A Home Vacation

Tomorrow I leave for New York to begin my two-month internship with the American Museum of Natural History. I have prepared as much as I can, and now I am ready to just go for it, knowing very well that all of my preparations will not be able to shield me from some bumps in the road and a few wrong turns. But I am OK knowing this. I read somewhere that there is a fine line between living comfortably and living in a cage created by oneself. Fearing the unknown only creates more self-inflicted limitations and missed opportunities, and at this point in my life, I am ready to test the boundaries. Besides, if my sister can go to Afghanistan, I can go to New York.

May has been a great month to finish up some artwork for Engineers Without Borders and relax at home with my parents. We have gone on several bike rides, camped at Ledges State Park, and played Badminton and Mexican Train Dominoes on many nights. I've also kept busy with jury duty, painting projects and mowing, grocery shopping with my mom (a favorite past-time of mine), visiting some friends and grandparents, and tying up loose strings from the spring semester and preparing for New York. Last week I made yogurt and cheese and organized a small softball game with people from our church. It has been a great vacation, but I am ready for the next adventure.

Blue Heron; summer plans

Well, I really let the ball drop when it came to updating my blog every week. I don't feel like describing everything that happened in my life since spring break, and I'm sure you don't really want to read about it so I'll just fill you in on the last week.

At ISU, dead week is over and finals start tomorrow. It's a stressful time but at least I will be finished by Wednesday. This past Wednesday, I attended the Board of Reagent's open forum to discuss qualities the Ames community and University staff and faculty believe to be important when selecting the next ISU president. There was a large group of us from ActivUs (a club on campus) to express the necessity of an ISU president that will take sustainability seriously and work towards green energy. As a school of science and technology, we should be the forerunners of sustainable action. We have the resources. And yet, Ames still uses a coal burning plant. Hopefully the board will take us seriously when they decide this summer.

I also attended a John Mellencamp concert this week (someone gave me a free ticket) and last night was the Collegiate Presbyterian Church's 100th anniversary Gala event with a really nice dinner and dance to follow. It was fantastic, and I'm still humming "Brick House." A few weeks ago I was inducted into Cardinal Key Society, an honorary group at ISU based off of the Blue Key at Yale, and today I have another induction ceremony for Phi Beta Kappa. My parents and grandparents have been attending to make sure I don't cause problems.

One of the reasons I waited so long to create a new post was that I was waiting to hear back about summer internships/employment. My contact at the Smithsonian told me to contact him in April as did an exhibit design and fabrication company in Minneapolis. I also applied for a position down at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico and another internship in Illinois. Well, I am not going to any of them. However, I am going to New York City for an internship with the American Museum of Natural History! After several weeks trying to contact the director of exhibits at the Smithsonian, he finally responded and referred me to the director at AMNH. I had a phone interview on Tuesday and after looking at my portfolio, he offered me a position. It will not be paid, but it will be an amazing experience. We will be working on the new space exploration exhibit, creating dioramas and models, etc.

A week ago today I had no idea where I would be this summer. I always like to have a plan so this has been a challenge for me. A while back I went for a run through a park here in Ames. The snow had finally melted, and I discovered a dirt path twisting through the woods along a stream. As I ran up a small hill, I looked over to my left and watched a beautiful blue heron fly up only a few yards away. It was a good reminder of something Robert Frost once said about a road less traveled.

Spring Break at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

I had a wonderful spring break down in New Mexico at Ghost Ranch, an education and retreat center an hour northwest of Santa Fe. It is full of hiking trails, ranch lands for 400 head of cattle, and 30 acres for produce that is donated to those in need in surrounding communities. It is also home to several archeological sites and an anthropology museum. Georgia O'Keeffe lived there for a time and painted many of the landscapes, and movies like City Slickers and parts of Lonesome Dove were shot on the ranch, too. Throughout the year, Ghost Ranch also offers a variety of art classes, seminars about sustainable agricultural practices, and farmers' markets.

I left with the CPC (Collegiate Presbyterian Church) college ministry group on Saturday, March 12th, in the afternoon. We drove all night and arrived at Ghost Ranch the next morning. Since it is difficult to sleep well in a packed 15-passenger van, we mostly spent the day resting and becoming familiar with the ranch. We stayed in adobe bunkhouses and ate our meals at the cafeteria- really good food, by the way, and lots of vegetables!

