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What are my thoughts on going back to college as an older student? I absolutely loved it! I found I was a better student then when I was in my 20’s. As an older student almost 2 decades older than my classmates I could serve as a mentor or an auntie. Teachers actually took me seriously as a peer. Going back to school isn’t for everyone… But if you’ve always loved the learning process there’s no reason not to go back.

When I took my leave of Gaia a few years ago I was in a bad place. I suffered from severe depression, knowing I didn’t have a career. I felt worthless as an artist. I needed to take a break in order to “find myself.” So after my youngest started Kindergarten I decided to enroll in our local community college to major in art and to work on certificates of completion in anthropology and archaeology.

Theater Classes:

TD – 155B Costume Construction II, 3 units – I enrolled in this class by accident. I meant to take the beginning class but my teacher took one look at my portfolio and allowed me into the advanced class. This semester we worked on the production of “Time Machine: Love Among the Eloi.” It won various awards in college play competitions. My main contribution was the leather puppets the Morlocks used to educate the Eloi in how to fight, groom and breed. I also learned macramé and various leather skills. I’m listed in the program as the puppet designer but I was also involved in costumes.

TD –161 Stagecraft Lab, 1 unit – The problem with starting in “advanced” is that there’s nowhere to go from there. My second semester in costuming we were involved in the spring dance recital. Our class had to make close to 400 costume pieces. I was in charge of the leads “Eenie” and “Meenie,” a male and female dance duo who functioned as the clowns of the show. I drafted their costumes mostly from scratch, starting with sketches for approval from my teacher. The best part was seeing the costumes on the stage doing exactly what I designed them to do.

English: I did not need this class… But I took it for fun!

ENGL – 127 Autobiography: Writing Journals and Memoirs, 3 units – This was a summer class. I absolutely LOVED it. It was scheduled around a school sponsored trip to London and Paris. I spent 3 days in London, 2 days in Paris. I took a ton of pictures. We were encouraged to attend as art students and my fellow arts students used it as an opportunity to view the artwork we had been studying in art history. We played “art history scavenger hunt.” I went to the British Museum, National Portrait Gallery. I went to Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street. I went to the Louvre and Versailles. It was… Magical.

Anthropology and Archaeology: I haven’t finished these certificates. I am one class shy of completing. The problem is the class I need is either a night class (I have kids) or it’s rarely offered (the semester they offered it, it was canceled before first class meeting because not enough enrolled).

ANTH – 101 Physical Anthropology (with Lab), 4 units – I can now spell Sahelanthropus tchadensis. I can also assemble a human skeleton in less than 5 minutes. I can also look at a bone and determine if it’s human or not. My big paper for this class was my Primate Observation Report.

ANTH – 102 Cultural Anthropology, 3 units – Online Class… I learned I have real trouble with online classes because I don’t always remember to visit the class website 3 days a week.

ANTH – 103 Introduction to Archaeology, 3 units – Great class. We visited 10,000 year old cave paintings here in California at the Vasco Caves.

ANTH – 104 Survey of North American Indian Cultures, 3 units – Another online class. Now we know why Indiana Jones was a horrible archaeologist!

BIOL – 107 Heredity, Evolution, and Society, 3 units – I rock Mendel Squares! My paper was on a National Geographic article on King Tut’s paternity.

GEOG – 102 Cultural Geography, 3 units – I hated the text book for this class. It made NO SENSE! I’m surprised I even earned an A. Highlight of the class was to go to the Farmer’s Market in SF and do a report on ways farmers use green technology to farm. I found the best honey!

Art Classes! 60 units. I earned an AA… But I never put through the paperwork to get the degree. I remain enrolled in case I ever get around to finishing the Archaeology or Anthropology certificates.

ART – 103A Survey of World Art History Prehistoric Through 1300 CE, 4 units – Aced this class.

ART – 103B Survey of World Art History 14th Century Through 20th Century, 4 units – Aced this class.

ART – 104A 2D Design, 3 units – So much cutting and gluing… We learned book binding in the end to present our portfolios in a pleasing manner.

ART – 104B 3D Design, 3 units – One of my last classes… I was so “done”! It was challenging to take everyday objects and be creative with them. Best project was either masking tape shoe or miniature made from one pair of chopsticks (and wrapper).

ART – 104C Color, 3 units – I learned that I hate Gouache. I bought some expensive French stuff that wouldn’t mix and had to redo several pieces. Our final project was to treat the class as “investors” for our product that used what we learned from color. Mine was a Gothic Lolita Steam Punk Rag Doll.

ART – 105A Glass Art and Design, 3 units – This is how to fill a room with bleeding students.

ART – 106A Descriptive Drawing, 3 units – Learning to draw.

ART – 106B Intermediate Descriptive Drawing, 3 units – Continuing, but now used as an “example” of what the teacher expects.

ART – 107A Life Drawing, 3 units – Naked people! Learning anatomy.

ART – 107B Live Drawing, 3 units – More naked people! And drapery… And experimenting with other mediums.

ART – 111A Painting Color and Composition, 3 units – Oil painting

ART – 116A Basic Sculpture, 3 units – “What is art?” Learned a variety of materials including clay, cement and bronze. Oh yes! We learned the bronze lost wax method using molten bronze.

ART – 116B Advanced Sculpture, 3 units – Freedom to do my own thing! I made a doll and a lamp with a stained glass shade.

ART – 117A Museum and Gallery Techniques, 2 units – We put on several art shows.

ART – 119A 3D Studio Lab, 1 unit – You know all that extra time you spend in the sculpture room before or after class to complete projects? They have a “class” for that so the staff in the room can be paid. It took it my last semester there because I needed extra time to complete my ceramics projects.

ART – 121A Introductory Ceramics I, 3 units – I just want to say right now… I suck at pot throwing. We also used coil and slab build methods.

ART – 121B Introductory Ceramics II, 3 units – More freedom than the first semester class. You still had to complete the same main projects as class I, but the fourth project was whatever you wanted while they learned to throw on the wheel.

ART – 139A Beginning Digital Photography, 3 units – Our end project was a book called “What Is Love?” We donated a copy to our library.

ART – 139B Intermediate Digital Photography, 3 units – I was disappointed in the class. I was supposed to be able to do my own photography project. Instead he had the intermediate and advanced do the same exact projects as the beginning class with no variation. I was not inspired.

ART – 160A Computer Graphics I, 4 units – Learned Adobe Illustrator. HATED this class. Most of our projects were copies. She wouldn’t give us any time to do our projects and kept interrupting every 5 minutes to give directions because the first people she checked up on were completely clueless and hopelessly lost… So she assumed the rest of the class was like that. The guy sitting across from me had no art training and thought even a monkey could do art even though he struggled at it.

There it is... My whole experience at Ohlone. There were parts of it I loved... And parts I could live without. Overall it was a great experience and I made many friends. But that's what I did with 3 years of my life. 85 units... Averaging about 14-15 units a semester. I had many studio classes... But I also had a lot of lecture classes. And I kept up my grade point average. I feel confident.

And then I come back to Gaia and find that my account was hacked while I was gone! gonk