I have unrealistic majors and my life is important

I've been thinking about this lately:

Today I spent a ridiculous amount of time painting a large canvas white. 

Some people may look at that fact and think oh, what a waste of time. But I found this really productive. It was something I needed to get done. 

Yesterday in class we learned about putting together canvas and stretcher bars, and in another class we looked at drawings and talked about them for about an hour and a half. The rest of my day was a flurry of interviews and research for stories I'm writing and getting lost in the writing itself. Some may look at my day and think how are these skills you can use in real life? 

I love making art. I love using my hands to produce something that wasn't there before, that came out of my mind and was translated into something tangible. I love looking at other people's art, and learning from the way their minds work. I love learning new ways to make art, and exploring all the realms this major has to offer. 

I love to write. I love learning new interesting things about people and getting to tell their stories. I love reading other people's writing and learning from the way they think. I love when people let me into their lives to see and hear about intimate details about the way they live. 

I am incredibly blessed to get to study art and journalism in a place like this. 

My schedule as a double major in art and journalism is kind of hilarious. I tend to lose sight of this in the midst of all the things I need to get done (like painting things white) but I never have a typical sit-in-a-lecture-and-take-notes kind of day. Every day in these departments is different, and I love it.

Last Thursday my day looked like this:

I started my day off at 8:30 am with two hours of drawing from a real life model. (lol wut)

10:15 - 11am was spent talking with other journalists about things happening on campus to write about.

After another short class and a lunch break, I spent a long time talking about other people's paintings and reflecting on my painting practice for the last week. We talked about techniques and studio practices, and we were assigned to pick another famous painting to copy for our next assignment.

These things might seem trivial to some people, and there are some who would say that there is no way this can translate into a job. But let me tell you.

I have learned a ton about thinking visually, about gathering information, about building relationships, about consistency and productivity, and about and doing what I love. You can't tell me that wasn't worth all those dumb general ed classes.

My homework for that night included:

-Make 3-4 drawings
-Pick a famous painting to forge
-Interview people for a few stories for the newspaper
-Do some research for a more in-depth story, including reading other published work

Making art and writing stories. This is what I love to do, and I get to do it for homework.

I honestly feel like the luckiest person in the world.

Good things on the Internet this week!

via

Hi and welcome to this thing I do where I give you things to read! Isn't reading fun?

Gay Talese, a fantastic and celebrated New York Times writer, on Selma and race relations in America as of this current year. Read it here.

On a lighter note, The New Yorker strikes again with a collection of assemblage Instagram accounts, those who are photographing gorgeously delicate objects in such a positioned way I want to cry. Read it here, and experience some of the Instagram accounts too! My favorites are graphilately, purveyors of packaging, matchbook diaries and junk type.

This is basically a summary of everything I've learned in "Art school" so far here at college. It's so much simpler than four years and a bachelor of arts degree, but it took me going through that to learn these things. Read it here.

Another small bit of comfort from our friends at Thought Catalog, to all my friends who are graduating (!!) in just two short months. Read it here.

Happy reading and happy weekend!

Good things on the internet this week

This is a photo of my feet in my hammock, which used to reside under my lofted bed but now has come out of hiding and has most recently been hung between two trees outside, of all places. 

Onwards. I'm trying this new thing where I save and remember good things I've seen online lately and share them with the people of the internet. I've read some really intellectual gems lately, and I wanted to share. Click the links, yo.

If you're looking for an explanation for what you feel as a college student in present day "American-Dream" "Productivity-Mode" "Get-your-sh*t-done" USA, read this.

If you're maybe sort of a feminist secretly but don't want anyone to know, or maybe you do and you're really outspoken, or maybe you just want to educate yourself about breast cancer and female such things, read this.

If you (like me) have for some reason been obsessed with journalistic practices to covering illness and disease, and want to read some fascinating stories about people with illnesses, read this and this.

If you're wondering who my inspiration for modern writing is (or one of them) and want to experience a hilarious and honest person who is one of my favorites, read this.

If you want to live in New York so badly and are looking for justification via the writings of a fabulous comedienne, read this and this.

And, additionally, if you love the New Yorker just as much as I do and want to read about writing, read this (and maybe go write something too).

Happy Thursday!

State of the self address - my goals in review so far

This is the part of the year where you start thinking ahead. I know this because it's true. And I know this because I live on a college campus that is just bursting at the seams with people who are worried about who am I going to live with next year? where are we going to live? what am I going to do with my life next year? what classes will I take? what am I doing/what camp am I going to work at this summer? (#christiancollegeprobs) and other such trivial worries. But I can't say I'm not guilty of this too.

