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Posts tagged 'Nicole Gluckstern'
FringeNYC report: Closing notes (Rock Me Like a…)
Photo: Bart Cortright
Well, try as we might, no human drama can muster up quite the same impact as all the combined forces of Mother Nature. So with a whimpering bang, the New York International Fringe Festival (and most other theaters in the city) has decided to batten its hatches and shutter its doors two full days earlier than scheduled. And so, with little ado, I must take my leave of you, Rushers, and bid you a fond farewell. Alas, it's too late for these mini reviews to persuade you to rush out and see these shows this weekend (my original intention), but at the very least they may persuade you to check out these companies' work in the future. Maybe even at next year's Fringe.
PigPen Theatre Co., last year's FringeNYC winners for Overall Excellence in a Production, returned this year with PigPen Presents: The Mountain Song, a disarming yet bittersweet tale set in Appalachia, as narrated by an amiable mountain (Ben Ferguson). If you failed to see their award-winning The Nightmare Story, last year, you can catch it this October at Brooklyn's Irondale Center. Read more
FringeNYC report: Day 9
Photo: Hope Cartelli
It's always fun to try and seek out the fringe of the Fringe—the unclassifiable shows with vague program blurbs and clever concepts that are even harder to find outside the context of Fringe than within it. A trio of inventive plays caught my attention over the past few days and will hopefully catch yours during the next.
Looking to satiate my geek streak, I stumbled across Theatre of the Arcade (Venue 14, Bleecker Street Theatre), a series of five short plays each set in a different video game world as if written by a famous playwright. Opening with an homage to both Frogger and Samuel Beckett entitled "Monologue for a Single Player," a bowler-hatted character (Timothy McCown Reynolds) navigates the absurdity of only three directions in which to step, and the persistence of death moving along with him. The next play, The Alabaster Nymph, proves the strongest of the bunch, setting Donkey Kong in a desperate, Tennessee Williams-influenced drama where Josh Mertz' Joe and Shelley Ray's Pauline, a wilted southern belle with a limp and dishpan hands, are locked together in irreconcilable conflict. Also strong is the final vignette, a Sam Shepard-inspired Super Mario Brothers installment starring Steven Heskett and Mertz as temperamentally-disparate brothers camping in the desert while taking hallucinogenic mushrooms together in a misguided attempt to bond. The show could end after three pieces and no-one would feel cheated: as it is, the show lasts two hours, which is pretty long for a Fringe show. Read more
FringeNYC report: Weekend Edition
Photo: Dixie Sheridan
As a San Franciscan, I had some initial doubts about the much-hyped Broadway-centric Fringe musical The Legend of Julie Taymor, or The Musical That Killed Everybody! My internal resistance monologue went something like this: "It's just going to be full of New York industry jokes I won't get," and "Oh great, another musical about musicals; like that's never been done before", and "They just want to beat up on the most successful female director on Broadway." All of which turns out to be more-or-less true, but what else turns out to be true is that some shows are worth their hype, and if you want an opportunity to tempt the fates and poke fun at the Broadway machine, The Musical That Killed Everybody! is for you.
Even in California, the on-going delays, budget crises, and injured actors of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, have been a constant source of am-news-ment over the past couple of years, so none of the material presented in the show comes as much of a surprise. But what does is the crack timing, powerful vocals, and buoyant enthusiasm of the cast, and the slickly professional feel of the production as a whole, despite the pointedly low-budget set (six cubes and a triptych painted in the style of Picasso's "Guernica") and the cardboard props, which cleverly undermine the related budgetary excesses of the ill-fated Taymor production. Read more
Photo: Nicole Piotrkowski
It's double trouble with Killing Nellie and Victor and Victoria's Terrifying Tale of Terrifying Things. Each show stars a duo—in Killing Nellie, it's Mark Storen and Oda Aunan as unhappily-wed folk singers Rupert and Embla; Victor and Victoria stars Nathan Cuckow and Beth Graham as the titular terrified. Though totally unrelated in terms of content, both productions do skew towards the darker end of the spectrum, putting the creep back into show, for audiences who like their theater with a gothic twist.
Killing Nellie, presented by theMOXYcollective at Venue 13, The Bowery Poetry Club, hails from Australia and Norway via the Winnipeg Fringe. Like fellow Aussies Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias who tour as the German mock-rock band Die Roten Punkte, Storen and Aunan perform their show as if it were a concert. First Storen, who cannot find his wife, begins to play his acoustic guitar alone, until Aunan, dressed to the hilt and speaking only in Norwegian, shows up and takes the mic. It becomes quickly apparent that theirs is not a happy union, and with each successive song, their onstage animosity grows to the point where it's no longer funny—just mean. The real humor consistently lies in the songs, particularly the lullaby sung in Norwegian (a translated lyric of which goes, "I'll rip out your guts/I'll tear out your heart") and a song called "Magee" which details a real or imagined dalliance on Emblar's part with a man named Magee, and Rupert's jealous reaction. Read more
Stage Rush TV: Episode 75
Our Fringe Festival correspondent, Nicole Gluckstern, co-hosts!
FringeNYC vs other cities' Fringe
Rent off Broadway. How it stacks up and who is best in the cast
Broadway grosses
What do you think, Rushers? Have you ever attended a Fringe Festival in another city? What are your best Fringe memories? Have you seen Rent off Broadway yet? Who do you think is giving the best performance? Leave your bohemian opinions in the comments below!
Follow Stage Rush on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the weekly newsletter!
One time-honored staple of the Fringe Festival is the sketch comedy show, and at first gloss, that is what the three funny women of Lipshtick (Venue 5, Dixon Place) intend to present. Opening with an ongoing Game Show segment—"The Make Me Over Show"—Romy Nordlinger, Scout Durwood, and Aja Houston, the "makeover specialists," scope out the audience for a lucky contestant. The chosen winner (director, Bricken Sparacino) is eventually whisked backstage to undergo her transformation, while the makeover specialists change costumes and characters for each successive vignette. Each individual actor has a strong stage presence, and a shot at some pretty funny material, and the video montage (designed by Adam Burns) interspersed between each scene is almost too good, at times threatening to upstage the actors altogether. It's a shame that the amount of deliberately unfunny material written into the show detracts from Lipshtick's basic identity and exiles it into a kind of limbo where it cannot present itself as a serious drama, but doesn't quite fulfill its premise as a sketch show either. On the other hand, characters like star-struck Macy's shopgirl "Brittany" and unapologetically lusty bargirl "Dorca" are as funny as it gets. Read more
