Life moves so fast.
Everything is going along and makes so much sense and then it doesn't.
I STILL, after all this time, can't decide whether this very long road toward the Peace Corps is right for me-- right now.
Tonight, I get to sing J.S. Bach's masterful Mass in B Minor with a professional orchestra. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a musician. Singing it is more powerful than I can ever put into words.
...so I'm up there singing and in the back of my mind thinking "how can I leave all this?" Music is my blood. In my bones. I feel music. I understand music. I am passionate about music. And right now I get to spend all day every day making music. I'm so SO lucky.
I am going to spend today trying very hard to quiet my mind and hoping that somewhere in the middle of Bach's magnificent 2 hour+ work, music and my conscience will become one-- and tell me what I need to hear.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
I don't have much time now but thought I'd just mention...
...that I have the greatest life. I am so grateful for everyone in it and for all the amazing things I get to do.
Thatisall. For now.
Thatisall. For now.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
formative years and experiences
I love musicals. I do. It's cliché, but who cares.
Certain musicals had a very large part in my adolescent development, namely Rent. I recently watched the DVD of the final performance of the show on Broadway after a 12-year run. If you don't know about this show, it's a re-telling of Puccini's opera La Boheme set in the mid-1990's East Village of New York City. It's a rock musical about bohemians-- starving artists, wayward academics, homeless people, and drug addicts, many dealing with HIV/AIDS. It was very controversial in the beginning, and opened on Broadway with a very unique, new type of audience. Rent is by Jonathan Larson, a composer/author who struggled for many years to find his niche in the American musical theatre community. He struggled for many years working at a 'greasy spoon' diner while passionately pursuing his musical aspirations. In a tragic turn of events, Jonathan died of an aortic aneurysm the day before Rent opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop. The show went on to tremendous success at NYTW, and was quickly moved to Broadway where it won several Tony's and earned Larson a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
I remember vividly sitting on the floor of my living room while nobody was home and listening to the original cast album of Rent in 1996. I was dealing with many things at that time-- who I was, what I was about, and struggling hard to find self-acceptance. Rent was ground-breaking for me. It was a celebration of people who are outside the mainstream and a joyous declaration that a "deviant" counterculture is a healthy thing for society. Coming from small-town Midwest, these were earth-shattering ideals. To hear a love duet between a gay man and a drag queen, stories about living on the street and drug users, and songs about an HIV/AIDS support group were completely outside my scope of understanding. It made me realize I wasn't alone-- that there were people out there that felt different like me and who weren't afraid to celebrate being different.
I remember vividly hearing the sister of one of my good high school friends sing the song "Halloween" from Rent for an audition at the community theatre where I spent many a summer. This girl, Anna, very much lived the ideals of Jonathan Larson's masterpiece-- even in our backward small town. She lived life hard and fast, and at the time, my puritanical self wasn't comfortable with that. Anna was outside the mainstream that I was stuck in. When Anna died in a car accident heading back to college after Christmas break in 1997, her parents asked me to sing "Seasons of Love," Rent's best-known song, at her funeral. Soon thereafter, I realized how astonishingly foolish I'd been. I learned a lot about myself and about accepting others. It's our differences that make us amazing. I broke quickly out of my shell, and in the end took on many of the fiercely individualistic traits which once made me question her lifestyle.
I've been thinking a lot about Anna lately, and about my friend Becca who died in 2006. Both amazing women-- strong, independent. I can't believe it's been 14 years since Anna died. I try every day to live in a way that would make them proud. I have been so lucky to have these 14 years to make music--to connect to people, to sing, to conduct, to travel, to learn...
"No Day But Today!"
Certain musicals had a very large part in my adolescent development, namely Rent. I recently watched the DVD of the final performance of the show on Broadway after a 12-year run. If you don't know about this show, it's a re-telling of Puccini's opera La Boheme set in the mid-1990's East Village of New York City. It's a rock musical about bohemians-- starving artists, wayward academics, homeless people, and drug addicts, many dealing with HIV/AIDS. It was very controversial in the beginning, and opened on Broadway with a very unique, new type of audience. Rent is by Jonathan Larson, a composer/author who struggled for many years to find his niche in the American musical theatre community. He struggled for many years working at a 'greasy spoon' diner while passionately pursuing his musical aspirations. In a tragic turn of events, Jonathan died of an aortic aneurysm the day before Rent opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop. The show went on to tremendous success at NYTW, and was quickly moved to Broadway where it won several Tony's and earned Larson a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
I remember vividly sitting on the floor of my living room while nobody was home and listening to the original cast album of Rent in 1996. I was dealing with many things at that time-- who I was, what I was about, and struggling hard to find self-acceptance. Rent was ground-breaking for me. It was a celebration of people who are outside the mainstream and a joyous declaration that a "deviant" counterculture is a healthy thing for society. Coming from small-town Midwest, these were earth-shattering ideals. To hear a love duet between a gay man and a drag queen, stories about living on the street and drug users, and songs about an HIV/AIDS support group were completely outside my scope of understanding. It made me realize I wasn't alone-- that there were people out there that felt different like me and who weren't afraid to celebrate being different.
