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A Little "Glee" in Our Own Backyard

Truth Thursday

Show of hands – who out there auditioned to be in their school play? Who was stage crew?

I think the world is divided into two distinct subgroups – cast or crew. The two years that there was a teacher at my high school who was willing to mount a musical, there was never a question – I was crew.  Stage manager, in fact. Although for the life of me, I don't really remember my job.

All I remember is the feeling of being part of something extraordinary … something bigger than me and my adolescent angst … something beautiful and communal … with music!

To this day, I remember every song from "Bye Bye Birdie"  (not so much "Teahouse of the August Moon" - whose idea was that?)  And I remember those days and nights of being on stage crew with incredible fondness and gratitude to the teacher who took it … and us … on.

I love Broadway musicals. And I love school plays. So it has been with great anticipation that I have waited for my daughter to start middle school and join the school play, something she had indicated great interest in as well (for I would never force her into doing something that was my idea. At least, probably not.)

A "Book" Report for the New Millenium

Sharing Saturday

I am almost too embarrassed to even admit to this one, but I'm going to, because I believe I have just experienced the future.

My youngest son has just completed his Black History Month biography project. Each of my kids has had to do this project in fourth grade. They are to choose a famous African American, read a biography (presumably a children's version), write a one-page book report, and then create a hand puppet with which to help tell the story of the famous person in an oral report. A combination of reading, writing, oral presentation skills and art, all rolled into one project tied into a now-mandated educational month of activities.

I don’t really have any complaints about the project, except that the puppet is supposed to be created out of "home-made and assembled craft materials" which, for a non-crafty mom, is a little bit of a nightmare. But let's put that aside for the moment.

I want to focus on the biography portion of the project. We all know from our own card catalogue experiences in our youth that there are plenty of children's books about famous African Americans in history – Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, possibly even Thurgood Marshall. But what if your child wants to do a report on a famous LIVING African American, one who is in the entertainment business, one who one's parents gullibly and mistakenly listed as a potentially interesting person to research?

What if your child wants to do his report on Quincy Jones? 

Mourning into Dancing

Sharing Saturday

This past week, two dramatic news stories have captured my attention and burrowed into my heart.  The first is a national story, the horrific shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the slaughter of six innocent bystanders at one of her "Congress on Your Corner" stops in Tucson, AZ.

The second is a story that reached a far smaller audience, but it is one that holds even more personal meaning for me. Beloved Jewish singer and songwriter Debbie Friedman has died, way too young, at 59, from pneumonia. 

First, the public story. All week long we have watched this devastating story unfold as a nation. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, shot in the head by a mentally unstable young man, but surviving. Her astronaut husband by her side, who is supposed to lead our final shuttle mission in April; her closest girlfriends, two congresswomen who have shared the triumph and pain of being a woman in public service; the young intern who risked his life to save her; her 30-year-old community outreach director, who lost his; and President Obama's moving, remarkable speech, which reminded all of us why we fell in love with him to begin with (and now you know my political affiliation.)

Holiday Help from Technology

Image by Lyn Millett via Flickr

Technology Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is too late to offer any Thanksgiving holiday tech tips -- here's one for next year, though: brine the turkey! A time-honored technology to avoid dry white meat. Anyway, I thought I'd jot down a few notes about technology in the service of holiday celebrations. In my house, we celebrate a secular Christmas, so that'll be the focus here. Adapt and modify as needed if appropriate for whatever near-winter-solstice holiday/celebration/festival is your favorite.

Shopping:
I like gift-giving, and I like finding just the right gift for someone. But I find it increasingly impossible, and so gift-giving, unfortunately, becomes yet another chore - a bunch of checkboxes to check off. (In fact, last year I was such an automaton about it that I didn't remember that we'd agreed 'no gifts for the adults' with my ~nieces parents, and since they were on my list from the previous year, they were on my list again, and I churned through and ticked off getting gifts for them. Oopsie.) Now, once in awhile I'll see something earlier in the year and think "perfect!" It's great if the person for whom I think the gift is perfect is already *on* my list - but in cases like that sometimes I'll just get it anyway. Generally, though, I try to make a small focused list of recipients. My advice is to do the same. Focus on making connections and getting in touch (cards, maybe), but keep the gift frenzy to a dull roar. Prune the list as much as you can. Both the 'who' you feel you need to buy for and 'how much'. Then shop online as much as possible. I like going to stores, shopping centers, and malls during the holiday season to enjoy the decorations and festive air (if I'm not already completely stressed out), but I try to avoid *having* to go, because that just kills the fun completely. So I try to do the bulk of my gift-buying online and then I just enjoy browsing a bit in the fancy decorated shops.

Music:

Music Lessons

Sharing Saturday

Saxophone. Clarinet. Trumpet. Piano. Violin.

These are the instruments that my children have learned how to play, with varying degrees of success. In some cases, we payed for private lessons. But we also have the incredible gift of vibrant music programs in both our local elementary school and middle school. And my oldest son is taking piano as an elective in high school, in a state-of-the-art piano lab.

We have an amazing instrumental music teacher in our local elementary school who teaches six different instruments to a gaggle of fourth and fifth graders, many of whom have never touched an instrument before in their lives.  In fact, each year the school hosts an instrument "petting zoo" for the whole third grade class, so that each third grader can literally touch each of the available instruments and make a decision about what instrument to play the following year.