Ann Richards grew up in Oswego, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Christopher Balchin was born in Ashford, Kent, in England.

We live today on the Lower East Side of New York City and teach in the New York City public schools. We have both studied Aesthetic Realism since the early 1980's. Christopher Balchin is a co-author of Aesthetic Realism and the Answer to Racism, edited by Alice Bernstein. Ann Richards is an actress, a member of the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company and has directed children's theatre. As we have spoken at professional conferences here in the US and abroad, as we have taught thousands of New York City's young people using the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method, in Christopher's work as a union delegate, and in our daily lives as husband and wife for 20 years we see how the knowledge we tell of is true and needed.

Ellen Reiss, the Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism--our teacher

In classes taught by the Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism, Ellen Reiss, we are learning how to teach Aesthetic Realism and having the time of our lives.  The job of an Aesthetic Realism Consultant is one that demands the highest ethical standards; we know from having studied in consultations how important a consultant's desire to be fair to an individual and to the principles of Aesthetic Realism is.  We see this in Ellen Reiss in every class, every week. 

To learn more about the intellectual scope and charm of these classes:

• See what English educator of note Leila Rosen tells on her website about a surprising class on the meaning of idioms. 
  
• Read Maureen Butler's moving account of how she came to resee her mother.  (Her purpose is to dispell some deliberate misinformation about this kind education put out by several people who are angry that it is so great and that they didn't think of it and couldn't run it--if you are asking "Why haven't I heard of this before?"--they are part of the reason). 
  
• You can also read some of Ellen Reiss's writing against racism and on behalf of justice to all people in an article by Alice Bernstein published in the Philippine Post and in an issue of the periodical The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known.  

Ellen Reiss also teaches the Aesthetic Realism Explanation of Poetry, in which she shows, among other things, why caring for true poetry is a necessity, not a luxury.  The philosophy Aesthetic Realism, which has changed our lives and the lives of countless other people for the better, is based on Eli Siegel's comprehension of poetry.  Aesthetic Realism began when students who attended Eli Siegel's poetry class in the 1940's felt that as he spoke about what made a poem beautiful, he was also explaining what made a person's life good.  They asked Mr. Siegel if he would speak to them directly about their own lives.  He did, and as they say, the rest is history.              

Enjoy our website! There is more to come . . .

EDUCATION

Read articles about a teaching method that REALLY WORKS and brings out a student's interest in the subject, encouraging at the same time a deeper sense of respect and responsibility:

• The Teacher -- article published in the monthly magazine of the National Union of Teachers in the UK -- describes how a lesson for 7th graders on symbiosis countered prejudice
• The English Record -- the journal of New York State Englist teachers -- The Miracle Worker by William Gibson -- about Helen Keller
• International Trade and Labor Unions --describes how, through the Aesthetic Realism method, anger was opposed and the desire to know won out --including through study of the John Sayles film Matewan NEW!
• Opposites in the History of Japan -- Global History for sophomores
• The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method Succeeds -- and Can End the Failure in America's Classrooms -- teaching writing skills to "at risk" students
• Absolutism and the Age of Enlightenment--What Do They Mean to Young People Today? --published in The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known -- on Louis XIV, John Locke, and more

Educator Leila Rosen, poet and facilitator Hilda Ward, and Ann Richards at the joint conference of the Virginia Association of Teachers of English and the National Association of Multicultural Educators following the workshop in the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method, "Comedy, Poetry, and Justice to People," given by Ms. Rosen and Ms. Richards.

Some of the wokshop attendees in Roanoke, Virginia.

 

ARTICLES

--Against Racism:

• The Massacre at Amritsar
• Aesthetic Realism Way Forward, in Manchester's Asian News

--For Economic and International Justice:

• What Does a Person Deserve By Being a Person? (Indianapolis Recorder UAW locals, and more)
• Imagine Health Care that is Compassionate and Real (Times Herald-Record September 21, 2007) NEW!
• Nestle Closing Shows Economics Based on Profit Cannot Work (Fulton Valley-News)
• Letter opposing contempt as a national policy after September 11 attacks on New York City (Clarkson Integrator)

MEN'S ISSUES

• To Conquer or to Know: Which is a Man's Deepest Desire? On Henry Higgins from Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady,--and men today

ACTING, MUSIC, ART, & LIFE

• Passion and Control in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
• She Loves You by The Beatles
• Studying the Flute with Barbara Allen: Harshness & Sweetness in Bach's Flute Sonata in B minor -- the largo
• James P. Johnson's Charleston says “Yes, We Can Be Wild AND Respectful At Once!” NEW!
• Unchained Melody, by the Righteous Brothers - coming soon -
• Terence's Farewell, song of Ireland
• Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky - coming soon -
• Monet's Sunflowers
• Caillebot's Street in Paris--A Rainy Day - coming soon -

REPORTS OF AESTHETIC REALISM CLASSES

• What Lives? Or, What Have I Seen? about the life and work of poet John Keats
• How Long the Inward War? --about the English mystery plays

ABOUT US

• Our Families (more coming soon)
• New York State and England (coming soon -- will include photographs)

SELECTED LINKS

The Aesthetic Realism Online Library has poems, lectures, reviews, essays, and selections from other major works by Eli Siegel.  There are also articles in the press and media about the founder of Aesthetic Realism.   

