if anyone wants to see my photos....

here is my flikr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leg151987/

had to update recently because i applied for some TA positions (i want one soooooo bad!) but i hadn't posted since 2009 due to sheer laziness.  The pinholes are my most recent venture, I'm really enjoying how they are turning out!  I love portraits, and I especially love pinhole portraits!  Now that I have the exposure down, I just need to find people other than myself to photograph.

my thanksgiving break

My Thanksgiving Eve I spent frantically scanning my artwork onto my computer so that I would be able to apply for TA positions, then I ventured out into the dreary weather to have another cultural eating tour with my friends Esau and Mary-Claire.  Not quite as epic as last time, but we managed to eat many things, including: fried calamari, the flaming Greek cheese stuff (blanking on the name!), spinach-feta pie, roasted leg of lamb, and of course baklava!  There may have been some red wine involved. 

I awoke early the next morning to fly to New York, very excited to see my family!  My mother was sick the day before Thanksgiving, so I wasn't sure if her, my sister and father, would even be making an appearance since they had to drive the 6 hours from Vermont.  It truly would have been sad if they couldn't have made it, but luckily Mama G was feeling good on T-Day morning, and we all joined together at my cousins house to stuff our faces!  I wish I was so lucky to have a family that prepared most food from scratch, but unfortunately most of my dinner was store bought or ordered from a bakery.  I guess my cousin has an excuse because she's a full-time elementary school teacher and she has 2 1/2 year old twin boys....but I always like my deserts to be homemade personally.  Oh well.  Standouts of the day: my uncle cooked an amazing turkey, and his stuffing was outstanding as well.  I went back for seconds for both of those, and I honestly don't like turkey very much, so that's says a lot about the deliciousness.

The next day we went to a hockey game, and Saturday into the city.  My dad and I went to the MoMA, and yes, I took pictures of some art.  Kinda lame?  Probably.  I'll post some here eventually.

I was supposed to meet up with friends, but everyone bailed, so I ended up going back into the city on my own on Sunday afternoon.  My goal:  Top Shop.  Top Shop is a small present I make to myself once a year, because I don't generally spend as much money on clothes of their prices.  But it is Top Shop, it is British, and I love it.  I never bought a thing there when I was in London because all the prices were double our dollar anyways....so I guess I've been making up for lost...money?  It was a very successful Top Shop occasion.  After that I wandered over to Little Italy, which really is quite little, only about 3 blocks, smack in the middle of Chinatown, and got a mini cannoli.  Necessary after days of cheesecake, obviously.  Then I took the subway up to Bryant Park to check out the holiday shops.  It's behind the New York Public Library, and there was a skating rink packed with about 200 people skating in a circle. 

It was nice to visit another city, after being in Chicago for a few months.  And at moments I found myself comparing the two places...which do I like better?  Hmmmm.  However, I am very happy to be back in Chicago!

So Sorry!

Agghhhh i just realized that I completely blanked on posting questions for the Teen Lab interviews! i'm SO SORRY guys, i totally dropped the ball there....can I make up for it by taking hundreds of photos of this kids giving their presentations tomorrow night?

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Upon my return to Chicago from my mini-vacation in Colorado, I found that the city had switched to Christmas mode.  From red lights strung through every tree on State Street, red, white and green glowing bulbs in each plot of greenery, to enormous Christmas horns daring to burst out in Christmas song donning the facade of Macy's....it was quite the scene to walk back into.  However, I have yet to hear TOO much Christmas music, so I suppose I can deal with the premature decorations.  Needless to say, the early anticipation of Christmas always bothers me each year.  Just because it's the end of October doesn't mean Christmas is the next day!  And mostly it just reminds me of the presents I need to begin scrounging together.  Blah.  So while I have tried to ignore the ridiculous decoration of the city, I couldn't help but notice a display of sparkly clothes when I was walking by H&M yesterday.  And honestly, there is no better way to reach my heart than through some fancy, affordable clothes.  H&M was sparkles galore, and while it is not Christmas yet, or New Years for that matter, the red shoes, skirts, dresses, fancy bejeweled belts, necklaces and headbands, all thoroughly excited me.  Maybe this makes me shallow, but I REALLY love clothes, and if clothes are my ticket to holiday spirit, than so be it.  After a week of anti-Christmas cynicism, I am very excited for the holiday season.

