I successfully defended my thesis project last week! Here is the link to the full video of my presentation.

Thesis Presentation

Digital Denver is a project that I am creating for submission to the National Conference for Media Reform that will take place at the Downtown Sheraton in April. I will be gathering all forms of media, then using the Layar platform for mobile devices to geotag them. The goal is to create an explorable map of Denver that is enriched with the voices of everyday people. The media I am hoping to receive includes poems, music, stories, videos, paintings, podcasts, and pictures, but is not limited to these forms.

Since this project is designed for participants of the conference to explore while they are in town, I am looking for submissions roughly within a one mile radius of the Sheraton, which is located at 1550 Court Place (15th and Court).
Please send submissions with the following information to DigitalDenverVoices@gmail.com:

1. Title/Description of piece.
2. Location of event (approximate cross streets are fine).
3. Name (optional).

If your submission is too large to email, or you would like to get together to record your submission, please email me to set up a meeting.

Thank you for your help in making this a reality!

I am currently in my last quarter of classes at the University of Denver, and apparently the stress is making me nostalgic. I thought I would take a break from juggling my three pending projects to reflect on what the last year and a half has taught me.

I’m not going to lie – the first quarter of grad school, I cried nearly every single day. I frequently thought, “Why did I do this? Can I quit? I can’t quit… can I?!” A large part of this might have stemmed from the fact that I got married on September 4th, went to Hawaii from September 5th-11th, and started classes on September 12th. It was clearly very poor timing on my part, and I really did not have the mental faculties left after the wedding to prepare myself for graduate level classwork. The bigger aspect, though, was that I just didn’t feel I belonged in the program. My cohort consisted of 7 people that appeared to know everything about anything Ars Technica had ever written about… and me. A theatre nerd who didn’t even have a smartphone. Seriously, what had I gotten myself into? Continue reading →

Hooray! After much slacking and whining and frustration, the site overhaul is finally done! Many thanks to Steph Calvert of Hearts and Laserbeams for the amazing logo and repeating pattern background! You will always be my favorite graphic designer and I wish we could toast White Castle hamburgers every single day.

Now that the site is complete, I am moving onto the next big projects. Right now that looks like working on my thesis project in order to present and defend in April, and making sure I am completely ready to dazzle employers with my super amazing skills of awesomeness. I cannot wait to see what this next year is going to bring!

Today I read a blog post by my colleague Thomas about the current need in our culture to remake classics, which you can read here.  While I was thinking about his views and pondering my own thoughts on the subject, I ran across this article about the new adaption of Porgy and Bess that is currently running in Cambridge, MA and slated to open on Broadway soon. How interesting when something is mentioned and then you start seeing it everywhere!

The most interesting aspect of this post to me is how upset Stephen Sondheim became when he heard about the new project. He went so far as to write a letter to The New York Times. This outrage of people that so clearly loved the original so much may be valid, but is it productive? I have to agree with the point in the article that this project is a way to reach a new generation that most likely does not frequent Opera houses. The same could be said about Sondheim’s own revamped movie version of Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp. I know many a musical theater purist that was up in arms over the fact that a “real” musical theater performer was not cast as Sweeney Todd. However saddening it might have been to those of us that grew up watching Angela Lansbury play Mrs. Lovett, I have to admit that Tim Burton managed to bring the power of Sondheim to a much larger audience.

Of course, I might be biased because of my admitted unadulterated love for Audra MacDonald. Either way, I wish I could see this new adaptation of Porgy and Bess and draw my own conclusions.