WDL Demo Rss

"Who's your type, Summer Girl?"

Posted by Laura | 1 comments

When I was in the union yesterday, I passed by a booth that was handing out free cds. Woo! I grabbed two that looked artistic. One sounds like a Radiohead wanna-be cover band (Mum) and was slightly disappointing. The other, however, is a gold mine! They are Family of the Year, and they are great. Who can dislike 6 part harmony? You can almost feel the sunshine shine on your hippie band as you sway back and forth to the simple melodies.

Speaking of sunshine, today is glorious. Around one o'clock, I jumped in the car, grabbed some Schlotzskys & cherry Sprite, and headed to a nearby park. As I sat at a picnic table, munching on salt and vinegar chips and reading Real Sex (regarding chastity and Biblical direction for sexuality), I found myself distracted by the myriad of children frolicking on the playground. Bemused by the irony of having just read the section entitled "Sex is for procreation," I laid down my book and watched the kids.
At first it was charming to see the little ones pump their legs earnestly to swing higher than the others. Moms chatted with each other as they watched their spawn from behind large, sepia-colored sunglasses. There were lots of dogs (yuck) running to and fro. Occasionally a tshirted girl would jog by, keeping in time with the silent beat of her headphones. I smirked as two spandexed teens sauntered by, dragging a chihuahua behind them. It was altogether romantic... until I heard a bloodcurdling scream come from the slide. The ensuing scene went something like this:
Mom: "Grant, you cannot throw things at your sister. That is mean."
Grant (3 or 4 year old): "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Mom: "Apologize to your sister right now."
Grant: "NOOOOOOOOOOO"
Mom: "If you don't apologize, you have to sit on that bench until your change your mind."
Grant: "NOOOOOOOOOO"
Mom: "Ok, have it your way." (and hauled him over to the bench)
Grant: "NOOOOOOOOOO"
Mom: "Stop screaming right now. You are acting like a baby."
Grant: (sniffle, gulp, gasp, snort)
Mom: "You will sit here until you calm down and apologize."
(silence for 30 seconds or so)
Grant: "Mom?"
Mom: "Yes?"
Grant: "What do I have to do to keep playing?"
Mom: " Tell me why you are sitting here first."
(I couldn't hear his response)
Mom: "Yes. Was that kind?"
Grant: "No."
Mom: "Will you apologize now?"
Grant: "Yes."
(peace, love, and happiness)

This all repeated 5 or so minutes later when poor little Grant sinned again. To my surprise, "Mom" responded in the same, patient way, yet with a little more firmness and threats to leave the park.
Every since then I've been thinking about parenthood and procreation. It was almost like those high school classes that assign a robotic baby to teens for a week in order to scare them away from premarital sex. If anything, it was a good reminder that sex does result in babies.

Speaking of babies, I think I want to have a lot of them. Children, that is. At least 5. The other day at lunch, I sat and listened politely as a fellow music major detailed her desire for one perfect, porcelain, angel baby girl. When she finished, I blurted out that I want 7 kids.
Confession: I mainly did this to watch her eyebrows raise and sputter for words. That was probably immature. I'm not actually sure that I want 7, but if that happens, YAY! The more the merrier. Being a camp counselor in 2008 was the best job I've ever had. Corralling 16 kids is exhausting, but so rewarding.
It doesn't take much to remind me how much I hate being alone. Every one of my friends is gone this weekend. I'm not exactly lonely... just bored. Even sitting on a couch is better when you're next to someone else.
Anyway, a lot of kids is exciting to look forward to.
If I can ever graduate.
Oh, and be found by the love of my life.

Speaking of immaturity, I wonder sometimes if I'm "mature." When does one become really "mature?" What does "maturity" even mean? I tend to equate "immaturity" with "silliness" and "a lack of having fun." If that is the case, I don't really want to be mature.

Speaking of fun, I had my first "Friday night at the bar" last night with some other music majors. It was nice to be with people, but not so nice to sit for hours and watch them become more and more intoxicated as I sipped my water. My idea of friday night fun looks a lot more like exploring, roller skating, scavenger hunting, game playing, baking, movie watching, and discussing ridiculously "deep" issues that end up making someone needlessly angry. Does this make me immature?

