The second week here at UAF has, basically, come and gone at this point. And I sit here, gazing out at the amazing view and am working on smoothing out my adrenal function. Because I got back my first Theatre History essay today. And I could have done better. And I will. I am fairly certain that I am fully capable. But seeing the writing in red pen listing my score versus what was possible has me......anxious. I absolutely have to maintain a minimum of a 3.0 GPA to continue my scholarship. As a result, every little falter and flub has me concerned. Add to that my still needing to locate additional income sources and various other issues and it's understandable that I currently have a tension headache.
With that kvetching out of the way, I do have to say that I think I have begun to gain the respect of my professors and, I hope, my fellow students. With fortune that will continue.
Auditions for the Fall mainstage production are tomorrow and I admit some curiosity about the actors in the department. While it is impossible to do (both as a practical matter and as a matter of respect for all involved) I admit that I would like to sneak a peek at the process....
Also tomorrow is the opening of an indoor "butterfly garden" at the UAF Museum Of The North. I may find myself there at some point, if only for the mental and spiritual recharge.
Still hammering out the visual imagery I want to present for the mainstage scenic design(s). Those are due near mid-day on Tuesday (09/21/10). And I need to complete some reading for Theatre History and write my next essay for that class. And possibly take it (my essay) to the writing center for their review and suggestions.
Plus an exercise on electricity for my Lighting Design class. And figuring out potential topics for my Dramatic Literature paper so I can have a meeting with that professor later in the week/next week. Not an awful list....but it will keep me occupied over this weekend.
That said I should get to work. More later.......
Friday, September 17, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
BTW....
I've gone back and cleaned up some of the prior entries, most especially in regard to links to other webpages, etc....Enjoy !!
First Week (Part 2).......And A Little Beyond
Well, it has been just shy of eight days since I arrived here in Fairbanks. And I have to say that I need to start writing down what I think of writing in this blog when I think of such things...which, generally, occurs at points when I am nowhere near a computer or when I have classwork that takes precedence. Sigh. All that said, while I have a sure certainty that there will be items I am forgetting here goes this entry:
First, my classes seem to be going okay. There are moments when I have flashbacks to sessions at either College Of Lake County or University Of IL: Urbana-Champaign. Like the making of my "sewing sampler" in my Costume Design And Construction class. It echos work I did at UIUC during the costume shop section of Theatre 108. And some of my Theatre History class recalls Frank Harnish at CLC....tho' the text here is much less bulky then the Oscar G Brockett theatre history text we used there.
Anyway, the first week of classes went, I believe, well. No major faux pas so far as I can discern. Still getting used to the social dynamics of a college again. And such things as which Professors want to be called Professor or Mr (or gender appropriate term) and which want to be called by their first names....etc.
As previously mentioned, I had a meeting with my Dramatic Lit professor. It went well. Tho' he asked, as others have, "Why ?" Why come back to school now ? And why come back to school in Alaska ? I've described some of that here in other entries and will probably do an entire entry on the subject again at some point so I won't discuss it much now. But I have to say, it is a conversation starter....And maybe, in addition to everything else, it has something to do with emulating Cortes at Vera Cruz.....maybe.
On Saturday (09/11/10) I had the portfolio review session for Fall 2010.
It went okay...
Each student (there were/are about 8 of us total, including costume, lighting, scenic and film...) had about 1/2 of an 8 foot folding table to use, plus the space nearby for dress forms, etc and the walls for pinning stuff to....should they choose to. Plus the room has a computer, digital projector and screen built in so students could use that system for videos, larger scale imagery, etc. The evaluators/faculty went from location to location and we did a "presentation" on ourselves (I was the second one to go), much as I understand SETC and MidWest Regional Auditions function. The evaluators/faculty then gave a public review/critique of everything right then, as well as taking some notes on a form, which I suspect will be discussed later in one on one sessions...or that might just be for faculty uses. Not sure......
