Is Robert Smithson God?
Less than two weeks into the semester and his name and work has been referenced more times than I can count. Spiral Jetty has become some kind of beacon for an ethical pursuit of landscape /architecture. (word is that he was also a voracious science fiction reader)

In any event the studios at UVA are alive and well after our four week reprieve. Beyond the clean floors everything looks to be in place. Semester forecasts are soon to come.
Welcome back ya'll

(ya'll being an expression derived from the words you and all, and apparently quite popular in these parts - one of those things, similar to the use of the word "soda", which I am still struggling with)