My Blog

If you have been following my blog during the month of December, you will see that I have been analyzing the many characteristics of society. I have looked at them with the perspective of a regular high school student, an interested, inspired-to-learn student, and a Jewish teenager. Perhaps one of the main themes of my blog is that society is a complex idea that will never be fully understood (except for those who claim to have a oneness with the world: Siddhartha Gautama, e.g.). Everyday I think about why things happen and why people do things, and that's exactly what my blog is about. Sometimes it's about why other's are doing something, but it's also about why I do somethings. It's a place for me to analyze my own actions in relation with everyone else's, and I hope that by reading it will provoke you to think about these issues more in depth so that you grow as a person.

Memoirs of Jew: Part III

One of my new nicknames at school is "Jew Josh," and I personally think it's quite funny. Just the order and verbalization of those two words together makes me laugh, and I think it's funny how my nickname came to be like this. But a nickname is only a nickname if only a few people use it. There are only a handful of people who I really think can call be Jew Josh, and when others try to use this nickname I do not like it. When other people, who are not as good of friends of mine, use the nickname it's almost like a mockery. They think just because others use the nickname that it's a free-for-all basically. Well, it's not. Those people who use it all know that I think very highly of my religion and that I'm proud to be a Jew. I tell people about my religion because nobody knows about it (at least in the high school I go to), and although I do not try to be so solemn about my religion, as I would be at Temple for example, I do not purposely try to demote it and make it ignoble. I am proud to be Jewish, but when others use Jew Josh erroneously, I am not very happy.

Memoirs of a Jew: Part II

It was a Friday night, Shabbat and I had gone to services since I hadn't gone in a while. The service was like all others, starting with the Barachu, then the Sh'ma, and then the other prayers. The Rabbi proceeded with his sermon of the Torah portion of the week and then a well respected man in our congregation (whose name I will not disclose) came up to the Bima and started with the announcements of the week. Like always, there were adult Hebrew classes on Wednesdays and then Sunday school following the Sabbath.

However, then he told the congregation about an event occurring on Monday of the following week. He explained to us that there was a Palestinian speaker making a presentation at Coe College, and he told us that we should go and picket this speaker. I was astonished at this thought, and it seemed backwards that one of our congregation's leaders was saying this. Aren't we, as Jews, supposed to be open to all thoughts and forms of speech? How come this time we shut our ears to what people had to say? You must see that I do understand people's points of view when it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli War and their extreme views, but I think it is unlike both groups to not want to negotiate with others. By picketing this speaker, we are closing ourselves to peaceful negotiations, and it seemed like a very duplistic idea of my faith.

Memoirs of a Jew: Part I

As a Jew in a world full of Christians, I have had lots of experiences that the average kid wouldn't. Since I am a minority, I have had different moments in which I have been proud to be such and moments when I have questioned my faith. The following series (Memoirs of a Jew) present different examples of when I have faced problems with my religion and others around me because of it.

Part of my high school's choir trip to New York this year included singing at a Lutheran Church's Sunday morning service.

As we all entered the church that morning in our long, green choir robes, a dark-haired woman at the door was handing us all new sheet music that we'd never seen before. It was three hymns to be sung in the service, and one was to be sung as we walked down the aisle and up to the balcony (where we were to sit for the rest of the service). So we lined up in single-order fashion and in the order of how we were supposed to sit in the balcony. I was right in front of Mike Sladek, and I thought since Mike was an All-State Chorus Member he would have known how to sing the opening hymn just by looking at the page. However, as we started proceeding down the aisle through the congregation of people, Mike was not only singing it correctly, he had it memorized! Then I realized that everyone else didn't need the music as well, even Jack Carson, the one-noted dumb-kid. So I quickly brought the music down to my side like everyone else, and just mouthed "watermelon" with no sound leaving my lips.

The inside of the church was even more striking than the outside. From our point of view in the balcony you could see the sun shining through the colorful stained-glass windows. One window depicted Mary caressing and holding the baby Jesus, and others showed scenes from the New Testament. The windows did not mean anything to me, except for that they were beautiful pieces of art that are not too common in this world. The Gothic church was also filled with fine and articulate architecture, and at the center of the ceiling all of the arches met and became one. There were also candles spread throughout the church, proving most effective at the front on the golden candelabras. This place was holy.

The wooden pews were also very holy. Rabbi Chesman once said, "If you are too comfortable in the House of God then you are being too greedy." As everyone was finished sitting down that Pasteur proceeded to the front, welcomed us, and asked everyone to rise. He began speaking and everyone followed him in what I later understood as being the Lord's Prayer. Everyone else in the choir knew it by heart, and I had never heard of such a thing ever before. I guess part of being in a new place is learning about other people, and by golly I was learning something new. Although everyone was saying something that I did not necessarily agree with, I wasn't offended and I didn't feel like I needed to substantiate my feelings at that moment. Let's say they came to my place of worship; I wouldn't want them to detest my culture. I would want them to be interested in my culture, and so that's how I decided to be with their culture.

