barely enough time to catch my breath

So much for wanting to be done school...

Monday: Another one of those nonstop studystudystudy days--when not in class.

Tuesday: I had my usual appointment with Joan--and then spent the rest of the day studying.

For several years I have wanted to take a music history course. I know a lot of music history, but it's all through my own research (which has been ongoing since I was a little kid watching Beethoven Lives Upstairs--a kids' movie that I highly recommend for anyone, regardless of age. In fact, I'll post it below and you can watch it right now.)--I've never taken a course.



Part two (embedding has been disabled).



Part four (once again, embedding has been disabled).



After the hell that I went through this year, I wonder if I'd be able to live with him, given his temper (which was due to lead poisoning, as was his deafness). However, unlike the person who's been so nasty to me this year, Beethoven was genuinely sorry once he cooled down, admitted where he went wrong, sought forgiveness, worked to smooth things over--and didn't hold grudges.

Wednesday: More studying.

I found out via the BSO's FB page that, like the Met, their broadcast schedule is available online. I plan to listen to the concerts titled Appalachian Spring (which also features Beethoven's sixth, one of my favourite symphonies) and Carmina Burana (who am I to miss out on the knock-your-socks off power of the BSO combined with that work??). The first concert, which was performed earlier this month, will be broadcast on June fourth and Carmina will be performed on April thirteenth and broadcast on July sixteenth--two days before my twenty-sixth birthday! BRING IT, BSO! If you've never heard that orchestra play, you should. I don't just gush about it because I know a couple of the musicians--I gush about the BSO because it has my socks knocked off. If you're outside MPBN's broadcasting range and want to listen to the orchestra (or anything else), click here.

Thursday: The afternoon class was more of a marathon viewing of short movies than anything else.

That day, I found a course that was what I'd been looking for. It's through Guelph University (Ontario). I won't be taking it for a little while, though.

Friday: You guessed it: more studying.

Saturday: As the Met was performing an opera by Alban Berg, one of the few composers whose style I don't really care for, I had to look elsewhere for my Saturday music fix. I opted to gorge myself on Carmina Burana, which I think I listened to three times in a row. Thanks, BSO! I hadn't listened to it in far too long, anyway.



Sunday: I worked on a surprise for those who helped me through this year and, yes, studied.

I also set up an appointment with someone who's interested in subletting my half of the lease at my apartment. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day between that, an appointment with Adrian, class, and a friend's MFA thesis show opening--in that order. **whew!**

to quote Finding Nemo, "just keep swimming"

FVA Annapurna is probably looking at me sideways and going, "'no more all-nighters,' eh? Looks like your words are on the menu." I had to eat those words this week.

Also, go Olivia Chow!

Monday: I got a reply to the email that I sent to The Fred Rogers Company!

Before class, I met with the writing tutor to get my gallery review for Twentieth Century Art edited, due to needing to pull my grade up after the disaster that was my midterm. I didn't need to make many changes, as it was a strong essay to begin with.

Tuesday: As usual, I met with Joan and talked about the week.

I met with my presentation group again and we put together the presentation.

Wednesday: While my time management skills are usually fairly good, this semester has kind of thrown me for a loop, with Wednesday night being the worst. I usually give myself anywhere from a couple of days to a week to write an assignment for school, but this time I was forced to write one and a half papers (I'd started one on Tuesday) in a night. I was at it until about 2:00 AM Thursday morning (including editing). But I didn't turn out my bedside light until an hour or two later, which meant that I was running on very little sleep on Thursday. I still wonder how the heck I got through that day.

Thursday: I handed in my midterms for Topics in Modern Canadian Art--and tried to stay awake. We also did the presentation.

Olivia Chow (Jack Layton's widow and former NDP MP for the riding of Trinity-Spadina in Toronto--Wednesday was her last day in that position) announced that she is running for mayor of Toronto, something that people had been speculating she'd do at some point. I wish her the best and I wish I could vote for her.



The election is October twenty-seventh--meaning that if she wins, the twenty-eighth will be two times more awesome than usual. I always celebrate Lynn's birthday, but if Olivia wins I'll be celebrating that as well. I'll be keeping a very close eye on the results on election night. Yay for awesome women and see ya, Rob Ford!

Friday: After having a midterm or something else due every week since getting back from break, I finally had a bit of freedom in which to catch up on readings that I missed.

Saturday: I spent the day reading while listening to the Met (what's new?).

Sunday: More reading, and I came up with the crazy idea to do a response essay for Contemporary Indigenous Arts, as I was so into what I was reading and I had two left. Thing was, it was fairly late at night. Oh, well--challenge accepted.

That night I had yet another run-in with the person with whom I'm not getting along. I've been planning to cut them out of my life once I'm home (get rid of all photos of them, emails by them, their contact info--maybe even go so far as to block their email address, just to be safe), but the latest episode has solidified those plans. While I didn't cry, I was shaking so bad that I could actually see my hands shake and my teeth were chattering, even though I wasn't cold. I don't need people like that in my life: I need people like Mom, Tom, Helen, Lynn (hi, you four!), Ken, Becky, Adrian--people who will build me up, not cut me down until I'm a shell of what I once was. I think the friendship's toast, anyway.

Those two things meant that the night was incredibly long and far too exciting for my liking.

If you want to know what I feel when I think about coming home after I'm done school, this piece sums it up perfectly. Freedom, I will have survived a trip to hell and back--and I will finally have a chance to heal (that thought alone is a beautiful thing).



Also, this piece is just pure fun:

the final push toward The End

The Mister Rogers obsession continues (at least in its current form--I've been a fan since I was a kid)...

Monday: This half of the semester I have had to work harder than I've worked since FVA. In some ways I love it (I don't like it when things are too easy--which probably explains some of my love for the violin and French horn, though I was initially attracted to those instruments because of their sound), but in others I hate it, the stress that results from times like this being one of the main reasons. And when I get stressed out like that, I begin to doubt myself and whether I'll get everything done on time (thankfully, since finishing FVA, I've managed to pull through times like this beautifully).

This time, I was stressed out about my midterm paper for Contemporary Indigenous Arts, which I just barely managed to proofread and print before dashing off to class.

Tuesday: Tuesday was one of those days where I planned to get stuff done, but due to various appointments that were higher on the priorities list, most of the other things didn't get accomplished.

I did have my appointment with Joan. An hour after that I met with Jayne to talk with her about my midterm. I'm going to have to work like you wouldn't believe to pull off the rest of the semester and offset my crappy midterm mark.

While watching Mister Rogers' Emmy interview (during which I found out that he was colourblind) that evening, I found this quote that really speaks to what I've been through this year and the support I've received. It is one of several things that have appeared over the past week or so (starting with the documentary that triggered the current obsession). Yet another reason why I don't believe in coincidence.

"It's the little epiphanies of life that matter most. It's those moments when somebody will tell you, 'you know, you really did help me in a way that you could have never known, just by being there, and just by being you.'"--Mister Rogers

The quote is from this video.

Wednesday: Readreadread, writewritewrite.

Thursday: I emailed The Fred Rogers Company (formerly Family Communications, Inc., which distributed Mister Rogers' Neighborhood), sharing with the people there (many of whom worked with Mister Rogers and have been with the company for decades) my experiences of watching the show as well as how Mister Rogers and his message continues to play a huge role in my life, especially as I'm champing at the bit to finish university. I also quoted part of last week's post (the last two paragraphs in the Saturday section) and included the above quote and how it is relevant to the support that I have received. As the thought of writing to Mister Rogers didn't occur to me until after he died, this was a way of making up for that.

When Alex came into the computer lab to turn off the computers that night, he asked me how I was. I let loose and told him about the fact that I'm more than ready to be done school, both because of what I've been through and because I'm just ready to be finished school, which I wasn't when I graduated from NBCCD (the final day was incredibly bittersweet and when I got back to my place I burst into tears). He said that that's often the case: either students aren't ready to leave or they're champing at the bit like I am.

When I came home that night, I found out that my internet had disappeared and I couldn't get it back.

Friday: More reading.

That night I called EastLink. They did everything they could on their end and... nothing. It's a problem somewhere in my computer, which is both good (it's limited to only one computer) and bad (no internet on my computer).

