A Tribute to Teachers - Part 1

Yesterday while i was having breakfast with my girlfriends, an interesting conversation sprung up. The subject of teachers, and who may have had a big impact on our lives. I can remember all of my teachers that i had in primary, middle, and high school. Some made bigger impacts than others. But today i will choose only one - and make it my special tribute to dedicated teachers.

Today i'm going to choose Mrs. Salyer. Mrs. Salyer was a teacher who was always passionate about what she taught, and i first met her when i was 14 yrs old. I was a freshman in High School - already a daunting time, and i had become a surly, determined teenager. but unlike other teenagers, i had a healthy respect for authority, hoping to one day enter their ranks, i suppose. But others would have just called me an erstwhile Teachers Pet, or at worse, a brown-noser.

Nevertheless it was an elective, and right after band practice across the hall. Mrs. Salyer had taught my brothers for their English classes. But this year - it was Art 101. Art was amazing fun. I've always liked to draw, but this class opened my eyes to the world of art. and Mrs. Salyer was very adamant that we not define art as what our parents may have shown us - limited to crayola and poster paints. But to admire it. To live in it, and to study the great masters of art: Georgia O'Keefe, Salvador Dali, and even other mediums like photography, sculpting, mobiles, and charcoals, rubber stamping, and painting. We did it all, and all the while Mrs. Salyer did her very best to educate us to really "see" the art, and to feel whatever it is we were to feel. There was no right or wrong. Art was art - and not subjected to right or wrong, or following any rules.

To this day i still carry with me the way she taught me to look at art, and every time i admire art, or go to the galleries to consider a new purchase for my walls, i think of her, and the skills she taught me.

My husband never had the luxury of being able to take a class like this, and he is so eager to admire art with an open mind. I try to help in my way, but i think it is now up to us to show this to our son. To expose him now to the world of art.

We took Ewan today to WOWArt!, a new class oriented workshop to help children learn to appreciate art by letting them create in different mediums - much like i got to when i was 14. And while ewan, who had fallen asleep in the car before class was a bit cranky when it came time to paint, nevertheless he still enjoyed watching his daddy paint, and get dirty hands from the paintbrushes. Ewan nearly flipped out when his fingers got paint on him, but then daddy painted his own hands to show our son that it was perfectly ok to get a little dirty while painting.

See ewan? Its ok to get dirty sometimes!

We had a fantastic time in the end, and ewan was running around with a smile on his face by the time we had to leave.

I hope this is the first class of many that we will get to take ewan to and have fun with him!

Thanks to WOWArt! for letting us come in and take a sample class (and sorry for all the wailing from my son when he woke up and found himself in a strange place. he gets cranky like that!)

Mama loves art! Ewan - not so much :P

and thanks also goes to Natalya for our interview (and again, sorry for the wailing coming from the hallway - my son was not happy)

of course thanks to the good folks at The Right Spin for thinking of us in the first place - we love you guys :)

and... special thanks goes to Mrs. Wanda Salyer of Lorena Texas - without who's instruction and careful patience opened our minds to the world of art. I am eternally grateful.

Plum tuckered out and ready for bed!

Happy Corporate Sponsored Love Day!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day - and as usual, oli and i didn't do anything out of the ordinary. There were no cards, no flowers, no sweets - nothing. Tho i did think about buying him a multi charger for all of his electronics. What? Its a practical gift.

Or what about this? This looks practical.

I don't think i've ever celebrated Valentine's Day. In elementary school it became a dreaded, even torturous affair, as you make these little receptacles out of empty kleenex boxes.  You went through the whole week leading up to it covering the box in construction paper, and little heart cut-outs, glitter, and lots of glue. Then the teacher tells you - oh, this is your little mailbox. Valentine's Day comes and you are given the hour before you go home to roam around, visit with your friends and deliver little homemade Valentine notes to whoever you wanted. So i recall sitting there with my punch and cookies, while everyone roamed around to talk to their friends in little groups. I didn't belong to a group. I didn't have any friends. So the whole puzzling affair would end with me copying my spelling words and watching the clock. Once i would get home, my dad would always have a small box of mixed chocolates for me. I admit i don't think i fully appreciated it at the time, but thinking back on it - man those chocolates were sweet!

Chocolates like these - and no that's not me in this pic.

As an emerging teen and young adult, i was so over the whole Valentine's thing that i organized the first Anti-Valentine's Day Party for my single friends (yes, by this time I'd managed to bribe a few people to be my friend - just joking. But not really.) I drew up the invite, a woman holding a bow and arrow sitting down with an arrow through a hanging heart on the wall with a simple sign stuck to it: Love Sucks. It promised to be so fun that a girlfriend of mine who wanted to come but had a boyfriend (the prerequisite was you had to be single) was made by us to break up with her boy for the day. And she did. We managed to have a riot, and even though on the night itself i was surprised by an earnest suitor who showed up at my house with a single rose wishing me a Happy Valentine's day (thanks, Barry!) he drove me to my happy singles party just down the street. What ensued was a raging water balloon fight, a cupcake fight, and chasing a rival single boys party around the town like maniacs with shaving cream and toilet paper. It was good, clean, wholesome, American small town fun.



Being in my second adult relationship for a little over 6 yrs - we have NEVER celebrated Valentine's Day. The reason being we celebrate our getting together anniversary on the 9th. Besides, in Singapore we dont' feel like going to crowded restaurants, enduring terrible service, ok food, and other such public displays of affection. Its a sweet thought and i get it - but honestly, i feel like having this day to remind you to show affection and gentleness to your partner is a cop-out. Everyday should be Valentine's Day.

So remember this: if you are single, there is no shame in going to the movies alone, dining alone, or shopping alone - i did this many times myself. I have always felt like you have to know who you and be comfortable with who you are before you can know and be comfortable with someone else.

And if you are a part of a couple: every day should be Valentine's Day. And make it creative - go Zorba! Or bungee jumping. Or street luging. Dont' just do the whole flowers/chocolates/dinner route.

as for me? i only want chocolates from my dad. But if my husband brings them - i would wonder what he was apologizing for.