Don't Use the Stars to Find Me, Don't Expect Them to Align

So those are lyrics from the song 'Only Skin' on the album yellow // gold by the amazing band The Spring Standards.

Why the introduction? Yesterday (8/7/13) I attended a house concert at my aunt and uncle's house in Dormont. And yes, this is the same aunt and uncle who let me go see JayScribble and KDKA and introduced me to WYEP.

The term 'house concert' sounds like some sort of stuffy thing for like crazy rich people who want to enslave classical music artists in their basements for personal concerts at each whim. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. The Spring Standards came because of some sort of deal they struck with my aunt and uncle through kickstarter or something... I don't know the details, but bottom line I was invited and I went.

Granted, unlike the Tally Hall excursion, I had about a week and a half's notice and actually did my homework and knew some of their songs (yay forward thinking!).

Half of the documentary film Crew

We walked in and were some of the first people there, and were immediately introduced to the fantastically nice James Cleare, Heather Robb, and James Smith, as well as Noah (the guy that plays drums but due to space limitations couldn't) and two documentary filmmakers.

I spent a long period of time talking to the documentary filmmakers about what they do, how it works, and what it's like being on tour with a band.

After a while we all sat down (we including the daughter of my former GATE teacher and Suzanne from WYEP) and the trio indulged us with a 16 to 18 song acoustic set. It was fabulous. They have a great sense of humor and were playing with a large cutout of Joe Biden (the story of which I learned later) for a bit:

Joe Biden!

The story behind the Joe Biden head involved a guy who's now in Boston but used to work at KDKA, Jim Lokay (follow him on twitter, he's hilarious!). He sent my aunt this for her birthday and the band got a hold of it, so that was fun.

After they were done with their set, they let us know that they could send us the entire recording of the night directly to our emails (I totally did that!) so we could remember it, and have the musics.

L-R: James Smith, Heather Robb, James Cleare
(I think I have that right...)

This is again the thing that I love about music. It brings awesome people together, and those of us who are musically challenged can really appreciate what these people can achieve with two guitars, and some harmonica-accordion thing (it looks like a kid's piano that had a kid with like a kazoo... it's bizarre, but sounds awesome.

Anyway, afterwards we got to talk to the band and I bought their latest album yellow // gold and they signed it, and obviously noticed how long I spent talking to the documentary filmmakers:

And like I said, they have a sense of humor. the one James (Leftmost James) told me that the photographers should be paying me to A) talk to the underlings and B) hold their lenses. Obviously Heather (the one who wrote the message) didn't mind too much. You should look them up, or better yet, buy their music, it's like the Lumineers meets the Band Perry meets Mumford & Sons, with less country and more folk...

Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoLEvg9QrGg&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLC189635CAA8D4E29

Meh, so goes the life of me. I was no doubt the youngest one there, but I loved it. Thanks to Aunt Marie and Uncle George for letting me come, and the Spring Standards for being great people.

Really Post-Post: My Aunt Marie also wrote about the evening from the hostess point of view. You should check that, and the rest of her blog out: http://blame-it-on-being-a-girl.blogspot.com/2013/08/in-which-some-thursdays-are-far-more.html

Looking Back At Sunsets On The East Side / We Lost Track Of The Time

So I apologize for not posting last night, but the reasoning will come later.

So this week was about accomplishing things and catching up. I wrapped reading "Fences" by August Wilson, and earlier wrapped reading "Manhunt: the 12 day search for Lincoln's killer", and I plan on writing reviews a bit later. I also was granted access and am now the head designer/web developer for the Carlynton Marching Band. So that's sort of exciting.

I also got to catch up with an old friend of mine, as well as Dave (of Dave 'n Clay show concept fame on here I guess). We took on the world through wooded trails, and Dave screaming "YOLO" for no particular reason.

It was nice to catch up. And anyone that's read Paper Towns by Jayscribble can appreciate this when I say she pulled a Margo and called me about an hour ahead of time, and appeared at my doorstep for an adventure the nature of which neither of us exactly knew.

And I like that. Spontaneity. Nevertheless, we adventured around and talked about where we're going and what we're doing. And it was then that I realized how far I've come, and actually how 'old' we are.

In my mind at least, I was back in eight grade. It was when we got to talking that I realized that I'm now a Junior. It's crazy.

So this Friday (the day I SHOULD have posted, yeah, yesterday) I got another one of those Margo-esque calls but this time it was from Clay. Today when I post this is his birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!), and last night we went on a bowling adventure in an underground lane in Crafton. But first we went to the dollar store in the same plaza.

Dollar stores are curious places, full of deals and the strong smell of plastic. You know the plastic I'm talking about - not the lovelyness of new car, but the stuff that makes you wonder how the nice people working the registers don't get asphyxiated on their shift.

We had no purpose there except to kill time, and it's sort of dangerous to let four teenagers loose in a dollar store. And they had everything there from "LOOKS REAL!" gag ketchup to "Jihad Joe: the novel" to Pokemon tattoos... and 'Hater Shades'.

At least I think that's what they're called. That or shutter shades or something. They were given the dollar store generic name of "party shades" and 3/4 of us got them and I bowled about 1/6 of the time with them on. Now I may have been hallucinating, but I think they helped me line up the shot better. Nevertheless, I still lost.

But ultimately that didn't matter. We were in a half-decent yet deserted bowling alley underneath a grocery store in a shopping plaza I've been to once, having the time of our lives. And yeah, the pizza wasn't that great, but these are definitely the things I will remember about my summers: getting calls randomly from friends and the adventures that follow.

The Star Maker Says, "It Ain't So Bad"

So, yeah this week. I've wanted to post a few other times this week, but then I was worried that I wouldn't have anything to post about Friday. Well, today's Friday, I think, Honestly I lose track during the summer, and I have multiple things to talk about.

A man I admire greatly, His Grace Bishop Daniel, visited Slickville this past Sunday. He came to elevate my father to the rank of Protopriest. He served with us all, and it was quite nice to hear him speak. I hope to have the video of his homily up eventually, but nevertheless it was quite a nice service.

Unlike the last time he came, he gave a week and a half's worth of notice, enough time to alert some presses, which packed our tiny church with about 50 people. Mind you, we only have 25 or so come on an average Sunday.

We (that was, my mother, father, and I) were discussing the night before the logistics of how it was all to work. Again, we had more notice, so they had the event catered, my father was able to tell a bunch of people, so we didn't exactly know who would come.

But then we realized that the building is alive. And no, I don't mean that in some "church in the woods is haunted oooohhh spooky" way or the feel-good metaphor of a lively parish, but rather the physical inside of the building appears to expand to fit as many people that show up. On a typical Sunday with 20 or so people, it feels full. And with 50 it feels full. It's extremely hard to describe, and I welcome whoever reads this to come out sometime and see it yourself.

So after everyone left, the pictures were taken and cleaned up and my father wrote an article. My mother decided that I should write it instead, but in reality what I did was play editor to his original. I added a lot of wording, condensed some stuff, and you can probably pick out the portions that are my style. You can read my frankenstiened version here: http://www.uocofusa.org/news_130723_2.html.

