Posted: 2 years ago

I thought it might be a good time for us to restart the what-we've-been-up-to thread.

For me, the semester has kicked into gear and I'm a month into enjoying the energy and ideas of my wildly interesting, fun, and intelligent high school seniors. Next week adds the start of the training season - not for a sport, but traveling to different places to help teachers to learn to use technology in interesting ways. I'll be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota next Thursday to help a group learn to use Google's free tools. I enjoy visiting a new place!

On that front, if anyone has been to Sioux Falls and has a recommendation for restaurants to try, things to see, and the like, do share!

Posted: 2 years ago

Just completed a new essay, which was turned in for competition for the Texas Association of Art Schools (TASA), (only seven pages long and a 20 minute presentation about the artist and his community) and have been completing some journals to go into the college library (when I donate all my own art work to the system- must find a permanent home for the 400 works in storage-and my art collection). The latest two (not in sequence but how my visual thinking and writing goes) are: "To Know Is To Grow: Yesterday, Today and Forever" and "To Know Is To Grow: Art: The Flame the Sets the Spirit Ablaze" (Books 34 and 30). They are all visual and written (about 110-150 pages each). Books 33, 32 and 31 are started but with only a few written pages finished (all the visuals are done).

We saw Manon, a marvelous ballet, last weekend and will go to Without Boundaries, a new world premiere of the work of three exceptional choreographers next Sunday. Really looking forward to this performance of the Houston Ballet Company (one of the premiere companies in the world). Was pleasantly surprise by An Evening of Splendor last night at my college. We have marvelous young musical performers that I had not heard before. We need them. The college now has 9300 students; last year it was 7500. My two classes themselves normally has 25 and 15 in them: this year it is 37 and 32 (morning and evening classes). This shows the impact of the recession on community colleges. We see that: "Education is the key to open new doors."

Posted: 2 years ago

Congratulations on progress with the books! We'll need a program about one of them, I'm thinking.

Here in California, the community college numbers are swelling as a result of people out of work going back to school, or young people choosing something less expensive than a four-year option. Opportunities within challenges, I'm thinking.