This group of NUS Industrial & Systems Engineering graduands gathered for their pre-commencement shots just before the ceremony.

Bright red shoes add colors to the serious dark blue academic gown

Competition doesn't end after graduating

A shot from the floor using remote and wireless Creative Lighting System

Have You Seen Smallville: Season 4 Episode 22 – Commencement?

Episode Synopsis:

When Lana (posessed by Isobel) kills Genevieve Teague by stabbing her with one of the Kryptonian Knowledge Crystals after she attempts to steal it, it triggers a cosmic event that not only severs Lana’s link to the spirit Isobel, but sends meteorites from deep space toward Earth and Smallville. At the Graduation Cermony for Smallville High, the military arrives to evacuate the town after news that another meteor shower is imminent. Fearing he has a link to the meteorites, Clark goes to talk to the spirit of Jor-El, who informs him that his only hope is to unite the knowledge crystals in the cave. With time running out, Clark sets about locating the final two crystals as meteorites reign down upon Smallville. Lana gives Clark the third stone they recovered from China, which was in her possession all this time, while the second stone is on Lionel’s person, which activates. Lex offers to protect Lana and have her flown to New York City, but she gets caught in the meteor shower while riding in a helicopter. Lois manages to get out of Smallville in time, but Chloe stays behind to follow Clark who retrieves the final one from Lionel which hits them with a burst of energy driving him comatose. Chloe helps Clark retrieve the final stone from the Luthor mansion safe after he is immobilized by kryptonite, and helps him escape from Lex. Clark manages to unite all three stones, which transports him to the wild tundra of the frigid North Pole…

So what do you think of this episode?

If you missed it, you can watch it here.

Comme me l’a justement fait remarquer un collègue, ce blog de voyage manque d’une conclusion… (Merci Bertrand!)… Et je dois dire que, même si je suis d’accord avec lui, ce n’est pas d’une conclusion qu’il s’agit, mais plutôt d’une ouverture vers la suite…

En effet, depuis que nous avons atterri à Genève, le 31 octobre dernier, le rythme a changé… Nous sommes encore en décalage horaire bien sûr… on s’endort sur la table du souper à 7h30 et on se réveille vers 5hoo du matin (ce qui, soit dit en passant, n’est pas si mal pour reprendre le travail et l’école…). Mais ce n’est pas tout. Le rythme a changé parce que nous avons enfin le temps de nous retourner pour prendre la mesure du périple que nous avons accompli… sans aucun problème!

Il s’agit tout de même de 52 heures passées dans des avions, près de 6′000 km en voiture (dont 300 km de “piste” dans le désert), de trois états australiens parcourus et de presque tous les membres de la nombreuse famille australienne (plus de 70…) avec qui nous avons eu la chance de passer du temps… En bref, 5 semaines intenses couronnées de succès! Et nous n’avons pas eu le temps, au rythme où nous avons enchaîné les déplacements, de digérer tout ce que nous avons vu, entendu, vécu…

Ainsi, depuis quelques jours, nous vivons le commencement d’autre chose… La vie après ce voyage que nous avons rêvé pendant des années… Le retour, jour après jour, sur des images, des sons, des moments particuliers… qui vont nous accompagner toute notre vie… Chacun de notre côté, nous avons commencé notre debriefing en racontant autour de nous ce qui nous a marqué… et cela promet de prendre du temps avant que nous ayons tout partagé, décortiqué, raconté…

Ces moments-là aussi font partie de notre voyage et ils sont également très agréables… Je me réjouis de vous revoir tous pour vous raconter tout cela de vive voix

A bientôt !

My first weekend as the Weekend White House producer for the network was a busy one, with a surprise ambassadorial nomination in the East Room on Saturday, and the highly anticipated (and controversial) commencement speech that President Obama would give at Notre Dame that Sunday.

Obama nominated then-Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. to be his ambassador to China.  A fluent speaker in Mandarin and the father of an adopted Chinese girl, the governor certainly had his qualifications.  But, the most interesting facet of this man from a political standpoint was that he was co-chair for the McCain campaign.  Obama signaled his willingness to work across the aisle, and the governor announced his own readiness to do the same.

Obama would have to reach across the aisle Sunday, speaking at the graduation ceremony at Notre Dame, trying to keep the matter about the students, all the while trying to appease those concerned parties listening on from the abortion debate.

White House correspondent John Yang would cover all the bases in this Weekend Nightly News piece on Saturday.  On Sunday, Yang would travel with the President and file for Nightly from South Bend, Indiana along with correspondent Ron Allen.

Steve Jobs is one of my heroes. I watch this commencement speech he gave to the Stanford Class of 2005 all the time. Figured I’d share.

“…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. . . Believeing the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.”

Realling funny and inspiring in many ways…

eyes i dare not meet in dreams -- dan davis, (c) 2009

 

NOLI ME TANGERE

The eyes—haunting, haunted—a mask, no

Behind face—a face, the mask of defiance—

Watched, framed through office windows

That three-quarters of a year—midsummer

To spring—orange cafeteria tray thrust out

With reverence, the skeleton hands preceding

Her—like bringing the offertory gifts, but with

Discarded cafeteria food piled high—browned

Bananas, bit of orange rind, cookie crumbles—

The slippered feet shuffling toward the

Dormitory stairwell she called home before

We finally rolled the stone away to reveal

Our hardened and bittered silence:  Where

Did she come from?  Look at her hat:  does

That mean she’s Muslim?

