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My Summer aka HUGE UPDATEWork
Yep, gettin' that job back at Showplace... hoo boy.
Volunteer Work
I'll be working two days a week for about three hours at the Boys & Girls Club, as well as taking two five-hour shifts at a local non-profit bookstore called Boxcar Books. Not only looks good on resumes, but it's fun stuff. Eventually, I'll be able to print book reviews and literary articles in Boxcars' quarterly magazine, which is very cool. And I'll need all the experience I can get working with kids.
Director/Writer in the development of a science-fiction video game proposal:
Essentially, I am creating the world in which this game is taking place. With a small group (i.e. my brother and two friends) I will be directing the concept art, essential gameplay elements and the character creation & development as I do research in developing this world to make this concept viable within the literary science fiction community. I want this project to change the way people think about science fiction video games.
Filming: I recently handed over three short stories to a friend of mine, and he will be adapting them into screenplays. He wants me to help co-direct the films, since they are my stories. Plus, he's better at the technical/shot-taking side, and I'm better at the people side. It should be fun, if it gets off the ground.
A senior project for each of my majors:
English: English Honors Program Dissertation. I write a dissertation of my own choice that is a minimum 50-pages, double spaced. Due April 1st of next year. Here's my abstract:I intend to study the convergence of Science Fiction and Utopian/Dystopian Literature. My area of exploration would cover Mars and its interaction with the Earth society. In the novels of focus within this study, I plan to place an emphasis on the “outsiderâ and their respective relationship and communication within the Earth society. The aim of this character study is to uncover the role the “outsiderâ plays within the undesirable social construct in place on Earth and in what ways their role portrays Mars as a utopian society and Earth as its opposite. Through this idea, I will investigate the notion of the Martian as the outsider and how the Martian perspective is achieved within each reading. In turn, this study will answer what it means to be Martian and reveal the role of Mars from a modern perspective. History of Rock Music: Another dissertation project. This one has to be a minimum of 30-pages, also due on April 1st. My dissertation will focus on Joshua Homme and Jack White and their respective Rock scenes. I will deconstruct their music careers from beginning to most recent and intend to show how these two Rock musicians are the leaders of their Rock scenes, and how, in convergence, these two scenes encompass the essence of Rock music. French: With two other IU French graduates, I will be heading a "French Club" project, where we will be teaching our own introductory French course to sixth graders going into French in middle school. The course will feature experimental second-language teaching methods, as well as feature an unorthodox syllabus. Must complete detailed syllabus and ALL class materials by December 18th. Also must be ready to teach class by January 4th.
The English dissertation I will be focusing on Five books: The Martian Chronicles, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Mars Trilogy (Actually three books), Watchmen, and Brave New World. I will also be reading Martian Time-Slip, Moving Mars and a few other utopian novels, as well as reading several theoretical essays concerning utopian/dystopian theory. All that is for this summer... by August 31st, I need to have a preliminary 15-page essay written regarding how the ideas driving my thesis has changed and what theory/literary ideas will be driving my research for the Fall semester.
For my Rock Music paper, I need to do some HEAVY listening to the garage rock scene that came out of Detroit... I figure I'm good on the Josh Homme side of things (except for maybe Kyuss stuff). I figure finding and listening to all this music is a big enough project for the summer.
I gotta get a basis down for the French thing this summer. We're going to have weekly meetings to make sure we're on the right track, etc...
The funny thing is that it seems like a LOT of work, but it's all stuff that I really want to do. I've finally found that realization that college means something other than a grade... it's this. It's working on the things you love to study and using what you've learned to achieve something productive. I'm excited about it all.
See you around
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