2 posts tagged “meetings”

some magical things happened on the vacation drive home. I was talking with some of the residents (molly, rachelle, and eliza, the esteemed riders in my car) about elsewhere and i could all of a sudden see outside of myself. They talked about how amazed they were to step into this community, one which was so incredibly generous, so enthusiastic, so positive and excited. How they'd never seen a group be so much of a group, so intensely together and dedicated to doing things together, to taking care of each other, to welcoming the new residents in and making them feel a part of the family. How they'd overhear a meeting in the kitchen, and realize that we actually were having a 45 minute conversation and debate about whether or not to cook frozen pizzas on friday (public event) night dinners -- were they easier to make? easier to clean up? easier to eat? cheaper? or just as much trouble as other food? do we even like pizza? They said how amazed they were to see that actually happening with such dedication and seriousness.

And eliza said how seeing that, and seeing everyone jump in so whole-heartedly into molly's performance last friday (which involved all of us performing as some body-system-part --- i was the mouth chomping in the digestive system! it was an incredibly sweaty costume and a really bizzarre experience interacting with people in body-sacks as a chomping/bowing mouth...) inspired her to make bathing suits for everyone in the community, even though it would be a lot of work. that she was totally willing to give as much as we were because she knew it would be reciprocated.

I'm trying to figure out what it is about elsewhere that i have fallen in love with -- and get frustrated by and confused by and discombobulated and inspired and lost in. what is the essence that i am so drawn to, that makes this place -- certainly not greensboro of which i know very very little about -- feel like home? how can this be entirely beautiful, rewarding, real, visceral, tangible as i can reach out and touch my roommate's foot, sweaty and stinking, bubbling and delicious, but also entirely removed, in a world of its own, un-real and imagined. temporary but forever?

i'm not a poet, but i'm an artist so i can say these things. also, i mean them. i am learning to bathe in my confusion and thoughts, instead of continuing to struggle and drown in them.

we (me, mary, and travis) have just decided that here at elsewhere we meet all the time. Meetings all the time! (I LOVE MEETINGS AND I CAN'T HIDE IT!) and working all the time. or art making. Right now we are meeting at the kitchen table. I feel ok about that because I cleaned the kitchen table so I know it's clean. I have a thing about dirty tables. At school, I'm always the one to really scrub down the table and make sure it's clean. At home, I'm the one that really scrubs the cutting boards. Because I really like surfaces to be clean. maybe that should be a theme in my art.

I have been art making! I started with drawing. coloring. With the markers and crayons that I found in the bear-bee bag. I feel silly saying "coloring" but that's what I was doing. And it felt good. Just to sit on the floor and draw. Made me less uptight about all this art making. Then I went on to some collaging. My dad loves when I collage. I'm not sure why. When I was littler we used to do a lot of hardcore collaging with my babysitter. The same one that taught me to make that chana-masala indian chickpea dish. She's the best. I forget her name. Mom, do you remember?

Yesterday I was the Fan Communist. I thought maybe it was the Fan Fascist, and that had some alliteration, but really I was more of a communist. It was in the interest of the state, in the interest of equal circulation distribution. Mary and I took an inventory of all the fans on every floor. We took notes. Then we assessed all the rooms and places that needed fans. And thoughtfully placed the fans in those locations on our maps such that each would be best used. Then I made labels on the type writer and finished it off with a great ladder stamp. Then I cut each label to size and stuck it on each fan. Then I redistributed all the fans. The whole thing took me all afternoon. And I ran into one confrontation, when I had to take a fan from someone, and tried to give them another that turned out to be broken. Hopefully it's fixed. I didn't follow up on that. Loophole in the bureaucracy. (I think you all should know, as my mom does, that I keep writing "label" and "table" like "lable" and "tabel" by accident because I can never remember which way it goes. So frustrating)

Today we went to this really really big hospice sale in Burlington and it was freaking insane. I kept being anxious the whole time and telling myself to calm the hell down because it was really over nothing, I was just freaking out with all my lists and trying to keep track of money and time and things we need and things I need and things I really don't need. I made myself only buy things I really loved, and so I only ended up buying I think 3 things. It was weird. I could tell I just wasn't in the best mood for buying stuff. But I did get some great plain shoes (keds), a great plain white shirt (because even though I bought 3 before coming here, by the time I got here they had already become other colors because I'm so scared of having a boring white shirt. Must refrain. Must embrace plainness). And then I got some really sweet red upside down "jewish grandmother" (as Eliza called them) sunglasses. My Jewish Grandmothers will probably think they're silly. Because they are classy ladies.

