...Thursday morning.

See, as usual, I had two classes on Thursday, with homework due in both. For my art class, I needed to somehow convey the feeling of "flight," using construction paper, in black, white, and two colors of my choice. For English, I had to read a 48-page essay, and write some observations on it.

I decided to do the English homework first, for a change. So I read through the essay, getting done, oh, around 4 AM. At which point I decided I really had to do my art homework.

I'd been doodling ideas since earlier in the day, but nothing worked. The problem was in having to use four different color values, while still achieving a piece that was esthetically pleasing, that balanced the positive and negative space, and that conveyed both motion and lightness. Murder.

What I ended up doing was a slightly modified version of a piece I did in class two weeks earlier, to illustrate motion, adding colors, and moving one stripe just a bit. So the class exercises are definitely helping; I would have gone completely off my rocker if I hadn't had that, I suppose.

I wasn't thrilled with the results; in fact, I thought I'd blown it altogether, but I figured it was better than nothing, at least.

By the time I got done, I was in no condition to actually write my response to the readings from the English class. So I just rested for a half-hour or so (not actually sleeping), and went off to class.

And I should point out that I loved this material from this week. A chapter from Dialectic of Enlightenment, by Adorno and Horkheimer, on "The Culture Industry: Entertainment as Mass Deception." I can't say I agree with them on everything, but they make an interesting case, and do make several good points about the way American culture drags everything into a tasteless stew of mediocrity.

They were writing in the '40s. In some ways, matters have gotten worse, but, in other ways, I think they've gotten better. I wonder how they'd feel about the Internet. On the whole, I think they'd approve.

Here, minus the gray area, is a reasonable facsimile of my art homework:

In class itself, we worked with paint for the first time; black and white acrylic paint, to be exact.

I had neglected to consider this when I got dressed that morning, opting for a long-sleeved shirt with Tweety on the front that I am very, very fond of. I kept pushing up the sleeves past my elbows to keep from accidentally getting any paint on them. Nothing happened, but you can bet I'm going to be careful about what I wear on Thursdays from now on...