check out my “hero movie” page!
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NOTE: My hero movie in actuality only has background music. This is what the soundtrack would be had I put one in. Birth: The only thing I could really come up with for this stage was “O Canada” since that’s where I was born. I found a really cool a cappella arrangement of it on YouTube, anyway, so here it is Lyrics: World: This seems to be a fairly popular song choice for the hero journey, but “Wild Horses” by Natasha Bedingfield just fits so well. It perfectly symbolizes wanting to break free of the constraints that, at one point, we didn’t even know were there. Lyrics are in the video: Call: For this stage, I picked a song called “Your Cosmos Cavalier” by Wild Mercy (one of the bands Mrs. Midkiff is in Riding off the rim to where the systems scatter, Shine like a comet’s hair, rise like a solar flare–flee what you presage. Gradual as a glacier or as vague as vapor, Time and distance topple like two pillars breaking, Errant menagerie, blue world your hatchery, jailed but persistent… Cubs wander from the den, five thousand years or ten, Part the veil of distance in a gentle rending Whether dreamt or ever done, this visitation– Belly of the Whale: I think the song “Blackbird” (originally by the Beatles, but the version I’m going to share is by Evan Rachel Wood from “Across the Universe”) symbolizes this stage very well. The Belly is a dark time, and the lyrics to this song mention the dark and the dead of night many times. It also encourages you to rise up out of the belly and continue on your journey. Supernatural Aid: I find the song “For Good” from the musical “Wicked” to fit very well with the Supernatural Aid stage. The song talks about how everyone you meet is in your life for a reason, and you are changed because you have known them. As the song says, “…we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return.” (Also, Missy and I sang this for Cabaret freshman year, so it definitely brings back good memories of that as well.) Road of Trials: I chose the song “Corner of the Sky” from the musical “Pippin” for a couple reasons: the lyrics fit very, very well (i.e. “I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free; gotta find my corner of the sky…Every man has his daydreams, every man has his goals. People like the way dreams have of sticking to the soul,”). Pippin knows he’s on his journey; he’s just having trouble reaching his apotheosis. (On another note, this was also my first solo in a Brebeuf choir concert.) Anway, I couldn’t find a video version I liked, so I uploaded it from one of my CDs….sorry about that. Again, just right-click on the link so you can open it in a new window and still stay on this page… Lyrics: Rivers belong where they can ramble Every man has his daydreams Rivers belong where they can ramble And maybe some misty day you’ll Rivers belong where they can ramble Apotheosis: For this stage, I chose the song “So Small” by Carrie Underwood. The line that really connects with my apotheosis is “…what you’ve been out there searching for forever is in your hands.” I’d been taught to believe my whole life; I just had to discover it for myself before it could truly be a part of me. The rest of the song doesn’t exactly connect to that specific apotheosis, but I’m sure it will connect to future events in my life. Lyrics: What you got if you ain’t got love ‘Cause sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing is just a grain of sand It’s so easy to get lost inside Sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing is just a grain of sand Sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing is just a grain of sand Yeah, Yeah Boon: Not to be cheap or anything, but honestly, I feel like “When You Believe” is my “boon song” as well, at least relating to my specific boon. I couldn’t find any other song that related to my personal boon quite as strongly as this one. The Hebrew parts in the song talk about the glory of God, which certainly relates to my apotheosis and boon. The song also talks about faith, which to me is my boon. I don’t want to give anything else away (you gotta watch my movie for more!), but I’d have to agree with Ms. Haffley’s choice of song for this stage and steal it for myself Lyrics: [Miriam]: Now we are not afraid There can be miracles Who knows what miracles [Tzipporah]: Yet now I’m standing here [Miriam and Tzipporah]: [Hebrew Children]: A-shi-ra la-do-nai ga-oh ga-ah A-shi-ra la-do-nai ga-oh ga-ah Mi-cha-mo-cha ba-elim adonai Mi-ka-mo-cha ne-dar- ba-ko-desh Na-chi-tah v’-chas-d’-cha am zu ga-al-ta Na-chi-tah v’-chas-d’-cha am zu ga-al-ta A-shi-ra, a-shi-ra, a-shi-ra… A-shi-ra la-do-nai ga-oh ga-ah [Hebrews]: You can achieve [Miriam and Tzipporah]:
My parents, sister and I went on a college visit road trip to Amherst College (western Mass.), Brandeis University (just outside Boston) and McGill University (Montreal!). They’re all really different, but I liked them all. Amherst is itself a small school (1600 people), but there are 4 other colleges in the immediate area, so it feels bigger and the town totally caters to college kids. There are some great bookstores, and my family went to this restaurant called Judie’s twice because we loved it so much (breaded French fries-worst thing for your body, but so delicious!). The dorms at Amherst were HUGE! The campus was gorgeous (lots of pretty colonial-style buildings) and classes there are guaranteed to be small and discussion-based (even if only 1 person signs up for a class, it’ll still exist as a class for that one person!) The one downside for me was that even though about 20% of the Amherst kids are Jewish, their Hillel (international organization that exists on pretty much all college campuses; each Hillel is like an umbrella organization for Jewish kids on campus that organizes services and dinners on Shabbbat and other holidays, social events, etc.) was really, really weak. Only about 20 0f the 400-some Jewish kids come to the Shabbat dinners; if I wanted a big Jewish event, I would have to go to UMass-Amherst (pretty much their IU) on the other side of town. Brandeis’ Jewish life was the total opposite of Amherst’s: they pretty well throw it at you, and I thought that was awesome. They don’t have classes on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur, and their spring break is always on Passover (good to see family, not so much high school friends…). Brandeis only has about 3000 students, and half of them are Jewish. The proximity to Boston is really exciting; it’s a great city that would be so much fun to go to on the weekends. The dorm room we saw was really small and frankly disgusting, but one of the sophomore dorms is a castle! Apparently the architect didn’t know what he was doing, so there are doors to nowhere, windows with no rooms behind them, secret passages…that would be so fun to live in! McGill was, in a word, fantastic. I LOVE Montreal (the first morning we were there, we shopped; Canada is great because it has all the great stores we have here in the U.S. plus even more fabulous shopping! At a store called Les Ailes de la Mode, I found my prom dress!). I love the mix between French and English you find absolutely everywhere. The food we had was fabulous; the city’s famed smoked meat, croissants, pains au chocolat (basically chocolate-filled croissant that I had warmed up-delicious!) and even more. The city has such a cool mix of old and new buildings: downtown is very modern, but Montreal’s Old City is absolutely beautiful, even in the rain. McGill’s architecture is like the city’s; gorgeous old buildings stand next to hi-tech towers. My second cousin Abbie is a freshman at McGill now, so she took me with her to her “Contemporary Moral Issues” class and to see her dorm. She has a pretty nice-sized single. One of McGill’s dorms was actually recently converted from a hotel, and from the pictures I’ve seen, it’s beautiful. (Most students actually only live on campus for their first year; after that, they move in off-campus apartments, mostly in what has become known as the McGill Ghetto because so many McGill kids live there.) McGill’s Jewish life is fantastic as well. The school is also VERY international: our tour guide was from Brooklyn, and there were families from Seattle, Vancouver (opposite side of Canada from Quebec), and even Colombia and South Africa! Since I’m Canadian, I get to pay the tuition that a Canadian resident would, which is a LOT less expensive than any U.S. school. The one sort-of downside is that for the first two years, your classes are pretty well guaranteed to have at least 100 people in each (the school has about 22,000 students), so you don’t really get to know the professors terribly well. But, if I do end up at McGill, I’ll have Abbie there for the first two years to help me out if I need it. After McGill, we stopped in Toronto for a night and stayed with my mom’s best friend from college (who also happens to be married to my dad’s second cousin…long story). That night happened to be her son Ely’s tenth birthday party, so two other families were over. We had a lot of fun; I love hearing my parents and their friends reminisce about their college days at the University of Toronto and other schools in the area. We were going to visit the University of Western Ontario, but everyone at the birthday dinner said that they couldn’t see me there (all the kids from Toronto come with their cliques and stay in them) so we decided to go visit my 98-year-old great-grandma instead. I’m so glad we did that; Bubbie Jean is amazing. Even though she’s 98, she hasn’t lost any of her mental faculties at all. She knows everything about everyone; my cousin and I refer to her as “the family Facebook.” After seeing her, we drove home. To all of you who didn’t go to the dance marathon last night: you totally missed out. It was fantastically fun, so much more than I thought it would be. It was another one of those nights when the air was literally electric with spirit and unity. Everyone danced with exuberance for just being alive; it was awesome. Of course, there was more than just free-dancing: we played games like Hook Tag, Tug-o-War and Dodgeball; we made handprint cards for the Riley kids; the dance teams, step team and an unnamed band made up of Lyndsey Brown, Christina Cardenas, Lucy Drew and Audrey Stewart (?) performed (and were actually really good); and we learned the amazing psuedo-line dance. The best part for me was the very end: instead of the grade that raised the most money getting sweatpants day, everyone does (though when I asked Mrs. Turner at the end of the night when it would be, she didn’t know), and though our