It’s All Happening

So I’m a little swamped this week.  Here are just a few of the major things going on in my life at the moment—all good things—but time consuming nonetheless…

1.      I got into Alum Service Corps!  This one isn’t really a time consuming one…all I had to do this week was sign the memorandum of understanding to confirm that I am in the program, but it is still a piece of exciting news.  I will be teaching at Regis Jesuit High School – Girl’s Division in Denver next year for one year.  I’ll live in community with 3 other ASCs who will also be teaching at Regis.  It is technically a volunteering program, so I will just get a stipend and not a paycheck, but it is a chance to do something I think I am really going to enjoy in a cool city, plus another chance to grow a little in Jesuit spirituality (I think my grandpa would say I’ve been “ruined” by the Jesuits because I’m hooked on them, but I think he would also agree that it’s not a terrible kind of ruined to be).  My training starts in mid-July, and I have to say that knowing what I’m doing for at least a year after I graduate does take the edge off of a lot of the senior year stress.

 

2.      Thesis.  It’s like a noose tightening around my neck daily.  Or like a guillotine hanging above my head.  My metaphor of choice changes more frequently than I actually do work on the project, which involves researching the parallels between Franz Kafka and Gnosticism and will count as an interdisciplinary Honors thesis for both English and theology (yes, it is as exhausting as it sounds).  So far I’m at about 10 pages and my first draft is due end of March.  I’d like to go back and guillotine January Allison for picking that early due date. 

3.      Dedication Days.  The days leading up to Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority initiation are called Dedication Days, and we have a ritual and activity four days of the week, plus we dress up and incorporate certain colors into our outfits.  Sounds a little like Mean Girls, but I can promise it’s not (I was on the fence about Greek life to begin with before I came to Rockhurst, and I can guarantee I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near any organization that “only wears pink on Wednesdays”).  It’s a lot of fun…we have Zumba one night to go with our physical aim and a “Date Dash” in which we have a half hour to dress up according to a theme announced that night.  Even though I am cringing at how much I actually have to do this week, I know I will enjoy my last round of Dedication Days.

 

My ASA family: Colleen, Helen, and our soon-to-be initiated newest member, Claire

There aren’t enough words in a blog post to adequately describe all of the other art show preparations, business blogging, test studying, Rockhurst Review-ing and other day-to-day activities that are going on this week. 

But it’s exhilarating. I’m on the home stretch of Rockhurst, and everything I have worked for this semester—and a lot of what I have been building up for the past four years—is now crescendoing in an action-packed final few months.  It’s all happening…

 

 

Everything but the Tan…

So I might not be laying on a beach or anything this spring break, but getting a tan is probably the only thing that isn’t happening this week.  Before it all starts, I think I’ll take a few minutes out of my Spring Break Eve to tell you a bit about what’s going down (and I am really resisting the urge to put exclamation points at the end of each of the following sentences, because I am REALLY excited for all of this):

I’m going to Colorado.  Okay, that in itself counts for one whole cool thing.  Because it’s the MOUNTAINS.  I’m a fan of Colorado, so if nothing else, I would be pretty excited to spend part of my spring break just hanging out around mountains.  I’ll be bouncing back and forth between Denver and Boulder from Friday until Wednesday of my spring break.  Why? You ask…

I get to visit my study abroad friends.  When you live in a foreign country for three and a half months and literally the only people you know are the 34 other college students in your program, you get to be pretty good friends.  In fact, you get to be a family.  I miss these people way more than I ever anticipated I would, not only because they were good friends and we have a lot of fun together, but because we shared a unique experience.  Everybody when they get back from study abroad has to overcome that reverse homesickness hurdle and accept the fact that while so many people are happy for you for having that experience, they don’t want to hear about it all of the time and they will never fully be able to understand.  I cringe a little at how much of a First World problem this is, but at the same time it will be so nice to be able to say, “Hey remember that one time we watched Daisies in film class?” or “Did you hear the klobasa stands in Wenceslas Square are closing?” (It’s tragic).  But that isn’t the only reason I’m headed to Colorado…

Study abroad family

 

I am visiting the girls section of Regis High School in Denver.  Again, why?  Because I might potentially be teaching there next year!  I applied for a Jesuit service program called Alum Service Corps, which is for graduates of either a Jesuit high school or college and involves a year of teaching at a Jesuit high school in either St. Louis, Kansas City, or Denver.  My first choice was Regis because I am the product of an all girls high school (Cor Jesu Academy…loved every minute of it), and since I am from St. Louis and currently in Kansas City, I figured Denver would be a new frontier.  So I applied…had an interview…and then got an email saying they’d like to have me come visit to see if it’s a fit!  It is not a for sure thing yet, but a very exciting step towards this hopefully happening.  But of course…

I am going home.  Wouldn’t be break without getting to head back to STL to talk a mile a minute with my mom, chill out with my sister, and maybe grab some Indian food with my dad (we recently discovered we’re both fans).  With the real world on the horizon, I am appreciating more and more those moments of home and family.

