When I volunteered to post a blog that sums up this year’s trip to Taliesin, I didn’t realize it will be this difficult. It’s hard enough to accept that the best week of this summer is over, I have never been disappointed to be in Chicago until now.
Skyscrapers have replaced the hills. Endless businesses have replaced the prairies. The sirens and noisy cars have replaced the birds and crickets. There are no stars under this sky, and the breeze here isn’t sweet.
Most importantly, Krisann, Brenda, Aldair, Salman, Alex, Andrea, and Shareka aren’t here. Looking back, I can’t seem to come up with the perfect words to describe these eight days. Even the thousand pictures cannot fully capture what was going on. The saying, “you had to be there” could never be truer.
It took a while for the crew to become well acquainted with one another and it took some time getting used to the hilly paths. By the third day, I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.
Alex taught us more in one week than my trig teacher did in an entire semester. I learned sistering (attaching extra support to an existing structure to make it stronger). I learned that material is a bigger factor in building than I had assumed. I learned not to cut the wood… I learned to cheat at uno. I learned not to underestimate the power of zip ties and wood. I learned how to sketch with sticks. I learned how to communicate ideas and design without having a solid plan or drawing it out on paper.
Krissan made things ten times funnier with her contagious laugh and she took great care of us. Anyone who knows her already knows how awesome she is. Anyone who hasn’t met her yet is missing out.
Victor is by far the coolest dean I’ve met. He made us feel welcome and he is funny! He also does dishes and listens to my stories about Disney princesses =)
Despite the bugs, bats, and moths, which weren’t nearly as bad as I had expected, this had to be the best summer ever. I’m glad I got this opportunity and it was a great experience. Now that it’s over all I can think about is recruiting the crew to go back in the winter and go sledding down those hills. Some of us even want to have our weddings at Taliesin someday (I won’t say any names) and I am definitely finding a way to retire there.
Posted on July 7th, 2009 at 4:14 pm by publicworkshop in Our Work