Having been over a month since my last post, I figure it is due time to post once again. This blog was originally in my head as one about life on the Emerson campus. Then my favorite holiday happened and the rest, as they say, is history…
PART I
First and foremost, thanks are due to a certain Paul Moody, whose benevolent spirit and thoughtfulness brought me home for the wedding of my dear friend Sarah Freel, who needed some extra Moody-ness in her life. Pshhhh. :P
In any case, this was a wedding for the books. I mean, really. Due to the ever-gracious Kane Klan, there was a beautiful backyard space, decked with white tent, chairs, the whole bit. But what was marvelous was the weather. Everything looked just right in the speckled sunlight filtering through the trees and, for October, this was a mini-miracle. Gorgeous wedding. Could not have been better.
So, thank you Paul for flying me in for Sarah. I know it was a great gift for her, but it turned into an incredible gift for me as well. And also my friends and family (ahem… Mother) who got to see that Boston hasn’t killed me yet, and there’s no plan on that happening soon.
PART II
Flash forward four weeks to the day of October 31st. On this day, the planets aligned and God gave a miracle to the world. At least it was a miracle for me, as I always find Halloween to be.
How can this celebration be a miracle, you ask? Let’s start with this: I was in Boston and it was 70 degrees on Halloween. Yes, 70. It was perfect. The trees had all pretty much turned their assorted shades of burnt orange, muted red, or bright yellow, with those dabs of green mixed perfectly in between. It was enough of fall to feel the bite in the air and cause leaves to descend any time the wind blew, but enough of summer leftovers that all us scantily clad beings didn’t freeze.
Another part of the miracle- Halloween was on a Saturday this year. This left everyone all day to get ready and all night for the make up to fall off. Awesome.
Into this perfect setting emerged two beings- a boy and a girl. Both wore shades, both hair straightened, but the boy’s gelled. Both had foundation smoothed on and mascara highlighting the eyelashes beneath the sunglasses. The boy- a brunette; the girl- a blonde. Boy wore a black polo with the collar popped (lending an ever so pompous air to his attire) and khaki shorts, with simple flip-flops. Girl wore a black and gray dress, with black flats (for comfort) and assorted pink jewelry. On the waistband of her dress was taped a swirly pink “B.”
No, this is not an episode of The Pink Letter: Sequel to the Scarlet Letter. This is Barbie and Ken. And somewhere beneath all that makeup and stuck-up attitude are my friend Christine and, unbelievably, myself.
The two of us crossed the Common with pillowcases in tow, passing all the other random people in costume. This city is truly into Halloween. We reached our destination: Beacon Hill. We were confused. Few pedestrians were on the sidewalks, and neither of us was familiar with the ritual of Trick-or-Treating in these foreign parts. We decided to wander around till we found others doing the same.
Then it happened. We walked up the right side street and emerged into a world that could actually be described as Halloweentown. Thousands of people crowed the shut down streets, and all the inhabitants of the luxurious townhouses were sitting on their doorsteps handing out candy to little kids. Most of these candy-givers were in full garb, complementing those of the children and parents to which the candy was given.
Furthermore, most houses featured decorations, cob-webs strung from every tree to some wall or doorway, lights popping up random places, ghosts or spiders descending from trees, and smoke issuing from any vent the ground could hold. At this point I let out the first in a series of squeals over the next hour.
Anyone who knows me can imagine what this meant to me. To walk around in this organized mess for an hour was a dream come true. I felt younger than I feel at Disney World, and that’s saying something. We meandered to and fro for the length of an hour (in which we found John Kerry’s house and snatched candy from his grimy paws) and then were obligated to return to campus, having taken more than our fair share of the goods.
Let me interject here and interesting note: Northerners have often been called “snobby” or “rude” by people I know in the South. I challenge you all to come to Beacon Hill one Halloween and decide otherwise. The sense of community and fun is overwhelming and the Bostonians put Southern hospitality to shame.
The rest of the night consisted of watching “The Nightmare Before Christmas” with Lauren and going to my first (and uber-lame) college party. Surprise- I hated the party. I never want to return. But let this day be remembered as the miracle Halloween. It will for me. Whoever said that Halloween was the devil’s holiday should either: a)come to Boston and change their mind; b)talk to a child dressed up on Halloween and consider their input; or c) stop smoking the crack they must be on to think that.
Cool Things Daniel Did This Month:
I know you’ve all been waiting, so here is what I was up to while I wasn’t writing this blog (besides, of course, going home for the weekend, celebrating Halloween, and studying longer than I thought was imaginable).
1. Here Comes the Bride- Aside from the wonderful Freel-Moody wedding, two of my other dear friends got married: Jim and Pam. Yes, from The Office. We take that show seriously here, so there was a wedding cake and champagne (aka sparkling cider) to complete the festivities. Amazingly, we crammed about 25 people into our common room which was, admittedly, one of the worst and hottest experiences of my life. See Facebook for a few pics.
2. Fireburnin, Fireburnin on the River- Due to the bountiful graciousness of my suitemate Ian, I made it to Waterfire in Providence, RI, along with Christine and Emma. This is a festival which involves lighting huge bonfires up and down the river in the city at night while opera and classical music plays. It was altogether very romantic (not that that helped any of us) and quite beautiful. I was really more excited to visit the smallest state in our great union- the Island that is not an island.
3. Johnny Appleseed- Ryan’s church goes to an apple orchard every fall, has a church service and then has fun around the orchard. Who’da thunk it? So, I went along and got my first taste of apple picking, cider donuts, and even got to see a pig! Our friend Stefany had never been on a hay ride (or even seen hay for that matter- she’s from Miami) so I went with her on the bumpiest, but probably prettiest, hay ride of my life. Yeeeehaw.
