With a truly terrible year past me, I was looking for some improvement in the fall of 1983. I actually got it, and it was a lot better than I expected.
I auditioned for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and was cast as Tom Snout. At the time, I thought that it was a great way to start the season by producing a play with a huge cast. It got more new students involved and excited about being in the department, even if they were only cast as extras. The opening play my freshman year only had six characters in it. Compound that with the fact that no freshmen were in the initial cast of the second production made me wonder if anybody really paid any attention to the freshmen. Well, yes they did, but that spotlight never shined on me.
I thought I was on a pretty good roll with "Dream." But that came to a stop with "The Elephant Man." Both of the plays in the fall semester were directed by Dr. R. For the audition, we gathered around in a circle on the stage. He started with us doing movement improvisations. He gave us these pieces of paper, each with one word on them and we were supposed to embody the word each of us were given. He started with two actors. They slowly worked their way toward each other and performed this dazzling fluid piece in which their bodies swayed back and forth between each other. It turned out that their words were "salt" and "water," of which they were not aware of the other actor's word.
Because that took up so much time, Dr. R started putting us in groups of six. My word was "comforter." I don't know what I was supposed to do with that, so I just lied on the floor and moved from side to side. One of the actors crawled over me. That was the extent of my audition. (I should note that if I had been in Dr. R's Beginning Acting class the previous year, I would have known what to do to interact with everyone else.)
After that, he had us do cold readings from the script. He called each actor to come up, EXCEPT FOR ME! (Probably because I didn't do anything during the physical improv.) But I did blow a chance to read. At one point, one of the actors forgot who was supposed to play John Merrick and pulled me up off the floor. In an awkward moment, I pointed at the actor who was supposed to read. Now, if I'd known Dr. R wasn't going to call me up, I would had just gone ahead and started auditioning, even though I knew full well there was no way I was going to get to play John Merrick. In fact, I hadn't even prepared a voice to read for the part, so it was better for me that I didn't commandeer the audition. I would have looked like an even worse actor in front of Dr. R.
I honestly didn't know what I was supposed to do to be considered for the cast. Should I have gone up to him afterward and told him I didn't get to read? Should I have asked to be part of the call back so I would get a chance? Should I risk the chance of him telling me I just was not a good enough actor to even be considered? I just did nothing. Even if I had done something, I still doubt I would have been cast. Those two actors who did the "salt" and "water" piece didn't get cast, either, so it wasn't like I was the only one who came up short. I had hoped he would have realized what happened and invited me to the callbacks, but that didn't happen, either.
However, I did get to do the lighting design for the production. It was very challenging and a lot of fun to put together. Chud got to design the set, so this marked one of many occasions in which we were able to collaborate on projects.
But the whole issue of that audition left a bad taste in my mouth. I started thinking that maybe the problem was that I wasn't really committing myself to the department. I took a look at my degree plan and saw that I would have enough room to declare Theatre as a second major AND I would be able to graduate in December of 1985 instead of May 1986. I went down to the Adminstration building and made the change. I would discover a couple of years later that it didn't really make that much of a difference, except that I could put on a resume that I had a degree in Theatre.
The Evening of One Acts was a go that year. I was cast in "Asylum." I played Chuckles the Wonder Dog. I have to admit that this was the most perfect performance I have ever been a part of. Even Dr. R said he was blown away by our presentation. The only problem was that no one did any publicity for the show, so we only had 35 people show up. That means the Theatre fraternity only collected $35. However, one of the other directors complained that he paid money out of his own pocket to build his sets (which no one asked him to) and demanded that he be compensated. I should note that the director was married and already had a child, so this actually created a hardship for him. The fraternity wound up giving him the $35.
Even though I was one of the better singers in the Theatre Department, I was not initially cast in "The King and I." As I mentioned before, I asked Dr. W if I could play one of the priests. He let me. There were only two of us playing priests. I was glad to be cast in another show. However, I would like to point out that a couple of our A-listers who were up for the lead role were cast as guards. Both of them got mad about the outcome and quit the production. A couple of wimpy-looking guys filled in as guards. And on top of that, they had to run around on stage without their shirts on. They were NOT menacing. We shouldn't have even bothered with guards.
The final mainstage show of the season was "Deathtrap." Mr. H directed it. Even though there are only five characters in it, I got cast as Porter Milgrim. I was finally getting my chance in the spotlight. But it was hard to enjoy because there was another actor in the running for the part. We were both in the callbacks. He claimed there was a battle between Mr. H to have him in "Deathtrap" and Ms. C to have him in her children's theatre production. According to him, he was supposed to be in "Deathtrap," but Ms. C won. While I didn't believe it, it still didn't feel good to hear.
The only other thing about this production is that it set off a bizarre series of castings over the next two years in which my character didn't show up until the second act. The nice thing about this was that I didn't have to do my make up and costume at the same as everyone else. While I would show up at the same time, all I had to do was wait for everyone to clear out so I could do my stuff.
I ended yesterday's post with my ruminitions on my Beginning Acting class with Ms. C. During the fall semester, I took Intermediate Acting. Finally, I had a performance-based class with Dr. R. I was looking forward to playing some much-needed catch-up with my peers. However, on the first day, Dr. R announced that the class would not be like Beginning Acting, in which the participants got all touchy-feely. He said we would learn to work more with our bodies in this class. My first thought was, "No! I'm now going to be three steps behind everyone else." I really felt like I would never be able to reach the level of artistry that I desired. To be honest, I never really did.
