Posts written by Mallory Schwan
Friday, April 11 2008
Hidden Nature
Boston in the springtime is one of the most beautiful cities on the East Coast. With sprawling parks, numerous ponds and the Charles River, and brilliant gardens, you’d be hard-pressed not to find a quiet piece of green to center yourself in. With April going quickly and temperatures rising, the city is bustling with people enjoying the bits of nature between buildings. As a girl who grew up in the mountains, I’ve spent a lot of time investigating the best spots in Boston for escaping the hovering buildings and car exhaust. Here are a few favorites to get inspired for spring.
The Emerald Necklace: Boston hides it’s own jewels—at least if you’re looking from the sky. The Emerald Necklace is 1,100 acres of parks and gardens connected by water-and-walkways. This includes the ones right outside Emerson, the Common and Public Gardens, as well as the Fens and many others. They provide a quick and free escape from the rigors of city life and gray color palette of construction. They’re all worth visiting at least once to stake out your own special spot.
Getting there: Visit the park system’s website for more information and maps.
Click to Read More...Tuesday, April 1 2008
Spring Fever
Patience, friends. Spring will be here soon.
April 1st. It’s 62 degrees outside. I’m wearing bermuda shorts in the most fantastic plaid, filps flops, and my size-of-a-small-window sunglasses. I am ecstatic with the weather. Guess where I am?
You’re right. I’m in class. As I write this. I’ve been in class since two this afternoon–I had just long enough to stroll down Boylston after lunch between morning and afternoon class, and I’m headed straight to tech rehearsals after this until 11 p.m.
So do me a favor and get outside! Take advantage of what I can’t and get some fresh air. Coming up soon I’ll be highlighting some of the best things about the outdoor Boston scene, but until then, help me out! Do some adventuring on your own, and tell me about it. Find a great park, rooftop, cafe patio, or clever street corner locale, and up your endorphins with some sunshine. If you have any great suggestions or particular places you’d love to share, drop me a line or a comment and I’ll investigate. Any and all of the surrounding area is welcome. So if you’re feeling cabin feverish and claustrophobic between buildings, keep an eye out for some awesome places to get away from the asphalt and exhaust. And if you’ve already got the inside info on some sunny places, be sure to let me know!
Tuesday, March 11 2008
10,000 Years Before Fact
Fun Fact: Wolly Mammoths = Dating Technique
Things I did not know until I witnessed the glory that was the cinematic marvel “10,000 B.C.”
1. Blue eyes make you special. Very, very special. Why haven’t I recieved this goddess-like status yet?
2. Ten millenia ago, in a northern African area, people of one tribe could come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. I guess they had their own little Ellis Island around there, because I’m sure that there were at least eight different heritages visiable from facial feature alone in this one tribe.
3. Love conquers all, or more specifically, love conquers wolly mammoths. (Because back then, you couldn’t get the girl until you stabbed the hairy beast in the heart. Romance at its finest, ladies.)
4. Speaking of wolly mammoths, did you know they built the pyramids? Fun fact. Not only are the pyramids a few thousands years older than all that silly, inaccurate carbon-dating says, but those slaves got a little help from the furry elephants hauling the giants bricks. Laziness, I say.
5. If you save a saber-tooth tigers life, it will communicate with you telepathically. Seriously.
6. “The Almighty” is German. A crusty, pale, old, withered German. In Africa.
7. There was some sort of ten-foot-tall ostrich-pterodactyl-velociraptor creature alive in 10,000 B.C., and it got screeching mad when it couldn’t eat the crunchy little humans.
