Through Pen and Lens

I get to go home in the morning!  I am bouncing around this apartment like a fucking Bumble Ball. Remember me? What can I say? I have been cooped up like a chicken for days on end. Then I get a break, can go out, but the only place to go is to school (or WalMart or Ikea), carefully.  But wait! Only one day of school, because damnitalltohell, it frackin snows (or ices) over the whole area. Again! And the city shuts down. Again! So, no school. Fuck!!! (You'd think these North Texans would have snow plows to handle this shit! Or would at least have them in town since the Super Bowl was here in frackin February!) But who cares, cause  I get to go home in the morning!  (That was a song, for those who missed it the first time.) Back to the coast, like a sane person. So, I just wanted to get that off my chest, cause I get to see my peeps for a few days (Valentine's Day included, kinda). I have to be back here for class at 0930 Monday morning, but who cares!?!...

Oooh. Pudee. I used to love the snow. I used to love it so much I’d go to visit, just because. I’d bring it muscles to strain, extremities to freeze, asses to bust. Snow would remind me that I was flexible and quick on my feet and that I had a fabulous sense of humor. We’d frolic and kiss and hug for hours. I don’t know how it happened, but that’s all changed. Snow and I are no longer on speaking terms. Well, not friendly speaking terms, anyway. Here it is Friday afternoon, and I’ve been stuck in my apartment in Dallas since Monday night. All alone. With my hair in plats, me looking like Snoop about the head. You can almost hear the viola, can’t you? Not my door. Next day. I think they're stuck. Well, not completely alone. My trueblue friend MacBook has been here keeping me company. But MacBook’s been hyperemotional lately. We’ve shared a few laughs with Wanda Sykes and some tears on the beaches of the Atlantic and Pacific. We’ve even done the Cupid Shuffle a couple of ...

Well, I'm already on overload, but apparently, that's how I like it! I'm teaching two online classes for Alvin Community College: Survey of Lit I and II. The first few weeks of coursework are in place. I'll finish the rest of the semester probably this weekend since I'm staying in Dallas - all alone, by my big ole lonesome self (whaah!). I'm working for the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement at UTD. Editing, mostly. Remind me never to apply for a grant or at the very least, hire a grant writer. That's some hoops, let me tell ya. Oh, wait. I have applied before. Three times. Didn't get it. See. Hire a grant writer. I'm taking 12 hours of graduate coursework at UTD - gotta get finished! Lordy, the reading I have to do this semester... I should probably be doing that instead of this. (Yeah, I giggled.) I'm working on my artist's website - gotta get the exposure - and working on new art and writing - keeps me balanced. That sounds like ...

Well, here it is, my first full day back in Dallas, Texas, and it decides to snow. I am not built for this people! I am a coastal girl. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy snow - when I don't have to actually go anywhere in it. I try really hard to avoid driving in this kind of stuff. I've gotten stuck out in it one too may times (never my fault). I mean, I used to ski back in the days of good knees and death wishes. Now, I intend to grow old (older) so that I can sit in my rocker and be a crotchety but wise grey-haired diva. (I've decided to let my hair go as grey as it wants at 50.) Driving in the snow does not appear to be conducive to that plan. Thank goodness I remembered yesterday that there was supposed to be a front moving through Texas today. (I actually watch television at home. I don't even have the TV plugged in here in Dallas.) Otherwise I'd be sitting here with no fresh veggies or dairy (or a variety of libations) in my apartment. Did I follow? Who ar...

This blog began as my journal for the course Identity and Popular Media under the instruction of Dr. Venus Opal Reese at the University of Texas at Dallas. (I included Dr. Reese’s entire name as I have a friend who thinks it is the coolest name ever.) But the semester has come to an end. For those of you, who enjoy reading my tangents, don’t worry; I will continue this blog. It has been cathartic and a bit addictive, so it wont be going away anytime soon. And I will begin to include more of the “lens” aspect. I have been quite busy, as I’m sure you’ve read. But before I end the semester, there are a few things that I neglected to include in previous posts. The first thing I overlooked is an overview of my degree plan – the when I will complete things. Well, if things go as I plan and I am granted transfer credit, I will finish my coursework Fall 2011. OMG that seems so freaking far away! That means I will take my field exams Spring 2012. If all goes well there, and I am determined tha...

Well, here we are at the last official class, and again, I have screwed up. Okay, that's not entirely true. I have been working on ideas for my final project, and needless to say, I have been going in all sorts of directions. So, when we were to give a little presentation on where we were, I had to kind of bullshit my way through because I hadn't yet found my focus. And then there's Dr. Reese. That woman can read a person like a dictionary. There must be some mystical force hovering over her. She didn't comment on my all-over-the-place-probably-not-readiness. But she did see something in the images I presented that made her suggest the eye in the I. See. Told ya she's brilliant. And that's not sucking up, just fact. Anyway, I've decided to do sets of images. A person's eyes close-up, and create an image based on their response to the question, If you could have only one visual image represent you, what would that image be? Should be interesting. The ...

Fun stuff! We had to do a commercial about self-help books, etc. I decided to do a radio spot because I don't have access to a video camera here in Dallas. That would mean appropriating Ashley's, and that would be wrong. Guess I know what I'm adding to my "with my student loans" list. There were video, slideshow, and live-action commercials. I even helped Allene with her live-action by flipping the cards as she did the funniest commercial ever. Thank god we practiced it before class because I would have cracked up and been off cue. Things are getting easier when it comes to getting the theory in. Guess it's just practice. Or maybe not sweating about it so much. Well, here it is. I tried to do it with a sexy voice. If I can figure out how to load it, I will post that part later. Are you tired of those self-help books nobody has time to stop and read? Hi folks. This is Judy B from the Quiet Storm, FM 106.2, G-Trouble Radio. And speaking from personal experi...