Miss Hudson and Becoming My Own Creative Self

I blame all my creative tendencies on my third grade teacher, Miss Hudson. Actually, she was my fifth grade teacher too, so she had a double effect. We did do a few art projects, as I recall, but the projects weren't what did it.

Miss Hudson had an unbreakable rule. She probably needed some respite from all those children all day, every day. So she did two things. She read to us the last half of lunch break and then, everyone was required to either put their heads on their desks for ten minutes, or--and this was the kicker--go to the back of the room and get a book from the small library of children's books, magazines and reference materials, and read for ten minutes.

Being one of those kids for whom the head on the desk thing for ten minutes would be complete torture, I'd always opt for the book. Not that I was a particularly fluent reader. I liked it when she read to us, but reading was "work" to me. So I'd skip all the age appropriate novelettes and biographies and grab me an encyclopedia. It didn't take me long to find MY volume, either. It was a World Book Encyclopedia Volume D--red, with gold letters on it. It probably had a number, but all I remember was the big gold "D". The D volume was thrilling to me. I would race to the back of the room and grab it first before anyone else could get it. (Not that there was a big flood of kids trying to beat me to it, but I didn't want to take any chances). And I kept the secret to myself, too. No need encouraging the competition!

And there it would be. A delicious ten minutes filled with the topics hidden within those red covers: drawing, dressmaking, dance, drama, dogs, and dress --which had a lovely color layout of dress of a good deal of the human race throughout history. (I still have copies of those pages hanging over my desk in my costume shop!) I would pour over those pictures--period dress, breeds of dogs , pictures of women standing at tables cutting out clothes from fabric, dancers in beautiful costumes in dramatic poses, stages filled with actors in full costume. The ten minutes would fly past and I'd decide, when I put the book away, what I'd look at the next day.

Now there has always been that age-old nuture/nature debate on how a kid will turn out. I mean, which comes first--the chicken or the egg? I have no contribution to that discussion. Drama and art and all that goes with it was the furthest thing from my world. We didn't stage little plays in that third grade class. I'd never seen a dancer on stage or a costume in real life. All I know is : I started sewing when I was about 8 years old (without a sewing machine, I might add), and figuring out patterns long before I knew there was such a thing as a pattern. I began drawing in the 4th grade (I still remember the day I figured out how to draw hair), all of which led to an art major in college and a lifelong passion living and working in the arts. I 've been a costumer for a theater/music/dance division of a local university for 20 plus years,

and...I have three dogs!

So I thank you, Miss Hudson. For stocking your classroom with books that had pictures and information, and for not filling up every single second of the day. You gave me a precious gift. For two whole years, every single school day--you gave me ten whole minutes to become myself!