Amelia and the Issues of Celebrity

*begin spoiler alert*
If you don't know who Amelia is nor how her last flight ended, then you need to 1. not read this if you don't like spoilers, and 2. pick up a history book and read about Amelia Earhart before I slap you!! Seriously.
*end spoiler alert*

I have a bit of a flying-fetish. Call it a fancy, a fascination. Planes are cool. Looking at the world from up high, from the sky, gives you such a refreshing perspective of the Earth. And planes make that view possible.

Amelia wasn’t the greatest female pilot, not in her day, not ever. She was very accomplished, and well known, still. She was likable, smart, spoke her mind, ‘news-worthy.’ Would she be as known now if she had not disappeared on her last flight? Fame seems to follow failure more than success, so arguably, if she had landed as planned, she might have been forgotten in history textbooks along with many of the other early aviators. This is the price of fame. And I don’t think she’s probably happy about, wherever she is: living in infamy for failing.

On the plus side, the major accomplishments of Amelia Earhart:
The 16th woman to receive a pilot’s license in May ’23
The first woman to fly (as a passanger) across the atlantic in ’28
Second person (and first woman) to fly solo across the atlantic May 21, ‘32
First woman to solo nonstop coast to coast August 24-25, ‘32
First person to fly solo nonstop from Hawaii to California in ’35

Now keep in mind that the Kitty Hawk flight occurred when Amelia was 6 years old in 1903. Men had been trying to get a plane in the air for years, and centuries before that trying to fly in general. December 17, 1903. The Wright Brothers. 59 seconds. 852 feet. A successful flight. On May 21, 1927, Lucky Lindy landed in France having flown the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight. Just about a decade later, radio contact was lost with Amelia’s Lockheed Electra as she closed in on completing her circumnavigational flight around the world. Aviation history was being made at an alarming rate in those days.

She would have been the first woman to fly around the world, and on a route following more or less the equator, flying much further over much more land than Wiley Post’s 8 day flight around the upper latitudes in ’33.

Understandably, when you try to make a bio-pic film, you have to leave a lot out about the person’s life. In the case of Amelia, reducing 40 years into 110 minutes requires a lot of picking and choosing of the ‘interesting’ parts of a person’s life. And what you may find interesting differs from what someone else would find interesting. Whereas I would have liked to have seen more of how Amelia was chosen to be on that first transatlantic flight that garnered her instant fame, thus allowing her to fly even more daring flights later, Mira Nair’s film focuses much of the middle chunk of the film on Amelia’s relationship with her husband (and publisher) George Putnam. [Enter a semi-love-triangle, and a the balancing of marriage and fame, and you have some melodrama to fill time with]. This is a choice that the writers and director make. It’s pretty conventional. It seems you can’t have a bio-pic on a person who doesn’t have some ‘dirty little secret’ to dwell on. I’m not trying to diminish that side of Amelia’s persona. An affair is an affair and I don’t approve. However, I went into the movie to see some flying, and would have enjoyed that as the focus. [the movie starts with Amelia’s first meeting with Putnam after she’s already networked as a pilot, when it could have dug into when Amelia first started to fly and got her first plane, and all that]

As for the final infamous flight, I'm glad that Mira Nair left some mystery to it. She didn't try to fictionalize any of the various scenarios that people have speculated about. No conspiracies are rehashed. All we have is the radio transmissions, the last words of Amelia, and then static.

There are a lot of voice overs in the film, of which I’m pretty sure are Amelia’s own exact words, from letters and her many published writings. Everything that needs to be said about Amelia the person, she said it herself. And maybe that is the real pitfall of creating “entertainment” out of her life. Compared to other bio-pics, she didn’t have a very tragic life (Edith Piaf), she didn’t live with OCD (Howard Hughes), she didn’t suffer with drugs (Johnny Cash, Ray), she wasn’t assassinated (JFK, Lincoln, Milk). She flew planes because she liked it, she made headlines because people liked her, and she was a role model for anyone wanting to become a pilot in the 30s. She was a woman in a man’s profession (about a decade before we knew Rosie the Riveter).

I looked through some reviews when I got home from the theater. A lot of the comments are similar to these:

"Amelia isn't a terrible movie, but its greatest value will be as a history lesson rather than as entertainment."
"'Amelia' plays less like a movie and more like a timeline."
"...an unsatisfying, frivolous, insubstantial look at someone whom some think of as an American idol."
"What could be more exciting than a biopic with Hilary Swank playing a world famous aviatrix? Perhaps a movie filled with more passion for dreaming than a screenplay that seems written from Earhart's history-making timelines."