Saturday: Because I had to read and write so much on a fairly tight deadline, I had to forego my weekly dose of the Met (sorry, guys) as this week's opera was in English and I can't read or write and listen to singing in a language that I understand at the same time (meaning that Italian's out, as I understand enough to have a rough idea of what's going on, as is the Habañera, as I have that song memorized in French and roughly memorized in English). I'm not much of a fan of Baroque opera, but I loved The Enchanted Island when it premiered a few seasons ago (it's a fairly new pastiche--i.e., a mashup--that the Met commissioned).

Sunday: This week I have to do a presentation with a couple of my classmates on two current art shows: one local (we picked the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia) and one national. We met at school on Saturday and made our picks and then then met again on Sunday, this time at the AGNS (home of Maud Lewis' teensy little painted house). We had initially chosen one of the shows there, but ended up choosing a different show (also at the AGNS) that grabbed our attention right away and that made the initial pick seem dull in comparison. That means that we have to come up with a new pick for the national show, as the initial pick for the national one tied in with the show at the AGNS that we'd picked and then decided not to profile.

Afterward, I went back to the college and wrote for the rest of the afternoon and finished the gallery review for Twentieth-Century Art.

That evening, Tom called me on my cell and we tried to troubleshoot my internet problem. No luck.

I spent the rest of the evening--you guessed it--reading and writing. Currently, all I have to be concerned about is my midterm for Topics in Modern Canadian Art (due on Thursday--I'm so glad Carla gave us an extra week to do it) and possibly another response paper for Contemporary Indigenous Arts (I wrote one this weekend, which is number three--that means I have to write at least two more by the end of the semester). No rest for this university student.

saying goodbye is never easy...

...and sometimes it's downright painful. I won't lie: this week has been both good and rough, and no matter how well I slept the night before, every night except Saturday night I crashed into bed due to the exhaustion brought on by my grief over Stan's death. Thankfully, there are those things known as email and Facebook--and Mom and I have made good use of both.

Also: every week I try to tell the story of that week as honestly as possible, usually editing only for grammar and clarity. Having said that, this week's post is extremely raw and emotional at times, due to both my commitment to honesty and where I was emotionally when I wrote this post, which I did over the course of four days. You might want to grab some kleenexes before proceeding. You have been warned.

This post is dedicated to the memory of Stan Hart.

Monday: I met with Adrian, and he suggested that I do the project, but not as part of a course. He will meet with me periodically.

I got the reading situation for Carla's classes sorted out. Hello, marathon reading sessions for the rest of the week.

My part of the APC show (Photographs) opened at the Anna Leonowens Gallery and was well-received. It looks awesome.

Tuesday: I had a meeting with Joan after Twentieth-Century Art. Toward the end of the appointment, I told her about Stan's death--and burst into tears. I shared with her some of the things I loved about him--and that I miss. I knew his death had to hit hard at some point. I think it was obvious how much he meant to me.

I spent the rest of the afternoon studying and then made a card for Ruth (Stan's wife). I couldn't write the message for the card without crying--a fact that I put in said message.

Wednesday: I mailed the card and then spent the rest of the day catching up on readings for my courses.

Eventually, I tore myself away from my reading to zip down to the Port Loggia Gallery for the opening of the rest of the APC show. ...and then it was back to reading.

Thursday: Due to staying up a bit too late the night before, I had to fight to stay awake in class that morning (sorry, Jayne).

In between classes I went to St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica (which woke me up--sometimes a good, brisk walk a few hours after the coffee has worked as much magic as it's going to helps--for a few hours, at least). While I'm not Catholic (I'm Eclectic Pagan), I wanted to light a candle for Stan and had felt the urge to do so for a couple of days. I wanted to feel the sense of peace that almost always comes over me when entering a place of worship, regardless of faith. I did some intense googling Wednesday night, and the only church that I found that listed their hours was St. Mary's--and they have a little blurb on the side of one of the pages that says that "visitors are invited to light vigil candles when visiting the church." PERFECT!

After lighting a candle (one of the tea lights--they also had gargantuan votives), I chose a pew at the back (one of the ones with a padded kneeling bench--awesome! I don't think I've ever seen a padded one in a Catholic church before.) and prayed. On my way out, I stopped for a few minutes and watched my candle burn, thinking about Stan and remembering the last time I saw him (this past summer, which was my last time talking with him and the last time I hugged him. Writing that sentence when I started writing this post on Thursday evening triggered a massive, violent sob-attack--there's no other way to describe it. Sometimes the fact that my honorary grandfather, a man I loved dearly, who always had a smile for me and was always a joy to be around, is dead hits me with the force of a semi truck. I miss you, Stan. I miss you. Terribly.) and silently crying. I then got lunch and headed back to class.

Afterward, I continued the readings while listening to the recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis that I got for Christmas (this recording). During times like this, there are always at least three things that help me: my faith (whatever it happens to be: I've converted twice already, with an average of ten years between switches), talking about it with friends and music. Specifically music like the Missa Solemnis or the second movement from the Emperor Concerto or the second movement from Beethoven's seventh (notice a theme here? I firmly believe that Beethoven wrote something for every mood, every moment in life, and I often turn to him, in both the good times and the bad.).

If you're curious, here's Stan's obit--with a photo (I completely lost it when I saw the photo). That smile--which I'll never see in real life again. Unfortunately, the site is one of those where you can only read a few articles before it asks you to subscribe. I made a PDF of both his death notice (also posted on that paper's site) and his obit.

Friday: In the wee hours of that morning, I finally put together what I'd been aching for for a couple of days: a playlist of tracks that, when I listen to them, go straight to my soul. In my usual style, I went through iTunes and put everything that sounded like it might be suitable in the playlist. Miraculously, the whole thing fit (though barely) on my 2GB second-generation iPod Nano, along with everything else that I have on there (I had to dump a couple playlists, though). Three hours of peaceful music, some sacred, some secular--everything from the second movement of the Emperor Concerto to Ase's Death to Rachmaninov's Vespers. Done.

That afternoon, I had an appointment with Shawna (the registrar) to tell her what I was up to with regards to the independent study. She asked me how I was, and I told her that there were two parts to the answer: my classes were going well, but a close friend who was like a grandfather to me had died almost a week ago. I couldn't talk about Stan's death without my voice getting shaky. We also sorted a few things out on my audit work sheet.

I spent the rest of the day studying, and when Becky (remember her?) came into the computer lab and asked me how I was, I told her everything--and sobbed in her arms. She's right: I have had a rough year (though I know how to deal with what I'm currently going through, having felt the pain of grief before). One of the security guards who works the 4:00 PM - 12:00 AM shift during the week, Bill, had seen me when I told Jake what was going on, saw that I was really upset and a few minutes before he needed to start making the rounds (one person from that shift of security guards has to go through the entire school in two hours--there are two people and while one sits at the front desk, the other goes through the school) came to see what was up. I told him--and sobbed. He comforted me in his weird, awesome way.

Saturday: I spent the afternoon studying, listening to opera (an archive performance from earlier this season of Eugene Onegin) and, especially at 2:30, thinking of Stan and his wife, Ruth (2:30 was when the funeral was).

That evening, Helen (my old mentor from my last year at NBCCD and a family friend) and I skyped. It made up for the fact that I was unable to go to the funeral (I really wanted to go): we shared stories about Stan and Ruth, I read her the message that I'd written in the sympathy card, I cried... When I'm going through something like this and am able to have a good, long conversation about the person who's died and what I'm going through, I regard it as sacred. And while all the things that I'd done prior to Helen's and my chat helped a little, our chat really helped. We both think of it as our own memorial service.

I am incredibly thankful to everyone who's helped me through this terribly sad time.

That night I finally got caught up on my readings. Whew! Now I'll have more time for other things--including my independent project!

Sunday: When I woke up today, I felt a lot better: I didn't feel so weighted down by grief. I still miss Stan, but it isn't as intense.

I spent the afternoon doing the readings for Twentieth-Century Art and started the readings for this week's Topics in Modern Canadian Art this evening.

making connections

Just when I think the world of visual art is small, I take a good look at the classical music world: there are connections between composers all over the place. Also, the weeks are going by way too fast.

