Posts Tagged ‘party’

Harmony: Gigs, Glory, and Growth

Monday, August 1st, 2022

Walking home on the last day of junior year classes, a chilly late-May day, I received a 500 dollar loan bad credit by email notification with the subject line “oh and another thing:” from my creative writing professor. I stopped in my tracks to open the message, which read, “surround yourself with friends who will never let you forget that you are an artist.” 

I smiled, remembering the conversation that we had just wrapped up in our last class, which she had reserved as an “Ask Me Anything” session. Her email was an addendum to the response she had given for my question about how to manage burnout in a creative career. She shared advice about maintaining artistic momentum, and even told us that her students actually inspire her. 

As I continued my walk home, I reflected on the class, which had ended up being one of my favorites during my time at Northwestern. Beyond my talented classmates, the interesting topics, and hard work I put into the assignments, it was really the professor that made the class stand out. I had never met a professor so invested in her students and openly emotional with her words of support. Through office hour meetings where we discussed a lengthy short story piece I was working on, I became inspired by her creatively-driven career path as a novelist and creative writing professor. She encouraged us to take risks and dive deep into our writing, and as a result it was in this class that I discovered my voice as a writer and an artist. I dove into my writing, embracing the work that I really loved to do, and the effect rippled out into my other passion as I began to pursue DJing more seriously.

The summer after my sophomore year, I DJed every week during my late-night radio shows. Once I overcame the initial technical difficulties and got the hang of the equipment, my time at the radio station became sacred to me. I loved being able to practice alone while also knowing that there was a small audience of listeners somewhere out there. All by myself in the studio, it was easy to forget about the people tuning in to my show, but one night, to my delight, I received a call on the radio phone line in the middle of my set. A listener let me know how much they enjoyed my set, and asked about the names of the last couple of songs I had played. 

As I gained confidence behind the DJ booth at the station, I began to invite a couple of friends to come hang out at the station during my set. Some would talk and browse the station as I played, while others would peer over my shoulder and dance. When the fall semester of junior year started up, I received an email one day announcing a party hosted by the radio station and asking if anyone was interested in DJing. I responded to the email, and by the end of the day I had a forty-five minute time slot lined up for that coming weekend. 

A picture from my first time DJing at a party

In the days leading up to the party, nerves were running high and I wasn’t quite sure how to prepare. At the radio station, I would just show up and try things out for an hour, but for a roomful of people I wanted to be more prepared. I listened to a bunch of music and meticulously picked out songs for my set, then I went over to my friend’s house to practice mixing with his DJ board. On the day of, just an hour before the party started, I decided that I hated my whole set and redid all of my song selections. I felt underprepared and had no idea what was going to happen, but there was nothing left to do except go and try my best. So, I put on my favorite outfit and headed over to the party. I was the first person slated to perform, so as people started to trickle in, I put on the first song and began to adjust the settings to my liking. As I made my first song transition, muscle memory kicked in, and I realized that all those hours at the radio station paid off, and I knew exactly what to do – in fact, I could do it almost without thinking! 

All of a sudden, the dance floor was full. I could see how the crowd responded to the music and tried to play off of their energy, layering upbeat songs to get the crowd moving with slower songs to give people a breather. I was nervous that my disco house tracks wouldn’t land because they’re not the typical Top 40 hits you hear at a college party, but I was delighted to see that people were really dancing and enjoying themselves. I left the DJ booth feeling a huge sense of success, and received lots of compliments, thumbs up, and smiles from friends and strangers alike. As the next DJ took over, I slipped into the crowd with a smile that would linger for days to come, and danced the rest of the night away.


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By Lu Poteshman

Lu is a rising senior at Northwestern University, where she studies English Literature with a minor in Art, Theory and Practice. She is passionate about all things music and art, and loves to paint, draw, design things, write creatively, cook and explore in her free time. She is currently working towards her dreams of being a book editor by day and DJ by night.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Student Savings or Student High

Friday, July 13th, 2018

Back in high school, we had alumni telling us about their personal experiences with parties and drugs in college—he majority just warned us to stay away from the drug and alcohol scenes in college for fear of being punished and having our scholarships revoked. I have only drunk a few times at family gatherings—I was never really a drinker. As for drugs, I would often see how shaky, paranoid, and unalert people were made by the so-called harmless drug of marijuana. I’d hear about certain kids offering special discounts and being able to rack up $40 in just four hours. I would just roll my eyes and promise myself never to try it out in college.

