I Thought We Were Pass All This!

Over the weekend, I saw something very depressing.

My mother knew I wasn't going to have fun, so to make up for it, we had a little detour. We went to a local art gallery. This isn't your normal museum. It is also a studio area for local artists. Basically, people can walk right in and look around while you work. You can show, sell, and produce your pieces in one location!

Well, what I saw made me sad. I saw pretty much nothing but "Old Lady" art. What I mean by that is that all I saw were watercolor paintings of flowers, oil-on-canvas paintings of local buildings, and charcoal drawings of people. Nothing interesting and nothing thought provoking. Nothing that made me ask "What is the artist trying to say?" but things that made me ask "Why did this person produce this?"

In defense, I will say that a few things did catch my eye. A woman working in clay had some rather interesting things, as well as some rather cute things I wouldn't mind having around the house as conversation pieces or decorations. It is worth going, yes, and I can appreciate the time and talent of everyone in that building.

Their choice of subject and style is just not my cup of tea.

Fast forward to today. I was hoping to see Jason D.'s Graduating Gallery show during the first break I had in class. When I walked into the building and pass the gallery, I saw something that made me even more depressed than what I saw in Virginia.

There was a curtain large enough to divide the gallery.

It's obvious what this is for. During the opening on Friday, there was a sign hanging on it. This sign was the very same sign from last October as far as text. It was just typed bigger so people would see it. They told the naive that the reason the curtain is there is to distinguish whose show was where. Anyone that has been keeping up with the Watkins censorship/Fine Arts events as of late knows what the real reason is.

This whole thing makes me depressed. Here I am in a school where I'm trying to learn how to produce things I can be proud of, art I can enjoy both in the creation and in the final outcome. I didn't come to this school to learn how to draw super realistic. I did not apply because I wanted to learn how to make pretty paintings. I came here because I wanted to learn how to do what I want to do well enough to turn some heads at attention.

Yet all of this had to happen. The censoring of penises while exposing women's breasts and vaginas. I seriously thought we were pass all this! I guess we really aren't.

No wonder Jason O'B. said he was going to leave after this semester.

Bar Plans 'Stag Party' for Prince Charles

From Yahoo! News:

A bar in the southern New Zealand city of Dunedin is organizing a bachelor party for Britain's Prince Charles, who is due to visit the city later this week.

Although the heir to the British throne is unlikely to attend, the businessman organizing the bash Saturday said he wanted to acknowledge the prince's visit to Dunedin so close to his April 8 wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles.

"It's only right and proper that Dunedin puts on this do for him," Dave McKewen told the Otago Daily Times. "We know a lot of his mates can't make it over, so we're also rounding up a few students and some rugby fans to pad out the crowd."

The Prince partying with common folk? As much as I like the idea of it, I don't see that happening. For Prince Charles to do that is like a stereotypical nerd going to a stereotypical beer-drinking orgy fest better known as a stereotypical frat house party.

Then again, he is a Prince.

B&W Photo I - Self-Portraits

This weeks pictures are of me. These will probably be the most recent pictures of myself, as they are only two weeks old. Enjoy my ugly mug!


From the Looking Glass
(The picture is actually backwards.)


Waiting in Bed







Next Week: A visual pun and moody flora

Movie Trivia #017: The $330 Loss

Kim Basinger wants to purchase a $300 scarf at a flea market in 9 1/2 Weeks (1986). But she takes a wiser course and buys instead a $30 set of ducks, which she puts into a shopping bag. Mickey Rourke then surprises her with the scarf and drapes it over her shoulders. They walk to the waterfront, but by the time they get there, she's neither wearing the scarf nor carrying the shopping bag.

This week's trivia comes early because I am going to be out of town over the weekend. Naturally, I won't have computer access for three days.

It's going to be hell.

A Special Critique

For the past several weeks, I have been working on my first sculpture project. There were several times I wanted to stop. I felt like I was over my head in what I wanted to do, but I did push myself to complete it.

What I produced was the realization of what a child imagines an ordinary cardboard box would be. Using that and a hell of a lot of plaster, I was able to construct a cave. At the suggestion of Terry, I put in a few of my personal plushies inside it as a way to give a little surprise to the piece.

Personally, I could be happier than I am with the piece, but what artist doesn't dislike their own work.

Anyway, today was my first critique in sculpture. After spending so long on this piece and so much money on it, it was time for the class to have at it.

And they didn't hold back.

For the most part, they all pretty much agreed that the piece lacked something. A draw that would make people want to get on all fours and explore the piece with their eyes. The best suggestion I heard was to add a piece of carpet underneath the entire thing so that it looks like a box that was set up by kids in the middle of the living room floor.