FringeNYC report: Day 6—Short takes
Photo: Anya Garrett
Time flies when you're sitting in a dark theater. It's only Wednesday, almost a full week of Fringe has passed, and the buzz is ratcheting up from hum to rumble. The lines are getting longer, the "sold out" board at FringeCENTRAL is growing larger, and more time theatergoers are comparing notes with total strangers stuck in the same long line outside shows. Lest you think I've been resting on my Fringe laurels, the next couple days will feature short takes on shows I've been seeing but haven't had a chance to drop a line about yet. Got a recommendation of your own? Tweet me @enkohl!
The F*cking World According to Molly focuses on Molly "Equality" Dykeman (Andrea Alton), a hard-living, smack-talking, public-school-security-guard-cum-poetess making her poetry reading debut at Venue 16, The Players Theatre. Molly loves "all ladies," nachos, and her first power saw, doesn't care much for men ("I don't like spending time with people I don't want to fuck."), hates her job, perhaps for the same reason, and definitely hates her "miserable" ex, ditto. Her raunchy poems and pick-up lines are almost indistinguishable from each other, one wistful ode begins with the line "I want to stick my face in your vagina," but gradually Molly's vulnerable side does creep out for a cameo appearance or two, leavening her schtick with unexpected sweetness. PC Molly isn't, but uncompromisingly direct she is, and ultimately isn't that the preferable vice? Read more
FringeNYC report: Day 5—"Zombie Wedding"
Does this wedding dress make my butt look dead? OK, that's not actually a line from Daniel Sturman and R.C. Staab's rock musical Zombie Wedding at Venue 9, The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa, but I feel like it could have been. Vampires and werewolves might be monopolizing the spotlight right now because of Twilight and True Blood, but zombies have been enjoying steady popularity since Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide hit bookshelves in 2003, making Zombie Wedding part of an abiding dynasty.
The show opens with our presumptive hero, Neil (Ryan Nearoff) receiving a packet of mysterious powder from a Haitian witch doctor (Tom Lyons) to take with him to the states, as a potential curative for Zombification, which is spreading rapidly through the jungle. Too bad it's not a love potion, since Neil's most immediate dilemma is that the woman of his dreams, Cat (Alison Lea Bender), is marrying a dickish Datsun salesman, Keith (Wes Hart) instead of him. Rounding out the able cast are Cat's annoying teen brother Pat (Wesley Tunison) and her best gal pal, Deb (Sarah Aili) a pouffy-haired, dead ringer for Madonna's Susan Thomas persona. (For unexplained reasons, the show is set in the 80's. Perhaps to make it more rad?) Read more
Photo: Chelsie Lloyd
The first weekend of the Fringe Festival is always the most surprising, and in many ways, my favorite. Too early to know which shows will prove to be artistic or audience favorites, each new act is like a birthday package wrapped in a bow, with a gift inside to either be savored or endured. A couple of particularly fresh-faced ensembles brought their own sense of the new as well as an element of youthful vigor to the nascent Fringe frenzy Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending by the Impressionable Players and Words Don't Work by Broken Box Mime Theater.
Alas poor Rosaline, we knew her… not. Dropped ignobly from Romeo's fickle affections in the first act of Shakespeare's most enduring after-school special, the fair Roz remains but a rarely-referenced footnote in the drama she helps to precipitate. But in Choose Your Own Ending (playing at Venue 1, Teatro SEA) Rosaline gets a shot at her rightful role at last—based of course on key decisions made by audience vote. In all, there are three major votes leading to eight possible endings, so it's probably for the best that this version is a highly condensed 90-minute romp through the major plot points, and extensively rewritten with contemporized lines like "That motherfucking Tybalt…seems to want to sheath his sword in my face!" Pray, gentle audience, do not judge. Under these openly playful circumstances, it's a violation of pentameter that works. Happily, also in this version the practical, can-do Rosaline (Katie Jeffries) and her flighty, lusty cousin Juliet (Kyra Corradin) get to do way more than mope and die. The roles of Benvolio and Mercutio (Rob Mueller and Jayme Bell), as ever the comic relief, also bring the fun into their secondary roles as Lord Capulet and the bawdy Nurse. As for gentle Romeo (a likable James Waters), he thankfully comes off as somewhat more than the dithering fop we are most familiar with—at least in the version we voted for. Read more
Photo: Stan Chambers
A theme rapidly made itself known during my second day of the Fringe Festival, and that theme was boobies. Yep, boobies; as in hooters, knockers, melons—a thousand names abound for these two fairly ubiquitous body parts. And from that first nature vs. nurture dilemma of breastfeeding, like it or not, they play an important role in almost everyone's life. In short (and sometimes long), boobs mean business, and two shows at Venue 16—The Players Theatre are giving the duo their due.
'rie Shontel's solo show Mama Juggs, is set in the cozily cluttered living room of Great-Grandma Suga Babe, where the centenarian matriarch holds forth, as often in song as in speech, on one of her favorite topics: the abiding importance of the "titty jugg." In fact, the titty soon reveals itself as a shared familial obsession, as Great-grandmother, Mother, and Shontel herself converse—with each other and with the audience—about their sometimes complicated relationships with their bosom buddies. From Suga Babe's pointed songs about the importance of proper breast-feeding technique ("If you keep taking so long with that titty milk, Mama, I'll surely die,"), to mother Mabel-Ree's losing battle with the cancer that spreads "like a waterfall" from her breast to the rest of her body, to teenage Shontel's charter membership of the schoolyard "itty-bitty-titty-committee," the fiercely funny, sharp-tongued women of the family eschew mawkish sentimentality for straight talk about topics rarely given a public airing. Shontel's affectionate portrayal of her strong-willed clan is a study in shape shifting, as she morphs convincingly into each character without even having to get up from her easy chair. It's no easy task to engage in a family squabble when you have to play all the relevant roles yourself, but Shontel rises admirably to it. Read more


