Panic Attacks are Not a Good Way to Start College

Yesterday was lovely. I am so incredibly excited for my two psychology classes, and even ceramics should be okay. I had some really good conversations with two awesome friends, and I met some of the other girls in my new hall too. So naturally the day had to end poorly, right? After our hall meeting, I checked my emails to see that this kid (who I had thought I had traded shifts with) was asking someone else to take his shift. That means he probably didn't remember that we had traded, meaning he probably didn't show up for my shift that night. I know that would honestly be his own fault, but I still feel guilty about it. Problem #2: Art classes have a LOT of supplies you need to purchase. I knew I had some at home, but my mom's phone wasn't working. Apparently it decided that ringing was too last year, because I was calling her for about an hour before she happened to glance at it while it was going off. She was able to come up and help me get some supplies, which was nice. BUT, while all this was going on it snowed 2 inches, and I got ticketed for parking on the street during a "snow emergency" (come on, Minnesota, 2 inches! That's not a snow emergency...) The only reasons I was on the street was because my school hadn't gotten my new parking permit. When I went to the office to get it, the lady was a crab too, which certainly didn't help things.

But to end on a positive note: I had tea with my sister, and I won a parking space in the garage under my apartment building.

*sigh* Artists

I read this today in my design textbook:

"Lucian Berhard was fifteen years old when he visited the Munich Flaspalast Exhibition of Interior Design. So moved by the forms and colors that he witnessed, he returned to his parent's house while his father was away on a business trip, and painted every wall and piece of furniture in these bold new colors" (Brower).

I can't help but wonder what my parents would think if I did this.

The Challenge of Opinion

So going through high school there's a sort of ultimate question that always seemed to pop up a lot: "But is that your opinion or your parents's opinion?"

In high school, it was easy to laugh it off. "No, of course it's my opinion," we say calmly, not really taking the time to realize what those words mean. And we think we're right. That's why the words come so easily. We believe that the "opinions" we stand for are our own. And it's not really possible to know any differently until we get out from under our parents's wings. I, for one, couldn't have known how many opinions I simply don't have.

I'll admit it, I was sheltered in high school. Though much less sheltered than a number of the people I graduated with, I definitely hadn't even begun to confront some of the major issues that are lurking about in the world. Some of them are minor. For instance: how do I feel about wearing sweatpants to class. Trivial, yes. Somehow vitally important to life at Grove City college? Also, yes. But there are two major questions I've been wrestling with that are a lot more important.

1) How do I feel about smoking? The easy answers still pop up in my brain immediately: it's gross and it's bad for you. Cigarette smoke does not smell good, and it's been proven to effect your health negatively. But then there's the facts staring me in the face: a number of my close friends smoke. So that brings up a totally different question: I know I don't want to smoke, but am I cool with my friends smoking? At this point, it's hard to say no. Because they're already my friends, and (like it or not) it doesn't look like they have plans to quit smoking any time soon. I haven't totally come to a conclusion yet, but I think I've settled into a sort of basic stance on the smoking question: I'm cool with smoking as long as it's not an addiction. If you can quit of your own free volition at any point, that doesn't bother me. If I can take a pack of cigarettes away from you for two weeks, and you don't have to go buy a new pack so that you can smoke, that's fine. If you can't go more than a week without a smoke, we have an issue.

2) How do I feel about missing church? My parents and pastors drilled one fundamental idea about college into my brain: this is the time to make or break your faith. And while salvation doesn't depend on attending church, fellowship is an integral part of Christianity. So when I see some of my friends who haven't gotten up for church yet since we've been at college, it gets to me a little bit. So I guess my opinion on this is that you should want to get up for church to further your faith. Unfortunately, this just puts me into a rut of not really knowing how to approach the issue with my friends who don't attend church.

All of this to say that opinions are challenging little buggers. It's hard to even decide what my opinions are, let alone embrace them and stand up for them. And besides that, how do you share your opinion in love with someone who clearly doesn't share that opinion? These two questions don't nearly exhaust the list of things I have to decide my own opinion on.  I thought I had pretty much ironed out my thoughts on major issues, but it looks like I still have some work to do there.

Sorry Comic Sans, I couldn't resist

Today's post was brought to you be the letter M

This week project for Intro to Layout involved yarn, cardboard, a camera, and a walk. (Yes, I am a college student.) I had to make a letterform – from any typeface, from any material. If that wasn't enough fun already, I also had to take pictures of it. My mom was gracious enough to come with me as I took my carefully crafted M to the park.

It played in a tunnel...

...on a swing...                      

                                           ...on a bridge...










 

...and with my cat.












The photos I submitted for the assignment can be seen here.

A (Brief) Rant from a Design Major

To begin with, here are a few facts about me:

        1. I like writing 

      2. I like editing

So, when I saw this poster on Pinterest, I was immediately intrigued.

 

But there is another rather important fact about me.

         3. I am a graphic design major

My inner designer would like to point out that while the top of the poster clearly puts the writer on the left and the editor on the right, the list of characteristics are opposite! This is visually confusing.  However, I didn’t pick up on this at first because there was a little something I couldn’t get over: the use of Comic Sans. Don’t get me wrong, Comic Sans is a sweet little font, but these posters sum it up quite well.

Orientation Week

Well, I survived. After five days of orientation activities, I was ready for school to start. But there were a couple special events sprinkled among games like Ninja, Cat and Mouse, and Human Knot. One of those was the service project. My orientation group of four guys and fifteen girls was assigned to Urban Homeworks, an organization based in North Minneapolis that purchases foreclosed homes, fixes them up, and rents them back to families in the area. We got to help with the demolition process. The particular house we were at needed the chimneys removed, backyard raked for glass, and bathroom pulled out. It was hard work, and the hot, humid weather certainly didn’t help. We all survived though, albeit rather dirty.

But at least we got free T-shirts.