silent retreat

UPDATE: THE DISTURBING ARTWORK IS GONE!!! Do the college powers that be read my blog? Is this about me in any way?!??!? Or is this an act of vandalism? Will the provost send out an email about the "Silent Witness" program again? Oh, I so hope so....


I was wondering why I had been feeling so calm, relaxed, and happy (despite a bout of the flu) for the past 10 days or so and then I remembered: my mother (and sister) were on a 10-day silent retreat. That ended yesterday. When my mother called, I asked her how it went and she said, "Well, when we got there, your sister had a bad case of the backdoor trots. But by the time we left, she was cured!" So there you have it, the cure for diarrhea = silence.

In other news, I have a Maryland driver's license!!! Turns out that the reason they wouldn't give me one the first time I went to the Motor Vehicle Administration was because I asked that my Maryland name be McLovin'. Which isn't consistent with my passport information. Live and learn.

But! That's not the true MVA miracle. Here's the awesomeness: so I got my license and had to go home with the task of securing MD car insurance and a notarized bill of sale from Crowfoot Honda in Calgary and a bunch of other bullshit that I wasn't feeling too optimistic about getting. And I was going to have to pay an excise tax of 6% of the total value of the car and blah blah blah. And this all had to be done by Oct 6 because that's when our temporary street parking pass expired and we need MD registration to get a new parking pass. The situation was dire, friends.

But, like a fire alarm in the middle of French class, like finding that last roll of toilet paper hidden in the back of the cupboard beneath the bathroom sink, news arrived that I was saved!!! A PARKING SPACE OPENED UP IN THE APARTMENT BUILDING PARKING LOT!!! Oh yeah. I won't tell you the oppressive amount that effer costs us per month (the amount rhymes with "done plundered plenty plucking scholars") but it somehow is worth every single penny. No more needing to move the car because the west side of the one way streets get cleaned Tuesday mornings, no more circling the neigborhood for hours looking for a space at 6pm, no more fear of losing the parking space if we go somewhere at 3pm, and no more feeling my life drain away from me at the MVA!!! Thank you Balto gods and goddesses! Thank you! This is life changing.

In other news, I took a picture of the fucked up art on offer at the college campus.


Yeah, that's a wooden person hanging from a tree. Yeah, the person is green and there's no noose or anything. But let me just go on record with this statement: there should not be a representation of ANYONE hanging from a tree on any college campus anywhere in this fucking country, especially not in this state and especially not at a supposed liberal arts college. At least not without a lot of contextual explanation which is definitely lacking in this case. Am I over-reacting?? Am I failing to see the funny/charm/subversive commentary?? As far as I can tell, no one pays the thing any mind, it's just another piece of campus art that's been scattered around the grounds.

I had to show it to my co-conspirator officemate because she didn't believe it when I told her about it. Upon seeing it, she said, "It is not easy being green."

I'm going to have to do some research on this thing to see what it's actually about.