moons & junes & ferris wheels

thebloomsburygroup: 34 Paradise Road, Richmond, London, where...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:50:54 -0500

34 Paradise Road, Richmond, London, where Virginia and Leonard Woolf founded the Hogarth Press in 1917. (Wikimedia Commons.)

Visited this very spot while abroad in London

How many Mount Holyoke students does it take to change a lightbulb?

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:46:27 -0500

bokugairu:

One—she calls a Smithie to do it.

buddhism, the beats, and the making of the counterculture

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:28:00 -0400

One of my classes that i am taking is actually infiltrating my social and personal life in a way that will (i hope) make a permanent impact on my development intellectually and just….as a person. this is rare. I usually enjoy my classes and often glean some sort of lesson or meaning from the readings, but my religion course this semester - buddhism, the beats, and the making of the counterculture is wonderfully going beyond that. i am taking the class with 2 of my friedman roommates, and out of pure inspiration from seeing the film Howl in class last week, we decided to have a poetry reading in our apartment. because smith is so intense both socially and academically, it is sometimes hard to find a way to merge the two. the people that came that evening really seemed to appreciate the mix of art and conversation, and much of the night was filled with sweet acoustic music by two of our friends. we’re going to try to make this happen more often - it is now much in demand. woohooo!

Ginsberg (Played by James Franco in Howl) & Orlovsky

from our very own evening of poems & music

Fall break this year — Montreal! Four of my best friends...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:08:46 -0400

Fall break this year — Montreal! Four of my best friends and I ventured to good old Canada last year for fall break and decided a second adventure was in order for this year. So we found a wonderful host, Angel, stayed in his beautiful apartment in the center of Montreal, and saw so much of the city in just three days. Looking back it’s hard to sort the details out because we did so much, but some main experiences were : basement bollywood dance lessons, capoeira in the park, projection screen warehouse party, napping in the sunshine, poutine, reggaeton dance breaks, our favorite bar from last year revisited, late night conversations and early morning sunshine.

Now, I am back at Smith - back to being soo busy! I guess here I should apologize for my lapse in blog posts, but let me tell you - the first day of classes immediately pulled me back into the whirlwind that is my life at smith - the life I LOVE the most, although it is crazy. now for the next few months of this semester i am juggling four difficult classes, voice lessons, planning my senior recital, a cappella rehearsals and performances, giving interviews at admissions, volunteering at a local behavioral health ward, and of course being back with all of my beautiful friends and fully experiencing this energetic and explosive and wonderful senior year.

things i LOVE about the Noteables.

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:31:00 -0400

I really really REALLY miss the smith college noteables, aka my obsession. The Noteables is what takes up most of my time at Smith, but I love it. Since I was abroad last semester, it will be almost a full year in Sept. since I’ve sang with the group and I miss it ohsomuch!

so why are we sooo irresistibly cool?

1. we ain’t a pack of girls.

we get wild. we sing like nobodys biznaz. we were the first a cappella group at smith to use vocal percussion, AND the first to feature a soloist on a song recorded with a male vocalist. now all the other groups do this as well, but weee started it! so yeah, we are pretty bossay.

2. we are great hosts.

we host male a cappella groups to come sing at our gigs with us throughout the year, and we always provide fantastic entertainment, hilarity, and a cappella bonding during and after the gigs. often by the end of the night both groups are dancing wildly and profusely sweating in someone’s tiny single, half of the people jumping on the bed to save floor space. don’t tell pubsafe.

3. we make mad albums.

we put out an album at LEAST every other year, and record every. single. year. this means long hours in the recording studio with our infamous album producer MARK…who built his studio in an old cow slaughterhouse but that’s besides the point…and this also means lots of moolah. which we usually convince smith college to fund.

4. we frequently are harbored as fugitives.

smith housing often decides to just NOT house the a cappella groups during senior week, even though we sing at illuminations, an event for seniors during commencement weekend. so, the noteables stay on campus anyways (duh), sleeping in strange places which have included putting 6 people in one room, illegally inhabiting living rooms… oh, i’ve even slept in the morrow basement “modern art” (aka graffiti/spraypaintfumes) room.

(@ slaughterhouse recording studio)

5. our goal is shaking things up… and having FUN.

we are not one of those uber-competitive, strict and serious groups. we like to spice things up, play with people’s minds, perform “business time” by flight of the conchords featuring the soloist in a tigger suit…

“aww girl, it’s business time. it’s business time…. you know when i’m down to my socks it’s time for business that’s why they’re called business socks, GIRL.”

listen to ze noteables. play with the noteables. party with the noteables.

fromeuropewithlove: London, England miss this place.

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:40:09 -0400

fromeuropewithlove:

London, England

miss this place.

fromeuropewithlove: Porto, Portugal ah portugal, my favorite...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:52:08 -0400

fromeuropewithlove:

Porto, Portugal

ah portugal, my favorite place on earth

london is getting out of control! this makes me so sad.

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:39:00 -0400

london is getting out of control! this makes me so sad.:

“Shocking images of the pillaging and riots in London”

fromeuropewithlove: Barcelona, Spain i remember walking this...

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:50:49 -0400

fromeuropewithlove:

Barcelona, Spain

i remember walking this street, thinking about how it would feel to remember that moment.

bon iver. mountain park. august 6th.

