this is a little different from the version on the newest album... but dang I love this! makes me want to start playing the ukulele again!

blanket

I have started my first crochet project. It is a blanket, and it's a lot larger than I thought it was going to be... It's going to be really epic, but it's also going to take forever. I will post pictures of my progress.

season of reason

It has been a long time since I made a blog post. I am not going to make some false promise that I am going to start blogging more often, but as I am sitting in a dark back room of the Museum of Art at the IMU because my boss decided to schedule 3 people rather than 2 people to sit at the front desk on Fridays this semester... I have a lot of free time to sit and think and write and read and study.

So let's start with that!

I have a job, finally, AND it's at the Museum of Art that I have been trying to get a job at for the last year. I work 20 hours a week where I sit, read, and work on homework. However, I do have to give my first tour next week which is terrifying kind of.

This semester is going to be significantly easier than last. I am only taking 4 classes, only 1 of which is an art history course. I am taking printmaking, which is fun, German online, and Interpretation of Literature, which I am finding very enjoyable. My teacher is into classical music, Cival War reenactments, birds and nature stuff, whaling (I assume as a consequence of his favorite book, Moby Dick), painting, and early 20th century literature. Also, he watches Downton Abbey, just like Ports and I!

I applied to 7 graduate schools. I have heard back from one (Minnesota) that I did not get into. 6 more and hopefully one will be an acceptance, although I am not extremely optimistic about it now. If I had a preference, I would go to Northwestern, University of Chicago, or University of Michigan (in that order) because they offer straight Ph.D. tracks. The other three I am waiting to hear back from are University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, and University of Iowa. I am completely unsure how things will pan out with this whole situation, but I have recently realized that I will be fine no matter what happens, even if I don't get in anywhere. I suppose it's good to be prepared for anything, both in a literal sense and in an emotional sense, and I feel like I am getting to that point.
Honestly, I just want to know where I will be next Fall. Whether I am in a completely new place with no familiar faces, or still in Iowa City reapplying for graduate schools because I didn't get in anywhere... I just want to know!

Anyway, I am getting tired of talking about graduate schools and I am sure everyone else is tired of hearing me talking about them. That was just my little two cents about how I am feeling.

In other news, I went snowboarding over Christmas break and landed on my arm. It still hurts when I lay or sleep on it, but I am hoping it will go away soon enough.
I am going to Ames this weekend to play a show for the first time in several months. I wrote a new song, and I need to figure out means of recording it and some older songs which I have revised. I am playing a 15 minutes set tomorrow for the 4th Annual Anniversary of the Ames Progressive, or "The Space" as it goes by now. I am excited to drink lots of wine with ma and pa tonight and spend the day in Ames tomorrow.

It is the season of engagements! Lots of friends have gotten engaged, including Layla, Elena, and Paige, and it is all very exciting! I know of many other people that are getting married or will be getting engaged (most likely) as well. It will be a nice spring and summer of wearing cute dresses and going to weddings without a date because Porter will probably be in Jerusalem doing a research thing through July and August, but hey, it's all good.

I have recently been going through a time of missing people, especially Trey and Denise. I miss some of my Louisiana friends that I met this summer, and I would definitely be happy to see a whole handful of other people as well.
I am anxious to find out where I will be next Fall because it will probably also determine how much time I spend visiting people this summer. I definitely want to go to Portland, but for how long... I do not know.
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On another note, I am taking a Modern Art class, and I have enjoyed learning even more about the art movements that I think I will continue to research and study including: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, and the many artists that are hybrids between the two. Perhaps I will right more about my artists of interest later.

All in all, life is good and there are no complaints. Sometimes I feel like life is just kind of stagnant, but then I realize it's not and everything is going to be okay.

Odilon Redon

I was just introduced to this artist last Wednesday via my art history class and I love him. I feel like I am finally figuring out what area of art that I like best! After like 10 art history classes, it took me being in Paris to find it!

Deconstructivism.

Today I visited two structures that might define as the opposite of Deconstructivism: The Arc de Triomphe and the Grande Arche at La Défense in Paris. They were really splendid, especially the Grande Arche. I found it ironic kind of that the Grande Arche was created as a monument of humanitarian ideals, rather than military victories... which is kind of what Arc de Triomphe was built for.

ANYways, after all of that and researching the histories of the two structures, I found myself looking up this super rad park in Paris (Parc de la Vilette) that is apparently in the "Deconstructivism" style, which then launched me into a whole different train of Wikipedia articles.

Many of the Deconstructivists were influenced by the ideas of French philosopher Jacques Derrida, which seemed weird to me at first, but after learning more, it sort of made sense. He and this architect became pretty good pals and developed the architectural philosophy that I THINK is something like... architecture is like presence in that both require the opposite to act against in order to exist. Absence requires the existence of presence in order to be a thing at all... much like Deconstruction requires the existence of Construction in order to act against it.

Frank Gehry is the prototypical example of a Deconstructivist... especially in the work he did on his own home in Santa Monico.

What started out as a Suburban home, ended up like this! He took an actual house and changed it from the inside out.

Other architectural structures of his include:

Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas


Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles


IAC Building, Chelsea NYC


And my two personal favorites:

Dancing House, Prague


Experience Music Project, Seattle


I had a revelation today that, as my friend DJ said, will probably pass in a week or so... but I decided I want to learn something every day. It sounds pretty simple, but I feel that there are probably days when I don't see anything cool or learn anything new, and that is a sad thing.

Today it was Deconstructivism, tomorrow it will probably be Bean Sprouts or something. We will see where my mind takes me!

I don't like this version as much as the original, but I thought this video was better than watching a picture for 4 and a half minutes.

I feel like I keep going back to these oldies. They are so great.

more nostalgia.

I know I am a little late in the game on liking the Strokes... but I just love this. How did I not listen to them for so long?? I don't understand.

This video makes me want to come home and hang out with friends, but I think that is the point.