Hello

This is me

This is my mosaic

Part of my half of the room

The other part of my half of the room

Hi, my name is Dan Woods, a student of Unversity of North Carolina School of the Arts, or UNCSA. I'm from Medford, New Jersey. Medford is located in the southern portion of New Jersey. I have one sibling, Molly, who currently lives in Toms River. Toms River is located closer to the middle of New Jersey. At home I also have two dogs, Honey and Ember, who I love as if they were my family. I kind of miss home because I miss seeing my dogs everyday and I miss having a home-cooked meal every day. However, I'm also glad to be at UNCSA, because I'm able to pursue my lighting career in theatre. The picture below my first picture is, as you can tell, a mosaic of the same picture consisting entirely of smaller pictures that pertain to lighting.

Ember, who is very attached to me

My mom is a family therapist for families with children with special needs. She goes around from house to house and helps the families with any paperwork or questions they may have. My dad is a computer engineer. He currently creates programs for military defense systems, specifically for the Navy.

Honey, who is blind in her right eye

My mom's side of the family immigrations here from the former USSR, most likely from Russia, Poland, and Romania, during the 1890's through to the early 1920's. This would make me a 4th/5th generation member of that side of the family. On my dad's side, the most recent immigrations were 7 generations on his father's side and 8 on his mother's side, however, on his mother's side, we can trace our lineage back to the earliest known birth in this country, 13 generations ago in Maryland, 1608. At the bottom of this post is a picture of me standing next to a giant rock in Scotland. Granted, I'm not actually standing next to the rock, I photoshopped myself next to the rock.

In my experience, problems younger people face are more social problems, such as trying to fit in with the "cool" people and what they will do to fit in. In itself, this includes issues of underage drinking, drug use, and bullying in any form. If I were to give advice to anyone who is facing these issues, I would tell them that in the long run, none of them are really okay. I would also tell them that if you are found out for doing anything like that, do not try and lie to cover it up. Lying in that instance will only make things worse.

As much as I hate to give her credit for getting me interested in theatre, my mom is really the one who kick started that interest. Back in 2004, she was looking for a day camp to put me in for the summer. She found a local summer theatre camp that ran for most of the summer and placed me in it. When I was picked up after the first day, I promptly told them that I was definitely coming back the next year. From 2004 to the summer of 2009 I was always there in some form during the summer. Also from 2004 on, I was always involved in theatre in some form.

My house

I have never traveled to any foreign countries, but I hope to change that by the time I graduate college. Medford is not really a culturally diverse town, for the most part everyone there (or at least everyone I went to high school with) is caucasian and somewhat rich. Also back at home in New Jersey, my mom loves to grow her own fruits and vegetables, however, I'm not very good at growing things, so I tend to stay out of the garden.

In my life, digital technology is very important because it keeps me in touch with a lot of my friends from New Jersey. That in itself is important because if I didn't meet these people, I might not have decided to pursue theatre as a career. Aside from the aforementioned friends, what matters most to me is living a happy life filled with friends. I know it sounds really cheesy, but that's all I really want.

---Dan Woods