My Favorite Walk

The campus is beautiful in the fall. Though I take a bus when I can, I love walking through campus. I have classes all over the place, so I am able to see all the different parts of campus. From the Gothic Revival buildings of the Old Crescent to the international style of the Art Museum, there are all sorts of architecture to see. But, my favorite part of my walks isn't always the architecture.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have a jazz class in the music building. When I walk out of class, I have the best walk home. First I walk past the music practice building. After leaving the music school, I can hear the sounds of tons of musicians practicing coming out of the windows and through the walls.

As I move closer, I can make out individual performers. On the first floor of the practice building there is always a jazz combo practicing. As I keep going, I walk along the side of Merill Hall. The first person I hear is always practicing their flute. Sometimes they are alone, and sometimes they are with a pianist. They are usually playing Classical. Immediately after I hear a violinist, my favorite. She (or he) always has the richest tone and makes me want to stop and listen some more.

The last two musicians I hear are on the front side of the building. There is a clarinetist on the top floor who will practice just one or two measures over and over. Usually they are big intervals, or at least something that sounds difficult to play. I also walk past a piano student and their teacher practicing. I found out the other day that the teacher is Andre Watts.

These are my favorite walks of the week. I only get to hear these musicians for a few seconds, but it it's enough to put a smile on my face.

Field Trip Moment

Every so often my family takes a field trip downtown. Yesterday my grandma, mom, and I went to the Art Institute of Chicago. As usual it was a great little visit.

One of the collections the Art Institute is known for is the Thorne Miniature Rooms. While we are there, there is a tour of the collection. They rarely have tours of the Miniatures so we make sure to take the tour.

We decide to take the elevator up to where the tour is meeting. The elevator is in a small stone alcove, almost hidden from the rest of the museum. As we wait, the pay phone rings.

We all look at the phone and then look at each other. I say "Should we answer it?"

My grandma takes the initiative and slowly walks up to the phone.

In my head I am running through all the different greetings she could say.

She picks up the phone and in a very casual manner says "This is the museum." For some reason I never expected her to say this. No "hello," no "Who's this," or other typical greeting.

This time specifying the museum she says "This is the Art Institute."

At this point she turns towards the phone and hangs it back up.

"They hung up."

Speaking Up

I am working this summer for my university with the office of orientation. It's my first job and I really enjoy it. We have a great program that does a great job welcoming freshmen and their families to campus.

Recently though, fellow employees and myself are having a few issues with how the job is run. So today, I was lucky enough to give a little feedback to the director. My main qualm is that we are not given a decent amount of time for sleep.

I have to say, I am very proud of how I presented my argument. I researched my rights as a university employee, my rights as an Indiana worker, and how those functioned with my contract. In addition to this, I found articles from scholarly journals to support my argument for a full night's rest. After printing out all of these articles and documents, I read and reread them highlighting and annotating important passages. During my meeting, I presented this information very professionally and made my argument and the supporting evidence very clear. Hopefully my efforts made a difference.

But, even if no changes are made to the program I am still proud that I spoke up. I have a tendency to talk about the changes I want to see but I never follow through or tell the right people. Finally, I was able to speak my mind and not do it offensively to my boss.

It is so important today to stand up for what you think is right. Too often, I have just let things that truly bother me just slip by. This quote may be slightly hackneyed but I still believe in it: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." It's true, and I will try harder to live by it.

It's time to speak up for what I believe in.

Embarrassing Photos

Embarrassing photos can manifest themselves in many forms. You could be captured in an awkward position, be seen with your eyes closed or tongue out, making a funny face, etc. The possibilities are endless. Recently, I have discovered a new way to take embarrassing photos.

During my senior year of high school I took a black and white photography class. I used my parents old Minolta SLR. Once the class was over, I decided to primarily use my digital SLR because of greater control in development. Normally I would say that black and white film in a dark room gives you the most control, but since I was out of the class I had a significant lack of dark room.

The old Minolta was left in a sparsely used compartment of my camera bag through the summer and into my first semester of college. Then, on one of my photo expeditions, I decided to shoot old school. I was in luck, the camera informed me of 17 remaining shots on this roll of film. I really wanted to make this roll count. Every picture I was going to take on this roll was really going to mean something to me.

