Update 9: The Home Stretch/Putting it Together

For those who are not theatre people: a sports metaphor. This is the home stretch. You're close enough that you can see the finish line, but you have to hold on until the very end. The past few days and the next few have been and are going to be exhausting.

For those who lean towards the arts: a theatre reference. Right now, we're working to put everything together. On Saturday, we will work in our run crew consisting of Daniel Waxman-Lenz, Tim Foster, John Walker Moosbrugger, and Maeve Kolk. There's a song called "Putting it Together" from Sunday in the Park with George which basically sums up our whole project in this moment.

When something new pops up every day
It's only new, though, for now
Nouveau
But yesterday's forgotten
And tomorrow is already as passé
That is the state of the art, my friend,
That is the state of the art

Stephen Sondheim's lyrics capture the essence of what putting a show together is like and it's always nice when art mimics life and vice versa.

On Saturday we will also have our full band again and we hope to run through the show twice with lights and sound -- the whole shebang.

If anyone is interested and has nothing to do next Monday, having since become a high school graduate, they should come back to school to catch our production of Edges! If anything else, it's for a good cause. https://www.facebook.com/events/716430761728593/

The clock is ticking down to show time and at this point, there's only so much we can do. All can do is hope (fingers crossed) that people come and that everything goes as smoothly as possible. But, really, when has that ever happened?

Update 8: A Dynamic Duo

This Monday, we were only able to have rehearsal with two of our four actors, Kelly and Joe. This turned out to be both a good thing and a bad thing, as we weren't able to work with the other two, but Kelly and Joe seemed very prepared and were able to get a lot done. We were back at the lower school with just Gary playing the piano and Kelly and Joe had their kids again. However, this wasn't really a problem since husband and wife would take turns distracting the boys outside of the Chapel which meant that they both got to rehearse their songs (sometimes profane) as well as spend time with their kids. I don't know why we didn't think of doing that earlier since we usually have at least three cast members, it'd be easy for the cast (who are mostly good friends -- comfortable with leaving their children in their care for a few minutes) to switch off diverting the two boys.

Because of the nature of our project, our last day is not Wednesday, but actually next Monday. The plan for the next few days is to rehearse on Friday night, add tech on Saturday afternoon, and after that, we have to let everything go on Monday, regardless of any issues that may have arisen over the last few weeks.

Update 7: Adding the tech. -- Most of it

Last Friday, we had rehearsal with all four cast members in the auditorium at the upper school. In addition to the cast, we also had our whole band for the first time which included Gary on piano, Henry Cooley on bass, and another person we found through Mercury, Dylan A. Brown on drums. This was the day that we also had all of the lights queued up and ready to go, so we were able to get a better idea of what the show might look like. With all the good aspects, however, something bad was bound to happen -- and, boy, did it. I guess it wasn't a "something' per se, but it was sort of a combination of bunch of little things that led to a less-than-pleasing rehearsal. For one thing, there was supposed to be a memorial service in the auditorium the next day, which nobody told us when we reserved the space. As a result, we had to deal with a bunch of stuff that wasn't ours in the space and had to do a few things for them to make sure the memorial service would run smoothly. Secondly, the whole cast was late. Life happens, traffic happens, but it was just frustrating that the whole band was early and they had to wait for our actors. Lastly, the cast were not as familiar with their material as we might have hoped, so that hindered our run through a little bit and this brought back something that we've been struggling with since the first rehearsal -- how to diplomatically direct adults and tell them what to do without being rude. It's a fine line.

Senior Project Report

Currently my email is not working so I am posting my report here.  If it starts working soon I will also email you a copy of the report.

            For my Senior Project, I wanted to learn some aspects of the business world, and how to start/operate a successful business.  My sponsor for his project was Mr. Rick Doody, who is Chairman & Founder of BDI, he is better known for creating the restaurant chains of Brio and Bravo.  Through the duration of the project, Mr. Doody gave me three different types of businesses to experience.  The first was at his office in Chagrin Falls where they develop new Brio and Bravos all over the country.  The time I spent at his office is probably when I learned the most about business peoples interactions with one another while working on deals.  In this setting I was not able to participate very often because they were dealing with very large business deals.  Most of my time in his office was spent sitting in on meetings, and talking one on one with the other people that worked in his office.  By no means would I say that from my experience I would be able to do a successful business deal, but I do now have an understanding as to what people are talking about in certain topics.  The second business I experienced was the restaurant business.  I spent seven days working in Mr. Doody’s newest restaurant, Cedar Creek Grille.  Over those seven days I worked in several different positions, including host, busser, prep chef, and accountant.  I would work the lunch rush with the other employees at the restaurant, usually following around the person for half the day and then working on my own the rest of the day.  I really enjoyed working in the restaurant because I was always busy with the job, and it also gave me a real world experience of dealing with patrons.  The final business I experienced was a construction company.  While my project was taking place Mr. Doody was remodeling his house, and he had the builder who has built some of his restaurants working on the house.  I spent two days shadowing the head builder, Scott.  He kept telling me his main job was to make sure everyone is doing their jobs correctly.  He would take laps around the house, make sure everyone was working hard, and jump in when he could to help someone out.  I think Mr. Doody was an excellent sponsor for my project.  He taught me a lot about business by both talking to me about it and letting me experience it in many different forms. 

