Describe one of your favorite moments. This is one of the seminal moments in my teaching career. I was taking Music Appreciation with Lou Silverblank at Temple University; the class was required for my Theatre major. One of our assignments was to attend two live music performances. I hated this idea. I was in theContinue reading “Firebird? Sweet!”
Tag Archives: teaching
Summer Better Than Others
What is your favorite season of year? Why? Of the seasons, I prefer summer for a variety of reasons. We’ll get to those reasons in a moment, but let’s look at the cons of the others. Winter has cold and often snow. Although I did some sledding as a child, this was not as fulfillingContinue reading “Summer Better Than Others”
Jobs?
What jobs have you had? Today’s prompt asks what jobs have I had. For the last 31 years, I was a college professor, teaching a variety of courses in Theatre, Mass Communication, Speech Communication, and English Literature. Not to mention creating a certificate program in Arts Entrepreneurship. But before the PhD—and even during my pursuitContinue reading “Jobs?”
Legacy
What is the legacy you want to leave behind? Before my retirement, several people got together to throw me a surprise retirement party before the Saturday performance of my last show on campus. In attendance were students from my 17 years at the campus, representing a wide range of productions. Several of them had incredibleContinue reading “Legacy”
Cold? No.
How do you feel about cold weather? I hate the cold. In fact, in the short film I’m currently working on, the interrogator asks the captive what he thinks the worst form of torture would be. The captive (who is, shockingly, the autobiographical me) answers, “Well, I hate cold….” One of my favorite memories ofContinue reading “Cold? No.”
Hamster Sacrifice
What sacrifices have you made in life? One of my Intro to Theatre exam questions, concerning the creation of sound effects for films, referenced the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 version of The Cave Dwellers, and the possible choices for the sources of those effects were: The Foley process (the correct answer), Snakes growling, Human sacrifice,Continue reading “Hamster Sacrifice”
Pirate or Ninja?
Are you a leader or a follower? My title is not an equivalent question to today’s prompt (“Are you a leader or a follower?”) but it’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the question. I would always ask students to introduce themselves on the first day of classes, and I wanted themContinue reading “Pirate or Ninja?”
“Do You Play Pool?”
Share a story about someone who had a positive impact on your life. In the past I’ve told the story about the high school nun who set me on a path into the arts, and also my college theatre professor who served as my gateway into my academic career. So let me tell you nowContinue reading ““Do You Play Pool?””
Career Plans?
What is your career plan? This is an amusing little prompt for a retired person. But judging from how people reacted when I attended commencement, they must equate retired with dead. In fact, when people asked me what I was doing there, I would say, “I’m retired, not dead!” (And then I’d say I wasContinue reading “Career Plans?”
ChatGPT Writes Like My Playwrighting Students Did
I decided to try using ChatGPT to write a short script to see how it might do. I began with the idea of the Old King/Young King ritual that Sir James Fraser wrote about in The Golden Bough (1890), an examination of comparative religion that pre-dates Joseph Campbell. Frazer writes that the new king killsContinue reading “ChatGPT Writes Like My Playwrighting Students Did”
MUSOFYR 