During the next hour we went through the monotonous prayerbook (as all prayerbooks are) and sang the hymns that we prepared and the ones that were just given to us. As we began to sing the Handel pieces that we had rehearsed the church gave itself to us. The acoustics were awesome and at the end of each song a slight echo could be heard lingering above us. The music took over me several times while singing, and I often got the chills. I was "inspired with godly mirth," as Handel would've said it.

After our final song the Pasteur arose from his seat and began his sermon for the week. That day was the Sunday just after Easter Sunday, perhaps the most holy day for all Christians. My simple understanding of Easter is the day that commemorates Jesus' crucifixion. My knowledge does not go far beyond that, so I was hoping to learn much about Easter and Jesus from the sermon of the Pasteur. The Pasteur began by explaining how the Disciples were hiding away. They hid in broom closets for days he said, and they received food and water from other followers of Jesus. Then, he exclaimed these words that changed the whole experience for me: "They were hiding in fear of the Jews."

I sat up thinking that I heard something wrong, but then he said it again, "The fear of the Jews led them to this." The hair on my arms stood up and my backbones clenched as sweat began to fall down my face and drop onto my robe. I looked around to see other people's reactions, but everyone's expression was in melancholy boredom. I collapsed into the seat and put my head down. I wanted to walk out the door in fear that I would begin to cry out of awkwardness. I did not feel right being there, and I did not feel right that nobody realized what the man had just said. He said those blood-stained words again: "fear of the Jews," but this time all of the other words seemed fuzzy and blurred. I tried to stay positive, thinking that I should be intrigued by his sermon, but all I could think about was how uneasy I felt. Now I know that nobody in my choir despises me or fears me because I am Jewish, but for a moment or two, it felt like that.

After the service was over I immediately started telling people how awkward I felt, and I got varied responses from "Yeah, I thought about you when he said that," to "No I didn't hear that; I was asleep when he was talking," and to "Oh, I'm sorry." At the time I couldn't really verbalize my thoughts about that service, and I think people got sick of me complaining about my discomfort. Finally I realized how special that moment was. Although I've been through countless hours at Sunday school and have practiced my Hebrew for days on end in preparation for my Bar Mitzvah, this moment at the Lutheran Church defined me as a Jew. The moment at the church pointed me out as the only Jew, but it did not make me a less of a Jew at all.

The Activity of School

Although many other don't, I try to think of school as an extra-curricular activity that everyone is involved in. Like any other activity or sport, it tries to set you up for success later in life. If you do well in a sport you may be able to get paid to play, and if you do well in school you will be able to geta good degree and help people that way. Although each person does equally great work, I think that society praises one over another. Because I am just a junior in high school, I can only base this off of my own experiences instead of talking about adulthood or college years.

In high school, the people that are praised most often are people who are involved with other activites. They are praised by their teachers, administrators, and most of all, other students. Also, it's really easy to praise these people because their success is public. However, when students do really well in school, they often don't get the praise they deserve. They have worked just as hard as someone in show choir or basketball has, but the difference is it's harder to tell people that you did well in school. You see, since everybody participates in school, people who don't do as well feel bad when another does better than them. So if somebody wants to tell people about how well they did on a test, for example, they'll have to be ready for some angry people.

The (Anti-) Racism Symposium

Today at school I participated in a Racism Symposium, in which a bunch of students gathered together to discuss the problem of racism in our society, and even more specifically in our school. I thought it would be fitting to comment on it with the theme of my blog, especially the most recent entries. The Racism Symposium lasted about two and half hours, and there were three parts. For the first two parts we had speakers come in and talk to us about racism and such things.

Our first speaker was Dr. Chaichian, who was born and grew up in Iran, and then he moved to Iowa. His studies have focused on race and the biology that goes along with race. His job at the Symposium was not to sway our opinions about racism or preach to us. He was simply to present facts and evidence that we could either take with us or not. He made several very interesting points, and he seemed to be a very educated man. One of his finest arguments dealt with the difference between a non-racist and an anti-racist. He asked us to raise our hands if we thought we were a non-racist, and everyone raised their hands. However, when he explained to us the anti-racist meaning, only a few of us raised our hands because not all of us worked constantly to eradicate racism. I think he made a good point that all of us may be non-racist, but none of us actually constantly work at stopping racism.