            Throughout my three-week project I learned that the answer to my essential question was experience.  Not just experience in being the boss, but experience in every job that it will take to run the business.  Mr. Doody used an expression that is used in the restaurant business.  He said that the owner of a successful restaurant will be shaking the hand of the mayor with one hand and have plunger in the other hand.  By this means there is glamour that comes along with having a successful restaurant, but it took a lot of hard work in every place to get there. 

            My suggestion for future projects is to pick something you have an interest in for the future, but also something that is enjoyable to do.  If I had to sit in the office all day everyday I would’ve gotten bored very quickly and probably wouldn’t have paid attention as well.  Getting to go to other locations really made it a great project for myself.  I think the Project Committee should make an attempt for more students to have a project that gets them out and about.

            My biggest take away form the project was the real world experience of working.  In the restaurant I had a job to do everyday, and if I didn’t do it correctly it would’ve created more work for the other employees, so I learned quickly how to do everything I could to help.  It was also very nice to be able to interact with patrons and to see how I was doing based on their reactions to how I did my job.

Closing Remarks

It’s very weird to think that yesterday was my last day working on my senior project, my last day to officially be doing work for Hawken.  I will soon be heading off to college, but realized that coach Tim, being the most influential coach of my entire swimming career, will remain an important figure in my life.  I get a little sad as I stand in a circle with the younger swimmers to begin the pre-practice stretching and dryland.

Working with coach Tim has made me more aware of several swimming concepts to help out younger or developing swimmers, but most importantly he has taught me to be more aware of my own swimming technique.  Whenever I come up for a breath and see him flailing his arms at the side of the pool, motioning for me to pop my head out of the water and listen to his feedback, it reminds me of how I stood in his position for three weeks.  I too served as a coach, a mentor for the developing swimmers, a group of which I was once a part.  Furthermore, I have recently reached a new level at which my body can push through the pain that comes with working through a hard practice.  Stepping into the coaches’ shoes for several weeks has made me realize that it is wasteful of the coaches’ time to stop at the wall and pretend to adjust your goggles; why not push yourself a step farther.  You’ll feel much more accomplished at the end of the set.  And that’s what’s been most fulfilling for me.

Bye swimming pool, it's been a fun three weeks.  Haha just kidding, see you tomorrow morning at six!

Talking about Business

For my final day working with Mr. Doody, we spent a lot of time jus talking about all the different possibilities out there in the world.  One of his big mottos was learn on someone else's dime.  By this he means when you figure out a career path you want to try, you should go and work for a company that has that job, but if it is a higher up position you should spend time at each lower position to learn how the employees feel at those positions, and how their job effects the whole company.  Before he created his own restaurant, he spent time as a dishwasher, bus boy, cook, server and host to allow for him to have a feel of all the jobs he would be working with. Mr. Doody really pushes for having all kinds of different work experiences before you settle down in one career.

Jaffe Update 8: A Reflection on Walls.

On my final post for my blog, I posted this after the flight home, concerning my final day: 

I thought of the walls that Jacob and I saw throughout the UK. In the US, when you want to separate two plots of farm land, you set up a fence, or plant a bush, or us it as a small private road. However, from what we saw, in the UK, you build a stone wall.

These stone walls aren't impersonal; they're only four feet tall, and look quite poorly put together, as though they might fall. Yet they likely stay standing for centuries, as the quantity of moss (or is it a lichen) growing on many of them can attest to. Jacob and I both found them quite asthetically pleasing: they rolled across the countryside, splitting off in all directions at the corners of plots of land and going this way and that, enclosing sheep and cows within their warm, inviting, mossy (licheny?) surfaces.

Whenever I looked at them as we biked, I couldn't help but think, "Somebody, or some group of people at one point decided to gather those thousands, millions, hundreds of millions of stones, move them onto a designated imaginary line that they probably made up, and stack them. These walls likely changed owners over the years, but they still do the same thing now as they did then: separate land and keep in animals. Those people from generations past set the framework for those in the present to work off of and use. And here these walls are today, still intact, barely modified, and overall, quite beautiful."

Jaffe Update 7: The End is in Sight

As I prepare for the final presentation and report, I can't help but think that this is my last thing I ever have to do for Hawken. (Who knows, I may do some alumni crap later on (after I get over my momentary hatred for the place (I am mostly just sick of school in general) out of my system) concerning the stuff that those people talked about on that one day during lunch with the cheese and pepperoni pizza.) The main point is that I don't have to do any other work for Hawken! Ever!

If my enthusiasm concerning the next few days isn't apparent enough, you must know that I am very excited to graduate in a few days. As I read through my Grandmother's and Great-uncle's letters home for the second time, I saw that about halfway through their trip, my grandmother found out from Smith that she was accepted. In fact, after visiting Oxford, she joked that it was so nice, she might go there if Smith didn't work out. Strange, however that she was accepted on July 27 as opposed to, oh I don't know, April. I asked my mother if there was such a thing as a gap year when my grandma was a kid. She said no, not likely. So she was accepted late, and I'm starting late. It all evens out.