We saw—we all saw.  Half-a-year before we

Voiced our community surprise, disgust—

Another three until—Where’s Security—

Why haven’t they noticed her, questioned—

Where are the police—why weren’t they called?

None of us asked, What did she do when the university closed

At Christmas—when it rained that week in January

And the bottom of the stairwell flooded?

Spring Commencement—a California evening at

The end of May—jacaranda petals fluttering into

A delicate carpet of royal purple on the grassy

Green of the mall—I conjured up amidst the

Spring a May many years removed—the

Crowning of the Virgin, the May recitation

In Grandma’s backyard—welcoming back

The inside laughter, Volscian voices bathed

In cigar smoke and cheap perfume—the

Ancient table—it came from Messina—in

Its finest white linens—offering biscotti,

Thin green mints—pizzelles, piled high,

Dry from a dropped Ave—the gleaming

Urn borrowed from the parish hall tall,

Standing silver at the end of the table,

The adult aroma pungent:  Do not touch,

Do not touch anything until after, and

Then Father helps himself first.  I was

7 and escorted my cousin, 7 too, the

Year we confessed, the year we received—

We walked toward the blue and alabaster

Lady bathed and prepared that week by

Grandma and the aunts in the manicured

Back yard.

Lost May memories, now reconfigured—the

Joy of the commencement ceremony still

Lingering in the spring sunset—I called—

Don’t recall what I said—they arrived,

Questioned, and took away the eyes,

The face—a resigned mask—strapped

To a stretcher. 

In the emptiness left behind, unlost,

Unfound amid the jacaranda petals—

The thrum of the passing 5:34 distant—

Looking west to dusk—I looked only

West—to dusk.

Summer 2007

Dan Davis, © 2009

finding the candle from the lighting ceremony during freshman orientation…

what i believe to be one of the best traditions that tufts has is the lighting ceremony that occurs after convocation to signal the beginning of their life as a jumbo. all the students gather around the hill with lit candles as they are welcomed into the community. i remember seeing a wave of candle lights and feeling overwhelmed by the shared experience of new beginnings. i know i’m sounding incredibly cliche right now but seeing that candle from freshman year just reminds me that i have come a long way from that person who initially held that candle. there is another candle lighting ceremony before commencement. that event is only a semester away for me so i can’t help but reflect back on the past 3 1/2 years i’ve spent on this hill and representing this hill elsewhere. it is a little too early for me to be writing this kind of post but that candle… wow. it also shows that i’m a pack rat. and late night cleanings/musings are just another form of procrastination. oh well.

J. Courtney Sullivan’s Commencement is a less accomplished version of Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children, and it has all the narrative tension of an overcooked noodle. It shoots for modern-day Jane Austen and hits something closer to the chick-lit bulls-eye. I noted this to my girlfriend, who said that she could’ve told me it was chick-lit based on its teal dust jacket. I try not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case apparently my principles apparently wouldn’t have mattered.

The writing in Commencement isn’t bad, but it also isn’t good; I’m searching through pages, looking for a representative quote, or something that’s at least stylistically unusual enough to merit consideration and am finding… nothing. The prose conveys information effectively but without any pizzaz; it is what James Wood might call an efficient literary/commercial novel, having absorbed a few conventions of modernism while retaining a passionate eye and penchant for understatement. Wood says that “There is a familiar American simplicity, for instance, which is Puritan and colloquial in origin, ‘a sort of ecstatic fire that takes things down to the essentials,’ as Marilynne Robinson has it in her novel Gilead.” Sullivan doesn’t have that. She works for the New York Times, which might explain why Commencement reads like a long piece for the Sunday Styles or one of the other less rigorous sections.

I read Commencement based on a mostly positive review in the same paper. It says, for example, that “Sullivan’s characters are often motivated by urges that are taboo to admit in certain quarters: getting love and nurture from men, or staying protected in a cocoon of female friendship rather than confronting the larger world.” Outside of the Mormon church and some university Women’s Studies departments, I can’t imagine what those “certain quarters” might be. In an age of Sex and the City and Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl (And I Liked It),” taboos aren’t very strong. One notable thing about the review is that while it comments extensively on the novel’s social content, it says virtually nothing about its style or prose. Perhaps that’s because the reviewer drew a blank, just as I did, and therefore fell back on sociology when aesthetics failed to rouse any feeling whatsoever.

COMMENCEMENT by J. Courtney Sullivan was one of my favorite reads of the summer. This brilliantly written novel takes place at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and chronicles the friendships between four very spunky and distinctive girls.

To quote Sullivan’s website, “ It is a fascinating portrait of the first generation of women who have all the choices in the world, but no clear idea about which choices to make.”

Our leading ladies, Celia, Bree, Sally, and April, explore their Smith experiences quite differently. The main common ground between these Smithies is their friendships with each other.

