Apocalypse?

A full view is probably best for this, otherwise the text is kind of hard to read. This image is a part of my final project for my Photo III class. Our teacher let us take pictures of whatever we wanted, and so I decided to continue with the abandoned places theme. To add a personal twist, I wanted to see if I could manipulate my photos to depict what the world may look like after some sort of apocalypse... It's in the spirit of The Road which is a truly haunting book. Pick it up, if you get a chance. :) The Farmer's Wife introduced me to this location-- it's a beautiful house, despite its advanced stage of decay. The writing on the wall was added in photoshop. I do find the graffiti on abandoned places to be a fascinating subject in itself, but this house didn't have any to display. I didn't have the heart to really deface it, so I had to go to the computer to do my dirty work. I think it came out quite nicely!

Evening Hawk

"Evening Hawk" by Robert Penn Warren

From plane of light to plane, wings dipping through
Geometries and orchids that the sunset builds,
Out of the peak's black angularity of shadow, riding
The last tumultuous avalanche of
Light above pines and the guttural gorge,
The hawk comes.

              His wing
Scythes down another day, his motion
Is that of the honed steel-edge, we hear
The crashless fall of stalks of Time.

The head of each stalk is heavy with the gold of our error.

Look!  Look!  he is climbing the last light
Who knows neither Time nor error, and under
Whose eye, unforgiving, the world, unforgiven, swings
Into shadow.



         Long now,

The last thrush is still, the last bat
Now cruises in his sharp hieroglyphics.  His wisdom
Is ancient, too, and immense.  The star
Is steady, like Plato, over the mountain.



If there were no wind we might, we think, hear
The earth grind on its axis, or history
Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar.

2008?

How is it already 2008? Ever since elementary school, I've used the numbers 08 as a part of my login ID to get on the computers since it is the year that I graduate from high school. In this way logging onto the school computers has almost been like a countdown of the time I have left here. Amazing. June will be here before I know it, and then no more high school. Off to college I go. Scary!

Anyway, I know I've been horrible at updating this blog. One of my goals this year is to do a better job. So check back often!

Paris

It's been a good few days since I've posted anything. This is an older picture, taken in Paris. I enjoy playing with the hues in photoshop :)

Seeing Double?

Today I skipped school (with parental permission!) and went downtown again with my mom and some of our friends. Surprisingly, it wasn't too busy considering the holiday season is literally just around the corner. We ate lunch in the Walnut Room at Macy's, formerly known as Marshall Fields. Like always, the tree was stunning, but I never managed to snap a decent picture of it. The hustle and bustle of getting to and from the train station made it hard to stop and take some really serious photographs, but I did manage to catch this reflection shot while the other women took a bathroom break. The city is beautiful this time of year. It was rather overcast today, so all the Christmas lights were aglow. Stunning. Simply stunning.

Apparently tonight we're supposed to get a big ice storm. Do me a favor and pray for a school cancellation. :)

Always Take the Snow Day

On Thursday a close friend of mine attempted to take her life. Luckily, she admitted to this, and she is now in an institution where doctors and psychiatrists can help her. The whole situation was horribly shocking; I never saw it coming, and I feel extremely guilty for that. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for kids 15 to 24 years old. That's so wrong. At that age, we still have our whole lives in front of us. I can't even comprehending having a desire to cut it short.

Yesterday was Friday, and around ten that morning I was sitting in English class. We were discussing Dandelion Wine, which has several characters who realize the magnificence of life throughout the novel. Fittingly, we started talking about how beautiful life is. My teacher made the comment that it is so great because it is so short. Think about it- the fact that we only have maybe 90 or so years to explore the earth and all it has to offer makes the concept of life seem a lot more important. If we lived for thousands of years, the idea of living would lose its luster. The fact that our time on this planet is so finite is what makes it so unbelievably amazing. As humans, we never know how long we have on this planet. Something could happen, and we may not be around to see tomorrow. It's so important to always live your life to the fullest.

"That's why," my teacher began, "you always take the snow days. A lot of the time the faculty and students alike complain that they're a hassle because you have to make them up in the summer. But the truth is guys, something could easily happen and summer might never come. Always, always take the snow days."

Galaxies