What can I say? I miss the daily grind of B-Dubs. That’s why I blog. Wanted to mention a thing or two for those coming to the school for the first time this year.
1) Read all my blogs. They may not be 100% informative 100% of the time, but they will always be at least 75% entertaining 45% of the time.
2) For you vegans and vegetarians out there, live at the salad bar during lunch hours. The selection is extensive. Meat-lovers, don’t be afraid to grab a day-long roasted hot dog out of the ballpark-like hot dog cookers. Your stomach may not love you for it, but your brain will.
3) Grow near and dear to your advisor. No joke in this one. If you have Susan Oldreive, it’ll be a non-issue.
4) Do whatever feels comfortable for you. The year will be memorable whether you try to make it memorable or not. That’s the greatest and worse thing about our brains. They remember.
5) If you buy a parking pass, beware the meter-man. (see other blogs for details)
-Sam

So, for my work-study (this program through the school where you can apply for an on or off-campus job) I work at PArma-Ridge and Brook Park libraries with young boys and girls from the areas surrounding elementary schools. I have to say, this experience has really opened my eyes to the rewards and downfalls of teaching. Being a tutor with this age group is almost exactly like being a teacher (only of one student, not 25 or 30). If the children misbehave, you have to discipline. You have to learn which ways get through to which students. It truly is an art. I can honestly say coming away from this work that teaching could be one of my options for life involvement.
-SL

This time of the year will forever leave it’s mark…. Literally. I have been so stressed out lately that a permanent knot has placed itself on my lower back near my spinal chord. I’ve tried to rub it out multiple times, but nothing. I fear it will remain there until May 1, the final day of school, the day that my 15 page essay is due. The essay requires that we solve the problems in N. Ireland and South Africa. Ridiculous, right? I mean, out of all the groups in the world, my honors class is definitely at the top of the least of over-achievers, but good god. The outline is due April 15 and I haven’t even opened a word document. But what’s more stressful is the fact that this week we had to pick classes, and I was sent an email that I am too far in debt to sign up! How could this be… Oh, wait, that’s right, at the beginning of the year my mother and I didn’t take out enough loan money to cover the (unbeknownst to us) MANDATORY requirement of 2,100$ that belongs on the Jacket Express Card. A warning six months ago would have been nice, but that’s how things go when you get out into the real world. Luckily, my counsellor helped me out. Thanks Susan Oldreive.
-SL

March is a time of year where I tend to find out how much I really hate being cold. March is mother’s nature’s way of, as my father would say, “tickling our asses with feathers.” As astutely as my father put’s it, I feel I might need to explain. Mother Nature takes her proverbial feather, which is warm, summer air, and whooshes it around briefly, giving us North Eastern Ohioans a thorough bottom tickling, stirring up euphoric feelings — only to crush them with wintery fluff. It helped me realize, too, how tied my inner core is to the seasons of the year. When the sun shines warm, I experience strange sensations and changes in my demeanor, such as motivation, and positivity, and a simple love for the moment. Winter brings me down. This blog is not stating anything new, but whatever.
-SL

sorry folks for being MIA, I was in Ireland with my class. Let me tell you, it was quite the learning experience. I worked with a group of individuals called the LCCG, headed by an ex-UDA member. What the group was established for was the eradication of poverty within Lower Castlereagh, a small protestant community in East Belfast. What I did, personally, was write up the bios, mission statement, and other material for a website that Ben Meadors, another BW student, had created for the group. I learned so much along the way. To keep myself from going into grave detail I will simply state things that I learned with no evidence for how I learned it. 1. Ireland is a male-dominated culture, but the females truly run the show 2. the conflict in Ireland is still very much prevalent 3. Belfast isn’t a terrible city 4. Dublin is too Americanized 5. Erdinger is my favorite beer of all time.
-SL

This Thursday I will not be on a midnight train to Georgia (sorry Gladys), but I will be on a midday plane to Newark, then to the rolling greens of Ire. Ireland. I am going to Ireland this Thursday. Am I excited? You bet. Though there have been quite a few murders in recent news, particularly right around the area where my kr3w is going to be posted up at, I feel invincible, so there are no qualms within my soul. The greatest thing about this trip though, seriously, is that I am able to go with a class here at BW. It is a relatively new class call Ireland and South Africa: Finding Peace and Reconciliation. Sure it’s a mouthful. All the best are. It’s moderated and taught by the fine, Dr. Susan Oldrieve, and the rambunctious, Dr. Herbert Marshal, the class entails the best in Irish history and Irish music. Every time I enter the classroom with these two, knowledge is gained. I would highly suggest this class to anyone who enjoys Irish Culture, which also means anyone who enjoys blood and an enduring Hubris. The music has been fantastic, too.
-SL

