The Reel Life of Josh

College is a wonderfully exciting time.  You learn a lot in and out of class.  With one semester to go, I figured I’d give a run down of some of the finer points of life that I’ve learned while at Hopkins.  I’ll be sure to update this list at the end of the year, but for now…

Things I’ve learned at Hopkins – Pt. 1:

1. If a professor says attendance is mandatory but doesn’t keep attendance, people will stop showing up after the third week.
2. As a guy, you will unintentionally understand fashion trends.  For example, understanding what jeggings are when brought up in conversation.
3. If your TA isn’t fun, your class will be harder.  Know your TA.  You can really hit or miss with paper titles like my paper on the natural factors contributing to global warming called “Some Like It Hot”.
4. When people say that an event is free, they are really just saying you already paid for it with your tuition.
5. No matter what time you walk past the Freshman Quad, there will always be lights on in the AMRs.
   

   My trusty backpack

6. If there is some bit of news or pop culture (this includes every viral video) that is floating around on the internet, you will know about it within an hour.
7. 9 AM in college time = 5 AM in real time.
8. This is obvious: The M level challenge is harder than the D level challenge.
9. People who were overachievers in high school are still annoying in college.
10. If you are in a relationship, add 3 credit hours to your semester total.  It will give you a more accurate readout of your free time.  Plan accordingly.
11. Free/cheap tshirts are easier to find than Olin Hall.
12. As much as you try to prevent it, you will eat the same things in the dining hall pretty much every day.
13. Marble is slippery when wet.
14. The gym looks nice from the outside.
15. The quality of a class is determined by professor, content, and classmates.  Too bad there is no ratemyclassmates.com.
16. On a related note, there will alway be one person in class who raises their hand in a large lecture.  Many of them tell personal anecdotes before asking awful questions.  Many will do this at the end of class when the professor asks “Are there any questions?”
17. Appointments with professors work much better than going to their office hours.
18. Freshmen think they are the first ones to do anything they do at Hopkins.
19. Seniors think about everything as the last time they will do something at Hopkins.
20. A roommate is your best friend and worst enemy.
    

    Unrelated, but my father trying to get the Yule Log on our TV on Christmas morning.

21. Every college student graduates with a comprehensive knowledge of how to BS.
22. Humanities majors will get thorough instruction on how to be pretentious by learning philosophical ideas, literary and historical references, and figuring out how to relate everything back to Marxist ideas.
23. People will go to anything if you offer them free food.
24. The shortest route between two points does not involve the brick pathways.  If you are in a hurry, don’t follow the red brick road.
25. Hearing someone complain about getting an A- is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

As with the other lists, any other suggestions from the HI team?  Or any disagreements?

The absurdities of college life are slowly becoming apparent, but it’s worth all the craziness.

I’m at a crossroads in my college career.  On one hand, I absolutely love Hopkins and can’t imagine myself leaving.  But on the other hand, it doesn’t seem like there is much left here for me.  When selecting classes for next semester, I realized that I’ve taken most of the class I’ve wanted to take.  I have been to most of the on campus events.  And I hardly know anyone here

anymore.

I’m not in a state of despair.  It’s just a confusing situation that I’ve never been in before.  I think it’s similar to how I felt in high school.  There was something about moving on from what had become routine for several years that is unsettling.  But honestly, I hated high school and was more excited for college and moving forward.  I’m definitely ready to move on, but I just don’t want to.

I love being in college.  I love the freedom, the crazy sleeping and eating schedules, the learning environment, the proximity to my friends, having a job and not a career.  There are some things that I’m excited for.  For instance, with grad school or a job (whichever path I choose), I can concentrate on doing something that I want to do with my time.

The biggest part about knowing it’s almost done is knowing that I’m leaving a huge chapter of my life behind. Something that I spent so long waiting for is not past.  It’s like I overran it.  It went by so quickly.  And every semester seems to get shorter.

It’s hard not to look back at this point.  But I’ll forge forward into the unknown.  I’m not scared or nervous.  I know that I won’t end up a bum.  I’ll make something of myself.  It’s not fear that’s driven me into this existential crisis.  It’s just looking around and feeling like I’ve accomplished all I’ve wanted to.  That makes me realize I am really done here.

I will make the most of my last semester. There is still a lot to be done.  And I still enjoy it here.  I don’t mean for this to be terribly depressing.  I am not sad or stressed.  I’ve just reached a fork in the road.

I’ll just have to take it.

