i could totally go for a beach and some greenery right now.

routine hearings

went to a really interesting theater production - or i don't even really know what to call it. in any case it was this show where everyone received an audio head set that played different media clips from the late 1900s to present day and audience members sat on a "stage" and posed depending on their reaction to what they were hearing. so in the first stage, everyone sat in chairs and if, for example, you were drawn in by what you were listening to then you leaned forward, and if you were ambivalent then you turned to the left and covered your right ear and there were four different poses. and everyone had different media clips at the same time so people are both having different reactions to the same media and same reactions to different media etc. etc. then, in the second stage, everyone was reaction to media again but this time with walking forwards and backwards or standing still and staring at the ceiling (for distracted). this was really interesting cuz people were walking in circles or walking all around the grid on the "stage" and then every once in awhile someone would just stop where they were and look up. it was especially cool when we were doing the practicing of the movements that went with whatever adjective we were feeling and we'd be moving forward, say, to show that we were drawn in, and then the narrative would tell everyone to act distracted and the entire group would stop and look up at the ceiling - it's kind of hard to explain but i promise it was really cool. the last stage of movement was freestyle so people were just really doing whatever they wanted in reaction to the media clips they were listening to at the time - so some were lying on the floor for parts, or leaning on each other, or one person had their shoes tied on top of his head...just lots of different stuff. for the final part of the production (this was really really cool) we watched a video of everything we had done on fast forward and sometimes you could tell who you were and sometimes you were just one of the dark bodies on the screen - very interesting...

if you're confused about it, i understand, it was definitely an unorthodox production, but i'm glad that i went.

summer musings

so while summer seems a long way off (especially considering that we have been in the single digits for the last few days), i'm one of those people who plans things early. and actually its really not all that early since a lot of programs' deadlines are fast approaching.

options to consider:
1. study in china (intensive chinese)
2. get an internship in washington d.c.
3. do research with prof.

things of note:
1. applied to government sponsored program, probably won't receive
2. need to apply, chances of getting? i have no idea.
3. need to find out more about it - he's writing a book on leadership with a president emeritus and it probably would be interesting but...housing? stipend? living in the middle of nowhere for even longer?

hmm. hmm. what to do. especially since aside from more info on the third option, i wouldn't find out about the others until march...

excerpt from chinese cooking reading

"life is jiaozi; the years one spent in life are the wrapping, and the life experiences one has had are the fillings, which contains the entire spectrum of taste: sweet, sour, bitter, hot and all" - cui yongyuan

don't play with your food

super cute playing with food art

a compilation of finished product pics: http://www.baekdal.com/design/art/dont-play-with-food/

the artist herself's website abt the process: http://annathered.wordpress.com/

college reads: the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian

so a project of my college's committe on diversity and community is to try and get lots of campus to read the same book and their choice this year was sherman alexie's the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian which i thought was a very interesting book and was also a very quick read. it examines the crisis faced by a boy caught between the world of the reservation and the world beyond the reservation in a comical, yet serious, story. i've never read much about life on reservations before and the interactions between the indians and the whites in the surrounding area are very telling of the wrongs that have been done and continue to be done to indians in america. i'd also recommend alexie's poetry - at least what was read to us on opening night of this "event" was very good.

--

I wept and wept and wept because I knew that I was never going to drink and beacuse I was never going to kill myself and because I was going to have a better life out in the white world. I realized that I might be a lonely Indian boy, but I was not alone in my loneliness. There were millions of other Americans who had left their birthplaces in search of a dream.

I realized that sure I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball platers. And to the tribe of bookworms.
And the tribe of cartoonists
And the tribe of chronic masturbators.
And the tribe of teenage boys.
And the tribe of small-town kids.
And the tribe of Pacific Northwesterners.
And the tribe of tortilla chips and salsa lovers.
And the tribe of poverty.
And the tribe of funeral-goers.
And the tribe of beloved sons.
And the tribe of boys who really missed their best friends.
It was a huge realization.
And that's when I knew that I was going to be okay.

j-term

so its been awhile but finally back at school for j-term having survived both finals and the chaos that always accompanies holidays - now all that has to be done is to figure out what to do with loads of free time...maybe actually get around to reading some books =]

class should be fun - chinese cooking (still can't believe i made it in as a frosh) looks to be delicious and educational (woohoo reading packets) and useful

that's all for now. we shall see what else is gonna go on for the next month aside from the momentous occasion of the presidential inauguration. broomball? road trip? hibernation? tea? crosswords? relay for life? hmm.