Notes on graduation

Well, here I sit, the day after. I am no longer a student of Mount Union College; like so many before me, I am now an alum, and I don't really know how to take it. It was stranger yesterday, and while I was happy and excited to graduate and move on, deep within there was this subfeeling of sadness. The only way I could really describe it to people was to say that it feels like Mount Union has broken up with me, and I'm not ready for the relationship to end. I just want to walk outside, stand on the steps, and beg her to take me back.
"I still love you," I want to shout, "why does it have to end? Why now? Can't I just have one more chance to make it work? I know if you let me things will be different. I can change, we can make this work"
"This is just the way it has to be," she replies. "I've spent four wonderful years with you, and I still love you too, but this is just the way it has to be. It's time for both of us to move on."
"I don't want to move on," I would reply. "I want to be here with you forever. This is where my friends are. This is where my life is. This is my home! Why do you have to kick me out like this? Please just let me stay."
"No, Andrew. It's time for you to go. You came here just a sprout, and we've grown together. But now it's time for us to part ways. It's time for both of us to find new loves and to let others shape us. It's time for you to go now.

And so it was that I sat on the porch and chain-smoked Parliaments; holding on to what was left and trying to postpone the inevitable; Trying to put off packing up my car for the last time, making the inevitable trip past the library, past chapman, past Miller (where my Mount Union experience began), and out the main entrance onto state street; past Sheetz, which was a parking lot when I started here, just down the street from the new apartments under construction (a hard reminder that Mount Union will live on long after me). My four years there were just a connection in the larger picture, just a brief flash that happens between past and future, but one which I will remember forever.

I would argue that Mount Union found me. I didn't do college visits. I didn't do college tours. I applied to a random school and when I was accepted, I went there. My going to MUC was an accident, but in the end, Mount Union made me. And therefore, Mount Union will always be a big part of my personal identity.

So, as I unpack my memories and rebox them to take with me to DC this weekend, I just want to pause for a moment and say thank you. Thank you, Mount Union, for the memories. I couldn't have asked for more from a college experience, and mine was one that I will not soon forget. I'll see you again soon, I'm sure.

Definitely Worth a Watch

I get shown a lot of crazy/original/funny online videos, but this one I think definitely warrants a watch, if only because it is cool as all get out. Trust me.







Enjoy.

I blog in spurts. I really thought this one (the "I'm going to be a dedicated political writer and post all my insightful ponderings for the world to see" spurt) would last, but apparently not. I apologize.

(Side note: This post has been sitting open on my laptop since Wednesday. In the middle of me writing it, some transformers on power lines exploded right outside of my house, causing us (my house, the whole campus, most of Alliance) to lose power for about 12 hours. Crazy. One of my housemates grabbed a video camera and if you would happen to want to see it, go here.)

Anyways, to make up for lost time, here's some cool stuff I've been listening to:

There's a musician named Carly Comando that has an absolutely beautiful piano song entitled "everyday," which was written for a really cool video by an artist/photographer named Noah Kalina who has been taking a picture of himself every day for six years, and has compiled them all into a video. I find the song to be absolutely beautiful, and one night I actually put it on repeat while I slept. Anyways, here's her myspace and the song is available on itunes.


There's a pretty sweet Jazz band out there called Sex Mob... I don't know who's listened or if I'm just wayyy behind the times with this one, but I've downloaded some of their stuff and I can't stop listening to it. It's got some serious funk.

And before I go, you have to check out Paolo Nutini (if you haven't already, that is). You won't regret it.

For all I know this could all be old news. If it's not, give 'em a shot.

That's all I have for now.

Namaste.

Sorensen Endorses Obama

Well, I hate to say, "I told you so," but... well, I told you so. I have been saying since Barack Obama became a presidential contender that he is, in a lot of ways, similar to and reminiscent of John F. Kennedy. A lot of people laughed and told me I was making "a strong statement;" and a somewhat unwarranted one, in their views. I guess I'm no longer the only one, now that Ted Sorensen, legendary speechwriter to JFK, has come out and endorsed Obama, and has drawn a number of similarities between the two.

I've been saying that Obama is my generation's JFK, because he projects an air of idealism and hope that we haven't really seen in our conscious lives. Obama presents to us a breath of fresh air amidst the nasty cynicism of modern politics and society. And although he hasn't come out yet with the big "Ask not...," the point is that he could, and people would follow. He dares people to dream big, set far horizons, and work for the greater good, and that's what I like about him. That's what people liked about Kennedy. And in reality, I don't think that would be such a bad thing right now.

