Visions on Mt.Sinai

Welcome

The website design and everything you will find here is my work including the photos and a sampling of my digital works.

Here I hope to offer you a view of my world and to fuss a bit about this and that.  It will probably be more of a blog than a website... but that’s ok because at this age, I can make it whatever I want.  

I am publishing my work-bio (About Me) which I wrote for my Facebook friends who were wondering where my professional career began and where it went.  



This site contains a lot of “poetry” which is strange for a person who isn’t even sure what poetry is.  If you are looking for rhyme-y, lovely word pictures of  idyllic places, you will not like what you find here.  If you are looking for complete word thoughts that are created with clockwork simplicity, you will not enjoy these works.  What you will find is, word-pieces - ink that just “came on” - usually with much provocation but, have provided me many years of conjecture about what was meant when I put those words on paper.  Maybe they are more like tone poems of the heart. Poetry has been my companion for many a year and still provides me with hours of joyful mental calisthenics.

I like photography!  I just organized over 5,500 slide and digital prints.  It is great fun but I never really got serious enough to create photographic Art.  So, if there is such a creature as a recreational-street-art-picture-taker, that would be me. 

My Scribble section is mostly random, mostly short, thoughts along the wayside of my life. Finally, whatever doesn’t fit anywhere else, is called Prose.  This area will probably grow more quickly than any part of this website since it will continue to provide me release for my head which continues to spin without ceasing.  So if you don’t mind rants and raves and strong opinions, check back often.

 

 If I confuse anyone, join the club. If I offend anyone, please forgive me with a smile . 


About Me

I received my BA and MA in 1965, 1966 from the University of South Florida in music education as a French horn major. I was fortunate to land my first job in the lovely little city of St. Cloud, FL (St. Cloud Jr-Sr High School) where I taught band, chorus, 8th grade English and 9th grade math. (That happens with first year teachers!) I couldn’t have begun my career in a more perfect place where I found a bunch of wonderful students and a supportive small town to ease me on down the road. Those two years were very important in my formative years as a baby band director. I remember attending state contest when I was in college and hearing one of the most wonderful bands I have ever heard, and I remember saying that some day I would be able to direct a band like that! That band was King High School and it became the place where I would find my life parked during the next seven years. Musically it was the high point of my career and allowed me to grow as a musician and conductor and to exercise my love for advanced contemporary wind music. I’ll never forget “Music for Prague 1968” and all of the wonderful students who made that and the other great music with me for those years. Unfortunately for me, I felt called to leave King to test my vocation as a monk! Fortunately, that only lasted a few months and when I returned to Tampa in the middle of the year, I found a brand new school in Pasco County that was opening and needed a band director. 

So with about 12 students and no actual building, I went to Land O’Lakes High School where we built on those 12 (that sounds prophetic) and became a force in the middle of the woods - so to speak. What good times those were with great parents, support from everywhere, super sweet students and room to grow. Thanks for those 10 great years of hard work, great accomplishments and super memories!

One very prominent constant throughout these first 19 years is that I loved concert band and very much disliked marching band. So you can imagine with what excitement I left LOLHS to take a position with Hillsborough County Schools as a orchestra director! What a change of life. And it was good. I had always loved orchestral music and thought that if I was going to teach it, I should try to learn it! So I bought a cello and took lessons from three different fantastic teachers and, although I never could play the darn thing (although I did play in the Tampa Bay Symphony for a few years) , I became very knowledgeable at string technique and was able to have a great deal of satisfaction (for 10 years) from building little “wire choirs” around Tampa. 

Lastly, I was fortunate to be appointed the position of Fine Arts Coordinator at the new performing arts high school in Tampa. As a quasi-administrator, I helped with the development and operation of all magnet offerings at this new school. Now, at the end of my career, I was a participant in all of the Arts: dance, visual art, music, theatre arts, creative writing and journalism. It was a difficult 10 years, but rewarding to have had a part in the lives of so many striving young Artists. 

Underlying all of my 40 years in education was a very deep seated love for my students. Even the “bad” ones, are now fond memories of the challenges and the times we had together. I have been retired since 2005, am about 100 years old (!) and ensconced with my books, my dear dog-friend (Barney), my music, good friends, and looking out at the views from my apartment while remembering every single one of you who made up the fabric of my life. Thank you all.