Beautiful Books

     Last week I wrote about how much reading I have to keep up with this semester. A friend of mine has another problem. Rather than trying to keep up with reading books this semester, she's been trying to keep up with making them. She's in an artist's book class here at Collins!

A little bookmaking world.

     An artist's book is exactly what it sounds like—a book that is a piece of art. She's already shown me some of the early stuff the class has completed, but recently she let me photograph her, as she worked on her first big project.

Looking focused.

     Her first book was the small green book pictured below. Constructed essentially of just one collapsable page, this book is in what is called an accordion format.

This is so adorable. It's about the size
of my palm, by the way.

     This new project is a full-sized accordion book. It's pages will feature cut out trees, and when closed, the layers of trees that the folded pages will create will resemble a forest. Although it is still a work in progress, I'll be posting a picture of the completed project when it is ready! I can't wait to see it!

T-t-t-tracing!

So far, so good.

A Midwinter Night's Dream

     To go out or stay in, that is the question. Students know that there is actually very little spring in spring semester. With brutal winter weather settling in around us, students prepare to face the last couple of months of cold before spring officially arrives. Some break out skateboards and bikes on their way to class, even in the snow.

Just looking at this makes me feel cold.

A brave soul.

     Many other students, however, don't want to leave their rooms at all. Last weekend I spent much of my time reading for classes. I'm in a fantastic combined English and Gender Studies class this semester, and I love it! But, the reading is tough to keep up with, averaging a novel per week or about 50 pages per day. My reading weekend was not only relaxing and enjoyable, but practical as well. 

Reading Jane Eyre.

     Part of the reason why I think I'm enjoying my cozy room so much is because it wasn't so cozy just a week ago. The radiator in my room hasn't been working properly for much of this winter! If any sort of maintenance issue like this ever comes up in your room, you have to do what I did—go to the center desk of your building and fill out a maintenance request form. Just talking to your residential assistant might not get the problem fixed; you have to actually fill out a maintenance request yourself before someone will come to check out the problem.

Books to read, just for fun...
If I ever have time!

So many empty tea bottles.

     Here is the wisdom that winter seems to have brought me: Bundle, guys! Bundle your hearts out! Also, I am turning into an 80-year-old woman. I'm hooked on tea. I love my books. If only I could keep a cat in my res hall room... Cat or no cat, though, I will be camping out in the warmth of my room for the rest of the semester. If you want to see me, you should come by! Just be sure not to interrupt my episode of "Wheel of Fortune."

Lunch with an Old Friend: Bring on the Breakfast

     Perhaps it's our unusual sleep patterns. Or the Saturday-morning, comfort-of-home feeling that breakfast food embodies. Whatever the reason, there's some sort of mystical connection between college students and breakfast food.

Making your mouth water right now, isn't it?

     As you may remember, I blogged about going out to brunch with an old friend a couple of months ago. (See http://tinyurl.com/46woant.) The goal was to hit up a local, off-campus spot for breakfast each week. Given our budgets and schedules, we probably should have realized that this idea was a bit unrealistic from the beginning. We have managed, though, to make it around to several Bloomington breakfast joints. We recently tried out a little place on the west side: Cloverleaf Family Restaurant.

See the clover symbol? See it?

     Cloverleaf's menu is actually similar to Wee Willy's, the breakfast spot we hit up in November. It's an all-day parade of breakfast and other comfort foods. The low-down on the two spots: Willy's hashbrowns beat out the competition, but we preferred the combo options offered at Cloverleaf. Some of the other B-town breakfast spots we've tried and would recommend include the Runcible Spoon, yet another delightful little family-restaurant sort of place called Cozy Table, and the Sunday brunch at either  Bloomingfoods or at the Tudor Room in the IMU. For more info on the Sunday Brunch in the Tudor Room, check out this website: http://tinyurl.com/5u2u5ae.

We love breakfast, yes we do!
We love breakfast, how 'bout you?

Meet Me in St. Louis

     My res hall, Collins Living-Learning Center, opened its doors to students returning for the new semester on January 5, 2011. (Happy New Year, by the way!) Before the serious work of the semester began, however, I managed to squeeze in a trip to St. Louis on the last weekend of winter break with some friends.

We made it!

