Cigarette Butt Litter Soapbox!

Hey everyone! Now watch Danielle and me on our soapbox:

CLICK TO WATCH!!!

Three Degrees of Warming

In Mark Lynas' novel, Six Degrees, the third chapter is about what would possibly happen if the global climate increased by three degrees. The most influential changes that would occur are extreme weather-related events, movements of citizens to more densely populated areas, and a great loss of biodiversity among plants and animals. All in all, Lynas emphasized that the most civilized peoples are consuming the world and that with three degrees of warming we would be in a life-or-death situation.

I think that the 5 most important things to know from this chapter are:

1. The places that wish for more rain will get less rain. With three degrees, there will be droughts and famine in southern Africa, primarily Botswana. The Kalahari, which supports cattle herding and the growing of staples, will have raging sandstorms. Similar to the Mayan civilization, one of the most advanced societies in the New World, the Central American countries will be extremely vulnerable to drought.
2. Droughts will increase the chances of forest fires. Australia, one of the driest continents, has "crown fires" which suck the oxygen out of the air and can asphyxiate anyone caught underneath. These fires also spread very quickly. In addition, the Amazon ecosystem, which is home to half the world's biodiversity, has no fire resistant trees compared to some in Australia.
3. Three degrees of warming will lead to a loss of biodiversity and a spreading of diseases. The tabletop mountains in Venezuela make a paradise of various plants which would die from warming. By 2050, between a third and a half of all species will join the "living dead" category. Those species will eventually become extinct because of the changing climate. In addition the mosquitoes that carry malaria and dengue fever will prosper and could travel farther north killing thousands of people along the way.
4. The places that wish for less rain will get even more rain. With three degrees, there will be inconsistent extreme flooding from the Asian Summer Monsoon that waters India and Bangladesh. In the book there is a good description of what would happen if there is a super-Hurricane Odessa in future Houston, Texas. The streets would flood from the Buffalo Bayou river and the sound would be like a freight train in the sky. In addition, New York would have more floods and there would be more storm surge events across Europe.
5. Because of the above circumstances, people would vacate areas and would move into highly populated areas. As we discussed in class, the Indus River which arises in India and flows into Pakistan would have less water entirely and those two nuclear nations would clash for supplies.

Lynas states that the places that would experience the worst wipeout will be those where life flourishes. Lastly, global warming is the result of accumulated greenhouse gases which means that we have to decrease emissions now - It takes time for the world to reach thermal equilibrium.

Greenbutts Article Summary

For the Soapbox Project, my original idea is to find a solution to cigarette butt litter:

For the past centuries, people would always smoke indoors until second-hand smoking was discovered and legislation decided to force people to smoke outside. The problem is that tobacco products comprise 38% of all U.S. roadway litter. And that's not all! Cigarette butt litter decreases the appeal of public spaces, adds toxic chemicals to water supplies, and can be a fire hazard to local wildlife. On top of all that, cigarette butts aren't biodegradable. They will not completely disappear if they are thrown into the environment instead of an ashtray, and can take years to break apart. I've recently researched more about any possible solutions already being tested and found one.

Greenbutts, LLC has come up with biodegradable cigarette butts that can even plant seeds if they are thrown on the ground. But...they've been doing 5 years of research and development and only have a patent in the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, in this article (link) Timothy Donahue describes the creation of the company and how Greenbutts can provide the same smoking experience without the waste of cigarette butts. The article also describes the challenges that the company is going through and how the biodegradable filters will hit the market in the future.

Since I'm collaborating with Danielle,

Write to you soon...probably next Monday morning... XD

Joe

Ishmael - Chapters 5-8

Through chapters 5 to 8, Ishmael first discusses how the Takers have to keep conquering the world but are bound to screw it up because they don't know how to live. As civilized people we tend to look to the prophets to tell us how we ought to live. But in chapters 7 and 8 we learn that there is one fundamental law in the world that keeps the world as it should be. Ishmael points out that as Takers we are attacking diversity and we are destroying the world because we are at war with it. We aren't fundamentally wrong. We are physically destroying the world because we are breaking the fundamental law that states - "You may compete but you may not wage war on the world. The world was not made for any one species."

