Mr. November

My son Luke recently won a calendar contest through Consumers Energy. Elementary age kids from all over MI entered drawings to be considered for CE's 2011-2012 Safety Calendar and Luke's was chosen to represent the month of November.

While Luke's picture has something to teach us about electricity (namely the "safe zone" in coming across a downed power-line), it also has something to teach us about art.

Good art educates.

It might be a song's rhythmic melodies that teach us about the movements of life, a clever satirist who points out the folly of our politics, or a photo's raw grit that reveals the human struggle. Whatever the medium, good art always speaks.

The wonderful thing is that you don't need to be a brilliant musician, a seasoned photographer, or even 4th grader entering a contest to create important art. You simply need to share what you see and the way you see it with others.

So please, teach us something, show us something, reveal to us where we've gotten wrong and inspire us towards something right.

We need your art for the calendar.