My Resume

(I know its not exactly an Essay or OpEd, but its still for a class, so I think it counts.)

Rachel Davis
Vocal Range: C3- Bb6	Height: 5’, 9”	Weight: 160
Age: 16	Hair: Auburn	Eyes: Brown
Productions
The Love Of Three Oranges	Gate	Carlsbad High School
Rough Magic	Alecto The Fury	Carlsbad High School
Footloose	Ensemble	Carlsbad High School
High School Musical	Brainiac / Thespian	Star Theatre Co.
Sweeney Todd : School Edition	Ensemble	Carlsbad High School
“Unfinished” Christmas Project	Pianist, Luckie, Co-Author	New Venture Christian Fellowship
Peter Pan	Indian / Dancer	Encore / Premiere For Kids
Annie	Star–To–Be, Boelyn Sister, Poor	Star Theatre Co.
Guys And Dolls	Hot Box Dancer	Star Theatre Co.
Sound Of Music	Frau Schmidt	Star Theatre Co.
Oliver!	Charlotte Sowerberry	Star Theatre Co.
Guys And Dolls, Jr.	Nicely Nicely Johnson	YMCA
Bugsy Malone, Jr.	Dancer	YMCA
Annie, Jr.	Grace Farrell	YMCA
Choir Projects
Lancer Choir (Accompanist)	Class Finals
Chamber Singers (1st Soprano)	Harvest Of Harmonies
	Holiday Concert
	Fullerton Music Festival
	Riverside Chamber Choir Festival
	Oceanside Music Festival
	San Diego Padres National Anthem
Encore (1st Soprano / Soloist)	Harvest of Harmonies
	Holiday Concert
	Night With The Stars
	Pops Concert
	Carlsbad High School Varsity Basketball National Anthem (Solo)
Theatre Class Projects
Advanced Theatre	As You Like It – 10 Plays in 10 Hours		Forest Of Arden
Pre Advanced Theatre	“Oh If Only” – Original Scene		Lisa
	The Lottery – One-Act Play		Belva  Summers
	The Doctor Despite Himself – Scene		Martine
	Atonement – Monologue		Briony Tallis
	Twelfth Night – Scene		Countess Olivia
Intermediate Theatre	The Girl Who Was Asked To Turn Blue – One-Act Play		815
	Rocco The Rolling Stone – One-Act Play		Mrs. Filbert
	Top Girls – Scene		Nell
	Fire’s Wild Dance – Original Scene		Fire
	Children’s Theatre At Pilgrim – Original Scene		Pilgrim’s Children Center
	The Seagull – Monologue		Nina
	A Street Car Named Desire – Monologue		Blanche
Aviara Oaks Middle School	Merchant Of Venice – Monologue		Portia
	Romeo And Juliet – Monologue		Juliet
	Hairspray – Cutting		Older Women
	Cabaret Night  - Let It Be, In My Own Little Corner		Soloist, Accompanist
Miscellaneous
Coffee Houses	Pianist / Soloist		Carlsbad High School
Praise Team / Animal Band	Pianist / Dolphin / Soloist / Leader		New Venture Christian Fellowship
One Great Week Of Prayer	Pianist / Soloist		New Venture Christian Fellowship
Vista Little League Opening Ceremonies	National Anthem Soloist		City Of Vista Little League
Lancer Express Fundraiser	Pianist / Soloist		Carlsbad High School
Competitions / Awards
DTASC Fall 2010	4th Place Musical div. C		Hair
RoleAbout 2009	Cold Reading Finalist		Crucible, The Glass Menagerie
RoleAbout 2009	Film Monologue		Atonement
DTASC Spring 2009	1st Place Character Costume div. A		Hamlet – Ophelia
Bonita Vista: For Ladies Only	3rd Place – Show Choir Competition		Encore – Soloist
Los Alamitos Show Choir	2nd Place – Solo Competition		What I Did For Love
Hart Encore Competition	2nd Place – Show Choir Competition		Encore – Soloist
Tech Theatre
As You Like It	Costume Crew		Carlsbad High School
You Can’t Take It With You	Costume Crew		Carlsbad High School
Aladdin, Jr.	Spotlights		Aviara Oaks Middle School
Classes / Training
Intermediate, Pre-Advanced, Advanced Theatre	Monica Hall
Encore, Chamber Singers, Lancer Choir	Christy Owen
Drama	Andrea Schuck-Emert
Acting I, II, III	Junior Theatre
Improvisation	North Coast Reperatory Theatre
Musical Theatre Dance	Junior Theatre
Tap, Ballet, Jazz	Ariel’s Dance, Mira Costa College, Palomar College
Pilates	Suzanne Fernandez
Voice	Jennifer Patterson, Amanda Crisalli, Jennifer Walsey
Music	Chuck Showalter: Piano, Bill Jones: Guitar
Music Theory	Matt Falker
Musical Theatre Workshops	Broadway Knights: Megan Hilty and Steve Kazee
	Junior Theatre: Christian Hoff
	Take It From The Top: Laura Bell Bundy and Paul Canaan
Shakespeare Study	Dr. Harland’s Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Experience
Other
Conversational Sign Language
Piano – 11 Years
Member of International Thespian Society Troupe 1519
New Venture Christian Fellowship – Assistant Kids World Coordinator
Carlsbad High School Peer Leaders
Dr. Daniel and Davis Optometry, Inc. Student Office Assistant

