Every year alums send us a short clip of what they're currently working on, I cut them all together, try and match the audio levels and burn it all onto a DVD that the Alumni Relations people travel with and use as an event promotion tool. It's fun. I get to see great work, send hasty e-mails asking for a different codec, or what's the password for your download again, and be pleasantly reminded that students do turn into pros out in the world and continue to get better and better. Cool.
The current students that we brought down did a good job of smoozing with the older crowd. One of the first alums in the door was Anna who plopped down on a bar stool and told them all of the amazing things she's doing: working for whom, working with whom. They seemed a little taken aback by the fact she's just been out of school for two years and she's got a list of what she's doing and where she's going a half mile long. I was impressed.
The place was packed this year which always makes it seem more exciting, but also makes it harder to move around and mingle. There were also a lot of parents there reminding me who their student is and the previous conversations we had way back at the beginning of the year. My memory finally clicks in and I say, oh yes I remember you. I think it's nice that parents are interested and want to feel involved with their students progress and thankfully no one is over doing it. Just enough.
The alums were really the center of the show, fun to see again, hug, laugh, talk a little and move on to the next. That's both fun and emotionally taxing for me. Remember my passport says "shy, quiet guy" or something like that.
Larry Blume talked this year and showed some of his work both recent and a little older. It was nice to see clips and hear him speak. He mentioned briefly the inevitable demise of film as a production medium and the equally inevitable rise of HD digital cinematography (not using exactly that phrase) as a replacement. It's nice to hear a pro with real perspective say the same thing I keep saying back at school. Those old days are over and we need to run fast to either jump on the new cinematography bandwagon or build still yet a newer one ourselves.
My biggest complaint at these events, which in the cosmic realm of things is quite small, but in the more practical part of my day has an effect, is that I usually miss all of the food. OK, I get a little here off the tray, then some cheese, here she comes again with that tray, then a beer, what's that on the tray now - no thanks, another beer, she was just here with that tray again, but she didn't see me. Then I have to go set up some equipment, restart a computer, run the audio cables, etc. I go back and they're all wiping their mouths with napkins and the trays are all empty. Those lamb chops were perfect weren't they - what lamb chops? Story of my life. So I have another beer. Good thing I'm not driving back isn't it.
So in the end it was more fun than I expected. After a cell phone call to round up missing students and a cold walk down the street, we got the van out of the parking lot, started up the GPS and headed off back home.
Finally back at Hampshire, Bruner dropped all the students off at their different mods on campus (nice guy) and we returned to the parking lot behind the library to find that he has a flat tire on his car. It's 5 degrees and we're beat, so I drive him home to Easthampton in my car. I get home at 3AM and to bed after briefly talking to our befuddled cats who wonder what the heck I'm doing outside at that time. Where's he been anyway?
The photo at top is from Dan Epstein. That's Larry Blume on the left in the white shirt and the guy with the bald spot is me. One year, after returning from Paris, I was going through our photos and found this useless image of an old, bald, fat guy looking at a wall. I asked my wife why she had wasted a shot on someone we didn't even know. She paused a moment, smiled and said, "That's you." We all need a photo of ourselves that way at times.
gunther
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