Don't ask...

I have a strange fascination with death. I guess it all stems from when I was a baby. My mom sang at funerals and when a babysitter couldn't be found, I would sleep in the casket showroom.


I still prefer dark and quiet to sleep in.

There is a cemetery not too many blocks off campus. I like to walk through it every once and a while when the weather is still good and the sun is just setting. Familiar names to Beloit students pop up, like Chapin, Bushnell and Porter. Some of the gravestones are only a few years old while others date back to pre-Civil War settlers. The brick-paved roads show through on some of the lanes while in other places they are just gravel.

Going to cemeteries much be genetic; one of my dad's sisters lives across the street from one of the oldest cemeteries in Rhode Island and my mom has had encounters with guardian-angel butterflies when visiting family sites.

For October break (coming up in less than two weeks) I'll be off to the East Coast to visit family and friends. Hopefully I'll make it out to visit the grave of Nellie L. Vaughn, seemingly another vampire, like Mercy Brown.

P.S. I still hope for one of these some day.

Family and Friend's Weekend

Somehow I managed to be with my mom for an entire weekend and not snap a picture! I realized that as she drove back to Milwaukee on Sunday night! I'm sorry Mom!

This was the first Family and Friends weekend that someone from home came to visit. My mom is from the Milwaukee area so she got to see her sisters, mom and one brother. On Friday she drove down to Beloit. We made it through the first half hour of BeauSoliel, a Cajun/Zydeco band, in Eaton Chapel before we both realized how tired we were. The warmth of the upper balcony was cozy but we didn't think the people next to us would appreciate our snoring. We made it back to the hotel and got through a sweet little film called Arranged before turning in for the night.

On Saturday we hit the Farmer's Market after brunch so that I could show her a little more of town. Every stand was packed with locals, students and parents tasting and buying local treats. Friday night we had gone out to dinner with some of my friends when my mom spied the Angel Museum so of course we had to go.

I've been at Beloit for over two years now and attempted to visit the Angel Museum with friends last semester only to have it close. I took it as a good sign and left it at that.

Maybe we should have left it at that too. Inside were approximately 93085092835092835098432096583406983409865095820935809432809184326831096483 angels in every shape, size, color and porcelin moulding possible. And apparently this isn't all of them.

We giggled and made snotty comments the entire time; we are not fans of tchotches.

[[Side note: My sister just texted me to see if I took Blackadder. Sorry, Charlotte, I did.]]

And I'm kinda sorry to say, but the highlights of the weekend all revolved around food. Commons is fine for the every day but when someone else is buying and it's off campus, we're all happy campers.

A few selections:

The Badger Burger + Hummus at Bushel & Peck's Local Market (just a few blocks away)
The burger is "100% Local Black Angus beef mixed with fresh cheese curd from Spring Green, Wisconsin free range eggs, veggies and scratch bread crumbs in a hand formed patty" and the hummus was fresh and chunky. "It's like the consistancy of mashed potatoes but all that low fat protein," said my mom.
I cannot wait to go back and sample the rest of the menu.

Sushi at Shogun in Rockford. That was the first piece of octopus I ever had. It was excellent.

Tea and a chocolate muffin at Pleasant Street Coffee just off campus. We also split a veggie sandwich and a crab/artichoke quiche. It's a great little place for a light lunch next to the river or a safe haven between campus and the bookstore for coffee during the winter.

Thanks, Mom, for a great weekend. You're on your plane right now and I miss you so much already.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

Oh yeah. We're back. Rather, I'm finally back. I was supposed to be back a week ago but they had to get new carpeting in Admissions so my days were canceled.

It's already the 4th week of schools so I've got plenty to write about but my fingers just aren't fast enough.

Life is different as an junior. Many of my friends are spread across the country and across the globe. This makes social life interesting. The small group of people I eat meals with is trying to branch out but we feel 1) old and 2) lost with all the new first-years. Seriously, there are 339 of them! That's more than the rest of us averaged out!

(You can also make a stop-motion-gif here)

I'm not complaining, though; they are a superb bunch. Who knew that so many excellent people would show up? Braving the harsh February weather for Presidential Scholarship weekends pays off!

So far, academically, this semester has been a challenge. Two English classes load on the reading PLUS I'm taking a Communication class that has an additional 32958032958 pages every night. But one of the most exciting classes this semester is Buildings as Teachers; it's all about the new Science Center. Holy smokes is that place awesome.

Really, the Science Center is like a new world! The technology is amazing, the bathroom counters are recycled and it's big and open. It is everything Chamberlin was not. I know that we lost some history with Chamberlin but the new place is great. Hopefully I'll get out my camera and show you some pictures of the new SC and the deconstruction of Chamberlin.

I've got so much to tell you but so much reading to do that I will instead appease you with a few other things until I charge my camera.

I've recently been obsessed with this song: I Blame Coco

And every song needs more cowbell...

this is the day...

Today’s the day.

It’s the day that all deposits for incoming students are due.

It’s the day before finals.

It’s that last Thursday on campus for months.

And I can’t wait.

This semester was full of learning, work, snow, rain, sun, friends, construction, heartache and laughter. And it’s almost done. Many of my friends are going abroad next semester which changes everything.

