Dear G4:

Please stop objectifying women and fetishizing pretty asian girls dressed in cosplay. It's not nice. Also, I think your geek fantasies clips are pretty great, but it's ALWAYS chicks. There are gay geeks out there. There are girl geeks out there. And maybe if G4 recognized that (by getting rid of COPS, perhaps?) then I would watch it more than an hour or two at a time. But no, then the Jamie Kennedy experience comes on, or COPS, or sometimes Braniacs which is far too british for me early Sunday mornings. Lindsay

Uhm...thanks?

Guy from OKCupid who keeps IMing me even though I put forth no effort to cover up the fact that I'm not interested via AIM: Hahaha I'm in the bathroom taking a dump and one of my managers goes "you need to start getting up at 6am and handling that" aahhah Congratulations, you have been blocked. Update on Friday night talking with Neil Meyerhoff, who's chairmain of the board of trustees at MICA, and of course my New York City trip yesterday, with reviews of 50 Years of Helvetica, Global Feminisms, Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting, and Comic Abstraction: Image Making, Image Breaking.

Brooklyn

Spending all day today in Brooklyn with Alison Smith and the rest of the girls from fabric of consciousness. I should probably hop in the shower. Peace!

So glad it's over!

I don't think I've ever been so nervous presenting in a class before. For my Body Discourses class, I'm talking about origins of gender as one-gender (male, pre-Enlightenment) to two-gender (male as normal, female as other), and the morph that is sort of occuring wherein men and women can engage in behaviors atypical those genders due to the liberalism of society, and science, and technology. Seriously, I could pass out and cry I'm so relieved it's over. I mean, it's not, but at least I don't have to share these really intimate things anymore. People just aren't that easy to trust.

Fauxhawking it

Newest inflatable, with this semesters' printed pieces incorporated, rag rug (not finished, but that's how big it will be for the final critique). Last night I had a good time bonding with the roomies, but there was too much talk and not enough homework.

Delicious

Okay, I'm a little addicted. I generally hate energy drinks, I used to drink Vault during electronic media and culture all-nighters freshman year. I've taken to blending half a can of green tea Enviga with a few ice cubes and some frozen berries to get in a couple more hours of work at the end of the day. My only wish is that I could get a flat at Costco instead of $1.49 each at Rite Aid.

Cotton and cashmere and linen, oh my!

So, I've been doing a lot of art with all the hair I hacked off, twice, in vindictive impulse and mourning. It's not that morbid, not that depressing, not that bad. I'm getting to work through things by making, and it's really cathartic and organic. In addition, Alison Smith may use some of my atomic print from sophomore year to make a housewife (a civil war sewing kit soldiers carried with them) for her Notion Nanny project. I think I'm going to try to make it up to Berkeley to see her piece there, I'm super sad that I only get one more class under her tutelage! But, I've learned a lot and had a ton of fun and been a hearty contributor in the class (well, that's most classes). Did I mention that my rag rugging is going amazingly? I want to ditch all my other projects and rag rug for the rest of my life. If you ever do intend to do braided rag work, let me know, I'll give you some tips along the way. I don't think I've ever felt as pleased with my studio work at the end of semesters. More on these things later, just wanted to share the latest with y'all.

Can't sleep,clowns will eat me

Antidote: ginger snaps, warm milk, and reading student affairs professional association guidelines for graduate schools. Snore.

