along. Its time reached back to
the very origins of the banana. The people in that hamlet had known about it
for years. My own time had come in relation to it. This chance encounter
showed me the special genius of those people, and the special potential
of the green banana. I had been wondering for some time about those episodes
of clarity which educators like to call “learning moments,” and knew I
had just experienced two of them at once.

The importance of the rock marking the center of the world took a while longer
to filter through. I had initially doubted their claim, knowing for a fact that
the center was located somewhere in New England. After all, my grandfather
had come from there. But gradually I realized they had a valid belief, if
not a universal concept, and I agreed with them. We tend to define the center
of our world as that special place where we are known, where we know others,
where things mean much to us, and where we ourselves have both identity
and meaning; family, school, town, region, culture, and religion. The lesson
which gradually filtered through was the simple concept that every place has
special meanings for the people in it; in a way, every place represents
the center of the world. The number of such centers is incalculable, and no one
student or traveler can experience all of them, but once a conscious break
through to a second center is made, a life-long perspective is formed and
the collection can begin.