Life After Connecticut College

I'm a real person.

2008-07-14T15:32:39Z

I know I've been very quiet on the blog front for a while. I found myself in a situation at Men's Health where they wanted to hire me, but weren't sure they could approve the new position with HR. (How is it that HR people have become the masters of the universe?) I didn't want to write about the move to Men's Health's NY for fear I would sabotage it all. That being said, last week I signed up for a health benefits plan and immediately felt like Pinnochio did at the end of the movie: I transformed from the "wood" of my life as an intern and otherwise transitory person, to a real life adult! I did a jig, knowing that if I fell in my clumsiness, I had benefits to cover my injury....

]]> Of course, besides having shed the "wooden" feeling of being an intern, not too much has changed. Sure, I have the job title, "Editorial Assistant," but my responsibilities are still the same: keep men healthy. Though, I am also going to help with the research for the "Eat This, Not That!" book series, after the first one sold so well after it's release this past December. Basically, that means I'll have a thorough knowledge of what restaurant chains serve the foods with the most calories, sodium, trans fat, and other horrors of which diners should be aware. This means, of course, that my responsibility of helping men stay health will extend also to women and children. So, basically, I've become a superhero since I last wrote.

Fork of July (Or, No Flash Photography, Please)

2008-07-07T18:38:30Z

Mamacita, I haven't posted a real blog entry in a month! As you may have guessed, things at Conn have been CRAZY trying to get as many gifts in the door as possible before we close the books on Fiscal Year 2008 (cue 612-hour slow-motion montage of every gift I've gotten this year). We're actually still open for a few more days, so if you haven't done so already, go online to http://giving.conncoll.edu and make your gift. We only need 6 more donors from the Class of 2007 in order to be the first class ever to break 50% participation our first year after graduating. We can do it!

Much like Marissa, I've also been quite busy during the weekends, mostly because of all the Welcome to Florida shows this summer. They've certainly been fun, but it was nice yesterday to finally have a chance just to chill out (I spent the day out on the deck naked to the waist in a kiddie pool full of tapioca pudding; it does wonders for my skin, not to mention my tastebuds!). There are probably too many stories to mention from the past month, so I'll just pick a few highlights....

]]> ....On Friday, I celebrated our nation's 809th birthday (my historical ignorance is matched only by my mathematical ineptitude) by heading up to beautiful and mountainous Sharon, NH, for Wes's annual In-Depends-Dance Day party, where all guests are required to shake their groove thangs whilst wearing adult diapers (I'll let you decide if that's true or not). In addition to the Huggie Shuffle, there were plenty of fun activities, including a wiffleball tournament (The Steaming Manholes and I came in third), a game of HORSE where you had to incorporate a popular culture reference into each shot, swimming, splashing, sliding, sunning, a brief Welcome to Florida performance, fireworks, and no fewer than eight different pasta salads (by the end of dinner I was so full of carbs that I could barely keep my eyes open and my mouth closed). It was a long drive home back to New Londy, but it was definitely a fun day.

The weekend before this past one, WTF played it's first three-show weekend in recent memory, including a double header on Saturday (I felt a little like a professional baseball player, except that I didn't have to wear a belt for no reason and I was actually doing something that involved physical activity). I was most excited about our Saturday-night headlining slot at Harper's Ferry, our favorite club to play in Boston, but I was still pumped about the other two shows.

Our Saturday afternoon show was at a venue in Manchester, NH, at which we had never played, so I was a little tentative about it. Fortunately, when JZ and I arrived we found it to be a huge place with a great stage and sound system. Unfortunately, there were FIVE other bands, and to our surprise we had last choice in choosing when we wanted to play! Knowing that we had to be down in Boston at 7:00 to soundcheck for our "real" show (sorry Manchester fans), JZ realized that we had to do whatever necessary to get a slot that would let us leave by 5:00 at the latest. We figured our best bet was to befriend the door manager, whose age and attitude seemed roughly equal to our own. So, thinking quickly, we bonded with him over Angelina Jolie's hotness and before long had our pick of starting time.

Duncan was experiencing some pretty serious throat problems, so we stuck to Wes songs so that Dunc could rest up for the big show in Boston later on. Interestingly, a majority of the audience members were 14-year-old girls, so they were incredibly excited that the set was so Wes-centric (let's just say that he doesn't exactly look like he's 23). One girl in particular kept taking photos of me, which I found quite distracting due to the resultant mental image I kept having of pictures of myself appearing on some abbreviation-laden e-teen-zine (I can see the headlines now: "OMG, CR is such a QT-pie!"). The biggest burn of the gig was that the venue only gave us $1 for each person that showed up to see us, despite the fact that it cost $10 for each of them to get in! The place's booking agent e-mailed us after the show saying that we sounded great and that he'd love to have us back again real soon, but something tells me that is not too strong a possibility (if I wanted to make 25 cents an hour by letting someone listen to me sing and tell jokes, I'd just resurrect the old Vaudeville act that Mitch and I toured the chitlins circuit with (in order to make it as authentic as possible, we demanded that we get paid at the same rates that performers in the 1890s did)).

Being the professionals that we are (uhh....), we turned our frustration over that show into pure rock and roll ferocity (umm....) during the Harper's show. I'm happy to report that Duncan manned up, sang through the pain, and sounded great, though he could barely talk after the show (an unexpected but much appreciated side effect). All in all it was a fun night!

Well, I'm a little blogged out for today, but I'll be sure to update y'all with more recent happenings from my life as my work schedule eases up later this week. Keep it funky!

It's new, it's exciting, it's my blog!

