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	<title>The Crystal Update</title>
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	<description>the life of your friendly neighborhood family member</description>
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		<title>The Crystal Update</title>
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		<title>Little Bloggy Things</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/little-bloggy-things/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:25:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/?p=126</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve added a nice big page called Christmas Break which has a nice little interactive schedule of where I&#8217;ll be over my break from school. Also, I&#8217;ve moved the blog to a different hostname. It&#8217;s still going to work with the old link you have, so it shouldn&#8217;t affect you at all, but it is [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=126&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve added a nice big page called Christmas Break which has a nice little interactive schedule of where I&#8217;ll be over my break from school.</p>
<p>Also, I&#8217;ve moved the blog to a different hostname. It&#8217;s still going to work with the old link you have, so it shouldn&#8217;t affect you at all, but it is now attached to my little photoblog called Crystal Clicks. I haven&#8217;t posted much recently, but I have a ton of recent photos that I&#8217;ll probably add a portion of over break while I&#8217;m not running around like a madwoman trying to visit people. For reference, I&#8217;ll put the link to it here:</p>
<p><a href="http://crystalclicks.wordpress.com/">Crystal Clicks</a></p>
<p>For the future, I&#8217;ll add it to my Get Ahold of Crystal page.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve decided to abandon the Crystal_Update Twitter account. Only Uncle Todd ever tweets, and I see his stuff on Facebook, and I send out messages on Facebook with new posts, so you don&#8217;t need to see them on the Twitter feed.</p>
<p>If none of the above paragraph made any sense to you, all you need to know is: No more thingy from that one thing on the side of this blog thingy.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll also be changing the Current Events page to my &#8220;Western&#8221; page in the near future, including what classes I&#8217;m in, little pieces of what I&#8217;m learning in class, and funny things my professors say.</p>
<p>COMING SOON TO THIS BLOG NEAR YOU:</p>
<p>I&#8217;m going to do a condensed two-week advent calendar of things that remind me of Christmas, so stay tuned, and on the 10th, it shall begin!</p>
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		<title>Almost Done!</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/almost-done/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:20:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/?p=123</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It has been a long year. So, to celebrate: A LONG POST! I can’t believe I’ve already been at Western for over a year, now. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I left. Not like living in NYC that first year, that felt like forever. Time for the pre-break update! Stuff Goin’ On [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=123&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It has been a long year. So, to celebrate: A LONG POST! I can’t believe I’ve already been at Western for over a year, now. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I left. Not like living in NYC that first year, that felt like forever.</p>
<p>Time for the pre-break update!</p>
<p><strong>Stuff Goin’ On Now</strong></p>
<p><em>I just declared a minor</em>. Yes, in addition to my double major. Total overachiever. I was only three classes away from finishing a World Literature minor in addition to my writing and communication majors, so I thought “What the hell? How bad could more reading be?” I’m going to regret that thought, I’m positive of it. But I’ve been considering going to grad school, so I think that having a literature minor will make me a little more competitive.</p>
<p><em>I won’t graduate until Fall 2012</em>. I wanted to be finished in two years, including summers, which would have had me graduating in the Summer II semester next year, but due to some changes in the university, and a little personal reason, I’ve pushed it back a semester. I know some of you heard me complaining about my university’s change in credit caps. Basically how it works is that once you’ve paid for 12 credits, you can take up to 16 credits for that same flat rate. Well, starting this semester, they changed the cap from 16 to 15, which basically adds up to a whole class over the course of a year (1 credit less, 4 semesters) that I’d have to take in the fall. I also realized that if I graduated in the Summer II semester, I wouldn’t have a graduation ceremony. By this point, I don’t see this being that big of a deal, especially since I recently started considering grad school, and the longer I’m in school the more it seems like I’ll never leave, <em><strong>but</strong></em> I know that my graduating will probably be a big deal for some of my family, and especially for my younger siblings to be able to see because none of them were able to attend my ceremony from AMDA. So I want the ceremony. So that means: Fall 2012!</p>
<p><em>Grad school</em>? Okay, I’ve said it a few times now, so you may be wondering to yourself:</p>
