As you may have noticed, I have a little sidebar tracking the locations of my blog visitors. It's funny to see how people find me. If they are not one of my 5 or so friends who check in regularly, I probably came up in Google searches for copper lamps. Sorry, no sales on home decor here! I haven't given up on museum employment and turned to antiques sales yet.
I've gotta send a shout out to a recent visitor from Waukegan, Illinois. Not only is this person from Chicago, the motherland of my relatives, he or she found me by Googling a quotation from The Blues Brothers, a great Chicago movie. Rock on, random visitor! I should eat an Italian beef sandwich in your honor.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Service is sweet
This time last year, I left St. Louis with overflowing suitcases and a head full of facts about urban poverty. Since then I haven't been able to do any service work. Grad school takes up all my time. This leaves me with a rather skewed view of the world. I may spend my days buried in books or in a mansion of furniture that was expensive even 200 years ago, but just a short drive away there are families in run down row houses just trying to make ends meet.
Thanks be to God, this summer I can finally leave the grad school bubble and get involved in the community a little. Two afternoons a week I will be volunteering at the summer camps run by Urban Promise, a Christian ministry group that some college friends told me about. I'll lead one hour craft activities based on (what else?) decorative arts history. This will be a good experiment in whether such topics can be kid friendly.
Today was my first day, and boy was I nervous! Especially since I had vague directions to the site involving a Rita's water ice stand, an unmarked road, and a church located in a an industrial park. But I found it! I was definitely praying to all my Vincentian saints as I waited for the kids to arrive: Vincent and Louise, Elizabeth Seton, even Katherine Drexel for good measure.
Not to worry, they were all friendly and engaged. As soon as I said "play with clay" they jumped right in. They even liked my pictures of kilns at Stoke-on-Trent and my stories about slave potter Dave Drake. Okay, so maybe we didn't have any serious conversations about slavery, resistance, and ownership of one's craft, but maybe they will remember his name and his couplets about playing fifes and drums on the fourth of July. I can't wait to meet the kids at tomorrow's camp and plan future crafts related to quilts, engravings, mosaics, portraits... On the way home I stopped for a Rita's water ice to celebrate.
Thanks be to God, this summer I can finally leave the grad school bubble and get involved in the community a little. Two afternoons a week I will be volunteering at the summer camps run by Urban Promise, a Christian ministry group that some college friends told me about. I'll lead one hour craft activities based on (what else?) decorative arts history. This will be a good experiment in whether such topics can be kid friendly.
Today was my first day, and boy was I nervous! Especially since I had vague directions to the site involving a Rita's water ice stand, an unmarked road, and a church located in a an industrial park. But I found it! I was definitely praying to all my Vincentian saints as I waited for the kids to arrive: Vincent and Louise, Elizabeth Seton, even Katherine Drexel for good measure.
Not to worry, they were all friendly and engaged. As soon as I said "play with clay" they jumped right in. They even liked my pictures of kilns at Stoke-on-Trent and my stories about slave potter Dave Drake. Okay, so maybe we didn't have any serious conversations about slavery, resistance, and ownership of one's craft, but maybe they will remember his name and his couplets about playing fifes and drums on the fourth of July. I can't wait to meet the kids at tomorrow's camp and plan future crafts related to quilts, engravings, mosaics, portraits... On the way home I stopped for a Rita's water ice to celebrate.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Material Culture Alert: Cameras
My lack of posts recently is due to the fact that I have been traveling almost nonstop for a solid month. With The Beau, my family, and my grad school class I have managed to visit every southern state except Georgia and Kentucky. It's been great, but I'm looking forward to being back in my apartment for a while.
On the road I lost a valuable companion - Theodora the camera. Somewhere between New Orleans' French Quarter, the LSU campus, and being locked in a hot car in Florida, her focus and shutter went out of whack. We've spent three years and thousands of pictures together, and not gonna lie, I'm still in the camera grieving process. I salute you, my valiant little DSLR.
While the wounds were still fresh I had to run out and buy a replacement in time for my week-long school trip. I basically grabbed my cheapest option at Best Buy, but it is a Nikon with 12 megapixels.
I've heard that a skilled photographer can produce interesting shots even with a point-and-shoot, so this will be a good test for me. So far this little cherry-red number has worked pretty well, except for low light and long depth of field. No offense, Theodora ,but it has been nice not to be weighed down with a huge camera while running from museums to historic houses.
On the road I lost a valuable companion - Theodora the camera. Somewhere between New Orleans' French Quarter, the LSU campus, and being locked in a hot car in Florida, her focus and shutter went out of whack. We've spent three years and thousands of pictures together, and not gonna lie, I'm still in the camera grieving process. I salute you, my valiant little DSLR.
While the wounds were still fresh I had to run out and buy a replacement in time for my week-long school trip. I basically grabbed my cheapest option at Best Buy, but it is a Nikon with 12 megapixels.
I've heard that a skilled photographer can produce interesting shots even with a point-and-shoot, so this will be a good test for me. So far this little cherry-red number has worked pretty well, except for low light and long depth of field. No offense, Theodora ,but it has been nice not to be weighed down with a huge camera while running from museums to historic houses.
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