Anyway. I tend to forget around this time that I made some goals at the beginning of January that I have been working on, and I need to remember to stop and celebrate my successes before I get worried about my next possible failure.

Without further ado, the state of the "self" address 2015. Thank you, thank you.

My goals/"resolutions" this year were these:

. Cut out Facebook and Instagram (almost completely)
. Use your huge and newly free bit of time to read the news more often and educate yo-self.
. Or also too, call or text friends who you miss. Remind them that you miss them.
. Only spend money when you neeeeed to. Like I'm-hungry-I-have-no-food-for-the-weekend need.
. Find a mentor
. When you workout, it doesn't mean you can "even out your calories" by pigging out on dessert.
. Read a book and don't Netflix (!!)
. Carry around something to write on, and write down thoughts when they come.

I am certainly proud of how I've been doing on these this year. I deleted Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat off my phone and haven't used them since. The only time I go on Facebook is when someone writes on my wall or sends me a message (I get a handy email when this happens). Otherwise, I haven't been on social media since December 31st. (bowing)

I have, indeed, educated myself on current events. Did you know that Harrison Ford drives a vintage plane? and he crash landed it on a golf course today? and that European malls are banning the "selfie stick" because it's horrible? and that a man built a literal man cave in the ground?? and other wonderfully curious things? not me.

I have also been a lot better at eating well and spending well. These are things that were easy to focus on when I wasn't distracted comparing myself to perfect versions of other people on social media, and was instead focused on being a better version of myself. High five for thinking highly of yourself.

The hard part comes here: reading a book instead of Netflix. Because I accidentally started a new show in February, and so help me I WILL finish it the next week or God help us all. Then, this one will become more of a priority.

The writing part. It has inspired me to pick up this blog again. I wanted to be more intentional with writing meaningful things on here, and not just stuff about my life. I want this to be a place where people come to find inspiration, and laugh and cry, and just enjoy themselves. Writing a little bit every day has been the most refreshing thing, and is definitely confirmation that this is what I'm meant to do.

Thank you, thank you very much.
Over and out!

A day in the life of an unpaid intern

Hello, internet!

I have an internship this semester.  And it's unpaid and it's 35 minutes away and it's not AT ALL what I had in mind doing this year. It's a PR agency, for freak's sake. I did not picture myself in a business-casual coffee-in-the-break-room kind of place. But hey, they wanted me. So, what the hey. 

Here is the way my day looks on Mondays, this past Monday specifically, which was a particularly Mondayish Monday as far as Mondays go. 

Without further ado, my life!

7am - stumble and flop out of a lofted bed, eat stale oatmeal, put some normal clothes and makeup on, make coffee, grab the first thing I find in my fridge for lunch, walk in the frigid cold to my car that won’t start on the first attempt.

7:16am - try to keep my eyes open while shivering, squinting at the sun and weaving through heavy traffic to Burnsville.

8am - arrive at the office! take the elevator up to the third floor, close my eyes while in alone in the elevator to steal a micro-nap, walk through the office to my desk, smile at people arriving, no smiles back.

8:12am - check email, pretend to be busy while I’m actually just staring blankly ahead trying to wake up, make myself warmer by holding my coffee with both hands close to my face, discreetly read the news on my phone until people walk by, pretend to be busy again.

8:35am - go to the bathroom for something to do, make sure I did my makeup okay in the dark this morning.

8:40am - respond to emails that people have sent me from two cubicles over. do small jobs for them.

9:56 am - “Can you come take notes in a client meeting that starts in 4 minutes?”

11:45am - walk back to my desk after the meeting, sad that the social interaction is probably done for the day. transcribe meeting notes, create project overview while listening to musical theater pandora in my headphones, dream about belting the high notes on stage, accidentally mouth the words dramatically, get some weird looks.

12:02pm - phone rings, heart rate goes up to four hundred, stare at the phone until it stops ringing.

12:45pm - everyone is gone to lunch? think about how hungry I am.

12:54pm - everyone starts coming back, I discreetly grab my things and duck out for lunch so nobody gives me something boring or completely confusing to do.

1pm - drive to Caribou, sneak in the side so I don’t have to buy a drink to sit there, crunch on my salad loudly while I read the news, probably gaining weird looks, quietly eat my lunch and people watch.

