After the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, one of my students (who is a Patriots fan) said, "You know that feeling you have right now, how excited you are? Well, I've had that same feeling 6 times."
The only way I can cut this kid some slack, is that he grew up in New England and moved to the midwest in 8th grade. But, sorry dude, you don't know how it feels to cheer on a team for 36 years and them never make it to the super bowl, let alone win. I've been watching Chiefs football my entire life. They are generally the underdog team, in my mind. Kid, you have no idea how this feels. It feels amazing to have such an amazing quarterback to cheer on in every game. After suffering through all the losers in the past. To have a great offense and a bad defense or an amazing defense and a terrible offense in the past, but now we finally created an amazing team that is fun to watch and exciting to cheer on. It feels awesome to wear my sports gear with pride and see other Chiefs fans around town sporting their gear too. We were so excited about the win, that we went to KC to see the parade! I even decorated my classroom to celebrate. I have started following everything 'Chief's' on instagram and twitter just because all of the hype is on my mind, even though the game was over a month ago.
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Every day I....wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 and cannot go back to sleep even though my alarm does not go off until 5:40. Most of the time, I put in my wireless earbuds and listen to my book for 30 minutes before I have to get up.
Every day I....have a glass of orange juice and something with eggs. I have been on a vegetable kick this year so I spend Sundays cutting and cooking veggies, put them in the fridge and then portion them out (usually with ham chunks) each day and throw a soft-boiled egg on top. I got a new egg cooker for Christmas, so I can make several eggs on Monday to eat all week and they stay good in the fridge. Every day I....get to school about 45 minutes before my first class. I enjoy having that time to get stuff done in my room and just relax before the chaos. Every day I.....have a salad for lunch. I got into the habit if taking those wal-mart salads....and now I have tons of the plastic containers so I make my own with things like peas, beets, and ham on top. I'll make up 4 on Sunday and then my lunches are ready for the week! On the 5th day I'll throw in leftovers or have a can of soup to break up the monotony. Every day I....feel like we are working on the mural, or I have art club, or class or a meeting.... I could work until 5:00 every day and ever get everything done.....It's funny how I used to feel like I had so much time and now I don't feel like I have enough time. Every day I....have been spending tons of time on reading and homework for my art theory class. It is an interesting class but it is a lot of work and I will be so ready for May when the mural and the homework are done. Every day I....usually watch a little TV, right now we are watching the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Every day I....think about how I should go for a walk....but then I make up an excuse about how I can't.... Every day I....use a silk pillowcase to sleep so that I can make my hair last as long as possible between washes. 2019 Every day I... 2018 Every day I... Have you taken the enneagram test yet? Several years ago, people were obsessed with the color code....I think the enneagram is the new color code. It breaks down your personality into a 'type' and by understanding the different personality 'types' you can relate to people better. I had everyone in my friend group take it and we had someone from almost every 'type' which explains why we get along so good! We all bring something profound and essential to the group.
Not surprising, I am a 1 with a 2 wing. Within our friend group, I would say that I used to always take the lead on planning events, I try not to do it as much now because it stresses me out when things don't go perfectly. Here are a few other characteristics of my type: In summary, Enneagram 1w2 personalities tend to...
