Gallery Hop

My friend had his first gallery display during January's gallery hop. Five of his paintings were featured in a room covered ceiling to floor in art. Although I was not familiar with all of his paintings and did not know which pieces he had submitted, I was able to pick out his works among the rest. I was then able to notice the similarities between other works and put together the other artists' collections. I found the layout of the gallery exciting for that reason. One artist's paintings could be scattered and mixed it in with the others, but viewers were still able to find the style and know that they came from the same person.

Winter 2012

This quarter I went to the Family Feud with my mentees. We actually won! It was super fun to get to know the girls better and learn about what other students thought of Ohio State. I really enjoyed this event!

I went to the 8th Floor improv night. It was actually my first 8th Floor show. I had a ton of fun! It was definitely impressive to see how they thought quickly and made witty jokes.

I also went to Buckeyethon. It was my second year and it was just as rewarding. It is amazing to see how many students take time out of their lives to help children they don't even know. My favorite part, besides the dancing, was meeting the children we were helping. It was a great experience. I would definitely do it again!

Poverty Series Session 2

On March 8th, we watched an episode of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days: Living on Minimum Wage. I though it was interesting seeing a small glimpse into the life of the urban poor. The cost of just walking into the emergency room and having your wrist wrapped up was just ridiculous (almost as ridiculous as how many girls play intramural sports in this scholars program...). How did that father with two or three kids (if my memory serves me correctly) live and support his children while Morgan and his fiance Alex could barely getting by with only themselves? I would think that the episode about a Christian being a Muslim for thirty days would be really interesting and I would suggest having an event devoted to that (I would go to it).

All-Scholars Basketball (x2)

The Humanities Scholars' basketball team went 0 - 2 - 1 (slightly better than our football record: 0-3). I couldn't play in the first game because I had Athletic Band; however, (as the title suggests) I was able to play in the last two games. In the first game, we got blown out and we had to grab three girls who were not in our scholars program to play for us. In the last game, we only had five people play, with only four guys and one girl. Since we only had one girl, we had to play four-on-five for the whole game. Fortunately, we somehow stayed with our opponents (they also only had two girls playing for the whole game). It is so pathetic that we cannot get a few girls in our scholars program to play intramural sports! How is this possible? There are so many more girls in this scholars program than there are men, yet we still cannot get enough girls. I am getting sick and tired of it; it is just not fun playing at a disadvantage when the all-scholars intramural sports give extreme handicaps for the female participants (such a girls get one extra point when they make a normal basket).

Winter 2012

1. Family Feud
I really like how the Mentor events are working this year. It's gives us an opportunity to talk to our mentees, without having to smother them, and still get an event for Humanities :) Family Feud was really fun, in an odd sort of way. But it got us talking, and we had all kinds of conversations we probably never would have had otherwise.

2. The Help
Last quarter, we read The Help in book club, and since I refuse to see movies before I read the book, I hadn't seen the movie yet. While I thought the movie was good, it was really interesting to hear what people with different backgrounds thought of it. One of the speakers who came was from the south, so he brought an entirely different perspective into the discussion.

3. The Hunger Games
This quarter we read The Hunger Games in book club. I actually read these books at the very end of summer break, so it had been a while, but, regardless, I loved them. Most people who have read them feel the same way, but there were a couple who felt differently, and I think with series like this with such a huge fan base, it's good to hear those other opinions.

All Scholars Ice Skate

I went to the All scholars ice skate, and it was a lot of fun. I haven't ice skated in like 6 years, so it was a little rough, but what can you do. I enjoyed it! It was a good way to end a busy school week

Safety With Chuck!

I know that this review may seem a little biased because "Chuck" is my dad, but nevertheless, I really enjoyed both parts of his presentations. Although I have sat through both parts before, there are always new things that he chooses to incorporate and I feel like I am always learning something new from him. I have definitely been paying more attention when I walk places and when I have to park in the garages on campus. After his first presentation, I was discussing it with my roommate Katy and she said that it made her scared- I can relate to this!! My dad is full of stories about scary things that have happened and I have grown up hearing them repeated over and over. It's hard to determine how you should be feeling after hearing some of the things my dad talked about. Scared? Empowered? Aware? I think a combination of all three is probably what most people feel. When I told my dad that some people feel a little uneasy about walking alone and being safe after his presentations he said that fear is a gift (like the title of the book that he read from) and that when you feel a little uneasy, you're probably a lot more aware of what is happening around you- which is the purpose of his presentation!