<blockquote><p>What do you mean grad school? I thought you wanted to be done with school? Can you afford that? Where are you going to go? What are you going to study in grad school? Is it even worth it?</p></blockquote>
<p>or, more simply,</p>
<blockquote><p>DEAR GOD WHY!?</p></blockquote>
<p>Well, to answer your question, I blame Dr. Adams. He’s one of my english professors and one of our school’s graduate advisors. He reignited a few little sparks for me that had been smoldering on the back burners for a while now, and after a few chats with him about the prospects and possibilities, I decided that it’s actually a very good fit for me. Dr. Adams is the sort of instructor that makes you want to teach. Which I would have no problem doing, and I’d always thought that’d be a good back-up plan, and being that a lot of theater teachers aren’t hired to teach only theater &#8211; they’re usually english teachers as well &#8211; I think it’s a good way to go. So what does this all mean? I’m considering going to grad school. But&#8230; only on the following conditions.</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration:underline;">I want to attend a school in New York City so that I can continue pursuing theater.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration:underline;">I only have a few schools in mind that I’d like to attend, and I am aiming for those schools.</span> If I don’t get in, I try again the next year, and if I still don’t get in, I don’t go. At least not until I’ve decided that theater is no longer a professional prospect, and I’d rather move elsewhere and teach or start my theater company.</li>
<li><span style="text-decoration:underline;">I won’t go unless I can get a fellowship or apprenticeship which will pay my tuition &#8211; and hopefully also pay me to teach.</span> I don’t want to have any more student loans on my plate.</li>
<li><span style="text-decoration:underline;">I am taking a year off.</span> From graduation in December of 2012, until the fall semester of 2013, I am done with school. I’ll spend the year composing my writing samples, studying for the GRE and taking practice tests, working and auditioning, and writing entrance essays.</li>
</ul>
<p>Based on those things, and a smaller list of curricular criteria, I’ve gotten my school list down to a small handful in NYC (if you&#8217;re interested in the curricular aspect, and what I want to study in grad school, feel free to leave a comment). They’re all extremely hard to get into. If I get in, I’m going to freak out. And if I don’t, I can wait until I do. Grad school for me is something I’m passionate about, and I feel will add to my marketability and experiences, but that I don’t feel is absolutely necessary at this exact moment in time. I do plan on going back someday, even if I don’t go back after my yearlong break, but I’m in no specific rush. I do think, though, that it’d be best for me to get back into it as soon as possible so I don’t lose the academic momentum that I’ve gathered here at Western.</p>
<p><em>So about my birthday cards&#8230;</em> So&#8230; what I like to do when I get monetary gifts for a holiday&#8230; is I like to wait until I’ve spent the damned dollars so that when I go to thank someone for it, I can tell them just how cool whatever-the-junk was that I spent it on. Unfortunately when you go to college, spending cash in your pocket is either too tempting to spend on pizza, or it somehow manages to sneak its way into bill payments. This year, though, I promised myself I wasn’t going to just spend it on bills, and I’d actually get something cool. So I waited. And I saved it. And then I waited some more. And now all of a sudden it’s December, I finally just spent it like a month ago, and I still haven’t gotten to thank anyone for it. So I got this really cool dress, right?</p>
<p><a href="http://thecrystalupdate.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/img_0022_2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-124" title="madmen dress" src="http://thecrystalupdate.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/img_0022_2.jpg?w=199&#038;h=300" alt="" width="199" height="300" /></a>Anyway, I sent out some thank you cards. So. They’re coming. They should beat me home. I also probably fed myself at some point with some of it. And I also probably put some gas in my car to come home with some of it. So whatever gift you wanna think your money went to, they’re all pretty equally awesome at this stage of my life.</p>
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		<title>Do It!</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/do-it/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:26:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/?p=120</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I’ve been writing papers non-stop for eight weeks. So I thought, “What better way to take a break from writing than to do more writing?” Good idea, right? So this is my way of procrastinating the taking of my Film Analysis final&#8230; So here’s a little update from the Land of Crystal over here in [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=120&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I’ve been writing papers non-stop for eight weeks. So I thought, “What better way to take a break from writing than to do more writing?” Good idea, right?</p>
<p>So this is my way of procrastinating the taking of my Film Analysis final&#8230;</p>
<p>So here’s a little update from the Land of Crystal over here in Kalamazoo.</p>
<p>Summer courses suck. Don’t take them. Eight weeks to do sixteen weeks of work is just not worth it. Let alone two at a time.</p>