Monday: As it was Remembrance Day, NSCAD was closed (I didn't really celebrate--how could I when Harper pretends to support the troops while cutting services that vets need, especially mental health services?)--but I showed up, anyway. I spent probably several hours staring at my contextualizing statement, trying to come up with a better beginning and ending--and failing.

Tuesday: I met with Joan again and we talked some more.

I then headed over to the Academy Building to make a QuickTime version of my APC project. What I thought would take five minutes max ended up taking an hour or so because I found out that A. I'd done the video in 4:3 ratio (the ratio used by old CRT TVs) instead of 16:9 ratio (widescreen) and B. I'd done it in standard definition instead of HD. I knew something was up because the images looked low-resolution--but I knew that every single one was 300 DPI. I asked the technicians for help a couple of times. The first time I went back down to the basement and tried to solve the problem myself and when that didn't work I went back up and asked again. This time the technician came down with me and helped me sort out the issues. I then made the QuickTime file and headed back to Granville.

Wednesday: This week was the last week of doing readings. Several of us wanted to do work-in-progress crits, including me. Mine went extremely well. It was also the first time I saw my slideshow projected BIG and heard the music on good speakers (In the Hall of the Mountain King BOOMING above my head and a little to the right? Yes, please!). As a result, I could barely speak for a few seconds afterward.

Thursday: I spent most of the day glued to Twitter (though I don't have an account) following the hashtag "Elsipogtog", as there was another blockade/confrontation between the First Nation and SWP (which was protected by the RCMP--seriously! And police weren't wearing name tags, which also happened during the G20 protests and they got in trouble for doing that as wearing a name tag is a must.). Thankfully, there wasn't any violence this time around. Here's a really good article from the Toronto Star about the facts about First Nations peoples that are often completely ignored. These three paragraphs are especially important:

"In 1997, the landmark Supreme Court Decision in Delgamuukw finally clarified that even under Canadian law, Aboriginal title to most of the land within British Columbia’s provincial borders had never been extinguished. This ruling had immediate implications for other areas of the country where no treaties ceding land ownership were ever signed [Annapurna's note: this includes much of the Maritimes]. One day, Canadians woke up to a legal reality in which millions of acres of land were recognized as never having been acquired by the Crown, and that elephant has been occupying our national room ever since. 

"Unfortunately, this glaring issue did not seem to percolate into the wider Canadian consciousness, and many people remain unaware of it. In 1999, the Supreme Court passed down another judgement confirming that the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760-1761 did not cede land or resources. This cannot be emphasized strongly enough: the Mi'kmaq never gave up legal rights to their land or resources. Canada does not own the land that the people of Elsipogtog are defending. 

"This is not conspiracy theory, or indigenous interpretation. This is Canadian law, interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada, applying Canadian constitutional principles. Yet somehow, this most important fact is left out of most reports on Elsipogtog as though it is barely relevant."

I have come up against the sorts of myths that this article debunks being presented as fact, and even just thinking about it makes me a bit mad at those who believe those lies.

Friday: I worked on my project, making the changes that I'd written down during my crit. Afterward, on my way to the Photo Dept., I stopped in at the NSCAD Visual Resource Centre and checked out Helvetica for the weekend.

As I've mentioned before, we've been reading Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things as part of APC. However, we skipped the preface and chapters six and seven. I loved the book so much that I didn't feel right skipping any part of it so right from the beginning I planned to read the parts that were skipped on my own time by the end of the Winter '14 semester. I read the preface that day and plan to read a chapter a week, meaning that the last week of term will be the only week that I don't have to read anything. It felt weird to not have to take notes while reading.

Saturday: On my way to school on Thursday, I'd stopped to have a look at the Remembrance Day wreathes at the cenotaph in the Grand Parade. One of them had been laid on behalf of Norway, which made me wonder about the connection between that country and Halifax. I spent part of the afternoon researching the ties between Halifax/Canada and Norway. Turns out, Canada and Norway have had some form of connection for about a thousand years, and Norwegian military trained in Lunenberg, NS during World War II (Norway being part of the Allies). One of the ships involved in the Halifax Explosion was a Norwegian ship (the other was French). The Norwegian embassy's Canadian site has a good section on the history of the partnership between the two countries--though some of it sounds like it was written in the pre-Harper days (Canada interested in sustainability and being good to the environment? Only if Harper gets kicked out.). This makes me even more excited and proud to count two of Norway's best composers as favourites--and the grandson of one of those composers as one of my favourite violinists. That, and the fact that all three have a habit of knocking my socks off (not surprising for Trond: the ability to knock the audiences' socks off seems to be a requirement for BSO violinists).

Sunday: I finally got back in the Academy computer lab. However, I arrived a full hour early: on weekends the lab doesn't open until 1:00 PM. I went over to Granville, where I wasted time on Facebook until just before 1:30, and then went back to Academy. I spent a couple hours there, tweaking my project, figuring things out and asking myself questions. Afterward, I went back to Granville again, where I spent the rest of the day.

When I met with Adrian a couple weeks ago to fix the white balance of one of the series for my project, we discussed what sorts of things I could include in the contextualizing statement. I told him about my discovery of Tchaikovsky writing to Rimsky-Korsakov and praising the Capriccio Espangnol and some other connections that I knew about and it got me to thinking: what other composer connections are there? I'm talking everything: composers writing to each other, being from the same city, rivalries--you name it. This week, I decided to see if I still had MindNode on my computer and, if so, map out the connections. Below is a screen shot of what I've got so far.

that's over with

Lynn was right when she wrote, "know that 'this too shall pass', and a solution will slowly come into view" in her reply when I told her about the hell that was my life at that point. That's right: it's over. And that solution is a good one.

Monday: As usual, I spent the day at NSCAD, working on my project. I met Adrian in the computer lab that afternoon, as I was having problems getting the white balance right in some of my photos. I also got the lowdown on what should be covered in the contextualizing statement, as I wanted to start it on Tuesday.

I went to the MFA group show, Daily Jumble, and then got back to work.

Tuesday: I officially entered crunch-time mode, as I wanted to finish editing my photos and be ready to start working in Premiere by the end of that day. It was a long slog, and sometimes I thought that I wouldn't make my (self-imposed) deadline, but somehow I managed to do so. **whew**

I met with the counsellor from Dal, Joan, that afternoon (although my problem has been resolved, I still plan to keep my appointment for this coming Tuesday, as the skills that I needed to deal with my situation would be good skills to have), which was awesome.

That evening, there was a GA, which was mostly an update session: there were two meetings with the school's interim president and the students to discuss the closure of the Seeds Gallery (one of which was scheduled during afternoon classes, which is typical of NSCAD's prez, unfortunately). I wasn't surprised that very little was accomplished: what Dan asks and what the students need are sometimes complete opposite things.

Wednesday: After two and a half weeks, the perpetrator of the hell that I've been going through apologized. I was barely awake at the time and was running on less than eight hours of sleep, but I sleepily accepted said apology, using as few words as possible because I didn't have the energy to put together a full sentence.

I want to publicly thank everyone who has helped me through this difficult time. Extra-special thanks goes to Lynn, Helen (both of whom are readers of this blog--hi!), Becky, Ken, Adrian, Christina, Jake and Alex.

This week's lecture was all about graduating: life after NSCAD and MFA possibilities. Also, apparently you can now do a Ph.D. in fine art at a few schools. Whoa--that's a little too intense for me (I'm calling it quits--at least for a while--after I finish my BFA).

During the latter part of the afternoon, we had open studio time, so I went over to the Academy Building and started working on the video part of my project in Premiere (which I refer to in my head as "phase two"--phase one being the photographing and editing in Photoshop that I've done up to this point. Phase three will be when I export to Adobe Encore and start putting together the final product, which will be a DVD--that will start on November twentieth.).

