Posts tagged Johnson Museum
The Lord of the Ming (Vases): College Ceramics & Childhood
Apr 6th
Occasionally, I’m displeased when my art history classes meet in the Johnson Museum. One in particular, Material Worlds: Trade and the Art of Asia, takes place a mere twenty five minutes after I finish my Tuesday/Thursday shift, and since that’s not long enough for a trek back to Risley (or, for that matter, anywhere else), I have no choice but to sit awkwardly in the cafe for a little under a half an hour: a dangerous decision, certainly, because it inevitably results in an impulse purchase of a cup of rooibos and/or a cookie to stave off my teatime hunger.
It's a terrible fate, I know.
Yesterday’s class, however, justified the brief time I spent at the Two Naked Guys Cafe reading webcomics and drinking jasmine green as I waited for the rest of the class to show up. Because yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, was a clay day.
When we were very young, my sister and I regularly attended “clay class.” Volcano, Hawai’i is filled with the expensive homes of quirky artists, and it was in one of these cozy rainforest studios where we made our masterpieces (i.e. ugly, multi-colored lumps meant to represent animals, people, and “fossils” (my personal specialty)). These pottery playdates weren’t always perfect–I’ll still never forgive the teacher’s son (one of my best friends at the time) for glazing our bust of Kermit the Frog without permission–but there was something inherently relaxing and almost meditative about the process of bringing (some degree of) life to slabs of clay.
Today, my sister has grown into an incredibly talented clay artist whose whimsical creations include adorable owls and raku-fired apple teapots. Though the pottery gene was obviously not passed down to me, my recent foray into the world of clay proved that perhaps I haven’t forgotten as much as I thought.
Material Worlds (an Art History/Asian Studies crosslist) has a rather unique format. We have two professors who switch off every week: one focuses on Southeast Asia, while the other, Professor P., lectures on China, Korea, and Japan.
As I discovered yesterday, Professor P. is a man of many talents. Our Tuesday lecture was completely normal: we watched a presentation about Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ceramics. As a 21st-century student, it’s so easy to look at, say, Longshan pottery from the comfort of your desk and say “I can do that!”
Oh, really?
I don't think A Chorus Line was talking about pottery, but it seems applicable.
As it turns out, Professor P. is also a skilled potter himself. After we descended to Floor 2L on Thursday, he provided each of us with a lump of clay and a simple task: make a pinch-pot. He demonstrated by poking his thumb into his piece of clay and, magically, produced a near-perfect vase moments later.
Even though most of our pots were cracked, rough vessels, I’m pretty sure that everyone enjoyed him/herself. Honestly, all classes should have such activities from time to time: arts and crafts aren’t just for the elementary school set!
While my high school, for example, had many strengths, I wouldn’t say that creativity was among them. Punahou is very set in its traditions (oh god, so much so that the idea that they could ever provide better vegetarian food at our yearly carnival than greasy noodles and a pitiful protein-less “gyro” containing nothing more tzatziki sauce and a few sad looking cucumbers is unthinkable) and doesn’t, in my opinion, experiment enough with alternative teaching methods.
If the average secondary school requires students, regardless of their individual strengths, to take classes in fields across the academic disciplines–including math, English, social studies, and science–then why aren’t we also encouraged/forced to learn about different types of art?
Ah, wait, sorry, you’ll have to excuse me when I sign off here: gotta go apply for my education minor (and buy a soapbox while I’m at it).
But a Shadow and a Thought
Mar 15th
These days, the internet is filled with folks affirming their individual awesomeness by annoyingly lamenting the degration of our society. If you spend any time on Facebook, tumblr, or any other image-sharing site, you’ve probably seen those poorly-crafted MS Paint images that bemoan the world’s supposed lack of culture. Typically, such pictures juxtapose two popular figures, one “bad” and one “good”–let’s say, for example, Miley Cyrus and Aristophanes. A caption over Hannah Montana will read “If you know who this is,” while the Helvetica text superimposed onto Aristophanes’ sad little bust will be something along the lines of “and don’t know who this is, then YOU’RE what’s wrong with the universe/today’s culture/[whatever].”
As much as I hate following trends, I feel it’s necessary to create a comparison of my own.
If Cornellians bought out every seat of the massively large Bailey Hall to see some aged pop singer talk about his college drop-out days, drinking habits and bad relationships for three hours (okay, and sing like five songs as well), but an extremely sophisticated performance of Javanese wayang (shadow theatre) piece by a world-renowned master didn’t even draw enough of a crowd to fill up the orchestra level, there must be something wrong with the world.