4. Grab Your Brooms- It’s time for Quidditch season here at Emerson. Truly an amazing spectacle that takes place on the Common. Yes, in public. Now, I had already attended a scrimmage earlier this year, but this was my first real game. And these people are intense. Seriously fascinating. See the pictures on my Facebook for a true idea of how ridiculous this looks. It’s amazing.
5. BBFs for Life- Yes, the Boston Book Festival, first ever, happened just weeks ago. My friend Monique from Governor’s School came in from Providence to go with me. There are some seriously great authors around this area: Anita Diamant (The Red Tent and The Last Days of Dogtown), John Goodman (guy from the Mac commercials that plays the PC: now a published author), Anita Shreve (The Pilot’s Wife and The Weight of Water), Ben Mezrich (who wrote the book that inspired the movie “21” and I missed) just to name a few of the attendees. Great event (minus the SpokenWord poetry which sucked big time).
6. Curtain Call- Over the past two weeks, I was privileged (ahem… forced) to see two productions done by our school’s theatre company Emerson Stage. I’m so glad to finally be at a school with a real theatre program! The two plays I saw were Incorruptible, about corruption in the Catholic church (shocker), and Six Characters in Search of an Author, one of the creepiest plays imaginable which provokes thoughts about the separation between theatre and life, what is reality and what is fiction. Truly incredible productions for a college crew.
7. Caught in the Frenzy- I finally got to attend my first Boston concert! And what a great one it was. A Fine Frenzy showed up just in time, and my friend Mercedes and I went along with Monique from Providence. Opening for her were Among the Oak and Ash and Landon Pigg (who sings that Breaking up in Coffeeshop song), both from Tennessee. How very ironic. Of course, AFF played her dear song “Almost Lover” that made us all want to cry. She’s one to catch if you ever have the chance.
What Daniel Missed This Month:
The actors and director from “Boondock Saints” were on our campus and I didn’t get to see them! I had class right up till when the event started and it was full by the time I got there. They were also giving out screening passes to “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” which were far gone. Sad day. Oh well.
NOTE: The “People I Met” section is being discontinued for the time being since I mainly hang out with those already mentioned. If something significant happens, you will all hear about it through the rest of the blog, I’m sure.
POSTSCRIPT
Tomorrow, I celebrate my first birthday in my new location. It’s one of those weird times where you’re used to being home, but know that this is where you want to be. I’m turning 19, my last year with –teen attached to my year. This is different; this is perfect. I miss you all and thank you for your support and mail and packages. It makes this time easier and happier. I couldn’t ask for more.
As always, thanks for reading.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Surrealism and Spirituality
Surreal. It’s the only word to describe what this feels like. The other day, I was laying in the Commons, in shorts and my CULTU(RED) t-shirt reading Shakespeare and people watching; today, the winds ripped through campus and I remembered my environment a little better, provided I foolishly decided to wear shorts again.
Yesterday morning, on my way to class, I passed a guy wearing boxer shorts and a hoody, eating a bagel as he went along. On the way to the grocery store, a homeless lady on a streetcorner looked right down Boylston Street, straight into the gusts of wind and screamed, “Stop making it so windy!!!” as if God was standing at the end of the road, forcing the wind down the compact space. On the way back from the store, I saw a man on a scooter with an open trash bag attached to the scooter to create a sail, propelling him down the road as if he were on water.
This is now my city. These are now my people. And yet, I’m not entirely accustomed yet. I still look around me and have to remember that I’m living a thousand miles away from home. In my mind, I picture a map and me on the map in Boston, zoomed in on a building like on Google Earth. Then, I slowly zoom out, eventually getting a full view of the country, and a full view of the true distance that separates me from most of the people I know.
I chose this, but what have I chosen? I have no doubt that I should be here- it’s intrinsically perfect. I’m incandescently happy, like Darcy at the end of Pride and Prejudice, except my Pemberly is this incredibly baller new residence hall in the heart of downtown Beantown. It’s all just… different.
* * *
Recently, there has been much ado from a host of people about the spiritual life in my new home. So, before I left, people kept telling me, “Oh, it’s gonna be so hard to keep your faith up there with those people,” and, “You’re headed to a God-less place.” I was like, thanks a heap for all the encouragement homies.
First of all, this is in no way a “God-less” place. Where exactly can you find a place that God isn’t? Yeah, you go chew on that for a while and let me know if you fully digest it. Naturally, this place is no Bible Belt, and I couldn’t be any happier. I was so ready to leave that in the South, you can all enjoy it. But, people are so incredibly open about spirituality, in the sense that it has come in conversation at least once with almost every person I’ve talked to. I can’t say the same for people I’ve only known for three weeks back home.
I’m finding that I’m so much more ready to accept people who are at least honest about what they believe, rather than having to sift through all the fronts I’ve been putting up with my whole life. People believe what they believe, and if it’s controversial, it’s probably viewed as better. No, this campus isn’t crawling with Christians; but that also means that people who don’t actually believe it don’t pretend to. This is what I desperately needed.
Yes, people don’t understand why I believe what I do. Yes, it’s not popular. But at least it’s real.
Now, the whole church conundrum I am having some problems with, simply because most of the churches in close proximity are Catholic or Synagogue. Those aren’t so much for me, especially on a week-by-week basis. I have been attending church with my roommate Ryan, who goes to Boston Church of Christ. It may not be the perfect place for me, but it certainly beats nothing and they’ve got a great college ministry established in their church full of a great, kind group of Christians. It’s working for the time being so we’ll see where I end up.
* * *
To the classes. Here’s the rundown on what I’m taking and my thoughts on each course:
-Intercultural Communication- This course is one that I didn’t intentionally sign up for. It looks at the ways people communicate in other cultures, even ones that are not ethnically or geographically defined (ie Starbucks culture). I don’t love it, and I don’t hate it. It’s not too too much work, but it’s some. Dr. Angela Cooke-Jackson, my professor, is really cool and laid back but organized when it comes to the work schedule. Nothing is helped in this class by the fact that it’s at 8:00am.