So that got published on Tuesday. On Thursday we got our copy of the Signal Item, which is a local paper published weekly about the goings-on in originally Carnegie, but has expanded to the Carlynton/Chartiers-Valley area. And I read through and I find something that looks awfully familiar.

I took some pictures at the last flag ceremony for the mayor of Carnegie, and he was kind enough to have them published in my name by the Signal Item.

I love that they picked out my two favorite pictures to print. These flag ceremonies have certain elements to them that are extremely hard to capture, and are amazing to experience. In fact, one was published that I couldn't time right before. Those moments are the playing of taps, the lowering of the flag, folding of it, and the presentation to the family of the fallen. And the coolest part (at least to me) is that they present it to the family with the same words that it was originally presented at the funeral with.

And then the commander of the VFW salutes the family. This is the amazing moment captured. And I will tell you that this picture does no justice to how truly poignant that moment is.


This all, if you know me personally, you know I freak out anytime I see something I made being put someplace other than my blog. So this was quite pleasant.

Post-Script: Sorry this was so LONG. I didn't realize that, but usually I write 300 word posts, this is more like double that. Sorry :/

Summer Reading Adventure 2013 Part I: The Awakening

So one of the things that I'm required to do to keep in my honors level courses is read a book. Well, actually for English I need to read two books, write two rhetorical precis, two outlines, and two personal responses (one in each category due by July 15). For Social Studies I need to read a book, then read the first four chapters in my textbook and answer some questions.

So I test-drove the idea of book reviews last year with Withering Away Heights and I think I'm going to do it again. This contains plot spoilers, and may very well ruin the book for you. Sorry, but I am warning you now.

The first book I've read this summer was The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Where the heck do I start with this plot? It's about this woman who decides she is unhappy with her life as a married woman with children, and didn't marry for love, and wah.

It's set 19th century New Orleans and the whole aim of the piece is to highlight the lack of choices women had in the way of self expression, and what happens when they bow to social conventions and have to follow strict class expectations et cetera. 

The plotline follows Edna Pontellier experiencing a personal awakening that she didn't marry for love, and falls in love with a lovely younger gentleman named Robert. But, again: She is married to a guy already, and has two children. He loves her back, so he moves away to remove himself out of the equation.

I want to take a moment to appreciate the fact that her sons names are Étienne and Raoul. 

Anyway, she decides that she also wants to be an artist. Her husband is the breadwinner and she is expected by social conventions to serve as homemaker and loyal wife and downright dull stock character. So she sends her kids to her homeland of Kentucky, her husband off to make money in New York. And she moves out. And Robert comes back. 

And what Robert essentially tells her is: Lady, I love you, but I can't be with you because, you know, adultery and stuff. So what is the logical thing to do at this point. You guessed it - she commits suicide. The end. Because that 

Okay, so I get that class culture is something important here. So are gender roles, because together they essentially drive this Edna chick insane and she kills herself. But these are social constructs of the 1890s. 

I understand that gender gaps are still a thing. In fact, a much better (and expanded) argument can be viewed here: http://tiltingsilver.tumblr.com/post/51872916055. So we have a long way to go, but I am not sure I am getting out of this what I should. 

I saw gender roles, and Edna's struggle to be an artist to a world not kind to women wanting to be artists, not some tragic love story of a woman wanting what she cannot have. 

I think we've come a bit further than having to resort to suicide because your on the side lover wants to preserve the sacrament of the existing marriage. And I'm also trying to figure out its relevance to me personally. I guess it's cultural awareness of gender roles, but in the context of a 1890s tragedy. 

Honestly, I didn't like the book. I liked what I interpreted as the message, which really was only made clear through reading criticism. It was quite Dickens-y with the whole 'let's describe every detail of the dresses at parties' thing, but it's a short (200ish page) read. Wouldn't recommend it, but I would recommend this criticism on it. Which, I guess requires reading the book: http://www.gvsd.org/cms/lib02/PA01001045/Centricity/ModuleInstance/3232/Critical_Essay-The_Awakening-A_Refusal_to_Compromise.pdf

</rant>

So this week I celebrated four years since the first post in 2009. I got bored and played with my image editor, and this happened (left)

But seriously, Thanks. No matter how long you've been reading, or if this is like the future and I'm in year like five or whatever, thanks for reading my nonsense week after week, despite how rambly these things get. 

Thanks for reading, because honestly, without people reading this, I would've stopped a long while back. 

Stay tuned for more (slightly comical, I hope) book reviews. Meh.

Home, Let Me Come Home Home Is Wherever I'm With You

So I keep track of my analytics, which are how many people come here, what they read, and that sort of thing. The mission is simple: see what people who read my blog like to read, and write more like that.

Honestly, I've been writing this blog pretty blindly for the past four years. And since my last post (yeah, I realize I'm slacking writing on a Tuesday of all days) this blog has reached 10,000 views. Wow. I mean, I realize that it's not unique views, but I reckon there are roughly 200 posts here, and if I do the math, that's roughly 50 people per post. That's crazy.

So first off, thank you. Whoever on earth you are, from whatever country, thank you for reading this blog. It really means a lot to me to know that someone somewhere is visiting. Okay, enough whit the nonsense gushy stuff.

This past weekend I spent up at camp, and saw firey flashes of AMERICA (fireworks) shot up at camp amongst other things. It was a lovely weekend despite the rain, and I learned about these paper lantern things.

They work off of the same principles as hot air balloons. A little candle is lit in them and using the heat inside them, they float up and are quite a sight to behold. Granted, every time I tried to take a picture they ended in blurs. But that led me to thinking...

After tweaking the settings on my camera, and playing with some America sparklers, I produced these pictures:

This was one of the lanterns

Matt and the America Sparklers

Me and the America Sparklers

Yeah, this didn't end too well...

Well, that's all I got. See you Friday.

And After the Storm, I Run and Run as the Rains Come

So there's good reason I didn't blog yesterday. I was at a drive in.

The Line to Get Into The Drive-In

For those of you who belong to my generation and choose to do nothing but scroll blogs, drive in theatres are these magic inventions where you drive into a parking lot (thus the name) and watch a movie projected on a HUGE screen outside. They were apparently all over the place during the 50s-80s, but apparently they weren't cool anymore? I don't know, they seem pretty awesome to me

I went with my mother to see "Monsters University" because we had some groupon and I had never been to a drive in before.

These are magic inventions, and there were people outside of their cars waiting for it to get dark, and kids playing with things and just plain people being out and enjoying themselves.

Yay Magic Screen!

In order to hear the movie, they told you at the gate to tune your radio to a certain frequency and you could hear the movie from there. And here I'm thinking, oh it's some low power frequency, you will get static. No. Crystal Clear. Wow.

So that was how I spent my Friday night, watching a movie at a drive-in.  Sorry for the brevity of this post, it was either this or an adventure in parallel parking. I can sum that up in three words:

It. Was. Scary. 

That's where I wanted to end the post. Hit the labels, and hit publish. But I kept writing.

Okay, so the past few days have been rough. Another friend passed away suddenly. He was 19. I didn't know him all that well, but I will say this: that was too young. My prayers are with his family, and his close-knit group of friends. It's just rough.

