"Is there anything more mysterious than reality?" -B. A.

Does anyone feel famously ambitious on the first day of school? Does anyone run to do their homework immediately after the class lets out so as to obliterate it and bask in the glow in which only those of the newly learned may bask?

It must be hard to be a teacher. Lots of eyes and lots of silence on that first day. No one wants to sound stupid. Sizing up. Breaking down. New kids. Who are you? Are you a transfer? Are you a photography student? What year are you? Do you like it here? Where do you live? You're not vegan, are you?

Just joshin' Meghan.

Sizing up indeed! My first class was History of Photography taught by M. Stafford. The 'M' obviously stands for Mr. Mr. Stafford is from England. He didn't mention what part. I think he may be offended by the prospect of being from Leeds. I've come to this conclusion from a bit of eavesdropping. The rest was but a little eye feast. Atop Mr. Stafford's head is a mop of finely trimmed curly hair, respectable masculine features and eyes that seemed often to be far away almost as if he was trying to figure out how to structure his next sentence or quite possibly dreaming of Atget. Stafford head meet Stafford shoulders--square Stafford shoulders adorned with an ironed blue button down dress shirt and a wool navy sweater vest complete with a tautly knotted silvery silk tie. Mr. Stafford appeared to be sincerely interested in his student's work, play and specific photographic interests. A combination of my own first day ambition and Mr. Stafford's far away sentence-structuring look caused me to seek out books at the library on Eugene Atget, one of which I had to retrieve from the rare book case. One in particular, The World of Atget by Berenice Abbott made me far more interested in Berenice Abbott than Eugene Atget, althought he seemed like an honorable dude lugging that camera on his back all over Paris until he was bent like a mis-flipped hotcake. Props.

Berenice knows what's up though.

"Acclaim is, after all, not the essential reward. The act of creating has its own reward, and it's primary. When one embarks on an uncertain venture, silence is often an ally. Anonymity becomes an asset, if not a necessity."

Shut it. Work. Get off it. Your high horse, that is.

The best thing I read in that book was by neither Atget or Abbott.

"If our educational system knew how to teach the sense of a tree to our youth, they'd never have any need of television or any other entertainment." -Frank Lloyd Wright.

I'm going to go see what sense Francie Nolan makes out of her tree.