Another Day in The NorthWest

I’ve officially turned in all of my self and faculty evaluations for Fall quarter! It is such a relief to take a nice deep breath and have it all done. It’s so funny to think that the stress you go through all quarter just disappears and you’re done. That’s another thing I love about Evergreen-most of our finals consist of final projects and presentations so it’s not like you’re regurgitating information at the end of the quarter. Usually, our finals are a time to show off what you’ve been working on the last 10 weeks but that can make it really stressful if you want a big presentation. I still can’t believe how quickly this quarter went by.

I think since I’m a graduating senior I’m clinging to everything I can about Evergreen. It’s strange to think all these wonderful things I’ve taken advantage of these last few years-use of the darkrooms in Photoland, the Digital Imaging studio with state-of-the-art programs and screens, lab stores, all the awesome events at Student Activities, the Flaming Eggplant, equipment from media loan-especially the cameras, and all of the the amazing people I’ve met. It’s kind of scary to think all of a sudden, most of that will be gone. Not that I can’t visit, and not that I won’t keep in touch, but after June I will never again be an undergraduate student. On that note, I’ve actually accepted in internship recently in the DC area on the East Coast, so I’ll be leaving Evergreen’s physical campus shortly. My hope is to continue answering questions about the college and return in May to give some more tours and share all of the things I love about Evergreen!

Sure I’m biased since it will soon be my Alma mater, but I really can’t imagine all of the incredible opportunities I would miss out on had I not chosen Evergreen. It’s not for everyone, but I think it’s one of the unique colleges that has something for everyone. I could not be more grateful for the supportive staff and faculty, honestly. So if you get a chance to visit, be sure to say hi to the staff in student activities-I promise they’ll be happy to see you!

Got up early this morning just in time to make my 8am registration! Since all of our registration is done online, it’s really nice to be able to get up and register without having to go to campus or worry about anything else. All the Course Reference Numbers (CRNs) are on the online description and all you have to do is put the numbers in your registration box and click ‘add’. Since I was one of the first people to register (Seniors get priority so our registration started at 8am, others are added in intervals by class standing after that) so I got into everything I wanted. Of course, I’m only doing part time next quarter but it’s still always nice to have registration out of the way.

I’m going to be continuing to learn film photography. Except next quarter I’ll be doing color film! I’m so excited since we’ll doing doing work in the Evergreen studio, so I’ll actually get to set up my own photos and control all of the lighting and everything. Sure, it’s one more level of stress, but it’s going to be fantastic to get studio experience. And then of course there’s the color dark room, so that will be a whole new adventure. I’ll also be doing the Cornerstone seminar. Basically it’s a transitional class where I’ll get to write, read, and learn tai chi. I really can’t think of a better way to get 4 credits and learn to relax!

Of course this quarter is coming to an end. I have to start drafting my self-evaluations to be turned in with most of my portfolios this week. Not all of my evening and weekend classes are requiring me to have evaluation conferences so I get to turn in my evals pretty soon. I’m looking forward for the quarter to officially coming to an end!

Fun stuff going on in Student Activities! The S&A board allocated some money to more student groups today. There’s a giant bulletin board by the Flaming Eggplant Cafe that shows all of the money that the board has allocated to different groups for the whole quarter! More groups will present their budgets on Wednesday and then more announcements will go up! It’s a pretty cool process. Also, you can check out Photo of the Week in Photoland! Currently one of my black and white prints is being featured and after this week it will be displayed in the Flaming Eggplant for another week. I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty excited. Showing off student work in our student-run cafe is one of my favorite things about about the CAB.

I need to stop putting everything off! I used to think Senioritis was a joke, but I have been so bogged down in details this quarter it’s so exciting to finally see the light of week 10! I’ll definitely be doing part-time classes this next quarter to give myself a chance to breath.

