One year later . . . in time for 2015

Don't know exactly why my blog life got interrupted for so long, but here I am saying hello and happy new year after more than a year away from the blogosphere.
   Maybe it was the birth pains of reinventing myself as an ESL teacher in 2014, but I've been wrestling our illogical English language with several different student populations since January: Chinese children (7-13 y. o.) in online virtual classroom classes on language arts and creative writing, Beginning English classes for immigrants through English for New Bostonian funded ESOL program at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston, and a variety of special interest classes with the international students attending EF (Education First) classes in Brighton. This has been some of the most satisfying work I've ever done, and like all pursuits, it's had its hills and valleys.
    My zentangling mania gave birth to a whole new illustrative style that mystically matches the 15th Century subject matter of my novel FLORIANA. Creating one more massive delay, the decision to illustrate the novel came to me in an epiphany last month when the zentangle techniques came together in the drawing below. Now I'm hoping to have the novel on sale on Amazon by early spring.

      Not sure how often I'll get back here but at least it's a beginning. I wish all of you a healthy, love-filled, prosperous, and creatively unfettered 2015.
     Just got back from LA and a visit with my two sons who live there. A visit to Emerson's architecturally stunning LA Campus building on Sunset Boulevard was a dramatic departure from the facilities that were available when I did several internships there in 1994. At that time, the offices were on Barham Blvd. near Burbank with limited classrooms and student housing at Oakwood Apartments.

Now with the new facility (above) there are over 200 student dorm rooms, many performance spaces, state-of-the-art classrooms, screening rooms, distance learning centers, and a vibrant complex right in the heart of Hollywood.