Ashley's Philosophy Corner

How beautiful and sweet this video is! (How wonderful this choir is!) And how much young boys are in need of help and guidance during these difficult times of violence and corruption and political unrest. What a blessing it is to know that God is there watching over us -watching over them.

Austin's Funnies Corner

I don't expect you to burst out laughing to the point of crying or anything, but what's funny is how much effort -how high quality all of it is, and then to pair that with the ridiculousness, (if you know the real story, this is...a rather amusing version... :) I hope you see fit to laugh at least once, as I did. 

Alex's Random Awesome Corner

Article of Faith #13    

"...if  there is anything lovely of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

   

     Just because I recently discovered this Libera choir (and am now in love with), I am going to share with you two more of their videos, because you have to admit, they are very awesome. And how sweet the boys! (I've never met them in real life, so I can't really say, but they seem genuine), and how good their cause, meaningful their songs, and quality of their voices and production. So I thought you wouldn't mind (since they are after all magnificent). I hope you enjoy them!  

Anna's All Things Classical and Jazz

    As far as Jazz goes, I was reading a book on the Harlem Renaissance, and picked up some fun terms from the time. Hope you like them!

Sayings:

Busting your conk -to apply yourself or use your brain really hard (like working on a math problem or such)

Togged to the bricks -when you're all dressed up, spiffy like

Jumps or Shouts -During the time, they'd have jazz get-togethers, and took to calling them by these names, which I find very appropriate. :)

Chitterling Struts -Also during the time, for jazz get-togethers, the jazz pianists would come and kind of unofficially compete, face off and try to see who was better. Everyone had a wonderful time during these. 

"Get in the gully and give us the everlovin' stomp!" - During the jazz get-togethers or parties, when dawn would come and they had been playing all through the night and were exhausted, everyone would cry out once more to play just a little longer and cheer them on, and so they'd shout this phrase to encourage them.

"Trip the light fantastic" -to go down to a dance emporium

Dance Moves:

• the Charleston
• the Droll Black Bottom
• the Shim-Sham-Shimmy
• the Pixie-Like Truckin'
• (most popular) the Lindy Hop 
• the Jitterbug (later evolved version of the Lindy Hop)
• the Suzy Q

    *Don't ask me to demonstrate. :)

Ashley's Philosophy Corner

    "Something that has taken me a great deal to learn, is that the battle between good and evil does not exist, except within people. To say a man is evil is to give blind disregard for everything they've been through, every scar they carry with them, every value that was lost at childhood, and to repress whatever good is present. To say a man is good is to give blind disregard for every gross mistake and shadow, and every scar that they carry with them. But if a man can look upon another man, however much good or evil resides in him, and learn to see only the good, and then learn to love him for it... then, and only then can we have hope for the generation. Then we can know that there was some evil rooted out of the both of them that day."

--Macy Adams  

Austin's Funnies Corner

   (Answers at the bottom.)

    In California, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?

    What was the president's name in 1975?

    

    Two men met at a bus stop and struck up a conversation.

One of them kept complaining of family problems.

Finally, the other man said: “You think you have family problems? Listen to my situation:

“A few years ago I met a young widow with a grown-up daughter.

We got married and I got myself a stepdaughter.

Later, my father married my stepdaughter.

That made my stepdaughter, my step-mother.

And my father became my stepson.

Also, my wife became mother-in-law of her father-in-law.

Much later, the daughter of my wife, my stepmother, had a son.

This boy was my half-brother because he was my father’s son.

But he was also the son of my wife’s daughter which made him my wife’s grandson.

That made me the grandfather of my half-brother.

This was nothing until my wife and I had a son.

Now the half-sister of my son, my stepmother, is also the grandmother.

This makes my father, the brother-in-law of my child, whose stepsister is my father’s wife, I am my stepmother’s brother-in-law, my wife is her own child’s aunt, my son is my father’s nephew and I am my OWN GRANDFATHER!”

Alex's Random Awesome Corner

(Recently Changed)

Anna's All Things Classical and Jazz

    I think these pictures, (not mine, only gathered mind you) very finely represent a beautiful blend inside of people. I don't know if it necessarily goes for everyone, but at least with me -a part of me knows I need to be disciplined and conduct myself cordially and be kind and gracious, gentle and refined -and yet another part of me  is whimsical and spontaneous, yearns for revolution, change, fun, freedom and spirit! It's a delicate balance I carry, for if one were to squelch your 'classical side' may I call it, you would become reckless, susceptible to weakness and to becoming wild and disagreeable, or irresponsible. (This is often the tipped side as an adolescent.) But if you had no 'jazz side' then you would lose the joy in the journey, become stiff and/or judgmental, lose the laughter and the music in life. And, knowing this, it kind of gives you a new appreciation for these genres of music. The general discourses of people of this generation have deemed classical music boring. (I'd hardly call it that at all!) They think all it's for is for putting to sleep, but that's mostly because music now days has not only lost refinement, (that was lost in the 20s) but its genuine nature as well. These composers had brilliant minds, and they put their whole heart and soul into their music, with grand ideas, fantastical dreams, all sorts of complex and incredibly entertainingly orchestrated pieces of music. And there's tens of thousands of compositions to choose from! Classical music carries much more of the human spirit than people now days sitting around a recording studio pushing buttons and making money off of worldly 'mediaized'  'stars'. Then there's jazz! Born in the most oppressed, trodden under, and downcast part of the world within the black communities, it was their way of crying out and expressing themselves with a new sort of  uncharted and free way, that caught onto the rest of the community, country, and then world, and that carried with it the human spirit just as much. With all the intense emotion going on, they were able to turn it around and into music, incredible music, still as complex and brilliant, but meant to express a different part of you. I hope after reading this, you will someday be just a little bit more swayed to listen to the classical station while you do your bills because of its stimulating focus, just for a few minutes, or maybe to put jazz music in the background of your power point to give it that fun feel that you want. Or even when you want to dance, jazz is the most natural thing in the world to dance to, and I'm pretty sure it can be scientifically proven that it does something to you that just makes every part of you want to dance! There truly is plenty of joy in the journey to be found! All you have to do is look around a little and you can find your life  greatly enriched in ways you never expected.

Answers:

You need a camera to take a picture.

Barack Obama. It hasn't changed.