http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/632753
But let me rephrase, if knowing something as little as how to pluck "Old Black Joe" or the "Ode to Newfoundland" even counts in your books. Either way, where I probably get my love for strings is in some way connected to the fact that I like jazz music. I think I'm just drawn to its rich low tones and overall, deep quality.

Though what so inspired me about Lesa Terry in this workshop- "Women in music" or along that line- I cannot easily pin down for you. All I know is that out of all the people in the room she really stood out as being strong and grounded. Maybe it was in part her African inspired jewellry. Maybe it was in part the way her pleasant expression remained consistent. Maybe it was my feeling of connection with the Southern American states and the African-American fiction I've always preferred. One can just aspire to have this kind of presence in in a room- in life.

She talked about the importance of integrity and this is exactly what I saw shine through her that day. She was so composed and her lecture inspired me more than I ever would have expected.

I don't know what music you like, but I know now when I catch myself listening to the violin music of Lesa Terry it is ultimately strengthening and mentally refreshing. It's so easy to let life pass without reflection, but when you look behind you, there's a lot more there that you probably wouldn't just subconciously register. I believe to have experiences that offset such rich connotations in the mind is what life is about. So please go make a memory if you get anything from this post at all.

If you may be interested in violin music or inspiring indiviuals, here is the official site of one (at least in my opinion)- violinist, composer, artistic director, educator (UCLA), and scholar- Lesa Terry: http://www.lesaterry.com/


- Crystal G. Walters ]]> Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:21:00 EDT http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/632753 47.55 -52.666666747.55-52.6666667 http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/630855
This lyric, I would guess, may provoke those of you who have heard it, too? Not only is it the absence of the -s plural dancer which pulls against our lingustic expectation, it is, at least in my experience, the vocalist's parallel of human with dancer, as if it is natural association, a mutual complementary. Do you wonder if "dancer" in its application is not meant as an implication of any of our traditional assumptions with dancer? Possibly it is meant to evoke the dance quality of a day. The idea that life beats, moves, but yet has some recognizable pattern. And for all of us.

I'm not about to publically decide whether or not I am human / dancer, both of them or some intermediate "third" space in-between or outside of them both (for possible literary scholars no need to quote one or another critical theorist here. Well, okay, since it's you: Homi Bhabha, James Clifford, Frantz Fanon.). Whatever you are in your separate culture or lifestyle, whether you consider yourself human, alien or black / white, man / woman. Whatever the categorical assumptions that society has imposed upon you and however much you accept or fight against them. I, too, as a student of literature / language have gotten the label- sometimes an obvious compliment, othertimes its whatever you decide. I have the following writer labels (mainly from professors), in decending order of frequency: "sophisticated" (approx. 12 times), "idiosyncratic" (approx. 7 times) and less frequently "polysyllabic" and "deconstructionist" (for literary scholars, yes, I'm even fine with this; if I may relate, I'm a fan of Derrida. To me his ins and outs, ups and down, all of the above, and none of the above; whatever binaries he reverses, stuff he takes apart only to put back together is something we have all done if ever we have given ourselves the opportunity to play with the possibilities of language, outside of a prescribed rhetoric). I never let labels limit me. Its your choice to let words limit, encourage or whatever else they would do or not do. Whatever your lot in life, I hope music has the ability to move you.

The "Universal Language" which linguists have set out since the 60's to discover and reconstruct off the assumption of a proto-world possibility, though it probably has existed (see biblical accounts of "Babel") is unlikely today. We are a culture of change and variation. Language exemplifies this; words will always bridge us. We will never be the same as those who don't speak our language. No matter what those who know the language first (L1) have the innate potential of going further into thought in that language. Let them do so. We can't all be the same. It would be a boring day, the day they put up a case for the implementation of a shared world discourse.

I like the idea of music as the "Universal Language." Language without phonemes, morphemes, sememes, and whatever -memes that remain inert to our language but are so discreet and minute for our human eyes yet to discover. Whatever the components of language, music is on a different level. It has a fundamental unifying property which the other world languages lack. If your wondering what this is, maybe start by asking yourself, what would a lyric be without sound? In a juxtaposition of the sense of hearing with vision, in the mind / sound connection of words, does the activation of more than one sense produce greater pleasure as well as understanding? You can decide. I think we as a world culture need the movement of sound without letter codes. Without specific signifiers attached. The signifiers are there for you to mold and shape to your heart's desire. There is no one meaning. Different people create different meanings. If I say "apple" or "beauty" you have an idea of what that word connotes / dennotes. Specifically, your own. Or if not your own, one that has been prescribed to you by the dictionary. However, ultimately the way you read words and the significance each word holds for you is entirely yours. At least you can never get inside the mind of another to watch what strings and latches that pull and push upon other words (lexical content) or nothing at all (if the word is entirely new to you) in the connections and operations that are a part of the interpretation of the word.