Billy Joel, I love you, man, but I'd like to see you do the demon king Niwatakiwatja's voice correctly (or pronounce Niwatakiwatja on the first try, for that matter.)
The opening of the exhibit I helped to curate for my Art History seminar (Shadowplay: Asian Art in Performance) was meant to coincide with the residency of Ki Purbo Asmoro, a famous and incredibly talented dhalang. Before I took the class, my knowledge of shadow plays was based on a single performance I attended during “New Year’s Day at Sturbridge Village” when I was six or seven. The show featured a costumed 19th-century granny singing a pitchy (yet kitschy) musical story that featured the charming refrain of “The bridge is broken and it must be fixed!” Because that’s all I remember (which is probably for the best), I had relatively low expectations for wayang.
A dhalang, however, isn’t just some history buff who pulls on leather boots and high-necked crinoline each January 1st. (Please note that I am in no way hating on those who work at historical reenactment sites like Sturbridge Village. Honestly, that’s probably my ideal career.) A puppetmaster like Purbo Asmoro has to be a poet (composing the narration), an improv comedian (tying in popular culture to his plays–for instance, a puppet Barack Obama made an appearance during the comedic interlude last night), a musician (leading the gamelan ensemble), and a business manager as well as a skilled actor capable of giving each one of his hundreds of characters an individual voice.
Our exhibition focuses on a very old Javanese tale, the Arjuna Wiwaha (translated as “Arjuna’s Profound Meditation”). Characters like Arjuna were carried along trade routes to Indonesia when the Mahabharata traveled from India. The Arjuna Wiwaha story, however, does not appear in the Indian epic at all. Arjuna, the protagonist, is aptly described by my professor as “the playboy of the Mahabharata.” The princely Arjuna manages to find the perfect balance between being a charming, intelligent ladies’ man and a formidable warrior. In this story, Arjuna’s attempt to live an ascetic’s life and commit himself to meditation are interrupted by the gods, who fear that the raksasa Niwatakiwatja will destroy the heavens if Arjuna does not stop him. I won’t go into the rest, though, because you can go to the museum and read it yourself! (I helped to write the wall panel that appeared there, anyway).
Actually, I think he's more attractive than most other so-called "hotties" I've seen in American culture.
There are many factors concerning why Billy Joel’s show had a larger audience. Asmoro’s performance was a rarely-mentioned event on a Thursday during prelim season, while I received a Facebook invite to Billy’s Friday night talk months before tickets even went on sale. Still, last night’s performance was one of the best shows I ever seen–not just at Cornell but in my entire life.
(And I’ve had the pleasure of watching both The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and They Might Be Giants in concert. So, you know, that’s pretty high praise.)
The West Egg on West Campus
Feb 18th
Good morning, internets! I opened my shades this morning before beginning this blog post (how surprising!), and what to my wondering eyes should appear but ANOTHER weekend snowstorm?
Winter at the Castle is so much more beautiful now that they've taken the construction out of our backyard.
Though I claim to hate winter as much as the next Cornellian, there’s something unquestionably beautiful about snowfall (especially from my Hawai’i-born perspective). Still, I’m glad that I don’t have to go anywhere this morning.
Fortunately, the skies stayed clear yesterday when a few members of my Cornell fellowship and I headed over to the Johnson Museum for the Museum Club’s “Great Gatsby Night.” As I’ve surely mentioned before, I adore Jay Gatsby (I even wrote my Common App essay on how much I’m in love with him–I’m serious) and the Museum, so it was a perfect match.
I was a little aG(h)AST by the painful mistake on the program (can you find it?), but no matter.
Typos aside, I was quite impressed. There was twice the amount of food I’ve ever seen at a Johnson party, and, in traditional Cornell “dry” after-hours event fashion, MOCKTAILS were also available. Readers, I’m not quite sure how widespread the notion of mocktails is outside of Ithaca, so I’ll explain. For some reason, Cornell thinks the best way to discourage the underage drinking culture is to ply students with fake beverages. It seems a little counterproductive to me, but hey, I’m not complaining! Even though I’m a teetotaler, I’ve discovered that I love mocktails: I think it’s because soda was rather forbidden in my youth, so that crazy two-parts-ginger-ale one-part-iced-tea thing really does it for me. Adorably, these were no ordinary mocktails, either–I had my choice between “The Daisy” (essentially a super-fancy Shirley Temple), “The Carroway” (some strange lemonade mix) and “The Gatsby” (which, ironically, I don’t think I ended up trying).
