Monday: That day I finally bought a portfolio (13" x 19") for my project, after planning to get one on Friday.
When I walked into the drawing studio, I took one look at the things that we were to draw, and made a face. This week, we were drawing cloth that was draped over chairs and stools, and it brought back memories of a similar assignment in FVA. For that assignment, we were just to draw fabric that was tacked to the walls so that it hung loosely. We used charcoal, and to do shading, we used a reductive technique, where we erased the sections that we wanted to be lighter. I ended up not finishing mine.
This time, however, I was determined to finish it (and this time I used my usual additive technique). And I did--while rocking out to Adam's iTunes. Let's just say that the guy has good taste. I worked on it until around nine that night. Good thing I didn't have class the next day. Later, we were to take that drawing and turn it into something else.
Tuesday: I spent the day running around, trying to get stuff done, and started the process of putting my project together in the portfolio.
Wednesday: Turns out, that day was Drew's birthday--we all wished him a happy birthday.
This week and next week, we're doing location lighting, which Drew said can be as simple as taking the studio flashes to another room in the college. He's happy as long as it isn't in the lighting studio. This week we're looking for locations where we might like to shoot, and taking photos of said locations. Next week we'll go back and actually shoot.
This week's Photoshop assignment brought back childhood memories: Drew gave us an illustration which we were to colour in in Photoshop. He said that to do the whole thing would probably take about four hours--he just wanted us to spend an hour on it. And he said that it would "probably succeed in making [the class] never want to be illustrators."
The assignment reminded me of when I was five or six, when I would happily "paint" in Photoshop for most of my allotted computer time (which I believe was fifteen minutes a day)--when I wasn't playing around with fonts and pictures in The Writing Center. This was one of those times where I couldn't believe that I was getting college credit for doing this: it was just too awesome.
After class, I visited Occupy Fredericton, which is camped outside City Hall. I probably spent an hour there, talking with the occupiers. Although I'm very aware and well-informed about the inequality in the world, the Occupy movement has really opened my eyes to how North America is run, and to how unequal and rigged our system is. While chatting with one of the protesters, I found out that NB's wealth is tied up in five families. Five families. How nuts is that?!
Not only that, but I've begun to find out just how much unethical and unacceptable stuff Canadian and American banks support: TD sponsored former VP Cheney's book tour in BC, which basically says that torture is perfectly acceptable (The Globe and Mail was also a sponsor--glad I only read that paper for a few months); and I just found out that RBC supports the Alberta tar sands. The tar sands--one of the most environmentally unfriendly things my species has created. I'm crying as I write this, because I have always seen my friendly local RBC branch as fairly benign: they wouldn't do anything that has the potential to ruin the earth, would they? But by supporting the tar sands, they are. I was fooled. We all have been. Wonder what Scotia Bank's track record is like--or BMO's or CIBC's, for that matter...
And don't get me started on the fact that the richest of the rich don't have to worry about taxes. In the US, they don't have to pay 'em (not unless Warren Buffett has his way--YIPPEE!), and in Canada, the so-called Economic Recovery favoured the 1% and left the 99% to fend for themselves. "Harper's economic 'recovery' favoured the extremely wealthy. Over 321,000 Canadians lost their jobs in 2008 and Canadians' average wages fell. Meanwhile Canada's 100 wealthiest persons became richer, reaching an average net worth of $1.7 billion each, up almost 5 per cent from 2008."--shitharperdid.com, with a link to an article in The Tyee
Sickening, isn't it? While you're at it, check out this infographic.
As one of the many slogans goes,
"Dear 1%,Naturally, once the mainstream media finally realized what was going on, they painted the protest as violent and something that should be stopped, and the people as dirty, law-breaking, window-smashing, looting hippies who couldn't decide what they were protesting, and who didn't have a leader (all decisions, both at Occupy Wall St. and at Occupy F'ton, are made at general assemblies where all the Occupiers have a say in the decision-making). At OWS, the police have been more violent than the people--a certain Anthony Bologna comes to mind. For the few who don't know, Anthony pepper-sprayed two women, and his "punishment" is the loss of ten vacation days.
"We fell asleep for a while. Just woke up.
"Sincerely, The 99%"
And then there was the time when the police kindly led the protesters onto the Brooklyn Bridge, and helped them out--and then turned around and arrested them for no reason at all.
Okay, I think I'm done.
Thursday: Back in the classroom. YYYYESSSS!!! Due to the fact that I had to do some stuff outside the school during class time in preparation for my next independent study project, Peter had me present my project first.
That "stuff" was a visit to Dance Fredericton, to ask the dance mistress about photographing some of the dancers there. She was totally cool with it, and even asked me to do some work with their logo. She also said that it was okay to bring flashes into the studio (the kids would love it). SA-WEEEET!!
By the time I got back to class, I had a huge grin on my face. As I took off my raincoat, I told Peter what had happened. I'd talked with him a couple of weeks prior, and he'd prepared me for the worst, due to parents not wanting their little kids photographed by a strange person (two words: MODEL RELEASES). So being prepared for the worst made me that much more excited. The giddiness didn't wear off until the next day.
Friday (FVA Panel Assessment Day): I wrote a letter to this year's crop of FVAs, which you can read here. It felt so weird not having the studio crawling with first-years.
I spent the first part of the afternoon running around, doing things for Preparing for Professional Life, and then settled down to work on my drawing that's due tomorrow.
Saturday: Major work-day: I finished the final report for the project that I'm currently working on, and wrote the proposal for the dance project. I also skyped with Mom, and drew. I finished the day by doing my Photoshop homework.
Sunday: Yet another major work-day. I spent most of the afternoon in the darkroom, developing the last three photos for the project. After I emerged from the semi-darkness (yay, safe-lights), I proofread the proposal and final report and emailed them to Peter (deadline: noon ADT/11:00 EDT tomorrow), put the finishing touches on the drawing, came home, did Kitchen Duty, and watched part of Hocus Pocus until this blog post started screaming my name.
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