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Ones have a fine eye for detail. They are always aware of the flaws in themselves, others and the situations in which they find themselves. This triggers their need to improve, which can be beneficial for all concerned, but which can also prove to be burdensome to both the One and those who are on the receiving end of the One's reform efforts." Here is a break down of our friend group, I'm saving it here so we can talk about it later, because it is so interesting. I love that we have so many '2' personalities! 1 Nellie /Blake /Stormi 2 Brannon /Tristan /Brandon /Clara 3 Kaley 4 Ashley 5 Jeremy / Ryan 6 Adallee / James 7 Carrie / Reesie 8 (we don't have an 8, probably a good thing) 9 Jessica Okay, so I was having really bad hear-burn and indigestion every. single. day. For over a year. I took over-the-counter stuff, and gave up coffee and changed my diet and nothing was touching it. I decided to see my doctor and she referred my to a gastroenterologist. I was hoping it was an ulcer or something that would go away easily with a script. Nope. Not that simple. Basically, I had to have a scope down my throat, my first time under anesthesia. And not pleasant. Then, when I went back to find out the results, there were basically two issues. One, I had a minor hiatal hernia, which means that the flap of skin keeping my stomach acid inside my stomach wasn't doing its job. Instead, acid was spewing up into my esophagus, causing Barrett's esophagus tissue to mutate and can eventually cause cancer. P.s., the over-the-counter medications that people take for acid reflux have long-term side effects that we don't actually know the ramifications of yet so I didn't want to be on those long-term if I didn't have to be. The other thing they found, after doing a biopsy of my small intestine, was damage from exposure to gluten. Lots of foods have gluten: anything with wheat (flour, bread, pizza, soy sauce, noodles, cupcakes, pankcakes, waffles, cereals, muffins) contains gluten and in order to minimize the damage to that tissue, the doc recommended that I go off gluten. She said that if I keep exposing myself to it, I can develop an allergy called Celiac disease, which will make me really sick if I do accidentally eat it later. So, since last January, I've been trying to avoid all gluten. It hasn't been impossible, but it has been hard. Also, in June, I had surgery to repair my hiatal hernia. I had to be on a liquid diet for most of the summer. That was rough, but I made it. I think the worst part is that I am such a foodie, and I love food and I'm not a picky eater, it has forced me to be much more selected about what I put in my body. At restaurants, usually the only thing gluten-free is a salad, minus croutons. So I have been forced to make more healthy choices and skip dessert, much more often than I would like. Maybe this is cheating, but I thought that since yesterday was my Art Theory Mid-term, I would share my thoughts on the take-home essay here. I had to write an analysis of two pieces using a postmodernist perspective. Very fun and interesting to write: Sunflower Seeds, by Ai Wei Wei The Tate Modern’s curator Juliet Bingham suggests that the piece Sunflower Seeds asks, “What does it mean to be an individual in today’s society?” and “What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?” She also mentions in her description of the installation that the piece is a powerful commentary on the human condition, but after studying Marxism and postmodernism more closely, I think Ai Weiwei is making a more direct critique of communist ideology. The individual is lost amongst the masses, the sunflower seeds suggest the paintings of Chairman Mao and his loyal ‘sunflowers’ being people who are loyal to the party. By outsourcing the work to specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen to sculpt and hand-paint each individual seed, he is making a commentary on the role of art in society, the idea of mass production through individual craftsmen which is supporting the idea that the relationship between art and society is complex. This piece suggests the idea of the dominant communist class upholds the power through the exploitation of the proletariat class of workers, as the workers depicted in the video were happily painting the sunflower seeds which both represents their role as an oppressed group and an exploited worker. Exhibiting this piece in a massive space like the Tate Modern in London, and making it interactive, viewers are literally asked to walk on precious, fragile porcelain seeds that took hours to make by very skilled artisans, the piece makes a commentary on what the contemporary viewer’s relationship is with consumption of goods and materialism. This is the kind of artwork that makes you think. Long after seeing it, (or learning about it), the haunting suggestion of the sunflower seed being China’s most abundant object, a symbol of the people is really powerful. This piece does not exalt the sunflower seed (or the people that the seeds represent), it simply reminds the viewer and reinforces the communist ideology. Questions that can be asked of the artist and the installation: What is Ai Weiwei’s social and economic status? What is the dominant ideology Weiwei is challenging here? How is symbolism used to represent the oppressed members of the subordinate social classes of the oppressed society? How does the format of this installation, which is large and public, help Weiwei convey his message? How does Ai Weiwei’s working method challenge prevailing ideologies about artists? About craftsmen? How did this project impact the economy of the community who worked on the sunflower seeds? What is the ideological impact of his method? Did his laborers think differently about issues as a result of participating in this project? A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby by Kara Walker