The productions of the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company "are an exciting new dramatic form. Our performances are based on landmark talks given by Eli Siegel on plays from world theatre--by Shakespeare, Moliere, Sheridan, Ibsen, Strindberg, Eugene O'Neill, George Kelly, Susan Glaspell--and others."

Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology & Sociology is the website of celebrated cultural anthropologist and novelist Arnold Perey, PhD. 

At Aesthetic Realism Resources there are articles on many subjects that concern people today such as love, self-expression, current events, economics, the arts, racism and much, much more.

The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known is the international periodical read by everyone who wants to understand what is going on in America today.  Edited by Ellen Reiss, The Right Of serialises lectures by Eli Siegel and shows how they comment on current events such as the unprecedented growth of personal debt as well as our own questions and hopes as individuals.

There is one particular issue that we want everyone to know about: Education, America, & Lois Mason. In it is a paper by educator Lois Mason, who studied with Eli Siegel. She was a social studies teacher, and one of the teachers of the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method workshop which we attend. We learned a great deal from her about how to see education, history, and young people. We want the Aesthetic Realism method, which she loved and used with such success, known by teachers everywhere.

See photographs with moving commentary and technical insight at Len Bernstein: Photographic Education Based on the Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel

Important writings on economics, history, the questions of women, art, literature and more can be seen at Lynette Abel: Aesthetic Realism and Life

The website of Aesthetic Realism Consultant Miriam Mondlin is here: Aesthetic Realism Encourages Self-Expression

For teachers, parents, and others, here are links that will tell you more about the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method:

• Find out about lesson plans, articles about the Aesthetic Realism method and more
• Eli Siegel on equality
• The website of the late, great, history educator and consultant Lois Mason
• Rosemary Plumstead, science teacher par excellence
• Faculty descriptions of All For Education, who teach the biweekly workshop: Barbara Allen, Patricia Martone, Lois Mason, Arnold Perey, and Rosemary Plumstead
• Ellen Reiss on education and economic justice
• Donita Ellison, art teacher and Aesthetic Realism associate
• Elementary school teacher Lori Colavito on how prejudice was opposed in young children as they learned mathematics
• Science teacher Sally Ross describes in this article how prejudice in young people was opposed, so surprisingly, through a lesson on viruses
• Leila Rosen, expert teacher of English
• Article by science teacher and textile artist Benedicte Caneill about geology
• Teaching the Miracle Worker by Ann Richards , published in The English Record, of the New York State English Council
• Aesthetic Realism Can End Racism by Christopher Balchin
• Alan Shapiro, Music Educator & Jazz Musician
• Article by Barbara McClung about teaching the subject of topography to junior high school students in New York City
• Helena Simon, elementary school teacher, writing about an object lesson for third-graders on the sunflower
• UK education blog dedicated to Lois Mason
• Education for Children's MInds! -- Not for Profit! by writer Alice Bernstein
• Thrilling article on grammar by teacher and writer Avi Gvili
• Learning Can Succeed -- and Racism Can End! (Includes a tribute to Eli Siegel by Congressman Elijah E Cummings)
• Elementary school teacher and Aesthetic Realism associate Lauren Phillips on beloved children's story Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White
• Article by award-winning educator and union official Jeffrey Williams on the opposites of freedom and order in softball, baseball star Sammy Sosa -- and how this method benefited and literally changed the special education students he taught
• Strictly speaking, not on the teaching method itself, but it's so charming and deep on a children's book that's been loved for decades, that we had to include it -- artist and consultant Marcia Rackow on Wonder and Matter of Fact 'Meet' -- the Imagination of Beatrix Potter
• Filmmaker Ken Kimmelman, whose work is invaluable to classroom educators
• Class for young people at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation -- Learning to Like the World
• Blogs: Aesthetic Realism Is True and Eli Siegel, American Poet and Educator

To find out what is true about the kind, intellectually-rigorous philosophy that is Aesthetic Realism go to this website which sets the record straight and has, for the public record, the assessment of dozens of noted critics, poets, cultural icons, social scientists, civil rights leaders, artists, teachers, and more, and more: Friends of Aesthetic Realism--Countering the Lies

To find our more about Eli Siegel, the founder of Aesthetic Realism, read this biography.

Find out about Aesthetic Realism classes conducted by the Class Chairman, Ellen Reiss.  Writing as two people who graduated respectively from Oxford University and SUNY Binghamton (Binghamton University) we believe that these classes are in the vanguard of education, culture, and scholarship today. 

See other important links