While I'm Posting...

Enjoy this heartbreaking video from the Courage Campaign on the effects of Proposition 8. Think about it. And enjoy the awesome song along the way.

These Pictures Made Me Smile.

These pictures (taken from http://www.thegospelaccordingtolarry.com/blog/) are such good indicators of the hope that's out there, and the fact that everyone (including the Dalai Lama) can be a child at heart. Enjoy these!

School Vacation!

Yes, we're finally on break! Yes! Everyone needs some time off, don't you think?

I'm hoping to get more viewers and comments, so if you like what you see, pass it on!

Touring Ithaca College in a few days. Hopefully, I'll like what I see. It looks like a great place.

Make sure you check out the great articles on the Voices page about the risks of distracted driving - they're wonderful! Take a look here.

Other than visiting Ithaca, my plans are to relax and chill (and finish that geometry homework). Well, I'll get to the homework later.

Also, here's a great article that I'd like to share. Being a musician myself, it really spoke to me. It's called Why Music, by Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser:

Music is a science. It is exact, specific; and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor’s full score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.

Music is mathematical. It is rhythmically based on the subdivision of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.

Music is a foreign language. Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English – but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.

Music is history. Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/or racial feeling.

Music is physical education. It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragm, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.

Music is all these things, but most of all, Music is art. It allows a human being to take all these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate: humanism, feeling, emotion, call it what you will.

Music is taught in schools –

Not because you are expected to major in music,
Not because you are expected to play or sing all your life,
Not so you can relax,
Not so you can have fun, but
So you will be human;
So you will recognize beauty,
So you will be sensitive,
So you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world,
So you will have something to cling to,
So you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good – in short, more life.

Of what value will it be to make a prosperous living unless you know how to live?

That is why Music is Taught.

(I have no good title for this)

First of all, I do apologize for letting my blog sit idle for so long! It's been a busy week already, and I'm considering what classes I'll take next year, etc. Hopefully, things will calm down soon!

Just here to share some news links with you people... :)

This is pretty interesting - not surprisingly, less minority students are taking/passing AP exams. This directly affects me, seeing as how I'm a minority, and I do take Honors/will take AP classes. I'm one of the few minority students that will do this - Latino and African American students seem to have a harder time succeeding, perhaps because my school is predominantly white... not being racist, there. Just making an observation as a minority.

Also, here's an inspirational CNY story. It was great to read about a teen overcoming their disabilities and using their talents to their advantage.

This stuff is really interesting to me. But moving on, I'm debating about what classes to take. I'm being recommended for all Honors/AP, but I don't know if I'll have time to do this. I definitely don't want to be overwhelmed, but at the same time, I feel the pressure to look good for colleges and succeed. Tough stuff. I'll figure it out, though.

Well, nothing else to say here. Thanks for reading! Check back soon!