Thursday: That day, I didn't show my face at NSCAD until around five. I spent the day making a double batch of soup (cream of tomato--yum!) instead. My time at NSCAD was more of a hangout than anything else, as I didn't get any schoolwork done that day. I did start reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane, though, and I'm really liking it. Neil Gaiman is one of those people, like Itzhak Perlman, Scott Brubaker or Yo-Yo Ma: when I listen to (or, in Neil's case, read) their work, I can instantly tell that I'm listening to/reading something by someone who really knows what they're doing and has been at it for decades. As there's a School of Extended Studies class in the computer lab on Thursday evenings, I'm reserving Ocean for those times.

Friday: I spent the day doing homework, including starting the final(!) reading for class.

Saturday: Once again, I disappeared into the basement of the Academy Building (after making a not-so-brief stop in the Photo Dept. to add a vignette to some of my photos), where the computer lab is. By the time I emerged and headed back to the Photo Dept., I was glad to do so: the monitors at Academy are completely different: they're Samsung, and the screens have a blue tinge to them, meaning that the calibration is completely different than that of the Photo Dept. monitors (Dell), which have no detectable colour cast.

Sunday: Today, I finished the reading and the rough draft of the contextualizing statement (due Wednesday). The statement's supposed to be seven hundred and fifty words long--I wrote nine hundred and seventy-seven. I'm laughing as I write this. However, I'd rather be faced with the task of dumping two hundred and twenty-seven words than be scrambling to come up with more to say.

surrounded by support

Two things that I forgot to mention: 1. If you haven't already done so, please listen to the Grieg track that I linked to last week with good speakers or headphones. Computer speakers (which lack true bass and treble) don't do Trond justice. 2. Bob Bean has a show up at the Saint Mary's University Art Gallery, and the opening was last Friday. I was one of several NSCAD photo students who showed up.

Monday: I've wanted to learn how to use the Imacon scanner since I heard how good it is last year. That afternoon, I met Adrian in the printing lab to finally cross that item off my NSCAD bucket list (it's one of those bits of equipment that you have to be taught how to use before you can use it on your own). Because Adrian's awesome and one of the teachers that I truly trust, I wanted to tell him about the stuff that's making my life hell right now. So I did--in a flood of tears--before he taught me how to use the scanner (which is fairly straightforward, but as it costs about $25,000--six and a quarter times more than the Epson Stylus Pro 7900 printer--it's the kind of thing you don't want to mess up).

That evening, I updated Jake on the situation with said hell--in another flood of tears. I'd updated Alex earlier, and though I choked up a bit that time, it wasn't as bad. Jake suggested some things that I could do in this situation, and both guys hugged me.

Tuesday: I met a friend for coffee at my favourite coffee shop and then spent the day working on my project.

That evening, I met one of my former classmates, Ken, in the printing lab. He was doing a sculpture project for school and needed to print a huge photo for it. By "huge" I mean 36" x 72". As he'd never printed that big before, Jake had suggested that he have someone who had experience printing big help him. I printed two big photos last year, so Ken asked me to help him. Ken had seen some references to my current situation on Facebook, and wanted to talk with me about it, which we did after printing the photo. Like Jake, he made suggestions as to what I could do in my situation. And yes, that meant yet another flood of tears from me (one of the worst since this whole thing began). I didn't get home until just after 11:00 that night.

Wednesday: Midterm crit day. As a result of having trouble getting to sleep Monday night and staying at school late Tuesday night, I was exhausted all day Wednesday, which sucked because I love APC and like to be reasonably awake for my one and only class. As usual, we discussed the week's reading, which was followed by the crits. The ones that were projected were the worst for me as I could feel my eyes drooping. My own crit went well, with lots of suggestions as to what I could do next.

Ken had suggested making another appointment with Christina, which I did during one of the breaks.

Thursday: I spent the day editing photos for my project.

Every year the NSCAD Queer Collective puts out a zine, and this year's zine was one of the things we discussed at that night's meeting. I'm seriously considering submitting a piece that I wrote for my Writing for the Arts journal.

Friday: I met with Christina and told her what was going on (I've been emailing her periodically). She suggested making an appointment with a counsellor at Dal (NSCAD students have access to Dalhousie's counselling services), which I'll do on Monday.

I spent the rest of the day working on stuff for my project.

Saturday: I finally felt rested again (didn't sleep well Monday night plus a late night on Tuesday meant that I was running on less than fumes by Wednesday and it took longer than the usual two nights to recover). I spent the day at school and finally started the reading for this week.

Sunday: I edited the photos I'd scanned with the Imacon and finished the reading. I also did some stuff related to solving my current problem which ended up overwhelming me to the point that I felt hopeless--though getting a very late supper helped to make the bad mood go away.

when I said I wanted my last year of university to be one for the books, I didn't mean this!

Another interesting week, for better and for worse.

Monday: I shot stuff for my APC project and voted at the advance poll at NSCAD. I'm now registered to vote in two provinces as well as federally. I was concerned that I might not be able to vote at school, as my apartment is outside Halifax - Needham, the riding where the Granville Campus is, but they had a second ballot box for people voting outside said riding. I panicked momentarily when I blanked on how to spell the candidate's last name, but was told that I could just write the name of the party. The ballot was put in an envelope, which was put in another envelope, which was put in yet another envelope before finally being dropped in the out-of-riding box.

Tuesday: Once I finally got going, I did some grocery shopping and printed off my notes for Wednesday's presentation on my previous work.

Wednesday: This week was my group's turn to walk the class through the week's chapter of Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things (we still went around and everyone discussed said chapter). We then did presentations and mine went very well.

That evening was the opening of #Keji at the Port Loggia Gallery, which I went to. The work was from a summer course in which students spent four days camping at the Kejimkujik National Park and then created art in response to the experience.

I also put together a schedule for my APC project. After five independent projects for Peter's classes, I'm used to having to come up with a schedule as part of the project proposal.

Thursday: Once again, I planned to get lots of homework done, but virtually nothing got accomplished.

Instead, I went to my first pro-choice counter-rally. Even though we were mic-less (unlike the pro-lifers across the street--they had a full-on sound system), I think we drowned them out. I shouted slogans until my jaw ached, took a break and then got right back at it.

Friday: I finally got this week's reading done.

Saturday: After planning to shoot for my project since Thursday, I finally got it done and did some editing.

Sunday: The issues of two weeks ago resurfaced spectacularly and painfully today. I spent much of the afternoon and into the evening at NSCAD, editing photos and writing this post.

computers: awesome when they work, frustrating when they don't

This week was one of those where I blinked and it was over.

Monday: I've been having problems accessing the school proxy server from my apartment (one of the books we're reading in APC is Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things: An Introduction to Semiotics, which is available through the NSCAD server), so I took my computer to the Port Campus to try to get the issue fixed. Unfortunately the server was down that day, so the IT guy, Tim, had his hands full and told me to come back the next day.

I then headed to the Granville Campus and to OSAS on the second floor: I desperately needed to talk with someone about the stuff that happened last Sunday. And this was one of those times when talking with Mom just wouldn't do (she's awesome, but there are times when I need to go to someone else). I met with Christina Warren, who replaced Bernadette Kehoe when Bernadette accepted a job at NSCC in Dartmouth this past summer. I started whimpering immediately as I told Christina what was going on. That turned into full-on sobbing which came and went throughout much of my time in her office. By the time our conversation turned to other things, I was feeling much better. I also told her a bit about myself--turns out she's an amateur violinist, too, so she completely understood me when I made a music analogy (I do that: because I've studied so many different performing and visual art disciplines, I see connections between them and will sometimes point out said connections)--and signed my page of the 2012 edition of Free Coffee. Christina wants to meet all the students who contributed to the publication last year, and I was the first. As someone who's never been asked for her autograph before, it made me feel like a star.

I spent the rest of the day hanging out in the student lounge and the SUNSCAD office.

Tuesday: I went back to Tim's office. Turns out, the port number in the URL was wrong.

My student loan had finally come in that morning. However, it was only the federal portion, which is way smaller than the provincial part. I didn't notice the memo saying "320 CANADA" in my online account info, so I thought that that was all I was getting for this semester--and that I needed to redo my budget, which I did.