original goal money-wise was $5000, we raised $10, 252.01!! That’s 200 or so students donating more than double our goal. At Carmel’s Dance Marathon, they raised $6000, and I’m assuming since they have a 4000-kid student body, they probably had more kids at their Dance Marathon than we did. Brebeuf Jesuit Dance Marathon-For the Kids!! Alright, I’ll admit it. I did not sit down and pick out exactly what qualities to look for; as soon as we got the assignment, I decided I wanted to look for all of them, even the ones I might not necessarily need as much. I guess I was subconsciously thinking that there’s always room for improvement? Or that I want to be as “well-prepared” as possible? I don’t know. Anyway, even though I didn’t consciously pay attention to what exact qualities I wanted to get, the order in which I received them is pretty funny. The first talisman I received represented Strength. When it comes to physical strength, I know most people don’t think of me, BUT I just got my red belt in Tae Kwon Do. I’m not as wimpy as I look When I first saw the previews for the new ABC show “Castle,” I immediately wanted to see it for one reason and one reason only: Nathan Fillion. He plays the title character, Rick Castle, and he also played Mal Reynolds on the old/cancelled Fox show “Firefly” (that’s a whole different topic/post…suffice it to say that I adore “Firefly” [thank you, Mrs. Midkiff] so I love to see that the actors from it are still successful even though it only lasted one season…*tear*.) Anyway, I couldn’t watch it the night it premiered because on weekdays I’m technically supposed to be up in my room by 10, which is when the show starts. So, I tried to watch it tonight on abc.com. Of course, my computer just had to start being stupid and start delaying the sound by a good five seconds. I probably got through about five minutes of the show until I got sick of my computer and its stupidity. That, however, was long enough to find out that Rick Castle has a daughter named Alexis. She’s played by…you guessed it, Molly Quinn. What I wouldn’t give to play Nathan Fillion’s daughter! I want to be her… :{ UPDATE: Computer started working; finished watching. GREAT show! Highly recommended I couldn’t really think of anything else to write about this week, so I decided to share what some of you already know: I’m going to Brest, France with IU Honors this summer! I seriously can’t wait; I’ve recently become Facebook-friends with some of the non-Brebeuf kids that will be going with me, I’ve started looking up French music (for which I’m glad, because apparently we aren’t going to be allowed English music on our iPods…music switch, here I come), and I’m randomly speaking French in daily conversation more often (especially when I’m tired; for some reason, my first instinct when I’m tired is to speak in French rather than English…). I’m especially excited for the excursions to Versailles and Paris, especially because in Paris we’ll have some time just to walk around in groups of friends (without adult chaperones, I’m pretty sure)…I can’t wait!!! 93 days!! In my position paper, I call for the institution of PRT Power Nap Sessions. One of my pieces of evidence is the success of the “Power Nap Club” at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut. The club gives students some time to sleep, but it also teaches them relaxation techniques which help them manage their busy lives. One of my claims goes like this: “Greenwich High School is much like Brebeuf: students feel pressured to do everything and to do it all well.” Would you guys agree with this statement? Why? (Please say yes; I need evidence! This past weekend, I went on the Brebeuf Dad’s Club annual trip to Chicago. It’s become somewhat of a tradition for me, my dad, and this year my sister to go see a show Saturday afternoon. Last year we saw “Wicked,” and this year we saw “Jersey Boys.” “Jersey Boys” is about the famous Frankie Valli and his band, the Four Seasons (they made it big in the ’60s, for those of you who haven’t heard of them). They are all, of course, originally from New Jersey. As the play is about the band’s rise to fame, all the songs are obviously actual hit songs of theirs. The play was SO much better than I’d expected! I’m definitely not surprised that it won “Best Musical” at the 2006 Tony Awards. My favorite song was “Oh, What A Night!” (hence the title of this post). I loved it so much, I just had to share a video. Recently, I’ve come up with quite a list of movies that I haven’t seen in forever that I’d love to watch again. They include: -Monty Python and the Holy Grail Any suggestions of other movies to watch? |
). The lyrics fit the song so incredibly well. At first, it may seem like they’re describing a hero’s feelings after he has accepted his call, but the line that does it for me is “If you dare to risk your ruin and remaking, behold your cosmos, cavalier.” That line truly is a summons to the hero journey. Obviously, this song does not have a music video, so I will have to upload it as an audio file; just be sure to right-click it so you can open the file in a new window and you won’t navigate away from this page/the lyrics.
. Anyway, I would say that I’m mentally strong as well. Once I stick to a belief, it’s pretty hard to get me to let go of it.
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