Dr. Chaichian also pointed out that there is no such thing as race through various Powerpoint slides filled with valid points. He explained that race is only a perception of society, and that racism is only a way for one group to more superior than another. Both are absolutely true once they are thought about. His evidence dealt a great deal with biology and history. Dealing with biology, he noted that the Human Genome project found that every human is 99.9% identical to the next, proving that race should be a minimal matter. Even more significant, in my opinion, is the fact that humans' DNA is more different between people of the same race than between different races themselves! Thus, a black man is genetically more similar to a white man than he is to another black man. And if it has always been this way, how did society become so racist? Through our history. The white Europeans conquered all of Africa by the mid-1800s, thus showing that the white man was superior to the black man in that instance. And as a result of that occurrence, the white Europeans gained superiority over the Africans and that dominance was transferred into all of the colonies of Great Britain and other nations. Through America's history, it has been a constant battle for equality, and although we now have a racially and ethnically minor as a President, the equality is becoming less and less for minors. The classification of race is only a perception of society that we like to hold because it makes one group more superior to another.

There was a plethora of ideas discussed at the Racism Symposium (in the second and third parts as well), and I hope to examine these ideas in future blog entries.

Behind the Front

I always enjoy learning new things about people, and I like to learn about what people really are. In high school, I think what someone really is is hidden beneath layers and layers of personalities. Like someone having lots of coats on a cold day, you never know what the bottom layer is. A person is the same way if they are not themselves around everyone. I have discussed this idea in previous blogs, but now I would like to examine a different part of this thought.

As sophomoric as I am, I have still come to understand that people use many fronts to hide them true selves. People put on a front to gain a friend, to keep a friend, or to shy away an old friend. Sometimes your feelings are changed by someone else around you just because you want to be their friend (or not). For example, we all know that teens can be real "cliquey," as portrayed in various American popular films such as Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club, and (I hate to say it, but) High School Musical. So if someone wanted to be in someone else's circle of friends, they might change their own attitudes and views on certain things just to be accepted and to be that person's friend.

One type of subconscious front that is used among many people I know is talking like someone else- someone funny, perhaps someone from a movie or television show. It's an easy way to make people laugh and everyone knows of that reference. Also, it's a way to get rid of awkward situations. For example, let's say there is a situation in which you are extremely happy, but instead of saying "I am extremely happy!" you say "Groovy, baby," in reference to Austin Powers. In the latter, no one feels that they have to respond with their own exact feelings, and they can just laugh and be content. Quoting a movie or a show is an easy out to silence, and easy way out of awkwardness, and people use this out often. However, it seems that those people who cannot fully express themselves use this out in excess. It's hilarious when people quote funny characters, but it is obvious when people use this as a front to their own true feelings.

It's important to understand yourself and it's important to understand those whom you care about. Back to the coat analogy, as you get to know someone better and better, another layer comes off on that cold, winter day. You can get to the soul of a person just by getting to know them, but if there is an unnecessary front, no connection can be made.

One thing I am starting to make more time for is jump roping. It's something that makes me more healthy and is a great exercise, but for me, I don't think of it as work at all. It's just a really physical pasttime, and I'm really glad that I have found something that I enjoy that much that gets me off my tuches. I would work out more, but getting to the gym is nearly half the battle, and for me it takes a lot of energy (and now I'm going to try and do that more often too!). I think my passion for jump roping started a long time ago when I went to jump rope camp in the first grade. Now, the fire is still going when I innovate new tricks or see other jump rope teams do incredible moves. Here's a video I found while meandering Youtube one day:

The Norm

Lenin once said, "A lie told often enough becomes truth." Quite a bold statement I think, and although it was specifically pertaining to the Soviet Union at the time, the quote goes beyond that to all societies. When the government lies it is horrible, but when society is not honest with itself, all hell breaks loose. In my mind, society, and especially the high school society, is never honest. People are hardly honest with themselves and with other people. In school, people are always changing their personality it seems to fit in or be liked by a certain person. However, perhaps changing one's own character at certain moments is the only way society can function. If everyone in high school was honest with each other, there would be lots of fights and fiery arguments. The tension in the air would be so thick you could cut it with a knife (which is more than can be said for the food in the cafeteria). If kids our age say it how it is to every other person, only chaos would erupt, proving the third law of thermodynamics of increasing disorder to be true.

However wrong it is, lies are needed in our society. For example, let's say you ask someone else for an opinion on your essay that you've been writing for the past two months. If the person responds with only harsh and negative criticism, there will be some unruly feelings between you and the person you asked. Even if the paper was totally trash, the person would have to respond with "It's good," if anything, or else the writer could be crushed.

There are many lies in society about how things are. We, as high schoolers, have taken ideas and said that this is the way it is. I hate to sound cheesy with the words from the rather insipid "High School Musical," but many kids my age "stick to the status quo" (even using those words makes me feel uneasy). For example, in choir if your voice is strikingly different from everyone else's (or if it's not the same as others in your section), people may not like to listen to it as much, although it may have just as great features. This goes along with anything; if your style is different from others it may not be as accepted as those who have styles that are the norm. People like the norm because if you are "normal" it makes you feel good, and that is if you are like everyone else.

