February 19th, 2014 (I had been absent for a while due to a nasty bug so I don't have the freewrites from the beginning of the month. Ah well, I came back with this.)
Keyword: Colonial
What I did learn from Keywords is that the term "colonial" has changed greatly from the Ancient Greek word colonia, which meant the land owned by soldiers as reward for their service, to the colonial we know as a source of national pride. However, in doing such, the early colonists ended p becoming the people they were trying to avoid: violent claimers of land who used slavery and elimination in the name of "freedom". It reminds me of the debate we had in class weeks ago about "nation" and what defines a "fake" American where, I noticed, no one mentioned Native Americans once (professor's note: "Except for the 'playing indian' part?"). Perhaps it's this kind of contradiction that is present in the play (if I had time to read it :( ). This keyword s definitely one to really think about to see if we actuallly held true to it, beyond the physical meaning of owning land away from the mother country.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
The Performance in America entries: Intro and "American"
This is a new series I'll be blogging about. In my final semester at Brooklyn College, I took a course in the American Studies department called "Performance in America" out of fascination and as a way to maintain a full-time student status (Even though I only needed two credits to graduate). At the beginning of each class, we were given about 5-10 minutes (depending on the professor present; it was jointly taught) to write freely about the topic being covered for the day, generally a "keyword" and the cases involved with it. I kept most of mine and figured, eh, why not document them on here? And so, let's begin!
Freewrite #1. January 29th, 2014
Keywords: "America", "Culture"
One thing that intrigued me in Keywords... (our textbook for the course) was that it's not a dictionary but an exploration of how the definitions came to be. In the introduction, it is important to note that there are many other terms that will be brought in but not explored deeply. In American, I thought it was interesting how the term "America" is defined as a culture and as a geographic term. It reminds me of something my Sociology professor asked, which was "What the hell makes us 'American'?" And here, it is seen how complicated it gets. The same goes for "culture", which is seen as a historical point and a lifestyle choice. It's how, as an Irish person, I'm expected to be a heavy drinker (which I'm not) because of cultural stigma versus knowing folklore, like selkies or the history of the Troubles. I will admit it was a little difficult to understand "culture" compared to "America" due to the broadness of how America was explored.
Freewrite #1. January 29th, 2014
Keywords: "America", "Culture"
One thing that intrigued me in Keywords... (our textbook for the course) was that it's not a dictionary but an exploration of how the definitions came to be. In the introduction, it is important to note that there are many other terms that will be brought in but not explored deeply. In American, I thought it was interesting how the term "America" is defined as a culture and as a geographic term. It reminds me of something my Sociology professor asked, which was "What the hell makes us 'American'?" And here, it is seen how complicated it gets. The same goes for "culture", which is seen as a historical point and a lifestyle choice. It's how, as an Irish person, I'm expected to be a heavy drinker (which I'm not) because of cultural stigma versus knowing folklore, like selkies or the history of the Troubles. I will admit it was a little difficult to understand "culture" compared to "America" due to the broadness of how America was explored.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
My time with Ariel's Hair
For the first time, I was commissioned to work on a wig for a production AND get paid for it!
My friend, Sam, was reprising her ultimate dream role as Ariel in a production of The Little Mermaid (this was Children's Theatre, so this meant, even though there were adults, they used the Junior version of the script and, as per company standards, the show couldn't be longer than an hour unless there were certain, um, reasons) but this also meant she had to work with the horrible wig she got last time (again, as per company standards, wigs, when not in use, must apparently be thrown on the floor and forgotten about until it is called for again months/years/decades later). Since I've been teaching my self how to work on wigs and hairpieces, Sam asked me to fix it up for her. How could I ever refuse?!
The day I received it, it was the day before their final dress rehearsal, which meant I only had about 5 hours that night to work on it. This is what I got:
Okay, so I had my work cut out for me. I already made it known to her that it's not going to look AS pretty as she wanted it but I'd do my best that night.
THE INITIAL PROCEDURE:
I was going to wet the hair, brush it out with a comb, curl it with magnetic curlers, let her dry, and sleep peacefully.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Well, I got the wet part down with my trusty spray bottle (from the glorious place that is The Dollar Tree) and then things went crazy from there. I started off at first brushing the hair with my wide tooth comb, thinking that would save the wig and make it easier to get through the knots. After fifteen minutes working on just one curl, I realized that A) Magnetic curlers are misleading. B) There is no way to use them in the way I want to without denting the hair with bobby pins or getting them to stay put by literally pinning it into the wig head (the holes in the curler were too big and the hair made it heavy to hold) and C) This was going to take longer than I thought.