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describe('controllers.transaction', function(){
  beforeEach(module('piper'));

  describe('TransactionListCtrl', function() {
    var $httpBackend, scope, ctrl;
    var async = new AsyncSpec(this);

    beforeEach(inject(function(_$httpBackend_, $rootScope, $controller) {
      $httpBackend = _$httpBackend_;
      // These are incomplete, because they don't matter.
      $httpBackend.expectGET('/api/transaction')
        .respond([ {id: 1}, {id: 2}]);

      scope = $rootScope.$new();
      ctrl = $controller('TransactionListCtrl', {$scope: scope});
      scope.$apply();
      $httpBackend.flush();
    }));

    afterEach(function() {
      $httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingExpectation();
      $httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingRequest();
    });

    it('should create "transactions" model from xhr', function() {
      expect(scope.transactions.length).toBe(2);
    });

    it('should set orderProp to sort by newly added, date, and id', function() {
      expect(scope.orderProp).toEqual(['justAdded', '-purchase_date', '-id']);
    })
  });

});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The European Film Academy (EFA) is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.
The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Society—was officially founded by its first President, the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, as well as 40 filmmakers from all over Europe.
The European Film Awards takes place every second year in Berlin, while they are presented every other year in another European city.
In 1988, the Academy—under the name of European Cinema Society—was officially founded by its first President, the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, as well as 40 filmmakers from all over Europe in order to promote European film culture worldwide and to protect and to support the interests of the European film industry. Wim Wenders was elected Chairman. Two years later, the European Cinema Society was renamed European Film Academy and was registered as a non-profit association.
In 1996, Wim Wenders took over the presidency from Ingmar Bergman, and the British producer Nik Powell was elected new Chairman. The decisions about political targets and contents are made by the 15 Board members of the Academy which has its seat in Berlin.
Due to a decision of the General Assembly, the number of members—originally limited to 99—has been continuously increasing and has now reached 3,300 (as of January 2015). The Academy is thus working in close contact with the European film industry.
The European Film Academy is mainly funded by the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin (German National Lottery), the German State Minister for Culture and the Media, and Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH. The presentation of the European Film Awards are financed independently from the Academy. Founded in 2006 to produce the European Film Awards Ceremony for television, EFA Productions gGmbH is the in-house production company of the European Film Academy e.V. For a number of years, the European Film Awards have been supported by patrons from the international film industry. Their commitment demonstrates the importance that the international film industry attaches to the European Film Awards.
Is an initiative by the European Film Academy in co-operation with fifteen festivals throughout Europe. At each of these festivals, an independent jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards.
Is a special weekend encounter between appr. ten young European filmmakers and some established EFA members. The private atmosphere of these gatherings guarantees an exchange of ideas and experience which goes far beyond the results of usual workshops.
A series of conferences initiated and/or supported by the European Film Academy enhance a European debate on film, create platforms for a vivid exchange among film professionals and ensure that the discussion of what European film is, how it is changing and where it is going never expires.
Offer valuable training opportunities for young talent, combining theoretical and practical training. The high-profile list of former masters includes renowned film professionals such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Jan De Bont, Henning Carlsen, André Delvaux, Bernd Eichinger, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Jiří Menzel, Tilda Swinton, István Szabó, Marc Weigert, Mike Newell, Tsui Hark, Allan Starski and Anthony Dod Mantle.
The annual European Film Awards ceremony (until 1997 known as FELIX) is the most visible activity of the European Film Academy. With the awards the Academy pursues the following aims: attracting the interest of the audience in European cinema, promoting its cultural and artistic qualities, and regaining the public's confidence in its entertainment value. To put these ideas into practice, the People's Choice Awards were added as a new category in 1997. They are accompanied by big advertising campaigns in European film magazines. In addition, screenings of the nominated films were in the past years organised for the public in several European cities (Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Stockholm, Strasbourg, Warsaw).
The members of the European Film Academy actively participate in the selection, nomination and awarding procedure.
The European Film Awards are the first in the annual international awards calendar. Most of the nominees and winners of the European Film Awards are found in the following months among the nominees and winners of the Golden Globes or the Oscars. In the past years, European producers and distributors repeatedly stressed that a nomination or receipt of the European Film Award had a positive impact on the destiny of their films with regard to the Golden Globe or the Oscar.
Every year, the academy organises a sidebar programme on the occasion of the European Film Awards week-end with panel discussions and conferences. Thus, innovative production methods for the new millennium were discussed at the conference which took place in Berlin in 1999, whereas in 2000, nine European filmmakers of international reputation (among them, Wim Wenders, Liv Ullmann, Tom Tykwer, Dominik Moll, Pavel Lungin, Maria de Medeiros) as well as the EU commissioner Viviane Reding made very personal and visionary speeches on the artistic, cultural, and social role of cinema in front of 800 guests at Theâtre de l'Odéon in Paris, where the conference E LA NAVE VA - For a New Energy in European Cinema was held.
^ Rossberg, O., and C. Rogers. "Biography." Wim Wenders. 1 2001. Wim Wenders Productions. 14 Feb. 2008 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-02-24. Retrieved 2008-02-14. CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link).
^ "History." European Film Academy. 1 European Film Academy. 14 Jan. 2008 <http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/htm/History.html>.
^ "Home." European Film Academy. 1 European Film Academy. 14 Feb. 2008 <http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/htm/EFAcademy.html>.
^ "Home." European Film Academy. 1 European Film Academy. 12 Jan 2015 <http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/Staff-and-Structure.41.0.html>.
^ "Home." European Film Academy. 1 European Film Academy. 04 Feb 2013 <http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/Staff-and-Structure.41.0.html>.


