Early in the morning, Baker's Dozen met with the chairs, Dalida and Dont. We were instructed to bring our breakfast to this meeting. So we all sat together down a long conference table nibbling on waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit, bacon, and of course coffee. The chairs pretty much just wanted to check in with our group and talk about challenges we had over the semester and if we needed any help from them. It was particularly early in the morning and some of us were a little groggy. Dont said, "My mom used to say to me, 'You're going to have to make your own sunshine today,'" he reported in a sing-songy voice, imitating his mother. "She also used sit across the kitchen table from me and say, 'Don't smile,'" said in a slow cutesy voice again. We were laughing and Dalida kidded, "We're learning so many life lessons from you this morning Donty, what else did your mother say?" They asked us how the semester went, which was met with a mixture of uncertain groans. I said, "Aw, c'mon guys—it was happy suffering." The group laughed and agreed.
This morning I had my Visual Culture review meeting. It means that I had to talk for 15 minutes about my Don Quixote research. I had not prepared at all, and didn't have any points or notes to go from and was a little nervous that I might not have enough to say to fill 15 minutes. My faculty advisor that I worked with this semester isn't here, so Dont filled in and facilitated the meeting. Long story short, I felt like I did such a good job. I started with my favorite quote from the Man of La Mancha, recited from memory, and described how this quote propelled me to investigate this story.
"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams, this may be madness…. Too much sanity may be madness! And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be!"
From there, I talked about the book and the subtle clues I picked up from the dialogue of the characters. I then moved into the crap of society and how people want to squash enthusiasm and spirit. Then I said talked about the happiness advantage and the findings of neuroscience and how our brains can really change and perceive our lives differently. Then I said, "but it made me ask, so...are you now just successfully delirious or have you actually changed anything?" The group loved this so much and was quoting me the rest of the time. So then I segued into quantum physics and the genesis through observership. By the end I felt that everyone was pretty much floored. And then I threw in there what Judy said to say about what questions I am still left with about the nature of reality and the origin of cultural norms, etc. I think everyone was impressed, and the rest of the speakers after me kept referring back to what I said like, "Similar to what Jaime researched..." and "like Jaime said..." or even, "Kind of opposite to the Don Quixote figure," etc. Everything was now in reference to what I said and it was either the same or how it differed. It almost became the theme of the whole two-hour meeting.
Today I took a shower, I thought you would all like to know. The shower room on this floor is like a hallway of shower stalls on both sides. I went into the shower area hung my shower caddie which contains my soap, shampoo and other items on the wall of the shower stall, got undressed (first mistake) and stepped inside. I turned on the water and it was boiling hot. I turned it left, I turned it right, I waited. Pure lava. I even tried to get used to it but I felt like I was going to be burned alive. I turned off the water and gave up. I guess I had to try a different shower. I noticed that the shower directly across the hall from me had a newer looking faucet-handle-knob, so I thought that might be good. I hopped across the hall way and turned on that one. Wim Hoff cold. I turned it left, I turned it right, I waited. Bottled straight from Antarctica. I was like Goldie Locks. Then, as if possessed by poltergeist, three other showers started spraying water simultaneously, and since their curtains were not closed, water was spilling all over the floor and getting everywhere. I ran around the room turning off all the showers. Finally I chose one by random and that one was just right. I breathed a sigh of relief and felt the nice warm water. Then I realized that I had left my caddie in the original shower. I once again had to hop around the room and get my things and place them in the new shower. I felt like those old chase scenes old cartoons where the characters are running back and forth. Who knew this would be so complicated? I'm just glad there was no one else in there.