2008-07-07T03:46:25Z

S-s-summa is in full swing in illadelphia (Eapen, 2008). Some days are nice and some days are hot and steamy (just like Chris Reilly). Currently, I can't tell because I finally installed a window air conditioning unit in my apartment so my room is actually nice and cool. Please join me in my sigh of relief. Besides, most of my friends were tired of me complaining of swamp ass.

So far, I have spent most of the summer searching for jobs. I have found a couple cool things to do with my bioethics master's degree, but the only interview I have right now is at Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA. I've never been to LA before and the offices for my job are in Beverly Hills, so I'm pretty pumped to fly out there. It's a great hospital and I could live in California...if I can afford it. What I really want to do is sabatoge their milk industry and get Wisconsin back on top. I'll report back soon.

Another pretty exciting job that I've applied for involves working for a consulting firm that deals with human subjects research regulations, arms control, and national security. Oddly enough, I'm qualified to deal with any of those areas. I took an entire course on bioethics and national security (which was awesome), and my master's thesis is on non-lethal weapons control. We'll see where that goes, but either job should be interesting.

As of this week I'll be half way through my summer course on ethical issues in animal biotechnology. There's a lot of crazy stuff going on, especially in the US, and most Americans (myself included) have no idea. For example, most people don't know that there is a drug on the market that is extracted from the milk of genetically modified goats. From what I can tell, and I am no expert, this is a pretty ingenious and safe way to manufacture complicated pharmaceuticals. However, things like glowing fish and other glowing pets are quickly making their way onto the American market without people really considering the long-term effects of these animals on the environment. More specifically, it's only a matter of time before they start finding their way into the ecosystem and screwing with reproduction. Who knows where it'll end up? Soon we'll have glowing people! And I don't mean the kind when you shoot a cheesy compliment towards your date. I know telling Conn alums is not where the announcement is needed, but stay informed and discuss these things with your friends (i.e. how cool it would be to glow in the dark).

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend! One good place to keep up with current developments in science is www.scienceprogress.org. You also check out the New York Times, especially the science section on Tuesdays. Take care everyone.

Viva La Vida

2008-07-02T17:18:43Z

Agh, I started this entry a week ago and forgot about it and am only now just getting back to it... my apologies. So where was I? Ah, yes...

I've been meaning to write a new entry for some time now but have found myself busy doing... stuff, which I will now tell you about. I have done something fun every weekend so this is going to be a long entry. Thus, I've separated my entry into segments so that you can come back to finishing your reading easily.

]]> Chilling' Out Maxin' Relaxin' All Cool
About a month ago, I made the long trip to Philadelphia (which I like to call Illadelphia) to visit a fellow camel, Casey Johnson, who now resides in West Philly. I decided to try out the new Megabus, which was offering free rides for their first week. I was quite excited to get a free ride but I ended up paying a non-monetary price - time. The day I was riding out to Philly was the day that there was the huge crane accident in New York City causing massive traffic. To top it off, it was Megabus's first day so it was a bit chaotic and confusing. I was riding from Boston to NYC and getting on a connecting bus to Philly with a layover of about 15 minutes. However, due to the traffic and our driver who had apparently never driven in New York City and was lost (in addition to hitting a stop sign) I did not get to Penn Station in time. Now, I know what you're thinking - Penn Station is a train station and NOT for buses. Yes, I know that as I told the evil policeman who would not offer any suggestions or help me find Megabus. But the buses meet above ground right beside Penn Station. Anyway, I finally managed to find the bus and had a quick ride to Philly, where I arrived at 1 AM.

The following day Casey did a lovely job of showing me around Philly. We walked everywhere and I was able to see most of Philly. We even ran into three weddings within 30 minutes. Also, I got to eat a Philly cheesesteak, run up the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and walked along the river. Unfortunately, I only had a day to spend in Philly since I had to catch the bus back home the next day. Luckily, my bus ride home went much smoother - the buses were on time, easy to find, the drivers didn't get lost, and didn't hit anything. I will most likely ride Megabus again since they have special promotions for very cheap rides and have wireless on the bus. You should, too: http://www.megabus.com/us/

Best Week EVER
A while ago, Allie Smith and I had planned to see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in concert in Hartford because all the tickets were sold out in New York and Boston almost immediately. Since it was on a Wednesday we decided to make it a mini-vacation and she'd come spend the week with me. However, I was unsure if I was going to be able to manage it since I was trying to figure out my job situation. Luckily, I managed to have the week off since I was in between jobs. It worked out well.

Anyway, on Wednesday we went to Hartford, where the concert was held outside and the weather was perfect. The opening band was Steve Winwood, who sings a lot of songs I was unaware I knew. At this point there weren't too many people around but just as TP & the Heartbreakers were about to come on there was a massive amount of people of all ages - the old reminiscing and the young who grew up on the music. Everyone was dancing, a lot were drinking beers, and a good number were smoking grass. It was a bit of hippy atmosphere. Afterwards, I struggled to remember where I parked the car. Grrrrrr.

Thursday, we lounged by my pool (yes, I have a pool) for most of the day, which was lovely. These two strange, old women sat by us and chatted with us. They were humorous. But the main event of the day was the Red Sox game. Part of my benefits at BIDMC was the ability to get $5 tickets to a Sox game. Sounds great, right? Well, there's a catch: you can't buy tickets until after the 1st inning, if they have any left. I had a good feeling about it, though, until we showed up and saw the massive line of BIDMC employees. Eek! But, we were patient, crossed our fingers, and thought happy thoughts which all led to us getting tickets. They were for standing seats except the wonderful security dude hooked us up with some sweet seats nine rows from the field. It was a short game but wonderful nonetheless.

