Tag: Elan

Coffee House

Coffee House posterFor me, senior year is a list of count downs: counting down to my eighteenth birthday, to college deadlines and shining most teasingly away, of course, counting down to graduation. In this current world of projects and deadlines, of feeling my toes creep towards the finish line, I can’t help but still feel sentimental towards a few things.

Tonight, the Douglas Anderson Writing Department is hosting its annual Coffee House. It’s known for the unique collaboration opportunity between all arts areas and its determination to showcase original, student created work. It will be my last as an official member of the school.

The beautiful thing about Coffee House is that not only does the show change every year, both in writing and style, but the way that you as a person experience it changes as well. My freshman and sophomore years were marked as a performer, not of my own pieces but of other people’s. I stood backstage, eavesdropping on masterful writers practicing, borrowed someone’s giant, sweaty gray shirt for a prop. I sat on the floor between acts, trying to remember lines that weren’t mine and watching local directors spit out instructions.

I don’t remember anything from my Junior Coffee House, regrettably. I may have been on the bleachers, or at a table, sitting by one friend or another. The only thing I cared about was that the One-Girl-I-Hated wasn’t preforming, and that the pieces were taking me places I didn’t want –but needed- to go.

This year, things have changed again. As a member of the Elan staff, I am behind the scenes. I have sold tickets, painted doors, been pushed past my comfort level again and again to help make Coffee House happen. The entire production feels more meaningful than ever before, not just because of the glare of senior nostalgia, but because I now appreciate every single aspect of the process.

Some things stay the same, of course. There will be a theme (this year it is doors and keys), teachers will be thanked and coffee will be served. Due to the construction on our building, we’re going back to my middle school for the show. It feels a little like driving to an old neighborhood and vaguely recollecting checking that yellow mailbox, or drawing on that old porch. In a way, it hints at an even earlier tradition.

Next year, if I’m in town, I see myself coming back to watch Coffee House happen. It’ll probably feel foreign, a little like trying on a t-shirt half a size too small, it also could feel like a crop top that suddenly fits just right. That’s the thing about tradition, it lets you hold on to the best feeling of things, and create new experiences as you go along.

-Savannah Thanscheidt, Web Editor

 

If you’re interested in attending, this event will be held at LaVilla School of the Arts from 7-9pm. Tickets will be 7 dollars.

Make It Count

courtesy: goandshoot.com From Casey Neistat's commercial for Nike.

courtesy: goandshoot.com
From Casey Neistat’s commercial for Nike.  

I like when minds are different. I like when one person looks at a piece of abstract art and sees their mother in law on the Eiffel tower, and another person sees bacon falling from the sun.

One mind that looks at the world differently is filmmaker Casey Neistat. He was hired by Nike to make a commercial about their new wristband that counts steps. More specifically, he had to show the world in one commercial what it means to “make it count”.

Neistat is known for his risky approaches. In this particular film he starts out by telling viewers “Nike asked me to make a movie asking what it meant to make it count. Instead of making their commercial I spent the entire budget traveling around the world with my friend Max. We’d keep going until the money ran out. It took ten days.”

A quote that shows up on the screen is: “life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all,” said by Hellen Keller. The camera lenses capture Neistat’s journey through footsteps. He goes from his New York apartment to the airport, to the Eiffel tower, the pyramids in Egypt, the Buckingham Palace and Big Ben in London, the rainforests in Zambia, the Vatican in Rome, Bangkok, and back to his New York apartment. Whether if he’s running, walking, jumping, or flipping, he is always in motion.

No matter how many times I watch this film, I always feel inspired at the end. There are several quotes throughout the video. The ones that I take with me to Élan are “Do one thing everyday that scares you” said by Elanor Roosevelet  and “Action expresses priorities” said by Ghandi. I entered Élan this year as Art Editor. Like anything else, it can be scary taking a new role, but I’m here because I’m passionate about art.

In Élan I get to surround myself with art and writing, and it’s as if I’ve traveled all over the world, through different concepts and different minds all by staying foot in one place, in this one classroom, where Élan’s literary pages come to life. To me, that’s what matters, that’s what counts.

-Kathleen Roland, Art Editor 

Watch the commercial here! Follow the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxfZkMm3wcg&list=UUtinbF-Q-fVthA0qrFQTgXQ