Before getting the role as catering director for Bon Appetit Management Company at Roger Williams University, Joeseph Carney was looking to be on theater’s biggest stage: Broadway.
Clean-cut, muscular, handsome; a star was ready to be born. He recalls the first show he ever played in; a junior high school reenactment of The Wizard of Oz. “I realized that I got a great thrill from being on stage. The appeal for me was being appreciated by complete strangers.”
Carney attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) located in New York City and soon got his first professional acting job as a supporting role in the European tour of The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Phantom of the Opera). By the age of 21, he was starring as Jesus in a national tour of the musical-turned-film Godspell, a modern-day take on the story of the New Testament. “Touring city to city at 21 years old and being the lead in a musical and getting to die on stage every night was a lot of fun. That was one of the times of my life.”
It should be said, however, that theater isn’t always fun and games. “A national tour is very demanding on your body. You’re doing 8 shows a week and you’re sleeping in a bus half the time. At one point, I was doing 30 shows in 30 days in 30 different cities.”
By the age of 24, Carney had gotten himself into the Actor’s Union and felt that he was ready for Broadway. It came down to him and one other person for the lead roles in Rent and Hairspray, but he came up short both times. “It was either some guy who had been in the business longer than I had or someone who was a B-list movie star. I just started to see the reality of theater. Even though I was taught in school that this is how it is, I had to experience that instability for myself.”
Carney’s main reason for leaving the stage was his wife Amanda, who was wardrobe supervisor for the national tour of Fame in 2004. “Her love was more important to me than the applause I got on stage. If I’m thinking that I could give myself to someone for the rest of my life and possibly have a family, then I need to be done with theater.” He thanks his grandparents - who raised him after his mother passed away when he was 3 years old - for giving him the courage to give himself to another person. “My grandparents showed me that having a relationship with someone is a lot of hard work but that it’s all worth it.”
Catering might not seem like the next logical step in a performer’s career, but for Carney it makes perfect sense. “It’s like being in theater. You get there, you unload a truck, you put on a show for people, you feed them, and then you load it all back up and do it again the next day.”
“If you didn’t have a passion for food and hospitality, it would reflect upon every event. He is always looking to do something different.“ says Tara Norcross, who was brought in as an assistant manager as the number of requested catering events began to be too much for Carney alone.
Eating healthy has always been a part of Carney’s routine on the stage, and because of that he is genuinely behind what his employer stands for. “Bon Appetit is all about what I’m about. Supporting local farms and serving healthy, well made food.”
Carney recollects the song he chose for his wedding, a song by Jason Mraz entitled ’Life is Wonderful’. “This is everything I could ever of hoped for in a job. I have security, stability, and I get to put on a show. My wife and I bought a house this past year and we’re thinking about starting a family next year. Life is truly wonderful.”
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Classmate Profile
Life’s winding roads can lead you to many dark places, but if you’ve got a heart filled with determination like Marilou Gonzalez-Yanez, one can make the seemingly impossible become reality. The timid girl from Los Angeles perhaps hasn’t been dealt the best hand, but that hasn’t stopped her from achieving her goals with such grace and determination.
Marilou Gonzalez-Yanez is the first in her family to attend a 4-year University, however, she would be the first to tell you that much of her success can be attributed to her mother, who worked two jobs and attended community college to provide her children with the road map to a successful and happy life. “She is a very strong woman who did nothing but support me in every aspect. Her determination to succeed in order for my sister and I to go to great private schools only made me motivated to do well.”
On top of all the struggles that Mrs. Gonzalez’s mother - who divorced her father when she was only two and a half - endured while raising two children alone, Mrs. Gonzalez also had many of her own obstacles to overcome. “My parents decided to teach me Spanish at home, so I didn’t start learning English until I was six and a half years old. I definitely struggled in that aspect.” That was, unfortunately, not the only thing that Mrs. Gonzalez was forced to deal with. “I am also dyslexic, so I felt as if it added pressure to the fact that I was a minority with a learning disability who was trying to succeed in America.”
Now attending Roger Williams University with a major in Communications and a double minor in English and Theatre, Mrs. Gonzalez seems to be right where she wants. However, that was not always the case. “I was originally coming to Roger Williams to major in Marine Biology, which was why I originally applied to the school, but after getting in with a really good scholarship I decided to change my major completely.” But as you might expect from Mrs. Gonzalez, she is not complacent with just improving her academic ability. “I’m also on the Roger Williams Women’s Volleyball Team. Sometimes it’s tough to manage school and sports, but I’ve been doing pretty well with it and I really like my teammates.”
As if the pressure of the present wasn’t putting enough weight on her shoulders already, Mrs. Gonzalez is already thinking about her future. “It is my second year here at Roger Williams and I’ve enjoyed every moment thus far. I still have the motivation to do well for my family as well as myself so that one day when I have children I can teach them the values and determination as my mother taught me.”
