by Gretchen | Nov 9, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
Days in November are zooming by, and I haven’t quite managed to do one piece of art every day. However, I AM making something every day. And MAKING seems more important to me than actual making ART. In the above collage I’m playing with images of...
by Gretchen | Nov 7, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
Over the last couple of days, I used Art Every Day as an excuse to decorate a planner as a gift for my academic coaching mentor, Beth Samuelson. (Note to Beth: Surprise!).Last week a colleague sent me an email with some amazing National Geographic images. I printed...
by Gretchen | Nov 4, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
On Day 2 (yesterday), I felt like playing with the texture of the paint. Hence, the yellow splotches around the baby. I don’t love the effect, but luckily Art Every Day Month lasts for a whole month. I’m sure I’ll find a way to tweak it into...
by Gretchen | Nov 2, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
I got home at 10pm from academic coaching, and I thought: “Shoot! It’s the first day of Art Every Day Month and it’s too late to do any art!” Thank god for the email from fellow Art-Every-Day artist Emma, who commented on my blog...
by Gretchen | Oct 31, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
My identity as an artist has morphed over my lifetime. In my preteen years, I was a ballerina. Then my teacher told me that I “don’t have the body of a ballet dancer,” and so I became a “theatre person.” (Interestingly, I never called...
by Gretchen | Sep 11, 2010 | Entrepreneurship, Random Stuff
Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m jealous of the students I coach. I haven’t done any formal learning in a long time, and frankly I miss it. As an entrepreneur I learn new skills constantly, but I usually have to teach them to myself. How refreshing to...
by Gretchen | Sep 11, 2010 | Random Stuff
I showed up at Trader Joe’s yesterday desperate for a good idea. A dear friend was coming over for dinner in a mere two hours, and I needed something yummy to make. But I’m not a very creative or intuitive cook. Suddenly I remembered an old trick...
by Gretchen | Aug 16, 2010 | blog
Randy and Marcus just left my apartment. I love those two guys, and am so grateful to be collaborating with both of them on our quest to Change the World!! As we work together, we are developing some theories of How To Collaborate in ways that are fun, purposeful, and...
by Gretchen | Jul 10, 2010 | Entrepreneurship, MuseCubes
***WARNING: This blog post contains some technical jargon. Don’t worry; I don’t understand many of the terms, either. Thank goodness for context clues!*** Why iMuseCubes Development is So Slow It takes many folks up to 40-80 hours over three to four months...
by Gretchen | Jun 30, 2010 | InterPlay
Wow! We had 15 students at the InterPlay Performance Technique class tonight, which is twice as many as usual. All that energy was such a delight. As I posted on my Facebook status line: For those of you who don’t know, InterPlay is an active, creative approach...
by Gretchen | Jun 26, 2010 | Academic Coaching, Random Stuff
Not sure if this panda represents me, or the teens I coach. But it feels very appropos. Go, little panda, go!!
by Gretchen | Jun 11, 2010 | Academic Coaching, Creativity & Edges, Entrepreneurship, InterPlay, Random Stuff
As an academic coach, I end the school year by meeting with parents to reflect on the ways their children have grown — and to identify goals for the next year. Recently at the end of one of those meetings, a mom sighed and said, “My daughter is...
by Gretchen | Jun 1, 2010 | Entrepreneurship
I’m taking the most wonderful (and the most challenging!) course right now: the Right-Brain Business Plan with Jennifer Lee. Writing a business plan is hard!!! It brings up all my inner demons — procrastination; waffling; shyness; fears (of commitment,...
by Gretchen | May 11, 2010 | Academic Coaching, Communication, For Parents
Don’t get me wrong: I wouldn’t trade live, in-person interactions for anything! So I was surprised when, after my first three coaching sessions on Skype, I realized there are some coaching tasks that work BETTER virtually than in person. 1. I get to be IN...
by Gretchen | May 10, 2010 | Random Stuff
Whenever I’m in a pickle with one of my academic coaching clients, I often turn to my Facebook friends. Such a smart and savvy group; rarely do they fail me. Last week a client revealed that during her entire high school career, she has not read a single book...
by Gretchen | May 3, 2010 | MuseCubes
It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon, and I’m crunching pumpkin seeds alongside my hero. His name is Wendell Martin, and he is the iPhone app developer for iMuseCubes. The iMuseCubes development team has decided that it’s time to be more “out”...
by Gretchen | Apr 15, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
Pop Quiz: Do you value play, creativity, and connection? Have you been curious about how to teach/coach online without sacrificing these values? Do you know other creative people who are ready to dive into work with virtual clients? If the answer to any of these...
by Gretchen | Mar 17, 2010 | Academic Coaching, Procrastination
There are several websites that I can’t live without in my academic coaching practice, and one of them is … drum roll, please… www.ohdontforget.com On this website students can schedule a text message to be sent to them at a specific time. Here are a...
by Gretchen | Mar 15, 2010 | Creativity & Edges, Random Stuff
First, a disclaimer: As a blogger who also works with teenagers, I feel shy about the title to this post. I often wonder whether it’s appropriate for me to use such sexually charged language when writing publicly. However, as you’ll soon see, being a...
by Gretchen | Mar 2, 2010 | Creativity & Edges
Over the last six months my business has expanded in ways I never quite imagined. How fun to making a living in ways that bring me joy AND pay the bills AND serve others. Here’s a rundown of announcements I never would have anticipated a year ago: Speaking Gigs...