Somehow, I got into an insane rhythm of switching between three brushes/dinglehoppers just to get the knots out: My wide tooth for the initial pass, my wig brush to get spots that I missed, and my sister's old brush for when I considered setting the whole thing on fire.
I ended up ditching the curlers because I was exhausted by the time I finished weeding out the jungle.
By the time I finished brushing, it had dried so I had to drench it once more in order to use my newest friend: Silky-and-Yaki human and synthetic hair conditioner by NextImage. This stuff is BOSS. Not only does it smell way better than the DeMert conditioner I used in the past, but it does what promises and gets the wig silky smooth and very pretty without the buildup. And it only cost $5 on Amazon (I have yet to see it in a shop but I'm searching). This, however, meant making another pass with the brushes but, thankfully, this took less time since the conditioner made my life much easier.
And here was the result...
The next day, I had a show so that meant bringing her along with me to the studio (I was hitching a ride with my dad, to save on bus fare) in order to return it to Sam.
I handed it back to her, delirious and sleepy, which she was exceedingly grateful. This meant I didn't get to see it for a week, thank God. And so begins my time with Ariel's hair.
WEEK TWO
The following week, Ariel returned to my trusted hands but, this time, I figured that she could be my first victim to use my DeMert Wig Shampoo I had bought recently ($3.99 at a hair care shop nearby Jamaica station). She was smelling kind of musky anyhow, so I thought, hey, why not?
Here is what I learned with my first wig shampoo experience: Unlike the cheap-o method I've been using before (diluted shampoo in a spray bottle), this does work a lot better since I know I'm not potentially destroying the wig. However, this also means the wig gets tangled in the process which meant RE-BRUSHING EVERYTHING. Thankfully, the fresh scent made up for my near-hyperventilation. Another round of conditioner and I figured I should find a way to push back the bangs since bobby pins can do so much. For this week, I pulled two sections of hair and tied them with plastic bands (which kept breaking. I think I lost six alone on one section) to hidden parts of the wig. The result:
It did the job (sort of) but not in the way I hoped it would. Ah well. Less pins scraping the scalp, thankfully.
WEEK THREE
My dad, who plays Scuttle in this production, hands me the wig, saying, "Sam loves what you've been doing with her hair. However, since it's her birthday, she told me to tell you to make it as pretty as you made it before."
Before I could blush, I was thinking of ways to make it look extra special for her birthday that she clearly did not remind us about every day since the second August started (note the sarcasm). But I was serious about the "extra special" part: It's not every day you celebrate your big day (or, in her word, "the anniversary of [her] 21st", which was spent in a hangover and her passed out on her costumes. You had to be there) as a princess.
I took out the bands because they didn't work well and made many, many, MANY attempts to french braid the wig into a half up, half down style. I gave up after the 67th try but I was determined to make it look special. That's when I remembered how I saw a video to do Belle's hair from Beauty and the Beast by the off-chance I had to be an "emergency swing" for that part (with this company you never know: I once had to swing in as Isa the Iguana for a production of Dora the Explorer Live! Pirate Party Adventure for a sold out house of 2,000 or so people.)
And so, I used that technique instead to not only eliminate bobby pins (can you guess that I don't like bobby pins all that much?) but to make it a bit more princess-y.
I was a little proud of it. :3 I guess it worked because it came back the way I left it the following week. Yay!
WEEK FOUR
I have no idea how long this show is running for but I liked about what I did with Ariel the last week (since I didn't hear any complaints about it) so I figured, eh, I'll keep the the same. I did remember about the underbrush of the wig that I had been neglecting for some time now (because I am, by nature, a lazy human being). So, I figured I could take care of it this week as I was battling a depression episode, as a distraction. Another shampoo wash and I tackled the underside...
Another twisty-fancy half up style and I was done for the week.
Turns out, that was the last weekend so I was free!! But I'll miss working on Arielthe ungrateful tart with raging hormones. At least I have Millie to look forward to!
