First Semester

Okay, so it's been a month since Fall classes started. My life has been full of weekly quizzes, taking notes for the class I'm a TA for, and struggling to learn Photoshop and After Effects.

In my Short Form Production class, I am the producer of a music video. There are just two other people in my group, and it has been pretty cool so far. We are working with a local artist named Dusty Pas'cal, who sings modern folk music. The song we are using, "Home," is really nice. We shot him at his home last Saturday, and he has the most adorable children ever.

My department at Syracuse, Newhouse, had a week of activities for the dedication of its third building. The outside of Newhouse III is wrapped with the First Amendment on its glass walls, and the entire building looks futuristic. It's full of lounges, a new auditorium, and mementos from American history.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the dedication message on September 19. I watched it in a live broadcast in one of the studios of Newhouse II. Bob Costas, a Newhouse alum, held an open-mic discussion in the auditorium on Friday. I couldn't get in because many students lined up hours in advance, but I watched it in the new food court.

I haven't had that much time to go out, but I have done a few things. Bill Bellamy came to SU a few weeks ago. Two words--hilarious and hot. Alonzo Bodden was the opening act, but he wasn't that funny. I also went to a performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" because I'm a huge musical lover. I laughed, I cried, I took pictures with my cameraphone during intermission.

One good thing about this semester is that I have to read newspapers every week for my TV Business quiz. I always wanted to be the type of person who just sits down and reads the New York Times. The only problem is that I always wait until the day before to read the articles about the media. Procrastination has been a major problem this semester, as usual, but I hope that I can fix that soon.

I started going to a campus church service on Sundays. It's pretty high-tech compared to what I'm used to. The pastor uses the internet and a screen to display bible verses, and the leaders of praise and worship play gospel songs from a website. It feels good to be back in church because I have been feeling a void in my Sundays since I've been in Syracuse.

The reason that I'm up late writing this tonight is because I only have classes on Monday-Thursday. I've got a busy weekend ahead doing work for my job and shooting the video. Maybe I will get things back on track over the next few days.

Teaching Assistant Training

I finally finished training for my new job today. The first week, I was put into a training group with TAs studying in different areas at Syracuse, and this past week, I trained with the TAs of communications-related courses. Even though we did a greater variety of things last week, I felt that this week's training was more useful for the kind of work I'm going to do.

One good thing that I got out of all of this was that I made some new friends and networked with professors I had not met before. I went out with a few TAs last Friday night to a couple of bars. I was staying low-key, so I only had one beer. While we were at one of the bars, a group of Christian protesters marched up and stood outside with signs.

It was pretty funny that they decided to come there because the bar is always quiet (they don't play any music), and there weren't many people there at the time. The protesters didn't stay for long because the management asked them to leave. A little while later, a guy came in with his guitar and brought some music into the place.

I got a little bit of a break this week because we only trained for two-and-a-half days. I've learned how to grade papers and got some useful tips about restaurants in the area. My group took a tour of the Newhouse Complex to meet some of the people we might need for our jobs. I was excited to see Newhouse III because it is still in the construction phase.

For lunch, I went to a banquet for the grad students in Television/Radio/Film. Many of the professors in the program were there, and it was nice to talk to some of them one-on-one. The banquet was catered by a famous restaurant called Dinosaur BBQ. The food was good, but it can't light a candle to the barbeque in Arkansas. Now, all I have to do is by the books for my classes and get ready to start on Monday.

The End of Boot Camp

I finished summer school on Thursday, and I couldn't have been happier. That afternoon, I had to go back to complete my editing of my last group video project. All eight groups' five-minute videos were shown at a special screening on Friday. My family drove in from Arkansas Thursday while I was editing, so they met me at the school.

It was pretty funny trying to squeeze five people and an air mattress into my tiny studio apartment. I kept thinking for weeks that they were going to get a hotel room, but my mom told me what they were planning to do on Monday. I guess that she didn't take me seriously when I kept saying that they should find a hotel.

