My Last Post

In roughly 3 days and 8 hours, I will be filing out of the Barn with the class of 2012 to begin this year’s commencement ceremony. At Bennington commencement, most people don’t wear cap and gowns (though they can) and we don’t do the pomp and circumstance thing. Instead, we divide up the festivities: on Friday night we’ll hear speeches by our senior class speaker (Bryan Conovor) and our commencement speaker (Peter freaking Dinklage) after a dinner that we’ll have with our family and friends under the tent currently taking up 3/4 of the lawn. Then on Saturday morning, we’ll listen to the chosen faculty speakers (still a mystery) and some brief words from our prez, Liz Coleman. Then we’ll do the walk and to finish, be led to the lawn for a reception by faculty playing musical instruments on stilts. But most importantly, we’ll all hear the words that are traditionally spoken at every graduation since 1936:

This is my last post for the Bennington blog. I’m not sure there’s another campus job that is as fun and rewarding as bi-weekly gushing about the fun and frustrations I’ve had here as a student. Though I’m mother flipping excited to have such a natural conclusion to my time here and move on to new things, I think I’ll always be just a little homesick for my friends, my professors, and the view from the end of the world. As a parting gift to all the incoming freshmen and prospective students, here are some tips for how to make the most of your time at Bennington:

Read more »

email gems from professors in the past week

During finals, I always find myself scrambling to email professors at odd hours. I’m always amazed at the speedy responses I get. I am also continuously encouraged by how invested they are in my work, and inspired by the words of wisdom they offer. Here are some gems from the past couple weeks.

“Keep me posted on how your new negatives come out tomorrow! As William Faulkner so wisely said, ‘Endure & prevail.’ “
-Jonathan Kline for my Historical Processes in Photography class

“India, an observation, if I may? As your anxiety goes up, you become more difficult to read….As you become more and more difficult to read, your friends, associates and teachers become more and more worried around you…and then redouble their efforts to reach you. “
-Eileen Scully for my Special Projects in History class, after I had spent a couple classes in a row groaning and holding my head in my hands with great pain

“Take your writing seriously. Only doubt yourself when editing. Eschew adverbs, mist, mirrors, and self-righteousness. Be curious. Embrace rejection; learn from it. Be tenacious. Oh yeah. And bow down to the muse when you have to. Sometimes you have to. May she scream loudly in your ear when you need her.”
-Megan Mayhew-Bergman, for my Reading and Writing Memoir class

my desk in my room in bingham, where i have been spending many a late night

-India K, ‘12