Aca-Awesome

Roll the credits! Here's the end of the premier.

Great night last night! Tulane got a free sneak preview screening of Pitch Perfect, which is coming out in theaters next month. It was held at our local movie theater, the Prytania Theater, just a few blocks from campus.

The reason why Universal decided to screen the film for our students is because, well, they star in it! Well, maybe not star per se, but a group of Tulane students from our different acapella groups had cameos in the film. In fact, two students from Tulane's Green Envy group are part of the Treble Makers, the main all-male group in the film. Other music, vocal performance and musical theater students make appearances in the film. It was so cool to be a part of the screening. Ever time a Tulane student made an appearance on screen, the crowd literally went wild! It was awesome.

In an era where Glee-style groups and acapella are becoming increasingly popular, Tulane students have great ways to get involved in this kind of stuff on campus. We have four acapella groups as well as some really fabulous programs in vocal performance and musical theater. The best part about all of our acapella groups, musical groups, and really all of our fine arts groups is that you don't have to major or minor in it to get involved. You just try out and do it! This goes for theater, dance, music, drama and all performing arts at Tulane.

Also, as you may have read in my previous post all about Hollywood South, there are all kinds of movies being filmed here in New Orleans. Pitch Perfect was filmed all over southeast Louisiana (with a few shots on Tulane's campus too!) so it was super easy for our students to get involved in the film. Whether you take a semester off to film a major motion picture (as our guys from Green Envy did) or you want to pick up an internship on a movie set, Tulane makes it possible.

Oh, and one last thing about Pitch Perfect. IT IS AWESOME. This was the most entertaining and hysterical movie I have seen in years. I kept wanting to stand up and clap after the killer musical performances. Go see this movie when it comes out! And feel free to applaud all the Tulane students in it. I did!

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IMMORTALITY

Guillaume Apollinaire, one of the few great poets who were also charming, has a delightful book of essays, Le Flaneur des deux rives (The Stroller Through Paris), about his walks through the quarters on both sides of the Seine. He meets a library buff, a chap who has sampled libraries all over the world.

One such was the St. Petersburg Library, where “one could see young girls (gamines) age twelve who were reading Schopenhauer.” If this is so—and why not, if even the fancy stripper in Pal Joey thinks of Schopenhauer while she works—it is true immortality: to be read ages after your death by twelve-year-old girls (note the plural); there surely can be no greater proof of undying fame.

Unfortunately, though, this is not the kind of immortality the nonphilosophical majority of us seek—the kind that works for everyone else except for the dead immortal. We want immortality for us ordinary folk, and we want it to be physical--to defeat death.

That means those of us who might take John Donne literally: “One short sleep past, we wake eternally,/ And Death shall be no more: Death thou shalt die.” A promise not just from Donne, but also, more importantly. from almost all existing religions, which affirm some kind of Paradise. But where exactly is that Heaven located? Formerly, one could believe it to be somewhere in the heavens above. But now that the skies have been duly crisscrossed, and no Heaven found, isn’t it surprising that otherwise perfectly intelligent people believe in it? Or, for that matter, now that we know the interior of the Earth, that there should still be belief in Hell. Quite aside from the fact that the Earth is far too small a place to contain all those dead who would have headed for its insides.

And yet there have been people like T. S. Eliot, for example, who, despite a colossal intellect, have swallowed Christianity whole, ergo, whether or not he discussed it, belief in Heaven and Hell. Even as smart a man as Bill Buckley affirmed that he could not live without his firm belief of reuniting with his predeceased wife. I am less surprised when an Argentine tennis player, having won a set, crosses himself and looks to heaven even on an indoor court. And we all know the footballer who kneels and thanks Christ after a touchdown, as if Jesus had nothing better to do than help him win.

