Live Your Life and Do Good!

The DSI Comedy Theater

I recently accepted a new job, and started the process of moving across the country from my current life.  I have been living in Chapel Hill North Carolina for the past 4 years, and very quickly I received and offer for a new job, accepted, and got whisked away in the process of moving and transition.  The great things about transitions is we get to sit back and be introspective, we see the good the bad and the should have done’s!  I have really enjoyed these last couple weeks, and I think they have really forced me to solidify my life philosophies and purpose going forward.  While this has been something I have been thinking about for a while, this direct major crossroad in my life has forced me into action.  So sit back relax and enjoy as I wax and wane a bit about what I have discovered.

I have always been an easy and quick transitioner.  When I went to college, within one evening I had friends and a purpose, when I moved to Arizona the first time, I quickly found my way and excitement.  When I moved to North Carolina, none of that happened. Maybe it was because for the first time in my life I didn’t have school, and it took me awhile to find out what that meant for me.  Maybe it was because I didn’t find the friend connections to really push me.  For whatever reason, I spent a lot of time struggling.  So much I thought about leaving during that first year, I thought about my options and what that would mean to make another transition so quickly.  Happily I did not do that, and truly that was probably never actually an option, but the thought process existed.

Then a few things changed.  First and foremost I took an improv class at DSI Comedy Theater.  Improv was something that I was enamored with for a long time.  I loved Whose Line, I watched the improv team at my grad school, and just wanted to always give it a try.  I knew DSI existed, and why I waited so long, I am not sure, but the right things come along at the right time.  From that first night of class, with the ever awesome Paula Pazderka, I knew this was the thing I wanted to do.

My staff on the last night I lived in North Carolina

At some point I also found another shift.  In all fronts, I found some people who truly cared about me, be it at work, church and the improv world.  I am reminded directly of the Amy Poehler Harvard graduation speech, “find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”  I found some great people, the one’s who challenge you on a continual basis, the one’s who want you to be a better, the one’s you can argue and debate with in a mutually beneficial way, where everyone leaves the conversation better.

Life in improvland flourished.  Soon I was a company member, I kept collecting teams to be apart of, soon I was allowed the awesome privilege of teaching and coaching others.  Improv became a very important outlet and purpose in life.  I had friends and deep connections outside of work, one of the best outlets that I developed in going to a place where I did not have family or friends before moving there.

One thing I have always known about myself is I need to be connected on an emotional level to the things I am apart of, and the people I am with.  I found these things in improv, DSI is a real gem, a place where “yes and” truly lives and people get to work together to make great things happen on stage.  The Newman Center where I have been attending church was a place where I was also finding community.  At work I had solidified a great friend group and hired a staff of students I truly cared about and worked best in my style of supervision.  All of these things add up to a very difficult place to leave, hence the current state of separation that I am working through.

Through all of this work I have learned several things.  First and foremost I am 100% emotionally connected here.  I am a Tar Heel and I am proud of that, I have gotten to meet and work with amazing people.  At my core I am an improviser, that is something I will NEED to have in my life forever more, and probably the thing I want to spend the most time with going forward.

Also, over the last couple days I have received very humbling words of thanks and love from all aspects of my world.  At work we had a goodbye lunch that was every emotional and kind.  At DSI I was given the opportunity to perform several shows over my last weekend and was given maybe one of the nicest gifts I have ever received, in which people wrote out what the liked about me the person and as an improviser.  I have had many authentic and genuine conversations with people recently about what I meant to them, some that I have known and many impacts I have had on others that I was unaware of.  While it has been amazing to have these conversations, I wish we took the time to tell the people we love that we love them on a more regular basis.  There are so many people I want to say nice things to, and tell them this is what you did for me, and sadly with my limited time schedule those things won’t be able to happen.  I hope to not let that occur in the future and be freer with my authentic conversations.