Honestly, I felt like it wasn't a very positive critique, but seeing as how that's par for me, it's no surprise.

I'm trying to get out of defending my pieces when they are completed and out in public. The reason is because of the fact that when I do defend my ideas, I get political with them. I debate and debate and debate, and that's not really a good way of going about something in art as far as critiques go. When it's done and out in the public area like a gallery or a hallway, it's fair game. If the public thinks it sucks, it sucks. If they think it is a work of God, it's a work of God.

However, I had to be stupid and asked the question that made me feel stupider for asking it.

Were my classmates critiquing my piece as adults or as people that have lost touch with their inner child?

I read off of the people that responded to this a kind of defensive vibe. In fact, I think several people were offended by my question, which is probably why I feel stupid even now for asking it.

Adults, for me, are people that can appreciate things in a mature sense of the word. They are the ones that see the joy of going to theme parks and giggle at cute things and turn into little boys and girls once they find something fancy.

People that have lost touch with their inner child are the ones that feel they need to have a job because they need money to pay the bills so they can have electricity to run the computer so they can get reports typed in by a certain date. And so on. They don't feel the need to stop and smell the roses. They look pretty as they are passing by at 100 mph.

Looking back on it after detaching myself from the moment, the critique is pretty much par for my educational course so far. I'm not producing anything amazing, but people are appreciating it.

I could end this post here, but I have something else to say about my piece.

When I came back from lunch, I was walking to find Terry to bounce off another project idea that I thought was just insane. On my way, a classmate, her friend, and her friend's children (I think they were her kids.) were in the area of my piece. She called over the kids and pointed to my piece asking them what they thought it was. I stopped and turned around out of curiosity. After all, the piece was based around the mind of a child, and the girls that were visiting the school today were around the age range I was aiming for. The kids immediately asked if she made it. She said she didn't, but her friend looked at me and smiled. Something told me she knew that I made that piece, but I can't place what. The kids got it straight on. They knew it was a cave with a bat and a panda and a leopard living together inside. She then asked the kids if they would like to play in it, and the kids said they would. They sounded excited. They wanted to play in it and thought it was the coolest thing ever! I began to smile inside and felt a warm fuzzy I haven't felt in a long time.

Another student who was setting up then asked me "So, what do you think the odds were that you'd happen to walk by right at this very moment?" After she asked that, the smile on the inside came out, and I was beaming on cloud nine on seventh heaven.

Religious E-mails

Spam comes in all forms. You have fancy HTML spam that looks like and pretty much functions like a miniature web site. You have the evil spam that just keeps duplicating itself if you even read it. You have the malicious spam that offers an opt-out option only to send you more spam. You even have the viral spam that has an attachment you "need" to download only to become infected with something only their product can remove.

And then you get the strange spam. I'm not talking about the sexual enhancement drugs that are obviously not meant for your gender. I mean the ones that just stand out as just plain weird.

I got a religious spam letter just now that I skimmed over. It was pretty much an auto-biography with several strong religious messages scattered throughout. Now I know what you are thinking. It was probably some nut that knows I'm gay and wants me to repent before I end up burning in hell for liking the same sex. Well, yes, I thought that too, but reading it turned out to be rather strange. The person claims to be gay, but his only sin was that he hated his father, whom his mother divorced. Long story short, he eventually saw the error of his ways when he moved to Nashville (of all places).

So, yeah, it was a pro-gay religious e-mail. However, a few things bother me.

If this isn't spam, how the hell did he find my private E-mail addy?! No one here should know what it is unless you REALLY know me. I've made damn sure of that.

Secondly, if this isn't spam, then why was there an attachment on the e-mail? Naturally, I didn't download it. I'm smarter than that. But it does raise some red flags.

Lastly, why the religious content? This person got lucky in that I come from a family of Roman Catholics, but what about all the gays and lesbians out there that don't believe in God and/or believe in another higher power? Religion is a red-button issue with me, seeing how it is the very foundation as to why I stopped going to church to begin with.

Now for the stupid question. If this really is a letter from God, why e-mail?

Earthquake Kills 270 in Iran

From Yahoo! News:

A powerful earthquake toppled mud-built homes and flattened villages in central Iran on Tuesday, killing at least 270 people and injuring 950, officials and state-run television said. A senior official said the death toll could top 350.

Chances that this will be the first time in history (if not in my lifetime) where America drops food and aid BEFORE bombs: More than likely

That is, unless someone can cite for me another event that has never been taught to me where America first helped and then bombed the crap out of a country. Oh wait, doesn't that apply to how Saddam came and lost power?

