And We're Back

I love Ithaca.

This summer I decided to stay in Ithaca. My summer days were filled with giving tours to prospective families and my nights were filled with friends, some old (but how old can they really be?) and some new. Probably the most important thing I did this summer was explore. I went into town, I met people that live here, I went on hikes and runs, but more importantly I broke out of the South Hill Bubble in which we live. I now see this town not just as a college town, but as one of the most beautiful places I've been. Ithaca really is different without students. I'm not saying one is better than the other because both are amazing- but they're just different.

Everyone is back in Ithaca and excited for the semester to start. As excited as I am, a part of me is going to miss this summer, not just because its the summer and the weathers warm, but because of everything I learned here while not being in class.

These first few days of classes have helped me snap back into "school mode." I thought it was going to be a rough transition but it's going pretty smooth so far. I'm more excited than ever to dive into all of the projects that I'll have but I'm going to miss some of the free time this summer gave me. This semester I'm really going to focus on putting my all into everything and producing a quality product. I'll be putting my best foot forward whether it be in Fiction Field or Intro to Business.

I know this doesn't have a tremendous amount related to our class in it, but I'll get there eventually.

P.S. Keep Reaching For Your Dreams

Image from http://www.eynjuls.com/harsha/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ps-i-love-you.jpg

"Dear Gerry, you said you wanted me to fall in love again, and maybe one day I will. But there are all kinds of love out there. This is my one and only life. And it's a great and terrible and short and endless thing, and none of us come out of it alive..." ~ From the movie P.S. I Love You

There's nothing like meeting up with friends and sitting down for a movie night... even on a school night. So, with our bowl of yogurt covered raisins and glasses of water in hand, my friends and I squished eagerly on the couch and watched P.S. I Love You last night. As you can imagine, for those who have seen this movie, there were tears and many exclamations of "awe" throughout the film. As the credits started, one of the girls who had just viewed the movie for the first time said, "Well that stinks. She never fell in love with someone new! What a horrible ending!" Now, I have seen this movie probably ten times, yet this was the first time that it occurred to me that Holly (the main character) never did find a replacement man. Not very romantic, I suppose. Yet, why was I still so satisfied with the ending?

This really started shifting the gears in my rusty summer-dulled brain. In the romance genre, we are so used to what I would dare call the "cheesy princess love syndrome." Girl faces some problem or obstacle, Prince Charming shows up, and suddenly everything is okay and they ride off into the sunset. Or vice versa. In any case, there is always a "happily ever after." Yet, the typical description of the modern "happily ever after" includes some kind of true love between two people that is expressed in a way that is so unbelievable as to be believable because we all wish it to be reality. Hey, I love my Disney movies just as much as the next person, but at some point one has to acknowledge that those endings either don't exist in our world, they are very, very rare, or they do exist but in some other happier dimension. P.S. I Love You gives the audience an ending that everyone can relate to (whether they like it or not) because there is a reality to it. It is an ending that is rarely ever seen in romantic movies. She doesn't fall in love with another person, but as I started thinking about it, she does fall in love with something else entirely.

This is what I love about storytelling. I love finding themes or messages in books, movies, poems... you name it. I hope that someday I will have accomplished such a feat in my own work. Anyway, at one point during the movie, Holly states that, "... there are all kinds of love out there." It is so true. In the end, she fell in love with designing shoes. She had a passion and a direction in life that she discovered on her own (or you may believe with the help of her dead husband). Holly made it through all the obstacles of losing her husband, her job, even her friends and she didn't need a Prince Charming to do it. Okay, so maybe she thought Gerry (her deceased husband) helped her, but really it took her strength and determination to direct her life towards a goal.

This is such an encouraging idea. We are all pushing forward through life trying to reach our passions, our loves, our goals. Some yearn to direct, or produce, or edit, or even act (yay!). Others yearn to do biology research, or find a cure for cancer, or run a theatre company. Whatever it may be, we are all on a path that requires sweat, blood, tears and most of all passion. The end of P.S. I Love You showed me that no matter how bleak the future may seem or how big the obstacles appear, if we just keep pushing onward, someday we will find love. Not in the form of another person per say, but maybe in the form of success in our dreams, or contentment in how we have achieved some of our goals.

So good luck to students everywhere starting a new year in school! I hope you can persevere like Holly as you journey to reach your own version of a true "happily ever after," whatever that may be. Push down mountains and swim across oceans because when the road seems impossible is when we find the strength to find the possibility in it! I know I will never stop dreaming and pushing forward.
~ Amber Capogrossi

Back in Production Class

While everyone always feels a little disoriented coming back to their classes for the first time after summer break, I didn't expect to be so intimidated by my production classes this semester since I'm a junior. Of course, I've taken production classes before - but not since my freshman year.

Everything I learned in Intro to Field Production and Intro to Media Production were extremely helpful and provided a great foundation for me to begin my studies as a Television-Radio major. I, also, worked on two ICTV shows - one field, and one studio, and though I was only a PA I definitely was able to utilize and build on the things I was learning in my production classes. Of course, at the end of my spring semester freshman year I registered for Television Production and Direction and assumed that the following semester I would sign up for Fiction Field Production (as that was what the old curriculum called for at the time). 

However, things did not go my way. I ended up having to drop Television Production and Direction as certain things in my personal life were preventing me from having a heavy workload. I figured I would put of P and D, since production classes require a lot of attention, until things calmed down. But they didn't and I ended up having to refrain from taking not only P and D and Fiction Field, but from doing any extra curricular activities such as ICTV. Essentially, my focus and my passion for the media industry was put completely on hold for a year. 

Naturally this felt like a huge setback for me, but I'm definitely ready and prepared to get back on the horse, as far as production classes go and taking both of these classes this semester. It felt intimating being reintroduced to all of the technology and to be back in the studio for the first time since I was a freshman. I can't wait to be back at it!

- Melanie Saitta