I love Obama's ethos and the way he presents his rhetoric. I like that he can bring people together. I would be happy with an Obama candidacy and presidency... but I'm still in political love with Bill Richardson. Anyways, there's still months and months before the first primary, and a year and a half before the election, and as we've seen before, anything can happen.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Theodore C. Sorensen, one of President John F. Kennedy’s closest advisers, introduced Mr. Obama at one fund-raiser last night. He endorsed Mr. Obama’s candidacy, saying the senator was the only candidate he believed could restore the nation’s credibility around the world. “It reminds me of the way the young, previously unknown J.F.K. took off,” Mr. Sorensen said in an interview, adding: “Obama, like J.F.K., is such a natural. He’s very comfortable with who he is.” “I’m a New Yorker,” Mr. Sorensen said, “but I want to support the best candidate. I don’t dislike Senator Clinton, but I’m for Obama.”

Noonan on McCain

Peggy Noonan, one of Reagan's head speechwriters, has some interesting comments on John McCain's presidential bid -- comments that I think are generally pretty accurate. I've clipped what I think are the most interesting parts below, but you can check out the full article at http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110009731.

I think that what she has to say about McCain and his relationship with the Christian Conservative leaders is dead on. In 2000, GWB blindsided him by playing to the Religious Right. This time, McCain is trying to gain their support and prove that he's good enough for them, but most of them are becoming more aware of their own tired schtik, and it's not really working out so well. And so, McCain, trying to play by GWB's playbook (which itself is getting more and more outdated), will continue to falter and stumble until he is defeated.

clipped from www.opinionjournal.com

In 2000 he felt he could take on Christian conservative leaders in the South. Bad timing. In 2000 they were at the peak of their 20 years of power. Now their followers are tired and questioning after a generation of political activism. And many leaders seem compromised--dinged after all that time in the air. Mr. McCain could rebuke them now and thrive. Instead he decided to attempt to embrace them.

nd there is Iraq. The war was generally popular from 2002 through roughly 2006, and Mr. McCain won broad credit from conservatives for standing with the president. But now that support, heightened by the surge debate, is costing him, not only with the general public but in a subtle way, I think, with Republicans. Republicans don't abandon a Republican president in time of war, and they have a special relationship with this president, a simple admiration for who he is. At the same time, they don't precisely want another W. for president, another man who seems just as convinced, stubborn

You have to watch this

Original from Youtube - http://youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4 YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION: Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring. In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, If you can reach just one person... Music by Sick Puppies. (Visit http://sickpuppies.net or http://myspace.com/sickpuppies for the music) ------------------------------ ------------------- PS. The response to this video has been nothing short of overwhelming and touching. Hugs to every single one of you who messaged. There has been thousands of emails from all over the world by people seeking to participate in the Free Hugs campaign and asking for permission. You do not need permission. This is the peoples movement, this is *your* movement. With nothing but your bare hands you can make THE difference. Imagine all the people.

Ranting and some fun

Okay, it's been quite the hiatus, and I could make excuses but I won't. At any rate, here are a few things:

• This whole Mark Foley scandal bothers me. The acts that he committed are disgusting and disappointing, but what's really pissing me off is how everyone in the Republican leadership is playing like they're one of the three stooges. I don't care that they're the Republican Party, the party of supposed "moral values" and "not gayness." They should be held accountable. And I'm not being biased based on what I see as a gross hypocrisy - if this was a member of the Democratic party, I would be just as pissed, just as disgusted, and I would want to hold them just as accountable.
• There ain't nothin' like passing the buck, is there? From an AP Story discussing Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) and how the page program should be stopped for a while:

Meanwhile, LaHood, who also is from Illinois, said that it's not the speaker who should go and said the page program should be shut down, at least temporarily.

He questioned an "antiquated" congressional page system that brings 15-and 16-year-olds to the Capitol and has resulted in scandals in the past.

"Some members betray their trust by taking advantage of them. We should not subject young men and women to this kind of activity, this kind of vulnerability," LaHood said in a CNN interview. He said the program should be shut down until problems can be resolved.

OR, how about this theory (which seems to me like the obvious and logical choice): WE STOP ELECTING PEDERASTS TO CONGRESS. Yeah, it's such an "antiquated" system, that gives kids the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill and see firsthand how their government works. We need to start requiring responsibility and accountability from our elected officials, not just on this issue but on every one, and if everyone but Mark Foley gets away scot-free in this one, I'ma be real disappointed. Sickening, no?

• In non-ranting news, Check this out. Especially if you like movies. And especially if you have some time to waste.

