Hey all!

Man, life’s been crazy! Can you believe it’s almost the end of the semester? We have *counts on his fingers* Only 10 class days before the semester is over! Woah! Can that be right? *counts again* I think it is!

Everything is winding down. We’re done with our readings in Glassblowing class, and I finished my HUGE paper in there! (It was pretty good, I thought!) We’re done with individual assignments in Typography. We’re wrapping up our last book in literature class. We only got a few more exhibits to review in Art Criticism. Dateline, our school’s newspaper, is working on it’s last issue for the semester. Things seem to be slowing down

But that’s only half of what goes on at the end of a semester around here. Some things pick up the pace! We have finals coming up. Finals are a big deal at the Mount, and they can account for HUGE percentages of your grade. I know for a fact that in many classes your final can be 50% of your entire grade or more.

Now, in most core classes and seminars (Science, Math, Psychology, etc) the finals would be an exam. I’d say most classes are that way. But in my case, as an art major, most of my finals are actually final projects. In Typography I have to compile all of my work into a handbook I’ve created, along with a history of typography. That’s huge part of my final grade. In Graphic Design, I’m sure I’ll have to design a project, and it will have to encompass all the things I’ve learned over this semester (Which is A LOT!).

In glass I have to design a final project of glass, which has to be something more difficult then everything we’ve done so far. I think I’m going to fashion pumpkins out of glass, and try to put them all on the same vine. That’s gonna be so hard, because you can’t let glass get cold. It’ll crack! And by cold, I mean you might have three minutes after you break the glass off the pipe to get it in the oven, or it’ll crack, sometimes even explode into pieces! I’ll have to keep it warm somehow! We have plumber’s torches, which are these huge things hooked up to propane tanks. Maybe I’ll have someone use one of those.

Well, I have more work to do guys! I’ll be sure to let you guys know how the final project comes out! Hopefully I’ll get pictures.

I’ll see you guys soon!

I have been awake since 6am this morning going through e-mails, papers, binders, folders, books, web-sites, phone conversations, and everything else possible! Lets start off with the first two hours of my day. I spent two hours this morning putting together information for an interview that I would have for Kiss 107 about my involvement through the Mount on www.collegeweeklive.com. I then got ready for the day and went to my 9am class. Afterwards I spoke with Cliff about the semester so far and picked up my the Flip Video Camera to start taking more footage for the video that will ...eventually... be up on this blog page. He also had mentioned some ideas for the phonathon job just so many hours later. I then had just enough time to stop up in my room to check e-mails again before my tutoring for ethics. My tutor helped me pitch some ideas for my last ethics paper for the semester. I finished tutoring and made my way up to the room to yet again CHECK MY E-MAIL for more updates for the day and this week. ((I feel like I get 10 e-mails every hour - I'm too involved.)) I then rushed my lunch in order to once again check my e-mail so I can be ready for another interview for the day. I was able to speak with Shane Fero for an hour today about glass art. He is the president of the Glass Art Society and has created some amazingly beautiful pieces and has been able to present, lecture, demonstrate, and teach the techniques of flameworking. I had this interview with him today because of a research paper that is due on Thursday for my flameworking course. We have to research the technique and history of the glasswork as well as an artist who uses the technique and their thoughts and experience with it. I chose Shane Fero because of his magnificent work but never expected to be given the opportunity to speak with him directly about his fabulous work! The best thing I got from the interview was this direct quote from him. His words are inspirational:

“Coming from a traditional background, you learn by practice. Somebody that is coming from a background doesn’t have to have huge skills to make something beautiful. You don’t have to have incredible flameworking skills to make incredible art.”