-Appreciation of Theatre Arts- Although I thought I was going to love this class, I’m kind of on the in-between. There are good days, and there are bad days. It depends on how much material we have for the class. I wasn’t expecting all the facets of work we would have to do (we have to perform one day for the class and we already had to write a play) but I do like theatre and this is all about appreciating it. It looks like we’re going to go see some interesting plays this semester, so that’s fun.
-Gender in a Global Perspective- By far, this is the absolute best class I have. It’s the one that I look forward to going to, and generally enjoy almost all the readings for it. The course is concerned with defining gender (social habits of male and female) vs. sex (the biology that decides male or female). Also, we look heavily at masculinity vs. femininity, and why society causes us to view certain things as manly and certain things as feminine. I cannot stop talking about this course. It has already been so insightful, and we’ve only been in it for three weeks. Our teacher is Indian (her name is Tulasi Srinivas, for Emerson students who need to take this course) and her perspective on American society is extremely interesting because she speaks as an outsider.
-Honors Seminar- Where to begin with such a class? This class is such a roller coaster- either it’s a great day or it’s completely miserable. What’s rather frustrating about the class itself is that the whole thing is structured to be conversation between students and the professors. What this turns in to is people trying to one-up each other or throw out bigger words. I can only handle so much. However, I haven’t really altered my speech for this class, since I’m into that whole genuine thing some of you may know about, so I do say phrases like “true life” and “holla” in class, which has at least once resulted in laughter from my peers. Is that a good thing?
Cool Things Dan Did This Week:
1. Philippa and Dennis- So I totally forgot to cover this in my last post, but I got to go see Philippa Gregory, my personal favourite author, on my first day of class. She had a booksigning at Boston University so I went like a huge nerd and loved it. The next week, Dennis Lahane showed up at our campus bookstore to do a signing. I haven’t read any of his books, but I have seen some of the movies, which include Gone, Baby, Gone; Shutter Island; and Mystic River. Cool.
2. Ohno Bono- I was going to the grocery store to buy more cake mix the other day with Curry Nugget and Jersey Joe and there was a large crowd gathering outside the Four Seasons. Naturally, something important was happening so we stopped. Within five minutes, U2 emerged. That’s right folks- Bono was within sight and I couldn’t reach him, but I’ve got phone pics to prove it. Sad thing was, I wanted to talk to Bono, not because I like his music but because he started Product (RED). I was even wearing my CULTU(RED) shirt. Oh well. :)
3. Collegefest- Every year, this thing called Collegefest is held at the local convention center. It’s just something targeted at the large amount of college kids in Boston. You pay $10 and walk around to different booths and get info and random free stuff. I won a ticket by playing rock-paper-scissors with a publicity girl on the sidewalk so I got in for free. I’ve never seen so many energy drinks or versions of tea in my life. Dan would’ve loved it- they even had samples of Muscle Milk (which I shockingly tried more as a joke and found rather distasteful). Other cool stuff- we got to see Hellogoodbye in concert there, which was the main reason we went. Also, me and the two friends I was with got free bus tickets from Boston to NYC cause the lady at the Greyhound booth thought I was funny. Score!
4. Building Fences- Kelly and I went to go see the August Wilson play Fences at the Huntington Theatre on Saturday. Not only is the production remarkable, but if I write a four-page paper on it, I can use that grade as my final in my theatre class. Awesome. Obviously, I intend to do this. And on the way to the theatre, we discovered the Church of Christ, Scientist, which has built this crazy big reflecting pool, similar to that in DC, and a huge gothic style church. Way weird.
5. Stork’s Here- One of the problems I’ve been having is getting connected into clubs on campus. Everything is so competitive. After being rejected last week from the only two singing groups on campus (yes, Clevie, I gave it my best shot), I was worried about getting into a club. I applied for a copyediting position at Stork Magazine and- shock- I got it! It’s really fun. The publication is strictly a literary journal for short stories so we read fiction and then talk about how good (or, even better, how bad) the writing is. Fun fun.
6. Give Us Moore- Tonight, I did something arguably upsetting to many Southerners- I attended an advance screening of the new Michael Moore documentary and sat through an in-person Q&A session with him afterwards without trying to remove him from this earth. Say what you will, but he does have a talent for convincing people of his point and making fairly engaging documentaries. This new film is Capitalism: A Love Story and I found it angering and insightful, taking it with a grain of salt of course. I recommend it to those who want to broaden their horizons and hate the bailout as much as I do.
People I Met:
1. Lauren- quickly becoming one of my better friends is RA Lauren. Yes she’s my RA, but I think she’s the stuff. She has great advice and a bubbly spirit and really likes to try all kinds of things. I appreciate it.
2. Johnny- my other RA who I find completely hysterical. Yes, this means I am personal friends with both my RA’s. Sue me. Johnny’s great and just might be meaner than I am. Finally.
3. Kayla- the RA trend continues, but she’s at least not on my floor. She likes to pick on me because I’m from the South but she has a nice heart underneath it all and she shows me new things like Bubble Tea- this odd fruit smoothie with tapioca balls in the bottom and a straw the size of a gerber daisy stem. It’s not really that great.
4. Krista- one of the people who goes to church with us on Sundays. She’s super cool and we became friends by default when we went to Collegefest and then consequently got bus tickets to New York. She’s a theatre freak too so that’s some great common ground. We love us some Spring Awakening!
5. Shauntelle- also an attendee of church on Sundays. Shauntelle is the kind of crazy girl that can get everyone excited about the very little things. When I baked her a cake on her birthday, she cried. Enough said. I freakin love her.
6. Christie- Shauntelle’s roomie who I met at church. She’s super nice and has a parallel life to my dear old friend of three weeks Christine from across my window. I don’t know Christie extremely well but I look forward to getting to know her more.
