Quick note that I’ve joined and started actively using Substack.
I’ll keep posting on FB, of course, but FB tends to show posts to maybe 10 of my 10,000+ friends and followers these days, which is deeply frustrating. Hence, trying Substack. I want to talk to you! Some of you want to talk to me! Why does it have to be so hard??? (I know, unfettered capitalism.)
I’m basically going to have Stephanie copy over my more substantial posts there — right now, there’s the one from a few days ago, about the finances of doing art fairs, and the one from yesterday, about serving on OPRF’s school board and how it connects to current issues in education.
Right now, all the posts are free to read. At some point, I’ll think about putting some behind a paywall for subscribers, but probably not soon. But if you’d *like* to subscribe, it’ll certainly encourage me to write more.
. And I could really use the encouragement, folks — thinking is hard. It is very tempting to go putter in the garden instead.
If Patreon is more your thing, we’ll also be copying at least some of those posts to Patreon. I’m honestly not sure what the logic of that is going to be. Keep Patreon for the more artsy / creative stuff? Or include the political think pieces there too? Opinions welcome.
Links in comments!
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Teasers:
1) This Artist Thing
“I’m really not sure what I’m doing with this artist thing. I’m going to keep trying to run the numbers for y’all, though. Hope it’s helpful. This is the second Chicago Artisan Market I’ve done. They’re generally very well run, and I have no complaints about the shows themselves. However, on the first one, I lost money, the second — well, I definitely still lost money, but maybe in a better way?…”
2) Some Thoughts on Education Today, July 2026: Part 1.
In a local political community group, someone has started a conversation (again), about whether our new high school curriculum is neglecting the needs of gifted students. We’d instituted the new curriculum (Honors-for-All) in part to try to combat systemic racism that had shut out a significant percentage of Black and Hispanic students from honors classes.
(‘We,’ in this case, means the school board of Oak Park – River Forest D200 High School, a board I served on at the time.)
Gifted kids often score well on standardized tests, but also often struggle in a typical American public school classroom. Kids like my own kids. Kids like me, back in elementary school. Kids who are bright and bored, or bright but with undiagnosed and/or untreated ADHD or other neurodivergences. They might have a learning disorder, autism spectrum disorder, high levels of anxiety, or more emotional difficulties and peer problems. (Sometimes the combination of giftedness and neurodivergence is referred to as 2e, or twice-exceptional.)…
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(Pic for the algorithm — Kavi took a quick pic of me at the end of the faire. I was tired! But I do like my dress.
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#serendibhouse
#serendibpolitics
#serendibteaching
