Wish You Were Here

Maryland Film Festival

One of my favorite things about going to school in Baltimore is the interesting, quirky, creative arts scene that surrounds me here. As a humanities student (really, as a humanities person), it makes me feel even more creative myself when I hear of films being produced, exhibits opening, and shows playing all over town to showcase the talents of young, independent artists. As one of these artists said during a panel discussion at our own Hopkins Film Fest, Baltimore is a perfect transitional city for growing artists. It might not be where you hit it big, but the rent is cheap, the people are cool, and you have the chance to really push your creative boundaries in all directions.

This past weekend, I got to participate in one of my favorite annual arts events in the city: Maryland Film Festival. You’ve heard of film festivals before (Sundance, Cannes, Berlinale, Tribeca, SXSW) and Maryland fits that same structure. They get tons of submissions from independent filmmakers around the world and choose a bunch of feature-length films, shorts, and documentaries to fill up a weekend schedule. The screenings are centered around Station North/Mt. Vernon, mid-Baltimore neighborhoods that are home to the major screening spaces: Charles Theater, the MICA Brown Center, and The Windup Space. There’s a kick-off party and a closing night party, which this year included special guest Harry Belafonte. There is also a whole “tent village” set up across the street from the Charles Theater the entire time where they have the Filmmakers’ Lounge, panel discussions going almost continuously, food donated by restaurants around Baltimore (Golden West and Zeke’s Coffee were the best this year), merchandise for sale, and of course ticket sales.

My job as a volunteer this year was to be a tech checker, which in essence means I met the filmmaker, helped do run-throughs of each film before the screening to make sure there weren’t any problems, and monitored sound/picture quality throughout the screening to make sure there were no issues. I also helped during Q&A sessions at certain venues, which was a lot of fun. As a result of being a volunteer, I saw a lot of the films during the festival, including Terri, The Dish and the Spoon, Convento, Hilvarenbeek (co-produced by Hopkins faculty member Jimmy Joe Roche), Bad Fever, The Learning, a recording of Danny Boyle’s stage version of Frankenstein, and a couple series of themed shorts. I was disappointed to miss The Color Wheel, Weekend, A Useful Life, and We Were Here, but there are only so many screenings you can make it to in one weekend! As a volunteer, I also got vouchers for each shift I worked, which could be redeemed for free screening tickets or $5 worth of merchandise.

A still from The Dish and The Spoon, my favorite film at MFF.

Even though I worked a lot of hours each of the three days and also had obligations on campus to come home to, it was hard to feel tired with the perks and the experience I gained during the weekend. As part of my job, I got to meet some amazing Baltimore residents, which was probably the best perk of all. I met a young couple who actually live right here in Charles Village (and who, during our entire shift, were trying to help me network by dropping loud hints that I needed a job…in FILM…you’re graduating soon, aren’t you Lauren?). Part of my job was to work with the filmmakers, so I felt privileged to converse with them and their casts about everything under the sun. After the screening of The Learning, which is about Filipino teachers being recruited to become teachers in American cities (this one, Baltimore) in order to achieve better lives for their families, I even had the pleasure to meet a lot of the inspiring people on whom the film was based. And I worked with a lot of older cinephiles, which I definitely would never have had the chance to do otherwise. I had conversations about my favorite actors and films with the randomest of people and even saw some familiar faces (including a few friends and some of my professors at Hopkins) along the way.

A still from A Useful Life, a Spanish film about a man who has to figure life out after his beloved movie theater is forced to close.

All in all, it was a creative and stimulating and thrilling weekend. I woke up each day so excited to take the shuttle down to the festival and get to work. And it never sucks to be on the other side of things: by volunteering, you’re in charge of something, you can answer questions for people, and you feel like you’re really part of a greater effort. Maryland Film Festival was another reason why I know I’m in the right field: there’s never a dull moment, the people are buzzing with creativity and artistic drive…and I can’t help but want to be along for the ride.

he’s tradin’ in his chevy for a cadillac-ac-nacac

I know I should probably give you all a breather before I blog again, but I figured it would be better to break this weekend down into two posts.  A lot is happening after all, considering TODAY IS MY 20TH BIRTHDAY WOOOOOO.  We were talking about this earlier – while turning 5 or 10 or 15 seems like a lot of years to a person, 20 years is actually a substantial amount of time in the grand scheme of things.  It’s kind of fun, in a way, to think that I’ve been alive that long!

But chatting about my birthday can come later.  Today, I bring photos from the NACAC 2009 National Conference.  This year, it was held in Baltimore, so we’ve had plenty of school counselors, private counselors, and college admissions counselors all over the city and, in the past few days, all over the Hopkins campus.  Today was actually the last day of the conference, so Mandy, Josh, Jessica and I headed downtown to the Baltimore Convention Center briiiiight and early with Daniel to give a presentation about managing an effective blogging program {we’ve had some experience}.  It went incredibly well and it was really great to speak with admissions counselors who were considering starting a social media outreach of their own.

And it was a prime opportunity to take some embarrassing photos.  Case in point:

getting to know you

To be honest, I don’t get the chance to go exploring in Baltimore as much as I would like.  I love to travel and {since I never really go anywhere}, every time I’m somewhere new, I always want to experience it as fully as possible.  But because I have that pesky thing called homework / papers / reading / writing poems / studying / cleaning the bathroom / responsibility hanging over my head all the time, I find it really difficult to pry myself away from campus and actually get out there.