I’m sure one of the many things you’re considering when you look at schools is the people you will encounter at Hopkins.  Let’s be more specific:  what are you potential romantic prospects like?  Now, I can only give the perspective from a straight male so I will only analyze it that way and talk about what types of girls I have encountered at Hopkins, but feel free to leave comments about things I leave out, disagreements, or alternate perspectives.

Places to find someone:

Classes

• If there is one reason to go to class, it would be to learn.  But if there were two reasons, they would be to learn and to meet other people.  Classes have people in them.  If you go to these classes, you will most likely interact with them.  So your 9AM Cog Psych class may not be as fun as you thought, but at least it has that cute blonde who sits next to you.  And when she drops her pen under your desk, you’ll be there to pick it up.

Dining Halls

• Everyone eats -- including the blonde.  And a lot more blondes, brunettes, redheads, and [other]heads.  Eat and meet.

Dorms

• AMRs -- just walk around for 3 minutes and you’re bound to run into someone.  They house most of the freshmen so the odds are that you have at least a few girls you are attracted to in there.  Just make sure one of you isn’t on the way to or from the shower in a towel.  Also, make sure if you/she is en route to or from said shower, and if you/she wears contacts/glasses that you/she is wearing said contacts/glasses.  Otherwise recognition or lack of recognition could cause some problems.
• Wolman -- the elevators are perfect places to meet someone.  Get some courage in the 2 minutes it takes to get to the 5th or 6th floor and strike up some conversation.  If you’re on your way down in the morning, it’s likely that you’ll run in to them again considering you are both probably on your way to class.
• Laundry room -- you will do laundry in college and so will girls.  Just remember, that the loud machines can sometimes mask the sounds of two people who have already formed a love connection forming an even closer union.  So sometimes if the machines are a rockin’, don’t come into the laundry room unless you want to feel uncomfortable.
• Common Areas -- common social areas facilitate socializing.  So take advantage of it.

The Library

• The library must sound so lame in high school.  But if you don’t know this, you have to study in college.  Most of the work is outside the classroom.  So lots of people congregate in the library.  With 6 levels to go to, the options are numerous.  It also helps narrow down what type of girl you are looking for.  Q level = coffee lover with not a lot of serious work going on.  M level = social butterfly or just a people watcher.  A = outgoing and wants to be on M, but has a major that involves studying.  B = quiet, reserved.  C = very private and serious about their work.  D = antisocial or failing their classes.

Student Groups

• What do guidance counselors always say?  Get involved.  But getting involved in a student group is also a way to get involved romantically with someone.  You are both already there because you have a similar interest.  Maybe you have more.  Most student groups meet weekly, so you already have a weekly date.

A little guy love in the back of my friend Hannah's car.

People you may try to force casual encounters with:

• The cute girl who works at Alkimia (the coffee shop in Gilman)
• The pretty Sciences Po exchange student
• The girl who sits across the Atrium from you every Tuesday in between your noon and 4PM class.
• That girl from the a cappella group of your choice who sang that amazing solo
• The all-too-common friend of a friend

Questionable people to find romance with:

• Your professor
• Your boss
• Your roommate/suitemate (purely for the logistical consequences of a breakup)
• Your RA
• Your best friend
• President Daniels

So where does that leave us?  How about this:  There are plenty of fish in the sea.  Try to snag one at The Beach on a nice spring day.

In the next few blog posts, the HI bloggers will be posting on a common blog topic.  The topic this time around is thoughts and reflections on our own experiences during the application process.  We’ve all been there (some of us are doing it again with grad school) and know what it’s like so we’re here to offer you anecdotes and advice to help you along the way.

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I think the college admissions process was more stressful for my parents (read: mom) than it was for me.  I knew I was going to get in somewhere.  And I made sure to apply to only schools that I’d be happy attending.  The search was long and tedious.  Many a college book that I couldn’t pass off to my younger brother is still stowed away in my bedroom.  It was an exciting and nerve-racking time.  For me, when decisions were released in March, I had a choice between a few of my schools.  It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make.  Even after finally deciding on Hopkins, I had some buyer’s remorse for a little while.  But ever since I got to school, I knew that I had made the right decision (or at least a very good decision).  I think approaching the whole process with an open mind and the notion that you’re going to end up at a college that you enjoy is important.

The college search is a daunting task though. So here’s some advice.

Three things the admissions process is like:

1) Dating

• I made a previous post about this.  (see: “You Had Me at Hello”)  But for those of you who don’t want to click, I’ll sum it up.  Selecting a college works kind of like match.com or other dating websites (or really more just like dating in general since we don’t use objectivity for the most part in either).  There are factors of compatibility that we use to figure out what school is the best for us.  Finding the perfect college is like finding your soulmate.

