A boy named Crow said, "...fate is like a small sandstorm. You change directions, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn." Choices are illusions. I believe everything that you will and can ever choose has been chosen. It comes from my other belief of parallel universes. There is a Jeremiah who did not get into Whitney Young. There is a Jeremiah who never migrated to the United States. There is a universe where I never existed. There is a Jeremiah who does his 2nd Semester Senior work diligently. I feel as though I am following the path the universes assigned to me. Is this saddening? Nope. Do I wish this wasn't true to me? Yes. Would I try to revolt in this fixed path? That's a trick question because it's futile. If I try to revolt, I was supposed to revolt. If I don't, I was meant to not. Come what may. I don't use this belief as an excuse though. I will take responsibility for the "choices" I've made, which absolutely makes no sense. Maybe like 10% of believes that I make my own choices. I don't know.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
King Still King
Martin Luther King is still King. The thought of the person, MLK, himself may not be as strong anymore, but his words and deeds pervades in our nation. You can see this in the schools throughout Chicago's city where barely anyone is actively persecuted for their ethnicity. One of the most greatest indicators that our country's racism has faded extensively is that our President is black. Our country has taken significant economic steps to combat racism like affirmative action, scholarships for diversity, etc. All around people's lives; there is evidence that Martin Luther King's dream is alive. As long as we don't regress, he will always be king.
Music: The O'My's !!!
If you are like me and love 60's soul music, you are going to enjoy The O'My's. It is a real chill R&B base sound infused with broader musical influence. You can say it's a modern day Motown type of music. Their cover of Al Green's Simply Beautiful is out of this world. If you compare the original to the cover, you will not be able to figure which is better. I don't think I can explain it any further. Just Listen:
The O'My's - April 29th:
https://soundcloud.com/the-omys/april-29th
The O'My's - Tryin':
https://soundcloud.com/the-omys/tryin
The O'My's - Simply Beautiful (Al Green Cover):
https://soundcloud.com/the-omys/simply-beautiful
The O'My's - April 29th:
https://soundcloud.com/the-omys/april-29th
The O'My's - Tryin':
https://soundcloud.com/the-omys/tryin
The O'My's - Simply Beautiful (Al Green Cover):
https://soundcloud.com/the-omys/simply-beautiful
Alone
“Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?”
"In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount."
These two quotes by Haruki Murakami define the two categories of "alone" for me. All humans, I would think, feel loneliness in sense of the first quote. The lack of being whole or complete is the base feeling of loneliness. It is the sensation of feeling that something is supposed to be there but is not. The next stage is the lost and nostalgic feel. It was a book or poem I read in world literature that describes this feeling pretty. It is the feeling of how roots expand to accomodate for the soil but having the soil be washed away only leaving emptiness. I call it the "once was." Another feeling of loneliness is the outcast or the "no one knows how you feel" thing. That is the feeling of falling down a well but no one going down with you. Yes, people on the surface may care deeply about you and want to get you out, but they have no idea what it is like. It is a separation; a distance.
The other meaning is simple. It is the need to be in solitude. Time where you need to be separate from the interaction to breathe, face inner demons, binge on netflix, etc. No one wants to be smothered.
"In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount."
These two quotes by Haruki Murakami define the two categories of "alone" for me. All humans, I would think, feel loneliness in sense of the first quote. The lack of being whole or complete is the base feeling of loneliness. It is the sensation of feeling that something is supposed to be there but is not. The next stage is the lost and nostalgic feel. It was a book or poem I read in world literature that describes this feeling pretty. It is the feeling of how roots expand to accomodate for the soil but having the soil be washed away only leaving emptiness. I call it the "once was." Another feeling of loneliness is the outcast or the "no one knows how you feel" thing. That is the feeling of falling down a well but no one going down with you. Yes, people on the surface may care deeply about you and want to get you out, but they have no idea what it is like. It is a separation; a distance.
The other meaning is simple. It is the need to be in solitude. Time where you need to be separate from the interaction to breathe, face inner demons, binge on netflix, etc. No one wants to be smothered.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
This definitely means something...
Out of all the meaningful, meaningless things in the world, it is truly difficult to find something that means something. As I experience more and more of the world, the value in things change. Certain things become insignificant while others increase in importance. What I find that is unchanging in meaning is Music. Music is without a doubt means something. Wait, I lied; it has not only not change in it meaning, but it actually has grown in purpose. Yes, there is some music out there that just sucks and advertises the shallow things in life, but for the rest, there is something really powerful within it. It's exactly as Peter Gabriel sings, "The book of love has music in it, In fact that's where music comes from. Some of it is just transcendental. Some of it is just really dumb." I also find that humanity lacks empathy, but music helps fill that gap. When people compose and peform their music, that's usually their heart they pour out there. People manifest how they feel into something which other people can also easily feel. That's pretty potent right there. Music is the thread in which people can be connected and to know they are not alone. Music helped band Estonian citizens to overthrow their Soviet occupators . Mass demonstrations of Estonian citizens would break out into singing their national songs which were strictly banned by the Soviet Union., and it led to their freedom. If Music can do that, it has a defnite place in our world.
I'm thankful Kirsten Brooks.
Kirsten Brooks has saved my as many a time in Philosophy. To be honest, I forget to do the reading for the book. I come into class with no idea how to contribute to our discussions. That's when Kirsten comes to the rescue. She gives me "raw material" from the book which I can easily form and refine into something articulate. And in times where I am stuck on a question on our group work, the Scotese-battle-hardened Kirsten just flies through it and reluctantly helps me. Thank you, Kirsten.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Sita Ram
See, I have absolutely idea what to write about. I don't have any unanswered questions, suggestions to improve the class (because, well, I'm pretty satisfied with our class), and points I wanted to get out there. To be honest, I only have praise for this class. I truly believe that I have learned more in this single quarter than my three years of English, and the sheer presence of Artem Potemkin in our class makes it more deserving of this praise. So instead of wasting my time trying to find a question (that has been answered from multiple points of views already ) or unneeded suggestions for improvement, I will give you readers some information in my life that is currently giving form to my convictions. This is going to be a long read.
As you can see from the title and my current blog background, I am participating in a musical called Sita Ram, which is being shown December 14th and 15th. Sita Ram is based on an ancient hindu epic called the Ramayana. Long ago, there was a god named Vishnu whose responsibility is to keep the earth in a state of order. When the world needed to save itself from chaos, Vishnu would come to earth in a form of (usually) animals and help out. Ravana, a servant of the gods, was an upright person and proved himself to the gods that he could be trusted. Because of his good deeds, the gods granted him immortality. This immortality corrupted him with pride, selfishness, and greed, and Ravana started wreaking havoc on Earth. The gods called upon Vishnu to go to Earth and restore order. After going multiple times, Vishnu would only go to Earth if his true lover, Lakshmi (another god), would go down with him. And so, they do go down to earth as humans, but they would not know of each other. Vishnu was born as the human, Rama. Lakshmi was born as the princess, Sita. Vishnu had also had a special bow, Shiva's Bow, that was also sent down to Earth. This bow was so heavy that it took 1,000 men to move it from place to place, but it was special because it had the ability of love. Let me elaborate. These are not cupid arrows. These are arrows that cleanse you and essentially revert you to the good you once were. Now, the bow was placed with Sita and her royal family. Only a suitor who had the strength to string Shiva's bow could have Sita's had in marriage. So yeah, Rama is wandering the world, and he stumbles upon the princess. Sita and Rama's eyes meet and at that moment they knew that they were meant to be together. It was literally love at first sight. The literal translation of that meeting was,"The beautification of beauty was beautified." So yeah, you can imagine that once their eyes met that you could see rays of light, flowers blooming, etc. Sita, then, invited Rama to compete with the suitors to gain her hand. Many lords tried and failed, and even Ravana could not lift the bow. Rama stepped before Shiva's bow. He