But all and all, this was an otherwise great year for my involvement in Theatre. I felt like it more than made up for the cruddy freshman year I experienced. But that feeling wouldn't last forever.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
ENMU Theatre Department, Part 1: Freshman Year
I didn't really expect to get full swing into the Theatre Department during my freshman year at Eastern New Mexico University. It was, after all, my minor. I had actually signed up for more Communications classes than Theatre classes that first semester in 1982. I just thought it would be something I wouldn't really devote that much time to. However, the lure of participating in live theatre proved to be too much and I dove in head first before I knew what was going on.
After I was not cast in the first production "How the Other Half Loves," I volunteered to work backstage. Even though I was not in the cast, I did get to go out on stage in between scenes to remove and set props. One of the things I was proud of was putting a large teddy bear in a rocking chair, which was the first thing the audience saw when the curtain opened. I liked that my little touch got to stay in the final production.
I didn't get cast in "The Threepenny Opera," either. My audition consisted of singing a song and learning a dance routine. The dance instructor showed up to demonstrate the routine. She told the students she knew that it was easy. You've probably seen that episode of "Friends" in which Joey has lied on his acting resume that he has studied a lot of dance. During the call-back, the choreographer enlists his help in teaching the dancers the routine. He starts by saying, "Oh, it's an easy routine," and then goes into all these moves that would be simple for an average dancer, but extremely complicated for anyone who hasn't studied any dance. That was how the routine at the audition appeared to me.
Since I was doing really badly in a lot of my classes, I decided not to work on the crew of that production. But I still had to show up and help strike the set. I went backstage before the show was over so I could be there to take things apart. When some people saw me, they would ask, "What are you doing back here?" I found out later that there was some sort of rule that said that if you weren't part of the cast or crew of a production, you were not allowed to be backstage. This would include rehearsals and performances. However, I saw everybody violate the rule during rehearsals. Of course, no one told me this beforehand, but they acted like I was supposed to know.
One thing that worked in my favor during my freshman year was that the Theatre fraternity was planning its Evening of One Acts. I submitted a play that I wanted to direct. My selection was not chosen. However, they decided they needed a short play to be performed in front of the curtain while sets were being changed between two of the plays. I came up with the idea for "Allergies" from the incident with Pad and Scod. I was surprised when it was selected and that I would get to direct. I got to sit in with the other student directors during the cattle call auditions and choose my cast. After rehearsing and getting it down, the Evening got canceled. First, one of the productions had to pull out because of problems getting the cast to rehearse. Then, another one shut down because one of the actors decided to take a leave of absence from school. With two one acts and my little "skit," there wasn't enough to fill an entire evening. I would later use "Allergies" as my Advanced TV Production project my junior year, but I had problems doing even that.
I was not selected for the cast of "Fiddler on the Roof," which was the first production of the Spring semester. It was also directed by Dr. R. I could have been in it if I had signed up for one of the choirs, but I wasn't ready to get into the music aspect of college. If I'd realized I was going to go 0 for 4 in the productions my freshman year, I would have just joined that choir and been in the show instead of being the light board operator.
The fourth production was "Blithe Spirit." The campus bookstore had copies of the play, so I purchased one with the intent of studying it in order to improve my chances of getting cast. But by the time I had decided to dig in, it was a week before the auditions. I didn't get cast even though it was being directed by Mr. H and I was one of the few students on his good side. I was credited with doing the sound design for the production, but Mr. H kept wrangling the project out of my hands.
The only acting I got to do outside of class was at the Southwest Theatre Conference and an advanced directing scene. I think the student doing the directing took pity on me and put me in his project just for the heck of it. It was fun, but I don't think anybody noticed they hadn't seen me do anything before.
I knew I was going to be around for the summer session, so I auditioned for "Stop the World! I Want to Get Off!" directed by Dr. R. I still did not get cast. I wound up working the lights, both setting them up and running the light board.
Also during the summer, a few of us Theatre students performed a weekly improvised soap opera called "Suds" in the Coffee Shop. We actually had a large following by the end. However, it was not without its drama. Right before we were going to perform the third episode, the main guy in charge wanted to cancel it because he didn't like how the rehearsals had been going. None of us wanted to cancel it, so we actually performed it and it came out a whole lot better than we expected. In fact, it was probably better than our first two episodes. During the run, I played two different characters. They were twin brothers. One died early on and the other replaced him in the next episode. It was something fun to do during the summer when we didn't have a whole lot of other stuff going on.
But the one thing that had the largest impact on me was my Beginning Acting class that I took during the fall semester. As I wrote before, my choice of time for the class immensely affected my participation in the Theatre Department for all four years.
I needed to have Dr. R as my acting instructor. When I found out Ms. C was teaching my class, I didn't think it made much of a difference. This was until the next semester, when I got a chance to see how he ran his class. He had his students do some deeply intense acting exercises and improvisations. Everything Ms. C taught us was stuff I had already learned in high school. When I mentioned that I ran into Dr. R before that first class, I really wish he had said something along the lines of, "You're in the wrong class. You need to be in my class." I guess he didn't expect Ms. C to be such a sub-par acting teacher. Dr. R's class leaned more toward learning how to be a method actor. Ms. C's class was more focused on learning lines and trying to say them in an manner that sounded somewhat intelligent.
I already knew I was off to a bad start before entering college because I had already seen amazing acting from the schools in Albuquerque. I was hoping to be able to at least get to that level, but Ms. C just wasn't going to make that happen. Dr. R came and substituted for Ms. C for one class and watched us run through the scenes that we were preparing for our final. He gave some valuable critiques, much better than what Ms. C had to offer. After the class, I heard Chud's partner tell him that they needed to get with Dr. R to improve their scene. When they performed the scene for Ms. C, she had nothing but BAD THINGS to say about their presentation. I think she found out they got coaching from Dr. R and was angry about it.
