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River of Art: Pamela Michael
Pam Michael woke one morning with the phrase "river of words" running through her head. "I knew that it was somehow the name of the rest of my life," says the co-founder of the now-famous "River of Words" national poetry contest and environmental education program. The magic of the phrase and the lyricism and learning that have come out of it have inspired thousands of children and teachers to think beyond physical and economic boundaries and academic disciplines, and to understand that wherever they live-urban, suburban, rural-they are in a watershed. When Michael first started the program, that wasn't the case. "I got a call from a teacher once who claimed she didn't have a watershed," Michael remembers. "She'd called the local water department, and no one knew what watershed they were in. People had this idea that a watershed was something in a rural or a wilderness area."
"Watershed" was not the commonly used environmental management and restoration concept it is today when Michael woke up that morning with the magical phrase in her head. At the time, six years ago, she was working for International Rivers Network in Berkeley. It was then Poet Laureate Robert Hass, whom she met soon afterwards, who suggested a watershed theme for the new "River of Words" contest and program because it "got at the idea of place in a unique and specific way," says Michael.
In creating an arts-oriented contest, Michael tried to break away from the strict water quality focus of many existing outreach efforts. "I felt environmental ed was stuck in the sciences," she explains.
"I believe that education is our best bet for saving the planet, and that if you help children fall in love with the Earth, they will protect it-we protect what we love. Our current educational system, however, compartmentalizes knowledge in a way that prevents children from recognizing the wonder and beauty of how everything fits together."
River of Words does exactly the opposite. Children learn what a watershed is and the basics of the water cycle, but they also learn about the wildlife native to the area (even in urban areas), the cultural history of the area, and how people have transformed the landscape. The program and contest also allow children to understand their watershed on their own terms, first by making careful observations of their neighborhood and their local creek or river and where it flows, then writing about and illustrating their impressions, and describing their own relationship to the landscape. "The essential design of River of Words is brilliant in its clarity, " says Zenobia Barlow with the Center for Ecoliteracy, a frequent partner in the program. "Rather than focusing children's attention on distant ecosystems, it encourages each child to stand in her own ecological address using her own unique imagination to make meaning." Michael, Hass and International Rivers Network held the first River of Words contest in April 1996 at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the first National Poetry Month. Since then, the annual contest and its companion environmental education curriculum and program have been so successful that River of Words spun off from the International Rivers Network in January 2001, becoming its own non-profit with coordinators in 24 states.
River of Words' success, according to Barlow, comes from Michael's indefatigable nature, quiet enthusiasm, and calm, focused attention to each poem, each piece of art. "Pam is one of those rare individuals who seems to have found her true calling," she says. Michael, who grew up moving from place to place (which made her more determined than ever to teach children to learn to appreciate "place"), says she has a unique position in the nonprofit environmental world. "Burnout is a constant threat to people doing this kind of work," says Michael, referring to the daily challenge of dealing with humanity's lack of concern for our air, water and natural world. "But I have the advantage of being comforted and inspired by the endless stream of children's art and poetry that comes into the office."
Michael's river of words - the phrase, the poetry, the art - has helped change public understanding of where and how rivers flow, and where and how we live within their divides. "It used to be that you couldn't address a group about River of Words without first defining a watershed," says Michael. "But that's not true anymore. Now it's a given."
Contact: River of Words: (510) 548-POEM; www.riverofwords.org LOV
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