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Now I think it's time for some funny stories and interesting real life stuff.
I took a summer art class and got an A- in it. My art teacher was a bit flaky, he was disorganized and wasn't always clear about what he wanted. On the other hand he was and did have a discussion with the students and did change and re-orient his class to fulfill student wants/needs. I thought he was very reasonable about things given the circumstances.
Apparently not all of my peers felt the same way as one's trying to petition to get him fired. I don't actually think my art professor had been anything but one of those cooky art teachers that's about the art and not as much of a teacher. I do understand having to change from a PC to a Mac is a big technology change and that not having a text book does change class structure a bit. This is also his second time teaching that course and I think he decided he was going to do it free style and clearly had learned that it wasn't too effective by the end.
Maybe this is me trying to see the good in my professor as I did get a good grade. But I did learn things in his class and my drawing did improve so since that's what I call success for an art class, I felt successful. I know I won't sign the petition to get him fired and I did point out to my peers that art classes at OSU are bitching hard and they made unreasonable expectations for thinking that it would be easy. These aren't classes where you can do all the required work and get an A, these are classes where you have to go above and beyond the call of duty by a good bit to get your A (fulfilling requirements gets you a C). It's not like an engineering class where if you get all the right answers you get your A.
Art doesn't have right answers, not the way a math problem does.
Now, onto a different topic, I had a fun misadventure yesterday while I was visiting my friend.
I have a friend I'm going to call Jay. Jay is the only person I've ever dated and both times was extremely casually. He's handsome, smart, sharp, secretly very nerdy and has that engineering knack that I have (even when he denies it, it's still there). I like him a lot and I know he still likes me and is interested in my romantically (the hugs and snuggles tell me bunches about that). We decided we wouldn't try to date seriously until we were living in the same city, probably after college.
Now one of Jay's issues is that he has problems with authority. Big authority issues, always trying to defy the system and be a rebel. He's going to a liberal arts college and is getting a degree in philosophy. He likes to dress alternatively (for example he wears a shirt that has a check list on it that says 'woman' 'man' and selected 'fuck you'). I drove me and a mutual friend of mine, David (he's my potential summer roommate and stayed with me recently), up to Salem (an hour north by car) to visit Jay at the farm he was working at for the summer.
To my surprise (but it made sense when I thought about it) Jay has a very distinctive farmer's tan. He showed us around, we chatted, had lunch, and went on a hike in the forest. Pretty soon the heat set in and we decided to drive into town (Salem) to go and hang around in the air conditioning somewhere. That somewhere happened to be the art museum associated with Willamette University since it was free to students and we were all students (except David, he technically graduated, but it was last spring so he's still got the student look).
They had a pretty nice selection of Oregon-born/raised artists downstairs and upstairs they had exhibits on funeral artwork for various cultures (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican). They also had a display of Native American basketry from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. All in all I was very pleased and excited by the works. And I got to appreciate not only how these things looked, but how they must have been made.
Somehow during our moving from the baskets to the Mexican art, Jay got himself kicked out for touching walls right next to displays, leaning against podium displays, leaning against walls just bellow displays, and arguing with the security officer. Jay is officially the first person I have ever heard about getting kicked out of an art museum. I mean, seriously, its not hard to not touch anything but the benches and floor! I was amazed at how much disregard and disrespect he had for the art space!
I did tell him off about it from an artist's perspective. They paint the walls very specific colors for a reason and you're not supposed to get human prints near artwork or on it unless it says it can be touched. I mean, I know he was running on a lack of sleep, but that was his own choice to not nap after watching the sunrise (and I know he can nap). Jay can be exasperating sometimes. If he doesn't care about something he really doesn't care and isn't respectful at all. For someone who tries to be arty and free-minded, he sure doesn't get art sometimes.
And now for something not completely unrelated but very different.
Now I've been to the east coast a few times, I've been down to the south east US numerous times as I have family out there. I know that the artists out there are a pretentious, elitist bunch. In their defense the area is more settled and has had more years of culture into it. It's also closer to Europe and has more population.
Now, as a contrast, Oregon is home to Eugene and Portland. Eugene is arguably the true hippie capitol of the world since its not as 'corrupted' as San Fransisco (you'd have to argue that with hippies, of which I'm not exactly one). Not to mention we have legal means of having marijuana and in Oregon it's legal to hand up to 25 ounces to someone else. Also, Portland has the only openly advertised marijuana bar in the US. I dunno how they managed to justify it, beyond the fact this is Portland we're talking about.
Well anyways, our art students out here are more, well, high. We get the arty sort of people that show up with dread locks, unwashed, tattooed, and wearing hemp pants and equality tee shirts that are covered in paint. They may or may not be vegan or be wearing shoes. The arty sort of people of the west coast are the 'be in touch with nature and the world' types that are kind of flaky and disorganized. While these people aren't mean and are usually very nice, they aren't horribly reliable for most stuff. In fact there's an ongoing issue with art students showing up to class high.
Pot is way too easy to get out here. I don't think that's too bad a thing since its the major drug issue here (beyond the meth thing in Salem). I'd rather it be pot than something else.
And I'm done babbling for now.
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