Visions of 'Tuskany'

From Yahoo! News:

Eight elephants in northern Thailand have painted their way into the Guinness Book of World Records after an art lover living in the United States shelled out a jumbo 1.5 million baht (39,000 dollars) for their canvas creation -- the highest price ever paid for elephant art.

I really wish I could have found a better picture of what they were painting. I saw video of this on CNN, but it would appear their site hasn't uploaded it. It's actually a very nice landscape painting on a massive canvas. Whoever bought this painting just got themselves something very rare and very beautiful. Should make an interesting conversation piece when trying to impress all their other rich friends.

My Morning Moment to Myself

While I have a moment to myself where nothing of any kind of importance to me is distracting me, I feel the need to express something that's been bothering me for quite awhile now.

Since about the second week into this semester, my weekends have been loaded with nothing but assignments that need my immediate attention. There were several times recently where I felt spent. More recently, my attention hasn't been as high as it should be with my projects, and as such, I'm starting not to care anymore about what I produce if anything. My weekends have become stressful, with very few escapes and time to relax. My nights have become longer, as I sleep soundly nearly as soon as I hit my bed.

And now that I have a moment to myself before I turn my attention to my homework, I can't help but feel empty.

I haven't talked to any of the guys for a while. I mean, really talk. Not the whole catch-up shit that we normally do if and when we ever talk. I mean really have a conversation worth remembering, worth sharing, worth writing about. The kind that makes me happy. The kind that makes me somewhat secure in my already bleak future. The kind I don't want to go to bed over. The kind I don't want to end.

The thing is, the distance between me and them is two fold. You have the physical distance and the social distance, both of which are wide. They are doing so much with their lives that I know I'm in the dark about because, let's face it, they aren't really as open about their life as little me and my blog. Because of my lack of personal blogging as of late, they don't know about what's going on with me. I can't really call them up and hang out with them either because they are no where near me.

This makes me feel really lonely. I actually had a moment to enjoy the fact that my stress load has been lighten somewhat, but I felt lonely. I felt empty. Cartoons were no longer funny. Games no longer were fun. I looked at the contact sheets of my pictures and saw crap instead of art. I looked at my drawing and saw shit instead of the potential for something great if only it was worked up some more.

At night, I find myself talking to myself to kill the loneliness just in time for my sleep. I've gotten pretty good at it, but the co-dependency gets worst when I wake up and find out Mr. Right was never there.

I try to be strong, but I can't.

I force myself to do things I'm tired of doing. I'm tired of forcing myself to face the same people, no matter how much I enjoy their company, what few people that fit this, that is. I don't want to create something forcefully because I have to meet some kind of grade. I'm tired of this kind of "forced creativity" that I've been experiencing.

I want someone to hold me and comfort me and protect me, but I know I'm not deserving. I'm not worthy of such things.

Mike, a classmate and fellow artist, said that he doesn't believe that he would make a good parent or a good boyfriend. Historically, according to him, most artists don't make good parents or spouses. Some are able to work things out, but an artist's life is a lonely one. The big name ones mostly live a life of solitude and enjoy it. It gives them time to create and do things without any kind of distractions. They are married to their work. They are in love with their work.

I don't know if this applies to me, but it is a fate I'm not ready or willing to accept. I don't want to be alone. I want someone to actually appreciate what I do and support me through all the good and bad. (And right now, I'm in a very bad time in my artistic "career," if you can even call it that.) I want someone to help be my muse or at least be my number one patron.

I thought I had this with David and his invitation to spend the summer with him creating art. Granted that David is taken, but it was still what I wanted. I could have and would have endured the fact that David is not available, but I would love and appreciate his support.

That chance will never come now.

I lost contact with him. I lost his friendship. All because I had to produce artwork that I'm right now not happy with.

Tsunami Uncovers Ancient City in India

From Yahoo! News:

Three rocky structures with elaborate carvings of animals have emerged near the coastal town of Mahabalipuram, which was battered by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

As the waves receded, the force of the water removed sand deposits that had covered the structures, which appear to belong to a port city built in the seventh century, said T. Satyamurthy, a senior archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India.

This is very interesting. Not to mention the silver lining to that dark cloud.

Movie Trivia # 016: She Wasn't in Much of a Hurry

Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) is told about the Wayne family tragedy in Batman (1989). She rushes to see Bruce Wayne, but somewhere along the way she must have stopped off to spruce up, because she arrives in a different dress and hairstyle.

Black & White Photo Class - Second Assignment

This week's pictures feature Environmental Portraits* and a few pictures of my own fancy.


Chef Auntie


Painter Pam


Our Day Date
(This one is my personal favorite out of this batch. It's a pity I couldn't share this before Valentine's Day.)



Next Week: Self Portraits and more subjects of my own fancy.

