In NYC, the Oscars Come to Us

Getting ready for the show!

This weekend, I braved the frigid temperatures to attend an only-in-New-York sort of event—and I loved it. With a group of my friends, I went downtown to the School of Visual Arts in Chelsea and watched all of this year’s Oscar-nominated shorts. Most people use the short film acceptance speeches as time to get up and stretch because so few people go to the film festivals where most of the movies play. The quick movies ran the gamut from animated to live action and from tragic to uproariously funny. In between, directors from some of the shorts spoke about their inspirational process, animation, casting, and the difficulties of filming.

Feast Poster

We listened to Patrick Osborne, the director of Disney’s entry Feast, explain that the animators had spent a full day doing “research” (actually watching coworkers dogs romping around the office) on how dogs moved before they began animating the canine protagonist of the short film. The French producer and Chinese director of Butter Lamp, a movie exploring the question of identity through Tibetan nomad families, detailed the immense difficulty of shooting film at 15,000 feet high with a reluctant Chinese government. The effort that goes into the films is incredible despite their short length--Israeli creators of Aya spent a full 6 months in post-production for a total of 3 years working on the film. 

A scene from Butter Lamp

This isn't an activity that I would normally do—I don't watch a ton of movies and knew absolutely nothing about short films. But when you go to Fordham, opportunities to do things like this literally come knocking. Last week, CAB (Campus Activities Board) raffled off tickets to watch every single Best Picture nominee, back-to-back. If my luck were better, I would be doing that, too. When Fordham makes it so easy to explore the city and learn new things, you just can't say no.

Giving Thanks...My Experience as a Freshman RA

A Few of the Halloween Air Fresheners

This year, I am a Resident Assistant in Loschert Hall, which is one of the five freshman Residence Halls. My floor is co-ed, but my hall is completely female. In total, I have 43 female residents in my hall. As an RA, I am responsible for being a resource to every resident, building a sense of community within my hall and the building, and ensuring that the residents adhere to Fordham policy.

A Flyer for a Program

My favorite part of being an RA is definitely programming. Each RA has a budget for programs, which means that we can do really fun things with our residents without them having to pay for anything. While I have a ton of program ideas, I really try to find out from my residents what kind of programs they want. Recently, I ran a program to make Halloween-themed air fresheners with oranges and cloves after hearing several residents complain about stinky roommates. This Friday, my hall is having a Girls' Night Movie Night. Next week, we will be having a floor dinner. I will be cooking, so hopefully everything comes out okay!

November Bulletin Board

I also love decorating our hall. We have a bulletin board, which I update each month. For November, I decorated our bulletin board with an autumn tree. I had each of my residents email me something they were thankful for, and I put each of their responses on a leaf on the tree. Tied to this idea of giving thanks, we are doing weekly Sunday Service Projects for the month of November so that residents have the opportunity to give thanks to various groups. Some of these projects will be writing letters to veterans, baking cookies for security, and making Thanksgiving cards for retired Jesuits. 

November Door Decorations

On the first of each month, I also replace the name tags on each door. For November, I made turkeys, which ended up being a much more time-consuming project than I originally anticipated, but it was worth it since my residents seem to really like them! I really try to decorate our hall as much as possible. I know that Fordham is not home for my residents, but it is a home away from home. Therefore, it is important to maintain a friendly and inviting hall at all times. 

Having 43 residents means that we have a pretty big family, but that is just part of the fun! I have a truly great hall, so I am thankful this month for my residents who have made my first semester as an RA absolutely amazing! Hopefully I have helped to make their first semester at Fordham just as amazing.