Viva La Viv

Last week’s break was exactly what I needed. I had been feeling extremely anxious and overwhelmed leading up to it. There were so many things going on with my classes and the “ONU Holiday Spectacular” that I felt I couldn't catch a break. Thankfully a week off gave me some much-needed rest and recovery.  My grandpa passed away last month so we decided to visit my grandma in Kansas for Thanksgiving. Since they live so far away we don’t see this side of my family very often. My grandma seemed sad but I think having people in the house really helped her. She also has two cats to keep her company. Their names are Shadow and Skittlefritz. We spent two days relaxing with her before heading over to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving. My grandma is in a phase where she is giving away all her jewelry so all of us cousins got a nice surprise when we arrived. It had been so long since I had seen them that I almost couldn't recognize a few of them. I’m not great at talking to new people ...

This week's chapter got me thinking about the many negatives of YouTube that have been coming to light recently. Many controversies surround families that exploit their children on YouTube for views. These families film every aspect of their lives and post it as a family vlog. This may seem harmless but some families take it to the next level. They film their children in moments of vulnerability that should have been dealt with off-camera. Every bad day being posted for the world to see can alter a child's formative years.  Additionally, it can be dangerous for these children to have so much information about them on the internet. The families often post full names, school information, ages and heights. It's a horrible thought but some people would take this information and use it to take advantage of them.  Occasionally, the fame gets to the heads of the parents and causes them to make decisions for the betterment of their channel rather than the betterment of their family...

Last weekend I left ONU for the first time since the start of the semester. My cousin was getting married and my family and I were all invited. The bride and groom have been together for five years and are very happy together. The bride has even been attending our family ski trips for the past three years. She is a great addition to our family and a good friend. Her family is Serbian so this wedding was an interesting mix of two cultures.  I was unable to attend the ceremony because I was live-tweeting the homecoming parade but I heard about it from my mom. The day started at 10 a.m. at the bride's house where the entire wedding party participated in traditional Serbian rituals. Then the group made the long commute to the Serbian church. My mom says the ceremony was beautiful. The bride wore a lovely dress and all of the bridesmaids were in emerald green. There were quite a few different traditions that took place in the Serbian wedding ceremony so it was fun to hear all about them...

I am a sophomore musical theatre major at ONU and sometimes it can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, only some of my classes are academically challenging. On the other hand, my major has an extremely rigorous time commitment. From the first day of school, I've been in rehearsals almost every night. I've been learning new songs and memorizing lines for a show that plans to go up with less than two weeks of rehearsal. This particular show is exciting because it is different from your typical ONU production. It's what is called a director's lab. A director's lab is a show that is entirely put on by a student director. In this case, our show was also written and choreographed by that same student. Due to this, it is a very different experience and a larger time commitment than I am used to. Another thing we've jumped right into is auditions. This week is our second week of classes and our big audition week. “The ONU Holiday Spectacular” is the Christmas sh...