I remember vividly hearing the sister of one of my good high school friends sing the song "Halloween" from Rent for an audition at the community theatre where I spent many a summer. This girl, Anna, very much lived the ideals of Jonathan Larson's masterpiece-- even in our backward small town. She lived life hard and fast, and at the time, my puritanical self wasn't comfortable with that. Anna was outside the mainstream that I was stuck in. When Anna died in a car accident heading back to college after Christmas break in 1997, her parents asked me to sing "Seasons of Love," Rent's best-known song, at her funeral. Soon thereafter, I realized how astonishingly foolish I'd been. I learned a lot about myself and about accepting others. It's our differences that make us amazing. I broke quickly out of my shell, and in the end took on many of the fiercely individualistic traits which once made me question her lifestyle.
I've been thinking a lot about Anna lately, and about my friend Becca who died in 2006. Both amazing women-- strong, independent. I can't believe it's been 14 years since Anna died. I try every day to live in a way that would make them proud. I have been so lucky to have these 14 years to make music--to connect to people, to sing, to conduct, to travel, to learn...
"There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today"
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today"
Rent closed on Broadway in 2008, but it's impact, especially in my life, will never be over.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
the beginning of the end
Today is the first day of my last semester of grad. school. Soon after graduation, I'll (hopefully) be leaving for the Peace Corps.
I'll be completely honest and tell you that I have a bit of anxiety starting again today. I tend to be a bit of a workaholic and this is a big semester between my lecture recital (in less than a month!), the conducting competition at ACDA in March, and my oral exams (EEEEK!). But... it's just school, right? It's all a means to an end. The degree is my key to moving on to the next step. And these events lead to the graduation.
Over the summer I watched the movie Little Ashes. Have you seen it? Robert Pattison (of Twilight fame) plays Salador Dalí. It's quite good, and there's one quote I'm trying to make my mantra:
"If I'm going to be anything more than average, if anyone's going to remember me, then I need to go further in everything: in art, in life, in everything they think is real: morality, immorality, good, bad, I, we, have to smash that to pieces, we have to go beyond that, we have to be brave. no limit."
I want to go beyond. I want to be brave. No limits it is!
I'll be completely honest and tell you that I have a bit of anxiety starting again today. I tend to be a bit of a workaholic and this is a big semester between my lecture recital (in less than a month!), the conducting competition at ACDA in March, and my oral exams (EEEEK!). But... it's just school, right? It's all a means to an end. The degree is my key to moving on to the next step. And these events lead to the graduation.
Over the summer I watched the movie Little Ashes. Have you seen it? Robert Pattison (of Twilight fame) plays Salador Dalí. It's quite good, and there's one quote I'm trying to make my mantra:
"If I'm going to be anything more than average, if anyone's going to remember me, then I need to go further in everything: in art, in life, in everything they think is real: morality, immorality, good, bad, I, we, have to smash that to pieces, we have to go beyond that, we have to be brave. no limit."
I want to go beyond. I want to be brave. No limits it is!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
two quotes
All week, my head embroiled with thoughts of HIV/AIDS in Africa, an exhchange from my favorite TV show of all time, The West Wing, has haunted me. At this point in the series, there is unthinkable genecide (ethnic cleansing, basically) in a fictional African country called Kundu.
In trying to make a decision about whether to send in American troops, President Bartlet asks one of his aides (Will Baily):
Bartlet: "Why does an American life matter more to me than a Kundunese life?"
Baily: "I don't know, sir, but it is."
WHY? Why is this the case? What makes an African life less than an American life? Nothing in our genetics makes us a superior species. I know there's no answer for this, but it keeps swimming around in my brain. And eating at me.
Now a quote from Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom:
"Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another." --p. 166
In trying to make a decision about whether to send in American troops, President Bartlet asks one of his aides (Will Baily):
Bartlet: "Why does an American life matter more to me than a Kundunese life?"