7. Jordan- another girl, don’t let the name confuse you. She’s in my gender class and we both love it. She’s the kind of person you want to sit next to in class and make comments about what all is going on. Great.
8. Santiago- who is, yes, Argentinian by heritage. We have almost the same class schedule so we finally started talking. We’ve discovered we share some very similar thoughts, especially about our odd little Honors class. Ironically, he’s living with a suitemate of Ash’s from last year, which is humorous if you know the back-story.
Was that long enough for everyone? Sorry- so much to tell, and so little space. Thanks for reading everyone. Until more interesting things happen…
-Daniel
Yesterday morning, on my way to class, I passed a guy wearing boxer shorts and a hoody, eating a bagel as he went along. On the way to the grocery store, a homeless lady on a streetcorner looked right down Boylston Street, straight into the gusts of wind and screamed, “Stop making it so windy!!!” as if God was standing at the end of the road, forcing the wind down the compact space. On the way back from the store, I saw a man on a scooter with an open trash bag attached to the scooter to create a sail, propelling him down the road as if he were on water.
This is now my city. These are now my people. And yet, I’m not entirely accustomed yet. I still look around me and have to remember that I’m living a thousand miles away from home. In my mind, I picture a map and me on the map in Boston, zoomed in on a building like on Google Earth. Then, I slowly zoom out, eventually getting a full view of the country, and a full view of the true distance that separates me from most of the people I know.
I chose this, but what have I chosen? I have no doubt that I should be here- it’s intrinsically perfect. I’m incandescently happy, like Darcy at the end of Pride and Prejudice, except my Pemberly is this incredibly baller new residence hall in the heart of downtown Beantown. It’s all just… different.
* * *
Recently, there has been much ado from a host of people about the spiritual life in my new home. So, before I left, people kept telling me, “Oh, it’s gonna be so hard to keep your faith up there with those people,” and, “You’re headed to a God-less place.” I was like, thanks a heap for all the encouragement homies.
First of all, this is in no way a “God-less” place. Where exactly can you find a place that God isn’t? Yeah, you go chew on that for a while and let me know if you fully digest it. Naturally, this place is no Bible Belt, and I couldn’t be any happier. I was so ready to leave that in the South, you can all enjoy it. But, people are so incredibly open about spirituality, in the sense that it has come in conversation at least once with almost every person I’ve talked to. I can’t say the same for people I’ve only known for three weeks back home.
I’m finding that I’m so much more ready to accept people who are at least honest about what they believe, rather than having to sift through all the fronts I’ve been putting up with my whole life. People believe what they believe, and if it’s controversial, it’s probably viewed as better. No, this campus isn’t crawling with Christians; but that also means that people who don’t actually believe it don’t pretend to. This is what I desperately needed.
Yes, people don’t understand why I believe what I do. Yes, it’s not popular. But at least it’s real.
Now, the whole church conundrum I am having some problems with, simply because most of the churches in close proximity are Catholic or Synagogue. Those aren’t so much for me, especially on a week-by-week basis. I have been attending church with my roommate Ryan, who goes to Boston Church of Christ. It may not be the perfect place for me, but it certainly beats nothing and they’ve got a great college ministry established in their church full of a great, kind group of Christians. It’s working for the time being so we’ll see where I end up.
* * *
To the classes. Here’s the rundown on what I’m taking and my thoughts on each course:
-Intercultural Communication- This course is one that I didn’t intentionally sign up for. It looks at the ways people communicate in other cultures, even ones that are not ethnically or geographically defined (ie Starbucks culture). I don’t love it, and I don’t hate it. It’s not too too much work, but it’s some. Dr. Angela Cooke-Jackson, my professor, is really cool and laid back but organized when it comes to the work schedule. Nothing is helped in this class by the fact that it’s at 8:00am.
-Appreciation of Theatre Arts- Although I thought I was going to love this class, I’m kind of on the in-between. There are good days, and there are bad days. It depends on how much material we have for the class. I wasn’t expecting all the facets of work we would have to do (we have to perform one day for the class and we already had to write a play) but I do like theatre and this is all about appreciating it. It looks like we’re going to go see some interesting plays this semester, so that’s fun.
-Gender in a Global Perspective- By far, this is the absolute best class I have. It’s the one that I look forward to going to, and generally enjoy almost all the readings for it. The course is concerned with defining gender (social habits of male and female) vs. sex (the biology that decides male or female). Also, we look heavily at masculinity vs. femininity, and why society causes us to view certain things as manly and certain things as feminine. I cannot stop talking about this course. It has already been so insightful, and we’ve only been in it for three weeks. Our teacher is Indian (her name is Tulasi Srinivas, for Emerson students who need to take this course) and her perspective on American society is extremely interesting because she speaks as an outsider.
-Honors Seminar- Where to begin with such a class? This class is such a roller coaster- either it’s a great day or it’s completely miserable. What’s rather frustrating about the class itself is that the whole thing is structured to be conversation between students and the professors. What this turns in to is people trying to one-up each other or throw out bigger words. I can only handle so much. However, I haven’t really altered my speech for this class, since I’m into that whole genuine thing some of you may know about, so I do say phrases like “true life” and “holla” in class, which has at least once resulted in laughter from my peers. Is that a good thing?
Cool Things Dan Did This Week:
1. Philippa and Dennis- So I totally forgot to cover this in my last post, but I got to go see Philippa Gregory, my personal favourite author, on my first day of class. She had a booksigning at Boston University so I went like a huge nerd and loved it. The next week, Dennis Lahane showed up at our campus bookstore to do a signing. I haven’t read any of his books, but I have seen some of the movies, which include Gone, Baby, Gone; Shutter Island; and Mystic River. Cool.