Their next release, Siamese Dream, would go on to produce such hits as “Cherub Rock”, “Today”, “Disarm”, and “Rocket”. Corgan would go on to say that this album’s content was extremely personal to him. He also stated that the record was recorded amidst disorder amongst the band members. Jimmy Chamberlin (drummer) was suffering from heroine addiction, D’Arcy (bass) suffered from her own addictions, and Billy just simply did not feel inspired. The album was still very successful, rocketing the band into superstar status. The album was heavily drum influenced, with songs such as “Geek USA” and “Silverf***”. A very good album front, to back.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness proved to be the most commercially successful album for the Pumpkins. The double disk sold more than the Beatles’ White Album. SP decided to work with a new producer on this adventure. The man goes by the name of Flood, and has worked with such legendary bands as U2 and The Depeche Mode. If there is one album everyone should examine before they die, this would contend for number one. It’s concept qualities provide it’s audience with an experience. Billy remarks in an interview held before the production of the album, saying that the idea of Gish were extremely personal. Mellon Collie was his attempt to take those personal experiences and broaden their meanings. The album, for me, is something I listen too when I want to experience nostalgia. And, truly, Billy wanted this to be revealed. He explained, also, in the interview how he wanted to catch the spirit of the times when he wrote the music and lyrics for it.

I could write for WEEKS on the Pumpkins.

So I thought I’d take this time to talk about a band that has been crucial to my musical taste. If your wondering how this has anything to do with BW, here is the thought process: If I talk about things I like, then it develops me as a character to you, the reader, and if you like or dislike the character, you will associate it with the school. It’s an extremely honest way to represent BW.

When the Smashing Pumpkins is mentioned to you as a person’s favorite band, I’m going to assume that you automatically recall songs like “Cherub Rock”, and “Today”, and “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” (some call it “Rat in a Cage” — that’s offensive to true SP fans). While these songs represent peak work from the group, Billy Corgan (songwriter/guitarist/producer) would emphasize listening to their albums as a whole. Corgan is considered by many as a true innovator in the commercial rock industry by many, redefining the idea of a ‘concept album’.

The band’s release of Gish in 1991, with help from Butch Vig (Garbage), was overshadowed in many ways by the release of an album three months later by a band named ‘Nirvana’ with the groundbreaking, Nevermind. Still producing commercial success with the singles “I am One” and “Rhinocerous”, Gish was so well received that Virgin Record took notice and picked up the album. It went on to go platinum. The story here was in between the peak work on the album. It had a mix swirling psychedelic rock and dramatic punk. Yet to give the album a genre would only limit the options for what one could call it. What it is, is beautiful.

I will continue on in my next post with the release of Siamese Dream.

Precisely the opposite, my dear Birdman. I had to call myself off work. I was definitely destroyed. The children most likely cried at the library, because God knows they don’t call off school when necessary (yes, I still complain about that). My hopes are right up there with the 5th graders when it starts snowing. I have nothing else to look forward too when the flakes are a-fallin’. I don’t have snow boots, the only heavy jacket I own becomes water logged after 5 minutes of walking, when I drive and park places my car gets towed, and so the list goes on. Please, for the love of all that’s good, why did the groundhog have to see his shadow? WHY DO WE USE A GROUNDHOG? He’s a scared animal as it is! Ah, but I think I might have mentioned that before.
-SLL

Yes, folks, this time the worst of all things happened. My car, the beloved Honda ‘98 champagne (not silver) Honda Accord was torn from my arms today by the likes of Charley’s Towing from one of the 15 minute spots behind Heritage. You might be thinking (if you are well-versed in LaGuardia Blog), “Sam, that’s impossible. You take advantage of the spot-swap (see ‘There are Meter-men Afoot!’) every fifteen minutes.” Alas. I forgot.
Innocent me, reading a book about Community, and love, and cooperation, got sidetracked in my dorm for a period of 30 minutes. Forgetting, or at least not caring, that my car was plopped in the 15 minute spot for thirty minutes, I ventured out of my love-cave onto the empty lots and sullen streets behind Heritage B. I walked 12 paces and turned right, expecting to see my silver bullet automobile smiling back at me, provoking me. But no. I saw no such thing. What I saw was a woman in an Trailblazer puffing down, what the westerners call, ‘baccy, or tobacco, which is what normal people call it. Seeing her enjoying that smooth mild in the spot where my beast/car/companion last lay was a slap in the face to me, and the rest of the BW community. With extended arms to the sky, i asked, “Why?”. Truthfully, I kinda freaked out. Thought it was stolen at first, but then swiftly realized, it was him. The intolerable, insatiable, interminable METERMAN. He must have been the cause. It was he that was constantly writing me tickets, he that I saw with his smug, good-looking, jean button-up shirt standing next to a car yesterday that had been towed.

The bill to get the car out of the pound was 110$. The ticket rang out at 30$. This has gone on long enough.

Meter-man, i realize you are “doing your job” and probably “hate to ruin peoples day”, but let’s be real here. You love your job. You smile when you know you’ve hurt someone, internally. Well, today you win. The good students of BW (especially the freshmen of whom bought parking passes at a less than reasonable price, only to be towed for being 15 minutes over in a fifteen minute lot) will not let this injustice stand. One day you will be thwarted from your denim throne and tossed amongst the serfs. Thy will be done to you.
-SL