The Salt Student Blog http://blog.salt.edu Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:03:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 goodbye from Salt Photo Spring 2010 http://blog.salt.edu/courtesy-of-salt-photo-spring-2010 http://blog.salt.edu/courtesy-of-salt-photo-spring-2010#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 18:43:18 +0000 Caitlin http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1661

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]]> http://blog.salt.edu/courtesy-of-salt-photo-spring-2010/feed 2 Salt, I can’t quit you! http://blog.salt.edu/salt-i-cant-quit-you http://blog.salt.edu/salt-i-cant-quit-you#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 19:08:22 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1659 - from my computer in the photo room…

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/salt-i-cant-quit-you/feed 1 all these places have their moments http://blog.salt.edu/all-these-places-have-their-moments-2 http://blog.salt.edu/all-these-places-have-their-moments-2#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 01:22:14 +0000 Emma http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1648 “Clarissa had a theory in those days – they had heaps of theories, always theories, as young people have. It was to explain the feeling they had of dissatisfaction; not knowing people; not being known. For how could they know each other? You met every day; then not for six months, or years. It was unsatisfactory, they agreed, how little one knew people. But she said, sitting on the bus going up Shaftesbury Avenue, she felt herself everywhere; not ‘here, here, here’; and she tapped the back of the seat; but everywhere. She waved her hand, going up Shaftesbury Avenue. She was all that. So that to know her, or any one, one must seek out the people who completed them; even the places. Odd affinities she had with people she had never spoke to, some women in the street, some man behind a counter – even trees, or barns. It ended in a transcendental theory which, with her horror of death, allowed her to believe, or say that she believed (for all her scepticism), that since our apparitions, the part of us which appears, are so momentary compared with the other, the unseen part of us, which spreads wide, the unseen might survive, be recovered somehow attached to this person or that, or even haunting certain places, after death. Perhaps – perhaps.” -Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway

“What have you learned this semester?”

A question I’ve been asked countless times. Where can I begin?

Craft. Structure. Ethics.

Editing. Transcribing. Promo-making.

There are too many things and not enough words. But if I had to summarize the most important thing I’ve learned at Salt it’s this: stories give life meaning.

Without stories we have no literature, no films, no music. Without stories we have no heroines or conflicts, no plots or through lines.

Stories invite us on a journey.

Sometimes they’re scary. Sometimes it’s easier if we choose not to listen or view or read. They make us uncomfortable because we’re forced to confront the troubles and tensions present in many lives.

Sometimes they’re light-hearted and humorous. They make us smile. We forget that we’re taking time out of our day in order to partake in the journey.

Most stories give us a team to root for. They inform and inspire. They make us understand humanity.

While looking back on this semester, I’ve come to realize that all forms of art strive to create connections among people and places. All art tries to show that things matter.

This is where I look to Virginia Woolf and her commentary on those unseen forces. The experiences we have shape who we are in such a way that the memories live on within us…and our stories live on long after we do. But it all depends upon one condition: the need for excellent storytellers.

I’ve come to appreciate the honor and power behind such storytelling.

So, thank you Salt.

We’ve turned in our keys. We’ve said our goodbyes.

But our voices will continue to linger within the narrow halls of our eclectic little building on Congress Street. The late-night hours and coffee trips, the photos and writing and audio clips, the younger versions of ourselves will still haunt the place that taught us how to view the world in a new way.

And if we ever find that we’re lost in a vast Alaskan wilderness or among a bustling crowd in the Big Apple or by ourselves on a dusty, Tennessee country road, we can think back on our time at Salt and remember: wherever we are, our stories are. And thus, we are never truly alone.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/all-these-places-have-their-moments-2/feed 4 down the rabbit hole http://blog.salt.edu/down-the-rabbit-hole http://blog.salt.edu/down-the-rabbit-hole#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 05:00:05 +0000 Sarah http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1643 Alice’s adventures in Lewis Carol’s book is an accurate way of describing what I have felt this past semester at Salt, like Alice entering the world of wonderland. There have been many times where I went down the rabbit hole, chasing stories and chasing photos–and I have ended up in places and situations that I wouldn’t have ever imagined being. That is the beauty of chasing stories. You find yourself lost in another person’s world for a second and you take a snapshot.