closed his eyes and asked the gods that if he is worthy to lift the bow. Right there, Rama started meditating until finally the gods granted permission to him. Rama then took his pinkie and tied Shiva's bow with his pinkie. After Rama does this, celebration ensued, and Sita and Rama get married. This happiness didn't last for long, and the two lovers get exiled from the palace. In the forest, a shape-shifting demon tried to seduce Rama because, well, he's hot. He refused, and Surpanakha devised a plan with Ravana so that Surpanakha could get with Rama. Convinced by Surpanakha, Ravana kidnapped Sita into a faraway unknown place, and Rama slumped into a depression. A new character was now introduced. A talking monkey named Hanuman came to Rama to ask why he was sad. Rama told Hanuman the depressing story, and Hanuman told Rama that he and all the monkeys of the world could help him find Sita, if he sorted out a problem for him. Hanuman explained that the monkeys are currently in a civil war, and if Rama could help one side win, the monkeys could search for Sita, unified. So, Rama, with Shiva's bow, helped end the civil war. Since the war ended, the monkeys decided to celebrate, and celebrate they did. They held a celebration that lasted three months, until Hanuman noticed that Rama was getting pissed. The monkeys remembered their promise to Rama and started to search the world for Sita. After much searching, they finally find Ravana's palace and start a war with him and his demons. It was an epic battle, and the monkeys were losing. However, the monkeys had an ace in the hole. See, Hanuman wasn't just a special talking monkey. He was also a demi-god. Hanuman used his powers as a demi-god to become enormous, like bigger than King Kong enormous. He lifted a mountain, which Rama was on, and flew it to the battle. Since Hanuman was flying so high, the mountain caught on fire from the sun. The herbs on the mountain started burning and sprinkled down to the injured monkeys on the ground, which healed them. With this reinvigorated boost to the monkey army, Rama and Hanuman pushed towards Ravana. Due to Ravana's immortality, every time Rama would cut off one of Ravana's heads with an arrow, another head would grow, until Ravana grew ten heads. Finally, Rama had an epiphany. He used Shiva's bow's ability. Rama prayed and meditating before setting up his shot. Rama, then, shoots Ravana in the heart, and all the darkness is freed from him. Ravana reverts back to his old self where he remembered why he was granted immortality in the first place. More celebration is done on earth, and Rama and Sita go back to the heavens as Vishnu and Laksmhi. All the while as this is happening, Hanuman is left alone on earth. Hanuman became filled with distraught because his best friend is gone. Hanuman asked to take him with to the heavens since he's a demi-god. Another monkey comes up to Hanuman asks why is he filled so much sadness. Hanuman says, "Oh no, Rama and Sita have gone. I'm all alone." The monkey responds, "What are you talking about? Just open your heart, and they will be there." Imagine how much faith that would actually take. To literally pry open your chest with your hands hoping that you don't die is ridiculous, but that is exactly what Hanuman did. The monkey did not lie. Once Hanuman opened his heart, there was Sita and Rama sitting there. So yeah, after this test of faith, peace overcomes the world.
Now, how the hell is this so important to me that I have to tell you about it? Is it because I want a little spot of fame? Or is it because my choir told me to promote this? But, it is not because of any of that. First of all, I believe in cultural awareness. Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” This quote holds much truth. Though we can't all literally travel, stories can be shared to change people's perspectives. I mean, to this day, people regard this as sacred text, use lessons from this story as framework for their life, or truly believe that this story happened. To be honest, I don't find that many people know much of the eastern culture which makes this great service to the public. Even if they don't care much for it, it's still a great story of love, adventure, and action.
There is also the fact of 100+ choir members from multiracial, multicultural, and different socioeconomic backgrounds performing with some kind of purpose or conviction. They are literally pouring their hard work, beliefs, and heart into this production. I think that's just absolutely beautiful. The youth of my generation all using different philosophies to get to a place where they can perform with a purpose. Not only are they performing with a purpose, but they are performing at a level that strives for excellence which makes it all the more powerful. This applies to the conductors, auditioned actors/singers, directors, composers, dancers, acrobats, set-designers, etc.