Courtney Sullivan excellently depicts the trials and tribulations of the relationships between four great friends with contrasting personalities. She also addresses many rumors and stereotypes that coincide with single sex education. Girl-on-girl hook ups and even long-term lesbian relationships exist in Commencement—and it sheds light on individual situations for the readers.

Anyone can pick up a copy of this wondrous work of fiction in Barnes and Noble, readers don’t have to schlep into random “underground” bookstores to delve into the lives of Celia, Bree, Sally, and April. It’s an enjoyable read that doesn’t require any effort to comprehend; yet it is thought provoking enough to make you think anyway.

Over the summer, the New York Times gave Ms. Sullivan a glowing review, as did popular activist blog, feministing.com. If you can’t find a copy in any local bookstore check it out ASAP on amazon.com!

Kudos to Ms. Sullivan on a fantastic (and her first) novel—hopefully we will see many more coming our way!

Read the first chapter for free here.

~Krystie Yandoli

I just registered for commencement. Exciting! However, I will continue to worry about if I am actually gonna get to graduate even though if I don’t fail anything and the school doesn’t go full retard on me then I will definitely make it. I just checked my classes that I am substituting for other classes and the substitution forms went through ok, so that is a relief.

The only issue would be that my major was redesigned a little bit over the summer and even though early in the semester I went to my advisor and grilled him about if I am going to graduate and he says I will and I will be under the new major I am afraid that they will hold me under the old major which would be bad because under the old major I am missing 1 STAT elective that I have fulfilled under the new major. I am probably unnecessarily worrying myself, I just have low trust in other people and their organizational skills. I don’t know maybe the old major is completely gone and everybody is held to the new one now no matter which one they started under.

I have a midterm in an hour that I am not well prepared for and really there is no way to be well prepared for this midterm considering who the teacher is. She doesn’t fail people though because she is scared of losing her job or tenure or something. This also results in unethical behavior such as wanting to collect our course evals herself at the end of the semester and requesting that we mark “teacher effectiveness” as “very effective” when it is really a -10 unbelievably ineffective. It took me a while to catch on to why people never write anything in the comments section- because she reads them and we don’t want her to recognize handwriting. The first class I had with her a few years ago I wrote a 8 point list of complaints.

Fun fact- it is really hard to get any sort of action againt horrible professors. Found this out last years when as a class we decided to lodge formal complaints against a stat teacher. Turns out that the formal complaint leads to a mediating process and then nothing. We didn’t even get to the mediating part though because they didn’t know how to handle a whole class doing complaints. Now that person is in fact department head since the old dept head retired.Yay!

An interesting post from Matthew Archbold, at Creative Minority Report, on the effect President Obama’s visit to Notre Dame last May has had on the president himself.  Around here, whenever the topic is still discussed, no one really looks at it from this point of view – still mostly from the standpoint of the effect on Notre Dame, or even American Catholicism.  Definitely interesting to think about this new perspective.  Perhaps some good is starting to come from the disappointing Commencement decision last spring.

[Notre Dame's honoring of Obama] was intended to have consquences.  It was seen by the White House as an inroads to the Catholic vote.  And yes, to gain support by the bishops for Obama’s legislative agenda … But something happened on the way to Notre Dame.  Barack Obama wakened something with his trip to Notre Dame.  Something he would much rather have stayed dormant.  By his trip to Notre Dame he forced many Catholic (including clergy) to reassess what it means to be Catholic.  He roused many priests and bishops who had not been rallied before.

Especially now with his health care bill on the table, this seems to be becoming much more relevant.  Catholics are being more outspoken about the bill, about how it should not include any sort of federal funding of abortions.  Specifically, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has said that not only can they not support a bill that mandates coverage for abortions, but that, while recognizing that health care reform is needed, if “acceptable language in these areas cannot be found, [the bishops] will have to oppose the health care bill vigorously” (here’s the full letter from the USCCB to Congress).  Some would say (for example, Matthew Archbold at Creative Minority Report) that this new outspokenness of Catholics is at least partly because of the recent widespread reevaluation of the meaning of being Catholic in today’s world, stemming from the controversy surrounding President Obama’s visit to and honorary degree from ND.  You can find the rest of Archbold’s post here.

Title: Commencement
Author: J. Courtney Sullivan
ISBN: 978-0307270740
Pages: 336
Release Date: June 16, 2009
Publisher: Knopf
Review source: self-purchase
Rating: 4.5/5

When her friends began to get engaged, instead of feeling jealous or antsy to do the same, Celia realized something: There was a very real possibility that no one was coming to save her. She would have to make her own plan. If she wanted to someday leave her job and write books, then she’d have to write books to do it, not wait around for some hedge fund guy to finance her fantasies.

During their first year at Smith College, Celia, Bree, Sally, and April are thrown together by proximity. These young women are assigned to the same dorm. They seem as disparate in personality, interests, and backgrounds as anyone can be. Celia is a lapsed Catholic who lives on the edge. Bree is a Southern Belle with a fiancé at home in Savannah. Wealthy and emotionally drained Sally’s mother recently died. April is the radical feminist who constantly feels like an outcast. The 18-year-olds who arrive at Smith are not the same 21-year-olds who graduate from Smith College four years later. After weathering many ups and downs at Smith, by the time the women graduate, they are the best of friends and closer than many family members. By creating smart, layered characters and writing thoughtful, entertaining and moving prose, debut novelist J. Courtney Sullivan gets it right. She has created memorable, vastly different women who are intelligent, independent and devoted to each other. Although they are now spread out throughout the country, Sally is getting married and the girls will reunite at Smith for the ceremony.  Commencement is not merely a story about the experience of four twenty-something women’s college graduates. Commencement is an unabashedly feminist novel about the importance of female friendship and personal choices.

I recently spoke by phone with Courtney Sullivan. I decided to leave it in its question and answer format as we talked about feminism, sex trafficking, writing and her novel Commencement—making it difficult for me to put it into a profile format.

If you live in the Boston area, Courtney will be at New Literary Voices as part of the Concord Festival of Authors in Concord, Mass on November 1.

photo by Jerry Bauer

Amy Steele: Why did you decide to write a novel about Smith and female friendships?

AS: Why do you think a women’s college education is important for women? I think it is. I went to Simmons, which isn’t Seven Sisters…

CS: Oh my sister and my grandmother went there. For me, it was more about what happened outside the classroom. In the dining hall, we’d have these big debates about politics or literature. The nature of the friendships that developed in the absence of men was pretty interesting too. I think these things are pretty unique and I think that in a culture where sexism is alive and well, there’s something really special and necessary about having this place carved out for just women.

AS: I read an interview you did a while back with the Boston Globe and you were asked about feminism. For me, I was involved in the Feminist Union and an internship at the State House and other activism and never shied away from calling myself a feminist. But there were a lot of students who wouldn’t associate themselves with the term—“No, if I’m a feminist it means I hate men.” I just still cannot believe that’s there is a negative connotation with feminism. Why do you think there’s such a negative connotation? [author’s note: I’m ten years older than Courtney]

CS: We live in a culture that has historically been, if I may drop the P word, patriarchal. There’s this sense that change for women is a scary thing. Maybe women can go into the work force. We’ll allow that but they need to do every thing they used to do on the home front still. We live in a culture that it’s to the benefit of this patriarchal thing to make feminism seem like a bad thing or unnecessary or trivial. On the one hand, it may seem outdated and unnecessary. On the other hand, they make it seem really scary and ugly. So really it’s a fear of what the power of that movement can do and has done. And a lot of women have internalized it. Many young women live their lives as feminists but don’t want to take on the word and it’s pretty disheartening. It’s pretty strange. At the same time, there are a lot of women who do use the word. It’s really alive and well in a lot of places too.

I’m working on this anthology [as co-editor] about the “click” moment, the moments when young women decided that they were feminists. So the essays in the book are by women in their teens, twenties, and thirties writing about what was the moment or person or place or thing that opened their eyes and made them think “this is something I want to take on” or “this is the name I want to use.” They run the gamut from a girl who had ADHD but it was never properly diagnosed until much later in life because it was really a diagnosis mostly given to boys. And we have someone who always wanted to play the tuba in the marching band but had been forced to play the piccolo. It’s quite a range. It’s not just Women’s Studies 101. A lot of it is real life happenings.

AS: When you define feminism how do you define it as everyone seems to have a different definition?

CS: I think what is comes down to is equal rights for men and for women.

AS: That’s what I think too.

CS: I think men benefit from feminism too. I think we live in this culture where men are expected to provide a certain way so that most men [or a lot of men] can’t take off as much time to be at home with their children or if their wife has a baby they are expected to be back to work on Monday. I think to break down this idea that we’re in this very binary sort of structure– men do these things, women do these things– and make it more people do these things will benefit everyone.

That’s what I wanted to get at with Commencement. Obviously these bigger issues like sex trafficking, but how does feminism play out in our day to day lives? I think it comes down to these things like: do you change your name after you get married, do you pay on a date or let the man pay, all these things that may be trivial but that make up what it is to place yourself in this world and say ‘how can I be a feminist and stand up for these beliefs and also just live a normal life?’ What does that look like?

AS: It was great to bring sex trafficking into a novel because people think of it as a thing that’s going on everywhere but in U.S. cities. It seems to people that it only goes on in these remote, foreign places like Ukraine. Unless you’ve seen Very Young Girls, the documentary with GEMS. 

CS: I think that documentary is amazing and I’ve been involved with [GEMS]  a little bit in New York. That documentary is really telling it like it is. But so much of the time when someone writes about domestic trafficking it really never gets any attention. And if it does it’s in this sort of creepy hyper-sexualized way. I always get enraged when I see on Law & Order or a show like that where they’re talking about trafficking but they’re really trying to make it almost seem sexy when it’s actually, in fact, the exact opposite.

AS: What is your writing process?

CS: Well, I have a day job in the editorial department of the New York Times. I can’t get up in the morning to write. The hardest part for me is getting my butt in the chair. I usually write for several hours on a stretch on a weekend day. It always ends up taking a lot of time depending on what I’ve written. Before I work on the chapter I’ll read what I’ve written from beginning to end and ideally read the whole book from beginning to end for what I have so far before adding on to it because I feel like when you’re writing something at that length if you said that character is really shy in Chapter 2 but in Chapter 4 she’s dancing on a table, then you really need to remedy that. The characters take on their own behaviors and then you have to go back and tweak as you are creating. I always start there and write through for as long as I can.

