The Helpful Art Teacher

The Helpful Art Teacher Welcome to The Helpful Art Teacher. A good art lesson teaches us not only to create but to look at, Learning how to draw means learning to see.

A good art lesson teaches us not only to create but to look at, think about and understand our world through art.

In the summer of 2023 I wrote a picture book and created preliminary sketches of the illustrations. I’ve spent the past ...
09/28/2026

In the summer of 2023 I wrote a picture book and created preliminary sketches of the illustrations. I’ve spent the past three summers illustrating it. The book is 80 pages including the front and back covers and each page has an illustration. I just finished this one this evening. The last image is the preliminary sketch I created in July of 2023. I have four more illustrations to go. They are all drawn. They just need to be inked and colored.

Mahmoud Khalil. He’s now suing Columbia University. Let’s talk about this guy. The name of his “protest group” was “Colu...
09/26/2026

Mahmoud Khalil. He’s now suing Columbia University. Let’s talk about this guy.

The name of his “protest group” was “Columbia University Apartheid Divest”. THIS is the group Khalil was the LEADER of and he is very much behind much of their antisemitic philosophy and criminal behavior. But he just LOVES to paint himself as a victim.

These red flyers were found by police in “Hind’s Hall” when they finally entered the building (Hamilton Hall). The “protesters” had stacks of these pamphlets ready to distribute. They also had burglary tools. They assaulted an innocent janitor when they broke into Hamilton Hall. He developed PTSD and was unable to return to work.

Let me tell you about this group (CUAD). Their official platform is that “Zionists (eg most members of the Jewish faith) don’t deserve to live”. Don’t believe me? Here is the proof: https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/10/09/cuad-issues-apology-to-khymani-james-cc-25/

This student movement caused millions of dollars in property damage at Columbia University (including damaging two libraries) and now they are now suing the university, which will result in millions of dollars in legal fees for the institution.

You know what this protest movement did NOT do? Help a single Palestinian child. Not one.

As a matter of fact, after the protests were over, what do you think these heroic college students did with their tents, sleeping bags and donated food? Surely such CARING activists must have donated these things to a food bank, right? 😂 Because they are the romantic Columbia “activists” from the ‘60’s reincarnated, right? Sorry. Nope. Wrong again.

They threw everything into dumpsters because the ‘performance’ was over and in the end, they were just cosplaying. Don’t believe me? Here: https://nypost.com/2024/05/25/us-news/columbia-encampment-supplies-found-amid-dorm-room-trash-outside-school/

This tells me so, so much about the American “pro Pali” protest movement. Namely, it’s populated by people who don’t actually do their homework. They seize on a feel good cause, but they never bother to step back and say “Wait a minute, what’s really going on here?”

To clarify, we should absolutely ALL be concerned about civilians (especially children) who are surrounded by violent geopolitical conflicts. Absolutely! I personally donate to “save the children”. They operate in Gaza and all over the world helping kids, feeding and clothing the hungry and providing medication and care.

If you don’t want to support Israel, by all means, don’t. Pick a university that DOESN’T have a campus in Tel Aviv and DOESN’T have a rabbinical college and ISN’T right in an historic Jewish neighborhood in Manhattan. And maybe don’t throw a multi million dollar tantrum when that college refuses to divest. Because ultimately, a college investing in Israel? That’s free speech too. So, if you find that a school’s values don’t match your own, by all means, vote with your feet and choose a different school. Now, committing crimes and bullying people to get what you want? Breaking into buildings? Damaging libraries? That’s actually NOT “free speech”. It’s NOT protected by the constitution and it’s not okay. And if some on social media publicizes your names after you committed those crimes so that companies don’t hire you? That’s NOT doxxing. It’s the consequences of your actions.

And suing your university for doing its job? Sounds to me like you are centering yourself as the ‘victim’. How does that help the actual victims of war? Spoiler alert! It doesn’t. But that’s ok because it wasn’t ever about them, was it?

Here is a novel idea for the activists who took over Hamilton Hall and renamed it Hind’s Hall! How about you take the money that would have gone to your lawyers and use it to do some good in the world? Become an actual good human being instead of just cosplaying one on TV.










