Music and Creativity

Here is a short speech I gave last semester.

http://youtu.be/1V3XSZRon_Y

Beauty is not subjective, in this case (IMHO)

Here's the first of some super fun shots of sunflowers and other goodies I've shot.

This is what I made for our door:

Found this old short article I wrote for a friend's young readers newsletter.

Penstemon

No, not Pokemon! Penstemon! Most people know this popular native flower by the name of Beardtongue or the bearded dragon flower. You will find penstemon in many different colors and heights. These hardy flowers can also live a long time without water. They are sort of like the “camel” of California. These plants also love to sunbathe.

Native Americans prepared extracts from the stems and roots of the penstemon plant to treat fevers and toothaches. Penstemon refers to the presence of five stamens, four of which are pollen producers. The flowers are pollinated by bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies, and hummingbirds. If you ever see a penstemon, you can tell they are perfect landing pads for these flying insects.

"Index of 4000 Botanical Images (2004)." Webpage of Kurt Stüber. Web. 21 Aug. 2011. .

"Dimmi, crudele Amore"

I'm finally getting around to making my performances more easily accessible anywhere I go, so the latest recording I have uploaded is my Applied Music Recital from December 2010. This was only my first semester in the Applied Music Program, and so I was surprised when I got accepted to be a performer for the recital. This was an exceptionally difficult piece since I was working my upper tessitura a lot more than I was used to and there was a lot of word-memorizing for this foggy brain of mine.





"Dimmi, crudele Amore" from Muzio Scevola by G. F. Handel;
Applied Music Recital;
December 2010;
Glendale Community College;
Jessica Kesselring, Mezzo-Soprano;
Brian Hanke, Piano

Life of Pi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Pi

I read this nearly two years ago, but it is a book that has sort of stuck in my brain. A little bit of imagery here and a bit of humorous connections there; this book has remained with me mentally this entire time. Basically, it is about a boy who has to survive on a life boat for quite a while, but there is an interesting zoological twist.

There is also the protagonist's interesting and everchanging perspective about religion and truth in various stages of his life.

Read it now. Question later.

Vahe plays the Duduk

Vahe plays the Duduk for fun in Glendale at Glendale College. June 7, 2011 Recorded outside by the Auditorium building. I recorded this with my phone and then edited with Magix software.

Nicolette y Christopher

Photo edited by Jessica
June 2011

Jazz Performances Are Swell!

Here's a clip courtesy some mysterious audience member who keeps attending various music ensembles. This latest performance is "Java Jive," performed by the Vocal Jazz Ensemble at Glendale College on June 4, 2011.

Hope you enjoy it!

Untitled - Love Poem

06-03-2011

There was a sad man--

I’ll never forget.

Into my head--

He crashed into my dreams,

Crashed down into me.

And I’ll never regret

The day I met

The sad man who made me

Forget

Virtual Art Walk and Experimentation

Here are some recent photo experiments.

I am discovering how much I love filters.

Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Windows to the Soul

Jessica sings!

My newest composition

I just got some new music making software, so this really isn't all that great since I'm still learning the program. Nonetheless, it was fun.



http://youtu.be/Pp-ycRngpy8

First Aid tips

I think I'm getting the basics of my First Aid/CPR class.

Correct

1. Check (the area)
   
2. Call (9-1-1)
3. Care (for injured)

Incorrect

1. Point
2. Scream
   
3. Panic
   

Bottle of Stella Artois? Check.

Freshly-nuked chicken pot pie? Check.

ehhhhhhhh....I'll walk it off this weekend.

My Evil Twin Sister

When someone complains openly about what kind of pain they are in, like a temporary sprain/strain or a minor pull, the fibromyalgia side of me sometimes takes over and silently screams inside:





Shut up! Try having that problem for 20 years and everyday that you wake up there is always something STRAINED or SPRAINED, always a pinched nerve from something simple like getting a shirt from the closet, or a hip that felt great yesterday and now today you can barely walk, yet you still make it to school, work, or whatever. WITH a smile on your face. There's always a new pain that is unexplained. When you've gone through that, then come talk to me about pain.

*****

I am usually sympathetic to non-fibros, yet I sometimes have a hard time tolerating the amount of complaining and having to hear about their temporary pain, simply because of my own personal experience with fibromyalgia and the daily physical pain and exhaustion that nobody really knows I endure. Imagine if someone with fibro complained as much as a non-fibro. I'd have to buy some earplugs!

Killer Bees in Glendale, CA? YOU be the judge!

Now that I have some great new walking shoes, I've had the opportunity to actually enjoy my walks again! I'm pretty nerdy when it comes to nature-y things, so I was pretty intrigued when I nearly stumbled upon a new beehive. I guess my reaction was at first dumbfounded, then I sort of shrieked a little. I then realized, "Holy shit! These things might sting me! Oh my god!" So, being the irrational fear-driven person that I am, I proceeded to walk away slowly with my mouth covered, having been given no indication that these bees were dangerous and were going to come after my face. Hey, I've seen so many documentaries and television shows where people get bees in their mouths. That just won't do for me.
Anyway, here's a video of what I found tonight after they were all snuggled in for the night.

