?

So our landlord's children are totally incomprehensable...

The other day, as I was walking to the mailbox, our landlord's daughter was outside playing with her purple balloon.

She turned to me and yelled "I'm own let ma ballooooon gow up to Gawd!"

I think I just raised my eyebrows at her as she released the purple ball into the sky. Any other child, and I may have tried explain how bad it is for the environment to release latex into the atmosphere, but that was a battle I didn't think I'd win...

Amazing

Senior Exhibit

I can't believe we're graduating soon! I just finished designing our senior exhibit invitations!!! (The image below is the front of the postcard invitation. It includes one image of one project from all 21 graduating seniors!) We will send out invitations as soon as they are printed, so don't worry, you'll probably get one! If you don't get one and you will be in Starkville during Super Bulldog Weekend, please stop by the Architecture Gallery! We'll be there with our work to talk to anyone who wants to stop by! We would love to have you!

March 28, 2008 2:00-5:00pm

March 29, 2008 10:00-12:00pm

This is such a great opportunity for us to show everyone what we've been 'up to' for the last four years! Mom, Dad, the work in this exhibit is the reason I didn't get to come home much over the past couple of years--- Uncle So&So from the last family reunion--- this is the perfect opportunity for you to come see that I'm not a reality show decorator who is dying to come over to have a look-see at your living room that is in need of a bit of redecoration :) This is all in fun, of course, there really is no "uncle so&so" in my life, but the girls in my studio know the kind of people I'm talking about!

For Tiffany!

So from everything our dear friend Brandy tells me, we would be great friends! She said you want to do an elegant, but not over-done chandellier in your nursery. I LOVE that idea! I immediately thought of how you could do it really inexpensively (I don't know if that's a concern, but I'm such a proponent of do-it-yourselfing)

I found this chandellier at a Good Will for $5. It was brass and a bit rusty on top. I cleaned it up and painted it with a high gloss white paint and added some new funky 60 watt bulbs. (25 watts might be better for a baby's room though- these are much brighter because they are in our living room) And Voila! This is one of my favorite thrift store finds for sure! My husband looked at my rusty old brass find and was a little leary that it had potential of becoming such a gem!

I can't wait to see what you do with your baby's room! (I kind of want pics of your new barstools too... is that weird that I know you have new barstools? I love BRANDY!!!)

Now a little something for Brandy:

Once there was a set of sofas abandoned by the local Chinese Food Restaurant. A girl who rescues lost and abandoned furniture took this sad pair into her home to restore their spirits. Don't worry little sofas. One day you will be beautiful. (Here's How!)

Soon there will be a happy ending with a little black and white and purple all over-- Thanks for helping me choose this fabric Bran! It's looking great!

Movie Time

Yesterday, while Bryan was in Memphis presenting a paper at a conference, I went to see "There Will be Blood" with Anne and Robin! It was fun to hang out with girls... but it was totally obvious that none of us are super girly because we were all incredibly excited about seeing that movie.

I am on a quest to see all of this year's Academy Award Nominations for best picture. (Atonement, There Will Be Blood, Juno, Michael Clayton, and No Country for Old Men) I usually don't care one bit, but this year, all of the nominations seem well chosen and actually merit being watched. As I'm sure you will all find out, I'm such a movie junkie! I watch at least 2 new movies every week (sometimes more, sometimes less depending on how busy I am.)

"There Will Be Blood" was really fantastic. It was sad to watch the total demise of a human being but the choices that Daniel Day Lewis's character made were all his own and in the end they were the cause of his madness. Daniel Day Lewis's performance was outstanding!!

(did you like that critique? :) )


I also watched
"Once" yesterday. It was really good as well. There is such an innocent and sincere friendship formed between the two main characters. This friendship only lasts a short time but is a very powerful one to both of their lives. "Once" was a quasi-musical, just so you know!

I'm really not a good movie-reviewer... My movie tastes are wacky to most, and so I may not be the best, most reliable source for movie information but this is kind of fun to tell you, my captive audience, what I thought of the movies anyway.

I'm about to watch "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" I'll let you know how it goes!

Foglesong, be reasonable!

Our university's president has, of late, slipped on the slippery slopes of power. The most recent, most universal up-rising was recently over the fact he had over 5,000 beautiful daffodils from all over campus up-rooted, cut down, or sprayed with poison. This was not his first offense, and by the beginning of this week, the students started taking matters into their own hands. Below you can read the petition that the architecture students wrote. The last name count was close to 200 signatures. Right now this petition only applies to the architecture students. I have also heard other colleges joining this petition in support, writing their own petitions with their own grievances, and also some alumni voicing disproval (Several hundred daffodils were donated to the campus by alumni and were quite offended to hear their beautiful contributions had been destroyed.)

Several of the interior design studios have been removed from our building, to the Patterson building which does not currently have a restroom, heating or cooling. If the rennovation work on Etheredge (our current studio building) did have to begin immediately (which I doubt to be the case) the old band hall, which is directly across the street, would have been the perfect choice. When the band hall was suggested by our department head and looked into for a more suitable location to hold studio classes, we were informed that Dr. Foglesong used the band hall two nights a week for two hours each time and that no one was to use that space except him. For him do disregard the NEEDS of 3 full studio classes in the middle of the semester, after tuition has been paid by all 60+ students, is beyond me.

