my camera broke.
i wont be able to put up any photos for a minute or two.
i'm going to start saving for a real deal camera... you know, one that takes film?
where did summer go?
im going for a run.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
a not so warm welcoming
"Your education will be reduced by 10% this year because of the furlough proposed. You a have 10% less opportunity to use the resources. There are too many students and not enough classes. Students have be asked to leave because they are just showing up in hopes that the teacher will miraculously admit them into the course. If you are really desperate, write down your reason why you need this class.”
-Ashok Das, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
school started this week.
my first class was with professor das for public policy and urban planning. the above quote was his introduction to the new semester. before he even handed out the syllabus, we were given a briefing on how the cutbacks on education have effected this institution in case we didn't already know.
i could feel the tension in the air before i even walked into the classroom. in the quad people shouted, "california has failed you!" "it's time for socialism!" "government has failed you!" "we must act up!" "lyndon larouche will fix this country!". they all had their own booths, pamphlets and talking points in an effort to recruit the disenchanted.
they came to the right place. the buildings were even more populated, yet the students had nowhere to go. when i sat myself down for my first lecture, i noticed that more and more students were piling into the classroom, so much so that some opted to sit on the floor while other took notes from outside.
it was packed. students are literally showing up to classes in hopes that enough people will drop so that they could get on the wait list to be considered for enrollment.
i also had the pleasure of stepping in garbage on the way to my evening seminar. i had picked it up and tried to throw it away, only to realize that the garbage bin was filled to the brim. it was only the first day and already the place looked like a mess. the bathrooms are disgusting and the hallways and stairwells are littered with filth. the janitorial and waste committees on campus were also cut.
all of these cuts, and yet my favorite dollar coffee from last year was bumped up to $1.25.
why are the students footing the bill for something they clearly cannot even afford in the first place, hence the large second strain of loan applications once the tuition was increased only weeks before school started. the csu board of trustees voted on may 13 to raise student fees 10 percent in an effort to reduce the growing budget gap. the students are footing the bill for a reduced education. the professors are taking a 10% pay cut and are being told to take days off and not work (which for an educator doesn't make sense). the campus will be shut down more days than ever before.
and what is the biggest concern for university executives? it just so happens that university of california and california state university administrators have killed a bill that would have limited executive pay raises during bad budget years.
disappointing start to my second year of graduate school.
-Ashok Das, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
school started this week.
my first class was with professor das for public policy and urban planning. the above quote was his introduction to the new semester. before he even handed out the syllabus, we were given a briefing on how the cutbacks on education have effected this institution in case we didn't already know.
i could feel the tension in the air before i even walked into the classroom. in the quad people shouted, "california has failed you!" "it's time for socialism!" "government has failed you!" "we must act up!" "lyndon larouche will fix this country!". they all had their own booths, pamphlets and talking points in an effort to recruit the disenchanted.
they came to the right place. the buildings were even more populated, yet the students had nowhere to go. when i sat myself down for my first lecture, i noticed that more and more students were piling into the classroom, so much so that some opted to sit on the floor while other took notes from outside.
it was packed. students are literally showing up to classes in hopes that enough people will drop so that they could get on the wait list to be considered for enrollment.
i also had the pleasure of stepping in garbage on the way to my evening seminar. i had picked it up and tried to throw it away, only to realize that the garbage bin was filled to the brim. it was only the first day and already the place looked like a mess. the bathrooms are disgusting and the hallways and stairwells are littered with filth. the janitorial and waste committees on campus were also cut.
all of these cuts, and yet my favorite dollar coffee from last year was bumped up to $1.25.
why are the students footing the bill for something they clearly cannot even afford in the first place, hence the large second strain of loan applications once the tuition was increased only weeks before school started. the csu board of trustees voted on may 13 to raise student fees 10 percent in an effort to reduce the growing budget gap. the students are footing the bill for a reduced education. the professors are taking a 10% pay cut and are being told to take days off and not work (which for an educator doesn't make sense). the campus will be shut down more days than ever before.
and what is the biggest concern for university executives? it just so happens that university of california and california state university administrators have killed a bill that would have limited executive pay raises during bad budget years.