I enjoyed having them come see me, but I was also happy to see them leave Saturday. That night, I went out with two of my friends from my program to see "Rush Hour 3." It was okay, but not as good as "Rush Hour 2." I haven't really done anything exciting lately. I'm getting ready to start training for my teaching assistant job tomorrow. The course that I'm TAing for is communications law.

It's kind of nerve-racking to start this new job because I don't know exactly what I'll be doing or which professor I'll be working for. I have to prepare a minilecture for a training session this week. I know what I want to talk about, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to present the information to all of the other TAs and trainers. Maybe I figure something out tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

Halfway through Newhouse Bootcamp

I've finished the third week of summer school, and this was probably the most interesting week yet. On Thursday, I took my first test, and everyone was really nervous about it. After pulling an all-nighter, I think that I did pretty well on the test. Most of the questions were random, but I gave the geist of the answer for the ones I was unsure about.

I've been going out a lot more. There was a party for Newhouse grad students at a bar located in the campus housing area on Friday. It had a karaoke player, and I sang "Hey Baby" by No Doubt. I even had my own backup dancers. After that, I went to an afterparty at the apartment of this guy I have classes with. It was really fun because we played Dirty Minds. This one girl was awesome at the game. She lives in the same apartment building as me, and that was the first time we met.

Yesterday, I had to shoot a video project with my group. It's a cop drama, and I'm going to edit it on Monday. After we got done, I went to see "Transformers" with one of my sorority sisters. It was okay after I got through the extremely cheesy first 30 minutes of it. I'm can't wait to see movies like "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," "Hairspray," and "Harry Potter." I'll be going to even more movies if I get a job at Syracuse. I turned in applications for three jobs, so hopefully, I'll impress one of the employers.

First Week in Newhouse

This week has completely changed my life. I am finally living in a different city on my own. I have to take two classes this summer. They are a lot easier than I expected. I haven't been doing a whole lot socially lately. I think that almost everyone has been too tired to do very much.

Yesterday, I went to the dean's house for the Newhouse grad picnic and softball game. I hung out with some of my sorority sisters and a few other cool people. The chair of my program, Dr. Schoonmaker, was really nice and tried to get to know some of the TRFers. Dean Rubin had groups of people around him as he told stories about Syracuse.

I worked on my first video project for my class this weekend. We were put into groups of four and had to do our videos without any audio. Each video had to be based on one of the two books we read before classes began. Two of the people in my group acted in my video, and I acted in two of theirs. In one video, I played the invisible hand of a card-playing computer.

Everyone will show their unedited videos in class tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Room and Board

I feel like there's no turning back now. I registered for summer classes at Syracuse on Tuesday morning, mailed my deposit for my studio apartment, and picked up my partially-completed health form from my doctor. I'm really glad that I got the teachers I wanted at the times I wanted.

Living on my own will be a major change for me. For the past four years, I lived on my university's campus with at least one roommate. Some of my past roommates were not that great to live with, but it was still kind of nice to have them around.

Another change will be that I have to start cooking my own meals. I lived in a dorm that did not have a kitchen, so I was never all that concerned about learning how to cook. A George Foreman grill and a toaster oven will soon become my new best friends. lol

Last week, I found out that I am going to get another scholarship, but it doesn't take into effect until the fall. I also have to fly to Kentucky in July to meet people from the scholarship organization and the other financial award recipients. Luckily, I will leave Syracuse hours after my last class for the week and come back by the end of the weekend.

All and all, I'm excited about everything that's going on. I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with my family. We went a festival in Little Rock called Riverfest. LL Cool J performed Saturday night, so I had a little eye candy for the evening. I skipped Riverfest on Sunday to watch the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I was surprised by how many people didn't like the movie. I loved it.

And I digress. Now that I am a graduate student in Television/Radio/Film, I feel qualified to recommend Flixster.com to all movie lovers. It's pretty awesome. Well, I need to go to bed so that I can try to be productive tomorrow. See you later!