Anyways, it was freaking intense. And a bit picked over. It is the second to last day of the big sale. So I think this was a good day to get a lot of bag deals, but stuff like the clothes was way picked over. But like I said, I'm ok with that. I am satisfied with my and elsewhere's purchases (I got an ice cream maker!!!!!! Also, I bargained for an air purifier that said $10 and I got if for $2. yep. Just call me up. I'll work for you too.)

Anyways, after that, the rest of the day was just freaking weird.

Things I've accomplished:

1. registered officially for an online art history course later this summer. To get it out of the way so I can focus on Division 3 this fall and not have to do an art history class then. I am officially a Lake Tahoe Community College student!
2. Ordered the books.
3. Ordered the book again when the freaking seller decided they didn't actually exist.
4. Make some mail art
5. make a calendar of the rest of my time here. Got really sad about how short it is. Only three more artist conversations!!! Also, a new person moved into our room when Claire left yesterday (very very sad), and they have all these ideas to make it different and are probably going to stay into the fall, and it makes me a little sad. Because I came here thinking that there were these specific dates that I was allowed to be here, and then I had to leave. And my bed was going to be given to the next intern. And now this other person just gets to come in and be here forever. And I know I have other things now, but it just makes me a little sad. Mary said it: I realized I'm a little scared I'm going to be replaced. Even though I'm not the most important person around here, I want to be more important! Everyone wants to be important and missed, right? On that note, Stephanie told me the other day that I can definitely come back and talk to her about post-graduate work when that time comes. I'm not sure if the people reading this will be excited about that or not, but I am. for now at least. It's really comforting to know I can come back and will be wanted. I hope.
   
6. I used Sam's employee discount at Office Depot today! I felt really important.
   
7. I made a four layer cake with strawberry sauce in the middle of each layer and a freaking chocolate mess on top. It was in honor of Claire, and we all ate it on Saturday. It was beautiful. And hideous. It looked like a pile of chocolate something on a giant plate. I used a giant spoon to serve it out for everyone. But it tasted great. Four freaking layers! Erik, if you're reading this, no one was poisoned or even made sick by my cake! I thought of you while making it.
8. I started using my journal I bought for Elsewhere and Division III.
   

Art projects in my head/on the (metaphoric) table:

1. Bathing suit liner pouches
2. studies on sagging (a meditation on how the denim log cabin is sagging only one and a half weeks after it's completion. A look at aging I guess. But not in a sad way really)
3. studies on loneliness. I hope this doesn't turn into another stupid cocoon project
4. mail art (send me your addresses! keep your boxes checked! Pray that postage doesn't go up anymore!)
5. something hanging off of the fire escape. It's maybe my favorite place in elsewhere so far that is pretty accessible and not quite an art installation yet. I just love being there. And imagining slides to other roofs or something. Even though I would be terrified to use them if they existed. Also, this is probably not an ok place to have art, but I think if I call it a part of the Urban Green Alley way community garden project, it'll be totally cool.
   
6. painting. I am imagining rolling out a big piece of paper and just painting some stuff.

Workshops I am going to rally up people for and do at some point I hope:

1. Shoe decorating (hopefully not tackily)
2. website making (maybe a bit more ambitious. But I'm just so inspired by Mary's website. It's beautiful.)
3. music swap
4. hair wraps with feathers (danna says she could do a sweet hair wrap on my hair in the back! How freaking cook would that be! I'd be like a real live art crazy then! oh, today, someone told me, "Do you know that you really do look French? And that's a good thing!" Would a hair wrap with feathers make me look more or less French? And what does that even mean? Do I look like a french fries? Or like the Eiffle tower?)
5. mending/ adding pockets to things/ adding straps to bags without them circle. Hopefully the sewing machines will be fixed????
6. still life club. Danna wants to do this. I'm excited. More drawing practice. But we were thinking of a better name: The Non-Moving Objects Club. I can't remember the others.
7. Pilades class. Danna is a certified teacher in Chicago! And you know what kind of standards they have there. Also, it seems that I always end up in situations where I am organizing dance/aerobics/exercise classes.
   

Goodnight! tomorrow Lily and I are going to the Y early in the morning and she's going to work out with me! and then the big clean and all that shit. I get so pumped to do things late at night, but then I'll be dead tomorrow if I actually don't go to bed. I'll just have to wait till tomorrow I guess.