blind illumination

It's Tuesday night and I have a tummy ache and my wisdom teeth hurt. Technically just one but it sounds better than wisdom tooth. With hopes that crackers will help, I'm typing to you all with one in my mouth.

Today was a pretty nice day out. All you needed was ONE jacket lol! I'll give you all a quick run through of my day before my cracker extravaganza. I learned more than I ever had in Marketing all in one class period during our review. I got an A on my italian exam/quiz. I had a great lunch and found out the name of that pastry I wrote about previously. It's called "Bigme" with an accent on the "e". Apparently it's french and is only made from January to March for St. Joseph's birthday. Interesting huh? I still failed at pronouncing it properly though. Maybe I'll get it right tomorrow! Photography class was interesting and my professor liked my photos I posted up. That's always nice coming from and art professor. I made an great dinner composed of garlic and mushroom alfredo from scratch and a salad to go along with it on the side...

After giving myself time to digest, I ran to practice and back when it was over. =] I'm so glad I'm actually exercising!  Hopefully this will be a weekly habit. It's kind of nice. Plus I have to get back in shape for the play.

To back track a little to my photography class, this was the first time that I honestly paid attention. For someone with difficulty speaking english my professor sure did catch my attention today with some things he said. Not to be big headed but I had basically heard everything before, but one thing he said made me smile. He told us to "Try to see in the eyes of a blind man". I love that. I thought to myself, that's so true! Only then could we ever really fully achieve this new dimension in photography where someone, that we may not even, know can understand what it was like to stand in our shoes. So they may see the world through our eyes. Just like living in Rome, we have to give up the way things used to be. To be blind to what our lives were to fully understand the culture and especially the language. To not judge and compare but to be like a blind man and only feel, understand, and learn. hehe.

Another set of photos that he showed was from previous years of students. A girl named Janelle Huddleson had a series of photos themed by a quote from a movie called "Everything is Illuminated" (2005). The quote was, " ...Everything is illuminated in the life of the past..." It was a beautiful collection of images and words that I liked for many reasons. My biggest one was because, to me, it's a theme that EVERYONE could relate to, but at the same time they relate to it with their own recollection of memories and experiences. This quote related to art very much so. In drawing classes, you'll learn that without light lifted from the darks on your page, you will never see your subject clearly. The only way we humans are able to see in a dark room is by searching for the light. Everything in our future has been illuminated by everything that has happened to us in the past. Like the saying goes, "you live and you learn". You learn, you hurt, you grow, and above all you see life a little more clearly than you did years ago thanks to those trials from the past. Sure some of us, including myself, try and forget the past at times, but in an optimistic perspective, things only get clearer everyday. It's very comforting don't you think? It's a great way to start gaining our vision back about the big picture after having ourselves be blinded by our day to day worries.

I absolutely had to blog about those two simple quotes. Now that my night is complete. I will venture off to my bed where I will curl into fetal position. I hope you were able to understand my rambles about these quotes, life, and art. I learned a lot today, and I hope you all gained something from my experience today. I don't know whose reading right now but I hope you're having a wonderful day.

Best,
Jen