My thinking today excerpted from a text to my daughter, Kitty on the eve of the presentation of her work, " To Be Swallowed Whole, Red and the Wolf", her capstone project (Division III) at Hampshire College:
Kitty, April 18, 2014, Q. Cassetti, 2014, Canon EOS-M, 22mm lens.
" I am getting a bit mooshy and wanted to share this with you (Kitty). I am sitting in a hotel room in Boston, on the same weekend we sat in a hotel room ready to go look at Emerson and then off to RISD. It seems a million years ago to me.
We had a delicate bloom of a girl, unsure of what she was interested but unsure...We had a bud that was ready to be transplanted in new soil to grow and grow. Many years ago around this time, we took a trip to Hampshire College, to make a decision about which soil, which school our precious flower was going to be planted to grow and flourish (our hopes) and become ready to take on the world. Daddy, you and I sat in the early spring on the quad at dinner time and watched the Hampshire students do what they do so well, and imaginatively--play, love and blend together--shouting fun things to each other, giving each other piggy back rides, and all sorts of hilarity. We saw the funny bikes all over campus. We met those amazing Div III candidates--the printmaker and the teahouse maker. It seemed such an amazing jump that our Kitty would be doing that someday.
And now today, our Kitty has stepped into those shoes of those Div III candidates. She has had a journey all of her own with dancing, and friends, food and joy....studying everything from Victorian Bodies to Indian Myths. She has drawn and sewn, pinned and written, researched and research and researched to dig into the heart of what she has learned is the truth...or is there truth...show me that truth.
Our Kitty is surrounded by the many communities that she is a sparkling light...from her dancing friends, her theatre friends, her house friends, her old friends, her brand new friends to her secret friends.
Our Kitty has grown into a splendid person--with confidence, even more of a bounce in her step, and her infectious enthusiasm for her life and the amusement she finds around every corner. To say that we are proud is an understatement...(I am right now tearing up and crying...the old bat is crying). We are overwhelmed with you. Be the glorious beast you are...give them wolf and give them girl--and be the only daughter, the best daughter, and my glorious daughter. Show the joy and spread it to all of us.
This has been a long journey (I was reflecting on the shoving around I gave you last summer) to get to this amazing resolution. Now for the lights, the action and the moment to shine. I love you so much. What an amazing time and day. Soak it in!"
Friday 3:42pm
Images from Kitty's outstanding Presentation:
