School is sometimes frustrating...

When I was young, I had no idea how much "bullying" really existed around me. As kids, as well as learners in a community, it seems impossible to not be judged or judge others for being different sometimes.
Kids made fun of my shoes, eyebrows, last name, skin color, and taste in music. (It was only cool to listen to Eminem and Lincon Park back then) but all this happened to me, yet I never would have said I was bullied because honestly, I just thought that's the kind of stuff people said and did to each other.

Now that I'm in college, I'm not sure if I don't still believe that notion or not...

It seems racism on campus is a bigger issue than anyone imagined, and if you look at it from a perspective of anyone who's been made publicly judged or made fun of by someone (drunk or sober), you can easily see why it would make a bigger difference to not just that person, but everyone in our community that hears or talks about it.
Cliques begin to thicken, Sides are chosen, we are put into seperate boxes, given different labels and  colors, and often times...we are told what to think.

This is a poem that I wrote last semester about these frustrations. It is more of a venting piece than anything else-I really do like choir and going to westminster, and I even like President Forsythe...but I hope that it might inspire some people to think differently about the way we do things at Westminster College sometimes. It doesn't make sense to try so hard to achieve a community of people who care. The Illusion of diversity is nice, but if we were to all communicate as one and support each others efforts, then we would really have something to brag about. Can that community exist? Or is our only hope creating a miniature version of the real world, where everyone is different but no one really listens or respects other peoples differences?

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For 200 hundred years it’s been this way.

We sing and dance in monkey suits.

We need them to pay,

But they spend it however they,

Please,

Please let us free of these puppet strings

-we sing-

We all want to succeed, but you hold it over our heads, 

like it’s cheese,

and we’re mice,

We give you all our chips and let you roll the dice-

And you already got the cheese we need...

But we must earn it.

You get to plant the seed, 

and we each get to grow into

Big, powerful trees,

With pride?

With esteem?

We grow into trees of greed, planting green right back into the pockets of

Our supreme being,

Our planter, Our provider,

“The two star general himself…

Mr. Barney Forsythe! “

You gotta be kidding me right?

I’ll be paying loans until what time?!

I should donate here why?!

I’ve heard it before,

“Here at Westminster College we try to live our mission,”

“Here at Westminster, it’s always been tradition…”

Tradition for the sake of tradition is superstition.

This superstition undermines our diversity

Cramming our resumes,

With opportunities,

Internships, scholarships,

Creating those partnerships,

Cramming our resumes;

Rigging the election,

(For our own protection)

A school that once had slaves in the 1850’s,

Denies an African student to lead S.G.A.,

who won the popular vote in year 2009!!

Then they smile at my skintone,

They want me to give back to my community,

They want me to sing in the choir with their harmonies,

Join their fraternities,

Bring in my assumed diversity,

It doesn’t make a difference to me,

I’ve never been to Sicily,

But I’m dark...

I can Smile for the camera as it reflects the heart...

of diversity?

I sing songs, and write poetry,

I give them all the heart I got in me,

But none of you come to my meetings!

Then when I get a voice on the microphone,

You want me to preach about my home…

Wait your talking about here?

For real?

I might look a bit exotic,

I’m not sure where I’m from yet...

But it isn’t about to be here…

“Well you had a choice to come here”

That’s just another assumption,

After high school I said I’m gonna to take off a few years.

My mother teared at the noition,

I feared that I would have these regrets,

But I haven’t given up yet.

I’ve always taken it easy,

I’ve always worked best under pressure,

I’ve always been kind of a hippie,

and I’ve always liked when people missed me...

So I’ve always left, and I still regret it,

Since a greater opportunity is always hidden,

By the ghosts of our past inhibitions,

I want to help take the mask off our global ambitions,

To celebrate all our traditions, 

by getting rid of them.

Instead of abusing our diversity by always using it,

We can embrace our diversity by being ourselves.

And if we are all so damn good at faking it,

We really should invest in a theatre program,

I’m here because I think I can.

I think I can, I think I can,

I’m an engine that could,

I’m drudging up these hills of should,

Although being wise implies a number of years,

And you can’t always persuade all your peers...

I will start something here,

If I can get out of bed, 

I will do the best I can,

 to make a difference.

Difference by definition is the antagonist of the same.

You cannot be afraid to advocate your name.

On graduation day...

I’m sure I’ll be late…

But lots of people here graduate,

I’m trying to mix it up a bit.

I’ll make a difference by being different.

I’ll take the road less traveled by,
 and still come out on the otherside.

Who knows if I'll ever get out of this maze,

But if I can reach my own nice slice of cheese,

And If I see a little more need,

And a little less greed,

A little bit of soul,

In this colorful fishbowl,

I’ll Come back to nostalgia I can only imagine,

If I do own a house;

Barney, (or whomever it may concern)

I will never call you sir,

If I can make it on my own

By car, by bus, by plane or feet,

...maybe I will come to Alumni Week-

......and If I might one day call it coming home,

...I MIGHT think about throwing you a bone.

I might. (nostalgia is a powerful thing)

"When They Sang People listened." (Assignment 2)

Peter paul and Mary are my favorite band. No contest! Hands down my favorite (Sorry Bruce). Peter and Paul were both saints and impeccable guitarists and singers, Mary was a Goddess, an angel, and a total hot-tie! Together they formed a unit of perfect harmony. Songs such as "If I had a hammer", by Pete Seeger, were made into anthems-even though Seeger himself thought the song wasn't that good! Peter, Paul, and Mary sung all across the countries, stood with Dr. Martin Luther King in Salem, Demonstrated against the War in Vietnam, organized and sung in the march on Washington with John Lewis, and sung out against so many other important injustices going on in their time.

The songs that Peter, Paul, or Mary wrote and sung were what we would consider the technical definition of a broadside ballad; songs intended to be sung by masses and motivate social change. They were topical and always for a cause; such as a song called "Don't laugh at me" that I remember was sent to my elementary school music teacher by the office in hopes to stop bullying at my school. We sung it for a concert in front of everyone...and even though I would have said I thought it was stupid at the time, (I was a punk) I teared up and was very touched at our performance when the big night finally came. (Many of our parents and teachers cried).

Moments like those are why Broadside Ballads are so important. For our parents and teachers to understand and really feel what it is like for a kid to be laughed at by his peers at school, is a huge achievement for an elementary school choir concert! The other song we sung that night was "This Land is your Land" by Woody Guthrie...taking this Music 300 class, and hearing these songs again really brings me back to that concert and how it felt to sing those songs.

It is ironic to me however, that I felt as though I had to contain my enthusiasm while singing "Don't laugh at me", for fear of being laughed at myself!---but I digress....


Peter, Paul and Mary were even more famous for singing their own arrangements of traditional folk songs and songs by the visionary songwriters of the time such as Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Many songwriters would even write songs for Peter, Paul, and Mary in hopes that they would make their song into a hit. (Much like the Temptations, the Supremes, or Jackson 5 did for Motown). "It's not a popular form that will go out of style." says Peter Yarrow- "It will always be there in the summer camps, it will always be there in the churches and the synagogues, and it will always be there in the classrooms, linking the idea of music with the efforts to create a better, more just world."





The song "If I had a Hammer" is so powerful because it challenges the listener to use the literal and metaphorical tools that we are born with,  that enable us to; "hammer out justice", "ring the bell of freedom," and "sing songs of love between the brothers and sisters, all over this land." In my opinion, Peter, Paul, and Mary took the Broadside ballad to a whole new level of both power and popularity.
In the video I posted entitled "Blue", they do a hilarious bit on their own career of playing and modifying other peoples songs. (a trend that became popular when the Beatles did it in America).



If you have time, I suggest watching any live song from of the BBC Four concert (or any of the black and white ones on youtube). They are all excellent. Some are so good I don't even believe they are real.

Bernice Johnson Reagon: Exercising Freedom

(Click title for link)
http://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_folkways/bernice_reagon.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t8JhGWKmGw&feature=related