Things I'd like to (someday) do

Lately, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about different things that I’d like to do during my lifetime, hobbies I’d like to explore, places I’d like to go, etc (provided that money, physical fitness, whatever isn’t a factor).  Mainly because I’m on the verge of graduating from college and moving on to other things (still looking at grad schools and such), but for some reason, amidst the hustle and flow of my everyday life, my mind keeps coming back to a few things that I’d like to do:

Climb Mt. Everest.  Yeah, I know I’m not the most fit person and I have no climbing/rappelling/mountain experience, but it’s not like I’m grotesquely incapable of doing this if I train and put everything into it (I’ve always had big dreams).  Sure, this probably won’t happen for a while (I’d first need to amass $65,000-$100,000 for the climb alone), but I think that it would be the most amazing thing to stand at the highest point in the world and look out over it, and just think about the magnificence of where you are.  I love moments where you are speechless and completely taken by the awesome power of everything and life in general.

Run a Marathon.  (Athena, I’m sure you have something to say on this one).  Running seems to be my new hobby of choice, and I think it’s because I’ve always like pushing boundaries and limits (my own as well as others).  I grew up a pudgy kid with bad asthma and weak lungs who couldn’t really do much physical activity, and who would want to anyways?  Not me.  But lately I’ve joined a gym and started working out, and I’m really enjoying it.  I can’t run far yet, but I’ve improved significantly, and I’ve found that I really get excited by the mental discipline and head games that I get to play while I’m doing it.  I particularly like running until I can’t run any more, and then making myself run for a few more minutes, or another quarter of a mile, or whichever other milestone I arbitrarily set for myself.  I know that I’ve got a long way to go, but like I said before, I like to dream big, and I think that if I keep up with it, that I might just be able to pull it off and squeak one out.  Probably not for a while, though.

Stand in the Oval Office.  It’d be sweet.  ‘Nuff said.

Have a building at Mount Union named after me.  This might be the influence of Vi Bica-Ross, who provides my scholarship and who’ve I’ve developed a pretty decent relationship with over the past few years, and it might be the influence of the many people I’ve heard talk at luncheons, dinners, ceremonies, etc. who talk about “how great it is to give something back.”  Maybe it’s the trustees, who I’ve gotten to know and who do give back, often generously.  I know it’s not perfect, but MUC has treated me pretty well, and, if I end up making my first million (any suggestions?), I’d like to do something instead of blow it on TV’s and motorcycles.  Seems like a pretty good choice.

I’m sure there are more, and if I think of them, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Return of the Jedi

So I've been on something of a blogger hiatus for the last, oh, 2 months or so. Completely ridiculous and completely unjustifiable. I could argue that the end of the semester kept me too busy to write and update regularly. This is flawed for two major reasons:

• I've been out of school for two fucking months now, and have spent most of my time watching movies, sitting at work watching movies, or doing otherwise meaningless things to keep me occupied.

• I wasn't really all that busy at the end of the semester. Sure I had the usual batch of odd (and often annoying) final papers and finals, but I really didn't study that much, and spent most of the end of the semester smoking or playing video games.

I could also argue that I haven't had anything to say. This, also isn't true. I'm always thinking of shit that I think I might have something to say about (and swear that I'll remember it later), but usually I don't and when I do decide I want to write something, I can't think of shit and so type out some meaningless verbal diarrhea that is totally uninteresting and falls subject to the axe of the 'delete' key.

With that said, remind me to write posts on the following, which have been brewing in my head and which I need to put down before I forget about them:

• Why the wrong people are in politics OR why Jon Stewart should be.
• Things that I would like to do during my lifetime (not to be confused with my life's goals)
• A new (or maybe not, since I haven't done any research at all to see if it already exists) theory of education
• Maybe I'll write about the Dave Matthews Band Concert I'm set to leave for in about an hour.
  
• Maybe some other things, if you're lucky.

I'm back, bitches.

Thoughts while watching commercials

Is it just me, or does it say something about our culture that we’ll put some greasy, disgusting, pre-wrapped heart attack from McDonalds into our system without thinking, but we want to keep our toilet bowls clean enough to eat off of?

Another thing:  Scrubbing Bubbles’ slogan seems to be “We work hard, so you don’t have to!®”  I think this shows how deep down the laziness of our culture really goes.  And we wonder why nobody wants to do anything anymore.

