Live Tweeting Assignment

 Ohio Northern’s campus was abuzz last weekend with the excitement of students, faculty, and alumni as the Polar Bears celebrated Homecoming Weekend. Although I unfortunately missed out on Saturday’s events on account of running the OAC cross country meet, I had the opportunity to attend the grand finale of the weekend on Sunday: Band-O-Rama. I wasn’t sure how well my live Tweeting assignment would go over in a theater-setting, but I saw no other choice. So, MJ and I (and our friend Corey who went for Music Appreciation) headed on over to the Freed Center for an afternoon of Marching Band music.

After finding our seats, I opened my program expecting to find a list of songs I had never heard of, maybe a couple of ONU fight songs. Instead, I was greeted with titles like “Material Girl”, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, and “Hotel California”. I snapped a quick selfie with the brochure to post before the performance began, then settled into my seat. Soon after, the lights dimmed and a steady drum beat filled the auditorium. The entire drumline rose from a moving platform below the stage and the rest of the band marched into the theater from the back of the audience. I was still a little nervous to be on my phone during a performance, so I didn’t record that part, but I snapped a couple pictures right after they marched into their concert positions.

It felt weird to be on my phone while a show was going on, but as I kept Tweeting, I figured out how to do it quickly and discreetly. I didn’t think I would like this assignment, but the rapid-paced posts made it easy to write something down without overthinking it. There’s certainly something to be said about living in the moment, but I can see how this is a great way to advertise an event to people.