Allie and I had started our drinking extravaganza on Wednesday but we kicked it up a notch on Friday with some beer tasting. First, we went to the Harpoon brewery which has no tour and only a tasting. You can sample as many beers as you can in an hour while some dude tells you about the history of the brewery and the beers. It was interesting and definitely worth the trip out to the waterfront. Next up was the Sam Adams brewery tour in JP. It reminded me a bit of the Guinness storehouse tour except smaller, not as pretty, but more personal. At the end of the tour we sat in a room and sampled some beers. This was enjoyable except for the group of women who were in their thirties but were dressed like they were teens and kept giggling, flirting with our guide, and hogging the beer. Either way, I'll have to go for some of their special tastings where they pair food with beer. Sounds delicious!

On Saturday, we did some more lounging by the pool for most of the day followed by a stroll along Newbury St. At night Abby, Allie, and I went out to dinner at Union Oyster House and then met up with some more camels at a club for some dancing. It was a good night despite the apparent lack of air-conditioning on the dance floor leading to a lot of gross, sweaty people. At the end of the night, instead of taking a cab home we managed to get in a van that was taking people back to Brighton. It was a bit sketchy but so funny! Some guy rolls up in his van and says, "Where you going?" "Brighton." "Hop in!" It's a brilliant idea. If I had a van, I'd drive downtown on weekends and pick up the young'ns as they leave the bars and clubs to take them home. You know you'd do it, too.

Our fabulous week, well I guess it was more like half-a-week, came to an end on Sunday. Allie went home via Chinatown bus and I lied in bed watching movies and recuperating as the rain outside soothed me to sleep.

KickBALLIN'
The following weekend was my kickball team's annual Booze Cruise, where all of the team members and some others in the Boston League book tickets for a cruise around Boston Harbor that takes place on Friday nights. On our particular cruise, the famous Stevie B performed live. Who the hell is Stevie B? Well, you might know the song, "Spring love, come back to me". No? Doesn't ring a bell? Too bad. You should brush up on your 90s dance hits. Other than dancing, there's booze (duh!). However, the drinks are very pricey and you're not allowed to bring any beverages onto the boat, which they make sure of by patting you down. So, we are left to disguise our alcohol. I filled two plastic ziplock bags with vodka and then stuffed them into my bra. Dual purpose. Ladies, I highly recommend. Unfortunately, we tied that weekend's game. Our first non-win of the season. :(

This past Saturday was the rookie party. It was not as bad as I thought it would be - they did not harass us as much as I thought they would. Although, I was sabotaged during the Edward Forty Hands competition which I would've won otherwise. Nonetheless, we had a vice war - essentially, an eating and drinking contest (nips, beer, ho-hos, hot dogs, other gross food) that my team won. I also had a little revenge of my own when one of my teammates passed out, who happens to have graduated from the Coast Guard Academy. I drew all over his face and a friend drew on his legs. It was classic. Finally, the next day we conquered our opponents, who had been undefeated. :)

I don't want to work, I want to bang on these drums all day
Now, I work at DFCI along with 50% of CC students who work at Longwood. And, no, I am not blogging during work hours. Sheesh.

Anyway, if you've gotten this far into my passage, thank you. Hooray for the long weekend! I hope you enjoy your fireworks and bbq. Just don't burn yourself.

The BOS(s) and Architecture Boot Camp

2008-07-01T04:20:28Z

I recently started a program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design called Career Discovery. I’m studying Landscape Architecture for 6 weeks of my summer. The first grueling two weeks are over. I almost did not make it. I’ve learned a lot, but am getting flash backs of Conn. Coll. finals everyday.

]]> The program is interesting because it draws people with different backgrounds, in all different parts of their career paths. There are high school seniors and folks who’ve been out of college for 10 years. It’s an engaging environment with lots of cool people.

While I’ve been in Boston I’ve had the pleasure of running around with Dalin Chan and Sara Jayanthi (housefellow Teammate) playing trivia in bars and checking out DNA splicing machines, but not at the same time (unfortunately). I also crashed into Jamie “”the” Pepper. With all the Conn. people, and the work, and Bars as my only save haven, I feel like I’m right back in college. Unfortunately, I’ve not had anytime to really explore Boston. Harvard keeps me chained to my drawing desk, hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll pick the lock and hit up some Boston music scene.

Just before coming to Boston I stopped at Northfield Mount Hermon in western Mass. for my 5th year reunion. I was most scared of not recognizing some one who had been a good friend and having to pretend I remembered them the whole weekend. Luckily I did pretty well. I felt old, because 5th year reunion always seemed so far away, and then there it was. Nevertheless, it was a blast. I ran in to folks I had not seen in 5 years. Oddly, most people had not changed at all. No one I knew had kids yet or was married. But it turned out to be a great time catching up with some people who had dramatically changed my life before I came to Conn.

Lessons learned: Harvard is an academic boot camp, 5 Year reunion is about maintaining dignity.

Class of '07 Giving Update (Or, Mo' Money Fewer Problems)

2008-06-19T14:54:26Z

Hey Guys,

We've made some very nice progress with our giving drive since my last post! We're up to 41.6% and only need gifts from 40 more people in order to become the first class EVER to break 50% participation our first year after graduating! Don't forget to visit http://giving.conncoll.edu by June 30 in order to be a part of the success. Just like last year, even a dollar will do it, and this goes for all the alums out there, not just Class of 2007!

