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Already ten days into the new year, 2009, I am finally committing myself to yet another blog post.  It took me awhile because I spent most of December performing, packing, moving, celebrating, unpacking, organizing, and planning.

I didn’t plan on making any resolutions this year; but in light of recent events in Palestine and Israel, I decided to make a change.  You see, sometimes everyday life can discourage, frustrate, and irritate.  I think this is one of my personal weaknesses, that I emotionally succumb to the cuts and scrapes garnered by tripping over life’s hurdles and climbing its steep, rough grades.

Yet, look at the people of Gaza, and see how real their pain and suffering is.  They don’t suffer from mere  skinflint cuts and bruises.  They are wounded at the core, and their pain is beyond that which I am capable of understanding.

My resolution is to complain less, to appreciate what I have here, and to be more aware of the disparity between my life here and those who are less fortunate.  I think we all should be aware of our blessings, and never take them for granted.

Aside from resolutions, I have an announcement.  My piece, “In pace” from Sempiterna, will be receiving its world-premiere performance by the San Francisco State University Chamber Singers, under the direction of renowned conductor, Vance George.  Here are details:

Friday, 13 March 2009 - 1:00 pm
SF State University
Knuth Hall, Creative Arts Bldg.
19th Ave. @ Holloway, SF

Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 8:00 pm
SF Conservatory of Music
Concert Hall
Box office: 415-503-6275
50 Oak St., SF

The concert will also feature the music of my SFCM teachers, David Conte and Conrad Susa, in addition to Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Bernstein.  Considering the composers with whom my composition will be featured, coupled with the fact that Vance George (a great master conductor) will be conducting and the SFSU Chamber Singers (an excellent college choir) will be singing, this is a great honor!  I am thrilled, and anticipate the concert eagerly.

I will be present at both concerts, so if you can make it, I hope to see you there!

Below is an audio file of members of Schola Cantorum San Francisco reading “In pace.”  Enjoy, and happy new year!

That only a few, under any circumstances, protest against the injustice of long-established laws and customs, does not disprove the fact of the oppressions, while the satisfaction of the many, if real only proves their apathy and deeper degradation. - Elizabeth C. Stanton

Many years have passed since the United States’ Revolutionary War, and somewhere betwixt those years the dynamics of the governors and the governed in the U.S. has shifted. Michael Moore’s latest theatrical exposé, Sicko, asks the question central to this reality: Are the governors afraid of the governed, or the governed afraid of the governors? The latter is arguably the regrettable case for most U.S. citizens.

Believing the film is about the twisted nature of the for-profit health care system, buying and bidding of U.S. politicians, superiority of health care systems abroad (even in countries less economically fortunate than the U.S.), or stories of human beings victimized by the U.S. health care system, misses the deepest point.

The film is a case-study of a country plagued by apathetic and individualistic citizens.

U.S. American self-proclaimed greatness, channeled through delusional indoctrination begun at an early age in institutions of education, anchors such complacency. “How could anything get better in the U.S.A.? It’s already the best it can be, right?” And worse, U.S. Americans turn a blind eye to the needs of their own neighbors, to citizens of other countries, and even to the environment: an attitude fueled by rabid and drunken individualism and capitalism. “I don’t want to pay for your health care.” -and- “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Walking away from the film, this conclusion could be surmised: U.S. Americans must get out of their isolated microcosms, take an honest look at the world in which they live, learn to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and actively advocate change in the U.S. to ensure a better future for themselves and their children, for other people and other people’s children.

United States of America, take to the streets, and scare the poop out of your governors!