The Nifty Fifties

I recently went and attended a play at Livingston Academy, the high school from which I graduated.  Over the years, Livingston Academy has put on a number of productions while I have been there, but my favorite that was recently done was The Nifty Fifties.  The Nifty Fifties is about a group of high school teenagers trying to get the famous Ziggy Springer, a singer, to perform at their high school Hippity-Hop. The play was also a musical which made me enjoy it even more.  The director, Greg Dingwall, did a great job casting the parts and directing the play.  You could tell he really pushed the kids to act to the best of their ability.  My favorite character in the play was Jughead Jarvis.  He was the funny guy that really brought a lot to the play.  He was all the time tripping over something or saying something off the wall that made the play hilarious.   Another thing that made the play quite humorous was the lack of singing talent on stage.  The main character Muffin Mansfield had a solo and I definitely think the play could have done without that girls singing.  Over all I though it was a very good high school play.  It had a great story line and was easy to understand. I would recommend this play to anyone. It's great for all ages young and old. When it comes back around I know I'll be there with bells on to see it. 

Concert

I recently went to a concert at TN Tech in the Bryon Fine Arts building. Being a musician myself, I was kinda excited to see what all instruments I would hear. I've always had a fascination with musical instruments, especially the piano since that's what I'd play. I was actually very disappointed with the concert, mostly because it's just not really my thing. The concert was called Anonymous Four. It was four women singing in latin. Towards the end of the concert they sang a few songs in english that I actually understood. That part wasn't so bad. The concert might of not been as bad if there were musical instruments, a guitar, piano, flute, anything. But it was only the four women singing. It wasn't that they were bad singers, it just really wasn't my kind of concert. I look forward to going back and actually listening to musical instruments and not just singing. Next time I'll be sure to check the schedule find out what is playing.

4-6-09

 Non-essay

This section in english 1020 looks really exciting and different. I really enjoyed the videos that I watched.  I thought it was cool how some people risk their lives just for the enjoyment of others. I like all the magic and that sorta stuff that was shown on these videos. I thought one of the best things about the video was the kid that was only thirteen years old. It would take a lot of courage to get up in front of a huge crowd and preform and do that kind of stuff. I also read the Poetic Terrorist blog. I didn't entirely understand it, but I thought there was some really cool and funny  things on there. It made me laugh. My favorite video was the CHALK video. I think its awesome how people use chalk and create such a work of art. I also believe that's a great way to make your voice heard in public places by drawing catchy pictures or cool phrases. I know I always paid attention and always read the the chalk drawings when I would walk on campus around the UC. Overall I'm excited about this section this last stretch in english. It'll definitely be something different than the same ol paper.

Public Spaces

In this weeks reading, I found it pretty boring and kind of hard to follow. I did however, enjoy the story about the park in Atlanta, Georgia. I completely agreed with Murphy Davis, the writer of the story. I think it is a complete shame that they took such a lovely park filled with people walking and talking, kids playing and running around, and turned it into something to simply "look at". I agree mostly with Davis when he writes " If we mandate a public space inhospitable to any one group of people, we end up with a public space that is inhospitable to everyone." If you try to make something unattractive to one person then most likely it will be unattractive to all. I don't believe its really a "public space" if your trying to keep some of the public out.

Another article I also found interesting was the cell phone article. I'm not entirely sure what it had to do with public space, unless it was referring to people using them while in public spaces. I don't necessarily believe cell phones are a big problem in todays society, but I can see where the writer is coming from when he calls them an annoyance. There's nothing worse than when you go to dinner and try to have a nice meal and then a phone rings and the guy across from you is talking obnoxiously loud. I do think there is a time and place for talking on your cell phone and eating dinner or using the bathroom is definitely not the time or place!

White Privilege

When reading the article over White Privilege I pretty much disagreed with the whole thing. While I could be very wrong, I don't see much White Privilege for Male Privilege in this day and age. I think race is definitely a thing of the past and is no longer looked down upon as it once was. You can look at our president now and that's proof enough that race isn't a huge issue  as it once was. I know there are many that still have race problems, but there are no shootings, bombings, and segregation's like there once were.  As far as in the work force, there are plenty of African American holding high ranked jobs. For example President Obama, and in the county where I'm from we have an African American mayor. So in my eyes I don't see race existing much today. I believe every one is equal and is also treated equally. In my opinion, I think ethnicity is looked down upon more today than race. People from Mexico or Iraq are looked down upon and not though as much of as people from the U.S..

As far as the Male Privilege goes, I believe that also does not exist either. The United States almost nominated a woman for President. I just think most people are very opposed to change and that's why males hold all the "big wig" jobs. You don't see  a woman being the President of the company or President of a University. I don't believe that women aren't qualified for the job, I just believe that since a male has always done it people want to keep it that way and avoid change.

