how many times must a man look up / before he can see the sky?
You know, "Blowin' in the Wind" was one of the first songs I ever taught myself to play on the piano. Just the melody, I mean, not the proper way with chords and everything. But my dad had this thick book called Big '76 or something - (actually, AHA! Oh, the things you can find on the Internet if you look hard enough) - and I snatched it up and figured out all the individual notes to various songs ("Annie's Song," "Blowin' in the Wind," and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" are the three I remember the best), then proceeded to sit down and play them with little to no regard for how crap I'm sure my playing sounded. In addition to tunes from the '60s and the '70s - [THE era(s) for music, I'm beginning to believe], I had a whole litany of holiday songs I'd pound out whenever I thought it fitting that I should do so.
I should really look into taking lessons someday. I would love to be able to play properly.
I got lost in Wikipedia again tonight. (Yes, yes, I know, I know, but it's interesting stuff.) And, okay, first of all I want to say that I hate all this Generation X, Generation Y, Boomerang Generation crap. (I may completely contradict myself in a few minutes, so look out for that.) I think the reason I hate it is because I loathe the basic idea of categorization. You know, this need to fit people into neat little boxes based on some range of obscure to specific criteria. I hate it for the simple reason that it's extremely limiting. Also, it's too comfortable. Put a label on something and it becomes less foreign. Now you can name it, now you can identify it. You don't have to try to actually understand it and all its complexities.
Am I making sense? No? Good.
I suppose I have a "generation" in the sense that there are those who were born in the same year/decade as me, but we cannot be labelled as though we are one entity, reacting and responding to the ever-changing world around us in the same or even distinctly similar ways. At least, I like to think we go a little deeper than that, but who am I?
Well, I read quickly through the article on Hippies, and then the article on the Fourth Great Awakening, and after that I skimmed through the article on the Consciousness Revolution. (I realize what I should be doing is seeking out electronic journals from actual libraries if I'm interested in doing research on this stuff, but I'm not that serious about it just yet. That would require real time. And here I am using the term real to refer to a large amount, which isn't the proper usage of the word but language is more fun when you play with it anyway.) And, after going through all that, though I realize that not everyone was a hippie in the '60s and '70s, and that times were most definitely NOT all flowers and sunshine, the articles must have just sparked something in me because I can't help but find myself wondering if people - (and I speak primarily of young people in North America and parts of Western Europe, of course) - weren't more alive back then. I could be way off base, but I feel like the 21st Century has brought with it this huge sense of apathy. Obviously I don't mean to speak for anyone but myself; this is just a general feeling that I get quite often. And it's not like I should even talk, right? I've got the passion but not the action, the intention without much of the follow-through. Maybe there are other people like me, striving to look at the world with eyes wide open, but afraid to do anything beyond that, or even afraid to express a desire to do anything beyond that. (Then again, what does one do? Where does one begin?) Has caring and feeling and letting yourself go completely mad about something that makes you feel like you're going crackers and that you just might like the new sensation become uncool? Is it wrong to want more than just your standard nine-to-five job and a new cell phone with a camera and a television built into it? Are we becoming increasingly apathetic, for the most part, or am I being too much of a pessimist?
I often think that I feel too much. That I see too much in everything and give a crap about too many things that shouldn't mean anything. What I want to know is why and when I started thinking like that. Because it's wrong to think like that, and I've probably said so before but I'm not going to do it any more. If I ever get a classroom in this lifetime, I hope that I am able to get my students to at least begin to realize this themselves - that life isn't worth living if you don't open your eyes and ears and take it all in, if you don't actively question that which is set before you rather than blindly accepting it as absolute fact. If this seems to you like a grandiose goal to try to achieve with a group of ten to eleven year olds, stick around; I'm just getting started.
All that said, I think that it is entirely possible that I might be losing my mind. Is this what evolution feels like? I'm so uncharacteristically mellow - (no, believe me, I am) - and pensive and absolutely everywhere lately. I mean, I'm digging it, so perhaps I shouldn't ask questions. *laughs*
Even now I am embarrassed about posting all this crap. I feel like I should type, "Please don't read this, or if you read it please don't make fun of me for being an unenlightened idealistic fool," and oh, I just did, didn't I?
