Art Meza

In every lesson, honor the human story.  At a very young age, I began to teach in an untutored and natural way. My work has always been rooted in people. Before curriculum, before policies, before institutions, there are lives. I have made it a personal responsibility to stay close to the pulse of the people I serve. Who are they? What do they carry? What are their dreams, their needs, and their conditions? How can I stand beside them, not above them, in their journey?  To teach in a human...

The Love Drought We are living through a love drought. As an educator in the community, in the classroom, and inside the jails, I’ve witnessed it again and again. It’s not that love itself is gone, but that too many people no longer feel loved by those closest to them. When we stop feeling loved, it becomes harder to believe we are worthy of love at all. Whether we are free or confined, so many of us are surviving with empty cups. It’s as if the soil of our souls has gone dry, thirsty for...

In the 1990s, it often felt like two separate musical worlds coexisted; distinct and unequal in cultural value. On one side was the...