TALK: The Green Mountain College Blog

I worked like a madwoman this past Thursday to get everything moved up to the third floor of the building. Quite a workout indeed (it took about three hours!!) Needless to say, I haven't quite settled in yet...there are still a few boxes floating around waiting to be unpacked. But, still! The single life! It's fantastic! It's even better because I'm still in the same building, so visiting the old roomie (whom I love to the max!) isn't difficult at all. We're just a few flights of stairs away. I think she's feeling a little bit lonely down there because she has a huge double-single, which is quite difficult to fill with the amount of stuff she has. But it does look nice. I stopped by yesterday to check it out.

In other news, this semester has been quite invigorating thus far. I realize that it's only been two weeks (and that said two weeks have felt like an eternity because of their chaotic nature), but every moment has been nonstop wonderful. Naturally, there are times when I'm down and out, and I usually take a few minutes out of my hectic schedule to reflect on such moments. But in the end, I'm really pumped about all of this. All of my classes are directly related to my majors, so though my homework can seem overwhelming sometimes, every moment is totally worth it. This is all stuff that I'm going to be using in my career of choice, guys. You have no idea how much that means to me—I’m learning theory that I'm going to be applying throughout my future!

Furthermore, I'm super involved in extra curricular activities this semester (more than in any other semester, anyways). It's exhausting, but 100% exciting because they're all causes I'm extremely interested in and devoted to. Here are some details:

So last semester I became the student representative for a committee that is searching for a Spanish professor. This extra curricular has given me the opportunity to look over a number of resumes and then discuss what candidates look qualified (and why) with three professors on campus. At first, I was hesitant about joining the committee—I have a lot of things going on right now, and if I get myself involved in some new activity, I want to make sure that I can put my all into it before signing up. After discussing it with one of my favorite professors, however, I realized that it would be a good experience for me, especially if I plan on working at a college someday. By looking through the resumes and comparing my interpretations of the candidates with the professors, I'm getting a better idea of what types of qualifications people are looking for in a professor. I'm also going to get the opportunity to meet many of these candidates and be their guide around campus. As such, I'll get to compare my first impressions of them on paper to the actual person. I think that this will be a good experience for me in preparing for my future. (Oh, and on a geekier note, I'll also get to sit in on some of the mini-lessons they provide for classes as part of the interview process. Yay learning!)

Another project I'm currently in the midst of is V-day. Every year, students on campuses across the nation perform Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues to raise money for the V-day organization. On their website, (click here to go there) V-Day describes itself as "a global movement to stop violence against women and girls." Historically, GMC has put on a performance of The Vagina Monologues to raise funds for the organization as well as to help out the Rutland Women's Shelter . Though we're still raising money for the organization and the shelter, we are putting on a different production. This year Eve Ensler has compiled pieces from other authors into a performance called A Memory, Monologue, Rant, and A Prayer to celebrate V-day's 10th anniversary. As a group, we decided to do this performance rather than the traditional V-logues because a) many people on campus have already seen The Vagina Monologues and b) the new performance offers the male perspective, something that was seriously lacking in the V-logues. One of the complaints we have had in the past is that the show implies that all men are bad because of the violence that has occurred toward women as described in the monologues. This newer performance shares some perspectives from the other side of the fence and really helps balance the message. I love it. As I've been involved in these performances for all the years I've been here, I'm sort of one of the organizers this year. I'll be helping out with advertising and fund raising for the event as well as performing.

The first set of auditions were last night—the people casting the performance seem to be interested in casting me as a slightly overbearing mother in one of the monologues called "Conversations with My Son." Basically, it's a back and forth between a son who was raised in his mother's uber feminist house and his mother. It explores some of the things that she shares with her son to ensure he knows the real deal when it comes to women's rights violations, etc. It's kinda light and humorous in some places, though it certainly gets out the author's frustrations with some of the horrible things that are going on in this "civilized" world.

Phew. What else? As always, I'm mentoring like a crazy woman. Shannon and I have already hung out this semester—we got together last Sunday to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I've never really been into Harry Potter (please don't shoot me over this...), but I actually did enjoy the movie. We also did some puzzles together and talked about her cute cat Peaches, who just recently got over kitty cancer. Yay for her! (Oh and I bought some Girl Scout cookies. Can't live without those in your life!)

And then of course, there are movie mornings. I'm currently trying to organize bimonthly movie mornings for the kids in town. Poultney's town manager is really pumped about us offering this kind of program for the kids because (I guess?) there aren't that many high quality Saturday morning cartoons these days, plus it would be a prime opportunity to make more connections between the Poultney community and GMC, as well as to give some kids in town the opportunity to make connections among themselves. I'm currently trying to work out the details with our Student Activities Coordinator to get the ball rolling on this project. I think it would be a lot of fun—and it would give the people in the mentoring program another opportunity to hang out with one another on the weekends.

Oh. And did I mention that I've been given more responsibility at my work study job? My boss is now letting me write a couple of articles for the GMC Bulletin, which is the college's biyearly publication. So now I get to write the student snapshots for the weekly GMC Journal AND articles for the biyearly Bulletin. Talk about building up my resume! Very very cool. One of the articles I'm working on for the Bulletin is about GMC alumni that have decided to stay in the state after graduation. I'm pretty stoked to get in contact with GMC alum and see what their experiences were like at GMC, what they've accomplished since, and why they've decided to remain in the state.

And then we have the I really HOPE that I manage to participate in these activities, but if it proves to be too much, I won't be surprised.

I want to organize a fund raiser for this place by my house that helps families who are evicted from their homes and gives them a place to live, clothing if needed, food, and financial as well as mental counseling to get them back on their feet and (hopefully) out of debt for good. And on top of all that? I'm thinking about auditioning for a part in this play that consists of a series of monologues from humanitarians around the world and is raising money for a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization. Jeeze. I really hope I find a manageable way to balance all these activities because they're so much fun and give me such a sense of purpose.

Anyways. That was a lot of writing. I'm off to go do some homework!

Until next time! Peace!