When uncertainty is the only thing to be sure of.

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Something told me to turn on the radio. It was a lovely Saturday afternoon and all my intentions aimed outside. But something made me flip on NPR. I heard well-manicured voices talking about Pope John Paul II using the past tense. I went cold. I restrained myself from crying. Then I called my mom.

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Walking from the Blue Line Division station and up a set of wooden stairs to the Art Poker house, I thought, "Will this be the site of my spiritual de-pantsing?" I was about to participate in a few rounds of speed art poker, where players are required to create drawings in the space of three minutes.

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One afternoon last summer, I was doing some web searching at work and noticed a banner ad for an online dating site. Not being one to troll around school or work for a potential mate, I chuckled and clicked on it. I was delivered to the promised dot.com where I decided to fill out a dating profile. It was free. Why the heck not! I had dumped my BIG long-distance relationship a whole two months before. It was time to kick up my heels and enjoy being a girl again. I remember thinking to myself, "Ha! This will come to nothing. These stupid things never work."

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In the fall of 2003 I showed up to SAIC. I was new to grad school after running loose in the professional world for 11 years and spanking new to Chicago. I had a sense I was in the right place when I had homework before even attending my first class.

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I had been struggling to find the motivation to paint since the first warm day of summer vacation. Inspiration came at 2 a.m. one night in June while watching a rerun of the 1996 National Spelling Bee Championship on ESPN Classic. It was one of those days when I had slept until noon and looked at my art supplies from the couch in a malaise.

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