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,...

Not my job/My job

Not my job/My job, Jana Philipp (artwork) 2021 This week has been one of much contemplation, reflection, emotional work and release. I am on beautiful Salt Spring Island visiting my eldest daughter at her home in the middle of a red cedar rainforest. Surrounded by the...

Loss and gain

Don’t judge me for my artwork. My mind was a bit of a blank this week as I considered what I wanted to post about. As sometimes happens, I’m mining my week’s experiences for a theme and coming up empty, when suddenly something someone says gives me...

We meet again

My bags are packed, I’m ready to go. I’m about to meet my new crop of students–always an exciting time of year. But this time, of course, it feels much different; there’s a whiff of change in the air because, yes! We get to MEET AGAIN. In...