30 Rock 'n Roll

After writing two papers and two lesson plans over break, I'm taking a bit of a rest.
What better way to do that than to catch up on the 30 Rock episodes I've missed?

I love 30 Rock, it is hilarious! Tina Fey = amazing comedy mind.
If you haven't seen the show, I highly recommend it.


[picture from unrealityprimetime]

I also recommend thatguywiththeglasses.com for your procrastinating pleasure. 5 second versions of movies, hilarious reviews, and more.
Check it out!

(I feel like this is a promo blog entry...do I get paid for this?)

Home and a Hayride

At home for a bit now, seeing as it's Thanksgiving break! Unfortunately I have two papers to write for when I get back. Isn't that always the way? Work, work, work...

Well, as I sit here and watch Monty Python's Life of Brian, how about showing you some pictures from the October family hayride?

[Whoa! Look at that tractor! It's HUGE!]

[Corn harvester...another huge machine]

[The farm]

[On the Hayride]

[Going through the woods]

[Moo!]

[Corn, home grown on the farm]

[Someone decided to start throwing corn from wagon to wagon...]

[The pond]

[A brotherly sharing of S'mores]

It was a wonderful family afternoon filled with hay, corn, hot chocolate, cider, s'mores, and more!
Thanks to cousins Scott and Nicole for inviting everyone and taking us around the farm.

Stranded

Why have I not been blogging at all recently? Well, I'll tell you...

I pace around the dimly light theater, glancing here and there, looking for a good angle. Now I'm up at the ticket booth, chatting with the manager and laughing at her amazing stories. I wander over to the concession stand and watch as one of the employees makes art with M&M's and water. I am at The Strand, and I am absorbing all I see and hear.

This has been my life for the past few weeks. For months now I have been researching and planning a documentary for a film class I am taking on campus. I'm not alone in my endeavor, I have a partner in crime: Lexie. She's the techie, I'm the artistic mind, we're an unstoppable team. Now we've truly immersed ourselves in The Strand, a historic, independently run movie theater in downtown Delaware, OH, and the subject of our film.

We love it. We've been magnetized to it. Maybe it's all the stories we've heard. Maybe it's the immense history that surrounds the building. Maybe it's the whirring of the film and the singing of the film platters as they spin. Maybe it's the anticipation of glimpsing one of the the ghosts that walk the halls, theaters, or projection booths. Maybe it's the friendly, personable, and laid back manager, Kara. Maybe it's the feeling of welcome you get when you smile and say hello to everyone working there and they smile back, ask you how you've been, and just take some time to talk. Maybe it's all these together, everything that makes The Strand such a rich and wondrous place. Whatever it is, I'm hooked, and there's no going back. It's grown on me, this theater, the way it's grown on hundreds who've worked there, grown up coming there, or even just have gone for a couple of shows. There's always something to see or hear at The Strand, there's never truly a dull moment.

The challenge for Lexie and I is capturing the spirit of The Strand. How can we put it all into one 30 minute film? I don't know, but we're going to try. Truly though, you must experience The Strand to really understand why I am so drawn to her, the theater that's been standing and showing pictures for 93 continual years. She's survived it all, and she will keep on running as long as she has people who love her as so many of us do.

If you're here in Delaware, come by sometime. You are missing a huge part of this town if you do not. Look for the old marquee lights, red and white, and follow them into a whole new experience. Tell Kara I sent you.

Image courtacy of Jacques Strappe on flicker.com

The Big Apple!

New York City!

So I finally got to go to NYC. I'd actually been there once when I was 2, but I remember none of it. So, this mid-semester break (a five day event), I decided to visit my cousin Alli in Albany, and that Saturday we went to get a taste of the Big Apple.



We took a bus from Albany to NYC. Alli and I took a nap, having been up late the previous night, and I awoke just before we entered the Lincoln Tunnel. The pulsating light and long corridor of the tunnel as you drive through is thrilling. You wait, expectantly, for 2 or 3 minutes, on the edge of your seat in anticipation. It's coming, the city you've heard so much about.
Then there's a light at the end of the tunnel. You break through and are at once in a whole new world. Buildings, signs, people, all at once and all around you. There's too much to take in at once. In just a few blocks the bus pulls into the Port Authority Station and you are once again separated from the city.

Once out of the bus, we took a few minutes to situate ourselves and decide where we were going. We took the red line subway west toward battery park. Once off the rushing train, we climbed the stairs to the surface, and the city once again was spread out before me. I was silent, not sure what to say. Stepping off the last stair and onto the sidewalk I caught my breath. "One small step for Emily, one giant leap in Emily's life."

We headed off for Battery Park, stopping on the way to peruse around Tiffany & Co. Once at the park, we went straight for the water. On the way we saw the memorial statue to the people in the Twin Towers, the sculpture that had been in the courtyard between the two towers when they fell. We also met some street vendors. They certainly aren't shy and I almost laughed when I heard, "Want to buy a watch?" I'd heard that line in too many movies.