Succinct Insanity: "Amor" William Bolcom

Succinct Insanity: "Amor" William Bolcom

"Amor" William Bolcom

I sang William Bolcom's "Amor" during tonight's Applied Music class. Let me know what you think! It definitely needs a LOT of work!
<3

Class Assignment

Here is the most recent assignment for my American Sign Language 101 class. We are currently learning a bunch of ASL gloss and vocabulary. This assignment is likely for in-class use so we can practice distances. I didn't have to be so elaborate, but I got carried away.

Will your rights be next? Likely.

Martin Niemöller said:

"When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,

I remained silent;

I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out."

**trickle**

**trickle

**trickle**

Jessica's suggested addition to this quotation:

"When the anti-smokers came for the smokers,

I remained silent;

I wasn't a smoker."

**********

My writing tends to be written in a sort of hyperbolic style, but I lend this to the vernacular nature of the overall writing. If you cannot handle exaggerations, sarcasm, swear words, or anything offensive or if you cannot handle the idea that I actually have an opinion or a voice, I suggest that you stop and DO NOT READ the rest of this. If you are offended by what I say here, get over it.

**********

I'm tired of being polite about the debate regarding the rights of those who use tobacco. I suppose here's one parallel: I do not lecture YOU about that McDonald's hamburger you're eating, or perhaps the new perfume you are wearing that makes me gag and sneeze. I'm pretty sure McDonald's produces far more toxins into the environment and those toxins go not just into you, but into me as well. Would you support a ban on smelly people in grocery stores because smelly people personally offend you? What RIGHT do you have to remove the RIGHTS of others who are supposed to be considered your equals? It brings up the question: what makes a non-smoker’s constitutional right trump a smoker’s constitutional right? You, the concerned person who just lectured a smoker about his or her cigarette, banished that very same person to the outdoors, where there is no shelter and it rains from time to time. That smoker then may get sick and then pass on his or her cold/flu virus to you. It’s all a delicate circle…One side should not have this kind of power, I say!

You, the same concerned person, posted sign after sign after sign, and handed out pamphlet after pamphlet after pamphlet, telling everyone that smoking is bad and smokers are NOT allowed in the vicinity. How many trees were chopped down so you could feel a little powerful? Mmm…feels good, doesn’t it, when the money’s on your side?

Ultimately, have you actually seen a difference in cities such as Glendale, CA where a large portion of the population smokes yet there is a citywide smoking ban? I certainly haven’t. But I do know that I can certainly spot when an OPINION begins to turn into a civil issue that affects the rights of approximately 46.6 million adults in the United States. When you stop driving a car and you are living off the grid and are you are perfect and happy in every possible way, then maybe I'll listen to you. But stop infringing your OPINION onto others and turning the whole thing into a civil rights issue...and it IS a civil rights issue!

A smoker has a right not to be harassed every time he or she takes a drag, just as much as you have a right not to be harassed by second-hand smoke.

Smokers are smokers, not child rapists.

Stop ostracizing smokers as if they have the plague.

Stop sending them outside to the leper colony. Stop re-establishing the leper colony further and further away from main public areas.

Stop telling smokers that “it’s bad for your health.” As if we don’t know that, assholes. Do you really think your lecture gets someone to quit smoking? No. Quitting tobacco is something that a smoker needs to do on his or her own terms, and it is damn hard work. Your constant lectures to a smoker about how it’s bad for him, for everyone, for the environment, or *whatever* are, quite frankly, really stressful and irritating and not in the least bit helpful to a smoker’s decision or attempt to quit.

You send a negative message to the smoker that you think you are better because you don’t smoke, and therefore, you think your opinion automatically deserves to be the correct course for society. I think it makes YOU feel better to lecture, but it certainly has left a smoker at a loss for words because even when a smoker tries to mind his or her own business, you walk up to the smoker and constantly make a big deal about it.

The law is on the side of non-smokers right now; what happens when a small part of the population decides something that YOU do as a citizen must be prohibited. How ‘bout I nag you about the nasty tuna sandwich smell on your breath? I think that the smell is offensive and it actually does make me sick, but you don’t see me posting signs about it or passing laws that ban canned tuna in public places. You won’t even see me complain about it to your face. Why? Because I believe in personal liberty, and a whiff of tuna every now and then is not as harmful as that shit we breath everyday in the air, or as harmful as the shit in our water.

You probably, once upon a time, had some asshole blow smoke directly into your face as you walked by and suddenly now it is your RIGHT to have clean air every step of your day? Well, it is my right to have clean air, too! That toxic layer above Los Angeles didn’t get there by cigarette smoke alone, folks. Why not put the fight, all that time and energy you spend on promoting non-smoking, into the large corporations who gave the sky that beautiful brown tint and who are fighting the initiatives for more efficient fuels and technology and the factories that continually pollute our air and water? Why not fight them? Why not fight violence in the street? Why not fight other tangible environmental or economical concerns? Because a smoker standing by himself is a more accessible target for your wrath than a large corporation. A large corporation will sue your ass if you make a big deal about something they did. A smoker standing alone is the perfect verbal punching-bag therapy for your bad day.

Go ahead and keep whining, only keep whining to big corporations and not to individual citizens. Please. Do us both a favor and make a difference in this country instead of being a really annoying person.

The end.