20: "Love at First Sight: T-Swift in the D"

One of the defining storylines of my last four years is how I've somehow managed to go from a football, basketball, and baseball player who listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC and wore baggy Michigan sweats every day, to a writer, director, and actor who listens to Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson and still wears Michigan sweats every day but occasionally puts on jeans and a nice button up shirt.

I still believe I haven't changed that much, but have merely embraced the ability to try new things and not be afraid to have new tastes. I've also had to answer a few rare questions about my sexuality, but it's certainly nothing I'm afraid of. I think a guy who drives a Mustang and schedules his weekends around football can still listen to so-called "girly" music. Which is why I am proud to admit that my 20th-best college memory is the time I saw Taylor Swift at Ford Field.

Perhaps the fact that the concert was at the home stadium of my favorite football team helped compromise my then-fading masculinity, but the fact of the matter is, I fell in love with Taylor Swift that night.  For real.  Like so many people, I think I had these preconceived, premature opinions about her.  I assumed her music was too poppy for my tastes, and based on one poor awards show performance, I thought she couldn't sing live.

Almost instantly, all those opinions were flipped.  She put on an amazing show, and almost every song I loved.  I've since become a T-Swift junkie (I'm not ashamed to admit I listen to "22" on a loop from time to time).  She was a much better live singer than I had thought, and her personality, even from afar, seemed so genuine.  I remember she came out to start the show and just took a few moments to take it all in, and then addressed the crowd and said how it was the first stadium she'd played on the "Speak Now" tour and that she was blown away by the magnitude of the event, which I believed.

I often summarize the concert by saying that - short of seeing Paul McCartney play "Hey Jude" live - I can't imagine a cooler musical experience than watching 45,000 pre-teen girls sing the chorus of "Fifteen" in unison with Taylor Swift (and I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd play "Free Bird" live).

I owe this experience, of course, to Al Fredline, Katie Grand, Sarah Zyzanski, and Al's little sister Caroline, who for some reason allowed me to come along.  I think Allison had gotten tickets (in really good seats, too).  Someone backed out, or everyone else was busy; I can't for the life of me figure out how I lucked into it but I'm sure glad I did!  And Foxtown was HOPPING that night; Taylor Swift was at Ford Field and Justin Verlander was starting for the Tigers next door.

I have pics, too!  On my Facebook, or right here.

21: "Coby's Over Here!"

As my mom likes to remind me, I am here to be a student, and school is my first priority.  But that doesn't mean that classes can't fun, right?

Of course, classes can and SHOULD be fun.  I've had many classes where I had fun, like the TV studio class in my last post.  But there's one class that went beyond just fun, and it is my 21st-most memorable college experience: Sociology 389.

I took SOC 389 because it appealed to me as an opportunity to get involved in the community.  Only later did I realize that it fulfilled a graduation requirement for me.  The class puts students into groups and send them off into the community to help out in various arenas: jails, schools, soup kitchens, etc.  Then, once weekly in class, we'd talk about our experiences and submit short journal entries.

Growing up in a big Italian family, I was always used to being around little kids, and in college that was something I missed.  I coached youth basketball, football, and soccer for awhile, but being paid to do something is naturally a much different experience.  I chose this particular section of 389 because it gave me the chance to go to an elementary school and participate in their after school program.  I was assigned to Eberwhite Elementary in Ann Arbor.

Eberwhite's after school program was, in essence, a mult-functional day care.  My sister did a similar thing when we lived in Indiana.  It gives students a safe place to be until their parents get out of work.  They get to play games, have a snack, go outside, and get their homework done.

I loved my Wednesday afternoons at Eberwhite.  The kids were all so much fun to be around.  I'd draw pictures with them, play board games, quarterback the flag football games, shoot hoops, and generally just goof around for a couple hours.  After a couple of weeks, I was joined by another guy from my class, a freshman names Ryan (who will appear a couple more times in this countdown, no doubt).  Ryan and I were given nicknames by some of the girls in the after school program, and I can't remember but I think one of us was named Carl???  Anyway, we returned the favor by giving all the girls nicknames, except the nicknames weren't as much nicknames as they were boy names.  For example, there was a Billy Bob, a Steve, and my personal favorite: Frank the Tank (we told the girl she was never allowed to tell her parents that because "Frank the Tank" was the name of Will Ferrell's character from "Old School").

