How could someone just stand by?

I am absolutely disgusted at the world right now. The way some people think just makes me want to throw things!

I just finished watching this video of a transgender woman getting brutally assaulted in a McDonalds. She had gone into the women's restroom and was being attacked by two other women who didn't think she belonged in there. The McDonalds employees in this video are literally just standing around, even as the two women are kicking the trans woman in the head. In fact the employee filming the video on his phone is quite literally pointing and laughing. Even when the the trans woman begins to have a seizure he walks right up and stands over her. Not offering the slightest suggestion of help. The employees go so far as to tell the two women to run before the cops arrive.

This infuriates me! I was so upset by this video that I started sobbing after seeing it. It almost sent me into an anxiety attack, and I was absolutely shaking with anger. The image of the trans woman seizing on the floor is seared into my mind. How someone could stand by and not help, let alone laugh at it, astounds me!

As all of my friends know, I am extremely supportive of LGBT rights. At a time when it seems as though LGBT support is growing, and our generation is praised for being exceptionally tolerant, this is a heart-breaking sign of just how far there still is to go.

It shocks me when I see comments on the internet, damning people to hell and what-not, for being gay, or supporting LGBT rights. I firmly believe that being gay is not a choice, it is a part of who that person is. I also firmly believe that being gay, is not a sentence to hell. The overused argument that it's "what the bible says" will never convince me that it is wrong in any way. Now, I will say for reassurance right now that I am a baptized and confirmed Christian, and I believe that the bible is the holy word of God. However, the bible was written (as in: physically composed to paper) centuries ago by mankind, NOT by God himself. Seeing as how the bible also says that we are all sinners, I certainly would not put it past the people who first wrote the bible to add in a few of their thoughts and opinions.

Now while I believe that everyone has a right to their own opinion, I also think that common sense - as well as generations upon generations of mothers - would tell us that "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

I simply cannot believe people sometimes.

Shouldn't you be reading Hemingway? Yes. Yes I should.

The current state of my life?

Oh-so-freaking-incredibly-stressed.

But then again, how is that any different from the norm?

Right now my biggest stressor is dance. I've got my normal classes to worry about, as well as the recital dances that go along with them. My Born This Way dance for jazz is absolutely going to kill me. It's really fun, but it's so intense that I practically have an asthma attack every time we run it. My lyrical dance (to 18th Floor Balcony by Blue October) isn't as tough but since I was sick a couple weeks ago, I'm a little behind on the choreography. Our Tap Company dances aren't giving me any trouble, which is good because that show - "Wonderland" - is in two weeks. (Friday May 13th at 6pm and 8pm...not that I'm advertising it or anything.)
Some really good news, is that my tap solo is working out really well! That dance was frustrating me for the longest time because it's super fast and intricate, but I've finally got it down!

Senioritis has set in. Big time. I just don't give a crap anymore. Which is bad, because to actually end up at Columbia Chicago, I have to first do this fancy thing we like to call "graduating." Which is infinitely more difficult to accomplish when you no longer give a crap. I am looking forward to the May pops concert. Visions is performing our Grease medley, for which I choreographed the song You're the One that I Want. I'm also REALLY hoping to get to conduct the "senior song". I don't know what it's going to be yet, and I don't care. I just want to be the senior to conduct it. We could be singing the ABC's for all I care and I'd still want to conduct it.

So I'm going to keep this post kinda short. Partially because I still have two chapters to read of The Sun Also Rises (In Your Pants - for any nerdfighters who would understand that reference) before 4th period tomorrow. Also because I'm seriously stretching for things to write about right now.

Fin.

Wizard rock and a thousand links to Youtube

Be prepared for a thousand links to Youtube.

I have many worlds in which I live. School, church, dance at Performing Arts Dance Center, dance at Dublin Dance Centre, home, and last but best, Harry Potter.

I don't actually live in a world of just Harry Potter, it's really all part of a much bigger world of nerds. Nerdfightaria (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyQi79aYfxU&feature=channel_video_title), nerd rock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1vc9uTK8ME), and also wizard rock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7XfxbvclG8).

