The fall semester of my third year in university has come to an end, my 23rd birthday has just passed me by, and funny enough, in between all the chaos of finishing projects, I found myself spending the 6th of December at someone else's birthday party. The last day of class was drawing near, the final submission dates of the semester were all too close, and the shorter days had finally brought cold that bit my face like a dog and snow that laid over all the ground, a great white tarp hiding sinister city debris. Faced with a stack of projects that seemed insurmountable at the time, I approached the party with all the appropriate reserve and understandable 'I love you guys but I should only stay for supper' attitude of a student with a lot of work on his plate, an approach that I'd completely tossed out the window after a few beers dissolved my stress for better or for worse. Mention of a quick stop by my friend's apartment and a ride to a club downtown ended up piquing my interest. After my sister and I embarked on a mission through the snow, armed with drunken spirit and most of the appropriate winter gear to buy a pack of cigarettes that would be gone by the end of the night, the two of us, stinking as animals with wet feet often do, met back up in the apartment with those of the pack who stuck around thus far. Everyone was crammed into an SUV before I knew it, and I laid in the trunk along with one other piece of human cargo. We arrive. As expected, more beers, many strangers eager to smoke up my cigarettes, and a sweaty, panting, mass of bodies I danced my hours and inhibitions away with. The impending soreness was just something I'd need to shake off my back when I went to go squeegee some more layers onto my silkscreen print the following day.

This semester proved difficult, much like a sneaky tick in the way it drained me, even more like a gauntlet thrown at my feet in the way it challenged me. Despite all the exhaustion it brought to me, in it there was such massive leaps in my learning and new friends to be made that now as I leave this year behind me I already feel hungry for the next one. I can MIG weld now, cut metals with an Oxy-acetylene torch, and use a propane fueled forge to shape them. I know how to use emulsion, a UV exposure unit, and silk stretched tight over a metal frame to very nearly precisely recreate images onto cotton paper or fabrics using processes of layering and meticulous registration. I spent my days absorbed in my work and my friends, in constant discussion and enthrallment with both. How I love them both. How I love everything in this moment, just as equally as I have hated it in others.

Though some days it seems indecision will be a snake under my foot as long as an open mind stays a set of sunglasses upon the bridge of my nose, a feline sort of stubbornness pushes me ever forward despite the scaly nibbler between my toes.

Meow. Love you all.

~Tucker

PS. I'll be posting my silkscreen projects and maybe even photos of my metalwork, once I find the time to get decent scans and photos! At the moment I am focused on cleaning up the mess in my apartment, cooking myself yummy food, and reading 'Interview With a Vampire' by Anne Rice, lent to me by a friend.