Gift article. No paywall. In reading this article I felt nothing but respect for this mom, her husband and their daughte...
09/23/2026

Gift article. No paywall. In reading this article I felt nothing but respect for this mom, her husband and their daughter and the tough decisions that shaped their educational journey.

A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.

09/21/2026

As Yom Kippur begins, the Westfield Fire Department joins our Jewish community in a day of reflection, remembrance, and renewal.

Just as firefighters stand ready to protect and serve our community in times of need, Yom Kippur reminds us of the importance of looking inward, extending forgiveness, and caring for one another.

May this solemn day bring peace, reflection, and renewal to all who observe.

G’mar Chatim Tovah — May you be sealed for a good year.

From our firehouse family to yours, we wish our Jewish neighbors a meaningful and peaceful Yom Kippur.

09/21/2026

Your friends on Sesame Street wish you a meaningful Yom Kippur 💛

09/21/2026

Peace, good health,and happiness in the year ahead. May your name be written in the book of life.

New England Aster, photographed today on my walk.
09/19/2026

New England Aster, photographed today on my walk.

09/18/2026

I’m not familiar with Macklemore’s music.I was able to find footage of him dressed up as the caricature of the “evil Jew” from N**i propaganda cartoons. The way he was dancing around it was quite unmistakable that he was lampooning that stereotype. So, if he says now that was a random coincidence (and he was born under a rock), well…no.

I found footage of him on stage from 2024 shouting “Yeah, f**k America”. It wasn’t hard. I’m American. I am Jewish. I’m not listening to his music. He’s said FU to my face. Twice.

I’ve never heard the song Hine’s Hall. But I am quite familiar with that particular protest. Students broke into a building. They barricaded the doors. An innocent custodian tried to stop them and they assaulted him. They had put out a story previously on Instagram that there was going to be a protest and where to meet up on the streets outside of Columbia. They went over to the windows, facing the street, opened them and helped non students climb through. They covered security cameras with plastic bags. They caused millions of dollars in property damage. Later, when police entered the building they found flyers saying “death to America” and “death to Israel”.

This particular protest group, the same one that Macklemore celebrates in his song, also later endorsed, agreed with and supported one of their members who had been disciplined for saying “Zionists don’t deserve to live. Zionists are lucky I’m not out on the streets shooting them”.

Yes. They issued an official public statement that they agree with and support him. Is Macklemore aware of all these facts? Does he care? They’re black and white facts, by the way, not opinion or hyperbole. A Zionist is someone who believes that the state of Israel has the right to exist and the Jewish people living there have the right to live there.

You can look this up by the way. The group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) led the protest. The “Zionist don’t deserve to live” guy they officially support and love is Khymani James. So this guy made a song celebrating this group…

Half the world’s Jews are Israeli citizens. Most Jews have family there. He wrote a song celebrating a group of college students who officially believe that we “don’t deserve to live”.

A Jewish stadium owner, who just donated two million dollars to aid people in Gaza, doesn’t want to platform Macklemore at a venue he owns.

So, I’ve just stated a bunch of facts. My conclusion is that this guy, who I have never met, already doesn’t like me. He’s already cancelled me. Many times over…

So, if your conclusion here is that he’s a stand up guy and everyone else is wrong, maybe we’re not friends after all…

Fine by me. I’d rather find that out now. Have a nice life. Somewhere else. Preferably far away from me.

09/16/2026

I was one of the few people on 9/11 who didn’t see the towers fall live on television because I was teaching 7th and 8th graders. The principal came in and told me to turn the tv monitor in my classroom off so the kids wouldn’t be traumatized. Later I found out I was one of the only teachers in the building who listened to her. For years a small part of me felt bad for not being part of that collective experience with the rest of the country. But looking back on my career, I can now say “Eff that! I was protecting children from trauma that day.” Most of their parents worked in the city.

That principal? She’s long retired but we are still friends.

09/13/2026

Hey Muppets fans! We have the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational news. For the first time in its 63-year history, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the New York City site where Sesame Street characters and other whimsical creations are designed, molded and dressed, is open to the public. The workshop is in Queens, inside the former Standard Motors building, a two-block-long behemoth with high ceilings and freight elevators capable of accommodating even the biggest birds.

What can fans expect from the peek behind the fleece? https://bit.ly/4xlZRtq

📸: Kristin Hunt

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Perth Amboy, NJ

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