<p>But, good news: for the <em>next</em> eight weeks I’m taking two more! Wahoo!</p>
<p>I’m working at Greenfield Village all summer (every Saturday and Sunday) so those of you with kids, or who are still kids-at-heart, come on down to say hello! I sing eight shows a day, and admission is free if you let me know you’re coming. I can let people in with my badge on any of my breaks or in the morning before performances. I can even let you in to the Henry Ford Museum for free as well, but that means I have to walk to the entrance there with you so that has to be on my lunch hour (starting at about 1:15p). There are all kinds of other cool shows throughout the Village, including Simply Broadway which is a musical revue of the most popular years of Broadway musicals; Laura’s Little Town on Sundays about Laura Ingalls Wilder; Tales From Huck Finn on Saturdays about&#8230; well, about Huck Finn; the Edison show starring my friends as Thomas Edison about the invention of the lightbulb followed by a tour of his research lab, and some others spread throughout town.</p>
<p>This coming weekend we’re having our annual 4th of July celebration with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, I’m still waiting on official word about buying tickets, but I get a discount on that if anyone wants to go just email me (email is on the Get Ahold of Crystal page).</p>
<p>So to sum up: Greenfield Village / Henry Ford Museum, totally free admission as long as you let me know you’re coming so I can let you in with my badge. 4th of July D.S.O. concert, discounted tickets (once I hear from boss).</p>
<p>Almost no one came to see me last year, and the ones that did didn’t even have kids with them, so seriously&#8230; get your butts out there. How often do you get free admission to a theme park that normally costs $22 a pop? Hm?</p>
<p>Now my coming home every weekend means that, yes, I’m around in Macomb Township on (usually) Friday and (always) Saturday nights, so I do have some free time for possibly arranging visiting rights with my so-neglected family members. But I’m usually sleepy, so don’t expect me to do a song and dance number for you. If you wanna see that, COME TO THE VILLAGE (see what I did there?).</p>
<p>Even my own mother didn’t come see me last summer.</p>
<p>Okay, I’m done with the guilt trips and nagging.</p>
<p>As far as school, like I said, I’ve been reading books and writing papers on them for eight weeks straight, and then in film class I’ve been watching one or two films a week and writing analyses of certain scenes. I just finished writing my last two papers and turned them in on Friday, but now it’s finals week (tonight and tomorrow).</p>
<p>If anyone wants an example of the sort of thing I’ve been doing in class, here goes: I just wrote a thesis paper on a novel called <em>Waterland</em> arguing that, though it was written in the Post-Modernist era of the novel genre, it is actually a Romantic novel told in fairy-tale format, and that it could not have been told any other way than this, because fairy-tales make readers more open and susceptible to the morality tale within, for which I supported my thesis with highly analyzed portions of the text (broken down under both Romantic and Post-Modernist conventions) and the research of one Vladimir Propp (a famous Russian theorist who broke down folk- and fairy-tales into their most irreducible narrative elements for analysis; Joseph Campbell is to myth what Vladimir Propp is to fairy-tales).</p>
<p>* Deep breath *</p>
<p>Got all that?</p>
<p>Okay, good. Moving on.</p>
<p>I’ve got one last bit of cool news before I disappear for a few more weeks to finish finals and settle into my work schedule.<br />
Many of you may have seen my mother’s status on the subject, but if not&#8230;</p>
<p>I’ve been nominated for a Wilde Award for Best Actress in a Play with LGBT Themes (that’s Lesbian / Gay / Bisexual / Transexual). The Wilde Awards are the Tonys of professional Michigan theater. This was for the last show I did just before leaving town (in fact, the final weekend of performances made me move in a week late to school) called <em>The Little Dog Laughed</em>. It’s really awesome to be nominated, and I’m in a category with some phenomenal local actors, and it’s all very exciting.</p>
<p>So there’s your update!</p>
<p>Now come see me at the Village (I lied)&#8230;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Ho. Ly. Shit.</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/ho-ly-shit/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:42:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[That&#8217;s about the only sentiment I can use to describe my life this semester. I&#8217;m not sure what happened to Christmas break, did that end? As I&#8217;m sitting here typing this, I&#8217;m currently running on 8 hours of sleep. In a 4 day period. So forgive me the imminent errors. Before you all freak out, [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=112&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img title="More..." src="http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" />That&#8217;s about the only sentiment I can use to describe my life this semester. I&#8217;m not sure what happened to Christmas break, did that end?</p>
<p>As I&#8217;m sitting here typing this, I&#8217;m currently running on 8 hours of sleep. In a 4 day period. So forgive me the imminent errors. Before you all freak out, just&#8230; don&#8217;t. I&#8217;m an insomniac, I&#8217;m a night person, I always have been, I can&#8217;t help it, and today is Thursday, the Day of Rest (screw waiting for Sunday). That being said this 8:4 ratio of sleep to days is not <em>normal</em> for me. Although&#8230; I can&#8217;t promise it&#8217;s not <em>infrequent</em>. Just know that, you know, <strong>sometimes</strong>, I actually get to sleep normally for, say, a week.</p>
