Alta Montilla

I realized it has been too long since I have updated on the life I am living at Skidmore. Much has happened but before I even get into updates I first want to blame my lack of blogging on the intense amount of work I have had and the fact that break was approaching. Whenever a break is close by I, and I guess I am not the only one, make a frantic mess of myself. This frantic mess involves getting as much work done as possible wile fighting back the strong feelings of wanting to procrastinate because my body and mind decide they want to go on vacation a little early. So yes, I have been a hot mess the last few days. It feels really good to have a break, I think I really needed it. I do however, have tons of work to get done this break, so that somewhat ruins the fun but turkey will be put into my schedule somewhere so I can’t complain too much.

Here’s a little Thanksgiving fun from a favorite classic, A Christmas Story.

httpv://youtu.be/9cFHAJ5asMk

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. Yes, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and all the other mushy holidays are great but if I want really yummy food, friends and family I can always just host a potluck. But there is no way I can dress up as whatever I’d like on any casual day and eat as much candy as my stomach can handle without feeling guilty about it. Halloween Rocks!

I love spending Halloween at Skidmore. Here Halloween is a weekend long holiday. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; three days of Halloween themed fun. And for some the fun continues on to Sunday and Monday. Some students plan not just one costume but three. One for every night of fun. And here, we are pretty good at this dressing up game (except for me, this year I pulled a last minute costume together, I was Thing 1). Most costumes I spotted were either really crafty (e.g DeadMau5 head) or way clever (e.g Dressing up all four seasons).

Every year Skidmore hosts a campus wide party for Halloween, Moorebid Ball. Moorebid use to be held at Moore Hall. Moore was an off campus dormitory near the old campus, but a few years ago the building was sold. From then on Moorebid has been held in Case Center/ the Student Union on campus. It’s always been incredible. Two floors, Two Dj stations, camera booths, and a whole lot of scoping out the scene to see what everyone is wearing. The Class of 2014 is the largest class Skidmore has seen in years, thanks to them Moorebid was held in the Sports Center this year; two gyms, two Dj stations, and sick decorations. Unfortunately the event was shut down early. Apparently it got to a point where it was just way too over crowded. Safety first! It ended early but I had a good time none the less. Seeing peoples costumes is all the fun for me. After the party I made my way downtown and that in itself was a sight to see. Caroline street was, well Caroline street. Heaps of people hopping from bar to bar, lines several feet long outside of bars and clubs. Except this night everyone was dressed up. So it was just so funny to see a clown, for instance, standing beside an angel, the Macho Man, Scooby Doo, and a Cowboy to get into a venue; to people- watch and see a lumber jack trying his best to make his moves and score a squirrels phone number. Too funny.

But I promise the fun did not exclusively involve parties and such. A number of events/ activities were planned for Halloween aside from partying. For instance, Friday night I swung by a “classic horror film and pumpkin carving” event. The last time I tried to carve a pumpkin I destroyed the thing. So I made sure to skip that bit. And Yesterday children from town visited the campus with their families to trick- or – treat on campus. I was overwhelmed with cute. Everywhere I looked I saw kids as young as three running from door to dear, bucket in hand in hopes of scoring “the good stuff”, CHOCOLATE. Well, at least thats what I considered “the good stuff” when I was three. Speaking of chocolate, I’m thinking I should purchase some chocolate now at the Burgess Cafe.

“This is Halloween, This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!!!”

Bet that song is now stuck in your head. MUAHAHHAHA

Enjoy the pictures below:: THIS IS (a taste of ) HALLOWEEN (at Skidmore) !!

A Greaser

"GOTTA CATCH EM' ALL"

Thing 1.

Tony Quattro and DJ Ramses

A Lucha Libre Fighter

"Hey Arnold!"

Hannah Montana!! Get it?!! (Her name is actually Hannah)

A Jackson Pollock painting

"Give a Hoot, don't Pollute"

J'adore Halloween!

Nice of DeadMAU5 to show, mid tour

I thought it would be a cool idea to start a few video series. The first one being on the question “Why did you choose Skidmore?”

So every so often I will collect video responses from students on campus, make a video, and upload it. Here is the first of this series. Some people I totally threw off guard so excuse their awkwardness.

Enjoy

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ragNqI7zoSw

Before I dove into masssive amounts of homework and post- graduate planning last night I attended two events on campus. I love discussing on-campus events because I know a concern for many prospective students is the availability of campus events that do not involve solo cups and music that’ll make your ears bleed.

Last night two students of the dance department choreographed a piece each for their independent study.  These pieces involved about 5 dancers each and were formed in The Tang‘s Pane Room*. Each piece was about 15 minutes long and blew my mind in the most interesting ways. When watching modern pieces, I must say, I sometimes think “what in the world is going on?”, “what is this supposed to mean?”.  It takes some times before I can remind myself to stop over thinking the piece and to just enjoy the work. All in all both of the pieces were quite beautiful. I made a mental note to make sure to attend more dance performnces. And I am sure there will be a few in the future. It’s fun to think that though I lack talent in the arts, there are heaps of ways in which I can enjoy the arts on this campus and reap the benifits of living on a campus that is so diverse in the interests and passions of the student body.

Below are some pictures and a short video of the piece choreographed by Emily Pacillio’12. Sorry my camera is not fancy.

Sabrina's Piece

More by Sabrina

httpv://youtu.be/2gmr0XaxRA8

After the dance performance I made my way over to Gannett*. Here Skidomedy, one of the campus comedy groups was performing. Skidomedy is a sketch comedy group. This performance lasted no more than an hour. From beginning to end I was laughing out loud. I loved it; I had so much fun. Talking about a comedy performance never does any justice to how funny the material actually is. I also am awful at retelling stoies so I know I will do no justice to their show. T’is why I recorded some of the show. The first video is of the group’s introduction skit. The second is what I would call “Kid Bruce Wayne”.

httpv://youtu.be/UCK7BN_QgYY

httpv://youtu.be/3T62SRGItGE

Like what you see? Check out more by Skidomedy.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThisIsSkidomedy

*The Tang Teaching Museum is a museum like any other that holds professional art work (about 6 major exhibits per year). It is cosidered a teaching museum becuase of the co- collabartive work that goes on inside the museum and because the museum also has multimedia class rooms. The Tang’s Pane room is often used for fancy dinners, performances, or small exhibits. The Tang roof is a performance space. Every Friday of the summer a different band plays on the roof of the Tang.

*Gannett is an Auditorium located in one of the academic buildings. It is used for some large courses which is rare because we have such few large course; only one percent of the courses at Skidmore College have 50 students or more. Gannett is also used for guest speakers, and performance groups on campus such as the comedy groups and a-capella groups.