Now maybe this is my mistake, but I think a good bio-pic should be historical. It should teach you something. And before I saw this film, a timeline of Amelia’s life was basically all I knew about her and I still found her fascinating and entertaining. The facts are interesting to me.
Amelia was an American Idol in her day, just like Lindbergh and Seabiscuit. It was the 30s, the depression, and people wanted to see that others were successful in their endeavors. Lots of the news was about escaping from reality. Movies were huge in the 30s. Stardom and celebrity were evolving concepts.

I think this speaks to our contemporary understanding of fame and what makes news. We would spend hours glued to the television and twitter reports about a boy trapped in a balloon, why? Because we hope he lives? Because there’s a chance he might not? We like the drama of what might happen next! If it hadn’t turned out to be a sham, and there had really been a boy in a balloon, we’re talking about the next ‘Baby Jessica’!! Is it news worthy though? Does it deserve a hours and hours of constant coverage? Then again, I don’t think Amelia will do well at the box office, which is unfortunate. And truth be told, lots of decent movies about interesting topics often get thrown to the curb for movies like “Saw VI” (seriously? 7?!). To each her own I suppose. I’ll never understand that at all though.

The film doesn't offer much commentary on Amelia’s life and choices. Not blatantly anyways. It could have dove a little deeper, but I’m not sure there is much more to find about Amelia. And that is probably what keeps this film from being popular with the majority of critics and audiences.

At one point in the film Amelia (Swank who looks the part minus the teeth), after spending some time in the spotlight for her transatlantic-passenger flight, says she wishes to fly again across the atlantic, this time solo, so that her fame isn’t “fake,” so that she actually earns it. From reading about the real Amelia, I think she really did fly because she wanted to. And taking risks was in her nature, and unfortunately the way our culture works, doing press tours, photo-ops, endorsements, creating clothing lines, writing books, giving lectures, and all the other things Amelia did in the spotlight, those things funded her flying. So she did them. So that she could fly. That point, I think the movie got across pretty well.

Is the film conventional? Does it fall into the cliche traps of a bio-pic? Is it in need of some trimming? In need of a more nuanced director? Yes.

Does it have anything to say about Amelia the flyer, her achievements? Should it have been made? Am I glad it was made? Should you see it? Yes.

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"After midnight the moon set and I was alone with the stars. I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, and I need no other flight to convince me that the reason flyers fly, whether they know it or not, is the aesthetic appeal of flying." - A.E.

"I lay no claim to advancing scientific data other than advancing flying knowledge. I can only say that I do it because I want to." - A.E.

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself." - A.E.

"The most effective way to do it, is to do it." - A.E.

Fall Film Preview 2009...

I like movies. I can blog on the internet for free. I think that's enough credentials for me to blog you a preview of movies that I think are important and that everyone should see this fall! (Also, I'll be sure to review these after I see them)

And go!...


Where the Wild Things Are - Oct 16
Writer: Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers, based on book by: Maurice Sendak
Director: Spike Jonze
Dir. of Photography: Lance Acord
Starring: Max Records, Voices by: James Gandolphini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper

Why I’m excited: There’s some giant fluffy animals running through the woods, what’s not to like? Also, it was a great book, and a favorite for a lot of people my age. Spike has an interesting directing-style. It will be interesting to see how they stretch the book into a 90 min. movie also.


Ameila - Oct 23
Writer: Ronald Bass & Anna H. Phelan, based on “East to the Dawn” by Susan Butler and “The Sound of Wings” by Mary Lovell
Director: Mira Nair
Dir. of Photography: Stuart Dryburgh
Starring: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston

Why I’m excited: I think Amelia Earhart is one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th Century, and one of my famous-people-I-would-invite-to-dinner. Hilary bears a slight resemblance to Amelia, which is important in a Bio-pic. I also think there is a ton to learn from the real Amelia, more so than many people who have been immortalized in bio-pics in the past. I’m excited to see a bit of aviation history brought to life for the mass audience, and I’m curious how they will treat the very well-known ending.


Fantastic Mr. Fox - Nov 13
Writer: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, based on novel by Roald Dahl
Director: Wes Anderson
Dir. of Photography: Tristan Oliver
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, William Dafoe, Bill Murray, and many more...