New Class of 2007 donors since my last update:

Eve Bertin-Lang
Nate Borgelt
Jessie Cheitlin
Christine Cruz
Vickie Curtis
Justin Eddings
Emily Gagen
Sam Garner
Rose Golder-Novick
Sara Jayanthi
Daniel Layfield
Jenny Madden
Neil McGowan
Jon McManus
Alexis Meisels
David Owyang
Tyler Pace
Jaime Pepper
Caeli Rubens
Melissa Skolnick
Zach Smith
Elaine Weisman

Shameless Plug (Or, Give Me Your Money)

2008-06-11T16:22:03Z

Hey Everyone,

It's that time of year! Conn's fiscal year is closing in about 3 weeks, and I want every member of the Class of 2007 to visit http://giving.conncoll.edu and make a gift before that time so that we can show the College that we're serious about creating a new tradition of consistent young alumni giving. Fortunately, we're still all about the participation, so keep those $1, $5, and $20 gifts coming in! Currently we're at about 37% participation, which is good, but we can DEFINITELY hit at least 50%!!! Here's a list of everybody in the class who's already made a gift:

Keith Anthony-Brown
George Arab
Sarah Armstrong
Lucy Arnold
Leah Barison
Emily Barry
Meghan Barry
Peter Baum
Laura Bernardi
Jessica Bethoney
Michelle Blankenship
Avery Block
Meredith Block
Chris Bothur
Katherine Brant
Caitlin Bresnahan
Laura Brown
Sarah Butler
Indy Buttenwieser
Kathleen Callaghan
Jason Carey
Kristin Chapman
Elizabeth Charpie
Solomon Choge
Ben Clopper
Katie Coats
Tes Cohen
Jess Comras
Chrissy Cooper-Vince
Caley Corsello
Liz Cryan
Rachel D'Agostino
Sophia Day
Zumara De la Cruz
Daniel De Sousa
Jed Dederick
Andy Deitz
Dani DeLaurentis
Adam Deligianis
Maria Dewees
Tina Dietrich
Jennifer Dillon
Kip Doble
Connor Donohue
Scott Faber
Brittany Fallon
Alex Feinstein
Sarah Felch
Bailey Fidler
Kevin Finefrock
Amber Fitch
Sophie Fitzgerald
Soren Gabrielsen
Rachel Gallitto
Henry Gaud
Joanna Gillia
Christiana Glas
Ally Glassman
Megan Glendon
Molly Goettsche
Art Gould
Lindsay Graff
David Greenidge
Liz Greenman
Marissa Grey
Jess Grossi
Ga-Nesha Hamilton
Cornelius Hardenbergh
Emma Haritos
Pat Heffernan
Sara Helstowski
Jake Henry
Yeslan Hernandez
Nate Hinman
Kristin Hocevar
Tana Hoffman
Grant Hogan
Emily Honstein
Dana Hoyt
Laura Irizarry-Garcia
Vassi Ivanova
Hans Jensen
Ross Jordan
Ryan Kelley
Fred Kemper
James Knurek
Bob Kyne
Donna Lanphear
Alex Lanstein
Amanda Laramie
Michele Lefkowitz
Robbie Logan
Whitney Longworth
Matt Magida
David Markham-Gessner
Amy Martin
Mike Materasso
Alex Maybury
Craig McCarrick
Megan McCarthy
Andrew McCullough
Meg McLaughlin
Justine Miller
Alissa Minot
Justin Morrow
Brenna Muller
Rysia Murphy
Visna Ngov
Micki Oliva
Kyle Olson
Mike O'Neill
Matt Ostrach
Andrea Packard
Soraya Palmer
Elizabeth Parillo
Natalie Paris
Ellen Paul
Beth Pearson
Teresa Pereira
Cammie Phelps
Adam Phillips
Evan Piekara
Jon Pisarski
Amanda Poe
Alex Rehnberg
Chris Reilly
Allison Reynolds
Mollie Reznick
Kimberly Richards
Alyson Ricker
Nick Rivera
Adam Robbins
Melanie Roberts
Beth Rodgers
Adam Romanow
Justin Rosenberg
Alexander Rotolo
Amanda Rowell
Nick Roybal
Rosemary Rutan
Amy Samuel
Meaghan Seelaus
Benjamin Sheldon
Ilya Simakov
T.J. Sliker
Allie Smith
Nicholas Socha
Seth Solway
Greg Sowa
Christopher St. John
Peter Sterling
Alex Stillson
Steven Strauss
Charley Struse
Brenna Sulat
Erin Sullivan
Cait Sweet
Jesse Szafarz
Alyssa Tartaglione
Sasha Terris-Maes
Will Thayer
Katie Tripple
Marissa Velarde
Amanda Wallas
Lisa Warren
Alice Watson
Alan Weene
Stefanie Weiss
Ingrid Wenzler
Katy Whitney
Katie Williams
Gerald Wols
Bradley Wray
Laz Yiannos
Tyler Youngblood
Allison Zelman
Jessica Zhao

Thanks for your support, everybody! If you're not on this list, BREAK OUT THAT CREDIT CARD AND GO ONLINE TO http://giving.conncoll.edu TODAY!!!

Someone peed on my car

2008-06-06T14:26:15Z

Since my last blog I have finished up my semester, taken a ten day break at home, started up a new semester, and had someone pee on my car...while I was in it. As always, it has been pretty eventful.

My semester ended up well, but I can't say that I absolutely love exam time. I had three sizable papers and a 48-hour take-home final for my law class. My first paper was on the ethical obligations of television dramas to portray accurate scientific and medical information to the public if it's conceivable to do so. Meaning, that if the information exists television dramas cannot just make things up because, in many cases, it becomes a hazard to public health. It was certainly a fun and interesting paper to write, but it had it's shortcomings. The take-home message of our paper is that television dramas, at the very least, have an obligation to offer a balanced view of controversial issues so as to not completely misinform the public. The reason why this is so important is because a significant portion of Americans do not have the reading comprehension levels to get information elsewhere and are essentially at the mercy of what the television tells them. And, especially with TV dramas, people think what they're seeing is an accurate portrayal of what actually happens.