Sordid student affair

A recent comment from my friend Susan (who blogs about oxytocin at hugthemonkey.com) sort of is spurring the following entry (original post here). Susan, you asked me why student affairs and not art? First, I'm going to say that I have a friend who graduated from MICA, who got a Fulbright to study textiles in India, came back to MICA to finish the masters in arts for teaching program and served as a graduate assistant to ResLife, and then decided she didn't want to finish MAT, and she became the assistant residential coordinator. Now she's leaving MICA to persue textile design, but she really contributed as a staff member because she went to MICA as an undergrad, and she understood the needs of the students and student-staff so much better than non-MICA-grad staff. The last two years have added a lot of items to her resume, given her tons of responsibility and leadership experience, put her in a position to effect students at her alma mater, and been an important bridge between art students and the professional staff. She's pretty much my hero. She didn't do the whole reslife thing as an RA when she went to MICA, she had the student experience, and now she's had the professional experience. That being said, I want to work more than two years she's spent in student affairs. I don't know that I have enough that I want to say with my art right now, or enough that I want to share, to be an artist full-time. I'm also seeing the possibility that I'll live long enough to have two full careers. After all, student affairs does have a really high burnout rate. In terms of money and lifestyle, student affairs, I feel like, is something I could do for a while, since I love dorms and college students and campus life, but not neccessarily forever. I don't know that student affairs is all that lucrative, though I know somewhere is always hiring due to aforementioned high burnout. Right now, this is my plan: Summer 2007, get lifeguard, cpr, first aid certification May 2008, graduate with BFA in Fibers, concentration in experimental fashion Apply for Marburg and Fullbrghts (grants for artists to study abroad) Summer 2008, spend summer outside being outdoorsy, camping, canoe trips, etc. at a summer camp. Though this position doesn't relate directly to student affairs, but it's leadership experience in a role with a lot of responsibility, and is potentially a source of some amazing references. Fall 2008, look for jobs in student affairs like hall director, assistant hall director, especially at institutions that work with student affairs graduate students. While I do have a certain fear of failure as a designer or fine artist, I know that I'm good at that, I know that I'd be a pretty good art teacher, and would love to teach high school students in visual/performing arts programs like the one I was at for the first two years of high school. Those teachers changed the course of my life from fisheries/wildlife management to getting a BFA in art school. I became obsessed with the idea of art school, and my parents have been instrumental in making this dream come true for me. It has been a wild, crazy experience, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's also been brought to my attention that I'm stubborn. I come from a long line of stubborn individuals. And while a certain part of me wants to work in student affairs to prove to myself that I can do it, to get over what happened this year, that's absolutely not the driving force. The driving force is that I want to help students the way that RA's and Area Coordinators and Residential Coordinators I know helped me. And I have a passion for it that surpasses that I have for creating art. There were times this year where it was so easy for me to choose to prioritize programming and residents over my own studio art work. Funnily enough, this occured to me in January-February, when J broke up with me and I was looking for all the other things that meant something to me in my life. And I found my residents as bringing me that joy and becoming that community I was looking for. In my mind, I have little interest in working at a not-art school, or in a residence hall for science and physical education students. There are a few dozen high-tier academy art schools in the United States. Working at an art school means I'm still in that community of artists. A lot of time, professional staff get to take a class or two for free or a reduced cost per semester (which does double duty of being not just The Man on campus, you're also someone's classmate). There are art graduate programs at these schools, which is something I'd have to think about to teach art at the college level. Were my parents glad to hear that I was thinking about going into student affairs? Of course. It's got benefits, which are the holy grail for those who've graduated with a bachelors in fine arts. But for so many reasons it makes sense, and feels like the right place for me. I've got interests in multicultural and ethnic affairs, issues of diversity and inclusion on campus, I feel passionately about disability services, I love programming and student activities, and of course have a high interest in the communities of artists living together that on-campus housing represents. And I see little reason that I can't develop a studio practice of my own and continue making art in the context of working in student affairs for 8 to 10 years. I'm also willing to forgive myself for screwing up the RCA thing this year. It's not the end of my involvement here, and I learned a lot, even if it was the hard way.

Save the drama for your mama.

The mind boggles. Hung out with J last night since he was on-duty in my building and got massive amounts of Asian Taste, watched Harry Potter and G4. I spent all day in the studio yesterday and didn't get a TON done, today I'm working on all of my papers and doing some rag rugging. I know that he hasn't been the most reliable friend, but I can trust him, and he can trust me, so here we are doing a dance of a different sort than this time last year, figuring out how to be friends. I'm finally getting used to the space, to filling my own life and days. I mean, I've been working towards it for a while. So, I'm writing a paper as my final for Blog As Memoir. Six to seven pages, I might even typeset it as an accordion book which would be part of a blogging meetup pin of some sort...it would certainly be awesome to do a business card, too. But sort of peripherary to the paper. Right. The paper I've got to write. Yes.

Maybe it's the spring...