<p>This is due in part to my insane class schedule. As I&#8217;d told many of you, I was requested in, and gained approval for, a graduate-level law class this semester. What in the HIGH HELLS possessed me to decide that a graduate-level class would jive well with a 16-credit semester is completely beyond me (re: I&#8217;m a nutter). Of course I knew this would be tough. What I didn&#8217;t expect was for my classes to arrange in such a mystical convergence, such a planet-aligning event, that it would be my complete and utter undoing.</p>
<p>I can barely breathe sometimes. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve <em>actually</em> had a panic attack, but a crazy Mexican guy on my bus route once heard me breathing funny.</p>
<p><strong>Mexican</strong>: Hey! Hey! You! Miss! Lady! HEY!</p>
<p><strong>Me</strong>: (Pretending not to hear until it is impossible to ignore anymore) Hm? Are you talking to me?</p>
<p><strong>Mexican</strong>: Yeah, man, are you having a panic attack!?</p>
<p><strong>Me</strong>: Um, no&#8230; I&#8217;m sick.</p>
<p><strong>Mexican</strong>: Oh, &#8217;cause you <em>sound</em> like you&#8217;re having a panic attack. I had one of them once, and you sound just like that.</p>
<p><strong>Me</strong>: Nope&#8230; just sick&#8230;</p>
<p>Mexican proceeded to detail for me his biographical journey from the court house (where he had a ticket dismissed because the police officer didn&#8217;t show up, and won his case against his landlord by sending the judge &#8211; I kid you not &#8211; a love letter) to his apartment via this particular bus trip. Don&#8217;t ask me why he thought I wanted to know. People are just drawn to me, I suppose.</p>
<p>Also, who yells frantically at a person five feet away from them who might be having a panic attack?</p>
<p>Anyway&#8230;</p>
<p>Speaking of my apparent magnetism. (So humble, right?)</p>
<p>I was approached by four of my five teachers this week, kept after class, and spoken to privately. First of all, if any of you ever become teachers, please for the love of god don&#8217;t do that to a student. &#8220;Hey, I want to talk to you after class.&#8221; That totally uncolored comment, absent of any possible hint as to why in the hell you want to talk. &#8220;I want to talk to you because you failed your test&#8221; and &#8220;I want to talk to you because I think you should go to law school&#8221; sound THE SAME WAY in that voice, don&#8217;t do that voice. Which, coincidentally, &#8220;I think you should go to law school,&#8221; <em>was</em> the sentiment given to me by my graduate-level professor. Apparently, I&#8217;ve got the knack for it, according to him.</p>
<p>Earlier that week I&#8217;d been grabbed by my communications teacher and told that she &#8220;really appreciates my presence and input in class.&#8221;</p>
<p>After that it was my writing teacher who vehemently wanted to drill it into my head that even though I did not win the Gwen Frostic Writing Award, just being a finalist is a huge honor, and the fact that I was awarded that privilege as one of the five stories selected from hundreds, a story I&#8217;d written as my first workshop story in a 2000-level class, in competition with senior-level writers who&#8217;ve had four years of workshops, is amazing, and he wanted me to know that I definitely had not &#8220;lost&#8221; in that situation, and to make sure I applied next year. He also said he&#8217;d sign an approval for me to take my 5000-level writing workshop next semester, before I&#8217;d met the prerequisites of two 3000-level workshops, because he believes that I&#8217;d thrive in that environment. Unfortunately, the English advisors thought otherwise (though not for lack of talent, but rather that the spots in the fiction workshops are very scarce and he was &#8220;wary to place someone with such little experience where a more experienced student might fit&#8221;). Poppycock, say I. So I managed to convince him of my adamancy and dedication, and he conceded in part and registered me in another 5000-level workshop instead (one that includes both fiction and non-fiction, and so is in less demand). Sadly, I&#8217;d greatly hoped to take the original 5000-level class with the particular faculty member teaching it this semester (she&#8217;s apparently well lauded), but perhaps there will be another chance to get her as a teacher down the road.</p>
<p>Today, my Asian Literature teacher, a rather amusing Kurdish man, asked me if I planned to go to graduate school. When I replied that I didn&#8217;t think so right away, he shook his head and tsk-ed me saying that I had absurd amounts of potential and ought to foster it. He pointed out several points that I&#8217;d made in class that day that delved deep into the readings&#8217; symbolism, in his opinion, and said that I have a wonderful mind and shouldn&#8217;t waste it. Having attended a special extracurricular lecture on the topic of modern fairytales and how they relate to a consumer society by a visiting professor from Ohio State University (apparently a great personal friend to my Kurdish professor), I had initially stayed after to ask him if there were a way I could get a copy of the published work she&#8217;d read at the lecture because the topic really interested me. In what I&#8217;m sure was an attempt to convince me of my graduate school future, he said he would get the two of us in touch and that I ought to remain in contact with her because she&#8217;d be a great mentor.</p>