* = A portrait of someone, semi-candid, with elements in the background and/or foreground explaining something about the person like what they do for a living or what their hobbies and interests are.

I Should Probably Explain Myself

With the forums over at Gaia down for routine maintenance, I decided to take this opportunity to explain a few things.

It's become more and more clear to me as the days go by that I do not post anything about my personal life anymore on here. I mostly post news that I found strange and/or appalling and trivial things. More recently, I've started to share prints from my Black & White Photography class. However, I'm not really sharing much of anything these days about what is going on in my life.

Somewhere in the back of my mind is a voice saying that no one cares about your personal life, but I know that's wrong. I'm sure someone does care, but as to whom and how much they know up until I started doing the whole "News, Trivia, and Personal Thoughts" approach is beyond me.

So what of my personal life?

In short, I have none.

I've been distancing myself from other people for reasons that I have yet to acquire. If anything, it is because I feel I don't belong in the very room they are in. People are starting to scare me if not intimidate me. They make me feel not up to par with anything that I want to do or can do.

Thanks to Philosophy, I've decided that being different and refusing to conform to the way society thinks isn't a wrong thing. I don't mind not having a job, cash, or the ability to drive. In fact, I find more content in dependency than in what few situations of independence I've had. If you see that as something wrong, go for it. Your just being a part of the mainstream conformity, and I am just being an idiot.

I picked back up my Pokemon addiction due to stress. What kind of stress? Well, my sculpture broke thanks to gravity. I know where I went wrong, however. I was trying to be economical with the free plaster, so as it started to harden, I used what I could to make the rock face in my cave. Basically, because I know I haven't explain this project on here, I'm making a cave inside of a box. Well, technically it's a rock tunnel, but it's along the same idea. Basically, I'm trying to give the view of what a box is to a kid to an adult audience. Those of you that have small kids would probably know what I'm talking about. (Zero, I'm thinking of you.)

Crushes and love interests. Now there's something I don't really talk about much anymore. I've pretty much stopped looking and decided to let love find me. My New Years resolution is to not fall in love. Historically, I've never been able to keep one of these resolutions let alone start one. The plan was that this would back fire and I'd be in love before mid-term. Not really happening. There are a few cute guys in all of my classes, but I know they are unavailable because they are either straight or they smoke and/or drink. The only time I ever actually looked for love was recently in the newly revamped Yahoo! Personals site. As you can see in my past post this week, I am my own best match. I know better than anyone not to trust those kind of matches, but you have to admit, it was rather funny.

So what of the big soap opera that is my relationship between the mysterious David, Bill, James, Leo, and everyone else I only give their very common first names with?

Well, I don't know if I've reported this or not, but I'm not going to spend the summer with David. He doesn't feel safe anymore around me. Leo is more than likely going to get hitched to a boy he fancies, which means less and less time talking to him. I don't know why, but every time someone gets into a relationship, the relationship I've had with them fads out rather quickly. Bill's off preparing for his big 18th birthday bash which will send shock waves across the globe if not farther. Everyone is invited, and all but me can make it. While everyone can clear their schedules, I'm pretty much locked in like a prisoner. Haven't really heard much from James, Dan, or even Josh for that matter. Andrew and I haven't really talked for about a little under a year, give or take. Then again, he is studying to be a doctor, so that's understandable. If I talk to anyone on that end, it's mostly Sam or Ryan these days. When we do talk, it's nothing worth writing about. It's mostly playing catch-up. Sure, there are the occasional social conversation spun off of something one of us said, but for the most part it's generally along the lines of "How was your week?" and "What are you up to?"

Boring, huh?

My blog is already boring as is, and I'm pretty sure, outside of maybe one or two people, most would think the same way. In a vain attempt to get some readers, I did what Shem does and post news stories with my opinions attached to them. The only difference between me and Shem is that Shem is more educated and has valid opinions that you could build the Trump Tower on. As for me, I'm posting news that very few people care about or would even hear in the morning on the news station of their choosing.

The good news is that I'm no longer really complaining about mindless shit like it's the end of the world on here. I've saved that for real life.

Oscar Show Host Chris Rock Stirs Controversy

From Yahoo! News:

Internet gossip columnist Matt Drudge posted an item on his Web site over the weekend quoting unnamed members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expressing outrage at some Oscar-bashing comments by Rock in an Entertainment Weekly interview. Rock said he had rarely watched the Oscars, and called award shows "idiotic."

"Come on, it's a fashion show," Rock told the magazine. "What straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars? Show me one. And they don't recognize comedy, and you don't see a lot of black people nominated, so why should I watch it?"