Because I didn't have Dr. R as my Beginning Acting teacher, he didn't really get to help me grow as an artist. He only ever expected surface acting out of me and nothing more. This was why he never cast me in any major roles in the mainstage productions he directed. I only ever got minor roles, but at least I did get cast from time to time. I just know I was capable of more.
But despite these setbacks, I did feel like I made headway during my sophomore year. That will be tomorrow's post.
After I was not cast in the first production "How the Other Half Loves," I volunteered to work backstage. Even though I was not in the cast, I did get to go out on stage in between scenes to remove and set props. One of the things I was proud of was putting a large teddy bear in a rocking chair, which was the first thing the audience saw when the curtain opened. I liked that my little touch got to stay in the final production.
I didn't get cast in "The Threepenny Opera," either. My audition consisted of singing a song and learning a dance routine. The dance instructor showed up to demonstrate the routine. She told the students she knew that it was easy. You've probably seen that episode of "Friends" in which Joey has lied on his acting resume that he has studied a lot of dance. During the call-back, the choreographer enlists his help in teaching the dancers the routine. He starts by saying, "Oh, it's an easy routine," and then goes into all these moves that would be simple for an average dancer, but extremely complicated for anyone who hasn't studied any dance. That was how the routine at the audition appeared to me.
Since I was doing really badly in a lot of my classes, I decided not to work on the crew of that production. But I still had to show up and help strike the set. I went backstage before the show was over so I could be there to take things apart. When some people saw me, they would ask, "What are you doing back here?" I found out later that there was some sort of rule that said that if you weren't part of the cast or crew of a production, you were not allowed to be backstage. This would include rehearsals and performances. However, I saw everybody violate the rule during rehearsals. Of course, no one told me this beforehand, but they acted like I was supposed to know.
One thing that worked in my favor during my freshman year was that the Theatre fraternity was planning its Evening of One Acts. I submitted a play that I wanted to direct. My selection was not chosen. However, they decided they needed a short play to be performed in front of the curtain while sets were being changed between two of the plays. I came up with the idea for "Allergies" from the incident with Pad and Scod. I was surprised when it was selected and that I would get to direct. I got to sit in with the other student directors during the cattle call auditions and choose my cast. After rehearsing and getting it down, the Evening got canceled. First, one of the productions had to pull out because of problems getting the cast to rehearse. Then, another one shut down because one of the actors decided to take a leave of absence from school. With two one acts and my little "skit," there wasn't enough to fill an entire evening. I would later use "Allergies" as my Advanced TV Production project my junior year, but I had problems doing even that.
I was not selected for the cast of "Fiddler on the Roof," which was the first production of the Spring semester. It was also directed by Dr. R. I could have been in it if I had signed up for one of the choirs, but I wasn't ready to get into the music aspect of college. If I'd realized I was going to go 0 for 4 in the productions my freshman year, I would have just joined that choir and been in the show instead of being the light board operator.
The fourth production was "Blithe Spirit." The campus bookstore had copies of the play, so I purchased one with the intent of studying it in order to improve my chances of getting cast. But by the time I had decided to dig in, it was a week before the auditions. I didn't get cast even though it was being directed by Mr. H and I was one of the few students on his good side. I was credited with doing the sound design for the production, but Mr. H kept wrangling the project out of my hands.
The only acting I got to do outside of class was at the Southwest Theatre Conference and an advanced directing scene. I think the student doing the directing took pity on me and put me in his project just for the heck of it. It was fun, but I don't think anybody noticed they hadn't seen me do anything before.
I knew I was going to be around for the summer session, so I auditioned for "Stop the World! I Want to Get Off!" directed by Dr. R. I still did not get cast. I wound up working the lights, both setting them up and running the light board.
Also during the summer, a few of us Theatre students performed a weekly improvised soap opera called "Suds" in the Coffee Shop. We actually had a large following by the end. However, it was not without its drama. Right before we were going to perform the third episode, the main guy in charge wanted to cancel it because he didn't like how the rehearsals had been going. None of us wanted to cancel it, so we actually performed it and it came out a whole lot better than we expected. In fact, it was probably better than our first two episodes. During the run, I played two different characters. They were twin brothers. One died early on and the other replaced him in the next episode. It was something fun to do during the summer when we didn't have a whole lot of other stuff going on.
But the one thing that had the largest impact on me was my Beginning Acting class that I took during the fall semester. As I wrote before, my choice of time for the class immensely affected my participation in the Theatre Department for all four years.
I needed to have Dr. R as my acting instructor. When I found out Ms. C was teaching my class, I didn't think it made much of a difference. This was until the next semester, when I got a chance to see how he ran his class. He had his students do some deeply intense acting exercises and improvisations. Everything Ms. C taught us was stuff I had already learned in high school. When I mentioned that I ran into Dr. R before that first class, I really wish he had said something along the lines of, "You're in the wrong class. You need to be in my class." I guess he didn't expect Ms. C to be such a sub-par acting teacher. Dr. R's class leaned more toward learning how to be a method actor. Ms. C's class was more focused on learning lines and trying to say them in an manner that sounded somewhat intelligent.