The evaluators/faculty had some issues with my resume (which I had figured they would and which I have been working on) and some tweaks regarding size and notation of the plates in my portfolio book and how I could "sell myself" more strongly....Plus they recommended that I have more than one portfolio (ie: 1 for design, 1 for carpentry, etc) and more process imagery if possible (for the carpentry especially).....My adviser (the Dept head) did say that I had a nice layout and he called the drafting style on the larger plates I had there "strong". And they seemed to like that I had something to say about each plate in my portfolio book (a reason it was there or some detail regarding the production, etc). So those were pluses.
Funny side story - near the end, during a lull, my Costume Design/Construction (and Theatre History as well) instructor says to me: "So...I've been needing some furniture for my office...." It made me smile. She was mostly joking but I admit it felt sort of good to know that my furniture building skills as displayed in my portfolio had been noted.
Speaking of Theatre History (see how I did that ? That is what is called in college writing a "transitional bridge"...or "segue"....of course, my pointing it out makes it less of a segue but.....shrug....anyway....)......Speaking of Theatre History, I had to write my first college style essay for a class in about 27 years last weekend. Yes, I have had to write essays for scholarships and such which were formatted much akin to college classwork would be but....sigh. So this essay was the first classwork one in a long while. And while I am still waiting on the grade for it I have to say that I feel I did some okay analysis on the subject.
One thing that is VERY different since I was last in school is that now most everything has some form of digital linkage. One professor (Dramatic Lit) wants our papers submitted electronically only. No hard copy. And we get a good percentage of our assignments via an online system called "Blackboard" where we can check our grades, enage in group discussions, bookmark webpages so that others can access those bookmarks, etc. The closest thing we had to that back at UIUC was the PLATO system. Which was awesome for it's day. Looking back at it today tho' it seems terribly....quaint. Here are a couple of webpages about it...Take a look...It's okay. I'll wait: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_%28computer_system%29 and http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/plato-computer-system-/the-plato-online-community.html .....See what I mean ? Tho' I do sort of miss the monochromatic orange plasma displays. Lots of memories there. Of course, at the moment as I am writing this I am also listening to online radio. And while the station is a nearby local one, it could well be one from Urbana...Or Orlando....Or St Louis...Or Tokyo....And I am typing onto a portable computer system that probably has more data storage capacity than an entire PLATO "node". Let alone the broad spectrum color display and such. How things change.....
One other subjects: I had a meeting today regarding possible scenic design/assistant design assignments for the Fall mainstage production of three one act plays. There is another tech/design student who is also interested in working the shows and she and I sat down with the department chair (who is also the resident TD) and talked in general terms about which of the shows "spoke to us". And so we both will be meeting with the department chair again next week and showing him some thumbnail sketches and such of our design ideas, which we will then (potentially) be presenting to the director. The department chair was very specific in that he wasn't putting us in competition with each other. That said, I have to admit I really, really want to have my design be accepted. If that makes me seem petty well.......sigh and shrug.
Alright....speaking of classwork and such it's time to close this for the moment. More later.
First, my classes seem to be going okay. There are moments when I have flashbacks to sessions at either College Of Lake County or University Of IL: Urbana-Champaign. Like the making of my "sewing sampler" in my Costume Design And Construction class. It echos work I did at UIUC during the costume shop section of Theatre 108. And some of my Theatre History class recalls Frank Harnish at CLC....tho' the text here is much less bulky then the Oscar G Brockett theatre history text we used there.
Anyway, the first week of classes went, I believe, well. No major faux pas so far as I can discern. Still getting used to the social dynamics of a college again. And such things as which Professors want to be called Professor or Mr (or gender appropriate term) and which want to be called by their first names....etc.
As previously mentioned, I had a meeting with my Dramatic Lit professor. It went well. Tho' he asked, as others have, "Why ?" Why come back to school now ? And why come back to school in Alaska ? I've described some of that here in other entries and will probably do an entire entry on the subject again at some point so I won't discuss it much now. But I have to say, it is a conversation starter....And maybe, in addition to everything else, it has something to do with emulating Cortes at Vera Cruz.....maybe.
