Today I'm just so exhausted. Maybe because I stayed up until 12:30 last night. But I slept until 7 so it's not like I'm deprived. But I'm just tired. Ready for this residency to be over. I woke up and grabbed a to-go box and took my breakfast back to my room. I do my best to eat "healthy" in the cafeteria, but really it's a futile endeavor.
Today is really cold again. Last few days has been downright mild, but now it's in the teens again. (Yes, I am talking about weather. It has come to that.) Anything in the 20's and below starts to actually hurt your face. After about half the distance from the library or gallery to the dorms and your nose and lips feel like they are going to just chip off with the slightest force.
I've heard some pretty wild stories while I'm here. Like one about this guy and his roommates that all rented a house together cut a hole in the same place in all three stories of the house and installed a fireman's pole. And another where people drilled holes in their floor because they happened to know that a photographer who lived in an apartment below them did nudes, so they could look through the holes and watch. Crazy stuff.
I spent my morning going around the campus looking for people like the financial aid office and the loan lady. I was told that Dave in the financial aid office has "a shock of white hair and is a papa" and that's how I would recognize him. Oddly enough, this description worked just fine. I also visited Edna in the loan office. At least I have met them now and have connected the face with the name. Unfortunately, no scholarships are coming my way, but I was told that this is the beginning of a new fiscal year and in a month I should ask them again if there's any new money that could slide my way.
One person—an older student of course—actually approached me and said she liked my poem from the seven minute max. She said it was beautiful and she loved the way I read it. So, at least one person liked it.
Then I had my last critique of the residency. It was with Tariku Shiferaw, the visiting guest artist of the residency. He couldn't figure out what any of the photos were of and said that he felt great curiosity, which is great. He suggested playing with the idea of maybe having many photos of just one subject over and over, or having one photo really big. (there's that darn scale again) One student in the group decorated eggs and hid them around the entire gallery. They all had "Trust the Process" written on them. They were like easter eggs with silly things painted on them. The critter was trying to articulate that the fact that the eggs are all hidden somehow transformed the gallery space, he was at a loss for words though. I interjected, "It reminds me of a quote from The Little Prince which says, 'The desert is beautiful because somewhere it hides a well.'" And the group all nodded in agreement, deep thoughtful expressions on their faces. The critter seemed to really like that quote and his face lit up. At the end of the critique while a large group of us were walking back toward the dorms one of the students complained about one of the faculty doing a different critique, "I thought he was rather abrasive."
Another one said, "I didn't think he was abrasive."
"Well he was abrasiveish," said the first.
"Abrasiveish is not the same as abrasive."
It's going to be a miracle if I don't get sick. It seems like everyone is sick but just not admitting it. So many people are coughing and blowing their noses. I've noticed that some people stopped coming to the lectures, I think because they are sick and staying in their room. I don't think the cafeteria cleans their dishes very well. I often see stuff stuck to the trays, crusty things on the silverware, and I touch the inside of the soup bowls only to still feel an oily residue instead of the squeaky clean surface of a well washed bowl. I have to go through many to find one that passes inspection. The company that cooks for the cafeteria is called the NECI which stands for something but everyone calls it "The Necky" and is used in conversation as if it were a disease. "He's come down with the necky."
Then I attended the graduating students slide presentations. I'm starting to notice the pattern here. Every residency we all have to give a presentation recapping our work thus far. So last residency I had to give a slide presentation to the faculty to show all my admission images. This residency I had to give a presentation of my admission images plus this first semester to a group of students. And we will have to do this every time. Graduating students give their slide presentations to the whole student body and faculty. I was a little disappointed in their lack of organization and unpreparedness. "I don't know why my slides aren't in order" was a common complaint among most of them. Do these people not know how to name them in alphabetical order? Or even just make a powerpoint instead of showing individual images? hmm. I said to my friend next to me, ugh I'm already dreading having to give this presentation. She replied, "What are you talking about, you slayed the last one, your presentation was the best of the whole new student group." Every residency we will have this committee review interrogation as well. The third semester students are responsible for hosting the open mic, and the graduating students organize the dance, which is tomorrow night.
Later in the day I met with my new research group, and I actually got the professor that I wanted. I know he has more of an art history background and that's why I wanted his expertise. I never know what is just fake and what is genuine, but he said that he was super excited to work with this particular selection of students. The faculty all get together on a certain day and discuss each student and their topic proposal and pair them up with what they feel is the best faculty for the job.
Baker's Dozen met as a group for dinner. We ordered pizza and had it delivered and we munched in the Noble Lounge. But I didn't want to eat like a million slices, so I was hungry just half hour later. Each class gives a toast to the graduating class, so we worked on our toast. I wont be there for the graduation, but I helped write the cheesy toast. We took a word inspired by each graduating student's art, and we wove them together into a poem. Someone had the idea but then couldn't really proceed, so I started rambling some phrases. My contribution was probably close to half. Aaron was kind of dying on the inside because the poem was so bad and he's like an English major, having written a highly sophisticated poem/performance for his exhibit. So I turned to him and said well why don't you make fix it since you're so much better at it than us, which I'm sure sounded a lot more sarcastic than I meant it to be. He eventually couldn't take it anymore and had to take charge. He refined some the phrases to sound a little smoother and he is going to be the one to read it on behalf of the group. We took a group photo, exchanged phone numbers, and wrapped it up to go to the lecture. Of course for the group photo I had to use the famous line, "If we're still comfortable we're not standing close enough." Which maybe made people move one inch closer.