Why I’m excited: STOP-MOTION! Go here and watch the featurette to see some of what the process of making this film was, it’s pretty incredible. Hopefully the attention to detail and organic-ness of the film comes across in the final project. Oh, and another reason why I think Wes is the coolest director: he had his actors read their lines and recorded them live and on location.


Up in the Air - Dec 4
Writer: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, based on novel by Walter Kirn
Director: Jason Reitman
Dir. of Photography: Eric Steelberg
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman

Why I’m excited: Vera has proven to be a great dramatic actress in movies like “Nothing by the Truth” and “The Departed,” but I’m excited to see her in a more light-hearted role. And I’ve loved pretty much everything George has been done in the last 5 years, acting-wise.



The Lovely Bones - Dec 11
Writer: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, & Peter Jackson, based on novel by Alice Sebold
Director: Peter Jackson (yes the hobbit-like director of LotR...)
Dir. of Photography: Andrew Lesnie
Starring: Saorise Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci

Why I’m excited: Though I thought a lot of the ending of the book was flawed, it was a very touching and emotional read. Rumor is that they left out the very scene I disapprove of most from the book, so it has a lot of potential for me. I’m sure some people will hate that things are left out from the book though. Also, Saorise is going places...seriously...look out for her from now on in the Oscar pool.


The Princess and the Frog - Dec 11
Writer: Ron Clements, Rob Edwards, Greg Erb, Don Hall, John Musker, Jason Oremland
Director: Ron Clements & John Musker
Starring: Voices by: Anika Noni Rose, John Goodman, Terrence Howard, Oprah Winfrey, Bruno Campos

Why I’m excited: I’ve been waiting for this since my very first linguistics class junior year. There’s a ton of interesting ways of thinking about the cultural implications this film has, one obvious one being that this is the first Black-Princess character in Disney history. If you want to know more about the history of Disney film, linguistic-profiling, race, and family issues, let me know and I’ll elaborate for you.


Invictus - Dec 11
Writer: Anthony Peckham, based on book “Playing the Enemy” by John Carlin
Director: Clint Eastwood
Dir. of Photography: Tom Stern
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon

Why I’m excited: I keep thinking that one of these days, the next “film by Clint Eastwood” is going to be his last (the guy’s 79...will he ever retire?!?), but he keeps trucking on and making movies. So it’s kind of a guarantee that I’ll see each. This film sparks a question: Should the academy have waited and granted Morgan Freeman his first Oscar for this role? Cause he’ll probably win....Nelson Mandela? Hello - it’s like Gandhi all over again, there’s gonna be an oscar for Freeman, just whether it’s Supporting or Best, we shall see.

The review of the fascinating book I just finished...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)

The incident that the curious title alludes to occurs right at the beginning when a dog is discovered stabbed to death in his owner’s garden by Christopher, our hero of the book. At first it seems like a mystery as Christopher begins his hunt for the killer, despite suspicions it was him, and his dad’s urging to stay out of other people’s business. It’s not long before the reader understands that the real mystery is about the loss of Christopher’s mother. However, the twist element with Christopher is that he is Autistic. He’s very intelligent when it comes to math, but when it comes to understanding the world around him he has trouble distinguishing what is going on because he always sees things at face-value. And here’s where the interest really lies with this book. Haddon does a wonderful job putting the reader in the mind of an autistic boy like Christopher, demonstrating a wonderful use of voice. And Haddon manages to allow the story to flow so that the reader understands what is going on even if Christopher cannot. The book is very, very good. A+

And for my last act, I will review this book...

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (Maggie O’Farrell)

This book is a tangled juxtaposition of multiple perspectives, including the title character Esme Lennox, great-aunt to Iris Lockhart. Iris is juggling an affair and some long harbored feelings for her “adopted brother” Alex when she discovers her grandmother Kitty has a sister (enter: Esme). Esme's been out of the picture for 60 some odd years because she’s been locked away in a mental hospital, which is now closing. She is thus thrust into the care of her closest (and healthiest, as Kitty has Alzheimer’s) relative’s care. Are you following the plot so far? That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the book is about revealing why Esme was locked up and there is some interesting twists so I will go no further revealing the plot.

While I think the author intended this book to be a play on narrative form, at times it's kind of a mess to follow. There are multiple elements to each of Esme and Iris’ stories. Each could get their own sections to be explained but instead they are all mixed up. I felt like I was constantly jumping from the mind of Esme (both young and old), seeing the past and present world through her eyes, and then trying to read through the incomplete memories of Alzheimer’s Kitty, along with following the drama of Iris’s situation while she tries to absorb the knowledge of this new addition to her family. Because of this, I thought the characters were hard to empathize with and that only takes away from the ending, which in retrospect is intricate and intriguing.

