This week, I accomplished:
I accomplished closing an amazing show that had many ups and downs (good ups and downs), and have come back from break relatively rested and ready to finish some other projects that have fallen to the wayside. I also accomplished taking a very long walk to clear my head. As you can see, I'm trying to go for the small things here, but I'm ready to move forward in a positive light.
The sources I consulted this week were:
Me, myself, and I, and that Nellie Cornish in my head who seems to enjoy conversing with me on a Puget Sound beach. Yes, thats where I have my Nellie conversations.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
Pulling together some foundation I feel good about to move on to work shopping my senior project.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
Feeling lost, second guessing myself, doubting my work.
What steps can I take to move forward?
Baby steps. Pushing forward. Doing the best I can in the moment I am in.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
It would be great to see where people are, and what to expect for final presentations.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
November 9, 2010 Seminar Update
So I haven't checked in in awhile, but this is the skinny of it. I'm writing. And I set my deadlines for work shopping the script with Sarah. And here is an image Sarah gave me to think about...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Seminar Prep 10/26
This week, I accomplished:
I have gained a director, a makeup artist, two potential lighting designers, a costumer, a crew member, and started my Nellie family tree.
The sources I consulted this week were:
The Autobiography of Nellie C. Cornish.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
Finish Nellie family tree. Fill the holes between the academic time line of her life, and of her personal life as well. Make DEADLINES for writing.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
Time. And over thinking.
What steps can I take to move forward?
Simply write for an hour each day. Don't judge as it comes out.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I would like a day to work, which is what we are going to do I believe.
I have gained a director, a makeup artist, two potential lighting designers, a costumer, a crew member, and started my Nellie family tree.
The sources I consulted this week were:
The Autobiography of Nellie C. Cornish.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
Finish Nellie family tree. Fill the holes between the academic time line of her life, and of her personal life as well. Make DEADLINES for writing.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
Time. And over thinking.
What steps can I take to move forward?
Simply write for an hour each day. Don't judge as it comes out.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I would like a day to work, which is what we are going to do I believe.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
10/12 Specifically Specific Prep Sheet
This week, I accomplished:
I accomplished getting my space for the performance, and my dates. Room 313 at Kerry, running April 8th-18th. I gained a sophomore fan who heard about my solo show, found me, and asked me if she could help in any way on the project. I think I may use her for crew. :) I gained a couple new perspectives...they are still settling in. I think I got back to something I had forgotten about Nellie.
The sources I consulted this week were:
The space. I'm a frequent visitor to room 313. Usually at night because it's the only time I have, and it's an interesting time to be there. Then a security guard peeks his head in wondering why I'm just on my lap top and not playing the piano.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
Okay. Specifics. I want to organize the letter section of my casebook. I then want to write a section of the play using letters and writing in another characters voice beside my own. I want to tackle a Nellie monologue. I want to get back to the facts and play with making them active, possibly a montage of Nellie past moments, like her frontier upbringing. Also, Nellie specific timeline: Need to get going!
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
Time. Always time. Have to be off book for Quilters, Act 1. Then there is new music to learn. And keeping up with memorizing new monologues...and scenes...oy. And fatigue.
What steps can I take to move forward?
Making a timeline of the time I have left in class, compared to how much time I have left before the show. Organizing first, then writing, then organizing a little more, then writing. I could make an outline of my "woule be" show, even if I don't stick to it, so I can portion out the sections I'm writing.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I want to discuss...just where everyone else is. I feel in a different place than everyone, but not at the same time. It's weird. I want to see the shape people's final presentation might be.
I accomplished getting my space for the performance, and my dates. Room 313 at Kerry, running April 8th-18th. I gained a sophomore fan who heard about my solo show, found me, and asked me if she could help in any way on the project. I think I may use her for crew. :) I gained a couple new perspectives...they are still settling in. I think I got back to something I had forgotten about Nellie.
The sources I consulted this week were:
The space. I'm a frequent visitor to room 313. Usually at night because it's the only time I have, and it's an interesting time to be there. Then a security guard peeks his head in wondering why I'm just on my lap top and not playing the piano.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
Okay. Specifics. I want to organize the letter section of my casebook. I then want to write a section of the play using letters and writing in another characters voice beside my own. I want to tackle a Nellie monologue. I want to get back to the facts and play with making them active, possibly a montage of Nellie past moments, like her frontier upbringing. Also, Nellie specific timeline: Need to get going!
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
Time. Always time. Have to be off book for Quilters, Act 1. Then there is new music to learn. And keeping up with memorizing new monologues...and scenes...oy. And fatigue.
What steps can I take to move forward?