Spring Break

I recently had Spring Break at Tennessee Tech University.  During this break, I got to take a much needed vacation and go visit my family in Ohio.  My mother is from Cleveland and that's where all my family live.  I always love going to Ohio because I never know what to expect.  That side of my family is completely crazy.  My boyfriend, Josh, and I went and spent a few days with my cousins at their house. Although Ohio isn't necessarily a party destination, my time there was nothing short of amazing.  We did our fair share of "partying" as well hanging out and spending time with all the family.  This was Josh's first time meeting everyone so it was exciting.  I was nervous that they all might make fun of us for our "country accents".  Although we did stick out everyone said they loved out accents and we didn't get made fun of to much. Not only did we see family, we also did one of my favorite things. Go to the zoo! We had planned on going to the Rock an Roll hall of fame but due to lack of funds we decided to go to the zoo. It was cold, and all the animals weren't out but I still had fun. However the zoo  did not have elephants and I didn't like that. I think all zoo's should have elephants or it isn't much of a zoo. All in all I had a wonderful trip. I can't wait to go back this summer.

The rest of my Spring Break was pretty uneventful. I went back to work and spent time with my boyfriend.  Josh has a farm and one of his cows had a little baby calf while we was gone. I got to see it when we got home, I also helped feed all the cows and even the pigs. I had a little baby goat that was 3 weeks old but we sold him at the end of break. I has a wonderful break.  Now I'm just ready for spring semester to be over and have fun this summer!

The Vagina Monologues

I recently went and watched the production of the Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler at the Backdoor Playhouse at Tennessee Tech.  I had read the play prior to watching it and I was not all that thrilled about going.  After the play got going I could tell it wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought it would.  It was actually turned out to be quite funny at times.  My favorite part throughout the whole play was the dancing.  I think it really added a lot so there wasn’t  people standing around talking throughout the play.  Another favorite of mine was the Say and Wear scene.  I thought it was quite hilarious, and again, the dancers made the scene. Without them it wouldn’t have been near funny.  There was however a couple scenes in the play that I didn’t quite understand how they tied into the rest of the play.  It kind of confused me and lost my attention.  One actress that really stood out was Elizabeth Ayers.  I have watched a few plays with her and they are quite hilarious.  She always delivers a good play.  Although, I feel at times she can take things over the top, overall she was my favorite throughout the play.

Overall, I really liked the play.  It wasn’t at all what I thought it was going to be.  The play could have been a lot more boring but I really like how the director made it interesting and fun with all the dancing and the fun, cool music.  I thought she did a fantastic job on directing this play.  I would definitely go to another play sometime that she directs.  This is not a play that I personally would want to attend year after year, but maybe once every few years.  I would definitely recommend this play to anyone.  It was something very fun and very different  people have never seen before.

While reading Edward Tufte’s “Powerpoint is Evil” I had mixed feelings about it.  After reading the title to this short paper I immediately disagreed with what he was trying to argue.  I have always believed power points were the easy way out, that is why not only myself but every other school kid also likes doing them.  It is easy to get away with putting the minimum amount of information that you without having to write a full paper.  After reading the full story I almost completely agree with Tuftes point.  Power points are boring and lack a great deal of information.  Although it is good to make ones power point attention grabbing and interesting, I believe more time is spent making the slides pretty and creative rather than actually spending time on researching and finding the information needed.  One point that I strongly agreed with was the power point in elementary schools. With all the new technology such as power point, kids are being taught to use the new and improved rather than good ole pencil and paper.  Of all the four years in high school I can count on one hand the number of essays I was required to write. However, I was required to do a numerous amount of power points. In my opinion, this is the reason most college students have problems writing college level papers.  More time is spent on computers using power point to relay information, rather than sitting down and writing proper sentences.  Another great point Tufte made was the time problem with power point.  With so little information in slides it takes many slides to get all the needed information across. Audiences will usually get restless and their attention will eventually be lost.  There can also be too much information in slides and it can difficult to obtain and understand.  Although power point may seem like the easy and entertaining way to go, I agree with Tufte, grab a pen and paper and relay information another way.

Hello! My a name is...

Hey! My name is Nicole Allred. I'm a Freshman at Tennessee Tech. My major is currently undecided but I believe I'm going to go into Secondary Education and see how I like that. I also work at a doctors office in Livingston. I've been there for three years and plan to keep that job through out college. When I'm not at school or working, I love being with my friends and family. I'm a pretty easy going person and just try to have fun with whatever I'm doing.