This is Noah. Amy and I are driving to Philadelphia, both for her to visit an old friend and for us to take a class with one of my favorite artists*. Because I don't drive, and because it's a TGIF Friday, this TGIF is being penned by me in the passenger seat with Amy's input. This time of year in the Pilot is one of my favorites. Almost all the semester 1 exhibitions are scheduled, they'll take place both before break and after break, for students who have lots of conventional exams, and for those who want more time to finalize project work, respectively. All of us are feeling the pressure** and because of this I've always found it to be one of the most most productive periods of time in the Pilot year. We're in a sweet spot, where our projects are defined and we've done the footwork and are engaging deeply with the meat of it all, but we still have a few weeks to be deeply focused before we give our exhibitions. We've also settled into each other a a community, we know who, doing projects that relate to ours and who we can reach out to for information in areas that we aren't working in. We are seeing the work that our peers have been talking about all year start to form and develop***. It's wonderful, everybody is struggling and triumphant. This year one of Amy's goals has been to make Pilot students more involved with the community. A few weeks ago in seminar Ellen came and helped facilitate a fishbowl discussion about how we, in the Pilot, could benefit the school/local communities. This past Monday in seminar Meg Allison and Amy gave us all a wring prompt****:
"What Problem Do You Want To Solve?" I know that much of my work recently has focused on social awareness and examining my own privilege as a gay white man, so it wasn't a big step for me to go from my projects to answering this question. But upon talking to Amy about other's answers it seems like most everyone was able to make this jump. Asking Pilot students this question is different form asking other people, we all have passions and are pursing them*****, which intrinsically creates version of us who have problems that we care about and that we want to solve. And while writing learning plans and the like doesn't really touch on how our studies are changing the world, we are at least comfortable theorizing and talking about how they do. Amy's intention of Pilot involvement in outside communities of may not have manifested in real life yet, it is influencing the culture of the Pilot, we are becoming more and more aware of our relation to the outside world, and how we can build each other up. "My system's in mint condition, the power's up on my transistors, work and fine - no glitches, plug me in and flip some switches, Pull up in docking position, Pop the hatch and hit ignition, B- B- Burn out baby, Ready for Demolition‚" The Exhibition Cycle, Described by Robyn, the Swedish Pop Star****** Semester exhibitions are open to all, and Amy will be sending out the schedule early next week, so feel free to (i.e.. please do) come and support all of us crazy Pilot kids! *Amy is the best teacher ever. **but maybe Cameron the most, he thought his exhibition was on December 5th, when, in actuality it is in January. *** And compete! Check out Zak's new Album here! ****We also watched Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. *****Not that other people don't have passions, it's just that passion is a prerequisite to Pilot. ******In this situation 'demolition' means killing the end of the Pilot semester. **∂*¬*÷ * Ce*±*"*ê
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