With a Refreshing Hint of Lavender

As week 4 approaches my mental horizon I begin to begin documenting my time at CSSD. It's taken some time to get my head back into the game--reading assigned texts, visiting libraries, and not just mentally checking out when I get home at the end of the day have become quite foreign concepts after a short 3 years out of school. The work that has brought me to Central has been largely non-academic--skilled labor, but rarely anything that has called upon my intellectual faculties.

The moment I set foot on campus and saw a young lady with purple hair and a spike through her lip swipe her student ID on the door I remembered the difficulty I faced last time I encountered academic art. Oh god. Here it comes. I don't know if I can still filter the genuine art out of the bullshit stream that will surely be flowing from not only the mouths of my colleagues, but my own. It was difficult when I was thoroughly immersed, and had been for over a decade. Coming back...Am I ready for this? Should I even be here?

These past few weeks, however, have been enjoyable. Trying at times, to re-engage with the language of art, but my brain has enjoyed the challenge. It's been confusing but also refreshing, to re-awaken the areas of my mind that had lain dormant as I slogged through four years of mindless labor, sharing my days and drinks with the art world's macho side. Engaging again with discussion of not only implementation but of innovation--and the conception that leads to both--has forcibly re-shaped my thinking and reminded me to enjoy, not scoff at, artistic banter. I think my baseline level of patience has raised!

I really enjoyed developing my corner with Ms. Oh--the simple act of returning to academia has awoken so many aspects of not only my study habits but my personality that I had allowed to fall into dormancy. I took delight in playing with shadow focal lengths and perspective with our project. "Ah, but if we leave both sides open, we force the viewers to see not only the projection, but each other--and it's up to them how they respond to that, if at all...so..ooh, we better make sure the lighting is flattering to the skin."

In other news, Flying Fish look just as astonished as us when they take off. What on Earth am I doing?