This week has been quite long, but I have had a good week. I did very well on my environmental science test, and got perfect on my German midterm, so that was a nice start to my week. On Thursday the poet Naomi Shihab Nye came to UCSB, and I went to hear her read her poetry. She has the most beautiful poetry, it exudes love and has humorously accurate descriptions of life. After her reading I walked out into the rain feeling refreshed and less hopeless about the good in the world. It was funny because I wore my silver tights on Thursday, and about 10 people stopped me to tell me how much they like them. Silver, as Andy Warhol said, is the colour that makes things invisible-but not in my case. I went out to lunch and got back late to art, but I found the best article about Woody Allen films in this random magazine that looked a bit weathered from years of storage.
The vast majority of the magazines in art look like they are on the verge of decay, I always wonder where the money they say they raise for art goes. Paper and masonite are rationed goods that are only distributed sparingly, and there never seem to be any scissors. I am lucky because I have had the opportunity to develop my art independently, but many people don't have the chance. Judy called today to let me know how happy she is that I want to visit Poland and the concentration camps.
Although I have no belief in religion I feel it is very important to be culturally aware and to educate myself. Michael might go on the trip too, but he is concerned about AP tests which conflict with the trip. I am planning to take the art, German, and English AP tests but I am confident I can pass all of them even if I do miss two weeks of school. It is so weird because AP are my initials as well as the title for the tests, and Danny's nickname for me is AP. I always get confused now when someone says AP.
I know this trip will expose me to massive amounts of horrour, but I tend to seek to uncover repugnance on my own. I am not idealistic like I used to be, and I realize that suffering is inherent in life. I live to cause as little suffering as possible, which is my way of overcoming this fact. Tomorrow I am going to UCLA to look at their art department, I have to decide where I want to go to college. The only schools I have liked so far are Reed and Lewis and Clark, but they do not have majors in environmental science so it wouldn't work for me to go to one of them. Reed sent the funniest and most creative college brochure I have yet seen.
It talked about the veg*n cookies in their coffee house, and warned with the slogan friends don't let friends drink starbucks. The school seems very artsy and open minded. I really don't know where I want to go to college because all of the UC's conduct animal testing but the private schools I like don't have my major. I have about a month to decide.