Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Places I've Lived


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After ditching Memphis College of Art and moving back to Pcola, I scrambled to try and find a way to keep my education going. I eventually ended up at FSU for one semester. Is anyone sensing a pattern?
So, I lived in this great apartment outside of town. Anything close to FSU was dirty, nasty, filthy and unlivable by my standards. Tallahassee is one of the nastiest towns I've ever lived in. Major yuck. I liked my apartment though. It was cozy, there was a pool where I used to swim every night before bed, and it was quiet. The best part of living there was the apartment.
So, I sign up for a few art classes and by the end of the semester I think I was still in one of them. I took a color photography class and found out that we were going to spend the semester remodeling the color lab. By week 3 or 4 we had done absolutely nothing. So frustrating. The only class I remember taking was photo silkscreen which I really loved. Had a great teacher too. I had lined up some great classes the next semester (yes, I had planned on staying) and they all fell apart when a couple of the profs I chose decided at the last minute to take sabbaticals. I jumped on the phone, called the University of West Florida in Pcola and talked to the art department chair. I told him how desperate I was to get my education on track and he let me apply and register way late. By the start of the next semester I was back in Pcola taking a full load. My parents allowed me to stay unemployed and I took 18 - 22 hours a semester until I finished. It's funny. In junior college, several of my profs told me to stay away from UWF. They told me to go off to school...that it would be a better experience. One prof told me not to settle...that I was a star. In the end, UWF turned out to be better than any of the other schools I had travelled to attend. Sure, they had problems but I was able to finish.
On a side note: while I was living in Tallahassee, I got a job working for Sonitrol, an alarm company. I did their janitorial work. The owner/CEO of the company was Stan Marshall, former FSU president. I ended up doing work for him out at his house on Lake Jackson. I ran the tractor to mow his huge yard. It was a weird gig. I guess the folks there liked me because they were upset when I quit.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey bro, I am really digging this tour through Mart History!