The University of Blog

One week back in Columbia. Yep, it’s weird to be back. Not bad, nor good, it’s just going to require some adjustment. After being away for nine months, it’s hard to reconnect with people and fill them in on everything I’ve been doing in that time. I have had some great experiences both in Denver and London and I can’t just spout out all of the awesome things I’ve been doing without sounding really pretentious.

It’s still going well. I’ll need one more week or so to be fully adjusted. I’ve been really on top of my reading for classes. And sure enough, I’m learning a ton in not just the class lectures, but also the readings provide some interesting examples. My favorite assignment so far was for screenwriting. We had to write down a piece or random dialogue that we overheard. We will then make this into a scene. Currently we are reading a screenplay by a local writer and director. He will talk to our class on Thursday.

The job search is still going on. Employment in a college town is tough to come by. I remember when I was first trying to find a job in Lawrence, I applied to 12 places before I got the job at the movie theater. During my sophomore year in Columbia, I made the circuit and applied to about eight or so before landing on one finally. So, I had an interview earlier today and we’ll see if I get it. I’m not too worried. Something will turn up. I just need to find it. My new way to view the job search is that if I end up employed at a bad place, I at least can get a good story out of it. It’s all material for my screenplay.

Senior year has officially begun. For the first time, I feel like I’m really in college. It’s going to be a ton of reading and a ton of writing. But the benefit is a ton of learning. Normally, I would be freaking out at the workload, but I’ve done it before. Things will be handled. I will be okay. I always am.

We had a meeting for Intersection, KBIA’s new community talk show. I’m really excited about being an associate producer for it. For Monday, my partner and I need to come up with three new story ideas and potential guests for each show. What will also go into this capstone will be a lot of research. The structure of the talk show will be very user-comment and question generated. The audience will be able to participate live by texting, IMing or calling with their questions or comments. It is an exciting concept. I want to research whether or not people will use it. My partner is great and we will brainstorm ideas tomorrow.

My Politics of the South is really engaging, and it is all new information for me. My Sociology of Gender class will be the same way. The reading includes a lot of ethnographies, which I’ll learn quite a bit about how people approach and understand gender and gender issues. These are really college classes. To be honest, I got out of a lot of requirements when I first started school here due to my AP credits. Now I’m playing catch-up. This is what college is all about. Another class I’m excited about? Screenwriting. The class is capped at ten. We write three pages per day in a writer’s journal and then will be completing an entire screenplay. I have yet to come up with my idea, but I want to try my hand at more creative forms of writing.

Senior year is underway. I’m off to go do some reading and then a free Chuck Berry show at the Blue Note. This will be an insane semester, especially if I get a serving job, but it will for sure be a very rewarding one.

Enjoying my tiger stripe ice cream freshman year 
Campus is buzzing with life and activity. Freshmen wonder with maps in hand towing bags from the bookstore, trying to navigate the layout of the campus. Parents aren’t far behind comparing this campus to the other ones visited nodding that their child indeed made the right choice. After attending a free welcome back show earlier tonight (The Spill Canvas), I realized that this is the infamous “Senior year.” I have only one year left in college after spending the last three years navigating the system. It’s been a crazy road. First I’m a freshman coming in from Lawrence to attend the rival school. It’s the first year I’m living away from my parents, and I love it. College is for me.

Sophomore year I become more involved in campus life, but what is really exciting is to have our own apartment. I feel great organizing my own space and so independent as I cook for myself. I start to be really involved in the journalism school reporting for various news outlets.

Junior year we move again to a new apartment, but this is when I really find a home working for KBIA. It’s a life changing experience when I work at MSN in London and travel around Europe to be followed up by working and living in Denver.

This year :___________
This is ready to be filled in by new experiences and adventures.  School hasn’t started, but I’m ready to say yes to all experiences. I’m searching for a new job and excited to take Screenwriting, Convergence Capstone, Psychology of Gender and Politics of the South. I feel like these classes are what college is all about. This is the time to really experience everything that I’ve missed out in college so far. And I only have one year to do it.

I’m packing to return to Columbia again. I feel like I’m always packing. First it was for London earlier this year, then it was for Denver and now it to return to school once again. I’m pretty excited to move into my new apartment. To be fair, my mother moved me in on August 1 while I was in Denver, but my car will be completely full with stuff, and I get to organize a new apartment. In my four years at Mizzou, this will be my third apartment and a great improvement over the past apartments. It’s a bit further from campus, but I think it will make up for that in its cleanliness, cool factor and the in-house washer/dryer.  MUCH better.