I've been in a great mood ever since! But still tired because there has been more to add on to the day. After the interview I had voice lessons and then had to rush up to the theatre lobby for the campus ministry leadership team bingo event. I was unaboule to stay for the whole thing however because of choir. Of course after choir, I went up to my room again to CHECK E-MAIL AGAIN before dinner in which i rush in order to get to work on time. Working the phonathon was of course slow tonight because its the last week of calling and we were calling some of the more difficult customers. We made it through though and ended up making it over our goal for the semester. So it overall was a big success. Well after work I had another meeting with campus ministry to talk about the bingo event earlier in the day, as well as the trick or treat for canned goods event. They were BOTH BIG SUCCESSES! We are really excited about it. We also began talking in to more details about upcoming events for the semester. This includes shanty town in which any of the mount students/faculty/staff etc. can build a place to stay for the night of november 19th out of cardboard boxes and sleep outside. it is a big part of our homelessness awareness week! we talked about more details within the week about movie events, speakers, and more. i'm really excited about it! we have more events coming up as well, including a night hike on december 2nd that is welcome to all. after the meeting i was finally able to come back to my room FOR THE NIGHT and get ready for bed. and so now i'm here. writing this blog, tired as can be, and still having to work on more homework, including that ten-page paper that my interview was for. thankfully i have more than enough information to feed off of. its just a matter of whether my brain is too fried to work on it much tonight before i sleep.

well either way, thanks for reading my blog again!

It was only a matter of time.  Indeed, I knew the time had arrived.  That singular momentous momentum, that serendated and serendipidously split in the precious paralax instead and yet to submerge to the instant that moving time was so glorifiyingly blessed, the fragile spec of a membrance was multi-intelligable by all possible grievous sentiment or subjugation.  So, I reached for my D.H. Lawrence.

Superfluous, you ask?  Indeed.  So for example, this is the referent:

 

 

 Now the musical experience:

chronojam.mp3 (3.02 mb)

 

Thank you very mucho.  And now, the DHL: "Tell me a word, that you've often heard, yet it makes you squint, if you see it in print!"  I could create an argument where this quote could in fact perhaps be related in some way.  But, remember, a blog is a blog is a blog is a blog.  have fun

 

 

                   

So I just have to say this was a fun week!!! It was only a four day week so that was definitely a plus for me- no school this past Friday!!! :) Monday, I had my classes and did nothing as usual. Tuesday was the same. Wednesday was normalish. On Wednesday night, I stayed up until past midnight to help my friend Jimmie celebrate his 21st birthday on Thursday! His sister came over and celebrated in the traditional way that is the 21st birthday. I did not partake since I had an early day on Thursday. Thursday was fine. But Thursday night was AWESOME!!! 

I got to go to Cirque du Soleil with my friends Kristy and Maria! It was freaking AMAZING!!! It was the show Saltimbanco and was full of single performers and cast performances and flying high stunts and awesome showmanship and just extraordinary make-believe skills! We had so much and it was just across the river at the Bank of Kentucky Center on Northern Kentucky University's (NKU) campus so that was just a stroke of good luck to have it so close! It's never been this close that I know of in the last few years! The bad part of it all was we weren't allowed to take pictures because "if your camera goes flashy then our performers go crashy" (that's what the woman in the beginning told us- she was one of the performers so when she said it, it was funny as heck- the intro, not the part about crashing). My favorite part was when Eddy (that's what the program named him as) went up and down this imaginary hallway and opened all these doors and one was a closet full of toys. Such as a yo-yo that he played with, a bat, and then a ball that became an interactive part with the audience (one guy did well, a woman managed to "throw" the ball short and then too far, and then a man who threw the ball at Eddy but when Eddy tried to hit it with the bat, the ball flew into his mouth and then he ended up swallowing it. He tried using the bathroom to get it out but the toilet was already clogged so when he tried to flush it, the bathroom filled up with water and he became submerged in the water. He called someone on his "cell phone" and they let him out and flooded out and knockd down some other performers. I will remind you, though, that none of this was real and all of this was done with just Eddy on the stage. No props. Just him, his body movements, and his sound effects. It was freaking HILARIOUS!!!). I ended up buying the DVD of the show for my parents since it was their anniversary, but it's also so I can see it again and enjoy the fun I had all over again. 