I already knew I was off to a bad start before entering college because I had already seen amazing acting from the schools in Albuquerque. I was hoping to be able to at least get to that level, but Ms. C just wasn't going to make that happen. Dr. R came and substituted for Ms. C for one class and watched us run through the scenes that we were preparing for our final. He gave some valuable critiques, much better than what Ms. C had to offer. After the class, I heard Chud's partner tell him that they needed to get with Dr. R to improve their scene. When they performed the scene for Ms. C, she had nothing but BAD THINGS to say about their presentation. I think she found out they got coaching from Dr. R and was angry about it.
Because I didn't have Dr. R as my Beginning Acting teacher, he didn't really get to help me grow as an artist. He only ever expected surface acting out of me and nothing more. This was why he never cast me in any major roles in the mainstage productions he directed. I only ever got minor roles, but at least I did get cast from time to time. I just know I was capable of more.
But despite these setbacks, I did feel like I made headway during my sophomore year. That will be tomorrow's post.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Watch where you leave your car
Sometimes, it appears that people just WANT their cars to be totalled so that they can collect the insurance money.
The scary thing about this is that someone might just pull up and park here, and immediately try to get out of their car without looking behind them. This is still a very narrow street, even when it's two lanes of traffic on both sides.
The scary thing about this is that someone might just pull up and park here, and immediately try to get out of their car without looking behind them. This is still a very narrow street, even when it's two lanes of traffic on both sides.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Mom was paranoid
I have a good relationship with my parents now, but that wasn't always the case.
A few years ago, I got into a discussion with my mother about the past. The conversation wound up with her crying almost uncontrollably. I really felt bad and figured that I could never really talk about the past ever again.
A few years ago, I got into a discussion with my mother about the past. The conversation wound up with her crying almost uncontrollably. I really felt bad and figured that I could never really talk about the past ever again.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
ENMU Theatre Department: A Prelude
On Monday, 11/24/14, I will start writing about my experience with the Theatre Department at Eastern New Mexico University. I will start like I did with the Radio/TV Department and work my way through each of the four years that I was there. However, since the professors played a large role in the department, I need to tell you about the three main ones since I will be making frequent reference to them. In Radio/TV, I just basically had classes with the professors and almost never saw them outside school hours. But in Theatre, I had to rehearse and work with these professors on a constant basis when I was involved in a production. I also frequently went to their homes.
The head of the department was Dr. R. (Actually, he didn't get his doctorate until the end of my freshman year, but I'm going to just call him Dr. R all four years to avoid confusion.) Dr. R was around 42 years old when I came to ENMU. He grew up in Texas and had an extensive background in Theatre before he started teaching at ENMU.
I first met him during my junior year in high school. He had come down to participate in our Career Day with other people from the Music Department. As I was in Student Council at the time, I had been selected to introduce him and the others in the seminar they were taking part in.
Dr. R was a very heavy-handed director who was known for his passion for perfection and his sharp witticisms. If he didn't feel like he was getting what he wanted out of an actor, he would go up on stage and slap him. Everybody on stage would freak out when this happened and they all upped their game in the next runthrough of the scene.
Dr. R appealed to the intellectual and artistic sides of the students. Everybody worked to gain his approval. He was very much the father figure of the department.
As such, Dr. W was the mother figure. His approach to directing was quite different from Dr. R. He was rather nurturing toward the students and worked to build a strong rapport among the cast, going so far as to make everyone chili for lunch after a Saturday rehearsal. While Dr. R thrived on chaos behind the scenes, Dr. W would act quickly to stop things from getting out of hand.
Dr. W was born and raised in Utah. He was 50 years old when I started college. I first met him during my sophomore year in high school when I attended a make up workshop during the ENMU Drama Festival. I approached him to be the volunteer for putting on a beard and got one. Dr. W did remember me from that.
Dr. W taught the Theatre History classes. He was very knowledgable on how Theatre was performed in past civilizations and made those classes enjoyable.
The funny thing is that as much as I liked Dr. W as a professor, I recently realized that he never actually cast me in any of the mainstage productions he directed during the school year. While I played a priest in "The King and I" my sophomore year, I was not part of the initial cast. He posted that he needed people to play priests and to come see him if we were interested. I wanted to do something in the show, so I volunteered. The only other times he cast me was in the 1985 summer session production of "Carnival" and in a "black box" production of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane."
The third constant on the Theatre staff was Mr. H. He was new to the department my freshman year as our technical director. Mr. H had some big shoes to fill as his predecessor was absolutely LOVED by the students. His predecessor spent lots of time working on the sets for the productions. However, Mr. H had a family, so he tended to rush through getting everything set up as soon as possible so he didn't have to spend any more time on the projects. They still came out good, but all the upperclassmen continually griped about him. Mr. H really only got along with two of us, Chud and myself.
Dr. R currently lives in Las Vegas, NM. Dr. W passed away two years ago at the age of 80 and Mr. H left ENMU after I completed my senior year. Chud still keeps in contact with him.
There were other people on the staff. For example, Mr. H's wife worked in the Costume Department. We had a couple of different Dance instructors, and Ms. C and Ms. F were graduate students who taught a few acting classes. While I will be making a few references to these, I will mostly write about the top three people in the department.
Like I said, the fun begins on 11/24/14. I am going to take a week off as I have some personal stuff going on and don't have as much time to devote to the blog. I hope to hammer out at least a week's worth of articles. I've noticed this has been a pattern lately, in which I post every day for two solid months and then take a little time off. I always need that time off to focus my thoughts, otherwise everythng comes out rather forced and what is supposed to be a light-hearted look at my life will suddenly turn into despair.
I don't want anyone to worry about me.