My next paper was for my narrative ethics class. For this paper I designed a medical ethics teambuilding program for clinical teams in a hospital setting. The goal of the exercise was to build a positive and respectful atmosphere for everyone on a clinical team and teach everyone on the clinical team to value the varied moral perspectives of others in order to expand the narrative of the patient. The exercise essentially involves clinical teams reading and discussing short doctor or patient narratives and attempting to glean all the possible moral considerations that may or may not be in the narrative. Hopefully, the members of the clinical team will use what they learn and apply it to the hospital setting. This is just a rough sketch of the teambuilding exercise, but you get the idea.

My third paper was for my moral philosophy class. I'll spare everyone the details on this one (because they weren't my own ideas!). Basically, what we had to do was discuss the narrative movement in bioethics and how understanding narratives and stories contributes to medical ethics. Interesting and important stuff, so good thing I took a whole class on it.

AND finally, my 48-hour champion law school exam. It was a typical law school exam (or so I'm told) that involved a fact pattern question and theory question. The fact pattern question involved analyzing a fake public health policy, offering all the legal objections, and making policy suggestions to make the policy legally and socially more acceptable. The theory question allotted us 2500 words to create a coherent theory of public health and two examples of this theory in action. As my professor later told me, if you can come up with a legitimate theory of public health in 2500 words then you have the potential for a bright career in public health! Well hooray for that. Naw, I like public health, and so do you! Next time, she should probably give us something that's possible within the word limits.

THEN, I went home and had some fun in the Midwestern behemoth, Chicago, with former camel Emily Gagen. There was also a sizable amount of merriment in my Midwestern gem, Milwaukee! That's right, it's my gem. More on that next time.

Oh yeah, someone really did pee on my car in Philly, but I'll talk about that next time too. It gives everyone something to look forward to. Stay smelly camels!

Reunion Recap (Or, Inaugural Cookout Countdown: 3 Days)

2008-06-05T18:36:21Z

After an entire year of preparation, countless conference calls, endless planning sessions, and an innumerable number of hiccups and obstacles, Reunion 2008 has finally come and gone! It took place this past Friday through Sunday, and it was even more hectic and busy than I remember from last year (it could also be that I was actually getting work done this time around). I somehow managed to put in 41 hours over the course of the three days, and in fact I was so busy that I didn't get a chance to have even a single drink with any of the alumni!

Despite my complaining, there were many more positive things about the weekend than there were negatives....

]]> ....Squarely on the positive side was that I finally got to meet the four-month-old baby of Molly Taylor '98, one of our most dedicated and reliable alumni volunteers. Though I had already seen pictures of him, I was still taken aback by how cute the little guy was! All in all there was a sizable number of children of alumni on campus, including quite a contingent of teenagers. I don't claim to have all the answers when it comes to parenting (although I am raising Mitch and Julia Stiles's lovechild Moonglow pretty much single-handedly), but it seems obvious to me that bringing a fifteen-year-old or two along with you as you get drunk with the people you used to get drunk with 30 years ago isn't going to turn out to be fun for anyone involved. Another plus of the weekend is that I scored about 100 free beers to take home! The College is able to return any unused beverages to the liquor store but only as long as they are still in the original packaging. That means all individuals bottles of beer that have exited their 6- or 12-pack boxes were up for grabs! Hauling all of them up a flight of stairs when I got back to my apartment wasn't fun, but my hard work has definitely been worthwhile; drinking for free on a deck definitely tastes like freedom!

WIth Reunion behind us, 4:00 hours have officially started in our office, which means that we get to leave a little early and dress more casually until the students return to campus in August. That means I'm wearing jeans right now (shh, I'm not blogging at work, don't be ridiculous) and will be headed for home in a mere 94 minutes. I proposed earlier today that we instate 2:00 hours for the summer, but unfortunately the idea has yet to gain any momentum.

This weekend, I've got a couple WTF shows (Portsmouth, NH tomorrow and NYC on Saturday) as well as a new apartment party that Mitch and I are throwing on Sunday. If you're in the area for any of them, I hope to see you there!

My Calling: Professional Landscaping?

2008-05-28T18:52:32Z

I’ve just completed my fellowship at Trinity College and am headed to Boston Town USA for an Architectural Landscape program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

I was lucky enough to be able to stop in at the One-Year-Out reunion of the class of 2007. Mr. Reilly clubed out Tansil Theater with classy lighting, great eats, a signature blue camel cocktail and Prez. Big Hig even came through. It was a swanky affair where I ran into peeps like HF Teammates Whitney Longworth and Yeslan Hernandez, my shoe shopping wizard Ally Glassman, studio ally (soon to be Boston ally) Amber Fitch and a few other faces. The next morning I was cheering on ’08 grads as they took the stage for the quick two minutes it took to grab the paper from His Higness.

]]> It was much less stressful then my own graduation a year earlier. No cap and gown, family, or packing to worry about. It was nice to enjoy the beautiful day and relive the true triumph of graduation through my friends.

2008 Conn. grads had the pleasure and honor of listening to Tavis Smiley, talk show host, author and a professional Black man. A protégé of Cornel West and a great thinker in his own right Smiley reminded the class of ‘08 that they did not enter into a prestigious institution to graduate as followers, but as leaders. He also told the grads that in order to lead they most love, and if they want to save (the world and the people in it) they must serve. Smiley asked the grads to search for their calling, not a job, a calling. The speech was delivered in an organic oration that defined the reality of the responsibilities that the Connecticut College diploma charges to its graduates.

All this gave me pause. Have I been fulfilling the charges of my diploma? Have I been honoring my unique and selective education that is available to a minuet number of people in the world? The short, excuse free, answer is no. The next question is how can I honor the charges of my diploma and what would that look like…? I need to marinate on that one.

