Dark days

I’m a solstice baby. Yup. Born on the darkest day of the year. As the waning of the year (and my birthday) approaches, the last few weeks prior to the Big Day can feel very dark indeed, even though it should feel like cause for celebration. When my alarm goes...

Heart of courage

Heart of courage, Kimberly Barber (November 2021) Here’s a shoutout to all the artists out there who daily demonstrate their courage. To quote the Cowardly Lion in part (thanks, Jack Haley): “I could be kind of humanIf I only had a heart…I’d be...

Community

Opera class bonfire, November 13, 2021: A community of singers (photo: Claude Wood) I took a bit of a hiatus this past week, as my students were performing their two evenings of opera excerpts and I was right in the thick of it. It was our first performance in front...

Allowed on the voyage

From “Fifty Boats”, artwork by Nan Shepherd (2009); Kimberly Barber (2021) This week I went on a daring journey with my students in our studio performance class: I told them everything was allowed. Their wildest imagination, their instincts, their personal...

Intersectionality

Puzzle intersections (Kimberly Barber, 2021) I’ve been inspired this week reading Parker J. Palmer’s classic, The Courage to Teach. There is so much to be gleaned there, but one of the things that really landed for me was the notion of paradox in teaching,...