Getting in the Holiday spirit

Today is Thanksgiving Day, a truly American holiday.  Back when I was in grad school in the midwest and we had a large number of foreign born students in town, they found the whole thing a bit puzzling.  Once I had to reassure a Scottish born student that pumpkin pie was not as bad as he feared (and he was from a country that celebrated foods that were banned from this country) and that he should try to enjoy it.  The main point of the holiday is that we have a lot of food, so let's eat it all, as much as we can.  And the classic menu can be adapted to the gathering.  One year in grad school, one of the professors invited all the students stranded in Carbondale to gather at his house, and to bring whatever food they wanted, so his turkey and sides were supplemented with homemade lasagne and homemade hummus, to the extent that many were too full to eat any turkey.  (not unlike when I was growing up, and the kids would often fill up on ziti and meatballs and have no interest in the traditional courses when they came around)  Today the family gathered at my brother's home, where his non-Italian wife helped to prepare a more traditional feast-  all very tasty and I can make pasta any time I want anyway, though I took home enough leftovers that it's not likely to happen any time soon.

Of course the day is not just food, and I get involved in other traditions, too. Last night I caught a showing of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (not as good as Christmas, but not without its charms), and this afternoon part of "March of the Wooden Soldiers" (saved on the DVR, so when I rewatch it, I can skip the boring songs and go right to the comedy and action).  Lots of football to watch.  But the thing most unique to the holiday is probably the parade in New York, and I caught part of that as well.

Watching some of that televised parade this morning brought me back around to thinking about teaching.  In recent years I have been assigned 3D design at both my colleges several times, and I am tentatively scheduled to teach again in the new year.  One of my usual projects is to have students make an inflated sculpture using clear plastic drop cloths and sealing tape.  Actually a lot of good design lessons to be learned doing that.

I take a very traditional approach.  They start with sketches, make small models to aid in thinking about how it would all come together, then design, cut the pieces, assemble, and finally blow it up to the full dimensions.  Some choose to work individually, while others form groups (I allow up to 3 people on one piece), but everyone manages to get something made.  A few students panic a little when I tell them that it must be a minimum of 8 feet long in some dimension, but it turns out it's not that hard to do.  I'd enjoy seeing some larger, but classroom space is very limited.

So I'm watching the parade this morning thinking making these balloons could be the one practical application of this skill covered in my class. I don't allow the students to make recognizable cartoon characters, and we don't use color, but otherwise it's pretty much the same.  In fact, watching this morning, I found myself thinking if my 3D students had enough material to work with, a big enough space to work in, and access to a lot of helium, there's no reason they couldn't have made any of the balloons I saw.   I wonder if they think the same thing.  Next time I run into some former students, maybe I'll ask them.