Yesterday I taught my grant writing class at the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union. With 11 students, it was a good turn out. (I consider double digits to be the success benchmark.) I love teaching that class because I get to meet people with great ideas and to talk for hours about grant writing. Yesterday, I connected particularly with one of the students who was a freelance writer. She said that the class left her feeling that anything was possible. I couldn’t script a better compliment than that, especially coming from someone who is living their (and my) dream. It certainly made up for the fact that one student left after 10 minutes to feed her parking meter and never came back. I am trying not to take that personally.

Another perk is that I have taught classes in dozens of named rooms in the Union, which seems to me significant. Last night it was the Paul Bunyan room which is painted with murals depicting the story of Paul and his Big Blue Ox. During the class, I was facing a painting of an Ox busting through a fence.

Today, I am grateful for Federal Grants. They not only give me something to teach about, but fund beauty. The mural in the Paul Bunyan room was grant-funded through Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 193os. How cool is that?