2. Ohno Bono- I was going to the grocery store to buy more cake mix the other day with Curry Nugget and Jersey Joe and there was a large crowd gathering outside the Four Seasons. Naturally, something important was happening so we stopped. Within five minutes, U2 emerged. That’s right folks- Bono was within sight and I couldn’t reach him, but I’ve got phone pics to prove it. Sad thing was, I wanted to talk to Bono, not because I like his music but because he started Product (RED). I was even wearing my CULTU(RED) shirt. Oh well. :)
3. Collegefest- Every year, this thing called Collegefest is held at the local convention center. It’s just something targeted at the large amount of college kids in Boston. You pay $10 and walk around to different booths and get info and random free stuff. I won a ticket by playing rock-paper-scissors with a publicity girl on the sidewalk so I got in for free. I’ve never seen so many energy drinks or versions of tea in my life. Dan would’ve loved it- they even had samples of Muscle Milk (which I shockingly tried more as a joke and found rather distasteful). Other cool stuff- we got to see Hellogoodbye in concert there, which was the main reason we went. Also, me and the two friends I was with got free bus tickets from Boston to NYC cause the lady at the Greyhound booth thought I was funny. Score!
4. Building Fences- Kelly and I went to go see the August Wilson play Fences at the Huntington Theatre on Saturday. Not only is the production remarkable, but if I write a four-page paper on it, I can use that grade as my final in my theatre class. Awesome. Obviously, I intend to do this. And on the way to the theatre, we discovered the Church of Christ, Scientist, which has built this crazy big reflecting pool, similar to that in DC, and a huge gothic style church. Way weird.
5. Stork’s Here- One of the problems I’ve been having is getting connected into clubs on campus. Everything is so competitive. After being rejected last week from the only two singing groups on campus (yes, Clevie, I gave it my best shot), I was worried about getting into a club. I applied for a copyediting position at Stork Magazine and- shock- I got it! It’s really fun. The publication is strictly a literary journal for short stories so we read fiction and then talk about how good (or, even better, how bad) the writing is. Fun fun.
6. Give Us Moore- Tonight, I did something arguably upsetting to many Southerners- I attended an advance screening of the new Michael Moore documentary and sat through an in-person Q&A session with him afterwards without trying to remove him from this earth. Say what you will, but he does have a talent for convincing people of his point and making fairly engaging documentaries. This new film is Capitalism: A Love Story and I found it angering and insightful, taking it with a grain of salt of course. I recommend it to those who want to broaden their horizons and hate the bailout as much as I do.
People I Met:
1. Lauren- quickly becoming one of my better friends is RA Lauren. Yes she’s my RA, but I think she’s the stuff. She has great advice and a bubbly spirit and really likes to try all kinds of things. I appreciate it.
2. Johnny- my other RA who I find completely hysterical. Yes, this means I am personal friends with both my RA’s. Sue me. Johnny’s great and just might be meaner than I am. Finally.
3. Kayla- the RA trend continues, but she’s at least not on my floor. She likes to pick on me because I’m from the South but she has a nice heart underneath it all and she shows me new things like Bubble Tea- this odd fruit smoothie with tapioca balls in the bottom and a straw the size of a gerber daisy stem. It’s not really that great.
4. Krista- one of the people who goes to church with us on Sundays. She’s super cool and we became friends by default when we went to Collegefest and then consequently got bus tickets to New York. She’s a theatre freak too so that’s some great common ground. We love us some Spring Awakening!
5. Shauntelle- also an attendee of church on Sundays. Shauntelle is the kind of crazy girl that can get everyone excited about the very little things. When I baked her a cake on her birthday, she cried. Enough said. I freakin love her.
6. Christie- Shauntelle’s roomie who I met at church. She’s super nice and has a parallel life to my dear old friend of three weeks Christine from across my window. I don’t know Christie extremely well but I look forward to getting to know her more.
7. Jordan- another girl, don’t let the name confuse you. She’s in my gender class and we both love it. She’s the kind of person you want to sit next to in class and make comments about what all is going on. Great.
8. Santiago- who is, yes, Argentinian by heritage. We have almost the same class schedule so we finally started talking. We’ve discovered we share some very similar thoughts, especially about our odd little Honors class. Ironically, he’s living with a suitemate of Ash’s from last year, which is humorous if you know the back-story.
Was that long enough for everyone? Sorry- so much to tell, and so little space. Thanks for reading everyone. Until more interesting things happen…
-Daniel
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Oh, my life....!
Welcome to my life. Fourteen days ago, I moved into a new room in a new building in a new city in a new phase of my life. And fourteen days later, I must say, I love it here. This is the story of how it has gone down.
On Sunday, September 6th, half of my immediate family prepped to help me move into room 902A in the Colonial Building at 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA. When I say they helped, I mean they watched- we all did. The Emerson College Orientation Team is serious about move-in day, so they ambush your car and put all your junk in carts and take it to your room for you. All this stuff was put in my room without me even having to lift a finger. Awesome. It was a completely blank, utterly silent suite, my room being the first on the right. Mine is the only double in this suite, followed by three singles.
Everything is new (halleluyer!) and therefore, no cleaning is required. Good, I tend to be lazy. There’s plenty of work to be done in the unpacking- which actually ends up taking me a full six days to complete. There is stuff everywhere and I feel overwhelmed and distracted. Why make a dent in it tonight?
My family leaves more quickly than I thought. I suppose the thought of missing me was just too much to bear. That, and I’m pretty sure they were jealous of my rocking college environment. [So thank you to Debbie and Kathy, who rocked the Aunt car and took off work to make this extremely long voyage. Also, thank you to my mother, who was obligated to come and shed a few tears, and to Joe who I’m sure had to deal with that hott mess the whole way back to Tennessee.]
