Capstone, Summary and Conclusion

If anything, Capstone has been the ultimate learning and culmination experience. I came into the class unsure of how things would go. What project would I work on? How could I showcase my my abilities? Where would I go after my senior project was finally over? I can tell you that it was not without great effort, friendship, hard work, and rediscovering what it actually meant to be a Comm major, that I was able to create this Wordpress site for my final project. So many things happened and changed me. I am now pretty proficient in Wordpress and have now a understanding of how to use Adobe Illustrator, both of which I had no idea how to use before I started. I challenged and expanded my Photoshop skills, and I also learned so much about how the web functions not only as a hub of information but as a media tool that can have so many potentials.

My Capstone project

The project also expanded itself into more things than I ever thought, I created Shepherd University Career Services a functioning Twitter account that can be set for automatic tweets. I rediscovered video and photos for their site that added a sense of vibrancy, fun, and dynamic to their site.  I enabled them connections with useful software like Vimeo and Slideshare that allows them to create and distribute dynamic, multimedia content easily and efficiently via their website. I also integrated their site with Google apps such as calendar and docs to make it friendly to use. 

I also became more design savvy. I don't really have the best eye for design, but pushing myself through comparative analysis with so many other websites and researching their designs and their strategies, I am much more appreciative to see how design works fluidly and integrates well to contribute to the overall function of the site.

I understand now the importance of functional web navigation and how important it is to efficiently deliver content to the viewers in the fastest most intuitive way, I learned how using Wordpress's means for classification, such as  categories, tags, custom menus resolve to be not only helpful for storing content in an organized way, but are easy enough for non-developers to manage.

I am now passionate about the Career Services Center at Shepherd and everything that they can offer and do for students. It is such an important part of any students college career to stop in and participate in Career Services' events. Students do not realize at how powerful a resource they have here right on campus. Best of all, all the services that are offered are completely free.

I also learned that content management systems are one of the most intriguing and best resources to have for developing blogs and websites, even the free versions, such as what I used. I have a new confidence and a new love for developing websites.

Cultural Event: Peter Pan, the Musical

I was lucky enough over Spring Break to attend my hometown theater troupe's rendition of Peter Pan, the Musical. Having not seen Peter Pan since I was a child, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, as I realized, Peter Pan was all about rediscovering our child-like wonder and imagination. The musical aspect of the play was okay, though I'm not sure if it added anything to the story. I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was watching the younger kids in the audience. They seemed to have such a magical time, especially when the cast pulled off a very interesting version of "flying" for the fairy dust scene.

Wendy and Peter Pan, courtesy of WVTE

It started off a little slow and only got to Neverland about half-way through the play, and there were some parts in the show that I was a little unfamiliar with, but for the most part what I did recall was choreographed very smoothly, and there was a fight scene between the indians and the pirates that was pulled off very wonderfully. There was a great pirate ship set that looked very artistic and very visually stunning.

I've seen many plays and acted in many of the troupe's productions and I have to s
ay that this was one of the first times that I had really been impressed by the main characters' acting ability. For amateur theater, you come into the production knowing what to expect, and usually in the plays there are many child actors and a large cast, but Peter Pan balanced it out and actually turned out to be a great performance.

The Indians do their war dance in Peter Pan the Musical

Only slightly different from the Disney version that we all know and love, Peter Pan, the musical reminded me that I shouldn't be in such a hurry to finish growing up (though I think its a bit too late for that) but it also reminded me that it's okay to act like a little kid again sometimes.

Cultural Blog: Music of the Jazz Age: An Evening with Scott and Hemingway

For one of cultural events, I went to a Jazz presentation at the Frank Arts Center. The program, Music of the Jazz Age, literally blew me away. It featured two staff, Dr. Cook and Dr. Adams, and two Shepherd students Dan Dunn and Sawyer Gordon making up the ensemble of piano, saxophone, bass, and percussion.

Jazz, the music and the culture is very dear to me, as a musician myself, who has played jazz, I have such a great appreciation and derive much enjoyment from it. It was truly a night to be remember as this outstanding quartet took us back in time to the cafe culture, the writer's Mecca, in  20's Paris. Having taken a Parisian Modernism english class, I could easily place myself among all the sentiments and nuances of the era. In the background of it all was the birth of Jazz. Every time I hear a live performance  I fall in love with it all over again.

The performance was impeccable, there are no words to describe the talent and proficiency of those who have mastered their instruments.  Jazz was definitely an era that changed music for all of time. It introduced syncopation and swing, and led to the birth of improvisation, recreating and remastering every melody. The wonderful smattering of tunes included everything f

rom Gershwin to Duke Ellington, and a small short from the Jazz Singer. There was a lot of laughter, and a bit of history, and it all became a magical event and one of the best nights out that I have had in such a  long time.

Some of the funniest moments were when each of the soloists tried to outplay and outdo the other, but it  only added to the fun lightheartedness that is Jazz. But no less entertaining was remembering the spots of time that the music brought with it and experiencing a sort of wishful melancholy of the a time now passed. It was a wonderful evening to celebrate such an awesome and influential  time in music, art and literature.

Cultural Blog: The Rude Mechanicals Medieval Renaissance Farce and Student Play

I hadn't laughed so hard since I've went and saw the Rude Mechanicals Medieval Farces and student written play. The night that I attended, the Rudes performed Eighteen and Green, by Stephen Viau, a student play and then Confession Lessons and Monk-ey Business, two farces.

I wasn't sure what to expect at first with these plays, but the first that I saw was Eighteen and Green, an alien love story, about an alien Kirkland, who crashes his spaceship on planet Earth and falls in love with a high school teenager.  The performance was definitely the Rudes' comedy at its best, complete with funny antics and a crazy cast of characters including a pair of bumbling detectives (one that may be an alien himself! and some really well done stereotypes, the overbearing mother, the dramatic teen, the lonely neighbor) that reminds us not to take the plot so seriously. It takes an even funnier and drastic  tone when the main character gets pregnant just by kissing the alien, in which hilarity ensues, but eventually leads tot heir happy ending.  At times, I admit there was so much going on that it overwhelming at some bits, but still had me trying to catch my breath and covering my mouth from laughing so hard.


After the student production, the Rudes performed the bawdy modern translations of two medieval farces, another hysterical interpretation of old comedy. It was proof that comedy and satire and their sometimes raucous and sexual themes still appeal and entertain us. In Confession Lessons, we are able to see the satire of the corruption of the church and the treatment of women, and even though many of the themes don't directly correlate to our world today, the situations are still universal enough to an audience 500-600 years after its prime. There were many outrageous scenes that I never expected, and couple of shocking, albeit laugh out loud moments that showed the prowess of these actors.
After Confession Lessons, Monk-ey Business showed what can happen with a little spite and a whole lot of alcohol. It still proves that no matter what era it is, drunken hijinks always are a fun spectacle to watch.

Though the show was long, it was definitely worth seeing, and came just at the right time to relieve a little bit of end of the semester stress.