Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
"Discussion/Lecture with Michael Lerner" - Busboys & Poets Immersion
I really enjoyed the Michael Lerner lecture. A few things really stood out to me as I listened to him share. For starters, his lecture was not at all what I was expecting. I cannot tell you what I was expecting because I do not really know, but when I went the last thing I was expecting to hear was a lecture on hope. It really reminded me of what we have been talking about in class with law of attraction and making things happen and believing that anything is possible. Michael talked about the difference between hope and optimism. It was a comparison that he had heard before that really stood out to him that he had never forgotten. “Optimism is the belief that everything is going to go away; whereas, hope it a choice to fight regardless of the consequences.” Michael made the comment that without hope it is difficult to live.
Michael asked a really thought provoking question during his lecture: “how do we live with the brokenness of the world?” I thought it was a really good question because I feel as though that is what everyone is trying to figure out. The world we live in is undoubtedly a broken world: it is a world that is hurting and searching for the hope that we talked about earlier. As I think about my response to this question, I think that everyone has to find their hope. Everyone is searching to fill the same void but everyone fills it in a different way. The goal is ultimately to not have to live in a broken world, but until then we must learn to cope. I do believe that seeking to change it is part of the “living with it” process. Settling is the worst thing that someone can do and simply accepting the brokenness is settling for it. Everyone has a small role that they can play and when you start making a difference it brings that hope that people are searching for in their own lives. As everyone starts making a change then before you know it that brokenness won’t be as strong as it use to be. Michael’s response was “the best way is to truly feel it and to feel it deeply. We have to see the brokenness as a source of awakening. We need enough of us to feel that brokenness to make a difference.”
The most impressive thing that I learned about Michael was that he is a Christian. The whole lecture was for the Smith Farm Center, a center that brings hope to people who are battling cancer. He was very honest as he talked about the despair that he got into as he dealt with his cancer. He said that he came to the point where he realized his need for absolute surrender to the living God. There is no better hope than Jesus Christ and knowing that He loves you and that you can have a real relationship with Him. He is the rock that gets you throw the storms of life like cancer, death of family members, and the numerous other things that make this life hard and this world broken. Michael made the comment “many people deny the spiritual world exists” and I believe this with my whole heart. Very few people do I think have an absolute denial that there is anything higher than this world. I would say that most people have a knowledge that they accept about a higher power or spiritual being even if they don’t really embrace it. It is sad because I truly believe that the belief is God brings a hope that nothing in this world can ever bring. It also brings a healing on a deeper level that is indescribable and easily attainable.
As Michael talked, he said that “true healing takes place in the unique particulars”. They talked about how they go on natural walks at the Smith Farm Center and how it helps people heal and I thought that it was a really good concept. You can’t help but look around and see the hand of a higher power in this beautiful world that we live in and I think that seeing how intrinsically the trees, flowers, birds, and everything in nature is made it brings a healing and hope to us as humans that if someone out there could make all of these things flow so perfectly, He must care about us.
Michael made the comment that “being broken evokes kindness and makes us receptive to kindness”. He said that kindness is a word that people understand and that it’s a good way for us to help each other heal. Kindness is easy to understand but it is seen less and less in this world today. It was a good admonition for me to just not take lightly the impact that kindness can have on people. Simple gestures like saying hello and smiling to people can make someone’s day. “We must hope that we find the golden thread together as human beings…the golden thread relates to the planet as a whole and it goes back to deep spirituality.” We are all here on this planet together and it’s about time that we start acting like it and help each other.
Michael asked a really thought provoking question during his lecture: “how do we live with the brokenness of the world?” I thought it was a really good question because I feel as though that is what everyone is trying to figure out. The world we live in is undoubtedly a broken world: it is a world that is hurting and searching for the hope that we talked about earlier. As I think about my response to this question, I think that everyone has to find their hope. Everyone is searching to fill the same void but everyone fills it in a different way. The goal is ultimately to not have to live in a broken world, but until then we must learn to cope. I do believe that seeking to change it is part of the “living with it” process. Settling is the worst thing that someone can do and simply accepting the brokenness is settling for it. Everyone has a small role that they can play and when you start making a difference it brings that hope that people are searching for in their own lives. As everyone starts making a change then before you know it that brokenness won’t be as strong as it use to be. Michael’s response was “the best way is to truly feel it and to feel it deeply. We have to see the brokenness as a source of awakening. We need enough of us to feel that brokenness to make a difference.”
