Love is in the air ♥ :)

'do you ask what the birds say? the Sparrow, the Dove,
the Linnet and Thrush say, "I love and I love!"
~ samuel taylor coleridge

Yes, friends. Love is in the air, and you can probably smell it.

To celebrate all the love that's floating around in the atmosphere, Lyceum and the League have teamed up to bring you Love is in the Air! A Valentine's Day Poetry and Story Slam. It's a chance for you to let out all of your pent up thoughts and feelings about love - the good, the bad, and the ugly; the romantic, the brotherly, and the motherly. All kinds of love. If you want to be a poet slammer, email us to reserve a spot! If you'd like to be a story slammer, email Lyceum! Looking forward to seeing you all there! And while you're in the UC, be sure to stop by the UC stage and buy some flowers to support the UM Dearborn students going all over the country during their Alternative Spring Break!

The last time I celebrated Valentine's Day was in . . . elementary school?

Those were the days when all of my classmates decorated "mailboxes" that would go out on the desks during the class Valentine's day party. On that day, the teacher would likely start off with a lot of fun Valentine's day activities. Then we'd probably have a party at the end of the day, when all the kids would go around stuffing the mailboxes with cards and treats. Usually, we'd get some little thing from the teacher, like pencils or an eraser or something that everyone would get really excited about, being a kid and all. Of course, your best friends got the biggest valentines, and the teacher most likely did, too. We'd have cookies and candy and cupcakes and drinks while maybe watching a movie or just spending the rest of the day just playing and eating and talking. Pure youthful bliss.

When I was in second grade, my dad took my sisters and I to see Anastasia in  theaters. It was my first movie theater movie, so I was pretty excited. I remember really liking the movie, but the two things that I remember most vividly are, first, that my dad bought us one lone bag of M&Ms as our movie snack food (some of which spilled onto the floor), snd second, that my dad bought my older sister and I each a box of Anastasia Valentine cards the next February. Best. Valentine cards. Ever.

(I actually don't remember the other kinds I'd ever gotten for my class, which must say something about them.)

If you're interested in buying them for someone (*coughmecough*), the only place I found them was on eBay.

Earlier last semester, I watched Anastasia for only the second time in my life. Why I never watched it since that first time will remain an unsolved mystery, but the second time around, I loved it even more. Soon I'll be watching it with my two youngest sisters, and if they don't like it, they'll probably be disowned.

- Amal

Filming: Day One!

So yesterday (Friday February 10th) was PPHS's annual Brunch With Dr. DeCamp.

The premise: bring together a whole bunch of pre-med, pharm, dent, etc. students in one room and fire question after question after freaking question at PPHS adviser and Pre-Medical advisor, Dr. DeCamp, and see how many he can answer within the time-frame before breaking out in tears. This time, Dr. DeCamp was aided by his trusty sidekick Umair Ahmed, 2011 graduate of UM-Dearborn and current first year medical student at WSU School of Medicine.

It was a lot of fun! The whole brunch and Q&A lasted two hours, and would have gone for longer if Dr. DeCamp didn't have a meeting at 1pm. Boring faculty meetings always ruin things. I'm sure it's a conspiracy. Aside from that, it was great - great turnout, great participation, great questions. My only complaint was the food (which I'm sure we can talk to Campus Dining about) but that didn't put a damper on the brunch. Hooray for success! Mo, if you're reading this, nice work!

After Brunch, I switched gears from PPHS to LEP aaaaaand it was time for filming! One of our ongoing projects in the League has been filming this video; back in September, Norton announced an international student poetry recitation contest for college and high school students - film yourself reading one of the eight poems on their list, and you could win $100 at B&N and have your name featured on the acknowledgments of a Norton Anthology. Really cool!

Unfortunately, that's when the LEP was still brand new, so the deadline came and went, and we didn't get very far with the video. Until now. Now, we have a script, thanks to Wafa! And actors. And capes. And swords. And a schedule. And a battle horn, courtesy of the fabulous Sara Millward!

Yesterday was the first real day of filming, and Sara and I were in this HUGE room in CASL for like 2 hours, improvising the stage setting, hearing our voices echo, and basically filming and recording a lot of material for the blooper reel. That'll probably end up being longer than the actual video. No complaints, though, because Sara is AWESOME and we had a lot of fun, especially when Miriam came by and ate her pb&j quite elegantly. I don't know if you guys have read "Peanut Butter Sandwich" by Shel Silverstein, but that's what that reminded me of!

I know the movie will be great. Filming will be continuing throughout the month of February, and Wafa's ambitious goal is to get it all done before spring break. If you want to be a part of the movie in any way, shape, or form, email us! We're eagerly refreshing our inbox!

- Amal