Author: gccblogs

Slippery floor.

Standard

Hey its Kiley,

Today, I’m going to bring something to your attention. Dance studio floors should not be sleek and shiny, they should be slightly textured in order to give grip to the dancer, therefore   our floors need to be fixed in order to prevent slips and falls.

If anyone takes dance classes or acting classes, they are aware of the unusable floor in the dance studio. This semester I am involved in the following activity’s take place in the dance studio:  a dance class, an acting class, and Blood Brother rehearsals. The floor was cleaned and shined over Christmas break.It may look shinny and new visually, but looks can be deceiving. This took the grip off the floor, making our dance studio an ice skating rink. It is not supposed to be this way. On average, when I’m in the dance studio someone slips on the floor. This makes many students uneasy, due to the dangerous floor. In my acting class we did a trust activity that involved being blink folded linking arms with other classmates and going into a walk to a jog. This was next to impossible due to the fear of slipping on the floor. People should feel their in a comfortable environment and free to express themselves with unlimited movement, but this floor allows students to be consumed by fear.

Pet Rocks

Standard

Hey Ebony here 🙂

Last week college village tried to bring a little bit of excitement to campus, and came up with the idea of  creating pet rocks. I thought it was fun and interesting.Paint, eyes, and other material were available to decorate the rocks.

Here’s a picture of my pet rocks Codie on the left, and Katie on the right. They’re a couple. :-).

Everyday is a new Beginning!

Standard

HEY Ebony here 🙂

Every morning when I wake up I look at a piece of paper on my wall that says “everyday is a new beginning”. This quote  motivates me to try again and succeed at whatever it is I’m trying to achieve or overcome. This also tells me that everyday I wake up I have a second chance and another day to make changes in my life and start something new.

Take control of your life and you will become a work in progress. Create goals for yourself and deadlines for those goals. Write down all the things you want to accomplish, and make the sacrifices to get what you want. If one day you fail, take advantage of another day giving to you, to succeed.

You can ask yourself “what are some of the things I can do to make each day a new beginning?”

  • Knock off those bad habits
  • Read more
  • Manage time properly
  • Tell a friend or family member that you love them if you haven’t done so yesterday.
  • Smile more often
  • Open the door for someone
  • Study more
  • Gain healthy eating habits
  • Exercise regularly

It can be as simple as anything listed above. Small positive changes can lead to bigger positive changes and happiness.


The difference between winners and losers is in how they view failure. Losers see failure but winners see beyond it!

How will you be remembered?

Standard

Ebony here

What kind of lasting impression will you have when you leave GCC or leave this world?Do you want to be remembered as a positive person who was helpful, caring, strong minded, and kind, or the person who was negative with a bad attitude and careless?

They say  ” first impressions are lasting impressions.”

What will people say about you when your gone, or will they even have anything to say at all? We are all here for a reason, we should all influence one another, make positive changes, and teach others. Everyone is capable of having that lasting impression like some of the great people who has inspired us in so many ways like, Dr. Martin Luther King or Oprah Winfrey for example.

what Impressions have you left, because your only as good as people remember you.

How do you think you will be remembered?

This past week people would introduce themselves to me and say, “hey, your the girl on the GCC website right?” I laugh and reply with a “yea, that’s me”. When I leave here I know that most people will remember me as the GCC blogger on the schools website, president of the African American Student Union club, member of Student health Awareness group, work study at MarCom, an influencer, a good friend, and a happy person. Although we do not have total control of how we will be remembered, but we do have the chance to have an affect on someone else’s life.

I want to be remember as some one who can change people lives, gives good advice, a mentor, a sophisticated bright young African American woman, someone who strives for the best and great success, independent, and as someone who could always brighten up someone else’s day even when my day isn’t so bright. Most of all I want to be remember as an INDIVIDUAL.