The head of the department was Dr. R. (Actually, he didn't get his doctorate until the end of my freshman year, but I'm going to just call him Dr. R all four years to avoid confusion.) Dr. R was around 42 years old when I came to ENMU. He grew up in Texas and had an extensive background in Theatre before he started teaching at ENMU.
I first met him during my junior year in high school. He had come down to participate in our Career Day with other people from the Music Department. As I was in Student Council at the time, I had been selected to introduce him and the others in the seminar they were taking part in.
Dr. R was a very heavy-handed director who was known for his passion for perfection and his sharp witticisms. If he didn't feel like he was getting what he wanted out of an actor, he would go up on stage and slap him. Everybody on stage would freak out when this happened and they all upped their game in the next runthrough of the scene.
Dr. R appealed to the intellectual and artistic sides of the students. Everybody worked to gain his approval. He was very much the father figure of the department.
As such, Dr. W was the mother figure. His approach to directing was quite different from Dr. R. He was rather nurturing toward the students and worked to build a strong rapport among the cast, going so far as to make everyone chili for lunch after a Saturday rehearsal. While Dr. R thrived on chaos behind the scenes, Dr. W would act quickly to stop things from getting out of hand.
Dr. W was born and raised in Utah. He was 50 years old when I started college. I first met him during my sophomore year in high school when I attended a make up workshop during the ENMU Drama Festival. I approached him to be the volunteer for putting on a beard and got one. Dr. W did remember me from that.
Dr. W taught the Theatre History classes. He was very knowledgable on how Theatre was performed in past civilizations and made those classes enjoyable.
The funny thing is that as much as I liked Dr. W as a professor, I recently realized that he never actually cast me in any of the mainstage productions he directed during the school year. While I played a priest in "The King and I" my sophomore year, I was not part of the initial cast. He posted that he needed people to play priests and to come see him if we were interested. I wanted to do something in the show, so I volunteered. The only other times he cast me was in the 1985 summer session production of "Carnival" and in a "black box" production of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane."
The third constant on the Theatre staff was Mr. H. He was new to the department my freshman year as our technical director. Mr. H had some big shoes to fill as his predecessor was absolutely LOVED by the students. His predecessor spent lots of time working on the sets for the productions. However, Mr. H had a family, so he tended to rush through getting everything set up as soon as possible so he didn't have to spend any more time on the projects. They still came out good, but all the upperclassmen continually griped about him. Mr. H really only got along with two of us, Chud and myself.
Dr. R currently lives in Las Vegas, NM. Dr. W passed away two years ago at the age of 80 and Mr. H left ENMU after I completed my senior year. Chud still keeps in contact with him.
There were other people on the staff. For example, Mr. H's wife worked in the Costume Department. We had a couple of different Dance instructors, and Ms. C and Ms. F were graduate students who taught a few acting classes. While I will be making a few references to these, I will mostly write about the top three people in the department.
Like I said, the fun begins on 11/24/14. I am going to take a week off as I have some personal stuff going on and don't have as much time to devote to the blog. I hope to hammer out at least a week's worth of articles. I've noticed this has been a pattern lately, in which I post every day for two solid months and then take a little time off. I always need that time off to focus my thoughts, otherwise everythng comes out rather forced and what is supposed to be a light-hearted look at my life will suddenly turn into despair.
I don't want anyone to worry about me.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Mistop #4: Carz
(What's a Mistop? Click here!)
Carz was a student I knew during my first semester at Eastern New Mexico University. I would see her from time to time at the Theatre. She was the sister of a sophomore student in the department. She had a very pretty face, large eyes and long dark hair. She also had a very sultry voice. She was noticably overweight, which was why I didn't pay her much heed the first few times that I saw her.
We first got to know each other during auditions for "The Threepenny Opera." She had come over to the lobby, where I was hanging out. She sat down and we started talking. We discussed a number of topics, including religion and Christianity. I found out she was 21, which surprised me because she was also a freshman, which would have put her behind her younger sister. After about a half hour, she asked, "So when are they starting the auditions?" I told her, "Oh, the auditions are being held at the music building next door." She immediately scrambled out because she had signed up for a specific time to audition and missed that slot. Fortunately, they let her go ahead and audition. She did not get cast. Neither did I.
A few weeks later, I was hanging out at the Campus Union Building on a Saturday. I was sitting on a couch outside the AM radio station. Carz was inside and she saw me through the window. She waved at me to come into the station. I went inside. She was tearing wire copy off the AP printer. She was going to do a newscast at a local radio station that was part of our Broadcast Workshop. On Saturday nights after 10pm, they allowed students to produce their own programming and she had been asked to do the news that night and might do the news the next few weeks.
But she didn't have a way of getting to the station, which was way over on the other side of town, about five miles. Guess what? I had a car! She was glad she ran into me. The only problem was that she had to be at the station at 10pm, so we were going to have to wait five hours before we went out there. We basically hung out that whole time.
We went over to Safeway so she could get some stuff. We ran into her sister and her boyfriend there. They were buying groceries for a huge dinner they were planning to make. When they got to the check-out, their total came to more than $100. They were laughing and shaking their heads, but still bought the food. We parted at the store. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that after we left, the boyfriend might have asked the sister, "Hey, is there something going on between Fayd and your sister?"
Then we took the items that we purchased over to the Catholic Student Center. She had bought the food for a potluck and she was going to make lasagna. There was a guy there watching TV. I recognized him because he was always at the cafeteria first thing in the morning before breakfast, just like I was. It was nice to finally get to know his name.
