swish and flick

Forgive the long hiatus. The past few weeks have been absolutely hell. Both academically and mental-health-wise, I was on a path covered by gray clouds. I'm not sure I'm completely past it... sometimes, like today, things will be really happy. And there are other moments where I feel totally alone and frankly just sad. This is not a cry for help. I am really just trying to understand what the heck is going on.

Part of it had to do with the fact that I had been losing touch with my mentor and teacher friend. I've talked about him in past posts, so if you're really that curious go read them. Our relationship has changed since I'm in an actual class with him and he has really pushed me to the next level. And often I felt like I was losing my grip on him as a person. I understand we're both busy, we've got to-do lists that are a mile long and deadlines to meet. I am not even sure I can articulate what he means to me. But we haven't been having those wonderful, insightful and inspiring talks like we used to. I miss them. Today was good, though. I stopped in and we chatted for close to an hour about this past weekend which I will talk about shortly. We didn't talk hardly at all about class or assignments or deadlines. It was so lovely.

So this past weekend I finally got to go home for Easter. I realized that Easter is probably one of my favorite holidays... none of that gift-giving Hallmark crap beyond a little chocolate or a few jelly beans. on the ride home from school, mom and i talked about the general dysfunction in our family. i learned a lot about my dad's past and his struggles. which makes me a little more patient with him now...

and it was baby Ava's first Easter!!



she hated that bonnet.

welp, it's off to bed for me. got an early day tomorrow at the high school, and a structured interview after that. 'ho boy.

Burning like a roman candle

So I have to share this 'cause I'm still geeking out.

Last night as part of the Witt Series events, a wind quintet called Imani Winds came to campus. Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. They are all people of color, which was an intent when they began the group. They are influenced by many ethnic musics - afro-cuban, argentinian, indian, etc. It's definitely not traditional music. The players all went to music schools in new york, so you know they're going to be fantastic musicians. They played a concert close to two hours long. And it was TOTALLY fantastic! It was obvious that they loved playing and playing with each other. They were just so happy. At one point, the clarinetist was improvising some ridiculous cadenza, and the whole group just busts out laughing cause it was so schmaltzy. They are such cool people.

Afterwards, there was a reception for invited guests. My friend Katie and I were the ONLY students there... talk about socially awkward. We ended up having a conversation with the president, which is pretty sweet. And we got to talk to a few of the members of Imani Winds. We were the last to leave their house at 11:30... who gets to close down a party at the president's house? THIS GIRL. Haha. That was probably one of the highlights of my Witt career. No joke.

Soooo I just have to say that I have a SHIT TON of work to do. I've got major assignments in both of W's classes, plus lesson plans out the butt for Dr. C, plus preparing for juries and OH YEAH that music history paper that's due in ohhh three weeks. FUUUUU--

In other news, my service project might be taking off. For my honors class, w wants us to work on a project that will actually contribute something now that we've talked about it since January. I'm doing a small scale a StoryCorps project for the people here locally, specifically with the Neighborhood. I met with the Neighborhood Association on Tuesday, and I've got a few people who are interested in telling their stories so I can get them out there. I think they have meaningful stories just like anyone else, but it's too often the wealthy people that get to tell theirs. So I want to celebrate people who are doing work just as good. The T Foundation has been doing a narrative history project as well, but never with 'common' people. So needless to say, they're excited, I'm excited, W's excited, the Neighborhood is excited.... I can't wait to see what this might bring about.

Yay! *Happy spring dance*