Arts & Humanities students plant seeds of community

“Be not solitary, be not idle.”

The quote is from the 17th-century author Robert Burton, but more than 400 years later it appeared in the book “Seedfolks,” written by Paul Fleischman and published in 1997. It also applies to students at the Lincoln Public Schools Arts and Humanities Focus Program and one of their recent projects, which centered around “Seedfolks” and its theme of building community through community gardens.

First, students worked with a visiting slam poet and performed their own poems for each other. Then they attended a live performance of “Seedfolks” - a one-woman show that incorporates poetry - at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. And now they’re volunteering to plant a garden at the Bennett Martin Public Library.

Arts and Humanities teacher John Clark said the three-part project perfectly illustrates the focus program’s goals and mission.

“It involves our students utilizing self-expression, art, poetry and community improvement through gardening to better understand how all of these things can be a path to not only gaining a clearer comprehension of who each of is as a human being, but also show us that by collectively utilizing such simple and yet beautiful things as art and poetry and theater and gardening, we can build a bridge to a more harmonious and empathetic community.”

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