Class Note 1984
Your hard-working class secretaries have hatched an idea. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. In fact, Juliet Aires Giglio birthed the idea, and I thought I might take partial credit for it. However, I quickly realized that this was a foolish plan. Most of you realize that I haven’t had an original idea, probably ever. Let’s just say that Juliet had an idea and asked me to communicate it to the class in my own, inimitable style.
A bit of background may be helpful. Juliet seems to know a lot about what I call the moving picture industry. Juliet currently has a day job as a film professor at SUNY Oswego. Prior to this gig, she was a fulltime film writer. She has an IMDb page and everything. I, on the other hand, watch quite a bit of the YouTube. I guess you could say that I’m in the film biz as well. Anyway, Juliet thought it would be neat to create a class movie. For the project, each of us will record a brief video clip on our phones, no more than 10 to 15 seconds, in which you include any or all of the following information: your name, where you live, how you spend your time, advice to your 18-year-old self.
Once you have completed your assignment, simply email the video to Juliet at julietgiglio@gmail.com. Juliet will collect the clips, forward them to someone such as Peter Ellis, who doesn’t know it yet but will shortly agree to edit the entire project.
I realize that some of you may feel that this is a difficult assignment. To help you get the ball rolling, I have come up with some examples. Feel free to use your own.
“Hi, my name is Cody Laumeister. I wish that during my time at Dartmouth I had spent more time with the people from my freshman trip, specifically that guy Eric. Don’t remember the last name, but he was very affable.”
Or, “Hi, I’m Maria Hekker. During my time at Dartmouth I wish I had spent more time helping this really nice guy who was on my language study abroad program in Italy. He was great fun. I wish I could remember his name.”
“Hi, I’m Gretchen Booma. If I could give any advice to my 18-year-old self, it would be to avoid living next door to that Grubman guy, back in Wheeler. Bad move. Seriously. Live anywhere else. Anywhere.”
Try to avoid the easy traps, such as, “I’m Dan Devaney. If I could send a message to Freshman Dan, it would be to buy stock in a company called Apple. Don’t ask questions, just do it.”
So that’s the plan. Please email your video clips to Juliet by December 1. The goal is to get at least 250 of us involved, so Ellis can make a respectable film. If successful, I will claim this idea as my own and plan on premiering it at Sundance. I’ll wave to all of you from the red carpet.
—Eric Grubman, 2 Fox Den Way, Woodbridge, CT 06525; (203) 710-7933; grubman@sbcglobal.net; Juliet Aires Giglio, 4915 Bentbrook Drive, Manlius, NY 13104; julietgiglio@gmail.com
