I made a trumpet to represent my two resilint people for our Resilience Cafe project and I will soon get a picture of it, but for now here is the art statement:
Jazz and Determination
My art piece represents the resilience of my mom, Peggy Newhouse, and Dizzy Gillespie, a famous jazz musician. The canvas used is a piece of wood cut out to be Gillespie’s signature trumpet. The reason it is tilted up is that one day, Dizzy left it lying on a chair, someone sat on it, and it bent. He blew in the horn, enjoyed the sound of it, and from then on, he had all of his trumpets custom made to be bent like this. The pictures on the quarter notes are that of my mom and of Dizzy Gillespie himself. Both her and Dizzy used their determination to accomplish their goals and become successful individuals.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Resilience Essay
Resilience Essay
Dizzy Gillespie and Peggy Newhouse
“Persistence pays big rewards.” –Peggy Newhouse. This quote stands true for both my wonderful mom, a hard working individual that I happen to be related to, and Dizzy Gillespie, a famous, innovative, and creative jazz musician. Gillespie’s music and how he came to make the music he did is an inspiration to all, and definitely inspired me. My mom is an inspiration every day, for not only is she a dedicated single mother, she is trying to find a job yet again.
A few years back, my mom was laid-off from a job she had worked at for 24 years with half a days notice. She was devastated and so was I, but she wasn’t down for long. She kept at it and tried to pick up our lives where they had left off by finding a new job. If the job she tried wasn’t right, she would move on to a new one, never giving up (she went through almost six jobs in about a year). While experiencing new work environments, she was mistreated by her opposite gender coworkers. She was paid a reasonable amount less than the men, while doing the same, if not more, amount of work. Still, she came out strong and fought for her rights and eventually was treated and paid the same as the men. Dizzy Gillespie also was discriminated against; being an African-American in the time period he was from.
“Bebop, rebop, bop!” –Dizzy Gillespie. He was a pioneer, an inventor, originator, whatever you call him; he founded one of the most popular types of jazz in his time: bebop. Dizzy Gillespie was an amazing trumpeter that played in various prominent swing artists, including Benny Carter and Charlie Barnet, but he wanted a new style of music. His response to the swing jazz he had been creating was to branch off and make a jazz with more upbeat rhythms and dissonant harmonies. His bandleader wanted him to stick to his roots, but instead, he played fanatical solos and put on a show for the audience. But Dizzy not only had to conquer discouragement, he had to deal with discrimination. He was only allowed to play in African-American only clubs, not allowing his sounds spread to a wider audience. Using his determination and resilience though, bebop became a hit and has lived on to influence a variety of jazz artists and their style. Not only has his life inspired musicians, but everyone else, too.
Both Dizzy and my mom inspire me to be a better person every day by teaching me to be an individual and to never give up. I am a musician myself, and Dizzy’s story helps me think of being myself when playing my instrument, and not to just play what everyone else does. My mom’s story has encouraged me so that whenever I am feeling down, I can think of her and be reminded that the problem will eventually be resolved and I shouldn’t worry. If I become successful, I would owe gratitude to people like my mom and Dizzy, for their legacies may (and probably will) affect mine.
I feel that it is important for me to use these people and people like them as role models. Continuing their legacies with honesty, hard work, persistence, and individuality, is a key to my legacy, for without these virtues, it would not be much of a legacy at all. I learned many life lessons from these two wonderful people, and for that, Peggy and Dizzy: thank you.
Dizzy Gillespie and Peggy Newhouse
“Persistence pays big rewards.” –Peggy Newhouse. This quote stands true for both my wonderful mom, a hard working individual that I happen to be related to, and Dizzy Gillespie, a famous, innovative, and creative jazz musician. Gillespie’s music and how he came to make the music he did is an inspiration to all, and definitely inspired me. My mom is an inspiration every day, for not only is she a dedicated single mother, she is trying to find a job yet again.
A few years back, my mom was laid-off from a job she had worked at for 24 years with half a days notice. She was devastated and so was I, but she wasn’t down for long. She kept at it and tried to pick up our lives where they had left off by finding a new job. If the job she tried wasn’t right, she would move on to a new one, never giving up (she went through almost six jobs in about a year). While experiencing new work environments, she was mistreated by her opposite gender coworkers. She was paid a reasonable amount less than the men, while doing the same, if not more, amount of work. Still, she came out strong and fought for her rights and eventually was treated and paid the same as the men. Dizzy Gillespie also was discriminated against; being an African-American in the time period he was from.
“Bebop, rebop, bop!” –Dizzy Gillespie. He was a pioneer, an inventor, originator, whatever you call him; he founded one of the most popular types of jazz in his time: bebop. Dizzy Gillespie was an amazing trumpeter that played in various prominent swing artists, including Benny Carter and Charlie Barnet, but he wanted a new style of music. His response to the swing jazz he had been creating was to branch off and make a jazz with more upbeat rhythms and dissonant harmonies. His bandleader wanted him to stick to his roots, but instead, he played fanatical solos and put on a show for the audience. But Dizzy not only had to conquer discouragement, he had to deal with discrimination. He was only allowed to play in African-American only clubs, not allowing his sounds spread to a wider audience. Using his determination and resilience though, bebop became a hit and has lived on to influence a variety of jazz artists and their style. Not only has his life inspired musicians, but everyone else, too.
Both Dizzy and my mom inspire me to be a better person every day by teaching me to be an individual and to never give up. I am a musician myself, and Dizzy’s story helps me think of being myself when playing my instrument, and not to just play what everyone else does. My mom’s story has encouraged me so that whenever I am feeling down, I can think of her and be reminded that the problem will eventually be resolved and I shouldn’t worry. If I become successful, I would owe gratitude to people like my mom and Dizzy, for their legacies may (and probably will) affect mine.