While we were all hanging out, one of the graduating students came in the room and we told her they couldn't come in because we were writing our toast. She said that was fine and added, "By the way, the dance is not going to be cool at all. We can never get our group to collaborate on anything. Don't expect a cool party." Various sounds of disappointment echoed but I contributed, "Don't worry, we have very low standards."
Today is really cold again. Last few days has been downright mild, but now it's in the teens again. (Yes, I am talking about weather. It has come to that.) Anything in the 20's and below starts to actually hurt your face. After about half the distance from the library or gallery to the dorms and your nose and lips feel like they are going to just chip off with the slightest force.
I've heard some pretty wild stories while I'm here. Like one about this guy and his roommates that all rented a house together cut a hole in the same place in all three stories of the house and installed a fireman's pole. And another where people drilled holes in their floor because they happened to know that a photographer who lived in an apartment below them did nudes, so they could look through the holes and watch. Crazy stuff.
I spent my morning going around the campus looking for people like the financial aid office and the loan lady. I was told that Dave in the financial aid office has "a shock of white hair and is a papa" and that's how I would recognize him. Oddly enough, this description worked just fine. I also visited Edna in the loan office. At least I have met them now and have connected the face with the name. Unfortunately, no scholarships are coming my way, but I was told that this is the beginning of a new fiscal year and in a month I should ask them again if there's any new money that could slide my way.
One person—an older student of course—actually approached me and said she liked my poem from the seven minute max. She said it was beautiful and she loved the way I read it. So, at least one person liked it.
Then I had my last critique of the residency. It was with Tariku Shiferaw, the visiting guest artist of the residency. He couldn't figure out what any of the photos were of and said that he felt great curiosity, which is great. He suggested playing with the idea of maybe having many photos of just one subject over and over, or having one photo really big. (there's that darn scale again) One student in the group decorated eggs and hid them around the entire gallery. They all had "Trust the Process" written on them. They were like easter eggs with silly things painted on them. The critter was trying to articulate that the fact that the eggs are all hidden somehow transformed the gallery space, he was at a loss for words though. I interjected, "It reminds me of a quote from The Little Prince which says, 'The desert is beautiful because somewhere it hides a well.'" And the group all nodded in agreement, deep thoughtful expressions on their faces. The critter seemed to really like that quote and his face lit up. At the end of the critique while a large group of us were walking back toward the dorms one of the students complained about one of the faculty doing a different critique, "I thought he was rather abrasive."
Another one said, "I didn't think he was abrasive."
"Well he was abrasiveish," said the first.
"Abrasiveish is not the same as abrasive."
It's going to be a miracle if I don't get sick. It seems like everyone is sick but just not admitting it. So many people are coughing and blowing their noses. I've noticed that some people stopped coming to the lectures, I think because they are sick and staying in their room. I don't think the cafeteria cleans their dishes very well. I often see stuff stuck to the trays, crusty things on the silverware, and I touch the inside of the soup bowls only to still feel an oily residue instead of the squeaky clean surface of a well washed bowl. I have to go through many to find one that passes inspection. The company that cooks for the cafeteria is called the NECI which stands for something but everyone calls it "The Necky" and is used in conversation as if it were a disease. "He's come down with the necky."
Then I attended the graduating students slide presentations. I'm starting to notice the pattern here. Every residency we all have to give a presentation recapping our work thus far. So last residency I had to give a slide presentation to the faculty to show all my admission images. This residency I had to give a presentation of my admission images plus this first semester to a group of students. And we will have to do this every time. Graduating students give their slide presentations to the whole student body and faculty. I was a little disappointed in their lack of organization and unpreparedness. "I don't know why my slides aren't in order" was a common complaint among most of them. Do these people not know how to name them in alphabetical order? Or even just make a powerpoint instead of showing individual images? hmm. I said to my friend next to me, ugh I'm already dreading having to give this presentation. She replied, "What are you talking about, you slayed the last one, your presentation was the best of the whole new student group." Every residency we will have this committee review interrogation as well. The third semester students are responsible for hosting the open mic, and the graduating students organize the dance, which is tomorrow night.
Later in the day I met with my new research group, and I actually got the professor that I wanted. I know he has more of an art history background and that's why I wanted his expertise. I never know what is just fake and what is genuine, but he said that he was super excited to work with this particular selection of students. The faculty all get together on a certain day and discuss each student and their topic proposal and pair them up with what they feel is the best faculty for the job.
Baker's Dozen met as a group for dinner. We ordered pizza and had it delivered and we munched in the Noble Lounge. But I didn't want to eat like a million slices, so I was hungry just half hour later. Each class gives a toast to the graduating class, so we worked on our toast. I wont be there for the graduation, but I helped write the cheesy toast. We took a word inspired by each graduating student's art, and we wove them together into a poem. Someone had the idea but then couldn't really proceed, so I started rambling some phrases. My contribution was probably close to half. Aaron was kind of dying on the inside because the poem was so bad and he's like an English major, having written a highly sophisticated poem/performance for his exhibit. So I turned to him and said well why don't you make fix it since you're so much better at it than us, which I'm sure sounded a lot more sarcastic than I meant it to be. He eventually couldn't take it anymore and had to take charge. He refined some the phrases to sound a little smoother and he is going to be the one to read it on behalf of the group. We took a group photo, exchanged phone numbers, and wrapped it up to go to the lecture. Of course for the group photo I had to use the famous line, "If we're still comfortable we're not standing close enough." Which maybe made people move one inch closer.
While we were all hanging out, one of the graduating students came in the room and we told her they couldn't come in because we were writing our toast. She said that was fine and added, "By the way, the dance is not going to be cool at all. We can never get our group to collaborate on anything. Don't expect a cool party." Various sounds of disappointment echoed but I contributed, "Don't worry, we have very low standards."
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