On Saturday (09/11/10) I had the portfolio review session for Fall 2010.
It went okay...
Each student (there were/are about 8 of us total, including costume, lighting, scenic and film...) had about 1/2 of an 8 foot folding table to use, plus the space nearby for dress forms, etc and the walls for pinning stuff to....should they choose to. Plus the room has a computer, digital projector and screen built in so students could use that system for videos, larger scale imagery, etc. The evaluators/faculty went from location to location and we did a "presentation" on ourselves (I was the second one to go), much as I understand SETC and MidWest Regional Auditions function. The evaluators/faculty then gave a public review/critique of everything right then, as well as taking some notes on a form, which I suspect will be discussed later in one on one sessions...or that might just be for faculty uses. Not sure......
The evaluators/faculty had some issues with my resume (which I had figured they would and which I have been working on) and some tweaks regarding size and notation of the plates in my portfolio book and how I could "sell myself" more strongly....Plus they recommended that I have more than one portfolio (ie: 1 for design, 1 for carpentry, etc) and more process imagery if possible (for the carpentry especially).....My adviser (the Dept head) did say that I had a nice layout and he called the drafting style on the larger plates I had there "strong". And they seemed to like that I had something to say about each plate in my portfolio book (a reason it was there or some detail regarding the production, etc). So those were pluses.
Funny side story - near the end, during a lull, my Costume Design/Construction (and Theatre History as well) instructor says to me: "So...I've been needing some furniture for my office...." It made me smile. She was mostly joking but I admit it felt sort of good to know that my furniture building skills as displayed in my portfolio had been noted.
Speaking of Theatre History (see how I did that ? That is what is called in college writing a "transitional bridge"...or "segue"....of course, my pointing it out makes it less of a segue but.....shrug....anyway....)......Speaking of Theatre History, I had to write my first college style essay for a class in about 27 years last weekend. Yes, I have had to write essays for scholarships and such which were formatted much akin to college classwork would be but....sigh. So this essay was the first classwork one in a long while. And while I am still waiting on the grade for it I have to say that I feel I did some okay analysis on the subject.
One thing that is VERY different since I was last in school is that now most everything has some form of digital linkage. One professor (Dramatic Lit) wants our papers submitted electronically only. No hard copy. And we get a good percentage of our assignments via an online system called "Blackboard" where we can check our grades, enage in group discussions, bookmark webpages so that others can access those bookmarks, etc. The closest thing we had to that back at UIUC was the PLATO system. Which was awesome for it's day. Looking back at it today tho' it seems terribly....quaint. Here are a couple of webpages about it...Take a look...It's okay. I'll wait: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_%28computer_system%29 and http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/plato-computer-system-/the-plato-online-community.html .....See what I mean ? Tho' I do sort of miss the monochromatic orange plasma displays. Lots of memories there. Of course, at the moment as I am writing this I am also listening to online radio. And while the station is a nearby local one, it could well be one from Urbana...Or Orlando....Or St Louis...Or Tokyo....And I am typing onto a portable computer system that probably has more data storage capacity than an entire PLATO "node". Let alone the broad spectrum color display and such. How things change.....
One other subjects: I had a meeting today regarding possible scenic design/assistant design assignments for the Fall mainstage production of three one act plays. There is another tech/design student who is also interested in working the shows and she and I sat down with the department chair (who is also the resident TD) and talked in general terms about which of the shows "spoke to us". And so we both will be meeting with the department chair again next week and showing him some thumbnail sketches and such of our design ideas, which we will then (potentially) be presenting to the director. The department chair was very specific in that he wasn't putting us in competition with each other. That said, I have to admit I really, really want to have my design be accepted. If that makes me seem petty well.......sigh and shrug.