Aside from the culminating project in the course - Ryan, myself, and a few others choreographing a dance to oldies hits for the program's variety show (and the two little guys who played Clapton on their guitars) - the highlight of the experience came when Ryan and I were playing basketball in the gym one day.  There was a girl in the program named Coby.  Coby was a fifth grader, so she was one of the older kids there, and she really took to liking Ryan and I, and we all liked to tease each other a bit.  Jackie, the wonderful older woman in charge of the program, came into the gym looking for Coby.

Jackie asked, "Where's Coby?" just as Ryan drilled a three-pointer and held his form like Kobe Bryant would.  Ryan, instantly, turns and yells "Kobe's over here!"  You had to be there, but it was hysterical, take my word for it.

22: "Susan Douglas"

I've often said that I love my job, and how it compliments my career plans so well.  As someone who dreams of telling stories for a living, I feel very fortunate to be able to have a job that pays me to hear the stories of fascinating people, and then share those stories with the university community.

I write for the University Record, the newspaper for staff and faculty news at U of M.  My one role at the paper is to interview interesting or newsworthy staff and faculty members and write 600-word "spotlights" about their jobs and lives.

I've had the good fortune of meeting some fascinating people, and I've taken a lot of pride in being able to tell their stories.  One in particular stands out for me, though, and it registers at number 23 on my college memories countdown: my interview with Susan Douglas.

Susan Douglas is the chair of the UM Communications Department, and a fascinating woman.  I did the story on the advice of my friend, Julie, and Prof. Douglas had so much to say that I actually interviewed her in two separate meetings.

Now, I'll let the story do the talking.  The version here is my 1200-word rough draft, before I edited and trimmed it to the 600-words for publication. The shorter, published version is available here.

            Susan Douglas was out shopping in Chicago with actress Barbara Billingsley, television’s June Cleaver, when a bartender at a restaurant recognized her as the lady on that day’s episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.          

For someone who has made a living analyzing the mass media, there may be no better barometer of success than seeing yourself on television alongside the queen of all media herself.

Professor Douglas is an award-winning author and the Chair of the Department of Communication Studies.  She came to Michigan after teaching at the small, experimental Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Hampshire doesn’t give students grades and focuses on projects and student-designed curriculum.

“It couldn’t have been more different,” Douglas says.

The communications department at Michigan was small, and didn’t even have women faculty when Douglas joined in 1996.  But, she embraced the opportunity to help rebuild the program.

“I fell in love with the place,” she says of the university. “I loved the people I met.  It’s a very exciting place.”

Douglas was promoted to her current position as department chair eight years ago.  Her responsibilities include planning curriculum and courses, and managing the people and finances of her department.  She was even consulted on the design of the new North Quad, where Communication Studies is headquartered.

Douglas also teaches, of course.  Her classes include an introductory-level course on the mass media and a 400-level seminar on celebrity culture.  Part of her focus is to give students a way to properly judge advertising and cultural stereotypes and assumptions.

“Young people have been surrounded by every ploy in the book,” she says. “Our goal (as a department) is to give them a language to analyze what’s around them.”

Douglas herself graduated from Elmira College in New York (she grew up in New Jersey). She earned a Master’s and a PhD from Brown University, where she first gained an interest in being a teacher.

“It’s so undervalued in our society,” she says of the teaching profession.

Douglas taught her first course while at Brown, on mass media and culture. She says it was a very popular class as no others were being offered at the time that incorporated popular culture into the conversation. This would help pave the road for much of what Douglas teaches now, both as a professor and as an author.

However, Douglas, a proud feminist, says that one of her main interests was the depiction of women’s issues in the media.

“I’ve been very interested in the roles the media play on gender, shaping our ideas about gender,” she says, “and about which kinds of women deserve our admiration and respect and which kinds don’t.”

This interest inspired her to write her first book, “Where the Girls Are,” in 1994.  She says that most books written about feminism in the 1970s and 1980s were too high-brow for a general audience.  Douglas wanted to write a book that everyone could read and enjoy, and it worked.  “Where the Girls Are” was named one of the top ten books of the year by NPR, Entertainment Weekly, and the McLaughlin Group.

In order to gain the respect of a mass audience, Douglas aimed to make the book funny, which she says would also help fight the stereotype that all feminists have no sense of humor.

