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Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
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iplaudius
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
I am too sanguine in expecting you to care, but, just to be clear, when people "get into Yale," or "went to Yale," or "got a Yale education," they went to the Yale College. The Yale University School of Art is something else entirely: it is a professional school for artists. "I got into Yale" = I'm going to Yale College. "I got into Yale Law School" = I'm going to the Law School, the professional school of law. And so on.

It is worth noting that Alisa Shvarts, while she was indeed an undergraduate in Yale College, in her senior art project was being taught and advised by professors in the School of Art.

This is all to say that art schools march to the beat of a different drum. The intellectual heart of the university is the College and the Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences. The faculty of the GSAS (and their graduate assistants) are the primary teachers of the Yale College. If you want to evaluate a "Yale education," you don’t look at what’s going on in one of the professional schools—least of all the School of Art. You evaluate the research, teaching, and learning of the College and the GSAS.
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Edited by iplaudius at 08/17/09 11:36 AM iplaudius was starred iplaudius was unstarred

onebadclam
08/17/09

@iplaudius: This type of pedantic backstabbing found amongst our most prestigious institutions of higher learning is exactly why I chose to go to a community college. That and my grades.
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iplaudius
08/17/09

@onebadclam: I was really trying not to shit on the School of Art. I love what they do, and I count many former students as friends. They really are among the best young artists in the country. I was just trying to contextualize some of the comments, in which people seemed to be equating the School of Art with the College.

People are overly fascinated with schools like Yale because so many graduates are so wealthy and powerful. I just wanted to clarify that the "Yale education" that makes people rich and powerful—and insufferable—is for the most part the undergraduate education.

(Point of clarification: I am not a "Yalie." I myself went to a very humble small college that I’m sure no one has heard of.)
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minge
08/17/09

@iplaudius: Heh, "sanguine".
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lionboy
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
"There’s something really amazing about the regenerative aspect of donating, and I’m interested in how such a personal thing for a donor has an immediate anonymity."

Would someone with the advantage of an Ivy League education explain that sentence to me? Unfortunately, I went to a state school.
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thegreatfratsby
08/17/09

@lionboy: Got your back. With my ivy degree in Econ, this sentence means: "I am full of shit. I woke up this morning and realized I missed my deadline to submit a proposal. I could paint a picture? Or make something? Wait, wait, got it. BLOOD DRIVE! That's so crazy they'll even give me an award if I pull it off."

Sorry, I'm a cynic.
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thegreatfratsby
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
OK, you have to understand, I think that Shvarts really poisoned the Yale campus against "edgy" art for a while (ie anything that isn't commonly perceived as art by the majority of the US population). What she did was incredibly disgusting even if innovative conceptually, and the backlash hit every art student on campus (including the ones with innocent "The Sea at Night" type generic work). Combined with this growing "alternative cool hipster" crowd that filled Yale over the last few years and has been pushing for all sorts of new classes exploring gender, art, etc., I think it's understandable that the university wants to push back on projects that... well, don't make any damn sense and set bad examples for what Yale's willing to tolerate. If you want that sort of thing, you're better off going to Brown or a lac that encourages exploration.

I know that this view is going to be roundly panned by the Gawkerati, but I'd venture to say I have more insight than a lot of my fellow commenters on the social/educational dynamics of Yale. That being said, say what you will as long as it's not "ur stupid what do u haev aginst hipsters".
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snugbug
08/17/09

@thegreatfratsby: Graet Analyssis, graet fratsby, u totally nailed It. Levants Project is not Shvarts-level lame but iz still plenty lame.
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thegreatfratsby
08/17/09

doublepost. my b.
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Edited by thegreatfratsby at 08/17/09 11:24 AM thegreatfratsby was starred thegreatfratsby was unstarred

onebadclam
08/17/09

@thegreatfratsby: Ms. Levant's project would have been more pointy than edgy.
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BookishLatkeish
08/17/09

@onebadclam: "More stabby," I think you mean, dearest clam.
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Spirit Fingers
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
Pffttt! This "let's make art out of the mundane" thing is truly annoying. It's like someone watching you brush your teeth and saying in whispered tones, "That's just so amazing, how you caress each molar and incisor, I just have to capture it for my 'art' Bah! Giving blood is a life-giving measure that people do selflessly for sure, but they do it everyday. It's not so remarkable, as much as a nice part of being human. Let's extend that creativity outward a bit more, perhaps, eh?
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southernbitch
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
art schools need to go back to teaching technique and not theory. as an ex-art school kid, let me just say that the vast majority of undergrad art kids are idiots who come up with poorly thought out "performance" works that are also poorly executed because they have no technical skills to back it up. art school students are the worst.
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Edited by southernbitch at 08/17/09 10:38 AM southernbitch was starred southernbitch was unstarred

BookishLatkeish
08/17/09

@southernbitch: Present company excluded.
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lionel-mandrake
08/17/09

@southernbitch: here here. Said as a recovering art school student myself.