My Uke Needs Tuned and Other Adventures

Okay, so this week was sort of rough... yet at the same time very unproductive. I lost a friend from church sort of suddenly, and I don't think that's hit me yet...

The title was a suggestion from a friend... I don't have a ukulele...

So this past weekend I spent up at CAMP! doing various miscellaneous things. My mother and grandfather trusted me enough to drive them to errands and the sort, like to the KMart in Clarion to buy a wheelbarrow.

One of my more productive ventures was to re-do the fire ring there. My grandmother decided she didn't like the rocks surrounding it... so we found some patio bricks. The idea was fairly simple, build a square around the existing circular ring. My grandmother didn't want to have the rocks that were there at all, but I had a (better-ish) idea to re-purpose them.

So the end product looks a bit like this:

Excuse the shovel... this is what it looks like though!

We used some of the rocks to level out the ring down under it, and around the ring for decoration. It looked pretty awesome... until it dawned on me. The rocks could be sandstone. To those of you who aren't familiar with the fun sandstone is around fire, it explodes. And it's usually not too good when that happens.

There was one real way to test it, which was to build a fire and see if it explodes. Unfortunately, or probably fortunately, there is no story here. It was probably some other sedimentary rock (I'm no geologist!) but it DID NOT EXPLODE. But it did rain that night... which made me sad.

However I did make a mountain pie in it. Yes, a mountain pie in the rain and storm, because I can.

That was really the highlight of my week... other than being kicked out of the high school. I can't say much for fear of libel, lawsuits, and other scary stuff from the school district, but bottom line I was working with a group of friends rearranging and updating our high school's video studio and we were informed that we needed to leave. Those are all the details I feel comfortable giving... and we were essentially stranded outside of the building walking the track until our one friend's aunt came to rescue us. Mind you, I'm a volunteer. Thanks.

I Come From Where The Rivers Meet The - Well, Rivers

The Fountain! (Excuse the poor quality)

So I'm free, as most people are, from high school until August 20-something or other. I've done this thing over the past few years where the last day of school (which is usually just a useless day anyway) I do something decently cool during the school day, and then that night do something I haven't done in a while. I spent my day in the video lab, and the evening at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, and watching a musical in the Cultural District.

But first I want to talk about Sunday, the first trip to the Arts Festival. My mother was nice enough to accompany me going into town for the Re(imagiNATION) showcase on Sunday. We were put up in Point State Park (the newly renovated... with the fountain up!) on the "creativity stage". Since no one else was there when we started other than Matt (you should follow his twitter for free Pittsburgh Stuff - @ItsFreeBurgh) I ended up emceeing and introducing the bands.

The disappointment in it all was that I had to stay in the area and couldn't look at the art and the fountain... so I made my mother come down again with me early before we went to see the musical.

So that's exactly what we did. We took the T (Pittsburgh's Subway system) into town and explored the Three Rivers Arts Festival. We also took a walk to the fountain, where I took some pictures of the fountain (see top) and of the "Three Forks" marker.* I talked to a bunch of local artists and saw a bunch of works varying from repurposed scrap metal to photography.

I always get the urge to do something creative when I'm in spaces surrounded by works of other people. I realized that I enjoy photography, so I want to sometime take a bunch of pictures of various local things. I started a flickr, and want to get into that creative end. If you're interested, my flickr handle is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95500973@N06/

Anyway, I love these sorts of events where people are sharing and collaborating and above all, creating stuff. So I guess if I want to make a Summer's resolution, I want to be more creative. We'll see how that works out.

On a final note, I'd like to congratulate the members of the CHS Class of 2013. It's insane to think that that'll be my class in two years. Wow. Special shout out to my senior friends: Isabella, Lana, Aidan, Lindsey, Ben, Seve, et al.

Now to why I put the star (*) by the three forks notice. So I took a picture and posted it of this cool ground marker. It marks the start of the Great Allegheny Passage at the point, and marks the exact confluence point for the Ohio River. Well, after some research, it turns out that they are having an official unveiling of that exact marker tomorrow (6/15). So I saw it and posted it when no one was supposed to see it. It's on the flickr, but I am not putting it here, because that's mean to the the GAP people.... maybe next week?

Smile Like You Mean It

Note: I apologize if this is hard to understand. I am losing my mind with finals in school and assorted other things... Your understanding is appreciated.
So today was the last regular Friday to my sophomore year. Wow was that crazy. I'm one of those people who walk to the top of a hill, and look back. Then I decide to move forward because, honestly, there's so much more ahead.

So today in English our teacher brought out our 'portfolios' which are a collection of selected works of ours from each year going back to 7th grade. It was interesting to see how far I've come as a writer, and how poor my handwriting has become.

I'm again reminded that things progress.

It's wild looking back after something to see what it actually was. By this I mean that I am an idea guy, and to see something actually come out of an idea, or whatever the case is, is satisfying.

I look at the end of this year, and I sort of feel the same as I did last year (http://2015blogger.blogspot.com/2012/06/don-know-what-to-write-centralia-and.html), but in a different sense of becoming those older people, and realizing how much has actually been accomplished.

I have yet to do finals, but already I know this much: sophomore year is over. And even though I may not have done so great in chem, and struggled writing research papers for social studies and English I've learned a lot - about the world around me, as well as myself.

I've learned a bit from everything ranging from how to put on an arts festival of sorts, using a studio, how relationships work, how to work in a lab, and ultimately where I plan to go. We'll see how this all pans out.

I can't wait for this summer to come, because I plan to go to Delaware (which I can never spell), and I want to get lost in the awesome of downtown Pittsburgh again, and do so many things... I don't know. I am just excited to be where I am now, and to be moving forward.

For the record and for those keeping track at home, this brings the count to roughly two years until this blog becomes relevant. Thanks.

And All the Lights that Light the Way are Blinding

Note: I apologize if this is hard to understand/cryptic. I try to separate my school and personal life from this blog... I'm going through a lot in both. Your understanding is appreciated.

So yesterday I went to Gettysburg. Granted, this is the third time I've been to Gettysburg, but I decided to go again with the AP US History class and my AC2 Scholars Class because, well, Civil War. This past Saturday we had the Cemetery Re-dedication, also a Civil War thing. But I want to save the Civil War ventures for another day.

Going to Gettysburg from Pittsburgh requires a four-plus hour bus ride in each direction. In that amount of time I could have slept (if they weren't singing Harry Potter songs behind me) or did homework, but instead I did three things: wrote a bit, talked a bit, and thought a lot.

One of my new favorite quotes is from Walter Cronkite:

"I learned early on that the masks of comedy and tragedy adorn the proscenium of life"

-Walter Cronkite, A Reporter's Life 1996.

"Proscenium" is a theater term for the architectural 'frame' around the stage. It hides the moving parts like the flies and scenery, drawing your attention to the performance.

The Proscenium is the wood paneling here, as well as the curtains.
Courtesy: ronniejackson.com

I've been thinking a lot about theater and about the moving parts, and the big metaphor with life here. Each person, much like each audience member, sees a different performance. The actor does his or her best to portray a certain character or emotion or whatever, and chooses to ignore the real ones, for the sake of the show. It's an interesting concept, in the sense that it is true. People only know the person you portray to them.