Once at the water, I looked
out across the river. There she was, Lady Liberty, torch held aloft. She looked minuscule from such distance, the sight of her was monumental. This is the lady who greeted many of my ancestors as they came over to America. I wondered how they felt as they saw her in the distance. Hope? Anticipation? Relief that the ship ride was almost over? Who knows, but I smiled as I watched her on the waters, looking out across the ocean.

At battery park we ate some candied almonds from a street vendor. They were delicious! Alli said that they were amazing, and she certainly was right.

It was off to the subway once more then, and we took it up toward Central Park. While riding a boy and his dad stood in front of us. The boy spoke with a small British accent and spun around and around the poll with a slightly mischievous and entirely child-like look. His ears were slightly pointed. As I watched him, all I could think of was Peter Pan. I wondered what he was doing out of Neverland and with a father no less.

Off the subway we headed for Central Park. We entered by Strawberry Fields. I was in the middle of my recounting a story of my aunt and how she had thought of coming to a talk in the park by Peter S. Beagle when we turned a corner and what else was before us but the Imagine circle, the memorial to John Lennon. I gasped out loud and practically jumped out of my shoes. Alli and I took pictures, as many of the people around us were. Everyone was standing up for their photos, but I sat right down there on the NYC ground, on the circle itself. Alli and I even laid down on it for a photo. It was so surreal. I was laying on the stones of the circle, the one I'd seen in so many photographs and posters, the one dedicated to one of the great minds behind The Beatles. I'll savor that moment forever.

We wandered around the park, miandering to one of the fountains were couples took photos, friends laughed, and ducks quacked on the nearby pond. We saw so many horse drawn carriages. One was fashioned like Cinderella's coach.








One was driven by a college aged guy in a hoody who caught Alli's and my fancy, but it was off to the subway again and Times Square.



When we got off the subway it was dark, and the full force of the lights of the Square met our eyes. This is were it looked and sounded most like the New York City in my mind. Taxis honked impatient horns, crowds of people swept you across crosswalks, the lights flashed and dazzled the world in bright colors, the very atmosphere itself was bustling and alive.








As we turned a corner, I caught sight of the Empire State building. We did not get to go up and look out over the city that night though, for we were off again to Penn station.









We were going to catch the NJ Transit to Princeton. We were off to visit another cousin, Stephen, and his girlfriend Jamie, for dinner and a few drinks. One tavern we went into had a table were supposedly Albert Einstein carved his name. We found the name, but it's up to you if you believe in the story.

In the morning it was back to the city for a brief visit, a walk from Penn Station back to Port Authority, and then back onto the bus. I waved out the window as we entered the Lincoln Tunnel and promised myself that I would be back again.

On Campus: Academic Side

Hey! Stay tuned for stories and pictures from:
Halloween, Family Hayride, Education Nights Out, and New York City!


For now though, I have some time to finally post pictures of my college campus.
These are some looks into the things I see each and every day.

[Black and white of a chalk message on the walkway]
This campus has a very open and friendly feel. This really can become your home away from home for most on campus. That's how I and several of my friends feel. We'll all be sad in some way to graduate and leave this place behind.

.

[University Hall and Gray Chapel]
This is the building our campus is most known for. It's on one of our logos, brochures, etc.
It's an old creeky, but beautiful building. I'll have to get some inside shots of these places for you readers to see. University is home to the Foreign Language Department.

[Elliot Hall]
The oldest building on campus. This used to be a hotel for those traveling to the sulfur springs of Delaware (one of the reasons Ohio Wesleyan was founded were these very springs, one of which still remains as a memorial behind Phillips Hall). This building as actually moved from it's original site at one time. It is now the History Department's home.

[Sturges Hall]

This is the Humanities and English department home.
It was built as a replica of Elliot, in case in the move Elliot could not be rebuilt.


[Slocum Hall]
Home of the admissions office. And the old sight of the campus library.

[Merrick Hall]
This building is currently under renovation and not in use. However, I heard rumors that it used to be the old honors dorm building, among other things.

[Phillips Hall]
Ground floor: Psychology
First floor: Journalism and Religion
Second floor: Education! (my department)
This is also where I work during the school year, on the second floor in the Curriculum Recourse Center (CRC) or Education Library.

[CWCS...yeah, the Science Center]
I don't know how to spell the official name, but this is the science center, home of Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Geography, Math, and Physics and Astronomy.


[Edwards Gym]
This is where I learned to Scuba Dive! And play racket ball, and danced Ball Room and Swing (in the racket ball courts).

I will give you more of a tour of campus later. These are the main buildings on the academic side of campus, but there are several other pieces of campus yet to see.

PS. SO this post took longer to put together than I thought. Ah well. NYC and other stories will have to wait a bit more until I have the time to thoughtfully blog about them. What is taking up so much of my time you ask? WHy, a documentary! I'm taking an ethnographic documentary film class, and my final project is a film on the local theater, The Strand. Stay tuned to hear more about that as well. Making a film so soooooo time consuming!