Making a timeline of the time I have left in class, compared to how much time I have left before the show. Organizing first, then writing, then organizing a little more, then writing. I could make an outline of my "woule be" show, even if I don't stick to it, so I can portion out the sections I'm writing.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I want to discuss...just where everyone else is. I feel in a different place than everyone, but not at the same time. It's weird. I want to see the shape people's final presentation might be.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Nellie Opens Yet Another Door: To Dance!
So my friend Katherine, who is a wonderful choreographer, asked me if she could choreograph a dance on Nellie Cornish for her choreography class, and I would be her dancer! How fun is that! I get to perform it for her class this Thursday. So this is what I sent her for inspiration:
“It’s quite all right to sit around dreaming. That’s another thing. But I just don’t want to see you sitting around wasting time just daydreaming.” – Nellie Cornish
“I was always dissatisfied with formal education as I knew it. My chief concern was in cultivating the whole man, the whole woman. It has always been my belief that the musician should know something about the dance, art, the theater and literature. The dancer should know something about the other methods of artistic expression, and so on. Our philosophy of education was based in the principle that we were not producing musicians, dancers, artists and actors but human beings.” – Nellie Cornish
“Well, at least I am not destroyed and at least we were not disgraced and it was very distinguished.” – Nellie Cornish speaking to Martha Graham after one of her solo performances given in association with Cornish.
“She was a small, round, plump little lady with the dynamism of a rocket, and we were all terrified of her, terrified of her tongue, and, in a way, terrified of her dream.” – Martha Graham
“Mother always insisted upon an integration of the arts – the basic tenet upon which Cornish was founded. But it was never her aim to develop artists or dancers or writers. She wanted to see more well-rounded personalities – individual personalities – in the world. People who could think and act with intelligence.” – Elena Miramova
“My mother continually preached that we should not be imitators. She was constantly opening doors for others – doors into new ideas. We, too, must open doors for others, and invite them, not push them, through.” – Elena Miramova
“She ran the school on love. When a student got in trouble, she’d call her in and always took the teacher’s side. When I got to know her better, I found out that she then called the teacher in and took the student’s side.” – Theodosia Young
“She bamboozled everyone. How else could you entice some of the greatest artists of the day into taking the wagon train to the last frontier to teach a bunch of heathens? She was an incredible bamboozler. And she delivered. She did it in style, too. – Dave Crockett (Senior Vice President of KOMO television and radio, and Cornish Alumni, from article written in the 1970’s.)
“It may be true that she was extravagant for the school, but she was not for herself. The students loved what was provided by Aunt Nellie – endless work stimulated and interwoven with color and glamour, guided by her perception and devotion, and with luck, and money from the new lumber and shipbuilding fortunes, playing their part as well.” – Ellen Van Volkenberg Browne
“She lives on in everyone who knew her, who came near her. She herself would say: the road lies ever onward.” – Ellen Van Volkenburg Browne
“Many a student went to her for assistance, such as food, the unpaid rent of a room, encouragement upon the path – a mother-tender to all such things she was, but also a mother who knew how to give a spiritual slap when needed. The old saying that it is always darkest near the lighthouse was never more true.” – Mark Tobey
“She placed her values in the spiritual in man, and on this plane nothing is ever lost, for it exists beyond time and space.” – Mark Tobey
“A Miss, as she never married, but never an old-miss in that as years advanced no withheld energies clogged her full and outgoing expression of life.” – Mark Tobey
What I wrote Kat: I think what strikes me is her love for all things beautiful, but she herself was always seen as plain. She loved birds, and mountain ranges, and open sky. Her mind seemed of the air, but her body was of the earth, and her will was like a water that cut through canyons. I'm telling you this poetically to give you movement ideas, so forgive me if I'm cheesy, and I know you like elements. Her colors were dark green, and purple. She had a force within that moved mountains and sparkled through her eyes. She had stubby hands that couldn't reach all of the piano keys, but as Martha Graham says, she had "the dynamism of a rocket". She was a pot of contradictions in all areas. Also, I don't know if you need music, but she was influenced by piano and loved bells and gongs and percussive instruments.
“It’s quite all right to sit around dreaming. That’s another thing. But I just don’t want to see you sitting around wasting time just daydreaming.” – Nellie Cornish
“I was always dissatisfied with formal education as I knew it. My chief concern was in cultivating the whole man, the whole woman. It has always been my belief that the musician should know something about the dance, art, the theater and literature. The dancer should know something about the other methods of artistic expression, and so on. Our philosophy of education was based in the principle that we were not producing musicians, dancers, artists and actors but human beings.” – Nellie Cornish
“Well, at least I am not destroyed and at least we were not disgraced and it was very distinguished.” – Nellie Cornish speaking to Martha Graham after one of her solo performances given in association with Cornish.
