what? you write on this every day

miss bird exclaimed this the other day as i was pointing her to my blog, a site she has neglected to read routinely. seriously, miss quinn, you write on this every day? i was obligated to remind her that this is afterall, neurotica.

more student presentations tonight in class -- the final four, as it were. they did very well with this assignment. it was especially exciting to see the non-architects make visual arguments. they did good and they did well. one architect made a poster that was so amazingly poetic i wish i could post it here. (likely not ethical to post without his permission and it is way too big). i practically wanted to weep during his talk because of how he gestured to several of the ideas promoted by his classmates as he made his case for high-rise housing. and tonight, a woman, a social worker who couldn't come along last thursday because of her sister's wedding, gave a talk tonight that was very well conceived and well executed. she manipulated a powerpoint slide very well for her presentation and she marshaled very interesting verbs to make her argument about housing in pittsburgh.

then, the visiting photographer came along to class. i think that it was good to have him come. i couldn't quite tell what most of the students thought because they didn't leap out of their seats and do cart wheels in the aisles upon seeing his work or hearing his ideas. but, they asked good questions. i ran my mouth too much in the intro. in what i took to be the uncomfortable silence, i started asking, "who likes the color green?"

remember that time in season one of project runway, the prada of reality tv, when vanessa said she should be aut during the elimination segment. and heidi kicked her out. then, in retrospect upon further reflection and further filming, vanessa "confessed" she could hear the verbal diarrhea coming out of her mouth but she couldn't stop herself. i so identified with that. i ended up being silly with my rambling as the guest loaded his images from his ipod to the laptop.

i tried to get some of my colleagues to come along to hear his talk tonight. one came: karl, the (intellectual) dreamboat librarian i mentioned once before. i really appreciated his effort and presence. i think that he enjoyed it.

in trying to persuade one artist colleague to come, i spoke to him in person during the break of our early morning meeting. he volunteered by way of explaining that he likely couldn't come out during an early evening/bedtime slot, "i have a two year old." as soon as the words left his mouth, i met them with an automatic note of solemn condolence, "oh. i am sorry." like he said he was going to have his arm amputated or put his dog down or something. where did that come from? i have seen him with his daughter and she is lovely. (she wears totally fabulous tights.) and i love little people. i guess i mainly love and admire other people's little people.

anyway, one final note, this artist colleague introduced himself during the open portion of our morning meeting as "the greeter on the no. 22 fillmore bus line for the month of june, and a profesor in the school of art + design."

ask me about that some time.