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The Early Years

Sometimes I think that I've never moved far past the skills I learned in 'the early years.' I first learned to cut, paste, and keep colors within the lines when I was in kindergarten.

Later I honed my talents to include proper pasting, diorama manufacturing, and poster-board displays. I remember in first grade I got in trouble for eating a crayon, and in fourth grade my art teacher had a nervous breakdown one afternoon and never came back. I was never good at ceramics and made lumpy earring holders for my mother.

My multimedia work included tin foil fashions for the Barbie dolls, and coat hanger mobiles of planetary functions. I had a detective club in the third grade, and was the lead in the fourth-grade school musical (I still remember every word to my big solo). I have always made hand-drawn and painted greeting cards for holidays, and even as a child I took lots of pictures. I have never eaten glue, but still have a taste for chalk.

The above image is a copy of the newspaper page announcing winners to a story-writing contest. I took first place for the third and fourth-grade class; I remember telling my teacher I was going to go to college and become a great writer when I grew up. (Note: I'm the one on the bottom right.)