Drudge, whose item ran under the headline, "Host Chris Rock Shock: Only Gays Watch Oscars," cited unnamed sources as saying angry academy members were privately calling for Rock to be removed as host.

It's people like these that give reporters a bad name.

My Achey Breaky Heart

I was saving this story for today, seeing how appropriate it is for this holiday.

In a study published just in time for Valentine's Day -- February 14 -- doctors reported how a tragic or shocking event can stun the heart and produce classic heart attack-like symptoms, including chest pain, shortness of breath and fluid in the lungs.

At least now I know what that stinging pain in my chest that makes me feel like I don't have a heart is now. Those of you that have been keeping up with my blog should know what I mean by that.

Please, do everyone a favor and don't break anyone's heart today. It could kill them.

I Am My Own Best Lover

You know there's something wrong when an online personals site says that you are the best match for yourself.

Movie Trivia #015: Sneakering Through the Window

Similarly, in The First Power (1990), Lou Diamond Phillips wears silver-tipped cowboy boots throughout most of the movie. When he climbs through a church window, he's wearing sneakers which become cowboy boots again when he jumps out the window and runs down the street.

If anyone out there is reading this and is a Film major, make sure you get a good Continuity person.

Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

From Yahoo! News:

A British woman was sentenced to two and a half years in jail Thursday for ripping off her ex-lover's testicle with her bare hands during a drunken brawl after he refused her sex.

I really shouldn't be posting this, but I can't help myself. This story was just too weird to not share with you guys.

Black & White Photo Class Pictures

I'll be adding another weekly thing to my blog, but only for this semester.

A while back, someone left a comment on my blog saying that they would like to see some of my art posted here. Unfortunately, most of the things I'm proud about are bigger than the scanner. Seeing as how I don't have a digital camera, it would be impossible to share those pieces. At least, the ones that haven't been dismantled yet.

Enter my Black & White Photo Class. These prints are about the size of your average 8" x 10" pieces of paper, and as such, can be scanned in and uploaded onto PhotoBucket.

So, after getting my prints graded, I'll post them up on here for all the world to see! (All the world meaning all five of you readers out there.) So, without any delay, here's the first batch of them.









By the way, it would be stupid to print these out and claim them as your own. Remember, I own the original negative.

Notice something missing?

Even though today is the celebration of the Year of the Rooster, it is also the day in which Catholics give up something as a kind of sacrifice during the 40 days and 40 nights of Lent. Why? I don't know. I wasn't taught my religion very well.

Hell, the only thing I know about my culture and religion is that the Philippine Islands actually nail people to a cross every Easter Sunday.

In any event, because I was raised the way I was, I've gotten into the habit of trying to give up something outside of not eating red meat on Fridays. Every time, however, I fail at it and is told I'll be going to Hell for it. (Like that would change anything now.)

Those that are successful in this normally give up something easy like avoiding their favorite foods. Creative Catholics sometimes do the opposite and start a new habit rather than stopping one.

Me? I'm giving up pornography for the next 40 days.

That's right. I will not be purposely seeking out any kind of pornographic material until Easter with the intent of self pleasure. Any accidental exposure to pornographic material does not count, as I was not purposely looking for it.

Hey, it's a lot better than giving up masturbation for Lent.

The Future of Watkins

I was given a letter today in my Student Mailbox. It was an announcement made yesterday copied off so every student could have one. In it was what appears to be the conclusion to the ordeal of the past few months as well as a compromise.

Here's how it stands.

Terry Glispin is being replaced. The new head of the Fine Arts department is going to be another Terry, Terry Thacker. Before now, he was the painting teacher for the department, and a damn good one from what I understand.

However, Glispin will not be leaving the school. There has been a "fund expansion" that will let him stay on staff full time. Apparently, it got through to the people in charge that we need Glispin. Without him, no one will be able to run the metal shop or teach 3-D Design. On top of that, no one will be able to operate the foundry.

In addition, each department will need to review their mission stations as far as their academic programs are concerned to insure that Watkins pops out top quality students. Thacker, however, will have the job of overseeing the issue of course enrollment and assignments so that the department can differ payment more efficiently to adjunct (non-full-time) instructors. I have no idea what this means, but I bet it has something to do with the fact that only one person signed up for Clay II this semester.

Furthermore, every year starting with the 2005-06 year, each department will be evaluated and reviewed by outside members of a committee constructed by the Board of Trustees. This committee is responsible for making sure that every department is meeting the minimum standards of what is considered high-quality for their field. From what I gathered, this is suppose to be a non-partisan group, and each year a different department will get checked. This means that each department will be checked out and visited once every six years. The first department this will be placed upon is none other than the Fine Arts department.