For the rest of the week, we worked on projects around Ghost Ranch for the morning and part of the afternoon. I helped with fence maintenance, irrigation canal digging, trench digging for underground electrical wires, and house priming and painting. After we were done working each day, we usually went for a hike up to Chimney Rock or Kitchen Mesa. The hike to the top of Kitchen Mesa was amazing, and some parts of the "path" definitely required free (no rope) rock climbing. Someone died a few years ago, but he was hiking alone and after dark.

After dinner, we had a few hours of free time (I spent them working on watercolor paintings due after spring break) followed by a casual worship service/discussion. Then it was shower time and off to bed. We were usually so worn out from the day that we were in bed by 10:00 pm.

The weather was very sunny and cold in the mornings and evenings but warm in the afternoon. I would start off the day with a t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, and two sweatshirts, but by 2:00, I was down to a t-shirt and shorts.

On Wednesday, we did drive to Santa Fe to look at the shops and cathedral before going out to eat. Unfortunately, I started to feel sick upon arrival and spent the majority of the afternoon lying down on a park bench. I am not sure what passersby were thinking. At that point I didn't care. After a couple hours, I felt completely fine and was able to join the rest of the group.

We headed back to Iowa on Friday, stopping at the giant sand dunes in Colorado. I felt like I was walking in a Salvador Dali painting. The dunes were huge and seemed so out of place. It took me about 45 minutes just to reach the peak, and let me tell you, hiking uphill in sand is definitely hard work. We drove through the night and arrived back in Ames at 7:00 am on Saturday, the 19th, tired but incredibly thankful we were able to go on the trip. I spent yesterday and today with my Mom since my dad took a trip to Virgina and prepared for the next 7 weeks of the semester.

Happy Spring!

Mayo Field Trip

Correction on my last blog: it was the 8th week of classes. Tomorrow, the 7th of March, will start the 9th week.

This past Friday, I traveled with the BPMI club up to Rochester, MN, to visit Mayo Clinic and Minneapolis, MN, to the Belle Museum. I left my place at 5:00 am, and after our professor arrived about 10 minutes past the scheduled leaving time, we hit the road in a 15 passenger van and a car. At Mayo Clinic, we met with the medical illustration staff, toured some of the facilities, and had an artwork show-and-tell amongst the illustrators and us. It was interesting and I definitely understand the importance of medical illustration, but I don't want to be a medical illustrator or animator.

Another couple hours of driving and getting lost (those in charge printed off Google directions but did not bring a map of Minnesota so we ran into some problems when we missed the exit), we arrived at the Belle Museum, a natural history museum with lots of dioramas which I really enjoyed. Some of them were a little outdated, but the excitement I felt when looking at the moose standing mid-step in a muddy bank vs. the the "meh" attitude at Mayo shows that a job as a museum exhibit fabricator would be a much better fit for me. I love how dioramas create these little worlds with an overall visual impact, and then once you get closer, you start to notice all of the tiny details- the grasshopper at the base of the prairie grass, the colors of the leaves painted on the background.

Any way, after that, we went to a restaurant near there for dinner before arriving back in Iowa around 11:00. It was a long day with over 8 hours of driving. I guess it was good practice for my spring break trip down to New Mexico. Our college church group leaves early Saturday afternoon, and we will drive until the next morning so we do not have to stay overnight somewhere.

A Break from Beans

Beans are great. They're cheap; they're protein-rich; you can put them in just about anything, and you don't have to worry about them spoiling in their Tupperware container during a chordate anatomy lecture. However, this past weekend I reached my limit. I decided I needed a little pizazz, something out of the ordinary. So last night at the grocery store, I discovered salmon fillets were on sale, and as I sat eating my dinner of grilled salmon, broccoli, and bread (a $2 meal that would have cost at least $10 at a restaurant), I was able to reflect about this semester.

