Playing for Change... An After-Thought...

I'm acutely aware that most, if not all, of my regularly-scheduled audience has signed off for the remainder of the semester... or for forever... but I simply cannot help myself.

I am completely in LOVE with the Playing For Change Foundation.

PFCF began as a documentary by Mark Johnson called Playing for Change: A Cinematic Discovery of Street Musicians.  He toured around The United States filming and interviewing various remarkable street performers.  He asked many of them to contribute a layer of music to a recording, creating a unique collaboration of musicians and musical styles, beginning with a latin percussionist in Santa Monica, and ending with a blues guitarist in New York.

Since then, Performing for Change has become a non-profit organization aimed at raising money to build music schools in impoverished areas and raising awareness for peace and equality.  They continued on the theme of "everyone contributes a verse" from the documentary into a series called, songs around the world. 

While this second video isn't a song around the world, per-se, it brings together nearly 80 musicians across Colombia to promote inner-country peace.

Even though the people of this world are divided by country, race, religion, color, gender, sexual preference, economic status, etc., we are unified in our appreciation of music.  We need to begin to focus on our similarities of our race.  In unity, we can overcome any obstacle.

At the very least, if you appreciate good music, search "Playing for Change" on YouTube and enjoy.  For those who are more altruistic, head over to their website and learn what you can do to help.

#6. Play the Game...

As much as I love being an instructor for a marching band, it can sometimes be a huge pain in the... back... The most common feedback that I receive from my students is, "Why?"  I usually hear it from the upper-classmen, which makes me thankful that the freshmen are scared little bunnies... they don't bug me as frequently.

"Why do we have to march the entire length of the field to warm up?"

"Why do we do breathing exercises?"

"Why do we have to count out loud?"

"Why do we have to line up our instruments on the sideline?"

Eventually, I started responding with, "Play the game."  Trust that we have a reason for these little monotonies and just "play the game."

The United States of Mental Disorders...Shades of Gray...

The video is the trailer for Silver Linings Playbook, which is a movie that portrays a typical rom-com situation that has been doused with mental illness, though it mostly focuses on bipolar disorder.  The film features bipolar disorder, some sex-addiction, and a dusting of obsessive-compulsive disorder (however I still can't figure out what disorder Chris Tucker has in the film).

#5. Pink-Slimey-Euphemisms...

If one were to do a Google search for "best comedians of all time," it would be difficult to find a list without George Carlin residing in the top 10, including Comedy Central's top 100 list where Carlin was ranked 2nd. I particularly enjoy the way he views society, and each time I read about "lean, finely textured beef" I continually envision Carlin's routine regarding euphemisms (warning: VERY offensive language).  He begins the skit by explaining how post-traumatic stress disorder was originally called shell shock during World War I, then called battle fatigue in World War II, further diluted to operational exhaustion for The Korean War, and finally being termed post-traumatic stress disorder during "The Vietnam Conflict" (a euphemism of it's own).  Post-traumatic stress disorder, since his stand-up routine, has been further desensitized to PTSD.

#4. Big Brother's Broken Policy...

I have never thought much about where our food comes from or the health affects that it has on our bodies, which is very visually apparent when considering the current health state of my body.  Now, however, after beginning this food-related writing project, I have been pushed to re-address my threshold for "disgusting." 

• The CDC estimated in 2011 that 48 million people contracted a food-borne illness, 128,000 were hospitalized, and 3,000 died.
• The U.S. Surgeon General, in 2001, attributed 300,000 deaths each year to obesity (though that number is likely MUCH higher now, considering the quickly-rising percentage of obese people).

The factory farming industry certainly deserves their share of blame for this affect on the public.  They are, after all, the ones who are actively participating in the abhorrent practices that we all have come to see in Food, Inc. and subsequent research.  However, the food industry doesn't shoulder all of the blame.  The legislators making laws in the U.S. that either encourage, or conveniently ignore, these practices does deserve criticism as well.