I've got to go to bed, but first I want to express my undying love for The Beatles' "Baby's in Black." This performance of it is particularly lovely. Love the little Lennon-McCartney dance that the OP mentions. Adorable times...a very large number.
And on that note, I bid you adieu, my friends.
I should really look into taking lessons someday. I would love to be able to play properly.
I got lost in Wikipedia again tonight. (Yes, yes, I know, I know, but it's interesting stuff.) And, okay, first of all I want to say that I hate all this Generation X, Generation Y, Boomerang Generation crap. (I may completely contradict myself in a few minutes, so look out for that.) I think the reason I hate it is because I loathe the basic idea of categorization. You know, this need to fit people into neat little boxes based on some range of obscure to specific criteria. I hate it for the simple reason that it's extremely limiting. Also, it's too comfortable. Put a label on something and it becomes less foreign. Now you can name it, now you can identify it. You don't have to try to actually understand it and all its complexities.
Am I making sense? No? Good.
I suppose I have a "generation" in the sense that there are those who were born in the same year/decade as me, but we cannot be labelled as though we are one entity, reacting and responding to the ever-changing world around us in the same or even distinctly similar ways. At least, I like to think we go a little deeper than that, but who am I?
Well, I read quickly through the article on Hippies, and then the article on the Fourth Great Awakening, and after that I skimmed through the article on the Consciousness Revolution. (I realize what I should be doing is seeking out electronic journals from actual libraries if I'm interested in doing research on this stuff, but I'm not that serious about it just yet. That would require real time. And here I am using the term real to refer to a large amount, which isn't the proper usage of the word but language is more fun when you play with it anyway.) And, after going through all that, though I realize that not everyone was a hippie in the '60s and '70s, and that times were most definitely NOT all flowers and sunshine, the articles must have just sparked something in me because I can't help but find myself wondering if people - (and I speak primarily of young people in North America and parts of Western Europe, of course) - weren't more alive back then. I could be way off base, but I feel like the 21st Century has brought with it this huge sense of apathy. Obviously I don't mean to speak for anyone but myself; this is just a general feeling that I get quite often. And it's not like I should even talk, right? I've got the passion but not the action, the intention without much of the follow-through. Maybe there are other people like me, striving to look at the world with eyes wide open, but afraid to do anything beyond that, or even afraid to express a desire to do anything beyond that. (Then again, what does one do? Where does one begin?) Has caring and feeling and letting yourself go completely mad about something that makes you feel like you're going crackers and that you just might like the new sensation become uncool? Is it wrong to want more than just your standard nine-to-five job and a new cell phone with a camera and a television built into it? Are we becoming increasingly apathetic, for the most part, or am I being too much of a pessimist?
I often think that I feel too much. That I see too much in everything and give a crap about too many things that shouldn't mean anything. What I want to know is why and when I started thinking like that. Because it's wrong to think like that, and I've probably said so before but I'm not going to do it any more. If I ever get a classroom in this lifetime, I hope that I am able to get my students to at least begin to realize this themselves - that life isn't worth living if you don't open your eyes and ears and take it all in, if you don't actively question that which is set before you rather than blindly accepting it as absolute fact. If this seems to you like a grandiose goal to try to achieve with a group of ten to eleven year olds, stick around; I'm just getting started.
All that said, I think that it is entirely possible that I might be losing my mind. Is this what evolution feels like? I'm so uncharacteristically mellow - (no, believe me, I am) - and pensive and absolutely everywhere lately. I mean, I'm digging it, so perhaps I shouldn't ask questions. *laughs*
Even now I am embarrassed about posting all this crap. I feel like I should type, "Please don't read this, or if you read it please don't make fun of me for being an unenlightened idealistic fool," and oh, I just did, didn't I?
I've got to go to bed, but first I want to express my undying love for The Beatles' "Baby's in Black." This performance of it is particularly lovely. Love the little Lennon-McCartney dance that the OP mentions. Adorable times...a very large number.
And on that note, I bid you adieu, my friends.