Meet Virginia

Virginia is a beautiful state. When I jumped into grad school there, I had no idea how much – or how fast – it would grow on me.

Of course, the star of the show is Hollins. It's friendly, supportive, and attracts sharp students and great faculty. And there are horses. Everything a school should be, I'd say.

This is Starlight. She's awfully affectionate and licks whatever's in front of her when you scratch her rump. Go ahead and try it! She loves it!

This is Dreambell. She has lovely blue eyes, and she knows it.

This is Mara, who is one of the most compassionate people I've ever met. She's full of positivity, one of those rare people who light up a room just by being there. In this picture, she's greeting a goat!

We visited friends who have a farm, and on that farm there lives Buttercup the friendly cow. Aww.

Buttercup is all business, but she can party when it counts.

Buttercup and her daughter, Sugarbell.

This is Jack. He's a friendly fellow.

Kitty!

Leigh, who has a spectacular sense of humor, and I visited Camp Alta Mons, a Methodist camp down the road. They had a giant cross by a fire pit.

You git up to some pretty wacky times in the country.

Tim, Melanie, and I went out to lunch. One can't think of Hollins without thinking of them, and one can't think of them without thinking of awesome.

 


Danyel and I did lunch, and it's really true what they (I) say: sweet tea runs like water down here. It even rains it. Yum!

The waitress even asked me, "Y'want some more sweet tea, love?"

Then a guy walked in with a shirt that said, "I like the sound you make when you shut up."

Rebekah and I hit the town. She's planning a fun scavenger hunt!

The Mill Mountain star is the world's largest illuminated, freestanding star. Roanoke calls itself the Star City of the South, and thus the Mill Mountain star exists.

I took a walk through Mara and Leigh's neighborhood. There were so many butterflies discussing butterfly things.

It had been years since I've eaten honeysuckle right off the shrub, but when I found it growing wild, I had to have some. 

 
Quite a few deserted houses in this quiet town.

Heavy rains and thunderstorms were predicted, but all in all, they didn't hit us so hard. It hailed for about a minute.

I made mac 'n cheese in a heart-shaped pan. Aww.

Kyla, Dylan, and Leigh. If this was an album cover, it would be one of my favorite album covers.

Dreambell didn't want me to leave. See you again soon!

Hollins's Eleanor Siddy Wilson museum has an exhibit on paper artists. This is a paper tornado atop a paper town. Some of the creations were pretty creative. Others looked merely like larger versions of the paper snowflakes I used to make, prompting me to wonder how long it would take the museum staff to catch on if I taped up such a snowflake.

Downtown Roanoke. It really is up and comin'!

Melanie has a blanket that has "Wooooooo" stitched into it. That makes it a fantastic blanket.

As for Melanie, herself, she's ready for The Color Run, an amazing-sounding 5K that involves people throwing colorful powder at each other. I want to throw colorful powder at stuff.

It's always tough to leave such a great place...

...made more so true by the fact that my car broke down not five miles over the West Virginia border. In a spot with no cell signal. Thanks to the extreme kindness of many of the locals (shout out to Walt, Roy, Donnie, Randy, Bill, and Susan) for helping me out, I was able to move the car off the road and call AAA.

AAA didn't show up after a reasonable about of time, and I had to call them back. To give you an idea as to where I was stuck, the AAA operator's exact words were, "They went out already but couldn't find you."

Things could've been much worse. I met some truly great and helpful folks, a tow truck driver who called trucks "big dogs," and we found a mechanic in Winchester VA that was open seven days a week.

The car's all fixed, now, and I'm off north!

New York to Maryland

As a sort of pre-road-trip road trip, I've journeyed from New England to New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, followed by Virginia.

No trip to NY would be complete without visiting my two favorite ice cream fans, John and Liz. Liz recently won a Baskin-Robbins contest to invent a new flavor, and John won Liz. Say hi to John and Liz, everyone:

It was Free Donut Day, so there was no better way to celebrate than a trip to rainy, rainy NYC.

This is an art chateau that NYU owns on the upper east side. I had no idea that NYU owned such a thing (it's part of the fine arts library) but it looked pretty so I went inside to explore.

Given the torrential downpour, it seemed wise to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was the most cultured few hours I've spent in a long time. Not that free donuts aren't at all cultural. Sometimes, you prefer culture you can't eat. Sometimes.

This is one of my favorite sculptures. She's Nydia of Pompeii, and you can read more about her here.

This is one of my favorite stained glass windows. It's an Agnes Northrop design from Tiffany Studios. You can read more about it here.

This is one of my favorite empty galleries. The museum is so gigantic that even when it's packed, there remain underpopulated nooks within.

This is one of my favorite disclaimers ever.

The exhibition was packed.

It was pretty neat to see how Punk sensibilities and design had soaked into fashion and haute couture. Mainly, how the counter-cultural becomes mainstream. Sad on one hand, but also a challenge to the counter-culturalists to continue making with the counter-culture.

Or as George Carlin said, "Earrings were worn to piss off the Squares; the Squares are wearing them now!" 

The Temple of Dendur is a walk-in Egyptian structure that was disassembled in Egypt and reassembled in the Met. You can walk into it and see all of the ancient graffiti. Learn more about it here.

This is an actual taxidermied deer covered in glass globes of varying sizes. It's by Kohei Nawa. The deer would be so happy to know that it's art. We should all be so lucky. Read more about it here.

A bust of Voldemort?

No trip to New York would be complete without visiting two of my favorite vegans. Caryn and Gary do brunch right. It's always a treat to see them. They're born performers, and you really need to see them in action.

Sean and I have been friends since college, when I used to beat him at video games all the time without exception. We met up at a First Avenue street fair. He paid $3 for a lemonade while half a block away, they had $2 and $1 lemonades. If lemonades were a video game, I'd still have him beat.

This is the Chrysler Building. It's lovely from every angle. There's no observation deck, though.

These are costumed performers in Times Square. Don't mess with Cookie Monster.

Finally, I made it to Maryland. My friends Jeremy and Tracy have a yard that's home to many a rascally rabbit.

This is Jen. She makes terrific art. Look at it.

Jeremy and Tracy are great hosts and even better poker players. There's a reason why they're smiling so grand.

I left them a secret message in the playroom. Can you find it?

Agnes and I visited Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory. It was a welcome break from the hustle and bustle. It's a small botanic garden, but it's very well-designed and worth walking through a few times.

 

 These are plants.