“She was a small, round, plump little lady with the dynamism of a rocket, and we were all terrified of her, terrified of her tongue, and, in a way, terrified of her dream.” – Martha Graham
“Mother always insisted upon an integration of the arts – the basic tenet upon which Cornish was founded. But it was never her aim to develop artists or dancers or writers. She wanted to see more well-rounded personalities – individual personalities – in the world. People who could think and act with intelligence.” – Elena Miramova
“My mother continually preached that we should not be imitators. She was constantly opening doors for others – doors into new ideas. We, too, must open doors for others, and invite them, not push them, through.” – Elena Miramova
“She ran the school on love. When a student got in trouble, she’d call her in and always took the teacher’s side. When I got to know her better, I found out that she then called the teacher in and took the student’s side.” – Theodosia Young
“She bamboozled everyone. How else could you entice some of the greatest artists of the day into taking the wagon train to the last frontier to teach a bunch of heathens? She was an incredible bamboozler. And she delivered. She did it in style, too. – Dave Crockett (Senior Vice President of KOMO television and radio, and Cornish Alumni, from article written in the 1970’s.)
“It may be true that she was extravagant for the school, but she was not for herself. The students loved what was provided by Aunt Nellie – endless work stimulated and interwoven with color and glamour, guided by her perception and devotion, and with luck, and money from the new lumber and shipbuilding fortunes, playing their part as well.” – Ellen Van Volkenberg Browne
“She lives on in everyone who knew her, who came near her. She herself would say: the road lies ever onward.” – Ellen Van Volkenburg Browne
“Many a student went to her for assistance, such as food, the unpaid rent of a room, encouragement upon the path – a mother-tender to all such things she was, but also a mother who knew how to give a spiritual slap when needed. The old saying that it is always darkest near the lighthouse was never more true.” – Mark Tobey
“She placed her values in the spiritual in man, and on this plane nothing is ever lost, for it exists beyond time and space.” – Mark Tobey
“A Miss, as she never married, but never an old-miss in that as years advanced no withheld energies clogged her full and outgoing expression of life.” – Mark Tobey
What I wrote Kat: I think what strikes me is her love for all things beautiful, but she herself was always seen as plain. She loved birds, and mountain ranges, and open sky. Her mind seemed of the air, but her body was of the earth, and her will was like a water that cut through canyons. I'm telling you this poetically to give you movement ideas, so forgive me if I'm cheesy, and I know you like elements. Her colors were dark green, and purple. She had a force within that moved mountains and sparkled through her eyes. She had stubby hands that couldn't reach all of the piano keys, but as Martha Graham says, she had "the dynamism of a rocket". She was a pot of contradictions in all areas. Also, I don't know if you need music, but she was influenced by piano and loved bells and gongs and percussive instruments.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Confronting the Nellie
I realized one never knows where one will end up. Things can change so completely the next moment that I can only hope for a certain way for my life to turn out…
Live in the moment…live in the moment….cease the day…
Nellie put her faith in people. In man, that he would carry out his work to the fullest, that the creation would exceed the creator…
Her creation exceeded her in some ways.
What happens if one strives for the best? For what can be actually possible? Or overly impossible? Aim for the impossible?
Nellie use to say that the path leaves ever onward. So I walk onward. So many people tell me I'm stronger than I give myself credit for.
I heard that If you never do art that makes you feel uncomfortable, than you’re never really searching your potential.
Well this is making me uncomfortable. This whole process. It's wonderful and scary and stretching and soul searching. She has helped me to find myself, to not fear the future…but I'm so unsure of what the future holds…or what form it may even take.
I don't know what kind of person I would be in a world without Nellie.
These past four years have been some of the most defining years of my life, and she has been with me through all of it. She has not always been an approving role model. At times I would think, if Nellie were alive she would probably not even waste her time on me. What kind of artist am I to her if I am constantly putting down my own work? What would she say to me? I have a feeling she would give me a couple good spiritual slaps. People have described her as being terrifying. Sometimes I'm terrified of where her memory might take me. I'm afraid of confronting the Nellie Cornish...but its going to happen. I'm going to start writing in her voice sooner or later.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
10/5 Seminar Prep
This week, I accomplished:
I found out what the Bok Singing towers were. I found an image on Nellie's memorial card from her funeral, and there was a picture of the Bok Singing towers in Florida. I wonder why it had this tower on it, and when I looked it up I understood why. The tower houses a carillon, which is a type of outdoor piano that plays bells. It's amazing. Nellie was a musician so it fits. I also had a meeting with John Wilson and talked about casebooks, as well as other issues with my project. I met with Molly Scott and we have decided that most of my work in the archives will focus on making a Nellie Cornish casebook. I also started the first draft of my script for my solo show.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
I want to have worked a lot of the factual information I have into the script and nit it in with the things that are from my experience. I also want to have started a classier version of my casebook than my big honking unorganized folder. Another goal is to get the space for my project situated out.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
Time. I'm tired from having rehearsal every night. And school. And feeling like I'm not very organized.
