Esopus!

Our fall copy of Esopus arrived today.

Speaking of literary gems--

I assigned my kids a 300 word essay on an artist while I was sick. Having the students write is always a challenge, especially when its on a computer with internet access. I lectured long and hard about how I wanted them to write their own stuff and not just copy and paste from Wikipedia. I tried to walk them through it (partially in absentia) the best I could. Since most of them are English language learners, I know its an extra challenge. Imagine my delight as I was grading them to find that most of them took a little license and used a little imagination. I told them I wouldn't take off points for grammar or mechanics, since I wasn't looking for perfection, just a break from repackaged wikipedia.

So he built his own art school and he started to teach kids to paint and grown up to be a painter like him.While he was teaching kids to paint like him, he gets paid $1,000 a moth but sometimes he travels somewhere else so he gets a substitute to take over his place for a while and he pays for his team and him to get on the plane that cost $1,000 also.So he doesn't make much money.

-an excerpt from an essay about Diego Rivera

Action Packed Tacos

I just wrapped up two intense comic workshops with the Small Set. In the morning I had the fourth to seventh graders and in the afternoon I had the second and third graders. Quite a few kids have taken the class before (serial offenders or fan club members, depending on one's perspective). Both groups were great. I have found that nearly all the kids take the class because they want to take it, and as a result, their behavior and attitude is stellar. The class has no pretensions to fine art, high class or something that a neurotic parent would push their children into. I never have parents reminding me that their child's Ivy League education is resting on my shoulders or anxiously asking me if their toddler has "talent".

Au Contraire

It is the cool parents who sign their kids up for my class, the ones who think childhood is for fun and exploration. I love being a catalyst for healthy projects.



Ezekiel and Dave

Ezekiel and Dave appeared on the page last spring, as yet another pedegological sample (like Fat Camille). In fact, they predate her. I was trying to show the students that writing legibly was very important-- nearly as important as content. (Not to be confused with the nefarious content issues that plague adult book artists). There is a reference to them in Camille's Eye Balls.



I have started a few other ED stories, but never got around to finishing them. The characters are rather dense and pathetic, and there already is so much of the underdog aesthetic in the indy comic world that I hesitate to even put any more energy into them. Usually the students say they don't get them, but that they are funny. I suspect they add the "funny" statement to protect my feelings.

Action Packed Tacos

That is indeed a penguin. The story revolves around an evil, trident-wielding mouse, a magic taco and a penguin who just wants "a refill." The artist is 8, and male. To see more kids stuff, come to the table, I'll be shamelessly selling them.