The word is out – at least in my community – that I can teach origami. In addition to the Maker Faires, the Library pre-finals week session, and Parent and Family Weekends (for both Akron and Kent State), the Downtown Akron Partnership found out about me – from talking to some program directors at UA.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They wanted me to be part of the Sakura Festival downtown this past weekend. It\u2019s a celebration of Springtime, Cherry Blossoms in bloom, and Japanese culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been having a rough time of late and wasn\u2019t sure I would be up for it. I was also more than a little concerned about having the \u201cwhitest white guy\u201d teach something as iconically Japanese as Origami. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, with about a week to spare, I reached out and agreed – almost hoping that I was too late and would get a year-long reprieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They responded back right away and said there was still time. I got the details of where and when – and decided on what I would be teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The day of, I got a little nervous. Even with some reassurances from the committee, I still felt like an intruder on someone else\u2019s culture. But, with my plastic totes of paper and pre-made origami to give away, I headed downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And right into a sea of people. It was a bigger event than I knew and the directions I got to the parking deck were the same ones that everyone else was using. I finally found a space near the elevators – but then the elevators refused to go to the main floor. I made several trips up and down before giving up at the basement level – which turned out to be the ground floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wandered around outside for a bit before I found an information booth and got some slightly confusing but ultimately helpful directions. While I was following those directions I ran into a co-worker and had a friendly – though short – chat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stopped twice more on my way before finally finding the venue – by the shuffleboard courts, naturally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then I found a familiar face – a former co-worker from UA that now worked for the Downtown Akron Partnership. I was early – even with all the adventure in getting there – and we chatted for a bit before she went to go find paper for my event. (I had plenty with me – just in case).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event before mine was a lesson in Japanese Tea service and I watched that while I went over my notes and got ready. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they were finally done, I got set up and waited for people to show up. There were going to be 3, 30 minute sessions with a 15 minute break between them – with as many as 25 people scheduled for each session. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first session, though, only had 7 people. I had them pick out the paper, gave my introduction, and we got started. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it went pretty smoothly, with us finishing up the projects right on time.\u00a0 I was curiously pleased about being so precisely on schedule – through the whole evening. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and most did the folding without too much trouble.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a short break, the second group got started. This time we had 12 people – 13, if you count the crying baby. They did well too and seemed to have fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the time the third group rolled around, I was getting tired. I\u2019m not used to being \u201con\u201d for such a long span of time. There were 6 people in the last session – and two of them asked to take a few sheets of paper with them afterwards to practice. Which was encouraging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had a big tub of giveaways and talked to some of the participants while they were picking out something to take with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And my 30+ years of paper-folding helped me get past any of my cultural concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, it was a good time and I\u2019m glad I attended and contributed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the flowers we made? Kinda looked like cherry blossoms. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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