Waiting for Superman

I was surprised at how emotional Waiting for Superman made me feel. I've seen other documentaries but I guess there is something about the future of children that pulls my heartstrings even more so than other issues. But I understand why so many parents would go through so much for the education of their children.

The discussion afterward was really interesting to me, especially the point of view of the students that actually come from magnet or charter schools. Being a product from a public school in the suburbs, I had it really good compared to the public schools in the city, and it didn't really hit me until now.

Doc & Talk Waiting For Superman

This was the 2nd time I saw the film and it was just as good and emotionally striking as the first time I saw it. I think it really provided a reality check to everyone that watched on how good we have it. I really enjoyed the discussion afterwords, it was interesting to hear different opinions on education, especially people who have gone to charter or magnet schools.

Access88 Trip to Sardinia, Ohio

This weekend, I had an amazing opportunity to go on a service trip to Brown County, Ohio, where we had the opportunity to talk to 8th grade students about the accessibility and importance of going to college. On Friday, we woke up at 6:00 A.M. and by 7:00 we were all loaded into a big, white van and hurtling towards southern Ohio. When we arrived at Eastern Middle School, we were promptly welcomed by the office members and the generous principal. There were 11 people on the trip, including the two group leaders. We split off into two groups and gave presentations to 5 different classes, including some 7th graders, about college. We urged the importance of looking into college early in high school, not to rule out education due to financial standing, and motivated them to take challenging classes to be prepared for the college curriculum.

Afterwards, we went to a local corn maze, where we "got lost for money," and then headed to the local elementary, where we volunteered at the annual Fall Carnival. This was a great opportunity to work with the community members and to establish friendly ties. Later, we went to the church that was housing us for the evening, talked to local teens who were members of the church, and watched Evan Almighty.

On Saturday, we focused on volunteer work: mainly, cleaning up the exterior of both the Russellville Library and Sardinia Library, and enjoyed a complimentary lunch at a local, quaint restaurant.

Dinner & Dialogue: Evolution of Vampires

This past Thursday, Professor Amanpal Garcha from the English department, fascinated many humanities scholars with a look into the distinct history of vampires and monsters in English literature. From Dracula, to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and finally Twilight, this brief mini-lecture encompassed the world of deviation as high sexualized and very much a part of the fears that people had at the time these works were created. When talking about Twilight, Professor Garcha stressed the difference, the influence, that religious belief had on the restraint of the characters. For example, in comparison to Dracula, who had the appearence of taking every woman for his own, Edward, in Twilight, resisted the temptation of taking over Bella. This is extremely significant, as it suggests a mentality in contemporary society towards a common theme of sexual repression that has taken over, in comparison to Dracula.

I found this discussion to be highly enlightening and look forward to more in the future.

From Impossible to Easy with Robert Irvine

I thoroughly enjoyed this event as a food network geek and general foodie. Not only did I attend the event, I also got to interview Robert Irvine for the Lantern! Even though he's huge and can seem pretty intimidating on TV, he joked and gave me cooking advice (use grapeseed oil). Both parents and students loved the event, and Irvine interacted with the crowd, giving away everything from t-shirts to ramen. He emphasized the importance of eating healthy and exercising, as well as "paying it forward". Irvine donates almost all of the money he makes to charities, such as cancer research and veterans affairs. He was more than willing to answer everyone's questions and pose for pictures, even after the OUAB staffers tried to shut him down.

Flea Market

So I went to the flea market with my roomies and it was an overall good experience. I enjoyed checking out all of the vintage tshirts and sifting through the records. I ended up buying 2 John Denver records for $2 a piece. SCORE! Kristen bought Jeni's for a dollar so that's awesome. The flea market was a really cool environment. I'd for sure go back. WIN!

House / Divided

Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 8:00 P.M., Drake Performance Center

After reflecting over an entire year of the Builder's Association residence here at OSU and the Columbus area, I find that their performance yesterday evening was something of a marvel to behold. I was under the impression, after first coming in contact with the troupe last year, that they were a very contemporary and edgy performance group from New York that wanted to push the boundaries of theatre and communications. While this is completely true, and because of their highly technological performance, I have come to the conclusion that the Association was a means of provoking a moving portrait and juxtaposition between two very different, and yet very similar, time periods with similar aspects of human life.

The presentation itself focused on John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," and used an enormous amount of technology to advance not only the ideas Steinbeck intended to show in his book, but also the complexities of life both established in that time period and modern day. I was very impressed with the use of projections, particularly the use of scrims with the projections and means of lighting. Afterwards, I had a discussion with another Humanities member who did not have the opportunity to be involved in the discussions last year, and he seemed a little put off by how sparse the plot line itself was constructed. However, I felt that because I had acquired such a great knowledge of "The Grapes of Wrath" from this project, it seemed to me that the great majority of the Builder's ideas were based in the process of making the show, rather than solely the final product.

While in some cases critics might call this a weakness of the show itself, I was more than okay with this learning process and being a part of the advancement of culture and social ideas. With more performances to come, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who would enjoy a good, contemporary show with a myriad of elements.

Study Abroad Expo

I'm not 100% sure that the Study Abroad Expo is counted as a Humanities Event, but I'll blog about it anyway!

It was held today, October 6th, at the Thompson Library. The expo did a very good job in covering locations and majors. I went in empty handed and came out with so many booklets! There was loads of information on different programs and locations. I just had to keep an eye out for one that interested me. If you have a specific location in mind or you haven't really thought about studying abroad but you know your major, then there probably is a program that fits you.

And I was surprised by the amount of scholarships out there!

This expo got me really excited for of all the opportunities and I'm glad I went. =]