June, 2007:

I’ve been an art fan ever since. Only that—a fan. I did not acquire my mother’s art expertise. Instead, I grew up inept at color combinations, have screwed sketching skills, and among the multiple intelligences, visual-spatial apparently is not my intelligence. So instead, I get to hang with photography, basic black & whites to trial & errors until I feel I’ve captured nature’s beautiful art from The Creator himself. And pray I’ll end up getting an artist for a husband to at least have my children get the genes, haha. (:

I always enjoy traditional aesthetics, and elements of fine art. In school where I teach, we have art books for our young children, and I am among the children who enjoy the books so much. As a teacher of these children with developmental disabilities, one requisite trait is creativity. Besides great patience and persistence, creativity is every teacher’s virtue. From managing to make activities more learning-friendly by incorporating art and creativity, to being holistic by using visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile cues, these art books and other art reading materials help a lot.

We have students whom we teach vocational skills and art instead of traditional academics, and these skills develop their talents in other areas despite the disability. Art include decorative arts and crafts, and of course dance and music, where we have a bunch who enjoys dance and music very much.

That’s why art magazines are very helpful to teachers, be it regular classes or special classes, in helping shape the skills of their students. Creative works hone the gifts of these children, and produce striking pieces we adults even get amazed. There are a lot of art magazines out there, art magazines particularly for teachers. There is a publication in the magazine subscriptions, Art and Activities Magazine, which provide articles to help teachers at all grade levels, prepare daily classroom art projects for their classes. That is indeed one great help for us teachers.

I watched a few days ago my best-liked romantic flick Two Weeks Notice, with starrers Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock (best-liked actress as well (: ). Grant is George Wade, the super rich, powerful front liner of their family’s Wade Corporation. He’s influential, famous, and of course, an eligible bachelor. There’s this one scene where he attends a medical charity event and was asked by a doctor if he could sign her GQ. He paused for a while, thinking it was some kind of a medical term. GQ is of course the men’s magazine where he was in the front cover.

Then I wondered, what does GQ mean? Every magazine reader certainly knows GQ magazine, since it’s the most famous top selling men’s magazine there is. Gorgeousness Quotient perhaps? Gentlemen Quality maybe? I had to found out.

GQ is actually originally called Gentlemen’s Quarterly (Gentlemen Quality was close enough..). It’s a magazine all for the male pack, which handles topics essential about men— from men’s style, fashion and culture, movies, music, sports, technology, women, health & fitness, travel, and a lot more. And get this, GQ is in circulation for almost 50 years. It began as a fashion quarterly until it reached broader subject matters for men, to what it is today. It has graced famous men (and women) on its covers, like big shot public figures from actors, athletes, models, business and political icons. There were Orlando Bloom, Russel Crowe, Johnny Depp, Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Clive Owen, Victoria’s Secret Models to name a few.

Since GQ began as a fashion quarterly, it has expert style segments which talks about fashion rules for men, how to’s like how to buy the ideal business wardrobe; lists like the top shops to buy from, top suits or shoes; style secrets, commandments of style and GQ endorses, which are ultimate fashion recommendations. These and a lot more themes, no wonder it’s the top selling men’s magazine.