Jacquelyn's Space

It was a good day. I did my monologue for acting class. I did pretty good. I was sooo nervous but I used it. It came out all right. I could have done a little better, I think – made it a little more animated. Well anyway that is done. My professor said I did a good job and that I have a good story telling voice. I really do miss performing. I am going to get back into it.  I signed up for a bit part in The Flint City Theatre’s production of "Titus". It should be interesting.

Psych class was interesting – all about anxiety. I love talking about psychology and all the diseases, treatments, and schools of thought. I wish I could get some one on one time with Dr. McCain – I have a million questions for her. It is like I want to go to counseling just to talk about becoming/being a counselor. Yeah, biweekly would be nice. I wish I could just concentrate on psychology sometimes. Well that and also performing (acting, singing, band). In fact, if I get admitted to U of M Flint, I am going to see if I can double major, Psych and Theatre Performance. I think it might be too much, though.

Math – the bane of my existence! Well not really, but I had a test today. We had a ton of homework for that class this past week-end. I got it all done but it took me away from the stuff I really want to concentrate on. As far as math goes, this is a pretty good class. The teacher is awesome. She gives you a study guide (which has the same kind of problems as the test) the class before the test, then if most of the class does the study guide she will work all the peoblems out on the board right before the test. It is a great way to cement what we have learned. I think I did pretty good on the test.

2 more to go…

I have a psych test on Wednesday. I am going to study my ass off and hopefully get an A. It is the essay questions that kick my ass. 

And I have a paper and presentation due Friday for Reading Pop Culture – the class I am not fond of. I have been dragging my feet in this assignment. I need some divine inspiration for this!

Once I get that stuff done – at the end of this week then it is SPRING BREAK!! WOOHOO!!

 

 

What to do?

What to do when you have a stepson who’s mother does not always give the best advice? My stepson (he plays the trombone) has a band competition tomorrow. Last week, his band teacher asked all the parents to make sure the kids were bringing their instruments home and practicing outside of school. Well my stepson brought his instrument home from school yesterday but did not have his music. I asked him about it and he said that he was not going to practice – his mother told him that there was such a thing as practicing too much, and that if he practiced too much, he may freeze up at the performance. I was flabbergasted! I have never heard that logic before. At least not in matters of playing an instrument. Let me tell you, I was in band and also play the trombone, and I have never practiced so much that I froze up at a performance. Quite the contrary in fact. The more you practice the more comfortable you are. I think in some things you can be too rehearsed, like for a speech, and your delivery may come off as too monotone but I don’t think any teacher or many music performers are going to tell you not to practice.

I asked my stepson if he asked his band teacher about it. He said no, so I asked him what did he think his teacher would say about that – he kind of waffled on that. I think he knew what his teacher would say, he just did not want to practice.

I just think his mother is crazy. This is the same woman who a week ago was telling us to curtail our parenting time to make sure our son was able to participate in all his activities. She is afraid that we will keep him from band activities (track also, and social life) and therefore he will not have the opportunity to get a scholarship. She made a big deal about him having this opportunity for this scholarship. Yeah – most people who get music scholarships practice their instruments. They practice their instrument guite a lot, until they are sick to death of it and beyond (and if you play trombone – until your lips are red, puffy and numb). So if his mother wonders why my hubby and I don’t take her seriously; why we think she is a double talking liar, it is because instances like these.

 

This one time at band camp….

OK, it didn’t happen at band camp, but I was in band (I played the trombone) and I had tryouts. I had only been playing the instrument for about a year. It was tryout time to see which band (concert was intermediate and symphony was the top band) you would be in and what chair (which part) you would get. We were given a peice of music to practice and then we would have to tryout in front of the class. I practiced my butt off. It was a good thing too becuase I was terrified of playing in front of people by myself. I didn’t have a problem with playing with a group or with the band but to have to play alone was very scary for me. So I get up in front of the class to do my tryout. I was sweating and shaking. My arch enemy, Beth sniggered at me from the saxophone section. I started playing. First we had to do scales, then a few other things and then perform our practice peice. By the time I got to that portion of the tryout I was starting to lose my vision. I started the peice and I lost my vision – I could not see! I was lucky I practiced my butt off because even though I could not see, I still was able to perform because I knew the peice (through all the practicing it became automatic) at that point. I also was starting to lose my hearing by the end of the tryout. It was crazy. Even though I lost my sight for the tryout and was super nervous I actually did very well, because I practiced. I got first chair! I made it in the symphony band! My band director was amazed at my playing. I will always remember that.

