My Virtual Art Gallery



Dogwood Ansel Adams

Sunflowers - VanGough

Amish Girl with Kitten ?? I can not find a picture of this photo anywhere and don't even know if I have the correct title - but it is such a great piece. Central has a print of this in the student union - I might have to steal it.

Scattered Shirin Neshat (still looking for photo - stay tuned!)

Girl with Peral Earrings and The Little Street Vermeer OK - so the list is a little Vermeer heavy (He's my favorite!!) My parents actually have a print of The Little Street - which I have claimed as my inheretance (along with the cookie monster cookie jar!!)

The fear that you�re only pretending . . . is the (readily predictable) consequence of doubting your own credentials. After all, you know better than anyone else the accidental nature of much that appears in your work, not to mention all those elements you know originated with others. From there it�s only a short hop to feeling like you�re just going through the motions, it�s easy to imagine that others know what they are doing and that they � unlike you � are entitled to feel good about themselves and their work.

David Bayless, Art and Fear p. 24

Some [people] become perilously self-conscious. If you doubt this could be a problem, just try working intuitively (or spontaneously) while self-consciously weighing the effect of your every action.

David Bayless, Art and Fear p. 25

Music Paradigm
Experiencing an orchestra in action, the thinking goes, can provide a vivid lesson to managers and give them a new way to think and talk about leadership, communication and teamwork Arts-based training is a rapidly emerging field thanks to use by dozens of Fortune 500 companies, according to Harvey Seifter, a board member of the Arts and Business Council, a nonprofit arts service organization based in New York.

"The knowledge and the skill that artists have in creativity, teamwork, intercultural communication, collaborative management, dealing with change and envisioning the future -- all of those are key areas for businesses," he said.

Complete Article via ArtsJournal

Ray Bradbury celebrated his 83rd birthday last Saturday with this wish:

"One night, 100 years from now, a youngster will stay up late reading The Martian Chronicles with a flashilight under his blanet - on the Red Planet. That's the dream, I have and that's the reason I'm here"

So much for my policy of "only posting sunshiny, happy, positive, and fun things."
The freakin' little academy does not have enough chairs for our students - - SO - - the younger classes will be chair-less for the first two weeks of school until they can find some. (How can you run a school and not have chairs for HALF the kids ????????) How can any one claim "No Child is Left Behind" when the school "forgot" to get chairs for 80 students???

Here's something nice - - My insominia has timed out to coordinate with The Mars Show. Waking up unbeliveably early is almost a part of my routine now - and getting out of bed to watch astromonical history felt almost natural.

As I sat watching Mars, Delfi came by to talk!! Now, Delfi is camp counselor-ing out west until the end of the month but somehow she magically transported herself all the way to my backyard (At four o'clock in the morning no less!) just to watch the sky and chat. (Thanks Delfi - - That's even nicer than stickers!!) We talked about everything that's been happening, and how crummy it feels, and people who bug me, and ruined life plans, and feeling sad, and other stuff.

As a result of this nocturnal subconcious conversation; I decided to drop Project Management. THIS MEANS . . . 1.) I'll have to make up the course at some other point (don't know when / how). BUT. . . 2.) I can play with the Symphony until October!!! I'll have to skip my class reunion to play the concerts - but I'm surprisingly OK with that.

The Sound of Silence
Usually I'm narasistic enough to enjoy reading my own blog (It's gosh darn witty and clever - if I do say so myself!) Reading the last couple months, however, is a less than enjoyable experience (too much self absorbed reflective babbling and whining - I actually got bored reading my own archives).

It's no secret that I'm having a bad life right now.
There's no reason to re-live a lousy life just to keep a blog current. (Besdies, I don't want any more of that awful (boring) stuff here . . . I want to have a site that's fun to read)
SO . . . I'm going quiet for a while - - until I have something nice to say; until things are in control; until energy returns; until I feel like I have something worth writing . . .

More someday . . .

sigh

Make Music, Loose Weight!
A new Canadian study reports that "children involved in . . . music classes or art lessons - have a reduced chance of becoming overweight or obese" - as much as a 43 percent reduction!

OK - so in the last 24 hours three (THREE!) people have decided to move!
AND . . . they are all leaving THIS MONTH
Freaky.
1. One of our teachers at the little academy has a husband who has been transfered to Wisconsin (She thinks she needs to move with him) So She announced that she was moving yesterday morning - and then went home to pack )-:

2. The Kennedy Center offered a great residency to the person who WAS going to be my roommate starting SEPTEMBER 2! (Very Exciting!!!) She announced it early last night

3. THEN I come home, and go online, and find out someone else is leaving TOMORROW!!


Methinks it's a conspiracy of some sort!

Teacher inservices have begun
I like being back in a world of diversity
I missed that over the summer.

Bad Management Abounds. (No one is shocked by this). Admin. needs to wake up or risk loosing a GREAT staff team.

From Greg Sandow's site
When I find a classical station, I usually can't bear to listen. Too tame, too smooth, too much old music. But if I found a station that played Todd Levin, Ani diFranco, blues, and Madonna (plus some Ibrahim Ferrer) . . .