Or the profoundly deep slumber I found myself enjoying last night...either way, I am feeling a little bit more comfortable today with where I am, both in terms of my final projects and thinking about the next few years of my life. Last night I did a ton of job hunting for the return to Thousand Oaks, where my parents live and where I will reside this summer. And you know what? Just like last summer, I can't find anything I'm enthused about. But I'll take an art history class or two online, work on my thesis work, do stained glass with my dad, maybe volunteer at some places, and otherwise prepare for the road ahead. It's taking me a while to accept the repercussions of what happened this semester, but I think I need some more time, age, and experience, and I'll be just fine. This morning I went to Lexington Market, took in what I'm going to tenatively call spring in Baltimore, and enjoyed being by myself. Haven't felt like that in a while. It's a pretty good feeling.

Oh man

Nose to the grindstone, work work work, make make make, do do do. Is it sad I don't want to walk the block to sleep in my own bed? Oh comfy comfy futon.

New study by Pew Internet

Pew Internet just published a new report (by Amanda Lenhart and Mary Madden) that discusses the ways in which teens organize what information is on their various profiles on social networking sites to keep privy information far from the prying eyes of parents, teachers. Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks: How teens manage their online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace As I continue my readings on blogging I can't even fathom how I let myself post indiscreetly so long (two months?) ago. While one can post impulsively, it takes one little click to share your most private thoughts, and when exposed to public space they can have considerable power that sort of contradicts the ease of sharing.

Just can't get ahead

I applied for studio manager for the on-campus residential studio spaces available for weekly check-out to students, and from what I understand the assistant residential coordinator also encouraged one of my former residents to apply, at least. I'm frustrated because I really feel like I need a continued relationship with ResLife, above and beyond Desk Assistant Trainer and Desk Assistant. The reason that I need that continued relationship is that I'm planning on doing Student Affairs for a career. I know my former resident, she just got hired to the DA staff, and I was actually very surprised she didn't make RA this year. I've got no doubt she could do the job, but she could also do it a year or two from now. And part of me is really excited that she gets this opportunity, and part of me really just wants the job -_-. There just aren't enough students finding leadership opportunities on-campus; There are lots of self-created ones, like the ones that come with working with the student voice association or creating a club, but there are always a lot more applicants for Orientation Leader and Residential Community Advisor positions than there are positions. I have a feeling in about two years I'll look back with a lot more perspective, but right now I'm just sort of aggrivated. With the limited time I have at MICA, I'm just trying to make the most of possible experiences outside of my studio work, because I feel like those will make a big difference when it comes to applying to graduate programs in student affairs. And I miss being as active on-campus as I was as an RA and DA and member of SVA... On the plus side, I did get a nomination for student leader for the second year in a row, and my Paschal Seder is in the runnng for program of the year (I think we can pull honorable mention, but I'm not sure all of the competition). Also, can you imagine the student affairs nightmare that VA Tech represents? Tough times for those residential coordinators, hall directors, and RA's.

I <3 Art School

Fall 2007 Classes COURSE NAME DAY/TIME PLACE INSTRUCTOR FB 438 Multi Media Event I: Exp. Fash M 4:00P to 10:00P S 205 Rogic,Zvezdana Open to juniors and seniors from all majors, this class critically engages formal, functional and social concerns in the conception and development of a body of work based on the garment, as well as the presentation of the same in a culminating multi-media event. Students are encouraged to share skills and integrate graphics, photography, and a variety of digital and physical media in both the creation and presentation of the work. All majors are welcome in this course required for students in the Experimental Fashion Concetration. Pre: FF 102 and FF 199. AH 428 Way of Tea T 1:00P to 3:45P BR 215 Elkinton,Jane A course based in both the theoretical and the hands-on aspects of the Japanese Tea ceremony. It is cross-disciplinary, including museum visits, historical background, aesthetic theories; and hands-on participation in making: tea bowl, purifying vloth, calligraphy and design for tea space; and serving as tea host and guest, using traditional gestures. Japanese Chanoyu or Chado, the Way of Tea, is a participatory performance art, a discipline, and a meditiaiton. The experience of Tea is designed to involve and awaken all six senses: seeing, tasting, touching, smelling, hearing, consciousness. Prerequisite: AH 100 and 201 AH 472 Women in the History of Art W 9:30A to 12:15P B 110 King-Hammond,Leslie Offered occasionally. This course explores the role women have played in the visual arts as artists, patrons, critics, and historians. FB 400 Senior Fiber Independent I Th 9:00A to 3:00P S 201 Shepard,Piper Couwenberg,Annet Students develop a coherent body of work completed during the senior year for final presentation to a jury selected from sculptural studies faculty. Periodic critiques to discuss progress, content, and process are conducted by faculty and invited critics. Open to fiber majors only. FB 416 Fashioning Cult/ Readr Clothng F 9:00A to 3:00P S 201 Cobb,Kelly Ann Offered occasionally. This course addresses the influences, affinities and relationships of fashion and the visual arts. Issues covered in this studio/seminar class will be contempoaries fashion�s relationship with the high and low divide in art, popular and visual culture. In addition this course will address questions of the historical significance of cloth, clothing and culture for the discourse of fashion. This class will be structured around individual derived projects based on research relating to the student�s artistic concerns. Readings, discussions and research will enhance the students� skills in interpreting and articulating their understanding of art, fashion, clothing and culture. Pre requisite: Intro to Fiber and one FB 300 level course Enrollment preference: students concentrating in Experimental Fashion

