I thought about titling this post “Marvelous Marge” or “Marge the Magnificent”…..both absolutely fitting descriptive titles.  But then I thought “Marge in Charge,” since she announced last year during her closing lecture that she has been “in charge since I was 5″, I’m sorry, I don’t work well in a group, I just always end up in charge”.  (that’s paraphrased). Basically there were a ton of titles I could have picked, but then I thought to myself.  WWMD?  (What would Marge do?) and of course, there was only one choice for the title.  Last year, Marge’s closing lecture was, I think, the presentation that I personally was most looking forward to.  You see, in our great collective family of clay, we often refer trace our lineage by teacher as we would our family through our parents and grandparents.  My teacher was Larry Brow at the Lawrence Arts Center, his teacher was Bunny McBride at the University of Iowa, which makes Bunny my clay grandfather.  And Keith Williams was at school there at the same time, so he’s my uncle, and so on… (it’s actually a fun NCECA game to play, much like 7 degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon). But I digress.  Back to Marge….She taught ceramics at Purdue Univeristy with my real life ACTUAL father, so in a way, she’s like “Aunt Marge” to me (though I wasn’t actually BORN when she and dad taught together).  And of course, she’s that super cool aunt who does all the things you want to do and who you just want to grow up and be half as amazing as she is.  It’s no secret, obviously, that I think the world of Marge, and yes, I DO often think to myself “WWMD”.  So why did I wait nearly a year before posting her closing lecture?  Let me explain….

I’m releasing this video now, shortly before we all meet in Portland in much the same way a television show which has been on its long annual break will give you a “last season on….” before the first episode of the new season.  So enjoy reflecting on the magic of Kansas City with Magical Marge’s words of wisdom from the closing of our last conference, and then prepare for Portland and making more memories.

And really people, haven’t you ever heard of saving the best for last?  Thank you Marge, for an amazing closing to our 50th conference.