The style of writing is eloquent. It reminds me of The Awakening, mixed with The Yellow Wall-Paper. The writer was clearly influenced by Chopin’s use of the sea as a metaphor and catalyst for her heroines. There’s also a Gothic-ness to the story, with the family secrets and issues of madness. Overall, it’s not terribly long, so I read through it in a couple sittings. If you enjoy Chopin, and Gothic literature, then you would probably enjoy this book. However, I would have preferred a steadier storyline with fewer jumps in time and perspective. B-

Old writings…

I was doing some reorganizing on my computer and stumbled upon this old poenm I wrote (sometime my freshman year of college I think...)

Fear of Sleep

Why in the early morning hours,
Does my mind fill of dialogue and flowers?

So often of pinto seeds and pumpkin beans,
Of both real and fantastic scenes;

Yet, it's in this time of recollection,
That me sleepless spirit finds connection.

Because in the brightness of day
My mind quarrels to keep at bay:

What do I do? Who do I become?
This needles worry is only known by some.

When in the night I can hide in my dreams.
I can be myself, and how shall I word it?

"Nighttimes's the only time in a dreamer's day."

Numbers…

This was inspired from the July issue of Reader’s Digest which had some interesting statistics. I did some googling to find some more interesting numbers & facts and because I've been watching the BBC series Planet Earth, I decided to focus my numbers about the earth! Enjoy!


8,749
The height in feet of the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Peak.

20,320
The height in feet of the highest point in North American, Mount McKinley (Denali).

29,028
The height in feet of the highest point in the world, Mount Everest.

1,312
The lowest point on land (in feet below sea level), the Dead Sea.

36, 198
The lowest point in the Earth’s surface (in feet below sea level), the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

58
The number of U.S. national parks – all of which should be on your list of things to see!

2
The percentage of the earth’s surface covered in rainforest.

50
The percentage of all the species in the world, that resides only in the rainforests.

1,750,000
The number of species have been formally described and given official names. (The estimated number including undescribed species is many times that).

136
The highest temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in Libya, Africa, 1922.

-128.6
The lowest temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in Vostok, Antarctica, 1983.

Now…

195
If you count Taiwan. Some don't, like China.

122
Number of "electoral democracies" in the world.

27
The number of recognized "conflicts," including wars, going on right now.

0.2
In square miles, the Vatican City is the smallest country in the world.

6,591,027
In square miles, Russia is the largest country in the world.

7,000
The estimated number of languages in the world.

1,052,000,000
The number of first- and second- language speakers of Mandarin worldwide.

6,772,364,200
The population of the earth as of Thursday, June 11, 2009, 1:17pm.

Aha!.....

So in my typical morning internet-surfing/news-blog-reading, I found this blog from NY Times writer Stanley Fish. In it he basically analyzes how the rhetoric of Pres. Obama’s speeches has gone from using the “we” pronoun, to using more the first person “I” pronoun. He lists many examples of the change in pronouns, saying in the end, that it is probably realistic that the oratory has changed in such a way, because of the singular decision making power that comes with the job, but that maybe his speech writers should tone it down.

Now I think his points are valid, and I don’t really have anything to say about the blog itself. Rather, I would like to expand on it because I actually got something else out of the whole thing, something that if I was writing an English paper, would be in my final paragraph, alluding to a “bigger picture” conclusion. (Thank you Plano Sr. High for instilling that paper format into my mind so thoroughly even after 4 years of college, it’s hard to shake off)

My generalization: Isn’t it typical of us; isn’t it human nature to think that we’re doing this alone? With just a little bit of power we start to feel so good about ourselves, we start to think, “Hey I’ve got this. Look what I can do all by myself.” But in truth, we’re not alone in this world, and there’s very little that we truly do on our own. We have a network of people around us that enable us to get things accomplished. It begins with our parents and family and then expands in all directions, including basically everyone who has direct or indirect impact on our lives. As much as we may not want to admit it, even people we don’t like have a hand in our “fate” in some small way.

But wait...

As a Christian, there is an added element, and the most important element. Not only do I have my family and friends, but my faith in God and Jesus. When I remember that I am here because of Him, then it is no longer about me. The real trouble comes in knowing when I am doing His will and when I am following my own selfishness. And it’s a struggle. It’s supposed to be.

Flying...

