Last week my amazing daughter, Anna Portnoy, put on MacBeth with her amazing eleventh grade students. Together they managed to put on a spectacular rendition in modern dress with hints of Boston streets seeping into MacBeth’s Scotland. Shakespeare in Wonderland. The kids loved the play because they saw how MacBeth was corrupted by power and by the violence he perpetrated, how it drove him mad. Many of them have witnessed violence on the Boston streets.

Today an article was published in The Bay State Banner with a full report on the play. You might like to check it out. Marques Latimore gave an outstanding performance as MacBeth. It’s such a large and daunting role and without a student willing to take on the hard work of preparing fr it the play could not have happened. So many other students also pitched in and participated. Lady MacBeth, the witches, Duncan—they were all fantastic. And it took a teacher like Anna, who believes in her students and who put in hours and hours of extra work. Back in my day the arts in school were dismissed as frivolous. It seems like times haven’t changed much. Apart from a few teachers who use the arts to teach curriculum and develop individual expression not much happens.

Teachers are not paid to do this work. There is almost no support for the arts in the Boston public schools. That’s a crime considering the payoff. In putting on this play these kids have learned things that you just can’t learn from books. They’ve overcome fears about performance—most had never been in a play before. They tackled the difficult language of Shakespeare and considered how to present scenes. They constructed sets and made costumes. They made a sound track with music they know and love. Think MacBeth and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. They choreographed a dance that brought the house down. They had disagreements, I’m sure. But when the curtain came down for the last time it came down on on a group of kids who know themselves a little better and who know know what it is to achieve something fantastic.

The fact that a group of kids worked together for three months on this play, staying after school and juggling jobs as well as their homework is testament to the power of artistic expression. Thank you, Shakespeare. It was so moving to see how the kids worked together and to witness theirs and Anna’s creativity.

It sounds hackneyed but I’ll say it anyway—the arts are transforming. They change lives. That’s their purpose. So when are we going to put money towards arts education? If we want kids to graduate with a solid sense of themselves and the spirit they possess then here’s the recipe—fund arts in the schools (hey, fund education, fund good teachers) and we’ll live in a world we all want to live in.

Back again at the old Wordpress site and I’m going to stay put.  I thought I was doing something clever switching over to an iWeb site but I was in well over my head.  No need to go into it—I’m just so glad I could retrieve my old site.  Lesson learned—I am no tech wizard.

In fact there were a good number of lessons learned—

Tech issues can stress a girl out even after years of yoga!

Do not throw things out until you have the next thing working.

etc.  Too boring to continue….

BUT I did discover how much I love my wee blog.  It really is an awesome place to explore various endeavors and see everything in one place, and to communicate with others.  Now it almost feels like I’m starting over.  I was hoping that when I transferred the site I’d actually be able to put more things up in a coherent way but I’ll figure out how to attach a new site to the blog rather that transferring the blog.

Anyway, back again and here to stay.  And soooooooooooo grateful.

I am in the process of changing this site over to the new one. It’s all a bit technical and I confess I don’t understand any of the transfer details. I’m just crossing my fingers that in a couple of days this will look very different. So, my loyal readers, if the site disappears for a bit it will be back, I promise. One way or another!! But most everything here will disappear or be reconfigured. It was fun. That was then. Now, on we go!

Yesterday we held Allan’s book launch party at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in the midst of the oddest weather ever where it went from balmy and warm to freezing blizzard of wee snow balls in a matter of minutes.  This was for his new book, Stories We Need To Know and with dire weather predictions we got a few emails from folks who said they didn’t think they could come with such bad driving conditions.  But we set up the food and drink table as if there’d be a crowd and, happily, there was!  There were at least sixty people and we ran out of chairs so some had to stand while Allan gave his talk.

When we arrived we had difficulty getting the fancy projector that hooks up to the computer to work so there were a few anxious moments of a technical nature.  By great good luck a lovely woman I know stepped in from the theater down the hall and she had the number of Martin, the young man who actually knows how to work the projector, so we were able to give him a call.  Then it looked like we’d forgotten the plastic glasses so I dashed to our local store to buy more only to realize I’d left my wallet at home.  It was one of those moments when the deep yogic three-part breath was put to good use.  No point in rushing, just breath deeply, proceed to house, pick up wallet, breathe deeply, return to store where plastic glasses were exactly where I’d stashed them by the cash, breathe even more deeply  while cashier, an elderly Russian with Sergei on his name tag, took all day to count out the change because he was clearly breathing very deeply or not at all.  Then, after finally getting the said bag of plastic glasses, stepping out from the store into a blast of arctic air and slicing wind that actually took the breath away.

