Humanities Flag Football!!!

I want start this out by thanking everyone who played this year for the Humanities Scholars.  Our team this year had the best record of the past Humanities (or at least in the past three years), since we actually won games and made the playoffs (and if we won the playoff game, we would have been in the final game, because the other team forfeited).  I am very glad that we did not have to forfeit any games this year (unlike my Freshman year) and that we actually got wins (last year we got blown out all the time).  I have great hopes for my Senior year next year.  Hopefully we can build off of next year and maybe win a playoff game.  We just need to retain players from this year and also recruit new players from the incoming Freshman class.

Comic Book Series: Cartoon Library Tour

On September 25, 2765 AUC (that is 2012 in the Roman calendar), we visited the Cartoon Library by the Wexner Center.  While I had already been there (catching up on the Spider-man comics, since I never really read the comics as a kid), it was still an interesting tour.  I thought the history about the Center's collection and in comics was interesting, especially about the one newspaper strip that had countless rage mail about the family dog dying in the comic.  I should have asked them if they had any hate mail that was sent to Marvel after they split Spider-man and Mary Jane up.  If there was hate mail about the family dog dying, I would hate to see how harsh the mail was that was sent to Marvel because of the Neighborhood Friendly Web-Slinger.

Mentor Events

Due to a ridiculous amount of time conflicts, the only events I was really able to participate in this semester ended up being the mentor events, which I consider pretty important, since I'm a mentor.
The first event, the scavenger hunt, was kind of a bust because we didn't have any mentees show up, but we did it anyway to get those points in.
The second event, campus hide and seek, was a little better when we had one mentee show up, but it was nice because we got to chat with her and get to know her better and talk about how her semester is going and how she likes college life, and things like that.
Our mentees are involved in loads of different activities, from Women's Glee Club to jobs all over campus, so it's difficult to get them all together at once.  But we have had the opportunity to get dinner with various combinations of the four of them throughout the semester, so we've been able to stay caught up with their lives.

Treat the Hungry

This was my first year participating in our main service event, Treat the Hungry. I was very happily surprised with the number of people who showed up. With so many groups, we were able to get around the neighborhood quickly and efficiently. The weather wasn't that bad or cold, which was great. My group and I had a great time, and everyone we met was very friendly and helpful. People were very generous in their donations and a lot of people even had cans ready for us when we arrived. Overall, this was a great event and I was very proud to be a part of this Humanities Scholars tradition.

Canada

I made an impromptu trip to Canada this semester. It was my first time out of the country although I'd hardly call it an international experience. I went to Niagara Falls and found that it was just about the same as any other tourist city with over-priced food, carnival-esque attractions and way too many people. The trip was super fun though! The waterfall was awesome and I enjoyed hearing all the different languages being spoken. And it turns out it's true what people say about Canadians - very friendly!

Annie Leibovitz and Jann S. Wenner

"In this public celebration of the Wexner Prize, Leibovitz discusses her work with longtime friend Jann S. Wenner, the founder, publisher, and editor of Rolling Stone magazine. Their collaboration at Rolling Stone in the 1970s is legendary, but their subsequent—and independent—roles as interpreters and shapers of the social, cultural, and political history of America are just as interesting." 

This event was absolutely amazing; it was like viewing an intimate conversation between two old friends. They talked about their experiences with icons like Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, Mick Jagger and The Beatles. It was so interesting to hear about these people from a first-person perspective. Annie had gone on tour with the Rolling Stones early in her career and subsequently went on a bit of a bender, or so they alluded. Despite the obvious negative outcomes of the tour, both Annie and Jann agreed that it was ultimately good for her artistry because it allowed to get an insider's view of her subjects, a view which she strove for for the rest of her career. Annie also talked about the day Lennon was shot. She had been photographing him and Yoko Ono earlier in the afternoon and insisted that Lennon had never been more in love with Yoko. The following day, instead of running a cover of just Lennon as would be expected following a death, they chose to run of cover of the two of them together to honor Lennon's wishes that Yoko be in the photograph. There were several more stories like these, all equally enchanting. I swear I could have listened to them talk for hours. It was a really a unique perspective on our nation's history. 

Mid-Ohio Food Bank

I went to volunteer with some of my sorority sisters at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank last Thursday and it was a lot of fun! They have student hours from 4-6 every Thursday and you can just show up and they will put you somewhere to help out. We were in the conveyer room and basically packaged boxes of non-perishable food items for families. They had music playing and the atmosphere was very relaxed and all the people that work there were really friendly and made the experience fun. In the end we packaged over 800 boxes so I was really proud of that. The time goes by really fast and it is such a simple but fun way to get involved in community service! I would suggest more people to volunteer there more often. All the people that work there were very appreciative because they are understaffed so all of the help really counts (even though it may not seem that you are doing that much)! I personally am going to try to volunteer there at least once a month :) you guys should too!!!