Taking my time, I spent the rest of the year filling the roll with quality photographs. There was portraits, nature shots, landscapes, macro, a whole slew. Just this weekend I was coming to the end of the roll. Having not finished a roll since about a year ago, I couldn't remember if it would stop automatically at the end or if it would continue to double and triple expose the last photo. I took a few shots past the 24 limit and it kept going. I began to get worried about ruining my last photos so I rewound it and opened the case.

What I found behind the light-proof door was a surprise, to say the least. I found emptiness. Well, not emptiness, but a roll of embarrassing photos. I had spent half a year meticulously setting up and taking 17 photographs but to no avail. I can only hope that none of my portrait subjects ask for the results of my shots or that none of my friends will ask me what has become of my beloved roll. This is the ultimate form of embarrassment for me when it comes to photography. My friends know me as a pretty knowledgeable photographer and I like to keep my photography up to very high standards.

I had a similar incident happen to me in the field of baking. As I am with photography, I like to be precise and careful with my baking. I have make four layer cakes, scrumptious cookies, and other delicious treats for which I am proud of. But, upon trying a very difficult devil's food cake recipe I failed. This recipe, comes from a cookbook of mine which has some of the most difficult creations. Though they all take quite a bit of time, the outcome is always worth it. Since the book uses a nonstandard measurement systems I always have to check my measurements three of four times. I didn't check enough for the baking soda. They cakes were bitter. BITTER! I was so embarrassed, I swore my family to secrecy. My reputation was on the line. Well, after having gone through the same ordeal with photography, I have found there is something to learn from these situations and I should never forget about them. Though cliché, I have learned first hand to always be careful and never take things for granted.

Luckily, I will never have to worry about anyone seeing my embarrassing photos, but unfortunately, that is what makes embarrassing.

Music: An Appreciation

I like having hobbies. They keep me busy. But, the one hobby that is most important to me is music. Music encompasses so many parts of life, I truly feel it makes one a better person. I feel this way about all types of music but this is meant most towards music as an art and not music as entertainment. In other words, I'm talking about "classical" music.

Listening to music can be an emotional experience. Pieces of music can take you on far reaching journeys and tell detailed stories. Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathursta is a prime example of story telling. His tone poems are some of the best, telling the most colorful and expressive stories. Also Sprach Zarathursta is the story of the struggle between man and nature. The beginning of Einleitung starts with a perfect fifth (C-G-C) and then there is a booming C major chord quickly followed by a C minor chord. These two chords represent the morality and immorality in man good and bad. It shows the duality of man, both chords being C but both chords being completely different.

Throughout the piece their is a struggle between C and B and in the end neither one claims dominance. C and B as notes are really just a half step away from each other but as keys they are about as distant as you can get. They are almost on completely opposite ends of the circle of fifths. B has five sharps compared to zero sharps or flats in the key of C.

Also Sprach Zarathursta continues depicting the evolution of man. Each movement shows a different aspect of the development. It covers many specific parts of man's development following the ideas in Friedrich Nietzsche's book by the same name of the tone poem. I find the Von der Wissenschaft (Of Science) movement very interesting because of Strauss' use of a tone sequence fugue. It incorporates all twelve notes of the chromatic scale. The music is like an analysis and organization of nature in other words it is science! The twelve notes represent every tone in music (disregarding microtonality), in other words they represent nature.

Going deeper, you can look at Nietzsche's original text and find its relation to the music. Then you could go even deeper and look at the book's relationship with Zoroaster its original philosophy. Never will all the facets of this piece be understood. You can say this about any piece of music. This is what makes music so wonderful. Something new can always be found in music no matter how old or analyzed it is.

Playing music gives you an even deeper understanding of what is written while also challenging you physically and mentally. I can't play the piano very well. I took lessons for a few months when I was five. It didn't go well. But, I still enjoy finding a piece of music I like and working through it. Recently, I have been playing Debussy's Claire de lune (meaning moonlight). Though completely over played, it still has a lot of meaning for me. Practicing and playing through this piece makes me feel closer to the music and closer to Debussy. I like to imagine where he was when he was writing this and what he was thinking.