Actual family

 

All in all, from job interviews, to adventures with friends, to lazy days at home, I’ve got a pretty satisfying break ahead of me.  And I’ve never really tanned well anyway…

Snow Place Like Home
 

            It was day 4 of being snowbound…we had chopped up Emma’s wicker porch chairs for kindling…nothing left in the fridge but cheese slices and leftover sweet and sour sauce…the scent of Go Chicken Go behind our house was starting to smell more appealing…I think I saw Liz hungrily eyeing the possum (Count Fosco) that lives in our backyard…

            Just kidding.  We still have power and have been living off of brownies and egg sandwiches, not cheese and sweet and sour sauce.  And Count Fosco was alive and well last time we checked.  But we are snowbound and going a little stir crazy, so surprisingly no one is too thrilled at the prospect of “Rocky” the blizzard rolling in soon.  We have been trying to pass our time with some productive and some not-so-productive activities these past few days…here is an account of some of things the snowed in residents of Forest Avenue have been up to:

·         Worked on thesis and capstone.  Emma has officially written one sentence of her capstone, Sam (who lives down the street) is currently sitting in my sunroom muttering something about catching up with capstone journals, and I have actually done some work on my thesis!  I powered through about two pages while sitting on my kitchen floor eating soup (sometimes you just need a change of scene), and I am now up to my elbows in Kabbalah research.  My topic is Kafka and Gnosticism, and it is involving a lot more research than any other project I have undertaken.  I guess that’s to be expected from a senior thesis.

 

A nightmarish mind map of my thesis...

·         Pearl Jam.  Every February Alpha Sigma Alpha has a date party called Pearl Jam to welcome our new members (we call them “pearls”).  Unfortunately, the snow prevented us from going to a venue for the dance, but we had a fun night making do in the Rockhurst Activity Hall (AKA the “Party Barn”). 

·         Our Own Dance Party.  My friend Sam and I were a little disappointed by our Pearl Jam DJ, so we spent the better half of Saturday night DJing our own dance party in my sunroom.

 

 

·         Played Headbandz.  Nothing says snow day like some good ole fashioned games.  Went over to Sam’s for an afternoon/evening and played Headbandz…a favorite of everyone from my 10-year-old cousin to my college friends.

·         Filled Sam’s sketchbook.  Midterms kind of snuck up on Sam this year…she was supposed to have half of a sketchbook filled by this Wednesday, but she had approximately zero drawings finished.  So on Saturday we decided to alternate dancing with her sketching and me halfheartedly researching the overlap between Gnosticism and Kabbalah.

My brain according to Sam - Tibetan prayer flags, Klimt's Tree of Life, some columns from the Roman Forum, and a "bright and beautiful" flower inspired by a centerpeice on my table...sounds good to me!

 

·         Made cupcakes.  And not just any cupcakes.  Emma pureed strawberries to make the most delectable strawberry frosting you can ever imagine. 

·         Burned cookies.  Needless to say,  Emma’s frosting has nothing on these charcoal babies. 

·         Watched A LOT of movies.  I mean A LOT.

·         Slept.  I mean A LOT.

·         Made Snow Ice Cream.  It definitely wouldn’t be a snow day without breaking out the snow ice cream recipe passed down from my Nana, to my mom, to me!  Get some fresh snow and add milk, vanilla, and sugar!

 

All in all, a successful round of snow days, with possibly some more on the way…

Impending Storms

            Today is a snow day, something I will never stop being excited about despite the fact that I am 22 years old.  There is almost a foot of snow, no one has touched our streets, and the weather channel is telling us that the worst storm won’t even come until 5:00 tonight (so hopefully snow day tomorrow to make it a 4 day weekend?).  Right now I am settling in to a day of warm foods, snow ice cream (an old family recipe), and alternating between writing my thesis and watching Netflix.  Life is going to be pretty great today. 

            But at the moment, it’s yesterday I’m thinking of.  The day before a potential snow day is hyperactive compared to the snow day itself.  People running to the stores (I witnessed empty bread and egg shelves at price chopper), everyone giving contradictory weather reports, and just the general buzz of speculation, excitement, doubt, and dread in a few cases (to those people, I say “Grinch.”). 

            Yesterday was also the day of the graduation fair.  My classmates and I filled out forms for our cap and gown sizes, contemplated how much we actually wanted to spend on announcements, and chatted with career services about our plans for next year…or lack thereof. 