Some of the other acts were two women doing high flying acrobatic work, a juggler that used like 12 balls, two muscle men (hot!), four high flying bungee cord performers (they were AMAZING!), a woman with these two balls flying around on these string things (I don't know what it was so I can't explain it), and some awesome singing (it was all in French so I have no idea what they were trying to sing but I got shivers anyway so it must've been awesome whatever they were singing). And of course, everytime they just "said" something, it was just jibber jabber in some made up language and I didn't understand a word of it but it was funny as heck! :) 

We had an amazing time and 2 and half hours was too short! I want to go again as soon as I can because Cirque du Soleil is just an amazing demonstration of creativity, ingenuity, athleticism, and pure genius! Wow... just... wow...! 

Friday I had off so I did some service hours as Mercer Elementary School on the East Side and got about 6 hours worth in. Then I had to go "rescue" my brother. His car broke down on the side of East 275 so I had to pick him up and follow the tow truck to the car repair shop. Then Saturday I got to go to the home football game. We lost to Anderson University but I got to hang out during the game with my parents so I had a ton of fun doing that. Then my mom and I did some errands and now here we are! :) Tomorrow I'll go back to school and it's all down hill from here. We're in the home stretch, half way done with the semester and just half of it to go! Only 8 more weeks! Amazing how fast school has flown by...! I'm ready for a real long break but I'm not ready to get to the end just yet... It'll be too much fun just getting there!!! :)

 

Hey all, once again!

School this year has been really hectic, and I’m still adjusting to having more credit hours than I ever have before. Really though, I’m so happy with school this semester! This has been the most fun I’ve had yet in college!

Last week, I told you all a little bit about what it was like to be a general student at the Mount. I thought this week, I’d tell you a subject that I’m really an expert at: Being an art student at the Mount. :D

My major is Graphic Design and I’m really starting to get into it my sophomore year. Art courses here frequently have a lot of homework. I spend at least 5-6 hours a week out of class working on my projects. When you’re an art student, most of the classes for your major will be what we call ‘studio classes’. They’re much longer than your regular 50 minute classes. My studio classes are all at least 2 hours long and frequently they come with lots of outside work. But still, these classes are my favorites! It’s true I have homework, but I get to put on my headphones while I work on it! You can’t do that with Writing homework!

I have never had a test in any of my art classes. Your artwork is your test. In place of tests, we have critiques. Critiques are where the entire class gathers around the work, and the students will describe their work and their process. Then the teacher will talk about the work, what parts the professor thinks worked and what parts the professor thinks aren’t as effective. Your grade on a particular project is usually based on the artwork itself and your presentation of you artwork in the critique.

(If you sound really good, sometimes it can save your grade!)

One of the downsides of art is that it does come with long supply lists. Especially the traditional media classes, you often have to buy your own charcoal, pencils, paper, drawing boards, and whatever you might need to work in and out of class. The good side of this is you get to keep all your own stuff. (I kept drawing over the summer. I still had plenty of charcoal and pencils left!)

Also, sometimes art classes (like my glassblowing and Art History class… any Art History class will be the same, I’m sure.) come with a lot of reading. I have a few hours of reading for my Art History course and my Glass Blowing course each week. Art isn’t freeform here at the Mount, it’s very structured, and you learn a ton of stuff! Like any other major, it takes organization and some self-discipline to make sure you get everything you need to do done.

Well, I’m going to have to leave you folks now. I got Graphic Design homework and I’ve left all my Glass Blowing reading until the last minute! I hope you all have a great week, and I’ll write again soon!

I've found out that I have one of the weirdest personalities that I've ever encountered. Let me explain. 

I love being busy. I do. That's why I was so bored this summer. I had a summer baby-sitting job for which I had to literally sit in the living room of this family's house for about four hours a day because the two girls I was "baby-sitting" were 14 and 11. They really didn't needed to be "sat" but they needed someone to drive them to activities, piano lessons, volunteer work, to their schools' summer programs, etc. The parents worked in combination 4 of 5 days a week and needed me to cover those days that they couldn't drive their daughters around. So that's what I did. But most days we didn't do diddily sqwat. I got very bored, very fast. I've completed 2 and 1/2 full cross-stitch projects in the last two summers. That's how bored I was.  