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can better manage my time, I can also write my script in bits and pieces, I don't have to tackle the entire thing, and it can be many different styles. I don't have to stick to one yet.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I found out what the Bok Singing towers were. I found an image on Nellie's memorial card from her funeral, and there was a picture of the Bok Singing towers in Florida. I wonder why it had this tower on it, and when I looked it up I understood why. The tower houses a carillon, which is a type of outdoor piano that plays bells. It's amazing. Nellie was a musician so it fits. I also had a meeting with John Wilson and talked about casebooks, as well as other issues with my project. I met with Molly Scott and we have decided that most of my work in the archives will focus on making a Nellie Cornish casebook. I also started the first draft of my script for my solo show.
The sources I consulted this week were:
John Wilson, Molly Scott, and the letters from the archives.
John Wilson, Molly Scott, and the letters from the archives.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
I want to have worked a lot of the factual information I have into the script and nit it in with the things that are from my experience. I also want to have started a classier version of my casebook than my big honking unorganized folder. Another goal is to get the space for my project situated out.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
Time. I'm tired from having rehearsal every night. And school. And feeling like I'm not very organized.
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can better manage my time, I can also write my script in bits and pieces, I don't have to tackle the entire thing, and it can be many different styles. I don't have to stick to one yet.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I want to possibly do a reading of some of my script.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
9/28 Seminar Prep
This week, I accomplished:
I didn't really feel like I accomplished much this week as far as my own research is involved. I wrote Marya Sea Kaminski to see if she had any ideas about getting over solo performance writers block. I have a meeting with John Wilson this Thursday to talk about casebooks and such. I've talked to three potential directors for the piece. I went to Kerry hall and wrote for a little bit...came up with some potential ideas for the container of the script.
The sources I consulted this week were:
I didn't really feel like I accomplished much this week as far as my own research is involved. I wrote Marya Sea Kaminski to see if she had any ideas about getting over solo performance writers block. I have a meeting with John Wilson this Thursday to talk about casebooks and such. I've talked to three potential directors for the piece. I went to Kerry hall and wrote for a little bit...came up with some potential ideas for the container of the script.
The sources I consulted this week were:
People mostly. Marya Sea kaminski. And again Nellie's autobiography.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
Oh lordy. I want to have accomplished the start of my casebook and have half a draft of my script. I want to have at least run it by some of my potential directors to see if they are interested. They are Andy Crooks, Sarah Warren, and Chelsea Anderson...Terri MIGHT be able to direct, but recommends someone with more time. I also want to talk to the people at Kerry Hall to see if I can get space for the performance.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
BEING TIRED all the time...and rehearsal, and being too damn critical of what I write.
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can isolate things one at a time...also I need to create a schedule for myself two weeks ahead of time!
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can isolate things one at a time...also I need to create a schedule for myself two weeks ahead of time!
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
Maybe I'll read some of my writing, or the pieces of research that have sparked some of this writing. I may read a few letters. Also, could share the Nellie recording I have.
*NOTE: I'm sitting in the archives, and someone started playing the piano on the 7th floor, and it felt so RIGHT. That what's so different between Kerry and MCC. I felt at ease...like this is what was lacking. Then my friend Romeo walked by and he asked me about the Nellie Cave. I showed him around the office and he laughed and said I'm starting to look like her...which kind of shocked me, but I guess its not such a bad thing. Apparently I look like a hip young version of her, which is strange.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Preliminary Source List:
1. Books and such:
-The Autobiography of Nellie C. Cornish (have 2 copies of my own...)
-Dark Eyes written by Elena Miramova and Eugenie Leontovich (U.W. has a copy)
-The radio play written by theatre students that premiered all over the U.S. over radio (Must be SOMEWHERE in the U.W. archives)
(I need to get more creative with book lists, look for some information on pertinent artists involved with Nellie)
2. Research databases and news articles:
-well, I have the archives at my fingertips, and there are more news articles than I can name. I've decided to only look at news articles from below 1957, which is the year Nellie Cornish day was established
-I want to go back to the U.W. archives and look for more things specifically on Nellie and Miramova
3. Websites:
(more to be added later, search engine is finnicky)
4. Field research:
1. speaking with John Wilson about casebooks (trying to get a meeting)
2. bending others ears about solo performance (Marya, Terri, Keira, others?)