My favorite part of the evening, though, was when my intern skills proved useful. While leading my friends through the “Lines of Control” exhibit (a special pan-museum collaboration between the Johnson and the London-based group Green Cardamom that explores partition through multimedia art installations), I had a lovely chat with a temporary security guard, who’d spent his shift looking at the wall labels and was eager to share his knowledge. After I explained to him that I worked there and shared his enthusiasm for the exhibit, he later sent a couple of information-hungry students my way for further directions. There’s truly nothing I enjoy more than actually knowing things, you know?
Shadows fall across the (John)sun sometimes…
Feb 2nd
I know the internet, and the internet works quickly. Therefore, I’m pretty sure that everyone has heard of Kristen Bell’s sloth meltdown by now. (If you haven’t, here it is.) For those who have no time for such Youtube frivolity, I’ll summarize: essentially, the star of Veronica Mars recalls how her boyfriend’s surprise birthday gift (bringing a live sloth into the house) made her burst into hysterical tears of joy.
I might not be that into sloths, but I must admit that I had a similar experience during the first day of ARTH 4852 (Shadowplay: Asian Art and Performance) this past Wednesday.
When Americans think of shadow puppets, I’ll bet they usually envision those awkward campfire animals that enthrall children around the country. Shadow puppetry, though, has a rich tradition in Southeast Asia: and I’m not talking lizard heads, bunnies or flying birds here. These shadow puppets are delicately crafted, gorgeous pieces of art.
And I get to work with them for the next semester. In honor of the arrival of an esteemed shadow puppet master at Cornell, my fellow 4852 students and I will curate an exhibit related to the Mahabharata and puppetry. We’ll take over the Southeast Asian Art gallery on the fifth floor of the Johnson, and will, as a class, select the items for display, research them, and write tombstones (the little labels in museums (which most people, sadly, seldom read)).
Anyway, I wasn’t mentioning Kristen Bell just to prove how up I am on my YouTube meme knowledge, you know. The moment I came into the study gallery on floor 2L, I had a feeling that the covered cart in the corner was holding something special. I know that cart, you see. I’ve used it before to show schoolchildren the tools used in making illuminated manuscripts, for example.
Somehow, though, I sensed the presence of shadow puppets.
My story may not be as funny, but the anticipated visitors, I think, were definitely on par with a sloth. Check this guy out (his name’s Arjuna, and he’s the star of our exhibit!).
These puppets were donated to the Museum by Benedict Anderson (who also wrote one of our textbooks. Incidentally, it's the smallest book you'll ever buy for $40).
Imagine, if you can, examining every whorl of Arjuna’s headdress, the way his perfect joints contract and release, or how the dim light of the study gallery shines off his skin…
So, folks, here’s the other breaking news (besides ‘Bell throws fit over sloth’) for today: art history is pretty much the best field of study ever.
In(ni) my opinion…
Jan 30th
A dark movie theater (featuring a practically Classical wall mosaic and a balcony). Parmesan-flavored popcorn. Trippy visuals of intergalactic flights and a scruffy Icelandic man singing seemingly nonsensical syllables in haunting falsetto.
Sounds like the indie intellectual’s perfect college outing, right? Perhaps because I wrote such kind words about them last week, Cornell magically decided to show Sigur Rós’ concert-ocumentary Inni on a weekend when I actually had time to go to the cinema. Imagine that!
To clarify, though, as much as I enjoyed myself, I’m not really recommending this film to people who aren’t obsessed with everything Icelandic and, for that matter, have never heard of these dudes (incidentally, it’s pronounced “si-ur ros(e)”). Plus, Inni is like Fantasia seen through a black-and-white lens with, you know, more shots of lead singer Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson singing into the body of his guitar (not kidding) than dancing mushrooms or disturbingly animate brooms. The music was lovely, but I have to admit that I spent most of those seventy-five minutes brainstorming short-story ideas with my eyes closed.
Here's the picture Cornell Cinema posted with Inni's description on their website, and I swear, if you put on a Sigur Rós CD and just stare at this thing, you'll essentially have seen the whole movie.