It finally got close to 10pm. We started driving toward the station. I didn't know where the station was, but she said it was outside of town a little ways. I saw the radio towers and we were able to find it. We went in and the guy running the show seemed a little surprised that she was there. She told him she was supposed to do the news that night and it may become a regular feature of the program. She told me to come back around midnight to pick her up.
This whole time I was wondering if something unusual was going to happen between us. I thought about the possibility of the two of us kissing and maybe that might lead someplace unexpected. I had to admit that I didn't have a problem with her weight. I was just trying to figure out if she had some smarts.
I went home and listened to the radio. I heard her read the news only one time. I went back out before midnight to pick her up. She said the guy didn't really feel like the news was a good fit on the show, so he wasn't going to have her come back again. She didn't really seem disappointed, but it meant I wouldn't be driving her there every week. I actually thought that was going to happen.
After that, we went to her dorm so she could change clothes. I stood in the sink area while she got out of her dress and changed into a blouse and blue jeans. (This was the only time in college I got to go inside a girl's dorm room that wasn't at the co-ed hall.) We then went to see this guy friend of hers. He was also someone I had seen around campus, but never really got to know. He was very well-groomed and wore nice clothes. I wasn't entirely clear on whether or not he was her boyfriend. They didn't act lovey-dovey like a couple, but seemed to enjoy hanging out. They smoked some pot in my presence.
We drove back and I dropped her off at her dorm. She asked me to call and wake her up the next morning. I think it was so she could go make the lasagna at the Catholic Student Center. I went home and taped notes up all over my room reminding me to call her at a certain time. When that time came, I called her, but she was already awake. She thanked me, but didn't have anything else to say.
We never hung out any more after that. I never tried to call her again. A few days later, one of the other students who worked at the AM station in a supervisory position was complaining about several of the students in the workshop. He said he didn't like going in there when Carz had her shift because he didn't want to be seduced on the air. He also said that when she was on, "Mr. GQ" was always hanging around. This made me think even more that he was her boyfriend. And I guess I could have just asked, but I wanted to try to get solid confirmation without having to ask a direct question and get a direct rejection.
I later found out something disturbing about Carz that made me realize that I had dodged a bullet by not becoming romantically involved with her. As I've mentioned before, she and my friend Kird were at a party earlier in the semester. They both got drunk and high. They started having sex in front of everybody at the party. Kird eternally regrets the incident. However, I would have felt even worse if I had slept with her and then found that out. I probably never would have wanted to have sex with anyone else again for fear that Kird may have gotten to them first.
(Yes, I know I pledged celibacy at that age, but I have a feeling she would have been able to coax me out of it.)
Carz did not return to school the next semester. She never did come back, except for a couple of times the next year when she came to see her sister at the Theatre. We would exchange "Hi, how are you doing?" but that was it. I never saw her again my final two years in college.
I have been able to find her on Facebook. She lives in Grand Junction, CO, where she owns and operates a hair and skin salon. She got married and appears to have had one daughter. She looks about the same size as when I knew her.
However, I got a fascinating glimpse at what she used to look like just a few years before I met her. She was not always overweight. She was a very stunning young woman when she was in high school. Her eyes were absolutely piercing at an intensity that simply was not present when I first met her. I can only imagine the attention she got from guys in high school. That also would have driven me up the wall if I had started dating her and saw what she used to look like. I would have been wondering if there was some way we could get her back to that size.
And I guess there was. She also posted photos of her when she was 31 years old, and she had lost the weight. She looked really good at that time, too. I imagine she gained the weight back after she gave birth.
In the end, there are a number of reasons I'm glad this went no further than that one night. There are other women that I wish had ended after hanging out only one time, but I'll get to them much later.
Carz was a student I knew during my first semester at Eastern New Mexico University. I would see her from time to time at the Theatre. She was the sister of a sophomore student in the department. She had a very pretty face, large eyes and long dark hair. She also had a very sultry voice. She was noticably overweight, which was why I didn't pay her much heed the first few times that I saw her.
We first got to know each other during auditions for "The Threepenny Opera." She had come over to the lobby, where I was hanging out. She sat down and we started talking. We discussed a number of topics, including religion and Christianity. I found out she was 21, which surprised me because she was also a freshman, which would have put her behind her younger sister. After about a half hour, she asked, "So when are they starting the auditions?" I told her, "Oh, the auditions are being held at the music building next door." She immediately scrambled out because she had signed up for a specific time to audition and missed that slot. Fortunately, they let her go ahead and audition. She did not get cast. Neither did I.
A few weeks later, I was hanging out at the Campus Union Building on a Saturday. I was sitting on a couch outside the AM radio station. Carz was inside and she saw me through the window. She waved at me to come into the station. I went inside. She was tearing wire copy off the AP printer. She was going to do a newscast at a local radio station that was part of our Broadcast Workshop. On Saturday nights after 10pm, they allowed students to produce their own programming and she had been asked to do the news that night and might do the news the next few weeks.
But she didn't have a way of getting to the station, which was way over on the other side of town, about five miles. Guess what? I had a car! She was glad she ran into me. The only problem was that she had to be at the station at 10pm, so we were going to have to wait five hours before we went out there. We basically hung out that whole time.
We went over to Safeway so she could get some stuff. We ran into her sister and her boyfriend there. They were buying groceries for a huge dinner they were planning to make. When they got to the check-out, their total came to more than $100. They were laughing and shaking their heads, but still bought the food. We parted at the store. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that after we left, the boyfriend might have asked the sister, "Hey, is there something going on between Fayd and your sister?"
