{"id":1714,"date":"2021-12-23T16:26:39","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T16:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/viraltimes.climateactionchildhood.net\/?page_id=1714"},"modified":"2022-07-13T21:10:28","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T21:10:28","slug":"san-joaquin-2-eng","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/viraltimes.climateactionchildhood.net\/index.php\/gardens\/san-joaquin-2-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"San Joaquin of the Weavers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Spider Approximations: <\/strong>
Weaving Worlds<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Educator: Carolina Ar\u00e9valo<\/strong>
Children: Juan Jos\u00e9, Camila, Ana Julia, Francisco, Elena & Alfredo<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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San Joaquin\u2019s landscape presents two disparate or divergent worlds including the traditional agriculturally-based areas and the newly built modern homes often enclosed in gated communities. This is also the land of multiple generations of basket weavers and other traditional artisans who continue to make a living as their land is transformed aesthetically. San Joaquin is made out of the contrast that emerges in the encounter of these two worlds: the beautiful green farmland fields and the manicure home gardens. A short stroll brings us to the Yanuncay river which together with the Tomebamba river runs down from higher elevations in the Andes. It is commonly known as the least altered of the four rivers of Cuenca.  However, at a closer look, the river is reconstructed with endless stone borders that channel water to the local farms and artisans. Through these channels, the river provides for communities in a multitude of ways.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

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San Joaquin is a semi-rural area of Cuenca in the process of gentrification. The garden where we dwell is surrounded by pristine lawns and tennis courts. Two intermingling worlds are present in San Joaquin. Down the street there are a few remnants of old San Joaquin –<\/em> small farms, and craft shops where residents continue to work with natural fibers such as zuro and duda. As we take our daily walks within the garden and then outside the garden to the river, we notice the many eucalyptus trees and how spiders’ webs are woven around them. <\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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As we start to take walks among dead and dry eucalyptus trunks on the bank of the Yanuncay river, we realize that they are abundant with life. Various species including spiders, fungi, plants, blackberries, insects such as ants, bees, and beetles are visible in the decaying logs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Those trunks are old eucalyptus trees, and although they are dead, they are full of life<\/em> – Francisco<\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The children speculate the possibilities of how these lives inhabit and move with eucalyptus by taking on the role of a spider with their bodies. <\/h6>\n\n\n\n
As the children clumsily embody spiders, we start to imagine how spiders position themselves around the large sinuous trunks. <\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Along these trunks, the children navigate\u00a0 and approach them with caution.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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Spiders like dark and warm places to build their houses<\/em>
\u2013 Ana Julia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other critters must be careful of the cobwebs because they are very strong and sticky<\/em>
\u2013 Alfredo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Juan Jos\u00e9 stumbles from log to log attempting to mimic the spider: \u201cSpiders jump from log to log looking for the perfect place for their web<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We tell many stories about the lives that the spiders encounter as we attempt to embody their movements. We imagine the insects\u2019 fears, desires, and even their conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fly was wrong and thought there was no danger but, when it entered, it found the spider that ate it<\/em> – Elena \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elena portrays her version of the events that were earlier seen inside a log by drawing a spider with charcoal. She places a branch of eucalyptus onto her picture. The branch, she suggests, is a spider home. The spider is safe from attack, Elena notes as she partially covers the arachnid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The dark charcoal pieces of eucalyptus trunk help us to think about how darkness makes a home for the spiders.<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Inspired by darkness, Alfredo reminds us of a deep hole where spiders dwell in the garden and refers to darkness and the affordances of the dark tunnel\u00a0as necessities in deceiving prey.\u00a0<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana Julia, on the other hand, is thinking closely with how darkness gives spiders a feeling of safety and comfort: \u201cThe spider is working hard on its web because it is his home<\/em>\u201d.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The spider hides in her home and eats inside and it is very dark<\/em>. <\/mark><\/strong>