Flying at 35,000 feet gives new perspective of the earth and its occupants. There is no sign of animals, no sign of people themselves. The crevices of canyons and rivers, the stunning heights of mountains, the greenness of vegetation and the white of snow are the most noticeable. Cities look like speckles of black, white, and grey. Large highways look like lines in the sand, but cars are too small to see. The impact of agriculture is evident in the shades of green, brown, and red squares and circles spread across the most fertile areas of land. Flocks of windmills are seen where the winds are higher. But these things look miniscule compared to the tallest mountains, like Rainer and Saint Helen’s. These look like giants, rising from the hills, reaching towering heights above all that is below, their white peaks glowing and shimmering in the sunlight. The large rivers snake through the land, cutting and shaping the dirt into canyons and lakes, creating definition through the low hills and flatlands.

The years of erosion from wind and rain have left the earth looking wrinkly and haggard around the deserts and dry regions. But then the richness of color, of green life, appears, and it looks fresh again. Puffy marshmallow clouds obscure the tops of mountains, but their whiteness blends with the remnants of snow still on the ground. The views however are obscured completely by clouds grey and dark with rain. And the fading of light creates a haze that removes all definition of these features that were so evident in the light of day.

As the sun goes down, the darkness sweeps the earth, removing all detail and color from its surface. The line between sky and earth becomes less distinguished. Finally there is a sign of life: small twinkles of lights from cities and towns. They flicker in shades of orange, blue, and white, reflecting the scattering of stars in the night sky above. The stars themselves are as bright and frequent as when viewed from the country, far from the haze of city lights. Occasionally the seemingly random scatterings of light form distinguishable clusters of the lights of a city grid. These cities all look alike, neither marked for which city or even state that they are. There is a distance between these lights and the plane, a lack of connection or realism that the lights belong to a living thing. There is no indication that the speckles lights the driveway of a house so a boy can shoot hoops with his dad, or an office building so a janitor can make the rounds and get home to a warm bed, or a street so a group of friends can drive carefree with the windows down and the music up.

As the plane descends towards the bright blues and reds and purples of runway lights, the definition of light becomes more evident. What were once sprinklings now glow, reveling parking lots and highways. Cars and buildings are visible on the roads and highways. The distant green outline of Dallas is viewable in the clear night air. As the plane nears it’s touchdown, people are easy to spot and with the thud of the wheels on the runway, the realism sets in. The distance once felt is no longer. And I am once again reminded of our presence on earth.

What I learned in college…

• The International Phonetic Alphabet.
• Squid is in the same phylum as clams and mollusks. I find that odd.
• I discovered a lot of amazing music to add to my personal collection.
• The members of Radiohead are geniuses. I didn’t figure that out until college.
• Sufjan Stevens, Kaki King, and Sigur Ros are amazing also.
  
• I am really bad at math and chemistry.
• Not too good at debates either.
• My best writing happens on a deadline. I can bust out a typical 3-5 page paper the night before it’s due.
• Longest paper I wrote for school was a 13-page analysis of the Swastika.
• Hitler ruined the meaning of the Swastika. Forever.
• We do not live in a Democracy, but a Democratic Republic.
• Most people don’t understand the difference.
• According to Dr. Brooks, the 0 and 1 that used for computer code are representative of “doughnuts” and “breadsticks” a.k.a. reproductive organs. (Because you have to create and reproduce computer code…and that is somehow significant, I don't remember why)
• Shakespeare is brilliant. I didn’t understand him until Brooks’ class.
• Toni Morrison is pretty brilliant too.
• Alice Walker helped bring back attention to Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God), for the betterment of American literature in my opinion.
• Listening to “The Postal Service” fits any situation. Road trips, working out, etc.
• Roadtrips are the best. There’s quite a few neat places to drive to from C-Stat.
• Bus driving is repetitive. That probably didn’t need to be said.
• McDonalds makes decent coffee.
• I am an "INFJ" on the Myers-Briggs scale of personalities.
  
• Pride & Prejudice is just as good the 20th time as the 1st.
• Wes Anderson is the man.
• There's about 7,000 languages in the world.
  
• There's 160 living languages in the US alone.
  
• Only two states have given a language official status (Hawaii & New Mexico).
• There is no such thing as a primitive language. No Linguist would use that term.
  
• Language evolves. Period. Anyone who thinks they can stop it is crazy.
• Politics is messy but necessary.
  