Wednesday: The week I've been waiting for: after going through the week's reading we presented our ideas for our independent study projects. Mine will be about the importance of dance in my life. I'd originally planned to print the photos out, but because music is such a big component of the project, Adrian suggested showing the photos on a screen or with a projector and include the music with each photo. So a photo inspired by The Ballad of Revolt would be accompanied by that work. As someone who doesn't have anything to show photos on besides her computer, I was concerned about the logistics of displaying the project that way until Adrian said that NSCAD has projectors and monitors that I can use. He also talked about the cantankerousness of the NSCAD proxy server. Apparently it only lets up to twelve people log in at one time and it's less cantankerous on-campus.

That night the internet suddenly disappeared and there was nothing I could do to get it back.

Thursday: That morning I still wasn't able to access the internet, so after calling the NB student loan office and finding out that yes, I would be receiving more money in a couple days, I called EastLink (my service provider). They had me try a few things and then suggested that it might be the router, which I then replaced (free). I went back to my apartment, got the router activated and... still nothing. They then got a guy to come over to my apartment that evening. There went my plans to attend the Queer Collective meeting at NSCAD... He tried just about everything possible, and couldn't get the internet to work.

That afternoon, I visited the campaign office of Labi Kousoulis, who's the Liberal candidate for Halifax Citadel - Sable Island. I'd recently found out that yes, even though I'm a New Brunswicker and all my government ID has my NB address, I can vote in the NS provincial election. I just need to provide two pieces of NS ID, and my apartment lease, EastLink bill and student ID card count. I told one of the women there about the things that I'm concerned about, mainly education, NSCAD and the NDP's treatment of both. I also told her how impressed I am by the Liberals' education platform: this is the kind of stuff the NDP should be doing. I left with a magnet, brochure and an election sign--my first (it's totally fine to put them in apartment windows, though because my apartment's so high up it's more for my own enjoyment than anything else: soon after I taped it to my window, I looked up at said window from outside the building. All I could see was a white shape. However, when my building is casting a shadow on the side that I live, I can make out the red on the sign.).

Friday: I called Apple Support to sort out my internet problems. Because the AppleCare expired on my Mac earlier this month, I had to fork over some cash (less than a hundred, thankfully) and because I don't have a credit card, they made an exception and accepted my debit card. The issue was remedied by deleting a folder and then restarting the computer, and I wrote down the procedure just in case this happens again--and because I hate having to ask other people to solve simple tech problems for me.

I spent the afternoon at my favourite coffee shop, reading the chapter for APC, which at times was well beyond awesome.

Saturday: Another afternoon spent at my favourite coffee shop. This time I started putting together the playlist for my APC project. Whittling a playlist down is not easy when it contains so many awesome tracks.

Sunday: I finally started photographing for my project, having set a deadline of tomorrow. I also edited the photos, which presented the usual challenge of how to translate what I see in my head onto the computer screen.

Today was the BSO's first concert of the season--their one hundred and eighteenth, which at times is hard to believe--until I remind myself that they're the oldest community orchestra in the US. Congratulations, guys--and go violins! The first piece on the program was Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, which is one of my favourites.



This video, Maestro Richman's breakdown of what's going on this season, makes me ridiculously proud to be a fan of the Bangor Symphony. By the way, next May marks ten years since I became a fan.

ups and downs

Compared to the first week, this past week was super-easy--so easy, in fact, that I'm currently homework-less. I'm trying to enjoy it, though, as I know the semester's going to pick up once I start my independent project.

Monday: I put the final touches on the presentation for APC.

Tuesday: The big errand day. I got a new logic board put in my computer--which ended up not solving my problems. Turns out, my almost-three-years-old LaCie Rugged hard drive is dying (the FireWire is extremely cantankerous, and has been for about a year). I then paid the internet and phone bill--my first bill (kid's growing up). When I (finally) got home, I transferred all the files to my new hard drive.

That evening we had the first general assembly of the year, which consisted of SUNSCAD bylaw changes, ratifying new student union exec members and updates.

Wednesday: We discussed the reading, and then the second half of class was devoted to presentations. Mine went extremely well. Here's a screen shot of everything that I included, in case anyone's curious (all items had their own slide, complete with picture).

Thursday: The reading for this week was extremely easy--especially since A. I read it in Intro Photo last year and B. I'd spent a couple hours reading it instead of the chapter that I should've been reading during the first class. I'm currently having problems accessing the NSCAD proxy server on my computer off-campus, so I did the reading in one of the school's computer labs. That lab has the new iMacs (the super-thin ones, which sadly lack an optical drive, making me really glad that I own an external one because when I eventually get an iMac, I'll probably need to supply said optical drive myself, as I'm not about to live without one--CDs and DVDs aren't obsolete yet, Apple!), which was a bit of an experience when I turned the computer that I used around to plug in my earbuds. This is what the left side of my Late '11 MacBook Pro looks like. And this is what the back of the computer that I did the reading on looks like (when the guy who put the new logic board in my laptop talked about how FireWire is on the way out, my first thought was of my final focus essay for Questions of Obsolescence. If I were to write the essay now, that would probably be in it.) I mentioned the proxy server problem to the security guard, and he said that the IT guy would be in the next day (reason #1,000 why security guards are awesome).

Friday: I went back to the school that afternoon, but I'd missed the guy by about half an hour. I waited around for a bit, but he didn't come back, so I went back to my apartment after a good chat with the security guard (those people are usually up for a good chat: being a security guard is one of the most boring jobs in the world--in fact, a boring day is a good day).

Saturday: Yesterday was extremely slow, due to no homework and very few errands that needed to be run (just an emergency run to the supermarket to get more garbage bags).

Sunday: Today has been the day from hell, for reasons that I won't go into here. Don't even ask. All I will say is that I can't wait for the day to be over.

I discovered this piano version of In the Hall of the Mountain King a few days ago. It's pretty awesome. You're welcome.

never a dull moment during the first week of class

First week of my fourth year of college or university--done. And already I'm thankful that I didn't do the full eighteen credits. It would've been too much, and even now I'd probably be stressed out and unable to do a blog post (which I look forward to every week).

Monday: I putzed around the apartment and did some cooking.

Tuesday: More putzing, grocery shopping and prepping for the next day.

Wednesday: My last first day of school--for a while, anyway. And it was an intense one, as the course is all day (9:00 - 5:00), which allows us to cover the content in depth. The majority of the class was devoted to reading a chapter from Man's Search for Meaning and then discussing it. First days are always interesting, so I spent an hour or two reading the wrong thing without realizing it (the first chapter from Of Cigarettes and High Heels, which is also on the syllabus). I finally clued into that fact, and started reading what I was supposed to be reading all along--which was a hundred pages long (we were all suffering--why must the first day of class always be so brutal?). I didn't finish the reading by the time we discussed it. I wonder how many of us managed to do that.

I read some more from the chapter that evening.

Thursday: I spent way more time downtown that day than I'd planned to.

I also had a question for Adrian, so I stopped by his office.

I mailed the Confirmation of Earnings form for my student loan, which took a while to do: the first time I tried, the power went off as soon as I entered the drug store where the Canada Post branch nearest to the school is, so I had to go back out again. I waited outside NSCAD for the power to come back on (all of Halifax was out, including all the traffic lights). When it did, I went back to Adrian's office (he'd been meeting with a student at the time I first showed up, and asked me to come back in about fifteen minutes). I got my question answered and then went back to the post office and mailed my COE.

The FireWire 800 port on my laptop has never worked properly, and I'd wanted to take it to the Mac repair place downtown since discovering the problem, but due to my fifteen-credit workload last year I didn't have the time to do so. The guy I talked to asked me to bring my computer, external hard drive and FireWire cable in the next day. So much for staying put for the next few days...

Friday: I went back to the Mac place, this time with my computer. I found out that it was still under warranty (I'd been concerned about that, as Tom and I had cracked open the bottom in order to put in more RAM). I also found out that taking the bottom off the computer doesn't void the warranty--it's an old wives' tale, though I think the guy said that it used to be true. Some info refuses to die... As of that day, the computer was under warranty for another week. He had a look, tried a few things, and determined that it could be the logic board, which he would order (and which would be insanely expensive if the computer was no longer under warranty).