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Our National Anthem: A "Whole Language" Experience
Explore background information about the national anthem.
Learn to sing the national anthem.
Focus on words, rhythm, and/or melody.
Grade(s): 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Subject(s): Drama, English Language Arts, Music, Social Studies, Visual Arts
Duration of lesson: 1–3 sessions
Author(s): Susan Kenney
NOTE: Several teachers have asked for ideas to help teach "The Star-Spangled Banner." This lesson suggests ways of using our national anthem throughout the curriculum.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is challenging for students to learn because the lyrics use words and concepts unfamiliar to students' experiences and because the melody has wide jumps upward and downward. But this challenge offers an opportunity to help students increase their vocabulary, learn more about the history of their country, and develop greater musical understanding.
Before teaching the song, provide some background information and activities that will help students experience vicariously the events surrounding the writing of the words. Several introductory possibilities are suggested. You may think of others.
Introductory Possibilities
Tell how "The Star-Spangled Banner" came to be written. Refer to sources online or a book on the subject in the library. One child-friendly book with written story and lovely pictures is The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner by Natalie Miller.
Play Vocabulary Game
Create two sets of cards (see "Equipment and Materials Needed") for each student or group of students. The students should match each card in set one with the appropriate definition in set two. Students may use dictionaries to assist them.
When students know the words, create two teams. Select a scorekeeper and a leader. The leader gives a word from the white card to team one. If answered correctly, team one gets a point. If not, team two has a chance to answer. If no one can answer, no point is given. The next word is given to team two, and so on. The teams may have their deck of cards for reference, but the cards should be mixed up.
Draw the Story
Invite students to draw different scenes from the story. Put the drawings together, in order, and tell the story with pictures. The pictures could be taped together to make an accordion book display, or they could be glued to a long strip and made into a roller box display. A link to a site that describes how to make a roller box can be found here: http://www.reading-with-kids.com/roller-box.html.
Consider helping the students make scenery for the dramatization of the story. Study history books, maps, and internet resources so the scenery will be as accurate as possible.
Make a large mural of the story. The mural might illustrate the night on the boat and the morning when the flag was still there.
Dramatize the Story
The script (see "Equipment and Materials Needed") provides ideas for acting out the story of how "The Star-Spangled Banner" came to be written. Several versions of the story exist, and historians are not sure of all of the facts. The source used to write this script is from the Library of Congress. This script is written from "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, chief of the Division of Music (Library of Congress, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1914).
Learning The Song
Focusing on the Words
One way to teach a song is to have students listen while you sing, asking them to discover answers to questions you ask about the words. The purpose is two-fold:
To challenge students to think.
To encourage students to listen.
Remember, students first learn a song by hearing it, and they need to hear it several times before singing it.
Select which of the following teaching ideas will work for you and your students. Remember to sing the song each time you ask a question, so students hear the song many times.
Teacher: Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about his experience while he was being held prisoner on a British boat. He used many unusual words in his poem. For example, near the end of the first verse, he referred to the United States but used different words. What are the words he used? ("Land of the free and home of the brave").
The melody emphasizes "land of the free" by moving up the scale ("loo" the melody on the words). When it comes down, end the song on the word "brave." Invite students to sing the phrase, being careful to sing "free" on pitch.
Teacher: What words did Mr. Key use to mean "early in the morning"? ("Dawn's early light.") And to mean "evening"? ("Twilight's last gleaming.") The lowest sound in the song occurs on which one of those six words? ("Gleaming.")
The melody on the word "early" also goes quite low. Invite students to sing about the dawn and the twilight, listening to make sure they sing the low notes correctly.
Teacher: Did Mr. Key write this poem in the evening or the morning? ("Morning, dawn.")
Teacher: Mr. Key referred to the flag at least five times in this song, but he used the word "flag" only once. What other words did he use that referred to the flag? (Something "we proudly hailed," "broad stripes" and "bright stars," something "gallantly streaming," and the "star-spangled banner.")
Teacher: The flag was inside Fort McHenry, but it was high above the fort walls and barricades. The light from the rockets made it possible to see the flag. What was the barricade called "o'er" which they watched? ("Ramparts.") The word "ramparts" is emphasized by a high jump in the melody. Try to sing that musical jump accurately ("o'er the ramparts we watched").
Teacher: The flag is described using the words "stripes" and "stars." What words does he use to describe the stripes and the stars? ("Broad, bright.") Sing that phrase, articulating the words carefully. It's almost a tongue twister.
Teacher: Sometimes we say the flag is flying in the breeze. This song says it is "streaming," instead of flying. What word in the song is used to describe how it is streaming? Hint: The way it is streaming is very proudly and bravely. ("Gallantly.")
Teacher: Mr. Key and his friends could tell the flag was still flying, even in the middle of the night. What words in the song suggest the way they were able to tell the flag was still flying? ("The rockets' red glare," "bombs bursting in air.")
The idea of the rockets and bombs exploding high in the air is emphasized by the high melody in this part of the song. This is the most difficult part of the song to sing, so students will need to take a good breath, sit very tall, and listen to themselves. Invite the students to imagine the rockets and bombs bursting in the middle of the night up high in the sky as they sing the high melody.
Focusing on the Rhythm
When focusing on the rhythm, students have an opportunity to move to the song and learn about beats and rhythm patterns while learning to sing.
Invite students to quietly tap the beat. Use two fingers of one hand to tap the palm of the other hand while the teacher sings.
Teacher: Try patting the strong beat on your lap and tapping the weak beats on your hand.
Strong weak weak Strong weak weak
(lap hand hand lap hand hand)
This song has a meter of three. Teach the students to conduct the song while singing. Bring the hand straight down in front of the body on beat one, away from body on beat two, and toward body on beat three, making a triangle shape, as illustrated.
Teacher: Clap on the strong beat, and feel the weak beats without clapping them.
NOTE: The following ideas are JUST FOR FUN! Do not expect the students to master the activities; just enjoy the challenge while singing the song over and over.
Teacher: "Catch" each word that occurs on the strong beat by singing only strong-beat words while you sing the whole song.
Students sing only when they pat their laps, not when they tap their hands.
Teacher: Try to sing everything except the syllables that occur on the strong beat.
Students would sing this:
Try dividing the class into two groups. Group two sings only the words that occur on the strong beat, and group one sings the words that occur on the weak beat. In other words, group two sings when the hands touch the lap. Group two sings everything else. Enjoy!
Focusing on the Melody