The most impressive thing that I learned about Michael was that he is a Christian. The whole lecture was for the Smith Farm Center, a center that brings hope to people who are battling cancer. He was very honest as he talked about the despair that he got into as he dealt with his cancer. He said that he came to the point where he realized his need for absolute surrender to the living God. There is no better hope than Jesus Christ and knowing that He loves you and that you can have a real relationship with Him. He is the rock that gets you throw the storms of life like cancer, death of family members, and the numerous other things that make this life hard and this world broken. Michael made the comment “many people deny the spiritual world exists” and I believe this with my whole heart. Very few people do I think have an absolute denial that there is anything higher than this world. I would say that most people have a knowledge that they accept about a higher power or spiritual being even if they don’t really embrace it. It is sad because I truly believe that the belief is God brings a hope that nothing in this world can ever bring. It also brings a healing on a deeper level that is indescribable and easily attainable.
As Michael talked, he said that “true healing takes place in the unique particulars”. They talked about how they go on natural walks at the Smith Farm Center and how it helps people heal and I thought that it was a really good concept. You can’t help but look around and see the hand of a higher power in this beautiful world that we live in and I think that seeing how intrinsically the trees, flowers, birds, and everything in nature is made it brings a healing and hope to us as humans that if someone out there could make all of these things flow so perfectly, He must care about us.
Michael made the comment that “being broken evokes kindness and makes us receptive to kindness”. He said that kindness is a word that people understand and that it’s a good way for us to help each other heal. Kindness is easy to understand but it is seen less and less in this world today. It was a good admonition for me to just not take lightly the impact that kindness can have on people. Simple gestures like saying hello and smiling to people can make someone’s day. “We must hope that we find the golden thread together as human beings…the golden thread relates to the planet as a whole and it goes back to deep spirituality.” We are all here on this planet together and it’s about time that we start acting like it and help each other.
Monday, May 2, 2011
"Creative License" - Busboys & Poets Immersion
To be honest, I’m not the biggest music guru. I enjoy most of it from hip hop to country but have never gotten really deep into the history or even the legal issues with it. I come from a strong “music obsessed” family where my dad has a pretty strong passion for a lot of music- especially Motown, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and many other black artists. My youngest sister got that same obsession that my dad has and my older sister falls somewhere in between with a deep love but not as passionate as my dad and younger sister.
As soon as I got to Busboys & Poets and saw Mazi from “Words, Beats, & Life”, I was really excited for the presentation. I knew that it was going to be a panel discussion but I didn’t really know what that was going to be like. We have panels at my church at least once a month where all the pastors share on what we’ve been talking about in service and then they open the floor for questions, comments, and testimonies. I figured it would be similar but I wasn’t exactly sure. The discussion started with Casey Rob Hunter, from “Future of Music Coalition”, interviewing Peter De Cola, a law professor who had done a study on sampling and its effects on society. Peter had stated how he was first introduced to sampling on an airplane and quickly learned that sampling happens in every genre. That is what prompted him to do his study on sampling and see what people think about the topic, especially musicians. He gave a lot of insight that I didn’t know- because I’m essentially ignorant when it comes to this topic, because it isn’t public knowledge, or a mixture of both. Peter explained how music has two copyrights: sheet music/lyric copyrights and music/sound copyrights. “According to the 6th Circuit, no matter how much of the sound you take from a song, you can be sued unless there is Fair Use” he stated. I had been exposed to Fair Use very briefly last semester while I was making a video for my Community Leadership course. We were required to add a song to our video about our Experiential Learning project and we had to make sure we had permission to use the song. I had wanted to use a song that I felt really represented my project but wasn’t able to because of copyright and was forced to choose from the Fair Use websites my professor provided or from the music already given on iMovie.
Peter went on to talk about how specific people get with their music when it comes to sampling: “who can sample this”, “what will they do with it”. As I thought about it, it really did make sense to me that people would want that control since they work so hard to create it and don’t want it to be butchered by some other artist. It really is an example of leadership because as the author/creator of your music, you wouldn’t want it to be used for an artist or song that you don’t support. It’s one of the aspects we discussed a lot in class- how we need to be fully aware and involved in whatever our name is attached to in life.
