First Day Back In Seminar with Dawoud Bey and Alison Carey

Well, we are back in session after about five weeks away. I was busy trying to get work done for my candidacy resubmission so, for me, it feels like I never left!

I have a fairly packed schedule this semester. As I have noted in previous posts, there are two semesters here (at least for the Photography MFA program) where the student is required to take three classes (12 credits) instead of the normal two. I have decided that I want to get that second third-class semester out of the way now so that next year, my third year, when I no longer have to meet for seminar class on Fridays, I can spend a lot of my time making my own work.

However, three classes is a fairly arduous load, especially considering that I am required to write my thesis this semester in addition to continuing to make a lot of my own work.

Right now, my schedule looks like this: I continue to have graduate seminar (also known as crit) every Friday from 10am-4pm. This semester, we have Dawoud Bey and Alison Carey co-teaching the class. I know Dawoud is a talker (although, he says great things), so I am assuming the classes will be lengthy. I know that he is also planning on doing a number of field trips. Also, our visiting artist lecture series is somewhat back in the mix, and I know we will be having a visitor already on Friday for our first day.

Then there is Thesis Writing. Columbia is interesting in the sense that they make you write your thesis when you still have more than a year left. The other thing is that your thesis is not actually about the work you are making but rather about issues in art and society that revolve around (and inform) the work you are making. It’s about a 30-page paper, which doesn’t seem like it will be too big of a deal.

Then, there is my extra class. I am fairly excited about this one. Moral Philosophies in Pop Culture. Sounds Great! Since I am a graduate student and will be taking this class with undergraduate students, I will be doing a number of presentations. These presentations will all revolve around illustrating philosophical ideas using various episodes of the TV show Battlestar Galactica. Like I said, this will be great and hopefully quite informative.

In addition to all that, I am also the TA for a history course. I am excited for this as well and will hopefully get to play an active role in the class.

Ready. Set. GO!