The Reason This Blog Exists

          Because I am a High School Student and I am vain.
          Like all high schoolers wanting to go to college, I too am partaking in that which eats at brain cells, that which noms at sleep, that which is AP English. Of course, other classes also induce brain loss equivalent to that of a zombie attack. These also bear the name "AP," but those classes do not result in the hilarity, or sheer genius of the writing that AP English causes.
          So, back to the reason for this blog. As I said I am extremely vain. But not in the way of looks or anything so superficial as that, no. I am gifted instead with the Teacher's Favorite Syndrome. This causes me to receive decently high grades on papers that I worked on for about a third of the time as my fellow classmates. Often times, I post these papers on Facebook for last minute cyber-peer-editing.
          Facebook has decided to change its format. Again. I plan on writing a strongly-worded letter to Mark Zuckerberg on this matter. However, in the meantime, I have created this blog just to ensure that my writings will be easily accessible to all who wish to read my Opinions, Essays, and Thoughts without having to learn the new Facebook format to find my glowing causeries and sigh, "If only I could write as well as she."
          I will post my essays and opinion editorials on here for all who care to view, as they are due or as I choose to post them, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that you read them, enjoy them, critique them.
         As an added bonus, I will post videos if I figure out how. My AP English class has an emphasis on film and therefore has more than just stuffy old writings, but also documentaries, like on Teenagers, that I will post on here if I become technologically savvy enough to do so.
          I sincerely hope the AP season will be good to all who read this, as do I. Writings from AP will remain here as a reminder of how much we've grown as writers and as... well no just writers.
          If you'd like to post your own writings up here for me, or others, to edit feel free to do so. No one will judge. Unless you want them to judge. I know I have no problem in judging. I might judge you.
          Of course, if you know me, please excuse my extremely self-centered introduction. You know I am not usually this prone to self-praise and self-reverence. Just writing as myself becomes insanely boring, I need to break the "relentless cage of routine and rote" (Sylvia Plath).

Interesting Title Describing Exactly What This Op-Ed Is About (Opinion Editorial on Names)

Rachel Nicole Davis (Tall Ginger Girl Kind of Weird And Sings A Lot (Awkward Adhesive) Daughter of Christopher and Susan)

Mr. Spanier (Self-Proclaimed “El Jefe” Meaning The Chief)

English 3AP (Class On Reading And Writing At A College Level), Period 6

January (Roman Month After A God With Two Faces) 4, 2011

Interesting Title Describing Exactly What This Op-Ed Is About

People are obsessed with names, with naming things, with putting letters together and forcing whatever word-thing comes out onto some poor, defenseless, nameless creature. Perhaps this rampant labeling comes from the creation of man, where God decided that man was to name everything. No offense, God, I love you and all, but maybe you should have given Adam a few guidelines. How does a baby end up being Cain? Or Abel? Or a snake a snake and not an "sssssss". That would make more sense as it makes that sound therefore describes it better.

Names really should consist of describing adjectives also used as interjections or nouns. For example, if I went by “Tall Ginger Girl Kind of Weird And Sings A Lot” I’d be more apt to get my paper, and only my paper back after tests. In one of my classes, three people have parents who decided they were “Ewes” (the Hebrew origin of the name Rachel). If my first name were “Tall Ginger Girl Kind of Weird And Sings A Lot” it would describe exactly me, and pretty much only me. Not a female sheep, not the mother of Joseph, not the wife of Jacob, just me. 

Now I know, most parents, and people in general for that matter, would argue that a name does describe a person: their surname describes who he descended from, and so on and so forth. My last name is Davis. This name originated from a lazy person writing “David’s Son” sans a few letters, a space, and a punctuation mark. My father is not David, nor is any one else in my family that I know of. Furthermore, I am not a son, thank you very much. I am a daughter. Obviously, this label falls significantly short of adequately describing myself and the family from which I come.

Middle names really kick my brain. If first names supposedly describe who you are, and last names supposedly describe who you came from, for what is this awkward name stuck in the middle? In Russia, the father’s name resides there in altered form, but in the Western world, it just acts as an awkward adhesive between two pseudo-describing words. My middle name, Nicole, only came into popularity halfway through the 20^th century; if humanity took that long to invent my name, it should not have bothered inventing middle names at all.

People can get along perfectly well without middle names. Take my father for example. He has no middle name. He also has part ownership in his Optometry practice (The other part is owned by my mother).  He has a lovely wife (who, coincidentally, does have a middle name). He has three very beautiful and immensely talented children (if I may say so myself). Obviously, his lack of an adhesive between his personal label and family label did not hinder his productivity and success in life.

     Though, describing exactly what a person or thing is may be a daunting, nearly impossible, task for most people. As Lucy so greatly put in a You're a Good Man Charlie Brown "A person's personality is not really developed until age five." Or something like that.  Until a child has grown enough to develop a personality worthy of description, what do you call it? That’s it! “It”!

Many people may find "It" too insensitive, too detached for new, naive families to handle. I guess mislabels must remain status quo until parents can just get over themselves. And, I admit, “Tall Ginger Girl Kind of Weird And Sings A Lot (Awkward Adhesive) Daughter of Christopher and Susan” would be pretty cumbersome to write on all my papers. I guess Rachel Nicole Davis will have to do.

Maybe I am an ewe: Just a sweet, herd-able, naive, little sheep, just like the rest 376,428 Rachel’s in America.