And so, it finally comes to an end. All of those thousands of photograhs. Those countless hours. And the glorious feeling of accomplishment. whew. i feel a sigh of relief. a sigh of pride. a sigh of exhaustion. and a sigh of freedom. I made it through what has been an experience so unlike anything I have before–so unique that what I have learned, loved, and worked for can only really be described as ’salty’. There is no other descriptor that fits it best.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/down-the-rabbit-hole/feed 0 ends and beginnings http://blog.salt.edu/ends-and-beginnings http://blog.salt.edu/ends-and-beginnings#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 23:49:31 +0000 Tom http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1641 So, by about this time tomorrow, the gallery show will be nearing its end, and this whole Salt thing will have culminated, leaving me wondering exactly what it was that just happened to me, and more pointedly, what I am supposed to do now. While I’m sure that both will sort themselves out in due course, I’ve recently been reminded that the world that we entered, by heading out and plunging ourselves headlong into other people’s lives, is still going to be there. Through some weird twist of the universe, one of the people that I’d talked to in my second story, about the closing of the last sardine cannery in the states, just moved in across the street, and we ran into each other through mutual acquaintances. As strange as it was to see this person in a different context [insert the deafening sound of world's colliding], it did serve to remind me that the end of Salt is certainly not the end of this life. Which brings me to some desperate grasp at what this might have been: a kick into a way of being. Through these mad weeks, wherein I lost contact with most anyone not found in the Salt kitchen, life has been reordered, and new possabilities have appeared. It’s a bit of mental / existential chiropractic adjustment. Whether it sticks, we’ll see, but at least, for the moment, it seems something has been popped into place.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/ends-and-beginnings/feed 1 Almost There http://blog.salt.edu/almost-there http://blog.salt.edu/almost-there#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 20:17:11 +0000 Zachary http://blog.salt.edu/almost-there This semester has been long and grueling, but the view from the top looks nice! The story of the past several months has been filled with discovery, conflict, and quick pacing. The shift in perspective on a story from its birth to its completion is simply astonishing. The strangest part will come once our work is played in front of a live audience. All of the hours of our scrutiny will pass by in a matter of minutes, and our ideas will pass out of our computers and out into the universe! I can hardly wait.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/almost-there/feed 1 Things I’ve Learned At Salt http://blog.salt.edu/things-ive-learned-at-salt http://blog.salt.edu/things-ive-learned-at-salt#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 20:55:29 +0000 Emma http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1633 A story needs tension.

I need to find the “quirky” aspects to characters, dialogue and setting.

Otto makes really good pizza (even with mashed potatoes–who knew?!)

No matter how much I depend upon my laptop, I still like pen and paper.

Having fresh eyes look at my work makes all the difference.

Two Fat Cats Bakery is sinfully delicious.

No matter how focused I am upon entering Videoport, I end up spending a good 40 minutes searching for a movie.

Procrastination has its downfalls.

(As does transcribing.)

Multimedia is empowering. 

Ping Pong players really do work up a sweat.

A story is as long as it needs to be.

Though I’ve lived here my whole life, it’s taken me a while to realize: Maine is really a great place to live.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/things-ive-learned-at-salt/feed 4 A pretty cool Maine magazine. http://blog.salt.edu/a-pretty-cool-maine-magazine http://blog.salt.edu/a-pretty-cool-maine-magazine#comments Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:22:04 +0000 Cait http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1628 Hey guys, my friend Jess Harvey helps publish a small magazine about Maine every few months.  It’s called “Flannel Magazine”.  It is dedicated to Maine arts and culture, and they focus on the cultural significance of Maine life: the great outdoors, the creativity, and the do-it-yourself attitude. As their website says, “Maine is more than lobsters, tourism, and lighthouse paintings.”

The website for the magazine is http://flannelcollective.com/

A few of my photos might be in an upcoming issue, so I thought I’d pass along the information for you guys to submit your work.
If you’d like to submit photos/art to the magazine, email your photos to sean@flannelcollective.com.
If you’d like to submit a writing piece to the magazine, email your piece to travis@flannelcollective.com

If your work is put into the magazine, it’d be a cool keep-sake to have from your time here in Maine.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/a-pretty-cool-maine-magazine/feed 0 working http://blog.salt.edu/working http://blog.salt.edu/working#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:50:10 +0000 Maura E http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1623 I started reading a book my brother gave me recently – “Working” by Studs Terkel, and something in the introduction really struck a cord with a lot of the discussions we’ve been having. So, this guy is one of the first documentary style writers (I think, or at least one of the first to document ‘ordinary’ people, not celebrities). He was alone in his field, and didn’t have tri-weekly sessions to discuss his angst and woes with like minded peers. This is how he starts his book:

“It was the daily experience of others, their private hurts, real and fancied, that I was probing. In lancing an especially obstinate boil, it is not the doctor who experiences the pain. I was no more than a wayfaring stranger, taking much and giving little. True, there were dinners, lunches, drinks, some breakfast, in posh as well as short order places. There were earnest considerations, varying with what I felt was my companion’s economic conditions. But they were at best token payments. I was the beneficiary of others’ generosity. My tape recorder, as ubiquitous as the carpenter’s tool chest or the doctor’s black satchel, carried away valuables beyond price… The privacy of strangers is indeed trespassed upon. Yet my experiences tell me that people with buried grievances and dreams unexpressed do want to let go. Let things out. lance the boil, they say; there is too much pus. The hurts, though private, are, I trust, felt by others too.”

Anyway, glad I have you guys to talk about these things, right? I mean, I think we’ve come to a similar conclusion. He says it well.

Mr. Terkel, 40 years later we’re still grappling with the same questions.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/working/feed 0 i feel like: http://blog.salt.edu/i-feel-like http://blog.salt.edu/i-feel-like#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:31:15 +0000 Leah http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1619

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