            As we wait to hear back about Alumni Service Corps (me, I’ll talk more about that later), Physicians Assistant school or volunteering in Costa Rica (my roommate Elizabeth), or a job at Visitation elementary school (my roommate Anne), the emotions are similar to that of waiting for a snowstorm (though unfortunately I don’t think life after college is like a snow day).  Some people—like those who hear about classes cancelled early—are celebrating their acceptance into Boston College’s social work graduate program (my roommate Emma…and with a full tuition scholarship!).  Others are dreading the difficulties that storms and graduation brings, and others are as ready for the next adventure as a kid for a snowball fight…and most of the time we are a mix of all of these things.    

            Life next year is a storm brewing, and we wait, we dread, we wonder, we pray for what the next stage will be.  I remember so clearly my graduation from high school and I am thinking all the cliché things one thinks when looking back—it seems so close, but I have grown so much, will I look any better in these graduation pictures than some of those atrocious old ones?

            But we are ready.  Elizabeth absentmindedly tells me about medical terms that I find on paintings I’m looking through for an art show without even having to look up from her homework.  Anne grills me about grammar while she is making a test for her student teaching class and I pass with flying colors.  Emma patiently explains to us the difference between cognitive and behavioral psychology when we have no idea what she is talking about for her capstone.  Most days we are excited for what we will do…we are the storms brewing!  Gathering strength for four years and ready to break on the world!  At least, that’s what I tell myself on good days.

            But today, no graduation fair, no applications, no brewing my own storm…the only thing that is brewing is a big breakfast with with my roommates and a day of enjoying the snow and the happiness of being a college student whose classes are cancelled…

 

Snowpocalypse

 

Future social worker and future physicians assistant on a snow day...auspicious beginnings

 

 

A little throwback to the high school graduation.  Here's to hopefully getting better educated and more photogenic after four years...

 

 

 

 

Sandwich-Eating Philanthropist

            Freshman year, you are working with monopoly money.  You’ve got your swipe card and it’ll get you three square meals a day, plus all of the midnight Planet Sub runs for ice cream and chips that your little heart could possibly desire.  In the case of most freshman girls (the guys tend to eat a little more), you always end up with leftover meal points at the end of the semester, so you never worry about budgeting your meals or anything like that.

            Senior year is a little different.  Granted, since I live on campus I am lucky enough to have a half meal plan, which comes in handy when it’s noon on a Saturday and I’m too lazy to make your own breakfast, but just motivated enough to haul myself and whatever roommate happens to be awake to the cafeteria in sweatpants for some biscuits and gravy.  But I pay for the rest of my groceries, and it turns out that pop tarts, hot pockets, and other luxuries from home are not exactly in a college student’s budget.

            Bottom line: Freshman year you joke about wanting free food…senior year, you decide you need free food.  Enter Saturday night auctions.  I found out about these auctions through my sorority’s philanthropy chair, who passes along volunteering opportunities to the chapter every week.  It turns out that if you volunteer at an auction, there is a high likelihood of free food being involved—in most cases, sandwiches, cookies, and all sorts of easy to serve goodies, plus sometimes fancy treats leftover from the actual auction food.  So the running joke in my house is that I have been spending my Saturday nights volunteering at auctions so I can enjoy free and delicious dinners every weekend. 

            I’d be lying if I said the free sandwiches weren’t a nice bonus, but I really like working the auctions.  In addition to all of the typical good volunteering feelings, it is an interesting people watching experience.  The last two auctions I’ve helped with have been at the Starlight Theater and the Marriott downtown, which are both beautiful places as is, but it is even cooler to see them transformed into a “Bayou Bash” for a school for children with disabilities, or an “Art for the Children” benefit for medical missions in Africa.  People come in their beautiful dresses and dapper tuxes, and the tables are set with elaborate lamps and centerpieces, with crème brulee waiting in the wings. 

            Even if I’m not actually a medical mission doctor or someone at the auction, it still feels like stepping into a different world than a college cafeteria for a few hours.  It makes me wonder if someday I will be in a position to be this generous, and it makes me grateful for the people in Kansas City who can afford to give financially to the causes that I can usually only give time to.

            So am I trolling for sandwiches?  Yes.  But I am doing some sort of festive wonderland.  And I like to think that even if I’m eating cheap cookies instead of crème brulee, I’m still a bit of a philanthropist for a night. 

 

Table Decoartions for the Bayou Bash for Horizon Academy

 

 

 

 

Group of Alpha Sigma Alphas helping out at the Art for the Children Auction at the Marriott

Art Nights

 

Two nights a week (and whenever else she says so) my life belongs to Anne Pearce. 

