History Changed

I'm a GTF this year, so I'm teaching two discussion sections, running reviews and answering (a bazillion) student emails. As a side note, when did students start emailing so much? I probably sent two emails as an undergrad. Anyway, I was reading through the new edition of Gardner's Art Through the Ages, an Art History 101 mainstay, since I start teaching next week and found something I'd never seen before. It's new to me, but it's oooold.

The professor I'm working for is great. He may or may not have given me a B one time on a paper, but I forget that (well-deserved) outrage when he starts teaching. This is the 30+ time he's taught survey, but he obviously loves doing it. Who wouldn't want to tell people about paleolithic art for the first time? You get to start your first lecture with the words "Millions of years ago..." I'll probably never teach this class, since I focus on Modern/Contemporary art, but I sort of wish I got to.

So, I'm going to teach you, blog reader, about the new-to-me statue that was discovered a few years ago.

Human with feline head, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, ca. 30,000-28,000 BCE, mammoth ivory, Ulmer Museum

Did you get that? 30,000 BCE. Considering that Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel only 500 years ago, that's really old. 

There are still traces of pigment, so it was probably painted red...and the rest is a mystery. I will say though, this had to be important to someone, since creating it required hunting and killing a mammoth and then toting the statue around (it's about one foot tall) as you moved from place to place around Europe.

This is certainly not the oldest work of art, or even the oldest one we've discovered--there are a few incised lines on stone and one carving that may represent a face--but it's a rather exciting discovery. More importantly, I learned something new today. Sometimes I think I should take off to Southern Europe and start exploring caves. Brad would come with me, right? We could search for stenciled hands and herds of bison. Plus! I could be the historical expert on the Nova or the History Channel program about our discoveries (which is the ultimate goal, really). Paleolithic cave paintings, you know?

School is cool

It is raining on my skylight in little bursts. It gets almost too loud and then moves to the front of the apartment. It's more like a car wash than anything else--like the apartments moving through the shower.

Welcome back to Oregon, welcome to school.

I have a very important back-to-school announcement. I bought boots. I've been looking at them for over a year. They weren't even that expensive, I just can't technically afford anything right now since I'm barely breaking even each month. But, in the spirit of back-to-school excitement and my resolution to not eat out for one month (excluding lunch with my department folks...that's networking right?) I  bought them. They're winging their way to me via Amazon Prime at this exact moment. Wish me luck.

They're pretty.

In the spirit of not being able to really afford anything, Michael and I booked our plane tickets to San Francisco to visit the fabulous Harper family, see my parents, introduce Michael to the city and soak up some art. Less than a month! Here are a few picture from past San Fran fun. It's one of my favorite places.

 

Oddly, right now I'm most excited about the traveling part. Michael and I have never flown together and we always end up driving separately. Travel buddies!

Well, I'm starting school tomorrow. I bought a notebook and am taking a plant to school in the attempt to disguise the fact that my office is actually a cement block. So tomorrow, I'll be on the bus with my tennis racket (for my tennis class), a plant and the knowledge that I have boots coming my way.

So, even though pretty much everyone has already been in school for about a month, I'd like to say happy first day of school!

Style and Stuff

 Due to a little Huffington Post-ing and New Yorker-ing last night, I discovered the Honorable Daphne Guiness whom everyone is calling a "style icon." She just put her clothes collection on display at the F.I.T in New York (check it out here).

I have to say there is something strangely fascinating about her and I can understand why she inspires some enthusiastic fan blogs and is consistently referred to as a chameleon--I've watched enough America's Next Top Model to know that that is a good thing. I think all the fan sites should focus more on the wrapping than the person--why do they never talk about who she's wearing? The designers are the artists. I suppose she could be a muse...


As an art historian, I read a lot about "artist's muses." Unfortunately, the muse/lover/model is the only role women have in art history until pretty recently. After reading about all these muses though, I'm a little unimpressed with Daphne Guiness. She's heir to the Guiness fortune, and the daughter of a duke (thus the "Honorable" title). Although she did have an affair with the French philosopher Levy--a must for a muse--and left the homestead to do something rash when she was very young (she married a Greek guy, who her parents disapproved of), she's just soooo rich. I'm a little sick of the struggling, eccentric artist cliche, but it's a little easier to believe a commitment to art (fashion in this case) when you have to first quit your day job. I think it's possible this "Honorable" woman gets away with her choices because she has a fancy title and no budget cap. I know fashion is expensive, but I'm reminded of my favorite "muse," the Baroness Elsa who broke the rules of fashion and art.

Elsa Von Freytag-Loringhoven hung out with the German and American Dadaists in the twenties and thirties in Europe and New York. Really, Elsa and Daphne aren't so different: fancy titles, affairs with French philosophers, young marriages and abandoned families. But, Elsa used to collect her favorite garments from the NY streets and create her own, fantasmic, outfits--she was a Dadaist herself. My favorite of her accessories was a canary hat, with a live canary, but she also wore a tomato soup can bra (before Warhol was born, I might add), teaspoon earrings, lots of black lipstick and a bouncing spring, which she hung from her hip and let swish. She also once shaved her head and covered it in laquer (which is cooler than the Frankenstein wife doo, I think). The Baroness had hundreds of lovers, escaped arrest multiple times and made the stuffy French expatriots thoroughly uncomfortable. Her advances may have inspired Marcel Duchamps' returning to France--she also may have suggested that he try using a urinal as art. Hmmmm...

