Hey there! I'm Mac Frazier, and I'm a new member. I was very into magic when I was a pre-teen in the seventies, but then mostly drifted away. I stayed interested in sleight of hand--particular working cards--on and off through my teen and young adult years, though. I wasn't putting on shows, but just playing around with various forces and controls, and maybe a beginner-level flourish here and there.

Recently, though, my original interest in Magic has been rekindled, and in fact has flared up into a downright obsession. I am a preacher by profession (although until recently I was an executive at a web company I co-founded), but not content to be a "normal" one. I believe strongly in the value of "artistic cross training", so to speak, and have taken up formal studies of playing guitar, writing music, and writing and delivering stand up comedy routines, among other arts, as ways of honing my own craft of public speaking. I particularly find the structural parallels between comedy and magic (both use misdirection, both tend to "hammock" their routines, etc.) fascinating.

I don't plan at this point to ever become a professional magician, but I am working very hard to become an extremely competent amateur. My focus is again on cards and coins, right now, but not exclusively.

Oh, and I also teach a little bit at the elementary school level, so I (unsurprisingly) find opportunities to use magic in the classroom now and then.

Right now I am going back through everything in The Royal Road (with glimpses at Erdnase and Wilson and detours to Bobo), with the goal of getting the basics down stone cold. I almost have a DL I actually like, and I am in pursuit of a well-exectued pass--although I'm ready to spend years before seeing that latter goal reached.

I currently live in eastern Pennsylvania, but will be moving to Austin, TX in a year. I'm not 40 (yet), am married, and have four kids--one of whom thinks I'm very magical indeed, and one who runs away when he sees me pick up a deck of cards.

Oh, and while I'm introducing myself, let me say I'm looking for a good magic shop in my area. Preferably Montgomery or Bucks County, but Philadelphia would work, too.

Welcome, and enjoy the camaraderie of the Café!

Magic in the classroom should have a forum of its own. Do some searches here and you will find ideas and approaches that will help. I alwasy had two type of effects; those that I used as a visual aid to drive a point home, and those that I used as a reward if everyone got the lesson done early and behaved.

Thanks! And I agree there ought to be a Magic in the Schools or Magic for Education area.

Welcome ! I am new to the Café myself. I'm a retired high school physics teacher and spent the last 10 to 15 years of my career integrating magic into my classroom. I developed a unit on ""What is science?" and what is not" and used magic to help me explain the concept as well as generate interest. It was not easy to find the right tricks for the right moment. A group like the magic Café could develop a menu of tricks (made up of tricks that might work for various topics) from which teachers could select things to try. For example, there are obviously many tricks that work on mathematical principles. In some cases you would have to be willing to give up the "secret" in order to explain the math involved.