Class of 2010

is what it says on my facebook profile. But anyone who knows me is aware of my tendency to procrastinate and graduation is no different. With wishful thinking i have changed it to 2011 - perhaps a more realistic goal. In the meantime i watch those I care about as they move on to bigger and better things (or unemployment & their parents basements).

To the J-schoolers and their respective mediums I say good riddance. I will not miss being miss-quoted and shot at unflattering angles. But i will miss you, and you, and you. As for the rest, I'm assuming you'll be around this city for a little while longer.

And the fashion girls? Who will i turn to at 4am when my last needle breaks? who will run from the labs with me in time for last call? Who will wipe away my tears in the lounge? In who's speakers will i doc my ipod?!?!  For you, a tribute to my fave collections & my fave ladies (in no particular order):

to Sacha for mucho inspiration & a kindred spirit reclaiming her edge.

to Tiffany for her knowledge of who's who and the fact that she once took circus classes (which in my book makes you one of the coolest people i know)

Kim Barr for sharing values and being the sweetest ginger i'v ever met

Jen O cause your so darn cute

 

Jade of course, for holding me together most of the time

And Heather for that little bit of fetish and that whole lotta know-how

So here I am, thinking about 2010-11 with uncertainty mixed with excitement for the unknown. Whats to come and with whom will i do it?

Love Forever,
Jamie

Spring has Sprung

And i have not blogged in ages, not due to lack of material but because my computer is no more. The Olympics came and went; controversy and beer drinking made more headlines than the medal runs. My personal fave being that of the Japanese snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo (isn't he dreamy?). The circle of which I'm part celebrated with a 'torch' relay of our own and a closing ceremony to be remembered....and there's a chipped tooth to remind me of what i can't recall. But this is the internet and that is old news.

So what's new you ask? Plenty it seems, but it might be to soon to write about it here...A weekend filled with PG13 kind of fun has left me inspired. But my heads in the clouds so I can't seem to get much done. Whats the difference between daydream and reality anyway? The other day I zoned out during a class discussion on the concept of truth in life writing. With my eyes glazed over i raised my hand and proclaimed in typical burn-out fashion, "but isn't truth relative?..." As a spiritual being having a human experience, this weeks truth is a positive and negative charge - a Gemini and Sagittarius completing a circuit - a manifestation that is blowing my mind.

Love forever,
 Jamie

My Computers Broken

No time to blog...precious seconds on a roomie's computer. Say what you will, here's some eye candy.

Outside the Sun is Shining

but inside a cloud has been cast. "Have you heard the news?" they whisper as we trickle in the door...A creative genius, an idol for many, and an inspiration for us all. The 'enfant terrible' of fashion, Alexander McQueen dead at 40...A month until Paris, we wonder, 'will the show go on?'....

  

  

  

A brief history of Gaia

"The Earth is about 4,6 billion years old. For an easier understanding, let’s cut this time-span down to 46 years. The early years of Gaia's existence are clouded in the mists of history. It wasn't until the age of 42 that the earth started to bloom. After about 44 years, dinosaurs inhabited the planet. Some eight months ago the first mammals evolved, and during this last week the first hominids entered the scene. Modern man has existed for only about four hours; some sixty minutes ago he took up agriculture, and a minute ago the industrial revolution began. During these very last sixty seconds man has managed to turn Gaia into a garbage dump, to exterminate thousands of plant and animal species, to kill an uncountable number of his own kind, to loot the planet's resources, to pollute soil, air and water and to leave radiating waste for future generations.

Within the next few seconds, all of us will decide whether we are going to make life on Gaia impossible, or develop a consciousness that allows us a future existence on our homeplanet. "

**http://www.gaiamedia.org/content/english/allgemein/main_e_03_gmstift.html

Memories of a Child

After my parents had Kelly and Graham they had me. The five of us lived in the city. There were block wide games of cops and robbers, street hockey, and kick the can. I was queen of my red wood sandbox. Every year the spring brought the rain and the rain brought the worms. One year the spring brought Travis, my younger brother. When I realized the worms needed to be transported from the gutters to the tub in my backyard it wasn’t a problem that the little pink babies were the only ones I could hold without shrieking; Curtis lived next door and he carried the big juicy ones for me.

