Culture Field Trip

Yesterday I got to escape from the mountain and attend a gallery opening in LA with Meghan and Sherry. The featured artist was Mark Shaw, an artist known for his photographs of the Kennedy's and of Audrey Hepburn for LIFE magazine. I have a series of random pictures of the event.

This is a window display at a lamps plus near the gallery, it was pretty so I took a picture of it.


This dinosaur was hatching on a random corner amongst a whole slew of other junk. Meghan took more pictures of that corner.

I don't even care that this is a Nike ad...

because it's really well done.

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

Teaching for the Locals

The eighth graders from Idyllwild School, my Alma mater, were at Astrocamp this week. There was so much about their time with me that I loved, and a little bit that was kind of surreal. One of the main goals of Astrocamp is to foster team work and creative thinking in our students; I noticed right away that these are already very strong qualities in Idyllwild kids. While my co-teachers stood amazed at this I thought, well yeah, I remember focusing on team work from my very first PE class with Mrs. Gunterman in kindergarten on till eighth grade. One of the other instructors mentioned to our students that they would be playing some games that they had probably never played before and, while that throws some kids for a loop, it is just expected that physical activity will be nontraditional; anyone who has tin can stilts and rubber chicken relays as a regular PE activity would never think twice about what we do for team building at Astrocamp. Not to mention class trips to Joshua Tree with Boojum, Camp Surf, language arts field days, musicals, sports, choir, band, CIMI, and of course Astrocamp. These kids are built for this stuff.

Plus, never once were my classes interrupted because a squirrel ran past us or a woodpecker popped out of a tree. No shouts of "Squirrel! Squirrel! Look! Look!" I could offer real advice concerning local issues, because I actually know. Also, getting to know names was super easy because I already knew most of the kids in my group.

The weird stuff though; two of my former teachers were chaperons for the trip and that sometimes brought me back to my eighth grade self. After our class in the pool Mrs. Sazer came into the locker room to yell at the girls, "Go to your meeting spots! Meet with your instructors!" As I stood in the bathroom brushing my hair I thought "Oh man! I need to hurry up!" Then I realized that I was the instructor they were running to meet. As I paused to contemplate this she stuck her head in the door again and yelled, "Now!" I grabbed my bag and ran out the door with my students. The second instance of this type of thing was during my Cosmic Lander class, which is basically like an egg drop where you have to make a water balloon survive a drop onto a "martian surface." During the class I opened the door to the class next door, who were also building cosmic landers, and shot a rubber band at one of the kids I knew. This began a rubber band war, which I was confronted about later.
"Did you teach my kids how to fight with rubber bands?"
"Well yes, but in the name of science. I was teaching them about trajectories; the rubber band is like a comet traveling around a central mass. It's an Astrocamp only thing."
"Still a smart ass."

Songs About Art

"My Funny Valentine" by Chet Baker

Not explicitly about art, but such beautiful lyrics about aesthetics; this will always be one of my all time favorite songs.

Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet youre my favourite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

Graffiti Archaeology

Graffiti Archaeology is a project that documents graffiti covered walls and how they change over time. Photos of specific locations are placed in a time lapse collage, spanning months or years. I'm a fan.

Alexander Vasmoulakis

I was initially drawn into the work of Alexander Vasmoulakis because of his images with vacant chairs; though I am long done with my undergrad thesis project, I still keep track of images of vacant chairs. However, this Greek artist has won me over with his other work too. Here are some of my favorites; he also does a lot of figurative graffiti and advertising, which you can see if you follow the link on his name.

Songs About Art

'Andy Warhol' by David Bowie

Smarty Pants at the Dance Party

So, this is very obviously a project aimed at pre-adolescent girls, but I am still a fan of Amy Poehler's creation. Smarty Pants at the Dance Party is a web series where Poehler and her friends interview young girls about what makes them unique, whatever that may be; an interest in writing, yoga, dance, gardening, etc. The focus is different than a normal situation where the girls would be asked what they would like to do when they grow up. Instead they are asked about what they are doing now, why they are passionate about their interest, and they are encouraged to believe that making a commitment to something is worth while. Though the theme song is a little bubble gum, and the dance party at the end a little cheesy, if I were a ten year old I would be so excited about something like this. It's great to see something that encourages girls to not shy away from being smart. I have seen enough young girls in my classes who are afraid to show that they know the answer because they think people will think less of them. Be proud of your intelligence! Oh, and here is a sample of the show.

She questioned...

"So why are we going out for dessert, because I got into grad school? A lot of people got into grad school. We didn't do this for Zoe."

"Well, we KNEW Zoe would get in."

Ummmm thanks, but yes, I got into John F. Kennedy University! Now I have to figure out the logistics of this situation; I'm excited though. Oh, and I was taken out for dessert at Aroma to celebrate.

Horrific

President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, recently signed a law that legalizes marital rape. According to the article in the Guardian, the new law would make it illegal for a women to leave the house without her husbands' permission, they can only seek work, education or visit the doctor with their husbands' permission, and that they cannot refuse their husband sex. The new law is seen as a way for Karzai to appeal to extremist voters in the upcoming election. The UN is working to distinguish how to determine if this is a violation of human rights or not, and how to intervene without disrespecting Afghan culture.