Companion.

the love of my life.

"Suddenly this little woods-girl is horror-stricken...."

I read the most beautiful story for my American Literature class. It's called "A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett, and it's one of the prettiest stories I've ever encountered. It might be online to be read, but it's so worth taking out a library book or ordering a cheap one on amazon.com. I won't say much about the story so as not to give anything away, but it's the tale of a young girl who lives a life of solitude with her grandmother, surrounded only by woods and animals, and a sea past the trees which she has never seen. Her little world gets turned upside down when a mysterious bird hunter finds her on a walk. It's about a choice between innocense and knowledge, like eve being tempted with an apple. "The woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love."

my moon, my man.

Tonight my friends and I saw Across the Universe:
It was beautifully made. Very visually stimulating and, despite some rather cheesy and overly literate interpretations of beatles lyrics, an amazing movie for any beatles lover, anyone who witnessed the fall of innocense in the 60s, or anyone who likes a good artistic movie. I also made a couple of trips to the Coop today. Here is my list of books which I must read (ignore the lack of spacing - I seem to be prohibited from entering spaces between paragraphs, etc.): 1) Bashon and I - Thomas Mann (a 1920s' writer's acount of his close companionship with his dog.) 2) Sex With Kings - Eleanor Herman (in Women in Art, we've seen many paintings of king's mistresses, and the subject grows more and more fascinating to me. I'm especially intrested in the mysterious female poet/philosopher in Da Vinci's "Lady With Ermite", who played lover to a king.) 3) St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: Stories - Karen Russell (several stories about wild girls and the people they travel through life with. So intrigueing.)
Leonardo Da Vinci - Lady with Ermite. (great inspiration for my current girls holding animals portraits, indeed!) I'm all about homework right now. I miss my family and my animals quite a bit. I might be going home in the near future! I hope the busy start of the year is treating everyone well. Love, Amanda (ps - can't stop listening to My Moon, My Man by Feist!)

Moonlight magic with little bandits.

Tonight something magical happened. I was heading out to cvs, but decided spur of the moment to visit my friend at EDS a few blocks away. As I turned onto Chauncy Street, which always tugs at my heart strings on a normal night, I saw a large cat up ahead on the sidewalk. As I got nearer, I bent over and called to it. It looked at me, and in that instant I realized it was not a cat, but that it was a raccoon, and it had a friend who was scurrying up a sidewalk tree. I walked closer, and they both scurried up the tree trunk. Both young, but not of baby size. They were so curious. They were not afraid of me at all. They remained on the lowest branch, intently staring at me as I was just a few feet from them, listening to every word I said. I talked to them for about ten minutes, because how could I leave them? It was the most amazing thing. They stared at me with their shiny black eyes, and I reached up and open-closed my palm at them, and the bolder one reached down his paw at me. I did not touch him, but it was amazing none the less. Everytime a car or truck came, they would run farther up the tree, but they would always come back down to the branch to listen to me. Eventually several people and cars came, and they disappeared into the canapoy of the tree and I could no longer see them. I heard them playing with each other, making sweet noises. I am definitely adding a raccoon to my girls-holding-animals series. Seriously, tonight was such a gift.

women in art...

oiseau de chanson

A sketch of Shelby (see sidebar) for my Kristen and Shelby project endeavor.

heart strings

my show is up! Art Institute of Boston: 700 Beacon Street, second floor.

Women in Film

I think this is really cool.

Today, on the T.

These flowers rode the T with me today.

