A Semester’s Worth of Stubs

Although it seems like our first semester in college has flown by in an instant, when you reflect on the the semester, it is interesting to see how much we’ve experienced, where we’ve been, and what we have seen. I don’t want to sound all nostalgic and touchy-feely about the fact that our class is over. But I do think that it’s always important to to look back after you’ve finished anything and assess how much you’ve accomplished. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and look back at some of the semester’s main events:

Instead of going in chronological order, I will follow my tickets stubs starting from the top left and proceeding clockwise. The upper-left-most ticket stub is none other than our beloved classical guitar boy band, the Assad Brothers. While I greatly respected them as musicians, I felt that the concert wasn’t as riveting as many of the other concerts that we’ve seen this year. I was practically more engaged by their Brazilian accents than the music itself. One thing that still puzzles me about that show was why one of the brothers randomly disappeared for a little while. One of the best parts of their act is the spectacle of seeing both brothers perform in such flawless unison. With one Assad brother on the stage alone, it just wasn’t the same.

Let’s keep rolling to the next stub, which for some reason I placed vertically. This is from our trip to the MoMa, when we saw the Matisse exhibit, in addition to other interesting works, including some Jackson Pollock paintings. I have two distinct memories from this visit. First of all, I will never forget the feeling of showing my Macaulay ID and receiving my ticket stub, which read “Free: $0.00.” That gets me every time. But more seriously, I remember telling Professor Smaldone that I didn’t see the beauty in the Mark Rothko or Barnett Newman paintings. Highly disappointed with my close-mindedness, Professor Smaldone gave me an inspiring lesson about the way to approach works of art and different ways of looking at the works than I had done before. Although I am still not such a big Rothko or Newman fan, that experience definitely changed my perspective on modern art.

Onto the next blue ticket from the 92nd Street Y. This one was from the lecture with Victor Wooten and Daniel J. Levitin, which was one of the more controversial outings among several of our classmates. I clearly remember taking the subway back to Queens and listening to a bunch of our classmates, including Greg, Erica, and Alyssa, argue about the merit of Wooten’s philosophy that anyone can learn to play music well at any point in their life, regardless of their musical background. Whether or not you agree with Wooten’s philosophy, I have to say that his bass version of “Amazing Grace” is one of the most incredible pieces of music that I’ve ever heard. Watch a version of it on YouTube. Just look at his fingers! Absolutely amazing.

The next three tickets are from Cosi Fan Tutte, Iolanthe and Brigadoon. Because most of us spent a lot of time thinking about these three over the weekend in preparation of the final, I don’t think you really need me to remind you about them. However, some of you may be wondering why my ticket from the Met Opera is handwritten. Well, that would be because I smartly lost the one Professor Smaldone gave to me in class, so I had to get a makeshift ticket.

The next ticket is from our first class trip to Le Poisson Rouge, followed by the ticket from my group outing to the Guggenheim, and finally my ticket from Fall for Dance. I hope that this post brought back some memories from the semester. I can’t imagine that Semester 2 about the People of NYC will be as enjoyable, but let’s hope for the best!