Although Lenin may have only been speaking to his government leaders, his idea reaches to nations everywhere. The norm is a very sketchy word, and it can be interpreted as many different ideas. However, if the norm is not honest, then people are not allowed to be honest. There should be no "norm," for it defines society as a stone with no leniency in actions or feelings. The norm is a lie told by everyone, and unfortunately it has become truth.

Faking to Become

"Category: Entertainment. $400 Answer: the reason why I watch Jeopardy. Question: What is it makes me feel smarter?"

During the summer, I like to make time to watch "Jeopardy" everyday. It is perhaps the best half hour of the day, snuggling into the couch with a Fresca and just shouting out "questions" to the television during the show. "The Volga," "Broadway Hits," and "Do You 'C' It (notice the quotation marks)" would be among my favorite categories to watch, but of course the "Jeopardy" questionnaires come up with much more riveting categories. The thing is, although I love to watch it, I myself am not very good at it. I perhaps question correctly three to five answers per game, out of the 61 possible. It seems I like to watch the game even though it could easily make me feel rather stupid and inferior to the people on the screen. For some reason it doesn’t.

One of the best feelings of accomplishment for me is gaining knowledge without praise. I like to learn things without people congratulating me on what I've learned. In such a case, I have done the effort and taken the initiative to learn, instead of it being required, as in school. However, my life thus far has been full of the opposite kinds of success, in which I try to learn something but I fail.

Before the epic flood in Cedar Rapids, I used to go to the Cedar Rapids Public Library about once every one or two months, and every time I went I spent at least two or three hours there, often hiding myself in books in the language section. Chinese, French, Arabic; I wanted to learn them all, and at the end of the day I had four or so more books all dealing with languages, often different languages. The day after I would flip through the books and maybe read the first chapter or so, but after that, the books just collected dust on my bedside shelf. I was kaput until I made my next trip to library and the whole thing would start over again.

I went to the library all those times and hardly finished a book I checked out. I was basically faking to become smarter. I wasn't knowledgeable at all before watching Jeopardy or going to the library, but by simply doing those things I felt that I was smarter, even if I had gained no true knowledge. Nonetheless, after time I did learn some things that I kept: the Greek alphabet, e.g. By pretending that I was smart I actually became smarter. It's like acting on a stage, by portraying the character so very thoroughly, you start to think about the ideas that the character represents, and you bring them into your own life. It is nearly the same with books and gameshows; by portraying an intelligent person I have brought some of that character into my own life.

You see, when I have learned something by actually reading the whole book, for example, it is the greatest feeling because I know that I have not faked my knowledge. I have put time and effort into learning it, instead of just flipping open the first page and pretending I know the book from the summary. Time and effort are much better than praise, no matter what.

Although there are a plethora of songs and lyrics that can inspire a person, the excitement and thrill one gets from Cirque du Soleil is like nothing else. Here is just one example of what a part of a Cirque du Soleil show looks like, and I'm sure you will be amazed.

Fix You

I would just like to comment on the lyrics of a song we are singing for our show choir this year. The song is called "Fix You" and it was written by Cold Play. The lyrics are like this (although they may be altered slightly because of our choir version).

When you try your best but you don't succeed,
When you get what you want but it's not what you need,
When you feel so tired but you just can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try,
To fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
If you never try you will never know
Just what you're worth
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down you face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down you face
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you


These words are so simply if you look at them from a nice cold eye, but when you look deeper, there is a meaning that is waiting to be unfolded. There is a meaning that everyone can relate to, but everyone relates to it differently. Originally, the song was written to a friend whose spouse just passed away. For me however, I think about my grandfather. There was a moment at his funeral that I couldn't control myself from tearing up. It was one of the most strong feelings I've ever felt in my whole entire life. At that moment, I was "stuck in reverse." My life couldn't go on until I had emoted and expressed my feelings. My grandfather also inspired me to learn from my mistakes, a key concept in Judaism as well.

"Papa" fixed me in many ways. He made me become a better person, and he had changed me for good. Only at that moment at his funeral I needed someone to be there for me and fix me. Although you may not understand, my grandfather was the one who helped me get through that moment, "high up above."

Finals!

I cannot believe that our final exams are nearly here. This term has gone by so quickly, when I look back at it, it hasn't seemed that long of a time. I guess all of the homework and projects haven't taken all that long to accomplish, and the projects weren't all that boring as well. I only hope that my unfocused attitude (about how much time is left in the term that is) does not come back and bite me in the butt when my final grades come out. There is only one class that I am not quite sure of gradwise at the present moment, and that is AP Language and Composition. I just don't know what is graded and what isn't, making me a little bit nervous. Hopefully it will all come together in the end as it usually does. I just have to make sure that the next term I start off strong and stay strong.

Obama!

"Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!" Perhaps the most inspiring words of the twenty-first century. If you are for Obama or McCain, you cannot say that this is not a historical moment in the world's history. The most powerful nation in the world has elected a black president. It is proven that our nation has finally reached the point where no black person can be told he or she cannot do something. Only forty years ago, this thought was uncomprehendable as many African Americans wre still harshly discriminated against. Only fifty years ago were blacks separated from others in their education and public places. During Obama's concession speech, he talked about a 106 year old black woman who voted on Tuesday. When she was born, there weren't even cars and then she voted on an electronic voting machine. Also, not only did black people not have the right to vote when she was born, but women as a whole didn't have the right to vote. Suffrage was a thing that only white men held, and today a black man is voted president.

However, it is important to understand that Obama was not elected because he was black alone. Most people didn't just go to the polls and say, "Hey, I think it would be great to have a black president." Although they may have thought this, most voted for Obama because he was great. For example, the state of Iowa has a 2% black population, and still, Obama won the state. People were able to look past the racial barrier, which is why this election was so great. A black person is just as equal as a white person. This is a wondrous statement, especially if it cannot be contested.

I think that our nation needed most at this moment was change, no matter what kind, as long as it was good change. I think that the McCain supporters will support Obama in the end, and I think that the Obama supporters would've supported McCain just as much in the end if McCain had won. We needed a new leader, someone who could make our lives better, and that was what that election was about. As it comes to Inauguration Day, we will come together as a nation and accept Obama as our President together. He is the President of all of us.

The Russian Festival in Kalamazoo

This past weekend, my mother and I traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan for the annual Russian Festival held at the university there. My grandma is the director of the festival so we have been to the festival many times before. I am very lucky to have such a grandma who still has so much energy at an older age and who is willing to give me so many opportunities to experience other cultures. At this festival, the theme was Russia looking towards the east and to the west, demoted by the double-headed eagle. The double-headed eagle was first used during the imperial times of Russia and then used once again after the fall of the Soviet Union.

To acknowledge the double-headed eagle, my grandma invited groups from other cultures to perform at the Russian festival. Thus, during the Friday night gala, a Chinese girls' dance group performed various ethnic dances and during the Saturday portion of the festival two Chinese men played ethnic instruments in a duet. Out of these I enjoyed most the musicians. One man played a flute-like instrument and the other man played a stringed instrument, perhaps it was a mandolin. Nonetheless, they made beautiful music and it was very different from the other types that were heard during the festival.

The most entertaining group that performed, however, was a Russian balalaika group from Komi Russia. There were three musicians in the group, two whom played a smaller balalaika and one who played a larger balalaika. A fourth had plans to come and play the bass balalaika, but he had trouble getting a visa to come to America. The group played all types of music, Rock n' Roll to classical Russian. They were very into their music and it seemed that they were enjoying themselves very much as they played. One of my favorites was their piece called, "Cuban Dance." Their playing was stylistically Cuban and during the song one man stopped for a bit to play the maracas and the claves.

I also enjoyed a Russian classical song in which one man stopped to play the saw and bow. Although it may sound quite ugly in words, the actual event was ambrosia to the ears. The sound was like a woman "ooing" and it was very smooth. I didn't even know that it was possible to play the saw, but after hearing it, it was something that I was yearning to hear more of.

Overall, the festival was very good. Each moment was entertaining and there were lots of people there to talk to. Also, the Russian lunch was quite tasty, and I had been waiting for such a meal since my trip to Russia this summer. I am always pleased to go to the Russian festival every year, and this year I did some volunteer work there. I hope that the festival will go on for long years to come.

The festival's website is http://russianfestival.org/

Writing Music

Writing music is a blessing. Creating beautiful is like nothing else in this world. One can compose something simple, complex, soft, striking, or etc. The limit does not exist. I enjoy writing music that has a musical feel to it. At the present moment, I am writing my own musical and it has to do with Hell. The gist of the plot is that a girl goes to Hell and she meets all these weird people there. It's a comedy and she encounters gangsters, whores, hard-core gamblers, fraud criminals among others. She doesn't feel comfortable at all in Hell, and the people that live in her apartment complex are barely friendly to her. She has to get food somehow, so she decides to work for the KGB officers there. Eventually, she discovers through her work at the office that someone in her area is not supposed to be in Hell. In the end, God summons the girl to her gates and the girl becomes the next God. God had sent her there as a test to see if she could survive "Hell-month."

So right now, I am trying to write music for this musical. It must be dark and innovative while some songs must be enlightening. I just hope that I can finish it in time so that the school can perform the musical. Also, I hope that by writing this musical I can produce something that changes people. I hope that the show can be like the show "Wicked" in some ways. "Wicked" takes simple ideas and turns them into great morals. This play has music that is innovative and is unlike most other genres. I hope I cannot recreate Wicked, but create something just as different as "Wicked."

Right now, my electric piano is broken, so it is very hard to write music. Thus, I am just using the computer program I have called "Sibelius." It is quite interesting to write music on as well because of its playback feature. All of the instruments play back as if someone was really playing that instrument. However, I must type in the notes if I want to hear them, instead of playing on the piano. Also, on the piano, I can experiment with chords to a greater degree, and I can do it much more efficiently. No matter what, writing music is something I wish I had more time to do and perfect, despite the mechanism by which I do it.