“Rather than be angry about this imagery,” she says, “it’s much more powerful to be funny.”

Douglas says that since the book was published, she has received several emails from male college students thanking her and saying that she changed their minds about feminism.

“It’s so gratifying,” she says.

Douglas says she was drawn to the movement by the massive, legal, and widespread discrimination of women in the society she grew up in. Women couldn’t get credit cards, there were quotas for graduate schools, and women were underrepresented in the media.

“It was a different world,” she says. “Feminism, for me, was about having a life, being allowed to get a PhD and be a college professor instead of being told, ‘no, you can only teach first grade.’”

Her two most recent books, “The Mommy Myth,” and “Enlightened Sexism” also deal with women’s issues.  Douglas said she tries to counter the popular belief that feminism is an anti-family, anti-men movement.  The goal, she says, is simply for equality with men, but that some people still don’t understand feminism.

“It’s hard to think of a social movement that has done so much (but) has been effectively vilified by the mass media,” she says.  “Women of my generation who are professionals owe everything to feminism.”

While much of her work deals with women and the media, that’s not all Douglas focuses on.  Her second book, “Listening In,” was an award-winning account of how radio came to be what it is.

“I think radio was a crucially important medium in our society,” she says.  “I’ve been fascinated by the role it’s played in shaping all kinds of things: politics, musical tastes and cultures, (and) youth cultures.”

Douglas was also a member of the board at the Peabody Awards for six years (2004-09), and was the chair of the committee in her last year.  The Peabodys recognize excellence in television each year (a less talked about, but more selective version of the Emmys).  During her tenure, the committee, comprised of industry insiders, columnists, critics, and academics like herself, awarded news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and popular programs like “Mad Men,” “Friday Night Lights,” and “The Sopranos.”

One of the highlights of the experience was attending the awards ceremony each year.  Douglas got to meet tennis great Billie Jean King, and the cast of “Mad Men” and “Glee.”  But she also enjoyed the board meetings where the awards were decided after months of narrowing down 1000 submissions to 35 winners.

“The conversations and debates are really interesting, and you learn a lot from people in other fields,” she says.

Douglas has also contributed to magazines, including her current monthly column in the progressive magazine “In These Times.”  She lives in Ann Arbor with her husband, T.R. Durham, who owns a smokehouse in Kerrytown, Durham’s Tracklements.  Their daughter, now studying public health at Columbia, was a 2011 Michigan graduate.

Having her daughter go to school in Ann Arbor, she says, was a great experience, even though they rarely saw each other on campus.

“It gave me a great insight into student life here.”

What moment in the classroom stands out as the most memorable?

An African-American who wore a shirt that said: “Danger: Black Man with a Brain” who was not afraid to challenge and engage me. “I loved that he was a fierce and committed student.  It was a testimony to the fact that diversity works here”

If you were selling Ann Arbor to a faculty colleague, how would you describe what it has to offer?

It has many things that (big) cities have without the hassles of commuting.

What is your favorite spot on campus?

I love the Diag, especially in the fall when there is so much going on.

What inspires you?

My students inspire me.  I love teaching undergraduates: their energy, their optimism, their openness to new ideas.

What are you currently reading?

College policies, student papers, dissertations, and magazines

Who had the greatest influence on your career path?

“Hugh Aitkin, who was on my dissertation committee and also became a mentor and close friend.  He was hugely supportive, and a role model in his writing.”

             

23: "TV Studio"

So, anyone reading these, I apologize for these next couple posts.  23 and 22 are related to a class and to work.  But I promise, starting at 21 it starts to get really fun.

Number 23 on the countdown is one of my favorite classes at the U, Screen Arts and Cultures 302: TV Studio 1.  For me, this was the perfect example of a class that never felt like a class.  It felt like something I did, twice a week at the same time, that was purely for fun.  It reminded me in many ways of band in middle school or newspaper in high school; I was putting in work but never in a reluctant or boring way.

The class was held in the basement of North Quad, in the recently-opened SAC production studios.  Basically, we have our own state-of-the-art TV and film studios.  There are, each equipped with cameras, lights, and microphones.  The TV studio also has four dynamic sets - designed by the theatre department - that can be made to look like almost anything, from a kitchen to an office to a bar.