They could even slip in some Beethoven (maybe one of the symphonies, in a bracing Roger Norrington performance on old instruments, with whipcrack timpani). And wouldn't that be better for classical music in the long run? I wish it wouldn't be presented on the radio like some cult of meaningless refinement (or, in more modern style, as bright and perky). I wish instead that it showed up as intelligent fare, right next to all the other things intelligent people, out there in the real world, really listen to.
more here

YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!!

UGH! Two papers left to write. One presentation left to plan. The brain fog is thick and I'm not particularily excited about this particular paper (It's the "how well can you plagerize" sort of assingment where you just state facts. Theoritically it is much easier than the sort of paper where you have to come up with an idea and find facts to support it - - but it is just not easy to get excited about re-writing stuff other people wrote - B O R I N G!)

Golden Rules For Ensemble Playing
from the
Community Music List
Some of my favorites . . . .

3. If you play a wrong note, give a nasty look to your stand partner.
(Been there, done that!)

5. Carefully tune your instrument before playing. That way you can play out of tune all night with a clear conscience.

12. If you are completely lost, stop everyone and say, "I think we should tune."
(guilty again!)

17. A wrong note played timidly is a wrong note. A wrong note played with authority is an interpretation.

Today's Giggle Comes from The Blog of Joe Gratz

I was wheeling a shopping cart full of books down the street from my old apartment building to my new one. (It�s a short move.) People I�d pass on the street looked into the cart occasionally, then up at me suspiciously. By the time I arrived in my new apartment, I had a possible explanation: the only books visible in the cart were Modern Criminal Law and Lolita.

Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase.
That's what wild geese are for

-Karl Albrecht

The Author guide lines for the American String Teachers Journal state\ that exclamation points should be "avoided at all costs" !!!!!!!!!!
(They also discourage the use of parethenses!)
How is it that I (the parenthetical junkie) got the task of writing for these people?
Are there really people who live in a world without exclamation points? (!!!!!)

Last night I went to a "Student support and Behavior" meeting at my little academy. UGH! "They" are just trying to put more requirements on classroom teachers. "They" are puting administrative responsiblities on everyone except the administration (who doesn't even do a good job of adminsitrating). "They" aren't respecting the staff. "They" said the meeting would last an hour. I excused myself after two hours and 10 minutes - and "they" tried to keep me by asking "just one question" (I tried to answer, but the follow up questions were too much - so I just left). Is it a bad sign when one wants to quit before it even starts?

Instead of sleeping, I spent last night thinking of how to deal with stupid proposed new policies and documentation. The imaginary conversation goes like this. . . The way I see it Mrs. Principal, there are three possiblities. 1. Everything you want done can not be done in 20 hours a week and some of those duties need to be removed. 2. Everything you want do can not be done in 20 hours a week and you need to increase my hours. 3. Everything you want done can not be done in 20 hours a week because I am incompetent and should be fired! I like #3 the best! They won't fire me, partly because they like me (strange but true!) And partly because it is a nightmare to fill a part time position in the middle of the year.

What would happen if . . .
I applied for the YA development position?
I spent 2004-05 doing Natures Classroom?
I landed a job with a FA affiliate? (Where?)
Delfi opened a camp with me?
I moved into a groovy little downtown apartment with James?
I got Andover Certification?
I can't pay back my student loans?
Godiva awards me a lifetime supply of chocolate?
I actually stayed put and finished "Year 3" of The Three Year Plan?
I never come to any conclusions on this stuff?
I did an internship in D.C. next year?
I joined Americorps?
This summer internship gives me a crummy review?
Everything on The List got accomplished?
Nothing on The List got accomplished?
I skipped class this week?
I decided not to finish the M.A. program?
(Or delay the M.A. program a year?)
The MacD. Family moves to MN?
"They" were right?
Phyllis reads my ASTA article?
Phil P. reads my ASTA article? [Evil Laugh!
] Answers never come?
This year goes incredibly, unbelievably PERFECTLY well?
Everything I've ever hoped for is just around the corner?
(What if it's not?)
I spend a summer (winter?) with Outward Bound?
I took advantage of the "At Will" employment at my little academy and quit?
I did exactly what I pleased regardless of what they want?
??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Maggie and Mille and Molly and Mae
e. e. cummings

Maggie and Mille and Molly and May
went down to the beach(to play one day)

And Maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

Millie befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

And Molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles; and

May came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
It's always ourselves we find in the sea.

It's OK ma'am . . . I have a license . . .
Today I was granted an official DORK - LICENSE (pretty cool eh?)
It entitles me to all the rights, responsibilities, and quirks of "dork-dom" (mom'll be so proud!)
The fact that I'm excited about this document (printed on a friend's printer with her leftover resume paper) proves just how much I actually deserve such a thing!!

The miracle about healing is how ordinary it is. . . .
It is the most natural thing in the world;
And that doesn't make it any less miraculous.
From the Cultural Creatives p. 198

Last March we learned that people with degrees in the arts have a significantly decrease in net worth, compared to those without a degree. Today researchers are saying that Arts Degrees are also associated with early death.
Maybe it's time to re-think my educational investments!