No. I have not been blogging in a while. That is because I live on the tippy toe edge of a precipice (admittedly of my own making). But something happened to me this week that I just had to share, because it snapped everything into sharp focus in a matter of seconds.
Earlier this week, probably Wednesday, I was feeling a little gloomy and tremendously unprepared to make an appearance before my students, so I pulled out of my closet a pull-on black dress and a pair of sandals and walked across the street to work.
At 3:30 that afternoon, I found myself lambasting my eighth period about the fact that they DO NOT pay attention to details, when I attempted to put my hand in my pocket and realized that I had been wearing my dress wrong side out all day.
I am sure that my class thought that the strange look that came across my face was the result of my disgust for their slovenly attitude toward academia. And when I simply stopped talking and went and sat at my desk, they were also quiet and made a renewed attempt to conclude their assignment for the day.
I wish I could say that I put my dress on inside out because we lost electrical power and I was struggling with regard to my environment. Or maybe I could blame my fashion fiasco on the fact that I got new glasses this week and have surfaced in a swimmy world where my feet look two sizes larger and I have a crick in my neck from tilting my head up and down to see. But then I would have to admit to now wearing bifocals.
To be honest, my fashion faux pas was the result of not paying attention to detail--and now I have provided myself with a teachable moment, a living example of irony that I can use in the classroom--next year.
On a brighter note, I have started a series of paintings that are based on novels and plays that have been turned into films. The scandalous part is that I cut apart books, yes, I actually dismember them line by line, and use the text to create the portraits. Obsessive artist that I am, I have decided to create 64 of these 12"x12" text collage portraits. The title of the project will be either "Cutting Room" or "I Just Don't Read Like I Used To." Both of these are the brainchild of my daughter Candace.
I don't have any idea what I will do with these 64 collage portraits when they are completed. But my past experience has proven to me the axiom of "if you build it, they will come," is not so farfetched.
I do know that making these pieces of art keeps me in the present moment. What more could I ask?
So, I am including Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter, Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby, the monster from Frankenstein, the Mad Hatter from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Michael Corleone from The Godfather. (Of course, since I have never figured out this blog format, these images will appear randomly.)
