Evelyn Glennie Shows How To Listen

The thing I will remember most about her video is how well she could 'hear' her music. Even though she was deaf, she was able to play and hear music extremely well by feeling the vibrations and tones through every inch of her body.

When I listened to her play I felt like the music was the only sound in the world. It was like that's all there was and it was all that mattered at that very moment. I think the main contributing factors to the vibe of her music were her body motions, facial expression, and clear connection with the instrument.

The dynamics of her music is what created the different tones that the audience was able to hear. She did that by either softly brushing the mallets against the wood, or pounding hard and putting emphasis on other notes.

When she says everyone experiences music in their own way I think she means with both playing it and listening to it. When playing, everyone puts their own style into the piece they are playing. When listening, each person has their own completely individual preference as to what type of music they like. I think both of these things depend on a person's personality.

*Below are the original notes I took in my brain book right after watching the video.

-What struck you?

She was deaf, but she could still feel the music and with that skill was able to play beautiful music.

The way she taught everyone how to feel the music through your body instead of just hearing it with your ears.

I enjoyed how her accent reminded me of a character from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

-What did you notice?

She got really into her music playing.

You could really tell she was hearing the music through every inch of her body when she was playing.

She said that she always needed to know the reason why she was being told to learn something.

-What did you enjoy about her performance? Be specific.

How you could feel the musical tones flowing out of her.

Sustainability Visits

1.) What is your name and your role here at the Farmers Market?

"My name is Janet and I am a vendor here, selling for my company Grammy's Granola."

2.) Why do you choose to sell here?

"After six months at my job I had had several pay cuts that decreased my salary to the point where I couldn't live off of it. I was in my early fifty's, and single, and I needed to figure out what to do with my life. What do I want my life to look like? What's important to me? I knew for a fact I wanted to be outside, somewhere or something outdoors. So at one point I was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, and all of the sudden this idea came to me. I remembered how comforting granola snacks were to me when I would come home from a tiring day at work, and just how happy it would make me. I thought, maybe I can bring this joy to other people! But I had to find out if I would really be able to sell my product, so I got together with a bunch of my girlfriends and asked if they would really pay money for what I was selling, and they did! Afterward, somebody suggested the Farmers Market, and so I tried it out and I've been here ever since. I absolutely love it, I get to wear jeans to work, I work with positive people, and I make more money than I ever made working at my other jobs. I love my life, it's perfect."

3.) When did you first start selling here?

"Seven years ago."

4.) Do you garden at home?

"No, not really. Nothing that has anything to do with what I sell here. Just small things, that's all. I do buy locally though."

5.) What would be your advice to get others to do what you do?

"Not so much as advice to get anyone to do what I'm doing, but more as general advice, I would say to do what you love. It's never too late to reinvent yourself."

6.) Have you seen a change in the number of people participating as shoppers and vendors here since you've been here?

"Yes, definitely. There are a lot more vendors and costumers."

7.) Have you noticed a change in the products that are beings sold?

"Yes. It has gone from mainly seasonally grown food to everything imaginable. All kinds of original organic and creative products, many of which are great for the environment, too."

*My Reflection*

1. What struck me about this Farmers Market was the vast variety in products being sold. It wasn't anything different from my other visits to this Farmers Market, which happens to be a common visit for me and my family, so there wasn't anything really unexpected there.

2. A lot of the jewelry was surprisingly cheap, while a lot of it was also very expensive in comparison to your average jewelry shop. I think the reason for them being more expensive is because they are all hand made, but I think a lot of it might be less expensive because it does not have to be shipped in from far away locations.

3. I think I will continue to make my weekend visits to the Farmers Market, I really enjoy all of my experiences there.

4. I think this relates to the concept of living more sustainably because these locations promote things like organic, locally grown, and healthy food, which is a big part of our culture. These places can also be a big step toward convincing people to live more sustainably because it shows that it doesn't take very much even to just get started.

Talking these ideas out.

-Food Inc.-

One of the things that struck me the most about Food Inc was how really when you see all the different brands' and companies' labels on food, but it all really comes down to a few major companies that are running the whole food packaging system.

I do not agree with the fast food companies and their demand for every burger to be processed and modified to whatever necessary extent so that every burger (or whatever meal) tastes the same no matter the location of their costumers' purchase. This is because I think it is unnatural and unhealthy to have to genetically modify any kind of meat, especially when the only reason for it is for taste satisfaction.

These don't just apply to the real world- it IS the real world. Sadly this isn't some story or metaphor you can simply compare to the real world. This is really going on in the real world all around us today.

My family says that they have no idea the conditions all the to-be-slaughtered-animals were so bad, that everything connected and was relatable to the food system of today- even something like illegal immigration. They also agree with my thoughts on how there are really only a few companies involved that control the food (mostly meat) manufacturing, and that these few companies have a monopoly over the production and manufacturing.

