My Waldorf Education

In 1993 my parents decided they wanted to explore options for my education. I was sent to visit a small school 45 minutes away from my home and thrown into music, language and art classes I didn’t understand. I wondered where the text books were and why we seemed to be on a totally difference academic level. I mean, weren’t we all the same age? Shouldn’t we be studying the same things?

Over the next 5 years I struggled to catch up to those same students, learning two languages (Spanish and German) developing my inner artist and trying to master various instruments all while learning math, science and everything else “normal” kids were learning in their schools.

Life after Waldorf was an adjustment as I went to a rigorous college prep Catholic high school and then a Big Ten University where even among the masses I felt my approach to life was very different from everyone else. It has taken me the better part of 10 years to fully appreciate the value of my Waldorf education. It taught me to look at my  life and the world from all available angles, encouraged my passion for learning new things and was the only place where I was ever truly comfortable to be my whole self.

It is absolutely impossible for me to convey in a blog post the magical and unique sense of family and self that develops in a Waldorf community. From the students, faculty, staff and even families everyone involved is an integral part of each journey. I am not going to attempt to go on but I encourage you to explore the Waldorf website and I would gladly take the time to discuss my experiences with anyone who is interested.

Here are some images from the Detroit Waldorf School (my alma mater) Auction I shot when I was home last week.

The beautiful hand made pieces that were up for auction…

The fabulous Miss Beth in one of her creations…

I had to resist the urge to go up and pet her…this jacket was amazing!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hangin’ in the D

Last week I took a few days off work and went home to the Detroit suburbs for a visit. Naturally I brought my camera and subjected my family to multiple photo safari’s around the city. Here are some shots from the afternoon/evening I spent downtown with my mom before celebrating a late mother’s day.

Aah the People Mover, all two cars of public transit glory…

The train station. There are block letters across the top that say “Save the Depot”. Sadly, I did not get a good shot to share.

On our way to dinner in Corktown we had to stop at the old Tiger’s Stadium. It was pretty cool, they had basically cut the thing in two.

The iconic “D”

I have no idea where this door went but it made me laugh so I had to add it into the post

Showin’ off the Detroit Pride + some Motown action

We had dinner at Slow’s – I had some pretty AMAZING pulled pork, the ribs weren’t bad either 🙂 On a separate note, living in Chicago has totally spoiled me on the whole no smoking in public buildings. I’m just glad the weather was nice so we got to enjoy our meal outside, smoke free!

Best Buddies

Happy Friday! The other day my friend Julie asked me to donate my services for an event benefiting Best Buddies, a group she has been involved with for years. Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing one-to-one friendships with Chicago professionals and assisting with employment opportunities. I shot an event for them this winter and I am very excited to have the chance to join them again.

The event is coming up at the end of June and I will post more details when I know them. Until then, enjoy the photos from their last event at Keihl’s in Lincoln Park.

There was a huge turnout and the whole store was packed most of the night.

The DJ setting up his table.

Keath, the store manager was amazing. Every time I turned around he was helping out everyone around him. The entire staff at Keihl’s was a well-oiled machine. They were all incredibly kind and knowledgeable about the products.

The lovely Miss Illinois and Miss Teen Illinois made an appearance.

Checking out all the great products!

Just Dance

Hilarious and poignant speech from Ellen DeGeneres at Tulane’s Commencement Ceremony:

bOOP!

A few weeks ago I purchased my first professional grade flash. With my schedule being what it is, I finally got the chance to take it out for a spin this weekend. I would like to issue a special THANK YOU to my sister and her friends who were more than willing to be my models as I experimented with various settings and got used to my new baby. Lucky for me my sister has a gorgeous group of friends so they made my job easy. Here are some of my favorites.

All the girlies

They were all laughing and giggling the whole time, I’m glad I got this one…

Gorgeous!

These two have been besties for a long time. I love this pic of the two of them.

This one reminds me of an 80’s movie…

Pretty standard for the baby bunny…

This is my favorite – we took a bunch of these and in every single shot one of them always has their tongue out

Kennice & Karen go to Greektown

A while back I decided I wanted to explore the city with my camera for the day. I convinced my charming roommate Karen to join me for an adventure to Greektown. It was a great day so we ended up wandering all over the downtown area. Here are some of my favorite shots from that day:

We started in a small shop that sold all kinds of crazy candles. I had to sneak this one! (It’s all about the fast luck :-P)

Another stolen shot in a grocery store. The explanation for this requires a long story involving a mouse and my roommate keeping Ramen under her bed. We thought the mouse would approve…

Very tasty cappuccino!

The beautiful presentation of the chocolate mousse didn’t last long. It went straight from the table into my mouth…

Look ma! No spoon!

She’s a good model after you get her hopped up on sugar!

I enjoy finding random Christmas lights turned on during the day…in February…

My favorite shot of the day. Her nickname is “Shady” so I am really glad I caught this moment of silliness on the EL