2) Eating at a restaurant

There's still time to be a kid in college.

• Think about the questions you ask yourself when you eat out somewhere.  Where do you want to eat?  What type of place do you want to go to?  How much does it cost?  How good is it?  What have you heard about that place?  How hard is it to get in?  These take little or no alteration to see how they apply to the college search.

3) A Talent Show

• You enter.  You prep for weeks, even months.  (Sometimes there’s a fee.)  Your nerves grow exponentially.  You parade around with the other entrants, showcasing your best talents and covering up your blemishes.  Every mistake will be scrutinized later if you don’t succeed.  Your parents look on with great hope – some living vicariously through their children.  Everyone has different talents that aren’t really comparable.  And then after it’s all over, you sort of forget what all the hype was about a week later.

Three things the admissions process is not like:

1) War

• It’s not life or death.  You will survive no matter what.  There is no reason to drive yourself to the brink of madness (or beyond) over college applications.  Everything you could have done is really over by the time you send in your app – and really a lot of it is in the books even before that.  You aren’t competing against others either.  In a sense you are, but really, if you’re good enough to get in, a school with take you.  So just give your best effort and don’t worry about anyone else.

2) A Math Problem

• Now, I’m not a numbers guy.  But I do know one thing about math (I think).  There are typically specific steps to get to a concrete solution.  This is not the case with college admissions.  Every applicant is different.  Everyone can get in a different way.  You have grades, essays, extracurriculars, hobbies, etc. to examine.  Some people do cancer research in high school.  Others, like myself and other average high schoolers, didn’t do anything outrageously special.  They are just pretty good students and somewhat interesting (ranging from uniquely strange to incredibly captivating) people.  There is no single way to get into college.
  

  I don't know what this means but it looks mathy. (From WSE site)

3) The Movies

• You will not drive 8 hours to convince the Dean that you should get in.  Your high school will not send the wrong transcript.  SATs are not as important as pop culture makes them out to be.  College tours will not be led by strange and overly-honest guides.  The tour guides will also not be irrationally peppy or emotionally unstable.  Your parents won’t embarrass you as much as you think they will.  You will not sneak into a college party on your overnight, pose as a student, and subsequently make out with a college girl.  The Mac guy cannot start his own fake college.  As much as it pains me to say, movies aren’t real life.  No crazy antics will ensue.  You just click submit on your application or send off your big envelope, and that’s it.  You wait.  You hear back.  You decide where you want to go.  And you go.  Sorry.

Just remind yourself that in a few months, this will all be over with, and you’ll be getting ready to settle in to your cramped dorm room and meet your roommate and eat the same food every day and love every second of it.

You may think all people on a college campus look the same.  But once you get there you’ll quickly learn how to tell them apart.  Here’s my guide to recognizing different people at Hopkins.

Prospective students:

- A good tip off is that they are a younger looking student walking around with their parents.  Although not a dead giveaway, it’s a good starting point.

- The Hopkins drawstring bags you get when you come to campus will make you stand out.  A good place to keep your freebies.  A bad way to hide.

- Looking lost will make it known, especially when around the campus maps stationed throughout campus.

- On a tour is the easiest way to spot them.

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Freshmen:

-   Freshman travel in packs.  You meet so many people early on in the year, you tend to hold onto all of them until you figure out who you actually want to be friends with.  Because of this, freshmen often travel in groups of no less than (hyperbole alert) 50 or 60 people.  It seems that way at least.  But truthfully, freshmen tend to travel in groups of at least 6 or so at any time.

-  The lanyards make it clearly known that you’re a freshman.  If you walk around with your Hopkins ID on a lanyard, you are declaring your freshmanhood.

-  More so at the beginning of the year, freshmen tend to walk around arrogantly.  They were just top dog in their high school as seniors.  They haven’t gotten used to being new yet.

-  Freshmen tend to yell a lot.  Maybe it’s because they are excited about everything.  Maybe it’s because they just want their voice to be heard.  Who knows?  But those kids crank it up to 11.

FFC. Photo by Greco S.

-  Freshmen are models of viewbook pictures.  They do everything you see in college viewbooks.  I don’t even think they like it or do it consciously.  But they are the ones playing Frisbee on the quad and wearing sandals all year.

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Sophomores:

-  They try to be like upperclassmen, but still have to do freshmany things.  Sophomores are a little harder to pick out.  They try to blend in to the crowd.  But when you have to carry around your JCard to get into your dorm or find a way to get rid of your extra dining dollars because you’re required to have a meal plan but tried to eat off campus more, you definitely know it’s a sophomore.

