Some of you have noted that I am canceling classes this year. The reason is that I need to stay home to help take care of some important family members, and this trend could continue for a few years.
I have tried to hold on to a few classes this year, which has required some extraordinary measures and help from friends. One of the classes I am happy to report I can teach is a special Anarchist’s Tool Chest class at The Furniture Institute of Massachusetts June 22-28, 2015.
This tool chest class is particularly special for two reasons: It will be at Phil Lowe’s school. Phil is one of the people I admire most in the craft for his skills, teaching ability and wonderful demeanor. I have always wanted the opportunity to work with Phil.
The second reason the class is special is it will run for seven days instead of five. These extra days will allow us to get a crack at working on the inside bits of the chest.
So if you want to build the best tool-storage system I’ve encountered, this class is ideal. And I don’t have any more floor chest classes on my schedule.
You can read more about the school here. The class will be small – nine students max. And Phil said yesterday there are still three spots left.
In the coming weeks I’ll announce the few other classes I’ll be able to teach this year. So stay tuned. For those students who enrolled in classes I had to cancel, I apologize and look forward to resuming a regular teaching schedule in the years ahead.
— Christopher Schwarz
Family/Real life comes first. Good choice…
Prayers for you and yours.
Lynn
We appreciate everything you are able to share with us. Your family comes first and is lucky to have you.
you do what you need to do. the healing powers of the universe are all pointed your way, I will see to that.
Chris – Following are a few lines paraphrased from an old man’s final journal entry in a book I recently finished reading. I hope they will resonate with you as they have with me.
“As a young man in the thrall of the great minds of my generation, I knew that professional achievements was the means to fulfillment and the measure of one’s worth. The consequences were wasted years cursing the fate that brought the moment of my opportunity. But later I had a wife, then children, and for s few precious years, both. And I know now, as sure as any immutable law of nature, that the value of our existence can only be computed in the hearts of those we love, and who love us in return. At the end of my days, my family was my greatest joy.”
May Peace Be With You and Yours.
Dear Chris,
My thoughts are with you. I have always loved reading about the special connections between your family and LAP. I was inspired by the dividers you designed for LM. And it was kind of surreal to think that you now have a daughter in college. (My imagination of them, and of you as their father, is stuck in the moment of life I first “met” everyone — in the bench books, when you were building the ruobos for them out of the loving anticipation that they might one day grow tall enough to fully use and inherit your shop.) So, I don’t know you and I don’t know your family, but it seems crystal clear as a reader that they must be a huge part of what makes you so special to all of us in the woodworking community. In that sense, what you do to nourish your family’s bodies and souls is a loving exemplar of the true artisan.
Even as I am saddened to think of the sacrifices you are having to make, the other half of this post — the note about the class at FIM — was really exciting for me to learn about. I had called and e-mailed FIM several times this past winter to try and find out about the class, but I had somehow missed their announcement when registration became available. So hopefully I will see you next month in Massachussetts.
Brian
I had a great conversation with Phillip Lowe this morning, and was able to get a spot in the June FIM class. (I think there may still be another spot or two left.) Really looking forward to this.
Chris, Best of wishes to you in taking care of your family members. Paul