Some quick thoughts...

1. Monsters of Folk is awesome. I totally bought it at Target, and I was so proud of myself for going out and buying a real CD. Plus it was $2 cheaper...
2. Half Price Books is awesome.
3. TJ Maxx is a much better store than you'd think.
4. It's pouring buckets here right now...perfect tea, apple pie, and book weather.
5. I had to re-do my film for Photo class...boo! At least I get to develop it tomorrow...
6. I may or may not have spilled coffee on my rather expensive, brand-new, school-owned English textbook...oops. Anyone know how to get coffee stains out of really thin, literary-looking pages?

I'm going to go do #4 for the rest of the night now. Real post soon, I promise!

Happy Wednesday...

It's a sleepy one. I've been working quite a bit. I would rather do three four-hour shifts than four three-hour shifts (I don't get a break for shifts less than four hours), but I can't complain. Grocery is surprisingly complex. Ah, Pick 'n Save.

Good things about my new job:

1. It's reliable: people always need groceries, carts always need to be put back, etc. It's completely unlikely I'll get sent home, and restaurant wasn't like that.

2. Great peoplewatching: you can tell so much about a person by looking at their groceries, and I get to stand there and observe each item as I put it in the bag.

3. Union benefits: I get overtime pay for working Sundays, breaks are regulated, etc.

4. Minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Thank you, pseudo(American)-socialism!

Bad things about my new job:

1. People are jerks: they get angry about different things and start yelling at us. Also, I have to watch people come through and just scream at their kids the whole time. It's so frustrating. They're always the kind of people who wonder where their kids learned to swear, too...what a mystery! If you tell you kid to "sit your ass down, right there, RIGHT NOW!" they're going to start talking like that too. Also, I've seen people with six kids who were way calmer than those with two kids.

2. Pushing carts: I'm not that great at manual labor, but I do okay. It's just really tedious, and sometimes one cart will break off from the line and get away, since we don't have the magnetic things like Target.

3. Comments because I'm a girl: Especially when I'm doing carts. Traditionally, girls are always cashiers, and boys are always utility clerks. I've had a few people say "You're not supposed to be doing that, you're a girl!" I think the first guy was kidding, but the other ones seemed pretty serious. I would rather be a cashier, but I can physically be a UC, even though I'm a girl!

Well, I'm off! I wish I had more time to blog. I have a moderate amount of homework tonight, but Glee is on and reading Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour has made me crave feminist literature, so I'm going to try and get some reading in!

Waukesha Art Fest

I'm finally uploading my pictures from Saturday. I walked downtown to the city's annual Art Fest to look around. There was some great art, but nothing I could afford, so I made my own art.

This is the Waukesha Civic Theatre. All the plays put on are open for the public to audition for, and everything they do is fantastic. It was the Pix movie theater when I was very young; apparently I went to see Pocahontas there and got my foot stuck in the seat. I have absolutely no recollection of this.

This is the "Five Points." All our streets are old, especially those right in downtown, so there are a lot of inconvenient five-way intersections. It's pretty cute, though.

Art is everywhere, and I love it.

Bam Bam and the Gigolos. They play at the Steaming Cup often and it's always a great show.

Dancing. I love that girl's outfit; not too many people can pull off skirts and tennis shoes, but she really makes it work.

I love everything about her. Her husband was dressed like a pirate and selling his photography. He had a lot of fantastically abstract, Edward Weston style photos.

People's Park. An apparently fantastic new restaurant. They display art from the teachers at my school, and above the bar is this giant "stuff" collage; it's hard to describe, but it's a bunch of toys. I'll take a picture sometime.

They built a new hotel in town and they have some fantastic fake planters on all the windows.

Herbal cranberry iced tea=love.

She owns one of the galleries downtown and has the coolest hair I've ever seen.

This is Sloppy Joe's, a 50s-style soda fountain that just opened. They also own a gelato place down the street, which I can't believe I've never mentioned before! Gelato beats regular ice cream, any day.