Bulgarian Voices

Perhaps one of the most intriguing types of music in the world is Bulgarian music. It is unlike any on earth. The voices of the Bulgarians are surreal and the choral music they make is quite untraditional, thereby establishing itself as a distinctly unique vocal anomaly. Perhaps it is their voices or perhaps it is the clashes their voices make with each other that make their music so enticing, so beautiful. Here is a performance of the Bulgarian State Women's Choir on the Johnny Carson show, obviously a while ago.



I'm sure you have heard nothing like that before, and I hope you understand how different their singing is. I particularly enjoy their first song, Ergen Dede. I believe it's about an old man who fools a young woman into loving him. I first heard the song done by the women's choir in my own school. It was a high school choir, and obviously all the girls who sang the song were Americans. After hearing this song for the first time sung by native Bulgarians, I was simply agog. My ears were shaken. Words cannot express their tone and their style, except that it is truly Bulgarian.

For me, after hearing this music, I feel rejuvenated. Actually, to this day watching that video makes me smile. The women singing the songs are so happy to be showing what Bulgarians are and how they are so unique. The women singing it have a certain pride that I am envious of. One time I even proclaimed, "If I were born as someone else, I would want to the large Bulgarian lady in the center who smiles while she sings." A silly remark it was, but it is also quite serious. If I could be in a choir that could make people happy every time they heard the music I would feel great.

I think it is important to study the music of different cultures, because it can spark in interest in yourself. Although Bulgarian music has done this for me, I believe that there are many other musical niches out there. Perhaps a native style of singing, or maybe a modern type is the kind that you can most relate to. Whatever it is, I would like to encourage my readers to learn about foreign types of music as well as domestic, because there may be something inside of you yearning to hear this.

The Power of Music

Music is one of the most powerful ways of conversion in all of the world. Everyone can listen and everyone can affected by it. Whether the music is religious or hateful, it can influence us greatly and it can make us feel things that we didn't know we could feel. There is something in all of our hearts that triggers at the sound of music. However, all of us are triggered by different types of music. Some teenagers may want to feel rebellious, so they shut others out of their world and subject themselves to music which they can relate to. At an opera, one would find lots of adult whose hearts beat faster at every note sung, yet would find no younger people who would cringe at such sounds. Nonetheless, the "emo" kids are just as influenced by listening to their hard rock as the old geezers are to the arias.

For me, I am changed by the perfect and realistic conjunction of lyrics, tune, and voice. The lyrics have to be changing themselves, either poetically or more straight forward. The tune has to be beautiful for me, because I am not changed by something that sounds ugly in the first place. Also, the singers who perform the music must also be inspiring themselves. They must be the music and they must feel the music. Besides that, the singers must be talented with their voices as well as their vocal presence. For some artists, you can tell how the singer is feeling at that moment just by the way that singer sounds.

Although there are many examples of this perfect conjunction, perhaps the most powerful is the song "The Prayer," sung by Andrea Boccelli and Celine Dion. While singing, each has a strong, confident presence. Also, the way they sing the words makes them sink into the hearts of the listeners. It's like falling into a cloud when listening to this song.



I'm sorry that the video is not of the best quality, but I hope that you can still understand how each of the singers but their souls into what they were singing. Andrea Boccelli himself is a blind man, yet he could see the words he was singing. This is a true masterpiece in my opinion, and the video doesn't give it justice. Although you may believe that this song is not a true masterpiece, I hope you do understand that music plays a powerful role in everyone's lives, despite the genre.

The Orthodox Church In Russia

Many people in Russia are very religious, and their religion is called Orthodox. The religion is a denomination of Christianity, and people worship in churches and cathedrals. Nearly all of the places of worship in Pushkin and St. Petersburg (and nearly all of Russia) are of Orthodox, and inside them one can find idols, paintings, and mosaics. Idols are pictures of saints, according to Russian Orthodox, often plated in gold. The saints include, for example, Nicolai II and his family, the Bogoroditsye (The Virgin Mary), St. Cyril, and Christ. There are idols standing all over the cathedrals and there are candles standing around the idol or in front of it. It is here where people pray to the idols by lighting a candle in front of the idol. By lighting a candle, there prayer can be put forth.

Different idols mean different things to people. For example, one of the "powers" of the Archangel Michael is that he can control water, rain, and waterfalls. So if there is a flood somewhere, people in that town may pray to him to stop the water. Also, many families often have a family idol, which is the idol that family prays to especially. It often brings a connection to families here. Individuals have many idols they pray to, and there are many different reasons one might pray to a certain idol, and many reasons why someone may pray to so many idols.