Originally, I planned to make my weekend even more hipster-approved by heading over to the Johnson today to assist with a concert by CAGE (Cornell Avant Garde Ensemble). Surprisingly, CAGE had everything under control, so I was given a few extra hours in which to work on all my class readings (I have literally a hundred pages for Ceramic Analysis. And I’m an English major, so I promise I’m using literally correctly in this context). On the way back, though, I thought I’d snap a few pictures of the gorges to show how…
...there isn't a patch of snow to be found! It looks like October!
Isn't that crazy?
And right after I’d spent most of winter break ranting about Ithaca’s killer winters, too.
A Study in Studying II: Return of the Exams
Dec 8th
I’m excited to announce that I could be sunbathing on a more secluded part of Waikiki, playing my guitar on our lanai and otherwise diving back in to island lifestyle in less than a week. Isn’t that incredible? I’m extremely excited to return; I’d be there already if it weren’t for those silly little finals I have to take in the next four days.
I could blog about all the hours I’ve spent attempting to memorize 200+ years of Renaissance and Baroque art or slicing apart Post-Its to mark important passages for my open-book English final, but why would I want to relive my studying experiences? Instead, I’ll take a few moments to relax while relating some non-academic adventures that have taken place since classes ended.
Monday: Lasts & Lights
Although this weekend was more than sufficiently packed with performances for me, I still had the Sage Chapel Christmas Vespers service on Monday evening. As usual, we sang to an incredibly full house (which included, much to my delight, several of my superiors from the museum). Somehow, I also managed to keep from burning the building down while processing in with my candle–score!
Our repertoire included a few pieces from the Rachmaninoff Всенощное бдение (All-Night Vigil), one of my favorite choral works and the major joint piece for next semester. Though I won’t be around to rach out with the Glee Club and Chorus–for personal and academic reasons, I’ve chosen to deactivate in the spring– I enjoyed having a chance to perform a few gorgeous Russian snippets in my beloved Sage.
Tuesday & Wednesday: Sixth-Floor Shenanigans
Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the number of museum activities in which I participate (in case you’ve forgotten, those would be my internship, the Student Docent Program and the Student Advisory Committee), but a pair of end-of-the-semester lunches (both in the very classy sixth-floor Lynch Conference Room) rewarded my efforts quite well. The intern party on Tuesday was catered by Manndible (one of Cornell’s tastiest (and priciest) on-campus eateries), so I enjoyed a hummus, seitan and tomato sandwich instead of hitting up a dining hall for my midday meal. Moe’s Mexican restaurant, on the other hand, provided the food for Wednesday’s docent luncheon, which was also a nice change of pace. Because both interns and docents receive holiday treats, my status as the only intern/docent meant I collected a sizable amount of Johnson paraphernalia, including two refrigerator magnets, museum-themed notecards and a massive bar of Cadbury chocolate.
That bar has remained untouched, however, because Chocolate Mania at Appel’s North Star Dining killed my cravings for a little while. Terrified that we might see a repeat of the disappointments of Cupcake Night, “Pippin” and I dashed to North Star right at 5, and were lucky enough to grab some gourmet goodies before they were all consumed.
Her collection, featuring a "peanut butter wing," a "drumstick" (a pretzel stick dipped in caramel and chocolate) and some kind of truffle.
I’d make a little sub-heading for Thursday as well, except my day mostly involved art history cramming. Well, and drinking a mango smoothie at Risdining. And worshipping the RisMas Tree (a gorgeous tall fir that magically appeared in the rotunda a few days ago). And trying out for Waiting for Godot and study-breaks consisting of chatting and reading bad fanfiction with Pippin and my boyfriend (who really should have a Fellowship-based codename, but I don’t think any of them fit him). And drafting an email that might lead to a summer internship at the Honolulu Academy of the Arts.
Oh yeah, and procrastinating by writing my biweekly blog post. Time to return to Rembrandt!
Fame and <3
Dec 2nd
Readers, I promise you that I’m not the only person who thinks the Johnson is a hoppin’ place: it’s seen quite a number of celebrities in its time. One of the front-desk receptionists recently informed me that she once welcomed Marty McFly–I mean, Michael J. Fox, to the museum. The Dalai Lama stopped by during his visit to Ithaca a few years ago (sadly for him, the elevator decided to break that day and he had to use the sketchy fire stairs instead). In more recent news, I was working in the education offices a few weeks ago when a coworker suddenly informed me that John Lithgow was on a special V.I.P. tour that afternoon.
