Sunday, February 16, 2014

Wow It's Really Been Since November?!!! Ok then. Update.

I've been rather dormant. It's been snowing buckets in Brooklyn. My car is parked in a heated garage, not acquiring rust. I put a new battery in it a few weeks ago. I am healing well from surgery. No complications—everything is going according to plan. I'm teaching one class at Parsons this semester—Integrative II Seminar Fashion (a bad name for a class that should be called Intro to Fashion Research)—and teach-assisting another—Intro to Visual Cultures. Teach assisting in this case is basically the same as teaching or co teaching. I lead a discussion section and grade papers, but I did not design the syllabus, nor do I give the 'official lecture'. Both courses are very interesting and fun to teach and as usual I have a bunch of great students. I find academia rewarding on a very basic level—helping others learn more about themselves and the world. My pedagogical philosophy extends into the surf. And so far it seems to be working. Happy students and nice reviews and recommendations. All without a proper website and at this point, no business cards. At bottom, it's the face to face, everyday impressions we make on one another that count and hold. Don't get me wrong, marketing is real, and there are plenty of tricks to it. But often the story of the tortoise and the hare rings true: slow and steady is a perfectly sound methodology. This winter has been a slow and steady one for me. I've started light stretching exercise and should be ready to get in the water by April or May. Not exactly sure how this summer is going to shake out for me in terms of travel, but I'm quite certain that I'll be around enough to accommodate most everyone's lesson requests. I will be sure to post updates as they come up.