The Grain Project Blog-Lauren

First off, I would like to agree with the blog below that this semester has gone by very, very quickly. That being said, I have a feeling the winter break ahead of us will go by just as fast, and we will be back in class, Tuesday January 27th for a new semester of old faces, and a new set of challenges.

The passing of the Fall to Spring semester is always a bit off-putting for me. Due to the Winter Session, those of us who aren't enrolled in a three-week course, are sort of in an educational limbo for three weeks. Now, don't get me wrong, I usually put these weeks to good use with vacations, extra hours of work, and new year's resolutions (that quickly fade).... but what does this mean for our films? I know we are not exactly "required" to do any work or filming over the break, but how can we not? I am terribly anxious about our film, working with an outside organization, and working with the elements. I am terribly anxious about taking days off of work (and the others in my group doing the same) in order to film and getting rained out and postponing the footage we need (for our pending teaser, film, etc.).

Despite my anxieties, after our first "official" day of filming in the Grain Project's Jerome Park Garden, I couldn't be more happy. Not only did we do some nice filming, it was a perfect day of participant observation. Yes, that's right, we worked in the garden too! I'll leave Mike or Nikki to talk more about that, but basically, Nick Spain, the Grain Project's agricultural director (and former anthropology professor), is amazing. Simply amazing. He, like any good anthropologist, tends to know everything about everything. I especially enjoyed what I will call his "walking lecture" on the garden's native plants.