Dan Kistler Studios

As the river flows

As the river flows so goes time. Relentless. Nothing stops it. No matter what you put in its way time and the river will find a way to flow. The river flows from the lesser to the greater. Up stream to down stream. Time flows from the now to the past which is always growing and becoming larger and ever more filled. Just once I would like to see it flow the other direction, to fill the future and then let it pass on by. From my window overlooking the mighty Mississippi River I see all sorts of flowing. A log in the river yesterday looked like a body as it was pushed over by the current. As it turned up from underneath came a branch that looked like an arm. I held my breath for moment before I realized it was just a log. Then along came the boat without a captain. Before the boat left my view the captain appeared from the floor of the boat along with his second mate. From their perspective a very private place. Not so from the bluffs. Float away on the river. Let the time go by. Grab what you can get.

125 million

We all know the world is out of whack, priorities are majestically skewed, perspectives are warped, and everyone has an opinion. Well here is my opinion for the day.

I just read a story about a baseball player who is quite young and just signed a $125 million extension to his contract. Think about that number for a minute. Imagine yourself sitting on top of all of that cash. Think about trying to pick up that cash and move it. How many trips would it take to get it into your car? If you gave away $200 a day how long would it take to give it all away?

Now ask yourself why is a baseball player paid that kind of money? Sure he fills the seats in a baseball park, sells all kinds of products, and sparks the imaginations of thousands of children. Here comes the out of whack and the skewed part of my opinion. Why as a teacher am I paid a very, very, very small percentage of that $125 million? I fill the minds of hundreds of students with all kinds of life skills and knowledge. The product I sell is self-knowledge, a passion for learning, and perhaps establish in the student skills for life-long learning. From time to time I might even spark the imagination of a student or two. Sure my logic is out of whack and out of touch with reality. And my ideas are skewed and my perspective is suspect. And every teacher who has spent countless hours dreaming up new ways to connect directly into the minds of his/her students has thought these same things and felt the frustration of feeling unnoticed in the world. We hold in our hands the future, we hold in our hands the lives of our students, and we do it for almost nothing in return. Out of whack? Skewed? Odd perspective? Perhaps. But at some point in the future I hope we see that entertaining ourselves at the rates and at the prices we pay should have been spent on educating ourselves into a better world.

My opinion for the day. Enough.

Book Making over Break

Twenty nine sketchbooks in twenty nine days was my goal for the winter break. And here they are.
Mission accomplished.

New book published on lulu.com

A book of one pixel wide photographs

I have published a new book of photos from my recent travels to Turkey and Greece. The book is an exploration of sixty three photos at one pixel wide. A one pixel slice of each image is enlarged to form a pattern of color and value. Check it out at my storefront at lulu.com.

2009 Greece Abroad Presentation

The 2009 Greece Abroad group made its presentation to the entire college community last night. We had a big turn out starting in Wanamaker Hall for the slideshow. From their Ricky led the crowd to Radford with his drum echoing off the buildings on a dark and windy night. The crowd squeezed into Radford and quickly consumed the food and took in the visual treats on the walls and tables. It was a packed house and by 9:30 it was all over. Quiet in the gallery as David and I turned off the lights and went out into the night.

For larger versions of the photos click here.

Preparing for an art show

The last few weeks, well really the entire quarter starting in September has been focused on preparations for the presentation to the college community of the work created during the Spring 2009 Greece Abroad. The hours keep adding up and the creative ideas keep flowing out of all involved in this process. The presentation will include a slide show and an art show. The details seem to be endless but the task is drawing to a close. Once completed the beauty, grace, complexity, simplicity, color, and energy of both Greece and Turkey will be visible in the sketchbooks, drawings and projects of all the students who participated in the program.

For a couple of shots of the behind the scenes click here.

When a week feels like a month

If you are looking for a way to feel like you are living more and getting more out of life I an the answer. Give up sleep. If you have not given it a try do it this week. The week will feel like a month so full of great stuff you will want to do more and more.

Take this week. It was the first week of a ten-week academic quarter at the small liberal arts college where I teach. Monday is the day of the week that is just too full for its own good. But if you can make it through Monday the rest of the week can be survived with little to no damage. Or so I thought.

Tuesday started like any day. Went in early and made a few changes to the server, getting student accounts set up for the quarter. All went well until I needed to restart the server. The nothing went well for the remainder of the day when the server would not restart. And would not restart and would not do anything. I had the feeling of jumping off off a high cliff and not knowing when or even if I would hit the water or bottom. Sinking all day. Sinking.

By late that night I had reinstalled the software three times, rebuilt the server and all the accounts. Two days that felt like two weeks right there. Sleep did not come easily with so much on my mind. So what the heck…just forget about sleeping and go with the flow.

It is now Friday and it really does feel like a month has transpired. Can I keep it up for another nine weeks? We shall see. Looking forward to week 2!

Oh what a strange dream it was…

What I would like to know is how can dreams be so off the wall strange? Especially after a day that really involved nothing more exciting than the drive home. How can a dream become something so crazy it wakes you up and stays with you all the next day? And you can’t stop thinking about it, and you can’t stop thinking about it…

Last night I was at a racetrack driving a huge old tan station wagon. The racetrack was a series of railings, concrete barriers and odd rock walls. The object was to drive with at least two wheels up on top of the barriers and I could not get the car up on the edges. Just could not for the life of me no matter how fast I drove.

Next I am in a bed looking out a window on to a busy street. The window is very thin and fragile. For some reason I knew it was a single thickness of glass. How did I know that? No idea. The sun is going down and the room I am in is already dark. I was laying on my side looking out and watching traffic go by and get thinner and thinner until it was too dark to see and there were no more cars. So far so good. A mix of driving and sleeping.

Now comes the strange part. At some point I was convinced that there was someone outside the window with their face pressed up against the glass. I had the brilliant idea of pressing my face against the glass and then quickly turning on the light and scaring them. Only I was so frightened I could not move. Somehow I forced myself to slowly move towards the window and as I got closer I could see the outline of a head against the glass. I was shaking by this point. I started to reach for the lamp switch and the head outside moved and I screamed.

At this point I woke up. I was screaming in my sleep. And I was hitting the wall with my hand. I know what you are thinking at this point—this guy needs help. But that might not be the case. I blame watching TV and reading in bed. Earlier in the evening with my two sons I watched Top Gear. All about cars and crazy driving. And in the morning when I looked out the window from my bed I noticed that I had stacked up all the books on my night stand in a tall pile of books and it looked just like a head.

So be prepared for anything when you turn out the light and go to sleep. Some simple thing you did could easily become a character in your dreams. Sleep tight and goodnight.