Finally, to resolve any future controversial issues, an improvement in communications will be made with the construction of a Faculty Forum made up of both full- and part-time teachers. This group will meet with the members of the Student Forum and the Administrators of the school. In other words, the school has created an internal government system similar to the one at Washington, D.C.

The last two items I have some slight reservations on if it would work out for the better or for the worst. I'm more worried about the outside committee than I am about the Faculty Forum. Public taste, be you an expert in the field or not, can be damaging and ultimately destroy everything that I was taught and have learned. If that does happen, that would mean I'd have to start my education all over again just to get up to par with whatever is lacking in my technical skill. That is, if they don't kick me out because I suck at drawing the human figure.

The only sure things now is that this issue is officially over for the most part. The students got what they wanted, which was Glispin to stay on staff because he is a good teacher. The dean got what he wanted which was a new head of the Fine Arts department and the redirection of the Fine Arts program as well as all the other programs offered at the school. The cost for this compromise is an outside committee made to judge student work.

And everyone couldn't be happier.

U.S. Guards Threw Mudwrestling Party Prison Camp?

From Yahoo! News:

U.S. military police threw a mudwrestling party at a prison camp in Iraq and a woman who took part has been found guilty of indecent exposure and demoted, the U.S. military said Monday.

At least three female guards stripped to their underwear and wrestled each other in a paddling pool full of mud in the grounds of Camp Bucca, the biggest U.S. camp for detainees in Iraq, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said.

Several guards who watched the wrestling have been reprimanded for failing to intervene.

Like any straight man would want to stop a mud wrestling fight between to ladies.

The Youth of the Nation

I'm starting to worry about the future of today's youth.

In the mists of another "SpongeBob is Gay" newspaper article (one I won't link to because of how one-sided the article was) that made the front page of the local newspaper, I found myself saying how ridiculous the issue is. I kept saying that all SpongeBob is is a cartoon. A silly one at that.

I then went off to try and take pictures of people in the park while my mother walked around to reflect. What I saw made me think.

I saw children ranging from six to early teens throwing rocks instead of bread at the ducks. Only one parent tried to explain why throwing rocks was a bad idea. One child said to me that I better not take his picture or else he'll rip my eyes out. He must have been at least eight. His mother was near, but she did nothing after I snapped his picture.

Sitting here and looking back, I'm reminded of a South Park episode that was loaded with violence beyond reason. It was a parody of all the anime cartoons. Then, at the end, Cartman tries to sneak past the adults naked because he is role playing that he has the power of invisibility (which naturally doesn't apply to his clothing). The parents were more worked up about seeing Cartman's ass than they were about Butter nearly losing an eye to a ninja star.

I think this is where our society is headed. A child actually threaten me when all I was doing was aiming at another family feeding the ducks. He just so happened to be in the frame. The other children around me were throwing rocks. On the front page of the Sunday paper is an article saying how you shouldn't let your kids watch cartoons with "gay" characters like SpongeBob.

We support violence. We see nothing wrong with it.

We don't support sex and nudity. We see it as bad and as something the children shouldn't be viewing.

Today, I took pictures of some of the most beautiful people that I've seen in a while. Too bad the children were so ugly outside of what my camera was able to capture.

Colorado Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor

In celebration of that time of year when the Girl Scouts of America are out in full force selling those little edible pieces of heaven, I present to you the strangest law case I have ever read at this time of hour in the morning.

A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.

Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday.

[The Denver Post newspaper] reported that six neighbors wrote letters entered as evidence in the case thanking the girls for the cookies.

But Young said she was frightened because the two had knocked on her door at about 10:30 p.m. and run off after leaving the cookies.

She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.

The judge awarded Young her medical costs, but did not award punitive damages. He said he did not think the girls had acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.

I guess we know who's not going to be on the list this time next year.

Movie Trivia # 014: Shot to Shot, Shoe to Shoe

At the ending of Above the Law (1988), Steven Seagal is fighting a group of terrorists in a grocery store. As the police cars approach, he grabs one of the thugs and uses him as a shield to crash through the store's front window. He leaps forward wearing black leather boots but lands on the sidewalk in Reebok tennis shoes.

Replies to the Letters to the Editor

There are four letters to the editor in response to last weeks article about Watkins in this weeks issues of Nashville Scene. Here's all of them, and my replies to them. Feel free to challenge me on a case of double plagiarism.

Watkins defender

I generally expect a few guffaws from the Scene's art features, and was richly rewarded with the recent article "Trouble at Watkins" (Jan. 27). Dave Maddox (and company's) overheated and deeply prejudiced prose never fails to deliver.

At issue is not the popularity (or purported victimization) of one professor, but the whole direction of a school and, yes, its influence on the Nashville art community (which, according to Mr. Glispin, is "not as sophisticated or exciting as other cities, but is really a community." Gee, thanks).