Somethings are better in black and white

11/4/10: what I did today that I couldn't do in Chicago

I climbed up some rocks!  It is so good to be out of the city and into the fresh air of Colorado.  I'm in Boulder, which is very much a sister city to the town of Burlington, VT, where I lived the past few years.  Had a beautiful morning with my best friend, Haley, and here are some photos:

Carved Pumpkins by MAAE's

My Brain. Needs. Rest.

I wish I wasn't at work and that I was sleeping.  Or that I was at the beach.  Like this.

The Blue Man Group Starts a School!

Pretty cool:

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2270490001_1859357,00.html

for whatever reason the link won't load, so copy/paste if you're interested!

Some Art Related Events this Saturday

Just wanted to share some events taking place Saturday, which I will be attending before I go to the MAAE, etc. Potluck.  Hooray!

This is at DePaul:  Nomadic Studio at DePaul University Museum: Extraneous Education Conference 2010

It involves exploration of education as an art form, and also a discussion by CVAE Club's paper "The Condition of Art Education".  John Ploof will be there!

Also, later in the day there is the PechaKucha event (where I heard there will be cocktails, but that may be a lie) and it sounds really interesting because the presenters only have 20 seconds to talk about each of 20 slides.  PechaKucha

Super Tired and blaaaahhhh

Kind of wish I was home today.  Not sure why, not sad, but I've been feeling this way since I woke up.  Oh well.

Here's a photo of a swimming hole that I sometimes frequent.  It is in Huntington, VT, and is a long river that flows down a hill.  There are tons of different places to swim, and even one notorious spot (the gorge) where many people die each year from jumping in.  Eeeek!  I actually never had much respect for river swimming til this summer (mostly because the tall trees at Huntington Gorge block out all the sun and the river is FREEZING) but I my goal this summer was to be as outdoorsy and adventurous as possible, since I knew I was moving to Chicago, where there is a lack of forests and swimming holes.  So even though it was freezing, I at least got into the river, and one time even trekked upstream over beautifully carved out rocks to explore a small cave and sit under a waterfall.  It was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Anyways, here's the photo:

Repercussions of a Fantastic Adventure

I have never quite understood Columbus Day.  Maybe because I have never gone to a school or worked anywhere that has actually recognized the holiday with a long weekend.  I pretty much always forget about it each year until my sister throws it in my face that she has Monday off for Columbus Day.  She works at a bank.  Banks recognize most of the random holidays.  Luckily I do not have class on Monday, so I was able to catch up with my good friend Esau for some Chicago adventuring!

We started at the Columbus Day Parade, since it was local to SAIC, and we wanted to see what it was all about.  It was lame.  We soon moved on, attempting to take a water taxi to Chinatown, but learned it had shut down JUST the week before.  Oh well, to the El we walked, and arrived in Chinatown for my very first Dim Sum meal!  I guess I never knew that Dim Sum meant small appetizer-like dishes i.e. potstickers, shrimp rolls, dumplings, etc.  We were starving, so we scarfed our fare, and continued to meander through the neighborhood all the way over to Pilsen.  We stopped for drinks at Simone's, a bar that reminded me of many Vermont bars rolled into one eclectic wonderful place, then continued up 18th street to the Nuevo Leon bakery.  Three different pastries for $1.75? Um, yes please.  I had to indulge my sweet tooth, and there were so many pastries to choose from!  