I was thinking this as I was walking through fields and passing farmland. I'm also thinking about how being detached from certain things is a very good thing for me on a personal level.

Having a break from everything to look from a different perspective ultimately adds to my own perspective. I really am trying to avoid some weird metaphor that doesn't make sense, but it's hard to explain.

Bottom line, I've realized a lot. I've realized what a proscenium and fly system backs me up. And above all, I've come to realize what a production some people's lives are, and how simple mine is. And I love every minute... and I think at this point, I'm running tech to my own life.

And Open Up Your Eyes

I spent the weekend at my grandparents' house in beautiful Petrolia, Pa to attend my cousin's wedding  And here's the terrifying part - I drove a little over 15 miles on windy and twisty road to get there...

So I'm driving along this road, and this is the same road that I've rode on as a kid for years (usually listening to a Jimmy Buffet Casette), so I know it pretty well. There is a hill before you get to Chicora that at the crest of it has a huge sweeping turn overlooking a farm with a pond and cows and general lovely.

So I crest this hill overlooking the general lovely and stop dead in my tracks..... granted, I think I swore a bit when I realized what actually happened. Because before me were three random goats standing in the middle of my lane.

Well, we don't have a car, but whatever....
DRAMATIZATION (Click for Larger)

About half way through stopping, my mother said "GOATS" but at that point I had already hit the brake hard enough to not, well, attack the goats.

So what do these goats do? They just stand there and look at me. So I slowly try to move around them, and I guess in their goat minds it went like this:

GOAT: WOAH, Big scary green thing coming after us. DIVE DIVE DIVE!

And by dive I mean that the three goats literally dove under the guard rail and into the general lovely.

I had never seen goats in that field, and I probably wont again, but I did that day. And whether they realized it or not, the fact that I was only going like 40 miles an hour and was scared of the road saved them.

I should get a medal or something for that...

The wedding itself was quite lovely, albeit I don't understand the hoopla for getting married - I guess I don't particularly understand why such planning is needed, but then again I don't understand much... or plan much.

Finals are coming up soon here and then summer comes... and then hopefully I'll be able to post better content....

And I Swear: We Are Infinite.

These lines end the movie that I recently watched, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Granted, watching it before reading it goes against my whole mantra here, but I made an exception, and I'm glad I did. But I'll get back to that.

This line is actually a part of a larger quote, and when put in context, at least to me, it should read "We Feel Infinite." But it doesn't. It reads "We Are Infinite" because it is talking about a point in time where there is no sense of time; all that matters is what you are doing in that moment, and how you respond to that.

I hate the common thought by adults that "teenagers feel they are invincible". In some ways this is true, (I have a lovely story for another time about some idiots taking a test) but for the most part that is wrong. What I think is true is that teenagers feel that they are infinite, that where they are at that one point in time is all that matters, and all that will.

I'm not saying that teenagers are all self-centered people, but rather that since we have little time to base off of, each day is a large fraction of our life. Let me rephrase that. Take, for example, that I'm 16. I only remember about 10 or so years of that, so in memory and in things I can base off of, I am 10. Someone that is, say, 40 has about 34 years to base experience and that sort of thing off of. We are rookies here.

However, I'd like to challenge anyone reading this that for one day, just one day, live in the present. I know I'm preaching here and not practicing it as much as I want, but at the same time I am setting this for myself too.  Live infinitely in the world that you're in, and gain some interesting perspective on things.

I've been feeling sort of lost lately; and I don't mean this in some sort of "waah I have no friends" or some whiny way but rather in some deep way, which I cannot exactly describe to someone outside. I want to fast forward to the part where I am where I want to be, surrounded by those people whom I want to be around, but society prohibits that. So I guess for now, I have to live as if I am infinite, until I become finite.

Wasted on Fixing all the Problems that you Made in Your Own Head

So yeah. This week. Oy. So much to say, but I don't think that it would do me or anyone else good to talk about it. Though I will say this much: Friday's post was written in a study hall prior to the beginning of a very bizarre, yet very satisfying day.

I think one of the things about people today is that they believe creativity doesn't exist in our generation (or, rather, mine. I don't know how old you personally are or whatever...). To those people, I respectfully say: SHUT UP!


Saturday May 4th was the second annual Re(imagiNATION) event.

The Re(imagine) Media Crew
Photo: Me

This year we added art to the music festival, making this (unofficially) Pittsburgh's premier music and arts festival, and it was a blast.

Four bands performed, and 12 or so artists displayed everything from pencil sketches to panoramas to paintings along a stretch of sidewalk in Schenley Plaza.

I felt pretty much the same way I did during last year's, yet I was a tad more distant in choosing the individual bands/artists due to, well, musical eating my life. Yet I like what I wrote then:

The only way we were able to do this was through the generosity of WYEP, its listeners, and the amazing staff we have worked with since October-ish. I can't wait to see what's next from this group of people.

The Options

There's a side story that hasn't been told about this competition. Before we held the event last year, we asked for submissions, and we got submissions from two bands: The Actions and the Options.

Honestly, their submissions weren't that great, and neither one made it to the top 5 last year. We sent them notes saying how we thought it was awesome and all, and try again next year.

They did.

The Actions and The Options re-submitted after a bunch of separate gigs and both bands completely re-worked their sound and everything. It was quite impressive, and as a result, they were chosen to compete this year.

The Actions

The Options, as I said, completely reinvented themselves, and won the second Re(imagiNATION). This is an awesome side story that is what Re(imagiNATION) and Re(imagine) are about: creativity, and finding a passion. We give them a stage, having a passion for sharing stories and creating things, and they bring their passion of music, and the artists their own works. It's an amazing thing to see side by side, and it was all created by high school students.

So next week, I am taking my third and final Keystone Exam. The Keystones are Pennsylvania's NEW answer to the No Child Left Behind requirement for standardized testing.

I say new because originally we had these magic PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessments) tests, which apparently were rendered obsolete so the criteria we were once held responsible for knowing is apparently irrelevant. I've ranted before about standardized testing, but my point is this: tests do NOT define how good education is. What should define how good an education from a school should be a measure of how much that school exposes you to the outside world.

What I propose (because I'm a crazy guy at the end of sophomore year) is a system where high schoolers are required to do an internship in at least two different fields of available interest, then present something about it: an essay, presentation, whatever. This would open the door to *gasp* relevance, as well as exposing the students to the world they'll be plunged into after school.

And maybe, just maybe, we can find more awesome artists, musicians, and Re(imagine)rs if they can find themselves. Just a thought.

If you want to see more pictures from the event, click here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.566875386686161.1073741826.336695676370801&type=1&l=773360ba17
For the event page (until it gets deleted): http://www.wyep.org/reimagination2013

We have Rolled into Another Dream

The title is part of the quote of the day on Dictionary.com.

So this week is Holy Week for us eastern-rite Orthodox. This also means that the past six or so weeks have been “Lent”. No, I’m not going to go and spread religion across the masses or whatever, I’d much rather talk about looking back and forward.