AS: Why do you like to write?

CS: I’ve always written fiction from the time I was maybe five or six. I’ve always enjoyed reading fiction and writing it. I think writing it is even more of an escape factor. You’re in the head of these characters. It’s kind of funny to come out of it for me sometimes. I’ll be writing all day Sunday and then I’ll go to work on Monday and the characters I’ve been trying to work on will still be in my head. So I’ll be scribbling frantic notes to myself. I just think it’s very enjoyable. I’ve always loved theatre. When I was in high school I used to do a lot of theatre as well. I think there are similarities between the two. Except with writing you get to sit in your pajamas and drink tea and with acting you have to stand up in front of a bunch of people. So I’ll choose writing.   

AS: What is your favorite aspect of Commencement?

CS: I find that going around and doing readings most of the people that the book resonates with or who read the book tend to be women. So my readings tend to be chock full of women. Women who went to Smith or who didn’t, women in my age group or much older or younger, they can all relate even if their personal story was different. They can all relate to the friendships in the book and the idea of these friends that you keep around forever- who know you in this way that no one else can. I certainly have those friends in my own life so I’m happy when it resonates with readers.

**note to FCC or anyone who cares: I bought my own copy of Commencement**

Les: lid! guess what!

Linds: what?

Les: i actually read this week!  aren’t you proud?

Linds: hooray!

Les: i know!  exciting

Linds: though wait, should i be proud that you’re doing something you’re supposed to do (and enjoy)?

Les: um.  yes?

Linds: nice try, slackity slacker

Les: omg dork

Linds: but i’ll bite anyway.  what’d you read?

Les: bel canto

Linds: ooooh is it good?

Les: very.  not quite finished yet

Linds: do i get it next?

Les: sure

Linds: k woo.  i’ll add it to the never-ending reading list

Les: good plan

Linds: i finished two books this week!

Les: whoa. check you out.  which ones?

Linds: the guy not taken by jennifer weiner.  it ended up being less fluffy and more about swimming, of all things, than expected.  but it was still a decent listen

and commencement, about my alma mater.  i’m still not sure what i think about that one.  must consult with the lizard

Les: ah.  that’ll be an interesting conversation, i’m sure

Linds: i think so

Les: was it at least better than that god-awful movie you made me watch?

Linds: what god-awful movie?

Les: about your alma mater.  did you block it from memory?

Linds: oh.  that one.  yes, that’s been blocked.  though i still appreciate you extra for e-holding my hand through that travesty

Les: you’d better

Linds: shudder.  moving on!

Les: k right

Linds: so i was finishing commencement in the living room at the cottage this weekend.  while we were family reuning

Les: is that a real word?  reuning?

Linds: it’s totes a real word.  it’s fun to say.  that makes it real

Les: uh. ok, lid. whatever you say.

Linds: dude.  play along.  ANYWAY

Les: right.  focus

Linds: so i was reading in the living room, which apparently meant that i needed to be interrupted every five minutes by a different relative.

one actually asked me why i wasn’t paying attention to them.  um, hello? reading a book!

Les: you’re related to rude people

Linds: they clearly didn’t get it.  they should – half of them write for a living

Les: clearly

Linds: those relatives did not interrupt, of course

Les: of course

Linds: was the other ones.  the badly behaved ones.  they should know better than to interrupt

Les: did you give them the what for?

Linds: i’m very good at ignoring people who try to get my attention.  mostly because i don’t hear them in the first place

Les: right.  you do tend to enter your own little world from time to time

Linds: i like my own little world.  it’s fun there

Les: i know

Linds: so i finished my book.  then i talked to them after.  i’m done with 31 now!

Les: woo good work!

Linds: i feel (vaguely) accomplished

Les: it’s exciting

Linds: this week i’m listening to the boys of summer.  about the brooklyn dodgers in the 50s.  it’s a classic

Les: ok

Linds: i think it was published in 1972

Les: i kinda have to agree with the baby that listening to books totally shouldn’t count as reading them.  you should keep two separate lists

Linds: haven’t we had this discussion about eight times now?

Les: i haven’t won yet

Linds: i just rolled my eyes at you.

Les: of course you did.

Linds: i still say that if listening doesn’t count, then reading plays and poetry doesn’t count either.  it’s a slippery slope

Les: you should at least change the title of your list to “books i consumed” instead of read.  then i’d feel better

Linds: i’m not eating them!  geez.  i’m also reading, with my eyes, northanger abbey this week.  does that make you feel better?

Les: a wee bit.  the baby’ll be happy.  i think that’s the one she loved.  isn’t it, baby?

Linds: kthx.  since i live to make you two happy

Les: right. woo.  happy les + happy baby = happy lid.  right?

Linds: sure thing.  silly kids

Les: woo 

Linds: and on that note…  we should probably wrap up for today

Les: good plan

Linds: before you try to convince us to let you rule the world

Les: ooooh

Linds: run, everybody!

Les: hey now

Linds: before you get alphabetized!