<p>So apparently I&#8217;m great to have in class, write above my level, and need to attend both law and graduate schools.</p>
<p>Now that that little exercise in pompousness is through, you may all take a deep breath in the absence of my perceived ego. I promise you, &#8220;perceived&#8221; is accurate here, because I could not feel more undeserving of the praise at the moment. But fate has a way of making it pour when it rains, and then letting the sunlight peek through right at the moment you think you might drown. So my four professor talks were really just a severely needed floatation device, rather than an inflatable raft in the shape of my gigantic egotistical head.</p>
<p>I love you all, the number is still on the contact page, and while I might not be the best at calling, I can text like a madwoman while I rush between classes.</p>
<p>And in case anyone was curious, I&#8217;ve posted my Gwen Frostic Writing Award submission on the blog (just click the &#8220;Frostic&#8221; tab at the top).</p>
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		<title>Life at Western</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/life-at-western/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:12:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Everything has been crazy for the past month. Packing, unpacking, repacking, moving, unloading, unpacking&#8230; the boxes are still all over. Next post: Before &#38; After pictures of my apartment. Life in Class My first two weeks of class were awesome. Five classes, and all of my professors are amazing. I lucked out, big time. My [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=107&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Everything has been crazy for the past month. Packing, unpacking, repacking, moving, unloading, unpacking&#8230; the boxes are still all over. <strong>Next post:</strong> <em>Before &amp; After pictures of my apartment.</em></p>
<h3>Life in Class</h3>
<p>My first two weeks of class were awesome. Five classes, and all of my professors are amazing. I lucked out, big time.</p>
<ul>
<li>My professor for Introduction to Communication Theory (a core course for my Public Relations major) was the head of the Communication department for 35 years, and only recently retired from the position to go back to full-time teaching. The class so far has been a mix of the usual text book stuff, and a lot of really interesting history of Western Michigan’s Communication Department. The department I’m currently a part of was one of the first to be established at the university, only three years after it opened (WMU opened in 1903; Communication in 1906), and has gone through six name changes. We used to house two other departments that only recently became their own divisions (Theater and Speech Pathology/Audiology). Currently, Western Michigan’s Communication programs are jointly a College of Communication &#8211; which is a big deal. There are hundreds of thousands of “Departments of Communication”, but there are less than 100 “<em>Colleges</em> of Communication” in the country. That means my degree holds that much more prestige in the area I’m studying. WMU is one of the top places to study communication in the US. What that also means is that my concentration (Public Relations) will actually be shown on my degree, whereas most other schools graduate all of their students in any concentration with a simple “Communication” degree. Apparently, we’re pretty special. At least Dr. Rhodes thinks so.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Dr. Kayany is a tiny little Indian man with a very thick accent who teaches my telecommunications course. He thinks he’s funny. And he is. But mostly because his jokes are so bad, that it’s hard not to laugh, &#8217;cause he’s just so goofy. Kind of like Uncle Nick! Heh&#8230; Dr. Kayany has been teaching us all sorts of cool facts about the telegraph (like the fact that two men invented the telegraph at the same time, and the second arrived at the patent office just hours after Samuel Morse’s patent was filed). I’ll probably post some of the most interesting ones next week.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>For Literary Analysis I’ve got Prof. Gillette, who is just the quirkiest stereotype of the oddball English teacher you have ever seen. She’s fluent in French, and she can get a class discussion all riled up like nobody’s business. On the first day of class she explained to us why she didn’t like her “ugly brown office” in the English building, and why she took her office hours elsewhere:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>Literature is best understood with something in your stomach. Especially chocolate, or caffeine. That is why I do not take my office hours in my office. I take them in the Waldo Library next to the vending machines&#8230; okay most literature. There are exceptions. Like Kafka. Or Dostoyevsky. Those are better hungry. You really feel the pangs then.</p></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>I’m in this really interesting course called Freedom of Expression. It’s half history class, half communication class, and a smidgen of law thrown in. It’s about the history of freedom of speech, and current issues that test the boundaries of the amendment. Dr. Gershon, the teacher for it, is insanely peppy. You can tell he loves the material. And somehow, he miraculously knows all of our names&#8230; in a lecture hall&#8230; And no, there’s no seating chart, so don’t ask me how he does it. But it makes you feel pretty good. Except for the other people in the back row who probably thought they could avoid getting called on. Now, to their chagrin, not only do they get called on &#8211; and often &#8211; but it’s by name.