It was summer in my kingdom. Curtis and I were bringing large rocks in from the ally. We carried them together in the upturned lid from the garbage can. Suddenly the rock came tumbling out of control and landed on the big toe of my right foot. I’m sure it hurt, I must have cried.

I remember sitting in the brown truck, we each got popsicles from the ice cream man before driving away to the ‘big house’ in the suburbs. There was dirt where there should have been grass and show homes instead of other children. The ice cream man never came that far out of the way. Sometimes I would go into the city so I could play with Curtis. Once I peeked over his fence and saw a tall red compost bin. I didn’t see my sandbox.

 Grass was laid and a family moved in next door. I made friends with the boy named Daniel. We played Lego and built cushion forts in his basement; he was king. One day in the new house I looked down at my feet. My toenail had turned black and was hanging by a thread. I showed it to my dad, he pulled it off and threw it in the garbage.  It didn’t hurt at all.



***I handed this in today for my Life Writing class. The assignment was to write an excerpt of our autobiography....we were limited to one page which made it dificult to include all the details i wanted but i think i got the effect i was going for.

This year i refused the ritual of resolutions.

Plan i will not, but speculate i may. My horoscope says that Sagittarius has moved out of Virgo and I say thank -insert deity of choice- for that. Although, I'm hoping it isn't moving into Scorpio (these days i'm feeling like a brick and there's a certain stinging insect i wouldn't mind drowning slowly.) So here we are, approximately two years and eleven months away from the end of the world and what has the new year brought? Well for me - and a few others i know - there is the evidence that we are not children any more. I gave out midnight kisses while drinking water with lemon and would have been home in bed by one if i could have only got a cab; a rock band at the jam caused me to send telekinetic messages to the sound guy asking him to please turn it down; and on a mid afternoon car ride a (recently engaged) girlfriend and i discussed the strip malls popping up over what was the farmland of our youth. So here I am; looking into the eyes of adulthood without blinking. 'Bring it on.' I say. Here's to life where money really doesn't grow on trees and certain actions have legitimate consequences. Although...could someone please prorogue the start of the semester for a few months? I have some business to take care of.

Love Forever,
Jamie

This double life...

Fashion and frivolity. Accessorize everything to keep them guessing...image image image. Still not sure how to play this game. I'm getting better...is that a good thing? And the men? They come. And then they go. Late nights here or there, empty bottles of wine. Early classes that I occasionally make it to. Things are looking up. Its the new Jamie, year after year...old habits die hard.

Taxi cab, security, bar, 5 hour nap, and then; winter. Funny how that happens.

Ski trips lead to Solstice dinners unattended. Family walks, travel mug of coffee and liqueur, -30? run through the drifts! Old friends, thats something to rely on. And the men? Evening chat with an ex-lover, early mornings with a new(ish) one. Late nights at the blues bar, empty bottles of wine. Farewell parties and airport pickups. Lunch with the girls, diamond rings, and new condos...returning to a place unchanged only to find how you, yourself, have altered.

Car ride, security, 5 hour nap, and then; this thing they call 'winter'. Funny how the circumstances so suddenly change.

Love Forever,
Jamie
xoxo

Time for a Fresh Start...

It's like that feeling i get when i open a new sketchbook; excitement mixed with tentativeness...There will be many half finished, ill thought out drawings and ramblings within the pages, but the first one; it has to be good. It will be seen time and time again, it sets the mood, the first impression for anyone who opens it. The difference I suppose, is that the first blog posting doesn't have as much power. By the time i get to the 6th post this one will no longer be visible. Only those with serious procrastinating to do will click that 'older posts' button and go back in time to read what i was thinking about on this eight day in December, the year two thousand and nine. Such is the nature of the internet...such is the lives of the internet generation.

So what am i thinking about? Well, the other night i discovered the West Coast forests were oozing lactic acid. I instructed my friends to fill their bags with necessities such as bandannas and goggles (in case of dust storms), hid my vinyl collection, grabbed my water pouch, and headed to the local pub to warn family members and fellow drinkers about the impending apocalypse. What am i dreaming about? Art, design, and a sustainable future. A desire for small concrete truths in a vast and ambivalent universe. What do i know? Not much, but i have a lot of opinions. There's no hope of me staying off the black list so lets create a white list for the rest of us.

Love Forever,
Jamie