Heyyyo!
I’ve been having the best week ever, and it’s been so busy that I haven’t had any time to post on this site, so sorry for the delay! This is going to be slightly shorter, because I have a meeting at 3 with my Peer Advising Fellow (PAF) to talk about blocking (aaahhrrggg, deciding on my suitemates is so complicated), classes, and my summer plans. Also, I just applied to be a PAF next year, so we’ll see how that goes, and maybe one of you class of ’16 readers will be my PAFee! (That’d be so exciting.)
Yay random picture I took of Harvard Hall yesterday!!
So: a quick synopsis of what has happened since last Thursday. On Friday, I passed in my official study card (yippee!) and had a meeting with my slam poetry team. Later, my mom came to visit and we watched the Harvard-Yale men’s hockey game, which I covered for the Crimson. Harvard won 4-3, and we beat Yale in the women’s hockey, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball games. Woohoo! Then I went out to a really fun party with a few of my friends and saw some a cappella people whom I hadn’t seen in a while, which was great. The next morning, my mom swung by for a little bit in between my auditions of common casting through the HRDC. Basically I tried out for a lot of musicals and got some minor roles that I decided to drop, because I have a million things happening already. (Check out the link above for more information about theater, another addition to my Quest for the Arts!)
Go Harvard!
Sunday wasn’t too busy, but I ended the day with great news: I was appointed Arts Photography Exec with my friend Dean for The Crimson! Now I get first “pitches” (really cool events to cover) and I lead a crew of Junior Editors and Compers in their journey of photography this semester. I couldn’t be more excited.
Monday was my first Photo Exec meeting, in the newly designed photo-lounge of the basement. The basement holds design, video, and photography (really, the best part of a newspaper in both online and digital editions), and within that group there’s a great sense of community. I was alerted on Monday that I needed to give a gift to the Exec I am replacing, so that’s been my weekly project (keep reading).
Cast Lists are Posted!
Tuesday was my first day of Expos! I was sectioned into Contemporary American Theatre, a course with a very high Q Score and an amazing prof. I’m really looking forward to it, though it’s going to definitely be a difficult course. Later, I had an all-photo meeting with the Junior Editors and Execs, which was great. I pitched The Arts as a beat (translation: I gave reasons to people for why they should take pictures primarily for Arts), in the form of a song! It was very classy and very fun. Later that night, I started drawing up sketches for my gift to the ex-Arts Photo Exec (who is now the Editor-At-Large of Photography), having decided on a shirt as a gift. The design is of a pug puppy (the cutest, obviously… and photo has a bit of an obsession with baby animals) reaching for a soda bottle with the word “AHT” on it. (The ex-exec has a thick Boston accent.) Then, I had a few more late-night meetings and finally went to bed.
Oh So Cute
Wednesday, I interviewed Dean from Dean & Britta, an alternative music duo, for the Office of the Arts. Now all I have to do is write up the article, and I will post the link next week! I had my printmaking seminar again, which was amazing, per usual, and continued to work on the project I’d started on Monday. We were asked to create a visual representation of our favorite word, and I chose “noodle.” Okay, I’m not sure if that’s my favorite word, but there were so many to choose from…so I just chose my favorite food-word. Also, there are tons of alternative definitions for noodle (such as brain, or fool, or Mr. Noodle from Elmo’s World), which means I can be very creative. Next week I’ll be pressing my page, framing that bad boy, and maybe gifting it (or keeping a copy for myself). This has definitely been one of the best artistic outlets I’ve found here at Harvard.
Later that day, I met up with my friend Cynthia to work on a few songs for Freshman Formal, which is tomorrow night. Of course I’ll be going, but we’ll also be playing music during dinner, so we met up in Wigglesworth basement to practice. The practice rooms are really big in Wigg, so we had enough space for her piano and my guitar/uke. We’ll be playing some sweet songs (such as Janelle Monae and Adele), and afterwards we’ll be dancing it up in the Night Under the Stars, as it is so aptly named. Yippee!
No Stars in the Sky Yet
Then I had to cover a Flashmob for The Crimson. CityStep, a program that teaches children to dance and other valuable skills, went into Ticknor Lounge (a gorgeous room) and busted out some moves. I was lucky enough to experience it, in all of its cuteness/awesomeness.
Haha, Flashmob!
A few hours later, I realized that couldn’t stop working on my gift for my friend, so I went to Urban Outfitters to buy a blank T-shirt ($5), then to Utrecht Arts to buy some fabric paint ($8). I cut out the stencils I’d created in record time (okay, like two hours), ironed them onto the shirt, and painted away. Today, I finished it up, and I couldn’t be happier with the final product! It turned out infinitely better than I had expected, and I’m sure the gift will be well-received.
Yay Puppies and Pop!
Now I’m off to my meeting, then some more practice for Formal, homework, dinner somewhere in there, a run-through of some spoken word that I’ll be performing with a group next monday for a belated MLK celebration, and finally an Exec event later tonight. Wow! This semester is going to be awesome. (Plus, it’s cold today–bonus!)
Happy Thursday!
-Reid
Squirrel<Pug