Sickening times, indeed…

A Christmas Morning post near the end of March

I don’t know how many of you follow the PostSecret Project. I believe it’s fairly well-known, although I stumbled upon it by accident and haven’t really talked to anyone else who’s heard about it, but I will, as best I can, briefly summarize what it’s about. The basic premise is that PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people (anonymously) design a postcard telling some secret that they’ve held deep down and never told anyone, and then mail it to a P.O. box where they are collected and displayed. Each Sunday, a new set of postcards is displayed on the website (linked to above). Each Sunday, I check it, and almost always without fail, there is at least one postcard that really moves me, and one postcard which I really feel like I connect with. I checked it today to see the new batch, and saw this one, which really struck a chord with me:





I’ve been feeling this way for several Christmases, but really never was completely conscious of it until the last one. In the olden days, I’d be up before the sun, alarms set for 6:30 A.M., upstairs in the living room checking out the presents and rooting through the stockings (mom and dad told us we could open the presents in the stockings without having to wait for them to wake up). I was always the first one up, so I’d check everything out before I went to wake up my brother and sister, and we’d all sit around, shaking and looking at boxes, playing the guessing game. Mom and dad said that we weren’t allowed to wake them up before 8, but we were always in their bedroom pestering at 7:30, and by 7:45 they’d given in. Then we’d give in. Mom and dad would sit with their coffee, telling us which one to open, always saving the most tantalizing one for last. We’d throw paper all over, not caring about the mess, and each present always managed to be more exciting than the last. When we were all done, we’d lay out the loot, and we couldn’t contain our excitement as we tried to figure out which toy to play with first, which CD to listen to, which movie to watch, which candy to eat. It was always a day of choices and priorities, love and family, fun and excitement…

…And now, I wake up around 11, when my brother wakes me up. I tell him I’m sleeping and I’ll be up in a little bit, but he insists, and so I grudgingly roll out of bed, put on a shirt and some pajama pants, and go upstairs. Mom and dad, Taylor and Carly, are already up, waiting for me. I try to be excited. I open gifts, one by one, grateful for the thought and love, but really, it just seems like just another day where everything is closed and my mom makes a fancy dinner, and I have some new stuff to temporarily entertain me… for a little bit, at least. Though it never takes long for the fun to wear off.

And so I ask myself what happened? Is this a natural part of “growing up,” as it were? Have I lost something? If so, can I get it back? And if so, how? I’ve been told that Christmas morning will be exciting again when I have kids. Maybe so, but I feel that it’s one of those moments that should always be magical, that should always be exciting…. Back to the days when I believed in Santa and left carrots and glitter out in the snow for the reindeer, the days when my uncles would give us updates on where Santa had been sighted throughout Christmas eve, when every red light in the sky was Rudolf’s nose, when the sun waited for me and my parents pretended to be annoyed and Grandma made more cookies than we could imagine. Back to the days when magic and excitement still existed, and I believed in them both.

Coasting?

Emily has an interesting post about whether or not MUC has prepared us for what we want to do, and about how, to paraphrase and oversimplify, it hasn’t because she hasn’t felt challenged in many classes.  I feel the same way and actually have recently been thinking and talking to certain professors about how much this bothers me.  I was talking to Rodney during some downtime at the Writing Centers Conference about how easy it’s been to really just coast through most of my classes and pull off A’s without really doing much work other than what it’ll take to slide by.  Sure, this is mostly my fault, and I’m willing to accept all due responsibility for my failure to step up and perform, but I can’t help but think that professors are at least a little bit to blame for making my coasting possible… Which brings me to where I am today.

Rodney and I have been putting together an AS200 directed study, where we look at some of the major literary movements in 20th century America, and then read a lot of contemporary stuff, in search of how we’ve formed “The American Cultural Identity” and looking at different perspectives on American culture.  We’ve been talking a lot about the reading list for the course, and we’re putting a lot of really interesting and fun stuff in there.  We’re going to do Hunter Thompson (of course).  I want to read Fight Club and American Psycho as well, and Rodney wants to do Pynchon.  I also want to do some Vonnegut and Capote.  (If anyone has any other ideas for interesting things to read, feel free to let me know).  Anyways, as we’ve been talking about this, I flat out told him that I didn’t want this to be a course that I can just coast through, and I want this to be a course where I have to read and I have to be prepared and I have to work my ass off.  I want to have good discussions, and I think that as long as I’m continually challenged, I’ll be able to learn far more than most of the other classes I’ve taken.

This brings me to one of the things that I’ll always love about MUC… that as a student, I can develop personal relationships with faculty members and that they do care about my learning and are willing to take on additional work and courses to help me out.  It’s a very personal, very individualized education, and I think that I’ll forever be grateful for that.

Here comes the sun.

You know, for the first time in quite a while, I’m excited again, for several reasons:

• I started playing bass again.  I used to play a lot and while I never took formal lessons, and didn’t really understand musical theory (which I still don’t), I was pretty decent.  I brought my bass and amp back on Saturday night, and have been playing quite a bit recently.  I forgot how much I loved it.


