Archive for October, 2009

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October 30, 2009

What I’ve Been Working On

flowers

Tonight, I’ve been drenching cloth flowers in diluted black acrylic paint.  No, I’m not turning goth again. I’m working on my Halloween costume.  And I’ve been working  on it for the past two days. Maybe I’m a little obsessive, but I don’t think so.

See, I’ve been working at my day job for the past nine days straight.  I started on Tuesday, October 20 and due to a conference in Wisconsin, I worked through the weekend and then the week. As much as I love my job, and I do love it, this was a lot of working. Coupled with my new added responsibilities, I’ve been drowning a bit. 

Somewhere in the middle of the work week, I was invited to a Halloween party.  Since I love everything Halloween, I jumped on the opportunity to make a new costume.  My recent Halloween costumes have taken a literary bent, such as zombie Virginia Woolf and the personification of this Dorothy Parker poem.  I just couldn’t think of anything to top those. 

Then suddenly on Thursday, it occurred to me and I was off. (I’ll post pictures tomorrow or Sunday and reveal my costume then.)  Right now, my costume includes the following materials (among other things):

  • a paper clip necklace
  • the above drenched flowers
  • a black Betty Page style wig
  • gun metal gray ballet flats
  • multiple lines of poetry from people like Sharon Olds, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ed Bok Lee, Joy Harjo, Matthea Harvey, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Percy Byshe Shelley, and e.e. cummings.
  • 2 scarves, 1 gray and 1 black

As I was painting my flowers this evening, I realized that this was the first creative outlet I’ve had in nine days. My headphones were in, my were stained with paint, and a little bit of calm descended upon me.  Apparently, I need a little more of this. Why can’t Halloween be every day?

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October 21, 2009

To the Breach

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.” — Henry V

This week for school, I’ve been reading Henry V, watching Henry V and writing about Henry V. Pretty soon, I’ll be breathing and eating Henry V.  While writing my paper this evening, I’ve realized that lately I’ve been pushing myself into the breach, once more. 

Last week, I was swallowed up fully by my job and my graduate studies.  Due to some changes in the administration at my work, I’ve been (probably temporarily)  given some of my boss’s responsibilities, so that she can take on some extra responsibilities.  As daunting  as this shift seems  I am loving the opportunity.  I find myself more excited to go to work each day, even as I work longer days.  In between all of this, I still had readings and papers for my class, which I’m totally digging. 

I’m left wondering what all this will mean for my writing practice. If I’m truly honest with myself, I was not successfully balancing the work-school-writing practice all that well before this change. Now that it’s happened, I don’t see where I’m going to find the time for writing. 

Right now, I’m okay with that.  I know I don’t have to make a decision for my writing or my work that will be final forever. I know that my writing, my career, and my education are lifelong pursuits, and that they will all wax and wane throughout my life.  I know that for this moment in my life, my work and my studying fills me and fills my need for self-expression and creation. 

So, if I’m a little quiet here lately, this is why.  I’m making some adjustments to my life, so that I can fit all of this in.  And really, I’m having a good time.

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October 11, 2009

A Week in the Life: Sunday, October 11, 2009

cauliflower

****

This week, the cold weather came to Minnesota, along with the snow. Snow! We got about half an inch late Friday night. I wish I would have gotten pictures of the fall foliage tinged with snow.

Since it was so cold this weekend, our farmer’s market was pretty empty. We had fewer vendors and customers, which made me a little misty for the end of summer and fall. I know the end of farmer’s market fun is coming, but I’m just not ready. The nice thing about the end of the farmer’s market season is that many of the vegetables have grown to freakish proportions. In addition the ridiculously large and plentiful squashes, there were these huge gorgeous cauliflowers that were beginning to flower. The one pictured above was easily the size of a soccer ball.  I know that in a few weeks we’ll have only 1-2 vendors and I’ll have to get  all of my produce at the co-op, so I’m glad I have this picture to remind me of the season’s bounty.

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October 11, 2009

A Week in the Life: Saturday, October 10, 2009

zombie friends

jess zombie

aaron zombie

****

This weekend, several of my friends, my husband, and I participated in the fifth annual Zombie Pub Crawl on the West Bank in Minneapolis on Saturday night.  The top picture includes me in front, with my friends Russ and John flanking me.  The second picture is just me and the third picture is my husband with my friend John coming in out of the frame to eat his zombie brain.

My friends and I love the zombies. But not as much as some of the people we ran into during the crawl. We were dressed as everyday zombies, but some people went all out.  Some of my favorite costumes included: zombie Brett Favre (in a Packers’ uniform), zombie Wizard of Oz characters, zombie Captain America, zombie Abe Lincoln, and a troop of zombie Girl Scouts.