 

Today has been a good day so far. I received yet another compliment on my work in the class I do not like so much (Reading Pop Culture). It is so nice to have one’s efforts recognized. I love professors who do not hesitate to let a student know. That is really classy (since we have been talking about class in that class -hehe). I am going to post the compliment here so I can look at when times are rough – like next week is going to be.  

 

Jacquelyn,

Once again, your posts have been exceptionally strong. Your main post is, in a word,
awesome – it’s exactly the way to show that (a) you’ve read, and (b) more
importantly, you’ve been THINKING while reading. 

Terrific work.

Best,
Dr J

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Next week I have a paper and a presentation due for this English class. It is going to be a lot of work. I hope I do well. I also have 2 tests, one in Psych and another in Algebra. On top of all that I have to have a monologue prepared and ready to perform on Monday for my acting class. YIKES!!

 

A great thing I did today was I applied for admittance to U of M Flint. I am so excited! I really want to go to U of M Flint. I will know if I got admitted in June. I can’t believe I will be graduating in about 2 months! I have to start thinking about my next steps. Should I stay at Mott a little while longer and pursue a 2nd associates degree that I want (and take some more math – I would need more math for my bachelors degree and I might as well take it at MCC; it is cheaper) or am I ready to move on to the University? I am going to miss MCC. I could also attend Rochester College here at MCC too. I need to talk to some guidance counselors and interview some psychologists to firm up my education plan and goals. So much to do, so much to think about.

I got another compliment from my professor in that class I dislike. Maybe I will end up liking the class after all  hahaha. This week we are discussing class in America. I am going to post what I wrote because I am proud of it.

Class In America (with comparisons to the British)

 

Why are we so hesitant to talk about class? I was thinking about this and I am still not sure this is true. I do not have any studies to back up that America is talking about class so I am willing to concede it might be true that most Americans do not talk about class issues. I feel this is because for one thing America was supposedly trying to get away from the class distinctions of our British oppressors – you know way back in 1776. This country was created on the principle that all men (ok, all white men) are created equal, so having class distinctions kind of negates that. What we learned though is that people classify and stereotype everybody and we cannot get away from that. Another reason why people may not talk about class is they may be in a class of people they really do not want to identify with. It may hurt them to realize the truth. Yet another reason, and I believe this to be prevalent, is that people (like me) may not know exactly how to classify themselves and are hesitant to classify themselves and most other people. I think a lot of middle class people may feel this. Also, there are two ways of classifying people – by wealth and by mindset. It begins to get sticky when you have a wealthy person who leads a trashy lifestyle (like Paris – can she even be classified as upper class anymore even with all her millions; not in my book. She is as trashy as they come) or a poor person has an upper class mindset, is educated (think homeless guy with a Phd). There are subcultures within the main classes (working class, lower middle, upper middle, professional, etc) and it is hard to put a label (if that is what you really want to do – I am not a big proponent of this) on everybody. Some people may be able to fit into a couple of different class structures. Some people are on the way up, while some are on the way down. Overall I think it baffles people and it is something that is not at the forefront of our minds unless we are upper class or intellectuals. In my opinion, they are the ones that have time to think about this – the rest of us are just trying to get by.

 

The exception may be the people who are proud to be redneck or hillbilly, like Jerri, Sam and Jessi Rae (249) from the "White Trash" article. They don’t think about it too much though, they just are what they are and are proud of it. Ignorance is bliss, huh?

 

Why do we aspire to be "rich and famous"? In this country, I think the majority of us are raised to be a success. Being rich equals success in many people’s eyes. Also, having money equals freedom. If you are well off you can do what you want, when you want. You do not have to kow tow to anyone. We value our freedom in this country but at the same time we are slaves to money. In America, it seems that everybody wants to have a type A personality and they think there is something wrong with you if you do not, you slacker. It is part of our patriotism, that drive, that can do attitude. We are schooled this from birth. It may have started as a "We’ll show them" attitude after the war for independence, again way back when our country was forming. I think I have read something about Americans having Puritan beliefs; hard work and no play. As for fame, being famous equals having money, riches, which in turn equals freedom or at least hot chicks, hot cars, and all the bling you could ever desire.