3. making a map of the people of Nellie's world, who they were, what they did
4. Figuring out where things use to be in Kerry all, making an old floor plan
5. Watching Kerry hall, just observing, being in, writing
6. doing geneaology work to find relatives of Nellie or Miramova
7. director? Maybe Andy Crooks...need to write some material first before I speak with him.
Waking Up
There is something in the story of Nellie that makes be stride forward. There is something in her story that is healing to me, and inspiring all at the same time.
I fall into bouts of depression quite easily. I shut myself off from my ambition, and I sleep a lot. This is a routine I go into, a kind of hibernation without a need. I slow my body down and I isolate myself from all of the work I've done to live a healthy, creative life, and I become something of an emotional hermit.
Quite simply Nellie got me out of bed today. Just the thought of her, and I shook off my own blocks and defenses and got myself up. I got dressed. I went and sat in the stairwell at Kerry, the old one to her living quarters, and I just was. I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall and I listened, as well as felt, the vibrations trilling through the air from three pianos on different floors making their way into the staircase, flooding the halls, cascading down the stairs with a river full of opposing harmonies. I love this place. The wooden stair rails. The creaky floor boards. The way the curved windows in the 3rd floor stairway are a little buckled from the weather, and don't really fit as perfectly into their panes as before. The leaves of the pines flutter back and forth in the wind outside this particular window. Gold light falls in, smearing a streak across the stairway wall.
How many times did Nellie stop and sigh out of this window as I did today? Did she ever stop and think on these stairs, as I do often? If people found me there, what would they think? I'm starting to get past that now...this wondering what people think. If I constantly harped on this...I would never get anywhere. I believe this is where my frustration lies.
From the beginning of the beginning of this project (there have been lots of beginnings to this project), I've constantly been asking what people think, what I should do. "How should I frame this story?" "Do I sound crazy?" "Do you think this is interesting enough?" HOW, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY...
I think I need to listen to myself for once. Take a gamble on myself. I'm not sure how many times I've really done that in my life. Taken a gamble. Especially on myself. Nellie was one to take gambles. She took them on other people all the time. Like Martha Graham. And herself. And the radio school. And building Kerry Hall. And starting an art school. I don't know where this woman got all of her energy and her "chutzpah" from, but to me it's a wonder.
I would have to say that Nellie is helping me fight this depression somehow...I will finish this project. I will listen to what my inner self has to say. I will graduate senior year knowing I've invested in something worthwhile, and that something is myself. I have something to give to the world, and her spirit reminds me of this, and that I am brave, and willing, and open, and tenacious, and alive.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Note to the Self:
-ask security or someone at Kerry Hall if I can get a FULL tour of the building. Get into the little nooks and crannies some people don't get to see.
-spend more time in the building (Kerry) itself. It's what inspired the first spark.
-research and contact someone at Kerry (Molly in the music office?) about requesting the space for use of the show.
-Walking up those stairs to her apartment is such an experience. I have a writing idea about involving those stairs in the process. What if my piece took place in ALL of Kerry Hall? Which rooms? Go back to her book and tag the places that pop out for you. Go there and write!!!
- whenever you get bogged down by information, go to her room and sit. It helps.
-there is something about the birds around the campus, and in the design of the place. What is the history of the building?
-BE CREATIVE WITH RESEARCH, its how you thrive
Quite a Hot Hot Hot Sheet
*NOTE TO CHRIS* I will revise this by Thursday because it needs revising, but I don't have internet at my house, and I really want to go home from Kerry Hall, so I'm not doing it tonight, but it will be done! :D
I plan on researching the life of Nellie Cornish, as well as her daughter Elena Miramova, Ellen Ramhurst, and perhaps Theodosia Young. I have letters from these women, and I find the events linked between them very interesting. There is something very intriguing about Nellie's life. It was very grand, but also touched with pangs of sadness and letdowns that I can very much relate to. There is something in her story, and I'm wanting to narrow down my research to her and just a few people so I can begin the task of writing.
Key Words and Phrases:
Pacific North West
Nellie Centennial Cornish
Pianist
Pioneer
Educator
Theatre
Art
Dance
Music
Elena Miramova
Ella Ramhurst
Merce Cunningham
Mark Tobey
Woman
Cornish College of the Arts
Money
Education
Institution
Americana
Questions:
-How am I going to frame my play?
-Should I narrow down the window of time I research Nellie's life?
-How did she exactly leave the school?
-I don't want this project to be exactly about the school's history, I want it to be about Nellie, so how do I do this?