Kara Walker’s construction of a giant, sugar-coated ‘mammy’ sphinx in an abandoned-set-for-demolition Domino factory is a significant commentary on industry, slavery, class relations, the beleagured and sexualized role of the black woman both in cotemporary society and in slavery, exploitation of an entire race for the massive riches found in the sugar trade by the industrialized Western society. Sugar is no longer a luxury item, it is more of a staple now, but using it as a symbol to represent the ideology of capitalism is a powerful and haunting examination. The piece is dripping with symbolism, from the pose, to the hand gesture, to the sheer size of the structure compared to the viewer. It is monumental in scale which is another nod to the implications of the sugar trade and the exploitation of the slave classes. I found it really interesting in the video, the majority of the viewers flooding into the exhibition space were white. This piece makes me think about the subjectivity of the viewers in this context---a black artist, representing an African American point of view--to a primarily white, privileged NYC audience. Some of the patrons were reported to be interacting with the Marvelous Sugar Baby in a way that was perceived to be exploiting, exoticizing, and even misunderstanding her intent. In an interview with the Art Newspaper, she said that when creating the installation, “I was thinking about sugar and the associations with desire.” Perhaps she anticipated the responses and that was the reason for leaving the figure naked and exposed, in order to expose the objectivity of the viewer into the full light of day. This installation touches on all parts of postmodernism: culture industry, commodity fetishism, deconstruction, and the exploitation of subordinate classes to benefit dominant classes. Questions that can be asked of the artist and the installation: What is the dominant ideology that Walker is challenging here? How does her subject matter critique that ideology? How does this piece invite the public to consider sugar’s history of power, conquest, luxury and sex? Now that sugar is no longer a luxury item, how is it self-destructively used by the masses (especially the poor), keeping them from fulfilling their potential? What is the significance of the scale of the work? Of the material used? Of the use of the ‘sugar babies’ leading the guests into the factory? How does the format, which is large-scale and public, in an abandoned former-sugar factory, still dripping with molasses, help Walker convey her message? How does Walker’s working method (with her team of paid sculptors), challenge prevailing ideologies about artists? How does it enhance the impact of her imagery? Does it even matter that she had help with this installation? How does this piece relate to the political climate (especially in 2014, with the resurgence of overt racism), with a black first lady trying to get people to avoid sugar? What does the fact that the piece was intended to only last a few weeks, bulldozed with the building to make way for a park, the physical Sphinx, gone forever say about our culture? About history? A few weeks ago, I had a fun conversation with a friend about postmodernism. I'm sharing it here because I was so impressed with her profound thoughts that were shared via text on a Saturday morning, it made me realize how much I value all of the smart, wonderful artists that I am friends with. For context, Ashley is married to a guy that I went to MSSU with--he was a sculpture major. They live in San Antonio and we only see them a few times a year. She has an MFA in printmaking. (Warning, our conversation is a little bit political, because of the article below) ME: We are studying postmodernism next week in my art theory class. I’m reading ahead a little bit....and I found this article. You might hate it, but it is worth a read: https://www.vox.com/features/2019/11/11/18273141/postmodernism-donald-trump-lyotard-baudrillard ASHLEY: um, i loved it, and also mostly agree. Although most people aren’t reading Derrida and Foucault, THOUGH THEY SHOULD, their work is historically accounting, and sometimes describing or warning, but i wouldn’t go as far as to say they are the implications of postmodern values or shifts in cultural and subjective vs. objective “truths.” Side note: if you haven’t read Simulacra and Simulation, do it! It’s a short read that you won’t regret! Derrida is equally fascinating but longer winded. I would also argue that we are no longer saturated by postmodernism, but inching our way into post-postmodernism, though some argue we there already. Times are largely and commonly dictated by an antithesis to the previous way of thinking, and a need for something else, culturally, politically, and artistically. This was seen in the early days of postmodernism as younger generations broke away from their professors’ ways of thinking, and I believe we are there once again. