Zoom Session 31

Beginning of a New Academic Year –

Today was our first day back and it was so lovely to see everyone again! However, there was some sad news as it looks as if we are losing 4 of our fellow students due to the cost of living crisis. This makes me so sad and angry, because education to me is the sign of a healthy society. I myself have lost so many fantastic students because of lack of funding. I recall one student in particular who so wanted to work in the design industry. She worked incredibly hard to pass her exam, and despite all the odds (multiple learning difficulties) she achieved it! Sadly she couldn’t continue though, due to lack of funding. When I found that she wasn’t returning I was actually heartbroken because I knew how hard she had tried – why? – because as her teacher, I was with her every step of her artistic journey. She told me her dreams for the future as a fashion designer and how much she wanted to pass her exam. This was so that she could progress onto the next level. Lack of funds meant that even though she passed with flying colours, her dream was not to be. As a society and as a nation what are we doing? I completely understand that as lecturers we need to be paid, but what I don’t get is why as a society can we afford so much money for war, yet not so much for education?

I will certainly miss my fellow students 🙁

Now that my rant is over, I can honestly say that as always, I enjoyed our session today. It was really refreshing to hear that I wasn’t the only one that had found the research paper challenging, and I’m so glad it’s nearing completion.

Today we talked about the ‘Grotto’ project formally known as ‘Merch’. I’m super excited to produce something for this! I’ve got a few ideas and maybe I’ll run a Facebook poll with my friends over which idea to choose? Through my research for my paper, I’ve learned that people seem to love to comment on images and participate in these kind of polls. Maybe they can help me choose?

Over the holidays I did some ‘soul searching’ with regards to my little weekly Zentangle projects. They take up quite a bit of my time to produce and I wonder if my time could be better spent working on other parts of my project work? But there’s still a large part of me that thinks I should continue?

If you see a Zentangle, at the top of this page, coupled with an updated Zentangle gallery then you will know what I decided. In the meantime I’ve added a few info slides from today regarding the ‘Grotto’ project.