-How do I write when something is period?
-Do I really want to base things off of the letters I found in the U.W. archives that would limit the people in the play?
-How do I feel about all of the work that needs to be done on this project?
-Where am I stuck? Is there another lens to look through here?
-What did Nellie's room and apartment look like?
-What did she do later on after Cornish?
Action plan:
-By September 30 I want to have touched base with John Wilson about a case book.
-I need to go over Nellie's autobiography and make specific notes for myself
-I need to isolate events in her life I want to write about
-I need to do another debriefing with myself about where I am emotionally with this project
-I need to ask the good people at Kerry hall if I can possibly have Nellie's room to do my project in
-I need to think of creative ways to make the world of Miss Cornish, my won personal timelines
By October 15th
9/21 Seminar Prep
This week, I accomplished:
I met with Terri Weagant and spoke to her about my ideas on the project. She is going to be a collaborator during the artistic process. I also met with Molly Scott who is in charge of the archives. She told me that if I wanted to just do Nellie research for the remainder of my time in the archives, that this would be fine.
The sources I consulted this week were:
I consulted the Autobiography of Miss Aunt Nellie and reread some information that I wasn't so clear on.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
I want to have met with John Wilson about the steps in making a casebook, and start contacting the family of the people I will be using in my play. I also want to get into the habit of writing as research.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
I met with Terri Weagant and spoke to her about my ideas on the project. She is going to be a collaborator during the artistic process. I also met with Molly Scott who is in charge of the archives. She told me that if I wanted to just do Nellie research for the remainder of my time in the archives, that this would be fine.
The sources I consulted this week were:
I consulted the Autobiography of Miss Aunt Nellie and reread some information that I wasn't so clear on.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
I want to have met with John Wilson about the steps in making a casebook, and start contacting the family of the people I will be using in my play. I also want to get into the habit of writing as research.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
I don't know how to really go forth on my search for the relatives of the people possibly in my play. I'm also very tired and I need to make some better schedules for myself.
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can make some steps by creating a family tree or a who is who chart among the people in my Nellie world. I can also talk to my boss in the cafeteria and decide if it's worth it to work this senior year, or if I'll have much more peace with having a little less money but more peace of mind.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I want to know how people are keeping track of their research, and how they are referencing between life experience and paper documents...and what is fueling people still about their topics. Plus time management.
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can make some steps by creating a family tree or a who is who chart among the people in my Nellie world. I can also talk to my boss in the cafeteria and decide if it's worth it to work this senior year, or if I'll have much more peace with having a little less money but more peace of mind.
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I want to know how people are keeping track of their research, and how they are referencing between life experience and paper documents...and what is fueling people still about their topics. Plus time management.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Inquiry and 9/14 Seminar Preparation Sheet:
Inquiry:
I'm feeling a little flat on this project, only because I've sat through my senior thesis meeting, and I wondered to myself if I wanted to funnel all of my energy and resources into this Nellie Cornish project that would result in a performance for my senior thesis. I mean it makes sense to, and I've been working towards it for quite sometime. I just don't know how it would look. How this class would be used. If I use this semester to culminate my research on Nellie into a casebook, is this enough for the purpose of the class? I would think so. I've never really gotten the chance to do research like this before, and I think it would be a valuable process to go through in making my own work. I believe I would like to do something like Chris is doing, and put together the research needed do produce a draft of a one woman play, and then workshop it for my senior thesis. So yes, as of now, I'm thinking a casebook is the way to go.
This week, I accomplished:
I accomplished making a blog for my project, as well as getting back in contact with the archives. I also scheduled a meeting with Molly Scott to talk about the archives, and what my goals specifically will be for the archives as an archivist. I feel that getting this settled will help me plan how I will be using my this time this semester, and what my duties are to this project, and what they are as a work study student. I feel that as of now, a lot of my information is tied up in one spot, and that I'm blurring the lines between work and school with this project.
The sources I consulted this week were:
The sources I consulted this week were things I had on my computer that I had saved in a Nellie file, that I've been meaning to transfer to this blog to have all of my data in one place. I have bits of documents and pictures online that I've been meaning to isolate to this blog. One is a proclamation from the mayor of Seattle establishing Nelly Cornish day in 1957. Others are some posters I made for Nellie Cornish Day. I also looked over my past notes. I don't know if this is seen as progress, but I contacted a potential director for my senior thesis.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
I want to know if I am going to be using this class as a time to explore making a casebook on things I want to include in my one woman show about Nellie Cornish, and if this would be enough for this semester.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
I have had limited hours to work in the archives because of my work schedule at school, and from working in the cafeteria. I've found that I may have to cut my hours back in the cafe to stay sane so that I can spend more time on school work. I need to also figure out where I stand on the work I've been doing in the archives, I just feel very tangled in my thoughts of what I want to do and how this process is going to look if this becomes my senior thesis.
