[late] anniversary post

A little over a year ago I started this blog while at a job completely unrelated to museums or children. A lot has changed in a year and while I haven't been the best at updating consistently I would like to do a quick general run down of the year and where I'm at now with the (probably unrealistic) idea that I will write more frequently.

I have started graduate school which I love. The school reflects the museum education field in that it is 99.99999% women. I also no longer have many male friends. To counterbalance this general lack of testosterone I have moved in with my boyfriend which more than compensates.

I student taught in the first and the fifth grades. The classes were both insane in unique and wonderful ways that I wish I better documented. Bottom line is: kids do say the darndest things...it's true.

I was interning and then hired to lead school group tours at a museum that specializes in contemporary art as well as New York City history. I don't want to get more specific then that (Let's just call it Museum 1) but I think I can safely say that it is not The American Museum of Natural History.
And Yet... When I ask the school groups what they are expecting to see on their trip when they come to visit 7 times out of 10 someone will say: "DINOSAURS!"
Damn you AMNH for cornering the definition of museum.

I have also started referring to museums in short hand (I say A EM EN H when I am talking about the museum of natural history. I am that inside.

On Monday I begin work for family programs at a museum-mile art museum (extremely creative pseudonym: Museum 2) which I am very excited about but alas there are no dinosaurs there either so I will continue to perpetually let down children.

That's my update!
I am in a much better position now to write about children and art in a more meaningful way than I was a year ago...so here's hoping I actually do it.

Summer!...classes

It's summer session again in graduate school. That means a semester of work crammed into 4 weeks of classes.

I just picked up a 5 pack of Hanes underwear so I could put off laundry until the weekend.

TIME MANAGEMENT!

I know I haven't updated in a while but I promise I will try to more. I usually do most of my blog writing when procrastinating doing mountains of work. I have the mountains of work so the blogging cannot be far behind!

Crazy Craft Lady

It's a new semester.

This means a few things: I had a break, my school work load is lighter (for now) than at the end of last semester and I am interning at an art museum instead of student teaching. I actually really miss teaching, even the fifth graders who I ended up really coming to like just in time to leave them. Working in an office again has brought back some of those old restless feelings. That extra energy coupled with not having to plan lessons and face 24 children everyday has led me to take up a drastic habit...

extremely random crafts!

It started on break with popsicle sticks. My boyfriend had a box of them that were deemed important enough to make the move with us. In the few elmer's glue soaked weeks that I was "sticking" (as I believe it is called on the streets) I made a bunch of pencil holders which now litter our apartment. However, my popsicle masterpiece is Horace the Owl. Horace had an accident a little while ago in which he fell off a high shelf and had one of his eyes unraveled by the cat so forgive his slightly gimpy appearance:

I love him. The End.

I then moved onto pop-up paper sculptures. I am still making these somewhat compulsively. Here are some:

love and alcohol

hard at work

and an ode to Newman the cat

OK...the workload should kick in soon. Hopefully before these overrun the apartment.