One thing disturbed me and that was the number of young women who felt the need to be “sexy zombies.” There were sexy nurse zombies, sexy sailor zombies, even a zombie in a sparkly red leotard.   It’s frustrating that women feel that they must always put sexiness forward, even when it may not be necessary or accurate.  Repeat after me, girls: Zombies. Are Not. Sexy.  Frankly, if the zombie apocalypse comes, the majority of us are not going to be wearing push-up bras and thigh high panty hose.  And, after we’re zombies, we won’t be able to work the clasps.  </feminist lecture on zombies.>

Posted in Paying Attention, Photography | 2 Comments »

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October 11, 2009

A Week In the Life: Friday, October 9, 2009

sunrise

****

The challenge with working with a program that has classes on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays is that my weekends are full.  So, I barely had time on Friday to take pictures. In fact, I snapped this shot in the morning on Friday, while I was doing my physical therapy before leaving for work.  Following that, I had meetings straight through the day on Friday, so I had no time to take any more pictures.

Since I didn’t have time to take pictures this weekend, I also had very little time to post them. So, I’m updating my Week in the Life project while watching the Yankees beat up the Twins.  Masochism abounds.

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October 8, 2009

A Week in the Life: Thursday, October 8, 2009

bus

sunset

****

Today was another day of lots of desk work and all the pictures of my desk were unattractive, in that fluorescent light sort of way. So instead, I took pictures on my bus commute home, taking advantage of the brilliant fall sun peeking out of the clouds. Maybe tomorrow will be more photogenic.

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October 8, 2009

A Week in the Life: Wednesday, October 7, 2009

desk

flower

bike

****

Yesterday was so busy that I barely had time to take any pictures, let alone remember to post them before going to bed. Two of the pictures were taken in my five minute walk to Subway for lunch.  The other was taken at my desk, when I arrived at work in the too early morning.

Some of the good things I alluded to yesterday are leading to more work at my job which, while I enjoy it, is not very conducive to taking pictures. I could show you all the cluster diagrams I worked on yesterday, but a) it wouldn’t make a good picture at all and b) it’s sensitive information.

I wonder how much of our lives are spent in moments that wouldn’t make good pictures. I think a good photographer (certainly more skilled than me) could make a good picture out of almost anything. But, our jobs and work lives include things like spreadsheets, email inboxes, and cluster diagrams and I have a hard time seeing the physical beauty in them. The beauty, I think, is in the results: the improvements we make to others lives, based on the data we collect and the connections we make. Then again, maybe I spent way too much time in front of my computer yesterday.

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October 6, 2009

Week in the Life: Tuesday, October 6, 2009

commute

drs office

rainy day

repurposed

tunnel

****
Here is Day Two for “A Week in the Life.” I had both a difficult and good day, which is hard for me to reconcile right now. I’ll definitely be processing the good and the bad for the rest of the week. Today involved two long commutes in the cold rain, seeing my knee doctor, and meetings galore at work. I was proud that I was able to squeeze in taking photos on my camera phone.

I’ll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with more pictures.

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October 5, 2009

Week in the Life: Monday, October 5

post PT slacking

mmmm veggies

mmm eggs

recommendation

caliente!

Barbie!

****
I’m trying on “A Week in the Life,” to see if I can commit to slowing down and paying attention during my week. I don’t know if I will be making collages from these photos or simply taking them and uploading them here. Time will tell.

Today included physical therapy (and post physical therapy slacking,) grocery shopping and a trip to the mall. It’s also my last day off before work starts tomorrow.

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October 5, 2009

The 20-Year Old Me

Made good choices about friends. I knew who I was and who I wanted to be.  I was (and am) a feminist, an artist, a writer. I wanted to make a difference in the world, somehow.  I surrounded myself with friends who were similar to me and yet possessed distinct differences.  I found men and women who were (and are) feminists, artists, writers, performers, activists, who worked towards making a difference in the world.

All of this came into focus for me this weekend, when my husband and I went back to our alma mater for his 10 year college reunion.  As I’ve mentioned before, many of my friends have dispersed across the country and this was one of those rare moments when I could spend time with a large group of them.  Taken in a large group like this, I got to see the commonalities in our lives. We are educators and writers, social workers and public health educators, professors and theatre professionals.  Many of us are (finally) in the places where our work lives and personal lives are aligned with who we are and who we want to be. Some of us are still working out that piece, day by day and month by month.

When we left, my husband and I asked ourselves the same question we always ask: Why don’t we live closer to our college friends? Then we remembered, there is no central place for us to pick. Where is the center between Madison, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City, and Seattle?  There really isn’t one, unfortunately. 

So today, rather than feeling a loss of connection to these awesome friends, I’m feeling blessed that I picked such a cool and eclectic group of people and that I got to spend the past two days hanging out with them all.

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