Linda Ruth Paskell, Artists in the Community and Color of Poverty Professor

I’m an artist. We create, we invent things. That’s my personal philosophy— higher and deeper.

The world sometimes can perceive artists one way, when really it’s another. And that’s why this class I teach— Artists in the Community— is so profound. They’re chemists, they’re biologists, they’re health admins, they’re mathematicians.

It’s all about love. Love is the best pedagogical tool you will ever encounter. It gets to the heart, and when students know that they’re loved and that they’re seen, then they’ll want to learn. And when the heart opens, the brain opens. And when the heart and the mind work together, it’s a masterpiece. That’s genius and brilliance, whether you want to cure cancer or work with the poor, or be a CEO, or write a brilliant play, or be a videographer or filmmaker. When your heart and your mind work together, that’s power, that’s truth, that’s freedom, and that’s beauty. And that’s how I roll. That’s where I live.”