My Ishmael (School Daze/School Daze2) Dialectic Journal

Quote:
"So the idea is to give the impression that you understand everything, whether you do or not."
(Page 58)

Response:
This quote strikes me in general because it is stating something so obvious and accurate, but I have never heard the concept so simply put! It is something that I'm sure the majority of students in our country feel, but until now, I have yet to come across a statement that explains so thoroughly and at the same time so simply how students across America feel.
I find it an interesting quote, however, because it doesn't just relate to students. The way I interpreted it is that it applies to anyone that is, as Ishmael puts it, a part of our culture. Really, that means anyone who abides, deliberately or obliviously, to the system our culture has created for itself.
This quote raises a few questions for me, questions like, Why do you all go for this? Why do we all just agree to this method of giving the impression that we do understand things when a lot of times we really don't?
I think the point the author is trying to make is how we just go along with our culture and its ways, when we should really take a step back and look at the big picture of 'why.'
I would like to say my reaction to this quote it something like 'Wow! How lazy can people get- agreeing and pretending to understand out of sheer laziness and apathy!' Unfortunately, I myself am guilty of this crime. It is not others I have to blame, it is me. I am just as guilty of this as many other people in our culture, and even though I do know about this concept of giving the impression of comprehension when untrue, I can't say I've done much about it.
This makes me a little bit sad because I know that I'm not oblivious, but sometimes I either just don't know how I can make a difference in our culture and its system, or don't want to give up enough of my own possession's- mental as well as literal- to do what I need to. This is also the situation many other people are in as well.

In A Flash

In a Flash
My camera’s flash danced across the Cuban performers’ revealing feathery costumes. Just because I was here to take pictures of the beautiful beaches of Havana didn’t mean I wasn’t allowed to take some personal photos, right?
“Seth! Hey, Seth!” I heard my roommate Rob’s voice coming closer to me from the sea of people surrounding the platform. I turned around, wiping the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve. I waved back with my other hand, letting the bulky black Canon PowerShot SX20 fall to the support of the thick woven strap around my neck.
“You ready? We’ve gotta go man! They’re about to leave without us!” He tugged on my arm, nudging his head in the exit’s direction. I picked up the camera and took one last shot of the dancers as he rushed me out of the crowded scene. We stumbled into the parking lot and Rob let go of me and jogged toward the car, “Let’s go!” he said, gesticulating toward the open car door.
“Hold on a second…” I replied, completely distracted by the stunning Latina walking toward me. I had never seen someone so beautiful in my life. She was stepping with such confidence as she tilted her head back in laughter at whatever her friend was saying to her. Her black hair swayed in thick coils meandering lower than her perfectly postured shoulders.
“I think you dropped this,” she handed me what was very plainly my wallet, “it was on the ground over there,” she pointed to a curb near the sidewalk I had just walked on. Her friend let out a high-pitched chortle and put her manicured hand over her mouth trying to stifle her childlike giggle. I winced as her alcohol intoxicated breath wafted past my nose. I turned back to face the radiant woman standing before me.
“Thanks,” I put out my hand, “and you are…?”
“Esperanza,” she blushed suddenly, shaking my hand.
“I’m Seth, nice to meet you Esperanza,” I smiled.
“Oh, and this is Maria,” she gestured to her stoned friend. She let out another high-pitched giggle, “sorry, she’s a little, uh, you know. Well it was nice meeting you, we should get together if you’re on a long vacation here, I think that’d be nice…” She nervously rambled on about them meeting at the beach by the Hotel Maria la Gorda shore resort, and I told her I would definitely be there.
After waving goodbye and exchanging shy smiles, I got into the car and sat next to Rob- he must have been at the zenith of his impatience. “Sorry man, I know I took a long time, but I think I just met the woman for me!” He looked at me in utter disbelief, and then stubbornly turned away, crossing his lanky arms in front of his chest.
Rob and I have known each other and been best friends since we were barely able to walk. For all the years that he’s known me, I’ve never been in a serious long-term relationship, so his reaction to my ‘absurdity’ was to be expected.
For the entire car ride back to the hotel I babbled on about how gorgeous she was and how much I really thought we were meant to be together. The only responses I got from Rob were things like, “Are you drunk, man?” and “Dude, you need to relax, she’s probably just some hoe like the rest of them here.” I ignored his comments, smirking as we stepped out of the cab and strode toward the hotel lobby. “You jealous?” I beamed. He shook his head and murmured something under his breath.
“You’re in way over your head, she probably won’t even remember to meet you at the resort tomorrow.”
He was wrong, though. At noon the next day, she met me at the shoreline, bathing in sunlight, making it a day almost as lovely as she in her white sundress.
It was the beginning of the most, well, my only, swoon-worthy relationship I had ever had. I knew it was only three weeks that I had known her at this point, and lord knows Rob wouldn’t let me forget it, but there was something about her that made me naïve enough to not even want to leave her to go back to the states!
It seemed everything was going great until I arrived at our designated meeting spot a few weeks later to find she wasn’t there. I waited hours and watched the sun set into the foamy sea until I decided to go look for her. I asked people on every street if they had seen her, nobody had. I arrived at the club I had first seen her at, frantic with worry as if she was my own child.
“Have you seen her? Esperanza?” I thrust a picture of her she had given me at the overweight bodyguard in front of the building. He nodded, his double chin bobbing above the collar of his very unflattering skin-tight shirt.
“Over there,” he pointed to a sketchy building behind a chain-link fence; “it’s where she usually goes at night, partyin’ it up. She’s a hot one with the pimps, ask anyone,” he snorted. I reeled my head back in disgust.
“Yeah, right,” I said, not wanting to believe it.
“Why do you even care where she at? Ah no, ah no man,” he guffawed, stepping back with a twisted smile on his face and covered his mouth with his hand. “Is that whore yours? She belongin’ to you now?” He started laughing as I stormed away in frustration. “She ain’t yours foo! She every other man on this islands’, but she ain’t yours!” he called back behind me.
A mad man now, I jogged toward the building, nearly convulsing in fright- I HAD to find her, I just had to. Just as I was about to give up and start up my search somewhere else, my peripheral vision caught sight of her. Shocked, I turned around. She was sitting down between the fence and unfinished white plastered wall, hunched over with her head in her hands. “Esperanza! Esperanza!!” I frantically stumbled over to her dark hiding place.
“Shh!!!!!! Don’t call my name! I owe him! I owe him so much… So much! He’ll find me! He’ll find me here, and then he’ll kill me, he’ll kill me Seth, he’ll kill me…” her eyes bulging with worry and distress as she went on mumbling hysterically to herself.
“It’s okay, it’s gonna be alright,” I made a sad attempt at comforting her as I picked her up and swiftly ran to my car with her frail body dangling in my arms as loosely and delicately as a newborn.
She was silent for the entire ride back to the hotel. Her stare transfixed straight ahead, she made absolutely no movement the entire time, that look of edginess and unease never leaving her eyes. I helped her out of the car, slowly lifting her and carrying her to my cleanly made bed. As she lay on the carefully spread white sheets, she finally closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath.
I sometimes wondered to myself why I loved her so much, and if she even loved me back. Four weeks could make a person fall in love, right? I wasn’t in over my head. She was the one…
“I need to go to the bathroom,” she blurted suddenly. I stood up as she rushed out the door and down the hall. I peered after her in surprise as she hastily paced down the hall toward the bathroom door. Instead of opening the door to the bathroom though, she furtively passed the door and took a sharp turn down the hall. I chased after her, barely in time to see her running out the hotel exit.
“Where are you going???” I shouted after her, “What are you doing?? Stop! Esperanza! Stop-” but before I could even finish my sentence, a deafening sound filled the air.
A heart-stopping explosion of a pistol’s bullet shooting through the air penetrated my eardrums, stopping me cold in front of the hotel. Regaining consciousness from my frozen state, I looked around for Esperanza. A horror struck look washed over my now pallid face. There she lay, limp on the cement. The air’s silence was broken by the screech of a car speeding away from the scene, clearly being driven by whoever shot the gun.
I knelt down next to her, but it was too late. She was gone…
Rob was right. I couldn’t believe it, but he was right. He told me I was in over my head, but I didn’t listen. He told me I was giving too much, making myself too available, that I wouldn’t have any of my now shattered heart left, and I didn’t listen. He told me to stop. I didn’t listen. I didn’t listen and I should have… I should have listened to him… But I didn’t.


