<p>Been wondering where Bears is too… D has asked for a Home Depot card for Christmas. They just had a art history midterm, and a 2D midterm project coming up. She was sick the day the prof explained the project, so she got most of the info from a fellow classmate, and will get more on Tuesday when she has the class. Hopefully its not due then!</p>
<p>Hi guys.
I heard from Bears and she will be back but it will be a few more weeks. There was a misunderstanding on another section of CC that got her in hot water.
I told her to stick with us on the art forum. Guess they couldn’t intuit her humor through the words.
I’m up at RISD for parent’s weekend. H and I drove up yesterday amid a crisis with our house sale, feeling really on the edge. I’m ending this day invigorated by the atmosphere here (the weather isn’t hurting). We met our son’s drawing teacher who is like a loving Yoda, hung out in the Nature Lab looking at bug heads through a microscope and my husband is down at the dorm workspace right now with my son and his buddies finishing up a comic he is working on. The library here is a temple with the most extensive collection of art and design books in one place. I though my husband was going to move in.
S is doing very well, he is in great spirits with a little more acne which lets me know there is some partying going on…I know he went out dancing at a club last night until pretty late and we didn’t see him until the afternoon today. But I also know he is working hard and I can’t begrudge him his let down time.
Tomorrow there will be a bike ride to what is called the RISD Farm which is actually a beach??? on an inlet. There will be participatory crafts (knitting, ceramics etc) all day. This is really my kind of vacation.
I’m glad to be able to hear about the various kid’s and parent’s experiences so far. I have picture in my mind for everyone.
Ciao!</p>
<p>Wow, Bears in trouble? Gone for several more weeks? That’s terrible. Thanks Drae for letting us know and for keeping some of her favorite threads alive. We should all continue with that until she returns. </p>
<p>It sounds like a fun day at RISD. I wonder how the kids will handle knitting. More fun for all of you! MICA’s parents weekend is sometime in February so no beach for us. Maybe we’ll make snow sculptures.</p>
<p>Is there anyway to petition CC for clemency? BandD is an essential part of this forum. Are we just more laid back and accepting of each others eccentricities…definition of a forum for art students and their parents? Some of the other forums have some people who take themselves WAY too seriously…for fun I sometimes stop in the hs class of 2013 forum…talk about helicopters gone wild. It makes me feel a lot less overbearing just to see how extreme they can get…the anxiety over the PSAT next week is just amazing. Some parents literally write in the plural form “we” when talking about 10th grade English, etc. Let BandD know that it is getting downright dull here.</p>
<p>Drae… I know you must be enjoying this gorgeous weekend. I am sorry we didn’t go to parents’ weekend. But, doubtful that CMU has activities like RISDs…I saw they had lectures by a Nobel Prize winner, some international stuff, and a pretty edgy play …as well as men’s cross country meet and a soccer game. I have to admit, it just doesn’t seem like parents’ weekend without the football…I indulged myself yesterday and watched the SEC games on TV while reading a book on the whole SEC history etc during the interminable advertisement time outs…I didn’t realize how much of an impact was made in my formative years watching gator games with my parents and as soon as I was 12 I started selling cokes at the stadium…5 cent profit per coke. I would clear $8 or $10 and feel like a rich woman! Yet, it must have also had some type of deep psychological impact because it was flashback city watching yesterday…that roar of the crowd when the Gators were trying to hold them on 3rd down…it all came back to me…a brutal and stupid game but it is weird how it still can get to you…the LSU-FL game was just thrilling yesterday. Too good to even be disappointed in the outcome.</p>
<p>im guessing no petitioning and we should leave it alone until nov. 2nd so we dont p$ss anyone off. </p>
<p>fam- you sports nut you…but this reminds me of an interesting point. now that my kid isnt around, i am actually thinking about things other than him. there should be an empty nest commercial: THIS IS YOUR BRAIN OFF KIDS…i suddnely am noticing all the clutter, all the iteresting magazines i have subscriptions to, and so on. bought a play subscription, i am typing this note with the end of a pencil becasue i painted my nails because i stopped biting them. ANYBODY ELSE DOING NEW STUFF?</p>