It’s really hard to acknowledge the present, and appreciate it because it simply is. It’s a state of being that is constant, yet fleeting at the same time. Hindsight is 20/20 and the future is what you make it but it’s looking at the now that is pretty near impossible.

It’s easy to look back and say, “The musical was awesome last year” or forward and say, “this summer is going to be great” but what do we say about ‘now’? I guess one of the things that I’ve been having trouble with lately is ‘living in the moment’. In the process of looking forward to the end of the school year, or the musical, or whatever trivial thing it is, I forget about the state of being that is now.

Let me say this much though… it’s not a bad thing to not live in the moment, it just is a thing that is. Tomorrow is the second annual Re(imagiNATION) competition in Schenley Plaza. I’m planning to show up and just live through it. Enjoy meeting artists and bands and WYEP people… but instead of take pictures and video of it for the future… I want to remember it as I saw it.

I’ve had this theory since I was little that I’d get to see more if I lived and looked at life like a photographer. It’s still a theory but I’ve found it to be true. Take for example, that I try to take a walk through the neighborhood every day for like 20 minutes or whatever. Same route, for I am a creature of habit, but each time I try to notice something new. And over the past year or so I have. And it got me thinking… if I notice something new each time I walk the same streets, imagine what is possible in all of the new streets I haven’t traveled… So I guess I want to have perspective on the future and past by living through the moment. Hopefully it can all coexist.

The title is part of a quote... and the only reason I chose it is that it involved rolling and dreams... for if we live life from the comfort of only a dream... can we ever wake up to reality? Keep the dreams, but wake up from time to time. I'll shut up now.

You Can't Carry it with You if You Want to Survive

So this week has been crazy, and eventful. Thursday I ventured to Bishop Canevin high school's (Which has a fantastic website, if you're interested) production of In the Heights which is this musical about life in Washington Heights, and the tight knit Latino community there. I liked it a lot, because it wasn't your traditional "musical". This isn't in the sense of Drowsy, but it was all rapping instead of the traditional, well, 9 to 5.

Friday morning I woke up early and my mother took me to the DMV place and I took my permit test. Let me preface this with saying that in the state of Pennsylvania one must take a knowledge test consisting of random questions from a book before getting a permit. Then after getting that permit and X amount of driving hours, you take the driving exam. The permit test was an adventure involving touch screen tests and it telling me that I passed with an 83% (I'm sorry PennDOT, I wanted an A. Oh well. At least I passed).

Friday night I ran sound for the annual Mr. Carlynton Pageant. I'm bad at sound. I rock the lighting boards like no one's business, but sound... Oh my. But it went well nevertheless.

So this morning I again ran the Carnegie Volunteer Fire Dept. 5K with Carlynton. I am bad at running, so I ended up speed walking and jogging the whole thing, getting a time of like 40 Minutes... It's pretty good for no prep.

Afterwards I attended the 100th anniversary celebration thingy for Crafton Elementary. I don't know what to say here.... I'm just glad we didn't have to sing Happy Birthday to the building...

All in all it's been an insane week with everything from tech to running to singing to driving. Oh my. Driving. That's a scary thought. Oh well, I knew it'd come eventually and I like driving, it's just nerve-wracking with other people about. I want to write more on it but I'm about to pass out from all of it, so until next time.

Thoughts from the Stage and Announcer Booth

First off, sorry I didn't write since like the 22nd of March. I was again in the musical (This year 9 to 5) and that sort of ate my time and creativity.

This past Wednesday brought forth the carnage that is set strike. For those of you that saw this show, there are a lot of set pieces. Well, we needed to make those into there WERE a lot of set pieces. Armed with a screwgun, crowbar, and old shoes, I helped destroy the set. And it was pretty fun.

I am glad that I'm putting it in my past. I realized that I love performing, but I abhor dancing and and singing at the same time. The real reason I even tried out was to try my hand at acting, which apparently I CAN do, but I'm still keeping my sights set on radio. But why, you ask?

Well, the first answer is obvious - WYEP! The second is a realization I came to tonight. It was the annual Powder Puff football fundraiser for the Junior class. I ended up, you guessed it, announcing. I love doing it, and I can't pinpoint why. I mean, everyone has that inner want to say something over a loudspeaker, right? Well, I think so.

What I think I like is the idea of communicating to others, and I'm not sure why I love it but I do. Its sort of like when I announced for the band, I for some reason loved talking... I don't know.

Sorry for the brevity of this post.... I am planning on getting back to normal in the coming week or so... Thanks for keeping up with it though.

On Picking Songs and the Sort Apart

I came to the realization that if I wanted to quote a song I was listening to, its an instrumental so the title would be "*soft strings* *building strings with piano noises* *horns*" or something... and it wouldn't exactly describe anything pointing out the song as opposed to other ones. Nevertheless, if you want to listen to that instrumental, it's from the movie "Beasts of the Southern Wild" which I haven't seen yet, but I've heard the soundtrack to.



Anyway, music has become a pretty big part of my life, ever since I first needed it as an inlet back during the Viva La Vida days. What I've learned is that there are three basic elements to a song: the music, lyrics, and  key its written in.

The Music and Key
This is the part that gets stuck in your head and you remember. A melody sticks in your head like your shirt to leather interior in a car. Whether or not you realize it, the song's key and melody is how the majority* of us interpret happy/sad songs. There's this really interesting article from NPR (National Public Radio)'s All Things Considered if you're interested how it all works, and a quirky experiment with an REM song right here: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/08/173832177/can-you-make-sad-songs-sound-happy-and-vice-versa

The Lyrics
This is the actual 'content' of the song... and it seems to me like this is comparable to a webpage where the content is what is actually pretty important, but everyone bases the mood of it off of the CSS or 'fancy stuff'.

SO where am I going with all of this? We did lyric analyses in English class as a sort of 'poetry analysis.' Now let me put this with all of the formatting I can put on here:

I Am Bad At Poetry

But I am pretty good with music. So I used my WYEP recording of Mark Dignam and the House of Song's performance at the Hootenanny... I was able to get through it, but here's what I learned about analyzing poetry. A note to any English majors or teachers... I'm not too qualified to say this. Remember that I'm a high school sophomore, and take my thoughts as you will.

• When searching for a deeper meaning, if it seems too hard, you're thinking too hard. 
• Frost poems usually have a deeper meaning, you're not trying hard enough.
• When writing poetry, keep to the rubric and then add flair afterwards.
• Finally, if you're a blogger attempting to do poetry, keep the poetry to a need-to basis, because I'm not good at this.

But the first point makes sense for a lot of things. Don't try searching for deeper meanings all of the time. Search a bit, look at something from a different perspective, but much like a game of Jenga, pull something too too much and the whole bloody tower may fall down.

Just some thoughts.

The Title Should Come To Me Eventually

So this week has been about "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" for me. I'll tell you what I mean. It seems a tad bizarre that at a young age we are asked to decide on what we want to do for essentially the rest of it.

I mean, at this point I don't yet know if I have the skillset to do just about anything. My mentality right now is that college would teach me the things, but until I am released from there into the real world after spending my four years I don't know if I can do said thing.

