From Goddard Again

I am slowly getting used to the change in time zones and my sleep is slowly getting better. However, I still have a lot of catching up to do!

These past two days have been colored by time spent with my advising group, which is an intimate group of four students, plus our adviser, Ju-Pong. We've spent much of our time getting to know each other and our individual art practices in a deeper way. We have been checking in, and communicating to each other what we desire from our engagement this semester. Yesterday, we ventured into town. Port Townsend is a charming little port place, with beautiful boats everywhere and a grand view of the sound and the mountains growing into the sky. The sun was shining yesterday, and it was the first day since I've been here that I felt alright with taking off my jacket. Over coffee (tea for me!), we participate in a group activity, involving score writing. These scores are simply tasks, presented visually, and can be openly interpreted by the viewer. Mine has a lot of arrows and little pictures at various points along the trajectory of the score. In my mind, this is a spatial pattern, with exclamations of spontaneous movement sequences. To Mindy, my group mate sitting across from me at the table, it is a story. We all have a chance to interpret another's score, and in my hands is a swirly, soft offering by Dehanna. I decide that it is to be an arm phrase, with specific torso movements involved.

Laura is in my same advising group, and we talk about our feelings and expectations away from the group. At first, I had been thinking that perhaps I'd made an ill-informed choice about which adviser I am currently working with. Though Ju-Pong is a seemingly wonderful person, with plenty of expertise in many areas, I wondered if her unintrusive, soft (though I don't really think soft is the correct word) nature would butt up against my personality. During our individual meeting time, I felt it difficult to gauge our rapport, and how we would actually work together. However, after speaking about it further to Laura, I think there is more good in this new relationship than bad. Laura pointed out that since our main focus this semester is collaborating with each other, we are in essence, acting as an advising buffer for ourselves. Ju-Pong is there to oversee that process, but not to stir it up too much. To pose questions to us, but not to lead us to the answers. And after our fun group session yesterday, I am much more confident that my semester dialoguing with Ju-Pong will be productive in ways that I had not originally imagined.

Back at the campus yesterday afternoon, I attended a boat-building workshop with another faculty member, Seitu. One thing is clear: I cannot follow a diagram to save my life. I hope the boat works when it's finished. I was glad to have Rhonda in our group, to help measure and draw out the pencil lines that will be cut later to make the various aspects of the boat. She reveals to me that she is not a stranger to wood working, like I am. Phew. Maybe the boat will float, after all!

To round out the evening, I show rough cuts of my new film, "Kitchen Table" at our Considered Space presentation, which is basically a critique session. I got some generally good feedback, but felt myself getting defensive about certain aspects of the film. Most specifically, my choice to not show the entire body for the interior shots and my subdued relationship to Mackenzie in the film, who exudes a huge personality. I have to remind myself again that the critique is not about me. That all of these opinions coming from all sides, of vastly different natures, are just opinions. Those that I find helpful, I can use. Those that I don't find helpful, I can thank the people that express those opinions and leave it alone. I think the one that hurt the most was the comment about the adagio section, that it had "Ramada Inn lighting" and that I'd ruined the space with some of the art direction. I'm doing it again. I guess my point is, that no matter how objective you can be, when you are in the room, experiencing a critique, it is hard to let yourself go. Ultimately, the film will be what I decide it will be. And that is that. I was elated about it until yesterday. But I should still be elated. This film is a big step for me!

Late yesterday evening, I help Laura and Mindy make little cheesecakes for a meeting tonight. They are an experiment on Laura's part, who was heading up this baking effort. But, they turn out really well! So, on to some more workshops and academic jargon. It's hump day.

~Cara