Anyway, I like to be busy. But then I discover that I get agitated while being busy. Or maybe it's when I get too busy. Take this past Thursday. I was supposed to have class 10-11:15 AM, then I was supposed to have one meeting at 11:30 and then another at 12 PM that was off-campus so we (a group of us were going) had to leave at 11:40 to get there but we had to be back in time for class at 12:45 PM. Then I was to have class until 3:30 and then I had another meeting at 5 PM. Well, as it turned out, the two meetings at 11:30 and 12 were cancelled. I was actually kinda excited that I got to have a full day but at the same time, I was agitated that I had to do all this running around lacking the time to breathe. So in the end, I guess it worked out okay. 

But then on the days I'm bored, like Friday, I get just as agitated. On Friday, I woke up at 9 AM to conduct an interview at 10 AM and I was supposed to have class 11-11:50 AM but the teacher was sick so class got cancelled and my next class wasn't until 2 PM. So I had nothing to do between the hours of 10:30 AM-12:30 PM. I ended up getting some laundry done and read some of a new book I got ("Public Secrets") but that was it. After my afternoon class I did more homework while I watched part of "The Patriot" (LOVE! that movie!) and then I went home for the weekend. I got home, caught up on my shows on DVR ("House," "Project Runway," but I couldn't find "Eureka"), and then went out to dinner with my parents at Main Street Cafe in Newtown (I/My parents [I guess I don't technically 'live' there anymore since I dorm] live on the East Side of Cincinnati). 

You have a lot of down time while you're living on campus. I never realized that. When I commuted, it was all about when to schedule my driving times around the rush hour Downtown and when to leave and when to come, etc. But here in the dorms, it's more like, what do you want to do when you don't have anything to do? There's only so much homework to do and only so many TV shows and movies you can watch. I also try to stay ahead in making CAB flyers and working on my article(s) for Dateline but again, there's only so much to do. I'm sure I'll come up with something... 

And this weekend shouldn't be anything extravagant either. I'll prolly watch TV or go shopping with my mom on Saturday and Sunday I know our family will sit down and scream at the TV as the Bengals play the Cowboys (and prolly lose in the process but we'll still keep our hopes up). :) 

Next week should be fun though! That's what I'm really looking forward to! We'll be heading into our 7th week of school (I can't believe how fast school is moving along this year!) so we have our mid-semester break on Friday so no school! But on Thursday night, my friend Kristy and my roommate/friend Maria and I will going to the Cirque du Soleil show at the Bank of Kentucky Center at Northern Kentucky University! It's so exciting! I read their book my Senior year of high school in my cermaics class (it was supposed to inspire more creativity in our work but I don't think it worked) and ever since then, I've just really been interested in thier performances and the work and elegance and fun that goes into each show. The show this time is Saltimbanco, meaning "to jump on a bench" in Italian, and it delves into the world that is the urban. It explores the city and the streets and the hustle and bustle of city life, according to their website (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/default.htm#). It looks absolutely AMAZING and I cannot wait to go!!! :D 

I'm sure I'll have another blog up soon, and it will be full of the details and fun of the Cirque du Soleil show and I can't wait to share it with everyone!!! So until next time, did you ever figure out if a tree would hear you if you fell in a forest? ;) lol

 

 

I guess I can’t really characterize this week to be any busier than the rest, but it sure seemed that way.  As I am approaching graduation, there are several things that need to be done.  The first of which, is getting my portfolio together.  This is a huge undertaking, which I have been dreading for 3 years.  One thing I would recommend coming into college is having a filing system in place.  Also always back up your work onto a CD, jump drive or external hard drive.  Some people like me learn these lessons the hard way.   So this week and weekend was spent getting my top 3-4 projects together, updating my resume and putting together options for my portfolio layout.  We also started writing our THESIS PROPOSALS this week!!!!  I am so nervous but excited at the same time about Thesis.  Last week our group project for the IDEC Competition was due, I am glad that is over with.  Hopefully ours will be picked to be sent into the competition!!!  I think our presentation turned out to be the best in the class, so I am optimistic!  Well I hear my Photoshop work calling me, talk to you soon!  