We have already entered week 7 of the 16-week semester, and spring break is less than two weeks away. Classes and school work have become comfortable, settling into the ruts of routine. Although this is nice and less stressful, I was feeling a little bit like my weeks were imitating my diet of beans, beans, and more beans- good, but a little monotonous.

Luckily, the past few days helped add a little "salmon" to my week. On Friday, I hosted a long-overdue dinner party for some BPMI friends. Saturday night, I attended a Honors broomball event, and for my GIRLS Power mentee weekly meeting, we went bowling. Originally we were going to volunteer to make dresses from old pillowcases that would be sent to orphanages in Africa, but I wrote down the wrong date. Woops. This past Monday, I also attended an ISU fencing club practice with my friend Robert, and realized fencing is much more difficult and tiring than it looks! I haven't decided if I want to join yet, but I doubt my slight lull in homework, projects, and studying is going to last much longer so I do not want to make any commitments yet.

So, basically my advice to you if you are feeling like a hamster in a hamster wheel or sick of beans, go explore an unfamiliar section of the grocery store. Or try fencing. Just make sure to wear a breast plate, ladies.

No coat! No coat! No coat!

For the first time since October, I walked across campus without a coat, and- dare I say it- slight perspiration! Ok, I had just finished my ballet class and was wearing a sweater, but it was warm! For those of you in Iowa, you probably know that last week was amazingly different from the sub zero temperatures not too long before. Everyone's spirits improved, and I didn't have to cut through engineering buildings just to prevent frostbite; my classes happen to be on opposite ends of campus.

Well, besides the weather, my Chordate Anatomy class is going really well. I have to review every day, but I like how the tests are set up. Instead of tricky multiple choice or true false, our professor gives us a list of essay questions and we get to pick 8 out of the 12 to answer. Ballet is still my favorite class, and I think Robin Hood would be up there too if it weren't from 7 to 9pm. Since I have my first class at 9am, 9:00 to 9:00 on campus makes for a long day, but the Robin Hood class is worth it. This past week, I co-led the class with two classmates. We started things off with two guests from the ISU fencing club. They talked about the history of fencing (noblemen dueling in the back alleys of Paris) and showed us some of the techniques. Then we got to practice the footwork. We weren't quite ready for swords. We also gave a presentation about Technicolor and led a discussion about the importance of Technicolor and the dueling match in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) which we watched the week before as a class.

This Friday, I talked to high school students and parents about the Honors program through Explore Iowa State, and attended the GIRLS Power slumber party. The theme was "movies" so my mentee and I dressed up as Harry Potter characters. She was Bellatrix, and I went as Professor Trelawney. Sadly, I do not have any photos. The evening included all things slumber party-ish: pizza, the game sardines, nail polish, a dance party with glow sticks, a terrible night's sleep, etc. The following evening with some friends did include glow sticks, sadly, but the hosts cooked up some pretty delicious food and I was able to talk to some people I had not seen for a while.

I have also been keeping busy with a semester-long research project for my Globalization and Human Condition Anthropology class. My topic: How Globalization Created Apple Pie as an American Icon and is Now Causing its Demise. Whenever I finally finish it, I think I will have to celebrate by actually making apple pie.

Have a good one.

Dog Cranium Project for BPMI Illustration Class

Plastic Bags, Tapioca, and Dog Skulls- a strange life

I was doing so well with blog updates, and then I got a little lazy. Oh, well. Last weekend was really nice and probably one of the most well-balanced weekends I can remember. I got to spend time with my parents who took me out to eat at Fugi, a Japanese steakhouse where they do the crazy chopping stuff right in front of your table. My parents are getting really good at spoiling me.

Of course I spent a fair amount of time doing homework, but I also got to relax a bit and go with a friend to see Barjche, a modern dance performance by the ISU dance club. Some of the stuff was a little too "modern" for my taste, but I suppose that people really involved in the dance world want to see something new and refreshing. One of the scenes I am thinking about had one dancer moving around on a rolling chair, pretending to drink from a gauntlet, while the other crawled about trying to reach up for a sip. The piece was called "Thirst" which fit in pretty well with the title: "Dance, Nature, and Sustainability." There were other pieces called "Oil Spill" and "Fire" which I really liked. They had a little more "dancing," and the lighting and costuming were excellent. Oh, there was also another really interesting piece in which the three dancers pulled tons of plastic bags through the holes in their shirts as a giant fan blew more plastic bags onto the stage. By the end of the performance, the large amounts of sacks began to hinder their movements- I thought it was a cool social commentary.

