somedays, aren't yours at all

so here ends my first week in brooklyn. even though i don't know my way around yet at all i still feel like i've already been here forever. i haven't even been staying out that late but i still come home exhausted. i'm finally moving to my new apartment tomorrow (i don't know why i'm saying finally, because it's only been a week), but i'm pretty psyched to be in a more convenient area, have my own place (without having to share a bedroom or look after freshmen!), and live close by a couple good friends. i've started making something, but i'm not ready to talk about it here. it's just in beginning stages. it's still just so overwhelming to be here. and i've barely started to take advantage of anything here. it's amazing how much easier it is to WANT to do work when you have your own space specifically for making art.

Huge Photo Dump Of The First Day

today we had our first day of orientation at the new york studio program. yet again, i got totally lost. google map's directions were totally wrong, so even though i left two hours early i got to orientation with minutes to spare, with sweat dripping down my back, even after jumping in a cab and basically running four or five blocks. i'm really hoping i can find somewhere closer soon.

we met the director and the studio manager, both of whom are really nice and down to earth. they told us a few stories about past groups who did the same thing we are, warned us about an apparent bedbug problem NYC's having, talked about our schedules, and gave us a tour. we were given books to read as well, and a set of keys. we even got free swiss army knives with the NYSP's address on them. pretty sweet. there's even a full kitchen that apparently was picked up and moved from the old tribeca studios! i'm excited to meet the faculty, too.

now, without further ado, here is my lovely, bright, big, and untouched (by me) studio space.

this is my lovely yellow chair that i commandeered for my very own.

this is the view from my studio. there's some interesting abstract street art across the way.

can you see the baby dolls hanging from the telephone wire in the above picture? i blew it up so you can see.

the neighborhood is sweet. there's a lot of interesting little shops and restaurants, and it's right near the water. we can see the brooklyn bridge from our studios, which is loud but picturesque. under the bridge is a really pretty little park, too. and right next door to us is a doggy daycare place, which is extra fun because then we get to see the dog walkers get pulled along by the dogs.

see?

the left one is our building.

the other direction... the right one's our building. you can see the bridge, too.

after orientation a few of us went and walked around, and we ended up going to this great bar down the street. i'd seen it the last time i was here, but this is the first time i was inside. it's really neighborly and i loved how they opened up all the windows. everyone was really quiet during orientation, so it was really nice to get to know those who came better. everyone slowly opened up and started joking around and telling stories about where we're from.

and there was this adorable little dog hanging inside the bar. she was pretty shy though, she wouldn't let us pet her.

this is jasmine telling everybody how she got into a catfight recently (she's the girl on the right with her back to us).

the little dog hanging out.

the prerequisite first day of school picture for mom and dad. sorry, mom and dad, i forgot to flip my nose ring up. but it still counts.

and the lovely baby dolls viewed from the outside.

getting to finally see my new studio space and meet the people i'm going to be working with over the next few months only filled me with even more motivation and excitement. i'm starting to brainstorm ideas so i've got to go buy art supplies tomorrow. i can't wait to see what i can do with all the time and space i'm being given!

Nice To Meet You

everyone said that it's impossible to sleep here, and they were right. i'm hoping i get used to it, but in the meantime i'll entertain myself by taking photos of the sunrise.

***

later i went into manhattan to check out the fashion district. i wanted to go to mood, where they take the people on project runway, but it was closed. i guess i'll have to go again later to pick up fabric for my own stuff. it looks huge though. chris ended up coming to meet me at the little park by 34th and broadway.

while we were sitting there this homeless man came up and started talking to us. he must've been lonely because he talked to us for about an hour. he started out by asking us how we thought we should make spaghetti and meatballs. the conversation rambled all over the place, which during that time he smoked cigarettes and took sips out of liquor bottle. he told us how he worked at the postal service for years until he got fired for drinking. apparently they gave him several chances but he kept messing up. he told us about how he had a kidney removed, and how he had cancer and continuously got x-rayed, and then wondered, hey, wonder if these x-rays are what's making me sick! he asked chris what his sign was (sagittarius) and how his son is a sagittarius too, but he deals crack. he told us that back in his day you stayed away from "the white lady" which was heroin.

he tried to sell chris a watch, asking him if he was jewish and had rich parents. he started asking why we were here, asked chris if he was in the city to "visit this beautiful lady." he thought i was chris's girlfriend, and was like, how much does it cost to take this girl out, fifteen dollars? chris played along and said, oh no, way more than that, she's needy.

one thing that i did notice is that he did appear to address chris more than me- he wasn't exactly disrespectful, but he must go by the "women must be seen and not heard" ideals. and he did in fact tell me to cover my ears at one point and joked to chris about how he used to tell his wife, "i've got the penis, you do what i say."