Hunger Games discussion

I went to the Hunger Games book club discussion, which was a pretty good time overall. I enjoyed reading the books and chatting with everyone about our favorite characters and favorite moments. However, I feel that these books were not written at a level that encourages serious, philosophical conversation; and many individuals tried to turn them into such. The book club, at certain points, reminded me of my high school english classes--taking trivial issues and lacing them with symbolism and allegory that is arguably nonexistent just to make for a pretty debate. I guess my point is, if there are no deep connections that can be made, then don't make them. Just enjoy the read. Other than that, I enjoyed my time. I'd probably go to a follow up discussion on the rest of the series if one was presented.

Family Feud

At first I was sort of dreading going to family feud because I am really bad at these kinds of games. However, it actually turned out to be pretty fun and I liked being competitive with it. However, I felt that if more people would have come, it would have been more fun. None of my group's mentees showed up so it was just a little disappointing. Overall, however, I think it was a good bonding experience for those groups that had both their mentors and their mentees present. I like that we are having more events through the mentor program because it is a great way to meet new people in Humanities Scholars.

The popcorn and soda refreshments were also a nice touch. I especially liked how Ben got so into reading the questions. One other criticism I would have of family feud was that the way it was organized took a long time to go through all the questions and get the scores from the groups. In the future, I would recommend that ALL mentors and mentees try to attend because it really is a great way of bonding with other scholars and getting to know more people.

Primary Debate

A political science organization held a discussion about the state of the 2012 election at the Union today. They went over various issues and let the room discuss ideas, opinions, and the electability of the various candidates. The various social issues in politics were addressed and these directly relate tot he Humanities because they affect our personal lives.

Drums Downtown

I originally heard about Drums Downtown from one of my former roommates and dear friend, Leisa DeCarlo, who actually danced on stage for the event. I had already bought the tickets ($5 via the Union) to go with a friend when I found out it counted as a Humanities Event.

The School of Music and the Dance Department put together a phenomenal show. Every section of the show exhibited great talent and creative expression. I was surprised by the different types of talents that were featured in a percussion show. I had expected to hear different drumming patterns on various drum-like instruments paired with some expressive dancing, but the show was so much more than that. A small orchestra opened the night with new, urban-styled music featuring soundbites of city life. I also really enjoyed the classical vocalists that were featured in a different act alongside the small orchestra.

The dancing, I had expected to see, but I was so impressed by the level of talent of all the dancers. The way the dancers danced off of each other, giving energy to each other and seemingly transferring life from one to another was beautiful and was, hands down, my favorite part.

Drums Downtown is an OSU tradition and if you missed it this year, I would definitely recommend you watch it next year.

Chinese New Year Celebration

(A little late in the quarter but...)

I had a really great time at the Chinese New Year culture show. Not being of Chinese descent, it was really eye opening and interesting to learn about Chinese culture. Not only so, but there was free Chinese food and entertaining acts that reminded me how talented OSU students can be. There were some memorable dancing and martial arts acts, but my favorite portion was the fashion show of traditional Chinese clothing. I've been learning about color theory in one of my design classes lately and we had discussed how colors can mean different things in different cultures. One of the examples was that red is the color worn by brides on wedding days in China instead of the white that is worn in our culture. Watching the fashion show, I noticed a lot of red either in the whole dress or used as an accent color. I was also intrigued by the fit of the dresses and how beauty was defined differently in that culture compared to my own.

The night was educational and most definitely enjoyable; I am glad I went.

8th floor improv

Went to 8th floor improv last night, it was pretty fun. There were SO many people there, which was nice to see for a change. I feel like 8th floor can be kind of hit or miss with their skits, and some of them were definitely a miss, but I had a good time and enjoyed it overall!