Crescat Bloggia, Vita Excolatur

In the spirit of Blog and Nunn-hood, I bring to you the following compendium of TASP-infused activities, in the hopes that it may jog to life some stirrings of memory that altogether bind our collective Soul(s). Apologies for the length; I got a little carried away with my pseudo journal entries written in the course of those exquisite six weeks spent semi-monasticizing to my heart's content. Oh, and please do add any other Telluridean episodes you can think up! That would be lovely.

6/24

Behold that three-feeted brick edifice known affectionally as ye Telluride House, unpacking, room 24, TASPers, Michael's House tour + TA history, First Supper, kitchen tour, collective circle meeting, "chain of reporting" in case of imminent doom, communal reading (Burckhardt!) in branch office

6/25

Noah's obnoxious triangle, seminar (Professors Long + Chapelle, small group discussions, begin Burckhardtian crusade), lunch, Linda's Cornell campus tour, library browsing, SCT lecture on "Praise and Blame" (Bruce Robbins), scrumptious supper, Paradise Lost on roof-porch, bizarre basketball phenomenon, House meeting (Committee debates, circles, monk chants, mutterings in the dark), communal reading

Committees: ServCom, LangCom, CirCom, EntCom, InCom, OutCom, DebateCom, PatriotCom

6/26

Seminar (Burckhardt, Machiavelli, symbolism in Durer), lunch, spontaneous watergun war, harassment lecture + really cool flashlights, marbles, mango green mint pearl milk tea (best thing since sliced bread, for sure), EntCom meeting, supper, various discussions (evolution, creationism, feminism, current political happenings, etc.), squirrel incident, communal reading (uterus amidst cranes and pulleys, fanciful distortion of man's head viz., Nixon), hardcore whistling, MySpace lady, Planet of the Apes Cornell I screening, Thank You for Smoking!

6/27

Seminar (portraits, gender relations, nude aesthetic), lunch, kitchen shift, funny Desiree stories, "Making Sex Safe and Fun" lecture, communal reading, sitting outside in rain, observing lightning/thunder phenomenon, ultimate frizzzzbee, Sisyphus boulder question, finger + cup tapping game, Leonardo body systems poetry/prose assignment, PubSpeaks (Noah & Linda), ruminations on TASP thus far

6/28

Waking up obscenely early, "hot potatoe" game thing (oh, hardly), Seminar (presentations--art, drama, poetry), Cornell bookstore (Vonnegut!), Christianity + C.S. Lewis, EntCom meeting, lunch (Marxist revolution, politics, Zionism, war profiteering), whistling round (Carol of the Bells, Row Row Row Your Boat), Waltzing Matilda, Hey Ho, swing dancing + Les Triplettes de Belleville at Cornell cinema

6/29

Seminar (Trope of Naked Savage, Rare Manuscripts Collection), Waltzing Matilda take two, Rapevan (!), piano stuff, perambulation down Gorge trail, depressing stories on mortality, female sexuality & menstruation semi-joke, Starbucks, ping-pong, Big Booty, PubSpeaks (Aurelie & Ibrahim), "there ain't no party like a music-sharing party" night + dancing + eccentric fashion, Rushmore, jolty lounge conversations

6/30

Brunch (Charlie food!), weird YouTube videos, Buttermilk Falls (Gorge trail, Whitman reading circle, Paradise Lost, circle of silent meditation), violin-guitar-piano instrumental/singing ("the good days have passed and gone"), Across the Universe theatrical trailer, Zero thumb game, ABCD slapping thing, s'mores + singing, The Office, Pan's Labyrinth, random conversations

7/1

Sunday Service at Korean Church, Terror-ride Association horror epic, picnic at Central Campus, Renaissance paper the first (Humanism, fall of God?), "Alcoholic Party" dancing courtesy of Dominick, PubSpeaks (Mac & Alina), more essaying hooray!

7/2

Seminar (Petrarch), Cornell mall (Alice in Wonderland, 1001 Nights, Unbearable Lightness of Being, etc.), Lifeboat (what's up with the shoe/dead baby?), House Meeting (Committee announcements, 20min+ Quaker moment), elitism discussion, popping of really bad popcorn, late night reading

7/3

Kim's birthday, seminar (Petrarchian sonnet, Pico, theory of everything), God debate, Hamlet dramatic reading, Stanley Fish SCT lecture (Political Activism in Academia), The Lives of Others at Cornell cinema, sporadic ping-pong games, Taboo, Harry Potter nipple theory (er....)

