Blog post #5 (open post)

I am in a theatre class that requires me to watch the plays that go on at UCF and to then write a paper on the plays. The most recent play I had to see was Hair. Hair is a play that is placed in the 1960s during the Vietnam war era. There are several social issues that revolve around Hair, including war, sex, pollution, drugs, segregation, and civil disobedience. The plot centers around Claude and his group of hippie friends who do drugs, dance and try to find truth. Claude is sent a draft card, and some of his friends are drafted as well. All of Claude's friends burn their draft cards, and they try to get Claude to burn his as well. Claude does not burn his draft card and ends up getting shot and killed in Vietnam. The main subject of my paper was the conflict Claude had internally between the pressure from his friends to be involved with civil disobedience, and the pressure from his parents and society to get a job and go to the army. This conflict and pressure could be seen clearly in the scene where Claude takes LSD and has a trip. During this trip he sees men jumping from a helicopter in Vietnam. He also sees his friends dancing. There was a lot of passion in the show and I can understand why. Being drafted is a life changing, and often life ending event. Also, if I had to be drafted and killed then it had better be for a really good reason, but Vietnam was pointless, which makes this all the more tragic. There was a scene in the play in which the actors were nude. This scene was shocking and overwhelming, but fit the theme of the play. I just so happened to be an usher for this play as well. Every night during the nude scene I had to watch the audience with a flashlight in my hand. My job was to make sure no one was recording or taking pictures. I'm glad to say I had no problems with the audience, but I got to see more than I wanted when watching the show.

Blog post #3

I'm fairly certain that I am allowed to write about anything today as this is an open blog post. Today I'd like to talk some about my family and my childhood. My father is a professor of history, specifically western civilization. My father is also a practicing Rabbi. I was raised in a very strict Jewish household. From my birth until I was 17 years old I did everything that a practicing Jew should do. I went to temple, ate Kosher, prayed, did a blessing over my food and followed Shabbat as well as all the other rules in the Jewish faith. My father didn't become religious until he was in his late 20s or early 30s so he could not understand what it was like to be a teenage boy who wanted to go out on Friday night and Saturday. Anyone that knows about Shabbat knows that religious Jews that observe Shabbat will not go out on Friday night or Saturday. It seemed to me that doing all of these things and observing all of these rules wasn't going to bring me any closer to my creator. Heck who am I kidding, I just wanted to hang out with my friends on Friday and Saturday. Thankfully I went to  public school which is where I first learned about the parties that go on during the weekend. Most young guys my age looked forward to the weekend. I dreaded it. It was like being trapped. Some of the rules of Shabbat include not being able to use ANY electricity (lights, TV, phone etc) you cannot use your car. The only things that I was able to do besides praying was swimming in my pool and playing board games and card games. I learned a lot of moral lessons from the talks my father and I had during Shabbat so it wasn't all bad, but I still think it is unfair that my father would force me to be religious when I didn't understand what it was all about because I was so young. I had a falling out with my father after I broke away from being religious, but now my father and I have a good relationship and he has accepted the fact that I do not wish to be religious. Perhaps when I am his age I will change my mind, but for now I want to live my life to the fullest.

Blog post #2

This is an open blog post, therefore I can write whatever my heart desires. I'd like to talk a little bit about my experience going on a trip called birthright, which is a trip that young Jewish people can take to Israel for free. Just like everything else in life there's nothing that is truly free. I heard about this trip from the Jewish organization I was a part of on campus at UCF called Hillel. Once my telephone interview was completed I was in and my trip was set to take place during the summer once classes were over.  I was raised in a religious Jewish family so the phone interview was a breeze. My family was very excited for me to go, especially my father who is a Rabbi. Now the trip itself was a whirlwind of excitement and overall I am glad I went, but my goodness did they pack a lot into this trip. On average we slept about 5 hours a night if we were lucky, and woke up early to hike from one beautiful terrain to the next. Although we were treated similarly to cattle, I had a much easier time than many of the sorority girls that were with our group. Even for myself, a exercise and gym enthusiast, these hikes and sleep schedules were rough. Two of the girls left the trip early because it was too intense for them. We walked everywhere. This trip was two weeks so instead of giving you every detail (I could almost write a book) I will instead give you the highlights. The market squares and shops in Jerusalem were an amazing sight to behold, and I was happy with the items I bought to bring home to my family. The Syrian boarder was probably the scariest part of the trip. We had many Israeli soldiers with us protecting us, but we could hear huge explosions going off in the distance that really rattled me. It wasn't really the sound that shook me, but the feeling in my chest that I got when the sound of the explosion hit you. It felt almost like a physical hit to my chest which told my body to run. Thankfully my mind knew I was safe with the soldiers and was able to take breath taking photos of the landscape of Syria which can only be compared to something from a painting from the renaissance. The dead sea was another highlight of my trip. Feeling how easily you could float in that salty water was truly incredible. Also I found a piece of rock salt that I was able to take home, which made the memory much more tangible, and taste-able! (yuck) Overall this trip was a huge learning experience for me and helped me see the world on a global scale for I had never been so far away from home again. If your not of the faint of heart, and you don't mind hiking, I would certainly recommend going on this trip.

Hello! My name is Aharon Corseri, and I would like to start this blog off by telling you a bit about myself. I am a theatre major and education minor at UCF. I've had a passion for the arts from a young age which led me to my major in theatre, but I also enjoy other forms of the arts including playing guitar, singing and dancing. My major is what I want to do with my life, but my minor should help me get into a more solid career path. Its always the heart versus the head right? No matter what career I end up in I'd be happy as long as it has something to do with the arts, for that is where my heart lives.