I had a really great time at the academic fair! Talked to some faculty and I have my options for next quarter. Registration opens 8am on Monday so I have to make some decisions pretty quick here, but I have an idea of what I’ll be taking. I might end up doing another contract (much smaller one this time) so we’ll see. I’m actually really torn between doing a quarter of color film and enrolling in the cornerstone seminar. One the one hand, I’ve worked with the same faculty for photography this quarter and I’ve really enjoyed it! It would be super cool to learn color developing and printing and we even get to work in the studio. Studio work is really different from walking around out in the world and getting photos because you control everything. But cornerstone seminar isn’t being offered in Spring, so I’d have to take it now. And it’s a class about transitioning-usually for freshman coming into college but it’s also an opportunity for graduating seniors like me to have a sort of ‘debriefing’ before finishing college. Basically, I would get to read, write, and reflect on what I want to do with my post-college life while learning tai-chi, which might be exactly what I need right now. Unfortunately, both of these awesome classes are at the same time on Wednesday nights, so I can only choose one. Whatever I end up taking, I hope it’s the right choice.

That being said, this quarter certainly isn’t over yet. I turned in my final paper for two of my programs, but I still have two to go. That includes my photography portfolio which I’ll work on over the weekend and a quiz I need to study for. Then of course there’ writing evaluations-1 for each faculty, and the evaluations for myself. Normally I don’t run my evaluations by my faculty before I turn them in, but now that I’m getting into my senior year and these are what will be on top of my transcript, I want an extra extra set of eyes taking a look for me. I’m kind of excited to be partly done after such a busy quarter-I can’t wait until this time next week to start my break off right!

Coming back from break is always a little bit bittersweet. On the one hand it’s good to see everyone again and we’re almost at the end of the quarter. On the other, it’s time for finals so it means a lot of work. That’s the hard part about Evergreen-since you’re not gonna do some fill-in-the-bubble test at the end of the quarter to prove you learned something, you really can’t fake your way through a final. 9 times out of 10 you have to give a presentation to the rest of the class and everyone’s going to know if you tried to do 9 weeks of work the day before. So I’m trying to wrap up all of my final projects at once which is a little hectic. My advice-Don’t take more than one evening and weekend program at a time. It definitely makes week 9 more difficult.

So this is pretty much my get stuff done and organize week. Wednesday is the academic fair! I’ll be there getting next quarter figured out. I’m definitely going to take less credits next quarter. Right now I have to put together my portfolio for my photography class, finish up my essay for critical reasoning, finish up my grant, and write my final paper for my contract. Whew. I’ll be spending part of the week in Seattle getting some final pictures with my Pentax then I have to buckle down and get everything done. I think the hardest part at this point is finding a portfolio style I like and the grant. I do also have a test to study for but for the most part I’ve been just trying to keep up on the homework to make sure I actually understand. I guess it wouldn’t hurt me to take a few more notes too. Thankfully I’ll be done with most of my classes next week and then I can get started on evaluations.

I have no idea where this quarter went! I swear every quarter goes from week 3 to week 8 in a flash. There’s still so much I want to do before I graduate!

Happy Thanksgiving Break!

I’ll admit I’m a little emotional since I’m going into my second-to-last break of my undergraduate career. It’s kind of intimidating, but it is a nice break to have. Most of the college is closed for the full week, everything else will be empty the last half of the week. It’s funny to think that 2 days ago there was a nice layer of snow outside my apartment and today it’s just more rain. Although I’m still hoping for snow (preferably after break) we’ll see what happens. It’s actually in the 40′s today which is a nice change.

I’m hoping to take advantage of the break by getting a few things done. Registration for Winter quarter is the first week of December, so it’s time to start thinking about next quarter. I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do, but I’m pulling together my plan for the academic fair to get ready. I’ve picked out my top 5 classes I’m interested in, so now I just have to wait to ask questions and narrow it down from there.

I feel like I’m not usually as productive when I visit my family. I’m hoping since I have a full week off I’ll get to eat plenty of turkey and get enough done. I’m super fortunate to live just far enough from my family that it’s not suffocating but close enough I can visit when I want to, so there’s that. Not to mention all the delicious homecooked food! My mom makes delicious potato soup.

Hope everyone has a good break!

Still no snow! I’ll admit I’m a little bit disappointed. I’ve heard that taking black & white pictures in snow is really hard, but I can’t help but think how much fun it would be! Then again, I’m not a cold weather person so I guess it’s not the worst thing to happen. I spent the morning (well, woke up at 11 and wandered downtown morning-ish) taking pictures down at the pier so that was pretty fun. Nothing like a flavored hot-chocolate with that special Batdorf & Bronson touch on a brusk Oly day! Thankfully I’m huddled up to my heatdish now and can actually feel my nose! I finally broke down and bought a plaid scarf. Something about living in this city for 4 years and not owning plaid just didn’t seem right.