In preparation for the intensive landscape architecture program I rented The Lawnmower Man (on VHS, cause I roll like that). Staring Pierce Brosnan TLM tries to do for virtually reality what War Games did for global thermal nuclear war. TLM fails miserably and I learned nothing about landscape Architecture, major disappointment.

love and lead/serve and save

Trust Me on the Sunscreen

2008-05-23T19:13:21Z

Gee whiz, May is almost over. Hard to believe. This month has flown by without my noticing. But you know what they say - time flies by when you're having fun. I must have been having lots of fun...

May started out with a bang, as it usually does, ever since the introduction of Floralia into my life. Now, I consider it a nondenominational holiday, which I plan on celebrating for the rest of my life. I believe that I have the power to make it a holiday that is celebrated by many across the nation and, eventually, across the globe. In fact, I celebrated Floralia along with other fellow Camels in Cape Town during our semester abroad during which most of neighbors got involved, including our landlord & lady as well as our frequent cab driver. It was incredible, to say the least. This year was my first and perhaps last Floralia at CC as an alum. Nonetheless, I will carry along the tradition of waking up early and having a drink in the shower on the first Saturday of May wherever I go. I believe Floralia is well on its way to having national recognition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floralia

]]> I was quite happy to have visited CC twice this month. Two weeks after Floralia, our class had our One Year Out reunion the night before graduation. Last year it was held in CroBar, which I was hoping would be the case for us since I wanted to relive my days as an undergrad when I would go to the bar, chat with Gail, and buy some cheap pitchers of beer. However, this year they decided to hold the event at Tansill Theater - a location I was a bit dubious of for its potential for a get-together. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was decorated quite nicely and that many of members of the class of 2007 attended. There were many delectable treats (including delicious, just-out-of-the-oven cookies), plenty of beverages (no red punch :( what?), and President Higdon, whom I was able to speak to and learn about the planned renovations to the campus as well as many other important factors concerning the college. Thus, the event was a total success! Post-reunion, I was able to relive my college days hanging out with some alums and pre-graduates. I even made the "trek" across route 32 to Abbey House and the River Ridge apartments that included a run-in with Campus Saftey without which my college experience would not have been complete. Finally, I attended the college's 90th Commencement and cheered on friends that were graduating. It was rather strange to be standing in the audience, remembering my graduation. I can't believe I've been out of school for a year already. I feel old...

Still, I'm young at heart - an attribute I've been able to share with my kickball team. I am in love with every member on the team. It seems that we all just want to relive the best days of our youth: playing outside, socializing, and a little competitive flip cup (a game I have missed much since graduating). Another thing I really love about being on the kickball team is meeting new people. Every time we have a game, all the teams on the Boston league go to the league bar An Tua Na (good luck pronouncing it) and socialize. I'm always meeting someone new from a different team. What about the games, you ask? Oh yes, the games. Our first game of the season was May 11th and we won 16-0. I'd like to quote the captain in saying, "We're good but we're not that good yet." The other team was just terrible. I was unable to attend the next game since I was at CC but our team won that one, too. Apparently, I'm on a really good team. It's just too bad I can't say I contribute to the team's greatness in skill but I'm working on it. I'll be sure to keep you updated on our games and my improvement.

Currently, I'm counting down the seconds until the weekend, which will be full of many activities taking place outside: Earthfest, car washing, walking across Boston, pool. I hope you, too, get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather during our long weekend. And don't forget the sunscreen! Cheers!

By the way, I think this article about blogging is worth a read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/magazine/25internet-t.html

Age of Aquarium (Or, I Love You, Mama!)

2008-05-16T18:25:31Z

It hasn't been too long since my last post, but already there's plenty of new developments to talk about (spoiler alert: most of these anecdotes involve cameos from one or more members of the New Kids on the Block).

Last week I played my last two Conn-affiliated concerts of the year, the first being the Student Composers' concert on Wednesday and the Connecticut College Orchestra concert on Thursday. Both were quite nice, and I'm pretty sure I can pin the success of each on the participation of Anthea Kreston and Jason Duckles, who are the College's violin and cello teachers, respectively. Anthea and Jason played many of the students' compositions on Wednesday night, and I had the pleasure and privilege of joining them on the performance of a piece for violin, viola, cello, and double bass. The following night, both of them were joined by Rieko Aizawa, who together comprise the Amelia Piano Trio, to perform Beethoven's Triple Concerto (contrary to what you might expect, a triple concerto is not, in fact, a mysterious and much-whispered-about high dive maneuver whose grace and difficulty is matched only by its deadliness). I can say without risk of overstatement that the performance was one of the most fulfilling I have ever played on double bass! At the same time, however, it will be nice to have fewer rehearsal for the next three months....

]]> ....Last weekend was my 5-year high school reunion (they don't really have reunions for GED recipients, so that's why Sam hasn't posted about his 5th). Though it took place on Saturday, I headed up a day early to have a pre-Reunion gathering at my friend Tom's house so that I could spend some quality time with the people I actually wanted to see. Most of the events of the evening are not appropriate for the blog, so I'll just sum things up with a few key phrases: school song, cell phone tower, 4am, complete lack of anyone female. The next day was equally exciting, but in a very different way (there were girls there). About 20 people from my class showed up, and it was great to reconnect with them and find out what everyone was up to. Surprisingly, one girl actually knows Mitch! I guess when you've got a head full of silky golden hair and dimples that you could plant a sapling in you become pretty well-known with the ladies (plus his personal website shortshorts.com helps get his name out there).

