The Visit

On Friday, April 9, I had the pleasure of going to see the Georgia Southern production of "The Visit". In this play, a wealthy former resident returns to her hometown. The town, which has recently fallen on some financial hardships, is hoping the wealthy benefactress will bestow upon them a monetary gift of some kind. Claire, the wealthy woman, agrees to this but only if her former boyfriend, Anton Shill is killed. When they were younger, Claire became pregnant by Shill, but he denied paternity. This caused Claire to have her reputation destroyed and was forced to become a prostitute.

The townspeople of Gullen, led by their Bergomaster (or Mayor-like person) deny they will ever succumb to her stipulations. Suddenly, townspeople begin buying things on credit and purchasing things that aren't a necessity, like new shoes. Anton Shill becomes suspicious and eventually he relents and allows the town to kill him for the money.

This play, though very interesting, was about an hour too long. At three hours running time, an hour of the story could have been cut out purely for times sake. This being said, the story was captivating and morbid. The audience wants to find out whether or not the town will rise up and kill the man and if so, why was Claire so dead set against him being killed.

My one wish is that the actors would have gotten into character more. The play takes place in Germany, yet only the character of the Bergermaster, played by Geoff Carr, is the only one who attempts a German accent. I did enjoy the costumes and how they depicted the period of the play.

My favorite characters were the two blind men who follow Claire around. They dress in identical suspender outfits and repeat everything they say. They offer comic relief in an otherwise depressing play.

Overall, I enjoyed the play and was grateful for the chance to see it. It was a fun event to enrich my last semester at Georgia Southern.

Sweet Summertime

This summer will be filled with possibilities. There are so many things I am looking forward to that I don't even know where to begin. I guess the first exciting thing is that I will not be returning to school in the fall. With this in mind, I will approach this summer as a new beginning to my life. There will be no anticipation of what classes I have to take next semester or worry about summer school. When this summer begins, I will be a college graduate.

With this in mind, I have a summer internship at South Magazine. As of right now, I am unsure of when I start or how much I will be getting paid. I do know that I will be a web intern meaning I will be writing stories specifically for the web and uploading blogs and videos to their website. Although it is not a real "job" it is a start and it also provides me something to do while I am looking for a real career. I figure one of two things can happen upon completion of my internship.

1) I could be hired at South Magazine and continue there
or
2) I could make connections and obtain more experience so when I am finished with my internship, I will be able to find a job.

I suppose the last and most trivial thing I am looking forward to about the summer is finally moving on with my life. I am planning on finally moving in with my boyfriend of 3 years and hopefully soon after, we can get a dog. I know this sounds trivial and unimportant but I am very much looking forward to it. It will be an exciting next step in my road to becoming a "grown up".

NA NA NA NA BATMAN

Favorite superhero? Now that's easy: Batman! He's the only one who doesn't cheat. Superman was born with his powers and his weakness is a glowing green rock. Spiderman cheats because he was bit by a spider...BOOORING. The Incredible Hulk turns superhuman sized which can't be a fair advantage. Batman, on the other hand, is a regular guy with a genuine desire to help the people of Gotham City. He was just an ordinary guy with no real superpowers, unless you count being super rich. He used his wealth to create an outfit and gadgets. He doesn't cheat: he just rocks.

Favorite villian is slightly more complicated. Although he's not a technical SUPER-VILLAIN I'm going to have to go with Hades from Disney's Hercules . He's funny but still tries to kill Hercules. His humor makes him likable, but his anger ant hatred make him a villain. In his defense, he does have some of the best lines in the entire movie such as "is this an audience or a mosaic?" and "Memo to me... Memo to me: Maim you after my meeting."

My name is Allison Brenner and I approve this message

Is it pretentious to say that I should be hired? Probably, but it's true. I think I would be an asset to every company that needs someone to write/edit/do PR/ or marketing.

I have experience in writing with all of my classes as well as the current internship I am completing. In this internship, I have been writing articles, as well as editing and practicing the layout of the newspaper itself. In addition, working in a real newspaper has given me opportunities to work with deadlines and interview people.

