Back to School

I had to take a few days off from posting because my new school term began this week. My new full-time schedule leaves little time for anything else but today I wanted to write about college life. Given the tragic events this week on the campus of Virginia Tech, I felt compelled to write. While I was on my way to class on Monday, 32 lives (including one Holocaust survivor from this area) were lost in Virginia. I feel so sad for those parents and family members who lost their loved ones. Now after hearing about the gunman’s life prior to the shooting, I feel sorry for his family too. It’s very clear that the young man was severely mentally ill. If only somebody had taken the boy to get evaluated sooner, maybe this tragedy could have been avoided.

The sad fact is there are many students who are walking around many campuses in this country who may be depressed or “walking time bombs”. I know a lot about depression from having gone through a spell or two in my life. But I sought help and got it. (Thanks Dr. Murray!) And as irony would have it, I recently did a paper for my final for my psychology class on the subject of “Depression and the College Student.” What I learned in my research is that 35% of college students will at some point in their college life will suffer some level of depression. Now they may not all be as severe as the gunman, but just the same it’s a problem that should be dealt with. Many students may resort to drugs and alcohol abuse as a way to cope instead of seeking help at an on-campus counseling center. It’s unfortunate that the counseling center at Virginia Tech may now be overflowing with students there since this incident. Hopefully the students there with seek help in learning how to cope with life on campus since all of this happening. My thoughts and prayers are with all the students there and the injured students as well. May God bless them all.

My college life in film school looks like it will be an interesting and challenging quarter for me. I’m enrolled in 3 classes in my program and 2 required general education courses. Of the program courses I’m taking “Multimedia for the Web” (a/k/a Macromedia Flash) with Professor MacGillivray, “Composition and Special Effects” (a/k/a Advance Adobe After Effects) with Professor Byrne and Editing II (a/k/a AVID) with Professor Trice. The general education courses are English Composition and Critical Thinking. I have 3 professors that I’ve studied before for the film/multimedia classes which is always a great thing because fortunately they are all really cool and really passionate about their subject matter. I know I will learn a lot from these men because they are consummate professionals and have a respect for film and editing that makes learning from them very stimulating. Both my general education professors are new to me but both have taught their subjects for years and really seem to enjoy it. I think I will learn a lot from these 2 women. I look forward to those classes as much as I look forward to the film classes.

The project this quarter will be a music video. This time we have to find an artist (singer or band) and produce, write, direct and edit a music video for them. Now before I get inundated with emails, I have already committed to produce a music video for my good friend Daphne Shawn [left]. If you haven’t heard of her yet, you will! The sistah has got PIPES! I’m sure she is destined to become a star one day. Ironically, I discussed making a video for her over a year ago (even before I decided to go to film school) when she told me she was working on her second CD. Her first CD is called “What It’s All About” and it is PHENOMENAL and I’m not just saying that because she is my friend, I’m saying that because it is a statement of FACT! Anyway as the weeks move on to the end of the quarter, I will probably have a lot to add here about my progress with this project. More than likely I will have another casting call for dancers this time. I’m really forward to it.

It’s going to be a fun quarter!