I am a HUGE nerd and damn proud of it! Sometimes the reaction I get from people when I tell them I listen to "Harry Potter music" is frustrating, because they tend to look at me like I'm nuts, then quickly change the subject. I love Harry Potter for a myriad of reasons but the biggest reason would have to be that it's become this enormous 'jumping off point' for artists of all kinds. So many musicians have found their voice through wizard rock (or "wrock"), there so many fantastic kinds of fan art out there. Harry Potter is inspiring. A story about a boy who has everything taken from him from the very start, and devotes himself to justice and love. While it may sound cheesy on the surface, underneath it's a truly heart-wrenching and heart-warming concept.

My sister introduced me to wrock, and while at first I wasn't quite sure what to think, now, I absolutely love it! When I went to my first live wrock show I was hooked. I went with Madeline and our friend/little sister Maddy to see Tonks and the Aurors, The Remus Lupins, and Ministry of Magic at a show called Hogwarts Class of '84. I got my t-shirts signed by Alex Carpenter and Stephanie Anderson, and chatted with Alex when he complimented my acid-washed-purple-stained-denim jacket. When Madeline and I began to sing Going Back from A Very Potter Musical (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwM_AKeMCk) between bands, several other people around us joined in. Even beyond all of that, there was this unmistakable sense of community! Everyone there loved what I loved, there was no judgment for our love of nerdiness!!! I. Was. Hooked.

For my last birthday Madeline surprised me with registration to Wrockstock (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyflAoqEtd0&feature=channel_video_title). Wrockstock was, by far, the best weekend of my entire life! Such a sense of love and support and community everywhere you went. I got my own wand!!! The band Diagon Alley had whittled wands and were selling them in the merch room. They had also brought several life-sized broomsticks, and I sooooo would have bought one if I had had the money/space in my suitcase for it. However, you know how in the books they say "the wand chooses the wizard?" Well I picked up this fairly simple looking wand with some of the bark still on it, and it fit perfectly into my hand. So my wand picked me! I had to get it!

Madeline, Maddy, and I are going to LeakyCon this summer. We will be in Orlando, Florida the same time that the second installment of the Deathly Hallows movie is released. LeakyCon is hosting a private event in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT!!!!!!!!

Until later then chaps. As the Vlogbrothers say: D.F.T.B.A. Don't Forget To Be Awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxrdZmszHJM&NR=1

I wanna be a firebreathing dinosaur-princess with a golden lasso!

So this is gonna be sort of a quick post. Hopefully I won't start rambling too much, but seriously.....good luck with that.

The other day in American Lit. (...which I hate. Good teacher, but the curriculum is obnoxiously dry) we were going over how to write a good résumé - for the thousandth time in my high school career - and it got me to thinking about all the things I wanted to be growing up.

The obvious one, of course, is 'dancer', but there were always other thing I considered in addition to that. I have compiled a list for your perusal and entertainment.

1. Daycare provider
2. preschool teacher
3. Firefighter
4. Gymnast
5. Singer
6. Actress
7. Surgeon
8. A marine (no, I'm not kidding)
9. Zoologist
10. Artist
11. Veteranarian
12. Marine biologist
13. Fashion designer
14. Hairstylist
15. Graphic designer

And I wouldn't be surprised if I had wanted to be all of these things simultaneously.

Stop in the name of the Canadian Mounted Police!

I feel like death. On a cracker.

Now while I'm not entirely sure what death on a cracker would taste like, it sure as hell ain't appetizing.

I have the flu. I woke up around midnight with a stomach ache and haven't been able to keep anything down since then. So. Much. Fun.


This is one of those posts where the title has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm actually writing. This post is really about people's interests affecting their outlook on other people's interests. That's really just a semi-convoluted way of saying that people never really know what they're talking about when they compliment someone's skills.

My whole life I have taken dance. This is a known fact. But my skill level has always varied depending on what group of people I've been around. When I'm around my friends at school - even all the way back to elementary school - I've always been "the dancer." Even if other friends of mine took dance classes still I was always the one notorious for it. I made every assignment for school about dance if I could.


What do you want to be when you grow up?: A dancer. 
Write about one of your goals: To get pointe shoes.
Describe an important moment in your life: The first time I got a solo in a recital.
Write about something that makes you mad: My dance studio stopped having their recitals at the Palace Theatre. 

