The name of this blog is squishy business, that refers to one of the characteristics of clay, and which also refers to life's craziness, unpredictability and variety.
I am fortunate to have a life that is full of events, activities, challenges, rewards, opportunities, and fun. All together they are blended, mashed, and squished into a life I enjoy everyday.
In life, work, family, hobbies, leisure activities invade each other's territories like stealthy cats, slinking along unnoticed until too late, your mind has wandered away from searching for the solution to the work situation to wondering about the football game next week.
Last Tuesday marked the beginning of my 15th year of teaching ceramics at Paradise Valley Community College. Even after that many years of it, I still felt anxious, and excited to begin another semester, because it's always different. I try to vary the curricula of the five courses, but what makes it the most interesting are the students. I never know how the individual personalities will meld in a class. People affect each other when thrown together into a class as they try to juggle their lives, jobs, families and other courses with the material I assign and with the oddballs and lovable lunatics they get to know over the semester.
Everyone is on a path which may seem erratic at the time but when viewed after the fact becomes a straight line leading from point A to point B. My own path as a young person led from painting classes during high school years from a master painter, Louis Sicard, to becoming a master potter by the time I was 30. In between I had many jobs in many places, experiences that all contributed to my development. Later when I gave a slide talk about my path I saw how one experience led to another and instead of being an example of indecisiveness, I saw how it all fit together seamlessly.
This realization helps me as a teacher have patience with students who don't have a clear plan for themselves and are anxious about it. I know from my own experience and from witnessing others that life is not only a journey, but a series of moments connected by our use of them.
A former boss one counseled me to not worry too much over mistakes since the only people who never make mistakes never "do" anything. Doing is the opportunity to find out, understand, and learn, which is a worthy goal for anyone.