Marilou Gonzalez-Yanez is the first in her family to attend a 4-year University, however, she would be the first to tell you that much of her success can be attributed to her mother, who worked two jobs and attended community college to provide her children with the road map to a successful and happy life. “She is a very strong woman who did nothing but support me in every aspect. Her determination to succeed in order for my sister and I to go to great private schools only made me motivated to do well.”
On top of all the struggles that Mrs. Gonzalez’s mother - who divorced her father when she was only two and a half - endured while raising two children alone, Mrs. Gonzalez also had many of her own obstacles to overcome. “My parents decided to teach me Spanish at home, so I didn’t start learning English until I was six and a half years old. I definitely struggled in that aspect.” That was, unfortunately, not the only thing that Mrs. Gonzalez was forced to deal with. “I am also dyslexic, so I felt as if it added pressure to the fact that I was a minority with a learning disability who was trying to succeed in America.”
Now attending Roger Williams University with a major in Communications and a double minor in English and Theatre, Mrs. Gonzalez seems to be right where she wants. However, that was not always the case. “I was originally coming to Roger Williams to major in Marine Biology, which was why I originally applied to the school, but after getting in with a really good scholarship I decided to change my major completely.” But as you might expect from Mrs. Gonzalez, she is not complacent with just improving her academic ability. “I’m also on the Roger Williams Women’s Volleyball Team. Sometimes it’s tough to manage school and sports, but I’ve been doing pretty well with it and I really like my teammates.”
As if the pressure of the present wasn’t putting enough weight on her shoulders already, Mrs. Gonzalez is already thinking about her future. “It is my second year here at Roger Williams and I’ve enjoyed every moment thus far. I still have the motivation to do well for my family as well as myself so that one day when I have children I can teach them the values and determination as my mother taught me.”
Monday, September 21, 2009
News Article Analysis
The article I analyzed was actually an online-only blog on the New York Times website. The blog talked about how the sea temperatures are the highest they've ever been since they started recording such numbers in 1880.
I thought the article was ineffective for a couple of reasons. First, I thought there were too many links to other sources of information and not enough interpretation by the writer. If we're reading the newspaper to find out more about what's going on, then I believe that there should have been more information in the article and not in other sources that we are forced to investigate ourselves. The excessive mount of links was probably due to the blog status of the article, but I don't think that should have anything to do with placing more relevant information in the blog itself.
One other interesting feature of the online article was a video that was placed at the top of the screen. It was an overview of the earth's oceans and the various temperatures of each one. The video had no sound and no explanation of what we were looking at and what we should particularly take note of. The video, like the article, was also ineffective and I came away not knowing much about the subject of the article.
I thought the article was ineffective for a couple of reasons. First, I thought there were too many links to other sources of information and not enough interpretation by the writer. If we're reading the newspaper to find out more about what's going on, then I believe that there should have been more information in the article and not in other sources that we are forced to investigate ourselves. The excessive mount of links was probably due to the blog status of the article, but I don't think that should have anything to do with placing more relevant information in the blog itself.
One other interesting feature of the online article was a video that was placed at the top of the screen. It was an overview of the earth's oceans and the various temperatures of each one. The video had no sound and no explanation of what we were looking at and what we should particularly take note of. The video, like the article, was also ineffective and I came away not knowing much about the subject of the article.
Monday, September 14, 2009
You're Damn Right I'm Mad...At You!
There were two questions I had after watching the clip from The Network. The first was why should we watch the news? The answer to this should be simple. We watch the news to raise our consciousness about what goes on around us. It allows us to steer our culture in the direction that we want it to go instead of waking up one day suddenly asking ourselves, “Where have all the flowers gone?” Unfortunately, the news ultimately depends on our ambitions to care about it, and if we choose not to then it just becomes another sound that no one hears. There is a dichotomy between culture and news, but it’s up to us to determine which one we want to lead the charge. If we let culture do all the talking, then we never progress as a society, and ultimately fall to the superior thinking of other people.
Many of us say that the problem with the news today is the way it’s presented. Too much of the news is written (or spoken) with a predetermined bias that skews the facts right from the beginning. It isn’t about telling us the facts we ought to know but the facts we want to hear. This brings me to the second question I had which is: Should a news anchor or writer be trying to make you mad? In my opinion, the news should be another branch of the scientific community. Scientists all around the world attempt to figure out what is really going on in the universe while the rest of us quarrel about how we think the universe came to be or what the proper way is to live your life. The news should always be presented in a form that makes it look the same no matter who is absorbing it. Allowing someone to “spin” the news is like putting a gun in the hands of a child. A child couldn’t possibly comprehend the consequences of accidently pulling the trigger, just like a news anchor couldn’t possibly imagine how wrong he is because he lives in his own world where his fundamentally flawed ideas are what govern his reality.
