Friday, October 23, 2009

350 PPM




OK, firstly, I want to rephrase what I said in my last post about my family community being "transient." That sounds like they're not always there for me, or something, which is totally untrue. I have an exceptionally supportive family and I am very lucky. Just wanted to set that straight.

Secondly... It feels like I haven't been making a tremendous amount of headway in the past week. But, I have done everything on the to do list I published last week: organize an event for this Saturday, process folio work... not the time machine, but I guess that can wait. And I am going to have an event on Saturday, (currently 6 confirmed guests on fb, and hopefully everyone in the environmental club will show up.) Our plan is to meet at my house to make posters and signs and then walk into Bridgehampton town to stand at the monument and hold them up on route 27. We also want to do some more active stuff, like picking up litter and going on a nature walk, we'll just have to see what happens.



At this point, Mr. Schade wants me to keep up with my reading so I can keep enriching my experiences, especially in terms of writing a strong paper. I am really enjoying my readings so far, and I know there are a few other assignments to come, so I need to allot some more time to this task.

This weekend, my tent and garden will be a stop on the Hamptons garden tour as it snakes around the East End (on bikes, and ...in ...cars). Hopefully the weather will be good, but our tent blew over in a wind storm about a week ago (OUR FAULT--- and the tent is fine, just DON'T LEAVE THE WALLS OPEN DURING WINDSTORMS!!), and since the animals aren't around anymore, it's going to be relatively strange to see. At least the club will be there doing rally work, so, other things will be going on.

To do this week:
1. Finish Deep Economy, continue reading Ancient Futures
2. Make sure tomorrow's rally is the best it can be, try to extend the invitation as much as possible.
3. What seasonal produce is the best to take advantage of now? Apple butter, making preserves, squash, crabapples? (There is harvesting to do yet in the garden!)



Thursday, October 15, 2009

"you never go from point a to point b... in your life... ever."

So, I spent about my SP double period today organizing relevant e-mails into one folder, and then printing them for my process book. I came across a few messages I never responded to, which bothers me now...
I still can't believe the enthusiasm. The different inter-Hampton-communities I have recently come to recognize have, until now, been imperceptible and transient (I was a kind of tween loner with no conception of the ties that bind). The only clear community I really felt until I started high school, having switched schools three times by seventh grade, was within my mom's side of my family. The Seagraves and Ryans are very family-oriented, and all my cousins and their cousins come together at least once a season for serious quality time... It's very interesting to notice the same folks at the Choral Society concerts and the Sunday morning yoga classes and the Thursday night drumming and the climate change symposium and the coffee shop in town... Hmm... perhaps this is a pattern? They tend to be the happiest people, too, I'd say. It is interesting to notice these people in a 'local' context, and how they figure into the community... The restaurant owners, the CSA operators, members of the town council, artists, fishermen, electricians... They all know each other. They sit down on park benches. Communities are in some ways like nations... with permeable membranes that intersect like venn diagrams and sometimes cover incredible distances. And after all this... where is mine? Yes, my family. Yes, my school. But... not always. Therein lies the transience. That there is the poetry I guess I'm supposed to find in college.

I got an response from Mr. McKibben last week, which was easily one of the most exciting moments of my life, especially considering he had some very positive feedback!! Hopefully he'll be around when I go up to visit Middlebury around Halloween!! I don't know what I'd do if I actually met him though... probably freeze up completely and blabber incoherent nonsense.

This is me on the day Karen and I biked to school for add/drop. (Courtesy of Michele Claeys)
We ate lunch with the teachers... my goodness was that
delicious. If I could jump back in time to this moment I would. Those were very good days.




TO DO:
1. Hole punch/chronologicize printed emails
2. Build time machine
3. Go over rubric with Cschade
4. (seriously build time machine)
5. make plans for october 24!
6. keep reading! (and keep regular notes/ responses)
7. fundraiser idea for Ross garden: homemade caramel apple stand with all kinds of apples (from the milk pail?)