Although I am not Christian myself, I do believe that these idols in Russian churches are beautiful. When you walk into a church you are almost overwhelmed by their beauty. Also, the magnificence is often matched by its silence and holiness. It's quite a feeling, and just the religious fervor mkes me want to be more religious, of course in a much different way.

There are many cultural customs one must obey when entering an Orthodox Church. First of all, men cannot cover their heads, and women must cover their heads. This probably dates back to the very patriarchal times of Russia, and in my mind this tradition is quite archaic. However, it must be obeyed or you will be chastised. Second, nearly everything is done in silence, except for gatherings on Sunday and on holidays. It's a very quiet place because people are always worshipping.

Jabber Jaws

This term is one of the best to describe the character of people. It relates to so many, yet it can have a negative or positive connotation. Everybody knows someone who just keeps talking and talking and talking. After awhile, you just want that person to stop talking and rambling. For me, I met one of those persons today.

Today there was a meeting held at our house for my French class' trip to France this summer. I have never been before, and my parents had decided that this would probably be the cheapest price he would ever be offered to go to France. Also, he would be going with his friends and his teachers. So at the meeting, many of the parents of the students also came. The trip leader and my mother had decided that it would be good if we had some sort of fund raising before the trip, and that money would go towards the kids' fees. So to help get money, we would need parent participation, which is why many of the parents were there. One parent there is especially a jabber jaw. She couldn't shut up, and she had to give her opinion about every single subject we talked about. Whether it was raising money or what her son was to be seeing on the trip, her opinion seemed utmost important. She was quite annoying, and now when I think about a jabber jaw I think about her.

Nobody wants to be around a jabber jaw, especially when the jabbering is irrelevant to what is actually going on. Thankfully, this particular parent is not going on the trip, but I now realize that there are some jabber jaws who I'll have to live with. There are some people in this world that think that they are the most important people in the world, and they think that what they to have to say supercedes everyone else's reasoning and ideals. I hope that I am never like that in my life, and I am sorry if I have ever been like that. I think it is also important that I am always evaluating my ideals and my personality. The world changes all the time, so I believe that people must change also. Hopefully this means that jabber jaws will become less jabbery, and will become more friendly and conscientious. I wouldn't mind if a jabber jaw became a lockjaw, would you?

Monica! Monica!

When we visited Russia, we stayed with friends who had previously visited their friends in Belgium. Now, they didn't learn any Belgium during the visit except for one word, "Monica!" It's not a name, it's not a place. It's what their friends said when someone drove crazily. When someone was driving extrememly fast they would just shout out, "Monica! Monica!" They had no idea what it meant, but they found that after they had returned home they also began to say it when they drove. So when they my grandmother and I were passengers with them, we would hear this word many times in one trip.

In Russia, there are many car accidents because the driving rules are not as strict as America, let's say. Also, young drivers in Russia do not like to obey the existing rules very closely. Some people may just stop in the middle of the street, or sometimes may speed down the street in a rush of energy. Many drive drunk, not knowing the consequences. In any matter, drivers in Russia are pure crazies. Here's a video to show you one place where driving can get particularly wild.



Not only are there speedy drivers, but there are also lots of traffic jams in Russia, especially in the biggest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. When we were there we stayed in the town of Pushkin, which is very close to St. Petersburg, and for the past several years there have been many projects to try and eliminate the traffic jams by building freeways and such. Just several months ago they finished the highway that made a circle around Petersburg, connecting all of the cities around it. Lately, they have been working on a highway connecting just Pushkin to St. Petersburg. Although there has been lots and lots of construction, it is in my opinion that it has done hardly nothing for all of the traffic jams. Now, there are just a lot of people on the highways. Even though there aren't as many people driving on the smaller streets, the highway is still quicker despite the traffic jams. And as a result of all of the traffic jams, people drive even more insanely to try and get around them. Monica, monica!

To those who are planning to go to Russia, I would just like to say that you should probably expect some psychotic drivers and some traffic jams. Driving in Russia is so much mroe intense than it is in America, and it's basically a free-for-all, in which nearly all rules are allowed. Vladimir, the man we stayed with, however, says it is a great deal easier to drive here than in America with all of the arbitrary rules in America. He says that in Russia, driving is very safe as long as everyone is sane. However, everyone is not sane when the drive in Russia.

Dogs here, dogs there

One of the key differences between small-town Russia and small-town America is that Russia has lots of stray dogs. Some stray dogs meet you just outside the flat, while others meet you on the way to metro. Stray dogs are nearly everywhere. In America, there are hardly any. Why is this? My reasoning is that in Russia, stray dogs are taken care of by the people who often see them. For example, there is a dog that stays outside of the building where we stayed, and when people walk by him they would give him some food. In Russia, the dogs are friendly because many people are friendly to them. In America, everyone is scared of stray dogs. They think they are dangerous just because they don't have a true home. I must say that I was scared of stray dogs when I went to Russia, but after my trip I realized that those dogs would not touch me. It was a weird feeling to trust these dogs, but somehow I did.