This law describes how people must live, yet as Takers we don't follow it at all. I found it interesting how Ishmael explains that humans are subject to the law of competition.

For the Takers, Mother Culture demands increased food production. "Increasing food production to feed an increased population results in yet another increase in population." Without expressing an emotional and ethical perception of the starving millions and the absence of population control, Ishmael emphasizes the logical reasoning behind it all. When the narrator asks, "What do we do about the starving millions?" Ishmael replies, "nothing" because all species are subject to famine yet we decide every year to increase food production (though millions are starving) which results in a greater population. We keep growing and keep expanding past our limits. It's disappointing that we don't understand the cycle of everything. If we produce more food, we lead an increased population over and over again. I understand now that we need to focus on population control instead of increasing the production of food in the United States in general.

Ishmael - Chapters 3 and 4

It is funny to me how at the end of my last post I only focused on human-beings. I didn't mention the planet, the development of micro-organisms into more complex ones, and I really gave no explanation for how things came to be! What is relevant though, is that I mentioned making a living, which is finding my own purpose in other words. I didn't mention jellyfish or wombats, I focused on using the world for my own means.

Ishmael elaborates on the ideas above by telling the narrator that the story we enact everyday goes like this: The Takers believe the world is a human support system. We are the pinnacle of Creation. The world was made for man and man was made to conquer and rule it.

The perspective Ishmael gives is our creation myth. Even though humans have scientifically proven this story, he gives the narrator that it is the story enacted by the Takers. The idea that humanity is meant to rule the world is a myth. I agree with this. In my earlier post, I wasn't sure what man's destiny is and so it is in fact a myth, a story enacted over and over again. But I am confused. If the world was made for man, as in we rely on the world, why do we try to conquer it? Why is the price of enacting this story casting mankind as the enemy of the world?

Quinn has expertly grabbed my attention. He has pointed out my own bias of the world and how it works and has left me searching for more in the coming chapters. I think that in many ways I have taken the world for granted. I've used it's resources for material gain and now I am searching for where I fit in the whole scheme of things. I become the narrator and converse with a gorilla known as Ishmael. It's truly fascinating.

Ishmael - Chapters 1 and 2

I know I am catching up on blog posts, but at the same time, I want to illustrate well thought-out responses to Ishmael in the soon future! My initial impression of Daniel Quinn's novel, Ishmael, is that it grabbed my attention from the start. I am intrigued by the humanity of both the narrator, who remains anonymous, and the gorilla, Ishmael. I relate to the narrator from the start of the book. Like him I wanted to save the world when I was younger, lost hope, and am now searching for a reason to change the way I live for the better.

When the narrator goes to meet Ishmael, I found myself questioning descriptions of the room. The narrator states that he first noticed the emptiness of the room; He then reports the hideousness of Ishmael's face because of the similarity to our own. It is fascinating that out of all the animals, Quinn made the choice to use a gorilla, an animal we consider to be an ancestor of modern day human beings. Also, the narrator points out that we look at animals, even those which we are physically alike, are considered ugly, dangerous, and different from us. We are somehow segregated from Nature and the animals of the earth.

Opposite from the narrator's initial remarks, Ishmael elaborates another perspective. He states that the situation of the animals who are penned up is the same one that the narrator is in.
I specifically want to focus on a quote on page 35, "Even if you weren't personally captivated by the story, you were captive all the same, because the people around you made you a captive. You were like an animal being swept along in the middle of a stampede." I enjoyed reading this part of chapter 2 because Ishmael broadly pronounces the difference between being a captive of a story and being captivated by a story. Quinn also connects people to animals, which is an interesting literary statement. At the end of chapter 2, Ishmael asks the narrator about the one story everyone knows and accepts, aka an explanation of how things came to be. Like the narrator, I only have an impression of what our story is and don't see the full picture yet. Sometimes, I notice my own captivity. I realize that there are many social constructs in the world and that as Takers of the American dream, I think that our story begins with people who gathered food, and then gathered knowledge, and then decided to make something of it all. Without reading into chapter 3, I don't really know what our exact story is. All I know is that my societal purpose is to make a living, well whatever that means.