7/4

Happy Birthday America, favorite American costumes (eecummings, whee!), BBQ, poetry readings (Black Spring, Walden, Gatsby, "Marriage", etc.), sardines, Whitman circle, s'mores in the rain, Hamlet (bad Mel Gibson incestuous adaptation), PubSpeaks (Chanelle & Joe), cheesy pick-up lines (hmm...)

7/5

Seminar (Hamlet), Hamlet dramatic speed reading, check-ins in [drumroll] Room Nineteen, bubble tea + Sidney Cox Library of Music & Dance, Peter McAff lecture (Science & Technology), quiet moment in the rain on which we appreciate the beautiful spirit of our fellow TASPers, midnight snacks, Big Booty, Bing Bong, Moose, keyboard kid

7/6

Seminar (Hamlet presentations, Olivier v Gibson clips), anonymous anti-Bloom rant, essay conference with Professor Long, PubSpeaks (Niko & Tyler), fiddle concert (the Contradictions, waltzing, reels), Trivial Pursuit, terrace circle, cup game

7/7

Brunch, Olin Library search for Latin texts, collegetown bagels, Gorge trail hike, object story sharing (with milk & cookies), communal staring + hugging (the staring threw me off a little bit, but all in all an indescribably inspiring experience), bouncing music stones, erotic sunset-watching on hill, hacky sack flinging, Pot guy (are you guys on acid?), Modern Takes on Shakespeare movie marathon (kind of), romantic star gazing, distant fireworks, egregiously unhealthy midnight snacks, moral relativism v absolutism

7/8

Sunrise!, brunch, Hamlet screening (avec Kate Winslet), PubSpeaks (Rachel & Wanjin), collegetown bagels, late night Renaissance paper revising

7/9

Seminar (review of body studies, Petro della Valle), SCT lecture (Spinoza, ideas & metaphors), Turkish-German movie, Labe sonnet reading, Butler analysis, supper (higher learning, merits of the Core, etc.), House Meeting (hangman, Commitee reports, collective breathing, "In the Jungle"), French translation of Labe's poetry

7/10

Seminar (Labe sonnet explications, Butler, truth v falsehood, sensory perception & nature of discourse), inter-TASP war waged on WashU (hairy pastery), pranked by UMich (lame! condoms), Bach Fugue on piano, Starbucks, SCT lecture by UChicagoan Martha Nussbaum (woohoo! liberty of conscience), "Blessed Be Your Name" impromptus on piano, Dr. Strangelove (awesome movie, though trying so[ooo] hard not to drift to sleep-land), bagel shop, Harry Potter OotP midnight premier

7/11

Seminar (Judy Butler, breathing/stretching exercises with Sandy), Starbucks + light rain, PubSpeaks (Brian & David T), lunch (Martha Nussbaum as guest!), J Butt baaaad writing contest, piano duets, Apples to Apples, peace sign (romantic sunset watching, Mac's near near-death experience), swing-dancing lessons (courtesy of Mr Kurt), Jenny Holzer reading, chilling in basement lounge while drifting in/out of consciousness

7/12

Seminar (Johnson Museum of Art lecture, Shakespearen sonnets, all-around exhaustion), yoga workshop (stretching, weird bodily contortions, props, 5 gestures, interpretive dancing performances, phallogocentrism), costume-scrounging at thrift store/Commons (SH trenchcoat + shoes, Eth'nyk shop, insanely steep slope), fancy dinner (Last Supper recreation), foosball, communal reading

7/13

Seminar (Johnson Museum of Art lecture, con't), Cornell store browsing, more New Age stuff + human knot, quiet reading at library, stroll about campus under light rain, PubSpeaks (Brian & Kim), frenzy of cross-dressing costume borrowing, TASP'o'ween (murder mystery, dancing competition i.e., Shakira, Laffy Taffy), bagel shop in costume, peace sign, horror movie marathon (Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, Alice, The Departed), midnight snack (Ramen)

7/14

Bastille Day!, lounge time, brunch, kitchen shift, bubble tea excursion (Taro Blizzard), philosophical quizzes (would you rather...?), reading on front lawn beneath shade of large tree, Robert Frost (miles to go before I sleep), Niko on literature and androgeny, communal reading (Ganymede), shoe sketching, formation/meeting of Committee for Anger & Subversion, meringues, Gilmore Girls, heated foosball pre-tournament

