Two Cups of Tea at Hope’s Cafe
A FaceBook nerd is what I am I do believe. This week on FB I read about a men’s group who use a group exercise of sharing based on describing something during the week that has been difficult, a “rock,” and something that has brought joy, a “feather.” Intrigued, I explored this idea further, discovering it has taken on many variations.
Educators have developed it as a critical thinking activity. Dick Fuller, a teacher in Decatur, GA, first used it as an Outward Bound teacher. He had students describe themselves as a rock or a feather and then give reasons for their choice. Other words can be paired. Are you more like summer or winter? More like the city or the country? Endless possibilities. Are you drama or comedy? Rock band or string quartet? Bat or ball?
Fuller put it on a listserv for other teachers and its use has spread in a multitude of ways. While some use it as a paper and pen activity in class or assign it as homework or for journal writing, others set it up as a physical activity. Students pick the side of the room that identifies the word they have chosen from the pair of choices. Another method involves four choices and four corners of the room to align themselves with the choice they believe best describes them, using car models or animals for example. Colors weren’t mentioned in the article (www.educationworld.com) but red/green/yellow/blue might be useful choices.
That the emphasis is on students’ making choices and thinking through their reasoning for those choices is heartening. This seems valuable well beyond the classroom. Begin by asking yourself “What has been a rock for me this week? What has been a feather? How I might I engage others in meaningful conversations and connections with some of these ideas?
Somehow (and I’m never sure how I stumble into these things) as I searched the term “rock and feather” I ended up on a poetry site, The Poetry Foundation, and encountered poems that in essence speak to rocks and feathers. Finding one by Joy Harjo was an unexpected gift, as I had found her works before but lost track of her. Ms Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation is former Poet Laureate 2019-2022. I found her poem “Perhaps the World Ends Here” about the kitchen table. The concluding lines:
“At this table we sing with joy and sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse.
We give thanks.
“Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and
crying , eating of the last sweet bite .”
The invitation is open to share two cups of tea anytime at Hope’s Café or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.
May we be bearers of hope, the “wait staff” at Hope’s Café, for each other and all those we encounter. Shalom, Kate
Hope's Cafe 