| a nod to LiveJournal...i've gone to Myspace. |
[Mar. 4th, 2007|04:25 pm] |
Hi. I live in England now and I feel guilty for abandoning Livejournal. But here is me on crowded UK transport with my bike when a cute scruffy boy snuck into the photo. There are lots of cute scruffy boys here but they don't talk to me (maybe 'cause I pulled that face).
I miss home. I miss my friends and other scruffy boys who used to talk to me. |
|
|
| Event Plug |
[Jun. 20th, 2006|01:37 pm] |
West Michigan Environmental Action Council, Center for Environmental Study, C. A. Frost Environmental Science Academy, and Loeks Theatres, Inc. will host a special preview showing of aninconvenienttruth to be followed by a panel discussion. The event will take place Thursday, June 29, at Studio 28. Movie begins at 7 p.m. Panel discussion begins at 8:45 and goes until 10 p.m. Michael Lloyd, Editor of the Grand Rapids Press, will moderate. The media is invited.
The film offers a passionate and inspirational look at former Vice President Gore’s fervent crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. In the words of Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times:
“The director, Davis Guggenheim, uses words, images and Gore’s concise litany of facts to build a film that is fascinating and relentless. In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.”
Underwriters include:
The Grand Rapids Press
Grand Rapids Community Foundation
John R. Hunting
Mayor George Heartwell’s Environmental Advisory Council
the Wege Foundation
West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum
Panelists for the June 29 discussion include:
George Heartwell, Mayor of the City of Grand Rapids,
Steve Bouma Prediger, the John H. and Jeanne M. Jacobson Professor, of Religion at Hope College in Holland, MI
Dr. Natalia Andronova, Research Scientist in the Earth Climate Research Group of the University of Michigan, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences.
Mark LaCroix, Vice President of Global Sustainability, Interface Fabrics
Lisa Oliver-King, Independent Consultant, Executive Director/Founder of My Kitchen Table.
Local organizations will have exhibits offering resources related to the global climate change issue before and after the event, in the lobby area. A single exhibit will remain up as long as the film is at the theater. Ongoing outreach and education efforts will continue to provide resources, speakers, and community activities. WMEAC and CES will coordinate an effort to provide a facilitator to groups interested in organizing their own discussions about the film and the issue of global climate change.
Tickets are $8.00 and may be purchased in advance for that one showing at the WMEAC office, 1007 Lake Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, 616.451.3051. The film will show for a minimum of two weeks. Group rates are available starting on June 30. |
|
|
| Thank you LJ |
[May. 22nd, 2006|12:27 pm] |
Thanks livejournal,
You got me through a tough time. You are the only diary that ever writes back and you don't know how much that has meant to me. You care.
I wanted to tell you the good news. Though I will still be a half ass-ed journal keeper, I think my posts will change and perhaps get some more readership due to my new geographical location. Yes'm thats right livejournal, I am moving to England. I just heard via e-mail from the friendly secretary at the Anthropology Department in Bristol that I ought to keep my eyes peeled for my formal invitation in the "post". I will write her back in an equally friendly manor and then maybe we'll become "mates". She is now the only person I know in Bristol, except for you Livejournal.
So get ready for the lonely drunken posts (English beer) the frazzeled academic posts (British system)and the jubilant traveler posts (UK country side).
Thank again LJ. You're the best,
Leah |
|
|
| |
[May. 9th, 2006|12:21 pm] |
Your results:
You are Spider-Man
| Spider-Man |
| 80% |
| Hulk |
| 75% |
| Iron Man |
| 65% |
| Wonder Woman |
| 58% |
| Superman |
| 55% |
| Supergirl |
| 53% |
| The Flash |
| 50% |
| Robin |
| 47% |
| Green Lantern |
| 30% |
| Catwoman |
| 30% |
| Batman |
| 25% |
|
You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.
 |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
|
|
|
| Midwest Expression |
[Apr. 25th, 2006|02:42 pm] |
I was glad to have the midwest pull out all the stop for Maya. The wedding in St. Louis was typically lovely but I had a panic attack at the reception and call crying to Eric. "I don'nt understand why it sometimes all hits me at once".
I really don't but somtimes living is terrifying. Thank god for Aunt Shari (though related to no one) Carlo Rossi and the flatness of central Illinois. Very calming. Maya played endlessly with the smartest little radio in the cutest little rental car ever and we sang until she litterally barfed. Springfeild was closed on sunday so we did'nt get to rub Lincoln's nose.
