Laura Miles' Big Adventure

Something Worth Posting About

Sorry to disappoint you'all by not posting lately. (I write in modestly). There has been lots going on lately, lots of interesting pictures, but I've been in a bit of a creative and social funk for the past few days (mostly hormonally induced, as usual, so nothing to worry about).

But I just stumbled upon something worth posting about and worth me crawling out of my creative funk.
I really enjoy the idea of Bansky. His artistic idealogy beats the crap out of most modern art these days, just blocks of color with no courage behind them. I think the Help section is particularly brilliant and I must remember to look to it for inspiration over the coming weeks.

When I lived in NYC I tried to do a little graffitti campaign by making stickers of this Langston Hughes poem and plastering the city with them. I wimped out very early because a subway car beeped at me and I got scared. I did have a vision though, but I was just little ol' me and I worked long hours and doing illegal things isn't relaxing.

I will dig the poem up for you soon.

I think I haven't been doing enough art lately, actually. Tonight I will paint some Easter eggs and that will get me going again. Then I have a nice concept for a blank canvas I have had for a while. I got the picture in my head on the train back from Edinburgh, Scotland, when the countryside was covered in fog, and monochromatic, but layered in green hue and pearlescent and transparent in a way that would suit itself much better to oils than acrylics, which I use, unfortunatley, in my painting adolescence.

In the Bar

Sarah, Rich, and Fran in the Selwyn Bar after Sophia's 21st Birthday Celiedh party in Hall, a few weeks ago. I sing in the Selwyn Choir with Fran, who is also a soprano on Dec. She has a lovely voice.

Last night Gus, the Selwyn College Master's cat, was sitting right on that window ledge outside the bar, keeping an eye on the court and very deliberately ignoring us. We tapped but he was quite obstinate.

Shopping

My new procrastination is The Bag Blog where I can browse purses until I am woozy with delight.

I also like to look at A Socialite's Life, because it's an easy way to keep with the lives of the rich and famous, and to realize that although it seems wonderful in concept to be a professional socialite, really it takes a certain level of intellectualism that frankly I just don't have in me.

A new item on my wishlist is this t-shirt made for English professors. The whole site, Busted Tees, is hilarious actually and sets new heights in the over-done retro motto t-shirt binge the world is on right now.

Selwyn, oh Selwyn!

Selwyn, oh Selwyn, how do I love thee?

Your red-brick walls are like a wool blanket, always smelling peculiar and earthy after the rain.
Your rooftops are like stairwells to heaven.
Your little black birds, like small visiting demonic angels.
Your undergrads, like over-grown rosy-cheeked street children.
Your grads, like under-washed spinsters emerging from their widow's tower.
Your fellows, like the overly-friendly witch in 'Hansel and Gretel.'
Your gardeners, like too-cute hobbits who didn't make the second callback.

Selwyn, oh Selwyn, how I love thee!

A Little Ivory Tower Oscar Speech

(Approaches podium in floor-length (with train) Prada dress in dark blue raw silk. Adjusts microphone.)

Good evening, everyone.

Soon I'd like to announce my decision of where I'm going to do my PhD.

But first I feel I need to thank just a few people.

First, my 5th- and 6th-grade teacher, Ms. Clarke. You brought me up from the disaster of 3rd and 4th grade and did wonders for me. My 8th-grade English teacher, Ms. Diffine - thank you for dragging us through the Illiad and singing "You say Tomato, I say Tomato" in the hallway with Mr. Montante and all of us.

My English teachers at Sem - Mr. Malcolm, Mrs. Magavern, and Mrs. Fiedler. Mr. Malcolm, I always cover my mouth when I yawn ever since you threw me out of class for forgetting. Mrs. Magavern, that paper I wrote on "A Prayer for Owen Meany" for your elective class really got me hooked. Mrs. Fiedler, I think my first exposure to medieval English literature was when you read aloud the beginning of the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. I really loved reading "Tess," but beyond the books we actually read one of the most potent modern literature experiences I have had yet was your stories of parties at Ted Hughes' and Slyvia Plath's apartment in London with Allen Ginsberg and Kurt Vonnegut and your husband. We Sem girls really appreciated your first-hand involvement with real writers and its accompanying slight craziness. Your husband's essay "Come on down to the raft, Huck Honey" hit me in college and I am lucky it didn't get me stuck reading in the last two centuries.

At Brown: Thank you Profs. Russom and Bryan. Your friendly support and almost monastic scholastic intensity made me rise to the occasion, and your recommendations must have done the trick. Also, Prof. Mira Viswanathan - I will always aspire to your scholastic creativity and integrity.

