just a little hodge podge of thoughts

on the agenda for today: 1. susan boyle 2. carrie prejean 3. the beginning of painting 4. more street performers

1. so by now you have probably all heard of susan boyle - the gal on britain's got talent. she blew away the audience. but, what's bothering me is that it's not really because she is such a great singer. she is a great singer, but it's because everyone thought she was so horrible to begin with. is anyone else struck by the thought that she's being repeatedly insulted as people keep talking about how astonished they are by her? are we saying that only beautiful people have talent? yes. and of course that's what happened, she was very much pre-judged, we are a very critical people. sad.

2. something i'm really impressed by is this, which is a video of carrie prejean responding to a question on the miss usa pageant. she was very courageous in expressing her views on gay marriage. wow, so difficult in that situation with so many watching, and knowing that there would be a terrible backlash. i'm an instant fan.

3. here's my little tiny set-up for my painting. it's difficult! i'm supposed to copy the picture standing up on the right. it looks easy, right? just 3 lines and 3 blots. but i did it so many times in the studio with him and there was always something wrong - too fast, too slow, don't push the brush, too thick, too thin, not close enough, too vertical, not vertical enough. it's a lot to be thinking about. love it!

4. my poor students. sometimes i look out the window during class and notice things and get completely distracted. (luckily they think it's cute) today, it was this dude. i have no idea what he's doing out there. while i was at it i thought i'd snap a shot of our friendly neighborhood advertisement bear. i don't know what she's selling. living in a big city - it's quite an experience!

i think she's sad that no one's talking to her or buying her stuffs. *sniff, sniff*