Differences make us relational. How many of would enjoy talking to themselves 24 / 7, 7 days a week? I venture to hope none of us. Though in reality we're invariably going to get the exception; those who prefer to look in the mirror. It is important to remember that they have no bearing on what we do. They are the ones looking in the mirror at their declining reflection. Stripped of the power of association. Here the words of the popular Beatles lyric may apply: "Let it be".

Whatever the case, it is the beauty of different cultures and different faces which unites us. The only way we may gain the full benefit of these distinctions that have been so beautifully given at the outset of life is if we embrace their potential.

Every day is as different as you make it. Everyone is responsible for making their own change. Chose a different flavor instead of sticking with the safe, similar one.

I'm sure some of the ideas I express here have or have not been spoken by others in different ways, better or worst ways, maybe at another time or place, or maybe will or will not be spoken. One way or the other.

I hope you will enjoy the quote I chose to insert here:

"You’ve gotta let me know
are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer
are we human
or are we dancer"

Haha, No scholarly quotations, for the scholarly. But, I digress. They are in their way- in someone's way- scholarly.

The Bottom Line is that it doesn't matter what you are. Cuture. Race. Etnicity. These are words. You choose what your definition is. Whatever society attempts to inscribe on you like a tattoo; the voice in your ear "Come be another carbon copy. Take our tattoo." Then the more upfront "We come with the desire to mutilate your body, let the ink of prescribed words flood your viens". You become monotony incarnate. Socially prescribed, linear voice poisons you; all the possibility. You know what's real. So please be thankful to God. I put in a special prayer for those at the head of our education systems and in our classrooms in our respective countries, to those shaping the minds of the future, that God would give them the wisdom to be open to variation and that they would not try to coerce students to agree with their personal philosophies and opinions. Instead I hope that they will cultivate a classroom of openness and appreciation for differences. I think one of the biggest flaws of us all is the failure to daily be thankful for what we have and the blessings of life.

Thus I'm just one voice among many of us staking out a place in which to speak or be silent. Whatever you, me, we, choose to do. It's undeniable that music has a special ability of connecting our many voices and strengthening our sense of universal experience. No matter where in the world you may be, what song you sing, what beat moves you, remember the same song that has the potential to move and provoke you, me, we, in spritely, vibrant chorus or whatever the multiplicity of ways and directions in which our separate mind/ body finds interpretation for it; the music remains part of us. It becomes us. It is us. Word... Words...Voice...Variety... Excetera. You decide. I will too.

Currently playing on my radio is Beyonce: "Feels like I've been awakened. Every rule I had you breakin'. The risk that I'm takin'. I'm never gonna shut you out..."


-Crystal G. Walters ]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:41:00 EDT http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/630855 47.55 -52.666666747.55-52.6666667 http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/592527 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:46:00 EST http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/592527 47.55 -52.666666747.55-52.6666667 http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/488195 ]]> Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:57:00 EDT http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/488195 47.55 -52.666666747.55-52.6666667 http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/477881 Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:04:00 EDT http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/477881 47.55 -52.666666747.55-52.6666667 http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/477155 The Agape home is an orphanage designed to support and encourage the healthy development and progress of children suffering with HIV and /or AIDS in Thailand. The home itself is located in Chaing Mai and run by Canadian(Newfoundland)-born founders, Roy and Avis Rideout. It currently boasts a staff made up of both international volunteers and Thailand natives. If you would like to learn more, are looking for ideas on how you can help or are interested in an international volunteering experience in Thailand, please visit http://nikkisproject.blogspot.com/











Photos: Joshua Rideout ]]> Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:01:00 EDT http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/477155 47.55 -52.666666747.55-52.6666667 http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/376535 ]]> Fri, 23 May 2008 22:24:00 EDT http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/376535 47.55 -52.666666747.55-52.6666667 http://CrystalgWalters.tigblog.org/post/372965

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