Grad School: Week 8

"I'll put it this way brother: you've got to be the thermostat rather than the thermometer."

-Cornel West

Cornel West was talking about President Obama, although what he is saying resonates during Week 8 here in Lincoln, NE. After firing a salt kiln and another soda, i met with all three clay faculty members and a digital arts professor to review the work and begin to talk about moving forward with it. This was a lot of outside information and invaluable. I would be hard pressed to find four people on the outside willing to talk, and care, so deeply about work.

When i left Penland's Core Fellowship program, the clay coordinator at the time warned me, "You're about to go into the desert, kid." Meaning i now had to find my own water, food, information, and feedback. The graduate school environment is nothing like this desert. It is a wealth of knowledge that just has to accessed. The challenge, i think, is negotiating the many voices and stimulation to do a Dr. West advised; "be the thermostat, not the thermometer."