magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

'i don't want to go and make dots. i just want to curl up and spend the rest of the semester crying.

of course i did make myself go out. drew some dots. came to a beautifully patinaed wall in a well-trafficked, touristy section of town which i couldn't resist drawing little dots on. (a lot of my dots are becoming about the composition of the photo, which is okay, those dots usually look cool in context too.) while i was making dots i saw a police car inch by. out of the corner of my eye i saw it slow down. i didn't look up, but decided that i had probably drawn enough dots on this wall and should just start photographing them. again, out the corner of my eye, i saw a police officer walk up to me. again, i didn't look up until i was done, and he didn't interrupt me.

'buon giorno,' he said. and asked me what i was doing. i gave my normal response. it's an art project. i'm an art student. he asked if i had drawn the dots as well as just photographing them. i told him i had. he asked for identification. i gave him my international student id card, and eventually, when he asked for something more official, the photocopy of my passport that i carry around. he told me the photocopy wasn't good enough. i needed to have the real thing on me. i told him it was back at my school. he asked where that was. he conferred with his partner. asked some more questions. conferred again. eventually just got back in his car and drove off.

although i've been telling the story as: 'i got hassled by the cops today,' he really couldn't have been more polite. he spoke his italian very clearly, tired the little bit of english he new, but seemed pleased when i spoke italian back to him. and in the end left me alone to continue (although telling me not to), having only used up fifteen or twenty minutes of my time and made me a little more conscious of drawing dots in high traffic areas.

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and tonight, claire asked me if i was going to the architecture lecture at cornell. 'probably not,' i said, 'i've been thinking about going to see belle and sebastian, or mercury rev, but i can't really decide between the two. and so i'll probably just end up staying here and doing nothing.' when i realized that it was ten-thirty, and i had in fact stayed in and done nothing i was a little disappointed.