Walden (Three of the Essays)

After reading three more of the essays in Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, I've decided to write about "The Ponds" in this blog post.

Thoreau makes some purposeful illustrations in this essay that stood out to me. He describes, "It seemed as if I might next cast my line upward into the air, as well as downward into this element, which was scarcely more dense. Thus I caught two fishes as it were with one hook." I think that this is a great statement about how he has connected himself to Nature and to his Spirit. Walden Pond is a sacred place to Thoreau. For two years at Walden, Thoreau can now describe in detail everything about the pond, including the colors, the depth, the shores, the fish, etc. He recounts the adventure of throwing his axe onto the ice and then having to make a slip-noose to pull it out of the frozen pond.

Walden is not only an important place for Thoreau but it is a person, a friend. He personifies the pond by saying, "These are the lips of the lake, on which no beard grows. It licks its chaps from time to time." He retells the tale of how the pond got its name: "...and while they were thus engaged the hill shook and suddenly sank, and only one old squaw, named Walden, escaped, and from her the pond was named." He even makes fun of the nearby ponds,"Flint's Pond!...What right had the unclean and stupid farmer, whose farm abutted on this sky water, whose shores he has ruthlessly laid bare, to give his name to it?"

"Talk of heaven! ye disgrace earth." - Thoreau

Above all, Thoreau describes in detail this pond I have never been to and points out how beautiful it is in Nature. He portrays, "Not a fish can leap or an insect fall on the pond but it is thus reported in circling dimples, in lines of beauty, as it were the constant welling up of its fountain, the gentle pulsing of its life, the heaving of its breast. How peaceful the phenomena of the lake!" Even though Thoreau (hahaha that wordplay!) is writing more so for himself, to journal his thoughts and discoveries, he illustrates experiences that we have all witnessed but forget about over time.

Walden (Four of the Essays)

Out of the many essays in Thoreau's novel, Walden, the two that I enjoyed reading so far are "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" and "The Village". On the very first day of class, I wrote down that I wanted to understand more about how I am connected to Nature in a spiritual/religious manner. In the two essays I mentioned, Thoreau illustrates a philosophical view of Nature.

"Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere"

He has a unique world view. To Thoreau, the earth is a sacred place blessed by gods and goddesses! A home is but a seat and not a material necessity; Nature is a part of us and vice versa. It is interesting to note that the word 'nature' does not only mean the phenomena of the physical world collectively, but it also means the essential and inherent features of something/someone. In other words, the nature of being human is to live simply. Thoreau makes a valid case.

In "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," Thoreau weaves in and out of Nature itself and the metaphysical realm. He states that "The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us...Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me" Thoreau makes a metaphor with regards to waking in the morning and having a wakeful mentality throughout the day. In addition, one of my favorite sections from this essay reads:

"It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour"

I personally think that this will be my new focus for my dancing. Usually, I tell a story through a dance solo, but what if I was a sunrise? or a sunset?  What if I portrayed deeper/spiritual experiences of life?

"Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently without perturbation"

In "The Village," Thoreau explains, "for a man needs only to be turned round once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost - do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of nature." In order to understand ourselves, we must lose our social constructs and sense of conformity. We need to see each day as a new experience. A mystery.

Chapter 4 - Lightly, Carefully, Gracefully

The final chapter of Eaarth, by Bill McKibben, is a bittersweet one. After stating all of the statistics, all of the personal stories, all of the drastic changes that are happening on this new Eaarth, McKibben illustrates the possible strategies for maintaining our world and our lives. Early in this chapter he states that, "the amount of people with too little to eat is now rising." Food is one of our most basic resources that we need to survive. And currently, "it takes the equivalent of four hundred gallons of oil annually to feed an American, and that's before packaging, refrigeration, and cooking." Why is it so complicated, ineffective, and harmful to our economy? It is obvious that we have to change our system of agriculture. The cost of shipping food to stores across the world adds up to be more than the price of growing food locally opposed to what most people think.

