I’m not comfortable with creating religious content, and since this design needed to include the Mission San Xavier del Bac, I wanted to make it clear that we were looking, as the lyrics suggest, at a picture of a child with wings, not an angel. I thought giving her rainbow hair and rainbow wings would eliminate confusion, but no sooner had I finished worked, a small child came by, excitedly pointed at my work, and said, “It’s an angel! An angel with rainbow hair and rainbow wings!”

Ah, well. I’m used to being misunderstood. Also, angel people see angels everywhere.

Of course, this bulletin board is inspired by the Paul Simon song, “Under African Skies,” from the amazing 1986 album Graceland, which he recorded with a variety of musicians, many of whom were South African. This track features 3 South African artists as well as the vocal work of Linda Ronstadt. The entire verse goes as follows:

In early memory
Mission music
Was ringing ’round my nursery door
I said take this child, Lord
From Tucson Arizona
Give her the wings to fly through harmony
And she won’t bother you no more

While many people, no doubt, wish that the children around them would be less bothersome, obviously I couldn’t hang that line up outside the elementary school library. The basic function of people in an elementary school library is to be bothered by children. I mean, not bothered by them per se….

Anyway, the school or their supplier changed the shade of the blue butcher paper, resulting in less contrast between the text and the background than anticipated. I guess I can’t do green on blue anymore. My first pictures, taken in artificial light, were unusable; you could barely see the letters, let alone read them. With better lighting and a DSLR I got some usable images, although I had to do a lot of color correction, and it’s still not as good as the phone picture I posted on Instagram with the Juno filter. But it is readable. I couldn’t find the name of this font; it was just a thumbnail when I Googled “musical font” and the link didn’t work so I can’t credit the source.

If you find yourself in Tucson, Arizona, I recommend a trip to the mission, one of the oldest buildings in America. Don’t come during Catholic holidays, because the Mission is still in use and you’re not supposed to wander around during mass, but the rest of the time it’s an interesting place to explore. There’s a museum, and a tiny chapel full of candles and saints, and a wooden statue of Saint Francis that people get real cozy with, and a gift shop, and a grotto you can hike to with a shrine to Mary. Also, if you come in decent weather in the middle of the day, there will be a bunch of Tohono O’odham people selling fry bread out front. If you are a person who can safely consume white flour and oil, it’s a real pleasure.