Passive-agressive blogging.

Here's how I feel about roommates who blog passive-agressively: Blogging may relieve anger, but is no substitution for communication. At worst, passive agressive blogs about other people or intended to hurt or insight rection is pretty cowardly, and also seems to me relatively ineffective. You want me to do dishes more. Okay. So, you could blog about it, then let it stew till you want to have a roommate agreement meeting (when your problem is only with me). I just can't feel that bad because I am not a horrible apartment-mate. Excuse me if I try to pretend like we're friends, and not just all four of us stuck together because of my own cry-for-help passive-aggressive blogging that got me fired. I'm a pretty genuine person...I don't dislike people unless I have a great reason to do so. What's your great reason? I just was hoping for a little more openness.

An open letter to Averatec:

To whom it may concern, I purchased my Averactec C3500 convertible tablet pc from costco in July 2004 for a cost of $1,350. The thought was that a tablet pc would be great for art school, would allow me to go paperless. This laptop was gonna get me through 4 years of college. I know that was expecting a lot, but it was a hope. But, the digitizer sucked. The batttery life of the 5 lb unit was a mere hour or two, at best (now the meter doesn't even read properly). All the XP Tabled edition software that came with it was bundled with all the other Averatec install features, so doing a clean/repair install of windows is impossible without reformatting. At about 1.5 years old, the laptop's wires to the screen deteriorated, making my display strobe in bizzare ways, making doing graphic/web design pretty difficult without displeasure to the eyes. My C3500 runs very hot at the back left corner. It has a decent processor, 80 gigs is plenty for me in terms of hard drive, but it's case is cracked (I had it serviced a while ago and they replaced it, but it's cracked again). All the little rubber bumpers on the screen, the bottom, came off constantly. The serial number rubbed off the bottom in the first six months. The product was good, but not great. So, I'm switching to an iBook or MacBook sometime this summer. I don't know that I'd buy from this Hong Kong maufacturer again (at least not a convertible). Really kind of unfortunate, because a convertible tablet laptop is quite the way to pick up the geeky guys. Sincerely, L

Few are the things that cannot be made better by being battered and fried.

So, Brett Dennen is playing at the Recher Theatre on May 11th at 9pm with Animal Liberation Orchestra (who I don't know anything about) in Towson, but I was wondering if anyone was interested in joining me. Last concert I went to was Rhett Miller at Sonar with my big bro (excluding all the IlyAimy concerts with J & company). Also, why do I have a killer sweet-tooth today? I've been reading my new Nigella Lawson book "How to be a Domestic Goddess," but I don't have a ton of ingredients on-hand, so for now it's just looking. The past couple days I was just weepy. People who know me know that crying is something I do when I feel overwhelmed, it's not neccessarily indicator that OH G-D SOMETHING IS WRONG MAKE HER STOP CRYING! Seeing my dad made me happy, so I wept. Passed by places that reminded me of my ex (who, keep in mind, I'm on okay terms with), and I shed a couple tears. Said goodbye to my dad and cried. My New York Times didn't get delivered and that made me cry. I'm not even sad! I'm thinking a lot about grad school right now, since i know it's just around the corner at this point (if I choose to go straight out of art school). One thing that being dooced is affecting is job applications; that is, I have to explain why I was forced to resign as an RA, and that's a hard thing when it still seems unjustified, unfair, and leaves me feeling confused. I feel like I was so dedicated to the job, to my residents. And then I think of the course of events that transpired, and how I felt like I got tattled on, instead of someone coming to me with their concerns. I understand why they did it, I just think it was real low. I'm glad for these experiences in ResLife because I know they will make me a better residential coordinator or house director one day.

