I believe that the musical Rent and the reading Scenes of the Latin quarter both display an artist who embraces his own struggles and surroundings. The apartment that was shown was very basic and run down, housing only the necessities to live. Alongside Mark and Roger’s apartment, the other character’s are in the same boat as them; this being poor finances and health concerns. The HIV and AIDS crisis were touched upon here, but it did not seem to be as prominent in the physical reading. During this time, being openly gay was often looked down upon.

Alongside this, Maureen’s performance seemed rather confusing. The part were she had the crowd moo when she talked about milk did not really make sense. With the reading, I personally found the different plots hard to follow and understand. Despite this, I think that the chapter Mademoiselle Mimi was easier to understand and follow. I found it more enjoyable to read and the emotion throughout the chapter was clear to see.

The Opera was even harder to understand for me. I do believe it is a unique way of presenting something, but I found it difficult to appreciate its uniqueness. However, I think the musical did a very good job showing the emotions of grief and despair, which allowed the audience to connect more deeply with the characters. Overall, I think the musical was the best of the three, because of the way it engaged the audience.

I found it interesting to hear Rich Stremme’s story. He was very passionate about his work and he was really appreciative of his audience. He also claimed that he would include all people, but he would not allow people who did not include others to attend his shows. He also said that people from other countries came to listen to him. He remarked that Mexican kids came to see his show and invited him to a gas station after to eat together. I also learned a lot about the difficulties of pursuing punk rock. He mentioned that his group would often lose money trying to promote his concerts. This truly showed dedication and love for his work.

I also appreciated the zines and vinyl disks that were presented to us in class. It was easy to tell that a lot of work was put into each piece. These were primarily focused on the punk rock genre. This showed how Stremme was able to integrate business into his musical

I believe it would have been better to speak to him face to face, because this would have been more personal and we would not have been interrupted by the zoom lag. However, it was still a very nice experience and I enjoyed learning about Rich Stremme’s work and life.

When I first read the play, I was filled with mixed emotions.  The whole story about a woman giving birth a rabbit was really confusing.  I believed that the story was made up, and it was very interesting to find out that the play was based on a true story from many years ago.  I was under the impression that the rabbit symbolized something, but I was not sure what this could have been. I was surprised towards the end of the story when the audience found out that Joshua had been too aggressive when engaging with Mary, and especially how she prayed to have rabbits.  Aside from the chaotic story, I thought that Thomas’ comments helped lighten the mood.   I also liked the part where the doctor began questioning if Joshua was an actual rabbit.

When we went to the Macaulay building, I thought that the actors would just be reading the play to us.  They actually had a lot more emotion than I had expected.  I was especially taken back when the readers started screaming for their roles.  All of the readers enthusiasm when reading the play really kept me engaged.  Hearing Thomas’ sarcasm in person also made the script much more enjoyable.  I also enjoyed asking the author, Stephen Gracia, questions about what inspired him to write the play. 

When I went to the Art Lab, the street leading right to the entrance was completely flooded, so I had to take a different route. It turned out that every other street after the entrance to the Art Lab was a one-way street going the opposite way, so I had to go down several blocks just to get in through the exit.

When I finally got there, the only class offered was for kindergarteners. Since I was already there, and I didn’t want to just go home without doing anything, I decided to take the class with them. When I walked into the classroom, they were all painting realistic people, but I am still stuck on doing stick figures, so it was embarrassing to see them doing much more advanced pictures. I ended up leaving the class and tried looking for another the same day, but the next class for people my age wasn’t for a few more days, so I would have had to leave and come back a completely different time.

I decided to stay longer and look at the paintings and sculptures that were on display. I also found out that there were many different classes offered. This included classes offered for painting, drawing, sowing, photography, darkroom photography, and stained glass painting. There were many different studios for each class, and many of the works produced there were on display.