8. They had domesticated horses? What?!?!
9. They had corn too? Pretty sure that one is strictly American continental cuisine. I’m positive.
10. Too much of a spiritual connection with someone causes nosebleeds. Kind of like cocaine.
All in all, I’ve realized that no one, absolutely no one, involved in the making of this movie has ever picked up a 6th grade social studies book. “Artistic license” took on an entirely new level. If this was 10,000 B.C., it put the golden age of the Egyptian Empire at around 25,000 B.C., because they trumped them in more than a few ways. Archeology, schmarcheology–it was a good excuse to put a saber-tooth tiger and ostrich-raptors into a movie. God bless. I’d recommend a very un-sober viewing though, or you might not make it.
Wednesday, February 27 2008
Music Shop
Rapid City.
I must preface this piece by reminding the reader that I am from Rapid City, SD. It’s about the size of a suburb around here, but without the actual city in proximity. It’s not a bad place to live by any means, but the culture and interaction is…different to say the least. Unfortunately, there is a lot of typical, Chevy-driving, Keystone Light-chugging, lets-go-kill-some-shit-while-blasting-Toby-Keith culture and a lot of assholes from the nearby Air Force base. And this is a very commercialized, very corporate, very Top-40 kind of entertainment store. In a mall.
Four thirty-eight. One hour and twenty-two minutes to go. Nah, the last five minutes never count. One hour, seventeen minutes.
Deep breath. Some asshole is on his way up to the counter. That’s a really killer visor he’s wearing. His swagger is somewhere between a rapper and a Musical Theatre stroke victim. Wait for it…
“Find everything all right?” (Like I give a shit if you found the most artistically devoid piece of garbage that some TV personality told you was good this week)
“Great.” (Disgusting) “Are you a customer rewards member? No? It’s a great way to save money and get cool stuff. You really should be.” (No, you absolutely shouldn’t, you’ll just show up more) “Want to join?” (I’d really love to suck nine more dollars out of your pocket so you can replace it with a piece of worthless plastic that will never earn its keep. I’ll sweet talk you though. I get better numbers, and hey, if I’m already a corporate lackey, I might as well be a shameless one.)
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Monday, February 25 2008
The (Best) Worst of the World
I like the world, generally speaking. It fascinates me in many, many ways–especially the strange ideas we’ve come up with, like self-help books, hallucinogens, and Political Theory. (I’d recommend involving all three at once, at least once.) We come up with some pretty bizarre things as human beings, and beyond that, we do some pretty bizarre things. Thanks to my Reuters Odd News addiction, I’d like to share a few of those gems with you.
1. An anti-smoking extremist in Berlin recently doused his girlfriend and their apartment with the entirety of a fire extinguisher when she ignored his request to not light up. As soon as she lit her cigarette, he opened up and covered everything in sight, resulting in thousands of dollars of damage. He told reporters that he didn’t mind the damage, and that he was pretty sure his girlfriend wouldn’t light up again.
I’m pretty sure she’s not going to be his girlfriend much longer. I mean, as romantic as his concern might be, I wouldn’t appreciate a good soaking in chemical mist. I wanted those chemicals in my lungs, goddamn it.
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Monday, February 18 2008
There are more than a few warnings that everyone encounters on the adventure toward college. Parents, relatives, older siblings, the eavesdropping grocery store clerk—all of them are more than ready to inundate you with what you absolutely have to know while you’re away. How to do your laundry, how to stay awake for finals (don’t take any advice that involves putting anything up your nose), how to make friends. And things to avoid: procrastinating, overbooking yourself, majoring in philosophy, sketchy bars and sleeping with your TA—all worthy and helpful advice. But one thing we all hear of but are rarely advised about is the legendary Freshman Fifteen. Everyone knows what it is. Fifteen pounds or so packed on as the daily reminder of rushed lunches, late-night binges and fat-oil-starch soaked dining halls.
