Present Joys

• Started out the week 8am monday morning in Web design I, which I wasn’t looking forward to. As expected, the course seemed like a real waste of time.
• Had my first friendship lunch of the year, which was nearly perfect! It was good to see all my food-service friends.
• Went to my second class of the week: Literary studies of graphic novels! Colleen and Dorian are also in the class! It looks like it’s going to be an amazing time.
• Had a bunch of free time from 3:30pm to 6:45pm monday afternoon. Most of this time was spent in the library pretending to do homework but actually talking to Audrey K., Theresa, Amanda, and Evan.
• Went to the first of my Marketing class in the auditorium that Artie Isaac guy. I was not as amused as my peers. On the bright side, it’ll be over in fifteen weeks.
• Got to school extra-early tuesday morning for Ad concepts with Burleigh. I spilled darjeeling on his boot at 8:05am but it was ok because I think he was glad to see me.
• Met with Mr. Lutz, the ad chair, to try to get out of Web I. He encouraged me to do an independent study project instead of Web I, which is exactly what I’m going to do! I wrote the Web I teacher a nice note and said goodbye.
• Went to my first Copywriting class, which is during lunch on tuesday and thursday. I sat in the front of the class and ate a noisy lunch and felt quite self-conscious (but not too self-conscious to stop eating). The teacher, George Felton, is cool, but the other people in the class aren’t that exciting.
• Went to my first Jewelry class, in the upstairs of Battelle Hall. I was ten minutes late because of my meeting with Lutz, but the teacher, Christine Hill, was absolutely charming and cool. Our first project was to cut Lincoln’s head out of a penny, an assignment I enjoyed on many levels. This is going to be a great class all semester!
• Didn’t go to school at all on wednesday (since I got out of my web class!). I stayed home and did homework.
• Had another meeting with Lutz on thursday; while doing so, Mr. Mohr came into the office and invited me to meet Stefan Sagmeister with a few students from his senior class. It was a hugely flattering offer.
• Left my jewelry class early to go visit with Sagmeister in the Canzani gallery and watched him review senior portfolios. He gave very thoughtful, even-handed critiques. After that I got to ask him some questions about one of my favorite topics, the postmodernism love of novelty and gimmick in the arts. It was a very good, thought-provoking time.
• Finally got all my independent study forms filled out and turned in! I also registered for the Package design class on monday mornings, which fills the hole left by Web I. So now my schedule is perfect!
• Killed time at Amanda’s apartment while waiting for the Sagmeister talk on thursday night.
• Went back to school to see Sagmeister give a talk in the Canzani auditorium. In a fluke turn of events, I was able to offer two adjacent empty seats to Lutz and Aschenbrand, who later thanked me for the “perfect seats”. So that was pretty great. All in all, it was a great week which exceeded my expectations on every level.

I’m one-and-a-half weeks into the fall 2011 semester! So I thought I’d take a minute to write down my first impressions of my classes. I’ll probably think this is hilarious when I re-read it at the end of the semester.

• Figure drawing with Boryana Rusenova Ina. She seems cool and nice, and the homework looks like it’ll be manageable. It’s fun being on the second floor of AMF because we are all alone up there. Pretty sweet deal for a monday 8am class.
• Electronic publishing with Kimberly Burghy. I can already tell this will be a terrible class. Lots of computer busywork. I don’t think the teacher and I will become friends. At least, not without significant effort.
• Photo I with Barbara Schwartz. The teacher struck me as a little absent-minded but very kind and personable. I’d never explored CCAD’s media studies department and darkroom, so it was fun to do that. Not excited about the material costs in this class, but overall it looks to be pleasant and not-too-stressful.
• Scientific applications for the artist with Julie Posey. This is a weird class; most everyone else are juniors and seniors. I balked when I first saw the syllabus, but I don’t think the work will be unbearable. The teacher is definitely a queer bird but she’s growing on me. Curious to see how this class will end up.
• Team ad concepts with Marcia Tabler. I was dreading having to be in this team class and do team things, but being with Marcia Tabler helped ameliorate the pain. She is a great person who I already know and enjoy on a personal level, so this doesn’t really feel like a new class.
• Illustration methods with Benton Mahan. This class is two three-hour periods on wednesday, before and after lunch. The vibe is very similar to my freshman design class, which was one of my favorites. I’m looking forward to having that long span of time to just work work work. The teacher is gentle and kind and a generally wonderful guy.
• Ad concepts with Mark Burleigh. The highlight of the week. He kept our attention for the whole 3-hour class period just by lecturing in a very off-the-cuff manner. I’ve been waiting for a design teacher like this!
• I’m also doing Intro to anthropology as an “online course”. I have no clue how this is going to go. My plan is to work as far ahead as I possibly can.

All-in-all, my schedule this year isn’t that much different from freshman year’s: I’ve got laid-back studio classes in the morning, comfortable lunch breaks monday and wednesday, lunchtime LA classes during lunch on tuesday and thursday, and ad classes tuesday and thursday afternoons.