I immediately began my new life, which initially was lonely and desolate. The first people I met were in my orientation group, but I didn’t really click with any of them and I haven’t talked to them since about three days into this adventure. The first 24 hours on campus left me with that “what in the world am I doing here?” feeling that is so typical of change. My sole suitemate for the week, Ash {read more about him below} was helpful and supportive, not to mention very entertaining. He convinced me that it was alright.
Alright then. So that was my intro to college. Since this is no novel, let’s talk about the format for this blog. You will get a taste of the highlights of my days here at dear old Emerson and of the interesting people I meet. I want to keep a record of the places, people, and events that make this college experience so unique to Beantown. I will divide it all in to two sections: Cool Things Dan Did This Week and People I Met.
Cool Things Dan Did This Week:
1. The Date Doctor- Everyone remember that movie “Hitch” starring Will Smith? Well, the real guy that the movie is based on, named David Coleman, came to one of our Orientation events and gave us all of his advice, both good and bad. It was highly entertaining, and mostly true life. I appreciated it.
2. Gleek Out- Oh, Glee, the wonderful new show on FOX about a high school Glee club. Every week, in every common room of every building, masses of students gather to “gleek out” on Glee. It’s great. I laugh. I cry. I live. I sing. Awesome.
3. Set, Action!- Right in front of my dorm building lays the Boston Common, Beantown’s version of Central Park. It’s naturally pretty and relaxing. But this week, there has been much ado about something as the upcoming movie “The Zookeeper” has been filming in the park. It just so happened (and I made it happen) so I “stumbled” upon the set. You must understand, this movie stars Rosaurio Dawson (of “RENT” for all of you uninformed peeps) and Kevin James (aka “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” who I don’t care about a whole lot). Well, I found the set. Luck has it, of course, that there is no Ms. Dawson, but rather that plump old fart Kevin James. Still kind of cool. In other news, one of my suitemates shot a scene in the city with Ben Affleck this week. That’s pretty cool.
4. All Work and a Play- I made friends with a girl whose major is set design. All theatre majors apparently get e-mails about free rehearsals for productions. They had their first one a few days ago and I went with this friend of mine, Kelly. It was called The Savannah Disputation and it was set in Savannah, Georgia. How ironic. The story centers around two sisters who are Catholics (yes! Catholic love!) and then a Protestant missionary who comes to their house in an attempt to convert them. This, of course, directly parallels my own life. Perfect.
5. Free the Weed!- This morning, on the Common, there was Hempfest, a celebration of all druggy things, it would appear. One of my suitemates wanted to check it out, and I did too. Duh. So we went. And I laughed. Basically it was every addict in Boston who wasn’t so stoned that they couldn’t get out of bed. There was some terrible music, multiple booths of hemp jewelry, and some old guy calling for legalization of marijuana screaming “Free the weed!” Lols.
6. Running With Brooms- if you haven’t figured this out yet, Emerson is a weird- I mean, unique- school. So, in the spirit of such, there is a Quidditch team. Like the game from Harry Potter. This involves people running around with brooms betwixt their legs throwing volleyballs through hoops and dodgeballs at each other. Interesting. My favorite part is that they do all of this on the Common… which means it’s in public. Epic.
People I Met:
1. Ash- my first encounter with an Emersonian was Ash, who lives in my suite and had moved in early to work the front desks in the residence halls. He’s pretty much a baller. I call him “Little Curry Nugget” because he stands at 5’4” and is an Indian. Like from India. He officially calls me by my last name Jones. I’m not sure if that is a fair trade, but whatevs. He likes to make jokes about the South and threaten to give me violations for tapping my own ID when I enter the building. Bring it on, Nugget.
2. Christine- my first and best friend still on campus is this stylish blonde. We met at our RA meeting and clicked. The first day we spent over six hours together which included dinner, some orientation event, and eating cake. I love cake. She lives directly across from my window so I can see in to her suite if the shades are up, and vice versa. Creeps maximus. But it’s fun. And now, when we get up in the mornings, we pull up the shade to signal to the other person that we are awake and open for business.
3. Joe- hailing from New Jersey, “Jersey Joe,” as I feel he should be called, is actually Ash’s friend but we get along, in a sense. Most of our conversation is him yelling “Jones!” at me in a gruff, Northern accent and me yelling “Joe!” back at him. How very productive.
4. Emma- this lovely little specimen can often be seen around campus with a camera in her hands filming for the school’s TV station, the Emerson Channel. She is good friends with Ash, Joe, and my suitemate Ian (below). She was the first Jew I ever met. Ever. I’m so glad to be out of Knoxville. Accordingly, I call her “The Good Jew” and she plays along with it. I love people who aren’t offended by my derogatory remarks.
5. Mercedes- when I first talked to Mercedes, I already knew who she was because she was friends with me on Facebook. Kind of creepy. Anywho, we are pretty good friends now, and we like to bake together and watch The Office. Also, it appears that we are going to be concert buddies. We just bought tickets the other day for A Fine Frenzy (yay!!!) and it looks like I’m going to Paramore with her as well. Great!
6. Ryan- my roommate, from just outside Boston. He’s interesting and a little intense. Most of my worries were not necessary, as I thought they would truly end up being. He is very serious about the Bible and Christianity and we have a few doctrinal disagreements but get along just fine so far. It could be worse. Much worse.
7. Ian- another suitemate of mine with an acting major. He’s very suave and girls seem to flock to him. I find him a bit intriguing. He was in a movie this summer with Adam Sandler and Selma Hayek (holla!) and just filmed a bit with Mr. Affleck, as mentioned above. Ian likes to listen to medieval music and we may be going to a Renaissance fair in a few weeks. I can’t wait! I’ve nicknamed him “Jacket” for this ridiculous jacket he bought the other day at H&M and hasn’t taken it off since.
