I love New York...but Parsons hates me.

So I went to accepted students day at Parsons this weekend, and honestly, I would start classes there right now if I could.

First there was this very awkward breakfasty kind of thing, during which I met these two girls...I only remember one of their names: Carmen Ortiz, who has yet to accept my facebook request on facebook. Carmen, if you're reading this, ACCEPT!! But anyways, we got free Parsons tote bags and t-shirts for like...the reason that tuition is RIDICULOUS. During the following presentation, they actually joked about it, saying like, "Okay, we're going to read off some names to help offset the financial burden! ...with free sweatshirts!" During that pause I suspect there was supposed to be laughter...but no, everyone got tense and their eyes bulged. They were like, "Oh, shit, right, recession...$55000 price of attendence...*gulp*." I honestly believe they should have given EVERYONE a sweatshirt for that lovely misstep. But one of these boys I sorta became friends with got one, so it was pretty a'right.

Then they took us on a tour of the fashion building, first serving us an AMAZING lunch--they really made everything wonderfully comfortable, even renting out some pretty nice busses to chaffeur us between the buildings. They showed us the fashion curriculum, promised we'd want to kill ourselves afterwards, told us we'd been eating lunch in the room Project Runway was filmed, sent us on a tour of the building, then we went back to the first building, where I sat through a presentation on housing while waiting for Brendan--my ex who goes to school in NYC--to show up so I could meet his roommates. My mother went to a financial aid consulation, and came back with puffy, red eyes. She'd apparently started crying because they told her we'd not be getting any financial aid...it was heart breaking.

I'm listening to "What You Want" from Legally Blonde: The Musical...and I'm getting ready to kick some ass on scholarships. I'm going to Parsons, and I'll be damed if someone dare tell me otherwise. Fuck FAFSA--I don't need assistance. I got enough motivation to get myself through this.

Internship: OVER

AND JUST AS MICHELLE OBAMA MIGHT START BUYING THEIR CLOTHES! No, seriously, her hairstylists come from the salon that is right next to the boutique in D.C. that has been SHOVING Sara Campbell clothing in the window of their storefront for the past few weeks. It's only a matter of time before one of those fruity little gay boys starts gabbing away ;D

But really, I am kind of sad--this internship has been the one (well, not THE one) source of pure happiness for me in what has been kind of a depressing time in my life. I'm going to miss hanging out around so much fabulosity every Tuesday. Kay seemed pretty sad over it, and she kissed me on the cheek and wished me good luck and offered me sewing instruction when I left. She's really been a great boss--kind and helpful, but at the same time she didn't let me forget that I was playing on her turf and during her time. She demanded responsibility and thoughtfulness whenever I was there, and she made sure I knew that. If you read this, THANK YOU KAY!!

Parsons...

So I got some financial aid from Parsons today--loans that added up to $5500 for the first year. However, reading on in the letter, I learned that instead of each year costing me around $34000, as I initially thought, each year was going to cost around $55000...meaning that these loans basically did nothing.

My family doesn't have that kind of money. I'm getting $44000 from my grandfather for all four years, and something like $20000 from my father. The trustfund laid aside by my maternal grandfather is now only at about $14000, and even if I wait until the stock market wakes up, it was only about $60000 to begin with. That puts me at a grand (heavily optimistic and unlikely) total of $124000, which is $100000 short of what I need....I might be able to get $10000 in schloarships if I'm DAMN lucky... I just have no idea what to do...

Basically I have to quit my internship. I'll be telling Kay tomorrow. And then I'll have to put myself on the GAP schedule all week long--if they even decide they want to schedule me.

And as far as my WISE project is concerned...

So back to WISE then...

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything onto this about WISE in about F-O-R-E-V-E-R, but I'm going to start again...somewhat of my own volition, too!

Basically, I've gone to Sara Campbell as often as I've been able to in the past two months...which is not as often as I would have liked to have gone. See, the transition on Klaus--the car my father lets me drive--decided it was going to break one tuesday night when I was out much later than I should have been and...well, et cetera. Klaus was, unfortunately, the only real mode of transportation I had to get to Sara Campbell. It was broken for three weeks. Then it was "fixed" and I got to go to Sara Campbell twice, if my memory serves me right. The last time I went, Kay actually was in New York, and she had given me the basically optional task of re-organizing some of her ribbon drawers. So I got the first fifth of them done that first week--I'd gotten there pretty late--and told myself I'd return the next week to complete the task. Unfortunately, Klaus' transmission broke AGAIN, and I was unable to return to Sara Campbell this past week to fix up the drawers, which means that Kay will probably NOT be happy when she returns to find them not really completed...she actually probably won't really care, or even remember I was supposed to do them, but still, I feel bad that I was unable...but now that Klaus is fixed, I'll be returning to S.C. this week and completing the CRAP out of those drawers! Darn it!

Oh, and now my mother is freaking out because she doesn't think we'll be able to afford Parsons...which FUCKING SUCKS.

Love,
Sam Donovan

Dear Parsons Admissions People...

