Welcome to Miami.

I'm back in South Florida.

End of finals!

Phew. So I took two finals today: Art History 102 and Queer Fictions.

I haven't done so hot in Art History over all, but I'm pretty sure I did well on the final. (Main problem: I always forget dates. Numbers refuse to stick in my brain.) So I'm really hoping that the final gets me through AH 102. I do not want to have to take that class again my senior year! Queer Fictions was a ridiculously long, involved exam. But um, I think I did pretty well! Except maybe for the last essay.

Gabby helped me get my stuff from the art building tonight, which involved me running behind her car all the way from Sas to Scribner. After that I went to a party across the street with her and Matthew. It was mostly art kids, which was interesting. I'm never invited to those parties. I wonder why Ashley talks to me. Helena was there, and I'm pretty sure it's the same Helena who once semi-anonymously gifted me with pretty propaganda. (I asked her for it.) I didn't mention this 'cause I'm shy, but I'm sure she wondered why the hell I kept staring at her. I was thinking, Hmmm so this is Helena.

Eck, but at some point these two girls were talking about how there were no men at the party, how there were too many vaginas and they needed a "sausage fest". (!) Whhoa heterosexuals. I mean . . . whoa. Also, it was weird that almost all of the girls were so funkily dressed and put together, but half of the guys looked like they'd just rolled out of bed. I wonder what standard I'd be held to? Not that I can dress. Not that I am really an art major. Seriously, I feel so out of place with art majors. Sometimes I think I should've gone to New World just do I'd know how to relate to these people.

Anyway, I'm dead tired, so -- sleep now. I'm looking forward to getting logistical things wrapped up tomorrow, and then pack everything for storage on Friday! I can't believe this is already over. I really can't believe I'm not gonna see Hope until JANUARY.

more being 21

1. Mom ordered an ice cream cake from Ben & Jerry's.

2. Hope picked it up.

3. My housemates were all in THE SAME ROOM.

4. I got a super cute adorable (etc etc) card.

5. Full of love and good wishes, and jokes and dyslexia.

6. We partied for a brief period of time.

Thanks Hope, Ez, Mel, Gabby & Curtis! And Mom, o' course.

Also -- thanks Oli, Cristina, Amelia and Em for calling me!

And thanks Jennie, Mario, Poe, Petria, Mindy, Lisa, Brian and Brendan for messaging me.

And um, thanks to Fatimah and Ayelet for cute messages on my wall @ thefacebook!

It's always nice to be remembered on your birthday.

I'm 21!

Happy birthday to me. Thanks Hope for taking me out for my first legal drink. And a game of pool. And a failed attempt to get pizza.

"But do you have a flag?"

We will!

Next summer Hope, Ezra, and I are re-colonizing the continent with the cunning use of our flag. And it'll look something like this:



(I apologize for misspelling 'ikibus'.)

Yeah, um, that's what I've been doing with my time instead of studying.

That, and I went out to Sushi Thai with Gabrielle, Hope, and her friend Amy who's visiting. I haven't been there all semester and I was glad to finally get back. I wonder why they changed their music, though.

After dinner, the four of us went to go see Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was great: the movie was a fantastic adaptation of the book; we annoyed the entire theater with our raucous laughter; and that wonderfully horrible song was stuck in our heads for the rest of the night.

Oh, and during the day I met up with a prospective student and gave a half-assed tour-like thing. Umm mostly we hung out at my house because everything was locked and empty and such.

Friday was awesome: I turned in my Queer Fictions paper and then hung out with Lettie and two of Lettie's co-workers. It was great to meet new people. It was also great to eat ice cream and go bowling, especially when bowling entails renting kids' shoes and getting called "buddy".

Elementary Scultpure group crit, last Queer Fictions class

I was among the first third of students to speak in the group crit. The only completed piece I had (besides the three masks) was the rope one.

[errr picture will be here at some point]

It started as an exploration of the medium, the latex, which reminded me so much of skin. Actually, I was trying to do a small model for the very large sculpture I wanted to create, the one with barbed wire.

[picture]

I created one small form, then decided to make more, in varying shapes. Then they came together in my head as nailed to a line of rope. Everyone who saw me carrying the rope to the studio made some wisecrack, like: "Not gonna do anything hasty, are you?"

The rope made people think of death, which served my purposes. The bits of skin, the injuries, the organs, are attached violently (nails, safety pins) to this emblem of death. It is like a public hanging.

John called it, "The white elephant in the room." He asked me what it was about, and I said, "Violence. It was supposed to be for this installation -- "

"About rape, right?"

"Rape and sexual assault."

"Rape in what?!"

"Rape and sexual assault."

"Rape -- in -- Central Hall?!"

Good Lord the man cannot hear. Ha.

"Rape and sexual assault."

"Ohhh rape and -- I thought you were talking about something specific that happened at Skidmore."

"Well er -- no."

Someone asked me if I meant for the organic forms to go all the way to the end. No; the blank space is like a threat. There could be more. The guy I like -- forget his name, skinny in plaid with messy hair, did the whale bones, was at Little India that time -- said that maybe I should make some of the forms more recognizable as body parts. Not to the point of cheesiness, but just a bit more referencing. He called one "clearly a phallus."

It was not clearly a phallus. It was clearly a vagina! . . . but really, it can be a phallus, I don't care too much. Just 'cause you have a phallus doesn't make you immune. If it resonates more, if it affects you more to see a dick nailed to a rope, go ahead and imagine that it's a dick.

I didn't mention little things like, there's more metal in the middle to make it sag. Etc.

John said things like, "You clearly made some choices here" which made me think it was not a total flop.

Unfortunately, I'd poured out some latex before class for a (slightly smaller than planned) large sculpture, and when I came back hours later for it the filler and stuff had spilled everywhere.

Fortunately, I was pretty much out of latex anyway, and my art history paper was turned in on time.

Last Queer Fictions class ever: sad we didn't get to discuss the course as a whole more. Apparently I had a psychic moment with Hope.

I'd write more but I need to go finish my photo portfolio now. Oh finals season!