Modernist Monday - Libraries

All my inter-semester for-fun reading has been possible thanks to Delaware's New Castle County library system. The only drawback is their pesky 6 month probation period for new members. I can only check out 12 items at a time, with three audio-visual items at most. What, are they afraid I'm just there to pirate their DVDs? That I will return books scribbled with crayon? Happily, my probation ends next week. To celebrate, I'm posting pictures of the very cool looking library branches I like to visit.

Brandywine Hundred is my usual stop. I love how it combines glass and steel with the stonework traditional in this region.

On each pillar of the back loggia is a plaque explaining an article from the Bill of Rights. 

The Kirkwood Highway branch is farther away, so its my alternative destination if I'm going to campus and want a book Brandywine doesn't have. This is a more modernist building, and was just finished last year. Unlike Brandywine, it is only one story. The tall ceiling is deceptive.

Both branches have nice outdoor seating areas that seem to get a lot of use in warm weather.  You can see Kirkwood's surrounded by that little flagstone fence.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go home and read some more books wrapped in those crinkly plastic covers. I love that sound.

Pressure Cooker

"Don't make fun of the grad students, Bart. They just made a terrible life choice."- Marge Simpson

Last week was really icky. Grad school can sure mess with your head. Suddenly I found myself doubting and questioning pretty much everything in which I thought I believed. It was like there was a demon whispering in my ear that my life was pathetic and boring, and that there was nothing on this earth that could make me happy. Thank the Lord there were lots of good things on the horizon to cheer me up and give me a reality check. Here's the top ten in chronological order.

1. My grad prgram had a career panel consisting entirely of alumnae who are married with kids but also employed in museums. They all emphasized work/life balance and not neglecting your family for a stressful, high power job.

2. On my way out of town on Saturday, I ran to confession at a nearby church. The priest was a wonderful grandfatherly man who told me not to be too hard on myself. "You're just in a pressure cooker right now, gearing up for the next thing." Kind advice plus sacramental forgiveness = why I am glad to be Catholic.

3. When I arrived in New Jersey, I discovered The Beau had bought me flowers the color of autumn leaves :-)

4. After talking about it for ages, we finally cooked gumbo combining gluten-free roux (1/2 sourghum, 1/2 brown rice flour) with vegtables and stock

and chicken, andouille and rice. It was delicious.

5. On Sunday I tagged along to a choir concert/evening prayer at the Diocese of Metuchen cathedral. Why yes, I photographed the architecture.

6. On Monday I took another thesis field trip to New Tork, this time to Trinity Wall Street (the church at the end of National Treasure. Nicholas Cage did not actually find a fortune there.) The Trinity archivists were super nice and I even found some records of vestment purchases. A friendly security guard offered to take my picture while I was exploring the church.

7. I met my friend Laura for lunch uptown, emerging from the subway at yet another Anglo-Catholic church, St. Bart's.

8. After lunch, I went looking for a restroom. Laura suggested I try the Waldorf Astoria lobby. Good call!

9. The Trinity rector diaries were fun but not useful, so I cut out early and visited the Statue of Liberty instead. Hey lady, I'm tired and poor over here!

10.When I got off my train back to Jersey, I could look out from the platform and see where The Beau was doing homework and waiting for me. And when I got back to Delaware, my aunt was in town on business and we went out to dinner! It's nice to come home to people you love. Maybe I'll make it out of this pressure cooker after all.

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.

"And down the stretch they come" - Even more fun in Delaware

Cordelia..wailed when Sebastian appeared in a tweed coat. "Oh Sebastian, you can't come out like that. Do go and change. You look so lovely in hunting clothes ... It's so bad for local prestige. If only you knew how unsmart the Strickland-Venables are this year. They've even taken their grooms out of top hats." (BR p. 159)

I should have posted about this last weekend, but I was still recovering from a day in 90 degree heat. Every year the museum where I study hosts a steeplechase event, and so of course the beau and I went. Although we students may have arrived via yellow school bus, we all fit the fancypants dress code in sundresses, ties, and big hats. Most of the day was spent re-applying sunscreen and snacking at one of my classmates' parents' tailgate spot, which was literally the best one there. Seriously, they won a prize!
I also saw antique cars, fox hounds, horses, a carriage parade, and a guy get arrested for trying to jump the racecourse fence. All in all a fabulous day, and a much needed break before the final week of projects began.

Play Ball! - finally more fun in Delaware

We really do need to get out of the museum more. Tonight was the long-anticipated grad student outing to see the local Single A minor league baseball team, the Wilmington Blue Rocks. No, their mascot is not a boulder. It's actually a moose named Rocky Bluewinkle. BUT there is also a supplementary mascot named....wait for it .....Mr. Celery.

That's right, a guy in a celery costume comes out and dances when the Blue Rocks score. The 2nd year class first told me of this phenomenon over a year ago, and it did not disappoint.

Add Mr. Celery to cotton candy, $2 hotdogs, fireworks, and a bizarre Village People tribute involving a man connected to 4 marionnette mannequins, and you have a fun evening out where museum objects were only mentioned twice.

"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!" - The Blues Brothers

When I am driving, I can be a bit directionally challenged. Even if I have directions and a map printed out, I will probably get disoriented in my new surroundings and miss a turn or two. Sometimes I even make the same mistake twice. Studying Google maps and focusing on cardinal directions can help, but sometimes it just takes a lot of practice.

Case in point: leaving the downtown area here. Unlike a lot of my classmates, I don't live in the city limits, so I am not so familiar with the maze of one way streets. The past four times, I have ended up taking some roundabout route back home involving detours to I-95 or Little Italy.

That's why I am proud to announce that this weekend I not only managed to take the most direct route home from 8th and King Streets, I also made the 2 hour drive to see my beau without directions this time! After 9 months in Delaware I am finally learning.