        I enjoyed reading Pete Johnson's innovative plan for growing food - having a moveable greenhouse which would be local, less expensive, and healthy. McKibben is right, we need small farmers throughout the country to make the change we need. In short, he states that we don't have a choice. Compared to China, we eat way more meat than we should and it's costing us. Plus, I know for a fact that I don't buy local foods when I should. I stick to the fast-food chains in Kalamazoo because they are inexpensive and quick. In this chapter, I was surprised that the people in the reality series Frontier House said that they rather live on the frontier but instead moved back to live in the suburbs.
         McKibben explains that we as human-beings need a controlled decline; we need the wisdom from the past and the knowledge of the present to hunker down and change the planet for the better. At the conclusion of the book, McKibben describes the Internet as being one of the best resources we have in our fight against global warming because of it's ability to connect neighbors. I strongly agree with this. People use the Internet more than ever now and could help make small changes here and there.

       My final thoughts:

• For one I am amazed at how much information McKibben as collected and has documented in this novel. It's incredible!
• The fact that he started out connecting his neighborhood and then made his awareness viral is truly inspiring.
• He has given me a few great ideas for the future - conserve, buy local, and make small changes daily to reduce emissions

For the song I have chosen for this final chapter, I need to give a brief description of how I discovered it and why I chose it. A couple years ago I watched all of the Harry Potter movies for the first time and one song stuck with me. The song is so different and so powerful for being in one of the final movies that I had to replay the scene over and over again. The meaning of the song is really up for interpretation, enjoy!

The link to the clip is here: O'Children Harry Potter

The link to the whole song is here: O'Children by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Chapter 3 - Backing Off

In chapter 3 of Eaarth, McKibben envisions the world as being durable, strong enough to support what we already have instead of reaching for economic growth. In the United States, we grew quickly. We accomplished our National Project that involved exploring the west and increasing revenue. A national government was created along with a national bank that made it possible for the building of public roads and railroads. We owned land, we owned resources, and we owned people. We accomplished a few notable National Projects, such as putting a man on the moon. But it is time to maintain rather than expand. The government can't do everything. McKibben illustrates that it is up to the local economies to build community. He points out that as it is right now, our economy works without the input of our neighbors (which is depressing if you think about it). In reality though, we need to reshape our society for a graceful decline. McKibben sold this concept to me personally when he discusses the history of Vermont. The historian Peter Onuf states that, "nowhere in America did local communities become so thoroughly accustomed to such a high degree of political self-determination [than those in Vermont]." For much of history, the people of Vermont maintained control of the state and it's laws. My favorite section in this chapter is about McKibben's summary of the Family Diner, a restaurant that uses local farm products for the menu items. How many restaurants are similar to the Family Diner in Michigan? Now that I think about it, there are only a few I've been to. I realize now that what we as Americans eat, what we wear, the products we use day to day aren't that real and authentic.
All in all, I agree with McKibben's proposals. We do need to focus on the essentials and maintain the small communities we have. If we focus on growth and expansion, our resources will diminish and we'll be lost on this new Eaarth.

The song for chapter 3 of Eaarth is here!

Chapter 2 - High Tide

Since chapter 1 was pretty depressing I thought I'd throw in some comics before I discuss chapter 2!
Spoiler alert: The Eaarth has not gotten any better.

In chapter 2 Eaarth, McKibben discusses globalization and how it has been enforcing global warming. I first am amazed at how long transformations take! McKibben explains that even though industries started to burn coal, it took almost a century before coal was burned more than wood in the United States. Growth has always been the focus of globalization. Each year, we have to produce more as a nation and in so doing use more of our limited natural resources. But, infrastructure is usually pushed aside. In the recent years, global warming has produced more weather-related issues: floods, hurricanes, etc. With weak infrastructure, there is no time to recover. Besides infrastructure, insurance is needed for the increase in diseases that are the result of global warming.

My main concern is the availability of gasoline in the coming years. McKibben's discussion of Limits to Growth, written in 1972, is interesting. Have we already reached the peak of our oil reserves? If the cost of gasoline rises, will more people switch to hybrids and electric cars? I think I will, eventually.

At the conclusion of chapter 2, McKibben states two steps that we should take, mature and jettison. I think about my job as a delivery driver and how that affects the added waste of food containers and global warming as the result of emitting carbon dioxide. I ask myself, what are the ripple effects that I contribute to?

