Adteacher

Last one out, shut the door! It has been a wondrous day around here. I am seeing engaged and talented kids around here all hours of the day and into the evening! We are enjoying our creative time together and we are also very happy to be working in this great space. We have a lot going on - a project based on Stereotyping, food styling, advanced applied graphics (candy box designs, CD/DVD packaging and books, dustjacket design) and also some great logo design and photography, just as an aside. It is undoubtedly the most enthused group that I have taught for quite some time, and they are just incredibly fun to work with! I just had a couple of students from Hebron who worked after school for hours, and another small group who stayed after to do another different photo shoot with projected imagery, very cool. Good day in 'da house.

it is really oversimplification. It allows people to not go to all the hassle of figuring out what people are REALLY all about and just make assumptions based on very little evidence. For example, I am an artist. For as long as I can remember, I have been referred to as the "artsy" girl, the "artsy" lady. Forever! Assumptions are made by many people that because I am "artsy" I can't handle complexities. That all I can do is "make pretty pictures" and that I must not be very substantive. I find that to be a wrong assessment, and it is merely a stereotype of female artists in particular. Other stereotypes run rampant about those in the artistic community. Counselors will often automatically try to "dumb down" college schedules thinking that we "artsy" ones cannot handle math or science. Also an unfair and unwise assumption. Although those were not favorite subjects for me, I handled them in college with a fair amount of ea...

Sometimes I think it's a really good thing to stop in your tracks and take stock. Ask yourself how you're doing in life. Just in general. I try to do that at the end of each day. I ask myself if I said anything to anyone in anger or just out of spite. I ask myself if I ignored someone who might have really needed some special attention from me. I ask myself if I am proud of myself for how I acted. If I answer too many times in the negative, then I try to talk about it to myself a little bit in my mind. Self analysis. "Hey, dummy! Why did you do that? Maybe you can do better tomorrow, eh?" I know that may seem a little bit odd, but I have been doing that since I was a kid. It's not that I feel that I must be pleasing everyone else at the expense of meeting my own needs, but if I am meeting my own needs at the expense of others... well, I see that as a problem. Think about it. That good old golden rule should be a guidepost for human behaviour. Who doesn't...

I often see the "little kid" in the eyes of some of my high school students when we hit the topic of stereotypes and especially bullying in school. I'll ask that they not necessarily raise their hand, but if they will just think back to when they were in elementary school and middle school (for some of them, that is not that long ago...) and it is hard to define, but it's a sort of wistfulness that sweeps across their face. It's a notion that they are having a vague feeling of nostalgia mixed with a sort of melancholy. I know from their faces that they have been the victim of hurtful words from time to time. We all have. I remember once when someone I didn't even know called me a name, based on my physical characteristics. I was stung, and then I was just angry. I understand how it feels to be bullied. Our school counselor is going to be doing a presentation to our school next Monday on cyber-bullying, and I can hardly wait to hear it. I think it does us...

Huh? What's a Moxie Sozo? Well, Moxie Sozo is a Boulder, Colorado PR, Advertising and Design firm. Not just any firm... they have been wise enough to hire recent Kansas City Art Institute graduate and former DJCC Ad Design alumni, Ramzy Masri. Ramzy's first job out of KCAI is a real dream come true... a socially conscious and innovative designer like Ramzy has found just the same in the firm that has hired him. http://www.moxiesozo.com/index.php Who has moxie? (Moxie = backbone: fortitude and determination) MoxieSozo has moxie. And now, MoxieSozo has Ramzy.

For any of you looking for an update on what Karen To has been up to lately, check out her new website. It has a great deal of very cool work on it, and it showcases her great design sensibilities. She has recently posted it, and she has not completely proofed it - but overlook the spelling for now, and take a look at the work itself. It is a preview of what is to come when she launches her professional site next year. Enjoy! http://www.karen-to.com/

I have really earned my paycheck this week. Most weeks I feel like I do, but this week in particular has been a doozy. I like the feeling of putting in a full day of honest work, but I could have used a tiny bit more "me time" this week. I know that I have work to do over the weekend to prepare for another busy week next week, but I really hope to get those moments of sitting at home with my feet up just enjoying life. They have flown past me lately, and I want to reclaim some of that! With that said, I feel as though at 7:19 PM, it is time for me to leave CCE for the day. Over and out! See everyone tomorrow!