During the week, I never have time because I nap during the afternoons and do my work at night {we’re still being honest – I eat, get a full belly, and then nap like I’m two years old}, and on the weekends — my “free” time — I am always too focused on being lazy to leave Charles Village at all.  Actually, I usually stay in my bed watching America’s Next Top Model or Harry Potter marathons, talking on the phone and on AIM with friends and making comments like, “Maybe I’ll go down to University Market later and get a sandwich” or, “Maybe I’ll go to the library and actually get some real work done” {I haven’t studied in the library my entire three months here so far though} or, “Maybe I’ll go out tonight.”  But, usually, I end up just grabbing some Oreo’s from under my bed, making hot chocolate and vegging out in my room until the next day, when the cycle begins again.  It’s how I relax.  It’s my process.

But thank heaven for Family Weekend!  I hadn’t seen my parents in three weeks, so I knew they wouldn’t stand for me being a hermit all weekend in my dorm room, eating Beefaroni and watching Meg Ryan movies {in addition to Oreo’s and Tyra, this is also typical weekend behavior}.  We definitey would have to do something … and I actually wanted to do something.  Even though I hadn’t properly explored it yet, I wanted to show my family something of what “my” city was all about.  They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach; as we found, that is true about cities too.  You’ll figure out what a city is at its core quicker than you can say “crab cake” just by visiting its most successful restaurants.  So that is what we did.

First, we went to a part of Baltimore named Hampden, known for {from the Hampden Main Street website}, “big hair, art galleries, good food and live entertainment.”  It is a part of town that is so rich in culture that it’s just fun to walk down the street.  It definitely has its own personality!  In our search for this unique personality, we went straight to Hampden’s heart: Cafe Hon.  The restaurant, on The Avenue, has a fantastic menu of “comfort,” homey foods and is famous for its incredible pies.  I got their Thanksgiving Dinner {I couldn’t wait for the holiday itself – as you’ll see in the picture, Anne Jay came with us and fully approved of my choice} and later split a massive piece of blueberry pie with my mom: both were amazing.  The atmosphere of the restaurant is great because of the many antique decorations {reminiscent of the 50′s}, and they even have a small gift shop of a really interesting mixture of souvenirs.  I bought a tee shirt and a gorgeous ring, but they have everything from feather boas to Halloween costumes to crazy pairs of glasses.  We can’t wait to go back!

The next place we went {not directly after, obviously – we spaced out our weekend plans and filled it in with lots of sleep and family time!} was Bo Brooks, down at the Canton waterfront.  We sat out on this porch they have with a view of the docks and the Harbor waterfront, and I ordered a fish sandwich. When it came though .. I got quite a lot more than I had bargained for.  Instead of a filet of fish on a roll, it ended up being two lonnnngg fish strips with a roll on the side.  I didn’t eat the roll because it just seemed silly, but the fish was delicious anyway.  A group of people seated next to us ordered crabs and were having a ball cracking them open and eating them, so we’ve decided that we’re definitely doing that next time!

Our final stop {parents weekend is only two days, after all!} was to Fell’s Point around 8pm for a late-night dinner at Bertha’s.  When we got there and were waiting for a seat, we heard the waiters buzzing about how John Astin {who, ironically, was on television earlier in The Addams Family Christmas episode} had been there for dinner and had just left.  They were all excited, talking about what he ordered and that he was really pleasant and all.  I resisted the powerful urge to brag and tell them that, actually, John Astin teaches at my school {and that I’m going to have a class with him next semester, ahh!}, but inwardly I thought it was pretty cool.  ;)  So anyway, we finally got seated and we decided to order as a table – we got a bowl of Maryland Crab soup, a plate of ravioli, and a bowl of mussels in Spanish sauce to share.  I bought a tee shirt from their bar and we got free bumper stickers when we paid our bill, and then we decided to head next door {after fighting our way out of the restaurant through a pack of awfully drunk, incoherent women} for gelato.  I mixed dark chocolate with chocolate gelato and, really, it was heaven in a little cup.

So that was my family weekend and a fantastic two days of exploring what Baltimore had to offer.  I didn’t get much rest that weekend and was insanely tired on Monday morning, but it was all worth it: I spent time with people I love, shared great food with them, and learned even more about the city in which I will spend my next three and a half years.  That’s another lesson for you, even if you don’t end up going to Hopkins or coming to school in a big city, that I wish I followed from my first days here — explore, explore, explore.  You know where your favorite restaurant is, which streets serve as great shortcuts, and a whole host of fabulous people in your hometown — you should learn these things about your new city, too, and I promise that you will have fun doing it.

Also, I have some videos from the Thanksgiving parade I went to over break in Collingswood, NJ, the town right next to mine.  They’re short and don’t quite capture the moment, but this parade has been an event that I have gone to every single year for as long as I can remember.  There are some things you can always count on about this parade: my grandparents will always be there before us; my dad will always bring his handwarmer thing, and we will all be surprised that it still works because it is so old; I will always ask my mother for a Dora the Explorer balloon from the balloon guy, even though I rationally understand that I am far too old for one; we will always buy pretzels from the pretzel guy; we will always sit at the same stretch of brick wall, the one in front of the parking lot, down the street from the post office; it will always be cold and we will always complain; but we are also always glad we went.

Finally, as I go off to get some work done, I leave you with a gallery of pictures of my Christmas tree!  Because it’s so sparkly and pretty I couldn’t capture it as accurately as I wanted — just trust me when I say that the tree is beautiful, the lights are warm, and that, every time I look at it, I get all happy inside.  It’s the holidays, what can I say!  And I wish you were here to experience them with us!  :)