I feel that it is important for me to use these people and people like them as role models. Continuing their legacies with honesty, hard work, persistence, and individuality, is a key to my legacy, for without these virtues, it would not be much of a legacy at all. I learned many life lessons from these two wonderful people, and for that, Peggy and Dizzy: thank you.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Short Story
Here is some info about the short story that I wrote:
Title: 3100
Author: Elliott Newhouse
Genre: Adventure
Pages: 2
Mentor texts: One of my mentor texts was the preview for the movie "I Am Legend". The preview did not give very much information of what the movie was about, but the idea that it set of having almost nothing left in the world gave me ideas of what my story should be about. My other mentor text is Call of the Wild. I have never read this book, and don't really know what it's about, but one of my friends read the book for a book report and the idea of people having to live with only animals intrigued me.
Audience: The audience that I was aiming for when writing this story was people that find themselves living in a "world of nothingness" and that enjoy reading adventure stories.
Writing Process: My friend wrote the first sentence of the story (which has now changed completely from what his original sentence was) because I was unsure of what to write about, and he told me to continue the story from there. I basically just wrote whatever I thought sounded good on paper, and edited it as I went along. Through many drafts, my story eventually became what it is now.
Publishing Process: For publishing, I read my story one more time, made some last minute changes, and submitted it to the New Yorker magazine. I also made a cover, printed it out along with the story and put it in a book sleeve/folder.
Title: 3100
Author: Elliott Newhouse
Genre: Adventure
Pages: 2
Mentor texts: One of my mentor texts was the preview for the movie "I Am Legend". The preview did not give very much information of what the movie was about, but the idea that it set of having almost nothing left in the world gave me ideas of what my story should be about. My other mentor text is Call of the Wild. I have never read this book, and don't really know what it's about, but one of my friends read the book for a book report and the idea of people having to live with only animals intrigued me.
Audience: The audience that I was aiming for when writing this story was people that find themselves living in a "world of nothingness" and that enjoy reading adventure stories.
Writing Process: My friend wrote the first sentence of the story (which has now changed completely from what his original sentence was) because I was unsure of what to write about, and he told me to continue the story from there. I basically just wrote whatever I thought sounded good on paper, and edited it as I went along. Through many drafts, my story eventually became what it is now.
Publishing Process: For publishing, I read my story one more time, made some last minute changes, and submitted it to the New Yorker magazine. I also made a cover, printed it out along with the story and put it in a book sleeve/folder.
Friday, November 2, 2007
I was about to jump off of a ledge shaded by evergreen trees and the absence of sun, and then it happened. I did not notice it, but the shaded area was covered in ice that had not been melted by the morning sun. As I carved in what I suspected would be snow, my board slipped out from under me and I landed hard on my arms and helmet while skidding on a slightly sharp ice-coated region. It cut my arms (luckily not enough to hurt them very bad) and it took me about five minutes to recover, but I never tried going off that four and a half foot ridge again.
I feel very free and powerful when I am snow boarding. It is one of the things that I am almost naturally good at (I wave board, a two wheeled skate board, which helped me a lot) If I could never snowboard again I would be very upset. On the dark green, pine tree covered mountain when I am going down as fast as I can, I feel like I can do anything, like I can do all rails, jumps, and win races. I know I would probably loose most races against experienced boarders in a race and I don’t think I can do rails or harder jumps yet, because I have only been boarding half of a season. Yet the experience of fresh air blowing in my nose and my goggle/neck warmer covered face and the sound of the board scraping against the ice or the quieter sliding sound of carving on fresh snow makes me feel like I have been doing it for a long time.
If it weren’t for my cousin and my mom, I would have never even tried snowboarding. My mom made the decision to move to Colorado, which I thank her for. My cousin has been snow boarding for about four or five years and if he hadn’t been there to go make me try to go off some of the medium sized jumps (about 20-25 feet) and teach me how to ride, then I might have not even had a good querencia to write about. I am anxious for the next ski season to come around and I am looking forward to riding at a new place (Big Bear and Mammoth) in the California winters this year. One day I hope to become sponsored (not as a professional, but as a good snow boarder) and be the best rider that I can be.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Featurecast From the Past Reflection
Specific concepts learned:
1. I learned that the Battle of the Bulge was very important because it was the last German campaign and, so it was basically the ending battle of world war two. The battle also claimed the most lives out of all world war two battles.
2. I also learned that history affects people every day, especially people that were involved in history. I interveiwed a Battle of the Bulge veteran named Mr. Ahern and learned about how the battle affected his life and others.
Challenges:
It took a very long time for Mr. Ahern to respond the calls about doing the interview but we found back up veterans to interview just in case. We waited, then eventually he called us back.
Real World Significance:
History Repeats itself, so we study it to make sure that this does not happen and creating feature articles and podcasts is to spread the word of history.
1. I learned that the Battle of the Bulge was very important because it was the last German campaign and, so it was basically the ending battle of world war two. The battle also claimed the most lives out of all world war two battles.
2. I also learned that history affects people every day, especially people that were involved in history. I interveiwed a Battle of the Bulge veteran named Mr. Ahern and learned about how the battle affected his life and others.
Challenges:
It took a very long time for Mr. Ahern to respond the calls about doing the interview but we found back up veterans to interview just in case. We waited, then eventually he called us back.
Real World Significance:
History Repeats itself, so we study it to make sure that this does not happen and creating feature articles and podcasts is to spread the word of history.
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