The Crying Game

Wow, this week was really intense. Electives were fantastic and collective anxiety about the future was at an all-time high. One elective, Managing Change, is already finished; we had it every single day this week. It took all of our theory and forced us to think more concretely about the actual tactics to use for effecting change in different situations.

Maury continued to challenge us with "name that tune/artist" at the beginning of each class. After successfully identifying Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D (but not successfully identifying the violinist--I guessed Itzhak Perlman but it was actually Jascha Heifetz), I was on a roll. The next day was an easy one with Paul Simon, although I didn't recognize the song. Yesterday opened with jazzy/bluesy guitar renditions of "Georgia On My Mind" and "Stairway to Heaven." It sounded like several guitarists playing simultaneously but the fret tapping sound indicated to me that it might, in fact, be only one person playing melody, harmony, rhythm chords, and walking base line on the same instrument. The only guitar virtuoso capable of such a feat that I knew of was Stanley Jordan, to whom I was exposed in 8th grade during my study of classical and contemporary guitar. Sure enough, Maury confirmed that it was he. So it was a good week for me in terms of music identification--now my final Managing Change paper will illustrate whether or not I learned about more than just music!

The Introduction to Advanced Group Dynamics elective is half finished now and has been a real emotional roller coaster. I am bound by confidentiality not to relay too much of what has happened there, but I can share that at least 20% of our class has broken into tears so far. Some of this comes from the open, honest sharing of feelings within our groups but much of it is channeled from outside emotions, especially regarding family life and the uncertainty of the future. Heavy stuff--and now I need to write a paper about it.