 

Why don’t we despise and mock the rich? This too I disagree with. There are times and people who despise and mock the rich. Here again I am just telling you my opinion. I cannot produce any hardcore evidence of this. I guess we may not do it to the extent the British do, but I have a prejudice against rich people. I have seen some American comedy/comedians that do this and even some sitcoms. What about shows like "The Fresh Prince of Belaire" where Wil Smith is the poor kid that comes to live with rich relatives. There was some mocking going on there and at times the richie people would learn from the "poor street kid". Or I am thinking about "The Nanny" with Fran Drescher, also mocking of rich going on there and the nanny gets over on the rich guy. I am also thinking about "Frasier", here are two upper class brothers with a working class father. There was a lot of mocking going on there. Ah, Dave Chapelle mocked just about everybody. Even in today’s culture, to like the things that are seen to be upper class – such as the symphony, the ballet, opera, art museums, is portrayed as not very soulful; wooden maybe; white bread; boring; la di da!; etc… Stuff like that is certainly mocked. If there is not much mocking going on in other areas it is because we all aspire to be rich or at least comfortable, so we would be mocking are own desires; we would have to despise ourselves. Also, in America, we are raised to be successful, and that means rich. "I’m rich bitch!"

 

What ideologies drive American concepts of class? How does it differ from the Brits? This is a hard question for me. Capitalism is a big one that drives American concepts of class. The ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and the ‘in betweens’. Supposedly anyone can make it in this country. If you are one of the ‘have nots’ then you just didn’t work hard enough or weren’t smart enough to achieve the American dream so therefore you do not deserve it. This differs from the British by the fact that their ‘haves’ wealth is inherited and their ‘have nots’ even if they become the ‘haves’ can never be seen as anything other than upstarts or new money. They would never be classified as upper class no matter how much money they have. In America, most people, once they hit a certain income bracket and aren’t too trashy can achieve upper class status. I am not sure this is the case in Britain.

 

How does pop culture help confront or cover up class divisions? It helps confront class divisions by mixing it up. Do you know what I mean? Musical styles combining, things coming out into the mainstream that in the past were just culture or class specific. It may help cover up class divisions by giving us the false impression that the divisions are non existent.

 

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Terrific post, Jaquelyn – your theories are backed up by plenty of compelling evidence, and you’ve stood up to the questions with confidence and clarity.  Well done. L. Juchartz

  It was a good week, overall. Last Sunday I was having room service breakfast at the Palmer House in Chicago – that was wonderful. I actually took a picture of our cart! We went to the Art Museum, which is one of my favorite places. Later in the evening we went to IO improv and saw comedians/actors put their talents to the test. Then we went up to the 96th floor of John Hancock Center and had dinner and drinks. We could see all of Chicago. I tried to take pictures but they turned out blurry.

Wednesday I had lunch at Applewood Cafe, Mott Community College. http://www.mcc.edu/3_academics/divisions/bus_applewood.shtml I love that restaurant. It is run by the culinary arts department there. They basically serve gourmet meals for cheap because it is a teaching restaurant. It is overseen by a chef. The food is always good and very pretty (I have pics) haha. This Wednesday, for Black History Month, Kuungana performed. Kuungana is an African dance and drum troupe. It was wonderful to hear the drums (reminds me of Santana) and the dancers were awesome. I want to learn to dance like that. It would be good exercise. http://www.rhythmologist.com/

Thursday, Chuck and I had dinner with our son. We had a lot of fun. Our son also had a concert for band (he plays the trombone) that evening. It was nice. They have a competition coming up so this was like a dress rehearsal for all the kids.

Now the reason I am so happy this weekend. Saturday my professor (for the Engl class that I dislike) emailed me and told me what a good job I did on last weeks assigment. I emailed him back and thanked him for letting me know. I needed that! I am not getting bad grades on my assinments but this class is very difficult. It is a ton of writing. I think keeping a blog is helping me with my writing. Ideas flow more readily from my brain.