Back to SCAD!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 was a day that I had been looking forward to for the longest time, but with that being said, it was also a day that I was also nervous about. It seems strange to be nervous about a day that I have looked forward to ever since the summer of 2010 began, and I didn't even know that I would be taking two quarters off, I only suspected it. However, I had been gone from SCAD-Atlanta for so long that I had no idea what to expect upon my return. Although I had looked forward to this day I didn't make a big deal over it on Facebook, and because I didn't, only a hand full of my friends knew that I was coming back. So to those who didn't know, they were surprised to see me, and the looks on their faces was absolutely priceless that I was glad that I didn't make a big deal out of my return such as doing a countdown on Facebook. It felt a little weird to be back though, and so it will take a while for me to get back into the swing of things.

Starting in the Winter of 2009, I have seen friends disappear whether it's because SCAD is too expensive or they've gone to another SCAD campus, but nothing could have prepared me for this quarter. For the first time one of my best friends, Sasha Williams was not there, she's down in the Savannah campus. She wasn't there last quarter either, but neither was I, and so this was the first time that I felt the presence of her absence. It felt very strange not to see her in the Hub or...hear her voice coming through all of the noise in the Hub. Sasha is one of those people who has a rare gift in being able to cheer you up whenever you're feeling down. She may not even know that you're depressed at that moment, but she can still cheer you up. There's absolutely no way that you won't crack a smile over something that she says. I'm definitely going to miss her.

The Excited Professor 

My first day back at SCAD-Atlanta was very exhausting even though I only had two classes, but the waiting period in between them both is what really tired me out. So by the time I got to my 20th Century Art class I was close to just collapsing at my desk and falling asleep. Of course, the professor would have marked me as absent, which is a word that I don't get along with at all, it's like the word "late" we're not best buds with each other. In fact, if the words "absent" and "late" were to disappear off of the face of the earth I wouldn't shred one tear. Anyway my class was being held in the same room that I had taken Survey of Western Art II in a year earlier, and I suppose that I could've sat down at a different desk, but no, I sat down in the exact same desk that I had back then. My professor was Keri Watson, and I was really hoping that she was a doctor like most of the art history professors because I so wanted to call her Dr. Watson, but alas, my dreams were dashed. Aw, well, these little things can't be helped I suppose. She started off 20th Century Art by talking about the Industrial Revolution and important events that came after it, and she showed us some pictures of Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers, a faced moon with a rocket stuck in it, and a bearded individual. She asked us if we knew who the bearded individual was, and I immediately thought to myself "Freud." However, I kept silent...for a while anyway. I can't tell you how many times, because I've lost count by now, that I've known the right answer to a professor's question, but said nothing. I can't explain why, it's not like I thought that I would be teased for knowing the right answer. Though I had made a vow to myself before this quarter began that that I would not withhold answers again, but apparently old habits are definitely hard to break. Still, it felt like one could hear crickets in the room because no one was saying anything, and so I raised my hand and said, "Freud, Sigmund Freud." What happens next took me completely by surprise. Her eyes widened, and she says in an excited tone, "YES!" She was so excited by me answering it correctly that it was as if she has asked that question every quarter and no one has gotten it right until now. I pretty much came to realize that she is a very excited professor because I would see that look again in Thursday's class, but it was to someone else.

I've only had two classes with her, but I already know that I like her. Say what you want about Dr. Jasin, who I had for Survey of Western Art II, but I really enjoyed her class because of the fiery passion that she had for the subject. Her passion made me look forward to that class. Prof. Watson has the same passion although it comes out as excited instead of fiery, but it's something to look forward to throughout the quarter. 