Then there are all those brave people who assert that they are not afraid of death, only of protracted dying. In other words, eternal sleep is no problem, only the discomfort of prolonged insomnia preceding it. Believe them as much as you do actors who claim never to read their reviews. A vast majority wants to go on living physically, no matter how precariously or where, even if their religion doesn’t promise them sex with 72 virgins in the afterlife. This even though sex with one virgin can spell trouble.

A writer as brilliant as Julian Barnes writes a whole book about how we shouldn’t fear death, although almost every page of that book testifies to the opposite. To my knowledge, only one religion, Judaism, doesn’t make paradisiac promises—well, maybe also Unitarianism, if indeed that qualifies as a religion.

To be sure, nobody said that atheism comes cheap. I myself cannot help envying the comforts of belief in Heaven, even by those who could barely rate Purgatory. These are people who have no need for either John Donne or Julian Barnes, and count on the kind of wings that cannot crash by colliding with a flock of birds.

What consolation is there for atheists? Or, to quote the aforementioned Eliot, after such knowledge, what forgiveness? I suppose a feeling, earned or unearned, of superiority. Condescension is not without its questionable satisfaction: “You poor fellow, you actually believe you are going to Heaven? And the moon, I assume, is made of green cheese?” (As if anyone wanted his cheese green.) But wouldn’t one trade superiority for faith, if only one were capable of the Pascalian gamble?

And what about those good souls who believe that having children is a form of immortality? Lots of luck to them when they wake up—or, rather, don’t—in their coffins. Think of the dead Heraclitus in William Cory’s famous poem, concluding: “Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;/ For death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.” That may be good enough immortality for Cory and Callimachus, on whose poem Cory’s is based, but hardly for Heraclitus. And what about those of us who have no children or nightingales, not so much as a canary?

The best we can come up with is an enlightened hedonism—having lived life to the fullest. Or else its opposite, stoicism, poohpoohing the pleasures of life. Yet I am not sure whether even Epicurus or Epictetus—Marcus Aurelius at least had his imperial privileges—made it to full fearless happiness, and death be damned. So what can we lesser ones aspire to? The good life and peaceful death are only the snake scotch’d, not kill’d. Possibly the best way is to expire on top of a sexy woman just after orgasm—the John Garfield and Nelson Rockefeller way, and the obverse, of course, for a woman. Not for nothing did we learn in our lit. courses that for the Elizabethans “to die” meant both death and orgasm. Coming and going, as it were. But what of all that long, unorgasmic time before?

Consider the modus operandi of two wonderful writers, Jules Renard and Peter Altenberg, skeptical Frenchman and euphoric Austrian. Renard, in what is surely one of the greatest journals ever kept, wrote in 1898: “Your head is bizarre, carved in big strokes of the knife, like that of geniuses. Your brow brightens like that of Socrates. By way of phrenology, you remind us of Cromwell, Napoleon and so many others, and yet you will be nothing.” And, likewise about himself: “You will be nothing. You understand the greatest poets, the most profound prose writers, but, though you pretend that to understand is to equal, you will be as comparable to them as a minuscule dwarf can be to the giants.”

The superb humorist Altenberg wrote in 1901: “I was nothing, I am nothing, I will be nothing. But I live out my life in freedom and allow noble and compassionate persons to participate in the adventures of that inner freedom in that I commit it, in the most compact form, to paper. I am poor, but I myself. The man without concessions. What does that get you? 100 guilders a month and a few ardent fans. Well, those I have! My life is dedicated to the unheard-of enthusiasm for God’s greatest art work, the female body.”

And he goes on about the nudes with which he has papered the walls of his poor little room, and the inscriptions under them, such as “Beauty is Virtue.” And he concludes with the joy of waking up gazing at this “sacred magnificence,” which reconciles him to the neediness and burdens of existence.

So there you have it. The stoic, skeptic or cynic Renard (though even he relished beautiful women), and the exultant hedonist Altenberg. They may have had the antidote for mortality. Or maybe not.

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Back in Black! I mean Green!