• Government is slow to change.
• Technology changes way too quickly.
• People want things “easy, simple, and fast” so much, I don’t know if we could ever slow down again. I’ll keep trying though.
• I like vinyl records.
• And film cameras.
• And the days when people didn’t need cell phones. They made plans and stuck to them.
• Most of the stuff on TV sucks, except The Office and the Discovery Channel. (food network does alright, however the travel channel has lost its edge)
• I read the Bible more regularly than I ever have. I think that’s interesting.
• Reading is fun. (ok ok I knew that before college….but my variety of books I like to read has since grown)
• I have some dang good friends.
  

The final countdown...

As my undergraduate career is coming very close to a close. Ha, those are the same word, only pronounced differently. English is a funny funny language. I find myself looking back on the last "major" milestone, which was graduating high school. A similar closing. Finishing four years, leaving the school and the city and the friends of that life to go on to a new life which at the time was pretty up in the air. I find myself in that same "airiness" again, as I don't really know what is to come of me after I walk across that stage and get my diploma. When I left high school and moved to A&M it was a big scary time. I didn't know a whole lot of people. I thought I knew what I wanted to do, which was major in science and go to Med-school. That idea was destroyed by my lack of interest in my classes. I worried a lot more than I showed it. I was really pretty scared. But again, I didn't show it, just turned on a movie instead. Sometimes I walked around campus late at night. I considered moving back home and going to community college.

The difference between then and now, is I'm actually not worried this time. I'm calm even though I don't know what I'm going to do after graduation. Grad school is not for sure. The program I want in is small and currently full. I didn't apply anywhere else because well, I really don't want to go anywhere else. If I do speech pathology, that is the best place to do it. I don't really have a job to go back to in Plano. I need to find some kind of job, but whatever it is would not be permanent. But it would be nice if it paid decently well. I think I'll keep trying at the grad school thing. But you know, I could see changing what I study in grad school.

Some people change a lot when they go to college. People say I'm the same. I don't know. I'm older. I don't feel like it. I miss playing music as much as I did. But I'm finally learning the guitar! I feel like I should know what I want to do with myself by now. But I'm still open. I do feel a need to get my hands dirty, make a difference in the world, help some people out, get active.

As for school, I'm content with everything. A lot of people I know are pretty stressed. I'm not. I'm not freaked out, not stressed. Just calm.

I'm excited to go to Seattle and Vancouver after graduation...kind of more excited about that then the whole diploma-thing. I'm ready for the summertime so I can start cracking down on this verrrrry long list of books I want to read. Oh man you have no idea how much I want to read, but I have a problem with not finishing what I need to finish when I read for fun, so I have to put it off until I'm done with school. It's a bummer.

Be ready for a photo-essay blog of my favorite moments at A&M....it's coming soon....

Such a fearful world we live in...

With all this talk of pandemics and mayhem, I turn to one particular verse:

2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Hope that helps. 

Music comes in many forms...

My fingers are sore from ma’ geetar playing. Makes me think of at the end of Helter Skelter (Beatles) Ringo yells “I’ve got blisters on my fingers!!” (in a nice Liverpool-accent of course). But I’m feeling musical, and have had “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” stuck in my head all day, so:

A little history lesson (this was a high school research project):