We were only about halfway through our adventure at this point, and our next stop was Little Italy.  No eating here, as I was still full from Dim Sum, beer and had begun snacking on one of my pastries, but we did find a lovely bar.  And a bartender who went to high school with Esau (my previously mentioned partner in crime) who ended up giving us a great drink discount.  I love surprise discounts.  

We walked even further to Greek Town, initially with the idea of baklava in mind, but we were too full at this point.  Another bar with an outrageous bartender, who Esau said was the example of a quintessential Chicagoan.  He was very loud, and open, and was smoking in his bar, which he claimed he'd pay the fine for if he was caught.  Interesting character.
Our last stop to bring us full circle back to the Loop was Printer's Row.  I didn't get to see too much, since it was dark by then and nothing was open, but the area was quaint and clean.  I will certainly return in the daylight sometime to explore the bookstores, and go sit on the raised grass mound I found which had one carved pumpkin sitting in the middle of it.  So odd.  I love odd things.

And today?  I am TIRED.  Thank goodness for the scone/stone I bought in Pilsen because it was a perfect pairing with my morning coffee from Sunny's.  But reading about class consciousness?  Not happening.  Editing my podcast for class tomorrow?......maybe happening because it doesn't require quite as much eye strain.  Thinking about my social theory paper that's due next week?  Makes me want to fall asleep.  The only reason I am awake right now is because I'm at work.  And so I decided to blog.  And I will stop rambling now.    

A Wonderful Day for a Cold Beer in the Shower

We have been having some lovely weather in Chicago!  So surprisingly hot, I have actually found myself drenched in sweat these past two days as I have been traipsing about for my various projects/shopping excursions/general moving about outside.  I attempted to do homework in Lincoln Park today.  It was certainly lovely to feel the sun on my back, but reading about sociologically constructed views of art was a struggle, so not much work was accomplished.  I shot a roll of film, did some grocery shopping, and arrived back home a stinky mess.  I found a deliciously cold pumpkin beer in my fridge and thought, "Ah, bliss."  Then, I made the decision to follow in the footsteps of many a male I know and bring the beer into the shower with me.  Truly wonderful.  I thought this was some weird man-tradition, as I have seen many a male roommate or friend take a cold one into the shower with them, and honestly, I could never quite understand this action.  Today I did, in my thoroughly parched state the cold beverage was a fantastic comfort in the hot shower.  Not quite the same hot-cold feeling of a warm brownie with ice cream, but somewhere in the same category.  I would recommend everyone tries this after a particularly long day. 

Some Recent(ish) Work

Some photos I took over the last winter, spring, summer that I thought I would share.....new ones will come eventually I just procrastinate in editing.....

 Just a smattering of some work...not all necessarily "art" but a few of the images I really liked.  The first 3 are from a trip to Colorado to visit my best friend, Haley, who is pictured.  The last 4 are of one of the girls I nannied for the past year.

They Turned the Heat on. Wow.

I woke up especially stuffed up yesterday morning and spent the day printing block prints for a project.  All while desperately trying to hold my brain together as my sinuses were thoroughly paining me.  My mistake?  Buying just claritin instead of claritin D.  The good stuff.  The decongestant to rival all decongestants!  I was struggling to breathe for all 6 hours of work with one of my group partners (who is a perfectionist and was starting to drive me completely nuts as we printed print after print after print and she over analyzed EVERY. SINGLE. MISTAKE. I had to explain to her that art isn't always perfect) and when I returned to my dorm room, I realized it had been transformed into a tropical sauna.  Oh life. 

Luckily today my body must be used to this new HOT ROOM because my sinuses are better, and I can breathe, but I also will be booking it to Target to go buy my Claritin-D just to be safe for the next time my allergies severely flare up.  I am also countering the HOT ROOM by turning the air conditioning on and opening a window to let in the "fresh", cold Sunday air.  You'd think I'd be able to regulate the temperature of my room....?  I may need to speak with someone about this.