Tuesday, April 24 2007
Being Broke 101: A Resource
I have never been good with what some people like to call “fiscal responsibility.” My mother frequently has to ask me whether or not I have reconciled my checkbook recently, and my usual response is “I thought we reconciled back when we were Catholic? Oh, no that was repent. Close,” (My mother also happens to be an investment banker, responsible for not only her own money but a few hundred other people’s. I cannot fathom). To compound this, I have usually held jobs which paid less per hour than your average tweeny-bopper babysitter. I had to– I was too fucking busy in high school for any real employment. Consequently, I had a few run-ins with my bank known as “overdrafts,” or “all the little minuses are more than the little pluses.” Getting to college has only made this worse. Now, there are no little pluses on my bank statement, save for a monthly interest deposit of, oh, say, four cents or so. I managed to save quite a bit before I embarked on this adventure, and was doing pretty well…until now.
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Tuesday, April 3 2007
Pandora’s Box: Go On, Open It.
Pandora’s interface– awesome.
It’s a Tuesday. You”re in your room, clicking through your iPod and you”re thinking to yourself, “Gee, I am so in love with that new Fall Out Boy song! It combines catchy guitar hooks with insightfully ironic lyrics, and just enough harmonics to make me pants-off dance-off and re-evaluate my emotional shortcomings! Gosh. I wish I could find more just like it.” And I’m here to tell you that you can: whether it’s the pitiable angsty pop stylings of new emo-rock, bass-driven bitchez ‘n” hoez rap, or something soulful to soothe those tearful mid-semester fall-aparts, Pandora has what you”re looking for, including artists you didn’t even know existed.
Pandora is a little like crack: the gateway drug for music junkies. It opens up all kinds of portals and opportunities to find more, get more, have more. Try it once and you”re hooked. It all began with a couple frighteningly brilliant music technologists and has evolved into one of the most intelligent but easy-to-use venues for finding new music. Back in 2000, Tim Westergren and some friends (who just happened to all have degrees in music theory and technology) decided to have a little…well, fun and start something called The Music Genome Project. They set out to analyze the individual characteristics inherent in all music. After what I’m sure was at least a few hundred hours and migraines later, they”d narrowed the list down to oh, you know, only about four hundred specific musical attributes, any number of which are present in any given song. According to Westergren, they had achieved their goal of “capturing the essence of music at a fundamental level.” Such a modest way of putting it, don’t you think?
Thursday, March 29 2007
Getting Your Hands Grubby: Volunteer with Grub Street Writers
Grub Street: “where boston gets writing”
Emerson has long been a school which prides itself on encouraging its students to gain as much hands-on, real-life experience as possible. Whether through internships, volunteer work, or one of the plethora of on-campus organizations, a little (okay, preferably a lot) of time spent working in your chosen field pays off well after graduation–you might not have to join that Facebook group about picking a major you like and someday living in a box. Emerson tries to keep students aware of the various opportunities available by hosting preparatory meetings and internship fairs, but most of the work lies within the student’s motivation. To get an internship or accumulate volunteer hours takes effort–find the organization, contact the right person, get hired, haul yourself across town by foot or by T and finally, maybe, you’ll get some credentials for that ever-intimidating resume. Little do many know, however, that a bright-and-shiny chance lies just down the block, provided you can navigate getting buzzed in, braving a creaking, ancient (and strangely spaghetti-scented) elevator, and making it up to the fourth floor of 160 Boylston.
Meet Grub Street Writers. Some of you (most likely the other WLP students like myself) recieved the e-mail about their Recruitment Meeting. Like many, I would have disregarded the email because it doesn’t give a lot of information about Grub Street. However, I recently visited with the coordinator after a rather serendipitous encounter last week (involving a 1940’s graduate of Emerson discussing World War II Hollywood and then directing myself and two friends up to Grub Street offices–”Now tell them Pat sent you dears!”).
About the Author
Mallory Schwan is a sophomore double major in WLP and Theatre Studies. She came from out West, in a place called the Black Hills. She can usually be found backstage, in bookstores, meandering, being crafty, or looking for inconspicuous places to nap. She enjoys theatre, Boston, the left-of-the-middle, the politically insane, poetry, rooftops, peculiar human interaction, corners, and general mishaps.