7/15

Bagel shop, brunch, sitting outside in rain, sketching, foosball tournament, community meeting (on the comings to terms with and redress of general malaise), mass bubble tea outing, sunset spying + terrace conversation (gendered names, literature, etc.), PubSpeaks (David P & Dylan), anti-cyborg manifesto

7/16

Seminar (Shakespeare, Ganymede, Cabeza de Vaca, manifestos--Emily & Tyler), SCT lecture (Native American culture/spirituality, just society, limits of capitalistic imagination), foosball, peace sign, bagel shop, most efficient House meeting ever, impromptu midnight Writer's Alliance circle courtesy of Brian (stream of consciousness & exquisite corpse, whoohoo!), TASP drama reaches a new height, sleeping on terrace under starry night

7/17

Seminar (Mr Cowhead), kitchen shift, library (Nabokov! Pale Fire + short stories), collective [Gregorian] monk chanting circle, SCT lecture (Plato's Dialogue), bubble tea, Battle of Algiers, communism/anarchy/Scandinavian socialism, late-night bonding (the nature of which I forget)

7/18

Seminar (Cowhead, Equiano), lunch (Bruce Robbins day!), final project chat with professors, Cabeza de Vaca screening (abnormally hideous mala cosa), PubSpeaks (Julieta & Laura), on the merits of coffee, Bruce Robbins lecture + subsequent interrogation (Allied bombardment of Germany & transnational blame), bubble tea, one-minute speeches (Liberte! Equalite! Fraternite!), attempt at reading, sleeping out on terrace

7/19

Being awakened by rain (the perfect alarm clock, I tell you), seminar (DV/OE debates), Cornell store (Harry Potter deluxe edition voting fraud, T-shirt--go Maroons!), knitting circle, telephone, human knot, factota-less community meeting (with the passing of Dom's infamous hat), mass excursion to bubble tea, Big Booty, multilingual supper, coffee-shop bonding, Shame screening, branch office reading/philosophical discussions, Writer's Alliance (Gregory Corso, "Marriage", exquisite corpse), late-night bonding (room 24, hooray!)

7/20

Seminar (Museum, Equiano, Montaigne), T-shirt designs, PubSpeaks (Katlin & Emily), Johnson Museum of Art summer party (exhibitions/galleries, free food & ice cream, 5th story view), coffee-shop bonding, lazer-tag at Commons, Greek diner (rice pudding, elephant money), Wag the Dog, Silvio Rodriguez, Dylan's nocturnal oddities, star-gazing/UFOs, bedtime story

7/21

Chinese checkers (unfinished, alas), brunch, kitchen shift, commons (walking about aimlessly, used bookstore, coolest Shakespeare book in the history of the universe!), Harry Potter craze, Gargantua, cup thing round, bagel shop, Cafe Telluride talent show, s'more by fireside + storytelling (Nunnian tales, other-worldly encounters, etc.), muff-cake making + hot chocolate, The Office

7/22

Brunch, epic muffin-cupcake debate + BIRT, matching roommate Cornell sweatshirt, meal with Meno, House cleanup, PubSpeaks (Valerie & Olivia), scientology debate, bubble tea, Rabelais project

7/23

Seminar (Rabelais), commence sporadic Harry Potter reading, Cornell store (Spivak), SCT lecture + walking in the rain (Culler on lyric address & narrative), Olin trip for final research project (Aristotle, Plato, Descartes, Nicolas Flamel), House meeting, hugging, mass bubble tea excursion, late night kitchen rampage + ice cream + conversation in the throes of weariness

7/24

Seminar (Rabelais: Gargantua & Pantagruel), Spivak SCT lecture (theory of education, epistemic discontinuity between intellectual and subaltern), out for a walk (Starbucks, video rental, Wilson Farms), Rabelais' lost chapter on interior journey of the Sow, sunset spying, on the merits of Frankenstein (P&P, HP, etc.), Indiana Jones & Last Crusade (darned sleep chemicals kicked in again)

