[PHOTOSTORY 2: ADITL] Everyday Magic

By: Daisy Davis

Michael Allen stands in the "Magic: The Gathering" card section of Galactic Comics and Games store in Statesboro, GA. He is looking to buy some new cards with his tip money from working at Waffle House over the weekend. 

Michael Allen shuffles through decks of cards to pick out the ones he would like to purchase. "Magic: The Gathering" is a multiplayer tabletop card game that Michael enjoys playing with his friends in his free time.

Michael Allen waits for assistance from an employee so that he can purchase a deck of cards. "You can look the decks up online to get a catalog of the cards that will likely be in them, so sometimes it's better than sorting through hundreds of cards," Michael said.

Michael Allen leaving Galactic Comics and Games store with $40 worth of "Magic: The Gathering" cards. Michael said he plans to go back to the store soon to play the trading card game and meet new people.

Michael Allen sitting at his desk to open new packs of "Magic: The Gathering" cards he purchased. When Michael isn't working, he enjoys hanging out with friends, playing trading card games, campaign games, and reading fantasy novels. 

Michael Allen shuffling through a newly opened pack of cards. "The foil cards like this one are always fun to show off because shiny cards are just cool, everyone wants those," Michael said.

Michael's desk is filled with books, cards, and keepsakes that have been given to him by his friends and family. Michael works at Smoothie King and Waffle House throughout the week and on the weekend, unless he has to report for the National Guard.

Michael Allen reaches for a box of cards on his desk. "The desk might look a little messy, but it's just crowded. I promise there's some organization to it," Michael said. 

     Michael Allen holds a case of cards he's been collecting over the past year. Michael said that he buys these cases because they help him keep the cards in order and each box can hold around 10 packs of cards.
                                                                             

Michael Allen looks through his fifth pack of cards for the day. In a trading card game like Magic: The Gathering, the more cards you have, the better.

Michael Allen's wall displays several posters and National Guard memorabilia. "The bottom one is a marksman ribbon for shooting expert and the top is a National Guard Insignia," Michael said.

Michael Allen is holding a ring he was given after joining the Army National Guard. He joined in February of 2018 to train on Chinook aircraft repair. 

Michael Allen shows me the ring. The ring is engraved with the phrase, "Death Before Dishonor."

Michael Allen pulls out a pair of old boots he wore for 5 years to National Guard drill weekends. "Yeah so, as you can see, the new ones are in much better condition," Michael said.

Michael Allen reaches for his Waffle House hat to get ready for work at 2 p.m. Michael is saving up for a car, so he currently rides a bicycle and has to leave early to get to work on time.

Michael Allen fixing the chain on his bike before he heads out for the day. He says that his bike usually needs a few repairs a week, so he does them at home to save money.

                       

                    

Michael Allen moves his hands off the greasy bike chain. "If I don't check it and make sure it's on right before I leave, it usually causes me problems and I have to stop to fix it anyways," Michael said.

Michael Allen carries his bike out of his apartment and down twenty stairs before he rides to work. Michael has lived at Eighteen18, an off-campus housing unit at Georgia Southern, for almost half a year now. 

Michael looks at a neighbor and smiles. Michael is not currently enrolled in school, but he wants to save up enough money to go to a university and study physics.

Michael Allen biking from his apartment to Waffle House. He bikes 13 minutes to work, six days a week. 

[PHOTOSTORY 2: ADITL] A Day In the Life of a music composition masters student preparing for his graduate recital

 

Faye Chu (right) is heading to his first music rehearsal of the day with his cello and his girlfriend Mary Mason (left) is coming with him.
Faye is in his last year of graduate school at Georgia Southern as a music composer, and is also a cellist, so he'll be playing his own compositions for his recital. 

Faye is laughing at a joke his girlfriend Mary just told him. 
"Why is a cello better than a violin? It burns longer",  joked Mary. 

Cat Chu, Faye's brother, is playing in a few of Faye's ensembles for his recital. 
Cat went to Georgia Tech for engineering but kept up violin throughout college because he enjoyed it so much. 

Cat is practicing one of Faye's pieces called "Dialetic Strings"
Faye composed this piece and wants it to sound like a conversation between all the players.

Mia Passmore (left) is playing the viola in this ensemble, is working on a section in the Dialetic piece with Faye. 
Faye put in some tricky rhythms and is helping Mia understand them. 

Mia is showing a cool improvisation section off to Faye.

 Faye is inspired to edit her part and add it in for her. 

Mia laughs because Faye messes up on the rhythm he's trying to demonstrate to her.
"I guess it's easier to write it then actually play it," Mia laughs. 

Faye is back at his home and working on edits for his different compositions. 
He got more ideas when he was working with the other musicians in the rehearsals. 

Faye is looking through one of his music scores because he had a wrong note in the bass part and needs to change it.
He found it and was able to correct it.

