Overheard at Starbucks on 67th and Columbus Avenue

There was a little girl sitting across from a woman who could’ve been her mother. The woman’s phone rang, and she picked it up. “Hello?”

“Who’s that, Jilly?” the girl asked.

“Yeah. Where’s the entrance to the tram? Is that on 2^nd Avenue?”

A long pause ensued, during which time, the woman listened and the girl repeated over and over, “Who’s that, Jilly?”

“So I’ll text you when we get to the tram. You’re welcome. Bye.”

“Who’s that, Jilly? Is that my mommy or my daddy?” Nanny, then.

“That was Bret. You’re going to his house.”

“I want to go to Bret’s house now.”

“Good. We’ll pack up your snack and leave right now.” The girl got up and ran toward the door. “El,” the alleged nanny called. “Wait for me.”

“No! I’m going to Bret’s.”

“If you don’t wait for me, I’ll throw away your snack.”

“Noooooo.” It was the scream of a child in broken-leg-level pain.

“Then wait for me.” She left behind Travel Section of the Times, an empty box of chocolate milk, and a partially full bottle of San Pellegrino, like a shrine to her dragging life.

Presenting The Report to Screen Advantage

Yesterday I finalized my social and digital media report.  I will be presenting the changes that should be made and how it will benefit Screen Advantage in the long run.  I basically suggest Screen Advantage increases the amount of advertising it does on sites like Facebook, Twitter, using Google Ad words and other such things.
Just reflecting back to Cannes the only way companies and products are noticed in the film industry is if they are presented in a flashy, glamorous way.  Cannes is the most important film festival for many directors, producers, and companies so it is more over the top than others, but many of those companies take the dazzling aspects of Cannes and use it year round.  I'm not saying Screen Advantage needs to throw yacht parties or give people sparky macaroons at presentations, but it could benefit from some frills.  The point of Screen Advantage is that it is a "no nonsense" finical tool so people can make clear, concise financial reports, but it is important to catch people's eyes, which only tends to happen with a little glitz.
Screen Advantage needs to be more aggressive in advertising otherwise Screen Advantage will remain unknown and only build a base of customers through word of mouth.

The Met

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday. After breaking off from each other, we meandered around all of the exhibits. The second and third floors of the Met, the modern art galleries, are virtually silent. I can hear the soft padding of one person behind me and the clging of heavy shoes against marble stairs. These floors are left to the wanderers, to the people not looking for some specificity out of the experience, who are not being told to go to x, y, and z paintings. The wheezing of the elevator, a single bright note, a murmur of a couple of words thudding against the white walls surround me. The thump of my heart beat reverberates through my body and I can feel it pulsing through the backside of my knees and in my fingertips. Everything is deadened and there’s a fuzzing behind my ears. Every individual blue knob in the carpet blends together. People trickle through, drop by drop. Only the brush of their jeans lets me know where to find them within the room. There’s a skylight in the ceiling, but it is covered up by a thin curtain. I can’t even see the blue of the sky.

The MOMA

The MOMA is blank except for its artwork. It has no distinct smell, no content except for the master pieces it holds. The white walls and ceilings are only broken by the installed lighting and the thick black tracks they rest on. The windows looking out to the main space can be used to see up to the top floor, the yellow backpack of a student bobbing just beyond the line of sight. Or you can look out the window and see nothing, only the blank white canvas glazing over your eyes. But it’s better this way. So that when you turn your head away from the black hole you can see the sweeping of color against the wall. The clear walls are now contrasted against the vibrancy of the paintings. Picture frames become borders that separate the two existences. The hall fills up with people. A girl carrying an Abercrombie and Fitch bag sticks her face as close as possible to Anselm Kiefer’s drawing before she vanishes to another room. Her gray attire blending into the drawings. A guy in his down vest takes pictures, a French couple snuggles on a bench. 

Fashion, Food, and Fundraising

Yesterday, I hosted an event at Haven Style House to help raise money for Bright Pink. I am happy to say that the event was a success and with the help of everyone who came to support, we raised a lot of money for cancer. For the event, I teamed up with Kat and Rachel who helped me by making loads of tasty treats to sell at the event. I was happy I could involve another Hawken project in the event and we could see how each other’s project is going. On Friday I spent part of my day preparing for the event and getting the word out to encourage people to come. I took pictures in the clothes in order to show people what the store sells. In addition, in the picture I am holding a box that says “bright pink” in order to show people the inspiration for the event and the true goal: to raise money, not to just sell merchandise.

At the end of every month, Cori and Anne go over their inventory and how much they sold in order to see which products, whether it be jewelry, purses, makeup, or clothing, sold the most and generated the most revenue. It is important for them to look at these numbers in order to know how much to buy for the next month. I helped out by going through the final number of items they had in the store at the end of the month. 

Friday 5/30

Today I did a lot of work to prepare for the giant relay. Ms. Post and I met to go over many logistics. This included assigning teachers different stations to oversee in the relay and then emailing them detailed explanations of what they will need to do during the relay. I got to learn a lot about teacher’s personalities by what Ms. Post and I chose to assign them in the giant relay. I think this was a very important insight that could hopefully impact the improvements of the house system.

Another large thing I did today was design; buy supplies for then create batons for the giant relay. Though this may seem like a small task, it took a ton of time! I think these batons have to potential to bring war-torn houses together in a very peaceful movement. Sometimes arts and crafts are a very soothing activity.

Next week Ms. Post and I will spend a majority of our time planning and executing the preparation of the Giant Relay in hopes of making it the greatest Giant relay in the history of the world of giant relays and all other relays! I can’t wait for everyone to be back on campus with me to enjoy it!!!

Till next time,

Ali

Day 10: Working with the Moneyman $$$$$

Today I worked in the admission department for the RubberDucks. For the first half of the day I shadowed Emily Ray who is the Office Manager and Assistant Director for Ken Babby (the owner). I was shocked to learn about all the responsibilities Emily has to do. She basically has to answer the phone all day and transfer calls from the community to other departments. As well as, setting up meetings and keeping track of where Mr. Babby needs to be and numerous other things. She taught me a valuable lesson in dealing with community relations and that was to do everything above and beyond and have a positive attitude. She's an awesome person and from what I've seen so far has probably the most hectic job out of all the departments. She has two interns who I shadowed and worked with the second half of the day named, Alex Moneypenny and Will. Alex's last name is sweet so everyone at the office just calls him Money. But anyway I worked with Money for the majority of the afternoon and I learned how the team handles donations. He is responsible for receiving all of the communities donation requests and has to read each letter and send back tickets. It's a hard job for one person to handle so I got the opportunity to read letters from different organizations and send back ticket vouchers for future games. The administration department is all about the community and making sure that the community is left with a satisfying experience with the RubberDucks organization. I feel that this department is so vital to sports marketing because you have to have a good name and good recognition for fans to be interested and businesses who want to work with the team. They do an outstanding job of making sure the community is satisfied and has a good experience with the RubberDucks. The more and more I'm around this community here, I've learned that this organization is like a family. They all are so close to each other and have a fun time working but also get what they need to get done, completed. They've accepted me with open arms and I'm extremely grateful to have this opportunity to work with them.