This very community--capable of great sophistication--has endured several years of insufferably bad and boring art shows at Watkins (in contrast to the refreshing design shows), big on hyperbole and short on craft, vision, beauty or substance--outtakes from 1980s conceptual art magazines. Videos, process art, a gallery full of dirt (with accompanying six-page typed statement)...all trumpeted as being "cutting-edge." It all seems so conservative. And it is.

Having talked with a number of young graduates ill-served by such a situation, working in the shadows to actually mature as artists--I can only hope that Watkins will begin to embrace true diversity and inclusion. Who knows, inclusion might even involve love of craft, knowledge of art history beyond the last 30 years, and the encouragement to fearlessly and studiously embrace beauty and form.

The issue is not blasphemy, but lack of an academy.

Greg
[e-mail withdrawn]

The Fine Art department at Watkins does embrace diversity and inclusion. That's why I was able to draw so many cartoon characters and have it come off as Fine Art rather than illustration. That is also why my teachers are able to let me stay in the style that I draw because that is my style. Granted that it is derived from Japanese Anime, but it does have my touch in each drawing somewhere.

To be a good craftsmen is not a bad thing, mind you. There are several pieces I've done in the past that I wish I had more time and more skill to work up and improve on. However, just because you can create well to the point where the artist's hand is virtually absent from the piece doesn't make you a good artist for some people. Sometimes the conceptual is important as well.

Also, art is not and should not be an academic class. I don't know where people got this idea, but art is not about being fluent in dates and times and understanding principals such as line and contour that never chance. It helps, but it isn't the only thing about art that is important. To me, when this person says that art is lacking an academy, I feel that he means we need to go back to way high school art is taught. Name of the artists, dates, and period of art movement. And then vomit that information out on a test or produce a piece similar to the artist's style.

Terry once said in my class "Art from art is not art." I agree with him there.

One man's art is another man's trash

I find I must say something about the Scene's recent attempts at music and art criticism. Last week, we learned from David Maddox that Beethoven was the prophet of Secular Humanism ("Transcendent Humanity," Jan. 20). Anyone who has really listened to Beethoven's mystical exploration of the depths of the human spirit must know that his music ill suits the humanist brave new world of Dolly the Sheep. (Beethoven, by the way, died as a member of the Catholic Church, having received its last rites.)

This week, the Watkins College of Art and Design is censured for censoring its students' "provocative and challenging art." Singled out for special praise is Elvan Penny's photograph of a man masturbating. One wonders how this can be considered countercultural in today's society. Such work is neither innovative nor creative, but a slavish reflection of the values of contemporary culture. It would be more original in today's world to portray a man seeking a relationship with another human being, rather than romancing his own extremities. As Oscar Wilde insisted, life should imitate art, and not the other way around.

Thus, Watkins has every reason to object to the work in question, not so much on moral as on aesthetic grounds. And all creative people must reject the Scene's criteria for good art, which are strikingly similar to its criteria for classified advertising.

Scott
[e-mail withdrawn]

I, personally, don't see how original a piece of a man seeking a relationship with another human being is better--let alone counter cultural in today's society--than showing the truth about what a single man does nearly every week, if not more often, in his life. In fact, while it would be a refreshing change from the female characters in film looking for the perfect relationship, it still wouldn't be original in any way. It's the same story of trying to find someone that is perfect than you.

That isn't counter cultural. To me, that's idealization.

Let's face it. There are more single people out there than there are married or dating people. Marriage is falling apart with the high numbers of divorces going on out there. To fall in love and have it work out is a rarity onto itself. Why? Because unless you can work it out with your other half, you're going to piss the other person off one way or another. Love is a give and take. I've learned that the hard way.

The many sides of David Hinton

Regarding "Trouble at Watkins" (Jan. 27), I was at the 1994 film industry meeting at StagePost Productions when David Hinton quietly stepped up to the microphone and revealed a new film and arts vision for what was then called the Watkins Institute, a decades-old facility that quite frankly was then having little impact on greater Nashville. Many leaders from the film and visual arts communities rallied around Hinton's pivotal vision and transformed an aging institution to a fully accredited four-year college which now attracts students from across the continent and has had increasingly positive impact on the local arts communities.

The Scene article omits this genesis of the Watkins College of Art & Design, and depicts Hinton merely as an authoritarian employee, rather than the person whose initial vision was the catalyst for the very context that would even attract a teacher as talented as Terry Glispin or artists as groundbreaking as student Elvan Penny. A great teacher should never be lost, and freedom of expression without fear of censorship is the very bedrock of this country, but we should also never forget those who create and maintain the complex environments in which others can ultimately thrive. It's often a thankless job.

