And that might be a good thing!

I’ve been on the roster of an arts organization that promotes artist presentations in the schools for probably about ten years.

I’ve visited thousands of schools, in person, as a result of it.

In fact when I first started out I was doing about a hundred school visits every year.

That’s a LOT of schools!

Gradually the numbers declined and other arts organizations began getting the funding.

All artists and arts organizations have to keep developing themselves or they risk getting stagnant. That means trying new things outside your comfort zone.

Way back in 2013 when I was touring Alaska as their featured artist, I did some presentations at a school in Barrow. My presentation was ‘skyped’ out to remote schools who’d been participating in the program. The students had read WANTING MOR and they participated, remotely, in my session, asking questions.

It was the first time I’d ever been broadcast to a remote school and I thought it was a fantastic idea.

I love the Arctic! I love remote communities. As a kid I was weird and always wanted to run away and become a bush pilot in the tundra.

Blame it on reading Jack London’s CALL OF THE WILD and Farley Mowat’s LOST IN THE BARRENS.

Being able to commune with kids who lived in these remote regions was so cool to me! And I thought why don’t more arts organizations take advantage of the technology these days. We don’t need to incur the incredible expense of getting artists out to these remote areas. We have technology!

The pandemic has resulted in all kinds of suffering…but it may finally have opened up hearts and minds to remote presentations!!!

I can’t imagine it ever being the same. The world will change. We have been forced to get accustomed to virtual presentations and I can’t see that changing. And that’s a good thing.

Anything that gets the arts to vulnerable communities…is a good thing!

And now, a year later, I am as busy with school presentations as I was before the pandemic.

I’m back to trying to carve out time to write.

God is good and I feel blessed.

When you can thrive in the hardest of times, then the easy times are all the easier.

I don’t wish the pandemic on anyone. It has been a great trial for us all, but with the bad can come some good.

We’ve all got to hope. And with the vaccines coming, I’m very hopeful!