Alright....speaking of classwork and such it's time to close this for the moment. More later.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
First Week (Part 1)
Well, it has been some length of time since my last posting...."Real life" can make that happen at times I guess.....sigh. Which means that some of the various thoughts I might have logged at the time have now joined my memories, merged with other thoughts and, most likely, will not see much daylight anytime soon.....shrug. Tho' I do hope to eventually post a missive about my flight(s) up here and such. All that said.....
I have arrived in Fairbanks !
Well, I actually arrived on Monday evening. Then spent yesterday getting much of my life here in order (Student ID (aka "Polar Express") card, picking up the portfolio copy that got me my talent scholarship, etc). And I had my first college class since 1983 and a meeting with my academic adviser (tho' not in that order).
The meeting with my adviser went well (I think). The only real "downside" is that I found out that a design position I had craved has already been, basically, promised to another student. Which I understand, as she has been here awhile and I am a new and untested quantity. Fair enough. And I may (note disclaimer) be able to get a design slot for at least one of the three one act shows being done as a group for this Falls primary mainstage production. My adviser is, at the moment, slated to be the scenic designer for them. Which is also fair, I suppose, given that such decisions were made before I was in the mix, picture, equation, what-have-you. But in yesterdays meeting the possibility of my getting at least one design was mentioned. I suspect it would most likely be for the Beckett script "Play", as my adviser mentioned that one of the pieces was a "carpentry challenge" and the urns in that one do fit that description. He (my adviser) also mentioned a possible outside job lead for me at one of the venues here in town. That gives me two places locally that I need to submit resumes to for "on call/freelance" gigs. I just need to get my "telephone ducks in a row" before sending out resumes, as I am going to be getting a new cell up here. Have not done it yet but I expect to have the process complete by late Thursday or Friday of this week.
The first class session was okay. Obviously, as there are already some prior social dynamics in place it may take a bit before I stop feeling a little out of place. But at least I made one of the "coeds" in the class laugh with a bit of situational humor (The instructor had, previously, written the word "Mood" on the board and, as is apparently a habit of his, placed "eyes" into the open centers..Then he wrote the word "Visibility" on the board but was having issues with it's spelling (is there an A in it or not) and then he (or someone) commented "It's all I's". To which I offhandedly commented "Just like Mood." There was a beat and then the student in front of me (the coed in question) laughed and sort of looked over her shoulder smiling and said (as I recall it) "Good one." I think that she was the only one in class who caught my comment. But that's fine....)
Today I'll have a meeting with the instructor of my Dramatic Literature course, who is also the primary director for all of the mainstage productions here. So I'm hoping to make a decent impression on him for the sake of future production assignments.
Also today is a student employment job fair. I'll be visiting that at some point, as I need to find some income and the previously mentioned on call gigs are outside of the campus. If I could find an on campus gig too that would be excellent. BTW, as I don't believe I mentioned it yet: I did NOT get the "re-entry student grant/scholarship/tuition waiver" I had been hoping for. So I am freaking out (just the little-est bit) about finances at the moment. Anyone who might have any leads on available grants, scholarships, etc please let me know....Thanks.
And today I will have my first sessions of the other classes on my schedule.
Saturday is a "public" portfolio review session. All the tech students gather and show their stuff to the faculty and whoever else shows up. So I'll be tweaking and adding some stuff to my portfolio over the next couple of days. I just need to locate a reasonably good quality color printer (on campus preferably) to print things once they are ready.
I still need to do more exploring, both here on campus and into the wilds of Fairbanks. Went for a bus ride yesterday afternoon/evening. Found some of the local shopping venues for future reference (always good to know where the food is....etc). And since my ID from UAF gets me free bus rides on the local mass transit, why not take advantage of it and go nosing ? Need to walk the rest of campus soon. I don't want to get into the feeling that "Here is Wick (my dorm). Here is the Fine Arts Complex and library. Here is the student center....that's it. That is my world." I'm here to do more stretching than that.