After the interview, two DJs- DJ Robbie Rob and DJ Two-Tone Jones- joined Casey and Peter and they discussed the heavy influence that sampling has on Hip Hop. They discussed a lot of the pros and cons to sampling. Two-Tone Jones made the comment that people have learned about different genres of music because they heard it later in a hip hop song where it was sampled. When asked if the music can still be considered creative or artistic if it’s used samples of other music, Robbie Rob responded “It’s a work of art to sample and sample so well that people can’t even tell that you did.” I was talking to a friend of mine who is really into hip hop music and writes and records his own stuff the next day about the panel and he strongly agreed with that comment. He felt as though it’s almost harder to take something from somewhere else and transform it into something brand new that is still amazing and people have no idea that it was taken from this song or that genre. One of the cons was talking about technology and how it has oversaturated the market today allowing anyone to “make music” by simply downloading an AP on their iPhone. Two-Tone Jones stated how many people who were considered “legendary” didn’t have everything that people do today. Ultimately, sampling is a double-edged sword for the hip hop industry.
I really enjoyed this experience because it showed how leadership is truly all around us: from music to the more blatant leadership of being a manager to President. Everyone has the ability to make an impact in whatever “world” they are part of and making good leadership choices are essential.
As soon as I got to Busboys & Poets and saw Mazi from “Words, Beats, & Life”, I was really excited for the presentation. I knew that it was going to be a panel discussion but I didn’t really know what that was going to be like. We have panels at my church at least once a month where all the pastors share on what we’ve been talking about in service and then they open the floor for questions, comments, and testimonies. I figured it would be similar but I wasn’t exactly sure. The discussion started with Casey Rob Hunter, from “Future of Music Coalition”, interviewing Peter De Cola, a law professor who had done a study on sampling and its effects on society. Peter had stated how he was first introduced to sampling on an airplane and quickly learned that sampling happens in every genre. That is what prompted him to do his study on sampling and see what people think about the topic, especially musicians. He gave a lot of insight that I didn’t know- because I’m essentially ignorant when it comes to this topic, because it isn’t public knowledge, or a mixture of both. Peter explained how music has two copyrights: sheet music/lyric copyrights and music/sound copyrights. “According to the 6th Circuit, no matter how much of the sound you take from a song, you can be sued unless there is Fair Use” he stated. I had been exposed to Fair Use very briefly last semester while I was making a video for my Community Leadership course. We were required to add a song to our video about our Experiential Learning project and we had to make sure we had permission to use the song. I had wanted to use a song that I felt really represented my project but wasn’t able to because of copyright and was forced to choose from the Fair Use websites my professor provided or from the music already given on iMovie.
Peter went on to talk about how specific people get with their music when it comes to sampling: “who can sample this”, “what will they do with it”. As I thought about it, it really did make sense to me that people would want that control since they work so hard to create it and don’t want it to be butchered by some other artist. It really is an example of leadership because as the author/creator of your music, you wouldn’t want it to be used for an artist or song that you don’t support. It’s one of the aspects we discussed a lot in class- how we need to be fully aware and involved in whatever our name is attached to in life.
After the interview, two DJs- DJ Robbie Rob and DJ Two-Tone Jones- joined Casey and Peter and they discussed the heavy influence that sampling has on Hip Hop. They discussed a lot of the pros and cons to sampling. Two-Tone Jones made the comment that people have learned about different genres of music because they heard it later in a hip hop song where it was sampled. When asked if the music can still be considered creative or artistic if it’s used samples of other music, Robbie Rob responded “It’s a work of art to sample and sample so well that people can’t even tell that you did.” I was talking to a friend of mine who is really into hip hop music and writes and records his own stuff the next day about the panel and he strongly agreed with that comment. He felt as though it’s almost harder to take something from somewhere else and transform it into something brand new that is still amazing and people have no idea that it was taken from this song or that genre. One of the cons was talking about technology and how it has oversaturated the market today allowing anyone to “make music” by simply downloading an AP on their iPhone. Two-Tone Jones stated how many people who were considered “legendary” didn’t have everything that people do today. Ultimately, sampling is a double-edged sword for the hip hop industry.
I really enjoyed this experience because it showed how leadership is truly all around us: from music to the more blatant leadership of being a manager to President. Everyone has the ability to make an impact in whatever “world” they are part of and making good leadership choices are essential.
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