Baily: "I don't know, sir, but it is."
WHY? Why is this the case? What makes an African life less than an American life? Nothing in our genetics makes us a superior species. I know there's no answer for this, but it keeps swimming around in my brain. And eating at me.
Now a quote from Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom:
"Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another." --p. 166
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Sensational "journalism" and Stephen Lewis
"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
I am shocked and angered by the recent ABC "news" 20/20 stories about the Peace Corps. If you haven't seen or heard about them, click here.
There were two stories: one about the unfortunate killing of PCV Kate Puzey in Benin and another about ~1,000 young women who claim they were sexually abused while in the Peace Corps. The story alleges that the PC had something to do with covering up these horrible circumstances. Newsflash ABC: Rather than doing a story about the 200,000+ success stories of the past 50 years of the organization, you chose to focus on 0.5% of volunteers who unfortunately met with hardship during their service. I don't understand this choice. The Peace Corps is a government program, admittedly involving some level of bureaucracy... but who would dispute that: (a) it's a program trying it's best to help the world, and (b) it does its best to act in the best interest of its volunteers.
Let me be clear: sexual violence of any kind is unacceptable. However, in the wake of my recent reserach, I also find it highly ironic that 20/20 would focus on the plight of these American women, ignoring the millions of African women affected by sexual violence every day. I recently read something that gave me chills: "It is estimated that a woman born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped than learning how to read."
I have also learned recently of Stephen Lewis. I watched a DVD called The Value of Life which follows Lewis' journey through Africa in his capacity as the UN Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa under Kofi Anan from 2001-2003. The stories are devastating and heartbreaking. His fight is inspiring, frustrating, and tremendous. His fight for the accessibility of ARV (antiretroviral drugs) to prolong the lives of Africans was slow and full of hiccups. Especially frustrating is the fact that many countries promised financial support to Africa in early 2001, but after the "war on terror" began, suddenly money for HIV/AIDS in Africa was no longer a priority. Incidentally, did you know that the entire Peace Corps annual budget, $295 million, is equivalent to the cost of ONE B-2 bomber plane? Where oh where have our morals and priorities gone?
Stephen Lewis is no longer working under the umbrella of eh UN, but he has started a foundation and is doing amazing things. Especially inspiring is his support of grandmothers in Africa, many of whom are forced to raise their grandchildren after both parents perish from "the disease." Heartbreaking. There are an estimated 16 million orphans in Africa today. I can't even fathom that number.
I am trying to make some sense of all this and I can't. It seems that the more I learn and the more I read, the more I feel like a Peace Corps volunteer. And that makes me prouder than I can say.
I am shocked and angered by the recent ABC "news" 20/20 stories about the Peace Corps. If you haven't seen or heard about them, click here.
There were two stories: one about the unfortunate killing of PCV Kate Puzey in Benin and another about ~1,000 young women who claim they were sexually abused while in the Peace Corps. The story alleges that the PC had something to do with covering up these horrible circumstances. Newsflash ABC: Rather than doing a story about the 200,000+ success stories of the past 50 years of the organization, you chose to focus on 0.5% of volunteers who unfortunately met with hardship during their service. I don't understand this choice. The Peace Corps is a government program, admittedly involving some level of bureaucracy... but who would dispute that: (a) it's a program trying it's best to help the world, and (b) it does its best to act in the best interest of its volunteers.
Let me be clear: sexual violence of any kind is unacceptable. However, in the wake of my recent reserach, I also find it highly ironic that 20/20 would focus on the plight of these American women, ignoring the millions of African women affected by sexual violence every day. I recently read something that gave me chills: "It is estimated that a woman born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped than learning how to read."
I have also learned recently of Stephen Lewis. I watched a DVD called The Value of Life which follows Lewis' journey through Africa in his capacity as the UN Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa under Kofi Anan from 2001-2003. The stories are devastating and heartbreaking. His fight is inspiring, frustrating, and tremendous. His fight for the accessibility of ARV (antiretroviral drugs) to prolong the lives of Africans was slow and full of hiccups. Especially frustrating is the fact that many countries promised financial support to Africa in early 2001, but after the "war on terror" began, suddenly money for HIV/AIDS in Africa was no longer a priority. Incidentally, did you know that the entire Peace Corps annual budget, $295 million, is equivalent to the cost of ONE B-2 bomber plane? Where oh where have our morals and priorities gone?