If there is one thing that history teaches us it’s that no one ever has all the right answers. Yet here we are, thinking that 2009 is the year that we discover absolute truth. Every scar on the face of humanity can be tracked down to a particular group of people who thought they had all the answers. In any argument, it helps if someone plays the role of observer; a third party that has no reason for bias in any of the available directions; that is what the news anchorman should be. This is basic knowledge people; stuff that even Plato knew about, but yet we still think that we know everything to the point where objective facts only footnote our extremely flawed ideas about how the world should be. Science works by examining reality through one collective pair of eyes. We need a pair of eyes to examine our culture so that we can better understand where our society stands and what we can do to make it better.
Many of us say that the problem with the news today is the way it’s presented. Too much of the news is written (or spoken) with a predetermined bias that skews the facts right from the beginning. It isn’t about telling us the facts we ought to know but the facts we want to hear. This brings me to the second question I had which is: Should a news anchor or writer be trying to make you mad? In my opinion, the news should be another branch of the scientific community. Scientists all around the world attempt to figure out what is really going on in the universe while the rest of us quarrel about how we think the universe came to be or what the proper way is to live your life. The news should always be presented in a form that makes it look the same no matter who is absorbing it. Allowing someone to “spin” the news is like putting a gun in the hands of a child. A child couldn’t possibly comprehend the consequences of accidently pulling the trigger, just like a news anchor couldn’t possibly imagine how wrong he is because he lives in his own world where his fundamentally flawed ideas are what govern his reality.
If there is one thing that history teaches us it’s that no one ever has all the right answers. Yet here we are, thinking that 2009 is the year that we discover absolute truth. Every scar on the face of humanity can be tracked down to a particular group of people who thought they had all the answers. In any argument, it helps if someone plays the role of observer; a third party that has no reason for bias in any of the available directions; that is what the news anchorman should be. This is basic knowledge people; stuff that even Plato knew about, but yet we still think that we know everything to the point where objective facts only footnote our extremely flawed ideas about how the world should be. Science works by examining reality through one collective pair of eyes. We need a pair of eyes to examine our culture so that we can better understand where our society stands and what we can do to make it better.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Part of a Process
I agree with the idea that creation and language results from our imperfection, but we do not know for certain whether creation bridges the gap between perfection and imperfection or whether it is simply a byproduct of consciousness. The question is why do people create? Is it because they wish to understand? Is it to communicate? Ultimately, the only reason we create is because we can, and we can because the pieces happened to fall in the right place.
Let’s think about where our ability to be conscious - which essentially is what allows us to create - comes from. The theory of evolution claims that every gene in the gene pool must have had some kind of beneficial purpose to an organism within the tree of life or else it would not exist. In other words, a gene does not exist unless it was necessary for it to exist for the species to survive. Organisms that had genes that were not beneficial ultimately perished, and therefore their genes perished along with them. The fact that we’re aware of our existence right now implies that somewhere down the line natural selection determined that we needed to be more aware of our surroundings (conscious) to survive. There is nothing to suggest that it had to happen that way, but fortunately for us it did. Despite these evolutionary feats that we’ve accomplished, albeit mostly by chance, we are only aware of a small fraction of the information that our brain processes every second; which is to say that there are a lot of aspects of the universe that we are not yet capable of experiencing.
The algorithmic processes of genetic evolution coupled with the evolution of ideas - also known as memetics - might ultimately take us to higher levels of consciousness, but ultimately it’s still a matter of chance. The reason I am saying this is because as scientists learn more about the origins of our existence, the evidence continues to pile up that we are here due to a lot - and I mean a lot - of good luck. We’re lucky to be on a planet whose orbit happens to be in the “Goldylocks zone” of the star that we orbit. We’re lucky that the natural selection of the earth demanded that our common ancestor get smarter or else become extinct; and most of all, we are lucky that our common ancestor was able to meet that demand, since he represents only a small fraction of the 1% of species that still live today.
The truth of the matter is that we live in a different reality than everything else. Reality is fundamentally limited by our capabilities of perceiving it. We live in a different reality than a squirrel because we can perceive more than a squirrel. Our words are a representation of our perceptions of reality; a reality that - as far as we know - only one species in the universe can accept and understand. If one thing is certain about our reality, it’s that everything is part of a process. We are here because of a process called evolution that took simple things and made them more complex over time. You may come across this piece as being pessimistic and existential, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The woman in the video says that creativity is a result of our frustration; I ask that you not be frustrated about your lack of perception, but feel overjoyed that you are able to perceive the small bit of information that you can. Imperfection is part of what we are, and it could perhaps be the reason why life is worth living.
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