Nothing new

Lately I have been up to the same type of things as the previous two weeks.  The number one biggest thing I'm doing continues to be taking phone calls, which means I get a lot of interesting stuff on a wide variety of issues.  I have also been getting to know two other interns who are sometimes in the same office with me, both doing senior project as well.  This week I had a few people walk up and come into the office with questions while my sponsor was out, which was the first time I've dealt with people face to face by myself during project.  They both had pretty simple questions which my I relayed to my sponsor, then called them back later.  My sponsor has been very nice and accommodating.  He is giving me a taste of what he does, without putting me in over my head with people who call in with issues.  One issue that seems to be recurring is people having issues with the Post Office, and mail delivery.  I have probably taken five separate phone calls in mail issues.

First Week of Project

For the past week Andrew and I have been at 2100 Lakeside doing interviews for our documentary. Over all we did a total of 17 interviews, which was amazing and many more than I thought we were going to get in the beginning. It gives us lots of good material for the documentary, we have yet to figure out how long the video will be probably around 10 minutes at this point. But we have many more interviews to go. This week we will be heading over to North Point Transitional Housing to meet with our main sponsor, Ed Gemerchak. Then the week after we will go over to the West side to West Side Catholic Center. Anyway, every story that we heard so far has been inspiring. Most men have gone through some kind of trauma in their past to end up at the shelter. Also many men suffer from some sort of mental disability from bipolar syndrome to post traumatic stress disorder. It was very interesting to discover the number of men who had attending at least some portion of college. One man even had a law degree from Case Western but after discovering that he has bipolar syndrome his life took a turn for the worse.  On the flip side we have heard many stories from people who did not complete high school but rather went into the work force. Many of these situations resulted in a bad family life at home, parents who didn't really care. Or possibly a family with just a single mother trying to take care of several children. Obviously the work load for the mother would be tremendous. We also heard a story from a man who stopped going to school in just the 4th grade. Those are just a few little short pieces of the some of the stories that we heard over the past week. Needless to say, I am excited for the next two weeks of project and to keep collecting people's stories!

First Day

Last Wednesday was our first day at 2100 Lakeside Men's Shelter where we began our adventure. We met with one of our sponsors/mentors Annie Holden. Who set us up with plenty of men to interview, in the first day we interviewed three people. Returning to the shelter after being there for the fall intensive for Homelessness class with Mr. Breisch was interesting. Pretty much all the men who I met during the intensive remembered me. They all asked about Gabe Napoli who I had been parted with in the fall but were very welcoming to my new partner, Andrew. One man even said he had missed us and was disappointed that we had not been back since the fall intensive. He said that he loved playing board games and chatting with us because he always had fun when we played board games. Watching each interview was spectacular, they were all very different yet had the same message throughout. The men all had the same goals and ambitions, which were to get out of the shelter and locate permanent housing. Each interview only takes about 10-15 minutes depending on how much information the person wants to tell us. Actually our first interview lasted for just around 30 minutes, so we just dove directly into the process. One of us would film and the other would do the interviewing. All in all day one was awesome, we did three interviews but also set up more interviews for the days to come. We were really excited to get our project under way.

Picture day!

Yesterday and Monday were picture days at JCD. Picture day at dance isn't quite like picture day at school. Each group needs a picture in most of their costumes, and this pose often takes 10-15 minutes to set. Additionally, many dancers sign up for multiple individual photos in different costumes. This takes a significant amount of organization ahead of time to make sure the schedule will run as smoothly as possible. However, I learned that sticking to the schedule was not the way to go at times; if there was an individual photo ready to go, we let them go ahead of time. For that reason, we were ahead of schedule at times (kind of unheard of for picture days at dance studios). We also had a new photographer this year, and they were really organized with multiple people taking pictures and talking to parents about how to pay, etc. I stood at the doorway between the lobby and the back hallway to call for the next photographs to get lined up. I also had to make sure that no parents came into the back hallway, which was probably our biggest struggle. We also checked costumes and helped parents navigate the system (before their dancer took an individual photo they had to speak with Carl, one of the photographers, pay, and receive a slip their child would need to hand to the photographer when their picture was taken). Overall, I think this was one of our most successful picture days yet, and after getting a sneak peak at some photos last night, that thought was verified - they look great!

