I heart NPR

It was definitely my savior on my 45 minute drives to student teaching . If I were an NPR host, my name would be Jessicra Leenane.

Light the Night

I went to Jacquie's wake and funeral. They were both very moving. Both times I had to wait in quite a long line to get in. A testament to how many people were touched by her life and her struggle with Leukemia. In my last post, I talked about how I had wanted to go give platelets. Well, I haven't yet because of time and I've been a bit sick. Now I'm not sure if I'm even going to go at all. I never used to be bothered by giving blood, but since I keep passing out (4 out of the 5 times I've given) I'm starting to develop a fear. Actually, right now even thinking about going to do it is starting to make me feel light headed. So, I've decided that if I can't bring myself to go give blood, I've got to do something else. I'm heading a team for the Light the Night for Leukemia and Lymphoma walk coming up in October. This means I'll be raising money and walking with a group of people in memory of Jacquie. If you'd like to join me in the walk or would like to donate some money, let me know and I'll send you the link. I know I won't be able to raise thousands of dollars like some big teams can, but I hope that my little contribution will help.
There are so many organizations I'd like to support, but being a poor college student (and soon, a poor teacher) there isn't much money for me to give. So I'm going to do my best with donating my time. One such organization is NPR. I listen to NPR almost every time I'm in my car. I subscribe to several of their podcasts as well, because I just can't get enough of their great shows like Cartalk, Wait, Wait.. Don't tell me!, Science Friday, Prairie Home Companion, This American Life and others. As a public radio station they depend on donations to keep their programming going. Everytime they have a funraising campagin I debate about giving to them. But in the end my money goes to my gas tank instead. So, this year I've started thinking about volunteering to be a phone operator for them. I contacted the person about this today, so we'll see if its a viable option. If I could go and answer phones for them for an hour or two, I'd feel better about not being able to contibute.

Sorry, not an artist.

Sometimes I wish i was more artistically talented. There have been so many times in my life when I get what I think is a great artistic idea in my head. I can picture it, down to the smallest details. Sometimes these artistic ideas are photographs I want to take, or paintings, and sometimes they are sculptures. I had one of those moments today. I was listening to NPR's "All Things Considered" about a guy who does sculptures made of nails. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87808787). I was listening to the descriptions of his art and all the different ways he used nails and my brain started going off on its own tangent. (which probably isn't good because I was driving, but I'll save that for another post.) I imagined a nail about half way hammered into a piece of hardwood (oak?) with a nice grain. The view would be from the side, so the nail could be seen penetrating the wood. Underneath the wood, where the tip of the nail would usually be seen, would be "roots". I'm not sure exactly what these would be made of, either small nails welded together, or wire, or more solid and realistic looking roots, but made of the same material as the nail. I visualized the sculpture pretty large, with the "nail" with a head about the size of a bar stool and the piece of wood similar to a small table. When I pictured it, it was in a art gallery with spot lighting, similar to the exhibits I have seen at Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery.
I would love to attempt a sculpture like this. Besides not having the time to spend on it or the money for materials, my general lack of artistic ability holds me back. In the past, I usually attempted my sculpture/photo/painting ideas, but so infrequently have they even approximated what I imagined, I've pretty much given up. I don't even have the drawing talent to sketch it out and have someone else make it for me! All I have now is my new digital camera, which will make attempts at any artistic photographs a little less painful, if I can figure out all the buttons.