<p>Does cleaning count?</p>
<p>I hestitate to say anything, but I had such a problem with BandD that I had to block her. At some point, she began following me to other subboards on CC and making nasty comments about me unrelated to whatever was being discussed. I chose not to say anything here because I know that many of you are friends, but the ongoing harrassment was such that several people messaged me privately to ask why this person was constantly trying to make rude comments to and about me. My impression is that I am not the only person that BandD behaved this way to – there are several other posters here on the Fine Arts Majors that expressed that concern, and yall basically ignored them. </p>
<p>I understand that yall took BandD as just being humorous, but I and some others found the humor often mean spirited and with racist overtones. BandD is one of the main reasons I stopped reading Fine Arts so much. This may be a matter of personal taste and regional differences – my background is such that I find repeated comments about “you’re so rich blah blah blah” or “your child is obviously so smart” to be uncouth. Over time, it amounts to a kind of subtle bullying. Unfortunately, it was clear that it was the accepted norm on Fine Arts. </p>
<p>This is the first time I’ve ever mentioned it publically, because I was trying to be polite about it, but I have to say that based on my experiences, my guess is that elsewhere, people were not as willing to ignore BandD’s poor behavior as yall have been.</p>
<p>TrinSF,
I understand what you’re saying and for a few months I felt the same way about BandD. Last April my daughter was admitted to the her top choice and I was so excited for her that I posted something exuberant like “She got in”. In my excitement I didn’t stop to consider that not everyone would find that news as joyous as I did. BandD took an instant dislike to me and dogged me through many of my posts. I didn’t like that she did that and after some posting battles I stopped posting here for awhile.</p>
<p>I kept reading, and to my surprise, and I found that BandD had knowledge to offer in the area of fine art colleges. Some times you have to sift through a lot of nonsense but it’s in there. I have learned a few things from her and that after all is why I come to this site. I come here to learn and to sometimes offer advice when I can and I try to just skip past the posts that I feel don’t help.</p>
<p>I could see her pushing someone too far and/or causing some to leave but at the end of the day I would support her right to post here. (Even though she still doesn’t like me :))</p>
<p>Best,
Wheaty</p>
<p>Wheaty: Yeah, I remember when she did that – it was one of the reasons I had to ignore her. And I don’t know that she should be banned from CC, largely because I have seen a lot more obnoxious behavior in folks who never get called on it (particularly some of the many insufferable know it all teens on the site!) I think the reason I posted is because it seemed like it wasn’t okay to say that there have been some pushing people too far moments.</p>
<p>Trinf and Wheaty…I don’t have any problem with you expressing your concern about a poster’s comments. There are posters that I have run afoul of and been chased from various forums… I never felt that I needed to report but there are some forums that I just avoid because of personality conflicts. </p>
<p>On the other hand, it makes me uncomfortable to have both of you address the readers of the forum about this issue when BandD has been banned (and therefore can’t put her side up). It seems a bit distasteful and unfair. So…until she’s back, I think this should be tabled…</p>
<p>Back to Switter’s interesting “after the launch” question…YES! even with one left in the nest, I find that I am doing things differently. I just bought 2 season tickets for the spanish language theatre…we used to go when we could get the kids to come with us (rarely) but there were more conflicts with two kids. Now with two tickets I will go with H and when he is traveling D will have to be my date. More importantly I spent part of this weekend buffing up the old resume and thinking about trying for a new job with more POWER!!! (followed by evil laugh…). No…seriously it would be nice to have a job that actually produced something other than more paperwork and statistics and perhaps made a difference for someone somewhere…I had a really interesting job when I first came to DC that paid poorly but had lots of travel and I felt useful…I gave it up because traveling all the time was not working out. Now, post launch of one and anticipating the second, I can think about going back to that kind of work. Seeing the positive changes of my kid leaving home helps even as I occasionally wallow in sadness for the end of a phase in my life…Perhaps I need the manicure tomorrow…I think I will borrow some of that violent red shade my D has (husband refers to it as “puta” red)…it will be interesting to see if that slips by the censors…</p>