Then we took the items that we purchased over to the Catholic Student Center. She had bought the food for a potluck and she was going to make lasagna. There was a guy there watching TV. I recognized him because he was always at the cafeteria first thing in the morning before breakfast, just like I was. It was nice to finally get to know his name.
It finally got close to 10pm. We started driving toward the station. I didn't know where the station was, but she said it was outside of town a little ways. I saw the radio towers and we were able to find it. We went in and the guy running the show seemed a little surprised that she was there. She told him she was supposed to do the news that night and it may become a regular feature of the program. She told me to come back around midnight to pick her up.
This whole time I was wondering if something unusual was going to happen between us. I thought about the possibility of the two of us kissing and maybe that might lead someplace unexpected. I had to admit that I didn't have a problem with her weight. I was just trying to figure out if she had some smarts.
I went home and listened to the radio. I heard her read the news only one time. I went back out before midnight to pick her up. She said the guy didn't really feel like the news was a good fit on the show, so he wasn't going to have her come back again. She didn't really seem disappointed, but it meant I wouldn't be driving her there every week. I actually thought that was going to happen.
After that, we went to her dorm so she could change clothes. I stood in the sink area while she got out of her dress and changed into a blouse and blue jeans. (This was the only time in college I got to go inside a girl's dorm room that wasn't at the co-ed hall.) We then went to see this guy friend of hers. He was also someone I had seen around campus, but never really got to know. He was very well-groomed and wore nice clothes. I wasn't entirely clear on whether or not he was her boyfriend. They didn't act lovey-dovey like a couple, but seemed to enjoy hanging out. They smoked some pot in my presence.
We drove back and I dropped her off at her dorm. She asked me to call and wake her up the next morning. I think it was so she could go make the lasagna at the Catholic Student Center. I went home and taped notes up all over my room reminding me to call her at a certain time. When that time came, I called her, but she was already awake. She thanked me, but didn't have anything else to say.
We never hung out any more after that. I never tried to call her again. A few days later, one of the other students who worked at the AM station in a supervisory position was complaining about several of the students in the workshop. He said he didn't like going in there when Carz had her shift because he didn't want to be seduced on the air. He also said that when she was on, "Mr. GQ" was always hanging around. This made me think even more that he was her boyfriend. And I guess I could have just asked, but I wanted to try to get solid confirmation without having to ask a direct question and get a direct rejection.
I later found out something disturbing about Carz that made me realize that I had dodged a bullet by not becoming romantically involved with her. As I've mentioned before, she and my friend Kird were at a party earlier in the semester. They both got drunk and high. They started having sex in front of everybody at the party. Kird eternally regrets the incident. However, I would have felt even worse if I had slept with her and then found that out. I probably never would have wanted to have sex with anyone else again for fear that Kird may have gotten to them first.
(Yes, I know I pledged celibacy at that age, but I have a feeling she would have been able to coax me out of it.)
Carz did not return to school the next semester. She never did come back, except for a couple of times the next year when she came to see her sister at the Theatre. We would exchange "Hi, how are you doing?" but that was it. I never saw her again my final two years in college.
I have been able to find her on Facebook. She lives in Grand Junction, CO, where she owns and operates a hair and skin salon. She got married and appears to have had one daughter. She looks about the same size as when I knew her.
However, I got a fascinating glimpse at what she used to look like just a few years before I met her. She was not always overweight. She was a very stunning young woman when she was in high school. Her eyes were absolutely piercing at an intensity that simply was not present when I first met her. I can only imagine the attention she got from guys in high school. That also would have driven me up the wall if I had started dating her and saw what she used to look like. I would have been wondering if there was some way we could get her back to that size.
And I guess there was. She also posted photos of her when she was 31 years old, and she had lost the weight. She looked really good at that time, too. I imagine she gained the weight back after she gave birth.
In the end, there are a number of reasons I'm glad this went no further than that one night. There are other women that I wish had ended after hanging out only one time, but I'll get to them much later.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
ENMU Radio/TV Department, Part 6: The Bad
Yesterday, I confessed that I was partially to blame for my inability to get a good career in broadcasting after I graduated from college. Keep in mind that I was working full time in the industry at the end of my schooling, but there was just no way I was going to ever make very good money.
I honestly did not put as much effort as I should into becoming one of the best Radio/TV students at Eastern New Mexico University. This was because I focused so much energy into the Theatre Department. That happened because I more in common with those students. I didn't have the same connect with the students in the Radio/TV Department. This was because the primary focus was on producing news and not entertainment programming.
I did express a desire to do something more entertainment-related, but the Radio/TV faculty didn't help me much there. They could have suggested I go elsewhere, but retention is always an issue at ENMU, and they weren't ready to lose a student to a program that would be more geared for a career they were more suited for.
I should point out that I am not the only Radio/TV student who felt like he got the short end of the stick. There were several others who came up empty-handed after graduating. In the Class Notes of the Alumni newsletter, this one person actually wrote that he had an air shift at an all-volunteer radio station in the middle of nowhere and made it sound like a major accomplishment. But that person wrote a rather humble essay in the Alumni Directory five years ago. He didn't crow about his "professional" acheivements, but focused more on his family.
Probably the largest issue was the work-study program. If you were lucky enough to get in, then you had all the opportunities practically handed to you on a silver platter. If you were on work-study, you got to spend up to 40 hours a week learning all of the ins and outs of every section there at the Broadcast Center. And it seemed like the powers that be never really worked very hard to keep students from abusing the program. I know students who would clock in anytime they were at the Center, so they would get paid during classes that were held there. There were students who went too far, like some would clock in before a weekend assignment and clock out when it was over, expecting to get paid for the 36 hours they were away.