Nine PM is my bedtime.

I've been pretty exhausted most of the day for no good reason, but I've been plugging along all the same on all of these ridiculous theory readings for my Body Discourses class. I really have to start in on my papers, but my dad's visiting, and we ate a big dinner, and all I really want to do right now is go to bed (but I won't because I'm letting him stay in mine.) So, for all that I'm not super-present blogwise, know that it's because I'm working on final papers, reading body discourse and blog theory books and articles, reading the Critique Handbook, and figuring out what in the hell I'm doing for two of my three final projects. It's not Typography that evades me (I'm typesetting a haggadah), it's the simple freedoms of my independent study and Alison Smith's Fabric of Consciousness class. I've been working on my commemorative bedsheet, and I think I may quilt words upon it a la Tracey Emin, finish it as a quilt, maybe even keep working on it so it becomes, literally, a quilt of the loves in my life. Or not, I'm not sure. I'm also still working on my rag rug, and I'm working on this hot little piece that is pretty fun and funny, but I've really got to delve into the Critique Handbook and sketchbook illustrations of what this thing's going to look like, what it's going to communicate, and (you know) figure out what I want to say.

Lips like pillows

Eight days ago, all I had to eat before my paschal seder was a mango. A sweet, juicy, delicious mango. As per usual, I peel the mango very carefully before I eat it. You see, gentle readers, I am allergic to the enzymes in the skin (we think). Thus, a complex and exhaustive carving process is utilized before I can actually consume the object of my desire. Unfortunately, I was multi-tasking, putting together a supplement for our haggadah, and couldn't wash my hands, the knife, the mango, nearly as often as is optimal. So, even eight days later, I am suffering from the symptoms of my bizzarely-specific allergy. The first couple days my lips were slightly tingly. As the week wore on, they became itchier. Now they are dry, swollen, cracked, numb, pale, flaky, and bee-stung. Last night I carved a fresh pineapple, and ate despite the acidic burn the tropical fruit affected on my lips. I never was particularly great at self-denial; I should probably lay off the fresh mango from now on. But what fun would that be?

Heart of Glass

Sarah Hepola on her lust for NPR This American Life personality Ira Glass (via Nerve.com personal essays.) Delicious.

Whew....

What a week... I leave you with the sunset over Bolton Hill and Brown Memorial Church, where I'm taking my dad on Sunday to look at the Tiffany stained glass windows (including the two largest in the world) at 12:30. Can't wait! They're breathtaking, and since my dad taught me to do stained glass, I'm super excited to show him these windows, less than a block away.

This just in: puppies are cute.

The best part of not having a summer job is that I'm going to get to spend the summer getting to know my parents' new chocolate lab, Moky. She's adorable.

I little crazyhttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Okay, I admit it, I've spent a lot of money in the past week or two. But I swear it was on worthwhile things! I got new silkscreens on VictoryFactory.com, beautiful aluminium ones that won't tire me out as much as I print yards and yards of fabric. I also got Alison Smith's The Muster book, Dispatches from Blogistan by Suzanne Stefanac, and Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh (which is proving a quick read). What's the point of having your door closed during a meeting if you're going to speak so loudly that you can be heard through the door?

When favorite authors converge

The lovely sex columnists Em and Lo (nymag articles by Em & Lo) of Nerve.com's "The Big Bang", Nerve.com, and emandlo.com fame, and Will Doig (who wrote that article on ReadyMade mag as LTR porn that I told you all about) were a few of the writers in the New York Magazine article "The Urban Etiquette Guide." Sure, the guide was originally published June 26, 2006, but it's new to me. (Whew, that was a lot of hyperlinks.) The Urban Etiquette Guide covers such manners topics as electronics, public transport, love & sex (of course), friends & family, dining, and the Interweb/social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, not to mention online communities like Deviant Art, LiveJournal, and Blogger. A pleasant read, which makes me want to live in new york.