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can move forward by planning out a schedule of when I'm WORKING in the archives, and when I'm researching in the archives. I can also move forward by voicing to my boss that I would like to scale back my hours in the cafe. I can look at all of the documents I copied from the U.W. archives, and I can put them into more of an order. Where does most of my research move towards?
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I want to discuss process and possibly look at the bigger picture of this being an all year thing. I think I have to break it down:
-I have my job in the archives, I have used this to collect my own information.
-I have directed studies, I can use this to pull the information together and explore a dramaturgical process
-I have my writing class to workshop and write a solo piece
-I have my senior thesis, which is going into rehearsal for it, and work shopping it, and getting it into performance
Sooooo...I'm wondering how the time line of this would workout. I want to help myself out as much as possible by making this a joint project between classes...or is this overkill? I think I just want opinions from other people about the shape of this project.
I'm feeling a little flat on this project, only because I've sat through my senior thesis meeting, and I wondered to myself if I wanted to funnel all of my energy and resources into this Nellie Cornish project that would result in a performance for my senior thesis. I mean it makes sense to, and I've been working towards it for quite sometime. I just don't know how it would look. How this class would be used. If I use this semester to culminate my research on Nellie into a casebook, is this enough for the purpose of the class? I would think so. I've never really gotten the chance to do research like this before, and I think it would be a valuable process to go through in making my own work. I believe I would like to do something like Chris is doing, and put together the research needed do produce a draft of a one woman play, and then workshop it for my senior thesis. So yes, as of now, I'm thinking a casebook is the way to go.
This week, I accomplished:
I accomplished making a blog for my project, as well as getting back in contact with the archives. I also scheduled a meeting with Molly Scott to talk about the archives, and what my goals specifically will be for the archives as an archivist. I feel that getting this settled will help me plan how I will be using my this time this semester, and what my duties are to this project, and what they are as a work study student. I feel that as of now, a lot of my information is tied up in one spot, and that I'm blurring the lines between work and school with this project.
The sources I consulted this week were:
The sources I consulted this week were things I had on my computer that I had saved in a Nellie file, that I've been meaning to transfer to this blog to have all of my data in one place. I have bits of documents and pictures online that I've been meaning to isolate to this blog. One is a proclamation from the mayor of Seattle establishing Nelly Cornish day in 1957. Others are some posters I made for Nellie Cornish Day. I also looked over my past notes. I don't know if this is seen as progress, but I contacted a potential director for my senior thesis.
By next week, I want to have accomplished:
I want to know if I am going to be using this class as a time to explore making a casebook on things I want to include in my one woman show about Nellie Cornish, and if this would be enough for this semester.
What obstacles stand in the way of your progress?
I have had limited hours to work in the archives because of my work schedule at school, and from working in the cafeteria. I've found that I may have to cut my hours back in the cafe to stay sane so that I can spend more time on school work. I need to also figure out where I stand on the work I've been doing in the archives, I just feel very tangled in my thoughts of what I want to do and how this process is going to look if this becomes my senior thesis.
What steps can I take to move forward?
I can move forward by planning out a schedule of when I'm WORKING in the archives, and when I'm researching in the archives. I can also move forward by voicing to my boss that I would like to scale back my hours in the cafe. I can look at all of the documents I copied from the U.W. archives, and I can put them into more of an order. Where does most of my research move towards?
In this week's seminar, I want to discuss:
I want to discuss process and possibly look at the bigger picture of this being an all year thing. I think I have to break it down:
-I have my job in the archives, I have used this to collect my own information.
-I have directed studies, I can use this to pull the information together and explore a dramaturgical process
-I have my writing class to workshop and write a solo piece
-I have my senior thesis, which is going into rehearsal for it, and work shopping it, and getting it into performance
Sooooo...I'm wondering how the time line of this would workout. I want to help myself out as much as possible by making this a joint project between classes...or is this overkill? I think I just want opinions from other people about the shape of this project.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The creation of Nellie Chronicles and its use:
Welcome to the Nellie Chronicles! What will this blog be used for? Well mainly for a reflection of my journey through researching the life of Nellie, and the history of Cornish College of the Arts, along with other interesting topics that pop up while walking the Nellie path. I'm also going to use this blog to keep track of certain research I encounter, to help put things into order, and for my directed studies project that will hopefully have something to do with Miss Aunt Nellie. So as you can see I'm all over the place. I hope to become more organized in my pursuit of this topic, and sometimes my posts will be rather personal, or they will be very factual, or a mix of both. Whatever they are, you are more than welcome to read and follow. A little background into my (Obsession? Fascination? Interest? You decide.) of Nellie C. Cornish. First of all, her full name is Nellie Centennial Cornish, and she actually kept her middle name a secret for most of her life. She would just sign Nellie C. Cornish. She liked having some mystery linked to her name. She was called Miss Aunt Nellie by practically everyone, especially her students. When I write, I'll just call her Nellie. So. I first became interested in Nellie when I walked into the Kerry building on my first trip to Seattle. I flew up to help a friend already attending the school look for apartments, and the Kerry building was the first part of the campus I encountered. I was very taken with the building and its architecture, there was just something about it's energy that made me question, "Who built this school? I must know." And after that, I began to pick up whatever tidbits I could about the school, it's creator, and it's unique history.