While I’m packing, I realize that once again I’m in a transition phase. I’ve gotten used to being in Lawrence and spending time with the rents. Now I get to return to Columbia to live on my own and fend for myself. I’ll be searching for a job over the next few days if there aren’t shifts available at my previous job.  Once I spend some time downtown Columbia and taking notes in class, I’ll get back into the swing of things pretty easily. It’s senior year. This is my last year in college. The last year before I enter the real world. It’s the year to continue to figure out what to do after I graduate and the last year I can say I’m in college. It will be a good year.

It’s not too often that someone is given a glimpse into the world of television. It seems elusive and untouchable. What happens behind the screen is almost magical. It’s like it just appears. But I have been lucky enough to see how the whole process works for Food Network Challenge. It’s just amazing how many people it takes to get an episode out. There are producers, writers, field producers, line producers, cameramen, lighting technicians, casting and many more pre and post production folks that make it all flow seamlessly. Yes, there may be hiccups along the way. Deadlines are firm. A show needs to be delivered by the time it is expected from the network. That may mean working round the clock it get it done on time. This can lead to emotions running high, but the result is so rewarding.

When I look back on my time at High Noon, I realize just how much I was given the opportunity to do. I worked on set both for Food Network Challenge as well as Disaster House. Working on set allowed me the opportunity to ask the cameramen and the director questions about what they were looking for, how they were capturing it, and take pictures on set. On Challenge, the field producers offered great insight as to what they were noticing and getting out of the competitors. When I met with casting directors both for House Hunters and Challenge, I observed them interview decide whether or not a person would be good on camera. I’ve prepared show binders. Even though that this process is tedious, it has showed me the information the producers need when they go into a shoot.

It’s true that I haven’t had much hands on experience. While I wasn’t sent on coffee runs, I definitely made copies. However, I stuck though it. I asked if I could sit in with executive producers and editors to ask questions and soak up their lessons learned. Through that, I have gained some insight into development and how to be a great producer. In a nutshell? It involves being highly detail oriented and paying attention to every aspect of production from the lighting to how the names are spelled in the credits. It will take ahwile for me to be that detail oriented, but I can focus on it in my projects this next semester.

So…. all in all… a great experience — Fulfilling, fun and rewarding. While there were times that I dreaded making another copy, those times would pass and more interesting tasks would cross my path, which I really learned from. Successful mission.

It’s that reflective time. When you have less than a week left in a place that you enjoy, you start to say goodbye to the place and the people and the experiences. No, the experiences will never be lost. They are well documented in the facebook albums and the shared memories. The hard part is returning to a life that once was with all of these new experiences. My mom moved me in last weekend to Columbia. I’m starting to order my books for the next semester. Talk about transition — London, Denver and now Columbia, Missouri once again.

Don’t get me wrong. Senior year should be one of the most exciting, fun and carefree times in my college life (or so I hear). But it is not carefree simply because I’ll be further honing in on what I want to do with my time after college. Will I stay in journalism and work in radio or for a magazine or will I start a new path in reality or scripted television, film, or advertising? I’m young and it’s all ahead of me. And that is fun. Scary, but really, really fun.I’ll further see what I like to do at Mizzou. I’m already taking classes I’ve never taken before. Now I’d like to explore Columbia and Missouri. I need to take this “say yes to experiences” mentality with me back to school. As associate producer for a new radio show, this semester will be as busy as ever.

I did knock off quite a few things on my list this weekend with my brother visiting from Colorado. We went Kayaking near Golden, Colorado in the freezing creek and followed that up by a tour and samples at the Coors Brewery. We went dancing downtown. We hiked on the Fourth of July trail and hit up the farmers market in Boulder. We went back in time for the Colorado Renaissance Fair on Sunday. Now that certainly brought back memories of yesteryear when our family would visit the one in Kansas City decked out in costumes (well, my brother and I would dress as Pirates).

A successful weekend to be sure, but it got me to realize that sure enough, this will be the last weekend here. No more picking up and going to the mountains whenever I want. Now it is time for classrooms, books and most likely a server job once again. However, while I’ve had these experiences, I’m in no rush to graduate and enter the real world just yet. This is my chance to really try some new things and continue to expand my horizons. It still applies whether that horizon is in Denver or in Columbia.