Stephen Lewis is no longer working under the umbrella of eh UN, but he has started a foundation and is doing amazing things. Especially inspiring is his support of grandmothers in Africa, many of whom are forced to raise their grandchildren after both parents perish from "the disease." Heartbreaking. There are an estimated 16 million orphans in Africa today. I can't even fathom that number.
I am trying to make some sense of all this and I can't. It seems that the more I learn and the more I read, the more I feel like a Peace Corps volunteer. And that makes me prouder than I can say.
Friday, January 14, 2011
"Darwin's Nightmare"
I've been making a concerted effort to learn more about Africa. I've been reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, which my parents got me for Christmas. I've also been watching lots of DVD's from the NAU library.
Last night I watched a documentary called Darwin's Nightmare. Have you seen it? The film is set in Mwanza, Tanzania, near Lake Victoria. In this lake, one of the "great lakes" of Africa, a vicious species of fish called the Nile perch was introduced several years back. It has devoured every species of fish in the lake and is now forced to eat its young. It is also a HUGE fish, and locals have opened factories where the fillets are produced and immediately sent by plane to Europe.
The film follows the story of locals: starving and/or homeless children, fisherman -- more and more of whom are affected by HIV/AIDS, local businessmen, prostitutes, a local pastor (who will not advise his congregation to use condoms because sexual intercourse is a sin), and an incredible teenager named Jonathon who pulled himself out of poverty and makes a living as a freelance artist. It also follows the story of a group of Russians who fly in to bring the fish to Europe.
Later in the film you find out that they don't take a direct route to Africa. They stop in Western Europe to pick up arms for countries like DCR Congo and Angola, which are ravvaged by war. The arms are unloaded and fish loaded, then the cycle continues.
The irony of all this is painful to watch. From the wikipedia article on this film:
"As Dima, the radio engineer of the plane crew, says later on in the film: the children of Angola receive guns for Christmas, the children of Europe receive grapes. The appalling living and working conditions of the indigenous people, in which basic sanitation is completely absent and many children turn to drugs and prostitution, is covered in great depth; because the Nile perch fish is farmed commercially, all the prime fillets are sold to European supermarkets, leaving the local people to survive on the festering carcasses of the gutted fish."
How can we let people live like this? Do Americans know this is happening? Do they care? Have they given up on Africa? Do they pretend it's all like The Lion King? How can I sit here with the ridicious wealth I have while these people are suffering and dying.
A great film, but hard to watch. For me it's in a category with Boys Don't Cry-- a great film but one I don't think I can ever watch again.
School starts very soon. This is very much the "calm before the storm." I'm going to enjoy these last few days off before the mad dash to graduation begins...
Last night I watched a documentary called Darwin's Nightmare. Have you seen it? The film is set in Mwanza, Tanzania, near Lake Victoria. In this lake, one of the "great lakes" of Africa, a vicious species of fish called the Nile perch was introduced several years back. It has devoured every species of fish in the lake and is now forced to eat its young. It is also a HUGE fish, and locals have opened factories where the fillets are produced and immediately sent by plane to Europe.
The film follows the story of locals: starving and/or homeless children, fisherman -- more and more of whom are affected by HIV/AIDS, local businessmen, prostitutes, a local pastor (who will not advise his congregation to use condoms because sexual intercourse is a sin), and an incredible teenager named Jonathon who pulled himself out of poverty and makes a living as a freelance artist. It also follows the story of a group of Russians who fly in to bring the fish to Europe.
Later in the film you find out that they don't take a direct route to Africa. They stop in Western Europe to pick up arms for countries like DCR Congo and Angola, which are ravvaged by war. The arms are unloaded and fish loaded, then the cycle continues.
The irony of all this is painful to watch. From the wikipedia article on this film:
"As Dima, the radio engineer of the plane crew, says later on in the film: the children of Angola receive guns for Christmas, the children of Europe receive grapes. The appalling living and working conditions of the indigenous people, in which basic sanitation is completely absent and many children turn to drugs and prostitution, is covered in great depth; because the Nile perch fish is farmed commercially, all the prime fillets are sold to European supermarkets, leaving the local people to survive on the festering carcasses of the gutted fish."
How can we let people live like this? Do Americans know this is happening? Do they care? Have they given up on Africa? Do they pretend it's all like The Lion King? How can I sit here with the ridicious wealth I have while these people are suffering and dying.
A great film, but hard to watch. For me it's in a category with Boys Don't Cry-- a great film but one I don't think I can ever watch again.
