Perfection.

First of all, correction to my last post. We ended up going to church at the Santa Croce church and it was in Italian. So, it was really cool. GORGEOUS architecture. Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo are all buried here. Thats a picture of it that I got online, on the right.

Oh my gosh.

I just got out of my first class and I have some free time until tonight's festivities start. I wanted to be sure and write about it now while Im still as ecstatic as I currently am. First of all, I may or may not be in love with my photography professor. He is a gorgeous Italian man named Pietro Paolini. Ha, but aside from that, he is an incredibly inspiring person and what he does, and therefore the focus of his class is PERFECT for me. It reassures me so much that I am meant to be here. Im here for a reason and Im gaining knowledge and making connections that will help me accomplish my dreams.

For those of you who don't know, my goal after I graduate, is to start my own magazine. I want it to be an outlet for nonprofit and humanitarian organizations to advertise and get their name out there. I want to tell the stories of those who are saving the world. I also want to focus on issues from all over the world in general; maybe issues that are not yet being taken care of. And I want to highlight the countries and culture of the countries in which all these issues are taking place. With all of that, and an incorporation of my art and photography background, I hope to produce an interesting magazine.

WELL, Mr. Pietro Paolini, is a native of Florence. He works with a collaboration of photographers here. He produces stories through his photographs of social issues from all over the world, then sells them to magazines....um, PERFECT?! I was in awe of the irony. What are the odds?

I have class Monday through Friday from 12-2:30. Today, we went around and gave a little background on ourselves. There are about 15-20 people in my class which is a lot more than I expected. Afterwards he gave us background on his life then started to tell and show us what he does.

He showed us series of photographs that make up each of his projects. For example, the first one was a political piece on South America and its government. He said he is not finished and has been working on it for about 2 years, making fairly frequent trips to South American countries.

Next was a fun piece on South American wrestling, then one on Silver Mining and the issues of slavery and child labor that are used in the dangerous silver mines. Then came a story about jails in South American and how when father's go to jail, often times the families do not know how to survive on their own so they willingly move into the jail, into rooms a little bigger than cells. They can come and go as they please, but it is necessary for them to be there because they dont know how to survive alone. Next, an documentary with photography and film about toxic waste in Naples. And finally, another documentary revealing that military leaders were keeping hidden ingredients that they knew were harmful around soldiers for military needs, but theyre now causing cancer in anyone who has been exposed. The social justice court is now holding these people responsible and making them pay the families of those who have lost loved ones because of their secrecy.

Several people in the class were sitting there bored to death but I could not have been more interested. Needless to say, I can not wait to see what these next three weeks will bring.

From what I understood in the basic overview of the class, we will end up with a diary type portfolio. Each assignment will focus on whatever we choose as our concentration...i think? Ill let you all know more when I figure it out.

Here is a link to the work of my professors collaborative projects. Click on his name to see his work... http://www.terraproject.net/en/home

Other events of the day..

This morning a few of us got up early and went to the market to get some food. Its so awesome. Its pretty much a giant fresh market or whole foods, but with Italian people working every stand, and all the food is extremely cheap. We got a lot of good stuff and I think we're cooking here tonight.

Last night we got home for the first time without pulling the map out. We were proud.