Music is challenging. It requires quite a bit of intellect with dedication but music is also very rewarding. A piece of music can stir up emotions and bring back memories. Unlike other forms of art it never takes a solid form. It is a movement through time, always changing. Just like music never sounds the same you also will never hear it the same way. If you listen to a song at different points in your life it will have different meanings to you and you will analyze it in different ways. Music is part of human nature and should never be underestimated.

Leaving School

My freshman year in college is over. I'm sorry because this post is going to be very sentimental and sappy. You have been warned. Well, the year is over. It went by very quickly.

I started out the year in Canada on an "IU Beginnings Trip." You move in a week early and you can choose to go on a variety of trips with a small group of people. I went on the Theatre Immersion trip. We went to Stratford, Canada to see their annual Shakespeare Festival. I am still great friends with some of the people I met on the trip.

My first semester of classes were fun. My favorites were Music Theory and Beethoven, Mozart, and Their Era. Monday nights I went to Swing Dance Club (didn't last very long). This was also the time when I thought of the Photography Society and started to plan it.

Other highlights from first semester include:

• Random Saturday night trip to Cincinnati
• Camping
  
• Late night trips to Qdoba and Ross' place
• Karen's Party and Quinto's Parties
• The bagillion concerts I saw (Hilary Hahn signed my Violin!)
• Seeing the Dali Lama
  
• Fall

All in all, a great way to start off my college career. Now we have second semester! One again, very enjoyable. The Photography Society had the first meeting and it was stupendious. There were many members (didn't last long) and many plans. I started taking violin lessons with the always unpredictable but amazingly talented Minjung Cho. The Photography Society had a catered gallery opening with live music. That was probably the best thing to happen this year, I'm so proud of the club. PhoSo also got sponsored by the Hutton Honors College! Woo! Maybe we can finally get some cash! Politicians went crazy over Indiana. Chelsea Clinton, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Dave Matthews, and many others made some visits for the sake of politics.

On the downside, I did have to take Honors Financial Accounting. That class was so difficult and so time consuming I really wanted to drop. I stuck it out, and I think I will get a decent grade. Violin lessons, as great as they were, turned out to be a bigger challenge than I thought. I ended up stressing out over them and getting a little emotional, but I did become a much better player.

There were so many other great things that happened throughout to year but I don't want to bore you. College is awesome. You should definitely go, it's worth it. I really hope that my summer and following year can live up to this one. I have made bunches of lifelong friends and unforgettable experiences. I want to go back!!!

Indiana Matters

"For the first time in 40 years, Indiana matters!"

Those words were so eloquently spoken by Bill Clinton during a speech he have at Indiana University yesterday. Of course he did not mean for it to sounds offensive and not surprisingly no one really noticed he even said it. They just kept cheering. The speech he gave was quite good, especially because it seemed like he was improving the majority of it. At times he tried too hard to relate to the "Indiana student" with too many basketball references. That's not what we want to hear about! After the speech, many of us wished he could be president again. He is a good leader and is truly intelligent. I hope that either Hillary or Barack can live up to his presidency. I only had one qualm. He came two hours late! Going back to what he said, there is truth in what he said.

It has been a long time since Indiana's primaries have mattered. All of the sudden the Obama and Clinton campaigns are starting to spend a lot of time in this wonderful state. Last week, Chelsea Clinton gave a speech here. It went well, unlike the speech at Butler University. Yesterday, Jeremy Piven was here campaigning for Barack Obama. He is that guy from the Entourage and the uncle of Pearl from the now famous YouTube video, The Landlord. On Sunday, Dave Matthews Band and Tim Reynolds are performing at Assembly Hall.

I have been getting great benefit from all this activity. I actually got to shake hands with a former president and I was able to get him to autograph my friends pocket constitution. Now, she has both Bill and Chelsea's signatures, there is only one left to go. Even before the political hubbub many of my idols came to visit. The Dali Lama, Hillary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Martha Nussbaum, Michel Camilo, Lewis Lockwood, and more have been lucky enough to be in my presence!

I wonder if the quantity and quality of all these events is typical for IU or if this is just a special year. In some ways I think Indiana actually is a popular campus for people to visit. The size is a big draw and in terms of classical music the Jacobs School of Music brings in famous musicians from all over the world. Picking this school has been one of the greatest choices I've made. Indiana matters!