School starts very soon. This is very much the "calm before the storm." I'm going to enjoy these last few days off before the mad dash to graduation begins...
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Meyers-Briggs test
Have you taken it? You can take a 72-question online version here.
I've heard about this test for a long time but have never taken it. A more in-depth version of this type of study is discussed in the book Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types by David Keirseyand Marilyn Bates, which I'd like to read. I think this online version is pretty accurate.
My Type is
INTJ
I've heard about this test for a long time but have never taken it. A more in-depth version of this type of study is discussed in the book Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types by David Keirseyand Marilyn Bates, which I'd like to read. I think this online version is pretty accurate.
My Type is
INTJ
| Introverted | Intuitive | Thinking | Judging | ||
| Strength of the preferences % | |||||
| 22 | 62 | 12 | 44 | ||
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
my guitar
...needs a name.
She also desperately needs a tuning and needs to be played once a day.
I bought her from Custom Sound Instruments in Flagstaff. She's beautiful. Now I need to learn to play her. Somehow in my classical music upbringing I never learned any guitar.... and when I go to Africa it will be my primary source for music-making. Today, I'll play her. My goal is to be able to play bar chords within the next couple of months.
In other news, I met a current Peace Corps volunteer whose blog I have been following and who I have been e-mailing with for many months yesterday. He's in Arizona on vacation. A very powerful conversation which left me feeling very excited.
When making large life decisions, there's going to be regret in some way, shape, or form. You can choose to live in greif, dwelling on the future regret, or you can just be excited that your life is going to change forever. I choose to be excited.
She also desperately needs a tuning and needs to be played once a day.
I bought her from Custom Sound Instruments in Flagstaff. She's beautiful. Now I need to learn to play her. Somehow in my classical music upbringing I never learned any guitar.... and when I go to Africa it will be my primary source for music-making. Today, I'll play her. My goal is to be able to play bar chords within the next couple of months.
In other news, I met a current Peace Corps volunteer whose blog I have been following and who I have been e-mailing with for many months yesterday. He's in Arizona on vacation. A very powerful conversation which left me feeling very excited.
When making large life decisions, there's going to be regret in some way, shape, or form. You can choose to live in greif, dwelling on the future regret, or you can just be excited that your life is going to change forever. I choose to be excited.
Friday, January 7, 2011
American Choral Culture IS American Culture... and struggles with meat-eating
It's phenomenal to me how my perspective has changed in a few short years. During my undergraduate years, I was fairly certain I'd move to Chicago, find a nice cushy teaching job in the suburbs, practice reverse commuting, and live happily ever after. This isn't exactly what transpired. In a bold move, I headed west after graduation and found a job in the urban jungle of San José, California. Oh how my perceptions were altered during those four years. I was faced with racial and gang issues unforeseen in my tidy, rural Midwestern upbringing. I loved my kids. They were tough, and rough around the edges, but they were real. They were anything but the cookie-cutter white-bread I envisioned teaching in suburban Chicago. My kids could sing.
Every year since 2002 I have attended a regional or national conference of the American Choral Directors Associaiton (ACDA). I used to attend these conferences and see phenomenal choirs and yearn for the day that I could showcase my own group at such a presigious event. My goal from very early on was to conduct at an ACDA conference as soon as posisble.
But in the last several years my outlook has changed. Yesterday the 2011 Chicago National Convention issue of the Choral Journal came in the mail. As I flip through, I see (with a few notable exceptions) choirs of upper middle class white folks led by nice upper middle class white folks. There are no choirs in this issue that look like my kids. This is all fine and good, of course. I'm sure I'll be moved by many of these choirs and be extremely grateful for their high level of performance. But-- this is not reality. These choirs don't show a cross-section of America. How could they? All the best teachers have the same dream I had as an undergraduate-- to teach nice white kids with nice parents who will pay for nice choir dresses and trips. Why would a talented young music teacher want to take a job in South Chicago or South Central LA or the tenderloin of San Francisco?
I guess what I'm realizing more and more is that the things about American culture that make me cringe are also present in the American "choral world." We live in a "pie in the sky," "ivory tower" world. That's a hard pill to swallow. Especially because I know that some of those things are still present in myself. As I flip through this convention preview, there is a part of me that still wants to see my head shot there. I feel like two diametrically opposite worlds are pulling me in two directions.
Maybe two years in the Peace Corps would give me a fresh, less jaded perspective on my chosen profession.
On another subject...