Located north of Venezuela is the island of Trinidad and Tobago, one of the larger of the Caribbean islands and the home of the relatively recent development of a musical culture. They have many names: steel drums, steel pans, pan drums or simply pans. Interestingly enough, pans are new to the musical instrument repertoire, as they were just developed in the twentieth century. The ring that comes from the shaping and molding of thin metal, like on a can, is unique only to steel drums. Few people do not recognize the sound; it is so wide spread in the modern music society. All around the world there are groups of steel drummers, sharing the festive music and spreading its fun-loving culture. To think that it started with the “tamboo bamboo” bands off the streets of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Making of the Tuned Coffee Can
Some accounts as to the origin of the introduction of metal containers as instruments in the tamboo bamboo bands go back as early as 1911, but they were not a regular occurrence until around the 1930s. The tamboo bamboo bands consisted of various pieces of bamboo each producing a different pitch, much like the modern steel drum. Slowly, Trinidadians began experimenting with different sounds. They hammered on various coffee cans and paint cans (Story). It is hard to point directly to whoever tuned a can first, but there are many legends regarding the original “tuner.”
One such legend gives reference to Carlton “Lord Humbugger” Forde and the Newtown tamboo bamboo band. According to Forde, a bamboo bottle broke at a carnival, causing people to scatter at the fear of a fight. Thus Forde and a fellow band member picked up a paint can to replace the bamboo. They kept the can for future playing because it had such an interesting sound. Other legends say that cans slowly became preferred instruments because the bamboo was always breaking and the cans produced a richer sound (Stuempfle). Although, there is a controversy over whether the first all-steel band performance was in Trinidad or the Port of Spain. Forde recalls that his band went “all-steel’ in 1936, but newspaper articles from the Port of Spain show evidence of the same with their bands. Most likely, the spread of steel drumming innovations was so quick that there was hardly a “first” and it will never be black and white as to who might have been first. The fact is there were several neighborhoods that were experimenting with paint and zinc cans all over the island, developing new sounds and creating bands. And by the 1940s, the annual Carnival and other parades were subject to the “improvised musical instruments” such as “bottles, spoons, [and] pans” (Stuempfle).
The basic band consisted of a “cuff boom or slap bass, which produced one low sound of indefinite pitch,” a lead pan called a “kittle...typically made from a zinc or a paint can...[with] three notes...played over and over” and the middle instrument was a “bass kittle or dud-up...[and] and iron was struck as a time-keeper” (Stuempfle). Members would suspend the drums around their necks and they performed in the Carnival and in parades. Pan creators transferred rhythms and songs from their tamboo bamboo bands to steel bands and the result was a unique melody and the beginnings of a new culture in Trinidad.

Experimentation during War Time
Unfortunately, the Carnival was banned in 1942 until the end of World War II. Bands were subject to experimenting because they could not perform. A huge breakthrough came with the development of the ping-pong by Spree Simon, who hammered the bottom of a soda drum into a concave shape, producing four pitches. He then got eight notes out of a small oil drum by 1945. At the end of the war, the bands performed once again and new calypsos and melodies were heard. V-E Day, May 8, 1945, was the first official performance of the steel drum bands. The Carnival resumed the following year, in 1946, and steel bands were essential members of the festivities (Steelpan). Musicians began wrapping their sticks with rubber, producing an even richer, fuller sound than before. As time passed, Ellie Mannette introduced oil drums to be used for a ping-pong, which were larger and of better quality than paint cans. This idea spread like quicksand and soon most bands were using 44 and 45-gallon sized oil drums. Tuning procedures increased as well with the “sinking of a pan with a hammer, the grooving of individual sections of different sizes...the tempering of steel by heating the pan in a fire, and the actual tuning of notes by carefully hammering sections” (Stuempfle). Competition between pan makers allowed this all to happen, as they constantly wanted to out do each other.

Inside a “Panman’s” Mind
For the most part, the individuals who originated the steel pans were young African men, often called “panmen.” They lived in poor neighborhoods, where about the only thing to do was make music in the tamboo bamboo bands. Many people had trouble finding work and some chose a lifestyle filled with gambling and prostitution. Those who were deeply devoted to pan disliked this lifestyle, and found escape in their music. Movies were a favorite past time and often, the songs that pan bands played were inspired by scores from movies. With the coming of V-E Day, the ban on pan performances was lifted for a two-day holiday, and the bands saw an opportunity to share their music with the public. Although the war had left an economic slump for Trinidad, there was a hope in the resurgence of the Carnival, and steel drumming was in the center of it all.

Unstoppable Melody
The post-war years left many middle and upper class people in fear of the rising steel band movement. They disliked the “noise” from the long hours of practice time and viewed the panmen as “a threat to social order” as their demonstrations lead to violence and chaos (Stuempfle). New laws were placed on the Carnival participants, telling them they could not dress immodestly or dance vulgarly. The growth of tourism did not help the situation, as now the Carnival had to be “cleaned-up” for tourists. The early days of steel drumming were a struggle for panmen, who were only concerned with producing a new and better pan. Despite these conflicts, the steel band movement kept spreading, even beyond Trinidad to Tobago to other islands. By the 1940s and 1950s the movement was well organized and on its way to success. After Trinidad and Tobago gained their independence from Britain in 1962, steel bands were there, ready to celebrate.

Modern-Day Conclusions
Even through war and depression, social conflict and revolutions, steel drums have consistently thrived and prospered without fail. Pan drums can be found in the schools, the malls, at parties and the annual Carnival, and even a few church worships. Granted the pans have different names (bass, cellos, guitars, double seconds, and lead or tenors), plus there has been the addition of the “Engine Room” consisting of drum set, shakers, and various added drums and instruments to give it that Caribbean sound we know and love. Filling the neighborhood streets that originated the music, pans play as a constant reminder to the Trinidadians of troubling times when they prevailed over their hardships and forever fills the souls of man with the lively melodies and entertaining music. To think it started with a coffee can replacing some bamboo.