Panera re-scheduled me to close tonight, so at least I won't have to sit at home and watch a movie by myself. Come say hi!




Posted by Laura | 0 comments

Do you ever look in the mirror and really see yourself?
Like, you look in the mirror multiple times a day,
but only sometimes do you see who you are.
That happened to me today.
I've been confused ever since.

Thoughts whilst reading my music history homework.

Posted by Laura | 1 comments

I have never really enjoyed studying history. This is unfortunate, because I have always believed that one of the main purposes in studying history is to realize trends among the decades, centuries, millenniums, etc. in order to both understand why things are what they are today and prevent the same mistakes from happening again (... whoa, award for the longest, wordiest sentence ever?).
I really don't know what motivated me to do my music history reading today. Granted, we have a test on Monday, but usually I just skim my notes and wing it. This is probably why I have always gotten Cs in history.
The last two semesters of music history have been wretched. "Music in Culture" sounds interesting but really boiled down to a blow-off, boring overview of 3 or 4 cultures (with a strong emphasis in the Native American flute), and "Ancient Times to Baroque" was simply overwhelming (and how many identical gregorian chants can one memorize, really?). I hesitated to add history this semester for fear of burn-out. It ended up being one of my only options, so with great hesitancy I added "Late Baroque to Romantic" to my schedule and gritted my teeth.

Surprisingly, I have been intrigued. Our professor does a great job of weaving classical music's significance into the threads of history by assigning relevant readings (who knew that was possible?!) in moderate doses. She loves Haydn, Bach, and Mozart, but especially Beethoven (who now my proclaimed "favorite" composer of the period). When we listen to excerpts of various symphonies, she closes her eyes and occasionally bobs her head for emphasis. It's great! I can't help but smile when I watch her. Her passion for classical music, however nerdy it may be, is totally inspiring.

ANYWAY, to the point. The more I read the chapters in Music in the Western World, the more I realize that art (visual art and music, namely) have often been the main catalyst for social reform. In the same way that much of music's style reflects the type of present government, "avant garde" music is usually a foreshadowing of the people's desire for government reform.
For example, in the 18th century opera seria was the main style for Italian opera. This style, literally meaning "serious opera," consisted of conservative instrumental arrangements (mostly strings), aristocratic cast (servant characters were always minor) , moderate dynamics (neither soft nor loud volume), and serious themes. Around the time of literary "Enlightenment" (when philosophers like Rousseau and Paine were prominent writers), music began to change its style as well.
Composers started small by writing comic intermezzos, or short, comedic plays that were performed during the intermission of an opera seria. The most famous of these plays is La Serva Padrona, in which a servant girl forces her master to marry her by staging a bullied fight and locking him in a bedroom. While the theme of servant manipulation of their masters is common to us now, it was shockingly revolutionary in the late 1700s. La Serva Padrona became more popular than its contemporary rivals, and the public began to demand more comic intermezzos.
Rousseau immediately grasped this new style of opera, and declared it "enlightened." French operas mimicking this style exploded into the music scene, and became a hallmark of the middle class. The French Revolution of 1789 is greatly attributed to the new themes of opera, in which characters married for love, not duty. This message embodied competing class ideals, in which "the self-made class began to threaten that of hereditary priviledge" (MWW 14).

I really didn't mean to make this an essay review as much as an excited blog about music's influence on society and history. It gives new excitement to my pursuit of a music degree. Not only do I now have a vision for educating children in the most beautiful of art forms, but also a piece in the reform of society and government. My support and/or performance of the "avant garde" or other new interpretations of music will directly influence the new trends that become "normal." How exciting is that?!

Rainy days make me more dreamy than usual.

Posted by Laura | 0 comments

Tonight I had to drive back to school in the rain. There was a huge blurry spot right in front of my face on the windshield, making it difficult to see the road through the raindrops and oncoming headlights.
Eventually my eyes adjusted as I focused on the road ahead. I thought about life right now--dramatic as it may seem--and its parallel to the windshield. Staring at the smudged window would have resulted in impaired vision, so averting my eyes to the road ahead proved relaxing and more effective. I was still aware of the smears, but they weren't overwhelming anymore.
Maybe the parallel is a little extreme, but that's how things seem at this point.
This thought process is lacking... but there is no more to it. I blame it on a lack of self-awareness.

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