I'm struggling with the meat-eating issue. The plan with my nutritionist was that I should start eating meat in January to give my stomach six months to get used to meat before heading off to Africa. This is more difficult than I'd envisioned. Being a vegetarian is very much wrapped up in who I have been for the past twelve years, and walking away feels like betraying a very important part of myself.
I try to not think this way. In the grand scheme, it's just food and from an African perspective, vegetarianism is an increidbly luxury. Many Africans would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to have meat at their disposal. This helps.
So, I need to start eating some chicken and turkey... and hope that my stomach doens't revolt.
Every year since 2002 I have attended a regional or national conference of the American Choral Directors Associaiton (ACDA). I used to attend these conferences and see phenomenal choirs and yearn for the day that I could showcase my own group at such a presigious event. My goal from very early on was to conduct at an ACDA conference as soon as posisble.
But in the last several years my outlook has changed. Yesterday the 2011 Chicago National Convention issue of the Choral Journal came in the mail. As I flip through, I see (with a few notable exceptions) choirs of upper middle class white folks led by nice upper middle class white folks. There are no choirs in this issue that look like my kids. This is all fine and good, of course. I'm sure I'll be moved by many of these choirs and be extremely grateful for their high level of performance. But-- this is not reality. These choirs don't show a cross-section of America. How could they? All the best teachers have the same dream I had as an undergraduate-- to teach nice white kids with nice parents who will pay for nice choir dresses and trips. Why would a talented young music teacher want to take a job in South Chicago or South Central LA or the tenderloin of San Francisco?
I guess what I'm realizing more and more is that the things about American culture that make me cringe are also present in the American "choral world." We live in a "pie in the sky," "ivory tower" world. That's a hard pill to swallow. Especially because I know that some of those things are still present in myself. As I flip through this convention preview, there is a part of me that still wants to see my head shot there. I feel like two diametrically opposite worlds are pulling me in two directions.
Maybe two years in the Peace Corps would give me a fresh, less jaded perspective on my chosen profession.
On another subject...
I'm struggling with the meat-eating issue. The plan with my nutritionist was that I should start eating meat in January to give my stomach six months to get used to meat before heading off to Africa. This is more difficult than I'd envisioned. Being a vegetarian is very much wrapped up in who I have been for the past twelve years, and walking away feels like betraying a very important part of myself.
I try to not think this way. In the grand scheme, it's just food and from an African perspective, vegetarianism is an increidbly luxury. Many Africans would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to have meat at their disposal. This helps.
So, I need to start eating some chicken and turkey... and hope that my stomach doens't revolt.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
a possibility
The Centre International D'Art et de Musique de Ouidah
Check out this school. AMAZING place!
Last night while cleaning out my inbox, I stumbled upon a message from a listserv I subscribe to of RPCV's (returned Peace Corps volunteers) and prospective PCV's like myself. It mentioned something about a music teaching position in the Peace Corps. Of course I e-mailed the gentleman straight away and he e-mailed me back. Apparentely, the posting is more for RPCV's and is part of a program called Peace Corps Response which is a specialized positions mostly for volunteers to go into once they've completed their two years of "regular" service.
Anyhow, it isn't likely that I could get a position like this right away, but it's SO encouraging to know that Peace Corps is involved with programs like this. All of a sudden I see the possibility of combining my Peace Corps aspirations with my love of music education. I am encouraged.
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Peace Corps service during this holiday break. I am trying to read as much about Africa as I can so that once (if) I get my invitation, I can make an informed decision about going. I hope everything works out well. I called the D.C. placement office last week and they said I should hear something in 4-6 weeks.
Happy New Year all!
Check out this school. AMAZING place!
Last night while cleaning out my inbox, I stumbled upon a message from a listserv I subscribe to of RPCV's (returned Peace Corps volunteers) and prospective PCV's like myself. It mentioned something about a music teaching position in the Peace Corps. Of course I e-mailed the gentleman straight away and he e-mailed me back. Apparentely, the posting is more for RPCV's and is part of a program called Peace Corps Response which is a specialized positions mostly for volunteers to go into once they've completed their two years of "regular" service.
Anyhow, it isn't likely that I could get a position like this right away, but it's SO encouraging to know that Peace Corps is involved with programs like this. All of a sudden I see the possibility of combining my Peace Corps aspirations with my love of music education. I am encouraged.
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Peace Corps service during this holiday break. I am trying to read as much about Africa as I can so that once (if) I get my invitation, I can make an informed decision about going. I hope everything works out well. I called the D.C. placement office last week and they said I should hear something in 4-6 weeks.
Happy New Year all!
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