• I found a freakin’ sweet Internet Radio station (Pig Radio) that I’ve been listening to pretty much nonstop.  They play a lot of cool alternative/independent/underground/electronic music, and it’s freakin’ sweet.  I suggest checking it out if you’re a music fan… I put a link on my link bar.


• I’m actually getting excited about academics again.  Granted, this semester is still boring the hell out of me, with the exception of a few classes (20th Century Drama, Acting II), but as I’m looking ahead to next semester, I’m starting to really get excited about learning about things in which I’m interested.  I decided I’m going to go for an American Studies major, since my writing major is pretty much done and I’ve started seriously thinking about going to grad school for American Studies.  I’ve already taken a bunch of classes that will count for the major, and so I’d only need a few more.  I met with Dr. Recchiuti today to talk about it, and he was really excited as well.  Only problem now is that AS200 is up in the air, and he doesn’t know when it will be offered again, so I’m trying to see if I can develop an independent study that I can substitute for AS200.  I think that my focus for AS is going to be the different things that shape the American Identity (more specifically literature, politics, and history), and so the Independent study I’m hoping to be able to do will look at various American literary movements within the context of the historical and political climate in which they happened and examine how they’ve all worked to create and shape the identity we have today.  Rodney said he’d be interested in doing it with me, so that’s exciting too.


• I had an amazing spring break.  I did absolutely nothing, and it was fantastic.  I stayed here at my house in Alliance with one of my other housemates, and we just chilled out and relaxed the whole week.  I thought it would be boring and slow, but it was just really nice to do whatever we wanted, and to have practically the whole campus to ourselves.


• Since I’m on the Schooler Lecture Search Committee, I get to greet and escort Tim Russert around when he’s on campus next week.  That’s a pretty sweet deal, I think.


• The weather a few days ago was absolutely beautiful.  Spring is certainly on the way.

Things certainly appear to be on the up.

Notes on theatre

So now that the show is over, I think I might actually have some time to start writing in this thing again.  So I figured it’d be natural to write about the show.  

Doing theatre can, at times, be terribly taxing, but in all honesty I don’t know what I’d do without it.  I’ve been, with the exception of winter break, in steady rehearsals pretty much straight from October until now.  We started readthroughs for Much Ado the day after we closed Nuts, so there was nary a break between the two.

A cast is always an interesting thing.  In a lot of ways, it really is a lot closer than a group of coworkers or colleagues, and in some ways it’s closer than most groups of friends… and really, that makes perfect sense.  To be in a cast and to perform with a group of people, regardless of how well you know them before you start, involves and requires a certain great amount of trust.  You have to trust those who perform with you to do the moves they’re supposed to, to do their lines, to make their cues, and to not just go batshit crazy and leave you there to cover an unexpected situation on the spot.  Because of the trust issue, casts generally become close.  They are their own self-contained community, which will exist only until closing night, and then it will be dissolved again.

I think that’s one of the reasons I really enjoy theatre as much as I do… sure, I like the opportunities for expressiveness and I like the attention and I like performing… but I think more than that, I love being a part of something entirely unique, being a creative cog in some great creative machine that exists only temporarily, that was assembled to do a show and will, when the curtain goes down for the last time, be dissolved and will never exist again.  Though they’ve been rehearsed over and over, each show is different in often minor, unnoticeable ways – somebody moves differently or puts a different emphasis on a word or line – but when all is said and done, each show is completely unique in its own right.  And I think that when all is said and done, that’s what I love most about theatre – you are a part of something, something that will never be reproduced or recreated, and when the curtain closes, the house empties, the set is struck and the costumes are hung up for the last time, all that you have left are your individual memories of what once was.

So what did I learn from 2005?

I was cleaning off my desktop today when I came upon this list of things I learned from 2005, which I originally meant to post on New Year’s Eve.  Whoops.  Anyways, here it is:


Things I’ve learned from 2005:

• Life goes on, and you move forward, regardless of how much you think you’re at a standstill.

• Regardless of what you think, you’re probably wrong.

• Friends come and go.

• Regardless of how early I leave for something, I’ll probably still be late.

• No matter how hard I try, my hair will always be messy.

• Maybe I’ll never come to terms with religion.

• No matter how much I try to be organized, something usually goes wrong.

• No matter how much I try to believe otherwise, I need the other people in my life.

• Food is always better when someone else is footing the bill.

• As you get older, you actually start hoping for socks and underwear for Christmas.

…so that’s it… I’m sure I learned some other things from 2005, but these are the important ones.  For now.