(no subject)
Dec. 31st, 2009 03:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roguewordsit's 4 am and i can't sleep because i have something to say.
i am not a leader. i am not the lead.
i am the assistant. and i own that shit.
***
it took me 7 years start to finish to graduate from college with a degree in theatre. concentration costume design.
but that's not what i learned.
i took all the required classes, passed most of them with a b or better (only two with a d.) i participated in every show i could while i was enrolled. and even worked on one while i wasn't enrolled in classes, just to show my professors that i had the drive.
i have a half assed portfolio because i was working and going to school for the first time ever while i was taking the class where we where shown how to do things like put a portfolio together, how to write a theatre resume, and other basic stuff that you really need to know before you run off to ny or la to be an actor, or stage manager or costume designer. (i've been thinking about it for a while, and i will be going back through it and redoing it.)
i never got into alpha psi as much as i wanted to. i probably had enough credits to do it, but by the time i did, i was so involved in just trying to graduate that i simply forgot to get my resume in on time. i wanted to be a part of that though, i really did. i wanted a shirt with greek letters on it that i earned, not just paid my way into. (was not a greek by any means.) i went to all the alpha psi work days, especially the ones where John was in charge. cleaning out the extra storage, arranging the storage up in Reynolds. i was there.
i did miss out on one part of the college experience that should have kept me from graduating -- i didn't have a senior project. i never had a show that was mine. but by the time i should have been doing one, i was living in south carolina and taking classes at montevallo during the summer. but in a way it's a good thing.
i am not a leader. and that's what would have been required of me. and i think John knew that.
i love working with someone, being an assistant, and making sure that everything gets done that needs to get done so that they can do what they need to do.
John always had a list of things that needed to be done for each show. usually divided out by people. and i loved being able to go into the costume shop when John wasn't there, knowing what i needed to do, getting it done, and then getting other things done.
John told some of the freshmen there was a ghost in the costume shop because i had gone up after a show and gotten some things that needed done done, while everyone was at the after show. they were inducting a new class to alpha psi. clothes needed to be washed and the costumes straightened up. it was more important for me to do that than be at a party.
that was my favorite part about being in the theatre department, i think. there was always something i could do to help. even if sometimes it was just surging some pieces of fabric so that one of John's classes could sew them up for a project.
John's the one who told Rachel she needed to have two assistant cabinet members. John's the reason i can say i was a more than just a college night participant, i was on the cabinet.
all of that, helping John any way i could, how to help, that's what i learned in college. how to be the assistant that gets the work done. that makes sure things run smoothly. that the costumes are where they need to be after the show is over. that the things that need to be washed, are washed. the things that need to be mended, are mended. the things that need to be replaced, are replaced.
and i'm fucking awesome at it.
i am not a leader. i am not the lead.
i am the assistant. and i own that shit.
***
it took me 7 years start to finish to graduate from college with a degree in theatre. concentration costume design.
but that's not what i learned.
i took all the required classes, passed most of them with a b or better (only two with a d.) i participated in every show i could while i was enrolled. and even worked on one while i wasn't enrolled in classes, just to show my professors that i had the drive.
i have a half assed portfolio because i was working and going to school for the first time ever while i was taking the class where we where shown how to do things like put a portfolio together, how to write a theatre resume, and other basic stuff that you really need to know before you run off to ny or la to be an actor, or stage manager or costume designer. (i've been thinking about it for a while, and i will be going back through it and redoing it.)
i never got into alpha psi as much as i wanted to. i probably had enough credits to do it, but by the time i did, i was so involved in just trying to graduate that i simply forgot to get my resume in on time. i wanted to be a part of that though, i really did. i wanted a shirt with greek letters on it that i earned, not just paid my way into. (was not a greek by any means.) i went to all the alpha psi work days, especially the ones where John was in charge. cleaning out the extra storage, arranging the storage up in Reynolds. i was there.
i did miss out on one part of the college experience that should have kept me from graduating -- i didn't have a senior project. i never had a show that was mine. but by the time i should have been doing one, i was living in south carolina and taking classes at montevallo during the summer. but in a way it's a good thing.
i am not a leader. and that's what would have been required of me. and i think John knew that.
i love working with someone, being an assistant, and making sure that everything gets done that needs to get done so that they can do what they need to do.
John always had a list of things that needed to be done for each show. usually divided out by people. and i loved being able to go into the costume shop when John wasn't there, knowing what i needed to do, getting it done, and then getting other things done.
John told some of the freshmen there was a ghost in the costume shop because i had gone up after a show and gotten some things that needed done done, while everyone was at the after show. they were inducting a new class to alpha psi. clothes needed to be washed and the costumes straightened up. it was more important for me to do that than be at a party.
that was my favorite part about being in the theatre department, i think. there was always something i could do to help. even if sometimes it was just surging some pieces of fabric so that one of John's classes could sew them up for a project.
John's the one who told Rachel she needed to have two assistant cabinet members. John's the reason i can say i was a more than just a college night participant, i was on the cabinet.
all of that, helping John any way i could, how to help, that's what i learned in college. how to be the assistant that gets the work done. that makes sure things run smoothly. that the costumes are where they need to be after the show is over. that the things that need to be washed, are washed. the things that need to be mended, are mended. the things that need to be replaced, are replaced.
and i'm fucking awesome at it.