So, I arrived with the glasses to discover that the technical difficulties had been solved by the heroic appearance of Martin and that the glasses we’d thought were lost were actually at the front of the room beside the projector rather than at the back by the drinks table.  But never mind, deep breathing is a very salutary practice and the difficulties we faced—a projector that wouldn’t work, missing cups, Sergei counting pennies as if they were gold, and blizzard conditions—none got in the way of a great time!  So nice to see friends, to meet new people and even to raise some money for the Arts Center.  And to launch Allan’s wonderful book.

This is a long way of saying, that with so much going on, I forgot to take pictures.  Next time.

One final note—I go again today to my tech man at Apple to work on switching this blog to my main website.  It’s possible the whole thing will disappear for a few days this week or next but it will be back.  Same address.  It’s more than possible, indeed a fact, that all the old posts here will disappear.  But we move on—as we must.  A good opportunity, among many, to practice letting go.  C’est la vie.

Just back from my meeting with the Apple man—two steps forward, one back. I’ve made my site too wide so that it can’t be seen properly by people with smaller monitors, so back to the drawing board to change everything. I had so many questions and this lovely young man could hardly keep up. He was awfully good and tried really hard not to knit his brows together but I couldn’t help but see his eyes glaze over a couple of times. He actually had to get his supervisor at one point. The thing is that when you move to something that really is simple like iWeb you do lose a few functions that are not available to Mac. Then, on the other hand, you gain all of the ease of use etc. It’s a bit of a toss-up because you get used to one thing then have to get used to another. But I will forge on.

I could just leave my blog thing here as is and do my art site separately as I have already but it would be cool to have the whole thing in one place because I want the art site to change as I do new things and to keep it vital. And I really would like to be able to bung things up on the blog in a second or two without fuss which is how it will be on iWeb though I can’t file things in Categories like I can here.

At any rate, in the grand scheme, these are just little crumbs of concern…not to be chewed on, just swallowed. It’s a learning curve and I’m still putting one foot in front of another. Monday, I have another meeting and, with luck, the new site will get up next week. But now, back to the digital drawing board!

Isn’t it crazy? Just when I decide to redesign my site and take the blog to iWeb this Wordpress site goes wonky. The whole type face has changed and I haven’t even touched it! Think the message is clear—I’m doing the right thing. This is too complicated for a girl like me.

Moving right along. The new site looks good. I’m keeping it very simple but it’s great to see all my work in one place and to ponder the trajectory. Thursday I go to meet my Apple man who will advise on lingering technicalities and, with luck, we can switch the new site on then and there. I really look forward to having this be easier so the focus can be more on the work and the trajectory.

Anyway, thanks for your patience and please forgive the wonky type…not worth fixing at this point. New site will still be Artwala Road.

In the drawing class on Saturday we splashed around with ink and Chinese brushes. The week before we’d worked with dark and light because often our drawings are in the mid-range of tone without real highlights or darkness, like we’re playing it safe—which we all are to some extent, though we keep trying not to. Anyway, with India ink things are much more definite—deep black and all sorts of tone, none of which can be changed once it’s laid down. So, it’s a bit like stepping off a cliff but also knowing the cliff isn’t that high. We’re not going to break our leg, just twist our ankle if we land badly. In other words, it’s all fine—just another exploration.

I got inspired to try this because I walked into my optometrist’s office the other day to return a pair of specs that my daughter had bought. They’re all gay in there and what’s rather wondrous about the place is that not only do they sell specs but they sell art too. The art they had the other day were large black ink drawings, playful black line with the background done in a swirling dry brush mid-tone and then just one spot of red. The piece I’m thinking of was actually of a male pig, I’m assuming he’s male because there was a woman half-prostrate beside him looking like she could use a glass of water or something. All a bit outrageous and not at all aggressive. There was something benign about Mr Pig even if he did need a talking to.

So, much can be accomplished by keeping it very, very simple. The class did some wondrous stuff, especially when we added just one color. It’s always amazing to see the variety of approaches people come up with.

A new student arrived on Saturday—a wonderful woman who actually found the class through this blog and has just arrived from California. Welcome, Lyn! I love that she emailed me Friday and showed up to class on Saturday! Acting immediately on inspiration is one of the keys to art, I think!

