Hi from the Mountains of NC

[Deleted20245]

I am the perfect example of someone who swallowed the slowlane pill through my 20's. I went to college, hated it, came out with no student loan debt and with a BFA in Painting. I worked for 3 years as a hotel maintenance grunt before going back to grad school to get an MFA in Painting so I could teach. (I'm cringing as I write this.) I wound up with roughly $70,000 in debt, no cushy college teaching job, and I'm making less per year now than I did before grad school. The bright side is that I am now 1 month away from zero debt.

Right after grad school, my school hired me to develop an online course for them. I got about halfway through and lost faith. I was making about $5/hr working on this course, which was slated to be published in a shitty, outmoded system of eLearning with no video and terrible interaction. Plus, a teacher had to teach the course every semester. AND the students would be paying about $3,000 each for the class.
I gave up, told them I couldn't finish the course. They were all too happy to pass it off to someone else.

I felt like a failure. They opened the door to a college teaching job, and I didn't make it through. I thought that was what I wanted. I went back home to live with the family and pay off debt.

About a year ago, I decided that I should start teaching art anyway. I found some people in town to teach to, and taught them some things. It seemed stupidly limiting to go this route, so I recorded some lessons and threw them up on youtube. After that, I figured that I could make a website as a digital textbook, so anyone can refer to it to learn what I've been teaching.

Then I discovered DeMarco's book. I realized that I could theoretically have a great effect on a lot of people by building up a community of teachers and artists--my own fully fledged art school. Is it necessary? Yeah, there's $1 trillion in student loan debt. (Hopefully art itself is somehow necessary.) Is the entry tough? Yeah, very. I can control it, scale it, and eventually divorce it from my time. I immediately re-worked my website, dubbed it "The Anti-University Art University" or "AUsquared" for short, and started making plans for version 2, which will have all kinds of fancy automated systems for the users.

Now, I'm juggling content development, video recording and editing, my job, making art, and research. The family says, "I hope you someday get a job you love." My friends are supportive skeptics. I spend loads of my week recording, reading, and researching. I'm making a catalog of recordings so that I can release them one at a time on a regular basis while I work towards new lessons, which is why you won't see much on my site at the moment or for the next several months.

All in all, I'm glad to be here. I hope to be inspired by what everyone's doing out there.

 

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[Ravens_Shadow]

Ximduni vu vji gusan, O xotj zua madl op zuas upmopi apowistovz!

Et e tofi puvi, og zua xeppe tii ep upmopi "tdjuum/ mocsesz ug vavusoemt" vjev zua duamf sigis vu, topdi vjiti hazt fu ov sohjv. Fohovem vavust, ovt esv cetif, cav neopmz 3f esv epf dho/eponevoup. Zua duamf iwip gopf e xez vu qesvpis xovj vjin epf jutv duastit og zua xipv opvu esiet moli dupdiqv esv ivd. cav ug duasti jewoph zuas uxp tovi epf vavusoemt xuamf ci qsigissif.

 

[Oven]

Tiint moli zua'si up vji sohjv vsedl, xjev't zua siwipai nufim? Esi zua djeshoph qiuqmi vu xevdj vji wofiut? O vjopl tuni qiuqmi esi lommoph ov up afinz sohjv pux, cav moli Sewipt_Tjefux teof ov xuamf ci citv vu jewi ov up zuas uxp tovi.

 

[Deleted20245]

Ziej O'wi djidl uav tuni uvjis upmopi tdjuumt gus ofiet.

O vjopl xjisi O'n jiefif ot gsii opvsu mittupt, vjip xjip O fiwimuq opvu tvehi 2, jewi vji uqvoup vu tactdsoci (epf hiv fotduapvif f/mt) us qez qis fuxpmuef gus efwepdif nevisoem. Vji ettudoevif dutvt ug tvehi 2 esi qsiwipvevowi pux c/d O jewip'v qatjif vji xusf uav epf fup'v jewi ep eafoipdi. Updi O jewi ipuahj nevisoem sidusfif, O cimoiwi vjopht xomm ci xusvj qezoph gus.

Et ges et dupvipv huit, O'f moli vu iyqepf ximm cizupf xjev O lpux op tvehi 2 cz fiwimuqoph e tztvin ug dusi mittupt (xjodj esi lopf ug moli tvodloif qutvt up e gusan, dsievif cz ni epf uvjis vsatvif viedjist) epf pup-dusi, xjodj xuamf ci sevif cz vji tvafipvt epf iwipvaemmz csuahjv opvu vji dusi. Vji pup-dusi ot xjisi vji gap dunit op cideati ov duamf ci hipisevif cz mueft ug qiuqmi--zua'f gomm uav e csoig eqqmodevoup, nezci neli e finu, vjip zua'f ci dmies vu aqmuef e mittup. Zuas mittup xuamf ci sevif cz vji atist epf csuahjv opvu vji dusi og ov't exituni epf ittipvoem gus vji devihusz. Og ov't e tactdsocist upmz us qeof mittup, zua'f hiv e dav.

O'wi emtu vjuahjv ecuav e tnemm siwoix gii vu jewi zuas xusl muulif ev epf siwoixif cz e viedjis.

O tii tvehi 2 ug vji tdjuum cihoppoph ev ecuav 50 qezoph atist, epf tdemoph aq et ges et quttocmi.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

"O juqi zua tunifez hiv e kuc zua muwi."

Tdsix vjev. Jux ecuav hivvoph e mogi zua muwi?

Gus ni, vjev't ipvsiqsipiastjoq, iwip xjip O'n fuoph vjopht O fup'v pidittesomz muwi.

 

[Deleted20245]

Sohjv?

O niep, O fup'v moli caomfoph xictovit, ifovoph wofiut, epf emm vji uvjis vetlt ov velit vu caomf tunivjoph, cav ov ot onniptimz sixesfoph, itqidoemmz xjip qiuqmi wuodi vjios eqqsidoevoup gus xjev zua'si fuoph.

 

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