Lastly, this whole experience has really allowed me to fully actualize my life philosophy.  At some point during this past year I started using the following to phrase “live you life and do good!”  For the first part I think we need to spend more time actually living the life and doing the things we want to do.  Everyone spends too much time not doing what they love, or day dreaming about that cool idea instead of going out there and actually doing it.  Limit the should have done’s, create an actual to done list!  No one else is going to tell us to follow our dreams or take that big step, actually its quite the opposite most people ask you to think out your options and take the safe bet, but we should not.  As in an improv scene we need to make bold choices early and often.  And the last part is do good, a pretty simple adage.  If at every moment I ask myself am I doing the right thing or doing something that is good for myself and others then I am probably on the right track.

Carrier Classic Trophy

The NCAA is creating a special event to kick off the upcoming basketball season.  In one of the most exciting and unique ways to play a sporting event, the game will be played on the USS Carl Vinson.  They are going to be creating a court and seating for 7,000 spectators on the deck of the aircraft carrier.  The event was created to celebrate veterans, will happen on 11-11-11, and to top it off President Obama will be in attendance.

My current institution the University of North Carolina will play Michigan State, and I am really excited to see this creative game take place.  To celebrate this week, I wanted to show the above video which features how the trophy was made for the event.  I love how even the trophy was created by a company in the northeast who builds the giant aircraft carriers.  So tune in at 7:00PM EST on Friday to catch this exciting and creative event!

Review of the New Blue

Artist Rendering of the New Blue Zone

Since I was out of town for Penn State games the past couple weekends, Saturday was the first time I was in Kenan Stadium for a football game since the upgrades were added.  I have been a season ticket holder at UNC for the past three seasons, and have been looking forward to the new additions.  When they first introduced the concept of the Blue Zone, putting a large building with all club seats to complete the east end zone I was a little skeptical.  I did not believe the new section added aesthetically to the stadium and if all club seats were a good idea.  So I was excited to get into the stadium and get a feel for what the new stadium would look like.

I don’t consider myself an ultimate authority on football stadiums, but it is one of my favorite parts of college football.  I grew up in Big Ten territory, and going to Penn State, but I have also attended games in four different ACC stadiums, an SEC stadium, and three Pac-12 stadiums.  With that Kenan was never one of my favorite places to see a game, the atmosphere was always somewhere in the middle, but aesthetically the stadium was beautiful.  But I can say with the recent additions, North Carolina has taken some great steps to improve their football atmosphere.

One of the best developments to the stadium was the addition of two large scoreboards in each end zone.  These high definition boards add an amazing element to the game.  While there used to be a pretty large video screen before the new addition, the board was not very aesthetically pleasing, and it was not easy for all seats in the stadium to view the screen.  These new boards give every seat in the stadium an easy view of the new scoreboards, and the high definition screens are beautiful!  While the Blue Zone’s club seating does not add a noisy fan base to the east end zone, it does improve the decibel levels in the stadium.  This occurs because the whole stadium is fully enclosed for the first time.  The Blue Zone is one tall building which acts like a huge dam holding back all of the fan noise. 

While I was originally not in favor of the look of the new Blue Zone, seeing it in person has really changed my mind.  I think it fits in well with the stadium, and it is a nice way to add in those very lucrative club seats everyone in college football is clamoring for.  The best part of the new addition is the brick walkway which creates a full concourse around the whole stadium.  The new concourse is very beautiful, but it also greatly improves the pedestrian traffic in and around the stadium.  Especially after the terrible detours with all of the construction last year, the new foot traffic patterns in the stadium are amazing!

Overall, I think Carolina has done a great job upgrading their stadium.  While the stadium was always really beautiful, this upgrade has increased that quality.  I also think it improves the sound and fan experience in Kenan.  The only problem is now we need to get more fans into the stadium.  For the opening game of the ACC slate, the game was pretty sparsely attended.  I know it was chilly and slightly rainy, and people are mad Butch got fired, but we need to get fans into the stadium.  Come enjoy the new Kenan, and support a team that has a fighting chance to make some noise in the ACC!

Baby You’re a Firework!

Get ready for some cheese!  I was driving home from improv rehearsal tonight and Katy Perry’s song Firework was playing on the radio.  I had a pretty good day, my community had its opening program, our annual luau and my staff did a great job.  We fed probably over 300 people, and it was definitely the most effective I have seen the event come together.  Then I went to improv rehearsal, and just had a lot of fun and felt good about it.  So my advice for the day, go out there do a good job, and show what you can do.  Giving your best is all we can do, and if we have fun and enjoy what we are doing we will impress others.  Enjoy the song!