Meanwhile I have finished Allan’s new site but see iWeb will limit some of what I can do on my blog here. Unless I’m not fully understanding it, which could be, but it looks like I can only post one picture at a time and that the blog will present as a snippet so that the reader must then click to a new page to read the whole thing. Not that big a deal when you consider all the benefits like being able to just drag pictures into the window and size them right on the page without having to go through another program or upload them and paste in code. Blah. That takes time and is a headache. Like I would like to size the image on this post and make it smaller but no can do at the mo. Also not sure how many blog entries can be archived. Not that it’s meant for the ages but there are still a few things related to the art class that I want to be able to check. Anyhoo, will head over to the Apple store for a consultation in a day or two—once I get over the sniffles. Decisions, decisions. Meanwhile, let’s count the blessings…so cool to be able to do this at all!

Earlier this week I got a new computer. Turns out the cheapest iMac is absolutely fantastic and just what I need right now. I loved my Mac Mini and it’s still going strong after two years so have passed it on to Allan. One of the reasons we got this new one is to do web design now that we both need new sites. Allan has another excellent site but the new book, Stories We Need To Know, makes a new site necessary and it will be great to have the ability to update as we go along. The iMac comes with a program called iWeb and I spent the whole of yesterday working on Allan’s new site and teaching myself the program, which is not hard. Again, thanks to Apple, it’s all so brilliantly designed and easy to use.

Two years ago when I started Artwala Road I found everything techy scarifying. I had NO idea how to do anything and without the help of my dear friend,Kelly I simply wouldn’t have done it. I wasn’t convinced I needed a blog. I’m not selling anything on the site, not yet anyway, don’t have the time to read a lot of blogs and have no ambition to be a super-blogger. But I liked the idea of recording my explorations and sharing them with anyone who happens upon the site and finds them interesting or useful.

What has happened since then is this. First, I became conversant in very basic techie things and now feel empowered to do more. I see the website as a great means of communication, of free sharing, and I think that’s cool—so open and generous. It’s been a nice way of putting some words out into the world and trusting they will reach whoever might like them. I do so much writing and not much in the way yet of putting it out into the world so the blog’s been great that way. I’ve found a few blog friends, very nice, and enjoy visiting other artist/writer blogs from time to time. It’s given me ideas about what other people are exploring. And, maybe best of all, it’s brought friends, old and new, in for visits. Most of my friends, ahem, don’t comment but it’s nice they tell me they stop in to see how the art class is progressing. A big thanks to those who do comment!! I love to hear from you.

There are times I wonder, with readership small and no time to boost it up, whether the blog is worth the while. It looks like 16,504 people have visited so far but most don’t stay. I think we always meet who we need to meet so that’s just fine. So even though I’m writing for just myself and a few wondrous regulars I know too that some soul might stop in one day and another good connection will be made. That’s what happens. I also know that I’m recording the journey of our amazing art class which is the journey to our creative selves and worth recording. BUT, now to the point, I now see that I can do this blog in an easier, more efficient way on this amazing new computer using iWeb.

Not to get techy, because I really don’t know enough to, but yesterday, doing Allan’s site, I learned so much. I see that doing a blog in iWeb will be so much easier because I can just drag and drop pictures into the site and also change typefaces and fiddle around with updating the site on a regular basis as I launch various projects. This is exciting. To me, at least! I think a live website, where new work gets shown on a regular basis, makes it fun for visitors to return and helps build that community of people who share interests. So, Artwala Road will be a whole new site. Same address though, not to worry. And Deep Dish Art will be folded into Artwala. Everything in one place, for now anyway.

The other thing about doing a website myself is that I can play with the design and get it just right—for the moment! Stay tuned. Allan’s new site should be up next week, followed by mine.

And one final marginally-related note—I watched the Democratic debate last night between Hillary and Barack. Wow—to both of them and thanks to the Heavens that we have TWO great possibilities. I was knocked out by Hillary, I have to say. She’s just a tad older than I am and I know where we all came from. That she’s kept on her path without wavering and overcome formidable obstacles makes me believe that she has the strength of character to be a brilliant President. And I have to say I feel a real tingling in the gut to think that a woman just might succeed. It’s hard to put words to the feelings—awe and gratitude and relief! The connection to the rest of this blog? Onwards!