That's all for now. I'm going to take film pictures of my awesome flapper hat in the "mini studio" on Monday, so I'll make sure to take some digital pictures of it too, just to show you the room. Also, I have a lot to say about my new job at Pick 'n Save when I get a chance. (It's not as bad as I thought it would be, actually.) Peace!

I feel obligated to post.

It's been a few days. I was going to upload stuff from the Rebel today, but I had to choose between bringing it to school or bringing my AP Psych poster to school, and it was a group project so I felt obligated. (It's a family tree, so I made tiny branches and leaves! It's adorable.)

Honestly, though, I just want to get back in the darkroom. Developing one's own film is truly a magic like no other, and knowing I can fix a picture's exposure with some adjustments and a wave of my hand is just amazing. There's something calming about it; the rushing of the water from the big sinks, moving the tray of chemicals back and forth rhythmically, the darkness and quiet. I can't wait to get back in there. I'll have to take my Nikon or Holga out and produce some magic.

I discovered Holga cameras my sophomore year, and I've been in love ever since. Our photography department owns a giant bin of them, and I feel so lucky. If I could, I would only work with medium format film. It's what we use in our studio, too, (yes, we actually have a studio!) and it produces the best enlargements I've ever seen. I'm so blessed to have ended up at a school with this fantastic of an art department. We always make it to state in the Visual Arts Classic competition (the theme is Art and The 70s this year!), our teachers' art is often displayed in galleries/restaurants around the city, and we take a trip to NYC every year to go art museum hopping.

I almost wasn't going to be able to go, but I just found a job! I work at Pick 'n Save, the grocery store refered to as "Pick 'n Slave" by many. It's actually not that bad. I'm a utility clerk, so I bag groceries, push carts, take out garbage, etc. Carts aren't too fun (especially when there are a million high school students using your parking lot for the football game), but bagging isn't that bad. Plus, it's a fantastic people-watching opportunity. I've always said that you can tell a lot about someone by what's in their fridge, and the same goes for what people buy at the grocery store. Ive found that people buy a ton of yogurt and milk, for whatever reason. Strange...

I'm about to run off to English. I'll hopefully be posting my pictures from the Rebel tomorrow or tonight. See you then!

PS-I just went on the VAC website and the artist list is already up! I'm really excited, especially about Andy Warhol, Psychedelic Posters, and TV:
Marilyn Levine, Andy Warhol, Peter Max, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Andre' Courreges, Bridget Riley, Roy Lichtenstein, George Segal, Minnie Evans, Psychedelic Poster Artists (especially Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse), and Visual Impact of Television (especially Sesame Street, Electric Company, Schoolhouse Rock, Rowen & Martin's Laugh-In, and The Smothers Brothers Show).

sigh.

I'm still pretty frustrated about the whole situation with Obama's speech. I mean, they even released the text and nobody's changed their minds. I was almost at peace with it, and then I read the freerepublic.com forums. Bad idea...

What's good, though, is the fact that I'm sitting in photography class. My independent study hasn't gone through yet (thanks for nothing, School District of Waukesha), so I'm just signing in here every day during my study hall. It's fun watching the Photo I kids learn about 35mm cameras for the first time; I almost want to go back and re-experiment with coffee can pinhole cameras. I'm actually checking out the digital Canon Rebel for a few days, and I'm so excited to produce some awesome digital photography with it! I'll have to go out with my Holga, too, so I can get back into the darkroom. It smells a little strange, but it's so dark and wonderful, and the constant rushing of water from the sink is so calming. It's honestly my favorite place in the school.

I'm awfully optimistic for a Tuesday that feels like a Monday. I'm off to AP English 12 in a few minutes. I think we're going to write a lot this year, and I'm excited. We were told to buy a huge notebook in AP English 11, and we ended up only doing one journal entry the whole year, so I'm really looking forward to this year.

And the ridiculous lies and hype persist...

On Friday, I wrote a post about my opposition to the restriction of viewing President Obama's back-to-school speech. I ended up creating a short letter to send to the School District of Waukesha's superintendent, South's principal, and South's three assistant principals. I felt I should share it with you, and if you're a Waukesha person who I haven't already forwarded this to, please feel free to send it out!