8. Mike- the most quiet member of our suite. What is says is usually worthwhile and pretty funny. Mike is in to sound production and has a DJ station set up in his room, which I find highly intriguing. He loves bright colors, which I find interesting to be paired with his calm personality. I have yet to get a nickname for him. I need to work on that….
9. Sarah- a fellow WLP (writing, literature, and publishing) major who is also an international student born in Germany, which means she can speak German. She is super nice and introduced me to some of her friends from other places as well. She has lived in like five or so countries. Really cool. No nickname.
10. Rebecca- Sarah’s roommate who is in several of my classes. She’s Jewish but blonde and blue-eyed. Interesting. She dates a guy who lives in Israel, where she spent a gap year between high school and college. She now speaks Hebrew almost fluently. She’s my ally in the honors program. Although we’ve known each other for almost 10 days, she still refers to me as “New Friend Daniel.” This distinguishing name has carried over to her friends.
11. Tau- this crazy boy is considered an international student since he was born and lived in Bangladesh and can speak Bengali. Yet, he spent most of his life in Rhode Island. I don’t get it. In any case, he’s dramatic and crazy enough to be a political communications major. More power to ya.
12. Kelly- this sweet little thing from New York the state is a scenic design major. She’s my connection to the free theatre world. She’s really cool and laid back, which I totally need in this crazy world.
13. Monica- the little ball of energy from down the hall. Monica is part of Emerson Comedy Workshop and she’s always trying to recruit people- even me. She’s short and lively and hysterical. She tends to be in my suite a lot because she’s friends with Ian. Cool.
14. Amanda- although there is a first name here, we actually call this one by her last name Cuoco (pronounced coco). Either that or I call her the Coconut cause she is, in fact, nutty. We share a love of the Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift so that makes us friends, obviously. She used to date Ash’s old roommate Taylor who was tall and from Tennessee so she refers to me as Taylor 2.0 because I’m the new and improved version. Sounds nice.
I have met many other people, but for the sake of your time and mine, I will save them for another blog.
In conclusion- I love this city. I love these people. I love this school. I’m so glad I’m here and I plan on learning a lot. The classes are great so far, although it looks like it’s going to be a lot of work. I think I will address them in my next blog, along with some other issues. I hope this satisfies many of your questions about how my life is going and how I like school. If you want more specifics, do ask. Sorry to be so long. I miss you guys back in Tennessee (and other schools in the country)! I hope to see you all soon.
-Daniel
On Sunday, September 6th, half of my immediate family prepped to help me move into room 902A in the Colonial Building at 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA. When I say they helped, I mean they watched- we all did. The Emerson College Orientation Team is serious about move-in day, so they ambush your car and put all your junk in carts and take it to your room for you. All this stuff was put in my room without me even having to lift a finger. Awesome. It was a completely blank, utterly silent suite, my room being the first on the right. Mine is the only double in this suite, followed by three singles.
Everything is new (halleluyer!) and therefore, no cleaning is required. Good, I tend to be lazy. There’s plenty of work to be done in the unpacking- which actually ends up taking me a full six days to complete. There is stuff everywhere and I feel overwhelmed and distracted. Why make a dent in it tonight?
My family leaves more quickly than I thought. I suppose the thought of missing me was just too much to bear. That, and I’m pretty sure they were jealous of my rocking college environment. [So thank you to Debbie and Kathy, who rocked the Aunt car and took off work to make this extremely long voyage. Also, thank you to my mother, who was obligated to come and shed a few tears, and to Joe who I’m sure had to deal with that hott mess the whole way back to Tennessee.]
I immediately began my new life, which initially was lonely and desolate. The first people I met were in my orientation group, but I didn’t really click with any of them and I haven’t talked to them since about three days into this adventure. The first 24 hours on campus left me with that “what in the world am I doing here?” feeling that is so typical of change. My sole suitemate for the week, Ash {read more about him below} was helpful and supportive, not to mention very entertaining. He convinced me that it was alright.
Alright then. So that was my intro to college. Since this is no novel, let’s talk about the format for this blog. You will get a taste of the highlights of my days here at dear old Emerson and of the interesting people I meet. I want to keep a record of the places, people, and events that make this college experience so unique to Beantown. I will divide it all in to two sections: Cool Things Dan Did This Week and People I Met.
Cool Things Dan Did This Week:
1. The Date Doctor- Everyone remember that movie “Hitch” starring Will Smith? Well, the real guy that the movie is based on, named David Coleman, came to one of our Orientation events and gave us all of his advice, both good and bad. It was highly entertaining, and mostly true life. I appreciated it.
2. Gleek Out- Oh, Glee, the wonderful new show on FOX about a high school Glee club. Every week, in every common room of every building, masses of students gather to “gleek out” on Glee. It’s great. I laugh. I cry. I live. I sing. Awesome.
3. Set, Action!- Right in front of my dorm building lays the Boston Common, Beantown’s version of Central Park. It’s naturally pretty and relaxing. But this week, there has been much ado about something as the upcoming movie “The Zookeeper” has been filming in the park. It just so happened (and I made it happen) so I “stumbled” upon the set. You must understand, this movie stars Rosaurio Dawson (of “RENT” for all of you uninformed peeps) and Kevin James (aka “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” who I don’t care about a whole lot). Well, I found the set. Luck has it, of course, that there is no Ms. Dawson, but rather that plump old fart Kevin James. Still kind of cool. In other news, one of my suitemates shot a scene in the city with Ben Affleck this week. That’s pretty cool.
4. All Work and a Play- I made friends with a girl whose major is set design. All theatre majors apparently get e-mails about free rehearsals for productions. They had their first one a few days ago and I went with this friend of mine, Kelly. It was called The Savannah Disputation and it was set in Savannah, Georgia. How ironic. The story centers around two sisters who are Catholics (yes! Catholic love!) and then a Protestant missionary who comes to their house in an attempt to convert them. This, of course, directly parallels my own life. Perfect.
