Why I Love This Monthly Conceptual Art Class at the Art Students League of New York
For the first time in 150 years, art students don’t have to take their physical bodies to 57th Street in Manhattan — they can learn via Zoom.
Education
“To go to school or not to go to school? This is the question,” said someone who was probably not named Shakespeare. Here writers, musicians, and other creatives weigh in on the importance school played (or didn’t) in their creative careers.
Hello Internet: Hang Out With Me on Zoom So You Can Be a Famous Artist
Hello Internet, I began preparing this column to invite you to my upcoming virtual artist hangout, but it morphed into exploring reminders of how to write an essay. Prosaic investigation….
Thanks, Self, for Taking Me to SUNY Purchase
How heavy I felt when one of my professors noted that I hadn’t applied anywhere else. Why had I only applied to SUNY Purchase? Didn’t I aspire to be an actor? And the truth is, no. I aspired to keep existing.
Not to Be Dramatic, But It’s Time to Save Democracy Now, Okay?
We’ve got to focus. We are at a point before the election where the actions of the next few weeks have the potential to impact our lives — and the lives of immigrants, children and the disenfranchised, as well as our allies and others around the world — for years to come.
Connecting Between Two Coasts with Iska Dhaaf
Nate and Ben of Iska Dhaaf chat with Sam Miller about their latest album: “I think writing about dark things is healthy. Our first album had themes about drone warfare and disconnection. The new EP is more about communication and wanting to be close to others, even though we often fall short.”
Knowing the World Through Art: Inspired by Iranian Illustrators
For the last few years, I kept checking for accessible foreign editions of some of these books. I reached out directly to Reza Dalvand, the illustrator of Ace, who put me in touch with his publisher in Iran.
Reflecting Me: Movement for Mercy and Where Change Begins
Movement for Mercy is a live dance performance which honors the intersections of experiences and shared history throughout our community.
Circumstantially Free
“Zahra, where is that from…oh, did you know that Iraq invaded Kuwait?” “Yes, I was there.” He asked what my thoughts about the Taliban were, twice.
Full Circle
The problem isn’t that our laws are flawed (even though they are). The problem is that we care only to the degree that it won’t be an inconvenience or mess with our comfort…or even worse, our narratives. This is our problem.
Join Us to Supercharge Your Vote: A Livestream Event!
We’ve been living through such extreme weirdness that otherwise easy civic activities like voting and census-taking can somehow fall between the cracks — so we’re hosting this virtual event to help get you supercharged!
Coffee + Creatives Opportunities: 5.3.20
Job, funding, grant and other opportunities culled from the Coffee+Creatives group for creatives seeking work or other ways to get paid for what they do.
Resource List: Mental and Financial Health During COVID-19
We thought it would be helpful to periodically summarize what’s out there to calm the storm of information that seems to be swirling around us. So here is a resource list focusing on mental health, wellness and financial assistance to help soften the impact of COVID on all our lives.
Clean Water is Our Right: Dancing for Water in New Mexico
Guest Blogger Lara Segura of Keshet shares: “I find that dance, as a nonverbal art form, can make subjects that may be difficult to discuss less abrasive and more accessible. My aim with National Water Dance is to invite the community to share their thoughts, words, and movements about the universal right to clean water.”
Pyragraph LIVE: John Fugelsang
John Fugelsang is in Albuquerque to perform “Unpresidented: The true story of a comedian trying to raise a toddler while his country was electing one” and we were lucky enough to get him into the Pyragraph LIVE studio (a.k.a. my office) to talk about comedy, politics, religion, and how he’s pulled all those elements and more into his unique creative career.
How Theater Education Can Change the World
Guest Blogger Jeff Andersen: “We work with students in local classrooms for an entire year teaching them how to write and perform their own plays. I see the students make the same connections I did. They realize that they can not only participate in the world around them but also, even better, help to shape it.”
How Picture Books Make Us Better People
Babar the elephant and Curious George are old friends. They were some of the first people we grew to know. They might not be real people, but they were some of our first ideas of people.