My friend, Sam, was reprising her ultimate dream role as Ariel in a production of The Little Mermaid (this was Children's Theatre, so this meant, even though there were adults, they used the Junior version of the script and, as per company standards, the show couldn't be longer than an hour unless there were certain, um, reasons) but this also meant she had to work with the horrible wig she got last time (again, as per company standards, wigs, when not in use, must apparently be thrown on the floor and forgotten about until it is called for again months/years/decades later). Since I've been teaching my self how to work on wigs and hairpieces, Sam asked me to fix it up for her. How could I ever refuse?!
The day I received it, it was the day before their final dress rehearsal, which meant I only had about 5 hours that night to work on it. This is what I got:
 |
| Oh sweet Jesus... |
 |
| She lived under the sea. |
THE INITIAL PROCEDURE:
I was going to wet the hair, brush it out with a comb, curl it with magnetic curlers, let her dry, and sleep peacefully.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Well, I got the wet part down with my trusty spray bottle (from the glorious place that is The Dollar Tree) and then things went crazy from there. I started off at first brushing the hair with my wide tooth comb, thinking that would save the wig and make it easier to get through the knots. After fifteen minutes working on just one curl, I realized that A) Magnetic curlers are misleading. B) There is no way to use them in the way I want to without denting the hair with bobby pins or getting them to stay put by literally pinning it into the wig head (the holes in the curler were too big and the hair made it heavy to hold) and C) This was going to take longer than I thought.
Somehow, I got into an insane rhythm of switching between three brushes/dinglehoppers just to get the knots out: My wide tooth for the initial pass, my wig brush to get spots that I missed, and my sister's old brush for when I considered setting the whole thing on fire.
I ended up ditching the curlers because I was exhausted by the time I finished weeding out the jungle.
 |
| And preparing to recycle the remains for an "Annie" wig. |
And here was the result...
 |
| Three fucking hours later. |
 |
| Which also gave me a fantastic opportunity to cosplay Rachel Tice. |
WEEK TWO
The following week, Ariel returned to my trusted hands but, this time, I figured that she could be my first victim to use my DeMert Wig Shampoo I had bought recently ($3.99 at a hair care shop nearby Jamaica station). She was smelling kind of musky anyhow, so I thought, hey, why not?
Here is what I learned with my first wig shampoo experience: Unlike the cheap-o method I've been using before (diluted shampoo in a spray bottle), this does work a lot better since I know I'm not potentially destroying the wig. However, this also means the wig gets tangled in the process which meant RE-BRUSHING EVERYTHING. Thankfully, the fresh scent made up for my near-hyperventilation. Another round of conditioner and I figured I should find a way to push back the bangs since bobby pins can do so much. For this week, I pulled two sections of hair and tied them with plastic bands (which kept breaking. I think I lost six alone on one section) to hidden parts of the wig. The result:
 |
| Eh, better than looking like Sasquatch. |
 |
| Part of your wooooooooooooooooorld... |
WEEK THREE
My dad, who plays Scuttle in this production, hands me the wig, saying, "Sam loves what you've been doing with her hair. However, since it's her birthday, she told me to tell you to make it as pretty as you made it before."
Before I could blush, I was thinking of ways to make it look extra special for her birthday that she clearly did not remind us about every day since the second August started (note the sarcasm). But I was serious about the "extra special" part: It's not every day you celebrate your big day (or, in her word, "the anniversary of [her] 21st", which was spent in a hangover and her passed out on her costumes. You had to be there) as a princess.
I took out the bands because they didn't work well and made many, many, MANY attempts to french braid the wig into a half up, half down style. I gave up after the 67th try but I was determined to make it look special. That's when I remembered how I saw a video to do Belle's hair from Beauty and the Beast by the off-chance I had to be an "emergency swing" for that part (with this company you never know: I once had to swing in as Isa the Iguana for a production of Dora the Explorer Live! Pirate Party Adventure for a sold out house of 2,000 or so people.)
 |
| I'm just happy no moms attacked me. |
 |
| Little town, it's an aquatic village. |
WEEK FOUR
I have no idea how long this show is running for but I liked about what I did with Ariel the last week (since I didn't hear any complaints about it) so I figured, eh, I'll keep the the same. I did remember about the underbrush of the wig that I had been neglecting for some time now (because I am, by nature, a lazy human being). So, I figured I could take care of it this week as I was battling a depression episode, as a distraction. Another shampoo wash and I tackled the underside...
 |
| Almost as bad as the first time. |
 |
| It kind of looks like she's wearing one of those sorta-knit berets. |
Turns out, that was the last weekend so I was free!! But I'll miss working on Ariel
 |
| Or wait for another production of Annie. |
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