Well, now for the sprinkles on the ice cream, the music, choreography, costumes, set, and acting is culminating into a refreshing astounding experience. The set music is a mix of jazz, world music, classical, some rap, gospel, etc. (all with eastern style music influence). Yeah, that's right. Sita Ram is a westernized version of the Ramayana, but in the pre-production phase of Sita Ram, our director went as far as to go to India, talk to his friend's grandfather about the story of the Ramayana, and basically ask permission to westernize the story (by asking questions to preserve the story so that it still respects the Indian culture). There is almost literally nothing out there like this music set. The choreography of the choir is a mix of modern styles of dance with inclusion of traditional Indian movements. The team that's working on this is just incredible.
How do I wrap this up? Well, I will say that I find a person with no meaning a sad thing. I will say that I find a person with meaning but with no means to reach it even sadder. Though I find it beautiful for the person with conviction and carrying it out, the culmination of a diverse people, all with different beliefs and philosophies, excellently performing a unified, original production is gorgeous. And, even, more astonishing is that this is done by our youth. So yeah, I believe that this production is my form of "cultivating my garden." And it's looking pretty good.
But, if you're actually interested in buying a ticket for this, click here.
Shout out to my friend Samantha Frondoso for coming to the show!
As you can see from the title and my current blog background, I am participating in a musical called Sita Ram, which is being shown December 14th and 15th. Sita Ram is based on an ancient hindu epic called the Ramayana. Long ago, there was a god named Vishnu whose responsibility is to keep the earth in a state of order. When the world needed to save itself from chaos, Vishnu would come to earth in a form of (usually) animals and help out. Ravana, a servant of the gods, was an upright person and proved himself to the gods that he could be trusted. Because of his good deeds, the gods granted him immortality. This immortality corrupted him with pride, selfishness, and greed, and Ravana started wreaking havoc on Earth. The gods called upon Vishnu to go to Earth and restore order. After going multiple times, Vishnu would only go to Earth if his true lover, Lakshmi (another god), would go down with him. And so, they do go down to earth as humans, but they would not know of each other. Vishnu was born as the human, Rama. Lakshmi was born as the princess, Sita. Vishnu had also had a special bow, Shiva's Bow, that was also sent down to Earth. This bow was so heavy that it took 1,000 men to move it from place to place, but it was special because it had the ability of love. Let me elaborate. These are not cupid arrows. These are arrows that cleanse you and essentially revert you to the good you once were. Now, the bow was placed with Sita and her royal family. Only a suitor who had the strength to string Shiva's bow could have Sita's had in marriage. So yeah, Rama is wandering the world, and he stumbles upon the princess. Sita and Rama's eyes meet and at that moment they knew that they were meant to be together. It was literally love at first sight. The literal translation of that meeting was,"The beautification of beauty was beautified." So yeah, you can imagine that once their eyes met that you could see rays of light, flowers blooming, etc. Sita, then, invited Rama to compete with the suitors to gain her hand. Many lords tried and failed, and even Ravana could not lift the bow. Rama stepped before Shiva's bow. He closed his eyes and asked the gods that if he is worthy to lift the bow. Right there, Rama started meditating until finally the gods granted permission to him. Rama then took his pinkie and tied Shiva's bow with his pinkie. After Rama does this, celebration ensued, and Sita and Rama get married. This happiness didn't last for long, and the two lovers get exiled from the palace. In the forest, a shape-shifting demon tried to seduce Rama because, well, he's hot. He refused, and Surpanakha devised a plan with Ravana so that Surpanakha could get with Rama. Convinced by Surpanakha, Ravana kidnapped Sita into a faraway unknown place, and Rama slumped into a depression. A new character was now introduced. A talking monkey named Hanuman came to Rama to ask why he was sad. Rama told Hanuman the depressing story, and Hanuman told Rama that he and all the monkeys of the world could help him find Sita, if he sorted out a problem for him. Hanuman explained that the monkeys are currently in a civil war, and if Rama could help one side win, the monkeys could search for Sita, unified. So, Rama, with Shiva's bow, helped end the civil war. Since the war ended, the monkeys decided to celebrate, and celebrate they did. They held a celebration that lasted three months, until Hanuman noticed that Rama was getting pissed. The monkeys remembered their promise to Rama and started to search the world for Sita. After much