The first and second weeks of school here at Tulane are always my favorite time of the year. There is just so much action on campus. Tulane hits the ground running pretty hard with all kinds of great orientation activities and stuff to do on and off campus. I am actually heading out next week to start a 8 week binge of travel to recruit the class of 2017, but it has been great to spend the last few weeks helping the class of 2016, our freshmen, get acclimated with Tulane and our campus. Here are the five best things about the first two weeks of class!

1) Presidents Convocation and Rite of Passage- For every class at Tulane, there are exactly two times when you will be together with your entire class. One is commencement and the other is convocation. Convocation occurs shortly after move in day. The class hears all kinds of inspirational speeches, gets some words of wisdom from Scotty C (our president, Scott Cowen) and then exits Mcalister Auditorium in a grand fashion amongst a tunnel of their friends and family. Don't forget to touch the Victory Bell for good luck!

RHA/HRL block party on McAlister Place

2) Activities Expo- This took place just three days ago on Friday. There are over 200 organizations here at Tulane and nearly all of them set up shop on the LBC quad for a full afternoon to recruit new members. Students can tour the hundreds of booths and sign up for anything that interests them- club sports, fraternities and sororities, religious organizations, etc. Tulane's got them all, in a big way! This year's activities expo also coincided with both an HRL/RHA (Housing and Residence Life and Residence Hall Association) block party and Friday's at the Quad. Basically, it was a Tulane explosion.

3) Target Shopping night- During Welcome Week, Tulane rents out our local Target and shuttles the entire freshman class out there to shop till they drop. Sadly this year had to be cancelled because of the days we had off for Isaac, but this is a yearly event here at Tulane that is a big hit. We even get DJs and make a party out of it.

So many organizations want to meet you!
Rugby, sailing, pro-life, cheerleaders,
Indian Students, radio DJs, etc etc etc.

4) Riverboat Cruise- An annual tradition here at Tulane, the entire freshman class spends an evening out rollin' on the Mississippi River on the Creole Queen, New Orleans' largest paddle wheel riverboat. I can honestly tell you I have friends to this day, years later, that I met on that rive boat cruise. There is great food, a ton of music and a really great time to be had. It's definitely a staple of the first year orientation week. This year's cruise just set sail on Thursday last week. From what my freshmen told me, it was a huge hit.

5) Free stuff. The first two weeks of school at Tulane are just a bunch of free stuff. Free food, free shirts, free gelato, free music, free events, free everything. I honestly think you could feed and clothe yourself for the first two weeks of school exclusively by getting all the free stuff that Tulane and our organizations, schools, departments and staff give out. Take last Friday- the admission office had Pinkberry on campus, complete with 2,000 cups of frozen yogurt and toppings. We wanted to hear how our student's experiences went during Isaac and to catch up with out first year students who we had recruited. We went though 1,990 cups, four of which I ate, but still, it was a lot of free froyo and a great time too.

So it's full steam ahead here on campus. Coming up: Outreach Tulane, more football, more Fridays the the Quad, etc. As I mentioned, I am heading out next week for a few weeks in California and Florida. Looking forward to meeting all of you future Tulanians out there. All this could be yours in one year minus two weeks!

PS- Interested in meeting Tulane in your town? Check out where we will be here!

I ran into a bunch of my NOLA Experience kids at the Pinkberry tent! Reunion! 

mmmm Pinkberry!

Lucky Dogs at Friday's at the Quad. A.k.a. more free food. 

More organizations to join.

...and more

and still more...

Here is the Rite of Passage for the class of 2016!

A traditional second line always kicks off the
Convocation, and leads the Right of Passage. 

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The NOLA Experience: A Photo Blog

Welcome back Tulane! We are all back to normal on campus after Isaac and looking forward to continuing with orientation activities and classes this week. No major damage on campus, and with the exception of a few downed tree limbs, the city of New Orleans is back to normal as well.

