Frisbee can be classy too

Friday was Frisbee Gala or just "Frala." I was told by our captain that it would be just like a regular frisbee party except with fancier cups, but even this proved to be false as we were greeted with the familiar sight of red and blue plastic. However, there was a (tiny) chocolate fountain, paper snowflakes (actually plucked from my own ceiling), and everybody got a chance to dress up.

Freshmen girls getting ready in my room? Feels like high school homecoming all over again.

Cassidy does Emjen's hair.

Emjen and Mina!

Thanks to Gadi for the group photos!

Salama and stairwells

Apparently the beige object on a pole on the far left is a head cast.

This morning I went to the List Art Building to take photos for the Herald on a senior thesis art exhibit. Cecilia happened to be looking at her exhibit with a friend when I stopped in to take photos which made for an awkward moment ("Do you want us to leave...?") but which was quickly followed by an interesting introduction by the artist herself. Cecilia was inspired by a number of things including her sculptural background, anatomy, and playing with heaviness and lightness. The materials she has used in her displays are unconventional to say the least--a few that I spotted were an air conditioning filter, sheep wool, and a molding of a head stuck upside down onto a pole.

Salama, left, with her friend.

Cecilia Salama's work is crazy wonderful--the wild array of colors on her paintings combined with the off-center frames and other small sculptural pieces all clustered together on the floor give the entire exhibit a chaotic, incomplete feeling. Photographing her work was i think one of my most interesting Herald assignments thus far. Visit her website here.

As I was exiting the building, I took advantage of the fact that I had my camera with me to photograph parts of the north stairwell. Ironically enough (perhaps put there for the purpose of irony?), there is a sign on a wall of the ground floor that says, "no posting, spray-painting, or installation of 3D work on this stairwell,"  but I clearly saw all three contraband decorations in copious amounts throughout.

I've been wondering this entire year what the seemingly haphazard red and yellow design on the edges of the stairs are. Now, after trekking up to the top floor of list and following the directive "look down" painted on the wall there, I have finally found out.

Cranes on the Green

I covered a really cool event yesterday for the Brown Daily Herald and I wanted to share a few of the photos I took. Cranes on the Green was an event put together the Japanese Cultural Association "to commemorate the devastating earthquake that swept away thousands of homes and lives in the northeastern regions of Japan last March. (source)"

For five hours this Sunday, the JCA members stood by a table selling t-shirts to raise money for earthquake relief in Japan and approaching all who passed by the main green. "Hi, would you like to put a crane on the green in memory of the earthquakes in Japan last year?" with the exception of two fraternity pledges who were being forced to walk backwards and were not allowed to go on grass, all who were approached said yes. They were then handed wooden skewers with blue or pink cranes on them. By the end of the day, there was a beautiful garden of paper cranes covering that expanse of grass.

New York, New York

For some reason, Brown gets a whopping two whole days off of classes for President's Day, so Amelia, Diego, Gadi, and I decided to bus it down to New York City for a couple of days. Much of Amelia's family lives in New York and they were very gracious to us--showing us around, paying for meals, and so on and so forth.

I didn't bring my camera with me around the city because I wanted to enjoy myself without it, which in retrospect was a shame because we encountered so many photo-worthy moments. Giant bubble-making in Central Park, poetic buskers in the subway, and many many amazing pieces of art at the Met and the MOMA. I was able to catch up with an old friend at Columbia and wander around on the highline. The vast and various amounts of food we had was all sorts of delicious: chocolate delicacies at Max Brenner's, self-made mimosas in our hotel room, noodles at a tucked-away japanese restaurant called Tabata, wild mushroom tart at the MOMA, sushi just outside of Columbia, chicken rice at a halal food cart... all these things and more found their way into my stomach. If we hadn't been walking for almost every waking moment during the trip, I wouldn't have been able to fit in the tiny hotel elevators.

And yet (and this is going to sound infinitely cheesy) I think that my favorite parts of the trip were when I was sitting by myself on the window ledge in (out of?) our hotel room, either wrapped in a blanket at night or enjoying the nippy NYC winter mornings, just people watching. The night sky was nothing like the luminosity we saw in the woods of Massachusetts, but I guess New York makes its own stars

Credit to Amelia!

Dreamhouse

Amelia, Danny, Hannah, Scout the great dane, and Gadi.

I had just about the most picturesque weekend ever. Amelia, Danny, Gadi, Hannah, and I headed over to Danny's aunt and uncle's place in the woods of Massachusetts near Worcester. Rhey had a beautiful white house with wonderfully furnished rooms, hand-made wooden furniture from local craftsmen, three adorable cats, and the friendliest, largest black great dane I have ever seen.

Ashley!

Leica!

Liz and Jerry were the most gracious of hosts. Jerry told us fantastic stories about their travels to Nepal and New Zealand as well as his work on a book about Porschas. Liz's cooking was an absolute delight--especially after we had all been subsisting on Brown cafeteria food for the past two months. The chocolate chip cookies were the perfect mix of crunchy exterior and chewy interior. the ribs were smoky, the salad fresh, and the maple syrup on the pancakes in the morning had been tapped from their very own maple trees.

We spent the hours of daylight there hiking around the house. We climbed around abandoned farms, trekked through the wilderness, and frolicked through the woods as the sun set. When it started to get cold and dark, we went back inside for bittersweet hot cocoa and delicious chili. We did our homework near a roaring fire, roasted marshmallows, and ventured outside at night to gaze up at the stars--the brightest ones I've seen since I went to Montana three years ago. I saw the big dipper for the very first time.

If it sounds picturesque, that's because it was. There were times when I paused, looked around at the people around me, and wondered if this was really happening. was I really in a Architect's Digest-worthy house with my best friends from college, the cutest pets, and amazing food?

I can't wait to go back.

When Danny stole my camera.

EZ cooking, classy dining

Last night, my friends Ezra and Hannah decided to throw an elegant dinner party involving button-down shirts, piano music, and dim lighting. Ezra made delicious food (EZ cooking with EZbaby) from fresh ingredients, and Hannah made a baller macaroni & cheese that even I, a declared hater of cheese, tried and enjoyed.

Oven roasted root vegetables & pan-fried gnocchi with pesto

Nutella & jam make for a very good crepe spread

It was both a classy and messy affair. wine was spilled, nutella was smeared, and there was even an accidental stove fire that set off the smoke detector. Never before have I seen so many well-dressed people bustling around in a tiny dorm building kitchen. I got to wear a dress that showed off the henna wing tattoos on my back, which was extra exciting.

Our elegant solution to the sounding smoke detector

Like most freshman-organized things, there was not enough table space and way too many dishes. But good food & good fun was to be had by all and I had an excellent time.