Becoming a "Yes!" Woman (Krishten! Freak Out!)

I would like to preface this post by apologizing for the length of this post. Please do not let the length deter you from reading the post. So give you more incentive to read this post I will tell you right up front that I'm in a movie. Now you have to read the whole thing. Commencing in 3... 2... 1...

My dearest cousin MacKenzie said to me “I want you become a ‘yes’ woman while you're in India.” That was some good advice Mac.

A few days ago, after telegu class, one of the guys in the program, Sam, asked if anyone in the group was interested in going to a lunch with some of his contacts for his research. Sam is researching sustainable agriculture, and as part of that research often visits a small farming community in which the lunch was being held. I wasn’t initially interested, but Hilary made the excellent point that I probably wasn’t going to do my research anyway, so I might as well join her and Sam.

“Okay, yes.”

You know what? I’m glad I went.

It was a fascinating community of radswamis, a non-hindu religion that follows a guru but does have some hindu elements. They believe in not being a burden to society and have created a mostly self-sufficient community. Everyone has jobs that help in supporting and continuing their community. There are multiple farms that everyone will work on in the morning before they go to their jobs. The crops are distributed among the people, and the rest sold. The income from the crops that they sell go back into the farming fund.

There was a distinct difference between this community and the rest of Vizag. The houses, though still in poor condition by American standards, were in much better condition by Indian standards. The streets

India: Week 1

Here are a few lessons I have learned from my first week in India:

1. Time is relative. There is no need to be uptight about your schedule. Its okay to be 15 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, heck even 2 hours late! “Actually tomorrow would work okay too.”

2. Bathrooms are overrated. “Who needs a stall when you can just whip it out right where you are!”

3. Bargain, bargain, bargain. “Okay, 150 rupees sounds fine. But 80 rupees sounds even better!”

4. If you have a tough decision to make, don’t make it. “Should we take down the temple that’s in the way of the road we’re building, or should we just go around it? Lets just not finish building the road.”

5. When driving through traffic, think of everything as a puzzle. “If it fits, go for it.”

6. When someone makes a side-to-side bobblehead motion, it does not mean “I guess” or “sort of”. That is the Indian way of saying, “yes”.

I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in Vizag. I chose to go to India to experience something different than myself, and boy I got what I asked for.

Time has a way of distorting in India. I don’t know how to describe it. Apart from the driving behavior on the roads, pacing is slower, and I don’t always feel like I have to rush from one place to another. After the first day, I felt like I had been here for much longer. But as slow as time is moving, I know that this will be over before I know it.

I read in my book on the history of the Hindus that one of the staples in the hindu beliefs is that if there is one truth, the exact opposite of that truth exists as well. It hasn’t taken long to witness this belief. The hindu religion is really a hodge podge of beliefs, and there are hardly any rigid rules. If an idea sounds good, they accept it. Take for example my house. The outside is neon green, and similar to some European houses I have seen has a lower surface area touching the ground, and stacks high. But it has a very Indian design in its openness and high ceilings, and rooftop access.

Keeping that in mind, I think of the way that we have been treated here. The Indian people have been

Book Arts Take 2

For having put so much money, time, blood (no joke), and love into making books, I find it funny that I've only posted once about it. Since August, my book making skills have really developed and turned into quite an affair. If I had a significant other, I would so leave them for book making. But since I don't, book making is my significant other. Here's a photographic journal of some of the things I have done so far.

Cord Bound:

Left: My journal had too much "melt your eyeballs" pink for my taste, so I took off the old cover and made a new "faux" cord bound book. The cord binding is really an elegant and classy style binding.
Right: Covered completely with leather. I used a transferring trick that I learned from my media experimentation class, and used a little sketch I drew to add more interest to the book cover.

Exposed Spine Bindings:

These are truly my favorite types of bindings. Not only are they practical because they lay flat when open, but they look absolutely beautiful. Real bookbinder candy.
Left (bottom): The next journal I will use when I finish the one shown above. This is the greek stitch, with hand marbled paper I made on the cover. Using a book on Non-Adhesive bindings, I taught myself how to make this stich. I didn't record how long it took to complete this, but the first run through on the first line took about 3 hours.
Middle: The exposed tape binding. This is another great book because if done right, you can flip the front cover behind the back cover like a spiral notebook. It's pretty popular with my roommates.
Right (top): The coptic binding with canvas boards as the cover. I painted the covers myself, and drilled the holes for the thread to go through.

Clamshell box with content book:

As part of my final I had to make a book with content in it, and a box. I turned my portfolio series into a book called "Fall Abstractions". I used the coptic binding, and made a clamshell box to put it in. Before covering, I cut out layers of the book board to make an embossed edge. After covering it, I painted it with gesso (paint prep), and used gouache (a watercolor like paint) to add a little color.

Casebound Collaborative Book:


The other part of my final was to be part of what was called the collaborative book, in which each member of my class would contribute in the making of a content book. The class voted on an ABC Animal book. We were all put onto teams that had designated tasks like design of the pages, making the illustrations, and so on. I was on the box team, were we came up with the design of the box--not how it would be covered but what kind of box, how it would open etc. We each got our own copies of the pages, and the parts to make the book with the case bound binding, and the box.

For the book, I picked out a fabric from the local craft store, and turned it into book cloth by using some adhesive muslin like substance called wonder under, which then changes the fabric to behave more like paper.

For the box, I drilled holes into the box board through the material I used to cover it, then sewed pieces of suede cord onto the board to make leafy/jungle-like designs to coordinate with the animal print I used for the book.

People keep asking how long it takes to make a book. To be honest, I have never kept track from beginning to end. It would scare me to know how long it takes. But it is different with each of the different types of bindings. The time it takes doesn't matter, pardon the cheese, but the result is the fun part of it.

For those who are wondering, I leave on January 4th for India. And for those who are keeping track, that means that I only have 3 days to go. My knotted stomach just turned over.