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When I graduated with my BS from Western, to my surprise, I was the only art-education major to receive an honor degree%u2014Magna Cum Laude%u2014which led to some difficulty in deciding where to seat me at the Honors Luncheon. I enjoyed school immensely, and really wasn%u2019t ready to leave, but knew it was time to move on. So, I began interviewing for a teaching job.Even though, at the time, some Michiganders considered Indiana to be a rural netherworld, I scheduled an interview with the Assistant Superintendent of Schools from Kendallville, which was just north of Ft. Wayne. When I drove down there, he took me on a tour of Indiana%u2019s surrounding northern lake country, and the Mayberry-looking town. I liked it all very much, and accepted the job offer to be the Craft teacher in the Industrial Arts Department at the local middle school, teaching both boys and girls.To be better prepared for my new position, I enrolled in a graduate course in Elementary Industrial Education. It would be my last at Western. The basic course taught how to use hand tools, as well as common woodworking machines such as a table saw, drill press, and the evil band saw (which still terrifies me). I also learned basic metal crafting techniques such as punch design and tooling (embossing). By the end of the term, I felt I was ready to teach.located in the basement of the former high-school building. To say our relationship clicked at once would be a gross understatement.To furnish my apartment, I had a metal storage trunk, a few towels, a flimsy cardboard night stand, my portable radio/stereo with 5 or 6 albums, an alarm clock, a make-up mirror, notebooks and books, and a set of green, hard Samsonite suitcases. My prized possession was a complete set of pots and pans I bought for myself. I didn%u2019t even own a table or bed%u2014although I did have two sets of single sheets. John%u2019s apartment featured an antique wooden coffin he had I arrived in Kendallville late on an August evening, and slept on the floor of my new duplex apartment. In the morning, I realized I was going to be living next door to the man%u2014John%u2014that I%u2019d be working with. He had been hired as the head of the middle school%u2019s 2-person Industrial Arts department, which was Untitled. Hooked wall hanging. Wool. 1971Still Life Study. Oil on canvas. 1971