Trippin' on citizenship

My advisees are 13 of the quirkiest 6th graders in the school. I love them all to pieces--and yet even I have to acknowledge that they are off-the-charts bizarre. We were talking about citizenship last month. Advisee groups were encouraged to identify a problem in the community and brainstorm ways of solving it. After that, they came up with an action plan and made it happen. Some teams found ways to help out the janitorial staff or the endangered Arabian falcon. One group is promoting an energy-free day. Another is raising money for children in Palestine.

My group chose mushrooms. Specifically, the role fungi play in preserving the environment. Apparently, they discussed this in science for about three minutes, and, man, did it stick. For awhile they wanted us to start a mushroom garden at school. When importing spores turned out to be a bureaucratic nightmare, they decided to write a play to educate others about the role of mushrooms in the ecosystem. A Powerpoint presentation will accompany the play to further spread the word about the importance of fungi. The play itself is called "Mario and his Amazing Mushrooms." It features Mario of Nintendo fame, a Charlie's Angels-esque trio named Shitake, Matake and Ling Chi, a grove of dying trees and two meddlin' kids who litter, drive a Hummer and generally cause mayhem. The thuggish kids start the mess, the trees dial Mario (on a cell phone, as they collapse dramatically) and the girls come and clean up the mess with their "mushroom power." And lest you are tee-heeing about a psychedelic angle, let me assure you that this is completely non-ironic, 100% wholesome weirdness.

Apparently 90% of the plant growth on the planet is aided by mushrooms and other fungus. Who knew? (My advisees, since you asked.) Without mushrooms, the soil would be almost useless. "Fungal mats" (fungus colonies) are among the largest biomasses on the planet and some cover up to 20,000 acres. There are between 1-2 million species of fungus on Earth, and apparently each plays a crucial role in keeping the system running smoothly.

We are performing for the 5th grade classes on Monday. I spent today coloring red polka-dotted mushroom cap hats for the the Charlie's Angel girls while the kid playing Mario found his inner Italian. (He went to a progressive school in Manhatten last year.) The trees lived and died several times, each more dramatically than the first. The thugs added a photo-snapping pantomime to their act. (They even pretend to shoot pictures while they are acting out a scene! See below for more on this whole "pose and shoot" phenomenon.) The dress rehearsal is Sunday. Wish us luck for our debut. We are discussing "kindness" next month. I can't wait to see what they'll come up with next...