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>My other early morning teacher, besides Dr. Rhodes, is Prof. Christian. She’s my Journalism teacher. She’s already got us on the campus beat, attending events, writing articles, and reading every paper we can get our hands on. She’s worked for several prestigious papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times, among others, and she’s worked with Pulitzer Prize winners, so she’s a pretty awesome resource to have. She told me to contact our university paper, the Western Herald, about writing for them after she read my first article on our campus’ Gay / Straight Alliance organization.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Outside of Class</h3>
<p><strong>OUTspoken</strong> &#8211; I&#8217;m a member of the campus’ Gay / Straight Alliance</p>
<p><strong>The Gamer’s Guild</strong> &#8211; I&#8217;m a member of this group that gets together to play video and board games.</p>
<p><strong>Computer Club</strong> &#8211; I&#8217;m a member of this network of students who are big techies.</p>
<p><strong>The Western Herald</strong> &#8211; I might be writing for the student newspaper soon.</p>
<p><strong>Yoga</strong> - Classes twice a week at our <em><strong>*AHEM*</strong><span style="font-style:normal;">&#8230;</span></em> <em>32 million dollar</em> student recreational center.</p>
<p><strong>Bronco Hockey</strong> - My job with the hockey PR group starts in October.</p>
<h3>Finally Picked a Second Major</h3>
<p>I’ve declared my second major. After meeting with about 15 advisors, and realizing that many majors wouldn’t fit well into my schedule toward graduation, or mesh with my PR major, I settled on Creative Writing. My minor will either be Computer Science, Social Psychology, or Theater. Possibly two of those, depending on how the classes work out.</p>
<h3>My New Address</h3>
<p>5810 Jefferson Commons Drive Apt# 210</p>
<p>Kalamazoo, MI, 49008</p>
<p>(Also located on the updated Contact page)</p>
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		<title>One More Weekend!</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/one-more-weekend/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:28:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Until what, do you ask? Well, a few things. One more weekend: of The Little Dog Laughed at the Ringwald. of Macomb. until I move to Kalamazoo. On a side note, I got another mention in another review: The consequences of Mitchell and Alex&#8217;s actions creep in during the second act, especially Alex&#8217;s poor handling [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=102&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Until what, do you ask? Well, a few things. One more weekend:</p>
<ul>
<li>of The Little Dog Laughed at the Ringwald.</li>
<li>of Macomb.</li>
<li>until I move to Kalamazoo.</li>
</ul>
<p>On a side note, I got another mention in another review:</p>
<blockquote><p>The consequences of Mitchell and Alex&#8217;s actions creep in during the second act, especially Alex&#8217;s poor handling of his relationship with best friend and sort-of girlfriend Ellen (Crystal Rhoney). At first an incidental character, Ellen barges into the fore of the narrative through a number of arresting monologues, which Rhoney handles with the helplessness of a woman who knows she holds no claim over the man she loves.</p></blockquote>
<p>If you want to come see the show, like I said, it&#8217;s got some intense themes and scenes, but it&#8217;s a great story. Next Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are the last days, and I move on Tuesday! Hope to try to see everyone before then!</p>
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		<title>Sorry For The Disappearance</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/sorry-for-the-disappearance/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:44:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[My life has been insane. At one point, I worked 11 out of 12 straight days at Greenfield Village alone, plus three days where I doubled at the Village and Blockbuster. As soon as that insanity was over, I went straight into rehearsals for a last minute show, started my physics class. Yes, rehearsals for [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=99&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My life has been insane.</p>
<p>At one point, I worked 11 out of 12 straight days at Greenfield Village alone, plus three days where I doubled at the Village and Blockbuster. As soon as that insanity was over, I went straight into rehearsals for a last minute show, started my physics class. Yes, rehearsals for a second show (while performing at the Village) and a physics class. Overachiever much? Whew&#8230;</p>
