Issue #194 - The Spaces in Between
Light Balance
Hello, it’s been a while, such a busy summer and lots of personal things to attend to, including unfortunately the health of a close family member, which meant heading back to the UK for a spell.
I feel like I’ve spent days on airplanes, and I’m shocked with how normal it now feels to be cramped up with lots of other people, seated in rows, with the roar of flight in my ears, trying to watch movies on a small screen, or close my eyes to sleep only to be woken a few times for food or to make way for other passengers.
I’m trying to get myself back into routine, and working out what I need to do, I’m anxious to stay productive, which is a distraction from some of the anxiety and concern for things back in the UK. I’m also making changes to my diet, and will try to do more exercise before it gets too cold here in Pittsburgh.
I hope you’re well, I’ve had some lovely messages, thank you for your continued support, this newsletter has a place to collect my thoughts and reflect a little, and hope that I can carry on doing that. As the semester progresses there will be more teaching & learning content, and look forward to sharing with you.
Stephan
Spaces to Connect
I’m not teaching this semester, which is lucky in a few ways that already these first few weeks I have been able to travel. I have been keeping a sketchbook going, and bought a couple of new ones from Shinola following a mention on KBB’s excellent substack. They happened to be on offer when I looked, but they’re back up to full price now, so maybe not buy two as I did. It may take me years to fill them. I am hoping to schedule art practice into my week, and I have the offer of visiting my friend Kim in her studio on Thursdays or Fridays, and working with her. She has a press, and lots of space, and a couch where I can close my eyes for a few minutes.
In the UK I bought a couple of books from Waterstones, including Grayson Perry’s Playing to the Gallery, and Art & Fear by Ted Orland and David Bayles. I’ve started both, and they’re great reads, Grayson Perry gives you an overview of the art world, making modern art accessible, while the Orland and Bayles book, a classic I hear, is full of great advice and reassurance. Together with The Craftsman, and The Creative Act, this year seems to have been packed with books about making and creating. I’ve listed a few of them on the Bookshop.org if you want to take a look. I also listened to The Creative Act as audio book, read by Rick Rubin, with its Buddhist chimes, and long pauses, is a meditative, and restful experience that I recommend.
I’m trying to line up a few things for the fall semester, here’s what I have so far. First thing is to meet up with a few new faculty members to talk about collaboration and the opportunity for new projects. I’m looking for some help for my room, which will have a minor rebranding, and relaunch. I say minor, but don’t mean that in terms of effort, which has been huge, especially by the design company charged with working on it. It has been a fraught process, as these things can be, but no fault lies with them to be clear, they have been professional and thoughtful throughout. I’m also using this time to launch an immersive film festival, which will be in March 2025, and call for submissions will go out in November. I hope to attend IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival, in Amsterday in November which may give me time for some personal travel to see how everyone is doing in the UK. Finally, I have a conference to attend in Chicago, which will provide the opportunity to talk about the course in Nantes this year, and I hope to work on preparing my courses for Spring semester. I would love, love, love to return to Doha too, and I’m going to try and make this happen.
It’s a whole bunch of stuff, and I include in there somewhere some personal work, and hopefully some other projects, but at least it is a plan. If I can get at least some of it done then I will be very happy.
Teaching & Learning
I’ve been meaning to tell you about my trips, and how the summer went. Remember that after a month in Nantes, we spent time in the UK visiting family, and then returned to Pittsburgh. Then in the first week of August I travelled to Hong Kong to teach a summer school HKU with my colleague Gang Liu. Our class age ranged from the youngest 13 year old, to 17 and 18 year olds ready to go to University. We taught a class on digital storytelling, language and culture, and the students worked on mini-projects, pitching their own ideas through storyboards, scripts, and trailers.
The students were amazing, very kind, dedicated, and also creative and imaginative, conceiving of interesting and original stories, and bringing aspects of their own interests and worldviews into the process. I felt really as if I could have thrown more at them, but I was conscious that a week is intensive, we worked Monday through to the following Sunday developing ideas.
On the Sunday I checked out of my hotel and found another, so I could spend a couple of days exploring and catching up with a place that I’d been to almost exactly twenty years ago. It is an amazing place, I loved it, and hope to go back again soon. I took some photos and created a blurb magazine that you can flick through here.
Flight Lessons
Here are some things I’ve found out while flying that may or may not be helpful to you. I buy tickets first by using google.com/flights, and using the matrix boxes, with some flexibility I find that Sundays or Mondays seem to be the cheapest across the week. I then check flight costs against the airlines main website, sometimes this is cheaper, sometimes not. I sign up to most of the reward/loyalty schemes, and occasionally this gives me some extra options. I usually add a hold bag, and reserve seats, although for short haul flights, the airline will often offer to put your carry-on in the hold for no extra charge, this usually happens at the gate.
I have TSA priority, which now means I don’t have to take out my laptop for flights in the US, but it doesn’t always mean the line is quicker. I book an aisle seat so that I can go to the toilet and not disturb anyone, and you can stretch a leg into said aisle when there’s nobody walking through. I bring my wired apple headphones, and lately I’ve used a bluetooth connector for my airpods pro, which have pretty decent noise cancelling. I am going to buy some over the ear headphones though, because on longer flights my ears start to itch just a bit. I drink lots of water beforehand, and during the flight. I wear compression socks, which means my ankles don’t swell up, and a few layers, including a warm hoodie, because it can get very cold, especially if you’re going through the night. The best economy flight I took was with JetBlue, great for legroom, and what looked like fresh ingredients and nice options for food.
Thank you
After the transition from summer to autumn in the UK, with some showers and sunny spells, it has been a bit of shock to return to Pittsburgh where it is sunny, and humid during the day. I’m back in shorts which is nice, but it is taking some getting used to. I need to get a new chain for my bike, the last one broke during a ride, just before I left for the UK, and the weather is good, and it’s definitely time to be outside.
I attended my son’s Senior Soccer Recognition Night, and was very proud to walk out with him. He’s starting his final year of high school, and it feels like there’s still so much to do, we’ve started visiting universities and thinking about what happens next. It’s a big year for him, and we only hope that we can help and support him to figure some stuff out. I’m reminded of hearing someone say that these kids are half-baked, especially those who suffered through the years of learning during the pandemic, that they need to see some of the world, have some experiences before deciding what’s next, and I think I agree.
I hope you’re well, sorry for quite a long newsletter, but I wanted it to be a real one, or as close as possible at this time. Take care, send us a note, give us a wave (a like) or a hug (a comment).
Great to see you pop up in my inbox :-)