I’m going to try to blog more often.

As a side; it’s really bizarre to start blogging in a prominent blog. There’s no option to find my feet, so to speak, I just start immediately. I don’t have to build it up and wait until people find it, rather, people knew about it before I started writing. And bizarre too, because I’m immediately exposing myself to people I know in real life. …so hopefully I can work to make this an accurate portrayal of how I feel about my education. I don’t foresee specifically offending anybody, but I can’t make any guarantees (and shouldn’t have to). It’s more important for me to be able to be (tactfully) honest here than non-offensive.

I think that the more feedback I get from what I write on here will be the real benefit of this blog. In a way, I suppose the charade of anonymity that we call the internet is a good way to learn how we really feel about things. So…if something I say on here picks your brain, drop me a line.

I really want this to be a rewarding experience, and I hope that despite it being a silly blog, I can learn to be more comfortable and expressive in my ‘writings’ and use it as a way to be more self-critical and self-aware. It’s great to have the opportunity to be connected and be able to see my education in such a wide context.

(so thanks archinect!)



The more I start to get into it, the more studio feels weird. Not weird in a bad way, or even in an uncomfortable way, just different-weird. I keep using the dream metaphor when I describe it to people. Being at the CUDC is like being in a dream. It’s one of those dreams where I’m in a situation trying to accomplish something (like saving the world) and I’m surrounded by some sort of ‘team’ of people…typically acquaintances that I’ve known throughout life for one reason or another but I’m not really friends with anybody. But it doesn’t matter, because we’re trying to save the world, and even thought we’re not friends in real life, in this dream we have to just put aside our differences and do our thing.

It’s the same way at the CUDC. Everybody I’m used to turning to for professional dialoguing is no longer sitting just around the corner (or right next to me). And instead, I’m surrounded by people I know…but don’t really know. But instead of saving the world we’re diagramming Streetsboro.













I think this realization of being more or less alone is the best part about my experience here. I’m more productive (or at least feel more productive…). Part of this is probably me living in a house in a city, rather than a dorm. The other part is that I feel I can’t just sit by and do my thing…I have to kick it up a notch because this is the period where I can really change who I’ve been as a student …not that I’m unhappy with that person, but it’s nice to have a fresh start…and hopefully, that fresh start can be a motivator for me to generally be more conscious of the work I do all of the time.

I realize how much better it is at the CUDC when I’m down in Kent teaching. I have nothing bad to say about my undergraduate experience, but a change of pace and a change of face is a very welcome thing after 4 years of the same.

If you’re looking for real content, studio has been somewhat slow these first few weeks. I’m still getting the hang of this time-management thing this semester and without my usual colleagues, it’s tough to judge the expected effort. This is where that being alone thing becomes one of the best aspects of my situation at the CUDC. With nobody familiar to judge myself against; I’m fully in control of what I do. Hopefully I can use this as a time to really push myself and establish more of a self-centered work ethic instead of just doing what the class is doing.


….I almost think this is what graduate school is supposed to be about.