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Joe: Meeting Stephen Colbert…for Class

Joe Kain

Hey Everyone!

I hope you’re all having an awesome end to your school year, I know I did. And congratulations to those of you that have already graduated.

A few weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to see a live taping of The Colbert Report in New York City. As some of you may know, when you’re here at BU you will probably be taking a WR 150 class. These writing classes all test the same skills, but just have different topics. Some topics include The Devil, Environmentalism, Documentary Films, and even Stephen Colbert!

I was lucky enough to get into the class entitled “The Colbert Report: American Satire.” The class, with Professor Michael Rodriguez, studies Colbert’s unique brand of satire and how he is not only revolutionizing previously utilized styles of satire, but also creating his own unique style. It is a super fun class and I urge anyone interested in this type of thing to try and take this class, because it is NOT going to be easy to get in.

Anyways, we all got to skip out on class to take a trip to NYC. The Colbert Report interestingly films in a really random part of New York, so we didn’t have a lot of time to wander around the city before the filming. But, it didn’t really matter because we were all so amazed that we were about to see Stephen Colbert in person! For school!

The taping was everything I thought it was going to be. It was absolutely hysterical to see him in person. But, as a film and TV student, it was even more impressive to see how much goes into just one episode of the show. His team of writers comes up to him to give him a pep-talk between every commercial break, and the show’s runner is all over the place, queuing Colbert as to which camera he should be looking at.

After the taping, as a special treat for our class, Colbert stayed back and answered questions out of character. Not many people get to see Colbert out of his character, so to hear him speak so eloquently and with such intelligence as a satirist was amazing. I also felt like I had a greater understanding of the show after taking the WR 150 class.

So the lesson is take classes that you’re interested in! Never settle for any “boring” classes or classes that your friends are taking. Branch out and explore all your options here at BU. You won’t regret it.

Richie: A Picnic in Boston

Hey guys!

Everyone on campus has been super excited since Spring finally decided to come to Boston. I walk around campus and see people playing frisbee, tossing a football around, or just laying out on the grass trying to catch a tan (yes there are some areas with grass on the BU Campus). Well, since my girlfriend was visiting for the week I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and plan a little picnic in the Boston Common.

We went to a Whole Foods Market and bought some “picnic” food on Saturday. I’m not to sure of the usual “picnic” food, but we did get cheese and crackers, some all-natural sodas, sandwich materials, vegetables for salad, and some raspberry licorice for dessert. Then on Sunday we prepared everything, put it in a backpack, grabbed a blanket from my dorm, and were off. I have to admit the floor was a little wet from some rain earlier in the morning, but the day was beautiful. The sun was out and we had an awesome meal. I even brought my laptop and put a chill Spring-time playlist on my iTunes to accompany the beautiful day.

The Swan Boats were open in the Boston Commons and my girlfriend and I went on a ride around the little lake. Afterwards, we packed everything back up again and walked down Newbury Street. A lot of the shops had prices that scared my wallet away, but my girlfriend managed to find a bunch of awesome sales at the new Forever 21 store.

It was also the day before the Boston Marathon so we got to walk on Boylston Street and see where the finish line would be. People from all over the world were walking around. We were in a sea of different languages.

The day was basically awesome. It took a while for Winter to end but Spring time in Boston is great. I definitely recommend the picnic idea to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. The only thing I regret was we were missing the big red and white checkered blanket!

Sarah: Fy-What?

First off, I have to thank everyone who came to open house. Kudos to Admissions for picking you guys! You were well worth getting out of bed at 7am for. Hopefully we’ve helped guide you toward a decision. If you are already sold on BU, take a breath of relief, but also start looking ahead to all BU will offer you.

I recently received some exciting news – I was accepted to be a staff leader for FYSOP22! FYSOP (one of BU’s countless acronyms) is BU’s First Year Student Outreach Project run by the Community Service Center. I think I speak for all involved when I say nothing welcomes you to BU quite like FYSOP.

In a nutshell, FYSOP is a week of community service throughout the Boston area. The week before classes begin, students will volunteer in one of ten issue areas, ranging from environment, to hunger to elders (Choose elders! Maybe I’ll be your staff leader). You’ll work hard, make friends, avoid the move-in rush, get awesome T-shirts, learn more cheers than you will ever remember and create memories that will last for the rest of your time at BU.

But don’t just take my word for it – ask around. FYSOP has become such a popular program that nearly 1 out of every 4 freshman in the class of 2014 participated. While the very name FYSOP might look strange to you, everyone on campus knows about it.

If you are at all interested in serving the community, becoming acquainted with Boston, settling in early and meeting some truly incredible people, consider applying for FYSOP. Yes, this does mean a week less of summer at home, but trust me, by the end of August you’ll be itching to leave the nest.

Check out the website for more FY-info.

http://www.bu.edu/csc/opportunities/community-service-center-programs/fysop/