1:35pm - “I can take, like, an hour for lunch. They won’t know how long I’ve been gone for. Then when I get back there will only be two and a half hours left!”

2:02pm - walk back into the office, up to the third floor, smile at people as I walk through the office, no smiles back.

2:27pm - CEO walks by, heart rate goes up to a million, sit up straight quickly, wipe salad off my lip, pull up a webpage that looks important.

3:17pm - doodle on post it notes, check email, read the news, check email, stare blankly at someone in the office until they give me a weird look, check email, discover a rack of magazines, read some of them, someone walks by, quickly drop magazine and check email.

3:36pm - “only 54 minutes left! Which means only 10 minutes 5 and a half more times, only one eighth of the time I’ve already been here!”

3:41pm - walk to the break room to get more coffee. 49 more minutes.

3:43pm - AN EMAIL! ... junk.

4:11pm - stretch break, last check to see if my supervisor is around with a job for me, she’s still in a conference call… has been for the last four hours.

4:14pm - do I really have to go to the bathroom again? Or is my body just as bored as I am?

4:29pm - close enough. I’m out of here.

Hope some of you resonated with this. Unpaid slave laborers, unite! 

(kidding.) 

Good things on the Internet this week

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Since I haven't posted in a while, and since I obviously have no homework to do, I'm posting now. Who knew maintaining a blog was so much work. But since I am trying to be professional here, I'm going to start a weekly post about things that I have loved on the internet lately. This will show everyone how cultured I am. Bring it on!

YAAAAAAAS please. Being in my senior spring, thinking about jobs/home offices/workspaces/apartments in NYC (!!) this just kick you in the crotch spit on your neck fantastic.

Speaking of Friends... this.

Can I live here? Please. Am I crazy? Maybe.

OO girl, preach. I love me a good Mindy rant.

This is an oldie but a goodie (technically it's not from this week but I think you'll get over it) that I rediscovered this week and am still in love with. This woman will forever and always be an inspiration to me. #girlcrush

Some insta crushes:
Dana, my girl

How do you still have money for this?!

Those pictures of her child are priceless

Art history and models. Ha! 

Thanks for reading, and welcome back! Over and out!

Taking Stock 2.0

Welcome back to the blog. Haaaay.

So, it's senior year. I live with freshman, I'm making art in Senior Seminar, I'm trying to write and learn about art in other classes, I'm learning a lot about myself and my friends, I'm thinking about my future, I'm enjoying college like a Freshman, as a senior. Life is good.

Making : art. period. a stupid amount of art, and not very good stuff to begin with. some gems, but mostly crap. 

Cooking : .. um. what? #freshmandormprobs
Drinking : coffee and tea, always.
Reading: art history textbooks... eating that stuff up. 
Wanting: the best for my ladies, the best for me, sometimes very different things.
Looking: ..at potential jobs and internships ..forward to thanksgiving ..away from negativity.
Wasting: opportunities to sleep. Who needs sleep? Not the freshman.. so not me either.
Sewing: ...seeds in the minds of freshman?? Hopefully. 
Wishing: for time to relax. Like real time, you know? Without thinking about things in the back of my mind that I have to do. Real relaxation time.
Enjoying: learning the new slang words. Did you know bae stands for before anyone else?? Me either. #freshman
Waiting: dessert. lets be honest.
Liking: people who care deeply about others. I'm starting to notice this, and it really is a good trait.
Wondering: is the first year after you graduate college like the freshman year of the rest of your life?
Loving: sleep. It's a luxury.
Hoping: for my girls to learn a lot and grow a whole bunch this year.
Marveling: over our God. His power, His hand in our lives, and His infinite wonder.
Needing: sleep. coffee. time.
Smelling: nothing really... flu season, you know. 
Wearing: flannel. socks and birkenstocks. moccasins. fall things.
Following: the examples of my fellow RAs. They really wonderful people and much needed in my life.
Noticing: my selfishness. needing to fix it. praying about it. 
Knowing: that the rest of this year is not in my hands.. it's in His. and what a lovely thought that is. 
Thinking: not a lot. Mostly just feeling. 
Bookmarking: The Creatives Club (my most recent bookmark) as a jumping off point? 
Opening: my mind, heart and eyes to the outside world. 
Giggling: at most everything freshman do. In a loving way, of course. 

Playing: music, playgrounds, sports, with friends.

Feeling: loved, cared for, watched over, satisfied.