But the biggest thing today was perhaps the deposi—I mean, committee review. Viet and Dont (again) interrogated me about my work. They asked me how my design elements related to the concept of the piece and questioned if the formal traditional presentation of photography was best for displaying my concept. They asked about the wall and the borders, I reported about last residency where crits said I needed more presence. I told them how I love thick white mats, but what's the point of a white mat on a white wall? So that led me to making the wall black, the high contrast acting as a point of access to bring the viewer in from far away. Viet muttered, "It's highly effective." Dont seemed to feel that the formality of the presentation contradicted the "etherial" and spiritual elements I was trying to display. But I gently reminded him that, remember, I'm trying to balance the idea of documentary and formal with abstract and nebulous. I said, "I"m trying to slice those two ideas right down the middle." and Viet interjected "Slice" gesturing to the photographs. I chuckled. Viet asked me "Why photography," I'm glad you asked. I told him that I felt photography lends itself particularly well to these questions because it is reality based in that the camera has to point at something in reality. They also asked me, sometimes rhetorical questions about why now, who is my audience, where do I see this being displayed. I told them the story of how my artist teacher, on the first visit, expressed that she "wasn't feeling anything" for my project. This might have been discouraging for some, but for me it made me apply myself even more and try to show her that my project was really worthwhile. By the next visit, she was tearing up looking at some of my photos. It was a huge success. I forget who said this in particular, but they said my skill was "through the roof" so they were confident that anything I did would be technically proficient. I felt they were not in love with the work but yet they couldn't exactly pin me on anything in particular. Dont said, "I can tell that you have a great deal of technical skill, so anything you do is going to be perfectly produced. You also seem like a person who responds well to challenges. So next semester I challenge you to push the conceptualization even further." I don't exactly understand this sentiment. To me, conceptualization seems binary—it's either based on a concept or not. But these people seem to think that it exists on a spectrum and that concept is something you can amp up. Dudes, the photos have a concept already, have you listened to a word I said? But I suppose I will have to contemplate deeply what this all means. At the end, I thanked them for the food for thought. Viet, once again, "Food." I said, "Hey, you're on a roll." ba-doom-ching.
Later in the day I spoke with one of the faculty and she asked me which piece was mine in the gallery and I said it was the black wall with the photographs. She said, "oohhhhh, those are beautiful. That is an extremely professional photographs and exhibit." Later I also talked to another faculty and happened to mention, like, you know, mine is the photographs on the black wall, and he said "Yes, I know." So that was cool, it's like it really made him take notice, who the heck did this?
I also had a worthless meeting that was supposed to help me with ideas for a research project. Fortunately I have a vague notion already. I proposed the topic to the professor and asked, "Do you think there would be enough material on that subject?" and she replied, "As long as you have questions there's always enough." Which wasn't exactly helpful, but kind of poetic.
I'm really sick of listening to people who bother me and talk way over their allotted time slots and force the rest of us to listen to their crap. I seriously just wanted to get up and walk out a few times. I'm so done with this place. I just want to go home now. As the last event of the day ended and I walked back to the dorm, it started raining. Tomorrow, the world will be an ice skating rink. And, by the way, believe it or not, I'm like one of the fattest people here.
This morning I had my Visual Culture review meeting. It means that I had to talk for 15 minutes about my Don Quixote research. I had not prepared at all, and didn't have any points or notes to go from and was a little nervous that I might not have enough to say to fill 15 minutes. My faculty advisor that I worked with this semester isn't here, so Dont filled in and facilitated the meeting. Long story short, I felt like I did such a good job. I started with my favorite quote from the Man of La Mancha, recited from memory, and described how this quote propelled me to investigate this story.
"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams, this may be madness…. Too much sanity may be madness! And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be!"
From there, I talked about the book and the subtle clues I picked up from the dialogue of the characters. I then moved into the crap of society and how people want to squash enthusiasm and spirit. Then I said talked about the happiness advantage and the findings of neuroscience and how our brains can really change and perceive our lives differently. Then I said, "but it made me ask, so...are you now just successfully delirious or have you actually changed anything?" The group loved this so much and was quoting me the rest of the time. So then I segued into quantum physics and the genesis through observership. By the end I felt that everyone was pretty much floored. And then I threw in there what Judy said to say about what questions I am still left with about the nature of reality and the origin of cultural norms, etc. I think everyone was impressed, and the rest of the speakers after me kept referring back to what I said like, "Similar to what Jaime researched..." and "like Jaime said..." or even, "Kind of opposite to the Don Quixote figure," etc. Everything was now in reference to what I said and it was either the same or how it differed. It almost became the theme of the whole two-hour meeting.