Yesterday I got a sunburn in Licoln Park Zoo. Today I had to buy a jacket in the loop. The dafodills look sad. |
|
|
| Nepotism |
[Apr. 18th, 2006|11:03 am] |
This is a shameless plea from my brother. His band Opposite Day ( www.oppositeday.com )is totally neat and they are coming to GRap in July. If any one has any ideas please let me know. They sound like Primus lite or Frank Zappa. Its art rock and you'll like it.
This is from Sam:
"hey. can you help us put together a Grand Rapids show? who would be a good band to try to play with. we're looking at july 29th. I've already emailed Billy's, the Daac, and founder's.
then I'm going to ask you if you know anybody who knows anybody who knows a music journalist or DJ. then I'm going to ask you to bring all your friends... please! I'll give you a sandwich. "
 |
|
|
| Another go at it..... |
[Apr. 16th, 2006|10:08 pm] |
So friend of friends, can you stand to read this one more time?
Personal Statement:
Application for Archeology for Screen Media, University of Bristol
I was supposed to be taking notes on the monkeys’ proximity to the figs. While my pen recorded the distance, my brain was elsewhere, composing poetry to the towering bibosi tree or story boarding the documentary of our work there in the Bolivian Amazon. Perhaps I should not admit in my graduate school personal statement to being scattered. But this experience is an example of how my studies and interests have been all over the educational map. For the last eight years I have vacillated between the realm of science and that of creative communication. In school, I was romanced by Mendel’s bean plants and seduced by Greek tragedy. My poetry is about bones; my research paper on ice age mammals was written to entertain. I just can’t help it; I am torn between two worlds.
Historically, science and the arts have occupied separate universities. With the rise of liberal arts in the United States, science and the arts came to share a campus but not a building. At my alma mater, trekking from building to building was encouraged but few actually took the opportunity. As a lone voice for biological determinism in drama class I was hissed at and as an advocate for aestheticism in a laboratory I got eye rolling. But do art and science need to be so polarized? Truth and beauty don’t need to cancel each other out. Skillful documentaries certainly make poetry of their subjects and artful writers infuse their prose with glorious descriptions of scientific discovery. There are plenty of examples of those who live in the nexus of the science and arts. They chose a path where the beauty and influence of communication and the empirical rigor of science converge. Far from being “scattered” their broad interests give them a solid base to present information. This is the path I have followed all along but have only recently begun to see it as a potential career.
Science fascinates me. Sharing this enthusiasm with others is my greatest contribution to the field. I hope to communicate that enthusiasm through modern and traditional forms of media to a larger audience. My year in the Bolivian Amazon assisting with a primate study, gave me such admiration for the individuals who practice pure science. But at the end of a 13-hour day, when I crawled back into my tent, scratched and muddy, my mind still raced. It was hard to rest until I could put pen to paper and describe our discoveries in my journal or a letter. My place is watching scientists with a trained eye and then translating their findings in clear language to educate and entertain the public.
I had the chance to do this with the West Michigan Environmental Action Council, a small but influential environmental non-profit. Soon after I returned from Bolivia I was hired as an administrative assistant. I found an empty niche in the organization’s marketing and communications sector. The dedicated staff had put heart and soul into their work on environmental policy, education and monitoring, but were virtually unknown outside the environmental community. Over the last two years I have edited our bi-monthly publication and turned it from a black and white pamphlet to a 12-page full color magazine with a wider circulation. I taught myself how to use publishing and design software and redesigned all our marketing materials. The organization has emerged as a regional name and been featured in Metropolis a national magazine.
Popular culture in the United States does not currently hold science in very high regard. With an Administration that regularly shrugs off fact as “just science” and educated people dismissing global warming and evolution as “another theory”, science is threatened. I think this is partly because it hasn't been presented well. I felt that with my diverse skills I could work towards improving this. When I began researching graduate schools I often found many of their Museum Studies programs marginalized and underfunded and Anthropology too insular, circulating knowledge between experts. The Archeology for Screen Media program at Bristol stands out as a unique program that is exactly what I need gain more technical skill to educate a wide audience about their cultural and biological heritage. I want to share with them the fruits of science and get them as interested in giant sloths and monkey skulls as I am. At the University of Bristol I hope to join a community of people who feel that media is aided by empiricism and that science deserves eloquence. |
|
|
| What do YOU think?: a very rough draft |
[Apr. 12th, 2006|12:10 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
Personal Statement:
Application for Archeology for Screen Media, University of Bristol
Perhaps some would suggest that admitting one is “wishy washy” in ones graduate school application is unwise. Perhaps they are right. But I am the first to admit that my career has been “wishy washy”. For at least the last 8 years I have vacillated between the realm of science and that of communication. I was romanced by Mendel’s bean plants and seduced by Greek tragedy. I was lured high into the trees to examine the behavior of ateles chamek (black-faced spider monkeys) and pulled to my computer to create an environmental magazine that inspires my region to advocate for the earth. My poetry is about bones; my research in ice age mammals was written to entertain. I can’t help it, I am torn between to seemingly different worlds.
