After viewing the show, we went back the way we came and discussed the show (of course). And we had a lot to say about it: while it was very good, some of us felt that there were too many photos, and some of those photos just weren't very strong--in a show, you should only present your best work. And because the photos were mostly fairly conventional, I didn't think that the Anna was the best venue for the show because I associate NSCAD with avant-garde art.
---
And with that, another American election (the most expensive ever) is officially in the bag. That was me falling backwards into something soft--**whew!**
Monday: Due to that extra day off, I was almost completely homework-free--a state that I'd almost forgot existed. I put the day to good use, though, getting some little things done, including picking up an early-arrival form from ResLife.
That evening SUNSCAD held another general assembly. This time we amended some of the by-laws and standing orders in the union's constitution, making it easier for the SUNSCAD execs to do their jobs.
Tuesday: Election Day. Finally. After all the craziness of the last two years, it'd all be over in about twenty-four hours. Due to nerves, I was tempted to stay in my room and read election news all day, but I doubted that NSCAD or Adrian would accept that as an excuse to miss class. The latest Gallup poll didn't help (Romney: 49%, Obama 48% among likely voters).
Adrian gave us the rundown for scanning film: everything from tonal values to how to work the flatbed scanners.
After supper, I plunked myself down in front of my computer and listened to MPBN's election night coverage while keeping an eye on Politico's map. On Election Night '04, Tom told me that whoever is in the lead early in the night generally is the winner (Dubya was in the lead that time--and we all know who won). Romney was in the lead for what felt like forever on Tuesday night, so I was incredibly nervous. Once Maine was called, I added Question 1 to the list of things to keep tabs on. That made me even more nervous because for a long time it looked like gay marriage wouldn't be legalized in the state. I forced myself to call it a night around 11:30--a full hour after I normally go to bed on Tuesday nights. The alarm clock would be my worst enemy the next day, but it'd be worth it. Now to actually get some sleep...
Wednesday: I woke up at about 6:45, and within about two nanoseconds of opening my eyes, I thought, "US election! Question 1!" So before I was properly awake, I sat down in front of my computer (which I'd left on all night--something that's incredibly rare for me--so that I wouldn't run the risk of waking my roommate with the tone that sounds when you turn on a Mac), did battle with the res wi-fi, hit "refresh"--and started to cry. Gay marriage is now legal in the state of Maine! There are no words to describe how I felt in that moment: it went well beyond happiness or joy or any of those emotions. In May '09, gay marriage was legalized in Maine--but a group that opposed gay marriage had it put on the ballot in November of that year, and it became illegal once again. I was extremely upset when I heard about that. Because I've never quite gotten over those events, I had to double- and triple-check the results before I was sure that it wasn't just a wonderful dream. This was real. And I was relieved to find out that Obama had won. I'm critical of him--there are are a few things that I feel he could've done better, or didn't do, or shouldn't have done (at the top of that list is signing the NDAA into law: he says he'll never use it, but that's not to say that future presidents won't)--but given how few choices there are in the States compared to Canada at the federal level (two major parties vs. five), he's the better choice. Romney would be great for Harper, but awful for the rest of us.
Dear Maine voters: you're officially awesome. Thank you for voting in favour of equal rights--though it was a close one. The same goes for Maryland and Washington State.
I continued to work on my Japanese box. Thankfully, the only deadline I have to be concerned about is the last day of class, which will be in December.
I spent the afternoon recovering from the night before, shooting a roll for Intro Photo and catching up on my politics news. Turns out, New Hampshire had elected the first all-female delegation and Wisconsin elected the first openly LGBT US senator.
Thursday: We were supposed to have class at 12:30 that day instead of 1:00, but due to a meeting it got bumped back to the regular time. We critiqued more work, and a few of us--including me--got moved to next week (the original crit was last week, by the way). We were then joined by a class from the University of King's College and Bob presented a slide-show of his work.
After supper, I processed the roll that I'd shot on Wednesday. Joe was in the printshop that evening (he'll be there one evening a week for the next few weeks), but although I wanted to spend a few hours working on my box, that film needed to be developed. On the way home, I picked up a copy of that day's Chronicle Herald, which had several articles about the election results.
Friday: Once again, we discussed this week's reading--and then dove into whatever we had to do for our projects (shooting, processing, etc.). For me, that meant scanning (we're scanning our photos, adding text and then printing them out on one of the department's Epson printers). I had Adrian help me with the initial scan, and he asked me how I'm liking it here at NSCAD. That led to discussing my post-university plans, which led to discussing the US election.
Saturday: I read the Chronicle Herald and the NSCAD Crit--which is new this year--that I picked up a few days ago and started editing the photos that I'd scanned.
Sunday: I spent much of the day editing photos for both Intro and Photography Beyond the Frame. And feeling blah thanks to the blahness of the weather (which is why I hate November).
No comments:
Post a Comment