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I think the need for some semblance of objectivism is already rooted in younger minds, i’d say our age and younger. I can only hope it’s reach encompasses more than philosophical books, but instead influences culture and morality in the same way postmodernism has. Would love to talk more as you read, and give me your reading list! ME: Im currently watching a lecture on YouTube by Stephen Hicks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGbHG63x8w&t=1s) it is long but really good so far, he is basically summarizing and unpacking where postmodernism is in 2018, which is still relevant today. When I first jumped into the theory surrounding postmodernism, I immediately concluded that Trump is the nonsensical postmodern president that we deserve and were destined to inherit. I think you are right about younger minds craving a bit of objectivity but I also think that the pendulum between reason and the rejection of reason is in the extreme arc away from truth and it is bound to slowly make its way back. Considering our political climate from a perspective of postmodernism gives me a lot of peace, because I think that we are doomed to continue into the darkness for 4 more years because as a culture, we kind of have to go all the way.....and out of that darkness, I think that whatever is next: culturally, politically, artistically will emerge. Whatever anger and frustration I have about the political climate isn’t driving me towards activism, but voyeurism. Now, I just have to figure out what all of this means in regards to my own work. The text book we are reading this semester is awful but one quote: “Though a real work of art may not directly address any political issue-- though it may actually be an instrument of the prevailing ideology --it is always a form of political commentary, in implicit critique.” I will definitely look up some of your suggestions and if I find any more gems, I will send them your way! Ashley: I agree we were destined to inherit what trump is, and sadly, there will likely be more to come, as you stated. The pendulum does indeed need to finish its swing before coming back. I think it’s really interesting what you said about being driven to voyeurism rather than activism. That alone could be a thesis. Maybe you should delve into that with some stream of consciousness and see where it leads, just for fun. Might give you some insight into where to go from here with your painting. I’d love to see what you come up with based on that idea. Painting itself is an act of both, watching and acting, though arguably acting more passively. Although now i’m lead to interpret your layering of photos you paint from as a much needed absurdist argument for the loss of reason. If photos and social media account for the simulations of reality, what better way to laugh at postmodernisms claim to subjective truth than by tangling and confusing the layers which make it up. You may have moved away from this idea, i’m just thinking out loud because i’m excited! haha ME: Yeah I need to do that stream of consciousness thing—-right after I go see Birds of Prey. As Whitney Houston and Shania Twain espoused, I’m every woman....writing a post modernist thesis on my way to see a pop culture movie wearing a sports hoodie, listening to Phish after baking a batch of gluten free cookies.
To see day one here and day two here. To wrap up our Dallas trip, we did not need to be anywhere until 11:00 a.m. My feet were killing me from all the walking we did on Saturday. We were all exhausted. I barely slept Saturday night. However, I had invited my grandma and my aunt to come for breakfast Sunday morning. They were due to arrive at the hotel around 9:00. I got up and dressed by 8:00, just in case. We walked down to aAcension, a trendy little coffee place downtown. It was great to visit and catch up. Then I walked to the hotel to load my stuff, and then we walked over to the final two museums of our trip. First, we visited the Crow Museum of Contemporary art. My favorite piece was an installation by Beili Liu. The Lure a site-specific piece in which the artist captures the ancient Chinese legend of the invisible thread. It was absolutely beautiful:The Lure Installation Series borrows from the ancient Chinese legend of The Red Thread, which tells that when children are born, invisible red threads connect them to their soul mates. Over the years of their lives they come closer and eventually find each other, overcoming great social divides or physical distances. The installation makes use of thousands of hand-coiled disks of red thread, each pierced at the center by a single sewing needle, enabling its suspension from the ceiling. A disk may be connected to another, as a pair; and a pair of disks is made from a single thread. Subtle air currents set the red thread coils swaying and turning slowly as the loose strands of thread on the floor drift and become entangled. We had lunch at the Dallas Museum of art, and then we set out to see the artwork in our 7th and final museum. We were pooped! The Dallas Museum of Art was amazing, I'm sad that we were all so tired. I loved the contemporary exhibit featuring Alex Katz and the Visitors Installation by Kjartan Sveinsson. We wanted to leave Dallas a little early but the museum was just so massive, that wasn't possible. We ended up leaving around 2:30. We hit the road to Joplin. When we got to Muskogee, we decided to find dinner. This was tough because Frank wanted Chilis, but we were anxious to get home so we wanted something quick. The group ended up at Subway, but we made it to two different Subways and it was really funny how we got separated. When we got back to Joplin around 10:00 pm, we had to unload in the rain.