Les:

Today is a huge milestone in the world of teen dramas.  It is the 19th anniversary of the premiere of Beverly Hills 90210, the show that started it all.

In honor of this momentous occasion, 90210 executive producer Charles Rosin, who now runs showbizzle,  revisited the show’s early years and development thereafter.

TeenDramaWhore: What was your reaction when Aaron Spelling contacted you to be part of this show, then-called Class of Beverly Hills?

Charles Rosin: Curiosity.  Mr. Spelling was a legend in this business whose deal with ABC had ended and who was struggling to re-invent himself and his company for a new generation of TV watchers.  Truthfully, I was not a big fan of his most  popular shows –”Dynasty,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Love Boat”  — which all seemed very old fashioned and predictable.  My taste was much more oriented to a more challenging and thought provoking television like “St.Elsewhere,” ” thirtysomething,” and “Northern Exposure,” of which I was the supervising producer for the first season and was working on when I first met “The Mister” in his office at the Warner Hollywood Studios.

TDW: As an executive producer, what exactly was your role?  How were you involved in the episode process?

Rosin: In the TV business, a creative executive producer is known as a showrunner, who literally runs all the creative aspects of a show while being responsible for its financial vitality. On 90210 I would either come up with the ideas, or approve ideas brought to me; make sure my partners (The Spelling Company and Fox) approved of these ideas; supervise my staff in writing the story and scripts (or write the stories or scripts myself) based on these ideas; re-write scenes, etc. in my capacity as “the last typewriter” if I felt the material needed punching up; incorporate legal clearances and network notes into the scripts; have a concept meeting with the directors (who I hired); cast the actors for that week’s show; supervise a production meeting with all the department heads (wardrobe, art. etc);  be available during production to deal with whatever situations might occur; work with the editors to cut the film which might require dropping scenes, changing the act breaks, changing the order of the story, etc.;  then get notes from my partners; then work with my associate producer in getting the locked film ready for airing by adding music, sound effects, correct color, dub voices — and then being the final “ear” when the show is mixed….all while developing three-five scripts simultaneously and prepping for the next episode in line to shoot.

TDW: 90210 essentially started the primetime teen drama genre.  What kind of challenges were you up against?

Rosin: Fox was all about edgy/raunchy guy-humor like “Married With Children” while 90210 was a show that not only celebrated girl-empowerment but had this wonderful character named Brenda Walsh [Shannen Doherty] who represented the notion that a teenager could be sexually active and not be a slut, but actually a role model. Unfortunately, my first set of network executives did not see the world as I did . Someday I will write a long article about the censorship that occurred after Brenda lost her virginity at the Spring Dance [ed. note: Episode 1.21, Spring Dance] to her boyfriend (who had been AIDS tested) because she was happy and not full of remorse.

TDW: When do you think 90210 crossed over that ‘initial hump’ and started achieving success?

Rosin: When the Gulf War started in February, 1991 the three networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) suspended all commercial activity to cover the invasion. Fox didn’t have a news department back than (hard to believe; wish they didn’t have one now. ha!) so Fox broadcast whatever was on their schedule. The 90210 episodes that aired during this time included “BYOB” and “Slumber Party” [ed. note: Episodes 1.11 and 1.13].  By the time commercial activity started up again some three weeks later with the re-activation of the Nielsen ratings, our show was no longer a bottom feeder. The network took notice; gave us an extended order for season two with the understanding that we would be producing summer episodes — and we were off.

TDW: In an interview last year with The New York Times, you said you went to Beverly Hills High.  How did it compare to the fictional West Beverly?

Rosin: I graduated Beverly Hills High School in 1970 which makes me a child of the 60’s! Even though it was a time of political activism and emerging youth culture,  there were many traditions from the 1950’s that were a vital part of my high school culture — and which ultimately were incorporated into the series.  We meet Emily Valentine [Christine Elise, ed. note: see related interview] in season two at “Hello Day” where each class welcomes new students through parodies and funny skits [ed. note: Episode 2.8, Wildfire]. The dance where the cheerleader is date raped by a football player in “Teenline” in season one was called The Pigskin Prom, which was a big thang back in the day [ed. note: Episode 1.9, The Gentle Art of Listening].  And, of course, episodes in the third year season dealing with ditch day and the senior yearbook poll all were part of school life at BHHS [ed. note: Episodes 3.26 and 3.25 respectively, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window and Senior Poll]. Oddly enough,  I played baseball for Beverly against Torrance High School, which was our location for “West Beverly” and which later became the high school location for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”  [ed. note: click here for photos of Torrance/West Bev] One other odd connection — we filmed our summer episodes at the same beach in Santa Monica Bay where the kids from Beverly Hills High School used to hang out — which was known as Tee’s, not the Beverly Hills Beach Club which was filmed at the old Sand and Sea Club right after it got condemned.

TDW: Let’s talk about the episode where Scott [Douglas Emerson] kills himself (Episode 2.14, The New Fifty Years). Was that a product of Douglas wanting to leave the show or was it precipitated by the direction of the storylines? Was there backlash to that episode?

