Bio for the WMS

 I have been voted in as a new board member for the William Morris Society in the United States, and my responsibilities will truly start up in about February. I'm humbled and surprised that I would be invited to join the board, especially since I don't consider myself any type of expert in William Morris at all. But I am a fan of his work, so if that is the only true marker for membership (or board participation), then I'm glad to belong. The people I have met have been very warm and welcoming, and I hope this is a place where I can learn and make contributions to a community.

As an incoming board member, I was asked to write a bio for the upcoming newsletter. This is what I wrote:

While I’m certain that I will never achieve as much as William Morris completed during his lifetime, I feel a kinship with him in that we both abhor “a disease called idleness” that is mentioned in News from Nowhere. I am a person who likes to be busy. Much of my time is spent teaching art history courses at Seattle University or engaged elsewhere in the community. In the pre-pandemic days, I sang in the chorale of the Seattle Symphony and I volunteered as the Permanent Collection Training Chair for docents at the Seattle Art Museum. I look forward to being able to fully participate in those activities again. Lately, in these quieter moments at home, I find meaningful work in writing projects, helping my daughter decorate her dollhouse, stitching up rips in doll clothes, and teaching my son how to play the piano. On the sunnier days in Seattle, I spend time gardening in my flower bed and studying the birds that fly into my yard. The more I learn about William Morris, I feel like he would appreciate and understand the ways that I choose to spend my time.

Due to my mother’s niche interest in interior design, I grew up in a house in which every room was decorated with wallpaper that evoked popular styles of the 18th and 19th centuries. When I was in college, my mother introduced me to the Pre-Raphaelites, specifically William Holman Hunt. My curiosity was piqued, and I spent some time studying the Pre-Raphaelites, their broader circle, and Victorian art as part of my undergraduate studies in art history. I have continued to do so since that point, as a way to feel connected with my mom after she passed away. But, like William Morris, I have focused my attention and energy on several areas of art and world history. My graduate work in art history focused on colonialism and representations of art that involved political statements against African slavery and racism.

In recent years, my interest in the paintings of Kehinde Wiley have connected my interests in politics, race, and Victorian art. As a contemporary painter, Wiley creates monumental portraits of Black figures who are juxtaposed against decorative backgrounds that often are inspired by the Morrisian designs. These paintings are intended to raise awareness of the inequality and inequity that Black people have experienced; Wiley chooses portraiture as a starting point since historically Black people have not been celebrated as primary figures in Western portraits. I am drawn to Wiley’s paintings because he adopts European compositions and expensive Arts & Crafts wallpaper designs for his paintings, which are relatable to me given my own background and studies. My hope is that these relatable elements also help me, as a White woman, to better understand Wiley’s statements about what the Black experience is like.

It is through my writings on Kehinde Wiley that I became familiar with the William Morris Society in the United States back in 2018. And since becoming associated with this group, I feel like this is a place where I am meant to be! I’m currently interested in exploring William Morris’s artistic production and political ideologies, as well as those of May Morris, within the 19th-century framework of class, race, and the suffrage movement.

2020 Reflection and 2021 Goals

 I realized this afternoon that I never made a true goal or resolution for 2020, beyond the goal to use up the hoard of NuSkin facial products that I amassed when I used to work there. I guess the lack of a real goal is for the best, because the pandemic through our lives into survival mode. I am proud of the things that I did accomplish, though, including:

• I taught eight classes during 2020, not to mention helping to teach my kids at home from March until the end of the year. All of the university courses I taught had some type of distance learning or online component. The one class that actually was in a physical classroom (ART 103 in Winter quarter) still was taught as a hybrid.
• In the Winter 2020 quarter I created and taught a course on American art (while simultaneously learning the material one step ahead of my students, since I never took a class on American art when I was an undergrad). I also had to learn how to teach in a Distance Learning format, in which I was in a classroom in Sammamish but my lecture was broadcast to a classroom in Ellensburg. There were some challenges getting students to engage in this format, but it helped to prep me for synchronous Zoom teaching in the Spring quarter.
• I created and taught a course on Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Renaissance and Baroque Art during Spring 2020. I had a basic idea of the things that I wanted to cover, but I still was learning and developing the course one step ahead of my students), as well as converting to the course into an online format. I learned a lot while teaching this class, especially from my LGBTQ students, and I was grateful for the opportunities to think more about inclusion, equality, and equity. 
• I feel like I am learning more about how to be a better professor, not only in connecting my course material to topics that are relevant, but also in how to give empathy when needed. George Floyd was killed near the end of the quarter, which ended up impacting me directly because one of my students at the time was related to Floyd and needed to travel home. The subsequent protests generated dialogue with my students that helped me reflect on how to best teach and meet the needs of my students.
• Hiking the Snoqualmie 7 Summits with Carrie and Rachael was the other great highlight of this year for me. I'm grateful for friends who want to go on hiking adventures and readily take on challenges that require effort.

In thinking about 2021, it's difficult to even think about what goals might be realistic. I've been writing a paper on William Morris (to present at CAA later this winter) and I'm so impressed with all of the things that William Morris was able accomplish in his life. I want to make better use of my time, so that I can have more time to be outdoors, as well as read and write things that are meaningful and inspirational to me. So here is how I will create more time to do those things:

• When I am home (which is pretty much all the time), I'll keep my phone upstairs on my nightstand unless I am expecting a call/text
• Check social media only once or twice per week
• Check the news only once per day (and as the pandemic dies down, I might be able to switch to 2-3 times per week)
• Read a book if I wake up early and don't want to get out of bed
• Write on this blog at least once per month
• Write on AW at least once per month

Thanksgiving 2020: Din Tai Fung!

