Wow, I can not believe we have actually reached midterms. I feel like we have only been in school for a week or so. It’s a little bit scary, knowing I am almost halfway done with my Junior year. I’m not ready to grow up and be responsible! Although, I must admit, much of the fear is tempered by the fact that I haven’t had any midterms yet. I have had it pretty easy as of now, and though I gently tease my friends about it, I know I am going to get hammered in a week or so. Three midterm portfolios and one midterm exam. Oh boy.

Anyway, it’s been a pretty full week, but a lot of fun when I wasn’t getting too worked up about it all. In Great Works, my Art History class, we have moved into Greek art, which is definitely my favorite culture by far. The professor was talking about Grecian architecture and the different Gods and Goddesses temples were built in honor of, and I was practically swooning in my seat. I am kind of a dork that way. We had some really interesting reading too. We read about a number of instances of controversies over the ownership rights of art pieces in museums. In particular, we talked about the case of an English diplomat who was given permission by the Turkish government (who controlled Greece at the time) to take some pieces of the Parthenon, an enormous temple built to honor Athena. Well, now the Greek want it all back. So who does it really belong to? It’s an aspect of museums that I never thought much on before.

My studio art classes are, as always, busy but a lot of fun. I was having a hard time thinking of an idea for a sculpture in 3-D design, so a friend and I went to the dumpster to look for some garbage that we might be able to turn into something. I found this incredible computer chair that I had to bring back with me. I decided to create a huge tacky face out of cardboard and chicken wire to go on it. Who could resist a chair that smiles back? The project for my animation class was so much fun, but sooooo much work! It took hours and hours to put together the puppet that I would be using for my piece, but the real challenge was in shooting it. It took me about four and a half hours! But it was so worth it. The end results always are. My animation clip showed a centaur dure running across a wasteland of sorts and firing an arrow. Not terribly exciting I guess, but when you know how much goes into it…

In my house we’re trying to get a number of projects together. We’re planning a food drive and a few food collection days coming up, and we hope to get a lot of stuff to give to the Cupboard of Kindness. In the Dems, we’re starting to advertise the candidates on campus, as well as get people informed on how to get registered and to get absentee ballots. Hopefully we’ll make connections with the different campaigns in New Hampshire and start getting up there to canvas a few weekends.

Anyway, that’s just about it. I’m just getting psyched to go home for this long weekend. Of course, I wont actually get to go home until Friday. I have tours all Saturday morning, which should be fun. Four and half hours of talking and walking backwards. They should start a tour guide as fitness work out. But seriously, it always is a good time. I will just have to remember to eat breakfast BEFORE I go this time. I got progressively louder last weekend to cover up my stomach growling.

Hi everyone! This is my first blog ever, so please bear with my. My name is Galen Kerrick, and I am a Junior here at Wheaton. It’s slightly hard to believe actually, that I am over halfway done with my college education. A little scary too. I am a studio art major, with a possible minor in either psychology or classical mythology. I hope to go into either graphic design or animation after school, but who knows? My interests might change drastically before I graduate.

I am involved is many things on campus. I am the Speaker and Events Coordinator for the College Democrats. It sounds like an impressive title, but it’s not really. I basically book rooms and venues for events and movie showings and stuff. We all chip in and distribute the work pretty evenly, so we don’t always adhere to the given titles. We have several goals this year, one being to show our support for the candiates by getting up to New Hampshire and helping with their campaigns. We also want to work on campus to combat apathy and to promote general awareness. This is something that we try to collaborate on with the College Conservatives, holding several events throughout the year that are bipartisan.

I am also an Ambassador Coordinator. I am one of the four students who are responsible for organizing and overseeing all the student Ambassadors. We do things like host prospective students overnight, or take them to visit our classes. It’s a lot of fun, and a great way to make connections with your fellow peers.

I am also living in a themed house this year with a group of my friends. Our theme is hunger, and we work together with the Cupboard of Kindness, a local food pantry, to supply families who may be going through some financial trouble with food and other necessities. We go to the pantry for food distribution about every other week, which we did this past Monday, and we are also planning a number of events throughout the year to gather food and raise money for them. One of the things we have planned is to go trick-or-treating for canned goods.

I hold two jobs on campus. One is in the Library as a Public Service Assistant. Basically we are there to assist anyone who has questions and to make sure everything is stocked. I am also a tour guide for the Admissions office, which is so much fun, and a great way to learn a lot about the school. I actually have two tours in a row later today, which should be interesting. Hopefully I wont loose my voice.

I am taking all art courses this semester, including 3-Dimensional Design, Graphic Design I, Intro to Experimental Animation, and Great Works I, an art history course. All of them are tons of fun, but as art courses, require a very big time commitment. I am not sure I will ever take three studio classes again. Experimental Animation is incredible, and it is actually taught by a visiting Professor, Daniel Sousa. We have gotten to create a few very short movies of our artwork, and it really gives you an idea of how much goes into animated movies like The Incredibles or Ratatouille.

Wonderfully, this has been a relatively low-key week, with the exception of yesterday. Senator Barack Obama came to my home in New Hampshire yesterday for a rally, and a friend, the President of the College Dems, and I got to drive up and go see it. In addition, because it was held at my house, we got to meet the Senator and get a personal photo with him! It was so much fun, and he was a great speaker. It was so hot though, and I felt really bad for all the security people, standing in the sun with heavy suits on. They must have fried.

Well, that’s just about all I have to say for now. Until next time!

Galen