It should be noted that work-study only paid minimum wage, which was $3.35 an hour at the time. But if your schooling was already paid for, it just provided you with a lot of extra money for non-essentials, like pizza and beer.
I tried to get into work-study and filled out the paperwork for the financial aid. I was rejected because my parents made too much money. And it probably didn't help that I was able to pay all my college expenses upfront. From the school's perspective, I didn't need financial aid. However, I noticed that a lot of the students appeared to be better off than me were enjoying all the benefits of learning every detail about the department and getting a paycheck every two weeks.
So, how were they getting on work-study? I have one theory, but I could be completely wrong. I refer to this as the "Emancipation Scam." All the students' parents made too much money for them to qualify. However, if they stated that their parents no longer claimed them as dependents, their own financial situation would show that they were in dire need of funding for college. They would then qualify. When I put in my application, I had to include a copy of my parents' tax return. It was very easy for students to dummy up a fake 1040 showing that they weren't being claimed and submit it to the Financial Aid office, which had no way of verifying if the information was real.
Another issue with the work-study is that there were actual paid positions for students in the TV News department that wasn't necessarily connected to work-study. One was the Student News Director. However, they tended to award that position to the student with the most experience. That student got there by being on work-study.
I knew none of the upper classmen in the Radio/TV department before starting school. The other students who got on work-study likely learned of the cheat from students they knew who got there before them. They knew what to do. I didn't, and my mind was not devious enough to come up with something like this. I was (and still am) basically an honest person. Even in my financial aid application, we mentioned that my mother had taken a leave of absence from her job and the family had taken on the expense of an extra child (Johad) that year. None of this swayed the powers that be.
I don't know how the department operates now. I know that they do a little more with producing entertainment, but the larger issue is having the accessibility to all of the aspects of broadcasting the university has to offer. A few years ago, I had hoped to pay a visit to the school and see how the Radio/TV department handles the current student load. That didn't work out.
I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it if I were a student today.
I honestly did not put as much effort as I should into becoming one of the best Radio/TV students at Eastern New Mexico University. This was because I focused so much energy into the Theatre Department. That happened because I more in common with those students. I didn't have the same connect with the students in the Radio/TV Department. This was because the primary focus was on producing news and not entertainment programming.
I did express a desire to do something more entertainment-related, but the Radio/TV faculty didn't help me much there. They could have suggested I go elsewhere, but retention is always an issue at ENMU, and they weren't ready to lose a student to a program that would be more geared for a career they were more suited for.
I should point out that I am not the only Radio/TV student who felt like he got the short end of the stick. There were several others who came up empty-handed after graduating. In the Class Notes of the Alumni newsletter, this one person actually wrote that he had an air shift at an all-volunteer radio station in the middle of nowhere and made it sound like a major accomplishment. But that person wrote a rather humble essay in the Alumni Directory five years ago. He didn't crow about his "professional" acheivements, but focused more on his family.
Probably the largest issue was the work-study program. If you were lucky enough to get in, then you had all the opportunities practically handed to you on a silver platter. If you were on work-study, you got to spend up to 40 hours a week learning all of the ins and outs of every section there at the Broadcast Center. And it seemed like the powers that be never really worked very hard to keep students from abusing the program. I know students who would clock in anytime they were at the Center, so they would get paid during classes that were held there. There were students who went too far, like some would clock in before a weekend assignment and clock out when it was over, expecting to get paid for the 36 hours they were away.
It should be noted that work-study only paid minimum wage, which was $3.35 an hour at the time. But if your schooling was already paid for, it just provided you with a lot of extra money for non-essentials, like pizza and beer.
I tried to get into work-study and filled out the paperwork for the financial aid. I was rejected because my parents made too much money. And it probably didn't help that I was able to pay all my college expenses upfront. From the school's perspective, I didn't need financial aid. However, I noticed that a lot of the students appeared to be better off than me were enjoying all the benefits of learning every detail about the department and getting a paycheck every two weeks.
So, how were they getting on work-study? I have one theory, but I could be completely wrong. I refer to this as the "Emancipation Scam." All the students' parents made too much money for them to qualify. However, if they stated that their parents no longer claimed them as dependents, their own financial situation would show that they were in dire need of funding for college. They would then qualify. When I put in my application, I had to include a copy of my parents' tax return. It was very easy for students to dummy up a fake 1040 showing that they weren't being claimed and submit it to the Financial Aid office, which had no way of verifying if the information was real.
Another issue with the work-study is that there were actual paid positions for students in the TV News department that wasn't necessarily connected to work-study. One was the Student News Director. However, they tended to award that position to the student with the most experience. That student got there by being on work-study.
I knew none of the upper classmen in the Radio/TV department before starting school. The other students who got on work-study likely learned of the cheat from students they knew who got there before them. They knew what to do. I didn't, and my mind was not devious enough to come up with something like this. I was (and still am) basically an honest person. Even in my financial aid application, we mentioned that my mother had taken a leave of absence from her job and the family had taken on the expense of an extra child (Johad) that year. None of this swayed the powers that be.
I don't know how the department operates now. I know that they do a little more with producing entertainment, but the larger issue is having the accessibility to all of the aspects of broadcasting the university has to offer. A few years ago, I had hoped to pay a visit to the school and see how the Radio/TV department handles the current student load. That didn't work out.
I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it if I were a student today.
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