Learning New Things

I've taken a course at the university every semester since the spring of 2008. Up to this point, everything that I've taken has been something in which I could earn an A (and have) through sufficient effort on my part.

This semester I'm taking a freshman-level class… in the School of Art!

Unlike upper-division courses in computer science and graduate level classes in the College of Business Administration, just about everyone in art class is a traditional aged undergraduate (and most of the freshmen). You just don't go back to school to study art. Art is what you study the first time around before you back to school for something sounds more serious. (Unemployed brother-in-law? Majored in art history.) One of the undergraduates in this class looks very familiar, but I checked the roster on Blackboard, and I do not recognize the names of any former students.

First project in art class is a very, very, very open-ended group project. Traditional undergraduates were not all that eager to join the group with the crazy middle-aged lady. But then all the other groupless people coalesced, and my new group-mates have made a discovery.

For our open-ended project we're building some crazy stuff. More of our supplies come from the hardware store than from the art-supply store. And, unlike many freshmen, I have a car. And a parking permit for the lot just outside of the art building. I also have a house full of crap, so we have access to any of my portable stuff. Cordless drill? No problem. Dolly? Have two. Sewing machine? Yep. Dremel tool? Got one of those.

Grown-ups tend to own more things than freshmen do.