Song of the Week: 6/16-6/22/25

Isaiah Velez: "Beauty in the Beast"

To him, all good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.

—Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Teaching is a delicate, even fragile, profession. I’ve always said that (like writing) you cannot teach someone to teach. Teaching is modeled throughout your life, and—speaking for myself—I tried my best to emulate the styles of my favorite teachers and to avoid the pitfalls of teachers and classes I did not like. The classroom, though, is an organic place where the dynamics of time and students and personalities require constant evolution and malleability. It’s easier said that done. If you are lucky, over time you mature and are able to break free of those instructors (though you always carry them with you) who helped to guide you, and you develop your own style in the classroom.

Over the past 20 years in the classroom, I have had thousands of students come through my classes. Some of those students leave a strong impression and assist you in your evolution as a teacher. One thing about teaching is that you learn far more than you ever did as a student; however, you have to be open to learning, and your students often help you on this journey. It keeps you humble, learning from your students.

One of those students who taught me a great deal was Isaiah Velez.

Isaiah is an enormously gifted and talented artist, thinker, writer—a modern version of the man of letters, you might say.

One time Isaiah told me a story about a conversation he was having with some students. He said that a group of students were talking and one student said he was going to take my class because it was easy. Isaiah told him that my classes were not easy it’s just that you got out of them what you put into them.

Some students just get it.

Early on I learned that I would try to give the students back what they put into my courses (yes, I know the parable of the lost sheep, but I also know that you can lean a horse to water . . .). Isaiah put everything into my classes and I am forever thankful for everything that he taught me when he did.

As for Isaiah’s talent, among many gifts, he is a songwriter. The song below, “Beauty in the Beast,” is a song that is, for me, a masterpiece. Isaiah took a class with me on exploring the short-story cycle. Short-story cycles often end with bangers. Think of Hemingway’s In Our Time and “Big Two-Hearted River,” James Joyce’s Dubliners and “The Dead,” Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find and “The Displaced Person,” and Salinger’s Nine Stories and ”Teddy.” In conversations and classes with Isaiah, we also explored how great albums were like short-story cycles and that the last songs were often bangers. All this to say, “Beauty in the Beast,” the last song on Isaiah’s 36 Ls, is a banger.

The song is a meditation on the hardest class ever called life and that we should revel in the struggle—the beauty in the beast of our journeys. Once again, it’s easier said than done, but we all know its true. In the midst of the the storm it’s almost impossible to see the beauty—but we all see it later, once the storm has past (think about how great art is made out of going through such storms in life). One of the things about growing older and experiencing enough storms is that you begin to have faith because you know that something beautiful will come out of the struggle.

Sometimes the best lessons come from being reminded about things we already know—and sometimes it takes a student to remind a teacher of lessons they learned, and have forgotten, years before.

Happy 30th Birthday, Isaiah.