My car had a very soggy parking ticket on the windshield. All well. It was a great trip overall!! On Saturday of my art theory trip (see day 1 here), we loaded up in the vans and headed over to Ft. Worth. Kyle got a parking ticket over night in the lot near our hotel. Note to self: always pay to park, and if it says 12 hours, it means 12 hours, even early in the morning. We drove over Ft. Worth early to see the Ft. Worth Modern--unfortunately a lot of the upstairs was closed, but it is always incredible to see the artwork by Anselm Kiefer, Louis Morris and Mark Rothko. It is just not the same to see something on a screen or in a book, as it is to experience it in real life---even if I have seen many of these pieces before--I love this museum and I am always different, so my experience is different each time I visit. After eating lunch at Stirr Ft. Worth, we drove over to the Amon Carter Museum. WOW! This place was amazing. Got to see Grant Wood's Parson Weem's Fable----I always show this to my Art 1 classes, there is so much to discuss in this piece and it was great to see it up close. This museum is a gem, with tons of great modern artwork! O'keeffe, Stuart Davis, and an amazing Remington collection. It had several great works that I have not seen before. To round out our day in Ft. Worth, we visited the Kimble Art Museum. We geeked out a little bit when we realized that one room had all of the '-isms'!!! Monet, Picasso, Mondrian, Bonnard, Van Gogh. It was a treasure trove of modern art. The rest of the museum was really great too. After driving back to our hotel in Dallas, we walked down to the Giant Eyeball. It was great! Then we jumped in an Uber and headed over to Deep Ellum. We had dinner and walked around. We stayed out way too late but it was such a fun day!
A couple of weeks ago, I went with my MSSU art theory class to Dallas and Ft. Worth to look at art. We left Joplin around 7:30 a.m. It was 17 degrees when we loaded up, it was freezing. We had such a large group that we had to take 2 vans. I was in the mini van with the other art teachers and Kyle, our professor was driving. The other van contained mostly MSSU art ed majors and Frank as the driver. It was a 15 passenger white van and it followed us around the whole trip. We took highway 69, a familiar route to Dallas. After stopping for lunch in Denton, we made it to the art Warehouse. This place was amazing, it is only open by appointment to student groups--it is not for the general public. Featuring exclusively contemporary art from THE RACHOFSKY COLLECTION, we got to see an exhibit entitled: Art and Trauma. My favorite pieces include artwork by Jiro Takamatsu: Shadow of a Brush. The other paintings that enjoyed are below by Bracha L. Ettinger, Gillian Carnegie, and Cecily Brown. We were not allowed to take photos in the Warehouse. After viewing this amazing collection, which also featured work by Gerhart Richter, Louis Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, and learning a little about gutai art, we went downtown to find our hotel. After navigating rush hour traffic, we finally unloaded and checked in to the beautiful Cambria Hotel in Downtown Dallas. We had a little time to settle in, and then we headed out to find dinner. We ended up at the El Fenix Mexican restaurant, walking distance from our hotel. After dinner, we walked up to the Nasher Sculpture Center, which was open until Midnight! We got to see an exhibit of Barry X Ball. His sculptures were amazing. We also saw sculptures by Brancusi, Modigliani, and Matisse. It is hard for me not to post every awesome picture from this trip. And this was only the first day! I think I could go back to Dallas every year, just to see the art!
Leap year.
The last Leap Year I did something fun was in 2012, I went to NYC. It was an amazing trip, it was my first time in the big apple and I'm dying to go back. This year for leap day, it was a pretty generic Saturday in Joplin. To celebrate leap day, I got up early and completed the take-home essay portion of my art theory mid-term. In the next 3 months, I will complete all of my graduate work and I am thrilled. Once my homework was done, I packed up my oil paints and headed out to the falls to join the MSSU Plein Air Society. We painted in the gorgeous 70-degree sunshine for about 2 hours. When I got home, we watched 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and did a few chores around the house. Then I went to Bingo at the Elks Lodge with friends. At Bingo, we determined that I am the oldest in our group of the 'kids' that were born in 1983.... we agreed that an NYC trip to celebrate our 40th sounds about right. It's still about 3 years out, but I think it will be amazing. Saturday night, around 10:00, I went to the Ronal McDonal House and stayed the night. My husband and I are overnight managers and once a month we volunteer at the house. It is pretty fun and rewarding. I guess leap day was fun...but not as fun as a day in NYC. The picture below is from my 360 degree lomography camera. It spins when you pull the draw string and takes a picture, this was the best one from the roll of film. |
Mrs. Mitchell
This is my 'slice of life' blog. Archives
March 2020
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