It's a Facebook club at the University of Iowa:

The following is an excerpt I DID NOT WRITE, but I think it's something we need to seriously consider, even if we do follow Isism.

UPDATE- The stickers have arrived! They are quite handsome. If you want some, send me a message and I will have something arranged. I want to see these things ALL OVER TOWN! I especially want to see them in the ITCs, as close as possible to the staplers. We are taking this thing to the streets people. Lets get the word out!

This group is for people who are pissed about the fact that every ITC on campus has (word censored so I don't get kicked off Blogger) electric staplers instead of normal ones. Does anybody like these things? Who authorized this? Were they (word censored so I don't get kicked off Blogger) kidding me?
Isn't it clear that an old fashion, analog stapler is superior in every way to these technological blunders?

First off, you can't see where the staple is going. This results in final drafts that look like they were put together by a one-armed kindergartener. Who wants the staple so close to the edge? And horizontal? Wtf?

Also, is such a noise justified in order to bind a few papers? We aren't stapling sheet metal or nailing down shingles. The worst part is how unexpected it is. It could go off at any time! There is nothing like finishing a paper in a dreamlike stupor at 3 am, only to be jarred back to reality by a sudden CAAAAACUNK!!!

For these reasons and many others I ask you to join me in saying "What the (word censored so I don't get kicked off Blogger)?" These electrical monstrosities must be dealt with, before they conquer us all.

I found the book, How We Die by Sherwin Nuland, on my mom's book shelves when she was near death in a hospital. She had carefully underlined certain segments, made notes in the margins, leaving no doubt about how she planned to handle death, if she could choose. As we had to make certain decisions for her, this was very helpful! So, Sherwin Nuland is one of my heros. There's a transcript and a podcast of his recent interview on NPR's, Speaking of Faith.

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/
biologyofthespirit/transcript.shtml

(Please note I couldn't get that link all on one line so the link extends to the next line.)

If you're up early on Sunday AMs, check out this program. It's always inspiring, no matter what tribe you're hanging out with.

So I'm taking this class to sorta upgrade my life. It's called lithography. I'm the oldest person in the class. Even older than the teacher. So far the kids are pretty quiet. Who knows if that will change. . . Last week we learned to make our plates in the darkroom. Today we learned to print on the litho press. I haven't made my plate yet, so I haven't started to print my "edition" of 20 prints. The clock is ticking. . .

In addition, I'm taking a class in Buddhism. Again, I'm the oldest person in the class, and, of course, older than the teacher. This doesn't really bother me, there's nothing I can do about age... It's too bad the kids' social skills aren't any better than mine, though. It's hard to start up a conversation with this bunch. Some read Bibles before class starts...


It's winter here. Snow on the ground, 20 degrees. I have to lug this giant "messenger" bag around campus with my books and notepads etc. It's a struggle. When I ask myself why I'm doing this, I come up with some pretty good reasons, but it's still a rather strange trip I'm on these days. I have this giant locker in the design center. It's in the basement. I have to get down on the floor to access my stuff. The good part is the locker's right across from the print studio. I even have my combo memorized, but not my student ID # which has 15 digits in it!

I was thinking of applying to grad school, but then I found out all my transcripts I had arranged to have sent to admissions had been dumped from the system when I didn't go through the application process a year ago. Since the deadline is in a week, I've decided that's a sign I don't have to make that decision yet.


One of the good things about this current experiment is I walk all over the campus. Sometimes it's a death march when I have too much to carry. Today I rode the bus home. As a student I can ride it for "free". It stops right in front of our condo. Mostly I walk. Sometimes I reward myself with a rest stop at one of the campustown coffee shops. That way I can read the New York Times while drinking my green tea or decaf breve. It's all pretty decadent, but I figure I deserve it. After all, I thought of doing this first.....


We have to do bi-monthly research on artists who work in lithography. I studied Kiki Smith this week. She had a pretty cosmic childhood, helping her dad in his sculpting studio. She finished HS at an alternative school then went to SF and lived with The Tubes. Art School for 1 1/2 years. Produced art with collaborative artist's groups. This sounds like something I'd like! They had spontaneous NYC stores during the holidaze where they'd sell "multiples" at "accessible" prices. Idealistic!

In Buddhism class we're studying dukkha (life is suffering), trsna (because of cravings and desire), nirvana (the way out of suffering) and the Noble eight-fold path (the way to Nirvanna). I attend a meditation/mindfulness group (for the last several years) once a week where we observe Noble silence for 70 minutes with a dharma talk after the first 40. I'm very lucky to have discovered this "sangha". It's become very important to me. Practicing meditation has made life even more interesting than it was before. It definitely works for the dukkha thing!

Yesterday I dragged out a box of photos from the 80's. These are large prints I made long ago, intending to write "The Novel". The experience was "jarring" enough that I put my back out from sitting on the floor. Then since I hadn't had breakfast, I got hypoglycemic. Since Bob wasn't around to rescue me (he was at the UU "fellowship"), I had to rescue myself. That was another difficult task since it involves frantic feeding while experiencing mental confusion from the low blood sugar. Not to worry, I recovered, except for the back thing.


We have Karl living with us for 7 weeks. He's off to Germany for a semester abroad studying engineering. In order to keep his campus job, he needed a place to live. So he's in the Sponge Bob guest suite for awhile. We're finding this little experiment amusing, too. This AM we all rode together to campus and laughed about the grocery store check-out lady "back home" who was so slow and grumpy I always tried to avoid her station. This may not seem very funny, but there's more to the story that I can't discuss here.

Free movies we've seen on campus recently: The Squid and the Whale and Syriana. We also saw Borat recently at the $ theatre. I'm not recommending this as you might not like it, but there's no denying I laughed so hard I stopped breathing a few times.