Wilkes University Visit-1st Night

On June 25 and 26, I went to visit my mom at Wilkes University, where she was for her week-long residency. She is a creative writing professor for the Wilkes MA/MFA program. On Tuesday, she had a reading that the students and fellow professors attend. There were seven other presenters in addition that were all presenting original work. I didn't even think about it until afterward, but this was a great theatre experience. I was a little disappointed in some of the presentations because they dragged. In fact, I thought this night gave me a really interesting perspective on the need for an effective presentation because some people had interesting story lines that were well-written, but their presentation was bland so I didn't enjoy the piece. I found that the pieces I enjoyed more were the ones that presented in an entertaining manner. My mom was second-to-last and even without my bias she was clearly the best one. Her story was about the time there were snakes in our pool before my birthday party. She read loudly and clearly, with voice intonations. She made it so that everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats and had the audience roaring with laughter. Afterward, everyone kept coming up to congratulate her. They told her that hers was the best reading of the night and they absolutely loved her story. I was so proud of her! Now I know where I get my theatre inclinations :) Here is me with my mom after she presented--proud daughter!! By the way, she wore that blue shirt to resemble water (my pool)...so even though this wasn't a theatrical production with costumes, my mom still thought about small implications of her outfit!