I'm in a glass case of emotion

Despite the fact that I didn't pull an all-nighter last night, I am still one cranky, teary-eyed girl today. When I'm well-rested, I generally maintain my composure all day before drifting off, worilessly, to sleep. When I am deprived of eight hours of shut-eye? I'm a terror. Not only that but relatively completely unproductive. Right now, I find myself, as so often occurs in these semesters here at MICA, starting to fall behind in a class or two. I don't do an assignment, it makes me depressed, I'm depressed so I turn hypochondriatic, I miss more classes, sleep a lot, get farther behind, ad infinitum. This will not do. I had a poor critique today in my first class, am woefully behind in type and am prepared to kiss ass to try and get caught up but couldn't POSSIBLY do any work right this second (because I'm too busy crying). Isn't there someone else who's problems I can worry about instead of my own? Why can't I just be like Tracey Emin and put all my shit out there in my artwork for catharsis? Why do I choose repeat pattern--structured, unemotional repeat pattern--as a way to create imagery? Why don't I rend fabric till my hands bleed? I don't neccessarily know that art is that cathartic for me. Actually, I don't know that anything is really that cathartic for me; I'm a high-strung person.

Ain't got style

Quick recap

Passover seder on Friday was great. Diversity meeting right beforehand was better (I was sitting mere feet away from Fred Lazarus the IV, who, when we went around the table and introduced ourselves, he, the second person to speak, said "Hello, I'm Fred Lazarus, president" and then I peed a little). I spent all this time putting together a haggadah then we found literally hundreds mere minutes before I left for said seder, so that was sort of aggrivating. I've eaten four matzo pizzas today. I really enjoyed "Sorority Boys" way more than one should. Am having trouble finding summer employment, boooooooo. Also didn't make Orientation Leader. If I don't get Studio Manager I'm just going to be any old student, TA, and DA next year. I was really looking forward to being able to add some student activities experience to a resume for student affairs grad school. I ate a mango on friday and now my lips pay the price, by becoming inflamed and beestung-looking and itchy. Rag rug or die!

Shabbat Shalom, mo-fo.

Will Doig wrote a great article for online mag Nerve.com on Readymade Magazine called "Assembly Desired: How ReadyMade Magazine is essentially long-term-relationship porn." And it's my skin mag of choice, at the moment. So what are you waiting for? Click here to read it. ReadyMade is a home-design periodical produced in Berkeley, California. It features ideas for things you can build from scratch for your home — everything from custom couches to coatracks made from empty Tide bottles. Its aesthetic leans breezy West coast quirk; non-sequitur T-shirts and Pumas abound. And I fit squarely in its target demographic: twenty-something urbanite with apartment-vanity issues. But I'm also part of another market that I don't think ReadyMade even knows it has cornered: the single and lovelorn. Subconsciously or not, they've created a magazine that is essentially long-term-relationship porn.

More excited than I should be about Diversity and Inclusion.