Eating Animals

Yesterday I spent my afternoon facilitating a discussion on the UNC/Duke Summer Reading book selection.  The book selected was entitled Eating Animals and was about a man’s journey to discover why humans eat animals.  As can be expected the author was a vegetarian, but the fascinating part of the book was that he really looked at his family ties to food.  He discussed how eating food specifically animals was very important to his family traditions and values, and then looked at what his future relationships would look like and how he wanted to bring up his son.

Instead of looking at the arguments of the book, I really want to focus on what happened during the discussion.  One of the main reasons I love working at UNC-Chapel Hill is the caliber of students I get to work with on a daily basis.  The students here are really top notch, and while I get to push them to grow and develop, they always push back and force me to grow and develop at the same time.  The summer reading presentation sections are broken down by residence hall floor, and the group my co-facilitator and I were a leading was a male floor.  Before the session I was worried about the number of students who would show up from this population and the types of attitudes and beliefs they would bring into the discussion.

Again today, the Carolina student proved how awesome they were.  We had a pretty good turnout, and the discussion was dynamic.  It was really great to watch a group of first year students, in their first few days on campus engage in a really intellectual conversation.  Our conversation spanned from fact based, philosophical, gender, socioeconomic issues, to joking fun banter.  Overall I was really impressed with the great conversation I had with these young men.  My favorite segment of the session came up when the questions was asked, “should everyone read this book?”  The most impressive part was the answer.  The students said yes, everyone should read this book, and make a decision about this important topic, namely factory farming. 

I want to thank the students for a great conversation, and for the thought provoking ideas brought up through the conversation.  As I made my Tyson chicken yesterday for dinner, I took a few minutes to ponder; what the chicken had gone through, the genetic manipulation, antibiotics fed to the bird, and the grossest thing, how much poop was soaked into the meat.  The other biggest issue and new issue to me was the environmental and sustainability impacts of factory farming which the book presented.  Overall, this whole thing makes me treasure the intellectually stimulating environment I live in, and my hope that I can always remember to strive to live in this type of environment!

New Beginnings

My staff prepared ready for new students to move in!

I am pretty lucky in that my job offer pretty frequent and regular markers of time passing.  Since I work at a college, my life pretty much runs on a semester by semester pattern. Every year I get an end point where my students leave and it’s time to prepare for the following year. One of the most exciting times of the year for me is opening, the days when all of the students return to campus.  It is like a rebirth, a beginnings of time, a fresh slate to start another year.

I really enjoy the summer, it always amazes me how relaxed and open a place can feel when 28,000 people have conspicuously picked up their lives and moved out. The first few days are always a rush with parents, new students, and tons of other people milling around not sure where to go and what to do.  But the excitement of that is thrilling.  It pushes me to be on top of my game, it pushes my staff to get our buildings together with a whole new fresh look, and professionally welcome our new students.

This time of year is often one of new projects and new tries at old issues.  I pretty clearly get to try out new things, and try to improve upon the past mistakes or blunders.  Not very often in life do we get a fresh slate, a time where we can introduce new things and people do not know any different.  This is that time for me, and if it does not regularly happen in your job, you need to figure out a way to make it so!  Find times to challenge people, ask them to rise to the occasion, to try new things.  That is what happens in an improv scene, we try new things and discover if they work.  If something does not work in an improv scene you are really only in it for about 1 minute and a half to 2 minutes.  Then we learn and move forward.  This is the type of trial and error we need to bring to real life.  We are often so afraid to fail, that we do not try anything new, and then we are stuck living in the same old same old!

My Community's Logo, a new intiative for this school year!

Find your new beginning as I have found my.  Make a point to try new things, and if they fail, think of everything you learned from that moment.  I am sitting here at the crest of a new year, with several new initiatives and programs to try.  Soon that wave will splash over and we will be in the middle of a brand new year, and I will get to see if those new things work or maybe need some more tweaking.  My life will be more exciting and refreshing in that discovery!