Traditionally science and the arts occupied separated universities. With the rise of Liberal arts education in the United States they shared a campus but not a building. At many of these schools, especially my Alma Mater, trekking from building to building was encouraged but few take the opportunity. A lone voice for biological determinism in a drama class meets with hissing (I have experience it) and advocating for aestheticism in a laboratory incites eye rolling. But do they need to be so polarized? David Attenburough certainly gives poetry to the flight of the albatross and beautiful writers such as Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Brautigan infuse their fiction with glorious descriptions of moth pheromones and human dissections.
There is a path where the beauty and influence of communication and the empirical rigor of science coexist, I just needed to stop trying to decided which one to choose in order to see that I can do both.
I believe that my greatest asset to help further the enterprise of science, is my utter fascination with it. I hope to communicate that enthusiasm though modern and traditional forms of media to a larger and equally rapt audience. My experience as a team member on a professional study in primatology, gave me such admiration for the individuals who practice science. But in the Amazon, at the end of a 13-hour day, when I crawled back into my tent scratched and muddy, all I could think about was writing that letter to my friends and family about our discoveries. My place is to watch these teams with a trained and experience eye and then translate their findings to the public.
One step towards that end has been my work with a small but influential environmental non-profit. Hired as a secretary, I soon found an empty niche in the organization’s marketing and communications sector. The dedicated staff had put so much heart and soul into their work on environmental policy, education and monitoring but were virtually unknown outside the environmental circle. Over the last two years I have been driven to transform our communication methods. I was given editorship of our bi-monthly publication and turned it from a black and white pamphlet to a full color magazine, widely circulated. I taught myself how to use publishing and design programs to redesign all our marketing materials. The organization has emerged as a regional name and even been featured in a national magazine.
Popular culture in the United State does not currently hold science in very high regard. Because of this I often found many museum studies programs marginalized and Anthropology to insular. The Archeology for screen media program at Bristol stands out as uniquely sharing my values to educate a wide audience about their cultural and biological heritage and share with them the fruits of science. I hope to join a community of people who do not feel that one must hop the divide between the two subjects but inhabit the border they share. |
|
|
| Cutest bones EVER! |
[Apr. 11th, 2006|04:42 pm] |
 |
|
|
| The search for higher education that embodies the values of lovely science and rational art felt fru |
[Apr. 7th, 2006|09:01 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  intimidated | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Interpol, Next Exit | ] |
Little bastards. The keys of the letters of the words I want to type leap out from under my fingers. Sneaky, obstinate, bastards.
The 'personal statement' has been stalled for three weeks and counting. Maybe because lying awake at night brings terror at the thought of not being accepted to Bristol. Oh yeah, and it brings terror of getting in too.
These must only be the most important 800 words of MY LIFE.
For my undergrad I slid happily through the application process confident that I could charm my way into my first second of third choice school despite a leaky GPA. Now after three years of searching under every nook and cranny of the internet, every fold and flap in the library, I have found a program I think I could love. Or should I say 'programme' because it is in freaking ENGLAND. All my dreams of becoming a Brit could come true! I could have bangers OR mash. Bubbles OR squeak. William OR Harry. And this MA, god this MA could be awesome. A chance to pursue the bumps on human bones but for ENTERTAINMENT! Archeology for Screen Media is pretty damn specific venture but it straddles the boundary of science and art, a boundary I have hopscotched for years.
But I have heard they care not for a liberal education, a kaleidoscope of talents and interests, they want an essay that says precisely what I mean and why they must have me. Not my strong suit.
