Author: Victoria Elizabeth Snare

The Madness of March

March is one of my favorite times of the year. Granted, I dislike the bipolar weather, but the excitement of this month more than makes up for it.

First, there is St. Patrick’s Day. As a person of Irish heritage, there is nothing I love more than being able to rock some green clothing and eat some delicious corn beef and cabbage.  

Shortly following this lovely holiday is another holiday of sorts: the March Madness college basketball tournament. This tournament will, for the next three weeks, be at the forefront of my mind. I even downloaded multiple apps onto my phone to stay up to date with the games. And, it is all the more exciting now that our very own Blue Hens will be playing!

One of my favorite things about the tournament is choosing a bracket. I have learned over the years not to put too much thought into my decisions. For instance, a few years ago, I made selections solely on the name and mascot of the school. The school with the “cooler” name and mascot always made it into the next round. Using this highly technical strategy, I somehow won my family’s bracket pool. However, last year, I tried to study the teams and use my fledgling knowledge to make my picks. I ended up coming in last place in my floor bracket group. So, this year, I will simply be making my picks on a whim in the hopes that a strategy of randomness will be successful and I will not come in last place.

But, my favorite part of the tournament is the upsets. Every year, there are teams that win against all odds. I love these upsets because they truly demonstrate that anything is possible. Nobody expects anything of these teams; few pick them to win in their bracket; they are truly underdogs. But somehow, they manage to play their hearts out and persevere. For me, there is nothing like watching the pure joy on the faces of the players as they win a game that nobody thought they could win. For me, it is so inspiring to see these players chase after their dreams even in the face of tough competition. It restores my faith in the fact you can do anything you set your mind to.  

So, for the next few weeks, I will be eagerly following the progress of March Madness and rooting relentlessly for the underdogs. Those underdogs include our own Blue Hens who will be facing off against Michigan State in the first round. Can you guess what I will be doing on Thursday afternoon? Cheering them to victory, of course!

It's almost that time of year!

It’s almost that time of year!

~Rebecca Jaeger

Seeing a “Package” Through

My week was filled with Disney princesses, cameras, costumes, and emails. I am an actor, writer, producer, technical director, and one-time editor for the Biweekly Show.

A little background on Biweekly: We are a UD student-run TV show that airs on the Student Television Network (STN49) on campus. Every other week we get together, create, and run a 30 minute show. There are many technical terms behind a tv show but for the sake of discussion, I’ll define one. A “package” is a pre-recorded piece of material.

 This week, I was the producer for a package titled “True Hollywood Story: Disney Princesses, Where Are They Now?” We had Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Sleeping Beauty all share where they are now. It’s funny, unique, and interesting. It was also a lot of hard work.

My roommate, Cece, and I are both in Biweekly. She’s posing with my Biweekly shirt.

 

Here are some of the steps from creation to completion of an idea as told through Disney Princesses.

 

1.     Idea: My friend Alana pitched the idea of a Disney Princess follow up.

 

2.     Selection: The Executive Producers selected which ideas will be used for the show. They pick the writer, director, editor, and producer. Often times these roles cross-over. I was chosen for producer.

 

3.     Organizing: I emailed everyone (multiple times) to find a time we could shoot their scenes. This is the hardest part- no one is ever available together. People often need to be re-cast by the writer. This one worked out well.

 

4.     Scenes and costumes: I chose where to shoot as the day came. I had to coordinate with the director, Alisa, who would get the equipment. I also had to somewhat pick costumes. It’s actually extremely difficult to dress as a modern day princess!

 

5.     Acting: I dressed up as homeless woman for the Belle shoot. I got a lot of stares walking out of my building in costume. I also was Snow White. Organizing that outfit was a challenge. Who has a yellow skirt laying around? Luckily I had a yellow pillow case. Dirtying my clean apartment for a scene was easy. Cleaning it up after was not.