My song for chapter 2 is here!

Chapter 1 - A New World

In the first chapter of Eaarth, Bill McKibben illustrates the earth as a different, changed planet given the name Eaarth. The beautiful blue earth we once knew from the Apollo 8 picture "Earthrise":

 is no longer the planet we live on. McKibben addresses his readers with a straightforward approach, and it works. I'm not lying when I say, when I first started reading this book, I was not as aware of global warming or climate change. It was so lightly discussed in my science classes in middle school that I didn't care about it at all. But it means more to me now. Simply, global warming is happening to the entire planet and affects everyone and everything. The burning of fossil fuels have raised the temperature of the environment causing an increase in rainfall, acidity of the seas, methane gas leaks from the frozen tundra, the melting of the glaciers at the poles, etc. The effects that I didn't know about sparked my interest! I find it ironic when McKibben stated, "The idea that humans could fundamentally alter the planet was new." Reading this book now I feel that I am going to be responsible for global warming in the coming years and will truly see the changes. Scratch that, I have already seen the changes. The fact that McKibben wrote this book about ten years ago is astonishing because many societal issues haven't changed at all.

The most important point that McKibben made, in my opinion, was 

"If you got a spare month some time, google global warming and grandchildren."

After reading that I felt the urgency in his tone and I felt guilty for adding to the carbon dioxide in the air that is causing global warming. I was also touched by the fact that having grandchildren is so far into the future for me, decades. How can I, myself, help to sustain our environment for the future?

Chapter 1 was eye-opening for me because it states an important truth, the earth is not the same as it was and will never be as it was. Depressing, but true.

I have decided to link a song for each of my Eaarth posts. The first is below!

Earth Song

So we saunter...

Reflection of "Walking" by Henry David Thoreau

       I want to first illustrate that "Walking" was a pleasure to read and I highly recommend it to everyone. Thoreau's writing is as beautiful as Nature itself and I can guarantee there is something in this essay that will inspire you.

     A brief summary: In Thoreau's essay "Walking," originally given as part of a lecture, he contemplates the idea of walking as a parcel of Nature. Walking then becomes an adventure and not a means of getting somewhere; It becomes a part of every aspect of life and elicits spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being.

During the walk we did as a class, I experienced what Thoreau describes as being free from all worldly engagements. I found that walking without thinking about waking up just in-time for class or working all night after class, was refreshing to say the least! I noticed things on campus I haven't discovered before - pieces of the stone whale were broken off and that seeds were planted for the brewing class, for instance. Thoreau explains that the environment you find yourself in influences your thoughts and can lead to new experiences. If you think about it, where do people go on vacation? Places away from home, places that are warmer or more beautiful this time of year. Thoreau even portrays that a circle of ten miles' radius will never become quite familiar to you. A person could walk to the same place each day and still find that Nature can change dramatically. While reading, one of my favorite movies came to mind and is worth mentioning. Good Will Hunting, starring Robin Williams and Matt Damon, emphasizes the importance of experiencing new activities and not just reading about them in a book. With regards to personal anecdotes, I loved reading the section on page 238 that starts with "I trust that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal, as our sky...," because it highlights the role of Nature in our lives as American citizens. In the broader aspect of Nature, Thoreau states that, "Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest." and "all good things are wild and free". Thoreau perceives Nature as an intrinsic part of being human. Take dance for instance (not like it's my passion or anything). A dancer captures my attention when he/she can perform a move I can't or does it in a way that is different from me. In this case, the wilder the better!

I think that the most inspiring passages in "Walking" are on pages 249 and 250 when Thoreau illustrates the need for a Society for the Diffusion of Useful Ignorance. Sometimes I have to remind myself that there is no perfection, there's almost never one right answer and all others are wrong. Also, it is more important to realize that there is so much to discover than believing that all things known are facts.

"Which is the best man to deal with,--he who knows nothing about a subject, and, what is extremely rare, knows that he knows nothing, or he who really knows something about it, but thinks that he knows all?" - Thoreau

For me, I am still figuring out where I fit in the range between society and Nature. Above all, I enjoyed reading Thoreau's vivid depictions of Nature and the walks he has been on and lastly...

