16 Dec Gift Bags, Totes, and Nietzsche

Posted at 23:12h in Staying Sane in Graduate School by
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I spent my day catching up on gifts and things. I worked on another layer of the Ganesha Yantra painting for my not-quite-father-in-law and gift bags and totes for the holiday season. Each tote is fully lined and reversible – the inside layer is a solid color for those moments when a person might simply want a plainer tote. It took about 30 minutes to figure out how to make the pattern, and i was off. In nine hours, i’ve made five reversible totes and four gift bags (i really need to learn to get faster at these things). Over the hours, i have listened to audio recordings of parts of Karl Marx’s Capital, Volume 1, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, Spinoza’s The Ethics, and the first few chapters of Dickens’ Bleak House – all delightfully read by volunteers over at librivox.org. It occurs to me that it would be a great assignment for a 400-level class to do a recording – something of a public scholarship assignment. Especially as i was unable to find Adorno, Horkheimer, or Foucault in the catalog… Maybe i’m being selfish. What would that assignment be worth???

Anyway, suffice to say, this is one of only four days i have scheduled off for myself this holiday season that does not include writing as i have two papers to finish, two papers to start, another one to write start to finish, a Human Subjects application to complete, a memorandum of agreement to write, and four grant applications that need to be written – all before January 5.

Below are photos of the totes and gift bags i made today…there are more pictures on my Flickr account.

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6 Comments
  • Annie
    Posted at 06:39h, 17 December

    Mmm…I think a reading project is in order only if the class is made up of British exchange students!

    Isn’t “Carl Manchester” a great reader of Marx (and a great nom de vox) ?

    Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater” is wonderful, and wonderfully read. As are the Father Brown and Man Who Knew Too Much stories by GK Chesterton. Alice thru the Looking Glass has a great reader.

    • maoquai
      Posted at 10:08h, 17 December

      The Dickens’ novel was read by a woman from NYC. She had a great accent. 😛 Maybe we should have a reading party and all do chapters in different accents…

  • Katie
    Posted at 08:37h, 17 December

    My oh my, you have been busy!!! Those look beautiful! I feel like a big lazy slug. 🙂

    • maoquai
      Posted at 10:12h, 17 December

      Riiiiight… If you’re a slug, then I’m a dandelion. But, on that note, I do need to get to a fabric shop soon! I had so many color ideas (color – can you imagine!?). Now that I’ve found something I’m actually okay at and enjoy, I don’t want to stop. Think I’ll head to Stitches today.

  • Pingback:Week in Review: Preparing for the Holidays « Serenity in the Storm
    Posted at 08:18h, 18 December

    […] something. Tish and I do most of the crafts together, but sewing is something we do separately. Check out the tote bags Tish made. Aren’t they awesome?! I didn’t make any totes, but I’m working on a couple of […]

  • Lara S.
    Posted at 21:14h, 07 January

    wow you’re a machine! Lovely bags and such creativity!