Cramming. Perhaps not a particularly elegant word, but it is precise and unvarnished. That’s me. I’ve got so much studying to do before I sit for my exams that every hour between Dark and Dawns count for something. T-minus 3, 2, 1. Next exam on Wednesday. Lift-off. We have lift-off.
I’m not putting a man on the moon, but I have made a judgement call to write, but not much. This way, I can stay true to Mistress Blog and still benefit by taking a mental health break from cramming to post two remarkable videos you may not have seen.
The first is the commencement address by Mr. Donovan Livingston as he addressed his fellow students at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Though brief, his comments are not in a form naturally mine. What I did recognize was the value of the content and the strength of his character as it came shining through. It’s been a long time since that fateful September night in 1813 when all of Baltimore watched the British shelling Ft. McHenry, but I take some comfort in knowing there are different kinds of bombs still bursting in air. Democracy is never done.
In a similar vein, I am reminded that many of the soldiers in America’s Revolutionary War were teenagers of 15 or 16 with thousands more in their early 20’s. My second offering is to them by way of a little known acapella version of our national anthem by a bunch of college guys at Vanderbilt. When I hear these guys sing all the way through to an amazing conclusion, I am grateful for all those like them and in my family that served (and some who died) so I could be cramming for exams. Learning to do and be better is never done.
They stood up when it was time to be tested so I’m going to get back to my books so I can do the same. Talk to you again in 2-weeks.
Lift off, America, we have lift-off.
Donovan Livingston’s Harvard Graduate School of Education Student Speech (5:46)
Star Spangled Banner – The Vanderbilt Melodores, improvising in Cohen Hall
Banner Coastal Redwood Forest by Eric E Photography is used with permission.
Visit Eric at: http://www.ericephoto.com or http://ericephoto.wordpress.com/
Cramming for Exams: https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTs7wEdvaZ_rbHpQMbvOwLmYnUn2BSigzJy2_hlYP4dEo1F7JSq6A; A Common Ameican Solder: https://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Autumn04/soldier.cfm; Lift Off (Souce: TribeSports): http://community.tribesports.com/challenges/lift-off-the-ground-for-5-seconds-in-lolasana-pose
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