Things are changing in our house. (Though life is change, so when are things not changing?) I'll be starting my second job (losing time I've spent writing and making things) and our teen has started college. Then there are the outside forces, the Delta variant and the changes to our climate and whatever-in-the-all-the-levels-of-hell our rage-filled, …
I have mixed feelings about self-help books. I recently read a scathing piece on the self-industry which characterized self-gurus as con artists convincing you that you are inadequate so that you'll buy more products promising easy fixes. Well, some doctors sell you snake oil and some doctors make you better. So while I may have …
As I mentioned in another post, I'm reading Austin Kleon's book Show Your Work. A while back, I read his book Steal Like an Artist. I was attracted to his work because he uses text in his art like I do. Anyway, to earn money, I teach. Also, I'm homeschooling my kiddo. If I'm not …
I asked my students, "What is art?" This wasn't a question I thought we'd answer satisfactorily. I don't teach art anyway. I teach ESL. But the chapter in our reading textbook was on art. My students are not artists. Most of them have never been to an art museum or gallery. They don't know any …
My adult ESL class is reading The Great Gatsby. I teach the advanced reading class and the goal of the class is to prepare the students for university. I also assign essays related to Gatsby, articles about the American dream and the like. Students in past classes enjoyed the novel. Some students even liked the …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 