February 3, 2010
Had a half day of classes today at Orme Ranch School, so I drove down off the mountain to feed the chickens, pet the dog and stroke Honey Boy Roy, the name Kathy came up for the new studio cat. He's a cuddler. Name fits.

I had a rough start with my students (for a first-time teacher, I have to say it was really hard work to get a rise out of them) on Monday, but they seem to be coming around. One of them, Amy, came up with "Orme-ics" as the title of our graphic arts presentation at the Saturday Art Show. Orme-ics is off of comics, and once we got that going they settled on doing a series of comics about the school and their unique situation (unlike many high schools, they live on the ranch). Their arch rival is Mayer and they have a notorious meeting area called The Commons, so as you can see they are picking up the comic essentials quick quickly. Part of the reason I came home was to get more books on comics and art to inspire them. Andy, from China, wants to see books on clouds and landscapes, so I pulled down my Maynard Dixon and Ed Mell books and put them in the truck. Savannah wants books on how to draw squirrels, so I got several Disney books. The front seat is full of books. Can't wait to show them the goodies in the morning.

Last night several faculty members, including myself, practiced a Stones song, "19th Nervous Breakdown" for talent night, which is tomorrow night in the chapel, I think. Don't get worried, it's a cut time song, straight ahead, no drum solos, or even fills. And, I promise, no gatoring! Felt good to play around a bit. Never played the song before which is weird because I used to do a ton of Stones songs.

Someone came out to hear us, jamming on the patio, and he kicked over Three Trees' wine glass (yes, the drum teachers' name is Three Trees, real hip dude, playing a crate, or box, which he sat on), and the music teacher said, "It's all fun until someone gets hurt, then it's hilarious."

That was worth the session right there.

Going to spend the night at my house and drive up in the morning for class. It's about a 70 minute run up I-17 to the Orme Ranch turnoff. Classes end Saturday. One teacher, a creative writing instructor, has been doing this for 40 years. Amazing. And, one of the teachers was a student in 1970, who got into textiles because of the Fine Art Week festivities at Orme and now has come back to teach. When he saw me at dinner last night, he smiled and said, like the veteran he is:

"What did the kids teach you today?"
—Jim Carrol