What I actually Do

HSARTTEACHER, originally uploaded by elephantsgerald.

Vimeo Video Contest!

I just entered my teacher pension video into this contest.
All of y'all aspiring filmmakers should do likewise.

Questions and Responses About Our Impending School Art Tour of NYC

Three things you want your students to experience on tour:

1. Contemporary Art
2. Urban atmosphere. Artsy fartsy or scenic aspects of our neighborhood tours. 
3. TIME TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS. Golden hour, the 2-3 hours before sunset, is the most photogenic time of day. If possible, that's when we want to be outside. I understand it's not always possible. I also understand sometimes it rains. Please know that if the light is right, wherever we are, I will be commanding to take photos, even while standing in line outside the museum. 

Three expectations you have for your Tour Director:

1. Allow for time to take photos- more so than usual, more than half of these kids have taken photo class, will be in AP photo next year, and will use these photos all next school year for their AP portfolio. 
2. These are good kids, but talkative, urban, and diverse (many students speak Spanish as a first language). If expectations are made clear, they will do them, but you can't take for granted that they know common etiquette; i.e.-, if you stand in the middle of the sidewalk in NYC it ticks New Yorkers off.  
3. Friendly but firm. Kids will ask to do the stupidest stuff. Don't even think about their requests. Just say know, or ask your teacher. If I think it's a good idea, I'll ask you. Don't be afraid to tell me know either. If anyone gets the concept of rules make everything work better, it's me.  

 Are there any extra excursions you want help planning in your free time?

• Is there any way I can rent borrow or find a karaoke machine, and use it one night in a meeting room in our hotel? I think the kids would get a kick out of it. Is the hotel pool indoors, or outdoors? When we we be back at the hotel those two nights? I was thinking of asking artist or photo friends in NYC to come and show their work. But only if there is time.  

Visiting my mom. For the last time.

Visiting my mom. For the last time., originally uploaded by elephantsgerald.

I abandoned my classroom the week before exams to be with my mom. She passed away today at noon. We will celebrate her amazing life led in the service to others next Tuesday.

I'm quite torn. This is what I must do, but I don't like not doing a perfect job back home.

I love my Mother.

art-is inspired

art-is, originally uploaded by elephantsgerald.

I was doing a project with photo club, (which is a pain to do- the school doesn't pay me) and I decide to document it. As i move the transparencies from table to table, I'm transfixed by the way the camera, the white shapes, and the human mind interact. I make a series of stills and video based on this idea of the simplified photo in front of the complex, out of focus background. the mind just can't let go if a human face. I'm not sure, artistically, where I'm going with this idea, but this ad for art classes is a start.

Teacher pensions save Illinois taxpayers almost a billion dollars.