Freshman 15. Sophomore slump. Not really. It’s up to you.

I’m sounding all philosophical but it’s because I’m burning out. I still have 2 papers and an exam left but all I was to do is sit around with my friends and laugh until we no longer can.

We’re all ready for a change for a few months. But by August, we’ll be ready to be back or be abroad.

Most of you still have at more than a month before your semesters end or you graduate. Hang in there. It’s not that much longer.

If you end up passing through town this summer, stop in at one of the new stores opening, Clean Cut Clothing on Wisconsin Ave or Bushel and Peck’s [the local produce grocery] on State St!

I hope to meet many of you, dear readers, this fall. I’ll be back in September for another semester of writing.

P.S. I never thought I’d eat Taco Bell at midnight in the basement of a bar while listening to a live death-metal band called “Sounds of Serenity”. Hm. College.

If I Only Had The Words...

…I do have the words, just not the time or the energy. Instead, I’ll show you some pictures that sum up the last week for me. Spring Day, Alas: Jaywalking, a field trip, going to my friend’s sorority’s formal and the general warmth of Wisconsin spring…







[[photos courtesy of Mark S. and myself]]

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Sorry about the week long hiatus but last Sunday through this morning was busier and more stressful than I could have imagined. Part of it is personal issue but the last two days are what many of you who read this [I hope] were involved in:

Senior Open House [SOH]. Usually this is from Sunday-Monday but with 150 students flying in from across the country I had two lovely prospies from Saturday to Monday! That, coupled with many of my friends’ mom’s coming in for the weekend did not give much time for the rest I needed. But that will be made up this week. My weekend was roughly:

Friday

Dinner with friends and their Moms in the guest houses ~ 6 PM

Little Shop of Horrors from Netflix ~ 11 PM

Saturday

“End of the World” Party at Spanish House ~ 12:30 AM

Hanging out in one of the dorms.

Scrambling the last of my eggs* ~ 3:30 AM

*I forgot that I was planning to make banananananana bread. Now I’ve got four banananananananas in the freezer

Watching the TV Guide channel with friends [because there is nothing else on!] ~ 4 AM

Sleep ~ 5 AM

Homework ~ 2 PM

Re-dying my hair ~ 3 PM

Dinner ~ 5:30 PM

Pick up propsie #1 ~ 7:40 PM

Annual Drag Show [Yes, professional Drag Queens from Chicago come perform every year] ~ 8 PM

Pick up prospie # 2 ~ 11 PM

Sunday

Walked around campus, dancing ~ 12 AM

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [the Tim Burton version] ~ 12:30 AM

Sleep

Brunch ~ 11:30 AM

Prospies dropped off for tour/info sessions; Bus pick up ~ 2:30 PM

Dinner ~ 5 PM

Prospies hung out at the Alliance while I was here in Admissions ~ 8 PM

Voodoo Barbie [to watch the lovely Emily perform] ~ 10 PM

Finish Sweeney Todd ~ 11:30 PM

Monday

Sleep ~ Eventually

Breakfast ~ 9:15 AM

Prospies dropped off for the day ~ 10 AM

And then, because my class is cancelled this week due to a Saturday field trip, I went back to bed until 12:45.

---

This week is less hectic but it just gives me time to read and write more for next week…

Final Countdown*:

1 final exam

4 papers

1 revision

843098502385 lines of poetry

1 field trip

*you got Rick Roll’d!

you know nothing of the crunch!

It's the final crunch. I fly home in a month for three weeks of lovely Californian free time until I start my internship.

In between then and now, though, are 6 papers, 1 exam and 50 lines of poetry.

At least I have part of the poetry done!

My intro to creative writing class covers three genres: non-fiction, fiction and poetry. That's also the order of my preference. We have come upon the last third of the semester and so we begin poetry.

I don't like poetry. I think that anything that is written in poetic form could be put into sentences. I've never liked poetry. And I still don't think I ever will.

toothpastefordinner.com


But my professor is a decent guy. Instead of saying "WRITE POEMS!" he is giving us creative ways to learn how to create poetry. Our first assignment, due Tuesday, is to "translate" a poem.

Let me explain:
1. Take a poem from another language, written phonetically
2. Using just the sounds, write it out in English
3. Smooth it out, begin to make it your own
4. Cut, paste, rework, rewrite until it's new!

We were provided with already phonetically written poems and I chose one written in Persian/Farsi. Look at the evolution of it!

1. [farsi-> english, first two lines]

Dideh-I to ‘ankabur-e biqarar

Dar khiali migozarad ruzegar

2. [first draft, first two lines]

D-Day, I to anchor bury big car

Door key ally me go far ahead rosé guard

3. [second draft, first two lines]

D-day, I bury anchor, big car

Door key, rosé, guard-ally goes far

4. [final draft]

I buried an anchor on D-Day

the door key broke; rosé

a bay of sod, full of dummies

marred the door; rosé

Peace, Jared

the door is in disarray; rosé

you cannot bar me from coming

rosé

bashing the red surrey

bar the door; rosé

buried in anchors and maggots

bar the door; rosé

buried in anchors and maggots

Cool, huh?