This past fall, MICA did a massive survey of its undergraduate students and their feelings on gender equality, racism, classism, feelings towards students with visible and invisible disabilities, etc. Basically, we find that in a "chocolate city" like Baltimore, it's the students, staff, and faculty of color that feel a lot of isolation and lack of support on-campus. It also doesn't help that nobody in upper management is a person of color, the highest-ranking person being the head of the office of Multi-Cultural and International Student affairs (who has always been completely useless and ignorant of working with Oy!, but whateva), and she actually has been given less power and responsibility over the past couple of years, for a multitude of factors. My personal sort of arguement is that disability services at MICA suck. The woman who's in charge is qualified on paper, with a doctorate and sensitivity to the artist. But, she is disorganized, has sporradic hours due to the fact that she's legally blind, and has also breached my American with Disabilities Act rights for confiedentiality, putting my name on another students' letters requesting accomidation. The person in charge of the Learning Resource Center needs to be made part of orientation so that people have a face and an idea of 1) what differs about disability services in college 2) how to get evaluated for a disability without spending thousands of dollars and 3) what the LRC can do for you. But, for some reason, this isn't part of what the LRC does. It's got strange hours, I think she just got a grad student helped who's more organized, but at this point, I know even freshmen who, frustrated by the lack of competence and user-friendlyness of the LRC, have decided to muddle through one of the heaviest undergraduate workloads in the country without the disability services they are legally entitled to. Not to mention MICA does NOTHING to help a college student transition to being a person with a disability in the "real world." My roommate of the past two years, Rose*, has cerebral palsy and limited motor function in her legs, gets around on crutches or a scooter. Somehow, Rose has made it through MICA without learning to use public mobility transportation in the city, without learning how to carry her things to, say, a job interview in the suburbs. And I'm not saying it's 100% the LRC's fault, because it's certainly a matter of personal drive as well, but it didn't encourage her to develop as an adult or become more independent. And if you have students graduating from your school who don't have the complex set of skills and knowledge that let them navigate the "real world," haven't you failed them? You get their money, but reduce their chances that they'll be successful and independent, and MICA -really- needs some students with disabilities to grace it's pages, it needs successful students that result from a successful program, and right now MICA's program barely fulfills legal requirements of the ADA. So, off the pulpit/bima, this friday a bunch of students have a meeting with the fabulous bow-tied Fred Lazarus, president of our noble institution, as well as other members of student affairs staff, to talk about what we're gonna do about these issues now that we have some quantitative and qualitative information. Sure, I may not have a 3.5 GPA to show for my college education, but I've done some much more important and lasting work at MICA that will have a lasting impact, and I'm proud as hell of that. It's a lot harder to decide you're going to be part of the community instead of staying in your studio and working throughout art school, and I'm glad I've made the decision I've made. Now, what do I wear for a meeting with The President?

Lotsa Matzo

Hush, gentle readers, and ignore the lack of posts in the pre-seder rush... Let me pacify you with woven and knit fabrics printed with the image of the bread of affliction... Elle

Retrospective.

As I wait for my lasagna with matzo to cook in the oven before heading off to a critique in the class I TA for, I can't help but think of the past. I think of the past almost as much as I think of the future, and certainly more than I live in the present. Anyway, when J broke up with me, I felt like it was the end of my world. Then I lost my job, and then I -really- felt like it was the end of the world. Now, I felt like the world had ended, yet here I stand, enjoying the cherry blossoms and pleasant spring weather, and the world continues. It's funny, because I'd never thought of breaking up with someone or losing a jobas the end of the world before. My visions of the apocalypse included zombies, global warming, nuclear war, various and sundry medical outbreaks. But those are simpler, in certain ways, with obvious enemies and tactics. What tactics does one use to reconstruct their emotional life? I'm really not as depressed as this post may let on, it's just that I'm having a hard time focusing on anything other than the holiday, you know? Last night was interesting. My sleep schedule's been messed up, I've been taking lots of naps but not staying up late, and there were several points last night where I didn't know whether I was awake or dreaming, and even in retrospect I'm not sure if I was asleep or not. Bizarre.

Mysteries of my adult life.

The following is a list of information and knowledge that continues to evade me, despite my grown-up body and highly-educated mind. Why do men smell simultaneously gross and fascinating, and why do they seem utterly unaware of this fact? My father, expecially. As an adolescent, I constantly purloined my fathers' short-sleeved work shirts, but ultimately returned them due to the comforting, but all-pervasive, musky odor. Why do I hoard things like papers, books, fabric? Why do I still try on boys' last-names like a middle-school girl? What makes the kitchen so comforting? When I have a house of my own, I will make the kitchen open to the living room, like in the second house I lived in. For me, the kitchen is where it all happens. At all the best parties I've been to, there were constant replenishings, new things being brought out, etc. Why not make them the same place? Lots of wonderings the past few days, lots of work being done, lots of printing. Right now, I'm working on pot-holders that look like matzo, and am going to make an apron that says "My Knish Is Delish" and big ol' matzo-looking quilted pockets. It's my personal armor for next monday's crit, and I'll probably cook something K for P for my classmates, since a huge part of my personal armor ("Oh please don't hate me") is feeding people. Hag sameach! Happy passover!