5. Free the Weed!- This morning, on the Common, there was Hempfest, a celebration of all druggy things, it would appear. One of my suitemates wanted to check it out, and I did too. Duh. So we went. And I laughed. Basically it was every addict in Boston who wasn’t so stoned that they couldn’t get out of bed. There was some terrible music, multiple booths of hemp jewelry, and some old guy calling for legalization of marijuana screaming “Free the weed!” Lols.
6. Running With Brooms- if you haven’t figured this out yet, Emerson is a weird- I mean, unique- school. So, in the spirit of such, there is a Quidditch team. Like the game from Harry Potter. This involves people running around with brooms betwixt their legs throwing volleyballs through hoops and dodgeballs at each other. Interesting. My favorite part is that they do all of this on the Common… which means it’s in public. Epic.
People I Met:
1. Ash- my first encounter with an Emersonian was Ash, who lives in my suite and had moved in early to work the front desks in the residence halls. He’s pretty much a baller. I call him “Little Curry Nugget” because he stands at 5’4” and is an Indian. Like from India. He officially calls me by my last name Jones. I’m not sure if that is a fair trade, but whatevs. He likes to make jokes about the South and threaten to give me violations for tapping my own ID when I enter the building. Bring it on, Nugget.
2. Christine- my first and best friend still on campus is this stylish blonde. We met at our RA meeting and clicked. The first day we spent over six hours together which included dinner, some orientation event, and eating cake. I love cake. She lives directly across from my window so I can see in to her suite if the shades are up, and vice versa. Creeps maximus. But it’s fun. And now, when we get up in the mornings, we pull up the shade to signal to the other person that we are awake and open for business.
3. Joe- hailing from New Jersey, “Jersey Joe,” as I feel he should be called, is actually Ash’s friend but we get along, in a sense. Most of our conversation is him yelling “Jones!” at me in a gruff, Northern accent and me yelling “Joe!” back at him. How very productive.
4. Emma- this lovely little specimen can often be seen around campus with a camera in her hands filming for the school’s TV station, the Emerson Channel. She is good friends with Ash, Joe, and my suitemate Ian (below). She was the first Jew I ever met. Ever. I’m so glad to be out of Knoxville. Accordingly, I call her “The Good Jew” and she plays along with it. I love people who aren’t offended by my derogatory remarks.
5. Mercedes- when I first talked to Mercedes, I already knew who she was because she was friends with me on Facebook. Kind of creepy. Anywho, we are pretty good friends now, and we like to bake together and watch The Office. Also, it appears that we are going to be concert buddies. We just bought tickets the other day for A Fine Frenzy (yay!!!) and it looks like I’m going to Paramore with her as well. Great!
6. Ryan- my roommate, from just outside Boston. He’s interesting and a little intense. Most of my worries were not necessary, as I thought they would truly end up being. He is very serious about the Bible and Christianity and we have a few doctrinal disagreements but get along just fine so far. It could be worse. Much worse.
7. Ian- another suitemate of mine with an acting major. He’s very suave and girls seem to flock to him. I find him a bit intriguing. He was in a movie this summer with Adam Sandler and Selma Hayek (holla!) and just filmed a bit with Mr. Affleck, as mentioned above. Ian likes to listen to medieval music and we may be going to a Renaissance fair in a few weeks. I can’t wait! I’ve nicknamed him “Jacket” for this ridiculous jacket he bought the other day at H&M and hasn’t taken it off since.
8. Mike- the most quiet member of our suite. What is says is usually worthwhile and pretty funny. Mike is in to sound production and has a DJ station set up in his room, which I find highly intriguing. He loves bright colors, which I find interesting to be paired with his calm personality. I have yet to get a nickname for him. I need to work on that….
9. Sarah- a fellow WLP (writing, literature, and publishing) major who is also an international student born in Germany, which means she can speak German. She is super nice and introduced me to some of her friends from other places as well. She has lived in like five or so countries. Really cool. No nickname.
10. Rebecca- Sarah’s roommate who is in several of my classes. She’s Jewish but blonde and blue-eyed. Interesting. She dates a guy who lives in Israel, where she spent a gap year between high school and college. She now speaks Hebrew almost fluently. She’s my ally in the honors program. Although we’ve known each other for almost 10 days, she still refers to me as “New Friend Daniel.” This distinguishing name has carried over to her friends.
11. Tau- this crazy boy is considered an international student since he was born and lived in Bangladesh and can speak Bengali. Yet, he spent most of his life in Rhode Island. I don’t get it. In any case, he’s dramatic and crazy enough to be a political communications major. More power to ya.
12. Kelly- this sweet little thing from New York the state is a scenic design major. She’s my connection to the free theatre world. She’s really cool and laid back, which I totally need in this crazy world.
13. Monica- the little ball of energy from down the hall. Monica is part of Emerson Comedy Workshop and she’s always trying to recruit people- even me. She’s short and lively and hysterical. She tends to be in my suite a lot because she’s friends with Ian. Cool.
14. Amanda- although there is a first name here, we actually call this one by her last name Cuoco (pronounced coco). Either that or I call her the Coconut cause she is, in fact, nutty. We share a love of the Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift so that makes us friends, obviously. She used to date Ash’s old roommate Taylor who was tall and from Tennessee so she refers to me as Taylor 2.0 because I’m the new and improved version. Sounds nice.
I have met many other people, but for the sake of your time and mine, I will save them for another blog.
In conclusion- I love this city. I love these people. I love this school. I’m so glad I’m here and I plan on learning a lot. The classes are great so far, although it looks like it’s going to be a lot of work. I think I will address them in my next blog, along with some other issues. I hope this satisfies many of your questions about how my life is going and how I like school. If you want more specifics, do ask. Sorry to be so long. I miss you guys back in Tennessee (and other schools in the country)! I hope to see you all soon.
-Daniel
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