Michael Legg Workshop

Sometime during November, I attended a workshop hosted by Michael Legg.  It was for actors and people that hope to work alongside the acting industry.  It was all about helping those who attended realize what it will be like in the real world and to give us all real-world examples from a person who has been in the industry for years.  This workshop was somewhat enlightening because Mr. Legg said certain things about the acting industry that I did not know.

The Diary of Anne frank

 The Diary of Anne Frank ran for a few days in November and I was not able to see the finished performance during the week that it was being performed.  The reason for this is that I was working backstage on the play doing inventory on all of the costumes, ironing, and helping the actors do their quick changes backstage.  I did get the see the unpolished, un-costumed version of the show during crew view, and it was alright.  Without the costumes, lights, or sound effects, it was more like watching a very unfinished version of the play.  I did get to hear the finished version every single time it was performed, though.  The finished version sounded a whole lot better, and I'm confident that the audiences enjoyed the play.  The actors did good jobs, and crew did good jobs, too.  I think that the actors adequately portrayed how the Frank and Van Pels families would have felt in their situation.  Since I can't quite describe my experience viewing the play, I will describe what it was like being backstage.  I have one word that encompasses virtually every aspect of backstage work for The Diary of Anne Frank: tired.  By this, I mean that I was constantly in a perpetual state of being tired, be it because I had been working for seven hours or because I was up until midnight the night before working seven hours.  Backstage was hectic because when I would arrive everyone would want me to do what they wanted me to do, even though they were not my boss.  I am not sure why so many thought that I could do my required responsibilities and then just do what they wanted me to do out of the kindness of my heart.  Despite all of this, I had a good time crewing The Diary of Anne Frank, and the show was somewhat fun to be a part of.

Art Visit

During the week of November 27, there was an art exhibition at what I think was the Slocumb Gallery. Before this review gets into full-swing I would like to say that I do not consider myself to be an art critic in any way, shape, or form. At this Exhibition, there were two pieces of art that I thought were particularly interesting.

            One was titled “Simulation” by Heather Lea Love.  The reason that I thought that this piece of art was interesting is because of how odd it looked.  I do not mean any disrespect to the artist when I say this, but I found the photo to be odd, and even a bit humorous.  The photo shows a medical student inserting an intravenous catheter into a medical dummy.  The expression on the dummy's face is what really gets me in this piece.  It's unblinking eyes wide open and its dry mouth agape made for a very interesting picture to say the least.  I am not sure what the photographer was going for when they took this picture, but I hope that they achieved the desired feelings out of at least one person. 

            The second piece of art that I thought was interesting was titled “Out of Chaos” by Debra Locher.  I am fairly certain that I understood what the artist was trying to do with this piece.  This piece was a collection of nine minerals if I remember correctly, manipulated in a way to show their internal structures.  I personally love science and looking at rocks and minerals in particular.  I agree with the artist in the idea that there is something inherently beautiful about these things that sometimes take hundreds of thousands of years to form, and then come into your life almost as if they were created just for you.

What Do I Value?

During one of the class meetings for Honors Collo this semester, we were tasked with answering the question "what do you value?"  We started out broad and narrowed down what we valued little by little until we were left with one or two things that we truly value.  Other people had things such as "work" or "family" but what I had left at the end of this process was "love" and "honesty."  I think that those two words would describe my values pretty well.  I am honest 99% of the time, and I do value things that I love over other things.  I am glad that we had this discussion in class because it made me actually think about what I value.

Volunteer Hours

The way that I got all of my volunteer hours for this semester was by working backstage on the Diary of Anne Frank show.  I worked backstage for something along the lines of 58 or so hours.  While backstage I helped to wash clothes, inventory costumes, iron costumes, and help perform quick changes.

Where I am Going.

One of the things that we talked about in Collo this semester was where we were going and how we wanted to get there.  We came up with short-term and long-term goals.

I decided that I want to be a TV actor or a chef one day, so that is what I will strive to do.

One of the short-term goals that I proposed to get to my ultimate goal was to keep up good grades and stay in my theater classes.  This should help me build the skills I need in order to make it in the world as an actor.

The long-term goal that I proposed was to get a gig on TV such as on a network show or in a movie.  I could also get an internship somewhere where I could interact with well-known actors and directors.  This would put me in contact with the people that I would need to know to make it in the industry.

Waka Flocka Flame Concert

Tonight I went to the Waka Flocka Flame concert at ETSU. Going in there were 0 security checks, just hand them your ticket and go in. The first opening act was extremely loud so I went to the concessions to buy earplugs but they weren't selling any, so I went and stuffed my ears with toilet paper. The opening acts were good, I especially liked Seckond Chaynce.  Towards the end of their performance a sad, sad, degenerate thought that it would be a fun idea to steal my hat from my head. I became extremely agitated/disappointed and left the crowd. Besides the theft, I was also deeply saddened by the sheer number of people who were vaping, smoking weed, and drinking alcohol inside the minidome. I stood alone outside the crowd with my hands in my pockets securing my valuables for the remainder of the opening acts. I must have stuck out like a sore thumb because two separate girls came over to introduce themselves and to inquire as to why I was alone. However, my experience got better once Waka Flocka's portion of the show started. He did all of his famous songs, and I slowly moved back into the crowd. I noticed that he and I were wearing the same vans. He came out into the crowd and I got very close to him, but I decided that it would be rude to reach out and touch him. After a bit he resumed his position singing his final songs on the stage. After it was over I found a guy with a headset that was telling people what do to backstage and asked him to tell Waka Flocka that I plan to sell his muffin recipe at the ETSU farmers market. He laughed. I hope he didn't think I was kidding.