Left Handedness

Standard

Hey Ebony here

My fellow blogger and I Kiley were having lunch together today, and the more we talk the more we have in common. We were also sitting with a male friend, and we were deeply interested in the topic that was being  discussed. Then all of a sudden he told us that he was left handed, Kiley replied to that by saying “me too”, and I said ” me three”. I thought that was funny and very interesting. whenever you meet another left handed person  it’s like you automatically click and form a left handedness alliance. We are left handed people living in a right handed persons world.

Most things in this world are made for the right handed person. No wonder why it’s so hard for a left handed person to use a pair of scissors, and oh how I hate those 3 ring binders, and how the ink smears across the paper while I’m writing.

Way back then it was bad to  be left handed and people were forced to write with their right hands. But now being left handed is a good thing, according to some research left-handed people are faster at processing multiple stimuli than righties. Also lefties process language on both sides of the brain as oppose to righties only using their left.

each side of the brain controls different ways of thinking. The left side of the  brain thinks more logical, rational, sequential, analytical, and looks at different parts. while the right side of the brain is more random, intuitive, holistic synthesizing (taking a part a problem to see what the problem is, and putting it back together), subjective, and looks at things as a whole.

According to some research

left-handedness is found in approximately 10% of the population.

• Four out of five (80%) original Macintosh computer designers were left handed (I own a Mac computer and  love it. ;-)).

• Five out of the last seven (71%) US presidents were left handed (Barack Obama’s runner-up – senator John McCain – is also a lefty).

left handed people are more artistic and creative.

There is a whole lot more research to be done on left handedness.

Black History Month

Standard

Hey Ebony Here

It’s imperative that we celebrate the people who have made a difference in our lives and in the world. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, just to name a few has influenced us in many ways . Martin Luther King had a dream that has greatly come true, it would have been  beautiful if he was a live to see his impact on the world. We only celebrate these people once a year, when it should be all year around.

Here are some pictures of two of the very important people who has made a world wide change.

MARTIN LUTHER KING

“Great success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States.”

ROSA PARKS

“Her refusal to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus spurred on a city-wide boycott and helped launch nation-wide efforts to end segregation of public facilities.”

Check out this website for more information on other greatly appreciated African Americans.

http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/

Excuse me, I’m allergic to math.

Standard

Hey it’s Kiley talking about math and testing-

I don’t know about you but, I get an adrenalin rush every time I take an exam. The silence in the room is deafening to my ears. The tension the pencil gives my cramped hand is almost as annoying as a buzzing fly in a quiet room. To be honest, sitting still and racking my brain is torture to my soul. I wish I could be as cool as a cucumber, instead of a nail biting neurotic mess.

Every teaching style is different; therefore it’s important to understand your teacher’s expectations. Every teacher is a different puzzle, metaphorically speaking, each with its own vision or objective. I try to piece it together by observing and studying the homework questions and asking questions about topics I do not understand, but STATS is an impossible maze I can’t get through.

The worst thing for me is my attention span. In a quiet room I notice the most obscure habits of people. The girl chewing her gum could be confused as a cow, the moment I’m in that test setting. Sometimes I can’t help myself from being distracted by mundane observations. The boy blowing his nose sounds like a foghorn, I find myself chuckling. This is frowned upon, of course, by the instructor, but what is an ADD inflicted soul to do?

I am either hyped for a test or a basket case. I try to meditate beforehand in order to regain my composure during tests. I am sick of being the foot tapping, nail biting madwoman. Sometimes I start to feel like my calling is to step dance. This test inflicted habit not amusing, but embarrassing for me. To think I can just take time to simply take a breath is relaxing enough and soothes my test anxiety. I have always heard that clock tick and this would speed up my heart rate and anxiety. So I must go take this test I have been dreading, latter days.

Where’s the soul?

Standard

Hey it’s Kiley giving a Blood Brothers update:

I rushed to get to school after visiting Medaille, I was on a tight schedule, and I had to get to rehearsal. I got there a little early, to my relief. Scenes were blocked and rehearsed. The deal is you can look at the script when blocking, but after that it must be stone cold memorized with appropriate inner subtext. I am glad Norm, an English professor, here at GCC, is burning the cast a dialect cds because dialect is something I have struggled with. Our group as a whole has a lot of work to do sooner rather than later.