The Petition:
Despite an extensive rhetoric of reform, the only comprehensive conceptions for universities in a democratically constituted industrial society have been worked out by students. (Jürgen Habermas, Toward a Rational Society, 17)Wednesday, February 20, 2008This letter is an open and public request by us, Mississippi State University School of Architecture students, for clear reason and prudence to be restored to the Office of the President at MSU and for the IHL to reconsider its decisions on the leadership for our fine university. We speak from the position of design-oriented students offended and appalled by the way this university administration has conducted itself over the past year. The cult of individual power and secrecy promoted by Dr. Robert H. Foglesong is damaging the rationalization of the university system that the democratic process provides. In our four years at MSU, no other administrator has micro-managed the aesthetics and pedagogy of the university in the way it is now being done. President Foglesong leads our university with a dictatorial attitude that disregards and disrespects the views of faculty professionals. Our School of Architecture has been under a barrage of intolerable orders from the Office of the President. First, the president has demanded the removal of many student-designed installations from around our building, including many from previous years, that are exhibited for pedagogical purposes. Specifically, we have been told to remove student work from certain windows because they are visible from the exterior. Publicness is an essential characteristic of the pedagogy of design work and these specific projects were designed for the particular light that comes through these windows. President Foglesong’s requests have not relented, even under explanation from other administrators as to the purpose of these projects. Second, for design work to reach its full potential, we as students, along with faculty guidance, must be able to use our building through our creative expressions. We conceive of our building as an educational laboratory for experimentation that must take precedence over a homogeneous campus aesthetic.Third, we find the attempt to force aesthetic judgments by the president on the entire university to be oppressive. We fully support Dr. Foglesong’s desire to produce an aesthetically pleasing campus, particularly regarding maintenance and unwanted litter. However, President Foglesong defines where posters and flyers are posted in our building; prevents us from keeping chairs on our balcony; asks that certain windows that expose studio spaces in our building be covered up; and makes decisions about the design and use of our building. Not only do we find the attempt to paint brown all exposed concrete and metal aesthetically offensive for a university campus, we are outraged also by the continued refusal to acknowledge the professional views of design faculty on these issues.Fourth, by now the removal of university daffodils has become well known to many students, faculty, alumni, and the general public. This wholesale removal illustrates the assertion of Dr. Foglesong’s opinions that are in direct opposition to professional views. It clearly demonstrates the spin that his administration continues to employ. His replies to many student and alumni e-mails express an immature, almost childish manner, that consists mostly of empty rhetoric. Many of these e-mails can be accessed via the Facebook group, “Save the MSU Daffodils!”. Just one of the many examples being President Foglesong’s ending remarks to a concerned alumni: “Please don't bother to respond since I will have filed this under a category to not except [sic] your e-mail.”Fifth, the immature and irrational nature of President Foglesong’s replies to many students and alumni over the removal of daffodils is only an instance of a larger issue of belligerence and an atmosphere of fear. Faculty complaints about his domineering leadership style have been widely known since November 2007 (See The Reflector’s article “Faculty Senate fed up” printed on 11/20/07).All of the aforementioned instances serve only as examples to which we as students are directly connected. Many other instances of systematic oppression of those who disagree with this president are known to faculty and administrative staff. The irrationality being perpetuated by Dr. Robert H. Foglesong is inexcusable, especially for a president who professes leadership yet fails to recognize the fundamental purpose of a university as one of the few places left for open, uncensored pursuit of knowledge.Members of the Mississippi State University School of Architecture student body

If you would like to support this in any way, join the facebook group "Foglesong, be reasonable" Eventually there will be so many people involved that he cannot ignore us and he will not be able to oppose us.

Double Dare Day!

This is it! The portfolio I promised you. Way better in person, I'm sure (but if I ask you about it you should act excited nonetheless)

So... for several thousand dollars a semester, one of my educators felt it relevant to teach us how to make Nickelodeon's Slime today. (Remeber the slime they used on Double Dare? yep, same stuff) I did not write down the recipe, but don't worry... I have been informed that "the recipe will be up on our course's web page so you can re-create it at home if you want to throw it at your room mate." Throw it at my room mate? Bryan would be like "...seriously?...what just happened..." BOO LAB!!!

Tomorrow let's see if we can't jazz up this page a bit. We'll see...

In The Beginning...

Since today was the day I sent out 3 portfolios, I figured it would also be a good day to start a blog... I know the correlation really isn't extremely visible but here is my thought process:
1: Send out Portfolios
2: Portfolios will ultimately (cross my heart hope to die, hopefully) get me a job
3: A job is the first event that will truly begin my grown-up life
4: My grown up life is probably more interesting to everyone than my college life
5: So today is the day I will start sharing my life with you all!

I had every intention of putting a pic of my portfolio on here now, but the button for adding imagery seems to have other ideas... We'll try again some other time then. (By "we" I totally mean "me/I" but I feel that the collective 'we' really keeps you reading) I know by now you are totally let down that there haven't been any pictures yet (there will be pictures starting tomorrow, I promise). Just to tide you over until then please feel free to visit my portfolio website. I just made it last week and am kind of proud of it! www.ashley-norwood.com

These are the firms that I applied to today:
Colin Cowie Lifestyle- New York
Space Architects & Planners- Chicago
Dale & Associates- Jackson, MS
There are also two more firms in Chicago that will get applications and portfolios as soon as I get contact informatoin for them.

This is going to be fun! Stick around for more posts... I'll keep you updated on both Bryan and me. Hopefully this will be a good way for family to see what's going on with us!

Muah!
Ash