Paper short abstract:

We are all just hanging on by a thread. My goal as an educator is to leave students better than when they first stepped foot in my classroom. I make the case for string experimentation, where string can literally tie us back together and help us feel comfortable with our vulnerable selves.

Paper long abstract:

We are all just hanging on by a thread. So, I always have a length of string tied around my wrist, preferably homespun, as a reminder of the urgency to live life intentionally – because this is our one chance. My goal as a university educator is to leave my students better than when they first stepped foot in my classroom. And it’s only through string that I am able to do this. That’s why with this talk, I’d like to make the case for string experimentation in the university classroom – focusing on classes and coursework that appear to have nothing to do with crafting. But where string can literally tie us back together and help us feel comfortable with our vulnerable selves. Let’s consider what students are facing on a daily basis:

Anxiety over post-college job placement.

Gun violence.

Mental health spiraling.

Student debt.

Food insecurity.

Getting canceled.

Racial, religious and gender-based violence.

Feeling shamed and ashamed.

If there’s one thing that reigns supreme in the university classroom - it’s a four-letter word that begins with “F.” Fear.

Stress is everywhere for university students the world over, and that’s certainly the case in the US where I’ve been a professor for 13 years. So students find “safety” in silence – but at a high cost to their humanity. Isolation is a default state. What’s the antidote to creating community, camaraderie and - dare I say it, JOY – in the university classroom? It’s the magic of string.