Some Inspiration

I actually got a lot done today including (but not limited to) sweating in Abby's class, returning emails, responding to discussion posts from my students, meeting with Fiona to discuss production issues for our show (which is quickly approaching), hacksawing parts off the Keystone projector, brainstorming more fabrication ideas with David, putting the helmet cam on skaters at derby practice, rounding up OHRG merchandise for easyriders (we're the "rock-em-sock-em Women's Roller Derby action they're referring to in their sound-bite), gearing up for our first OHRG home bout of the season (which is THIS SATURDAY!) and finding some new inspiration from this video:

More Helmet Cam Footage

And here's scrimmage footage from the helmet cam:



I can't wait to turn some of this footage into the video that will run through one of the hand-cranked projectors!

Snippet of Helmet Cam Footage

A little example of the footage from the helmet cam.  It's not edited yet; it's just raw footage:

Summer 2011

Besides working at the Wexner Center this summer, I've concentrated most of my effort at understanding how I fit into the Ohio Roller Girls. What better way to understand the difficulty of the questions I ask the interviewees of other women's organization then to turn the questions on myself. Asking myself what role I fill or how I want my fellow skaters to perceive me is harder to answer than, say asking myself what role I fill as a dancer in OSU's Department of Dance. I already have a feeling for what kind of dancer I am. After all, I've been dancing for more than twenty years now. In roller derby, however, I'm still trying to figure out the sport. The newness of my involvement leads me naturally to more questions, and after one year of skating, falling down, booty-blocking, getting hit by other skaters, etc. - I'm continually finding more questions to ask. My involvement in this sport spurs my inquisitive nature and that's just what I need as I travel to Washington state and Texas to interview other organizations as part of my Master's thesis project. Now that my commitment to the Wexner Center is completed, I have renewed energy and more time to devote to processing all this wonderful information swirling around in my head. I'm back to blogging and will be back tomorrow!

First Game of the Season

Old news, but I just noticed the post and thought I would share.

Ohio Roller Girls

If you're in Columbus, the next bout is April 2. I probably won't play since I will have just gotten back from Costa Rica - but check us out anyway! It's a lot of fun! Plus, there's always great afterparties. ;-)

Okay, back to work I go....

Fall Quarter Synopsis

I realize that I say this every quarter, but I'll pretend I don't and say it anyway - "This quarter was incredibly intense!" I think it's fair to say that I took on way more than I ever imagined I could (or probably should have) and I lived another day to talk about it. Two major factors contributed to said intensity.

1) I started my journey in WFTDA skills testing so that I could skate in bouts with the Ohio Roller Girls. WFTDA stands for Women's Flat Track Derby Association for those who are new to derby. I'm a baby in this sport. It's frightening, humbling and exciting all at the same time. And it's engrossing.

2) As for my course work, this quarter was completely tech heavy. I went to Gaga technique once or twice a week as an independent study, but other than that my physical practice really involved skating, hitting, and falling during derby practice. If it weren't for derby, I really wouldn't have had much time away from the computer. BUT a lot of great things came out of this quarter. Here goes:

Since the video file is too large, these are some snapshots from an animation I created in Maya. This was my first class in modeling, animating and lighting objects using software - yet another new world I visited this quarter. More humiliation perhaps, but a lot of little discoveries. I'm not sure what the future holds for me and Maya, but I do know that I would like to take the concept from this project and apply it to a redesign of my website.

And then there's "Women of the Flat Track." For my Dance for Camera/Video Editing class, I decided to focus on derby. Hey - it's movement! Kind of hard to deny that. What I discovered was that I wanted to make a feature-length documentary about the Ohio Roller Girls. My final project became a trailer (since obviously I wasn't going to make a documentary in less than 10 weeks). I'm super psyched to make the documentary now. Some of the footage will actually tie into my MFA project as well, which is tentative called "Portraiture and Perception." (That's another thing, I handed in my first draft of my final project to my committee. Things are moving along with this grad degree business!) You can find the trailer at my vimeo account, however, you'll need a password to see the video. Let me know if you have any questions....

As a continued independent study project, I am collaborating with Maree ReMalia and Michael Morris to develop merrygogo, Maree's website that examines her choreographic process. The attached image is a screenshot of "my" process. The mind map was started by Michael and at this point, I was just testing how the embedding of the map was going to work. I have more formating and transparency issues, but development is coming along.

It's already the week of Christmas. Now that I've wrapped up the 2010 Fall Quarter, I think I can move on (well except for the fact that all of these projects are continuing in one way or another). For now though - Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Phew! Back After a Blogging Break

I can't believe a month has already passed since my last entry. I've been busy trying to get a handle on this quarter. It's definitely different from last year. While Gaga technique serves to save my sanity and my joints and muscles, I'm predominately preoccupied with technology and roller derby. After derby practice at night, a morning Gaga class works out muscle soreness nicely! I am thankful for this. I am also thankful that I have Friday off to rest, spend time with David or have meetings with my new advising committee, Valarie Williams and Melanye White Dixon. Friday makes all the difference, especially since the weekend seems to be full of going to performances, volunteering for derby events and completing chores. There's still barely time for homework. That said, today I am combining a derby practice with storyboarding homework. I'm not skating today, but am going to practice anyway to do my storyboarding. We'll see if it helps with inspiration or if it's just plain distracting.

My final MFA project will consist of several video shorts that have a documentary feel. I am taking a project I did last fall and developing some of the ideas and concepts. Here's a link to the 100th post.

Summer Time!

It's been a year since I drove into Columbus - July 4, 2009. It's been an incredibly intense year and now I must admit, I'm really happy that it's summer. While I still have school work and work at the Wexner Center, I'm pleased to have more time at home. David and I are getting to know each other again. We walked to Whetstone Park Sunday to watch fireworks. They were over fast, but they were beautiful. Fifteen-minute fireworks. Sixty minute round trip walk. Invaluable time with the hubbie.

We started clearing out the front yard. This is something I put off doing until I had weekend mornings to devote. Since it's hot out now, I only work in the morning and try my best to stay in the shade. David doesn't seem to mind working in the hot afternoon sun. Right now I'm trying to come up with some kind of analogy to give you a good idea of how much sweat David produces. Horses, pigs... Anyway, I digress. We're finding a lot of plants we didn't know existed underneath all the ornamental grass. This poor yard has been neglected for so many years. It's obvious that at one time the landscaping was quite stunning, however that was several owners ago. So sad. It's hard for David and I to continue living in this house without taking care of the front yard properly. I don't care if it is a rental. Now, if I can only convince our landlord to purchase some mulch....

The other, non-academic noteworthy development is my acceptance into the Ohio Roller Girls Derby team. I'll have more on that later. Tomorrow is my orientation. We're meeting at a bar in German Village. I'm looking forward to working out three times a week with these women. They're sooo going to kick my rear-end.