– Ana Julia <\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As we continue thinking about the life of spiders outside the dark dwellings, we notice how the spiders catch prey. Inspired by an encounter with a bee, beetle and web, our stories quickly start to question ‘happy endings’.  We notice the spiders’ complex connections and dependencies.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana Julia: Poor bee, the spider is eating him.<\/em>
Alfredo: Yes, but if the spider does not eat something, it dies too.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We encounter a web in the sunlight and notice how this solitary spider is very focused and creates diagonal strands across the eucalyptus branches. Further along, we see a shaky spider balancing on a strand while weaving a particular circular pattern. We start to wonder how the spider\u2019s process, and the ways in which the individual strands are intentionally spread out, attract many insects. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the best way to make a spider web because it catches more food.<\/em>
\u2013 Francisco<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, and it’s almost transparent and the bugs are confused and can’t see it.<\/em>
\u2013 Camila<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We find many ways where life or death is negotiated, for those who inhabit these trunks. Using our bodies, we imagine various movements that the spiders and other insects might make, and the shape these movements take when  the insects are stuck and doomed in the web. As we wrap ourselves in fabric, we envision a web that each insect must navigate by closing or opening their bodies. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The spider <\/em>looks for the best way to catch her food<\/em>. – Caro<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The butterfly knows that if it makes an effort, it will be able to escape.<\/em> – Elena<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ant is very small and stays stuck.<\/em> – Juan Jos\u00e9<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We add yarn to the web which infuse the space with obstacles. Body movements become restricted and a cluster of bodies attempt to move in unison. We notice bodies becoming sticky as they toss and turn. Engulfed in the fabric, the children attempt to move in aggravation, as they imagine how insects might feel in cobwebs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Owh! Don’t move so much that the fabric sticks to you and you kick me<\/em>! – Camila Mora<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just move and the fabric moves with me because it catches me<\/em>. – Francisco<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s how uncomfortable bugs must feel when they can’t escape.<\/em> – Alfredo S\u00e1nchez<\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We call these encounters, sticky moments,<\/em> where we are provoked to move in unison and are almost cohesive with others, while occassionally colliding into each other.\u00a0<\/mark><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mimicking and weaving our way along the web<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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On a walk, Elena takes a stick and accidentally punctures the web of a spider.\u00a0Perplexed by this outcome, we wonder together about our responsibility to the web and the spider and\u00a0if there is some way we can help the arachnid rebuild its home. Elena becomes very worried she has broken the spider’s web. A discussion arises about whether humans\u00a0have the\u00a0capacity to mimic the spider’s work.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can we really make a web worthy enough for a spider to choose as its home?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Only spiders can make spider webs.<\/em>
\u2013 Juan Jos\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can try making one, maybe it will be useful for spiders.<\/em>
\u2013 Camila<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We attempt to weave our way through the old eucalyptus log by knotting in the center with yarn  and using the edges of the trunk to catch the hemp. As the children weave, their conversations move together with the motions of their weaving into a discussion about the technical aspects of weaving and how the position of the log creates conditions for inhabitation. We also quickly notice that mimicking the web comes with challenges and that the stickiness of webs is hard to grasp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strands must criss-cross, so the spider doesn\u2019t fall.<\/em>– Juan Jos\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There must be traps for its food.<\/em>– Alfredo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This spot is perfect because it is close to the berries that attract other insects<\/em>.- Elena<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My string won’t stick to the trunk.<\/em>– Camila<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We return to the yarn web to find out if it served the spider, but there was no spider. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“I told you spiders like to improve their own webs\u201d Juan Jos\u00e9 remarks. <\/h6>\n\n\n\n
“I think a lot of spiders will like ours because it’s strong and it’s the perfect place to hide” Elena offers.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Perplexed by the questions of how the spider web sticks, we weave our way through the garden in an attempt to find places that might work well with yarn and that other spiders might want to dwell. Francisco watches a fly sticking and then vibrating inside of a spider web, and wonders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we make the thread as sticky as spiders?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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