Creativity in the IC
One of the things I hear a lot from my friends and roommates is how little time they’ve had for their hobbies since entering college. Granted, we do have free time… But we spend it watching Netflix or laying on the grass in the quad instead. Without a music class or a motivation to pick up the paintbrush, it can be hard to choose that over something mindless and easy to unwind after a week of classes.
But luckily recently the Information Commons brought in a local craftswoman (and professor at DePaul University and Columbia College Chicago, and activist, and all-around cool woman) to offer an opportunity for students to take a bit of a break and learn how to cross-stitch! Check out her website here.
Although technically she taught basic embroidery, people who came into this (like me) with stitching experience already could cross-stitch if we so pleased. I can’t remember the last time I did anything like this since probably middle school, so it was a real throwback. We had total free range to do anything we wanted, and Shannon (aka Badass Cross Stitch, the instructor) and the IC teamed up to bring us fabric, thread, and hoops that we could then take home if we didn’t finish in time.
Don’t tell her this, but I started on something for my little sister, whose birthday it is soon. (I drew the pattern, but ignore it. I will be too…. Oops.)
But actually, this event was put on as part of the Library’s #LoyolaVotes awareness, so there was lots of pre-made voting-related patterns available, and many of the other people there with me made things that read “rights are right” and “equality for everyone” and on that theme. There have been lots of events and tabling going on to promote voter registration, which I’m always impressed that Loyola does.
One of the other things I really like about our library is that we have a monthly meeting where students can propose ideas to the library and talk about what we want to see from the Library/Information Commons. Although I can’t make it, after this event I really want to let them know that they should do similar things, more often! My roommates and I have paint supplies at our house, and I know we have time… but if we sat down and tried to do it together, we’d probably just lose ourselves in the talking and forget to paint!
The moral of the story is that you never know what opportunities Loyola will bring you. And hold on to your hobbies!