<p>fineartsmajormom: I don’t know that I was trying to create discussion about it. As I said, I already understood that you and others didn’t want to hear about it, then, now or ever. I guess I just assumed that if you had a problem with it, you all would have said something; since you didn’t, I took that as tacit support. As far as BandD, I have her on ignore; we’re not ever going to have a conversation about it, here or elsewhere. If you would like, I can delete the comments or request them deleted, but that seems to be more “distasteful and unfair” than being open about it. After all, I am certain that BandD can read all of this right now – all she has to do is not log in and view CC anonymously. </p>
<p>All of that said, I’m fine going back to not reading CC much.</p>
<p>Trin and Wheaty, I’m sorry for your experiences. I found Bears a bit scary at first (sorry Bears, if you’re seeing this…) but learned to appreciate her wisdom and humor. I’ve never had the feeling that anyone was stalking or harassing me on CC, but I can imagine it’s not a good thing. I find that CC generally has a much more civilized tone of discussion than most internet forums. Let’s just all do our best to remain open minded and tolerant of each others opinions and experiences. </p>
<p>Fammom - yes, the censors are clearly not bilingual! Congratulations on your newfound adult life. I feel like it’s taking me a bit longer (D3 is pretty high maintenance when it comes to homework help), but I can see the light coming. Then again, H recently plopped down on the bed with the dogs and said, “Honey, in a few years, this is what you’ve got”. I was scared. Then we both laughed about it. Maybe we’ll go clubbing again and hang out in dive bars, who knows?</p>
<p>green- we had a plopped on the bed with the animals moment too, three dogs and a cat, which is what happens when the parent of of an only child 1) works from home and 2) gets broody. Only our nest is empty NOW. My H has started Spanish lessons. </p>
<p>But the weird thing is, I feel like Im smarter than I was, even just a few weeks ago. Like the me I was before I was a mom didnt go away entirely, just into hibernation. But also, and maybe its because I was living with a creative person, I feel like I took my smarts from pre-kid years, mixed it with some creative influence, and now I am actually having some interesting thoughts. Which of course I am not articulating well now…</p>
<p>Trin-</p>
<p>Im sorry you had your feelings hurt, and sorry that you thought any other thread readers were complacent because of silence. Im suspecting most folks didnt notice, or understand. I enjoyed your input on these threads. I wouldnt take anything as tacit support. Im thinking in the future if something feels hurtful, we could call each other on it immediately?</p>
<p>Switters:
I posted this once awhile ago about the kid and school stuff, at which point dear Bears tried guessing and guessing to no avail. I had to make a deal with the progeny that I could only post here if I did not reveal any of the progeny’s personal information so I’m trying to stick to that deal. I felt it was a fair request especially since said child had to put up with a major helicoptering parent for some 18 years. (That’s partly LOL and partly true).</p>
<p>Yeah, it seems pretty quiet around here but I guess what we’re doing is kicking it into high gear work wise. AND I have more space to work from (work from home) since I have reorganized the newly freed up (to a degree) room. But I actually took photos of where everything was so it can quickly be restored by Thanksgiving break. I’ve read tons of advice from shrinks and such about not cleaning out that bedroom too soon so I’m going to use it when it’s free but try to keep it looking very home-y and familiar when the breaks come. And I’m happy to do that…</p>
