Olivia Dicopoulos (Sophomore) Screen Studies
Disciplines of interest: Film Production
Critical Works: Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit and Acting For Real by Renée Emunah
This semester, in my Drama Therapy and Group Process class, we are evaluating the notion that drama therapy exercises are crucial for psychological growth. In conjunction with physically playing out these exercises, we are reading Renée Emunah’s book Acting for Real.
Emunah explores the idea that “…emotional distance was required to help people think objectively instead of responding subjectively” (Emunah 9). I now apply this idea to how I act in a classroom setting, because I want to preserve the democratic spirit of the room. By allowing myself to become objective, I have learned to better maintain my composure and to become more analytical. Since I have been avoiding more emotional responses to questions raised in the classroom, I have created some distance from my personal life when I’m in an academic setting.
Another class I am taking this semester is Art and Walking, and we are reading Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit. She defines walking as, “a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord” (Solnit 5). Although this book has not had an impact on my academic life at Lang, it has made me more appreciative of being in the city where Lang is located. Whenever I walk to class now, I am always aware of how powerful it is to be walking in New York City as a young woman.