<p>So the show I’m in is called The Little Dog Laughed. It’s a four-person show, a very dark comedy. Maybe a little more “dramedy”. I’ve been waffling on announcing it to everyone, partly because I’ve had such a damn hard time trying to make time to write anything &#8211; let alone in this blog &#8211; and partly because of the fairly intense themes that the show covers. Not that I don’t think everyone would be up for it, but I’m not sure everyone would choose to sit through double male full nudity, and me doing a sort-of sex scene from which my character gets pregnant. So yeah, if that sentence alone hasn’t deterred you, then feel free to click the link to the right to make reservations. I have four comp tickets for Monday 9th, and four total available through next weekend (one of which I think my mother is going to use). The show runs Saturday, Sunday, Monday next weekend, and the last weekend of August. There will be no show on the 21st due to the Woodward Dream Cruise, but there will be a Sunday and Monday show that weekend.</p>
<p>We had three weeks to put this show together. Three weeks and three days, exactly, up until we opened last night. We rehearsed about three times a week, so with around 10-12 rehearsals, give or take a few, we put together this show. It’s been a crazy, crazy adventure.</p>
<p>But our first reviewer came last night to our opening&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p>Matthew Turner Shelton [<strong>one of my co-stars</strong>], meanwhile, has the broadest emotional landscape to cover, and somehow, he makes it look effortless. Perhaps just as impressively, Crystal Rhoney made me have far more sympathy for Ellen [<strong>my character</strong>] than I&#8217;ve previously felt. During a scene in which Ellen talks about returning to her childhood home, she broke my heart and won me over for what remained of the show.</p></blockquote>
<p>My first review! I’m on my way! (Another reviewer came to our matinee today, so we’ll see if it’s as positive as the first).</p>
<p>As a closing note, my life is going to ease up for a couple weeks. With less Greenfield singing time, my class ending, and now that the show is going on and I don&#8217;t have tons of rehearsals, I&#8217;m about to have a little bit of free time for a couple weeks before I <em>LEAVE FOR WESTERN</em>! AGH! So excited!</p>
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		<title>Alright, I Give</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/alright-i-give/</link>
		<comments>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/alright-i-give/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:23:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[So the band finally sat down and did some rough recordings. For now it is just the guitar and vocals (that&#8217;d be my friend Joey Smolinski on guitar, and myself on vocals), as our drummer needs different equipment to record his portion. So here, listen to me sing, then! Pursued By A Bear<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=96&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So the band finally sat down and did some rough recordings. For now it is just the guitar and vocals (that&#8217;d be my friend Joey Smolinski on guitar, and myself on vocals), as our drummer needs different equipment to record his portion.</p>
<p>So here, listen to me sing, then!</p>
<p><a href="http://pursuedbyabear.bandcamp.com">Pursued By A Bear</a></p>
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		<title>News. Finally.</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/news-finally/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:26:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Alright, so I&#8217;ve been a big slacker. I&#8217;ve been writing a lot again lately, but mostly for myself, just a little record of how things are going on my end, ups and downs and the like. But aside from the great rollercoaster ride that is my emotional state, there&#8217;s news! And Big News at that, [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=86&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Alright, so I&#8217;ve been a big slacker. I&#8217;ve been writing a lot again lately, but mostly for myself, just a little record of how things are going on my end, ups and downs and the like.</p>
<p>But aside from the great rollercoaster ride that is my emotional state, there&#8217;s news! And Big News at that, with capital letters and everything!</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve got a new employment. Of the performance variety.</p>
<p>This summer I&#8217;ll be working at Greenfield Village as one of the Greenfield Singers, a traveling sextet of sort-of carolers, except with popular tunes from the early 1900s. I&#8217;ll be working every Sunday and Monday throughout the Village and Henry Ford Museum. In addition to that I&#8217;m understudying other vocal parts, so on some other days of the week I&#8217;ll be singing a different part in the show. I think it&#8217;s 24 performances in all, tentatively, barring conflicts of my own, or other people&#8217;s &#8211; which would cause me to pick up more days. I&#8217;m going to post my schedule on the <a href="http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/current-events/">Current Events</a> page.</p>
<p>And, as Uncle Rich knows, I&#8217;ll be posting a video audition for the new season of Glee, which I&#8217;ll also put up here once it&#8217;s finished (it&#8217;s got to be posted by the 26th), of me singing <em>Don&#8217;t Rain On My Parade</em> originally done by Miss Streisand from the musical <em>Funny Girl</em>. Aside from that I&#8217;ve got auditions coming up at the end of this month and beginning of next for more Michigan theater productions.</p>
<p><strong>On a completely different note</strong>: I&#8217;ve recently applied to Western Michigan University. I should hear back within two weeks on their decision, and if I&#8217;m accepted I will be attending there this fall or coming spring. If I&#8217;m not, then I&#8217;ll be reapplying for the spring semester, and Wayne&#8217;s fall semester, to finish off my degree in public relations &#8211; PR for all you hip cats &#8211; with a probable minor in social psychology and theater studies.</p>
