Bumper Sticker

There are few issues I feel commited to enough that I would actually put a bumper sticker on my car, but the importance of vaccines is an exception. I know, I know, I don't have kids, I've already been vaccinated myself, so I'm not exactly in the average demographic of people who get riled up about this issue. BUT. I am currently reading Denialism by Michael Specter, and one of the chapters is about the craziness (denialism) of people who refuse to vaccinate their kids because they fear that 1) vaccines cause autism or 2) that the methyl mercury used as a stabilizer in vaccines is a potential toxin. Both of the above have repeatedly proven to be untrue, in many large and trustworthy studies. The people who refuse to innoculate their children usually are skeptical of the intentions and integrity of the U.S. government, and don't want to believe in the power and capability of modern science (which has gotten us here in the first place).
For those of you who don't know much about this issue, refusing to vaccinate kids under two years old for basic, mostly eradicated diseases such as smallpox, measels, mumps and polio not only puts their children in danger, but also endangers the health of all children they encounter. Some children cannot be immunized for other health and/ or religious reasons, but they are typically protected by what is called 'herd immunity'. Herd immunity means that if about 90% of the population is vaccinated against a disease, they are unlikely to get it, and will therefore protect the unvaccinated among the herd. The fewer vaccinated people, the more quickly herd immunity disappears, and the diseases we thought were history will come back.
This issue was also the subject of the Jan 31st episode of the Colbert Report. He was interviewing Dr. Paul Otis. The interview, of course, was funny, you can watch the whole show here. I just happened to read the comments left under the video, and this one by MichaelS struck me as being really poigniant.

"I'm kind of offended by anyone who don't get their kids vaccinated because it supposedly causes autism. I'm not offended that they are wrong, I'm offended because I have autism, and I'm a lot happier now than I would be if I had polio. Autism isn't that big of a problem, it's only bad for a small minority."

So, here's my bumpersticker, if someone wants to print it: "Protect Herd Immunity! Vaccinate your children!"

Kickstart

I had never heard of this before: an internet-based way to get funding for creative projects. People make a webpage proposal for a project (film, book, exhibition, etc) they are hoping to do, and request funds from internet benefactors. The benefactors pledge a certain amountof money, which they will only give if the project reaches it's stated monetary goal in a given amount of time. Such a great idea! Artistic funding by the people, connected by the internet.
Check it out: www.kickstarter.com

Halloween

Sometime shortly after Halloween last year, I decided that I HAD TO go as a deep sea diver this year. I have always thought old diving masks and diving presses (the hard-exterior type, which can go deeper underwater) are really cool-looking. There are many many different types of mask designs and breathing methods, all created by different people around the world to serve the same basic purpose; keep a human alive while exploring the ocean floor!

Originally my plan was to build the entire thing out of closed-cell foam, but I didn't realize that you can't just buy that kind of foam at Lowe's. I called the fantastic Cory Gilstrap, who was my mentor at the Museum of Outdoor Arts' Design and Build internship. Cory is a puppet master and he taught me and the other interns how to build amazing things (giant puppets, carousel horses, etc) out of this foam. So I called him up as I was wandering around Lowe's and he had a lot of great suggestions for me.
This is my helmet, early on in the process. Cory suggested that rather than try to make a dome using the foam (which it was too late to buy anyways) that instead I use a regular plastic witches' cauldron and some PVC drains. I cut holes in the cauldron and stuck the drains in to be my 'port holes'.

Bronze spraypainted the whole thing...

I also made a trip to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which is an awesome place to get all sorts of random tools, hinges, doo-dads, and other unidentifiable crusty metal things. I gathered a big bag of said things and when I brought them to the counter to check out, the manager said, "What are you doing with all this stuff?!"

I'm building a R-378 Aquatic C02 filtration system, of course! Nert, nert.

Next, very crucial- the neck plate (in real deep-sea divering gear, this and the helmet are all one piece, of course, but I actually needed to be able to breathe). The base for this is heavy Bristol board, plus more bolts and knobs I found at the ReStore, string, and bronze spraypaint.

I also bought a painter's jumpsuit, a terrible cheap plastic thing, but it worked for this purpose. I really wanted to make myself a yellow diver, based upon a distinct memory of a diving outfit I once saw at a marine museum in Oregon . There has been considerable backlash to my wanting to be a yellow diver (ahem, Jason!) but I carried through with the plan anyways.

Here I am outfitted in the entire costume. I attached even more doo-dads onto a belt, and made "weighted" shoes out of cardboard boxes to drag myself down to the ocean floor.

And although I didn't win the costume contest at Balliceaux,a hip bar near here, (which was so crowded and wild I don't even think the judges saw me), I did get a kiss on top of the helmet from Bruce Lee. Hee, hee.

If you are interested in seeing pictures of real deep-sea diving wear, I found this great website during my preparation/ research.

Nesting Opportunities

Before: Very bland and boring!

There's a loft thing above the bed that could actually hold a mattress, but it doesn't work well for when you have to get up to pee in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, the loft was ugly, especially on the underside, so I stretched some canvas over the bottom like one would stretch a painters' canvas. Hides the raw beams and catches the dust!

After:
A young girl inside of me must have always wanted a canopy bed, haha! I went a little nuts. I bought fabric and tassels, etc, for the top, and had made those flower lights previously. The blue lamp holds a tealight. My mom and I chose the fabric for my bedspread and throw pillows at SAS in Phoenix. I got the bedspread mostly done before I left and then mom finished and sent it to me. It's a quilt, really- held together with tiny turquoise pom poms on top!
So much cuteness, it's almost embarassing!

Hope Ginsburg

(Hope is in white... Photo by Terry Brown)
I have begun working as an artist's assistant/ Sponge HQ Coordinator for Hope Ginsburg. She's a social practice artist who gave a talk and studio visits during my post-bacc program at VCU. I was really intrigued by her work (it's interest in community and non-traditional approaches to art-making, etc) and was happy to find out that she was in need of some help. I have some difficulty explaining what she does, but in essence she is interested in the sharing of knowledge and skills across disciplines and between people. For this process she uses the metaphor of the Sea Sponge, which for a long time was thought to be a plant and not an animal. The Sponge is the only creature that doesn't move, looks the same inside and out, and if wounded, is able to completely regrow itself into a full adult Sponge. Like Sponges holding water, we have the ability to hold large amounts of knowledge within ourselves, and once we learn we can pass on knowledge to others (so they may grow, too).

( Wool felting is also a big part of the Sponge HQ...Photo by Terry Brown)
Hope's recent work has been housed in a room known as the Sponge Headquarters, at the Anderson Gallery. This room is being used for many ongoing and in-progress works including a Sponge Conference, drop-in yoga classes, and wool Felting workshops. I'm helping her with a lot of web-presence stuff, blogging and uploading photos, etc, and probably other stuff as time goes on. Hope is really brilliant and energetic- I've really enjoyed working with her so far. There are many links, here are a few:
Hope's website or the Sponge blog. She also did a project called Colablablab where she enrolled as a VCU student (oh, yes,Hope's a professor at VCU), and she and other art students took a Bio class and Lab together and then made artwork inspired by what they were learning. Totally awesome!

My photoshop class

I'm learning so much in my Photoshop class at the Visual Arts Center, including new ways to tease my sister! heh, heh.

Places that Smell Bad near VCU

View Places that Smell Bad in a larger map
Found this while looking up something on Google maps. This is so funny, and also quite necessary; I have noticed many places around VCU area smelling bad, too. Reminds me of my mom's famous line while touring in China: "Sometimes, there are odors... that make you wish you weren't here."