Afterward, I checked out a local record store--and bought a couple CDs for a really good price (one by the Bergen Philharmonic and one by the Berlin Philharmonic that Amazon reviewers seem to either like or dislike, with very little grey area. It's not the best CD that I've ever bought, but it's decent. The Bergen Philharmonic CD, on the other hand, is spectacular.). I then went to my favourite café and spent the rest of the day doing the reading for APC and working on the first presentation, which is about my influences.

Saturday: More putzing around the apartment, plus competing with others on my floor for the washer and dryer (while every floor has its own laundry room, there's only one washer/dryer set per floor). I spent the afternoon doing homework with my roommate.

Sunday: I finally finished the readings for APC and have mostly finished the presentation.

we're thisclose to the end

This week was the peak of the stress, but at last it's all over. It was one of those weeks where, if I were taking eighteen credits, I probably wouldn't have slept much.

Monday: We met at the Atrium at Saint Mary's University and then went to the university's data cave. Afterward, we went over to the Granville Campus and worked on our projects.

Tuesday: Welcome to the busiest day of the semester. I met with Anna at Port at ten that morning to go over my final piece for her class and then headed up to Granville where I worked on my paper for Obsolescence until my meeting with Bernadette to discuss my change in plans. When I initially split my course load, I split it twelve credits in the fall and six credits in the winter. Bernadette told me that because I'd be a part-time student in the winter, I would only get loan money for tuition--not other expenses. She advised that I split it nine and nine, which means doing all my history credits in the winter.

Afterward, I printed the test strips for my final for Reconfigured, which was my first time printing on matte paper EVER. This particular paper is about two or three times thicker than the regular Epson Enhanced Matte paper that both NSCAD and NBCCD stock.

Wednesday: I spent the afternoon doing everything that I needed to do that didn't get done on the weekend or Tuesday.

That evening we again split into groups and critiqued each others' work and then could leave. After class, I went to Staples to talk with them about printing my final project, which is a brochure of my work. I'm printing on legal-size paper in colour and double-sided (none of which I can do in the Photo Dept.).

Thursday: I met with NSCAD's registrar, Shawna, to discuss the changes in my plans. After my meeting with Bernadette, I'd moved the extra course that I was taking in the fall (Survey of Twentieth-Century Art) to the winter semester, and when Shawna and I went over my courses she was very happy with how I'd set it up and told me that I was "setting [myself] up for success." She agreed that my original plan of doing all eighteen credits in one semester would've been brutal (I'd been very worried about burnout). I came out of the meeting with a huge smile on my face. My graduation date is now officially Summer '14, meaning that a year from now I'll be doing my last set of finals and graduating with my BFA in Photography. It also means another year of reading about my shenanigans and adventures as a university student.

We spent the second half of class watching The Matrix. I'd found out a couple days prior when I'd met a classmate at OSAS that the final paper for Obsolescence was supposed to be 3,000 to 4,000 words long (Bob had made no mention of this). I only had 2,000 words (still a respectable number--and my longest college/university paper ever). I'd emailed Bob, and although he'd replied I wanted to talk with him about it in person, which we did after class. Afterward, I successfully found my way back to G-block from S-block (which has taken several tries that always ended in defeat, so this is a major accomplishment). I'm finally at a point where I feel reasonably comfortable navigating parts of the school that aren't G- or D-block (where Photo is). By the time I graduate, I should be completely adjusted to the maze that is Granville. The fact that all four of my classes are at that campus (currently--that could change, as was the case with Writing for the Arts, which was supposed to be in Granville until it got changed to Port) helps.

On my way home I stopped by the SuperStore to pick up stuff for the next day's potluck.

Friday: Yay for end-of-the-semester potluck brunches--and for meeting at ten instead of eight-thirty. One of my classmates--who was supposed to present last week, but didn't--presented, and we watched an episode of The Twilight Zone, which I'd heard about for years, but never actually seen. The episode? The Obsolete Man, of course!



Bob had brought a cake--with "Obsolete!" written on it. Us being photography majors, most of the class crowded around the cake, taking photos (because, honestly, how many times in your life are you going to see a cake with "obsolete" written on it?).

WftA had a potluck as well. Several of us (including me) read the journal entries that we had edited. You can read mine (about my journey from being a timid artist to one who's not afraid to use her art to stand up for what she believes in) here. When I was reading it, I couldn't help but think about how much it benefited from being read aloud. Anna told us tearfully about a couple of students who'd been raising funds for a new computer for her (her previous laptop was stolen).

In the evening, we had the closing of the WftA shows. I went home between class and the closing to eat supper and dump my backpack and then went back to Port. Here's the photo of my piece that I promised.

I spent the rest of the evening adding to my Obsolescence paper.

Saturday: Saturday is usually the day I spend at home, but this time I spent part of the afternoon at NSCAD, printing my final for Reconfigured and giving my final for Graphics a once-over. Once I got home, I spent some time cleaning my room and then finished off the Obsolescence paper--for real this time. The whole time, I listened to Die Walküre, and was reminded just how awesome that opera is (something I keep forgetting). I'm not a Ring-head, but Walküre is almost enough to convert me. Almost.



Sunday: Today I didn't have much to do. I finished the project that I'd photographed for the WftA show (sealing all those envelopes--I just have to mail them now), proofread the paper for Obsolescence, watched an episode of a New Zealand TV show that I've been watching on YouTube (The Secret Lives of Dancers, which is about the Royal New Zealand Ballet company) and read a bunch of the tabs that have been accumulating in Firefox since at least January (college/university = very little time to read).

Mom will be coming over on Tuesday to help me pack and then we're outta here next Friday.

looking ahead

We're officially in Finals Mode.

Monday: Elections for the '13 - '14 SUNSCAD executive were that day, Tuesday and Wednesday. I voted on Monday.

We talked about our final projects for Reconfigured and Bob made some suggestions as to how we can take them even further.

Tuesday: My registration period opened at noon and I registered for my first course (Survey of Twentieth-Century Art, a mandatory 2000-level course) half an hour later. I also started the process of registering for Advanced Photo Critique (a.k.a. APC), which is a 4000-level course and, like Twentieth-Century Art, is mandatory. APC is an independent-study thesis course. I've been talking with a couple of friends who are taking it this semester, and I think I've finally wrapped my head around what's involved. Said independent project is a semester long, which is more time than I've ever had to work on a project (projects for Peter's courses were seven weeks long). I'm still so used to just having seven weeks to do a project that an entire semester almost feels like too much. But having an entire semester means that I have the time to do my very best.

I spent the day studying at NSCAD and doing prep for APC registration, which started with a stop at OSAS, then being directed to the administrative assistant, Joann. That's when I started to get a bit stressed: because I'm one history course (three credits) short of the nine required for that course, she doubted that I would be able to get permission and would have to do APC in a fourth semester. I'm hell-bent on finishing my degree in three semesters, so that was a bit scary. I also want to finish with as little debt as possible.

That evening, SUNSCAD held a meeting with the students, FUNSCAD and Friends of NSCAD in the student lounge to talk about what's next now that we don't have to worry about FUNSCAD going on strike (woot!).

Wednesday: I got an email late that morning telling me that the division chair, David Clark, would be in his office that day as well as Thursday. I immediately emailed back and called a cab. Once I got to the university I headed for Joann's office. She told me that David was in his, which was next door. After going over my audit sheet, chatting about New Brunswick (seriously, the world keeps getting smaller), discussing my history situation and what I covered at NBCCD, I filled out the APC form. David added a note saying that I'd be doing my last history credit concurrently and signed it. I took the form back to OSAS, filled out a course add/drop form, and then both were taken to the registrar's office. Done. One of the things I love about NSCAD is that as long as administration knows that you're going to take any missing prerequisites, you're good to go.

After all that excitement, I spent the rest of the day studying.

We presented our logos. I'm to redo mine for this week. Jeff introduced the final project, which is a portfolio of our work.

Thursday: We discussed two readings that were handed out a couple weeks ago.

Friday: More presentations--and this time the walk to school was uneventful. I presented this week. I'd spent the last few weeks doing a ton of research. Bob's suggestion: keep it personal. In other words, screw the research. We'll see what happens--I have two thousand words to play with, making this essay (which will be on humanity's relationship with technology, both the good and the bad) the longest one that I've ever written for school. I may or may not use some of the research.