Today I took a shower, I thought you would all like to know. The shower room on this floor is like a hallway of shower stalls on both sides. I went into the shower area hung my shower caddie which contains my soap, shampoo and other items on the wall of the shower stall, got undressed (first mistake) and stepped inside. I turned on the water and it was boiling hot. I turned it left, I turned it right, I waited. Pure lava. I even tried to get used to it but I felt like I was going to be burned alive. I turned off the water and gave up. I guess I had to try a different shower. I noticed that the shower directly across the hall from me had a newer looking faucet-handle-knob, so I thought that might be good. I hopped across the hall way and turned on that one. Wim Hoff cold. I turned it left, I turned it right, I waited. Bottled straight from Antarctica. I was like Goldie Locks. Then, as if possessed by poltergeist, three other showers started spraying water simultaneously, and since their curtains were not closed, water was spilling all over the floor and getting everywhere. I ran around the room turning off all the showers. Finally I chose one by random and that one was just right. I breathed a sigh of relief and felt the nice warm water. Then I realized that I had left my caddie in the original shower. I once again had to hop around the room and get my things and place them in the new shower. I felt like those old chase scenes old cartoons where the characters are running back and forth. Who knew this would be so complicated? I'm just glad there was no one else in there.
But the biggest thing today was perhaps the deposi—I mean, committee review. Viet and Dont (again) interrogated me about my work. They asked me how my design elements related to the concept of the piece and questioned if the formal traditional presentation of photography was best for displaying my concept. They asked about the wall and the borders, I reported about last residency where crits said I needed more presence. I told them how I love thick white mats, but what's the point of a white mat on a white wall? So that led me to making the wall black, the high contrast acting as a point of access to bring the viewer in from far away. Viet muttered, "It's highly effective." Dont seemed to feel that the formality of the presentation contradicted the "etherial" and spiritual elements I was trying to display. But I gently reminded him that, remember, I'm trying to balance the idea of documentary and formal with abstract and nebulous. I said, "I"m trying to slice those two ideas right down the middle." and Viet interjected "Slice" gesturing to the photographs. I chuckled. Viet asked me "Why photography," I'm glad you asked. I told him that I felt photography lends itself particularly well to these questions because it is reality based in that the camera has to point at something in reality. They also asked me, sometimes rhetorical questions about why now, who is my audience, where do I see this being displayed. I told them the story of how my artist teacher, on the first visit, expressed that she "wasn't feeling anything" for my project. This might have been discouraging for some, but for me it made me apply myself even more and try to show her that my project was really worthwhile. By the next visit, she was tearing up looking at some of my photos. It was a huge success. I forget who said this in particular, but they said my skill was "through the roof" so they were confident that anything I did would be technically proficient. I felt they were not in love with the work but yet they couldn't exactly pin me on anything in particular. Dont said, "I can tell that you have a great deal of technical skill, so anything you do is going to be perfectly produced. You also seem like a person who responds well to challenges. So next semester I challenge you to push the conceptualization even further." I don't exactly understand this sentiment. To me, conceptualization seems binary—it's either based on a concept or not. But these people seem to think that it exists on a spectrum and that concept is something you can amp up. Dudes, the photos have a concept already, have you listened to a word I said? But I suppose I will have to contemplate deeply what this all means. At the end, I thanked them for the food for thought. Viet, once again, "Food." I said, "Hey, you're on a roll." ba-doom-ching.
Later in the day I spoke with one of the faculty and she asked me which piece was mine in the gallery and I said it was the black wall with the photographs. She said, "oohhhhh, those are beautiful. That is an extremely professional photographs and exhibit." Later I also talked to another faculty and happened to mention, like, you know, mine is the photographs on the black wall, and he said "Yes, I know." So that was cool, it's like it really made him take notice, who the heck did this?
I also had a worthless meeting that was supposed to help me with ideas for a research project. Fortunately I have a vague notion already. I proposed the topic to the professor and asked, "Do you think there would be enough material on that subject?" and she replied, "As long as you have questions there's always enough." Which wasn't exactly helpful, but kind of poetic.
I'm really sick of listening to people who bother me and talk way over their allotted time slots and force the rest of us to listen to their crap. I seriously just wanted to get up and walk out a few times. I'm so done with this place. I just want to go home now. As the last event of the day ended and I walked back to the dorm, it started raining. Tomorrow, the world will be an ice skating rink. And, by the way, believe it or not, I'm like one of the fattest people here.
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