Of course, this is the only movie I've seen featuring John Lithgow, so I wasn't particularly excited.
Moral of the story? Important people lurk everywhere. Before agreeing to, I don’t know, put on a show in the Johnson, it’s wise to remember that anyone could be watching. Isn’t it good that I’m not going to be perform–
Oh, wait.
Hey Internet! Do you want to know a secret? I started an a cappella group. Through the combined powers of friendship, the electric keyboard in my room and Sibelius (a music notation software), I’ve attempted to transform my dorky self into an arranger and musical director. We’re an all-female ensemble that sings–surprise, surprise–nerdy music. Our current repertoire includes such gems as “John Williams is the Man,” “Laundry Day” from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog and the opening theme to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Appropriately, we’re called <3 (for all my Luddites in the house: that’s pronounced “less-than-three” and it represents a heart/love in chatspeak).
Though we’re not an official group yet, I plan on making <3 a registered student organization in the spring, which means we’d get a (minimal) amount of spending money and general bragging rights. Of course, I’m a little anxious about what kind of reception we’ll get when <3 finally takes the stage for real in the spring. While I hesitate to reference The Incredibles in yet another blog post, the scene where Syndrome attempts to “save” the city from the very robot he sent to destroy it seems particularly apt here. Poor “Buddy” uses his inventions to save a baby and the surprised onlookers, instead of bowing before their new savior, immediately start comparing him to other superheroes.
Plus, this guy (with his red hair and crazy eyes) is a dead ringer for me, so the parallelism is perfect.
What if people are outraged and skeptical when we (metaphorically) announce that we’re the “new supers”? What if they only judge our outfits against Byronic’s…I mean, our sound against other treble ensembles’ on campus? What if a giant ”learning robot” of my own design punches me into a building and ruins my ‘do?
Well, even though I can’t promise that you’ll see me get kicked to the curb by a sentient mechatron, you can help alleviate my fears by coming to our performances at the Johnson’s Holiday Open House this Sunday, December 4th. We will have two performances (one at 2:45PM and the other at 3:45PM) in the old lobby. Our set-list includes wintery songs by Mumford & Sons, Ingrid Michaelson & Sara Bareilles, and more.
Here’s hoping it will be…wait for it…incredible.
It’s Alive!
Oct 21st
Taped live, that is.
Have you been staring at your computer screen all day? Would you rather just close your eyes and hear some high-pitched blogger girl blab about art and her life?
Sarr Above the Busy Humming 10.21.11
You’re in luck! I’ve recorded a special podcast edition of Sarr Above the Busy Humming for your listening pleasure, so go ahead and play that sound file above.
(I’m definitely new to this, so kindly excuse awkward speaking and the terrible, terrible audio quality (I don’t have a microphone.))
If you’ve finished, here’s a link to the Johnson’s podcast page if you’d like to see what inspired me to do this: http://www.youtube.com/johnsonartbeat.
Remember, please join me for my Off the Label tour on Saturday, October 22nd, 1-2PM in the Appel (old) lobby of the Johnson Museum.
Here’s Netley Abbey too:
Tibet Day Episode II: Demonic Divine Strikes Yak
Sep 25th
The Johnson Museum has a very strict policy concerning what people can and can’t bring in. No food or drink (obviously). No big bags or umbrellas (and since this one’s slightly less obvious, I’ll clarify: it’s because they might bump and damage the art.)
But even though you’ll have to leave your backpack and that bagel behind, you can apparently take your yak to the Johnson.
- “Hmm, I’d been meaning to check out that exhibit about the Dutch Golden Age.”
Provided, of course, that it’s Tibet Day and the beast is really four people in a yak costume. (I didn’t even know they made those!)
Seeing the yak dance was a nice reward after a few hours of work. In preparation for the day’s event, I was assigned the important task that all interns know too well: making copies. Hundreds of copies–copies of the schedule, copies of Tibetan symbolism for the prayer flag activity, copies of the gallery guides…
When the persnickety machine on the third floor gave me trouble, I worried that I would miss all of the day’s events. Fortunately, I defeated the copymonster and was able to make it to most everything.
Organizations often publicize their events by sending out these super-fun-sounding blurbs to everyone on campus. Sadly, these events usually end up being significantly less super-fun than they sounded. Therefore, using the power of copy-paste, I’ve decided to assess each activity listed on the email advertisement for The Arts of Tibet to give a brief summary of how very cool my Saturday afternoon was.