This is exactly why I made resolution back in 2007 or whatever it was to try as many different things as possible, and to jump at pretty much every opportunity, which has left my schedule, well, here's last April:

Yeah, I dont put everything on my calendars... this is April 2012 though

So what I've noticed is that I'm doing a bunch of things, but not exactly with an aim. I recently came to the realization that I have only two years left in high school before I need to decide on what major to go to, and ultimately what career I have... AAH!

So I sat down with my mother and guidance counselor this week and basically talk about that. The fact I do too much stuff for my own health, and the whole "AAH" part. Here's what I learned:

1) Doing stuff is actually REALLY GOOD. It lets you know your likes and dislikes; my stress and the sort is a GOOD thing.

2) I can now start hammering out what stuff I really need to be doing.  

So that's reassuring.  I also talked to a possible Journalism teacher in our building about the possibility of taking such a course in high school. Bottom line, things are looking up, I just am in a place where I am not sure what is supposed to happen.

But I enjoy living in the present. I enjoy the idea of not having the future written out ahead of me in pen but rather me having a pencil for a memory and a pen for action.

I guess my life is a tad like my handwriting - messy and not too pretty, but legible. And the stuff that I do bolder is even more legible.

Side note: The reason I currently have the whole "Rock Salt" branding is a) it's free and b) it sort of resembles my handwriting.

-Alexander Popichak

My Head is Spinning

So yeah, this week.

I've attempted to write a coherent blog post since Thursday (when I actually start writing these posts) but haven't come across anything that appealed to me to write about, or talk about.

One thing that I should acknowledge: the extremely nice people at TEDxGrandviewAve tweeted out a link to my perspective:

Webcast party people took @tedxgrandviewav into their own hands without a livestream: 2015blogger.blogspot.com/2013/02/tedxgr… #ideasPGH @alexpopichak :)
— TEDxGrandviewAve (@TEDxGrandviewAv) February 27, 2013

So, yeah, THANKS!!!! I sent them some of the pictures that I took, and they may post them along with some others in an upcoming project.

I spent my Saturday at WYEP, and hammered out some details and the sort about this year's Re(imagiNATION) competition. New this year, we are accepting applications for art, as well as music for the competition to be held May 4th at Schenley Plaza.

To read about MUSIC: http://reimaginemedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/announcing-reimagination-2013s-music.html
To read about ART: http://reimaginemedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/announcing-reimaginations-art-division.html
The Application: http://www.wyep.org/form/708753

Hopefully this Friday I'll post something worthwhile to read, but until then my mind is just spinning from musical, WYEP, school, and just about everything else.

TEDxGrandviewAve, Ideas, Pittsburgh

Okay, so a while back I had read about this TED talk spinoff called TEDxGrandviewAve. For those of you who don't know what the TED talks are, they are essentially a bunch of mini-lectures and talks on "Ideas Worth Spreading", and have been around since 1984ish. The TEDx Talks are kind of like TED talks, only independently organized events. TEDxGrandviewAve is the Pittsburgh version of it.

So I emailed the guy that helps run the Re(imagine) Media program about it. He liked the idea of the group of us coming to watch. Unfortunately, by this point the 100 slots had already filled for the physical event. Thus, the event we would attend would be a webcast party (one of the three official ones) at a place called StartUptown in the Uptown section of Pittsburgh.

Flash-forward to today: I go to StartUptown, and eventually meet up with the Re(imagine)rs and my friend Dave Wovchko at StartUptown. So what exactly is StartUptown? Well, I arrived first and had the chance to talk to Dale, the gentleman who founded StartUptown

"THE VISION is to build a community-connected campus of entrepreneurial activity in the eastern half of the Uptown neighborhood — and to retain companies as they grow upwards of 20-50 employees." -StartUptown.org

The StartUptown Space

So anyway, we visit the space, get a tour, and settle down into the area where we are to watch the TEDx Livestream. However, as with most things, it didn't happen that way.

The Livestream didn't work. The audio didn't match the video, and it kept jerking around. We really could have stopped there, the 10 or so of us who were there. But we didn't. We decided to open up a new window and watch some of the talks from TED.com, the main events.

What happened was interesting. Someone would suggest a video, and we'd watch it. Then something strange would happen - we'd start talking about something related to that video, and talk for a good 20 minutes or so before someone suggests another and it repeats.

So why is this so interesting? Well, the room ranged in age from 15 year old me to 64 year old Dale. These were adults and 20somethings and high schoolers all talking about the world around them, and the ideas that shape that world.

We took some breaks in between there, mainly to meander about the space, and Dave and I collaborated on a logo that may soon be a logo for one of the companies there. They had these door-sized dry erase boards in each of the spaces. I found this fascinating that the whole space was very much a space for creativity, and couldn't help but start sketching on the one.

Nevertheless it brought back into focus what I enjoy - listening to what people have to say, and being able to think and learn with and around other people in a setting that embraces creativity.

I feel like I was a part of something, even though we didn't see what actually happened at TEDxGrandviewAve, we learned about something. Something bigger than ourselves in a learning community.

And I think in a broader sense that's where everyone learns- not in the same age clumps, or in specialized hallways or whatever, but by interacting and creating with other people AND with yourself.

We're so Into You Incredibly We'd Love to See You Terribly

So yeah, I stalled for two days extra. I'm sorry, but the last week has been absolutely insane.... To make up for it, I'll write something pretty long, pretty uplifting, and pretty sad. Maybe. Wish me luck on this one.

There was not a day this past week when I was just "home": I was usually up at the high school for one thing or another, and there was one night where I was at school then someplace else.

I've been working on an English project that answers the question: What if Ralph and Jack from Lord of the Flies were on a talk show? We answer by bringing you a very 70's cheezy talk show entitled (and long time readers will appreciate this one) The Clay Bodnar Variety Hour. All told, I've probably spent about 10 hours getting the space, filming, and editing - goodness the editing.

If there's something I hate about projects in general, it's editing things. I tend to have an inner need to perfection-edit, which is a process where I spend obscene amounts of time reading something I've done, hating and editing it like crazy. When I see the 'finished product', I usually hate it because it isn't finished or has some tiny editing error in it or whatever. Just a rant.

I've been going back and forth about what to write about, but I didn't want to get into some doom and gloom mode since two of my favourite things stopped existing.

So roughly a year ago, I wrote about a dude that wrote a column named Peter McKay. I liked his Saturday columns, and I kind of thought that I could try and learn his writing style. Then about a week ago I read this in the paper:

So yeah. This explained to me two things: 1) THERE ARE 11 YEARS OF COLUMNS I HAVENT READ and 2) It's gone. His column is gone. The other thing that died was the whole New York trip - due to lack of interest. Blah. So in that sense it was a bad week.

However, there were many things that went pretty well. WPXI came to spotlight our upcoming musical, 9 to 5. Yesterday was spent at the Carnegie Arts and History Museum, which I will say this much about: Remember the whole Devil in the White City thing? Yeah, there were artifacts from that same worlds fair. (And I would've included pictures too! Turns out that taking pictures wasn't allowed there though).

