Out of the events I attended this semester as a Rose Scholar, this was one of the ones I learned the most in. I had been to the Johnson Museum before, but didn’t understand most of the artwork. So, having a passionate and helpful professor and understudy was really helpful. Some of their interpretations of art really resonated with me, such as how a statue of a walking man represented pain and strife in the time period around WWII, while other interpretations were surprising and still don’t make no sense to me, such as how a painting of a young girl with geese can be suggestive and sexual. I wish I could say I came out of this event with a newfound ability to understand artwork, but I still lack the experience and the historical knowledge. However, I definitely feel more confident in my ability to appreciate artwork if there’s an expert there to explain the art and artist’s context to me!
Author Archives: D.tsai
Joyful nightlight
I’m glad the Gourdlandia event happened again this year! I really wanted to do this last year when it happened, but I had a conflict so I couldn’t go.
The first gourd I made didn’t look very good, so I quickly made a second gourd. I just put a face on it, so it was really simple, but it made a really nice nightlight that sparked a bit of joy in me whenever I looked at it. Unfortunately, later a member of my suite accidentally stepped on that gourd, so the majority of the gourd got detached from the lightbulb. Good thing I made two gourds!
Jack-o-lanterns!
This event was really fun because I most of my suite was there with me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the strong pumpkin smell, but carving was really fun.
I’m also glad I got to do this for Halloween. It was a really busy week for me so I didn’t really do anything else for Halloween. Instead, on Halloween, the members of my suite who went pumpkin carving put small lights in our pumpkins and took a bunch of photos.
Video call lessons: Sewing
I went to the sewing lesson because I had a dog/bear stuffed animal (not completely sure whether it’s a dog or bear) with a large tear in it, and I wanted to sew it up so that its stuffing would stop falling everywhere. The event super fun — I was really, really bad at it, and sometimes had trouble following along (partly because the lesson was done over video call), but I loved it nonetheless and I learned a lot. At the very end, I also learned how to fix my dog/bear!
Bright stars and red lights
Since this was my first time going into the observatory, or any observatory for that matter, I thought it was really cool seeing the different parts of the telescope. For example, I didn’t know that these telescopes have a mechanism that turns the telescope with the spinning of the Earth, so that the view through the telescope moves with things in the sky to keep them in view longer. It was really nice that the astronomy student who hosted us was so enthusiastic about the observatory — I learned a lot and had a fun time because his excitement was infectious.
I also really liked the red lights on the deck, even though those lights definitely weren’t supposed to be a main attraction. I wish there were a switch in my room that would let me turn all my lights that color for a bit.
Amazing (and creepy) headshots
I’ve always dreaded formal photos — I always come out looking unprofessional or just not looking the way I want to. Nonetheless, I decided to give these headshots a try. To my pleasant surprise, I found that for once, I looked natural and also not unprofessional (I still wouldn’t quite call myself “professional”, but this is the closest I’ve ever gotten). I also realized that I have the exact same smile in every photo, which creeps me out a little.
Plants at the Farmer’s Market
I had heard that the farmer’s markets in Ithaca were good, but I had never found the time to go myself — figuring out transportation and getting together a group of people to do always just seemed like such a hassle. So, I was excited to finally go to a farmer’s market with Rose, and I was not disappointed. Among my favorite haul of the day were a dairy-free pesto, which had a pleasantly strong garlic tang to it, and two plants: a basil plant and a thai chili pepper plant.
While the basil died very quickly (I’m not much of a plant growing expert), I was happy to see the chili pepper plant survive for much longer, providing nice decoration for my suite’s common room and also a lot of nice spice to use in cooking.
I’ll definitely be going back to the farmer’s market when I get the chance!