searching, they finally find Ravana's palace and start a war with him and his demons. It was an epic battle, and the monkeys were losing. However, the monkeys had an ace in the hole. See, Hanuman wasn't just a special talking monkey. He was also a demi-god. Hanuman used his powers as a demi-god to become enormous, like bigger than King Kong enormous. He lifted a mountain, which Rama was on, and flew it to the battle. Since Hanuman was flying so high, the mountain caught on fire from the sun. The herbs on the mountain started burning and sprinkled down to the injured monkeys on the ground, which healed them. With this reinvigorated boost to the monkey army, Rama and Hanuman pushed towards Ravana. Due to Ravana's immortality, every time Rama would cut off one of Ravana's heads with an arrow, another head would grow, until Ravana grew ten heads. Finally, Rama had an epiphany. He used Shiva's bow's ability. Rama prayed and meditating before setting up his shot. Rama, then, shoots Ravana in the heart, and all the darkness is freed from him. Ravana reverts back to his old self where he remembered why he was granted immortality in the first place. More celebration is done on earth, and Rama and Sita go back to the heavens as Vishnu and Laksmhi. All the while as this is happening, Hanuman is left alone on earth. Hanuman became filled with distraught because his best friend is gone. Hanuman asked to take him with to the heavens since he's a demi-god. Another monkey comes up to Hanuman asks why is he filled so much sadness. Hanuman says, "Oh no, Rama and Sita have gone. I'm all alone." The monkey responds, "What are you talking about? Just open your heart, and they will be there." Imagine how much faith that would actually take. To literally pry open your chest with your hands hoping that you don't die is ridiculous, but that is exactly what Hanuman did. The monkey did not lie. Once Hanuman opened his heart, there was Sita and Rama sitting there. So yeah, after this test of faith, peace overcomes the world.
Now, how the hell is this so important to me that I have to tell you about it? Is it because I want a little spot of fame? Or is it because my choir told me to promote this? But, it is not because of any of that. First of all, I believe in cultural awareness. Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” This quote holds much truth. Though we can't all literally travel, stories can be shared to change people's perspectives. I mean, to this day, people regard this as sacred text, use lessons from this story as framework for their life, or truly believe that this story happened. To be honest, I don't find that many people know much of the eastern culture which makes this great service to the public. Even if they don't care much for it, it's still a great story of love, adventure, and action.
There is also the fact of 100+ choir members from multiracial, multicultural, and different socioeconomic backgrounds performing with some kind of purpose or conviction. They are literally pouring their hard work, beliefs, and heart into this production. I think that's just absolutely beautiful. The youth of my generation all using different philosophies to get to a place where they can perform with a purpose. Not only are they performing with a purpose, but they are performing at a level that strives for excellence which makes it all the more powerful. This applies to the conductors, auditioned actors/singers, directors, composers, dancers, acrobats, set-designers, etc.
Well, now for the sprinkles on the ice cream, the music, choreography, costumes, set, and acting is culminating into a refreshing astounding experience. The set music is a mix of jazz, world music, classical, some rap, gospel, etc. (all with eastern style music influence). Yeah, that's right. Sita Ram is a westernized version of the Ramayana, but in the pre-production phase of Sita Ram, our director went as far as to go to India, talk to his friend's grandfather about the story of the Ramayana, and basically ask permission to westernize the story (by asking questions to preserve the story so that it still respects the Indian culture). There is almost literally nothing out there like this music set. The choreography of the choir is a mix of modern styles of dance with inclusion of traditional Indian movements. The team that's working on this is just incredible.
How do I wrap this up? Well, I will say that I find a person with no meaning a sad thing. I will say that I find a person with meaning but with no means to reach it even sadder. Though I find it beautiful for the person with conviction and carrying it out, the culmination of a diverse people, all with different beliefs and philosophies, excellently performing a unified, original production is gorgeous. And, even, more astonishing is that this is done by our youth. So yeah, I believe that this production is my form of "cultivating my garden." And it's looking pretty good.
But, if you're actually interested in buying a ticket for this, click here.
Shout out to my friend Samantha Frondoso for coming to the show!
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