-  On a similar note, sophomores purchase unnecessary quantities of strange items at CharMar due to their meal plan.  If you see someone (possibly a suitemate) walking around with an entire crate of Muscle Milk or a block of cheese and a 2-Liter bottle of Coke, you’ve found a sophomore.

-  Sophomores try to avoid doing freshman activities as not to be confused with their similarly-aged peers.

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Juniors:

-  If you find someone who has a lot of friends abroad, you’ve probably found a junior.

-  Juniors start to find their own voice in the world, but don’t know how to use it yet.  They tend to be quiet.  And the loud ones don’t have much interesting to say.

The Hopkins sign and the Beach. Photo by Greco S.

-  Juniors also tend to try and get away from campus and spend time in Baltimore.  So if you overhear someone saying, “Let’s go to Mt. Vernon,” or “Let’s grab a drink down in Fed Hill/Canton/Fell’s Point,” you’re almost certainly listening to a junior (or at least an upperclassman).

-  You make it clear you’re a junior when you start off the year complaining about how terrible it is to live in a dorm and then end the year complaining how annoying it is to have to deal with all the troubles of real world apartment living.

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Seniors:

-  Seniors can be found thinking a lot about the future.  Acronyms like GREs, MCATs, LSATs, and GMATs can be tip offs.  Questions about what you’re doing after graduation are also clues.

-  Look for people who look like they have just run a marathon.  They look ragged and tired.  This is a symptom of the combination of work hard/party hard.  Seniors tend to put sleep last on their list of priorities.  It’s time to get it all in now before college is over.

-  If someone is absent from or late to class a lot second semester, they are probably a senior (or maybe an athlete).

Cafe Q. Photo by Greco S.

-  Seniors secretly look longingly at their old dorms and wish to go back and do it all again.  Try to catch them in this moment.

-  The look of ‘I don’t care what people think of me’ is also a good indicator.  Seniors are pretty comfortable in who they are.  [Think of seniors like hot plastic in a mold.  It’s taken shape, it just hasn’t had time to cool and solidify yet.]  They also, honestly, have 10,000 other things to think about so they don’t have time or room in their consciousness to care.

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So those are some key features of the people on campus.  Leave comments if you think of others.  Or if you disagree…just keep it to yourself.

(Photo by Greco)

I’m sure by now you’re already tired of talking to people about where you’re applying to college.  I remember that feeling.  But good news: it goes away.  Bad news: it comes back if you decide to go to grad school.

It seems like the past 2 weeks, that’s what most people want to talk to me about.  Now, I’m not the best conversationalist, but I feel like I have more to offer than just reciting the same lines about my future.  And since I’ve been through it before, I know it will only get more intense as time goes on.

Inside Prof. Macksey's extensive library.

Last night at a cocktail party for the Film Program, held at the amazing home of Prof. Richard Macksey, several of my professors asked me what my future held post-graduation.  It didn’t stop there, as many of my former friends and classmates who were at the party for Young Alumni Weekend came and managed to slip in conversations about what they are doing now which prompted a reply about my future.

But why grad school for me you may ask (as I did to myself)?  I’ll start by saying I don’t need it.  In the film world, you need talent and a foot in the door – an education is not necessarily in the picture.  And people outside of Hopkins ignorantly continue to tell me that this program that they know nothing about couldn’t possibly prepare me like a bigger film program could so I should obviously go to one of those.

Let me first say this.  The Hopkins film program has prepared me to succeed.  I’ve produced over 25 short films while at Hopkins with 1 ½ semesters still to go.  I have become incredibly close with my professors because of the size of the Film program.  They are able to provide me with guidance whenever I need it and professional connections.  So the people who overlook those aspects of the education I’ve received are out of line in proclaiming the failures of the Film and Media program.

this in no way relates to this post, but i needed another picture

But back to the question at hand.  I want to go to film school to give me time.  Not time to waste or put off life.  It would be time to concentrate on making films without having to worry about the other courses I’m taking.  It would be time to develop my own voice and vision.

And now it’s time to apply.  I’ll keep my head up and look toward the future as I’m sure you will out there looking at college.  Wherever we end up, we’ll know we tried our best and that makes it the place we’re supposed to be.

(For those of you keeping tabs on me, here’s the latest film project of mine – done for Dance for the Camera)

Loss of Clarity from Joshua Gleason on Vimeo.

