December 4-8, 2023. Week 15 of the Drake University Fall Semester. The week before finals week. But for us superior beings in the humanities, this is our finals week. Perhaps it comes too soon.
The End is Passed
I write this as I just finished up my final for my Video Production course: Studio 57, or as we called it, Telethon 57. A 30-minute telethon with segments inspired by the nostalgic variety programming that is classic PBS. Did we reach our goal? No. We did not raise any money, in the script or in reality.
I was the director for the whole production. And I was a producer. And a visionary. And an idealist. I poured so much (maybe too much) energy into creating this show. But wow, is there not so much joy and relief to be found in seeing what starts as a random idea become a fully fleshed-out thing. From scriptwriting to shot planning, there are so many opportunities to imprint a little bit of personality onto each little thing, so that by the end, it’s a summation of the self… in a way, at least.
Let me not take all the credit. That would be horrid. There were 20 other classmates besides me putting their time and effort into this project, and without them, it wouldn’t have been a damn thing. So my deepest gratitude to those who directed their energy towards this project as I did.
This was a fun final. I love video production. After all, my major is literally digital media production. I better enjoy it.
What Else Ya Got?
I whine about the onslaught of finals, yes, but to side with the skeptic— I only take 4 classes. There are others with far more to handle than I do, I get that. But… finals still suck. Give me a break.
Well, yesterday I took my Spanish 001 final. That was well and done, I’ve done alright at learning introduction-level Spanish so far. ¡Estoy feliz!
For the discussion-based English class Reading Race and Ethnicity, there was naught to be found in the form of a physical final. Of course, in typical English class fashion, the final is found in the form of a paper. One which I have hardly started on, though I’ve got 5(?) more days to do it from here. Maybe I should get going on that…
And then there’s this site, which serves as my final for the very class I made it for— Web Content and Development. It seems that it’s going well, no? I’ll check back in with you about that.
Final Thought
Finals? Blah! Too much serious work is happening at once. Not a big fan of it. And during the onset of my seasonal depression, are you kidding me? Who set this system up, for God’s sake? Not I.
Let me share some things that have kept me sane over this finals week: The Strokes’ 2020 Album The New Abnormal, and the promise of going to see the new Studio Ghibli film The Boy and the Heron at the Varsity Cinema right off campus.
I’ll leave you with a photo of the sunset I viewed yesterday (Wednesday, December 6, 2023.) Boy, was it a pretty one. Godspeed!
