Still Listening

This is a time of crisis. I have my Culminating Experience Oral Exam, which is my final class needed in order to graduate, on Monday, May 9th, at 11 am. I am sweating it out, practicing my 20 minute lecture on 5 books and an hour and a half on the remaining 30 texts. I am trying to practice, but I need to interrupt one more time with Sara Bareille's version of Beyonces "Single Ladies". I think she's adorable, and I like it better than the original (although I like Beyonce's dance moves much better). Here:



I should inform you that I am kicking ass in all of my classes.  Did I ever even tell you what my classes are this semester?  Here they are:

1) Character Analysis and Scene Structure-At City College, I have been taking this Theatre class for about 2 years now with a woman who has taught me the Stanislavski process and system. We are working on the first 20 pages of No Exit, the existential play by Sartre. The scene takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes. We have been torn apart by the class (Me and my two partners in class) by all the presumptuous first timers in class because the teacher has been riding us. Now, for the first time, our work is paying off for this play: the teacher said we are truly showing our inner life and inner dialogue of the characters. Eat it, bitches!

2) Write/Perform Monologues: At SFSU, I have taken a creative writing/theatre arts course that allows you to wrirte your own monologues and perform them. Thanks to the work I have been doing for the past two years at City College, my process is refined and strong. I am not only pulling out my strongest performances I have ever had, I am writing with great passion. Perhaps my new passion is playwriting and not poetry (I think poetry and I have gone our separate ways, finally, which is good, in a way). I have so far written three monologues which are modernizations on characters in Don Quixote, a man who struggles with romance and writers block, and a husband who is verbally abused and beaten by his wife. I feel amazing in this class, since everyone seems to struggle with their own work, yet I feel completely immersed and comfortable in mine. I am comfortable in serious, tragic, or comic characters. I am so glad I am taking this class!

3) Storytelling and Folk Literature: At SFSU, I am taking a class that incorporates theatre with storytelling skills in order to prepare for my Oral Exam. The class is full of future teachers, who are the best audience in the world. I have performed for them Where the Wild Things Are, a structured improv on a character I called Mr. Splits (a metrosexual with a bipolar disorder), The Legend of Johnny Appleseed (I wrote the script and directed the whole thing with 2 other students), and finally an Oral History of my 14 years of experience in the theater.  I am getting a 100% grade right now.

4) Culminating Experience(The Oral Exam): So far, I have written two essays, compiled 33 books worth of extended notes, finished my CV, finished my assessment of goals, and am taking a 2 hour test on Monday. I am positive I will be ready to kick this shit out the ball park.

On top of that, I have administered and delivered two workshops: the Scholarship Essay Workshop and the Resume Writing Workshop. I have attended and spoken/read my paper at one Academic Conference, and have been accepted to attend the PAMLA in November on a paper in Nigerian folk literature.

It boggles my mind everything I have done this semester, on top of working, scene practice, and oral exam practice. I have done more this semester, it seems, presentation-wise, than I have done in any other semester. I have not had a moment to breathe. I deserve straight A's this semester.

Almost done. I may take a trip to Argentina, possibly to live there. Tell you more later. Ciao ciao.