Despite the fact that the Senate Appropriations Committee found no costs to the bill and the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s analysis estimated a significant cost-savings, the Assembly Appropriations Committee today held the bill on their suspense file without allowing a vote. Normally, the suspense file is used to kill bills that have a significant cost to the state.
SB 217, authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), overwhelmingly passed the Senate in May on a 35-3 bipartisan vote.
“These administrations lack a moral compass,” said Yee. “It is unconscionable that CSU and UC lobbyists would argue that a freeze on executive pay costs the universities a dime. It is disheartening that university executives are more concerned with lining their own pockets, than protecting the needs of students, faculty, and taxpayers.”
UC and CSU administrators argued that the bill would cost millions of dollars. However, they used the complete opposite argument to push furloughs for lower wage workers as a cost-savings measure.
“We are deeply disappointed that during a period when students are being denied access, classes are being cut, and employees are being furloughed, the top priority of university administrators is protecting their own salary hikes,” said Lillian Taiz, President of the California Faculty Association, which represents CSU faculty.
disappointing start to my second year of graduate school.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
a brain jolt pt. deux
after an evening of watching a lot of shooting stars with good company and good wine
i continued my massive brain-food intake.
nothing could stop me from feeding my brain as much delightful information as possible. not even a terribly severe all-over sunburn. (i fell asleep at the beach for a few hours... it was my fault for voluntarily reading on microeconomics alone at a beach)
i'm fine now, i just look like a leopard in some places. it's not pretty.
it was also my one year anniversary of being a san franciscan, so i decided to treat myself with a trip to the sf moma.
the line to enter was particularly long (tourists), so in times of complete restlessness in lines i like to play a little game. i put my headphones in my ears but i don't play any music. that way, i can hear what the other people are talking about and, in this case, i was actually able to write some of the standout phrases on my notepad!
call it investigative journalism, call it eavesdropping, call it rude. i call it entertainment.
some choice phrases:
"not many people shoot 4x5 anymore. i wonder if kodak makes a 4x5 film. i'm gonna write a letter."
"san francisco is a city of hypocrisy!"
"do we create to prove we existed or do we exist only through our creation?"
"it's hilarious when tourists take pictures of pieces in museums. can't they just buy a print? like, (scoffs), i mean, come on! you're doing a disservice to the artist's work." sidenote: someone then shut this asshole up by telling him that it's perfectly logical to take a picture if a.) they were doing it for someone back home who couldn't be there or b.) they can't afford to purchase reprints of famous works of art in museums because they're too expensive. "not all of us are millionaires"
clearly, i was alone.
well, sort of.
i walked around through every exhibit, including the georgia o'keeffe/ ansel adams comparison and richard avedon's career retrospective, while listening to amália rodrigues records from the early 1950s to the late 1960s. i've been a fan of fado (a portuguese genre of music that tells tales of the ocean and misfortune) for a few years and her dramatic delivery accompanied by portuguese guitar make for a very stimulating experience for the senses.
for example
chilling, right?!?
told ya.
anyway, i saw some of the regulars over at the sf moma
- duchamp
- magritte
- dali
but some artists lesser known to me really got my brain working
the photographic distortions of andré kertész
andrew kudless' "p wall"
the self portraits of nicola tyson
this clyfford still piece gave me chills for a few minutes
and of course, in the sculpture garden, i was struck by the beauty of louise bourgeois' "the nest". im always drawn to her work for some reason. weird. i don't even like spiders in real life.
o yeah i also saw found this guy hiding at a nearby building
i guess that's where he's been hiding... odd.
spending so much time in the garden, i felt the sculptures actually forced me to take a seat and have a total stream of consciousness on paper.
it read like this,
"in the sculpture garden,
faces and shapes move
as the peaceful beasts lay dormant
are we invading their territory?
if so, how can they fight back?
mentally, i suppose.
they can't speak our language
or convey anything non verbally,
but they leave an
impression.
whether or not we realize it
our lives have been
questioned, our existence slightly altered
our structures reformed."
at night,
i treated myself to yet another free movie on a big, inflatable screen in delores park. two weeks ago i saw "pretty in pink" for my first time before the director passed away.
this time around, i was in my element.