     We spent the day at the City Museum in St. Louis, which is truly one of my favorite places in the world. A mecca of creativity, this was the perfect place to blow off steam before the beginning of the semester. To fully understand how great this place is visit www.citymuseum.org.

Looking down into the visual splendor of the museum. 

     We climbed on the sculptural found-art playground in 20-degree weather! We explored the caves! We played with the animals in the aquarium! (Have you ever heard of doctor fish? They're fish who will feed on people's dead skin. And, the City Museum has a tank of them that guests are allowed to stick their hands into! Apparently, if you leave your hands in the tank long enough, the fish will actually start to eat your nails.) We slid down the 10-story slide! We saw the world's biggest pair of underwear!

Playing on the playground in the cold. Fun times!

Exfoliation via doctor fish. Ew.

Did I mention the museum also features a giant hamster wheel to play on?

     I had also just received a polaroid camera for Christmas, and this was a really fun place to try it out!

Bonding with a bird.

We're actually about 50 feet off of the ground here.
Seriously, best playground ever.

With the best ball pit ever!

     Ultimately, the nine hours of driving and the resulting bruises? So completely worth it.

What's for Design Tonight?

     Avi Katz is an amazing animator. Although he's been working in Israel for much of the past few years, you may recognize one project he worked on: Blues Clues! Avi just wrapped up presenting a three-part workshop at Collins Living-Learning Center. And, I was lucky enough to be able to make the last two of the workshop events in this series.

     This workshop series—called "What's for Design Tonight?"—explored the psychology behind creating cartoon characters. Students who attended the workshops learned about how to represent qualities ranging from evil to cute in animations.

     In the last workshop of the series, student explored characteristics that inspired fear and how to depict them. The theme of the night was drawing dragons. At the end of the two-hour class, however, students were in for a surprise! Avi played a clip of an old movie called The Reluctant Dragon in which the image of the typical scary dragon stereotype was turned on its head. Check out the intro of the movie on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Lu9MsQ1yM.

     When students get busy with school, it’s often easy to forget about some of the really cool opportunities for fun activities and events that come our way, living on campus. In the end, though, I was so glad I made time to go to this event!

Gilding the Lilly

View into the back room of the library from the main room.

     The Lilly Library is one of those places on campus that always makes it into IU brochures and that students never make it into. I have to admit that, as a sophomore on campus, this is the first year that I have visited the library. It's quickly become one of my favorite places on campus!

A brochure for the show.

     The library is currently showing an exhibit in honor of its 50th anniversary called "Gilding the Lilly: A Hundred Medieval and Illuminated Manuscripts at the Lilly Library." This show, which will run until December 18, features 100 of the library's "most important" medieval manuscripts. The library has no need to be gilded, though! It is always a beautiful, serene place. It definitely makes for some cool photography, if I do say so myself!

A beautifully illustrated item from the exhibit.

     You should definitely take a break from stressing about finals to visit the library before Christmas break. It will make you feel calm and oh-so cultured! And, be sure to check out the lectures the library features next semester. They're really interesting! You often get to actually touch and examine pieces from the library... and these lectures also often offer great food! Go to www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/index.php for a calendar of the library's events or more general information on Lilly Library.

Exploratory Students

     Why is it that when it really gets cold for the year, when you really need to be studying and gearing up for finals most, all you want to do is hibernate? I love this time of year, but when the cold sets in, all I want to do is read books, watch movies, and sleep. You know that point when studying isn't even about getting something done but about staying awake? Well, when I hit that point, a change in venue often helps make my study time more productive. Try getting out of your room to study! I've found that this favorably affects my ratio of time spent achieving my homework goals versus time spent sleeping on top of my keyboard.

A student gets to work.

     Go check out your center's library. I love the cozy atmosphere of the Collins library. I also recently explored Eigenmann Hall's library and found a similarly delightful atmosphere—with less steps to get there! If you're in the mood for some stark serenity, try the SoFA library. There's also a small library on the ground floor of the graduate student's side of the Business School that friends have recommended to me as one of the best-kept-secret study spots on campus.

Eigenmann's library offers lots of seating and study space.

     Wherever you end up, try exploring some new study spots on campus. You might be surprised at how helpful getting away from the distractions and sleep-inducing comfort of your room may be!

Studying at the library means that you can always pick up
something for fun to take home with you!