"So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bank-side in autumn"

Ambulator nascitur, non fit

Happy People Refrain (based on "The Audit")

The blog below is about "The Audit" in the form of a J Cole song! A link to the actual song is here

• Warning - The lyrics in the actual song are explicit and are in (many, okay all) J Cole songs.

"Your Dream" Lyrics

in the style of J Cole's "Love Yourz":

Your dream

Your dream

[Hook]:

Dark and divine miles, before I sleep

Dark and divine miles, before I sleep

Sleep no one, sleep no one

[Verse]:

Your life is yours to live, dream it right

US endorsement, GCA

Ain't we all the same, breathing through the night

Can't accept the life your living, just change the terms of service brother

Goes for all y'all

Just change the terms of service brother

(Let me explain)

Change the terms of service, carve a poem in the grass

Look at the footprint math or fix your schedule of events

Bill grew up in the suburbs and life was moving fast

Compared to Goodwin Brown, Bill was a f****** mess

And life can't be no poem, no Robert Frost design

But I would die if Bill can't see who's lying

Why does Goodwin have his needs and is able to sing?

Why can't you believe and live your dream?

Cause beliefs you should find

The emissions from your home from the car you drive

My broadcast is 'you've got to change your ways'

Carve poems in the yard and dream your reality

[Hook] x1

[Outro Verse]:

Your life is yours to live, dream it right

US endorsement, GCA

Ain't we all the same, breathing through the night

[End]

           I think that many people forget how simple life really is. If people would only carve their lives differently than how society says we should, then the world would be a better place. Think about it: people in other countries are only miles away. The world is like your backyard; if it is mowed the same every time, it will stay the same but a yard mowed differently will change and can carve a beautiful poem.

Things I Wish I Knew Before Going to College

To all of my classmates and professors,

As a current student at Western Michigan University who has two unique majors: Dance and Computer Science, there are some things that I should have known before starting my college career. Granted, I cannot illustrate every lesson learned the past year and a half, but I can give some simple pointers for those who need inspiration, motivation, and determination to pass each class, one semester at a time.

Nobody is perfect. I personally have failed a few classes and messed up in more ways than one. Going to college is not easy for everyone. It's a constant challenge to get passing grades and still have just enough free time to sleep, study, and party (occasionally).

The first step to "living the dream" is to realize that you are there for a reason!

It was at the end of my freshman year when I understood that people actually supported me.
At first, the professors in my technique classes said that I had a slim chance of making it through 4 years of college. The professors in my computer science classes saw me stroll into class 5 minutes late almost every day. Since then I've changed my habits. Why? Because I was meant to be in those classes. I was meant to push myself and make them say the opposite. The fact of the matter is, I auditioned and was accepted into the Dance program. They believed in me from the start! I was just too hesitant to believe in myself. Know that you were accepted into college and that it was never a "shot in the dark". Whatever it is you are passionate about, fight for it! And know that the professors are only making you stronger.

The second step is to know yourself and stay true to your limits! Avoid peer pressure!

A wise teacher in high school once said, "Life is not a puzzle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived". In college, every student is unique in his/her own way. Being away from my parents, living on a campus I didn't fully understand, it was difficult. I learned that I was not getting good grades because I was not taking care of myself. I didn't get enough sleep. I didn't spend enough time on homework. I wanted to talk to friends more than I wanted to study. The key is to know yourself. Know the difference between doing what you need to do to pass and doing what you want to do with people who drink alcohol and play video games all the time. It's your life. There is only so much time in each day, use it wisely for the better, for what really matters. I am not saying don't have fun while you're in college. Just know your limits!
"Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some" - Robert Fulghum

The third and final step (in this blog) is to seize the moment!

Going to college might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Life is short. Many people have never gone to college. There are some people who are not blessed with good education, a place to live, a family to love, or friends to laugh with. At the end of the day, studying at a college is beautiful. It's exciting! Don't get too stressed out and just enjoy every new experience!


Check out the below links for some of my previous dance experiences!
Note: Some of the dances were performed prior to college.

• New York State of Mind Solo
• Take Five Solo
• Up All Night
• WMSDF 1
• WMSDF 2