Last weekend and this weekend, I have also been fairly busy with CPC (fund-raising for our spring break mission trip) and GIRLS Power. Today I went with my mentee to an ISU women's basketball game. It was my first college BB game and pretty fun. I think she enjoyed it, too. Sometimes it is hard to tell.

Anyway, throw in a game night with tapioca and friends, warmer weather, a new computer (my 7-year-old Compaq XP contracted a virus and I finally bought a beautiful Mac), some tests and lab practicals and you've basically got the gist of my life for the moment. I hope you're all doing well!

Oh, and I have attached one of my art projects I turned in last week. The project consisted of four different illustrations (3 in pen and ink and one in a color medium) and a compilation of the pieces into one black and white layout with some labels for the lateral (side) view of the dog cranium.

Counting Sheep

Last week I turned in my first watercolor assignment. It was a set of three abstract paintings using complimentary colors to better understand the medium. Now we are working on a still life before transitioning to landscapes, people, and eventually illustrations/story-telling. So far the class is pretty fun. A lot of the work can be completed in class, and our professor is quite the character. One of my friends that took the class last semester wrote down some of her favorite quotes of his such as:

1. Those people I disagreed with... well, they're dead now, so it doesn't matter.
2. while discussing airplanes- I'm always next to the guy who's spilling over his seat, like porridge gone awry.
3. You could name this series "But I'm Okay Now!"
4. Being a social outcast doesn't make you an artist. You just have to be good.
5. If this were the solar system you'd definitely be Pluto.
6. I thought drug inspired music would be a good background for watercolor!
7. If God came down from Heaven and made the perfect city, it would not be Dallas.

The list goes on and on, but you get the idea. Something interesting (and challenging for me)in regards to water color is that it turns out better if you are relaxed about it. If you overwork it and try to control too much, it usually doesn't turn out as well. Maybe that is how I should try to approach life a little more.

Perhaps you are wondering why I named this post "Counting Sheep." This past week kicked my butt. I had an awful time sleeping, waking up every couple of hours and not being able to fall back asleep. Then I started to get sick- it just was not a fun time, and there was one night I resorted to the old, count-the-sheep-jumping-over-the-fence idea. It didn't work; I could not figure out if my sheep should look like the cartoony ones from those old mattress commercials or actual sheep. Anyway, I spent so much time trying to visualize what they would look like and how this scene would play out that I never actually got to the counting part. Luckily, I am sleeping better now so I hope I do not have to resort to sheep again. I still have a little bit of a cold, but it seems like that is the normal state of just about everyone on campus.

The photos posted are from Dance Marathon.

Dance Marathon, Ballet Class, and Other Stuff

This past Saturday, I participated in Dance Marathon. It is a charity event in which the volunteers, or dancers, stand on their feet for 15 hours to raise money for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. I thought it was going to be like one of those crazy dance marathons from the 30s where people had to constantly dance until they were the last ones standing- literally standing. But there was actually a lot more than just dancing. Every hour, we would preform a morale dance that the leaders taught all of the dancers at the beginning of the event. For the rest of the hour, there were lots of games, inflatables, four-square, Wii, demonstrations by clubs like the Swing Society and Judo, and competitions like the classic passing-the-orange-neck-to-neck relay. If you have every seen Charade with Carey Grant and Audrey Hepburn, you know what I mean.

Every hour after the morale dance, families also shared their stories, and each team had an adopted family with whom we were able to spend time and do activities. My team's adopted family had two kids with Hirschsprung Disease which meant they were born without nerves in their lower digestive tracts. Nate, who is 11, receives the majority of his caloric and water intake via an IV through his chest every night. This has kept him alive even though the doctors thought he wouldn't make it past three months old. The problem is that he might have to get a liver transplant since it doesn't get used very much, and he is very prone to infections with the IV. He was a really cool kid, and beat me mercilessly at Wii boxing.

