The Beginning of the End

In the article, "How to be a Creative Writer" Kurt Vonnegut says "The arts are no way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow." The arts used to be a way that many people made a living, and some still do today. The past Saturday, the New York City Opera most likely had its final show before officially closing down. With only a quarter of their fundraising goals met, hope was low. After 70 years of miraculous performances, this final show brought tears to many peoples eyes. Though, it was not unexpected. The New York City Opera "drastically cut back on the number of operas it gave each season — from 115 performances a year a decade ago, to 16 last year." With nearly 100 less shows each year, funding became impossible and they had to file for bankruptcy.

The New York City Opera is not the first example of the arts falling; it is also not the last. Orchestras. theatre companies, musicians, actors, other operas have been going bankrupt all over. Reason being that people have stopped attending the performances. It is astonishing to me that things that used to be so valued by society are struggling to stay in business. It also led me to think about what people are doing instead of going to these shows in their free time. Movies, too busy with work, parties? But weren't most of those things still existent when these shows were so popular? It's not that people have all together stopped going but rather they go once every couple of years, or even once a decade. Some not at all.

When talking with some of my teachers and other older musicians, they are pretty consistent in what they tell me. "If you really want to help the arts, then go in to business. What the arts really need are good managers to get them going again." I think that this statement to some extent is true. I also think that they need to remember that it's the people and community that funds the arts. The attendance of each performances goes to the salary of the performers. Its impossible for me to think that the arts will just disappear all together, but then again the New York City opera never would have expected to go bankrupt so soon. Maybe one day theatre will only be seen over a screen, and music will only be heard through speakers. If people are choosing other things over going to performances now, then what will make them change their minds? What sort of affect would the loss of the arts have on society?


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/arts/music/city-opera-takes-what-is-expected-to-be-a-final-bow.html?src=me&_r=0

Block Party

               Growing up, block parties were the place to be at. Everyone would bring a dish for dinner or a plate full of desserts to share, there'd be a bonfire, games with water balloons and scavenger hunts, and of course a thrilling game of cops and robbers. Block parties were always something to look forward to. I remember how neighborly everyone was and how they brought everyone together. As schedules changed and the kids that were participants in the nightly games went of to high school and college, the block party moved away from our block. But to me, in just stopped happening all together. With the younger kids, the block parties have just started.

               The bass of "Blurred Lines" soars through my open window from four blocks away. After hearing my parents talking about it I decided to walk over. To my surprise, it was nothing like the games and bonfires we had. Instead, I was shocked to see a DJ, a dunk tank, a Spider Man jumpy house, and three food trucks: Coffee & Donuts, Salsa, and Jamaican Jerky. The whole thing felt so strange at not at all what a block party is. The feeling of community was different, and more focused on buying the "necessities" to make it a fun evening. One would expect that these attractions would get more people to come but rather, it took away the neighborly feeling. 

Food Trucks

             The intent of a block party is to bring the community closer together. The feeling of togetherness was so much apparent with our traditional block parties. All the things that parents payed for now to get it all together brings more of a divide with in the community. Talking with my mom, she reminisced about the times when all the parents would find little toys around their homes and use them in the scavenger hunt. Even the planning of the block parties brought the neighbors all together. But now, if you can just  order everything and pay for it in the end, why would you waste the time planning it out as a community? I find it very disappointing that not only are people taking such short cuts, but that they find these new attractions necessary for their kids to have fun.  

Jumpy House

          Even further back when my mom was a child, she would spend her time with her friends playing "kick the can" or other simple games. Even when I was younger the whole block would play different games outside; those were some of the best times for everyone. Now, kids rely on video games and technology to have fun. Although we are advancing in technology and the new inventions are very useful and interesting, I think that the simpler games and activities were more rewarding and generally better. This new version of a block party is foreign to me and I think that while we should keep advancing as a society, some things are better left as they are. Not everything has to change as generations pass. Is it possible to in some way, ignore the new technology that is continuously coming out? Should younger generations be introduced to these things (i.e. iPads) so early on? Is there even a purpose in trying to keep these old traditions and games alive?

DJ

Just Another Shooting

After the recent Navy Yard shooting, gun control has come back to being a central issue. If you have not heard or read of this then see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/us/shooting-reported-at-washington-navy-yard.html?pagewanted=all . It is evident that gun violence has been an ongoing problem for our country and a very controversial topic among citizens and officials. After the scarring affects of the Newton school massacre, you would think that congress would come to some sort of definite conclusion on the matter yet we see little progress. Shortly after the Newton massacre, the families involved formed the Newton Action Alliance. The alliance has been pushing for gun control ever since the shooting occurred but with things such as Syria and the floods in Colorado, it was put on the back burner. With the news of the Navy Yard shooting, the Newton School massacre is again in the top article titles. Titles such as "Navy Yard Shooting Revives Ghosts for Newton Families"are popping up everywhere. The Navy Yard shooting has revived the Newton Action Alliance and brought the attention back to this central issue. 

I find it very upsetting that the Newton school massacre wasn't enough for the country to take official action on the issue. Action should have been taken back when the shooting at Columbine occurred. It keeps going further back to more and more shootings. Yet we have not taken actions that have proved to stop these from happening again. The fact that we needed another shooting, more lives lost, to get our attention back on the issue is no. While it is understood that other issues such as Syria, and flooding came into play, gun control should've stayed as an issue of priority. The question that comes into play is how many times must a mistake be made, until we truly learn from it? I don't believe that we have learned what we needed to from prior shootings because if we had, wouldn't something have been done? I think that we need to take additional action because clearly, the laws that are currently in place have not been satisfactory. Will it take yet another shooting for the right precautions to be taken?

College: Key to Success?

               As my siblings both went off to college this past week, it was all that my parents were talking about. Comparing tuitions, apartment or greek life, majors-it just didn't stop. It has always seemed to be that college was something to strive for. Something that successful people did, before they became successful. As times and tuition have changed, the question that comes into play is whether college is really worth it. When thinking about this, everything has to be taken into consideration. "It's whether you finish, where you go, what you major in it, and what you do" said Isabel Sawhill from the Chicago Tribune article, Is College Worth It?. To me this can is sums up to the effort that one puts in. College gives off a new essence then it used to. College is freedom, drinking, and parties to many people now. With the Top Party School articles so up to date, some kids have decided to take the fun route instead of focusing on their futures. I think that this is where the statistics presented in the article show up. The "60 percent of students who do not finish their degrees within six years", might be the kids who were too distracted by everything around them to focus. To be successful one must be driven. 14% of kids that graduated from high school end up making as much as those who went on to get bachelor degrees. That 14% would have to be either very lucky, or very driven.
               In addition to whether one is driven or just at college to party, whether you are successful or not highly depends on the major you choose. This is all based on what the country needs and when it needs it. Right now, the arts are struggling. With little attendance to shows and concerts, the performer's salaries have gone done immensely. In a NY times headline I saw that the New York Lyric Opera may even have to shut down for the 2014/2015 season. In tight fields such as the arts, it is so difficult to make a living. And if you want to make a living with it, you have to be the absolute best. The absolute best most of the time are the most driven people. In the end, the people that are most successful are the people that work the hardest. This means that if one used college as much to their advantage as possible, then it would be worth it. But this doesn't mean that college is the key to success. Truly, the key to success is being driven. 
What leads to a successful life? Is college a necessity?


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-08/news/sns-rt-us-usa-education-college-worthbre94711p-20130508_1_college-degree-harvey-mudd-college-30-year-net-return