For over 250 members of the incoming class of 2016, their Tulane and New Orleans experience started a week early as participants in the NOLA Experience. NOLA gives students an opportunity to spend a full week in town before classes start in one of 16 different tracks. Tracks range from outdoor adventures to food to sports. You can read a little more about NOLA in my post about it from my experience as a track leader last year.

For the second year, I was a track leader and man was it a great week! My coworker Andrew and I took the reins as leaders on the Crescent City Arts + Music track. We did everything music, art, theater, photography  architecture, etc. Rather than go into great detail telling you all about the stuff we did, I figured a photo blog was in order. So, here goes. Enjoy!

Day 1 took us on a Louisiana Swamp Tour in Jean Lafitte National Park. Here are four of NOLA's best Orientation Leaders: Samantha (one of my freshman participants from last year!) John, Kensey and Madison.  

Checkin' out one big gator!

The beauty of Jean Lafitte National Park

On day two, we did some community service by helping landscape and weed the Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art

Then we had a lunch picnic in the garden

On day three, we checked out Byrdie's Gallery. They do all kinds of great stuff with clay. Here we are raku firing some fleur-de-lis clay pieces we glazed. 

Here we are gazing our pieces before the raku fire. 

Outside of Byrdie's clay studio. She's a Tulane graduate from 2008!

Some work inside of Byrdie's.

Here's the final product! 

My co-track leader give a quick lesson all about the St. Claude Arts District. 

We also took an amazing bike tour of the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods. Here's Kenzie and Lea getting ready to get on their bikes.

We also checked out the Treme neighborhood on the bike tour. Here's the New Orleans African American Museum. 

Here's a shot from our bike tour of the Marigny. Did you know that New Orleans is home to the nation's oldest WWI monument? Well here it is!

Lunch break on day three at Cake Cafe, one of my favorite restaurants in the Marigny. 

Group shot out front of Cake Cafe

On Day 4, we were in for a real treat! Frank Relle, one of New Orleans' most famed photographers (and a Tulane alum) took us on an incredible photo scavenger hunt of the French Quarter. It was a blast! To see some of Frank's work, check out  http://www.frankrelle.com/. And for you freshmen, you will recognize his photos from the cover of your summer reading book, Nine Lives. 

That's Frank in the middle. He's a pretty excellent dude. Here we are mid-scavenger hunt at Pirates Alley in the French Quarter.

Posing for a shot on the French Quarter scavenger hunt.  

This was awesome. One of the stops on the photo hunt was in this amazing antique store. Ethyn, who's an amazing musician, was invited to play on this antique piano (for sale for $250,000!). Turns out Billy Joel played this very same piano two weeks ago, which was originally built as Chopin's personal piano! 

The group stops for a photo op in the French Quarter

That French Quarter sure is pretty!

More from the photo tour of the French Quarter. I guess Marie didn't get that jumping memo. 

The photo hunt took us in this amazing Civil War shop in the French Quarter. 

One of the scavenger hunt clues was "Bobby McFerrin slogan." We found it!

In the afternoon onday 4, we checked out New Orleans printmaking and glass studio. 

Here we are learning how to screen print. 

And here we are getting a demo on how to make glass Mardi Gras beads using the torch firing method. 

Meanwhile, here is Bella and Ellie drying off their freshly screened shirts.

Sarah screen printing her shirt. 

Sunglasses required for bead making. 

Veronica hard at work on her glass bead.

The second half of day 4, we hit up Mardi Gras World to see where Mardi Gras is made. Here we are on our tour. 

On day 5, we teamed up with Galeria Alegrai to make masks using Mardi Gras beads. 

 Here we are hard at work on the mask mosaics!

I told them to show up when they meet their roommate for the first time wearing this.  

After masks were done, we got a great improv show from the team at The New Movement. Check them out at  http://www.newmovementtheater.com/new-orleans/   

Last stop of the week was WTUL, our campus radio station. 

That's a lotta vinyl. 

All in all a great week! Can't wait for NOLA next year.

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