Since I was generally in the area of my parents' house, I headed up to beautiful Nashua, NH to spend Mother's Day at home (if you didn't know I was a thoughtful and adoring son, then educate yourself). We had a nice lunch and got caught up on each other's lives. Actually, all told it was a pretty straight-forward day, so to spice things up I'll add in a few twists. Mid-way through lunch, a gigantic mutated lizard, surely the product of some ill-fated zoological radiation experiment, crashed through the front wall of the restaurant, its eyes red and menacing, its teeth sharp as a knife's edge and dripping with a venom whose potency surely has no match, its claws and tail whipping and slashing throughout the dining room, neither knowing how many injured and dead they left in their wake nor caring for the souls lost. Fortunately, my dad had bought my mom for Mother's Day a military-grade tranquilizer rifle, which he quickly and expertly removed from its lovely pink polka-dotted wrapping paper and white bow, loaded with a quartet of maximum-strength sedatives, aimed carefully at the hellish beast's jugular, and fired with the skill of William Tell and the calm of a Buddhist monk. The monster shrieked in protest, trying in vain to scratch at its neck to brush away the foreign objects filling its veins with sleep-inducing serum, but within a matter of seconds it began to sway and swagger, a moment later finally collapsing in a heap of blood-soaked scales. Those still alive in the restaurant fell silent, unable to sort their myriad conflicting emotions into any sensible order, unsure what to feel first. We stared and stuttered, some of us trying futilely to put the experience of the past few minutes into words. Failing, we wordlessly gathered what belongings had not been turned into rubble and splinters and made our way back to our cars and homes. Our skin and our spirits were both scarred, but we knew that time was the only balm for our still-stinging wounds. We turned, then, to our one source of solace: that ever-dwindling, beautifully blurred, blessedly imperfect human memory that promised to day by month by year by decade to lose hold of more and more horrific details of the nightmare that we had just lived.

That's about all for me! I'll check back in again with stories from the One Year Reunion and Commencement!

Yeah, I met Luke Wilson last night

2008-05-11T18:27:12Z

I must tell my crazy story of the year. Aside from all the other fun things I’ve been up to, I went out last night in center city Philly. I went to a REALLY trendy restaurant and bar called The Continental. Personally speaking, I find the name to be a bit lame, but the place is pretty nice nonetheless. I’m there for no more than half an hour and Luke Wilson shows up. For those of you who don’t know, he’s Owen Wilson’s brother and can be seen in movies such as Old School and Legally Blonde. Sorry ladies, he’s not that hot in person and on top of that he’s a real jerk. Being the ballsy idiot that I am and not really caring too much about his celebritiness, I went up to say hey to the disgruntled looking comedian. Mr. Wilson (to be patronizing) was sitting on the edge of a couch about 5 feet away from my going-out clan. I asked him if he’s Luke Wilson and he said no, of course. So I asked him, knowing it was him, if I could shake his hand anyway. I then told him I was about to leave and I just wanted to say hey…so he told me that he was actually Luke Wilson. Thanks, Luke. I was then cutoff by some girl who was a huge fan of Luke Wilson, as she told me. No problem, I’m not. After spacing out and awkwardly standing there for a second, Mr. Wilson asked me if I was going to keep standing there or if I was going to give him some f-ing space. No, he was not polite enough to say f-ing, apparently, as I found out, he really enjoys dropping the f-bomb. So I told him I understand I’m not a girl, it’s cool. I guess I struck a nerve, because he dared me to say something f-ing smart again and told me he’ll knock my f-ing head off. WHOA THERE LUKE. I didn’t know those were fightin’ words, but I guess I don’t know the celebrity lingo.

I was about to walk out the door until I realized that I left my coat back at my table. Pretty disappointed and shocked that this guy had been so rude after someone went up to say “hey,” I went back to get my coat. I certainly understand that he probably gets this crap from people all the time—it must be obnoxious and exhausting! But, there are nicer ways to avoid being bothered by people in a Philly bar (if you'd like some suggestions just ask, I'm from the midwest). Anyway, I went up to him again and told him I just wanted to ask him a question. Without hesitation he told me I was starting to get really f-ing annoying. Starting? I thought I was annoying the first time I went up to talk to him. Of course, I told him I just wanted to ask a question, but he just wanted me to get the f#$% away. His bodyguard, who was probably enjoying this little exchange, told me he had had a long day. Really? Luke Wilson had a long day. I wasn’t aware that having a long day gave you license to take a verbal dump on everyone that talked to you. I mean, you are a celebrity. You don’t think people are going to innocently come up to and express their fanhood? I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with how long his day was and everything to with how big his ego is. I certainly enjoy his silly Frat Pack movies, but there is no excuse for treating people like that (says the bioethicist-in-training). He could have at least given me some credit for having the balls to talk to him, while most people at the bar were ignoring him.

Anyway, I just find it extremely intriguing that someone whose entire existence relies on his fans was such an unrelenting jerk to me AND everyone else at the bar. But, if anyone who reads my blog can offer some perspective on this unfortunate situation, please do. For now, I’d recommend a boycott of his movies until he starts being more polite and responsible in public. There are plenty of people that love his movies and look up to him in some way or another--God forbid. Don’t disappoint your fans Luke! I could always just go to Bryn Mawr, where he’s currently filming a movie, and say, “Hey Luke, I just wanted to ask you a question!”

Welcome to Floralida (Or, Movin' On Up)

2008-05-07T20:29:16Z

Howdy gang! I haven't blogged in a while, so there's plenty to gab about (I just got through re-re-reading all my dog-eared copies of the entire series of The Babysitters' Club, so I'm feeling pretty talkative today).

On Monday morning I actually got out of bed with more than a half hour until I had to leave for work (very unusual), so I decided to check out some TV while eating breakfast. I flipped on the tube, saw that it was tuned to VH1, read in the lower left corner that the video that was about to start was "Beat It" by Fallout Boy featuring John Mayer, and immediately turned off the television and ate in silence. I've been developing a new theory that Monday morning sets the tone for the entire week ahead, so I wasn't about to risk screwing myself over for five days just for a little distraction while noshing on an eggwhite omelet (some people think I'm an egg racist for only eating the whites, but really I'm just trying to avoid the cholesterol)....