So it was well known what my main hobby was. Modesty aside, if you asked any of my friends who the best dancer they knew was, they would most likely say "Alicia." But here's the thing, I'm really not that good. I'm a talented dancer yes, but in a crowd of other dancers I don't really stand out that much. Granted, in some auditions or open classes the group is more on the beginner side. But in my own classes, I'm at the same skill level as everyone else in there. And I have my really bad days when I just cannot pick up a combination to save my life. I have also gone to auditions and open classes where, compared to everybody else there, I look like the beginner.

It really depends on the group. I know nothing about basketball, other than there's two teams and the ball is orange. So if I were to give you the name of the best basketball player I know, they'd probably deny it.

For lack of better ideas to close this post, and for the fact that I am still running a fever and I need a nap, I will leave you with the title of this post.

Stop in the name of the Canadian Mounted Police!

Square pegs and such

The square peg theory.

It's the major reason that I believe today's high schools sorta, kinda, majorly, epically fail.

You know those peg board toys with the little hammer?

The concept of these toys - in case you've been living under a rock your whole life and this is your first encounter with their existence - is that you use the little hammer to smack the pegs through the board.

Now think of this peg board as a high school. The board itself is the school system, and the pegs are the students in said school system. The system expects, and is set up for the students to be nice little round pegs. However when a student comes along who is a square peg, the system doesn't know how to deal with it, or in many cases, doesn't have the funding to deal with it.

The poor square peg child has to suffer the consequences of learning differently. Because the peg board/school system doesn't have the solutions to help the square peg student learn in a different way, they have to resort to the normal methods of teaching. So they line the square peg child up with the peg board and start whacking away at it.

Eventually the square peg student's corners get worn away, and they fit through the peg board. Every aspect of their individuality and creativity has been beaten out of them by the system, but dammit they fit through the peg board. The system isn't entirely at fault. They are in turn controlled by a bigger system - the entire toy box if you will. Without the say-so from the larger system they don't have the money to spend on improving their smaller system. It's not enough to just expand the existing peg board, but they have to improve the peg board to accommodate square pegs, triangular pegs, elliptical pegs, hexagonal pegs, and whatever else might come their way.

Unfortunately that's easier said than done. So the square peg theory lives on.

I am a square peg. I cannot wait to bid farewell to the oppressive peg board in which I habitate.

Fate and Chicagoey things

Welcome session

The University Center, or "UC". Home sweet home!

Holy Cow! I got to meet up and have dinner with my friend Helena at Harry Caray's. Helena goes to Loyola so we'll be within visiting distance when I'm at CCC!

I am going to Columbia College Chicago. I am also a big believer in fate. Everything happens for a reason and all that. It was a long and quite complicated hike to get here, to this decision, but I think it was important.

Columbia Chicago was one of the first colleges that I considered applying to. My aunt Kathy was actually the one who suggested I apply there. I had walked past parts of the campus when I was in Chicago for the Ballet Chicago Summer Intensive in 2009. That was also the summer that I fell in love with Chicago. I became a huge Cubs fan (This'll be our year!) and I consider myself a Chicagoan at heart.

I applied to five Universities, and I got accepted to three of them: Columbia Chicago, University of Akron, and Wright State. U of Akron was my back up and though it's a good school, I never got too excited about it. I was really seriously considering Wright State, and I had decided that if I got into their dance major program that I would go there. I also decided that if I didn't get into Wright State's dance major program that I would go to Columbia Chicago.

I didn't get into Wright State's dance major program. I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me (or, if you'd rather, the best thing that didn't happen to me). I am so happy that I'm going to Columbia Chicago. I feel like it was tailor-made for me.

This past weekend I went to the open house at Columbia. The open house started off with a welcome session in this beautiful theatre. The welcome session started off with this video of a kid making music with objects around his dorm room, and just as the music started to grow the lights came up a bit and all these dancers entered the stage underneath the giant video screen. Then even more dancers entered through the doors around the theatre and danced up to the stage to join the dancers there. Then three R&B style singers appeared on stage with all the dancers and finished out the song in a seriously awesome way. When the song ended the dancers and singers exited the stage and the scrim came up to reveal a jazz singer, a jazz band, and an entire 40 person choir backing them up. After singing September and another song that currently escapes me, a speaker came out and talked about all of Columbia's programs and the benefits of such an artsy school being in an urban environment.

All I could think the entire time is that this is the perfect place for me! And to think, I wouldn't have realized this if I had gotten into Wright State's dance program. Fate is a funny, funny thing.