After the expedition to the Arts and History museum, I descended into the depths of it, and into the Library adjacent to it via the magic tunnel. My mission was to check out the Pennsylvania room that I had heard of in a Rick Sebak special... and I think I've found a new place to adventure to. 

Hopefully a more coherent blog next time...

On Writing Stuff.

So I've been writing a lot lately, but with no particular aim. I've found that I can snap into three modes with writing: The one where I write deep and profound prose and the sort, The one where I basically regurgitate facts, and The freeform stuff.

They are independent modes and if I try mixing two, it ends poorly. Unfortunately I'm forced to from time to time to write essays. Now I'm pretty sure this blog has posts from all of the categories... and I'm fine with it.

Apparently some people at my school read last week's post about the antiquated lighting system at the elementary school, and were motivated to at least try to do something. This both excites and scares me. It excites me that someone is willing to take action about things that are important to them. It scares me that people read what I write.

I mean, I want people to read what I write, but there's something about the knowledge that someone is reading something you wrote that sort of scares me. This especially applies to printing out something, and having someone read it next to you. As the person who spent hours working on such a piece, you are constantly wondering what they think, where the plot or essay or whatever the medium is should go next.

So when I read that my site hit 8,000 views I came to a realization that if each post had equal representation, there are like 46 hits per each post. Which means that someone other than I and my parents and friends and the sort are reading this thing.

So I guess what the answer here is to not base my drive or success on numbers (I hate math to start with) but rather on the quality of the content, or at least in this case the frequency.

I realize this was a movement on YouTube in December with Charlie McDonnell's "I'm Scared" movement and what JayScribble was talking about with Becoming YouTube, that content creators get scared of their audiences, but I think (selfish as it may seem) the thing to worry about is the content itself, and whether it's doing good.

This may just be some rant that I stayed up until 11 on a Friday night to write, but it might be something profound. I don't know. Maybe you do? Je ne sais pas.

Surviving The Concrete Jungle - Reunion?

So I was informed this morning that I might be going on the troop's trip this year to NYC. Four years ago (Before I started this blog) I went to New York as a sixth grader and told of my adventures.

It's been four years, and I'm a lot taller and adventurous than I was then. Though I will admit that New York City is a place that I fell in love with the first time I went, I still like Pittsburgh more. Perhaps it's mainly because this is home, but at the same time, I can't wait to go back.

The Christmas before I had gotten this little orange video camera, and I packed that along for the ride and videotaped it. If you want to see the (man is it bad, but it was my first) video, you can look at the annoying-voiced me take you through New York City: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9zb3s_nyc-surviving-the-concrete-jungle_travel

It's so weird looking back and realizing that that was four years ago, but as I skim through the long video, all of it comes back. I remember what it was like, waving around that orange camera like an idiot, calling my mother on Liberty Island, spending four hours in Times Square, getting lost on the Subway system, it all just comes back.

I'm curious to see what it will look like again, and what we'll do there. It's like I'm 11 all over again, a small city boy getting ready to adventure to the Biggest City.

And you better believe I'm planning on blogging about this one. Not live of course, but yeah.

I'm Pulling all the Levers on a Crazy Train

This is Post 170, and it's going to be a rant.

Back in October, I am summoned to Mert's room at the high school. He tells me that they are looking for someone to help run tech for Carnegie Elementary's talent show. Within the week, my brother and I are down at the elementary school trying to get details. we get nothing. Two weeks ago we hear from one of our former teachers, asking if the offer was still there.

So Matt and I spent the past week's worth of afternoons at our old Elementary school making the antiquated system run as if it has been running all along. 

I was seriously worried that there would be something that was broken, since neither of us had seen the system in nearly two years. Luckily, the curtains were (mostly) in working condition, and most of the lights worked.

On that first day I took an inventory as light manager of the spots - 9 possibly working, only 5 actually working, house - 24 available, 10 on, and don't even get me started on the bars.

In order to control the lights and sound, you need to get up to what we've been calling the 'crow's nest' which is a platform atop a doorwell on stage right. It's 15 feet up, and the only way up is by a set of rickety wooden steps that are pretty fun to run up and down.

Then once you're at the controls, you need to switch individually each dimmer, and then you get to control everything (except for the blue bars and the spots that don't work) using perhaps the most steampunk-y lever system I've ever had the pleasure of operating. And the bloody thing squeaks like a 500 pound iron door that wasn't measured right. It reminded me of what the controls to a steam engine on a railroad engine would be like.

Basically, this auditorium had been neglected and used as pretty much an anything-goes storage ground. And honestly, I think this is extremely sad.

(From this point on, I want to address members of the district specifically)

So why am I bringing this up? Because though it needs work, I think we can still be able to use it and take advantage of the things we have. The district as a whole wants to move forward, but I think trying to fix what we already have is also nice.

The talent show went on for two nights, with a stage crew of 10 fifth and sixth graders, and throw us two high schoolers in also. Our ultimate aim was to make it look decent - and that's exactly what we did.

I will guess that no one from the district's higher-ups will read this, and even if they did, they couldn't do much. Though I want you to know this - we students care about the district. Some of us volunteer hours of our time to make the district look nice to the public, and never get as much as a photo credit.

Is This the End or Something Really, Really Beautiful?

Tumblr Is Awesome

Those are lyrics to a Voxtrot song called "The Start of Something." I like this song for a few reasons... It's really mellow yet upbeat song that a friend showed me a while back. It's all about relationships and the sort, but I like that some of the lyrics are just about "the start of something really really beautiful" and that something could be literally anything.

This week has certainly been an interesting one. It's been one of new beginnings, and sometimes just a freshening of stuff. Monday brought the second inauguration of Barack Obama, and MLK day. It was an interesting combination, and one that the commentators on the major media networks (I'm sorry, only saw NBC and CBS Monday) took note of.

SOURCE: Telegraph.co.uk (Inauguration 2013)

The question they were asking was What is the Civil Rights Movement of Today? And they meant it in the sense of asking, what should we be focusing on as a nation that will define this generation.

Now if this were a year ago, I'd probably say the Occupy Movement, because it seemed like a movement towards something. Ultimately the issue was that "something" not being solidly defined. However, I like what Condoleezza Rice said. What it should be is education.

I emphasize "should" because at least to me it seems that pop culture leaning more towards Gay Rights and Gun Control. And yes, I think in the coming years these issues will be looked at and action will probably taken. I can't see into a crystal ball and tell you when in the eyes of the law the LGBT community will be considered equals with those outside of it, and minorities getting their equal rights, but I hope within the next decade that happens. I'm not going to touch gun control because, well, politics.

I think that Condoleezza Rice has a point, and in a nation that is considered the most wealthy, where we possess in our pockets a machine capable of summoning all of human knowledge that we should be capable of adding to that knowledge.

So why do I rant about this week after week? Because I'm trying to prove that I care, and that this generation is genuinely concerned with the quality of the world that we're inheriting.

I think the way of the future is collaboration via schools, communities, the internet, phones, everything. It's by combining two minds that you come up with something really beautiful, but you have to start it.

Triumphant in Your Mind of the Logic that You Hold

Those are lyrics from Mumford & Sons' "Where are you now?". And I kind of apologize for not posting on Friday... I had a severe case of writers block mixed with post-midterm brain fried-ness. I'd say it's real, but I haven't consulted my doctor yet on that.

