For Venghour
By Marilyn Brach
Whenever faced with the opportunity of gift-giving, I am always unsure of whether my gift will be good enough. For me personally, gift-giving is such a personal act and it’s something that I normally put a lot of time and effort into. The act of formulating and making a gift for someone is a beautiful way to show your appreciation for a person. At first, I was lost at what I should gift Venghour. Then I started thinking. My main inspiration for this gift was friendship and Trinity’s campus since Venghour is currently not on campus with us. I figured I would make a video of me walking around campus, showing Venghour how I perceive the place that I now call home.Making the video for Venghour was a very fun experience for me. I was able to walk around campus and experience things in a new way, it was almost as if I was looking at everything with fresh eyes. I also decided to sing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from the classic Pixar movie Toy Story. I chose this song in particular because I believe the meaning of friendship conveyed resonates really well with what I was trying to create. I also wanted to find a way to incorporate my love for singing into one of my cabinet objects since I have not been able to yet this semester. My singing is in no way perfect, but my goal was for it to sound more conversational rather than polished, and I think I achieved that goal. When editing the video, I made sure to put the clips from my walk as close to chronological order as possible so it could be like Venghour is actually on a walk with me. There are also special guests sprinkled in throughout, those being fellow InterArts members. My whole reason for making this video was so I could let Venghour know that once he gets on campus, there will be all of these wonderful people waiting for him.
Venghour never ceases to amaze me. The dedication to his dancing and other various art forms is so inspiring. He is one of the most talented and caring people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Even if there are 8,000 miles between Connecticut and Cambodia, it sure does not feel that way in class. I remember last semester I was presenting a project I was not very proud of and Venghour had nothing but positive things to say about it. In a moment where I did not feel confident in my work, Venghour was able to change my mindset. Despite only meeting Venghour virtually, one of the things I have learned from him is that you shouldn’t really be concerned if what you create is “good” because at the end of the day, it’s yours and at least one person will enjoy it. I am so excited for the day Venghour finally comes to campus, and I hope he feels the same way because I know for a fact everyone will be welcoming him with open arms.