When focusing on the melody, attention is drawn to repeated phrases, high and low melodic patterns, and other melodic events in the song. The students learn the song while learning about the music. Make large copies of charts one to five (see section "Equipment and Materials Needed") to assist in teaching melodic ideas.
"Loo" the melody of the first five words ("oh say can you see"), and show chart one.
Teacher: What words occur on this melody? ("Oh say can you see." If students only respond with those first five words, tell them that this melody occurs more than once.) What other words occur in this melody? ("Whose broad stripes and bright stars.")
Invite students to sing only those two parts aloud while you sing the rest of the song.
"Loo" the melody of "what so proudly we hailed" (also "o'er the ramparts we watched"), and show chart two. Ask students to identify words that occur in this pattern and then sing them.
Divide the students into five groups. Give each group one of the five charts, and assign them to sing when their part comes in the song.
Chart 1: "O say can you see" and "whose broad stripes and bright stars"
Chart 2: "By the dawn's early light" and "through the perilous fight"
Chart 3: "What so proudly we hailed" and "o'er the ramparts we watched"
Chart 4: "At the twilight's last gleaming" and "were so gallantly streaming"
Chart 5: "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there"
Everyone joins on "Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave" to the end of the song, as someone holds up the flag.
Place the following words on the board:
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Sing the words, asking students to identify which syllables have more than one pitch. As the students discover the answers, place two dots over each syllable with two pitches, and one dot over syllables with one pitch, as illustrated.
Invite students to sing, taking care to give each syllable the correct number of pitches.
As an added challenge, students may enjoy making the pitches higher or lower to match the melodic direction. Slurs may be added to show which syllables have two tones.
Final note: This song is an important part of our history. Take time to help students learn the song and its meaning. As you teach them to sing, provide opportunity for them to think, listen, solve problems, and learn about the music. Whole-language teaching at its best!
Discover the history connected with the national anthem.
Understand the meaning of the words in our national anthem.
Grade 5 Music
Sing the national anthem in tune.
Respond to visual representations of melodic and rhythmic patterns.
Perform rhythm patterns in three-meter.
Experience patriotic music that connects us to our history.
Grade 5 English Language Arts
Quote accurately from lyrics in response to questions.
Understand vocabulary found in the national anthem.
Grade 5 Drama
Perform a historical play depicting the setting in which the national anthem was written.
Grade 5 Visual Arts
Create artwork depicting the setting in which the national anthem was written.
Standard 3, Objective 1, f: Discover the basis for the patriotic and citizenship traditions we have today (i.e. Pledge of Allegiance, flag etiquette, voting).
Standard 5.M.P.5: Respond to visual representations of melodic patterns using pentatonic and diatonic scales.
Standard 5.M.P.7: Perform and identify rhythm patterns in two-, three-, and four-beat meters using body percussion, voice, and simple instruments.
Standard 5.M.P.8: Respond with body percussion, voice, or simple instruments to visual representations of rhythm patterns.
Standard 5.M.CO.3: Deepen understanding of another content area through music.
Standard 5.M.CO.4: Experience and explore music which connects us to history,
culture, heritage, and community.
Literature Standard 1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Literature Standard 4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
Language Standard 4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Standard 5.T.CR.2: Arrange the physical playing space to communicate mood, time, and locale.
Standard 5.T.CR.5: Create character through physical movement, gesture, sound and/or speech and facial expression with age-appropriate outcomes.
Standard 5.T.P.2: Perform as a productive and responsible member of an acting ensemble in both rehearsal and performance situations.
Standard 5.T.P.3: Observe, listen, and respond in character to other actors throughout a scripted or improvised scene.
Standard 5.T.P.4: Communicate meaning using the body through space, shape, energy, and gesture.
Standard 5.T.P.5: Communicate meaning using the voice through volume, pitch, tone, rate, and clarity.
Standard 5.T.P.7: Select materials to be used for scenery, properties, costumes, lighting, and sound effects for informal classroom presentations.
Standard 5.T.CO.2: Read plays and stories from a variety of cultures and historical periods and identify the characters, setting, plot, theme, and conflict to better understand performance and design choices.
Standard 5.V.C.1: Combine ideas to generate an innovative idea for art-making.
Standard 5.V.R.2: Identify and analyze cultural associations suggested by visual imagery.
Optional: The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner, by Natalie Miller (Chicago: Children's Press, 1965). Other picture books could be used instead.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" sheet music (PDF)
"The Star-Spangled Banner" vocabulary card sets (PDF)
"The Star-Spangled Banner": a play in six scenes (PDF)
"The Star-Spangled Banner" melodic charts 1–5 (PDF)
White board/interactive board to dot rhythms above written lyrics
Instructions for how to make a roller box suggested as an introductory possibility can be found at http://www.reading-with-kids.com/roller-box.html.
YouTube video depicting the history behind the writing of the national anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umg8v6DLZjs.
Information about and a picture of Fort McHenry: https://www.nps.gov/places/star-spangled-banner.htm.
Image 1: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ft._Henry_bombardement_1814.jpg
Images 2–9: Susan Kenney.
Images 10–14: Curtis Soderborg.
Images 15–16: Susan Kenney.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Mount Sinai Doctors Stuyvesant Town, a new multi-specialty practice at 518 East 20th Street, was officially opened last Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Featuring state-of-the-art exam rooms and imaging services, the practice will offer extended weekday and weekend hours for both walk-in and scheduled appointments.
"Serving the downtown community is our top priority and our vast ambulatory network, one of the largest in lower Manhattan, makes this possible," said Jeremy Boal, MD, the president of the MountSinai Downtown Network, who is also a resident of Peter Cooper Village.
Stuyvesant resident Monica Inzio, a patient, said she had been "eagerly waiting" for the practice to open.
The busy mother, wife and seasonal allergy sufferer hadn't been feeling well for weeks once the weather started getting very cold.
Seriously, another photo-op for our TA leader while tenants continue to battle issues like excessive noise and construction, lack of heat, out of control bikes and golf carts, etc., on their own?!?!?! Photo-ops and political grandstanding seem to be the only things this group cares about these days.
And I want to make it clear… I would have no problem with the photo-ops if things were getting done, and there weren't tenants suffering from issues that the TA should be addressing on a daily basis. It's a real problem when we are seeing less action and more pictures showing political schmoozing from the people who should be fighting for us.
The supposed TA is nothing more than a department of SPS. Sellout Steinberg and the entire board are employees of SPS.
The only way I enter this facility is if they bring me there in an ambulance because i was unresponsive and couldn't tell them to take me anywhere else. Since ambulances wouldn't do that, this is another Stuy Town office/store I will never step foot in.
You need to do something about your windows. You are not HIPPA compliant – There needs to be a shade or a light painted color above the waist like you do at the Urgent Care on Columbus Avenue.


Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is a measurement of the amount of oxygen consumed by reactions in a solution.
The COD Digestion unit from C. Gerhardt has been developed to determine COD according to DIN 38409/German standard method H41. After digestion in the unit COD is determined by titraton until color change of the solution.


text:
Solidarity with Rohingya grows
More than 500 people attended a rally called by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) on September 9 in solidarity with the Rohingya people of Myanmar (Burma).
Rally chair Adel Salman, the vice-president of the ICV, said genocidal policies against the Rohingya have been carried out for decades. The Rohingya were citizens of Burma when it became independent in 1948, but were deprived of citizenship after a military coup in 1962.
IMF refuses Barbuda debt relief after hurricane devastation, Cuba dispatches medical staff across Caribbean
As Barbuda, part of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, reels from having almost the entirety of its infrastructure and 95% of its homes destroyed due to Hurricane Irma, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rejected a moratorium proposal to discuss the island's US$3 million dollar debt.
Australia is being dragged into US wars
The threat of nuclear annihilation is closer than at any time since the end of the Cold War as two heads of state use nuclear weapons as props in what looks like a fight between two adolescent boys.
On one side is a narcissistic bully, born to inherit great power and with credible reports that his personal life includes indulging in acts of sadism, whose policies in government are driven by a combination of xenophobia, ego and whim and who is threatening nuclear Armageddon if he doesn't get his way.
On the other side is North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Filipino socialists: Australian forces should get out
Filipino socialist group, the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), released the statement slightly abridged below on September 3 after the Australian government announced to it would send special forces to work with the murderous Rodrigo Duterte regime in Mindanao in the name of the "war on terror".
The PLM demands that the Australian government withdraw the two Australian air force Orion spy planes participating in combat since June in Marawi, Mindanao, and abandon plans announced by Australian government ministers to send special forces.
West complicit in West Papua's silent genocide — while corporations profit
The occupation of West Papua receives little attention in the UK. This is, in no small part, due to Indonesia's ban on foreign journalists and its outlawing of West Papuan social movements who try to speak out internationally. However, West Papua has not been forgotten by international corporations, including companies from the UK. For them, Indonesia's brutal occupation of West Papua provides lucrative opportunities for profit.
Argentina: Campaign grows for Santiago Maldonado's reappearance with life
More than 100,000 people filled the Plaza de Mayo in the country's capital, Buenos Aires, on September 1 to demand the reappearance with life of indigenous rights activist Santiago Maldonado. The rally was held to mark a month since 28-year-old Maldonado was last seen.
Maldonado had been participating in a protest with a group of indigenous Mapuche people on August 1 in Chubut province, in Argentina's iconic Patagonia region. The protest was repressed by Border Force officers, who witnesses allege were seen dragging Maldonado into a van.
Dutton's Home Affairs portfolio is based on fear
I think it was anthropologist Ghassan Hage who once said that Australians are in constant fear of their country being stolen — again. Australia has a history of policy-making based on the fear of the outsider. But of all the acts of government based on that fear the new Home Affairs portfolio of Peter Dutton will rank as one of the most dangerous.
Protests across US greet White House decision to axe DACA
Despite the clear signals that President Donald Trump would drop the axe on a program that protects unauthorised immigrant young adults from deportation, the announcement by Attorney-General Jeff Sessions provoked an immediate and passionate backlash from the 800,000 young immigrants who benefited from the program, as well as their supporters.
Gazans turn to rooftops for food supplies
The decade-old Israeli blockade on Gaza has dramatically undermined the coastal strip's agriculture sector.
The electricity crisis has exacerbated this problem. With electricity available for only three to four hours a day, most productive sectors in Gaza are debilitated to the point of paralysis.
New citizenship laws under fire
About 100 people attended a rally outside Parliament House on August 26 to protest against the proposed new citizenship law.
Speakers denounced the plan to make permanent residents wait four years before applying for citizenship, and the proposed university-level English language test.
Lebanese migrant Dalal Smiley said many migrant women will be "forever locked out of society" by the language requirement.
Federal shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the new law will keep many migrants from becoming citizens and having the right to vote.


Sellers Treybal Structural Engineers (STS) is an experienced consulting engineering firm operating in Vermont and licensed in several states. STS serves both public and private clients and offers service from their main office in Richmond, Vermont and part-time office in Middlebury, Vermont.
Greg Sellers and John Treybal founded STS in January 2014 and both bring expertise in a wide range of projects and building methods and materials to STS, including timber framing and structural insulated panel enclosure systems.


text:
Kniss: Seek correct information on hot topics
Written by Saige Albert
Laramie – "It is frustrating to hear some of the misconceptions about what farmers do," said Andrew Kniss, UW professor and researcher. "There are a lot of misconceptions out there about farmers and food, and one of the more common ones is almost always related to GMOs."
Kniss spoke during an Oct. 14 webinar to answer the question, "What have they done to our food?"
There are a number of misconceptions about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including why farmers use them and their impacts.
"Misconceptions are plentiful, and we like to blame others that they exist," Kniss said. "I would like to blame my colleagues in the university system. We haven't done a good enough job of getting good information out there."
When searching for GMO or pesticides, on the internet, the top two pages of results come primarily from organizations ideologically opposed to the technologies, Kniss commented.
"That is problematic," he said. "We need to do better."
Evaluating information
Kniss continued that, according to Alberto Brandolini, the amount of energy needed to refute incorrect statements is an order of magnitude greater than the information needed to produce it.
"When we hear someone say something, if it seems plausible, we aren't going to spend a whole lot of time investigating the claims," he said. "As the claim gets father away from what we believe, the amount of energy to figure out whether it is true increases."
However, at a certain point, Kniss noted that people disregard remarks that fall far enough outside of their way of thinking, writing them off as not possible.
"It is really important we get information right," he said.
Kniss continued, "The most problematic statements are the ones that seem like they might be right. How likely are we to check information that fits within our current biases? Not very likely. It is equally important we check that information, as well."
GMOs fall victim to misinformation because people don't follow up on negative claims.
As producers are searching for data to support or refute claims, Kniss noted that information can easily be skewed to support any claim.
"We can find information that says GMOs cause cancer, gluten intolerance, obesity – and anything we want to find," he said. "We can find data online that shows GMOs relate to any particular problem."
Kniss uses a study showing tumors in rats as a result of the study. The study depicts a series of rats that had been fed GMO food.
"This study was conducted by a researcher with an anti-GMO bias," Kniss explained. "There is no control in the photos, so what is the rest of the story?"
A separate study from 1973 showed that the particular breed of rats is prone to tumors, with 45 percent developing tumors if they live longer than 18 months of age.
"The study with GMO foods used rats until they were two years of age," Kniss explained. "There was lots of data collected, but the 'smoking gun' from the study selected only a tiny portion of it."
The dataset presented ignored much of the information in the study.
"This was a classic example of cherry-picking data to support a pre-conceived notion," he continued. "There has been a lot of research that does the same thing."
Looking at GMOs
At the same time, the impacts of GMOs have been the subject of a number of studies.
"There is a scientific review of 1,700 studies that looked at GMO safety," Kniss explained. "They concluded the scientific research conducted thus far has not documented any hazard from GMO crops. 312 evaluated food consumption studies found no scientific effects of toxic allergenic effects."
Kniss also looked at data from the Journal of Animal Science that represented over 100 billion animals, with no unfavorable trends in livestock health and productivity.
Research can be viewed online at genera.biofortified.org, where a wide variety of safety studies related to GMOs are available.
Kniss noted that genetically modified crops are important, though opponents claim the crops don't increase yields and make farmers dependent on only one herbicide.
"Most of the GMOs on the market are related to pest management," Kniss said. "Pest management is the limiting factor is a lot of crop production."
Actual crop production loss data shows that anywhere between 25 and 40 percent of crop loss is due to weeds.
"Weed management is important," he said. "Of total crop pests, about 10 percent of losses are still due to weed pressure and weed competition."
Super-weeds
In discussing GMOs, Kniss is often confronted with the concerns about super-weeds.
"In 2000, Roundup Ready soybeans constituted 50 percent of our soybean acres," he said. "That is when we would expect to see things start changing dramatically."
Before 2000, he added that glyphosate-resistant weeds were exceptionally rare. However, resistance to other herbicides was prevalent.
"We saw a huge increase in glyphosate resistant weeds after we adopted glyphosate-resistant crops, but that is only part of the story," Kniss explained. "At the same time we were increasing glyphosate-resistance, we were decreasing resistance to five other herbicides."
Though we still see a steadily increasing incident of herbicide resistance in weeds, Kniss stated, "This is a problematic trend, but it doesn't have anything to do with GMO or non-GMO crops. It is a herbicide trend not a GMO trend."
Profound example
Sugarbeet growers across the West have noted that, prior to herbicide resistance genes in sugarbeets, spraying the crops was difficult, ineffective and limited by weather and available herbicides.
"It wasn't uncommon to have sugarbeets completely overwhelmed by weeds," Kniss said. "The Roundup Ready sugarbeet allows us more flexibility and more control."
He continued, "Is it a perfect system? No. We are relying on the same pesticide, but we have also built in integrated weed management by rotating crops."
The ability to use Roundup Ready sugarbeets has growers to harvest an estimated $200 per acre, and UW research shows that profits can be gleaned with just a 0.5-ton increase in yield.
Four Steps
UW's Andrew Kniss utilizes a four-step process to evaluate information.
"The first step is to identify the claim and if it seems plausible, given what we know about the world," he says. "In a lot of cases, I'm not likely to proceed to step two, but I'll argue that is just as dangerous as spreading incorrect information."
As an example, Kniss posed the question, is glyphosate better or worse than the herbicides it replaces.
"I would be willing to bet that even people who don't know much about glyphosate have an opinion," he said. "The answer to the question is yes. Glyphosate is better and worse."
Depending on the herbicides it replaces, glyphosate can be more detrimental or better for mammalian species, honeybees, birds, groundwater, fish and aquatic invertebrates.
"If we compare glyphosate to the herbicides used in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming, glyphosate is probably better, with the exception for mammalian species," Kniss explained. "We can't boil it down to good or bad because it all depends."
After identifying the plausibility of the claim, Kniss said the next step is to look at data supporting the claim and the assumptions involved.
However, he also cautioned people to make sure the data is good data.
"A lot of times, people like myself support information in peer-reviewed studies, but that also has some flaws," Kniss comments. "Then, we need to try to put the information within the context of the broader body of knowledge."
The emotional component of evaluating data also must be accounted for, he said.
"As long as we know we are making our decisions based on emotions, that is ok," he said. "The problem is when we make decisions and rationalize our emotions saying the data supports a claim when it doesn't."
Finally, Kniss said that it is reasonable to form an opinion after considering all the available information.
Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


