Nutcracker Musings

     This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending The Nutcracker, put on by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.  One of the amazing things about Winnipeg is how artistic the city is.  The Ballet is a case in point -- it's the longest-running ballet company in North America, and one of the best known!
     In case you've never been to a ballet, it's a very unique form of theatre which has no dialogue. Instead, the story is given to you to read at the beginning of the performance.  One of the most interesting things for me were the effects and set design.  The set design was absolutely extraordinary -- changing from the inside of an early 20th century house to a majestic Greek courtyard.  The outside scenes were believable with falling snow and a magnificent wilderness in the background.  To say nothing of the dancing!

     Watching the ballet got me thinking about the arts.  CMU is a school which focuses on the arts.   We live in a world which seems to put a lot of emphasis on specialization.  It's best to be very good at something -- a marketable skill -- in order to get a high-paying job in that capacity.  Statistics do show that a university education will help you get a higher-paying job.  But if you were looking just to get education to land a good job, you could go to college and get out quicker.  In my experience, a university education is more general -- it teaches you how to think.  The skills you learn in university can help you in all of life.
     I go to university not only to get a good job, but to educate myself, to develop individuality and to grow into my own person.  Studying the arts helps you learn who you are, who you want to be, and how to express that person to the world.  That expression may be in writing, art, ballet or theatre.  It can be communicated in countless ways.

     Imagine you're walking down a road somewhere in the Middle East.  You're thinking about your family, your friends, how dreadfully hot it is  outside.  Then suddenly off in the distance you hear the loud voice of some man yelling.  And not just the voice -- you can see a crowd of people gathering around the speaker.  They're obviously quite excited.  As you get in closer you begin to hear some of the words that are being spoken.  "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.  Blessed are those who hunger now, for they shall be satisfied."  You wonder what this man is talking about.

     Today we celebrate the birth of this man: Jesus Christ, God incarnate who changed everything.  Jesus Christ, who removes guilt and shame.  Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A Writer's Rant

     It's important to be well read before writing a paper.

     I've heard it said somewhere that the joy is not in writing, but in having written.  This is true, at least for me.  It's hard for me to fully enjoy the writing process, mainly because I'm such a perfectionist.
     If you're lucky in university you'll have all your papers due within a few weeks of each other.  This time around, I had two major, 10 page essays due on the same day.  I spent most of my time (1 week) researching the first paper, and then wrote it and my second paper (which was only partially researched) in 36 hours.  Throw in two smaller assignments also due on the same day, and I had 5500 footnoted words to be written in a day and a half.

The best way to start writing is with a clean and organized workspace.

     It was crazy.  Procrastination sucks.  I managed to handle it without getting stressed, but that was only because I'm a second year and have gone through this process twice before, in each of my previous semesters.  Paper writing was a new experience for me when I came to CMU a year ago.  High school papers (at least in small-town Niverville) are a joke -- there would be times when I received top marks for a paper with one source: Wikipedia!  
     CMU offers a lot of help with essays -- you just need to talk to the right people (a good place to start is the library).  It is thus very possible to get through school without pulling an all nighter (but where's the fun in that?!?)

Christmas @ CMU!

     A end-of-semester highlight for the musically inclined (which, let's face it, is more than 1/2 of us students) is Christmas @ CMU.  This year it took place on November 28th.  It was a musical buffet of sorts with three or four concerts happening all at the same time in different rooms all over north campus.  Gentlemen: this is one of two ready-made date opportunities you're going to get as dorm students.  The other is the Christmas Gala but that's not as musical (read: romantic).  

     This year I was singing in Men's Chorus (you can see my fellow performers above). Between performances there was time to catch some of the other music.  And of course, to have a snack.  A special room was set up so you could grab a hot apple cider and a few cookies.   The students and staff baked 150 dozen cookies just for our beloved audience members! 

     If you missed out, you can still catch some of the performances on radio.  If you live in Manitoba, tune in to either CFAM 950 or CJRB 1220 on December 17th at 2 pm.  You can listen live online at CFAM's website.