Academic Crutches

I haven't devoted very much time to blogging lately, and since I don't really feel like finishing my homework, now is better than never.

I want to go jump in Lake Michigan. Again. Not because I enjoy freezing my ass off or sliding around on slimy rocks or watching my step for broken glass and hypodermic needles, but because that late night excursion to the "beach" was the most fun I'd had since coming back to school. I do wish that there weren't photos of it on Facebook, but then, I don't mind reminders of how much fun and vaguely rebellious that was. I also enjoyed Blues and Ribs--free food and several blues bands with lots of opportunities to show off my mad dancing skillzz. Actually, Ilana said I dance well. So there--bask in my awesomeness. Just don't try to dance with me, because I'll probably step on your feet.

Work this quarter is... eh. For Public Policy, I'm actually really enjoying Deborah Stone's Policy Paradox, but the rest of the class doesn't follow that book very much, currently focusing more on this really terribly written book (by my professor!) that's supposed to be about why the public and the experts disagree on environmental issues, but instead has strange logic-problem metaphors and inapplicable theories scattered around references to his other books that no one reads. Blargh. Econ is difficult and I have a midterm in a few weeks, but I think I'll survive if I actually study. Self, Culture and Society is a lot of reading (Rousseau, Adam Smith, Constant, E.P. Thompson) but it is mildly interesting sometimes. I'm not very excited about my midterm paper, though.

Art is kind of my anti-class. It is a lot more work than I anticipated--I have to write a paper with every project, as well as turn in sketches of random things unrelated to the main project every week, and do some readings--but I still get to think about art twice a week in class, and more often during late nights spent in the studio. Somehow staying there until after midnight the two nights before a project is due, zoning out with my iPod and getting covered in charcoal and acrylics and bits of foam insulation, is relaxing despite cutting into my sleep schedule.

My next project, due this Thursday, is to build a monument. A monument in any medium to whatever I deem worthy of memorializing. I admit I was pretty nervous last week when we had to present our ideas to the class--I waited anxiously to go last, and was thankful that time ran out and I just had to quickly summarize what I was doing for my professor after most people left. This student is making a monument to Consumerism, this one to Materialism, this one to Human Progress, this one to The Feminine Ideal, this one to Censorship. Lots of isms and Capital Letters. You know those dramatic ideas and heavy societal critiques, symbolic and profound and important.

Me? I'm making a monument to my summer job. And it's going to kick ass.

God bless and may your academic crutches support you for more than 2 weeks past graduation.