Just start typing for gods sake. And I do until the words don't mean enough... and I stop. |
|
|
| |
[Apr. 3rd, 2006|10:37 am] |
Feeling slightly magical, I wandered around the house I grew up in touching new and familiar objects. Many are new and familiar because of a recent transfer of goods from my Grandad's apartment after Alzheimer's pushes him to a more confined and structured life.
I found this stamped leather box high on a shelf presiding over nick knacks. The lion on the front looking very much like it could be a portal into Narnia or something.
With greedy curiosity I opened the lid hoping that such a thing would'nt contain pennies, or worse, nails and screws. It did'nt. In fact there was change but can you really call a collection of Liberty head silver dollars change? Not only that but actual jade carved with actual Mayan or African faces, rubbed and worn. A sharp shooter's medal from WWII, geodes both raw and dipped in gold, and a plaque stating Edward P. Thompson, Bar Assoc. President 1965-1966.
I love my Grandad. |
|
|
| |
[Mar. 31st, 2006|12:00 pm] |
I think when I have to get up out of bed, mangage to tame the humid tangles and put on the semblance of a cute outfit all before 9am, that YOU have no right to be cranky. You who are still in bed. You who tore may carefully tucked in sheets from their riggings to accomidate your Gumby body. Please try to give me a good send off before you roll over and go back to bed.
The great thing about you is though, that you will make it up to me somehow.
I hope you will make it up to me by coming with me to a party at the Clique even though I know your preference would be to stay in and attempt to cuddle my itching-to-dance bones.
Who else is going to this thing tonight? Who will help me lure my Gumby from under the covers? |
|
|
| A Day at the Zoo |
[Mar. 16th, 2006|11:02 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
Who am I you ask? Who is she who thinks she can comment on my blog, you say. I am not one for anonimity and I am interested in all of you. Especially in the middle of my day working in dilligent spurts for a maddening non-profit. Some of you I like. Some of you I know only from your spot behind a microphone or underneath the up-tipped bottle of beer. In person, you could say I'm retreating. I skirt the edges of your fabulous parties and make conversations where I can. But I am fascinated by you. I am fascinated by hamsters as well so don't let it go to your head. I hope you enjoy this on-line zoo as much as me. And please don't be creeped out by my intrusions into your stories. After all you put yourself on display no? |
|
|
| |
[Mar. 9th, 2006|03:19 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  drained | ] |
oh hum.
I am currently listening to an obnoxious co-worker tell someone over the phone that I fucked up on something that I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH. |
|
|
| Something to look forward to. |
[Mar. 9th, 2006|10:48 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | optimistic | ] |
When the weather outside is most like the
weather inside the confines of my sheets,
it is not so hard to get out of bed.
The air is humid as breath and (compared to the last 4 months)
feels bath-water-warm.
What is hard is sitting at a desk
when the atmosphere cleary calls
for skin contact though long walks or porch sittin'
Would somebody please make my job interesting?
Though the paperclips I buy are for a good cause,
the envelopes I lick go to save the earth,
the telephone I answer is the voice
of little birds that need a home,
it is not enough.
My efforts over the last year and a half to make this job somthing more than secretary to Captain Planet have failed.
Though I declared myself editor of our magazine,
gave our organization an extream makeover, dabbing blues,
purples and greens galore
I am still required to make the coffee, make the deposits and make nice to the business types who assume that because there is an assistant in the room that they don't have to get the cream for their own damn coffee.
So with complete awarness of irony, I make my desision in this London Fog to finally make some efforts towards Britifying my self. Hopefully by this time next year I will be sipping cream and earl grey in veiw of the Welsh mountains. Tally ho! |
|
|
| Birthday post |
[Feb. 28th, 2006|10:18 am] |
I am happy to say that because I had few expectations of where I would be at 25 that I am not disappointed. I am looking forward to 29 where I have huge plans...huge.
 |
|
|
| Still feeling under the weather |
[Feb. 20th, 2006|01:47 pm] |
 |
|
|
| Feeling a bit off today |
[Feb. 16th, 2006|10:49 am] |
 |
|
|
| |
[Feb. 14th, 2006|10:08 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
Back to ceramics today. Creative outlet ho! |
|
|
| A Little Privacy Please? |
[Feb. 13th, 2006|03:20 pm] |
God, I just sat through three hours of a business meeting taking minutes of people not saying a whole lot but talking for ever! I need this picture of humping pandas don't you?
and fill this out for me!
http://kevan.org/johari?name=mangoleah! |
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
mangoleah's journal