Also, So Funny

We Love Museums...But do Museums Love Us Back?

The Pinky Show

Purusing this so called "Education Nation"

First of all, I think it is ambitious of NBC to set up a whole interactive learning plaza in Rockefeller Center, however, I think the only part that is interactive about it is that visitors will get to watch videos  by people who NBC deems "important" to the future of education in America.  So people are using their eyes and maybe their brains?  Maybe there is more to this interactive then the website details.

I decided to search through the other tabs on this website and came across the "Summit" page which detailed the 12 panels that will be of important discussion during Education Nation week:
The Panels

Ones that caught my attention were:

1.  The Innovation Gap

Bringing the technology revolution to the schoolhouse

Leaders in technology and innovative educators discuss new models and methods of instruction and the use of cutting-edge technology to advance student learning and help close the achievement gap among ethnic and income groups.

2. Kids Can't Vote

How can the politics of education put students first?

Policy leaders, elected officials and district administrators will focus on education governance structures and explore the benefits of and challenges posed by localization.

3. Educating the Digital Generation

What are the roles and responsibilities of media in learning?

Children from ages eight to eighteen spend an average of nearly 11 hours per day in front of a screen of some kind, including televisions, computers and mobile devices. Media executives will think about how we can encourage students to use the tools of the digital world in ways that are productive to their educational development.

4. Good Apples

How do we keep good teachers, throw out bad ones, and put a new shine on the profession?

Prominent voices discuss how American public schools can attract the best talent, evaluate teachers based on performance, nurture and support a rapidly changing teacher workforce, and pay and retain top talent in the profession.

5. A Fresh Start

Leveling the playing field before school begins

The Federal government invests five dollars in Americans over the age of 65 for every one dollar invested in children under the age of 5. Leaders in the field will shine a light on the ways early education makes a deep and lasting difference in our lives and communities.

6. Shrinking the Achievement Gap

Is education the civil rights issue of our time?

African-American and Latino students are years behind their White and Asian peers. Despite focus in recent years, the gap remains. During this discussion, panelists will analyze what’s impeding progress and how to finally start to address the problem.

7. Study Abroad

What can we learn from the global leaders in education?

As other countries have gained ground in educating their students, America’s public schools have stalled. We rank approximately 15th in Literacy, 24th in Math and 21st in Science behind Finland, Canada, South Korea, Ireland, Japan, Slovakia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic to name a few. We look to educators and policymakers from around the world to show us what we might be able to learn from effective strategies used by other countries.

That is quite a lot to ponder!  These panels will be posted on the website as well as on msnbc.com.  These are all quite interesting to me as an art educator and a student who is still learning about education and the politics behind the different forms of school structure.  I also hope that this focus from NBC does have some sort of effect on educational policy for the U.S., but they are just a TV network.  It will be interesting to see what the outcome of this week will be or if there will be no outcome at all.

Sunrise in Vermont

The sad part is that I missed at least 30 other photo opportunities on the drive to the airport!  There was a lot of beautiful mist when the sun just started to peak over the mountains.  Crazy breathtaking.  It was certainly good to be home for a short while.

Chillin at my second home....JFK

As a frequent flier (jet-setter if you will....haha, i wish) I often find myself spending a lot of down time in airports.  The Jet Blue terminal at JFK has certainly become a second home, and now that I live in Chicago, I'm sure I will spending A LOT of in-between time here.  But it is a fantastic terminal! Almost as fantastic as Heathrow terminal 3...but that one is just full of designer shops that I could never afford to shop at/wouldn't bother to shop.  But the idea to put a shopping mall in a terminal is grand;  well done Britain.  Anywho, the terminal I'm in now is quite cozy, has free WiFi, they make a GREAT burger which you order via touch screen technology and there is a lot of light.  I just like it here and can't imagine I would mind spending the night here if my flight got canceled.  The one time I was stranded at an airport was in Philadelphia, and it was NOT a great experience.  Curse you U.S. Airways.  Not only did they delay delay delay my flight home to Burlington, they then canceled it, and lost my luggage too.  I have sworn to never fly with them again. 