Then, adjacent to the studio, is a control room.  In the control room, the director watches the show from a large monitor, with all the cameras on at once, and directs everyone else in the room on what to do.  There's a technical director who works the switchboard, a sound person, a graphics person, and an assistant director.

The objective in the class is to learn the basics of multi-camera, live-to-tape, studio-based television production.  We had three main units: interview, tabletop demonstration, and sitcom.  For each unit, we directed a four-minute segment in that particular style.

For my first project, I staged an interview where the head of PBS was reacting to the Mitt Romney "Big Bird" quote from the presidential debate.  That was fun.  I got to "roll-in" clips of the debate and Big Bird's response on that weekend's "Weekend Update."

My second project was the highlight of the class for me.  We were put into three-person directing teams to come up with an idea for something we could demonstrate in the kitchen set (a la Martha Stewart).  My partners - Alex and Ari - and I decided that we wanted to demonstrate the art of mixing drinks.  This was so much fun to make, because in addition to directing, I got to play a self-obsessed expert mixologist, and a drunken talk show host.  Unfortunately, we used fake alcohol.  But definitely a lot of fun.

The third project was a scene from an episode of Will and Grace.  I loved the show when it was on, so it was pretty cool to take over those characters for a couple weeks, and we got to work with actors from the theatre school, which was a real treat.

Like so many of these memories in the top 25, what I took away from this most of all were the relationships.  The single biggest reason class was exciting to come to was that - like band and newspaper before it - I thoroughly enjoyed the people in the class.  Alex and Ari, Terry, Nicole, Graam, Derek, Pam, Mary Bridget - too many people to name.

Now, I'll stop talking and instead of describing everything let you see what I'm talking about!

24: "A Card Game Called Murder"

So, anyone who knows me well knows my story pretty well, about how I came to Michigan wanting to be a doctor, didn't do particularly well in bio and chem, and somehow ended up pursuing a career in the film industry.  And I'm constantly reminded of this every time I talk to my Uncle Bob, who feels the need to recite the story from the beginning, just to make sure or something like that.

That I have gone into film and screenwriting doesn't surprise me; I've always loved the movies and I've always considered myself at least a decent enough writer.  But if you had asked me back in high school if I thought I'd be acting and directing in the theater, I probably would have harassed you about it.

But, the truth is, theater has been, surprisingly, a very big part of my college experience. And, without spoiling too much, I can assure you that this entry won't be the only mention of it in this top 25 list.

Today's entry is about my first "Kamikaze" experience, directing a play entitled "A Card Game Called Murder."

My sophomore year, a classmate and friend named Minhdzuy got me involved in a student-run theater group called the RC Players.  While not a member of the RC (the Residential College), I've been involved in RCP projects ever since. Kamikaze is their version of 24-hour theater.  The directors, writers, and actors are all chosen ahead of time, and come together to produce 2, 20-minute plays in 24 hours.

I auditioned as an actor, but cautioned the producers about casting me.  While I thought I did a decent job at the audition, when asked if I'd rather direct or act, I said, "well, I'll put it this way: I'm a really good director and a really bad actor."  Needless to say, I was ultimately chosen as one of the two directors.

The way Kamikaze works is: everyone (writers, producers, actors, and directors) meets at 8 pm on a Friday night.  Everyone introduces themselves, and the actors are asked to name a role they'd like to play and a prop they can provide. The writers then disappear, break into two writing teams (3 people each) and write the two scripts, trying to incorporate the actors' wishes and the props.  For example, one of the actors said they had a conch shell, which became part of an interesting plot point in the script I ended up directing.

With the writers gone, everyone else stays in a room, playing improv games throughout the night.  For anyone not familiar with what these games are, it's a lot like the show "Whose Line is it Anyway?"  Basically, it's a chance to have fun, be creative, and get to know people.

If I took one thing away from the experience, it was that last part: meeting new people.  I only knew a few people in the room, but that was cool.  I got to make many new friends.  Among them were Devin Brooks, an extremely talented actress who ended up playing the lead role in my play; Lauren Barrett, who I swear is Robin from "How I Met Your Mother"; and Alana and Ilana, whose names are pronounced the same but who I took to calling "Ay-Lana" and "Eye-Lana" as a joke/memory device.

