Santa Barbara

The sky has been brown for days. A murky, unsettling brown that covers the horizon and blocks out the sun, which trickles through as bloody orange rays, sometimes split by the treetops into shafts of swirling ash. There are no stars. The heat is stifling even though it is near the end of October, with dry, wilting air rubbing blackened fingers over every attainable surface. Nothing is ever clean. Air filters are clogged and choking. Workers sweep piles of ash with unrepentant vigor and no matter how hard they push soot off the sidewalks and into the street, the currents of malicious wind circumvent their efforts and cover them with silt for the effort. Charred earth rests in weary piles next to houses and stairways like snow drifts after an apocalypse. There is no safe way to breathe. Lungs fill with acidic air as Santa Barbara, as California burns into the ocean. Some of us wait to see the steam rise from the battle, almost certain that the flames will reach into the waves and stifle them, too. People watch a blackened sky for some glimmer of starlight, in the hopes that the ashes will move on, from ashes to dust, so that we can begin again.

First Year Award

Last Friday I was invited to a lunch with the Provost and several faculty via a relatively enigmatic email promising further information upon arrival at the specified restaurant. Once we got there and saw our fellow students, for the most part individuals that I respect and am friendly with, we were seated in a private room and served behind a closed door. During the lunch it was explained that we (six of us, including myself) were nominated by the faculty and voted to be assets to the classroom, to our fellow students, and to Brooks as an Institution. We were presented with plaques bearing our name, the month and year of the award, and a ceramic tile with the representation of the Brooks Institute Gate of Montecito, with the phrase "Gateway to a Photographic Career" scripted beneath the image. We discussed our goals, the parts of the school that worked and things we were concerned about. We discussed where photography is going and had the opportunity to chat with our provost and a handful of the Still Photography department faculty. One of which was a personal favorite of mine. I haven't ever had him as an instructor, which I intend to remedy someday, but I have been working as a TA for him for the past four months. I was honored and proud to be at the table, and humbled that such an astonishing group of people would think so highly of me. I intend to do everything I can to positively represent Brooks Institute now and in the future, as a student, as a TA, and hopefully eventually as an instructor. My life will truly come full circle when I can sit at that same table on the other side and grin across at a student I am proud of, just as our instructors did for us.

TV

If you haven't watched Life on NBC, you should. It is clever, engaging, well written, acted, and directed. The protagonist is not only well crafted and incredibly interesting, he is sharp, edgy, and brilliantly portrayed.

The Bionic Woman is eh. The only elements keeping me interested are STARBUCK (AAAAHHHHH) and the hot "trainer."

That is all I have to say about that.