February 23, 2007

Jazz Concert at the Renaissance Theater

Wednesday night, we had a jazz band concert at the Renaissance Theater that featured four jazz bands from Mansfield area schools. Our group, the Blue Flame Jazz Band performed Chuck Mangione's Children of Sanchez, Duke Ellington's Satin Doll, the original chart Function at the Junction, the standard Night Train, and featured our Sinatra vocalist on How deep is the Ocean? (How High is the Sky?).
The kids did a GREAT job.






February 19, 2007

Is Shakespeare Dead?

I have been a pretty avid fan of Shakespeare since I first saw Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet a number of years back. It helped me to dive head first into the text and find out what was really meant by "To be or not to be..." I have been a big fan ever since. My time has not allowed me to read all of the poems and plays, but I can say that I have been exposed to more than the average bear... read at least half of the plays,... made a trip to Stratford (Canada), have watched numerous film versions of the plays... so when I first heard about the controversy over whether or not William actually wrote the plays that are credited to him, I scoffed and thought, 'Whatever...' HOWEVER, I have been reading the article "Is Shakespeare Dead?" by Mark Twain, and major doubts have begun to rise in my mind... I know that more research has been done since the time S. Clemens, but he makes a tremendous case for William Shakespeare NOT being the writer of the plays and poems given his name. I have not finished reading it, but to summarize Twain, "I don't know if Francis Bacon wrote the works, but William Shakespeare certainly did not..." not my own 'authoritative' opinion, but one that has considerable merit after reading the article by Mark Twain. Even though it is a bit long, if you are interested, you should take the time to read it...

The finish line inches closer...

Wow. So I just finished my oral comprehensive final for my Master's Degree... and passed. But I am unsure by how much... I guess that when it is pass/fail, there is no percentage that you pass by, but I sure feel like my feet were held to the fire for a solid hour... I have never felt so scrutinized in my professional career... I must have pretty thin skin... maybe I am too close to it (only ended about three hours ago), but I still feel really uncomfortable... glad to have it over and be moving on toward the finish line. I still have to complete a course this semester (as well as a 15 page research paper), but at least mentally it is good to know that I am done with this MAJOR part...

February 17, 2007

Phase II

Well, the oral comprehensive final is on Monday for my Master's Degree... I'd appreciate your prayers... it is only an hour (compared with the four hour written), but it is still important...

February 03, 2007

Ah, Thai (tie?) humor...

Part of me still wonders what I was thinking... but I just kept my eyes glued on the boa's head... not that I could have stopped him (her?) if I wanted to...

February 02, 2007

Words that speak for themselves...

"My mother was always afraid that I would overwork myself, but I never did." - Mark Twain