Letter to Laura

Hey, being pinched for time, I figured I'd post a letter I just wrote Laura because it says a few things fr everyone to read. I haven't had time to explain soem fundamentals, such as the fact that I'm having a good time, let alone the fact that I was dreading coming back. All that got lost in translation and business. So, I'm trying to leave you with something every once in a while! I wish I could write everything down, but that would mean constant writing, and I don't even have enough time for sleep =) so, enjoy


Hey Laura!

I finally have a second to breathe! And of course, should really be spending this time catching up on sleep, hehe. It has been NON STOP for over a week. I have more homework this semester, and on top of that, I'm attempting to do more things outside of school that make me happy, like ballet, and even more awesome, the March on Washington in DC that me and my Dad went to! Yup. It was pretty sweet.

I'm actually having a much better time. Why? Because I decided to. Do you know what I mean? I asked myself, hey, what's the problem? And I couldn't figure it out! So I realized I was causing whatever problem for myself. Not meaning that everything I have to do is awesome, my annoyance last semester was valid, but really, it's all up to me if I enjoy myself or not. I can either worry about my work and have a bad time, or just realize a lot of work is ridiculous and just GET IT DONE and then go dancing, yea? Haha. It works! Who woulda thought?

I am a little worried, however, that I don't see and end, meaning, a resting spot. I'm looking ahead, and it looks to me like the constant work and doing things is never going to end! I'm going to be EXHAUSTED when summer gets here. I'd say Spring Break, but in reality, I'll probably have homework AND I'll be hectically flying home. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to like how much trouble that’s going to be… and the whole point was that last semester I hated being gone for a full 4 months, and a week in the middle breaks it up a bit. But now that I’m settled in and I’ve got everything down, it’s not as crucial. You know, it’s very different come back and having people here that I know. Very different.

Christmas break was awesome! But it all went so fast. It was so good to see everyone and all of my friends. But seriously, I got back and I was so sleepy from the plane ride and I went to my friends room where I had been sleepy the day classes ended, and it literally felt like I hadn’t even left. It was strange! But I’m definitely settled in now, I don’t mind my room or my bed or the fact that I eat the same food every day, mostly because I’m just too busy to notice. And that goes for not seeing everyone at home, too, meaning that I’ll be home again before I know it, so I’m not sad =)

That’s really funny about Peter’s suit… I actually just got an ID and I measured myself when I was writing down my information, and I hadn’t realized I’d grown at least an inch, if not a tiny bit more. It’s been a long time since I’ve measured myself… it was confusing! Haha. But I still put down 5’8” dunno why. Probably the same reason I put down blonde; I used to be. Not so much any more. Light Brown. Oh well, at least I don’t have black hair and put down blonde hehe.

I am so excited for your wedding! AJ’s was really awkward for me because I was only in 8th grade, and that’s just an awkward time in general, you know? But over break I went out shopping with my Mom and I saw the prettiest dress that was hella on sale… and my Mom knows I LOVE dresses but that I don’t really have opportunities to wear them… so we had to think of an excuse. Lo and behold, your wedding! It was PERFECT so thank you! Haha. Plus, it’s exciting to think you’ll be my (sorta) cousin for forever now! Yea I’m only 18, and not that I’m in ANY rush, but soon enough we’ll practically be the same age. And Molly too, I’m looking forward to 4 years not being as much because me and her are already good friends, but we’ll be even closer as she gets older, you know?

I wrote about the March on Washington in my blog, hopefully you can check that out. I didn’t get to write much, but it says something at least. Of course with all this non-existent time, I haven’t been able to write in it, really. Actually, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to post this letter because it says a few things other people in the fam might as well hear too. And I know Grama loves to read it, and I’ve definitely been neglecting it. My Dad flew out and we drove down, and it was SO MUCH FUN hanging out with him and being there! It was a gorgeous day, like 53 degrees out. The days straddling it were 16 and 30, I believe, so how much more perfect can you get?

Anyway, this letter could go on forever because I truly love to write, hehe. But I’ll end it here for both of out sakes. It was great to hear from you! Sorry I couldn’t respond quicker. Write me back, okay?

~Bonnie

A few works...

These are self explainitory. I had to paint a reflection for LCD, and Draw a fabric for Drawing. Thought you might like to see them.

A half million versus… well, twenty…

The Protest yesterday was AMAZING!!! First of all, I took 5 rolls of film, haha. I’m really excited to develop them and see what I got! I’m going to take them to a photo place, if I can find one, and get them all put on CDs so that I can put them online for everyone to see. I figure a lot of them will just be part of a series and not all too interesting standing alone for my photo class, but I’m anxious to see which ones will be good for my critiques in class =D

There were at least a half a million people there, despite what the newspapers and televisions news networks say. Dad’s just about the best estimator there is, and he said a half million was what he could see, let alone the fact that the crowds stretched all around us so far that we couldn’t see, and not counting the people who weren’t there the whole time, people hidden behind buildings, using the bathroom haha. TONS OF PEOPLE! It was amazing! We got there at around 12:00, so we were there for some of the speeches. I wasn’t really listening, but apparently Jane Fonda and Jesse Jackson were there. That’s all I know. And as we were standing around, there was space to move about and such, but after a little while, more and more people just kept coming and it got packed!

I was supposed to meet my group of fellow Pratt SDSers to be a part of the Youth at the protest to show that the youth aren’t just apathetic and to make our presence known, but I never managed to find them though I did find some other youth and Pace SDS kids. The trains were packed going in, and we met a lot of people from the Bay Area and others who were all really excited to know that we were from so far away! There were a lot of characters there… like this guy dressed as Santa with a sign that said “Bring the troop Ho Ho Home.” But you’ll see all that once I’m able to load my 180 pictures online. Dad said that that pretty much means I took a picture every two minutes.

