14 January 2012 Journal Page

I don't have any pen or book reviews to share with you today. I only have me and one of my journal pages. I am all prepped and ready for my Passionate Declarations class this Sunday at Stampin from the Heart. I am looking forward to seeing the gang there as it feels like I haven't seen them since last year. Oh, wait... In addition to seeing some familiar faces, I hope to see some new ones, too! Finished working on my Wanderlust class today. I've been showing you pages from this journal since mid December (the page you see above is from this journal.) The pages fold up, down and out. I am almost done with this journal and I am eager to see what it looks like finished. Between Fremont, CA and Scottsdale, AZ (both next month), I have five new classes to debut. Working on new classes always inspires and pushes me. I strive to make each class different and I am looking forward to seeing how students translate the ideas into their own. When I say that my students inspire and push me, I really mean it. ***** Thinking of Howard Zinn, gone two years today. “TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” ― Howard Zinn