Guybrarian Breaks It Down For Everyone

Nearly everyone with access to music has heard Bruno Mars’ hit “Uptown Funk.”  It’s catchy, right?  It makes you want to get up (or down) and dance, right?

Chapman University and Orange Public Library along with Pogona Creative pulled together an amazing video for National Library Week that parodies “Uptown Funk” in ways you could never have imagined before.

All of a sudden it’s not so nerdy to be a librarian.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the collaborators, here’s the 4-1-1 on them.

Chapman University is located in Woodland, California and has been around since the Civil War.  The university’s mission statement is quite simply this:  To provide personalized education of distinction that leads to inquiring, ethical and productive lives as global citizens.

Orange Public Library is, of course, a library, and it’s located, of course, in Orange, California.  The  main library was built in 1961.  While it hasn’t been around as long as Chapman University, the positive impact it’s had on the community is impressive.

And Pogona Creative is located in Orange, California … the brainchild of David and Adrianna May, who were students at Chapman University just a few years back.

David May’s senior thesis in the undergraduate program (writing and directing) was “ItsyBitsy” and once you watch this nine minute video, it’s easy to see how creative he is.

While Adrianna is passionate about dance, she majored in psychology with a minor in leadership and organizational studies.

Is it any wonder that when these three organizations partnered that they came up with such a brilliant National Library Week parody?  I think not.

Elyse Bruce

With Rights Come Responsibilities

In Troutman, North Carolina, two seniors pulled a prank at their high school.  They put alarm clocks in unused lockers and had them go off at different times, prompting a bomb search.  This led to both seniors being arrested and charged.  The alarm clocks going off prompted an immediate response which was necessary to ensure the safety and security of all students and staff.

In Wentzville, Illinois, three students uprooted three thirty-five year old trees from planters and damaged the trees’ root structures so badly that they had to be destroyed.  This led to charges being laid against all three students.

In Morganza, Maryland, five people wearing masks and hoodies forced open a door at a local high school and released 72,000 lady bugs throughout the school.  This led to four juveniles and three adults being arrested and charged.

In Teaneck, New Jersey, sixty-three students vandalized their high school as a senior prank.  This led to twenty-four students over the age of 18 and thirty-nine students under the age of 18 being charged by the police.

In Madisonville, Tennessee, a hundred seniors saw their graduation ceremony cancelled when they ransacked their high school, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to the school.  This led to a lot of consequences for the senior class, the firing of a sheriff’s deputy, and the suspension of the school principal.

Why do some people feel that senior pranks that are criminal are a rite of passage for high school seniors?

A rite of passage is supposed to marks the transition from one phase of life to another. When the rite of passage is one that involves criminal activities, what does this say about those who are involved in — and who condone, if not outright encourage — such rites?

It’s important to acknowledge milestones as they are reached.  It’s why we celebrate a baby’s birth with a baby shower and we celebrate every birthday that falls after that.  It’s why there’s so much attention paid to a child’s 13th and 16th birthdays, and when a young adult reaches his or her 21st birthday.  We celebrate engagements by throwing engagement parties, and we celebrate marriages by having weddings and anniversary parties.

But you’d be hard pressed to find milestone celebrations where those being honored for reaching that milestone are willing to desecrate that milestone achievement with behaviors that are criminal in nature.

While it’s true that there’s no one way to celebrate milestones, and while it’s true that each person should celebrate milestones in a way that feels comfortable to each person, that doesn’t translate into a free pass to mar other people’s celebration of a mutually shared milestone.

Everyone who is part of a mutually shared milestone has their own emotions and memories tied to their involvement in reaching that goal.  No one has the right to move ahead with their celebration at the cost of other people’s rights to move ahead with their own celebrations.  And when it’s a joint celebration, no one person — or group of people — has the right to derail the overall celebration in a way that they know, or should know, can result in criminal charges being laid against participants.

As young adults transition from high school into the next phase of their lives, hopefully they have learned the lessons that will serve them well in their adult lives.  If not, then bad choices such as the ones made in Troutman and Morganza and Teaneck and Madisonville will leave their indelible marks on those who chose to take part in — or encourage — unlawful celebrations of their high school graduation.

Elyse Bruce

Who Said That?

The graduates of McGill University who finished their degrees after World War II ended are the great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents of those who are graduating from university and college over 65 years later.  The quotes beside each graduates’ name speaks volumes of how they interpreted the world around them.  Since most of the quotes fail to acknowledge the author of the quote, I thought it would be fun to see how many of these quotes are recognized by those who follow or visit my blog.  Today’s quote is this:

It is a good thing to be rich, and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be beloved of many friends.

Feel free to add the name of who you believe was — or may have been — the person who first spoke or first wrote those words, in the Comments Section below.

When The Generation Of Firsts Buys

The generations in the 20th and 21st centuries have been divided into groups with specific group characteristics.  These groups are the Greatest Generation (1901 to 1911), the Generation of Firsts (1912 to 1921), the Silent Generation (1922 to 1929), the Depression Era Generation (1930 to 1939), the War Generation (1940 to 1945), Baby Boomers I (1946 to 1954), Baby Boomers II (1955 to 1964), Generation X (1965 to 1980), Echo Boomers aka Generation Y (1977 to 1994), Digital Natives aka Millennials (1995 to 2004), and Generation Z aka iGeneration or Post-Millennials, colloquially referred to as “screenagers” (2005 to present).

The Generation of Firsts (1912 to 1921) was born at a time when some of the greatest advancements in society were made:  the first airplane flight, the first trans-Atlantic radio transmission, the first parachute, the first moving assembly line, the first traffic light, the first ribbon or “velocity” microphone, the first Oreo cookies.  And, of course, the First World War.

Traditional jazz (from which most jazz standards hail) was in its heyday and phonograph records were the number one way of getting music out to the masses.  Yes, record sales left sheet music and piano roll music sales in the dust, and the job of song plugger came into existence.  Radio was an expensive novelty in most homes, but shortly after this era, it became an inexpensive main staple in homes and businesses.

This group reached the age of majority just as Big Band — another form of jazz — became hugely popular.  Structure was important not only in music but at work, and in society as the world inched towards World War II.  Not only did the style become hugely popular, it eclipsed all other forms of music in terms of popularity.

This generation saw America step into a conservative era with most voters displeased with what they saw as overly optimistic liberal policies that they felt worked against Americans and the American economy.

As with the Greatest Generation, the Generation of Firsts was witness to a number of amazing advancements. Even though America was in debt after the First World War, taxes were reduced to encourage spending and stimulate the economy.  Large tariffs were imposed on products imported into the U.S. which encouraged Americans to buy American made products … a buying ethic that stayed with the children of this generation when they came of age.

Two important words in society for this generation were patriotism (since most of the firsts were from the U.S.A.) and positive outlook.

The Generation of Firsts are some of today’s oldest seniors, and like the generation before them, they have set ways of doing business as consumers.  They lean towards businesses that reflect the values of their generation, leaning towards businesses that are reliable standards (like jazz standards are) and unlikely to waver in their decisions.

Elyse Bruce

Who Said That?

The graduates of McGill University who finished their degrees after World War II ended are the great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents of those who are graduating from university and college over 65 years later.  The quotes beside each graduates’ name speaks volumes of how they interpreted the world around them.  Since most of the quotes fail to acknowledge the author of the quote, I thought it would be fun to see how many of these quotes are recognized by those who follow or visit my blog.  Today’s quote is this:

Learning without thought is labour lost: thought without learning is perilous.

Feel free to add the name of who you believe was — or may have been — the person who first spoke or first wrote those words, in the Comments Section below.