The Week After

It's been a week since I graduated. I finally moved my stuff out of my dorm room and tried to spend some time with my family. Two of my sisters flew back to their homes in LA, and I stayed with my other sister in Little Rock for a few days. On Tuesday night, we went to see the stage tour version of "The Producers." It was pretty good.

Ever since I came back home, I've just been babysitting Hannah, my niece from LA. She's 5, and she always spends part of her summer in Arkansas. Other than that, I've just been attending other people's graduations and meeting other grad students online who are going to Syracuse in July. Now the hard part, finding an apartment.

The only places where I have ever lived have been at my house, my sisters' houses, and dorm rooms for college and summer camps. I won't mind living with strangers, but I just hope that we don't have any major problems. Also, utilities might be a bitch during the cold Syracuse winter.

Tomorrow, I am going to the Little Rock Film Festival with one of my friends. We are planning to watch the documentary of "The Hip Hop Project." I'm excited because we saw the actual "Hip Hop Project" at our school a year or two ago.

After I come back home, I am going to a concert of a local rock band. Some of my former professors are in this band, so the concert is bound to be interesting. Let's see how it goes.

Graduation Day

Today, I finally end my strange undergraduate experience. I'm kind of surprised that I was able to graduate in four years since I changed my major from chemistry to mass media two years in.

It's weird that I'm more excited about going to grad school than about graduating from college. I stayed in my hometown for college, so it wasn't like I made a huge journey off to school. One of my sisters told me that that just means that I am trying to look forward. After tonight, I will prepare to travel halfway across the country to begin my new life at Syracuse.

Going to grad school at Syracuse will help my career tremendously. I want to become a television producer, and the grad program at Syracuse that I am entering into has an incredible reputation. At 6 p.m., I will take one more step to lead me to my dream.

So long, Sanjaya

(This was the last post in my college newspaper blog, "Why I Laugh at Celebrities and Sad Clowns.")

For the past few years, I’ve had the same ritual. I would watch the audition episodes of “American Idol” and keep up with the rest of the season by watching entertainment shows. The most interesting and well-known contestant this season was Sanjaya Malakar, or Sanjaya.

This guy had very limited singing ability but used distractions like his changing hair styles and his mildly good looks to keep himself on the show. Sanjaya’s luck finally ran out on Wednesday, April 18, when he was voted off.

Sanjaya remained on “American Idol” for several weeks while other better singers were eliminated. One of these singers was the Jack Osbourne look-alike Chris Sligh. I remember watching Sligh in his audition, and he was awesome. Many people began to form theories about why Sanjaya survived week after week.

Sanjaya is Indian-American, and one theory was that a call center in India kept voting for him over and over again. Another theory was that a website called VotefortheWorst.com was the cause of Sanjaya’s success. This website was created by radio shock-jock Howard Stern to undermine the credibility of “American Idol.”

One theory was showcased vividly on an episode of “American Idol.” While Sanjaya was singing his heart out to “Girl You Really Got Me Now,” a little girl in pigtails was sobbing in the audience. A lot of girls really love Sanjaya, and I guess that you could consider the 17-year-old singer to be a teen heartthrob.

Several different types of shows were talking about the Sanjaya phenomenon. Even “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” did a special report on him. Obviously, Sanjaya must have been a pretty good singer to begin with because the judges made him one of the top 12 contestants, but it was clear to me that he was not “Idol” material.

I couldn't help but laugh at Sanjaya.

He is the one person who could sing out of tune and forget the lyrics of his songs and still become a superstar. Since his elimination, Sanjaya has appeared on several different talk shows. He went on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on Monday, April 23, and presented the “Top Ten Things I Learned from ‘American Idol’.” This weekend, Sanjaya attended the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner along with Chris Sligh.

Sanjaya does not need very much talent to become a successful music star. Look at Britney Spears, Ashley Simpson and William Hung. As painful as it may be, I might actually buy tickets for the “American Idol” tour this summer so that I can see Sanjaya in action. I guarantee you that I would not be the only one there to see him.