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임종현 (Yim Jonghyun) 이 아름다운 바이크를 팔고 다른 바이크를 사겠다구요...?? 실망입니다..
DCT or manual? Which you prefer?
What's the reason there's only one Africa Twin Adventure Sports in these huge group of standard Africa Twins? Honda Adventure Roads?


text:
Billy Branch & The Sons of Blues
Chicago - Illinois - United States
Band Web Site
Blues Shock represents the first studio-recorded release in nearly fifteen years from veterans Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues, and their first for Blind Pig.
"Part of the reason it took so long," says harmonicist / singer / songwriter Branch, "was I wanted to do something different."
The result is a fascinating mix of daring, and full-bodied new compositions and fresh-sounding standards that followers have long savored at their live shows.
"I wanted to do something that I felt was honest," says Branch. "Most of the material is original. And it took that long for it to come together."
The entire production seems enveloped, too, by the capacious shadow of Branch's mentor, the great bassist, singer, songwriter and arranger Willie Dixon. His echoes can be heard not only in Crazy Mixed Up World, which he authored, but in most of the songwriting and story telling, which was a hallmark of Dixon's work and credo.
"He was constantly admonishing us to write," reflects Branch. "He is very much in my thoughts and I revere the time that I had with him. I think this CD is the most concrete example of his influence on me."
Speaking of 'blues shocks,' it hardly seems possible that Billy Branch—once touted as one of the 'new generation' of blues musicians—is verging on elder statesman status in the blues community.
Over a career spanning close to forty years now, Billy Branch has become one of the blues' most eloquent spokespersons and an ardent evangelist and teacher of the blues, not to mention an award-winning veteran artist on the Chicago, national and international music scenes.
Born in the Chicago area in 1951, Branch was raised in Los Angeles and returned to Chicago to attend the University of Illinois at Chicago, graduating with a degree in political science. At UIC he thrived under the influence of poet and professor of Black studies, Sterling Plumpp and others, and he received a parallel education in the blues from his friend and fellow student Lucius Barner, a step-son of blues harmonica great, Junior Wells. Barner introduced Branch to the blues crucible of Maxwell Street as well as to Theresa's, the fabled basement blues tavern where Wells held court. And through another student, Branch met Willie Dixon, who in short order brought him into the studio to record on The Last Home Run, a 1974 single commemorating Hank Aaron's breaking of Babe Ruth's record 714 lifetime home runs.
In 1977, Branch was among a group of young 'next generation' Chicago blues musicians (along with Dixon's son, Freddie, and Carey Bell's son, Lurrie) who were chosen to travel to the Berlin Jazz Festival. They were billed as "Sons of the Blues," the name his band carries to this day, 36 years later. Concurrently during the early years of the 'SOBs,' as they came to be known, Branch toured with Dixon's All-Stars for about six years.
"I can't over-stress how influential he was," says Branch of Willie Dixon. "He ate, slept, talked blues all the time. He was deeply, very, very proud that he was a blues man and that his people were the inventors of blues."
Branch also learned from other first generation blues musicians such as house rent pianist Jimmy Walker with whom he and the Sons recorded on Red Bean'sWhere's My Money in 1984, and was on the scene with arguably the best living practitioners of the harp, recording with James Cotton, Junior Wells and Carey Bell on Alligator's Harp Attack in 1990 (for which he received a Handy Award), then with Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite and Sugar Ray Norcia on Telarc's Grammy-nominated Superharps in 1999.
"I'm on close to 200 recordings at this point," estimates Branch.
But this one feels destined to be one of the standouts.
Branch's title track, Blues Shock, is about that moment when you find yourself with a sudden, insatiable appetite for the blues—you're hooked, you're gone—you're all in. Billy once stood at that precipice—and took the leap.
Sons of Blues, also composed by Branch with lyrics by his former UIC professor Sterling Plumpp, is fascinating as a proto-blues rap that proclaims the birth of the modern bluesman.
Crazy Mixed Up World and Boom Boom, are well-loved standards on which Branch plays with all the hungry energy of a much younger man, substituting fat harp for John Lee Hooker's traditional guitar hook on Boom Boom. Another revitalized track, Shorty Long's Function at the Junction, almost reads like a Dixon composition, and is bursting with funk.
"That was a song from my teenage days that I loved," recalls Branch. "We put our little twist on it, with the call and response with the girls."
The SOB's bring more than mere backing, with pianist Sumito Ariyoshi contributing his swinging instrumental, Black Alley Cat, and drummer Moses Rutues singing Branch's comic blues number, Slow Moe. Ronnie Baker Brooks joins the proceedings, trading licks, vocals and spoken lines with Branch on Bobby Bryant's humorous Dog House.
Rounding out the set is Song for My Mother, penned by Branch and Minoru Maruyama, a beautifully nuanced instrumental track with lovely warbling from Billy.
However the centerpiece of this recording is clearly Going to See Miss Gerri, a tribute to Gerri Oliver, whose 47th Street Palm Tavern was a landmark and a center for Bronzeville nightlife for decades until City Hall removed it in order to build an as-yet unfinished "Blues District," the pet project of the "lady in the hat."
"I wanted it to be historically accurate and a fitting tribute and I wanted it to be creative. I got a lot of the historical information from Timuel Black [historian and author of Bridges of Memory about the Great Migration to Chicago].
"Gerri called me her son. She used to come to my shows. And I used to spend a lot of time down there. Gerri is in a nursing home in Jackson [MS]. We took the song down to her, and I played it for her. She's 93."
"That's the most difficult song I've ever written," says Branch. "And I think the best song I've ever written."
"But I've been kinda like this underground person," says Branch with a laugh, referring to his 15 year studio hiatus. "Hopefully this will, like the title says, create a 'blues shock.' "
While a shock is not guaranteed, listeners are likely to be surprised, impressed and perhaps even dazzled.
Roots and Branches: the Songs of Little Walter
Label: Alligator
Styles: Chicago Blues
Mellow Down Easy Chicago Blues Blues
1 Nobody but You Chicago Blues Blues
2 Mellow Down Easy Chicago Blues Blues
3 Roller Coaster Chicago Blues Blues
4 Blue and Lonesome Chicago Blues Blues
5 Hate to See You Go Chicago Blues Blues
6 My Babe Chicago Blues Blues
7 Juke Chicago Blues Blues
8 Last Night Chicago Blues Blues
9 Just Your Fool / Key to the Highway Chicago Blues Blues
10 Boom Boom out Go the Lights Chicago Blues Blues
11 It's Too Late Brother Chicago Blues Blues
12 One More Chance with You Chicago Blues Blues
13 You're So Fine Chicago Blues Blues
14 Blues with a Feeling Chicago Blues Blues
15 Remembering Little Walter by Marion Diaz (Little Walter's Daughter) Chicago Blues Blues
Blues Shock
Album: Blues Shock
Label: Blind Pig
Posted By: Shane Cody