Classes are back in session, and it’s weird to be a senior.  But somebody’s gotta do it, right?  So I’m sure you’re wondering what classes I’m taking this semester.  Well, here they are.

Dance for the Camera:  Blending dance and filmmaking, this course teaches how to create Dance for the Camera films, an emerging genre.  We watch different types of dance films from Fred Astaire to modern dance to movement on camera and look at the relationship between filmmaker and choreographer.  From this we create several different projects throughout the semester.

The Actor in Hollywood:  What is a star?  How does a star develop?  (Sounds like an astronomy class, doesn’t it?)  This class is built around studying Hollywood stars – specifically John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Stewart, and Jack Nicholson.  By reading many of their films and developing our own research based on one of the four, we learn about many aspects of what makes a star a star and what details of performance contribute to this idea.

Anthropology of Media:  We live in a mediated society.  We all have cell phones, iPods, listen to the radio, go to the movies, watch TV, use the internet.  This course is designed to discuss how these things work in our daily lives.  Part history, part current events, part future speculation, we debate our mediated lives.  In the end, we complete an ethnography based on some media topic of our choosing.  One of the coolest parts is that our research projects are published on the class website which is publicly searchable.  Last time the class was taught, many of the projects came up in the top 5 of Google searches when someone typed in “Anthropology” + [topic keywords].

Brain Myths – Folk Psychology:  Folk psychology is a field of study based on the mental processes of common sense.  Here we discuss both scientific and popular notions behind common sense and why we believe certain myths (specifically about the brain).  Our first class consisted of a discussion on the myth that we only use 10% of our brains.

Lost and Found Film:  Delving into another emerging genre, orphan films, we explore old footage and create new films from those.  Every week a project is due.  By using archival footage and music/sfx, we can turn something nobody sees anymore (like many educational films such as “How to brush your teeth” from the 50s) into something different.  A lot of class time is devoted to ruminating on ideas of is meaning discovered or created.

So far, so okay with these classes.  But time to get down to work.  Until we meet again.

So we’ve entered the last days of summer vacation.  I’m back in Baltimore and gearing up for senior year.  Yikes.  It seems like I just got here.

Sometime during Orientation 07.

I remember this time 3 years ago.  I came down the night before move-in with my parents and brother.  We spent the night in a tiny hotel room (my brother and I were forced to share a pull out bed).  It didn’t matter though.  I was too excited to sleep.  I had been waiting for this day for a long long time.  All that anticipation was finally condensed into one night.

The next day, we hopped in the car bright and early and made our way to the back of the line of cars by the rec center.  We pulled closer and closer and then finally I was whisked away to AMR I to get my JCard and room key: confirmation that I had finally arrived at college.  Then I made my way to my new room and awaited the arrival of my parents, my roommate, and my stuff as the movers and volunteers worked tirelessly so that I could profusely sweat in the comfort of my own room instead of the stairwell.

Day at the Inner Harbor during Orientation

My roommate had moved in 2 days earlier since he did a Pre-O trip so his side of the room was already set up.  I remember waiting in that room – my side empty at this point – and looking out the window to see my new roommate walking across the AMR II courtyard.  He shouted up to the room to say hi before coming upstairs so that we could actually meet.

Me now.

That first night, I met a bunch of new people from my house in AMR II and got to see some others that I had only become recently digitally acquainted with via Facebook.  We went out to a party (and yes, there will be at least 4 or 5 parties the first night, but choose wisely as you will be tired and you will have stuff early the next day) and I came back to my room exhausted.  The next day, they had meetings for us to go to and such, but before all that, I went to have a very somber breakfast with my family.  This would be the last time I would see them before mid-October.  I remember feeling a little homesick that night.  I never really get that way, but I guess being so excited, I never really took the time to look back and just forged right ahead leaving my family and friends behind.

And now.

But that feeling passed by the third or fourth day at Hopkins.  By then, I had met so many new people, I knew it was just a new version of home.  Getting out there and meeting new people was a little stressful, but ultimately rewarding.  And you quickly find people you can relate too.  I met my best friend (who has been my roommate since sophomore year) by chance a few days in just by sitting behind him on a bus to the Inner Harbor.  I met another one of my closest friends just by walking down the hall with my roommate on the first night.  Her door was open, we poked our heads in to introduce ourselves and we’ve been friends ever since.  So just be open to meeting new people and you’ll definitely find them.

And now it’s time for the final go-round.  Things have changed over the years (though seemingly minutes) here, but it’s always been a place to call home.  And when I leave here, I’ll surely feel homesick again.  For now though, it’s time to enjoy the last months of the “best years of my life”!