Please join us!
The Arts of Tibet
Saturday, September 24, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Johnson Museum of Art
Free and Open to All
- Tours of the exhibition, Demonic Divine, organized by the Rubin Museum of Art
Guys, in case you didn’t know, this exhibit is phenomenal (though, admittedly, rather gory and terrifying at times). It closes at the beginning of October, so you should hurry up and see it before it’s too late!
- Painting demonstration by Kalsang Oshoe, personal tangka painter to the Dalai Lama
I’m never sure what to expect from a “demonstration.” That word could mean anything from “Oh hey, I’m going to paint an entire portrait right before your very eyes” to “Here is a paper and here is my brush. Well I guess there’s more to it than that, but shoot, look at the time!”
Kalsang Oshoe’s presentation fell somewhere in the middle–we didn’t see him finish anything but we did get to look at the incredible materials (paints made out of rocks! glue made out of rabbits!) involved in the tangka process. (Tangka is a traditional Tibetan painting style done with opaque watercolors and gold on cotton (ha, I totally stole that line from the gallery guide I wrote!))
- Performances by Ithaca’s Tibetan Association
YAKS. Need I say more? The rest of the dances were also fairly impressive.
- Sampling of Tibetan refreshments
I figured this meant that they were going to offer us tiny Costco-sized tastes of Tibetan food. Instead, I got a plate with three momo (dumplings) and a little salad-like thing. And some iced tea (in case you didn’t know, gasoline: cars as iced tea: Keely Sarrs). Score!
- Monks from the Namgyal Monastery will chant, dance, and lead guided meditation.
This was also a great experience. If I had a bus pass, I’d consider going down to the monastery for their public meditation sessions on a regular basis.
- Prayer flag workshop
The worst part of my day was that I didn’t get a chance to make a set of prayer flags. I’ll leave it at that.
Actually, no, that comes in second. The worst part of my day was actually courtesy of Rude Lobby Guy. See, I decided to stand to watch the dances because, like a good intern, I figured it was important to leave the chairs available for visitors. The program was running a little late because of an emergency (someone fell down the stairs, and I hope she ended up okay). Since the dancers wouldn’t start for a good fifteen minutes, I decided to go find something to lean on: I was starting to feel a little sick and thought I would fall over.
I changed locations and soon stood against the counter that’s usually part of 2 Naked Guys Cafe. Suddenly, a man (who would, moments later, prove himself to be Rude Lobby Guy) brusquely tapped me on the shoulder and said “I was standing here first. You’re blocking me. Can you move?”
Dear Rude Lobby Guy,
Sir, I was most certainly NOT blocking the way. You are a big man and I am comparatively tiny next to you. Please see the following size chart.
Fig I: An artist's interpretation of RLG as an allosaurus versus the the average Homo sapiens.
Dude, you could see straight over me! Plus, the performance wasn’t going to start for a while anyway, and I just needed some rest to avoid being the next person brought out of the museum on a stretcher.
Sincerely,
Keely Sarr
But the customer (or museum visitor) is always right, so I awkwardly mumbled an apology and stumbled off to the side again.
RLG got what was coming to him, though. A few minutes later, I saw an elderly man (did I mention that RLG is a strapping fellow, probably in his twenties, who has no need for something to lean against?) make the same fatal mistake that I did. Instead of being intimidated by RLG, though, this fellow gave him a cheerful reply that I couldn’t quite hear. It must have worked because RLG grudgingly let him stay. You show him, man!
UPDATE FOR RUDE LOBBY GUY:
I wrote most of this post last night (Saturday) and figured I’d edit and publish it the next morning. Well, I’d just like to mention that I am officially sick now. Like, I-just-want-to-hug-my-mom-and-sleep-all-day sick. I did need that counter, Mr. Rude Lobby Guy! I did.
I’d compose a longer post about being sick at Cornell, but my fellow blogger David did that last year, and considering how high my fever is at the moment anyway, I don’t think I’d make very much sense. Hopefully I can cure myself with tea and rest before my prelim this week!
[The] Keely’s Guide to the Arts Quad
Sep 21st
Although I’m sure I’ve mentioned this no fewer than a million times, allow me to reiterate. I LOVE MY JOB. I could be bungling coffee orders in Libe Cafe to fulfill my workstudy requirements, but instead I get to work at the Johnson, spending almost every day at my favorite place on campus and learning about a profession I’d like to join after college. (This is not intended as an insult to Libe Cafe workers. On the contrary, I admire them; my lack of coordination and so-called “space cadet” nature would have me fired in a day).