PARSONS CHALLENGE: SUSTAINABILITY

For my Parsons Challenge, I decided to skip the physical objects that lay around me unnoticed, and  instead focus on the issues going on in the world right now, funneling them into a medium I could understand: clothes.  Unfortunately, I really wasn't able to find anything that hadn't been shoved in my face by FOX NEWS that I felt could be interesting enough to make something out of.  However, one day I was looking through my friend Hugh McIntyre's clothing line, Something Used--which donates money to special causes for every t-shirt it sells--and came across a shirt that paid to "prevent 1,000 pounds of carbon pollution from ever existing".  Now, I didn't like the shirt (although I bought every other shirt in the collection) but the idea made me research more into his small company.  Turns out he pays off all of the carbon pollution that his shirts create.  This made me think--what effect does fashion have on the current environmental crisis?  That's when I discovered sustainability and with it, my Parsons Challenge.

1. Waste Not (Even when it's really ugly.)

100% Polyester Stretch Satin, 100% Polyester Print Organza

In the process of attempting to redecorate our house, my mother went looking to replace the white lace curtains in our living room in order to find something to match our new couch.  Unfortunately, these were two of the fabrics she bought.  After I convinced her that neither of these were attractive choices, she finally gave up on the idea and kept the white curtains.  Personally, I think the white curtains are very pretty.  Either way, we ended up with several hideously ugly sets of curtains.  But instead of throwing them in the trash, I figured I could make clothes out of them--after all, fashion seems pretty obsessed with ugly prints, lately.  So I whipped this up over the summer, and upon choosing sustainability for my Parsons Challenge topic, I realized that this could fit in really well.  I draped this on a form with my friend Erica's measurements in mind, and found that these two fabrics really made me think of Renaissance era gowns when I put them together--contrasting the ugliness that they had as separates.

2. Paper or Plastic? (No, really.)

Plastic bagging, 100% recycled paper, paper shopping bag, 100% organic cotton linen shirt(not my creation)

When I was a freshman in high school, I used to work at my local supermarket as a bag boy, and probably asked "Paper or plastic?" somewhere in the realm of an infinite number of times.  After asking, I'd occasionally strike up a conversation about how paper was better for the environment, and the customer and I would complain about how plastic bags had no real purpose after they were used.  Except to pollute the environment, that is.  I quit the supermarket at the beginning of my sophomore year, and never gave the issue much thought afterwards, until I started working at Gap during my senior year.  One day, I was ringing a customer up, and she said she wanted a plastic bag, and I asked "Even though paper is better for the environment?"  She then proceeded to explain how supermarkets had begun setting up bins for plastic bags to be recycled, and, after confirming this myself with a rare sojourn to the market, I started to wonder--now which is more environmentally friendly?  This skirt-suit is my question, just in fashion form.

3. Go Green: EXTREEME

Pine needles, Bodice and skirt support made from old, recycled t-shirts (tank-top model's own)

Okay, yes, I spelled "extreme" incorrectly, but I figured that the fact that the skirt on my dress (pictured here) is made of pine needles would make it some sort of rather adorable pun.  Anyway, when I started thinking about my last challenge garment, I decided I wanted to do something actually using a plant to represent eco-friendly fabric.  However, I also wanted to keep in mind the need to remain fabulous--as several green fabrics are quite dowdy and/or dull, in my opinion--which always means "texture" in my mind. However, then I started thinking about how such a thing would reflect the current economic status of the country; after all, it would have to be affordable and appropriate.  So I thought and thought and thought, and came up with nothing.  So I looked out my window (which I've found helps everything make sense) and found myself staring straight at my pine tree, which was layered like a flapper dress, which I last year learned were popular during the Great Depression era.  I got inspired.

Love ya,

Samuel Joseph Donovan

PARSONS PORTFOLIO

"Aretha the Ornament"

35mm Film Camera

Cocktail Dress

100% Polyester Ombre Duchesse Satin

Fashion Sketch

Graphite Pencil, Ink Pencil, Asstd. Fabrics

Fashion Sketch

Graphite Pencil, Ink Pencil, Asstd. Fabrics

Fashion Sketch

Graphite Pencil, Ink Pencil, Asstd. Fabrics

"Boston Un-Common"

35mm Film Camera

"Smooth as Glass"

35mm Film Camera

"Blooming Burst"

35mm Film Camera

Sheer Tuxedo Wrap

100% Nylon Mesh/ 100% Silk Textured Velvet

"Hugh"

Ink Pen on Paper Sketch

"5 am: Driving Home from Dad's House"

Digital Canon PowerShot 23.2mm

"Dana's Closet"

Spray Painted Pine; 35mm Film Camera, Glass/Metallic beads; 100% Nylon Dresses

How I love these late nights...

So I've officially decided to stay up all night long to finish my plant dress, and then just sleep it all off tomorrow (hey, afterwards I only have one more thing to make, then I shoot them, and I'm DONE). But I've kinda hit a road block--it seems the layers need more support...in others words, they droop. Severely...I may also need to take the thing in few inches, coz it's pretty effing HUGE, and I don't know if it's going to hold itself up against it's own weight!

Oh well...off to sew-land.

Sam