In Gratitude

Dear Professor Perl,

Coming from an arts high school to Macaulay, I knew one thing for certain: I wanted to continue my involvement in the arts.  How I would do this I had no idea – orchestra an hour a week paled in comparison to the 15 hours of arts a week I was used to.  But I also knew that it brought me great happiness and it needed a permanent slot in my life.  On my schedule, I had the class Arts in New York City on my schedule but I did not know what to expect.

Through my time in your class, I was able to not only continue my journey in the arts but explore it in new ways.  Before your class, I was skeptical about climate change.  How could human beings possibly have such an effect on the world?  But exploring climate change through the arts completely changed my opinion on the matter.  The books we read, especially Squarzoni’s Climate Changed, were not only informative but creative.  I loved our class discussions that stemmed from these books.  Being able to explore my thoughts on climate change by composing a piece on it also made me think about the matter from new angles.

I loved every trip we went to as a class.  Salgado’s Genesis was so beautiful – I loved the way he used black-and-white photography to make everything seem even more soulful and other-worldly.  The Highline, a green, elevated oasis over the crowded New York City streets, was also really cool.  My mother always talked about bringing my sisters and I there but we never went.  Now I have.  The jazz performance was so amazing – I could not get over the musicality and technical prowess of the trio.  The jazz performance had to be my favorite.  The tea ceremony was an experience I will never forget.  Getting to do the background research on the tradition truly opened my eyes.  Also, my mother was really impressed by the trip – I think I may bring her there as part of her Mother’s Day gift.  Birds with Skymirrors was quite interesting.  I had never seen anything like it!  It was lovely to be a part of something so special.  I loved ending the class with the opera – everyone had such a lovely time.

Professor Perl, I have to thank you for this experience.  You made everyone in the class see climate change as it truly is, a travesty to the world that can still be reversed if we work towards it, and exposed us to truly beautiful art.  You always made class enjoyable with your warmth, support, and humor.  You created an open environment where everyone could voice their opinion without worrying what others would think.  No matter what you would praise our work while making us want to do even more.  Your class, by having art be such a prominent aspect of it, helped me transition into college.  I really enjoyed your class and am grateful that it is part of the Macaulay Honors College.  I hope to take a class with you in the future.

Sincerely.

Jackie Muallem