Suckers for novelty. 

We all tell ourselves we are aware of the great lengths advertisers go to hypnotize us.  I personally could not possibly be duped by any of the aweful commercials out there, could I?  Like the the Axe commercials, for example, I mean, I've already got enough of a problem with the ladies as it is.  Well not really, but I'm sure not going to believe that I would be mauled by thousands of rabid women if I wear the stuff, right?  Well maybe...

 

I personally embrace my novelty genes.  Even if someone is trying to make a living off of me via manipulation.  From hilarious commercials to standup comics, you have to admit that there's some good stuff out there.  Can you have the good without the bad?

 

 

 

Chatuaqua Day

 

I've always thought that as I got older presentations, performances and the like would get easier, but that just hasn't been the case.  I'm still terrified when I go in front of any group of people.  I will say that teaching has gotten a little easier and even feels natural at times (yeah seldomly), but other than that, I'm a basket case.  Maybe it's my innate ability to feel completely unprepared regardless of how much time I've spent honing a performance. 

I will say that I'm more positive about my next performance and I might even venture into another character, if it's aloud.

I also enjoyed the heck out of everyone elses characters.  No matter who was at the front of the class I was surprised at the quality of the performance, as well as the level of humor and wit present in each.

 

Today for me was mildly scary, but for good reasons.  I was pretty nervous when I met my group of three.  I'm still working on the confidence that seems to come easily to others.  As it turned out, the students were more anxious about the whole ordeal than I was.  The best part of it all was that my anxiety melted away when we all started brainstorming, drawing, and telling different stories about our families and pets.  Eventhough my group didn't gain as much ground as I would have liked with regard to developing their ideas, we had some fun and got to know each other.

 

It was awesome to see all of parents there to support their kids.  I had a great time just hanging out and eating cookies afterwards as well.  But the real treat was seeing all of the performances.  I thought that the students really rose to the occasion. 

 

During the process of putting our Chautauquas together, my group and I went through a lot of ups and downs.  There were days when I thought that there was no way that we would be ready to perform when the time came.  But there were also days when I couldn't believe all of the creative ideas that my students were talking about. 

 

Ian's performance grew and changed so much every week that it was hard to narrow it down to the most interesting ideas he had for his performance as his brother.  It was funny to see how much his relationship with his brother was just like my relationship with my brothers.  One week we discussed one idea about cheese and the next week we had three or four more ideas. 

Katarina actually performed her Chautauqua in front of all of those people, something I thought that she would never do.  Seeing her cousin Chrissy through her eyes was an incredible thing.  Watching Katarina develop her ideas independently of the group and bring them to talk about told me a lot about her motivation.

Larry, who is the spitting image of his father, grew tremendously each week too.  It's funny how someone's relationship with their dog can tell us an awful lot about who they are as a person.  All of my students were very shy at the beginning, but Larry was the most shy.  It was fun seeing him grow more and more confident after each time he practiced. 

 

I wouldn't trade these three students for any others.  Watching them come into their own during the Chautauqua process was simply amazing.  I'm sure I learned more from them then they did from me.