So what I want to talk about is one of my fears. I'm afraid that my generation here doesn't think. Now, this may strike in one of a few ways. Considering you are reading my website, it might strike you as an "okay, what do you mean by this". But to the majority of people who don't read this site, that sentence would strike you as, "and what? Why do I need to think?"

And what scares me more than anything is that that is the majority of my generation, the ones that ask "why do we need to think?". When I pitched the idea of this post, as I occasionally do, to my father he brought up a song that had a line of lyrics that went something to the tune of "thinking is the best way to travel".

It is my thought that an emphasis from society and popular culture that 'someone else will always do the thinking for us' has poisoned into our lack of the need to think.

So I guess another question is, what is thinking? Dictionary.com defines it as "to have a conscious mind, to some extent of reasoning, remembering experiences, making rational decisions, etc."

My mind then wanders to that Sir Ken Robinson video about the current education system, and how the rise in standardized testing is parallel to the rise in medication for ADHD med prescription. He brings up the conclusion that the education system is not only not stimulating enough for its subjects, but the system itself does not work.

Being on the inside, I concur that the system doesn't particularly work for me. Since I'm 'gifted' I'm taking five honors-level classes, but in my personal opinion, I've learned more with my experiences at WYEP on random Saturdays than I have anyplace there.

Again, I recommend his video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U and John Green's TEDxIndy talk on thinking outside of the box called the Paper Town Phenomenon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mUDw0sRZV0. He says it much better. Draw conclusions as you will, Rant Over.

The Creatures' Gentle Glowing Never Lasts

Those are lyrics to a song by Laurena Segura, a Canadian girl that makes music on YouTube. This song in particular is called "Fireflies of Montreal" and is written more mellow than her song "Permafrost". I recommend checking her out, because her music has an acoustic folksy flair to it. 

There are so many things I could write about this week, be it a rant on having mid terms or RICK SEBAK VISITING MY BLOG, or seeing The Chief at the O'Reilly yesterday in Pittsburgh. But what I think is going to happen is that I'm just going to start somewhere and go from there.

I guess I should explain why I mentioned Rick Sebak. For those of you from Pittsburgh, you should know Rick Sebak's trademark scrapbook documentary style, and even those of you who watch public television (if you don't know what that is, you should probably leave the site. I'm all about public radio, television, and internets) could be familiar with his Breakfast and other assorted specials.

Anyway, in a crazy Sunday haze, I decided to send a link to some of the people I follow on twitter to this website. This included Jim Lokay, John Green, and Rick Sebak. I said something along the lines of "if anyone actually reads this, I will freak out". Mr. Sebak actually did that, and responded by telling me he also saw BBC 2 1/2 (REALLY old and abandoned project, circa late 2010). 

I think that it's amazing that someone actually reads this, and I want to thank Mr. Sebak for reading this, even if it is the blog of some crazy sophomore from the South Hills.

This week has been interesting in other respects, namely revisiting the cultural district to see The Chief. It's a pretty well written and EXTREMELY well acted one-man-play about Art Rooney Sr, founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I think I appreciate theater for a number of reasons, but part of it is that I've been in basically every element of it, except in a directing or writing capacity (and I don't EVER plan on going into that... seems too stressful). It's a magical place where for a little while you can escape the mountains of American Cultures homework, the headaches of the real world, and genuinely get lost in something.

Theater reminds me of music, something that people who are passionate about work really hard on and get lost in. It really says something when you see that someone throws himself into his or her work, and it loses the idea of being 'work'.

I'm off to WYEP again tomorrow (for the first time since the HOOTENANNY which you can listen to here: http://www.wyep.org/audio/wyeps-holiday-hootenanny-broadcast-2012) and no doubt will have some magic story to tell about down there. I guess radio and Re(imagine) work is what I get lost in. Only time will tell though. 

On a complete aside, I realized that I've been working on my troop site since January 10, 2009... meaning this is FOUR YEARS of doing this web designy thing... which is insane. Okay, back to reality.

It Seems Everything Has Been Found

What I want to talk about is a combination of two things: Education and the Espy Post.

I grew up in a world where it seems pretty much everything has already been invented, and the only frontier is cyberspace, which is a virtual and endless space. Essentially meaning do whatever, all is already done. I say "seems" because this is a LIE.

Gavel Block Thingy in the Post

Same applies to the GAR Post ("Civil War Room" to most locals) in the Andrew Carnegie Free Library. Back two years ago, I signed up to become the youngest docent for the Espy Post. There are a lot of things in this post, and it's a lot to give a tour on, but it seemed everything was known. Boy, was I wrong.

So I've added another project to my list of projects to do, this time something commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Post's memorial out in Chartiers Cemetery off of Noblestown Road in East Carnegie. Ideally, we're going to do something on Memorial Day weekend.

I've decided to do some research into the original dedication day, and I didn't have to look too far to find some interesting things. There is a little explanation of it in the 1911 catalogue:

... The monument was dedicated July 21, 1888, at three o’clock P.M. The following program was carried out at the services: Prayer by Rev. Wm. Lynch; music, “Mustered Out,” Allegheny Quartette Club; original poem, Miss Josie S. Sholes; unveiling of monument; music, “Unreturning Braves,” Allegheny Quartette Club; dirge, St. Luke’s Brass Band; oration, Col. John A. Danks; music, “America,” Allegheny Quartette Club; doxology; benediction, Rev. Beasom. The day was fine, over three thousand persons were present in the cemetery. ...

as well as it running two weeks straight in the local paper. I'm trying to imagine how three thousand people fit into the cemetery, and what it was like on that 'fine' July day in 1888.

It's called 're'search for a reason: things aren't lost, they just aren't together. It's the job of the person looking through those things to mesh them together into some semblance of sense. Being that person who tries to mesh it together is an interesting yet nerve-wracking feeling. Considering that every single person that contributed the $1500 to build the monument have passed and many are buried in the GAR plot surrounding this monument.


They present education to us as a definitive thing. "This is all the math you will need" "Read the classics" and those sort of things define a "curriculum." The senior project in the Carlynton school district is basically a presentation answering the question "what do you wanna be when you grow up?". It's very much a system based on filling in the box and moving on.

Inside of the Espy Post

But I think a true education is much more than that. It's looking at microfilm of newspapers from 1888 to try and understand why something in existence now matters. To be totally honest, before I had started becoming a docent, I had no clue what the Grand Army of the Republic was, that there even was a veterans organization after the Civil War.

I'm very much opposed to this notion that High School teaches you everything you need to know. Yes, it may fill your 'need's in some respect, but I feel it's a bare minimum, and if you want a full education, you need to look for that full education. This doesn't happen in a classroom but rather in a library or in a radio station on the South Side of Pittsburgh, or even at a monument in a cemetery.

I say think because I'm not sure if I'm right. Some people are able to just accept things, but I know I can't. I think that if you want to understand something, you have to try it or at least delve further than face value. You don't need to invent the wheel, but you can. All this going deeper with meanings and yet I still am bad at interpreting poetry.