Around 3 a.m., because we technically couldn't use the room all night long, we took a short break.  I went back to my friend, Grace's house and fell asleep on he couch.  By 7, I was back up and meeting with the writers and producers in the library.  When I walked in, they were finishing up the scripts and Rayna, a producer, said she thought I should direct the script "A Card Game Called Murder" because of it's ensemble cast, something I was familiar with managing.  I also lobbied for that script, the sole reason being that Grace had been cast in one of the lead roles and I wanted very badly to work with her again.

By 8, the actors returned and we read through the scripts.  I then had less than 12 hours to direct them and rehearse.  It was a challenge, for sure, but I had such an awesome cast - headlined by Devin and Grace - who made it a lot easier, and a lot of fun.  The two main characters were Ilana (played by Grace, and named after the actress Ilana), and Trisha (played by Devin).  They adopted these over-the-top Californian accents, and in keeping with the I-lana/A-lana joke, I had everyone pronounce Grace's character's name as "Eye-Lana."

Ilana and Trisha were rich, snobby big-city girls who decide their lives are "too perfect" and go searching for more real, innocent experiences.  They run into a group of Montana citizens on vacation, and the ensuing experience leads to everyone having a better understanding of themselves and living happily every after.  The Montana gang was played by Alana, Kate, John, and Ankur, who were all excellent and did exactly what was asked of them.  I particularly enjoyed their upper-body-only dancing (it makes me laugh every time).  And as I said, Devin and Grace made a fantastic team.

We spent hours going over characters, blocking, learning lines.  By mid-afternoon, we were rehearsing off-script, albeit with many mistakes.  At one point, I gave the cast a 15 minute bathroom break, but came back to find them all asleep (I didn't have the heart to wake them up, so let them rest for an hour or so).

After a dinner break and sending everyone home to change, we were ready to put on the show at 8 p.m. Saturday night.  It was a lot of fun, garnered some good laughs, drew a big crowd, and ultimately has gone down as one of the best experiences of my college career, and I'm really looking forward to being involved in one more before I graduate.

Here's a link to the performance, in which I also cameo:

25: "Mr. Lava Lamp"

So, to start the countdown, a very recent memory, and a pretty short and simple one, too.  It all started when my roommate, Josh, received a lava lamp as a gift from his girlfriend, Lizz.  Never having owned a lava lamp, we were all disappointed when - upon plugging it in - the lamp failed to get going.

I promised Josh that while he was gone that night I would leave it plugged in and watch it, and update him via Facebook.  A few hours later, I cam downstairs, and like Frankenstein awaking the monster:

"IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!"

Within moments, my roommate Lexi and I were busy staring at the lamp in all it's lava-ey glory.  I turned off the lights to get the full effect, and came up with a great idea: put the lava lamp in human situations, take pictures, and send them randomly to all of my Snapchat contacts.

And with that, the legend of Mr. Lava Lamp was born.

Over the next couple hours, Mr. Lamp:
-cooked
-did laundry
-ate a pizze
-broke his leg
-walked with crutches
-did homework on his laptop
-drank a soda

And then, there were several videos of me imitating the shrimp from Finding Nemo who got all worked up over the bubbles coming out of the treasure chest.

All in all, a great night.  To everyone who was on the receiving end of the chats: a) my sincerest apologies... b) I swear I wasn't drunk, stoned, or held at gunpoint.

Intro

So much of my writing, my planning for the future, and the way I live day-to-day revolves around the art of reflection.  I love to recall old stories (much to the chagrin of the people forced to listen to them over and over again) and enjoy taking the occasional stroll down memory lane.

With that in mind, I came up with an idea.  I wanted to chronicle my favorite college stories in one place, and allow people to see them (so that maybe they don't have to listen to them ever again...but let's be honest I would never deprive them of that opportunity).  So, I decided I would rank my top 25 college memories.  I'll publish a few each week until graduation.

The rules:

-Events taking place after the start of the countdown are off-limits. So, here's an honorable mention for the M-agination film I'm working on and my promised karaoke rendition of "I Want It That Way."

-Only events taking place during school terms are eligible.  I have a lot of great memories from vacations and breaks, but I've written about those before.

-I tried to balance academics, sports, and social events, and also tried to include as many people as possible.  I think the list I have does that pretty well.

-Anything that violates the trust of anyone is left off, of course.

Now, enjoy!