Why I Rotaract

A group of us were talking about community service recently. I laughed that community service was the reason I love Rotaract so much. Someone else in the conversation argued that I seemed to love Rotaract for Rotaract's sake. Ok, that may be true, but here in a few neatly summarized points, is why I love Rotaract, community service, and all things Rotary. And not just because of my Dad either... promise.

During a recent Rotaract presentation, we talked about Why We Serve. The reasons listed, altruistic, faith-based, humanist-based, or just a basic guilt for having a good life, were dependable and expected. Nothing wrong with expected, hey, I'm sure mine's expected to.

I serve because I think humans share a bond, we're all part of the creation, and I think we need to not be afraid to help other parts of the creation. This means finding a way to make sustainable change in a manner that is friendly to the local culture. Long-lasting effects are what I'm interested in, not a short term good feeling.

So I Rotaract because I believe the change that Rotary/Rotaract/Interact are trying to bring about is long lasting change, e.g. the End Polio Now campaign. Not only has polio been eradicated from most of the world, but they're still fighting to get it out of places where politics or the population density holds up progress. These things impress me, that tenacity is something I'm interested in, and I believe Rotary (and the other groups through them) are interested in tenacity, making a real difference and not giving up until they do.

Let's switch subjects

After such a long and rather depressing post on Sachsenhausen, I thought perhaps we should change it up a little. Okay, maybe a lot in actuality.

Here's ten things that are on the ground right now for me:

1. Americorps finally contacted me. Now granted, it was about a new program I had applied for, but it's still super exciting to be going through a formal application process. This particular program requested more material from me, a sample of my writing style, two more references, a resume with cover letter, etc. I'm really excited, and already have my new references lined up, so life is looking good for the next few days. Maybe I'll have plans within a couple of months!

2. My internship is going awesome. It's lot of data, and number crunching right now, but I'm just loving the logistics of everything. I also love the fact that what I'm doing could have a lasting effect on the way things work at William Jewell. That may be the most exciting thing for me.

3. My piano recital is in T-six weeks! I'm faltering a little on some of the line up in repertoire, we're just the slightest bit short right now, but I may have figured out a solution to this problem, so check back in. I'll be announcing the date formally in three weeks, but the unofficial date is March 10th, at 5:30 pm.

4. If the piano recital is six weeks away, this means I only have 13 more weeks in which to write, assign, and rehearse everything for my composition recital. On that front, things are coming together slowly, but surely. My quartet has been assembled (yay, thanks Peter for agreeing to be my tenor!) and I have high hopes for the choir to come together soon. I have a reading for my strings piece two (three?) weeks from now, and we're *this* close to being ready to turn things in! I think my next composition lesson should take place over coffee. I plan to suggest this to him. No more stuffy classroom. :)

5. At the end of the second week of classes, I've switched my art history to pass/fail, which has lightened my homework load. The professor for this class tends to uncommunicative on my research topic choices, but that's okay, there's not as much pressure.

6. Speaking of that homework load, I think I've settled into the rhythm. Most of my classes have a fair amount of homework, which is slightly worrisome for my sanity, but if I just don't fall behind, ever, at all, with no exceptions, then I should be fine. Uh-oh, I think I'm already behind....

I think that's all for now, but it's enough. I'm still muddling through. Check back soon for final plans on the recitals and further travel updates!

Egads! It's another week!

Well, I missed one deadline last week (for the blog sillies), and I'm moments away from missing another. Life got crazy. It does that. I have a friend who likes to say that if she tried to live life with as much energy as I do, she would be exhausted by noon. A fair assumption, since I'm generally exhausted by 10:30am. What, you thought this was real? It's just an act!

A few of the fun things on my plate right now:

- Memorizing a concerto, listen here. To the pros, not me! Bach's Concerto in D Minor for harpsichord (some of us use the piano). That's nineteen pages of sixteenth notes, for those of you who can't hear that. Well, 17 pages of sixteenth notes, 2 pages of 32nd notes, but we're really just splitting hairs now. (listen for the coughing about 3.5 minutes in, promise, its there!)

- Rotary's District Governor for District 6040 is coming to visit the WJC Rotaract club (that's right, we're alive and kicking) and bringing with him someone(s?) from UMKC to pick my brain. I also have the privilege of giving him a campus tour of the WJC while he is here. We're going to poke our noses in classrooms, etc. Should be grand fun. I understand there's a few Liberty Rotary folk going as well.

- 2 big research reports, one on the Tet Offensive and one on Women's Suffrage in the USA

- A fantastic performance by Emmanuel Axe last night (TWO encores!) with the Harriman-Jewell Series.

- Upcoming performance of my own on Thursday!

Well, we're just scraping the top layer. I'm going to wrap this one up a little short, my hands are ready to fall off from all the playing of piano.