ANNIE HALL.
wine. friendship. blankets. laughter. woody allen. diane keaton.
quite possibly the most pleasant evening i have had in years.
i went home and watched two more woody allen films and i haven't been able to stop since.
i'm an addict. i'm ok with it.
my brain is a week away from another round of grad school. i will survive.
i'm off to pick up a dear friend, cara bramson, from the airport. i've known her for 12 years now and it has been a very, very good friendship.
we're gonna have stories for you. guaranteed.
love and loyalty (and a lot of aloe vera)
i continued my massive brain-food intake.
nothing could stop me from feeding my brain as much delightful information as possible. not even a terribly severe all-over sunburn. (i fell asleep at the beach for a few hours... it was my fault for voluntarily reading on microeconomics alone at a beach)
i'm fine now, i just look like a leopard in some places. it's not pretty.
it was also my one year anniversary of being a san franciscan, so i decided to treat myself with a trip to the sf moma.
the line to enter was particularly long (tourists), so in times of complete restlessness in lines i like to play a little game. i put my headphones in my ears but i don't play any music. that way, i can hear what the other people are talking about and, in this case, i was actually able to write some of the standout phrases on my notepad!
call it investigative journalism, call it eavesdropping, call it rude. i call it entertainment.
some choice phrases:
"not many people shoot 4x5 anymore. i wonder if kodak makes a 4x5 film. i'm gonna write a letter."
"san francisco is a city of hypocrisy!"
"do we create to prove we existed or do we exist only through our creation?"
"it's hilarious when tourists take pictures of pieces in museums. can't they just buy a print? like, (scoffs), i mean, come on! you're doing a disservice to the artist's work." sidenote: someone then shut this asshole up by telling him that it's perfectly logical to take a picture if a.) they were doing it for someone back home who couldn't be there or b.) they can't afford to purchase reprints of famous works of art in museums because they're too expensive. "not all of us are millionaires"
clearly, i was alone.
well, sort of.
i walked around through every exhibit, including the georgia o'keeffe/ ansel adams comparison and richard avedon's career retrospective, while listening to amália rodrigues records from the early 1950s to the late 1960s. i've been a fan of fado (a portuguese genre of music that tells tales of the ocean and misfortune) for a few years and her dramatic delivery accompanied by portuguese guitar make for a very stimulating experience for the senses.
for example
chilling, right?!?
told ya.
anyway, i saw some of the regulars over at the sf moma
- duchamp
- magritte
- dali
but some artists lesser known to me really got my brain working
the photographic distortions of andré kertész
andrew kudless' "p wall"
the self portraits of nicola tyson
this clyfford still piece gave me chills for a few minutes
and of course, in the sculpture garden, i was struck by the beauty of louise bourgeois' "the nest". im always drawn to her work for some reason. weird. i don't even like spiders in real life.
o yeah i also saw found this guy hiding at a nearby building
i guess that's where he's been hiding... odd.
spending so much time in the garden, i felt the sculptures actually forced me to take a seat and have a total stream of consciousness on paper.
it read like this,
"in the sculpture garden,
faces and shapes move
as the peaceful beasts lay dormant
are we invading their territory?
if so, how can they fight back?
mentally, i suppose.
they can't speak our language
or convey anything non verbally,
but they leave an
impression.
whether or not we realize it
our lives have been
questioned, our existence slightly altered
our structures reformed."
at night,
i treated myself to yet another free movie on a big, inflatable screen in delores park. two weeks ago i saw "pretty in pink" for my first time before the director passed away.
this time around, i was in my element.
ANNIE HALL.
wine. friendship. blankets. laughter. woody allen. diane keaton.
quite possibly the most pleasant evening i have had in years.
i went home and watched two more woody allen films and i haven't been able to stop since.
i'm an addict. i'm ok with it.
my brain is a week away from another round of grad school. i will survive.
i'm off to pick up a dear friend, cara bramson, from the airport. i've known her for 12 years now and it has been a very, very good friendship.
we're gonna have stories for you. guaranteed.
love and loyalty (and a lot of aloe vera)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)