GITP Monday Guest Blogger Ingrid, aka Bing, Bingle, Ingy, or Bingie

the fabulous ingrid

editor's note:  so, yeah, ingrid is my daughter, but also a (s) hero of mine.  she's such an inspiring person, and i can safely say that at least once a day somebody tells me that ingrid is also their hero.  she has dealt with many difficulties and obstacles in her life, always with so much grace, style, and wisdom.   i can brag about her since all of this is despite, not because of, the fact that she has me for a mother.  she's way hardcore, and she got that entirely from her father.  so i should only get credit for having good taste in choosing a partner.  

ingy and mama

1.  Are you in a tight place?  If so, what are you trying to do about it? 

     As a college student, I feel that it is my duty to be on a tight budget and a tight schedule. I don't really have a lot of say in the matter, but I try to think of it as a necessary part of the college experience so I don't get too bummed out about it. To illustrate, it is five thirty in the morning and I am working on a lab report that I wanted to send in at midnight. I am not great at chemistry, but I still can't get used to budgeting five-ish times as much time to get my work done for my General Chemistry class than it takes other students. I'm sitting in a nest of papers, books, my computer, and rose petals (long story) on the floor of my hall. When I finish this lab report, I have to write a take-home exam to turn in in class tomorrow (er, today) which means that I probably won't be sleeping at all tonight. I also try to embrace the "poor college student" archetype-- I'm wearing a thrift store skirt and a free box sweater and my midnight snack (perhaps "breakfast" would be more appropriate) was straight peanut butter from a jar I've been refilling at the dining hall's jumbo peanut butter canister. I even made a label for my beloved jar that reads "Hunger Trumps Dignity".

ingy's hallway study nest

In terms of what I'm trying to do about my tight budget and tight schedule, my favorite method is to try to keep a good sense of humor about the whole thing, mostly because I know that I'm just a kid and that not having enough time or money doesn't really matter because nobody else is depending on me to feed or take care of them. There's not a lot I can do about my tight budget, so I try to make peace with that, especially because I am currently receiving the best education money can buy and making a fuss about scooping dining hall peanut butter into a jar I've been refilling since August seems in poor taste considering the Fancypants University for Refined Ladies I'm attending. 

I could certainly do something to make my schedule less tight: I could quit one of my jobs, give up my pre-medical dreams, drop one of my dance classes, step down from the leadership of one of the clubs I'm in, give up one of my TV shows, or learn how to say no, but as Captain von Trapp tells us, "Activity suggests a life filled with meaning." I love being busy with places to be, and I am very open to the possibility that I'm addicted to meetings, but whatever the case may be, I'm at a point in my life where I can pull an all-nighter with relatively few consequences and nobody gets neglected if I'm out of my room all day, and it feels really good to be a part of a variety of engaging and exciting groups. This is all a very long way of saying that the only thing I'm doing about my tight schedule right now is trying to have a sense of humor about it. Also, let's be honest: I probably spend as many hours daily on Facebook and NetFlix and talking about nothing with my hallmates as I do asleep, so it's not as if there's absolutely no way I could get more sleep if I really wanted to. 

ingrid at her school for young ladies

2.  What do you want to get done this year?

      Thinking about one year in a holistic way is hard for me, since my calendar years tend to take the form of a weird triptych-- the last semester of one year, summer break, and the first semester of the next year. The one thing that I will be working on all year long is earning money to pay tuition, which is a little bit boring. This year I hope to completely finish my two semesters of General Chemistry so that I can move on to Organic Chemistry, Physics, and Calculus (which I will probably stumble through with as many tears and all-nighters as I need for Gen Chem), make more things (I am majorly inspired by Rozsika Parker's The Subversive Stitch), risk arrest as part of a Non-Violent Direct Action with the Earth Quaker Action Team, and develop my aesthetic values. 

3.  What inspires you? 

     I try to keep a running roster of (s)heroes, including professors, parents, classmates, carved owls that decorate the exterior of my dormitory, and people I haven't ever met, and today I am particularly inspired by agatha olek for her audacity, her reappropriation of traditional femininity in a guerilla setting, her dedication to her craft, and her playfulness. 

4.  What is your favorite legwear? 

      Wearing clothes is always a tiny bit uncomfortable for me, so as much as I love tights, going bare-legged is always my first choice. I don't especially enjoy shaving my legs, but I do like having bare skin through which I can feel the sun and the wind, and I love feeling skirts and dresses swirl around my legs. Also, I don't think this counts as legwear, but I absolutely love wearing boots.