7/25

DAY OUT OF TIME

Seminar (Rabelais, sausage-people presentations, Monsters & Marvels), X-Files & discussion (Detour), green men, Philosopher's Stone: the making (menstrual fluids, Philosophic Egg, volcanic effect, coffee parchment) in response to WashU's lame whistle, on the reality of TASP, bagel shop, dinner with Spivak!, kitchen shift, PubSpeaks (Natasha & Valentin), dance/swing party (decades costume), midnight ice cream, HP denouement

7/26

Aurelie's birthday, seminar (Montaigne, Monsters & Marvels), commons (knitting yarn, maroon!), campus clean-up + Gorges hike + water splashing, dinner & really good cake, foosball, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, frenzied essaying

7/27

Joint seminar (Invasion of Body Snatchers, Pare, group performances/parodies), commons (yarn), bagel shop, PubSpeaks (Bill & Ana), homemade pizzas, knitting circle, R&B concert at Arts Quad, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, The Grudge (with much screaming and gasps of horror), Edward Scissorhands, off to dream-land in living room

7/28

Brunch, commons (Indian cuisine with Desiree and others; wrap dress; used bookstore), bubble tea, Hot Fuzzz!, sundaes & brownies & cookies, ping-pong tournament, chess (David & Wanjin), hardcore semi-stripping foosball, Suite party (room 26), more knitting, spontaneous midnight dance party (sort of)

7/29

Brunch, bagel shop, mediterranean diner (Natural Eatery), knitting ad nauseum, slide show pictures compilation, trip to Art Museum, House cleanup, PubSpeaks (Alex & Amir), hot chocolate + Descartes + Foucault, foosball, piano love, basement stairway conversations

7/30

Seminar (2 cents, Foucault, Descartes), conference with Professor Long, library research, overnight Yurt party (ish), Apples to Apples, dinner outside with knitting and negligible amount of reading done, pseudo obstacle course by clock tower, full moon, swaying circle singing, House meeting by firelight in woods, Woods BIRT debate, Noah trying [in vain] to sustain pale fire, s'more toasting, Quaker meeting Yurt-style, cuddling under blankets, other nocturnal oddities

7/31

Katlin's birthday, delirious conversations outside Yurt (something about tornado bears, i.e. a product of sleep deprivation, naturally), seminar (Grosz, Descartes, nakedness), kitchen shift, foosball, arrivals of TASP T-shirts, dinner guest Ray Krape (sp?), sunset recording + knitting, Wilson Farms, Apocalypse Now, final draft essaying

8/1

Dominick's birthday, seminar (Descartes, dramatic body exercises/presentations), Starbucks, factoto check-in/out/up, knitting, piano love-making, lots of naps, guest dinner with 2003 Cornell TASPers, No (Cornell I screening), midnight communal letter writing, "fist" episode

8/2

Seminar (Descartes & Descartes' error), 15-min kitchen shift, Cornell arts & sciences school/human ecology/Telluride House (Lauren)/Deep Springs (Noah) information sessions [for once my femininity irks me inconsolably], PubSpeaks (Amy & Abigail), dinner outside on lawn, mini-walk around campus, squirrel with pipecleanerish tail, scarf project finito, peace sign excursion + grass blowing bird calls, fancy desert at Madeline's, Life of the Mind conversation, stories of near-death experiences, letter writing continued

8/3

Seminar (android & robots magazine articles, individual character/concept performances, group verbal summaries of Renaissance, Cornell II group picture, seminar evaluation), lunch, TASP 2007 front cover brochure photo (LL!), Olin library book return + random suggestions letter in box concerning fecal matter in books (?!), collegetown in the rain, letter writing, collegetown again, TASP 2006 Rejects box in storage room, PubSpeaks (Gili & Aditya), Bollywood films, Last Supper (BBQ on front porch), House cleanup, lots of camera flashing, TASP 2007 slideshow courtesy of PatCom, all-nighter! + more letter writing, It's a Whole New TASP, Renaissance seminar rap (Pico, Shakespeare, Leonardo, Naked Savage), Ode to Bruce Robbins, L.L. Nunn rap lyrics, Dom's Alcoholic Party dance, Hedwig songs, random YouTube music videos, Emily's birthday, Gilmore Girls, Dylan's red rum sleepwalk, T-shirt signing, midnight bubble tea & smoothie place excursion

8/4

...to be continued.


My goodness, that was a wickedly long post.

-Transcendental hugs to all,
Rachel