                               Elsa died under suspicious circumstances in a Paris apartment in 1927 after going a little crazy--like a good artist should. :)

Perhaps any blog post, that requires me to pull out my class notes from last year won't be to interesting to you, blog reader, but I'd just like to think about the woman with the tomato soup bra as the true "style icon," not the rich heiress who buys other people's soup bras. Then again, I just spent more time looking at Daphne Guiness pictures...

Bad Dog

When your dog is this cute...

... you think, "if we leave the apartment he'll just lay down nicely and practice being cute." Then, you come home and find that the library book, that you just convinced the library to buy (since you couldn't afford a $75 book yourself), has been thoroughly chewed.

Then you go garage sale-ing until you find this:

And guess what? He likes it. He lays in the kennel all day, like a cutie pie. I wouldn't want to lay in a kennel, but, then again, I wouldn't rip up a library book.

Even though he hurt my book, I'm going to miss this pupster (and his owner). Back to Eugene, back to the grind, back to "grad school." I'm happy that it's fall though--have y'all seen my raincoat?

A "Bloggy" Blog

I made crackers. No, really. "But Sarah, crackers come in boxes and in little plastic packets with bowls of soup," you might say. Well, you're totally wrong and completely close-minded. I made them. I may not have done much on this Friday night in Eug (pronounced yoooooj), but I did get all dressed up in my super cute apron. Then I tried to take a picture of myself. As you can see, I cut off half my face and was going for...ferocious?

I should try to put more flattering pictures of myself on my own blog. Oh well.

Parmesan Rosemary Crackers found here. Total success. I'm soooo domestic. I have to say though, I really hate when blogging cooks assume you have a Kitchen Aid mixer, or an other fancy shmancy device. "Leave the machine running" or "affix your extra foamy beaters" are not helpful parts of recipes. One recipe I looked at yesterday instructed the reader to "go out to their herb garden." Now, I know plenty of people who have herb gardens or herb planters, and I'm sure I will soon, but I thought that was kind of a silly step in the recipe. "Take off your poufy chef's hat and high heels and put on your crocs and straw hat and go out to the herb garden." I gotta write a recipe that just slips in "do a few squats while your waiting for your cookies--that way they'll be guilt free" or instruct them to check the oven every 32.5 seconds. Maybe I should write a sarcastic cooking blog instructing people how to heat up Lean Cuisines with lots of pictures. Anyway, here are my pretty crackers.

Here's what I wasn't doing:

I had a funny moment yesterday when I was talking to my Nana on the phone. She asked me about my blog (which I assume she heard about from my mom, since I'm not exactly a famous blogger) and then asked how my blog was different than "the facebook." My Nana's a pretty "with it" lady, but something about adding "the" to facebook just cracked me up. Anyway, I told her about my blog and she recommended that I be sure to dumb it down a bit, since my writing's probably too sophisticated for my friends from "the facebook." That's a very strange way of saying that she thinks I'm smart, I suppose. But, if this is too over your head, you big dummies, let me know.

Death of Summer

I'm officially back at school. I had huge swells of fondness when I stepped back into my apartment, the offices at school and even the library--that has to be a good sign right? I still think moving is hard. As much as I really like Eugene, it's hard to say good bye to people I love and watch Moose and Michael drive away. It's not all about location though, I think this is a strange time of life for a lot of my friends--it feels so transitional, with big changes, big moves and lots of big questions. When I walked into my apartment in Eugene, I at least felt stable on my feet. Now, don't ask me what/where I'll be next year, but I'm thankful that my little apartment feels like home for now.

I don't like when people apologize profusely for "neglecting" their blogs, as if they're houseplants or an obligation, so I''ll just say that the end of summer was full of playtime, including an amazing birthday thanks to all my people in SL (especially Jackson and Mandy--thanks guys!) and lots of eating. I do have a tan from all the climbing and dog-walking, so it's a good thing I'm back in Oregon. Hopefully my translucence will return.

Some of Michael's family actually moved closer to us (great for me, hard for everyone else), and we spent Labor Day with his sister's crew. I loved watching Brynn running from the waves in her Gilligan hat, Morgan chasing down kites and Chloe searching for shells. Such a cute family, I'm looking forward to visiting them as much as I can! The Oregon Coast is so beautiful, today was foggy and misty. I did have a moment of panic as Moose ran away into the mist because it was so thick...but he came back (whew). I may overload you with pictures, but they're so pretty!

 The new Oregon residents (minus Gilligan Brynn).

Yes, the salt water gave him diarrhea and caused him to throw up twice in the car--but look at how happy he is now.

The fog really was crazy, it looks like they're in a sand storm. I suddenly understand why lighthouses are necessary along the coast.

 Building a sand castle, well more of a sand pile.

 Ellie chilled on her blanket most of the day, but she did dip her toes in the water.

 I rode a horse down the beach. Oh wait, I just took a picture of other people riding horses down the beach.

My birthday pedicure lasted. Thanks Mandy!