It is often stressed in our culture that a stray dog needs a home. People think that dogs would be much happier living with a family who loves them. This is quite true, and I agree with this statement completely. However, this statement is only true if the family that adopts that dog truly gives love to the dog. In many cases, true care does not prevail for a dog that is adopted, in which living by itself in a pack would be a happier setting. In Russia, dogs living in packs works. Russians do not have large homes in which our dogs can roam and live freely. Many flats in Russia are very small because they are so expensive. They would be much happier living with other dogs and getting food from friendly people in the streets. Thus, stray dogs in Russia are very content are people friendly, unlike in America.

In America, however, stray dogs could come into conflict with the dogs who do have homes. No one can restrain a stray dog, and if someone here was walking their dog down the street and encountered a stray dog, conflict could easily erupt. Stray dogs are looked down upon here, which is why the stray dogs that do exist are unhappy. Also, dogs that have a human family are much more common in America because Americans often have larger homes than we do. Dogs have lots of luxuries in America, and Americans can afford taking care of a dog. So in the end, stray dogs are not a threat in Russia, just as home dogs are not a threat here.

"His hands were cut off before he built it"

Sunday. My grandma, Irina, and I were on our daily walk together. We walked out of Catherine's Palace through the victorian gated doors. Getting out onto the cobblestone street my grandma held onto my arm so that she wouldn't trip. As we looked up we saw the majesty of Catherine the Great, her five domed facade towering above us. It was perfectly gold, such that pictures in America do not give it justice. We love it here in Pushkin, with all of the palaces and such. We walked to the main street of Pushkin leading to the city hall. As we reached Malo Street we saw a horrendous looking building. The building was just plain ugly. The building was brick with concrete patches. It didn't fit the rest of the buildings of the town, not as quaint. Irina remarked, "They must have cut his hands off before he built it."

In Russia, they say this phrase to describe an ugly building. In the tsarist days of Russia, many beautiful palaces and cathedrals were constructed. These same places are sometimes the most remembered things about Russia: the domes, the mosaics, the architecture. In those days, however, all of the leaders in Russia were competing with other leaders in Russia and around the world. Each czar not only wanted to have the most beautiful palace in Russia, but also the most beautiful palace in the world! Thus, for such buildings as St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square and St. Isaac's Cathedral in Petersburg, it has been told that the czar in rule cut off the hands of the architect. The czar did not want the architect to build another cathedral with such creativity and beauty, so s/he cut off the architect's hands. No longer did the architect have a job, yet no longer could he create such a masterpiece as St. Basil's or St. Isaac's. However, he could create an ugly building, which is why they say that "his hands were cut off before he built it" to describe a place that is harsh to the eye.

Although you may think differently, Russians do know that they have been politically flip-flopped throughout our history. They have not always been an economically strong nation such as America and Britain. To them in the modern age, this inconsistency is rather comical because now they realize how irrational some of their leaders have been. This is just one example, and they embrace it.

"She is looking through pink sunglasses."

This phrase, "she (or he) is looking through pink sunglasses," is widely used in the mother country, Russia. The phrase itself brings in a good moral, but it also sheds light upon the attitudes of Russians towards their own lives. The phrase is said when someone is being too positive, too hopeful, or too carefree. They are seeing a pink world that is only of mirth. They look at everything going on around them, and they simply ignore the bad things and not caring about them. They aren't taking time to fix problems around them, assuming that others will fix the issue, either directly or indirectly.

In Russia, however, no one can look through pink sunglasses and live happily. No one can rely on luck alone for everything to be all right. Hard work must be done in order to achieve happiness. One must be diligent, conscientious, and goal-oriented in order to succeed. Problems must be recognized so that they can be fixed. When you look through pink sunglasses, you see no problems. If you don't see problems, you will face severe consequences.

All of us no someone like this, someone who "dances through life." We all no someone that didn't care about anything when they were younger, and then it came back to bite them in the bite, either physically, mentally, or socially. If someone just eats whatever they want to when they're young, they will be mad at themselves five, ten years later. Also, if someone doesn't work hard in school, they will soon realize that this was a wrong choice. No one can just walk through life; it takes hard work, even if you have lots of money. Let's say you were born into a well-off family. Although you can just use power and money to achieve things, all things in life do not have a pricetag, such as the love of friends and family.

Seeing through pink sunglasses can often be dangerous to yourself and the people who you influence. Although a president must be positive, he cannot look through pink sunglasses because he would bring no change to the society that he or she controls. A father cannot look through pink sunglasses because he would bring in no money for the family as a result of his poor working style. A schoolgirl cannot look through pink sunglasses, although she might have them, because she will not get a good education.

I hope you understand that this Russian phrase does not only deal with Russians. It should be a moral that everyone knows and lives by. Russia cannot look pink, but most importantly, the world cannot look pink.

Hello! I am Yehoshua! I hope you enjoy my blog!