In the Salad Bowl

     One of the coolest things about posing at the same school for a number of years is watching people progress. Timid, though sometimes brilliant, freshmen become self-assured seniors, art teachers become better at their teaching year by year, and sometimes, a student becomes a teacher at the same school. 

     That was the case with the teacher of this class. I think her name was Janet, but don't hold me to that: I have known many Janets, both as teachers and students. She wanted an outdoor drawing session, something Mark Gottsegen also liked to do with drawing classes in warm weather. 

     Obviously, in an urban university it is not possible to use a nude model in such an outdoor setting! Janet's notion was a piece of fabric that could look like a Greek or Roman philosopher's garb. The weather was warm, so I chose to be nude under the completely-covering sheet. 

     We did two different poses, one seated, one standing by a tree, in the lower end of a park that extends westward from Aycock Auditorium along Spring Garden St. I'm not sure if "The Salad Bowl" is in any way an official name for this lower end of the park, but it fits. It was a very pleasant day for all. 

     In the seated pose, there is a bottle of Mountain Dew near me. I will guarantee you it was not mine! My opinion of Mountain Dew is summed up by this joke: A man sent a sample of Mountain Dew, unlabeled, to the state health lab. A couple of weeks later he got this reply: "Dear sir: We regret to inform you that your horse has diabetes."