Jet Blue has never done me wrong.  Mucho props to them. 

I am flying home to Vermont for the wedding of my childhood best friend...more on that later.


Here's a lovely photo I just scanned in, no editing!  I got lucky with this one.....

                           Pinhole: August 26th, 2010 Niagara Falls

I miss my time in London

I spent a semester in London (BEST. TIME. EVER.) and my friends who travel there are always asking me what are the best things to do and see in London.  It always makes me very nostalgic, because I wish I could live in London forever.  What a wonderful city, and I have great memories from my time there.  It's crazy how I can remember exact details of certain days I spent there, but I can barely remember what I did on Wednesday last week (other than go to cyberpedagogy).  It's so funny how I compartmentalize my memories.  Maybe I was just so happy there that most everything I did was worth remembering.  Or maybe I just really need to move back to London....

Some Loveliness

Renegade Craft Fair, Sunday, September 12th

                                                                        I would have had to have one of these tents as a child

sweet i <3 buttons

Loving this song

what a lighthearted take on break-ups:

Meaghan Smith - Heartbroken

I Love Having Choices

I had a lovely weekend in Chicago.  I saw comedy at Improv Olympics, went out with my good friend Esau in Wrigleyville, read my book in Grant Park, found a yoga studio (and a yoga class that kicked my ass), perused the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the AIC, went to the Lincoln Park Zoo (hells yes it's free!) and saw a foreign film.  Wow, even I'm impressed with myself.  I especially love finding free things to do, hence the zoo, the yoga class, where my classes will be FREE for the next week, and of course visiting the Art Institute, which I have not fully explored yet.  Loving this.  

The thing I will always love about cities is that there is always something to do, whenever I want to do it.  I come from a place where every now and then something new or exciting happens, but for the most part it's the same ole grind.  Every day.  It drove me crazy sometimes.  I think the most exciting part about Vermont is when the seasons change, because you can feel it in the air, and smell it too.  Is it weird that I can smell winter?  I can.  It happens every year in Vermont around the end of October.  Fall is really lovely, despite lots of rain, and I hope that the leaves change here in Chicago so that I at least know the progression to winter is happening.  I'm assuming they will, I mean, that's what trees do.  But it wont be the same as Vermont, I am sure of it.  Fall is probably my favorite time of year, mostly because it's not as frigid as winter.  But fall also changes the green leaves to orange, red, yellow and burgundy, it brings apple picking, pumpkin carving and Halloween.  Which is by far my favorite "holiday", if you can call it that.  I'm just hoping I see some parallels between fall in Chicago and fall in Vermont.  Though the differences may make me miss home, I am thoroughly enjoying my time in my new home.

First

Very new to the blog thing.  I've always been interested but was wary of becoming an over-sharing, life-story blogging addict.  But now that I am new to Chicago and starting a very new life here, a blog just might be a grand idea.  I have always liked to write anyways, and I can share my photos.

Here's one from my graduation ceremony this past spring from the University of Vermont.  Sitting for 4 hours waiting for my name to be called allowed time for a quick pinhole shot.  I do miss Vermont already, and my people there.  Friends and my family, and everything I know are in Vermont.  But I have been ready to leave for so long.  Thank God I made it out of there!  It is a place where crunchy people, green mountains, beautiful sunsets, straight chillin', maple syrup, apple cider and cheese loving, art loving hippie freaks all join together into a black hole of goodness that makes Vermont such a hard place to leave.  I need a change of pace, and I am sick of seeing the same people around who just can't seem to leave.  I will miss local brews and free samples at City Market and the Cabot Annex, and being able to walk anywhere I want to go.  But I'm ready for the city, where every opportunity is at my fingertips.