Wow, summer really flew by!  My summer was filled with work, work, a family vacation to Hilton Head and a trip to Chicago for Neo Con.  Now that I have been thrown back into reality I really wish it was still summer.  School started last week, I used to love the first day of school in high school because you never really did anything the first week.  And there lies the difference between high school and college.  My first interior design class I went to the professor started out by saying “well here is your first project, it is due in 2 weeks.”  Nothing like easing you into the routine of things!  This will be my hardest year because of my thesis project.  Although we haven’t officially started our projects yet, I began to research this past summer.  This semester I have a pretty full load of classes.  First semester I am taking Geology, World Art, Pre-Thesis Studio, Capstone, Professional Practice, Glassblowing and I am also co-oping at PS Group.  Well with all these class comes work, which I must get back too.    

Anatole France, a French novelist, once wrote: “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” I’m starting to realize how right he was.

It’s really that way about school this year. I do want the school year to end. I need a break! Finals and everything really wears you down by the time you get out. But, at the same time…I’ll miss so much about this place. After being so busy for so long, when I go home and have nothing but my summer job to do.

I’ll miss how much art I make during the school year, that’s for sure. I do assure you, I’ll be doing plenty of my own art over the summer! But I’m never as productive on my own as I am in a group setting. Thankfully I’ve found that my roommate, Jimmy, doesn’t live too far away from me! So I think we’ll probably be hanging out a bunch over the summer. Maybe I’ll get him to work on some art with me over the summer. Maybe we’ll both keep each other working!

I’m sitting in the art gallery now, working my last Saturday this year. And it’s a beautifully sunny day outside. I can see the quad from here, and everything’s in bloom. It all looks so beautiful! I wish I had time to walk about campus a few more times and take another look at all my favorite spots.  Living on campus is sort of like having a really big, really nice front yard. I’m going to miss the convenience of having room to throw a baseball right outside my door. I’m definitely going to miss being able to see the river from my window!

Also, the end of any school year always comes with goodbyes. Maria, my RA who has been so wonderful to us this entire year, is graduating. I don’t know how we’ll get by on the 6th floor without her. I know she’ll do wonderfully I whatever career she finds herself in. Good luck, Maria!

Also, our good friend Sarah is moving on to Bowling Green. She’s been with us all year, and I was so disappointed to hear that she was leaving. I know that she’ll do well though. Good luck, Sarah, we’ll miss you!

And all of our seniors that I’ve gotten to meet and work with this entire year, including a few of our bloggers! Good luck to EZ, Jodi, and Kristen. I know you guys will do well in whatever careers you find along your path in life. Good luck to each one of you. We’ll miss you here at the Mount.

But of course, with every ending there comes a beginning. We’ll have a brand new class of Freshman coming in this fall. And hopefully a few people reading this now will be joining us! I’m looking forward to starting our new clubs and organizations and performing in new plays and musicals along with newcomers from the incoming class. I know next year will be even better than this one.

And with that, I’ll leave you folks! Over this summer there’s a lot of work and preparation to be done…I’m already looking forward to next year!

I hope you all had a wonderful school year, and I hope you all have an even better summer. And I hope to see you all next year, right here at the College of Mount St. Joseph!

You know when your mind is racing even when you’re going to bed.  That’s been me for the past two weeks.  As exams are approaching next week for most of MSJ’s students, the interior design students have some of their exams this week.  In our interior design classes, for our final projects we always have projects instead of tests.  To many that would sound very easy, but in reality I think it may be harder.  In interior design you are always modifying and finding better ways to space plan.  So you are always down to the wire because of constant modifications that you make.  The newest project that I am undertaking at the moment is my lamp.  For environmental technologies we have to build our own lamp.  On to less stressful news, the Department of Art and Design had their annual thesis opening this past Friday.  This is when students present their final projects to the public.  This is a big deal for all seniors because they get to show off all of their hard work and what they have learned over the past four years.  There are two thesis openings that are a week to two weeks apart from each other.  The first thesis opening has graphic design work mixed in with fine arts and art education.  And the second thesis has interior design work mixed in with fine arts and art education work.  Speaking of all the hard work these girls do I need to get back to my work.