<p>OK…want to revive the thread. How are the launchees and homebodies doing now that midterms and parent weekends have passed? My S took his long weekend/fall break to sleep, apparently, and then sleep some more. He then was horsing around outside and promptly had another accident on Sunday…sprained not one, but two?, ankles and may have a fracture in one. He wants to wait to get the xray but this time I asked him to go to a hospital that takes our insurance. The first one was emergency room, so insurance will cover it, but a standard visit with xray needs to be in the plan/network. So…he says he has crutches and ace bandages from the clinic and he will go to the hospital if he still has pain tomorrow. I just worry what kind of damage he can do to himself in the woodshop or welding room! He assured me, again, that alchohol was not a factor in the bizarre set of accidents. He said that the students that volunteer with EMS (pre-med students) are still exchanging stories about the art student that brained himself dodging a nut and now they have more material for hilarity. Apparently, he is just adding evidence to support the conventional wisdom that art students are total dorks (and clumsy).</p>
<p>D is still doing midterms (ex. empty out 2 ink pens on a drawing), but I think will be done after this week. No parents weekends, which is too bad, but don’t think we could both afford to go anyway, and H would pout if I went without him, so it’s just as well. Another injury, she cut her finger but “it was on an angle, so no stitches needed”. Don’t know what that had to do with it, but in one text she asked H to send skin glue, then the next one to never mind, she got some kind of bandage. At least she didn’t send me a picture!</p>
<p>I flied to NYC to visit my D. We stay together for a whole weekend. Friday night and Saturday whole day is all fine. Late Sunday afternoon, D started to feel sad and she said “This weekend is SO FAST …”, We talked a lot … She cried Sunday night and Monday morning before I left. She said to me “Maybe I just miss the time to be a kid around mom,…”
She is busy, but it looks like she still keeps get all done day time and have a whole evening to go to YMCA to run 5 to 6 miles everyday and read some books to relax. Someday she do Yoga instead of running.
Don’t know a lot about her grade, I just wish she can be fine.
She enjoys the Bible group of Cooper and she gets to the meetings twice a week. haven’t settle down on her Sunday’s worship place yet. She is going to try the one I recommended the coming Sunday.
Feel it is a hard adjustment for them and she told me her roommates miss home also.
I had a good time with BAndD and we even visited dome gallery together!</p>
<p>Loveblue…so nice that your daughter misses you but still moving forward in her new life. I am so amazed that she has the discipline to make time for excercise and care for her spiritual side also. She seems to be very balanced and mature. I wish S could have some of her good vibes rub off on him long distance. </p>
<p>Also, I think it is super nice that you met with BandD and the cc connection is more than virtual. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about being homesick. Your D’s right that she suddenly can appreciate mom time when you are there and it must be a comfort to know that winter break is not too far away. I suspect that even my very-ready-to-leave-home sophomore in HS will actually get homesick. Last night, after watching an episode of Lost with me (we never saw it on tv and are renting it from library) she came to ask me to rub her back as she fell asleep like when she was a baby…the Lost episode was a little scary, apparently, and so there I am a head shorter than my amazon daughter sitting on her bed so that she isn’t scared of the dark! I pointed out that should we ever have intruders, she is now the go-to person when H is out of town…actually, perhaps she should just be the go-to person since she is the one with the hockey stick in her room.</p>
<p>I dropped D2 back at MICA after her fall “break”. One class had extensions for everyone, so she still had work to do. Strange, but wonderful, to see her sitting on the floor in her bedroom fleshing out paintings that she’s been working on for weeks. </p>
<p>Fammom, thanks for reviving this thread. How did your son manage to sprain both ankles? I can’t even imagine a way except for maybe jumping down a flight of stairs. I was afraid of something like this for D2 because she is very accident prone, but so far, knock on wood, no visits to the orthopedist. I don’t know how she, or anyone else, could handle life on the third floor with crutches, no elevator, and giant projects to carry around. Yikes.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to worry about the welding lab. Sometimes, when people perceive an activity as dangerous, they pay attention and don’t get hurt. Then they leave the room and walk into a wall or something while they’re day dreaming.</p>
<p>Loveblue, it’s wonderful that you got to meet Bears. We should all have a reunion someday. I agree about just wanting our children to be fine. They can be very hard on themselves and pursuing art is not an easy path.</p>
<p>Redbug, I hope your D’s finger is OK. May all injuries heal quickly and cleanly!</p>