Rosin: Given our low license fee from the network, we were always trying to cut costs — and Doug Emerson was a nice young man, but not a gifted actor. I still wanted to find a memorable way to write him off the show — and that was when I read about an accidental killing of a high school student on Prom Night in a hotel room at the Disneyland Hotel.  So while David Silver [Brian Austin Green] was getting cool and into the Brenda/Kelly/Steve Beach Club crowd, I sent Scott to hang at his grandparents house in Oklahoma off-camera for six episodes as a way to show these two old friends drifting apart before our eyes. It should be known that this was the only story line that the network and Mr. Spelling worked together to try to squash — but they could sense my passion for the story, were very supportive of [our] script and were very satisfied with the episode, which also was highly promotable and did well in the ratings.

TDW: You were there during the high school to college transition, which all the teen dramas are doing these days.  What do you think that change added to the show?

Rosin: Not only was I “there” for the transition from high school to college, but I must take credit — along with my late producing partner, Paul Waigner — for spearheading the drive to move on and let these kids grow up. Part of the problem was that our cast looked to old/were too old to play believable high school students anymore — and I convinced network president Sandy Grushow that doing a high school show that did not deal with the prospect of college was bogus. Aaron was nervous about the change, of course. He was nervous about everything.  But once I agreed to let all the kids go to the same college, he let them graduate — which allowed me to write a senior year in “real time”. You ask what this added to the show? How ’bout four-five seasons worth of new episodes that would probably wouldn’t have been ordered if they stayed in high school.

TDW: Your wife also worked on the show, right?

Rosin: Karen’s first professional writing credit was for “Isn’t It Romantic?,” the AIDS episode where Brenda and Dylan [Luke Perry] first go out — and where an enraged Dylan slams the flower pot into the pavement before chasing after Brenda [ed. note: Episode 1.10].  Although Karen was never offered a staff position, chances are she wrote, or co-wrote your favorite episodes, including all the ones set in Paris [ed. note: Episodes 3.3-3.5], the condom in school episode [Episode 2.21, Everybody's Talkin' 'Bout It ], the one where Scott  accidentally shoots himself, the one where Dylan meets his inner-child [Episode 3.22, The Child Is Father To The Man], the Christmas episode with the angels answer Donna’s [Tori Spelling] prayers by preventing a school bus from crashing bus [Episode 3.16, It's A Totally Happening Life], and the graduation episode [Episode 3.29, Commencement], which we wrote together. You can hear our commentary for “Commencement” on the third season DVD. Karen,  a former actress and playwright,  has a great ear for dialogue. My strength as a writer was (and is) always story and story structure — so we were great collaborators. If Mr. Spelling and I had anything in common it was our love and appreciation of nepotism.

TDW: Your daughter is just a bit older than me.  Did she watch the show growing up?  What does she think knowing her parents played a big role in one of the biggest shows of the 90s?

Rosin: My eldest daughter Lindsey was five when I started working on the 90210. She’s the cutie-pie who asks Brandon to dance the hookelau at the end of summer luau at the Beverly Hills Beach Club [ed. note: Episode 2.6, Pass/Not Pass]. Growing up she never bragged about my job, in fact, didn’t tell her teen-aged camp counselors about me until the last day of the session. Lindsey knew at a young age she wanted to be a director, and is currently developing an hour pilot with CBS Paramount — in addition to be the creative force behind showbizzle.

TDW: You have said you left the show because it was “killing” you.  Can you elaborate on that?

Rosin: For the first two seasons, Beverly Hills 90210 had the lowest license fee in broadcast television — meaning that Fox paid the Spelling Company less money to make our show than any other show in prime time.  One of the ways we cut costs was to assemble a small writing staff composed of mostly new writers,  but once our production orders increased to anywhere from 28- 32 hours a year (a standard network order for a hit show is anywhere from 13-22 episodes a year; a cable show much less than that) the lack of a big staff took its toll and I found myself working 12-16 hours a day, 6 1/2 days a week, 11 1/2 months a year.  Six weeks after I mixed my last episode, “P.S. I Love You” [ed note: Episode 5.32], one of my arteries shut down. I was 43 years old.  We caught it early. I dodged a bullet. And 15 years later, I catch waves and feel great.

TDW: Did you keep up with the show after you left?

Rosin: I was a non-exclusive script consultant for the 6th season where I read outlines and offered my suggestions — most of which weren’t followed.  I do remember watching one episode that year where NFL star quarterback Steve Young was a guest star [ed. note: Episode 6.12, Breast Side Up] because it was written by Larry Mollin and directed by Dave Semel, who both remain good friends today.   I did not watch after that — and felt that show lost much of its cultural currency and degenerated into a more pedestrian and predictable soap opera– the kind of show more aligned with the traditional Spelling aesthetic.

TDW: Your last season–the fifth–was also Carol Potter’s last.  Did you agree with the decision to get rid of Jim [James Eckhouse] and Cindy?  (Ed. note: see my related interview here.)

Rosin: Reluctantly, yes. Creatively, the show no longer evolved around the Walsh House — and although we certainly could have come up with new storylines that included the parents in a supporting capacity, both Carol Potter and Jim Eckhouse were taking home a fairly big pay check — and by writing them off the show, those monies could be applied to other things — like paying Jason Priestley [Brandon] and Jennie Garth [Kelly] to stick around.