Anne is the main art teacher at Rockhurst, and a woman I owe HUGE thanks to for making my art history minor possible.  As I mentioned in my previous post (http://allisonbody.blogspot.com/2013/01/polka-dots-and-my-career-so-as-it-turns.html), I am doing an art internship/independent study this semester that will count as the final hours of upper level credit for the art history minor I have been putting together for the past few years (Rockhurst does not at this moment offer an art history minor).  My semester with Anne will consist of me curating a “virtual show,” the Rockhurst Festival of Student Achievement, and a show of Rockhurst students’ art downtown.

I don’t know anything about curating, and Anne is teaching me how to curate much like my dad taught me how to swim: by throwing me off the diving board.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays I attend Anne’s independent study night class, which consists of a handful of actual student artists and me.  Since a major part of my job will involve picking students’ art for these shows, Anne briefly introduced me to the class, then gave me the warm and gentle directive “Go talk to them.” 

Maybe I am easily intimidated, but being told to go around the room and talk to some of the most artistic people at Rockhurst about I-don’t-know-what while they are intensely working is not something I do on an average day, in particular because I would not think that most artists at work would want to be interrupted by some curator wannabe toting around her laptop and trying not to ask stupid questions. 

But I should have known better, because that was probably the most interesting class period I’ve ever experienced.  Just like I would love to talk about any writing projects I am working on, these students were more than happy to talk to me about their art, giving me more than just the basic information and telling me about their motivations and inspirations. 

Their art was all over the board: one girl was very good at drawing individual hairs on animals so she was doing a series of cat drawings; one guy was painting cliffs in Ireland and he and I had a lively conversation about how much we loved the place; another girl was thinking about being a biological illustrator and doing a flip book of anatomical drawings of birds.  I think my favorite of the night was a guy who animatedly told me about his plan to make a connection between the Chinese signs of the Zodiac and embarrassing human behavior—I was hooked and can’t wait to see the result. 

I like seeing people in their element and watching them light up about something that means a lot to them.  I think I’m going to enjoy this curating thing…

 

 

My friend Matt is not an art student either, but so desperately wanted to hang around all the cool people in the room that he offered to be a model.  Be careful what you wish for...

Polka Dots and My Career

So as it turns out, there are two kinds of job searches: the kind where you get to wear polka dots and the kind where you don’t.  This semester, I am attempting both.

The non-polka dot job search began with an interview on my first day back in Kansas City with a publishing company.  I learned about this company through the Rockhurst English department and career services, and decided to pursue an editing internship with them.  I sent them my resume, and they asked me to come in for an interview…which meant digging up interview-worthy clothes. 

Now, maybe I’ve been living in quirky English major world for a little too long, but I had no idea there were so many rules regarding interview attire—I get that it should all be appropriate and fit well, but no patterns?  No bright colors?  NO RED?  This initiated a St. Louis-wide search for appropriately grey/tan/black clothing.  The winning combination of the colors and my chipper attitude probably made people think I was shopping for a funeral. 

But the interview date came and I showed up in my grey dress and black tights…only to be told they were not really looking for interns because their fall ones decided to stay on for the spring semester (despite this setback, I still think studying abroad last semester was worth it!).  Oh the trials and tribulations of the internship hunt.

My polka dot job search is going a little….more interesting.  I am doing a curatorial internship/independent study with the head of the art department, Anne Pearce, which will involve curating three shows this semester: a “virtual show” in which I select any space and works from any artist and discuss how I would hypothetically put the show together; the art portion of the Student Achievement Festival at the end of the year; and a show of Rockhurst Students’ work at a gallery downtown in the Crossroads Art District (a new undertaking this year).  I am going to be really busy with all of this, but it is also very exciting to be doing something so hands on. 

A big part of this internship is also networking with curators and artists in Kansas City, which is why last Friday I found myself talking to a curator at a gallery opening who insisted that I MUST go to the back of the gallery and watch the live feed of cats playing in a cat-palace before I left (Do I love contemporary art?  Yes.  Will I ever really understand it?  I’m not holding out hope.).  Turns out that when you are networking in the art world, things like red lipstick and the pairing of flannel plaid and sequins are encouraged.  I think my polka dots would be welcome at those kinds of functions.

But regardless of whether or not I am allowed to indulge in my particular fashion tastes, this semester is about garnering all of the experience I can before my launch into the real world in May.  The publishing thing was a dead end, but I have an unconventional art internship, a solid selection of both dull and patterned clothes, and as of this afternoon a brand new career services account.  Look out job world, here I come…

 

 

Sam and I gong for artsy black instead of funereal/interview black for a night of hobnobbing in the art world.

 

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist sneaking a picture of the cat-palace.