To Whom It May Concern:

I am strongly opposed to the School District of Waukesha's decision to restrict viewing of President Obama's back-to-school speech. Tuesday's speech will simply welcome students back to school and encourage them to work hard in the upcoming year. The beliefs that it will be politicial in nature, socialist, or a method of indoctrination are simply lies created by those who don't support President Obama. It is unfortunate that these lies and paranoia have infected such a great deal of the population, and it is just appalling that the fear has spread as far as those in charge of the School District of Waukesha.

Many other school districts in the area are allowing the speech to be shown, such as New Berlin and Kettle Moraine, and there is no reason for Waukesha to not follow in their footsteps. As spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school." Students should be taught to listen to and respect figures of authority, whether they agree with their opinions or not. This is not a partisan issue; it is a respect issue.

I truly urge you to reconsider your decision to restrict the viewing of Tuesday's speech. Thank you.

(Your name here)

A Concerned Student

I can't even believe how ridiculous this is.

If you've been watching the news lately, you've probably heard about the outrage that President Obama's planned back-to-school speech has caused. (If not, read about it here. Jezebel does a good job of summing everything up, and it provides videos/links if you really want to find out about this. also, I like the title. "GOP? STFU!" is genius.) Essentially, the speech is going to be a welcome back-to-school pep talk that encourages kids to stay in school and work hard. If not beneficial, at least harmless, right?

That's not what a lot of people think.

The right wing has been spreading lies about this speech. It's been called propaganda, indoctrination, cult-like, and socialist, among other things. Jim Greer, the Florida GOP chairman, has gone far enough to compare him to the Pied Piper, and many other have likened Tuesday's planned speech to early Hitler Youth propaganda.

I...I don't even know where to begin with this. First of all...socialism?!? If that particular claim wasn't getting old already, it doesn't even fit with the spirit of this speech. The idea of working hard, earning money, and participating in the U.S. economy is a completely capitalist value. What, do you want our president to promote laziness? Because this is America, and we totally should be able to be unemployed by choice and buying anything we want with credit cards we'll never pay off! NO. No matter where you stand politically, hard work and education should be important.

I really don't understand how anyone can say that President Obama is bad for our family morals. It's almost ironic that the right-wing is both anti-Obama and pro-family values. I couldn't find a family with stronger morals than the Obama family. They've worked their way to where they are, they value education, and though they're in the White House, the girls are still expected to do chores. If anything, they're a fantastic model of a modern American family with strong values and morals.

The thing that annoys me the most are the comparisons between Obama and the Pied Piper, Hitler, and Big Brother. It's completely the opposite. He's encouraging open, curriculum-related discussion after the speech, which is the complete opposite of the "dictator" many seem to believe he is. It's almost ironic; the right-wing wants everyone to be free from government control of the media, but they want to control what our nation's children are allowed to view and discuss. I understand not wanting kids to be exposed to sex and violence--that's the parents' choice--but this is a speech created for children to emphasize positive moral values.

In the end, he's our president. We should be teaching children to respect authority, whether they agree with their opinions or not. In fact, we should be teaching children to respect everybody, whether they agree with their opinions or not. So, working hard, staying in school, and respecting differences? None of those should be censored from our schoolchildren.

In addition, here's the form letter that the district is sending out to us to deal with the whole thing. I'm pretty frustrated with this too. Mild fear of political propaganda is just as bad, especially when it's directly from the school district:

"September 4, 2009

Dear Families,

As you may have heard, on Tuesday, September 8^th there will be a nationwide program involving the President speaking with school-age students via the internet. Because we do not know the content of the address and we do not want to violate Board policies related to political endorsements and activities, the School District of Waukesha will tape and review the presentation prior to making it available for teacher use.

While this is not a mandated program, teachers may choose to watch the speech with their class as it relates to their curriculum. If teachers choose to use the speech in their lessons, you will be notified in advance of the lesson/activities. You will have the opportunity to opt out of participation.

Please contact me with questions.

