i’ve been rediscovering ward’s. this small but well stocked independent grocery store in gainesville carries everything from organic nut butters to oreos. (and while i haven’t bought any oreos there i appreciate that option!) on the topic of sweet and delicious foods, though…the other day i picked up 8 ears of corn for 2 bucks. just tossed them in the oven at 350° for thirty minutes or so, still in the husk. afterward i shucked them and threw em in the fridge in a ziploc for the rest of the week. well, obviously i ate a few right out of the oven. this corn was ridiculously tender and sweet on it’s own. sure i’m totally down to mangia some roasted corn on the cob with butter and salt and herbs, but left to my own devices i just really enjoy it plain.
photo of a photo, snapped from the facebook of stephanie burns.
i spent the first 18 years of my life in pretty much the same place, most of it in the same house. but being the child of immigrants, was raised with this idea of other places i might call home. i think this upbringing really impacted the way i’ve lived the second half of my life, often moving, creating communities everywhere i’ve gone.
tonight i was looking at a friend’s photos on facebook. (i snapped this with my phone off the computer screen) she and her partner just took a trip to europe and one of their stops was in florence, italy. of all her amazing pics, this kind of random street scene, with closed up shops (maybe it’s on the ponte vechhio? i’ll have to ask her…) really gave me a big shot of nostalgia.
as much as i want to go new places i want SO MUCH to go back to the places i’ve been. i want to keep recycling my experiences somehow. learning a new place and then leaving then returning. returning makes everything feel new AND familiar.
i don’t know– i’ve never been one to go somewhere having done research, practiced the language, or any of that. i love how the urgency to communicate necessitates learning, wondering around, having to ask for directions, strangers sharing their time and advice.
as much as i loved learning renaissance art history in florence, the things i remember most are…..
…the lady at the train station telling me to stop waiting in line so patiently. because obviously, you will never get to the front if you wait, you kind of have to push your way forward.
borrowing a stranger’s cell phone to book a spot at a hostel–as the train rolled to a stop in that city’s station—and jumping out of the train on a whim to visit a new city.
after 8 months of living a somewhat subsidized life (via student loan money) i hit a financial wall. all the sudden i found myself with bills up the wazoo and no money to pay them. omg, i had to find a job!
in gainesville.
kind of the land of way too much supply and not enough demand (job candidate-wise).
i had been putting aps in at the hospital all semester, picking up shifts at planned parenthood and the sweetwater branch inn (as banquet staff) but the hospital wasn’t calling me and with out student loan cash i wasn’t making ends meet. i mean, the pp here isn’t even open on saturday! (hitherto my bread and butter day as a contract employee.) so i hustled. i EVEN wrote a resume specifically for reception. (i hate making new job specific resumes.) the first call back i got was for a martial arts school in jonesville, which is about a million miles away as far as i was concerned, not bikable (at least not according to MY definitition of the word bikable) and a hot BUS mess away. the second call back was way better. (thank goodness, i didn’t want to write a COVER LETTER!-seriously) small, locally owned plumbing business needing a dispatcher. i went for the interview and got it. there’s even a bike path (not a lane but an actual shady path) pretty much the whole 6 miles between it and my house. in the weeks since i started working here i also got a car (another hot mess for another time) which helps (kind of).
next week i start a fourth job (yes FOURTH) working as a studio assistant for nan smith. i’m so happy to work with and learn from an amazing artist for a little while this summer.
so that’s what i have been up. most of my inspiring fellow clay folk seem to be gallivanting off to haystack, arrowmont, penland and lots of other legendary locales (i.e. the bay area) but i’m not complaining! i’ve been pretty lucky to get to live a life focused on the pursuit of dreams for the last few years. now that i’ve accomplished one of my big goals (get accepted to grad school–oh, have i not mentioned that??) i can handle a few months being studio-free, working behind a computer, and staying in one place.
buuutttt all those facebook pics do make a me a LITTLE envious of course:)!