Working on a show, if not careful can drain and discourage, but one must motive themselves and support others in order to have the best show. Maryanne Arena, our director, is tough on her actors sometimes, but this is because she wants the best. To get the best sometimes you have to push it out of people. Being in a couple of her shows I have learned to trust her judgment and her passionate tactics to get her actors to take two steps forward instead of two steps back.

This was the first full rehearsal, with her, and she made a cast member cry. I’ve noticed in each show I’ve done there’s always that one person that breaks down. Having a director that will be honest and motivate their cast is ideal. It shows they really care and wants what’s best for the show. This was a hard night, but I’m using the constructive criticism to push me to greater heights.

 

 

“When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet deep down in his heart no man much respects himself.”  —Mark Twain

Medaille.

Standard

Hey it’s Kiley giving a college update:

So yesterday, I went to visit Medaille College after my intense acting class. When arriving on campus the first thing that came into my head was: small. The next thought: why is there no parking? It reminded me of the Catholic High School in my town:  brick exterior-prison-like yellowing walls that were once (in a former time) white, students acting like they were in a playground rather than a learning institution, and floors that had the burden of heavy feet on a routine basis.

I met with the head of communications, Lisa Marsherall, who really impressed me with her passion and knowledge. She described her students as “her kids”, which I found to be really endearing. One of the reasons, I looked into this College because my former Communications Professor, Val Bello, who was one of the people who inspired me to change my major to Communications, had formally went there. The funny part is, I bumped into her during my tour of the campus.

It may be small, but it has that inner community heart that many people search for in a school. The layout is simple, you could never get lost. I was shocked to think a school could be smaller than GCC, have less parking, and less advanced radio station/ TV studio. The grass is not always greener on the other side. This College would give me room to grow in my skills with its community charm and an expectation of three internships. The location is ideal. I also, may get a bundle financially-who wants to be in dept.

A note on campus tours. Listen up; I understand showing the entire campus when it is a large group, but when there is two people have an objective. Simply ask-what is your major, do you play sports, and what are some clubs you’re involved in? Those are right on the money of what people care about seeing. You can’t forget about food and the bookstore-typical tour staples. The point is don’t waste peoples time with fluff give people peanut butter, it’s better for you anyway.

“Blessed are those that can give without remembering and
receive without forgetting.”

— Elizabeth Bibesco

Canisus.

Standard

Hey it’s Kiley!

Last Tuesday, I went on a campus visit to Canisus College. I wanted to get the overall feel of the school.To do this, I planed in advance to talk to the head of the communications program,  and Admissions.I wanted more then what their brochures had to offer. College isn’t always the yellow ribbon-clear cut picture Admissions often has you believe. I went to investigate, to see for myself.

I realy liked the layout of the Campus. The buildings were easy to negotiate and visually appealing inside. The College is in the heart of urban Buffalo area. I am really sick of going to school in a rural area, sure it’s pretty-I get that-but after awhile it gets old. I wanna be somewhere with blinding city lights.I like the internship possibilities Canisius has to offer including:

  • “Good Morning America,” NYC
  • Shea’s Performing Arts Center

I took a gander at their College newspaper THE GRIFFEN. I was left impressed and intrigued by students interesting and creative news articles. I made sure to go into their Theatre, which I was excited to find out that productions aren’t major restricted. This was a plus in my book.I just love the fact that this is a Liberal Arts school, it’s a breath of fresh air. I took a look at their all- college honers program and it’s extremely impressive. I think I would enjoy being a part of this. At GCC I’m a part of the Honers program and I enjoy the challenge.

The Anchor Bar

Famous for their Buffalo Wings this restaurant is great for any pop cultural buff or wings enthusiast. It claims it is the original home to the Buffalo wings and I had to check this place out. I was overall pleased with my buffalo chicken sandwich delish pineapple drink.

“What we play is life” Louis Armstrong