But you know art schools are just profit-making endeavours now? So it doesn't really make sense for them to turn away students for lacking, oh I don't know, skill or talent.
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Edited by lionel-mandrake at 08/17/09 10:53 AM lionel-mandrake approved this comment lionel-mandrake was starred lionel-mandrake was unstarred

southernbitch
08/17/09

@lionel-mandrake: they don't necessarily have to turn people away from not having demonstrable talent at the outset. drawing, painting, sculpture- these are all taught skills. i couldn't draw terribly well when i started out, and my classes didn't teach me shit. i didn't learn how to properly draw until i busted my ass outside of class and spent most of my free time drawing. my classes were way into teaching you how to "think" like an artist. such crap. and yeah, it's all about making the institution money. but then again, the art world is all about bullshit and money anyway, so whatever.
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snugbug
08/17/09

@southernbitch: Art schools teach how you to make art that will only be on interest to yourself and your professors. And if you’re enough of a self-promoting ‘ho to score a gallerist, s/he will get behind it too. To reference this Gawker thread, one of my all-time fave discussions in here parts, art schools only produce art for a*holes.
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naugahydeinplainsight
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
Just curious: Has anyone asked Yale for their side of the story? The New York Magazine piece is all first person and I don't see it here or elsewhere on the Internets.
(This isn't one of those sponsored posts from Tru Blood, right?)
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Edited by naugahydeinplainsight at 08/17/09 10:14 AM

BookishLatkeish
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
Donating blood is not a "personal" thing. It is a generous thing, perhaps a benevolent thing. We all have blood and all need blood--it is universal, as long as it is typed correctly. Does she mean "intimate"? Kate, is this about the act of giving part of your body to a stranger, the way you would exchange bodily fluids during sex (edgy!)?

SIgh. You'd think by the time someone gets into Yale she would know something about using language effectively. Affectively she's got down cold!
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homoviper
08/17/09

@BookishLookish: Ha! Smackdown laid.
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bens
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
The whole Aliza Shvarts abortion project was a hoax. She designed the project to cause maximum outrage. Here Yale reports on it:

[www.yaledailynews.com]
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naugahydeinplainsight
08/17/09

@bens09: But it is being used to prevent the blood drive from taking place, so at least some good came of it.
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bens
08/17/09

@naugahydeinplainsight: Eh, its not like they're going to take student/artist blood what with all those drug metabolites floating around in it. The Red Cross ends up tossing a lot of blood cause it won't pass screening. Although for all we know its just being repackaged and shipped to China where its used to undercut the burgeoning market of HIV infected junkies selling blood for immediate use in Chinese hospitals.
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thegreatfratsby
08/17/09

@bens09: It wasn't a hoax. Yale's admin tried to cover it up to avoid the Fox news backlash, but Shvarts refused to go along w/ the coverup. If you're curious, check out the YDN backissues from April '08... I think there are a few relevant articles there.
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snugbug
08/17/09

@thegreatfratsby: OK, I'm curious about this. Here’s what I thought happened: 1. Shvarts tells the Yale Daily News her thesis project is a commentary on women’s bodies, society, etc. + involved her impregnating herself artificially and inducing abortion, on multiple occasions. 2. Word gets out and the mainstream media, blogs go to town on this. 3.Yale issues statement noting Shvarts’ project did *not* at all involve any real impregnations/abortions; that her project consisted of merely CLAIMING that she underwent them, releasing the info to the media, and then sitting back and documenting the ensuing sh*tstorm. 4. Shvarts pipes up to deny what Yale says; insists the whole thing was real.

I for one, completely believed Yale on this. Was I wrong, and are you telling me that Shvarts truly did those things to her body (I think that’s what the previous commenter meant by "hoax.")
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Edited by snugbug at 08/17/09 11:31 AM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

bens
08/17/09

@thegreatfratsby: I posted a link to the YDN dated april 18. She of course wouldn't admit to it being a hoax because that's the whole point of her project. She ended up submitting another senior project. She told her professors that it was fake. Her dead said: "Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art." Even Jezebel lays in and calls bullshit: [jezebel.com] & [jezebel.com] Some herbs are abortifacient, but they are by no means consistent. The NYSun weighs in: [nysun.com] . Displaying shower curtains smeared with "blood" and projecting images of yourself naked in a shower "bleeding" does not an abortion make.
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Edited by bens at 08/17/09 12:15 PM bens was starred bens was unstarred

BadUncle
08/17/09

In reply to Blood Art Sex Magik Too Hot For Yale
It's much easier if you have friends in med school who are learning to extract blood, and willing to teach you how. Note: don't attempt after more than four cocktails.
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limber
07/21/09

In reply to Celebrity Interviewer Knows More About True Blood Than She's Letting On
I know it's a pipe dream, but I'd love to think this is the result of the most amicable blended family on the planet.

Call me a dreamer...
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Sigerson
07/20/09

In reply to Celebrity Interviewer Knows More About True Blood Than She's Letting On
I'd like to read her interview of Anna Paquin....
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Aethyr
07/20/09

In reply to Celebrity Interviewer Knows More About True Blood Than She's Letting On
Jesus ouch. Either a big coincidence that Haynes was the one chosen to interview Paquin, or someone in the editors' room has a sense of humor (and hates her).
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DahlELama
07/20/09

In reply to Celebrity Interviewer Knows More About True Blood Than She's Letting On
Wow, that makes for a seriously awkward interview. "How often do you see your kids" just sounds like a trap.
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stoprobbers
07/08/09

In reply to Tag-Teaming in the Meat Room: Butcher Lust Becomes Frenzy
Whatever. My bacon will taste better than your bacon. Who the fuck gives into peer pressure about food?
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miss_msry
07/08/09

In reply to Tag-Teaming in the Meat Room: Butcher Lust Becomes Frenzy
It's all Salome to me.
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