Just a few more days that I really have to not screw up (not that I particularly want to screw up after graduation, either).

The Last Official Day (With Five Days to Go)

Today marked the last official day of senior project, but we are still preparing and getting everything ready for our show on Monday June 9th. This post is essentially a final plug for our show. Since I'm not sure we ever really explained Edges on this blog. Edges is a Song Cycle Musical about coming of age. What is a song cycle? Well I'm so glad you asked. A song cycle is a series of songs connected by a theme rather than a narrative plot line, like a traditional musical. Edges will be taking place in the Upper School Auditorium at 7:30 on Monday June 9th. Doors open at 7:00. Admission is free, but donations are accepted to benefit Mercury Summer Stock's My First Musical program. My First Musical helps children from financially challenged homes to see a musical for free, so that they can be exposed to the theatrical arts at a young age, when they may otherwise not have had the chance. We well also be selling baked goods, and again all proceeds go to My First Musical. The actors in Edges are Kelly Monaghan, Joe Monaghan, Joanna May Hunkins, and Douglas Bailey.  They are all adult actors with other jobs who are doing us a huge favor by being a part of our show. Please come see Edges and support our project and My First Musical!

A Duet Rehearsal

On Monday, two of our actors couldn't make it to rehearsal. This made us a little nervous, considering that we only have two more rehearsals until the show. However, the two actors that we did have, Kelly and Joe, were great. Kelly and Joe are married, and they are one of my favorite grown up couples. They sing this one song together, called Dispensable, which is about a two people who have broken up and are dealing with being alone. Watching the two of them sing it together is actually an emotional experience in itself, and I hope that at the actual show the raw emotions are able to show through to the audience, the way they do in rehearsal. They also rehearsed all of their solos which sound great as well. It was a relief to hear Joe sing the song he hasn't gotten to practice since our first rehearsal, Part of a Painting. My favorite of the songs we rehearsed, Kelly's song about wanting her ex to die was really fun, and we had to start over due to laughter several times.

Mrs. Valentine

The next day when I returned to the center we spoke with Mrs. Valetine for about a good hour. Talking to Mrs. Valentine is like starting a forest fire, once you get her started you cannot put her out! We tackled the subject on why homeless and poor people struggle so much in today’s world. Mrs. Valentine is afraid that the guest who come into Cosgrove are starting to become a little too comfortable with their situation and that Cosgrove is losing its effect. Being the creative person that she is, with her stylish clothing and eccentric Afro she thinks,“ we can’t force people to engage, you have to creatively engage the people”. Whether that’s participating in the Cosgrove’s Transformational Art Center. This program provides a safe area and can use different forms of art media to experience self-healing and the presence of God or just simply watching a movie or having some quiet time to reflect. “You have to stand on your own two feet like a table standing on it’s own four legs”, said Mrs. Valentine.  To make any situation better a person has to want to change and must be willing to work for that change.

Eddy and Sam

Today I my project sponsor introduced me to two older gentlemen. Eddy and Sam told me how the average person perceives homeless people. They are trained to believe that they are drunks, crazy, pedophiles, druggies or all of these things.  “Yo dad probably use to tell you not to mess with that strange man at the bus stop didn’t he?”, said Sam with a little bit of edge in his voice to emphasize his point.

Eddy picked up the conversation quickly describing to us what it was like for him to be at the top but taking a roller coaster ride to the bottom.  Eddy worked for various private owned companies whose mission was to find natural resources. He had the position as a chief director and manager for many of these companies. With this he was blessed to travel all of the continents and had the opportunity to get duel citizenships in different countries. Hearing this man talk was like looking into a mirror- here I was trying to get where Eddy has already been with my private school education, traveled the world and fortunate enough to have parents who are hard workers.

Update 8: The End

            Today was my last day with Mr. Simms, and I can’t express how much I learned from him.  He taught me about how he signs players to represent, how he markets them, and how he is always working trying to make sure his clients are happy.  Today he shared with me that one of his clients just received a deal from a sports memorabilia store to sign a bunch of jerseys for them that they could then resell.  The players received $12 per signature to sign 1,000 jerseys, meaning that he just made his client an easy $12,000 for about an hour’s worth of work.  This player is going to be a rookie this season and therefore not making that much money compared to the rest of the players in the league, so this money will be very beneficial to this player.  Mr. Simms was going to Chicago later today to meet with a few of his clients who are on the Chicago Bears, just to take them out to dinner and maintain a strong relationship with them.  I guess the most important thing I learned from Mr. Simms is that to be successful, not just as an agent but in all walks of life, you have to be personable.  Because no matter how great of a negotiator you are, no one will sign with you if they don’t like you as a person.  And regardless of whether or not I end up using all the sports agent knowledge I gained from Mr. Simms, that life lesson will always be valuable.