But it’s been an awesome week! I got to spend most of Thursday in the DIS (Digital Imaging Studio) working on some prints. I’m not usually an advocate for digital editing when you’re doing film, but some of my shots were just too hard to print (partially because I over-developed the film making it really hard to actually make the white come out) so it’s nice to have other options. And the Photoland interns are so much fun to work with! Seriously, if you visit campus, you have to look at the photos of the lab aides inside Photoland just above the lockers, you won’t be disappointed. The pictures were actually taken by one of the interns as part of his project and of course they were printed in our DIS so not only are they huge, but they’re awesome, and they really capture the personality of some of the people I get to work with.

It’s kind of weird getting ready for break now. It’s kind of like the calm before the storm. Except during this calm I have to write 1 essay, revise another, and write a whole freaking grant. So it’s not really a big break for me, but at least I get to go and visit my family and write the grant while I’m visiting them. Still a little stressed but I think this break is exactly what I need. Of course as soon as class starts again next week it’s basically our finals, so it’s exciting and kind of terrifying. The Academic Fair is that week too! I’ve only briefly looked at the academic catalog so I don’t actually know what I’m going to take next quarter. I suppose I should figure it out soon since registration is the first week of December! I’m thinking about doing a contract with photography, but we’ll see how it goes at the fair.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Definitely some nostalgia kicking in this week. This time last year I was about to hear from the Legislative Internship Program about getting accepted to intern into the Senate. I can’t believe how time flies. Even better, I sent an email to a faculty today letting her know I’ll have my paper turned in before I leave for break. I got a reply this afternoon from the faculty I worked with while I was an intern because I sent her the email instead-somehow I wanted to believe I was working with her again. Not that I don’t like working with my current sponsor, just how hilarious that I would revert back to my pre-intern self. I was talking about why I chose Evergreen and I had a gentleman say he knew I would miss it, he could just tell by the way I talked about it. The truth is, I’m terrified to leave. Not just because Evergreen, but because I’m getting to the point where I’m closing another chapter on my undergraduate education. Sure I can continue my Masters at Evergreen, but I will never again be an undergrad, I will never again be a first-time Greener, I will never be only 20 years old and completely unattached with the world at my feet. I feel like on the one hand I’ve accomplished a lot in my time here, on the other, there’s so much more to be done, it feels too early to say goodbye. A good friend of mine started dating a girl I went to highschool with. When I was explaining that I knew this girl years ago, but I haven’t seen her since highschool and I commented that maybe she had changed in the last 2 years. My aunt looked at me strangely and pointed out that I’ve been in college for almost 4 years. It kind of startled me and I realized that time really has flown by.

But thankfully it’s not entirely over yet! I’m utterly overwhelmed so the Thanksgiving break will be a perfect time for me to get some sleep and catch up on my work. I’m writing a paper this week on Parliamentary Procedure (affectionately referred to as Parli-Pro) and the red book in Washington state. It’s a little dense, but the book is basically a guide to how everything works. The people that understand those rules have the most power, which is something to particularly be remembered as the Occupy Wall St. movement faces challenges this week.

Exciting event of the week: My black & white film class did some work in the Digital Imaging Studio (DIS) in Photoland! It is such a blast. The only thing you have to pay for is the paper you use, and even 8 x 10s are only $1.40, which is way cheaper than Kinkos at a higher quality. And the printers are huge! We have fancy top-notch printers and color-calibrated monitors so you’re actually working with true color and b&w. The really nice part is you can even scan negatives. So not only do we have access to all these amazing photo programs, but for pictures that are difficult to print you can scan the negative and actually dodge and burn on the computer where you have more control over it. I guess I never thought about digitally editing film before, but it’s really helped improve my printing even in the darkroom. In actuality, a high-quality film scanned on a super high-quality scanner has a finer picture than even a digital camera. So now that I actually know how to use the equipment, I’ve been utilizing it like crazy.

I’m excited to say that Evergreen is not only in the top 20% of colleges that serve veterans, but ranked us 16th in the entire country for assisting them. We’re the only college in the Pacific Northwest that made the list. Especially being so close to base Lewis-Mchord we make sure we’re supportive of our military families and students.

