I signed up for a regular load of classes for the fall quarter. I carried 12 hours and it was hard, but satisfying. To get a bachelors degree at Iowa State, I had to take 9 credit hours of math and science, and I accomplished that and got pretty good grades (in fact, surprised myself!)
I also took other art classes during my year at college - art history (I loved it!); drawing (two levels of drawing...had a student show for the second level); etching; ceramics (which demanded that I take a class that taught some chemistry, so I would be ready to make my own glazes); and many other art classes, and I loved them all.
For my etching class, I decided to do a portrait of our daughter, and I took a 'ton' of photos to get just the right one. The photo above is one of those, and so is the photo below, followed by the completed etching. I have not scanned in the actual photo that I did the etching from, but the pose is just like in the etching.
I also did an etching of an old house standing on a farm west of Kanawha. I will include a photo of that piece later in this blog. I made several prints of that etching, and found that there were a lot of people in the Kanawha area who had either lived there, or were from a family who had lived there. I sold about ten of those etching prints.
I also had to complete a multicultural teaching class, and a speech class. I was freaked out about the speech class because in high school I had entered speech contest, and had memorized a 2-page prose piece that was a bit humorous. For the first contest, I had infected tonsils, so was not able to compete. When you aren't able to compete for good cause, they advance you to the next level, just as if you had received a 'I' rating. So, when I got up for the competition on the second level - all of my competitors had received 'I' ratings the first round. I was just not able to do it. I got half-way through my memorized piece (about 2 minutes into the recitation), and couldn't remember another word! I finally had to step down and take a 'II' rating, which brought my competition in speech to an abrupt end! After that, I had a terrible time talking to a group (something I simply had to conquer in order to teach!) [I know...it's hard to believe I was not able to talk, but it is true... I would choke up, and stumble around my words, and just become really self-conscious to the point of avoiding any time when I would be speaking in front of a large group. I could talk in small groups with no trouble, but don't ask me to give a prayer, or a reading, or any kind of leadership role where I had to speak in front of a group! Just couldn't do it!] But, I took speech, and did okay. I suppose by the time one reaches the age of 39/40, you have faced all kinds of fears, and it just becomes easier to do what once seemed impossible.
Another reason speech in front of a large group was so difficult to me was because of an incident that arose in Kanawha. We had a 'book-banning!' The English teacher at the high school had given an assignment for one of her high school classes to read 'The Grapes of Wrath.' And, one of the students refused to read it because of 'language' issues. Well, I had read that book in high school, and I thought it was excellent, written by one of America's great authors, John Steinbeck! I just couldn't swallow that there were words in that book that any ordinary American had not already heard, and absolutely none that would damage the soul of an intelligent teenager. Well, a town-wide 'brou-ha-ha' developed! Kanawha has a Christian Reformed Church and Christian school. The school just goes to 8th grade, and then their students attend the regular high school. I'm not sure if the young man involved in this issue had attended the Christian school, but he had half the community siding with him for 'religious' reasons... The story about our town and its banning of 'The Grapes of Wrath' got into the newspapers as far away as Tokyo, and into The Des Moines Register...with an interview with me....including photos.
More to come on this issue! And, when you have read it all, you will understand better why I had so much difficulty speaking to large groups...
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