arts ink – arts, ink.

Bursley Buccaneer: Sahithy “Solo” Prattipati

November 18, 2024November 20, 2024 Arushi Singh Leave a comment

PIRATE SHIP FACT: To help them stay awake during longer trips, some pirates would drink coffee for its stimulating effects.

Saturday, November 9th – 8:47 p.m.

On Saturday nights, when as many in-state kids as possible have fled Bursley to their homes, the Community Learning Center (CLC) is eerily empty. A few of us were scattered between the couches, which is where Sahithy and I began yapping.

I told her to “tell me a story. Literally any story.” Getting content for this blog requires some desperate hail Marys for anecdotes. In that moment, I wonder how Sahithy (a friend I made in the first couple weeks on campus) felt when I cornered her during her study session looking for content. Thankfully, she lended me some of her time, and told me about her solo trip visit to India. I asked her for three major moments, not necessarily world shaking, but personal to her. She focused in on Goa, India.

A Debatable Brush With Death

On their drive to visit the mountains in Goa, Sahithy’s family loaded her into their car and drove up through the famous slopes. Not only was the incline dangerously steep, but water Sahithy described as almost “two feet high” barreled towards the car on their journey upwards. While she was pondering her near demise, the rest of her family was completely chill and assured her the conditions were normal. By the end, she wasn’t sure who was crazy.

The Hidden Falls

Throughout the mountains, there were humongous waterfalls that made her feel minuscule in comparison. Not only were they mind meltingly large, but they were located in hidden coves across the summit.

The Window Seat

Sahithy assured me that the entire trip was relatively relaxed, other than the reverse slip-and-slide up the mountain. However, before she discussed any of the moments above, she told me about the last event chronologically: the flight back. Usually the window seat is a win, but when you’re alone, anyone you could imagine could end up next to you. In her case, two six-foot tall men were passed out snoring to her right, for eleven plus hours. That meant that if she wanted to go to the bathroom, she would end up destabilizing two already uncomfortable people, who were packed in chairs with barely enough leg room for us small Indian women.

When she’s not battling mountain currents, Sahithy studies Business here at Michigan. Her story is inspiring to those who have never solo traveled, and terrifying if you are someone who uses the bathroom twice an hour on a plane (speaking generally, of course).

Still from the CLC,

Captain Singh

~Sappy Daze~ Day 7

November 18, 2024November 11, 2024 Sappy Leave a comment

sometimes i wonder & leave 

the pickle jar unscrewed like 
the time i stole a hamster from 
my neighbor & still have but 
not want & the time i showed
my bloody wound knowing that 
mother would scream i still am 
wandering to know why i did that
& endlessly i still am wondering

- sappy

A Side of Sketching – Ancient Bones

November 18, 2024November 17, 2024 Kendelyne Leave a comment

Hi all! This week’s page is inspired by some of the displays featured in Michigan’s Museum of Natural History. The sketch on the top is of a T-Rex skull, and the one on the bottom is of a mastodon skeleton. I rarely take the time to add line art to my sketchbook sketches, but looking at a fully polished ballpoint pen sketch is always so satisfying. In hindsight, I think that I could have done more with the crosshatching to really build up the contrast, but I am still pleased with the final page.

If you haven’t taken the time to explore the Natural History Museum yet, I highly, highly recommend it! The cafe lobby and halls make for great study spots, and the exhibits themselves are very interesting- even if you aren’t a big history nerd : )

LOG_035_MONOLITHS

November 17, 2024November 17, 2024 Traveler 2 Comments

The mysterious structures were an old source of gossip for Torish and his friends: seven hulking anvil-shaped blocks of concrete, featureless except for their numbers, the buildings loomed over the magrail line that cut through the heart of the city.

During fits of boredom, they’d play a game to see who could invent the most outlandish story about the people who used them; sometimes, they would sit and watch from the street over for people who went near, or even dare each other to see who could get the closest to the buildings. Torish was the proud record holder of that one–he’d gone all the way to touch the facade of Number 5. Disappointingly–or thankfully–nothing had happened.

Torish had never seen anyone go in or out of any of the buildings, and if there were any cameras or windows, they were cleverly hidden or disguised enough to be unrecognizable. Sojarav had claimed that his father’s colleague’s sister had seen one person enter once, but Sojarav was also the most inscrutable of their little group and often sneaky when you least expected it, so who knew if it had really happened.