We had a quieter-than-usual Thanksgiving this year, in an attempt to follow the local recommendations for social distancing. I didn't feel like cooking a huge Thanksgiving feast if it was only going to be the four of us, especially since Sam and Lucy don't like traditional Thanksgiving food that much. So we decided to order Din Tai Fung, which is a rare treat for us that we eat only once or twice per year. Everyone was happy and excited with the choice. And, as a result, we were able to go for an outing to Seward Park in the middle of the day, since we didn't have to stay home and prep food.

Lucy wasn't excited about walking around the park, but she was interested in a bike ride. So she rode her bike while I ran alongside her, and the boys and Violet had a leisurely walk at their own pace. I am grateful for this girl, since she motivates me to run faster and longer than I normally would if I were on my own. She would say, "Ready? Runnnnnn!" and then pedal away to get me started. And she even decided that we would go at a "speedy speed" race up a hill, so I definitely got a good workout before our feast with this little personal trainer!

As we were driving home from the park, we got a notification that our food was being delivered about ten minutes early. We rushed home and found the food waiting on our porch - we missed the driver by just one or two minutes. I quickly showered after my workout and everything was still warm when we ate. We had boba smoothies, soup dumplings, chicken dumplings, rice paddies salad, tempered green beans and pork buns. It was delicious!

Lucy is laughing in this picture because her chopstick is stuck in the middle of the bun. She was spearing it in an attempt to pick it up and eat it.

The chocolate dumplings were delicious and most of us said that eating these dumplings were our favorite thing of Thanksgiving. The molten chocolate is so delicious.

After eating our good, we went to RB for a socially-distanced, bring-your-own-dessert gathering with Bop, Gram, Susie and Dave. It was quiet and different, but I'm glad that we got to see some family on this holiday and express our gratitude to each other for all that we have and enjoy.

"School" Pictures for 2020

We didn't get a chance for regular school pictures this year, since schools have been completely online so far. I wanted to make sure that we could send updated pictures in Grandma Judy's birthday card and have new pictures for our 2020 Christmas ornaments, though, so last weekend Jeremy took some pictures with his camera. He did a good job photoshopping them to make sure the lighting was just right. Even Violet got a "school" picture taken, which is well deserved since she attends first grade and seventh grade Zoom classes on a semi-regular basis.

Both Jeremy and I were shocked looking at Sam's picture and realizing how old he looks now. I think he has grown at least eight inches this year; he now wears size 16-18 in clothes. He looks so grown up in his picture! Lucy confided in me that she thinks she looks "like she's eight" with her missing teeth, so she is feeling grown up herself. Her top two teeth have been missing for almost six months, but we are just starting to see one coming through her gums. We'll see if she gets to legitimately sing "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" this year.

Zoo Lanterns

We hardly have any holiday events to do this year, due to the pandemic. However, the zoo is still open for outdoor events and it is hosting a "Zoo Lanterns" attraction this holiday season. I was a little apprehensive about going, but it sounded like all the right precautions were in place and I appreciated that masks were required for entry. We chose to go on a day that was slightly rainy, too, which helped to limit the crowd size. It was so nice to be on a family outing and to feel like we were doing something special! Here are some of my favorite pictures:

We liked this frog because his eyelids were both blinking, but at ever-so-slightly different times and speeds

Covid is a Worm Hole

When I was a sophomore in college, some friends took me and my roommates out to go caving in Nutty Putty Cave in Utah Valley. There is a specific area of this cave that is nicknamed the "Worm Hole," which is so tight that one person can barely fit in the hole and you have to crawl through on your belly. This also means you can't turn your body around go backwards at any point - you have to commit to going through the tunnel in one direction. While I explored the other caverns of the cave with my friends, I opted to sit out and not do the Worm Hole. I knew I would feel claustrophobic and didn't want to feel like I might get stuck.

Anyhow, recently I've had a recurring dream in which I'm tunneling through the Worm Hole. I can't go backwards, but I have to keep going forwards if I ever want to get out. It's a stressful dream. Last time I dreamt about it, I had a hard time falling back asleep. (And, in the past few weeks with the stress of the election and work, I haven't always slept that well.)

I think that my brain is processing Covid in the context of this Worm Hole, especially as the weather gets colder and it is apparent that we'll be spending even more time stuck indoors. As is the case with the narrow tunnel in the cave, I can't go back and turn around. I can't reset. I just have to keep crawling forward, even if the context is suffocating and it's difficult to see when the experience will end. And, while some days are better than others, sometimes it really does feel like I'm crawling through the day. 

Lucy's Tap Dance Book

 Lucy's first grade class has been working on writing non-fiction. They get to choose their non-fiction subjects. She's already written a few about flowers and written a page or two about holidays. Lately she's been working on a book about tap dancing. Since she has been doing all of this through online school this year, she's been taking the liberty of making videos on Seesaw to send to her teacher. In fact, she's made so many videos that I told her to stop sending so many to her teacher, to respect Ms. N's time. Sometimes she'll make little audio comments along with the video post that say, "This is Version Two. If you don't remember Version One, then go back and watch the previous video." Ha ha! Hopefully Ms. N is amused by this submissions and not annoyed.

Here is one such video:

And here is the text of her book:

I don't know if she'll keep up with her tap dancing lessons, but I'm glad that she enjoys them and wants to write about them. She will always be my little Shirley Temple.