Monday, February 26, 2007
back.
UCLA: rained so hard i had to dry my shoes with a hairdryer. did you know they filmed some externals for mona lisa smile (and, like, every college film ever) there? i squelched right past the building.
interviews: went well. i had a good time, and think i was reasonably impressive if not overpoweringly so. i got some great advice right before i left, re: turning the conversation to what the faculty were doing right now, rather than sweating my own stuff. that worked well.
the news: is, no news yet. no one told me i was officially accepted or admitted, and word from the current students is that it's relatively safe to assume acceptance, but that funding decisions get made after the interview weekend. since they don't fund all students equally, and getting in without much funding is sort of the same as not getting in, i'm still on tenterhooks. i suppose the good part is that i think the program is, if not the right place, a right place. the faculty seemed copacetic, the vibe was good, there are people there doing work i like and the students seem very happy where they are.
the drive to riverside: uneventful, although the rental car had no CD player, and i think the point of driving out there was as much about getting to sing in the car (god, how i miss singing in the car) as it was talking to the riverside faculty. and really, i just talked to one, the one who's doing work a little like mine. he looks like peter krause. he surfs. he smokes. he's a drummer. he took me to lunch and then realized he'd had somekind of entanglement with our waitress at a dance club. he's a bad boy rockstar professor. i find these things incredibly endearing, and invited him to the wedding. but i do not think i will be going to riverside, even though i kind of lurve him. in the end, the town is just too small and there are no theatre people there, just dancers and the bad boy rock star video game scholar. not quite enough to make it happen. we'll see, though. never say never, at least not yet.
overall: it appears that california feels right, or at least right enough. i like the west coast, even when it's LA. it was warm, people were laid back, and something about the shortness of the buildings and the lack of old stone and no pee smell made it seem like home even though it doesn't really look like seattle (the inexplicable rain aside). it's a shorter plane ride. it's the same time zone.
i hadn't had time to write about this, but on the evening of mardi gras, my friend rachel and i were harrassed by a group of kids as we made our way to columbus circle. in the middle of town, lots of people around--and these kids, yelling at us and throwing the incredibly dirty snow clods left on the side of the road after the three days of freezing weather following the last snow. there was dirt and ice in my hair, all over my coat, on my bag--i tried to wipe it off, but my hand just kept coming away filthy. rachel looked at me at one point, and we were both really scared. i didn't know what to do. we let them overtake us and they eventually moved on, and we kept walking, but i cried all the way home knowing that where i live being who i am, children will essentially hoot and throw dirt at me and no one will do a thing. i'm sure worse happens both here and in california every day, but--as i've mentioned before--i've never been involved with as much public shaming as happens on the sidewalk/subway/platform in new york. i feel comfortable saying it's not a great place to be me.
which, i found out before i left that i also got into CUNY. so, hmm.
interviews: went well. i had a good time, and think i was reasonably impressive if not overpoweringly so. i got some great advice right before i left, re: turning the conversation to what the faculty were doing right now, rather than sweating my own stuff. that worked well.
the news: is, no news yet. no one told me i was officially accepted or admitted, and word from the current students is that it's relatively safe to assume acceptance, but that funding decisions get made after the interview weekend. since they don't fund all students equally, and getting in without much funding is sort of the same as not getting in, i'm still on tenterhooks. i suppose the good part is that i think the program is, if not the right place, a right place. the faculty seemed copacetic, the vibe was good, there are people there doing work i like and the students seem very happy where they are.
the drive to riverside: uneventful, although the rental car had no CD player, and i think the point of driving out there was as much about getting to sing in the car (god, how i miss singing in the car) as it was talking to the riverside faculty. and really, i just talked to one, the one who's doing work a little like mine. he looks like peter krause. he surfs. he smokes. he's a drummer. he took me to lunch and then realized he'd had somekind of entanglement with our waitress at a dance club. he's a bad boy rockstar professor. i find these things incredibly endearing, and invited him to the wedding. but i do not think i will be going to riverside, even though i kind of lurve him. in the end, the town is just too small and there are no theatre people there, just dancers and the bad boy rock star video game scholar. not quite enough to make it happen. we'll see, though. never say never, at least not yet.
overall: it appears that california feels right, or at least right enough. i like the west coast, even when it's LA. it was warm, people were laid back, and something about the shortness of the buildings and the lack of old stone and no pee smell made it seem like home even though it doesn't really look like seattle (the inexplicable rain aside). it's a shorter plane ride. it's the same time zone.
i hadn't had time to write about this, but on the evening of mardi gras, my friend rachel and i were harrassed by a group of kids as we made our way to columbus circle. in the middle of town, lots of people around--and these kids, yelling at us and throwing the incredibly dirty snow clods left on the side of the road after the three days of freezing weather following the last snow. there was dirt and ice in my hair, all over my coat, on my bag--i tried to wipe it off, but my hand just kept coming away filthy. rachel looked at me at one point, and we were both really scared. i didn't know what to do. we let them overtake us and they eventually moved on, and we kept walking, but i cried all the way home knowing that where i live being who i am, children will essentially hoot and throw dirt at me and no one will do a thing. i'm sure worse happens both here and in california every day, but--as i've mentioned before--i've never been involved with as much public shaming as happens on the sidewalk/subway/platform in new york. i feel comfortable saying it's not a great place to be me.
which, i found out before i left that i also got into CUNY. so, hmm.
