Thanks to Eric's strength as a teacher and mentor, having taken his class for just a year I had dramatically increased my ability to understand McLuhan. Eric spoke his dad's language with clarity and wit, having collaborated with him on a number of books in the 60's and 70's. 

Having a conversation with Eric seemed effortless - he listened to what I had to say, and responded accordingly. This give-and-take helped me a great deal to believe in myself.   

Making plans for yet another party - remembering that my birthday is on new year's eve is always a bit of an afterthought  but I got used to it. Besides, two celebrations are better than one!

Martha and the Muffins played at my graduation - art college was fertile ground for the music scene in Toronto, it literally rocked!!

Marshall's stroke was a shock. Ironically, I already knew about the function of the right and left hemispheres of the brain because we had been studying it in Eric's class.

I had a hunch TV was having a profound effect on our world and here was someone who studied those effects. McLuhan was from a literate book culture and I was part of a post-literate one. What he was saying was rich in metaphors that I could somehow understand, in my own way.   

Wow! Here I was at the Centre For Culture &Technology, hiding in the background trying to absorb every word - I was spellbound! McLuhan spoke with such authority.

Ken and Paul shared a studio and the cracks were starting to show. I was amused at how Paul used drawing to communicate an unspoken language... Queen St. was alive with artists that flocked there, either to be seen, or to see others.

Eric's Media Interface class proved to be very insightful as to how our ground shapes us in ways we are unaware of. I got to explore this idea through the billboard project, that was up at Dundas and St. Patrick for three weeks. The Punk Rock scene was in full swing in the late 70's, and OCA was a great venue for bands like the Diodes. The parties sure got more interesting...

I went through a lot of pencils and erasers, let me tell you!!  

Having my concept chosen for Eric's class project was just what I needed to make me feel that I actually had something important to say. Ironically, in this instance it was the medium that communicated the message, not the other way around! 

I didn't really appreciate the value of mainstream comics back then. What Ken and Dean were working on was part of a dramatic shift in comics which paved the way for today's graphic novels. For some reason, the Classics Illustrated version of War of the Worlds stuck in my memory (with apologies to my sister!).

NEWS FLASH: AURORA BOREALICE AT TCAF!

I'm very excited to announce that I'll be at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival May 7-8, where I'll be selling a special signed & numbered edition of Aurora Borealice! I hope you'll all stop by and say hi! - here's the link for more info: www.torontocomics.com

Sometimes I just wanted to be left alone but Ken wouldn't get the message, unless I spelled it out for him.

Our social life was a bit surprising at times, and I usually responded like a wallflower - and here was Marshall McLuhan! He totally astonished me with his ability to engage an audience, anywhere.

I had no desire to wait for a streetcar during a blizzard, something that always put me in a really bad mood - missing one was even worse...!

   

This class was challenging but Eric was just what I needed at the time, a teacher that made you think! Life drawing was always fun but psychology class was a bit of a setback - it was the only class I failed, because I couldn't write the paper!

I finally found a job I was good at, though spelling was still a big challenge for me.
I was so glad we didn't have to write papers for Eric's class, which opened up a whole new world of learning. I considered myself so fortunate to have him as a teacher - I was all ears!

Talking with a friend about past events was the kind of nostalgia I did not want to dwell on, but it did reassure me that I had made the right decision to move on.

My Dad loved music and hard work, and while he too had difficulty learning, like Mark Twain said “never let school get in the way of your education.” 

Going back to the country was a bit odd for me at times - my shoes had changed but my friends had not!

I knew my dad never meant to insult my intelligence, but the word dummy was just another label I didn't need. And while he never intended harm, he didn't know the damage it caused...

I somehow intuitively knew it was really important to know this stuff - I was fascinated and worked hard at learning some key concepts. My hunger for knowledge was equal to Ken's hunger for food! ;^)

Ken and Dean were working on The Sacred and the Profane, a "graphic novel" even before before Will Eisner popularized the term. I was more interested in understanding McLuhan at the time.

Eric's goofy sense of humour set me at ease, but it was a real WTF moment! I was starting to feel comfortable in the big city.

Ken was a social butterfly, always making plans without bothering to consult me. I was very reticent and lacked the confidence to meet intellectuals... let alone have a conversation with one!