They sat beside a woman reading a newspaper in a language I could not identify. Accross from a man playing jazz with his hands. And too far away from the girl in the bright blue polka-dot top and black pencil skirt with her bright red hair. She appreciated the face that I was riding the T with a giant plant in my arms, and smiled at me as I stumbled off the green line and made my way down the steps to red. As I waited for the next train, I was greeted by a gruff voice: "I told you not to buy me flowers!" A clearly eccentric man was making his way towards me. "Where'd you get those?" he asked. "My teacher brought them in from her garden," I explained. "That's nice," he said, eyeing the cherry tomatos dangling off their vines. He was momentarily distracted by a little boy wearing a yamacha who was with his mother. "I don't think you wanna stand on the yellow line," the gruff voice warned the little boy. A voice came over the loud speaker announcing that a train would be arriving shortly. My friend, as I will call him, began muttering some choice words and "finally", and the mother led her little boy away, saying, "let's go over here." My friend, turning his attention back to me, leaned in closer than I would have preferred, and asked, "Can I take you out tonight, polka-dots?" Clearly he liked my skirt. "I have a boyfriend", I lied, and caught the eyes of a handsome stranger who had been watching the conversation between me and my friend. "Don't you need two boyfriends?" the gruff voice asked, and I replied, "No, I'm all set," still maintaining a sincere smile. He did not frighten me. I made my way unsuspectingly away from my friend and to the other side of the handsome stranger, who smiled at me with every gruff word spoken. My friend came back asking for a tomato, and I obliged. "And they're cherry tomatos!" he exclaimed. "It was nice to meet you, polka-dots," he said. "You too," I replied, and he made his way towards the tracks just as the train began to pull up. He headed to one cart and I deliberately headed for another (so that nothing further could happen to ruin our mini encounter) and the handsome stranger laughed, knowing very well what I was doing. "I'm going on this one,"I mouthed to him. No seats were left, so I held onto a pole with one arm, clutching my flowers and tomato vines in the other. Sharing the pole with me was a photographer in a striped yellow shirt and a brown derby hat. He eyed me curiously, the girl on the T in a polka-dot skirt holding a jar full of botanicals. When the T came above ground at Charles MGH, he held his camara out from his chest and snapped a few photos of me as discretely as he could. I secretly posed for him. I think he knew I knew. As the train slowed down and came to a hault, a woman got on with a beautiful elderly black man and woman. The man was tiny with distinctive hands and the expression of a child on his face, and he wore a large plaid green jacket and a white shirt, collar turned up, and a black bowler hat. I knew the photographer desperately wanted to take some pictures as the three figures hugged each other to stay steady around a pole, because I knew I would have wanted that photo if I had my camera. He took a few photos hastily, and then walked over near them and began talking to a boy in a skull t-shirt who had a seat. At first I thought the photographer was asking for the boy's seat so that he could sit there and take better pictures, but when he came back over to our pole and the boy stood up and walked a few feet away, I realized he'd asked him to move so the elderly man could sit down. The woman who accompanied the old pair nodded a thank you to the photographer, and all was good in the world for a moment. My photographer got off at the next stop and nodded goodbye to me. A seat opened up and I sat down as a gorgeous punk girl got on and sat accross from me. I could not see her eyes behind her enormous pitch-black sunglasses, but she had a permanant mona lisa smile transfixed on her purple lips the rest of the ride to Harvard Square as she and I glanced around at the different people on the T. One of my friends is creeped out by people who walk down the street smiling. I'm one of those people. Everyone was smiling at each other on the T today. Everyone had an understanding. Tomato plants bring people together.

a room of one's own.

I managed to do this entire painting on September 1st and 2nd, and I'm so happy with how it came out. My Sister's Keeper:


I'm all moved into my lovely little room at school! This is my first year having a single and I couldn't be more pleased with what room I ended up with. My friend Emily and I, who lived together freshman and sophomore year, are next door to each other with a strange closet that connects our rooms! It has a bench built into the wall and it reminds me of either the underground railroad or perhaps servant's quarters. It's fun, because we can either shut the doors to our "nook", or have them open and be able to yell things to each other and run in and out of each other's rooms.

It's snowing boys.

As soon as I get back to school, I am renting Penelope.
Mostly because I have a rediculously huge crush on Mr. James McAvoy.
And also because the story intrigues me and I adore Christina Ricci.
Tonight Mom and I saw Once. I found it incredibly romantic and realistic. Something everyone can relate to their own life and be reminded of a certain person. I've been listening to music and working on my painting (hint: capes) for the past several hours. lalalalaaa....

I miss

this.



I love this.