A year later, I’ve kept that promise nice and strong. My roommates were respectful about it, and didn’t seem too involved in the drug and alcohol scene themselves.  Nonetheless, sometimes it seemed to me like just about everyone else would smoke a blunt or go to Saturday night outings to drink their semester stress away. I would hear about it and smell the smoke on the corner of 6th avenue which caused me to assume that only 10% of people are completely sober here.

I actually took a class called Drugs and Kids last semester, and in it the argument of whether or not to legalize marijuana came up and the teacher proposed a poll. She first asked who thinks it should be legalized, and the majority of the class raised their hand—although some people didn’t vote at all. She let those who raised their hand explain their reasoning and then proceeded to ask those who didn’t think it should be legalized. I raised my hand more so in a shaky way, because I only agreed to an extent. Marijuana policies do create extreme numbers in arrest (especially for African Americans), overpopulated jails and diminishes every single tax benefit. But, I made it clear to the class that I felt mixed about the situation because of my experience in seeing how screwed up my high school peers were. I even mentioned how I never tried it so I wouldn’t know the beautiful high of it and one of the students just turned around: “Really?” Yes, really.

I remember feeling quite embarrassed by the dead silence that filled the room. I wondered if there were even kids who were scared to raise their hands. But then again, why should I feel ashamed? In college, or in life in general, abiding by the law is seen as a joke and breaking it is the trend. The whole conversation was one big replica of high school, something I dreaded. I never went to any parties or did any drugs during my freshman year. Though, I did have a nice alcoholic experience with family after the spring semester. Not everyone in college is partying, drinking, or doing drugs. And even if they are, I shouldn’t put those who party in the same category as those who do drugs or drink because that is simply not the case. I assumed this in the beginning because I didn’t know many people and I hadn’t found my niche. If you’re like me, a traditional person who doesn’t want to see people blacked out and prefers laid out and rather cheap, safer environments, then you will find people like me eventually. I wouldn’t consider myself an antisocial person—trust me, I’m not—but just like Alessia Cara, I don’t do parties and I feel great about it.

Image result for college party

Image Credit: https://studybreaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/college-party.jpg

 

By: Tiana B.


Tiana is a sophomore at NYU concentrating on journalism and creative writing. She seeks to display the representation of African Americans and Latinos by providing her own experiences and illuminating marginalized issues in her own writing. When she’s free from her stressful college life, she likes to listen to rap music, binge watch on anime, splurge on Kmart deals, and cook her Hispanic cuisines. Tiana also runs another blog called True T which also highlights not only her personal experiences, but her genuine and unfiltered opinions on today’s matters.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Free Weekend (Week of 9/21/12)

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

So many great things to do around this city this weekend! Just remember to wear a jacket while you enjoy the beautiful weather in store:

 

FAB! Festival 2012

 

The FAB! (or Fourth Arts Block) festival is a music, theater, and dance festival taking place on East 4th Street (between Bowery and 2nd Avenue). The festival will include many indoor and outdoor stages showcasing the three art forms that the festival is centered around.

Advertised as a family-friendly affair, activities will feature everything from world music performances to cooking demonstrations to open theater, art demonstrations, art activities for kids and screen printing, to trivia, and more.  There is even a bike friendly tour that is free with RSVP. Find out more here and visit the website for more info.

 

 

Canteen’s Epic Brooklyn Book Festival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literary magazine Canteen is throwing an awesome party tomorrow night. The event will feature live performances from 3 great bands (Devin, Starlight Girls, and Vorhees) plus a three hour open bar courtesy of  The Noble Experiment and Brooklyn Brewery.

This event will totally be worthwhile and can be summed up with a simple equation: 3 live bands + 3-hour open bar = Friday night well spent. Be sure to “like” the event page and get there early.

 

 

 

Stars @ Mercury Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canadian band Stars will be playing a free show at Mercury Lounge this Saturday. It’s a thrillcall sponsored event, so to get in you need to download their app and get the tickets through there.

 

 

 

Brooklyn Book Festival

Literary celebration has been in full swing for about a week now and will be going on until the 23rd. Organized by the Brooklyn Book Council, the event features author readings and discussions. Attendees can sample the offerings of indie publications and even their own publications at the event.  If you’re a writer or aspiring writer this is a great event to showcase your work to an audience you probably haven’t even thought of. Check out the website for more information.

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Carlos L., Monroe College. Read my blog!!  Follow me on Twitterand Facebook

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