Winter Term: A Project a Day

People I know are spending Winter Term in all kinds of places - New Orleans, West Virginia, even Taizé, France. Costa Rica seems to be a perennial favorite, and of course, there are all kinds of things going on in Oberlin, from intensive language courses to Aikido. But I'm doing my off-campus project here at home. I arrived here two days before Christmas Eve and have pretty much just stayed put.

My official Winter Term project is a little nebulous, and it hasn't exactly gotten off the ground yet. To keep myself busy and productive, I've embarked instead on something I'm calling A Project a Day. The idea is simple. I have to make one thing every day - anything from a wolf hat with headphones sewn into the brim (one of my December projects) to the slightly ambiguous "important arrangements" (a project from early January).

Here, for the curious, is a photo of the wolf hat.

Although the projects have gotten a little less ambitious than hand-sewn hats, I've had a lot of fun. A couple of weeks ago, I repaired my foam sword collection - torn to bits in the process of a ferocious human chess game - and they now stand ready to be brandished in a snowy contest of arms. I've also made a simple origami incense burner for the incense I picked up at an Indian dollar store (and would never dream of bringing back to Keep). Today, I started to sculpt a lion from the snowbank at the end of my driveway. Even blizzards have benefits.

Actually, I'm loving the snow - so far, from safely inside my drafty house. It throws off light like careless music; the world is brighter, mantled in ice. Of course, I'm also slightly snowblind, but what of it?

This picture was taken by Anita Visentin-Perito during a morning run.

I'm also a little homesick. Having lived in Oberlin for a single semester (not even including breaks), I'm probably not licensed to call it "home" yet -- but it still feels that way, and I miss it just as much as I missed my hometown last September. (Wow, remember September? Sun? Green growing things? I'm having trouble believing I'll ever see grass again.)

I miss co-op food, co-op friends, even co-op cleaning. I even miss classes! Today, I've been reviewing the requirements for my tentative major in biology and constructing a theoretical schedule for next semester. I know that most self-respecting students did that the week before registration week, rather than eight weeks later, but I had no idea what I wanted to study at the time -- not even the shadow of a ghost of an idea that is a biology major.

I ended up in a Spanish class, a class on medieval religious thought, Intro to Psych, and a class for swim teachers. All of those are very interesting, but none of them are terribly useful for bio, and I'm just a little thankful for add/drop.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though - I still have three weeks to go before we're all due back on campus February 6th. Here's hoping for a wonderful Winter Term, for all of you scattered Obies.