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Showing posts from February, 2012

Avalanche Appreciation

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a waiting room, where a TV played tranquil nature scenes. Flowing images of springtime meadows filled with colorful wildflowers and classical music playing in the background.  Next on the loop was a babbling brook, cobblestones being washed by the sparkling stream. After watching it for a few minutes, I found myself settling into a peaceful state of mind. Suddenly, the scene changed to a wintry avalanche. My relaxation was jarred and I stared in disbelief at the screen. Why would the makers of this video choose such a destructive element to be nestled into these comforting scenes of nature? What would be next—a dazzling volcano? The dancing waters of a tsunami? As I puzzled over this scene, I recognized the accompanying music. It was from the Overture from the opera Carmen . Hearing it reminded me of my grade school class of Music Appreciation, my least favorite.   I didn’t care for the teacher, nor did I like any of the boring, dull classical mu

In memory of Whitney

Last night, I turned on Headline News. As I watched the program, the news scroll below caught my eye. It read “Houston sold over 170 million albums….”  I recognized it was referring to Whitney Houston. I thought this was an odd news item. Why would they mention this fact about Whitney Houston? Didn’t everyone know she sold countless albums with her powerful voice? Then I saw in the caption before it “Breaking news.”  Immediately, I felt my stomach sink, preparing for some bad news. Sure enough, the next line appeared “Whitney Houston found dead in Beverly Hilton Hotel room, she was 48 years old.” As I watched the newscast, I felt very sorry for the family she left behind, especially her daughter. I found this news unbelievable and unreal, no matter how many glamorous images of Whitney in happier days appeared on the screen and the anchor man’s voice giving the up to the minute details.  As they played clips of her songs, I realized how her songs were like the soundtrack of my h