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Troubadour Phenomenology: On Being in the Audience

In this creative essay, I attempted to use take a phenomenological apporach to understanding troubadour performance, with particular regard to the experience of the audience member. I put secondary sources in conversation with my own observations of our group as an audience during the musical performances, lectures, and guided visits we went on this trip. My central argument was that the audience plays as active and critical of a role in constructing a performance as the performer does.

A Troubadour's Guide to Wine Pairing

For this project, I sought to combine my interested in wines from the Languedoc region with my passion for graphic design. After going on a number of amazing treks up mountains to visit castles and visit medieval sites, I noticed that wine always added a new element to the dining experience. Yet unlike traditional wine pairings that often only combine wine and food, I found that wine is also deeply connected to the broader context. Thus I wanted to examine the contextual questions to the overall wine experience—beginning with "Where are you?" and "What are you doing?"

Rugby, Wine, and Occitan Culture

In the creative essay writing form, I looked to explore the relevancy of rugby throughout all of Occitania. Known as the sport of the people, as opposed to a sport of the bourgeois, rugby has remained a large part of this southern French culture. I talked with Frank Schisano, a rugby player who became a self-made wine maker, and explored how one could even make that seemingly incompatible transition, yet I found a few parallels by which the occupations are approached and sustained.

Calendretta

She knew that her system couldn’t have lasted forever, but it was almost crippled how quickly it ended up crumbling.

Occitania decided to mint new money. The Euro was now worthless and citizens were told to start community bonfires to burn their paper money and to leave to coins in the ashes. Anyone with contraband currency found in their home would be arrested for enemy sympathies.

When in Occitania: A Reflection

Admittedly, in writing a creative, informal essay, I did not really adhere to any strict methodology. I mainly just wanted to relate my changing attitudes towards the seminar, while also providing a lightly analytical critique of some of our readings. In comparison with some of the more directly analytical projects my peers have created, I was at first a little wary of taking such a free-form approach—after all, I still wanted to demonstrate how much I had learned.

There’s an App for That: Troubadour Love Meets 21st Century Dating Site

The verse “Match Maker, Match Maker, make me a match” is ringing across the country.  Meanwhile, e-commerce dating sites are springing up rapidly, capitalizing on advances in social media and big data analysis.  An upcoming mobile dating application, Hinge, is examining changes to their business model to provide services and products ahead of the competition.  Hinge uses a unique algorithm by pairing friend-of-friends from Facebook through shared profession, education history, interests, and romantic history on the app.  Unlike other companies in the e-dating space, like Tinder, a dating ap

Trobairitz Song

Crees que cantan Pajaros  En los Cortes De Aragon? Cantan en tus castillos?  Aqui se quedan sin cancion,  La primavera me ha abandonado Invierno me ha abrazado Trobador, por favor, vuelva a mi.   Rezo para un hombre La oracion de poder “Santificado sea tu nombre” Tu rezas a la virgen mujer Antes de dias de promesa y amor Invierno era infierno, puro calor Trobador, mi amor, vuelva a mi…   En tu campo florecido, La sinsonte trae cancion Se burla de mi destino  En mi maldita dirección Quién tambien vuela, a nuestro camino?  Vuelan de Beziers, markando su destino Trobador, por favor, floritura 

From Domna to Trobaritz: Lessons from Medieval Poets to a Modern Day Poet

Statement of intent: Using themes, forms, and functions of trobaritz works. How are our writings shaped by medieval thinkers and creators? What can we learn from these motifs? 
 
I have traveled this land over here/
From Carcassonne out to Beziers/
And what I’ve seen will inspire you, dear/
To become of the world a great seer/
You will find me as a land unconquered/
Come with me and we shall make it clear/
It is you who arouses a word/
 
My beauty glows outward, draws you in/
We are magnets and together spin/

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