I then came back to Seattle as a freshmen in the theatre department. It was the only school I applied to. I just seemed to know that it was the place for me, or I hoped it was, and I'm entering my senior year now, so I guess I would have to say I was right. It's been an interesting journey, and I feel like Nellie has been with me through it all. She became a more prevalent topic in my life when I took my first HS class with Christine Sumption. I did a project where I researched some of Cornish's history, and it had something to do with Nellie's vision she founded the school on, and how the school was today and if it has changed much. That is a whole other subject I'll probably go into later. But I interviewed the president, Sergei Tschernisch, who is leaving the school at the end of this year, and I read Nellie's autobiography. I feel that this was when I really got hooked. I just felt like I knew her so well. Her voice was so fresh that I felt like I was discussing her life with her over coffee. She sounded eerily modern, in her views on education, the arts, and life. I'll stand by that she was a woman greatly ahead of her time, and very in tune with her gut instincts. It's like she had a sixth sense about the art world that gave the school an edge, and I believe her early work is why it is still around today.
So I became a closet Nellie fan (Well, not to my friends. I spouted random knowledge about her life all the time, which seemed at least to be amusing and quirky, though in the fourth year of my interest, I'm learning to tone it down and funnel my knowledge into other things, like this blog for example.) I did another report about her my junior year, which I realized was an excuse to do yet more research about her life, and I stumbled into a work study job on the 7th floor that involves me working in the Cornish archives. Now I have a posse of librarians helping me with my research, and lots of wonderful people on the 7th floor who indulge me in my Nellie rants like, "Hey guys! Look what I found today!", and I bring out a huge metal candelabra looking thing that some people think is a Russian samovar. If you are wondering what a samovar is, its a beast of a teapot. We concluded it to be an oil lamp. Was it Nellie's? No one knows, but for now I pretend it was. There are all kinds of random objects in the archives, along with letters, school documents, random proclamations, and articles and news clippings. And more. And I get to look through all of it. It's kind of like looking through your great grandma's attic for a job, but I'll leave archival explanation for another day.
So where am I with Nellie right now? I spent most of my summer in the Cornish archives, and around August I needed a break. I put Nellie on the back shelf, or burner as you would say, and now I'm opening the door again with the beginning of my senior year. I mean, she never really completely leaves my thoughts, I often think to myself "What would Nellie do?" I guess I'm talking more about application. What I'm going to do with all of this knowledge and the experiences I've had with researching her life. I may write a solo performance show, possibly a script, or do a public project where I try to bring her and the school's history to the students of Cornish. Not many know how rich and awesome our history is. Knowing Nellie, her spirit and her memory, has changed me as a person. I can't say that I know who the real Nellie is, but she has become a muse for me in some way, and I feel that I am definitely on some kind of journey through all of this.
The funny thing is, I've never had an interest that has spurred me to such action before. You think I'd choose someone like Abe Lincoln, or the guy (Or lady...) that invented Nutella (Thank you wherever you are!), but I didn't. I found Nellie Centennial Cornish. I guess it's not so out of left field because she is the founder of my college, but still, it is a bit random. Maybe it's because I like researching the history that I'm a part of, that I'm close to. I love thinking that we are all part of history, right now, as we take every breath. What people remember years from now we only have so much control over, but I'm interested in what we as individuals choose to remember. It says something about who we are...so I guess through this study, I'm finding out about what kind of person I am, what I choose to remember.
Nellie in Photos
Here are some pictures that I came across in the archives that I took to Bridget Nowlin in the library, and she so wonderfully agreed to photograph them for a project I did this summer. I needed them for posters revamping Nellie Cornish Day, which apparently was proclaimed in 1957 by Seattle Mayor Clinton. Nellie Cornish Day falls on Nellie's birthday, July 9, 1876.
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