Mia and Sushi, Faye and Mary's cats, are enjoying some dinner at their house. 

Faye had been gone all day because of his rehearsals and the cats were ready for their dinner. 

Mary tries to snuggle Mia and Mia resists.
According to Mary, Mia is the least cuddly of their cats. 

Faye then has to practice his piano part that is in one of his ensembles. 
He hasn't had as much time to spend on his piano as he's been so busy with school and rehearsing. 

Faye is adjusting the settings on his electronic piano. He will be using effects when he plays it in his recital, so he is trying to make sure he does it correctly.

Next, Faye has to practice his cello. This is the main instrument he'll be performing on in his recital, and he's had to practice and prepare a lot of music. 

 Faye is practicing a specific type of bow stroke called Spiccato, where the bow is going off and on the string in a very fast motion. 
"It took me weeks to get this! And still sometimes I have issues with it," exclaimed Faye.

Faye's mom, Katrina Chu, wants to accompany Faye for fun on his cello.
Katrina is in town from Florida for a while to visit and is staying with Faye and Mary for a week.

Faye's mom brought with her a Kamilba that she likes to play with.
She loves music and loves creating music with anything she can get. 

A few days later, Faye is doing a rehearsal with a pianist named Isaiah Taylor.
Faye wrote a duo for cello and piano and has just showed Isaiah his part.

Faye wants to make sure the piano lid stays open during the duo, because the sound needs to be reverberating strongly for the specific music style Faye is doing with this composition.

Isaiah is practicing through the new piece. "I love how passionate Faye is about composing, you can tell he is through the things he writes. It's all joy and excitement and you feel that when you're playing it," Isaiah says. 

[PHOTOSTORY 2: ADITL] A Day in The Life of an Economics Major

Kelsey Barwick arrives at the Henderson Library to meet her classmate, Laura Iscoa, to study for their economics midterm. "We've got a lot to cover and our week is super packed," said Barwick as she began to take notes.

As she confusingly begins to study, Barwick seems confused at her professor's powerpoint. She eventually started to understand the material and started jotting down formulas.

She says that her favorite way to take notes in class is on her iPad with her Apple Pencil. Then, to help her memorize, she wanted to create a study guide in her physical notebook.

Barwick's midterm is for her econometrics class with Professor Schiman. She says that it helps her to write her notes on his powerpoint to better understand the definitions.

"Without Laura, I literally would never get through my coursework. We both need each other to survive our Econ classes," said Barwick as she continues to study. Iscoa smiled as she was flattered by her statement.

Iscoa struggles with one of her problems, and Barwick quickly strives to help her and explain the mathematics behind it. Iscoa seemed confused but she was determined to understand the problem.

Barwick says that many students in the College of Business come to the library to study. "It's an all-time-favorite study spot, for sure," she said. "I guess it's just the easiest place to take notes in because it's so quiet and it's always fun to see recognizable faces."

Barwick and Iscoa share notes to compare and contrast their answers to the study guide. Iscoa said that she learns more when she discusses the material one-on-one.

The material she is seen here covering is profit maximization and supply curves. Her notes explained the graph and the formulas within it.

As she continues to create a study guide, Barwick discusses what her days are like during her free time. "I usually go hit my apartment gym," she said. "Or sometimes I like to play video games with my roommates, depends how I'm feeling."

"But most days I'm usually pretty busy," Barwick said. "I'm either stuck in class or stuck in the library for hours and hours on end."

Iscoa multitasks as she continues to look at material and listen to Barwick talk about her days. The two enjoyed discussing their personal lives as they studied together.

The girls take a pause from conversation to focus and avoid distraction. "We both have ADHD and we're medicated so we're super locked in today. It's an essential for me to be on my meds during my days at the library." said Barwick.

Iscoa helps Barwick with a question as she explains a formula to her. Barwick reached for the other end of the iPad so that she could see closely what Iscoa was talking about.

Repeating definitions out loud is what seems to help Barwick memorize information the best. She kept repeating them to Iscoa in hopes that it would help her retain information too.

"I used to be undecided, but then I took an Econ class as an elective a career in that was calling my name," Barwick said excitingly. "I'm not sure why but the logical side of it all just really intrigues me."

Barwick continues to talk about how she doesn't know exactly what she wants to do with her degree, but she hopes to get a job right after graduation. She also said that no matter what job she may end up in, she'll be satisfied because economics is fun for her.

Since sunset was approaching, the study pair began to wrap up their time in the library. They wrote down any last notes into their study guides before leaving Henderson Library.

Barwick and Iscoa finally leave the library after a long day of studying. The pair proceeded to walk towards the parking lot.

They shared one last laugh before parting ways. Their test is on Thursday at 10:10 a.m. and they are hopeful to pass this exam.