Naturally, the real intention of the above job-lauding is to encourage my readers (all three of you, har har) to come to The Arts of Tibet, a special event taking place at the Johnson from 1-4 PM this Saturday. During this exciting celebration, participants can meet the Dalai Lama’s personal tangka painter, create prayer flags and taste-test various Tibetan dishes (do I need to put this in all caps? FREE FOOD, YO). Monks from the Namgyal monastery will lead a guided meditation and perform chants and a Cham dance. You can also tour the awe-inspiring and terrifying Demonic Divine exhibit or the more G-rated regular Tibetan art exhibit (using a gallery guide that I wrote! So, even if you don’t care about Tibet or art (I can’t imagine anyone could possibly fit this description, but you never know), you should go to make sure I didn’t make any typos. And to criticize my font choices! (Note: I didn’t use Comic Sans.))
You won’t be able to escape The Arts of Tibet even if you ignore this post, though, as I spent an hour yesterday covering the Arts Quad with posters. During the process, I ended up taking an epic adventure through several buildings Where No Keely Has Gone Before. Exciting stuff!
Tjaden was disappointing because there was only one bulletin board that didn’t say “FOR FACULTY USE ONLY,” and it was already overcrowded. Sibley, too, was rather lacking in poster-places. I was cheered up, though, when I found graffitti of a green dragon on one of the staircases (appropriate, considering that’s the name of the coffeeshop in Sibley’s basement).
- Of course, I will never go to Cornell’s Green Dragon because the lack of Merry and Pippin would be too heartbreaking. (Usually I can resist the urge to insert Lord of the Rings references into my posts. Today’s just not one of those days.)
On the other hand, Lincoln and Goldwin Smith together make up Poster Shangri-La. So many bulletin boards, and so many floors! (And so many people blocking the hall by chilling with their laptops on the floor! Thanks, guys). I then set off to tackle Morrill, McGraw and White: that triumvirate that nobody can tell apart.
I’ve only been in Morrill for Old Norse and my freshman-year French OPI (oral profiency interview). Fortunately, though, I’ve come up with a little mneumonic device for it. Okay, so Morrill is the farthest away of the three if you’re walking from North Campus, right? And OPIs and Odin are both very powerful and intimidating. Therefore, Morrill’s location makes sense because you want to keep the most space between yourself and exams/Norse gods.
- I could have just said ‘Morrill’ kind of rhymes with ‘oral’ (i.e. OPI) and left it at that, but then you wouldn’t have had a chance to see ODIN!
I was kind of hoping that White Hall would be the one in the middle (because it’s right across from the A.D. White statue), but, alas, that’s McGraw. Actually, I’m drawing a blank on cutesy ways to remember McGraw. Maybe because it’s undergoing construction? And construction workers are usually buff? Like…Tim McGraw? Gosh, I don’t even know.
White is, in fact, the one closest to the Johnson. I’d never been in there before, so I was surprised to see how classy it was in comparison to its sisters. There are also a lot of pretentious and strict-sounding signs everywhere that say “Do not steal the chairs from this classroom!” and “Kindly don’t tarry in the hallway.” (Okay, maybe not the second one, though that particular sign would be useful in Lincoln.)
My favorite, though, was outside the ladies’ restroom.
This bathroom can only be used by one woman at a time. If it is already occupied, please wait your turn outside IN THE HALL.
Based on this description, I expected to open the bathroom door to find a miniscule airport-esque lavatory. However, this thing was bigger than the Cornell Choral Music Library (I’ll admit, the CMC is ridiculously tiny) and probably about the size of my dorm room.
My general point here is that it was no smaller than your average one-stalled bathroom. Guys, the bathroom apparently can only hold one woman at a time, but I’m sure it could fit
- three men
- one William Howard Taft
- fourteen hobbits
- six My Little Ponies (life-sized)
- one hundred and eight wiener dogs
I honestly think that waiting inside the restroom for someone else to come out would not be such a crime. Plus, isn’t it more important not to tarry in the hallway?
But seriously, who wouldn't want 108 wiener dogs?
After my Arts Quad journey was complete, I still had one more poster to put up, so I’ll close with that. I’d better see you Saturday!
- Yes, that’s a squid mobile, and yes, I do want to believe.