Thursday, October 8, 2009

y-y-y-y-y

So... I just now sent an e-mail to Bill McKibben, the famous author/environmentalist who wrote the book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, which was the first book Mr. Schade assigned to me this year. I really hope I get a response, it would be totally amazing to hear from him, especially since everything I'm reading in his book strikes chords of my own internal empirical data (the truest I can fathom), and is backed up with formidable sources and texts. This guy knows what he's talking about.

Outside consultant... hmm... I'm not sure how that will work with my project at this point anyway. Perhaps, if Bill McKibben is very busy, I will call Elias's dad, or talk to Debra McCall about what I should do. I don't like choosing one person!! Isn't the point to involve everyone? To make a painting with a giant, colorful palate?

What is this!??!
PRODUCT.
OUTSIDE CONSULTANT.

It sounds so stark to me.

I have to create my rubric immediately... Today Karen, Tom and I had a lunch meeting with Mr. Schade, and we all kind of decided where exactly we're each planning to go from here.
I decided I think I want to write a paper. In lieu of the fact that senior project night is inherently anti-paper, (what with the crowds and food and abundant visual stimuli, I think I need to think beyond that one glorious night I have been looking forward to since freshman year. The fact is that a paper is a tangible, magical time capsule that will surely stand the test of time better than the vague impression of some other kind of staged presentation. Who knows who will read it!? Who knows who will!? And a paper is absolutely not always the way to go. Especially in terms of art and photography, unless you have some deeper kind of philosophical idea underlying your work (but still separate) that needs to be communicated, the aesthetics of the medium are the important presentation. For me, August is over, and yes I have photographs (Hannah's), but I also have a far deeper understanding of everything I thought I knew going into the project. Everyone told me that I was going to learn SO much!
How did they have an idea? Do they HAVE an idea?

Rubric Outcomes
30% - Process, Practical aspects
30% - Research, readings, connections
30% - Synthesis - (presentation, communication)

I suppose it will be pretty vague this time around (this is the first rubric development stage).

And theeen... oh yeah, an ARTICLE about the project was published in The East Hampton Press yesterday!! Woot. I felt uncomfortable reading it at first, but that's just because I'm the subject. Everyone who has read it has congratulated us. It was a well-written article-- and I'm happy she expounded on our World Pie episode (which really didn't feel like any kind of failing at all, and really pumped some character development into the mix).



Saturday, October 3, 2009

tough chicken

I had a meeting with my mentor, Mr. Schade, yesterday... And he gave me some reasons to reconsider taking on the Ross Garden as my final product.

He said I should work on the presentation 0f the things I have already done for the project (e.g. tent construction, solar panel, animals, food, month of my life...), and avoid overextending myself into a new leg of the project that could decrease the poignancy of my focus on my actual project (the part I completed in August). He also said I should try to spend the next few months adding intellectual value to my project to complement the experiential elements; I still have to read a few of the books I've been assigned, and reading those thoughtfully and thoroughly will require some good, focused senior project periods.

Next of all, a Ross Garden would be and should be a great project to kick off the Environmental Club this year. Apparently we are one of the largest clubs in terms of sign-ups (other than the Video Game Club, I'm sure...), and our first meeting is 9th period, Monday. As long as it happens, I am not really that concerned whether it is strictly my responsibility, as it would be if I wrote it into my Senior Project rubric. I think it would be really awesome to have a whole team on this project, too. Especially since then we could do a soil test together, decide what to do to raise money for the construction, make flyers and do a press release together, and all that good stuff I could theoretically do myself, but... (Didn't I learn ANYTHING about community this summer??:)


THIS WEEK:
1. Keep reading, take notes...
2. Make sure the EC has a good first meeting, make itinerary this weekend...
3. Figure out what the new product will be... (gallery space with photos and video, a paper, combination...)
4. Pick up loose ends for contacts and meetings and dates- get organized!!!
5. Establish outside consultant situation...