Month: October 2011

The Holocaust

Well, it’s been a while since I was here. But I have very exciting news!! I have decided upon a story theme/plot for NaNo!!! (and, yes, you may congratulate me) I plan to write about a young German-Jewish girl and her family as they experience the Holocaust.  You may ask why I chose that theme: well, I’ll tell you. A few years ago during my senior trip we visited the Holocaust museum in  Washington D.C.  The Museum had a huge effect on me. I had been taught about the Holocaust, of course, as every High School graduate has, but there in D.C. I realized a little more the scope of what happened. It hit home to me that these were real people who had been abused, tortured, and murdered. People around the world are even now suffering as a result of racial prejudice. I cannot stop the Holocaust – it ended decades ago. But I can endeavour to stop another Holocaust from happening. Because when we stop remembering it is when it will happen again.

Music is my life

As I’ve said before, I love performing. Tomorrow evening my choir is presenting a recital of largely sacred works. I am so excited to have this opportunity to perform as a group with fellow musicians. That is something I miss a lot in my solo work. Musicians are some of the awesomest people on earth in my humble (but slightly biased) opinion. I love how a person or group of people can take some words and some dots on a page and transform them into a beautiful work of art. And then when it’s done, we can do it again and it will be completely new and different every single time. Music is like the visual arts in many ways, but this is one of their differences. Whereas a painting or sculpture can be finished and hung on a wall or placed in a museum as a memorial to the artist forever, music is created again and again, and a duplicate portrayal can never exist. Maybe that’s what I love about music. I can run out of landscapes to paint, but music will never be the same.

Escape

Today in Economics class my teacher remarked that when economic times are hard the market for entertainment increases. The reason for this historically documented phenomenon? Because people want to escape from their problems. This observation really got me started wondering why we feel the need to escape from life. Is life really so hard that we just can’t deal with it? When did the idea of escapism begin? and why? What should our response to the hardness of life be? Is escape even possible? or ethical?

 

November

Yes, you did read the title correctly. And, yes, I do know that it is still October. But did you know that next month is National Novel Writing Month (affectionately referred to as NaNoWriMo by its participants)? NaNo is a challenge. The goal: to write a full-fledged novel (50,000 words) in a month. The numbers work out to almost 2,000 words a day! Incredible, I know. I’ve been aware of NaNo for a few years now, but I never joined in the fun because I thought it was just too insurmountable of an object. I mean, there’s no way I can write a novel in a month!! Is there? Which is why I find myself signed up for the project this year. I know I’m crazy. I’m way too busy for this! I’m a college student doing way too much already. But I just couldn’t keep myself from joining. Hopefully you, dear readers, can help me gear up for the end of life as I know it and keep going when I’m in the throes of busyness and want to give up. I’ll keep you updated.

And any story ideas would be such a blessing!! I’m drawing a complete blank at the moment ….

Passion

Last night I went to a concert. On the program were several symphonic works and a piano concerto. Now we all know that as a musician I love music, but my favourite music is music for voice (who woulda thunk it!!). So I was excited for the concert, but not as excited as I will be for the opera my school is putting on next semester.

I put on my dress and walked over to the appointed place with my people, sat down in my seat, and waited for the performance to begin. And what a performance it was!! I had forgotten how much I love to watch others perform. Yes, you read that right. I enjoy listening to music, but the difference between listening to a CD and attending a live performance is the  opportunity to watch the artists perform their music. I love to watch the passion displayed by true musicians when the grip of the music is upon them. They become lost in the music – it is the only thing that matters in that moment. You see the emotions displayed on their faces, whether rage, sorrow, joy, or peace.

Music is the window to the soul.

Crunch time

We’ve all experienced it, whether  it’s trying to get to wrap that birthday present on the way to the party, get to work on time, or finish that English paper before 12:00 that night. So what do you do when there’s too much to do and far too little time to do it? Well, that’s where people get interesting.

You start off lying to yourself that you really can do it all, even though it seems impossible: this is the denial stage. Then comes the quitting stage. You finally stop lying to yourself about the possibility of doing it all. And sometimes that’s where you stop: if you can’t do it all, then you may as well not do any! Those who persevere through the depression of the quitting stage soon have to decide what to do with their limited time and resources. They agonize over the painful decision, but once it has been made they have the (relatively) easy task of simply doing what they have decided to do.

All that to say, take heart! The end is in sight…even if you can’t see it now.

Yum!!

Food. I love it!! It’s so funny to see the different ways people prefer their food. If you watch long enough, you’re sure to find some quirky idiosyncracy about each person’s diet. Take, for example, an elderly man of my acquaintance: he knew he would marry the woman who became his wife on their first date when they both ate their hamburgers up-side-down!

But the thing that is perhaps funniest to me, is the peculiar likes and dislikes people cherish about their food. I absolutely love olives. But I have friends who hate and loath them. Today I went to lunch at a fast food restaurant. And they put mustard and pickles on my sandwich. Now I ask you, how in the world could someone ever enjoy something that smells as vile as mustard or pickles? Let alone together!! But when I shared my opinion my friends laughed and opposed it, stating their own views to the contrary. What can I say? It’s a funny ol’ world!