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:49:40 -0400

what makes a concert? it’s this unexplainable balance of the artist, the venue, the crowd, the weather, the lights, the feeling of support or uncertainty echoing through the vocalist’s language.

bon iver performed in mountain park this past weekend, and i was lucky to attend with three good friends. i didn’t know what to expect of the venue or of the artist himself, since i hadn’t heard much of his new album. turns out, it was one of the best shows i’ve been to. the venue was ideal for the size of the crowd and the style of music - it was liberating to be outdoors, feeling the light raindrops fall and break the humidity, able to fully relax and enjoy the floating vocals, feuding guitars, and aggressive drums winding through the trees. Bon iver (justin vernon) himself definitely delivered as well. Although it seems impossible that the falsetto, echoing, angelic vocals from his album are unedited, they are. the voice is real.

check. this. out. - 'where children sleep' photo project

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:18:14 -0400

check. this. out. - 'where children sleep' photo project

"When I came to college I was an adolescent nut … Someone like me should not have been accepted at a..."

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:28:49 -0400

““When I came to college I was an adolescent nut … Someone like me should not have been accepted at a serious institution.””

- Julia Child ‘34, a-m-a-z-i-n-g chef and influential television personality (guess Admissions made the right decision, after all)

(via smithhousetea)

minneapolis, madison, maine

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:08:00 -0400

Just returned back to work today, after a wonderful two week vacation. During the first week, I traveled to Minneapolis, MN & Madison, WI to visit family and attend a wedding. The wedding was beautiful; Hallie, the daughter of my Dad’s good friend from his graduate school days in NYC was getting married, and because I have looked up to her for my entire life it was such an honor to be at her wedding. The ceremony was so thought out; they included so many details relating to social justice, raising a family, honesty, and they even tied in a piece about same sex marriage. Before and after the wedding, my Dad, sister, and I were visiting my mom’s siblings in Minneapolis. My mom had to start a new job this week so she could only come for the Madison portion.

Some pictures from the trip:

me, sofia, uncle mark, & my new baby cousin stefan

my dad’s “new york” group all grown up

After my week in the mid-west, I went camping in Maine with three friends, which was a much needed break from the “family time”. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to see my relatives and spend a week with my family traveling, but let’s be real… we can only be in the same one mile radius of each other for so long.

Maine was all outdoors and relaxation - biking, hiking, beaches, scenic views, campfires, tent living, midnight rain, star gazing. everything acadia should be.

Saving the World's Women: The Women's Crusade

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:17:26 -0400

Saving the World's Women: The Women's Crusade

the end of an era

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:35:00 -0400

This past weekend was the end of our generation’s main binding thread, the Harry Potter Series. Well, it’s more than a series now, it is eight films, many computer games, an amusement park in Florida, a full line of merchandise sold across the world, even a money maker for the local Easthampton tattoo parlor (but, on the day deathly hallows part 2 was released, the proceeds went to the library…) among other things. Harry Potter is now a worldwide phenomenon, but in my own little world I can still remember opening the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, at the age of eight years old, when J.K. Rowling was still just an anonymous woman with a story, scraping by and hoping her books would appeal to someone out there. Oh, how things have changed.

I waited a couple of days to see the final installment because my family wanted to see it together. On Saturday, they came to Northampton to visit. After spending the day in town and introducing my Dad to the wonderful Northampton brewery, we showed up to the cinema just minutes before the 8:05 movie. I thought there would still be plenty of seats, since in my hometown where I’ve seen the others the only show that sells out is the midnight showing. Nope - the theatre was packed! We sat in the very front section, which is luckily my Dad’s favorite (as it was his birthday). The film sucked me in immediately, since it basically began pages before the climax of the novel. I enjoyed it immensely, even though a few details and exclusions here and there caught my eye. One major thing I noticed was how much Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) has grown as an actor throughout the films. Unfortunately, I just can’t say the same for Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). Many people were in tears at the end of the film, but personally the part that hit me most was the scene in which Professor McGonagall took charge and set the enchantments to protect Hogwarts as the impending threat of Voldemort and his Death Eaters grew closer. For me, that scene was one of the best of the movie.

All in all, I was satisfied with how each book was put to film. Clearly a daunting task, for the most part I have seen the books respected. My favorite film is still by far the fifth, Order of the Phoenix.

I cannot believe it is all over. It’s depressing, but I guess for years to come I’ll just have to read and re-read the books, time after time. I don’t think they will every get old for me.

thebloomsburygroup: Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West at...

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:20:33 -0400

thebloomsburygroup:

Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West at Monks House, in a 1933 photograph taken by Leonard Woolf.

confusionis: Smith College, 1948, Life Magazine. Photograph by...

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:19:38 -0400

confusionis:

Smith College, 1948, Life Magazine. Photograph by Peter Stackpole.

Shockingly similar to Smith now.

livingsmith: Elizabeth Spaulding Mason, Associate Prof of...

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:44:19 -0400

livingsmith:

Elizabeth Spaulding Mason, Associate Prof of Chemistry, Stoddard Hall Laboratory. Photograph by Katherine E. McClellan, 1904.

Courtesy of the Smith College Archives Online Gallery

so excited for #7 part 2 tonight!

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:48:00 -0400

so excited for #7 part 2 tonight!

hilarious.

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:37:34 -0400

hilarious.