And thus ends the music history lesson...

In memorium...

Softly call the muster...

My favorite thing about being an Aggie is the feeling like you belong to a shared community. Now, many Aggies aren't very accepting of opposing ideas/politics/morals, BUT when it comes to being an Aggie, once an Aggie always and Aggie. I really think that's true. I don't know any other school that has a ceremony like Muster for it's students (not to mention Silver Taps every month as well).

Muster is the epitome of that ideal. It means that when you die you are remembered by thousands, if only for the few seconds it takes for your name to be spoken and for the Aggies gathered in Reed to solemnly listen in respect and reverence. Because what do we want most in our lives, than to know that we mattered in some way? To know that someone will miss us when we leave this earth. I think it's a basic human trait.

After four years at this school, this year's Muster ceremony will be the first time I have actually directly known a person being remembered.


Dr. Brooks was an English professor here for a long time. I was told by a friend last fall that he was sick with cancer, but I just found out he passed away from it in January. My friends Tracey and Jenny and I signed up for his Shakespeare lecture last spring. The guy is, was, the most qualified expert on Shakespearean literature I have ever known or read or heard of. And my conclusion about Brooks is that he was completely crazy. By crazy, I mean, brilliant-eccentric-crazy.

The first thing he told us in class was "Shakespeare = Santa Claus".

Honestly, I'm still not sure about what he meant...something about how well known he was and how widespread...but I will always remember his lectures. He could talk "Shakes" til the sun comes up, plus greek literature, the whole Elizabethean age, Judeo-Christian ideas, western civilization history...the list goes on about how much Brooks knew. And there was also his dog Brisket who was present at every class.

As I'm getting closer to graduation, I've been feeling very reminiscent about my experiences at A&M. There's been two classes in my whole college experience -- one I'm currently in, and Shakes with Dr. Brooks -- both have had a real impact on how I think about the world, how I look at my life and my decisions, what I want to do with my time on this earth.

Teachers should know what kind of impact they have on their students. It's really important to a person's development as a person.

I wish I had my notes so I could put some quotes from Brooks on here - some of the crazy things he said, which he could always manage to somehow make sense of the seemingly most absurd observations...ask me about his ideas about what the pen and paper really stands for, for example...

As I was walking to class today, and I saw all the people around walking around me, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "how many of these people don't know what they missed out on by not taking a Brooks' class?"


I'm glad I did. RIP Brooks...

Yes I find the Bible humorous....

Ok, so for Easter last week I was home and in bible class at my church, we read and discussed Acts. Specifically, Acts 20: 7-12 -- I'll paraphrase: Paul's in Troas, he's been traveling and preaching about Jesus. So hin Troas, he starts preaching about Jesus, and he figures since he wants to leave the next morning, he'll just talk through the night. First of all I think it's pretty amazing that Paul can preach for hours about Jesus. I don't know many people who could do that, who could have enough to say. I certainly don't think I could out of shear exhaustion. But he's talking and talking and it's midnight and this guy Eutychus over in the corner falls asleep (ha how many of us have fallen asleep in church, say "I") but unfortunately for Eutychus, he's standing next to a third story window and falls right out, killing himself! So Paul goes down and raises him from the dead and then comes back and preaches until daylight!

Now you know that's the way to wake up an audience...bring someone back from the dead with the help of God of course. I bet there were some skeptics in that audience who changed heir mind reallll quick. They just saw a miracle! I don't know how I would have reacted myself.

I find the whole thing pretty humorous too. I mean, the Bible doesn't give a whole lot of detail, but my imagination tells me that someone probably screamed when Eutychus fell which gets Paul's attention. But he doesn't just peak out of the window and yell down, "Hey get up sleepy-head" he physically goes down to him, throws himself on him, and proclaims "He's alive!" and then gets a second wind in his preaching....probably brought up the story of Jesus raising Lazerus from the dead (it would make sense that he could segway into that after such an incident) Anyways, that's the way to keep an audience's attention all night.

Beginnings...

Yup. I, Chelsea, have decided to start blogging again. I did the whole 'xanga' thing in high school, but I will try to make this different. More mature, more thought-provoking, less just summarizing what I did the day before.

Let's see how this thing blossoms...get it? With the picture? Ha.

So it begins...