Macbeth

Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare and tells the story of a man who receives a prophecy from a set of witches that he would one day become the king of Scotland. He is then pressured by his wife to kill King Duncan in order to cease the throne.

I decide to attend the Saturday showing at 2pm of UCSB’s production. I had high hopes for the Naked Shakes and their version of Macbeth and was extremely disappointed. When I first heard that the cast would not be using props I was very interested in seeing what elements they would bring to the stage to compensate for the lack of aesthetic appeal. The only part of the play I enjoyed was the opening scene with almost the entire cast playing the part of the witches after that the play just went down hill. Aside from the opening scene of the play there were a few aspects I enjoyed such as how they composed King Duncan’s throne entirely out of people. The constant drumming in the background also set a humdrum and dark mood which was perfect for the essence of the play.

            I was very confused by the casting and failed to understand why Macbeth and the King were so old mainly because I thought it would be a strictly student cast play. I found it ironic that the king was black because in the play he died first. As the saying goes in any movie the black guy always dies first.

EAP

            On Tuesday, Professor Irwin Appel, head of the performing arts department, came to speak to us. He said that his whole life he always knew he wanted to act or play guitar. He attended both Princeton and Julliard, which I found to be extremely impressive. I personally was disappointed in his presentation because of the fact that he was an actor and therefore should have had a stronger stage presence. He surprisingly was the only one of all the presenters who remained completely stationary and seated during their presentation.

            Friday we took a field trip to the study abroad center, which was by far my favorite field trip because I am extremely interested in studying abroad. I ideally want to study in New Zealand but Australia would be really cool too. I am not sure yet if I want to go for an entire year or just a summer. I know for sure though I will not go for a single quarter because I feel that trying to arrange housing in Isla Vista for only 2 quarters would be too much of a challenge.

            I forgot to mention in my past blogs that I attended The Adventure Program seminar. In the meeting they spoke about really cool mobile camping trips that involves students from all the UCs. They go places like Colorado to white river raft and Yosemite to swim in hot springs. If I am unable to study abroad for some reason I will definitely make up for it by attending one of the Adventure Program camping trips.

The Dean who can Shred

On Tuesday Don Lubach Ph.D., the Associate Dean of Students came and spoke to us. He emphasized the unique resort vibe as being UCSBs ultimate attraction. He said the number one way we recruit top professors is by showing them pictures of our gorgeous campus, which I believe because it was the primary reason I personally chose Santa Barbara. Dean Lubach is responsible for all freshmen activities and teaches INT 20

            Through out his presentation Dean Lubach emphasized critical thinking of new ideas and analyzing the world. He supplied us with a long list of resources that can help us become better critical thinkers which included Davidson LIbrabry, CLAS, Arts & Literature, Multicultural Center, Kavili Institute, and Reddit. I feel that Dean Lubach was able to connect with the audience so well because of his authentic enthusiasm about the subject. I had the wonderful experience of watching the rocket launching with him and my classmates on the roof of lot 22. While patiently waiting for the rocket launch the Dean decided to shred on one of my peers skateboards. Making me officially think that I go to the coolest school ever when you can watch a rocket launch and skateboard with your dean,

The library visit was very useful because it showed us first hand how to properly navigate through the library’s database. If we had not gone I probably never would have been able to find search engines like Ebsco that link you to millions of online research texts.

Cite Cite Cite

I learned that plagiarism is “ Submitting material that in part or whole is not entirely one’s own work with out attributing those same portions to their correct source”, as defined by the second article. After reading the articles I was shocked to find out all the many aspects of plagiarism and found my self-guilty of multiple acts of plagiarism with out even realizing. I never knew that plagiarism is not just defied as copying sentences with out citing them but by the use of another person’s phrases as well. I also learned that paraphrasing with out citation is also considered plagiarism. I found it useful to know that it is better to turn in poor work then risk getting caught plagiarizing because one poor grade will harm you a lot less than being labeled for academic dishonesty. The most important thing I took out of the articles is that if you are accused of plagiarism and you are certain you did not do it you must be able to provide your professor with drafts and notes to prove it is your work. This was important to me because I am extremely paranoid about false plagiarism because I feel like now days so many ideas have been thought of that sometimes we may accidently have to same idea of someone else and not have actually plagiarized them. After having a discussion with my hall mate Cassie I realized that MLA portion of the article was outdated. 

Library -> Career

Last Tuesday, Jane Faulkner the Davidson librarian was the class guest speaker. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she did not fit the standard boring librarian stereotype. She discussed how her father influenced her passion for literature by constantly surrounding her with books; she claimed that she practically grew up in the library. Jane spoke about her personal life by telling us all about how she met her husband in France. She informed us about Davidson Library's many resources and taught us about how to use and access the secret web. She also addressed the problem of plagiarism and the importance of citing your sources. I was surprised to find out how many part-time jobs the library offers.

            I enjoyed our visit to career counseling. I felt more confident about finding a job and internship after hearing about all the connections and resources UCSB has. I am now highly considering doing a summer internship in Australia instead of studying abroad, because I feel that working in a foreign country would cause me to become more engulfed into the culture and I would not have the stress of homework and could better enjoy my free time. I was excited to hear about the on campus job fair in September, because I am in desperate need of an on campus job.

            I enjoyed discussing our career paths on Friday and was very interested by Chris’s goal to take over an African county and turn it into a dominant world power. 

Resources

Being resourceful means using what you have available around you for maximum gain and knowing where and when to go for resources. Popular resources include peers, professors, the Internet, and the library.

         I find that the easiest way to meet people is by placing yourself in social situations. In college common social situations are parties, sports, sporting events, the dining commons, and clubs. I personally made majority of my college friends from hanging out in my dorms lounge.

When I attended the careers majors and minors fair today I was disappointed to find that there was no sociology major booth. So I talked to the environmental studies, anthropology and communications major representatives. The booth I took the most interest in was study abroad I took a flyer for New Zealand, Australia, and Spain. I was pleased to find out that I have the option to take courses taught in English if I studied in Spain. I was disappointed to find out that Australia and New Zealand are two of the most expensive destination points because that region is currently my top destination choice.

            I found the CLAS (campus learning assistance service) section of the student resources building most useful, which is located on the third floor. Today I took advantage of my resources by attending a CLAS writing workshop I plan on going back to the student resources building in the future to have someone edit my essays.