Happy October, or for some ... Inkober!!

So it is officially October,  and with a new month comes a few things ...

First, your 'just-for-instance' gift, a printable calendar for your personal enjoyment: 

(if you have issues with downloading the image, email me and I will send you a PDF)

Feel free to download and print out this calendar for your personal use this month.

Secondly,  a mini moth-in-review mash-up.  Somehow I missed doing a 'best-of' August so I have combined the best of August AND September from my Instagram. 

 I am always interested to see which and what images of mine make the 'best of'.  One of the reasons that I participated in the #100day challenge was to see which of my different art interests would be most prevalent.  As usual what I discovered during my #100daysofvirginiacreates is that I am drawn to many, many artistic endeavors.   Another plus of participating in the #100day challenge was that it made me conscious of creating each day.  At first I thought that I didn't need the 'challenge' as I am usually 'creating' something every day.  

However when I reached my 100 days and the pressure was off, that when I realized that I needed the 'challenge', not so much as a reminder to 'make something' but as permission to create every day!  The desire to make art and the ideas are with me ALL the time, but unless I have some kind of exterior demand, such as a gallery opening, a due date or even a casual challenge, I tend to let life outrank my art.  

(I believe this stems from my catholic upbringing, if I enjoy doing something just for myself, it must be WRONG?!?!? anyone else familiar with that thought process?!?) 

So with my new awareness of the importance of some exterior commitment, I am jumping on to the #inkober bandwagon.  

After doing some research I have found that Inkober was started by Jake Parker,

 "I created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve my inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year."   To learn more check out his Inkober post. There is a video, more information, a list of inking materials and so much more. (mrjakeparker.com/inktober.)  And who knows you amy want to join in TOO!!!  

He also has set up some 'rules' and an official prompt list: 

Inktober rules:

1) Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil under-drawing if you want).

2) Post it online

3) Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2017

4) Repeat

Note: you can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. What ever you decide, just be consistent with it. INKtober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better.

That's it! Now go make something beautiful.

 So let the fun begin.  

I will definitely posting my drawings on Instagram and FB and I hope to post them here as well.  

Please join me in this creative endeavor, as I so strongly believe in the benefits of creating 

EVERY DAY!!!

#thisismyreligion

peace, 

virginia

this is my religion .... thank you Donovan Livingston, ED.M. '16

In this current state of our country I tend to fall into a state of despair, but then I find hope, a sign that things are not as bad as they seem.  Today that hope came from the mouth of a recent graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Donovan Livingston.  

I find it heart-breaking that racism is still such a large part of our country, and I feel those who encourage and incite this continual division instead of embracing and celebrating diversity, are committing a heinous injustice.  

Especially those individuals who are in the media's spotlight.  

But then there are these shining stars, and thanks to social media, 

they are being heard as well. 

The remarks of Donovan Livingston, Ed.M.'16, student speaker at HGSE's 2016 Convocation exercises.

Below is a link to the video of his commencement address as well as the text of his poem.  

“Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin,

Is a great equalizer of the conditions of men.” – Horace Mann, 1848.

At the time of his remarks I couldn’t read — couldn’t write.

Any attempt to do so, punishable by death.

For generations we have known of knowledge’s infinite power.

Yet somehow, we’ve never questioned the keeper of the keys —

The guardians of information.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen more dividing and conquering

In this order of operations — a heinous miscalculation of reality.

For some, the only difference between a classroom and a plantation is time.

How many times must we be made to feel like quotas —

Like tokens in coined phrases? —

“Diversity. Inclusion”

There are days I feel like one, like only —

A lonely blossom in a briar patch of broken promises.

But I’ve always been a thorn in the side of injustice.

Disruptive. Talkative. A distraction.

With a passion that transcends the confines of my consciousness —

Beyond your curriculum, beyond your standards.

I stand here, a manifestation of love and pain,

With veins pumping revolution.

I am the strange fruit that grew too ripe for the poplar tree.

I am a DREAM Act, Dream Deferred incarnate.

I am a movement – an amalgam of memories America would care to forget

My past, alone won’t allow me to sit still.

So my body, like the mind

Cannot be contained.

As educators, rather than raising your voices

Over the rustling of our chains,

Take them off. Un-cuff us.

Unencumbered by the lumbering weight

Of poverty and privilege,

Policy and ignorance.

I was in the 7th grade, when Ms. Parker told me,

“Donovan, we can put your excess energy to good use!”

And she introduced me to the sound of my own voice.

She gave me a stage. A platform.

She told me that our stories are ladders

That make it easier for us to touch the stars.

So climb and grab them.

Keep climbing. Grab them.

Spill your emotions in the big dipper and pour out your soul.

Light up the world with your luminous allure.

To educate requires Galileo-like patience.

Today, when I look my students in the eyes, all I see are constellations.

If you take the time to connect the dots,

You can plot the true shape of their genius —

Shining in their darkest hour.

I look each of my students in the eyes,

And see the same light that aligned Orion’s Belt

And the pyramids of Giza.

I see the same twinkle

That guided Harriet to freedom.

I see them. Beneath their masks and mischief,

Exists an authentic frustration;

An enslavement to your standardized assessments.

At the core, none of us were meant to be common.

We were born to be comets,

Darting across space and time —

Leaving our mark as we crash into everything.

A crater is a reminder that something amazing happened here —

An indelible impact that shook up the world.

Are we not astronomers — looking for the next shooting star?

I teach in hopes of turning content, into rocket ships —

Tribulations into telescopes,

So a child can see their potential from right where they stand.

An injustice is telling them they are stars

Without acknowledging night that surrounds them.

Injustice is telling them education is the key

While you continue to change the locks.

Education is no equalizer —Rather, it is the sleep that precedes the American Dream.So wake up — wake up! Lift your voicesUntil you’ve patched every hole in a child’s broken sky.Wake up every child so they know of their celestial potential.I’ve been a Black hole in the classroom for far too long;Absorbing everything, without allowing my light escape.But those days are done. I belong among the stars.And so do you. And so do they.Together, we can inspire galaxies of greatnessFor generations to come.No, sky is not the limit. It is only the beginning.Lift off.