Everyone is fuming about their Reviews. The variation of experience is staggering. Some people felt they were grilled so badly that they said they felt like they were going to throw up afterward. Other's felt embarrassed as they were unable to answer questions of audience and purpose. Some felt misunderstood like the faculty just didn't understand what their work was trying to say, which was very discouraging for them. I actually offered a hug to a crying classmate. The conversations are flying with intense blow-by-blow retelling of their experience as we eat our meals. Complete with slow-mo replay, post-game analysis and commentary, and fan participation. People asked me how my review went and I said, "I could tell they really didn't care for my work at all, but yet it was so perfect they couldn't really find anything wrong with it. It was totally awesome." People were so surprised by my ability to find joy in the pure act of being misunderstood and disliked, as if that in itself is a victory. I'm truly Don Quixote style total disregard for cultural norms and expectations. This quotation by journalist Andrew Putz has always perfectly represented me:
"To embrace bowling is to embrace indignity, to cuddle with disappointment. To love bowling is to be so supremely secure or so culturally naive as to shrug off the pall of utter unhipness that shadows all who celebrate the skill of throwing a sixteen pound orb at a single spot down an oiled patch of wood 60 feet long and 42 inches wide."
But really, what these people don't know about me, is that I've always been the weirdo. I am always the odd duck. By now, I take it as a sign that I'm staying true to myself and I'm on the right track. This was a very fresh perspective for my peers.
But when we aren't talking about being shredded by faculty or crits, we talk about our pets (mostly dogs for some reason), our kids, our significant others, and it's a welcome relief for everyone to remember our awesome support people back home. Leave it to me to be everyone's dose of darkness for the day. One girl was talking about how she wants to have a mohawk but her hair doesn't hold product very well and when she tried it, the tip of the mohawk started to bend down. I said, "Like an orca in captivity?" "Oh my god, Jaime that's so depressing!" It was met with and odd combination of laughter and tears. Oops, sorry.
This morning we had another lecture. Dont led us in a group stretching session. We reached up as high as we could toward the ceiling, we bent to the left, we bent to the right, we slowly lowered to touch our toes. Students groaned with both discomfort and satisfaction. "Ohhhh, how is that even possible," a voice said from somewhere. Everyone laughed. Dont directed, "Now slowly, slowly, start to lift up, up, up! Like a beautiful flower on a spring frickin' day."
Later in the day, I had a critique and it went well. One of the students who attended made some really insightful observations. He said that the photos made him notice the intelligent design of the organic objects and it was like they were trying to tell him something about the universe. The same guy had insights that the pictures reminded him of different body parts like the spiral broccoli reminds him of his lungs and the strawberry is like his mind. And that also corresponded to where they were placed in the arrangement. Once again, they questioned the scale and wondered if they should be bigger. Yes I know.
At dinner time Annastacie came by and just kissed me on the top of my head for no reason. And Another student asked to talk to me about my photography some time. I guess they have questions or something.
Then in the evening, I went to the "Seven Minute Max" open mic night. It was actually a lot of fun. The room smelled strongly of beer and everyone was just being silly. Reading poetry, dancing, singing, doing stand-up comedy, even "vogueing." I had a little pang of nostalgia watching people stand up and faux-ballroom dance with each other. A dude named Brian is a rock-climbing guy, he showed his skills by doing pull ups with his fingertips in a doorway. Later on in the evening, Jo from Montana stood up and said, "Hmm, I have so many skills I can't decide. I would do pull ups but I don't want to make Brian look bad." So Jo facilitated a game called life boat. Naomi and me were a team and Naomi was very excited, she looped her arm through mine and said "we're the best team, we're going to win." We did win the game where we had to use two cushions to leap-frog across the room. I can't believe I actually read the poem "The Effort" by Billy Collins, people chuckled, but for the most part I think it went over their heads. What else is new.
"To embrace bowling is to embrace indignity, to cuddle with disappointment. To love bowling is to be so supremely secure or so culturally naive as to shrug off the pall of utter unhipness that shadows all who celebrate the skill of throwing a sixteen pound orb at a single spot down an oiled patch of wood 60 feet long and 42 inches wide."
But really, what these people don't know about me, is that I've always been the weirdo. I am always the odd duck. By now, I take it as a sign that I'm staying true to myself and I'm on the right track. This was a very fresh perspective for my peers.
But when we aren't talking about being shredded by faculty or crits, we talk about our pets (mostly dogs for some reason), our kids, our significant others, and it's a welcome relief for everyone to remember our awesome support people back home. Leave it to me to be everyone's dose of darkness for the day. One girl was talking about how she wants to have a mohawk but her hair doesn't hold product very well and when she tried it, the tip of the mohawk started to bend down. I said, "Like an orca in captivity?" "Oh my god, Jaime that's so depressing!" It was met with and odd combination of laughter and tears. Oops, sorry.
This morning we had another lecture. Dont led us in a group stretching session. We reached up as high as we could toward the ceiling, we bent to the left, we bent to the right, we slowly lowered to touch our toes. Students groaned with both discomfort and satisfaction. "Ohhhh, how is that even possible," a voice said from somewhere. Everyone laughed. Dont directed, "Now slowly, slowly, start to lift up, up, up! Like a beautiful flower on a spring frickin' day."
Later in the day, I had a critique and it went well. One of the students who attended made some really insightful observations. He said that the photos made him notice the intelligent design of the organic objects and it was like they were trying to tell him something about the universe. The same guy had insights that the pictures reminded him of different body parts like the spiral broccoli reminds him of his lungs and the strawberry is like his mind. And that also corresponded to where they were placed in the arrangement. Once again, they questioned the scale and wondered if they should be bigger. Yes I know.
At dinner time Annastacie came by and just kissed me on the top of my head for no reason. And Another student asked to talk to me about my photography some time. I guess they have questions or something.
Then in the evening, I went to the "Seven Minute Max" open mic night. It was actually a lot of fun. The room smelled strongly of beer and everyone was just being silly. Reading poetry, dancing, singing, doing stand-up comedy, even "vogueing." I had a little pang of nostalgia watching people stand up and faux-ballroom dance with each other. A dude named Brian is a rock-climbing guy, he showed his skills by doing pull ups with his fingertips in a doorway. Later on in the evening, Jo from Montana stood up and said, "Hmm, I have so many skills I can't decide. I would do pull ups but I don't want to make Brian look bad." So Jo facilitated a game called life boat. Naomi and me were a team and Naomi was very excited, she looped her arm through mine and said "we're the best team, we're going to win." We did win the game where we had to use two cushions to leap-frog across the room. I can't believe I actually read the poem "The Effort" by Billy Collins, people chuckled, but for the most part I think it went over their heads. What else is new.
I had this heart-shaped cookie and it made me sad because I miss singing the C is for Cookie song with Ganesh.
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