Sigal and Maddie

Fingers Crossed!

This post is meant for Monday, sorry for the delay.

After a great start last Wednesday my project is proving more and more difficult.

Last Thursday I spent some time researching for my interviews. As I brainstormed tasks that I thought I should learn I also collected names of people/places I could potentially ask to interview. I also spent time diagraming my set up/plan, as I won't have much help/equipment when I’m filming making preparation key. Later in the day I took a class on my amateur digital camera, which was helpful as I learned about how a camera functions on a basic level as well as on different, more intricate settings. After this class I spoke with my sponsors and they were gracious enough to offer their own, professional equipment for me to use. So although I will ultimately not be using my own camera the class was helpful in teaching me how a basic lens works, specifically how the camera focuses on the object – this is crucial as I want my camera to focus on the person I’m interviewing and must be able to adjust the focus appropriately as a person naturally moves. (There are many minute details, like a person’s minor and natural movements, which I have to take into account while filming).

Friday I took two AP tests, which took up the entire day.

Monday I scouted for interviews and made inquiries. I went to a seamstress who declined my invitation to film her. I’m afraid that some people I ask will be camera shy and reject the idea like the seamstress. A large portion of my project is finding professionals who have enough time/willing to help me. Hopefully the few people I have lined up next will follow through!

Auditions

This blog post is actually about this past Monday, so sorry about any confusion. Anyways, on Monday we had the auditions for the School Residency Program (also called Student Residency Program). In order to qualify for an audition, applicants must have a four year degree of any kind, but it obviously helps if it is in theater. Each applicant must also have two monologues prepared, one Shakespeare and one contemporary, that, combined, must take no longer than three minutes. Overall, each audition took around five minutes, which gave the actors time for their monologues and to introduce themselves, hand off resumes and headshots, and explain the source materials for their monologues. My task was to check people in for each of their auditions and make sure everything ran smoothly. Also, I had about an hour free in which I could watch auditions. I saw many fantastic actors, and many not so good actors. However, besides being a good actor, an applicant must be good with kids of all ages: after all, the School Residency Program for which they are auditioning takes place solely in schools and helps students. The other plus was that I kind of got an unofficial behind the scenes tour of Playhouse Square, specifically the State Theater, if anyone is familiar with that (Playhouse Square also has the Ohio and Palace Theaters). In order to get from the GLT offices in the Bulkley Bldg (which is right next to the Playhouse Square parking lot)to the audition location, we had to take a long backstage passageway through the State Theater, which was pretty neat. The auditions took place in the rehearsal halls, so I got to see where all of the mainstage productions rehearse (I also had to use my special ID to bypass security, which made me feel all official). Anyways, it was a very busy but fun day!

Hi Everyone!
So these are the photos from my recent event at the Great Lakes Theater. We had a wonderful time and everything went very smoothly! I was in charge of guarding the curtain so that guests were not able to see the dining room before the event started. Needless to say, I got asked many mundane questions about why this was happening and where the bathrooms were. I got to meet a lot of fantastic people and see just how great it was for the event to come together so well. It was really cool to see the before and after processes of this. I really liked the logistical aspect of this. This has been a really cool thing to be pushed into and have had tons of fun being a part of something this big.
What I learned from this event is that talking and engaging people is quite difficult. It is rather hard to make small talk and keep people interested in the silent auctions or paddle raisers (which is when people raise numbered paddles to donate money). I also learned that there are a lot of moving parts and that everything must be on time so that the guests do not notice any imperfections. One other thing I learned was definitely do not wear uncomfortable heels! It was a painful night. There will be more pictures and updates to come!