The Bliss of Ms. Blossom

The weather was really nice today. So nice, that after I walked all the way from the English Building to Holden Hall just to remember that Historical Archaeology was cancelled, I went back to sit outside of the Engish building for an hour and a half until I was scheduled to work. I really think that the English building and surrounding area (except for the vast dirt field by the library) is my favorite part of campus. I first decided this during my freshman year when I had some time between my Sociology class and a Women's Studies conference. I sat by the statue in the courtyard of the two stone hands cradling a bunch of letters and finished 1984. Then later when some Gordon people wanted to wander around campus late at night, I made everyone go by this statue and we climbed up and looked for the letter A. It is there, alright, but close to the back where the wrists are. I remember sitting on a bench in that courtyard on a date once, and while I'm most certainly not going to repeat that exact experience again, it was at least comforting that he appreciated the courtyard as well and suggested we go there. Sometimes after a UDems event in the English lecture hall, we would linger in that area and talk about politics until the dark drove us home. After my Art History class (by the way, it was great, go take one) we would descend from the exit and cut through the courtyard. When I was wasting time before or after French, I would sit on those benches and do the daily crossword. For our English major brochure we're completing for our senior seminar, we're going to try and take a picture of the three of us by that fountain to put on the back. Who knows, maybe it will be picked to replace the fliers that are being used now.

About that brochure, I would always recommend getting margaritas before starting a project like that. It seemed to work out well. And it was also nice that the three of us are really bossy, which sounds problematic, I know, but it just meant that we got along. After looking at the English Department website, it mentions how we are "pioneers at the frontiers of the humanities" and that phrase is going to entertain me for years, I think. Pioneers? I guess. According to someone, anyway. In our senior seminar class today, Dana was taking pictures of everyone. She would tell Stephanie and I to pose, then someone would say "Facebook that!" and most people would laugh except for the few who sigh and start complaining about the insipid qualities of such sites. It started getting strange when, during the middle of someone's presentation, she began taking pictures of random people in the class without their knowledge - including Dr. Conrad. She captured a nice one of him looking like a badass and erudite as he leaned forward to catch what someone was saying.

So, Historical Archaeology. Not bad as far as Archaeology classes go, but it's really not quite my thing. Luckily I've only had to take a few to get my Anthro degree. The last few classes we've been preseting our Refuse Analysis projects. That really just means that we had to keep a log of all the garbage we threw away in our kitchen trash, switch anonymously, and share our findings with the class. It actually sounds interesting, but it was harder than I thought. That's all normal academic schoolwork stuff, but the part that pissed me off is coming up. A grad student (a number of Anthro classes have both grad and undergrad students, since our department is so small) gave her presentation. Since there was a ticket for the movie 300 decided the subject must be a guy since that's "such a boy movie." Then she said that it seemed like someone was cooking a lot, so he must live with a girl, since "most girls cook." Not cool. I saw that movie and I don't really cook. According to her, I'm a guy. I already said that this was a hard project, but I don't think it's appropriate to base your conclusions on personal generalizations you make. She didn't have any statistics about action/epic movies or cooking. All she used was these strict stereotypes about girl and boy things. Damn. Fuckin' idiot. And that's not a generalization, because I have first-hand knowledge of her idiocy in this particular case.

Anyway, when I was walking back from Holden Hall to the English Building today, I came to the Southwest Collection and had to, like I do at least twice everday, decide which way to go. Sometimes its a "by the library" day, and sometimes I follow the street and go under the trees. The same goes for when I'm leaving English class and I have to decide which of the many ways I want to walk to Archaeology. I realized today that I associate lots of different memories with certain areas, even when they are as similar as adjascent sides of buildings. Vibes. But, just like time travel, it always reminds me of how small coincidences can become so important. Like the people that I randomly see and start a conversation with, which leads to an activity or a new friendship, etc. For example, today I saw Julie and she reminded me about her pool party this weekend. Being the idiot that I can be, I thought it was last Saturday, but wouldn't have realized this unless I ran into her. And I reminded her that, since Mike is back in town, we were going to the Fox & Hound tonight. Usually I am learning about plantation sites at that time, but as luck or fate or Buddha would have it, I saw someone I don't usually see that often. Ok, not a life-changing or riveting example, but it's important to me.

When I say that I sat outside the English Building, I really mean that I worked on the crossword a little (fuckin' James Thurber quote, I don't even know who that is!) then took a nap. I really love public naps, even though they make me a little paranoid. I had to make sure that a part of me was touching each of my belongings in case someone wanted to steal my Archaeology notes or university paper. My arms and legs all fall asleep really easily, so it can be hard to situate my comfortably. In the end, my left hand was completely numb I remember dreaming, but now I don't remember what about. Damn. On the London-Paris trip, we would sometimes go to one of the parks (Hyde Park in London and that one in Bath were my two favorites) and play games or nap. Something about feeling the sun and being able to sleep while not exaclty being alone is really relaxing. The thing I hate about naps now is when people cover the windows and turn off all the lights. Then I feel like I'm missing out on part of the day and it makes me disoriented when I wake up. Public napes, however, trick me into feeling that I'm still participating in society. And I will always choose sunlight over darkness. At work someone came in and talked about how nice it was. I enthusiastically (too enthusiastically?) and told him about my nap in the sun. Crystal mentioned how she hasn't been outside at all today so she doesn't have a clue what the weather is like. This was a really sad statement, I thought. I realize I'm not the most outdoorsy person, but one of the nicest things ever is being able to lay outside and read a book.

Dr. Elbow came in today and I mentioned that someone gave a presentation over her interview with him in my senior seminar. Apparently he entered some photographs into an exhibit that were about his trips to South America. Dr. Dennis and him have done work like that together, so I've seen lots of the slides she was talking about. Then he asked me about grad school, and I learned that he got his PhD in Pittsburgh. He started talking about the area and seemed to know it pretty well. Apparently we are really good friends now. Before he left, he got on my case for not filling out my Honors exit survey and graduating senior data form. "If you had done that, I would have already known you were going to Penn State and wouldn't have had to ask you!"

Summary: I like the English Building, the sun, crosswords, and public naps. I do not like James Thurber or gender stereotypes.