Expanding Horizons Part 2

Once I figured out that learning doesn’t necessarily require immediate understanding, I got really excited!

This was a whole new way of looking at things for me!

During one of our classes, our teacher showed us this short video:

Even though this dance has no explicit meaning, it leaves you with an aftertaste.  You’re not sure what just happened, but it’s intense, it’s jarring, it’s sad, it’s bittersweet…  I feel appreciation, even though I feel no understanding (in the traditional sense of understanding).

At the end of the second week, we went to the college museum.  We went to see an exhibit by Haim Steinbach.  When I read the description, I almost laughed out loud.  Okay, I was at peace with confusion and not understanding now.  But this?  How could I appreciate this?

It’s just seemingly unrelated things…

…placed next to each other on shelves.

Really?  But when I read his explanation for it, I wanted to like it immediately.  He said that when we look at things in everyday life, we define them by their context.  When you see something in a kitchen, then you usually assume it’s used for cooking.  But what he’s doing is experimenting with our perception.  What if you take something out of it’s context?  What is its definition now?  He wants us to ask “Why is the the dog toy next to the woman?  What do they have to do with eachother?”  Because maybe then, we’ll think of those objects differently.  That was my take on it anyway.

So that’s my new perspective on art now.  Thanks to L&T, I am way more open to new things.  Obviously, these two posts aren’t going to convince you––you may be thinking, “I still don’t see what the big deal is,” or “Okay, college has gotten to her, she’s nuts!”

But you really need to immerse yourself in an environment like L&T to free your inhibitions.  Even if that doesn’t change your view on art, it will show you that there are so many new paths for you to explore, and you didn’t see them before because they don’t look like paths; some go up, some go down, and some bend around sideways in a möbius strip to more questions.

Peace,

~Pindari

Expanding Horizons Part 1

So.  The Deets.

Today, I’d like to tell you about my perspective on art.

The big thing that I learned during my time at L&T was that there are two ways of ‘understanding’ things.  One way is that you read something, and you know what it means.  The second way is that you feel utter confusion.  You read a work and don’t even try to understand it, instead you just let it wash over you.

The first week of L&T

Now, this may not make a lot of sense (and it didn’t to me at first either) but hear me out.  When L&T began, I thought it was going to be like a literature analysis class.  I had read the assigned readings, and I was expecting to have a class discussion when I came in on the second day.  The reading had been confusing, and I was hoping to ask some questions and get some answers.

Instead, my teacher read a quote from the text and told us to “write to it.”  I was baffled.  How can I write to it, if I don’t know what it means?  What does that even mean?  Doesn’t she mean write about it?

But, hey, I’m willing to try new things.  I began to write to it.  I wrote to it as if it was a stranger, dissecting the sentence physically (e.g. “I notice that you are capitalized strangely–I wonder why the author wrote you that way.  When I read the word meek I cant help thinking of a baby deer…”)  And Lo and behold, meaning began to unfold.

By ‘talking’ to this quote I had teased out my own meaning for it!  And even more amazing, when we took turns reading what we had written, everyone else had done similar things.  It was like an unconscious understanding.

To be Continued…

It Helps

Sometimes friends make you feel better 🙂

I Got My Permit!

And now that I’ve been through that experience, I want to share some tips with other future test-takers:

1.  Study lightly, but well.  You don’t have to read the whole DMV manual.  The most important chapter is the one on road signs.  Then, take practice tests a few days before,  and the day of the test.  I highly recommend this site.

2.  Dress nicely!  They will be taking a picture of you, so make sure you look presentable.

3.  Bring money.  The permit test doesn’t cost anything, but the picture, your future license, and the forms they’ll give you will cost  around $80.

4.  Relax.  It’s only 20 questions, don’t go crazy, you’ll do fine.  If you don’t, just study some more and take it again.

Hope that helps!

Peace,

~Pindari

Friday 21, June 2013

Feeling sore from dance class yesterday.  It’s so nice.

In Dreams

 

Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately.  Here’s a picture of Mr. Buddy to make up for it :p

 

Adventures in Bugland

I went to register, and now, I am officially a Bardian!!  That means I’ll be a college student next fall.  It’s hard to believe…

Actually, yesterday, I was feeling quite overwhelmed about it all; graduating, having to learn to drive this summer, finding a job, taking 4 classes next semester…  What if all this work of applying was for naught?  What if I turned out to be a horrible college student?

And as I sat there wallowing in my hopelessness, I saw a little ant.  It was dragging along the carcass of another insect easily five times its size.  There was no anthill in site, so I assumed that that ant was going to have to keep dragging that other bug a looooong way.

But he didn’t seem tired, and he didn’t seem to be thing This is just too hard for me!  He kept at it.

So I decided that I should take after this ant, and follow his example.  I continued watching him, my admiration growing every minute, as he struggling but persevered, dragging his load over, under, and around many obstacles.

And then, he began to approach a grate.

As he did, I wondered if he knew that it was behind him.  But I had faith that he would have some strange insect intuition and figure how to overcome this next obstacle.  Unfortunately it was then that he dragged the corpse a little too close to one of the holes and it fell in.

At first it seemed like he would save it!  He was still holding on to it, but it was dangling down, and the weight was too much, so he dropped it.

He wandered away, sans cargo, looking very confused.

Sometimes you work really hard for something and you still don’t reach your goal.  Well, it was a metaphor, but not the one I was looking for!  Somehow it reassured me though.

Some people (me) just worry and worry.  But in the end, nothing is certain.

You just have to push forward into the unknown and hope for the best.

Blessing in Disguise

Salvete Amici,

So today I got an email that began “We regret to inform you…”

And it turned out that I didn’t get into the summer vocal arts program I was hoping to. But you know what? I was kind of hoping that would happen.

Yeah, it was sad for a while, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized, that this was a good turn of events.

That program is seven weeks long, and now I’ll have more of the summer to chill, swim, and learn to drive.  I’ll also get to apply for a camp counselor job at amath camp which was at the same time.

Yays!  Not only that, but getting rejected from this camp (which was a super competitive camp anyway) will prepare me for colleges that reject me in the very near future.

Anyway.  Time to get back to studying :p

Peace,

~Pindari

I Got Accepted!

I got accepted to my first college!

Check it out here.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Salvete Amici,

Today is a special day for me in so many ways.  I can’t talk about what happened yesterday yet, (because I don’t want to jinx it) but a few days ago I got accepted to one of my colleges!!!  And the very next day, one of my friends did too, so I’m very happy!

Anyway, I must go study before class, but here are some Valentine’s pictures I wanted to share with you:

A beautiful cutting I found on facebook. Part of an art competition for the Beautiful Creatures movie.

My Valentine’s Day present!!

Yum!

Check out my other Valentine’s Day post if you haven’t already!

http://cutlingo.wordpress.com

http://maclafel7.deviantart.com

Peace ❤