Dodgeball

What better way to mark my return to SCAD-Atlanta than a nice game of dodgeball? Unfortunately I have never played the game before. I was home-schooled throughout my high school career, and so I was never able to play the game. I knew very little about it other than you're split into two groups, and both sides are trying to take each other out by throwing balls at each other. A very loose interpretation. Although I had decided to participate in the event that the Student Activities Council was throwing I had no idea if I would be able to actually get past that part in my brain that is against violence. It would be so much easier for me to throw balls at people if they had done something to me or to someone I care about first. Revenge can be a very big motivator. When I arrived at the Peachtree Christian Church-next door to the school-yesterday afternoon I met with Mike Bledsoe, the president of the council, and he told me that my team didn't have a name yet. Every other team had been named beforehand, but my team wasn't. When did the naming of the teams take place for me to miss it? He gave me some time to figure out a name for my team, and I wish that the rest of the team had been there that way I could've consulted with them instead of coming up with the name myself. Although it was tempting to keep us as the Team with No Name as it would be like the song, "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name, It felt good to be out of the rain. In the desert you can remember your name, for there ain't no one for to give you no pain." That would have been funny, but it wouldn't have been me either. I like team names to strike fear into the hearts of the opponent. I thought about naming the team "The Dragons" after one of my comic book characters, but then...I was hit with a huge brainstorm. I was wearing the Jaguar McGuire and His Cat T-shirt that I had gotten last year at the premiere of the animated short that was created by SCAD-Atlanta animation students, and so I named the team "The Jaguars."

What can I say about the game itself? I was terrible and it felt like deja vu. Every time I've been part of a team I've always been ignored, shoved to the side like a worthless piece of fruit. Back in the fourth grade I was part of a 3-on-3 basketball game in PE, and I was always left wide open next to the basket, but my teammates never threw the ball to me. I never touched the basketball in that game. I was part of a team that was playing a board game in the First Year Seminar class-a required class for all SCAD freshmen-and all of the questions were in the last chapter of the textbook, which I had just finished reading that morning. So the answers were fresh in my mind, but the captain of the team kept ignoring my answers, and it would turn out that my answers were always correct. This time around, it wasn't my teammates who were ignoring me, it was the opposition. In the first two games I wasn't even worth throwing at. I never got hit by the ball at all. I kept getting myself out by throwing the ball too high, and my target would catch it, knocking me out of the game. It wasn't until the third and final game for "The Jaguars" was I finally thrown at. However, first I had to come close to knocking one of "the Mario Party" players out. I threw a ball at Trevor Verges, a fellow sequential artist, and he managed to dodge it, but in the process he fell backwards, sort of like Victoria in Norman and the Love Triangle. It was the closest that I ever came in knocking someone out, but after that I became a target for the opposition. They still missed me though.

"The Mario Party" came extremely close in knocking me out with a thrown ball, but I was somehow able to dodge it. The ball was coming at my legs, and I jumped to my left to get my right foot away from the incoming ball, but I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Since my momentum was taking me to the left I not only fell to the ground, but I wound up rolling for awhile until I was out of bounds. It was quite a surreal moment, and as it was going on I could hear the crowd yell, "Whooooooooooa!" Apparently they were amazed by that stunt. I thought that the ball had hit me during the fall, and so as soon as I stopped rolling I was just going to sit there to rest after that crazy fall, but then Michael, who was on my team and had already been knocked out, yelled to me saying that the ball had missed me. Oh, slag it! I'm still in play. That was the big highlight of the day for me.

Final Thoughts

My first week back to SCAD-Atlanta has been great, and although it will take a while to get back to the swing of things I know that this quarter is going to be huge. Since I do have a lot of time between classes, both of which are lecture classes, I am continuing my work on the panoramic drawing, and I have gotten the three drawings scanned into the computer and are stitched together. One couldn't even tell that they were three individual drawings. I am aiming to finish the drawing by the summer unless something unexpected occurs. One of my assignments in Survey of Sequential is to interview a comic book artist via email, and before I came on to write this blog entry I emailed Graham Nolan, who was the penciler for the comic where Batman faces off with Bane, to ask him if I could interview him. I only have four questions at the moment, but I hope to have five by the time he responds back, if he responds at all. So until next time, this is Billy Wright wishing you all a good night. So long, everybody.