text:
Health is but a dream
When people express their gratitude & all things good in their lives people never mention good health. We are grateful for wealth, relationships, material things, friends & family but never for good health.
It took me a near death experience to appreciate good health. The last two years were a roller coaster ride but mostly going uphill in terms of health. We take our health for granted and act as if its our right to be healthy but its actually our responsibility to stay healthy or live healthy.
Its only when you're too ill to do anything to appreciate health. Having to change your movement or walk because walking is just too painful a task. You miss riding a bicycle or jogging & those are some of the things one takes for granted. I never really understood why people always say "mind, body & soul" as if they're intertwined but they actually are. When your body is not functioning well neither does the mind. You have to pick up yourself mentally before you can start healing your body. Imagine what it feels like when doctors tell you about a colostomy bag & give u a day to think about it & u only realise what it is after they've put it in & by this time its too late to change your mind. The only consolation prize is that this will help u in the long run. Its an emotional uphill and as well as taxing on your soul but it doesn't do what it is supposed to do.
What is more saddening than an operation gone wrong and a colostomy bag is when your surgeon tells you there's nothing more he can do for you. He can't fix an operation that collapsed and that just won't heal. When doctors can't & I mean can't make a diagnosis. What does one do? Its all too much right but hey doctors are human too right. Then the nail in the coffin is when there's no antibiotic or surgery in the world that will help your situation. What do u do then? Its all confusing and antidepressants are just not working.
The only solace one has at this stage is a family physician who just won't give up & is trying all sorts of things to help the situation and is adamant in getting to the bottom of this & genuinely wants to help. To be honest u wouldn't have made it this far without her. Does one roll over and die or revive that fighting spirit? Even though bending over to tie shoe laces is mission impossible. People will say to u there's a light at the end of the tunnel and u just wish that light was a train coming to run u over & put u out of your misery.
When you cannot do anything then you'll understand what people mean when they say " the best things in life are free". What I mean is don't take your health for granted. Do what u have to do to stay healthy. Take good care of yourself & be grateful for all the simple things you can do. Like being able to turn in bed without crying in agony. Being able to climb in & out of a car without assistance or tears rolling down your face. When you've overdosed on pain meds so much that they no longer serve the purpose. What does one do when pain actually paralysis u. When u have a million questions that nobody has answers to.
You dream about doing minor things like crossing your legs when sitting, or being able to lean forward to reach for the remote control. These are actions we never think about before executing them but when you're in pain they become things u dream about doing. Taking a bath becomes an unpleasant & unbearable but necessary task.
The only thing one resorts to is shutting everyone out & putting up walls. Always having a straight & expressionless face so people won't ask u what's wrong.
At times u have conversations with your body, asking that particular body part when its going to heal, when will the flesh stop eating away at itself, when will this paralysing pain stop. The outcome of this is more pain & more agony and no answers. The only thing u can do is ask why me,what did I do, was I a serial killer in my previous life? What? These things don't just happen for no reason right? Actually they do.
The cherry on top is when u make a deal with God to end the misery you're going through in exchange for living a better life dedicated to him. When u pray so much so u end up not knowing what to say in your prayers.
Health is important and should never be taken for granted cos u'll never know when stretching your legs will feel like you've just been run over by a car but the worst feeling is when your child hugs u & that causes u immense pain cos they've squeezed u too tight.
Never take your body's good health for granted.
A girl in pain