So the fireside chat, what an interesting
concept. What a lot of fun! So when I read through the syllabus at the
beginning of the semester I had no idea what to do with this whole 'fireside
chat' thing. It was probably the assignment that loomed over my head the most.
But surprisingly enough when the day came to brainstorm I knew full well what I
wanted to do. I knew this because of two things:
- The visiting
scholar.
- Dan Achtley
"Next Exit"
Now I may be totally
missing the mark here, but in the image that Ben posted to the 112 blog, it
looked like everything on stage was something projected. I wanted to try this! When
the visiting scholar came and showed all the clips about people interacting
with projections it sealed the deal. I also new that I was at terrible at
memorizing things, so I wanted to do a piece that I could interact with, but
not talk. So I decided to make a silent film, using three media pieces. I
wanted to tell my entire love story in three minutes that would be a little
hard. Some interesting facts had to be cut, but I feel that I managed to keep
the meat in the final product.
First was the ‘Torre
Latino Americana” this is where I proposed to my wife. This was an interesting
night full of uncertainty (as anyone who has proposed can relate to). To top it
all off, my wife being the jokester she is thought it would be funny to initially
say no to see how I would react. I have told this story many a time, but I
never felt that I had been able to do it justice. But the night of the fireside
chat I did. I realized this when Joshua O’Hare came up to me during half time
and asked if that was a true story, did my wife really do that. When I said
yes, he was incredulous and couldn’t understand why she would do that, how
cruel. It was, but has come to be one of the most endearing attributes of my
wife now.
The part that I
couldn’t capture in the short time frame was the visa process we had to go
through to allow my wife to travel the USA and marry me. I was sad because it
was a crucial element to our story and the overall theme at the end. But there
was no way to do the story justice in the time limit.
Lastly I wanted to tell
how our love story is just beginning, because I believe that if a love story is
lived right, it never ends. This is why I included the newest edition to my
family in the piece. Plus you can’t beat that ‘awe so cute’ moment. I personally
don’t believe or condone the saying, “they lived happily ever after” because I
find that to be a very limiting phrase. There are plenty of other emotions in
this world besides happiness that are central to a real love story. I would say “they lived ever after”, it is more
open-ended and doesn’t limit them to simple happiness.
My overall theme was
that ‘together we can do anything’. Because this is something I firmly believe.
There is nothing that When we work together that we cannot achieve. I loved
this piece (the fireside chat) because it really testified to an article we
read in TMA 185 called Cosmos from Chaos. The writer really emphasizes how all
art is a prayer, watching people perform, and open themselves up so literally
through their media was the clearest demonstration of this principle.