         
Rachel Jacquescurrent workings:
to do: finish cataloging new photos do something with pics from creston high/country club border carve towne club word stamps get art for fancy towne club stamps (from Neil)–fax to Richmond Stamp Works for a quote membership cards–Jessie is doing framing final class discussion w/ Jules & Zona
sun day fun day :) oi...where to begin? caught the 11 up to creston around noon, my second day with my bike back on the road. it feels good to be so mobile after having to walk to catch a bus. i ride north on the bus with one little boy. the entire time i am feeling like an ass for not saying a proper hello to the bus driver, but instead showing him my student ID and asking if it is okay in its plastic case. what was that again, about trying to interact with strangers? i ask if he has to drive all day or only for a little while, and he tells me this is his last run for the day so it's not bad. the little boy gets off at leonard street, and the driver asks me "so where are you going girl?" i ask if there is a stop south of knapp that i can get off at. we settle on Anne street. he starts to make small talk–notices that i brought my mountain bike, jokes: "have you taken if off any mean jumps lately?" (yes, i did yesterday, actually). he then asks about events at grand valley, like how can he know when speakers are coming (i tell him about the events board). because, he remembers last year he went out there and found out that ted nugent was speaking, so he went to that and that was good. (mmm) he'd like to know when there are more events, etc etc. "oh, i just passed Anne". he asks if i just want to stay on to come back around, probably a 5 minute ride. i say i'm fine with that, then notice that we're about to pass the knapp stop so i ask if i can get off there. he seemed slightly surprised, which didn't make sense since i wanted to get off SOUTH of knapp in the first place. (what is this, 20 questions? let me off the damn bus. "i've got work to do") he asks if i'm a freshman (no, senior...) and he says something like "well! i hope you don't have to beat anybody up". (what? our conversation hasn't been at all hostile, and i thought i was being very friendly in spite of the fact that i like him less and less every second i remain on the bus.) i say something like yeah i hope so too. "well, thanks for the ride, have a happy easter". grab bike from rack and hop on. shudder. and sheltered people worry about the passengers on the buses. i find myself riding alongside the country club, so instead of going to studio i decide to take the bike-derive i've been planning, to explore that borderland between the greens and the streets. i went up every street i could that turned in toward the Club- some were interesting, others not as much. what i really wanted to see was the view from their backyards, but was not about to trespass in people's yards on easter sunday afternoon. I find it interesting that I couldn't see anything of the country club or surrounding lands from the street, but you can tell the view from any house's window gets the lay of the land. my route (will try to make or post a map): east on Kent Hills rd (west of little fence and shrubs that divide it) south on College east on Marietta north on Union east on Kent Hills rd (other side of fence)–>to the cul de sac and back back south on Union east on Spencer north on Emerald west on Sweet north on Fairlane–>followed the curve around to another cul de sac south on Kent View west on Sweet north on Country Club (and back south) east on Washtenaw north on Houseman (and back) found way back to Plainfield The more interesting streets were Kent Hills road and Country Club street. Addresses of note were 749, 741, 738 and 715 Kent Hills–upon looking at our areal photo i see they're among the biggest plots around. If anyone knows who lives there it might be interesting. On less open streets like these I began to concoct stories in my head that would explain my presence there: "I'm trying to find a house my friend and I went to as kids" or when the camera was out: "I'm doing an art project, need pictures of nice neighborhoods"...didn't have to use them but it would have been funny. Other than that I saw a lot of flags–U.S., easter bunny, and one lighthouse flag–and several little lamps at the end of people's driveways. The cars ranged from 15-year old honda civics to shiny new SUVs...so there is sharp contrast in income it seems, no real cohesive neighborhoods of wealthy vs. non. Though Paul is right about east of the Club being a model of suburban development. I mostly just found it boring.
I have been struggling for some time coming up with some personal studio work...though I've had no shortage of (incomplete) ideas about the Rock Shop and about our projects there, the last few weeks have felt slippery to me, and even when I had time to sit and come up with some works they just didn't seem to want to happen. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on these ideas. Maybe not enough though...the lack of structure has allowed me to be less involved than I would like to be. It is only myself I can hold accountable though, so there's no complaining about anyone else. For this class, I am sure that the most inspiration and productive 'work' has to come from the space itself. Also from the others in the class...it's the bouncing ideas off of each other that has gotten me excited, and when we collaborate on stuff it seems much more meaningful and worthwhile. I'm just realizing that to feel our work is meaningful, and to keep a sustained interest I need to work with others a lot more. (It has proven so hard for me to get to the shop outside of class time, which disappoints me. But enough moping, cuz I have work to do!) goals (for the sake of posting rather than writing in my book)
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