A lot of my pictures are just of signs and of the giant crowd, and some I took up above my head without looking through the lens. But once we started Marching at around 1, I got up onto a platform that was there for the media and got to take some pictures from up above! And some of my best pictures are going to be of the kids. There were so many kids with their own little signs and stuff! That was one of my favorite things.

Right now we’re in the car driving back to NY. We have about an hour left, or a little less. I remembered as we were going through Baltimore on the way there that my friend Jesse lives in Baltimore, so I called her up and we had lunch with her today before we left. It was nice to see her, Baltimore, and have good food.

We made a sign, which you will also see once I get pictures up (and I really don’t know when that will be) that said Stop Lying with a giant Peace sign, because Dad said his biggest problem with this entire thing is all the lies. He hates liars. And we picked up a sign for Tommy that says “Iraq Escalation? Wrong Way” in one of those Wrong Way classics signs. We stayed in a Hotel just outside DC so that we could just take the train in, and that worked out very well. Everyone there was so happy to be there, everyone was so nice and just having a good time. I was nervous that someone would do something stupid, but the whole thing was very peaceful, and I was glad.

I’m really glad Dad came here to go with me because I know he had a really good time, and so did I. It was thrilling to have my first taste of photojournalism, taking pictures of an event, and it was a lot easier than I imagined because so many people were doing the same and nobody cared. I think I definitely got some good ones. I also decided to bring some of my homework with me, which was the best idea ever because otherwise I literally would not have had time to finish. I did an essay and my Drawing homework, which was a long drawing of a crumpled cloth. They both came out fine. I still have two paintings to finish for LCD. We’re doing reflections and optical mixtures. Of course I still have to write all about school and stuff, but that’s not what this entry is about.

Right, the counter protest. There were about 20 people, it was so pathetic. Everyone passing by was like oh, wow, that’s all you could scrounge up? And they just had smirks on their faces, it was rather silly and sad.

But now I’m getting car sick, I can’t do things in the car very well, so I’ll continue this later forsure! Basically, IT WAS AWESOME I had SO MUCH FUN and I was so excited about it and it was all worth it and I hope to be going to many more things like it in the future, so long as bullshit ensues and until we can bring an end to it. There’s more to tell, so I’ll tell more later.

Still no time to write it all...

I am very sad to be going back to school, and I feel badly about that because that'd NOT how I should feel. But I do, I'm sad to leave my friends again and I'm sad that some of them are already gone. I'm just not thrilled about it. Everyone's being so supportive, telling me this semester will be so so much better and reminding me that I'm going to do so many things to have fun... but it's just hard to keep my head up, you know? It makes me very sad that I'm sad because I love life so very much because it's filled with love and passion and fun and friends and laughter and all of those happy things. That's why I'm going to make sure these next few months have as much of that as possible =)

A new beginning...

This was part of am email I was writing to someone, and I figured it would be a good start to getting everyone up to date with everything that's happened. I wish I'd writing as break was going on! But that's okay, I'll just have to sumarize it more beacuse I didn't I want to try my best to write down as much as possible about it, but not tonight, so here's my start.

Humm... I know it is late once again, but not as late, only around midnight. I am going into my old school again tomorrow to visit the Try.U.M.F. program, again. Hehe. But so much is going on right now that I know I can't sleep anyway. Today I spent 5 hours drawing a toy truck for my drawing class, and I feel like I didn't make it as good as I could have, but I didn't feel like it. This is the first step for me in trying to stress less about my work because I almost got straight A's for last semester! And I didn't have a whole lot of time for myself. So I decided that I could make it beautiful, or I could make my drawing decent and receive a passing grade on it. I know I probably should make it better because I know I can and I know I am not satisfied, but at the same time, I'm always this way and I just want to enjoy school more this semester. And what is my teacher going to do anyway? He's going to look at it for no more than 30 seconds, criticize it, and that's the end of it. So spending the 10 hours I could spend instead of the 5 I already have? Does that seem worth it to you? Not really. I still have to draw a self portrait. Those are the hardest things in the whole world to do...

I am very glad that I got to have this month long break for so many reasons! First of all, I would have cracked otherwise. I would have gone crazy! So much work and so much of it so boring! Not seeing any of my best friends, not dancing, reading, baking, seeing my family. And I wouldn't have gotten to see my best friend who I made up with because he was home for his break too. It also gave me a chance to reflect on my choice of school and the fact that I was starting to not like it. I'm not thrilled to go back, but I believe I am almost ready. I managed to switch out of my worst teacher's class, which will make my life that much better. That means that 4 of my teachers are new, and of the two that are the same, one is bearable and the other is wonderful and teaches my favorite class, photography. I needed that change, even if my classes are the same subjects. At least new teachers, yea? And as I have already told you, I will be dancing now, and I also realized that the friends I have made so far at school are few, but actually really great people. I was just really missing my best friends back home and didn't recognize how lucky I was to have found a few really nice people, you know? I need to submerge myself in life, in good fun, in friends, and in my city. I have a friend who lives in Manhattan, about 20 minutes away from me by train, and we did horribly in keeping in touch! But this time, I'll be visiting him and getting to explore the wonderful city I live in now! How many cities are better than New York? How lucky am I? That's what I need to realize! I'm going to need people to constantly remind me to stop what I'm doing and breath in life, and smile from within because of the happy person I am.

Well, as you know, I could go on forever, and I do want to, but I also want to read. I'm currently reading two books! That's not something I normally do, but one isn't a story, it's just interesting ways of thinking about things. If I haven't already said this to you, books are GOLD and I treasure them.

Yay. That's it for now =)