Andy
[e-mail withdrawn]

This is probably as neutral as the letters get, in my opinion.

What he should know is that back in 1994, The Watkins Institute was nothing but a film school for the most part. The Fine Arts department wasn't as strong back then. There is evidence of that in several of the old bumper stickers from some of the older students. The stickers say "Watkins Institute" above a movie camera and below the slogan "Film the dream!" or something like that.

Watkins right now is also primarily a film school. The film department takes up most of the building. Practically a fourth of it, if you want a better image. The enrollment rate was at 70% for film when I was enrolled two years ago and has probably jumped by some.

When you think Nashville, you don't think the arts or movies. You think country music.

Yes, I do agree that it is sad that Dr. Hinton's efforts to get the school off the ground was not mentioned. I can see why it wasn't mentioned, but at the same time, it is rather unfortunate. Had it been meantime, he wouldn't have come off as the jerk he is.

But then again, Michael Eisner did a lot of great things to the Walt Disney company, and now look at him.

Phew...someone still likes us

I just wanted to write and thank the Scene for the excellent article, "Trouble at Watkins." As a student and member of the Nashville art community, I have to say that I am extremely upset at the chance that we may lose Terry Glispin. He is an integral part of everything that has to do with art in Nashville, and we would be at a loss to see him go.

In the three years that I have attended, Watkins has really been a beautiful place, with Terry and the other great teachers being the main reason. In the end, the school should be concerned about the students and teachers most, because if we lose one good teacher at the drop of a hat, you have to wonder, who will be next?

Mike
[e-mail withdrawn]

Coupled with the letter before this, you can't help but ask yourself the same question. Which thankless teacher who has done so much for your child's educational growth will be next to get cut for one reason or another? What will that teacher be teaching? Why are they not going to be teaching it or in that department come next year? What will happen to your child once that person is out of their life forever? What will happen to their future, as well as the future of the teacher who was fired?

My math teacher was freaks out of college. While his age did help us relate better to him, his lack of experience made his job rather difficult. He was, however, a great person to talk to and was willing to work extra hours just so you can understand why x = 2.

My special education teacher (Yes, I was a Special Ed kid. Blame it on the social anxiety or whatever it is I have.) went back to school to get her doctrine in Child Psychology, which she was able to get after I graduated. She is now indispensable to the school because of her knowledge of the teenage brain and how it works with their emotions. If anything, she could be the resident teenage therapist that any student going to the school could visit to talk things out! And she knows what she is talking about too. (It also helps that she had a big intimidating African American by her side that helped you feel safe. Don't let him intimidate you, however. He's a big softy once you get to know him.)

I don't know what I would do or how I would react if either one of those great teachers were out of job. I claim that it was my art that helped me survive high school, when in reality, it was teachers like Todd and Jan. They were more than just teachers to me. They were my friends while I was trying to survive a very emotional four years of my education.

Teachers like that don't come along very often.

Freedom of what?

From CNN:

The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.

Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It's not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can't.

Disturbing, no?

Here's why this is the case.

The study suggests that students embrace First Amendment freedoms if they are taught about them and given a chance to practice them, but schools don't make the matter a priority.

Students who take part in school media activities, such as student newspapers or TV production, are much more likely to support expression of unpopular views, for example.

About nine in 10 principals said it is important for all students to learn some journalism skills, but most administrators say a lack of money limits their media offerings.

More than one in five schools offer no student media opportunities; of the high schools that do not offer student newspapers, 40 percent have eliminated them in the last five years.

I should like to point out what I thought a certain program originally meant.

See, when I was first told about this "No Child Left Behind" program, it was in passing. I thought it was the presidents way of trying to get education standards in America to compare to that of Japan and China. Keep in mind that Japan and China only release and publish the grades and scores of their elite students. The ones that don't make the cut are pretty much left on their own and out of the media. I thought that tax dollars were going to schools that didn't meant the insanely high academic bar set by standardized tests. If a school was doing poorly, the government would cut them a check and help them get on their feet.

Turns out what I thought the program was wrong.

A girl on Gaia said her father is a teacher, and because of the lack of job security, they've moved around more times than a military child would. She explained to me what the program really is.

Basically, if a school system sucks, the government will step in and replace the teachers and what material is being taught.

Sound familiar? It should seeing how my college is pretty much experiencing the same thing.

It should not be a surprise to anyone living outside of our country, but this report should wake up several people back to reality. The American educational system sucks. It is in shambles that are in need of some repairs from both the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Trading Spaces teams.

Does anyone want to do anything about it? Yes.

Does anyone actually do anything about it? You tell me.