Sincerely,

Principal"

Pet Peeve: "That's so gay!"

I'm sure many of you have heard it used before, especially if you're a high school student:

"Class, this story needs to be completed and ready to present for class tomorrow." "That's so gay!"

"Ugh, I'm grounded all weekend. I know, it's so gay!"

"My mom bought my school supplies for me this year and I'm stuck with gay folders and stuff."

"Can you hang out tomorrow?" "No, I have to work." "Ew. Well, that's gay."

That drives me abosolutely insane, so I present to you an open letter to all people who think that "gay" is synonymous with "stupid":

Dear Youth of America (I sincerely hope your ignorance hasn't yet spread to other countries",

Why are you constantly using the word "gay" as a replacement for "stupid"? Is it because you don't actually know the definition? If not, here's how Merriam-Webster puts it:

• Main Entry: ¹gay
• Pronunciation: \ˈgā\
• Function: adjective
• Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French gai, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gāhi quick, sudden
• Date: 14th century

1 a : happily excited : merry gay mood> b : keenly alive and exuberant : having or inducing high spirits gay spring song>
2 a : bright, lively <gay sunny meadows> b : brilliant in color
3 : given to social pleasures; also : licentious
4 a : homosexual <gay men> b : of, relating to, or used by homosexuals gay rights movement> gay bar>

None of those definitions are anything close to "stupid." So, why do you keep mixing up the two? I'm sure some of you out there actually do hate gay people and think it's a "disease" that can be "cured", but I'll save that rant for another time. (I really hope you're not that ignorant, but anyway...) I personally know some people who have no problem whatsoever with the LGBTQ community, but they still use "that's so gay!" all the time. I know others who have no stance on the issue. The fact it: nobody should be using "gay" as a synonym for "stupid". Seriously, everyone. I would really like our generation to look more intelligent and well-spoken than this.

Sincerely,

An Enlightened Youth

"Fall is here, hear the yell...

...back to school, ring the bell.

Brand new shoes, walking blues.

Climb the fence, books and pens.

I can tell that we are going to be friends."

-We're Going to Be Friends-The White Stripes

I started school today. Weird, I know. But, before I talk about that...vintage shopping! My mom and I ran to ReThreads in Milwaukee on Saturday and I found a few great pieces.

Those cowboy boots are rubber. I'm amazed how convincing they are. Not something I'd wear all the time (sweaty feet are gross), but they'll make fantastic rain(or light snow)boots!

This is a tee from the Alterra down the street. I'm in love with their coffee, their cafes, and this shirt. Unfortunately, someone put a men's shirt in the women's stack, so I have to exchange it.

This dress does not photograph well, so here's a preview. I'm loving the minimally asymmetrical collar on it.

I love this cute little skirt, and it was brand new!

On to my first day of school! It was good, relative uneventful. AP Psych seems really fascinating, and I'm looking forward to learn things that can apply to everyday life. My AP English teacher seems both fun and not afraid to discuss any topic related to our books (something that became a big gripe about English last year for me). The new Orchestra director seems friendly and open to working with us on keeping tradition for the concerts. German 5 is going to be crazy because there's 3 and 4 in the same class, but I'm excited to do real literature rather than the textbook. AP Economics seems interesting (we did two chapters over the summer) and the teacher is hilarious. I'm not sure what Honors Pre-Calc is going to be like, but the teacher is new and seems to be having trouble treating us like we're an honors class. Trends is my gym class, and it's more yoga/body pump/pilates oriented, which is great because I'll actually use it for life. All I need to do is get my photo independent study and my schedule will be fantastic!

However, it is a bit of a shock coming back and realizing how annoying a lot of people are. Isn't it unfortunate that 85% of the most outspoken people in class are the least intelligent? That's going to get old really fast, especially in classes like AP Econ and AP English where we're trying to discuss politics. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

Top-Charlotte Russe. Sweater-Target, from when I was a kid. Bracelet and earrings-Target. Skinny jeans-Kohl's. Flats-Target. (I'll have to take a picture of the flats soon because they are super cute.)