Dear Friends, In a few days I will be headed out to {almost heaven} West Virginia without much internet, social media, or cell access, so I thought I would do a life update before I abandoned screens for 8 weeks! The past semester was an incredible and incredibly busy few months full of moments, experiences, and people I will never forget. Grease was the word. (Not to be confused with GreECE, which was a common confusion in conversations this semester as I also found out I would be studying abroad in Athens in Spring 2018!) I performed in my 5th production with PEMCo this spring with the totally-high-energy totally-50s totally-fun musical Grease. I loved being able to dance again and being onstage with my friends. What I Did For Love— Nothing Without You: A PEMCo Revue A few days after the closing of Grease, I received notification that I would be directing the annual PEMCo Revue and that auditions would be “the day after tomorrow” (?!) (theatre never sleeps). Directing the revue was one of the most amazing/overwhelming/fun/important/exciting/rewarding experiences I have had thus far in college. One of the best parts was that I got to choose where the proceeds of the show would go, and I chose Engaging Youth, Engaging Neighborhoods— a program at the Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture through the Neighborhood Resource Connection in South Bend I had worked with all semester, using art to empower youth voices in their communities. Below is my director’s note: I want to sincerely thank you for supporting the arts in your community. With your ticket, not only are you ensuring that people like us get to perform and do what we love, but you are also contributing to an amazing program in the South Bend community that uses the arts to empower youth to speak up and make their voices heard. For me, musical theatre is about putting an exclamation point on the fullest moments in life-- the most wonderful of which exist because of and in the presence of others. Our lives are all linked in the big and small things we do each day. Thank you to my beautiful cast and team for diving in on this journey to find our own story of interconnectedness by singing through the joy, gravity, heartbreak, love, grief, wonder, and inevitability of human connection. It is my hope that you can all walk out of this theatre asking yourself truthfully, what did you do for love? Are you sitting and waiting for your life to begin? Who has changed your life for the better? What is your favorite fruit? How will you bring on tomorrow? We CAN make a difference, it’s NOT too late, and I can’t wait. Emily Okawara, Director Ferguson, St. Louis, Chicago, Oh My! This spring I participated in a seminar called Realities of Race through the Center for Social Concerns. For our spring break immersion, we traveled to speak and be with people in Missouri and Illinois to learn about how race functioned in the community and lives. We learned from lawyers working on the school-to-prison pipeline, leaders of movements like Occupy SLU, Catholic Worker houses striving for racial justice, and different groups, panels, professors, churches, and community members who helped us think differently, critically, and in a way that stems from relationships and experience with real people, not media, socialization, and dominant narratives (I’m an AMST major, did you really think I’d write a whole blog without sneaking in the dominant narrative??). Out of all the places we visited, to me, the site of Michael Brown’s death was the most powerful. Uncomfortable and extremely impactful, there was something about just being in the space, an energy of the concrete that I can still imagine down to every detail. Below is a poem I wrote as part of my final project for the seminar: |
Fire and an Ocean I've always admired the fire that comes with an intense sense of crisis, the “fight this” that's white and black with might it cracks and lights the hands in the air the scare, breathless prayer A hood over hair that's c.h.a.i.n.e.d... to a head like the memory of women and men who instead of following signs and moving to the back stood ground and started to crack the oppression of metal bars and Kold darK sKars for which they continue to pray to which they continue to pay but which still just won't go away. What do we do when there’s just t o o m u c h too often When we can’t resign but can’t assign our time to things that take too long to fix the stones and sticks that break our bones and Our hearts are too FULL with the broken to remember that there’s no cure but an ocean into which we must fearlessly dive and stroke by stroke by stroke by stroke Strive to never drown and always hope that we’ll see the other side |
Campus, Conversation, Classes, and Cool Opportunities: Campus: I continued to give campus tours this past semester through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. My favorite campus spots: The lakes, Geddes Hall, and a point between the library and Cavanaugh where I can see Stonehenge, the Basilica, the dome, LaFun, and Cav— basically my life. Conversation: Hot Chocolate and Chat (a weekly thing I started in the fall as a place for meaningful dialogue and conversations) continued to be strong and bring people together though the end of the year! Next year it will continue and be even better as a part of an initiative my friend and I are hoping to start across campus. This initiative will be moving toward pushing the culture of Notre Dame into one that breaks the small talk barrier, fosters meaningful dialogue, and promotes intellectual virtuosity. In the last few days of finals, Matt and I presented our ideas to faculty, staff, and student leaders across campus and are still working out ideas and things to kick off in the fall. Watch out for the question mark symbol ? on pins, posters, and other places across campus to be involved in the fall! Classes: I loved all of my classes and professors this past semester. In order of my favorites, my courses were: Youth Empowerment; Dearly Beloved: The History and Culture of Marriage in the United States; Directing: Process; American Indian Education; and Religion in America. Cool Opportunities: I have continued to meet with my Sorin Scholars advisors and have begun thinking about national fellowships, grad school, etc. Something cool and new I have been looking into is the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program. I also met with one of the founders of InterAction, a nonprofit that uses storytelling and the arts to build inclusive communities (born out of Show Some Skin at ND), to be a part of the Student Advisor Board this coming school year and report on the campus climate and social issues so that we can create performances and programs that spark important conversations and thinking. “Summer fun"… I’ll "tell [you] more, tell [you] more” This week I am at home catching up with people I love and getting things in order before a back-to-back summer. Mother’s day, Mariners game, getting blizzards and some quality time with Emily who will leave for India while I am still in WV (so I will not see until Christmas!), cuddling with my cat, and getting started on the tall stack of books I want to read this summer. On Sunday, I will travel to Nazareth Farm in West Virginia for a Summer Service Learning Project through the Center for Social Concerns. Sister farm to the farm (Bethlehem Farm) I visited this fall, I am so so excited to live a life in simplicity, community, service, and prayer, for 8 weeks. This means bucket showers, energy fasts, and lots of community engagement, home repair, and beautiful reflection in the Appalachian Mountains. As I mentioned above, I will be away from screens, but will be sending lots of letters! Send me your address if you’d like to hear from me at the farm! You can also write me and I will write you back at 665 Nazareth Farm Rd. Salem, WV 26426. I will return to Kent mid-July and go straight into directing At The Ridge Theatre (501c3) summer theatre camps for preschool- 8th grade kids. This has been my favorite part of the summer for the last few years, and this year we are going even bigger with Shrek in the land of Far Far Away! After camps, I will have two days until I return to campus to lead Cavanaugh’s Welcome Weekend and welcome around 90 (holy guacamole) first years into the Chaotic fam. More updates: My current obsessions are: Dear Evan Hansen, No Matter the Wreckage, NPCA's #momentofnature videos, Trader Joe’s roasted flax seeds on yogurt and fresh berries, What I’m looking forward to next year: Leading Cavanaugh’s Welcome Weekend in August, spending lots of time with friends, going back to Bethlehem Farm in October with the Appalachia Seminar, and studying abroad in Athens, Greece next spring! |
I am living in constant amazement, astonishment, wonder, and gratitude at this incredible life I am so blessed to lead. Thanks for being a part of it!
With so much love,
Emily