Cal Combs

Tokyo

Cal Combs was born in Los Angeles, California, but spent most of his life moving city to city with his father's job in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He now lives in Tokyo, Japan. Cal holds a degree in English Education and is currently meshing together the two worlds of art and education against the grain of the modern institutions. He lives by the idea that life is not as serious as people often make it out to be and that positivity, transparency, love and adventure fuel creativity and shape a better future. As a teacher, Cal has been recognized for his extravagant efforts to not only teach content, but to make an impact in the lives of his students in any way that he can. Before the start of his teaching career, Cal raised money, held a large fundraiser, and successfully built a small recording studio in the school where he was completing his student teaching practicum. When asked about it, he said "I just know about untapped talent and I am always prepared to be amazed by kids, probably because when all my teachers were wasting their time trying to make me do things their way, they never thought about what I could already do my way and how we could bridge the gap; the studio is a manifestation of that. These kids need more outlets of free expression and less of these tightly outlined ways of doing things, if we allow them to open up we can see where they are at and then move in when teachable moments occur. All of the hard work was worth it if just one kid finds his voice behind these microphones, theres no telling what we have started here, but I am excited to see what comes next..." There are stories of Cal still being told at MCHS to this day, and even a small framed picture of him with a funny story can be found in Susan Cintra's classroom. Cal was quoted as unsure in college because the closer he got to a profession in education the more he saw the all to familiar statutes and limitations of institutionalized education. For several reasons, Cal did not know if he could continue his work as a hip-hop artist and teacher simultaneously. If it weren't for a very specific event that occurred during his student teaching, who is to say that this article would have ever been written or that Cal would still be making music. His passion and motivation is clear, he has no lofting dreams of fame and fortune, but speaks with lights in his eyes about students; he really just does everything as an example and tries to improve himself only so he can use what he knows to bring other people up. It is a strange dynamic to consider his place in the two worlds of hip-hop and education, but I am hopeful as ever for what it may become