Today, I am thinking of my beloved teacher.

Akira Ouchi Photo from old school days in Chicago, IL (IIT).

Tonight I am privileged to be giving a public lecture on topics and issues that mean everything to me. I feel so fortunate to be able to do this, and so grateful to MCAD for this opportunity. I wish my great teacher could be here, and we could be once again, long compass and short compass, hopping from rock to rock together, singing Italian socialist songs, and searching optimistically for elusive cat and bass.

What would I be without my teacher? My teachers! John Malinoski, Mary McLaughlin, Rob Carter, Ben Day? Today I am thinking of how much I owe each of you,
and I am grateful.

Photographed in Doha, Qatar. Akira always said that he was a kite, tethered to his roots but flying above here and there. I feel he is still flying loose even now.

Flower I made in Akira’s first class.
Old School Days 1997

Japanese Zero Akira’s plane.
Sighted over Bellefonte, PA three days
after his passing in Richmond, VA
in 2003.