March 2009 Archives

Part One

Spring Break Fiasco!        

In a dungeon-like room in the basement of McKenna, the noise of vibrant students could be heard from the entrance into the hallway.  This enthusiastic atmosphere was the result of eight Setonian staff members diligently working on the newspaper on their last day of spring break.

Because of the timing of Seton Hill University's spring break, this issue of the Setonian suffered from lack of staff writers, photographs, and copy editors.  However, the dedication of the few dependable staff members was exemplified by freshman Becca Marrie.  With a peeling, sun-burned face, Marrie, ignored the excruciating pain from her week in Florida's radiating sun in order to ensure the Setonian was published on time.

"Becca was one of the only eight to grace us with her presence for our critically important copy-editing party for last issue," said editor Tiffany Gilbert. 

Marrie mentioned that because of the minimal amount of staff participation in this issue of the Setonian, it was especially lacking in skillful writing.  Many of the copy editors agreed on that this unacceptable writing created unnecessary work for them,

"Sometimes I just wonder how a journalism student could honestly write an article like this and expect it to get published.  It looks like a fourth grader wrote it," commented one anonymous copy editor..

Having spring break the week before the paper was set to be published caused a large amount of stress for the editors and and the students in charge of layout.  With a minimal amount of students to help, this issue of the Setonian was not quite up to the standards the staff members had set for themselves.  This is due in part to a large number of students either ignoring or not receiving the mass emails sent out by Gilbert.  Much help was needed but little was received over spring break.  Fortunately for the Setonian,at least at least a few of the staff members were dependable.  Gilbert knew she could always count on Marrie, in particular, to help her with whatever ends needed to be tied.   

"During the unfortunate absence of the entire student body over spring break, Becca answered promptly to my pleading emails to help smooth out the bumps of production," said Gilbert.

Trackback

Part Two

My blog response to the Setonian Online mockup

Part Three

So far this term, I have been accumulating nutrition tips for our class project, which is creating a new Setonian Online.  These tips will be used when I post daily/weekly healthy tips for students.  I believe this innovative idea will make the Setonian Online more appealing to the student body.  

Trackback

An undeniably unique play, Thorton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth provided a breath of fresh air for a genre of plays previously lacking innovativeness.  Wilder effectively combined ideas based in the past, present, and future to create a play within a play.  Contrary to the norm, Wilder did not create the barrier between audience and actors during the play, even in its peak moments.  For example, in Act II when Sabina is in the process of wooing Mr Antrobus, she unexpectedly veers from her script and instead speaks to the audience: "Just a moment.  I have something I wish to say to the audience. - Ladies and gentlemen, I am not going to play this particular scene tonight..."

The stage director, Mr Fitzpatrick questions her brash behavior and Sabina proceeds to explain that "there are some lines in that scene that would hurt some people's feelings and I don't think the theatre is a place where people's feelings should be hurt."

Audiences accustomed to play's creating the illusion that the events on stage were really happening would be caught off guard by Wilder's purposeful interruptions from a seemingly conventional chain of events.  No longer did the audience simply watch a story unfold on a stage, rather, they became part of the story.  At the end of Act 1, the audience is invited to participate in the events onstage by passing their wooden chairs up to fuel the fire that will  "save the human race." 

Another way which Wilder emphasized his anti-illusion play was his creation of extraordinarily general characters.  Rather than developing psychologically and individually throughout the play, his characters portray both mythological and historical figures. The main characters are presented as timeless models of basic human roles, such as the Great Mother, the Hero, and the Fallen Woman.  Also, each character on stage represents a basic human quality -- "intellect (Mr. Antrobus), nurture (Mrs. Antrobus), sexuality (Sabina and Gladys), violence (Henry) -- and these qualities appear in every historical epoch." 

Trackback