I got a promotion today at my Young Audiences job !?!?!? But I don't understand how it worked (and I was too shocked to ask questions!) There are some budget "issues", (are there are with almost all arts organizations right now) so they are "re-structuring" (the nice term for cutting positions). I'm not quite sure how that worked, but I'm going to get more money, a better title, and more hours out of this "restructuring".
I'm not quite sure how I feel about all this (I think pormotions are supposed to feel a lot better than I'm feeling . . . ) I do not yet know who/ what is being cut - - but I suspect it's more than one person or program. After we talked, the director told me to leave (a half hour early!) because she didn't want the rest of the staff to ask me what was up. She also said it would be a very difficult day for her (ugh).

The Lord of the Rings Musical - - sick and wrong if you want my opinion!!

A Marshall University teacher from West Virginia has been arrested for possession of compasses, protractors and straight edges. It is claimed he is a member of the Al Gebra movement, bearing weapons of math instruction

It was a very very very good day.
Miller came over - and we played on the poarch (it was really windy - which was fun!) I'm trying to teach him how to jump which is also fun to watch (he has the knee action, but he just can't get up off the ground!!)
My students were AWESOME today (like incredible, best behavior, perfect little children!!)
Class was very good tonight - - I'm really getting a lot out of this Wednesday night class. The guy teaching it loves to tell stories - which is always fun!! AND we got out before 10:00 (always a good thing!!)
I am just all around happy - life is good!

If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough
- Mario Andretti

Live from my new computer! (except it's not mine and it's not new!) My dear brother is letting me use his laptop for the summer!! (In exchange, I'm letting him use my AOL account to get online - that's fair right?) It's kinda old by computer standards - but I like the idea of being able to work OUTSIDE (or at the park) this summer. YIPEE!!!

Everything you wanted to know about the new gun law . . .
Q: Can I bring a gun to school now?
A: Yes! Just leave it in your car in the school parking lot.

Q: So I can have guns in the school parking lot?
A: Yes! But remember knives are still forbidden.

Q: How come I can have a gun, but not a knife?
A: Knifes don't have an effective national lobbying organization.

Q: Can bring a gun insdie a nuclear energy plant?
A: With Xcel Energy's current oversight standards, probably.

Q: Can I take my gun into bars and get riotously drunk?
A: Not riotously.

More fascinating facts about Minnesota's new gun law (for the 99.% of you who aren't Minnesooooooootians!!) can be found HERE (Really makes you wanna come visit me eh???)

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Kristie
Happy Birthday to you!!
I vividly remember Kristie's birthday last year - - She had been engaged for a full week, (now she's a MARRIED WOMAN!!) Grandpa A was still alive, (but I had a bag packed and ready so I could take off for Chicago whenever "the call" came . . . ). At this time last year, Miller couldn't roll over, (now he's runing!) I was still in Iowa worrying about life in Minnesota (now I'm in Minnesota, worrying about life in Minnesota!!) It all seems SO LONG AGO (much more than a year!) Almost everything has changed (except me worrying!) Crazy crazy stuff.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.
~George Bernard Shaw

THE CUTS
courtsey of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts

I am disgusted to have to report the following:
* The Minnesota Arts took a 32% funding cut from the State Legislature this week
* The Humanities Commission lost all of their state funding for the next two years. (State funding covered about a third of their budget).
* The Minnesota Film Board was cut by 82%, leaving them with just $350,000/year
* The Minnesota Historical Society was cut by $4.3 million dollars a year, a loss of 23%
* The Science Museum of Minnesota got a 30% cut, reducing their annual funding to $750,000/year.
* The Minnesota Zoo got a 10% cut, with an ability to charge new fees.
* At this time, it looks like public broadcasting will get cuts too, but their bill is not yet finished.

ACHOO!! Something is triggering allergy like yuckiness in my life. I tried to just suck it up and endure it yesterday � broke down and took a children�s Benadryl, which knocked me out for the whole night. This morning I took HALF of a children�s Benadryl and although I�m not sneezing and sniffing, I�m in a complete daze. BLAH.

It's very stranage. Saddam might have run a massive disinformation campaign to make the work think he was violating internation norms, and he may not have been

-Pentagon adviser Kenneth Adelman, on why the Bush administration believed that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons even though inspector have not found them in significant quantities.

"Copyright law is like the rules of grammar. You can memorize it - but don't try to understand it" !!!

The last week has been fairly stressful - This could be a difficult semester (Of course I always say that at the begining of a term - - why do I get so freaked out so quickly??) In other school realated news - I still don't have a grade for that awful cultural studies class and it's making me upset (i have not gotten any feedback on any of my assingments from that class - so I have NO CLUE what my grade night be. AAAGGGHHHH

BUT here's some happy news . . .
* Ryan now has an e mail address (yippee!! Are you out there Ryan?? You should get a website now!!!!)
* My first choice thesis topic was approved (The "Death" of Classical Music and Symphony Orchestras - - or something like that!!) I'd be really sad if I got stuck with a topic I couldn't get excited about (that'd be really awful!) Luckily I don't have to worry about it - this is going to be a GREAT topic!!
* I got my offical letter offering me a job at the little academy next year (Which I didn't think was a big deal, but there are some teachers who aren't being hired back next year - OUCH!!!) There was also a tense moment last week when some hippie kind of guy came in for an interview with a guitar (I didn't see it - but a teacher and a couple of students did which prompted some scarey rummors about the fate of Ms. VW ) I found out yesterday that the hippie guy is a classroom teacher and he was interviewing for a classroom position (WHEW!!!!)

Did you know . . . .
Shriners have special boxes in which to carry thier funny hats?? (THEY DO!! I couldn't make that up!!)

POSSIBLE THESIS TOPIC PROPOSALS!
please please please please give me any comments, suggestions, ideas, brainstorms you may have by clicking on the "Blog Back!" Button!!

#1 Pickle Brine isn't Art (but it sure makes for some tastey cucumbers!) Would discuss preservation (pickle brine) vs. the creation of art (tasty cukes!) You'd think "Arts Organizations" by deninition would be on the cutting edge of creating culture. But lots of organizations (symphonies and museums) are preserving instead of creating art. I don't know where this would go - But I like the title!!

# 2 Will the Arts Survive without Arts Education? YES!! So why bother? Because it's good for you like lima beans? Because it's part of our heritiage? Because it's a way to express? Why do we pour money into arts education? (Would Math Survive without math education? YES! So why bother to teach math ?? I could possibly end up proposing that all schools be elimated (and that might not be such a bad thing!!!)

# 3 Untitled Something about arts existing in cultures all the time - - Art is expensive to learn and create - but people throughout history have devoted considerable time, energy, and money to creating "stuff". WHY? It must be importatnt. Do we need governemtn support? Why? Did the caveman making cave painting have an NEA grant? Is the US system of supporting artists more "natural" than the Eurpean system?

#4 Are Orchestras an Endangered Species? Are they dead? Can we save them? Are "graying audiences" an issue? (This one is the current favorite!)

The Lunar Eclipse is Cool!!!

Everything you ever wanted to know about Ringworm!
Why would I be researching ringworm? One of my kidos has had it for three weeks - but didn't bother to tell the school. I work at a very touch-y school (lots of hugs and hand holding!) and apperently ringworm is spread very quickly through physical contact - one of our staff members got infected over the weekend (which is how all this came out - (Can we say EPIDEMIC boys and girls?!) I've been feeling sorry for myself and itching ever since I found out (behold the power of suggestion!!)

Then . . . something very cool happened tonight -- Sue M. (JC art teacher extradonire) had a sign on her door last year that sorta explains it . . .

When life is a
window
we see beauty,
opportunity,
and the needs
of others.
When life is a
mirror
we see
only ourselves.


There was a "window moment" tonight. Who knows if it was right? Or wrong? Naive? Dangerous? Just plain stupid? I donno - but it was cool (esp. since I've been literally watching myself in a mirror for two days - - just in case I become a "ringworm myrtar"!!!)

Thesis writing has begun! I need to have three potential topics by next week (yikes!) Up to 1/3 of the whole bloody thing could be written by the end of June (whoa!!) Last year at this time I had lots and lots of ideas - but right now my brain is feeling empty. Ugh!

Not everything can be exquisite, but if you can't remember the last time you were wowed by something on a stage, you're probably in danger of becoming one of those people who think that maybe the arts aren't all that important � that perhaps they don't deserve the kind of support that individuals and companies and foundations and governments in Minnesota have always given them. I don't want that to happen.

- Dominic Papatola

Isabella V - Flight Risk
Here's the story.
Here's The Website
This is interesting stuff - although compared to the stuff I ought to be reading - even the phone book would be interesting!!!

GGGGRRRR...... Class on a Friday night - not the coolest idea in the world, but not being the coolest person in the world, I can deal with it. So I stayed late at work, had a sandwhich for dinner, went to SMU, only to discover class was canceled. (OK stuff comes up - I hope everything's alright).
I get home and there's an e mail from my advisor (sent at 2:30) saying that she is canceling class because she wants to "individualize" syllabuses and meet with us individually on Monday or Tuesday.
WHY WHY WHY WHY couldn't she have made that decision yesterday.
WHY WHY WHY WHY did she wait until 4 hours before class to cancel it? WHY WHY WHY WHY coudln't she meet with people tonight and individualize the syllabus (since tonight was already blocked out -- now I have to block out more time to go meet with her next week!!!)
GGGGGRRRRRR.......... (and I still don't have grades from last semester - am I ticked off - you betcha!!)

The Govenors Guide to Minnesota Arts and Culture
"If we were to lose Paul Bunyan, it would be like a kick in our cultural groin," said the governor, once again showing a flair for visual metaphor almost as creative as that of his predecessor.
But rising up to save the unique cultural heritage of this state seemed a sudden turnabout for a guy whose proposed budget took a Bunyan-sized whack at state arts and culture funding, chopping it by 40 percent, a cut almost three times the rate of the state's 14 percent budget deficit. Though arts funding makes up just 0.00089 percent of our state budget, such deep cuts added insult to arts groups already injured by a bad economy, decreased corporate and foundation gifts, and diminished attendance after Sept. 11.

Imagination is the link to civil society that art and democracy share.
When imagination flourishes in the arts, democracy benefits.
When it flourishes in a democracy, the arts and
the civil society thae arts help to ground also benefit.
Imagination is the key to diversity,
to civic compassion and to commonality.

-Benjamin Barber

I am Free Arts Minnesota's new "Volunteer Recruitment and Training Manager" (an internship with a title - gotta love that!)
YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The interview obviously went well - - very well - I am SO SO SO excited! Way too excited to teach this afternoon! This is exactly what I wanted to do (although I would have settled for ANYTHING with FAMN!) Cool Cool Cool! So Excited!! HORRAY!!! yipee!!!

Good communication is as stimulating as
black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh

As heard on NPR
Big Bird and Oscar are Born !

I have some characters I want to build. One is a tall, funny-looking bird and the other's going to be this grouchy character who's going to live in a pile of trash in the gutter.

Big Bird is kind and sweet. But after performing him all day . . . it's almost therapeutic to switch to Oscar the Grouch.. . . "children like Oscar because he's honest. And even though he's a fuzzy green monster, he's very human. I've often noted that the characters, the puppets, often demonstrate more humanity than the real people."

YIPEE!! YAHOO!! HORRAY!!
I HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH FREE ARTS MINNESOTA
Jump up and down, bounce off the walls, this is good! (good good very good!) I'd almost given up on the idea that I'd be able to get a summer internship - I shouldn't get too excited until they actually offer me something - but why be practical about such things?!?
( -:

Asteroid named after Mister Rogers

MILLER SAID "JULIE"! Not just once or twice on accident - he said it many many times ON PURPOSE! (Yep, that boy is brilliant!)

People laugh - but I've always said one could perform major surgery with a good swiss army knife!

not happy
I slipped on stairs / tennis ball
and my hand got banged up
not broken -
but not happy
I'm supposed to play at a Missy's wedding this weekend
not happy
dumb tennis ball, dumb stairs, dumb dog
not happy
not happy
not happy

The daffadoils outside of Landmark Center decided to bloom (I didn't know there were daffadoils planted outside Landmark center - what a nice surprise!!)