Click HERE to see my group's final zine!

Your Guide to the Year in Science: 2010 (Part 2)

Woah! The entertainment business is making TV on the go! In 2010 you'll be able to watch television almost anywhere and everywhere! This article talks about how it used to be that you could only watch TV on cell phones if you had a separate and paid for subscription- now, there are thirty stations in seventeen different major cities that have set up towers that will send free live broadcasting to almost any mobile device.

This is an important topic to keep tabs with because it could have a big effect on the people who are really into watching TV. Especially for those who already have TV on their cell phones but are paying $4 an hour for their TV service should really pay attention to how they could be saving a lot of money.

The plan is that by the second half of 2010 there will be USB dongles that act like TV antennas for your laptop, as well as the same type of invention for cell phones.

One thing that could be a difficult challenge for the creators of this new gadget is that people may find it unnecessary to be watching television all the time, so it will be interesting to see how that issue is dealt with.

Your Guide to the Year in Science: 2010 (Part 1)

In this article about technology, we learn about a few different energy efficient cars that are going to be released in 2010. They are the Volt by GM, the Nissan Leaf, and the Fisker Karma. There are already a ton of people who have signed up online to purchase these cars when they come out. Their price ranges go from $30,000 to $90,000, but these companies are desperately hoping that the use of electricity over gasoline will be appealing enough to customers to outweigh some of the cars' expensive pricing.

I think it is important that we care about this new invention of electric powered cars being put to use because these new types of cars could really be beneficial to our world. If everyone used the Nissan Leaf, for example, there would be no more air pollution from cars, and we wouldn't have to use gas to fill our cars up. Depending on the cost of battery charging, it also has the potential of being a huge money saver for people who normally spend a lot of money filling up their gas tanks.

In 2010 is when these cars are going to be released and the world will be forever changed!

One of the main setbacks for this new invention would be the price of the car. To a lot of people, the cost of these cars are ridiculous! This could be a major hurdle for the car companies to overcome. We'll see what happens...!