 

6.     Setting up shots: It took Alisa, my friend Dillon, and I a long time to set up a shot for the confessional-style shots in True Hollywood stories. Lighting has to be right (basically always have a spare lamp) and sound has to come out clearly. There is so much to balance in a camera shot. We spent about 10 hours or so filming this week.

 

7.     Editing: This is the coolest part of a package in my opinion. A three minute package generally takes three-four hours of editing. Every moment one recorded is sorted through and shots are picked. Working the editing program may as well be speaking a different language. Alisa is editing Disney Princesses. Otherwise, I’d be at The Other Side (STN’s office) on this fine night rather than studying in my room.

 

8.     Playing during the show: Once everything is approved by the executive producers, it is put on during the show. Describing how we get the content on during the show requires it’s own huge list for another day.

 

That’s a small taste of what I’ve done this week. It’s all done for a three-minute package that will air briefly on TV and online. The best part is hearing from people that what you’ve done is hilarious. It all pays off in the end.

~Shannon Poulsen

 

How I Became a Blue Hen

In so many ways, UD is my home. But as a new class populates campus I am reminded of the beginning of my experience at UD, and a time when this was not always the case. 

 

 Throughout the college search, University of Delaware was not my first choice. I applied on a whim. Hey, it used the Common App, I had heard good things about it, and figured why not. But there was another school that was top of my list. It was in-state, many of my friends had gone, and I had already convinced myself that to have any shot at happiness in life, I had to attend this school. It wasn’t so much the school itself that had me so captivated, but rather the aspect of familiarity it possessed that made it so appealing. It was nothing against UD, or any of the other institutions I applied to. My mind was simply closed to any other option. It was already made up.

 

 If it is not already obvious, things did not go as planned.

 

 The cause of this plot twist can be summed up in one word: money. As it happens, when decisions came around, UD offered me a financial package that made it the most economically feasible option, and as my family wasn’t exactly rolling in dough at the time, it was decided that UD was the most practical option, and therefore, where I would attend. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Devastated is closer to the truth. (I hadn’t even visited our university at this point, but apparently I didn’t need to. Apparently, I knew everything.) I decided I would try it out for a semester to please the parental units, but I was already looking into the credits I would need to take to transfer at the end of the fall semester. Again, this is not what happened.

 

 

It took two weeks at UD for all thoughts of leaving to completely evaporate from my head. No sooner had I set foot on campus than I was swept up in a whirlwind of new friendships, (I met one of my best friends while brushing my teeth), new opportunities, (Thursday nights found me, someone with no ballet experience, doing pliés in a dance class), accessible professors, (my English professor made a Harry Potter reference on the first day of class and I nearly passed out from joy), all in environment where I felt taken care of, and at home.

 

 

 

I remember walking past Trabant one day and seeing people playing with puppies to my right, looking to my left and catching an Irish step-dancing flash mob and then witnessing a fellow student walk past a tour of prospective students and yell, “come to Delaware, it’s better than candy!” I remember sincerely wondering if this was real life.

 

 

And it was.

 

 

Rather than being consumed with thoughts of transferring, my mind quickly became occupied with how I could get more integrated into this incredible community of Blue Hens. I don’t think I even remembered how to say the word “transfer” until later that semester, a friend from home called me.

Bleeding blue and gold with YouDee at our first football game.

Bleeding blue and gold with YouDee at our first football game.

 

 

“Hey, did you send in your application?” Long pause. I had no idea what she was referring to.

 

“You were gonna transfer…?” I suddenly remembered my original reluctance to attend UD.

 

My response was simple: “I don’t want to be anywhere else! I’m home.”

 

 

So, if you’re a fellow UD student, here’s to another fantastic year.

 

 

If you’re an incoming freshman, get ready for some of the best years of your life.

 

 

And if you’re still looking for the university that best suits you, I’d like to give you two pieces of advice: keep an open mind, and if you have not already done so, check out the University of Delaware.  

 

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