One Down, Three to Go

1) Self-Evaluation

I learned a lot about myself as an individual and as a student this semester. As a science major, registering for an English class was not exactly my idea of a fun 3 credits, but this English class was not what I expected it to be. I incorrectly predicted that we would be doing nonsense grammar work, an uncountable number of meaningless readings, and firing papers out left and right. In reality, the focus of the class was much different. I preferred how we worked in depth on few papers, and really found myself enjoying the memoir which I did not expect. Being able to tell a story through writing rather than only focusing on the technical writing of lab reports is a nice break from the norm. Also, the research unit helped me more than I expected it would with my other writing I had to do in different classes. I found myself using a lot of the writing techniques I learned in English 15 for other in-class and out of class work. As a student in general, I learned that I can excel in classes that aren’t necessarily of my interest or my highest strengths, which will help me with my future courses as an undergraduate student.

Being a science major, I admittedly wasn’t thrilled to hear that we would have to participate in arts events throughout the semester as they are usually not in my interest. However, after being pushed into a few events, I realized that maybe the arts aren’t so bad after all. It’s a whole different side of life that was quite different to embrace. Even if you are not an artsy person, saying that you don’t like the arts is almost unfair because there is so much out there that it’s hard to believe you can’t enjoy any of it.

After completing my first year at Penn State, I have most importantly learned a lot about myself as an individual. Leaving a tightly knit group of friends back in Wisconsin to move to Pennsylvania for a year was quite the change for me. I had grown up really close to my family and friends and it was definitely an empty feeling to take off halfway across the country, where I would hopefully be able to see them 2-3 times in the year if our breaks even lined up. The challenge of learning to adapt, find a new home, and help me understand myself made for an interesting and unpredictable year. As my first year of college comes to a close, it is nice to look back on all of the things I have accomplished as both a student and an individual.

2) Blog Response

1. http://georgenelson11.blogspot.com/2012/02/journal-one.html#comment-form

2. http://findyourselfthroughwriting.blogspot.com/2012/03/we-are-party-school.html#comment-form

3. http://mindofabostonian.blogspot.com/2012/02/1st-career-blog.html#comment-form

3) SRTE

I completed my SRTEs!

Cultural Event #2: Festival of Poets

On April 28^th, I attended The Festival of Poets at Webster’s Café. At the event, I listened to Sheila Squillante and Sandra L. Faulkner present some of their work as poets. Also, I got to see the newly redone Webster’s Café for the first time. This experience was very new and unique to me because I was in a new place I had never been, and spectating a type of presentation I had never seen before.

The first poet, Sheila Squillante, shared many of her works which related to old relationships and the sad, negative feelings that accompanied them. She mentioned how talking about these past experiences was a weird feeling, and you could tell through some of the readings that they weren’t positive experiences for her. My favorite of her pieces were the few about her dreams. The setting and story always seemed odd, and some of the same themes like children, low roofs, and watching TV reappeared in many of them. I enjoyed the use of metaphors and other comparisons to tell a story instead of just blatantly stating the idea.

The second poet, Sandra L. Faulkner, wrote her pieces with a more straight forward feeling to them. Many of her pieces had a sexual nature to them, and as an unsuspecting member of the audience, this was slightly discomforting. The sexual tone and content of some of the pieces was a bit weird at first, but I was still able to focus on the readings without it being an issue. One thing I noticed about this reading was that people were a little less attentive than when Sheila Squillante was presenting.

Although poetry isn’t exactly my forte, I enjoyed hearing true poets present their work. Being able to witness the arts from the perspective of two seasoned poets is an interesting change up from the science curriculum of an engineer. I enjoyed the variation between the two poets and how differently poetry can be based on how literally one translates their message to the audience. I was impressed by the work of the two poets and was glad I got to experience this event in the new Webster’s Café.

Cultural Event #1: The Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone, a musical casted by the students at University of Wisconsin – Lacrosse in early March, was a comedic musical following the events of an upcoming wedding. The whole foundation of the play is the narrators playing a record of the audience, and the record describes some of the events happening before the wedding occurs.  The narrator often interjected and stopped the music, allowing time to describe the events or interacting with the audience.

My favorite part of the musical was in fact this narrator, as he brought a lot of entertainment and uniqueness to the musical. He started off the musical on a humorous note, talking to the audience about the feelings they were having just before the play started. I believe this introduction really loosened up the audience and got everyone into a happier mood, although it was almost slightly discomforting. His short interjections about his favorite parts of the story and his favorite tracks that he would play kept the audience awake, all while helping keep the pieces of the story together for those that were having a harder time understanding.

There were many aspects of this production which made it more interesting as a whole. The musical background made the play lively, and it was easy to be attentive with the common changes in sets. Also, the costumes the actors and actresses were wearing were goofy and exaggerated, which gave the musical the funnier and more entertaining tone. It was obvious that the musical was very well rehearsed and that all of the cast members were really enjoying themselves which added to the overall value of the play.

Going into the event, I didn’t know if I would like it or not. I have been to my fair share of musicals and plays, but my feelings about each one were very different than the last. I would not say I am easy to please in terms of musical productions, but I did find The Drowsy Chaperone very enjoyable. I commonly found myself feeling like the content of the play was humor that nearly everyone can relate to, making it a very entertaining production. I am glad I took the opportunity to see The Drowsy Chaperone and would gladly give another round of applause to everyone involved in the making of it.

The Walking Dead Review

Where’s Carl? Well, you’re not going to find him in the house. This common theme from Season 2 of the Walking Dead carried right on through to the Season Finale. When it came time to escape the Walker ridden property, Carl was nowhere to be found. Luckily for Carl, his father, Rick Grimes, was able to find and escort him to a car and flee just before it became too late. The only problem was, like usual, the group was separated.

The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic horror series following a group of survivors after a disease outbreak, turning humans into zombies, also known as Walkers. The series begins with Officer Rick Grimes awakening into a zombie ridden world after being in a coma for an unknown duration of time. With the goal in mind of finding his wife and son, he struggles his way out of Atlanta with a few survivors who were on a recon mission away from their campsite. After fighting their way back to the campsite and returning to the main group, he is surprisingly reunited with his best friend, Shane, and his wife and son, Lori and Carl. Here they establish a group with mixed authority and complicated relationships.

The group, led by Rick, suffers through attacks, loss, and plenty of emotional drama, all while trying avoid herds of Walkers and any confrontation with the disease. With twists around every corner, you never know how long your favorite character will live.

The Season 2 Finale was everything you could ask for and more. Zombie killing was in full tilt, casualties were high, and many close belongings were lost. After abandoning their “safe” farm haven, the group is significantly slimmer in numbers than prior to the Walker invasion. The human casualties of the group were sad yet satisfying, as we lost a few insignificant characters that had no benefit to the group’s well-being, as well as possible threats to the group. After the escape, the truth behind a clash between Rick and Shane arises, as well as the secret that Jenner told Rick from the Season 1 Finale. This sends the group into a state of confusion and questioning just as the episode fades out and we see a huge, mysterious surprise that will surely come up in next season.

Although it seems like the survivors can only make bad decisions, these decisions lead to an intriguing plot line. With the group separated into pieces yet again at the end of the season, it will be interesting to see where everyone turns out at the beginning of Season 3. The much anticipated finale answered many questions, left plenty more, and initiated provoking thought on what is to come with the start of Season 3 this fall.