Well, insomnia got me up some while ago. And I got some stuff done. And now that the sun is up (tho' slightly concealed by fog and drizzle) I really should get along with the day. More later.
I have arrived in Fairbanks !
Well, I actually arrived on Monday evening. Then spent yesterday getting much of my life here in order (Student ID (aka "Polar Express") card, picking up the portfolio copy that got me my talent scholarship, etc). And I had my first college class since 1983 and a meeting with my academic adviser (tho' not in that order).
The meeting with my adviser went well (I think). The only real "downside" is that I found out that a design position I had craved has already been, basically, promised to another student. Which I understand, as she has been here awhile and I am a new and untested quantity. Fair enough. And I may (note disclaimer) be able to get a design slot for at least one of the three one act shows being done as a group for this Falls primary mainstage production. My adviser is, at the moment, slated to be the scenic designer for them. Which is also fair, I suppose, given that such decisions were made before I was in the mix, picture, equation, what-have-you. But in yesterdays meeting the possibility of my getting at least one design was mentioned. I suspect it would most likely be for the Beckett script "Play", as my adviser mentioned that one of the pieces was a "carpentry challenge" and the urns in that one do fit that description. He (my adviser) also mentioned a possible outside job lead for me at one of the venues here in town. That gives me two places locally that I need to submit resumes to for "on call/freelance" gigs. I just need to get my "telephone ducks in a row" before sending out resumes, as I am going to be getting a new cell up here. Have not done it yet but I expect to have the process complete by late Thursday or Friday of this week.
The first class session was okay. Obviously, as there are already some prior social dynamics in place it may take a bit before I stop feeling a little out of place. But at least I made one of the "coeds" in the class laugh with a bit of situational humor (The instructor had, previously, written the word "Mood" on the board and, as is apparently a habit of his, placed "eyes" into the open centers..Then he wrote the word "Visibility" on the board but was having issues with it's spelling (is there an A in it or not) and then he (or someone) commented "It's all I's". To which I offhandedly commented "Just like Mood." There was a beat and then the student in front of me (the coed in question) laughed and sort of looked over her shoulder smiling and said (as I recall it) "Good one." I think that she was the only one in class who caught my comment. But that's fine....)
Today I'll have a meeting with the instructor of my Dramatic Literature course, who is also the primary director for all of the mainstage productions here. So I'm hoping to make a decent impression on him for the sake of future production assignments.
Also today is a student employment job fair. I'll be visiting that at some point, as I need to find some income and the previously mentioned on call gigs are outside of the campus. If I could find an on campus gig too that would be excellent. BTW, as I don't believe I mentioned it yet: I did NOT get the "re-entry student grant/scholarship/tuition waiver" I had been hoping for. So I am freaking out (just the little-est bit) about finances at the moment. Anyone who might have any leads on available grants, scholarships, etc please let me know....Thanks.
And today I will have my first sessions of the other classes on my schedule.
Saturday is a "public" portfolio review session. All the tech students gather and show their stuff to the faculty and whoever else shows up. So I'll be tweaking and adding some stuff to my portfolio over the next couple of days. I just need to locate a reasonably good quality color printer (on campus preferably) to print things once they are ready.
I still need to do more exploring, both here on campus and into the wilds of Fairbanks. Went for a bus ride yesterday afternoon/evening. Found some of the local shopping venues for future reference (always good to know where the food is....etc). And since my ID from UAF gets me free bus rides on the local mass transit, why not take advantage of it and go nosing ? Need to walk the rest of campus soon. I don't want to get into the feeling that "Here is Wick (my dorm). Here is the Fine Arts Complex and library. Here is the student center....that's it. That is my world." I'm here to do more stretching than that.
Well, insomnia got me up some while ago. And I got some stuff done. And now that the sun is up (tho' slightly concealed by fog and drizzle) I really should get along with the day. More later.
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