My legs held up pretty well until the last couple of hours. During Power Hour, all of the games were put away and everyone was in the dance room jumping up and down, fist pumping, swirling glowsticks, etc. That was the hardest part. Then, for the final hour, the total amount raised was released to the crowd- $260,000! Thank you so much to all who donated.

Speaking of dancing, I am taking an intro. to ballet class at ISU. I have always wanted to take a dance class, and it is a good break between three hours of lecture and three hours of art studio twice a week. Most of the people have not taken ballet, but there are a few that definitely know what they are doing. It's really fun but fast-paced, and I need to review the terms in our textbook. Yes, we had to buy a text book, and we will be tested on the terms at mid-term and finals. I'm hoping the class will make me more graceful and give me better posture- we'll see. Sometimes I think my movements resemble a chicken more than a swan.

This last paragraph is just a bunch of random stuff. I am still a GIRLS Power mentor until the end of the semester, and today we had one of our large group meetings where we learned self defense moves from the the judo club. You do not want to mess with me now. I also found out that one of my short stories I wrote for Creative Fiction Writing last fall was accepted into Sketch, a literary magazine produced once a semester at ISU with short stories, poems, and some photography. I was pretty pumped.

Have a great rest of the week- hopefully it gets warmer. My memories of Spain are becoming fonder with each layer I add before heading to another class.

A Surfer in a Washing Maching

Hey, everyone-

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with loved ones. I certainly enjoyed my time at home with my parents and sister, playing games and cooking and sewing and etc. We also got to see a lot of relatives and some family friends.

But break is over, and a new semester has begun. With 18 credits once again, I decided not to do the archeology artifact illustration work. Part of me realizes I am missing out on a great opportunity to make some good money and add something to my resume, but those are the only reasons why I would be doing it and right now in my life, I don't want to add extra commitments unless they are something I really want to do.

My classes this semester include: Intro. to Watercolor, Comparative Chordate Anatomy and the lab (5 credits), an anthropology course called Globalization and the Human Condition, an Honors seminar called Robin Hood from Ballad to Book to Movie, Scientific Illustration, and Intro. to Ballet (for a fun break between classes.)I'm also in a non-credit fitness class with two friends. It is called piloxing (pilates and boxing) which we are going to try to make into a regular thing since it is too cold to bike or walk to campus anymore. This semester, I am still a mentor for GIRLS Power, an Honors Ambassador for potential students on college visits, a BPMI Club member, a tutor if any students need help with fiction writing or the bio. class I took last spring called Plants and People, and I still want to stay involved in CPC (Collegiate Presbyterian Church.)

Instead of writing about all of my classes at once, I will try to just focus on one a week. First up: Comparative Chordate Anatomy. The professor for this class and lab is very interested in her subject matter and about teaching it to her students (always a plus.) I feel like she could be a character in a Woody Allen film, but maybe its just because she has a New York accent which is pretty uncommon here. Anyway, for those of us who have not taken evolutionary biology or vertebrate biology, we feel a little overwhelmed. We fly through material very quickly- we are already in chapter 3! I understand the concepts, but I have trouble remembering and remembering how to spell all of the phylums and subphlyums and classes and yada-yada. At least a lot of BPMI students, Jake (one of my UA coworkers last year), and a few other people I know are also taking the class. This gives me some options for study buddies later in the semester or at least people with whom I can commiserate.

Last night a BPMI friend hosted a little party, and several of us BPMI-ers came early to help her make potato pancakes, or latkes, for one of the hors d'oeuvres. We never got around to playing games or watching movies that people brought, but it was perfectly fine, and we had a really nice time. Today I leave for a CPC retreat. It was scheduled for this weekend because we do not have classes on Monday due to MLK Day. I am looking forward to the games, sledding, good food, and good talks.

Things are going well for me now- I'm on top of my surf board enjoying the ride, but I know I'm in a washing machine that could suck me down very quickly into dark oblivion where all the lost socks go and never return. OK- that was a little dramatic. But anyway I feel like this semester will be fine as long as I stay with my board. I might fall off now and again, but that is why I wear a safety ankle strap (my family, my friends, and my faith.)