From Thanksgiving to Dump Trump Buttons

How did you get started making political buttons, Fiorella?
     It all began with a Thanksgiving many years ago. I was thrilled to the core when Mrs. Ruebright, my kindergarten teacher, asked me to come to her desk so she could try out the pilgrim's outfit on me--cute cap and all--that she'd just cut out of paper. What she didn't realize was that I was absorbing every aspect of her make-shift creations and even knew what the magic wand was--a staple gun, which, which, at my request, Santa gave me for Christmas.
*
Fast forward to fourth grade in Waco. That's when I started illustrating not only the blackboards in my classroom but was sent around to do other classrooms. The apex was in the sixth grade when I was entrusted with drawing a pilgrim couple on the board for Thanksgiving. Looking back, I realize I made the woman as tall as the man's hat, but no one objected at the time. After all, who else in the class could do any better?
*
But Fio, why didn't the teachers just go to an educational supply story and buy posters for their classrooms? 
     Because back then, it would have been illegal. All art in the classroom had to be student made, a law that Fiorella thinks should have stayed on the books. How can kids discover and develop their artistic talents if they don't have a chance to test them out?
*
What about art in your adult life? As a teacher, I illustrated stories, especially Shakespeare's, with colored chalk on the blackboard, and all along the way, I've drawn, painted, or designed whatever else strikes my fancy. And right now I want to save this country and the world with an onslaught of DUMP TRUMP buttons. 







"T