A cozy little space for pondering . . .

Snow Oh!

Can't get this classic out of my head . . . And, for good reason, too . . .


Snow

It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow

Snow

I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

Snow

I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow
Snow Oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow

Where it's snowing
All winter through
That's where I want to be

Snowball throwing
That's what I'll do
How I'm longing to ski
Through the snow-oh-oh-oh-oh

Those glist'ning houses that seem to be built of snow
Snow Oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow

--Clooney, Crosby, Kaye, and Stevens

The Second Coming of SNOW . . .

Well, this is where my car was or at least it was somewhere in this direction . . . Good thing I did all of that shoveling on Monday.

It's been snowing for about 24 hours again. Only this time it's blowing winds of up to 40 miles an hour!


Trapped again! We've been out of work and off from school since Monday and we are scheduled to be off again tomorrow and Friday. Going a little insane. Wondering if someone is going to find me at the end of all of this--frozen--with my cat chewing on my face . . . Sounds a little Grey Gardens, I know.


Shoveling in my pajama pants and ski coat. My house is to the right side of this picture. But, check out the street view behind me . . . Miles and miles of piles of snow!

A Valentine Hoot-hoot . . .

So, I thought I would share one of the few stuffed toys I am making for my nephews for Valentine's Day. This is an owl made out of a hand-me-down sweater and scraps of felt I had laying around the house. Because of the snow, these might be arriving a bit late, but cute nonetheless!

Snow, Part 3.

What better way to spend the evening after being cooped up in the house all day? A nighttime walk to meet friends for a little sledding. I live about 2 miles from the Baltimore Museum of Art on the Johns Hopkins University campus. Across the street from said museum is a killer hill.


The hill was divided into 4 sled routes, all with jumps at the end. We made our way up and down this hill a few times, with a final 6 person/3 team race at the end . . .


A graceful landing by Robert and Sarah . . .


Here's Robert, ready to hit the hill again . . .


Our group shot at the end . . . In order of appearance, left to right: Lindsey, Sarah, Natalie, Michelle, and Robert.

What a great night!

Snow, Part 2.

So, this is when it all started. I had been with some friends, helping with school work. I left their house around 930pm. And, I parked behind Nate's car. The Explorer is the last car on the lefthandside of the image.


This is how the same shot looked the next morning.


And a little bit later in the day, snow still coming down. It snowed for just over 28 hours straight.


This is how the Explorer looked last night--around 11pm, after the snow stopped and Nate had dug out his car in front of mine. School has been canceled for Monday, although it's a beautiful, clear day today!

Snow, Part 1.

So, this is the front of my house after my neighbor Nate dug us out . . . As you can see to the left, the cars are still covered. Big, beautiful white mounds.


This is a picture of my street. You can see that the snow is piled pretty high, and because the streets are so skinny we won't be getting any help from the plows. But, man! It's so magical! Like someone whipped up a bunch of meringue and dolloped it all over Baltimore!


Saturday morning, this is what I opened up my door to find, with the snow still falling fast and furious . . .


After Nate's morning dig . . .


After Nate's afternoon dig . . .

Costuming Katti . . .

Back to the Grind.

So, Spring semester started up again with a bang and a slight whimper . . . No rest for the weary!


I made everyone a glittery New Year's mushroom for good luck.


Our book list: partially to have been read over the winter break/partially to read now . . . I'm in the thick of The Corner . . . It's written by David Simon, who wrote and developed the television show, The Wire, and Edward Burns, a school teacher in the Baltimore Public School System.


Defining and redefining community arts -- in case you forgot why I'm here . . .


A map of Baltimore by Nora Howell. Dark, milk, and white chocolate chips, hand melted and applied to Plexiglas.


A friendly, happy wave from Zoe! It's good to be back!

Doug's News!

I am excited and proud to announce that Doug's band, The Scary Mondelos, has been added to The Warped Tour's 2010 summer line-up.

The Warped Tour is a music and extreme sports festival. The shoe manufacturer Vans has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is often referred to as The Vans Warped Tour. The tour started out as a showcase for punk rock music, but more recent line-ups have featured a diversity of genres.

Doug's band is scheduled to play San Antonio, Texas on July 1st.

Interested in coming out to support the band?

Come and stay in Austin and join in on the fun!

East Baltimore Arts Festival . . .

Wide Angle Youth Media students: Evan, Mike, and Quindell

Images taken by Natalie Tranelli, 2010.

New Blog Launch with Andee Rudloff: Cake Conversation

Andee Rudloff and I are presenting at the National Art Education Association's national conference in April.

Communal Celebration: combining performance, teaching philosophy, the power of participation, and experience, we propose to conduct a collaborative art-making session for NAEA conference attendees in collaboration with young people from Baltimore and Nashville.

Along with the art-making session, we will be creating an installation/performance using costuming, video, soft sculpture, and participant artwork.

To kick off our project, we have started a new blog spotlighting projects that our students take part in and artwork that we make. Images of our process and influences can be found here.
Do you have a memory of cake in your life? How do you celebrate when you are with family and friends? Leave your thoughts on this blog and we'll incorporate this into our project!

STEW Baltimore.

My class at Wide Angle Youth Media was invited to participate in STEW Baltimore on January 22nd. STEW Baltimore is a new project spearheaded by the Baltimore Development Cooperative and Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse.

The basic idea: once a month, a dinner is hosted at 2640 featuring high-end, locally-sourced, maximally organic and expertly prepared food. The price for the multi-course dinner is $10.


Interspersed with the food courses are presentations of projects and ongoing social justice struggles—and the profits from the dinner go towards funding these initiatives. (There was an impressive voting system in place that got tallied up at the end of the night.)


Lot's of my classmates came out in full support! And not just for Wide Angle, but the various other projects being presented. Rob and Sarah (below) had a great time, and lot's of stories to tell by the end of the night!


Here's what we had for dinner . . .

First Course: Micro Greens and Apples with Peasant Bread, Baltimore Honey and Butter

Second Course: Beets, Wintered Vegetable Broth, Thyme

Third Course: Root Vegetables and Potato Dumpling

Desert: French Press Coffee and Salty Oat Cookies with Handmade Ice Cream


Wide Angle Youth Media ended up raising $255 at the end of the night--we came in at a close second!

It was a wonderful evening--my students rocked the house!

Feel free to watch videos of the evening here.

Florida = Bitterweet.

On January 1st, Dede's mother passed away. The family was called to Florida for a funeral and reception. Although this trip was not planned on a positive note, it did give our family some much-needed bonding time on the beach. I had not seen my nephews since June 2009. So, I had fun watching them learn about the beach and explore!

Please stay tuned . . .

So, it's been a while since I've posted . . . I've been a bit neglectful.

Trying to get back into the swing of things, but it's taking me longer than expected!

So much going on: January was such a busy month!

[Please] stay tuned!

And, peep this: upcoming posts to include . . .
Florida = Bittersweet
STEW Baltimore
New Blog Launch with Andee Rudloff: Cake Conversation
The East Baltimore Arts Festival
Doug's News
Back to the Grind
Costuming Katti
More Snow
A Valentine Hoot-hoot

Hear comes 2010!

What are your New Year's resolutions?!

Please post your answers. And, pass it on . . .

Picture taken on 34th street in Hampden by Laronika Thomas.