TDW: I have to ask:  Brenda and Dylan or Kelly and Dylan?

Rosin: Brenda was our favorite character to write; the scene where Dylan and Kelly hook up the night Jack McKay was released at the pool at the Bel Age in season three [ed. note: Episode 3.19,  Back in the High Life Again] was perhaps the hottest scene we ever shot — in other words, it’s a draw…

TDW: Kelly and Dylan or Kelly and Brandon?

Rosin: I’ll always be partial to Kelly and Steve.

TDW: What was your reaction when you found out the season 10 storyline (Episodes 10.18-10.20) that Jack McKay (Josh Taylor) was alive?

Rosin: Well, I first found out about Jack McKay when I opened your e-mail. (Like I said, I didn’t watch the show once I left). But we purposely filmed the sequence in such a way as to leave this “return from the dead” storyline available. I guess they had to wait until Luke Perry returned to the series to revive this plot.

TDW: What was your reaction when you found out David and Donna were marrying in the series finale?

Rosin: It seemed about right; Karen and I and our three kids visited the set at the Beverly Hilton the day they were filming the wedding — and it was the first time I visited since I left the show five years earlier.

TDW: Do you have a favorite storyline?

Rosin: Lots of them — my favorite episode was Commencement because with all the clips that were incorporated into the two hour episode, it felt like a retrospective of the high school years.

TDW: Do you have a favorite memory from working with the cast? A favorite guest star? (There were a lot of them!)

Rosin: I loved watching Jason directing the episode “The Time Has Come Today” from the 4th Season [ed. note: Episode 4.25] where Brenda discovers a diary from the 1960’s in her bedroom. My favorite guest star would be my wife Karen, who played a lesbian in the episode “Girls On The Side,” [Episode 5.28] which she also wrote. Also Marcy Kaplan, who played TV star Lydia Leeds in the episode in which Brenda worked at the Peach Pit and became Laverne [Episode 1.16, Fame is where You Find It]. Karen and I wrote that one together.

TDW: What surprised you most while working on the show?

Rosin: Like most writers I have an active imagination — and there have been times that I thought that the script I had just written would catapult me onto a podium for an awards ceremony. But I never could have imagined being a creative force behind an international television sensation! Or that you would be asking me these questions almost 20 years from the time that I started work on the show…

TDW: Do you have any regrets or anything you would do differently?

Rosin: Biggest regret is that I didn’t establish a relationship with media executive (and visionary) Barry Diller when he was running Fox. As far as doing things differently, I would have tried to take better care of my health, and maintain a sense of humor when dealing with the network instead of getting caught up in a war zone.

TDW: Looking back on the show today, what do you think is its place in television history?

Rosin: A footnote.

TDW: Are you still in touch with any of the cast?

Rosin: Yes — Jason Priestley is a buddy. James Eckhouse too. And Ian Ziering [Steve] is a great guy with whom I recently chatted about his early years in the business which we posted on Inside The Bizzle at showbizzle. Check it out. It is a must see for 90210 fans. [Ed. note: I linked to one of the Ian interviews here but there are many more here, including ones with BH90210 producer-writer John Eisendrath]

TDW: Have you watched the new 90210? Do you have any thoughts on it?

Rosin: I watched it once. It’s a good looking cast. But to do a show called 90210 and not allow your young characters to have any socio-political context in the age of Obama speaks to the cynicism and cowardice of commercial broadcasting.

TDW: You also worked on Dawson’s Creek a bit. How did your role differ there?

Rosin: I was more involved with the business side of producing than the writing of scripts — though I certainly had a hand in the creative development of the first episodes.

TDW: How do you think the shows themselves differ?

Rosin: I leave that for your community of readers to comment.

TDW: You’re now working on a site called showbizzle. What is it, and how did it come about?

Rosin: showbizzle is a digital showcase and destination website I created with daughter Lindsey (the Hookelau girl) for emerging talent away from the immediate pressures of the market place. We created a cool show featuring 29 young actors performing 141 two-minute scripted monologues about what they are doing to jump start their careers in Hollywood as told to Janey, a fictitious blogger who hangs out at an LA coffee house. Our goal here to create a vibrant community of young actors, writers, comedians, and performers around our showbizzle content where members are encouraged to upload their original videos with the chance to be paid $$ to perform on our digital showcase. So check showbizzle.com, become a member, work with us, tell your friends — and see why Cynopsis Digital said that it “should be required viewing for kids thinking of moving out to LA LA land to chase their dreams of stardom as it delves into the frustrations of being on the outside looking in.”

TDW: Anything else you want to add?

Rosin: Hard to believe the show’s 20th anniversary is coming up . To get to know what the early days were like check out Rolling Stone Magazine’s article “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (issue 624) originally published February 20th, 1992.

For more on showbizzle, check out the original press release and, of course, head over to the site.

Come back next Sunday for another exclusive interview!

TDW Interview Index

Presented by Wisconsin Public Radio’s To The Best Of Our Knowledge. It’s an hour on David Foster Wallace, including snippets from past interviews with Wallace and a new interview with his sister.

If you don’t have an hour, at least listen to the last five minutes or so: it’s Wallace reciting part of his less-than-lame commencement speech.