Water For Elephants

I was unable to make it to the viewing of Water for Elephants so my roommates and I had our own vewing party and discussion.  It was the first time I had seen the movie and it was very different from what I thought it would be.  I've never actually been to a curcius but I've always wanted to go.  The beginning of this movie made me want to go more than ever; however, by the end of the movie I had different thoughts. The movie follows the journey of a newly orphaned Jacob who finds himself unemployed and homeless during the Great Depression.  He jumps on a circus train and gets a job as a vet for the animals aboard even though he never graduated from vet school.  He befriends many of the other circus preformers and falls for the ring master's wife.  Their circus is losing money and not exactly the most legit establishment.  In hopes of saving the circus the ring master buys a elephant.  When the elephant misbehaves or doesnt do as it is asked the ring master violently beats it.  These parts of the movie where very hard to watch.  Jacob and the ring masters wife have an affair and the ring master finds out.  However, Jacob and Marleina escape only to be recaptured by the ring master.  But it all ends up alright because in the end the circus preformers get back at the ring master for having their friends killed by letting all the animals loose during a preformance.  Ironically the elephant ends up killing the ring master. which is a bit far fetched if you ask me. and marleana and Jacob live happily ever after with an elephant... The movie was good, dont get me wrong, it was just a little too sappy and predictable for my taste.

Minute to Win It

I attended the humanities minute to win it competition earlier in the quarter.  It was so much fun.  It was nice to do something simple for once.  My favorite games was the one where you had to flip a plastic cup on top of a pop bottle.  No matter how hard I tried I couldn't complete the Oreo challenge, I probably tried about 14 times.  I hope the humanities scholars keeps the minute to win it competition for next year because it was a blast to compete against my fellow humanities scholars.

Santa Maria Ship Tour

On Saturday the 12th, I went with a small group to visit the replica of Christopher Columbus' Santa Maria. I was really surprised by how small the ship was, considering it was the ship Columbus himself sailed on and chose as the lead ship. We were led through the deck and the hull of the ship as our guide explained how the sailors would have lived and sailed across the Atlantic to discover the new world. Returning to the size of the ship, it turns out the Santa Maria was actually the smallest of the three ships and wasn't even actually designed for exploration, and had to be torn apart on Christmas Eve when it hit land and was damaged beyond repair. The 39 people who Columbus had to leave behind before returning for them a year later disappeared and I found that interesting, because I never knew (or simply didn't remember) that such a tragedy occurred. Overall, this was a great experience and it definitely taught me I won't be exploring the seas any time soon!

Flag Wars: Olde Towne East Tour

Today I attended the Olde Towne East Tour around the Columbus area and it was a really great experience.  We met at a gallery that housed dozens of pieces of African art, and spoke with a resident featured in the film Flag Wars.  We discussed the effects and benefits of gentrification and heard from a few speakers about a coalition aimed against the destruction of one of the oldest communities in the country.  It was so interesting to hear about other perspectives in regards to the re-development of the poorer areas of the city and I wished more people attended because it was a really cool experience.  Students who want to get involved should join ReImagine OSU because one of its goals is to protect these old communities-which house hundreds of families-from demolition.

Falstaff Opera

This is a bit late, but on Friday, May 4, I went to see Falstaff with some of my fellow scholars. I have to admit, I'm usually not the biggest opera fan. This time, though, I was laughing and enjoying myself for all 2 and a half hours. The opera, which was in Italian, tells the story of Sir John Falstaff (played by Todd Thomas), who can been seen as somewhat of a drunken womanizer. He runs out of money and decides to seduce two wealthy women, Alice Page and Meg Ford. They both find out about the other and decide to trick Falstaff into humiliating himself, which they do quite well. The ending was sort of strange, with lots of dancing in fairy costumes and monks and witches. It's the sort of performance that you would just have to see for yourself to fully understand. In any case, I enjoyed it!

Stewart O'Nan

On Tuesday, Stewart O'Nan, who is a novelist, came to the Wexner Center.  He read from a couple of his books, including Snow Angels, Songs for the Missing, and a response he wrote to the articles published every Sunday in his hometown of teenagers who had died in car crashes.  He has very beautiful and poetic language, which is something I appreciate in small doses, but I often find reading an entire book in this manner is difficult.  He also writes on darker subejects, as someone is shot in Snow Angels and a girl is potentially kidnapped in Songs for the Missing.

He said in his question and answer section that he likes to write books about impossible situations.  Once he has created this impossible situation, he then explores how a character can possibly survive in this situation.  He talked about one of his books about a man who was the sheriff, priest and undertaker of a small town.  When a plauge of sorts hits the village, he finds himself in an impossible situation because, in order to help people, he has to do some bad thigns.  So the question becomes, is it better to help people in the wrong way, or do the right thing and let people suffer?

-Sarah Barringer

38th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Faire

I enjoyed going to the Renaissance Faire on the South Oval. One of my good friends was in it, so that made going to the event even better. I liked people watching because there were so many people in Renaissance costumes. Many of them were handmade. I watched two performances, a jester show and a dance. There were many vendors including, "Gardenia's Garb", "The Goblin Trader", and "Twisted Gypsy Braid". They sold renaissance clothing, jewelry, artworks, and even had Henna. They had food such as turkey legs, funnel cakes, and even fried pickles. I'm looking forward to going again next year!