Na acht uur, olifanten zijn niet toegestaan in de bar.

Congrats to Jasmin and Damien on two of the most exciting openings I've seen here as of late. It was almost too much to process both at the same time. Each had its own unique brand of excitement, though. Concerning Jasmin's, we've all been to her studio, seen the figures, in short everyone knew roughly what to expect, but seeing them all in their own little arrangements, each group engaged in silent conversation in the quiet gallery space, was powerful. Damien, on the other hand, operates under the cover of secrecy. He was technically a glass major, so imagine our surprise last semester when he sold all his tools and color and stopped blowing at the beginning of his senior thesis. This piqued some interest, to say the least. In the time leading up to the last week or so, few on campus knew what he was up to. Then the rumor starts spreading last week that his committee may not let the exhibit happen due to extremely questionable content (later the rumor is amended to include something about asshole licking) so there was some pretty heavy anticipation happening. To make matters even more curious, he actually drywalled in the large door opening to the gallery space and put in a real door. With a lock. It turns out his show was about extreme intolerance, and focused almost entirely on this Kansas City minister Fred Phelps (of God Hates Fags fame). He had actually travelled to Kansas city to interview the guy, and videotape his sermons. It was incredible, but the sobering part came when he started talking about how he was on the forefront of the desegregation movement in Kansas. The show itself was very clean, and unlike anything the craft center has seen before. And the asshole licking rumor? He said he put that scene in to make everything else seem less bad, and in the end he was surprised at what they let him get away with once he agreed to take it out. Genius.
The after party was great fun. Jasmin AND Kyle's parents were there for the first few hours, sitting in the living room next to the kegs. This felt a little weird to the rest of us. Jasmin had friends from her old school in Cleveland (Ohio) and other friends from Nashville and surrounding parts, plus craft center people, so at first there was some clique action, but beer (and liquor) is the great equalizer, and soon we were all getting along just fine. Monique's friend (boyfriend?) it turns out just directed a video for Old Crow Medicine Show, a big favorite around here, so he found instant popularity. Even though there was a glut of whiskey and scotch, there weren't any huge wrestling matches, more like little scraps (Eric got punched a lot because he was in tit-grabbing mode), but booty shaking happened at random intervals. Anderson and Ross began speaking in tongues, until everything they said started rhyming with "bone." I guess you had to be there.
Today was kiddie pool revisited, though I spent most of the day on a blanket with my laptop and a pile of library books, watching the others have their fun. Now I'm onto more of the same. Only about three weeks left in this godforsaken semester. Place your bets now folks.
Listening to: Calibre- P.U.R.
Translation of title: Elephants are not permitted in the bar after eight o'clock.