Bernice Johnson Reagon discusses walking through segregated southern towns in the 1960's, dealing with the very loud voice inside her head that told her, "If you do this, you'll kill yourself...you'll get killed!" Overcoming this natural voice of fear was a traumatic experience for Reagon, but ultimately this fear she says, is what allowed her to truely find herself in these dark times. She reflects this sentiment very strongly stating, "I discovered if you don't cross that line you never meet yourself, you never become what you can be until you get past your socialization...you actually have to break ranks with it, like stepping out of a safety zone." 
Integrating black and white musicians on the same stage was a major statement in the 1960's. Bernice Johnson Reagon sung of the struggle for civil rights that was fronted by the movements of the different communities, churches, and activists at the time. These gatherings of freedom songs helped give many African Americans the courage to stand up and fight for their cause, overcoming an oppression that is hard to imagine today.
Although you can't deny things have changed for the better, Reagan does not believe that Freedom today is necessarily an inherent right, but something you must earn and practice frequently. She says,
"In our culture, anything you do disappears the moment you stop doing it, and freedom is like that...People think you are born into freedom, but the only freedom you have is the freedom you are exercising."
Are we exercising freedom?? (maybe hunched up blogging over the internet). But as a musician today I would say that it is harder than ever to find your voice and exercise your freedom. Crime, racism, and wrongs against humanity exists as much as ever today, however they are swept under the rug of "politically correct" and there are few as Brave as Mrs. Reagon to speak out about it for fear of danger or an awkward situation. I believe that "times have changed" is an excuse that people use to stay in their safety zones. I was very taken by the confidence and strength in the way Bernice Johnson Reagon talked about exercising freedom in Georgia and leading songs of urgency and pain. They protested wrongful imprisonment, harsh segregation laws, and the ignorance of generations all with a heartfelt gathering of song. When our generation looks back at ourselves in the history books, I can't help thinking that we might have to think..."Was there more we could have done?"

Do you think freedom songs can transcend tradition and be modified and exercised in today's society to promote change? How much a part of Obama's campaign do you think depended on the rallying support of artist's like Jay-Z,  Kayne West, and Will.I.am, as well as the very different style of support of Bruce Springsteen? (a personal favorite of mine and Mr. Obama). How important is it that we have a president like Obama that appreciates the Arts dramatically more than any other president ever has?

Please, lend me your thoughts.

Were they all Just lost in the flood?

Lost in the Flood (click title of these post to hear live) is one of the boss's most important songs from his debut album in 1973, "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ". It continues to be relevant today covering timeless and haunting topics such as blind commitment to the military, corruption in politics, fearless Street racers, trigger happy police officers, and desensitization to gang violence. As you can see in this recent performance (2009), it is still played live and is often requested at Springsteen shows.

The slew of nameless characters (aside from the fearless streetracer the kids call Jimmy the Saint) are lost in the flood of the reality of their situation. The Soldiors, "Ragamuffin gunners", are coming home to a country more scared and confused than when they left. The war he thought was just a little mud, in reality is quicksand sinking him and his country into more expensive fighting and fear mongering.

The second verse begins, "That pure American brother, doll-eyed and empty-faced, races sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock '68. He rides her low on the hip on the side he's got bound for glory in red white and blue flash paint/he leans on the hood telling racing stories/the kids call him Jimmy the Saint". Although Jimmy the Saint "races head first into a hurricane," and literally gets "lost in the flood", he lives on as a symbol of America's fascination with speed and danger. The kids look up to Jimmy as an Icon, an Evil Canevil of sorts. The verse says a lot about how our country idolizes that kind of asinine bravery, compared to the soldiers of verse one who are "dressed in drag for homicide" and don't seem to be looked up to with the same kind of courage. After the Junk clears from the horizon, the narrator speaks bluntly to the youth, "Hey kid, you think that's oil? Man that ain't oil, thats blood! I wonder what he was thinking when he hit that storm...or was he just lost in the flood?"


The last verse is a short scene from a bronx street corner, where "8th avenue sailors in satin shirts whisper in the air." The dynamics of the song quickly fade and you can almost feel the calm quiet day on the street. Suddenly, all hell breaks lose as a young man is shot by some over-reacting police officers.
The story ends like this,
"Bronx's best apostle stands with his hand on his own hardware 
Everything stops, you hear five quick shots, the cops come up for air 
And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown, they're shootin' up the street 
And that cat from the Bronx starts lettin' loose, but he gets blown right off his feet 
And some kid comes blastin' 'round the corner, but a cop puts him right away 
He lays on the street holding his leg, screaming something in Spanish, still breathing when I walked away" 
At this, we get the message that we can't always fight what we are up against. There are wars and hurricanes and shootings and as a community of people we have to learn to deal with them together. An interesting way of looking at the event follows as a pair of bystanders conversation end the song..."And somebody said, "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" I wonder what the dude was sayin', or was he just lost in the flood? 
Hey man, did you see that, those poor cats are sure messed up 
I wonder what they were gettin' into, or were they just lost in the flood?"