The Joy Gods Return!

I'm in Greenbelt's Winter Youth Musical, which opens next weekend.
Being in my 2nd year of winter musical has been really fun, and rewarding.  Our show is called "The Joy Gods Return" and is a post 9/11 romance.

The show was written by Chris Cherry, a very talented city of Greenbelt employee, who established a musical theatre camp there more than ten years ago. The show has a very large, and talented cast. 

What's so great about the show is that everyone is involved. Anyone who wanted to be in the production could, and that's a really unique thing in the theatre world. 

I really enjoy performing, and try to have as much fun as I can with it-as do my friends in the show. 

The message of the show is, what if we decided to fight terrpr with joy? 

The show has parts which are a show within a show, as the joy gods are returning to New York through a musical written by the main character, Felicity's deceased hurband Tom, who died in the 9/11 attacks. 

The production will be great, and it's only 5$! 

Show dates are: 

Saturday March 2nd at 2 and 7

and 

Saturday March 9th and 2 and 7

Gun Control

Last week I went to the Young Democrat's club meeting. They discussed gun control, which I've had to research for projects in the past, but now know much more about. 

There are a lot of things about this topic which should be adressed, but haven't. 

There's the fact that anybody can purchase a gun at a gun show, and not have to have a background check or register it, 

People, when authorized, can carry guns on them in public, which could easily lead to an accident. 

Of course, it isn't possible (as of now) to totally get rid of guns, but people's attitudes have gotten to be unreasonible. Those who are convinced that their 2nd ammendment rights mean that they can have as many guns as they like, and there shouldn't be any restrictions, are encouraging the misuse of guns and unruly ways of obtaining them. 

Since the terrible massacre at Sandy Hook, more attention has been brought to the topic. People have been expressing their views:

It's clear that there are many sides to the gun control argument, but what's most important is citizen's safety. Is it worth having guns, when thousands of people die per year from it?

For me, the answer is no. I recognize I don't have all the facts, but life is a gift and there's absolutely no reason for so many of them to be wasted. 

It's impoortant to remember there's  NO SUCH THING AS GUN CONTROL. 

You can't control others actions.

Even if someone's background check comes out fine, that doesn't mean they aren't a threat, or that other people who may have access to their gun aren't a threat. We can't control what the guns that are distributed are intended to do, or what they'll end up doing. 

To learn more about gun control click HERE!

raison d'être

A big part of the book my program just read, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, included Raison d'êtres or reasons to live. The main character Oskar, listed his reasons for living, which included his family, collecting stamps, and for the most part making people happy (protecting his mom, making his mom happy, and not hurting his grandmother's feelings.)  “I didn't want to hurt her feelings, because not hurting her feelings is another of my raisons d’etre” (100).

Reading this gave me the idea to list my Raison d'êtres, so that I can look back and see what's important to me. 

• Friends 
• Family 
• Spending time with my god mother
• Listening/seeing music
• art
• theatre
• The beach
• Grandpa's hunting camp
• creating
• volunteering
• Writing 
• Babysitting
• Reading

So that's pretty much it, although I'm sure there's more I can't think of, and there's more to come. 

It's important to remember that we do have reasons to live, and that we shouldn't forget them as we grow and change. 

Here's my favorite song from the ELAIC sound track: 

Here's the trailer: