The Doctor and a Concert

I went to our University Health Center today to have my annual check up. It was quite the positive experience. The center is brand spankin' new and it is cozy sort of like a comfortably chic hotel. No white and shinny, all cherry wood and soft lighting. And they are efficient and cheery, and got me in and out quickly, did a really complete physicial and blood work and the best part is it cost me ZERO dollars with my Priddy provided health insurance. Yea! for the health center!

Then I worked the rest of the day on the Annotated Bibliography of the Literature concerning Assessment in the Arts that is due TUESDAY- oh my, but I am going to work all day today and the rest of the weekend, and the good news is that the last remaining project for the semester which is a multimedia program construction which facilitates learning crossovers in visual art and music, has been pushed back a week to NEXT weds, Whew! I may get it all done.

But then! last night, as I was typing away, my friend and cubical buddy, Maria, who is completing her Ph.d in flute performance ( and she ROCKS) was on her way out to a recital and my legs just made me jump up and go with her. It was fun, I heard Gaubert, Debussy, Shubert, Berio and Reinecke all played on a solid gold flute by a lovely young woman in a Vera Wang gown.

So today will be all about catching up.

Helllooooooo!

It's been a long time, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

I drove home to Houston with a guest, Ya, my friend from China. We had a lovely drive and I learned a lot about the Cultural Revolution, which her parents lived through as young adults. Ya was born shortly after it was over. It is fascinating to hear her recall first hand accounts from her parents. One thing I never thought about is that they now have no personal or family heirlooms, they were all destroyed as a result of the revolution. How sad. Being there with Ya, who is a young woman, also made me realize that China has only been recovering from that horrible episode for her short life-time. I can imagine that the older generation's head is spinning from all the change. And really, something that never quite hit home for me is that it's only been a little over 100 years, since China was a dynasty. I knew that in my mind, but to hear Ya speak of her great grandfather who was under the dynasty rule brings the reality home.

so we had a cultural exchange going on in both directions. She enjoyed the Thanksgiving meal and tried it all, she had never had turkey before. I told her about the President pardoning the turkey and she found that very amusing.

Now I am back in Denton and crossing things off my long to do list. But I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I actually feel like I may have a handle on it.

Update on the crazies

click here to go to the Sprial Workshop homepage. Read all about the workshop and get awesome lesson ideas, for the art teacher, or for your own enjoyment. I just finished my profile on Olivia Gude, the workshop's founder. She's awesome.

I finished that major paper and other minor stuff and now I'm working one of the 2 other major papers I have due. I still have 3 presentations to get together and an advocacy plan so that's only 6 major things to complete in the next two weeks. But then I get a month off!!

I'm still loving it all, even if its totally nuts, I love nuts.

Sesame Street - Cereal Girl

We are looking at "edutainment" in class and here is an example, gotta love it.

Whew! I'm tired

The Texas Art Education Association conference in Galveston this past weekend was a wholelotta fun, but I'm beat! Daniela and I presented twice on Everybody Wins! Teaching Life Skills Students in the Inclusion Classroom. Both times went really well and I think we met a need, or at least got the ball rolling for the need to be met for the people who attended. I attended several very enlightening workshops on advocacy, visual literacy and visual culture, teaching special needs students, technology in education, and one especially interesting one about teaching students from working class homes. The time I wasn't presenting or attending workshops I was hangin' with the homies from Alvin laughing and eating. That was a joy.

I slipped away from the conference to attend Cliff's play on Saturday night. I'm very proud to report that he and his cast and crew raised nearly $3000 for scholarships! Bravo! And I must say that the production was very well done, funny as hell and poignant, but if I do say so myself, Cliff's performance stole the show. The students in the audience cheered when he came on stage. I'm real proud of him.

But the world still turns and I presented tonight in my History of Art Education class on Art Education from 1960-1980, the years I was in school. I think it went well. It was especially interesting to study that time from an outside perspective and to match it to my experience.

And now I am on to writing a profile on Oliva Gude, exemplary art educator. I have a phone interview with her set for tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to that.

When you just need a hug

click here

Plugging Cliff's Play

For those of you in the Greater Houston Area: Cliff is directing a Faculty Play which opens (and closes) this weekend. It is fundraiser for scholarship money. The play is The Boys Next Door, he cast it with all women ( except for his role, yes, acting AND directing) but he is keeping the title as is. If you've never seen the play, it's very very funny. 2 performances ( cheap entertainment for a good cause) this weekend, Saturday night at 8 and Sunday at 2:30 at Friendswood High School auditorium.

3 down

Ok, here's the update: I finished the paper on my concept of a meaningful art curriculum, Olivia Gude is the hero of that paper, and she is my choice for my profile of an arts educator I admire, I started that paper today. I finished my analysis of World of Warcraft titled, "Pattiemoo Joins Me in Another World", and I finished my chronology, time line and PowerPoint for the History of Art Education 1960-1980 presentation. My goal is to have the Profile in Leadership paper and PowerPoint research pretty well finished before I go to the Texas Art Educators conference this weekend. I'm trying to clear the plate for that. It couldn't possibly be at a worse time, but it is when it is.

It's crunch time

I have so much to do and little time to do it, that I thought I would take time out to tell you that I have no time. Due this month: Paper on my concept of a meaningful art curriculum citing the art educators and philosophies shaping my thoughts; Paper on World of Warcraft as a cultural interface citing the writers and theorists and theory shaping my thoughts; Paper on the History of art education from 1960-1980 along with a time line, a chronology and a PowerPoint presentation in class showing both the history of art ed during that time but also how it interrelates with the the cultural, political and global history as well as general education; an annotated bibliography of all the research I can find on art assessment; A paper, PowerPoint and Pacyderm presentation on an art educator whom I admire and consider to be a leader in the field; An Arts advocacy plan identifying a need for advocacy and developing a step by step strategy for addressing that need; A journal detailing my community service with Denton ISD;contributions to and evaluation of the UNT History of Art Education web site; Report on the tracking of Arts related legislation; Develop and program a new media object to address a need in the arts classroom which will address both music and art; and keep up with all the weekly reading and homework for the classes.

Ok, I don't think I left anything out. So this is why I'm a little crazy right now, but you can see it is also all very interesting, good stuff that makes me want to do more than really immediately necessary, and that is where I get into trouble.

I thought I would share this little funny with you. We had to "cut and paste" for one of our exercises in class. We took 3 quotes from 3 different articles on new media. We had to use all the words and couldn't add words. We had to cut them up and paste them together into a whole. Here's what I got. I think this is how some folks write their dissertations:

All the mystification through years of repetition, a strange fragmented authoritarianism, the cultural producer more total for being: A book can contribute to the perpetual fight against words. The lost have meaning and life.