It’s been a stressful weekend-unfortunately the cold caught up with me. I ended up missing class on Saturday to sleep in. Normally I can’t sleep past 9 pretty much ever. Twice this week I’ve woken up around 11 or even noon, so I figure that’s my body’s way of telling me to slow down. I’m starting to fall behind which is really freaking me out so I’m glad we’re coming up on Thanksgiving to give me time to catch up. The advantage of night classes is I have a couple hours this afternoon to catch up on a few things. The disadvantage of course is one of my classes doesn’t get out until late at night and by the time I get home I’m in no state to actually do my homework, then before I know it it’s almost been a full week and my homework is due! So I’m doing my best to stay on top of everything the best I can.

Sometimes it’s just hard to find motivation. Especially when I’m sick, I feel like I can justify spending the entire day in bed even though I shouldn’t. I’m not the kind of person to go to class sick, not just for my sake but for the sake of everyone else because it really sucks to be sick. I used to think Senioritis was a joke, but I’m really resisting the urge to give myself a bit of a break before the actual Thanksgiving break since I’m so exhausted. So hopefully my body will catch up with my brain soon!

Snow is in the 7 day forecast! It’s not until Friday so between now and then it could entirely change, but right now we’re prepping for some snow! I’m not a cold weather person, but I think it would be awesome to get some black and white photos of some snow. As long as I can come home to my nice warm heat dish and some hot chocolate, I think I’ll manage. I finally found a nice waterproof rain coat (just in time!) and you really get used to layering after a while.

Unfortunately, I’m fighting off a bit of a cold. One of my friends is really sick and we hung out most of the weekend so I’m determined not to let his germs contaminate me. I woke up with a bit of a tickle in my throat so I went back to bed and kept myself warm and plan on going back to bed early. I’m taking so many classes right now I just can’t afford to fall behind on anything so I’m not taking my chances. Lots of Emergen-C and oranges this week and extra hand washing-yay.

I’m hoping to spend some time working on my final project for photography this week. Our only requirement for our last critique is our 5 pictures be thematic-all connected by one central theme, preferably something we can come back to add to in the future. So for example, pictures from you Thanksgiving vacation wouldn’t work because you can’t go back to Thanksgiving Break 2011, although I guess you could add more pictures every year. I’m obsessed with Washington State history so of course I’m getting pictures of the capitol. My final final goal is to get pictures of all the historical sites in the state (including the Governor’s Mansion) in beloved black and white film. So maybe it’s a 2 credit project for another quarter.

Hope everyone stays warm this weekend!

I spent most of my weekend looking for a nice rain jacket. Somehow, no store in Olympia thought that waterproof jackets were a good idea. Even at Target all I could find was fleece. I want to know who on Earth thought fleece jackets in the Pacific Northwest was a good idea! And of course there’s down feather jackets, which aren’t going to help you in a downpoor. I finally found a cute jacket I like (on sale none the less!) that may not keep me too warm, but it’ll definitely keep the rest of my clothes dry.

But other than that, it was an eventful weekend. Lots of sleeping in an catching up. Senator White’s memorial was Sunday afternoon. I’m currently reading a pretty dense book on the Red Scare in Washington state. I turned in my paper on the Initiative process last week and I’m starting up on how the fear of communism helped shape Washington politics. I’ve been getting great feedback from my faculty so I’ll work on a few more improvements before turning in final, final drafts. It’s only week 7 and I’m finding myself getting a little worn out, but I’m trying to stay on top of it all.

The heron in my apartment complex appeared again this week. It’s been a little rainy, but he is so beautiful! He sat on the hood of my car and scratched it up a little while he flailed, but once he started flying it looked so cool! We spent tonight looking at each others proof sheets in photography (those are basically pictures of the negatives so you know what all is on one roll of film) so we could help each other pick good photos. It’s so easy to get attached to your pictures-you take pictures of your friends or at a party and they mean something to you because you know the story behind them. But what makes a good picture is one you don’t have to know the story behind it for it to be a good photo. A picture that plays to lighting or is well-printed or has an interesting subject, those are the priceless ones. My classmates helped me pick about 6 new prints to work on so I’ll start on that this week.