<p><strong>On another different, but related, note</strong>: Did everyone hear already that I got my license? If not: <em><strong>Hey. Everyone. I got my license</strong></em>. So now I need a vehicle. If any of you Michiganders see any little pick-up trucks about around the $2,000 mark, give me a heads-up. I need something to get me to the important places I&#8217;m going, ya know?</p>
<p>So since everyone is rackin&#8217; up the little kid count in the family, I think everyone should bring &#8216;em along to see how butter is churned, and how girls sang songs in the 1920s at Greenfield this summer.</p>
<p>Hope to see you there.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I&#8217;m playing piano again. If you want a concert of Gillock and baroque music, and, you know, scales, then I got you covered.</p>
<p><em>Signing off</em></p>
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		<title>That&#8217;s A Wrap!</title>
		<link>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/thats-a-wrap/</link>
		<comments>http://thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/thats-a-wrap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>crystalupdate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Update Well, RENT is all over. Saw a few of you there! For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s my bio as it appeared in the RENT program: Crystal Rhoney (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making her Ringwald debut with RENT. She’d like to thank the entire cast, crew, and directorial staff [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thecrystalupdate.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5821749&amp;post=70&amp;subd=thecrystalupdate&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3><span style="letter-spacing:0;">The Update</span></h3>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">Well, RENT is all over. Saw a few of you there! For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s my bio as it appeared in the RENT program:</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;color:#888888;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">Crystal Rhoney (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making her Ringwald debut with RENT. She’d like to thank the entire cast, crew, and directorial staff for making it all such an amazing experience. A special thanks goes out to her family and friends for their continued inspiration, motivation, and support. Back to performing after originating a role in the new musical Pick Up Lines in Waterford this past May, RENT is her second show after a three year hiatus. Viva la vie boheme!</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">Little shout out to all of you in there, so I figured you’d like to see it for yourself. I know it’s only one sentence, but it means a lot to me.</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">As far as future prospects of performance, there is nothing official at the moment. I’m waiting on a date for a callback that’s upcoming, and I had a few auditions earlier this year that may end in jobs later this year or next spring &#8211; so we shall see what comes of all that.</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">For now I’m working on a big long To-Do list. Stuff I’ve been procrastinating on way too long, stuff I’ve wanted to do for a long time but kept finding reasons to not do, pretty much just getting my life back in order while I work a little at Blockbuster and study for my classes this semester.</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, and gifts! “Send thank you cards” is next on my giant to-do list right below “Post in the blog”. I’m a big girl now. Twenty-three. </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">Which reminds me:</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<h3><span style="letter-spacing:0;">The New Page</span></h3>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">I’ve added a new page called Crystal’s FAQs. You’ll see the link at the top along with those to the other pages on the site. Current Events is pretty slim at the moment because the show is finally over, so all those performance and rehearsal dates have been removed. Until I know when my next audition, callback, or performance is, there probably won’t be much up there except a personal engagement here or there. I’ll probably post my work schedule if it gets any more hectic than the once a week that I’m working at the moment, just so everyone knows when I’m around.</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">As you know a FAQ page is a Q&amp;A section of a website, usually standing for Frequently Asked Questions. Well mine is Family Asked Questions. Anytime someone asks me something that I figure someone else might be curious about, I’ll post it there with the answer.</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">There’s another page in the works relating to my new job at Blockbuster, but it’s not quite finished yet, so we’ll save that for another post, another day! I&#8217;m also working on posting an album with photos from RENT.</span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;min-height:14px;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;"> </span></p>
<p style="font:12px Helvetica;margin:0;"><span style="letter-spacing:0;">Missing everyone!</span></p>
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