I checked Facebook when I got to the Port Campus and found out that one of my friends got into NSCAD (although she's graduating from NBCCD with a diploma in photography this year, she's decided be an Interdisciplinary major at NSCAD). I was--and still am--ridiculously excited for her. It'll be wonderful to have another NBCCDer flitting around NSCAD, spreading her own brand of awesome. I love both schools, and I love having my alma mater represented at my second school.

That afternoon was the final presentation (on graffiti) for Writing for the Arts. Throughout the semester, each presentation group has had to come up with a post-presentation activity or writing topic. This time, newsprint had been wrapped between two posts, and we were allowed to draw or write anything we wanted on it. I wrote "NSCAD ROCKS!" As I said to a classmate, this is why I love art school.

I spent part of the evening working on my project for the show.

Saturday: I got an unbelievable amount of work done.

That evening my floor's RA and some friends observed Earth Hour. We played Pictionary in near-dark, using an (unplugged!) iPhone flashlight.

Sunday: I spent the afternoon at the Port Campus doing Graphics homework, and I'm just about finished.

Next weekend is Easter weekend, which means that I'll be staring six unstructured days in the face. I'll get to sleep in on Friday (wonderful!), and then, because Canada likes to squeeze an extra day out of that weekend in the form of Easter Monday (which I just found out is a religious holiday in Orthodox Christianity), I'll have yet another free day. I don't have class until Graphics on Wednesday evening. I plan to spend those days getting work done and relaxing--maybe even exploring Halifax some more, which I've missed doing and won't have time to do next semester (two words: eighteen credits). Sometimes I'm tempted to move here for a year or so to work and experience Halifax with only my latest photo project for homework.

we won't shut up

After I-don't-know-how-many ridiculously busy weeks, this weekend felt almost too good to be true.

Monday: We started the first round of Electronic Culture presentations.

Tuesday: Once again, the students marched to Province House--this time with red ribbons in hand. We also wrapped the NSCAD lions in red fabric. I was a bit later leaving my place than I'd intended, so I called a cab. When I got to the school (with about twenty minutes to spare), work had already started on the wrapping, so I stopped and watched--and took photos. Slowly a small crowd of students and media gathered to watch and film the wrapping. Some of the SUNSCAD execs were interviewed by CBC. Some students tore red fabric into ribbons and I took a handful. I was asked to carry the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) flag, which I was proud to do. You can see it in this photo from the February sixth manifesto delivery (albeit backwards):

 We then marched over to Province House, chanting the whole way. Once there we tied the ribbons to the Province House gate and chanted some more, playing Red Rover with the provincial government: "RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL DEXTER OVER,
"YOUR SILENCE IS PUBLIC, OUR CAUSE WON'T BLOW OVER,

"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL MARILYN'S PHONE,
"OUR NEEDS, AS WE'VE OUTLINED, WILL NOT BE POSTPONED!

"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL NDP OUT,
"YOU SAY YOU VALUE ARTISTS BUT NOW WE'RE IN DOUBT!

"RED ROVER RED ROVER WE CALL NSCAD PROUD,
"YOU KEEP BEING SILENT, WE'LL KEEP GETTING LOUD!"

The last chant was my favourite.

We then headed back to the school. That afternoon, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald published an article about the protest.

You can see photos from the protest here.

I spent much of the afternoon walking around the Granville Campus, photographing for my project for the Writing for the Arts show. I ended up getting completely turned around in North Block. I wandered around, went up and down some stairs and eventually found an entrance off of Granville Plaza that I hadn't known about.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Graphics homework.

That evening was the candidates' forum for next year's SUNSCAD executive. Two of the positions are contested and the president (Sarah Trower) is running for a second term (due to the turmoil at NSCAD, having a veteran SUNSCAD exec as president would be easier for the student union: Sarah knows the issues extremely well and because she's done this before, she doesn't need any training).

Wednesday: I took a photo for the Writing for the Arts show catalogue and spent the afternoon finishing my Graphics project.

That evening we had a work-in-progress critique--turns out, the project wasn't due that week as I'd thought. It's due this week. My crit went fairly well, though I had to redo the logo. Thankfully, version two was a lot simpler to do.

Thursday: I did my presentation for Reconfigured on Monica Lacey (NBCCD Class of '11).

I finally finished my stuff for the next day's Writing for the Arts.

That evening we had a council meeting--the first in several months.

Friday: Friday was, to put it mildly, interesting. It started with me sleeping through my alarm by seven minutes, which has never happened before. I ended up being late for class and calling a cab. I then had a close call with my tripod at Starbucks: I thought I'd lost it or someone had made off with it. I started to panic and searched for it, telling one of the baristas when she asked if there was anything wrong, but ended up admitting defeat and left. I got three-quarters across the street before realizing that I'd left my coffee in the café. I went back, got my coffee--and there was the barista with my tripod! I felt like the happiest woman in Halifax: although my tripod probably isn't the most expensive out there, I was not looking forward to breaking the news to my parents. I thanked her and went on my merry way, coffee in hand. I ended up being ten minutes late to class.

After all that excitement, I was glad that Obsolescence was as uneventful as ever (more research presentations).

As for Writing for the Arts, the next group of students presented, and their presentation was on the appropriation of First Nations and Native American culture. It seems that we settlers can never get it right, particularly in the movies (Dances with Wolves comes close, but even it fails in some ways). Also, I didn't know that until white people arrived, native peoples didn't have chiefs--they had tribe mothers. White folks didn't want to talk with the women, hence the chiefs. Since Idle No More started, I've realized just how little I know about First Nations peoples and what they've suffered at the hands of white people. This summer I'm determined to change that.

After the presentation, one of my classmates who's also in my photo classes (and a fellow NBCCD transfer student), Michael, borrowed my camera and tripod and took photos for the students who hadn't yet documented their work for the show catalogue.

I didn't realize this at the time, but that day marked one year since I received my acceptance package from NSCAD.

Saturday: I spent the afternoon getting work done. Unlike the last few weeks, I don't have much to do, and the work that I do have is stuff that I've already started.

Sunday: I'd planned to photograph at the Port Campus and then head over to Granville to work on my Graphics homework, but I decided to only go as far as Port because they also have a computer lab.

On my way over, I stopped at the Seaport Farmers' Market. I didn't buy anything, but I watched a performance by a local Irish step-dance school.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on Graphics homework.

On my way home, I decided to check out some pipes (at least I think they're pipes) that I'd noticed since September but never seen up close. Once I saw them, I just had to photograph them. So I went back to my place, grabbed my camera, changed the lens and went back. Here are two of the photos:

I spent the rest of the evening doing some research for Obsolescence and I started my journal entry for Writing for the Arts.

well, that's over with

Like the one that I wrote on February 11th, this post is dedicated to FUNSCAD--this time to the members of Unit I.

---

This week has been incredibly stressful, and from Tuesday to Thursday I wasn't sure where one day ended and the next began. They all blurred together in my mind and it was only when I went back and reread my Facebook statuses on Friday evening that I managed to sort it all out.

Also, correction: last week I wrote, "One of the issues that FUNSCAD I is fighting is the fact that the administration is trying to prevent part-time and regular part-time faculty (part-time has three different levels, and from there it gets rather complex) from being on-campus outside the regular semester, which doesn't bode well for students who want to meet with a part-timer in the summer." This would only apply to faculty members who aren't employed by the school during those months.

Monday: We watched an NFB movie about Marshall McLuhan.

After class I picked up Anna's Instax camera at the Port Campus.

Tuesday: I spent the afternoon doing homework, including visiting the Saint Mary's University Art Gallery to take notes for the second gallery review.

That evening we had another GA. I went early because I wanted to photograph for my project for the WftA show. In addition to photographing the quirks and other things that make NSCAD special, I'm going to try to photograph as many of the departments as possible. This is a daunting task because the departments are spread over three campuses, and Granville is a maze. Also, I don't know where many of the departments are--I probably only know a quarter of Granville, if that.