Also through my internship I have gained leadership experience. I organized and carried out a softball game for charity and a free food festival to inform Georgia Southern students about their first amendment rights. I am also organizing a banquet in which I have had to arrange catering, order awards, and create certificates.

I also have wonderful people skills and am not afraid to speak to anyone. I am outgoing and very persuasive. I would get compliments when I worked at McAlisters Deli for upselling items. This means that I could usually talk a customer into dessert or an appetizer, even if they didn't think they wanted one when they came into the restaurant.

Because of my experience, people skills, and desire to work hard, I think I would be an asset to any company and deserve to be hired.

Unemployment Benefits

Unemployment Benefits are the payments made by the Government to individuals who are unemployed due to no fault of their own. One way to think of it is like an individual bailout. When a person no longer has an income coming in, they need some way to continue to pay for rent and food while they look for a new job or recover from their injury.

Unemployment Benefits

• Regular benefits are paid for a maximum of 26 weeks in most states.
• Additional weeks of benefits are be available during times of high unemployment.
• In many states, the compensation will be half you earnings, up to a maximum amount. For example, in New York State you're entitled to collect up to a maximum of $405, which is half the state's average weekly wage. While in Arizona, the highest benefit rate is $205.
• Benefits are subject to Federal income taxes and must be reported on your Federal income tax return.

So who pays for unemployment benefits?

"employers pay federal unemployment taxes of 6.2 percent on the first $7,000 earned by each of their employees during a calendar year. These federal taxes are used to cover the costs of administering the UC programs in all states"

• All federal and state administrative costs associated with UC programs;

• The federal share of benefits paid under the federal-state Extended Unemployment

Compensation Act of 1970

To file for unemployment click here

Economic History

Everyone is familiar with coin money. As a child, it was exciting to have a bag full of pennies. As we get older, we realize pennies are pretty much useless because, lets face it, you can't even put them in a vending machine. Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, half dollars, and even the dollar coins are all a common place in everyday life.

There are some coins that are rarer than others though.

1) The most expensive coin is the gold capped bust dollar coin from 1796-1807. This coin was made in a time when $2.50 was a good weeks wage. Because of this, very few of the coins were made. The coin changed designs several times including adding and retracting stars, adding "The United States of America", and one version had Martha Washington's face. Of the original 1797 version, only 20 are thought to still be in existence. This makes the selling price for one of these coins from $85,000-$100,000 at auction.

2) Another discontinued coin, though not as rare or expensive but still cool, is the Wheat Penny. It is also known as the Strawpenny, Wheatback, Wheatie, or Wheat Head. These were made from 1909-1958. The designer of the penny, Victor David Brenner, was so proud of his work that he displayed his initial on each penny. Some wheat pennies are worth around $8,000 depending on when they were made, where they were made, and what material they were made out of. The later ones are far less rare and not worth much at all.

Pennies are some of the more fascinating monies because although they are pretty much useless, their designs have changed so much.

These were for Abe Lincoln's 200th Birthday

This is the 2010 penny. It represents the United States being a whole and being United.

3) There are also "novelty dollars". For example, this one has Santa on it. I have read these are legal tender because they are real dollar bills with Santa's face on them but the only source I could find about them is not credible. Either way they're cute and fun to have.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

My favorite work of art has to be "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat. In my 6 years of French lessons I had to do projects about impressionist artists three times and twice I picked Georges Seurat, specifically so I could talk about this painting.

The actual painting itself is interesting. It depicts people (and a random monkey) enjoying an afternoon in the park. The painting, created in 1884, was inspired by Seurat's visit to the island in 1881. The clothing on the women is beautifully done and the sailboats off in the distance make it seem like it would be a beautiful day to be outside. I like the non-detailed faces of the subjects because it makes it seem like they could be anyone: not just the people Seurat saw in the park.

The absolute coolest thing, in my opinion, about this painting is that it is done in pointillism. Pointillism is a form of painting invented by Seurat in which the painting is actually made up of millions of individual dots instead of brush strokes. To the viewers eye, it appears like one cohesive picture but if one looks really carefully, you can see the individual dots. Because of this painstaking process, the painting took 2 years to create.