Thank you, Lucinda Rumsey, Lecturer in English at Mansfield College, Oxford for introducing me to the mystical, devotional and anchoritic works in Middle English. Also Prof. Eric Christiansen of New College, for giving me taste of the real "old school" Oxbrige world.

So, now that you all know who you are, I hope you'll be pleased to know the fruits of your lessons has brought me to do a PhD and ultimately to become a professor at some university out there. So this fall I'll begin a Master's at....

(drum roll.....)

YALE.

Yay!

In Cat News...

Check out this story about a cat that traveled for ten miles on the roof of his owner's car. Reminds me of the classic Saetveit cat story about Pookie, who jumped in the trunk of Randolph's car early one morning in Buffalo, and traveled with us all the way back to Providence - 7 hours in the cold trunk!
I'll put up some photos soon highlighting Pookie's escapade and return.

Two Quick Reminders

1) Go and take a look at Randolph's blog, because he's posted on lots of exciting thing we've done recently. He also put up as photo albums some great photos of Lyveden New Bield and other places. There is also a gorgeous photo of the daffodils on my window sill I am looking at right now, still very happy a week after Randolph's birthday.

2) Remember that each time you click on the little adverts over to your left a little bit of $$ comes my way. So support the advertisers! (And support me!) You know you want medieval re-enactment clothing! I find it very funny those are the only sites that come up when Google "trawls" or scans the page for content. How embarassing if it wasn't so funny.

Calvin and Hobbes

Did you grow up loving Calvin and Hobbes, knowing your days were just as packed as that comic strip? Then read Bill Watterson's speech at OSU.
Then indulge yourself at The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. I remember trying to recreate the brilliant snowmen Calvin created. Always annoyed he thought of them first!!

(Thanks BryantChoung.com for the original link.)

Shout-out to Bryant Choung, and a Nostalgic Vignette

Bryant Choung is a friend of mine from Brown. Bryant is one of those quiet brilliant kind of guys that has a great sense of humor to boot. Bryant and Loni and Jen and I hung out a lot sophomore and senior year and had many great times (Campus Dance 2001, etc, etc). He's a super computer programmer and had one of those hot-shot IBM internships one summer where they give you a car and a house and a membership to every cool club in Seattle, and you sell them your soul. I think right now he's in Washington D.C. making more money than I ever will, but perhaps he's moved on from there by now. We both spent an extra year in Providence after graduating because it's such a great town and he was getting an extra degree at Brown.

Bryant, I think you still have something that belongs to Loni and I:
a gigantic metal sign that begins, "THINK LIKE A PARENT."

This was a sign produced for Commencement weekend at Brown in 2001, aimed towards the "local" workers that had to interact with students, parents and alumni. It was one of the more patronizing, innappropriate and downright evil pieces of public message I have ever seen. Basically it said, 'Since we're elitist we naturally expect you to be uncouth and reek of that lower-working-class parfum de sweat, don't dare do anything to offend anyone, like swear or spit on our rich students and their rich parents and the rich alumni. So Worship Them or You'll Get Sacked.' It was so unbearable that Loni and I clipped it off a wire fence and walked all the way across campus and smuggled it into our room. We had to look extremely official and confident - the sign was like 4 feet high and 3 feet across and weighed a ton. But if you learn anything at Brown it is that they bill you ahead of time for stolen property and that authority exists to be undermined, so we felt very righteous in borrowing the sign; it was really for the administration's own good. Besides it provided great entertainment for all our friends.

I'll probably get in trouble now when someone important from Brown reads this but my degree's official and now I am a (poor) alumna so Ha!!

Bryant, can you send me a photo of it?

Badminton

I love badminton. It brings out my "sporty side," in remission since those golden high schools days at the Buffalo Seminary. Right now I play every now and then for the Selwyn Ladies Badminton Team, against other Cambridge colleges. We're about half-way down the ranking and I don't know if we lost or gained any ground this year.
Here we are playing at St. John's College. We got whupped that game.

I'm playing with Sarah Ward, a most excellent badminton player. We try our best but sometimes we could use a little more aggression.

Look at me with my bad, unready posture, and Sarah's lethal low serve, though her racket does creep up above waist level in this shot, which is illegal!

This is a good action shot. You can see the yellow path of the birdie, or "shuttlecock" as the natives like to call it. I hope I returned this one.

The racket I am using was a Christmas present from my dad. It is a really hot Prince racket called The Hornet (too bad I'm a Jacket at heart ;-) and I get all kinds of good badminton mojo from it because it's super light and intimidates the other team. Thanks Dad!!

Other players on the Selwyn Ladies' Team:

Helen (captain) and Lil

Kat and Sandra (Kat usually plays with Liz, who wasn't at this particular match).

Go Selwyn Go!