The GA was a long one--two hours--but we decided our next direct action. We're going to wrap the NSCAD lions--a gift from the NS government--in red fabric (representing the school's debt, which is less than other NS universities, though we're being bullied more), à la Christo and Jeanne-Claude. We're also going to tie pieces of red fabric to the Province House fence, in a sense tying our debt to the government. And we'll play Red Rover and call the government over.

Wednesday: That day FUNSCAD I's strike became legal at 1:30 PM. I went to school early and stopped at the SUNSCAD office to see if there was any news. The strike vote would happen at 4:00 that afternoon. More waiting. Ugh. I spent the afternoon doing more homework and waiting impatiently. I also came up with a plan, should FUNSCAD go on strike: get as much work as possible done (due to no classes, I'd have a bunch of free time that I'm not used to right now, and I'd need a way to fill it, even though the year would be extended to make up for lost time), and spend as much time as possible on the picket line in solidarity. When 4:00 rolled around, I started checking my school email obsessively. I finally got a message from SUNSCAD's president, Sarah, but it was rather cryptic, so on my way out I stopped by the student union office.

Graphics was cancelled that evening. No reason was given. While I love that class, due to my homework situation I didn't mind: that was three more hours in which to get stuff done.

Thursday: We presented our second projects for Reconfigured Image. This particular crit had us going all over the photo dept.: the finishing room, the classroom and the computer lab. Mine went very well.

That evening the previous two days caught up with me and I snapped: "[I am] going to be VERY happy to sleep in this weekend. All this strike-related stress has taken its tole, as has the homework. I will be SO glad when I get the final word about Funscad from either them or S.U.N.S.C.A.D. I don't want the teachers to go on strike, but at this point just KNOWING either way is good enough." Not long after that Facebook status update, the news started coming in: a tentative agreement between the school and the faculty union had been reached. At first the news (posted on the university's Twitter account and copied and pasted to the SUNSCAD Facebook group) was a bit cryptic--knowing how unions work, I had a feeling that it meant that there wasn't going to be a strike, but I wasn't sure. But then the university's Facebook status was updated with a clearer message: "Breaking news! NSCAD University and FUNSCAD Unit 1, representing faculty members and librarians, have reached a tentative agreement, subject to ratification." When I read that, I started crying out of relief and joy. By that point, I was up past my bedtime and I knew I'd be exhausted the next morning, but I celebrated by dancing around my room to Sham Rock's version of I'll Tell Me Ma.

Friday: And yes, I was tired. The fact that class started at the time listed on the schedule (8:30 AM) rather than 9:00 didn't help matters. Class was devoted to research presentations for our final focus papers.

Anna gave us the rundown of what's left and two groups presented.

Understandably, both she and Bob were both super-relieved that they didn't have to be on the picket line that afternoon: Bob said that he was very happy about the fact that he'd be in his office that afternoon and at the end of WftA, Anna told us to enjoy the weekend--"and no strike!" That got applause from some of us, including me, and I threw in a cheer.

Saturday: As for me, I was very happy to sleep in that day: the previous three nights I'd gotten eight or fewer hours of sleep, and by Friday night I was exhausted.

I spent the day listening to opera and studying.

Sunday: More studying. I somehow managed to get everything crossed off my to-do list by Sunday night.

That evening, I hunkered down with Jack, a biopic about Jack Layton produced by the CBC. It brought back many memories, both happy and sad, of the Orange Crush and Jack's death. While I'd heard about some inaccuracies, the movie was very well done: well-directed, -acted and if you didn't know better, you would've thought that that was Jack (in real life, Rick Roberts doesn't look anything like him). The movie reminded me why I was so proud to cast my ballot for the NDP in the '11 election.



I also struggled to write this post: when it was just about ready to be published, something happened (I'm blaming Blogger) and I lost everything and had to start from scratch. Two hours of writing--gone. This has never happened before, and I've been writing this blog for four years as of today (yay!). I managed to rewrite pretty much everything in about an hour, but by that point it was almost two AM, I was wiped and I needed to get up reasonably early today, so I put off proofreading and posting until now.

break? what break?

This break wasn't so much a break as it was a week-long unstructured work period.

Monday: I spent much of the day being lazy--until I had to shovel a path from the garage to the road (not a long distance, but there was a lot of snow).

Tuesday: Mom and I went skiing. I planned on getting homework done, but ended up not having enough time.

Wednesday: Mom and I went to town, and then I finally got homework done.

Thursday: Mom and I went skiing again and this time the snow was a lot better. ...and I did more homework.

Friday: You guessed it: more homework. Mom and I also played Cat-opoly. She won, though not without landing on "Fleas" immediately after passing "Scat" several times (meaning that the $200 that she got for passing "scat" went to pay for the fleas, which also cost $200--that's some expensive flea medication), and howls of laughter from both of us.

Saturday: I did almost everything that I needed to do to apply for summer jobs, but because a few places have application forms and neither of us picked them up, I decided to wait and do all my job-hunting stuff when I come home for the summer. A lot of the places that I apply to every year are closed for the winter when I do the rounds during break, anyway.

Sunday: I spent much of the day on the road. This time the buses were on time for much of the trip.

I tried to get work done, but I think I'm just too tired.

Tomorrow is the beginning of NBCCD's mid-term assessment week and then they are on break the following week. No wonder the break snuck up on me this year.

happiness is being home

Reading Week snuck up on me this year--probably because I'm so used to NBCCD's first-week-in-March break.

Monday: Bob and one of the MFA students gave us a rundown of our printing options, specifically paper. The papers that both NSCAD and NBCCD use (Epson Premium Lustre and I can't remember which matte paper because I rarely use matte) are proofing papers: they'll get the job done, but they won't last as long as higher-quality papers.

On my way home, I finally bought my bus ticket.

Tuesday: I spent much of the day at NSCAD, but didn't get as much done as I'd planned. Instead, I spent most of my time there wrestling with my Graphics project. I then took it over to Staples and printed it (Staples will print on a variety of papers, whereas the Cage will only print on the pre-loaded paper).

Wednesday: I tried to make up for Tuesday, and I almost succeeded. This week we had to write another focus essay for Obsolescence as well as a proposal for the final, I had to finish my presentation and write the usual journal entry for Writing for the Arts and finish the project for Graphics. This meant that I barely had any free time.

I started packing for break that afternoon.

Graphics was mostly a critique of our projects. Mine went fairly well, though I have to redo some things and resubmit the project.

Thursday: I went to school a bit earlier than usual to finish and print stuff for Friday.

We talked more about paper options and decided which two to get.

Friday: This week's discussion took a decidedly science-y turn.

There were supposed to be two presentations as per usual in Writing for the Arts, but because the first one ran really long and we had to decide the show theme for the Wednesday class, I will be presenting in the first week after the break. And that theme is "No Hands". The theme that the Wednesday class decided for us is "Envelop(e)". When I first heard that we were going to do a show at the end of the year, I decided that whatever the theme, my submission would be photo-based because that's what I'm majoring in.

Saturday: I was not happy about waking up at 5:45 AM/4:45 EST--but because it was to catch the bus, it was worth it because I'd get to see my parents and cats earlier. And besides--I could snooze on the bus, which I did.

Mom and I talked the whole way home, as usual.

That evening, Tom had a couple of surprises for me: two books on opera. Although I have a kids' book about opera, I didn't have any grown-up books on the subject. One is a book of the synopses of the popular (repertoire) operas and the other is about the history behind those operas. I was about as excited as if he'd given me tickets to a performance at the Met.

Sunday: I'd planned to be productive, but those plans went out the window.

I spent Saturday and Sunday evenings watching La Bohème (the performance that the Met simulcast a few seasons ago)--and sobbing through the latter half of Act IV. I never want Mimì to die, and I always mutter, "no, no, no, no" at various points throughout that act, as though it'll change the ending. Unlike many other operas, La Bohème is very real to me: although they're fictional, Mimì, Rodolfo, Colline, Shaunard, Marcello and, yes, Musetta are my friends by the end--I relate to them. I love them all, and I know that if they were real people they would be my friends. So seeing one of of them die breaks my heart. It's the same every time, but I always come back for more.