]]> ....On Sunday I accompanied world-renowned roommate and personal dimple coach Mitch "Smile for a While" Herz on a stroll a few blocks away from our bach pad to check out a potential new apartment (we're looking to move because our other roommate Terry is really starting to let himself go hygiene-wise, and I can barely breathe anywhere near the much-soiled futon mattress that he sleeps on in the living room). There were some pros and cons about this place, but way on the top of the pro list is that it includes a BIGGITY-BUMPIN' brand new porch, to which we would have exclusive access (I just had a vision of Mitch and me opening our own private members-only outdoor tanning salon/massage parlor). After a lot of thought and deliberation, Mitch and I had a pow-wow during lunch, and we decided that we're moving! It'll be a big change for us; our current building is the first place in New London that either of us has lived, plus we won't be right upstairs from Laura Brown anymore! Both of those were big considerations, but I think we've made the right choice (I might change my tune if in a few weeks I discover an ill-hidden rotting corpse in our new attic's storage space that I subsequently become responsible for disposing of without alerting the authorities or contracting a life-threatening strain of cooties; I would hate to have to go through that whole process again!). If anyone out there has any decoration tips, free furniture, or a desire to get absolutely buckwild on a badass private deck, just let me know.

The previous day was equally exciting, as it was Floralia here at Conn. Though I had played at the much-regaled day-long on-campus puke-tinged celebration of booze, music, and the human body three times before, this was the first time I was on the bill as a professional, as opposed to with MOBROC. I'm pleased to report that Welcome to Florida rocked the crowd's socks off (though most people were already just wearing flip-flops, so it wasn't that hard, really). We finished up at about 2:30 in the afternoon, so in theory there was still plenty of time left to party up, but in reality all of the deans and President Higdon were there, so I felt way too uncomfortable to stick around and drink. It worked out fine, however, because I ended up having a much-needed relaxing night downtown. Hopefully Conn will have WTF back again next year!

The night prior (I just realized I'm recounting my recent activities in reverse; I feel like a real-life, less handsome Guy Pearce!), I hung out in lovely New London with an assortment of Conn and non-Conn friends, including Welcome to Florida drummer JZ "Marches to the Beat of His Own Drummer, Which Is Himself" MacMartin, who was in town a night early for the Floralia show the next day. We had a pretty rippin' time, culminating in the last few songs of a rocking-as-always performance by Incognito Sofa Love at Oasis. It was nice to go out and have a fun, music-related night on the town since I figured I wouldn't be able to participate in the full Floralia festivities.

The night before that (hey, this format is working, so why bother changing it now?), I teamed up with fellow '07er-turned-Conn staffer Kyle Olson as well as Richard Schenk, musical director for the Dance Department, for a jazz trio gig in Cro for the first half of Fishbowl. For those of you who don't know, Fishbowl is an annual event where seniors get together for a dance late in the spring term at which they gradually get more and more naked. When the supply of, well, let's just say "refreshments" runs out, everyone doffs the reminder of their wardrobe and streaks down to Castle Court to bang the 10' gong located therein. Since I'm now an employee of the College, I was worried about having to play in front of students wearing little or no clothing because it would clearly jeopardize the level of professionalism that I've worked hard all year to build for myself (now that I think about it, this was actually the first time I've ever gotten nervous during a public performance and consequently tried to imagine the audience not in their underwear). Fortunately, we got to stop playing at around 12:15, so the vast majority of people in attendance still had plenty of clothing on. Kyle and I were so leery of accidentally viewing some undergraduate unmentionables that after the gig we stripped our own clothes off and streaked around campus just to blow off some steam (type "Kyle and Reilly's nude adventure" into Google if you don't believe me).

Well I could keep going back in time, but I think that's enough info from my life for one day. There are about million things coming up in the next few weeks, however, so be sure to check back in for more updates. Now get outside and enjoy this spring weather! Toodles, y'all!

About Being Famous

2008-05-01T18:56:40Z

Over the weekend I exhibited at Broad Street Gallery in Hartford. CT. I showed alongside Mary Catherine McBrian, a talented painter, who will be earning her masters in French through Middlebury’s abroad program this coming year. She is the bomb! Folks from all my different circles in Hartford came through to the opening.

]]> I had a chance to reconnect with folks from Hygienic Art Galleries, located in downtown New London on Bank Street (www.hygienic.org). I also saw people from Hartford Friends Meeting and Conn. Coll. represented with Victoria Mann and Andrew Carten from ‘08. Fellow co-workers from Real Art Ways (www.realartways.org) also showed their support. So it was all an exciting time. The after party continued at Hartford’s three story bar and eatery City Steam, where we enjoyed the brewed-in-house selection of beers and dug into the salmon special. The night continued with Saeed Ola from Swarthmore ‘07 and my brother Windsor Jordan, also Swat-Team ’07, with saki at Koji and vodka & tonics at The Russell with other young Black professionals.

The whole night reminded me that openings are social events. They provide a time and place to celebrate, to meet new people, and have simulating conversations about art or, at least pretend to. Art has a way of invigorating life. Shaking off the dust of life, its normalcy and routine and shedding light on the feelings and wonder that really make up good experiences (Dali and Picasso both have similar quotes, I’m trying to tag myself for future famousness).

I’m also in the middle of hunting down new jobs in arts administration and gallery management. This is important because I need to eat and live under a roof next month and a new job is going to determine how much I eat and where that roof is going to be.

Being out of school is like evolution. The priorities are different, the expectations have changed and you must adapt and bend to the situation. A fish out of water either dies or learns how to breathe air and walk...quickly. Where the hell is my De Lorean! And spin up that FTL drive!