he told us about ted turner chugging jack daniel's and how he doesn't really do that anymore. he reminisced about when cigarettes were 25 cents and admitted that he can't swim.

at one point he said, "i must be a little inebriated!" and obviously knew the cop walking around in the area, saying, "don't you need to go home to your wife?"

it was really interesting. i know the way i'm describing him comes off as really rude, sexist, and abrasive, but he was actually pretty friendly and i never felt uncomfortable. it was more just kind of funny. we didn't have to fight to get out of the conversation either... he just ended it politely when it was time, and finally asked me my sign. "A leo," he said. "One of the strongest signs- watch out, she'll dominate you!" he said to Chris, as his parting word.

before we said goodbye i asked him if i could take a photo- he wanted to make sure that his false teeth were in straight. unfortunately the photo's a little blurry, but i'm still glad i took it. this interaction was the last of several that i had this summer. me and erick really enjoyed having conversations with max, JC, and... steve? was that his name? all strangers who came and talked to us about random things, safely of course. i hope they continue to happen, i really enjoy them.

before he left he asked chris if he would draw his picture in my sketchbook- again, not asking me to draw, haha. i don't think he ever knew that i went to art school, too. i wasn't insulted, like i said, i just thought it was funny. you can see i started writing all the random stuff he was talking about down, since it was so off the wall. he asked if he could keep it, so i took a picture before i tore it out.

the exploitation of the dionne quintuplets

the dionne sisters were the only set of female quintuplets ever recorded, and the first set of quintuplets to ever survive infancy. they were born three months premature, to a mother who was only twenty-five and already had several other children. the five sisters were eventually made wards of the king supposedly so they could be better taken care of. they were turned into a huge tourist attractive called quintland, where about 6,000 tourists per day visited watched them through a screen.

this blog has some really interested information about how the quintuplets were exploited, and some eerie videos of the little girls coming out to play in the courtyard for all of the tourists. only three of the sisters made it to middle age, and another one later died of cancer.

just a small thing while waiting to meet a friend in bed-sty at the norstrand stop:

this cop trying to get this guy to do a sobriety test. i don't think the guy in the yellow was in trouble or anything. i think the cop just thought it was funny.

the guy didn't know how to walk the line. he took big steps instead of doing heel toe, skipped the touching his nose part, and still walked crooked.
then he walked straight into traffic. this is right before the cop yelled "NO DON'T GET HIT!" and the guy just barely jumped out of the way.

...then you can see the cop bent over a phone booth laughing his ass off about the drunk guy just barely getting hit by a car.

First Day in Brooklyn

traveling was kind of a nightmare. i had a 9.30 am direct flight, but it was overbooked, so they asked four people to transfer to a different flight. the later flight was only at 10.20, so i ended up taking it. they gave me a 400$ free voucher, so i guess i'll be traveling a little more this year! i also got a free lunch, thanks to the milwaukee airport. it wasn't very tasty though.

i ended up having to fly through detroit, which sucked because the plane ended up having computer problems. they tried to fix it, but then had to replace it with a new one. they had us sit on the plane for a half hour, then de-plane us, so we had to get off the plane and wait for ten minutes while they took care of it. i was exhausted, running on no sleep, super cranky. then went i finally got to jfk my luggage was missing- i stood around for an hour watching everybody else's luggage get picked up and then finally went to the counter. i should've just done that first, turns out my luggage had come on the earlier flight without me. it was in overflow.

can you tell how exhausted i look?

i'm temporarily staying in a house in flatbush, near brooklyn college., with a family that rents out to exchange students. it's pretty far away from i need to be so i'm hoping that i find somewhere else soon, but it's interesting while i'm there. the neighborhood's really diverse, with lots of huge and beautiful old houses. i'm staying in a blue room on the third floor. after eating chinese with the family i'm staying with, i went to go meet Chris and a few people from NYSP. we were planning on going to see la boheme at the lincoln center, but i ended getting so lost in my neighborhood trying to find the subway! i literally walked around for an hour, which was pretty pathetic since it's literally three blocks away. what actually ended up going wrong was that i turned the wrong way out of my house going down the street and then repeated the directions that way. i had to use VW navigator on my phone to get back.

it took awhile to get into manhattan on the Q. but crossing the brooklyn bridge and seeing manhatten's city lights before me lifted any tiredness and low spirits i might have had. i know it's cliche, but it was beautiful. this is what i've been planning to do even before i started at the corcoran when i met rachel fick. it's amazing to actually be here. i know i sound all starry eyed and optimistic, but i guess i pretty much am.

it's only a crappy cellphone picture, but still.

One More Day in Madison, WI

i left my mark on madison this summer, at least a biodegradable one. i hope that they'll make someone a little happy when they see them.

i'll miss you, madison.